Radio 4
When Today Programme presenter Brian Redhead's death was announced on January 23rd 1994 it was, although unannounced as such, a day of national mourning for the British middle classes. The media were full of tributes and people I knew told me that his death hit them personally. Although I listened to Radio 4 at this time and had heard Today now and again, it wasn't really a part of my life. Brian's death prompted me to tune in, perhaps for no other reason than to catch the zeitgeist. I have now been listening more or less every day for the last eleven years. The Today Programme is my cerebral caffeine, without it I'm not sure I mentally wake up. Every couple of years I go on vacation and am without it for a fortnight. Much more than this and I feel that my connection with what is happening in the world will fade and I will dumb down. So the Today programme is now as much a part of my daily regime, as it is of my father's, Margaret Thatcher's and millions of other Britons.

The British nuclear deterrent (nucular for US Republicans), the Royal Navy's Trident equipped Vanguard submarines that quietly cruise the depths of the North Atlantic have a series tests to perform should they lose contact with their command structure that would indicate that the UK has suffered from a devastating nuclear attack and that it is time to open the sealed envelope. It has been reported on numerous occasions that one of these tests is the absence of the Today Programme for 3 consecutive days. So I guess I'm not the only one that feels a bit out of sorts if I haven't heard it for a while.

When I first moved to Gibraltar and then Andalucia, I listened to Today via the British Forces Broadcasting Service on BFBS2 transmitted from the Rock. Somewhat later I started listening via the internet as good reception was guaranteed. Then I discovered the absolutely marvelous Listen Again service, through which I can keep listening to some of the other Radio 4 institutions I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, Any Questions and so many others. Comedies, plays, short stories and programs that have kept me company since I first started listening to Radio 4 at 12 years old. Whoever championed the implementation of this fantastic feature on what is an already brilliant internet portal needs to be, knighted, canonised, awarded a Nobel prize and given a small island, Guernsey perhaps, in recognition of his services to mankind.

No-one who has ever heard one of his broadcasts could forget the quiet measured tones and comforting wisdom of Alistair Cooke and for me as I suspect for many others, he became the wise grandfather I always regret not spending enough time with.

So via the magic of the Listen Again feature and the Today programme, wherever I am in the world, I always wake up in Britain.

Never a truer word was spoken than in 2003 when Today Programme presenter John Humphrys received a lifetime achievement award together with a national radio station award for Radio 4 and said in his acceptance speech....

"Radio 4 is the civilising influence in this country - I think it is the most important institution that we have"