Ray Gosling was an activist, anarchist, and friend of the people. His incredible life is detailed in archives housed at Nottingham Trent University. The following film was created by NTU students in collaboration with Dawn of the Unread.
From the late 60’s onwards, whenever I heard that a Ray Gosling programme was scheduled to be broadcast on the radio then I made sure that I listened to it. I knew it would touch on a topic that no one else would cover and in a way that no one else could. It would tease out details and follow a thread that was coherent yet unpredictable. Ray was an observer and would take his listeners on a wonderful journey of discovery. His voice and his prose combined into a hypnotic spell. With hindsight, I wish that I had listened to more/all of his programmes. Now, with the Internet, I have the opportunity to listen again to programmes from the past and to discover gems that I overlooked. It is so good that his work has been rediscovered by a young generation and that his archive has been saved.
Hi Mark. We couldn't agree more. Gosling's strength was his humanity and eagerness to listen. He never laughed at people, no matter what their quirks, and instead always wanted to hear more. We featured Ray in our comic 'For it was Saturday Night' and imagined what kind of conversations he may have in the afterlife. I hope we captured his sense of intrigue and wonderment. You can read it using the link below. And perhaps one day you might want to visit the archives yourself... www.dawnoftheunread.com/issue-12-01.html
I remember Ray from his time at Granada.. particularly On Site where Ray would be championing the man on the street while the pompous presenter in the studio belittled a young Ray in a public school manner.... Ray addressing him as 'John' and being adressed 'Gosling in return :) a very interesting man
I met Ray once as part of a documentary he was making about English Civil War reenactors entitled 'Members Only'. I wouldlove to get a dvd of this if possible. ?
Great stuff would love to see archive was a friend of rays and am trying to find if he did anything on single mothers in nottingham for a play im involved in
Hi Tony, sorry for responding 4 years later! I can show you around the archives once it's safe to do so (covid-19). Email me at james.walker@ntu.ac.uk once things have returned to 'normal'. You might also want to try Colin Haynes who worked with Ray in St. Anne's. You should be able to contact him via the website he set up www.raygosling.org/
