Nick Hennegan takes your Christmas requests... which get very Welsh with Dylan Thomas and Cerys Matthews.
Thursday 14 December 2023
Thursday 30 November 2023
Shane MacGowan - a tribute.
Nick Hennegan had the pleasure of meeting the Pogues frontman, Shane MacGowan - punk, traditionalist and perceived hell-raiser - who has passed away. This is his personal tribute.
Friday 24 November 2023
Dylan Thomas Live!
Nick Hennegan celebrates the Dylan Thomas wreath-laying in Westminster Abbey by presenting the Welsh poet telling stories - live!
Thursday 2 November 2023
Dylan Thomas and other artists!
This week, Nick Hennegan celebrates the birth of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, with performances from Cerys Matthews and Guy Masterson.
Monday 16 October 2023
Celebrating Oscar Wilde.
Nick Hennegan celebrates Oscar Wilde with one of his most famous poems and some of his most famous one-liners!
Wednesday 11 October 2023
Literary Requests
This time Nick Hennegan takes your requests, with new music and poetry and some classics too.
Tuesday 3 October 2023
Dylan Thomas and TS Eliot - landscapes
Nick Hennegan is in Wales! So this time 'Literary London', looks at the influence place has on poets, with readings from Dylan Thomas and T.S. Eliot.
www.BohemianBritain.com
Thursday 28 September 2023
The Chiswick Book Festival - Part 2
Nick Hennegan is at the George lV Pub in Chiswick, for the second part of the Book Festival's Local Authors party - where local scibes have just two minutes to describe their books.
Saturday 9 September 2023
From the Edinburgh Fringe to the Chiswick Book Festival.
After returning from a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Nick Hennegan is in Chiswick, West London, for the Book Festival's Local Writers evening at the George lV Pub on the High Road. Hear a selection of local writers with just TWO minutes to present their books... before being noisily penalised!
Part 2 next week.
Friday 28 July 2023
Meet Mary and Percy Shelley, Lord Byron and their doubles!
Before its run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Nick Hennegan talks to Teryn Gray, Callum Pardoe and Jamie Patterson, the three actors from The Birth Of Frankenstein, about their background and the characters they play.
Further details from www.MaverickTheatreCompany.com
Friday 21 July 2023
Hennegan and Hemmingway!
Celebrating the Birthday of American writer Ernest Hemingway, Nick Hennegan plays recordings of the man himself reading his own works.
Thursday 6 July 2023
Vintage Sherlock Holmes!
Nick Hennegan plays a rare 1940's recording of a Sherlock Holmes story. "A Scandal in Bohemia!'
Thursday 29 June 2023
Celebrating Blooms-day!
Nick Hennegan celebrates BloomsDay with his first ever reading of Ulysses by James Joyce.
Thursday 22 June 2023
The Kensington and Chelsea Festival.
Home to Notting Hill, Grenfell Tower and some of the most expensive property in London, Nick Hennegan talks to Artistic Director Verena Cornwall about a Covid-inspired lock-down success story in the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
See the video at www.BohemianBritain.com
Monday 12 June 2023
Nick on the BBC!
Nick Hennegan, award-winning theatre producer, director and writer, talks to Mya Khan about his production of Two, by Jim Cartwright with Maverick Theatre at The Billesley Pub in Birmingham. www.BohemianBritain.com
Friday 9 June 2023
Resonance 104.4fm requests and a Charles Dickens short story.
Nick Hennegan plays literary requests from Dylan Thomas, The Choir of Man and a chilling short story commemorating the passing of Charles Dickens.
Tuesday 6 June 2023
Friday 2 June 2023
The London Library Party... and Frankenstein!
This time, Nick Hennegan has been at the London Library Summer Party, but is taking The Birth of Frankenstein to the Edinburgh Fringe... and invites you to join in the research!
Saturday 27 May 2023
Literary Chiswick and Walt Whitman
Nick Hennegan is in the Cross Keys Pub in Hammersmith, London W6 and looks at some of the famous local writers and celebrates American Walt Whitman's Birthday!
Thursday 11 May 2023
Dylan Thomas, Cerys Matthews and Guy Masterson. Nick Goes Welsh!
Nick Hennegan celebrates International Dylan Thomas Day with readings from Cerys Matthews and Guy Masterson. www.BohemianBritain.com
Thursday 4 May 2023
Right Royal Requests!
This time Nick Hennegan plays requests and poems on his radio show, with celebrity choice from John Le Carre and the Literary Pub Of The Week, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese.
Sunday 30 April 2023
Potter, Bragg, Southwark and suicide.
This week on Literary London, Nick Hennegan’s celebrity poem has a moving insight into Lord Melvyn Bragg’s past. He also introduces his Literary Pub of The Week - The George in Southwark, London.
Monday 24 April 2023
Friday 21 April 2023
Celebrating William Shakespeare.
Nick Hennegan looks at some facts - and otherwise - about William Shakespeare on his birthday weekend in April. Or was Shakespeare actually born in May? Find out why! Nick also shares his own experiences with The Bard of Avon and plays some classic poems, speeches and music.
Maverick Theatre and TWO in the Pub. Shot with Tradition..!
Shots. Not big or clever. Although one per production should be okay! The TWO gang… Greg, Nick and Claire.
It’s not big, and it’s not clever, but it’s a tradition we have at the Maverick Theatre Company that dates back to the 1990’s. The first night shot! Of course, it’s not compulsory for Maverick people to have a shot after our first production, or indeed drink any alcohol, but it goes back to the early days of Maverick at the Billesley Pub in Birmingham.
Our first production was very difficult financially. (There’s a surprise! They still are!)
On one of our early first nights, Glenn Bayes, a local actor who I thought would make a good director (I was correct!) and I were standing at the bar, trying to work out if we had enough cash to buy a pint which we could split – a half pint each. It was cheaper that way.
Then, a very sartorial member of the audience came to the bar and saw us. He knew who we were because in the early days at the Billesley we always did a raffle before the production and explained to our first-time theatre attenders how it all worked.
This man was obviously impressed with us.
“What a marvellous show,” he gushed. “The acting, the intimacy of it all… what an experience. I’m a regular theatre-goer but I LOVE this concept. It’s proper art.”
We mumbled some thanks and shuffled on the spot. But then…
“I MUST buy you a drink. What do you want?”
Glenn and I looked at each other and shoved our small change back in our pockets.
“That’s very kind of you,” I said. “A pint of lager would be lovely.”
“Yes”, said Glen. “Lager for me too. Thank you very much.”
Sartorial-man looked at us.
“What! Lager? Certainly not. A quality experience needs a quality drink. Whisky. A good one. Or a Brandy? I won’t buy you anything less!”
Now me and Glen were both born and raised on a council estate – in fact the Billesley estate, where this pub was and the show had just happened. I’d had some radio experience and record industry launch parties, but we both REALLY just wanted a pint. It became an early lesson in established theatre culture!
So lovely Posh man bought us a short each. I think I had an Irish whisky and Glen had a Bourbon. And Glen, being a younger man, shotted his drink. Down in one. So I followed his example. Posh man looked on, at first puzzled, but then quickly followed our example.
“Wow! You guys! What a blast!”
We never got the pint. Financially things eventually got a bit better. But Glenn and I always joked about that night. And got each other – and our actors and crew – a shot for years afterwards on our first nights.
And there are hundreds of Maverick actors, artists, techies and friends who have suffered/enjoyed our first nights ever since. Including the lovely current TWO actors, Claire and Greg.
So if you ever want to buy me a drink, a pint will be great. Unless, of course, it’s the first night of a Maverick Theatre production…
Come and see Two At The Tabard Theatre…
Our acclaimed production runs until 29th April. It’d be great to see you. And not just in the bar afterwards. Although it’s a bit ‘dangerous’ booze-wise, as the show starts at 7.30pm, has a 15 minute interval and we’re still back in the ‘proper’ bar downstairs at The Tabard before 9pm! Cheers! Hic!
Saturday 15 April 2023
Tabard Theatre's True Two Tour de force.
🍷🍷🍷🍷 🍷 - 5 stars out of 5. Plus a packet of crisps!
Two by Jim Cartwright - till 29th April, 2023.
Nicholas Hennegan and The Maverick Theatre Company at the Theatre At The Tabard, 2 Bath Road, London, W4 1LW.
Jim Cartwright's TWO is the story of one night in a Working Class Pub. Presumably somewhere 'Oop North'. But the location doesn't matter. It could easily be in Chiswick, West London. Cartwright is a Northern Playwright, but the assorted characters we meet as they pass through the unnamed pub are universal. We meet an older woman, looking after a frail, bedridden husband, lusting after the local butcher and taking her reward for the day in a glass of Guinness. There's an old man, now a widower, but philosophically and without bitterness still spending time with the presence of his dead wife and recalling her "soft cotton hair". There's Moth, boyfriend of Maudie and a not-so-young man who can't help but attempt to seduce, epically unsuccessfully, every woman he comes across. A lost little boy who's been left in the pub by his forgetful Father. A lustful woman who likes "big men" but who's own husband is a loved, but "compact chap" and finally has enough. There's Roy, posh abuser of his wife, Lesley and the overweight, loveable and loved Elvis and Western fans Fred and Alice (Elvis Presley died from a choked bum, by the way!) and The Other Woman who has had enough of furtive affair meetings in hotels and car parks and decided to confront her lover... and his wife... in the pub. And against all this are the bickering Landlord and Landlady who hold the pub together in spite of their obvious dislike for each other. Or is it an obvious dislike? We find out that this normal night is not perhaps, so normal.
The impressive thing with this production is that all the characters coming and going through the busy pub are all the same people! Or at least, two people. Claire Louise Amias and Greg Snowden give magnificent performances that are lithe and completely believable. Assured direction from Richard Woolnough ensures the action never lags. It's also incredible that so much is squeezed into such a short time. We started at 7.30pm and even with Two Acts and an Interval, we were back in the 'real' pub downstairs before 9pm.
Maverick Theatre are known for creating great nights out. And this is another one of those night. Go see Two. You may become a regular.
REVIEWER: Billie Andrews.
TICKETS: £18 full price/£15 concessions. Limited number of premium on stage seats available for £20.
Friday 14 April 2023
Celebrating Charlotte Bronte.
Nick Hennegan celebrates the birth on 21st April 1816 of Charlotte Bronte. We all know she was the author of Jane Eyre, but she also wrote poetry. Nick looks at her life and poetry.
Thursday 6 April 2023
TWO - Actors down the Pub!
Nick Hennegan talks to actors Claire Louise Amias, Greg Snowden and director Richard Woolnough live from Gerry's Club in Soho, about their forthcoming production, TWO by Jim Cartwright at the Tabard Pub Theatre in Chiswick, London, W4. Cheers!
For details, see https://tabard.org.uk/whats-on/two/
TWO Actors Down The Pub!
Nick Hennegan talks to actors Claire Louise Amias, Greg Snowden and director Richard Woolnough live from Gerry's Club in Soho, about their forthcoming Maverick Theatre production, TWO by Jim Cartwright at the Tabard Pub Theatre in Chiswick, London, W4.
Cheers!
For details, see https://tabard.org.uk/whats-on/two/
Sunday 2 April 2023
Literary (and Irish) requests!
This week on 'Literary London', Nick Hennegan (who, as you will hear, has had his new phone stolen!) plays your requests, with music and poetry from The Pogues, WB Yeats and The Dubliners.
Friday 24 March 2023
The History of a famous London Bohemian Pub - Part Two
The second part of the 2015 interview when Nick Hennegan talks again to the late Sally Fiber about her time growing up in one of the most famous literary pubs in London in the company of Walter Sickert, Augustus John, Jacob Epstein, Nina Hamnett, Dylan Thomas, George Orwell and Tommy Cooper to name but a few! And her memories of Britain's last Official Hangman, Albert Pierrepoint!
www.BohemianBritain.com
Saturday 18 March 2023
The History of a London Bohemian Pub - Part One
Nick Hennegan talks to the late Sally Fiber about her time growing up in one of the most famous literary pubs in London in the company of Walter Sickert, Augustus John, Jacob Epstein, Nina Hamnett, Dylan Thomas, George Orwell and Tommy Cooper to name but a few!
Saturday 11 March 2023
Celebrating Jules Verne.
Nick Hennegan celebrates the genius of Jules Verne... "the father of Science fiction" with a reading of the first chapter of 'A Journey To The Centre of the Earth - and music from the film of another Verne classic, 'Around The World In 80 Days'.
Saturday 4 March 2023
Songs inspired by Classic Books
Nick Hennegan celebrates songs inspired by literary classics, from Victor Hugo, Kate Bush, David Bowie and The Beatles!
Saturday 25 February 2023
Stage Ghosts and Haunted Theatres!
Nick Hennegan talks to theatre worker and writer Nick Bromley about his life, books, work... and Theatre Ghosts! Nick has been a West End Company Manager since 1971, with shows such as The Sound of Music, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Love Never Dies to his name.
He is the sixteenth Master of the Drury Lane Theatrical Fund, founded by David Garrick in 1766, and a member of both the Ghost Club and the Society for Psychical Research.
SEE THE VIDEO at Bohemian Britain.com
More information on Nick at https://lnpbooks.co.uk
Friday 17 February 2023
Soundscape of Love
This week, Nick Hennegan creates a musical and spoken word soundscape around the theme of love!
Monday 13 February 2023
Well-known writers featured on the London Literary Pub Crawl.
London has been home to some of the most revered writers in history. Here are five of the most famous writers who have lived and worked in the city:
- 1. Charles Dickens: The renowned English author was born in Portsmouth, but moved to London in his early twenties and wrote most of his beloved classics, such as Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol, while living in the city.
- 2. George Orwell: The author of Animal Farm and 1984 spent much of his life in London and his novels were often influenced by his life in the city. I've been to the real Pub on which he based his Proles Pub in 1984!
- 3. Virginia Woolf: The modernist writer and founder of the Bloomsbury Group is perhaps best known for her novel Mrs Dalloway. Woolf moved to the city in 1904 and wrote many of her works while living in London.
- 4. J.K. Rowling: The author of the beloved Harry Potter books lived in London while writing the first four novels in the series.
- 5. William Shakespeare: The Bard is perhaps the most famous of all London writers. He lived here for much of his life and wrote his most famous works, such as Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet while in London.
Find out more at www.LondonLiteraryPubCrawl.com
Saturday 11 February 2023
Dickens, Calvino and Hugo!
Nick Hennegan celebrates the birthdays of Charles Dickens and Victor Hugo and a new English translation of Italo Calvino.
www.BohemianBritain.com
Saturday 4 February 2023
WB Yeats In Dublin and London
Celebrating a new, free, interactive app celebrating the life of Yeats in Chiswick, Nick Hennegan found an old recording discussing the poet, live in Dublin.
Friday 20 January 2023
W.B Yeats and Artists in Bedford Park, London W4.
Nick Hennegan talks to Irish Poet Cahal Dallat on Literary London on Resonance 104.4fm and BohemianBritain.com about a new, interactive trail following the life and works of London Irish Poet WB Yeats around his boyhood home in Bedford Park, Chiswick, London. They also chat about inspiration and other famous Irish and London artists.
For details of the project, see www.wbyeatsbedfordpark.com
Tuesday 17 January 2023
Bohemian look-back at 2022
A gentle look back of some of the Bohemian highlights of 2022 with Nick Hennegan on Resonance 104.4fm's 'Literary London' It includes an interview with Andy Slaughter, M.P. for Hammersmith in London, on the occasion of a new artwork celebrating WB Yeats; music from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Prejudice And Pride and Winston and David.... news of Jim Cartwright's TWO, and how you can put it on at your local bar, pub or community centre... and will Nick return to acting for the first time in 30 years?
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