Jonathan ‘JD’ Darley
Jonathan, 32, is best known as the bass singer with Bristol-based folk group The Longest Johns, who charted with Wellerman and whose sea shanties were a Tiktok sensation.
What was your first TV memory?
Shows like the Power Rangers and Captain Scarlet. The Power Rangers theme tune was one of the best ever.
Who was your first TV crush?
Felicity Kendal on The Good Life. I’m the youngest of four and my parents were a fair bit older so I watched a lot of things growing up that you wouldn’t expect.
What was your first TV appearance?
Gareth Malone’s The Choir in 2016. We took part in the competition doing sea shanty stuff. We sang Haul Away Joe on a boat and Spanish Ladies in the main event.
What is your favourite current show?
I’m partial to sci-fi, and there are a lot of great shows on Amazon and Netflix. I really enjoyed The Expanse, set in the future when humanity has colonised the solar system.
Which TV show would you take to a desert island?
Futurama! My brain is always going but I’ve watched Futurama so many times I can enjoy what’s coming without getting distracted. That would see me through.
What TV show would you like to put out of its misery?
I have never liked reality shows, especially the ones full of talentless people whose only ambition is to be famous. I wrote a song about it with my brother called Anonymous.
Guiltiest TV pleasure?
Marvel and DC superhero stuff, even the cheesy “Arrowverse” shows like Arrow and The Flash. The Disney Plus ones are better.
What are you up to at the moment?
Our new album is out, 14 wonderful tracks, and we’ll be touring the UK from April 19 into May, followed by the festival season.
The Longest Johns’ album Smoke & Oakum is out now on Decca Records. For tour dates see thelongestjohns.com
of rock high into the atmosphere. Sulphur dioxide mixing with water vapour led to a haze of ash and dust around the globe.
Periods of unseasonably cold weather in the Northern hemisphere followed and 1816 was known as “the year without a summer”.
From China to the US, harvests failed and livestock died. Virginia had snowfall in June. In Europe, Ireland experienced eight weeks of solid rain and crops failed across the continent. Famine led to riots and looting in many European cities.
Vivid sunsets continued for two and a half years after the explosion.
Tambora may be less well known than notorious Krakatoa, which erupted 900 miles away in 1883, but it was 10 times more powerful. That said, another Indonesian volcano outdoes them both.
The “supervolcano” Lake Toba eruption, which took place 75,000 years ago, ejected 17 times the amount of debris as Tambora, and more than 60 times that of Krakatoa.
Last week I asked: Which US singer and film star, born April 3, 1922, had her screen debut in Romance On The High Seas? DORIS DAY.
Question: On this day in 2019, scientists working on the Event Horizon telescope said they had taken the first picture of what?