Anyone born in the year 1950 who grew to fancy themselves as a soulful 18-year-old bought Songs of Leonard Cohen upon its original release in 1968. For many of them it was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. One such is Jeremy Paxman, who pays tribute to his hero in How the Light Gets In (6 November, 10pm, Radio 2) with the help of musicians Judy Collins, Rufus Wainwright and Suzanne Vega, comedian Arthur Smith and former chancellor of the exchequer Alistair Darling.
On 26 September last year, the New Yorker ran a feature with the headline “President Trump’s First Term”. The election was still almost two months away and the magazine’s illustration of Trump in the Oval Office looked like one of Mad magazine’s crazy fantasies of the future. Not any more. Trump Re-elected (4 November, 7pm, World Service) marks the anniversary of the election by recalling the events of that fateful night and, more usefully, looking at the likelihood of Trump being returned for a further four years in 2020.
In Philip Pullman and Miss Jones (4 November, 11.30am, Radio 4 Extra) the best-selling author gets together with his former teacher Enid Jones in Harlech to talk about his first day at school and his first efforts at storytelling. The great Terry Jones presides in this recording from 2007.
Ken Dodd, in whom the word “irrepressible” finds its most profound expression, celebrates his 90th birthday in November. This event is marked by Sir Ken Dodd: What a Beautiful Day! (5 November, 8pm, Radio 4 Extra) in which sports broadcaster Garry Richardson, who apparently takes in Dodd’s shows the way others notch up Liverpool away fixtures, looks into his curious world and hears from David Jason, Roy Hudd and the man who’s been writing Dodd’s gags for 25 years.
As more podcasts become available, it’s becoming a challenge to keep everything in order. One of the great things about voice-activated user interfaces such as Amazon’s Alexa is that when you ask her to play those BBC shows that are podcast weekly, daily or in perpetuity (such as The Food Programme, The Archers or In Our Time) you instantly hear the latest episode. It’s an agreeably direct experience that appeals to those people who find even the simplest podcast clients too much of a faff.
An interesting way into the celebrity interview podcast is via their dogs. Celebs may not be keen to let us into their homes because they don’t like us to see how wealthy they are. However, tell them you want to go for a walk on Hampstead Heath with them and their mutt and they’re only too happy. Thus you have Walking the Dog With Emily Dean, in the course of which she has already accompanied Sarah Millican, Gary Lineker and Matt Lucas and their significant animal companions, talking about the wide range of things that come up when you’re not really being interviewed.
