Speechification

Steve recently posted an episode of the Reunion. It’s a great show and the most recent episode, which reunites the creators of Withnail and I (surely one of the best British films of all time), is possibly the best yet. [MP3]

Sue MacGregor introduces and interviews Richard E Grant (Withnail), Paul McGann (Marwood), Ralph Brown (Danny) and Bruce Robinson (the writer & director) as well as an interview with Richard Griffiths (Monty).

4 Stands Up is an occasional standup comedy show on Radio 4. This week, Michael McIntyre (with the really interesting voice) introduces Josie Long, Colin and Fergus and Ed Byrne. [MP3]

If you’re reading this and you happen to work at the BBC, you might be interested to know that either the listen again page or the programmes page for this show seems to be confused. This episode was broadcast last night (6th May) and stars Josie Long, Colin and Fergus and Ed Byrne, which I think makes it episode 4, yet seems to be linked from the page for episode 3 (despite it not being the one with Shappi Khorsandi, Wil Hodgson and Rhod Gilbert). Of course, Programmes is a beta (and it’s great, and getting better) so all is forgiven. Thanks.

Radio 4 recently ran a new episode of this occasional jem in which John Humphrys introduces 28 acts in 28 minutes. It’s like a contemporary variety evening from the comfort of your own armchair. There’s an impressively complete list of acts on Wikipedia, with links to the various acts. This one, episode three of the second Radio 4 series, was broadcast on Thursday 27th March at 6.30pm. (MP3)

The 28 acts included guitar-playing singers including Tom McRae, Francesca Beard Gwyneth Herbert, Lady Carol of the Moon and Neil Innes, all very enjoyable in their distinct ways. These musical slots serve as a relaxing break from the stand-up comedians who make up the majority of the show. I particularly enjoyed Phil Cornwell - (who plays Greg Dyke in Dead Ringers), Jon Richardson, Danielle Ward pretending to be Andy McNab, John Finnemore being Britain’s silent majority and Will Smith (the comedian rather than the actor). There was also some poetry, a reading from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and even a drum solo.

The stand-out item for me was Liam Mullone, whose standup segment about ‘unexpected item’ in a self-service checkout, had me rolling around the floor.

Episode five of BBC Radio 2’s documentary ‘The Record Producers‘ is all about Stock, Aitken and Waterman. I grew up to the sounds of Rick Astley, Mel and Kim, Kylie and Jason, so hearing the distinctive Stock, Aitken and Waterman sound dissected and explained (LIN9000! Fairlight! Quantize buttons!) gives me deep joy.

(MP3)

Best of all, the documentary begins with an audio Rickroll.

Thanks to Nick for the link.

I wouldn’t normally post such a short snippet to Speechification, but the 8:00 am news slot on Radio 4’s Today programme had an unmissable moment which can’t fail to put a smile on your face.

Charlotte Green, in her wonderful newsreaders voice, reads a story about the first recording of a human voice (singing ‘Au Clair de la Lune’) and we are treated to a sample. The Guardian is carrying the news that her subsequent laughter may have been triggered by someone quietly telling her that the recording sounded like a “bee buzzing in a bottle”.

The corpsing fit adds an unexpected twist to the next piece, Abby Mann’s obituary. By the end of that, she sounds like she’s crying with laughter. James Naughtie valiantly picks up with the next story, but it’s so infectious that his voice nearly cracks a couple of times too.

(MP3)

Thanks to everyone who let me know about this classic little piece of Radio 4 history. I think it’s something I’ll keep coming back to when I need cheering up.

The Sunday Supplement is one of the highlights of the Westminster Hour. This week’s was “The Jam Generation” (MP3), presented by Anne McElvoy of the Evening Standard.

Photo credit: ‘Jam of Sun’ by yvesmoreaux

None of the “music of conspicuous consumption of Duran Duran and Wham” for the Jam Generation. The people who lived their teenage years to an acoustic back-drop of Paul Weller’s ‘The Jam’ have reached the tops of their political parties.

Strange and fascinating to hear (around 08:20) that David Cameron listened to The Jam (and The Clash) while growing up. Hard to imagine him tapping his brand new shoes to The Eton Rifles when he was a member of the actual Eton Rifles. The cadet corps of Eton college, described by Weller as “a bunch of tossers” for heckling a socialist right-to-work march, inspired the song by the same name.

A largely interesting documentary, and is only fleetingly irritating when the politics is occasionally allowed to break the surface. I’ll be looking out for the second part next Sunday.

This is the third time I’ve talked about the Sunday Supplement but if you’re a real fan the Sunday Supplement Archive lets you listen to them all the way back to 2005.

I 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.

I got a tip off from Andy Piper via Twitter this morning, telling me to check out a Radio 4 documentary about South Korean gamers. (MP3)

I’ve long been fascinated by Seoul. There are worse places to turn your attention for a glimpse of tech future. 42% of the population maintain a blog and 40% inhabit virtual worlds of some sort of other. Games like Starcraft enjoy the status of ‘e-sports’ and the best gamers are not (just) geeks, they’re e-athletes.

From the discussion between two Starcraft e-sports commentators, in response to a question about whether Korean gamers are ‘nerds’.

I’m not going to say it’s cool, but there no stigma attached with succeeding. There’s no stigma attached to being intelligent.

Welcome, repressed Western geeks, to nirvana.

If you like foreign affairs documentaries you’ll be pleased to hear that there’s a Crossing Continents podcast, for which you can sign up here.

Photo credit: ‘Starcraft Gamer’ by one-11

Would you pick up a ringing payphone?

Ever since Russell introduced us to the wonder of ‘Don’t Hang Up‘ last year, I’ve been snuffling around for more of it like some sort of radio pig with the scent of a delicious audio truffle. Or something.

The BBC re-broadcast two episodes recently.

Night Lines (MP3) is pretty dark. There’s the conversation with a drunk teenager in Margate (which becomes increasingly disturbing and sad) a friendly Floridian security guard (which is also slightly disturbing in parts) and the tales of a hitchhiking transexual in New Zealand (which sounds like it might be disturbing, but turns out to be rather uplifting).

Will Santa Pick Up? (MP3) explores all things Christmas. I include it for completeness but also as a pick-me-up for anyone already missing the holiday season.

Photo credit: Jo Levine

I just noticed that the You and Yours transcripts seem to have stopped being produced some time in early October. Perhaps Steve’s discovery about transcriptions for Analysis being cancelled applies more universally across the BBC. If so, that’s a shame.

If the BBC are not going to provide transcripts, maybe the internets can. We could always start running the MP3s through a transcription service like CastingWords, though since this one show would have cost $130, $78 or $39, depending on whether we wanted a 1 day, 6 day or one month(ish) service, I’d like to find another way.

Maybe there’s a space for a volunteer army of transcribers? Perhaps Speechification should host a wiki and anyone who wants to can help out. Maybe you don’t care about transcriptions. What do you think, gentle reader/listener?