Soundtracking a recent car journey from Yorkshire to London with the morning shows of BBC Local Radio, we found a particular flavour of England alive and well. On BBC Radio Sheffield (where the slogan is “Loving South Yorkshire and north Derbyshire”), Toby Foster At Breakfast (Weekdays, 7am) was playing It Must Be Love by Madness and Hot Stuff by Donna Summer while fielding a succession of calls from blokes who felt that people nowadays just want something for nothing. On BBC Radio Nottingham (“A passion for Nottinghamshire life”) listeners to Mark Dennison (Weekdays, 9am) were being reminded of the ageless appeal of Cher’s If I Could Turn Back Time and Carrie by the artist known only as “Cliff”, while being canvassed for their views on parking charges. The presenter of Melvyn In The Morning (Weekdays, 9am, BBC Radio Lincolnshire) kept a discussion about a proposal to litter Lincoln with statues of barons going for what seemed like hours before finally collapsing into the open arms of Sugar Baby Love by the Rubettes.
A few miles further south The Big Conversation With Paul Stainton (Weekdays. 9am, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire) was much exercised by the fact that an RAF veteran had recently been attacked on his mobility scooter in the middle of Peterborough. The citizenry were unequivocal in their response: more police on the street. I visualise Nigel Farage tuning in to these local stations as he makes his pre-election rounds, scribbling down each fresh outbreak of disgruntlement while tapping a toe to Culture Club’s Church Of The Poison Mind and thinking how nice it is to hear Nik Kershaw again
Nearing journey’s end, we tuned to the more consumer-focused JVS Show (Weekdays, 9am, BBC Three Counties Radio) where we heard Bon Jovi’s Livin’ On A Prayer. Following this, the unsatisfactory installation of one listener’s sink was discussed in forensic detail. Finally, Ivor phoned in to say that his conservatory was fine now, thanks. I suppose that’s what they call public service broadcasting.
Boswell’s Lives (Wednesday, 11.30am, Radio 4) hits its stride with an episode in which Dr Johnson’s time-travelling biographer and world-class toady, James, played by Miles Jupp, encounters “angel and Greek bird” Maria Callas (Arabella Weir), and tries to remain in her good books while avoiding telling her the truth that her singing has gone off a bit.
I’m looking forward to hearing the other two parts of Saudi Arabia: Sands Of Time (Monday, 8pm, Radio 4) in which Egyptian writer Tarek Osman examines the past, present and future of the only country in the world which is named after the family who effectively own it. The first episode was most illuminating on how the family came to dominate this vast region, their close alignment with the fundamentalist Islamist clerics of Wahhabism, and the geopolitical deals struck in the wake of the discovery of oil in their backyard.
Listeners of The Archers (Weekdays, 7pm, Radio 4) have long considered Kate Aldridge a liability in any family situation. Now it seems the show’s writers have come to the same conclusion, declaring her South African menage a write-off and catapulting our superannuated wild child back to Ambridge where she is trying to forge an Edina-Saffy relationship with her estranged teen daughter, Phoebe, who’s having none of it. In this, I refer you to the case of Keith Richards, who called his daughter Dandelion, only for her to rename herself Angela. Kids, eh?
