29 April 2012

Editorial



Contents 29 April, 2012
Cartoon: Claudia Ward
A Gift from the Gods: Joselyn Morton
Art: Billie-Jean Spille
BBC Radio4 Extra: Mary Kalemkerian
Cover: Roger Morton
29 April 2012
We are now beginning our third week of cold wind and heavy rain. I was so geared for spring that it feels like a cruel act of vengeance. Meanwhile Roger is watching Á Mourir de Rire. It cheers me up to hear his hearty laugh. He has not been laughing when he watches the Leveson inquiry. He has been warning the world at large about Rupert Murdoch for many years. Meanwhile we have begun to regard Lord Leveson as rather an endearing character.
I was out holding the ladder today while Roger was up on the roof of the hangar replacing a broken tile that had been letting in rain on a beam for some years now. Thankfully the character-revealing decision of “if Roger fell, would I stay there and cushion his fall or would I quickly leap out of the way so that he did not flatten me?” didn’t happen.
Sarkozy didn’t do well in the first round of elections, so it is looking very hopeful for François Holland. If Segolene Royal was still leader of the Socialist Party, I would be feeling a lot more excited.
My new political hero of a few-weeks standing, George Galloway has recently married his researcher 30 years his junior (even though he only met her 6 months ago and the youngest son of his second wife is only 5months old – all this according to Decca Aitkenhead at the Guardian.) I’ve rather gone off him big time. Sex and politics seem to be awfully close - like camels, humps and camel dung. Try to keep dry. Joselyn Morton

Claudia Ward cartoon


Poetry


A Gift from the Gods

He meditates about his money
‘M m m m’. Is that what he chants
with a clear conscience from his house of
lined luxury? She fills the pockets
of her long winter coat with heavy
stones wades out into the fast-flowing
water to die. That chills me, fills me
with dread. I lose the thread in my head,
on the floor, among the floating dust,
the grunge of memories, I shrink from
lying awake, fearful with half the
world’s insomniacs, their bed a cage
where they long for sleep,  deep velvet hole
where no scary dream can intrude.
Teenagers wake fresh at three in the
afternoon, what a gift from the gods.
Joselyn Duffy Morton ©

Billie-Jean Spille

The intriguing shapes and bright colours of Billie-Jean Spille's paintings reflect the warm spirit inherent in this generous-hearted, talented woman. A house full of these would be very nice to wake up to on a drab, wet, wind-swept morning.
Photos and text R& JoselynMorton

BBC Radio4 Extra

 




Hello again,
2012 is certainly a full year for anniversaries, celebrations and tributes.
Hardly a week has passed on Radio 4 Extra without a celebration or commemoration of a person or an event.
And this coming week is no exception.
To commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, we have scheduled a drama which was billed in 1977 as ‘the most ambitious drama project ever mounted on BBC Radio’.
This land-mark drama, originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4 thirty-five years ago to celebrate the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, is in 26 hour-long parts, covering the reigns of eleven kings, in the years from 1307 - 1533.
And the title? - Vivat Rex (taken from the coronation ceremony - Long Live the King!).
It is a history of the English crown, from the accession of Edward II to the birth of Elizabeth I told through adapted works of playwrights of the period such as Shakespeare and Marlowe, chronicling two blood-soaked centuries of struggle, ambition, conquest, murder, glory and greed.
The cast consists of many of the finest actors ever to tread the boards of the British stage, and is a breath-taking list which includes:
Richard Burton (as the Storyteller in all 26 episodes) Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Sir Michael Redgrave, Robert Hardy, John Hurt, Derek Jacobi, Barbara Jefford, Hannah Gordon, Martin Jarvis, Keith Michell, Robert Powell, Anthony Quayle, Paul Scofield, Nigel Stock, Patrick Troughton, Timothy West, Billie Whitelaw and June Whitfield - and so it continues.
What an assembly of acting talent!
Such a prestigious work was of course given the cover page of Radio Times (12 th-18th February 1977, price 12p) The magazine featured several pages of information on this epic drama plus an interview with Richard Burton reminiscing on his 30 years of broadcasting.
Reading those faded Radio Times pages makes fascinating reading 35 years on.
Vivat Rex was produced and directed by two of BBC Radio Drama’s legendary producers, Gerry Jones and Martin Jenkins (who also adapted the script).
Sadly, Gerry Jones died in 2005, leaving us a legacy of many wonderful dramas from his twenty years at the BBC as both a writer and director
Gerry and Martin also worked together as producers of many of the Fear on Four programmes (several of which you may have heard in our 7th Dimension Zone).
Martin Jenkins continues to direct work for radio (as does his daughter, Gemma Jenkins) and we were fortunate enough to have a visit from Martin this week, when he was interviewed about the making of Vivat Rex. You can read Martin’s blog
here:
For lovers of good drama, all 26 episodes of Viva Rex, plus Martin’s interviews are essential listening.
And now from drama to comedy and another anniversary.
April 19 th marked the 20 th anniversary of the death of one of Britain’s most popular comedians, Frankie Howerd, whose comedy career spanned six decades. To celebrate Frankie’s life, we are repeating selection of his programmes, some of which have not had an outing for many years: a 1953 version of Variety Bandbox (courtesy of the late Bob Monkhouse’s vast archive collection) and a Desert Island Discs programme from the Roy Plomley years).
Our 3-hour Special , Howerd’s Way, also features an interview with Frankie’s long-term agent, business manager and friend, Tessa le Bars who shared with us her personal recollections of Frankie’s life and works. Peter Reed (who interviewed Frankie in 1989) interviewed Tessa for this special, and Mik Wilkojc, who, as producer of The Steve Wright Show in 1991 has also worked alongside Frankie.
You can read Mik's blog
here:
Mary Kalemkerian, Head of Programmes, BBC Radio4 Extra
Photo:Roger Morton
A rainy, April Angouleme day

Editorial



Contents 29 April, 2012
Cartoon: Claudia Ward
A Gift from the Gods: Joselyn Morton
Art: Billie-Jean Spille
BBC Radio4 Extra: Mary Kalemkerian
Cover: Roger Morton
29 April 2012
We are now beginning our third week of cold wind and heavy rain. I was so geared for spring that it feels like a cruel act of vengeance. Meanwhile Roger is watching Á Mourir de Rire. It cheers me up to hear his hearty laugh. He has not been laughing when he watches the Leveson inquiry. He has been warning the world at large about Rupert Murdoch for many years. Meanwhile we have begun to regard Lord Leveson as rather an endearing character.
I was out holding the ladder today while Roger was up on the roof of the hangar replacing a broken tile that had been letting in rain on a beam for some years now. Thankfully the character-revealing decision of “if Roger fell, would I stay there and cushion his fall or would I quickly leap out of the way so that he did not flatten me?” didn’t happen.
Sarkozy didn’t do well in the first round of elections, so it is looking very hopeful for François Holland. If Segolene Royal was still leader of the Socialist Party, I would be feeling a lot more excited.
My new political hero of a few-weeks standing, George Galloway has recently married his researcher 30 years his junior (even though he only met her 6 months ago and the youngest son of his second wife is only 5months old – all this according to Decca Aitkenhead at the Guardian.) I’ve rather gone off him big time. Sex and politics seem to be awfully close - like camels, humps and camel dung. Try to keep dry. Joselyn Morton

14 April 2012

Editorial



Contents 14 April, 2012
Morocco Daren Blake
A Spider JD Morton
Stephen O’Rourke’s Sydney
BBC Radio4 Extra Mary Kalemkerian
Friday 13th – usually we stay home but we’ve been invited to supper ce soir and it’s certainly worth trampling over our not-set-in concrete superstition (I think it’s the only one I’ve got, apart from throwing salt over my left should with my right hand whenever I clumsily spill any; then again when I sweep, I try not to sweep any lingering good luck out the door – I sweep inwards.) What the fuck, it’s the old chestnut of fate, destiny, luck – you either fight it or let it drag you by the short and curlies into the abyss. I seem to remember another Friay the 13th not that long ago, so maybe if they start coming thick and fast, they lose their potency.
I don’t know that ‘potency’ is the right word to describe googleads – ‘flagrent rip-off’ might be more accurate. For the last couple of years my blog has been more dotted with them than a Damien Hirst steal from Yaypi Kusama. Yet the only payment I have received is a cheque for 78centimes.
It is now Saturday 14th. I slept badly last night maybe it was a full moon (it certainly couldn’t have been the delicious food). Anyway today I feel like a stunned mullet or as Roger’s mother Margie would say “a burnt tree stump”. Plus I have a list of undone tasks to do and therefore writing this editorial doesn’t seem high on my list of priorities although I have had well over fourteen thousand hits, so I guess someone does read it from time to time.
During the week I was very concerned to read in Private Eye that Greece is still being forced to buy submarines etc from Germany and Britain at a cost of billions of bucks. Might this be contributing to their financial crises? Meanwhile India and Pakistan are still claiming Kasmir and sadly 150 of soldiers who defend this area were killed in an avalanche. It’s a daft, sad world alright.Then David Cameron goes to Asia with guys from Defence Companies BAE Systems and Agustawestland. Shouldn’t he distance himself just a little? I believe they are hoping to sell weapons and fighter jets to Indonesia. It’s called a ‘trade mission’ not a ‘death mission’
In France, the Presidential elections are on-going and it seems they now have their own George Galloway in the shape of Jean-Luc Mélenchon. He seems to know how to whip up a crowd – will be interesting to see if the French people are prepared to vote for him.
Meanwhile the UK is finally beginning to take notice of all the scientific findings which prove that pesticides are contributing to the serious decline of the bee population. Maybe it is now time for the British public to get behind the scientists so that these pesticides are banned, before any more damage is done.
Joselyn Morton