Check out Toyah’s, already bursting full, Gig Diary for 2020 – There are concerts, tours, festivals, film screenings and much more to follow in the forthcoming weeks and months…
Christmas 1982, Happy Christmas From The Stars, a “Free Christmas Record (12 Minutes of Festive Fun)”, was attached to the December 9-22, 1982 issue of Smash Hits magazine. The festive flexi-disc featured numerous pop stars – Abba, ABC, Adam Ant, Bananarama, Bucks Fizz, Captain Sensible, Culture Club, Duran Duran, Funboy Three, Haircut 100, Imagination, The Jam, Madness, Mari Wilson, Musical Youth, The Piranahs, The Police, Steve Strange, Toyah, Ultravox – sending readers Christmas greetings, messages and Yuletide tunes.
Click below to listen – Toyah arrives at the Christmas 1982 Pop Star Party at 4.46, in-between Martin Fry of ABC and Steve Strange of Visage. Too-de-loo!! Part One is available here.
A Musical History: BBC4: Friday 27th December: 11pm
Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood Mac fan Edith Bowman provides a narrative overview alongside other celebrity fans who all pay tribute to the band in this hit-filled hour. Contributors include KT Tunstall, Travis’ frontman Fran Healy, Toyah Willcox, Sian Pattenden and Emma Dabiri.
Christmas 2019, Toyah rounded off an incredibly busy year of live concerts by playing the three-date Let’s Rock – The Retro Winter Tour. A festive extravaganza which played three arenas; Motorpoint in Nottingham (29th November), The SSE Hydro in Glasgow (11th December) and Wembley Arena in London (tonight, 13th December).
The tour also featured Tony Hadley, Marc Almond, ABC, Jimmy Somerville, Nik Kershaw, Boney M, Altered Images, Toyah, Sonia, Annabella Lwin, Peter Coyle, Dr & The Medics.
Here’s the Let’s Rock Winter promo image and photos of Toyah ready to hit the stage at Motorpoint, Nottingham and the Crimson Queen with Clare Grogan at Glasgow’s Hydro. (Photos © Toyah Willcox/Clare Grogan)
Most Shocking Christmas TV Moments: 5Star: Boxing Day: 1.40am
Most Shocking Christmas TV Moments: 5Star: Monday 30th December: 1.35am
A merry romp through the most inappropriate, outrageous and appallingly atrocious Christmas television turkeys of all time. These are the kind of disastrous, ill-conceived and downright cringe-inducing moments that it’s a wonder ever made it to air. Among contributors ready to dissect the disasters – many of which they were involved in themselves – are Eamonn Holmes, Toyah Willcox, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Anne Diamond, Steve Punt and Mike Read.
Christmas 2011, Toyah presented a three-hour festive spectacular for the, relatively, new music channel Vintage TV.
Toyah’s Vintage Christmas was a constant that Christmas, airing numerous times in December, with Toyah introducing festive pop videos and sharing seasonal trivia. The programme was repeated in subsequent years, and Toyah would go on to present other Christmas shows right through until Vintage TV – still sadly missed – closed in 2017.
The 100 Greatest Musicals: More4: Christmas Day: 11.30am
Part One, 100 – 51. Denise Van Outen presents the first in a two-part rundown of the 100 best musicals as voted for by viewers, featuring 42nd Street, 8 Mile and The Sound of Music. The first show counts down from 100 to 51 and features memorable clips from film, stage and TV, interspersed with interviews given by performers, directors, writers and choreographers. Also airing on More4 +1 and HD.
Christmas 2018, Toyah was pictured at The Birmingham Old Rep Theatre’s Christmas Gift Guide.
Santa and his Elves have been working very hard with The Old Rep team over the past few weeks spreading the Christmas cheer with Pinocchio. And with only two weeks to go until Christmas, we have some amazing gift ideas. There really is something for everyone!
Name a seat at The Old Rep
Naming a seat at The Old Rep is the perfect Christmas gift. For just £150 for 5 years you will play a role in securing the future of the theatre and help us continue creating opportunities for young people and emerging artists.
Each plaque featured in our auditorium is unique and inscribed with a personal message. Your plaque will be installed amongst our patrons Brian Cox, Brian Blessed, Toyah Willcox, June Brown and Albert Finney. (Photo © Toyah Willcox)
Greatest Christmas TV Moments: Channel 5:
Sunday 15th December: 11.05pm
Countdown of 50 festive crackers past and present, including classic soap moments, dramatic endings, sitcom specials, comedy sketches and light entertainment highlights that have made the television set the focus of the holiday season for decades. Highlights include famous couples Den and Angie, Jack and Vera, and Gavin & Stacey; popular double acts Morecambe and Wise, the Trotter brothers and Wallace and Gromit; Doctor Who meeting Kylie Minogue; perennial music show Top of the Pops; and the ultimate irony of sitting down to watch the Royle Family sit down to watch TV for an hour. All small-screen life is here – with jingle bells on. Featuring interviews with cast, crew and assorted celebrity contributors. (This features a short appearance by Toyah, talking about The Gruffalo and Robbie Coltrane)
Christmas 2011, Toyah was
featured in the Winter 2011/Issue 10 of The Magical Times magazine. With a wonderfully festive cover image and an exclusive “fairytale” interview with Toyah inside! – Toyah Willcox speaks about fairies!
The pages of issue 10 are set to shine a splash of colour and a magical sparkle to your winter season…!
Inside this edition we present an exclusive interview with 80’s punk princess Toyah Willcox, who shares with us her spiritual experiences and why she believes that fairies do exist!
Kyle Gray writes about Angels and Ascension, Kit Berry speaks about her journey to Stonewylde and Laura Daligan explains to us how we can welcome the goddess Aphrodite’s loving energies into our everyday life.
First acts announced for Watchet Music Festival 2020
The first acts have been announced for the 2020 Watchet Music Festival. The popular music festival, which takes place over the August Bank Holiday weekend, has tickets on sale now.
The first acts announced include R&B singer Gabrielle, Ian Dury’s backing band The Blockheads, and The South who are comprised of former members of The Beautiful South.
Other names on the first batch of artists announced include the band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, female folk rock duo The Sound of the Sirens, Westcountry folk band The Leylines, and rock band Hands Off Gretel among others.
• Continue reading at Somerset County Gazette and also at This Is The West Country.
Christmas 2012, Toyah guested on Steve Lamacq’s Rock College on BBC Radio 2 discussing how absolutely life-changing first discovering David Bowie was for her when growing up in Birmingham in the early 1970s.
Toyah talks about the legendary album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and of first glimpsing, and hearing, Bowie performing Starman on the music programme Lift Off With Ayshea.
This was such a great audio clip it would’ve been a real shame to just let it disappear after its week on iPlayer back in 2012… so here it is! Click below to listen.
Toyah Willcox answers our most probing questions
‘People expect me to be tall after seeing me with that big hair‘: Toyah Willcox gives her definitive answers to our most probing questions
We ask a celebrity a set of devilishly probing questions – and only accept THE definitive answer. This week it’s actress and singer Toyah Willcox’s turn
The prized possession you value above all others… My notebooks. I think very fast and visually and I have to write down an idea right away or it will be lost forever.
The biggest regret you wish you could amend… Not learning the piano and guitar when I was really young. The height of a child’s learning is before ten, so I missed out.
• Continue reading at the Livingston Ledger.
Christmas 2016, and BBC Four aired a repeat Top Of The Pops, which was originally broadcast in October 1982 on BBC1, with Toyah’s studio performance of the single, Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard). This site described it as “iconic, classic and utterly unforgettable“.
While the retro TOTP aired, BBC Four also tweeted: “In 1982, Toyah was so famous, she even had a lion-tailed macaque named after her on Animal Magic, and appeared on the show to meet it“.
As recently posted, and following this year’s Quadrophenia screening/Q&A + Gig, Toyah will return to Square Chapel Arts Centre in early 2020 for a Jubilee screening/Q&A and a new full-band electric concert.
As well as this, Square Chapel Arts Centre are also screening The Tempest, along with a Q&A with Christopher Biggins.
All of these events are taking place in February 2020 as part of LGBT History Month – We are delighted to be celebrating LGBT History Month with a series of live events and special film screenings.
• Browse details of the Jubilee and The Tempest screening events, as well as the full diary for LGBT History Month, at the Square Chapel Arts Centre website.
Toyah’s December/Christmas 2019 blog is available to read at The Official Toyah Willcox website.
Toyah says “Happy Christmas Everybody!” and talks about 2019, gigs, film shoots, Christmas and life! As well as looking ahead to 2020: “2020 is bringing some very well timed surprises, especially as I am gearing up to tour with Hazel O’ Connor, in fact quite a few surprises are coming over the following year for my fans and record collectors.”
Quadrophenia Reunited – 40 Years On: Sky Arts: Saturday 21st December: 1.15am
Quadrophenia Reunited – 40 Years On: Sky Arts: Christmas Eve: 3,30am
Lauren Laverne hosts a one-off special bringing the stars of Quadrophenia together. Featuring reminiscing, interviews, a table-read of the script and plenty of other surprises.
2019 has been an amazing 40th Anniversary year for Quadrophenia, with documentaries, reunion events, special screenings and more to celebrate. Rounding off the year is a revised “Complete Guide” book:
Quadrophenia (At 40) The Complete Guide by Layne Patterson | Specially revised & updated film only edition | Foreword by Franc Roddam. Afterword by Gary Shail
A percentage of royalties are being donated to the Teenage Cancer Trust.
Following on from the book’s previous incarnation two years ago a new (film only) edition is now available to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the iconic film!
The new larger format is packed with many new pictures and newly gleaned information about the film that refuses to grow old gracefully! Following on from the previous book a further donation from the author’s royalties will be donated to the Teenage Cancer Trust.
The author: Layne Patterson is based in Norfolk, having relocated from London in 2001, and is married to Liz, with three grown up sons and six grandchildren. This is Layne’s second solo book although he has previously contributed to two titles on his beloved Wealdstone FC.
• See further info/Buy the book at Amazon.
A selection from the numerous Invasion Planet Earth press clips, interviews and reviews published over the last few days. Stay updated by following Simon Cox at Twitter.
• Flatpack Festival: Interview – Simon Cox: Two decades ago, Nuneaton based filmmaker Simon Cox had an idea for a science fiction film called Kaleidoscope Man. Filmed on a shoestring budget with limited resources at locations across the Midlands, what ultimately became Invasion Planet Earth finally screens to audiences this month. We talked to Simon about an epic twenty year journey to pay homage to the sci-fi films he loved as a child – Continue reading…
• Britflicks Reviews: BritFlicks Reviews Simon Cox’s Imaginative Sci-Fi Invasion Planet Earth: A true one off from a very wide imagination… Coming from the mind of writer/director, Simon Cox, Invasion Planet Earth, is one of those films that is a true original. It was also made over 17 years, which by anyone’s standards is a long production line! However, the film is set very much in the here and now, but of course, the question does arise, ‘how much’ of it dates from 17 years ago – Continue reading…
• Midlands Movies: Invasion Planet Earth: A number of children in the 1980s recreating their favourite TV show ‘Kaleidoscope Man’ (this film’s previous title in fact) opens new sci-fi feature Invasion Planet Earth from Midlands director Simon Cox. This clever parody is a fun way to start a feature that contains more than its fair share of disaster and peril – Continue reading…
• Nevermore: Invasion Planet Earth – Review: Reading the history of this film made me more apprehensive than it did excited – Continue reading…
• Film Stories: Invasion Planet Earth review: Invasion Planet Earth review is a sci-fi movie made in the UK over the course of a decade – and it’s worth seeking out too – Continue reading…
• Dark Eyes Of London: Invasion Planet Earth (UK 2019: Dir Simon Cox): Imagine. You’re a filmmaker, maybe not in the first flush of youth. You’ve had one not very well publicised feature made years ago, but you have a project within you so ambitious in scope that it becomes an all consuming passion. But you have little resources, financially or technically, at your disposal, to realise the vision. So what do you do – Continue reading…
• Filmuforia: Invasion Planet Earth (2019): Director Simon Cox (Driven) has spent seventeen bringing this labour of love to the big screen, and his perseverance has paid off – Continue reading…
Toyah with Simon Cox at the screening of Invasion Planet Earth last night at The Electric Cinema, Birmingham. She tweeted “can’t wait to see Invasion Planet Earth“. (Photo © Electric Cinema)
Christmas 1984, The Ebony Tower written by John Fowles and originally published in 1974 – aired on ITV on the 9th December.
Toyah filmed the 90-minute television drama, which was produced by Granada TV, in the Dordogne region of France during the Summer of 1983. She starred alongside Sir Laurence Olivier, Greta Scacchi and Roger Rees.
View promo shots from the drama here and here. Read an interview with Toyah, published when The Ebony Tower aired, by Outlook magazine, and another from around the same time, by Cosmopolitan magazine. Read Dreamscape’s 2011 DVD review, and view a couple of our fan adverts. (Thanks to andy for the screen cap below)
