BDS Log

Transfer to Joomla

2008-10-07T20:51:00.002Z

I have now converted my BDS Website to Joomla! and this blog will now be continued there, split into four different sections.

WCSC, 2008

2008-09-22T10:01:00.000Z

I sent out a press release a couple of weeks ago reporting the results of this year’s World Chess Solving Championship (WCSC). The English Chess Federation (ECF) has posted this on their website.

Progress with the September Problemist and Joomla

2008-09-19T14:57:00.001Z

I sent the September issue of The Problemist to the printer on Tuesday last. I updated the subscriber list yesterday and emailed the address labels to the printer/distributor. I understand that the issue is now printed and that it will be sent out soon. There will be a short delay in the printing and distribution of the A4 copies, which I do. For such a large print run I need a new toner cartridge. I ordered a couple today, but delivery will probably take about a week.

Conversion of my website to Joomla is still underway but I am now about half way through. When the conversion is complete my blog will be split into four categories – Audio Drama, Chess Composition, Meson and Other – all accessible within the new website. Some new tasks taken on board at Jurmala will be keeping me busy up till the next PCCC meeting (which will probably be in Rio de Janeiro) and some will have quite an effect on Meson, my chess problem database.

The move to Joomla!

2008-08-11T15:53:00.002Z

While I haven’t been posting here (apologies!) I have been learning all about the Content Management System (CMS) called Joomla! I have converted my club website and my Sheffield Chess History Website to Joomla, though neither are yet totally ‘finished’, and have now started working on my main site. There are two reasons for this change: I shall be able to incorporate this blog in my main site and Joomla has much more efficient site maintenance facilities than my previous package, which was starting to creak.

Once the transfer to Joomla is complete, apart from the cessation of the blog at this address, there will also be changes to Meson, which will be accessible only to those who go through a (free) registration process. I have been keeping a close record of Meson users for the last three months: there turns out to be more of you than I thought, and a handful of you are very regular searchers through the database. On average about 4000 problems are retrieved every month.

I don’t know when these changes will happen, as there is a lot still to do, but it will probably be some time after my return from the PCCC in Jurmala.

A better review - and news of the July Problemist

2008-07-03T11:21:00.003Z

The suspicion that the review in my last post was not a particularly good example of the genre is confirmed by this review of the same book. The reviewer writes very well and gives a much fuller resume of the book. Indeed, the reviewer has distilled the essential nature of the book in such a comprehensive way that one could almost get by without reading the book! If I had to review this review, it would get top marks!

On matters closer to home, the July Problemist and Problemist Supplement are now with the printers and I expect them to be dispatched to subscribers shortly. The A4 copies were sent out yesterday.

A digression

2008-06-22T19:58:00.002Z

This posting needs to begin with two apologies. The first of them is for not posting anything here for a good while. The second of them is for the content of this post, which is not about chess or audio drama at all, but rather on a subject that may not be of interest to some readers of this blog. It is also something I have not tried often before – a book review – so I hope that I can be forgiven if, because of my inexperience, it is not full of the kind of things that readers of book reviews are accustomed to expect. However, I feel very strongly that this is a very important book and that it should be publicised, whatever the shortcomings of the review.

The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder
by Vincent Bugliosi
Published in 2008 by Vanguard Press

I cannot say anything about the production quality of this book as I bought and downloaded it as an audiobook, from Audible. I ‘read’ a lot of books through my ears these days, an approach that I can recommend. The competent reader of this book is Marc Cashman, who never grates on the ear and even manages to sound like George W. Bush when reading out quotes by the President - though thankfully the impersonation is not close enough as to make the meaning unclear.

Bugliosi clearly holds George W. Bush in the utmost contempt. He believes Bush has broken the law, is indifferent to his country and people, is probably incompetent, and takes too much time off from the most important job in the USA. For these several reasons Bugliosi believes Bush to be unfit for the high office that he holds, and I have to say that his case is compelling. My only concern is that Bugliosi’s assassination of Bush’s character, though fully justified, carries on interminably throughout the volume. This could be defined as ‘sneering’, which could give detractors of the book a chance at the ‘Sir Humphrey’ defence, which is something like – "If you can’t argue against the conclusions of the report, throw mud at its author". Having said that, this is my only complaint about the book. The author, as he has every right to be, is outraged at what has been done by Bush and his cronies. I know a great many other people are too.

The author takes us trough the evidence showing that George W. Bush took his country, and others, to an unnecessary war under false pretences. This is the first time that I have come across all the various items placed together in one watertight case. Bugliosi believes that from this evidence it should be possible to successfully try Bush for murder. The murders would be of the American military personnel killed in the war. Although nobody is saying that Bush actually killed anybody himself, Bugliosi argues that Bush’s criminal action in taking his country to war caused those deaths and so Bush is responsible for them. As Bugliosi was an extremely successful prosecutor himself, I have to believe that he is correct. He even outlines possible cross-examination schemes should Bush take the witness stand and offers his help to any current or future USA prosecutor courageous enough to take on the challenge. Mention is also made of Bush’s conspirators – Cheney and Rice (and possibly Rumsfeld) and any part they may play in a future prosecution. In case anybody is running away with the idea that Bugliosi is only concerned with the American dead, I should say that throughout the book he frequently mentions the other deaths caused by this awful war – those of Iraqi military and civilian personnel, including women and children – though I suspect that his estimate of 100,000 Iraqi dead is a large underestimate.

Of course, it is one thing outlining such a prosecution, but quite another bringing it about. Given that the current Congress has so far stalled all moves to impeach Cheney and Bush, it seems unlikely that the American Establishment, after Bush leaves office, will choose to try a former President for murder. However, Bugliosi argues that it would be possible to bring charges in a court covering any area that was the home of any of the American dead. As Bugliosi states, even if no prosecution ever happens, it is probable that George W. Bush will spend the rest of his life having to worry about his collar being felt. The author describes this as the least be could do to try to bring Bush to some kind of justice for the hundreds of thousands who died in the Iraq war.

Bugliosi makes only a passing mention of the torture of prisoners in American custody, but the subject is germane, and so here is a digression within a digression. Torture is the subject of another recent book – Torture Team: Deception, Cruelty and the Compromise of Law by Philippe Sands. Torture has recently been proved to have been authorised and ordered from the White House itself so one supposes that the same crowd could be brought to court for that also. Sands mentions that the Military Commissions Act of 2006 included clauses awarding retrospective immunity from prosecution for War Crimes to the Administration and its representatives. Although this must be taken as an admission by Bush and his team that they may be guilty of War Crimes, it will ensure that no such prosecution can be brought within the USA. This may make them feel safe, but it does clear the way for any other country, being a signatory to the Geneva Conventions, to arrest and try anybody they suspect of being involved in such torture, should they step foot on their sovereign territory. Sands stresses that this would not be a right as much as a duty. Perhaps the current cabal in the White House will be stuck in the USA for the rest of their lives?

In later chapters Bugliosi berates Bush and his team for ignoring intelligence warnings in 2001 (pre 9/11) about serious potential terrorist threats to the USA. He also berates Bush for not delivering on his promise to bring Osama bin Laden to justice – preferring to go after Saddam Hussein instead, who, it has been proved, had no involvement in the 9/11 attacks at all.

The author finishes the book with a section describing the decline of America from a country respected around the world to one vilified in many countries. Although it is probably not Bush that started this decline, it is certainly Bush in recent years who has provided most of the reasons for its even steeper rush downwards. Sadly, the American military has shown itself willing to follow illegal orders, and Bugliosi feels that the modern American armed services, in some part at least, show less humanity than those of previous generations.

A successful, hard-nosed American prosecutor has written this book. He is a specialist in the area he writes about, so his opinions should be taken seriously, though so far the mainstream media has ignored this book. It is currently No. 17 on the New York Times Bestseller List, though as far as I can tell neither that newspaper, nor any other famous newspaper in either this country or the USA, has otherwise mentioned it. In his introduction Bugliosi explains that his normal publisher considered this book too hot to handle and that it took some time for him to find another publisher courageous enough to publish it.

In recent years it is not just those actions described in this book that have contributed to the loss of freedoms and civil liberties in the USA and other parts of the World. Unless we start holding our leaders to account under the law, things can only get worse. Vincent Bugliosi has written an important book pointing us in the right direction, should anybody be willing to listen.

Coding, coding, coding ...

2008-05-23T08:57:00.001Z

I’m sorry I haven’t added anything to this blog recently. I apologise especially for the absence of radio drama previews: I enjoy writing them, and they attract many readers here, but I just don’t have time at the moment. I do hope that they will return in the reasonably near future.

For the moment I am still busy doing a lot of web programming. A part of this work is a web application to enable the BCPS treasurer to manage his subscriber list, but the larger part of my time at the moment is spent on my Meson chess problem database. I deliberately built in no security to this, as the whole point was to make the data available to anyone who wanted to look at it. Unfortunately, reality has intervened and there have been a couple of incidents of robots scraping through the database, making free with my bandwidth allocation, so I am now locking the stable door after the horse has bolted. I hope that users will not see too many differences as I gradually put the changes live, though there will inevitably be short interruptions to service.
A third thing I am busy with is my new part-time job, which also involves web programming, which means that it ties in nicely with my other current pursuits!

I hope correspondents will forgive me as, for a short time at least, I shall probably take a while to answer their emails.

No time again and more scraping

2008-05-09T16:49:00.002Z

Again this week I have not been able to find time to write a radio drama preview. I hope to be able to do another next week. The observant among you will have noticed on the front page of my website that I now describe myself as semi-retired rather than retired.

Last night my Meson chess problem database was crawled through (scraped) again by a robot program, this time from IP address 89.139.130.155, which is located somewhere in Israel. This time the perpetrator even managed to create 22MB of error messages on the server error log! This is the second time in less than a year that somebody has stolen my bandwidth and that could well cost me money. Any further incident will result in the database being taken offline until such time as I can get around to protecting my bandwidth from bandits.

All the data in the database is in the public domain. If anybody wants an extract of any of it, they should ask me.

Radio Drama preview/11

2008-05-02T17:42:00.003Z

Radio 3 steals the thunder this week with a 155-minute broadcast of Shakespeare’s Othello, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Ewan McGregor, which very nicely takes care of Sunday evening. Saturday afternoon will be spent listening to a broadcast of an old Anthony Minghella radio play on Radio 4, repeated in tribute to the great man, who died recently. Of the Afternoon Plays on Radio 4, pride of place will probably go to Thursday, when we have two short pieces by Harold Pinter. The man himself acts in one of them, along with Penelope Wilton, while Michael Gambon stars in the other one. Having said that, don’t miss the heart-warming adaptation (by Shaun McKenna) of To Serve Them All My Days, currently being serialised in the Afternoon Play on Wednesdays.

BBC 7 finish off Nick McCarty’s faithful adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic novel, Dracula and then provide a three-part dramatisation of John Wyndham’s classic science-fiction novel, The Midwich Cuckoos. Gwen Danbury, as played by Annette Badland, continues to trip over the odd bodies in the Crime and Thrillers Hour from Monday to Wednesday, while for the rest of the week that slot is occupied by Uncle Silas, an adaptation of the novel by Sheridan le Fanu. The sixty-minute drama on Monday sees the start of a six-part adaptation of Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd.

SATURDAY 3rd May

12:00/BBC 7/90 mins – Chocky, by John Wyndham, dramatised by John Constable, featuring Owen Teale, Kathy Tyson, Holly Grainger and Steven Perry, directed by Melanie Harris. This classic science fiction story starts off when young Matthew starts talking to an ‘imaginary friend’. First broadcast in 1998.

14:30/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – Cigarettes and Chocolate, by Anthony Minghella, starring Juliet Stevenson and Bill Nighy. This Giles Cooper Award winning radio play, first broadcast nearly twenty years ago, is repeated as a tribute to the author, who died recently. "Gemma's unexplained silence is the catalyst for a reaction amongst her friends and lovers both unfaithful and unrequited, which starts as mild irritation but becomes increasingly uncontrolled as her passive but forceful refusal to speak drives them to distraction." – BBC Radio 4 Website.

17:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Garrison Keillor’s Radio Show. This import from the USA is more a light entertainment show in the old BBC tradition than audio drama, but may well be worth listening to if you like that kind of thing. Garrison has a light (and sometimes not so light) line in satire that many find appealing. Listen out especially for his weekly monologue about ‘Lake Wobegone, My Home Town’. There are no real adverts broadcast during this program! Repeated this evening at 23:00 on BBC 7.

18:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett., dramatised by Robin Brooks, directed by Gordon House and featuring Gerard McDermott, Philip Fox, Nick Sayce, Michael Kilgariff, John Cummins, Carl Prekopp, Patrick Barlow, Sean Barrett, Geoffrey Beevers, Alex Jennings and Anton Lessor. In this second episode of four, novice priest Brutha has been selected by Deacon Vorbis to go on a secret mission to the infidel city of Ephebe. The Great God Om, who is stuck in the body of a small tortoise, is going with him in a little wicker basket. Repeated early tomorrow morning at 00:30 on BBC 7. First broadcast in 2006.

19:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Frenchman’s Creek, by Daphne du Maurier, adapted by Michelene Wandor, starring Michael Barnes, Michael Cochrane, Susan Sheridan and Elizabeth Mansfield. Part 6 of 6.

21:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – A Dance to the Music of Time, by Anthony Powell, dramatised by Michael Butt. This is narrated by Corin Redgrave and features Mark Heap (as central character Widmerpool), and Alex Jennings as Nick. Radio Times introduces this with the words "When Nick Jenkins joins his regiment in Wales, old acquaintances reappear in unexpected roles." Part 4 of 6, with part 5 tomorrow at 15:00 on Radio 4.

SUNDAY 4th May

10:00/BBC 7/90 mins – Regency Buck, by Georgette Heyer, adapted by Neville Teller, featuring Elizabeth Proud, Steve Hodson, Edward de Souza and Simon Shepherd. Judith Taverner gallops in from the provinces and daringly defies the brawling world of Regency London to claim her fortune. Repeated tonight at 20:00 on BBC 7.

15:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins - A Dance to the Music of Time, by Anthony Powell, dramatised by Michael Butt. This is narrated by Corin Redgrave and features Mark Heap (as central character Widmerpool) and Alex Jennings as Nick. Radio Times introduces this with the words "Nick Jenkins is drawn into the unpredictable universe of the formidable Pamela Flitton." Part 5 of 6. Repeated next Saturday at 21:00.

18:30/BBC 7/30 mins – The Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux, translated and dramatised by Barnaby Edwards. This Big Finish production features Anna Massey, Peter Guiness and James D’Arcy. In the cosmopolitan Paris of the 1880s, the new proprietors of the Opera House are amused to discover that their costly acquisition is said to be haunted. The death of a stagehand is blamed on the fabled Opera Ghost. Part 3 of 4. First broadcast on BBC 7 in 2007-2008. Repeated very early tomorrow morning at 00:30 on BBC 7.

20:00/BBC Radio 3/155 mins – Othello, by William Shakespeare. "A production from London's Donmar Warehouse, featuring an award-winning performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor in the title role as the jealous Moor Othello, alongside Ewan McGregor as the scheming Iago. When the esteemed general Othello promotes Cassio to be his personal lieutenant, Iago, Cassio's bitter rival and friend of Othello, is envious and plots revenge. Iago manipulates and enrages Othello, making him suspicious of his wife Desdemona, ultimately bringing events to a tragic conclusion." – BBC Radio 3 Website. This production also features Tom Hiddleston as Cassio and Kelly Reilly as Desdemona with James Laurenson playing both Brabantio and Gratiano. Definitely not to be missed!

MONDAY 5th May

09:00/BBC 7/45 mins – An Odd Body – Talking Poison, by Sue Rodwell, starring Anette Badland and John Duttine. Gwen Danbury's mother provides some unexpected help when an American preacher is threatened. Episode 1 of 3. This second series was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – The Reef, by Edith Wharton, dramatised by Penny Leicester, featuring Sian Thomas, Teresa Gallagher and Ben Miles. Owen's engagement to Sophie is finally approved, but Sophie has a shock in store for him. Episode 6 of 10. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2005. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – The Drought, by Stephen Dunstone, featuring Kathleen Helme, Angela Wynter and Susan Cookson. Jean's former home, submerged in a reservoir, has been uncovered by a drought. Her visit there does not bring back the happy memories her nurses expect. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1999. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Far From the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy, dramatised by Nick McCarty. Episode 1 of 6. Bathsheba Everdene rejects the proposal of Gabriel Oak, but their paths cross again. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1990.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Far North, by Louis Nowra, featuring Susie Porter, Asher de Grey, Linda Cropper, Bill Young, Tina Bursill, Jason Klarwein, Steve Le Marquand, Josef Ber, William Doughty, Leon Ewing and Sashka Koloff. "A boy and his young mother take to the road across Australia in search of the freedom and love she craves." – BBC Radio 4 Website.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Dracula, by Bram Stoker, dramatised by Nick McCarty, featuring Frederick Jaeger, Bernard Holley, Phyllis Logan and Sharon Muharaj. Episode 6 of 7. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1994. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at midnight.

TUESDAY 6th May

09:00/BBC 7/45 mins – An Odd Body – Old Dog, by Sue Rodwell, starring Anette Badland and John Duttine. A vulnerable old man is attacked and burgled. He seems lonely, so Gwen introduces him to her mother. Episode 2 of 3. This second series was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – The Reef, by Edith Wharton, dramatised by Penny Leicester, featuring Sian Thomas, Teresa Gallagher and Ben Miles. Turmoil and tension at Givre as more of the truth is laid bare for all four of the lovers. Episode 7 of 10. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2005. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Mrs Shakespeare, by Robert Nye, featuring Maggie Steed and Kenneth Cranham. Robert Nye's play suggests the reason why Shakespeare left his wife his 'second best bed'. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1998. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Far From the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy, dramatised by Nick McCarty. Episode 2 of 6. Bathsheba receives a marriage proposal - will she accept? First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1990.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Eve Blinked, by Margaret Heffernan, featuring Laurel Lefkow, Suzanne Bertish, Lorelie King, Madelaine Potter, Ben Onwukwe and Chris Pavlo. "Four American businesswomen get caught in New York when their flight to Boston is cancelled. Deciding to share a cab, they set off on the journey home. Mira has reasons to dread arriving, and as the evening unfolds they share their stories." – BBC Radio 4 Website.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Dracula, by Bram Stoker, dramatised by Nick McCarty, featuring Frederick Jaeger, Bernard Holley, Phyllis Logan and Sharon Muharaj. Episode 6 of 7. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1994. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at midnight.

WEDNESDAY 7th May

09:00/BBC 7/45 mins – An Odd Body – Dead Heads and Chutney, by Sue Rodwell, starring Anette Badland and John Duttine. A respectable elderly lady is found dead from natural causes - or was it murder? Episode 3 of 3. This second series was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – The Reef, by Edith Wharton, dramatised by Penny Leicester, featuring Sian Thomas, Teresa Gallagher and Ben Miles. The swirling waters threaten to engulf Anna as she tries to understand the truth about Darrow and Sophie. Episode 8 of 10. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2005. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Showing Up, by Georgia Pritchett, featuring Edna Dore, Polly James and Iwan Thomas. When Sheila Martin welcomes back into the family the son she gave up for adoption, she does not guess the home truths his reappearance will uncover. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1998. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Far From the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy, dramatised by Nick McCarty. Episode 3 of 6. Miss Bathsheba Everdene has an offer many women of her rank and station would be eager to accept. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1990.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – To Serve Them All My Days/3 - 1926, by R F Delderfield, dramatised by Shaun McKenna, featuring Oliver Milburn, John Wood, John Rowe, Anthony Calf, Juliet Aubrey, Gerard McDermott, John Cummins, Delroy Brown, Harry Francis and Josh Freeborn. "Davy has immersed himself in school life to try to forget the death of his wife Beth and their eldest daughter Joan. What spare time he has is spent working on the book Beth urged him to write." - BBC Radio 4 Website. First broadcast in 2006.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Midwich Cuckoos, by John Wyndham, featuring Charles Kay, Pauline Yates and William Gaunt. Episode 1 of 3. A strange force holds the village of Midwich in its grasp, with the most unlikely consequences. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at midnight.

23:00/BBC Radio 4/30 mins – Dead Man’s Folly, by Agatha Christie, dramatised by Michael Bakewell, featuring John Moffatt (as Hercule Poirot), Julia McKenzie, Simon Treves, Michael Cochrane, Liza Sadovy, Sam Dale and Joseph Kloska. "Ariadne Oliver's worst fears have been realised and her murder game has become a reality. Poirot is deeply shocked by such a mindless act of cruelty and enthusiastically joins the local police in their investigation." – BBC Radio 4 Website. Episode 2 of 4.

THURSDAY 8th May

09:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Uncle Silas – Knowl, 1864, by Sheridan le Fanu, starring Graham Crowden, George Cole, Dorothy Tutin and Joan Sims. A young girl discovers that she is an heiress. Episode 1 of 3. Repeated this evening at 20:00 on BBC 7.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – The Reef, by Edith Wharton, dramatised by Penny Leicester, featuring Sian Thomas, Teresa Gallagher and Ben Miles. Anna makes her decision, but can she find the resolve to hold to it? Episode 9 of 10. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2005. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Painting Mrs Jones, by Rachel Joyce, featuring Lindsay Duncan, James Laurenson and David Antrobus. Mrs Jones sits for her portrait and wonders if the painting will reveal a new truth about her inner self. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1998. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Far From the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy, dramatised by Nick McCarty. Episode 4 of 6. A scarlet coat, fine words and a sword flourish breach Bathsheba's defences to devastating effect, upon meeting Sergeant Troy. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1990.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Two Short Plays, by Harold Pinter. The first, Landscape, features Penelope Wilton and Harold Pinter himself. "A man and a woman sit deep in recollection. While the man's thoughts are of his day in the park and a quarrel in the pub, the woman's are of an idyllic day spent many years ago on a beach with the man she loved." – BBC Radio 4 Website. The second, The Examination, features Michael Gambon and is described by [Radio Times] as "A man about to be questioned musters his mental resources to empower himself over his interrogator."

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Midwich Cuckoos, by John Wyndham, featuring Charles Kay, Pauline Yates and William Gaunt. Episode 2 of 3. The 'cuckoo children' start to make their presence felt. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at midnight.

FRIDAY 9th May

09:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Uncle Silas – Bartram-Haugh, 1865, by Sheridan le Fanu, starring Graham Crowden, George Cole, Dorothy Tutin and Joan Sims. Maud cannot fathom her Uncle Silas, and she rejects her cousin Dudley's proposal. Episode 2 of 3. Repeated this evening at 20:00 on BBC 7.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – The Reef, by Edith Wharton, dramatised by Penny Leicester, featuring Sian Thomas, Teresa Gallagher and Ben Miles. Anna has succumbed to desire, but can she ever know happiness? Episode 10 of 10. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2005. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Skeggy, by Chris Thompson, featuring Norman Bird, Susan Brooke and Alison Carney. A runaway teenager in Skegness brings three separate partnerships closer together. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1999. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Far From the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy, dramatised by Nick McCarty. Episode 5 of 6. Sergeant Troy's cruel treatment of sweet Fanny comes back to haunt him. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1990.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Edward Alleyn’s Devil, by Nichola Baldwin, featuring Richard McCabe, Brian McCardle, Philip Jackson, Desmond McNamara, Christine Kavanagh, Sam Dale, Joe Prospero, Joseph Kloska, Bethan Walker, Paul Richard Biggin, Miranda Keeling and the boys of Dulwich College. "Nicola Baldwin's play is set in London in 1605. Edward Alleyn, the most famous actor of the day, believes that he has seen a devil on stage." – BBC Radio 4 Website. First broadcast in 2006.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Midwich Cuckoos, by John Wyndham, featuring Charles Kay, Pauline Yates and William Gaunt. Episode 3 of 3. It is eight years later and the children's powers are becoming destructive. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at midnight.

21:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – Fragile!, by Tena Stivicic, featuring Catherine Cusack, Douglas Henshall, Rayisa Kondracki, Serge Soric, Luanne Gordon and Steve Hodson. "Croatian author Tena Stivicic's darkly witty play about the reality of the immigrant experience in London. A foreign correspondent, traumatised by the death of a girl he met in Bosnia, begins to pick up the threads of his life with a Croatian girl he has met back in London. Then he hears that a young refugee is looking for him, someone who didn't die in Bosnia after all." – BBC Radio 4 Website.

No time

2008-04-25T15:18:00.001Z

I am afraid that I have had no time this week to prepare a radio drama preview, but I hope to get back to it next week. I am busy with some programming.

A few days ago I added some photographs to my website, and today I have added many more in the People section.

Radio Drama preview/10

2008-04-18T14:04:00.003Z

The Saturday Play on Radio 4 at 14:30 would appear to have great potential. It’s written by David Ashton, stars Timothy West and is about Dr Johnson and Boswell. A mouth-watering combination! Also on Radio 4 and well worth a listen, even though this one is a repeat, is the Afternoon Play on Wednesday (14:15), which is the start of a five-part adaptation of To Serve Them all My Days by R F Delderfield.

BBC7 is going to have a good week. In the 45-minute drama slot, at 10:15, repeated at 21:15, Monday to Friday, they have five plays by Nick Warburton. I’ve heard all of them before and every single one of them is memorable. If you haven’t heard them before, do give them a try. They are also going to repeat the Big Finish production of The Phantom of the Opera, starting on Sunday evening at 18:30. Big Finish are showing that it is not just Doctor Who that they do well! For those who like their drama less humorous, then BBC 7 appear to be starting a Thomas Hardy season in the 11:00 60-minute slot, Monday to Friday. The first story, in 4 episodes, is the decidedly unfunny Tess of the D’Urbervilles, while on Friday we have part one of Jude the Obscure.

SATURDAY 19th April

12:00/BBC 7/90 mins – Death in the Clouds, by Agatha Christie, dramatised by Michael Bakewell, directed by Enyd Williams. Hercule Poirot’s horror of flying is compounded when a fellow passenger on a cross-channel aeroplane is found murdered. John Moffatt plays Poirot, supported by a cast of Philip Jackson, Geoffrey Whitehead, Teresa Gallagher, Ben Crowe, Murray Melvin, Bruce Purchase, Liza Sadovy and Stephen Critchlow. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2003.

14:30/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – Dr Johnson’s Dictionary of Crime, by David Ashton, starring Timothy West and Stuart McQuarrie. "Samuel Johnson and James Boswell tackle the teeming London underworld of 1781. How can a man who has shot another at point blank range be saved from the gallows, and how can the power and vested interest of a man highly placed in His Majesty's Government be defeated?"- says the Radio 4 website.

17:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Garrison Keillor’s Radio Show. This import from the USA is more a light entertainment show in the old BBC tradition than audio drama, but may well be worth listening to if you like that kind of thing. Garrison has a light (and sometimes not so light) line in satire that many find appealing. Listen out especially for his weekly monologue about ‘Lake Wobegone, My Home Town’. There are no real adverts broadcast during this program! Repeated this evening at 23:00 on BBC 7.

18:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Ralph, by Martin Jameson, Directed by Janet Hampson. This is a ghostly tale of an old lady and two children who become involved with terrifying occurrences from the past. Jean Alexander heads the cast, which includes Julia Rounthwaite, Andonis Anthony, Rosie Fleeshman and Ashley Margolis. First broadcast in 2006. Repeated very early tomorrow morning at 00:30 on BBC 7.

19:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Frenchman’s Creek, by Daphne du Maurier, adapted by Michelene Wandor, starring Michael Barnes, Michael Cochrane, Susan Sheridan and Elizabeth Mansfield. Part 4 of 6.

21:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – A Dance to the Music of Time, by Anthony Powell, dramatised by Michael Butt. This is narrated by Corin Redgrave and features Mark Heap (as central character Widmerpool), and Alex Jennings as Nick. Radio Times introduces this with the words "Nick’s attempts to maintain the closeness of his school friendships begin to founder in the unpredictable whirlpool of real life." Part 2 of 6, with part 3 tomorrow at 15:00 on Radio 4.

SUNDAY 20th April

10:00/BBC 7/90 mins – The Norman Conquest/3 – Round and Round the Garden. This is the third of a trilogy of plays by Alan Ayckbourn (adapted by Neville Teller) and it’s about a weekend of tangled relationships in a country house. Repeated tonight at 20:00 on BBC 7.

15:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins - A Dance to the Music of Time, by Anthony Powell, dramatised by Michael Butt. This is narrated by Corin Redgrave and features Mark Heap (as central character Widmerpool) and Alex Jennings as Nick. Radio Times introduces this with the words "Jenkins and a few of his friends embark on the voyage of married life – with varying levels of disaster." Part 3 of 6. Repeated next Saturday at 21:00.

18:30/BBC 7/30 mins – The Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux, translated and dramatised by Barnaby Edwards. This Big Finish production features Anna Massey, Peter Guiness and James D’Arcy. In the cosmopolitan Paris of the 1880s, the new proprietors of the Opera House are amused to discover that their costly acquisition is said to be haunted. The death of a stagehand is blamed on the fabled Opera Ghost. Part 1 of 4. First broadcast on BBC 7 in 2007-2008. Repeated very early tomorrow morning at 00:30 on BBC 7.

20:00/BBC Radio 3/55 mins – Yesterday an Incident Occurred, by Mark Ravenhill, directed by Kate Rowland, featuring Ian Puleston-Davies, Kathryn Hunt, Sam Kelly, Gerard Kearns and Carla Henry. Says the Radio 3 website – "Originally performed as part of the Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat cycle of plays at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2007 and then re-imagined for a special commission for BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival 2007. After an unprovoked attack takes place in a shopping centre, no one comes forward as a witness. How can justice be done? Performed and recorded with an audience at the Victorian Civil Court of St George's Hall, Liverpool."

MONDAY 21st April

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Doomed Oasis, by Hammond Innes, adapted by Rene Basilico, featuring Tim Munro, Jill Lidstone and Robert James. Episode 2 of 6. Listen out for the Brigadier from Doctor Who - Nicholas Courtney - who is in the cast, though I don’t know what part he plays. First broadcast in 1984 on Radio 4. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

09:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Charity Ends at Home, by Colin Watson, dramatised by Christopher Denys, starring John Rowe. Inspector Purbright investigates dark deeds and anonymous letters in the world of small-time animal charities in the quiet and respectable market town of Flaxborough. Part 1 of 6. First broadcast in 1992. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 20:30.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – The Crowded Street, by Winifred Holtby, dramatised by Diana Griffiths. A tale about Muriel Hammond's journey to womanhood and independence, with Clare Goose as Muriel. Part 6 of 10. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:00. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2007.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Beast, by Nick Warburton, featuring James Fleet, David Goodfellow, Struan Rodger, Peter Kavanagh, Gerard McDermott and Eve Best. Somewhere near a small fishing village a creature is pulled out of the sea. No one knows whether it belongs to the sea, or the land. Or whether it's harmless or represents some kind of threat. Two of the villagers, Clay and Rowena, must decide what to do about it. Whatever they do, it seems certain to change their lives. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2005, this play won the Tinniswood Award for Best Original Radio Play 05-06. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Tess of the D’Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy, adapted by Alan Sharp, featuring Claire Rushbrook, Adam Godley, James D’Arcy and Keith Barron. This is Hardy's most fatalistic novel. When Tess is wronged by two men the results are tragic. Part 1 of 4. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2001.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Grace, by Mick Gordon and A C Grayling, featuring Paola Dionisotti, Will Keen, Trevor Peacock, Piyanga Burford and Nathan Osgood. "Grace, a scientist and champion of atheism, is faced with the decision of her son Tom to become a priest." – BBC Radio 4 website.

TUESDAY 22nd April

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Doomed Oasis, by Hammond Innes, adapted by Rene Basilico, featuring Tim Munro, Jill Lidstone and Robert James. Episode 3 of 6. Listen out for the Brigadier from Doctor Who - Nicholas Courtney - who is in the cast, though I don’t know what part he plays. First broadcast in 1984 on Radio 4. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

09:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Charity Ends at Home, by Colin Watson, dramatised by Christopher Denys, starring John Rowe. Inspector Purbright investigates dark deeds and anonymous letters in the world of small-time animal charities in the quiet and respectable market town of Flaxborough. Part 2 of 6. First broadcast in 1992. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 20:30.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – The Crowded Street, by Winifred Holtby, dramatised by Diana Griffiths. A tale about Muriel Hammond's journey to womanhood and independence, with Clare Goose as Muriel. Part 7 of 10. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:00. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2007.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Mustard Seed, by Nick Warburton, featuring Emma Fielding, Stephen Hogan and Jim Norton. A traveller passing through a remote village receives a desperate request from a mother to cure her son. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2004. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Tess of the D’Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy, adapted by Alan Sharp, featuring Claire Rushbrook, Adam Godley, James D’Arcy and Keith Barron. This is Hardy's most fatalistic novel. When Tess is wronged by two men the results are tragic. Part 2 of 4. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2001.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Hudson and Pepperdine Save the Planet, featuring Mel Hudson, Vicki Pepperdine, Felix Dexter, Ben Crowe, Samantha Holland, Rupert Degas and Dave Lamb. "Comedy about climate change and how to combat it. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has set up a working party from within the broadcasting industries to brainstorm solutions to the current crisis. Hudson and Pepperdine are on the list." – BBC Radio 4 website.

WEDNESDAY 23rd April

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Doomed Oasis, by Hammond Innes, adapted by Rene Basilico, featuring Tim Munro, Jill Lidstone and Robert James. Episode 4 of 6. Listen out for the Brigadier from Doctor Who - Nicholas Courtney - who is in the cast, though I don’t know what part he plays. First broadcast in 1984 on Radio 4. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

09:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Charity Ends at Home, by Colin Watson, dramatised by Christopher Denys, starring John Rowe. Inspector Purbright investigates dark deeds and anonymous letters in the world of small-time animal charities in the quiet and respectable market town of Flaxborough. Part 3 of 6. First broadcast in 1992. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 20:30.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – The Crowded Street, by Winifred Holtby, dramatised by Diana Griffiths. A tale about Muriel Hammond's journey to womanhood and independence, with Clare Goose as Muriel. Part 8 of 10. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:00. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2007.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – A Soldier’s Debt, by Nick Warburton, featuring Amanda Root, Paul Rhys and Burt Ceasar. Why is Ben obsessed with an old vinyl record? What, or who, is Safia waiting for? First broadcast on Radio 4 in 1999. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Tess of the D’Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy, adapted by Alan Sharp, featuring Claire Rushbrook, Adam Godley, James D’Arcy and Keith Barron. This is Hardy's most fatalistic novel. When Tess is wronged by two men the results are tragic. Part 3 of 4. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2001.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – To Serve Them All My Days/1 - 1918, by R F Delderfield, dramatised by Shaun McKenna, with a cast of Oliver Milburn, John Wood, John Rowe, Anthony Calf, Alison Pettitt, Delroy Brown, Josh Freeborn, Steven Williams and Steven Roberts. Davy Powlett Jones, invalided out of the trenches, faces a new start in life. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2006.

THURSDAY 24th April

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Doomed Oasis, by Hammond Innes, adapted by Rene Basilico, featuring Tim Munro, Jill Lidstone and Robert James. Episode 5 of 6. Listen out for the Brigadier from Doctor Who - Nicholas Courtney - who is in the cast, though I don’t know what part he plays. First broadcast in 1984 on Radio 4. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

09:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Charity Ends at Home, by Colin Watson, dramatised by Christopher Denys, starring John Rowe. Inspector Purbright investigates dark deeds and anonymous letters in the world of small-time animal charities in the quiet and respectable market town of Flaxborough. Part 4 of 6. First broadcast in 1992. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 20:30.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – The Crowded Street, by Winifred Holtby, dramatised by Diana Griffiths. A tale about Muriel Hammond's journey to womanhood and independence, with Clare Goose as Muriel. Part 9 of 10. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:00. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2007.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Turning the Hut, by Nick Warburton, featuring Penelope Wilton and Jim Sturgess. When Jimmy asks Clara to teach him to read, an unlikely relationship develops. But it is a friendship forged through fear. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2003. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Tess of the D’Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy, adapted by Alan Sharp, featuring Claire Rushbrook, Adam Godley, James D’Arcy and Keith Barron. This is Hardy's most fatalistic novel. When Tess is wronged by two men the results are tragic. Part 4 of 4. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2001.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Fifteen Ways to Leave Your Lover, by Carolyn Scott-Jeffs, featuring Alex Kelly, Tom Goodman-Hill, Lucy Jones and Jacob Lloyd. "Rob and Sam split up after their first date when they were teenagers and they have been getting together and splitting up ever since. Cricket obsessed Rob talks things over in his imagination with his mentor Henry Blofeld, while Sam tries to sort things out with a number of different agony aunts." – BBC Radio4 website.

18:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, dramatised by Nick Stafford, featuring Michael Maloney as Victor Frankenstein. Part 1 of 2.

FRIDAY 25th April

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Doomed Oasis, by Hammond Innes, adapted by Rene Basilico, featuring Tim Munro, Jill Lidstone and Robert James. Episode 6 of 6. Listen out for the Brigadier from Doctor Who - Nicholas Courtney - who is in the cast, though I don’t know what part he plays. First broadcast in 1984 on Radio 4. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

09:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Charity Ends at Home, by Colin Watson, dramatised by Christopher Denys, starring John Rowe. Inspector Purbright investigates dark deeds and anonymous letters in the world of small-time animal charities in the quiet and respectable market town of Flaxborough. Part 5 of 6. First broadcast in 1992. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 20:30.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – The Crowded Street, by Winifred Holtby, dramatised by Diana Griffiths. A tale about Muriel Hammond's journey to womanhood and independence, with Clare Goose as Muriel. Part 10 of 10. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:00. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2007.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Purvis, by Nick Warburton, featuring Peter Sallis, James Fleet and Jasmine Hyde. A kindly vicar appoints a lonely widower as Safety Officer to his church, but he turns out to be rather accident-prone. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2000. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Jude the Obscure, by Thomas Hardy, featuring Constance Chapman and Michael Pennington Jude the stonemason aspires to the spires of Christminster. Part 1 of 6.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – On Mardle Fen/4 – The Taste of Success, by Nick Warburton, featuring Trevor Peacock, Sam Dale, Chris Pavlo, Liza Sadovy, Kate Buffery, Helen Longworth and Liz Sutherland. To quote the Radio 4 website - "The restaurant is in financial trouble. Jack asks his nephew to take care of things so he can get away for a few weeks. Meanwhile, Warwick sings the praises of Mardle Pudding, a legendary local dish."

18:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, dramatised by Nick Stafford, featuring Michael Maloney as Victor Frankenstein. Part 2 of 2.

21:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – How Now TV, by Paul Watson, who also directs. Featuring Victoria Shalet, Nicholas Farrell, Frances Barber, Lizza McInnerny, Leo Bill, Joseph Marcell, Jonathan Firth, Mathew Baynton, Manjinder Virk, Keith Drinkel and Tom Watson. The Radio 4 website introduces this with the words - "TV presenter Daniela Cross is now legendary. The extraordinary idea for a programme which effectively started her career was so awful that it was bound to succeed."

Torquay

2008-04-14T09:59:00.002Z

I just haven't got around to writing anything about the very enjoyable BCPS Residential Weekend in Torquay from 4th to 7th April. Perhaps I will at some later date, but in the meantime I have made a couple of additions to my website as a result of the meeting. The first is a fun quiz devised by Michael McDowell. The second (only for those with a strong constitution!) is the unorthodox chess problem I composed at Torquay.

Radio Drama preview/9

2008-04-10T15:58:00.002Z

I have learned this week, yet again, not to totally trust the information in Radio Times. It is apparent that not all the Radio 4 Afternoon Plays marked as repeats in last week’s issue were actually repeats. In one case the writer emailed me to correct me and I was happy to make an amendment. The really strange thing was that I had convinced myself that I had actually heard the play the first time round, which obviously can’t have been right! The play in question was Tarzan of the Antirrhinums by Lavinia Murray. Lavinia told me that the recording had only been made in March. Having just listened to it I can offer the opinion that nothing quite like it can ever have been broadcast on the BBC! Radio Times described it as a ‘... rip-roaring comedy ...’. Comedy it was, but more surreal that anything else, and most enjoyable. If you missed it, take a trip to ‘Listen Again’.

I have no doubt about the highlight this week – it’s the Saturday Play at 14:30 on that day. During the 1950s, BBC Radio broadcast three series of Journey Into Space. The three stories were (1) A Tale of the Future (later renamed, with some plot lines omitted, Operation Luna), broadcast 1953-1954, (2) The Red Planet, broadcast 1954-1955 and (3) The World in Peril, broadcast 1955-1956. The writer, now legendary, was Charles Chilton, who also worked on another radio legend, the Goon Show. In 1981 the BBC broadcast a 90-minute drama (in the much missed Saturday Night Theatre slot) that they no doubt thought would be the final story in the series. It was called The Return From Mars and understandably used a different cast. In the first three stories, now-veteran broadcaster David Jacobs was an actor who played many of the subsidiary characters. On Saturday we get to hear him play Jet Morgan, who in this story is aged 72 and still commanding the same crew, though they are all much younger than him. He has aged thirty years since their last adventure, but they haven’t. The original writer, Charles Chilton, has written this new story. What a wonderful idea to bring these two senior broadcasters together again to re-create something of what they produced over fifty years ago!

SATURDAY 12th April

12:00/BBC 7/90 mins – Cards on the Table, by Agatha Christie, adapted by Michael Bakewell and directed by Enyd Williams. John Moffatt stars as Hercule Poirot and is supported by Stephanie Cole, Donald Sinden, David Timson, Mary Wimbush, Nigel Anthony and Ioan Meredith, among others. When a murderer strikes during a game of bridge, it's fortunate that Hercule Poirot is among the guests. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2002.

14:30/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – Journey into Space – Frozen in Time, by Charles Chilton, starring David Jacobs as Jet Morgan. The crew of the spacecraft Ares awake from suspended animation in 2013 to find themselves unwittingly caught up in a seismic deception. At stake are not only their own lives but also the very future of the planet Earth.

17:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Garrison Keillor’s Radio Show. This import from the USA is more a light entertainment show in the old BBC tradition than audio drama, but may well be worth listening to if you like that kind of thing. Garrison has a light (and sometimes not so light) line in satire that many find appealing. Listen out especially for his weekly monologue about ‘Lake Wobegone, My Home Town’. There are no real adverts broadcast during this program! Repeated this evening at 23:00 on BBC 7.

18:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Fear on Four – The Judge’s House, by Bram Stoker. A ghost story centred round a deserted house. Introduced by the Man in Black.

19:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Frenchman’s Creek, by Daphne du Maurier, adapted by Michelene Wandor, starring Michael Barnes, Michael Cochrane, Susan Sheridan and Elizabeth Mansfield. Part 3 of 6.

21:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – A Dance to the Music of Time, by Anthony Powell, dramatised by Michael Butt. This is narrated by Corin Redgrave and features Anthony Hoskyns as central character Widmerpool. Radio Times introduces this with the words "Nicholas Jenkins and his schoolmates enjoy bullying misfit Kenneth Widmerpool, little realising that they are stoking a slow-burning flame of retribution." Part 1 of 6. So, a sequence of twelve novels is adapted into six hours of Classic Serial, and adapted faithfully according to Radio Times. I shall be listening to see how good a job they make of it. Those with long memories will know that this is not the first time that BBC Radio has adapted these books. It was last done between 1979 and 1982 in 26 episodes, though I cannot recall how long each was.

SUNDAY 13th April

10:00/BBC 7/90 mins – The Norman Conquest/2 – Living Together. This is the second of a trilogy of plays by Alan Ayckbourn (adapted by Neville Teller) and it’s about a weekend of tangled relationships in a country house.

15:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins - A Dance to the Music of Time, by Anthony Powell, dramatised by Michael Butt. This is narrated by Corin Redgrave and features Mark Heap (as central character Widmerpool) and Alex Jennings. Radio Times introduces this with the words "Nick’s attempts to maintain the closeness of his school friendships begin to founder in the unpredictable whirlpool of real life." Part 2 of 6. Repeated next Saturday at 21:00.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Doctor Who – Storm Warning, by Alan Barnes. Paul McGann stars as the Eighth Doctor in this Big Finish production for CD in 2000 and first broadcast on BBC 7 a few years ago. The CD says – "... the airship R101 takes to the skies. But why is one of the stewards acting so strangely? Who is the unusual passenger in Cabin 43? And just what is a 1960s police box doing on board?" Listen out for India Fisher as the strangely acting steward, Gareth Thomas as Lord Tamworth and Barnaby Edwards as a man just doing his duty, as he sees it, to king and country. Part 4 of 4. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at midnight.

20:00/BBC Radio 3/135 mins – The Country Wife, by William Wycherley, adapted and directed by David Blount. Considered too obscene to be staged in its original form for nearly 200 years, this raunchy Restoration comedy tells the tale of Mr Horner - a notorious rake who spreads the false rumour that he is impotent in order to gain free access to other men's wives. A strong cast includes Ben Miller, Geoffrey Whitehead, Clare Corbett, Nigel Anthony, Celia Imre, Jonathan Keeble, Rachel Atkins.

MONDAY 14th April

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Rumpole of the Bailey – Rumpole and the Expert Witness, by John Mortimer, starring Maurice Denham in the title role. Episode 10 of 13. First broadcast in 1980 on Radio 4. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – The Crowded Street, by Winifred Holtby, dramatised by Diana Griffiths. A tale about Muriel Hammond's journey to womanhood and independence, with Clare Goose as Muriel. Part 1 of 10. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2007.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Petrella/6 – The Missionary Position, by Michael Gilbert, dramatised by Michael Butt and starring Philip Jackson as Inspector Petrella. These stories were first broadcast on Radio 4 between 1999 and 2000. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – A Room with a View, by E M Forster, dramatised by David Wade, starring Sheila Hancock, Cathy Sara, John Moffatt and Gary Cady. Part 1 of 4.

11:30/BBC Radio 4/30 mins – Dixon of Dock Green. An adaptation by Sue Rodwell of a Ted Willis TV script from the classic television series. David Calder stars as George Dixon and David Tennant as Andy Crawford. The title of this story is Roaring Boy. Part 6 of 6.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Good Evening, by Roy Smiles, featuring Matt Addis, Rory Kinnear, Jonathan Aris and Benedict Cumberbatch. This is a celebration of the Beyond the Fringe team.

TUESDAY 15th April

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Rumpole of the Bailey – Rumpole and the Course of True Love, by John Mortimer, starring Maurice Denham in the title role. Episode 11 of 13. First broadcast in 1980 on Radio 4. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – The Crowded Street, by Winifred Holtby, dramatised by Diana Griffiths. A tale about Muriel Hammond's journey to womanhood and independence, with Clare Goose as Muriel. Part 2 of 10. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2007.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Petrella/7 – Death Watch, by Michael Gilbert, dramatised by Michael Butt and starring Philip Jackson as Inspector Petrella. These stories were first broadcast on Radio 4 between 1999 and 2000. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – A Room with a View, by E M Forster, dramatised by David Wade, starring Sheila Hancock, Cathy Sara, John Moffatt and Gary Cady. Part 2 of 4.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Tiny Chaos, by Lizzie Nunnery, featuring Brooke Vincent, Jodie Comer, Sue Jenkins and Robert Pickavance. The Radio 4 website says – "Alison was born with hugely limited movement and responses. At 13 she remains inert, unable to make coherent noises or actions. Her neighbour's daughter has helped her mother care for her for years, but now her mother has gone. It is time to take action."

23:30/BBC Radio 4/30 minutes – His Master’s Voice, by Mark Tevener, featuring Robert Hardy, Tony Gardner, Amelia Bullimore, Michael Maloney, Rachel Atkins, Saskia Wickham among others. "Political satire by Mark Tavener, set in the offices of The Blue Touch Paper, the weekly magazine for the thinking Tory. The magazine has become so Blue that it is sadly out of touch, with a declining and ageing readership. The time has come to appoint a new editor who favours compassionate Cameron conservatism." – Radio 4 website. Part 1 of 4.

WEDNESDAY 16th April

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Rumpole of the Bailey – Rumpole and the Perils of the Sea, by John Mortimer, starring Maurice Denham in the title role. Episode 12 of 13. First broadcast in 1980 on Radio 4. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – The Crowded Street, by Winifred Holtby, dramatised by Diana Griffiths. A tale about Muriel Hammond's journey to womanhood and independence, with Clare Goose as Muriel. Part 3 of 10. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2007.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – More Plain Tales from the Raj - Milligan Chota Sahib. The Indian Childhood of Spike Milligan. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – A Room with a View, by E M Forster, dramatised by David Wade, starring Sheila Hancock, Cathy Sara, John Moffatt and Gary Cady. Part 3 of 4.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Baguettes and Barms, by Christine Marshall, featuring Becky Hindley, Glenn Cunningham, Denice Hope, Mikey North, Phil Rowson and Peta Lord. "Anne has just started as a volunteer at a shelter for the homeless. She is also organising a big party to celebrate her husband's inauguration as the Worshipful Master of his Lodge. Does she feel more comfortable overseeing the smoked salmon and roulades or the soup and tinned beans?", says the Radio 4 website. The Radio Times says this is a repeat, and it really is, having been first broadcast in 2006.

23:30/BBC Radio 4/30 minutes – His Master’s Voice, by Mark Tevener, featuring Robert Hardy, Tony Gardner, Amelia Bullimore, Michael Maloney, Rachel Atkins, Saskia Wickham among others. Part 2 of 4.

THURSDAY 17th April

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Rumpole of the Bailey – Rumpole and the Age of Retirement, by John Mortimer, starring Maurice Denham in the title role. Episode 13 of 13. First broadcast in 1980 on Radio 4. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – The Crowded Street, by Winifred Holtby, dramatised by Diana Griffiths. A tale about Muriel Hammond's journey to womanhood and independence, with Clare Goose as Muriel. Part 4 of 10. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2007.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Petrella/8 – Original Sins, by Michael Gilbert, dramatised by Michael Butt and starring Philip Jackson as Inspector Petrella. These stories were first broadcast on Radio 4 between 1999 and 2000. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – A Room with a View, by E M Forster, dramatised by David Wade, starring Sheila Hancock, Cathy Sara, John Moffatt and Gary Cady. Part 4 of 4.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – I Believe I Have Genius, by Judith Adams, featuring Laura Molyneux, Rosie Cavaliero, Julian Rhind-Tutt, David Shaw-Parker, Mark Meadows, Elaine Claxton and Anne-Marie Piazza. The Radio 4 website introduces this play with – "... play is based on the writings and letters of Charlotte Bronte describing her experiences when she travelled to Brussels to study at a girls' school, as humble and obscure as the heroines of her later novels."

23:30/BBC Radio 4/30 minutes – His Master’s Voice, by Mark Tevener, featuring Robert Hardy, Tony Gardner, Amelia Bullimore, Michael Maloney, Rachel Atkins, Saskia Wickham among others. Part 3 of 4.

FRIDAY 18th April

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Doomed Oasis, by Hammond Innes, adapted by Rene Basilico, featuring Tim Munro, Jill Lidstone and Robert James. Episode 1 of 6. Listen out for the Brigadier from Doctor Who - Nicholas Courtney - who is in the cast, though I don’t know what part he plays. First broadcast in 1984 on Radio 4. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – The Crowded Street, by Winifred Holtby, dramatised by Diana Griffiths. A tale about Muriel Hammond's journey to womanhood and independence, with Clare Goose as Muriel. Part 5 of 10. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2007.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Dogged Persistence, by Martyn Wade, featuring Elizabeth Spriggs, Joan Sims, David Thorpe and Richenda Carey. A relationship develops between two women brought together by a troublesome dog. All Veronica's experiences as a dog-trainer are needed to curb the vicious beast bequeathed to Maureen by her late husband. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2000. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Government Inspector, by Nikolai Gogol.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – On Mardle Fen/3 – Dark Horse, by Nick Warburton, featuring Trevor Peacock, Sam Dale, Chris Pavlo, Liza Sadovy, Kate Buffery, Helen Longworth and John Rowe. To quote the Radio 4 website - "Samuel the odd-job-man lugs a collection of foul-smelling objects into the restaurant. One of them has a story attached to it, and the dark tale of the twisted eel seems about to repeat itself."

21:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – An Unhappy Countess, by Paul Watson, featuring Susannah Harker, John Lynch, Robert Glenister, Ian McNeice, Ian Masters, Keith Drinkel and Sam Dale, among others. The Radio 4 website sets the scene thus - "Documentary film maker Paul Watson's play is based on the story of Mary Eleanor Bowes, a sensual young woman who inherited a legacy of six hundred thousand pounds, a huge sum in 1786. Every adventurer in the land was seeking a slice of her good fortune, and she was to discover that nobody could be trusted."

23:30/BBC Radio 4/30 minutes – His Master’s Voice, by Mark Tevener, featuring Robert Hardy, Tony Gardner, Amelia Bullimore, Michael Maloney, Rachel Atkins, Saskia Wickham among others. Part 4 of 4.

Pictures from Torquay

2008-04-08T08:46:00.005Z

Two photographs from the BCPS Residential meeting last weekend in Torquay. The first picture is Michael McDowell and the second one is David Shire.

Radio Drama preview/8

2008-04-03T14:59:00.004Z

There’s very little new drama this week, as the following daily listings will show. However, it is normally the good stuff that is repeated, so quality should be higher than normal. One highlight is the new adaptation of Anthony Powell’s Dance to the Music of Time, which starts in the Classic Serial slot on Radio 4 on Sunday afternoon. Another highlight, also on Sunday, is the Drama on 3 offering, Rudolpho’s Zest, which sounds really intriguing.

Despite the number of repeats, one of them is a ‘must-listen’: the late Paul Schofield, who did a lot of radio, reads a specially-written monologue by David Pownall about a visit by Michelangelo to see his statue of David. To hear this virtuoso performance settle down in front of Radio 4 at 14:15 on Wednesday.

It’s good to have some late night drama on Radio 4 this week. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 23:30 we can listen to three stories by Ruth Rendell. Yes, they are also repeats, but from what I remember, will easily bear listening to again.

BBC 7 comes to the end of its marvellous series of Barchester adaptations, the last five episodes being broadcast on weekdays at 11:00. This week you can hear Kenneth Cranham, as Crawley, telling the interfering bishop’s wife, Mrs Proudie, to hold her peace and stop interfering in her husband’s duties. A great dramatic moment.

Also on BBC 7 you can listen to Maurice Denham playing Horace Rumpole, a portrayal that many may not be familiar with or even know about. Joining Rumpole in the Crime & Thrillers Hour on that network is Anton Lessor in the role of Falco, the Roman investigator. Another detective featured on BBC 7 this week is Michael Gilbert’s philosophical policeman, Inspector Petrella. This series of eight stories is set in London just after World War II and includes a stellar performance by accomplished voice actor Philip Jackson.

SATURDAY 5th April

12:00/BBC 7/90 mins – The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side, by Agatha Christie, dramatised by Michael Bakewell and starring June Whitfield (as Miss Marple), Ian Lavender, James Laurenson and Gayle Hunnicutt. Directed, of course, by Enyd Williams. First broadcast in 1998 on Radio 4.

14:30/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – Shell Shocked, by Gregory Burke, featuring John Buick, Angus McInnes, Paul Young, John Kielty, Richard Greenwood and Jordan Young. Says Radio Times – "The moving story of two brothers separated in the trenches of the First World War whose lives take very different paths." A repeat, it seems, though I don’t remember it the first time around.

17:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Garrison Keillor’s Radio Show. This import from the USA is more a light entertainment show in the old BBC tradition than audio drama, but may well be worth listening to if you like that kind of thing. Garrison has a light (and sometimes not so light) line in satire that many find appealing. Listen out especially for his weekly monologue about ‘Lake Wobegone, My Home Town’. There are no real adverts broadcast during this program! Repeated this evening at 23:00 on BBC 7.

18:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Fear on Four – A Child Crying, by James Saunders, starring Nigel Anthony, Ken Cumberlidge, Cara Kelly and Kim Wall, with Edward de Souza as The Man in Black. Why is it that only one person can hear a crying child?

19:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Frenchman’s Creek, by Daphne du Maurier, adapted by Michelene Wandor, starring Michael Barnes, Michael Cochrane, Susan Sheridan and Elizabeth Mansfield. Part 2 of 6.

21:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – Mr Sponge’s Sporting Tour, by R. S. Surtees, dramatised by Scott Cherry, with Clive Swift, David Troughton, Philip Jackson, etc. Part 2 of 2. "As Soapey Sponge’s endless crimes are reeled off before the judge, it becomes increasingly obvious that he isn’t the only one who should be in the dock.", according to Radio Times.

SUNDAY 6th April

10:00/BBC 7/90 mins – The Norman Conquest/1 – Table Manners. This is the first of a trilogy of plays by Alan Ayckbourn and it’s about a weekend of tangled relationships in a country house.

15:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins - A Dance to the Music of Time, by Anthony Powell, dramatised by Michael Butt. This is narrated by Corin Redgrave and features Anthony Hoskyns as central character Widmerpool. Radio Times introduces this with the words "Nicholas Jenkins and his schoolmates enjoy bullying misfit Kenneth Widmerpool, little realising that they are stoking a slow-burning flame of retribution." Part 1 of 6. So, a sequence of twelve novels is adapted into six hours of Classic Serial, and adapted faithfully according to Radio Times. I shall be listening to see how good a job they make of it. Those with long memories will know that this is not the first time that BBC Radio has adapted these books. It was last done between 1979 and 1982 in 26 episodes, though I cannot recall how long each was.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Doctor Who – Storm Warning, by Alan Barnes. Paul McGann stars as the Eighth Doctor in this Big Finish production for CD in 2000 and first broadcast on BBC 7 a few years ago. The CD says – "... the airship R101 takes to the skies. But why is one of the stewards acting so strangely? Who is the unusual passenger in Cabin 43? And just what is a 1960s police box doing on board?" Listen out for India Fisher as the strangely acting steward, Gareth Thomas as Lord Tamworth and Barnaby Edwards as a man just doing his duty, as he sees it, to king and country. Part 3 of 4. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at midnight.

20:20/BBC Radio 3/150 mins – Rudolpho’s Zest, by Tanika Gupta. A very strong cast, including Ray Panthaki, Lyndsey Marshall, Adjoa Andoh, Paul Bhattacharjee, Paul Bazely, Geoffrey Whitehead, Clare Corbett, Sam Dastor, Peter Marinker and Ben Onwukwe, performs in this story about a man born in 1815 and still alive in the present. I just have to listen to this one, though it will have to be on ‘Listen Again’.

MONDAY 7th April

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins –Rumpole of the Bailey – Rumpole and the Man of God, by John Mortimer, starring Maurice Denham in the title role. Episode 5 of 13. First broadcast in 1980 on Radio 4. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

09:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Falco – The Silver Pigs, by Lindsey Davis, adapted by Mary Cutler, starring Anton Lessor as Roman detective Falco. Also featuring Declan Wilson and Frances Jeater. Part 1 of 4. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2004. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:30.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Petrella/1 – Good Fences Make Good Neighbours, by Michael Gilbert, dramatised by Michael Butt and starring Philip Jackson as Inspector Petrella, with Nicky Henson, Mamta Kash and Christian Rodska. Part 1 of 8. These stories were first broadcast on Radio 4 between 1999 and 2000. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Barchester Chronicles – The Last Chronicle of Barset/1, by Anthony Trollope, dramatised by Martyn Wade. There is much to enjoy in this classic adaptation of the final novel in the sequence. Listen out for a very powerful performance by Kenneth Cranham playing the central character Crawley. Episode 16 of 20.

11:30/BBC Radio 4/30 mins – Dixon of Dock Green. An adaptation by Sue Rodwell of a Ted Willis TV script from the classic television series. David Calder stars as George Dixon and David Tennant as Andy Crawford. The title of this story is Rock Rattle and Roll and it features Andrew Sachs. Part 5 of 6.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – The Walrus and the Terrier, by Christopher Ralling. Jamie Glover as journalist James Cameron and David Horovitch as Albert Schweitzer star in this play about the meeting in Gabon in 1953 between the two famous men. Also featuring Sarah Badel, Karl Davies, Clare Corbett, Sidney Sloane and Keith Drinkel.

23:30/BBC Radio 4/30 minutes – Ruth Rendell’s The Fever Tree/1, by Ruth Rendell, dramatised by Yvonne Antrobus. This first of three late-night thrillers features Paul Rhys, Tracy Wiles, Miles Anderson and Jude Akuwudike. The second story is tomorrow at the same time.

TUESDAY 25th March

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Rumpole of the Bailey – Rumpole and the Defence of Guthrie Featherstone by John Mortimer, starring Maurice Denham in the title role. Episode 6 of 13. First broadcast in 1980 on Radio 4. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

09:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Falco – The Silver Pigs, by Lindsey Davis, adapted by Mary Cutler, starring Anton Lessor as Roman detective Falco. Also featuring Declan Wilson and Frances Jeater. Part 2 of 4. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2004. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:30.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Petrella/2 – Myth of Return, by Michael Gilbert, dramatised by Michael Butt and starring Philip Jackson as Inspector Petrella with Nicky Henson, Jamie Glover and Mamta Kash. Part 2 of 8. These stories were first broadcast on Radio 4 between 1999 and 2000. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Barchester Chronicles – The Last Chronicle of Barset/2, by Anthony Trollope, dramatised by Martyn Wade. There is much to enjoy in this classic adaptation of the final novel in the sequence. Listen out for a very powerful performance by Kenneth Cranham playing the central character Crawley. Episode 17 of 20.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Daybreak, by Tom Ray, starring Marshall Lancaster and Lorraine Coady. Writes Radio Times "A week after his wife of 14 years has left him, Phil wakes up one morning to find that the sun has not risen. When Lisa comes back with a van to collect her cherished wardrobe, Phil is forced to reveal his extraordinary secret." A repeat.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Paradise Lost in Space, by Colin Swash, starring Tony Robinson, Louise Lombard and David Haig. This is a Science Fiction comedy first broadcast on Radio 4 in 1995. Part 1 of 6. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

23:30/BBC Radio 4/30 minutes – Ruth Rendell’s The Fever Tree/2 - The Dreadful Day of Judgement, by Ruth Rendell, dramatised by Yvonne Antrobus. This second of three late-night thrillers features Danny Sapani, Bryan Dick, Ralph Ineson and Stuart McLoughlin. The third story is tomorrow at the same time.

WEDNESDAY 26th March

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Rumpole of the Bailey – Rumpole and the Show Folk, by John Mortimer, starring Maurice Denham in the title role. Episode 7 of 13. First broadcast in 1980 on Radio 4. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

09:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Falco – The Silver Pigs, by Lindsey Davis, adapted by Mary Cutler, starring Anton Lessor as Roman detective Falco. Also featuring Declan Wilson and Frances Jeater. Part 3 of 4. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2004. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:30.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Petrella/3 – Vengeance Foreseen, by Michael Gilbert, dramatised by Michael Butt and starring Philip Jackson as Inspector Petrella with Nicky Henson, Jamie Glover and Mamta Kash. Part 3 of 8. These stories were first broadcast on Radio 4 between 1999 and 2000. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Barchester Chronicles – The Last Chronicle of Barset/3, by Anthony Trollope, dramatised by Martyn Wade. There is much to enjoy in this classic adaptation of the final novel in the sequence. Listen out for a very powerful performance by Kenneth Cranham playing the central character Crawley. Episode 18 of 20.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Hard Frost in Florence, by David Pownall. This is a very welcome repeat of a monologue performed by the late Paul Schofield and written specially for him. It’s about Michelangelo visiting Florence to view his statue of David for the last time. This is another repeat, but it’s also a highlight of the week.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Paradise Lost in Space, by Colin Swash, starring Tony Robinson, Louise Lombard and David Haig. This is a Science Fiction comedy first broadcast on Radio 4 in 1995. Part 2 of 6. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

23:30/BBC Radio 4/30 minutes – Ruth Rendell’s The Fever Tree/2 - Thornapple, by Ruth Rendell, dramatised by Yvonne Antrobus. This last of three late-night thrillers features Zac Fox, Elizabeth Spriggs, Colleen Prendergast, Juliet Aubrey and Shaun Pye.

THURSDAY 27th March

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Rumpole of the Bailey – Rumpole and the Fascist Beast, by John Mortimer, starring Maurice Denham in the title role. Episode 8 of 13. First broadcast in 1980 on Radio 4. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

09:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Falco – The Silver Pigs, by Lindsey Davis, adapted by Mary Cutler, starring Anton Lessor as Roman detective Falco. Also featuring Declan Wilson and Frances Jeater. Part 4 of 4. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2004. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:30.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Petrella/4 – Outpacing the Fiend, by Michael Gilbert, dramatised by Michael Butt and starring Philip Jackson as Inspector Petrella, with Nicky Henson, Jamie Glover and Mamta Kash. Part 4 of 8. These stories were first broadcast on Radio 4 between 1999 and 2000. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Barchester Chronicles – The Last Chronicle of Barset/4, by Anthony Trollope, dramatised by Martyn Wade. There is much to enjoy in this classic adaptation of the final novel in the sequence. Listen out for a very powerful performance by Kenneth Cranham playing the central character Crawley. Episode 19 of 20.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Tarzan of the Antirrhinums, by Lavinia Murray. This is a comedy that features talking plants in a garden centre. Featuring Mark Chatterton, Reece Dinsdale, Graeme Hawley, James Nickerson, Rina Mahoney and Julian Eardley. Radio Times indicates that this is a repeat, but writer Lavinia Murray assures me that it was only recently recorded.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Paradise Lost in Space, by Colin Swash, starring Tony Robinson, Louise Lombard and David Haig. This is a Science Fiction comedy first broadcast on Radio 4 in 1995. Part 3 of 6. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

FRIDAY 28th March

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Rumpole of the Bailey – Rumpole and the Case of Identity, by John Mortimer, starring Maurice Denham in the title role. Episode 9 of 13. First broadcast in 1980 on Radio 4. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

09:30/BBC 7/30 mins – The Revenge written and performed by Andrew Sachs. An experimental drama without words! I vaguely remember this and assume that it was first broadcast on Radio 4. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:30.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Petrella/5 – Heroes and Villains, by Michael Gilbert, dramatised by Michael Butt and starring Philip Jackson as Inspector Petrella with Nicky Henson, Jamie Glover and Mamta Kash. Part 5 of 8. These stories were first broadcast on Radio 4 between 1999 and 2000. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Barchester Chronicles – The Last Chronicle of Barset/5, by Anthony Trollope, dramatised by Martyn Wade. There is much to enjoy in this classic adaptation of the final novel in the sequence. Listen out for a very powerful performance by Kenneth Cranham playing the central character Crawley. Episode 20 of 20.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – On Mardle Fen/2 - Mural, by Nick Warburton, featuring Trevor Peacock, Sam Dale, Chris Pavlo, Liza Sadovy, Kate Buffery, Liz Sutherland, Helen Longworth and John Rowe. A strong radio cast for this second episode of a 4-part comic drama about a family-run restaurant. Part 3 at the same time next week.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Paradise Lost in Space, by Colin Swash, starring Tony Robinson, Louise Lombard and David Haig. This is a Science Fiction comedy first broadcast on Radio 4 in 1995. Part 4 of 6. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

21:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – Talking to Strangers, by Charlotte Jones, featuring Toby Jones, Samantha Spiro, Caroline Gruber, Tracy Wiles, Gary Sefton, Damian Lynch, Sam Dale, Ben Judd. Radio Times describes this as "A comedy ... about connection, communication and electronic devices." Yet another repeat.

Cold – Turkey not visited

2008-04-02T10:41:00.002Z

As some of you will know, I didn’t get to Turkey for the ECSC. I pulled out due to a heavy cold. However, I am now recovered and am looking forward to the BCPS Residential weekend in Torquay, to where I shall be travelling on Friday.

I have been doing some work on my Meson Chess Problem database, keying problems in. As of this morning there are 77,457 problems available online. Anticipations are getting more frequent, and these days no update session goes by without me finding at least one anticipation. There are now 261 complete (exact position) anticipations. That is 0.34% of the total problems on Meson. Substantive anticipations (only #2s of course, so far) number 281, which is 0.36% of the total number of problems on Meson and 0.73% of the #2s, which number 38,383. Given the small number of problems on Meson and the vast number still to be added, these percentages will probably be going up.

Apart from the contributions from Harry and Anders there has been very little response to the new-look Meson pages. I shall be making the changes to the solution presentation that Harry has requested, though I shall not promise when. I am making the assumption that no news is good news and that everybody is happy.

I have written a ‘To-do’ list of planned enhancements to Meson, which you can find here. Comments, and indeed further suggestions, are welcome, though I shall not promise to add anything to the list or provide implementation dates for those already on the list. These things will be done as time becomes available.

I hope to post the radio drama preview tomorrow.

Radio Drama preview/7

2008-03-20T14:55:00.004Z

There is some good stuff on this week. BBC 7 treats us to two Poirot stories. The first, at 12:00 on Saturday, is The ABC Murders and sets Poirot against a serial killer. The second, Three Act Tragedy, is narrated by an amateur detective friend of Poirot’s (played by George Cole) and is broadcast, in five episodes, from Monday to Friday at 09:30, repeated at 20:30 the same evening.

Saturday afternoon on Radio 4 sees the second and final part of David Chapel’s The Dark Side. Given its good and amusing start last week, this is on my listening list. Saturday evening on the same network sees the start of quite a week for Bert Coules, with the second and final episode of his adaptation of the John Buchan novel, Mr Standfast. I haven’t read any of the Buchan books, so the story was completely new to me and I was unaware of the title being taken from The Pilgrim’s Progress. This is high adventure, tautly written, and with driving incidental music: it brought back memories of the Saturday Night Theatre broadcasts of my youth. It was beautifully produced and had a wonderful depth of sound over DAB radio plugged into a decent amplifier.

On Sunday Radio 3 and BBC7 between them provide a couple of classic stories. Cyrano de Bergerac is the Drama on Three production at 20:00. It boasts a first class cast, director and producer. BBC 7 gives us the first part of a two-part adaptation of Don Quixote at 10:00, repeated at 20:00. Bob Grant is in the title role and is supported by the wonderful Bernard Cribbins as his squire.

If you listen to BBC 7 at 18:00 on Sunday evening, you will realise just what a mistake the BBC made in not making a TV series of Doctor Who with Paul McGann. Luckily, in 1999 Big Finish, noting the huge gap in the market, started producing audio dramas on CD featuring The Doctor, played by actors who had previously performed in the role: Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann. Storm Warning, which BBC 7 starts broadcasting this week, was Paul McGann’s first audio drama as The Doctor. As the writer of the story, Alan Barnes, said on the CD – "It’s been a rare privilege to author the adventure which sees a certain Mr Paul McGann reprise the role of the Eighth Doctor for the first time since the 1996 TV Movie. He is, of course, quite brilliant. He’s back – and it’s about bloody time!"

Monday to Friday on BBC 7 at 09:00, repeated at 20:00, will be great fun, because it is then that Richard Pearce and a good cast will be giving us their rendition of some stories from the Tintin canon. Also on weekdays, the Martyn Wade adaptation of Trollope’s Barchester novels continues at 11:00 on the same network. Also on BBC 7 there is a Simon Bovey 7th Dimension serial from Monday to Friday at 18:00, repeated at midnight the same day. It’s called Slipstream and is set near the end of World War II.

Finally, at 10:15 (repeated 21:15 the same day), Tuesday to Friday, BBC 7 broadcasts the first four of five Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. These are written by Bert Coules and were inspired by cases not written up by Dr Watson but referred to fleetingly in the original Conan Doyle stories. By the time these dramas were produced, Michael Williams, who had played Dr Watson opposite Clive Merrison’s Sherlock Holmes in all the stories of the original canon, had passed away. So, for these productions, Andrew Sachs plays the good doctor.

This will be my last radio drama preview for a couple of weeks. I shall be away at the European Chess Solving Championship (ECSC) in Turkey from the middle of next week until the middle of the week after. Immediately after that is the British Chess Problem Society (BCPS) residential weekend in Torquay.

SATURDAY 22nd March

12:00/BBC 7/90 mins – The ABC Murders, by Agatha Christie, dramatised by Michael Bakewell and starring John Moffatt at Poirot and Simon Williams as Hastings, with Philip Jackson, Tom George and Ioan Meredith. Directed by Enyd Williams. First broadcast in 2000 on Radio 4.

14:30/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – The Dark Side, by David Chapel. A comic adventure about an MP’s researcher who becomes a lobbyist, starring Sam Troughton. Listen out for radio regulars Stephen Critchlow, Ben Crowe, Peter Marinker and Liza Sadovy. Part 2 of 2.

17:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Garrison Keillor’s Radio Show. This import from the USA is more a light entertainment show in the old BBC tradition than audio drama, but may well be worth listening to if you like that kind of thing. Garrison has a light (and sometimes not so light) line in satire that many find appealing. Listen out especially for his weekly monologue about ‘Lake Wobegone, My Home Town’. There are no real adverts broadcast during this program! Repeated this evening at 23:00 on BBC 7.

18:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Dalek, I Love You Too, by Colin Sharpe. This tale about a Doctor Who fan is a sequel to last week’s offering in this slot.

21:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – Mr Standfast, by John Buchan, dramatised by Bert Coules, starring David Robb, Clive Merrison, Struan Rodger and including Jon Glover, Briony McRoberts, Chris Pavlo and Ben Onwukwe. This story is set during the First World War. Radio Times includes this introduction – "Richard Hannay pursues the German spy Moxon Ivery to France, where Mary Lammington offers herself as bait in a deadly trap." Struan Rodger is on top form in this final episode. Part 2 of 2.

SUNDAY 23rd March (Easter Day)

10:00/BBC 7/90 mins – Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes, adapted by John Arden. Starring Bob Grant as the Don and Bernard Cribbins as Sancho Panza. Directed by Alfred Bradley. Part 1 of 2. First broadcast in 1980. Repeated tonight at 20:00 on BBC 7.

15:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins - Mr Sponge’s Sporting Tour, by R S Surtees, dramatised by Scott Cherry, featuring Clive Swift, Paul Jesson, John McAndrews, Trevor Martin, Rupert Evans, David Troughton, Philip Jackson, Stella McClusker, Julie Cox, Chris Emmett and David Cardy. Writes Radio Times – "Picaresque romp following the fortunes of Soapey Sponge, a man determined to better himself, no matter what the cost to others. Soapey stands accused of selling the same mad horse to a number of respected citizens of Laverick Wells." Episode 1 of 2. Repeated next Saturday at 21:00.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins - Doctor Who - Storm Warning, by Alan Barnes. Paul McGann stars as the Eighth Doctor in this Big Finish production for CD in 2000 and first broadcast on BBC 7 a few years ago. The CD says – "... the airship R101 takes to the skies. But why is one of the stewards acting so strangely? Who is the unusual passenger in Cabin 43? And just what is a 1960s police box doing on board?" Listen out for India Fisher as the strangely acting steward, Gareth Thomas as Lord Tamworth and Barnaby Edwards as a man just doing his duty, as he sees it, to king and country. Part 1 of 4. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at midnight.

18:30/BBC 7/30 mins – We Can Remember it for You Wholesale, by Philip K Dick. This isn’t drama at all, but a reading of the story that formed the basis of the film Total Recall. As well as enjoying the plot, revel in this marvellous reading by the late William Hootkins. Part 2 of 2. Repeated very early tomorrow morning at 00:30 on BBC 7.

20:00/BBC Radio 3/135 mins – Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand in Anthony Burgess’s verse translation, adapted for radio by John Tydeman, directed by David Timson. Kenneth Branagh is in the title role, but this classic drama also features Jodhi May, Tom Hiddleston, John Shrapnel, Jimmy Yuill, Stephen Critchlow, Hugh Dickson, Gerard Horan, John McAndrew, Steve Hodson, Frances Jeater, Susan Jameson, Joannah Tincey and Oliver Le Sueur. With such a strong cast, writers and director, Radio Times must be right to highlight this as their choice of the day. The producer is Nicholas Soames, which makes one wonder if this will become available on CD from Naxos.

MONDAY 24th March (Easter Monday)

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Adventures of Tintin – The Seven Crystal Balls, by Hergé, adapted by Simon Eastwood and starring Richard Pearce as TinTin. Also featuring Andrew Sachs, Charles Kay, Lionel Jeffries and Stephen Moore. Episode 1 of 6. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

09:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Three Act Tragedy, by Agatha Christie, Dramatised by Michael Bakewell and starring John Moffatt as Poirot, with George Cole and Michael Cochrane. Part 1 of 5. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2002. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:30.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Our Late Supper, by Nick Waburton, starring Marcia Warren, Holly Grainger and Gerard McDermott. According to the BBC 7 website – "A shy middle-aged woman is forced out of her shell by an unexpected friendship with a 12 year old girl." First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2002. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Barchester Chronicles – Doctor Thorne/1, by Anthony Trollope, dramatised by Martyn Wade. There is much to enjoy in these classic adaptations of the classic novel sequence by Trollope. Throughout the series, at different times, listen out for Alec McCowen (Septimus Harding), Stephen Moore (quite often in wonderful splenetic form as Dr Grantly), Peter Howell (the Bishop of Barchester), Simon Russell Beale (Slope), Clive Francis (Arabin), David Horovitch (Dr Proudie), Rosemary Leach (Mrs Proudie) and, in the final episodes, Kenneth Cranham (Crawley). Episode 6 of 20.

11:30/BBC Radio 4/30 mins – Dixon of Dock Green. An adaptation by Sue Rodwell of a Ted Willis TV script from the classic television series. David Calder stars as George Dixon and David Tennant as Andy Crawford. The title of this story is Crawford’s First Pinch. Part 3 of 6.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Baldi – A Green Murder, by Andrew Martin. One of a group of environmentalists is struck down. As ever, David Threlfall stars as Baldi and Tara Flynn as Tina.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Slipstream, by Simon Bovey, starring Rory Kinnear, Tim McMullan, Ben Crowe, Joannah Tincey and Laura Molyneux. It's 1945. The Allies are certain to win the war. Then a strange aircraft is spotted, and nothing will ever be the same again. I think this is an original commission for BBC 7. Part 1 of 5. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

23:00/BBC Radio 4/30 mins – Sicken and So Die, by Simon Brett, dramatised by Jeremy Front. Bill Nighy, Suzanne Burden and Jon Glover star in this adaptation of one of Simon Brett’s entertaining novels about Charles Paris. Episode 4 of 4.

TUESDAY 25th March

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Adventures of Tintin – Prisoners of the Sun, by Hergé, adapted by Simon Eastwood and starring Richard Pearce as TinTin. Also featuring Andrew Sachs, Charles Kay, Lionel Jeffries and Stephen Moore. Episode 2 of 6. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

09:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Three Act Tragedy, by Agatha Christie, Dramatised by Michael Bakewell and starring John Moffatt as Poirot, with George Cole and Michael Cochrane. Part 2 of 5. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2002. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:30.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes/1 – The Madness of Colonel Warburton, by Bert Coules, starring Clive Merrison as Sherlock Holmes and Andrew Sachs as Dr Watson, with Timothy West as Colonel Warburton and also featuring Eleanor Bron and Struan Rodger. Watson's old commanding officer is alarming his family with his interest in spiritualism. This story was inspired by a reference in the original Sherlock Holmes story The Engineer’s Thumb by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Episode 1 of 5. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2002. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Barchester Chronicles – Doctor Thorne/2, by Anthony Trollope, dramatised by Martyn Wade. There is much to enjoy in these classic adaptations of the classic novel sequence by Trollope. Throughout the series, at different times, listen out for Alec McCowen (Septimus Harding), Stephen Moore (quite often in wonderful splenetic form as Dr Grantly), Peter Howell (the Bishop of Barchester), Simon Russell Beale (Slope), Clive Francis (Arabin), David Horovitch (Dr Proudie), Rosemary Leach (Mrs Proudie) and, in the final episodes, Kenneth Cranham (Crawley). Episode 7 of 20.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Lost in Plain Sight, by Donna Franceschild. Jimmy Chisholm stars in this story of a teenager who receives emails promising to change his life. "A darkly comic drama ..." says Radio Times.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Slipstream, by Simon Bovey, starring Rory Kinnear, Tim McMullan, Ben Crowe, Joannah Tincey and Laura Molyneux. It's 1945. The Allies are certain to win the war. Then a strange aircraft is spotted, and nothing will ever be the same again. I think this is an original commission for BBC 7. Part 2 of 5. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

WEDNESDAY 26th March

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Adventures of Tintin – The Calculus Affair/1, by Hergé, adapted by Simon Eastwood and starring Richard Pearce as Tintin. Also featuring Andrew Sachs, Charles Kay, Lionel Jeffries and Stephen Moore and Stephen Thorne. Episode 3 of 6. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

09:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Three Act Tragedy, by Agatha Christie, Dramatised by Michael Bakewell and starring John Moffatt as Poirot, with George Cole and Michael Cochrane. Part 3 of 5. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2002. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:30.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes/2 – The Star of the Adelphi, by Bert Coules, starring Clive Merrison as Sherlock Holmes and Andrew Sachs as Dr Watson. When an actor is stabbed to death, Holmes and Watson step behind the scenes into a world of deception. This story was inspired by a reference in the original Sherlock Holmes story The Second Stain by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Episode 2 of 5. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2002. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Barchester Chronicles – Doctor Thorne/3, by Anthony Trollope, dramatised by Martyn Wade. There is much to enjoy in these classic adaptations of the classic novel sequence by Trollope. Throughout the series, at different times, listen out for Alec McCowen (Septimus Harding), Stephen Moore (quite often in wonderful splenetic form as Dr Grantly), Peter Howell (the Bishop of Barchester), Simon Russell Beale (Slope), Clive Francis (Arabin), David Horovitch (Dr Proudie), Rosemary Leach (Mrs Proudie) and, in the final episodes, Kenneth Cranham (Crawley). Episode 8 of 20.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – The Fall, by Clare Duffy. A pregnant woman hunts for the mother who left her.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Slipstream, by Simon Bovey, starring Rory Kinnear, Tim McMullan, Ben Crowe, Joannah Tincey and Laura Molyneux. It's 1945. The Allies are certain to win the war. Then a strange aircraft is spotted, and nothing will ever be the same again. I think this is an original commission for BBC 7. Part 3 of 5. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

23:00/BBC Radio 4/30 mins – Night Watch, by Terry Pratchett, dramatised by Robin Brooks. A ‘must-listen’, with Philip Jackson, Carl Prekopp, Paul Ritter, Sam Dale, Clare Corbutt, Matt Addis, Ben Onwukwe and Peter Marinker. Episode 5 of 5.

THURSDAY 27th March

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Adventures of Tintin – The Calculus Affair/2, by Hergé, adapted by Simon Eastwood and starring Richard Pearce as TinTin. Also featuring Andrew Sachs, Charles Kay, Lionel Jeffries and Stephen Moore and Stephen Thorne. Episode 4 of 6. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

09:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Three Act Tragedy, by Agatha Christie, Dramatised by Michael Bakewell and starring John Moffatt as Poirot, with George Cole and Michael Cochrane. Part 4 of 5. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2002. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:30.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes/3 – The Peculiar Persecution of Mr John Vincent Harden, by Bert Coules, starring Clive Merrison as Sherlock Holmes and Andrew Sachs as Dr Watson and featuring Jane Asher and David Thorpe. A mysterious metal object found in a man's stomach holds a vital clue to his death. This story was inspired by a reference in the original Sherlock Holmes story The Solitary Cyclist by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Episode 3 of 5. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2002. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Barchester Chronicles – Framley Parsonage/1, by Anthony Trollope, dramatised by Martyn Wade. There is much to enjoy in these classic adaptations of the classic novel sequence by Trollope. Throughout the series, at different times, listen out for Alec McCowen (Septimus Harding), Stephen Moore (quite often in wonderful splenetic form as Dr Grantly), Peter Howell (the Bishop of Barchester), Simon Russell Beale (Slope), Clive Francis (Arabin), David Horovitch (Dr Proudie), Rosemary Leach (Mrs Proudie) and, in the final episodes, Kenneth Cranham (Crawley). Episode 9 of 20.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – The Death of Magnus Sweet, by Alastair Jessiman, starring William Barlow, Miles Jupp and Gareth Thomas. Two schoolboys invent a classmate, whom even the headmaster starts to believe in.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Slipstream, by Simon Bovey, starring Rory Kinnear, Tim McMullan, Ben Crowe, Joannah Tincey and Laura Molyneux. It's 1945. The Allies are certain to win the war. Then a strange aircraft is spotted, and nothing will ever be the same again. I think this is an original commission for BBC 7. Part 4 of 5. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

FRIDAY 28th March

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Adventures of Tintin – The Red Sea Sharks/1, by Hergé, adapted by Simon Eastwood and starring Richard Pearce as TinTin. Also featuring Andrew Sachs, Charles Kay, Lionel Jeffries and Stephen Moore and Stephen Thorne. Episode 5 of 6. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

09:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Three Act Tragedy, by Agatha Christie, Dramatised by Michael Bakewell and starring John Moffatt as Poirot, with George Cole and Michael Cochrane. Part 5 of 5. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2002. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:30.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes/4 – The Singular Inheritance of Miss Gloria Wilson, by Bert Coules, starring Clive Merrison as Sherlock Holmes and Andrew Sachs as Dr Watson, with Roy Hudd, Toyah Willcox, Sean Baker and Sion Probert. This story was inspired by a reference in the original Sherlock Holmes story The Problem of Thor Bridge by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Episode 4 of 5. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2002. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Barchester Chronicles – Framley Parsonage/2, by Anthony Trollope, dramatised by Martyn Wade. There is much to enjoy in these classic adaptations of the classic novel sequence by Trollope. Throughout the series, at different times, listen out for Alec McCowen (Septimus Harding), Stephen Moore (quite often in wonderful splenetic form as Dr Grantly), Peter Howell (the Bishop of Barchester), Simon Russell Beale (Slope), Clive Francis (Arabin), David Horovitch (Dr Proudie), Rosemary Leach (Mrs Proudie) and, in the final episodes, Kenneth Cranham (Crawley). Episode 10 of 20.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Cavalry by Dan Rebellato. "Four men are waxing saddles, cleaning spurs, polishing bridles and weapons. They are preparing for battle. But which one and which century are we in?" – says Radio Times.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Slipstream, by Simon Bovey, starring Rory Kinnear, Tim McMullan, Ben Crowe, Joannah Tincey and Laura Molyneux. It's 1945. The Allies are certain to win the war. Then a strange aircraft is spotted, and nothing will ever be the same again. I think this is an original commission for BBC 7. Part 5 of 5. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

21:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – Forgiving, by Tina Pepler. [Radio Times] introduces this thus – "Tina Pepler’s story of a family torn apart by one act of violence explores the journey from grief and anger to the possibility of forgiveness and reconciliation. Woven through it are the voices of real people who are dealing with their own experiences of great pain and the struggle to forgive."

New problem display page for Meson

2008-03-15T11:13:00.001Z

The new look for the BDS Website continues to be implemented. I have recently redesigned the results page from the general search and this morning I put live the redesigned problem display page. I hope both of these are improvements and will make things easier for Meson users. The problem display page is the biggest change. As a taster of this new page take a look at this #3 by the late Byron Zappas.

I have added piece counts, a field for original publication date (where known), a field for ‘other’ information (intended for any important information, such as dedications, that doesn’t fit into other fields) and the FEN string. This latter uses ‘N’ and ‘n’ for knight, which may appear inconsistent with the notation used in the solutions, but I hope it will be more convenient for the majority of users who wish to copy and paste it into other software.

The biggest change on this page is to the solution. This is now in the form of a tree with expandable leaves. Every line that starts with a plus sign (‘+’) may be expanded by clicking on it, when the plus sign will be changed to a minus sign ('-'). After expansion clicking on it will close it up. This new approach will hide the solution from those who wish to solve and will also serve to hide parts of the solution that may be unimportant.

Next for redesign will be the pages used for the drill-downs during access by composer or source.

Radio Drama preview/6

2008-03-13T22:05:00.003Z

As a consequence of the sad demise of OneWord, Planet Rock and The Jazz, there is now more space in the radio listings in Radio Times. They have decided to use it to extend the information given on BBC 7 programs, which is very good news.

As is quite often the case, a highlight of the week’s drama is on Sunday night on Radio 3. Following on from his success playing Socrates a few weeks ago, Joss Ackland this week plays ‘Big Daddy’ in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams, supported by a very strong cast.

On Monday BBC 7 begins the 20-part Martyn Wade adaptation of Trollope’s Barchester novels that was so successful some years ago. This first-class adaptation is performed by a great cast and accompanied by some haunting incidental music. There is much to enjoy here. Throughout the series, at different times, listen out for Alec McCowen (Septimus Harding), Stephen Moore (quite often in wonderful splenetic form as Dr Grantly), Peter Howell (the Bishop of Barchester), Simon Russell Beale (Slope), Clive Francis (Arabin), David Horovitch (Dr Proudie), Rosemary Leach (Mrs Proudie) and, in the final episodes, Kenneth Cranham (Crawley).

I don’t have anything against readings, especially when such a good reader as William Hootkins does them. On Sunday on BBC 7 at 18:30 we can hear him reading the first of two episodes of We Can Remember it for You Wholesale. Hootkins did a few readings for the BBC, including this one, and some drama. If you find his voice appealing then do have a listen to two recordings he made for Naxos shortly before his death – they are both remarkable, monumental, unabridged readings of classic American literature. First is Hiawatha and then, almost unbelievably, Moby Dick, which runs to over twenty hours. The Hiawatha lasts about 4 hours and I seem to remember reading some time ago that Hootkins did it as a warm-up for the Melville.

The Radio 4 Afternoon Theatre on Wednesday and Thursday is a bit different. There are 6 short plays split over the two days and there are accompanying visuals available online during the broadcast. This doesn’t sound like radio, but I’m open to persuasion.

SATURDAY 15th March

12:00/BBC 7/90 mins – The Secret Parts, by David Edgar. A murder mystery starring Celia Imrie, Frances Barber and Nathaniel Parker. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2000.

14:30/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – The Dark Side, by David Chapel. A comic adventure about an MP’s researcher who becomes a lobbyist, starring Sam Troughton. Listen out for radio regulars Stephen Critchlow, Ben Crowe, Helen Longworth, Chris Pavlo, John Rowe and Ben Onwukwe. Part 1 of 2.

17:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Garrison Keillor’s Radio Show. This import from the USA is more a light entertainment show in the old BBC tradition than audio drama, but may well be worth listening to if you like that kind of thing. Garrison has a light (and sometimes not so light) line in satire that many find appealing. Listen out especially for his weekly monologue about ‘Lake Wobegone, My Home Town’. There are no real adverts broadcast during this program! Repeated this evening at 23:00 on BBC 7.

18:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Dalek, I Love You, by Colin Sharpe. This is a tale about a Doctor Who fan and features David Raynor, Fiona Clarke and Charlie Hardwick.

21:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – Mr Standfast, by John Buchan, dramatised by Bert Coules, starring David Robb, Clive Merrison, Struan Rodger and including Peter Marinker and Ben Crowe. This story is set during the First World War. [Radio Times] includes this introduction – "Richard Hannay is ordered to pose as a pacifist and sent to Glasgow. Along the way he meets a teenage British Secret Service agent who will change the course of his life." Part 1 of 2, with part 2 being broadcast tomorrow at 15:00.

SUNDAY 16th March

15:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins - Mr Standfast, by John Buchan, dramatised by Bert Coules, starring David Robb, Clive Merrison, Struan Rodger and including Ben Onwukwe and Chris Pavlo. This story is set during the First World War. Radio Times includes this introduction – "Richard Hannay pursues the German spy Moxon Ivery to Fance, where Mary Lamington offers herself as a bait in a deadly trap." I’ll listen to this for these reasons. First, I enjoyed last week’s episode, but secondly, and just as important, it has been dramatised by Bert Coules. Bert has, over the years, successfully adapted many classic tales for radio, most memorably many of the Radio 4 Sherlock Holmes stories that starred Clive Merrison and Michael Williams.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Never the Bride. This adaptation of a novel by Paul Magrs has been good fun for the last couple of weeks, so I shall certainly be listening to this final episode. Featuring Joanna Tope, Monica Gibb, Sean Scanlan, Gareth Thomas and John Paul Hurle. Repeated later today at 12:00 midnight on BBC 7.

18:30/BBC 7/30 mins – We Can Remember it for You Wholesale, by Philip K Dick. This isn’t drama at all, but a reading of the story that formed the basis of the film Total Recall. As well as enjoying the plot, revel in this marvellous reading by the late William Hootkins. Part 1 of 2. Repeated very early tomorrow morning at 00:30 on BBC 7.

20:00/BBC Radio 3/120 mins – Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, by Tennessee Williams. This broadcast of the original version of this famous play stars Joss Ackland, Gemma Jones, Elizabeth McGovern, Marcus D’Amico, Alison Steadman, etc.

MONDAY 17th March

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Paul Temple and the Geneva Mystery, by Francis Durbridge, starring Peter Coke and Marjorie Westbury. Episode 3 of 6. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

09:30/BBC 7/30 mins – The Singing Sands, by Josephine Tey. This is a new production for BBC 7 and is a classic mystery story by the author of The Daughter of Time and features the same police officer, Alan Grant. Difficult to tell from Radio Times or BBC 7’s trails whether this is a drama or a reading, but I shall be listening whatever. Episode 1 of 4. Repeated tonight at 20:30 on BBC 7.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – The Real Dennis Truelove, by Dave Sheasby. Fine Time Fontayne, Denys Hawthorne and Iwan Thomas feature in this story about a man who escapes his boring job. Episode 1 of 5. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 21:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Daunt and Dervish - After the Ball is Over, by Guy Meredith, starring Imelda Staunton and Anna Massey. Two women set up a detective agency at the end of World War II. Episode 1 of 5. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Barchester Chronicles – The Warden/1, by Anthony Trollope, dramatised by Martyn Wade. Episode 1 of 20.

11:30/BBC Radio 4/30 mins – Dixon of Dock Green. An adaptation by Sue Rodwell of a Ted Willis TV script from the classic television series. David Calder stars as George Dixon and David Tennant as Andy Crawford. Part 2 of 6.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Baldi – A Very Neglected Fish, by John Murphy. Franciscan priest Paolo Baldi finds himself in the middle of another mystery. David Threlfall takes the lead part, ably supported by series regulars Tara Flynn and Owen Roe. James D’Arcy and Amanda Root also feature in this story about celebrity chefs.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Silent Scream, by Wally K Daly. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 1979, this serial follows on from Before the Screaming Begins, being the second of three serials. Part 3 of 3. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

23:00/BBC Radio 4/30 mins – Sicken and So Die, by Simon Brett, dramatised by Jeremy Front. Bill Nighy, Suzanne Burden and Julian Rhind-Tutt star in this adaptation of one of Simon Brett’s entertaining novels about Charles Paris. Episode 3 of 4.

TUESDAY 18th March

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Paul Temple and the Geneva Mystery, by Francis Durbridge, starring Peter Coke and Marjorie Westbury. Episode 4 of 6. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

09:30/BBC 7/30 mins – The Singing Sands, by Josephine Tey. This is a new production for BBC 7 and is a classic mystery story by the author of The Daughter of Time and features the same police officer, Alan Grant. Difficult to tell from Radio Times or BBC 7’s trails whether this is a drama or a reading, but I shall be listening whatever. Episode 2 of 4. Repeated tonight at 20:30 on BBC 7.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – The Real Dennis Truelove, by Dave Sheasby. Fine Time Fontayne, Denys Hawthorne and Iwan Thomas feature in this story about a man who escapes his boring job. Episode 2 of 5. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 21:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Daunt and Dervish – South of the Border, by Guy Meredith, starring Imelda Staunton and Anna Massey. Two women set up a detective agency at the end of World War II. Episode 2 of 5. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Barchester Chronicles – The Warden/2, by Anthony Trollope, dramatised by Martyn Wade. Episode 2 of 20.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Mrs Mabb, by Susanna Clarke, dramatised by Judith Adams and starring Emma Fielding and Jasmine Hyde. Presumably the author is the same Susanna Clarke who wrote the fascinating novel Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, so this play is on the ‘must-listen’ list.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – With a Whimper to the Grave, by Wally K Daly. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 1984, this serial follows on from The Silent Scream, being the third of three serials. Part 1 of 3. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

WEDNESDAY 19th March

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Paul Temple and the Geneva Mystery, by Francis Durbridge, starring Peter Coke and Marjorie Westbury. Episode 5 of 6. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

09:30/BBC 7/30 mins – The Singing Sands, by Josephine Tey. This is a new production for BBC 7 and is a classic mystery story by the author of The Daughter of Time and features the same police officer, Alan Grant. Difficult to tell from Radio Times or BBC 7’s trails whether this is a drama or a reading, but I shall be listening whatever. Episode 3 of 4. Repeated tonight at 20:30 on BBC 7.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – The Real Dennis Truelove, by Dave Sheasby. Fine Time Fontayne, Denys Hawthorne and Iwan Thomas feature in this story about a man who escapes his boring job. Episode 3 of 5. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 21:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Daunt and Dervish – A Question of Class, by Guy Meredith, starring Imelda Staunton and Anna Massey. Two women set up a detective agency at the end of World War II. Episode 3 of 5. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Barchester Chronicles – Barchester Towers/1, by Anthony Trollope, dramatised by Martyn Wade. Episode 3 of 20.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – The City Speaks – 1/2. To quote Radio Times – "In this unique co-production, Peter Ackroyd’s short story, in which the Virgin Mary makes an appearance in London, is the inspiration for six dramas and films, which can be seen and heard simultaneously." The accompanying film can be viewed on-line or by pressing your TV’s red button. Today’s three short plays are Pushing by Lin Coghlan, I Am Not You Are Not Me by Mike Walker and Broken Chain by Mark Norfolk. Continued tomorrow at 14:15.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – With a Whimper to the Grave, by Wally K Daly. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 1984, this serial follows on from The Silent Scream, being the third of three serials. Part 2 of 3. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

23:00/BBC Radio 4/30 mins – Night Watch, by Terry Pratchett, dramatised by Robin Brooks. A ‘must-listen’, with Philip Jackson, Carl Prekopp, Paul Ritter, Sam Dale, Clare Corbutt, Matt Addis, Ben Onwukwe and Peter Marinker. Episode 4 of 5.

THURSDAY 20th March

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Paul Temple and the Geneva Mystery, by Francis Durbridge, starring Peter Coke and Marjorie Westbury. Episode 6 of 6. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

09:30/BBC 7/30 mins – The Singing Sands, by Josephine Tey. This is a new production for BBC 7 and is a classic mystery story by the author of The Daughter of Time and features the same police officer, Alan Grant. Difficult to tell from Radio Times or BBC 7’s trails whether this is a drama or a reading, but I shall be listening whatever. Episode 4 of 4. Repeated tonight at 20:30 on BBC 7.

10:00/BBC 715 mins – The Real Dennis Truelove, by Dave Sheasby. Fine Time Fontayne, Denys Hawthorne and Iwan Thomas feature in this story about a man who escapes his boring job. Episode 4 of 5. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 21:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Daunt and Dervish – Games of Chance, by Guy Meredith, starring Imelda Staunton and Anna Massey. Two women set up a detective agency at the end of World War II. Episode 4 of 5. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Barchester Chronicles – Barchester Towers/2, by Anthony Trollope, dramatised by Martyn Wade. Episode 4 of 20.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – The City Speaks – 2/2. For a description of this program, see yesterday at the same time. Today’s three dramas are Yalda by Mehrdad Seyf, Ayshe’s Tale by Alison Joseph and Make Your Way by Nick Warburton.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – With a Whimper to the Grave, by Wally K Daly. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 1984, this serial follows on from The Silent Scream, being the third of three serials. Part 3 of 3. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

FRIDAY 21st March

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – The Real Dennis Truelove, by Dave Sheasby. Fine Time Fontayne, Denys Hawthorne and Iwan Thomas feature in this story about a man who escapes his boring job. Episode 5 of 5. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 21:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Daunt and Dervish – The Singer Not the Song, by Guy Meredith, starring Imelda Staunton and Anna Massey. Two women set up a detective agency at the end of World War II. Episode 5 of 5. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Barchester Chronicles – Barchester Towers/3, by Anthony Trollope, dramatised by Martyn Wade. Episode 5 of 20.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Fair Play, by Tove Jansson, translated by Thomas Teal and dramatised by Sue Glover. Colette O’Neill and Sheila Reid star in this tale about love between two older women.

21:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – The Day King Hammer Fell From the Sky, by Gregory Whitehead, with a poem by Jon Swan. This welcome return, after a fortnight away, of The Friday Play, is about what happens when a headless corpse falls from the sky onto one of America’s famous universities.

Radio Drama preview/5

2008-03-07T16:58:00.002Z

Even later than last week, here is my preview of next week’s radio drama on the BBC.

Before we get to that, though, I must write that it was good for this blog to get its first comment in ages and its first one ever about radio drama. The comment came from Mike Hobart, who lives in Tasmania, so he must be a capital fellow! His opinion, that those who think radio drama is a thing of the past simply aren’t paying attention, is one that I firmly agree with. The quality of audio drama is still high, and with the advent of DAB and the fact that it is available on many digital TV packages, more radio is being listened to than for a long time. Other modern technology also helps: listeners anywhere in the world are now able to listen over the Internet, either live or via ‘listen-again’ at their own convenience. There is also podcasting. I wonder how many people, plugged into their earphones on their daily commute, are actually listening to speech rather than music? Audio books are also, I understand, a thriving business these days.

Mike’s blog is worth a read. For a start, it's headed by a great piece of clip-art featuring a guy listening to the radio. He also writes well, on a variety of subjects. In addition to that it’s always interesting to hear views from the other side of the world. His latest piece is about the QE2.

Highlights this coming week include another 90-minute play on Radio 4 on a Saturday afternoon by an esteemed writer, this time Stephen Poliakoff. Saturday night on BBC 7 has three hours of top comedy thriller. The new Classic Serial on Sunday at 15:00 on Radio 4 is an adaptation by Bert Coules of a classic novel by John Buchan. On Monday morning at 11:30, in the first of a six-week series, David Tennant leaves the Tardis behind and takes part in a drama that, given its subject and it’s position in space-time, could well involve a Police Telephone Box. I wonder if it does? On Thursday BBC 7 plays Vivian Ellis’ Coronation Scott again to introduce the ever-popular Paul Temple. The best news of the week, however, is the return of David Threlfall as the soft-spoken Paolo Baldi, the Franciscan detective, in the first of 4 adventures on Monday afternoons at 14:15.

SATURDAY 8th March

12:00/BBC 7/90 mins – Speedy Death, by Gladys Mitchell adapted by Elizabeth Proud. Set in the 1920s and featuring Mary Wimbush, Michael Cochrane, Leslie Phillips and Teresa Gallagher, this is a country house murder mystery first broadcast on Radio 4 in 1990.

14:30/BBC Radio 4/90 mins – Blinded by the Sun, by Stephen Poliakoff. From Radio Times – "The pressure to succeed leads a scientist to claim he has achieved a major breakthrough in physics. But when he fails to replicate the experiment, the fall-out causes conflict among a previously close set of colleagues." This drama features Alex Jennings, Harriet Walter, Steven Pacey, Jodie Whittaker, John Rowe, Christine Kavanagh, Helen Longworth and Christian Rodska, which is a very strong cast. This is the second week running that Radio 4 has treated us to a 90-minute drama on a Saturday afternoon. Let’s hope that the policy continues.

17:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Garrison Keillor’s Radio Show. This import from the USA is more a light entertainment show in the old BBC tradition than audio drama, but may well be worth listening to if you like that kind of thing. Garrison has a light (and sometimes not so light) line in satire that many find appealing. Listen out especially for his weekly monologue about ‘Lake Wobegone, My Home Town’. There are no real adverts broadcast during this program! Repeated this evening at 23:00 on BBC 7.

18:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Fear on Four - Survival. A drama based on a story by John Wyndham. To quote from the BBC 7 website – "A group of people in outer space find things become a matter of life and death, each dependent on the other in a horrifying way." I know this Wyndham story and it’s pretty grim, so an appropriate choice for The Man In Black (Edward de Souza) to tell us about. Repeated early tomorrow morning at 00:30 on BBC 7.

20:00/BBC 7/180 mins – High Table, Lower Orders. "All six episodes of Mark Tavener's comedy thriller set in a small Cambridge college, starring Geoffrey Palmer, Samuel West, Rebecca Front, Sharon Small and Jonathan Coye" – says the BBC 7 website. A special treat after BBC 7 had broadcast the episodes of this serial in the wrong order a short while ago. I caught some of it then, but shall nonetheless be listening to all of this. Mark Tavener has written some very funny comedy serials for Radio 4 over the last decade, including In the Red, In the Balance, In the Chair and In the End, all about crime correspondent George Cragge and starring two fine actors no longer with us - Michael Williams and Barry Foster. This is Mr. Tavener’s latest offering, in which all the cast enjoy themselves thoroughly, especially Geoffrey Palmer, who seems to get most of the best lines. Prime Saturday night entertainment!

21:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – Fortunes of War, by Olivia Manning, dramatised by Jonathan Holloway, starring Joanna Lumley, Honeysuckle Weeks, Khalid Abdalla, Sam Dale, Nigel Anthony, Phillip Jackson etc. Part 6 of 6, this is a repeat of last Sunday’s episode. I am finding this compelling, not least because I have recently finished reading the books on which it is based. Joanna Lumley’s narration, as the older Harriet Pringle, is just right, while the impetuous younger Harriet is well played by Honeysuckle Weeks. Another reason for liking this adaptation is because of the decision to use the music of Gerald Finzi, which I have long admired.

SUNDAY 9th March

10:00/BBC 7/90 mins – Mary Barnes. This is an adaptation of a David Edgar play. The BBC 7 website introduces this as follows – "Mary Barnes struggled with her own madness - until she met psychiatrist RD Laing." Repeated this evening at 20:00 on BBC 7.

15:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins - Mr Standfast, by John Buchan, dramatised by Bert Coules, starring David Robb, Clive Merrison, Struan Rodger and including Peter Marinker and Ben Crowe. This story is set during the First World War. Radio Times includes this introduction – "Richard Hannay is ordered to pose as a pacifist and sent to Glasgow. Along the way he meets a teenage British Secret Service agent who will change the course of his life." I’ll listen to this for two reasons. First, is sounds good and has a good cast, but secondly, and just as important, it has been dramatised by the talented Bert Coules.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Never the Bride. This adaptation of a novel by Paul Magrs was good fun last week and I shall certainly be listening to this second episode. Final episode next week. Repeated later today at 12:00 midnight on BBC 7.

20:00/BBC Radio 3/90 mins – An Enemy of the People. This is a modern version by Martin Lynch of the play by Henrik Ibsen. Set in a Catholic region of Belfast, it features Susan Lynch, Sealinin Brennan, Charles Lawson and Harry Towb.

MONDAY 10th March

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – The Mystery of a Butcher’s Shop, by Gladys Mitchell, dramatised by Elizabeth Proud. Part 1 of 2. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Diary of Samuel Pepys. Part 6 of 6.

11:30/BBC Radio 4/30 mins – Dixon of Dock Green. An adaptation by Sue Rodwell of a Ted Willis TV script from the classic television series. David Calder stars as George Dixon and David Tennant as Andy Crawford. Part 1 of 6.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Baldi – The Million Dollar Question, by Barry Devlin. Franciscan priest Paolo Baldi finds himself in the middle of another mystery. David Threlfall takes the lead part, ably supported by series regulars Tara Flynn, Owen Roe and T P McKenna.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Before the Screaming Begins, by Wally K Daly. This drama stars James Laurenson, Jennifer Piercy, Patrick Troughton and Donald Hewlett, with the latter stealing the show. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 1978, this is episode 1 of the first of 3 serials (of 3 parts each) about abduction by aliens. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

23:00/BBC Radio 4/30 mins – Sicken and So Die, by Simon Brett, dramatised by Jeremy Front. Bill Nighy, Suzanne Burden and Julian Rhind-Tutt star in this adaptation of one of Simon Brett’s entertaining novels about Charles Paris. Episode 2 of 4.

TUESDAY 11th March

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – The Mystery of a Butcher’s Shop, by Gladys Mitchell, dramatised by Elizabeth Proud. Part 2 of 2. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins, adapted by Martyn Wade. Starring Toby Stephens, Juliet Aubrey, Emily Bruni and Jeremy Clyde. Part 1 of 4. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2001, this is a wonderful adaptation of the classic Victorian thriller. Do listen if you can.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Needle, by Christina Balit. Peter Marinker leads the cast in this story about the creation of the Bayeux Tapestry.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Before the Screaming Begins, by Wally K Daly. This drama stars James Laurenson, Jennifer Piercy, Patrick Troughton and Donald Hewlett, with the latter stealing the show. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 1978, this is episode 2 of the first of 3 serials (of 3 parts each) about abduction by aliens. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

WEDNESDAY 12th March

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Nought Happens Twice Thus, by Adam Thorpe. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2003. A play about Thomas Hardy and his strained marriage with second wife Florence. Set in July 1921. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins, adapted my Martyn Wade. Starring Toby Stephens, Juliet Aubrey, Emily Bruni and Jeremy Clyde. Part 2 of 4. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2001, this is a wonderful adaptation of the classic Victorian thriller. Do listen if you can.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Investigating Mr Thomas, by Rob Gittins. A private detective is engaged to shadow poet Dylan Thomas in 1953 in New York.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Before the Screaming Begins, by Wally K Daly. This drama stars James Laurenson, Jennifer Piercy, Patrick Troughton and Donald Hewlett, with the latter stealing the show. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 1978, this is episode 3 of the first of 3 serials (of 3 parts each) about abduction by aliens. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

23:00/BBC Radio 4/30 mins – Night Watch, by Terry Pratchett, dramatised by Robin Brooks. A ‘must-listen’, with Philip Jackson, Carl Prekopp, Paul Ritter, Sam Dale, Clare Corbutt, Matt Addis, Ben Onwukwe, Peter Marinker and Rachel Atkins. Episode 3 of 5.

THURSDAY 13th March

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Paul Temple and the Geneva Mystery by Francis Durbridge, starring Peter Coke and Marjorie Westbury. Part 1 of 6. A classic radio mystery serial from the golden days. Repeated tonight at 20:00 on BBC 7.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Rumours of Guns, by Andrew Greig and Kathleen Jamie. This play takes an uncompromising look at the emotional cost of war. Set during the 1940s. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins, adapted my Martyn Wade. Starring Toby Stephens, Juliet Aubrey, Emily Bruni and Jeremy Clyde. Part 3 of 4. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2001, this is a wonderful adaptation of the classic Victorian thriller. Do listen if you can.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Bearing the Cross, by Ken Blakeson. Nigel Anthony stars in this story of the 1879 defence of Rorke’s Drift.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Silent Scream, by Wally K Daly. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 1979, this serial follows on from Before the Screaming Begins, being the second of three serials. Part 1 of 3. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

FRIDAY 14th March

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Paul Temple and the Geneva Mystery by Francis Durbridge, starring Peter Coke and Marjorie Westbury. Part 2 of 6. A classic radio mystery serial from the golden days. Repeated tonight at 20:00 on BBC 7.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Stay!, by Georgia Pratchett. The BBC 7 website says this is a comedy "about a lovelorn mum, her saint-obsessed teenage daughter, newcomer Dr Perkins, and dogs." Featuring Sophie Thompson, Duncan Preston and Sheridan Smith, this romantic comedy was first broadcast on Radio 4 in 2000. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins, adapted my Martyn Wade. Starring Toby Stephens, Juliet Aubrey, Emily Bruni and Jeremy Clyde. Part 4 of 4. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2001, this is a wonderful adaptation of the classic Victorian thriller. Do listen if you can.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins – Things to Do before You Die, by Tom Dalton Bidwell. A fifteen-year-old boy, dying in hospital, is given the chance to have his dying wish granted. He wishes to lose his virginity. Radio Times assures us that this play, potentially grim, has no mawkish sentimentality and does have a healthy dose of humour.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Silent Scream, by Wally K Daly. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 1979, this serial follows on from Before the Screaming Begins, being the second of three serials. Part 2 of 3. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

Improved Meson search page

2008-03-07T10:05:00.001Z

I’ve just finished doing something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time: I have re-designed and re-written the general search page for Meson. There is no new functionality, but I hope that the existing functionality is better explained and that as a result Meson will be easier to use. To investigate this new page, take the General Search option from the Access Meson page.

I’ll be giving other Meson pages a makeover soon, but now, rather late in the week, it’s time to open the new Radio Times. Preview follows later.

Details of recovered weekend

2008-03-06T09:31:00.002Z

Details of the new arrangements for the BCPS Residential weekend have now been posted on the BCPS website, and can be read here. If you've not already booked, please consider doing so. It is usually a greatly enjoyable weekend.

A weekend recovered

2008-03-05T10:07:00.002Z

Following my earlier post about a lost weekend I am delighted to report that, due to the efforts of Chris Reeves, the BCPS Residential weekend will go ahead, almost as originally planned. The dates will stay the same and the town will still be Torquay – only the actual hotel will change. Good news for all those who had already made all their travel arrangements! Details will be posted on the BCPS website in due course and I’ll post a link here as soon as they are.

Problemist and Problemist Supplement readers will be pleased to hear that the March magazines are now with the printer. In the course of the last few days I have produced the PostScript files (from the typeset copy sent by the editor) and sent them to the printer. I have also done all the updates to subscribers’ names and addresses and sent the labels to the distributor. In addition I printed out and despatched the A4 copies of the magazines to those who have subscribed to them. They will be lucky enough to be the first readers of the new issue.

I have converted all the statistics output from Meson to the new look pages. I am now working on the Meson access pages. Problems on Meson now total 76641. You can access my Meson Chess Problem Database here.

Radio Drama preview/4

2008-02-28T21:11:00.002Z

The week starts off well with a classic detective story on BBC 7 at 12 noon on Saturday. Over on Radio 4 in the afternoon we are treated to a ninety-minute play by esteemed playwright Simon Gray. Nick Warburton, who wrote the Fear on Four offering this evening at 18:00 on BBC 7, can be relied upon to provide some chilling drama.

The ninety-minute play on BBC7 on Sunday is a serious one, telling part of the story of the miners’ strike of 1984. The afternoon on Radio 4 sees the final episode of the wonderful ‘Fortunes of War’; Classic Serials don’t come much better than this. I’m looking forward to Sunday evening, starting at 18:00 on BBC 7 with an adaptation of a Paul Magrs story. Paul has written some Doctor Who audio scripts for Big Finish, which as far as I am concerned gives him a good reputation. Later, on Radio 3, I shall be listening to The Adding Machine. I have to admit that I haven’t previously heard of this play, or its author, but the introduction in Radio Times, quoted later, makes it sound intriguing.

On weekdays next week, Radio 4’s Afternoon Play consists of a series of five plays based on Ovid, entitled, unsurprisingly, New Metamorphoses. Apart from this that network offers two drama serials late at night at 23:00. On Monday we have a repeat of a Simon Brett story about Charles Paris, starring Bill Nighy and on Wednesday the latest Terry Pratchett adaptation continues. The 45-minute dramas on BBC 7, at 10:15 repeated at 21:15 are also all of interest. I have to say that I do enjoy BBC7 in the evenings, that 21:15 slot in particular. Even though I’ve heard most of the plays before they are all worth hearing again. BBC 7 is careful to choose only the best from the archive of Radio 4 afternoon plays.

SATURDAY

12:00/BBC 7/90 mins – The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, by Agatha Christie. This was first broadcast on Christmas Eve, 1987 and was the first time that John Moffatt had played the great Belgian detective. John Woodvine also stars. Listen out too for the wonderful Deryck Guyler, who plays a butler. Of course, this is one of the most famous of Christie’s detective stories and amongst the most famous of all British detective stories. Do listen, whether you know the story or not.

14:30/BBC Radio 4/90 mins – Missing Dates, by Simon Gray, starring Toby Stephens, Jasper Britton and Monica Dolan. Two brothers compete for the attention of the same woman. A ninety-minute play on Radio 4 on a Saturday afternoon! This must be something special that is going to increase our normal sixty-minute attention spans.

17:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Garrison Keillor’s Radio Show. This import from the USA is more a light entertainment show in the old BBC tradition than audio drama, but may well be worth listening to if you like that kind of thing. Garrison has a light (and sometimes not so light) line in satire that many find appealing. Listen out especially for his weekly monologue about ‘Lake Wobegone, My Home Town’. There are no real adverts broadcast during this program!

18:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Fear on Four: His Last Card, by Nick Warburton. This is a repeat of one of the old Radio 4 horror stories from the last century.

21:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – Fortunes of War, by Olivia Manning, dramatised by Jonathan Holloway, starring Joanna Lumley, Honeysuckle Weeks, Khalid Abdalla, Sam Dale, Nigel Anthony etc. Part 5 of 6, this is a repeat of last Sunday’s episode, with part 6 being broadcast tomorrow at 15:00. I am finding this compelling, not least because I am currently reading the books on which it is based. Joanna Lumley’s narration, as the older Harriet Pringle, is just right, while the impetuous younger Harriet is well played by Honeysuckle Weeks. Another reason for liking this adaptation is because of the decision to use the music of Gerald Finzi, which I have long admired.

SUNDAY

10:00/BBC 7/90 mins – That Summer, by David Edgar. The summer in question is the one of 1984, during the miners’ strike. Nicholas Le Provost stars. Repeated this evening at 20:00 on BBC 7.

15:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins - Fortunes of War, by Olivia Manning, dramatised by Jonathan Holloway, starring Joanna Lumley, Honeysuckle Weeks, Khalid Abdalla, Sam Dale, Nigel Anthony etc. Part 6 of 6. See my comments at 21:00 on Saturday above.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Never the Bride. This adaptation of a novel by Paul Magrs is certainly on my list to listen to. Radio Times calls this a "whimsical mystery". Part 1 of 3. Repeated later today at 12:00 midnight on BBC 7.

20:00/BBC Radio 3/75 mins – The Adding Machine, by Elmer Rice, which is from the year 1923. Radio Times says "Mr Zero has spent the past 25 years adding up columns of figures and dreaming of advancement. But when the boss finally calls him into his office, Zero doesn’t get the promotion he was expecting. Quite the opposite ..." Listen out for our old friends Chris Pavlo, Peter Marinker and Ben Crowe.

MONDAY

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Fatherland, by Robert Harris. Episode 1 of 5. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – Where Angels Fear to Tread, by E M Forster. Episode 6 of 10. Repeated tonight on BBC7 at 21:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – An Englishman Abroad, by Alan Bennett, starring Michael Gambon and Penelope Wilton. The Englishman in question is spy Guy Burgess and ‘abroad’ is Moscow. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/[BBC 7/60 mins – The Diary of Samuel Pepys, starring Oliver Parker as Pepys. Episode 1 of 6.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins - New Metamorphoses/1 – Zeus and Semele, by Sebastian Baczkiewicz. "Five contemporary retellings of Ovid begin with this story ..." –[Radio Times. Starring Tony Jones (as Ovid, who appears in four of the five plays), Daniel Cerqueria, Robert Glenister, Lyndsey Marshall, with Peter Marinker as the Newsreader.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Oneira, by Robert Easby. Part 1 of 5 of a science fiction story starring Lyndsey Marshall. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

23:00/BBC Radio 4/30 mins – Sicken and So Die, by Simon Brett, dramatised by Jeremy Front. Bill Nighy and Suzanne Burden star in this adaptation of one of Simon Brett’s entertaining novels about Charles Paris. Episode 1 of 4.

TUESDAY

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Fatherland, by Robert Harris. Episode 2 of 5. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – Where Angels Fear to Tread, by E M Forster. Episode 7 of 10. Repeated tonight on BBC7 at 21:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Apple Blossom Afternoon, by Dave Sheasby. A man decides to spend his 55th birthday in the betting shop. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Diary of Samuel Pepys, starring Oliver Parker as Pepys. Episode 2 of 6.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins- New Metamorphoses/2 – Echo and Narcissus, by Hattie Naylor. Carl Prekopp plays Mat, who starts attending his local gym. Torchwood’s Burn Gorman is also in the cast.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Oneira, by Robert Easby. Part 2 of 5 of a science fiction story starring Lyndsey Marshall. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

WEDNESDAY

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Fatherland, by Robert Harris. Episode 3 of 5. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – Where Angels Fear to Tread, by E M Forster. Episode 8 of 10. Repeated tonight on BBC7 at 21:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Man in Snow. On a trip up Mount McKinlay a man recalls his dead son. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Diary of Samuel Pepys, starring Oliver Parker as Pepys. Episode 3 of 6.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins- New Metamorphoses/3 - Myrrha, by Colin Teevan. There are parts for Ben Crowe, Chris Pavlo and Peter Marinker in this story of the teenager Myrrha who was raised by Father Michael and his sister after being abandoned as a baby.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Oneira, by Robert Easby. Part 3 of 5 of a science fiction story starring Lyndsey Marshall. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

23:00/BBC Radio 4/30 mins – Night Watch, by Terry Pratchett, dramatised by Robin Brooks. A ‘must-listen’, with Philip Jackson, Carl Prekopp, Paul Ritter, Sam Dale, Clare Corbutt, Matt Addis, Ben Onwukwe and Peter Marinker. Episode 2 of 5.

THURSDAY

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Fatherland, by Robert Harris. Episode 4 of 5. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – Where Angels Fear to Tread, by E M Forster. Episode 9 of 10. Repeated tonight on BBC7 at 21:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Altaban the Magnificent, by Sebastian Baczkiewicz. This is a story of a young scientist in post-war Berlin. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Diary of Samuel Pepys, starring Oliver Parker as Pepys. Episode 4 of 6.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins- New Metamorphoses/4 – Callisto, by Nick Warburton. Mystery surrounds a picture of a celebrity and a tramp. Starring Shaun Dooley, Joannah Tincey, Rachel Atkins and John Rowe. Ben Onwukwe plays a bouncer, which alone will be worth listening out for!

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Oneira, by Robert Easby. Part 4 of 5 of a science fiction story starring Lyndsey Marshall. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

FRIDAY

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Fatherland, by Robert Harris. Episode 5 of 5. Repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – Where Angels Fear to Tread, by E M Forster. Episode 10 of 10. Repeated tonight on BBC7 at 21:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Blue Veils and Golden Sands, by Martyn Wade. The story of composer Delia Derbyshire, pioneer of electronic music. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – The Diary of Samuel Pepys, starring Oliver Parker as Pepys. Episode 5 of 6.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins- New Metamorphoses/5 - Phaeton, by Katie Hims. A promise between a father and son leads to tragic consequences. Rosie Cavaliero, Vincenzo Nicoil, Paul Hilton and Steven Webb star.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Oneira, by Robert Easby. Part 5 of 5 of a science fiction story starring Lyndsey Marshall. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

A lost weekend

2008-02-25T11:40:00.002Z

The BCPS Residential Weekend, due to take place from Friday April 4th to Monday April 7th at the Belgrave Hotel, Torquay will now be at a different venue. The BCPS was informed of the cancellation of their booking a short while ago. It seems that the hotel has been bought by Whitbread and will be transformed into a Premier Inn, the refurbishment taking place ready for re-opening in June. Thankfully, due to the help of the Belgrave’s staff and the hard work of BCPS organiser Chris Reeves, it looks like an alternative venue in Torquay on the same dates will be possible. As soon as details of the new arrangements have been finalised, they will be announced in The Problemist and on the BCPS website.

It is regrettable that the new owner, Whitbread, has seen fit not to honour bookings made in good faith with the previous management. While it is understood that refurbishment has to happen sometime, it is surmised that the fact of the sale and the dates of the refurbishment must have been known to Whitbread for some period before letting us know. If this surmise is true, then an earlier advice of the cancellation of the booking must have been possible. Whatever the dates, it is a fact that the BCPS and all the other people booked into the hotel during what has become the period of refurbishment, have had their arrangements cancelled at very short notice and will have to expend extra time and effort in finding alternatives. This is not due to an emergency, but rather to a business plan aimed at increasing profits. Unfortunately that business plan does not seem to have included any compensation for its victims.

Religious composers, Holladay, Gamage, anticipations and new look pages

2008-02-24T12:21:00.002Z

Some while ago I mentioned the chess problems published in The Tablet, the British Catholic magazine. I’m still keying them into Meson, having got as far as the end of 1940. So far, nearly all of the problems are by composers I hadn’t heard of, most of them being priests and or brothers of various religious orders. I knew that chess and presumably chess problems had been a favourite pastime for men of the cloth in years gone by, but it has been a surprise to me how many of them were active chess composers. Needless to say, none of these problems were already in Meson and I guess they will be completely unknown to today’s problemists, who have Paul Valois to thank for bringing them to light.

One of the books I bought from the BCPS bookseller at the Oakham solving final was Holladay Chess Problems by Edgar Holladay, one of the USA’s greatest chess composers. Holladay died in 2003 and this book appeared in 2007, edited by Robert Clyde Moore and published by Vampade, which is Dave Brown. It contains 400 problems by Holladay and, in the first 36 pages, a long introduction to Holladay the man and his views on the many areas that interested him, including chess composition. Many of these views are extracts from Holladay’s letters. The book is a wonderful store of Holladay directmates and, if you like that kind of thing, the multi-part problems that Holladay composed later in his career. I have already started keying the directmates into Meson, and, as most of them weren’t already there, this book is very useful source material.

A book that I have had for quite a while is Mike Prcic’s book about Frederick Gamage, published in 2004. I have slowly been keying in the problems from this book into Meson for some time too. At present I am in the middle of the final section of the book, which contains problems by Gamage thought to be previously unpublished. I have identified one of them as having been published and four of them as being anticipated. Given that number it has struck me that the reason some of these may not have been published is that Gamage had discovered them to be anticipated. For details of these anticipations, go to the Meson General Search page and enter ‘Gamage’ into the composer field and ‘Snap’ into the quotation field. In due course I will send all new details I discover to Mike as he does imply in the book that a further, corrected edition may be forthcoming at a later date.

Over the last week I have been discovering anticipations at the rate of more than one a day. Once I include checking for substantive anticipations in the #3 genre (which I am beginning the think about), I expect that rate to shoot up.

Yesterday I enhanced a couple of the Meson web pages. They are the ones listing the sources abstracted and being abstracted into Meson. They can both be accessed from this page. I hope these transformed pages look more like the rest of the website than they did. I plan to make similar changes to the other ‘old look’ pages in due course, finishing with the actual problem display page, which will undergo quite a transformation. It is amazing what changes a deeper understanding of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) can prompt!

Although I haven’t used any JavaScript in these new-look pages, it is used elsewhere on the site, so surfers should have JavaScript switched on to get the full benefit. I do plan to make extensive use of JavaScript on the problem display page.

I am pleased to note that, following my previewing of BBC Radio Drama, one person has emailed me to thank me for the information, having listened to his first radio drama in 30 years and having thoroughly enjoyed it. Excellent!

Radio Drama preview/3

2008-02-21T11:43:00.004Z

It’s well past Tuesday, so time for another look ahead into the coming week on the dramatic airwaves, but before I start on that, do take a look at The Wireless Theatre Company, a resource I have only just learned about and that would appear to be a wonderful initiative. I’ll write more about it when I have taken a longer look.

Saturday provides an unsettling, spooky and even horrific start to the week. At 12:00 on BBC 7 an inspector is calling, at 14:30 on BBC Radio 4 the schooner Demeter sails and at 18:30 on BBC 7 we get driven home. Settle down later in Athens at 21:00 on BBC Radio 4 for episode 4 of Fortunes of War. Sunday looks like a good day, giving us yet another classic drama in Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca on BBC 7, the next episode of Fortunes of War on BBC Radio 4 and then what looks like an intriguing story on BBC Radio 3 in the evening. There is gold on BBC 7 on the weekdays ahead. Especially recommended, on Monday to Wednesday at 10:15, repeated at 21:15, is My Uncle Freddie, Alex Ferguson’s engaging, pre-war stories based in the North East of England. This is just series one, so hopefully the later series are due to be repeated soon too. Last week BBC 7 gave us Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and this week it gives us Hercule Poirot. The magic of radio allows the tall and thin actor John Moffatt to play Poirot, as he has been doing for a long time now. In Death on the Nile the little grey cells take a detective’s holiday on the great river. Tag along Monday to Friday at 09:00 or again at 20:00, where your guides will include the rich tones of Donald Sinden. Over on BBC Radio 4 the Woman’s Hour Drama, at 10:45 and again at 19:45, is Black Narcissus, by Rumer Godden. Memories of the famous film will have me listening to this. Don’t miss a very special date late on Wednesday night at 23:00, when BBC Radio 4 treats us to another adaptation of a Terry Pratchett book. This time it’s Night Watch and it stars regular radio actors Philip Jackson and Carl Prekopp (playing the same character) along with other regular radio voices Sam Dale, Ben Onwukwe and Peter Marinker, who seem to be in everything just at the moment.

SATURDAY

12:00/BBC 7/90 mins – An Inspector Calls, by J B Priestley, starring Bob Peck as Inspector Goole. A classic, of course, and I shall be tuning in again.

14:30/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – The Voyage of the Demeter, by Robert Forrest, starring Finlay Welsh. To quote from Radio Times – "It is 1897, and the schooner Demeter sails from Bulgaria to the east coast of England, but something very nasty is lurking in the dark corners of the ship. A chilling tale of the supernatural ...". Echoes of a famous sea trip to Whitby in Bram Stoker’s novel ...

17:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Garrison Keillor’s Radio Show. This import from the USA is more a light entertainment show in the old BBC tradition than audio drama, but may well be worth listening to if you like that kind of thing. Garrison has a light (and sometimes not so light) line in satire that many find appealing. Listen out especially for his weekly monologue about ‘Lake Wobegone, My Home Town’. There are no real adverts broadcast during this program!

18:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Fear on Four: The Journey Home, a repeat of one of the old Radio 4 horror stories from the last century. This is sure to be worth a listen, especially as it is written by one of Radio’s very best writers – Bert Coules.

21:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – Fortunes of War, by Olivia Manning, dramatised by Jonathan Holloway, starring Joanna Lumley, Honeysuckle Weeks, Khalid Abdalla, James Fleet, Sam Dale, Alex Wyndham, Nigel Anthony etc. Part 4 of 6, this is a repeat of last Sunday’s episode, with part 5 being broadcast tomorrow at 15:00. I am finding this compelling, not least because I am currently reading the books on which it is based. Joanna Lumley’s narration, as the older Harriet Pringle, is just right, while the impetuous younger Harriet is well played by Honeysuckle Weeks. Another reason for liking this adaptation is because of the decision to use the music of Gerald Finzi, which I have long admired. Inevitably, much has been cut from the books, especially the adventures of Yakimov, his beloved car and his starring role in theatricals produced by Guy in Bucharest. In this episode the action moves to Athens and even more characters disappear, victims of Jonathan Hollaway’s cuts. Nonetheless, this dramatisation works very well, with the essentials of the relationship between the Pringles taking centre stage, as it should.

SUNDAY

10:00/BBC 7/90 mins – Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier. This is another classic drama on this network, and a compelling listen. Repeated this evening at 20:00 on BBC 7.

15:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins - Fortunes of War, by Olivia Manning, dramatised by Jonathan Holloway, starring Joanna Lumley, Honeysuckle Weeks, Khalid Abdalla, James Fleet, Sam Dale, Nigel Anthony, Peter Marinker, Philip Jackson etc. Part 5 of 6. See my comments at 21:00 on Saturday above. The action has moved to Egypt.

20:00/BBC Radio 3/90 mins – Girlfriend in a Coma, dramatised by Dan Rebellato from the book by Douglas Coupland. Quoting from [Radio Times] – "In December 1979, Karen Ann McNeill goes into a coma after a teenage party and remains unconscious until 1997. When she wakes up the voices in her head keep telling her the world is about to end, but Karen doesn’t believe them."

MONDAY

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Death on the Nile, by Agatha Christie, with John Moffatt doing his Hercule Poirot bit. Episode 1 of 5 and repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – Where Angels Fear to Tread, by E M Forster. Episode 1 of 10. Repeated tonight on BBC7 at 21:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – My Uncle Freddie, by Alex Ferguson. Series 1, Episode 1 of 3. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 1997. Set in Jarrow in the 1930s, these are the heart-warming adventures of young Alex and his uncle. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

10:45/BBC Radio 4/15 mins - Black Narcissus, by Rumer Godden, dramatised by Stephen Wyatt. Emma Fielding and Sara Kestelman star in this classic story. Episode 1 of 5. Repeated tonight on BBC Radio 4 at 19:45.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne. Episodes 1 and 2 of 4.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins- Corner, by Edson Burton. A thriller set in inner-city Bristol.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Spaceship II, by Paul Barnhill and Neil Warhurst. Part 1 of 5 of a science fiction comedy starring James Fleet. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

TUESDAY

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Death on the Nile, by Agatha Christie, with John Moffatt doing his Hercule Poirot bit. Episode 2 of 5 and repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – Where Angels Fear to Tread, by E M Forster. Episode 2 of 10. Repeated tonight on BBC7 at 21:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – My Uncle Freddie, by Alex Ferguson. Series 1, Episode 2 of 3. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 1997. Set in Jarrow in the 1930s, these are the heart-warming adventures of young Alex and his uncle. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

10:45/BBC Radio 4/15 mins - Black Narcissus, by Rumer Godden, dramatised by Stephen Wyatt. Emma Fielding and Sara Kestelman star in this classic story. Episode 2 of 5. Repeated tonight on BBC Radio 4 at 19:45.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne. Episodes 3 and 4 of 4.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins - When Greed Becomes Fear, by D J Britton. A topical story about sub-prime lending. Peter Marinker appears in this one, as do other current radio regulars Ben Crowe and Chris Pavlo.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Spaceship II, by Paul Barnhill and Neil Warhurst. Part 2 of 5 of a science fiction comedy starring James Fleet. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

WEDNESDAY

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Death on the Nile, by Agatha Christie, with John Moffatt doing his Hercule Poirot bit. Episode 3 of 5 and repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – Where Angels Fear to Tread, by E M Forster. Episode 3 of 10. Repeated tonight on BBC7 at 21:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – My Uncle Freddie, by Alex Ferguson. Series 1, Episode 3 of 3. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 1997. Set in Jarrow in the 1930s, these are the heart-warming adventures of young Alex and his uncle. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

10:45/BBC Radio 4/15 mins - Black Narcissus, by Rumer Godden, dramatised by Stephen Wyatt. Emma Fielding and Sara Kestelman star in this classic story. Episode 3 of 5. Repeated tonight on BBC Radio 4 at 19:45.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens, adapted by Nigel Bryant. Episodes 1 and 2 of 6.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins- Poetry for Beginners, by Kathryn Simmonds. A comic drama set at a residential writing course, starring Joanna Tope, Emma Currie and Crawford Logan.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Spaceship II, by Paul Barnhill and Neil Warhurst. Part 3 of 5 of a science fiction comedy starring James Fleet. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

23:00/BBC Radio 4/30 mins – Night Watch, by Terry Pratchett, dramatised by Robin Brooks. A ‘must-listen’. Episode 1 of 5.

THURSDAY

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Death on the Nile, by Agatha Christie, with John Moffatt doing his Hercule Poirot bit. Episode 4 of 5 and repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – Where Angels Fear to Tread, by E M Forster. Episode 4 of 10. Repeated tonight on BBC7 at 21:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – The Captain’s Wife, by Juliet Ace. A monologue performed by Patricia Hodge. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

10:45/BBC Radio 4/15 mins - Black Narcissus, by Rumer Godden, dramatised by Stephen Wyatt. Emma Fielding and Sara Kestelman star in this classic story. Episode 4 of 5. Repeated tonight on BBC Radio 4 at 19:45.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens, adapted by Nigel Bryant. Episodes 3 and 4 of 6.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins- Ghandi’s Goat, by Matthew Coombes. Set in the London of 1931, when Ghandhi is meeting Chaplin, Emily (Teresa Gallagher) and Anil (Zubin Varla) undertake a cultural exchange. Listen out for the ubiquitous Sam Dale as the newsreader and receptionist.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Spaceship II, by Paul Barnhill and Neil Warhurst. Part 4 of 5 of a science fiction comedy starring James Fleet. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

FRIDAY

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Death on the Nile, by Agatha Christie, with John Moffatt doing his Hercule Poirot bit. Episode 5 of 5 and repeated tonight on BBC 7 at 20:00.

10:00/BBC 7/15 mins – Where Angels Fear to Tread, by E M Forster. Episode 5 of 10. Repeated tonight on BBC7 at 21:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Showing Promise. Harry shakes up Marjorie's creative writing course. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

10:45/BBC Radio 4/15 mins - Black Narcissus, by Rumer Godden, dramatised by Stephen Wyatt. Emma Fielding and Sara Kestelman star in this classic story. Episode 5 of 5. Repeated tonight on BBC Radio 4 at 19:45.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens, adapted by Nigel Bryant. Episodes 5 and 6 of 6.

11:30/BBC Radio 4/30 mins – Crooked House, by Agatha Christie. Episode 4 of 4, with Rory Kinnear, Anna Maxwell Martin and Phil Davis.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins- Have Your Cake – Unusual Christening Cake, by Nicola Baldwin. Last in a series of six linked dramas about cakes, starring Lesley Sharp, Sheila Hancock, Neil Dudgeon, Tasmin Greig, etc.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Spaceship II, by Paul Barnhill and Neil Warhurst. Part 5 of 5 of a science fiction comedy starring James Fleet. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

21:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – Bad Dad, by Colin Hough. This play explores what might happen if the personal details of a prolific sperm donor failed to be kept confidential.

Radio Drama preview/2

2008-02-12T16:51:00.002Z

It’s Tuesday again, so time for another look ahead into the coming week on the dramatic airwaves.

No Saturday night ‘Wire’ drama on Radio 3 this week, and after last week’s offbeat and excellent Moonmen, I feel short-changed. The same network’s Sunday night offering looks like a good solid listen, though it will have to do well to be as good as last week’s play about Socrates, which I thought was absolutely first class.

I have included mention of the BBC World Service drama this week. It is broadcast on Saturday night, repeated on Sunday night. This weeks play, Kim’s Game, sounds as if it might be something special.

Radio 4’s output seems to be about their normal for a week’s drama. Apart from the Classic Serial, Fortunes of War and the intriguing new adaptation of Faust with Mark Gatiss, which is the Woman's Hour Serial, nothing stands out in particular. Perhaps it will after listening?

This week the real gold is on BBC7. We have what looks like the start of a Miss Marple season with the wonderful June Whitfield, a 90-minute play by Alan Plater, some really first-class 45-minute dramas, all of which I remember from their first broadcast on Radio 4. In my opinion, best of the best is the two-part I am David on Monday and Tuesday, though Glorious John, on Wednesday, comes in a close second. Suffice it to say that I shall be listening to them all again!

SATURDAY

12:00/BBC 7/90 mins – A Pocket Full of Rye, by Agatha Christie, starring June Whitfield as Miss Marple. With all the current interest in the hand-over of the role of television’s Miss Marple, nobody seems to mention June Whitfield’s superb interpretation for radio, which started in the 1990s. Apart from the main actor, this production boasts the remainder of BBC Radio’s Marple ‘A’ team – adaptor Michael Bakewell and director Enyd Williams. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 1995.

14:30/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – Spellbound, dramatised by Amanda Dalton from the Hitchcock film script by Ben Hecht and the book by Francis Beeding. Starring Hattie Morahan and Benedict Cumberbatch.

17:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Garrison Keillor’s Radio Show. This import from the USA is more a light entertainment show in the old BBC tradition than audio drama, but may well be worth listening to if you like that kind of thing. Garrison has a light (and sometimes not so light) line in satire that many find appealing. Listen out especially for his weekly monologue about ‘Lake Wobegone, My Home Town’. There are no real adverts broadcast during this program!

18:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Fear on Four: The Horn, a repeat of one of the old Radio 4 horror stories from the last century. This is sure to be worth a listen.

20:00/BBC World Service/60 mins – Kim’s Game, by Jonathan Myerson. According to the World Service website, this is an interactive drama that World Service listeners helped to create. Sounds interesting! Repeated on Sunday at 22:00.

21:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – Fortunes of War, by Olivia Manning, dramatised by Lin Coghlan, starring Joanna Lumley, Honeysuckle Weeks, Khalid Abdalla, James Fleet, John Rowe, Alex Wyndham, Nigel Anthony etc. Part 3 of 6, this is a repeat of last Sunday’s episode, with part 4 being broadcast tomorrow at 15:00. I am finding this compelling, not least because I am currently reading the books on which it is based. Joanna Lumley’s narration, as the older Harriet Pringle, is just right, while the impetuous younger Harriet is well played by Honeysuckle Weeks. Another reason for liking this adaptation is because of the decision to use the music of Gerald Finzi, which I have long admired. Inevitably, much has been cut from the books, especially the adventures of Yakimov, his beloved car and his starring role in theatricals produced by Guy. Nonetheless, this dramatisation works.

SUNDAY

10:00/BBC 7/90 mins – Who’s Jimmy Dickenson?, by Alan Plater. The name of the writer should be recommendation enough, so I shall be listening. First broadcast in 1986. Repeated this evening at 20:00 on BBC 7.

15:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins - Fortunes of War, by Olivia Manning, dramatised by Jonathan Holloway, starring Joanna Lumley, Honeysuckle Weeks, Khalid Abdalla, James Fleet, John Rowe, Nigel Anthony, Alex Wyndham, Nigel Anthony etc. Part 4 of 6. See my comments at 21:00 on Saturday above.

20:00/BBC Radio 3/75 mins – The Cool Bag Baby, by Katie Hims. Quoting from [Radio Times] – "A cool bag is left outside a café. Inside the bag is a baby. This baby is meant to be found by the café owner, taken home, loved and cherished. But today the café stays closed when it should be open. While the baby stays undiscovered, lives across London begin to fall apart."

MONDAY

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – At Bertram’s Hotel, by Agatha Christie, with June Whitfield doing her Miss Marple bit again. Episode 1 of 5 and repeated tonight on BBC7 at 20:00.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – I am David. Episode 1 of 2. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2003, when I remember being totally captivated by this first class dramatisation by John Peacock of the novel by Ann Holm. Do listen to this endearing story of a refugee child’s lone trip through Europe after escape from a concentration camp. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

10:45/BBC Radio 4/15 mins - Faust, by Jonathan Holloway, adapted by Martin Jenkins. Part 1 of 5. With the talented Mark Gatiss as Mephistopheles and Julian Rhind-Tutt as Faustus. Intriguing! Repeated tonight on Radio 4 at 19:45.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy. Part 6 of 10.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins- Too Up Too Down, by Jim Poyser.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Spaceship, by Paul Barnhill and Neil Warhurst. Part 1 of 5 of a science fiction comedy starring James Fleet. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

TUESDAY

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – At Bertram’s Hotel, by Agatha Christie, starring June Whitfield, Part 2 of 5. Repeated on BBC 7 at 20:00 tonight.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – I am David. Episode 2 of 2. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2003, when I remember being totally captivated by this first class dramatisation by John Peacock of the novel by Ann Holm. Do listen to this endearing story of a refugee child’s lone trip through Europe after escape from a concentration camp. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

10:45/BBC Radio 4/15 mins - Faust, by Jonathan Holloway, adapted by Martin Jenkins. Part 2 of 5. With the talented Mark Gatiss as Mephistopheles and Julian Rhind-Tutt as Faustus. Intriguing! Repeated tonight on Radio 4 at 19:45.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy. Part 7 of 10.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins- Pavement Stars, by Gillian and Catrin Clarke.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Spaceship, by Paul Barnhill and Neil Warhurst. Part 2 of 5 of a science fiction comedy starring James Fleet. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

WEDNESDAY

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – At Bertram’s Hotel, by Agatha Christie, starring June Whitfield, Part 3 of 5. Repeated on BBC 7 at 20:00 tonight.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Glorious John, by Glynn Hughes. A retired lecturer looks back on his childhood. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2002, this is not really about famous conductor Sir John Barbirolli. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

10:45/BBC Radio 4/15 mins - Faust, by Jonathan Holloway, adapted by Martin Jenkins. Part 3 of 5. With the talented Mark Gatiss as Mephistopheles and Julian Rhind-Tutt as Faustus. Intriguing! Repeated tonight on Radio 4 at 19:45.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy. Part 8 of 10.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins- Cobwebs, by David Hodgson.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Spaceship, by Paul Barnhill and Neil Warhurst. Part 3 of 5 of a science fiction comedy starring James Fleet. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

THURSDAY

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – At Bertram’s Hotel, by Agatha Christie, starring June Whitfield, Part 4 of 5. Repeated on BBC 7 at 20:00 tonight.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – The Deep End, by Peter Lawson. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 1999. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

10:45/BBC Radio 4/15 mins - Faust, by Jonathan Holloway, adapted by Martin Jenkins. Part 4 of 5. With the talented Mark Gatiss as Mephistopheles and Julian Rhind-Tutt as Faustus. Intriguing! Repeated tonight on Radio 4 at 19:45.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy. Part 9 of 10.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins - When to Run, by.Sophie Woolley.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – The Spaceship, by Paul Barnhill and Neil Warhurst. Part 4 of 5 of a science fiction comedy starring James Fleet. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

FRIDAY

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – At Bertram’s Hotel, by Agatha Christie, starring June Whitfield, Part 5 of 5. Repeated on BBC 7 at 20:00 tonight.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – If Music Be the Food of Love, Mine’s a Jam Butty, by Lesley Whiteley and Julie Wilkinson. A young woman, released from caring for her ailing father, discovers a new life. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 1999. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

10:45/BBC Radio 4/15 mins - Faust, by Jonathan Holloway, adapted by Martin Jenkins. Part 5 of 5. With the talented Mark Gatiss as Mephistopheles and Julian Rhind-Tutt as Faustus. Intriguing! Repeated tonight on Radio 4 at 19:45.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy. Part 10 of 10.

11:30/BBC Radio 4/30 mins – Crooked House, by Agatha Christie, adapted by Joy Wilkinson. Part 3 of 4. The cast includes Rory Kinnear, Anna Maxwell Martin and Phil Davis.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins - Have Your Cake/4 – Lady’s Cake, by Nicola Baldwin. Fifth in a series of six connected dramas, starring Lesley Sharp, Sheila Hancock, Neil Dudgeon and Tamsin Greig.

21:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – The Heroic Pursuits of Darleen Fyles, by Esther Wilson. This is a story of learning disabilities and sheltered accommodation and would appear to be more topical and serious drama from Radio 4 on a Friday night. For some reason I am never in the right mood for such things on a Friday night, but luckily there is always ‘Listen Again’.

Meson update, Oakham and farewell to The Jazz

2008-02-11T19:55:00.000Z

Yesterday, the number of problems in Meson went past 76,000, which to me at least is quite a milestone as I keyed them all in! Just recently I have caught up with the problems published in the German magazine Troll, which are made available by its chess problem editor Udo Degener on his website. Udo also edits the problem section of the German chess magazine Schach and he provides recent awards on his website.

Paul Valois continues to dig in the newspaper libraries. Just recently he has handed me the entire contents of the chess problem column in The Tablet from 1919 to 1968. I am in the middle of 1927 at the moment. I must take this opportunity of again paying tribute to Paul, whose research work is invaluable to Meson.

All the #2s from all the FIDE Albums (including the annexes) are now in Meson. Most of the other Meson types are too, with just the last four volumes to work through. When that is finished that will be another milestone. Probably just in time for the publication of another FIDE Album!

The Final of the Winton Capital British Chess Solving Championship (WCBCSC) is next Saturday, 16th February. As all invited competitors will have read in their invitations, the deadline for entries is Wednesday 13th February. If you haven’t yet confirmed your participation and wish to solve, then please contact me immediately. All the problems have been selected and all the sheets typeset and proofread. Only the copying remains to be done.

Earlier today, while listening to The World at One and planning the contents of this post, I heard the sad news that the fairly new digital radio station The Jazz, run by the same people as Classic FM, was to close down. Just when I had discovered it and was going to plug it here. Sadly, it seems that not all commercial DAB stations are commercial enough.

Radio Drama preview/1

2008-02-06T13:48:00.000Z

Tuesday is one of the days of the week that I enjoy most, because that is the day that the new Radio Times becomes available and I can sit down and plan my listening for the week ahead. I don’t have a television so it is only listening that I plan. The majority of pages in each Radio Times are devoted to television but I only read the fewer radio-related pages. Nevertheless, I continue to buy Radio Times each week, as, as far as I know, it is the only printed source of detailed radio listings available in Great Britain. Of course, there are the BBC Radio websites and the Radio Times website itself, both of which are highly recommended, but sometimes it is just too much bother to turn the computer on, especially if one has been sitting in front of it for much of the day already.

Here is the first of what I hope will become a series of Radio Drama previews, devoted for the moment at least to the output of BBC Radio. I know that I am not being consistent, because I have included a couple of programmes that are not drama and have excluded drama on the BBC World Service. Radio Times weeks always start on a Saturday, so I shall do likewise. This coming weekend we are to be treated to a double dose of Joss Ackland, who possesses one of the most memorable of radio voices.

SATURDAY

12:00/BBC 7/90 mins – Bonecrack, by Dick Francis, starring Francis Matthews, Dennis Bowen and Roger Snowdon. The latest in a series of Dick Francis thrillers broadcast in this slot by BBC 7. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 1976.

12:30/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – Flashman at the Charge, by George MacDonald Fraser, starring Joss Ackland. Part 2 of 2, this adaptation of one the MacDonald Fraser’s famous Flashman novels is a repeat (first broadcast in 2002) in tribute to the author, who died earlier this year.

17:00/BBC 7/60 mins – Garrison Keillor’s Radio Show. This import from the USA is more a light entertainment show in the old BBC tradition than audio drama, but may well be worth listening to if you like that kind of thing. Garrison has a light (and sometimes not so light) line in satire that many find appealing. Listen out especially for his weekly monologue about ‘Lake Wobegone, My Home Town’. There are no real adverts broadcast during this programme!

18:30/BBC 7/30 mins – Fear on Four: Dreaming of Thee, a repeat of one of the old Radio 4 horror stories from the last century. This is sure to be worth a listen.

21:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – Fortunes of War, by Olivia Manning, dramatised by Lin Coghlan, starring Joanna Lumley, Honeysuckle Weeks, Khalid Abdalla, James Fleet, John Rowe, Alex Wyndham, etc. Part 2 of 6, this is a repeat of last Sunday’s episode, with part 3 being broadcast tomorrow at 15:00. I am finding this compelling, not least because I am currently reading the books on which it is based. Joanna Lumley’s narration, as the older Harriet Pringle, is just right, while the impetuous younger Harriet is well played by Honeysuckle Weeks. Another reason for liking this adaptation is because of the decision to use the music of Gerald Finzi, which I have long admired.

21:10/BBC Radio 3/60 mins – Moonmen, by Jimmy McAleavy, starring Dermot Crowley, Nathan Osgood, Peter Marinker, etc. Described by Radio Times as "a philosophical encounter between an orbiting astronaut and a CB radio enthusiast in rural Ireland", this appears to be a must-listen, especially as the preview in Radio Times says it is "A brilliant example of radio drama at its most gripping."

SUNDAY

10:00/BBC 7/90 mins – Daughters of Venice, by Don Taylor, starring Frances Barber and Amanda Root. Latest in a series of radio plays by Don Taylor (who died in 2003) on this network. As this is likely to be as good as other plays by the same writer, do make a date to listen to this. Repeated this evening at 20:00 on BBC 7.

15:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins - Fortunes of War, by Olivia Manning, dramatised by Lin Coghlan, starring Joanna Lumley, Honeysuckle Weeks, Khalid Abdalla, James Fleet, John Rowe, Nigel Anthony, Alex Wyndham, etc. Part 3 of 6. See my comments at 21:00 on Saturday above.

20:00/BBC Radio 3/90 mins – The Trial and Death of Socrates, by Sebastian Baczkiewicz, starring Joss Ackland as Socrates and a strong cast including David Calder, Tim McInnerny, Joseph Kloska, Peter Marinker, Ben Onwukwe and Ben Crowe. Baczkiewicz has as solid reputation as a writer for radio. In addition to that the story is a classic one and the cast has much radio experience between them, so that’s my Sunday night planned! I’ll just have to use ‘listen again’ to catch up with the Don Taylor drama over on BBC 7 at the same time.

MONDAY

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Posters of Montmatre/1 – Mary Belfort, a series of four plays based on Toulouse-Lautrec's posters of Paris. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy. Part 1 of 10. Another chance to hear this classic adaptation of a classic novel.

12:00/BBC Radio 3/60 mins – Composer of the Week: Herbert Howells, Part 1 of 5, continuing throughout the coming week. Repeated each evening on BBC Radio 3 at 20:45. Not radio drama, of course, but recommended to those with an interest in British music of the 20th Century.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins- Next of Kin, by Pearse Elliott.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Jefferson 37, by Jenny Stephen. Part 1 of 4 of a science fiction drama about cloning. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

TUESDAY

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Cover her Face, by P D James, starring Robin Ellis, Part 1 of 4. Repeated on BBC 7 at 20:00 tonight.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Posters of Montmatre/2 – Footlit and Chocolat. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy. Part 2 of 10.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins- Two Brown Eyes, by Angela Turvey. Sam Troughton plays the young Frederick Delius in Florida in 1884.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Jefferson 37, by Jenny Stephen. Part 2 of 4 of a science fiction drama about cloning. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

WEDNESDAY

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Cover her Face, by P D James, starring Robin Ellis, Part 2 of 4. Repeated on BBC 7 at 20:00 tonight.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Posters of Montmatre/3 – Casque d’Or. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy. Part 3 of 10.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins- Silver Street: It’s Coming Home, by Sonali Bhattacharyya. An expansion of a story from the BBC Asian Network soap Silver Street.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Jefferson 37, by Jenny Stephen. Part 3 of 4 of a science fiction drama about cloning. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

THURSDAY

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Cover her Face, by P D James, starring Robin Ellis, Part 3 of 4. Repeated on BBC 7 at 20:00 tonight.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Posters of Montmatre/4 – Aristide Bruant. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy. Part 4 of 10.

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins - The Shell House, by Ronald Frame, with Sylvestra Le Touzel and Struan Rodger. "A romantic drama with a difference", says Radio Times.

18:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Jefferson 37, by Jenny Stephen. Part 3 of 4 of a science fiction drama about cloning. Repeated at midnight tonight on BBC 7.

FRIDAY

09:00/BBC 7/30 mins – Cover her Face, by P D James, starring Robin Ellis, Part 4 of 4. Repeated on BBC 7 at 20:00 tonight.

10:15/BBC 7/45 mins – Fresh from the Coast. Repeated this evening on BBC 7 at 21:15.

11:00/BBC 7/60 mins – War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy. Part 5 of 10.

11:30/BBC Radio 4/30 mins – Crooked House, by Agatha Christie, adapted by Joy Wilkinson. Part 2 of 4. The cast includes Anna Maxwell Martin and Phil Davis. If you look lively, you can catch Part 1 this coming Friday!

14:15/BBC Radio 4/45 mins - Have Your Cake/4 – Scripture Cake, by Amanda Whittington. Fourth in a series of six connected dramas, starring Lesley Sharp, Sheila Hancock, Neil Dudgeon and Tamsin Greig.

21:00/BBC Radio 4/60 mins – Broken English, by Frank Deasy. A story of a Kurdish family held in a detention centre in Great Britain and under threat of deportation. Topical and serious drama from Radio 4 on a Friday night.

Piotr Murdzia's new site

2008-02-06T09:40:00.000Z

Champion chess problem solver Piotr Murdzia has revamped his website at a new URL - well worth investigating.

The ISC, Oakham, ECSC and some good radio drama

2008-01-23T13:33:00.000Z

The British end of the International Solving Contest (ISC) takes place in Sheffield this weekend: see the announcement on my website. There are plenty of places left (and there is a ‘minor’ section for weaker players) so if you fancy taking part, please contact me urgently. My email address is with the announcement.

Three weeks after that the final of the Winton Capital British Chess Solving Championship (WCBCSC) takes place at Oakham School. There is an open section alongside the closed British Championship, to which titled foreign solvers are invited – see this announcement for details and terms. I am just about to do the final typesetting of material for this event and that will be my priority after the ISC has finished.

At the end of March (earlier than has become normal) is the 2008 European Chess Solving Championship at Antalya, Turkey: see that announcement also. After Oakham, I shall be selecting the British 6-person squad, which hopefully will include a junior.

For the last two evenings at 21:15 I have been listening on BBC7 to two linked plays by Alan Plater, called Only a Matter of Time and Time Added on For Injuries. Being on BBC7 means that both of them were repeats and a bit of research shows that they were first broadcast in 1999, probably on BBC Radio 4, though I don’t recall hearing them first time around. Starring James Bolam and Alan David, both plays explore the differences between progressive and traditional viewpoints. They are set 150 years apart, and use the introduction of the railways, which led to standard British time, and the recent trend of Government apologies for past misdeeds as a foil between the characters, leading to some scintillating dialogue. For the next few days you can listen to these plays over the Internet and you can find the first of them here. Do give them a listen!

Now, to move from what was good radio drama, to what I hope will be good radio drama.

I am currently reading the third novel in Olivia Manning’s The Balkan Trilogy and am looking forward to reading the same author’s The Levant Trilogy, which I was happy to receive as a present at Christmas. All six books together make up Fortunes of War which was a BBC television drama in 1987, though as I have been without a television since 1984, I never watched it. In what is a welcome coincidence, I find from the new Radio Times that a new radio adaptation of the two trilogies starts next Sunday 27th January in the Classic Serial slot on BBC Radio 4 at 15:00, presumably repeated on the following Saturdays at 21:00. This serial will comprise 6 hour-long episodes. The cast includes Joanna Lumley (as narrator), Honeysuckle Weeks, Khalid Abdalla, James Fleet, Peter Marinker and the ubiquitous voice-actor John Rowe, whom we last heard as the polarizing character Jim Lloyd in The Archers. I shall have to make sure that I remain at least a novel ahead of the radio!

Marsh Towers

2008-01-12T15:05:00.000Z

An email from Sean Marsh, an old acquaintance of mine from further up North who is a contributor to CHESS, has disclosed his excellent blog, Marsh Towers. A lot more about playing chess, and indeed other subjects, than about chess composition, but well worth a read. There's a lot of it, so don't get too bogged down!

On another non-composition note, I have just added some material to my Sheffield Chess History website.

The scraping

2008-01-08T17:15:00.000Z

Things are now back to normal after the holiday break, which I hope everyone enjoyed. I duly caught the traditional lousy cold, which I wouldn’t recommend to anyone, and was laid up for several days over the New Year. Given the reports in Great Britain of a violent stomach virus, which has closed many hospital wards, I probably came off quite well compared to others.

A day or so ago came the sad news from Harry Fougiaxis of the death of Greek Grandmaster composer Byron Zappas (1927-2008). I will be posting some of his wonderful compositions on the website in the near future.

Some of you will remember that last year Anders Thulin warned me about ‘scraping’. Well, it has happened.

Over a period of 2 to 3 hours, in the very early morning of 19th December 2007 some 700 MB of data was requested and delivered by my website. This was 47% of the monthly total for December. Analysis in the server logs shows that the requesting machine (server?) had an IP address of 70.174.136.105. This machine is apparently domiciled in Fairfax, Virginia in the USA. Given the amount of data shifted in such a short time, this was clearly a robot, not a real user. The robot hit 75,765 pages and the logs show that it looped around problem id numbers, apparently using several threads. These records imply that it went through the whole of the Meson database. From evidence in the logs, it seems likely that this robot was written in the Python programming language. So somebody, presumably in the USA, has a copy of the Meson database, and I suppose that it is likely that it will appear elsewhere on the Internet at some point in the future.

This makes me angry for a couple of reasons. First, although (1) I made the decision to make Meson freely available, (2) I don’t own any of the problems and (3) no security has been broken, I nonetheless feel that the problems I have spent years collecting have been stolen. Second, my bandwidth allowance from my service provider might have been exceeded (it wasn’t, as it happens) and I could have ending up paying for the robot-wielder to acquire the data.

There is no point in locking the door after the horse has bolted, so I shall be taking no immediate steps to stop this happening again. However, I shall not be adding any new problems or making any amendments until I have devised and implemented a successful anti-robot strategy. This may take some while, as I have other tasks of an arguably higher priority. Part of the strategy is likely to include registration for users. Comments welcome.

Solving update, additions to Meson and additions to BCPS website

2007-12-09T13:42:00.000Z

The 2007-2008 WCBCSC Postal Round (see the problems and the results) must have been one of the most difficult ever as the normal last-minute deluge of entries didn’t happen and the total number of entries, at just 60, is one of the lowest that I can ever remember. It seems that the better and more experienced solvers found the long helpmate the most difficult, but for everybody else it was the long selfmate that held them up. As ever, I found it difficult to judge the difficulty of the problems I selected. As that long selfmate is such a lovely problem and is intensely thematic I naively thought that it wouldn’t be that difficult, but I was wrong, at least as far as the less-experienced solvers were concerned.

All email entrants have been informed of the results and the solutions. Replies to postal entrants will go out tomorrow. Some qualifiers to the final have already accepted their invitations. A page about the final, listing confirmed entrants, guests and controllers is on my website. This page will be updated as invitations are responded to.

At the WCBCSC Final, solving the same problems, will be solvers in the Open Championship, competing for the cup presented by our sponsors, Winton Capital Management. Former world champion Piotr Murdzia has already confirmed his entry and it is hoped that other overseas solvers will also take part. For details of the prize fund for the Open and of conditions for overseas solvers, please go to this page of my website. Overseas solvers wishing to compete should enter soon, as there is limited space and entries will only be accepted on a first come, first served basis.

I’ve made a few additions and amendments to Meson recently. Some of those were as a result of very welcome help from two of my hard-working problemist friends, Paul Valois and Michael McDowell. Paul has been going through the chess columns in the Weekly Westminster, which ran from August 1922 to January 1926 (when it was reabsorbed into the Westminster Gazette) and has sent me details of the chess compositions published there. The library he did his research in did not have a complete run but Paul was able to see most of it. All the problems he collected are now online. As well as adding new problems this research has also meant that I have adjusted the sources of several of the problems already on Meson.

Michael has also been researching chess columns, this time at Colindale where he has been going through those in the Illustrated London News and the Era. He has passed me several pages of problems from these sources with full publication details. I have only got a limited way through this material so far and, although I haven’t actually added that many new problems, I have added sources to many that were previously unsourced on Meson.

My thanks are due to both Paul and Michael. Their various research efforts are of great importance to Meson.

Mention of Michael reminds me to report that his excellent article about British composer Eric Westbury has just been added to the British Composers page of the BCPS website. Do give it a look. Michael's review of the November 2007 BCPS magazines is another recent addition to that site.

In the time running up to Christmas I shall be doing some urgent programming work for the BCPS and writing up the Rhodes meeting for the February issue of CHESS.

A reminder to postal solvers

2007-11-21T11:23:00.000Z

The arrival of four sets of solutions this morning has prompted me to realise that the last date for posting solutions to the postal round of the WCBCSC, 2007-2008 (30th November 2007) is fast approaching. If you are a competing solver in this, and I haven’t yet received your solutions, now would be a good time to prepare and send them. Solutions by email are always welcome, and will be acknowledged, but if you want to send by ordinary post, please do remember to enclose a stamped-addressed-envelope for me to use to send you the solutions and any invitation to the final that you may qualify for.

I keep a list of those solvers I have received postal round solutions from here on my website, so please go there to check whether I have received your entry.

Another new look

2007-11-15T14:13:00.000Z

Since returning from Rhodes I have been busy giving my BDS Website another new look, even before the previous new look had been attached to the whole website! This new look uses more Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and JavaScript and I think it looks a lot better. Not all pages have the new look, particularly within the Meson part of the website, but I shall slowly complete the transformation and in the process hopefully improve the look of data retrieved from Meson. In the WCBCSC section, most of the archive material has yet to be tranformed and added.

As ever, of course, there is a price to pay. The increase in use of images, CSS and JavaScript means that there is more to download before each page can be displayed and so users will have slightly longer to wait. In real terms this should only affect those using dial-up, but my statistics tell me that there are very few of them, so I hope that I may be forgiven. I hope that I can also be forgiven for moving the address of the Meson part of the website. Those of you who prefer to go directly there should now bookmark this address.

I would be grateful for advice of any errors, broken links, etc.

Warsaw Chess Solving Grand Prix

2007-11-09T09:36:00.000Z

Just had an email from Piotr Murdzia in Poland announcing the website for this event. Piotr writes:

"You will find fresh results just only one hour after each round.You will also have a posibillity of online competing (set of problems(without originals however) should appear one hour after starts each round.Photo gallery, etc."

The event is this weekend (10th/11th November) and seems worth following over the internet.

Life back to normal after Rhodes

2007-10-26T15:06:00.000Z

Now that I have enjoyed several good nights’ sleep, I’ve been looking through the problems produced for the composing tourneys at Rhodes. They are printed in the bulletin handed out during the banquet on the final night. This bulletin is available as a PDF file. There were lots of helpmate tourneys, two directmate tourneys and two selfmate tourneys as well as a retro tourney and a fairy tourney. I have selected a #3 and a S#3 for display on my website. Go to the Selected Compositions page and find problem ‘2007c5e401’ in the menu under ‘Orthodox’ and ‘#3’ and problem ‘2007d1e301’ under ‘Orthodox’ and ‘Selfmates’. They are not winners of top prizes, but I liked them. I haven’t yet looked at any of the huge number of helpmates in the bulletin, but shall probably do so later.

I’ve set up a website for Darnall and Handsworth Chess Club, for whom I play from time to time. While searching for a way of displaying games so that they could be played over on-screen, I came across PGN to JS, which is a utility for converting a game into HTML and Javascript. It is easy to use and seems to work well. I prefer it to using a Java Applet: it takes less time to load and in my opinion it looks better than the Java Applets used on other sites. It appears that problems can also be set up using this utility, so it is possible that I shall start using it for problems on my website, though not for those in Meson. If successful this will mean that readers will be able to play over the solutions to the problems on screen.

I’d like to offer congratulations to the two British recipients of IM titles confirmed in Rhodes. The first, a solving title, went to Colin McNab after his performance in the Open Solving event. Frustratingly he missed a GM norm by just a minute! The second title, for composing, went to one of the most prolific British composers of recent years, Christopher Jones, whose helpmates are well known to solvers all around the world. A modern problem magazine lacking an original by Christopher Jones is a rare bird indeed.

Mentioning Christopher gives me an opportunity to mention the BCPS website and some of the good things on it. There is a section about British composers and Christopher Jones is listed there. While there do be sure to read about the other composers listed. The section on T R Dawson, provided by George Jelliss, is particularly informative.

While in Rhodes I was pleased to meet French solver Alain Villeneuve once again. His presence meant that the French had a team in the WCSC, quite a rare occurrence. Seeing Alain brought my friend John Nelson to mind. John is one of the best chess players in Sheffield. The thought occurred that it would be nice if Nelson could play Villeneuve in a match.

Photos from Rhodes

2007-10-22T11:31:00.000Z

British delegate to the PCCC, Paul Valois.
The view the solvers couldn't see while solving. The control team was luckier.
Georgy Evseev of Russia who came second to Nunn in the WCSC.
New composing grandmaster Marjan Kovacevic of Serbia. The new title adds to his solving grandmaster title.

Russian composers (left to right) Boris Shorokhov, Igor Vereshchagin, Valery Gurov and Oleg Pervakov relaxing in Eddy's bar a short distance from the hotel. There is no vodka in sight, but the beer is very strong - a Trappist brew from Belgium.

The new World Chess Solving Champion

2007-10-22T11:23:00.000Z

The new World Chess Solving Champion, John Nunn of Great Britain. To his left are Irish chess composer Allan Bell, Scottish chess composer Brian Edwards and British chess composer/solver Michael McDowell.

Return from Rhodes

2007-10-22T11:09:00.000Z

I’m now back in Sheffield following an exhausting week in Rhodes for the 50th World Congress of Chess Composition (WCCC). Available on the Permanent Commission for Chess Composition (PCCC) website are the results of the Open Solving and the World Chess Solving Championship (WCSC). As solving director I was quickly tired out with too many solutions to mark, too many discretionary decisions to make, too many late nights and probably too many beers too. For the moment I shall just post some of my photographs here. In the future I may get around to writing up the event in more detail, but as I spent all week concentrating on the solving I probably wouldn’t be the best person to do this. Any offers? I can’t offer any payment, but I can offer quick publication.

Time for a rest

2007-10-07T16:32:00.000Z

With just a week to go before the start of the 50th World Congress of Chess Composition (WCCC) in Rhodes, Greece, I am relieved to report that all my preparations for the WCSC are complete.

In the remaining days before flying to Rhodes I shall have a bit of a rest, probably spending my time fiddling around trying to improve the website and converting it to the new format. There is still much to learn about Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and Javascript. Unfortunately there is much to frustrate one with the failure of major browsers to follow a standard enough approach to allow a single piece of code to work across the board. In the old days the major problem for a programmer was the user moving the goal posts. Of course, that is probably a bigger issue than ever these days, but today's web programmer has also got to learn to cope with the browser providers moving the pitch too!

Since my last post I have done little with the site apart from adding some new problems to Meson. I may even do some more of that in the next few days.

The only other thing to report is that the BCPS website, following a week of downtime, has been moved to www.theproblemist.org. Perhaps those who need to would update their links, please?

A page a day

2007-09-20T18:02:00.000Z

As well as WCSC preparation, I’ve been slowly converting the BDS Website to the new look, at the rate of about a page a day. The two minor sections are complete, most of the ‘Chess Composition’ section, with the exception of the actual problems, is done and most of Meson (except the front page and the acknowledgements) has yet to be converted. As the ‘snaps’ and the ‘near snaps’ are now available through Meson in the normal way, I have deleted the snaps pages.

Work on adding problems and identifying anticipations has stopped completely for the time being until WCSC preparation is complete, which I hope will be in a couple of weeks or so.

While I have been spending my time on other things, other people have been making use of Meson. So far, only part way through the month of September, the bandwidth used is higher than for any full month previously recorded. Looking at the statistics, it is clear that, although there are only between 30 and 60 visitors a day to the website, a small handful of them are making extensive use of Meson. So I am able to come to the clear conclusion that making Meson available in an unfinished state was not a waste of my time.

After the WCSC, with more Java coding and some study and use of CSS and Javascript, I plan to fill the gaps in Meson.

A new look

2007-09-09T16:37:00.000Z

Due to several days of uninterrupted WCSC preparation I haven't been doing any work on Meson at all. However, being in need of a rest from the WCSC and needing a fix of something more creative, I have been learning a bit more about Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). My intention is to improve the look of the website and to try and ensure that it has a similar look on most browsers. The main technique involves using CSS positioning instead of tables for page layout.

After two days I have only managed to get the home page successfully changed. I hope that the rest of the site will be transformed at a much faster rate, though it will of course be a background task. I am also planning some technical changes so that updates will be quicker to implement.

More snaps

2007-08-29T14:24:00.000Z

I have twice written here that there was a bug in the routines I used to identify complete anticipations, which are those that share an exact position, possibly with reflection and/or rotation. I am glad to say that I have now found that bug and, because is was a bug in the design, completely rewritten those routines. That reworking is not quite finished (I still have to look for positions that are both reflected and rotated), but I have now identified several more complete anticipations, and lots of reflected duplicates. The anticipations have been tagged and the duplicates have been deleted. This explains why, even given the problems that I have had time to enter in the last few days, there are very few more problems in Meson than there were at the time of my last post.

All of the above has interrupted my investigation of 'AntCheck' output and I still have about 200 anticipation/posticipation pairs to check out. There was so much output this time that I decided to delete any output with a comparison ratio of less that 85%, which amounted to about 700 pairs. Too many of those at less than 85% were false positives and I was wasting a lot of time.

WCSC preparation work is beginning to take over, so it is likely that posts here will become even more infrequent until I have everything ready for Rhodes.

Anticipation statistics

2007-08-23T15:01:00.000Z

I have now added a new page to the statistics section on Meson. It provides totals and percentages of unsound and anticipated directmate problems. The unsoundness indicator is just an entry in the classification XML, and counting up the unsound problems takes longer than most queries on Meson do. So, when you click on the 'Numbers concerning unsoundness and anticipation' link on the statistics page, don't be too surprised about the delay of a few seconds before the server sends the next page.

'AntCheck' is running again, looking for #2s which are 80% or more the same as each other. As I write, it has checked 24,500 of the problems and recorded 520 possible hits for me to investigate. As both sides of a 'match' normally show up during this process, that figure of 520 is probably not as bad as it sounds. To try and eliminate 'false positives' I have tightened up the comparison routines a bit, but only time will tell what difference, if any, that will make.

The number of unsound problems is worrying and I have started to investigate them, starting with the #2s in the FIDE Albums. So far I have been through the unsound #2s in the first two albums and found 3 where the error was mine, getting the diagrams wrong on entry to Meson. These have been corrected and I shall continue my enquiries.

Having mentioned the FIDE Albums, it is probably worth stating that all #2s in all the Albums up to and including 1995-1997 (and annexe) are in Meson. Starting from 1914-1944 all other types of interest to Meson are included up to 1986-1988 and annexe. I am currently working my way through the moremovers in the 1989-1991 album.

Outlook for the next period: expect anticipation numbers to rise and unsoundness numbers to drop!

AntCheck finished again

2007-08-16T19:35:00.000Z

The optimised AntCheck ran for a shade under 48 hours, using two threads on my desktop PC and one on my laptop. It actually finished its run last week, but I have taken some while to investigate all its output. All the anticipations that it found have now been recorded on Meson and uploaded to the website.

I must stress that although AntCheck has found more anticipations than I expected, it has so far only completed phase one of its planned operation. Readers will remember that in early days of testing I set AntCheck to look for matches of 80% or over but that I was overwhelmed with results, too many of which were false positives. Hence my decision to reset the match level to 90% or over. I now plan to run AntCheck at the lower level, but I am sure that there will be still more anticipations to be found even after that scan is finished. In recent weeks Michael McDowell has pointed out two anticipation/posticipation pairs within Meson that AntCheck hadn't found. In one case the comparison ratio was in the range 60-70% and in the other it was 70-80%, so it would have been some time before AntCheck found them.

All of the above leads me to two conclusions. First: there are more anticipations to be found than I thought there would be, which, given the small number of #2s on Meson so far probably means that the percentage of anticipated problems will rise as more #2s are added. Second: unless I want to wade through a great number of false positives output by AntCheck, I should refine Meson's classification system. That task is for after the WCSC.

Solutions to the WCBCSC Postal Round have started to arrive by email. Two have so far landed in my electronic in box. One of them had to be re-sent because its first emailing didn't arrive. This persuades me to add a new page on the WCBCSC website, to contain an up-to-date list of the names of solvers whose sets of solutions have been received.

For the first time I am not typing up this posting on Microsoft Word, but on an Office suite called OpenOffice. A few days ago, while visiting Sun's website to download the latest version of Java, I happened upon this free software and downloaded it there and then. As it can read all the stuff I already have in Word format, and it can save in Word format, I am happy to give it a go safe in the knowledge that I will not lose anything. I'll report here further on how I get on with it. One immediate happy discovery was that I can use it's database package as a front end to the Meson database on my desktop machine. As my Java Meson application doesn't yet have full functionality to cover all that needs doing on Meson, I have been using the command line for ad hoc access for a long time. I am an admitted command line junkie so I don't know whether I shall be able to live with a windows interface, but time will tell.

Writing this posting has taken more time than usual. I have been listening to some music at the same time and there have been many pauses while I paid full attention to it. Those who know me will know of my love for the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, particularly the songs. Here's the CD on Amazon. The singer is the tenor Ian Partridge. This album is one of my favourites and I've owned a copy for a long time. In a fine collection of song-cycles two are particularly memorable – the “Ten Blake Songs”, during which Partridge is accompanied on the oboe by Janet Craxton, and “On Wenlock Edge”, settings of five well-known poems from “A Shropshire Lad” by A E Houseman.

74,002 problems on Meson

2007-08-08T10:43:00.000Z

There are now 74,002 problems available on-line on Meson. Of these 339 are tagged as anticipated, which is 0.46%. This does not include all the anticipations found by AntCheck, as, although it completed its run some while ago, I didn’t investigate all the output before I decided to do more work optimising the program. The program is running again as I write.

It occurred to me that the program would work faster if it shared its work with another computer. I have a network here and there was my trusty laptop sitting there doing nothing to earn its keep, even if it was an older and slower machine than my desktop! It didn’t take long to convert AntCheck to a threaded operation as the ‘ithreads’ in Perl 5.8 are very easy to use. My first test was with all the work being done on the desktop but in two threads. I was initially surprised to witness Antcheck checking problems almost twice as fast as it had before, but the explanation for this didn’t take long to occur to me. A single-threaded program on a dual-core processor (such as my desktop machine) can’t take advantage of the full power of the CPU, but a multi-threaded one can! Of course, to stop it taking over the entire machine, you have to run it at lower than normal priority. This is easy enough to do and enables you to use your machine for other tasks at the same time.

For doing the Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) between the machines, I decided to use the straightforward XMLRPC protocol and the implementation I chose was the ‘Frontier’ modules, all, like Perl, freely available over the Internet. This proved a little trickier to get right than the threading had: the documentation that came with ‘Frontier’ was rather sparse and the Internet-based tutorial it referred to does not seem to be available online at the moment. However, after a few hours of experiments, I eventually got it working. At the moment Antcheck is using 4 threads. The first thread does all the initialisation work, spins off the other threads and then spends the rest of its life waiting for them to complete. The second thread spends most of its time sleeping, but otherwise checks progress and displays it on the screen. The third thread checks anticipations on the desktop and the fourth thread checks them on the laptop. An obvious optimisation would be to use another checking thread on the desktop.

I also have a Linux machine, but unfortunately that isn’t on the network at the moment because its network card is faulty. If I ever get around to replacing the card I could add that machine’s power (faster than the laptop, but slower than the desktop) to the mix. Some posts ago I remember stating that it was unlikely that I would be able to optimise AntCheck so that it completed its run within 24 hours. I am not so sure anymore!

As if all the above hadn’t been enough programming, I have actually been spending my time doing even more, all of it related to Meson.

Back some years ago, when I converted Meson to mySQL and wrote a Java front end to it, I wrote a program to check that Meson’s database tables were consistent with each other and I have continued to run that program after every update session ever since. However, you will remember that a few posts ago I mentioned some enhancements to the design to enable anticipations to be more effectively recorded. This meant more tables but I didn’t enhance the checking program. I have now completely rewritten that checking program so that it includes those new tables and also so that it takes advantage of SQL techniques that I have learned since. Testing that program uncovered several errors in the anticipation tagging and I have since put them right. I run the new program after every update session, so what appears online should be a consistent database, even if some of the data is incorrect.

The 3rd European Chess Solving Championship

2007-08-03T15:32:00.000Z

There follows a very welcome first guest blog posting by Michael McDowell -

"The 3rd European Chess Solving Championship was held in Pardubice, Czech Republic, on 14th-15th July 2007. 17 teams and a total of 84 solvers competed.

The Great Britain team has won the last two World Championships, but for various reasons has not been able to field its strongest teams for either of the last two European Championships. The format favours teams who have greater strength in depth, as World Championships require teams of three with the highest two scores counting each round, whereas in the European Championship three and two becomes four and three. The team consisted of Jonathan Mestel, Ian Watson, Paul Cumbers and myself. The remaining two places were taken up by Dafydd Johnston, who has experience at British Championship level, and his son Ifan, who was competing (as a Junior) in a clock solving event for the first time.

I travelled with 1997 World Solving Champion Jonathan Mestel. As Jonathan was by far the team's best solver, I felt duty-bound to spend the flight feeding him problems to get him mentally attuned for the forthcoming contest. On landing at Prague we were surprised to meet Paul, accompanied by a taxi driver who was waiting for the Johnstons, whose flight from Bristol had landed about half-an-hour earlier. It turned out that they had cancelled their taxi but the message had not got through, so the three of us took advantage of the offered transport to Prague Central Station. Displaying the complacency common to the majority of British travellers, we had made no attempt to gen up on the local language and simply expected to find signs in English. As a result we missed a connection through an inability to find the ticket counter! Eventually, after a pleasant journey in a train with old-style compartments (I kept thinking of Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes) we arrived at Pardubice and met up with Ian, who had travelled with wife Eileen and daughter Victoria.

We stayed in the Hotel Euro, close to the hall where the solving took place and a short walk from Pardubice's beautiful town centre. The venue was highly suitable except for rather limited toilet facilities, but the hotel was close enough in case of emergency!

The defending champions Serbia had a full strength squad and were favourites to retain the title. On gradings GB were expected to finish 8th. It was hard to see past defending champion and current World Champion Piotr Murdzia when considering potential winners of the individual title. Piotr has totally dominated solving in recent years. His combination of natural ability allied to a highly professional attitude to preparation has set a new standard for consistency that no-one else can currently match.

The event was run by the vastly experienced and genial Belgian Ward Stoffelen, ably assisted by Axel Steinbrink (Germany), Peter Bakker (Netherlands) and Pavel Kamenik (Czechia). Selection of problems for such an event is a very difficult and thankless task. Ideally all compositions used would be originals, but in the real world published problems have to be used, running the risk that one or two may be familiar to some solvers. It was unfortunate that the three-movers round included one of the best-known problems by the famous Russian composer Lev Loshinsky, as undoubtedly many solvers gained five easy points. One British solver who failed to recognise or solve it uttered something unrepeatable when he saw the composer's name on the solutions sheet. I really must become more familiar with my problem library. The helpmate round also included a famous problem. On sight I said to myself 'Gyorgy Paros, 3rd Prize, BCF Tourney 1938' - unfortunately I then couldn't remember the solutions and probably spent about fifteen minutes solving it! I can assure the cynical reader that such things do happen. It is also not unusual to realise that you have seen a problem before - only after you have solved it! I found the moremover selections especially enjoyable, not least because I scored a rare maximum for this particular round.

Serbia duly won the team title, ahead of Russia and Poland, and GB duly came eighth. The real shock came in the individual event, where Piotr Murdzia, despite only dropping 6 points out of 90 (the equivalent of one problem and a variation out of 18 problems), finished third, behind Andrei Selivanov of Russia and the new champion, Bojan Vuckovic of Serbia. Vuckovic won the International Solving Championship in January ahead of John Nunn (Murdzia did not compete), and will undoubtedly provide Piotr with a strong challenge when the latter defends his world title in Rhodes in October. Jonathan put in a normal performance by his standards, finishing 4th, though nearly ten points adrift of the top three. I can hardly complain, having beaten my personal best for this format of event by 4¾ points to finish 18th with 65¾, annoyingly just short of a solving IM norm (that bloody Loshinsky...). Ian and Paul struggled throughout, and would both probably be happy to forget their scores! Dafydd performed above expectations, finishing well ahead of Paul. Ifan also did well in his first solving event. The strength of the Junior event is such that it was won by Jacek Stopa of Poland, who finished 6th in the 2006 World Championship!

The social side is a pleasant bonus to these events. It was especially pleasing for me to meet Mat Plus editor Milan Velimirovic for the first time in a number of years. The solving event was held as part of Pardubice's Czech Open, which appears to be the equivalent of Britain's Mind Sports Olympiad. One intriguing event involved competitors examining a Rubik's cube then solving it blindfold. The winner took under 4 minutes!! Walking near the venue on Saturday afternoon Jonathan and I were surprised to run into Les Blackstock, who it turned out was playing in a Shogi tournament at a separate venue. He told us that the doyen of British Chess, Bob Wade, was playing in one of the chess events, so, after the solving prizegiving on Sunday afternoon, the two of us walked across town to say hello to Bob. When we arrived Bob was torturing an opponent over 70 years his junior in a rook and opposite coloured bishop ending. Grandmaster Mestel may not have learned much, but ordinary-club-player McDowell was fascinated by the ending, which ended in a draw claim under the 50-move rule, Bob having not quite managed to win with rook + bishop v rook. At the risk of sounding horribly patronising I was greatly impressed by Bob's ability to play a tough game lasting 5¼ hours at the age of 86, and still be bright and alert at dinner afterwards. A 2½ hour session used to be quite enough for me. The number of publicity leaflets on display gave the impression that you could compete in chess congresses in the Czech Republic every weekend for the next year or so. Someone who shall remain nameless pointed out that with the beer being so cheap he was tempted....

Jonathan disappeared early on Monday for some sightseeing in Prague, while those of us who find a temperature of 37° more than a little oppressive opted for a lazy morning at the hotel before heading for the airport. Lubomir Siran had been distributing copies of his latest Solving Yearbook, so there was plenty of material for those who wanted to begin their preparation for the next solving championship! All in all, a very enjoyable weekend."

Antcheck completed its run!

2007-07-26T13:29:00.000Z

There has been another long gap between blog postings, but I have kept busy during the interim. The Postal Round of the Winton Capital British Chess Solving Championship (WCBCSC) is now prepared and will be sent out by Paul Valois in early August to those who got the starter problem right. I have also been preparing the material for the World Chess Solving Championship (WCSC), and there is still a great deal to do before that task will be complete. Another solving item to complete is posting the new British solvers’ ratings on the website. I’ll try and get around to that in the next week or so.

During the aforesaid interim period the 3rd European Chess Solving Championship (ECSC) ran successfully in Pardubice in the Czech Republic, directed by Ward Stoffelen (Belgium) and assisted by Peter Bakker (Netherlands), Pavel Kamenik (Czech Republic) and Axel Steinbrink (Germany). Congratulations to them and to all the solvers. Bring British of course I must send my special congratulations to the two top-scoring Brits, Jonathan Mestel (4th overall) and Michael McDowell, both stalwarts of the British team for many years. The team was missing John Nunn, David Friedgood and Colin McNab and was thus weaker than normal. They were ranked 8th on ratings and finished up in 8th position, so they really can be said to have performed as well as expected! The other members of the British contingent were Ian Watson, Paul Cumbers, Dafydd Johnston (reserve) and Ifan Johnston (junior). Dafydd seems to have embarrassed us all by doing rather well and Ifan (his son) performed creditably in his first event.

By cancelling the scheduled backup on my home PC I finally got AntCheck to finish its run. It took between 3 and 4 days and found lots of potential anticipations. So far I have found very few false positives, many real anticipations and quite a lot of occurrences of problems being quoted reflected left to right for some reason. These latter I have deleted from the database. I have been through all the 100% snaps and noted them on Meson. I now have 80 potential near snaps to investigate.

Worryingly, I have still been unable to track down the bug in the routines I wrote some years ago that attempt find exact position anticipations, including reflections and rotations. AntCheck has found many such that should have been found a long time ago.

I have continued to perform almost daily uploads of new problems to the website. As of today there are 73,600 problems in Meson. Of these 297 are anticipated - 0.40%. You can see the anticipations by choosing the ‘Sources’ option from the Meson home page and drilling down to ‘Snap’ and ‘Near Snap’ or by using the general search facility (on the same page) and looking for ‘Snap’ or ‘Near Snap’ in the quotations field. Using either of these methods will find many more than 297 problems: that is because each anticipator and posticipator is tagged ‘Snap’ or ‘Near Snap’.

Even more anticipations

2007-07-15T17:58:00.000Z

With some amazement I notice that it is ten days since my last posting, but there isn’t actually that much to report.

I’ve continued to key in problems to Meson and on most days I have uploaded a new version of the database to the website. Most of the rest of my time has been spent working on my anticipation-finding program, ‘AntCheck’. It has been enhanced, optimised and run several times on my home PC. It is running now and it continues to find a lot of anticipations, but it has never actually finished a run!

I really should have known better than to expect a computer running an operating system written by Microsoft to remain standing for more than a day or two. Users of the Internet can be grateful that the majority of administrators of web servers choose Linux rather than Windows. For some months past my scheduled daily backup has been crashing the entire system perhaps three times a week. Reports to both Microsoft and the backup software supplier have so far resulted in no resolution. Unless I can optimise ‘AntCheck’ to complete within 24 hours (unlikely!), I don’t suppose it will ever complete its run until the backup problems are solved. I am seriously considering running ‘AntCheck’ on my Linux system, even though it is a slower machine.

I have been flagging the anticipations on Meson and I continue to be surprised at their volume. As of a couple of days ago, the percentage of anticipated problems in Meson was 0.33%. I suspect that this percentage is almost certain to increase as I add more problems.

I have changed the database implementation so that each problem can link to as many anticipations and/or posticipations as it needs to. This copes nicely with those problems which continue to be composed and published time after time over the years.

As I have written in an earlier post, ‘AntCheck’ has uncovered apparent bugs in my routines that check automatically for exact position matches. It is time now to debug these, and that is my next task. After that I have to complete preparing the postal round of the Winton Capital British Chess Solving Championship, which is only part done so far.

I am pleased to say that several Meson users have written in with corrections. Such communications are always welcome and will normally be acknowledged and actioned within a day or two.

More anticipations

2007-07-05T14:59:00.000Z

I have just uploaded a new version of the Meson database to the website. There are no new problems added since yesterday’s version (which incidentally achieved the milestone of 73,000 problems), but I have now flagged all the complete anticipations that I have found so far. See my previous post for instructions on how to find them all.

Some of these will be real anticipations, others will be errors I have either made myself or copied from others. Some even appear to be caused by multiple publication by their composers. I appeal to experts out there to take a look at them all and send me any corrections or amendments that they feel ought to be made. A lot of the problems have no source or year of publication, making it difficult to tell which is the anticipator and which the posticipator. In all such cases I have made a random choice, but I would be glad to be corrected by anybody with actual source information.

As for substantial anticipations: I halted the program I set running 3 days ago after a few hours because it was finding too many potential anticipations. I increased the comparison threshold from 80% or greater to 90% or greater and set it running again. As of this time it has checked 21159 #2s and flagged 464 as potentially anticipated! I have already inspected about forty of these potentially anticipated problems and found about half of them to be actual anticipations. They have been flagged on the database and are available on the website. Search for ‘Near snap’ as explained in my previous post.

I have always thought that the number of substantial anticipations was going to be high, but so far even I have been surprised at the number being found. As a result I have been thinking about enhancing the database design slightly so that lists of anticipations and posticipations can be displayed with each effected problem. At the moment there is only space for two antcipation links (one complete and one substantial) and two posticipation links (one complete and one substantial) per problem and this has soon become limiting.

I have also been thinking about the program checking for the substantial anticipations – ‘AntCheck’. I have realised that there are several more optimisations that I can make, so when its current run is over I shall make those changes before running it again. It is beginning to look like that program will be running in the background on my PC all the time!

Anticipations

2007-07-02T17:01:00.000Z

I shan’t be adding any more examples to either the ‘Snaps’ or ‘Substantive Anticipations’ sections of the website. From now on anticipations will be dealt with differently: flagged in the main database.

Problems that anticipate other problems or are anticipated themselves, whether completely or substantively, are now displayed with a link through to the posticipator or anticipator. In the future I’ll arrange for them both to be on the screen at the same time, but please, don’t ask me to do that just now. I have arranged links for all the substantive anticipations listed and for some of the snaps. The snaps will be completed shortly, and I shall be adding anticipation flags as a matter of course as the database grows. Snaps are found automatically as problems are added to the database but substantive anticipations are only found when they are specifically looked for.

You can find complete or substantive anticipations in two ways. The first is via the ‘Sources’ option: drill down to ‘Snap’ for complete anticipations (or ‘Near snap’ for substantive anticipations) and then click on the link in the ‘Quotations’ column. The other way is via the ‘Search Problems’ screen: search for ‘^Snap$’ or ‘Near snap’ in the ‘Quotation’ field. If you use this latter technique for complete anticipations, you will have to refine your search in some way, as there are more than 100 snaps flagged in the database.

I don’t spend time very often looking for substantive anticipations. Testing each problem now takes more than a minute and that is just long enough to be annoying. However, it occurred to me that a more automated approach would be possible, and, accordingly, I have spent the last couple of days producing it. I now have a standalone Perl program that can test each sound #2 in the database against every other sound #2 in the database, excluding those that have already been flagged as anticipated or anticipating. It uses the same basic algorithm as the one I wrote in Java as part of the Meson interface on my PC, but I have been able, because of its standalone nature, to add many optimisations. It now takes between 10 and 15 seconds for each #2 to be tested against each other and it records every incidence of an 80% or greater match. My calculations, based on progress so far, tell me that it should take between 4 and 5 days to complete its task. As I write it has checked 858 problems and recorded 68 potential anticipations. I stress that these are just potential: I have no idea what the final number will be. I shall have to inspect all cases and make a value judgement. No doubt there will be many false positives: they will be a great help in allowing me to refine my classification scheme. Any real anticipations will of course be flagged on Meson.

Before finishing this post I must say a public ‘thank you’ to Michael McDowell. Using his extensive library he has been seeking out sources for many of the unsourced problems in Meson and I have been making the appropriate amendments. Thank you, Michael. Your efforts are much appreciated.

Meson being used!

2007-06-27T12:36:00.000Z

Tuesday 26th June seems to have been an important day for the Meson Chess Problem Database. Over the last few weeks, as, bit by bit, I have made more facilities available, the average amount of data delivered by the server to users’ browsers has totalled no more than something between 5 and 7 MB a day, but yesterday it delivered 80MB! For the month leading up to yesterday there were 676 visitors to the site (22.5 per day), who between them viewed 5973 pages (199 per day). Yesterday there were 82 visitors and they looked at 3022 pages! These visitor/page statistics are courtesy of Google Analytics.

I checked the server statistics a few minutes ago and already today it has shifted nearly 20MB to users’ browsers, so the heavy usage continues. If such usage goes on, even if somewhat abated, then that will be reward enough for all the work that has gone into the database. That work, of course, continues.

I have been pleased that individuals have been sending me corrections and I have been delighted to apply them to the database. This is exactly what I wanted to happen. Such a database as Meson, to be fully useful, needs to be accurate, and, with the best will in the world, one man alone cannot ensure that. Frank Richter, in his email listing some corrections, referred to the ‘famous’ Meson database. As far as I know that is the first time that such a term has been used about Meson. I hope it isn’t the last.

For the immediate future I shall continue to input material and upload it to the website. I shall also carry on refining the screen layouts and making any corrections that others communicate to me. I may even find time to add more description of Meson to the ‘About’ page and start the ‘To Do’ list. However, my main task for the foreseeable future must now be solving events. I have the postal round of the Winton Capital British Chess Solving Championship to prepare, and also the selection work for the World Chess Solving Championship to get down to. So, barring bugs, I shan’t be putting much time into refining the software until further notice.

And In Full Torrent Flows the Don

2007-06-26T22:10:00.000Z

Several friends have contacted me today to find out whether yesterday’s terrible flooding in Sheffield had effected me. I have been very relieved to tell them all that here in Waterthorpe, despite the name, we have not been effected save for some big puddles close to Ochre Dyke, the minor waterway after which an important local roadway has been named.

Sheffield, like Rome, is built on seven hills. The area where I live is on some of that high ground, and so, although I noticed the heavy rain all day yesterday, I didn’t notice any difficulties until I listened to the radio news fairly late last night. At that point I retuned my radio to a local station and listened amazed to stories of a thousand people unable to return to their homes and being accommodated in various temporary refuges hastily arranged by Sheffield City Council. I listened to office workers, stuck in the upper floors of their office buildings at 22:00, patiently waiting for rescue while more deserving cases were dealt with. Many people had been stuck for hours in their cars on the flooded roads of central Sheffield after the River Don had burst its banks. Very sadly, two Sheffielders died yesterday, both caught up in raging torrents.

The events of yesterday were caused by unprecedented rainfall leading to an unprecedented rise in the level of the River Don. Lady’s Bridge (over the Don) one of the oldest bridges in Sheffield, faced the largest body of water it had ever faced in its long life. At one time, local engineers feared that it would give way under the pressure. It didn’t, but it has probably been substantially weakened. Such events remind us how fragile our living environment actually is.

It is impossible to say whether these events are connected to ‘climate change’ (a more accurate term than ‘global warming’), but if they are then we are going to have to learn how to live with them. In turn this will mean much preparatory work in Sheffield, and many other places. Of course, this is but one, small local piece in the giant, global jigsaw that is ‘saving ourselves’. This phrase is another attempt at refining a topical, less than accurate one, this time the oft repeated ‘saving the planet’. If it is spared a collision with another body big enough to break it up, the planet will survive for many billions of years until a much-enlarged Sun swallows it up.

My thanks go to those of you who took the trouble to contact me to check on my continued ability to keep my feet dry. My apologies go to the shade of Mikhail Sholokhov, Nobel prize-winner for literature, and author of And Quiet Flows the Don. The connection between recent events and such a famous book title was irresistible.

Normal blogging service will return shortly. In an attempt to improve Meson's screen display for browsers other that Internet Explorer, I have been learning more about Cascading Style Sheets (a topical name!) and how they can be used to achieve a closer equivalency between the products of different rendering engines working from identical input.

Problem search facility is now live!

2007-06-25T16:51:00.000Z

If you go to the Meson home page you will find that the ‘Search Problems’ option is now active. This facility will retrieve up to 100 problems at a time. If you really want to retrieve more than that then just refine the search using extra fields (the easiest being ‘Years’) and submit several searches.

To comment on Harry’s comment to my previous post, it is probably worth saying that full solutions are absolutely essential to my classification and anticipation retrieval routines, and that was the prime purpose behind generating them and storing them like that in the database. However, when displaying them here, I appreciate that other points are important. In the fullness of time I hope to be able to learn enough about Web Applications to display solutions in a tree, like I have done in the Java front end to Meson I run on my desktop PC. With that option you don’t even have to look at the solution at all unless you want to. Set play and tries are also only visible if you select their nodes in the tree display.

In the absence of any bugs in the search facility, next will be the completion of the ‘About’ text linked to from the Meson home page. Hopefully that should explain everything.

Search facilities being tested.

2007-06-24T14:25:00.000Z

As the title says, the Meson search facilities have been written and are currently being tested. I hope to make them available shortly. Also, I have been uploading new versions of the database all week, and there are now 72,503 problems available online.

Harry Fougiaxis comments on my earlier post. If I understand him correctly, he is asking whether all non-thematic tries can be deleted from the solutions. The short answer is no. Neither the classification software nor I attempt to identify themes, so unless I make some changes there, and I don’t plan any in the short term, the non-thematic tries will have to stay. Harry and others may have noticed other difficulties with the solutions, all explained by trying to deliver a format that will be useful in the majority of cases. For instance, for problems showing the Fleck theme, all the threats are shown, but the thematic variations, because they don’t defeat all the threats, are not listed. All items for the ‘To Do’ list in due course.

There are solutions!

2007-06-19T09:33:00.000Z

All problems in the Meson database are now viewable via the ‘Composers’ or ‘Sources’ options of the Meson home page, and those that are #2s or #3s include solutions.

Next on the list is the provision of a main search page from which users will be able to search the database for problems showing combinations of attributes, such as composer, source, stipulation, etc. This will be a close copy of what I have on my desktop PC, so shouldn’t take too long.

At that point, apart from data updates, development of Meson will be on hold while I prepare this year’s WCSC, though don’t expect any blog updates about that!

When the preparation of the WCSC is finished I will then provide full, detailed information on the About page about the design and implementation of the online version of Meson. After that will come a ‘To Do’ list of enhancements, followed, in due course, by their implementation.

Problems displayed

2007-06-14T15:51:00.000Z

I have now finished the first cut of the routines for displaying the problems from the database. The only display option so far is George Jelliss’s GIFs, but I shall be adding a version using the Good Companion fonts shortly. This latter version will take less time to transfer from the server, as the fonts will take up less space than the GIFs. Having said that, the GIFs have an attribute the fonts don’t have: when including a graphic in a webpage with the "img" tag, you may provide alternative text describing the image for those who have text-only browsers or have graphics turned off. The screen readers used by visually impaired surfers also read this text. I have utilised this option, so if you place the cursor over a square on the graphic board a pop-up will appear displaying that text.

The notation to the right of the diagrams is for debugging purposes and will disappear in due course, to be replaced, for #2s and #3s, by the solutions.

Check it out by taking the ‘Composers’ and ‘Sources’ options from the Meson home page. From the lists these options produce you can view problems by clicking on the links in the ‘Kings’ column.

I should also add that search options will be added in due course.

It probably doesn’t need to be said that this database does contain errors – both ones I have copied from the sources I have abstracted from and ones that I have made myself. I would be terribly obliged if experts using the database could inform me of any errors or omissions that they spot. The problem display pages each have unique ID number in the headers: please use these to identify problems in emails. Of course, corrections to composer and source details would also be appreciated. At some stage I’ll put a form on the website for ease of reporting errors. I would also like to be told of any software bugs found.

I have tested against the three browsers that I have on my home PC. Internet Explorer (version 7.0.5730.11) is OK. Opera (version 9.21) provides clearer diagrams but also unwanted space in tables. Netscape (version 8.1.2) is not too hot at all, which doesn’t mean it is ‘cool’ either. It doesn’t seem to obey alignment instructions in table columns and, like Opera, puts padding in tables. This product’s rendering engine is Firefox by default, but luckily Netscape is configurable to use the Internet Explorer rendering engine. If you do that of course, the pages appear as they do on Internet Explorer.

An important decision made

2007-06-12T18:56:00.000Z

All the pages on the website are now to XHTML 1.0 standard and there are no broken links!

For actually displaying problems from the database I have decided to provide users with two options.

(1) For those who can use True Type fonts on their local machines and who are prepared to download and install fonts from my website, I shall be using the Good Companion fonts developed by David Brown in the USA for the StrateGems website. Thanks to him for developing them and thanks to Dan Meinking for quickly granting me permission to use them.

(2) For those who cannot use True Type fonts on their local machines or who are not prepared to download and install them, I shall be using the GIF graphics that George Jelliss developed for the BCPS website. Thanks are due to George also for quickly granting his permission.

Of course I must also acknowledge Anders Thulin, whose advice helped me greatly in making this decision.

I have made a start today on the routines for actually displaying problems and the first display option I shall be providing will be the GIFs. This should mean that everybody should be able to see the diagrams from day 1.

Latest Meson News

2007-06-09T18:19:00.000Z

The #5 snaps are now XHTML compliant. Just the seven #4 snaps to go now!

I have today uploaded a new version of the Meson database, containing 71,987 problems. In addition I have enhanced the scripts so that they display the composers' names in problem listings retrieved by 'Sources' from the Meson home page.

There will probably be a delay now before I make any more enhancements available. I have to work on those matching routines so that the master copy of Meson here on my home PC is fully accessible. I also must get down to some other little chores.

Now, though, it's time to listen to some radio drama, a three-hour James Follett special on BBC7!

Meson update and a very brief introduction to automatic classification

2007-06-08T17:15:00.000Z

All the #3 snaps pages are now XHTML 1.0 compliant. Now there are only the #4s and #5s to go and as there are only eleven of them in total, it shouldn’t be long before the whole site is to standard. At that point there shouldn’t be any broken internal links either.

The lists of problems retrievable via ‘Composers’ and ‘Sources’ on the Meson home page now have more extensive navigational controls. The only things to add, I think, are the composers’ names on the sources lists. It won’t be long before I won’t be able to put off any longer actually working on displaying actual problems!

Now, to provide an answer for Anders Thulin’s query about automatic classification against my earlier post. Of course, a full, detailed description of this and other technical matters will be added to the About page on the website in due course.

First, it is interesting to state that, despite the substantive anticipations page having been on my website for several years, Anders is the first person to write asking for details! However, this shouldn’t be taken to imply that I haven’t talked to anybody about it at all. I have been talking about it at meetings to anybody who has been willing to listen (which is actually not many) ever since I first got the idea. I seem to remember that the first automatic classification conversation was over dinner at a table in Andernach trying to persuade a very skeptical Hans Dieter Leiss that the idea would work. Sadly, he is no longer around to provide a very expert opinion on what I have done so far. I have talked to the computing subcommittee of the PCCC twice. The first time was quite a few years ago (Pula, 2000?), and the second time was at Halkidiki, 2004. As my website says, this is still work in progress, but results so far have been encouraging. I do have several ideas for enhancement, but they will have to wait for implementation until after the database is fully available on the website.

The first thing to say is that the idea is not to classify by theme. Themes, as Anders implies, are slippery things to define, so the classification is of features at a much lower level, on the basis that themes are made up of combinations of features. Features include pins, unguards, interferences, etc. Think of T R Dawson’s Systematic Terminology for a much closer idea. Each variation in the set play, tries and actual play is individually classified. Anticipations of strategic themes can be located on this basis, and even modern letter themes do actually have low-level tactics and strategy that can be compared against predecessors. Hopefully the system is future-proof for orthodox #2s with only one solution. My system takes the classification of a given #2 and then searches every other #2 in the database for the closest fit of features matched. Until I changed the format of the classifications a few weeks ago, prior to posting on the website, such a search took about a minute on my home PC. It is totally automatic and involves no human expertise except in judging the closeness of any near matches revealed. As I said in an earlier post, until I rewrite the matching routines to take into account the new format of the classifications, I can’t actually do anticipation retrievals at the moment. I intend to rewrite the routines in Perl, so that they can be used both on my machine at home and on the website.

As far as I know, Anders is right in judging that there is no collection of problems used for testing the efficacy of a given anticipation retrieval function. So, my system cannot be tested, but no doubt over a period of time, its utility can be judged. Not to be forgotten in this respect is that the number of #2s in my database is actually very small and must be a tiny fraction of those in existence. Only if a problem and its anticipation are both known to be in the database can the routines be properly tested.

Given (1) the number of substantive anticipations I have found over the last few years (many more than posted on the website), (2) the number of ‘snaps’ found (again, higher than posted on the website) and (3) the very small number of #2s in the database, my feeling is that the number of anticipated #2s is probably higher than some experts estimate.

About Meson

2007-06-06T12:10:00.000Z

The new monitor screen arrived yesterday morning at 09:00, which was very good.

I’ve enhanced the problem lists a little bit. Now each page contains a header telling you what it is you are listing through. Next I’ll add some enhanced navigation in addition to the current links to previous and next pages, which are very limited.

I’ve also added a page about Meson to the website, accessible from the Meson home page. At this stage this just contains a brief historical account, but I intend to add technical details later. Also to be produced later is a ‘To do’ list of facilities to be added

Sheffield-based monitor screen retires

2007-06-03T12:33:00.000Z

I am writing this posting on my laptop because the monitor screen of my desktop, after an extended period of providing a home for various gremlins, has eventually decided that enough is enough and refuses to work at all. Luckily, the PC itself, even though I can't use it directly, can be switched on and can connect to the internet. This laptop connects via my network so I can access both the internet and the data on the desktop.

I am expecting a new monitor to be delivered on Tuesday. Meanwhile, work on my website should be able to continue unabated, even though other things will have to be put on hold.

Problems listed

2007-06-02T19:37:00.000Z

Having finally found two suitable, sound endgames studies for my column and completed other tasks too, I have this evening been making some additions to Meson functionality.

Now, if you choose 'Sources' from the Meson home page, when you get down to lists of actual sources with counts of originals and quotations, you will find that all non-zero originals counts are now links. Click those links and you will find yourself able to peruse lists of the appropriate problems in batches of ten. You won't yet be able to actually retrieve the problems, but you will be able to browse backwards and forwards through the batches of ten.

Tomorrow I'll add similar facilities to the quotation counts in the sources list and to the composers.

I do know that I haven't listed the composers' names against their problems. This is as intended at this stage. Also, the format of the pages is just a beginning sketch for possible future enhancement.

I have also, since my last post, converted several of the #3 snaps to XHTML 1.0. Still lots to do there, though.

A short update

2007-05-29T15:53:00.000Z

Welcome to Biby, 'from the other side of the moon'. This location turns out to be Kerala, India and Biby is a contributor to a very regular and varied blog which can be found at The Kerala Titles. Lots of text and lots of photographs too.

Thanks to Anders for his second contribution, which I am thinking about.

I haven't made much progress on website or Meson issues, but today I have converted some more 'Snaps' pages to XHTML 1.0. Now, all the #2 snaps are converted, which is most of them.

I spent last night testing studies for my column. I even found a sound one ... out of six or seven selected. Now I have to get back to more testing ...

Statistics

2007-05-27T13:11:00.000Z

There has been quite a lot of Meson progress made since my last post.

(1) I have added counts of problems (in Meson) to the 'Composers' option.
(2) I have added counts of problems published as original and counts of problems quoted to the 'Sources' option.
(3) I have replaced the old 'Statistics' option, which merely displayed a static breakdown of problem numbers by stipulation, with one that retrieves this information from the database. In addition I have added a few other statistical reports.

All of these facilities can be found on the Meson Home Page. They have involved the writing of several CGI programs on the server, all of which include fairly substantial SQL access (via mySQL) to the actual Meson database. So far the server has delivered timely responses, which is good, because that is what I am paying the web-hosting service for. The 'Sources' option, with its double aggregation (from two separate tables) could probably be optimised, and perhaps in the future it will be, but for the present there are a lot of SQL queries being controlled from a Perl program and it seems to perform adequately. I am a relative beginner in SQL and there seems to be lots of stuff still to learn.

Coming next will be access to actual problems from the 'Composers' and 'Sources' facilities, but it will not be in the next few days. Just at the moment I have to concentrate on other things - my monthly column, some emails that have been waiting too long for a considered response, and some work with Oliver Sick concerning the BCPS address list. Also, the WCBCSC starter will need adding to the website in a few days.

I have converted some more pages in the 'Snaps' section (all about #2s) to XHTML 1.0 and repaired their broken links. There are still plenty to do (> 70) and I'll do them a few at a time over the coming days and weeks.

For the display of problems I shall be using one of the free chess fonts, but haven't chosen one yet. Does anyone have a recommendation to make? Users will have to download the font (once only) before they can view any diagrams. I intend to use some JavaScript on the displayed problem pages, but I know only very little of that at the moment: that's yet another reason why this important part of Meson will not be available that soon. I am considering writing the 'About' and 'To Do' sections on the Meson home page before I do anything else on Meson.

Finally, a recommendation of a play I listened to on BBC Radio 4 yesterday. It was a chilling adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's story 'The Birds'. Catch it on Listen Again for the next week.

Sources sorted!

2007-05-24T18:52:00.000Z

I have now implemented browsing of Meson sources. You can find the link on the Meson Home page. It is done in the same way as the composers except that the maximum list size has been set to 32. This has to be higher than that for composers (20) because of the many sources which are exactly the same as each other for very many characters. The worst case I found was the Good Companions sources, of which there are 31: hence the value set at 32. However, I didn't look scrupulously through the whole lot, so if anybody finds any others that cause trouble at a greater list size than 32, please let me know.

Having used this new facility I realise that the first link at the bottom of the generated pages ought to be to the Meson Home page rather than the Chess Problems home page. I'll change that tomorrow.

Next thing to add is, in the list of composers, the number of problems in the database by each composer. A similar thing needs to be added to the sources also.

Somebody is taking notice!!

2007-05-24T11:14:00.000Z

Welcome to Anders Thulin and to his comment to my last post on the composer display. I can see the point that he is making and understand that the fewer clicks the better.

When first thinking about the design of this feature (listing the composers and the sources) I decided up front that I wouldn't have scrolling frames for one specific reason. Printing out the contents of an internal frame is tricky and will be different for different browsers and I wanted a display that could be printed simply. Of course this doesn't stop me building long static tables in pages that are scrollable within the full browser area, as indeed I have done for 'Sources abstracted' and 'Work in progress'. However, there are 6138 composers and 5396 sources listed in Meson, so a single table seems much too much.

I would expect that both these tables would be rationalised (and thus get slightly smaller) in the near future as experts inform me of the many errors there are in both tables. For instance, multiple names are probably actually a single composer or source, but what with misprints and my lack of expertise in languages, I have no doubt committed many inaccuracies.

I have made a small change to the routine displaying the composers. It now decides to display actual names rather than links to prefixes when there are 20 of them or less in total within the subset selected by the user. That figure had previously been set to 12. I intend the sources display to work the same way, indeed it will use much of the same Perl code. I also intend to keep the indexed access and the 'drill down' because these two lists will be one of the ways that users will access actual problems. In the fullness of time you will be able to click on a composer to retrieve problems by that composer. A similar access route via sources will also be available. Indeed, these will be the first ways to access problems that I will make available. Of course there will be other ways to access problems, including complex searches.

I hope that this change makes things better for the users, who do have a say in this project. Because I made this 'maximum list size' a constant, I can alter it quickly and easily. (Programmers may like to explain to non-programmers why this last sentence is not the nonsense it may appear to be.) If you think I should alter it to something else, please let me know. As more entries are added it probably will need altering.

Thanks Anders. It is good to have a least one person who is taking notice of what I am doing.

Bug fixed

2007-05-23T12:08:00.000Z

Well, it turned out that it wasn't just HTTP (or the browser?) that is removing trailing blanks - mySQL is too. When you use a function like SUBSTRING(field, 1, n) you don't necessarily get 'n' characters back, even if 'field' is actually longer than 'n'. If the final characters of the retrieved value are blanks they get removed. So, in generated URLs in links I have replaced trailing blanks with '_'s and when retrieving from mySQL I have concatenated trailing blanks when I need to.

No doubt this is all explained in the mySQL small print. I knew that browsers translated characters not allowed in URLs (like blanks) into quoted hexadecimal, but I didn't know that it didn't do the same for trailing blanks. No doubt this is somewhere explained in the small print somewhere, but it isn't mentioned in any of the books I have.

Anyway, the bug is fixed (or worked around) and you can now go to the Meson hompage and browse through composers' names.

Meson composers now online

2007-05-22T19:18:00.000Z

The composers referenced in my Meson database are now available online from the Meson homepage. I'll be making the sources available in the next few days.

There will be errors in this data and in the fullness of time I shall be happy to receive corrections from those interested, but please wait until I have finished all the programming and the entire database is available.

Also in the next few days I shall write about Meson on the website and at some point in the future I shall add a list of what is left to do, which is lots.

PS - I've just noticed that there is a bug. You can't get to those composers starting with 'van ' (and possibly others too). It seems that HTTP strips off trailing blanks. You live and learn! I'll fix the bug tomorrow.

First part of Meson now online!

2007-05-20T17:13:00.000Z

The very first part of my Meson database is available online. When you go to the Meson page on the website and click on either of the 'Sources abstracted' or 'Work in progress' links, what you now get is a page of output directly generated from the database rather than a static page sent by the web server. The result looks the same as it did before, so you could be forgiven if you hadn't noticed it. Not a great deal to get excited about for a user perhaps, but a huge step forward for the developer, even though this is the simplest part of the project.

The response time so far is very good, but the server is a fast one, and, I suspect, currently underloaded. Only time will tell if this good news is set to continue. Other database processes I shall be setting off in the later parts of the development will demand quite a bit more oomph than just the generation of short lists! It will be an interesting test of how good my service provider is and how well they administer their servers. They probably don't expect many of their customers to actually use the very generous service allowances that they offer. So far their service provision has been excellent. Their user guidance documentation is fragmentary, but the only time I actually needed to email them a support question I had a complete answer in a few minutes.

The hosting service I am using is Heart Internet and I have signed up for their 'Home Professional' package, which I have been delighted with so far. Onwards and upwards!

Broken links

2007-05-19T11:43:00.000Z

Welcome to Thorsten Zirkwitz and his comments on my earlier Torquay posting. I too enjoyed the pints, as was probably clear from that posting! I for one will be happy to return to the same hotel next year.

I started experimenting with Server Side Includes (SSI) on my website yesterday, just to test whether they worked on the hosting server. To enable the Web Server to know that SSIs have to be processed, webpages have to have a different suffix: by convention this is '.shtml'. So, I included a couple of simple variable displays on the home page, changed the suffix accordingly and uploaded it to the server. It worked really well and I went off and did something else.

A few hours later I was in the website looking something up and clicked on one of the links at the bottom of the pages to return to the home page. I was shocked to get a 404 (URL not found) error, but a split second later realised why. I had changed the name of the home page without changing all the hundreds of links to it from within my website!! I must be getting old. I would have anticipated that not many years ago. Over the next few hours, and this morning, I edited all of those files and uploaded them back to the server. Now, apart from the old-style snaps pages, all the back links to the home page are correct.

Since I moved to the new server those old-style snaps pages have always had an incorrect (broken) back-link. This is because I amended the tree structure of the website and introduced an extra level. These are now the only pages that await conversion to XHTML 1.0 compliance. As I do that I shall of course correct the links. Those of you who have looked at the snaps pages will know how many there are, so don't expect the corrections to be completed quickly.

This morning I uploaded the Meson database to the server, all 220 MBs of it. It compressed nicely down to 20MB, which of course is another good attribute of the XML holding the solutions and classifications. I will need to learn how the provider deals with mySQL databases, but after that it shouldn't take me too long to write the CGI scripts (in Perl) to display the details of sources already abstracted and those being abstracted, direct from the database.

A problem for improvement

2007-05-16T13:04:00.000Z

I don't compose much these days, but the Fougiaxis helpmate that I posted on the website a short while ago inspired me into getting my chessboard out. I came up with a sound problem that is probably unpublishable. Can anybody improve it for me, please?

All communications on this subject by email please.

Meson progress

2007-05-14T18:49:00.000Z

I have now finished the coding required to enable the solutions and classifications in the Meson database to be stored as XML. All the twomovers have been solved and my PC has spent most of today solving the threemovers. It will probably need some time tomorrow to complete that task. As a result the database will take up more space on disk, but this is so much less important now than it was when I first built the database. Once the solving has finished I will make the coding changes to enable the search and match routines work with the new format. This means that I cannot at the moment look up any possible anticipations for anybody. I'll post a message here as soon as that facility is once more available. It shouldn't be that long.

The first thing I shall put on the website will be the table containing details of the books and magazines I have taken material from or that I am currently abstracting material from. This will mean that I shall be able to delete the current pages carrying that information. It will also mean that in the future I shall not have to update anything other than the database when I start or finish abstracting a new source. I intend to generate the 'snaps' pages automatically too, which will save me a great deal of time. The 'Statistics' page can probably be the output of a standard query too, though a much simpler one.

I am sorry that I shan't be at Andernach this year, or indeed at the French meeting or at the Belgian Solving. I hope all of those events go as well as they normally do. I hope to return to them next year.

I've added a moremover to the website. Another flawed problem, I am afraid.

Meson developing

2007-05-11T20:22:00.000Z

I hope that the latest diagram on the website doesn't have any yellow stripes that are too distracting. They are still there, but not as strong as before, I think. As an example, I took the opportunity to choose a helpmate by a composer everybody will have heard of.

In the last few days I have been re-acquainting myself with Java and XML. It has been a year or two since I last wrote any code for Meson (my chess problem database) or indeed for anything else. Before I post anything on the website I need to save the solutions and classifications in a portable way. Currently they are the Java classes used internally by the solving/classifying engines serialised to disk. Of course this isn't suitable for the web where I shan't be using Java to read them! It's also unsuitable on my machine at home as the Java classes I've based them on are not guaranteed to keep their serialised form across new versions of Java. I knew that when I chose that method, but it was a very quick way of getting things up and running, which was important at the time. So, XML DTDs are being produced and XML parsers are being researched.

Another thing that needs doing is a clean up of the supporting tables - those for the sources and composers. There isn't too much to do in that regard and I shall be asking users to provide me with any corrections required once they are available on-line. The database will probably be posted on the website in bits and pieces, with the support tables being done first.

I do intend to make the closest-fit anticipation retrieval routines available on-line, but they are computationally intensive. They take about a minute to run on my machine at home, with the SQL portion of that being very minor, so I shall probably need to limit their use in some way. Meson probably won't be the only database application on the provider's server!

One of Bert Coules's marvellous Sherlock Holmes stories has just started on the radio, so it is time to get my priorities right.

Harry Fougiaxis and the Yellow Artefact

2007-05-07T15:25:00.000Z

Harry Fougiaxis has made an interesting comment to my earlier post Busy days. He says that he sees a yellow stripe in the dark squares of the new-style diagrams on my website. I hadn't noticed this before, but he is right: there is indeed a yellow stripe.

I use fonts to prepare the diagrams in a MS Word file and then I prepare a graphic by doing a screen print (from the print preview screen) and extracting the diagram using MS Paint. I have today prepared that Mansfield/Massmann/Loshinsky #2 composed at Piran for the website and kept my eyes open at every stage. The yellow stripe is there as soon as the font is displayed in the Word file. After some experimentation I have found that the point-size the font is displayed at makes a difference. For the website I use 18-point. I shall do some experiments to find a convenient larger size without this distracting aberration.

My work making the website compliant to the XHTML 1.0 standard continues. On the WCBCSC side, only the introduction and the reports for the years 2002-2003 to 2005-2006 await conversion. In the chess problem part the only pages awaiting conversion are in the Meson section and they are all in the large collection of 'snaps'. At some point in the near future I will post a description of my Meson database and my plans for its future.

Missed blemishes

2007-05-03T16:10:00.000Z

The Problemist for May/June is now with the printer and I expect it to be distributed next week sometime.

I have decided that it is probably best not to show diagrams here on the blog - it is just so difficult to get the layout as you want it. Instead I will link to pages on my website. I have added three problems recently:

A #3 by Zagoruyko
A #2 by Barnes and Reeves
A R#3 by Anderson

Interestingly, it was only as I wrote up these problems that, in the case of two of them, I noticed artistic blemishes that I had never noticed before. I had known of these problems for many years, but for some reason I had not really inspected them properly. I suppose that I wanted them to be flawless.

I shall be adding problems from time to time - see the contents page.

Those of you who are made of stern stuff can look at my published problems, which I am also slowly adding to the website - see that contents page.

Busy days ...

2007-04-30T14:55:00.000Z

I've been pretty busy these last few days. I've submitted my June column to 'Chess' and also written and submitted a substantial review of the EG Special Volume for them. Quite rightly, this is very positive - lots of words and four studies, if they print it unchanged.

I sent the May-June The Problemist Supplement to bernd ellinghoven in Aachen for printing last week and he tells me it is already done. As soon as I receive The Problemist itself from the editor, I shall put it all together and send it too.

I've emailed out the WCBCSC starter announcement to all the chess editors I have email addresses for and no doubt Paul Valois has posted it out to them and others too. Solvers should look out for this start of the 2007-2008 competition in periodicals, chess magazines and websites (including mine) during June and July. Don't forget to send in your solutions by the end of July.

I've also been continuing the conversion to XHTML on my website, but there is plenty more to do and it's slow work. I've added a 'Favourite compositions' section, and added a first favourite problem. I've devised a new technique for the diagrams and they seem to be much clearer than they used to be. I hope surfers will agree. Time now for adding another favourite problem, this time a prize-winning #2 by Barry Barnes and Christopher Reeves.