Wednesday, June 30, 2010

BBC - BBC One Programmes - Imagine, 2010/11, Nigel Kennedy's Polish Adventure

BBC - BBC One Programmes - Imagine, 2010/11, Nigel Kennedy's Polish Adventure: "The virtuoso violinist Nigel Kennedy became Britain's most celebrated classical musician after the release of his 1989 recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, which sold 2 million copies. But Kennedy had always harboured a love of jazz - an affection which the former child prodigy has been pursuing in his new home. Kennedy now lives in Poland, where he fronts an all-Polish jazz band, the Nigel Kennedy Quintet, and has recently founded The Orchestra of Life, an ensemble consisting of mostly young musicians.
In Imagine: Nigel Kennedy's Polish Adventure, Alan Yentob traces Kennedy's personal odyssey, and follows him as he explores the rich musical traditions of his adopted homeland."

BBC - BBC One Programmes - Imagine, 2010/11, Growing Old Disgracefully

BBC - BBC One Programmes - Imagine, 2010/11, Growing Old Disgracefully: "At the age of 92, Diana Athill is suddenly a celebrity. Her frank and entertaining memoirs, mainly written after the age at which most people retire, chart a life less ordinary. She's had a string of love affairs, mainly with married, black and/or younger men; enjoyed fifty years of success as an editor, worked with writers as distinguished as Jean Rhys, Norman Mailer and VS Naipaul; and led a privileged childhood in a Norfolk mansion. Recently, she has chosen to go into an old people's home, where they take people 'who have had interesting lives'. Alan Yentob meets her to discuss her life, her work - and her outspoken thoughts on death."