Radio

Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? The BBC, it seems

28 June 2025 9:00 am

‘What a lark!’ I thought to myself as I rose on a hot June morning to listen to a documentary…

The best radio at the moment is on the BBC World Service

31 May 2025 9:00 am

Online viewings of Conclave increased threefold following the death of Pope Francis last month. At least some of the traffic…

A fabulously entertaining new podcast about ancient Greece

3 May 2025 9:00 am

How did a myth about the consequences of poor judgment become a parable for aspiration? The question is posed by…

My Marco Pierre White obsession

26 April 2025 9:00 am

Pierre White, Marco. Chef. Michelin stars: five (all handed back). Wives: three (all handed back). Restaurants owned: number unclear. Hours…

Impeccable history of the free market – and from the BBC too

12 April 2025 9:00 am

The launch of Radio 4’s Invisible Hands series has been both blessed and cursed by timing. It tells the story…

Perfection: The Rest is Classified reviewed

5 April 2025 9:00 am

Interviewing for MI6 sounds to have been even scarier a century ago than it must be today. Candidates would enter…

I just don’t get P.G. Wodehouse

22 March 2025 9:00 am

I have a confession to make, which may upset many readers. Having only a passing acquaintance with his books, I’ve…

Soothing and glorious: Fashion Neurosis reviewed

22 February 2025 9:00 am

Sometimes the mind needs to take a break. And I can’t think of a better stopping-off place than the soothing,…

Booze now has its own Rest is History-style podcast

8 February 2025 9:00 am

Intoxicating History is the perfect title for drinks expert Henry Jeffreys and food critic Tom Parker Bowles’s new podcast. Its…

It’s moving to think how happy Van Gogh was in Brixton

25 January 2025 9:00 am

When a phrase really takes off in the political sphere, you will recognise it by the frequency with which it…

A feel-good classic: The Armie HammerTime Podcast reviewed

18 January 2025 9:00 am

Relive with me and enjoy again the downfall of Armand Douglas Hammer. If you remember, Hammer’s Hollywood career had been…

Why I’m obsessed with Farming Today

11 January 2025 9:00 am

Farming Today airs at an undignified hour each morning on Radio 4. On the few occasions I’ve caught it live…

Why space is the perfect subject for podcasts

7 December 2024 9:00 am

The podcasts I’m recommending to everyone at the moment are Nasa’s Curious Universe and the Royal Astronomical Society’s The Supermassive…

Radio 3 Unwind is music for the morgue

30 November 2024 9:00 am

Soon after the launch of Classic FM in 1992, the then controller of Radio 3, Nicholas Kenyon, asserted that his…

Avoids the breathless hype of so many podcasts: Finding Mr Fox reviewed

23 November 2024 9:00 am

We are all surely familiar with those stories of naive young Brits who travel abroad and are persuaded by a…

I listened to a solid week of Woman’s Hour…

16 November 2024 9:00 am

I was a weird kid, and though I harboured the usual innocent girlish ambitions of being a drug fiend and…

Radio 4’s Lord Lucan series is rescued by a brilliant narrator

9 November 2024 9:00 am

It was 50 years ago this week, on 7 November 1974, that Lord Lucan fled what was destined to become…

Mandy Rice-Davies saw the Profumo affair as an adventure, not a scandal

26 October 2024 9:00 am

In the decades since the Profumo scandal gripped a nation, Mandy Rice-Davies has been fixed in the public imagination largely…

This UFO testimony had me hooked

12 October 2024 9:00 am

In October 1964, a young man was driving to a dance in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, when his radio began to pick…

The fascinating mechanics of striking a deal

28 September 2024 9:00 am

If you wish to know how to become a master negotiator, a formidable body of books will now offer to…

How Berlin nearly broke Bowie

14 September 2024 9:00 am

This week’s Archive on 4 is a treat for David Bowie fans. Francis Whately, the producer behind several of the…

Glamour or guilt? The perils of marketing the British country house

31 August 2024 9:00 am

The most angst-ridden sub-category of the very rich – admittedly a lucky bunch to start with – must surely contain…

A familiar OE-led balls-up: Rory Stewart’s The Long History of Ignorance reviewed

24 August 2024 9:00 am

In my next life I intend to have my brain removed in order to become a telly executive. You know:…

A fiery examination of the damage wrought by internet culture

17 August 2024 9:00 am

Historically, when a woman was giving birth, she was attended by the women she trusted most, including her child’s prospective…

We’ve been doing a monstrous disservice to goldfish

3 August 2024 9:00 am

As everyone knows, Londoners don’t talk to strangers. And heaven forbid that anyone should make eye contact on the Tube.…