There is something about these broadcasts that persuades you not to turn them off - even if you have no idea what is happening

One of the triumphs of RTÉ radio in the last century was the opera programme Your Choice and Mine, presented on Sunday evenings by Tommy O'Brien.

"Good evenin' listeners," he would start in a Tipperary accent which cut through the old assumption that opera was largely for the Dublin bourgeoisie (there was of course no bourgeoisie in Tipperary).

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