Speechification

This programme is described as an Acoustic Archaeology of Elizabethan England. What could be more up speechification’s street than Acoustic Archaeology? It’s a splendid programme too. Fanciful, imaginative, slightly silly sometimes, draped in gorgeous noises, the sort of thing radio does particularly well. MP3 here.

I’ve always liked the sound of jazz, but never really liked the music. The soundscapes, the tones are perfect and inviting and lovely. And then, after the first go round with the tune it dissolves into tedious improvisatory wibbling. So when I was alerted to this programme about Miles Davis and So What by a helpful twitter I wasn’t hopeful. But, but, this almost got to me. It’s not so much the stories about why people like it, it’s the stories of what went into it, what was going on in the world. Anyway, whatever, you don’t care about that, if you think I’m a horrible philistine you’re going to like this stuff anyway. And if you’re sort of with me, and even if you don’t like the track, this is still a magnificent programme. (There’s a slight silent pause in the audio right at the beginning. Sorry.) MP3 here.

While everyone’s wibbling on about the world crashing around our ears it’s worth listening to this programme - about a time when it nearly was; when unflappable gents were parked in Vulcan bombers, only half a minute away from taking off with their nuclear payloads and various people had to make serious plans about how and where they wanted to die. MP3 here. (And thanks to Curtis for alerting us to this one.)

There have probably been programmes like this on Radio 4 since before the dawn of time (1972). I remember Enquire Within very fondly. But Questions, Questions seems particularly well-suited to the interactive world of now. It’s a simple affair - people write in about stuff they’d like to know about, and the programme makes a little feature which answers and explains some of them. And, perhaps more importantly, the programme forums are abuzz with chat and opinion. This particular issue features well-dressing in Derbyshire, Mobius strips and the design of biscuits. MP3 here.

Sometimes Radio Four is slothful and supine, lazy in a bed of licence fees. And sometimes, like on Big Bang Day it’s just the best thing in the world ever. They took the hoohah over the turning on of the LHC and built a suite of programmes around it that proved exactly why it’s such a brilliant station. From the bumbly chaos of Andrew Marr at the turning on to Quention Cooper and Adam Hart Davis doing physics administration and engineering to the silly drama of Torchwood and Woman’s Hour doing physics careers this was exemplorary stuff; a national broadcaster doing education through entertainment. For the MP3 we offer you Physics Rocks, which was a nice way of getting at the joy of physics via people like Alan Alda and Eddie Izzard. And it proves that maybe Dara O’Briain should be Stephen Fry’s Deputy Prime Minister when natural order is enacted. MP3 here. (And full marks for all the extra stuff on the website too.)

OK. I admit it. This is partly here because of fierce East Midland pride. It’s not often Derby gets on Radio 4. So I fired up the Audio Hijack as soon as I heard there was going to be a programme about the splendid Derby Arboretum; the first municipally-owned public park in Britain. But it’s worth listening to even if you’re not from Derby: especially the stories of JC Loudon, an early advocate of public parks. He constantly dictated thoughts and articles to his amanuensis, even while waiting for his arm to be amputated. Apparently. MP3 here.

Blimey. This is our 300th post. That feels like a little milestone to me. And this is probably an appropriate programme. In many way’s it’s exactly what you’d expect; Stephen Fry is twinkly, arch and clever, various linguistic and maritime experts are interesting and scholarly about the naval and oceanic metaphors that soak the English language. It’s good stuff, but it’s a little predictable. And then, from nowhere, you get Mrs Constantinou, the owner of a Greek removals business, explaining the origins of the word metaphor and it becomes the best radio you’ve listened to for ages. Hurrah. MP3 here.

Human beatboxing plus ornithology. It’s almost perfect Speechification fodder. If only they’d mentioned shipping containers. MP3 here.

I wish The Specials had stayed with their previous name - The Coventry Automatics, that would really have solidified the West Midlandsness of the Two Tone time. This is a couple of pretty straight-forward documentaries about Two Tone, straight-forward but good. Some archive stuff, some ancient live performances, some reminiscence, good anecdotes. I liked the fact that a French hotel owner expected The Specials to pay for damage done by The Dammed the previous week, because both bands looked like punks. Style-tribe accountability; that’s what we want to see. MP3 for Part One here. Part Two here.

UPDATE: Hopefully the files work properly now.

It’s a little quiet here at Speechification towers isn’t it? Sorry about that. We all appear to be on holiday and /or watching the Olympics. Anyway. Here’s something splendid to keep you going - a documentary about B-sides, one of those documentaries that makes you realise there’s far more to a topic than meets the eye. I especially liked the bit about Phil Spector making awful jazz B-sides for records so DJs wouldn’t play the ‘wrong’ song. And here’s a lovely little bit by the programme maker about the tribulations of voice-overing. MP3 here.