Greg & Charlie Benefit Concert

[The Weather Clerk]

Poor Greg and Charlie – I bet they’re getting sacked because they’re not posh. How about a benefit concert (organised by Scottish members of R4 + anyone else at R4 who isn’t posh and didn’t go to Oxford or Cambridge) for them so they can afford some secondhand overcoats to see them through the winter?

I think R4 listeners should decide which programmes should be considered for the chop. Some suggestions:

Quote Unquote
The Moral Maze
Midweek
Saturday Review

[rosalie]

Quote Unquote definately should be the first to go, quickly followed by You and Yours and Loose Ends.

Also there was a new quiz today called Where in the Wold which was pretty dire.

I quite like The Saturday Review!

[Lux Interior]

Everything already cited, and most definitely the Moral Maze - a programme which I avoid to the extent that I'd forgotten its existence.

Also the ghastly, content-free and pointless "Whispers", and anything else involving Gyles Brandreth.

I LIKE Veg Talk. I also listen to Gardeners' Question Time on purpose.

[Crusoe]

Lux said:

I LIKE Veg Talk. I also listen to Gardeners' Question Time on purpose.

Oh yes, me too. I particularly enjoy GQT when Bob Flowerdew and John Cushnie are on. And I don’t even garden.

[The Weather Clerk]

rosalie said:

Also there was a new quiz today called Where in the Wold which was pretty dire.

As dire as Puzzle Panel?

I quite like The Saturday Review!

I like Tom Sutcliffe and his radio character certainly doesn’t antagonise listeners. I think it’s fundamentally wrong, though, for the programme to deliberately cater for metropolitan/Home Counties listeners which alienates large sections of the listening audience. Additionally, Why do the same guests keep cropping up – John Tusa for example? Jude Kelly is the only one who ever sounds interested in the views of the other members of the panel. Liverpudlains tend to make interesting broadcasters, so this probably explains it. Did you listen to last Saturday’s edition? Why did Liz Rigby put on that extra posh voice? She sounds totally different when appearing on Feedback.

There’s far too much arts (and pseudo-medical) coverage on R4 and I’d like to see Front Row cut down to one - or perhaps two - editions a week, with Mark Lawson replaced. Did anyone hear him on Private Passions? Oh dear, he was a real struggle! There was a feature about Moondog on Tuesday’s edition, but ML he didn’t sound interested when it had finished.

R4 is desperately in need of new programmes and this would seem like an ideal way of generating the free air time.

[The Weather Clerk]

webb said:

Lux said:

I LIKE Veg Talk. I also listen to Gardeners' Question Time on purpose.

Oh yes, me too. I particularly enjoy GQT when Bob Flowerdew and John Cushnie are on. And I don’t even garden.

I like Bob Flowerdew a great deal, especially after that most detailed and honest interview that he gave in Fame & Fortune There were a lot of positive comments on last week's edition about a new book he's wriiten. I also admire any male who wears his hair in a plat, particulalry within the conservative world of gardening. I don't like John Cushnie or some of the women with 'hen pecky' voices one hears on the programme

[The Weather Clerk]

Lux said:

Everything already cited, and most definitely the Moral Maze - a programme which I avoid to the extent that I'd forgotten its existence.

Also the ghastly, content-free and pointless "Whispers", and anything else involving Gyles Brandreth.

I LIKE Veg Talk. I also listen to Gardeners' Question Time on purpose.

I always start thinking about the institution of marriage when it comes to GQT. Gardeners who ask questions on this programme never strike me has having particularly close marriages. Questions are often punctuated with some joke reference to divorce courts ….. if hedge isn’t trimmed. This leads me to conclude that gardening is taken up because spouses don’t like being with or talking to each other. Some of the questions relate to the aesthetics of a garden which makes one wonder how much love these questioners actually have of nature and the environment. Also, I’m concerned at times when the panel advise the removal of trees. Eric Robson is wasted on GQT. He used to present loads of interesting programmes on R4, but you never hear him these days. I like the way he says:’Hello again’.

Prof. Alan Gemmell was always my favourite chairman of the programme.

P.S. I’m not a gardener and would never be seen visiting a garden centre.

P.P.S. Yes I always avoid anything in which Giles Brandreth appears - same applies to Simon Fanshawe and Minette Walters.

[Crusoe]

The said:

I like Bob Flowerdew a great deal…I also admire any male who wears his hair in a plat, particulalry within the conservative world of gardening

Yes, that surprised me, when I first saw a picture of him. It’s unusual for the Beeb to employ someone like that. It impresses me that he is so committed to organic gardening.

The said:

I don't like John Cushnie

Oh. I’ve always enjoyed his voice and his jollity. These are, essentially the things which interest me most about the programme, since I’m not really studying which type of plant is best for acid soil (or whatever). It is a programme, like the shipping forecast, that has a certain sound and rhythm that I just enjoy listening to, without actually needing to pay attention, particularly, to its content.

[rosalie]

The said:

rosalie said:

Also there was a new quiz today called Where in the Wold which was pretty dire.

As dire as Puzzle Panel?.

That should've been 'Where in The World'...and yes as bad as Puzzle Panel, and I 've just figured out why some quiz shows are like that . The truly bad ones have this horrible forced feel to them . The contestants know the answers to the most obscure questions and it's so blast obvious that they know beforehand what the answers are - you just can't hide that kind of fibbing. Then they pretend they don't know some answers to try and make it believable. It's farcical.

The best quiz shows on R4 are the News Quiz, Round Britain Quiz (I'm sure they don't know the answers on that one), and Brain of Britain. I love Brain of Britain, it's just so old fashioned, polite, and has questions you can actually answer!

As for Saturday Review, I like arts programmes, and am personally not that bothered about reviews of plays or exhibitions in London - I just find all that interesting. Many of them are London based rather than specifically Home Counties, which is fair enough as it is the capital. There's plenty of reviews of stuff elsewhere in the country, and plays often travel, books are everywhere, and films are everywhere - even fairly small cities have independant cinemas.


I agree with you though about pseudo medical programmes. I like to hear news about new medical developments, but am not keen on that phone-in (can't remember what it's called now!) , it's a little like being on the bus and overhearing old people outdoing each other talking about their ailments

[The Weather Clerk]

rosalie said:

That should've been 'Where in The World'...and yes as bad as Puzzle Panel

Did you listen to the programme that the Puzzle Panel host, Chris Maslanka, presented on the last May Day bank holiday about dating agencies? That was dire as well!! All the dating agencies were in the south of England. The university attended by the girl that he felt he could bag off with began with 'O' and ended with ‘d’. This lady also had a truly horrible voice.

I've just figured out why some quiz shows are like that

I only realised that R4 disclosed the answers within some quiz programmes after listening to the earlier editions of Quote Unquote (they've stopped doing that now). I see this is as cheating and hate cheats, so don’t tend to listen to quizzes.

I’ve always liked Robert Robinson a great deal. The panel members on Stop The Week always used to call him ‘Bob’ and I often wondered if that annoyed him. I like the way he introduces contestants with such politeness and tells us all what their occupations are…….Miss Felicity Fligingbull-Rogers who’s a chartered milliner.

I like arts programmes

So do I, but I don’t like to be saturated with them and the imbalance between arts and engineering/science and genuine medical programmes within R4 needs to be redressed. I’m genuinely pleased that you enjoy Saturday Review. Saturday night is the one evening that I can relax and look forward to some good radio. Loose Ends just induces grumpiness because it’s so clubby….and that’s how I see R4 these days. Stop The Week allowed the listener to take part in the discussions within their own minds.

I agree with you though about pseudo medical programmes. I like to hear news about new medical developments

The very fact that Edie Stark and Connie St. Louis present similar kinds of programmes as Dr. Mark Porter and Prof. Raj Persaud indicates that you don’t need qualified personnel to present such programmes. R4 could make savings here, because it must cost a fortune to hire qualified medical personnel. We hear very little on R4 about the science behind medical issues (and I don’t mean cocktail hour theory).

but am not keen on that phone-in (can't remember what it's called now!), it's a little like being on the bus and overhearing old people outdoing each other talking about their ailments

Oh yes, this is poor old Barbara Myers and the dreaded Check Up. You are so right! Who on earth is remotely interested in some hypochondriac airing their ailments over the ether? This is even worse than telling you about last night’s dream! Yet again, more money wasted by R4 hiring medical personnel when they should be working in the hospitals and surgeries. I’m not surprised that doctors are exceedingly wealthy when they indulge in so many foreigners. I’d cut a GPs salary by at least 50%, because they’re the medical equivalent of technicians.

[not a fan]

The said:

Poor Greg and Charlie – I bet they’re getting sacked because they’re not posh. How about a benefit concert (organised by Scottish members of R4 + anyone else at R4 who isn’t posh and didn’t go to Oxford or Cambridge) for them so they can afford some secondhand overcoats to see them through the winter?

They are getting sacked because their program is complete and utter crap.

Of all the programs on R4, this is the one that makes me turn off. Even Gardener's QT is just about do-able, but Greg and Charlie is DIRE.
I wouldn't worry about overcoats for them. Their lucrative veggie biz will have them decked out in whatever designer naffness they fancy.

[rosalie]

not said:

They are getting sacked because their program is complete and utter crap.

Of all the programs on R4, this is the one that makes me turn off. Even Gardener's QT is just about do-able, but Greg and Charlie is DIRE.
I wouldn't worry about overcoats for them. Their lucrative veggie biz will have them decked out in whatever designer naffness they fancy.

What do you not like about it? Just interested, cos even if I didn't like G+C, the cookery aspect is pretty interesting. I find the recipes and the info the callers come in with is informative.

[rosalie]

The said:

Did you listen to the programme that the Puzzle Panel host, Chris Maslanka, presented on the last May Day bank holiday about dating agencies? That was dire as well!! All the dating agencies were in the south of England. The university attended by the girl that he felt he could bag off with began with 'O' and ended with ‘d’. This lady also had a truly horrible voice.

Might've heard that. Was it about speed dating?

I’ve always liked Robert Robinson a great deal. The panel members on Stop The Week always used to call him ‘Bob’ and I often wondered if that annoyed him. I like the way he introduces contestants with such politeness and tells us all what their occupations are…….Miss Felicity Fligingbull-Rogers who’s a chartered milliner.

yes, isn't his way of introduction lovely! Wonderful programme. I hope it goes on forever.

We hear very little on R4 about the science behind medical issues (and I don’t mean cocktail hour theory).

yes, I meant that. I'd like to hear more about the science in medical research. Think lots of people would be interested in that.

Oh yes, this is poor old Barbara Myers and the dreaded Check Up. You are so right! Who on earth is remotely interested in some hypochondriac airing their ailments over the ether?

That's the one! I do feel sorry for these people of course, as they can't be getting proper medical advice from their GPs or specialists as they wouldn't have to ring up otherwise. However listening to one person's medical complaints is excruciating radio.

[Willie Mouse]

not said:

They are getting sacked because their program is complete and utter crap.

'Quote Unquote' is even crapper, as is 'Midweek', but Nigel Rees and Libby Purves aren't sacked. Thinking about The Weather Clerk's postings, I've just checked and these two presenters both attended Oxford universities. It seems that The Weather Clerk is correct. I'm not very keen on G&C, but the recipes are interesting.

I've been wondering why R4 has kept so quiet about the sacking of VT. Anna MC hasn't made any reference to the termination of the programme in her R4 newsletter this week (and she likes cooking). Also one caller on yesterday's programme expressed her enthusiasm for the new series and they didn't inform her that this was the last one.

Church bells will ring throughout the land and they'll be a national holiday when 'Quote Unquote' ends.

[rosalie]

hmmm. Just reading up about Veg Talks axing, I see that R4 are also getting rid of Shop Talk too. This is pretty much the only programme that deals with business and technology in a commercial setting. A very interesting programme, that brings in some guests who operate in the real world, not just people who commentate for a living. Another sad loss .