TudoRama
TudoRama explores the nature and practice of creativity in the arts, sciences, politics and above all in everyday life. Tudor Rickards is Emeritus Professor of Creativity and Organizational Change at the University of Manchester. Tudor studied chemistry and radiation chemistry at The University of Wales at Cardiff. Following post-doctoral research at New York Medical College, he returned to the UK to work in technical management before joining Manchester Business School. He has published numerous books and articles on creativity, sporting management and leadership, as well as fictional works involving the mythical University of Urmston. He has been influential in the de...
Going for a song: My Eureka moment
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Over the course of many years, I had probably over quoted the story about Archimedes and his moment of discovery which has become known as the Eureka phenomenon.
As it gets taught in universities around the world, Archimedes discovered his famous principle while in his bath prompting him to leap out and run through the streets of Athens crying something loosely transliterated into English as Eureka, that is to say ‘I’ve found it’.
The Eureka moment is the moment of discovery accompanied by intense emotional pleasure.
So we...
Question Time. A gruesome disappointment
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I’m still getting my head around what I witnessed watching Question Time, yesterday evening. I was attracted to the idea of the programme with the leading candidates in the Makerfield by-election.
Some years ago, I enjoyed Question Time, when it permitted intelligent debate between guests with interventions from the audience. This seemed to change with the departure of the authoritative but skilfully impartial chairmanship at the time, by Robin Day and his successor David Dimbleby…
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The question of copyright has become a hot issue with the rise of creative products assisted by artificial intelligence systems.
I started thinking about this recently with a specific case example. It cropped up the work directed by Jonathan Levitt in
producing a wide range of songs supported by his lyric writers, including myself, with Stephen Tranter, and a range of distinguished poets whose work has passed beyond the limit of copyright legislation.
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This example of dark Russian humour was published on X translated from a Portuguese source.
The story is about the interrogation of President Putin in a question and answer session at a Russian school. The first question is from Sasha….
How to spot the Traitor
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How to spot a traitor
This audio Post was triggered by the timing of my return from a visit to my tennis club every Saturday morning.
I still enjoy listening to radio five for the sports programs. On Saturdays, there is a problem called ‘spot the traitor’. It involves three football fans, each eulogising on the football team. However, one of the fans is fake, a traitor if you like. I understand spotting a traitor has become a National TV pastime. thanks to another program.
Listening week afte...
Hannah Spenser's Not so Green
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I use Amazon a lot. But my appreciation of Amazon’s outstanding delivery service goes along with a considerable concern I have about the impact of its business practices at a local and a global level.
I asked Dr Google ‘Why is Amazon criticised for its business practices?’
This is what I learned …
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Celtic win breaks Hearts
Hearts football club lost the title in a race they had been leading through throughout most of the season too many times champions Celtic. They lost in a devastating fashion at the last minute.
Celtic have been serial winners of the competition. Hearts have never won it. Celtic fans enjoyed that fantastic moment.
Hearts returned to their home territory where they were welcomed by their faithful fans. as heroes as if they had returned with victory.
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Yesterday I was left feeling depressed at what I saw as hideous bias in the coverage of the upcoming local elections. Very late, I knew what I wanted to happen and feared it was probably too late
How to warn people about voting for charlatans?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful, I asked myself, if everyone could listen to my message before they cast their votes on Thursday. After that the idea almost wrote itself.
So here it is, a cry that may have to wait for another occa...
Three poets and a music-maker: Creating a website
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It is now nearly a year since I became involved in a music-making project. The music is generated by an AI system by one member of a small team.
This may become a more common approach to generating music which also has implications for theory and practice.
We have now reached the inevitable stage of a start-up operation, namely the creation of a website. As a starting point, our team leader and music maker GM Jon has drafted a mission statement.
Yes, that’s one of the...
Life is Sadness, life's a Bitch
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Life is sadness, life’s a bitch
I thought it might be interesting to record an audiotape about the origins of a song currently being worked on by music-making colleague GM Jon.
Sometimes you can trace an idea to some starting event. In this case, it was a suggestion from Jon that we should put together several candidate lyrics on the general topic of old age.
The idea struck me as sufficiently distant from most songs we had worked on that it at least considered serious considerations
Natural talent and its weaknesses
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I came across a splendid analysis of the weakness of relying on natural talent, in a piece published in the Quora website. The author publishes under the title Halftime Legend.
It makes sense, and may even contribute to the debate on the nature of creativity.
It may be of more interest to Chess players, than to other listeners to my podcasts.
Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current affairs commentary by signing up to our newsletter! Email everydaycreativityuk@gmail.com to si...Brexit Rap: Where do new ideas come from?
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Where do new ideas come from?
To compensate for my abysmal failure in steps per day, (according to my distance walked App) I resort to the treadmill at my local gym.
Recently, the experience was weird. My pounding on the treadmill seemed to produce a reaction. It was as if as if the treadmill was telling me something.
I interpreted its message as if I had been listening to a mechanical version of the Oracle at Delphi. The rest of this brief podcast explains what I heard and...
The Houdini tactic: An invaluable rescue weapon for the club player
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Written and narrated by Tudor Rickards
I cannot claim to have invented the Houdini tactic in chess. However, I hinted at it in one of my least successful books, The Double Houdini.
As will become obvious, the tactic does not work when you’re playing against a computer program.
This week, it contributed to a much needed victory by our second team, still with a fighting chance of gaining promotion into the first division of the Stockport league. Much needed, as some consolation for the dive into the s...
The Dark Side of the Augusta Masters Golf Championship
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Every year, the masters golf championship at Augusta, Georgia gets worldwide television coverage. The traditions are well-known, including ritual acceptance by the winner of the iconic green jacket, handed over by last year‘s winner.
This year, a contingency plan was smoothly executed as Rory McIlroy became the first player since 2002 to defend the Augusta title successfully.
But amid the drama and spectacle, there is a darker story of the most famous golf club, which can be seen as the Twickenham or Wembley of Golf…
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Donald Trump, in the midst of saving the world, finds time to excoriate his multiple enemies in a classic late-night rant on Truth Social...
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Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current affairs commentary by signing up to our newsletter! Email everydaycreativityuk@gmail.com to sign up!Lewis Goodall: Where did it all go wrong?
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Listeners to this podcast will be aware that I have borrowed its title from a recent Channel 4 documentary entitled Kier Starmer: where did it all go wrong.
The broadcast triggered off a storm of criticism of its presenter Lewis Goodall, led by many disappointed supporters of his work in the United Kingdom, which had made him an icon of the left in a profession widely dominated by politically right-wing leaning journalists.
It was certainly a provocative headline by Channel 4. It was widely presumed to be signalling another hatchet job on...
Grandfather's Clock, by Henry C. Work
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A rendition of poem based on a favourite in the days of radio broadcasting by the BBC. With some help from tennis partners this morning (Lindsay, Neil, and Gordon) we reassembled what we believe to be the first lines of the poem, and quickly tracked down the original…
Newt Gingrich solves the Strait of Hormuz problem
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In the middle of the fantasy politics show starring Donald Trump, it was good for us to be reminded of some of the eccentric politicians that had recently departed the scene.
One such figure was former speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich.
This week, impatient with the suggestions of lesser Mortals, Newt popped up to offer the world a dynamic solution to The Strait of Hormuz problem…
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Eze Kingsley Ohaji posts on X about financial and political matters @ohajielom. His creative description of the war against Iran deserves wide circulation.
Trump: Open the Strait in 48 hours or I strike your power plants.
Iran: No.
Trump: You have 48 hours.
Iran: You said that already.
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Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current affairs commentary by signing up to our newsletter! Email everydaycreativityuk@gmail.com to sign up!A Woman's History, by W.H.Davies
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A WOMAN’S HISTORY
by
W H Davies
When Mary Price was five years old
And had a bird that died
She laid its body under flowers;
And called her friends to pray to God,
And sing sad hymns for hours
When she before her fifteenth year
Was ruined by a man,
The neighbours sought him out, and said-
‘You’ll...
Mourinho Matters: A study in charismatic leadership
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In my book Mourinho Matters I take Jose Mourinho as a case example of a charismatic leader.
I will draw on the account as described in the book. I have selected an exerpt of the occasions when I was embarrassingly misunderstood by two other charismatic leaders, Pat Riley of Miami Heat, and sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United.
A product in a bottle. How to turn ideas into new products
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My topic for today is developing a plan for successful innovation.
The subject is one which continues to attract attention, and books continue to be published offering various approaches some with more outrageous claims than others.
I want to describe one approach which worked for many and varied organisations mainly in the United Kingdom. I believe it can be applied to today’s fast-changing world, in which so many activities are being influenced through IT products and practices
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David Atherton is a scholarly contributor to X He explains that he has became increasingly disillusioned with his reach on X, and decided to write about stuff he likes
.You can follow David on X , where he publishes as @DaveAtherton20.
In a recent post, he selects as his topic, English idioms. In it, he describes the origin of the terms: one for the Road, being on the wagon, pulling your leg, and money for old rope.
There is a grim humour about his selected topic as you wi...
Leaders we Deserve: Making Sense of Donald Trump
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In this podcast, I’m taking the approach which I found useful in introducing graduate level workshops on creativity and leadership.
I would invite the Group to share their understanding of a current leadership issue and then discussing it through the perspective of leadership challenges provided by it.
So that’s where I want to go with this podcast. I’m assuming that listeners to this podcast are taking place in a discussion about leadership dilemmas which confront individuals, corporations and in this case even countries.
The discus...
Keith, the eco Goat
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The adventures of Keith have attracted a faithful following on X.
His biographer Sama Holle has chronicled the adventures of a range of eco-friendly animals on a farm, but I am only reporting on a day in the life of Keith as summarised on X.
I have added a short poem in honour of Keith and his eco
friendly farm friends.
Things you didn't know about St David's day
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As a long-time exile from Wales, I have to confess that my grasp of the language is pretty bad. So much so that I struggle even to follow the commentary in Welsh of rugby games on SC4.
At the present time, this might be regarded as a blessing in disguise.
However, I am aware of Saint David’s Day falling on March 1 if only because of fading schoolboy memories.
At risk of demonstrating this I’ll have a go, with help from a pronunciation guide, to demonstrate that...
Politics in England's Green and pleasant land ...
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Overnight, a sensational political event. A resurgent Green Party wins a by-election in a close contest against the right wing Reform party and against the Government, the traditional party of the Left in England...
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Reflections on the difficulties experienced in revising the acknowledgements section for the fourth edition of a textbook.
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Why Nigel Farage Recruits Tories
By Russ Jackson
Dr Russ Jackson is one of the deepest thinkers currently posting on social media. This is an abridged podcast version with some interventions by myself of a post on X this week.
It examines an interview by Nigel Farage with the BBC‘s Nick Robinson.
Dr Jackson points out that the leader of the Reform party has to deal with an awkward fact. He had declared the Conservative Party “dead” (and not to be truste...
Breaking News! Keir Starmer is still Prime Minister
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The political news in the United Kingdom this week has been dominated by sensational stories about the imminent humiliation and resignation of Keir Starmer.
Various explanations were offered often justified by evidence of his shocking incompetence and implications of his duplicity...
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This can be seen as a follow-up to my recent podcast on the developing political crisis facing Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The story a week ago was posed as an exercise in the dilemma confronting Keir Starmer as he considered the appointment of Mendelson as Ambassador to the United States
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1945222/episodes/18634941-keir-starmer-s-political-crisis-a-dilemma-of-leadership.mp3?download=true
A week later, the story has moved on considerably…
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I’ve prepared this podcast in the form that makes it suitable for studying as an example of a leadership dilemma.
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A nearly honest account of how I set about decluttering my life, starting with my sitting room sofa...
Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current affairs commentary by signing up to our newsletter! Email everydaycreativityuk@gmail.com to sign up!My System: A new way of teaching chess
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I hesitate to explain my approach to teaching Chess. It is a fact universally recognised among close friends that I am not the strongest Chess player on Buzzsprout. Indeed, I am not the strongest Chess player in my circle of friends.
Nevertheless, I have found myself introducing the game to pre teenage members of my tennis club.
I find it a quite rewarding experience. Maybe it has been possible for me to draw on many years working with post-graduate business students…
Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blo...The Free Ocean effect: Will it appear in next year's dictionaries?
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The free ocean effect was generated by prescriptive text as a title for my next podcast. Returning to the original note, I was puzzled at first.
Because nothing I was working on dealt with a free ocean effect.
But when I retraced the note I had made I realised that the prescriptive text had translated something quite out of context from its original intention.
Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current affairs commentary by signing up to our newsletter! Email everydaycreativityuk@gmail.c...Why you need 100 ideas in search of a good one
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I look at a widely-held belief that you may need a hundred ideas for every successful one that you find ...
Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current affairs commentary by signing up to our newsletter! Email everydaycreativityuk@gmail.com to sign up!Stop the singing
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These are the lyrics I wrote recently to be turned into music. The history is quite interesting, and maybe I’ll make a podcast about it origins, if it becomes a hit.
Stop the singing
Stop the people having fun
With music they are bringing.
Stop them basking in the sun
Stop all the singing
The Grinch has crept back into town
And with him fear he’s br...
