Radio
Radio 4’s War and Peace: almost as good as the book
To have listened to Radio 4’s marathon ten-hour adaptation of Tolstoy’s War and Peace as it was being broadcast on…
My four great loves were unrequited (though I had a chance with Ginger Rogers)
I had a short chat with BBC radio concerning the actor Jack Nicholson, whom I knew slightly during the Seventies…
Was Beethoven influenced by yoga?
How many digital radios have you bought over the years? How many are still working? Of the four I used…
When did we become a nation of police informers?
There’s a danger that in what follows your columnist may seem to be recommending an attitude. Please don’t think that.…
Without childhood traumas, how did Alan Bennett ever become a writer?
‘So — take heart,’ said Alan Bennett, sending us out from his play, Cocktail Sticks, on a cheery note. The…
Why Serial is the future of radio
The fuss may now be over, the last episode of Serial revealed. But if the global success of WBEZ Chicago’s…
Children’s radio was once at the core of the BBC - now it’s all but disappeared
It was a bit of a surprise to hear Jarvis Cocker, the embodiment of cool and former frontman of Pulp,…
Was this Christian pioneer of radio evangelism a fraud?
She was the sequinned star of the airwaves back in the 1920s, the first preacher to realise the potential of…
Why radio is a surprisingly good medium for talking about art
You might think it a fool’s errand to attempt programmes about art on the wireless. How can you talk about…
Many more Germans were displaced in 1945 than Indians during partition
What Radio 3 needs is a musical version of Neil MacGregor. The director of the British Museum and now a…
Kate Chisholm on what makes the BBC World Service so special
‘Don’t take it for granted,’ she warned. ‘It’s one of the few places where you can hear diverse voices, different…
Can Radio 3 escape the digital squeeze?
The new controller of Radio 3 has at last been appointed. Alan Davey (not to be confused with the former…
Mary Beard vs Jeremy Paxman
‘Did you find it a good read?’ asked Harrriett Gilbert. An incredibly long drawn-out sigh from Mr Paxman. ‘I think…
The sofa that became a work of art
Last week on Front Row (Radio 4) the singer Joyce DiDonato recalled the advice she gave the new graduates of…
Warhol’s ‘time capsules’ contain everything from toenails to previously unseen paintings worth millions
‘I don’t know what I think,’ says Lenny Henry, echoing what many of us who were listening were probably also…
Who needs drugs when you have Radio 3?
I’m willing to bet it’s only on the BBC’s Radio 3 that you’ll find yourself listening to a programme quite…
Ambridge recovers its sense of humour — finally
‘Isn’t that charming!’ Carol declares at the height of the great Home Farm cocktail party, after being subjected to Jennifer’s…
When a Chinese and a Japanese visit Tokyo's Yasukuni war shrine
What does freedom mean to you? That’s the question the BBC World Service has been asking of us through its…
Some things are better heard on radio, than seen
A double dose of BBC1 drama at the weekend (Silent Witness, Casualty) left me wondering whether there’s a link between…
Is a new art form being born on Woman's Hour?
In a comic-strip cartoon, beads of water apparently radiating outward from the head of one of the characters indicate embarrassment.…
Two women, ages 94 and 83, completely own The Archers
You might think the main storyline in The Archers is all about Helen’s affair with dastardly Rob. (What does she…
When did you last hear a news report you could trust completely?
‘It put a lot upon us,’ said Christopher Jefferies’s aunt. ‘The ripples went on and did not stop for a…
Bye-bye Bric, hello Mint — are Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey really the new boom economies?
New year new ideas as we woke up on Monday morning to find ourselves in Lagos with Evan Davies trying…
Mishal Husain's diary: Sachin, women secret agents, shipbuilding .. and telling the time.
I’ve worked for the BBC for years and have been listening to the Today programme all my adult life, but…
What Jackie did after JFK was assassinated
A surfeit of anniversaries this week reminded us that on the day of President Kennedy’s assassination, C.S. Lewis (born 1898)…
