EPISODE · Apr 2, 2025 · 39 MIN
Ed Tudor Pole – singer, actor, serial showman – saw the pop and punk wars as ‘pure theatre’.
from Word In Your Ear
Ed Tudor Pole entered punk rock from stage school and always felt he was playing a part. After being hired to act in the Great Rock’N’Roll Swindle, he formed Tenpole Tudor and had a brief and dramatic moment in the sun, all recorded in his rollicking memoir ‘The Pen Is Mightier.’ He talks here about … … his “quite posh” ancestry and a great-grandfather bankrupted by the Wall Street Crash. … a “Damascene conversion” to the Rolling Stones and ten hours in the burning sun at their Hyde Park show, aged 14. … being at RADA with Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton and Juliet Stevenson. … The Great Rock’N’Roll Swindle audition and the “really horrid” Nancy Spungen’s striptease. … how everyone’s related to Edward 111. … the secret of a One-Man Show – adopt the voice of Will Hay and “let the audience do the work!” … why “most actors are awful people and all crippled in some way” and his time in theatre was “like being a cow in a field of sheep”. … how Stiff’s Dave Robinson hated punk and wanted Tenpole Tudor to be a novelty act. … three months with five acts in a coach on the Stiff Tour. … how the success of Swords Of A Thousand Men didn’t affect their ticket sales - “it was bought by 350,000 12 year-old boys who weren’t old enough to go to gigs”. … why the Tenpole Tudor split broke his heart. … as Socrates said, “the unexamined life is not worth living.”Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear … surprise paydays like the use of Who Killed Bambi? in the Zero Day soundtrack to accompany Robert De Niro’s nervous breakdown. Order ‘The Pen Is Mightier’ here …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pen-Mightier-Autobiography-Punk-Rocker/dp/0857306057Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What this episode covers
Ed Tudor Pole entered punk rock from stage school and always felt he was playing a part. After being hired to act in the Great Rock’N’Roll Swindle, he formed Tenpole Tudor and had a brief and dramatic moment in the sun, all recorded in his rollicking memoir ‘The Pen Is Mightier.’ He talks here about … … his “quite posh” ancestry and a great-grandfather bankrupted by the Wall Street Crash. … a “Damascene conversion” to the Rolling Stones and ten hours in the burning sun at their Hyde Park show, aged 14. … being at RADA with Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton and Juliet Stevenson. … The Great Rock’N’Roll Swindle audition and the “really horrid” Nancy Spungen’s striptease. … how everyone’s related to Edward 111. … the secret of a One-Man Show – adopt the voice of Will Hay and “let the audience do the work!” … why “most actors are awful people and all crippled in some way” and his time in theatre was “like being a cow in a field of sheep”. … how Stiff’s Dave Robinson hated punk and wanted Tenpole Tudor to be a novelty act. … three months with five acts in a coach on the Stiff Tour. … how the success of Swords Of A Thousand Men didn’t affect their ticket sales - “it was bought by 350,000 12 year-old boys who weren’t old enough to go to gigs”. … why the Tenpole Tudor split broke his heart. … as Socrates said, “the unexamined life is not worth living.”Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear … surprise paydays like the use of Who Killed Bambi? in the Zero Day soundtrack to accompany Robert De Niro’s nervous breakdown. Order ‘The Pen Is Mightier’ here …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pen-Mightier-Autobiography-Punk-Rocker/dp/0857306057Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
NOW PLAYING
Ed Tudor Pole – singer, actor, serial showman – saw the pop and punk wars as ‘pure theatre’.
No transcript for this episode yet
Similar Episodes
Mar 19, 2026 ·34m
Feb 18, 2026 ·11m
Feb 11, 2026 ·45m
Nov 12, 2025 ·35m
Oct 17, 2025 ·40m