Klaus Florian Vogt: What’s tougher – opera or soccer?
A superhero does a spot of ironing
I wondered, during the show, whether viewers might have noticed that I was having a wee bit of trouble peeping down at my notes. Which can lead to continuity problems. The reason was that my guest demanded maximum eye contact. And what eyes! What a guy, in fact. Big, blonde, blue-eyed. Everything you need, together with the right voice of course, to be a Wagnerian heroic tenor – what they call a Heldentenor. Which is precisely what he is. He’s Klaus Florian Vogt. His beautiful, lyrical voice has been described as ‘god’s trumpet.’ And he’s my latest guest on Talking Germany.
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Klaus Florian Vogt’s Movie Pick
Is the confidence trickster classic The Sting in which Robert Redford and Paul Newman renewed their classic partnership from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Klaus Florian Vogt says he’s seen the movie at least ten times and especially likes the scene whereRedford plays dead before getting up and stripping off his false moustache.
Gerd Dembowski’s Movie Pick
Nói albinói, he says. Sorry, Gerd – could you write that down? And he does. The English title: Noi the Albino. It’s a 2003 coming-of-age story, made in Iceland by a guy called Dagur Kári. Definitely looks as though it’s worth following up on.
Gerd Dembowski on football’s front line
The dark side of the beautiful game
He’s a true fan of the beautiful game. First thing he tells me is about when he was living onScotland’s remote Isle of Arran – the home of the “worst team in British football”! How he was there when the local club – Northend Thistle – broke a sixteen-year losing streak (!) by actually drawing a match. “A convoy of vehicles set out on the road around the island. They went round three times, blowing their horns and waving banners. It was madness!” But he’s not just a fan: he’s a fan researcher and much in demand these days with tensions running high here inGermanybetween the football authorities and the people who pay their hard-earned cash to watch the game. He’s the analyst, writer, lecturer, Gerd Dembowski – my latest guest on Talking Germany.
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Ali Aslan’s Movie Pick
Ali Aslan’s favourite movie of all time? No hesitation: Rocky. But there’s a hasty proviso: “Only the first one in the Rocky series. The rest are rubbish!” I’ll go with that.
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