July 14, 2018
by Graham
0 comments
My regular correspondent in Thailand has sent me the following, which includes IPA script. I hope that it doesn’t suffer the same fate as other of my posts, where the IPA has become corrupted over time. “Good old BBC. No … Continue reading
February 8, 2018
by Graham
1 Comment
So, if any of my readers in the UK, or who can otherwise access BBC Radio 4, have not yet discovered John Finnemore, can I suggest that they start with the last in the current series of “John Finnemore’s Souvenir … Continue reading
November 14, 2017
by Graham
4 Comments
This post has very little to do with language. My opinion of Emma Dabiri, mentioned in my last post, has nose-dived since I wrote that. I’ve now watched the last of the series of ‘Britain’s Lost Masterpieces’, which featured a … Continue reading
September 4, 2015
by gpointon
6 Comments
Yesterday I had to go to the Royal Free Hospital in London for a routine annual check up, and afterwards was sent for a blood test. In the “blood room”, you take a ticket as you might at a butcher’s … Continue reading
February 9, 2013
by Graham
0 comments
So Patricia Hughes has died, aged 90. She was one of the team of fairly eccentric announcers that Cormac Rigby gathered for Radio 3, and who were some of my first colleagues and ‘customers’ when I joined the BBC. Most … Continue reading
November 13, 2012
by Graham
0 comments
I don’t often comment on BBC politics or indeed any BBC matters apart from language use, but here goes: In the now notorious interview that George Entwistle gave to John Humphrys on the Radio 4 “Today” programme last Saturday morning, … Continue reading
April 10, 2011
by Graham
9 Comments
Robert Bridges (1844-1930) became the Poet Laureate (largely an honorary position under the Crown) in 1913. I think that his poetry is mostly forgotten nowadays, and arguably his greatest claim to poetic fame is his championing of Gerard Manley Hopkins. … Continue reading
July 18, 2009
by Graham
1 Comment
This has nothing to do with language, but this weekend, the world commemorates the 40th aniversary of the first moon landing. In the US, it is celebrated as 20 July. This is correct (in UTC) for the landing, but I … Continue reading
May 13, 2009
by Graham
2 Comments
This BBC programme about Henry Purcell is available on line for the next couple of weeks. In it Charles Hazlewood claims that we know so little about the composer that we are not even sure how to pronounce his name. … Continue reading
July 14, 2008
by Graham
5 Comments
Now for something completely different. In April, a French luxury yacht, the Ponant, with thirty crew members on board, was hijacked by pirates in the Gulf. The French government decided to pull out all the stops to mount a rescue. … Continue reading