Radio Review: 11January
My festive listening has dealt a blow, possibly fatal, to my capacity to be surprised. There I was in the kitchen on Christmas Day, listening to BBC Radio 4 Extra’s Cue! Eric Sykes festival. One programme featured Sykes’s 1999 appearance on With Great Pleasure, discussing his favourite books, in which he expressed his appreciation of Ayn Rand, the Russian-American philosopher who inspired both the Canadian prog-rock band Rush and The Tea Party. This wasn’t the surprise… What startled me was hearing Sykes’s friend, Dennis Waterman, reading from Rand’s novel The Fountainhead. It was only slightly less strange than it would have been to discover that Sir David Jason had a sideline lecturing in Nietzsche at a provincial polytechnic. My reaction was ‘I’ve heard it all now’, but I hope I haven’t. Education, information and entertainment are important, but, equally, I turn to the radio to be challenged, surprised and confounded. I don’t want anyone on air pandering to my very possibly half-baked beliefs, or my propping up my delusion that I have a monopoly on ‘common sense’. That way lies madness and Richard Spendlove.
Elsewhere, it was a delight to discover that Danny Baker was doing a show on Radio 2 over the holidays. The joy was compounded when the trailers revealed he would be joined by his former BBC London colleague, Baylen Leonard, and the playlist would consist entirely of show tunes. The show was a blast and I hope it leads to more Baker on R2.
On a sad note, I must mark the passing of Daphne Oxenford, quietly one of the best and most versatile actresses to work in any medium, but whose forte seemed to be radio. For many, she will always be the voice of Listen With Mother, but, for me, her work with Les Dawson, on the Radio 2 series Listen To Les, is the best illustration of her range and exquisite comic timing. When the Radio 4 Extra repeats start again, treat yourself to the sound of Oxenford and Dawson as the Desponds, the world’s most pessimistic couple. Their misery can provoke the most riotous laughter.
Catch up with some of the Christmas specials, if you’re quick, at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer
FOLK TALES
Good news for folk-music fans bereft at the axing of Mike Harding’s Radio 2 show… The presenter has begun a weekly online show. Massive demand for the fi rst show took the site offl ine unexpectedly, but the gremlins have been dealt with.www.mikehardingfolkshow.com
Follow Louis on Twitter: @LadyWireless or email him at: wireless@cheeseford.net For Louis’ blog, go to www.lady.co.uk