Learn Cornish launched few months after language given new level of protection

Listeners tuning in to the BBC’s latest podcast offering on Friday may find themselves saying dydh da to a language that is enjoying something of a resurgence. The new programme called Learn Cornish will be fronted by the Radio 1 host Danni Diston and includes guests such as the Bafta-winning director Mark Jenkin.

Diston, who is from north Cornwall, said that she initially did not know any Cornish “other than small words that I’ve learned growing up and mainly dialect … [but] the idea would be to learn alongside other people”. She will be joined by co-presenter Sarah Buck, a fluent Kernewek speaker, throughout the weekly episodes that are designed to introduce basic phrases in the Cornish language.

DJ spent almost three decades working for corporation and was best known for Radio 1 show from 1985 to 2000

• Andy Kershaw – obituary

The broadcaster Andy Kershaw, best known for the BBC Radio 1 show he hosted for 15 years, has died aged 66, his family told the corporation.

His long career working for the BBC began in 1984 as host of the rock music show The Old Grey Whistle Test. He co-presented the corporation’s television coverage of Live Aid.