Last 'Letter from America'
Alistair Cooke has recorded his last "Letter from America," for the BBC. He's been doing them since 1946 but I only started listening to him on a regular basis in the past few years. He picks up on little things that mean a lot and presents his case in a thoughtful manner that's easy to follow in the wee hours of the morning, which is when I usually hear it on BBC America. Especially since Sept. 11, his weekly report has been something of a love letter to New York, as he describes the view from his Fifth Avenue apartment near Central park and the changes to the city. The New York Times story on his retirement has a few nice passages (link via Ken Layne):

"I would pick my topic on Monday and spend the day researching it. On Tuesday I'd type two or two and a half pages, all my arthritis would allow me. I'd type the rest, another three pages on Wednesday, 1,700 words total ? 13 minutes 30 seconds air time.

"Then I'd beat the hell out of it, getting rid of all the adverbs, all the adjectives, all the hackneyed words. Do you know what Mark Twain said about the perfect word? The difference between a perfect word and a near-perfect word is like the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.

"On Thursday we'd record the show right here, and on Friday it would be on the air from London. We record here because I haven't left the apartment in two years on doctor's orders."

and later ...

While proud of his reputation as a pundit, a prose stylist and an impressive speaker, Mr. Cooke is prouder still, he says, of his ability to single out the small gesture, the terse quote or the insignificant event that speaks to larger issues. "I think I've lasted," he told William H. Honan of The New York Times in 1988, "because I found out that what people really wanted to know was anything that you notice in life, and especially things that touch everybody, touch a bishop and a farmer."

- posted by Amy @ 3/10/2004 10:28:00 AM