Read Stuart Ian Burns (feeling listless) account of this event at the Everyman last night…
“Hello and welcome to Any Answers.” — Jonthan Dimbleby, ‘Any Answers?’
Tonight, I attended a recording of BBC Radio 4’s discussion programme Any Questions? at the Everyman Theatre, introduced by Jonathan Dimbleby. For as long as I can remember I’ve listened to the Saturday lunchtime repeat of the programme, invariably shouting at the radio when one of the particularly small minded guests says something idiotic. I was passing by the Playhouse the other week, saw a poster advertising the visit and knew, if only for curiosity sake, that I had to go along.
The programme has always had a slightly scary ability to crop up in an area in which a major news story is happening and so the Radio Four listener tonight might infer that the programme was coming from Liverpool simply because of the tragedy that has been unfolding of the past couple of days. But I booked my ticket a week ago and it was advertised as coming from here in the Radio Times. It was simply one of those odd, scary, bizarre co-incidences.
I decided to wait until today before formulating the inevitable question. I wanted to get on the air so I made a point of trying to write something in the style of the questions that tend to be asked on air. I’m the last person who’d want to talk about what happened in Croxteth, so stuck to what I know and cribbing from the front page of today’s The Guardian wrote on the suggestion card: “Does the panel agree with Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman’s sentiment that the television industry is suffering from a ‘catastrophic loss of nerves?