Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Word of the Year and Japanese Architecture

Chris reveals the 500 Words and Oxford University Press' Word of the Year and discovers its link with Blue Planet II with executive producer James Honeyborne.

Chris reveals the 500 Words and Oxford University Press' Word of the Year, plastic, and discovers its link with Blue Planet II with executive producer James Honeyborne. We learn about the calm and chaos of Japanese living with architect Piers Taylor. Chris pays tribute to the news about the moon moving further away from Earth by playing a moon-tage with tunes including Moon River, All By Myself and Should I Stay or Should I Go. Vassos is joined in the Sports Locker by England football under-21s manager Aidy Boothroyd. Reverend Ruth Scott has the mid-week Pause For Thought.

2 hours, 59 minutes

Music Played

  • Level 42

    Running In The Family

    • The Complete Polydor Years: Volume 2 (1985-1989).
    • Cherry Red Records.
  • Manic Street Preachers

    Hold Me Like A Heaven

    • Resistance Is Futile.
    • Columbia.
    • 008.
  • Madonna

    Vogue

    • Finally Enough Love (Deluxe Edition).
    • Rhino.
  • R.E.M.

    Shiny Happy People

    • The Greatest Hits Of 1991 (Various).
    • Telstar.
  • Meghan Trainor

    No Excuses

    • (CD Single).
    • Epic.
  • Robbie Williams

    Let Me Entertain You

    • Now 39 (Various Artists).
    • Now.
  • Rahim Redcar

    Girlfriend (feat. ¶Ùâ³¾-¹ó³Ü²Ô°ì)

    • (CD Single).
    • Because Music.
  • Boyzone

    Picture of You

    • Hits Zone - The Best Of 97 (Various).
    • Polygram Tv.
  • The Isley Brothers

    Harvest For The World

    • The Greatest Hits Of 1976 (Various).
    • Premier.
  • Tony Hadley

    Tonight Belongs To Us

    • Talking To The Moon.
    • Moonstone Music.
  • Michael Bublé

    Everything

    • (CD Single).
    • Reprise.
  • The Beatles

    All You Need Is Love

  • The Beatles

    She Loves You

    • The Beatles - 1.
    • Apple.
    • 003.
  • John Paul Young

    Love Is In The Air

    • 20 Songs Of Love From The 70's (Vario.
    • MFP.
  • Jess Glynne

    I'll Be There

    • Always In Between.
    • Atlantic.
  • Let Loose

    Crazy For You

  • EMF

    Unbelievable

  • Madness

    Our House

    • Now 1983 - The Millennium Series.
    • EMI.
  • Johnny Marr

    Hi Hello

    • Call The Comet.
    • Warner Bros.
  • Electric Light Orchestra

    All Over The World

    • Light Years - The Very Best Of ELO.
    • Epic.
  • Edwin Starr

    H.A.P.P.Y. Radio

    • Edwin Starr: The Essential Collection.
    • Spectrum.
  • Alexandra Burke

    The Truth Is

Pause For Thought

Pause For Thought

Ruth Scott, Anglican Priest and Quaker:

Since I was last here I’ve been on pilgrimage to places that make my soul sing - the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, particularly the Isles of Mull and Iona. I love the meeting of mountain and sea on Mull, and the clarity of light and colour of clear turquoise water on Iona. This time of year the grassland known as the machair, is so strewn with daisies and buttercups that the grass is almost completely obscured.  All through the months in hospital last year, I had ten pocket-sized photo cards of Iona on my bedside table. Each day I propped up a different one in my line of vision. I wanted a reminder of beauty as I travelled through treatment. The images were a saving grace, particularly in my stark, cramped room on the Isolation Unit, which looked out onto a brutal concrete quadrangle. When our own experience is distorted by tragedy and trauma, or the daily news brings us constant evidence of the ugliness of inhumanity – violence, injustice, deprivation, and disaster - it’s easy to lose sight of the beauty around and within us. That’s why I limit the bad news I listen to, and always carry with me something beautiful. It may be a picture or, as today, a poem. It might be a piece of music on my phone, or a simple glass prism that scatters rainbow colours all around me when held in the light. Christianity talks about the beauty of holiness, but I identify more easily with the holiness of beauty. I sense what is sacred when I steep myself in a little loveliness and let it seep into my soul in the midst of difficult daily challenges. The most unpleasant of places can become bearable when we create small oases of delight within them. While I know true human beauty grows from the inside out, sometimes, when the going gets tough, I need hints of the beauty of the world to open up a way to what lies hidden within me. I had moments last year when I thought I wouldn’t live to see Iona again, but those small photos kept it alive in my heart and imagination, and helped me to make it back  to tread their pathways once more. 

Broadcast

  • Wed 6 Jun 2018 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

Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 2's story-writing competition for kids.