In Conversation with Michael Palin

From Idler 37, 2006 Tom Hodgkinson meets the amiable comedy genius turned world traveller and self-confessed man without direction.

 

Conversations: David Soul

From Idler 24, Summer 1998 Hutch is alive and well and living in Maida Vale. And he’s got a few things on his mind, as Louis Theroux discovers. Taken from Idler 24, Summer 1998

 

Conversations: Paul Bowles

Paul Bowles: not beat yet by Marcel Theroux Taken from Idler issue 3, 1993

 

Conversations: Gilbert Shelton

From Idler 7, December 1995 Gilbert Shelton is the legendary underground comic artist and writer. Born in Houston, Texas, he currently lives in Paris with his wife after stints in New York (where he lived with Terry Gilliam), Los Angeles and San Francisco. In the Sixties he worked on New York’s Help magazine, creating his [...]

 

Conversations: Damien Hirst

FROM IDLER 10, JULY 1995 The madness begins.

 

Conversations: Joanna Blythman

Dan Kieran went to meet the renowned author of Shopped: The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets. From Idler 34

 

Conversations: John Lloyd

PAUL HAMILTON of Bedazzled, the Peter Cook Fanzine, shoots the breeze with JOHN LLOYD, comedy producer extraordinaire. The picture on the left is an accurate likeness of Lloyd done by Walery of Piccadilly Circus

 

Conversations: Bruce Reynolds

From Idler 14, March 1996 Escape! Adventure! Limitless cash! Bruce Reynolds, the Great Train Robber, now 65, had it all. But his quest for freedom led to frequent and lengthy spells inside. Was it worth it? Maybe …

 

Conversations: Terence McKenna

From Idler 1, August 1993 Idler editor Tom Hodgkinson writes: Terence McKenna died earlier this year. I feel particularly affectionate towards him as he was our first ever interview. I went to see him at the offices of Mute, the record company which put out Shamen stuff. The Shamen had made a connection with him, [...]

 

Conversations: Dexter Brierley

FROM IDLER 13, JANUARY 1996 Dexter is four. The Idler went to discover his views about money, the workplace and kids’ icons.

 

Conversations: David Nobbs

JONATHAN COE, author of the seminal satire of the Eighties, What A Carve Up! meets DAVID NOBBS, author of the seminal satire of the Seventies, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin

 

Conversations: Alex Chilton

From Idler 15, May 1996 At sixteen, Alex Chilton achieved teenybop stardom with Sixties group the Box Tops, and later Big Star. At twenty he walked away from it all, swapping fame and fortune for obscurity, and becoming one of music’s most influential cult figures. Any regrets? asks Kira Jolliffe.

 

Conversations: Keith Allen

FROM IDLER 11, SEPTEMBER 1995 Damien Hirst had suggested we interview Keith Allen. This was at the time when Damien, Keith and Alex James had recently made friends and were hanging around together, making videos and drinking. It was the Cool Britannia era.

 

Conversations: Bruce Robinson

FROM IDLER 12, NOVEMBER 1995 Bruce Robinson was one of our heroes, having written and directed one of the most quoted films of all time, the incomparable Withnail And I.

 

Conversations: Chris Yates

Chris Yates, England’s most revered and esoteric angler, chats to Kevin Parr about carp, silver tourists and rocket powered boats.

 

Conversations: Satish Kumar

THE END OF PROGRESS Satish Kumar walked across the world as part of his vision of a new way of thinking. Now, he runs an influential magazine. By JAY WALLJASPER of the Utne Reader

 

Conversations: Alan Moore

He’s the greatest comics writer ever. He’s the affable mage from Northampton, the hairy word-wizard and messiah to fan boys the world over. He’s Alan Moore and he’s having lunch with JONATHAN ROSS.

 

Conversations: John Cooper-Clarke

From Idler 17, November 1996 From his early days as a pep pill swallowing mod, John Cooper Clarke, Manchester’s legendary poet, performer, writer and comedian, has always looked good and lived well. He took the train down to London from Colchester, where he now lives with his wife and daughter, and we met him up [...]

 

Conversations: Jeffrey Bernard

From Idler 8, February 1995 This was easily the most awkward interview I have ever done. Jeffrey Bernard, now sadly dead, was living at the time in a tower block in Soho. I had never met him before, having got the interview through his niece Kate, who I knew then.

 

Conversations: Richard Linklater

From Idler 6, September 1994 After Douglas Coupland, a natural choice for an interview was Richard Linklater, who had then come out with the film Slacker and also Dazed and Confused, and was something of a spokesman for so-called Generation X. I had an hour with him on the phone, where he came across as [...]

 
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Books

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