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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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Twenty Minutes

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

Eclectic arts magazine programme, exploring a range of fascinating subjects

Eclectic arts magazine programme, exploring a range of fascinating people, places and events

Twenty Minutes: Summer Over England

Summer Over England

26/08/2010

BBC Radio 3 - Twenty Minutes, Summer Over England

Nigel Forde presents an evocation of summer, drawn from recordings in the BBC archive.

Poet Nigel Forde presents an evocation of summer, drawn from many seasonal recordings in the BBC archive - in poetry, prose and reportage, and in times of peace and war.

Between the two halves of tonight's prom, poet Nigel Forde presents a seasonal reflection. Summer more than any other time of year is richly represented in the recordings held in the BBC Archive. 'Summer Over the British Isles' was a famous 1937 feature programme evoking the moment when the country could perhaps relax a little, ease its braces and its stays, and stretch out in the long grass ...and hope it wouldn't rain.

It was also a vaguely patriotic and - with hindsight - prophetic programme capturing an era that was about to be blown apart by the off-stage murmurs of war from Europe. But there's much more - Laurie Lee recalling the 'Hill Cricket' played on summer days in the Cotswold villages of his youth, Alistair Cooke describing a day at Lords and that other immortal voice of cricket, John Arlott, recalling long shadows and steepling catches. Vita Sackville-West describes the joys of great summer gardens; Henry Williamson forsakes otters to hymn the beauty of Devon and we catch the sound of conflict in 1964 when Britain's seaside became a battleground for disaffected youngsters...

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

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