Dreamscape | The Toyah Willcox Fansite

In The Fairground, Andrew’s website, is now live: www.toyahart.co.uk – We hope you like it!

Fragments, a new blog series by Craig Astley, is sure to be an interesting read for Toyah fans over the coming months, as we head towards the 30th anniversary of the ‘Love Is The Law’ album and ‘Rebel Run’ UK Tour. Craig met Toyah for the first time during the tour back in 1983 (before he was even 5!!)

I Was A Child Toyah Fan…….

2013 marks something of a milestone for me. It is thirty years since an exciting thing happened to me as a child. A child who was a pop music lover and devoted fan of Toyah.

• Continue reading at Fragments: Toyah Tales From Now & Then.

• Saffron cites Toyah as an influence again in another new interview: Spark Sunderland: Republica: Back & Ready To Go: “Singers like Toyah and Siouxsie and the Banshees, they’re quite individual front women you know. They were like the first of their kind; their look the way they sang and the lyrics.”

• Wales Online: Hannah Jones: There’s nothing wrong with dyeing your hair: Once upon a time, I copied Toyah Willcox. I went about pretending to have a lisp – I don’t think Ebbw Vale was ready for a 10-year-old lumper prancing around in a home-made ra-ra skirt and answering “It’s A Mystery” whenever I was asked a question. The best thing about my Toyah years, though, was discovering the joys of back-combing and bleach.

• This is Gloucestershire: A new Toyah interview was included in the Gloucestershire Echo’s ‘Weekend’ magazine on Saturday: Singer and actress Toyah Willcox tells us how she finally managed to beat her insomnia. (Only available in the magazine)

• BBC America: Check out Toyah’s page in BBC America’s Doctor Who section.

The pre-launch publicity for In The Fairground is gathering pace… Seriously though, Andrew York’s new website, featuring fantastic art created from Toyah’s history of visual imagery, will be online soon. Thanks for all the great feedback so far. (Fun promo photos by Andrew)

A new syndicated Toyah article, published by numerous online news resources, including the Press Association and the Belfast Telegraph.

Toyah Willcox has revealed she suffered from chronic insomnia for 40 years, until she tried acupuncture.

The singer, songwriter and actress, who’s released more than 20 albums, took sleeping pills for a time in her twenties but disliked feeling sluggish and drowsy.
 
“I was trying to be creative and write and perform, which was impossible when I was on those. I gave them up very quickly,” she said.
 
Last year, Toyah, who will star in a three-month tour of the sketch show Hormonal Housewives, became anxious about the potential health risks arising from her insomnia and so tried acupuncture.

• Continue reading at the Belfast Telegraph.

Celebrity Fantasy Homes: Watch: Thursday 21st February: 1.00pm
Celebrity Fantasy Homes: Watch +1: Thursday 21st February: 2.00pm
Celebrities hunt for a new home. Gaby Roslin helps punk-pop princess Toyah Willcox search for a second home, in Richmond upon Thames, with a budget of £650,000.

Coming soon to the Information Superhighway (ooooh I haven’t heard anyone call the internet that for years – retrotastic!) a shiny new Toyah-related website: IN THE FAIRGROUND | Andrew York’s Arternative Universe… Can anyone hear me out there?

It’s the second instalment of Dreamscape’s new Keeping Up With The Hormonal Housewives. There are now just 18 days to go until the tour begins, with the first show at The Churchill Theatre, Bromley.

• Toyah tweeted this week: “Started Hormonal Housewives rehearsals! Very funny! Very rude! Absolutely no phone reception @ venue….heaven” and also “Down deep in the bowels of churchill theatre, bromley, rehearsing HH. world could end we wouldn’t know!!!!”

• The Hormonal Housewives have been tweeting and facebooking over the last couple of days too, keeping everyone updated. View their Twitter and check out their Facebook.

• Get your tickets for the first week’s performances: Churchill Theatre, Bromley (5th March), Regent Theatre, Ipswich (6th), Corn Exchange, Kings Lynn (7th), Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage (8th) and Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone (9th March).

I’ve always wanted to see a Manga-esque version of Toyah, Here’s my attempt.

Pay a visit to Dreamscape’s shiny new Facebook page, and please give us a “like” while you are there.  Over the last few days we’ve been posting lots of Toyah bits & pieces, as well as various “collections”, including The Blue Meaning, Thunder In The Mountains, Brave New World, The Ieya Tour 1980, Rock & Pop Awards 1982 and Melissa Caplan.

There’s a great page at Focus On The Family on the Radio Theatre production of Les Misérables. Toyah plays Fantine in the 2007 full-cast audio drama which is available to buy on CD or download.

A Radio Theatre Classic: It’s one of the world’s masterpieces of storytelling. Against the stirring background of the French Revolution, follow the tale of Jean Valjean as he encounters the savage injustice of the law — and then the gentleness and grace of God. It depicts events like the battle at the barricade and a heroic rescue through the underworld of Paris.

Toyah Willcox as Fantine: Toyah co-starred with Sir Laurence Olivier in the acclaimed British TV production Ebony Tower. Her film roles include Miranda in The Tempest, Jubilee,Quadrophenia and The Corn is Green with Katharine Hepburn.

• The Guardian: From Rock’s Backpages: Toyah is namechecked in a newly published retro article at ‘The Guardian’: Neil Tennant on the 1985 Brits – a classic feature from the vaults: The Brits are coming! We’re marking the annual bunfest by reliving Neil Tennant’s visit to the 1985 ceremony for Smash Hits, courtesy of Rock’s Backpages – the world’s leading archive of vintage music journalism… Photographers are in a frenzy in the foyer snapping anyone remotely famous, like Bob Geldof and Paula Yates, Howard and Jan Jones, Meat Loaf, Toyah …

• The Brit Awards: Check out Toyah in the “History” section of The Brits website.

• Media Molecule: On Tuesday evening Google News were listing that over 100 online articles were currently mentioning Toyah and ‘It’s A Mystery’ in relation to the Media Molecule teaser game page. Even the IMDb got in on the action.

• Birmingham Post: Star names of stage and screen pay tribute to 100-year-old Birmingham Rep – Another press report on the Birmingham Rep’s Centenary.

Kings Heath star reveals how acupuncture finally relieved sleeplessness torment

Birmingham singer Toyah Willcox is sleeping soundly for the first time in decades – after revealing her 40-year battle with insomnia.
 
The star, who was born in Kings Heath, said she had tried everything from sleeping pills to herbal remedies in a bid to overcome the condition. But she only saw an improvement after turning to acupuncture, she said.
 
“When I was young I just regarded not sleeping as a fantastic way to pack more into my days. I always reasoned that life’s so short, it seemed crazy to waste it sleeping,” Willcox said.

• Continue reading at the Birmingham Mail.

Welcome to Dreamscape’s new “Keeping Up with the Hormonal Housewives” strand: Regular posts in which we will endeavour to keep you updated on what those Hormonal Housewives are up to (I know the title is self-explanatory and didn’t need explaining but…). Here goes:

• Toyah tweeted on Sunday: “So much 2 do! Not packed yet! Start Hormonal Housewives tomorrow! Can’t wait :-)”

• Hormonal Housewives tweeted yesterday: “We are starting today with our rehearsals!!! Happy Monday to everyone! #laughingladies”

• Hormonal Housewives also linked to News Shopper‘s ticket competition yesterday, at Twitter and Facebook, and kindly gave Dreamscape a namecheck! (Thank you!)

• Visit the Official Hormonal Housewives website, and check out Dreamscape’s dedicated page.

Another report on the Media Molecule story, this one also published yesterday by, the mighty, Digital Spy.

Media Molecule teases mystery new game announcement with Toyah video

Media Molecule is teasing a mystery new game announcement on its website. Under the games section of the Media Molecule site, the LittleBigPlanet developer has a page marked with a question mark. Clicking on the question mark launches a YouTube video of Toyah song ‘It’s a Mystery’.

With Sony expected to unveil the PlayStation 4 on February 20, Media Molecule’s mystery game could be a next-generation release.

• Continue reading at Digital Spy.

Who would have thought a few days ago that ‘It’s A Mystery’ would be being mentioned all over the internet this week? Media Molecule using Toyah’s, second, Top Of The Pops appearance from 1981 on their “teaser” page for a new, highly anticipated, game project has led to mention of the song, and Toyah going sorta “viral”. Here are a few more of the many websites reporting the story:

• Gamezone: The new project is listed as “?”, and the dedicated page contains a YouTube video of Toyah Willcox singing “It’s a Mystery.” Attempting to scour the source code for any hints, Media Molecule has cleverly teased the keywords: “what are we doing at the moment, exactly, mystery, new game, how awesome will it be?, who knows.”

• Gameranx: In place of further information about what the game entails (or whether it’s a game or not at all), right now all they’ve posted is a video of early 80s UK New Wave artist Toyah singing her song “It’s A Mystery” on a classic episode of Top Of The Pops.

• Video Gamer: Click through to the game and you are greeted with a YouTube embed of Toyah Wilcox hit ‘”It’s a Mystery”. It sure is.

• Playstation Universe: The developer behind the critically-acclaimed LittleBigPlanet series has seemingly posted up a teaser for a new project. Media Molecule’s official website notably includes a ‘?’ among its list of games, with the page linking to a clip from Toyah’s ‘It’s a Mystery.’ No further information is given.

• Warp Zoned: The list of games on the developer’s website includes their previous titles as well as a question mark. The question mark links to the music video for “It’s A Mystery,” a minor hit for the UK band Toyah in 1981. Sadly, the lyrics aren’t much help: It’s a mystery, oh, it’s a mystery, I’m still searching for a clue, It’s a mystery to me, A shot in the dark, The big question mark in history, Is it a mystery to you? (minor hit? It was huge Warped Zone ;))

LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule has a page labelled “?” in the Games section of its website, which plays Toyah’s ‘It’s A Mystery’ when accessed.

This is now being reported on games websites and forums all over the internet, including Game Informer: There’s A Media Molecule Mystery Afoot, Only SP: Media Molecule Teasing Unannounced Title, VG24/7: Media Molecule website teases secret new project.

• Visit the Media Molecule ‘Mystery’ page, and the LittleBigPlanet website.

• News Shopper: Win a night at the theatre with friends and Hormonal Housewives: News Shopper has teamed up with The Churchill Theatre in Bromley to offer one lucky reader, and five friends, the chance to win tickets to the opening night on 5th March. You can enter online or by text. (Closing date for entries: 21st February)

• The Hormonal Houswives begin rehearsals today for their mammoth three month tour. They tweeted on Friday: “The hormonal housewives are gearing up for a relaxing weekend before rehearsals start on Monday.”

More great Toyah photos from the early 80s, both rarely seen shots from well-known photo sessions. The first is from the famous 1981 “leopard print” shoot and the other from thw ‘Daily Mirror’ British Rock & Pop Awards shoot in 1982. Click below to zoom. (Thanks to Kev Tucker and Ray Sears, and also Andrew York for colouring the 1981 photo)

• Victoria & Albert Museum: Jubilee @ The V&A: A fantastic photo of Jordan is included in the prestigious museum’s collection.

• Penny Black Music: Cheek of Her: Megaphonic EP: Toyah is mentioned in this new review… There are even spoken lyrics over what could be the harmonies of a choir of flouncy girls lead by the love child of Siouxsie Sioux and Toyah Willcox.

• Unofficial Toyah Top 20 2103: The results of the first part of James and Lärwi’s Toyah Song Poll are in, and the second part is now online. Toyah’s full back catalogue, excluding collaborations, was included and has been voted down to a final 28. 100 people participated in the fun poll so it’s hardly definitive but still interesting (and thanks to James for taking the time to organise it all). Vote here.

• First-Thoughts: A huge forum thread “discussing” Patsy Kensit, which over the last six weeks also includes Weight Watchers, Toyah and ‘Sensational’. To save you the bother of trawling through the, seemingly endless, posts I’ve cherrypicked the best one :) – “Giving serious thought to joining Weight Watchers. Mostly because I want to dance to Toyah’s Sensational with Patsy Kensit.”

Toyah is included in a new Birmingham Mail article on the Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s 100th anniversary.

Birmingham Rep 100th birthday: Kenneth Branagh leads glowing tributes to venue

The Birmingham Rep celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. Famous names who have performed there pay tribute to the venue.

Birmingham’s own Toyah Willcox began her creative life at The Old Rep Theatre School, where she was a teenage drama student.

“My roots are firmly in Birmingham. As a teenager I always idealised the Birmingham Rep and its creative work,’’ she recalled. “I wish the Rep a fantastic centenary year and I look forward to seeing its brilliant new productions under the guidance of the new artistic director Roxana Silbert.”

• Continue reading at the Birmingham Mail.