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Sir Michael Caine and Zoe Ball

Chris is joined by Sir Michael Caine who calls in to tell us about his new documentary My Generation and catches up with Zoe Ball after her Hardest Road Home challenge.

Chris is joined by Sir Michael Caine who calls in to tell us about his new documentary My Generation, which explores his journey as a working class actor in 1960s London. Having cycled 352 miles, peddled over 170,000 times and burned over 50,000 calories, we catch up with Zoe Ball after her Hardest Road Home challenge for Sport Relief and reveal her jaw-dropping final total. We dedicate this morning's Top Tenuous to the late great Ken Dodd and ask for your claims to the fame of this legendary comedian. Vassos is joined in the Sports Locker by talent agent Natalie Dunman and Rabbi Dr Harvey Belovski is pausing for thought.

2 hours, 59 minutes

Last on

Mon 12 Mar 2018 06:30
Â鶹Éç Radio 2

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Clips

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Music Played

  • Stevie Wonder

    Sir Duke

    • Stevie Wonder - Song Review.
    • Motown.

  • George Ezra

    Paradise

    • (CD Single).
    • Columbia.

  • Matt Monro

    On Days Like These

    • Matt Monro Sings Don Black.
    • EMI.

  • Dire Straits

    Lady Writer

    • Sultans Of Swing - Best Of Dire Straits.
    • Vertigo.

  • Gnarls Barkley

    Crazy

    • (CD Single).
    • Warner Bros.

  • Phil Collins

    You Can't Hurry Love

    • Singles.
    • Rhino.

  • Meghan Trainor

    No Excuses

    • (CD Single).
    • Epic.

  • Britney Spears

    Baby One More Time

  • Miley Cyrus

    Malibu

    • (CD Single).
    • RCA.

  • Ken Dodd

    Tears

    • The Hits Of 1965 (Various Artists).
    • MFP.

  • Pete Tong & Heritage Orchestra

    Killer (feat. Seal)

    • Ibiza Classics.
    • UMC.

  • Coldplay

    Hymn For The Weekend (feat. µþ±ð²â´Ç²Ô³¦Ã©)

    • A Head Full Of Dreams.
    • Parlophone.

  • TLC

    Way Back

    • (CD Single).
    • Cooking Vinyl.

  • JoBoxers

    Boxer Beat

    • Young at Heart (Various Artists).
    • Reader's Digest.

  • Perry Como

    Papa Loves Mambo

    • The Best Of Cult Fiction (Various).
    • Virgin.

  • Toni Braxton

    Long As I Live

    • (CD Single).
    • Def Jam.

  • The Who

    My Generation

    • The Who Hits 50! (Deluxe Edition).
    • Polydor.
    • 004.

  • Harpo

    Movie Star

    • Super 70's (Various Artists).
    • Virgin.

  • Joe Walsh

    Life's Been Good

    • Driving Rock (Various Artists).
    • Global Records & Tapes.

  • David Bowie

    Heroes

    • David Bowie - Best Of Bowie.
    • EMI.

  • Madness

    House Of Fun

  • Frankie Goes to Hollywood

    Two Tribes

    • Fantastic 80's Disc 2 (Various Artis.
    • Gut.

  • Dead or Alive

    You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)

    • Wave Party (Various Artists).
    • Columbia.
    • 4.

  • Liam Gallagher

    Paper Crown

    • As You Were.
    • Warner Bros.
    • 004.

  • Ken Dodd

    Happiness

    • All The Songs I Love.
    • EMI.
    • 2.

  • George McCrae

    Rock Your Baby

    • The Greatest Hits Of 1974 (Various).
    • Premier.

Pause For Thought

Pause For Thought

Harvey Belovski, rabbi at Golders Green United Synagogue:

Ìý

On 12th March, 563 years ago, a man called Enea Silvio Piccolomini sent a letter describing something remarkable that happened in the previous year – 1454.Ìý The letter isn’t well known, but its subject was an invention that changed the world beyond recognition.

Ìý

Piccolomini – who would become Pope Pius II just four years later – wrote that a marvellous man in Frankfurt had been promoting the Bible.Ìý Apparently, Johann Gutenberg had produced a version of the Bible with such neat lettering that it was possible to read it without glasses.Ìý Every copy had been sold.

Ìý

Of course, Gutenberg had invented the printing press.Ìý Before Gutenberg, books were expensive and had to be duplicated by hand.Ìý To get a sense of what that meant, 200 years earlier, during a period of antisemitism in Paris, all known copies of the TalmudÌý – the major text of Jewish study – were burned.Ìý Today, a local Jewish college/yeshiva in this unfortunate position would just buy or download replacements, but back then in pre-printing Paris, the yeshiva simply closed, unable to function.

Ìý

Although there had been printing of sorts in China and Korea, Gutenberg pioneered moveable type, which allowed for mechanical, mass-production of books.Ìý His first and only full-scale publication was a Bible, printed in Latin, of which only 48 survive today.

Ìý

Gutenberg’s invention triggered a revolution of ideas and literacy, as books were distributed widely and cheaply.Ìý Ordinary people could access knowledge, which in turn empowered them in ways that altered the very fabric of society.

Ìý

Printing transformed the world – we can’t conceive of a school, library, church or synagogue before its invention.Ìý But perhaps we can: try just for a moment to imagine a world without the internet!

Ìý

It was a change that also benefitted the Jewish world in extraordinary ways.Ìý Jewish publishers sprung up across Europe, printing the great works of Jewish scholarship, ensuring that everyone could have access to them.Ìý Our morning prayers contain the line ‘learning Torah – Jewish religious texts – is equivalent to them all’.Ìý This means that study and the love of knowledge is deeply imprinted on our souls, and has always been central to Jewish identity.Ìý The invention of printing allowed the democratisation of knowledge to become a reality for whole communities, not just a privileged elite.Ìý We owe Gutenberg a huge debt of gratitude.

Ìý

Broadcast

  • Mon 12 Mar 2018 06:30
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