CONTORTED PASTA

FACTUAL
The Battersea Poltergeist - This series about a 1950s haunting first aired earlier this year, but if you want a good spooky Halloween listen, you can't do much better. It's a mix of dramatic reconstruction and investigation, and leans to the dramatic, but as infotainment it's very well done.
Uncanny - A followup to the above, investigating more supernatural and surreal goings-on, as reported by listeners. Good spooky fun.
Ten Days That Shook The World - The memoir of an American journalist who was in St Petersburg when the Revolution reached a turning point, with the Bolsheviks hanging on to power by a fingernail. I must admit I found it a bit hard to follow while working, but there are some good moments, and it's an interesting period I know little about. There are only 8 eps left available, but as it's so fragmentary I don't think that really matters much.
Citizens - Simon Schama's massive history of the French Revolution has been my primary listening for the last week. It's fascinating – I'm learning loads of things I can't believe aren't talked about more – but alas it's not read by Schama himself, and sounds like it was ripped from a scratched CD sometimes. Nevertheless, interesting, and surprisingly timely ...
You're Dead To Me - There's a new series of this very engaging history podcast! The link takes you to the Fairy Tales episode, but several more follow.
Bad People - The podcast series about criminal psychology is back, with its very listenable mix of expert information and dark humour.
A Geochemical History of the World - Haven't listened yet, but it charts the evolution of Earth's atmosphere and the changes that have happened over geological history, promises to be very good.
Green Inc - A surprisingly entertaining look at the "green" industry, and how capitalism is (and isn't, really, when you get right down to it) moving with the times re: environmentalism.
A History of Ghosts - Looking at ghost lore down the ages and around the world
The Food Programme: Livestock and Carbon - Some innovative – or, arguably, regressive – farmers are angry at the simplistic way livestock production is seen as blanket evil in the green debate. When managed in traditional ways, livestock and arable land can have a net positive impact on the environment, and feed humanity more healthily.
Four Thought: The Tyranny of Positivity - Ever have one of those moments where you turn on the radio and want to leap and cheer at every new sentence, but you don't because then you might miss the next sentence? That was this for me – a devastatingly intelligent takedown of the cult of the Positive Attitude.

FICTIONAL
The Destruction Factor - A genetically engineered plant is somehow causing incredibly ferocious fires. It's corny sci-fi, but fun, and achieves the apparently lost art of "just when you think it couldn't get any worse ..."
The Haunting of M.R. James - Mark Gatiss presents short dramatisations of five spooky ghost stories from the Cambridge medievalist.
The Penny Dreadfuls' Guy Fawkes - What I love most about this comic retelling of the Guy Fawkes story is how it sneaks up and grabs you in the feels, without breaking character.

FUNNY
On The Hour - Only two episodes remain of this infrequent rerun of the classic send-up of The News, but they're always worth a listen, even in reduced quantity.
The Horne Section - The kids' show for adults (as I like to think of it) is an uplifting and refreshing antidote to all the effluent in the news.
Small Scenes - Somehow I'd not come across this sketch show before – it ditches the studio audience for atmos, but remains funny, and has some quite good people in it.
Double Acts - This blog has a 100% John Finnemore policy – if any of his work gets broadcast, it WILL be linked here – and this rerun of Series 2 of his droll two-character comedy dramas is no exception. Featuring a guest appearance by my favourite pub in Cambridge.
Citizen of Nowhere - Deliso Chaponda talks humourously, frankly, and deeply about issues. This sounds terribly worthy but it has been a highlight of the 6:30 comedy slot for me these past few weeks and I highly recommend writing yourself a superior blurb.

I've been throwing links into a rolling Radio Roundup draft practically all year, then they expire before I manage to code it and post it. So, here is a very random collection of listening, helped significantly by an increase in the number of programmes being hosted either permanently or on extended 'loan.' Not much comedy this time around, but the drama department is BACK.

FACTUAL
Conspiracies - We all know conspiracy theories are taking over the world, so this really excellent series exploring the modern history of conspiracies and the analysis of patterns between them comes none too soon. I've listened twice already and that won't be the last!
Dante 2021 - Dante Alighieri died 700 years ago, a year after finishing his most famous work, The Divine Comedy. You know, the one with the circles of Hell and all that. This two-part series looks at what this splendid work of the medieval imagination has to say to us today.
You're Dead to Me - The history podcast for people who don't like history (or who do like history, but also jokes) has released a whole lot more episodes of its signature 'expert meets comedian' cocktail. All fascinating, fills the hours nicely!
Blood and Bronze - Caravaggio has a reputation as the Bad Boy of the Renaissance, but he's an amateur next to the mad, bad, and dangerous to know OG, Benvenuto Cellini.
How To Resist Richard III - The charming, manipulative, narcissistic sociopath rising to a position of power feels like a modern phenomenon, but it's exactly what Shakespeare exposes in his play, which might also give us some clues as to how to stop them.
Bad People - Of all the new BBC Sounds podcasts, this one feels the most podcasty, being hosted by two chirpy and empathetic millennials. Its light conversationality is belied by the subject matter, however, which is criminal psychology! I binged the whole series in two days.
John le Carré - Spy novelist John le Carré died last year; this is an affectionate and comprehensive profile by his longtime friend and neighbour, Philippe Sands (who also presented the excellent The Ratline, which you may remember my going on about some time ago).
Yuri Gagarin - Looking into Soviet Russia's most charismatic cosmonaut, the first man in orbit, and (history has yet to prove me wrong here) the Birdie Bowers of the Space Age.

NARRATIVE NONFICTION
A new section here, as there are some excellent productions which blend history and drama:
Peking Noir - An intelligent, resourceful Russian flees the Revolution and sets up in the underworld of inter-war China. Historical research is complicated by their turning up sometimes as a woman and sometimes as a man. A compelling blend of detective work and drama attempts to thread together the fragments of a fascinating life.
The Battersea Poltergeist - A similar blend of sleuthing and dramatic recreation, a blend frequently found on TV but never, as far as I know, pulled off as successfully as this investigation into the weird case of a poltergeist in 1950s South London. One of a very few radio shows I've been unable to listen to after dark. Do listen with good headphones as the sound design is phenomenal.
Bomb Happy - I've been sitting on this link since Remembrance Day and haven't listened yet, but mean to. If memory serves, it's a dramatic reinterpretation of WWI PTSD in the soldiers' own words, but delivered by modern actors. The trailer was really promising. Maybe we can see about it together.

FICTIONAL
Scarlet Pimpernel expires soon- In my middle school French class, we watched the old film (in English), and it was never made clear that he was putting on the fop persona as an act, and I thought it was the stupidest story ever. I am pleased to say that this radio adaptation is clear as a bell and really fun. Secret agent rescuing people from the French Revolution, in case you didn't have to sit through the old film on a 21" TV all the way on the other side of your middle school French class.
Mabinogi - The great work of Welsh mythology comes to life in this fresh and compelling adaptation. I've only listened to Part 1 so far, but I've read the book, and it's an adept treatment of what could be overly precious or grandiose.
Going Dark - The theatres in London have been shut down a few times before 2020; once was when the Puritans took power in the mid-17th Century. This is the story of how some of those actors saw out that time.
Dance Til You Bleed - An omnibus of five lesser-known Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales, in their original form!
Sorrows of Young Werther - The original Emo, Werther suffers the torment of unrequited love and sets about ruining his life over it. Goethe's novel was hugely influential to the romantic movement, and if you've read about Beethoven at all you've probably heard of it. Now you can hear why.
The Meaning of Zong - The story of an atrocity that profoundly influenced Britain's abolition of the slave trade. This was a stage production adapted for radio, and sometimes suffers for it, but it has some moments of pure magic, so is worth being patient with.
Dot and the Russian Dossier - More secret agent hijinks, this time in wartime England, sort of if Wodehouse tried to be John le Carré but with a lot more ladies. Mainly I just love the pace and the arch way everyone is played. More Fenella Woolgar on the radio, please.

FUNNY
Keep Calman Carry On expires soon- Comedian Susan Calman is a very tense person, but has friends who are good at relaxing, so she sets out to learn from them the secrets of their success.
Just A Minute - After the passing of its eternal host, Nicholas Parsons, the mind-blowing rhetoric game is back with a series of guest hosts. The episode linked is the one I managed to join as part of the remote audience, which was fascinating. It turned out pretty well, despite some significant technical difficulties; I had worried they were going to scrap it. I don't know if they're trying out hosts to find a permanent one or if it will be a rotating chair from now on, but it's nice to see the show still [figuratively] on the road.


THE PLAYLIST
There was a real drought in interesting radio plays, but whoever's taken over as commissioner has brought a little diversity back. Here are some unknown quantities I intend to investigate in the near future:
Devoted - Mostly for the cast, this one, but it's a dramatsation of the six months a writer spent in hospital with Covid.
Scenes from a Zombie Apocalypse - "A persuasive modern horror story" according to the blurb; mainly it's on my list because the director is one of my dependables.
Writ in Water - A play about John Keats' last months
The Elder Son - A Russian farce
Marais and the Soul of the Termite - A South African naturalist meets an untimely end
Voodoo Macbeth - Orson Welles' all-Black staging of a Shakespeare play
Heart of Darkness - updated Conrad
Wasteland - a rubbish comedy, by a good writer
Star child - a gently comic take on the Nativity

There has been so much good radio on, I have been too busy listening to it to get this list out in a timely fashion. Therefore some of these shows are expiring fairly quickly, and if you want to listen you should get a move on. For assistance in that, I am providing the expiration date for the first available episode, which I hope may be helpful.

FICTIONAL

Fatherland - This dramatisation of Robert Harris' book knocked my socks off when I first heard it 15 years ago, and the more I listen to it the more I am convinced it is the finest radio play ever made. Alternate history, Nazis won the war, hardbitten detective, pesky lady journalist – practically every noir trope, but it goes places. Oh, it goes places. It doesn't get repeated nearly as much as it used to, so don't miss this opportunity. (7 Sep)
A Study in Scarlet - Bert Coules' radio adaptations of the entire Sherlock Holmes canon (and some extras) are one of the best things ever to happen to radio drama, and 4 Extra has happily repeated the longer ones after a long absence. I have linked to the first episode of A Study in Scarlet but once you launch the player it should take you through The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Valley of Fear as well. (2 Sep)
The 39 Steps - I think I heard this one ages ago, and if memory serves it preserves some rather uncomfortable antisemitism from the book (which I assume the West End play does not) but it is a rollicking good jape otherwise. Plus, Tom Baker! (19 Sep)
Evil Under the Sun - I haven't heard this one yet, but the others in this series of Poirot adaptations have been very good so I assume this is as well. I don't like Christie's milieu as much as Doyle's – what can I say, I'm stuck in 1910 – but that's nothing against the production team here who really know how to put a radio play together. (20 Sep)
Only You Can Save Mankind - The aliens a pre-teen boy is fighting in his video game suddenly surrender, and demand safe conduct out of the war zone as per the Geneva Convention. Terry Pratchett takes the twist of Ender's Game and uses it as a starting place, exploring important ideas about humanity in the process. As a radio production this one leaves something to be desired, but it's still worth listening, especially if you haven't read the book. (18 Sep)
Journey to the Centre of the Earth - Unlike the book, which reads like 'everything we know about geology in 1864 held together with gossamer threads of plot', this adaptation focuses more on the adventure, and does a good job of subterranean atmosphere. (12 Sep)


FACTUAL

The Mark Steel Lecture - Always interesting and engagingly presented, the episode I've linked to is about Oliver Cromwell but everything else Steel talks about is worth a listen too. (1 Sep)
All The Planet's Wonders - A refreshingly joyful exploration of, in this case, astronomy, but the whole series will lift your spirits with wonder and curiosity. (3 Sep)
Radiolab - This series is a huge hit in podcast land, but I find it overproduced to the point of distraction so I've never really got into it. However, live shows cannot be edited to Kingdom Come, and I enjoyed this one – mainly about what killed the dinosaurs – hugely. (8 Sep)
Meet David Sedaris - It took me a while to come around to Mr Sedaris but I know lots of people like him a lot, so if you are one of those people, or wonder if you might be, here is your heads-up that his series of essay readings is back on Radio 4. (27 Aug)
How Perkin Brought Purple to the People - I haven't listened to this programme yet, but I know this story from James Burke, and it's a good one! There is no natural dye that gives you magenta, so a huge range of colours was unavailable to fashion, until someone created one from a fossil fuel byproduct. (indefinite)
The Infinite Monkey Cage - Radio 4's classic irreverent science show is back, this time discussing one of Dreamy Professor Brian Cox's favourite subjects: black holes. Recorded with an online audience! (indefinite)
You're Dead To Me - This series of history podcasts got at least ten pages of my book done. The host is the head geek behind Horrible Histories, then every episode he brings in a different expert and a comedian to discuss a historical subject for just under an hour. I'm pretty sure I've linked to it before, but it's started updating again. (indefinite)
Intrigue: The Ratline - Loving family man Otto Wachter died mysteriously in Rome a few years after the end of WWII. Could this have anything to do with what he got up to when a high ranking officer in the SS? If you enjoyed Fatherland you may find this a good chaser; its incredible twists and turns take you for quite a ride. (indefinite)

FUNNY

That Mitchell and Webb Sound - After taking their show to roaring success on TV, David Mitchell and Robert Webb returned to radio for one last go in 2013. They have lost none of their genius. (31 Aug)
Cabin Pressure - R4 has apparently finished its rerun of the best radio sitcom ever with Series 2 – I can only assume they're saving the rest for when the country needs a laugh again this winter. If you've missed it up till now, you can still listen to the last four episodes. (23 Aug)
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme - More genius sketch comedy! Honestly the name should be enough to get you to listen, but if you need further convincing, well, there just isn't a dud sketch in the whole show, and it's up to, what, eight series now? (3 Sep)
Old Harry's Game - The sitcom set in Hell really hits its stride in Series 2, when the overcrowding situation in Hell forces Satan to try to make humanity a little less sinful. (indefinite?)
Listen Against - This started as a topical comedy, where the week's programming on Radio 4 got chopped and boiled into an absurd gumbo, but it's funny enough that it keeps getting rerun as a comedy in its own right. Possibly the most self-referential thing R4 has ever made. (29 Aug)
Agendum - In a similar vein of spoofing the news, this one cocks a snook at in-depth investigative reporting and punditry. (7 Sep)
Radio Active - Dipping back into the deeper archives for this one, another sort of mock news programme from the 1980s, with roving reporters and funny names and running gags ... It should be tired by now but it still makes me laugh. (2 Sep)
The Wildebeest Years - Never before have so many puns been crammed into 28 minutes. (28 Aug)
Talking and Not Talking - A rare female-fronted silly sketch comedy; one of the best for recurring characters, including Carol who is Fine and the magnificent China Lion Lady. (1 Sep)
The Horne Section - I suppose it's a variety show, but I think of it as 'a children's show for grownups,' with skits, songs, and a generally uplifting gentle whimsy that I think we all need right now. (4 Sep)
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue - The antidote to panel games which has now become the model for panel games. They're rerunning some classic episodes so fill yer boots with such immortal rounds as One Song To The Tune Of Another and Sound Charades. (2 Sep)
Reincarnathan - R4's comedy output has not been stellar of late; this sitcom about a failed human trying to make good through a series of animal reincarnations is not genius, but is the best new thing I've heard in a while. (29 Aug)
King Cutler - Some people will listen to Ivor Cutler and think 'Is this a joke?' Others will listen and think 'Is this a joke?' but not be able to stop listening and, perhaps, in the right mood, double over with laughter. Which are you? (20 Sep)
Paul Sinha's General Knowledge - The quizmaster comes back with his arms full of facts, which he effortlessly strings together in front of our very ears. (18 Sep)

When I was working on the West Coast and listening to Radio 4, my day was shaped by the rhythm of the schedule. Start with PM, some decent news and Eddie Mair's voice part of the daily ritual. Get emails etc done so I could start drawing in time for the 6:30 comedy, which was at 10:30 my time (or be annoyed that a meeting, scheduled or otherwise, intruded, which especially seemed to happen on Fridays). Then at 11:00 The Archers would come on, which was my cue to go for a second coffee and find something to do away from my desk for the longest 15 minutes of the day. Back to work for Front Row, then lunch to the accompaniment of whatever the 8:00 documentary was, and so on. Not only did this give me structure, but it made me really good at doing the time conversion between PST and GMT.

Moving to the UK, I was surprised to discover how well Radio 4 in its home time zone is tailored to the rhythms of the day, almost like it was done so deliberately by people who knew what they were doing. As I work with words a lot more now than I used to, and even when not wording am often doing drawings that take more concentration than I can share with a radio programme, I don't listen as faithfully as I used to. But it's frequently on in the kitchen, and they almost always have good kitcheny listening on when I need it. Clever old things.

As I'm trying to establish a new routine in the new place, I have noticed a funny thing: no matter when I start work in the morning, I get antsy around 11:00. It's too early for lunch but too late for a snack that won't ruin lunch; sometimes I'll get up for a drink but usually I have a teapot on the go next to my desk so it's not much of a trip. Yesterday I realised it's the old Archers Avoidance, which has somehow stuck in my work rhythm despite no longer aligning to The Archers at all. It's like a small personal version of those nonsensical family traditions that are perpetuated simply because 'we've always done it this way.' Today I moved a geranium outside and fertilised it, checked the mildew situation on the acanthus, and came back before I realised I'd got up at 11 again. I suppose I'll just have to work around it ...

FACTUAL
A Weekend in Butetown - Did you know Cardiff has had a thriving Somali community for over a hundred years? I learned that from this documentary several years ago, and that's why I have a Somali wagon driver delivering goods to the Terra Nova in my comic.
Britain's Black Revolutionary - As the working class grew and enabled the Industrial Revolution, campaigns to extend voting rights to them got more heated. William Cuffay, son of a slave, was a leader of that struggle in 1840s London, but has been largely forgotten by history.
Van Gogh: Seeing Red - Getting to know Vincent Van Gogh through his vibrant and unique correspondence.

FICTIONAL
Doctor Who: Curse of Davros - The Doctor (in this case Colin Baker) is once again battling to save the universe from the Daleks – in this case by preventing them from throwing the Battle of Waterloo. I'd forgotten what a fun time the Big Finish audio dramas are, and how well produced.
Cadfael - Solving murders during the 12th Century English civil war is a tough job and probably feels like a drop in the bucket, but when you're the monastery's apothecary it's just what you do.
Alice Through the Looking Glass - I confess I haven't listened to this one yet, but it looks like a good cast, and radio is better for doing surrealism than practically anything else.
Day of the Triffids - I link to this reading of John Wyndham's iconic classic every time it comes around because it's fantastic. The idea of monster man-eating plants may sound corny, but the story is actually about societal collapse and human nature, and it does it brilliantly.
Pygmalion - George Bernard Shaw's play from which My Fair Lady was adapted. This production is slightly plodding, but it's interesting to get the class and gender commentary which was mostly too inconvenient for the musical.

FUNNY
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme - Look, all of Series 8 is online right now; if you have three hours' worth of work to do, this will carry you through it like one of those giant eagles from Lord of the Rings. And if that wasn't enough ...
Cabin Pressure Series 3 is rerunning, which is my personal favouite, so if you want Lemons in Play or Otters in the Flight Deck, join Captain Martin du Creff and the Yogi Bear of the Drinks Trolley as they fly the (mostly) friendly skies.
A Trespasser's Guide to the Classics - Several well-known works of literature are invaded by two troublemakers and, to varying degrees, upended. Prior knowledge of literature is not required, but if you would prefer to have some, looking up the Wishbone episode will probably suffice. (I don't think Wishbone did The Cherry Orchard, though.)
The Horne Section - The children's show for grownups is back, with its oh-so-charming mix of music, comedy, and late-night silliness.
The 99p Challenge - I simply cannot overstate the brilliance of this barmy panel game, nor how proud I am of 'my' 99p gang for all becoming big big stars (though it'd be nice to hear them on the radio again). Sue Perkins, Simon Pegg, Peter Serafinowicz, Armando Iannucci, etc on ONE SHOW, it's mad! In more ways than one!
The Armando Iannucci Show - Speaking of the 99p Gang, before he was doing things like The Thick of It, The Death of Stalin, and Veep, Armando Iannucci was being weird on Radio 1. Luckily it was recorded. We are quite possibly living in his imagination now, so it behoves you to know who he is.
Elephant in the Room - A new panel show in which the participants are compared to a survey sample in terms of the averageness – or lack thereof – of their tastes and life experiences. If for nothing else, listen for the large library of hilarious names. (You will probably laugh a few times in between those, too.)
Andrew Maxwell's Public Enemies - The Irish comedian talks about Scottish independence, UKIP, and nationalism in a depressingly prescient standup show from 2013.
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue - It will never be the same since the loss of Jeremy Hardy's great musical talent, but holy bananas Pippa Evans brings down the house. Also nice to see a gesture to equal opportunity in the scorer's seat.

While I was packing and tidying in advance of travelling, I turned on Radio 4 and heard the most perfect spiel about the interdependence of mankind and how we've been conditioned to reject it. But I was busy, so didn't look it up, and failed to note the day or time so I could look it up in future, and so I thought it lost.

Tonight I was doing a bit of busy work, and as such was looking for something to stuff in my ears to keep the other half of my brain happy. Browsing the Radio 4 website I found a comedy show about philosophy. Sure, that sounds like my bag, I thought, and then most of the way through there it was! That speech! Only now I had context.

The programme revolves around a study done by psychologist Cyril Burt on separated twins to determine if intelligence was a heritable characteristic. The study suggested it was, and formed in large part the basis for the post-war educational system in the UK, in which children at age 11 would be tested and sent either to a grammar school, for the high achievers destined for University, or a comprehensive school, where the nation's future factory workers and shopkeepers would be taught enough to get by.* Later it was discovered that the co-authors Burt cites in that report quite probably didn't exist, his data was fishy, and he'd burned a lot of his notes and records before his death. But despite the shade this cast on the validity of his research, the educational system's method of testing and segregating students continued, along with the cultural ramifications of making education a competitive enterprise.

So then we come to this:

The two-tier system, built on Burt's fraud and bizarre fantasies, is with us to this day. It is a system built not on science, but on a brutal individualist dogma that flies in the face of what science tells us about the type of creatures we really are. We are social mammals. Not all mammals are social: polar bears, golden hamsters, and Siberian tigers are not social mammals. But Chacma baboons, gibbons, elephants and African hunting dogs, Alpine ibex, indri, bonnet macaques, and we, are. To be a social mammal doesn't mean to be gregarious at the weekends, but helplessly dependent on each other our whole life long. Our sociability is an ancient instinct that we share with other primates. Rhesus macaques, isolated from birth, quickly learn to press a lever that projects images of other Rhesus macaques on the wall, and there is some evidence to suggest that the macaque starts to pretend to himself that the macaques on the wall are real. He invites them to play, offers them food, cites them as co-authors on a paper on inherited IQ in identical twin macaques separated at birth. We have a profound and lifelong need for each other, against which instincts the education system inculcates the philosophy that the bulk of your peers are impediments and a block on your hopes for self-realisation.

Cyril Burt is, of course, on Wikipedia, and you can listen to the programme here: Rob Newman's Total Eclipse of Descartes

( And now, some navel gazing. )

*The two-tier system was largely abolished later in the century, but efforts have been made by the current government to bring it back, albeit in a somewhat disorganised way. It's a very contentious issue, and there was a lot of debate on it before Brexit took up everyone's available brain cells.

I do frequently wonder if the grammar/comprehensive test (known as the Eleven Plus) is why age 11 is so significant in British children's literature. Obviously that's the age at which you get your letter to go to Hogwarts, but it's an age that pops up in many previous books. Then again, it's also a great age to make your child protagonist – grown up enough to be rational and autonomous but not enough to deal with puberty – so maybe it's a coincidence, or comes from a much older tradition.

It's been a while, but this current job has me at my desk for hours needing something aural to chew on ... Some of these I've listened to, others are on my list.

FACTUAL
Grimm Thoughts - A historical look at the brothers Grimm and their famous work collecting German folklore.
Confessions - Leo Tolstoy's memoir of his search for the meaning of life, from unthinking cultural assumptions, through rationality and flirting with suicide, to a re-encounter with faith. It gets a bit dense around "relating the finite to the infinite" but is fascinating regardless.

FICTIONAL
Five Ghost Stories - Supernatural and vaguely folkloric tales of horror from James Connolly, a bit like M.R. James but without the scholarly detachment
The Old Curiosity Shop - Dickens' tale of Little Nell and the pitiless existence of the poor in Victorian London (the good old days, eh, right?)
The Russian Gambler - R4x has been having a bit of a Dostoevsky season; I caught up with The Brothers Karamazov too late to share it here, but a couple more dramas have been rerun that I didn't even know they had on file. This modern-day retelling of The Gambler looks like fun.
Righteous Brothers - Brother Caradoc wants to play with a bit of polyphony. This is quite clearly the work of Satan.
Irish Micks and Legends - A comic and inexpert romp through Irish mythology

FUN
Old Harry's Game - This sitcom set in Hell was one of my first favourites on Radio 4; revisiting it over ten years later, it's gratifying to find how many layers I didn't appreciate before.
Warhorses of Letters - A love affair between the horses of Wellington and Napoleon may sound like the crackiest historical fanfic, and it is, but it's also genuinely adorable.
That Mitchell and Webb Sound - I don't know why only one episode is rerunning, but sure, I'll take it. Sketch comedy from up-and-coming superstars.
Mel and Sue - More delightful radio beginnings from an eventual big-time double act.
Listen Against - What happens when a radio station bends infinitely inwards. That's not a question, this is it.
Alice's Wunderland - More barmy sketches, this time of a surreal, slightly Victorian flavour. I don't know how I missed this the first time but it's another exemplar of the 'am I sure I didn't dream that' 11pm slot.
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme - There's still time to catch the last two episodes, if only barely ...

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.

FICTION
The Door in the Wall - I link to this every time it comes around, in the hope it'll infect someone else's mind as it has mine ...
Listening to the Dead - A series of dramas about a family with the ability to communicate with their own, either side of the veil. Disclosure: I haven't heard them in years, just remember them being good, in that stays-with-you kind of way.

FACT
Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight - Readings from a book written by a Japanese teenager with severe autism; really compelling listening and highly recommended.
Tocqueville's America Revisited - In the 1830s, a French aristocrat visited the fledgling democracy, and wrote his observations on American society and politics into a famous book. This two-parter looks at how the country has, and hasn't, changed since then. [Episode 2]
All In The Family - A really excellent series on early childhood trauma and its ramifications in terms of psychology and physical health. It sounds dry but is terribly fascinating and revelatory; I highly recommend a listen. And episode two and three.
The Reith Lectures: Hilary Mantel - The author of Wolf Hall and A Place of Greater Safety talks about historical fiction, resurrecting the dead, and other things aimed squarely at me – but you'll probably find it interesting too.

FUN
John Finnemore's Double Acts - The series of gently comic dramas for two players wraps up, to the writer's typically high standard. Still four episodes available, three of which are particular favourites of mine.
The Vinyl Cafe - This episode isn't particularly notable, but I was surprised to see this Canadian stalwart on the BBC. Stuart MacLean has passed on, now, but his Canadian version of A Prairie Home Companion hasn't lost its down-home charm.
The Consultants - I link to this sketch show every time it comes around, but it's good clean feel-good fun, so, you know, if you like that sort of thing ...
Dead Ringers - This satirical impressions sketch show used to be what ran during "silly season", but of course that doesn't exist anymore. I know everyone's got a Trump impression, but Dead Ringers' series of Trump's midnight calls to Sean Spicer are pretty special.
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue - The very, very silly panel game is back, and episodes 3 and 4 play host to John Finnemore and Susan Calman, which would be too much of a good thing if it were possible to get too much of those two.
Le Carré On Spying - The Penny Dreadfuls have gone into the business of comedic historical dramas with surprising moments of feeling; this one is about the writer of the George Smiley spy stories, the most famous being probably Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Portentous Perils - A comedy sci-fi satire podcast written and read by a regular writer for Radio 4's topical comedy shows – good fun, and ever-improving sound quality! The only downside is there's only one episode a month. But it's worth the wait. (And puns!)

FAHRENHEIT 451
To my perception there are three great mid-century dystopias: 1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451, and the latter, I think, has proven to be the most prescient and still the most challenging. Radio 4 has just broadcast a reading of it:
Book at Bedtime - Broken up and slightly abridged into 10 15-minute readings
Omnibus - The 15-minute readings collected into two hour-and-a-bit episodes
If I had all the time I could ask for, I'd have done a bunch of drawings to encourage you to listen to this, but all I have is my words. It's a very important book, but is also cinematic and very pacey, so I don't think you will regret listening to it: please do.

1. Decide to clean the kitchen (It needs doing, and my brain doesn't really get up to speed until noon, so might as well.)
2. Think: It'd be better to listen to some Francophone radio than my usual lineup of kitchen-cleaning CBC podcasts
3. Fight crashy crashy iTunes to find/download a few new episodes of Aujourd'hui l'histoire
4. Give up on crashy crashy iTunes and finally update it
5. Update goes unresponsive
6. Restart computer
7. Run update again
8. Meanwhile, finally get around to removing a bunch of programmes from running on startup
9. Restart again when prompted by iTunes
10. Download those episodes at last without crashing
11. Plug in iPod, find it's chock full of podcasts from three years ago
12. Hunt down, delete/uncheck existing podcasts
13. Sync with new French podcasts (baladodiffusion)
14. An hour later, finally start cleaning the kitchen.

My mum likes to call her mother tongue 'kitchen French' – amazing the lengths one has to go to, in this modern world, even to acquire that!