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Chris gets ahead for Christmas with super chef James Martin, who's back with a new festive series. Plus Archbishop John Sentamu gives the lowdown on his walking challenge.

Chris gets ahead for Christmas with super chef James Martin who's back with a new festive series of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Comforts. Plus Archbishop John Sentamu gives us the lowdown on his walking challenge around the diocese of York, so it's a famous walks and walker top tenuous. And our killer Christmas tip today is reinventing the humble ironing board as a present wrapping station or a side bar for hot dishes!

2 hours, 59 minutes

Last on

Mon 7 Dec 2015 06:30
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 2

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Music Played

  • Free

    All Right Now

    • Back To The 70's (CD1) (Various).
    • EMI.
    • 15.

  • New Order

    Tutti Frutti

    • (CD Single).
    • Mute.
    • 001.

  • Mariah Carey

    All I Want For Christmas Is You

    • Mariah Carey - Merry Christmas.
    • Columbia.

  • Take That

    Shine

    • (CD Single).
    • Polydor.

  • George Ezra

    Cassy O'

    • Wanted On Voyage.
    • Columbia.

  • Ram Jam

    Black Betty

    • 25 Years Of Rock 'N' Roll: 1977 (Various Artists).
    • Connoisseur Collection.
    • 2.

  • Bryan Adams

    You Belong To Me

    • (CD Single).
    • Polydor.
    • 001.

  • Otis Redding

    (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay

    • Soul (Various Artists).
    • Polygram Tv.

  • Michael Jackson

    Love Never Felt So Good (feat. Justin Timberlake) (feat. Justin Timberlake)

    • Xscape.
    • Sony Music.

  • Tennessee Ernie Ford

    Christmas Dinner

  • Seal

    Every Time I'm With You

    • 7.
    • Warner Bros.
    • 001.

  • Yes

    Owner Of A Lonely Heart

    • Top Gear 2 - Various Artists.
    • Columbia.

  • Blondie

    Denis

    • Atomic: The Very Best Of Blondie.
    • EMI.

  • Amy Winehouse

    Love Is A Losing Game

    • (CD Single).
    • Polydor.

  • Harry Belafonte

    Jump In The Line

    • The Best Of.
    • Camden.
    • 16.

  • Michael BublΓ©

    The More You Give (The More You'll Have)

    • (CD Single).
    • Warner Bros.

  • Jona Lewie

    Stop The Cavalry

    • The Ivor Novello Winners.
    • EMI.

  • Sam Smith

    Like I Can

    • (CD Single).
    • Capitol.
    • 007.

  • Herman’s Hermits

    I'm Into Something Good

    • The Hits Of 1964 (Various Artists).
    • MFP.

  • The Foundations

    Build Me Up Buttercup

    • Million Sellers Vol.12 - The Sixties.
    • Disky.

  • Pretenders

    2000 Miles

    • The Best Christmas Album In The World.
    • Virgin.

  • Elton John

    Looking Up

    • (CD Single).
    • Mercury.
    • 001.

  • Steve Miller Band

    The Joker

    • Steve Miller Band Greatest Hits 1974-.
    • Mercury.

  • Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga

    Anything Goes

    • Cheek To Cheek.
    • Interscope.

  • Greg Lake

    I Believe In Father Christmas

    • The Anthology, A Musical Journey.
    • BMG.

  • Chris de Burgh

    A Spaceman Came Travelling

    • The Best Christmas Album In The World... Ever! (Various Artists).
    • Virgin.
    • 1.

  • Coldplay

    Adventure Of A Lifetime

    • (CD Single).
    • Parlophone.

  • Max Bygraves

    The Happy Wanderer

  • The Doors

    Light My Fire

    • (CD Single).
    • Elektra.

Pause For Thought

Pause For Thought

From Julia Neuberger, Senior Rabbi at the west London Synagogue:

It’s the first day of the Jewish festival of Chanukkah today. It’s a festival of lights, and last night we lit one candle of the 8 on the chanukkiyah, the Chanukkah menorah or eight branched candlestick. Tonight will be two, tomorrow three, and so on. The story is a bit of a weird one, about getting enough oil to keep the eternal light burning in the Temple in Jerusalem after the Maccabees had driven out the Seleucid Greeks. The legend goes that there was enough oil to last only a day, and it was a horseman’s four day journey there and four days back to get more supplies. Miraculously, the oil lasted eight days, and so we light the candles to commemorate that miracle. To add to that, we eat the most fattening, oil fried, foods in the world- doughnuts, and potato pancakes, latkes, that make you put on weight by looking at them. And we give small presents to the children, and have a bit of a party, as we did last night!

But there is a serious point here. Most religions have a festival of lights, usually at the darkest time of year, probably originally linked to a winter solstice. But now, when we look at the lights, it’s a time to think of hope over adversity, to think of the suffering of civilians in war and hope that their lives will improve, of the suffering of neglected children and older people, and hope for their lives to improve. But one message from these lights is that we have to do better than simply hope. We can hope and pray and wish for better times to come, but the imperative is to be inspired by the candles, inspired by the light, to go out and try to improve lives for those people, be they old or young, be they Syrians fleeing civil war and now bombings, or whoever they are. The message of the lights is of course hope. But hope isn’t enough. Hope has to inspire us to act as well as pray, and the light, and warmth, are designed to galvanise us to action.

Broadcast

  • Mon 7 Dec 2015 06:30
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 2

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.

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Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 2's story-writing competition for kids.