The Scarred for Life project began as a series of (two) hefty volumes surveying “the dark, scary pop culture of the 70s and 80s”. Then it became an online presence, and now it’s a podcast series in which a weekly guest brings along three traumatising memories from their childhoods to share with host Andy Bush and authors Stephen Brotherstone and Dave Lawrence for the purpose of mass entertainment.
Which pretty much sums up the decades in question, really. Whether it was fireworks, rabies, strangers, electricity pylons, careless drivers, farm equipment, ancient standing stones, screaming robotic dustbins, blazing chip pans, iced-over ponds, or a swimming pool with Rolf Harris in it… to be born in or around the 60s was to grow up witnessing a stream of cautionary horrors passing before your wide-open eyes much like that bit with Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange. Anyway…
Being a subject who went on to be a perpetrator, I apparently was considered a suitable case for the treatment. You can listen to my episode here:
Scarred for Life: Stephen Gallagher
Just a couple of weeks before this I’d met up online with writer and script editor Colin Brake for the first time in many years. We were brought together by podcaster Joe Ford to share our memories of working on BUGS, the BBC Saturday-night action show of the 90s. Joe’s podcast A Hamster with a Blunt Penknife can be found here:
A Hamster With A Blunt Penknife: BUGS
Enjoy! If you can…
One response to “Scarred for Life”
The Horn scarred me for life. Listening to it at night while lying in bed with lights out and headphones on is not something I will ever forget. The mattress still smells a bit!