Andy Rashleigh Radio Drama
17.09.98 Promenaders*. 30m.
09.06.99 Devonia,2*
27.07.01 Devonia,1*, rpt.
10.09.01 Smokers*
12.07.04 Be Prepared: Baden-Powell*
NOTES
As actor - A Quiet Place In The Country
Max Williams 13.8.1983 Jack Carr/Andy Rashleigh/Dennis Blanch.
As actor - The Queen of Romance - Series 2, by Stephen Sheridan, R2. beginning 17.2.1996: Lesley Joseph/Matthew Byam Shaw/Andy Rashleigh/Pat Coombs.
CHILDREN'S BBC RADIO 4....1998
17thSep98. PROMENADERS by Andy Rashleigh. 30m. R4. Thur. 11.30am-12.00pm.
DEVONIA....1999
Adventures set on a Victorian paddle-
steamer about three generations ago. Afternoon plays. I think there were three altogether.
....................Devonia, by Andy Rashleigh (R4, 1415, beginning 2 June) was a series of three excellent plays about the life and times of a paddle steamer and its crew, set in the teens, twenties and thirties. We followed the fortunes of a group of loutish upper-class students celebrating their degrees; a mysterious group of Germans being ferried across the Channel during the war, and a works outing in 1911. Crew member Harry was played by John Duttine and Mercy by Sophie Thompson; Cherry Cookson directed. (.....ND, vrpcc newsletter.)
SMOKERS....2001
A group of workers meets every day in Islington - the only place they can have a cigarette is on the street.
BE PREPARED....2004
R4 1415 12 Jul 04.
......."Robert Baden-Powell's "Scouting for Boys" was one of the first books to appear on the shelf by my bed when I was nine or ten. I found the book baffling, but I joined the Scouts anyway. It was not a particular happy experience at the time, but it got me out of the house and used to being more self- reliant. Looking back, I can see that it did me a power of good: it made me less introspective, and it helped me grow up. It also made me* aware of Baden-Powell, a hero of Mafeking, who had founded the movement and sort it grow to encompass the Wolf Cubs, Brownies, Scouts and Guides". (Alan Titchmarsh, RT, Jul 04)
The play, by Andy Rashleigh, is a dramatisation of the man and his life, starring Ian McKellen. Baden-Powell would sleep on the balcony of his house, Pax Hill, on at the Hampshire - Surrey border , because, after yearsas a soldier and regimental commander, he found lying down in a bedroom claustrophobic.
Baden-Powell may appear to be an anachronism today, but it seems that the time is ripe for a revival of his kind of self reliance. It might drag youth away from computer screens and mobile phones, and allow them to get in touch with the world outdoors and themselves at one and the same time.
These days, childhood is lived, for the most part, vicariously (look it up). Where there was once tree climbing and imagination, there are computer games and "Neighbours". I think it's vital for kids to experience life for themselves, rather than treat it as a spectator sport.
Throughout his life, Baden-Powell fought against unfairness, moral degeneracy, and racial bigotry, at a time when to do so was regarded as unfashionable. Today, in many parts of the country, the Scouting movement remains strong, and teenagers who come up through it have a strong sense of community spirit and of their place in society. (...note...in the village where I live the Scout group has difficulty going from one year to the next; there are too few volunteers to keep it going).....ND
In this play, set on Baden-Powell's balcony in a 1937, he is looking back on his life as he talks to his young son. The title role is taken by Ian McKellen, and the cast included Zoe Waites, Nicholas Boulton, Jon Glover, John Rowe, Philip Fox, George Hammond and Alice Hart. The producer was Cherry Cookson.
The above was based on the articles appearing in RT for 10-16 Jul 04.
Asterisked plays known to exist in VRPCC collections.
Nigel Deacon / Diversity website
