CONTORTED PASTA

I finished colouring my graphic novel on Monday, so for the foreseeable future I'll be doing the sort of work that can't divide attention with radio. Alas! I sure got in a lot of it towards the end, though.

FACTUAL
You're Dead To Me - Would you look at that, even MORE episodes of this excellent and very imbibable history podcast. New subjects include a Chinese pirate queen, ice cream, and the extraordinarily interesting life of the man who sang "Old Man River."
The Divided Brain - An examination of the role our left and right brains play in our decision making, personalities, and how we interact with the world. Neuroscientist Iain McGilchrist argues that the world has become excessively left-brain dominated and we need to restore the balance before it's too late.
In Our Time: Plato's Gorgias - A panel of experts discuss a seminal philosophical work examining power vs morality, the nature of freedom, the relationship between pleasure and self interest, and whether rhetoric holds outsized sway over politics.
Tupac Shakur, Hip Hop Immortal - I was in middle school when Tupac Shakur died, and while I was aware he was a big deal, I was utterly clueless about him. If you also wondered what the big deal was, this short documentary might help you out a bit, as it did me.
Things Fell Apart - The strapline is "Tales from the Culture Wars"; TBH I've only caught snippets on the actual radio, but they've been very good, so this is listed in order to remind me to catch up and listen properly.
Exploding Library: Jean Rhys - I had to read Wide Sargasso Sea in high school and have to admit I didn't 'get it', but I definitely god comedian Josie Long's portrait of the author and her less famous, but possibly more personal book, Good Morning, Midnight. Fun! Educational! Enthusiastic!


FICTIONAL
Fantastic Journeys - Four short stories that fall somewhere in the fantasy/scifi/magical realism spectrum, but otherwise very different from each other. I link "The Green Door" by H.G. Wells every time it comes around, but the others are also quite good and worth a listen.
Small Gods - Radio adaptation of Terry Pratchett's magnificent comic drama about religion, philosophy, and an unwelcome revelation in a desert theocracy...
Resurrection - On the surface, this Tolstoy is your typical "nobleman deflowers vulnerable maid who goes on to a life of vice, nobleman grows up and tries to make good" story, but mostly it's Tolstoy taking a good hard look at what was wrong with mid-19thC Russian society, a lot of which is sadly still relevant.
The Strange and the Sinister - Short horror stories by someone trying for, and not quite reaching, M.R. James, but they're quite good on their own terms.

FUNNY
Penguin Diplomacy - I linked to Double Acts last time, but last week's episode is the one about a stuffy Brit and an eccentric Dane and the marital habits of penguins on Skarstenø (or is it Goodwill Island?). Sometimes I wonder if this episode was a personal gift.
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue - The daftest of panel games is back for another glorious 28 minutes.
Here's What We Do - Another Double Act. A silly heist and some character development, which is all very well on its own, but this one gets bonus points for taking place partly in my favourite Cambridge pub.

Once again I haven't been listening to as much radio as I normally do; in large part this is due to listening to French-language radio while drawing, in order to 'keep my ear in' and not lose the barely functional level I reached at Annecy (I could have a brief conversation about a sandwich! Quel expérience!) and is why I have strange Québecois songs to share with you. But there's still loads going on in the Anglosphere, so here's what I might have been listening to if I'd been filling my days with English instead:

FUN FACTS
Expletive Repeated: Why Swearing Matters - A really fascinating study of swearing and how profanity has evolved generationally, especially in the last 20 years.
Decolonization: The Next 150 on Indigenous Lands - Canada's 150th birthday prompts some serious analysis of the colony-country's relationship with its original inhabitants, and their land.
Are We F'd? - Why is there such resistance to the idea of climate change? Is it a social problem as much – or more than – a scientific or political one? How can there be any clear thinking when people have so much of their identity wrapped up in the issue?
Not a show (yet), but the 2017 Massey Lectures are coming up in November and I am so excited.
Lord Byron - Comedian Mark Steel takes a look at the frankly unbelievable life of the original Bad Boy.
Spotlight Tonight - Nish Kumar nailed the Now Show monologue and the hosting of topical sketch show Newsjack, and now has his own show from which to lampoon the ghastly state we're all in. Because that's what the world needs right now, more lampoons stuck in it. (no, listen, it's funny, and we all need a laugh.)

FACTUAL FICTION
The Worst Journey in the World - The radio play that started all ... [gestures] ... this. Its current iPlayer manifestation expires tomorrow, so listen up if you're gonna.
Lights, Camera, Kidnap! - Based on a true story about some South Korean filmmakers who were abducted by Kim Jong-Il to make a film for him.
Apollo 21 - Mockumentary looking back on the moon landings from 40 years on, hosted by a mysteriously Northern Buzz Aldrin.

FICTIONAL FUN
Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett's first City Watch book, dramatised for radio. Vimes sounds too middle-class and Sybil sounds about seventy, but it's so good to revisit them I almost don't mind.
All the Time in the World - Speaking of Terry Pratchett, I'd be amazed if this Arthur C. Clarke short story about a thief and time didn't inspire Thief of Time.
Tove Jansson Short Stories The creator of the Moomins went on to write more serious grownup books, but lost none of that brilliant insight and wry love for authentic characters.
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen - An entry in the genre of British folkloric YA (think The Dark Is Rising), this time set in the North.
Think the Unthinkable - The sitcom about an abysmal consultancy company is back ... It's not Cabin Pressure, but it's one of the few sitcoms I genuinely enjoy, so worth trying out (I think) if you'd like some lighthearted character comedy.
Woman in Black - Halloween is coming up, and the spooky autumnal programming is starting to creep onto the iPlayer. There was a movie made of this Susan Hill book, but as always the pictures are better on radio.

WELL NOW YOU'RE JUST BEING SILLY
The 99p Challenge - The king of gloriously stupid panel games – like those sleep-deprived crazy riffs with your college buddies, but if your buddies were Sue Perkins, Armando Iannucci, Simon Pegg, and their lot.
Genius - In which a guest genius and a funny host evaluate genius life hacks, creative problem solving, and just plain goofy ideas from the audience.
Armstrong & Miller - Barmy sketches ... as you know, one of my favourite things. This show is from near the forefront of the modern Barmy Sketch movement, but holds up pretty well.
Museum of Everything - While everyone else thinks of pirates when they hear Bristolians, I think of the curators of the Museum of Everything, a barmy sketch comedy on the theme of semi-obscure regional attractions. Not to be confused with The Museum of Curiosity (though goodness knows I do).
Just a Minute - The perennial jaw-droppingly clever mile-a-minute rhetoric game, this one being particularly special in that it welcomes back Mighty Marathoness Sue Perkins.

J'ecoute le rap Aeroplan encore?! C'est possible?

I'm in the middle of an unexpected but short bout of freelance animation. I love animating, and for the most part it pairs symbiotically with my love of radio. Unfortunately there's one stage in the animation process where you have to concentrate really hard and scribble the movement down; when I'm doing this rough pass I don't have any brain cells left over to process what the radio is trying to tell me, so I can't listen then. But I find it had to stay focused without something on in the background, so I'm once again streaming Radio-Canada (francophone CBC) in yet another attempt to improve my French comprehension.

I can't really say how well I'm doing in achieving that aim – yesterday was pretty good but today was just so much babble again – but it's all right because they have great taste in music, the news is so much nicer when you can barely understand it, and whenever Donald Trump speaks, someone in a calm voice starts talking over him in French. I do get amusing little tidbits, though, between Montreal traffic reports and interviews about artisan cheese in the Ottawa valley.

• the French for 'witch hunt' is chasse aux sorcières which is WAY cooler.
• it's not 'Aryan' it's aerien which means 'aerial', calm down.
• there's always a really interesting discussion at about 9-9.30am local time, but I can't understand enough to look up the programme on the website.
• London, England, is Londres as it is in Continental French, but London, Ontario is still London, just in a French accent.
• the programme titles I can understand are often puns in some way; I assume the ones I think aren't puns are just puns I don't get.
• the further away from Montreal someone is calling, the more twang there is in their accent
• I can understand either the words people are saying, or the overall topic under discussion, but not, it seems, both
• I seem to have conditioned myself into feeling worky in the auditory presence of French; this was pretty funny when a French song came on the music in a restaurant...

But even that got to require too much brainpower, so now I'm listening to this and getting REALLY EXCITED about not having any time at all to finish my analyses. Sigh. Back to work.

Since the middle of July, I've been starting lists of radio links and abandoning them until the shows expire. It's not that there hasn't been good stuff, I've just been doing work that occupies more languagey parts of my brain than usual, so I haven't been able to listen to as much radio, and therefore can't assemble a list of any length worth bothering with.

In recent weeks I've been falling back in love with the CBC, so I thought I'd share some of their most stand-out shows with you, which have the benefit of remaining online for quite a long time ...

IDEAS
A weeknightly documentary series that covers just about anything so long as it makes your brain fizz. You can browse available podcasts for yourself, but my particular recent favourites as are follows:
The Discovery of Human Rights - In this age of online activism it's easy to assume the idea that all people are entitled to a certain level of respect and legal status is as 'self-evident' as Jefferson stated it to be. But it is a fairly recent development in human culture, and its progress isn't finished yet.
Coyotl's Song - The Coyote has been a part of North American folklore from time immemorial, from a First Nations trickster to the cat-snatching bugbear of modern cities. This episode contains a quick lesson in How To Speak Basic Coyote.
Wise Guys - If you like your urban wildlife of a darker and more airborne variety, this is an excellent documentary on the intelligence, success, and appeal of crows.
The Dream of Brother XII - I came for the name Edward Wilson; I stayed for a fascinating look at utopian initiatives in British Columbia, a peculiar bit of history relating to an area I know quite well, and a broader look at millennial theosophy, which has a longer history than I expected.
The Shape of Things to Come - T.E. Lawrence ("of Arabia") was an Oxford-trained archaeologist who ended up leading an Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. His background knowledge of history, experience on the ground with the people and cultures of the Middle East, and relationship with British high command gave him unique insight into the region and what was to follow, and is still following – though would anyone listen to him? Of course not.
Undoing Forever - A look at the prospect – and attempts – of bringing extinct species, from Woolly Mammoths to Passenger Pigeons, back to life.
Vestigial Tale - Evolutionary psychologists take a look at the human propensity for storytelling, from a scientific perspective. Episode 1, linked above, is about the act of constructing and conveying information in narrative form; Episode 2 is about fiction and the value of telling each other things that we know are untrue.
The Sorrows of Empire - The American Empire has been called everything from a "reluctant empire" to "a colossus with attention deficit disorder". The enormous cost of foreign wars and other interventions has led to imperial overstretch. This one's next on my plate and I'm really looking forward to it ...

Speaking of history and tantalising brain porn, check out this year's Massey Lectures: The Return of History – if you're lucky enough to be in any of the cities where they're recording, it looks like you can still buy tickets; the rest of us will have to wait – somehow – until the end of October.

THIS IS THAT
Sort of like if you crossed a current affairs magazine with The Onion, but on the radio and with that certain Canadian leg-pulling tongue-in-cheekiness; its only fault is being sometimes a little too close to the truth. You can listen straight through the whole podcast list, but I'd particularly like to direct your attention to people-smuggling into Canada from the US. Ahh, satire.

DAY 6
Having lived in the US during two "normal" election years, I can only imagine what a nightmare it is for Americans to follow the news right now. Luckily for you, the CBC covers American news better than any US media outlet I know, and one of the best programmes for insight-to-time-investment ratio is the Saturday magazine show Day 6. There's not much point linking to past episodes as news doesn't keep, but if you're interested in their interviews and analysis you are welcome to browse the archive at your leisure. (There is also non-American news on that show, but I promise, it doesn't hurt.)

If you like this taster of CBC goodness, I recommend getting the CBC Radio App for your mobile device – it's available for most common platforms from whatever your OS App Store is. The splash page is a little bewildering if you're looking for something you already have in mind, but you can easily add your favourite shows to a sub-page which saves searching, and browse for new things to listen to.

AND FINALLY
A good and reliable friend has brought to my attention this week the soundtrack to a musical about the life of Edgar Allan Poe, devised by a bunch of Canucks and mainly performed north of the border (after all, what is more Canadian than Poe?), which is now available to purchase on iTunes and Amazon. I've been listening to it on repeat for two days and will likely resume doing so after this next thing I need to concentrate on. Attention to meter and rhyme, with a preponderance of minor-key waltzes, and I'm hooked.

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to a very special Radio Roundup, a Radio Roundup that has been seven years in the making, a Radio Roundup I have been waiting to share with you since before I even started doing these lists. For lo, in their great mercy and kindness, the Powers That Be at BBC Radio HQ have seen to it that I can share with you now the radio play that started it all – the two hours of audio adventure that launched an obsession and brought you the One Hundred Years Ago Today series and a pile of drawings of dead white guys which you very patiently tolerated. Yes, dear internet, we have at last seen a rerun of ...

THE WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD



I will be posting more on that soon, but if you want to see my flailing in the meantime, there's the Tumblr post for Episode 1, featuring some subtle photo manips, and for Episode 2 with visual aides for some scenes in that episode, from like, actual history.

On with the show ...

SERIOUS
Things Fall Apart - The legacy of Chinua Achebe's landmark novel, making me wish some of these people had taught it to me in high school rather than what I got. Better late than never!
Catherine of Aragon: Henry's Spanish Queen - An abridged biography of Henry VIII's first wife, rather poorly done by and didn't she know it. Have I mentioned Wolf Hall?
Ghost Trains of Old England - There are trains that run disused routes for a variety of reasons. This programme has a peek at some of them.
Profile: Anonymous - The hacktivist organisation has recently declared war on ISIS. Who are they, what does that entail, and is it a good idea?
The Dictatorship of Data - Authoritarian regimes of the 20th century collected surveillance of their citizens for the purposes of control. These days we produce so much more data which is so much easier to analyze, and those interested in surveillance have evolved alongside.
In Our Time: The Salem Witch Trials - Thank goodness we are well past religiously motivated mass panics and nothing like this could ever, ever happen again. Ever.
How Islamic is the Islamic State? - People keep saying it shouldn't be called Islamic State because it's neither of those things, but what is the theology that makes them think they are, and why do other Muslims disagree? This programme also goes into their internal logic and motivations, which is interesting and valuable when you generally only get coverage of their bloody deeds. I would like to hear a documentary comparing and contrasting fundamentalist millenarian IS with the thread of fundementalist millenarian Evangelical Christianity you get in the States. Might have to trawl the CBC for that. Speaking of which ...
The Current: God Bless America - Discussing the rise of the Christian right, its paradoxical association with capitalism and the infusion of military rhetoric with religious meaning. Pairs well with the essay Freeing Christians from Americhristianity by John Pavlovitz.
Ed Catmull, inside Pixar - It's a good thing this clip is under 10 minutes or I wouldn't have made it through. Among other things he admits the systemic racism and sexism of the studio apparently without realising. I'll stop there before going into manifesto mode but oh I so could.

FUN
M.R. James Stories - M.R. James was a medievalist at Cambridge in the early 20th century, but is best remembered in the wider sphere for his ghost stories, which were often delivered at Christmas parties. Radio 4 Extra often reruns his material around the holidays, and the first crop of dramatisations has just popped up. Of particular interest to me is Number 13 as it takes place in Viborg, and the last time I was there ( I took some photos )
The Now Show - It's not easy to do a topical comedy show a week after an atrocity, but the Now Show team manages it rather admirably.
Double Acts: Hot Desk - A bit like The Apartment, but with a reception/security desk, and I have never seen The Apartment so that's as far as I can go. Too much a 'mirror up to nature' to be your average romantic comedy, but it's funny and about relationships and by John Finnemore so is delightful regardless. And it's the LAST of the Double Acts! Woe, woe. (There's a new series of Souvenir Programme starting in January so we don't have to weep too long.)

It's the most ... wonderful tiiime ... of the yeeeeaaar ... the weeks when a series written by John Finnemore is on the air. How are we lowly mortals deserving of such pure ambrosia? John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme is the beneficiary of Radio 4's new policy of letting shows stay up for thirty days instead of seven, so you can hear Epsiodes One, Two, Three, and Four all in one go if you want to, though you may wish to consult your physician first.

The Museum of Curiosity receives a donation from Richard Williams, star animator and animation director of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. His artefact is interesting and his anecdotes entertaining, but the cherry on the cake is his impersonation of a poor hapless Pixar animator. Dearie me.

Germany: Memories of a Nation - Fresh off the heels of smash-hit A History of the World in 100 Objects, Neil MacGregor explores the history of Germany, fragmentary and unified, through seminal items. Also available for download, somewhere. (I heard this show coming from a market stall the other day. I love this place.)

No Tomatoes - You say tomato, I say tomato, you say potato, I say this gag doesn't work in text. Sketch show, fifteen minutes, a little pomodoro of fun.

News Quiz Extra - A gentle reminder NEWS QUIZ !!!

The Unbelievable Truth - like QI meets Balderdash, hosted by David Mitchell – who has, confusingly, just written a book, so now both David Mitchells are authors. Thanks a lot.

And finally ...

If you have seen Duet, and wondered what went into the making of it, the answer is, in part: The Long Long Trail. Hours and hours of this. It got to be a bit of a problem. I hope I didn't annoy anyone with my continual whistling of peppy WWI ditties but they did the job! I don't know if it's because they're Edwardian tunes orchestrated and performed in the 60s, but it's musically reminiscent of Mary Poppins (made in the 60s, set Edwardian), and yet the very very dark context, snarky sense of humour, and innuendo take the songs from Sherman Bros twee to somewhere entirely different.

Speaking of WWI: It was Remembrance Sunday here in the UK, but if you want to celebrate Armistice Day on the 11th as God intended, I highly recommend tuning into the CBC. Their ceremony from Ottawa is broadcast live leading up to 11am EST and repeated on westerly stations as 11am rolls across the time zones. Listen live to Radio One on the website or download the CBC radio app on iTunes of Google Play (it's brilliant), and find the feed for your corresponding Canadian city. It's not a basket of laughs but is important and beautiful, and you won't regret it.

Usually I do something for Lent on this blog, be it sketchbook pages or art tips or something, but as I stand here on the edge of Mardi Gras I am looking at a churning ocean of so much work that instead, this year, I'm giving up social media, because that is an enormous distraction I just can't afford.

As mentioned before I've been trying to switch to podcasts from streaming radio, which presents the challenge of listening to them faster than they accumulate. I put off the CBC's Q, and only this week have been starting to tackle the 20+ hours of backed-up arts and culture commentary. Here are some of the highlights from recent episodes:
Q Media Panel on Ukraine, the crisis, its possible over-representation in the news vs Venezuela and Bosnia, western media's pro-rebel bias, and so on. In the midst of the internet's hand-wringing over World War III it's really nice to hear smart people step back and look at the coverage critically.
Q: Neil Young on the Oil Sands - Wow. Wow. ... Wow. [flies flag]
Q: The Philosopher's Mail - using the clickbait, scaremongering, and gossip which makes The Daily Mail so popular, to discuss important matters of depth, with a sense of humour. In other words, someone made a newspaper just for me!

MORE CBC:
Sunday Edition: Post-Antibiotic World - We don't fully appreciate how much the world has changed since the introduction of antibiotics, but perhaps we should, because we may be forced to return there.
Sunday Edition: The Return of Anti-Semitism - Outside the friendly confines of the US and Canada, anti-Jewish sentiment is back on the scene. Oh, yay.
Day 6: Backscatter - A former TSA employee talks about how ultimately useless those full-body X-ray vision scanners were, and how they were (mis)used.

BBC:
Night Watch - It's not May yet, but there are protests in the streets everywhere you turn, so Commander Vimes is back to show them how it's done.
Cabin Pressure: Paris - Captain Crieff and the Mystery of the Stolen-Not Stolen Whisky (this show is a font of happiness and makes the world a better place, get hooked today).
Dilemma - I've listened to a lot of Radio 4 (a lot) but this show has some audience interaction that I have never heard on anything ever.

Well that's about it from me ... Tomorrow I'll hand over the blogging reins to my one and only all-time total hero Edward Adrian Wilson, because the world needs more Bill, and I want to introduce him to everyone. He has more to say than just listing radio links, so this place will probably improve in my absence.

I'll be off 'the Internets' until late April, but because the only alternative is the hated telephone, I will still be on email. If you need or want to contact me you can still do that. I like email. :) My address can be found in my userinfo, and all PMs and comments end up in my inbox anyway so you can use those as well.

BBC
Because the BBC knows what it's doing when it comes to cross-platform synchronicity, Radio 4 Extra is rerunning The Return of Sherlock Holmes with all-time favourite canon Holmes, Clive Merrison.
The Empty House - Holmes is back in London and – surprise! – not dead. Expires Monday so listen quick!
The Norwood Builder - An important fable for some animation studios of my acquaintance. And yes, that is Wallace.
The Dancing Men - Fun with cryptography!
The Solitary Cyclist - Ladies, getting a job and riding a bicycle is dangerous business.
The Priory School - The son of a dignitary disappears from his posh boarding school ... no Grimm references though.

The Long, Long Trail is a programme from the '60s collecting the songs of the Tommies of the Great War, which was adapted to the stage as Oh What A Lovely War. It's interesting on its own but doubly so to compare it to now: on one hand I can't possibly imagine modern girls pressuring their lads to sign up, but on the other it's a little refreshing to hear modern levels of snark in these jolly tunes, given how the era is commonly popularised.

John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme is rerunning from the start. John Finnemore. Sketch show. That is all you need to know to make an informed decision. This one has Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Intervention and the story of a man with a dream which quite remarkably resonates with my generation of animation school graduates.

Sredni Vashtar - a sickly boy and his polecat ferret ... If I ever make an NFB film this will be it.

The Unbelievable Truth, episode 1 of the new series, is possibly one of the funniest episodes of a very funny panel game. Of particular note is how early on Mr Mitchell starts getting down Mr Wehn's throat about The War. This one expires Monday, so hop to it. And Episode 2 has John Finnemore in it.

CBC
A word about CBC programmes before any links: they stay up a lot longer than the BBC ones so I tend not to link to them as urgently, but there's a lot of goodness up there if you're looking for a mine of brain food. Ideas, The Sunday Edition, Q, and Day 6 are consistently high deliverers if you want somewhere to start, and This is That is surprisingly funny and a good insight into the Canadian character.

Unfortunately the 'listen' links on the programme websites don't always launch correctly, and I'm not sure any Flash player is good enough for the CBC's Radio Player. Luckily they put out a lot of their shows as podcasts, and you can stream them on iTunes as well, I just can't link to those streams directly. If you like the sound of a show I've linked but can't get it to work on the website I've linked to, try looking it up on iTunes.

Also, I can't say enough good things about the CBC radio app, which is a million times more reliable than the browser player with all the same content. It's available for Apple and Android, so if you like having the CBC on demand, check it out.

I took advantage of the holidays to catch up on a lot of Ideas. One of my favourites was The Fool's Dilemma: most of us believe we are much more clever and worthy than we actually are, we are attracted to certainty and confidence over correctness, and those who have a more accurate self-image or appraisal of the world are depressive and pessimistic. It suffers a bit from creeping Radiolab influence but is a fascinating programme nonetheless.

On a jauntier note is an excellent feature from This is That on the first L.A. food truck to do business on the freeway. A+ you guys, you nailed it.

Uncalled-for Rant
Going by the opinions of people I know, I am probably the only person in the world who is irritated by the overproduced auditory busyness of Radiolab. As long as it stays on Radiolab it's fine – the people who like it can listen to it and I don't have to – but the producers of other radio documentaries are falling under its sparkly spell, so factual content and clarity are suffocated under flashy filters, quirky music, ersatz conversations, sound effects, and editing techniques. Even this might not bother me so much if it didn't bring up uncomfortable memories of what happened to the Discovery Channel, then the Learning Channel, then the History Channel, and then PBS as it started to tailor its programming for resale to this network; or how all of NPR came more and more to resemble This American Life and I gave up trying to get useful information from it.

So no, if you were going to ask, I don't listen to Radiolab. And I don't listen to Welcome to Night Vale either, because while I deeply appreciate the premise, it hits too many of my 'argh NPR' buttons to be able to appreciate it for what it is. I am happy to see it being so popular because it's turning people on to radio drama who would never have considered it otherwise, and more popular support for this beautiful and versatile art form is no bad thing. But ... I need some time.

Usually the BBC holds off on explicitly Christmas stuff until Christmas week or so, but they've got a head start this year and so far it's a good one.

A little story first: One year, a book/CD set turned up in my family's house, entitled The Forgotten Carols. It turned out to be a Christmas story which incorporated an album of purpose-written songs, which disappointed the excessively nerdy kid with the little black XMAS tape, who had hoped it was a collection of Christmas songs from Olden Tymes which had been left behind by popular tastes. (I was a hipster before hipsters were cool.) It took twenty years, but to my immense delight, Radio 4 has dropped in my stocking a series resembling what I wanted The Forgotten Carols to be: A Cause for Caroling looks at the history of the Christmas carol in Britain from its earliest record through the various forces which have acted on the holiday over time.
Episode 1 gives us an overview of the carol tradition 'that has always had one foot in the pub and another in the choir stalls' and tries to revive the first recorded British carol.
Episode 2 looks at the role of Franciscans in popularizing the use of music to celebrate the Nativity, and the repurposing of popular secular tunes for religious purposes.
Episode 3 takes us through the development of professional music, the place of carol-singing in medieval popular culture, and the context of The Coventry Carol (as we know it today).
Episode 4 explores the effect the Reformation and Puritanism had on the singing of carols in and out of church. The Puritans banned Christmas! That had some effect.
Episode 5 is about the polyphonic carols popular in village churches in the 18th and 19th centuries and immortalised by Thomas Hardy. Americans might find a similarity to the Appalachian choral tradition. If you like it I highly recommend Under the Greenwood Tree by The Mellstock Band, which I have owned and enjoyed for years.

Every so often you run across one of those stories you just know is going to stick in your head, and this afternoon I added The Morpeth Carol to that library. It starts with a boy from a housing estate finding the crashed wreck of Santa's sleigh, and turns into one of those half-tragic, half-whimsical Christmas tales. A cup of grit and a whiff of Pratchett round out the pudding.

In a less seasonal vein, I've only listened to the first half of this week's Sunday Edition, but for a show that's always worth checking out this one is already especially excellent: the essay on the moral courage of Mandela and those who stood up for him around the world is brilliant, and the interview with the NSA whistleblower who preceded and inspired Edward Snowden is particularly fascinating.

And last but certainly not least, for dessert, That Mitchell and Webb Sound is back – the link is to Episode 2 which is my favourite so far but only lasts till Tuesday; Episode 3 you'll find linked at the bottom of that page and is also good fun.

Before I rush out for mulled wine and chestnuts, a request: does anyone know if there's been a decent radio dramatisation of A Christmas Carol made in recent years? It is baffling to me that it can have escaped the new wave of radio movies, especially when the greatest hits of the canon seem to be so popular, but I can't remember hearing one. Suggestions? Or should I write, Dear Radio 4 Santa, Thank you for the Forgotten Carols, please next year could you bring A Christmas Carol to The Classic Serial? Yours truly, The Nerd with the Black Tape