The new series of Fry’s English Delight on Radio 4 opens with an angry madman ranting over the phone. “I’m not here, I’m not available. Who’s this? What do you want?” Relax, it’s only John Lydon joining Stephen Fry for a chat about emotions. It’s 2am in LA and he’s as furious as ever.
Fry could bang on about the weather (which he will in next week’s episode) and still provoke wonder, so this discussion of the gap between feelings and how they are expressed is a cracker. Much is covered in half an hour, from the words used by restaurant critics to the pesky emojis that plague modern life. This being Fry, he sounds gently baffled about everything that’s not highbrow, describing the sad-face emoticon as “colon, closed brackets” as if he’s reciting Shakespeare.
Dancing around Lydon, who is the most natural ranter, Fry stabs at the oft-explored root of his anger. Lydon contracted meningitis at the age of seven and spent nearly a year in a coma. Upon waking, his parents were told not to “mollycoddle” him, instead allowing him to use pure fury to fuel his recovery. “That anger has been my energy ever since,” explains Lydon. Fortunately, the Sex Pistols gave him the “perfect platform” to express proper emotions. And shout a lot.
The sound of Lethal Bizzle shouting “Oggy, oggy, oggy” rang out across Radios 1, 3 and 1Xtra as the Royal Albert Hall played host to the Grime Prom. Wretch 32, Stormzy and Chip were backed by conductor Jules Buckley and the Metropole Orkest for what Clemency Burton-Hill billed as “a night of musical alchemy”. It was pretty perfect, with the orchestra showing off the sheer tunefulness of grime. While Wretch’s low-key 6 Words becomes more soulful with strings and backing singers, Krept & Konan’s Freak of the Week loses none of its bounce and the supremely confident Little Simz rhymes as if she owns the gaff. The grime/crossover box is both invented and ticked, with Buckley’s arrangements removing none of the bite.
And if you want to witness Wretch handing over his chains to Buckley and both orchestra and crowd smiling their way through the night, the Prom is available on iPlayer too. World class.
