Saturday 25 December 2010

Merry Christmas from Neil and Dave!

Neil and Dave from Words Fail Me Podcast wish you a very happy Christmas!

Here are some pictures from the recording of our Christmas special, which is still available to download here.

Words Fail Me Podcast Christmas 2010

Words Fail Me Podcast Christmas 2010

Aylesbury Winter 2010 017

Aylesbury Winter 2010 015

If you want to know why Dave is reading the Communist Manifesto then you will have to listen to the show to find out.

Thursday 16 December 2010

Words Fail Me Podcast 12 - December 2010


It's Christmas! Dave and Neil get in a festive mood this month - presents, crackers, jingle bells and a Christmas themed guest all feature in this podcast!

The dictionary page is opened by Karolyn Grimes, who played Zuzu in the seasonal film It's a Wonderful Life. Dave speaks to her via a transatlantic phone call at 3am, and as well as picking a page Karolyn chats about the film and the new colourised version.

Zuzu, Karolyn Grimes

Also discussed is the Communist manifesto, Christmas, worry, Christmas, apricots and Christmas

Download now at Podbean or on itunes!

You can find out more about Karolyn Grimes at http://www.zuzu.net/, and as usual we must thank the Shadow Orchestra for providing the music, and Peter Dickson for a grand opening to this months episode!

Monday 15 November 2010

Words Fail Me Podcast 11 - Nov 2010 (X Factor Special!)


This months podcast takes on a topical theme, it's the Words Fail Me Podcast X-Factor special. In a strange clash of cultures this episode is recorded in the British Library, and features the Voice of the X-Factor, Peter Dickson. Dave chats to Peter about being a voice-over artist, career choices, and how to protect your voice.

Peter Dickson
Voice of the X Factor, Peter Dickson

He chooses a page of "Out" words for Neil and Dave to discuss, which leads Dave to challenge Neil at a coin spinning contest, A bad joke about cheese, and discussions about chess, graffiti in library toilets, and sporting events Dave has been to.

And, if, like Neil you are no fan of the X-Factor then the podcast starts with a short educational stroll around the British Library exhibits.

Words Fail Me
The Large Books mentioned in the Podcast

Words Fail Me
Neil and Dave at the British Library

Words Fail Me
Neil with Dictionary at our recording location in the cafe!

Download now at Podbean, or search for "Words Fail Me Podcast" on itunes.


Monday 1 November 2010

Ted Sorensen 1928-2010

Shortly After recording Novembers podcast in London yesterday Dave rang me with the sad news that Ted Sorensen, our podcast guest and dictionary opener for our April edition, had died.

Ted was best known for being speech writer for JFK, and coining some of the most iconic phrases in American politics. He kindly took time out earlier this year to chat to us about his career and thoughts on modern politics, and also choose a page of words for us to discuss on Words Fail Me.

Words Fail Me - New York - Ted Sorensen

If you have not already heard our interview then it is still available as part of the April 2010 Podcast.

News of Ted Sorensen's death has been reported on the BBC Website and also on Guardian.co.uk.

Sunday 17 October 2010

Words Fail Me Podcast 10 - October 2010

Dave and Neil are back after a slight delay! Thanks for bearing with us, Neil's stuff has been hiding in boxes while he has moved, and the pieces of the podcast have only just been retrieved from a box labelled "Random stuff possible junk?".

Octobers podcast guest is non other than comedy actor Bill Pertwee, star of Dads Army and Round the Horne. He tells Dave about how he got into Radio, and also about his new book - Dads Army, The making of a television legend.

Bill Pertwee

Dave and Neil also find time to play an autumnal game of conkers, talk about Dave's habit of stealing things from famous studios, sing some songs about money and reminisce about travels in the Middle East.

Available now to download on Podbean, or through itunes.

Here are some pictures of the conkers game, all the excitement is captured here!

Conkers Conkers Conkers



Monday 13 September 2010

Words Fail Me Podcast 9 - September 2010

Dave and Neil are back in the podcast studio this month with some discussion of Conkers, and all things French, such as French Artists, the Eiffel Tower and cheese.

Special guest dictionary opener this month was Ivan Mauger, six time world Speedway champion! He tells us about bikes, moving continents and his new autobiography “The Will to Win

Photo0140

Download the show at Podbean now or search for us and subscribe on itunes.


Podcast Notes... As promised on the podcast here are the links to pictures from Robert and Sonia Delaunay and also the delicatessen Chandos Deli.

Thursday 19 August 2010

Photos from the summer special

As promised here are the pictures from our recording of the August Podcast.

Words Fail me 003

Dave on the phone to Sir Tim Rice.

Words Fail me 005

Neil recording the end of the podcast.

Words Fail me 002

As the water got nearer and nearer Dave decided to have a paddle.

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Our fishing audience.

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Neil and Dave shortly after the recording.

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Off home!

Thanks for listening, Look out for Septembers podcast in a few weeks!

Sunday 15 August 2010

Words Fail Me Podcast 8 - August 2010

Welcome to the Words Fail Me podcast Summer Special!

We left the confines of the podcast studio and decamp to the beach. Dave phones Sir Tim Rice and has a nice chat about the summer, how he writes lyrics, Elvis and he picks a page of our dictionary unsighted!

Dave and Neil sit on the edge of the ocean like podcasting King Canutes and watch the tide get ever closer, while also discussing snooker, accidental discoveries, athiests and then going for a paddle.

So come and join us by downloading the podcast at either Podbean or on itunes

Pictures from the podcast coming soon!

Tuesday 13 July 2010

Words Fail Me Podcast 7 - July 2010

Another month has passed and it's finally time for July's instalment of the Words Fail Me podcast with Dave and Neil!

This month our page was chosen by none other than Yes legend and keyboard extraordinaire - Rick Wakeman!

Words fail me meet Rick Wakeman

One of the nicest guests we have had, and very adept at picking a round numbered page with some interesting words on.

We discuss the unluckiness of thirteen, we show how little history we know, Neil discovers several things he does not like, and insults Roald Dahls granddaughter and also most of Scotland. Dave regretfully sings at one point.

Available now at Podbean and on itunes.

Friday 2 July 2010

Words Fail Me Summer special

Dave and myself have been enjoying the sun since the last podcast was recorded, not only has it helped us forget the woeful performance of England (and the Ivory coast, another pound wasted!) in the World Cup, but we also took the opportunity to record a new celebrity dictionary opening for Julys podcast, which will be out in the next few weeks.

For August we are thinking about doing something different, and perhaps recording the podcast on the beach, or at least in a beach hut near the beach. One possible location is Dawlish, which is home to the excellent Dawlish Air Show (http://www.dawlishairshow.co.uk/) each August, this year taking place on the 19th.

Dawlish Air Show

If you are local to the area, or perhaps just on holiday in Devon over that period then do go and take a look, you may even bump into Dave and I!

Tuesday 22 June 2010

World Cup Podcast update

As promised by Dave on the last podcast we placed a bet on Ivory Coast. We were hoping we could place a bet on them reaching the semi finals, but it seems this is not allowed (you can bet on almost anything else!) so a bet was placed on them reaching the final.

I don't want to suggest that Dave has wasted a pound of the podcast budget, but I believe they have to beat North Korea about ten-nil on Friday to get through to the next stage!

ivory-coast-flag

Anyway we won't let that dampen our spirits as England play tomorrow, and I don't see how we could possibly lose...

In-ger-land!

Sunday 13 June 2010

Words Fail Me Podcast 6 - June 2010

The Words Fail Me Podcast celebrates the World Cup this month by interviewing ex England Manager Graham Taylor!

Graham Taylor

Also hear Neil feigning interest in football, why you often see shoes by the side of the road, the many varieties of little people, memories, and Andy's Loo's make a reappearance.

We also mostly dodge the topic of religion, despite God being one of the words on this months page of the dictionary!

Thanks as usual to the Shadow Orchestra for the music.

To listen to June's Podcast subscribe on itunes or download at Podbean.

Tuesday 8 June 2010

Loose ends from May

Hello podcast listeners!

Our Football World Cup special podcast is being recorded very soon, and will be available to download at the weekend. Which football related person will Dave have found to open the dictionary this month?

There were a few matters arising from the May podcast that we promised we would put on the blog, and in the business of life I forgot, but better late than never!

London_Bridge,_Lake_Havasu,_Arizona,_2003

We discussed London Bridge and promised a picture, here is the Wikipedia page, which must be the only bridge with 2 locations listed! Also note the worlds worst sounding idea for a film at the end of the article.

We promised links to Jo Caulfield, our brilliant dictionary opener, and also the Collings and Herrin podcast after they mentioned us a few weeks ago (warning the content and language in their podcast can only be described as adult!)

So have your ipods at the ready, Junes episode coming soon!


Monday 17 May 2010

May Podcast update

We seemed to have a slight problem with the podcast being uploaded yesterday, but we are in the process of fixing it! If you try now it should be working and you can hear Dave, Neil and Jo in all their audio glory!

Sunday 16 May 2010

Words Fail Me Podcast 5 - May 2010

The fifth episode of the Words Fail Me Podcast is recorded during an historic moment in the country's history while we were without a Prime Minister.

As Mr Brown was off to tender his resignation to the Queen, Neil and Dave were rambling about the sound of the sea, horrible sounding words, moonlighting on other podcasts, torturing mice and Neil's general ignorance of famous nurses.

Special guest dictionary opener this month is comedian Jo Caulfield, Seen here holding the Words Fail Me Podcast dictionary -

Jo Caulfield

Download this edition at Podbean or on itunes, and please give us any feedback wordsfailmepodcast@googlemail.com

Sunday 25 April 2010

New York, New York!

I hope you enjoyed the New York Special of the podcast, downloads have gone through the roof, in fact we are going to have to start paying more for our webspace as traffic has been so heavy... anyone want to sponsor us?

As promised here are a few more of Dave's pictures from the big apple, as well as the lovely eggs mentioned in the podcast.

Words Fail Me - New York Words Fail Me - New York

Words Fail Me - New York Words Fail Me - New York

We will be recording again in a few weeks, so please email your comments or ideas to wordsfailmepodcast@gmail.com

Words Fail Me Eggs

Tuesday 20 April 2010

Words Fail Me Podcast 4 - Apr 2010

Words Fail Me - New York Words Fail Me - New York

We are back! As you can see from the pictures this month Dave is in New York!

Our guest has a New York flavour as speech writer Ted Sorensen talks about Kennedy, Obama, Egypt and chooses a page of our travel sized dictionary.

Words Fail Me - New York - Ted Sorensen

In a slightly extended New York special podcast it’s Neil’s turn to burst into song, we discuss the next logical place to theme a podcast now that we have “done” New York, find out how Dave has an exclamation mark addiction and we talk about the egg and the ego.

You can download the MP3 on our Podbean Page, or search for us on itunes.

More pictures from Dave's travels and the podcast coming in a few days.

Words Fail Me - New York

Monday 12 April 2010

New episode coming soon

empire state

It seems a long time since the last episode, but fear not the next one will be recorded this week and will be in your ipods by the weekend!

An exciting episode this month as it is the New York special, with genuine New York guest, I have no idea who it is, but Dave says it is really interesting. He won't tell me any more than that!

Also confirmed is a future Football World Cup special podcast, which will be out in whatever month the World Cup is held... I really need to do some research on this strange ball game before we record that one.

We have hit 200 downloads now, if you want to comment on any episode don't forget to email us at wordsfailmepodcast@gmail.com

Sunday 28 March 2010

Words Fail Me Google map updates

March's podcast has been up for a few weeks now, and we have had over 80 downloads already this month!

As promised we have updated the Google Map again, after a placeless month we now have 2 places in Africa to add, a bit of a shame we did not have much to say about them on the recording, hopefully some more interesting places will come up in April's page (it is going to be a New York special after all!)


View Words Fail Me Podcast Map in a larger map

We also mentioned an ogee curve this month, and speculated on what such a curve may look like. Fear not we have tracked down the Ogee for you, and here it is.

ogee

Exciting isn't it?

The next podcast will be out in a few weeks, in the meantime please tell your friends, and also join the Facebook group here.

Sunday 14 March 2010

Words Fail Me Podcast 3 - March 2010

words fail me 015
Neil with 3D glasses

Well here it is
http://wordsfailme.podbean.com/2010/03/14/words-fail-me-3-march-2010/ the latest Words Fail Me podcast.

The third words fail me podcast is now online! This month we discuss seaside towns, 3D films, Dave’s appearances in various forms of media, the Net Book Agreement and sending the podcast to Mars.

Our special guest dictionary opener is Sir Patrick Moore!

Download by clicking the Podbean link above or search for "Words Fail Me Podcast" on itunes.

As discussed in the show if you want to send your name to Mars here is the link http://marsparticipate.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/participate/sendyourname/

Music provided by the excellent Shadow Orchestra, who you can see in London this Tuesday, the 16th March http://www.shadoworchestra.com/index.php/gigs

Wednesday 24 February 2010

Words Fail Me Podcast 2 - Feb 2010

wordsfailme-kermode

Back agian! The second Words Fail Me podcast has been recorded and is now available on Podbean and itunes.

Each month we read a page of the dictionary, this month randomly chosen by film critic Mark Kermode.

In the second episode we discuss film with Mark Kermode, Dave tries to sing again - this time with a cold, we mention religion several times, and we correct the errors from show 1.

Podcast available through itunes (http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/words-fail-me/id352409134) or on Podbean (http://wordsfailme.podbean.com/2010/02/24/words-fail-me-2-feb-2010/), on the Podbean Page just right click the "Audio MP3" button and "save as" to download.

Again thanks to Kat and Chris of The Shadow Orchestra for use of the music, find out more at http://www.shadoworchestra.com/and http://www.myspace.com/theshadoworchestra

Sunday 7 February 2010

Comedy star lined up to open dictionary...

The excellent comedian (or comedienne, as she refers to herself on her site) Jo Caulfield has agreed to open the dictionary for us for a future Words Fail Me podcast!

We hate to ruin the surprise but we did want to mention it while she is still on the road, as by the time our podcast is recorded Jo's Won't Shut Up UK tour will be almost over.

Jo Caulfield - Words Fail Me Podcast

Jo Caulfield has been doing stand up for over 12 years now, and is best known (well, in our house anyway) for her BBC radio comedy series It's That Jo Caulfield Again. She has also appeared on TV's Mock The Week and Have I Got News For You, as well as many radio panel games and also on Radio 2.

In fact the list of her accomplishments is almost endless, and you can find plenty more about Jo on her website www.jocaulfield.com. We are honoured that she has agreed to open the dictionary for Words Fail Me!

Wednesday 3 February 2010

Dictionary opening update

We have secured an exciting guest to open the dictionary for us on this months Words Fail Me podcast... BBC 5live's film critic, and BBC2 Culture Show presenter Mark Kermode!

Despite being a film critic Mark is no stranger to opening books, so hopefully he will pick a great page for us to discuss later this month, and in fact his very own book It's Only A Movie is out in paperback tomorrow.

More about Mark Kermode, his book and book tour below, thanks to everyone who downloaded episode one of the podcast, and please email your feedback to wordsfailmepodcast@gmail.com.

kermode

Mark Kermode has been named by The Screen Directory (alongside Barry Norman, Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert) as one of the 'Top Ten Film Critics of All Time' and continues to attract dedicated followers across the UK.

In It’s Only A Movie, (published to tie in with the 2010 Oscars and Bafta season) Kermode takes us on a whirlwind journey through his life in film – an irreverent and insightful guide to a mind obsessed with cinema.

What happens when you spend most of your childhood in acinema?

Can you really
learn about the world by watching triple-bills ofConquest of the Planet of the Apes, Slade in Flame and Krakatoa: East of Java?

Or does it mean that
movies become more real than 'real life'?

In
It's Only a Movie the UK's leading film critic Mark Kermode considers all of these questions, drawing on scenes from his life that he remembers with cinematic clarity - getting shot at while interviewing Werner Herzog in the Hollywood Hills, being handbagged by Helen Mirren at the Bafta Awards ceremony, and being thrown out of the Cannes Film Festival for heckling in very bad French.

Whether reflecting on why he was punched for writing a bad review of
Blue Velvet or rueing the day he spent travelling through Russia in a broken-down Lada on the trail of the low-budget horror movie Dark Waters, Mark Kermode has written a hilarious account of a life obsessed with film that will appeal to anyone who's ever wondered 'Who would play me in the film of my life?'

Also catch Mark on his tour of the UK starting in Southampton on the 6th of February and visiting many Picturehouse and Independent cinemas around the country until he concludes at the Bath Literacy Festival on the 2nd March.

Friday 29 January 2010

Words Fail Me Google map

As promised in Episode One of Words Fail Me we have created a Google map with a pin for every place we mention on the podcast. This months chosen page had four places on it, nicely scattered around the world.


View Words Fail Me Podcast Map in a larger map

Don't forget to download the podcast from podbean, or even at itunes here, please let us know what you think at wordsfailmepodcast@googlemail.com.

Monday 25 January 2010

Words Fail Me Podcast 1 - Jan 2010

We are finally there. the first Words Fail Me podcast has been recorded and thrown together and is now available for your downloading pleasure!

Each month we read a page of the dictionary (this time we are lost in the middle of "M") and see what ramblings come from our mouths.

In this first episode Dave reveals he has plans grander than Neil could ever imagine, leading to a surprise celebrity appearance, we extol the virtues of the squarial, the risks of photographing yourself on Abbey Road, we show our mathematical ignorance and both make ill advised attempts at singing.

Podcast available through Podbean (http://wordsfailme.podbean.com/2010/01/25/words-fail-me-1-jan-2010/), on the Podbean Page just right click the "Audio MP3" button and "save as" to download.

Thanks this month to Kat and Chris of The Shadow Orchestra for use of the music, find out more at http://www.shadoworchestra.com/ and http://www.myspace.com/theshadoworchestra

Enjoy!

Wednesday 13 January 2010

Welcome

words fail me

Greetings! Welcome to the home of a brand new podcast, Words Fail Me.

Each month Dave and Neil will be reading a dictionary, a random page each podcast. It may not sould like podcasting gold, but we aim to use each word to spin an entertaining conversation about a cavalcade of topics, some funny, some serious, and some surreal.

You will have a chance to interact too, if you have a comment on one of the words we discuss, if we drop a clanger of a mistake, or you just fancy chipping in then you will be able to email us at wordsfailmepodcast@gmail.com.

So, dictionaries at the ready, we are just over a week away from the first episode of Words Fail Me.