S.C Skillman
author
 
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My all-time favourite things

Radio programme

Radio 4: The Today Programme
with John Humphreys
Radio 4:Just a Minute with
Nicholas Parsons

TV programme

Newsnight with Jeremy Paxman

TV drama series

Doctor Who with David Tennant
and Doctor Who with Matt Smith
TV sitcom
 
 
 
 
Films
 
 
 
Songs
 
 
 
Songwriters
 
 
TV Personalities
 
Books
 
 
 
Stage Musicals
 
 
Colour
 
Screenplay writer
 
Dogs
 
Food
Only Fools and Horses;
The Vicar of Dibley
 
 
 
Notting Hill, The King's Speech,
The Infidel, Nativity!, Avatar
 
 
Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields
by the Beatles
 
 
 Lennon McCartney
 
 
Dawn French, Stephen Fry, James May, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond 
 
Crime and Punishment by F. Dostoyevsky and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
 
 Oliver!, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, The Wizard of Oz
 
 
Blue - lapis lazuli
 
Richard Curtis
 
 
Miniature poodles and golden retrievers
 
I'm vegetarian, but curiously enough the best meal I've ever tasted involved Kalamari. It was served with Greek salad and washed down with Domestika and followed by slices of Karpoozi (water-melon). The reason why it is outstanding in my memory is probably because of the ambiance, climate and location of the meal: a water-front taverna in the Greek coastal town of Oropos, north of Athens.  
 
 
 

 

Music I love     

The Protecting Veil by John Tavener

Beethoven's 9th Symphony

Mozart's Requiem 
 
Bach's St Matthew Passion
 
I have to be in the right mood to listen to the above music. Each work arouses different, but strong emotions; sometimes euphoria and joy, sometimes longing and sorrow, even from their opening chords. I think all great composers understand the Music of the Spheres!
              
The Restful Heart, The Celtic Heart and The Pilgrim Heart by Simeon Wood, flautist and composer (which can be found together with books of meditations and reflections by Elizabeth Babbs). I listen to these often while I am writing. Simeon Wood's music is both calming and uplifting.
 
Haunting didgeridoo music:
Spirit Dreams by Ash Dargan (Indigenous Australia)
 
Beautiful and evocative
music from an inspired
composer and pianist:
Divenire and Nightbook by Ludovico Einaudi
 
Celtic songs which cover a range of moods and emotions; by turns they can be dreamy, ethereal, joyous, reflective, or catchy:
Blessings and Journeys by the Northumbria Community
The Book of Kells by Iona
The Blessing Tree by Philip Riley and Jayne Elleson
 
Exuberant music which energises you and makes you glad to be alive, (especially when the castanets come in):
Fandango from Guitar Quintet in D Major, G.448 by Luigi Boccherini