蜜芽传媒

On the first of May, Russell celebrates the "most popular point in the musical calendar". Opening with perhaps its most famous use - Rodgers and Hart's Mountain Greenery - he reveals there's more to the song than we usually hear, proving it with a snatch of Frank Crumit's 1926 recording.

A much earlier celebration of the date - 400 years earlier in fact - is provided by The King's Singers version of Thomas Morley's Now Is the Month of Maying, which Russell follows with an updated (by Arthur Young) of Shakespeare's It Was a Lover and His Lass.

More recent markings of this date come from Teddi King's The Wine of May and an off-cut from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers - The Queen of May. But, as Russell points out, the word 'may' has other connotations and, as something of a grammarian, he takes a moment to rail against the misuse of the word, giving him an excuse to play the Mills Brothers' version of I May Be Wrong But I Think You're Wonderful and Joan Regan's May You Always.

First of May recordings by Sinatra are numerous: Russell selects Maybe You'll Be There from 1957. A new release by Tina May prompts the story of Poor People of Paris before another anniversary - that of the 1951 Festival of Britain - provides the stage for Noel Coward's Don't Make Fun of the Fair.

After revealing that Louis Prima is the singer behind a recent commercial music-bed (Enjoy Yourself) and answering a listener's complaint that he'd missed Johnny Green's name from an earlier programme (he plays another Green song - You and Your Love) Russell concludes with a mention of two current artists he'll be meeting: Jamie Cullum and Daryl Sherman - and we hear both of them.