The things we forgot to remember

You can't teach an old dog new tricks - so the saying goes. But you can remind them of their old tricks!

Yesterday I went walking in the forest around Paris with my friend Liz, a fellow Brit and Radio 4 fan. 'I just listen to it on my computer' she said, and I kicked myself for not having thought of streaming it in sooner.

When I lived in the UK some 10 years ago I was an avid Radio 4 listener. Saturday mornings I would refuse to leave bed until 'Home Truths' with John Peel had finished and just about every night saw me dozing off to the sounds of "Viking & Dogger; 4, backing to 5 SSW; 6 miles; 1012 and rising. " Now, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I'm once again turned in and turned on by some of the UK's, nay the world's, best radio reporting.
(For the US readers out there, Radio 4 is the UK's equivalent of NPR. ie. Intelligent broadcasting.)


The spectrum of programs available is blinding. Just this evening i've heard:

• An chilling episode from the radio play 'We need to talk about Kevin', taken from the 2003 novel by Lionel Shriver, describing a fictional school massacre and the perspective of the murder's mother.
• A news article announcing that potential British Army officers will be taken to theatre, arts and opera events to put them outside of their comfort zones and improve their powers of interpretation and perception.
• A fascinating magazine program called 'Cross Continents' shedding light on Korea's 'Extreme Sports' and its star athletes, ie. Networked role playing computer games and those you and I would call 'Nerds' or addicts.
• And a program by Michael Portillo (former politician, historian and now keen media commentator), 'The Things We Forgot To Remember'.

When I was walking with Liz yesterday she mentioned that UNESCO will be putting together a conference to commemorate the Holocaust on Jan 27th, International Holocaust Day. We discussed how this will be mostly a politically motivated event and how looking back at the events of 50 years ago appears to hold a higher priority than addressing the genocides going on in the world today.

It's estimated that 6 million European Jews were killed during the holocaust and any child in most developed country's could tell you at least the headline of history surrounding the event.
Yet how many of us have heard of the Bengal Famine that occurred during, and as a result of, WWII and killed almost as many people? I certainly hadn't.

If you only make time for one thing this week please click on the link above and stream/podcast/download what I consider to be an excellent radio documentary on an event no-one commemorates, few history books report and most of us remain ignorant of. Not only is it a fascinating piece articles but its beautifully presented too.

I warn you, now that i've remembered Radio 4, its not something i'm likely to let you forget. Standby for a host of blogs bullying you to tune in too.

K