latest news

December 2009
Merry Christmas...

bbc2
Jon has been co-writing (and appears in) 2009 Unwrapped, a made up review of the year hosted by Miranda Hart. It's on BBC2 on 30th December at 10pm.

Also for BBC2, Jon has also written bits of the Top Gear Christmas Special which is on Sunday 27th December.


Jon's BBC 6 Music show gets promoted to a new time AND gets a podcast. Now from 5-7pm each Saturday, so it's a drivetime show on a day when no-one's driving home from work on a digital radio station that you can't get in your car. That's right, "promoted."

But you can now 'pod' a brand 'cast' of the show every week. Available on iTunes and here. There's added extras, and some of them are even slightly entertaining.

Jon is also presenting the 6Music Breakfast Show on Monday 7th December 7-10pm


In TV world Jon is co-writing and will appear in a largely made up review of the year on BBC 2. It's called 2009 Unwrapped and goes on December 30th at 10pm.


The Now Show is back on Radio 4 Fridays, 6.30pm and Saturdays 12.30 lunchtime.

November 2009

In award news, Jon has been nominated for a Bafta as part of the Writing Team of BBC1's Horrible Histories and also nominated for a Writer's Guild Award for The Now Show.

Jon writes for the Sunday Times, and they recently sent him to spend a night in the Most Haunted Hotel Room in Britain in a remote Scottish castle. Here's his account, plus his video diary is just there >>>>>



Jon Culshaw's new BBC 1 sketch show (co-written by Jon) which for some unfathomable reason the BBC have chosen to call The Impressions Show With Culshaw and (Debra) Stephenson starts at 9.45pm on Saturday 31st October. There are some clips here or here.




Jon has new books out, just published. The Now Show Book of World Records is out now buy here from Amazon along with The History of The World Through Twitter Buy here. Plus he's contributed to The Atheist's Guide To Christmas and Modern Delight.

You can also buy an audiobook of The Now Show Book read by Jon, Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis.


Jon's Saturday afternoon show continues as 6Music delivers record listening figures that are almost certainly nothing to do with Saturday afternoons. After a recent mention in dispatches in Private Eye for enhanced Jan Moir bashing, listen out for new feature Encyclopedia Rocktanica (this week Skin from out of off of Skunk Anansie gets passionate about North American geology) along with Punchlines To Jokes We Can't Say On The Radio, all conquering quiz KenBruce Master and join in the all new 360 degree multicast simultweet feature platforminality
#twittersweetsymphony. 2-4pm Saturdays. Listen here on the BBC iPlayer.


While you're at it, why not follow Jon on twitter? There's a widget over to the right.

This year Jon has written two books and contributed to two others. All are out now October. Details just there ->>>




Also for BBC 1 (CBBC) Jon has just started writing Series 3 of Horrible Histories for CBBC

There are some new photos by Steve Brown on the press page.

September 2009



Jon Culshaw's new BBC 1 show which Jon has co-written, has just about wrapped filming. No news on transmission dates as yet.

Horrible Histories (which Jon has also co-written for BBC1/CBBC) now has a new website.


Listen Against Series 1 and 2 are being repeated back to back on on Radio 4 on Fridays 11.30pm. BBC website is here. It's "the mischevious offspring of Radio 4's Feedback & The Day Today" according to The Guardian.
Series 3 has just been commissioned.

The Now Show is back in November.

August 2009

Jon takes his Rock Star Babylon show to the Edinburgh Festival
Aug 16-30 Gilded Balloon 7pm



Jon will be on BBC Breakfast News on Fri 14th August and was on Steve Wright's guest on Radio 2 Wed 5th.

For the duration of the Edinburgh Festival Jon iis tweeting for The Guardian #edfest.

He presented the BBC 6Music breakfast show for a week (listen again here) and is Claudia Winkelman's guest on The Weekender this Friday and Richard Bacon's guest on 5Live on Thursday.



Listen Against Series 1 is being repeated on Radio 4 on Fridays 11.30pm

The Now Show is back on Radio 4 Fridays 6.30pm and Saturday 13.30pm.

The Now Show Book of World Records is now avilable for pre-order on Amazon.

Plus- another book this year! Jon has co-written The Complete History of the World Through Twitter "hundreds of characters from history tweeting about events in 140 charcters or less" with Mitch Benn.

Jon is warming up his live show ROCK STAR BABYLON for the 2009 Edinburgh Festival. Details to the right.

In other book news Jon is working on a project with Mitch Benn which should be published in time for Christmas. Details soon.

The proper version of Jon's latest Sunday Times column can be found here. The version they printed bears little resemblance to it. Sub editors. Gah.


Jon Holmes on 6 Music
Saturdays 2-4pm listen here




Jon is currently co-writing a new comedy for BBC 1 for Jon Culshaw. Filming begins any day now.

June 2009


The Now Show won a Sony award for Best Comedy at this year's Sony Radio Academy Awards.

Jon is writing and warming up his live one-man show Rock Star Babylon (based on his book) for the 2009 Edinburgh Festival. See right. Plus warm up dates here

October 2009 sees the publication of THE NOW SHOW BOOK OF WORD RECORDS which Jon is co-writing at the moment with Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis. Some info available here.

On TV Jon is writing the as yet untitled new Jon Culshaw show for BBC1. An eight part run begins in September with filming beginning in July.

Also on TV, Horrible Histories which jon helped adapt from the bestselling books is on BBC1 at 4.35 each thursday. Jon's just started work on series 2.

Jon continues to write his Sunday Times column. Latest here.


On the radio Jon's BBC 6 Music show continues on saturday afernoons 2-4pm. Listen here on the BBC iPlayer. Join in multicast simultweet feature Twittersweet Symphony. Details here. Follow Jon on Twitter over to the right.


April 2009
Jon's latest Sunday Times column is here. The line about the button that operates the National Lottery machine on TV being hooked up to to a trapdoor through which Scott Mills is hung has mysteriously been omitted by the editor. Oh.

This year Jon will be doing his Rock Star Babylon show at the Edinburgh Festival. There's some warm up theatre live dates coming up around the country where he'll be reading from his book and saying things in the gaps. Featuring Stephen Fry as 'the voice of the book'. Dates so far are here.

Jon is also on the bill at Comedy Gold in London on Wednesday April 15th doing a short 20 minute set. Tickets etc here.

And in nominated-for-aSony -Radio-Award-news, The Now Show has been nominated for a Sony Radio Award.

A new TV series Horrible Histories starts on BBC 1 on Wednesday 15th April, co-adapted and co-written by Jon from the marvellous best selling children's books.

Jon is co-writing a new BBC1 show for Jon Culshaw. Filimg takes place across the summer and it should be on TV in the autumn. We think. We also don't really have a title yet.


A Jon-devised brand new Radio 2 show I'm Spartacus is broadcast on April 9th at 10.30pm on Radio 2. It's a film panel game that's none too sensible. You can listen again here. Although only for a week. It stars Adam Buxton, Jon, Will Smith, Andrew Collins and Emma Kennedy.


Jon's BBC 6Music show continues to entertain its loyal audience of upwards of nine people on Saturday afternoons 2-4pm. Details here. And you can listen again here on the BBC iPlayer. Join in multicast simultweet feature Twittersweet Symphony. Details here. Follow Jon on Twitter over to the right.


The Now Show is back on Radio 4 for an 8 week run. There are even more jokes about Jon being short. Jon isn't really short. He's 9 feet high. You can listen here or download the podcast here


Jon's own Radio 4 show Listen Against has just come to the end of its second series. Various webmongs have made it available to listen to online. A google search should sort you out. BBC website is here. It's "the mischevious offspring of Radio 4's Feedback & The Day Today" according to The Guardian.


















 

 

 

Hello and thank you for chancing upon this website. How kind. I bid you welcome to the new website of Jonathan Richard Holmes, writer, comedian, broadcaster, occasional producer and all-round polymorphic media alloy.

If you were googling for the 1970s moustache-based pornographic gentleman John Holmes then you have made a terrible, terrible mistake. What you were looking for, dear internet traveller, is here.

Jon is on twitter which makes him emminently followable.

Stalkers welcome. No knives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

a festive present from Jon's Radio 4 show LISTEN AGAINST

click here

showreel

haunted hotel video diary

Jon spent a night in "Britain's Most Haunted Hotel Room " for the Sunday Times. Here's how he got on...

 

available now

Jon's new books available now

THE NOW SHOW BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS by STEVE PUNT, HUGH DENNIS & JON HOLMES The Now Show team complie a compendium of the biggest, smallest, most irritating, most stupid, most gut-wrenching or most plain silly things, people and activities on the planet. With photos. One of them has Jon with a dog's head.

THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD THROUGH TWITTER by JON HOLMES & MITCH BENN Imagine if everyone in history had been on twitter, tweeting from their greatest achievements. A hilarious collection of tweets as tweeted by hundreds of characters through history in 140 characters or less.

THE ATHEIST'S GUIDE TO CHRISTMAS by VARIOUS Jon contributes an essay to the book edited by Ariane Sherine, creator of the Atheist Bus. Other contributors include Richard Dawkins, Robin Ince, Charlie Brooker, David Baddiel, Ben Goldacre. All proceeds to Terence Higgins Trust.

MODERN DELIGHT by VARIOUS Jon contributes an essay to an update of JB Priestley's Delight. A collection of funny, inspiring, intimate essays from a collection of some best-loved authors, entertainers and national treasures on what brings them delight. Contributors include Stephen Fry, Michael Palin, Jeremy Paxman, Lynne Truss, Sebastian Faulks, Beryl Bainbridge and, er, Jon. All proceeds to Dyslexia Action.

**BUY BOOK ***BUY AUDIO BOOK***BUY BOOK**

 

 

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edinburgh festival 2009

GILDED BALLOON * AUGUST 17-30 * 7pm * 0131 622 6552

WARM UP & EXTRA DATES 2009

April 30th Barnsley Civic Theatre sold out

June 12th Bath Rondo Theatre tickets

July 3rd Chipping Norton Theatre tickets

July 10th Manchester Wordfest Festival tickets

August 7th Big Chill Festival tickets

Aug 17-30 Edinburgh Festival, Gilded Balloon tickets

 

 

 

available now

Rock Star Babylon a collection of rumours, lies and filth from rock's rocky road and "the most legalled book in Penguin's history" is now available in paperback from bookshops and Amazon and the like. Status Quo and the Kangaroo in hardback proving a little more elusive I'm told. The American version (right) is, like duur, available if you live in America. It's also out in Australia, Russia and this year, India. Quite what they'll make of the story of Marc Almond and the stomach pump is anyone's guess.

With the 'putting up' of this new site on the internet there may well be a blog of some sort at some point. It will doubtless be an occasional thing to be updated as and when there's time. I apologise in advance for the sporadic nature of posts but I'll either forget or remember at bedtime in which case I'll think 'I'll leave it til morning' and then in the morning forget again until bedtime and so on forever in a sort of lazy, internet version of a mobius strip. It'll be here at thecookthethiefhiswifeandherblogger.blogspot.com