http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/sat/sat-20080816-1105-John_Clarke_Fred_Dagg_at_60-048.mp3

I can recall listening to John Clarke on National Radio a couple of years ago, talking in the beautifully flat & distinctive tone that he possesses, about his enjoyment in listening to poetry. I think he cited the improved sense of timing it provided, over reading a poem yourself, well at least the first couple of times, as his justification for this. Mr Clarke seems to raise subject of timing & rhythm in his interviews quite frequently, as it seems his instincts on this matter are a cut above, as a more recent National Radio interview on the occasion of his 60th in 2008 demonstrates.

The ABC in Australia have a few good links for his more recent, though Australian-centric work available, though I'd suggest this in particular being one of a series in which John plays a politician (on this occasion John Howard) sitting down with the Headmaster, or Dean to discuss his performance at school.

I agree with Mr Clarke on the subject of timing, though I also enjoy listening to content, as it best directs the process of determining tone, to the parts of the body best tasked with assessing tone, being ears and reduces the amount of overload on the eyes.

Subsequently to the original John Clarke interview I mentioned above, during the many hours each day that I am in front of a computer, I have the habit of attempting to listen to good spoken-word content. Recently I came across the following series from the BBC's Radio 4 on the subjects of Science & Mathematics, cunningly disguised as Current Events and called "More or Less". Sadly the BBC removes it's content rapidly from the web a mere week after the original broadcast, cutting off these shows from the audience who are more than a week away, so subscribing to the podcast/rss feed, or regular visits are required. I had a friend check for me that the content does play for those of you who are outside of the UK and though the BBC's iPlayer can be problematic, the rss feed page apparently provided access without any problems.

I hope you'll find it is worth a visit, or two.