Following a four month lay-off madcap weeties warbler Unkle Frank made a welcome return to the EBR airwaves this morning. Fresh from his adventures Down Under which included bulk partying and a quick visit to the Australian Open, Frank joined Nev Raven for two hours of freezing cold broadcasting…the mercury fell six degrees below zero today.

Our review of the recent Spielberg production War Horse cast suspicions that the staring horse may well be Mr. Ed!

Despite the cold, the music was hot, hot, hot including promising Rotterdam outfit Rats on Rafts plus Richard Cheese, Tom Petty, Metronomy and The Zombies.

We welcomed Patrick Gorman into the studio this morning and talked comics. Literally. Matt C and the artist himself acted out scenes from his comic strip art and we heard how commitment, inspiration and a little bit of the Irish charm got him his first ever exhibition. You can see the real thing for yourself at Getto bar, on Warmoesstraat until 5 March (unless the city is destroyed by Armageddon or a giant mutant pigeon or something).  See www.patrickgormanjr.com for more about Patrick’s work.

Cathy announced the Single of the Year 2011 (as organised by those wandering expats Maggie & Keith and in it’s 13th year), judged on Melody, Performance, Lyrics and Tits. The winner was Take That’s Love Love but we played Ed Sheeran’s You Need Me, I Don’t Need You. You can thank me later.

Listen to the archive here (07:00) and here (08:00 with Patrick’s interview).

We aired an interview with Russell Shorto, Director of the John Adams Institute (www.john-adams.nl) and author of The Island at the Centre of the World. To win tickets to the discussion with Chad Harbach, novelist, on Thursday 19 January email us on shout@englishbreakfast.nl. “Once in a great while, a debut novel appears that causes critics to declare an instant classic. Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding is such a book. The New York Times lists it as one of the 10 best books of 2011, and Amazon named it the best book of the year. Listen to the interview on Soundcloud (part 1 and part 2).

After 08:00 we talked with photographer Marcus Koppen (www.marcuskoppen.com) about his involvement in the launch of FOAM Editions (a new exhibition space opening 26 January on Vijzelstraat) plus his fascinating series on Thailand’s lady boys.

The spotify playlist is here. Some great artists with 2012 tours/new albums on there…

Did you miss us? We missed you so, so much. (Especially you, Bondy x.)

For the first show of 2012, we talked SMART resolutions, new rules for city taxis, and 24-hour hospitality coming to Amsterdam. We had a 2012 gig & album preview, and a 2012 sports preview. All to a sparkling new soundtrack, never before played on the Monday show.

Listen to the archive (first hour and second hour). Spotify playlist here. Bonus Youtube playlist here (mostly songs we teasingly mentioned but just didn’t have time for).

NB We played out with Naomi Ferguson’s cover of Bob Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice (www.naomijoy.co.nz).