The Corona Diaries
by Steve Hogarth
Lead singer of Marillion, father, hippy, punk, soul singer, progressive rockstar (wtf!), defender of the faith, voice of reason in a world gone crazy......and now podcaster.Join me as I talk about my life and what is rambling around in my head. Along the way I will focus on some of the stories that have shaped my career and my life, as well as reading from my diaries and offering my take on the wider world.Stay safe,hP.S I began this journey just as CoVid-19 took hold and changed our lives, possibly forever, so it seems apt to reference that in the naming of the podcast.
Episodes
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Chapter 271. Sorry Jürgen, my heart belongs to Gary.
I know that we talk often, almost every week in fact, but as a rule we don't find ourselves in close proximity all that find. Which means that I am pretty sure that there is quite a difference with what greets me in the mirror after I have thrown a leg out from under the duvet, and the picture…
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Chapter 270. The story around the stars
By now you probably know that when we played Pompeii earlier in the year, we were joined onstage by an astonishing choir called Flowing Chords. They helped the band work on new arrangements for a number of songs, and were a big part of creating something really magical on the night(s). You may…
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Chapter 269. Asleep in the car park.
Ant wanted me to mention three things pivotal to this week's chapter of TCD. SET-LIST SPOILERS about half way through the pod we have a discussion about the set-list for the UK tour, we did include a warning in the recording, but for the purpose of prepping you here it is a second (or first)…
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Chapter 268. Lost or lifted; the Philishave conundrum.
’ve played a great many gigs since joining the band in ‘89 and quite a few new ones have been added to our “circuit” along the way. Something we haven’t really reflected on much, is how the tour venue choices have evolved. So today we fell into a conversation about the venues on the upcoming UK...
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Chapter 267. Twice in a lifetime
Lord, it seems like an age since we recorded this and tbh I am not quite sure what we talked about. I can tell you it was the balance of the post-Pompeii chat (and that it happened on #plumday) but life has moved on since then, and recall is rarely linear for me these days. It tends to wash over…
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Chapter 266. It's possible they could be Stanley
Plum Day comes but once a year, and as it turned out this year it was on Tuesday 4th. "But what is Plum Day" I hear you cry, well that is the day that Ant and I settle ourselves in the garden at Hogarth Towers, pick the ripened plums off the tree, and generally talk bollocks. It started a couple…
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Chapter 265. All roads lead to Pompeii (it's just they are a little bit windy, a little bit scary, and full of nutters...)
It's been a bit of a week... We weren't even sure if TCD was going to be a thing this week, what with me being on my holibobs and Ant out and about with his proper job. But we managed to find a bit of time late on Wednesday evening, which meant I was able to elaborate on the quirks and wrinkles...
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Chapter 264. Truncated & Distilled
Cast your mind back a couple of weeks to the last chapter of TCD (...sorry Lucy). You know the one I am talking about, where I was set the challenge of coming up with a single CD of material that spoke to my musical output across all the various projects I have been involved. So by the end of…
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Chapter 263. An announcement and an epitaph
It might seem like there is a somewhat cavalier approach to TCD (...sorry Lucy) this week, what with the big reveals, and the joining-of-the-dots with the last piece of purple bonus content. So if you are feeling a little confused, here are the three things we are juggling: The announcement…
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Chapter 262. The Hoggarthian Principle
So, here’s how it went down this week… 1. Our normal in-depth production schedule exchange took place over WhatsApp on Monday 2. Recording commenced bang on 10:37am on Tuesday morning, conditions were normal with a gentle pace and favourable headwinds. 3. Approximately 20 minutes a largely...
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Chapter 261. I merely popped out for a sandwich
The first question that most people ask when I reveal I have recorded nearly 500 episodes of this podcast is "surely you must have run out of things to talk about by now?" Well this week's TCD (...sorry Lucy) is a perfect example of how we have got to 261 chapters and a similar number of bonus...
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Chapter 260. I scream pre-order
Now you might be wondering why this chapter of TCD (...sorry Lucy) has turned up a little bit early, because let's be honest we don't have a reputation for being this on the ball. It kind of revolves around my birthday (today), the fact it is a significant one (three score and ten) and the…
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Chapter 259. Egg-Fifteen
In a change to the normal way of working it is Ant here, providing you with the episode notes for the latest chapter of TCD (...sorry Lucy). What that does mean is I can take this opportunity to put the podcast title into some form of context, and offer up a grovelling apology to my co-host....
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Chapter 258. The well oiled machine
You don't have to have been following TCD (...sorry Lucy) that intently to know that the beat combo is in the middle of writing and recording a new album. Now I have been around this world for a very long time, and I am here to tell you that I don't think it really matters who the artist or band...
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Chapter 257. CPD for the Prog Community
It’s all about personal growth this week as Ant and yours truly open ourselves up to the process of re-evaluation. It all started a few weeks ago when we happened to mention, quite casually as it transpired, that neither of us were moved by the music of Rush. As it turned out a goodly number of…
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Chapter 256. Adrian and the Magic Hour
So…outside through the open sliding door is the calm azure Caribbean and above, a wide open blue sky, as the tap tap on my cabin door - exactly on time - summons me to welcome in a genius, a legend and someone fast-becoming a “goofball-brother”. It takes one to know one (a goofball I mean…). Now…
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Chapter 255. The Great Milk Stand-Off
Before we start I need to draw your attention to something. If you have been listening for a while you know that TCD has never shied away from the odd expletive or two. However today's chapter is a little more littered than usual, and I wanted to give you ample warning, and beg forgiveness from...
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Chapter 254. Banging on about Fablon
Now, even by our standards this is a little confusing. Last week we sat down to record a patron-only Q&A, and we weren't 100% successful. We did manage to record, and we did end-up with a piece of purple content, but we didn't get around to actually answering any of your questions. This week we...
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Chapter 253. And then there were three
I seemed to recall that we said at some point that we would try and get a few more guests on TCD (...sorry Lucy), it could have been as a result of passing the 250 mark or it might even have been a sort of NY resolution. Now clearly anything that either of us states as an intention (or even a...
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Chapter 252. Father and (other) Son
Buses. You wait 251 episodes to get one of my boys on the pod, and just like that you get the other one. Actually it was all a bit odd this week, Ant is away in California so we have been juggling and crowbarring, just to find a suitable moment to sync the time zones and press record. And yes...
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Chapter 251. Father and Son
I don't know if it is because we are in a new year (Happy 2026 btw) or because it feels a while since the 250th, but this episode feels like a new start, maybe a do-over, or even a hard reset. (of course all of that is merely a figure of speech, and for those of you that worry about these things…
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Chapter 250. Intensive Care
It's not every week that you get all five members of the beat-combo on the same episode of a podcast (in fact it is possible that we were popping the 'ol podcast cherry, collectively speaking). But then it isn't every week that we record the 250th episode of TCD!! It made for an eventful…
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Chapter 249. Let's get ready to ramble
I had a rare old time in Poland last week, in fact it may well be the best h natural show I have played there. Despite a little apprehension on my part, it all went swimmingly, as you are about to hear as we discuss the gig and the set-list in some detail. Of course the next few weeks are going…
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Chapter 248. What the bloody hell is this...
There are so many reasons why we don't do a video version of TCD (...sorry Lucy) but we got the sense that many of you didn't believe us. So as Ant was round at ours anyway, and as Vibes was on hand to assist with production duties, we decided to tiptoe out 'till our feet only just reached the...
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Chapter 247. We’re like the United Nations.
It’s a full on chapter of TCD this week (….sorry Lucy) with all the bells and whistles that are now synonymous with our artform. Firstly we have a guest. The inimitable Lucy J. joins us, bringing with her that wonderful frisson, that you only get when a special personality has rocked up in your…
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Chapter 246. Nor'easter
It's all got a bit of a 'rockumentary' kind of a vibe this time, as I take you behind the curtain at the ProgStock festival in Noo Joizee Recorded from my hotel room overlooking Manhattan, on the morning after the night before, and with me not altogether compos mentis. So in amongst the normal…
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Chapter 245. RIP Colin
Listening back to this weeks chat, and it is fairly obvious that if you have never been to Cornwall, or holidayed in the UK for that matter, then a lot of the references might seem a bit bewildering. I am not sure it is possible to explain in a succinct enough fashion for the purpose of these…
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Chapter 244. Abracadaver!
There are certain things in life that are absolutes. For a start - the fastest way to find a stray piece of lego is to walk across the floor in stockinged feet, and you will find it in an instant (and with more than a modicum of extreme pain). Toast always falls butter side down, and if it is a...
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Chapter 243. The great vinegar paradox
I happened to listen to the opening credits today, and this week's chapter is certainly a bit random, and a bit irreverent. What it really needs to accompany it is one of those maps that you get on travel programs, that indicate the route taken as the story unfolds. You know the kind of thing I...
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Chapter 242. Change of band, change of trousers. Obvs.
Let’s start with the plaudits. High fives, if not big tens are due to John Sturm and Seamus Colgan for being the purple folk who said that we needed more chat about the Europeans. Tim Glasswell deserves the freedom of Luton for all the work he has put into the Rainbow Room website, which is...
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Chapter 241. We managed to rescue the Moon fact.
It’s a case of life imitating art this week. It’s a minor bloody miracle you are actually listening to this at all because Ant had one of those head in hand moments whilst trying to download the episode from the Zoom recorder, and managed instead to format the SD card and delete everything we had…
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Chapter 240. All creamed up!
It’s a gentle and meandering affair for this chapter of TCD (…sorry Lucy) which is podcast code for not really planned, and certainly not thought through. Saying that, the vibe is about right for a chat that takes place at the seaside and touches on fence repair, cricket and Susie Dent. The thing…
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Chapter 239. A Master of Timing
For this week's episode of TCD (...sorry Lucy) we have been remembering Luis. So much of what Luis did had a touch of the mystical about it, he sprinkled musical magic wherever he went, and helped music transcend with just the shake of his tambourine. Of course that goes a long way to explaining...
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Chapter 238. This is the one I shoot with...
Of the things that fly-in-and out of this week’s TCD (….sorry Lucy) Gene Wilder was already lodged well and truly at the front of the ol’ synapses. Having finished my evening in Berlin with him (and Anthony having a similar soft-spot), perhaps it wasn’t too much of a surprise that he found his…
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Chapter 237. Me and my fizzy mind
Well it feels like quite a while since we were here last… how have you been? What with the Leicester Weekend, and then dashing off on holiday I can't really remember where we had got up to, not that it really matters because this week was always going to be a bit of a catch-up and reset as far as...
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Chapter 236. Is it a bird, is it a plane.
There is a school of thought that TCD (...sorry Lucy) is just like listening to two blokes chatting in a pub, and there is indeed a lot in that observation that has merit. It would certainly go a long way to explain the slightly juvenile humour, the occasional grumpy chunter and the fact we often...
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Chapter 235. Seriously though, who is Lucy J?
There is a paradox at the heart of this weeks episode of The Corona Diaries (see what I did there…) and it is this. Getting Lucy Jordache on the zoom call was easy, she was more than up for a repeat appearance on the pod. Getting her to actually talk about herself and her life, was a darn sight...
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Chapter 234. A clamour for Reactor One
We have hit a bit of a milestone, and it is sort of crept up on us. Would you believe it has been five years (and a few days) since we announced the upcoming launch of The Corona Diaries, and pretty much five years to the day that the first chapter (This Strange Podcast) was offered up for your...
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Chapter 233. We can't find the tell-tale damp patches.
I bet you never thought we would remember to pick up the Holidays in Eden chat. You know, the one we started before the first weekend at PZ. Well we did and we have. Of course it’s not without the usual TCD (…sorry Lucy) eccentricities. I was post-pub, post-airing cupboard and Ant was in a hotel...
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Chapter 232. If you make it as far as the camel, you have done well.
I am not really sure how to describe this episode of TCD (...sorry, Lucy). If it helps to set the scene then you might want to consider the following; I am/was in Montreal at the time of recording, and Ant was ensconced in his villains lair, in Heckmondwike. The wi-fi was more than a bit iffy, in...
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Chapter 231. Whatever happened to the Pinder twins?
Here we go then, an episode recorded over the kitchen table at Ant's chalet in PZ. Nothing too complicated in the notes because we are up against it for time, needless to say there are a few Marillion Weekend night one spoilers in here, so please consider swerving this one for the time being if…
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Chapter 230. Are there any more famous Butlers per chance?
Would you believe it’s been 34 years since we wrote and recorded the Holidays in Eden album… Yes of course you can, because you and I both know that a whole heap of stuff had happened since then. But still, 34 years, it does make you stop and think. Which is of course what I did, when I listened...
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Chapter 229. It's a f*cking paperweight
For your discerning palette. Appetiser: A fact-free riff on the history of the Rolling Stones, complete with rugs, confectionary and transfusions. Entree: Quite an interesting chat about Holidays in Eden and its significance in terms of both the back catalogue, and the evolution of our work. Not...
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Chapter 228. JPEGs and jet-lag.
As we approach the five year anniversary of the podcast (and who would have thunk that would have been a thing) I never thought I would have been reading a recipe out loud. But after a bit of kerfuffle at Ant's end, I received the JPEGs required to make it possible. There is of course good…
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Chapter 227. Have we got a video?
Apologies in advance for the first 5-10 minutes of this episode of TCD (sorry, Lucy) as Ant faffed around trying to get his microphone to send a signal to his recording software. We kept it in because it's a little insight into the technical challenges that men of a certain age often face. And on...
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Chapter 226. Who do we think we are
Well hello, thanks for coming...it really is lovely to see you! Ant thought it might be nice to begin 2025 (HNY by the way, I hope you had a good 'un) with a bit of a pop quiz, based around what I can actually remember about my own podcast. Clearly he thought this would be hilarious, particularly...
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Chapter 225. O Little Town of Bethlehem
If everything has gone to plan, and you are a Purple, then I am currently in East Sussex, preparing for the second of my Christmas h Natural affairs at Trading Boundaries. Let me tell you that last night was amazing, and I’ll try to improve on it tonight. If everything has gone to plan, and you…
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Chapter 224. Angel wings on the Westway
We are going back to '95 today as we continue on the promo-video chat, and get deep into the making of the Beautiful video. This if course is quite opportune, as most of these vids have finally been uploaded to the Marillion YouTube channel. Which means you can watch it right now by clicking here...
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Chapter 223. Kicking back, like a red-arsed fly.
If you are a purple patron of TCD (sorry Lucy) then you will have heard some of this before, because we had a chat about the Brave movie (and working with Richard Stanley) in a recent Q&A. Well today we build on that conversation, as we have arrived at that point in our loose...
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Chapter 222. Nearly blown away by Howard’s Chopper
This week’s episode of TCD (sorry Lucy) is one of those where we really benefit from having a clever and creative voice in the room. You may recall that we have been talking about the Marillion promo vids on a kind of ad-hoc basis, and that the last time we touched on that topic we talked about…
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About this show
Lead singer of Marillion, father, hippy, punk, soul singer, progressive rockstar (wtf!), defender of the faith, voice of reason in a world gone crazy......and now podcaster.Join me as I talk about my life and what is rambling around in my head. Along the way I will focus on some of the stories that have shaped my career and my life, as well as reading from my diaries and offering my take on the wider world.Stay safe,hP.S I began this journey just as CoVid-19 took hold and changed our lives, possibly forever, so it seems apt to reference that in the naming of the podcast.
Hosted by
Steve Hogarth
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