When I grew up, I wanted to work at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Partly because of the name: an intriguing and exciting combination of the exotic and the everyday, the hi-tech and the homely, like Dr Who's sonic screwdriver. But also because the people there produced - working, as I fondly imagined it, with hammers and saws and bric-à-brac, and perhaps a couple of sonic screwdrivers - the wonderful unearthly sound effects for TV and radio programmes like Dr Who and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. But even if I'd had the right talents, I wouldn't have got the opportunity: the BBC, short of money, scrapped the Radiophonic Workshop in 1996, just short of its 40th anniversary. A documentary about it was broadcast on BBC4 last year - small consolation.

LRB 5 May 2005 | PDF Download