SATURDAY 22 NOVEMBER 2008

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (b00fj64f)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.


SAT 00:30 Book of the Week (b00fg3zk)
Don't Sleep There Are Snakes

Episode 5

Colin Stinton reads the story of the American linguist Daniel Everett, who lived among the Piraha, a small tribe of Amazonian Indians in central Brazil.

Daniel loses his Christian missionary vocation.


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00fj64h)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00fj64k)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at 5.20am.


SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00fj64m)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (b00fj64p)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00fj64r)
Daily prayer and reflection with Rev Stephen Shipley.


SAT 05:45 iPM (b00fj64t)
Eddie Mair presents the weekly interactive current affairs magazine featuring online conversation and debate.


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (b00fjc6c)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SAT 06:04 Weather (b00fjc6f)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (b00fjc6h)
Countryside magazine. Matt Baker visits Cumbria to discover the latest developments in the fight to save the country's red squirrels from potential extinction.


SAT 06:35 Farming Today This Week (b00fjc6k)
News and issues in rural Britain, presented by Charlotte Smith.


SAT 06:57 Weather (b00fjc6m)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 07:00 Today (b00fjc6q)
Presented by John Humphrys and Edward Stourton.

Barack Obama is making Hillary Clinton secretary of state. James Coomarasamy reports.

David Loyn says the UN is unlikely to send troops to the DR of Congo.

David Coats of the Work Foundation and Jill Kirby of the Centre for Policy Studies debate what the government should do to save jobs.

MP Peter Luff voices his concerns that energy companies could be increasing their customers' direct debit payments to Russell Hamblin-Boone of the Energy Retail Association.

MP Hilary Benn says he wants a faster pace to Common Agricultural Policy reform.

The Brunel Museum's director Robert Hulse shows Sanchia Berg the world's first underwater tunnel.

Thought for the day with Brian Draper.

Anatole Kaletsky and Fraser Nelson debate whether the Conservatives' tax plans make sense.

David Loyn reports on whether similar conditions are developing in the DR of Congo as those that led to the Rwanda genocide. Former UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland calls on the EU to act.

Reports say a British man alleged to have plotted to blow up airliners has been killed in a US missile strike in Pakistan. Barbara Plett reports.

Stryker McGuire analyses the appointment of Hillary Clinton as US Secretary of State.

MP Philip Hammond says tax cuts must be properly funded.

Dr Colin White sheds some light on the history of the lovable pirate.

Aid worker Conor Foley and Jasmine Whitbread of Save the Children UK debate whether the money raised by large-scale appeals can be put to good use.

Paul Bettison explains the problems with offloading recycled waste.

Kofi Annan and Jimmy Carter have been refused visas to Zimbabwe. Peter Biles reports.

Jim White and Zinzan Brooke discuss the idea of a home-grown Haka.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (b00fjc7j)
Real life stories in which listeners talk about the issues that matter to them. Presenter Peter Curran is joined by chef Allegra McEvedy. With poetry from Elvis McGonagall.


SAT 10:00 Excess Baggage (b00fjc7l)
Hungary - Palestinian Territories

HUNGARY
John McCarthy is joined by the British jazz bass player Arnie Somogyi who with his friend the Hungarian guitarist Zsolt Bende travelled recently through the Carpathian mountains, only eating what they were given in exchange for playing their music. With Arnie's double bass squeezed into a tiny hire car, they went in search of Hungarian and other specialities, including Hungary’s staple dish, goulash.

PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
This year Raja Shehadeh, author of the highly praised When the Bulbul Stopped Singing and Strangers in the House, was awarded the prestigious Orwell Prize for Political writing for his acclaimed book Palestinian Walks. Raja shares his experiences of hill walking in the ever changing landscape of Palestine.


SAT 10:30 Movie Outcasts: The Making of Easy Rider (b00cqhm8)
Micky Dolenz explores how two producers, hot from the success of The Monkees TV series, kick-started an artistic renaissance in Hollywood with their counter-culture movie about two hippie bikers riding across America.

Contributors include Peter Tork, Jim Frawley, Steve Blauner, Henry Jaglom, Karen Black, Roger McGuinn, Donn Cambern and Peter Bogdanovich.


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (b00fjcjn)
A look behind the scenes at Westminster with Matthew D'Ancona.


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (b00fjcjq)
BBC foreign correspondents with the stories behind the world's headlines. Introduced by Kate Adie.


SAT 12:00 Money Box (b00fjclq)
With Paul Lewis. How car insurance premiums could rise for all, the pre-Budget report and tax levels, and trouble for investors in the AIG Enhanced fund.


SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (b00fj4fd)
Series 66

Episode 9

Sandi Toksvig chairs the topical comedy quiz. The panellists are Fred MacAulay, Jeremy Hardy, Francis Wheen and Andy Hamilton.


SAT 12:57 Weather (b00fjcls)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 13:00 News Headlines (b00fjclv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (b00fj4fg)
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs the topical debate from Tonbridge in Kent. The panel includes chief executive of the British Bankers' Association Angela Knight, Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell MP, shadow communications and local government minister Eric Pickles MP and Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson Ed Davey MP.


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (b00fjclx)
Jonathan Dimbleby takes listeners' calls and emails in response to this week's edition of Any Questions?


SAT 14:30 Saturday Drama (b00fjd0n)
Murder Every Monday

Mark Gatiss' adaptation of Pamela Branch's comedy.

Asterisk Club founder Clifford Flush hasn't murdered anyone for years, but when the urge comes on him to bump off his bridge partner, he and the rest of the Club are forced to leave London in a hurry. Once out of harm's way in the rural hamlet of Krunte Abbas, they acquire dilapidated Dankry Manor, where they establish themselves as 'homicide consultants'.

Armitage/Paget ...... Simon Williams
Clifford Flush ...... John Castle
Mrs Barratt ...... Barbara Kirby
Colonel Quincey ...... Graham Crowden
Creaker ...... David Ryall
Cyril Revere ...... Mark Gatiss
Chloe Carlisle ...... Stephanie Beacham
Manelli ...... Mark Benton
Bill Thurlow ...... Ian Hallard
Dina Parrish ...... Cal Jaggers.


SAT 15:30 Celebrating Cecilia! (b00fgsm1)
Catherine Bott tells the story of St Cecilia, the patron saint of music, examining her role as martyr, saint and muse and as the inspiration for some of the great works of music and literature, including work by Handel, Purcell and Benjamin Britten and Chaucer, Pope and Dryden. Catherine learns of Cecilia's gruesome martyrdom and subsequent place in history and witnesses preparations for the annual festival concert staged in her honour.


SAT 16:00 Weekend Woman's Hour (b00fjfvd)
Highlights of this week's Woman's Hour programmes with Jane Garvey. Topics include unfit mothers, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, the Roaring 20s, YolanDa Brown, virtual sex, black women's pay, second life and virtual sex, and contraceptive jabs for teenagers.


SAT 17:00 PM (b00fjgct)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Carolyn Quinn, plus the sports headlines.


SAT 17:30 The Bottom Line (b00fjgcw)
Evan Davis and a panel of business experts discuss shop displays and the challenges of doing business in Europe. Evan's guests are Ian McCaig, chief executive of lastminute.com, John Ridding, chief executive of the Financial Times, Sophi Tranchell of Divine Chocolate and Peter Casey of Aldi.


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b00fjgcy)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 17:57 Weather (b00fjgd0)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00fjgd2)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (b00fjgd4)
Clive Anderson presents an eclectic mix of conversation, comedy and music. He is joined by Mark Strong, Andy McNab and Mark Gatiss, and Robin Ince talks to Robert Llewelyn. Plus music from Nell Bryden and VV Brown and comedy from Ida Barr.


SAT 19:00 From Fact to Fiction (b00fjgd6)
Series 5

The Gulf

Writer Katie Hims creates a fictional response to the week's news. She imagines the trepidation onboard a cargo ship as it approaches the Gulf of Arden, the scene of many recent hijackings.


SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (b00fjgd8)
Leonardo DiCaprio in Body of Lies and Bill Bailey on stage

Joining Tom Sutcliffe on this week's panel are:

Panel:
D D Guttenplan – writer and historian
Alkarim Jivani – critic
Bridget Kendall – diplomatic correspondent for the BBC

Body of Lies
Body of Lies is director Ridley Scott's fourth collaboration with actor Russell Crowe. Crowe plays a CIA veteran who operates from the safety of a laptop at home and is running field agent Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) who is on the trail of an emerging major terrorist organisation operating out of Jordan.

Body of Lies is released nationwide this Friday, certificate 15.

War and Medicine
This exhibition examines the continually evolving relationship between warfare and medicine, beginning with the disasters of the Crimean War in the 1850s and continuing through to today’s conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Subjects covered include the pioneering plastic surgery techniques first developed during World War I to treat disfiguring facial wounds through to the recent controversies surrounding Gulf War Syndrome and the diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

War and Medicine is at Wellcome Collection until 15 February 2009.
Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE
Admission is free.

Bill Bailey
The stand-up comedian, musician and actor, known for appearing on the tv shows Never Mind the Buzzcocks and QI, presents his stage show Tinselworm.

Tinselworm is at The Gielgud Theatre in London until 30 November.
The DVD of Tinselworm is available now on the Universal label.

Outliers - The Story of Success
Malcolm Gladwell, author of the best-selling books The Tipping Point and Blink, investigates what makes people successful.

Outliers is published by Allen Lane.

Survivors
BBC One presents a re-imagining of the classic Seventies BBC drama series, based on the novel by Terry Nation.

Set in the present day, this 6-part series focuses on the world in the aftermath of a devastating virus which wipes out most of the world's population. What would we do? How would any of us cope in a brave, new world where all traditional 21st-century comforts have disappeared?

Survivors Episode 1 is at 9.00pm on Sunday 23 November on BBC One


SAT 20:00 The Archive Hour (b00fjgdb)
Here's Kenny

Music journalist Mark Paytress reassesses the pioneering disc jockey and comedian Kenny Everett and his place in broadcasting history.

Through interviews and rare archive material, Mark examines Everett's innovative broadcasting style and colourful private life, as well as his little-known work with his friends The Beatles. Featuring contributions from Tony Blackburn, Keith Skues and fans of his work in the 1960s for pirate radio.


SAT 21:00 Classic Serial (b00ffw77)
Jaroslav Hasek - The Good Soldier Svejk

Episode 1

Dramatisation by Christopher Reason of the satirical Czech novel by Jaroslav Hasek that charts the exploits of a WWI soldier.

When he seems to celebrate the death of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Svejk is arrested and so starts his progress through the ranks of the Austro-Hungarian army.

Svejk ...... Sam Kelly
Lukas ...... Adrian Lukis
Katz ...... James Quinn
Katy ...... Fiona Clark
Schoolteacher ...... Mark Chatterton
Wendler ...... Arthur Bostrom
Mrs Muller ...... Melissa Jane Sinden
Dr Grunstein ...... Stuart Richman
Blahnik ...... Malcolm Raeburn
Orderly ...... Howard Chadwick

Other parts played by members of the cast.

Directed by Gary Brown.


SAT 22:00 News and Weather (b00fjhbq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.


SAT 22:15 Moral Maze (b00fh64s)
Michael Buerk chairs a debate on the moral questions behind the week's news. Melanie Philips, Michael Portillo, Kenan Malik and Claire Fox cross-examine witnesses.


SAT 23:00 Brain of Britain (b00fgq25)
Robert Robinson introduces the perennial general knowledge quiz. This eighth heat features contestants from the south east of England.


SAT 23:30 Poetry from the Front Line (b00ffwlq)
BBC War correspondent Jonathan Charles finds out about the poetry that is being written as a result of the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He talks to the soldiers and relatives of soldiers who are writing poetry as catharsis, in the tradition of the First World War poets, visits Combat Stress, the UK charity which is using poetry as a tool for recovery, and hears poems by the US soldier and published poet Brian Turner.



SUNDAY 23 NOVEMBER 2008

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b00fk9kq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.


SUN 00:30 The Late Story (b007nf4h)
Back Chat

Jack's Back

Series of specially commissioned stories exploring the traumatic and occasionally comical subject of back pain.

Jack puts his back out whilst lugging a case of wine. But his wife is a greater cause for concern as she researches on the internet. By William Boyd.

Read by Christine Kavanagh and Sam Dale.


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00fk9m6)
The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00fk9m8)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00fk9mb)
The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b00fk9md)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b00fk9mg)
The sound of bells from St John the Baptist, Loughton.


SUN 05:45 Historians in the Tent of the General (b00fjdh0)
Episode 2

Andrew Roberts considers the historical tendency for politicians to consult historians and to whose benefit such relationships work.

Andrew talks to Dr Henry Kissinger about his relationship with various US presidents and finds out how American politicians use history.


SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b00fk9rj)
The latest national and international news.


SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b00fk9rl)
Money Worries

Mark Tully explores the complexities of our relationship with money. He asks why we spend so much time worrying about money and why can it have such a corrosive effect on our relationships. As the financial mood changes, what does money mean for us beyond the practicalities of day-to-day living?


SUN 06:35 Living World (b00fk9rn)
The Late Arrivals

Lionel Kelleway travels to Lulworth Cove in Dorset where, standing on the cliffs, he witnesses the small bands of Red Admiral butterflies that migrate from mainland Europe.


SUN 06:57 Weather (b00fk9rq)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b00fk9rs)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (b00fk9rv)
Edward Stourton with the religious and ethical news of the week. Moral arguments and perspectives on stories, both familiar and unfamiliar.


SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b00fk9rx)
Hearing Dogs for Deaf People

Martin Clunes appeals on behalf of Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. Donations: Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. Credit cards: Freephone 0800 404 8144.


SUN 07:58 Weather (b00fkbr3)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b00fkbr5)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b00fkbr7)
A service from St John's College Chapel, Durham, on the Feast of Christ the King, reflecting on the themes of authority and trust. Led by Rev Kate Bruce and Rev Dr Roger Walton. Director of music: George Richford.


SUN 08:50 A Point of View (b00fj4g5)
Bad Language

The odd expletive escapes most people's mouths in times of stress, but when we fall back on swear words just for effect have we really just run out of ideas? Clive James turns his attention to swearing and argues that bad language used constantly is no language at all.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b00fkbr9)
News and conversation about the big stories of the week with Paddy O'Connell.


SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b00fkbrc)
The week's events in Ambridge.


SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b00fkbrf)
Janet Street-Porter

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Janet Street-Porter. Born, she says, with 'frilly teeth, big glasses and beige hair' she also came with a healthy measure of ambition, brains and creativity and she used those talents to pioneer a new style of television.

In this personal interview, she describes how, as she gets older, she can't bear to look in a mirror and see traces of her mother; how her shyness can make it difficult for her to walk into a room full of strangers and that what she likes best is to be walking in the hills, in the rain and sleet, mulling over ideas for her next project. She may be a pensioner with a good body of work behind her, but, she says, her mind is on the career that lies ahead.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Always on My Mind by Pet Shop Boys
Book: Larousse Gastronomique by Hamlyn
Luxury: Notebook and Pens.


SUN 12:00 Another Case of Milton Jones (b00fgq3d)
Series 3

Photographer

With no ability whatsoever, can the surreal comedian take the perfect calendar photo? With Tom Goodman-Hill. From November 2008.
Producer David Tyler.


SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b00fnbk8)
Pies and PDOs

Sheila Dillon investigates the award of Protected Designation of Origin status, or PDOs, to the likes of the Leicestershire town of Melton Mowbray, which limits where pies can be made, and asks if anything can legislate for quality.


SUN 12:57 Weather (b00fkbrk)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b00fkbrm)
A look at events around the world with Shaun Ley.


SUN 13:30 QE2: Portrait of an Ocean Liner (b00fkbrp)
After 40 years as arguably the most elegant ship at sea, QE2 docked at her final resting place in Dubai to be converted into a floating hotel. The story of the ship's eventful life, from construction on the Clyde in the 1960s, through refitting as a cruise ship that epitomised a golden age of luxury travel, to service in the Falklands, is told through the words of serving and former staff and recordings made on board the vessel during one of her final cruises.

A Falling Tree production.


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b00fkgnd)
Peter Gibbs chairs the popular horticultural forum.

Anne Swithinbank, Chris Beardshaw and Tracy Wilson answer questions posed by an audience of gardeners in west Cornwall.

Tim Rumball, editor of Amateur Gardening magazine, and Juliet Roberts, editor of Gardens Illustrated, select the best 'coffee table' gardening books for Christmas.

Including the Gardeners' Question Time gardening weather forecast.


SUN 14:45 Wars of The Roses (b00fkgng)
Episode 2

Wesley Kerr follows the Somerset town of Taunton in its bid to win the RHS Britain in Bloom competition.

Wesley asks the judges what they are looking for from the finalists and hears some of the tricks that competitors play to win. In Taunton, there are problems with the floral displays.


SUN 15:00 Classic Serial (b00fkgnj)
Jaroslav Hasek - The Good Soldier Svejk

Episode 2

Dramatisation by Christopher Reason of the satirical Czech novel by Jaroslav Hasek that charts the exploits of a WWI soldier.

Svejk and Lukas are sent to the front in disgrace, but Svejk gets waylaid by a gallery of grotesques.

Svejk ...... Sam Kelly
Lukas ...... Adrian Lukis
Dub ...... Nicholas Blane
Choudounski ...... Malcolm Raeburn
Marek ...... Howard Chadwick
Police Sergeant ...... James Quinn
Von Schwarzberg ...... Stuart Richman
Baloun ...... Eric Potts
Lance Corporal ...... Mark Chatterton
The Maid ...... Szilvi Naray Davey
Vodicka ...... Bernard Wrigley

Other parts played by members of the cast.

Directed by Gary Brown.


SUN 16:00 Open Book (b00fkgnl)
Will Self on Burroughs, Bluebeard, and Science Fiction Reading Clinic

Self on Burroughs
Will Self joins Mariella to discuss the work of William Burroughs. As Burroughs's earliest work of fiction appears in print for the first time, they talk about the American writer's take on addiction, society and experimental writing.

Bluebeard
Matthew D'Ancona's novel Nothing To Fear, published this week, is a retelling of Charles Perrault's fairy tale Bluebeard, whose eponymous protagonist is one of the most sinister figures in literature. Other writers to have tackled the story include Angela Carter and Kurt Vonnegut. As Carter's translation of Perrault is republished, Open Book talks to Matthew D'Ancona and to the fairy tale expert Jack Zipes about the enduring appeal of the terrifying Bluebeard.

The Reading Clinic
Mariella is joined by the science fiction writer Adam Roberts to offer advice to a listener looking for books which can help suggest the future of our planet in a hundred years' time.


SUN 16:30 Adventures in Poetry (b00fkgnn)
Series 9

The Listeners

Peggy Reynolds explores the background, effect and lasting appeal of some well-loved poems.

Published in 1912, Walter de la Mare's poem has been popular with adults and children alike for its elusiveness. Peggy examines its enduring appeal and finds out why gardeners, spiritualists and teachers are still intrigued and inspired by it.

Featuring contributions from the novelist Russell Hoban, de la Mare's grandson, Giles, and Professor of Radio at Bournemouth University, Sean Street.


SUN 17:00 File on 4 (b00fgts3)
Amardeep Bassey investigates fears that some of the funds that Britain is spending on projects to prevent violent extremism taking root in Muslim communities may be falling into the hands of the very groups it is trying to defeat.


SUN 17:40 From Fact to Fiction (b00fjgd6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b00fkgr5)
The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 17:57 Weather (b00fkgr7)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00fkgr9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b00fkgrc)
John Waite introduces his selection of highlights from the past week on BBC radio.


SUN 19:00 The Archers (b00fkgxx)
It's Stir Up Sunday and Elizabeth has invited Hayley round with the children to experience the Brookfield tradition. The children enjoy it to the full, and Elizabeth is convinced it's all much more chaotic than it ever was when her mum was in charge. Then she remembers Kenton and David squabbling and flicking the fruit around. Their slapstick routine for the panto will come naturally.

The family have come round to help tidy up Peggy and Jack's garden for the winter - there are a lot of leaves down and they don't want anyone slipping. It's a breezy day, but they enjoy it. Peggy feels very grateful to everyone. Tom keeps going until dusk falls, and Peggy looks forward to a good night's sleep after all the fresh air.

It's not to be, though - a crash in the garden in the middle of the night wakes and frightens Jack. Peggy calls Tony. She asks him to come and see what's happened and help calm Jack down.

Episode written by Joanna Toye.


SUN 19:15 Go4it (b00fkgxz)
Children's magazine. Kirsten O'Brien and a group of primary school children from Gloucestershire explore children's games through the ages and try out Sardines, Simon Says, Stuck in the Mud and Chinese Whispers.


SUN 19:45 Defining Moments (b007rhkn)
Series 1

Hair

Series of stories about life-changing events from five emerging Irish writers.

Discovering hair loss can be a traumatic experience, especially for a woman hosting an important event in her husband's career. By Karen Gillece.

Read by Cathy Belton.


SUN 20:00 Feedback (b00fj42r)
Roger Bolton airs listeners' views on BBC radio programmes and policy.


SUN 20:30 Last Word (b00fj4f8)
John Wilson presents the obituary series, analysing and celebrating the life stories of people who have recently died. The programme reflects on people of distinction and interest from many walks of life, some famous and some less well known.


SUN 21:00 Money Box (b00fjclq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:00 on Saturday]


SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b00fk9rx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:55 today]


SUN 21:30 Analysis (b00fhtfx)
World Cities, Urban Nightmares?

Mukul Devichand asks if the megacities of the developing world are going to follow the model of London and New York, privileging a global elite and marginalising the poor.

He travels from London to Mumbai and Delhi to meet thinkers, planners, architects and city leaders and discovers that many of the world's biggest cities are making uncannily similar choices about housing and architecture as they compete to attract global companies.


SUN 21:58 Weather (b00fkgzn)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b00fkgzq)
Reports from behind the scenes at Westminster. Including Received Wisdom: MPs and peers share their stories and top tips for surviving life in Westminster.


SUN 23:00 The Learning Curve (b00fgq87)
Libby Purves hosts a discussion on education with freelance journalist Mike Baker, Alison Wolf, Professor of Public Sector Management at King's College, London, former headteacher Margaret Lund, Dr Dennis Hayes, Head of the Centre for Professional Education at Canterbury Christchurch University and Andrew Bethell, chief executive of Teachers TV.


SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b00fk9rl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today]



MONDAY 24 NOVEMBER 2008

MON 00:00 Midnight News (b00fkhtv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.


MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b00fh1ty)
Male Immaturity - Female Political Prisoners

MALE IMMATURITY
Laurie Taylor explores the contention that men might be failing to grow up with Gary Cross, Professor of History at Pennsylvania State University and the author of a comprehensively documented new book entitled Men to Boys: the Making of Modern Immaturity and Michael Bywater whose own distinctive contribution to this genre is called Big Babies or Why Can’t We Just Grow Up.

FEMALE POLITICAL PRISONERS
Out of Order: The political Imprisonment of Women in Northern Ireland 1972 – 1998 is a new book based on first-hand accounts and interviews with former prisoners, staff, and senior prison manager. Its author Dr Mary Corcoran, Lecturer in Criminology at Keele University, discuses the history of the punishment of female political prisoners from the period of internment, direct rule of Northern Ireland, the prevention of terrorism act and finally the Good Friday Agreement.


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b00fk9mg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00fkhw4)
The latest shipping forecast.


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00fkhxk)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00fkhz5)
The latest shipping forecast.


MON 05:30 News Briefing (b00fkj17)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00fkj46)
Daily prayer and reflection with Rev Stephen Shipley.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (b00fkl6x)
News and issues in rural Britain, presented by Anna Hill.


MON 05:57 Weather (b00fkl79)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.


MON 06:00 Today (b00fkld4)
Presented by John Humphrys and Sarah Montague.

Economics editor Hugh Pym and Robert Chote, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, discuss the pre-Budget report.

Danny Shaw visits Worcester Police Station.

Maureen Treadwell, of the BTA, and Prof Cathy Warwick, of the Royal College of Midwives, debate the pros and cons of a natural birth.

Taser stun guns are to become standard police equipment. MP Alan Campbell and Amnesty International's Oliver Sprague discuss.

Peter Hahn, former MD of Citigroup, says it was inconceivable that the world's biggest bank could fail.

Actress Fiona Shaw speaks to Rebecca Jones about her new role as opera director.

Thought for the day with Canon David Winter.

Frank Gardner analyses whether Britain's intelligence services knew about the US missile strike that is believed to have killed the British terrorism suspect Rashid Rauf in Pakistan. Rashid's lawyer shares his concerns over the US air strike.

Former treasury minister Geoffrey Robinson, business editor Robert Peston and political editor Nick Robinson discuss the pre-Budget report.

Rock journalist Paul Elliot and Phil Alexander, editor-in-chief of Mojo, discuss the new album from Guns 'N' Roses.

At least 18 people have been killed in bomb attacks in Baghdad. Andrew North reports.

Wajid Shamsul Hasan, High Commissioner for Pakistan in the UK, discusses the possible collaboration between the UK and US ahead of the missile strike.

Angus Crawford reports on Britain's failure to clear the Falkland Islands of landmines.

Dr Barrett discusses whether religion is learned with Prof Lewis Wolpert.

Will a cut in VAT encourage people to spend tax cuts rather than save them? Economists Tim Harford and Steven Bell discuss.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (b00fkw8j)
What is the secret of success? MALCOLM GLADWELL, best known for his book The Tipping Point, is back with his thoughts on life’s high achievers, investigating what makes them extraordinary and the role of the purely arbitrary. Outliers: The Story of Success is published by Allen Lane and Malcolm Gladwell will be speaking at the Lyceum Theatre on Monday 24 November at 8.30pm.

According to the neurologist SEMIR ZEKI, love is a concept invented by the brain that drives us to search for unity. The evidence for this doesn’t come from neuroscience, but from the culture of love. Our brains’ outpouring of emotions into music, art and literature, in societies around the world, shows us that love is an inherited concept, just like our ability to see in colour or to recognize faces. Splendours and Miseries of the Brain: Love, Creativity and the Quest for Human Happiness is published by Wiley-Blackwell. On 25 November Professor Zeki and A.S. Byatt will discuss the subject of ‘Neuroesthetics, love and literature’ as part of Bristol University's Autumn Art Lectures 2008 - ‘The Creative Brain: conversations between art and science’.

In August: Osage County, a Midwestern American family is forced to reunite when the father goes missing. In the ensuing drama, hidden tensions surface, family truths are revealed and roles are reversed. The director, ANNA D SHAPIRO, argues that this dissolution of the patriarchy is symbolic of the failure of the US government. August: Osage County is at the National Theatre from 21 November - 21 January.

When the French President Nicolas Sarkozy tucked into a hamburger with President Bush it shocked his native country. ANDREW HUSSEY argues that throughout history French food has been intimately linked with their politics. From Louis XIV to the Revolution to nouvelle cuisine, their cuisine has been used as propaganda to demonstrate France’s superiority, he argues. France on a Plate, a documentary exploring French politics through food, is on BBC4 on 29 November.


MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b00fklkm)
Arthur Miller

Episode 1

Henry Goodman reads from Christopher Bigsby's biography of the prominent American playwright.

Miller's privileged upbringing in Harlem and the sudden change in his parents' fortunes when the family business fell victim to the Wall Street Crash.


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00fklwt)
Women and 'big ideas'; Down's Syndrome

Why are there so few so-called big idea books written by women? Plus, are more women making the decision to have a Down's Syndrome baby and what are the wider implications?


MON 11:00 Lives in a Landscape (b00fkw8l)
Series 4

The Queens of Coal

Documentary series telling original stories about real lives in Britain today.

Alan Dein meets former Coal Queens at a reunion of these former beauty queens who were elected by miners to represent their mines.

In the days of coal, each pit used to elect a Coal Queen to represent the mine. The daughter or granddaughter of a miner would be put forward and if she claimed the crown, she went on to compete in county and even national championships. A recent reunion of Coal Queens brought together former beauty queens from all over the coal mining regions of England, along with their memories and memorabilia. Alan Dein meets them and explores the lives of two in particular to hear how that event, in their youth, changed the course of their lives.

Helen Coleman went on to open a beauty salon and married the drummer of Britain's leading Queen tribute band. Maureen Griffiths ran a working men's club and is still remembered by locals for that golden day in 1951. Both have watched the changing face of life after coal. The Miners' Strike of 1984 brought an end to the Coal Queen tradition and changed pit community life forever, but what has happened since and why has a tradition like the Coal Queen beauty pageant endured in the memories of older generations while the teenagers barely know what coal is?


MON 11:30 Spending My Inheritance (b00fkx90)
Voluntary Service

Sitcom by Clive Coleman, starring Kris Marshall as cash-strapped forty-something Harry, who has to watch from the sidelines as his newly retired parents start spending their hard-earned cash on themselves.

Harry ...... Kris Marshall
Jo ...... Raquel Cassidy
Brian ...... Kenneth Cranham
Liz ...... Judy Parfitt
Jess ...... Antonia Thomas
Mike ...... Robert Lonsdale
Jan ...... Jill Cardo

Directed by Sam Hoyle.


MON 12:00 You and Yours (b00fkpbr)
Presented by Julian Worricker.

Scientist and farmer Jimmy Doherty embarks on a mission for BBC Horizon to find out the truth behind genetically modified foods.

Police are investigating complaints against one Hajj tour operator which has gone out of business. They have recovered 300 passports but hundreds may miss out on performing Hajj this year.

The plight of intensively farmed chickens is widely known but could the next food topic to hit the popular headlines be pork?

The companies offering cash-strapped homeowners the option to sell and rent back their home urgently need regulating, according to consumer watchdog The Office of Fair Trading.

A report by the energy consultancy company Cap Gemini is warning that unless most of the new power plants currently in the pipeline are built according to plan, the UK could be at risk of power cuts between now and 2015.

The Bardsey Crown, made of brass and tin, is at the centre of a dispute over calls for it to be returned to Wales from a Liverpool museum where it has languished out of public sight.


MON 12:57 Weather (b00fkpcz)
The latest weather forecast.


MON 13:00 World at One (b00fkpfq)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.


MON 13:30 Brain of Britain (b00fkwv6)
Robert Robinson introduces the ninth heat of the perennial general knowledge quiz.


MON 14:00 The Archers (b00fkgxx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Brief Lives (b00fkwvl)
Series 2

Episode 4

Series of four plays by Tom Fry and Sharon Kelly, set in a Manchester legal practice.

Matters come to a head when Fat Doug comes to visit.

Frank ...... David Schofield
Debbie ...... Emma Atkins
Sarah ...... Tracy-Ann Oberman
Greg ...... Joseph Millson
Fat Doug ...... Tom Mannion
Elaine ...... Helen Lederer
Jemma ...... Manjeet Mann
Judge ...... Stephen Critchlow

Music by Carl Harms.


MON 15:00 Money Box Live (b00fkwwh)
Vincent Duggleby and guests answer calls on financial issues.


MON 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00fkpvb)
Points of Entry

From Revolution to Idyll - Mothertongue

Series of readings that reflect the experience of immigrants to the UK over the past 60 years.

The poet and translator George Szirtes reflects on leaving Hungary after the revolution of 1956 and the welcome he and his family received.


MON 15:45 A Load of Rubbish (b00fkqm2)
Episode 1

Out of sight, out of mind - that's been our attitude to the rubbish we produce. But increasingly our noses are being rubbed in our waste. Travel writer Ian Marchant investigates the flip side of consumerism, starting in the London Borough of Brent, which is threatening to fine residents who fail to recycle their rubbish £1000.


MON 16:00 The Food Programme (b00fkbrh)
Mutton

The series investigating the world of food and the stories behind what we eat. Sheila Dillon investigates whether or not mutton still has an image problem.


MON 16:30 Traveller's Tree (b00fkwwk)
Series 4

Paris

Katie Derham presents the holiday magazine with insider tips from listeners and travel experts. Katie examines way in which Paris continues to embrace cultural tourism.


MON 17:00 PM (b00fkqw6)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00fkqy2)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.


MON 18:30 Another Case of Milton Jones (b00fkwx4)
Series 3

Antiques Expert

Milton Jones bestrides the globe as an expert in his field, with no ability whatsoever.

Milton is an antiques expert whose passion for Faberge Eggs leads him to bankruptcy, a Russian sleigh ride and a mysterious Swiss schloss.

With Tom Goodman-Hill, Ingrid Oliver, Ben Willbond.


MON 19:00 The Archers (b00fkpg5)
Tom introduces the potential replacement pig person Hannah to the pigs and is impressed with her down-to-earth and practical nature. After taking her over to meet Jazzer, he introduces her to Brian and Adam. Hannah quizzes Brian about why they are getting rid of one of their lambing flocks, making a good impression.

Tony goes over to see the damage at The Lodge - a branch from the lovely old oak in the garden came down and wrecked the greenhouse in the night. Tony calls Mike to get him to come over and deal with the tree. They decide to replace the greenhouse with a summer house - Peggy hasn't really used the greenhouse for years.

Tony comforts Peggy when it all gets a bit much. Brian stays for a bit to look after Jack so that Peggy can have a rest. She's grateful.

Episode written by Joanna Toye.


MON 19:15 Front Row (b00fkqyd)
Presented by Mark Lawson.

Robert De Niro stars as a Hollywood film producer struggling to get his films made in the new comedy directed by Barry Levinson, What Just Happened, which is based on a book by the film's producer Art Linson. Linson and De Niro talk about the blurring of fact and fiction in the film, how directing has affected De Niro's approach to acting and how often studios demand changes to films.

Next year Andrew Motion's ten years as Poet Laureate come to an end and the consultation process for his successor is being launched by the government tomorrow. Motion looks back on his tenure and offers some advice on coping with the job and Culture Secretary Andy Burnham explains the decision-making process.

Broadcaster and writer John Inverdale discusses the shortlist and winner of this year's William Hill Sportsbook of the Year prize.

Mark meets some of the winners at the 54th Evening Standard Theatre Awards.


MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00fkm01)
Aubrey's Brief Lives

Replete with New Discoveries

By Nick Warburton. Collection of anecdotes by genial eccentric John Aubrey about the great and good of the 16th and 17th centuries, set against the story of his friendship with Oxford antiquarian Anthony Wood.

Curmudgeonly antiquarian Anthony Wood and brilliant eccentric John Aubrey embark together on a singular endeavour.

John Aubrey ...... James Fleet
Anthony Wood ...... John Rowe

Directed by Abigail le Fleming.


MON 20:00 Born with Down's (b00fkx0m)
Felicity Finch follows parents who decide to continue with their pregnancies knowing their babies will be born with Down's syndrome.

In Leeds, she meets three friends, Frances, Louise and Kerry-Ann, who help and support each other. Their experiences reflect the fact that the increasing birth rate, from 500 babies a year with Down's to more than 700 a year today, is spread across all age groups. Kerry-Ann was just 21 when she gave birth, Louise was 25 and Frances was 37.

There are many reasons why parents make the choices they do but, as Frances and her husband Paul tell Felicity, they feel that society is far more tolerant today and that their daughter will benefit from better integration into society.

For Louise, the decision to press ahead and have the baby was a difficult one. She was worried about the impact on her six-year-old son and, since the baby's birth on New Year's Day, her partner has left her.


MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b00fhp87)
Iceland

Paul Henley investigates the human impact of the economic crisis in Iceland. He hears from Icelanders who have lost their jobs and life savings and asks what is next for them.


MON 21:00 Frontiers (b00fkyfq)
Algae

Richard Hollingham investigates the scientific and environmental uses of algae.

Marine scientists are investigating ways of capitalising on its ability to absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide and exploring the potential for creating algae-derived fuels as an eventual alternative to fossil fuels. He hears from scientists who argue for the mass production of algae, believing that it could eventually replace petroleum-based fuels, polymers and plastics.


MON 21:30 Start the Week (b00fkw8j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 21:58 Weather (b00fkr8b)
The latest weather forecast.


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b00fkr8q)
National and international news and analysis with Ritula Shah. Including reports on the chancellor's pre-budget report, the spread of cholera in Zimbabwe and whether president-elect Obama's new economics team can boost the US economy.


MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00fks1q)
Black Orchids

Episode 1

Amanda Root reads from Gillian Slovo's love story, set in 1950s Ceylon and London.

Genteelly impoverished Evelyn embarks on a trip as chaperone to her sister and pompous fiance. But when a man dies, horrifically, before them, a charming Sinhalese stranger takes control.


MON 23:00 Great Unanswered Questions (b00fn9l8)
Series 1

Episode 4

Northern Ireland comedian Colin Murphy and his cohorts take on the most ridiculous of questions and try to provide either the correct or at least a funny answer.

Could there be a city under the sea? Could pigs fly? Featuring regulars, scientist Dr David Booth and Matthew Collins, up-and-coming comedian and computer geek. Special guest Tony Law.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2008.


MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00fkrfh)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with Sean Curran.



TUESDAY 25 NOVEMBER 2008

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b00fkhrs)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.


TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b00fklkm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00fkhtx)
The latest shipping forecast.


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00fkhw6)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00fkhxm)
The latest shipping forecast.


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b00fkhz7)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00fkj19)
Daily prayer and reflection with Rev Stephen Shipley.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b00fkj48)
News and issues in rural Britain, presented by Anna Hill.


TUE 06:00 Today (b00fklct)
Presented by John Humphrys and Sarah Montague.

Business editor Robert Peston discusses if the measures outlined in the pre-Budget report will save the UK from a deep recession.

National Director for Health and Work Dame Carol Black discusses the £100 billion lost due to work absences.

Danny Shaw reports on how the West Mercia police are taking less traditional roles on the streets of Redditch.

Artist David Cotterrell and author Richard Hollingham discuss the relationship between medicine and conflict.

Shadow Chancellor George Osborne says there is a clear choice between Labour and Conservative economic policy.

Tom Feilden reports on the Burgess Shale fossils, which are among the oldest and best-preserved fossils anywhere on Earth.

Thought for the day with the Rev Dr David Wilkinson, principal of St John's College Durham.

Prof Chris Mason, of the UK National Stem Cell Network, discusses if holding more clinical trials is the way to increase successful treatments.

Chancellor Alistair Darling discusses how he thinks increased borrowing is a gamble that is justified in the current economic climate.

Nick Robinson discusses the long term forecasts for the economy.

The WI has agreed that its members will keep an eye out for adverts selling sex in local newspapers. Isla Arundell explains.

Wyre Davies reports on the turbulent diplomatic relations between Israel and Syria.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband says there is no plan to increase the number of British troops in Afghanistan next year and urges other European countries to respond to US requests for reinforcements.

Martin Wolf, of the Financial Times, and Sir Martin Sorrell, founder of the world's biggest advertising group WPP, discuss the government's pre-Budget report.


TUE 09:00 The Long View (b00fkyms)
Roosevelt's First 100 Days in Office

Jonathan Freedland examines President Roosevelt's first 100 days in office and considers what Barack Obama might learn from them as he faces up to similar economic problems.

Image: 4th March 1933: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) takes the oath of office as 32nd president of the USA. Chief Justice Charles E Hughes administers the oath as ex-President Herbert Hoover (far right with velvet collar) looks on. His son, James Roosevelt (1907-1991) is between his father and the ex-President.


TUE 09:30 Bad Habits (b00fl05d)
Time-keeping

Comedian and writer Richard Herring explores some of the bad habits and personal failings which directly or indirectly affect all of us in our daily working lives.

Richard explores the problem of time-keeping. He visits a call centre that had problems with punctuality, meets a factory worker from Scotland who blew the whistle on draconian time-management practices and hears from Diana DeLonzor, author of How to Never Be Late Again, who explains why lateness is a pathology that deserves our sympathy.


TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b00fpypk)
Arthur Miller

Episode 2

Henry Goodman reads from Christopher Bigsby's biography of the prominent American playwright.

Miller's work as a shipfitter in the Brooklyn Naval Yard, his Marxist beliefs and his early writing career, from initial disappointments to his first major success with All My Sons in 1947.


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00fkp7b)
Praising children; Sculptor Helaine Blumenfeld

Are we doing our children a disservice by constantly praising them? Plus, sculptor Helaine Blumenfeld, and the life and legacy of folk rock singer-songwriter Sandy Denny.


TUE 11:00 World On The Move: Great Animal Migrations (b00fl05g)
Philippa Forrester and Brett Westwood present the series following the movement and migration of animals across the planet, from the European eel to the African white-eared kob antelope. A team of wildlife specialists are joined by zoologists and conservationists around the world to present regular reports.


TUE 11:30 Happy Feet (b00fl05j)
Deborah Bull meets Australian tap dancer Nada Karsakov and travels with her to Lancashire to find out whether some of her dance steps may have originated from the Lancashire Clog Dance. They meet dance historians and enthusiasts to explore the way in which dance steps have been borrowed, improved and taught around the western world for the past 300 years.


TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b00fkp98)
Call You and Yours

Presented by with Julian Worricker.

Examining end of life care.

The government has agreed to put £286 million pounds behind its strategy to improve the care of people near the end of their lives.

But it is still a topic that many of us want to avoid. Are we too embarrassed or frightened by death to talk about it - and does this affect the way we look after those who are dying?


TUE 12:57 Weather (b00fkpbt)
The latest weather forecast.


TUE 13:00 World at One (b00fkpd1)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.


TUE 13:30 Music Feature (b00fl05l)
Paying the Piper: The Coal-Man and the Hosier

John Florance investigates two unsung heroes of British cultural history: the hosiery manufacturer William Gardiner, who introduced the unknown Beethoven to England, and the coal merchant Thomas Britton, whose musical gatherings above his coal store in Clerkenwell attracted some of the greatest musicians of the late 17th and early 18th century and an audience that bridged the social divide.


TUE 14:00 The Archers (b00fkpg5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama (b00fl092)
Flaw in the Motor, Dust in the Blood

Exploration of life with bipolar disorder by Trevor Preston. When Thomas dreams, he's in the world of the crime thriller; his daily life is rather less glamorous.

Thomas ...... Rory Kinnear
Dr Klein ...... Susan Engel
Amy ...... Fenella Woolgar
Lizzie ...... Janice Acquah
Peter ...... Paul Rider
Dr Beard ...... Jonathan Tafler
Nita ...... Manjeet Mann
Ratched ...... Inam Mirza

Directed by Toby Swift.


TUE 15:00 Making History (b00fl09j)
John Ruskin’s Commune

Vanessa Collingridge investigates the story of a 19th-century attempt at a new European order in Sheffield and finds out whether the city's steel industry provided the answer to an age-old navigational problem for Britain's sailors.


TUE 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00fnrpw)
Points of Entry

Hackney Adolescence

Series of readings that reflect the experience of immigrants to the UK over the past 60 years.

The writer and academic Ziauddin Sardar reflects on the racism he encountered when he left Pakistan to join his father in London in 1960.


TUE 15:45 A Load of Rubbish (b00fkqpg)
Episode 2

Ian Marchant continues his investigation of our rubbish with a visit to Britain's first plastic bottle recycling factory capable of turning drinks bottles back into food grade plastic. Meet the machines that can tell the difference between a shampoo bottle and a milk bottle.


TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (b00fl0bm)
Michael Rosen takes another journey into the world of words, language and the way we speak. He is joined by Leonard, an African Grey parrot, to talk about animal communication.


TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b00fl0cn)
Graeme Le Saux and Rebecca Jones

Sue MacGregor and her guests - Premiership footballer-turned-pundit, Graeme Le Saux and BBC arts correspondent, Rebecca Jones - discuss favourite books by Oscar Wilde, Paulo Coelho and Graham Greene.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Publisher: Oneworld Classics

Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho
Publisher: Thorsons

The Quiet American by Graham Greene
Publisher: Vintage Classics

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2008.


TUE 17:00 PM (b00fkqtq)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00fkqw8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.


TUE 18:30 Listen Against (b00fl0gk)
Series 2

Episode 2

Time runs away in preparations for the switch-on of the BBC Collider - and the Greenwich time signal pips are still running rogue...

The show that prises the back off your radio, fiddles around with the programmes inside and then puts it all back together the wrong way round.

Written by and starring Jon Holmes,

With Alice Arnold.

Producer: Sam Bryant

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2008.


TUE 19:00 The Archers (b00fkpfs)
Jennifer's feeling a bit worn down by the whole situation with her mum - not to mention guilty about leaving everyone to it while she goes to see Debbie in Hungary. Pat talks her round. Lynda comes by, hoping that Alice might be up for the panto when she comes home for Christmas, but Jennifer dissuades her. Desperate Lynda wonders if the new pig girl, Hannah, might be interested. Triumphant Jennifer tells Pat that one of the agencies has found a carer for two or three days a week. She can go off to Hungary with a clear conscience.

Ruth shows Usha the new paddock grazing system at Brookfield. Usha tells her they're having trouble letting Blossom Hill Cottage. It would be better if it were unfurnished but it's full of Alan's furniture. Usha goes back home and grasps the nettle, persuading Alan that most of it will have to go.

Episode written by Joanna Toye.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (b00fkqy4)
Presented by John Wilson.

Historian Tom Holland reviews a new two-part series, After Rome: Holy War and Conquest, presented by Boris Johnson. Filmed before Johnson became Mayor of London, the programme investigates the early beginnings of what some people now call the clash of civilisations between Christianity and Islam.

John meets award-winning British R&B singer Estelle. Her single with Kanye West, American Boy, topped the UK charts earlier this year.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic artist Art Spiegelman is best known for Maus, his comic book treatment of the Second World War. Now he is publishing Breakdowns, a facsimile reprint of his rare collection of conceptual strips from the 1970s.

As they prepare to travel to a festival looking at the impact of the economic crisis on art, John meets Gavin Turk and Jane Simpson, who have transformed a horsebox into a gallery-cum-studio-cum- performance space, in which they will be displaying and selling art works from their House of Fairy Tales project.


TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00fkr1r)
Aubrey's Brief Lives

This Is the Man

By Nick Warburton. Collection of anecdotes by genial eccentric John Aubrey about the great and good of the 16th and 17th centuries, set against the story of his friendship with Oxford antiquarian Anthony Wood.

Aubrey's first batch of notes fails to meet Wood's rigorous standards, and there is a nasty surprise around the corner.

John Aubrey ...... James Fleet
Anthony Wood ...... John Rowe

Directed by Abigail le Fleming.


TUE 20:00 File on 4 (b00fl0jg)
Michael Robinson investigates whether the Prime Minister's instruction to banks to keep funds flowing will halt the rise in evictions and unemployment as repossession rates rocket due to the credit crunch.


TUE 20:40 In Touch (b00fl0jj)
Peter White with news and information for the blind and partially sighted.


TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (b00fl0jl)
Does Money Really Make You Happy? - Eating Disorders

DOES MONEY REALLY MAKE YOU HAPPY?
Despite the country growing richer since the 1950s, happiness levels in Britain have stayed about the same during that time, and richer countries aren’t any happier than poorer countries. This observation is known as the Easterlin Paradox, proposed by Richard Easterlin in the 1970s. The idea was that once a country is rich enough for people to have an average income of the equivalent of just £10,000 today, additional wealth doesn’t result in extra happiness. Now Professor Betsey Stevenson from the University of Pennsylvania has published new research that questions the whole premise of the Easterlin Paradox.

Claudia Hammond discusses whether or not money really makes you happy, with Professor Stevenson and Dr Sam Thompson from the think-tank the New Economics Foundation - who has 5-a-day recipe for happiness that doesn't involve much spending.

EATING DISORDERS
At the Seventh National Conference on Adolescent Eating Disorders, doctors will be discussing ways of ensuring that young people have a say in the treatment they’re given for eating disorders. Currently it’s the doctors who have all the power once a teenager is in hospital.

However, as two former sufferers tell Claudia, it’s sometimes difficult to persuade your GP that you need help for eating disorders in the first place.

Claudia also visits the Phoenix Centre near Cambridge, which was the first specialist residential clinic in the country for teenagers with eating disorders. The centre makes sure that the young people in their care do eat. But at the same time they are determined to encourage them to play a part in their own treatment.

We hear from consultant psychiatrist Tony Jaffa, family therapist Peter Honig and charge nurse Helen Sparrow - as well as some of the residents about their experiences there.


TUE 21:30 The Long View (b00fkyms)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


TUE 21:58 Weather (b00fkr66)
The latest weather forecast.


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b00fkr8d)
National and international news and analysis with Ritula Shah. Including reports on the 800 billion dollar loan programme from the US administration; whether economic woes are putting the Scots off independence; protestors shutting down Bangkok's international airport; and whether the French socialists are tearing themselves apart.


TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00fks98)
Black Orchids

Episode 2

Amanda Root reads from Gillian Slovo's love story, set in 1950s Ceylon and London.

Evelyn, still shaken by her encounter with the charming Emil, returns home to her family. As the conversation turns to the imminent independence of Ceylon, the bigotry of her mother's English lodgers finally shocks her into action.


TUE 23:00 Danny Robins Music Therapy (b00fl0p7)
Episode 2

Harnessing the power of music to solve problems and generally improve the world, Danny Robins writes a new town anthem for Middlesbrough - and lends a hand to a love-lorn pensioner - aided by a Status Quo tribute band and a trumpeter.

With Isy Suttie.

Written by Danny Robins with Isy Suttie and Danielle Ward.

Producer: Ben Walker

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2008.


TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00fkrf5)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with Susan Hulme.



WEDNESDAY 26 NOVEMBER 2008

WED 00:00 Midnight News (b00fkhrv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.


WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b00fpypk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00fkhtz)
The latest shipping forecast.


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00fkhw8)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00fkhxp)
The latest shipping forecast.


WED 05:30 News Briefing (b00fkhz9)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00fkj1c)
Daily prayer and reflection with Rev Stephen Shipley.


WED 05:45 Farming Today (b00fkj4b)
News and issues in rural Britain, presented by Anna Hill.


WED 06:00 Today (b00fklcw)
Presented by John Humphrys and Evan Davis.

Colin Matthews, chief executive of BAA, explains why a third runway is needed to make Heathrow run more smoothly.

Danny Shaw examines whether collaboration between police forces is practical.

Chair of the LGA Margaret Eaton discusses how councils can be supported to strengthen child protection work.

President of the National Farmers Union Peter Kendall discusses the future of the UK farming industry.

Zawadi Mongane, a resident of the DR of Congo, explains how traumatic she found reliving her memories of suffering.

Kevin Connolly reports from Texas, where gun sales have risen amid fears of an imminent clampdown.

Thought for the day with the Rev Giles Fraser.

Evan Davis investigates the criticism that banks are still not lending to businesses.

Prof Jane Maher, of MacMillan Cancer Support, and Prof Steve Field, of the Royal College of GPs, discuss how palliative care can be improved.

Bishop of Reading Stephen Cottrell and philosopher AC Grayling discuss celebrating a sustainable Christmas.

Former White House advisor Pippa Malmgren and business editor Robert Peston discuss the $800bn US financial rescue plan.

Chief Constable of West Mercia Paul West says police need to be given more freedom to use their judgement.

Correspondent Jonathan Head and Harry Bedford, a passenger who was stuck at Bangkok airport for 24 hours while anti-government protesters took over, discuss the situation there.

On the 300th anniversary of the completion of St Paul's Cathedral, correspondent Mike Thomson reports on the £40m raised to fund its restoration.

Does British political comedy fuel an anti-politics culture? Communities Secretary Hazel Blears and political author Michael Dobbs discuss.


WED 09:00 Midweek (b00fl0pr)
Lively and diverse conversation with Libby Purves and guests.


WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b00fpyp9)
Arthur Miller

Episode 3

Henry Goodman reads from Christopher Bigsby's biography of the prominent American playwright.

Increasing success and meeting Marilyn Monroe contribute to the deterioration of Miller's first marriage.


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00fkp7d)
Women in parliament; Mental health services for children; Bodyshaping underwear

What impact has gender equality had on issues debated by politicians? Plus, mental health services for children, Thomas Hardy landscapes, and do control pants really work?


WED 11:00 In Living Memory (b00fl0tc)
Series 9

Episode 1

Jolyon Jenkins investigates how, in the mid-1960s, Dutch Elm Disease started to sweep through England, leaving barely a single elm tree alive in the UK. Previously unpublished archives reveal that members of public were aware of the problem and were demanding action long before the government or Forestry Commission accepted that that they had a crisis on their hands.


WED 11:30 The Casebook of Inspector Steine (b00b57ck)
Endgame

Comedy drama series by Lynne Truss set in 1950s Brighton.

Constable Twitten's idea of acquiring a police dog seems an excellent idea, especially when Bobby solves a notorious murder case. But why does Bobby keep attacking poor old Mrs Groynes, and why is Steine's life suddenly in great danger?

Inspector Steine ...... Michael Fenton Stevens
Sergeant Brunswick ...... John Ramm
Mrs Groynes ...... Sam Spiro
Constable Twitten ...... Matt Green
Mystery guest ...... Ewan Bailey
Bobby ...... David Holt.


WED 12:00 You and Yours (b00fkp9b)
Presented by Julian Worricker.

Hundreds of people have been left without concert tickets that they bought online as Ebay removes a major ticket seller from its website.

What can be learnt from the Japanese experience of recession? Twenty years ago they went through a very similar credit-fuelled property boom and bust.

As the government hopes that the public will spend the way out of a recession, comedian Steve Punt considers the wisdom of an internet campaign to get shoppers to buy nothing for 24 hours.

Scotland aims to create Europe's first official 'dark sky park', introducing visitors to the wonders of astronomy. We speak to Steve Owens, Coordinator of the UK's Dark Sky Parks Project and UK Coordinator of International Year of Astronomy 2009.

The government-commissioned independent Cave Review recommends more businesses in England and Wales should be allowed to choose who supplies their water.

Hammersmith and Fulham plans to join the majority of other councils in England and Wales and introduce charges for home care. But a group of disabled people is challenging this at the High Court.

Woolworths and MFI are in crisis as the recession continues to affect the future of retailers.


WED 12:57 Weather (b00fkpbw)
The latest weather forecast.


WED 13:00 World at One (b00fkpd3)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.


WED 13:30 The Media Show (b00fl5n2)
Steve Hewlett presents a topical programme about the fast-changing media world.


WED 14:00 The Archers (b00fkpfs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 Pilgrim by Sebastian Baczkiewicz (b00fl5n4)
Series 1

He Who Would Valiant Be

By Sebastian Baczkiewicz.

Paul Hilton stars as the reluctant and unthanked hero protecting mankind from an enemy they resist believing in.

Pilgrim is summoned to help retrieve an egg stolen from the Lady Ursula - a huge, powerful dragon. The egg has been stolen by the outlaw Faerie, Puck, who has holed up in a house in a small town on the outskirts of Birmingham. Puck has recruited a bunch of feral 'estate lads' to his army. Indeed, he has bewitched the whole town. Pilgrim must retrieve the egg before Ursula can exact a terrible retribution.

Directed by Marc Beeby.


WED 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b00fkgnd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Sunday]


WED 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00fnrpp)
Points of Entry

On Not Being Able to Cross the Road

Series of readings that reflect the experience of immigrants to the UK over the past 60 years.

Novelist Gillian Slovo reflects on leaving her native South Africa for England as she entered adolescence and the difficulties she had in adjusting to her new life.


WED 15:45 A Load of Rubbish (b00fq4ft)
Episode 3

Ian Marchant visits Ludlow, gourmet capital of England, to find out what happens to the food that gets thrown away. It gets swallowed up by the country's first anaerobic digestion plant - once the knives and forks have been removed.


WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b00fl5w3)
Organisation/Disorganisation

ORGANISATION/DISORGANISATION
According to Michael Thompson, former mountaineer, professional soldier, sociologist and advisor to governments around the world, there are five ways to organise everything, and the best organisations use all five methods.

Laurie Taylor is joined by Michael Thompson author of Organising and Disorganising, and philosopher John Gray to discuss the hierarchical, the individualistic, the egalitarian, the fatalistic and the autonomous – ways in which things can be organised, and forces that disorganise the other ways.

What is the best way for things to run? Is John Gray’s contention just a theory too far and can there really be a way to describe everything from a tea party to the United Nations?


WED 16:30 All in the Mind (b00fl0jl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 17:00 PM (b00fkqts)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00fkqwc)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.


WED 18:30 Clare in the Community (b008w1p4)
Series 4

Carry On Up The Amazon

Clare finds it difficult to resist interfering when she discovers Helen's son in a squat around the corner rather than in Borneo...

Comedy by Harry Venning and David Ramsden. Clare Barker is a social worker with all the politically correct jargon but none of the practical solutions.

Clare ...... Sally Phillips
Brian ...... Alex Lowe
Ray ...... Richard Lumsden
Helen ...... Gemma Craven
Irene ...... Ellen Thomas
Megan ...... Nina Conti
Simon ...... Andrew Wincott

With Paul Chequer and Alex Tregear

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2008.


WED 19:00 The Archers (b00fkpfv)
It's the day of the Christmas Decoration Swap in Ambridge, and Susan struggles in with the huge inflatable snowman which has graced her mum and dad's front lawn for the past few years. She's depressed to see that Sabrina isn't there with the coveted baubles from her tree last year. Then, right at the end when David takes over her table for a moment, in comes Sabrina with her old decorations and her children pleading for the snowman. Susan is in seventh heaven.

Meanwhile, Alistair is out doing a bit of Christmas shopping and comes across Ryan in a jewellers. He's buying an expensive necklace, and he tells Alistair he's had a win. Alistair tries to tell him that his wife would probably have much preferred him to pay off some of his debt. He congratulates Ryan for not putting all the money straight into another bet, but Ryan is angry and leaves.

Alistair tells Shula about it when he gets home. For all he knows, the necklace is in the pawnshop by now. Shula is concerned, telling Alistair not to get too involved.

Episode written by Joanna Toye.


WED 19:15 Front Row (b00fkqy6)
Presented by Mark Lawson.

Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie talks to Mark about her new film Changeling, in which she plays a lone mother fighting police corruption after her son goes missing and the wrong child is returned to her.

Mark Frith reviews a new documentary, The Jacksons are Coming, which gains access to one of the most famous families in show business. Filmmaker Jane Preston follows Tito, one-time guitarist of the Jackson 5, and assorted members of the family as they leave LA, to search for a home in a Devon fishing village.

Pulitzer prize winner Tracy Letts talks about how Oklahoma's history influenced the writing of his epic play about family relationships, August: Osage Country, which opens at London's National Theatre following a successful production on Broadway by the Steppenwolf Theatre company.

Victor Pasmore was an influential abstract artist, working in St Ives with Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth and later creating the controversial pavilion at Peterlee new town. One hundred years after his birth, Tate Britain has a room devoted to his work. Critic Bill Feaver discusses Pasmore's painting style.


WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00fkr46)
Aubrey's Brief Lives

Such Idle Fellows As I Am

By Nick Warburton. Collection of anecdotes by genial eccentric John Aubrey about the great and good of the 16th and 17th centuries, set against the story of his friendship with Oxford antiquarian Anthony Wood.

With his publication deadline fast approaching, Wood struggles to find Aubrey.

John Aubrey ...... James Fleet
Anthony Wood ...... John Rowe

Directed by Abigail le Fleming.


WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b00fl5w5)
Michael Buerk chairs a debate on the moral questions behind the week's news. Clifford Longley, Kenan Malik, Michael Portillo and Melanie Phillips cross-examine witnesses.


WED 20:45 Received Wisdom (b00fhmcl)
Episode 1

MPs and peers from across the political spectrum share their stories and top tips for surviving life in Westminster with Guardian political sketchwriter Simon Hoggart.


WED 21:00 World On The Move: Great Animal Migrations (b00fl05g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Tuesday]


WED 21:30 Midweek (b00fl0pr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


WED 21:58 Weather (b00fkr68)
The latest weather forecast.


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b00fkr8g)
National and international news and analysis with Robin Lustig.


WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00fks9b)
Black Orchids

Episode 3

Amanda Root reads from Gillian Slovo's love story, set in 1950s Ceylon and London.

As her family's return to England looms, Evelyn receives an unexpected proposal from the eminently suitable Tommy.


WED 23:00 15 Minute Musical (b00fl60b)
Series 5

Cleggarella

Series of brief musical comedies by Dave Cohen, David Quantick and Richie Webb.

Feeling unloved and unnoticed, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is granted three wishes.

With Richie Webb, Dave Lamb and Jess Robinson.


WED 23:15 Self-Storage (b0080x3g)
Series 1

Family

Dave's family try therapy to halt his descent, but he can't see the point - what's wrong with living in a storage unit?

Stars Reece Shearsmith and Mark Heap.

Sitcom written by Tom Collinson and Barnaby Power.

Dave ...... Reece Shearsmith.
Geoff ...... Mark Heap.
Ron ...... Tom Goodman-Hill
American ...... Phil Nicol
Judy ...... Rosie Cavaliero.
Sarah ...... Susan Earl.
Dad ...... Philip Jackson

Producer: Ed Morrish

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2007.


WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00fkrf7)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with David Wilby.



THURSDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2008

THU 00:00 Midnight News (b00fkhrx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.


THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b00fpyp9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00fkhv1)
The latest shipping forecast.


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00fkhwb)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00fkhxr)
The latest shipping forecast.


THU 05:30 News Briefing (b00fkhzc)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00fkj1f)
Daily prayer and reflection with Rev Stephen Shipley.


THU 05:45 Farming Today (b00fkj4d)
News and issues in rural Britain, presented by Charlotte Smith.


THU 06:00 Today (b00fklcy)
Presented by James Naughtie and Evan Davis.

Rahul Roy-Chaudhury and MEP Sajjad Karim discuss the terrorism attacks in Mumbai.

Mark Hutchings and David Miles, chief UK economist at Morgan Stanley, discuss how the housing market can recover.

Administrator for MFI Phil Duffy says the stores are remaining open and will be trading.

Security correspondents Jonathan Beale and Frank Gardner discuss the response of world leaders to the terrorism in Mumbai.

Thought for the day with Dr Elaine Storkey, president of Tearfund.

Chief executive of the RSC Dr Richard Pike and the director of the National Science Learning Centre, Professor John Holman, discuss the standard of science examinations.

British High Commissioner to India Sir Richard Stagg describes the extent of the devastation in Mumbai.

Britain is running out of mycologists (people who study fungi in all its diverse forms). Environment correspondent Sarah Mukherjee reports.

City economist David B Smith discusses the drying up of the mortgage market with George Magnus, a senior economic advisor at UBS Investment Bank.

Rahul Tandon gives a graphic account of the human loss in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Lord Robertson discusses whether the diplomatic strategy in Afghanistan needs to be changed.

Britain should not engage with 24-hour news in the way the United States has, a new book suggests. Author Charles Feldman discusses whether rolling news leaves no time to think with the controller of the BBC News channel, Kevin Bakhurst.

Chris Morris gives the latest developments on the hostage crisis in the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai.


THU 09:00 In Our Time (b00flwh9)
The Great Reform Act

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Great Reform Act of 1832. The Act redrew the map of British politics in the wake of the Industrial Revolution and is a landmark in British political history.“We must get the suffrage, we must get votes, that we may send the men to Parliament who will do our work for us; …and we must have the country divided so that the little kings of the counties can't do as they like, but must be shaken up in one bag with us.” So declares a working class reformist in George Eliot’s novel Felix Holt: the Radical. It is set in 1832, the year of the so-called “Great Reform Act” which extended the vote and gave industrial cities such as Manchester and Birmingham political representation for the first time. But to what extent was Britain’s political system transformed by the Great Reform Act? What were the causes of reform in the first place and was the Act designed to encourage democracy in Britain or to head it off?


THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b00fpypc)
Arthur Miller

Episode 4

Henry Goodman reads from Christopher Bigsby's biography of the prominent American playwright.

Miller begins work on The Crucible and is summoned to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee.


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00fkp7g)
Vulnerable women in the criminal justice system; Kathryn Stott

What is being done to divert women offenders from custodial sentences? Plus reducing the rate of teenage pregnancy, and pianist Kathryn Stott on her CD of dances.


THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b00fm02z)
Sri Lanka

Roland Buerk investigates the lengths to which the Sri Lankan army and its proxies have gone to ensure victory in their war against the Tamil Tigers. With victory now in sight, Roland uncovers a trail of civilian massacres and abductions.


THU 11:30 A Fine Defence of Enid Blyton (b00fm031)
Recently Anne Fine decided to re-read some of Enid Blyton's work, to try and discover just what it was about her that she had loved as a child. For years she had ignored Blyton's work, in part because of the constant drip, drip, drip of disapproval that has accompanied her books for many decades. But, on going back to her battered old Blytons, she realised exactly why she had found her books so captivating - they are remarkably good reads - real page turners.

Anne Fine does not deny that Blyton is the creator of creaking plots and cardboard characters ........ the author of jolly and exciting adventures, in which the most enormous amounts of food are consumed by children who are far from obese ..... and a writer dogged by accusations of racism and sexism. And yet her books have outsold all other children's authors. In August this year, she was voted the UK's best-loved writer. Her work has been translated into 40 different languages and she's sold over 500 million books worldwide.

A Fine Defence of Enid Blyton includes extracts from a rare interview with her only surviving daughter, Imogen Smallwood, and contributions her official biographer, Barbara Stoney, as well as the UK's leading Blyton scholar, Dr David Rudd [Professor of Children's literature at Bolton University]. There are also archive recordings of Enid herself, her elder daughter [Gillian Baverstock] and her brother Hanley. The reader is Miriam Margolyes.

Anne Fine has written over 40 books for children and adults. She has been Children's Laureate and has won many prizes for her writing [including the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Smarties Prize and the Carnegie Medal].

Producer: Helen Lee


THU 12:00 You and Yours (b00fkp9d)
Presented by Winifred Robinson.

The administrators are in at MFI. Will everyone get a full refund or the goods they've paid for? John Field, of government funded advice service Consumer Direct, discusses.

US economist Robert Shiller outlines his ideas for solving the global financial crisis that was triggered by the explosion in subprime housing loans.

The organisers of the 2012 Olympics face the toughest economic circumstances in which to stage the games apart from wartime. That was the view of one member of the international Olympic committee which has been in London this week. Melanie Abbott has been catching up with what they have been up to.

Britain is a nation of gardeners but nothing, it seems, is immune from the economic downturn. Horticulture Week, the magazine for the gardening industry, is full of stories about a fall-off in trade and how to get customers back.

The idea of a wild garden might strike some people as a lazy option but many gardens are now too tidy for local wildlife to inhabit. So what can you do to make your garden wild again?

A report out today by the Commission for Integrated Transport says the future of rural public transport lies in schemes that allow people to travel when they want and where they want, and that that can often be better provided by subsidised taxis than buses. Mark Holdstock looks at how some of these personalised schemes work.

Credit card lenders have been called in for a meeting with ministers and sent away to look at the interest rates they are charging customers, particularly those under pressure. Pula Houghton attended the meeting.


THU 12:57 Weather (b00fkpby)
The latest weather forecast.


THU 13:00 World at One (b00fkpd5)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.


THU 13:30 Open Country (b00fjc6h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:07 on Saturday]


THU 14:00 The Archers (b00fkpfv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 Drama (b00fm033)
Development

Doug Lucie's dark comedy about the credit crunch, set in Britain in 2008. Mike is a property developer who appears to have it all, but the foundations are shaky.

When the debts are called in, his au pair's brother offers a solution, but is it what it seems?

Cast:
Mike ..... Mark Bazeley
Zoe ..... Samantha Spiro
Marie ..... Amy Shindler
Joe ..... Ashley Cook
Tatyana ..... Larissa Kouznetsova
Leo ..... Basher Savage

Location Recordist: David Chilton
Sound Designer: Lucinda Mason Brown

Producer: Janet Whitaker
A Goldhawk Essential Production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 15:00 Journey of a Lifetime (b007703f)
2006: Living with Rubbish

Philosophy graduate Jessica Boyd and environmentalist Bill Finnegan were the 2006 winners of the BBC/Royal Geographical Society's annual competition for travellers who want to fulfil their dream journey.

This programme follows them as they visit the outskirts of Cairo, home to a community of 23,000 people whose livelihoods depend on the city's waste. The Zabbaleen came as pig-farmers from Upper Egypt 60 years ago to form a thriving and complex economy based on what others throw away.


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b00fk9rx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:55 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00fnrpr)
Points of Entry

A Rigor Mortis of the Tongue and Other Earthly Things

Series of readings that reflect the experience of immigrants to the UK over the past 60 years.

Story about a young Zimbabwean, newly arrived in London, as he struggles to make connections in his new homeland.


THU 15:45 A Load of Rubbish (b00fq4fw)
Episode 4

It's not the romance of rail, but every night ghostly rubbish trains travel from Bristol and London to a landfill site deep in the Buckinghamshire countryside. Just a few hours closure would cause a crisis in our cities. Ian Marchant meets the people saving us from drowning in our own waste.


THU 16:00 Open Book (b00fkgnl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]


THU 16:30 Material World (b00fm3lb)
Titan

Quentin Cooper joins scientists from the Open University as they drop space instruments onto Chesil Beach in Dorset in search of clues about one of Saturn's moons, Titan.

They have been working on a tiny amount of data obtained by the US/European Cassini mission's Huygens probe, which landed on Titan in January 2005. To get the most out of this data, they have since performed controlled drops of similar instruments on a wide variety of different surfaces on Earth, the latest of which is this experiment on Chesil Beach.


THU 17:00 PM (b00fkqtv)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00fkqwf)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.


THU 18:30 Act Your Age (b00fn0vg)
Series 1

Episode 1

Simon Mayo discovers which generation is the funniest. With Jon Richardson, Lucy Porter and Roy Walker. From November 2008.


THU 19:00 The Archers (b00fkpfx)
Alan and Usha have come to an agreement about the furniture - they load it into a van and take it to an auction house. Alan is happy for it to be used by someone else. However, when they get to the auctioneers, the furniture is rejected. Alan is astonished - as far as he's concerned, it's all good stuff - but they are forced to take it to a charity.

Hayley and Roy sample Tom's bacon, and it's a success even though Roy smothers his in ketchup. The builders are still crashing around outside. They go and see Peggy, and are amazed at the amount of wood in the garden from one branch. Hayley volunteers Roy to build a bench from it with Mike. Roy is not keen, but Peggy is. Lilian tells Jennifer to go and enjoy meeting Marshall. Jennifer says she owes Lilian one.

Peggy expresses her worry to Alan about the strain on her family. He encourages her, telling her how well she's doing. Just for a while, she'll have to lean on other people. It's payback time.

Episode written by Joanna Toye.


THU 19:15 Front Row (b00fkqy8)
Presented by Mark Lawson.

Actor David Morrissey discusses his TV, film and theatre career and his current role in a new play by Neil Labute, In a Dark Dark House, about a pair of brothers with dark secrets.

As Mamma Mia! becomes the fastest selling DVD of all time in the UK (according to Official UK Charts Company figures) creators Phyllida Lloyd and Catherine Johnson discuss the making of the film version and what reward the film company has given them.

After fifteen years of rumours, Guns N' Roses finally release their fourth full-length studio album of original material, Chinese Democracy, despite the fact that lead singer Axl Rose is the only remaining member of the original band. In the same week, stadium fillers The Killers also release their new album, Day And Age, a mere two years after their last hit the shelves. To review both albums Mark is joined by music critic Laura Lee Davies.

The strapline for the film comedy Four Christmases says: His father, her mother, his mother and her father all in one day, and stars Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn as a couple whose parents are all divorced. Nev Pierce from Empire magazine looks at other examples of films which depict key changes in the family from Guess Who's Coming to Dinner to Brokeback Mountain.


THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00fkr48)
Aubrey's Brief Lives

Hardened by Degrees

By Nick Warburton. Collection of anecdotes by genial eccentric John Aubrey about the great and good of the 16th and 17th centuries, set against the story of his friendship with Oxford antiquarian Anthony Wood.

The book is published, but disaster strikes.

John Aubrey ...... James Fleet
Anthony Wood ...... John Rowe

Directed by Abigail le Fleming.


THU 20:00 It's My Story (b00fm5s2)
Earfull - From Silence into Sound

Tim has made his living as an actor for more than 40 years. All this time he has been deaf. This programme follows him over more than a year as he has tests, consultations and finally a cochlea implant operation, and can hear again.

Tim tells his story of emerging from silence into sound, and interwoven with this is a performance of Earfull, his one-man play which chronicles his move from soldier to actor, and, as he loses his hearing, from sound to silence.

Tim, who is in his 70s, grew up in Blackpool, joined the army and just before he was posted overseas his girlfriend called to say she loved him. He could not make out what she said because his new rifle had damaged his hearing.

Later he did marry, had two children and with only six years to go to qualify for a pension, came back to London on leave. He went to a matinee of The Mousetrap. There cannot be many whose lives were changed by this pot-boiler, but Barlow's was. He realised that what he really wanted to be was not an army officer but an actor.

Despite his deafness (Olivier wrote that he too had hearing problems and Barlow should go for it anyway) he trained at the Old Vic in Bristol. It cost him - his wife left, taking the children, and he didn't get the army pension. But for 40 years now he has been an actor: working with Complicité, the RSC, Manchester Royal Exchange; he has made a living, so has been fairly successful.

But Tim's life is changing again. Over the past year or so he has been advised, assessed, tested and finally has had a cochlea implant, the insertion of an electro-magnet that directly stimulates his nerves to produce sound images.

Throughout the process, from the initial tests at St Thomas's Hospital to the final tuning up, recordings were made. As the drill goes through his skull to place the device the microphone is only inches away. And the moment when it was switched on is captured too, and for the first time after four decades Tim hears someone speaking to him.

At every stage Tim reflects on what is happening to him. He has been deaf for so long the prospect of hearing is daunting. Will it work? How will it affect his acting, and his life? Woven into this narrative is that of his play Earfull, a recorded live performance. The story is of falling into silence, but at the same time into acting, and the emergence from silence back into sound.

But the programme does not simply tell Tim Barlow's story. At first a cochlea implant gives the aural equivalent of a pixilated visual image. Voices sound, Tim says, like Darth Vader's, and this is worked on to make it clearer and more subtle. Radio recreates this process so, rather than having it described, the listener experiences what Tim hears.


THU 20:30 Analysis (b00fm5s4)
Paying The Piper

Frances Cairncross examines what lessons must be learned from the events of the credit crunch and the effects it has had on the capitalist system.


THU 21:00 Leading Edge (b00fm5s6)
The Secret of Ageing

The Secret of Ageing
David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School has made an unlikely discovery, published this week's journal Cell. Genes which control ageing in yeast also control life span in mice. Mice were able to live 20% longer by manipulation of a protein. But what does this mean for humans? Geoff finds out.

Particle Accelerators prevent Wine Fraud
Imagine you’d paid £100,000 for a bottle of wine – only to discover that your prized ‘antique’ was a forgery. Now French scientists are using a particle accelerator to date wines. Rami Tzabar investigates.

House of Lords Science and Technology Committee
Where might you go to hear about some of the current and more controversial developments in genetics? In recent weeks Westminster, as the House of Lords Science and Technology committee investigate the future of genomics and medicine.

Minimising Pain
Oxford psychologist Professor Charles Spence has a unlikely new treatment for patients who suffer pain. While it may seem bizarre, viewing the affected area through a minimising lens lessens the pain.


THU 21:30 In Our Time (b00flwh9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


THU 21:58 Weather (b00fkr6b)
The latest weather forecast.


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b00fkr8j)
National and international news and analysis with Robin Lustig. Including the latest from Mumbai and the stories of some of those caught up in the attacks, reflections from the Indian novelist Arundhati Roy, whether the Danes are ready to change their minds about the euro and a jungle is revealed in Cornwall.


THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00fks9d)
Black Orchids

Episode 4

Amanda Root reads from Gillian Slovo's love story, set in 1950s Ceylon and London.

Evelyn cannot wait to start her new life as she and her young son, Milton, sail into London.


THU 23:00 Cowards (b00fm5s8)
Series 2

Episode 3

Step inside the strange and happy world of the Cowards.

Series 2 of sketch comedy with a comic slant on human frailties

Starring Tom Basden, Stefan Golaszewski, Tim Key and Lloyd Woolf.

Producer: Victoria Lloyd

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2008.


THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00fkrf9)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with Robert Orchard.



FRIDAY 28 NOVEMBER 2008

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b00fkhrz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.


FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b00fpypc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00fkhv3)
The latest shipping forecast.


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00fkhwd)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00fkhxt)
The latest shipping forecast.


FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b00fkhzf)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00fkj1h)
Daily prayer and reflection with Rev Stephen Shipley.


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b00fkj4g)
News and issues in rural Britain, presented by Charlotte Smith.


FRI 06:00 Today (b00fkld0)
Presented by James Naughtie and Edward Stourton.

Former head of India's Intelligence Bureau Arun Bhagat discusses relations between India and Pakistan with security correspondent Gordon Corera.

Technology reporter Rory Cellan-Jones and Nicholas Landsman, of the Internet Services Providers' Association, discuss whether 100 million Facebook accounts can be screened for illegal material.

Prof David Salisbury, head of immunisation at the NHS, discusses why figures for measles cases in England and Wales are so high.

MP David Davis says the arrest of MP Damian Green is designed to intimidate whistleblowers in Whitehall.

Robert Peston discusses the government's decision to take a 57.9 per cent stake in RBS.

Norman Smith explains why Lord Mandelson is one of the busiest members of the cabinet.

Thought for the Day with Vishvapani, of the Western Buddhist Order.

Chris Huhne MP discusses the relationship between Sir Ian Blair and Boris Johnson.

Mark Abell describes his rescue from the Oberoi Trident hotel in Mumbai.

Treeva Fenwick reports on the auction of an artefact that is said to have inspired Paul McCartney.

Immigration Minister Phil Woolas says that being tough on immigration is not immoral or unmerciful.

Prof Duncan McCargo discusses the diplomatic situation in Thailand.

Prof Malcolm Lyons and Robert Irwin discuss a new translation of The Arabian Nights.

Beth Trachtenberg and Norman Lebrecht discuss whether there are some subjects that should be out of bounds in theatres.

Former president of the Association of Chief Police Officers Sir Chris Fox discusses why immigration minister Damian Green was arrested.

Writer Edna Fernandes discusses if an angry, alienated Muslim minority could be responsible for the attacks in Mumbai.


FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b00fkbrf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Sunday]


FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b00fpypf)
Arthur Miller

Episode 5

Henry Goodman reads from Christopher Bigsby's biography of the prominent American playwright.

The newly-married Miller and Marilyn Monroe are tested by a miscarriage and Monroe's emotional vulnerability. Miller attempts to halt the disintegration of their marriage by writing a screenplay for Monroe, The Misfits, but the filming of the movie has unintended consequences.


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00fkp7j)
Working mothers; Helen Newlove; Mince

Does having a mother who works make daughters keen to follow her influence? Plus, Helen Newlove on the death of her husband Gary, and chef Andrew Nutter on ways to cook mince.


FRI 11:00 The Goulash Archipelago (b00fm6m6)
Episode 2

British jazz bass player Arnie Somogyi and his friend the Hungarian guitarist Zsolt Bende travel through the Carpathian mountains, only eating what they are given in exchange for playing their music.

The odd couple head for their final destination, the unpromisingly named village of Kommando.

Conclusion of a two-part adventure.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2008.


FRI 11:30 Fags, Mags and Bags (b00fm6m8)
Series 2

Rameshtonite

Trouble looms for Ramesh as his banter nemesis Tom Skilliter re-appears after 20 years.

Award-winning comedy set in a Scottish corner shop, written by and starring Sanjeev Kohli and Donald McLeary.

Ramesh ... Sanjeev Kohli
Dave ... Donald McLeary
Alok ... Susheel Kumar
Sanjay ... Omar Raza
Father Henderson ... Gerard Kelly
Ted ... Gavin Mitchell
Tom Skilliter ... Tom Urie
Joan Begg ... Marjory Hogarth

Director: Iain Davidson
Producer: Gus Beattie
A Comedy Unit production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:00 Food and Farming Awards (b00fvfsw)
Food and Farming Awards 2008

Sheila Dillon hosts the ninth Food and Farming Awards, held at the NEC, Birmingham. Angela Hartnett and Jamie Oliver are among the guests announcing the winners of categories such as Best Food Producer and Best Dinner Lady.


FRI 12:57 Weather (b00fkpc0)
The latest weather forecast.


FRI 13:00 World at One (b00fkpd7)
National and international news with Shaun Ley.


FRI 13:30 Feedback (b00fm9j3)
Roger Bolton airs listeners' views on BBC radio programmes and policy.


FRI 14:00 The Archers (b00fkpfx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 Drama (b00fm9j5)
Whitechapel Dreams

By Bernard Kops.

Widower Leo Silver is about to reluctantly retire as a librarian at Whitechapel Library when he encounters Aleya, a young Muslim girl seeking refuge in the library after a furious argument with her father. He is touched by her plight and, with the help of the literary 'ghosts' of the library, tries to help her through her dilemma.

Leo Silver ...... Edward Halsted
Aleya ...... Ruth D'Silva
Isaac ...... Gunnar Cauthery
Aleya's father ...... Paul Bhattacharjee
Bernard Kops ...... Himself.


FRI 15:00 Ramblings (b00fm9th)
Series 11

Cornish Coast

Clare Balding walks along the Cornish coast in the company of novelist Patrick Gale, who explains how the area has been the inspiration and setting for many of his books and why walking forms a vital part of his creative process.


FRI 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00fnrpt)
Points of Entry

Bread Heap and a Dreamer

Series of readings that reflect the experience of immigrants to the UK over the past 60 years.

By Hassan Bahri. Story about a prisoner who refuses to give in to his torturers and finds strength in the words scratched on the walls of his cell.


FRI 15:45 A Load of Rubbish (b00fq4j6)
Episode 5

Ian Marchant visits Newport, home of the country's biggest fridge graveyard, and sees them reduced to piles of shrapnel - along with televisions, cars and scrap metal.


FRI 16:00 Last Word (b00fm9tk)
Matthew Bannister presents the obituary series, analysing and celebrating the life stories of people who have recently died. The programme reflects on people of distinction and interest from many walks of life, some famous and some less well known.


FRI 16:30 The Film Programme (b00fm9tm)
Robert Carlyle, the star of Trainspotting and The Full Monty discusses his movie, Summer, with its director Kenny Glenaan.

The creator of the stage musical Mamma Mia! and producer of the film adaptation, Judy Craymer, discusses its record-breaking success at the British box-office

Deewaar, one of the films that made Amitabh Bachchan a legend is reviewed by our Bollywood expert, Anil Sinanan.

Michael Radford, the director of Il Postino, 1984 and new release Flawless recommends Pasolini's neo-realist epic, The Gospel According to St Matthew, as a DVD to rent or buy.


FRI 17:00 PM (b00fkqty)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00fkqwj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.


FRI 18:30 The Now Show (b00fm9tp)
Series 25

Episode 1

Comedy sketches and satirical comments from Steve Punt, Hugh Dennis and the team including Mitch Benn, Marcus Brigstocke, Laura Shavin and Jon Holmes.


FRI 19:00 The Archers (b00fkpfz)
It's time for the next TB test at Grange Farm, and the tension is high. Oliver steers clear of the testing, but a delighted Ed searches for him to tell him the news face to face - no reactors! Oliver can hardly believe it, and cracks open the sloe gin.

Shula tells Kenton about Ryan - she's very worried that he'll draw Alistair back into gambling again. Kenton is sympathetic, but isn't feeling too well.

Fallon agrees to talk through the music cues and record Oliver's 'Giant's' voice with Lynda. Lynda tells Fallon her pantomime woes. It's all very difficult. Kenton and David are devising names for their slapstick double act, settling on Tripe and Onions.

Alistair tries to negotiate some changes to the very complicated special effects that are required - but Lynda is only willing to concede the waterfall. A talking harp she must have. And a pretty spectacular beanstalk too. Oliver arrives to do his Giant's lines but he's very merry indeed. All in all, Lynda is reaching total despair, until Fallon gives in and agrees that she'll play Jack.

Episode written by Joanna Toye.


FRI 19:15 Front Row (b00fkqyb)
Presented by Kirsty Lang.

Writer and critic Adam Mars-Jones joins Kirsty to discuss Wig Out!, the new play by American dramatist Tarell Alvin McCraney

Biographer Andrew Lycett tells Kirsty about The Art Of Conversation, a newly-discovered play by Dylan Thomas.

Kirsty and design expert Caroline Roux visit the Japan Car: Designs For The Crowded Globe exhibition at London's Science Museum. They consider its aims with designer Kenya Hara and architect Shigeru Ban.

Every disc in the current classical Top Twenty album chart is by a singer, a singing group or a choir. Many of the discs feature the same songs. Music writer Helen Wallace considers the choice of repertoire, and discusses why the composers get little credit.


FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00fkr42)
Aubrey's Brief Lives

Sudden Ease

By Nick Warburton. Collection of anecdotes by genial eccentric John Aubrey about the great and good of the 16th and 17th centuries, set against the story of his friendship with Oxford antiquarian Anthony Wood.

A dying Wood receives an unexpected visitor.

John Aubrey ...... James Fleet
Anthony Wood ...... John Rowe

Directed by Abigail le Fleming.


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b00fm9wh)
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs the topical debate in Nottingham. The panel includes transport secretary Geoff Hoon MP, shadow Cabinet member David Willetts MP, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats Vince Cable MP and leader of the Green Party Caroline Lucas MEP.


FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b00fm9wk)
Glamourising Terror

Clive James discusses the glamorisation of terror in the movie industry. As a new film on the notorious Baader Meinhof gang is released, Clive argues that the movie version of history is often now in danger of replacing the real historical event.


FRI 21:00 Friday Drama (b00fmb1v)
The Last Time I Saw Richard

Drama documentary about the life and death of the Sri Lankan journalist and TV newsreader Richard de Zoysa, who was abducted and killed in February 1990.

Set in the preceding years, when the Sri Lankan government was undertaking a bloody crackdown of the ultra-Marxist JVP organisation with which de Zoysa was suspected to be allied. Inspired by interviews with those who knew and worked with him, with some fictional scenes.

Richard de Zoysa ...... Jehan Aloysius
Ravi ...... Wassam Ismael
Manorani ...... Tracy Holsinger
Rajiva Wijesinha ...... Sean Amarasekera
And Kandy ...... Nigel da Silva
Ranjan Wijeratne ...... Rohan Ponniah
Madura ...... Ruvin da Silva
Police Chief ...... Delon Weerasinghe
Ranjani ...... Subha Wijesikiwardena
Kusim ...... Mahomed Adamally
Young Richard ...... Hiran Abeysekera

Directed by Willi Richards.


FRI 21:58 Weather (b00fkr6d)
The latest weather forecast.


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b00fkr8l)
With Robin Lustig. Including the latest from Mumbai on the terror attacks, president Medvedev of Russia's visit to Cuba and whether it is our duty to shop our way out of recession.


FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00fks9g)
Black Orchids

Episode 5

Amanda Root reads from Gillian Slovo's love story, set in 1950s Ceylon and London.

Despite her life of luxury with Emil, Evelyn is bruised by the snobbery and prejudice of 1950s England.


FRI 23:00 A Good Read (b00fl0cn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]


FRI 23:30 Caught on Film (b00d44xj)
At Bologna's festival Il Cinema Ritrovato, Matthew Sweet discovers how our cinematic heritage is disintegrating. From August 2008.