The PIPS

More Women Than Men on News Quiz Shock!

noreply@blogger.com (incurable hippie) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:38:00 +0000

I love News Quiz, it's one of my favourite half hours on radio 4, but there are always, always, always many more men than women.

Tonight, possibly for the first time (certainly the first time I have ever heard), there are three women and two men. Even discounting the chair (and discounting Sandi should surely be illegal), that makes an equal number of male and female contestants.

Wow.

And now I have expressed my joy I will go back to enjoying the programme.

Jarvis Cocker to Edit Today Programme

noreply@blogger.com (incurable hippie) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 13:44:00 +0000

ISIHAC Mailout

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:03:00 +0000

Dear I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue Mailing List Member,

It seems an opportune moment to communicate after the hiatus caused by the death of our beloved Chairman Humph in April this year.

Firstly, on behalf of the team, I'd like to thank the thousands of you who sent us messages of condolence. There were so many I regret I have still not replied to 900 or so - I promise I will in due course. And belatedly, on Humph's behalf, I'd like to thank the thousands who sent Humph "Get Well" messages when he first went into hospital. I spent several hours printing out as many as I could and took a huge pile of them in for Humph to read in his hospital bed. I'm so pleased he was able to able to appreciate the scale of everyone's affection for him at what must have been a very worrying time.

You will probably have heard the various Radio tributes to Humph since his death. I do hope you caught the ISIHAC team's tribute to the great man on 15th June narrated by Stephen Fry. If you didn't, I'm pleased to say that BBC Audiobooks will be releasing it later this year, together with the show Humph In Wonderland which we recorded last Christmas. I will send further details of these in due course.

And you might also have read Radio 4's announcement that we will be continuing with I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue in 2009. We have all been slightly ambivalent about continuing the show without Humph, but have been greatly encouraged by the huge number of emails you've sent encouraging us to keep going. Despite the rumours, we've made no decisions about possible replacements for Humph, and are unlikely to make any decisions this year at least. Certainly I don't envisage us selecting anyone on a permanent basis for several series.

For anyone suffering withdrawal symptoms in the absence of their biannual dose of 'Clue', there are several programmes and publications either currently available or in the pipeline...

* On BBC iPlayer you can currently catch both the BBC4 tribute to Humph, and a half-hour excerpt from the ISIHAC Tour show we filmed at the Lowry Centre in Salford earlier this year. This is the only complete film of ISIHAC in existence and was the last recording Humph made before he went into hospital just ten days later. We will be releasing the entire show as a DVD in due course, hopefully by Christmas. The links to the iPlayer shows are as follows: For the BBC4 Humph Tribute it's http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ddwcy/ and for the half-hour tour show except it's http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00dmpd2/

* On 10th October our publisher Trevor Dolby at Preface Books is bringing out the complete collection of Humph's introductions to all the places we visited over seventeen years touring the show, written by Iain Pattinson. The book is entitled Lyttelton's Britain and contains a large amount of previously unbroadcast material. As I say in a foreword to the book, I think the combination of Iain Pattinson and Humphrey Lyttelton has been the single most important writer/performer partnership in British Radio since Galton & Simpson started writing for Tony Hancock. It's a wonderful and hilarious collection and I confidently predict it will be a best-seller. You can pre-order a copy of Lyttelton's Britain now, and Trevor is offering this book at a special discounted rate of 35% off the retail price to members of this mailing list - that's less than Amazon. Just go to http://www.chairmanhumph.co.uk/ and click on 'Pre-Order Now', then enter the promotional code 'Lyttelton' before purchasing, and the price will amend to £9.74 plus £2.75 postage, so £12.49 in total.

* Finally, I must tell you that our good friend and Clue regular Andy Hamilton is touring his one man show 'Hat of Doom' around the country over twenty dates from now until early December. You will of course know Andy from his regular appearances on The News Quiz as well as Radio 4's Old Harry's Game. Andy was co-creator and writer of Channel 4's legendary Drop The Dead Donkey and has recently co-created and written the stunningly good BBC1 sitcom Outnumbered, which returns for a second series this Autumn. For the complete list of Andy's tour dates, go to: http://www.varietylives.com/schedule.html

And that's about it for now. I will of course keep you posted of any future developments.

With best wishes

Jon Naismith
Producer, I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

When Charlotte Giggles.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 14:05:00 +0000

When an upset stomach wakes you at 5.45am, there's every reason to believe that the hours ahead will be grim.

This was indeed what was happening to me yesterday morning, and I was thoroughly fed up. Until the now widely reported moment of joy during the 8am news on the Today programme.

Charlotte Green was reading it, and had just introduced a clip of the earliest known recording of the human voice, singing Au Clair de la Lune in 1860. When Charlotte returned after the clip it was clear within moments that she was starting to lose it. What ensued was fantastic, even more of a giggle attack than the infamous Jack Tuat incident.

~~~~Listen here~~~~

Charlotte's collapse was covered all over the media, with the Guardian writing this:

BBC Radio 4 newsreader Charlotte Green's famously steadfast composure on the Today programme deserted her this morning as she dissolved in a fit of giggles live on air while reading an obituary - sending the press office into meltdown.

Green's perfect enunciation is so constant it is an article of faith among her millions of fans, but it fell apart shortly after 8am today as she read a news item about the death of Oscar-winning screenwriter Abby Mann and had to be rescued by presenter James Naughtie.

However, the corpsing spread, with Naughtie struggling to suppress giggles when introducing the next report at 8.10am, about the danger that Iraq may be sliding into civil war after this week's clashes in Basra between government forces and fighters loyal to the radical cleric Moqtada al Sadr.

The Today programme received hundreds of calls and emails after Green's fit of giggles and the BBC press office went into "meltdown", according to the show's presenter Edward Stourton.

Stourton later explained to listeners that Green had been put off after the previous news item, about the first recording of a human voice, singing Au Clair de la Lune.

Stourton said Green was distracted after an as yet unidentified Today staffer whispered in her ear that the quaint female singer sounded like a "bee buzzing in a bottle".

He and Naughtie both denied responsibility for the prank.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "Yes, Charlotte Green got a fit of the giggles after hearing a recording of the first human voice from 1860, this was the first time she had heard this. The next item was an obituary about Abby Mann."

"I'm afraid I just lost it, I was completely ambushed by the giggles," said Green later.

She admitted a similar giggling fit struck her about 10 years ago, also on the Today programme.

"I did feel slightly embarrassed, knowing I have this reputation that I am prone to getting the giggles," she said.

"People have been very sweet and everyone has been coming up to me said how much it has cheered up their Friday morning."

The Today editor, Ceri Thomas, said most listeners who contacted the show had commented on "how much they had enjoyed the moment".

He added: "When Charlotte loses it, she really loses it."

Despite the sensitive nature of reading an obituary, and the disastrous event of giggling throughout one, our favourite Charlotte doesn't seem to be in any trouble. The nation loved it, it was re-played less than an hour later before the end of Today, as there had been so many requests.

You can listen to the giggling fit here or here.

And as if that wasn't enough mirth for an early morning, the Monty Python song I'm So Worried was used to illustrate the Heathrow fiasco, thanks to its lyrics,

I'm so worried about what's happening today,
In the Middle East, you know.
And I'm so worried about the baggage retrieval
System they've got at Heathrow. (read full lyrics here)

Adapted from an email from Refuge

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:09:00 +0000

We would like to let you know that on Sunday 30 March 2008 Honor Blackman will be reading the BBC Radio 4 Appeal to raise funds and awareness for the Freephone 24 Hour National Domestic Violence Helpline (run in partnership between Women's Aid and Refuge). This will be a chance to hear more about how the helpline supports the thousands of women and children who are experiencing domestic violence.

The BBC Radio 4 Appeal is a three minute appeal on behalf of the BBC's chosen charity for that week. It encourages listeners to donate over the phone, online, or by post.

The Appeal will be aired at 7.55am and 9.26pm on Sunday 30th March 2008, and then at 3.27pm on Thursday 3rd April 2008, on BBC Radio 4: 92.4 - 94.6 FM and 198 LW. You will also be able to listen again online at www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/appeal for a week after the first appeal broadcast.

Please help us to raise as much money as possible by listening in and helping to spread the word! We want to tell as many as people as possible about the broadcast, so let your friends know and ask them to tell their friends as well! The more people who listen the more money will be raised - all of which will go directly towards providing a potentially lifesaving Helpline service for women affected by domestic violence.

Please spare five minutes of your day to listen to the Appeal and forward this email to as many friends and family as possible. Thank you.

With warmest wishes from all at Refuge and Women's Aid

For further information on the appeal, please contact sarah_stockwell@refuge.org.uk

Go4It

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:43:00 +0000

GFI is Radio 4's kids' programme. I don't listen to it often, but through my occasional dalliances with it I do know exactly what to do when I find a whale stranded on a beach.

Barney Harwood, who presents it, used to sing along to the theme tune which made it much more entertaining than nowadays when he doesn't. But I guess he has some dignity to maintain.

Tonight's programme was actually a really sensitive and careful discussion on how children cope with death, and what does and doesn't help.

Barney talked mainly to three children, two of whom were siblings who had lost their Dad, and one a girl who had lost her brother. They also had Michael Rosen on the programme, the current children's laureate, who wrote Michael Rosen's Sad Book after the death of his son. He wrote it to help himself cope, but it is a children's book which children experiencing grief can read and, judging by the reviews of the kids in the programme, is very helpful and reassuring to them. All of them, Rosen himself included, particularly loved the illustrations in the book, done by the ever-fabulous Quentin Blake.

They also talked to Milly Bell, who wrote My Daddy is Dying when she was 7 years old, in order to help other children in the same situation that she was in. Then Barney and the children on the programme asked her various questions, and her maturity when discussing her life was truly incredible.

The programme was gentle and inspiring. This adult here wishes she had the guts and wisdom of some of those kids, in dealing with death and bereavement.

Myxomatosis

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:51:00 +0000

Radio 4 has this uncanny knack of taking a subject in which you thought you had no interest, and drawing you in so you're hanging on its every word.

That happened to me this morning with In Living Memory, discussing myxomatosis in rabbits:

Contemporary history series.

Chris Ledgard recalls the outbreak of the early 1950s which almost wiped out the country's entire rabbit population, to the consternation of animal lovers but to the relief of farmers desperate to protect their crops.

I ended up so enthralled that I had to delay my plans by half an hour, to hear the whole programme. The history in Australia, the introduction of the disease to the UK (seemingly deliberately) and the mixture of those who were glad of the disease to control the rabbit populations (often those in agriculture) and those who thought it was a death too cruel to inflict deliberately.

They even brought in Beatrix Potter and how many people in Britain's response to the situation was influenced by our childhood memories of the nasty Mr MacGregor.

The Australian government encouraged the deliberate spreading of myxomatosis in rabbits, whereas here the prospect of introducing a new disease into nature was generally perceived as a more unwise option.

I have to say, I am on the side of the Peter Rabbit lovers.

Damn!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:36:00 +0000

Ian McMillan (love him) is on Quote Unquote (hate it). Dilemma!

In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 14:02:00 +0000

In Our Time is another of those 'only on radio 4' programmes. It is so intellectually brain-scrambling that I usually turn it off part way through, with no real idea of the intricacies of the scientific or philosophical absurdities which are being deconstructed. Melvyn B. himself usually has a frighteningly impressive ability to grasp and wrestle with each week's subject.

But on hearing the introduction to today's programme, I recognised the name of one of my University professors, and decided to have a go at following the debate.

It was about Albert Camus, whose literature I had been taught by that very same professor, and I am pleased to report that once my brain had woken up and remembered that it is capable of actual thinking, I followed the discussion with interest, comprehension and not a little nostalgia.

I studied l'étranger 3 times, firstly at A-level, where i am sure it is popular with tutors taking advantage of the fact that because it is written in the 1st person, they don't have to teach the past historic tense on top of everything else. But In Our Time this morning reminded me that as well as being not too technically or linguistically challenging a text, it also has much literary and philosophical merit.

Posh woman teaches Muslims to fish

noreply@blogger.com (Becky Vigor) — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 22:21:00 +0000

The Fishing Scene today at 12.30pm was a classic piece of Radio 4 treasure. For a reason that was never explained, a posh older woman was spending the day teaching four Muslim young women how to do fly-fishing. Amidst flies, hooks and splashy noises the women got to know each other, discussing matters from fashion, to marriage, to African fish-head soup! I wanted to adopt the fishing woman as my honorary aunt and the young women as my sisters. The unlikely group talked, laughed, got on like a house on fire and even caught some fish.

That Quiz About the News

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 20:03:00 +0000

A conversation I had a few years ago.

She: You should send that in to that programme where they read out cuttings, what's it called? On Friday evenings on radio 4? It's a quiz about the news.

Me: Oh yeah, I know the one. What *is* it called?

She: I don't know! Hmmm... Quiz about the news... quiz about the news...

Me: Oh, the News Quiz.

She: Yes!

Church

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 15:17:00 +0000

I hate it when Church is on the radio, it makes me feel guilty for doing things like smoking, when 'in Church' (i.e. when it's being broadcast), and my Christian background has me automatically answering 'Amen' at the appropriate times, no matter what else I'm up to at the time.

It's usually restricted to Sunday mornings when it's especially irritating because if you hear it, it means you're up too early for a Sunday morning when a lie-in should be on the cards.

That's if you listen on FM or digital. If you listen on Longwave, I think there's a service broadcast every day.

As I type, it's A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. The Carols are nice, I suppose.

Aesop's Fables: Afternoon Play

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 14:58:00 +0000

When I was a kid, my Dad used to read me these stories at bedtime, and I've recently been listening to them again, thanks to the fabulous (free downloads of public domain audiobooks) Librivox.

So, when I heard that today's Afternoon Play was to be

Aesop's Fables Michael Morpurgo's imaginative and humorous retelling of a clutch of Aesop's best-known stories, adapted from a stage production.

I was very excited!

14:15. So far, silly songs, summing up some of the 'morals of the stories' which feature at the end of the fables.

14:20. It's a bit giddy, but fun.

14:23. Starting to do my head in. This song involves two blokes making donkey noises, and though it is to illustrate the donkey in the story, it hurts my head.

14:25. The songs are reminding me of The 15 Minute Musical. Wonder if the same people are involved?

14:29. Kindness is more important than strength.

14:29. The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg! I love this one!

14:32. I don't think the guy in the original fable wanted a big, fast, red car. But modern adaptation is quite fun. I know what he's about to do... he's so stupid!

14:35. Be happy with what you've got and look after it.

14:40. How did Little Red Riding Hood get into this?

14:42. Ooh, the wind versus the sun. Who will win? (I already know the answer... which spoils it a tad).

14:44. Interesting that they're both Italian, "Watcha this!". The sun sings chilled-out jazz, too.

14:46. Gentle persuasion is often the best.

14:47. The Hare and the Tortoise. Another fantastic nostalgic one!

14:52. Phew! I am glad the lion wasn't hungry...!

14:52. Silly, silly hare.

14:53. Go tortoise, go tortoise, go tortoise!

14:54. Speed isn't everything; there are other ways of winning.

14:55. That'll teach the Boy Who Cried Wolf! Poor sod.

14:56. Too many munchy sound effects, though I guess it made the point.

14:56. Noone believes a liar even when he's telling the truth.

14:57. Fair-Weather Friends Aren't Worth Having.

14:57. Try to please everyone, you end up pleasing noone.

14:59. The End.
If I didn't already love these stories, I suspect I would have hated this play. As it was, though it had its annoying aspects (head-hurty songs), I loved it. Better generally for kids than adults, I suspect. Silly for Christmas.

For a week, you can 'listen again' on your computer (even if it's for the first time) here. If I haven't put you off it, of course.

Misplaced Assumptions

noreply@blogger.com (Becky Vigor) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 23:15:00 +0000

Radio 4 tends to be my constant companion, day and night, whenever I'm at home. I listen to a surprising amount of what they broadcast, especially as I don't have a TV, so I rely on the radio for most of my news and entertainment. However, inevitably the radio doesn't hold my attention constantly: I have things to do, thoughts to think, places to go. I often tune in for random comments which intrigue me by their seeming disconnection from anything to do with sense when stripped of their context. This is one of the most appealing features of Radio 4, because so much of what is broadcast is random and quirky in nature even before it tries to get through my weirdness filter.

The problem is, one of the things I increasingly find myself hearing when I tune back into what's on the radio is "You are listening to..." - The World at One, The Six O'clock News, etc. But I'm not! I just tuned back in for a few seconds while they said that. Radio 4 broadcasters should know better. We are so much an all-0r-nothing listenership, for many people Radio 4 forms a background to our lives, but we're not always paying attention. They should stop assuming that I'm listening when, in fact, the only thing I've heard in the last 10 minutes' broadcast is them telling me I'm listening! I'm sure they didn't used to say this so much, and they should stop doing it right away. "This is The Six O'clock News" would be so much less presumptuous and more informative.

Reassuringly Familiar

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 07:12:00 +0000

There's something decidedly comforting about the constant regularity of radio 4. After waking at stupid o'clock this morning, knowing that, on turning on the radio, i'd find the end of world service, followed by radio 4 waking for the day, was a reassuring relief in the bleak early hours.
Any alteration to the schedule or routine from broadcasting house can be surprisingly disconcerting, though thankfully rare.

Monday Evening Musings

noreply@blogger.com (Claire) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:01:00 +0000

After I was invited to be a contributor to this blog, it struck me I'd been letting my Radio Four listening slip a bit in recent weeks. Catching up with the latest ludicrous adventures of Jack Bauer and Gregory House (not together, but I would definitely watch that) and listening to little more than the Today programme on my radio alarm clock, something that resulted in a continuous hazy knowledge of the day's news, which I'd forget altogether until someone mentioned it later in the day and I'd suddenly recall it all.

Anyway, this evening was a chance to catch up a bit. I started with the seminal Clue, which was in Manchester this week- good as always but nothing out of the ordinary. Am I the only one who doesn't think swanee kazoo is funny? Next up was The Archers. I do not listen to The Archers, and as more and more people I know succumb to the Ambridge Curse I'm taking extra care to avoid its dubious charms before doubtless plunging into a grateful numbing addiction at a later stage. Tonight, a man was trying to persuade another man to put a thing in the farm that turns rubbish into electricity. Also, there was a grumpy old man in a wheelchair being slightly less grumpy to someone and talking about coffee. I'm still not sensing the appeal here.

At 7.15 Front Row- Mark Lawson being slightly insufferable. Apparently A N Wilson thought the film of The Golden Compass was very good, and wondered how they trained all the animals until "they began to speak and I started to think they might not be real". The CGI, whilst fooling A N, was below Mark's standard however. The Spice Girls sounded the same as they always had in Vancouver, and there was an interview with Dennis Hopper. The best bit of this programme was a discussion around a new Gibson Robot automatic self tuning guitar. This sounded good to me- it was a bit like Tomorrow's World- but predictably some guitarists might not like it. Except all the ones they interviewed seemed to love it. As far as I'm concerned, one of the greatest types of guitar is the one that has a keyboard where the strings should be, so maybe I'm biased.

Part two shortly...

Charlotte Green

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:05:00 +0000

In Zin's first post here she mentioned Charlotte Green.

She is, without doubt, a vital component of Radio Four. She is renowned for her voice, which won her the 'Most Attractive Female Voice on National Radio' award. She reads the news and also frequently reads clippings on News Quiz, where it is not unheard of for them to save the smuttiest clippings for her sultry voice.

Some examples of her reading cuttings for the topical comedy quiz are 1. Meat and Two Veg; 2. Taking a Hard Line; and 3. A Nigerian Identity Crisis. They are all from the News Quiz classic cuttings page, where you can hear more. (Needing Real Player again - don't blame me, blame the Beeb).

Charlotte is known for her occasional giggles, exemplified in the Nigerian Identity Crisis clip above, but one of her most classic moments ever is described in an article she wrote for the The Guardian.

I have always been enormously attracted to people who make me laugh. For me, it's essential to laugh both at the absurdity of life and at oneself. Inevitably, the laughter sometimes spills over into my work and I find myself poleaxed by merriment.

The most memorable occasion was during an eight o'clock news bulletin on the Today programme with Sue MacGregor and Jim Naughtie, both of whom have a very good sense of humour. The mood was relaxed, the bulletin was about to end and I was preparing to read my final story. The voice piece playing had 10 seconds to run and the green light in the studio had gone on to warn me that it was coming to an end. Suddenly the name of the head of Papua New Guinea's armed forces, Major General Jack Tuat (pronounced Twat) resonated round the room.

It's an open secret that I have a ribald sense of humour. I knew immediately that I was going to have trouble getting through the next story, which to compound the problem was about a sperm whale. In the few seconds before the voice piece ended, Sue repeated sotto voce, almost with a sense of wonderment, "Jack Tuat". I caught her eye and from that moment knew I was lost. My voice rose and dropped like Dame Clara Butt on speed, the laughter broke free and the item about the stranded sperm whale came to a premature end. I was transported back to my 10-year-old self, ambushed by mirth because my best friend had farted, unexpectedly and explosively, during school prayers. Poor Jim managed to splutter the words, "Good luck to the whale", before heroically embarking on an interview with a man named Pratt, who in the general chaos of the moment he then inadvertently called Spratt. It was a moot point as to which one of us slid under the table first.

I live dangerously on occasion when stepping into the Today studio. On New Year's Eve, the atmosphere was suitably festive. The head barman from the Savoy Hotel had been invited in to mix a cocktail called a Corpse Reviver and Jim offered me a taste. It lived up to its name and was powerfully medicinal. The fact that the back of my throat felt as if it had ceased to exist proved to be the least of my problems.

The head barman was asked to continue mixing some drinks and took to his task with alacrity. I, however, was meant to be reading a news summary at the same time. It's not easy to do with a silver cocktail shaker being brandished by your left ear and then shaken loudly and vigorously. The finer points of Britain's economic performance got lost amid a general outburst of merriment and revelry. Ho hum.

You can hear the clip here. And you probably will want to, again and again. It is classic 'Radio Four Gone Wrong', and a perfect Charlotte Green moment.

You can hear her discuss her career with the BBC here, with RealPlayer.

Charlotte, you are wonderful. When you were off sick for some months after getting appendicitis, my partner and I actually called the BBC to find out where you were as we were worried and missing you! The model of professionalism, and the model of giggling, in a somehow ideal combination.

Important things about this blog

noreply@blogger.com (Becky Vigor) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:20:00 +0000

I think there are a few things that need to be said at the outset of this blog - certain presuppositions and parameters that will apply. This is not an exhaustive list, but the following things are important to know:

Charlotte Green is the archetypal news reader and is therefore beyond reproach (especially when she gets the giggles!)
The Shipping Forecast is subject to detailed analysis and is generally judged on the criteria of speed of delivery, gravitas and moral judgments made about the various sea areas. Many of the sea areas have additional names (not stated by the continuity announcer) which will become apparent in due course. (This link has a great map of the shipping areas by the way.)
Quote Unquote is clearly *not* comedy, even though the write-up says it is. It is at all times to be avoided and shouldn't really be allowed on the air. These two statements also apply to Down the Line.
Monday and Friday 6.30pm programmes are almost invariably fabulous.
The day just feels wrong when Big Ben is not chiming. The birds which replaced Big Ben for awhile were an interesting diversion though.
This blog is almost exclusively about Radio 4, but the World Service is also up for debate, although only such programmes as are transmitted when Radio 4 "goes to bed".

That's all for now.

Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:52:00 +0000

Well, this blog has to have a first post about *something*, so why not what is on BBC Radio 4 as I type, Count Arthur Strong?

Spoof reminiscences of a former variety star. Count Arthur Strong is an expert in everything from the world of entertainment to the origins of the species, all false starts and nervous fumbling, poorly concealed by a delicate sheen of bravado and self-assurance.

While both the show and its main character are immensely irritating, I do find myself giggling, despite my best efforts not to.

It is a humour based on mixed-up words, an easily confused old has-been, and his arrogant self-importance which leads to his growing frustration when no-one recognises him or appreciates what he considers to be his considerable abilities.

He is rude, annoying and a general nightmare to be with. Yet I can't quite turn it off, nor can I hold back the odd snigger. I hate myself.