This week, Tom presents the Series 1 Sum-up! This includes listeners' Northern musical selections, some more interview extracts (Matthew Kelly, John Howard, Laura Minor & Mariam Rezaei), other musical picks and a quiz! The winner of the latter lifts the inaugural Flat Cap Trophy, while Tom also unveils Hit the North's Truth Teller of the Year. This episode is an odd kaleidoscopic, featuring much interactivity and as many as 41 musical selections, including a specially recorded song aiming to sum up the major feelings from Series 1's conversations...!

There are one or two cases of 'strong' language in this episode.

Extracts of these* pieces of music are included under fair dealing/fair use for commentary and review and to illustrate guest choices. This podcast is non-commercial.

*Roddy Frame - 'Small World', John Howard - 'My Girl by The Temptations', Lesley Garrett, Brian Blessed et al - 'Ilkla Moor Baht At (Ilkley Moor)', T2 - 'Butterflies', The Times - 'Manchester', Nick Drake - 'Northern Sky', Renaissance - 'Northern Lights', Terry Durham - 'Crystal Telephone', The Beatles - 'Only A Northern Song', Darkthrone - 'A Blaze in the Northern Sky', Dire Straits - 'Tunnel of Love', Bob Dylan - 'Girl from the North Country', The Instant Automatons - 'Restless Night', Chris Rea - 'Steel River', Richard Barnes - 'Go North', The Enemy - 'We'll Live and Die In These Towns', Leatherface - 'Dead Industrial Atmosphere', Salute ft. Rina Sawayama - 'Saving Flowers', Antony Szmierek - 'The Great Pyramid of Stockport', Benefits ft. Zero Tonin - 'Land of the Tyrants', Gizmo 'One of Them Nights', Tenn - 'All Me', The Christians, Holly Johnson, Paul McCartney, Gerry Marsden and Stock Aitken Waterman - 'Ferry 'Cross the Mersey', Tom Jones - 'Come Home Rhondda Boy', Roy Jay - 'Vehicle' [hey, deep cut! - ed.], Peter Dickinson - 'Surrealist Landscape (Lord Berners)', The Unthanks - 'The Old News', Bill Oddie - 'On Ilkla Moor Baht 'At', Coldcut ft. Lisa Stansfield - 'People Hold On', L. Devine - 'Hater', The Wake - 'Pale Spectre', unknown re-recording of John McCabe - 'Sam', Richard Dawson - 'Polytunnel', John Howard - 'Early Closing Days', John Howard - 'Casting Shadows', Georgia May - 'Mood Daze', JADE - 'Midnight Cowboy', The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters - 'Truth Vs. Superficiality, Truth Without Compromise', MC Tomster - 'Get in the Northern Sea', Colin Crompton - 'Best of Order - Thank You Please' & Chris Rea - 'Josephine (Dimitri's Joe's and Finn edit)'.

This week, Tom talks to Tyneside turntablist Mariam Rezaei, a vital musician whose work is experimental, expansive and deeply ambitious, utterly refuting any ideas of fixed, discrete 'genre'. We talked about her life and work, class, politics, identity, gatekeeping within the music industry, AI and, of course, Northernness!

Extracts of these* pieces of music are included under fair dealing/fair use for commentary and review and to illustrate guest choices. All Mariam Rezaei tracks are used with the permission of the artist. This podcast is non-commercial.

*Mariam Rezaei ft. Elvin Brandhi - 'Weirdo club musics', Mariam Rezaei - 'Wolf's Tail', Mariam Rezaei - 'Vengabussed', Mariam Rezaei - 'Commercially Viable Bullshit', The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters - 'Right is a thing within', Rhodri Davies - 'Here the Sun Does Not Enter', Gwilly Edmondez - 'INTROSPEX' and The Fall - 'The NWRA'.

This week, Tom talks to the neurodivergent poet Peter Street, who has lived an utterly remarkable life - from gravedigger in Bolton to war poet in Bosnia to arborist and tree surgeon. This is a serious and humorous chat, exploring camarederie with gravediggers, the environmental crisis and there are several readings from Peter's wonderful poetry collection, EARTH TALK. It is also revealed that a 1970s Granada drama epic was shot on Street's... street!

#Extracts of these* pieces of music are included under fair dealing/fair use for commentary and review and to illustrate guest choices. This podcast is non-commercial.

*The Scaffold - 'Lily the Pink', Gerry and the Pacemakers - 'Ferry Cross the Mersey', The Corona Kids - 'The Big Ship Sails on the Ally Ally Oh' and Brian and Michael - 'Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs'.