Richly illuminating new podcast asks What Happened to Counter-Culture? - August 2025 The Financial TImes - By Fiona Sturgess - August 25th, 2025

It was “the most glorious, bravest, the most splendid music”, says British folk singer Shirley Collins of her time collecting folk songs at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in the 1950s. “It was all recorded out in the open, so there was a wonderful echo there.” Collins, the one-time leading light of the postwar British folk…

Is counterculture dead – or mainstream? - August 2025 The Observer - By Katherine Cowles - August 10th, 2025

Shirley Collins didn’t think much of Bob Dylan when she first saw him play at the Troubadour in London. He was an American, singing American songs, badly. Worse, he wasn’t wearing a Stetson, which might have helped to set pulses racing. “We didn’t know what to make of him,” she tells Stewart Lee in his…

Radio review #4: What Happened to Counter-Culture? - August 2025 Simon Warner's Substack - By Simon Warner - August 7th, 2025

IT IS HARDLY unhelpful, for the readers of this website, to report that a new BBC radio series on the history of the transatlantic counterculture begins with Allen Ginsberg reading in a 1950s performance of ‘Howl’ in the US and ends with the same poet speaking with a similar and distinctive tone at 1965’s International…

FROM STEWART LEE – AUG 25 – As slippery as a greasy pig since 1968 - July 2025 July 30th, 2025

1. ALEXANDRA PALACE LONDON MAN-WULF RUN FEB 3RD-15TH 2026 STEWART LEE VS THE MAN-WULF. The unstoppable Man-Wulf show has another London run, having already done 12000 seats at Royal Festival Hall and 12000 seats at Leicester Sq Theatre. It’s sure to look great in the gothic confines of the Alexandra Palace theatre. My favourite show…

Cats Got Your Tongue? - June 2025 June 28th, 2025

In this episode, host Adam chats to legendary comedian Stewart Lee about life with his cats. The two discuss how his cat Boo Boo was an excellent night-time companion for a stand-up comedian coming home late and how the cat community comes together when a beloved pet goes missing, plus they wonder whether ginger cats…

Cats Got Your Tongue? - June 2025 June 27th, 2025

In this episode, host Adam chats to legendary comedian Stewart Lee about life with his cats. The two discuss how his cat Boo Boo was an excellent nighttime companion for a stand-up comedian coming home late and how the cat community comes together when a beloved pet goes missing, plus they wonder whether ginger cats…