The forthright and wildly eccentric musings on food and its preparation written by an RAF bomber pilot who returned from prison camp after WW2 to his bleak homeland where rationing and a long tradition of terrible cuisine frustrated his yearning for a decent meal.
Leslie Phillips reads from WMW Fowler’s definitive cookery manual for men. First sold 40 years ago by Willie Fowler in his local pub and recently rediscovered in a charity shop, these joyfully wicked musings retain a surprising relevance today. Abridged by Neil Cargill.
BBC Radio 4
First clip: The introduction.
Second clip: How to cook a cormorant.
4 Comments
Thank you Michael. I’ve just been ‘listening again’ to them. Great stuff.
The voice of that old cad Leslie Phillips is a piece of perfect casting, in my view. What a culture we inhabit!
Hey Michael, did you save them all somewhere? I wanted my Michael to hear them and now they’re gone. AArgh!! If you did I’d like to find out how you do it.
Don’t panic! The audio streams on the BBC page (bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/afternoon_reading.shtml) are replaced day by day so that next Monday’s broadcast will replace last Monday’s broadcast, and so on. This weekend (5th - 6th April) the buttons at the top of the page will still link to the Countryman’s Cooking episodes. Scroll down the page for the descriptions.
2 Trackbacks
[...] at Mustard Plaster has alerted me to this BBC audio clip (read by Leslie Phillips!) telling me how to cook a cormorant. I feel considerably cheered up, and so will you. April 11th, 2008 Things I Have [...]
[...] at Mustard Plaster has alerted me to this BBC audio clip (read by Leslie Phillips!) telling me how to cook a cormorant. I feel considerably cheered up, and so will you. April 11th, 2008 Things I Have [...]