Radio Head: Punt, PI; Robbie Williams and Jon Ronson
All human life is available on radio, but one area that doesn’t get as much coverage as it should is the truly weird. Luckily – indeed weirdly – two programmes this week plug the gap.
First (Radio 4, today, 10.30am) in Punt, PI, Steve Punt begins a three-part series in which he tries to solve bizarre real-life mysteries, beginning with a Bridport couple who found 400 false legs stashed under their home, some of them still clad in stockings and socks.
Could they be the discarded prosthetics of soldiers injured after D-Day? Could they have been used to smuggle drugs? Could they be the treasure trove of a pervert? Oh, please, let that be the explanation. We just don’t get enough harmless pervs these days.
Sadly, no disc was available at the time of writing for Robbie Williams and Jon Ronson Journey to the Other Side (Radio 4, Tuesday, 6.30pm), but the possibilities are endless. The journalist Jon Ronson, we are told, “joins Robbie Williams as he journeys to Los Angeles and Laughlin, Nevada, to explore his interest in the paranormal”.
LA raises no eyebrows, but why Laughlin, Nevada? Well, besides there being a UFO conference, there are more than 40 ghosts reported around the town, and you can take a bus tour of them.
Those who have been concerned by Williams’s low profile of late will be pleased to know that, when he puts his mind to it, he can still be as barmy as ever. “Robbie has a genuine interest in UFOs,” gushes the programme information, “and has been researching sightings, abductees and the possibility of extraterrestrial life.”
The two meet a doctor who claims to have 15 metallic objects which are not earthly – proof positive of something Out There, one could say. Be aware, though, that the programme is going out in the drive-time comedy slot.
Tags: pi
May 12th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Exactly. Taking away your freedom to annoy others isn’t the behavior of a “totalitarian state”. You might want to look up big words before you use them on the internet. Or ever.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
you know i think that its very juvenile when people roll around with load music, i don’t like it i think its disturbing, but after all this power cops are starting to exercise over us, especially power hungry ego-tripping ones, then i can tell you i don’t want to be accused of playing my music loud and getting my car seized, cause you know thats what will eventually happen.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Totalitarianism? Hardly. “Too loudly”, as defined in the article, is being able to hear the radio at 75 feet. That is noise pollution and a violation of ordinances in many areas. I think this is a good means of stemming people from playing music at excessively loud levels.Their choice of confiscating and challenging false infractions is the real injustice: If a motorist believes his car has been unlawfully towed on a Friday after 5pm, he may challenge the taking by “depositing a written request for a hearing in the silver drop box located behind city hall,” according to the ordinance. The city must then respond by the following Wednesday. If the registered owner was not driving at the time the car was taken, he will be mailed a letter within ten days. After this time he is given less than fifteen days to request a hearing. The city may then wait another 45 days to schedule a hearing while storage fees accumulate up to $1100.The police don’t have to even be witness to the crime, just receive a phone call. Don’t like someone? Just call up the cops and have their car impounded for 5+ days.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
I don’t think cars should be seized but there should be definitely be substantial fines. I’m sick and tired of jackasses rolling down my street with their music so loud it shakes my floor.To the jackasses:You’re boringNobody likes you
May 12th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
It must be real fun to live in Afghanistan. Just f’ing shoot everybody like a damn video game or sitting in a horror flick. The world has gone mad. In a sense I’m glad the Orion prophecy in 12/21/2012 is coming — it might make humanity come back down to its senses again.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Screw those guys. Nobody wants to hear their shitty music.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:26 am
I thought that the point of those really loud steros was to annoy people. The owners should be pleased that they have succeeded.
May 13th, 2008 at 1:17 am
the more you use cops instead of diplomacy and acceptance, the more the cops are gonna use and abuse you and your community. Its time for the new generation to make its voice heard
May 13th, 2008 at 2:07 am
No, that’s not totalitarianism, that’s something people have been wanting for a long time. Actually, people have been wanting the right to angrily destroy loud car stereos, so this is probably a good compromise.