Show Notes
This is a very special meeting of Tony Slattery’s Rambling Club. It’s Christmas Day, and we find ourselves once again in the company of our much-loved and much-missed President, Tony Slattery. His absence is felt, of course — how could it not be? — but so is his presence: in the laughter, the mischief, the curious turns of thought, and the unmistakable warmth that shaped this club from the very beginning. Today’s ramble is offered with affection, gratitude, and a quiet smile, just as Tony would have wanted.
And so, gloves on, collars up, we set off as normal, guided by Tony’s enchanted bingo machine and the familiar rhythms of the club. The shed door swings open, Sir Stephen Fry’s omniscient voice settles in above us, and the ramble begins.
Our first destination is 702: Fine and Decorative Art. Almost immediately we’re into the strange and wonderful world of surreal bingo, followed by recollections of Tony breaking a priceless ornament on television — an act that somehow manages to be both horrifying and completely inevitable. From there, the conversation drifts into the long and symbiotic relationship between art and religion, before taking a diarist’s turn toward Samuel Pepys, proving once again that no subject is ever truly finished, only temporarily paused.
Next, the bingo machine whirs and delivers us to 621: Applied Physics — a category that sounds orderly enough until it isn’t. Before we quite realise what’s happened, we find ourselves stumbling into the Whose Line Is It Anyway? studio, encountering a dentist with an infamous skull structure, and grappling with the very real dangers of misremembering the words to the Lord’s Prayer. Physics, it turns out, is less about equations and more about consequences.
And then, as always, we drift back toward the shed — a little wiser, a little warmer, and grateful for the company. On Christmas Day especially, this feels like exactly where we’re meant to be.
Presented by Tony Slattery, Paul Carmichael & Allan Lear
Music composed and performed by Michael Livesley & Andy Frizell
The voice of Pwfthhh- Michael Livesley www.michaellivesley.com
Series Researcher- Soula Carmichael
Series Producers- Erica Lear and Mark Hutchinson
Producers- Alan Dyebing & Stuart Morris
Series Executive Producer- Mark Strickson
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More from Tony Slattery's Rambling Club
Would you believe it? Two whole years of Tony Slattery’s Rambling Club! And to celebrate, we’ve invited a few friends into the shed for a special gathering. There is, however, a slight hitch. The bingo machine, having served us faithfully for two years, has finally decided to take a well-earned rest. The gears are grinding, the balls have stopped rolling, and the great outdoors will have to manage without us for once. So, with no numbers to guide us and no particular destination in mind, we settle down for a good old-fashioned natter.
This week’s guest President is the wonderfully entertaining Guy Siner. A ctor, raconteur, accidental international man of mystery and, of course, the man who brought Lieutenant Gruber magnificently to life in ’Allo ’Allo! Once safely installed, Tony’s enchanted bingo machine does its usual work, conjuring three numbers from the Dewey Decimal System and sending us off into the great outdoors. And our first destination is…
Would you believe it? This week’s guest President is the magnificent David Schofield and after a brief encounter with darts, Yorkshire tea and a suspicious-looking path through the shed, the enchanted bingo machine sends us off into the great outdoors once again.
Would you believe it? This week’s guest President is the wonderful actor, director and writer Paul Clayton, and the enchanted bingo machine has once again decided that our ramble should take us somewhere we really weren’t expecting.
The Rambling Shed has gone on holiday this week before the last of the good weather departs. In the meantime, please enjoy this classic episode starring Nigel Planer and our late President, Tony Slattery.