sloth unleashed

23 October 1946. The Third Programme, Radio 3’s predecessor station, was only a few weeks old. The centrepiece of the evening’s output was Paul Hindemith's complex, neo-classical piano work called 'Ludus Tonalis', played by young Australian pianist Noel Mewton-Wood. This splendid picture shows Hindemith conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a studio performance of his ‘Requiem’ in 1955. The composer died in 1963.

Listen to Donald Macleod’s epoisode of Composer of the Week about Hindemith on the Radio 3 web site.

Harold Pinter's play 'A Slight Ache' had its world premiere on the Third Programme on this day in 1959. The cast included Pinter himself, under his stage name David Baron, in a silent role, Maurice Denham and Vivien Merchant. Ian Rodger, in The Listener, wrote:

The picture of Pinter was taken ten years later during production of a BBC TV programme.

N.F. Simpson

's absurdist gem 'A Resounding Tinkle' had its theatre premiere at the

Royal Court

on 1 December 1957 and its first broadcast adaptation appeared on the

Third Programme

on 20 July 1960.

Deryck Guyler

and

Alison Leggatt

starred. Frederick Laws, quoted above, also said: “The play was very amusing but I also found it alarming and difficult to understand.” Simpson - pictured, in 1963 - lived until 2011 and his final play, ‘If So, Then Yes’, had its premiere in London in 2010.

microphone...

What a splendid picture. What a splendid cast! For Shakespeare’s 383rd birthday, members of the Old Vic Theatre Company appearing in Richard II at the New Theatre, London, recorded their production for a BBC Third Programme transmission on this day in 1947. In the studio, left to right, George Ralph (Duke of York); Alec Guinness (King Richard); Nicholas Hannen (Earl of Northumberland); Margaret Leighton (Queen); Ralph Richardson (John of Gaunt) and Harry Andrews (Henry Bolingbroke). Listen to Sunday’s 450th birthday production of ‘Antony and Cleopatra’, with Alex Kingston and Kenneth Branagh, on the Radio 3 web site, from anywhere in the world in 320K HD Sound, for the next four days.