The Current Outlook

Just had an e-mail from the nice people at the Save the Radio 4 Theme campaign on the new CD single:

UK Theme Release Information - 27th March 2006
Released on MONDAY, 27th MARCH as part of the `Save The Radio 4 Theme’ campaign.

PROCEEDS GO TO THE LIGHT MUSIC SOCIETY & LIBRARY

The campaign’s specially commissioned CD single of the ‘Radio 4 UK Theme’ plus ‘Sailing By’ was recorded on Friday 17th February by a Grammy Award-winning production team at Henry Wood Hall, London – performed by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia under Gavin Sutherland.

THE SIX-POINT CAMPAIGN PLAN
…YOUR LAST CHANCE TO SAVE THE THEME!

1. The single is released on MONDAY 27th MARCH (both online and in the shops)
2. All 17,000 petition signatories, amongst others, buy it (£1.99 in the shops/online - 78p per track to download)
3. The single hits the music charts (these days half that number would do it, and this time of year 17,000 would go top ten, if not higher)
4. Fresh publicity is thus generated, recruiting more supporters to the campaign.
5. Maximum pressure is exerted on Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer by raising the campaign’s media profile to new heights - they thought we’d go away. Ha!
6. Mark Damazer reconsiders, “having underestimated the public’s affection…” etc.

THE UK THEME IS SAVED.

Well done all!
(and we each now have a CD of the superbly recorded new version – plus ‘Sailing By’)

If Mark Damazer does axe the UK Theme after all our best efforts, then perhaps he and his successors will at least think twice next time they have a great British cultural icon in their sights… and at least your opinion will have been heard loud and clear!

IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO WOULD LIKE TO BE KEPT UPDATED ABOUT HOW & WHERE TO BUY THE CD, GET THEM TO SEND A BLANK EMAIL TO savetheradio4theme-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

YOU CAN PRE-ORDER THE CD NOW BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK TO HMV… Click here to order at HMV or visit the website http://www.savetheradio4theme.co.uk for more details.

EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST NOW WILL HELP MAKE THIS HAPPEN.

I’ve pre-ordered my copy. Have you pre-ordered yours?

One nice little tidbit (interesting to me, anyway): Ernest Tomlinson, who helped to produce this comes from my small town. He’s known to my family.

Tonight’s Any Questions? will be recorded live from St Ivo School, St Ives in Cambridgeshire and will be presented by Jonathan Dimbleby.

Jonathan Dimbleby presents a live political debate from Brymore School, Cannington in Somerset.

I don’t think I’ll bother watching this. I’d rather buy a blackboard, scratch my fingernails on it for almost an hour and record it to my computer instead. It would be preferable to listening to Enver.

Jonathan Dimbleby presents a live topical debate from St Michael’s Church Hall, Mytholmroyd in West Yorkshire.

I shall be interested to see what Dyke makes of the decision to axe the BBC Radio 4 UK Theme.

Two British MPs have tabled motions in the House of Commons criticising the BBC’s decision to scrap the early morning UK Theme on Radio 4.

Well done Mr. Damazer - you’ve just made yourself extremely unpopular among a good few thousand BBC Radio 4 listeners and political correctness claims another victim - this wonderful, poetic, medley of music from right across our United Kingdom.

As the Wikipedia entry for the UK Theme says, it is composed of:

It starts out with the first few bars of Early One Morning (English, horns and trombones), moving on to Rule Britannia (British, woodwind and strings), then changes to Londonderry Air (Irish, English horn and harp) combined with Annie Laurie (Scottish, violin), What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor? (Royal Navy, piccolo) combined with Greensleeves (English, strings), Men of Harlech (Welsh, brass and percussion) combined with Scotland the Brave (Scottish, woodwind), and then after alluding again to Early One Morning, ends with a full orchestra version of Rule Britannia over which a solo trumpet plays Trumpet Voluntary. The piece is five minutes in length and was arranged by Fritz Spiegl.

I love the Theme and I fully expect it to be reinstated forthwith.

What’s next, Mr. Damazer? The removal of Sailing By from our airwaves or our national anthem, God Save the Queen? The BBC World Service has already bowdlerized the lovely Lillibullero, just so they can show more shitty trails that absolutely no-one sensible takes any notice of.

There is a petition that you can sign at Save the Radio 4 Theme. You can listen to it in full here.

Tomorrow’s Any Questions? will be broadcast live from the Guests of The Friends of Wildeshausen & Evron Twinning Associations at The Sele School, Hertford in the county of Hertfordshire. The programme will be chaired by Jonathan Dimbleby.

Tonight’s Any Questions will be broadcast live from West Kent College, Tonbridge in Kent and will be chaired by Jonathan Dimbleby.

Hopefully this week’s edition won’t be as utterly excruciating listening as it usually is.

After the New Year break Any Questions? returns for 2006 for another round of weekly debates. Tonight’s show will be broadcast live from Rowhedge in the county of Essex and will be chaired by Jonathan Dimbleby.

Any Questions? will begin at the usual time of 20:00 over on BBC Radio 4.

Obviously no Question Time this week.

Tomorrow’s Any Questions? will be broadcast live from Village Hall & Conference Centre in the village of Carlton in Lindrick, Nottinghamshire and will be presented by Jonathan Dimbleby.

Tonight’s Any Questions? will be produced live from Northallerton Rotary Club, Northallerton in North Yorkshire.

Alan Duncan is usually good value, and he’s one of my favourite MPs - a man with a proper social conscience, although I think he joined the wrong party and he’d be more suited to the right-wing libertarian end of the Liberal Democrats.