Running with Michael Portillo
| 12:36 UK Time, Friday, 12 June 2009
The other morning I went for a run with . As I felt my heart rate climbing he remained relaxed and engaging on the range of his musical tastes from opera to chamber music. As I toiled up the hill he talked frankly about the ups and downs of his own career, one of that growing group of 'former future prime ministers', he said, reflecting on the way the very notoriety that followed his made him more interesting to the media and helped launch his current work in journalism and broadcasting. was of course talking in the calm of Michael Berkeley's studio and I was alone with my mp3 player listening to a forthcoming edition of Radio 3's Private Passions. (Private Passions has, I think a particularly strong line-up at the moment.Ìý The programme with Michael Portillo will be broadcast Sunday June 21st but there's a conversation with Penelope Wilton to come before then and at the end of the month writer ).
Running for me is usually a solitary pleasure as is much of my radio listening. I started early, becoming addicted to the radio when I used to get home from school before my parents came back from work. Like many people I know I rarely sit and listen without having my hands (or feet) busy, whether that's with cooking, pounding pavements or taking notes (I wonder how you enjoy listening to Radio 3, alone or in company, busy or still?). One programme we do tend to listen to together in my house is Night Waves but the programme often stimulates so much conversation we end up talking over it and I have to catch up through listen again. It's therefore rather special to listen sitting quietly in a group as we do sometimes at one of our regular station meetings. Here people working across many different areas of our activity come together informally. Last meeting we listened as a group to the winner of The Verb's recent writing competition. The challenge was to write a story including the names of our four Composers Of The Year. The winning story was surreal and witty, imagining pieces of furniture named after composers,'... the and the with their loud colours, the Vivaldi (choice of four), and the Haydn which, as a sort of joke, is not a chair but a footstool. Surprisingly comfortable, the tag says.' Part of the pleasure of the meeting was not only the story itself but sharing each other's responses.
For me the chance to share in a different way is one of the great benefits of the website. It's one thing recommending a programme in conversation (don't get me wrong here, I'm all for verbal recommendations - please get out there and recommend Radio 3 however you like), but I also love being able to share an audio link, like those for the daily Poems for Today. It seems to bring together some of the pleasures of listening alone with those of listening in company, a way of making private passions more public.
Comment number 1.
At 13th Jun 2009, french frank wrote:>>The other morning I went for a run with Michael Portillo.
Aaaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh!!!!! :o)
An interesting point is whether the population as a whole (or predominantly) has moved over to a different way of "consuming" :-( radio. When (if) I listen, it will be with 100% attention, not doing anything else and not wanting anyone to interrupt. If the programme isn't worth that amount of attention, to me it isn't worth listening to.
The wonder of radio is NOT that you can do something else at the same time (of course you can) but that your attention can be focused on a narrow target which your own imagination enlarges.
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Comment number 2.
At 13th Jun 2009, RolandTaylor wrote:Hello french frank. For me it depends on the subject matter. There are some features and documentaries that I listen to whilst doing another activity as it helps focus my mind. Last week's Between the Ears really grabbed me and I had to listen. It's a personal thing I think.
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Comment number 3.
At 13th Jun 2009, french frank wrote:I'm obviously like Gerald Ford, about whom the polite version was that he couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time ... with Drama on 3, for example, the only thing I'm likely to be doing at the same time is following the text if it's Shakespeare or something similarly 'literary'.
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Comment number 4.
At 14th Jun 2009, cping500 wrote:I assume that those who want to 'concentrate' actually plan their listening from the schedules to catch a particular work and even prepare their for listening which I do for concert going. So they never listen at breakfast or lunch. I do like to drop in on Breakfast on my morning run trying to choose the time when I have found a bit I might appreciate from the schedule. Since the run is on "auto pilot" it doesn't distract. Lots of things I do on 'auto pilot' like most people. So supper preparation with Freddy Kempf (In Tune)was rather good the other evening. And so was the supper.
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Comment number 5.
At 14th Jun 2009, kleines c wrote:I should perhaps confess that for me, listening to Radio 3 is almost always a secondary activity. I am often 'driving' to 'The Verb', for example, although the correct 'Adverb' would be 'safely'.
/programmes/b00l0vjf
As for Private Passions, Abigail, I rather liked Penelope Wilton's choice today over Sunday lunch. Ella Fitzgerald was even more bewitching, bothering and bewildering than the roast beef! Cheers (lunch)!
Michael Portillo, I suspect, will give us more Wagner. Let us hope that the biggest bust in human history will not result in the twilight of Radio's 3 gods (and/or goddesses). All the best, c (and the gang).
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Comment number 6.
At 17th Jun 2009, Droolin wrote:This is completely off topic.
i'm 19 and don't have a clue about classical music.I heard a piece on one of the shows about 3 weeks ago,however i can't remember what the composer's name is.
he had what i thought was quite a common German name.His first name was something like Hans or Jens or sommit and then his second name began with an 'H' i think. the song almost sounded kind of electric..it had a kinda dark,eery feeling to it.man,i wish i knew what it was.
do you have any ideas? i've searched the web for a stupid amount of time...i wanna know what the piece and artists name is so baaaddddllyyyy.
sorry for the bad grammar or whatever.this was pretty random.
peace dude
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Comment number 7.
At 20th Jun 2009, RolandTaylor wrote:Hello Droolin. Can you remember the name of the show you were listening to? Or have you already found out? Peace dude.
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Comment number 8.
At 20th Jun 2009, RolandTaylor wrote:PS. Been practising walking and chewing French Frank.
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Comment number 9.
At 20th Jun 2009, Flay wrote:Droolin, could it have been Franz Schubert, a prolific writer of songs? If you give a few more clues such as the day of the week, the approximate time, was it a male or female voice, was it unaccompanied or with piano or whole orchestra - as many clues as possible and post your question on the Platform 3 message board: /dna/mbradio3/F7497566 it is highly likely that somebody will find your answer.
But why not just keep on listening to Radio 3? You will find a vast amount of music to electrify you.
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