A live broadcast of the Radio 4 arts programme, hosted by Kirsty Lang.
Lang came out shortly before the programme began to explain the timetable, and the audience's role in it. Then she brought out Scots musician and singer Mairi Campbell who taught and rehearsed us in singing chorus of the original tune to Auld Lang Syne. Then it was time to bring out the guests on to the line of sofas.
The big name was Brian May, the polymath best known for being Queen's guitarist, and with him Professor Roger Taylor. There were three doctors - Adam Kay, Kwame Asante and Kevin Jones - who all have Fringe stand up shows based around their experiences in the profession. Plus comedian Rachel Parris, who's become more of a household name in recent times as a member of TV's Mash report team, and the aforementioned Campbell.
With that big a line up and less than 30 minutes broadcasting time nobody was ever going to get much time to get their points across, but Lang has superb timing and gave each a fair crack. A comic song from Kay at the keyboard got things started. The doctors were there to plug their shows of course, and all got a chance to tell a funny story. Parris is in a couple of shows, but mostly talked about her Mash report experiences. And May and Taylor have produced a new book on a Victorian pioneer of 3D photography, a subject there was more to than most of us might have suspected. We ended with Campbell leading the audience in song.
That bald description doesn't sound very exciting, but the reality was more entertaining, watching the interactions between the guests and Lang's confident control of proceedings. Watching live radio is so often a much better experience than it sounds.
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