Holiday intermission

There will be a 2 week break in posts whilst we take our much needed summer holiday. See you all after that.

Mike.

Working on a new series of "What's The Point of.." for Radio 4

I have recently started work on another series of What's The Point Of.. for BBC Radio 4, where Quentin Letts takes a look at whether there is still a need for some of our national institutions.

Last year Quentin took a witty but thought provoking look at the British Zoo, Gibraltar, Formula One motor racing & The Privy Council.



As with the new series of The Choice I can't tell you what Quentin will be investigating this series until they are published.

Working on the new series of The Choice on Radio 4

Yesterday I started work editing the new series of The Choice for Radio 4.

Michael Buerk interviews people who have made life-altering decisions and talks them through the whole process, from the original dilemma to living with the consequences.

I can tell you its going to be another excellent engaging series produced by Dawn Bryan for BBC Religion & Ethics but as yet, I cannot say who is on what the stories are this year as nothing has been announced. As soon as it is, I will keep you posted.

Want to listen to some of my handiwork

2 of the programmes I have worked on recently for All Out Productions have both been featured on Radio 4's "Pick of the Week" this week.

Hardeep Singh Kohli makes his selection from the past seven days of BBC Radio.  It's difficult in a week festooned with the frivolity of football NOT to mention the beautiful game. Hardeep Singh Kohli's Pick of the Week selects some more unusual angles on the game from as far afield as Milan, Robben Island and the Highlands of Ethiopia. There's a beautiful feature about the tragic demise of Schumann, an exploration of the iconic interviewing skills of David Frost and Nicholas Parsons recalling his days in Glasgow. The picks the week.

Today - Radio 4
The Power and the Passion - World Service
Football's Freedom Fighters
The Carabinieri Art Squad - Radio 4
Thoroughly Modern Mary - Radio 4
Philip and Sydney - Radio 4
Start the Week - Radio 4
Hello, Good Evening and Welcome - the David Frost Story - Radio 4
High Hopes - Radio 4
The eSportsmen - Radio 4
Doon the Watta - Radio 4
If I Loved You - Radio 4
Robert Schumann and the Music of the Future - Radio 4
Home Thoughts From Abroad - Radio 4

Firstly "Football's Freedom Fighters" produced by Jo Meek

When South Africa's Bafana Bafana kick the first ball of the 2010 World Cup on the 11th June in Johannesburg's revamped Soccer City stadium there will be several men in the crowd who's appreciation of the match will stretch well beyond national pride.

For Mark Shinners, Anthony Suze, Sedick Issacs, Lizo Sitoto and Sipho Tshabalala this is the completion of a long journey that started for them in the 1960s, when they first started playing the beautiful game on a rough football pitch on one of the ugliest islands on earth.

We hear how the Makana Football Association was formed, based on the principles of collective discipline and fair play. A 16-year-old Dikgang Moseneke was elected Chairman, an act that underlined the Association's commitment to excellence and FIFA-like technical rigour. We speak to Mr Moseneke, now 63 and the current Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, about how the football pitches of Robben Island were the training ground for the leaders of the future.

As the World Cup starts in South Africa, Fergal Keane travels to Robben Island with these men to the pitches where some of the country's most prominent political leaders now used football to create a space of dignity, respect and democracy at the infamous prison.

and then the first part of a 3 part series "Doon the Watta" produced by Lyndon Saunders.

Nicholas Parsons was only just 16 when his parents sent him from his relatively privileged home in London to the industrially hardened city of Glasgow. It was January 1940 and with the country still at war, the Parsons felt the best place for their teenage son was serving his country north of the border. So with the help of an uncle, Nicholas secured an engineering apprenticeship on the busy River Clyde. For 5 years he combined his studies at Glasgow university with work for the Drysdales firm.

60 years on Nicholas Parsons goes back to the place where he was sent as a boy but grew into a man. By day he had a tough education from the uncompromisingly tough men of the Clyde, but by night he had the freedom to discover his talents on stage and perform to packed out theatres and concert halls full of the men with whom he was clocking on and off.

In this series Nicholas returns back to Glasgow and retraces the life he once had, starting his journey in the YMCA digs he came to call home.

He'll also revisit Glasgow University and the department of Engineering where he studied. It's still at the centre of expertise in teaching and research in shipbuilding today. He'll find out how the profession of shipbuilding has changed.

Enjoy some excellent radio even if I say so myself, but I think I can safely say the Pick of the Week team agreed!

Hi there

This is a holding post to my personal blog where I plan to talk about what ever comes to mind.

Enjoy...

Mike.