Friday 7 April 2017

Archive On 4: Ivor Cutler At 90

BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 23rd March 2017

To complement the 6 Music Festival in Glasgow, another chance to hear a programme first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2013 celebrating what would have been Ivor Cutler's 90th birthday. The deceptively quiet wordsmith was born in 1923 near the Rangers ground at Ibrox Park.

"I have a harmonium and it's going to explode in two minutes", were the opening words spoken on the Andy Kershaw Show in 1980 by a gentle voiced Scotsman called Ivor Cutler.

Championed by everyone from the Beatles to Billy Connolly, Ivor Cutler was a poet, humourist and absurdist whose appearances on BBC radio and television span over 5 decades. As well as producing a vast body of records, books and plays, Ivor was a notable eccentric, often seen cycling around London in plus fours, handing out homemade stickers and badges to strangers.

To mark what would have been Ivor's 90th birthday, BBC Radio 4 held a 'party', to celebrate his life and BBC archive in particular. Expect a full house, with performers, fans, collaborators and even his long-term partner, Phyllis King, introducing their favourite poems, songs and memories of Ivor. Weirdness from the archives, pleasure for fans, and a singular introduction to those encountering him for the very first time.

Highlights include Bramwell and King re-enacting a morse code performance of "The Little Black Buzzer".

Presenter: David Bramwell is a writer, musician and, recently, presenter of Sony Award winning "The Haunted Moustache". He is the founder of the "Catalyst Club"; a place for enthusiasts to speak on any subject close to their heart. Ivor Cutler is a subject close to his, having kept correspondence with him in the 1980's.

Producer: Sara Jane Hall.

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