Word Podcast 281 - Sir Tim Rice

Tim Rice didn't particularly like musicals. He was a rock and roll fan turned junior exec. In fact when Tim Rice met Andrew Lloyd Webber in the late 60s he had his eyes on a nice job running one of EMI's overseas outposts. But then there was Jesus Christ Superstar which was performed by the Grease Band and recorded at Olympic and sold in quantities nobody knew anything could sell and the next thing he knew he was a giant of the musical theatre and was writing with and for everyone. The perspective he's acquired in the course of a fifty-plus year career is unique and he's already distilled a lot of it into one volume of memoirs. He came along to The Islington so that Mark and David could encourage him to get on with the next volume. It was a delight to talk to him.