Listen with Mother

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Listen with Mother was a BBC radio programme for children (1950-1982) with Daphne Oxenford, Julia Lang, Eileen Browne, Dorothy Smith and others. The theme music which became synonymous with the programme was 'Berceuse' from Gabriel Fauré's Dolly Op.56 for piano duet.

It was broadcast on the Light Programme every weekday afternoon at 1:45, for fifteen minutes, just before Woman's Hour, and was a programme of stories, songs and nursery rhymes (often sung by George Dixon) for children under five (and their mothers). At its peak, it had an audience of over a million.

[edit] Are you sitting comfortably?

The show is likely best remembered for the opening phrase "Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin." This was incorporated by the 1980s Canadian New Wave band Platinum Blonde as the introductory line of their 1984 hit single "Doesn't Really Matter", varied as "Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin." The Moody Blues had a song entitled "Are You Sitting Comfortably" on their 1969 album "on The Threshold of a Dream" "Are you sitting comfortably? Let Merlin cast his spell".

The phrase is used as "Are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then we'll begin…", in the 2006 Doctor Who television episode "The Idiot's Lantern".