I cant think what it was. It was something. Ken loach, welcome to this cultural life. Its a great pleasure to come. And good to see you. You, too. You were born in 1936. You grew up in the midlands. Tell me about your family. What did your parents do . My father was an electrical engineer. Took his apprenticeship in the mines. The whole family, my fathers family were miners from the warwickshire coalfields, and he worked at Alfred Herberts machine tool factory all his life. Ao odd years. Skilled worker, then . Yes, a skilled worker, electrician. And he had a work ethic that was formidable. He worked seven days a week and my mother had been a hairdresser. But like women of that time, it was a matter of pride for my father that she should not have to work. But. Lovely woman, very kind. What sort of cultural upbringing did you have at home . Well, it was a very normal, i guess, suburban house, semidetached, in nuneaton. Erm. Cinemas nearby . There were cinemas, but we didnt go as a family
yes, do you need to.? take your jacket off. hello, i m john wilson, welcome to this cultural life, the radio four podcast, in which i ask leading creative figures to reveal the key moments in their life, and the most important cultural works that fired their own artistic imagination. my guest is director, screenwriter and playwright mike leigh. he s known for gritty social dramas, including vera drake and secrets and lies. domestic comedies, like life is sweet and happy go lucky, and historical stories, including mr turner and peterloo. i spoke to him in one of the many radio studios in bbc broadcasting house. mike, welcome to this cultural life. let s take you to the beginning. what is your earliest cultural memory? as a kid, we had, and i was exposed to. ..pantomime, live theatre of various sorts. circus. the circus was a big deal. variety. live variety, the old, you know, descendants of the music hall, including, at the age of nine, a trip to the ardwick hippodrome in manc
hello, i m john wilson, welcome to this cultural life, the radio four podcast, in which i ask leading creative figures to reveal the key moments in their life, and the most important cultural works that fired their own artistic imagination. my guest is director, screenwriter and playwright mike leigh. he s known for gritty social dramas, including vera drake and secrets and lies. domestic comedies like life is sweet and happy go lucky, and historical stories, including mr turner and peterloo. i spoke to him in one of the many radio studios in bbc broadcasting house. mike, welcome to this cultural life. let s take you to the beginning. what is your earliest cultural memory? as a kid, we had, and i was exposed to. ..pantomime, live theatre of various sorts. circus. the circus was a big deal. variety. live variety, the old, you know, descendants of the music hall, including, at the age of nine, a trip to the ardwick hippodrome in manchester to see laurel and hardy live on stage.
this cultural life. let s take you to the beginning. what s your earliest cultural memory? as a kid, we had, iwas exposed to pantomime, live theatre of various thoughts, circus, the circus was a big deal, variety, live variety, descendants of the music hall, including at the age of nine a trip to the ardwick hippodrome to see laurel and hardy live on stage on the famous tour, which i later realised was the famous tour, and the two important things about that were one, two extraordinary things, one was it was in colour they were in colour and two, that oliver hardy com pletely couldn t get his act together at all, he was absolutely out of control, and of course later we realised that that was because he was cracking up and it was the end of their of their career. were they funny? no. but i was fascinated, it didn t make any difference. of course, in school, from the earliest age, i was drawing, putting on sketches, generally wanted to be creative in all kinds of differen
i think in my acting days, i did a tiny bit of bbc radio. oh, you did? it might have been in this very studio some 60 odd years ago. really, here? fantastic. well, we ve got to dig those performances from the vault. i can t think what it was. it was something. ken loach, welcome to this cultural life. it s a great pleasure to come. and good to see you. you too. you were born in 1936. you grew up in the midlands. tell me about your family. what did your parents do? my father was an electrical engineer. took his apprenticeship in the mines. the whole family, my father s family were miners from the warwickshire coalfields, and he worked at alfred herbert s machine tool factory all his life ao odd years. skilled worker, then? yes, a skilled worker. electrician. and he had a work ethic that was formidable. he worked seven days a week. and my mother had been a hairdresser, but like women of that time, it was a matter of pride for my father that she should not have to work. but.lo