Write Now - A Birthday Wake
With Katrina out of town, Ian goes solo today and looks at writing a birthday speech for someone else and a birthday wake for himself.
May 25, 2024•17 min
MSing About
Ian is an award-winning comedy writer with MS and in the current series, Almost a Radio Show, he teams up with his singer/comedian mate, Dave Prior, for a weekly half-hour of great music, trivia, fun factoids and spontaneous silliness.
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Episodes
Write Now - Short Film
Having made short films for the Focus on Ability short film festival in 2021, 2022 and 2023, Katrina and Ian decide to make another for the 2024 competition. In this podcast they look at the restrictions and requirements that go into making a film of less that five minutes duration.
May 18, 2024•18 min
Write Now - Whaddaya Know?
In this Write Now podcast, Katrina and Ian look at what you should write about and the answer is simple, write about what you know and/or what you are passionate about. Sure, J.K. Rowling may not know everything about wizardry and magic but she knows about people, human nature and conflict - she is just throwing wild imagination at what she knows. You don't have to be a serial killer to write about serial killing... you do, however, have to know the crime genre and then throw imagination at it....
May 11, 2024•20 min
Write Now - Un-blank that Page!
In this Write Now podcast Katrina and Ian discuss the basics to start becoming a writer and set a small task for the beginner scribbler.
May 04, 2024•19 min
Write Now Trailer
A sneak peak at what the next series of podcasts will be about - weekly audio writing workshops called Write Now!
Apr 27, 2024•2 min
Nothing About Something
After 40-odd podcasts about nothing in particular, discussions are afoot to make the next series about something!
Apr 20, 2024•18 min
Gone for a Song!
In a previous podcast Katrina talked about her day job as a train driver... in this one she opens up about being a singer.
Apr 13, 2024•18 min
Famous Unknown Aussies
Australian history is peppered with interesting people not many know about, like indigenous female bushranger, Mary Ann Bugg... King Billy of Tasmania... exotic dancer, Lola Montez... linguist, composer, author, gold digger and leader of the Eureka Rebellion, Raffaello Carboni... Captain Moonlite's male lover, James Nesbitt... and Snowy Baker, sportsman, silent movie star and our first export to Hollywood.
Apr 06, 2024•19 min
Revenge Trivia!
A couple of podcasts ago, Katrina turned up with a bunch of trivia questions to test Ian's MS short-term memory loss. It worked out okay but this week Ian turns up with a bunch of questions to ask Katrina in a game he has called Revenge Trivia!
Mar 30, 2024•18 min
Hey, hey, it's 1972!
1972, the year Katrina was born and the year Ian turned 18. The 70s could be called the decade of decadence with organised underworld crime, corrupt politicians and police but, hey, what a great time we had!
Mar 23, 2024•18 min
Pub Trivia (without the pub)
Katrina turns up with a whole heap of trivia questions to test Ian’s MS-challenged short-term memory. Will he pass with flying buttresses or have to go and stand in the corner?
Mar 16, 2024•19 min
Get a Job!
Katrina may be a singer, a pianist and a train driver and Ian may be a writer but, between them, they have had dozens of other jobs, some that don't even exist anymore.
Mar 09, 2024•18 min
A Successful Failure?
Sometimes you can have failure within success and sometimes it can be downright failure that, with hindsight, is far more entertaining than success.
Mar 02, 2024•18 min
And the award goes to...
Katrina quizzes Ian about the awards he has supposedly won. Ian would rather talk about the Darwin Awards, which go to individuals who have contributed to the world's gene pool by removing themselves from it.
Feb 24, 2024•18 min
Very Superstitious!
Are you superstitious? Black cats. number 13, stepping on cracks, walking under ladders, broken mirrors? Oh!!! Don't open that umbrella inside!
Feb 17, 2024•20 min
A Hoover by Any Other Name
A hoover by any other name would suck. This podcast is about eponyms - things that have been named after people... quick quiz: Adophe Sax, Joseph Lister, Frank Mars, Lazlo Biro, Jules Leotard, Amelia Bloomer, Granny Smith and Mae West.
Feb 10, 2024•20 min
Pass Me That Phobia...
Phobophobia is a fear of phobias and this podcast with Katrina is all about phobias – there are some weird ones out there. Did you know that some people have a fear of peanut butter, belly-buttons, knees, milk and being without their mobile phone?
Feb 03, 2024•20 min
Manners Cost Nothing
Where does 'mind your Ps and Qs come from? Which side of a lady should a man walk on? Do you use a napkin or a serviette? Do you send thank-you cards? Manners have certainly changed. Language has also changed. Does an extra thirsty person who gets crunk have manners? Translation: Does an over-the-top person craving to be the centre of attention who gets 'crazy-drunk' (as in intoxicated and stoned) have manners?
Jan 28, 2024•20 min
It's Only Words...
Thanks to a fabulous podcast called Something Rhymes with Purple with Susie Dent and Gyles Brandreth, Ian has been boning up on new words. He has discovered that Katrina is a tidsoptimist and a scurryfunger who is capable of groaking with a fanny-flutter but who has no time at all for ultracrepidarians.
Jan 20, 2024•20 min
New Year Resolutions
Here we are, two weeks into 2024 and Katrina is still pondering her NY resolutions.
Jan 13, 2024•20 min
Theme Parks & Sideshow Alley
Today’s podcast is a bit weird… the ups and downs of theme parks and a stroll down sideshow alley with a bunch of old-time radio commercials.
Jan 06, 2024•20 min
Money! Money! Money!
With Australia potentially becoming a cashless society, will all the history and biography currently depicted on banknotes also disappear?
Dec 30, 2023•19 min
Merry Christmas!
Well, it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas so Katrina and Ian reminisce about their Christmases as kids, the Christmases with their kids and 97-year old-Florence drops in to recall a special present she got... in 1929!
Dec 23, 2023•19 min
The Effluencer!
It is our 21st podcast! Woohoo!!! And with 2024 approaching, we started thinking about what shape future podcasts should take… We decided it was time to get obscenely wealthy by making Katrina an influencer… but then, because she often talks crap, we decided to make her an effluencer! This podcast is all about planning that journey…
Dec 16, 2023•19 min
Addiction
A chat about addiction lends itself to how slogans and advertising can kick addiction along with flashbacks to some old-time radio commercials like young Johnny Farnham lending his vocal talents to Coca-Cola and doctors promoting cigarettes.
Dec 09, 2023•20 min
Running off the Rails
Katrina has been training to be a train driver so while the conversation tried to stay on track it occasionally ran off he rails to incorporate coupling, shunting, Jethro Tull, Thomas the Tank Engine, Menu on the Orient Express and Bullet Trains. All aboard!
Dec 02, 2023•20 min
Concerts
Concerts. Most of us have been to concerts, some good ones, some not so good ones. In this podcast Katrina and Ian share concert memories that include The Bee Gees, Midnight Oil, Prince, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Rod Stewart, Elton John, Joe Cocker, Robbie Williams, INXS, Cat Stevens, Dire Straits, Jethro Tull and The Wiggles.
Nov 25, 2023•20 min
Radio Daze
A bit of reminiscing about Ian's 20 years of working in radio with some stories about radio pioneers and personalities like Grace Gibson, John Laws, Mike Carlton and Ward 'Pally' Austin.
Nov 18, 2023•20 min
What's in a Name?
What’s in a Name? Katrina Christensen (Scandinavian names) and Ian Heydon (Scottish and English names) got chatting about surnames being patronymic, locative and occupative, which sounds awfully serious but it isn’t! There’s a privately owned village in Norfolk in England called Heydon. Ian stayed there and it is where Monty Python filmed their Village Idiot sketch. Coincidence?
Nov 11, 2023•20 min
Much Ado About, well... Nothing!
As always, this MSing About podcast was a lot about nothing and a bit about something. Somehow a whole heap of trivia flowed from cockatoos to chickens to dolphins to seahorses to Monty Python to astrophysics to spider wasps to Siamese twins to unicorns to the history of the universe. Ian blames Katrina. Katrina blames Ian. Still, a lot of fun!
Nov 04, 2023•20 min
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