The Lord of Misrule took over Radio 4!
Something strange happened on Radio 4 on 7 January...
The Lord of Misrule, in the person of John Finnemore, took control of the schedule and hacked into the Radio 4 Twitter account.
At 9am John Finnemore surprised 成人论坛 continuity announcer Luke Tuddenham...
The Lord of Misrule comes to Radio 4
John Finnemore surprises 成人论坛 continuity announcer Luke Tuddenham.
At the next junction John's brought fruit...
John Finnemore has taken control...
The Lord of Misrule won't leave. And he's brought fruit.
Then he started causing trouble with Ed Balls and Josie Long on Saturday Live...
By 11am things got completely silly...
John Finnemore insists the next announcement is in the style of school teacher
He's messing with Luke now.
Next John bothered a Reverend...
Even Week in Westminster was under the spell of Misrule with a panel of comedians...
Theresa May and other impressions...
Jan Ravens on how to do Theresa May, with Rory Bremner, Matt Forde and Steve Richards.
This was not true in any way...
Evidence appeared that the Lord of Misrule had been about longer than we realised. This photo is from 2009...
And then John hacked into the Radio 4 Twitter account...
A new announcer took over and dealt with John with some aplomb...
John Finnemore surprises Susan Rae
She wasn't expecting this and we're pretty sure she doesn't like it.
They thought he'd gone....
This photo is from 1996. Isn't Barry young?
John's started picking on announcers who weren't even working...
John was up to something....
"It's like watching Brief Encounter"
Actually Susan might be enjoying this
John Finnemore is playing games with Susan Rae.
At least some people were happy...
Security were after John...
By mid-afternoon Susan Rae was fighting back...
Susan Rae has had enough of Finnemore's fiddling
He may be Radio 4's Lord of Misrule but Susan Rae is not doing what John Finnemore wants.
The Now Show got into the spirit of the day with a Twelfth Night special.
At last The Complete Works of Shakespeare - start your collection now!
Week by week, you can add to the body of work that you will treasure forever.
Even Gardeners' Question Time was in the firing line. Is nothing sacred?
Luke was less than delighted to find John still waiting for him when he started another shift...
Luke Tuddenham is back in the studio (and John Finnemore is still there)
John finds out all about The Life Scientific.
The on air comedy continued with Angus Deayton...
John was given permission to open a very special fader before the 4 O'Clock news...
The Lord of Misrule waggles the pips
Announcer Luke lets John Finnemore fire up the world famous Radio 4 pips.
Then John decided that he should start being nice to the announcers...
John Finnemore is starting to feel sorry for the announcers
The Lord of Misrule decides to give the continuity announcer some encouragement.
The comedy continued on air with Sue Perkins and Hold the Front Page...
Who is to blame for danger?
Sue Perkins asks the panel on Hold the Front Page.
Not content with bothering the announcers, John started showing up on the programmes...
John played a dog on Time Spanner, a time-travelling sitcom with David Mitchell - .
With Susan back in the studio John was in a helpful mood...
A helpful translation
John Finnemore helps Susan Rae out by translating her continuity announcement.
More evidence has come to light that The Lord of Misrule has been haunting Radio 4 recording studios for many years...
By the time Neil Sleat turned up for work he had an idea of what he was in for...
Just before 6pm, the spirit of Misrule infused the Shipping Forecast...
John Finnemore makes the Shipping Forecast 'good'
The Lord of Misrule helps Susan Rae out with the Shipping Forecast.
Neil Sleat got his first taste of the Lord of Misrule at 6.15pm...
The Lord of Misrule awaits Neil Sleat
John Finnemore is still playing games with the announcers when the evening shift begins.
The Lord of Misrule might have caused a bit of friction between the announcers with this one...
Neil Sleat flexes his impersonation muscle at the behest of John Finnemore
The Lord of Misrule makes Neil Sleat impersonate his fellow announcer Kathy Clugston,
It was perfectly fitting having Harry Hill in the day's schedule.
Prison break at the Egg
Harry Hill stars as the governor of Britain's remotest prison, the Egg.
John had to get The Archers involved in today's shenanigans one way or another...
What does a Radio 4 announcement sound like sung to the theme of The Archers?
The Lord of Misrule John Finnemore gives announcer Neal Sleat a tuneful command.
By 8pm John was getting pretty intense...
The continuity cop show
John Finnemore shines a light in Neal Sleat's face and asks some tough questions.
We kept looking further back in the archive and The Lord of Misrule kept popping up. These two are both from 1958.
It's a good job Neil Sleat is so good at accents, otherwise this one could have bordered on the offensive...
It's all gone Scandinavian in the continuity studio
The Lord of Misrule pushes announcer Neil Sleat to the edge of political correctness.
By 10:30pm Neal Sleat was completely beaten down
It sounds like Neal Sleat has pretty much given up
Our announcer is made to introduce the next programme in words of just one syllable.
Jake Yapp nailed the sound of Radio 4 in his new show Jake Yapp Saves Humanity in 28 Minutes
Radio 4 in four minutes
Jake Yapp boils the Radio 4 schedule down to under four minutes.
At 11pm John managed to hack into the Radio 4 Twitter account one last time...
Here are the final pictures we found in the archive which show The Lord of Misrule has been misbehaving in Broadcasting House for a very long time.
Was the Lord of Misrule sinking to new lows on this one?
Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, you know
John Finnemore apparently doesn't think sarcasm is beneath announcer Neil Sleat.
As we approached the end of the day John just wanted to be nice...
The Lord of Misrule gives Neil Sleat's hair a quick trim
The Lord of Misrule seems to be feeling sorry for Neil Sleat and does him a favour.
At midnight the spell was broken and security finally caught up with The Lord of Misrule...
The Lord of Misrule has left the building
All good things must come to an end.
So what exactly is the Lord of Misrule?
The Elizabethan tradition of Misrule came as a hugely enjoyable period of anarchy when the normal rules didn’t apply. It was a chance to let off steam, challenge convention and be rude. The hierarchy was tipped on its head – jesters became kings, men dressed as women, masters served their servants. The periods of licensed misrule in the Elizabethan era, the feasts and festivals of Easter, Mayday, Whitsuntide, Midsummer Eve and Hallowe’en were joyful revelry, and Twelfth Night was the biggest and most unruly of the lot.
