Thursday, 29 December 2011

Radio column: Stir in childhood memories and simmer

Food is wasted on the radio. If cooking on television is the equivalent of being invited to dine at the chef's table, only to watch with distress as the dishes are taken elsewhere, doing it on the radio is like being denied entry to the restaurant altogether and, deranged with hunger, listening to the sound of chewing through the door.
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Thursday, 22 December 2011

Radio column: Festive cheer with comedy classics

Take down the tinsel, unplug the lights, remove that life-size glowing reindeer from the roof: Christmas has been called off
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Sunday, 18 December 2011

Stay The Night: Hôtel Americano, New York

Attaching an enormous steel grille to the front of your hotel might not seem the best way to attract guests. Want to feel like a zoo animal? Come on in!
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Thursday, 15 December 2011

Radio column: In the company of men

It was around 7.57am last Friday, while listening to the Today programme, that I started quietly banging my head on the kitchen table.
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Thursday, 8 December 2011

Radio column: You can't always get what you want

Does all modern music sound the same to you? Do you hanker for the days when rock stars knew how to be rock stars? Does the sight of teenagers with their trousers at half-mast make your spleen explode? Have you – though you swore it would never happen – finally morphed into your parents? If so, perhaps it's time to embrace the inexorable slide towards an old age of liquidised ready-meals and Antiques Roadshow.
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Thursday, 1 December 2011

Radio column: No escape from reality

Radio has never fully explored the reality format so adored by television. I can't help thinking it's missing a trick here. Imagine the pleasure of hearing Just a Minute's Nicholas Parsons shattering contestants' dreams, in gentlemanly fashion, on an X Factor-style sing off: "You now have 60 seconds on Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive". Hesitation! Oh, gracious me, what bad luck!"
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