I did the first bit of work on my new Radio 4 series "Richard Herring Objects" which will be running for four weeks in the autumn. Basically I am attempting to reclaim four items which, for whatever reasons, come with negative associations. Unsurprisingly one of these is the toothbrush moustache. So today I went to the BBC to talk over the phone to some moustache experts in Berlin, which was pleasantly surreal. Stefan Ernsting who wrote the biography of Alexander Moritz Frey which revealed the tantalising detail that Hitler had first shaved his moustache to the nasal doormat in order to be able to fit into a World War I gas mask, was amusingly perturbed by the fact that out of all the information he had revealed in his book, it was Hitler's moustache that had attracted the most attention - in the UK at least. This stupid square inch of hair seemingly haunts whoever dares to spend any time thinking about it.
Obviously I knew a fair amount about this subject already, but by conversing with Stefan and the affable and amusing Heinrich Dubel (who agreed in a delightfully deadpan manner with my assertion that Hitler was quite an arrogant man) I was able to sort out a few of my theories. I had wondered if Hitler had copied Chaplin on purpose and whether he did so in order that his enemies might underestimate him, but I think in fact Hitler just felt the moustache looked good and kept it due to his own vanity and didn't really make the connection (plenty of other people had the moustache so that's fair enough), and thus if his enemies did think he was foolish as a result this wasn't his intention. It possibly helped him gain power because of this underestimation, but he thought he looked good.
I have been a bit worried about when the Hell I am going to have time to write this series - I can't believe that I will be starting my journey north in a little over a week - so it was reassuring to get something done and to start thinking about it. The moustache show will hopefully be simple enough to put together, but the others will require a lot more thought. And it's not as if I am going to be having a relaxing Edinburgh as it is. But as usual I will get it all done at the last minute, no doubt.
But there is much to be done and another slightly below par preview at the Riverside tonight helped give me a sense of urgency and resolve to pull my finger out. The show is not too far off, but requires some graft to get it into shape.
My spirits were kept up though by the continuing Frank Chickens campaign. The mischievous users of Twitter have got right behind them and they were back at the top of the chart by the end of the day. The easiest way to vote for them is to
use this link - http://bit.ly/cnaFSa and if you wanted to automatically refresh it every five seconds then that is up to you.
