The listening public has seldom heard major poets at the microphone, reading their own or other people’s poems that have interested them. Tennyson, we are told, was a great reader of "Maud", and many another poet has declaimed, but mostly to his family or to his friends. This is a pity for, as Dylan Thomas’s great readings showed, such poetry selections are attractive in themselves and fascinatingly illumine the thoughts and tastes of the poet-selector.

          The Colour of Saying underlines this. As a broadcaster Dylan Thomas revealed much of poetry’s secret power over other forms of expression, in the incomparable voice that captivated those who came within its range. The Colour of Saying is unique: for it tells us much about Dylan himself… the Dylan who, twenty years after his death, is talked about, read, critically discussed and made the subject of a play.