Life

Radio review: Cue a smile for the radio

Nuala McCann

Nuala McCann

Nuala McCann is an Irish News columnist and writes a weekly radio review.

Nuala McCann
Nuala McCann Nuala McCann

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.