could have sworn I'd posted this yesterday ... I'll lay the blame for the oversight at the door of the myriad pc problems this household is currently up against ...

Radio 4 Extra Newsletter - Friday 17th February

Hello again

Way back in 1961, the director/producer Bernard Miles gave Spike Milligan his first straight acting role, casting him as Benn Gunn in the stage production of Treasure Island at London's Mermaid Theatre.

According to Dame Edna's alter ego Barry Humphries, who joined the cast in 1968 to play Long John Silver, Spike "stole the show every night."

Comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, actor and artist, Spike was described by Bernard Miles as "a man of quite extraordinary talents... a visionary who is out there alone, denied the usual contacts simply because he is so different he can’t always communicate with his own species."

Sadly this tremendously talented "visionary" died 10 years ago, just before midnight, on 26th February, 2002.

To commemorate this anniversary and celebrate Spike Milligan's life and work, we at Radio 4 Extra decided we simply had to produce a 3 hour "special" programme: The Spike Show: Milligan Remembered. And who better to introduce his programmes and share her memories of the man himself than his agent, manager, confidante and friend for 36 years, Norma Farnes.

Norma is a legend in her own right, having published several books about Spike, both memoirs and compilations of his poems.

She was delighted to be asked to choose material for this celebration, and, rather than come into our studio to record, she invited us to The Spike Milligan Production Office at Orme Court, London, where Spike was based and worked for many years. There is a blue plaque on the building to commemorate him.

We were ushered into Norma's spacious office, where the atmosphere of Spike is inescapable. A vast collection of his books, framed photographs, cartoons and various other Milligan memorabilia are all around, including a bust of Spike, on which he had comically added a Hitler moustache, reminding me of his hilarious book Adolf Hitler, My Part in His Downfall.

It was also interesting - and quite moving - to see, tucked away besisde a large carved oak sideboard, his portable, manual typewriter, on which he must have bashed out thousands if not millions of words throughout his prolific career.

Norma was full of entertaining anecdotes and facts about her working relationship with Spike, and our producer, Sarah Wade has recorded enough material to make several 3 hour programmes!

The "special" will of course, include a selection of Spike's radio work, such as his favourite Goon Show (The Fear of Wages), Vivat Milligna, In The Psychiatrist's Chair, and Fleas, Knees and Hidden Elephants.

Sarah will be burning the midnight oil to edit all this fascinating material together and to have it ready for the transmission date - Saturday 25th February - only 8 days away! But now on to my recommended highlights for the week ahead:

New Programmes Coming Up

Highlites Omnibus: Saturday
Journey Into Space: Frozen In Time - Saturday
Garrison Keillor's Radio Show - Saturday
The Lost Special - Saturday
The Taking of Pelham 123 -- Saturday
Brother Dusty Feet - Sunday
A History Of The World In 100 Objects Omnibus - Sunday
Desert Island Discs Revisited: Lucy Gannon- Sunday
The Scarifyers - Sunday
The Comedy Club Interview - Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday
The 4 O'Clock Show - Monday to Friday
Just a Minute - Monday
Says On The Tin - Monday
Loose Ends - Monday
The News Quiz Extra - Monday
Another Case Of Milton Jones - Monday
Mr And Mrs Smith - Tuesday
Ayres On The Air - Wednesday
Mark Thomas: The Manifesto - Wednesday
Rubbish - Wednesday
Nineteen Ninety-Eight - Wednesday
The Men From The Ministry - Thursday
Clare In The Community - Thursday
All The Young Dudes - Thursday
What's So Funny? With Ed Byrne - Friday
Fat Chance - Friday
Spending My Inheritance - Friday
The TV Lark - Friday

You can find a link to this week's schedule here:
[www.bbc.co.uk]

The Selection
Comedy Greats -The Seventies Part 2
Barry Cryer presents the second part of his archive trawl through BBC Radio's comedies of the 1970s, featuring Lines From My Grandfather's Forehead (1971), The Enchanting World of Hinge and Bracket, I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (13/03/1977), The Atkinson People, Just A Minute (06/03/1979) and a classic Listen to Les.
Saturday at 9am and 7pm

Comedy Zone
For Better or For Worse
A caravan stranded in Cleethorpes? It’s undertaker assistant Bernard and fiancée Iris to the rescue! Su Pollard and Gorden Kaye star as the distinctly odd couple in this sitcom, first heard in December 1994.
Thursday at 5pm and 5am

Locomotive Season: Change At Oglethorpe
1/6 Off The Rails
Peter Davison and the late Michael Williams star in this 1995 sitcom set in a remote railway station with eccentric employees – such as the clairvoyant with a penchant for facials, plus a man who keeps a ferret down his trousers.
Friday at 9am and 2am

Comedy Club
Eddie Izzard Dress to Kill Part 1
The ingenious stand-up comedian begins his rambling stream of consciousness before an audience at the modestly-sized West Beth Centre in New York city. This show was Eddie's first recorded performance outside the UK, and tackles such huge subjects as Empire, Religion and the relationship between Europe and America. Recorded in 1998 for Laughing Stock.
Saturday at 10pm

The A-Z of the British Countryside
The award-winning Howard Read and Josie Long are joined by Chris Chantler as they follow in the footsteps of Sir Cecil Beaconsfield's 1952 journey around the "hidden wonders of the British Countryside". They encounter eight-inch horses, an inland clam-ostler, and a new kind of market research-led owl. Originally broadcast on BBC 7 in 2007.
Sunday at 11pm

The Harpoon
Ser 1. 1/4
Yaroo! Half an hour of total boyhood bliss – it’s the spiffing spoof of adventure story papers of the 1950s. Alistair McGowan and Peter Baynham star in this mix of satire and silliness from 1991.
Sunday at 11.30pm

Ross Noble Goes Global
Ser 2. 1/4 Belgium
The hyperactive comic’s second world-spanning series kicks off with an attempt to prove Belgium's not dull. Noble’s compelling evidence includes chocolate, odd statues and Jean-Claude Van Damme's legacy. It was first heard in May 2003.
Wednesday at 10.30pm


Linda Smith’s A Brief History of Timewasting
Ser 2. 1/6
Linda Smith takes on the mantle of Kofi Annan as she tries to broker a fragile peace between elderly neighbour Betty and live-in builder Chris in this superb sitcom from 2002. It was written by and stars the much-missed Linda, and features the talents of Chris Neil and Jeremy Hardy.
Tuesday at 10.30pm

Edge Falls
Ser 1. 1/5 Happy Week
Sarah Lancashire stars in the deadpan-com set in a shopping centre, first heard in 2007. In this opening episode, Security Guard Mick has to find both a little girl and her imaginary friend, and politically-correct manager Sonya (Lancashire) is desperate for Happy Week to be a success.
Wednesday at 11pm

Newsjack
Ser 6. 1/6
Justin Edwards is your anchor for the magazine-style topical sketch show, linking the stories that come in from the many Newsjack correspondents, played by Lewis MacLeod, Nadia Kamil and Pippa Evans.

Following in the footsteps of Week Ending, the show has an "open door" policy meaning that anyone is able to submit material for potential inclusion in the show; if it's topical and funny enough, it goes in the show.
Thursday at 10.30pm

The Big Fun Show
1/6
>From a time before they were household names, here’s a sketch series with Paul Merton, Julian Clary, Tony Hawks and Josie Lawrence! It was originally aired in 1988, and highlights include the Timid Twins and a special round of Mastermind: A mini-cab driver answers questions on 'Pig Ignorance from 1972 to the Present Day'.
Friday at 10.30pm

Drama
Daphne Du Maurier: The Years Between
When her MP husband is reported killed in action, Diana Wentworth rebuilds her life and takes over his parliamentary seat. But just as she's starting to move on, there's another shock in store for the family. Diana Quick and Roger Allam star in this Du Maurier play, first performed in 1945, which later became a film starring Michael Redgrave, Valerie Hobson, and Flora Robson. This version, first broadcast in 1995, was adapted for radio by Jill Hyam.
Saturday at 6am, 4pm and 4am

Locomotive Season: Miss Marple: 4.50 from Paddington
The spinster's friend spies a murder on a train journey, but there is no evidence of a corpse. This classic Agatha Christie whodunnit was adapted by Michael Bakewell and stars June Whitfield, with Joan Sims, Susannah Harker and Ian Lavender. The Producer was Enyd Williams.
Sunday at 1.30pm and 3.30am

Locomotive Season: Ethel Lina White: The Lady Vanishes
The plot is deceptively simple, and the premise - a woman meets a mysterious stranger during a long railway journey - is classic. Ethel Lina White's 1936 novel was originally called The Wheel Spins, but Alfred Hitchcock's 1938 film adaptation cemented the story and title’s place in history. This dramatisation by Neville Teller was first heard in 1999 on the World Service, and the Director was Andy Jordan. Renee Ascherson, Jenny Funnell and Mark Tandy star.
Monday at 10am, 3pm and 3am

RL Stevenson: Kidnapped
1-2/4
The year is 1751 and Scotland is still in political turmoil after the Jacobite rebellions. Young David Balfour makes his way to Edinburgh, and The House of Shaws where he meets his Uncle Ebenezer and his adventures begin. First heard in 1994, with a terrific Scottish cast including David Rintoul, Rikki Fulton and Paul Young, the series was dramatised by Catherine Czerkawska and produced by Marilyn Imrie.
Thursday & Friday at 10am, 3pm and 3am (concludes next week)

On Mardle Fen
Ser 3. 1 – 4/4
The third series of this charming comedy drama. Idiosyncratic hotel chef Warwick is out on the Fen, taking in the atmosphere, when he thinks he spots a rare bird. Keen bird-watcher Megan tells him she'd pay considerable sums to see it, so Warwick hatches a plan. Trevor Peacock, Sam Dale and Kate Buffery star, and the series was written by Nick Warburton. It was directed by Claire Grove and originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.
Tuesday to Friday at 11.15, 9.15pm and 4.15am

Young Classics
Brother Dusty Feet
1/3
Ten year old Hugh is an orphan, forced to live on a farm with his Aunt Alison, who treats him cruelly. When she threatens to get rid of his dog for running after the ducks, Hugh feels there's only one thing they can do. It's a decision which leads him onto the roads of Elizabethan England, where many adventures are to befall him. Written by Rosemary Sutcliff, this is a new dramatisation by Shaun McKenna, specially commissioned for Radio 4 Extra. The three-part drama stars Josef Lindsay, Adjoa Andoh, Jane Whittenshaw and Allan Corduner. It was directed by Marion Nancarrow.
Sunday at 9am, 4pm and 5am

7th Dimension
Journey Into Space: Frozen In Time
In this episode from the 2008 update of the landmark series, the crew of 1960s spacecraft Ares awake from suspended animation. With the ship six months from home, Captain Jet Morgan picks up an SOS from Mars, and embarks on a rescue mission. But in the grandest of deceptions, not only are the lives of the Ares' crew at stake - the entire future of planet Earth is jeopardized. The 'new' series, produced by Nick Russell-Pavier, features original Journey Into Space star David Jacobs.
Saturday at 6pm and midnight

Hordes of the Things
The kingdom of Albion is in peril. Andrew Marshall and John Lloyd's epic Tolkien parody stars Patrick Magee, Paul Eddington, Maggie Steed, Simon Callow and Miriam Margolyes. The producer was Geoffrey Perkins, and the series was first broadcast in 1980.
Thursday & Friday at 6pm and midnight

Crime and Thrillers
Locomotive Season: The Lost Special
An intriguing story of villainy and ingenuity from Arthur Conan Doyle. On the 3rd of June 1890, a gentleman arrives at the London and West Coast Central station in Liverpool. Affairs of the utmost importance require him to travel to Paris without delay. He asks that a Special train be provided - money is no object. The Special train duly sets off from Liverpool but never arrives in Manchester, apparently disappearing somewhere en route. But a train can't just disappear into thin air, can it? The reader is David Schofield.
Saturday at 11pm

Locomotive Season: The Taking of Pelham 123
1/5
This is another new commission, a reading of a popular thriller by Morton Freedgood, which has already been adapted for the screen three times. This is its first radio outing.

Grand Central station, New York, 1:23pm. What starts as a normal day on the New York City subway becomes a race against time when a commuter train is hijacked. This gripping story was abridged for Radio 4 Extra by Neville Teller, and the reader is William Hope. It was produced by Heather Larmour.
Saturday at 11.30pm

Locomotive Season: Hercule Poirot: Murder on the Orient Express
1 – 5/5
A train departs, but one passenger aboard will never arrive. John Moffatt stars as the great Belgian detective in a full-cast dramatisation produced by Enyd Williams. Also starring Francesca Annis, Joss Ackland, Frank Windsor, Sylvia Syms and the late Desmond Llewelyn. First heard in 1992.
Monday - Friday at 6am, 1pm and 8pm

Locomotive Season: Thrilling Stories of the Railway
Benedict Cumberbatch reads five short crime stories featuring the amateur sleuth and railway expert Thorpe Hazell. Hazell, a classic Edwardian eccentric, uses his locomotive expertise to solve the audacious and ingenious crimes plaguing the railways. Directed and adapted by Fiona Kelcher from a series of tales by Victor Lorenzo Whitechurch - one of the first authors to submit his stories to Scotland Yard so they could vet his police procedures.
Monday - Friday at 6.30am, 1.30pm and 8.30pm

Poison Farm: A Murderer Unmasked After 60 Years
A murder investigation gets under way when a farmer is found dead from suspected cyanide poisoning. David Williams investigates who killed wealthy womaniser William Murfitt in 1938. A true mystery story read by Robert Lindsay, and directed by Liz Allard.
Monday to Friday at 6.30am, 1.30pm and 8.30pm

Fact and Fiction
The Anatomy of A Musical
1/3 The Opener
Russell Davies looks at what makes a good musical, and shows how the opening number sets the tone musically, in lyrics and in staging. Productions under the microscope include Kiss Me Kate and Chicago. Later programmes tackle the love song and the 'take-home number'. Originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2006.
Saturday at 7.30pm

The People of the British Musuem
1/5 Mummies, Myths and Magic
Through the eyes of its employees, Danny Danziger explores the wealth of treasures held in the vast collections. First broadcast in 2003 on BBC Radio 4, to mark the Museum's 250th Birthday.
Sunday at 7.15pm

Desert Island Discs: Lucy Gannon
In the second programme in our series featuring four Playwrights, we find out which eight tracks, book and luxury item the stage and screen writer Lucy Gannon took to her desert island when she was interviewed by Sue Lawley, back in August 1998.
Sunday at 10am, 9pm and 1am

Jerome K Jerome: Three Men In A Boat
1/3
Jeremy Nicholas adapts and performs his one-man-show of this ever-popular late Victorian comic novel, in front of an audience. The music - provided by The Grimethorpe Colliery Brass Band - was written by Nicholas. The series was produced by Paul Mayhew-Archer, and was originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1984.
Sunday at 11am, 7pm and 2am

Dad Made Me Laugh
Michael Sellers
Sally Magnusson talks to the son of the legendary comedian, who gives a candid account of his life and relationship with his famous father, Peter. First broadcast in 2005.
Sunday at 11.30am, 7.30pm and 2.30am

Uncle Mort's South Country
Carter Brandon drives his Uncle down south, but trouble looms at a pub stop. Peter Tinniswood's adventures star Steven Thorne as the eponymous hero and Sam Kelly as the long-suffering Carter. First heard in 1990 on BBC Radio 4.
Thursday & Friday at 2.30pm

The 4 O'Clock Show
Mel Giedroyc presents the weekday family show, with a mix of conversation, entertainment and stories.

Let's hear from Elizabeth Clark, Senior Content Producer on The 4 O'Clock Show:

As it's locomotive week on 4 Extra, The 4 O'clock Show was keen to step aboard. All week, Mel will be introducing extracts of a journey along Scotland’s scenic West Highland railway line. That’s the line that’s used by the Hogwart's Express in the Harry Potter film series. You'll maybe remember seeing dramatic images of the Glenfinnan Viaduct, hurtling all the young wizards along to the school of witchcraft and wizardry. Our guides on the train are BBC Radio Scotland presenters Mark Stephen and Euan McIlwraith, who host the weekly Out of Doors programme. I think you'll agree that they sound like Harry Potter and Ron Weasley when they get on the train - two excited little schoolboys! Also coming up every day this week is another episode of our brain-busting quiz Keep It in the Family, with quiz master extraordinaire Mr Fred MacAulay. And of course, the concluding episode of our current story - Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens.
Monday to Friday at 4pm

...and finally

Last week, I asked you:

What do you love about radio as a medium?

What keeps you listening?

What do you love to listen to?

Thanks to those of you who e-mailed me with your responses, all of which I've enjoyed reading. Here is an edited selection:

"Imagination", I now tell my grand-children , "is something that is uniquely yours, a lifetime secret to be indulged at any time; and sometimes the only sane place to which we can retreat."
That is what I love about radio. (Dave)

Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra keep me sane. Intelligent articulate presenters remind me that the English language is not dead and that words still have currency...
Keep broadcasting. (Jenny)

Television could speak of interactivity as much as it liked, it could never involve a viewer in the same way that radio can with a listener... (Paul)

What can be better than listening to plays, comedy and literature? I can carry on with my day and dip in and dip out, all the time listening to thought-provoking material or being greatly amused by comedy. (Sonia)

My favourites are still the comedies from the late 1950s and the 1960s. In the last 7 years I have found, and grown to love, BBC dramas such as Paul Temple, Sherlock Holmes, Falco, Cadfael and (a well-remembered) Journey Into Space. (Ivor)

Radio allows my imagination to be king; captivating voices mean, in my imagination, captivating faces... Radio talks to me and not at me, or allows me to eavesdrop like a strategically placed tape recorder... Radio is a welcome guest in my home - long may radio continue to be "The Friend in the Corner." (Nuraldin)

The pictures are better. (Martin)

All beautifully expressed and heart-warming to read.

Mary Kalemkerian
Head of Programmes
BBC Radio 4 Extra


A commitment to Mod'nAdminlyness: I understand that ^{r-e-s-i-s-t-a-n-c-e} _{*i - s*} ^f-u-t-i-l-e.
I shall not be starchy, nit pic, patronize, commit misandry, be economical with the facts or be a pedant, neither shall I whine. I shall endeavour to abstain from gratuitous point-scoring off the comments of other Mods or Administrators and also from engendering a culture of BLAME, remembering too to give the benefit of the doubt. Everything in my power will be done to achieve a modest post count & share my smileys, sources & avatars,

My favourites are still the comedies from the late 1950s and the 1960s. In the last 7 years I have found, and grown to love, BBC dramas such as Paul Temple, Sherlock Holmes, Falco, Cadfael and (a well-remembered) Journey Into Space. (Ivor)


Hmmm....I know an Ivor....I wonder.....

. Ivor



The original and real cat with the swishy tail.
Accept no imitations.

Actually, I used the reply as a carrot to gain help over my loss of emailed newsletter. All that it evinced was a blame for my Outlook treating it as spam. I the past, I have set my system up to allow access from the site.

. Ivor



The original and real cat with the swishy tail.
Accept no imitations.

Ah. You can have one of the two I'm getting if you like.

are you still not sorted Ivor! One way around it might be to open a new gmail account ... or equivalent and simply apply to receive it, as if you were a new subscriber! Again, sorry I was late posting.

'Sbin a bit hectic preparing for a quickie to Blighty ... the trip was on again off again while this dratted bronchitis (5 months now) failed to ease up ... e-bookings were cancelled, causing penalty payments, and then finally on the hoof a last minute decision was taken... Though I'm heartily sick of the cash loss health related cancellations have caused since last year!

The object was a bar admissions ceremony for a friend recently licensed ... the Law Society at Chancery Lane was the venue ... We were allowed to visit the library, usually the preserve of legal eagles: journals there date back centuries and glimpsing passages from the Law Journal in 1860 they smacked of Charles Dickens and Bleak House! Still luckily the young woman qualifying also happens to be at the New York bar so I guess things are a tad more modern there!


A commitment to Mod'nAdminlyness: I understand that ^{r-e-s-i-s-t-a-n-c-e} _{*i - s*} ^f-u-t-i-l-e.
I shall not be starchy, nit pic, patronize, commit misandry, be economical with the facts or be a pedant, neither shall I whine. I shall endeavour to abstain from gratuitous point-scoring off the comments of other Mods or Administrators and also from engendering a culture of BLAME, remembering too to give the benefit of the doubt. Everything in my power will be done to achieve a modest post count & share my smileys, sources & avatars,

I won't bother, Tru. I can read it here or on the website.

I totally got hold of the wrong end of the stick with "bar admissions ceremony" and "recently licensed", so all drink-related jokes have been deleted.

. Ivor



The original and real cat with the swishy tail.
Accept no imitations.

Tee hee! But don't you suspect the wording may have been "couched" to just such an "end"
(oh my gawd!)


A commitment to Mod'nAdminlyness: I understand that ^{r-e-s-i-s-t-a-n-c-e} _{*i - s*} ^f-u-t-i-l-e.
I shall not be starchy, nit pic, patronize, commit misandry, be economical with the facts or be a pedant, neither shall I whine. I shall endeavour to abstain from gratuitous point-scoring off the comments of other Mods or Administrators and also from engendering a culture of BLAME, remembering too to give the benefit of the doubt. Everything in my power will be done to achieve a modest post count & share my smileys, sources & avatars,