Tue 11 May 2004, 09:30 - 09:45 15 mins
1/5. The Blue and the Green.
A five-part celebration of some of our most familiar, but unrecognised design classics: the road sign, the white line, the roundabout, the green man and the traffic calmer. Some are regarded as international design classics, others bemuse overseas visitors as eccentric. But as Joe Kerr finds out behind them lie forgotten histories, and fifty years of combined brainpower from typographers, psychologists, engineers and ordinary members of the public.
In the first programme, Joe meets the woman who was one half of the partnership who in the 1960s came up with the distinctive look of British road signs. Today they are heralded as a triumph of design. And if you've ever wondered who drew the pictures on our signs - this programme reveals all.
Sorry Natalie, but I didn't record it on mp3. If you want to keep copies of R4 shows then you can use a utility like Replay Radio to capture the audio stream to an mp3 file. But it's a bit late for that now.
Posted by: Chris McEvoy | May 23, 2004 at 10:51 AM
I'm an MA student writing a thesis on road signs. I'm trying to get hold of a copy of the BBC Radio 4 programme Routemasters from 11th May 2004 but on the BBC Radio 4 website, it has been replaced by today's edition of Routemastes. If anyone has a copy of the file or know where to get it, please email me. Thanks!
Posted by: Natalie | May 18, 2004 at 01:08 PM