The Sunday Format
Created | Updated Jan 8, 2007
This is one of the best Radio 4 comedy series that has been on for several years. It was made by the same team that did 'People Like Us'. The program was on Fridays at 6.30pm, and repeated Saturdays 12.30pm. The purpose of this article is just to tell you how wonderful it is, and that you should listen.
The idea behind the Sunday Format is to bring a quality newspaper, complete with all the glossy pullout sections, to the radio. The manner of doing this has been described as "like a tape splicing machine gone mad", but you can only really find for yourself. What follows can only be the tiniest fraction, but it should give you some idea. Short of reproducing entire scripts, it would be impossible to convey the quality and humour of the main content of the program.
Useful information
With the arrival of the millennium looking more likely by the day, we put disease under the microscope spotlight. Week by week, our comprensive fact file will build into a comprehensive fact file, on the illnesses we are most likely to die from in the next 1000 years, assuming we live that long.
This week, the deadly E. vatic virus.
What is it?
It's a virus.
More specifically?
As yet, there is very little information available. What we do know, is that it infects the human body.
What are the symptoms?
Reported symptoms include sickness, illness, death, and in extreme cases, prolonged drawn out death.
What causes it?
As yet, we just don't know.
How is it contracted?
As yet, we just don't know.
Is it a very real threat?
As yet, we just don't know, although all the signs point to that conclusion. The latest scientific research indicates that new drug resistant microbes could mean the number of epidemics will soon reach epidemic proportions.
How many people have died from the virus so far?
Mercifully, none.
How many will die by the year 3000 if present rates of infection continue?
Somewhere in the region of 15 million, according to the latest scientific research.
And is there anything I can do to avoid infection?
At the moment, the advice of the government's chief medical officer is to avoid contact with dirty or infected countries. If it is impossible to avoid travelling to a dirty country, ensure you notify the relevant British embassy of your visit.
The Crossword
Tabby la Rassa is on holiday. This week's crossword is set by Bishop Staudford.
- Mexican warlord might look twice at the price of potatoes? (7,7)
- Six of one, half a dozen of the other (4)
- Capitol of France (12)
- A Shakespearean actor embroiled in a dispute over broccoli takes flight when a royal penguin makes fun of his bra. In Canada, of cause, all is not as it first appears, or at least, that's what the people with pianos instead of fingers tell us (3)
- A musician does his sound check perhaps? (1,2,1,2,3,4)
- Some sort of pattern emerging, we hear? (7,7,7,7,5,7,7,7,7,6)
- A word (8)
- An obscure word (13)
- A foreign word (16)
- A new word, which I have invented (31)
- Stretching credulity, we feel? (15,3,12,7,76,9,102)
- Repetition (8) Repetition (8)
Lists
These are an essential feature of any quality paper. Examples include:
Ten things you must do to prepare for the millennium
- Stockpile supplies of tinned food and dried wheat
- Withdraw all your cash from the bank and convert it into gold
- Cancel any flights you had planned
- Bury all computer equipment underground in lead lined cases
- Unplug all toasters
- Start wearing rubber soled shoes
- Buy a canary
- Get a space suit
- Eat lots of fibre
- Buy a hat
- Stop smoking
- Start living underground, but away from buried computers
Ten things to do with your Sundays
- Learn to sculpt
- Grow your own cannabis
- Eat
- Eat out
- Play jazz
- Be French
- Visit Brent cross
- Wear combat trousers
- Buy an arga
- Go to church
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