One of our rays of sunshine in the dark days of Lockdown was Toyah and Robert’s Sunday Lunch, fizzing clips of the two of them in their Dorset kitchen, him playing off-brand rock and roll, her singing in extravagant finery, occasionally on an exercise bike. Their version of Metallica’s Enter Sandman got 8.6m views alone. One time they were dressed as bees, another re-staging Swan Lake wearing tutus. This has now flowered into an all-the-trimmings Christmas show with a full rock band touring in December. They look back here at how it started and where it’s ended up, which includes …

… the teenage Fripp doing the twist at the Cellar Club, Poole.

… Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood’s reaction when Robert booed him on set.

… when the “elite newspapers” declared their kitchen shows were “genius”.

… where their two different audiences meet.

… plans for an upcoming Fripp memoir and his 1981 King Crimson diary.

… things you find in old boxes in the attic.

… how the grumpier end of King Crimson’s supporters regard the “other Robert Fripp”.

… what Tony Iommi and Robert Plant thought of their lockdown clips.

… and what you can expect from their Christmas Party show – which involves Bowie, Blondie, Neil Young, Slade, Metallica and an inflatable penguin.

Toyah and Robert’s Christmas Party tickets here:

https://toyahwillcox.com/gigs/

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John Lydon is among us in 2025 - with Public Image in May and on his Spoken Word tour in September. Entertainment is guaranteed, as it is in this podcast with Mark where he considers … Norman Wisdom, Frankie Howerd, Tommy Cooper and the “sadness in all comedians”, stage fright, the day his dad threw him out of the house, why PiL is like opera, Ray Davies, Bryan Ferry, the “crippled emotions” of youth, why people open their hearts to him, the ghost of Johnny Rotten in Gladiator 11, the lost world of conversation in pubs, and missing his wife, best friend Rambo and Sid Vicious.

Order tickets for his spoken word tour here:

https://www.johnlydon.com/tour-dates/

PiL tickets here:

https://www.ticketmaster.com/public-image-limited-tickets/artist/241

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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In which we feed the week’s events through our heat-seeking Fun-Filter®️ to see what makes the bell ring. Which includes …

… Richard Ashcroft in the new John Lewis Christmas ad.

… U2 v Coldplay, the Beatles v Pink Floyd – rock bands and the “diploma divide”.

… why can we still recite entire song lyrics we learnt when teenagers but can’t remember the shopping list we wrote this morning?

… “they couldn’t find their backside with the flashlight”.

… the new form of tribute group: the Fall, Thin Lizzy and Talk Talk and the bands made up of ex-members who are recording their ‘new music’.

… Elvis, Noel Coward, Churchill, Dylan, Jack Nicholson, Michael Caine, Bowie, the Stones, Frank Sinatra … who should Craig Brown write about next?

… the very few people more famous than Paul McCartney.

… our search for the poshest pop star.

… Beatles fans v the National Anthem.

… is this the only podcast on God’s green earth to mention the Wars Of Spanish Succession?

… and birthday guest Giles Fraser on Phil Manzanera, Neil Tennant, Clare Grogan, Midge Ure and other musicians with fabulous speaking voices.

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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