BBC Radio4 - S/D

and search all the random things that appear on the station. today in parliament, PM is good. veg talk. GQT. shipping forcast. most of it really. front row. the science stuff.

destroy all gameshows (that inlcudes Just a minute, news quiz etc etc), the big flagship programems ie today programme. Go for it! (the kid thing)

(ok, maybe they should have put it out to pasture when rushton died, but even so...)

D: you and yours, the now show, go4it

i just think that im sorry... and just a minute (i can never remember which ones which) need to take retirement. the news quiz is (i think longer standing) but much worse and less funny version of have i got news for you, a rare example of when tv betters radio (its all about the guests). I do quite like graham norton on just a minute, but i think it needs to go.

actually the worst thing on radio 4 is what that new controller brought in: a pledge to increase cross-fertilisation or whatever stupid phrase they use, ie constant plugging and trailers for shows, viz humphries bleating about looking at bbc.co.uk all the time (surely the radio equiv of "press the red button now"). dud dud dud, idiots.

Search: Little Humph on I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue the other day.

Archers is a great soap. Why do people who hate on Hollyoaks love the Archers? Same reason old people always hate on young people.

Agree about Material World - funny and informative.

Disagree about Heresey - funny and informative.

Maybe it depends who's on.

I listened to Little Humph with Little Edith, it was good.

and HERE is the love for the shipping forecast! it's all here. the safest sound in the world. i did start trying to make it to bed by 12.45 so i could listen to it all snuggled, but i cannot go to bed so early most of the time.

s: shipping forecast, sandi toksvig, broadcasting house, melvyn bragg (OMG HE KNOWS NEARLY AS MUCH AS MARK S), oh ok go on i love the today programme, the news quiz

d: the sunday bloody church service, quote unquote, home truths without peelie :(

D: LINDA SMITH. ENOUGH WITH THE INTERRUPTIONS ALREADY.

Also D: Just A Minute, any time a comedy programme attempts to deal with rap music, Jon Holmes, Mitch Benn.

Rick, did you ever hear Only Connect?

THE SHIPPING FORECAST!

The music just before it at 5am with lots of different tradition British tunes is I think just called the "UK Theme". It's not as good as Sailing By, though.

It's still funny! That "One Song Sung to the Tune of Another" section always cracks me up

I think there should be a seperate channel for cosy middle England banter and panel games. I resent their association with new comedy, serious news and other intelligent programming.

emsk makes a good point about the Archers. That fucking awful signature tune makes me think it's much worse than it is.

i do think that radio4 often does documentaries very well, insofar as they are determinedly unflashy, in stark contrast to what the tv docs i download

It's called the UK theme.

s. Today, Start the week, In our time, Broadcasting House, The News Quiz, the Now Show,The Little World of Don Camillo, Veg Talk, Food Programme, Wine Programme, Test match Special, The Material World, Open Country, little 15 minute documentaries about maths or linguistics or some such, Woman's Hour, File on four, Puzzle Panel, I'm sorry I have a clue, H2G2, the sofa of time, weekending, Millport

d. Midweek with Libby Purves (Destroy with extreme prejudice), Go for it, quote Unquote, Excess Baggage, anything that exposes me to Mark Lawson

of course the antidote to those old boring documentaries is utter trash like "the curse of oil" on tv, which despite its interesting premise and subject matter, was appallingly made, laughably badly scripted, terribly filmed and just excruciating. why should i have to watch potentitally interesting programmes though my fingers, by turns cringing and fuming with anger?

I never listen to Radio 4 these days, but my parents always did, right back even when I was a small child. And it basically hasn't changed since then - when you do listen again its like foetal regression or something. Just hugely comforting.

"the department" on tuesdays, its pretty well written!

i know* i shouldnt like it, but i do!

*secretly i dont know why i shouldnt like it

Slightly related, I'm 'listening again' to Andy Kershaw on Radio3, for the first time in bloody ages, greta john peel tribute record by the cuban boys, sampling status quo leading into a gaelic bagpipe reel.

bbc7, it's just cheap, you paid for it once already radio (big/little toe aside, which appears to be more radio for bullied middle class kids of these fair isles)

Nothing particularly wrong with Liz Kershaw, 8 minutes of Aztec Camera is more than anyone should be subjected to on a sunday morning.

haha ed really?? libby purves cracks me up, midweek seems to be a v thinly-veiled excuse for her to meet all the HOTT adventurers and explorers she's clearly gagging for, you can practically see her salivating!

when i was small i used to think "woman's hour" was called "woman zar"! this was cos the presenters were so POSH back then and i did not know anyone what talked all swishy like that. now they are v clearly saying "hour", which i certainly prefer, though WOMAN! ZAR! sounds like it could be a great prog.

midweek and quote unquote are indeed evil.

we're going to a recording of the now show on thursday, which i'll doubtless enjoy, although i'm not sure anyone else will.

i always think i should listen to radio 4, but never do...

(i quite like mitch benn, but only saw him doing 20 mins at glasto of, i assume, greatest hits)

Search: Broadcasting House. Wish it was on every morning rather than Today.

D: Libby Purves, YES. Quote/Unquote. Money box. You and Yours. All other comedy (see above). The Archers. Those 'lighthearted' plays where a middle class middle aged man's teenaged son borrows his father's car, forcing the father to borrow his wife's car, only it's smaller than his own so he hits his head on the roof and turns on the wipers instead of the indicators.

the daytime plays are super depressing. i need a job so i can be out of the house when womans hour and the plays are on. not that therent arent really good plays on radio 4. juts not at 2 pm.

im quite into that "lives in a landscape" thing. not sure what it is meant to be, just people talking about where they live maybe? think its the radio equivalent of "picture of britain"

some sharp writers there i think. sharper than the perfomrers..?

21:00 The Moon Trees
Scattered around our planet are hundreds of living things that have been to the moon and back again, and most of them are missing. They're "moon trees" - grown from seeds that travelled to the moon and back in the pocket of one of the astronauts on Apollo 14. Richard Black goes in search of this lost piece of space history.

i've seen another documentary about those moon trees. apparently they have musical notes for leaves and can help you fly if you want to vist your friend the Iron Chicken.

Bridget Kendall's Cold War: Stories from the Big Freeze is really good stuff. Tonight's ep has covered Mao's cultural revolution/Prague spring so far, it's deffo worth catching from the start.

It covered Chile / Allende / Pinochet !

I think this program spending 15 minutes talking to witnesses of big events from cold war history is far more successful than Bowen's turgid + self-important history of the Middle East.