Radio Play-Doh

When I was a kid I had a toy machine that made play-doh shapes: spaghetti, cylinders, twisty coils, star shaped tubes . . .

But the machine always had a quantity of play-doh stuck inside. To get this out (and therefore form the shapes) you had to push fresh play-doh in the back of the machine, and force the old play-doh out through the cutters. Meaning the new play-doh was now stuck inside. This also meant that if you didn’t play with the toy for a while, the play-doh stuck inside would dry out and make the whole process crumbly and dissatisfying.

It appears that this process also holds true for the world of radio.

For on Wednesday, Dan and I received some exciting news. You may remember our KONKERS feature on BBC Radio Kent last year, since producing which, we have been busily making a monthly podcast for the Gulbenkian Theatre. These audio baked goods appear to have gone down well, because the Ginger and the Brummie have had the carrot of persuasion dangled before our faces with the prospect of producing something similar for BBC Radio Kent. It’s all under-wraps for now, but we shall give you the details when they are more solid.

And on that very same Wednesday, as 2 fresh new pieces of play-doh were pushed up into the underside of the plasticine factory of BBC Radio, someone else was pushed out at the very top. A piece of plasticine whose joyous presence had remained for decades . . . not that he was at all crumbly or dissatisfying!

Yes, it is with sadness I must request a minute’s silence in respect of the late Clement Freud. Just a minute, mind you . . . bad joke, but it had to be made.

The minute waltz has faded away, and we’ll have to turn to BBC7 from now on, for our fix of his wondrous deep sardonic tones.

RIP Mr Freud.

IN OTHER NEWS

Alaric, me and the Archbishop of Canterbury went along to the Shirley Hall to see Paul Merton’s Silent Clowns this week. What a wonderful evening’s entertainment, with live musical accompaniment, some hilarious old films, and fascinating links from Mr Merton himself. The Bakery Boys felt thoroughly inspired by the ingenuity of those early film-makers – back in the days before green screen, after effects, or even – for that matter – sound! Oh, and Rowan had a great time.

Next week we’re going to watch all the American Pie films back-to-back with the Dalai Lama.

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  1. Alaric King

    HAHA!

    Oh yes. Rowen says his favourite part is when he gets caught with the pie on the kitchen surface.

    He said he can sympathise with that situation.

    x

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