Bob Dylan

Comedian and actor Lenny Henry asks "What's So Great About...?" people, things, institutions and aspects of contemporary life that frequently go unexplored, unchallenged and widely accepted but which he, personally doesn't really buy.

In this episode, he questions the greatness of Bob Dylan.

Lenny - a great fan of Soul music and Rhythm & Blues - gets to grips one recording artist he never really "got". From the time he was a teenager in Dudley in the early 70s he had to listen to his schoolmate Greg Stokes tell him what a "classic" the Dylan album 'Blonde On Blonde' was; and ever since friends have been trying to convince him that "His Bobness", as Lenny describes him, is the one recording artist to whom he should really devote his energies.

It's now make or break time and Lenny assembles a band of musicians and fans to see if they can, once and for all, change his mind.

"Dear oh dear", says Lenny. "That whine! That grating music!"

Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, Kris Kristofferson, Bryan Ferry, Jools Holland and Al Kooper, who played with Dylan on some of his most famous albums in the 1960s, are among the defence team.

It seems they have their work cut out.

Producer: Patrick Gregory

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2008.