References in Popular Culture
In 1990, Livingstone was the first Member of Parliament to appear on the topical panel show Have I Got News For You. For a long time, his first six appearances would stand as the show's record; his current tally of ten – the most recent being in October 2012 – now equals the record for guest appearances as a panellist held by Andy Hamilton. Livingstone also appeared on Lee Mack's team on the panel show Would I Lie To You?.
In 1993, he appeared on the sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey playing himself in a live debate with Teddy Taylor. The same year he was also interviewed for Thirty Years in the TARDIS, a documentary celebration of the 30th anniversary of the television science-fiction series Doctor Who.
In 1995, Livingstone appeared on the track "Ernold Same" by the band Blur, taken from the album The Great Escape. Livingstone provided spoken word vocals and was listed as 'The Right On Ken Livingstone.' He appeared at the 2000 Meltdown festival curated by Scott Walker providing vocals during Blur's performance of "Ernold Same".
Livingstone appeared in one of a series of advertisements extolling the virtues of cheese in the 1980s, appropriately endorsing red Leicester. On the other side of politics, Edward Heath advertised Danish Blue. Their respective choices were a result of their parties' official colours – red for the Labour Party, and blue for the Conservative Party.
Ken Livingstone is also the subject of a Kate Bush song called "Ken", b-side to single "Love and Anger" which was written for the episode of The Comic Strip entitled "GLC: The Carnage Continues...".
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Famous quotes containing the words popular culture, popular and/or culture:
“Popular culture entered my life as Shirley Temple, who was exactly my age and wrote a letter in the newspapers telling how her mother fixed spinach for her, with lots of butter.... I was impressed by Shirley Temple as a little girl my age who had power: she could write a piece for the newspapers and have it printed in her own handwriting.”
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“Kings govern by popular assemblies only when they cannot do without them.”
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“The problem of culture is seldom grasped correctly. The goal of a culture is not the greatest possible happiness of a people, nor is it the unhindered development of all their talents; instead, culture shows itself in the correct proportion of these developments. Its aim points beyond earthly happiness: the production of great works is the aim of culture.”
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