Life as cinema
When asked what he would miss most should he banished to a desert island, best-selling author William Boyd said it would be the cinema of everyday life of living in urban London: "I would really miss the passing parade, the cinema of everyday life, which I find tremendously stimulating as I walk everywhere. I wander the city anonymously, taking it all in, noticing everything and relishing difference, and relishing detail, and it is inspiring."
As I write, London is the centre of Europe's attention. Whatever is decided by the its leaders, there are going to be changes afoot. And those changes are more than likely going to make our lives more fearful, so one of my recommendations, is to go out and wander, relish life, relish difference and detail. Maybe give someone a hug. Another recommendation is to listen to the BBC's Desert Island Discs. The two most recent episodes are not only inspiring but make me want to be more creative. You know that one guest is William Boyd, but the other episode is with another Brit who has probably changed our lives in the last twenty years, more than any other, and he is Jonny Ive.
Ive was the designer of the Apple iMac, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad plus many other products some of which proved popular and others not. Since the iPhone has given us a camera in our pockets, we take more photos than ever before. We communicate with people near and far, and share videos and texts, and messages galore. However, for me the greatest impact was the ability to make my own podcasts - my rather amateurish attempt at making radio as good as Desert Island Discs or Clare Balding's Ramblings of which my Talking Walking podcasts are a slight imitation.
Ive and Apple were not the first on the scene, and I am still a user and a fan of the Sony Walkman - I bought two off eBay not long ago. I have maintained a tape correspondence with a friend in Tasmania for over 30 years. Recordings of everyday life, not just in London but everywhere I go about on foot. To me it is a real privilege to have been brought up in Britain with my entire upbringing in the company of BBC radio. All of us in Britain know, how lucky we are, to have public funded radio free to every listener (Musk is ill-informed, as it is not state funded), and now a considerable number of programmes are available to listeners throughout the world through BBC Sounds.
So I am inviting you to be creative, to go out on foot, iPhone (or any other audio recorder) in hand, and record what you encounter in everyday life. Have a go at editing it - there's the free and tremendously effective Audacity audio editing software, but there are many others too (many using AI nowadays). Send your edited version to a friend, or publish it as a podcast, or boldly geolocate it using our sponsor's earwiggingly brilliant Echoes app.
Happy walking, recording and listening.
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Co-founder of walk · listen · create
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Supported by:
Echoes
ECHOES specialises in geolocative audio. Our free platform allows creators to make and publish incredible GPS-triggered walking experiences. We also create apps which focus on sound and location, like The Royal Parks and The Royal Academy’s collaborative ‘Music for Trees’ app.
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Free for supporting members, open to everyone
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18 Mar, 2025 · 19:00 UTC
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