Writer Arthur Matthews' place in comedy history is assured, having contributed material to such seminal TV shows as The Fast Show, Harry Enfield And Chums, The Day Today and Jam, not to mention co-creating Big Train and creating Toast Of London.
Oh, and not only did he create and co-write Father Ted, he originated the character of Ted Crilly, performing in-between songs at gigs by seminal U2 parody act The Joshua Trio back in the 1980s.
Now he's turning his hand to non-fiction with his new book Walled In By Hate: Kevin O'Higgins, His Friends and Enemies (Merrion Press), a biography of one of the most compelling and contentious characters to have emerged from the Irish revolutionary era.
We asked Arthur for his choice cultural picks...
FILM
I'm a big fan of the TV station Talking Pictures TV, which consists of old films and TV shows. (It’s also online). It has mostly British content, but one American film I saw there recently which I really liked was A Rage To Live from 1965, starring Suzanne Pleshette as a newspaper heiress ‘whose passions wreak havoc in her life.’ It’s basically about a promiscuous woman who (of course) pays the price for her many infidelities (I thought ‘good for her!’) It reminded me of a Douglas Sirk melodrama, or Giant with James Dean. I’m surprised it’s not better known.
MUSIC
I saw a programme about Latin American Rock a few years ago, and came across a Colombian duo called Aterciopelados. They’re kind of like Eurythmics, but dress more exotically and wear funny hats. They’re really excellent. Because they sing in Spanish, I haven’t a clue what any of their songs are about, but I’m guessing they’re against de-forestation and pollution of the Amazon; that type of thing. The female half of the duo, Andrea Echeverri, has released a solo album, and I suggest you google her beautiful song A Eme O, where you can see Andrea cycling along a poor-quality Colombian road.
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BOOK
Living The Beatles Legend: The Untold Story of Mal Evans. The Beatles were so famous, even their roadie gets a 500 page biography (by Kenneth Womack). You see Mal wandering around behind the lads on Get Back, sticking leads into amplifiers and bringing them trays with glasses of orange juice (or rather orange juice made from concentrate - a real sign that it’s 1969). Mal loved the Beatles, but they didn’t always treat him well, and he died in a bizarre shoot-out (kind of) with Los Angeles police in 1976.
THEATRE
I have spent too many hours in the theatre being utterly unengaged by what’s happening on stage; so disconnected and bored that I have often found my mind is drifting back to moments in my life I hadn’t thought about in years: my ‘child-self’ in the back of a car as a five year-old, proudly clutching a train set that my parents had just bought me; or imagining myself, a year or two older, drowning some plastic soldiers in a sink. You haven’t experienced true suffering until you’ve seen a Shakespeare play transported to rural Ireland in the 1970s. Give me musical theatre over ‘proper’ theatre any day. I enjoy going to the lovely Bord Gais Energy Theatre. Yes, it’s the most curiously-named theatre in the world, but I’ve seen some very good shows there; the last being The Drifters Girl. Great songs (by The Drifters of course), but it seemed top me that all the music was on a backing tape, which made the event a bit too much like a karaoke evening.
TV
I got NOW TV to see the last series of Curb Your Enthusiasm, and then watched The Jinx. In a similar vein, Imposter: The Man Who Came Back From The Dead on Channel 4 was quite extraordinary. On Sky Arts I enjoyed Jim and Nancy Moir’s trip to Rathlin Island to paint puffins.
Coming soon on #skyarts #paintingbirdswithjimandnancymoir
— Nancy Sorrell (@nancy_sorrell) April 30, 2024
Woohoo!
8th May, 9pm. Also on freeview channel 36.@skytv @JamesMoir10 @RocioC pic.twitter.com/DYgxzXC2SP
GIG
The last gig I went to was Dionne Warwick in Vicar Street. Before the show began, I noticed that there was an extra-long sofa on the stage. Well, the great lady is 83, so I guessed she might have needed a little lie-down between Do You Know The Way To San Jose? and Walk On By. But it turned out the evening consisted mostly of an interview with her conducted by an enthusiastic film maker who had made a documentary in 2021 on Dionne (which I had seen a while ago on BBC 4). To be fair to the promoters, this had been made clear in the pre-concert publicity, but it seemed most of the audience hadn’t read the small print. She did sing ‘the hits’ - it was always a relief when I noticed that members of the three-piece band had crawled back on stage behind her - but, as well as the interview, clips of the documentary regularly popped up on a large screen. These consisted of a bunch of celebs wittering away about how amazing Dionne was/is; possibly as important a figure in history as Napoleon or Cleopatra. Dionne herself was, unfortunately, a dreadful raconteur. Recall, if you’ve seen it, An Audience With Billy Connolly, then imagine the exact opposite of that. She also, of course mentioned, as she has done in any interview I’ve ever seen with her, how pissed off she was that Cilla Black ‘stole’ Burt Bacharach’s Alfie. Get over it, Dionne! It happened in 1966! Afterwards, our taxi driver told us that people had left early.
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ART
Colin Martin’s recent show in The High Lanes Gallery in Drogheda. He’s a fabulous painter. I did the RHA painting course a few years ago (until it was interrupted by COVID), and Colin was one of my tutors.
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PODCAST
I like Joe Wilkinson’s football podcasts. His current one is My Mate’s A Footballer with Patrick Bamford of Leeds United. I was a guest on one of his previous podcasts (co-hosted by David Earl) where he interviewed fans about the clubs they support. An edition before mine had featured Royle Family star Craig Cash talking about his love for Manchester City. Craig had basically spent his entire life savings on getting a super-expensive, ‘high-end’ season ticket for the Etihad Stadium. His ‘match day experience’ began with a ‘Meet and Greet’, mingling with superstars such as Jack Grealish and Alfie Inge Halland before the game, followed by a high class meal in the executive boxes with as much wine and caviar as he could handle, then a five-star display by City on their way to another Premiership title. The contrast with my own experiences at Drogheda United was striking.
TECH
Mixcloud is an music app which I listen to all the time. Radio stations (mostly jazz/soul) from all over. I download shows from the wonderful Totally Wired Radio. (Also 50 Years Ago This Week from Radio Free Brooklyn).
THE NEXT BIG THING...
Drogheda United goalkeeper Andrew Wogan. He’s been called into the Irish Under 21 squad. He has more composure at 18 years old than I’ve had at any time in my life. I think he has a bright future (but don’t want to put too much pressure on the lad).
Walled In By Hate: Kevin O'Higgins, His Friends and Enemies is published by Merrion Press
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