Vocalized Pauses

Had to appear on a local radio station today (a long story), and discovered that I could 'listen again' thanks to the Internet. Braced myself for the usual recoil at the sound of your own voice, only to be struck by the vast number of 'vocalized pauses', e.g. um, er, hmm... Now, I don't think I normally do this, so I'll put it down to nerves. But how to get rid of them, without getting OCD?

Although I did hear a piece on the Today show, I think, on how short silences or gaps are even worse on the radio.

Also managed to pop in to the 'world's largest free lecture series' in the evening - a square-jawed Dr Tristram Hunt at the Royal Society of Arts, now under the command of the Easter-Island-esque (or should that be William Defoe) Matthew Taylor, late of No. 10 strategy unity. Dr Hunt was discussing the history curriculum, citizenship and national identity. Came up with some pretty sound middle of the road responses, and staked out the Raphael Samuel/David Starkey political divide quite well (and alluded to J C D Clark's thoughts on time, history and religion - but not the Enlightenment's discovery of history). The best thing was the describing the difference between being trained to be a historian, and the civic benefits of knowing about history. The important point - that history is mostly boring to school kids (all subjects have a defining feature, e.g., geography=colouring in; English=reading out loud; maths=calculators; chemistry=bunsen burners) and that wider interest happens despite history lessons (at least before A Level) wasn't touched upon. At least there was general agreement that citizenship classes are a disaster, unless the subject matter is incorporated into other disciplines.

More prosaically, London braces itself for more snow ce soir.