Radio Times: Take 1

Deric Longden was best known for his books which touched millions in print and on screen, and which were critically acclaimed on both the UK and International stage. Many of the stories he told were drawn from his broadcasting days with BBC Radio Derby and BBC Radio Nottingham, where he enjoyed regular slots and a large audience of loyal listeners.

These insights into Deric’s world are drawn from his original ‘Line Up’ Radio Derby scripts, which he often wrote the night before his Friday morning air time and typed on all colours of paper. The stories in this collection are but a small number of those Deric wrote during his twenty plus years of broadcasting. They often became the original source material which Deric adapted and used in his books, magazine articles, lectures, after dinner speeches and by popular demand, were often re-broadcast. They demonstrate both the diversity of his subjects, his witty and humorous style and view of life and how he could make conversations with almost any animal or object.

The very first story in this collection is ‘Living to a Ripe Old Age’ and is the one Deric first submitted to Radio Derby under the pen name Biro.  The other stories in this collection cover his early broadcasting years when he lived with his first wife Diana and family in Matlock, Derbyshire. 

A small number of these stories were released by Radio Derby as an audio recording and some were released on a CD ‘A Funny Thing Is.’ Where we can, we have noted the date of the first broadcast of each piece. Our special thanks go to Mick Peat of ADA Recordings and a close colleague and friend who says: “Deric was always entertaining; he was a joy to know.”

These typescripts were discovered in the basement of his home, carefully filed and with his handwritten scribbles to assist him during the broadcasts of where to pause for breathe. Deric believed all of this material had been used and re used and heard before, but we now know there are many new laughs and surprises in this collection, which we have given titles to together with old favourites. They all show the workings of the mind of this comic genius.