Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

Good Morning Universe! Welcome to Toyah Day. #ToyahAtHome is airing at You Tube now!

Story of disabled Darlington fan flies to Venice Film Festival, down Oscar path

Give Them Wings, an upcoming film about the struggle of Quakers fan whose battle with meningitis as a child left him disabled, has finished production and began down the Oscar path.

The movie, which is undergoing final edits, follows the story of wheelchair-user Paul Hodgson who “was told he would only live to five but is now 55” and has been sent to Venice Film Festival – an Oscar qualifier.

Give Them Wings has been accepted but not yet selected, though the team will know in the coming weeks.

… The story of his childhood struggles with the disease, which looks at life as a disabled person, filmmaker and Darlington football fan, has attracted a cast including Toyah Willcox and film newcomer but previous Byker Grove actor Daniel Watson, who plays Mr Hodgson.

Now, the low-budget film which was seven-years in the making and relied on a crowdfunding campaign, is on the Oscar trial, hoping to be shown major film festivals and “navigate the narrow corridor” to the Oscars.

• Continue reading at The Northern Echo. Browse further info on Give Them Wings at longdogproductions.co.uk. See some photos from the film at darlingtonfc.co.uk.

Cecil Beaton’s Charming Wiltshire Estate Hits the Market for $5 Million

Mick Jagger, David Hockney, and Greta Garbo were once guests at the English country manor.

The longtime estate of famed British photographer Cecil Beaton has hit the market for £4 million. Nestled in the Wiltshire countryside, the Grade II–listed Reddish House was Beaton’s home from 1947 (when he bought it for just £10,000) until his death in 1980.

The picturesque English country manor features a hip roof, gabled dormers, and stone quoins lining its stately redbrick façade. Beaton was one of the world’s most celebrated fashion photographers in addition to being an acclaimed painter and designer. (He even won three Academy Awards for his costume and production work in Gigi and My Fair Lady.)

… In the wake of Beaton’s death, residents have included Countess of Chichester, Ursula Henderson, as well as musical power couple Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox.

• Continue reading at Galerie.

Toyah’s Sack The Stylist?! Top 30: NOW 80s: Thursday 18th June: 3am
Pop legend Toyah brings 30 memorable videos featuring a cavalcade of clothing calamities from superstars including Bowie, Madonna, Adam Ant and many more in this crazy countdown!

Beginning 20th June, Toyah At Home will premiere each Saturday at 11am on You Tube. This weekly slice of music & musings will include a live song and more. Pose your questions or share your experiences & recommendations of lockdown life which Toyah will respond to. Reply/use #ToyahAtHome at Toyah’s social media. (Photo on left © Toyah Willcox)

Toyah unboxing her second box set release of 2020 – Noise In Your Head by Toyah & The Humans. The retrospective set, which looks yet again fantastic, is comprised of four CDs, a DVD and comprehensive information booklet. The set is dedicated to, the late, Bill Rieflin. Click below to watch the unboxing at You Tube. (Screenshots from a video that is © Toyah Willcox)

Premiering today – Toyah & Robert Fripp – Caffeinated Mouse Tap Dancing to “Fracture”. Toyah & Robert’s Sunday lunch this week is a visual representation of what King Crimson’s Fracture sounds like to Toyah. Fracture is arguably the hardest King Crimson song to play on guitar.

I rarely get personal on here. This website is about Toyah’s career, not me or my life! But today I’d like to pay a little tribute to my late Mum. On this day in 1997, 23 years ago, my Mum, Isobel, died. Today would also have been her 79th birthday. Yes, my Mum passed away on her 56th birthday! I miss her every day – Here is a great photo of my Mum, with my cousin, taken in my teenage bedroom back in late 1982. Happy memories!

New Guests Added To Conversations With… Mark Curry In Aid Of Acting For Others

Further guests are today announced for Mark Curry’s Conversations With… series in aid of Acting For Others. Each conversation, taking place via zoom, is an in-depth look into the guests lives and careers, as well as finding out their thoughts and tips on getting through lockdown, Mark speaks to a mix of interviewee’s including performers, presenters, and directors. Joining the previously announced guests are Vicki Michelle, Millicent Martin, Sally Hughes, Robin Herford, Toyah Willcox and Annabel Croft.

… Interviews will be released via Acting for Others’ YouTube weekly. They are free and available to all, with the opportunity for viewers to donate in support of the charity: justgiving.com/campaign/actingforothers

• Continue reading at Broadway World. NB: Airdate to be confirmed for In conversation with Toyah Willcox about being an ’80’s singing legend, her acting career and how she’s kept the success going through the years.

Re-uploaded to this website’s You Tube channel recently, Sky Trax – The 1985 Toyah Special; a great Minx-era interview; and BBC Breakfast Time, a much shorter but still interesting Desire-era interview. These uploads have both been edited to remove all music from them, which was the reason they were originally made unavailable by You Tube.

Lots of other quirky clips and footage have also been added to our channel: Toyah, Superhits, Monster Munch 80s adverts, and more! Click below to visit and/or subscribe!

Toyah tweeted and instagrammed yesterday that she had just received her Toyah & The Humans Noise In Your Head box set. Please click on either of those links to see the photo. Toyah’s second box set of 2020 is released on 3rd July and can be pre-ordered by clicking below.

Trailblazers: Sky Arts: Monday 22nd June: 2pm
Trailblazers: Sky Arts: Saturday 27th June: 10am
New Romantics. Toyah Willcox and Billy Bragg are among those examining the New Romantic movement, from The Human League and Adam Ant, to David Bowie and Ultravox. (Series 1, Episode 16)

On June 6, 1980 Toyah released The Blue Meaning, an album that would top the UK Indie charts. Fronted by the multi-color haired Toyah Willcox, who played Monkey in 1979’s The Who album-inspired Quadrophenia and acted beside Kate Hepburn, the band had already scored a UK#1 Indie single with “Victims Of The Riddle”and expectations were big.

The album, now considered a cult classic by some, peaked at UK#40 on the mainstream album charts. The band would soon break up.

The articles I’ve read about Toyah Willcox from that time don’t reveal much, but in 2017, she was interviewed by BBC Radio for their Inheritance Tracks segment and we learned she had strict parents who, when she was very young, made sure she was in bed by 6:30 at night, not to be seen again until 7 AM the next day. Her mother picked out her clothes. She was dyslexic, number-blind and club-footed, and she determined to be seen and heard:

• Continue reading at 40 year Itch.

A new date at The Apex, Bury St. Edmunds, on Tuesday 1st June 2021, has just been added to the Electric Ladies Of The 80s Tour. Tickets are on sale now. Click below for more info or to book.

This week Toyah & Robert are both doing what they do best on a Sunday… (© Toyah Willcox)

Rounding off The Blue Meaning‘s 40th with… this! Play loud and celebrate!!

Happy 40th Anniversary to one of the great landmarks of Toyah’s music career – The Blue Meaning. The second long-player (as they were once called) and first full studio album, was released exactly 40 years ago today, in June 1980.

An amazing album and Toyah era, The Blue Meaning is significant for a number of reasons: It was the first Toyah release to enter the Official UK Chart (though earlier singles and the first album had all scaled the peak of the Indie Chart).

It also boasted incredible imagery, artwork and high design standard which would become synonymous with Toyah’s music career and future releases. The album also includes Toyah’s most legendary song, the perennial fan-favourite, Ieya! No Toyah gig is complete without it.

Over the past four decades the album has increased in significance, becoming a crucial part of Toyah’s discography. Everyone loves Anthem (who couldn’t?), The Changeling is a favourite of many fans, Love Is The Law saw Toyah’s vocals soar, Minx still divides opinion, Prostitute mindboggled us all, Ophelia’s Shadow as beautiful, intricate and unique as any album by Kate Bush or Tori Amos, In The Court Of The Crimson Queen introduced Toyah to a new audience while also delighting longtime fans, and yet The Blue Meaning came before all of the aforementioned and 40 years later still intrigues and entertains with each and every listen. Click below for our feature.

Ramblings: Joyful Highlights Part 4 – Singers & Writers is now available to download, from the BBC website or as an Apple Podcast.

Clare Balding recalls her favourite walks with a colourful variety of writers and singers including Bill Bryson, Toyah Willcox, folk duo Ninebarrow, and the choral group Werca’s Folk.

Clare has been walking on air since 1999, and for this lockdown series of highlights has been digging into the archives to retrieve some of her most memorable moments: Today she gets dressed with Bill Bryson, takes a lift across a small puddle with Toyah, discovers that Dorothy Wordsworth avoided marriage so she could continue walking, and hears from author Emma Mitchell about exactly why our mood is lifted when we spend time in nature.

Quatermass: Talking Pictures TV: Tue 9th June: 9pm
Chapter Four: An Endangered Species. Quatermass showing signs of his recent narrow escape emerges from the car park to find the stadium empty. An estimated 70,000 people died there. So many have now been harvested that the particles of dust in the air have turned the sky green. Kapp attempts to repair his equipment in order to contact the alien presence, but the Planet People destroy his efforts. They try to persuade him to join them but he refuses, convinced now that his family are dead. Quatermass, aided by Gurov, who has travelled to London from Moscow, assembles a team of scientists to find a solution. He deliberately selects old people for the task as they are immune to the call of the alien force. Quatermass decides to set a trap. He plans to fake the presence of a gathering of a million young people at Kapp’s observatory and, when the force comes, to detonate a 35 kiloton nuclear weapon. It is a focused charge where most of the force will go upwards, causing little damage in the area. Quatermass does not believe this will be sufficient to destroy the alien machine but he hopes that it will shock it enough to make it go away. Kapp volunteers to stay behind with Quatermass to help detonate the bomb. The pair set up the trap and wait in darkness. Suddenly, Kickalong appears with a group of Planet People, including Quatermass’ granddaughter, Hettie. Kapp tries to warn them away but is shot and killed by Kickalong.

The light appears, indicating that the alien force beam has arrived, but the shock of seeing his granddaughter among the Planet People causes Quatermass to suffer a heart attack. She has recognised him too and struggling to reach the detonator button, Quatermass is aided by Hettie and together they detonate the bomb. Later in a world that is recovering from the recent fall of civilization, Gurov tells us: “The message was taken. It has not come again. We pray it will never come again”.

This episode originally aired on 14th November 1979 on the ITV network and was watched by 11.2m viewers in the UK. The 1979, four-part, mini series Quatermass (also known as The Quatermass Conclusion or Quatermass IV) is airing weekly from Tuesday 19th May. Stars John Mills, Simon McCorkindale, Barbara Kellerman, Ralph Arliss, Rebecca Saire, Toyah Willcox, David Yip, Alison Dowling.

• Talking Pictures TV is An Archive Film & TV Channel. Available on the following platforms/channels: Freeview 81, YouView 81, Freesat 306, Sky 328 and Virgin 445.

Pete Prodge has tweeted that his new interview with Toyah airs this Saturday at Tiswas Online.

Been chatting with Toyah about The Goodies, Kenny Everett, Laurel And Hardy, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and some Saturday morning show called Tiswas. The interview airs this Saturday.

• Watch online at Tiswas Online this Saturday morning at 10.30am (yes, the same time that the show used to air in the 1980s on ITV every Saturday! – Not sure if the Phantom Flan Flinger will make an appearance, but you never know!)

One of the little joys of the past few grim months have been the videos by Toyah and hubby Robert Fripp where they dance, sing and muck about in their kitchen and garden. Here’s a particularly quirky one.

• Continue reading/Watching at The Afterword.