Last Train To Hilversum

Last Train To Hilversum by Charlie Connelly (2020 Bloomsbury softcover 328pp)

As long as I can remember I’ve had some sort of relationship with radio. Growing up listening to the likes of Radio Avon and 3ZB on AM then on to the shiny new FM stations in the 80s. Also, in that decade I discovered the joy of listening to the world via Shortwave radio. These days I find myself frequently using the internet to listen to radio and on it goes. The author of this book feels the same way and his written a ‘love letter’ to radio. Its not really a cohesive narrative, each chapter being more or less a self-contained article or vignette. We alternate from learning about the lives and foibles of the lesser-known pioneers of the medium and sections where the author sits in with some BBC presenters as they read sports results, the shipping forecast or front an overnight show. Its all very interesting and written with a real warmth towards the subjects. Being a UK published book by a UK based author its scope its pretty much limited to the history of radio in that part of the world – the furthest the author travels is to the Hilversum of the title, a Dutch town where that nation’s radio industry grew. A global history this is not but well worth a read anyway.