The wireless

set of my childhood, which somehow propelled me into 22 funfilled years at the microphone. A wake yesterday on a rainy day in London with dear radio colleagues, and today, after a long and refreshing sleep, the sun was shining, and there, from a corner of the kitchen, was Whispering Bob Harris proclaiming that the best record ever made is Stand By Me - Ben E King from 1961. He's quite wrong, of course: it is Dancing in the Street by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, but his choice is a very strong second.

Life without the radio would be dull indeed.