Friday 26 March 2010

Speaking of Radio 4...

I really fell in love with radio for its music (say back here) and I'm still not exactly friends with any kind of talk radio (though I do keep trying). Saying that I enjoyed this week's Poetry Please on Radio 4 (on here for a few more days). As ever there's the hypnotic Roger McGough introducing but this week it's a USA poetry special and well worth a listen. I enjoyed the Frank O'Haras most of all (remember I started this year with him back here?). There's a bit of Diana Hendry on the programme too.

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5 comments:

Sharon Longworth said...

I happened to catch Poetry please on Sunday while lying in the bath. A real treat. I particularly liked an Elizabeth Bishop poem - I think it was called The Moose.

Rachel Fox said...

Yes...what did they say...it took her 20 years to write it (in a manner of speaking...)?

And hello.

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Titus said...

Something about Roger McGough annoys me, and I really can't put my finger on it exactly - a touch too much affability in his voice in this show and his speech cadences just go in the wrong directions for me. I realise I am probably the only person in the world who thinks this.
All that aside, I really enjoy Poetry Please and all hail Radio 4 for keeping it going. And to Roger McGough, I suppose, for keeping it popular.

Totalfeckineejit said...

No , no, Titus, me too, me too! nflections and cadences all wrong and irritating.Dreadful delivery. Off , off with the head of Roger (calm down, calm down) McGough.

How did he get to where he is? And without the merest hint of self awareness, embarrassment or irony.Neck, Jockey's, Bollix!!

Rachel Fox said...

Goodness me...didn't expect an anti-McGough explosion! As an (English) Northerner a big part of what I like is that his is not the default Radio 4 voice (SE, bland, RP) that is still fairly prevalent on the station (and one of the reasons R4 has not appealed to me over the years). It is changing, of course, finally. But quite slowly.

I read McGough's autobiography a couple of years back and found it strangely depressing. But maybe I'll write about that another time. Got a poetry bus to get on the road...

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