John Cleese Presents (10 May, 9.30am, Radio 4) is one of the more curious offerings of the week, being the first time he has tried his hand at being a radio disc jockey. There aren’t any records, their place being taken by extracts from the audiobook of his autobiography. People under the age of 50 may find this puzzling. Speaking of star guests, Saturday Breakfast with Dermot (6 May, 8am, Radio 2) is graced by the appearance of Kasabian, while Paul Weller plays live on the Chris Evans breakfast show (Friday, 6.30am, Radio 2). Elsewhere, Ian Rankin celebrates the anniversary of one of Scotland’s most popular albums in Deacon Blue: 30 Years of Raintown (8 May, 10pm, Radio 2).
Miss Simpson’s Children (12 May, 11am, Radio 4) tells the story of Esther Sinovitch, who was born in Leeds in 1903 and, as Esther Simpson, went on to play a leading role in getting scholars fleeing the European mainland in the 1930s installed in academic posts in the UK. Among the escapees she referred to as her children were the art historian Ernst Gombrich and psychologist Hans Eysenck. She died in 1996 but her precise and faintly prickly manner comes through clearly in an interview from the archives. Her only interest in life, apart from saving these special people and the ideas they represented, was chamber music. She was not of our time, being an unblushing elitist. As one commentator points out, there may be similarly distinguished people among the tide of unfortunates fleeing Syria but it would take a brave voice to argue for their special treatment.
“Washington is a good place to observe what’s happening with the American government. It’s the worst place to observe what’s happening in America.” The profoundly sober Michael Goldfarb redresses this imbalance by revisiting some of the Trump heartlands to find out how they have felt about what has happened since his investiture in The Honeymoon: Donald Trump’s First 100 Days (7 May, 1.30pm, Radio 4). At the Hickory Notch Grill in Virginia, he finds both supporters and detractors resigned to seeing his presidency through to the end, bitter or otherwise.
Bombshell is a remarkable podcast. In the course of it, three people who know what they are talking about cover “military strategy, White House mayhem and the best cocktails”. What you learn is that the situation in, for instance, Syria is complicated in ways you had not even guessed it could be complicated and that any move of any kind has consequences for groups you didn’t even realise were implicated.
Upload Radio is a new venture offering content creators and bedroom DJs the chance to get their own programmes on the air by buying time. At the moment, the service is only available on DAB in Surrey, south London, Wrexham and Gloucestershire but you can sample it nationally via the Radio Player app.
