Radio, Television, Theatre and Music

Backblip - Thursday 7th January 2016


Today was my sister's Christmas present from her daughter (my niece) and son-in-law - we had tickets for the matinee performance of "War Horse" at the New London Theatre.  Before that we managed to fit in a look around BBC Broadcasting House, which my sister had never visited in all the years I worked there.  I showed her some of the radio studios I used to operate and also various views of the huge newsroom from where the TV News is broadcast live, including the area where the weather forecasters do their pieces to a remote controlled camera.  After lunch, a brief catch-up with some of my former workmates, a peep through the window into The One Show studio and a bit of shopping in Oxford Street, we made our way to Drury Lane.  The play was really well-staged, and we both really enjoyed it.  My sister has always been horse-mad, and she said the puppeteers conveyed the mannerisms and body language of the horses brilliantly.  I thought the play was much better than the film, which I had found rather sentimental and mawkish.  This staging really got across the central message about the futility of war, and how the love of animals is universal.

After the show, we wandered around Covent Garden and were entertained by the opera singer pictured in my blipfoto - she was giving a rendition of 'O Sole Mio' as I took the photograph.  We rounded off our day with an evening meal in a restaurant on The Strand before heading back on the train to Essex, tired but having had a lovely time.