And they're off: the 60th series of Reith Lectures. Professor Jonathan Spence began his historical meander though Chinese Vistas (is it me, or is that a naff old title?) this morning.
Given the focus on China, these lectures come with a built-in topicality even if Spence occasionally dips back as far as 551BC. You could hear that in the urgent, complex questions that followed the 20-minute lecture on Confucius: everyone wanted to talk about present-day China, rather than the lessons of the past, and to ponder what the future might bring.
I rather enjoyed this morning's lecture, as Spence has that knack of wearing knowledge lightly, making complicated ideas and their histories accessible but not bland. I enjoyed Sue Lawley's interventions rather less, as she repeatedly chipped in with what she thought the questions were getting at.
If you listened, what did you make of the lecture? Did the historical approach to China enlighten you? Did Spence's delivery - there has already been a complaint about its dreariness on the Radio 4 messageboard, but maybe you found it calmly hypnotic instead - help or hinder your listening?
And what of the Reith Lectures more generally, at this landmark birthday? In a cultural context in which more than 20 million of us (including me, I should add) tuned into talent shows at the weekend, are the Reith Lectures an antiquated, obsolete relic, or should they be cherished now more than ever?
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