Episode 17 The Culture Show

Hello and welcome to the Culture Show from Glasgow. This week we are

experiencing an unconventional opera, pondering the political

memoir, seeing a skier remove the and honouring the octogenarian King

of British design -- seen a scary movie. Coming up tonight: Mark

Wallinger meets an artist. The Way We Live Now. Sir Terence Conran

talks to Alan Yentob. Someone living in the country and

doesn't make anything, it is awful. I get the latest on the Cultural

Olympiad. And online expert Aleks Krotoski

explains why search results are not as serendipitous as this theme.

Also tonight: David did his art for opera.

And Racal boy ponders the importance of the Personal memoir

when playing for political power. Mark Kermode talks to Rebecca Hall,

stock of The Awakening. And we reveal the winning buildings

in this year's Heritage Angel Awards.

First tonight, Mark one danger is one of Britain's best-known and

most played for contemporary artists. He has called the public

imagination with works as diverse as a statue of Jesus Christ, a

perfect replica of the Iraq war protests of Brian Haw, and a

performance piece in which he dressed up as a bear. A new book

has been published about Mark, so Alastair went to meet him.

During the summer of 2010, and mysterious set of graffiti began to

appear across London. From Clapham to Camden, each tag was the same.

Mark. Always the same size, always placed in the middle of a brick in

unremarkable locations. It turns out that the tax were up by the

Turner prize-winning artists Mark Wallinger, and he has evolved into

one of Britain's most unconventional artists. He works in

painting, video, sculpture and performance and his pieces can be

very personal, profound, highly political but also with a lightness

of touch. He can be really funny. He is the only artist I can think

of who has made a piece that involves dressing up as a bear. I

met up with Mark to try to find one of his tax. There is one here! Your

handiwork! For parents or stupidity that kept me from fully utilising

the punning potential of my name. Something to do with the urban

experience as well, anonymity, and trying to make a mark, be an

individual, but that is lost as a gesture of one brick among the

billions within London. How many have you done? Well over 2000. They

range from Clapham Junction to Shoreditch, makes their to the Old

Kent Road, and yet -- Mayfair. has become an obsession? I was

caught in the act was and this guy said, your name is all over town

and that was nice, because I did hope it would creep up on people.

Mark will ensure's art has always been diverse. His series of

portraits of the capital highlighted the problem of

homelessness in London. He was the first artist to make a work for the

Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in 1999. In 2004, he spent 10

consecutive nights dressed as a bear in Berlin's Museum of Modern

Art. He won the Turner Prize in 2007 for a reconstruction of the

late anti-war protester Brian Haw's peace camp, which stood outside

Westminster from 2001 up to 2006. If you think back over you can read,

it is quite hard to pin down what you do as an artist -- over your

career. Why have you almost consciously resisted creating your

own signature style? Originally, I would define myself as a painter

and once I opened my mind to other media and what those things had

inherent within them, the possibilities of those, then I

suppose that it did seem very liberating. In the 90s, when you

started working with different media, including video, you

introduced religion and faith as an explicit part of the work. Perhaps

the best-known example is "this man". Why would you suddenly so

drawn to creating is overtly religious imagery? Two factors. The

history of Christian art really, Westernised, but the other thing

was the rise of fundamentalism and that made me think about how much

the residue of Christianity in a pretty secular society, how much it

still chimes. There is a lovely connection in the book of the one

man in Trafalgar Square and another lone man in a bid from square of

national importance in London, Brian Haw in Parliament Square.

That protest inspired State Britain. Why were Brian Haw's actions so

compelling? Above all else, it was the power of the document that he

was unfolding. He was shaming and lot of people, not just the

government. There had been one huge protest before we went to war and

then everybody seems to go home. I was photographing his things got a

couple of years just because I thought it was a remarkable thing.

You've got to know him? I got to know him when I knew I was going to

propose it, yes, and he let me take 800 photographs. On 22nd May, I

took a couple of curators to the square and said that a proposed to

remake Brighton's protest, and that very night, 78 policemen came and

took it away. Really? Yeah. spent time in Berlin and famously

you dressed up in a best suit when you were there. Aid there is a

symbol of Berlin. It was called Sleep but. -- the bear is a symbol

of Berlin. How important is it that your work always has some wit and

lightness? I don't like pretentious finger poking work. I was not going

to do any impressions, I was going to be a guy dressed up as a bed but

there needs to be enough motivation and motor energy and there were

enough people always outside that I could interact with or play with.

It was only really on very few occasions where there was no one

there at all and that became quite a strange, meditative moment.

would love to ask you about a much more recent piece that is as yet

unrealised. The horse that you may yet erect in Kent. Tell me a little

bit about that. It will be a 50 metres high, a white horse, with

the steel superstructure and a cement finish over concrete, and

hopefully it will be at Ebbsfleet, where the chalk of the North Downs

runs into the Thames estuary and that led me to think about hillside

figures made of chalk and it interested me that it is kind of on

that road that is in and out of Europe and the rest of the world.

You would see it on the Eurostar? Yes, and the motorway, so it is

both of this country and of that relationship with the wider world

and history. Any sense of when we will see the White Horse? I hope

there will be some good news on that coming up in the not-too-

distant future. After the Olympics? Yeah. And the book Marked by Martin

Herbert is out now. David is a hugely popular visual

artist who deals with the so real and the daft. Now he has turned his

hand to opera, collaborating with Nicholas Bone and they need they be

saying -- David Fennessey. He has come up with an opera inspired by

TV cookery shows. We went to find out more.

This is an opera about food. It is a really good subject for an opera

and I wish I had thought a bit myself, but I know from experience

how difficult it is to get this kind of show right. But the process

SINGING. # Super #.

Pass this boom is set in the world of daytime television, a cookery

programme where the chefs have to create a special meal to entertain

a different guest every week. In this episode, they are planning

what will be on the menu but then Mr Banana start to question their

ingredients. Banana custard? Ride from the start, the creators of

"pass of the spoon" insisted on using the finest ingredients. The

composer and director made the decision to come to someone else

before the operetta. It is not for a dramatist and poet so there is

David Trickey's work and mind and a lot of the time we are grinding

together against each other. We are not always been the same direction

and that was deliberate. We set up this slightly opposing world.

Fennessey is a serious composer, who has written four symphony

orchestras and string quartet. David treacly is known for his

offbeat drawings and animations. have written a few comic operas in

my time and musicals and I am interested in how you approach

comic timing. I never wanted to score the comedy. I always took it

very seriously. There is a lot of pious and religious music and I

scored it as if it was the most serious thing in the world. It is

so nicely shaped? # I am just a banana #.

What was it like he read your words in a song? Was it a shock? --

hearing your words? I have made lyrics for songs before but it's

sort of, against the difference is that Dave is a proper musician, in

that he is a composer, where the music is written down, so it is

clever music rather than rock and roll, which is less so. I am an

exotic fruit! We meet you for the custard! We were keen to try to

avoid giving people expectations by calling it an opera or musical so

we could not really decide. As soon as we started, I knew that I did

not want to do it through a traditional opera means because it

is a particular kind of comedy and playing David's stuff that I did

not think would work. I thought it was an opera but I was speaking to

David finesse the and he said no, technically it is a melodrama.

is thought of an opera. I like that! Delightfully vague! Food and

opera is a great mix. I was interested in cookery being a

vehicle to examine a lot of dreams that I am quite interested in, like

the body and being eaten and other nasty things. Thankfully, there is

lots of nasty things in "past the spoon". The visual imagination

comes to live with the creation of mundane root vegetables and the

knowledgeable Mr Banana. Lac de? Appeals now? God! Is he German or

something? Who do you think will see the show? Who will it appeal

to? Lovers of fruit and veg and all things edible. I suppose hopefully

there will be the people who like contemporary music and like David's

music and people who know David's visual work and I suppose you are

attracted to the quirkiness of that. If the rehearsals are anything to

go by, fans of all things quirky it will not be disappointed and I

can't help admiring the cartoonist's fearless approach to

the genre. David, how many operas have you seen? Nun, I have never

been to an opera. Musicals? Never been to a musical. Have you

been to gigs? Yes! I have seen music before. I do know what music

is, but no operas and musicals. I saw the Sound of Music. A glass of

sherry! A glass of cider! Shandy! Or some elderberry cordial! A glass

From what I have seen it is a delightful show. It is surreal

without being alienating. And it is very funny. The thing is, comedy

opera are difficult. But I think there is a good collaboration here.

It seems warm and an interesting mix of people and they have a real

chance of success. And Pass The Spoon will be performed in Glasgow

from 17th November. Next the worldwide web has been described as

the greatest serendipity engine in history, where we can make

surprising connections and discover coincidences. But Vicky Cristina

Barcelona -- but Alec -- Aleks Krotoski finds it is anything but

serendipitous. Serendipity? It is a happy coincidence. It means luck,

but good luck. I have no idea what it is. But I would like to have is

some - to have some. Serendipity, that delightful moment when totally

unrelated things come together in magical ways to change the course

of destiny. But I'm intrigued by the science behind it. What it is,

why it is important and why it is under threat as we try to replicate

it online. Serendipity is the essence of innovation. It is

inspiring and it is something that businesses want to distil so they

can capitalise on it. But can they? Is it possible to reduce something

that is so wrapped up in our life experiences and our humanity into

something that can be predicted by a flow clart? -- chart. We have

relied on serendipitous encounters for new revelations. These can be

life changing like a new job or a lover. They can herald revolutions,

like the discovery of X-rays. Or they can become essential parts of

our worlds, like superglue. Serendipity has played a role in

advancing culture since time immemorial. In the past people have

confused it with fate, destiny, coincidence and religious

experience. All extraordinary attributes that ignore an essential

part - human involvement. But today the thing we're relying on to

provide our wind fall coincidences is the world wide web, that has

been called the greatest serendipity engine in history. Web

developers are offering us spwhruegs in the form of discovery

engines that introduce us to unexpected information, inspire us

to do, think or see something differently. Of course, any

serendipitous encounter they deliver means financial rewards.

The result? Serendipity has become a commodity. Google's chairman

announced last year that he wants the search engine to be a

serendipity engine. He want asthma sheen that will -- he wants a

machine that will answer all my questions. And based where I am

using the GPS on my mobile phone and the other information that it

has monitored from mail or from search or from photographs or

social networking, he reckons that he knows that I'm out with my

friend Kat on a Friday and that I like pub grub. So a well timed

message about a good pub over there would be delightful. And it would

be. But is it serendipitous? I don't think so. Computers make

connections that humans can't and they're valuable in reveals the

conjunction of places and ideas that we're unable to make. But the

web is just a massive memory bank a system in which information can be

stored for later, when the contextlet is right for having the

insight to make connections. And this takes human involvement. Burr

there is more in what computer can't do. Discovery applications

decide what you will have access to, by crunching the data they have

corrected and -- collect and showing what will be relevant to

your interests. These filtders reduce chance encounters, by

serving up things the system thinks you will like for sure. They go for

easy wins, not the here -ish, now - ish or soon -ish stuff so you can

discover things you may not have discovered before. We're facing a

future in which the internet, the serendipity engine, is threatening

to kill off serendipity. We will never have the opportunity to bump

into something new, because machines are predicting our futures,

based on our past and creating a loop of cultural homogenization.

Technology can be part of the process. But are we ready to rely

on technology to progress society? Should we be giving up a quality

that makes us human and has advanced our culture, the wisdom to

make the connection and recognise the value ourselves to a machine?

Let's reclaim serendipity and keep our future in our own hands. Now

when London won the Olympic bid a programme of the so-called Cultural

Olympiad was announced. And I have been talking to Ruth MacKenzie to

find out what we can expect. Justy country has their own way of

staging the Olympics, each one has their own way of show casing their

culture. Since 1952 a non- competitive of arts and culture has

been associated with each games. Since it was announced London would

host the Olympics, 97.6 million pounds has been awarded to projects

in the Cultural Olympiad. Influiding -- including the London

festival. It has been going for three years already and it is just

gearing up for 2012. It is appropriate in a way they chose the

London bus as their symbol, when you read their publicity, it is

clear what they're setting out to be is a kind of cultural bus

service for the nation. Chris crossing not only London, but all

the regions with a barrage of events from workshops to

exhibitions to plays and films. But as a cynic, I would ask whether

London needs this vast injection of cultural creativity. And what is it

exactly that we're getting for a truly remarkably large amount of

money? If I'm brutally honest, I live in London, apparently the

Cultural Olympiad has been going for three year, and if I hadn't

read your material, I wouldn't have noticed. You're not one of the 1.2

million who came and danced as parts of the big dance? No. I'm

shocked and sad to hear that. seem to have been doing so many

different things, that people like me just haven't realised and put it

together that this is part of one event. I think our big chance is

the climax of the Cultural Olympiad, that is the London festival. We're

building up to this festival all over the UK and our challenge is to

pull everything together and show you the best of it and the best in

the world. But isn't Britain already culturally vibrant and

aren't a huge number of the events, wouldn't they take place any way

without the Olympiad. None of the commissions we have announced would

take place without the festival. The Royal Shakespeare Company and

the Globe are presenting a programme of Shakespeare done by

artists from all around the world. We're going to have the Iraqi

national theatre for the first time coming to do roim owe and Juliet

and we have actors from the South Sudan coming here. I find that

moving. We're going to have more artists from around the world doing

Shakespeare and sharing how it belongs to them as well as us. This

wouldn't happen in any other year. As well as over 1,000 events,

London 2012 will have an Olympic poster campaign. We have

commissioned 12 artists to make posters for the Paralympics and the

him pibs and you have got Howard Hodgkin and Martin Creed. Three of

the 12. That is one for the swimming Olympics? You can see

there that he has been inspired by swimming. That is fair. You can see

that Rachael has thought about the symbol of the Olympic, the rings,

but she talks about how for her this is about the memory of social

get togethers. So you could think about coffee mugs or glasses. And

Martin has thought about Podia. not a medal for the people who come

fifth? Tracy Emin has designed her poster for the par Olympics. It is

difficult to get your head around to do a poster. I kept thinking

what could I do? When they said would you do the Paralympics, then

I said yes. I have written you inspire me with your determination

and I love you. Then I used the Paralympic symbol. I don't like the

Olympic rings, I find them graphically difficult to deal with.

So I was pleased to have something which I found nice to draw. It is

not just the post hear the she is doing for London 2012. I'm doing a

solo show in Margate and I come from Margate and it is a big deal.

It is like the prodigal daughter returns. I'm showing two other

artists, Turner and Rodin. It is all erotic art. So not everyone

knows that Turner did a lot of erotic paintings and obviously

Rodin did. But much more raunchy, all people know is the Kiss, but

his other stuff was hard core. So I think there will be -- they will be

bringing that out and I will look a nice young lady in comparison.

Prince of the posters -- prints of the pofrsers are available to buy

on the festival web-site. -- posters. But you can be involved

without spending any money. On the July 27th, that is the opening day

of the Olympics, you're going to wake up, we hope, and join with

Martin Creed to create his largest ever piece. That will be bells. We

will ask you to ring bells all around the country. Bicycle bells,

church bells, there will be a down load for you phone. At a particular

time his work of art is everyone in Britain if you're awake, ring a

bell at this time on this day. Why is important that culture should be

part of this? We have 20 thousand journalists from around the world

and millions of tourists and millions more people watching on TV,

we want to show the creative world of the UK to its best. They say of

London that culture is to London as sun is to Spain. This is actually

really important to the economy of this country. And to the health and

wealthth of institution. We need to put on the best show we can. That

is all we're trying to do. You do a very good sell. But the truth is we

are much better at culture than we're at sport shush! We're going

to win many medals in sport and show that we're winners culture.

That is OK. That seems to be eto be a win-win. Still to come: Mark

Kermode on The Awakening and Alan yeb to be meets the king of high

street design, Sirte rans Conran. Next we have been hearing the

stories of buildings brought back by people who care for them and we

can reveal the wirns of the new Heritage Angels Awards heltd in

London this week. -- held in London The big day has finally arrived. We

spent four weeks visiting 16 extraordinary groups of people

trying to save 16 buildings. They all deserve to win but only four

will. The host and champion of these awards is Andrew Lloyd Webber.

People around the country are investing huge amounts of time, and

their own money and they are unsung heroes. We need to preserve our

heritage badly and there are people who we take for granted, who are

doing exactly what the government ought to have been doing, so I

think to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of local

people, it is a very small thing to do but I think it is vital. It is

moment for humility by politicians and ministers because we tried to

solve the world's problems but when you speak to these people, you

realise the real problems are being sold by people in the grass roots

of stock the best rescue of an industrial building is the first

award. The first building on the shortlist is the magnificent

players fleapit in Mansfield. A gem of Britain's industrial past. --

Pleasley Pit. Just down the road from Pleasley, best would colliery

in Nottinghamshire. In 1845, the great Victorian engineer Isambard

Kingdom Brunel built this goods shed on the outskirts of Stroud in

Gloucestershire. The third building up for the award. North Leverton

windmill, the final building competing, was built in 1813 by

five local farmers and has been in continuous use for nearly 200 years.

And the winners are the Friends of Pleasley Pit. It feels fantastic to

have won this amazing award. I feel so proud that all my volunteers

have seen after 15 years some recognition of their arduous work.

The next award category is for heritage at risk in general.

The first building inherited at risk category is Arnos Vale

Cemetery in Bristol. -- heritage at risk. The huge necropolis was

opened in 1839. The Ireland memorial cross in Staffordshire was

built in 1841 by a wealthy industrialist, J C Watts Russell,

in memory of his wife. The third building competing for the award is

the de concentrated Church of St Stephen's, Rosslyn Hill, in

Hampstead. Consider it to be the architect's masterpiece. The final

building is the Dome Cinema in a Sussex coastal town of Worthing,

which has hardly changed since it was built in 1911 as a plush

picture palace. They were all very strong candidate

and we were completely split between two, and after a lot of

heated debate, we decided that we have to award joint winners. Arnos

Vale Cemetery Trust, working together with Bristol City Council,

and St Stephen's Restoration of Preservation Trust. I am so proud

of Arnos Vale today. It is for everyone. It is fantastic. It is

wonderful to have had some public acknowledgement of 11 years of what

Churchill referred to as blood, toil, tears and sweat. It has been

but it is being used by the community now and that is the

important thing. The third angel is for best rescue of a place of

worship. The first building nominated in the place of worship

category is the Church of the Good Shepherd in Nottingham. Built in

1964, the Church's stained-glass it was Brown's great king -- ground-

breaking. The second entry, the Church of St Peter's in

Leicestershire, has hardly changed since it was built in the late 15th

century. It may have the honour of been mentioned in the Domesday Book,

but the third building up for the award also has an impressive

historic pedigree. The 12th century St James's Priory is thought to be

Bristol's oldest surviving building. The final building competing is the

former church of St Margaret of Antioch in the inner-city area of

Leeds. Not much to look at from the outside, but step inside and you

will be greeted by a wonderful sight. And the winner is... Left

Bank Leeds for the restoration of the former Church of St Margaret of

Antioch. I think everybody admitted that it may not be the most

beautiful exterior but it is big inside that counts. One of the

things that people always say when they walk in the building is wow!

And the next thing is normally to swear. And then say, what can we

do? Because it is a space that so many people have used in the last

few years. Thank you very much. In a world where it is hard to get

somebody put some tiling in your utility room, I am thrilled that I

am do on the shortlist for the best craftsmanship are employed on a

rescue. -- I am doing. Tyntesfield Orangery in North

Somerset was built in 1897 to house exotic plants and fruit. Today, an

army of stonemasons on the National Trust have been hard at work

restoring this handsome building. Another set of unique craft skills

came into play in the restoration of the second building shortlisted.

The 16th century Smythe Barn in Kent boasts a rare and stunning

roof, usually found in palaces. Next up is the once magnificent

fourteenth-century Hall in Worcester. To ensure this ancient

site survives into the next century, a team of stonemasons have been

hard at work, Suren it up for the nation. The final building

competing is Woodchester Mansion in Gloucestershire, which was

mysteriously abandoned amid construction in 1873. Now, thanks

to the Woodchester Mansion Trust, workers resumed on this beautiful

building. The winner of the craftsmanship award is Mr Graham

Forge, his son and the group for the Smythe Barn. It is a massive

pat on the back for all of the effort that we have done. It is

lovely to be awarded something that recognises how much effort we have

all put into it. What an exciting and enjoyable morning, not least

for the winners. This is the first year of the Heritage Awards and in

the future, I am looking forward to meeting many more Heritage Angels.

Next up, Sir Terence Conran bought Mossbourne design into drab and

dingy British households -- modern design. In doing so, he became a

household name himself. Few have had such a profound effect on the

look of our lifestyles. He has just turned 80 and to celebrate, the

Design Museum is holding an exhibition looking back at his

extraordinary career. Alan Yentob Terence Conran has always been a

hero of mine. It was his passion for intelligent design which helped

transform the rather dowdy Britain of the 50s into a livelier, more

elegant and more colourful plates. Conran is much more than a designer,

a retailer or restaurateur, although he is all three of those.

He was a pioneer of what seemed like a sophisticated, civilised

lifestyle that he believed should be accessible and affordable to

just about everyone. It is a mission that has absorbed him for

over half a century and his employers and impact can still be

You enticed us all into understanding design. You held our

hand. Let's face it, Britain was quite dowdy when you began and it

has taken half a century to get where we are now, which somehow has

embraced the dream he had. It is surprising to me, this, because I

worked on the Festival of Britain as an extremely young designer and

I saw the enormous enthusiasm that people had when they came to the

festival. If you looked around London at that time, endless bomb

sites, it was a miserable, Gray, rationed existence. Suddenly coming

to the Festival of Britain was light, colour, cheerfulness,

innovation, invention, a new architecture, shapes, and it gave

the British who went to it confidence that they were in the

right country at the right time. The British have always been rather

suspicious of the Continent, of the French. You love Paris, you love

France, you love cuisine, and now we have open-air cafes, there is

light streaming into your building. In their early 50s, I had a friend

called Michael Wickham who had been a condition last photographer and

he said to me, would you like to come on holiday and so we set off

for France in his clapped-out car, and we managed to spend six weeks

eating in wonderful cafes, slipping in ditches, and this trip to France

was enormously important to me. Especially, the Ironmongers shops,

you went into them, these wonderful, sturdy, kitchen equipment. Great

casseroles, wonderful ceramics, fantastic baskets. To me it all

added up to the sort of life that I wanted to live. As it turned out,

it was the sort of life that many of us wanted to live, although it

took Conran's vision to persuade us that this was the case. In 1964, he

opened a shop on the Fulham Road which was to blossom into perhaps

his greatest legacy. Habitat. don't just sell furniture but they

are also if taste supermarket. In this case, the furniture and the

taste a one-man's: Terence Conran. I have always been fascinated by

the below the stairs object of the Victorian era, which were made as

very useful, simple objects. The design of them probably really

wasn't considered as such, they had to do their job. His farmhouse

tables and enamel jugs entice the naturally Conservative Brits to

imagine they were revisiting the past. But his real genius lay in

presenting those objects side by side, with high desire from

Scandinavia and Italy. Pieces by contemporary designers, working in

plastic and chrome. As much as anything, conman was selling us

ideas about design. -- Terence Conran. You were trying to show

people how they could live rather than the way they did lives. What

Habitat was about, and I know you resist the would live start but I

mean it in a positive way. In other words, the quality of life --

resist the word "lifestyle". Not just the chair we sit in but the

food we eat. How you make everyone a place we want to be in. For I

believe in easy living. A feeling that when you come home, there is

no formality, you can keep your shoes off, take your jacket off,

sit down on the sofa and put your feet up on it, read a book, watch

the telly, have a drink and... I have always tried to create that

sort of relaxed atmosphere. isn't too fantastical to say that

Terence Conran was the reason most of us sleep under a duvet every

night. That many of us have open- plan homes, or for the garlic

presses, Wine Rack and pepper mills in our kitchens. His philosophy,

which seemed so radical in the 60s, had become the norm, and he

continues to design and make things today through his workshop, a

Benchmark. As the elder statesman of British design, he is naturally

concerned for the future of the industry and despite turning 80,

the always outspoken Terence Conran has no intention of bowing out

quietly. Do we undervalue the creative industry? I think one of

the things that Britain has achieved a really his reputation,

and much of it is to do with its design, its architecture, the

people it has produced. Yeah. I think it is undervalued by

government. Seriously undervalued. We have to create jobs, you know,

the easiest way to create jobs is by making things. We have simply

got to learn how to become a workshop again in this country and

make things. Fancy living in a country that doesn't make anything.

It is awful. Terence Conran, the Way We Live Now, is at the Design

Museum from November 16th until March fourth next year. Next, if

you are plotting or political power, what do you need to make it? Crowd-

pleasing Policies? A makeover? An attractive young family? That will

help but don't forget the latest weapon in the leader's' armoury,

publishing a personal memoir. Over the pond, the Republican hot shot

Michelle has her eye on the Oval Office and hence she is the latest

politician to put pen to paper. Journalist Anne McElvoy talks us

Michelle Backman is the new Tea Party got ess of right-wing

politics. In other words, she is the new Sara Palin. Just without

the natural restraint and liberal tendencies. I think that people

across the United States are not happy with President Obama's

policies and I think it is likely he will be a one-term president.

She is intent on challenging Barack Obama and as public opinion goes

cold on the cool liberal guy, that is a big opportunity. So what does

a fledgling member of congress need to reach out to a wider audience?

She is deploying the weapon of a thumping great memoir with a states

womanly image on the cover. You are no one in American politics without

an autobiography laying out your view of the world. Modern

campaigning is about selling a story. The game changer was Obama's

Dreams For My Father. It was written before his career began and

it has a refreshing honesty. Two things not always associated

politicians. Can I not honestly say the voice in this book is not mine.

But I would tell the story differently today. Even if certain

passages have been inconvenient politicaly. What this book she'd

touching life story could reach people who don't read big tomes and

he even confessed to teenage drug abuse. But many people are writing

memoirs before they achieve anything. So what is the point?

Beside pegging her to a set of values, it is a chance to be on the

chat shows and have acres of press coverage, even from detractors,

such as Jon Stewart. That is... The guy... Teaching people not to be

gay? Of course Obama was not the first politician to discover the

memoir as a campaign tool. Winston Churchill penned his self-portrait,

my early life, to rise up the ranks and show his if theness to --

fitness to lead. So did Adolf Hitler and Ronald Regan. Campaigns

of the field in which interests clash intrigue us as events move to

the final show down. Tensions break out and stuff just happens. In

Britain though political insiders tend to wait until they have

achieved something before spilling the beans. In recent years we have

had a slew of memoirs from the New Labour in crowd about life at the

top. It wasn't the politics that appealed, it was the boldness,

people talked about it for years. Here was a new leader, telling me

he was thinking about doing it in his first conference speech. Bold.

I said, I hope you do it. Because it's bold. Important thing about

the accounts by the big hitters is they rarely concede that a lot of

it was a waste of time or a cock up. Vindication is the name of the game

with a twist of revenge. The hope was we would trip up and I would

lose my head by some trick of fate the mood of the public would switch.

It was never going to happen. everyone of these accounts is a

feat of self congratulations. Politicians aren't into that, as we

know. There is a school of memoir writing that is devoted to failure

and what it feels like. From Labour's glody Chris Mullin to the

old right-wing Alan Clarke. Department of Employment, Wednesday,

15th June, she has a pale skin and large eyes, her blonde hair is gamy

and short her sexuality tightly controlled. She makes plain her

feelings on several accounts, without expressing them. One that

I'm an uncouth lout, two that it is a mystery why I have been made a

minister. The joy of the memoir is that it is weapon, a diversion and

an execution and often absurd. But it is telling. The reason I like

them, they give us a glimpse into the events of people who shaped our

course. Are they self serve something of course. If you want to

sniff the air of another era, there is no better way. Michelle

Backman's memoir is published on 21st November. For those who like

to be terrified, one of this autumn's key releases will be The

Awakening, a new British thriller that had its premiere last week.

Mark Kermode has been talking to Rebecca harl is becoming one of the

UK's most in demand actresss, The Awakening is a chiller set in

postWorld War one Britain and she has made a career out of exposing

psychic fraudsters. Welcome to the show. You have been nominated for

an independent film award. You have had nominations before. You won a

BAFTA. Let's talk about The Awakening, has there been a return

to that kind of classic horror? People seem to have decided they

want something different from their chillers? The truth is that that

these type of genre movies and everyone makes a face when you say

that. Not me. I just don't think it is. Often the point of the films

that take you know extreme situations is to say something more

simple and humane. And often it is easier to tell, to get to the meat

of that through being elliptical and going through it the other way

and using a genre. I often find it illuminates things. What is the

scariest film you saw? Probably Don't Look Now. But it is a strange

one. I was home alone as a kid, I was about 12, rifling through my

dad's video collection and put on Don't Look New As a 12 or 13-year-

old. Perhaps not the best. I call that bad parenting. No. My parents

would say not. Good parenting. The opening to cultures. Expose

yourself to one of the scariest films. I didn't know what I was in

for. I kept watching. There is a connection, because it is about

loss and the centre of the Awakening, it is seen through the

eyes of your character. Yes. I don't look at the script and think,

you know, oh grieving, that is a great way to tell a ghost story. I

thought a gors story is a good way to talk about grief. You use

something to address something else. What is that? She began with film

like The Prestige and went to Frost/Nixon and working with Woody

Allen in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. He keeps looking over. You keep

provoking contact. "M at. You have been throwing looks al at him.

story with Woody Allen he said can you do an American accent, fine

you're in? That is true. Really? Yes it sounds fan fast Tall -- fan

tastical. He didn't even see my face. It was winter and I was

wearing a hat and had a scarf. There was about this much of my

face showing. I was trying to disrobe, not entirely, but within

reason. Before I had got to the hat, he just said, can you do an

American accent. I have spoken to people who have been directed by

him and say he is very, he stands back and lets you do it and give

you a bit. What is that like? true. If anything he is a bit

more... He can be even more irrefr rent with his own material and I

found that scary. He would say, do it again, put it in your own words,

say what you want. I would say, you're kidding mairs, you're Woody

Allen. I can't put it into my words. She is a mental teenager and she

has a death wish. So for a brief moment of passion she abandons all

responsibilities. What is it like working with Christopher Nolan?

is extraordinary. I didn't, well I was green when I meat The Prestige.

It was my first film and I had never been to Hollywood before. He

cast me on the basis of a tape I made on my dodgy video recorder in

my bedroom. So I didn't know it was. What was on the tape? A scene from

the movie. It was like, you auditioning on your own? Yes it was

with a mate reading behind the cam RSPCA I wasn't doing both parts.

And just flipping my head. What do you want from me? I... I want... I

want you to be... Honest with me. No tricks. No lies. And no...

Secrets. You paint and you have been talking about directing and

having confidence in something like Christopher Nolan, you have a

creative vent, are you going to direct? Yeah, it is terrible being

an actor, people ask you that. Sorry I meant it in a good way.

is great, but if I say it now, then I'm going to have to come good on

it. Would you like to. When your being directed. I'm being

faseeshous, but I would like. have a project that you would like

to direct? Maybe. Is ate genre project? I don't know yet. It is

early days. OK. And The Awakening is on release from end of next week.

This has been the last of our regular programmes, but you can see

a special on Armistice Day, the 11th November at 7pm. Art for

heroes look at how ex-servicemen suffering from post-traumatic

stress are using art to help heal themselves. We leave you tonight

with the Fleet Foxes, the American folk band are in the UK next month.

But now here is a TV exclusive of a new animation made to accompany a