Yes, I'm in the 'Sailing By is a great piece of music' group too - it is a piece of music which tends to divide people though. AFAIK Two controllers of Radio 4 ago - the Scottish bloke who radically shook up Radio 4's schedule - hated it and axed it from Mon - Fri with it only making appearances at weekends and public holidays. The only good thing was when it was played it seem to get a full playout then.
I believe the Radio4 anthem broadcast at startup is a fairly recent tradition - I think it either came about when the frequencies for MW were reallocated in 1979 and Radio 4 was known as Radio 4 UK (which I think is when it started) or from Radio 4's inception (1967)
I am willing to be corrected if someone knows more!
Who is old enough to remember Theme One by Cozy Powell played on Radio 1/2 when they opened up at 5am. Shame it was so early - you couldn't turn the volume up so loud!
Theme One was by George Martin, not Cozy Powell. It's on the LP 'British Maid' by the George Martin Orchestra.
