Radio Review: 1 February
Sometimes, I feel that BBC Radio 4 bosses are tapping into the darkest recesses of my brain when they come up with programmes for the hour between 11am and noon. This was never more so than last week, when, in the first of the new In Living Memory series, Jolyon Jenkins told the story of Lymeswold cheese.
Cosy nostalgia for what we used to eat or drink has been a safe bet for 20-odd years now. In the 1990s, comedians seemed to extrude whole careers from a mere mention of Spangles. Lymeswold is a different proposition. Launched in 1982, a grim old time for this nation of ours, it is not held in great affection. Indeed, I thought it was a product that only I and Private Eye remembered.
Even though I did enjoy the stuff (particularly on a Hovis digestive), I never understood why the state – at the height of Thatcherism – felt the need to sponsor the creation of a whole new concept in veined cheese. The documentary explained that it was simply an attempt to turn a coin from surplus milk, bought from farmers as part of a guarantee, this being the era of the fabled EEC butter mountain. When documentaries tell me something I never knew before, they always score higher than those that reiterate the blooming obvious.
Agriculture minister Peter Walker tried to do a Dulux by saying his sheepdog loved it, but after the curiosity wore off, sales slumped, and Lymeswold was de-cheesed in 1992. One of the problems was that the name was fake. It had an air of keg bitter about it. Was it a failure? In sales terms, yes, but as an experiment in dairy technology, no. Like the Advanced Passenger Train, another dud, many of the things it pioneered are now commonplace.
I was thrilled when Jenkins located a cheese-making college in the highlands of Scotland where Lymeswold is still made on a very small scale. But, having schlepped all of the way up there, he found the cupboard temporarily bare. He bore it better than I would have. If that had been me, the lecturer would have been dealing with a hostage situation. I and a fleet of sheepdogs would have held her captive until she made us some Lymeswold, no matter how long it took.
In Living Memory, BBC Radio 4, on Wednesdays at 11am.
THE VALENTINE'S SESSIONS
BBC Radio 6 Music is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a run of live sessions at the famous Maida Vale studios from 11 to 15 February. The highlight will be Richard Hawley performing on Valentine's Day.
Follow Louis on Twitter: @LadyWireless or email him at: wireless@cheeseford.net
For Louis' blog: www.lady.co.uk
Cosy nostalgia for what we used to eat or drink has been a safe bet for 20-odd years now. In the 1990s, comedians seemed to extrude whole careers from a mere mention of Spangles. Lymeswold is a different proposition. Launched in 1982, a grim old time for this nation of ours, it is not held in great affection. Indeed, I thought it was a product that only I and Private Eye remembered.
Even though I did enjoy the stuff (particularly on a Hovis digestive), I never understood why the state – at the height of Thatcherism – felt the need to sponsor the creation of a whole new concept in veined cheese. The documentary explained that it was simply an attempt to turn a coin from surplus milk, bought from farmers as part of a guarantee, this being the era of the fabled EEC butter mountain. When documentaries tell me something I never knew before, they always score higher than those that reiterate the blooming obvious.
Agriculture minister Peter Walker tried to do a Dulux by saying his sheepdog loved it, but after the curiosity wore off, sales slumped, and Lymeswold was de-cheesed in 1992. One of the problems was that the name was fake. It had an air of keg bitter about it. Was it a failure? In sales terms, yes, but as an experiment in dairy technology, no. Like the Advanced Passenger Train, another dud, many of the things it pioneered are now commonplace.
I was thrilled when Jenkins located a cheese-making college in the highlands of Scotland where Lymeswold is still made on a very small scale. But, having schlepped all of the way up there, he found the cupboard temporarily bare. He bore it better than I would have. If that had been me, the lecturer would have been dealing with a hostage situation. I and a fleet of sheepdogs would have held her captive until she made us some Lymeswold, no matter how long it took.
In Living Memory, BBC Radio 4, on Wednesdays at 11am.
THE VALENTINE'S SESSIONS
BBC Radio 6 Music is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a run of live sessions at the famous Maida Vale studios from 11 to 15 February. The highlight will be Richard Hawley performing on Valentine's Day.
Follow Louis on Twitter: @LadyWireless or email him at: wireless@cheeseford.net
For Louis' blog: www.lady.co.uk