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Eddie Redmayne, Darcey Bussell, Dara O'Briain, Imelda May and Jack Savoretti

With award-winning actor Eddie Redmayne, Strictly star Darcey Bussell and live music from Imelda May and Jack Savoretti.

Academy-award winning actor Eddie Redmayne tells us about lending his voice to the new Aardman animation Early Man. Strictly star Darcey Bussell chats about her new keep fit DVD. Dara O'Briain shares tales on returning to stand-up and taking his show Voice of Reason on tour. Plus, the incredible Imelda May and Jack Savoretti provide the Friday soundtrack, performing their first single together 'Call Me' live in the studio.

2 hours, 59 minutes

Music Played

  • Bryan Ferry

    Let's Stick Together

    • Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music - Street Life.
    • Eg.
  • Portugal. The Man

    Feel It Still

    • (CD Single).
    • Atlantic.
  • AC/DC

    Highway To Hell

    • AC/DC - Highway To Hell.
    • Albert.
  • Daryl Hall & John Oates

    Private Eyes

    • Single Mixes.
    • RCA.
  • The B鈥52s

    Love Shack

    • Now 1990 - The Millennium Series.
    • Now.
    • 3.
  • Fine Young Cannibals

    Good Thing

    • The Raw & The Cooked.
    • London.
  • Manic Street Preachers

    International Blue

  • Oasis

    Roll With It

  • The Swinging Blue Jeans

    The Hippy Hippy Shake

    • The Hits Of 1963 (Various Artists).
    • EMI.
  • Sigrid

    Strangers

    • (CD Single).
    • Island.
  • Ultra Nat茅

    Free

    • Huge Hits 1997 (Various Artists).
    • Global Television.
  • Starship

    We Built This City

    • Now 1985 (Various Artists).
    • Now.
    • 1.
  • The Cardigans

    My Favourite Game

    • Q The Album (Various Artists).
    • Virgin.
  • Pharrell Williams

    Happy

    • (CD Single).
    • RCA.
  • Pratt & McClain

    Happy Days

    • Television's Greatest Hits Volume 3 70s & 80s.
    • Silva Screen Records Ltd.
  • Taylor Swift

    Gorgeous

    • reputation.
    • Big Machine.
  • Bleachers

    Don't Take The Money

    • Gone Now.
    • RCA.
    • 001.
  • Beck

    Dear Life

    • (CD Single).
    • EMI.

Pause for Thought

Pause for Thought

Abdul-Rehman Malik, journalist and broadcaster

Chris, having spent the last five months across the Atlantic at an Ivy League college, I think I鈥檝e learned a thing or two. One thing is that there is no quicker way to feeling old than taking a class with people who are half your age.

In the spirit of experimentation, I decided to take a creative writing course. What I didn鈥檛 realize was that it was an undergraduate class 鈥 full of 19 and 20 year-olds. When I walked into the classroom on the first day, the intelligent banter and witty repartee of my classmates quietened as they watched me find a seat. I felt like a brown, bearded unicorn that had seen better days. Kind of like Eddie鈥檚 caveman alter ego Dug, I felt a little unsure of myself in this newish world.

The professor started the class and jumped right into an evocative piece of writing by Hemingway. She read it with such passion and posed such provocative questions that I forget my awkwardness and wanted to respond right away. But I decided to give my clever young classmates the first shot. Silence. No one said a word. They looked down uncomfortably at their laptops. I felt in them a kind of fear. So I put up my hand and broke the ice. My classmates looked relieved.

A few weeks later I asked one of them why everyone had been so quiet on the first day. 鈥淎t a school like this,鈥 he said laughing. 鈥淲e鈥檙e all afraid of making mistakes. It鈥檚 better to be quiet and see what happens.鈥

鈥淩un from what's comfortable,鈥 declared the sage Rumi. 鈥淔orget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious. I have tried prudent planning long enough. From now on I'll be wild.鈥澛

In the end I decided that the creative writing was still a bit safe, so I decided to channel my inner Darcey Bussell and took a class in modern dance as well. Let鈥檚 just say that if someone had leaked a picture of me trying to do my floor-barre exercises, what little reputation I have would have been gone. Who said trying to live without fear was going to be without risk. After all, if we鈥檙e going to try to bake a new version of ourselves, we鈥檒l end up having to break some egos.

Broadcast

  • Fri 12 Jan 2018 06:30

Farewell Chris Evans: The best bits from his last shows at Radio 2

After eight years of hosting the Breakfast Show, Chris Evans leaves Radio 2.

500 Words

成人快手 Radio 2's story-writing competition for kids.