The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
Quiz show presented by Victoria Coren in which knowledge will only take you so far, as patience and lateral thinking are also vital.
Three philosophy students pit their wisdom against a trio of Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy fans.
They compete to draw together the connections between things which, at first glance, seem utterly random.
Documentary which tells the story of how, in the years following the Second World War, countries competed to launch the most magnificent passenger ships on the great ocean routes.
National pride and prestige were at stake. The Americans had the United States, the fastest liner of all; the Dutch had the elegant Rotterdam; the Italians had the sleek Michelangelo; the French had the France as their supreme symbol of national culture and cuisine; and Britain had the Queens Mary and Elizabeth.
The coming of the jetliner and the 1960s' assault on class and privilege might have swept this world away, but as the film explains, the giant vessels sailed on. Today, more people than ever travel on big ships - liners that have a modern take on glamour and romance.
John Sergeant continues his 3,000-mile journey along India's rail tracks, travelling north to south to discover how the railways not only shaped its history but also its future.
Starting in New Delhi, John reveals how the railways' extraordinary construction story began with locomotives and track being shipped from British shipyards. He visits Gwalior to discover the extent of collusion between the privileged maharajahs and the British Empire, and at Victoria Terminus he reveals the politics and the power behind its grand design.
But it is at Bhore Ghat - just outside Mumbai - where John discovers the 19th-century British engineers' crowning construction achievement and the extraordinary human cost that made it all possible. He concludes that today it is India's railways that continue to change the lives of its one billion people in ways that would have delighted its colonial architects.
Documentary telling the story of the day that music rocked the world. Bob Geldof recalls how, after 12 weeks of manic preparation, the big day finally arrived. But would it work, would the punters watch, and more importantly would they part with their cash?
Bob Geldof and his team recall their fear of how the whole thing might fall apart at any minute. Stars from the day itself - Elton John, Queen, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, U2 and a whole host of others - remember walking out to face a crowd of 72,000 and a global audience of billions. And those who watched it at home, including Tony Blair, JK Rowling and Helen Fielding, recall how they didn't miss a minute of this extraordinary event.
Drama about a Georgia farmer, convinced that there is buried treasure somewhere on his ranch, but hampered in his search by an acre of land designated for tithing. By dint of some careful manoeuvering, the borders become flexible but the price of greed is the disintegration of family unity.
THURSDAY 15 JULY 2010
THU 19:00 World News Today (b00t2cdz)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
THU 19:30 Only Connect (b00qjnjl)
Series 3
Neuroscientists v Rugby Fans
Quiz show presented by Victoria Coren in which knowledge will only take you so far, as patience and lateral thinking are also vital.
Three neuroscientists hailing from Australia, South Africa and Canada scrum down against the intellectual brawn of three rugby fans, as they compete to draw together the connections between many disparate elements that, at first glance, seem utterly bereft of associations.
So what connects cream, quotation marks, tennis matches and yellow lines?
THU 20:00 Glamour's Golden Age (b00nqbpz)
Hooked on Hollywood
Documentary which explores how the American movie industry changed British culture in the 1920s and 30s. The movies, the film stars and the cinemas themselves combined to offer British audiences a glimpse of a glamorous lifestyle and the suggestion that they might achieve it.
Selling a succession of rags-to-riches fairy tales featuring go-getting women like Clara Bow, Jean Harlow and Katharine Hepburn, American movies also fuelled demand for cosmetics, cigarettes and dieting. It was an era in which Hollywood changed what Britons watched, what Britons wore and what Britons wanted.
THU 21:00 Storyville (b00t2cf1)
Shanghai Tales
First Period: The War of Growing Up
On the first day of spring term, directors Guo Jing and Ke Dingding began to film the lives of three 11-year-olds and their class in Shanghai Experimental Primary School. Focusing on the challenges of growing up, the film captures the flirting, fighting, showing off and anguish of children on the cusp of adolescence, and gives an insight into the formation of a new generation of Chinese children.
THU 22:00 Storyville (b00cjn33)
The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World
Compilation
Documentary which looks at what it takes to run a successful restaurant business in China. Owner Qin Linzi and her staff keep everything running smoothly, while the chefs' skills are put to the test in a competition. The restaurant prepares for a 70th birthday banquet. Qin Linzi discusses her difficult childhood and introduces her daughter, who has led a more privileged life. There's a banquet for a newborn baby and an anniversary show organised by the restaurant to celebrate its third year.
THU 23:00 Storyville (b00kld49)
The Baby and the Buddha
Nati Baratz's documentary chronicles a former disciple's search for his reincarnated Tibetan master.
After 26 years of isolated meditation in a mountain cave, Lama Konchog became one of the greatest Tibetan masters of our time. When he passed away in 2001 at 84, the Dalai Lama instructed his shy, devoted disciple Tenzin Zopa to search for his master's reincarnation. This 'unmistaken child' must be found within four years, before it becomes too difficult to remove him from his parents' care.
Tenzin entered the service of Lama Konchog at the age of seven, at his own request, and was with his master continuously for 21 years. The loss of his teacher leaves Tenzin bereft and he is further unsettled by the unexpected responsibility of carrying out the highly secretive search for his spiritual father, who is now expected to be embodied in a little boy and may be anywhere in the world.
His search crosses countries, passing through mountains and villages that appear to have remained unchanged for hundreds of years. Assisted by astrology, signs from dreams and the whispers of villagers, Tenzin travels by helicopter, mule and foot. When he comes upon an apparent contender, the documentary accompanies Tenzin and his young charge through the mysterious procedures that may confirm the reincarnation.
While the film brings to light a rarely seen aspect of the Buddhist faith, the true revelation is Tenzin's journey as a man. We come to know him as modest and shy, but with an impish sense of humour. He appears to be of another time and place, yet lives profoundly in the present. Alone on his quest, he is only able to share his thoughts and feelings with filmmaker Baratz. Tenzin's simple honesty and unselfconsciousness make the viewer a privileged partner in his passage.
THU 00:30 Storyville (b00t2cf1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]
THU 01:30 John Sergeant on Tracks of Empire (b00t3dbd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
THU 02:30 John Sergeant on Tracks of Empire (b00t3tj6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Wednesday]
THU 03:30 Glamour's Golden Age (b00nqbpz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
FRIDAY 16 JULY 2010
FRI 19:00 World News Today (b00t2cw6)
The latest national and international news, exploring the day's events from a global perspective.
FRI 19:30 Only Connect (b00qpk0b)
Series 3
Exeter Alumni v Gourmands
Quiz show presented by Victoria Coren in which knowledge will only take you so far, as patience and lateral thinking are also vital.
Three former flatmates and graduates of Exeter University pit their wits against a news producer, a civil servant and an IT consultant who share a passion for fine food. Who will win the battle as they compete to draw together the connections between things, which, at first glance, seem utterly random?
FRI 20:00 The Birth of British Music (b00l2k57)
Mendelssohn - The Prophet
Conductor Charles Hazlewood explores the lives, times and music of great composers. In the final programme in the series, he looks at Mendelssohn, whose music embodies the sound of the Victorian age. A friend of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Mendelssohn made ten visits to Britain and his work appealed strongly to British tastes.
Mendelssohn's melodies such as O for the Wings of a Dove and Hark! the Herald Angels Sing became hugely popular and his astonishing overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream perfectly captured the Victorians' fondness for Shakespeare and fairy stories. He portrayed the grandeur of Scotland through a romanticism shared with poets such as Keats and Wordsworth, and captured the public imagination with his pioneering use of a new conductor's tool - the baton.
Charles's journey includes a stormy boat trip to Fingal's Cave and a visit to a chocolate factory, as well as a trip to the recently restored Birmingham Town Hall, where a massed choir comprising choral groups from across the West Midlands is brought together with the BBC Concert Orchestra and soloist Andrew Shore to perform extracts from Mendelssohn's iconic work Elijah.
FRI 21:00 Merle Haggard: Learning to Live with Myself (b00t2cw8)
One of the true originals of American country music, 73-year-old Californian-born Merle Haggard has always felt and expressed America's contradictions in his life and his songs. This is the journey of the former Nixon poster boy of Okie from Muskogee renown to the now outspoken critic of the Bush era, as director Gandulf Hennig explores one of the greatest songbooks in American music.
Growing up in a suburb of Bakersfield, California, Haggard lost his father while aged just nine. He turned to a life of vagrancy and crime before seeing Johnny Cash while a San Quentin prison inmate in 1959 and rebuilding his life as a musician, picker and songwriter. Haggard went on to become one of the greatest singer-songwriters in country music, writing songs from the perspective of the working man and the barstool, mixing prison songs like Sing Me Back Home with songs that reflected his confusion at a changing America, such as his biggest hit, 1969's Okie from Muskogee.
Hennig's film is the fruit of three years spent filming with Haggard on the road and at home, recounting the man they call Hag's life as a man and a musician while getting inside the soul of a person who has created his own unique blend of country, western swing, folk and blues.
Featuring extensive archive footage and interviews with Merle and his family, plus contributions from fellow musicians including Keith Richards, Robert Duvall, Kris Kristofferson, Lucinda Williams and Ray Price.
FRI 22:30 Kings of Country (b0074sf5)
Profile of the six most influential male country stars of the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s, with the help of a blistering soundtrack and rare archive performances that show these men created a blueprint for songwriting that is as resonant today as it was then.
These are the stories of men who weren't afraid to be cowboys in a rapidly changing world. Hank Williams, who battled with his wife and addictions before dying a superstar at 29; 'Gentleman' Jim Reeves, the crooner in cardigans killed in a plane crash; Willie Nelson, the outlaw who rewrote the country rulebook; George Jones, whose life of heartache and booze is like a classic country song; the fugitive Merle Haggard who swapped his crowbar for a guitar after seeing Johnny Cash at San Quentin prison; and the king of kings himself - Johnny Cash. The surviving kings themselves join family members and close friends in giving rare insights into the rise to fame of these country greats, while admirers such as Billy Connolly, Jack White, LeAnn Rimes, Lauren Laverne and Elvis Costello pay tribute to the men who changed music for good.
FRI 23:30 Johnny Cash: The Story of Folsom Prison (b00p27kc)
Documentary which explores the most important day in the career of the legendary Johnny Cash.
Cash's concert at Folsom State Prison in California in January 1968 touched a raw nerve in the American psyche and made him a national hero at a troubled time in American history.
Using the stark images of rock photographer Jim Marshall, graphic techniques, archive footage and interviews with Merle Haggard, Cash's daughter Rosanne, band members Marshall Grant and WS 'Fluke' Holland, alongside former inmates of the prison, the film documents this explosive concert, the live album that followed and a transformative moment in the lives of Cash, the inmates of Folsom Prison and the American nation in the troubled year of 1968.
FRI 00:30 Arena (b0074sf6)
Hank Williams - Honky Tonk Blues
Hank Williams was the greatest singer-songwriter country music has ever known. He died on a journey half-way across America to a gig he would never make, at the age of just 29.
More than fifty years after his death, Williams ranks among the most powerfully iconic figures in American music. He set the agenda for contemporary country songcraft and sang his songs with such believability that we feel privy to his world, despite the fact that he left no in-depth interviews and just a few letters. His brief life and tragic death have only compounded his appeal.
With his seductive musings on love and ruin, Williams didn't just embody the honky tonk ethos, he practically invented it. Dirt-poor and rail-thin, he blazed out of Alabama in the late 1940s with the go-for-broke fervour of a man whose days were numbered. The emotional clarity of his voice spoke to millions, and by the age of 25 he was country music's first superstar. Four years later, overtaken by his own heart, he was gone - an icon to the world and an enigma to those who thought they knew him best. With the help of his family and closest friends, this film sets out to find the real Hank Williams.
FRI 01:50 The Birth of British Music (b00l2k57)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 today]
FRI 02:50 Merle Haggard: Learning to Live with Myself (b00t2cw8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 today]