One 2 Three
Patrick Sherring
Henry Martin phoned in from France to talk about his new book, Vincent van Gogh and the Good Samaritan. Henry first saw the painting in the Netherlands in 2011. For the last two years he has worked on explaining the questions that came into his mind. Why did he paint this? Why in 1890? Why so near the end of his life? The book aims at answering these questions. One of Henry’s insights is that he feels that that wounded man in the painting, with a bandage around his head, looks a lot like Vincent in the two self-portraits he painted after cutting off his ear. The painting is a copy of a picture that was sent to Vincent whilst he was in an asylum. In the original, the Samaritan has a brown beard. In Vincent’s painting he had a ginger beard, Vincent’s own colour. Henry feels Vincent is identifying with both characters. Henry contends that Vincent is showing that the message of the parable is that God helps us in life, whatever circumstances we are in, and that we should be showing that help to others in practical ways. The book also contains questions to go with each chapter, enabling it to be easily used in a book club or course setting.
Playlist.
Billy Joel – River of dreams. Title track from the album nominated for the Grammy Record of the year in 1994.
Jon Batiste – Freedom. Track from the album We are, which has received eight Grammy nominations this year.
Don McLean – Vincent. Chosen by Henry for obvious reasons.
John Smith ft Lisa Hannigan – Star crossed lovers. Chosen by Henry because it is one of his favourite tracks from this year.
Tracy Chapman – Talkin bout a revolution. Henry noted that Vincent’s style has resulted in us all seeing the world differently, a revolution in perception.
Friday Teaser
Charlie Puth – Attention. We heard this 2017 track. Chris in Harlow guessed correctly that Charlie recently celebrated his 30th birthday.
Bette Midler- Wind beneath my wings. This 1989 track was a no 1 in USA and Australia and a UK no 4. Patrick in Ingatestone guessed correctly that she is 76 years old.
Above, Dougie Pointer in 2004. Below, Dougie Poynter now. He is the bassist in McFly.
We heard the 2005 McFly track – You’ve got a friend. The band’s fourth UK no 1. Stewart went to the same school as Dougie and knew he is 34 years old. Patrick also answered with the same age. This made Patrick our winner this week. Henry enjoyed participating, describing the competition as “an educational experience”.
Pentatonix – Mary did you know? Patrick had requested this 2014 track that charted in the USA, Canada, Australia and Hungary.
Brentwood School Big Band – Have yourself a merry little Christmas. This track was recorded last year during lockdown.
Chart this week in
No 2 Queen – We are the champions. This track was kept from no 1 by Wings – Mull of Kintyre.
No 11. Jonathan Richmond – Egyptian reggae. This track was to peak at no 5 in the UK charts.
No 12. Tom Robinson band – 2,4,6,8 motorway. This track had peaked at no 5.
RAH Band – One day we will smile again.
Join me next week when my guest is Fr Mark North from St. Thomas a’ becket church in Brentwood. He will talk about the Anglo-Catholic character of the church and the activities happening over the Christmas period.
