And then there was her own broadcasting style, in scripting for herself, or in interviews she did. Sometimes in interviewing she could sound hesitant, but her questioning was always intelligent ; quirky at times, because she would think on her feet and wanted to get to the nub of the matter by hook or by crook. It was why interviews with such people as Wolfgang Wagner, Sir Peter Pears, Geoffrey Parsons, Howard Ferguson were so honest and so good, even very good. ( Here I use Venetia’s own ‘ top marks’. She was not one to over praise. ‘Okay’ was a little above pass mark : the programme would be broadcast but could have been better. ‘Good’ was honours, well done ! ‘Very good’ would be Venetia’s ‘excellent’ – but I never heard her use the word. It was as if she always left room for ‘better next time’. No “ all’s for the best in the best of all possible worlds ” for her. Although one might say she was a romantic, most times ; she was a deadly realist, frighteningly so at times. There were the programmes or interval talks when the realist took over, and she ‘engaged with the world’, or to put it another way - she got onto some of her favourite hobby-horses ; when during orchestral concerts or during opera broadcasts we would hear herself, or experts she had chosen, speak on subjects sometimes far removed from music.....The Environment, Dwindling fish-stocks, Sixteenth Century Medicine, Barrelorgans, Italian Ice-cream, The Amazon Rain-forest, The Making of Calf Vellum ( an interest borrowed from her timpanist son Marney), Sword-making, Castration ( of boy singers ), Champagne ( of course !) Mushrooms ( why not ?), Recipes of Ancient Rome.