In tune with Dylan

Bob Dylan on Radio Two? Sounds like an oxymoron to me. His Bobness, the hippie troubadour and Voice of Sixties America on the Light Programme, the station for Hooverers and flu-sufferers? But Radio Two has been transforming itself in the past few years, sneaking in Jamie Cullum and Suzi Quatro alongside Cliff and Terry, Ronan and The Organist Entertains. While Bob Dylan, at 64, is rather weirdly, like all those other ageing rockers, turning into a reluctant wrinklie.

Back in March last year, the American satellite station XM lured Dylan into DJing for them by promising him ‘total creative freedom’ and a national radio audience with hour-long sessions that would not suffer the indignity of being broken up by commercials for Viagra (XM is a pay-radio station, from $13 a month). Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour electrified the American airwaves as effectively as his 1965 gig at the Newport Folk Festival.