if alistair cooke was not part of your life, it's time to make good that omission. as a child i never was very interested although my father would listen to him every week without fail, in fact as a child it was rather boring to have to sit still and not kacheow while your father listen to one person go on and on . but when i listen to him now i am entirely fascinated and regret i cannot go back to my childhood days and listen to the early letters with my father again.

here is the very first letter of them all, and here the archive of letters from 1999-2004. most of them are available in audio, the ones without have transcripts.