The Fourth Program

That's what my stepfather calls it. He always cites it as one of the many things that the British do right. Well, damn it, he's right. He also never pollutes his lips with the Americanism "radio." He is always bringing it up, usually in some context where I can count on being mildly irritated. It's BBC 4 and it is radio for eggheads. Via Wolcott. Melvyn Bragg hosts a show called In Our Time and you can download past episodes into your iPod or listen to them sitting at your desk as I did today. His program on Alexander Pope was the most intelligent conversation I heard all day. Check out the other topics. Worth listening to just to see how this kind of thing can actually be done. Now that I do the commute from hell in the mornings my plan is to load up the iPod and listen on the road. Thank you James Wolcott for proving my stepfather right but we won't mention it to him.