Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Dr Neil Washbourne
Senior Lecturer
Neil Washbourne teaches and researches in three areas having specialised in media and politics earlier in his career (thus the book Mediating Politics (2010)): media celebrity and film stardom; comedy studies; and BBC Radio. He is currently writing a chapter on the history and current existence of British stand-up comedy and conducting research into 120 hours of broadcast programming on BBC Radio 2 to assess it as public service broadcasting during the difficulties and anxieties of the covid pandemic and aiming to conduct further research into listeners to the station.
Current Teaching
- BBC Radio: cultural talk, public purposes
- Comedy, Media and Diversity
- Media Celebrity and Film Stardom
Research Interests
Neil is concerned with developing theories, modes of analysis and conducting research that does justice to the ‘texts’ of comic performance, celebrity existences, (cricket) fame and popular music broadcasting as public service within the contexts (past and present) within which such texts are embedded. He serves on the editorial board of Celebrity Studies and has supervised to completion four PhDs.
Neil is also interested in research and thinking beyond any narrow specialisation - for example - taking part in a philosophy reading group in the university and being interesting in the thinking of Friedrich Nietzsche (as a form of antagonistic humanism) and the existential therapy of Irving Yalom.
Ask Me About
- Media
- Popular culture
Other people in this area
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Dr Katherine Harrison
Course Director / School Of Humanities And Social Sciences -
Dr Dan Laughey
Senior Lecturer / School Of Humanities And Social Sciences -
Dr Rachel Rich
Reader / School Of Humanities And Social Sciences