How things have changed !

We were talking about the OU today when I was joined in the studio by Ron Hooper, from Caversham. He was one of the initial team of five broadcasters charged with making 300 programmes a year for the OU. He told me how it all got started, reminding me that it was a Harold Wilson initiative which was then somewhat reluctantly inherited by the Tories. Margaret Thatcher, then Education Minister, remarked that she was dismayed that so much money was being spent on "the hobbies of housewives".

Amazing how much things have changed - because I also featured an interview with the top science broadcaster of the moment, Professor Brian Cox, about today's partial solar eclipse and the upcoming Stargazing Live programme on BBC Two. Last time I saw him, he was presenting a programme about the sun, from the Ganges - with a total eclipse behind him!