Barry Didcock

1 week ago | heraldscotland.com | Barry Didcock

Expelliarmus! Another week, another cast reveal – only this project deals with wizards rather than Liverpudlian musicians of the 1960s, and there’s only three of them in the band. Yes, we have finally learned the identities of some of the actors who will join the cast of US network HBO’s ambitious, seven season TV adaptation of the Harry Potter novels. Only some of the identities, mind.

2 weeks ago | heraldscotland.com | Barry Didcock

Fab or not-so-fab? Do we need another biopic of The Beatles? More to the point do we need another four, with the same cast and director but each film focussing on a different band member? ‘No’ is the answer as far as author Hunter Davies is concerned. He’s still the only person to have written an authorised biography of The Beatles during their career.

2 weeks ago | heraldscotland.com | Barry Didcock

Opening: two helmeted figures leave a flat on a housing scheme and mount a motorcycle. The bike looks puny and so do they, despite the affected swagger. Cut to: a close up of the right heel of the Adidas Samba trainers worn by the pillion rider. Three inches of grubby white sock are also in shot below the leg of a pair of stonewashed jeans. The engine starts, the bike makes a sound like a dying lawnmower and the pair putter off into the blue dawn. Roll title card.

3 weeks ago | heraldscotland.com | Barry Didcock

Dan Richards' grandfather aboard the Bristol-Plymouth TPO in the 1960s (Image: free) There’s nothing like real danger to sharpen your mind and bring a little clarity. It was certainly true for Edinburgh-based writer Dan Richards. But in his case it also generated an idea for a book. The danger for Richards came 3,600 metres up Dent Blanche, one of the highest peaks in the Swiss Alps. He was with his father and they were stuck. By the light of morning, the worst was averted.

3 weeks ago | heraldscotland.com | Barry Didcock

MacKenzie’s lament For the most recent instalment of On The Record, his excellent survey of Scottish rock and pop albums, The Herald’s Russell Leadbetter has turned to Sulk by The Associates. Released in 1982 it was described by Billy MacKenzie, the band’s singer and lyricist, as “ABBA meets Bet Lunch on acid.” It’s a neat distillation of the band’s sound and of MacKenzie’s vision.