Random radio jottings

  Ad-libbed or improvised comedy was unheard of in post-war comedy shows. Scripts had to be written and typed-up in advance of broadcast wit...

On Saturday 27 September 1975 Radio 1 introduced a new programme to the schedule, presented by Paul Gambaccini in concentrated on the latest...

Back in 2015 I wrote a series of posts about comedy shows that poked fun at the week’s news, from Listen to this Space and Week Ending to ...

In an era of 24-hour rolling news it’s difficult to comprehend that there was a time when broadcasters found that “the prospect of filling f...

In the second festive offering I bring you not one, not two but three traditional fairy tales. These comedy pantomime retellings are from De...

For the first of this year’s Christmas posts I’m taking you back over six decades to Boxing Day 1959. On the BBC Light Programme that evenin...

In a recent edition of University Challenge (1) Amol Rajan asked “Give me the composer of this piece which became, in 1927, the first music...