Listen of the day

I'm a bit late to this, as I am not particularly fascinated by the Titanic. But Radio Four Extra are running a serialisation of Walter Lord's A Night to Remember. It is quite, quite brilliant, and beautifully read by Martin Jarvis. Because I'm used to him doing comedy, I had no idea he was so good at reading straight pieces. Regular readers will know I get hysterical about people who murder talking books by overdoing it, putting in too much expression, odd pauses, general drama, so getting between the prose and the listener. Jarvis is pitch perfect. I could listen to him all day. Also, the book is very, very well written, which I did not know.

The first three episodes are off the iPlayer, but you can find the rest here. It's really worth it.

Funniest thing of the day

Here is my brilliant idea: the BBC should run episodes of Cabin Pressure on a constant loop to keep up national morale through the economic gloom. It is so funny, so spectacularly well-written, so gloriously acted, especially by the mordant Roger Allam, that it deserves a place as a national monument.

For those of you who can get the iPlayer, there is a special Christmas episode here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00wqj4v/Cabin_Pressure_Cabin_Pressure_at_Christmas/

So sorry this blog has been a bit spotty over Christmas. Back to normal vv soon.