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Sara Cox sits in for Chris Evans with a fully interactive show for all the family, featuring music, special guests and listeners on the phone.

2 hours, 59 minutes

Last on

Mon 25 May 2015 06:30

Music Played

  • Buggles

    Video Killed The Radio Star

    • Our Friends Electric (Various Artist.
    • Telstar.
  • Shaun Escoffery

    Perfect Love Affair

  • Kodaline

    Billie Jean - Radio 2 Session 250515

  • Kim Wilde

    Kids In America

    • Fantastic 80's Disc 2 (Various Artis.
    • Columbia.
  • Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga

    The Lady Is A Tramp

    • Duets II.
    • Columbia.
    • 1.
  • Modern Romance

    Best Years Of Our Lives

    • The Platinum Collection.
    • Rhino.
  • Jean Knight

    Mr Big Stuff

    • Stax Greatest Hits (Various Artists).
    • Stax.
  • Sheppard

    Geronimo

    • (CD Single).
    • Decca.
  • OMC

    How Bizarre

    • Now 34 (Various Artists).
    • Now.
  • Midge Ure

    If I Was

    • Greatest Hits Of The 80's (Various Artists).
    • Disky.
  • Shakira

    Whenever, Wherever

    • (CD Single).
    • Epic.
  • Black Sabbath

    Paranoid

    • Million Sellers Vol.18 - The Seventie.
    • Disky.
  • Jools Holland, Ruby Turner & Jools Holland & His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra

    Jumpin' In The Morning

    • Golden Age Of Song.
    • Rhino.
    • 001.
  • Rick Astley

    Never Gonna Give You Up

    • Rick Astley - Whenever You Need Someb.
    • RCA.
  • Jamiroquai

    Space Cowboy

    • (CD Single).
    • Sony Soho Square.
  • Aswad

    Shine

    • Now 1994 - The Millennium Series.
    • EMI.
  • Katrina and the Waves

    Walking On Sunshine

    • The Best Summer Ever (Various Artist.
    • Virgin.
  • The Kinks

    Tired Of Waiting For You

    • The Journey - Part 1.
    • BMG.
    • 6.
  • The Smiths

    This Charming Man

    • The Smiths - The Very Best Of.
    • WEA.
    • 2.
  • Will Young

    Love Revolution

    • (CD Single).
    • Island.
    • 001.
  • The Vamps

    Oh Cecilia (Breaking My Heart)

  • Earth, Wind & Fire

    Boogie Wonderland (feat. The Emotions)

    • The Best Seventies Album In The World.. Ever!.
    • Virgin.
    • 2.
  • Labelle

    Lady Marmalade

    • Soul Chartbusters (Various Artists).
    • Columbia.
  • The Drifters

    Kissin' In The Back Row Of The Movies

    • Jukebox 70's Hits -I Got The Music In Me.
    • Old Gold.
  • Andreya Triana

    That's Alright With Me

    • (CD Single).
    • Counter Records.
    • 001.
  • George Harrison

    Got My Mind Set on You

    • George Harrison - Cloud Nine.
    • Dark Horse.
    • 1.
  • Blur

    Girls & Boys

    • Now 28 (Various Artists).
    • Now.
  • All Saints

    Pure Shores

    • (CD Single).
    • London.
    • 8.
  • Van Morrison & Clare Teal

    Carrying A Torch

    • Duets.
    • RCA.
    • 001.
  • Sweet

    Love Is Like Oxygen

    • (Single).
    • Polydor.

Pause For Thought

Pause For Thought

Abdul-Rehman Malik, journalist and broadcaster

I have to say Sara it鈥檚 been a truly great Bank Holiday weekend. Over the last few days, I鈥檝e been crisscrossing England 鈥 attending a literature festival in Bradford, feasting on my aunt鈥檚 peerless curries in Liverpool and listening to an old friend sing some soulful blues at a concert in Nottingham.

There was, however, a moment on Saturday afternoon that I was struck by a rather disturbing thought. The air was full of banter and the gleeful laughter of children, but looking up at the perfectly clear, blue summer, I couldn鈥檛 help but thinking what I would do if a Vogon Constructor Fleet suddenly darkened the sky and announced that the world was coming to a swift end?聽

If you know what I鈥榤 talking about Sara 鈥 and I think you do 鈥 then you will certainly know that today is Towel Day 鈥 the day that millions around the world celebrate the life of the late British writer Douglas Adams and his magnum opus, The Hitchhiker鈥檚 Guide to the Galaxy.

The story of how the hapless Arthur Dent and his alien friend Ford Prefect escape the Earth moments before it鈥檚 destroyed to make way for interstellar hyperspace bypass first captured my nerdy imagination in middle school. As I grew up, Arthur and Ford鈥檚 galactic adventures were the fodder for ceaselessly interesting conversations with eminently quotable passages ideal for geeks.聽

All one needed to survive in an unpredictable universe, was to always carry a towel - to place under one鈥檚 head for long space journeys of course - and a copy of what I guess we鈥檇 now call an e-book called 鈥淭he Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy鈥 which had emblazoned across its cover the indispensible advice, DON鈥橳 PANIC.

鈥淚f you are irritated by every rub,鈥 observed the great 13th Century mystic Rumi, 鈥渉ow will the mirror of your spiritual heart every get polished?鈥

In other words, to quote the Hitchhiker鈥檚 Guide, DON鈥橳 PANIC! Life is going to be full of all kinds of disorienting disappointments and heartbreaks. Sometimes we鈥檒l suffer inexplicable pain, other times we鈥檒l find bewildering joy.

When confronted by trials, it鈥檚 not those who panic that make it, but those who take a deep breath, say a prayer, and jump in hoping and working for the best. It鈥檚 these unlikely heroes that Adams celebrated in his work.聽 Just make sure you always carry a towel.

Broadcast

  • Mon 25 May 2015 06:30

Farewell Chris Evans: The best bits from his last shows at Radio 2

After eight years of hosting the Breakfast Show, Chris Evans leaves Radio 2.

500 Words

麻豆约拍 Radio 2's story-writing competition for kids.