Whilst I do not know whether the opinions expressed by those interviewed were genuinely representative of the two generations, the News item clearly gave the impression that there is a significant divide between them as to (a) what is acceptable conduct by radio and television presenters and (b) what is actually funny. This difference of opinion is also apparent from other media reports.

There are, of course, many different types of humour and what one person finds funny, another will not. It is also the case that tastes in humour change, not only between the generations but also in individuals. My late father used to love Brian Rix farces whereas the rest of the family did not. My wife and I found Tommy Cooper painfully funny whereas our son, admittedly seeing him in a recording some time after the great man’s death, merely found him painful. I thought that the Peter Sellers’ film A Shot in the Dark was hilarious when I first saw it but was really disappointed when revisiting it a few years ago.

But God help us if society in this country has now reached the stage where a significant number of young adults find it acceptable and amusing for radio presenters publicly to pester and humiliate a dignified and harmless 78 year-old man by leaving several messages on his telephone answering machine informing him that one of them (Brand) had slept with his granddaughter (who was named). Ross was sufficiently coarse to say that Brand had “f****d” the girl.

The BBC, whilst condemning what happened, has made it clear that it does not want to sacrifice “edgy” humour. I accept this and would hate to lose programmes such as Have I Got News for You which is always irreverent, often vulgar but nevertheless very funny. The difference, however, between that programme and the offensive conduct of Brand and Ross is that the former has genuine wit and the latter was witless.

The Mother Superior said, ‘Sister, this is a silent convent. You are welcome here as long as you like,
but you may not speak until invited by me to do so.’

Sister Mary lived in the convent for 5 years before the Mother Superior spoke to her again:
‘Sister Mary, you have been here for 5 years. You may speak two words.’

Sister Mary said, ‘Hard bed.’

‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ the Mother Superior said. ‘We will get you a better bed.’

After another 5 years, Sister Mary was summoned by the Mother Superior. ‘You may say another two words, Sister Mary.’

‘Cold food,’ said Sister Mary and the Mother Superior assured her that the food would be better in the future.

On her 15th anniversary at the monastery, the Mother Superior again called Sister Mary in to her office.
‘You may say two words today.’

‘I quit,’ said Sister Mary.

‘It’s probably best,’ said the Mother Superior. ‘You’ve done nothing but bitch since you got here’

The problem can be to know which books are worth reading or which ones you will enjoy. These are, of course, not necessarily the same. You may have your own favourite authors but, unless your list of favourites is substantial, they are unlikely to satisfy your reading needs. You are also going to miss out on a lot of good novels by limiting your reading to writers with whose work you are familiar.

So, how does one go about choosing which books to read? The traditional way is to browse at your local bookshop. A problem with that is that the major booksellers understandably tend to promote their current best sellers, or potential best sellers, to the exclusion of other books. Another way is to look at lists of favourite or “best” novels. An example is the list produced by the BBC at the end of 2003 entitled The Big Read, which you can see on the BBC website. This comprises 200 novels voted for by members of the public. This particular selection is unlikely to be as helpful as you might think as it contains large numbers of pre-twentieth century classics which, I suspect, if you have not already read you are unlikely to want to tackle now, and children’s books, which you are even less likely to want to read. Some outstanding writers of the last 40 years have been sadly overlooked.

Another way of selecting a novel to read is to choose from the winners or nominees of the major fiction prizes such as the Man Booker and the Whitbread. Unfortunately, I have found that this too does not guarantee results. It has surprised me how ordinary some of these books are.

In the hope that you may enjoy reading some of my favourites, I propose to post blogs of recommendations from time to time.

Petty has enjoyed a highly successful career in the States, starting in 1976. He has had numerous platinum discs, received prestigious awards for his performing and song writing and been nominated no less than 18 times for a Grammy award. According to Wikipedia, he is in the category of recording artists who have sold  50-74 million records, bracketed with such stars as Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and The Police. Yet in the UK he has never had a Top Twenty single and his albums have only achieved that status on four occasions, two of those being greatest hits compilations.

I first came across Tom Petty and his band, The Heartbreakers, when they were backing Bob Dylan on tour in 1986/7. He and Dylan then formed the supergroup, The Traveling Wilburys, with Roy Orbison, George Harrison and Jeff Lynne, which produced a hugely popular album in 1988. The following year Tom Petty made his first solo album, Full Moon Fever, which is among my all time favourites. It includes such Petty classics as Free Fallin‘, I Won’t Back Down, Runnin’ Down a Dream and A Heart with a Mind of its Own. Other favourite albums are Damn the Torpedoes, released in 1979, which contained Refugee, Here Comes my Girl, Even the Losers, Don’t Do Me Like That and Louisiana Rain; Wild Flowers (1994); and Highway Companion (2006).

If you enjoy unpretentious, tuneful, vigorous, classic American rock, then Tom Petty, with or without The Heartbreakers, could be your man.

Click on titles for Amazon product links.

I cannot imagine a world without music and I surmise that as I grow older its importance in my life will increase. I have this vision of myself as a really old man sitting in a warm conservatory, or in front of a blazing log fire, listening to beautiful music and drifting in and out of peaceful slumber. It is a rather comforting thought.

An iPod is like a tiny portable jukebox but with a huge selection of music. You can create your own playlists or let the machine pick songs at random (the iPod “shuffle”). There is even some recent software, named Genius, which creates playlists for you from music in your collection.

I bought my iPod in early 2005; it is the 20 gigabyte click wheel version and is said to hold in excess of 5000 songs. I have always thought that it would be more helpful if Apple measured capacity by time rather than by the number of “songs”; the latter can vary considerably in length and, more significantly, are not the appropriate method to apply to classical music. A movement from a symphony can easily be six times as long as a pop song. I have not yet filled up the disk on my iPod but it is apparent that, if I were limiting the music to pop & rock, it would hold comfortably in excess of 5,000 songs. Perhaps of more relevance is my calculation that, if full, the iPod would hold almost 338 hours of music.

Since 2005, iPods have moved on at a rapid rate. The new iPod Classic has an enormous 120GB of storage which can apparently hold up to 30,000 songs, 25,000 photos or 150 hours of video.

There are two aspects of my iPod which have been somewhat unsatisfactory. The first is that the battery needs to be recharged too often for my liking. It is supposed to last for 12 hours when fully charged but, although I have not timed it, I am sure it does not last for anything like that time. Secondly, I find the earphones uncomfortable after about an hour of use and their sound quality could be a lot better. Having said that, I understand that the batteries in the more recent models last for considerably longer than the older versions and the headphones problem is easily solved by buying a decent set.

In any event, you do not always have to listen through headphones. Your iTunes library will be stored on the hard disk of your PC or Mac so you can listen through speakers connected to your computer. There are also compact portable speaker systems available into which you can plug your iPod, some of which are of very high quality.

Post revised: 12 November 2008

Not everybody, of course, has a cinema nearby. Moreover, the majority of films on general release are unlikely to appeal to the more discerning viewer. The same can be said of films on television where, certainly, on terrestrial TV, you are unlikely to be spoilt for choice. You may have a video hire shop in your locality but you could have difficulty in finding something worth watching among the dross on the shelves. There has, however, been a welcome recent development with the arrival of Internet DVD rental schemes.

There are several significant benefits in subscribing to an Internet DVD rental scheme which include the following:

• They are relatively inexpensive.
• The terms are flexible.
• There is a huge range of films available.
• You can spend as much time as you like, in the comfort of your own home, in selecting a list of films you wish to watch.
• There is no set time for returning the DVD.
• You are provided with a pre-paid envelope in which to return a disc.
• As soon as you return a disc, another is sent out to you by post.

There are several schemes on the market of which the largest is, I believe, LOVEFiLM.com

Personally, we didn’t care. We came into town by bus.

We try to have a little fun each day now that we’re retired. It’s important at our age.”