Celebrating Alistair Cooke
2008 November 18
The BBC are, quite rightfully, marking the centenary of the birth of the great Alistair Cooke with a series of special programs. Listen again to Remembering Alistair Cooke broadcast at 9am today or hear playwright David Mamet give the Alistair Cooke memorial lecture at 9.30am. Or you could just explore and enjoy the BBC’s Letter from America pages.
A master…my wife and I wouldn’t have missed letter from America. Sunday mornings wasn’t it? 8.30am I think?
I devoured the freebie booklet the Guardian gave away a month or two ago with extracts from his Letters and Guardian reports, and immediately added the new collection, Reporting America 1946-2004 (even the expanse of those dates makes the jaw drop: he really did see everything) to my Xmas list. Are you listening, Mrs Self?
My Dad kindly passed on an old mazda 626 during my time living in Scotland. There in the glove box, amongst the usual nonsense, I was delighted to find a BBC box set of the best of Letter from America on tape! Many happy memories of driving round the east of Scotland listening to the master!
John: I hope Mrs S is listening. I saw that tome on a table in W’stones and like you thought I had found the perfect Christmas gift..for myself!
I think his daughter has a book out at the moment as well… escapes me where i heard her reading an except… but, it was brilliant. helpful eh?
Yes she does qmonkey, it’s called Reporting America 1946-2004. Well, that was my thought at least as I flicked through the endless introduction she writes for that book – about 30 pages’ worth. I kept thinking, “Pipe down love, you’re not the one we’ve paid to see.”