The first movement in a symphony celebrating the Earth to it's core

Symphony For The Earth's Core Aka The First Bowel Movement

DELANTO 012

What better way to celebrate the upcoming crowing of a new monarch that with this show; not only does it have the word Royal in the title but also is for a Royal Trophy! Alright, its essentially a fancy tea pot but its a Royal one so it counts. Anyways, we're back to early 90s WWF which means plenty of neon in the crowd and gimmicks all over the place. Euan, Cam, Phil and Hot Sauce Geordie AL (when he shows up) are ready to go through this show top to bottom will confirm just how Royal it is. By Royal do we mean terrible? I mean, maybe? The only way you'll find out, of course, is to give the show a good old fashioned Royal listen!

The Conquistabores

Episode LII: Battle Royal at The Royal Albert Hall

For the ninth instalment of Pet Projects we are delighted to welcome artist, cellist and children’s author Margit van der Zwan to the show. Based in Lancashire, Margit was born in the Netherlands but has Hungarian roots through her grandma – and therein lies a link to her distinctive pet: a Magic Roundabout remix who is an expert at shepherding her music students to the piano – as well as putting them at ease. 

In the course of a highly entertaining chat, Margit reflects on some of her adventures – including touring with pop band Elbow, introducing her wonderful picture book ‘I love my maracas!’ to leg-hugging young readers, and learning to play the musical saw (as well as designing a card game) during lockdown. She also looks ahead to her forthcoming art exhibition, ‘All Made Up’, which runs in Clitheroe from 22 February 2025, and we discuss her own unique musical compositions, excerpts of which are included in the show at the following points: ‘Hearts Hearts’ (38:20), ‘The World’ (46:48), ‘White Van’ (01:00:00) and ‘Een Fijne Melodie’ (01:06:50). 

Thanks so much for coming on the show, Margit! As always, there was much to learn from a wonderful new guest – both about the arts (classical/contemporary string music this time) and about those dawg-gone animals…

Pet Projects is a collaborative project devised by writer and editor Peter Humphreys and artist and filmmaker Ana Rebolledo, who provides the artwork and video content. It is available on Spotify, SoundCloud, iTunes and elsewhere. If you’re enjoying the podcast please like, subscribe and share.

Links to discussion points/project info: 

Margit’s website: https://margitvanderzwan.com 

Margit’s musical book for c. 3-year-olds, ‘I love my maracas!’: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1819613555/i-love-my-maracas-childrens-story-book 

Details of Margit’s forthcoming exhibition, ‘All Made Up’: https://www.instagram.com/p/DE5q3OaAC2A/ 

Margit’s own music on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcy3pHO-OoOBXgfabWXgcHA 

Quartet for Two – a podcast based on Margit’s card game: https://quartetfortwo.weebly.com 

Carlo Curley, classical organist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Curley 

Borrow my Doggy website: https://www.borrowmydoggy.com 

Emily Sandé, singer with whom Margit shared the stage at The Royal Albert Hall: https://emelisande.com

Dame Evelyn Glennie, famous percussionist: https://www.evelyn.co.uk 

Arthur and George – book by Julian Barnes: https://www.julianbarnes.com/books/arthur.html 

Kassia, Byzantine composer who came up when we shuffled the cards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0ipNUTtDYU

Pet Projects - Episode 9 - Margit van der Zwan

Every month join a fatal four way frenzy made up of Cameron Phillips, Euan Taylor, Phil Doyle and Hot Sauce Geordie Alan Milburn as they look at the best and the worst of wrestling. From the heights of the 5 star classics to pretty much any match with Tugboat, they will trawl through the vast history of wrestling pay per views and sort out the wheat from the chaff for your audio delight.

I'm a writer and editor based in Lancaster. Check out my podcasts Pet Projects (in which I interview creative types about their pets - and their projects), First Impressions (a surreal slice of literary cheesecake), and Monkey Scribbling (two older blokes reflect on their youth in the '90s through the letters they exchanged at the time). 

Pet Projects is a collaboration with Ana Rebolledo and Monkey Scribbling with Richard Pye. 

The family band I formed with my brother, Decaying Leather, in 1989 continues to write and record. Our music can also be found on SoundCloud and elsewhere.

New tracks tagged #albert hall