Funeral, i think it was 1965, seeing it on the television and just being told about the great man. The World Cup Final of 1966, where the nation stopped, and in our own household, my brother had a sort of flirtation with meningitis which was very dramatic, as you know, those can be fora minute, and then he was fine, thank goodness. But i watched the World Cup Final in a neighbours house and ijust remember in both those cases, in belfast, as i was, i was very aware of a national event, or at least it seemed to galvanise everybody and everything, and i was looking at images that said, the world is watching. Wow. And you mentioned belfast there. Some people, i think, are still surprised when they hear that you grew up in working class belfast. Uhhuh. And youve now written and directed a film called belfast. Uhhuh. How autobiographical a film is it . Well, its seen through the eyes of nine year old buddy. Its seen at 50 years distance from me. So inevitably, not everything happened absolut
So, this is radio drama studio. Hello, im john wilson. Welcome to this cultural life, a radio four podcast in which i ask leading creative figures about the influences and inspirations that have fired their artistic imagination. My guest in this episode is sir kenneth branagh. A huge talent, a star of stage and screen for more than four decades now. Hes an actor, director, writer and film maker whose credits range from hamlet to tenet, from henry v to thor. We spoke in the very atmospheric radio drama studio of bbc broadcasting house. Ken, welcome to this cultural life. Thank you. A show about cultural inspiration, cultural influences. What is your earliest cultural memory, do you think . Something that had a big impact . I think, early doors, i can remember Winston Churchills funeral, i think it was 1965, seeing it on the television and just being told about the great man. The World Cup Final of 1966, where the nation stopped, and in our own household, my brother had a sort of flirtat
So, this is a Radio Drama Studio. Hello, im john wilson. Welcome to this cultural life, a radio four podcast in which i ask leading creative figures about the influences and inspirations that have fired their artistic imagination. My guest in this episode is sir kenneth branagh. A huge talent, a star of stage and screen for more than four decades now. Hes an actor, director, writer and film maker, whose credits range from hamlet to tenet, from henry v to thor. We spoke in the very atmospheric Radio Drama Studio of bbc broadcasting house. Ken, welcome to this cultural life. Thank you. A show about cultural inspiration, cultural influences. What is your earliest cultural memory, do you think . Something that had a big impact . I think, early doors, i can remember Winston Churchills funeral, i think it was 1965, seeing it on the television and just being told about the great man. The World Cup Final of 1966, where the nation stopped. And in our own household, my brother had a sort of flir
right, let s move on to your next big cultural influence. it s from 1982 - a landmark television drama series. the boys from the blackstuff by alan bleasdale. i started watching it in belfast i was doing my very second job, a brilliant play by graham reid, part of a trilogy of plays called the billy plays and i was watching it there, and few things struck me. it was very gritty and authentic i felt i absolutely believed its working class reality. but at the same time, it had a surreal and poetic quality as well. it had a heightened quality. and in bernard hill s performance as yosser hughes, it really seemed to reach something quite beyond what a television drama could do. it connected his story, connected to the heart of the nation. in a way, it was a story about a certain kind of male
any kind ofjob, in any kind of theatre, at any point was going to be enough for me. right, let s move on to your next big cultural influence. it s from 1982 a landmark television drama series. yeah. the boys from the blackstuff, by alan bleasdale. i started watching it in belfast. i was doing my very second job, a brilliant play by graham reid, part of a trilogy of plays called the billy plays. and i was watching it there, and few things struck me. it was very gritty and authentic. i felt, i absolutely believed it s working class reality. but at the same time, it had a surreal and poetic quality as well. it had a heightened quality. and in bernard hill s performance as yosser hughes, it really seemed to reach something quite beyond what a television drama could do. it connected. his story connected