Radio Review: The Foghorn: A Celebration

There were some lovely underplayed moments in The Foghorn: A Celebration (Radio 4). You needed them, really, as a counterpoint to the all-encompassing sound the foghorn makes. Peter Curran, presenting this tribute, sounded winded by the ferocity of the noise when he finally got to set one off. "Woah!" he cried, laughing incredulously. "That's not reassuring; that's terrifying." Before this, he talked to Larry Wilkins, keeper of a Victorian foghorn, as they swabbed down the building that houses it. "I think your mop is more absorbent than mine," Curran observed. He then asked Larry to define fog. "It's an atmospheric condition you can't see through," came the reply. It was a nicely chatty prelude to the loud drama that was to follow, and in its ordinariness a reminder that to Wilkins, the foghorn is just part of his life. "You've slept through that for 26 years," Curran said, astonished. Curran also spoke to artists and musicians about the allure of foghorns and – with the exception of Björk (left) , who got a mention – it was striking that all the foghorn fans were men. "Quite a modest horn," Curran said, seeing Wilkins's one. "Wait 'til you hear it," Wilkins replied. When we did, it briefly obliterated all else. Musician Jason Gorski approvingly described that power as being "the sonic equivalent of Godzilla". Elisabeth Mahoney