David Hepworth on 5 Live's anniversary, seven-inch singles, Vivian Stanshall, and optimum friend counts
Radio 5 Live is 20 years old this week. While other BBC radio services have to argue for their continued existence from time to time, the sport and rolling-news station seems central to the corporation's offering nowadays. Listening to the clips in the *5 Live At 20 *montage (Friday, 12noon, Radio 5 Live) it's difficult to decide how much the station has shaped the news and how much the news has shaped the station. Any 20-year period will have its dramas but the combination of the death of Diana, the dread events of 9/11 and the revolution in our news habits brought about by social media means that the last two decades of news gathering have been unlike any previous period. The only constant seems to be our touching faith in the England football team.
To mark the station's birthday, its longest-serving presenter, the admirably reserved *Peter Allen*, sits in for five different colleagues on different days through the week. He begins in Richard Bacon's slot (Monday, 2pm, Radio 5 Live), covers for Victoria Derbyshire (Tuesday, 10am) and Shelagh Fogarty (Wednesday, 12noon) and gets up for Nicky Campbell (Thursday, 6am).
Our average number of Facebook friends is around 140. The anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar has researched non-virtual circles of friendship and come up with the optimum number of friends with whom an individual is capable of sustaining a meaningful relationship. Dunbar's Number, as it is known, is 150. Thomas Dixon, director of the Centre for the History of the Human Emotions at London's Queen Mary College, presents a fascinating series,* Five Hundred Years Of Friendship* (Weekdays, 1.45pm, Radio 4), which looks at how friendship has been adapted and reshaped to reflect changes in society: the women in the 16th century who were happy to be regarded as "gossips"; the use of the word "family" to refer to servants as well as kin; the same-sex couples who measured their intimacy and trust by chastely sleeping together; the passionate friendships of 17th-century Quaker missionaries; and on a less elevated plane, the "Good Fellows" of the same era who would seal their friendship by drinking each other's urine. Next to all that, the Facebook measure – which probably includes a load of people we haven't seen or heard from in years – seems a poor thing indeed. "On Facebook I've got loads of friends. On the ground, I've got none," says one poignant contemporary voice.
When Viv Stanshall wanted to get a railway carriage to himself he would settle in early and then, with one long, wizardly finger, beckon fiendishly towards the new passengers coming down the platform. Unsurprisingly, he never had any takers. In *Vivian Stanshall – English As Tuppence* (Saturday, 9am & 7pm, R4 Extra) Neil Innes presents three hours of the work of the late genius. Guests include Rick Wakeman, Danny Thompson and Adrian Edmondson. Later that day the man's masterpiece *Sir Henry At Rawlinson End* (Saturday, 10.30pm, R4 Extra) starts another run.
*The* *45 @ 65* (Thursday, 10pm, Radio 2) marks the 65th anniversary of the RCA Victor label's launching of the first seven-inch single, which was both efficient carrier and sacred object. David Quantick presents and talks to everyone from Tom Jones to DJ Cosmo. One can only hope he's managed to find a studio in New Broadcasting House that can actually play one of the things. Reported by guardian.co.uk 53 minutes ago.
Radio 5 Live is 20 years old this week. While other BBC radio services have to argue for their continued existence from time to time, the sport and rolling-news station seems central to the corporation's offering nowadays. Listening to the clips in the *5 Live At 20 *montage (Friday, 12noon, Radio 5 Live) it's difficult to decide how much the station has shaped the news and how much the news has shaped the station. Any 20-year period will have its dramas but the combination of the death of Diana, the dread events of 9/11 and the revolution in our news habits brought about by social media means that the last two decades of news gathering have been unlike any previous period. The only constant seems to be our touching faith in the England football team.
To mark the station's birthday, its longest-serving presenter, the admirably reserved *Peter Allen*, sits in for five different colleagues on different days through the week. He begins in Richard Bacon's slot (Monday, 2pm, Radio 5 Live), covers for Victoria Derbyshire (Tuesday, 10am) and Shelagh Fogarty (Wednesday, 12noon) and gets up for Nicky Campbell (Thursday, 6am).
Our average number of Facebook friends is around 140. The anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar has researched non-virtual circles of friendship and come up with the optimum number of friends with whom an individual is capable of sustaining a meaningful relationship. Dunbar's Number, as it is known, is 150. Thomas Dixon, director of the Centre for the History of the Human Emotions at London's Queen Mary College, presents a fascinating series,* Five Hundred Years Of Friendship* (Weekdays, 1.45pm, Radio 4), which looks at how friendship has been adapted and reshaped to reflect changes in society: the women in the 16th century who were happy to be regarded as "gossips"; the use of the word "family" to refer to servants as well as kin; the same-sex couples who measured their intimacy and trust by chastely sleeping together; the passionate friendships of 17th-century Quaker missionaries; and on a less elevated plane, the "Good Fellows" of the same era who would seal their friendship by drinking each other's urine. Next to all that, the Facebook measure – which probably includes a load of people we haven't seen or heard from in years – seems a poor thing indeed. "On Facebook I've got loads of friends. On the ground, I've got none," says one poignant contemporary voice.
When Viv Stanshall wanted to get a railway carriage to himself he would settle in early and then, with one long, wizardly finger, beckon fiendishly towards the new passengers coming down the platform. Unsurprisingly, he never had any takers. In *Vivian Stanshall – English As Tuppence* (Saturday, 9am & 7pm, R4 Extra) Neil Innes presents three hours of the work of the late genius. Guests include Rick Wakeman, Danny Thompson and Adrian Edmondson. Later that day the man's masterpiece *Sir Henry At Rawlinson End* (Saturday, 10.30pm, R4 Extra) starts another run.
*The* *45 @ 65* (Thursday, 10pm, Radio 2) marks the 65th anniversary of the RCA Victor label's launching of the first seven-inch single, which was both efficient carrier and sacred object. David Quantick presents and talks to everyone from Tom Jones to DJ Cosmo. One can only hope he's managed to find a studio in New Broadcasting House that can actually play one of the things. Reported by guardian.co.uk 53 minutes ago.
