Start of show (mid-comment). JP: 'Like Terry Wogan, JImmy Young, you know'. Unknown presenter: 'It is.' JP: 'Great traditions established this way. I'll just press on and let you get off. This is High Fidelity and a kind of Christmas present from them, and a wonderful record to boot.'
John was inspired to play the Vietnamese track by hearing the CD on Andy Kershaw's show. Apparently Ho is a kind of Vietnamese work song.
The first part of the 1998 Festive Fifty, compiled in conjunction with his son William.
(JP: And it's now time for me to start on the Festive Fifty, fairly logically at number 50. Funny thing, actually, I've done this once or twice over the past few years, but I always get dead nervous before I start doing it in case something goes horribly wrong. Hopefully it won't, although it very possibly might.')
(JP: 'Well, it's a good one to shriek along with, if you're in the mood for that sort of thing.')
(JP: 'At number 45, I was really pleased that this got in because I thought it was a great track from a simply extraordinary debut release, and it is high time somebody got in touch with the band in Australia and got their records released over here, I think.')
(JP: 'This is at number 44 and I was really pleased about this as well.')
44: Rooney, 'Went To Town (EP-Got Up Late)' (Common Culture)
(JP: 'An EP which as much as anything I was excited about because on the front of it there's a picture of the radio which I've got by my bedside: not the exact one, but the same model we've had on our bedside for something like 25 years now. Still works perfectly: I listen to, obviously to Radio 1 every single morning just to keep up with what's going on in the real world.')
(JP: 'I can't remember that I actually played that when it first came out, but I'm playing it now because it's number 43 in the Festive Fifty, your choice of your favourite tracks of the year.')[2]