It also has a list of other less tangible assets which deserve some sort of protection because of their connection with a particular place or region. These run into the hundreds and include a huge range of events and activities which are 'unique' to a place or group, and need protection to avoid dilution - much like the PGI status awarded to some foods which could otherwise be copied.
As you can see from the screen grab above - the 'objects' on the list include costumes, handicrafts, family traditions and rituals as well as dance and poetry.
Music is very well represented on the list.
Have you experienced some of these less well known musical styles or events on your travels? Perhaps you've come across a festival that you weren't expecting and that wasn't promoted particularly, or spent the night in a club when a startling act plays music of a kind that you've never heard before.
Here's a few examples:
- Oud
- Irish harping and the Uillean pipes
- the Hardanger fiddle in Norway
- the Chinese zither (guqin)
- Fado in Portugal
Some of these may well get their moment on the blog as the year progresses.
Spotify is a great way to access new music. As I subscribe, I like to get my money's worth and have been known to spend as long as 10 hours a day listening to music while working on writing. Sometimes I'll have a bit of a binge on a particular band or follow the various algorithms which suggest other similar music, or start a radio station based on an album.
Magnolia by Paul Thomas Anderson has one of the best film soundtracks there is, with major contributions from Aimee Mann (with Jon Brion) along with tracks by a few other bands including Supertramp. This is an anthology film, with a long running time.
Aimee Mann is one of my favourite artists and I have followed her music for around thirty years.
Here's the album as a Spotify album embedded below, particularly helpful for those who subscribe.
One of the key tracks from the album is 'Wise Up'.
Warning: the clip below may contain spoilers for events in the film.
Another song from the film "Save Me" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, which it lost to "You'll Be in My Heart" from the Disney movie Tarzan. By way of introduction to a live performance, Mann has referred to "Save Me" as "the song that lost an Oscar to Phil Collins and his cartoon monkey love song."
Mann has occasionally dedicated her song to Collins in several different venues, albeit in jest. Source: Wikipedia
Extra film trivia challenge
In which film does Aimee Mann plan an anarchist who loses one of her toes?
Answers in the comments. No prizes, for fun only.
So what are your favourite film soundtracks?
Let me know using the Google Form below... I'll share some of the responses in a future post...
One part of going to see a band playing live is checking out the merchandise stand and taking home a t-shirt to remember the gig, and also to wear to another concert in the same tour ideally to show everyone that you've already been to see the show before (that works less well these days).
I have some classic t-shirts from years ago, and will be sharing images of them in the blog as the year goes by. I still fit into most of them, and quite a few are still in good nick.
Here's one of mine which dates back to 1984.
It was a shirt I bought at the Hammersmith Odeon before seeing Jethro Tull on their 'Under Wraps' tour, when they brought in more keyboards and had the excellent Peter John-Vettese playing with them.
The concert was actually recorded for radio broadcast and later released as an album: Live at Hammersmith 1984.
The full version is also available on YouTube. I remember being particularly pleased to hear Thick as a Brick, and some of Ian Anderson's new solo album: Fly by Night which remains a favourite of mine that I play quite regularly.
My most recent purchase was from the Sigur Rós gig at the Royal Albert Hall in October 2025 - a subtle shirt with the name of the band on the front and a TAKK cover design on the back.
Before I start sharing mine in future posts, here's a chance for you to dig into your drawers to see if you have any old classic t-shirts.
If you do, let me know which ones you have and when they date back to. Photos welcome.
The first of a series of pictures from the IKEA storage boxes where I keep my CDs. They were originally in alphabetical order but that gets muddled over time as I return discs which have been in my car for a while.
Before the days when you have your ticket as a QR code or bar code on your phone, or printed it at home using your own ink and paper - even animated for particular events at the O2 these days so even a screenshot isn't enough to deter the fakers...
I'm going to share some of my old ticket stubs which I took some pictures of back in the day. There were plenty more which disappeared into the mists of time... some others are tucked into CDs and LP sleeves I think.
This ticket was from a gig by the Scottish band Blue Nile. They have a very geographical name of course. They apparently picked their name while looking at a map.
I first heard them in the summer of 1988 on tape cassette in a bothy on the isle of Rhum.
It took place at Cambridge Corn Exchange in 1996. I've seen many a gig there over the years.
Because of the reluctance of the singer the band has hardly ever toured, and albums have been very infrequent.
We had excellent seats: on the 8th row and on the end of the middle section of seats. And you can't argue at the price. I went to this gig with my girlfriend of the time (now my wife for over 25 years) who also loved the band - she's an 80s girl. I also still have my polo shirt which I bought from the merchandise stand that night, and I can still fit into it.
That's a reminder that we will also start sharing pictures of old tour shirts in a future post. So start hunting those out too....
This gig was absolutely amazing...
Here they are on Jools Holland's programme in that year, performing one of their classic tracks:
And here's Paul Buchanan performing with Peter Gabriel in a song from his 'Ovo' album.
The excellent piece by Kieran Curren in The Tribune linked to above explains more of the links with the city:
Seeing themselves at odds with some of the more trendy denizens of the Glasgow scene at the time, the group holed up in their flat in the city’s West End, often rehearsing all night through headphones, perfecting their sound. This would take hold on the 1984 LP A Walk Across the Rooftops, released on South Glasgow’s own Linn Records (an ad hoc label offshoot of their hi-fi company Linn Audio), adorned with a photo of the trio gazing through a shop window in the Southside’s Cathcart Road.
On Tinseltown in the Rain:
Much of their work is focused on the city of Glasgow itself, the city as a character, and the changes wrought by the early shock of the Thatcherite revolution. A Walk Across The Rooftops’ key track is ‘Tinseltown in the Rain’, today their most popular song in terms of streaming numbers on Spotify. Sounding like a possible hit in an alternate universe, ‘Tinseltown’ provides wry, contemplative lyrics where ‘tall buildings reach up in vain’, full of nostalgic dread (‘Love was so exciting’). It is also a hymn to the ‘one big rhythm’ of the city, the interrelationship between standardised consumption and the feeling of strange magic. It still resonates powerfully with Glaswegians to this day, the Glasgow that is in flux, taking it hard, but always emotionally open and expressive. Yet Buchanan has also spoken of its universality, its replicability—this could be anywhere (but in a good way).
And on Heatwave:
Buchanan’s resigned lyric is a riposte to the hyper-capitalist boosterism for greed, under the guise of economic growth: ‘Are we rich or are we poor, does it matter anymore?’ Much as the essential detail of the city—its almost-connected red sandstone tenements—is zoned in on in the title track, ‘Heatwave’ points out another target of Thatcher’s shock doctrine: ‘falling down, on the young and foolish’. Its vacant centre, its illusory quality, ‘straw houses, in the promised land’.
More on 'Hats' and the music and the struggles to make the album on this RTE Documentary, which starts with Matt Healy from The 1975 talking about how it influenced their music.
In the documentary they head for Kelvingrove in a taxi to visit the house where they recorded the music for their first album... and where Paul Buchanan could look out of the kitchen window across the rooftops...
I remember picking up the LP of 'Hats' when it came out from a record shop in a small town on the Norfolk/Suffolk border.
There used to be an app with a Walking Tour of the city but it was removed some years ago...
I remember when albums came on vinyl and inside a large 12" square cardboard sleeve, perhaps with additional liners, booklets and other designs which opened out in different ways. The cover design was important as were all the notes, lyrics and other elements of the packaging.
CDs don't have the same magic, and of course many people now stream music rather than owning physical products.
Some album covers have geographical features on them, and there used to be a collection of these which I blogged about some time ago on my old Geography and all that Jazz blog. It's an idea that comes back from time to time.
Do you have ideas for examples of album covers which were quite geographical in their imagery.
This would make a good challenge for students - to find a suitable image and then label it with the feature, although you may need to provide them with some.
Here's an example.
Houses of the Holy (1973) - Led Zeppelin
This was designed by Aubrey Powell, an Old Elean (which means he was a pupil at the school where I currently teach in Ely) and features the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland.
More on his work with Hipgnosis later on the blog.
Here's one closer to home for me.
The Stranglers had an album in 2004 called 'Norfolk Coast' and the cover photo by Harrison Funk was taken on the Norfolk coast... at Hunstanton. It was mostly written by their bass player who retreated to Holme-next-the-Sea on the coast in 1999 when feeling disillusioned and wrote a lot of music which became the album.
The cover is shot on the carstone boulders revealed when the tide goes out at Hunstanton near to its famous stripy cliffs.
Sadly, the seaweed which used to cloak the boulders has largely disappeared over the years...
Maps also feature on lots of albums of course, and I shall certainly be sharing examples from the wonderful book 'Maps on Vinyl' by cartographer Damien Saunder which I have on the shelves of my GeoLibrary. More on this to come.
Can you share your favourite examples of geographical features on album covers?
Visit the Google Form here to make your suggestions and I'll add some of them in a later update post.
Today is the 10th anniversary of the passing of David Bowie: a musical icon for many. I remember listening to his music from the late 1970s onwards. My wife saw him play live, but I never managed it.
This contains a range of objects (about 90 000) and there is more information on Bowie's career and the creation of some of his most famous songs. I have plans to see it later this year and will be blogging about the visit here of course.
Social media is full of people sharing their favourite David Bowie tracks today.
Here's a track which is not necessarily my favourite, but whose name is perhaps apposite.
For the album, Bowie was asked to contribute by the composers Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays. They will be mentioned on the blog a lot. He worked out the vocals after watching an early cut of the film.
There's a long story about that Sunday night, which I may tell at some point during the year. The upshot of it was that one of the friends I went with ended up as part of the production, during a performance of the song 'Budapest', and I ended up with a backstage pass. Much more on songs about cities in future posts..
This is the actual backstage pass that I had that evening over 35 years ago. It's stuck to the box which contains a cassette tape. The tape contains a recording of an American concert, during which Ian Anderson loses his temper with the audience... it's very good.
At the end of the concert we went up to the rooms where the band were going to be gathering after the concert. I actually have my diary from that year still (and a few other years). I shall be drawing on that for memories of other concerts.
Here's what I wrote in my diary:
"There was heavy security... went up to the top of the Apollo and to the Tull only dressing room; met the wives of Martin Barre and Dave Pegg, and a person who'd seen Tull about 300 times. then Martin Allcock [who sadly died all too young] arrived and took several bottles of wine - Martin Barre and beaming Dave Pegg was next - introduced ourselves and thanked him for the concert then met Ian Anderson - he's quite short and talked for about 10 minutes. He said he could never be a teacher when I told him what I did for a job"
I was teaching in King's Lynn at the time and had to drive back there from Manchester via Rotherham to drop off my friends. It was 2.30am before I got home... with teaching the same day.... that was a tiring one.
There's an excellent article on the history and legacy of Watford Gap services, which is due to be demolished to make way for a more modern electric vehicle charging facility to reflect the changes in car ownership. This used to be where bands who had played in London would refuel on the way back north as it was open in the early hours. Many bands met up there..
In October 2025, my son met one of his heroes. He is a big fan of film soundtracks, and in particular the work of Warren Ellis, who plays with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and he met Warren at a screening of film about Marianne Faithfull at the BFI.
Quite a moment for him.
There were also some interesting stories from those who filled in my Google Form ahead of the blog's launch...
Here's a sample from those I've received so far, with thanks to the people who shared them - I'll share some more in due course.
Angus was at school with Tom Robinson
Matt has had a series of encounters, but one that stands out was having a pint with Jarvis Cocker in 'The Blue Bell' in Conwy when he was on holiday there in the late 90's. He also came into the butchers where he worked and ordered a sandwich!
Sandra danced on a table with Chesney Hawkes after a lock in at the university bar
David was a few urinals down from Jon Bon Jovi once
John once burst into Brian Connolly from The Sweet's dressing room to tell him he was a huge fan. He looked at his watch and said, " F*** off, son; I'm on in five minutes."
More to come....
So, who have you met?
Did you have a chat?
Were you star struck?
Please share your celebrity encounters on the Google Form below and I will share some of the best ones in a future post or two depending on who turns up.
There are few cultural universals quite like music. It has the power to invoke the entire gamut of human emotions in a way almost nothing else can. In this groundbreaking docuseries The Cosmic Shambles Network covers the history of music like no series ever has before.
Over four years in the making, presenter Charlotte Ritchie (Ghosts, You) will take you on a fun filled journey from the very first sound waves after the Big Bang to the future of AI music with almost everything in between. Bone flutes and Blues. Neanderthals and Nightingales. Techno and Tabla.
Featuring over 100 exclusive interviews with world leading musicians, scientists and historians, For The Record: An Incomplete History of Music is the ultimate story of the how, when and why of music.
An 8-part docuseries, For The Record: An Incomplete History of Music will be launched on YouTube over Glastonbury Fallow Weekend, starting 25th June 2026, with a bonus episode available to Patreon users.
Presented by Charlotte Ritchie
Produced and Directed by Trent Burton
Featuring Charlotte Church, Nitin Sawhney, Chris Hadfield, Robert Smith, Kelley Jakle, Grandmaster Caz, Grand Wizzard Theodore, Shirley Thompson, Paul Kelly, Natalie Haynes and many many more
Scattered through the year will be songs with a geographical connection on the basis of them being about places... here's the first few of many, and two songs I was listening to when I got the original idea for the blog.
Mark Knopfler and James Taylor sing here about Mason and Dixon: the surveyors who drew up the Mason-Dixon Line.
This is a story song, told in two monologues between Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon as they travel from Great Britain to Pennsylvania for the survey work that created the Mason-Dixon Line in 1763.
The song was inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s novel Mason and Dixon.
Besides providing a wonderful history lesson, it also humanises these people for us; giving us some perspective on their motives and emotions.
I like songs when people talk about their home and bring in some of the little details that only those who know the place will be familiar with: the little vernacular details which bring it to life.
This second song is from an album by Francis Dunnery. Dunnery was the vocalist and guitarist of the 80s band 'It Bites' and has had a long solo career, and also worked as a musician with other acts including in Robert Plant's band and with Big Big Train.
This track is called 'Hometown'. It is from the 2001 album 'Man'.
A live album – Hometown 2001 – was recorded 14 June 2001 at the Whitehaven Civic Hall in Cumbria and released later the same year.
Dunnery's home town is Egremont, in Cumbria. The lyrics reference Murphy's Pies: a bakery on the Market Place in Egremont which has since closed.
The title of his 2005 album 'The Gulley Flats Boys' is a reference to the council estate in Cumbria, North-west England where Francis grew up.
His most recent album and tour through early 2026 is about his upbringing on this council estate.
What other songs can you think of that articulate a close connection to a place?
There is a long tradition of folk music and folk musicians exploring and challenging injustice - whether that be workers' rights, working conditions in the collieries, the treatment of Dust Bowl era migrants, trade unions or the state. I will feature some of these musicians on the blog, including people I saw performing such as Dick Gaughan.
We have had over a year now of Trump 2.0 which has dismantled many of the key elements of US society and protections for its landscapes and environment.
The videos coming out of Minneapolis in the last day, and the stance of the government in the face of video evidence is shocking.
Some on social media saw some parallels with an event which happened in London in 2005.
Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead on July the 22nd 2005 by armed officers who were on high alert following the London bombings that had happened just a few weeks earlier, on July 7th 2005 and additional failed bombing attempts the previous day. Mistakes were made in the surveillance and the order that he should be detained before entering the tube station didn't reach the right people in time.
Chris Wood's song 'Hollow Point' explores the lead up to the event, and the 'inevitability' of what would happen despite the fact that Jean Charles wore only a thin cotton jacket. The pace of the song speeds up towards the end as the conclusion draws nearer... there is no stopping it it seems. The rhythm and intonation of the song adds atmosphere and tension. It's an emotional response to the events.
I saw Chris Wood play with Andy Cutting many years ago in a small venue. A lovely evening.
This blog describes the importance of folk music in capturing details of events which will still be sung about in 100 years time... it has a permanence, an oral tradition.
What other songs of protest are you aware of, and which have an impact on you?
Let me know using the Google Form below - more to come on this topic later on the blog...
There are several teachers who I feel are always pushing creative boundaries and challenging themselves, often by adding a personal touch to their schemes of work.
They're the teachers I continue to draw personal inspiration from. I've already mentioned Matt Podbury on the blog within the first week of the year and as we enter the second week, here's another:
John Wilkinson
John is the Head of Geography at St Edwards College, West Derby, Liverpool, and an Honorary Lecturer in the Geography Department at the University of Liverpool.
John started his career tutoring at Lochranza Field Centre on the Isle of Arran. He is currently studying for a part time PhD at the University of Liverpool
The St Edwards College Geography department won The PTI’s Bernice McCabe Award in 2024. John regularly presents CPD for the Prince's Teaching Institute, and also at the GA Conference.
In Autumn of 2023, John contributed an excellent article on his vinyl revival scheme, and even made the front cover of the 'Teaching Geography' journal.
I saw him speak about this at a session at the GA Conference in Sheffield that year. It was great.
It was noticeable that students weren’t entering the classroom to learn about geography, but embarking on a geographical learning journey: they developed as geographers through cultivating the power of popular music. The only non-negotiable is investing in a cache of vinyl records to supply authenticity, awe and wonder to the learning experience.
