The Frost Tapes: The Entertainers BBC Sounds
My Dream Dinner Party Radio 4
Strangers on a Train: Alexei Sayle BBC Sounds
Here’s to lost conversations.
The Frost Tapes is a dive into the archives of the late, very greats as presented by David Frost’s son Wilfred.
Frost interviewed the Beatles a total of 16 times.
We’re treated to a John Lennon and Yoko Ono interview where they come in and pelt acorns at the audience – it’s acorns for peace week, says John.
That was 1969.
“An acorn is a seed, a seed of life and hope and maybe if some people planted them, they’d hope we live that long,” says John.
There’s a poignancy about that.
On one occasion, Yoko gifts Frost “a box of smiles”.
“In it was a mirror looking back at him, when dad saw it, he started beaming,” said Wilfred.
This a treasure trove featuring not only the Beatles, but Elton John, Muhammad Ali, Jane Fonda and Lauren Bacall.
On a similar line is My Dream Dinner Party by David Baddiel.
It feels strange to hear the dead brought to life by archive footage.
There’s Eric n Ernie having a chat with Joan Rivers, there’s George Best … “Pele said you were the best footballer he’d ever seen,” says a starstruck Baddiel.
Then there’s Simone de Beauvoir, feminist, incredible intellect, author and acclaimed author John Updike.
Now, what will they drink?
“Eric - a Tizer for you; Simone - a red wine…” says Baddiel.
Still, it’s ordinary people that give the best conversations.
Alexei Sayle’s Strangers on a Train is a casually magical programme.
Sayle’s father worked on the railways and Sayle loves the romance of train travel.
His dad had a casual attitude towards boarding, he said – he’d wait till the train was moving before nonchalantly swinging himself on board the last carriage, said Alexei.
We hear lots of quirky things… train travelling animals include gerbils, a cat on a lead running around the toilet, snakes and reptiles.
“98 per cent of the people you meet on the trains are lovely,” somebody says.
Someone else remember a fatal accident stopping a train.
“Fifteen minutes later, the voice on the tannoy said, ‘We’ll be leaving in three or four minutes as the fatal accident was not as fatal as we thought’.”
Cue a smile for the radio.