Mark Kermode began reviewing films 40 years ago, and has established himself as one of our most foremost critics, both in print and on air. He co-presents Screenshot on Radio 4 and the podcast Kermode and Mayo’s Take, with his long-term collaborator Simon Mayo.
He’s said he goes to every screening hoping it will be the next Citizen Kane – but he’s also renowned for his energetic rants against the films he finds most disappointing.
Music is another lifelong love – and for nearly 30 years he’s played double bass in The Dodge Brothers, a skiffle band who have also performed live soundtracks for silent movies.
And film music is the subject of his most recent book, Mark Kermode’s Surround Sound, examining the complex relationship between what we hear and what we see.
Mark's music includes Mica Levi, Strauss and Jelly Roll Morton.
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Kathleen Marshall
The American director and choreographer Kathleen Marshall has been nominated for nine Tony awards, winning three times for Broadway productions of Wonderful Town, The Pajama Game and Anything Goes. She was the first woman to complete a trio of achievements - directing a play, directing a musical and choreographing a musical on Broadway.She also won an Olivier Award for her 2021 production of Anything Goes in London. It was the first big musical to open after numerous Covid lockdowns, and received an ecstatic welcome from audiences and critics alike, hungry to get back into a theatre and enjoy a hugely uplifting show. More recently she has directed Irving Berlin’s Top Hat in Chichester. Her musical choices include Mozart, Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Duke Ellington.
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Dame Rachel de Souza
Dame Rachel de Souza is the Children’s Commissioner for England. She’s the fourth person to take on this role, which was established in 2004 to promote and protect the rights of all children.
Before becoming the Commissioner in 2021, she worked as a teacher and headteacher, and was credited with improving failing schools in less than privileged areas.
In her current post, she’s said that her priority is to listen to children, to hear about their lives and champion their voices – and she’s focused on big and difficult questions, including mental health, online safety and the strip-searching of children by the police.
Rachel's music includes Handel, Tippett, Messiaen and Beethoven.
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Daniel Katz
Daniel Katz is a renowned art dealer, collector and gallery owner who has very much beaten his own path through the tangled forests of the art world. Although he left school at the age of 14, his energetic curiosity brought him early success, making a profit of £15 on the first bronze he bought, and discovering something quite unexpected inside a grandfather clock. Danny is an expert on European sculpture, but has also branched out into new fields, including antiquities, Old Masters, Impressionist paintings and Modern British Art. He’s worked closely with museums, exhibitions and libraries around the world. Danny's choices include Schubert, Debussy, Sibelius and Bernstein.
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Jay Griffiths
Jay Griffiths first wanted to be a writer – an entity she believed to be a “god-like” creature - when she was just four years old and already captivated by words.
And she’s fulfilled that early ambition. Her books include Wild, the product of seven years’ work, travelling to wildernesses including the Amazon rainforest, the Canadian Arctic and the Australian outback. She has also written very honestly about her experience of bipolar disorder in her book Tristimania: a Diary of Manic Depression. More recently, she’s reflected on the deep connections we have to animals and their ability to alleviate fear and trauma, under the title How Animals Heal Us. Jay's music selections include Sibelius, Rodrigo, Vivaldi and Debussy.
UK