For our latest bonus episode, we offer a diversion and a trip back to the past as your humble host is interviewed about his and other people’s music by a friend in Madrid in 2016. Topics touched upon include songwriting, creativity, performance, recording and (no surprise) The Beatles and John Lennon. Preceding the interview are Antony's thoughts a…

Just as Orson Welles finally bowed out in 1985, we must do the same. This time round Antony and Ghosty pick up Orson’s film career from his acting gig in the sublime ‘The Third Man’, a couple of returns to Shakespeare territory and a trio of absolute masterworks of his own making, namely ‘Touch of Evil’, ‘The Trial’ and ‘F For Fake’ (plus a couple …

We complete our 2-part look at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival concert of September 1969 and the ‘white-suited apostle’ John Lennon’s involvement in it with the highly flexible Plastic Ono Band. Following ‘Revival ‘69’, Antony and Dave Thurmaier turn their attention to a 1971 film that should be in every Lennon fan’s video collection, namely D.A.…

We’ve got a special episode for you this time as Antony is joined by 1990s football legend and truth-seeker Matt Le Tissier. The conversation hits on a few topics such as the recent Euro 2024 tournament and some of the problems with the mentality of English football. Antony and Matt then discuss media narratives and the wider agenda regarding sport…

We continue our Orson Welles journey, accompanied by uberfan David ‘Ghosty’ Wills, with discussion of the big daddy of all films, 1941’s Citizen Kane. Was this both a blessing and a curse for Orson’s career? We also discussWelles’s forays into wartime politics and the films ‘The Magnificent Ambersons’,, ‘The Stranger’, ‘The Lady From Shanghai’ and …

And so the next century of Glass Onion begins. We’ve got another fine 2-parter for you, with Antony joined by Dave Thurmaier, the co-host of the ‘I’ve Got A Beatles Podcast’ and former guest of the show way back in 2019 and 2020. The Toronto Rock and Roll Revival concert of September 1969 yielded a live album for John & Yoko plus D.A. Pennebaker’s …

To mark Life And Life Only’s half-century, I drove back to my original home town on the day I celebrated another journey round the sun, to share a few personal reminiscences and also muse on nostalgia, memories, socio-economic status and a few other things… There’s a nice bit of relaxing music to finish today’s episode and an announcement of a rath…

Following on from our Marlon Brando and Michael Caine deep dives in the last few years, this time Orson Welles gets the Film Gold treatment. David ‘Ghosty’ Wills joins Antony for a 3-parter looking at the great man’s life, work and legacy. First up we discuss Orson’s early life and the start of histheatre and radio careers, both of which Ghosty fee…

And so we bring to an end another podcast series as we conclude our whistle-stop journey through some of the highlights of John Cleese and Robin Skynner’s very readable, entertaining and insightful book ‘Life & How To Survive It’, which is presented as an ongoing dialogue between the doctor and the intelligent layman. The topics and sub-topics this…

Over 4 years on from our original episode about ‘Revolution 9’ (episode 25, in the show notes), we return to the topic with an audio version (including multiple sound clips) of a discussion that originally went out on video on Matt Williamson’s excellent you tube channel ‘Pop Goes The 60s’ back in March. We discuss our origin stories with the track…

We continue our sprawling but hopefully enlightening trawl through John Cleese and Robin Skynner’s very readable, entertaining and insightful book ‘Life & How To Survive It’, which is presented as an ongoing dialogue between the doctor and the intelligent layman. One of the many strengths of the book is how it takes concepts and ideas and shows how…

And so we complete the milestone! Scott Phipps once again joins Antony to complete their whistle-stop, greatest hits tour through John Lennon and the 1960s. Scott gives us a brief sketch of each year through a few news events (some extremely random but no less interesting) before our two intrepid heroes each pick a Beatles/Lennon talking point, thi…

As the podcast nears its half century, we venture into another multi-parter, this time on John Cleese and Robin Skynner’s very readable, entertaining and insightful book ‘Life & How To Survive It’, the sequel to their ‘Families & How To Survive Them’. As with ‘Families’, this book is presented as an ongoing dialogue between the doctor/expert and th…

What better way to mark Glass Onion’s century than with a traditional multi-parter? In the first of two shows to celebrate our milestone, Antony is joined again by Scott Phipps to take a whistle-stop, greatest hits tour through John Lennon and the decade that made him and which he helped propel into history. Scott puts on his ‘Rainbow Valley’ trous…

We conclude our discussion centred on W Timothy Gallwey’s book ‘The Inner Game of Tennis’ by talking about nerves, including citing some famous cases of ‘choking’ in sport, and then engaging in a little fun speculation as to who might win the remaining tennis Grand Slams of this year and beyond, in both the men’s and women’s tours. We hope you enjo…

We felt it in poor taste to add show notes at such a sad time for the world...

We are delighted to bring you another swapcast with former Film Gold guest and my podcasting ‘spiritual brother’, Julian Charles of ‘The Mind Renewed’. On the docket this time is a true classic from the master, Stanley Kubrick. It’s a film that works beautifully on the level of pure comedy but is absolutely packed with layers of meaning, both overt…

Darrell & Antony continue their discussion of W Timothy Gallwey’s book ‘The Inner Game of Tennis’, which expertly uses that sport as a context to give wider insights into the nature of performance, the mental traps we set for ourselves and how to overcome challenges and be your best self. Although not an easy thing to do, you may find that at least…

For our first podcast series of 2024, we welcome Darrell Swan to talk about some of the benefits of Life Coaching before we deep dive into the book ‘The Inner Game of Tennis’ by W Timothy Gallwey. Darrell is a former Life Coachee of Antony’s and also a tennis player with a great interest in sports psychology. Gallwey’s book expertly uses tennis as …

In the last episode before we notch up our century, Antony flies solo to muse on and discuss various items of Lennon interest. In order, these are the 40th anniversary of the ‘Milk And Honey’ album, the cancelling and virtues of the Lennon-penned Beatles song ‘Run For Your Life’, May Pang’s 2022 documentary ‘The Lost Weekend: A Love Story’, the wor…

We round off Glass Onion’s 5th year with a personal episode. Antony explores further his origin story with John Lennon and the ongoing relationship and fascination with the subject of our show (yes, it’s our show). You will also hear some writing that didn’t quite culminate in a book this year, and there’s some discussion of childhood, both Antony’…

And so we finally reach the end of this podcast odyssey with the longest episode of the 4-part series... The main topics here are fame (linking neatly to LALO episode 40) and the interestingly similar trajectory it shares with money in terms of how its escalation affects -or doesn't affect- a person's happiness, and then the granddaddy of all topic…

We conclude our 1967 odyssey by picking up from mid-June and detailing all the main Lennon and Beatles events for the rest of 1967. The Beatles are linked by satellite to hundreds of millions, they almost buy a Greek island, the Maharishi enters their lives and they make their own TV special just in time for it to be shown in black-and-white among …

The next part of this epic journey through Derren Brown’s book ‘Happy: Why More or Less Everything Is Absolutely Fine’ and the general topic of happiness takes us further into fate and accepting the downsides of life while finding its way back to some core themes of the book. These include our construction of narratives with little evidence, catast…

In this episode we start to work our merry way through the Lennon/Beatles events events of this most swinging of Beatleyears, reaching mid-June. The Fabs start off by releasing what could be their greatest single ever and then turn their full attention to creating what is surely at least their most famous album, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band…

Antony and returning guest Luke Thompsonof ‘Luke’s English Podcast’ tackle William Friedkin's underrated 1977 thriller, starring Roy Scheider. This film wasn't a success in its day but has been reassessed over the decades and could now be considered a 'hidden masterpiece'. The plot is very simple but the film is marvellously evocative, and the prod…

Antony appeared on ‘Luke’s English podcast’ in April/May this year to profile Life And Life Only, and here is a compilation of the two episodes, which originally went out on video (see links below). The topics discussed by Luke and Antony are the podcast itself, Cats, Titanic, Travelling, English Teaching, Life Coaching, David Blaine, Food & Diet, …

1967 is a year that has gone into legend for various reasons. Was it the year of peace and love? Was there any real love in it at all? Or was it just like any other year, a heady mix of everything good and bad about the human race and society? Before looking at what was undoubtedly a ground-breaking and life-changing year for John Lennon and The Be…

One of the films that ushered in the new century, Requiem For A Dream is a virtuoso powerhouse from director Darren Aronofsky, featuring a remarkable lead performance by Ellen Burstyn. Although primarily dealing with drug addiction, it hits all kinds of other points of social and emotional impact, such as the power of television, the pain of loss, …

Ken McNab and I complete our discussion about his new book 'Shake It Up Baby!: The Rise of Beatlemania And The Mayhem of 1963' and the general atmosphere and events of that breathless year. This time round, we cover the second half of the year as our four intrepid musical explorers continue their furious work rate and have their first proper brushe…

Following the shows on 1962, we seamlessly move to 1963 with the welcome return of Ken McNab to talk about his new book 'Shake It Up Baby!: The Rise of Beatlemania And The Mayhem of 1963'. After Ken gives some thoughts on Peter Jackson’s ‘Get Back’ (his previous appearances on Glass Onion were prior to its release), we cover the events of the first…

Inspired by the recent U.S. Open tennis tournament, here’s my take on the grand slam singles finals won by Coco Gauff and Novak Djokovic, the G.O.A.T. debate and the sport and its culture in general. From here, we look at two things that are inextricably linked to top-level tennis and sport- media and fame. There’s also discussion of a very importa…

We complete our deep dive into 1962 in the outer world and in the Beatles family psychodrama, picking up from late July with Beatles events including a historic change of drummer, John Lennon’s marriage, the group’s first radio interview, their more than troublesome experience recording the simplest song in the world (Love Me Do), gigs with one of …

We continue our foray into the surprisingly complex world of happiness, with extracts from Derren Brown’s 2016 book ‘Happy: Why More or Less Everything Is Absolutely Fine’ to guide us through, along with host Antony’s interjections and musings. In this part, we look at a wide range of sub-topics including more on the history of happiness, a look at…

In this episode, Antony and Ghosty start discussing the Beatles/Lennon events of 1962, covering January to June. Particular focus is put on the Pete Best issue and the death of Stuart Sutcliffe, not to mention John Lennon’s contentious and highly unique reaction to that death. Every year in the Beatles story from around 1960 was packed with activit…

The story of HMS Bounty and the mutiny that took place aboard it is a compelling narrative that has not surprisingly been the subject of many film adaptations and other creative endeavours. In this discussion from 2020 that originally went out on the Stinking Pause podcast, regular Film Gold collaborator Scott Phipps is joined by myself and Steven …

Our latest Lennon odyssey starts with a review of the events of 1962, a tangential conversation in which Antony and guest David ‘Ghosty’ Wills freewheel into all kinds of other territory before setting the listeners up with some pre-1962 context on the Beatles’ progress on their own journey to musical and cultural world domination. 1962 was marked …

Happiness seems to be simple to understand, but profound and lasting happiness is actually a complex business, as brilliantly illustrated by Derren Brown in his 2016 book ‘Happy: Why More or Less Everything Is Absolutely Fine’. Derren’s very readable 500-page tome forms the basis for this series of episodes on the many aspects of happiness, includi…

Antony joins frequent collaborator Scott Phipps to take a deep dive (sans canoe) into a true 1970sclassic, as part of ‘The Stinking Pause’ 10th anniversary celebrations. The making of this film is almost as mind-blowing as the movie itself. Insurance, who needs it? Enjoy! The Cahulawassee River valley in Northern Georgia is one of the last natural …

We complete our latest Lennon journey with the conclusion of my analysis of some of the more telling quotes from the series of interviews conducted in September 1980 for Playboy magazine by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. This episode contains a lot of clips from the original audio of the interviews and focuses mainly on John's comments about who wrote w…

This episode starts with a ‘short intro’ of around 45 minutes, with yet more Coleman vs Goldman material, before continuing our in-depth look at John Lennon’s series of interviews for Playboy magazine in September 1980, which also included Yoko Ono. The interviews offer a fascinating and multi-layered study of a highly eccentric artist and also for…

This time around, Antony reads two of his short stories, referred to in the title of the episode, and muses on various things, including Chris Ryan and his ‘Tangentially Speaking’ podcast, Thai memories, a surreal Valium-fuelled overnight trip, a wonderful review from a listener, the magic of cats, normies vs truthers and a couple of other things. …

John Lennon’s series of interviews for Playboy magazine in September 1980, which also included Yoko Ono, are not only a fascinating and multi-layered study of a highly eccentric artist but also form an integral part of the official narrative of John and Yoko’s relationship in 1980 before his death and of the genesis of the songs for their joint alb…

We complete our Michael Caine tribute, a joint presentation of the ‘Film Gold’ and ‘The Stinking Pause’ podcasts, as the great man turns 90. Antony Rotunno and Scott Phipps count down their top 5 Caine performances and also discuss his ultimate legacy after 60 years as a film star. There are audio clips galore to complement the conversation, includ…

Michael Caine, born as Maurice Micklewhite, has been acting for 70 years and been a star for nearly 60. This 2-part joint presentation of the ‘Film Gold’ and ‘The Stinking Pause’ podcasts celebrates the life and career of a true cinematic icon as he approaches his 90th birthday. In this first part, Antony Rotunno and Scott Phipps look at Caine’s up…

David Blaine is known around the world and a magician and illusionist. However, he has also had a parallel life doing endurance stunts, apparently for real without illusion (though some believe otherwise). This episode deals with my personal favourite of these stunts, when he tested the limits of human endurance, both physical and psychological, li…

Compilation albums come in many shapes and sizes and some can be justified while others rely on good marketing and glossy packaging to persuade consumers to part with their hard-earned money for the same material. This is an appearance by your humble host on the ‘When they Was Fab’ podcast back in December 2020 discussing the mind-boggling number o…

Originally recorded for 'The Mind Renewed' podcast and hosted by Julian Charles, this is a four-way discussion, also including Mark Campbell and Frank Johnson, about the 1978 conspiracy thriller Capricorn One, starring Elliott Gould, James Brolin, Branda Vaccaro and Hal Holbrook and written and directed by Peter Hyams. About to embark upon the firs…

John Lennon and Paul McCartney are inextricably linked, and what more is there to say at this point? Well, I give it a shot in a podcast of 3 sections, looking at common Lennon/McCartney tropes and assumptions, giving a guitar & vocal lesson on the song 'Two Of Us' and then walking you through the highly entertaining 2000 TV film 'Two Of Us', direc…

We complete the reading of Antony's longform essay with the dramatic sinking and its aftermath. Ordinary humans of all levels of means and status fight for their lives against the slow, inevitable creep of death, and after the disaster there's equal measures of genuine humanity and ugly scapegoating The story of R.M.S. Titanic and its unfortunate f…