Winning At Being Swedish

Oh how I would love RNZ here in Aotearoa New Zealand, or BBC Radio in the UK to start such a glorious item as the Swedish Summer & Winter in P1 (site is in Swedish let your browser translate it for you).

‘The last campfire in Swedish society’: Sommar i P1, the radio show that unifies a nation brought my attention to it:

[Such candour] has become expected from those who are chosen as Sommarpratare (summer speakers) on Sommar i P1, an annual Swedish radio institution in which guests are given 90 minutes to talk about a subject of their choice and play music. To be selected is considered such an honour that it’s been described as the Swedish equivalent to a knighthood.

It's been an annual event since 1959 and begins each year on Midsummer’s Day and runs daily until the middle of August, featuring 58 different guests, ranging from politicians to artists and actors, chefs, sports stars, scientists and teachers.

Sounds so interesting, if a scientist isn't your thing don't worry about musician is up next, or wait for the chef.

There is no given focus and definitely no interviewer as guest hosts work with a producer to create their own structure to the programme and script.

Recent hosts have used the honour in as many ways as there have been hosts:

• Tell-all space to share their deepest secrets,
• make a personal announcement,
• take a stand, 
• a blank performance space, 
• an extended CV interspersed with anecdotes and music,
• death of a father and lifelong struggle with body image,
• expectations of Finland and Sweden entering Nato “hand in hand”,
• descriptions a decade of meetings with Vladimir Putin,
• explore the idea of melancholy, and what led to becoming an actor,
• harrowing stories enduring sexual abuse.

In 2020, Anders Tegnell, then Sweden’s state epidemiologist, admitted on the programme there had been failures in his globally discussed Covid strategy.

Deep or fluffy, but always open,l and honest, they choose.

What a legacy, check out this question and answer:

Where can I find older Summer Talk? 

Search for the name of the summer speaker in the Sveriges Radio Play app. Older programs are digitized from 1997 onwards. Before then, only selected programs are archived. See our guide to all summer talks published since 1959.

[Chrome translated from Swedish]

What would YOU do with your  90 minutes, what would your legacy through this honour be?