Pop Detectives: Back In Business

Ricky and Tony take their Pop Detectivism very seriously, however during those long days and nights at the office, conversation can drift…a lot! We were going to call this the Best Of Pop Detectives but we thought that was pushing it, especially when no pop mysteries were solved in the making of this episode…so that must make it the Worst Of Pop Detectives.  Here’s what you didn’t hear in previous episodes, expect topics such as...world record for time spent up a tree, church bells, cheese phobias, Coronation Street and socks. Find your calm, get 25% OFF the entire CALM, EASE and REST CBD ranges plus free shipping at: https://grassandco.com/pages/pop  Thanks to Wooga - Download June's Journey for free from the App Store or Google Play here If you have a pop mystery you’d like solving get in touch at rickyandtony.com or email [email protected] Tweet and follow the podcast @rickyandtonypod. See the office on Instagram From Globe Productions  Producer: Gareth Evans at EighteenSixty  Creative Producer: Will Nichols

Bowie was a master of reinvention and was streets ahead of the curve...but did he really predict the future too? In the final case of the series of Ricky & Tony, the Pop Detectives are investigating a theory which in some ways seems feasible but in other ways just plain bizarre! Some of the comments that David Bowie made during in a Newnight interview in 1999 about how we’d use the internet in years to come are spookily accurate, that music streaming would be normal and the internet would give us “windows into our idols' lives” (Twitter, Instagram, TikTok anyone?). Coupled with more unusual theory that the great man tried to tell us about the birth of Kanye West five years before his birth, some people seem to believe that Bowie was some kind of modern day Nostradamus, could this be true? Ricky and Tony yet again have experts on hand, David Robson, a science writer who’s an expert on people who can accurately predict world events, and for a window into Kanye West’s world, Chris Lambert, host of Watching The Throne, the Kanye West Podcast. Watch the Newsnight interview here and more about the Kanye theory here. Thanks to Wooga - Download June's Journey for free from the App Store or Google Play here If you have a pop mystery you’d like solving get in touch at rickyandtony.com or email [email protected] Tweet and follow the podcast @rickyandtonypod. See the office on Instagram From Globe Productions  Producer: Gareth Evans at EighteenSixty  Creative Producer: Will Nichols

WARNING: This episode contains strong language and references to drug taking. It’s a Happy Mondays Special as Ricky & Tony are joined by the one and only Shaun Ryder to help get to the bottom of this legendary pop myth. At the height of ‘the second summer of love’ in 1990, the Happy Mondays headlined Glastonbury festival, but not content with the number of passes they were given, the 24 hour party people decided to knock up a few of their own by taking their own laminator with them. The chaos they brought to the festival that year is said to have caused Michael Eavis to be mad at the band ever since, and even may have been the reason Glastonbury took a year off in 1991! To get to the bottom of this one, Ricky & Tony are going straight to the source. Nathan McGough managed of the band throughout their heyday and the legendary Shaun Ryder shares what he remembers (which is more than you’d think). As the Pop Detectives discover, there’s a lot more to this story than a few fake passes! If you have a pop mystery you’d like solving get in touch at rickyandtony.com or email [email protected] Tweet and follow the podcast @rickyandtonypod. See the office on Instagram From Globe Productions  Producer: Gareth Evans at EighteenSixty  Creative Producer: Will Nichols

Ricky and Tony are back on the case of another superstar-based pop myth. One of their stool pigeons has tipped them to a demand by the Goddess of Pop, Cher, for a special room wherever she goes for the sole use of her wigs.  Rumour has it that when on tour the room is furnished with just a table and three chairs, along with other demands of white and milk chocolate fountains, a slush machine and mountains, Walkers Thai sweet chilli crisps and no air-con! For this one the sleuths need to get to the heart of Hollywood and close to Cher’s inner circle. They track down Cher’s former dancer and famous choreographer (and one of the original kids from Fame) Bubba Carr who lets Ricky & Tony in on the secrets of what happens on tour and what Cher’s really like to work for. And someone who knows Cher’s wigs better than most, world famous wig maker to the stars Renate Leuschner shares her stories of working on those famous dos. She’s also made wigs for most of Hollywood including Robin Williams (The Mrs Doubtfire wig), Bette Middler, Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell, Halle Berry and many more. With so many strands to this story, there’s a lot of evidence for Ricky & Tony to comb through. If you have a pop mystery you’d like solving get in touch at rickyandtony.com or email [email protected] Tweet and follow the podcast @rickyandtonypod. See the office on Instagram From Globe Productions  Producer: Gareth Evans at EighteenSixty  Creative Producer: Will Nichols

In 1987 Freddie Mercury turned 41 and decided to throw the mother of all parties at Pikes beach club in Ibiza. With myths a-plenty for this party, it even features in the Bohemian Rhapsody film, it’s hard to know what’s legend and what’s the truth!  350 bottles of champagne, a six-foot cake, three days just to inflate all the balloons and also a firework display that could be seen from Majorca, almost 100 miles away! Ricky and Tony investigate by chatting to Andy Hubble from one of the country’s top fireworks display companies to find out if fireworks could have been seen from that far away or whether it’s just hot air. Next the pair track down someone who was actually at the party, and not just anybody, the man who took all of the photos and was Freddie’s personal photographer at most of his parties, Richard Young. Richard captured loads of shots of Freddie over the years and shares his memories of the party and what it was like to be Freddie’s go-to photographer. See some more photos from Freddie’s party here. If you have a pop mystery you’d like solving get in touch at rickyandtony.com or email [email protected] Tweet and follow the podcast @rickyandtonypod. See the office on Instagram From Globe Productions  Producer: Gareth Evans at EighteenSixty  Creative Producer: Will Nichols

Ricky’s been lucky enough to receive some gold and platinum awards in his time. However, he once noticed that the grooves and tracks on one of his Kaiser Chiefs gold records didn’t match the ones from the actual vinyl. What’s going on? Are all Gold/Platinum records actually all the same record? If so, what record is it? If not then who on earth’s record does Ricky have? To try and crack this case Ricky and Tony need to chat to those in the know, like Gennaro Castaldo from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) who are the ones who give out the awards, as well as going straight to the source, to the man who actually makes them, Bryan Barns from Award Framers International.  Is there a perfectly logical explanation here or have we got a case of Fools Gold? If you have a pop mystery you’d like solving get in touch at rickyandtony.com or email [email protected] Tweet and follow the podcast @rickyandtonypod. See the office on Instagram Vote for Ricky & Tony in the British Podcast Awards. Enter our podcast name in the Listener's Choice here: https://www.britishpodcastawards.com/vote Get your free case (plus shipping) of craft beer worth £24 from beer52, using this link: https://www.beer52.com/POP Find your calm, get 25% OFF the entire CALM, EASE and REST CBD ranges plus free shipping at: https://grassandco.com/pages/pop From Globe Productions  Producer: Gareth Evans at EighteenSixty  Creative Producer: Will Nichols

Something’s been puzzling Ricky for a few years and he wants the help of Tony and their experts to get to the bottom of it. On the day that actor Gene Wilder died in 2016, Ricky was moved to post a tribute on Twitter, only to find out that Gene was following him! However, what’s even more strange is that the account only follows 13 people, Ricky being one of them, along with a few Hollywood stars. Why and how did this happen? To get to the bottom of this one Ricky and Tony want to go beyond the grave, luckily they’ve got the contact details of Patrick Keller, host of ‘The Big Seance’ Podcast who knows all about contacting dead celebrities and even tries to make contact with Gene for them.  And to get some cold hard facts on whether Ricky’s famous follower might have been the victim of hackers (if so, why only follow Ricky?), the pair chat to their social media security expert Drew Benvie.  Can they find the golden ticket that will give them the answers? It turns out things aren’t quite as easily explained as you might think!  If you have a pop mystery you’d like solving get in touch at rickyandtony.com or email [email protected] Tweet and follow the podcast @rickyandtonypod. See the office on Instagram Get your free case (plus shipping) of craft beer worth £24 from beer52, using this link: https://www.beer52.com/POP Find your calm, get 25% OFF the entire CALM, EASE and REST CBD ranges plus free shipping at: https://grassandco.com/pages/pop From Globe Productions  Producer: Gareth Evans at EighteenSixty  Creative Producer: Will Nichols

It’s a brand new series and Ricky and Tony have got everything they need, including the all important rubber ‘case-solved’ stamp, to safely crack an in-tray full of new cases from home. This week’s tip-off is that Barack Obama allegedly hired Miley Cyrus as a political distraction tool to avert the public’s gaze away from new legislation that some say wasn’t going to go down well with the American public. Was her infamous performance at the 2013 VMAs all an elaborate case of smoke and mirrors orchestrated by the then president to fill the media with stories about her antics rather than his policies? Ricky and Tony as always have the very best experts at hand. They speak to Lance Price, former spin-doctor under Alistair Campbell during Tony Blair’s time at No. 10 to find out if this stuff really goes on in politics; as well as speaking to a doctor of pop, Dr. Adam Behr who knows a thing or two about how pop stars use the media. The Pop Detectives are back in the thick of it with this one! If you have a pop mystery you’d like solving get in touch at rickyandtony.com or email [email protected] Tweet and follow the podcast @rickyandtonypod. See the office on Instagram Get your free case (plus shipping) of craft beer worth £24 from beer52, using this link: https://www.beer52.com/POP From Globe Productions  Producer: Gareth Evans at EighteenSixty  Creative Producer: Will Nichols

Pop Detectives is back in business! Recorded live from lockdown, from their home detective offices, Kaiser Chiefs’ frontman Ricky Wilson and radio royalty Tony Blackburn continue to debunk pop myths and solve musical mysteries. Episode 1 coming soon...

On the way to solving all the mysteries in this series and as new colleagues, Ricky and Tony had a lot of acquainting to be done, and during those long late nights at the office, it’s easy for conversation to drift to other matters.  Here’s what you didn’t hear in previous episodes. No pop mysteries were solved in the making of this episode. If you have a pop mystery you’d like solving in a future episode get in touch at rickyandtony.com or email [email protected] Tweet and follow the podcast @rickyandtonypod. See the office on Instagram From Globe Productions  Producer: Gareth Evans Creative Producers: Will Nichols, Geoff Lloyd