It might cheer the spirits of our over-stressed EU leaders this weekend if they were allowed time out from their delicate financial machinations to listen to the Day of Christmas Music broadcast on Radio 3 on Sunday and in the other 55 countries of the European Broadcasting Union (set up in 1950 as a cultural balance to the economic community). This annual flit round the countries of the union is always a refreshing antidote to the festive frazzle; an upmarket Eurovision with snatches of announcements in exotic languages as a reminder of the spirit of co-operation. If you tune in at noon, you’ll hear the Middle East Peace Orchestra playing Christian, Muslim and Jewish tunes in a church in Copenhagen, before the broadcast moves on to Helsinki, where the singers will be pouring scorn on the cosmic darkness by recreating music from the Mediterranean.
In this bumper box of 12 radio crackers, I’ll also make sure not to miss Sheila Hancock reading a selection of the poems which U.A. Fanthorpe sent each year to her friends instead of a Christmas card. What the Donkey Saw (Radio 4, Sunday 18th) gives us the Nativity as seen by those who had no choice but to take part — the donkey, the sheep, the innkeeper: ‘You couldn’t have squeezed another cherub in/For love or money’. Ian McMillan has a voice that’s made for radio, quirky yet crystal-clear, off-beat yet always on the button. I’ll be listening out for him on Radio 4 Extra on Christmas Eve when he’ll be giving us seasonal stories from around the world in The Night the Animals Talked. Perfect for stuffing the turkey to (or while chopping up nuts for the walnut roast).
Request programmes can be flinchingly soppy but never when those with family serving in the armed forces are involved because of the poignancy of absence. On Thursday 22nd, Jeremy Vine (Radio 2) will be playing music for the soldiers based in Camp Bastion in Afghanistan. Another alternative to the relentless jollity can be found on Radio 5 Live when Geoff Bird talks to some of the families who are struggling to manage on less than £20 a week. Breadlines and Tinsel (Friday 23rd) finds out what they’ll be eating, how they’ll be celebrating.
Dickens knew all about economic struggle as a child, and never forgot what it felt like to starve, to fear going over the borderline into homeless chaos. He was born in 1812, and yet many of his novels are if anything ever more resonant 200 years later. On Radio 3 in the week before Christmas, five writers will be talking about their favourite scenes in The Writer’s Dickens. Listen out especially for A.L. Kennedy’s mordant view of the reporter of hard times.
Cracker number seven has to be Late Junction on Thursday 22nd (Radio 3) when Norway meets Sri Lanka in the music of hardanger fiddle player Synnove S. Bjorset and Hari Sivanesan, who plays the veena — two stringed instruments from very different parts of the world and yet with remarkable similarities of tuning and playing styles. This most unlikely combination of cultural influences, white ice fused with orange heat, should be irresistible.
On the World Service on Christmas Day, The Forum looks back on some of the 60-second ideas for changing the world that have been suggested by contributors to this powerhouse of intelligent debate. This cracker might just be the ideal solution for that post-dinner ennui when Charades is mooted but you’re not keen.
Bridget Kendall is not on radio often enough these days but on Tuesday 27th she’ll be talking to Archbishop Rowan Williams for the Radio 4 interview series, One to One. Both are Russian scholars; both fascinated by Dostoevsky. Their conversation should unravel some of the complexities of this most compelling but puzzling of writers.
Cracker number ten takes us to Radio 5 Live for Science Night (Thursday, 29th). After all the sitting around and eating too much the brain needs stimulation and this promises to be a challenging evening with Chris Smith and the Naked Scientists answering listeners’ questions and also talking about what advances, inventions, discoveries might change our lives next year.
Radio is in such a good place right now, so much more flexible, adaptable, of the moment than tired, worn-out, secondhand TV — which just goes to show that old does not necessarily mean outdated. Cracker number 11 gives us the first-ever programme in the Lives in a Landscape series, now available as a podcast from the Radio 4 website. A pair of posh ratcatchers from the Worshipful Company meet up with genuine ratters for a day of hunting. No commentary needed, just a clever interweaving of conversation. Number 12 celebrates the arrival of what promises to be a brilliant new in-car gadget, Highway 300Di. Its special feature is ‘Picnic Mode’, when you can listen for up to an hour after switching off the engine without draining the battery. Perfect for those Thermos-flask moments, car in a layby, rain streaking down the windscreen, Terry on the radio.
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