Gigahertz

I'm not much of one for radio, apart from a few teenage years spent listening to the cricket coverage from around the world under a blanket. I don't know why I was under a blanket, it was 7 o'clock at night and they were playing the West Indies. I must have been hiding from someone.

My roommate in my first year at University loved radio. He loved it so much that he turned it on while I was still asleep. Despite this, when he finally moved out he accused me of forcing him out. I'm still, to this day, trying to work out what I could possibly have done that was worse that switching the radio on while someone else in the room is still asleep. Fucking weird. Maybe I unleashed a horde of killer pixies that devoured all his favourite family pets. I don't remember doing that, but I was pretty drunk a lot of the time.

I went for a time with no TV, and radio suddenly became a lot more important to me. When I worked in Cardiff between 1997 and 1998 the wireless was my entertainer, and the only place to turn for news, drama and music.

God, I was bored.

On the other hand, a radio show is my favourite thing in the entire universe: the BBC Lord of the Rings radio series, an adaptation so good that it's almost possible to suggest that it surpasses its source material. After all, the Lord of the Rings, while magnificent, is not a contender for the best book ever written. Most popular, perhaps. Not best. The BBC LOTR, on the other hand, must be one of the finest bits of radio drama ever committed to tape. If you've never heard it, seek it out.