I know I promised that I wouldn’t pester you again until 2013, but in wishing you all the best and winding up my affairs until the close of the year, I completely forgot to mention one final appearance on the national media, namely this week’s edition of Radio 3’s ‘Between The Ears’, Saturday 29/12 at 21.15, looking back one final time at my adoptive home until last summer, Bush House.
I’m rather proud to reveal it’s my second visit to this hallowed channel in the space of a couple of months, as a recent edition of highly-regarded alternative music programme Late Junction very kindly broadcast an entire side of ‘Ghosts of Bush’! How could I have neglected to mention this before now? I really must hire a publicist in the new year. In the meantime, here’s the programme information that I’ve lazily copied and pasted from the Radio 3 website in order to bulk out this post:
Bush House, once the buzzing home of the BBC World Service, now stands empty and silent, stripped of fixtures and fittings. Shortly before the building was handed back to its landlords, Between the Ears invited former Bush House broadcasters to revisit their offices and studios, for a final glimpse at significant spaces in their lives.
Yuri Goligorsky, formerly of the Russian Service, returns to the site of the Bush House dormitory, where night-shift presenters were offered a bed – although Yuri found the snoring unbearable. He also remembers one of the landmark programmes he produced – a phone-in with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, broadcast live to the Soviet Union.
Hamid Ismailov takes one last look at the small office where he was once the first and – at that time – only Uzbek in the building, and Michael Goldfarb recalls the unique sound-world of the building, with its many languages, signature tunes, and hardened smokers.
Between the Ears also hears Bush House memories from correspondent Mark Tully, Irini Roumboglou of the Greek Service, which was closed in 2005, and Najiba Kasraee, once of the Pashto Service. Bush House studio manager Robin [The Fog] reveals how he captured and mixed the sounds of the building’s marble stairwells, and composer and musician Matthew Herbert, now director of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, reflects on Bush’s unique sound world – and why it’s vital to record it.
The bounder! Once again I am pipped to the post by that dastardly Mr. Herbert! I might actually have to start referring to him as my ARCH-NEMESIS. Particularly as that whole Today Programme Incident back in the autumn proved to be the most incredible blessing in disguise. I must say, though, I do think I’m slightly more at an advantage to discuss the ‘sound world’ of Bush, having spent six months preserving it (rather than 10 minutes – Ooh, I’m a bitch)!
As for my own contribution, I was interviewed for the programme and put a nice high-quality WAV file of the Ghost Of Bush album at the disposal or producer John Goudie; but I have no idea how much or how little of either actually made the final cut.
Why not tune in here on Saturday 29th at 21.15 to find out?
Robin The Fog 