Two faced

It’s a two-way genre, radio, Janus-faced, going forwards while at the same time looking backwards, flexible enough to adapt to the internet world but also still wallowing in the wealth of its archive. Just as the arrival of Radioplayer was announced in an up-to-the-minute presentation at the top of the Centrepoint building in the heart of London, of which more later, Radio 4 Extra launched its new weekday magazine, The 4 O’Clock Show, which sounds surprisingly, and endearingly, old-fashioned. It’s presented by Mel Giedroyc, whose warm, homely voice provides just the right kind of intimate authority for the hour-long afternoon show.

But it was the blend of interviews, quizzes, notes from a woodland walk in Wales in search of animal droppings, and a classic reading which took me straight back to the lost world of the 1950s and family tea while listening to Derek McCulloch and David Davis on Children’s Hour.