Post 476. SO I RELAXED

WITH TV AGAIN: .

WE WATCHED.
Poker Face (Sky Max): saw the entire ten part series in a weekend. Yes, it was a beguiling attraction. Created by Rian Johnson, the series stars Natasha Lyonne (above) as Charlie Cale, a good hearted young woman who has a unique 'gift:' she knows unerringly when somebody is lying. To add to her problems, she is a gifted detective who is not attached to the police, the FBI, the CIA, or any other of the multiple law enforcement establishments in America. And, in that vast country, have you any idea how many liars will also be murderers? Or how many criminals with an amateur detective /human lie detector allergy are likely to send a hit man after you?
I believe a second series has been commissioned. Great. This one was perfectly cast. Loved it..
We were not particularly bothered which Manchester football team won the FA Cup. Turned out to be City who beat United by two goals to one. We entirely missed the Epsom Derby. Had not allowed for an early start. Didn't matter to us. You will know who won if it mattered to you.
Now it will be nothing but tennis and cricket, Thanks be to Sir Henry Wood for the BBC Proms.
So to the pipe dream. (Not for you if you don't like classical music.)
MY PROMS SEASON.

NOBODY COULD BOOK (LET ALONE AFFORD) IT.

Not in the same season they couldn't. For a start I'd invite Pekka Kuusisto and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, and hope they would perform both Beethoven's 7th Symphony and Mozart's Divertimento in D Major K136.Perhaps they could even tackle Siblius's Finlandia (as a middle finger salute to the Kremlin). I would have orchestral sessions featuring at least two of the gifted Jarvi family of orchestra conductors (with intermission chats about their Estonian roots), and another with the talented Kanneh-Masons. The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields would perform Bruch's Violin Concerto, with Tomo Keller as soloist. There would be sessions of popular opera which would include Jonas Kaufmann and Kristine Opolais singing O soave fanciulla: the sessions would reach their conclusion with Bryn Terfel, and whomsoever he chose to accompany him, performing The Pearl Fishers duet. That would keep my Mo happy.
There would also be an abundance of piano concerti. Tchaikovsky One, Brahms Two, Rachmaninoff Three, and Beethoven Four would be featured. Litolff, too. I would invite any one of the following: Benjamin Grosvenor, Peter Donohoe, Stephen Hough, Lang Lang, Jan Lisiecki or Yuja Wang to demonstrate their grand piano skills again. I would invite Alexander Malofeev, too.
All interviews would be managed by Katie Derham.
Of course nobody could book, let alone afford, this whole shebang in the same season.

But you can dream, can't you?
AND SOMETIMES I DO WONDER...
What keeps my bedroom radio tuned to Classic FM?
At its best it is cheerfully presented and accepts modernity only through John Barry and John Williams. At its worst it is a melee of advertisements, one-movement-from-three in whatever classical composition, and messages from posh people walking their dogs in the Cotswolds.
I might go back to BBC Radio 4. 

Hope you, like us, are enjoying a spell of  sunshine.

Cheers.