Alexander on Radio 4

[marcus]

I've been enjoying a rather good comedy show on (British) Radio 4 over the last few weeks, called "Old Harry's Game". The basic plot is that a historian, Edith, has died under mysterious circumstances, and has ended up in Hell, where Satan wants her to write his biography. In the final episode, broadcast last week, it turned out that Edith had just completed a biography of Alexander when she died. The following exchange takes place:

Old Harry’s Game
Episode 6, broadcast Radio 4, 1 November 2007
(10 mins 20 secs – 11 mins 18 secs)

Edith: Well, I’m just not used to interviewing my subjects face to face, that’s all. Usually they’ve been dead for hundreds of years; well, thousands in the case of Alexander.
Satan: Alexander?
Edith: Alexander the Great.
Satan: He’s not that great. Nah, he’s more like, er, Alexander the Disappointment.
Edith: You mean he’s down here? Oh, I’d be thrilled to meet him.
Satan: Trust me, you wouldn’t. No, it’s like being trapped with a Macedonian version of John Major. Endless anecdotes about how the Gordian Knot was actually a clove hitch.
Edith: No, no, you’re selling him short. Alexander was a force of nature, a superb warrior who defeated the Persians.
Satan: The Persians were crap, all right? They were out of form, and were carrying a lot of injuries. I mean, I’m telling you, they were so poor at Thermopylae that Tim Henman could’ve beaten them.
Edith: No, no, you’re mistaken. I’ve been writing a book about Alexander and it was all ready to go to the publishers …

ATB

[Vergina Sun]

I don't know about you, but there's a lot I would give to sit in hell and listen to Alexander tell anecdotes about the Gordian Knot.

[sikander]

Greetings,

You might enjoy reading the version of Alexander in the "Hell" series (Heroes in Hell, Kings in Hell, etc).from Baen Books... a few interesting twists.. one of the few fiction collections I have enjoyed overall <chuckling>

Regards,
Sikander

[marcus]

I don't know about you, but there's a lot I would give to sit in hell and listen to Alexander tell anecdotes about the Gordian Knot.

Couldn't agree more. What is more, is that until I heard that programme I'd never heard of a clove hitch - even if the Gordian Knot were one, that in itself would be interesting!

ATB