The Rani

Kate O' Mara 1939-2014

My Life As A Dalek

From the murky depths of the Ripping Yarns t_ape archive comes My Life As A Dalek, just in time to mark the fascistic pepper-pots triumphant return to our screens this weekend. This half hour programme was originally broadcast in 2003, towards the end of the Doctor Who dark ages. It's all a bit of a luvvie-in and quite right too.

"Mark Gatiss peeks below the skirts of Dr Who's most feared adversary to celebrate their 40-year reign of galactic tea-time terror. It is an affectionate tribute on the 40th anniversary of the first appearance of the Daleks, Dr Who's celebrated pepper-pot adversaries.

Mark talks to the many men and women who donned the tin headgear and those who created and styled the arch-enemy of the man from Gallifrey. My Life As A Dalek traces their history. Mark hears from actors, designers, creators, fans and enemies of the Daleks who reveal inside stories about their monstrous appearances from the planet Skaro.

Ridley Scott was originally commissioned to design the Dalek but he turned the job down and went on to become a blockbuster film director. Writer Terry Nation's original notion was to see the Daleks as "futuristic slave traders" crossing the galaxy and capturing other creatures to act as their agents.

Roy Skelton was the voice of the Daleks for 20 years and employed numerous radiophonic tricks to make the "exterminate" the perfect grating cry.

Producer Verity Lambert talks about the moment when BBC executives nearly turned the Dalek design down on the grounds that it was "just another bug-eyed monster" and sci-fi writer Kim Newman talks about its fascist overtones.

There are interviews with actors Terry Malloy who played the role of Davros, Dalek operators John Scott-Martin and Cy Town, Frazer Hines, Alexei Sayle and Rula Lenska.

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The Lost Episodes

Archive On 4: Doctor Who, The Lost Episodes. "Shaun Ley investigates what happened to 108 missing episodes of Doctor Who from the 1960s, why the tapes were wiped and how dedicated fans hunted down copies of other episodes in film collections from Cyprus to New Zealand. And while we may have lost those early programmes, Shaun hears how home recordings ensured all the audio survived." 

This fascinating radio feature includes interviews and conversations with '60's era Doctor's assistants Peter Purves, Pauline Collins and composer/sound designer/Radiophonic Workshop archivist Mark Ayres amongst other familiar voices.

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The Delian Mix : Radiophonics and Electrosoniks

Soundhog - The Delian Mix : Radiophonics and Electrosoniks by Soundhog on Mixcloud

A Sound British Adventure

This week's listening recommendations are twofold:

1:A Sound British Adventure.

"Comedian Stewart Lee is passionate about electronic music and he takes us on a remarkable musical journey. We discover how, after the Second World War, a small group of electronic pioneers began tinkering with their army surplus kit to create new sounds and music.

Tristram Cary started the first electronic music studio in Britain but, while France, Germany, Italy and the USA had lavishly funded research centres, British electronic music remained the preserve of boffins on a budget.

As the programme reveals, this make do and mend approach prevailed long after austerity Britain had given way to the swinging 60s, with Peter Zinovieff developing EMS synthesizers from a shed at the bottom of his garden in Putney. (Paul McCartney put on his wellies and took a look). Zinovieff is interviewed about his experiments in sound.

Unsurprisingly, the electronic community in Britain was a small, intimate group and joining Cary and Zinovieff was Daphne Oram, who devoted decades to developing a 'drawn sound' electronic composition system that never really quite worked.

Brian Hodgson tells us about 1960s experimental and electronic festivals, including The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave (1967) at which The Beatles' electronic piece Carnival Of Light had its only public airing. We shall also hear how the radiophonic workshop broke new musical ground with Dr. Who.

Experts in the history of electronic music, including author and musician Mark Ayres and Goldsmith College lecturer in computer studies Dr. Michael Grierson give the boffins' view and Portishead's Adrian Utley explains why the early forays in electronics are still relevant today.

2:Book at Bedtime: The Greatcoat.

"A new ghost story from Helen Dunmore set during and after the Second World War, about the power of the past to imprint itself on the present, and possess it.

Romana I

Mary Tamm - 1950 -2012

Liz Shaw

Caroline John 1940 - 2012

Record Store Day and other stories

Three months in and this year is baring witness to a large and ever growing list of excellent new electronical/hauntological/psychedelical releases, not to mention a handful of welcome radiophonic collections*. Soon Record Store Day will be upon us here in Blighty. Aural treats this year include very limited re-issues for Radiophonic Workshop Dr Who: Sound Effects, and Out Of This World on 180g vinyl. There's also a groovy soundtrack 45 from the 1960's Dalek films in the style of the old Century 21 EP's.

Which leads me on to Vintage Beeb. At long last Auntie has seen the light and begun cleaning up and re-issuing some of the BBC Records And Tapes back catalogue. Amongst the first to be re-released back in February was indeed the aforementioned Dr Who: Sound Effects.

From the beginning I always intended that Ripping Yarns would stick strictly to only sharing rare, deleted and unreleased material. Vintage Beeb has meant that I won't now be sharing as quite much of that old BBC vinyl as I had originally planned. It also means that I've deleted the Dr Who: Sound Effects vinyl rip. When you can easily purchase a brand new, restored and well packaged hard copy for under a fiver, it's hardly seems worth treading on any toes. However, worry ye not listeners, there is always plenty more to share out there.

*Ripping Yarns recommended listening from the year so far (L-R):

Pepe Deluxē - Queen Of The Wave: An Esoteric Pop Opera In Three Parts (Catskills)

F.C. Judd - Electronics Without Tears (Public Information)

Belbury Poly - The Belbury Tales (Ghost Box)

Suzanne Ciani - Lixiviation (Finders Keepers)
David Cain of BBC Radiophonic Workshop - The Seasons (Trunk)

DJ Format (feat. The Simonsound) - Statement Of Intent (Project Blue Book)

Pye Corner Audio - Black Mill Tapes Volume 3: All Pathways Open (Pye Corner Audio Transcription Services)

BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Doctor Who: Sound Effects (Vintage Beeb)

Air - Le Voyage Dans la Lune (Virgin)

Daphne Oram - The Oram Tapes Volume One (Young Americans)

DJ Food - The Search Engine (Ninja Tune)

Jon Brooks - Dieter Rams Reconstructions (Cafe Kaput)

Marshall McLuhan - The Medium Is The Massage (Five Day Weekend)

Seasons Greetings

Late Night Story with Tom Baker

Late Night Story (1978). The 4th Doctor takes time out from battling Kroll, the giant Lovecraftian god creature that lives beneath the marshes of Delta Magna, to read five tales of terror from the comfortable surroundings of TARDIS back up study #3f. Audio is ripped from video in similar fashion to the previous post and comes courtesy of the supreme being, X-Y-Z Cosmonaut.

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No.14 - Signature Tune: A New Beginning

Brian Hodgson with the dismembered piano that created the Tardis sound.

Dr Who: 30 Years at the Radiophonic Workshop (1963-93). Essential electric goodness from Radiophonic heroes, Brian Hodgson, Delia Derbyshire, Dick Mills, Elizabeth Parker, Paddy Kingsland and Peter Howell.

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Late Night Story No.2

Tom Baker tells the twisted tale of Sredni Vashtar from that master of the short story format Hector Hugh Munro, aka Saki.

Sredni Vashtar (1981) Dir. Andrew Birkin

Late Night Story No.1

Late Night Story (1978) Tom Baker reads The Photograph by Nigel Kneale. 

Doctor Who : Matt Irvine Stones Of Blood 1978

"Hit & Miss"

World Of Sound, a 75th Anniversary collection of theme tunes from BBC radio and television. Some modern rubbish is present, but so are plenty of favourites (Fawlty Towers, Dr Who, Pick of the pops) and light music classics like Sailing by, Top of the form, By the sleepy lagoon, Calling all the workers etc. Liner notes come from the star of Dr Terror's House Of Horrors and legendary  radio DJ Alan 'Fluff' Freeman... alright? Not Arf!

('Fluff 'Freeman @ 01.20 mins approx)

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Space Invaded

A sort of sister lp to BBC Records and Tapes' Space Themes, sharing a couple of tracks and  more sleeve notes from Mat Irvine. This album features one of the all time greatest sig tunes of all time - Tomorrow's World by Richard Denton and Martin Cook. Plenty of other good stuff too.

mmmm... brain planet

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No.19 - Metebelis III Atmosphere

To celebrate its imminent return to our observation screens, here's No.19: Doctor Who Sound Effects. Of all my Radiophonic collection ripped so far I'm afraid this is in the least best condition. I've done the best I can restoration wise, but there are still clicks and pops in places. It's interesting to reflect how menacing and otherworldly the show sounds circa 1978 in comparison to the sonic blandness of the orchestrafillinginallthegapssothatyoucanbarelybreath approach favoured by more recent regenerations.

This album has been re-released and is therefore no longer available for download via this blog.

Sarah Jane

 

BBC News

Time Warp Start, Run, Stop

 

Out Of This World Atmospheric Sounds and Effects from The BBC Radiophonic Workshop (1976). Spooky, atmospheric, ambient, eccentric. Great stuff. Ripped @ 320kbps as individual tracks.

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Listen to the Unmann-Wittering Out Of This World compilation. Very nice.

No. 26 - Dodecahedron Energy Beams

Sound Effects No.26 Sci-Fi Sound Effects (1981) . A classic and home of "The core, a huge evergrowing pulsating brain which rules from the centre of Ultraworld". Ripped @ 320 kbps into individual tracks. Enjoy.

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