John Osborne (born 15 December 1981) writes books, scripts and stories for Radio 4. He co-created the Sky 1 comedy dramaAfter Hours. He is based in Norwich, United Kingdom and studied at the University of East Anglia.
He created the sell out Edinburgh show John Peel's Shed and has written and performed six thirty minute storytelling shows for Radio 4.
He is the author of three non-fiction books. His first, Radio Head: Up and Down the Dial of British Radio, was published by Simon & Schuster in May 2009 and was selected as Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4.[1] It includes interviews with key people from the history of British radio, including Nicholas Parsons, Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie. The book was reviewed in The Daily Telegraph,[2] and Scotland on Sunday.[3] His second book, The Newsagent's Window: Adventures in a World of Second-Hand Cars and Lost Cats, was published in April 2010 and was awarded best memoir at the East Anglian Book of the Year awards.[4]
His third book, Don't Need the Sunshine, was published by AA Publishing in May 2013 and was adapted for broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
The show is about two twenty somethings who have their own radio show on a canal boat in Lincolnshire. It stars Jaime Winstone, Ardal O'Hanlon, Georgina Campbell and John Thomson. After Hours is produced and directed by Craig Cash. The show's first series was first broadcast in autumn 2015.
After Hours is available to view on NOW TV in the UK.
Radio 4
Osborne makes radio shows, and is the writer of six Radio 4 half-hour comedy shows including John Peel's Shed (2011), The Newsagent's Window, Valentine's Day (both 2013) and The New Blur Album (2014). John Peel's Shed was an adaptation of Osborne's sell-out Edinburgh show. The Newsagent's Window was "Pick of the Week" in the Radio Times as chosen by journalist Eddie Mair.
Valentine's Day stars Suki Webster, Ann Beach and Isy Suttie, and is the story of a chef, Sean, who recounts his life by looking through his old Valentine's Day cards. The New Blur Album was Radio 4's "Comedy of the Week" and was a life story as told through the release of each new Blur album. In 2015, the shows The Kindness of Strangers and Don't Need the Sunshine were broadcast.
In 2016, he contributed to the Radio 4 shows Short Cuts and Four Thought, and together with actress Laura Woodward he made The 1998 David Bowie fanclub picnic, broadcast on Future Radio in 2017. He has made two audio documentaries for the Wellcome Trust: Homesickness in the Modern Age and The worst sound in the world.
Poetry
Osborne regularly appears at venues across the country performing poetry. Since 2006 he has performed at the Glastonbury and Latitude festivals,[5] as well as venues such as The Roundhouse, Norwich Arts Centre[6] and Underbelly. He is a member of the poetry collective Aisle16, who run Homework, a monthly night of literary cabaret at Bethnal Green Working Men's Club. Homework has featured performances by Kate Nash, Tim Key and Jon Ronson.[7] Aisle16 have been described by The Sunday Times as "highlights of the spoken word scene".[8]
His first collection of poetry Most People Aren't That Happy, Anyway was published by Nasty Little Press in 2013 and a poem from the collection was highly commended in that year's prestigious Forward Prize. His second collection No-one Cares About Your New Thing was published in 2017 by Go Faster Stripe. His 2021 collection A Supermarket Love Story, also published by Go Faster Stripe, included The Alcohol Aisle which was longlisted for the 2020 National Poetry Competition. In 2024 he published To Make People Happy, his first pamphlet with Edinburgh based Mariscat Press.
He has been involved in shows at the Edinburgh Fringe festival including The Mid 90s la la la (2008), The 100 Greatest Beekeepers in Switzerland, ever! (2010), John Peel's Shed (2011), Aisle16 r Kool (2011), On The Beach (2013), Most People Aren't That Happy, Anyway (2015), Circled in The Radio Times (2017) and You're in a Bad Way (2019) and 'My Car Plays Tapes' (2021).
John Peel's Shed
In 2002, Osborne won a box of records in a competition on John Peel's Radio One show. In 2010 he presented a show on the Norwich community station Future Radio where he played some of his favourite tracks from the collection. This was then turned into John Peel's Shed - a stage show for the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe festival, where it enjoyed a complete sell out and five star reviews. In 2012, the show completed a sixty date UK tour, including a run at the Soho Theatre and performances at festivals including Latitude, Glastonbury and Green Man.
Theatre
After the success of John Peel's Shed, Osborne continued writing for the theatre. On The Beach debuted at the Pleasance Dome at the 2013 Edinburgh Festival and Circled in The Radio Times for the 2017 Fringe. In 2017, he toured Circled in The Radio Times, which premiered at the Latitude festival. In 2019, You're in a Bad Way, a storytelling show about music, dementia and getting older was performed at the Voodoo Rooms at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
In 2021, My Car Plays Tapes, his fifth theatre show, debuted at the Edinburgh festival, performed at a specially made Covid friendly stage at Summerhall.
In 2023, following the announcement that Blur were reforming for some special performances, Osborne brought back his theatre show The New Blur Album. [10]
In 2024 his show Norwich: A Love Story premiered at Norwich Playhouse with a sell-out show featuring local artwork and singers and a celebration of Norwich jazz singer Beryl Bryden. The pre-show and post-show playlist was comprised entirely of Norwich related singers and musicians. The show was later performed at Machynlleth Comedy Festival and First Light festival in Lowestoft.
Osborne has worked in schools and universities in England, Germany and Austria and currently works at a primary school in Swaffham.[citation needed]
Since 2013 he has been a patron of the Dignity in Dying campaign. As well as writing he worked as a support worker for Mencap for four years.
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