Radio
Seeing the light
‘You can’t lie… on radio,’ says Liza Tarbuck. The Radio 2 DJ was being interviewed for the network’s birthday portrait,…
Face time
The inimitably pukka voice of Jacob Rees-Mogg echoed through Radio 4 on Thursday morning. He was not, though, talking about…
The listening project
As Classic FM celebrated its quarter-century on Wednesday with not a recording but a live broadcast of a concert from…
‘Smile, segue and shut up’
Three weeks before Classic FM launched, I was on the radio in Hong Kong, introducing hits by Rick Astley and…
Universal appeal
Yet another sign that we are living in very strange times: a pair of celebrities, their names made by TV,…
India in a day
Bold programming by the powers-that-be at Radio 4 meant it was possible to listen to all seven episodes of Ayeesha…
Big Auntie
It’s sneaky, the way in which the BBC, so much regarded as part of the family as to be nicknamed…
Separation anxiety
As Europe remembers Passchendaele, India and Pakistan recall Partition, just 70 years ago, when Britain so hastily abandoned its Indian…
What stopped Stoppard?
Two programmes this week presented two radically different world views, or rather ways of life. Aditya Chakrabortty’s series for Radio…
The joy of the Proms
Summer nights, hot and humid, mean just one thing — it’s Proms season again. Sore feet, sweaty armpits, queuing outside…
Stitches in time
When Martha Ann Ricks was 76 she travelled from her home in Liberia to London to meet Queen Victoria. The…
Listen with mother
This week’s column is dedicated to my mother who loved her radio and encouraged us to be listeners. Without her,…
Making history
‘History is not the past,’ says the writer Hilary Mantel in the first of her Reith Lectures on Radio 4…
Diary stories
By chance on Saturday morning, I tuned into Radio 4 and heard Professor Clare Brant talking on Saturday Live about…
Comic relief
In such times as these, enough to try a man’s soul, a dose of John Finnemore is advisable. His brand…
Crime and punishment
‘Hell is better than what I personally witnessed,’ says Ben Ferencz, who was one of the American troops sent in…
Moment of truth
Two extremes of the listening experience were available on Monday on Radio 4. The day began conventionally enough with Start…
Teenage kicks
Imagine living in a country where the average age is under 16 (in the UK it’s currently 40 and increasing)…
Discovery channels
Bashing the BBC often becomes a popular blood sport in times of political instability, and especially if the left is…
A square dance in Heaven
It’s 500 years since Martin Luther pinned his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, sparking…
The real deal
How about this for an inspiring response to what could have been a personal tragedy. Chi-chi Nwanoku was in the…
Tales of the unexpected
It’s the oddest place to find a profound meditation on the death of Christ, but there it is on Radio…
The future of Today
I wonder what Sarah Sands will do to Radio 4’s Today programme? She is the first editor in more than…
Ed’s diner
In a world where politicians can turn into newspaper editors and former newspaper editors can seize the most coveted job…
Going underground
When Wireless Nights hit the Radio 4 airwaves in the spring of 2012, I was not at all sure about…
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