Mark Steel is an enigma. Of an age with Ben Elton, he was on the fringes of the 80s "angry young man" scene but, rather than be swept along into the corporate world of sitcom writing and product endorsement, he remained (indeed, remains) an unreconstructed, old-school socialist and ploughed his own furrow into radio where he produced three award-winning series for the BBC;
The Mark Steel Solution where he offered unorthodox cures for society's ills (The Royal Family - "The Royal Family should be chosen by weekly lottery", Immigration - "Anyone born in England should be deported", Religion - "People should have to change their religion every Monday");
The Mark Steel Lectures where he shone a spotlight on inspirational historical figures as diverse as WG Grace, Charlie Chaplin, Leonardo Da Vinci and Che Guevara; and
The Mark Steel Revolution which looked at the Industrial, American, Russian and French revolutions.
The latter two series were factual shows presented in a humorous context and inspired, respectively, a TV series (guest starring, amongst others, the late, much-missed Linda Smith, Ainsley Harriot and, in one of his last TV appearances, the mighty Bob Monkhouse) and a book ("Vive La Revolution").
His current UK tour is based on the French Revolution lecture and, last night, he came to Huddersfield to entertain and educate us.
Well, that was the plan, anyway.
The first hint that something might be amiss was when I was at the box office getting a refund on my tickets for the cancelled Jo Caulfield tour (she's landed an "unmissable" booking in foreign parts - not happy about this!) "He's in a foul mood, but he'll rant it out on stage" said a voice from the back. Uh-oh.
We took our place and Mark took the stage - 20-odd minutes late - to La Marseillaise. He'd been stuck in traffic for three hours then got lost in our wonderful one-way system (this adds him to a list of comedians including Mike Harding, Jasper Carrott and Mark Lamarr, all of whom have launched tirades against town planners from the Huddersfield stage). Consequently, he hadn't set up the stage himself, had mislaid his notes and was a bit flustered.
Now, I assumed that this was all part of his pre-amble, but it quickly became apparent that he was telling the truth and, instead of the expected, scripted history lesson-with-jokes, we got two-and-a-half hours of meandering observational comedy very loosely themed on the French Revolution but encompassing rock festivals, Chomsky, Dawkins, Brits abroad, immigration and the formation of the Rugby Football League.
I'll bet Mark wasn't expecting that. It arose from a little bit of crowd participation where he asked about local revolutionary activity. He clearly expected some input about the Luddites (Enoch's hammer was swung with gusto here in heavy woollen country) but was sidetracked by talk of the Hunslet Rebellion and a dodgy decision given by a Scouse referee. The fact that this happened over 100 years ago and not, for example, last Saturday, certainly made an impression. Aye, Mark, us Northerners know how to hold a grudge!
By this stage in proceedings, Mark pretty much abandoned whatever script was in his head and we shot off into a segue of material from his other lectures - Newton's Swiss boyfriend, the Vatican's apology to Galileo some 350 years after his death, Thomas Paine feeding George Washington crusts. He was onstage for well over two hours - absolutely brilliant show.
The havoc on the roads meant that Jagged Edge, too, had been delayed and, consequently, we caught the last half hour of their set in a nearby pub. What we saw included a couple of my favourites - Carry On, Wayward Son and Don't Stop Believing but the biggest treat was when I nipped out to rescue the car from the multi-storey before the midnight lock-in; Danny's solo (Malmsteen's Adagio leading into one of his own compositions) sounded utterly fabulous echoing around the Piazza - a real Stranger On The Shore-from-a-lone-open-window moment.
Some night out, but I'm knackered this morning!
\\\\Getting Old////
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