Radio 4 Update

I blogged about BBC Radio 4's panel shows. This week's Midweek is a great example:

* Lenny Henry, Chef! himself -- now playing the Moor
* The film legend Leslie Caron
* Sarah Butler, a writer who just did a "residency" in the Underground
* and Clarissa Dickson Wright, who writes about traveling through Britain.

Atlantic's Brit Wit

The Atlantic has a great article about British humour this month, with Ricky Gervais and Russell Brand being the prime examples.

It would take more than article to get to the bottom of it, but someday, someone will come up with a theory on why this island nation has produced so many intelligently daft idiot-geniuses.

Parkour Mania

Now that it's been featured on the US version of The Office, everyone knows what parkour is.

Of course, they've known about it in the UK for years. Check out this 2004 video, with some great London sites in the background ...

Only in UK

I'm a big Radio 4 fan. Start stereotyping ... here I listen to NPR, drive a Prius, vote Democratic ... it's pretty easy to extrapolate what I'd do if I was a subject of the crown.

One thing Radio 4 has mastered that really doesn't exist here is the panel discussion. Sure, there are politics shows that have a couple of liberals and a couple of conservatives in the studio and they let them go at each other. I'm not talking about that. I'm thinking of specifically, Start the Week (STW) and Midweek: Diverse Conversation.

These shows are fantastic. Midweek, hosted by Libby Purves and STW, with Andrew Marr, both round up a random group ... say a novelist, an actor, a natural scientist and an NGO official recently back from some wartorn country. All four participants read the writer's book, go see the actor's play, learn about the scientist's achievements and read the memoirs of the NGO person.

The result is the opposite of what you get when you have an actor spouting off about hunger in Africa or something. They sort of interview each other, with the host acting as the guide -- and the segues and connections can often be stunning.

I urge you to podcast these two shows immediately.

My Favorite Torry

The British Parliament is coming up a lot in conversation lately. Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst during President Obama's address to Congress is being seen, even by some who disagree with him, as being firmly in the vain of the "Questions for the Prime Minister" sessions popularized here on C-SPAN. (Of course, even MPs don't call each other liars, but that's hair splitting.)

Then just yesterday, I heard London's mayor, Boris Johnson, on BBC4's Great Lives talking about Samuel Johnson. We just don't have politicians like that. I can't really imagine a Republican going on some radio show and talking about a non-political topic besides sport. Yet, this Oxford grad seemed very well at home talking about 18th century intellectuals.

And since all but the most extreme Conservative members actually believe in making sure that an illness shouldn't wipe out a family financially, I'd be proud to have him as my mayor. Something tells me that he's not going to stop with being mayor though. He's only 45 years old.

Adam Knows

Even the ultra-manly Adam Corolla (The Man Show, etc.) is apparently a little bit of Anglophile. His podcast, which is almost always in the top 10, is a riot. Here's a quote from yesterday's edition:

I love the English. [The] English, they're so much f**king better than that we are. Because for years, I was always like, "Ginger Baker, why is he called 'Ginger,' and Ginger Spice?" Well, when you have red hair and you're from England, they call it ginger. We call it "rusty." They call it ginger. It's so much better. Wouldn't you rather be called Ginger than Rusty?

When He's Right, He's Right

A couple of weeks ago, Richard Bradley blogged about Elbow's performance at Glastonbury. Good on him. I may not go as far as he does in his post about the general beauty of British Pop. But there's no denying it: That band is fantastic. And that song -- "One Day Like This" -- is a towering achievement. Please click below. I'll be shocked if it doesn't stay with you for a long, long time.

Well Done, Lads

This post in memorium to the British soldier who gave his life in the successful pre-dawn raid which freed the journalist Stephen Farrell from his Taliban captors in Afghanistan.

They Keep Pulling Me Back In

I was really contemplating stopping to watch Doctor Who with the new cast change -- there's already so much on queued on my new Roku.

But now I see that Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually) is writing an episode. So, they've got me back.

Any Day Now

It's World Cup time again ... and it's looking like David Beckham may not be included on the squad going to South Africa.

There are milestones in life: When you are older than Playboy centerfold models, when you are older than the President of the US, and when sport stars have entire careers while you are paying attention.

Well, Becks can't carry on forever ... his not playing for England just seems wrong.

The Real Heroes

September 3rd marked the beginning of World War II.

Neville Chamberlin delivered the news in his famous stiff-upper-lip manner:

"I am speaking to you from the Cabinet Room at 10, Downing Street. This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final note stating that unless we heard from them by 11 0'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany."

Plain words that made history. And it set in motion an effort that's beyond words. Sure the soldiers and sailors and airmen made history, but the Germans would have never been defeated if it wasn't for the average British subject. America would have never entered the war if it wasn't for the bravery of those people through the Blitz.

There's a great podcast featuring some of the speeches that motivated these remarkable people.

But my favorite came later, from the Bulldog, and is worth remembering every day:

"Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty -- never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

Not Quite Cricket or "Putting Some English On It."

Not that I've tried that hard, but I still still find cricket a sticky wicket. I do know enough to be aware that England have won some big contest recently (I think against the Aussies?) and that they now have something called "the Ashes."

One thing that really surprised me: Apparently, Lilly Allen is a mad for the game. She's even been known to hire helicopters to get her to games so she won't be late -- and I don't think they are any cheaper there than here. Lilly says that in her hectic life, cricket is a moment of calm. I get that ... with those five-day contests, it must be like playing our (yawn) baseball in a vat of treacle. Baseball's my favorite sport, so count me in!

Other news in sport: Footie started on the 15th of August and Chelsea is out front. Of course, Man U won again last year, so it's going to be another interesting season ... If I can manage to keep on top of it.

Had to Laugh

I'm still furious about the Lockerbie thing, but here's a zinger from Andy Parsons on BBC Radio's I Guess That's Why They Call It the News:

"The Americans are furious, they say there's going to be less American tourism. But surely, that's good for actual Scotish tourism. Less American tourists means that tourists from every other part of the world will be thinking, "Brilliant! This the time to go to Scotland."