Good afternoon.
What did you want to be when you were young? You know, "When I grow up, I want to be ....".
Many of us aspired to something that might please our parents: I wanted to be in the Fleet Air-arm because my mum was a WREN and my dad was an RAF navigator.
Salma began wanting to be an English teacher and then aspired to being a news reporter - she loved reading and being listened too.
But what could conceivably make anyone want to be a latter day Jack the Ripper? We immediately slump into the realms of psychosis and the dark pages of human evil to understand this. But when "Killers-The Most Barbaric Murderers of Our Time" is among someone's favourite night-time reading, it's pretty clear there's a deep rooted problem. But Derek Brown went tragically and gruesomely further - a serial sex-offender, he sunk to the depths and killed two young women. Their remains were never found. It is a dreadful but compelling story and today we can report it following his his conviction.
Oddly, it was another success for what was, until 4.15pm yesterday, Sir Ian Blair's brilliant band in blue. The PC PC will remain in office for a few more weeks then presumably consult. We've been consulting of the whys and where-fores of his dramatic ousting by Bozza and it as fascinating a drama as Colin Dexter or P.D.James might pen. Jon Gilbert reviews the plot.
To plots of a different sort - the moving and majestic War Graves across north-western Europe never fail to send a chill down my spine and cause tears to well-up in my eyes. The grey-stone monuments in so many market towns, across Great Britain, don't have the same effect on me though, I am sure, for the relatives of the men and women whose names are there, the impact is strong and lasting. 1914-18 and 1939-45 claimed so many of our finest, they deserve all they get to hold them in our grateful memories. So, might the addition of the names of those who have fallen in more recent conflicts - Iraq and Afghanistan, for example - be appropriate additions or is there something perculiarly special about those two global conflicts? I am not sure, but tonight we have the tale of a family's battle to have the name of their late loved one, added to the roll of honour and how it didn't result in early surrender by the forces of opposition. It is a moving story and sets an important precedent, either way. We'll supply the facts and ask for your opinions.
James will give his opinions on two films - "Alienate", which appears to have done just that to most critics, though James may differ; and Brideshead Revisited which many critics feel it simply shouldn't have been, the TV version having been incapable of improvement. Again James, who is to film reviewing what Evelyn Waugh was to the English novel, gives us his views.
Lenny Henry gives us his views on the achievements of some black school children and tells us about progress on one of his own, most cherished ambitions.
War of the Worlds was a great novel by H.G.Wells, turned into a great radio play by Orson Wells which terrified Americans into their bunkers. It also inspired a great album of the 70s under the grand command of Jeff Wells ... sorry, Jeff Wayne.
He and the delicious Jennifer Wells... no, that's Jennifer Ellison! Anyway, both of them are with us in the studio to tell us about the lastest incarnation of this master work of popular music.
Robin may be so moved as to sing his forecast to you and the papers may get nudged out by the excitement we all feel for what we have to offer you, but we'll see.
A brief battle raged over whether we would have What Not To Miss in the running order until I realised the man who is in charge today, Ken "West Ham to win the Champions League... one day" Hayes, was joking. Salma wasn't sure it was funny, at all. I thought it was. Briefly.
See you at 6.
Alastair & Salma
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