discussion

Night Waves: Timothy Garton Ash

July 10th, 2009 by James Bridle

An excellent and engrossing discussion between Night Waves presenter Philip Dodd and historian and journalist Timothy Garton Ash, ranging across Communist Eastern Europe, the fall of the Berlin Wall, Orwell, Greene, the soixante-retards, the USA and the Bush administration, and England's place in Europe.

I feel sort of blessed that this level of intellectual discussion is available free to air, just coming out of my radio when I switch it on... [MP3]

Presenter: Philip Dodd
BBC Programmes Page
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The Rise of the Footnote

April 2nd, 2008 by James Bridle

Only Radio 4 could come up with a programme described as "A light-hearted look at the history of the footnote in western literature", and on April Fools' Day no less (MP3). Yet it has all the hallmarks of the well-made one-off: bizarre attention to detail, strange obsessives, and occasionally over-reaching presentation tics (I'm generally fond of programmes that examine things impossible to replicate on radio - this programme's tinkling, sotto voce attempt at 'footnotes' is a good/bad example).

The usual R4 suspects crop up (Hello, Lynn Truss!) but so do more interesting types, like the logorrhoeic Kevin Jackson, who I could listen to forever, and the always-entertaining Terry Pratchett, who claims to have introduced footnotes to the theatre (Dr Evil's father springs to mind). A pity more time wasn't spent examining the future of footnotes, currently experiencing a bit of a renaissance thanks to Wikipedia and friends.

My first post to Speechification: I hope you enjoy. Expect more of a literary bent, perhaps.

Presenter: Ben Schott
Producer: Nicola Barringer
Production Company: Angel Eye
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