Yesterday was an exhausting round of radio interviews about Rosemary Sutcliff, the book The Eagle of the Ninth, and the film The Eagle. But not an exhausting round of radio studios. Oxford University Press had organised for me to spend the time in just one studio in central London (at thebroadcasters.co.uk) being hooked up successively – sometimes live and sometimes for a ‘pre-recorded’ item – to some twelve local radio stations from Somerset to The Isle of Man, and from Guernsey to Cumbria. It was fun, but it really was exhausting. And just a little trying on occasion, biting my tongue whilst subtly trying in one live interview to correct one interviewer who rhymed ‘ninth’ with ‘plinth’ as if he thought the film was maybe The Eagle of the Ninjas, and in the next breath asked me what Rosemary Sutcliff (died 1992) thinks (in the present tense, not “might have”) of the film. Hey Ho.
The Stations were: Cheshire FM (presenter: Big Al), Radio Cardiff (Jane Morris) , Sheffield Live (Luke Crofts), BBC Radio Guernsey (Jenny Kendall-Tobias) , Manx Radio (Bob Harrison), BBC Radio Bristol (Peter Rowell), Swansea Sound (Kevin Johns), BBC Radio Cumbria (Gordon Swindlehurst), ALL FM 96.9 (Manchester; Kate Moore), BBC WM (Birmingham and The Black Country; Paul Franks), BBC Radio Solent (Katie Martin), Big City Radio (Birmingham; John Taylor). Some of the interviews went out live during the day; others were pre-recorded for later yesterday or today (Friday). (I will work on the links!)
ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF (1920-92) 
Thanks, Anthony! I look forward to listening to them…
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And thanks for the mention on your site…I’ll be intrigued to know your reactions to the film
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Well done, Anthony, on your marathon interview session. Are you going to post any links to the various stations? I’d like to listen to some of them.
And as for the usage of the present tense when referring to something in the past? *wails and gnashes teeth*. It’s here to stay, I’m afraid.
(I was first made aware of it 13 years ago, in the halycon days when such usage wasn’t known here in the UK, by a friend who was on hols in the States. He visited a house which George Washington had lived in at some stage, and the guide kept saying things like: ‘So George Washington eats his breakfast at this table, and he does his work here…’ My friend interrupted, and said, ‘But he’s dead. He died 200 years ago.’
He got a very blank look in return.)
And now the habit is here, in speech, and on virtually all history programmes and documentaries. Argh.
*Climbs off soapbox.*
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Soapbox climbing is fine by me-indeed, this is a new one on me! I have a field full of hobby-horses, although I ride only a very few of them on this blog… I really would like to rant (mixed metaphor) about the Americans calling the film ‘The Eagle’, especially since in much of Europe it is properly titled.
I have posted the stations and will work on the links. But here too is the text:
The Stations were: Cheshire FM (presenter: Big Al), Radio Cardiff (Jane Morris) , Sheffield Live (Luke Crofts), BBC Radio Guernsey (Jenny Kendall-Tobias) , Manx Radio (Bob Harrison), BBC Radio Bristol (Peter Rowell), Swansea Sound (Kevin Johns), BBC Radio Cumbria (Gordon Swindlehurst), ALL FM 96.9 (Manchester; Kate Moore), BBC WM (Birmingham and The Black Country; Paul Franks), BBC Radio Solent (Katie Martin), Big City Radio (Birmingham; John Taylor). Some of the interviews went out live during the day; others were pre-recorded for later yesterday or today (Friday). (I will work on the links!)
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