Tony Slattery's Rambling Club

Would you believe it? This week’s guest President is the wonderful actor, director and writer Paul Clayton, and the enchanted bingo machine has once again decided that our ramble should take us somewhere we really weren’t expecting.

Paul joins us in the great outdoors, where our first destination is 396 — formerly used classifications relating to women’s position and treatment, now part of the great Dewey wilderness of customs and etiquette. And this turns out to be rather a good place to begin, because Paul has some very definite thoughts about manners, politeness and the little customs that help us navigate the world. From the wonderfully theatrical tradition of hearing “Mr Clayton, standby” over the tannoy, to the lost art of saying thank you without immediately being asked to complete twenty-seven boxes about your customer experience, we find ourselves considering whether modern life has given us rather too much access to one another.
And then Paul reveals that his own childhood was rather extraordinary. He was adopted as a baby, and grew up in a family-run village shop in Thrybergh, South Yorkshire. His memories of life behind the counter are wonderfully vivid: miners arriving after the night shift, customers sitting down for a chat, his father becoming mortified when women asked for sanitary products, and Paul himself hiding in the shop window to be admired by passing customers. It seems that a lifelong fascination with people, characters and human behaviour may have begun right there.

Next, the bingo machine transports us to 355 — Military Science, specifically siege warfare. Cue battering rams, trebuchets, petards and exploding livestock, before we discover that Paul’s remarkably detailed knowledge of siege engines comes largely from playing Worms on the PlayStation. Which is as good a reason as any to discuss one of the most important theatrical connections in Paul’s life: Tony Slattery.
Paul directed Tony in Privates on Parade, having first encountered the play as an actor himself. He tells us about Tony becoming Carmen Miranda for the publicity photographs, the chaos and joy of rehearsals, Tony’s return to the stage after the Olivier Awards controversy, touring with the production — and the extraordinary generosity he showed towards the young actors around him. It is a particularly lovely recollection of Tony: mischievous, funny, occasionally difficult, but fundamentally generous.

Finally, the machine produces 024 — general reference works, libraries and books. This leads us into Paul’s life as a writer, his dislike of suspense, his love of Pinter and Orton, the importance of simply allowing great writing to do its work, and his belief that “the art is in the hiding of the art.” We discover how voice-activated software rescued him from his hatred of typing and illegible directing notes, and how he has gone on to write books, thrillers and his forthcoming autobiography.

And then, having wandered through village shops, social etiquette, siege warfare, Tony Slattery, theatre, writing and exploding cows, it is time to find our way back to the shed.

Presented by Paul Carmichael & Allan Lear
With their special guest President Paul Clayton and Sir Stephen Fry as the voice of the Bingo Machine.

Music composed and performed by Michael Livesley & Andy Frizell

The voice of Pwfthhh- Michael Livesley
www.michaellivesley.com

Series Producers- Erica Lear and Mark Hutchinson

Producers- Alan Dyebing & Stuart Morris

Executive Producer- Mark Strickson

Join the rambling club and receive your club membership card, badges, exclusive content and access to early release episodes, an exclusive extra podcast you won't hear anywhere else and exclusive club-only perks!
www.patreon.com/SlatteryLive

Official Website- www.tonyslattery.com
Twitter/X: @SlatteryLive
Instagram: tony_slattery_official
BlueSky: @ramblingclub

Paul's Threads: @paul.carmichael.1213
Paul's Bluesky: @paulcarmichaeluk

© Fanfaronade Productions 2026
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Rambling Shed has gone on holiday this week before the last of the good weather departs. In the meantime, please enjoy this classic episode starring Nigel Planer and our late President, Tony Slattery.

Tony Slattery’s Rambling Club is a free-associating conversation, involving very special guests. It drops every Friday on every podcasting outlet known to man. We’d love it if you came along for the walk. If nothing else, it’ll help you get your steps in!

Presented by Paul Carmichael & Allan Lear

Music composed and performed by Michael Livesley & Andy Frizell

The voice of Pwfthhh- Michael Livesley
www.michaellivesley.com

Series Executive Producer- Mark Strickson

Join the rambling club and receive your club membership card, badges, exclusive content and access to early release episodes, an exclusive extra podcast you won't hear anywhere else and exclusive club-only perks!

www.patreon.com/SlatteryLive

Official Website- www.tonyslattery.com
Twitter/X: @SlatteryLive
Instagram: tony_slattery_official
BlueSky: @ramblingclub

Paul's Bluesky: @paulcarmichaeluk

Mark's Instagram: @HuskyFusky

Why not check out our sister podcast Nice Things, the antidote to modern living. Available now, wherever you found The Rambling Club!

© Fanfaronade Productions 2025
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With a thump and a grinding of gears, Tony's magic bingo machine has kicked back into action.

Yes, normal service has finally been resumed at the Presidential Shed, and, as if to make up for lost weeks, it's a double guest episode today. Alternative comedy icon Rowland Rivron and actor Jess Mann have both vaulted the outer keep and made their way inside the shed, just in time to go a-rambling.

And it's just as well we have four heads as the bingo machine is in a particularly brain-stretching mode today. The first number is the distinctly cerebral
221.32: Specific Subdivisions for Historical or Geographical Narratives Within the Old Testament. Straight into the good stuff! We delve into the religious upbringing of our guests, mull the higher matters, and ponder the question of why Paul keeps finding himself in a wicker statue full of candles.

But there's no time to castigate Paul for his pagan idolatory! The bingo machine moves us on to 843: French Fiction. Our idiots four can barely read, let alone master the belles lettres of la belle France. We swerve onto safer intellectual ground immediately, wavering through musicals to Adrian Mole and finding time to share stories of the much-missed Rik Mayall. Both our special guests worked with that comedy legend and one of them even lived with him, but maybe not the one you think.

Then we stagger on to 334: Cooperatives. Does the bingo machine mean the economic model or the supermarket? We know which one we're more comfortable chatting about - and it's neither of them, it's funerals, graves, death and other hilarious matters.

Come and join us for a conversation that covers a lot of ground, in such a wafer-thin layer than you might finish it thinking you've learned nothing at all...

Presented by Paul Carmichael & Allan Lear

Music composed and performed by Michael Livesley & Andy Frizell

The voice of Pwfthhh- Michael Livesley
www.michaellivesley.com

Series Producers- Erica Lear and Mark Hutchinson

Executive Producer- Mark Strickson

Join the rambling club and receive your club membership card, badges, exclusive content and access to early release episodes, an exclusive extra podcast you won't hear anywhere else and exclusive club-only perks!
www.patreon.com/SlatteryLive

Official Website- www.tonyslattery.com
Twitter/X: @SlatteryLive
Instagram: tony_slattery_official
BlueSky: @ramblingclub

Paul's Threads: @paul.carmichael.1213
Paul's Bluesky: @paulcarmichaeluk

© Fanfaronade Productions 2026
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The emergency continues.

Owing largely to the fact that Paul insists the Presidential Garden Shed contains no technology newer than a black and white Magnavox television with a three-inch screen, plus a water-powered radiogram, once again we find ourselves without a shiny new episode this week. However, Paul and Allan are still joined by the ever-welcome Mark Hutchinson, Tony Slattery's partner for almost forty years. This is another of our Patreon-exclusive conversations, in which our patrons provide the Dewey numbers.

Wendy Slattery (no relation) starts us off with a bid of 636: Animal Husbandry. Much appreciated, I'm sure. Paul regales us with tales of his animal hostel and Mark reintroduces us to Molly the Wondercat before Allan relives some childhood trauma. One hopes there is a psychiatrist on call this evening. Blue Peter rears its cobwebby head with its elderly dogs from the olden days, and we think of happier days in Edinburgh with Tony. Paul also has some reproductive tales for us - his own and other animals'.

Wendy also asks us how Mark spends his days now he's up on the sunny Wirral with all the nice people, so we get some personal insight as well as more memories of lovely Tony and we engage in some fantasy casting as well as talking about the fabled documentary What's the Matter with Tony Slattery?.

Next, the mysteriously mononymous Rachel asks us to take a point at topic 191: Modern Western Philosophy of the United States and Canada. Are there any two nations who enjoy a closer bond than the US and Canada? Apart from maybe North and South Korea, or England and France, or literally any two nations at all. We enjoy a good moan about America, Allan forgets what languages the Canadians speak (dolt), and we sympathise with Americans for their current plight. Probably none of us are getting through US immigration again any time soon, but nevertheless let's draw a hasty veil over that one.

Then Rachel redeems herself with a super question about theatre and theatres. More memories, and the lovely Kiki Dee makes an appearance.

Digressions digress. Tangents tange. Rambling occurs. And we hope you've enjoyed this further emergency gibberish
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A slightly unusual Rambling Club this week.

There was supposed to be a lovely ramble with a celebrity guest. Unfortunately, the computer on which the episode was edited has decided that this is not a thing it wishes to participate in. Rather than leave you entirely ramble-less, however, we have opened the Patreon cupboard and brought out something rather special.
So this week we remain firmly inside the Presidential Garden Shed, where Paul and Allan are joined by the ever-welcome Mark Hutchinson, Tony Slattery's partner for almost forty years. This is one of our Patreon-exclusive conversations, in which our patrons provide both the Dewey numbers and the questions and, on this occasion, there is plenty to talk about.

We begin with a question from Linda Craig: which of Tony's performances remains particularly special to us?
That turns out to be rather more difficult to answer than you might imagine. There's Radio Times, and Tony singing "My Thanks to You" with nothing but a piano. There's an extraordinary evening of Noël Coward with the BBC Radio Orchestra, a balcony scene from Private Lives with Lorraine Chase and Tony singing Coward with forty musicians behind him. There's Neville's Island, The Head of the Class, I Got News for You and a remarkably obscure Lost in Space VHS voiceover. And then there is the performance that Eric has chosen for entirely different reasons.

In other words, the question is answered.

Sort of.

Then the magic bingo machine produces 787: Stringed Instruments.
And suddenly we're talking about the cello, the violin, Paul Tortelier, Truly, Madly, Deeply, Cynthia Erivo and the extraordinary emotional power of strings. We discover that Paul's mother played the cello, that Allan once played the violin, and that Tony himself encouraged Allan to take his long-neglected instrument out of the wardrobe and play it again. There's even the story of a nine-year-old Allan conducting an orchestra at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.
From there we begin wondering whether our tastes change as we grow older. Country music enters the conversation. So does The Archers. So does the extraordinary ability of music to transport us instantly back to another time and another place.
And then we get rather more philosophical.

What was it like being a child who didn't quite fit in? What happens when the thing that makes you different suddenly becomes your superpower? We hear about music teachers, terrifying Welsh women, clarinets, singing in school assembly and the extraordinary moment when being the quiet, awkward child suddenly becomes an advantage.

That leads us into education, opportunity and the arts.
Why is access to drama and music becoming increasingly difficult? What has happened to the idea of education as something more than preparation for employment? And what happens when the arts become something available primarily to those whose parents can afford to support them?
Along the way there are memories of Cadbury's remarkable drama department, Jacqueline Hill, RADA, university life, the social importance of education and the simple joy of learning for its own sake.

There are, naturally, tangents.
There are musical digressions.
There is some fairly robust criticism of the 1990s.
And there is a great deal of affection for the man whose name is on the door of the Club.
It's not our usual ramble.
But perhaps, in the circumstances, it's exactly the ramble we needed.
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