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Music Therapy column: An extraordinary time to reflect after Queen's death

Michael Taylor, who presents Music Therapy on Tameside Radio on Sunday evenings with Neil Summers, gives his own reflections following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

I was preparing a column for you all this week celebrating two years of me and Neil providing you all with a touch of Music Therapy every Sunday night. 

Unbroken, over 100 shows, until last week when the station took the sensible decision to take a respectful and calming approach to the schedule of programmes.

Although I’d like to think that our own approach to soothing tunes could play its part in the collective healing, it’s fair enough that the station is consistent in the content it shares over the airwaves.

It’s been an extraordinary time to reflect on the seismic change that our nation is now experiencing. The vast majority of us have only ever known the comforting and constant presence of the Queen as our sovereign and head of state.

After the absolute shambles of the Boris Johnson administration and the deep shame that he has brought upon public life, we could do with some unifying and togetherness. Some sense that we have a positive collective memory for many things we hold as true and decent about our country.

Sure, there is also genuine sadness out there, and people have been sharing their own experiences of the time they met Queen Elizabeth when she visited their town. 

My mum swears blind the Queen smiled directly at me on her visit to Lancaster in 1969. I’m not so sure, she certainly didn’t seem to have a flicker of recognition when I nodded at her at Manchester Central at a civic reception in 2012. 

But we can also be steered in our thoughts by depictions of the Royal Family and the Queen in popular culture. 

I enjoyed the stories told by the writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce. He wrote the script for the Olympic opening ceremony in London in 2012. He’d got Daniel Craig on board to do a James Bond sketch taking him on a mission from Buckingham Palace to the stadium, dropping in by parachute. The expectation was that they would film at the Palace, but the Queen had other ideas, suggesting that she have a line in the sketch too.

It was named in a public poll as the most iconic TV moment in our history, beating the moon landings to the top spot.

Frank was also involved in the scene where she has tea with Paddington Bear in the film. Incredibly people think that the film-makers created a deep fake animatronic Queen, but not a Peruvian bear. Frank assured us this week her role is entirely genuine. 

I also enjoyed the Netflix series The Crown, which I know took massive liberties with historical accuracy and used a lot of licence for dramatic effect. However, it did get across the idea that the monarchy is a service. Her gilded and privileged life comes with the trade-off of service.

I think that’s why we are so disgusted by her son Andrew and how he conducted himself and the circles he mixed in. That lack of humility and sense of entitlement seems to run counter to everything she stood for, and everything people loved her for. 

The greatest quote I heard attributed to her was her words 21 years ago after the terrorist attacks that killed thousands in America. Grief is the price we pay for love. And how the people of this country are expressing that love right now.  

You can listen to Michael Taylor and Neil Summers on Music Therapy on Tameside Radio 103.6FM on Sunday evenings from 9pm to 11pm. Click here to subscribe and catch up on previous shows.

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