Radio
From Ted to Troy
How many digital radios have you bought over the years? How many are still working? Of the four I used…
When did we become a nation of narks?
There’s a danger that in what follows your columnist may seem to be recommending an attitude. Please don’t think that.…
Filling in the blanks
‘So — take heart,’ said Alan Bennett, sending us out from his play, Cocktail Sticks, on a cheery note. The…
Serial killer
The fuss may now be over, the last episode of Serial revealed. But if the global success of WBEZ Chicago’s…
All together now
It was a bit of a surprise to hear Jarvis Cocker, the embodiment of cool and former frontman of Pulp,…
Sister act
She was the sequinned star of the airwaves back in the 1920s, the first preacher to realise the potential of…
Still life
You might think it a fool’s errand to attempt programmes about art on the wireless. How can you talk about…
Object lessons
What Radio 3 needs is a musical version of Neil MacGregor. The director of the British Museum and now a…
Voices of the world
‘Don’t take it for granted,’ she warned. ‘It’s one of the few places where you can hear diverse voices, different…
Radio Three-fall
The new controller of Radio 3 has at last been appointed. Alan Davey (not to be confused with the former…
Battle of the bookworms
‘Did you find it a good read?’ asked Harrriett Gilbert. An incredibly long drawn-out sigh from Mr Paxman. ‘I think…
In sickness and in health
Last week on Front Row (Radio 4) the singer Joyce DiDonato recalled the advice she gave the new graduates of…
Toenails and tadpoles
‘I don’t know what I think,’ says Lenny Henry, echoing what many of us who were listening were probably also…
Out of this world
I’m willing to bet it’s only on the BBC’s Radio 3 that you’ll find yourself listening to a programme quite…
Oh! Carol
‘Isn’t that charming!’ Carol declares at the height of the great Home Farm cocktail party, after being subjected to Jennifer’s…
Remaking history
What does freedom mean to you? That’s the question the BBC World Service has been asking of us through its…
Dramatic week
A double dose of BBC1 drama at the weekend (Silent Witness, Casualty) left me wondering whether there’s a link between…
Is a new art form being born on Woman’s Hour?
In a comic-strip cartoon, beads of water apparently radiating outward from the head of one of the characters indicate embarrassment.…
Strong-minded women
You might think the main storyline in The Archers is all about Helen’s affair with dastardly Rob. (What does she…
Uncomfortable truths
‘It put a lot upon us,’ said Christopher Jefferies’s aunt. ‘The ripples went on and did not stop for a…
Mint condition
New year new ideas as we woke up on Monday morning to find ourselves in Lagos with Evan Davies trying…
Diary
I’ve worked for the BBC for years and have been listening to the Today programme all my adult life, but…
Squirming at Screwtape
A surfeit of anniversaries this week reminded us that on the day of President Kennedy’s assassination, C.S. Lewis (born 1898)…
Machines and us
This year’s Free Thinking festival at the Sage in Gateshead has been asking the question, Who’s in Control?. Oddly, or…
Diary
If you haven’t scuffled you haven’t lived, and our local scuffle is the best of the best. A scuffle is…
