Blog posts by year and monthNovember 2010
Posts (18)
I'm a Radio 4 listener, get me out of here!
It started with a tweet. "I will if you will", says Heather. "Wot for a whole week?" says Jenni? I wonder how many women over the age of 35 would choose to wake up with Chris Moyles every morning. And how many teenagers would swap Judge Jules and Jo Whiley for Jonathan Dimbleby and Justin Webb?...
The funkiest documentary in Radio 4 history
In the first half of the 1970s Stevie Wonder released four landmark albums that changed the course of pop music. A combination of funk and synthesisers, this incredible collection of music includes many of Stevie's classic songs such as Superstition, Living for the City and You Are the Sunshine ...
Throwing caution to the wind in 'I, Claudius'
Editor's note: this post by the lead in Radio 4's new Classic Serial, 'I, Claudius', starts with a clip from the drama - SB. I was eight when 'I, Claudius' first aired on the BBC in 1976. It remains burned on my brain as the first televisual event that I recall. Of course I was far too young to...
Test Match Special on Radio 4
For as long as I can remember Test Match Special has been the soundtrack of my Summer. I admit I was jealous of commentators who got paid to watch the cricket and to talk about it - I still am. They are brilliant and the skill of the producers in bringing in recent ex-players such as Michael Va...
The truth about Travellers
Up until last month, I had never set foot on a Traveller site or thought I ever would. Few non-Travellers tend to be allowed into this closed, tight knit community. Therefore, it was a great surprise and privilege not only to be invited onto a Traveller site, but to be given the run of the place...
Archers irritants - and a new web site
Lynda Snell has seen off many rivals to her position as the most irritating person in Ambridge. Marjorie Antrobus started as a formidable character but went on to become a bit of a national treasure. Brian Aldridge can be a pain, and has caused much unhappiness, but his love for Ruairi is unques...
Persecutors and martyrs - the In Our Time newsletter
Editor's note: another edition of Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time newsletter, a communication written weekly, right after the live Thursday morning transmission. Details of how to get the newsletter delivered to your inbox are at the bottom - SB I don't know what the ethics are about saying "it's gr...
The Radio 4 St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal
Editor's note. You can make a donation to this year's Radio 4 Christmas Appeal on the St Martin-in-the-Fields web site - SB The service at St Martin-in-the-Fields for homeless people who have died in the past year never fails to move me. During the service the names of those who have died are r...
A new website for The Archers
During the last 18 months, we've been relaunching parts of the Radio 4 website, redesigning for the wider page template now in use at bbc.co.uk and taking advantage of new technologies on offer. The last programme website to move across is one of our most popular - The Archers, which consistent...
The BBC National Short Story Award 2010
It's been a strange week, locked in a studio recording a novel about secrets and conspiracy in Stalinist Russia and then dashing 8 floors up, to conspiratorially huddle over the short list of this year's BBC National Short Story Award intent on ensuring total secrecy until the announcement on Th...
