Radio

What’s the point of BBC Music?

29 August 2015 9:00 am

To Radio 2 to meet Bob Shennan, controller of the BBC’s most popular radio station (the station attracts one third…

As the Hindenburg burned, you could hear radio news being born

15 August 2015 9:00 am

It’s really hard to imagine now a world before 24-hour news, continually and constantly accessible in a never-ending stream of…

If the government have their way, will Radio 4’s dramas be broken up by ads for dentures?

1 August 2015 9:00 am

‘Bait by Cartier,’ she growls as her priceless diamond bracelet is strapped to a piece of rope and dropped overboard…

Why it would be absurd to sell off Radio 2 - even if it could do with a refresh

25 July 2015 9:00 am

The idea that Radio 2 should be sold off by the BBC to a commercial rival is as nonsensical as…

Listen: the gaffe from Nicola Sturgeon that everyone missed

11 July 2015 9:00 am

It’s not surprising that politicians have such an on-off relationship with the broadcast media. One slip. One casual comment. One…

Roger Mosey and the questions you don’t ask at the BBC

27 June 2015 9:00 am

There was a remarkable scene in one BBC Today programme morning meeting in about 1995, as all the producers gathered…

Why sound beats image when it comes to memory

27 June 2015 9:00 am

It’s often not visual images that stimulate memory but a smell, a taste, the sound of pebbles crashing on to…

Just writing about this radio programme makes me feel nauseous

6 June 2015 9:00 am

If you’re in the least bit squeamish you’d better stop reading now. What follows is not for those who blanch…

The history of India in 50 personalities

23 May 2015 9:00 am

The idea of using objects — salt, cod, nutmeg, silk — to turn history lessons into something popular and accessible…

What happened to the children who survived the Holocaust?

16 May 2015 9:00 am

‘I call Zelma Cacik who may be living in London,’ says the announcer, in the clipped RP accent of the…

Titanic: Orson Welles as Falstaff in ‘Chimes at Midnight’ (1966)

Don’t believe Orson Welles, says his biographer Simon Callow — especially when he calls himself a failure

9 May 2015 9:00 am

Orson Welles would have been 100 this month. When he died in 1985, aged 70, the wonder was that he…

This radio programme almost made me like Piers Morgan

9 May 2015 9:00 am

An extraordinary black-and-white photograph of a young black boy taken on the Isle of Wight by Julia Margaret Cameron in…

Britain has the lowest percentage of women engineers in Europe. Why?

2 May 2015 9:00 am

‘It’s hard to know how to tell this story,’ she said as she began. ‘Because it’s so loaded. It’s so…

‘Ratings aren’t a pressure for me,’ says the new controller of Radio Three

25 April 2015 9:00 am

The new controller of Radio Three, Alan Davey, was on Feedback this week (Radio Four) talking to listeners about his…

Why Bette Davis loathed theatre

18 April 2015 9:00 am

It was called Frankly Speaking and by golly it was. The great screen actress Bette Davis was being interviewed by…

Did Radio 4 have to deal with the Germanwings disaster as it did?

4 April 2015 8:00 am

‘You can hear pretty clearly the sound of one of the helicopters and you can see it in the darkness,’…

Does the future of radio really lie in podcasts?

28 March 2015 9:00 am

To a debate on the future of radio at the BBC where it turns out not to be a discussion…

Radio is the best way to mug up on the classics

21 March 2015 9:00 am

If ever I found myself at a pretentious literary party obliged to play David Lodge’s ‘Humiliation’ game and to confess…

What it’s really like to live in India today - stressful

14 March 2015 9:00 am

After a month cooped up in a Scottish castle, no internet, no TV, and no radio, watching hectic snowflakes billowing…

All radio drama should be as good as this Conrad adaptation

7 March 2015 9:00 am

The aching hum of crickets. The susurrus of reeds. The lapping of waves. The unmistakable noise of a sound technician…

How long is it since anniversaries stopped being measured in years?

7 March 2015 9:00 am

‘You must promise to be with us for our silver wedding D.V. which will be in four years,’ wrote Queen…

‘Robust’, busted

28 February 2015 9:00 am

‘Heart of Oak are our ships, Jolly Tars are our men,’ shouted my husband unconvincingly. He has taken to doing…

Why Putin is even less of a human than Stalin was

21 February 2015 9:00 am

LBC likes to tell us it’s ‘Leading Britain’s Conversation’, though in the case of weekday pre-lunch presenter James O’Brien you’ll…

The amazing story of the blind photographer

14 February 2015 9:00 am

Perhaps the news that Radio 5 live will be the only BBC station (under the new broadcasting rights agreements) to…

Why BBC Arabic is booming

7 February 2015 9:00 am

Last weekend BBC Arabic celebrated 77 years since John Reith (as he then was) launched the first foreign-language service of…