The Full Monty writer reveals all!

The story of six unemployed men who rediscover their pride and sense of worth after forming a male striptease act, The Full Monty says as much about our times as it does about the mid-1990s when the international smash hit film was set.

Backed up by a winning soundtrack, it’s a taut, telling and frequently hilarious comedy drama that has won over generations of fans some of whom were not even born when the film was released in 1997. A decade ago its writer, Oscar-winning Bournemouth Film School alumnus Simon Beaufoy adapted it for the stage, and now the show is back on the road again.

Drawing on history

The most memorable episodes in human history are written in blood, guts and gore; just ask any kid. It’s a truism that author Terry Deary has been demonstrating in spectacular fashion for thirty years since the first volume of Horrible Histories was published in 1993. With more than 30 million book sales in some 30 different languages, Deary has been dubbed the most influential historian of our times and for three decades his closest partner in grime has been illustrator Martin Brown.

‘It has to be about the work’

what artist Sarah Hough did, to contemplate and respond in art to the environment she found there. It was no small effort, but in Sarah’s book neither was it evidence for the cod-philosophy that claims it is necessary to suffer for one’s art.

‘Money or fame were never in my thinking’

If music is a universal language then Jim Etherington is a native speaker. He casts himself as a pub singer but a penchant for creating major outdoor music events in and around his adopted home town means he has been seen by tens of thousands of people in the forty years he has lived in Read More…

‘It’s the music, mate’

‘At the end of the day, it’s the music mate. That’s why we’re talking, that’s why we’re here, that’s why we tour the South West, that’s why the Arts Council give us money, it’s the music.’  Roger Preston is considering his four decades as a Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra cellist, forty years that have seen his Read More…

Drawing inspiration from horrible history

Horrible Histories illustrator Martin Brown on his Dorset life ‘What I’ve realised since I came to Dorset is that history is not preserved in aspic, it’s part of people’s everyday lives, they live in it – it’s all around us.’ History is something that Martin Brown knows a bit about. Since he teamed up with Read More…

‘Photography is saving my life’

‘Not only is Brownsea Island a jewel in Poole’s crown, it is absolutely instrumental in me being here at all.’ Photographer Paul Williams is talking about the significance of Brownsea Island in his on-going recovery from the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that saw him make three serious attempts on his life following an incident Read More…

If wood could talk…

If wood could talk, what tales would this tale…? We’re looking at a stack of incredibly rare Georgian pine. In the shed next door there are oak floor planks, joists, roof trusses, gateposts and who knows what else stacked head high. Much of this wood has been timber for longer than it was trees, it Read More…

At 82, is John the oldest working cinema projectionist in Britain?

John Newcombe has been showing films since 1952 – and at 82 years young he’s still going strong, working regular shifts at Lighthouse, Poole’s centre for the arts. Could he be Britain’s oldest working cinema projectionist? His first break came as a teenage rewind boy in the ABC cinema in Northampton where his job was Read More…