Sad news again. Another little piece of my childhood has gone, with the departure of the lovely Annie Nightingale for the rave tent in Fabulon.

Famously, she became the first female DJ to appear on BBC Radio 1 (in 1970) - and she was still there more than 50 years later (her most recent show went out in December)!

Her Sunday Afternoon Request Show (that was on straight after the Top 40 in the 70s/80s) was essential listening when I was young, and it was after she took over hosting duties on The Old Grey Whistle Test on BBC 2 television (and the show's music changed to more contemporary stuff) that I first discovered two of my lifelong passions, Blondie [see here] and Gary Numan/Tubeway Army!

With her eternal love for new and diverse styles of music - everything from X-Ray Spex to the Chemical Brothers to Skrillex - even at her venerable age she was always ahead of the game. Every generation of Radio 1 listener (and every lover of music) owes her a great debt of gratitude...

RIP, Anne Avril Nightingale (1st April 1940 - 11th January 2024)

We have another centenary to celebrate today, dear reader - that of dear old Auntie Beeb, the BBC!

The world's oldest national broadcaster, it was born out of a desire by the government's licencing authority (then the General Post Office (GPO)) to avoid the chaotic situation in the US (where literally hundreds of rival commercial broadcasters were all licenced in different ways and it took ages to sort out the clashing airwave frequencies), and to create a single entity out of a consortium of former rival companies.

Its birth pre-dated television, of course, and it was to the array of educational and entertainment radio programmes it offered to a boggled nation that Britain (and later the world) became hooked.

Here are just a few of their enduring themes:

Of course, the "golden age of the wireless" wasn't to last - the era of television was upon us, and with it, myriad more classics. This selection can merely "scrape the surface"...

Many happy returns, the British Broadcasting Corporation (born 18th October 2022)

The BBC on Wikipedia

Behold the tarts in their natural environment... [click any pic to embiggen]

And so another fantastic weekend in our beloved Amsterdam - our first in two years - is over. Sob.

Needless to say, we all had a grand old time, meandering the grachten, people-watching at various bars in De Wallen, Leidseplein, Zeedijk, Rembrantsplein, Prinsengracht and along the river Amstel, having a laugh with many of the locals we have known for years - in our hotel Anco and bars Amstel 54 (former Amstel Taveerne) and Montmartre - and (of course) sampling the (slightly) seedier nightlife in another old fave Spijker Bar:

Yes, they're dolls

We paid due homage to the venerable Cafe 't Mandje - now under new management [see here and here], so no "Dutch sing-a-long Sunday" for us this time [although the new manageress said it would be coming back, starting in September, so fingers crossed it'll be going when we get there next year for my 60th] - and to the Queens' Head and its famous window display:

Het is zo mooi!

Having become mightily pissed off lately with the crazy contrasts of our two preferred choices of daytime listening (while I'm working) BBC Radio 3 [which, just when you think it's safely in the zone of playing some nice classical music, veers off into the territory of some modern Czech composer's atonal dirges or, worse, Choral Evensong] and Classic FM [a constant "loop" of themes from films like Harry Potter or Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, snippets of the same composers they play every day, banal shouty adverts and, now we're almost in the dreaded Festering Season, Xmas carols], and following the announcement that the axe is falling on "our kind of music" on Radio 2, I went searching for something else to listen to...

...and found a new thing called Serenade Radio!

An online-only volunteer-led station, its promise to satisfy the "appetite to hear those great songs from that golden era of song writing...Not just the occasional treat, buried in a sea of pop mediocrity, but all day every day" certainly lives up to that remit. With a vengeance! Where else on earth would the listener expect to hear the very lightest-of-light music from the likes of the Ray Coniff Orchestra, Dinah Shore, Perry Como, the Tremeloes, Vic Damone, Helen Shapiro, Doris Day, Lyn Paul, Geoff Love Orchestra, Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney or even Val Doonican (among many others of that ilk) these days? It's like Smashie and Nicey's fictional "Radio Quiet", writ large.

Nonetheless, we did make a rather interesting discovery courtesy of this so-laid-back-it's-almost-asleep station's playlist - a new (sort-of) diva, no less! She's described in her own website's biography thus:

Wherever Laura Fygi appears, she’ll be perceived as a veritable vision of exotica. In her home country the Netherlands she’s known as the woman raised in Uruguay as the daughter of an Egyptian belly dancer; in the Far East she’s seen as the emancipated lady many aspire to be. But no matter which country she visits, her most striking quality will always be that instantly familiar voice which has won her fans around the globe.

Count us as your newest fans, Miss Fygi!

Very stylish, indeed.

However, on delving a little further, I've found that this was not always the case...

Way back in the 1980s, it would appear that Laura Fygi formed one-third of one of those trashy Dutch girl groups I so regularly love to feature in my Tacky Music Monday pick-me-up slot. This lot didn't merely follow that familiar Euro-pop-by-numbers sound, however - they actually stripped while singing it!

Only in the Netherlands.

On the weekend came the news that Graham Norton is leaving his long-running Saturday morning Radio 2 magazine show - to be replaced by that professional irritant, Claudia Winkleman. 

Last night (as I listened to her show on catch-up) came even worse news - the BBC has cancelled one of our favourite hours on radio, Clare Teal's Swing and Big Band Show!!

From The Telegraph (via Yahoo):

Radio 2 has axed its shows dedicated to swing music and early rock’n’roll as the station concentrates its attention on “the next era of pop”.

The Swing and Big Band Show with Clare Teal, and Bill Kenwright’s Golden Years, have been fixtures of the Sunday night schedules for a decade.

But the programmes will have no place in a “refresh” by the station’s new controller, Helen Thomas.

Kenwright hosted his last show on Sunday and bade his listeners an emotional farewell. Teal will leave the station in January, and told the Daily Telegraph that she was sad to leave.

“The swing and big band community in this country is really strong. It saddens me that the show is going. We’ve built up this audience and it’s a real sharing experience,” she said.

They are the latest specialist shows to disappear from Radio 2. The cull began in 2018 with the end of programmes devoted to brass and military band music and organ music.

Last year the BBC announced the new role of Controller of Pop, appointing Lorna Clarke to oversee the musical direction of Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 1Xtra, the BBC Asian Network and 6 Music.

When she advertised the Radio 2 head of station job in March, Clarke said that she was looking for someone to “help me shape the next era of pop from the BBC”.

However, Teal said swing and big band music do constitute “pop” for her listeners, particularly older listeners who grew up with it.

She said: “This music is popular music of a different era - a soundtrack to people’s lives. It is so memory-linked. I hope older audiences will still be served. Older people don’t all like classical music and they’re not all going to head off to Radio 3.”

Teal hopes to produce a version of her show on the Anchor podcast platform in the New Year.

A Radio 2 spokesperson said: “We would like to thank Clare Teal and Bill Kenwright for bringing such passion and commitment to their shows.

"We are always exploring new ways of reflecting a broad range of genres across Radio 2 and the music they featured will continue to be heard, whether in forthcoming series Top Brass with James Morrison and Barry Humphries’ Forgotten Musical Masterpieces, and within our regular shows, weekly strands such as Sound of the 60s and Jamie Cullum, plus specials. We very much hope to work with both Clare and Bill on future projects."

"Reflecting a broad range of genres" - what utter bollocks. When the genial Don Black retired this year, himself a replacement for the late David Jacobs, what did Radio 2 think was a suitable replacement for their style of laid-back, easy listening music, the "comfort zone" that traditionally ended Sunday nights? Why, a show of generic pop pap, of course, presented by Anneka Rice (of all people), generally best known for her cheesy grin and for wobbling her arse at the camera while seeking the prizes in 1980s adventure game show Treasure Hunt. Of course. A natural fit, NOT. A whole "genre" of music, lost.

The above-mentioned Miss Winkleman's first appearance in the Radio 2 schedules was itself during a previous reshuffle after the retirement due to ill health (he died soon after) of the station's longest-serving and beloved DJ, purveyor of classic showtunes, standards and gentle music Desmond Carrington. Her brash style of presenting and banal playlist-pop content sat uncomfortably as his ostensible "replacement", and disrupted the flow of Sunday evenings with a jolt.

The world's longest running music radio show Friday Night is Music Night has also been treated shoddily by the once-proud BBC. Ostensibly in a "temporary move" when radio schedules were being "simplified" in response to the coronavirus pandemic earlier in 2020, the show was shifted to Sunday evenings and "temporarily" re-titled Sunday Night is Music Night. Long before any hint of COVID existed, there had been little in the way of new programming in its normal tradition, however - one of the great "perks" of this publicly-funded network was that audiences could attend recordings of these generally Light Music (and Big Band) concerts for free; and over the years we successfully got tickets (in their draw) for several of these - and its output began to rely heavily upon repeats of old shows, unless there was a concert for which the Beeb could charge, of course, which would then be broadcast in its place.

Lately, and perhaps understandably in a pandemic, repeats are all that occupies its Sunday slot, but the entire programme is unceremoniously dumped altogether if another music-themed event comes along such as BBC Live Sessions, the Olivier Awards or, shamefully for a nation which has no such music in its national canon, America's Country Music Awards. This is the British Broadcasting Corporation, in case anyone in charge of scheduling has forgotten.

Miss Teal, in her statement above, makes a very good point that Swing and Big band music is a genuine part of older people's memories and lives - it was their "pop music", as she says - and fears that generation is being sidelined by the decision. I would argue further that there are millions of people - ourselves included - for whom this type of music is not a personal memory-jog, but a matter of musical taste. We love not only the eternal back-catalogue of British dance bands, US swing bands, jazzy singers and Latin orchestras that were at their height in the early to mid 20th century (before "our time"), but also the modern inheritors, conservationists and innovators of this style - not least the likes of Max Raabe, Joe Stilgoe, Matt Dusk, Michael Feinstein, Claire Martin, Puppini Sisters, Michael Buble, Tricity Vogue or Kansas Smitty's House Band (and even Nina Hagen, Robbie Williams, Brian Setzer of the Stray Cats and Matt Goss of Bros have embraced it). Let us also not forget our own "house bands" here at Dolores Delargo Towers, Pink Martini and Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox...

So who is this embarassingly-titled "Controller of Pop" Lorna Clarke, anyway? On investigation, it seems her main pre-BBC experience was at Kiss 100, the former urban pirate radio station specialising in Hip-Hop, R&B and dance music, from where she progressed to BBC Radio 1Xtra, the digital urban contemporary and Black music radio station. No "swing" there, methinks. As for her appointee as Head of BBC Radio 2/Axeman, Helen Thomas appears to have experience producing mainstream output such as that channel's shouty Drivetime and Breakfast shows, and is on the committee of something called the Young Audio Awards. Both started their careers in radio news rather than music. I feel my life flashing before my eyes at the thought of what this pair have in mind next for the UK's biggest radio station.

Very sad.

Let's have some of "our kind of Swing" to cheer ourselves up, shall we?

And finally, proving that it's not just for oldies...

That's what we want!

Probably my favourite band, ever [erm - I'll probably change my mind on that score next week, or the week after], Mr Neil Tennant and Mr Chris Lowe aka Pet Shop Boys pulled out all the stops for their only live UK gig this year - at the annual Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park event on Sunday! Headlining a full-day festival of feelgood nostalgia, with acts such as Status Quo, Simply Red and Bananarama preceding them (as well as Westlife, Clean Bandit and someone called Kelsea Ballerini [nope; me neither]), they were in their element - with a set full of hits [and a new single to boot], such as these...

Enjoy! I did [Via the BBC iPlayer].






Utterly fab-u-lous!

The Boys' performance is available (for those who can get it) on the BBC iPlayer for the next 28 days.

"A typical show will include everything from 1930s close harmony group The Boswell Sisters to David Bowie via classical pieces and songs from musicals."

It is the end of an era. One of our "house favourites" here at Dolores Delargo Towers, the faboo broadcaster and beloved "national treasure" of our airwaves for seventy years, Mr Desmond Carrington has announced he will be hanging up his microphone later this month.

BBC Radio 2 has long been a focal point of our listening enjoyment round these parts, and Mr Carrington's dulcet tones - originally as part of the station's classic line-up on Sunday afternoons, latterly as a gentle lead-in to the not-to-be-missed Friday Night is Music Night - have been a constant throughout my memory of tuning in to "88 to 91 FM".

At 90 years old he is, of course, forgiven for deciding to retire [he has apparently had heart problems, and cancer, and has had a diagnosis of Alzheimer's - not a hint of any of that being evident in any of his broadcasts, of course]. He is probably the oldest, and certainly one of the longest-serving, DJs on the planet! [And with more than 700,000 listeners every week, one of the most popular nonagenarians still going...]

Here is a rather poignant song that Mr C played on his 90th birthday show. I listened to it. He was rather choked up. And so was I.


I remember dancing to the velvet summer nights
Stars that softly flickered through a thousand coloured lights
Sipping pink champagne until the sun began to rise
When morning turned our laughter to good byes

Where did they go, all the good times
And the flowers and the wine
The young men who held me
All the lovers who were mine
Where did they go, all the sweet years
Filled with laughter ev'ry day
When time went on forever
Oh, when did they slip away

Driving through the midnight streets in gently falling rain
A man might offer everything except, of course, his name
Leaning close he'd whisper how his love would never die
Till once again the morning meant goodbye

Where did they go, all the good times
And the flowers and the wine
The young men who held me
All the lovers who were mine
Where did they go, all the sweet years
Filled with laughter ev'ry day
When time went on forever
Oh, when did they slip away

Now it's time to light another candle on the cake
Join me in a glass of wine, if just for old time's sake
We'll drink to all our wishes now, wherever they may be
If one or two come true just think of me

We will miss Desmond Carrington terribly. Who else would play that?

It was Friday Night is Music Night on Wednesday night! Confusing though that sounds, Madam Arcati and I were overjoyed once again to get tickets in the BBC draw to be in the audience for a recording of Radio 2's longest-running music show (and, indeed the world's longest-running orchestral music programme on radio) - and all of it in celebration of the composer of many a fave choon here at Dolores Delargo Towers - Mr Cy Coleman!

As I said in my recent blog for the man's birthday, Cy "wrote a whole raft of our favourites from the Great American Songbook - not only those in one of my fave musicals 'Sweet Charity'". His music was beloved of legends such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jnr, Shirley Bassey and Tony Bennett, and he won five Tony Awards, two Grammys and three Emmys. No wonder the Beeb finds him worth celebrating.

And what a celebration!

In the exemplary company of the BBC Concert Orchestra (conducted by Mike Reed), and hosted by long-serving TV hostess (and former "action woman") Anneka Rice, the evening covered all aspects of Mr Coleman's career, from his time as a jobbing composer mainly working with lyricist Carolyn Leigh out of the legendary Brill Building, to notable Broadway success with writers such as Dorothy Fields, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, to his later success with Barnum and City of Angels. The orchestra, and chorus Capital Voices, indeed had great fun romping through some of his "big music" numbers, not least Come Follow The Band, Hey, Look Me Over, Join the Circus, Big Spender and The Rhythm Of Life.



The lead singers included the gorgeous Michael Xavier (who we have seen on stage many times - as "Miss Great Plains" in the faboo drag-queen-talent-competition-musical Pageant at The Vaudeville Theatre in 2000; in 2008 playing Rock Hudson in Rock at the Oval House Theatre; at the Friday Night is Music Night West Side Story special in 2007; and as "The Wolf / Cinderella's Prince" in 2010 in Into The Woods at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre) who sang some splendid solos - including Sinatra's favourite Cy Coleman tune, Witchcraft and the standard It's Not Where You Start (It's Where You Finish) - as well as providing a remarkably harmonic backbone to the ensemble numbers.

Here he is in that aforementioned Into The Woods production, duetting with Simon Thomas on Agony:


Mr Xavier also duetted with the other male lead on Wednesday evening Mr Tam Mutu (Les Misérables; Love Never Dies; Dr Zhivago) on You're Nothing Without Me (from City of Angels) - Mr Mutu's "showstopper", however, was his brilliant The Best Is Yet To Come.

Miss Siobhan Dillon, a contender on the reality show How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? and West End starlet [and real-life girlfriend of Mr Mutu, as Miss Rice revealed] really let loose on the Shirley MacLaine numbers If My Friends Could See Me Now and I'm a Brass Band, as well as a rather fab version of Lost and Found (from City of Angels; lyrics by David Zippel: "If you're not celibate, we could raise hell a bit"). She also did a rather touching duet with Mr Mutu on The Colours of My Life (from Barnum), as well as with Mr Xavier on I Like Your Style from the same show.

Swansea's finest Miss Ria Jones, however, got all the campest showbiz numbers - as she should do, being the understudy who triumphally stole the show in Sunset Boulevard when leading lady Glenn Close went off sick [in fact Ria created the role way back in 1991]; she also starred in Evita, Chess, Les Mis and Victor/Victoria [and she is the sister of famed drag queen Ceri Dupree] - such as Nobody Does It Like Me, Hey, Look Me Over, Big Spender and You Can Always Count On Me (again from City of Angels), as well as the lovely love song (made famous by Blossom Dearie) I Walk A Little Faster.

Here's a mere snippet of Miss Jones' talents:


In its entirety - "re-takes" and all - this was another wonderful night out at the glorious Hackney Empire, which we enjoyed immensely. I wonder when it will be broadcast?

Friday Night is Music Night on the BBC.

I always love watching an orchestra at play; the dynamics of how each section works - the elegance of the synchronised string section, the "gadgetry" employed by the tympani just to elicit the right tinkling noise at the right time, the baffling variety of tubular things that can be included in woodwind and brass - and with a wonderful auditorium such as the Mermaid Theatre, a moderate space with its tiered seats never seeming too far from the stage, this opportunity is offered in abundance. [This is in contrast to the glittering St John's Smith Square, where we were on Saturday, whereby the audience and the orchestra are almost at the same level.]

So (again - we have been successful several times: see here, here, here, here and here), I was thrilled when I won free tickets in the BBC's "be in the audience" draw, to go along to the Mermaid last night to watch the BBC Concert Orchestra in a recording for the world's longest-running music programme, Radio 2's marvellous Friday Night is Music Night!

To remain with the "compare and contrast" between two ostensibly "classical" evenings, there is a vast and uncrossable chasm in most people's minds between the glories of Bach and Wagner and the movie-theme-dominated repertoire of Mr Ron Goodwin, but - as is my wont - I like both, so was hardly disappointed that the whole of last night's show was a dedication to the Plymouth-born composer.

Mr Goodwin worked on more than 70 film scores during his career, but his contribution to musical history was even wider than that - including Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren's immortal Goodness, Gracious Me!, orchestrations for hits by Petula Clark and Jimmy Young, jazz, swing and the critically acclaimed orchestral works (for his home town) the Drake 400 Suite and Armada Suite.

It was primarily the movie music that we were treated to last night, however. All beautifully and skilfully done (as if we could expect anything less from the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Gavin Sutherland, with lead violinist Rebecca Turner), some of the highlights included:


The brilliantly "hip" music for Margaret Rutherford's Miss Marple:


Music from the 1964 Kim Novak/Laurence Harvey film of Maugham's Of Human Bondage:



And, keeping up the "flying" theme (Mr Goodwin wrote for many a war film including Where Eagles Dare and Force 10 from Navarone) - 633 Squadron:


It was an enthralling and thoroughly enjoyable evening. Shame the programme itself isn't scheduled to be broadcast on Radio 2 until March 2015 (to mark Ron Goodwin's 90th anniversary), so you'll have to wait to hear me clapping!

Friday Night Is Music Night on the BBC website.

Ronald Alfred Goodwin (17th February 1925 – 8th January 2003)

One of the highlights of Saturday nights on BBC Radio 2 (if, as is sometimes my wont, one finds oneself at home alone on a Saturday night) is the delightful Miss Ana Matronic from Scissor Sisters presenting her own singular selection of obscure choons from the dancing days of the disco era.

And, this being the traditional countdown to the weekend - with a distinct likelihood I may be in, listening again, tomorrow night (not tonight, of course - it's pay day!) - here's one of those fantabulosa oddities she played for us last week.

Accompanied by brilliant footage from that eternally kitschy favourite Roller Boogie [2022 UPDATE: Gone from YouTube] - it's the camp-as-tits Magnifique.

Have a great weekend, folks, whatever you do - and Thank Disco It's Friday!


Are you ready for this?
The question is can you take it?
And would you know what to do if you had it?
She say Magnifique!

Magnifique, fantastique
Wow this guy, he's got style, he's so sweet
Magnifique, elastique
Slick and tall, all of them makes me weak
Magnifique, fantastique
How he glides, how he sides, how he speaks
Magnifique, fantastique
It's so nice, say it twice, it's so nice
Come on y'all...

Magnifique, magnifique
Every shake, every twist, with his hips
Magnifique, erotique
I'm so glad what we have in the sheets
Can it be, fantasy?
Sugar boy, make me fly, magnifique
Magnifique, voulez-vous?
Me and you? Not tonight!
That's alright

Magnifique, fantastique
Wow this guy, he's got style, he's so sweet
Magnifique, elastique
Slick and tall, all of them makes me weak
Magnifique, fantastique
How he glides, how he sides, how he speaks
Magnifique, fantastique
It's so nice, say it twice, it's so nice

Going out tonight to the Panorama bar
In my skin-tight knee-highs
All the guys going crazy for my juice
Cut loose, stepping on the coco puffs with the shoes
Don't ya know that there ain't nothin' left to lose
On the dancefloor, search and spectate
You're strange to me when your eyes get googly
Oh...that feels good...and really hot stuff...
C'est Magnifique!

The Scissor Sisters used to cover this song on stage.

Understandably.

On 1st January 1951, at 11.45am, the nation first heard the words “The Archers. An everyday story of countryfolk”.

The programme has run every weekday on BBC radio without break since then.

The eternally popular soap based in the fictional village of "Ambridge" has seen its share of love, lust, disaster, gossip and potato blight since then, but lo and behold - today we find that something very strange indeed has happened. From the BBC:

Ambridge is to get a dose of pop star royalty after it was revealed that pop duo Pet Shop Boys are to make a cameo appearance on Radio 4's The Archers.

Listeners found out on Friday that Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe's band had been lined up as last-minute headliners for fictional music festival Loxfest.

"It's a thrill for us to enter the world of The Archers, the UK's most famous radio drama," the pair said.

Pet Shop Boys will appear in Monday's instalment of the rural drama series.

Go West, indeed.


The Archers

As heard just now on Johnny Walker's Sounds of the 70s on BBC Radio 2 - it's the most marvellous "male" version of Dolly Parton's Jolene...


Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
I'm begging of you please don't take my man
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Please don't take him just because you can
Your beauty is beyond compare
With flaming locks of auburn hair
With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green

Your smile is like a breath of spring
Your voice is soft like summer rain
And I cannot compete with you, Jolene

He talks about you in his sleep
There's nothing I can do to keep
From crying when he calls your name, Jolene

And I can easily understand
How you could easily take my man
But you don't know what he means to me, Jolene

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
I'm begging of you please don't take my man
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Please don't take him just because you can

You could have your choice of men
But I could never love again
He's the only one for me, Jolene

I had to have this talk with you
My happiness depends on you
And whatever you decide to do, Jolene

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
I'm begging of you please don't take my man
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Please don't take him even though you can
Jolene, Jolene

But the best part?

...it's by Dolly herself, slowed down from 45 to 33⅓!

Utterly remarkable!

Ah... Desmond Carrington. The UK's (possibly the World's) oldest DJ/radio presenter - he celebrates his 88th birthday today, and I am listening to his gorgeously nostalgic radio show as we speak...

Here's one from the archives:

[2019 UPDATE: gone from the interwebs]

Many, many happy returns!

Mr Carrington's show The Music Goes Round is on every Friday evening on BBC Radio 2.

Desmond Carrington (born 23rd May 1926)

Anyone who has appeared in the media is now a national treasure, it has been confirmed.

The government is to publish a revised, post-Operation Yewtree national treasure list later today, which includes the dancer from East 17, the entire staff of Kwik Fit and the owner of a popular Swindon kebab shop.

A spokesman said: “Gary Barlow has basically got his own day on proper radio, that’s how bad things have got in terms of our remaining cultural icons.

“Thanks to widespread sexpestery, the ranks of household names that can be fawned over in a cloyingly sentimental, vaguely nationalistic manner are desperately thin.

“Basically if you’ve had your picture in a local paper munching a baguette or been a backing dancer in a rave act, you’re now a national treasure.”

The government plans to sell off many older national treasures, including Stephen Fry and Helen Mirren, before they get a chance to disgrace themselves.

However Bruce Forsyth cannot be considered for sale as insurers are unwilling to cover the requisite 12-month warranty.

The Daily Mash.

Of course.

The real controversy over "Gary Barlow Day" on BBC Radio 2.

The gnomes at BBC Radio 2 are at it again - fucking around with their schedules and once more cheapening the experience. One of the absolute highlights of my week has always been to listen to the intelligent dulcets of Mr Russell Davies' show at 9pm on a Sunday "celebrating the art, craft and inspiration of the popular song".

His - and the man really knows his stuff, being a jazz musician himself - was an hour dedicated to extensively-researched musical history, tirelessly revealing hitherto unknown details about the songs, composers, writers and performers of music from a long-lost era - when such legends as the Gershwins, Harold Arlen, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Rodgers and Hart (or Hammerstein), Lerner and Loewe, Irving Berlin, Harry Warren, Yip Harberg, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Cy Coleman and many more too numerous to list created the song "standards" we still know and love today.

Now his show - listening to which I would normally soak in a luxurious bath, and just wallow in musical loveliness (as I did yesterday, with sadness in my heart) - is axed, along with the Beeb's own midweek BBC Big Band Special, to be replaced by an extended swing music programme presented by Clare Teal. Miss Teal is just 40 and is pretty, Mr Davies is 67 and, even by his own judgement no doubt, is not that. And thereby we identify a sad trend...

As Mr Davies himself recently said in an interview with The Telegraph, “I think there’s a cultural shift going on. I don’t know why they’re doing it. It seems to be at the expense of people who know anything before The Beatles.”

He continued:

“If there is no one on Radio 2 who knows about the standards of songs, it is a great shame. There are some people who are being increasingly poorly served by the BBC.

“People like me, in the BBC local radio firmament as well, are disappearing. I don’t think age has a lot to do with it. I think it is the kind of song. The well written song that was pioneered by the likes of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and the Gershwin duo. It is more [to do with] that catalogue: I don’t know what they have got against that. I think there’s a risk that the longer memory of music is being lost from the station... It’s a complete waste.

“I have had some messages already [from listeners] and they feel that they are being badly treated, and snubbed, and that their tastes are not being recognised, let alone catered to.

“Radio listening is diminishing among the younger people, but not among this older generation. These are not the people to be ignoring at this time, I think, or snubbing.

“On a lot of Radio 2, the music is just there. It’s the pleasant gaps between the chat and the chat.

“I think Radio 2 is just content to do that, and leave the music be and the music business can look after itself. There is always something to be said about the music business, past and present. And where better to say them than on Radio 2?

“My programme is a niche programme in the sense that only a certain number of people at any given time are going to take music seriously enough to enjoy the history of it in the way that I do. But Radio 2 is built on songs and there must be something on the network that is taking songs seriously.

“Money is always mentioned as being part of it, but I don’t really think much money will be saved from getting rid of me."

Although Mr Davies' voice will not be entirely lost to BBC Radio (yet!) - he has a new show (not the same intelligent format, unfortunately) coming up on Monday nights at 11pm for two 13-week stints a year, and he is still the question-master on the long-running Brain of Britain quiz on Radio 4 - I believe he is correct about the way "our kind of music" is increasingly being sidelined, and older presenters and listeners are not respected as they should be.

David Jacobs is dead, admittedly replaced by another "old-timer", the composer Don Black in the late Sunday slot; Mr Jacobs' contemporary Desmond Carrington (one of the voices on the BBC's predecessor to Radio 2, "The Light Programme" back in the 50s) is constantly seeing his show moved about in the schedules, having originally (much like Russell Davies himself) been shunted from Sunday afternoons to make way for superstar Elaine Paige; and the Your Hundred Best Tunes light classical show that was the domain of Richard Baker, the late Alan Keith and latterly Alan Titchmarsh is gone for good.

Latest figures from Radio Joint Audience Research showed that Radio 2 had 15.27 million listeners a week, up 4.9 per cent on last year. The increase was put down to older people turning away from Radio 1, where changes aimed at attracting a younger audience have led to a drop in listeners.

Yet the Controller of Radio 2 Bob Shennan seems determined to ignore the perhaps lesser-known and definitely older presenters and formats in favour of the new, the famous and the "shouty" - both the lovely Hugh Laurie (54) and the not-so-lovely Sarah Cox (38) have new shows announced. Let's not even contemplate why the well-respected folk singer Mike Harding (68) was replaced at the helm of Radio 2's folk coverage by Mark Radcliffe (55, formerly of Radio 1's "Mark & Lard" show), nor why Sir Terry Wogan (75) was replaced by "ginger minger" Chris Evans (47), nor indeed the alleged sackings of Sarah Kennedy (68) or the late Malcolm Laycock...

Just today I signed a petition asking for the programme to be saved, and left this comment:

"Russell Davies Song Show was the most important source of intelligent and important historical research, providing a valuable background to the wonderful music of the 20th century he played. He is replaced for what reason? The BBC quotes money. Piffle. Its values are increasingly about "celebrity" and intellectually light programme formats, and this is evident in the way Sundays on Radio 2 have been rearranged."

The man is too important to be sidelined in this shabby way...

In last night's show alone, we had rare treats from (among others) Rosemary Clooney, Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Susannah McCorkle, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, the recently-deceased Joan Regan, The Swingle Singers, Frankie Laine and Peggy Lee - read more on his page on the "Wise Buddah Productions" website.

I shall miss Russell Davies' programme on Sunday, and look forward to hearing what he has in store when his new format show finally arrives on Mondays later this year.

Let's finish by playing the classic with which he opened his final "Song Show" - Miss Rosie Clooney and I'm Checking Out (Goombye), here in a medley with It Don't Mean A Thing... How apt.


Read more about the demise of the Russell Davies Song Show in The Telegraph.

They're dropping like flies...

RIP David Jacobs, broadcaster, stalwart of the BBC for eight decades (he began broadcasting on BBC Forces Radio during WWII) and the voice of one of Dolores Delargo Towers' favourite Radio 2 shows - The David Jacobs Collection - for many, many years.

A huge loss.

Read my tribute to Mr Jacobs on the occasion of his retirement from his much loved Sunday night radio show back in July 2013.

From the BBC:

Veteran broadcaster David Jacobs is to leave his Radio 2 show, The David Jacobs Collection, citing ill health.

His regular Sunday night programme features tunes from Hollywood, Broadway and Tin Pan Alley, and has been on the air since 1998.

But Jacobs has been at the BBC since 1945, hosting shows such as Housewives' Choice, Pick of the Pops, Juke Box Jury and Any Questions.

The 87-year-old's last show will be broadcast on Sunday, 4th August 2013.

He said: "Over the past two years Radio 2 has given me time to be treated for liver cancer and Parkinson's Disease.

"My producer, Alan Boyd, has been a tower of strength in so many ways and I thank him profusely.

"We shared a love of so many records and wonderful music.

"I will not stop collecting but my sadness will be that I cannot share them with all my loyal listeners. But rest assured, I will be back from time to time."

Jacobs started his broadcasting career in the Royal Navy in 1944, where he was made an announcer on wartime radio station Radio SEAC.

The invitation came from Commander Kim Peacock, who had heard him appear as a guest on a variety show.

"He said he didn't think much of my impersonations," Jacobs once recalled, "but he thought the way I announced them was very good, would I like to be an announcer?"

"This was unbelievable. I was just a sailor, an ordinary seaman."

After leaving the Navy, Jacobs worked full-time at the BBC as an announcer and newsreader.

He later became one of the original presenters of Top Of The Pops, and preceded Terry Wogan as the BBC's commentator on the Eurovision Song Contest.

"The David Jacobs Collection" has been a staple part of our Sunday radio listening here at Dolores Delargo Towers for many years. An oasis of calm, unashamedly middle-of-the-road music amongst an increasingly shrill selection of programmes, it will be very difficult act indeed to follow.

I hope the "yoof"-obsessed programmers at BBC Radio don't balls it up with something inappropriately horrid as a replacement...

Here's the man himself, interviewed several years ago for a local hospital radio station and registered charity Eastward TV - [UPDATE SEPT 2013] visit their YouTube page to watch.

[I tried to paste the video, but apparently they claimed infringement of copyright. Bizarre. It's not exactly a pirate copy of a Disney film.]

David Jacobs, CBE on Wikipedia.

I am currently listening to (an amazingly star-struck) Michael Ball interviewing (a very sprightly) Doris Day on his Radio 2 programme. [The programme will be on iPlayer for a week if you want to hear it]

Any excuse for a "Doris-fest"! The reason for the interview is of course her much-trumped new album...

From StereoBoard:

Eighty-seven-year-old legendary Hollywood singer Doris Day has become the oldest star in history to be playlisted on BBC Radio 2 with her new single Heaven Tonight, taken from her new album My Heart.

My Heart is Doris Day’s first studio album of new material in 17 years; a dozen songs of a timeless quality, with nine brand-new recordings produced by Day’s late son, Terry Melcher, plus a trio of Day classics.

Miss Day has been fully involved with the musical selections for this special release. Her son Terry Melcher – who was known as a songwriter and producer for folk-rock pioneers The Byrds and other artists – co-wrote four of the new songs with Beach Boys member Bruce Johnston.

Doris Day's forthcoming new album, My Heart, is released on Monday 5th September 2011.

Unfortunately every attempt to get an online copy of her new single to play for you has failed, but here is the album tracklist:

1. Hurry, It's Lovely Up Here
2. Daydream (originally by Lovin' Spoonful)
3. The Way I Dreamed It
4. Heaven Tonight
5. My One & Only Love
6. My Heart
7. You Are So Beautiful (originally by Joe Cocker)
8. Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries
9. Disney Girls (originally by Beach Boys)
10. My Buddy
11. Happy Endings
12. Ohio

While we wait, here's another Doris Day classic:


The new album is only available in the UK and Europe. Pre-order your copy today! [Preview clips are available.]

http://www.dorisday.com/

One of the favourite online radio stations Madame Arcati discovered recently, and we both adore, is a brilliant Mexican one called Xcentrica, featuring the choice of music of "El Munecon, the Lounge King".

It is a feast of easy listening and kitsch, with a liberal mix of choons by the likes of Dalida, Henry Mancini, Michel Legrand, space age pop and electronica, jazz, dance and lounge music!

And this lady! Enjoy the sultry sound of Monna Bell...



Listen to Xcentrica

It's all change at Radio 2 with the appointment of a new controller Bob Shennan. But what future will this fabulous station have in his hands?

Arriving back at the BBC after he jumped ship for the ill-fated Channel 4 venture into radio (which has now been shelved by the station as part of the reaction to its financial crisis), Bob Shennan has a background in sport and news, but little previous experience of music radio. According to the Guardian, insiders have questioned his lack of music background, although he was appointed by two executives who themselves have no prior radio experience – the director of audio and music Tim Davie, and the creative director Alan Yentob.

Big decisions need to be made at Radio 2, not least who will replace Terry Wogan as he retires from the breakfast show. All the big bets are on - gawd help us - Chris Evans to take over, despite Our Tel's obvious contempt for the ginger one. And bearing in mind the "populist" stance of the man who wielded the axe at Radio Five Live on some of its more traditional and long-running shows, bringing in "big name" presenters to boost the ratings instead, there could be some more nasty surprises in store for the UK's most popular radio station.



Shennan's rise to success in the BBC was remarkable, from sports journalist to controller of Radio Five Live in ten years, and while at the helm there he raised their audience to over seven million listeners. But he had his critics. One of the people who launched Five Live Tim Luckhurst stated that the station had lurched downmarket under the control of Shennan, and had declined "from news pioneer to a bounteously funded competitor for commercial chat radio."

So what exactly will this man do now he has his hands on Radio 2? I dread to think what will be the fate of some of my favourite shows - Malcolm Laycock, Desmond Carrington, Russell Davies and David Jacobs - let alone respected daytime broadcasters like Ken Bruce.

'Cos they're old, see? And that Wossy, well he's a laugh, innee?

Sigh...