In My Ears This Month

[Mike Hobart]

GARRISON KEILLOR RADIO SHOW 2007-08-05 BBC7

Garrison Keillor at the Cincinnati Music Hall, with mandolin genius Sam Bush who belts out the Cincinnati Rag with the Guy's All Star Shoe Band. Buddy Emmons, the pedal steel legend, plays "Shenandoah" and Garrison reads a sonnet he has written for Robert Altman. Private eye Guy Noir is still trying to find the answer to life's persistent questions (as well as a missing person) and in "The News from Lake Wobegon", the citizens are celebrating Thanksgiving by standing around bonfires drinking red wine.

SHERLOCK HOLMES 99-01-16 "The Clockwork Fiend"

OK, this wasn't actually the series that I thought it was. I thought this was the South African drama series, but it turned out to be a British comedy series. Imagine if Conan Doyle and Spike Milligan had collaborated on a radio script and you'd have some idea of the feel of this wacky show.

FRIDAY NIGHT IS MUSIC NIGHT

Barbara Windsor is an icon of British entertainment. Among her stage and film credits are the long-running 'Carry On' series.

In this musical celebration for her 70th birthday, she looked back over her extraordinary career and the best of British musical theatre. The concert at the Hackney Empire in London spanned British shows from Sandy Wilson’s 'The Boyfriend' to music from Noel Coward and Ivor Novello, right up to Andrew Lloyd Webber.

A LIFE OF BLISS 1959.02.11 s05e08 "A Moving Story"

An almost-forgotten but mildly amusing sitcom starring George Cole. You know how old it is when somebody puts their house on the market for the astronomical figure of six thousand pounds....

PAST REFRAIN BBC 2000-09-08 Friday Play

One of those stories about a woman who rediscovers a long-repressed trauma from her childhood. One website reviewer describes it as "a rather frightening play about Lara who hears a foreign nursery tune on the car radio, and is terrified by it. There follows a careful investigation of her past to find the cause. There was an impressive cast, including Ben Crowe and Mary Wimbush; Cherry Cookson directed." These sorts of plots can be fairly tedious if done badly, but this works well and keeps the listener guessing about how it's going to turn out. Good performances and direction.

RED ELVIS - BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play 2007

A mockumentary that tells the (ahem) true story of Elvis Presley's involvement in the Cold War.

Quite entertaining to listen to.

BBC Reporter ...... Gerry Northam

Elvis ...... Kevin Paul

CIA agent Baines Hoskin ...... John Moraitis

DUDE, WHO STOLE MY TITLE - BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play 2007

Olly Smith stars in his own play about a quest to reclaim an ancient ancestor's title. But he only has 24 hours. Fortunately he has the ancestor's ghost [Ewan Bailey] to help him. Unfortunately not as funny as it thinks it is -- I started to fidget about halfway through and began to find it all a bit tiresome.

BOSTON BLACKIE 46-09-03 "stolen rare book"

A rare book is stolen from the vault of a library and it's up to Blackie to solve the locked vault mystery and clear the name of his girlfriend Mary. As usual, mildly entertaining.

JACK BENNY 48-05-23

Jack returns from New York, the cue for a barrage of jokes about tightfistedness. Then we get the show's version of the popular story "The Egg and I" (we've actually got a rooster that sounds like the one in this skit - that's a bit of a worry). Lots of good gags and a few topical references that may go over the heads of modern listeners.

FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY

43-11-02 "Cleaning Doc Gamble's house"

Maybe it's just me, but this one wasn't as much fun as usual, possibly because the punchline was so obvious. I was intrigued to discover that the Doc owned a television set in 1943 though.