As It Happens is not taped. It is a live broadcast program and has long been, IMHO, the best current affairs radio show on the CBC or any other network. The concept is rather simple. They do live phone interviews with persons who are in the news or can comment knowledgably on current news stories.

Unfortunately the current lead interviewer, Mary Lou Findlay, is a bit of a dork, and not up to the standard set by Michael Enright and Barbara Frum in years past. My own impression is that she shows a conservative bias based on who she interrupts, versus who she provides a platform for.

However, long before her tenure, AIH had developed a tradition of interviewing UK residents on odd, eccentric, yea even goofy items of interest. IF they call you in the sceptred isle, that is the angle you can expect they're looking for. The straight news we can get from the BBC or whatever.

Understanding that--you're a novelty item, not a Huge International News Story--you can help the CBC, yea verily even M. L. Findlay, broadcast something that will make the PEL biz look very silly indeed. Rapier wit at K Howell's (etc.) expense will take you a lot farther than trying to impress upon them the utmost gravity of the situation. (The object of these interviews is to determine who is the bigger twit, the protester or the protestee. Pomposity is fatal.) Water under the bridge though, and good on you for shutting her up however briefly! I'm sad that I missed it.

The other thing you should know, before being a UK guest on AIH, is exactly how many kilometers you are from Reading. If you work that into the conversation, the interviewer will be impressed at how you've done your homework, because, for reasons too obscure to go into, a mention of that distance is an AIH tradition .

Cheerio!
Willie-O
6500 km from Reading