Stephen Sage wrote to Home Truths about a little-known syndrome (but no less important for all that) called RRR, or Radio Related Recollection...
Just glancing at his bedroom floor, the one he put in himself, takes Stephen Sage straight back to a re-broadcast of an American pre-war radio drama, The Count of Monte Cristo. Moving onto the bathroom, looking around at his DIY work above floor-level, his mind shifts to Pagannini, "I instantly recall a drama with Tom Baker, dark and devil-haunted in the starring role of the composer." The bathroom floor, however, is closely associated with the life of Tove Jansson, the children's Finnish writer and sculptor. The kitchen, too, is interwoven with compelling radio memories, "The floor in here is definitely The Hound of the Baskervilles - that was on the radio whilst I was trying to get a level surface.. there are gaps in my memory where I kept going outside to get more cement..."
Stephen's theory is that RRR happens to people who are exposed to radio whilst involved in some kind of manual work, "What you're doing gets woven in to what you're listening to. When you look at the work later, as you remember what you did, you remember what was on the radio at the time..." It's not just that Stephen's house reminds him of radio programmes, the radio programmes themselves act as a sort of diary or aide-memoire to remind Stephen of his life. For instance, hearing Ned Sherrin takes Stephen back, instantly, to the walls and ceilings in the kitchen and dining-room, "Painting them is forever associated in my mind with Loose Ends - it's nice to think you have an urbane and erudite ceiling..."
His most treasured bit of radio-DIY memory happened last Christmas, "I'd just finished working on the final floor in the house. On the wireless was a dramatisation of Lucy Boston's book, The Children of Green Knowe - it was magnificent radio! I lit the fire and sat down with a cup of tea. The best yet."
There's just one radio memory Stephen would like to expunge from his mental collection,
"I cold do without The Mike Sammes Singers and Sing Something Simple - there are associations with that time on a Sunday evening I don't like to remember."
No-one, as yet, has responded to Stephen's description of the RRR phenomenon by shrieking "Me too!" Is he alone?
