Highlights of my Cabin FM afternoon show on Tuesday 8 October 2024 where I was joined by historian Mark Connelly to learn about his new venture Connelly Contours which involves finding out at first hand, through walking tours, about the imprint of history on landscape and place. Mark also reveals meeting The One and Only Chesney Hawkes at the check-in lounge at Heathrow Airport and we find out why Spandau Ballet’s True holds particular significance for him.

We begin with an 80s belter from Laura Branigan for which I have to exercise some Self Control, and we learn from Doris Day why Whatever Will Be Will Be. There is also music from Wham!, Hue & Cry, John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John, Sam Ryder, Oasis and we find Rod Stewart on the Downtown Train. There is a beautiful poem from Susan Norvill called ‘Fisherman in Herne Bay’ (see below), there are reviews of ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’, ‘The Substance’ and ‘Thelma’, and we find out what was happening on 8 October in history.

Fisherman in Herne Bay

Where the North Sea weather batters and the tourists come and go,

I breathe the salty fresh air and watch the currents flow,

Steamboats no longer service the devastated pier

And my heart is often grieved that they’re no longer here.

Though Neptune’s Arm enfolds us all as gulls ride out each squall,

I feel the storm approach while the bobbing boats still trawl,

A life spent on the water’s one that’s wild, untamed and free,

And my place is here in Herne Bay, on the unforgiving sea.

Susan Norvill 7th October 2024