Pick Of The Week

[Billy Berlusconi]

Well this was interesting. Did anyone note the enthusiasm with which Ms. Bakewell spoke about Quote Unquote on last night’s Pick Of The Week? I did a bit of thinking and some interesting thoughts came into my mind.

1. QUQ is probably the most unpopular programme ever broadcast by R4 and the majority of listeners dislike it quite intensely.
2. The presenter comes from Merseyside, attended an Oxford College and has eradicated all hints of his origins in respect of accent. He also calls teachers ‘schoolmasters’
3. Ms, Bakewell is also a northerner, originating from Stockport and attended Newnham College Cambridge. She, too, has eradicated all the evidence of her origins in respect of accent.
4. I wonder if a southerner has ever got a job at R4 and cultivated a Liverpudlian or Mancunian accent?
5. Poor old Winifred Robinson – I hope they don’t make her eat on her own in the R4 canteen.
6. Just realised - the producer has also got a southern accent!

[Crusoe]

Well, QUQ is another one of those pointless programmes, so it is no wonder that it’s not popular. The “quiz” rounds don’t really capture the interest and don’t form the starting point for interaction the way they do in “The News Quiz” and the panellists’ quotations sections are generally old, well-known quotations which can easily be looked-up by anyone who has the inclination.

I suppose I can understand Mr Rees and Ms Bakewell wanting to loose their accents – they do date from a time when the “BBC accent” was seen as being the only acceptable accent in serious broadcasting but there’s no need for this attitude, nowadays.

[sea horse]

webb said:

I suppose I can understand Mr Rees and Ms Bakewell wanting to loose their accents – they do date from a time when the “BBC accent” was seen as being the only acceptable accent in serious broadcasting but there’s no need for this attitude, nowadays.

Not only in broadcasting.

[sea horse]

Billy said:

1. QUQ is probably the most unpopular programme ever broadcast by R4 and the majority of listeners dislike it quite intensely.

You mean more than the Now Show and some of those terrible sitcom-type 'comedy' programmes that are on after the 6 pm news during the week?

Come off it, Guglielmo!

[Captain Nudnick]

I'll say again - I like Quote, Unquote - it's civilised and it's entertaining. Where do you get your facts about 'the majority of listeners' disliking it?

Er -- how old are you? And why is there so much whining from those living north of Biggleswade on this board?

[Nurse Duckett]

urchin said:

Billy said:

1. QUQ is probably the most unpopular programme ever broadcast by R4 and the majority of listeners dislike it quite intensely.

You mean more than the Now Show and some of those terrible sitcom-type 'comedy' programmes that are on after the 6 pm news during the week?

Come off it, Guglielmo!

Hey, I like the Now Show!

On the other hand, I cannot stand Quote Unquote. It's long past its sell-by date, excruitiatingly twee, not funny, somewhat arch, and should have been knocked on the head in the big round of knocking programmes on the head which took place a few years ago. Similarly, I was appalled and astonished that that Livvy Purves Wednesday morning thing survived the cull.

IMHO.

[Nurse Duckett]

captainnudnick said:

I'll say again - I like Quote, Unquote - it's civilised and it's entertaining. Where do you get your facts about 'the majority of listeners' disliking it?

Calm down Captain, there's a "probably" in there.

And why is there so much whining from those living north of Biggleswade on this board?

I don't understand that bit either. What's wrong with either having a regional accent, or, making the effort to obliterate it in order to further one's broadcasting career. They didn't use to hire people with regional accents at one time, everything coming out of the bbc radio was RP, wasn't it? (And the announcers wore evening dress too).

[sea horse]

nurseduckett said:

[Hey, I like the Now Show!

I wouldn't say that there's nothing funny in the Now Show, but by a long shot not everything is (despite the recorded laughter thrown in).
Unless it's changed since I last listened to it, some of the humour is laborious and wearily dragged out, and some of the humour is unnecessarily crude and even racist and insulting to minorities (elderly, handicapped, etc).

A few years ago on another MB, when the Now Show was under debate between fervent supporters and equally fervent dislikers, I joined in, and, soon after, so too did the producer of the show.
He replied to a few posts including mine and his defence of what I called unnecessarily crude, insulting and racist humour was that, since some people laugh at it, it must be acceptable, which I thought a bit simplistic and avoiding the issue.
Overall in his posts, the producer came over as someone who becomes defiant, surly and childish when faced with criticism, and I'm sure his manner didn't help improve acceptance of the show.

[Billy Van Der Vaal]

urchin said:

nurseduckett said:

[Hey, I like the Now Show!

A few years ago on another MB, when the Now Show was under debate between fervent supporters and equally fervent dislikers, I joined in, and, soon after, so too did the producer of the show.
He replied to a few posts including mine and his defence of what I called unnecessarily crude, insulting and racist humour was that, since some people laugh at it, it must be acceptable, which I thought a bit simplistic and avoiding the issue.
Overall in his posts, the producer came over as someone who becomes defiant, surly and childish when faced with criticism, and I'm sure his manner didn't help improve acceptance of the show.

Yes, I remember the incident very, very well (I was using a secret identity at the time). He stated in his posts how he couldn’t believe that he’d descended to the level of an internet message board. I don’t know if he meant that in an intellectual sense, but there were 3 Ph.D’s around at the time and his spelling was very interesting. He stormed off in an enormous huff!

I heard his name mentioned on R4 the other day, but he was producing another show.

Yours,

Thick Billy.

P.S. He hasn’t posted since

[Nurse Duckett]

urchin said:

I wouldn't say that there's nothing funny in the Now Show, but by a long shot not everything is (despite the recorded laughter thrown in).

Doesn't that apply to any comedy show though?

Unless it's changed since I last listened to it, some of the humour is laborious and wearily dragged out, and some of the humour is unnecessarily crude and even racist and insulting to minorities (elderly, handicapped, etc).

Some comedians, and also some people who are not comedians, reckon that every single subject on earth has a joke in it somewhere. I can just about but with great difficulty see what they mean, but draw the line at one of Eddie Izzard's so-called jokes which was so sick I cannot type it in here. I haven't watched any of him since.

Overall in his posts, the producer came over as someone who becomes defiant, surly and childish when faced with criticism, and I'm sure his manner didn't help improve acceptance of the show.

I knew someone like that once. We never met, ThankGod.



ps. your avatar still wreaks havoc with the bottom of my browser, which is strangely reminiscient of something else to do with electricity.

[Billy Berlusconi]

webb said:

I suppose I can understand Mr Rees and Ms Bakewell wanting to loose their accents – they do date from a time when the “BBC accent” was seen as being the only acceptable accent in serious broadcasting but there’s no need for this attitude, nowadays.

I disagree with this, neither John Timpson, Peter Hobday nor the late Brian Redhead cultivated upper-class accents. Gillian Reynolds has presented programmes on R4 and she has never attempted to disguise her Liverpool accent. The same applies to Jude Kelly who appears quite regularly on R4 programmes and she’s the only person to make Saturday Review interesting. Yorkshire accents never appealed to me until I started listening to Simon Armitage’s voice very closely on R4. It’s the variation in voices and differing modulation styles that makes radio listening interesting.

The problem with R4 is they think all male R4 listeners are like Alistair ‘small malt whisky’ Lloyd and the females are like Shula. That’s why you end up with Sarah Montague presenting ‘Today’ rather than Winifred Robinson. In my opinion, SM, Fiona Glover, Martha Kearney, Libby Purves, Edward Stourton (I bet he’s Alistair’s favourite, broadcaster), Mark Lawson…..+ a load of other R4 presenters possess musically unappealing voices, together with cold and snooty broadcasting characters.

[Captain Nudnick]

nurseduckett said:

captainnudnick said:

I'll say again - I like Quote, Unquote - it's civilised and it's entertaining. Where do you get your facts about 'the majority of listeners' disliking it?

Calm down Captain, there's a "probably" in there.

And why is there so much whining from those living north of Biggleswade on this board?

I don't understand that bit either. What's wrong with either having a regional accent, or, making the effort to obliterate it in order to further one's broadcasting career. They didn't use to hire people with regional accents at one time, everything coming out of the bbc radio was RP, wasn't it? (And the announcers wore evening dress too).

If there was an audience, yes... which was reasonable. The point about RP English is that it is instantly understood by all speakers of English, regardless of their own regional speech. An English lingua franca if you like.

As is well know, Wilfred Pickles reading the news, and in particular ending with 'Good neet' caused massive complaint from listeners during WWII.

The Now Show is the cue for instant channel changing for me. Funny as woodworm in a cripple's crutch...

[Billy First Aid In English]

captainnudnick said:

The point about RP English is that it is instantly understood by all speakers of English, regardless of their own regional speech. An English lingua franca if you like.

More notes on Pronunciations of English ([David CRYSTAL: The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language. Cambridge University Press, 1995. ISBN: 0 521 40179 8.]):

In England, one accent has traditionally stood out above all others in its ability to convey associations of respectable social standing and a good education. This "prestige" accent is known as RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION, or RP. It is associated with the south-east, where most RP-speakers live or work, but it can be found anywhere in the country. Accents usually tell us where a person is from; RP tells us only about a person's social or educational background.

In due course, RP came to sybolize a person's high position in society. During the 19th century, it became the accent of public schools, such as Eton and Harrow, and was soon the main sign that a speaker had received a good education. It spread rapidly throughout the Civil Service of the British Empire and the armed forces, and became the voice of authority and power. Because it was a regionally 'neutral' accent, and was thought to be more widely understood than any regional accent, it came to adopted by the BBC, when radio broadcasting began in the 1920s. During WW2, it became linked in many minds with the voice of freedom, and the notion of a "BBC pronunciation" grew.

see www.yaelf.com/rp.shtml

I often struggle attempting to understand Sarah Montague, Libby Purves and Martha Kearney, so what does that say about your RP thesis?

You mentioned the late Jack Jackson recently - one of my own radio heroes. He didn't speak with RP, yet I understood and loved his US timbre. Ray Gosling isn't posh, yet I never have any problems understanding him. Have you heard the way Libby Purves pronounces the word 'plant'? She says 'plont'. Jenni Murray comes from Barnsley, yet she employs a rounded 'a'. Why? I'm afraid getting a job as an R4 presenter is all about class and nothing to do with radio talent or being easily understood.

The Now Show is the cue for instant channel changing for me. Funny as woodworm in a cripple's crutch.

I can't believe that we actually agree about something. It's probaly the unmusical southern accents that puts you off the show!!!!!

[rosalie]

nurseduckett said:

urchin said:

On the other hand, I cannot stand Quote Unquote. It's long past its sell-by date, excruitiatingly twee, not funny, somewhat arch, and should have been knocked on the head in the big round of knocking programmes on the head which took place a few years ago. Similarly, I was appalled and astonished that that Livvy Purves Wednesday morning thing survived the cull.

IMHO.

oh how I agree!