There’s a programme called “I’m Sorry, I Haven’t a Clue” on the BBC’s Radio 4 channel. It’s a comedy show, described as “the antidote to panel games”. In each episode, the host (currently Jack Dee) gives the four panellists silly things to do for no other purpose than to entertain the largely intellectual audience of a certain age. The Crotchety Couple love it.
One of the rounds requires one 2-person team to provide a series of words, each having no connection with the one before. The other team tries to find a connection that they have overlooked. Typically, the challengers come up with ludicrous ‘connections’ and then try to justify their interruption. So, for example, player 1 might start the round with ‘rubber’. Their team partner would follow this with the completely unconnected word, ‘tea’. The opposing team would then buzz in, pointing out that plantations with a mixture of rubber trees and tea trees has been shown to improve the sustainability of the rubber industry. It would be up to the host to decide if the challenge should be upheld or not.
Funnily enough, there’s a band called Rubber Tea. And the connection posited above is true, as you can verify by reading this abstract from an academic paper. I discovered that curious factoid when following up a track in my Spotify Release Radar playlist just over a week ago. It was a song from the recently released album, From a Fading World, and the whole album pleased the Crotchety tea-drinker1 very much.
- Other beveridges are available, of course. ↩︎
The music mixes elements of classical guitar and strings into progressive rock songs with a frosting of jazzy saxophone and flute. The compositions would score high marks in music school exams, the performances are confident and polished, and the lyrics are both meaningful and poetic.
“This album tells the captivating tale of Emily, the protagonist, who finds herself chased by a relentless sandstorm monster.”
The Rubber Tea website.
From a Fading Planet gets a Crotchety 4-star+ rating – flawless and thoroughly enjoyable, but without quite reaching mind-blowing levels. The British Radio 4 audience would love it.
Crotchety Man 