Review by Danny Hall.
 
WHISPERING Bob Harris was in fine voice at the Cheltenham Literature Festival on Thursday night.

Still broadcasting 45 years after his Radio One debut, Bob proved a vivid and expansive storyteller which bodes well for his newly-reprinted autobiography Still Whispering After All These Years (hardback, £20).

Meanwhile, the post-interview Q&A showed the affection among the packed auditorium for his seminal 1970s TV show The Old Grey Whistle Test.

Household names and artists who are no more than footnotes in music history were recalled in the same self deprecating manner by the man dubbed the “Ken Barlow of Rock”.

Sadly, when the clock beat him, and he reluctantly had to bring an end to his reminisces, we had reached only 1989. 

Just time enough to recall the night when the punk movement cornered the perceived figurehead of the bloated rock establishment in London’s Speakeasy Club.

Fearing for his life among the broken bottle-wielding rabble Bob admitted he had turned a “Whiter Shade of Pale” before the Procol Harum road crew intervened and shepherded him to safety.

Perhaps on another night we will hear about the last 26 years of his stellar broadcasting career when he has championed both the great and the lesser known, like his current faves The Shires.

Unlike his sainted mentor John Peel, whose shows could become unlistenable (Wild Man Fischer, anyone?), Harris tiptoes through the rock and country catalogues with an unerring step.

So much more than a DJ, Bob Harris truly has the best ears in the business.

Keep whispering, Bob.