in praise of Radio 4

(a brief extract from the new book mid-editing)

It’s been a long, long time since I last listened to Radio 1, 2 or any commercial station. At least 25 years. Radio 4, and to some lesser extent, Radio 3 is my preferred listening these days. I had largely given up on Radio 1 much earlier than 25 years ago in any event and only listened to it for John Peel. Since the death of Peel I cannot recall putting Radio 1 on except by accident in the car and then I would have reached instinctively for the Radio 4 button. Radio 4 is probably one of the only things that could possibly make me proud to be British. I am not nationalistic or patriotic in any way at all and would (even in these straightened times) class myself as European rather than British. I wish that Britain had joined the Euro and that we were part of a United States of Europe rather than the United Kingdom. However, classing myself as European I would still be proud of the BBC and Radio 4 and it would still be my station of choice. Even if I lived in some remote corner of Europe I would still try to find a way to catch up with The Archers at 2.00 p.m. every day. My day anyway is bookended by Radio 4, Today (John Humphreys, Jim Naughtie et al) each morning at 6.30 and whatever is on late at night. At home if I am not listening to music then it’s Radio 4 on the airwaves. I some ways I could cope quite easily without television but not music and not radio. I will listen to even the most arcane stuff on Radio 4-including Gardeners Question Time, which is odd, as we don’t have a garden at all.