The Pips Are Coming!

“The pips are coming - truly.” How did those 9 a.m. pips go for the @BBCr4today team this morning…? An affectionate review.

[The Pips Are Coming! @ThePipsAComing]

@MishalHusain lights blue touchpaper under @KenLoachSixteen who combusts thrillingly. He’s off!
@JustinOnWeb throws a bucket of water over him with the immortal words “the pips are coming, truly.”
Just made it in time!
Exit left pursued by an auteur
@BBCr4today #ThePipsAreComing

[The Pips Are Coming! @ThePipsAComing]

@JustinOnWeb @Marthakearney @BBCr4today @MishalHusain @amolrajan @bbcnickrobinson So here’s wishing you and your excellent, unheralded, producers continued success in 2024!

Oh, and don’t forget: #ThePipsAreComing!!

@BBCr4today

[The Pips Are Coming! @ThePipsAComing]

Summary and farewell

This was fun for a while, but when I got back after August I rather lost my mojo.

So to summarise - I documented the run up to the pips for three months and there were 11 recorded crashes 🚨

So, roughly one per week

@BBCr4today #ThePipsAreComing

[The Pips Are Coming! @ThePipsAComing]

@JustinOnWeb @Marthakearney @BBCr4today @MishalHusain @amolrajan @bbcnickrobinson The Today Programme encapsulates everything that is good in British journalism and the BBC:

Intelligent
Thoughtful
Measured
Unbiased
Challenging
Informative
Entertaining

Thank you for sharing my mornings and adding value to my day, every day.

@BBCr4today #ThePipsAreComing

[The Pips Are Coming! @ThePipsAComing]

At the end of today’s programme there was the faint whiff of the hurried tidy up before guests turn up, and then they’re late…

After a brisk canter through the credits @BBCSimonJack had to leave a sizeable 2 second gap before our friends arrived

@BBCr4today #ThePipsAreComing

[The Pips Are Coming! @ThePipsAComing]

Adopted the French approach to August and took it off entirely!

Glad to be back to find @bbcnickrobinson on good pips form, dancing up to them just in time with nimble feet.

@BBCr4today #ThePipsAreComing

[The Pips Are Coming! @ThePipsAComing]

Missed the pips travelling to The Oval for another scintillating day of #TheAshes

Particularly enjoyed @FinShwaa’s virtuoso tea-time performance

🎶 And did those feeeeet! 🎶

[The Pips Are Coming! @ThePipsAComing]

Crikey!

“Bye bye!” Must be the shortest ever from @JustinOnWeb A record surely?

Most importantly the sanctity of the pips was preserved. 😮‍💨

@BBCr4today #ThePipsAreComing #ByeBye

[The Pips Are Coming! @ThePipsAComing]

A rather moving @BBCr4today programme this morning, what with Andrew Malkinson, Sinéad O’Connor & Nicholas Winton

@JustinOnWeb closed the show with a fitting gentle seriousness

After the pips we had Fauré’s Requiem - I must say I had a bit of dust in my eye

#ThePipsAreComing

[The Pips Are Coming! @ThePipsAComing]

There isn’t enough time for @ChrisMasonBBC to complete a coherent thought as @bbcnickrobinson squeezes out of a tight spot with all the aplomb of Indiana Jones being chased by a giant marble down a tunnel (in this case a v short one)

Ooff - tight!

@BBCr4today #ThePipsAreComing

[The Pips Are Coming! @ThePipsAComing]

Ooh @ChrisMasonBBC is given a go at the pips this morning, and he does it with the unfussy simplicity of a Dales farmer shutting the gate to an open field

Solid and genial

@BBCr4today #ThePipsAreComing

[The Pips Are Coming! @ThePipsAComing]

Calm, controlled, efficient, from @JustinOnWeb this morning

Like an unfussy @owenfaz slotting an easy penalty

@BBCr4today #ThePipsAreComing

[The Pips Are Coming! @ThePipsAComing]

If @bbcnickrobinson plays the pips equivalent of #Bazball (thrillingly unpredictable) it’s fitting that he looks to @FinShwaa in his search for the Jerusalem of perfect pips timing.

Timed like a @chriswoakes cover drive today 🎺🏏👌

@BBCr4today #ThePipsAreComing #Ashes2023

[The Pips Are Coming! @ThePipsAComing]

Lovely clean exit by @Marthakearney this morning.

👏👏👏

@BBCr4today #ThePipsAreComing

[The Pips Are Coming! @ThePipsAComing]

🚨Pips crashed!!🚨

But worth it in order to give Josh Searle in Norwich a name check eh @Marthakearney? 😀👍

@BBCr4today #ThePipsAreComing #PipsCrashed #JoshSearle

[The Pips Are Coming! @ThePipsAComing]

🚨Pips crashed!!🚨

Not so much a crash as a karambolage!

@bbcnickrobinson, fresh from sneaking the wurst sausage dad joke past @Marthakearney, drives the radio equivalent of a VW Amarok through the pips.

Donner und blitzen!!😱

@BBCr4today #ThePipsAreComing #PipsCrashed

[The Pips Are Coming! @ThePipsAComing]

🚨Pips crashed!!🚨

I’m sure an AI presenter would never crash the pips. But where would be the fun in that?

Where the emotional engagement, the anticipation, the frisson of peril, and @MishalHusain’s sincere ‘have a good day’?

@BBCr4today #ThePipsAreComing #PipsCrashed