147-446: The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 3 . It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and became one of the leading cultural and intellectual forces in Britain , playing an important role in disseminating the arts, broadcasting music (mainly classical ), plays, documentary features and talks. It
294-497: A Wallace and Gromit prom in 2012. These particular concerts were introduced by Wright, who became Proms Director in addition to his duties at Radio 3 in October 2007, and many were also televised for broadcast at a later date. The mix in these proms of classical music to combine with music of a classical nature from the programmes was hoped to introduce a much younger audience to the genres catered for by Radio 3. As of 2014 Radio 3
441-581: A character that Pinter described as "a very civilised man ... a man of great sensibility but in fact, he's upholding and sustaining a totally brutal system [the slave trade] from which he derives his money"; and Uncle Benny, opposite Pierce Brosnan and Geoffrey Rush , in The Tailor of Panama (2001). In television films , he played Mr. Bearing, the father of ovarian cancer patient Vivian Bearing, played by Emma Thompson in Mike Nichols 's HBO film of
588-600: A comedy, like his earlier comedies of menace . Pinter played the major role of Roote in a 1995 revival at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester . Pinter's brief dramatic sketch Precisely (1983) is a duologue between two bureaucrats exploring the absurd power politics of mutual nuclear annihilation and deterrence . His first overtly political one-act play is One for the Road (1984). In 1985 Pinter stated that whereas his earlier plays presented metaphors for power and powerlessness,
735-576: A drunk Irish journalist in Langrishe, Go Down (starring Judi Dench and Jeremy Irons ) distributed on BBC Two in 1978 and released in movie theatres in 2002. Pinter's later film roles included the criminal Sam Ross in Mojo (1997), written and directed by Jez Butterworth , based on Butterworth's play of the same name ; Sir Thomas Bertram (his most substantial feature-film role) in Mansfield Park (1998),
882-496: A filmed series of concerts that was available to watch live and on demand for seven days "in high quality vision". This strategy was also introduced to some of the BBC Proms concerts. By the latter years of the 2000s, Radio 3's prospects were improving. The year 2008/9 saw the introduction of more concerts and other innovations had introduced Radio 3's largest event to a wider audience. The introduction of family orientated concerts to
1029-420: A higher profile as were programmes presented by Brian Kay , focusing on light music, and Andy Kershaw , whose show was previously dropped by Radio 1. In these changes, Wright believed that, in the case of the former, he was addressing "this feeling people had that they didn't want to put Radio 3 on unless they were going to listen carefully" and in the latter cases that he was "not dumbing down but smarting up"
1176-730: A medical examination, before his CO registration was ultimately agreed. He had a small part in the Christmas pantomime Dick Whittington and His Cat at the Chesterfield Hippodrome in 1949 to 1950. From January to July 1951, he attended the Central School of Speech and Drama . From 1951 to 1952, he toured Ireland with the Anew McMaster repertory company, playing over a dozen roles. In 1952, he began acting in regional English repertory productions; from 1953 to 1954, he worked for
1323-469: A mix of live and recorded classical and jazz music, interviews with musicians, and arts news. The show is noted for its relaxed, convivial style of presentation. Jazz Record Requests was the first weekly jazz programme on the Third Programme. First presented by the jazz musician Humphrey Lyttelton , the 30-minute programme was launched on 12 December 1964 and is still running. Now an hour long, it
1470-624: A note of their names. Pinter himself and later critics generally credited Hobson as bolstering him and perhaps even rescuing his career. In a review published in 1958, borrowing from the subtitle of The Lunatic View: A Comedy of Menace , a play by David Campton , critic Irving Wardle called Pinter's early plays " comedy of menace "—a label that people have applied repeatedly to his work. Such plays begin with an apparently innocent situation that becomes both threatening and " absurd " as Pinter's characters behave in ways often perceived as inexplicable by his audiences and one another. Pinter acknowledges
1617-414: A play that Pinter developed from his 1963 short story, first broadcast on BBC TV in 1965. Working as both a screenwriter and as a playwright, Pinter composed a script called The Compartment (1966), for a trilogy of films to be contributed by Samuel Beckett , Eugène Ionesco , and Pinter, of which only Beckett's film, titled Film , was actually produced. Then Pinter turned his unfilmed script into
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#17328451255761764-571: A play, Woolf asked him to write it so that he could direct it to fulfill a requirement for his postgraduate work. Pinter wrote it in three days. The production was described by Billington as "a staggeringly confident debut which attracted the attention of a young producer, Michael Codron , who decided to present Pinter's next play, The Birthday Party , at the Lyric Hammersmith , in 1958." Written in 1957 and produced in 1958, Pinter's second play, The Birthday Party , one of his best-known works,
1911-526: A policy document entitled Broadcasting in the Seventies . Later described in 2002 by Jenny Abramsky , Head of Radio and Music, as "the most controversial document ever produced by radio", the document outlined each station's target audience and what content should be broadcast on each channel. This concept went against the earlier methods laid out by the BBC's first Director General John Reith and caused controversy at
2058-605: A principal patron of the arts, within commissioned many music works for broadcast by the BBC Music Department, playing an important role in the development of the career of composers such as Benjamin Britten . Particularly notable were its drama productions, including the radio plays of Samuel Beckett , Henry Reed (the Hilda Tablet plays), Harold Pinter , Wyndham Lewis , Joe Orton and Dylan Thomas , whose Under Milk Wood
2205-450: A recorded service from choral foundations abroad. Choral Evensong is the BBC's longest-running outside broadcast programme, the first edition having been relayed from Westminster Abbey on 7 October 1926. Its 80th anniversary was celebrated, also live from Westminster Abbey, with a service on 11 October 2006. When Choral Evensong was moved from Radio 4 to Radio 3 with effect from 8 April 1970 and reduced to just one broadcast per month,
2352-675: A related "Artists' Appeal for Milošević" in 2004. Pinter strongly opposed the 1991 Gulf War , the 1999 NATO bombing campaign in FR Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War , the United States' 2001 War in Afghanistan , and the 2003 Invasion of Iraq . Among his provocative political statements, Pinter called Prime Minister Tony Blair a "deluded idiot" and compared the administration of President George W. Bush to Nazi Germany . He stated that
2499-523: A screenplay for television in 1992, directing that production, first broadcast in the UK on Channel 4 on 17 November 1992. Intertwining political and personal concerns, his next full-length plays, Moonlight (1993) and Ashes to Ashes (1996) are set in domestic households and focus on dying and death; in their personal conversations in Ashes to Ashes , Devlin and Rebecca allude to unspecified atrocities relating to
2646-782: A shaping influence on [Pinter's] politics" and attributed changes in his writing and political views to a change from "an unhappy, complicated personal life ... to a happy, uncomplicated personal life", so that "a side of Harold which had always been there was somehow released. I think you can see that in his work after No Man's Land [1975], which was a very bleak play." Pinter was content in his second marriage and enjoyed family life with his six adult stepchildren and 17 step-grandchildren. Even after battling cancer for several years, he considered himself "a very lucky man in every respect". Sarah Lyall notes in her 2007 interview with Pinter in The New York Times that his "latest work,
2793-489: A slim pamphlet called 'Six Poems for A.', comprises poems written over 32 years, with "A" of course being Lady Antonia. The first of the poems was written in Paris, where she and Mr. Pinter traveled soon after they met. More than three decades later the two are rarely apart, and Mr. Pinter turns soft, even cozy, when he talks about his wife." In that interview Pinter "acknowledged that his plays—full of infidelity, cruelty, inhumanity,
2940-592: A society man in The Servant (1963) and as Mr. Bell in Accident (1967), both directed by Joseph Losey ; and as a bookshop customer in his later film Turtle Diary (1985), starring Michael Gambon , Glenda Jackson , and Ben Kingsley . Pinter's notable film and television roles included the lawyer Saul Abrahams opposite Peter O'Toole in Rogue Male , BBC TV 's 1976 adaptation of Geoffrey Household 's 1939 novel, and
3087-698: A son, Daniel, born in 1958. He left Merchant in 1975 and married author Lady Antonia Fraser in 1980. Pinter's career as a playwright began with a production of The Room in 1957. His second play, The Birthday Party , closed after eight performances but was enthusiastically reviewed by critic Harold Hobson . His early works were described by critics as " comedy of menace ". Later plays such as No Man's Land (1975) and Betrayal (1978) became known as " memory plays ". He appeared as an actor in productions of his own work on radio and film, and directed nearly 50 productions for stage, theatre and screen. Pinter received over 50 awards, prizes and other honours, including
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#17328451255763234-407: A student at Hackney Downs School , a London grammar school, between 1944 and 1948. "Partly through the school and partly through the social life of Hackney Boys' Club ... he formed an almost sacerdotal belief in the power of male friendship. The friends he made in those days – most particularly Henry Woolf , Michael (Mick) Goldstein and Morris (Moishe) Wernick – have always been a vital part of
3381-858: A television play, which was produced as The Basement , both on BBC 2 and also on stage in 1968. From the late 1960s through the early 1980s, Pinter wrote a series of plays and sketches that explore complex ambiguities, elegiac mysteries, comic vagaries, and other "quicksand-like" characteristics of memory and which critics sometimes classify as Pinter's " memory plays ". These include Landscape (1968), Silence (1969), Night (1969), Old Times (1971), No Man's Land (1975), The Proust Screenplay (1977), Betrayal (1978), Family Voices (1981), Victoria Station (1982), and A Kind of Alaska (1982). Some of Pinter's later plays, including Party Time (1991), Moonlight (1993), Ashes to Ashes (1996), and Celebration (2000), draw upon some features of his "memory" dramaturgy in their focus on
3528-700: A third man who is blindfolded, gagged and bound in a chair; Pinter directed the British première at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs , where it opened on 9 July 1991, and the production then transferred to Washington, D.C., where it was revived in 1994. Pinter's longer political satire Party Time (1991) premièred at the Almeida Theatre in London, in a double-bill with Mountain Language . Pinter adapted it as
3675-607: A wide range of serious classical music and live concerts, as well as contemporary composers and jazz ; popular classical music such as Beethoven , Mozart and Tchaikovsky primarily remained on the Home Service until 1964. Voice formed a much higher proportion of its output than the later Radio 3, with specially commissioned plays, poetry readings, talks and documentaries. Nationally known intellectuals such as Bertrand Russell and Isaiah Berlin on philosophy or Fred Hoyle on cosmology were regular contributors. The network became
3822-415: Is such a distinctive name that he must have got tired of being asked, 'Any relation? ' " Michael Billington wrote that Pinter saw Daniel's name change as "a largely pragmatic move on Daniel's part designed to keep the press ... at bay." Fraser told Billington that Daniel "was very nice to me at a time when it would have been only too easy for him to have turned on me ... simply because he had been
3969-623: Is uncertain even whether the play will still be in the bill by the time they appear, though it is probable it will soon be seen elsewhere. Deliberately, I am willing to risk whatever reputation I have as a judge of plays by saying that The Birthday Party is not a Fourth, not even a Second, but a First [as in Class Honours]; and that Pinter, on the evidence of his work, possesses the most original, disturbing and arresting talent in theatrical London ... Mr Pinter and The Birthday Party , despite their experiences last week, will be heard of again. Make
4116-516: Is used for outside broadcasts running through a telephone line. This runs at a sample rate of 14,000 per second per channel. A similar technique was later used for recording at the same rate. In September 2010, for the final week of the Proms broadcasts, the BBC trialled XHQ (Extra High Quality), a live Internet stream transmitted at a rate of 320 kbit /s, instead of Radio 3's usual 192 kbit/s, using its AAC-LC 'Coyopa' coding technology. This technology
4263-638: The BBC . It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera , with jazz , world music , drama , culture and the arts also featuring. The station has described itself as "the world's most significant commissioner of new music". Through its New Generation Artists scheme promotes young musicians of all nationalities. The station broadcasts the BBC Proms concerts, live and in full, each summer in addition to performances by
4410-587: The BBC Orchestras and Singers . There are regular productions of both classic plays and newly commissioned drama. Radio 3 won the Sony Radio Academy UK Station of the Year Gold Award for 2009 and was nominated again in 2011. According to RAJAR , the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 1.9 million with a listening share of 1.6% as of March 2024. Radio 3 is the successor station to
4557-434: The BBC Proms , which are broadcast live on Radio 3, helped the station to introduce itself to a younger audience. Innovations of this type began in 2008 with the introduction of a concert celebrating the music from the television programme Doctor Who as composed by Murray Gold and was later followed by a further Doctor Who prom in 2010, a free family prom in 2009, another free Horrible Histories prom in 2011 and
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4704-602: The BBC Wireless Orchestra to perform music. Television transmission began in 1947 and today, selected concerts are also simulcast on BBC Four . Promenade concerts are centred on the Royal Albert Hall with broadcasts from other venues around the UK. Radio 3 in Concert (originally Live in Concert ) is a weeknight programme, broadcast between 7:30 and 10 pm, with recorded concerts from various venues around
4851-589: The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and also had supported the British Anti-Apartheid Movement (1959–1994), participating in British artists' refusal to permit professional productions of their work in South Africa in 1963 and in subsequent related campaigns. In "A Play and Its Politics", a 1985 interview with Nicholas Hern, Pinter described his earlier plays retrospectively from the perspective of
4998-556: The Donald Wolfit Company, at the King's Theatre, Hammersmith , performing eight roles. From 1954 until 1959, Pinter acted under the stage name David Baron. In all, Pinter played over 20 roles under that name. To supplement his income from acting, Pinter worked as a waiter, a postman, a bouncer, and a snow-clearer, meanwhile, according to Mark Batty, "harbouring ambitions as a poet and writer." In October 1989 Pinter recalled: "I
5145-662: The Gate Theatre , Dublin, was held as part of the annual Lincoln Center Festival at Lincoln Center in New York City. Pinter participated both as an actor, as Nicolas in One for the Road , and as a director of a double bill pairing his last play, Celebration , with his first play, The Room . As part of a two-week "Harold Pinter Homage" at the World Leaders Festival of Creative Genius, held from 24 September to 30 October 2001, at
5292-665: The Grand Hotel in Eastbourne , in early January 1978. After the Frasers' divorce had become final in 1977 and the Pinters' in 1980, Pinter married Fraser on 27 November 1980. Because of a two-week delay in Merchant's signing the divorce papers, however, the reception had to precede the actual ceremony, originally scheduled to occur on his 50th birthday. Vivien Merchant died of acute alcoholism in
5439-886: The Hampstead Theatre Club , in London, in 1960. It was then not produced often until the 1980s, and it has been revived more frequently since 2000, including the West End Trafalgar Studios production in 2007. The first production of The Caretaker , at the Arts Theatre Club , in London, in 1960, established Pinter's theatrical reputation. The play transferred to the Duchess Theatre in May 1960 and ran for 444 performances, receiving an Evening Standard Award for best play of 1960. Large radio and television audiences for his one-act play A Night Out , along with
5586-517: The Holocaust . After experiencing the deaths of first his mother (1992) and then his father (1997), again merging the personal and the political, Pinter wrote the poems "Death" (1997) and "The Disappeared" (1998). Pinter's last stage play, Celebration (2000), is a social satire set in an opulent restaurant, which lampoons The Ivy , a fashionable venue in London's West End theatre district, and its patrons who "have just come from performances of either
5733-607: The Lyric Hammersmith in 1984, he played Nicolas in One for the Road and the cab driver in Victoria Station . Among over 35 plays that Pinter directed were Next of Kin (1974), by John Hopkins ; Blithe Spirit (1976), by Noël Coward ; The Innocents (1976), by William Archibald ; Circe and Bravo (1986), by Donald Freed ; Taking Sides (1995), by Ronald Harwood ; and Twelve Angry Men (1996), by Reginald Rose . Pinter
5880-764: The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City . The annual BBC Proms concerts are broadcast live each summer on Radio 3. Broadcasting the Proms began in 1927, when the Third Programme transmitted the Thirty-Second Season of the Promenade Concerts live from the Queen's Hall , conducted by Sir Henry Wood . The BBC's involvement with the Proms led to the creation of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and
6027-478: The Minimalists among others. On 2 August 2013, in honour of the station's 70th year, listeners were asked to nominate a composer who had never before been featured for a special broadcast at Christmas. The composer listeners chose was Louise Farrenc . The programme is written and presented by either Donald Macleod or Kate Molleson. Two programs formerly showcased live or recorded performances from venues across
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6174-721: The Nobel Prize in Literature in 2005 and the French Légion d'honneur in 2007. Despite frail health after being diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in December 2001, Pinter continued to act on stage and screen, last performing the title role of Samuel Beckett 's one-act monologue Krapp's Last Tape , for the 50th anniversary season of the Royal Court Theatre , in October 2006. He died from liver cancer on 24 December 2008. Pinter
6321-736: The Pulitzer Prize -winning play Wit (2001); and the Director opposite John Gielgud (Gielgud's last role) and Rebecca Pidgeon in Catastrophe , by Samuel Beckett , directed by David Mamet as part of Beckett on Film (2001). Pinter began to direct more frequently during the 1970s, becoming an associate director of the National Theatre (NT) in 1973. He directed almost 50 productions of his own and others' plays for stage, film, and television, including 10 productions of works by Simon Gray :
6468-683: The Royal Albert Hall , the Royal Festival Hall and the Queen Elizabeth Hall which can be used to record and broadcast performances at these London venues. Radio 3 is broadcast on the FM band between 90.2 and 92.6 MHz , on DAB Digital Radio , the digital television services Freeview , Freesat , Sky , Virgin Media , TalkTalk TV and Virgin Media Ireland and on BBC Sounds both online and on
6615-578: The Royal National Theatre , and a revival of The Caretaker directed by Patrick Marber and starring Michael Gambon , Rupert Graves , and Douglas Hodge , at the Comedy Theatre . Like Celebration , Pinter's penultimate sketch, Press Conference (2002), "invokes both torture and the fragile, circumscribed existence of dissent". In its première in the National Theatre 's two-part production of Sketches , despite undergoing chemotherapy at
6762-550: The Third Programme which began broadcasting on 29 September 1946. The name Radio 3 was adopted on 30 September 1967 when the BBC launched its first pop music station, Radio 1 and rebranded its national radio channels as Radio 1, Radio 2 (formerly the Light Programme ), Radio 3, and Radio 4 (formerly the Home Service ). Radio 3 was the overall label applied to the collection of services which had until then gone under
6909-540: The invasion of Iraq ? A bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism , demonstrating absolute contempt for the conception of international law ." Pinter earned a reputation for being pugnacious, enigmatic, taciturn, terse, prickly, explosive and forbidding. Pinter's blunt political statements, and the award of the Nobel Prize in Literature, elicited strong criticism and even, at times, provoked ridicule and personal attacks. The historian Geoffrey Alderman , author of
7056-427: The reunification of Germany in 1990, and a much praised weekend of programming that was broadcast from London and Minneapolis-St Paul – creating broadcasting history by being the first time a whole weekend had been transmitted "live from another continent". However, Drummond complained about the former that "not one single senior person in the BBC had listened to any part of it", reflecting his general feeling that
7203-543: The 1966 film Alfie . Their son Daniel was born in 1958. Through the early 1970s, Merchant appeared in many of Pinter's works, including The Homecoming on stage (1965) and screen (1973), but the marriage was turbulent. For seven years, from 1962 to 1969, Pinter was engaged in a clandestine affair with BBC-TV presenter and journalist Joan Bakewell , which inspired his 1978 play Betrayal , and also throughout that period and beyond he had an affair with an American socialite, whom he nicknamed "Cleopatra". This relationship
7350-479: The 1984 film Swann in Love ( Un amour de Swann ), directed by Volker Schlöndorff , and it was also adapted by Michael Bakewell as a two-hour radio drama broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 1995, before Pinter and director Di Trevis collaborated to adapt it for the 2000 National Theatre production. Pinter's last filmed screenplay was an adaptation of the 1970 Tony Award -winning play Sleuth , by Anthony Shaffer , which
7497-611: The Age , jazz showcase Impressions , vocal music programme Voices and the arts programme Night Waves . BBC Radio 3 began nighttime transmissions in May 1996 with the introduction of Through the Night , consisting of radio recordings from members of the European Broadcasting Union and distributed to some of these other stations under the title Euroclassic Notturno since 1998. The introduction of 24-hour broadcasting resulted in
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#17328451255767644-415: The BBC Music Programme, which began regular daily broadcasts of classical music (with some interruptions for live sports coverage) on the Network Three / Third Programme frequencies between 7.00 am and 6.30 pm on weekdays, 8.00 am and 12.30 pm on Saturdays, and 8.00 am and 5.00 pm on Sundays. The Third Programme continued as a distinct evening service, and this continued to be the case for a short while after
7791-452: The BBC Trust has ruled out any classical music podcasts with extracts longer than one minute. In 2007, Radio 3 also began to experiment with a visual broadcast as well as the audio transmissions. In October 2007, Radio 3 collaborated with the English National Opera in presenting a live video stream of a performance of Carmen , "the first time a UK opera house has offered a complete production online" and in September 2008, Radio 3 launched
7938-480: The BBC received 2,500 letters of complaint, and weekly transmissions were resumed on 1 July. In 2007 the live broadcast was switched to Sundays, which again caused protests. The live transmission was returned to Wednesdays in September 2008, with a recorded repeat on Sunday afternoons at approximately the same time. Choral Evensong forms part of Radio 3's remit on religious programming though non-religious listeners have campaigned for its retention. Composer of
8085-410: The BBC senior management paid little attention stating: "I can't remember ever having a serious conversation with anyone above me in the BBC about Radio 3 ... I would much rather have had the feeling that they thought it mattered what Radio 3 did." Drummond's successor was Nicholas Kenyon , previously chief music critic of The Observer , who took over in February 1992 and was immediately faced with
8232-399: The Blitz. In 1971, he told Mel Gussow : "one of my main obsessions in life is the game of cricket—I play and watch and read about it all the time." He was chairman of the Gaieties Cricket Club, a supporter of Yorkshire Cricket Club , and devoted a section of his official website to the sport. One wall of his study was dominated by a portrait of himself as a young man playing cricket, which
8379-461: The Day (1990), and Lolita (1997), remain unpublished and in the case of the latter two films, uncredited, though several scenes from or aspects of his scripts were used in these finished films. His screenplays The Proust Screenplay (1972), Victory (1982), and The Dreaming Child (1997) and his unpublished screenplay The Tragedy of King Lear (2000) have not been filmed. A section of Pinter's Proust Screenplay was, however, released as
8526-432: The English language as an adjective, " Pinteresque ", although Pinter himself disliked the term and found it meaningless. Pinter's first play, The Room , written and first performed in 1957, was a student production at the University of Bristol , directed by his good friend, actor Henry Woolf , who also originated the role of Mr. Kidd (which he reprised in 2001 and 2007). After Pinter mentioned that he had an idea for
8673-439: The Nobel Prize. Later Pinter continued to campaign against the Iraq War and on behalf of other political causes that he supported. Pinter signed the mission statement of Jews for Justice for Palestinians in 2005 and its full-page advertisement, "What Is Israel Doing? A Call by Jews in Britain", published in The Times on 6 July 2006, and he was a patron of the Palestine Festival of Literature . In April 2008, Pinter signed
8820-404: The Proms. The first controller, Newby, made little contribution to the station, focusing on the transition from the Third programme to Radio 3 and as a result of the Broadcasting in the Seventies report. The second controller, Stephen Hearst who assumed the role in 1972, was different. As Hearst had previously been head of television arts features his appointment was seen with scepticism among
8967-415: The Turkish suppression of the Kurdish language inspired his 1988 play Mountain Language . He was also an active member of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign , an organisation that "campaigns in the UK against the US blockade of Cuba ". In 2001, Pinter joined the International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milošević (ICDSM), which appealed for a fair trial and for the freedom of Slobodan Milošević , signing
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#17328451255769114-650: The UK" and as a result, the report did agree to reinvest in the Proms, to retain the long dramas found on the station and to continue to broadcast a new concert live each evening. The current controller of Radio 3 is Sam Jackson, who replaced Alan Davey in April 2023. BBC Radio 3 broadcasts from studios inside the 1930s wing of Broadcasting House in central London . However, in addition to these studios, certain programmes and performances are broadcast from other BBC bases including from BBC Cymru Wales ' Cardiff headquarters and BBC North 's headquarters at MediaCityUK , Salford. The BBC also has recording facilities at
9261-475: The United States "was charging towards world domination while the American public and Britain's ' mass-murdering ' prime minister sat back and watched." He was very active in the antiwar movement in the United Kingdom, speaking at rallies held by the Stop the War Coalition and frequently criticising American aggression, as when he asked rhetorically, in his acceptance speech for the Wilfred Owen Award for Poetry on 18 March 2007: "What would Wilfred Owen make of
9408-437: The Week was launched in the BBC Home Service on 2 August 1943 under its original title of This Week's Composer . From 15 December 1964 the programme became a regular feature in the schedule of the newly established daytime "Third Network" classical music service, the Music Programme (later to be absorbed into Radio 3). The programme was renamed Composer of the Week on 18 January 1988. Each week, in five daily programmes,
9555-458: The age of 12, Pinter began writing poetry, and in spring 1947, his poetry was first published in the Hackney Downs School Magazine . In 1950 his poetry was first published outside the school magazine, in Poetry London , some of it under the pseudonym "Harold Pinta". Pinter was an atheist. Pinter enjoyed running and broke the Hackney Downs School sprinting record. He was a cricket enthusiast, taking his bat with him when evacuated during
9702-407: The anniversaries of famous figures including William Glock , Michael Tippett and Isaiah Berlin . Drummond also introduced the show Mixing It which targeted the music genres that fell between Radios 1 and 3, often seen as a precursor to the programme Late Junction . During Drummond's time, Radio 3 also began to experiment with outside broadcasts, including an ambitious Berlin Weekend to mark
9849-400: The app, where Radio 3 programmes can be listened back to. On its FM frequencies, the station uses less dynamic range compression of the volume of music than rival station Classic FM . On DAB it uses dynamic range control (DRC) which allows compression to be defined by the user. The station also uses a BBC-designed pulse-code modulation digitisation technique similar to NICAM , which
9996-405: The apparent "invulnerability of power." Just before this hiatus, in 1979, Pinter re-discovered his manuscript of The Hothouse , which he had written in 1958 but had set aside; he revised it and then directed its first production himself at Hampstead Theatre in London, in 1980. Like his plays of the 1980s, The Hothouse concerns authoritarianism and the abuses of power politics, but it is also
10143-497: The backing of Sir Adrian Boult , Jonathan Miller , Henry Moore and George Melly . The campaign objected to "the dismantling of the Third Programme by cutting down its spoken word content from fourteen hours a week to six" and "segregating programmes into classes". Mention of the campaign even reached debate in the House of Commons. From the launch until 1987, the controllers of Radio 3 showed preferences towards speech and arts programming as opposed to focus on classical music and
10290-401: The ballet or the opera. Not that they can remember a darn thing about what they saw, including the titles. [These] gilded, foul-mouthed souls are just as myopic when it comes to their own table mates (and for that matter, their food), with conversations that usually connect only on the surface, if there." On its surface the play may appear to have fewer overtly political resonances than some of
10437-469: The casualty" of these proposals and caused some controversy. A further rumour was expressed that Radio 3 could be closed altogether as a strong statistical case existed against the station according to The Guardian . However, the Director-General, Charles Curran , publicly denied this as "quite contradictory to the aim of the BBC, which is to provide a comprehensive radio service". Curran had earlier dismissed any suggestion that Radio 3's small audience
10584-514: The changes, figures still continued to fall. The mid- to late 2000s did, however, offer new projects undertaken on the station: The Beethoven Experience in June 2005 saw the broadcast of his works broadcast non-stop for six days. A similar project occurred six months later when A Bach Christmas was run for ten days in the lead to Christmas and in February 2007 when a week was similarly given over to
10731-504: The country and Europe. Regular presenters include Nicola Heywood-Thomas , Martin Handley and Petroc Trelawny . The last broadcast with the Live in Concert name was on 15 July 2015. Harold Pinter Harold Pinter CH CBE ( / ˈ p ɪ n t ər / ; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter
10878-430: The country. Lunchtime was from 1 to 2 pm and Afternoon continued until 5 pm, with presenters being rotated weekly for the latter program. The live Monday edition of Lunchtime was repeated on Sunday at the same time. From 2024, these were merged as Classical Live . The Early Music Show presents European music dating up to the time of Bach, broadcast at 2 pm each Sunday. Episodes cover
11025-465: The coverage of political and economic affairs would be passed to Radio 4, and Radio 3 would keep drama, poetry, and talks by scientists, philosophers and historians. The Broadcasting in the Seventies report also proposed a large cutback in the number and size of the BBC's orchestras. In September 1969, a distinguished campaign group entitled the Campaign for Better Broadcasting was formed to protest, with
11172-407: The development of the BBC strategy for audio downloads and on demand content". The experiment was wildly successful, attracting 1.4 million downloads but was met with anger from the major classical record labels who considered it unfair competition and "devaluing the perceived value of music". As a result, no further free downloads have been offered, including as part of the BBC iPlayer service, and
11319-599: The disbandment of several of the BBC's orchestras and of the Music Division, resulting in low morale and industrial action by musicians that delayed the start of the Proms. Senior management was also getting dissatisfied with listening figures leading to the Director-General Alasdair Milne to suggest that presentation style was "too stodgy and old-fashioned". In 1987 the positions of Controller of Music and Controller of Radio 3 were merged, and with it
11466-458: The emotional texture of his life." A major influence on Pinter was his inspirational English teacher Joseph Brearley, who directed him in school plays and with whom he took long walks, talking about literature. According to Billington, under Brearley's instruction, "Pinter shone at English, wrote for the school magazine and discovered a gift for acting." In 1947 and 1948, he played Romeo and Macbeth in productions directed by Brearley. At
11613-444: The end of the programme; the latter a resurrection from the old Home Service ), were criticised. However, during this time the long running arts discussion programme Critics' Forum was launched as well as themed evenings and programmes of miscellaneous music including Sounds Interesting . In 1978, Ian McIntyre took over as controller of Radio 3 but quickly faced uncomfortable relationships between departments. At approximately
11760-507: The evening of cultural speech programmes – poetry, plays". Equally, questions were being asked by the poet Peter Porter about whether other spoken content, for example poetry, would remain on the station. These concerns also led to the composer Peter Maxwell Davies and the music critic Edward Greenfield to fear that "people would lose the mix of cultural experiences which expanded intellectual horizons". However, Radio 3 controller Howard Newby reassured these concerns by replying that only
11907-552: The first week of October 1982, at the age of 53. Billington writes that Pinter "did everything possible to support" her and regretted that he ultimately became estranged from their son, Daniel, after their separation, Pinter's remarriage, and Merchant's death. A reclusive gifted musician and writer, Daniel changed his surname from Pinter to Brand, the maiden name of his maternal grandmother, before Pinter and Fraser became romantically involved; while according to Fraser, his father could not understand it, she says that she could: "Pinter
12054-477: The hour. The programme is presented by Petroc Trelawny , Hannah French and Kate Molleson during the week and by Tom McKinney and Elizabeth Alker at the weekend. The Anglican service of sung evening prayer is broadcast on Wednesday afternoons. It is broadcast live from cathedrals, university college chapels and churches throughout the UK. On occasion, it broadcasts Choral Vespers from Catholic cathedrals, (such as Westminster Cathedral ), Orthodox Vespers, or
12201-507: The inception of BBC Radio 3 on 30 September 1967, before all the elements of the BBC's "third network" were finally absorbed into Radio 3 with rebranding effect from Saturday 4 April 1970. The network was broadly cultural, a Leavisite experiment dedicated to the discerning or "high-brow" listener from an educated, minority audience. Its founders' aims were seen as promoting "something fundamental to our civilisation" and as contributing to "the refinement of society". Its musical output provided
12348-464: The influence of Samuel Beckett , particularly on his early work; they became friends, sending each other drafts of their works in progress for comments. Pinter wrote The Hothouse in 1958, which he shelved for over 20 years (See "Overtly political plays and sketches" below). Next he wrote The Dumb Waiter (1959), which premièred in Germany and was then produced in a double bill with The Room at
12495-479: The introduction of a fixed programming point at 22:00 so that if live programme overran, later programming could be cancelled to allow Through the Night to begin promptly. In 1998, Roger Wright took over as controller of the station. Soon after his appointment some changes were made to showcase a wider variety of music; a new, relaxed, late-night music programme Late Junction featured a wide variety of genres; programmes focusing on jazz and world music were given
12642-427: The largest commissioner of new music in the world" as a model for what the BBC should be about. By 2008, however, the station faced pressures to increase its audience by making programmes more accessible while loyal listeners began to complain about the tone of these new changes. Presentation was described as "gruesome in tone and level" and global music output was mocked as "street-smart fusions" and "global pop". At
12789-621: The later ones present literal realities of power and its abuse. Pinter's "political theatre dramatizes the interplay and conflict of the opposing poles of involvement and disengagement." Mountain Language (1988) is about the Turkish suppression of the Kurdish language . The dramatic sketch The New World Order (1991) provides what Robert Cushman, writing in The Independent described as "10 nerve-wracking minutes" of two men threatening to torture
12936-400: The looming launch date for commercial competitor Classic FM who were, and still remain, Radio 3's biggest rivals. Kenyon, similar to Singer a decade earlier, believed that Radio 3 had to make changes to its presentation before the new station began broadcasting rather than react later. As a result, three senior producers were sent to study classical music stations in the United States and
13083-430: The lot—seem at odds with his domestic contentment. 'How can you write a happy play?' he said. 'Drama is about conflict and degrees of perturbation, disarray. I've never been able to write a happy play, but I've been able to enjoy a happy life. ' " After his death, Fraser told The Guardian : "He was a great man, and it was a privilege to live with him for over 33 years. He will never be forgotten." In 1948–49, when he
13230-495: The most crucial of all Pinter's lost Edens ." Beginning in late 1948, Pinter attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art for two terms, but hating the school, missed most of his classes, feigned a nervous breakdown, and dropped out in 1949. In 1948 he was called up for National Service . He was initially refused registration as a conscientious objector , leading to his twice being prosecuted, and fined, for refusing to accept
13377-456: The music, the performers, and occasional discussions of musical style. Regular presenters include Lucie Skeaping and Hannah French. In Tune is "Radio 3's flagship early evening music programme". It was first broadcast on 13 July 1992 and was launched in response to the forthcoming launch of the competitor radio station Classic FM . Since 1997 the programme has been presented by Sean Rafferty and (since 2017) Katie Derham , and features
13524-529: The mystery of life and I'm still in the middle of it. I can't find the door to get out. My grandfather got out of it. He got right out of it. He left it behind him and he didn't look back. He got that absolutely right. And I'd like to make one further interjection. He stands still. Slow fade . During 2000–2001, there were also simultaneous productions of Remembrance of Things Past , Pinter's stage adaptation of his unpublished Proust Screenplay , written in collaboration with and directed by Di Trevis , at
13671-573: The noisy, bustling, traffic-ridden thoroughfare of the Lower Clapton Road". In 1940 and 1941, after the Blitz , Pinter was evacuated from their house in London to Cornwall and Reading . Billington states that the "life-and-death intensity of daily experience" before and during the Blitz left Pinter with profound memories "of loneliness, bewilderment, separation and loss: themes that are in all his works." Pinter discovered his social potential as
13818-473: The notion of male loyalty, competitive rivalry and fear of betrayal forms a constant thread in Pinter's work from The Dwarfs onwards, its origins can be found in his teenage Hackney years. Pinter adores women, enjoys flirting with them, and worships their resilience and strength. But, in his early work especially, they are often seen as disruptive influences on some pure and Platonic ideal of male friendship: one of
13965-494: The novel by Penelope Mortimer , directed by Jack Clayton ; The Quiller Memorandum (1966), from the 1965 spy novel The Berlin Memorandum , by Elleston Trevor , directed by Michael Anderson ; The Last Tycoon (1976), from the unfinished novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald , directed by Elia Kazan ; The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), from the novel by John Fowles , directed by Karel Reisz ; Turtle Diary (1985), based on
14112-657: The novel by Robin Maugham ; Accident (1967), adapted from the novel by Nicholas Mosley ; and The Go-Between (1971), based on the novel by L. P. Hartley . Films based on Pinter's adaptations of his own stage plays are: The Caretaker (1963), directed by Clive Donner ; The Birthday Party (1968), directed by William Friedkin ; The Homecoming (1973), directed by Peter Hall; and Betrayal (1983), directed by David Jones . Pinter also adapted other writers' novels to screenplays, including The Pumpkin Eater (1964), based on
14259-460: The novel by Russell Hoban ; The Heat of the Day (1988), a television film, from the 1949 novel by Elizabeth Bowen ; The Comfort of Strangers (1990), from the novel by Ian McEwan , directed by Paul Schrader ; and The Trial (1993), from the novel by Franz Kafka , directed by David Jones. His commissioned screenplays of others' works for the films The Handmaid's Tale (1990), The Remains of
14406-509: The official history of Hackney Downs School, expressed his own "Jewish View" of Harold Pinter: "Whatever his merit as a writer, actor and director, on an ethical plane Harold Pinter seems to me to have been intensely flawed, and his moral compass deeply fractured." David Edgar , writing in The Guardian , defended Pinter against what he termed Pinter's "being berated by the belligerati" like Johann Hari , who felt that he did not "deserve" to win
14553-475: The operation of the Proms, under the former Music Controller John Drummond . Drummond, like Hearst, believed that the music programmes' presentation was too stiff and formal and he therefore encouraged announcers to be more natural and enthusiastic. Repeats of classic drama performances by the likes of John Gielgud and Paul Scofield were also included because, in his view, newer drama was "gloomy and pretentious". He also introduced features and celebrations of
14700-440: The past in the present, but they have personal and political resonances and other tonal differences from these earlier memory plays. Following a three-year period of creative drought in the early 1980s after his marriage to Antonia Fraser and the death of Vivien Merchant, Pinter's plays tended to become shorter and more overtly political, serving as critiques of oppression , torture , and other abuses of human rights, linked by
14847-458: The play garnered four Tony Awards , among other awards. During this period, Pinter also wrote the radio play A Slight Ache , first broadcast on the BBC Third Programme in 1959 and then adapted to the stage and performed at the Arts Theatre Club in 1961. A Night Out (1960) was broadcast to a large audience on ABC Weekend TV 's television show Armchair Theatre , after being transmitted on BBC Radio 3, also in 1960. His play Night School
14994-557: The play indicates Pinter's pessimism about the possibility of changing the status quo. Yet, as the Waiter's often comically unbelievable reminiscences about his grandfather demonstrate in Celebration , Pinter's final stage plays also extend some expressionistic aspects of his earlier "memory plays", while harking back to his "comedies of menace", as illustrated in the characters and in the Waiter's final speech: My grandfather introduced me to
15141-732: The plays from the 1980s and 1990s; but its central male characters, brothers named Lambert and Matt, are members of the elite (like the men in charge in Party Time ), who describe themselves as "peaceful strategy consultants [because] we don't carry guns." At the next table, Russell, a banker, describes himself as a "totally disordered personality ... a psychopath", while Lambert "vows to be reincarnated as '[a] more civilised, [a] gentler person, [a] nicer person'." These characters' deceptively smooth exteriors mask their extreme viciousness. Celebration evokes familiar Pinteresque political contexts: "The ritzy loudmouths in 'Celebration' ... and
15288-653: The politics of power and the dynamics of oppression. In his last 25 years, Pinter increasingly focused his essays, interviews and public appearances directly on political issues. He was an officer in International PEN , travelling with American playwright Arthur Miller to Turkey in 1985 on a mission co-sponsored with a Helsinki Watch committee to investigate and protest against the torture of imprisoned writers. There he met victims of political oppression and their families. Pinter's experiences in Turkey and his knowledge of
15435-477: The popularity of his revue sketches, propelled him to further critical attention. In 1964, The Birthday Party was revived both on television (with Pinter himself in the role of Goldberg) and on stage (directed by Pinter at the Aldwych Theatre ) and was well received. By the time Peter Hall's London production of The Homecoming (1964) reached Broadway in 1967, Pinter had become a celebrity playwright, and
15582-637: The programmes. By 2004, Radio 3's programming and services were being recognised by the Corporation at large, as seen in the 2003/4 Charter renewal application and the Annual report for the year which reported that Radio 3 had "achieved a record [audience] reach in the first quarter of 2004", and by the government: the Secretary of State's foreword to the government's Green Paper in 2005 made special mention of "the sort of commitment to new talent that has made Radio 3
15729-437: The pseudonym Pinta and at other times used variations such as da Pinto . Later research by Lady Antonia Fraser , Pinter's second wife, revealed the legend to be apocryphal; three of Pinter's grandparents came from Poland and the fourth from Odesa , so the family was Ashkenazic . Pinter's family home in London is described by his official biographer Michael Billington as "a solid, red-brick, three-storey villa just off
15876-451: The quieter working-class mumblers of 'The Room' ... have everything in common beneath the surface". "Money remains in the service of entrenched power, and the brothers in the play are 'strategy consultants' whose jobs involve force and violence ... It is tempting but inaccurate to equate the comic power inversions of the social behaviour in Celebration with lasting change in larger political structures", according to Grimes, for whom
16023-656: The relationship from Merchant for two and a half months, on 21 March 1975, Pinter finally told her "I've met somebody". After that, "Life in Hanover Terrace gradually became impossible", and Pinter moved out of their house on 28 April 1975, five days after the première of No Man's Land . In mid-August 1977, after Pinter and Fraser had spent two years living in borrowed and rented quarters, they moved into her former family home in Holland Park , where Pinter began writing Betrayal . He reworked it later, while on holiday at
16170-488: The revered Composer of the Week and would be presented by a signing from Classic FM – the disc jockey Paul Gambaccini . The criticism, especially once the programme went on air a few weeks later, was so unrelenting that Gambaccini announced the following spring that he would not be renewing his contract with Radio 3. However, Kenyon's controllership was marked by several highly distinguished programming successes. Fairest Isle
16317-414: The same level of income. As a result, the corporation had to reduce its costs. In the proposal entitled Delivering Quality First , the BBC proposed that Radio 3 contribute by broadcasting 25% fewer live or specially recorded lunchtime concerts and reducing the number of specially recorded evening concerts. The Trust did recognise, however, that "Radio 3 plays a vital role in the cultural and creative life of
16464-416: The same time Aubrey Singer became managing director of Radio and began to make programming on the station more populist in a drive to retain listeners in face of possible competition from competitors using a "streamed format". An example of this is the replacement of Homeward Bound in 1980 with an extended, presenter-driven programme called Mainly for Pleasure . The same year an internal paper recommended
16611-401: The same time RAJAR began to record lower listening figures and decisions on policy were being changed resulting in the children's programme Making Tracks , experimental music programme Mixing It , theatre and film programme Stage and Screen and Brian Kay's Light Programme all being dropped, a reduction in the number of concerts and format changes to several other programmes. In spite of
16758-630: The sole focus of his father's love and now manifestly wasn't." Still unreconciled at the time of his father's death, Daniel Brand did not attend Pinter's funeral. Billington observes that "The break-up with Vivien and the new life with Antonia was to have a profound effect on Pinter's personality and his work," though he adds that Fraser herself did not claim to have influence over Pinter or his writing. In her own contemporaneous diary entry dated 15 January 1993, Fraser described herself more as Pinter's literary midwife. Indeed, she told Billington that "other people [such as Peggy Ashcroft , among others] had
16905-454: The staff who viewed him as a populariser. According to Hearst when interviewed for Humphrey Carpenter 's book, the main rival candidate for controller Martin Esslin , head of Radio Drama, had said to the interviewing panel that audience figures should play no part in the decision making process over programming. Hearst said he responded to the same question about this issue by commenting that as
17052-562: The stage and/or film premières of Butley (stage, 1971; film, 1974), Otherwise Engaged (1975), The Rear Column (stage, 1978; TV, 1980), Close of Play (NT, 1979), Quartermaine's Terms (1981), Life Support (1997), The Late Middle Classes (1999), and The Old Masters (2004). Several of those productions starred Alan Bates (1934–2003), who originated the stage and screen roles of not only Butley but also Mick in Pinter's first major commercial success, The Caretaker (stage, 1960; film, 1964); and in Pinter's double-bill produced at
17199-597: The start, though, it had prominent supporters: the Education Secretary in the Attlee government, Ellen Wilkinson , spoke rather optimistically of creating a "third programme nation". When it faced those 1957 cuts, the Third Programme Defence Society was formed and its leaders included T. S. Eliot , Albert Camus , and Sir Laurence Olivier . This situation continued until the launch on 22 March 1965 of
17346-684: The statement "We're not celebrating Israel's anniversary". The statement noted: "We cannot celebrate the birthday of a state founded on terrorism, massacres and the dispossession of another people from their land.", "We will celebrate when Arab and Jew live as equals in a peaceful Middle East" Pinter's acting career spanned over 50 years and, although he often played villains , included a wide range of roles on stage and in radio, film, and television. In addition to roles in radio and television adaptations of his own plays and dramatic sketches, early in his screenwriting career he made several cameo appearances in films based on his own screenplays; for example, as
17493-567: The station hired advertising agents Saatchi & Saatchi to help improve public perception. Kenyon's tenure was to meet with much controversy: in attempts to update the station's presentation, popular announcers Malcolm Ruthven, Peter Barker and Tony Scotland were axed as well as drama being cut by a quarter, resulting in a letter of protest to The Times signed by Harold Pinter , Tom Stoppard and Fay Weldon among others; new weekday programmes for breakfast time and drive time, entitled On Air and In Tune respectfully, were launched, as
17640-498: The station was financed by public money it needed to consider the size of its audience – there was a minimum viable figure but this could be increased with "a lively style of broadcasting". Hearst attempted to make the content of the channel more accessible to a wider audience, but his efforts, which included the evening drivetime programme Homeward Bound and Sunday phone-in request programme Your Concert Choice (the former an uninterrupted sequence of musical items identified only at
17787-418: The time, Pinter played the ruthless Minister willing to murder little children for the benefit of "The State". Pinter composed 27 screenplays and film scripts for cinema and television, many of which were filmed, or adapted as stage plays. His fame as a screenwriter began with his three screenplays written for films directed by Joseph Losey , leading to their close friendship: The Servant (1963), based on
17934-441: The time, despite laying out the radio structure that is recognisable today. At the time of the review, Radio 3 faced several problems. An early option to cut costs, required under the proposals, was to reduce the number of networks from four to three, so that Radio 3 would not broadcast during the day and would use the frequencies of either Radio 1 or 2 as the two stations would merge content. However "Day-time serious music would be
18081-504: The title Test Match Special . The Third's existence was controversial from the beginning, partly because of perceived "elitism" – it was sometimes criticised for broadcasting programmes of "two dons talking" – and also for the cost of its output relative to a small listener reach . Its existence was against the corporation's founding principles, as Reith himself had during his time at the BBC been against segmenting audiences by splitting programming genres across different networks. From
18228-532: The umbrella title of the Third Network, namely: All these strands, including the Third Programme, kept their separate identities within Radio 3 until 4 April 1970, when there was a further reorganisation following the introduction of the structural changes which had been outlined the previous year in the BBC document Broadcasting in the Seventies . On 10 July 1969 the BBC published its plans for radio and television in
18375-410: The work of a particular composer is studied in detail and illustrated with musical excerpts. Bach , Beethoven , Haydn , Mozart and Handel have all featured once most years, a different aspect of their work being chosen for study each time. However, the programme also covers more 'difficult' or less-widely known composers, with weeks devoted to Rubbra , Medtner , Havergal Brian , Kapralova , and
18522-542: The works of Tchaikovsky & Stravinsky , and Schubert in March 2012. As part of the original Beethoven Experience, the BBC trialled its first music downloads over the internet by offering free music downloads of all nine symphonies as played by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra under Gianandrea Noseda . The stated aim was "to gauge audiences' appetite for music downloads and their preferred content, and will inform
18669-705: Was 18, Pinter opposed the politics of the Cold War , leading to his decision to become a conscientious objector and to refuse to comply with National Service in the British military. However, he told interviewers that, if he had been old enough at the time, he would have fought against the Nazis in World War II . He seemed to express ambivalence, both indifference and hostility, towards political structures and politicians in his Fall 1966 Paris Review interview conducted by Lawrence M. Bensky . Yet, he had been an early member of
18816-477: Was a consideration: "What is decisive is whether there is a worthwhile audience, and I mean by worthwhile an audience which will get an enormous satisfaction out of it." As a result of Broadcasting in the Seventies , factual content, including documentaries and current affairs, were moved to BBC Radio 4 and the separate titled strands were abolished. The document stated that Radio 3 was to have "a larger output of standard classical music" but with "some element in
18963-423: Was a new three-hour programme of popular classics on Sunday mornings fronted by Brian Kay . These moves were defended by Kenyon who argued that the changes were not "some ghastly descent into populism" but were instead to create "access points" for new listeners. However, there was still "widespread disbelief" when it was announced in the summer that a new morning programme would take the 9 am spot from
19110-493: Was an ambitious project from 1995 which marked the 300th anniversary of the death of Henry Purcell with a year-long celebration of British music and the programme Sounding the Century , which ran for two years from 1997, presented a retrospective of 20th-century music. Both won awards. He also introduced a number of well received specialist programmes including children's programme The Music Machine , early music programme Spirit of
19257-552: Was another secret he kept from both his wife and Bakewell. Initially, Betrayal was thought to be a response to his later affair with historian Antonia Fraser , the wife of Hugh Fraser , and Pinter's "marital crack-up". Pinter and Merchant had both met Antonia Fraser in 1969, when all three worked together on a National Gallery programme about Mary, Queen of Scots ; several years later, on 8–9 January 1975, Pinter and Fraser became romantically involved. That meeting initiated their five-year extramarital love affair. After hiding
19404-621: Was born and raised in Hackney , east London, and educated at Hackney Downs School . He was a sprinter and a keen cricket player, acting in school plays and writing poetry . He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art but did not complete the course. He was fined for refusing national service as a conscientious objector . Subsequently, he continued training at the Central School of Speech and Drama and worked in repertory theatre in Ireland and England. In 1956 he married actress Vivien Merchant and had
19551-467: Was born on 10 October 1930, in Hackney , east London, the only child of British Jewish parents of Eastern European descent: his father, Hyman "Jack" Pinter (1902–1997) was a ladies' tailor; his mother, Frances (née Moskowitz; 1904–1992), a housewife. Pinter believed an aunt's erroneous view that the family was Sephardic and had fled the Spanish Inquisition ; thus, for his early poems, Pinter used
19698-479: Was broadcast on Saturdays, usually in the late afternoon, until October 2019 when it moved to Sunday afternoon. Presenters of it on Radio 3 have included Ken Sykora , Steve Race , Peter Clayton , Charles Fox and Geoffrey Smith . Alyn Shipton became the presenter in May 2012. Broadcast on Saturday nights between 6 and 9:30 pm, Opera on 3 features live performances by the Metropolitan Opera from
19845-408: Was commissioned by Jude Law , one of the film's producers. It is the basis for the 2007 film Sleuth , directed by Kenneth Branagh . Pinter's screenplays for The French Lieutenant's Woman and Betrayal were nominated for Academy Awards in 1981 and 1983, respectively. From 16 to 31 July 2001, a Harold Pinter Festival celebrating his work, curated by Michael Colgan , artistic director of
19992-635: Was described by Sarah Lyall , writing in The New York Times : "The painted Mr. Pinter, poised to swing his bat, has a wicked glint in his eye; testosterone all but flies off the canvas." Pinter approved of the "urban and exacting idea of cricket as a bold theatre of aggression." After his death, several of his school contemporaries recalled his achievements in sports, especially cricket and running. The BBC Radio 4 memorial tribute included an essay on Pinter and cricket. Other interests that Pinter mentioned to interviewers are family, love and sex, drinking, writing, and reading. According to Billington, "If
20139-486: Was first televised in 1960 on Associated Rediffusion . The Collection premièred at the Aldwych Theatre in 1962, and The Dwarfs , adapted from Pinter's then unpublished novel of the same title, was first broadcast on radio in 1960, then adapted for the stage (also at the Arts Theatre Club) in a double bill with The Lover , which had previously been televised by Associated Rediffusion in 1963; and Tea Party ,
20286-536: Was having to undergo further changes as a result of recent findings from the BBC Trust . In the station's latest service review, carried out in 2010, the Trust recommended the station become more accessible to new audiences, easier to navigate through the different genres and to review the output of the BBC's orchestras and singers. Soon after this verdict, the license fee was capped and the BBC given more services to pay for with
20433-496: Was in English rep as an actor for about 12 years. My favourite roles were undoubtedly the sinister ones. They're something to get your teeth into." During that period, he also performed occasional roles in his own and others' works for radio, TV, and film, as he continued to do throughout his career. From 1956 until 1980, Pinter was married to Vivien Merchant , an actress whom he met on tour, perhaps best known for her performance in
20580-471: Was initially both a commercial and critical disaster, despite an enthusiastic review in The Sunday Times by its influential drama critic Harold Hobson , which appeared only after the production had closed and could not be reprieved. Critical accounts often quote Hobson: I am well aware that Mr Pinter[']s play received extremely bad notices last Tuesday morning. At the moment I write these [words] it
20727-423: Was later developed further, and Radio 3 became the first BBC Radio station to broadcast permanently in this High Definition Sound (as it has been termed) format. BBC Radio 3's Breakfast programme originally launched in 1992 as On Air and took on its current name in 2007. It airs every day and is on air on weekdays from 6:30am until 9:30am, with a 9:00 am finish at the weekend. Short news bulletins are broadcast on
20874-567: Was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party (1957), The Homecoming (1964) and Betrayal (1978), each of which he adapted for the screen. His screenplay adaptations of others' works include The Servant (1963), The Go-Between (1971), The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), The Trial (1993) and Sleuth (2007). He also directed or acted in radio, stage, television and film productions of his own and others' works. Pinter
21021-453: Was opposed by many within the BBC, some of them senior figures. Within the music division, a 'BBC rebellion' gathered force, with its most vocal members including Hans Keller and Robert Simpson . Ultimately however, the attempt to prevent the culture-conscious Third being replaced by what Keller called "a daytime music station" proved unsuccessful. BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by
21168-417: Was significant, under producers and presenters such as John Wain , Ludovic Kennedy , George MacBeth and Patrick Dickinson . It promoted young writers such as Philip Larkin and Kingsley Amis , as well as the "difficult" work of David Jones and Laura Riding . The Third Programme was for many years the single largest source of copyright payments to poets. The decision to close down the Third Programme
21315-613: Was the BBC 's third national radio network, the other two being the Home Service (mainly speech-based) and the Light Programme , principally devoted to light entertainment and music . When it started in 1946, the Third Programme broadcast for six hours each evening from 6.00 pm to midnight, although its output was cut to just 24 hours a week from October 1957, with the early part of weekday evenings being given over to educational programming (known as "Network Three"). The frequencies were also used during daytime hours to broadcast complete ball-by-ball commentary on test match cricket , under
21462-426: Was the author of 29 plays and 15 dramatic sketches and the co-author of two works for stage and radio. He was considered to have been one of the most influential modern British dramatists, Along with the 1967 Tony Award for Best Play for The Homecoming and several other American awards and award nominations, he and his plays received many awards in the UK and elsewhere throughout the world. His style has entered
21609-632: Was written specially for the programme. Philip O'Connor discovered Quentin Crisp in his radio interviews in 1963. The series Inventions for Radio aired in 1964 and 1965, with sound collages by Delia Derbyshire of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop . Martin Esslin , BBC Director of Drama (Radio), was associated with the network's productions of European drama, and Douglas Cleverdon with its productions of poetry and radio plays. The Third Programme's contribution to contemporary poetry and criticism
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