Radio 4 UK Theme
The BBC Radio 4 UK Theme is an orchestral arrangement of traditional British airs composed by Fritz Spiegl (and possibly Manfred Arlan) which was played every morning on BBC Radio 4 between 23 November 1978 and 23 April 2006.
The piece was used as a start-up theme to introduce the Shipping Forecast, and was always the first item broadcast after Radio 4 resumed service following the night-time handover to the BBC World Service. In 2006, Mark Damazer's decision to cancel the UK Theme to make way for a "pacy news briefing" caused much controversy in the United Kingdom, including extensive discussion in the British media and even in Parliament.
Read more about Radio 4 UK Theme: Context and Usage, Description, Cancellation, The Single
Famous quotes containing the words radio 4, radio and/or theme:
“A liberal is a socialist with a wife and two children.”
—Anonymous. BBC Radio 4 (April 8, 1990)
“... the ... radio station played a Chopin polonaise. On all the following days news bulletins were prefaced by Chopinpreludes, etudes, waltzes, mazurkas. The war became for me a victory, known in advance, Chopin over Hitler.”
—Margaret Anderson (18861973)
“She is a theme of honor and renown,
A spur to valiant and magnanimous deeds,
Whose present courage may beat down our foes,
And fame in time to come canonize us.”
—William Shakespeare (15641616)