This is from Gillian Reynolds' weekly Radio Review in the Sunday Times Culture Magazine...
Happy birthday to June Spencer, Peggy on The Archers. She’s 101 today, active as ever, but absent from Ambridge, which seems to have been invaded by aliens. I used to be glued to The Archers from 7pm; now I roam the dial and listen a lot to Iain Dale on LBC. Phone-ins are there for people like me, Aggrieved of W2. On the Wednesday of the Black Lives Matter protests in the UK and America, Dale took a call from Denise. She was passionate, persistent in telling him where he was wrong.
The next night she co-hosted the show for the last hour, at Dale’s invitation. It was a significant success. Denise is a woman of colour, a mother; she works for Age UK and is dyslexic. She is also articulate and a sensitive listener. On that amazing Thursday night she took to commercial radio, time checks, news breaks, commercials and all, with ease and flair.
LBC was brave to let her. Dale is broadcasting from home and hadn’t met her beyond their conversation on air. Yet he was right to insist on asking her back so soon. I don’t have to agree with either Dale or Denise to know that both are worth the listen. At my notional Bank of Human Voices, a Denise has serious value.
