A couple of weeks ago, I was listening to a programme at about 4.00 am, when the day's your own, and peace reigns. It turned out to be Simon Callow's one man celebration of Charles Dickens. What a marvellous production, and well worth listening to if you have an hour and a half!
Latching on to the article here, it rang a few bells with me, because over the last few years, reading has become so important as television productions have, in the main, become so appallingly bad.
So it needs a good teacher to re-invent reading perhaps, and Simon Callow certainly does that with his show! The Dickens characters just pour out in a tumble of accents and phrases, he mimics all the voices and his enthusiasm just inspires even more reading, and also much less rubbish on the TV and unfortunately the radio as well...
And the cold winter evenings just fly by...
He do the police in different voices?
ReplyDeleteUp and about at 4am?
ReplyDeleteYou, sir, appear to be suffering from what, in poliite company, used to be called "night starvation". I was too young to understand back then, but I suspect that "sleep" must have been an unacceptable word.
You should try what Dan Dare ("pilot of the future") did on Radio Lux ("248 on the medium wave") in the 1950s and get yourself a cup of hot Horlicks before retiring..
... and what's all this new fangled "reading" stuff you are on about?
The police have always had a different voice.
ReplyDeleteUsually a dim one if traditional. A bright one if politically correct.
He is a rather pleasant and interesting chap.
ReplyDeleteVery clever mimicry Calfers. This prog just stood out.
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha Reevers!
ReplyDeleteMy old Mil used Horlicks for years - so did my folks as well.
There's a lot to do at the mo, so a bit of free time in the early AM is a great way to defrag the day!
Have you read 'Absolute power' Elecs? Baldacci writes about US high stakes, but his cops are marvellously defined!
ReplyDeleteThis one is outstanding. Finished it last evening.
I thing so too Thudders.
ReplyDeleteIt needs someone who can bring stories to life, like he does.
I like Dickens description of characters that we all can relate to. We all know them already, in real life. But I found his books a bit boring as a child. Bronte captivated me more and Jane Austen's appeal has never diminished.
ReplyDeleteSimon Callow seems to be the caricature of English thesp we cannot help but be fond of.
IMHO Larry Olivier often ruined Shakespeare by being melodramatic instead of simply playing the part well. It's been mostly downhill since then. But I've never seen Callow act in any Shakespear play. Callow has a twinkle that shows in his voice. Excellent :-)