There was something almost cinematic about Aristotle Onassis long before cinema attempted to capture him. He was the Greek shipping magnate who built an international empire across the oceans, entertained politicians and royalty aboard his yacht, owned his own Mediterranean island and became one of the most famous businessmen of Continue Reading
John Travolta: The one i want!
Hero of Acting Who Refused to Disappear There are actors who become famous, actors who become stars, and then there are the rare performers who somehow become part of the furniture of popular culture. John Travolta belongs firmly in that last category. For nearly half a century, he has moved Continue Reading
STEVIE WONDER: THE MAN WHO TURNED SOUND INTO VISION
Stevie Wonder is one of the defining musical figures of the modern era: singer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist, campaigner and humanitarian. Born Stevland Hardaway Judkins on 13 May 1950 in Saginaw, Michigan, he was six weeks premature and developed retinopathy of prematurity, losing his sight shortly after birth. Yet blindness never Continue Reading
PINK FLOYD : DARK SIDE OF THE MOON
COMFORTABLY NUMB: WHEN ROGER WATERS’ DARKNESS MET DAVID GILMOUR’S GUITAR THE PINK FLOYD MASTERPIECE BORN FROM TWO VERY DIFFERENT MEN There are songs that belong to an album, and there are songs that eventually seem to escape from it. Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” did exactly that. Released on The Wall Continue Reading
PRISON REFORM’S WEAKEST LINK: CAN PROBATION CARRY THE WEIGHT OF EARLY RELEASE?
Alex Norris Faces Parliament as Government Tries to Solve a Prison Crisis That Has Moved Beyond the Prison Gates Justice Secretary Alex Norris faces an increasingly difficult political and practical argument over prison reform as the Government attempts to prevent England and Wales running out of usable prison places while Continue Reading
THE GRASS ARENA: WHEN CHESS GAVE JOHN HEALY A WAY OUT
MARK RYLANCE’S EXTRAORDINARY PORTRAIT OF ADDICTION, VIOLENCE AND RECOVERY The Grass Arena is not a film that observes alcoholism from a safe distance. It drags the audience down onto the pavement and leaves it there. Made for BBC television in 1991, directed by Gillies MacKinnon and adapted by Frank Deasy Continue Reading
