Rod Liddle: Part-time punk turned professional provocateur
About this episode
The episode explores the life and career of Rod Liddle, a controversial figure in journalism and broadcasting, alongside influential personalities in music and dance.
Rod Liddle was a columnist and broadcaster who strongly divided opinion. Some saw him as an entertaining satirist, others, a bigot. As a teenager he joined a punk band and studied social psychology at the London School of Economics. He was politically active too, first as a member of Socialist Workers Party and then a Labour speech writer. He later joined the BBC as a trainee producer, working his way up to become editor of the Today programme. His former boss, Roger Mosey, told us how he immediately stood out from the crowd. Vicki Wickham was one of the music industry’s most influential managers with clients including Marc Almond, Morrissey, and Dusty Springfield. She landed the job of booking acts for ITV's Ready Steady Go! despite knowing little about music and became the driving force behind the show, arranging appearances by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles. Vicki’s friend Simon Napier Bell, who himself managed artists like Wham!, Marc Bolan and Ultravox, recalls the lasting impact she had on the industry. Simone Forti was the pioneering dancer and choreographer whose pieces often use improvisation and draw on inspiration from the world around her using everyday…
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