h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I thought this would be a suitable place to write the following:

I've justbeen listening to an incredible prog on BBC Radio 3 about The Barley Bird (nightingale). Apparently the cellist, Beatreice Harrison (a leading cellist of her generation) was once playing the cello in her garden and realised she had stimulated and was being accompanied by nightingale(s). She persuaded Lord Reith to incorporate live nightingale song into an annual broadcast concert (risky - because the nightingales might not 'play ball'). Harrison stood in a ditch in a wood as close as possible to where the nightingales sang. The microphone was positioned to pick up both cello and bird. The concerts were broadcast for 18 years. Then during the 18th broadcast concert, which was sans cello, the outside broadcast man became aware of the drone of heavy bombers. This was, in fact, the start of the 1000 bomber raid. He had the prescience to ask that the live broadcast be turned off - not to upset people further during wartime - but to keep a recording going. So, this track of nightingale + bombers still exists.

... there's a link to it here:

http://musicandnature.publicradio.org/features/

Interesting!