News from the BBC

The BBC Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House re-opened after a major refit (something both Gareth and I have been involved with over the last couple of years).  It was great for us to attend the first concert since the refurbishment given by the Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra on Sunday 26th March.

On a sad note our friend and colleague Father Cormac Rigby died on 27th March aged 67.  When I joined the BBC in 1980, he was presentation editor for Radio Three, he was a wonderfully calm and friendly man.  On the occasion I fell asleep instead of starting up the Radio Three network in the morning and missed the start of the weather, Cormac was relaxed and didn't make a big issue out of it, unlike my managers!   He wrote a reassuring letter to a listener who had been concerned that something was wrong and in true Radio Three style the listener wrote back suggesting I keep a thermos of chilled water with me to keep me awake in the morning.

Cormac also introduced me to ballet, something he loved and regularly went to watch even though getting to London from Oxford was getting more difficult for him.  Both Gareth and I will miss his requests for us to join him at the theatre or ballet and the sense of calm and oneness with the world that he gave out on those evenings.