John Shea
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johnshea63.bsky.social
John Shea
@johnshea63.bsky.social
Pianist, BBC Radio 3 presenter, BBC World Service newsreader. Cambridge University & Royal Academy of Music graduate. 🇬🇧🇮🇪🇪🇺
Reposted by John Shea
Just had a revelation. I shd be listening to R3's "Through the Night" through the day. Knowledgeable presenters introducing the music in excellent, broadcast-trained voices; full concert pieces of all types, often from interesting live performances around the world; why am I not already doing this?
September 30, 2025 at 6:02 AM
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“Starved of investment, British theatre has been cut to the bone. On the fringe, you can see the bones, and you can see them crumbling in front of your eyes.”

Polished fringe shows from overseas shine an ugly light on UK arts funding, says Lyn Gardner 👇
Lyn Gardner on underfunded home-grown shows at Edinburgh Fringe
At Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the gap in financial support between overseas and home-grown companies is increasingly evident in production values, says Lyn Gardner
www.thestage.co.uk
August 11, 2025 at 1:58 PM
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Message from Feedback’s Andrea Catherwood: ‘ #BBCSounds is blocked outside UK today, so if you’re in Ireland or overseas let me know how it affects you - Lots more on this ep of @BBCR4Feedback where I talk to Jonathan Wall head of Sounds (if you can still access it) 👇🏼’
Feedback - BBC Sounds Overseas Switch Off and Lyse Doucet in Iran - BBC Sounds
Andrea Catherwood speaks to BBC Sounds about its imminent closure to overseas listeners.
www.bbc.co.uk
July 21, 2025 at 8:17 AM
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The Senate voted to approve a $9 billion rescission package aimed at clawing back money already allocated for public radio and television — a major step toward winding down nearly six decades of federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. https://n.pr/44QnXjT
Senate approves cuts to NPR, PBS and foreign aid programs
The Senate voted to approve a $9 billion rescission package aimed at clawing back money already allocated for public radio and television.
n.pr
July 17, 2025 at 10:43 AM
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Macron: "He's a very clever cat"
Merci monsieur le président x
July 10, 2025 at 7:36 PM
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The final scene would have been David Davis showing up without any documents to Brexit talks with Barnier
"Those final scenes of the tapestry are missing. I see that as (an) even more powerful symbol in the great mural of Franco-British history, the end has yet to be written.” Whatever you think of Macron, he (or his speechwriter) can certainly turn a phrase (in English as well as French).
Bayeux tapestry to return to Britain for first time in 900 years
Tapestry to go on display in British Museum next year, with treasures from Sutton Hoo lent to France in exchange
www.theguardian.com
July 9, 2025 at 5:36 PM
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Le pianiste autrichien Alfred Brendel s'est éteint à l'âge de 94 ans. Interprète majeur de Beethoven, Schubert ou Haydn, il laisse derrière lui un large legs discographique ➡️ https://l.francemusique.fr/C33
June 17, 2025 at 2:35 PM
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www.theguardian.com/football/202... I once found myself sitting next to him in the Upton Park press box talking about the world of opera, which his son & my brother work in, & he dropped into conversation 'I was having dinner once with Pavarotti and Zefirelli...' just your standard West Ham chat.
Brian Glanville, journalist lauded as ‘the greatest football writer’, dies aged 93
Brian Glanville, who was the Sunday Times’ football correspondent for 30 years and the influential author of The Story of the World Cup, has died aged 93
www.theguardian.com
May 17, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Reposted by John Shea
‘In Chicago, a little-known recently appointed cardinal retweeted another attack on Vance’s statement: “J.D. Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.” That cardinal was Robert Prevost.”

Colm Tóibín on Pope Leo, online now from the next issue: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Colm Tóibín · The Pope and Pachamama
Pope Leo, thus far in his life, has been skilled at placing himself in the middle whenever there are warring factions....
www.lrb.co.uk
May 10, 2025 at 11:26 AM
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Sorry about reality. My bad.
February 14, 2025 at 3:17 AM
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Very sad news from @johnshea63.bsky.social. Peter was a very good egg and a great broadcaster
February 17, 2025 at 12:27 PM
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‘Cybertruck Man’
a cartoon in defiance of Musk
#political #cartoonist #cybertruck #elon #musk #democracy #tiananmen
February 14, 2025 at 7:25 PM
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We need to act now if we are to save our Arts. Here’s my new blog on Brexit, the Arts Council and my personal experience of “levelling up” raenicholls.wordpress.com/2025/02/04/a...
A call to arms, a call for alms.
I made my big splash as a Wagnerian back in 2012 at the tender age of 37. An abrupt change of repertoire from Bach to Brünnhilde made me something of a novelty act at the time, and for the subseque…
raenicholls.wordpress.com
February 4, 2025 at 8:31 PM
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It might be helpful to know... some quite good things happened in 2024.

Here are a few of them

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...
BBC World Service - Global News Podcast, The Happy Pod: 2024 News Review
The happiest stories of the year
www.bbc.co.uk
December 25, 2024 at 8:13 PM
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Occasionally
November 18, 2024 at 3:15 AM
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Stop trying to make "skeet" happen.
November 16, 2024 at 5:36 PM
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A lot of My new followers here are very reasonably asking if I will follow them in return. No.
November 14, 2024 at 11:24 PM