Ratatouille 101

Rats are strong contenders to make it into my Room 101 (along with the boring meetings that also inspired author George Orwell to come up with this symbol for ratty nightmares in his novel 1984).

So I find it strange indeed that the latest hit animation, Ratatouille, features a rat who stars in the Kitchen helping a hapless young chef.  It seems to be much more popular than last year's rat movie, Flushed Away, which flopped.  Despite my squeamishness, I really admire the courage of the Pixar producers who backed such an unconventional hero for a movie. For that alone, I'll go and watch it.

But I suspect that many of our listeners will be glad that we are taking the traditional line that rats definitely not cute. Our contribution to this Summer's rat craze is Natasha's wonderful reading of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.   It's a little more stretching than some of our offerings, but we hope that you will really enjoy the verse of Robert Browning.