Mustn’t grumble! Songs with the essence of Englishness

Mustn’t grumble! Songs with the essence of Englishness

Author: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold March 23, 2026 Duration: 57:29

A milky tea, a jam sponge and this week’s news served on a tin tray with a steam train painted on it points our very English conversation towards the following …

 

… what connects the Monkees and a British Prime Minister?

 

… when are you too old for Indie?

 

… A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi? A Bar on The Piccolo Marina? Noel Coward or Neil Tennant?

 

… the Move, the Streets, the Kinks, ELO, Ian Dury, Anthony Newley, the Jam, Herman’s Hermits, Cat Stevens, Arctic Monkeys and other acts with a sense of Englishness

 

… Girl in the Thunderbolt Suit: when Marc Bolan went science fiction

 

… how London Zoo could have put the tin lid on the Beatles

 

… the daft story of Randy Scouse Git

 

… how Michael Caine cooked up the name Harry Palmer

 

... the most English pronunciation of a songword ever

 

… Black Crowes, Byrds and the allure of misspelling

 

… Roxy, 10cc, the Hollies, Manfred Mann, Human League

 and other original line-ups we want to reform

 

… plus Angine de Poitrine, Kaleidoscope rebooted by Jimmy Page and birthday guest Jonny Wren.


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There’s a particular kind of conversation about music that happens between friends who’ve spent a lifetime immersed in it-not as distant critics, but as participants in the culture. That’s the atmosphere you’ll find in Word In Your Ear, a podcast from Mark Ellen, David Hepworth, and Alex Gold. With a collective eighty years of writing and broadcasting for titles like Smash Hits and Mojo, and shows from "The Old Grey Whistle Test" to VH-1, they don’t just recount history; they unpack the stories behind it with the ease of a shared laugh. This podcast grew naturally from their work on the late, great magazine The Word, where they began recording over thirteen years ago, building a dedicated following who found something genuinely special in the mix. Each episode weaves together music, commentary, history, and interviews, moving seamlessly from deep-dive analysis of a seminal album to a frank chat with a surprising guest, all delivered with the warmth and wit of a late-night chat. It feels less like a formal show and more like you’ve been invited to pull up a chair in a room where the anecdotes are plentiful and the expertise is worn lightly. The result is a consistently engaging listen that treats music not as a museum piece but as a living, breathing part of our lives.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Word In Your Ear
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