Melvyn Bragg, In Our Time. Now that's how to do an audio show. Listen to his works, ye amateur podcasters of the world, and despair!
But let's face it, our Melvyn is no mere mortal. As Pitt is to looks, so Bragg is to smarts. How can One Man And His Show cover such a vast range of topics, keeping up with, and even sometimes gently beating up, the various experts in those fields? Someone make the man a Lord or Fellow or something. Wait! They already did. Well good! He's a national treasure. Bragg, IOT, and BBC Radio 4; reminding the US who is boss, since 1776.
I've written a song in his honour. It took a while, being a complex intermingling of themes and subtle notions. Austere and fugue-like here, grand and symphonic there. Simultaneously bright, but mellow. Cautious in its message of praise, yet sincere and direct. I think it works. To the tune of (for the Americans) "The Stars and Stripes Forever" or (for the Brits and everyone else) "Here we go, here we go, here we go", I give you:
Melvyn Bragg Forever
Melvyn Bragg, Melvyn Bragg, Melvyn Braaagg.
Melvyn Bragg, Melvyn Bragg, Melvyn Braa-agg.
Melvyn Bragg, Melvyn Bragg, Melvyn Braaagg.
Melvyn Bra-agg! MEL-VYN BRAGG!