All Episodes
Previous Next
Nov. 26, 2022 - The Delingpod - James Delingpole
01:03:07
Dominic Frisby
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Welcome to The Deling Pod with me, James Delingpaw.
And I know I always say I'm excited about this week's special guest, but I'm not sure that I am.
Dominic Frisby, my old mucker, You, you realise that you are, I think you've overtaken Tommy Robinson's record as the most, um, the biggest repeated guest on the, on the Dallying Pod.
I think this is what, your fifth or sixth time, I think?
Oh, I think I'm only on about three or four.
It just feels like, feels like... No, you're not.
You're not.
You're not.
You're like a plague of locusts, mate.
You keep coming back.
Well, I don't think I've been on for a year or two.
But no, in a good way.
Yeah, OK.
I wouldn't have you on.
No, you haven't been on for a long time.
That's partly because I've gone down, I'd say, a deeper rabbit hole than you have.
You've sort of been skittering about the surface, you know, going, bounce, bounce.
I'm a jolly comedian.
I'll tell you about Bitcoin.
I'll talk about gold.
But I'm not going to talk to you about the evil conspiracy to take over the world by a satanic elite.
Because, and I don't hold that against you, but that would be why we haven't really done... I don't know where, before we get onto the business in hand, I don't know where you are on this.
You just sort of rather not know, is that the deal?
Well, I think...
I listen to your podcast, so I'm aware of where you've gone.
I listened to the chap who was denying the moon landings were real.
Yeah.
The other day.
And, um... I... Oh, but you're using... See, that's a clue.
That's a tell, mate.
You're using the D word there.
Denying.
So, in other words, you think the moon landings happened, and you think this guy's a loon who's...
You know, like a holocaust denial, like a climate change denial.
Well, maybe, maybe I'm using loaded language unconsciously, but the guy who was arguing that the moon landings were faked, then, is that more in keeping with the language you'd like to hear?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
That would be more neutral.
That's more neutral.
And I suppose there are two or three things.
I probably have a slightly better view of human nature than you do in that I think I'm not convinced there are evils and baddies in the way that you are although maybe I'm wrong about that because you know you just need to look at conquest and war and things like that and how people take ruthless decisions and you just think well to make that decision you have to be you have to be a bad person or certainly a ruthless person but I suppose I ascribe to accident
and incompetence instinctively i look for that explanation of why things have happened as opposed to um you know ascribing it to some kind of orchestrated thing but i think another thing james and you come back on me in a second is like a lot of like the conspiracy that i came most in touch with in my younger days was silver for
That the silver price is manipulated, that the silver price is suppressed and so on.
And there were people who were just going grey and miserable, going, this is terrible what's going on.
Do you not see?
And whether they were right or not, like if they're right and the silver price is manipulated, then don't invest in silver.
And, you know, you don't have to make it your battle, and it's a battle you can't win.
So, I guess, with a lot of conspiracies, I like that there was a very good bit of sporting psychology once, which I think Svenur and Ericsson, amongst others, used to promote, which was that you should only worry about what you can effect.
And if these conspiracies are true, well, there's nothing you can do about them anyway.
So, by worrying about them, you're not going to a productive place.
So, I think that's what instinctively I don't deny them, I just sort of ignore them, if that makes sense.
What do you think about that?
Well, I think it's a reasonable strategy for maintaining your sanity and having an easy life up until the point where, you know, you may not be interested in conspiracies, but conspiracies are very interested in you.
And I think the problem is that you gave a kind of A flawed example because sure lots of us have the option of not buying silver, but but we don't have the option when it comes to for example Food supplies.
If the food supplies go down, and they are, next year is going to be hell, we're not going to be able to go, oh, well, I think I'll opt out of food because, you know, I can't do anything about it, so I may as well just accept that I'm going to starve.
The death jab.
The death jab was clearly not a good thing.
They tried and failed, but they came close-ish to making this experimental therapy compulsory for everyone.
And you've got people dying like flies.
To me, that is an issue that you can't take the blue pill on, because you are looking at the deliberate destruction of the human race.
You're talking about population eradication, and that is not like the silver price.
That is something much more serious.
Oh, I accept that.
The reason it's called the Great Awakening Is because for centuries, if not millennia, these people, who I'm not even sure are totally human, have been getting away with this shit.
And that's another point I would pick you up on.
That I too have tremendous faith in the decency of human beings.
We are made in God's image.
But I'm not sure that these people doing this shit actually are.
They are a kind of Maybe they're a subspecies or they are a strain of humanity which is fundamentally evil, and the person they're working for ultimately is the devil.
Now, I wouldn't expect you to go all the way down there, but I think that we are entering a period where the time for kind of, la la la, I'm going to pretend it's not happening, is not going to be a productive strategy.
I think we all need to bite the bullet and accept That we are being steered towards the destruction of our culture, of our civilization, of our race.
I mean, you know, we're not going to be able to breed fairly soon.
Because apart from all the other damage done by the vaccine, which isn't a vaccine by the way, I think it's also a sterilization program.
So that would be my take.
But that doesn't mean I don't love you.
And it doesn't mean that I don't, you know, I'm not going to go to your comedy gigs and have you on the podcast.
It just means that there's going to be a, you are Team Toby, you are Team Blue Pill, and that's, you know, you're not, you're not with the programme yet.
But you will be.
As everyone will.
Yeah.
When it kicks off.
Again, that, OK, there's a lot to unpick there.
And, you know, maybe, Did you ever see a film called They Live, John Carpenter film called They Live, when they would wear these sunglasses and once you put the sunglasses on you see the world as it really is.
Revelation of the method.
And so what you're describing is something that he envisaged.
Totally.
I think John Carpenter knows what's going on.
I mean, I think that the whole of the movie industry, well, not the whole of it, large chunks of the movie industry are compromised because Hollywood is named after the material used to make wizards' druidical wands, you know.
It's part of the deception, so inevitably the people involved in it are going to be Part of the deception, but you you get exceptions or people who are kind of semi on us aside, like Stanley Kubrick, who, you know, given we mentioned the moon landings earlier on Kubrick.
Uh, was, helped stage the moon landings.
And then, later in life, he kind of wanted to indicate to those who were open to the clues what he'd done.
So, for example, he released Eyes Wide Shut on the anniversary of the moon landings.
I think there were, he offered various clues in some of his movies, in The Shining, for example, that, what he'd done.
Same by coincidence with Werner Von Braun.
Werner Von Braun's tombstone quotes, I think, Psalm 19, and it's indicative that he too knew what was really going on.
Of course he did, he was Werner Von Braun.
people who are responsible for this the deception who nevertheless either have regrets or or or were with us all along but but we're just going along with it to get along and and they tell us what what the truth is.
You've just got to be alive to the clues.
Okay well uh I don't know what to say I I will read I have a lot of my plates already but I will read more and I continue to listen to your podcasts and uh... Yeah well that John that's the thing I I totally love what you do.
I love your shows.
I think you're a brilliant man.
I find you very entertaining and likeable.
And even if you were to remain blue-pilled, I would still consider you, you know, a hero and a friend.
So it's not that.
And I'm really looking forward... I'll tell you something I do share with you.
Today we're going to talk mainly...
Yeah.
I was just going to say, one thing I do share with you is I think we're going to a very bad place.
But I think what's taking us there is the monster that is the tax system and the sort of uncontrollable machine that is the Western democratic representative democratic model.
Well, it's very interesting.
I mean, I don't think you realise How good your books are.
Your books are fabulously readable and very insightful into the financial system, into Bitcoin.
Your book on tax was outrageously readable, far more interesting than a book on tax ever deserves to be.
And you did You did make a very good point.
You talked about, for example, the American Civil War, which you showed was not a war about slavery.
It was essentially about control of the fiscal system, I suppose, in the US and stuff.
In some ways, this is one of the few things you do have in common with him, but in some ways you remind me of Peter Hitchens.
Just before this podcast, I was reading a brilliant piece, an excerpt from a book he's written about grammar schools and about the destruction of grammar schools, which only lasted about 21 years as a sort of national institution before they were destroyed by By the left, mainly.
And his analysis is absolutely spot on, that grammar schools were a way of enabling ordinary people to triumph over a system which was designed for the elites and enable ordinary people to be super-educated and to think critically and so on.
And you're nodding your head at what Hitchens says, everything he says, and it's well-researched.
Then you go, But you don't get, Peter, it was not an accident.
This is all deliberate.
This is all planned over generations.
The reason that they destroyed grammar schools is because they had to destroy grammar schools in order to advance their evil plan.
And in the same way, you say it's about the tax system, but actually the tax system is just one manifestation of a bigger evil.
You've recognised the method, what you haven't realised is the evil of the intention and the orchestrated nature of the enterprise.
That's all.
Possibly.
That's your only problem, I would say.
Possibly.
Yeah.
Anyway...
You love your late dad and your dad Terrence, which I'm so gutted that I know it's so long ago when we started podcasting together you were you were desperate for me to get together with your dad to meet him and talk about his past and I regret not having done so I mean it was just I'm not very organized and never got around to it but you've Well, tell me, tell me, tell me about why you're here today.
Yeah, he was very articulate about grammar schools, by the way, just as a little, um, they did a program all about grammar schools and he did this very long interview and he got absolutely flooded with posts all about his experiences in grammar schools.
He was a pro, he went to Dartford Grammar, him and, um, what's his name from the Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger.
Um, anyway, yeah, so... Did he?
They weren't, they weren't there together then?
No, not at the same time.
So, I'll give you a very quick bit of background to this story, James, which is that my dad, during World War II, was 7 years old, and his brother Jack was 11.
Terry and Jack, 7 and 11.
And along with pretty much every other kid in the city, in the cities of our country, he was evacuated.
Uh, from his family in London.
And, um, you know, he was taken away from his parents.
They didn't know where they were going, who would be taking them in, how long they'd be going for, all this stuff.
And he was evacuated down to Cornwall.
And he spent four years in Cornwall, uh, during World War II, which he calls his second childhood.
Now, most of the kids who were evacuated, many of them didn't have happy experiences.
Many of them did.
But it was a huge, great moment in our national history.
And it's quite under-reported as well.
Dad wrote this play, this radio play about it, in the 1980s, and it was broadcast on Radio 4, and it was incredibly popular.
It broke the record on Radio 4 for the number of times it was broadcast.
And he would get letters from all over the world, including from people who, Germans, who'd been evacuated to escape English bombs.
And, um, he wrote this play about it, and it was incredibly successful.
And then it got optioned to be a film, and it got stuck in development hell for 15 or 20 years.
Ken Loach was gonna make a film about it, and then it never happened.
You know what the movie industry's like, it just happens.
And then Dad's friend was this chap called Jeremy James Taylor, who founded the National Youth Music Theatre, was go- had been badgering Dad, you've got to turn it into a stage musical.
And then one time they were playing golf down in the West Country, and the proprietor of the Theatre Royal Barnstable, that great theatrical institution, happened to be in the clubhouse afterwards, and he said, oh, have you two got a project for me?
And they looked at each other and they said yes.
And so they wrote this sort of stage musical together with another guy who Dad played golf with, wrote some of the music, and they put it on in 2004.
And I just saw it, and it was just the best thing I ever, ever saw in the theatre.
It just blew my mind.
I remember seeing the producers in the same week, the Mel Brooks production in the West End, which was very good, but it just wasn't a patch on this.
And this was like a semi-avatar production done in a, you know, in Barnstable in North Devon, one of the most overlooked, quietest parts of the country.
And I just totally fell in love with it.
And it was actually the reason I ended up becoming a financial writer, because I was trying to work out how to raise the money we needed, which was about three million quid, to put this thing on in the West End.
And so that's one of the reasons I went down the gold and the silver and the Bitcoin and the financial writing rabbit hole.
Anyway, we've spent various, we've put so much effort into trying to make this thing happen.
And there was always some reason why we couldn't.
And Dad died in 2020, right at the beginning of the, um, lockdown.
And, and by the way, they tried to, uh, use COVID as the, put it on his death certificate, only as an administrative thing, because it was just quicker.
And I was like, no, no, no, that's not what he died, and he neither died with it nor of it, so let's not go there.
Anyway, and I was sat there in the lockdown, and I was like, if I was to turn this into a film, Or a TV series.
I'd need millions of millions of pounds, and more importantly than that, I'd need powerful allies.
Just to get a film seen and distributed and all that, and it's powerful allies that I don't have.
Similarly, to put it on in the West End would be five million quid, and I'd almost certainly lose my shirt.
And I don't have five million quid to lose.
Not many of us do.
And so, but... No, with the Bitcoin price now, what it is... Well, exactly.
Exactly.
So I was looking at it and I was like, well, um, I do have the means to turn this into some kind of audio project.
And dad wrote a book of it.
There's a radio play.
There's the stage show.
So there's all sorts of different versions of the story.
And I have a partner who I write my comic songs with.
I write the words, he writes the music.
And it turned out his dad was evacuated to Cornwall as well.
And so we had that similar experience.
So Martin and I sat down and we rewrote probably a third to half of the music.
And then we went and we recorded this thing during the lockdown.
And it lasts four and a half hours.
It's got about 30 songs in it.
We've got an orchestra of 15.
We've got a cast of over 50, including 25 kids.
We've got all sorts of big names in musicals, because nobody was doing anything during the lockdown, so we were able to get access to big names.
So we've got, for example, in the lead role, a Welsh actor called John Owen Jones, who was like the most popular Valjean, Jean Valjean in Les Mis ever.
And Katie Seacombe, Harry Seacombe's daughter, playing his wife.
Wow.
And Rosie Cavaliero, who's from Wurzel Gummidge, and all sorts of big names.
Lance Ellington, who's the singer in Strictly.
And we've got... Anyway, we've put this amazing thing together, and we recorded it.
And now basically I'm trying to get as many people as possible to listen to it.
I've made it freely available as a podcast.
You can buy the CD if you like.
It's a four CD pack, but you can listen to the podcast for nothing.
And the reason I've been agitating you to come on your podcast is I think your listeners, with their interest in English history, In wars, in things cultural, and there's a very, very anti-establishment libertarian message to the whole thing.
One of the great lines that one of the main characters says is, never, never, never, never, never trust your leaders.
Churchill's a hero, Montgomery's a hero, where's our son Gwyn?
Their son Gwyn, by the way, was killed in action.
And so there's a very anti-establishment message to the whole thing.
But between the history and the music and the culture, I think your listeners will really like it.
And I know you don't like it having people on your podcast who are like really trying to push a book or something they've just done.
And so I sort of had to nag you a bit.
And I think me, this is why you were saying at the beginning of the show, this is one of the ones I'm not looking forward to.
But so that's the sort of background to the whole story.
You go.
That's a lovely story.
By the way, I'm completely not averse to people plugging a product.
I mean, I think people have got to promote their stuff.
If I ever finish another book, I'll be wanting to go and do the rounds.
I think the only mistake is to make the mistake, since we mentioned Bart Segrell and the moon landings, that he did himself no favours by constantly referring to his website.
Maybe to an American audience that seems okay, but to an English audience, and I've got some English listeners, it just seems like...
Yeah, that is a cultural thing.
That's a cultural thing.
You know, Americans do it, they expect it of you.
If you're doing gigs in America, they literally read out your CV before you go on stage.
You know, he's been on the BBC... And they get it wrong as well.
Yeah, and it's just like, well, how is that funny?
Apart from anything else.
And whereas here, we're much more... But, you know, they're better at marketing than we are.
They are.
I mean, look, I would have twenty times the income.
In fact, let me seize this moment, because people who really support me complain about this.
They say, look, it's all very well you mentioning at the end, you know, that they can support you here and there, but by that stage no one's interested.
People have stopped listening.
So, I'll say briefly, I'm finding that A lot of the payment processing companies, a lot of the ways I can monetize this podcast, they are being closed down.
People who try and support me find that their bank won't do it or for whatever reason that I am being censored and prevented from making money.
I'm not sure what the best way of supporting me, whether it is on Patreon or Subscribestar, on Locals and on Substack, but just try and find one where you can support me, because actually, you know, I need the money.
Otherwise, my wife says to me, well, what is the point of doing what you do?
You know, if you're not bringing home the bacon, you're just a gentleman of leisure, as far as she can see, and I don't blame her.
But yeah, if you want to support me, please persevere, because The system is designed to close down people like me.
So please have a go.
I appreciate it when you do.
So Dom, I love what you've done.
I really do.
I love the fact that there's so many elements to that story.
The fact that your songwriting partner has an evacuee dad as well.
And well, I'm looking forward to it.
One thing I will say.
One thing I was slightly trepidatious about.
You're recording my expression as I listen to this musical.
It's very hard on first take to tell whether something's good or not, you know what I mean?
Yeah, it is.
I've got this new theory about pop music that actually it's not about the quality of the song, it's about how many times it's repeated.
And people use that phrase earworm.
And that's what music, popular music, really is.
It's a function of repetition until you're kind of brainwashed by it.
Yeah, and repetition and normalisation.
But if I don't pull the right expression, please don't blame me.
Repetition and normalisation, you know, and this is the thing when they're trying to establish a new song.
I think that very much about The Beatles, by the way.
Yeah when they're trying to establish a new song they have a thing of they deliberately will put it on a radio station in between really established songs so that that song is associated you know so that new artist is associated with Elton John and Luther Vandross and so everyone goes oh well he's on the same level as Luther Vandross and Elton John.
Do you see what I mean?
I don't know why I picked those two artists at random but they were both in my head.
So So yeah.
They were quite unusual choices, I must say.
Well, I've been working on a thing that's emulating Luther Vandross with Howard from the Halifax ads.
So that's why Luther Vandross is in my head.
But I'll tell you about that another time.
OK.
Yeah.
Good.
But OK, so.
I'm just going to play these songs to me.
Yeah.
I'm going to tell you a story first.
So I'm going to tell you Very briefly, so I will say this this project is probably I see it as my, you know, my life's work almost.
It's like, I've been trying to make it work for 30 years, even though it's my dad's story, you know, it's, it's become my story and I, you know, I've rewritten so much of it.
And it's, it's, it's more important to me than anything and I'm more proud of it than anything, more proud of it than any of the books I've written or 17 million f-offs or any of the songs that have been very popular on the internet.
This is, this is really it.
And So the story begins and I might end up crying as I tell you this story because there's some I've got some trigger anchored and whenever I tell the story I end up crying so I apologize in advance if that happens.
So the story begins and it's I can't remember if it's 1939 or 1940 but the last soldiers have just been come back from Dunkirk and they know that the Battle of Britain is about to begin And so it begins with the Churchill speech, the Battle of Britain is about to begin.
And every kid in the country is being evacuated from their parents to the country.
Every kid in a city, I should say.
London, Birmingham, Manchester and so on.
But particularly, and my dad's living in Deptford and he's seven years old.
And his brother Jack is 11.
And I keep saying this, you know, they don't know where they're going.
They don't know who's going to be taking them in, what part of the country they're going to, how long they'll be going for.
They are literally, you are being separated from your kids and sending them into the unknown.
It's an extraordinary situation to be in.
And by the way, something similar happened in Ukraine, but let's not go there.
And you can imagine the anguish for the parents.
And Dad's mum, my grandmother, decided she was going to turn it into an adventure for them.
And so she gave them a postcard, and I keep saying this, the story is called Kisses on a Postcard, and she gave them a postcard.
And on the postcard, it says, Dear Mum and Dad, arrived safe and well.
Love, Jack and Terry.
And the two boys, Jack and Terry, are to write the address of where they've ended up on the postcard.
And how she made it an adventure was she said, there's a secret code, like the Secret Service.
And the kids are very excited.
What's the code?
And Mum goes, you put one kiss, if it's horrible, And I'll come straight down and get you.
You put two kisses if it's OK.
And you put three kisses if it's nice.
And then I'll know.
And so that's the code.
Oh, you're making me cry, actually.
That's very sad.
We haven't even got there yet.
So the kids...
And then marched off.
The whole school goes down to Deptford Station.
They all get on the train.
They wave goodbye to their mums and dads.
And they're whisked off all through the train, all through the stations of London, across London.
And then they go through Surrey and Wiltshire.
And eventually they end up in Cornwall.
And they get off the train at Liskeard, and then they get off on a bus, and everyone from the school is sent off in different directions, and Dad ended up at a tiny village called Dobwalls, which is, you know, five or six miles from Liskeard, right in the middle of nowhere in Cornwall.
And 50 of the kids are herded into the village hall, and they've all got labels on.
Their mum and dads have written a label on their thing saying, Terry Frisbee, age 7.
And they're stood in the middle of the village hall, and there are all these strangers in the village hall with funny accents, funny Cornish accents that they've never heard before.
And the strangers just come up, and the expression was, I'll take that one there.
And they're picked out at random from the village hall to go and stay with these parents, and that is their destiny.
With these new parents.
And Dad and his brother... Wow.
They were given the instruction, you have to stay together.
That was the instruction their mum gave them.
Whatever else happens, you have to stay together.
So the two kids were like, if one of them tried to be picked out, they were like, no, no, we've got to stay together.
And Dad and his brother were picked out by this Welsh couple, Auntie Rose and Uncle Jack, who had moved down to Cornwall.
from the valleys.
And he was now a plate layer on the Great Western Railway.
And this is the part that's played by John Owen Jones.
And he was a real Bevan Welsh mining socialist, hated authority from that school of Welsh logic.
Very anti-authoritarian.
And he had been in World War One, and he was in a regiment called the Welsh Bantams, who were all under five foot.
And they'd come up against the Prussian Guard, who were all over six foot.
And when the kids were told this story, they were all like, that's so unfair!
And he comes out with a line, everybody's the same height when a bullet hits him, he's horizontal.
And the Welsh... He'd been in this battle which was the Mammots Wood Massacre in which only 17 people survived.
It was one of the great tragedies of World War One.
You can Google it.
And he'd gone back to his village in Wales, and he'd been the only man who came back from the war to the village.
The only one.
And because they couldn't bear the way that they were looked at by all the other women in the village, they ended up having to leave the village.
And that's why they went down to Cornwall.
So he was a coal miner, then he was a World War I soldier, and then he became a plate layer on the Great Western Railway.
And so Dad and him are picked out by this couple.
And they go back to their house, and it's a tiny cottage, at the end of a row of cottages, right by the railway.
Dad and his brother, my grandad worked on the trains, they loved steam trains, they come from that generation of boys who adore steam trains, and they got the steam trains going past their, at the end of their yard every day.
And they went into the house, and there were oil lamps, no electricity, Um, there was a cat asleep by the hearth, a canary in a cage, uh, chickens in the garden, a pig, uh, valleys to explore with streams to dam and, and, and bridges to build and everything else.
And dad and his brother thought They had died, sorry this is a bit when I cry, and gone to heaven.
Okay?
So this scene, I'm gonna play you now, and I remind you this is an audio project, but this is the one video we've made to try and promote the show.
This is the two boys on their first night, and they're discussing how many kisses To put on their postcard.
And this is just 20 minutes into the show.
Okay, here we go.
How many kisses?
I vote three.
What would mum and dad think of it here?
Don't know.
No electricity.
They wouldn't like that.
I don't care.
There's no bathroom.
I don't care.
Outside laugh, all they have.
I can't go in an outside laugh.
I don't mind.
I don't care.
What if it's freezing cold out there?
That's what the pot's for, don't you see?
I vote 1.
I vote 3.
Just one bed.
Got to share.
All squashed up in it.
I don't care.
Kisses on a postcard we must write.
Something we've got to do tonight.
Kisses on a postcard what'll they show?
Only mum is going to know.
What about Gwyn?
Gwyn's not bad, even though you can see he's mad.
Aunty Rose, what did you say?
She says weird things, but she's okay.
Not Uncle Jack though, he plays rough.
Pulled my hair, called me scruff.
Kisses on a postcard, what'll we do?
I'd still say three.
Well, I say two.
Kisses on a postcard, three, two, one.
Better be quick or it won't get done.
If we put less than three, Mum and Dad will think it's rotten here.
They'll be worried.
Yeah, well, there's the trains, they're good.
And the station, right next to us.
That's terrific!
Hey, wait!
I've just remembered!
Hens!
What about hens?
Eggs, stupid!
Real eggs!
Not that horrible powdery stuff.
Eggs for you!
You can't!
Why not?
Mum only said up to three!
But don't you see?
The more kisses we put, the more happy they're going to be!
Yeah, it's terrific here really, innit?
Like being on holiday, only there's no sea!
We don't have to stop at four!
Let's do hundreds!
Yeah!
Kisses on a postcard, one by one All round the edges, this is fun Kisses on a postcard, squashed up tight Telling mum that we're alright Goodnight children Mommy thinks of you tonight.
Lay your head upon your pillow.
Don't be a king or a weeping willow.
Be a king or a weeping willow.
Close your eyes and say a prayer.
And surely you can find.
Find a kiss to spare Kisses on a very scar Kisses on a very scar Though you are far away She's with you night and day One by one This is fun Goodnight children everywhere Tell me not that we're alright Night Jack Night
Terry Look at them Fast asleep.
And they've covered the card in kisses.
Night night, boys.
Dom, that was lovely.
It's really, it's really charming.
And, you know, it's very evocative.
I love it.
Thank you.
And that's just 20 minutes in.
It's such a good story.
And there's four hours of it.
Yeah, it's great.
I mean, I suppose I'm thinking that this really absolutely deserves to be a West End show.
I mean, whether it's got Broadway potential, because Americans weren't evacuated, so maybe they won't identify with that.
Although I would have thought it's the sort of story that transcends historical, you know, prejudice, if you like.
It's the subject of evacuation.
Sorry, the subject of evacuation is surprisingly universal, and I don't, I mean, it should be in the West End, it should be on Netflix, and, you know, it's like Oliver, basically, but for Vaki's kids, if that makes sense.
It's got a great Christmas-y feel as well, actually.
I mean, I can imagine it being... It could be one of those Christmas movies that's not about Christmas, but touches the same emotions.
Yeah.
And I'll tell you why Americans would like it.
I'll tell you why Americans would like it, because this is something that happens in the thing.
So they get down there, and then the rest of the story is basically...
Their adventures in this village in World War II.
So it's the whole of World War II seen through the eyes of this little village.
And so, for example, there's a very... Auntie Rose and Uncle Jack, the couple that took them in, had their own son, Gwyn, who was sent off to... he went off to fight and was killed in action.
And so that's a very dramatic moment, and then the two boys, when they learn- Where?
Sicily.
In the dark under- what would they call it?
The dark underbelly of Europe, whatever it was called.
And, uh, he was killed in Sicily, and so Jack and Terry, the two boys, they offer, when they're supposed to go home, they offer one of them to stay!
To make up for their own lost son, Gwyn.
Um, so that was something that happened.
And, for example, they used to go on shopping trips to Plymouth, and Plymouth was famously flattened, uh, during the war, and Dab was caught, uh, in Plymouth when they bombed it.
and they had to hide in the underpass under the train station.
And so that's a very dramatic scene when, you know, you see Plymouth being laid to waste.
And then prior to D-Day, all the American soldiers come over.
And for some unknown reason, the kids, the Americans that were billeted in Dad's village were all some regiment from Louisiana or something, but it was a black regiment.
They were all black.
And, um, nobody'd ever seen a black man before.
But again, in the musical, you, we exploit that, that man, and it's a wonderful, it's a wonderful moment in the story.
Of course you do!
Yeah.
But, um, so, but I mean that, that, you know... You can be woke without, without straining things.
Yeah, well, you know, it's, it's... and we've written some fantastic numbers, I'd like to play you one of them, I sent it to you on WhatsApp, I don't know if you can play it, but... I'll tell you what, why don't we talk and we can play it at the end of the show or something, so people can hear it.
Or... because I haven't got the video to show you, I've only got the song, so if I were to play the song, we'd have to sort of listen to the song and stare at your face, which might not be that... Well, I could... is it the one... if I just press play on that one...
Hello, how are you?
Good day.
We're soldiers from the U.S.
Is that the black?
Yeah, that's the song where the soldiers are on.
I'm going to try to sing it now.
Got me gum chum.
Hello.
How are you?
Good day.
We're soldiers from the US of A.
Pleased to meet you, sir.
Pleased to meet you, ma'am.
Pleased to meet you, pretty lady.
We're here for Uncle Sam.
At your service this fine day.
Any questions?
Please just say.
Questions?
Loads!
What's it like in the States?
Is it just like the flicks?
What's the weather like?
Have you flown in a plane?
Are there cops and robbers?
Are there gangsters too?
Are there cowboys and Indians?
Do you know John Wayne?
Have you ever seen a humour?
Have you eaten a sazuma?
Do you like hamburgers?
Do your cows go moo?
Have you crossed the Mississippi?
Have you caught a barracuda?
Have you been to Colorado?
Or to Kalamazoo?
Have you got No, we all drive cars.
No, we all drive cars Have you ever had a pussy?
No, we have not Is it true that you eat dogs?
Only if they're hot Have you crossed the Golden Gate?
Have you climbed the Empire State?
Have you ever smelt a scum?
Why do you call a tramp a bum?
Have steam trains and you tell me chum?
One last question, have you got any gum?
Got any gum, chum?
We might have some.
Any gum, chum?
Now don't all scrum.
Any gum, chum?
It sure is yum.
You can chew it till your mouth goes numb.
For any gum job, this sure is fun.
Any gum job, do the chewing hum.
Yummy, yum, yum.
Rum, pum, pum.
And that is how you do the shooting bomb.
We've got snakes and alligators and our own refrigerators.
Oranges and peaches, eagles, buffalo.
Bears and avocados, a city called Chicago.
Frightening tornadoes, tropics, desert and snow.
We've got rodeos and branches, rapes upon the branches.
We drink lots of Coca-Cola and there's ice to crush.
We've got Mormons, we've got Quakers, we've got towering skyscrapers, but no privies for us.
Our lavatory's flush.
Do you drink tea?
No, sirree.
Speak Cherokee?
Not frequently.
Do you play figures?
We shoot pool.
Would you like a game of cricket?
We don't understand the rules.
Do you know Clark Gable is half a really dumb?
Have you ever had a Hershey?
Have you hit a home run?
Please give me an answer, can you tell me, John?
One last question, have you got any gum?
Got any gum?
Chub!
We might have some.
Any gum?
Chub!
Now don't all scrum.
Any gum?
Chub!
It sure is yum.
You can chew it till your mouth goes numb.
Got any gum?
Chub!
It sure is fun.
Any gum?
Chub!
Do the chewing hum.
Yummy yum yum!
Are these, um, your lyrics or your dad's lyrics?
That's mine.
That's mine, that one.
That's all Dominic Frisby.
I... I like the honesty of the line about, have you ever tried a pasty?
No, we have not.
The others are really clever and witty, but I just like that one for some reason.
It's great, Dom.
It's really lovely.
And it's interesting that when I listen to music, I very rarely listen to the words.
Kevin Macdonald, not Kevin Macdonald, the guy who wrote the book about the Beatles songs, not that the Beatles actually wrote them, but that's another story.
Ian Macdonald, revolution in the head, and he said that you're into a band for one of three reasons, either for the image and the stuff surrounding the band, or for the music, or for the words.
And I've always been into the music, but This, this, for, for, like, all the best musicals.
It's, it's just, it, it makes you feel good.
And, and the music, the, the, the, the, the lyrics are very witty.
It's lovely.
It's, it's, it's, I, I congratulate you.
It's really good.
Well, thanks very much.
And, you know, can I just plug it very quickly?
If any of your, I really think your listeners will like it because it's about a very English subject and it's very traditional and also because it's good.
And if you're interested, just go to kissesonapostcard.com and you can get the link to Apple Podcasts or Spotify or whatever from there.
And if you want to buy a CD, it's a great present to give your aging relative for Christmas.
It's wholesome, happy, It's a great Christmas present.
And that generation who was evacuated, they'll be in their 80s and late 80s and 90s now, mostly in their 90s.
There aren't many of them left.
But if you've got a relative who was evacuated, please give them this CD and they will thank you for it.
It's... but we've got to do better than that, Dom.
We've got to get this thing made.
We've got to get this thing produced and in the West End.
Or as a movie.
I've got... I'm sure there are people, powerful, very powerful people, Dom.
I mean, obviously the evil elites who control the world only listen to this podcast in order to find excuses to kill me.
To see what the enemy's doing.
But there's another tranche of listeners who I'm sure...
Yeah.
There's another charge who are well-connected, maybe they're in theatre, maybe they're in TV or movie land, and they know a good thing when they see it.
It's beautiful.
I really love it.
So when did you start writing this stuff?
Well, Dad wrote the first radio play in the 1980s.
So, you know, I think it was 1987 or 1988 that it was broadcast.
So he wrote the book, as it were.
Well, he wrote the radio play.
There's a book, the novel of it, he wrote in 2013, 2014, something like that.
And then the stage version was written around 2000.
And this audio version that I've done, I wrote it during the lockdown.
So, um, you know, it's... Did you?
It's, yeah, so it's, uh, I mean, it's, but it's, it's been going on for nearly 40 years, 35 years, but it, you know, as I say now, it's four, four and a half hours long and there's so much more material that we haven't explored.
It, this could easily be, uh, like a, you know, a series on Netflix, half an hour episodes, six or eight half hour episodes, easily, or even eight full hour episodes.
It could.
It's, it's, it's idyllic.
Um, yeah.
It's a big budget thing.
I expect if it were turned into a musical you might have to shave, shave... Oh, if we're doing it on stage I have to lose two hours.
There's no reason for a musical lasting over four hours.
No, no, no.
Yeah, you would.
You really would.
It wants to be two and a half hours.
I went to see Wicked the other day.
Not even Hamlet's worth four hours.
Exactly, exactly.
I went to see Wicked the other day, which is very good, and, but I was like, you could shave half an, it was like three hours, and I was like, you could lose half an hour from this, and you wouldn't, it would be better for it, you know.
Do you, can I just, on that note, on Wicked, you know when she sings Less Fortunate Than I?
Do you think that it is deliberate, the grammatical error, or do you think it's a sad fact that most people do not know the difference between I and me and the correct usage?
I mean, Toby, for example, Toby Young, because he went to a shit comprehensive, does not know the difference between I and me and how it's used.
And there's another one, who's the one, who's the one who sang Another Love, the, you know, pretty boy, You know another love, love?
I don't know.
Anyway, he doesn't know the difference between I and me.
It really gets on my... But, you know, you know the song I mean, Less Fortunate Than I?
Yeah, I... Who isn't less fortunate than I?
And obviously it should be less fortunate than me.
Yeah, I was just looking at the... I was just looking at the lyrics now while you're talking to see if... if maybe, uh... if it was... if it was... they cheated it from... for, uh... you know, for the rhyme.
You know, because I is a good rhyme, but I mean, E's a better rhyme.
I don't know.
I think they just got it wrong.
I'm just looking at the lyrics.
There's no need for it to be I. I was talking about, by the way, Tom O'Dell.
Tom O'Dell has got these songs where he just doesn't, and you just kind of think, look, kids.
Language is important.
You're in the communications industry and you're promoting bad grammar.
You went to a ritzy school.
I did go to a ritzy school and I learnt Latin and I've always been very grateful that I did.
Like it's similar, you know, if you think we're in an age of, you know, there's a culture of sporting excellence where everyone is trying to be the most excellent physical specimen they could possibly be and going to the gym and all the rest of it.
And there isn't that same... And looks.
People try and look as good as they can.
Not everyone, but there's a group of people that do.
And I just wonder why the same rationale isn't applied firstly to grammar, And the way we write, but also to the way we speak.
And, you know, I'm coming from a theatrical family.
I've sort of had it drilled into me.
But, you know, I took a great deal of effort when I was younger, learning to speak properly, practicing diction lessons.
You'd stick a matchstick in between your teeth and you'd go ta-ta-ta-ta-ta and all this to improve your diction.
And, you know, I had a good living for a long time doing voiceovers.
And that culture of excellence in speech and all the physical things you need to be able to do has disappeared both from acting and from everyday speech.
And the standard of speech and diction, it's partly because of microphones you don't need it as much.
But, you know, almost speaking badly has become a form of identity.
You know, look at me, I'm just a working class bloke, when actually you went to the most expensive public school in the country.
So that's another area where standards have slipped.
Speech, voice and speech.
You listen to people on radio programs in the 50s, 60s and 70s, they spoke beautifully.
I agree.
When I was at school, because I was at school not too far, about an hour away from Stratford.
So we used to go regularly on trips to the Royal Shakespeare Company.
And I saw a few of the greats.
I saw Peggy Ashcroft, I think, in Measure for Measure.
Oh, wow.
Was she good?
Not just the leads, but the supporting cast.
Yeah, well, it wasn't the best performance.
I mean, she was good.
She was playing some sort of grand old woman, you know.
OK.
She wasn't the lead character.
But I saw some pretty, pretty good productions.
And now, even though I live, again, not too far from the RSC, I cannot go there anymore.
The actors are, the ensemble are just not good enough.
Even if you get somebody like Anthony Sher in one of the lead roles.
The supporting actors, who anyway have often been chosen for diversity casting reasons rather than for talent, they can't speak the verse.
They can't do it.
They're just incapable.
Yeah, and that's because there are people out there who can do it, but it's not the number one priority.
And, you know, there's all sorts of other stupid reasons why people are cast.
By the way, I get emails every day from Spotlight, which is the, um, like the directory for actors.
And it sends out all the casting briefs every day.
And the acting business has got itself into such a mess over they, them, pronouns, transgender, this.
Because they can no longer say, we are looking for a man in his 50s.
They have to make it open to all.
And so...
They've got their knickers in such a twist with their wokery.
It's quite amusing when you read some of the briefs.
I get a similar problem.
For some reason, I must be on some old journalist list.
So I get all these PRs sending me these press releases that I really don't want.
And at the top of it, it states their preferred pronouns.
Even if it's a woman calling herself she, her.
And I'm thinking, you've lost me already!
I'm not interested, even if I were going to be interested in what you were going to say, I've ceased to be interested the moment I've read you specifying your pronouns.
Shut up and go away!
So I try and reply to them, please unsubscribe me, and they never do.
Yeah.
It's, it's so horrible that this is why, this is another, yet another reason why we need your musical.
Because it carries us back to a better time.
Yeah.
Do you think, should we play that other song, the England's Bells song that you said I like?
Because that might talk about the golden past.
Yeah, we can do.
I'll just do a little, I'll do a little preamble to this song.
Or not.
I'll do a little preamble.
I mean, I'm not sure how interesting it is for your listeners.
Like, when I edit this for you, James, I might just do half of Gum Chum and rather than have you listen to the whole thing.
But, yeah, this England Spells is a short song.
No, I liked it.
No, I... Keep the whole thing.
Don't take away the gum, Chum.
Yeah, yeah, it's great.
It's fun.
Alright.
Chum.
Well, okay, so England's Bells, the story here is that, you know, they wouldn't ring the church bells for the whole of the war, and the only reason you could ring the church bells was if we were invaded.
Yeah.
So the bells stopped ringing during the war.
Did you know that?
Yeah.
Okay, so that's the preamble to this song.
Yeah, I did, yeah.
Okay, and go ahead and play it.
Okay, if I can make it work... Hang on... Long ago, grown-ups say Happy sounds would always fill the air Spreading cheer far and near Ringing out their message everywhere
England's bells are silent now, when will they ring once more?
Storm clouds hide our island now, dark with the shadow of war.
Once those bells rang everywhere, calling the people to pray.
Joyful music filled the air, on each happy wedding day.
The world will be free in time, and the church bells will peal once more.
The bluebirds will hear their shine, And come wading back home to the shore.
Home again!
Home again!
Holy bells will ring again, Ringing the sounds of joy.
Fresh new heart will spring again, for every little bell and boy.
Bring out sweet bells, loud and clear, bless this land we hold so dear.
Bring out sweet bells, loud and clear, bless this land we hold so dear.
Bless this land we hold so dear.
Bless this land we hold so dear.
That's great.
That's great.
Yeah, it's got, it does sort of capture the feel of classic, classic musicals, classic films of the past that we've lost.
So I think you've done well there, mate.
Thank you very much.
Well done.
Thank you very much.
That song there is written by a chap called Gordon Clyde.
Go on.
No, I was just going to say, we should do... I see no reason why you and I shouldn't do another podcast soon-ish where we talk about Bitcoin and where we are on stuff like that.
I'd be happy to.
But I think this is quite a nice self-contained one.
Yeah, and gold as well.
Because actually, I've got to take Boyd to the airport.
Yeah, gold.
It's got to go up, hasn't it?
Yeah, it has to.
I mean, I'm heavily invested in gold.
I know you are.
Finally.
I know you are.
Yeah.
I don't see how it doesn't work.
If it doesn't, I'm stuck.
Well, yeah, but the beauty of gold is it's never going to do an FDF.
It's never going to go to zero.
It's always going to be there.
It's not going to do an FTX.
I reckon, or rather, the Bitcoin trader in my family reckons that Bitcoin's going to go to $13,500.
Yeah, $12,500 is the next line of support.
Do you reckon?
Possible.
Oh, 13,500.
Yeah, 12,5 is the next line of support.
Do you reckon?
Possible.
Who knows?
Yeah, yeah.
Bye.
Possible, possible.
John, thank you so much for being on the podcast.
I love this and I really wish you great, you deserve success with this musical.
You are the Lionel Bart de Nozure.
Except, of course, Lionel Bart wrote the lyrics and the music.
He did.
And was correspondently rich until he blew it all afterwards.
I don't know what.
But well done, mate.
It's lovely having you on the podcast again.
Is there anything else you want to plug?
I've done enough plugging, haven't you, mate?
Once again, kissesonapostcard.com.
Buy a CD for a relative, listen to the podcast.
Great.
It's free, all the CDs you have to pay for, but the rest of it is free.
Kissesonapostcard.com.
It's a lovely title as well and the song is, I just, you know, I'm welling up now thinking about the whole concept.
It's beautiful.
Again everyone, look, they are making it increasingly hard for you to support me and please tell them where to shove their censorship by giving me money via Subscribestar, Patreon, Locals and Subset, wherever you can.
I appreciate your support and you need to do it.
You need to do it for the good of your soul, apart from anything else.
I mean, never mind my bank balance and paying off the bills, but you need to do it for the good of your soul because, you know, you don't want to be consuming stuff for free.
It's, like, morally wrong, I think.
Anyway, thanks, Dom.
Great show.
Love it.
Love it.
▲
Export Selection