In the 1920s, 30s and 40s, wooden-bodied shooting brakes, estate cars and station wagons were commercial vehicles built in Britain mostly for utilitarian roles. They were built in relative small numbers, often by small lesser-known commercial bodybuilding firms and required high levels of maintenance to ensure anything resembling a long life. Every chassis from Alvis, Austin and Bentley to Standard, Vauxhall and Wolseley, were built as Woodies at some stage and reached their peak of popularity in the immediate post-war years when steel was in short supply and the majority of new cars were being built for export.
Despite its comparatively small size, England has been a nation of considerable stature on the international stage for much of its history. As the home of parliamentary government, William Shakespeare, and the English language, England has been an influential player in the political and cultural development of nations the world over. The story of England is captured in this compelling volume, which provides an overview of its rich past, remarkable present, and promising future.
How was American culture disseminated into Britain? Why did many British citizens embrace American customs? And what picture did they form of American society and politics? This engaging and wide-ranging history explores these and other questions about the U.S.'s cultural and political influence on British society in the post-World War II period.
Examining work by novelists, filmmakers, TV producers and songwriters, this book uncovers the manner in which the radio – and the act of listening – has been written about for the past 100 years. Ever since the first public wireless broadcasts, people have been writing about the radio: often negatively, sometimes full of praise, but always with an eye and an ear to explain and offer an opinion about what they think they have heard. Novelists including Graham Greene, Agatha Christie, Evelyn Waugh, and James Joyce wrote about characters listening to this new medium with mixtures of delight, frustration, and despair. Clint Eastwood frightened moviegoers half to death in Play Misty for Me, but Lou Reed's 'Rock & Roll' said listening to a New York station had saved Jenny's life. Frasier showed the urbane side of broadcasting, whilst Good Morning, Vietnam exploded from the cinema screen with a raw energy all of its own. Queen thought that all the audience heard was 'ga ga', even as The Buggles said video had killed the radio star and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers lamented 'The Last DJ'. This book explores the cultural fascination with radio; the act of listening as a cultural expression – focusing on fiction, films and songs about radio. Martin Cooper, a broadcaster and academic, uses these movies, TV shows, songs, novels and more to tell a story of listening to the radio – as created by these contemporary writers, filmmakers, and musicians.
For over half a century, Alistair Cooke entertained and informed millions of listeners around the world in his weekly BBC radio program Letter from America. An outstanding observer of the American scene, he became one of the world’s best-loved broadcasters, and a foreigner who helped Americans better understand themselves. Here, in print for the first time, is a collection of Cooke’s finest reports that celebrates the inimitable style of this wise and avuncular reporter. Beginning with his first letter in 1946, a powerful description of American GIs returning home, and ending with his last broadcast in February 2004, in which he expressed his views on the United States presidential campaign, the collection captures Cooke’s unique voice and gift for telling stories. Gathered in this volume are encounters with the many presidents Cooke knew, from Roosevelt to Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, and Bush, both Senior and Junior. His friends are warmly recollected–among them Leonard Bernstein, Philip Larkin, Humphrey Bogart, Charlie Chaplin, and Katharine Hepburn. We observe a variety of political landmarks–the Vietnam War, Watergate, Cooke’s remarkable eyewitness account of Robert Kennedy’s assassination, through to the scandals that surrounded Clinton and the conflict in Iraq. His moving evocation of the events of September 11 and its aftermath remains essential reading, while his recollections of holidays and sporting events remind us of Cooke’s delight in the pleasures of everyday life. Imbued with Alistair Cooke’s good humor, elegance, and understanding, Letter from America, 1946—2004 is a captivating insight into the heart of a nation and a fitting tribute to the man who was for so many the most reassuring voice of our times.
An Introduction to Film Studies has established itself as the leading textbook for students of cinema. This revised and updated third edition guides students through the key issues and concepts in film studies, and introduces some of the world's key national cinemas including British, Indian, Soviet and French. Written by experienced teachers in the field and lavishly illustrated with over 122 film stills and production shots, it will be essential reading for any student of film.Features of the third edition include:*full coverage of all the key topics at undergraduate level*comprehensive and up-to-date information and new case studies on recent films such as Gladiator , Spiderman , The Blair Witch Project, Fight Club , Shrek and The Matrix*annotated key readings, further viewing, website resources, study questions, a comprehensive bibliography and indexes, and a glossary of key terms will help lecturers prepare tutorials and encourage students to undertake independent study.Individual chapters include:*Film form and narrative*Spectator, audience and response*Critical approaches to Hollywood cinema: authorship, genre and stars*Animation: forms and meaning*Gender and film*Lesbian and gay cinema*British cinema*Soviet montage Cinema*French New Wave*Indian Cinema
In 2016, Bob Dylan received the Nobel Prize in Literature ‘for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition’. This collection of essays by leading poets and critics – with a new foreword by Will Self – examines Dylan’s poetic genius, as well as his astounding cultural influence over the decades. ‘From Orpheus to Faiz, song and poetry have been closely linked. Dylan is the brilliant inheritor of the bardic tradition’ Salman Rushdie ‘The most significant Western popular artist in any form or medium of the past sixty years’ Will Self ‘For fifty and some years he has bent, coaxed, teased and persuaded words into lyric and narrative shapes that are at once extraordinary and inevitable’ Andrew Motion ‘His haunting music and lyrics have always seemed, in the deepest sense, literary’ Joyce Carol Oates ‘There is something inevitable about Bob Dylan... A storyteller pulling out all the stops – metaphor, allegory, repetition, precise detail... His virtue is in his style, his attitude, his disposition to the world’ Simon Armitage
