Radio Radio
I've been listening to a few fascinating bits of radio recently, most of which are no longer listenable and may never be in quite the form I heard them, but are largely available to hear in one format or another right now.
First up has got to be a short fifteen minute programme called Runaway Train detailing the events from 9 March 1987 when a Canadian train's brakes failed and was running out of control. The driver, Wesley MacDonald, was the only man on board, and he was unable to stop his goods train.
The programme incorporated actual recordings made between the driver and his controller. The calmness and professionalism is apparent, but there are no obvious solutions. The train is travelling too fast for the driver not to die if he jumped from his cabin.
People who were there at the time relate procedings, and it's like a terrible true-life short story. Google Wesley MacDonald if you want to know what happened.
(Although the programme is no longer available to Listen Again, you can find the raw audio files online).
Clive James is always worth a listen. He's recently returned to A Point of View (following Sir David Attenborough's wonderful Life Stories which are available to buy on CD). But he's also just published the latest volume of his autobiography detailing his years making television - Blaze of Obscurity. Radio 4 serialised this as its Book of the Week a couple of weeks ago, and James is a wonderful teller of (tallish?) tales surrounding this time. He talked about his various chat shows, and his introduction to Japanese gameshows. There's an abridged audiobook available, and of course in four thirteen minute episodes, that's what Radio 4 broadcast. So my decision now must be to read the full book, or listen to the three hour abridgement? Decisions, decisions.
Finally something that is currently available to Listen Again. When I visited Oxford recently, I had to visit Blackwells, the fantastic bookshop. Near the front of the shop was a display copy of a luscious new book called A Village Lost and Found. It's a collection of stereoscopic photographs taken by TR Williams in the 1850s in and around the Oxfordshire village of Hinton Waldrist.
What I didn't realise at the time was that Brian May (yes - the Queen chap - and astronomer), was the co-author with Elena Vidal. The somewhat clumsily-titled Brian May's 3-D Village tells the story of how the photos came into being, how May and Vidal were able to track down the locations of Williams' photos.
3D photography doesn't naturally lend itself to radio, but then it's not easy to do on television either (we'll see how Channel 4's 3D week fares a week on Monday). Yet this programme was a fascinating listen, and maybe I'll have to get that book now!
Open Country is also available as a podcast - but it's likely to disappear first thing Saturday morning (6 November). There's also a piece about this programme on the BBC News site.
(Thanks to EarStory for highlighting this programme)
