November 2012

(28) Berkshire – For the purpose of his forthcoming, two-part feature on the 80s music series, The Tube for Record Collector magazine, Keith conducted a lengthy interview with Christopher Phipps, the Assistant Producer on the Tyne-Tees/ Channel 4 series throughout its 5 year run. (Mega thanks for your time, Chris, really enjoyed the chat.)

Canada – Another impressive day in the Canadian book Charts, when Marilyn Monroe: The Final Years once more rose up the listings, to the No.4 position in the ‘Marilyn Monroe Bestsellers’ Chart on Amazon.ca. On the same day, in the same listings, the hardback UK version of the publication, The Final Years of Marilyn Monroe: The Shocking True Story was seen at the No.58 position, while the UK paperback edition was seen 9 places higher, at No.49.

(25) Canada / USA – Marilyn Monroe: The Final Years leapt up to the No.8 position in the ‘Marilyn Monroe Bestsellers’ Chart on Amazon.ca. While on Amazon.com, in the same section, the book reached the No.16 slot.

(22) London, Earl’s Court – Yet another visit to the Big City, when Our Mr Badman had the pleasure of spending several hours in the company of the legendary newspaper reporter (and fellow Beatles-fanatic), Robert Meakin. (“The time just whizzed-by,” was the quote of the day.) Keith was also sad to learn the fact that the historic Earl’s Court building (sometime next year) is about to pulled-down and turned into a housing estate. Scandalous!

(16) London, West End – another trek into the City, where Keith met some friends, Tel and Chappers, and, for the first time, the legendary photographer, Philip Townsend. (He was responsible for taking some of the very earliest snaps of The Rolling Stones.) A visit to group’s impressive, new, official shop on Carnaby Street followed.

(14) BBC Caversham Park, Reading, Berkshire – Six weeks after his first attendance, Keith made a return guest appearance on Tony Blackburn’s lunchtime show on BBC Radio Berkshire, this time to talk about the history of BBC Radio and the 60th anniversary years of the British Singles Charts.

(13) Book Charts – Canada: Another impressive day on the Canadian Amazon Charts when Marilyn Monroe: The Final Years ascended the listings one again, reaching the lofty No.2 spot in the ‘Bestsellers Marilyn Monroe’ section, in addition to being No.6 in the ‘Movie Biographies’ and No.15 in the ‘History & Criticism’ sections on the site. (Wow indeed!)

Record Collector update – Keith’s two-part examination of the 80s Tyne-Tees music show, The Tube (as part of his regular Rockin’ The Box columns) begins and is due for publication in the January/ February 2013 issues. The first will focus on former Led Zeppelin frontman, Robert Plant’s interview on the show in December 1982, his first since the split of the super-group.