Radio Four recently broadcast a ‘Best of’ edition of From Our Own Correspondent, marking 100 years since the birth of one of its most distinguished contributors, the late Charles Wheeler. Listening to the likes of Allan Little reporting on the fall of Mobutu, and Brian Barron in Vietnam, one is reminded that however tedious Thought for the Day and You and Yours may have become, some segments of R4 still shine.
Indeed, for many listeners, From Our Own Correspondent is the essence of the Beeb’s nation speaking unto nation remit – a weekly mailbag to Auntie from staff worldwide, sometimes grim, sometimes quirky. With its brief to provide ‘insight, wit and analysis,’ rather than straight news, it’s the world as told from the correspondent’s barstool, and often the more truthful for it.
Death is never cheated, and old men should not be gnarled. Souks should never be vibrant, let alone peoples or cultures
There is, however, one aspect of From Our Own Correspondent that doesn’t quite ring true.
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