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Brian May, Shirley Ballas and James Blunt

Wake up to a star-studded Friends Round Friday with Zoe. She's joined by legendary Queen guitarist Brian May and Strictly's Shirley Ballas. Plus live music from James Blunt.

Wake up to a star-studded Friends Round Friday with Zoe Ball and a whole host of celebrity guests.

Legendary Queen guitarist Brian May has details of his spooky Halloween photo exhibition, listener Natalie asked her hero Brian May a question. Strictly Come Dancing head judge Shirley Ballas gives us the lowdown before Halloween Week. Plus live music in the studio from James Blunt with tracks from his new album Once Upon A Mind.

Along with Tina Daheley on news, Richie Anderson on travel and Mike Williams on sport, Zoe and the team have the best start to your morning. With celeb guests, quizzes, headlines, tunes chosen by listeners and more music than you can shake a glitterball at!

There's also weather with Matt Taylor and a daily Pause For Thought from Jim Harris, as Zoe entertains the nation with fun for the family!

2 hours, 59 minutes

Last on

Fri 25 Oct 2019 06:30
Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 2

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Music Played

  • Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel

    Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)

    • 20 Number 1's Of The 70's (Various).
    • MFP.

  • Jonas Blue

    Younger (feat. HRVY)

  • The Wombles

    The Wombling Song

    • Wombling Songs.
    • Dramatico.
    • 12.

  • Dodgy

    Good Enough

    • Now That's What I Call Music! 34 (Various Artists).
    • Now.

  • The Wombles

    Remember You're A Womble

    • Remember You're A Womble.
    • Dramatico.
    • 1.

  • Tom Jones

    It's Not Unusual

    • Fifty Number Ones Of The 60's (Variou.
    • Global Television.

  • Queen

    Don't Stop Me Now

    • Jazz.
    • Island.
    • 12.

  • Queen

    Crazy Little Thing Called Love

    • The Game.
    • Island.
    • 5.

  • Queen

    Another One Bites The Dust

    • The Game.
    • Island.
    • 3.

  • Queen

    A Kind Of Magic

    • Queen - Greatest Hits II.
    • Parlophone.

  • Queen

    Fat Bottomed Girls

    • Queen - Greatest Hits.
    • Parlophone.

  • Queen

    We Are The Champions

    • News Of The World.
    • Island.
    • 2.

  • Earth, Wind & Fire

    Let's Groove

    • 15th Anniversary Music Celebration (Various Artists).
    • Rhino.

  • Electric Light Orchestra

    From Out Of Nowhere

    • From Out Of Nowhere.
    • Columbia.

  • Rod Stewart & Robbie Williams

    It Takes Two

    • You're In My Heart: Rod Stewart With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Rhino Records.

  • Wings

    Listen To What The Man Said

    • The 7" Singles Box.
    • MPL.

  • Queen

    Bohemian Rhapsody

    • Greatest Hits I II & III (The Platinum Collection).
    • Parlophone.
    • 11.

  • Brian May

    We Will Rock You / Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture

  • Michael Sembello

    Maniac

    • Flashdance O.S.T. (Various Artists).
    • VIRGIN.

  • Taylor Swift

    Lover

    • Lover.
    • TS/Republic.

  • Chic

    Good Times

    • The Last Days Of Disco (Film Soundtra.
    • Columbia.

  • Pet Shop Boys

    Dreamland (feat. Years & Years)

    • (CD Single).
    • x2 Recordings.

Pause For Thought

Pause For Thought

From Dr Jim Harris, Art Historian:

There used to be mice in our house.

Sitting at the kitchen table late in the evening I would occasionally see them scurrying across the floor and then disappearing through impossibly small gaps in the skirting.  Once they went into my bag and ate some chocolate.  But mostly they kept themselves to themselves and stayed out of the food, so I left them alone.

And then, one morning, I found one, dead beside the fridge, as if he’d just gotten tired and stopped for a rest, and then given up entirely.  It was rather sad, and the more so because since then I haven’t seen or heard the skittering of a single rodent so I’ve come to realise that we didn’t have mice at all.  We had a mouse. The mouse who gave up was the mouse left behind.  It must have been a very lonely existence.

Loneliness, even on this fabulously crowded, colourful, diverse little bunch of islands is something we all encounter, something most of us feel at one time or another.  The weekend can be the worst, from Friends-Round-Friday to Sunday brunch when everyone else seems to be getting the love.

Sometimes loneliness is weirdly public.  To be a judge is to be lonely, as Shirley surely knows.  To have to fill the sixteen bars of a guitar solo, Dr May, is painfully exposed and lonely. To step out to perform your own songs is to be alone no matter how big the audience, James.

Sometimes, though, like the mouse, it's hard to tell when someone is lonely.

In the Bible, even David, the anointed King and popular hero who fought Goliath, the boy least-likely-to-be-lonely, begged God,  "Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted."

To be turned to, to be noticed, to have someone be gracious to you: I reckon that what David cried out for is at the heart of the connection that we all need. I need it.

And in that there’s a glimmer of hope, a hint at how things might be better.  Because to turn to someone, to be gracious to them, to smile and say hello is within anyone’s compass.  And when we do it, we break the isolation of loneliness whether we see it or not. And then no mouse is left behind.

Broadcast

  • Fri 25 Oct 2019 06:30
    Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 2