''The Strand'' was the BBC World Service's daily arts show. It was launched on Monday 27 October 2008. The last weekday edition was aired on Friday 29 March 2013, and the last weekly summary on the subsequent weekend. It was regularly hosted by

Harriett Gilbert Harriett Sarah Gilbert (born 25 August 1948) is an English writer, academic and broadcaster, particularly of arts and book programmes on the BBC World Service. She is the daughter of the writer Michael Gilbert. Besides ''World Book Club'' on the ...

, Mark Coles, Audrey Brown - who also presented the BBC's flagship African News and Current Affairs programmes Focus on Africa and Network Africa, Anna McNamee, and

Bidisha Bidisha Mamata is a British broadcaster and journalist specialising in international affairs, social justice issues, arts and culture. Bidisha began writing professionally for style magazines such as ''i-D'', '' Dazed and Confused'', and the '' ...

. The programme's title came from the Strand, a busy street in London close to the World Service's former studios at

Bush House Bush House is a Grade II listed building at the southern end of Kingsway between Aldwych and the Strand in London. It was conceived as a major new trade centre by American industrialist Irving T. Bush, and commissioned, designed, funded, a ...

Aldwych Aldwych (pronounced ) is a street and the name of the area immediately surrounding it in central London, England, within the City of Westminster. The street starts east-northeast of Charing Cross, the conventional map centre-point of the city ...

Format

regularly presented the Monday and Friday editions, as well as (on the first Saturday of every month) the new hour-long version of long-standing BBC World Service programme ''

World Book Club ''World Book Club'' is a radio programme on the BBC World Service. Each edition of the programme, which is broadcast on the first Saturday of the month with repeats into the following Monday, features a famous author discussing one of his or her ...

''. She said of the new programme: "I'm delighted to be presenting ''The Strand''. As a daily programme, it will be a great position to reveal, explore and debate developments as they happen in the world of the arts – including, of course, the world of literature." Mark Coles, who previously hosted ''The Beat'' and ''The Ticket'' on the World Service, is also a music journalist and won the Sony Reporter of the Year Award in 1993. The first programme featured: Roger Moore talking about his autobiography; a report on the cultural life available to the people of Gaza, in particular what people in Gaza are watching on satellite TV and how it affects their view of the world; a review of AC/DC's album ''

Black Ice Black ice, sometimes called clear ice, is a thin coating of glaze ice on a surface, especially on streets. The ice itself is not black, but visually transparent, allowing the often black road below to be seen through it. The typically low level ...

''; and an interview with Steve McQueen about his film ''

Hunger In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic Human nutrition, nutritional needs for a sustaine ...

''. ''The Strand'' replaced a number of existing World Service arts programmes such as '' The Word'', ''The Beat'', ''On Screen'', ''

Culture Shock Culture shock is an experience a person may have when one moves to a cultural environment which is different from one's own; it is also the personal disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration ...

'' and ''The Ticket''.''The Strand'' replaces other arts and culture programmes
/ref> Editions were also presented by Lawrence Pollard,

Louise Fryer Louise Fryer is a British broadcaster on BBC Radio 3. After attending Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, ...

, Rajan Datar, Tim Marlow, and Aminatta Forna. Arts topics were subsequently integrated into the show ''

Outlook Outlook or The Outlook may refer to: Computing * Microsoft Outlook, an e-mail and personal information management software product from Microsoft * Outlook.com, a web mail service from Microsoft * Outlook on the web, a suite of web applications ...

'', the duration of which was extended to one hour as of Monday 1 April 2013.

''World Book Club''

''World Book Club'', an hour-long programme, occupies some of ''The Strand''s slots in the schedule on the first Saturday in each month and during repeats on following days. Some of the "repeats" are a version edited to fit the usual half-hour slots of ''The Strand''. ''World Book Club'' was previously a half-hour programme broadcast on the last Tuesday in each month, in the slot of now-defunct book programme ''The Word''.

References

External links

*
BBC World Service arts page
with listen again facility for the last 7 days' programmes.
Editor's Choice.
Listen again to selected older items.
''The Strand'' programme times.''The Strand''
on Facebook {{DEFAULTSORT:Strand, The BBC World Service programmes 2008 radio programme debuts CBC Radio One programs 2013 radio programme endings

Format

''World Book Club''

See also

References

External links