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Radio Roundup
Jan. 11th, 2016 02:01 pmFUN and FUNNY
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme - You really only need to look at the first two words in the title to know you should click that link.
Before They Were Famous - If the above wasn't enough Finnemore for you, you can listen to him play Edgar Allen Poe, when he was earning his daily bread writing real estate copy.
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue - It's always good, but this episode is particularly so, with Uxbridge English Dictionary, Rob Brydon, and a very bad headcold.
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - Jeremy Irons reads T.S. Eliot's book of poems about cats, on which the musical was based. From personal experience, Old Possum's... is a dangerous gateway drug to the Class A stuff (Four Quartets etc) so please, listen responsibly.
Horne Section - More musicomedic merriment from the children's show for grownups
Amadeus - the man who played Salieri in the film reads an adaptation of Peter Schaffer's play about the life, career, and death of Mozart, on which the film was based.
Warhorses of Letters - The noble mounts of Wellington and Napoleon have fallen in love and conduct an epistolary romance. If you think this is a silly premise, you are correct, but I dare you not to like it despite yourself.
As the Dead Ringers Christmas Special was set to air Christmas day, I suspect those who put it together figured no one would be listening. The New Years Special is good too but not quite so ... well ... what you say when you think no one is listening.
Talking and Not Talking - While we're guessing motivations here, I'm going to plump for there being a new gender balance initiative in radio comedy, because R4x has been rerunning Laura Solon a lot lately. This is not a bad thing.
Bleak Expectations - I link to a random episode of the spoof Dickensian series which is worth checking out if you haven't yet ... I think this one is decently far along its slide from Victoriana into absurdism. May contain familiar voices.
Think the Unthinkable - Back before we all got spoiled by Cabin Pressure, this sitcom about an incompetent consultancy firm was one of the better examples of its genre. It still is; I mean, we can't all be Cabin Pressure ...
FACTUAL
Behaving Ourselves - David Mitchell explores the world of manners, the difference between manners and etiquette, their role in civil society, and whether manners are declining or we just need to invent new ones for new ways of interacting (yes).
Etiquette Guide - In Ep 1 of the above series, etiquette is put down as the obnoxious cousin that gives manners a bad name, so imagine my surprise when I tuned in later that same day to hear etiquette being celebrated. This series looks at changing rules of behaviour through history.
Film Programme: The Danish Girl - Eddie Redmayne talks about the research, observation, and psychological work he put in to playing Lili Elbe, one of the first transgender women. Really interesting no matter your orientation.
A Man's a Man for a' That - It may surprise those educated in the States (as it did me) that famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass spent some time in Scotland, which had a significant and long-lasting effect on him.
Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, et Laïcité - Ever since the Revolution, the removal of religion from public life in France has been a key part of the national identity, but recent history is seeing the matter become more contentious.
Submarine for a Stuart King - In 1621 a submarine was successfully demonstrated in the Thames. This programme investigates how it might have worked, and parallel challenges today.
Orpheus Underground - Neil Gaiman and friends on the continuing appeal of the Orpheus myth
A History of the Future - Looking back at how society through history has conceived, and tried to divine, the Yet to Come, with a host who sounds impressively like a female Hitchcock.
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme - You really only need to look at the first two words in the title to know you should click that link.
Before They Were Famous - If the above wasn't enough Finnemore for you, you can listen to him play Edgar Allen Poe, when he was earning his daily bread writing real estate copy.
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue - It's always good, but this episode is particularly so, with Uxbridge English Dictionary, Rob Brydon, and a very bad headcold.
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - Jeremy Irons reads T.S. Eliot's book of poems about cats, on which the musical was based. From personal experience, Old Possum's... is a dangerous gateway drug to the Class A stuff (Four Quartets etc) so please, listen responsibly.
Horne Section - More musicomedic merriment from the children's show for grownups
Amadeus - the man who played Salieri in the film reads an adaptation of Peter Schaffer's play about the life, career, and death of Mozart, on which the film was based.
Warhorses of Letters - The noble mounts of Wellington and Napoleon have fallen in love and conduct an epistolary romance. If you think this is a silly premise, you are correct, but I dare you not to like it despite yourself.
As the Dead Ringers Christmas Special was set to air Christmas day, I suspect those who put it together figured no one would be listening. The New Years Special is good too but not quite so ... well ... what you say when you think no one is listening.
Talking and Not Talking - While we're guessing motivations here, I'm going to plump for there being a new gender balance initiative in radio comedy, because R4x has been rerunning Laura Solon a lot lately. This is not a bad thing.
Bleak Expectations - I link to a random episode of the spoof Dickensian series which is worth checking out if you haven't yet ... I think this one is decently far along its slide from Victoriana into absurdism. May contain familiar voices.
Think the Unthinkable - Back before we all got spoiled by Cabin Pressure, this sitcom about an incompetent consultancy firm was one of the better examples of its genre. It still is; I mean, we can't all be Cabin Pressure ...
FACTUAL
Behaving Ourselves - David Mitchell explores the world of manners, the difference between manners and etiquette, their role in civil society, and whether manners are declining or we just need to invent new ones for new ways of interacting (yes).
Etiquette Guide - In Ep 1 of the above series, etiquette is put down as the obnoxious cousin that gives manners a bad name, so imagine my surprise when I tuned in later that same day to hear etiquette being celebrated. This series looks at changing rules of behaviour through history.
Film Programme: The Danish Girl - Eddie Redmayne talks about the research, observation, and psychological work he put in to playing Lili Elbe, one of the first transgender women. Really interesting no matter your orientation.
A Man's a Man for a' That - It may surprise those educated in the States (as it did me) that famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass spent some time in Scotland, which had a significant and long-lasting effect on him.
Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, et Laïcité - Ever since the Revolution, the removal of religion from public life in France has been a key part of the national identity, but recent history is seeing the matter become more contentious.
Submarine for a Stuart King - In 1621 a submarine was successfully demonstrated in the Thames. This programme investigates how it might have worked, and parallel challenges today.
Orpheus Underground - Neil Gaiman and friends on the continuing appeal of the Orpheus myth
A History of the Future - Looking back at how society through history has conceived, and tried to divine, the Yet to Come, with a host who sounds impressively like a female Hitchcock.
