I Miss Alistair Cooke

[Aujuba]

I've been out here in LOS for a while. In the 90s, I remember listening to Alistair Cooke on BBC shortwave radio here. I first heard him here in Thailand and really loved his 'Letter from America.' I have to say his talks were probably the most enjoyable radio I've ever listened too. He just had the most peaceful voice to listen to and his talks were so meaningful. He's gone but not forgotten. I wonder could anyone recommend any radio broadcaster via shortwave or on the Net which I might be the slightest bit like Alistair's? If you know of a podcast site or place where I could download any good radio about our times I would appreciate it. I'm not interested in excessively political radio though. By the way, are Cooke's recordings online anywhere?

[chevykanteve]

If he's still alive, he must be positively ancient by now. He was an old man when I was in my twenties, and that was A LONG TIME AGO. But I too did enjoy his programs.

[WaiWai]

Excellent radio.

Check the BBC Shop online.

[bendix]

He died in 2004. Wonderful broadcaster.

[A_Traveller]

Link to his obit on the BBC site which also has links to some of his 'Letters'.

Regards

Alistair Cooke

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Edited August 20, 2007 by A_Traveller

[GuestHouse]

Alistair Cooke was required listening in our household and is very much part of my childhood/growing up memories.

Not only a great broadcaster, but also remarkable for his breadth and depth of understanding on the subjects he discussed.

I have many favourite broadcasts of his, but my favourite is one in which he recollects his memory of arriving in the US on a scollarship with a pocket full of sovereigns just at the start of the Great Depression.

It was a requirement of his scollarship - and get this - that he bought a car and travelled around the US.

He goes on to recount how those early experiences of travel shaped his view and understanding of the US and indeed world - (Those amoung us happy to berate backpackers take note).

Yes a great broadcaster, a firstclass mind and sadly missed.

I happened by chance to catch his last broadcast, as I say above as a child I listened to almost all - I only wish I'd made time for more.

GH

Edited August 20, 2007 by GuestHouse

[chinthee]

I absolutely agree with everything said. As a young businessman, I used to travel the world, and I was so fortunate to catch his broadcasts on BBC world service and others broadcast to very remote corners of the globe. He was like a warm blanket.

[ratchabuild]

I absolutely agree with everything said. As a young businessman, I used to travel the world, and I was so fortunate to catch his broadcasts on BBC world service and others broadcast to very remote corners of the globe. He was like a warm blanket.

Finest broadcaster I ever heard too though try explaining that nowadays. His leisurely style leading you by a circuitous route to some deep understanding of the american psyche would be just too slow for a generation reared on the internet with the attention span of a gnat and the appetite of a starving lion for a meaningless soundbite. My favourite was the one about his friend building the house in the desert outside Las Vegas. The belief since the frontier days that the americans can subjugate nature to their needs. Explains a lot about Kyoto.

[chinthee]

Another wonderful peabody award winning broadcaster in a similar style was Charles Kuralt. Listening and watching him and his "on the road" and "Sunday morning" segments was like curling up with a good book. Very gentlemanly kind of broadcasting that is so sorely missing in today's mean-spirited broadcast world.

Edited August 20, 2007 by chinthee

[A_Traveller]

Another wonderful peabody award winning broadcaster in a similar style was Charles Kuralt. Listening and watching him and his "on the road" and "Sunday morning" segments was like curling up with a good book. Very gentlemanly kind of broadcasting that is so sorely missing in today's mean-spirited broadcast world.

Sure you already know but there's a book of his {Charles'} work. Link

Regards

[Oswulf]

Slightly confused by the title of this tread. I'm pretty sure it was "Mr. Alastair Cooke"- not "Miss".

Anyway, I greatly enjoyed his weekly ramblings on Radio 4 on a Sunday morning.

I was, however, greatly shocked by what happened to his body after he died, and here I quote from Wikipedia:

On December 22, 2005, the New York Daily News reported that bones of Cooke and many other people had been surgically removed before cremation by bodysnatchers working for a tissue-recovery firm. The thieves allegedly sold the body parts for use in (among other things) dental and bone implants. Ironically, the cancer that Cooke was suffering from prior to his death had spread to his bones, making them unsuitable for transplant and implant therapies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alistair_Cooke

It's a sad, sad world we live in.