PM Poppy Portrait Piece
January 20th, 2008 by Roo ReynoldsI don’t often listen to the whole of Radio 4’s ‘Broadcasting House‘ programme (because smug reviews of newspapers usually annoy me), but I was glad to catch the final five minutes of this morning’s edition. Paddy O’Connell interviews the artist Jonathan Yeo, who unveiled his portrait of Blair yesterday. Here is a recording of just that final four-minute segment (MP3).
Photo: Reuters
In this slot, Jonathan Yeo talks eloquently about the way the poppy in the painting subverts the New Labour rose, as well as being an allusion to the the war(s) for which Blair will be remembered.
We don’t often share just a short clip of a programme, and I wonder if you think it works. In case you did want to listen to the show in its entirety, the stream is now online too, and Broadcasting House has its own podcast too.
January 20th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
It works! Great post. Amazing painting.
January 20th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
and the guest explaining with great passion that the Sunday papers were rubbish was inspiring - you could feel the producers squirming.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:34 am
Julian - mea culpa, I was the producer. Squirm? Well, perhaps a bit - but thank god for a refreshing view about how awful the Sunday papers can be. I’ve only recently been handed the editorial baton for BH - and agree the paper review is something we should look at - sometimes it’s great - other times it can be dreadful. Over the years - the time spent warbling on about the papers has grown - and I think the programme as suffered as a result.
January 24th, 2008 at 12:08 am
Hi Robert. Thanks for commenting! I’ve just updated the post to include your name as producer for this show. We’re trying to get better at capturing things like like presenter, producer, production company, editor, … so do feel free to let us know, either via comments or email (see the sidebar) when we miss the interesting facts like that.
Cheers
Roo