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PODCAST

The Corona Diaries

Lead singer of Marillion, father, hippy, punk, soul singer, progressive rockstar (wtf!), defender of the faith, voice of reason in a world gone crazy... ...and now podcaster. Join me as I talk about my life and what is rambling around in my head. Along the way I will focus on some of the stories that have shaped my career and my life, as well as reading from my diaries and offering my take on the wider world. Stay safe, h P.S I began this journey just as CoVid-19 took hold and changed our

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All Episodes

01:04:36

Chapter 147. The Muttley Wheeze

The Corona Diaries ·

2023/02/27

Let’s start with a shout-out to all those Purples who have offered up Limericks & Rhymes following the ‘capillary’ episode last week.The standard, overall, was most impressive, definitely a notch up from anything that could be described as 'enthusiastic' or (even worse) 'proficient'.However the recognition by name must go to Kester Roper, who provided a belter of a limerick that I, being a bit of a pedant, modified (slightly).Our joint effort therefore runs thus; There was a young lady called

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59:18

Chapter 146. Russell meet Hilary, Hilary meet Russell.

The Corona Diaries ·

2023/02/20

Well that was a rum do.We had quite the epic trying to record Chapter 146. If it wasn't the microphone with the mind of it's own, it was the Zoom connection, and if it wasn't the Zoom connection it was the sound of mi goretex (and yes I know I've taken liberties with the spelling of rustle in the title...)And the fact I was struggling a little with the ol' synapses was just the cadburys flake on this particular 99. The one thing I will say in my defence is, well, I was in Denmark in a cold room and

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01:01:39

Chapter 145. Sedentary is just another word for slumped.

The Corona Diaries ·

2023/02/13

The scene takes place in the kitchen of a traditional country cottage. A door at the front of the room opens into an entrance porch, and the back door opens to a garden with more than adequate quantities of lavender. There is a table and chairs, a Cappuccino maker and the the front window overlooks a village green. There is evidence of cricket, but no match is currently taking place.(sound of a front door bell being rung)h: Who the bloody hell is that?(incidental music wafts across the scene)Ant:

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01:18:09

Chapter 144. Lucy and her brainchildren

The Corona Diaries ·

2023/02/06

There are a couple of moments in this weeks chapter when I tried my hand at improv.Whilst answering a question about Pour My Love I decided (in the moment no less) to illustrate my point by playing a bit of the keyboard part. Not a bad idea you would have thought, especially as I had the piano on front of me - and do you know what, I absolutely nailed it. Boom.No more than five minutes later, another executive-on-the-fly-decision was made as we agreed not to bother with a diary reading. Ant

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01:13:34

Chapter 143. What rhymes with Cowell.

The Corona Diaries ·

2023/01/30

A chance exchange in this weeks TCD (sorry Lucy) resulted not only in an episode title, but also a little digital stroll where I chanced upon a whole new internet experience.The website in question is called RhymeZone and it is quite simply inspired. You merely tap in your chosen word, in this case Cowell, and before you can say "high waistline" you get the following response;Words that rhyme with cowell: (13 results)2 syllables:bowell, dowell, gowell, mowell, prowell, showell, sowell, stowell,

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54:27

Chapter 142. #freethebee

The Corona Diaries ·

2023/01/23

There's a point in this weeks episode where we find ourselves trying (and subsequently failing) to recollect the name of a particular procedure of chemical analysis. It will be blatantly obvious when you reach that point in proceedings, and as it would also be hard to class it as a spoiler, I will tell you it's that one with a splodge on a bit of blotting paper. Now the point I am trying to make is that it's not about the blotting paper (though you do know the one I mean don't you, in fact you are

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01:02:57

Chapter 141. Sounds that nearly weren't made

The Corona Diaries ·

2023/01/16

For the purposes of reference this week (you may need to read back after you have listened).Staithes - Staithes is a seaside village in the borough of Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England. The name Staithes derives from Old English and means 'landing-place'. Staithes has numerous narrow streets and passageways; one of these, Dog Loup, with a width of just 18 inches (45.7 cm), is claimed to be the narrowest alley in the world.Old Jacks Boat - The CBeebies series Old Jack's Boat, starring Bernard

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01:03:05

Chapter 140. It's a long way to the start, when you...

The Corona Diaries ·

2023/01/09

I am not lying when I tell you that I learnt three things this week, whilst recording Chapter 140. And it wasn't just me, Ant picked up a couple of new nuggets of information as well.On the surface this would seem a good thing, however the danger of all this enlightenment is that when you have a limited amount of spare capacity (cranially speaking) you run the risk of discarding something important to make room for the new stuff.What that means in real terms, is that if you bump into me in Waitrose

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01:00:58

Chapter 139. That space between a Camel's humps.

The Corona Diaries ·

2023/01/01

If memory serves, we haven't ever recorded an episode of The Corona Diaries between Christmas & New Year. Obviously I haven't gone to the trouble of actually checking that fact, I am relying purely on gut instinct and the lingering after-taste of industrial-strength descaler.Of course the beauty of this period of the year is that it's a bit like the twilight-zone, with nobody really quite sure why everything feels just a little bit off-kilter. You know the kind of thing I am talking about, when

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01:10:00

Chapter 138. If you steer clear of the vicar, I'll...

The Corona Diaries ·

2022/12/25

For this years Christmas special episode we decided to unburden ourselves from the shackles of pre-episode preparation and exacting production standards and show our rarely-seen playful side.And what better way to get the party started, than by welcoming Linette to TCD - even if that did mean distracting her with a glass of Kylie's Prosecco, whilst simultaneously placing a microphone into her other hand.And you know what?! She is a natural. From air fryers to elderflowers, Welsh footballers to high

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01:02:12

Chapter 137. Take me down to the Jam City

The Corona Diaries ·

2022/12/19

*excerpt from production notes, TCD chapter 1371: Preamble - use a bit of the Zoom audio from Tuesday, the audio quality isn't great but it sets the scene and if it turns out the episode is late for the purples it will add credibility to the excuse.2: Intro - try and 'Christmas' it up a bit, after all it's half way through December3: Main Section - we might be struggling for time a bit this week, so maybe see if we can riff on the patreon feedback for a bit. Speedway is always great filler if we

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57:58

Chapter 136. I'll see if I can detune my organ.

The Corona Diaries ·

2022/12/12

Listening back to Chapter 136 of TCD (sorry Lucy) it struck me that maybe a few explainers were in order. Now that isn't because I think that any of you are anything other than fully-rounded citizens of the world, broad of knowledge and generous of spirit. Rather that there are a few references this week that may only resonate with a person of a certain time, from a certain place.So here we go...Ski Sunday - a popular Sunday night UK TV program from the late seventies. Quite why we all became a

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01:00:55

Chapter 135. Four Million Chord Changes to Warsaw

The Corona Diaries ·

2022/12/05

Well we tried...Ant had a look under his bed, but couldn't find any mention of Less Is More in the back copies of The Web magazine he's been hoarding. And as promised I gave the album a listen through...but alas, it didn't provide the aural kick to my synapses that I had hoped.Of course we are nothing if not a pair of old pro's, and so when the red light went on we gave it our best shot anyway (even if there was some unabashed padding at the beginning). Hopefully you will still find one or two

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01:05:39

Chapter 134. Ear tunnels, tattoos and very quizzical...

The Corona Diaries ·

2022/11/28

After all the excitement of bus drivers and percussionists, long haired sound men and keyboardists this feels like a very run of the mill chapter of TCD (sorry Lucy).So for 134 Ant and I pick up on our semi-regular album chat feature, and for those of you who have been paying attention that means Less is More. Of course in our case it's a little bit more Less is Less as there is, at this point, a need for some serious listening and memory-jogging. We will return to it next week having done our

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01:02:41

Chapter 133. With a kick like Seb Coe, coming around...

The Corona Diaries ·

2022/11/21

For those of us that lived through his achievements in real time, it's easy to close my eyes and be taken right back to the moment when Seb Coe lined up in the final of the 1500m at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.Middle-distance running took on almost rock'n'roll stature at the time in Britain, as Steve Ovett, Steve Cram & Seb Coe dominated both the centre piece events of 800 & 1500 breaking world records at every turn.We all got up in the middle of the night to watch that final, and be

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01:10:26

Chapter 132. I could see you in a chainmail c@ck-piece

The Corona Diaries ·

2022/11/14

One of the purples mentioned in the comments for a recent chapter (I think it was Paula Collewijn as it goes...) 'just curious, who is the creator behind these funny episode titles?'Well Paula it's a bit of a mixed-bag. Sometimes it's Ant, sometimes it's me, but more often than not they kind of come up in conversation - and when this happens it's because we follow a secret and special formula. Here's how it goes;The Episode Title Cocktail recipe4/6 measures of Tanquerey GinNot enough TonicA

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01:05:48

Chapter 131. Smoking a spliff round at Vlads place.

The Corona Diaries ·

2022/11/07

Recording The Corona Diaries on the road is a little challenging to say the least. You are always at the mercy of the local wi-fi connection, the rooms are often a bit lively (from an audio perspective, obvs...) and I am constantly a bit tight on time.There is however one definite up side, and that is the fact that a ton of interesting, funny and genuinely lovely people are also in close proximity.Which means for the third episode on the spin I have managed to cajole another one back to my room with

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01:07:14

Chapter 130. Jamming toward, rather than jamming away.

The Corona Diaries ·

2022/10/31

It's only taken 130 episodes, but we have finally completed the set.Backstage at the Tivoli Vredenburg in Utrecht, resplendent against the magnolia painted breeze-block walls, Mark Kelly himself became the final member of Marillion to pop his TCD cherry.As you would expect he was top value, fizzing between his take on the current tour, the development of the tech that drives the show and how he went about the process of collecting his thoughts to write a book.Lots of chat, giggles, and a few senior

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01:00:13

Tightening it up when it's a little loose, and...

The Corona Diaries ·

2022/10/24

What a joy it was to hardly say anything on this weeks Chapter of TCD...One of the highlights(if not THE highlight) of the new album, and the current tour has been having the legendary Mr Luis Jardim in the building. And to top it off he only went and agreed to come and share the love on the podcast. What a guy...I managed to cobble together some microphones, and Ant squirrelled himself away in the depths of a deserted cafe-bar and we both sat, and listened to the musings and stories of a man who

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01:12:04

Chapter 128. It was very, difficult sand.

The Corona Diaries ·

2022/10/17

No time to chat this week because I am busy packing for the European Tour, so I am just going to leave the episode highlight in a succinct, bullet-point, stylee.Linette still has those amazing jugs, in fact I just reached up and grabbed 'em. Check out my instagram feed if you don't believe me.I do often think of myself as a victorian water-closet.Just because it has a key-hole, doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a tug.I do indeed have an alter-ego with a cape, I try to use my powers for good and I

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