This week’s BBC Radio 4 Phrase of the Week is:
“Kicked it into the long grass”
According to my reference books, if an issue or problem is kicked into the long grass, it is pushed aside and hidden in the hope that it will be forgotten or ignored. Having not heard the expression for a long time, over the last couple of weeks it seems to have become a stock phrase for the politicians. Apparently, it’s particularly useful for social care, recession stories and election promises…..
Being an avid watcher of Danish crime drama on the TV, a fan of the production company Sweet Talk and someone who’s interest is always piqued by anything described as ‘noir’, I was very excited to see this potential gem nestling in this week’s schedule on BBC Radio 4.
It’s the first in a series of three specially-commissioned stories written by Heidi Amsinck and set in Denmark. In ‘Last Train to Helsingor’ Henrik Borg is a success. Things start to go wrong when he falls asleep, and wakes up in a sinister, deserted railway siding.
Heidi Amsinck is a writer and journalist who also wrote The Chanterelles of Ostvig, Conning Mrs Vinterberg and Detained, which were produced by Sweet Talk for BBC Radio 4.
The reader is the marvellous Tim McInnerny (who many people know as Lord Percy Percy in Blackadder) and the producer is Ros Ward.
It’s a bit late for me, at 00:30 on Sunday night, but hopefully it will be on iplayer.
Link to BBC Radio 4 web page Danish Noir
Henry David Thoreau
A brief post, because there are only 3 days left to listen to this on iplayer. The recent ‘Something Understood’ about Henry David Thoreau was extremely interesting. I knew almost nothing about Henry David Thoreau before listening to this, but as I often find with this programme, it was interesting enough for me to do some further research afterwards. Mark Tully covered elements of Thoreau’s simple living, tax avoidance, writing, influence on music and political activism. Fascinating.
The latest Book at Bedtime is Beginner’s Goodbye by Anne Tyler. It’s read by William Hope, who was born in Montreal.
Widower Aaron Woolcott is trying to come to terms with the sudden accidental death of his wife. As his family and friends fuss around him, Aaron throws himself into work at the family firm, a small publisher with a successful line in “Beginner’s Guides” to every stage and aspect of life (from “The Beginner’s Spice Rack”, to “…Kitchen Remodelling”, to “…Funerals”). Just when Aaron begins to think that he can’t go on, Dorothy, his dead wife, begins to appear to him in very real form.
A one-week (5 episodes) Book at Bedtime this time; Annals of the Parish by John Galt.
A chronicle of the minutiae of small-town Scottish life, written in 1821. Narrated by the Reverend Micah Balwhidder, it’s an account of his fifty year ministry in the parish of Dalmailing.
Abridged by Rosemary Goring and read by Paul Young.
Please vote in the poll on the right to let us know whether you like it.
Link to BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime
I have a love/hate relationship with the Today programme. I think that some of the presenters are only there by virtue of their time served with the BBC and that they have lost their sharpness and make too many mistakes. However, I continue to listen because it does keep me informed about current affairs in a way that no other programme does. And ocassionally, Radio 4 amaze me with the features that they air.
This happened on yesterday’s programme when they actually dared to talk about world population numbers. This is a subject that many professionals shy away from, it being a generally unpalatable and unpopular subject. So full marks to the Today programme for mentioning the Royal Society report ‘People and the Planet’, published this week. A calm, balanced and sensible explanation (from Sir John Sulston FRS) ensued. Although Sarah Montague tried her best to make an issue of it, his reasoning was intelligent and impeccable, and it has encouraged me to find out more about this subject.
I’ve included some interesting links below, although a word of warning; the Population Matters site has a counter on it which shows you how the population is growing in real time. Shocking.
To listen to the specific feature on listen again, scroll to 1:49:30 in the programme for 26th April here:
Other interesting links:
Link to “People & The Planet” web page on the Royal Society’s website
Not many votes last week on the poll, but 4 out of 5 people voted in favour of The Snow Child. The new Book at Bedtime starts tonight and it’s “The House on Paradise Street” by Sofka Zinovieff. I’m sure I can’t be alone in thinking:
Oh no; not another ‘epic tale of love and loss’.
Why can’t people come up with more original ideas for books, or at least more original ways of describing novels? Anyway, I haven’t read it so it’s not fair for me to judge it yet. Apparently, Maud’s Greek husband dies in a car crash and Maud tracks down his estranged mother to Moscow so that she can let her know about her son’s death. Maud becomes increasingly interested in the ‘bitter family feud’ that led to the abandonment of her son as a baby.
Please vote in the Book at Bedtime poll on the right hand side of the page, to let us know whether you think it’s worth staying up for. Or perhaps you’ve read it already and can leave a comment to let us know whether it’s any good.
There are 10 episodes, starting at 22:45 on Monday 16th April. The readers are Lucy Briers and Ann Beach.
I know that people may be suffering from Titanic overload at the moment, but I couldn’t resist a serious ‘Whistledown’ documentary. I must warn you; there is a hideous, glaring grammatical error on the Radio 4 website; why is it that the BBC seem to think that the website content is not as worthy of care as other channels? Let’s hope the programmes are of a higher quality than the website.
This series of five programmes is presented by Jeanette Winterson, and promises to be a careful consideration of the tragedy. Fascinated by all things maritime, I confess to having a morbid fascination with disaster at sea. However, films like James Cameron’s leave me cold. I like good, solid facts, and this series includes audio archive interviews with survivors.
There are 5 episodes, starting on Monday 9th April at 13:45.
Link to BBC Radio 4 Ship of Dreams web page.
Pour yourself a martini and have a listen to this on iplayer. Often overlooked or sneered at, lounge music is immensely popular. Many people will not admit to liking it, but I defy you to listen to this and not dig out some of your own collection and your turtleneck jumper.
Rich discovers that new technology means that classic tracks are being re-discovered and shared as never before, producing fascinating advances and musical hybrids within lounge culture.
Not sure why it’s only half an hour long. If Radio 4 can make a 30-part series with Clare Balding on “Sport & the British”, then surely lounge music merits a similarly in-depth analysis. Just imagine it – we could have a whole hour on just Bossa Nova.
Pure lounge magic. I’m off to itunes to search for the “thriving contemporary lounge scene” that Rich mentions.
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