The Adventures of Andy Kershaw, review: Cliff, Kuwait and the radio star

This show roams far more widely than Kershaw's beloved folk
Lots to talk about: Andy Kershaw
Geoffrey Swaine/Rex
Simon Broughton27 January 2017

Last night, in what he described as “this cathedral of English folk music”, Andy Kershaw, former radio presenter, foreign correspondent, and now reporter on The One Show, gave a hugely entertaining show based on his autobiography No Off Switch.

I’ve got to declare an interest here, I produced Kershaw on BBC Radio 4 in the late Eighties on a series about English folk. It’s a deep interest of his, but this show roams far more widely to include The Clash and The Rolling Stones in Leeds, Radio 1 and 1985’s Live Aid concert at Wembley. While the US section from Philadelphia was under way, he grabbed some sleep on a carpet under the stairs. His producer shook him awake saying he had to go and do a live interview with Cliff Richard. A dream or a nightmare?

At Radio 1 he shared an office with John Peel and when British pop wasn’t at it’s most exciting, they were both knocked out by the Bhundu Boys from Zimbabwe: “It was as if somebody had opened the door of room 318 and sprayed us with a fountain of jewelled guitar notes.” This directly led to Zimbabwe and Mali for music and Kuwait, Haiti and Rwanda for news reporting.

He ended the evening clutching the state record catalogue from North Korea, chuckling as he listed song titles such as Peace is on our Bayonets. Kershaw’s great gift, in his writing and in his broadcasting, is seeing the small truths that paint the bigger picture.

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