The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
America's social state is withering at the expense of its expanding prison system and the UK is heading in the same direction, with potentially disastrous consequences. That's the argument of Laurie Taylor's guest, Loic Wacquant, Professor of Sociology at the University of California.
From 1980 to 1990, spending by the US government on operating its prisons and correctional establishments doubled while at the same time spending on public housing more than halved. According to Wacquant, this process is continuing; he says that 'the construction of prisons has effectively become the country's main housing programme'. Are America's penal policies too harsh, and if prisons and correctional facilities are becoming increasingly important, what are the social consequences?
He talks to Laurie about why he believes America is too ready to accept a state of poverty for huge sections of its population and at the same time see the social state obliterated. Is America punishing its poor and is the UK at risk of following the same path, overly dependent on prisons while eroding its social state?
Daily prayer and reflection with the Right Rev Chris Edmondson, Bishop of Bolton.
The President of the National Farmers Union launches a scathing attack on organic groups for using 'scare tactics' to promote their produce. He says their allegations are damaging the farming industry. Charlotte Smith hears the response from The Soil Association who point to European Union concerns about some pesticides, and their call on the NFU to do more to promote organic.
Hilary Clinton is in Northern Ireland talking to politicians in the final stages of the peace process. But back home in Washington it is Afghanistan that is occupying her boss, Barack Obama. Diplomatic correspondent James Robbins reports on the questions being put to the US Secretary of State.
MPs are returning to the Commons after the summer break to face demands that they repay thousands of pounds in expenses or do more to justify them. Robin Chrystal reports on MPs' anger that claims that had been approved are now being re-examined. Shadow leader of the commons Sir George Young discusses whether MPs will disobey orders to justify claims.
Greenpeace protestors campaigning about climate change are on the roof of the Palace of Westminster. Below them, parliament will receive a progress a report on how well Britain is doing in its efforts to reduce emissions. Chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change, David Kennedy, gives his verdict on the effectiveness of the UK's policy.
The man who runs the National Association of Head Teachers has said that mobile phones could be allowed into the classroom. Chris Keates, general secretary of the teachers' union the NASUWT, discusses whether children should be trusted with their mobiles.
The European Working Time Directive is now in force in the UK, preventing young doctors from working their traditionally long hours. But have the new rules made patients safer? A survey from the Royal College of Surgeons says hospitals are now less safe because of the rules. College president John Black and John Coakley, medical director of the Homerton hospital in London, debate doctors' working hours.
It is 25 years since an IRA bomb destroyed the Grand Hotel in Brighton, killing five people and leaving many others horribly wounded. The blast left Norman Tebbit badly injured and his wife Margaret paralysed. Today he will unveil a plaque to mark the anniversary. The BBC's Robert Orchard was the first journalist on the scene. He recounts the events of that extraordinary night.
Gordon Brown is making a speech in the City explaining why he thinks his approach to Britain's deficit is the right one. He will argue that growth is the key to reducing government borrowing, and that cutting spending will be self-defeating as it threatens to reduce growth. Even more eye-catching in the speech is the commitment to reduce the stock of debt by selling state assets. First Secretary of State Lord Mandelson discusses whether Labour's policy on the economy is the right one.
Eight years after allied forces invaded Afghanistan, the Taliban are once more in effective control much of the country and Nato forces - 9,000 of them British - are engaged in a bloody war with no obvious end in sight. John Humphrys asked the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, about how the US hopes to end the war, restore stability to Afghanistan and, even more crucially, to neighbouring Pakistan.
Artefacts recovered from the Mary Rose are being revealed today. Henry VIII's warship sank in 1545 and was famously lifted out of the Solent in 1982. The Mary Rose Trust wants 35 million pounds to fund a museum. Rear Admiral John Lippett, chief executive of the Trust, discusses the need for new investment and brings some of the ship's unseen Tudor artefacts into the studio.
There is disagreement between Republicans and Unionists in Northern Ireland on how and when the assembly there should take control of policing and justice. The British government has promised 600 million pounds in financial support to fund the devolution of control. The former Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern, who played a central role in the Good Friday Agreement, gives his views on the seriousness of this latest argument.
It is 21 years since Julie Ward, a British wildlife photographer, was murdered while she was working in Kenya. Now Scotland Yard detectives have come up with new evidence. Julie's father John outlines the latest news on the case.
As Westminster opens for business again today, MPs might like to think about moral philosophy. The American political philosopher Michael Sandel, who delivered the 2009 Reith Lectures, argues that the language of morals should be used in politics more than it has been: it's not just 'what works', it's 'what's right'.
'The North' was once populated by pinch-faced men with cloth caps and whippets, whose diet consisted of dripping sandwiches - or so legend has it. The Guardian's Martin Wainwright, who has written a book on the subject, and comedian Arthur Smith, a Londoner who married a northerner, debate whether it really is 'grim up north'.
As MPs return to Westminster after the summer recess, they are facing the threat of 'expenses scandal, part two', as Sir Thomas Legg's inquiry into gardening and cleaning bills is expected to lead to many MPs being asked to pay money back.
Andrew Marr's guests include writer Audrey Niffenegger on her new novel, historian Robert Service on his biography of Trotsky and the Economist's Edward Carr on why polymaths are an endangered species. Also, with an election on the horizon, Anthony Seldon explores the nature of trust.
Peter Firth reads from Christopher Andrew's history of the British Security Service, MI5.
Using material released by the organisation's archives to mark its centenary year, this charts MI5's successes and failures through the two World Wars, the Cold War and the complex modern world of counter-terrorism.
How myth gave rise to reality as the rumour mills of fiction created a climate of fear and suspicion. Introduced by Gordon Corera.
Model Lily Cole on her acting career. Plus, why children born late in the summer are more likely to be referred to a psychiatrist or assessed as having Special Education Needs.
Dame Vera Lynn's wartime classic is British, original, but not entirely without controversy. Ian Hislop discovers the chequered history of this musical mainstay of the British nation in its finest hour. Could it really be a song weighed down by politics, propaganda and even a touch of plagiarism? And what about those bluebirds - have you ever seen any in the Dover area?
Ian meets Dame Vera Lynn, veterans, musicologists and even an ornithologist in his quest to find the hidden meaning of this classic wartime song.
Beauty is caught between a warring couple, which is a good distraction from her disastrous crush on worship leader Wayne.
Beauty Olonga works as a carer for the Featherdown Agency and sees herself as an inspiration to other African girls hoping to achieve their goals in the land of semi-skimmed milk.
See Britain through her eyes - its overheated houses, its disappointing church services and its over-fondness for cauliflower cheese.
Beauty ...... Jocelyn Jee Esien
Nancy Snow ...... Rosemary Leach
Miss Macleod ...... Anne Reid
Worship Leader Wayne ...... Javone Prince
Sally ...... Felicity Montagu
Karen ...... Nicola Sanderson
Mrs Gupte ...... Indira Joshi
Anil ...... Paul Sharma
Mrs Daly/Choir Member ...... Nicola Sanderson
Russell Davies chairs the first heat of the perennial general knowledge contest.
By Cath Staincliffe. Probate detectives Rachel and Dan race to find the rightful heirs to an unclaimed estate and get a slice of the fortune.
Rachel ...... Maxine Peake
Dan ...... Tony Mooney
Young Bill ...... Thomas Rolinson
Young Victor ...... Daniel Rogers
Young Violet ...... Lowri Evans
Older Violet ...... Eileen O'Brien
Nun/Secretary ...... Fiona Clarke
Older Victor ...... Claude Close
Historian Amanda Vickery reveals how tea's arrival in the 18th century meant that everyone, rich or poor, could afford to entertain at home.
Simon Cox looks into the future of GPS, with the help of a four-legged friend. With even our pets sporting the latest in GPS tracker units, is there no limit to what we can load onto what is after all a 30-year-old satellite system?
Chancellor Nigel Lawson speaks at the Conservative Party conference to defend the 15 per cent interest rate; East German minister for ideology calls for reform of the political system; plans for a commercial nuclear bunker near Peterborough are scrapped because the world is 'too peaceful'.
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Carolyn Quinn. Plus Weather.
David Mitchell hosts the game show in which panellists are encouraged to tell lies and compete to see how many items of truth they are able to smuggle past their opponents.
Caroline continues to worry about the photographs that Borchester Life took of the altercation at Grey Gables. Her worries spread to Lynda who privately feels she might have an 'in' with Borsetshire Life.
Lynda goes to see Glen to try to persuade him not to use the pictures. Glen asks Lynda to collect County set gossip from Grey Gables in return for not using the photos, and Lynda is outraged. She refuses and resigns as occasional writer for the magazine. Meanwhile, Caroline also calls Glen, not knowing about Lynda's intervention. He cleverly corners her into taking a double page advertising spread to defray his costs.
Brian talks to Lynda about her opposition to the footpaths, suggesting that he would be prepared to donate a strip of land for the parish council to use as they wished, if she were to drop her objections. Lynda is presented with a moral dilemma, but before she can make a decision, she gets a text from Robert. Coriander has had her baby!
The new book from John Irving, the author of The World According to Garp, A Prayer For Owen Meany and The Cider House Rules, begins in 1954 and spans five decades. Last Night in Twisted River, Irving's 12th book, follows a father and son on the run as they travel through Boston, southern Vermont and Toronto. The 12-year-old has mistaken the local constable's girlfriend for a bear and the constable is pursuing them.
Tate Modern is about to unveil the tenth annual commission in the Unilever series of installations for its Turbine Hall - How It Is, by Polish artist Miroslaw Balka. The work is a monumental steel sculpture, reminiscent of a giant shipping container, and when visitors climb a ramp and go inside, they find themselves within a huge, pitch-dark space. Miroslaw Balka explains the thinking behind his creation to Mark Lawson.
The popularity of meerkats has soared recently as they have appeared in advertising campaigns, feature length films and formed part of Tracy Emin's proposal for the fourth plinth at Trafalgar Square. Mark Lawson discusses the attraction of the animal kingdom's pin-ups with wildlife presenter Mark Carwardine and London Zoo's Mark Habbon.
Writer and director Marc Price talks about his new film, Colin, in which the lead character is bitten by a zombie and condemned to wander the streets of an apocalyptic suburbia. Price reportedly made the entire film for just 45 pounds, and he joins Mark Lawson to discuss how this was possible.
Series of five linked stories by Katie Hims on the theme of separation, based on experiences sent in by Woman's Hour listeners.
When Sheila and Simon's daughter leaves home for a gap year trip, Sheila is inconsolable. It is the separation she has dreaded, and Simon's attempts to comfort her only make things worse. It is not until an eccentric elderly neighbour asks for help that she begins to think about something other than her own grief.
Sheila ...... Jilly Bond
Simon ...... Richard Mitchley
Edie ...... June Barrie.
In 1984, the Provisional IRA mounted their most audacious terrorist attack - attempting to blow up the British cabinet at the Conservative Party conference in Brighton. Michael Dobbs, a former senior adviser to Margaret Thatcher and John Major, was at the Grand Hotel when the bomb detonated.
He believes its legacy has had a profound impact on our politics, especially at party conferences and Westminster. Revisiting Brighton for the first time since 1984 and talking to leading political figures, he asks if we have struck the right balance in protecting politicians and ensuring they are not cocooned from the people they serve.
Featuring contributions from Lord Tebbit, Ken Livingstone, Alastair Campbell, Charles Clarke, Charles Kennedy and Francis Maude.
Bronwen Maddox, chief foreign commentator of The Times, asks if small nations can survive as independent states.
Tiny states like Liechtenstein, Brunei and Monaco give hope to independence movements elsewhere that size does not matter. Bronwen Maddox asks if the world's smallest countries are quite as independent as they appear and examines the difficulties of being small but truly sovereign.
Who really makes the biggest difference on climate change - those living on the edge or those working firmly within the system? Tell us about your experience of environmental campaigning via the Costing the Earth Facebook site (link below).
A recent Christian Aid survey found that 93 per cent of people think everyone in the UK should have the right to peaceful protest, 50 per cent think the police are too heavy handed, and 18 per cent are put off protesting in the future due to heavy-handed policing. Costing the Earth finds out about those who continue to campaign on the planet's behalf; is it really getting harder for them to make an impact on how we and our governments behave?
Mark Carter has been on hunger strike for over 46 days to highlight the plight of the seal. Some might see his actions as mad, but for Mark this is the only way to affect the government's proposed marine bills. During the last 10 years the common seal population has declined by a third but they are still being killed and for Mark, at least, the only solution is a ban on these culls. What effect will 500 signatures have against the interests of the fishing industry, and, whatever the results, how will he react?
Jonathan Porritt recently resigned his post at the Forum for the Future with the dire warning that, 'A combination of political paralysis, corporate vested interest and our conservative-co-opted media' alongside 'basic entitlements protecting the rights of dissenting voices being eroded' mean tough times for green activists.
The recent G20 protests saw some of the most draconian police tactics for some time. Using laws intended to prevent terrorists in the wake of 9/11 like Stop and Search, green activists have often found themselves at the front line of human rights issues. At the same time, the government's recent moves to change planning laws and rush through proposals for wind farms and nuclear plants via the Infrastructure Planning Commission quango could mean that contentious plans go ahead before activists have time to launch protests.
Is it really getting harder for people like Tim, a regular at Climate Camp who has been informed that his photo and details are on police file, to affect change?
Equally important is whether the long-used methods of mass camps, extreme acts and even advertising really have the impact that changing policy and people's behaviour requires. A recent report from the World Wildlife Fund suggests not. Could Whitehall workers or investment bankers be making a bigger difference without even trying, and if these methods haven't worked, what next?
We follow Mark and Tim's stories to find out what one individual's efforts can achieve and look at the big protests of recent years to find out what the future of green activism might hold.
Eoin Colfer's sequel to Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Read by Stephen Mangan, with Peter Serafinowicz.
Poet Brian Patten chooses pieces of writing which have been inspirational to him in his work and his life. Readers are Christian Rodska and Alison Reid.
TUESDAY 13 OCTOBER 2009
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b00n4dq5)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b00n4h1p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00n4dsm)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00n4dzm)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00n4dy6)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b00n4g2y)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00n4g30)
Daily prayer and reflection with the Right Rev Chris Edmondson, Bishop of Bolton.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b00n4g4y)
As sales of organic food fall, two major supermarkets cut their organic ranges by a third, leaving organic growers with difficult business decisions. Anna Hill also talks to the farmer who is about to take a six-foot wellie to the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square to tell the public why farming matters.
TUE 06:00 Today (b00n4gbc)
Presented by John Humphrys and Evan Davis.
There have been four violent attacks in Pakistan during the last week. The most brazen assault was over the weekend on the army's headquarters near Islamabad, where 10 militants shot their way past the front gate, seized 40 hostages and held them overnight. Lt Gen Asad Durani, the retired former head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, discusses the wave of attacks.
A new report for the government's Digital Inclusion initiative has found that four million people in the UK are not online, and that ten million have used the internet only a few times. The government's Digital Inclusion champion, Martha Lane Fox, and technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones discuss the government's aims to get everyone online.
The Alzheimer's Society is campaigning to encourage more people to donate their brains for medical research. Dr Susanne Sorensen, head of research at The Alzheimer's Society, and vice president of the organisation, David Blunkett, discuss the importance of brain donation for medical advancement.
A leading children's charity has found that, despite extensive reforms of child protection procedures, cases of neglect are increasing. In England in 2008 there were nearly 17,000 children registered on protection plans because their parents were unable to look after them properly. Nicola Stanbridge reports on one neglect case and met the family involved. Headteacher Margaret Lenton and chief executive of Action for Children, Clare Tickell, examine how schools and local authorities are dealing with the increasing number of neglected children.
A new exhibition run by the London Transport Museum explores how public transport helped to create the myths and identity of suburbia and how it has featured in the cultural fabric of London and Britain over the last 100 years. Evan Davis and journalist Miranda Sawyer took a look at the new exhibition, Suburbia.
Thought for the Day with the Right Rev James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool.
The United Nations in Gaza is concerned that thousands of schoolchildren are living in homes and studying in schools in varying states of disrepair as the winter season approaches. Buildings across the Gaza Strip were damaged or destroyed during Israel's three-week long offensive at the beginning of 2009. Middle East correspondent Katya Adler reports from northern Gaza.
Today has been struggling to find MPs willing to discuss the letters they have received about their expenses. Reporter Jack Izzard went to the Huntingdon constituency of the Conservative MP Jonathan Djanogly, who did not break the rules but has volunteered to pay back 25,000 pounds, to see if his constituents have any sympathy for MPs. Labour MP Sir Stuart Bell, a member of the committee that deals with MPs' pay and allowances, examines whether the repayments will go some way to appeasing voters.
The Public Accounts Committee of MPs has been looking at how well the Ministry of Defence has been equipping British forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. It has recommended a change in the workings of the system by which the MoD can quickly get equipment to troops on the front line, the 'urgent operational requirements' system. Professor Michael Clarke, director of the Royal United Services Institute, comments on the committee's findings.
Musician and author Nick Cave has composed a soundtrack tailor-made to complement his new novel, The Death of Bunny Munro. Evan met Mr Cave and his musical collaborator Warren Ellis to examine whether audiobooks are an unexploited medium.
Kane And Abel was Jeffrey Archer's breakthrough novel, selling 30 million copies and being translated into 37 languages. Published 30 years ago, Lord Archer has now 're-crafted' the book. Many literary figures, including Henry James and Samuel Richardson, have gone back and tinkered with their works. Lord Archer and John Sutherland, Professor of Modern English Literature at University College, London, discuss why authors like to reconstruct their works.
US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is meeting leaders in Russia to gain support for a tougher stand against Iran's nuclear programme. Correspondent Richard Galpin examines whether Russia will make a stand against Iran.
Nick Cave has combined his two arts and put a soundtrack to the audiobook version of his latest novel. We aske other well-known voices to compile their own audiobooks.
TUE 09:00 The Choice (b00n52kv)
Stuart Howarth
Michael Buerk interviews people who have made life-altering decisions and talks them through the whole process, from the original dilemma to living with the consequences.
Michael talks to Stuart Howarth about his decision to kill his abusive father.
TUE 09:30 The Good Samaritan (b00n52kx)
Jamie's Story
Dominic Arkwright talks to the Sheffield man who came to the rescue of a distraught teenager.
Producer John Byrne.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b00n8vw7)
The Defence of the Realm
Episode 2
Peter Firth reads from Christopher Andrew's history of the British Security Service, MI5.
Using material released by the organisation's archives to mark its centenary year, this charts MI5's successes and failures through the two World Wars, the Cold War and the complex modern world of counter-terrorism.
The advice of those with access to German informants goes ignored by the Chamberlain government in the months leading up to the Second World War.
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00n4k2g)
Sheryl Gascoigne; Jeans; Breast cancer in black and Asian women
Sheryl Gascoigne on her life with Gazza. Plus, raising awareness of breast cancer symptoms among women from ethnic communities; and why we love wearing jeans.
TUE 11:00 Nature (b00n52kz)
Series 3
Migrating Stones
Poet and writer Alyson Hallett travels to Australia with a large piece of limestone as a companion, inscribed with a line from one of her poems. This is the third journey Alyson has made with a stone; each destination has been different, each stone has been different, but each has been similarly inscribed by the sculptor and lettering artist Alec Peever.
It is a project which began seven years ago, inspired by a dream and an encounter with an erratic - a huge boulder that had broken away from its motherbed centuries ago, lodged in ice and then set off on long, slow journey, until eventually it was deposited on a Welsh mountainside. It was here that Alyson encountered the boulder.
Fascinated by the idea that stones are fellow companions and movement is an essential part of their nature, Alyson started to explore the cultural importance of stones, and embarked on her project, The Migration Habits of Stones.
Alyson takes a journey with her third stone to Koonawara in Australia. We also hear from stone letterer Alec Peever and Bill Morris, warden of Leigh Woods in Bristol, the site of the first migrating stone.
TUE 11:30 Mitch Benn's Wondrous Stories (b00n52l1)
Armed with little more than a harpsichord and a copy of The Hobbit, musician and comedian Mitch Benn fearlessly uncovers the myths and legends of the symphonic concept album.
Meeting some of the leading artists and fans of the genre, including Rick Wakeman, Jeff Wayne, David Bedford, Brian Blessed and Stuart Maconie, he battles capes and keyboard solos to rediscover the wondrous stories behind these epic musical extravaganzas.
From Rick Wakeman's 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' to Jeff Wayne's 'The War of the Worlds', musicians in the seventies somehow decided that it was a good idea to retell classic tales in the form of symphonic concept albums.
Classical music met rock to spawn towering monuments to pretension and excess: gigantic gatefold covers, sleeve notes longer than a 19th century novel, and - surely its defining feature- portentous narration delivered by some of our finest thesps.
For a generation of acned youth weaned on Tolkien and Moorcock, these epic compositions were masterpieces, a symphonic escape from dreary mid-70's discontent and economic gloom. They sold millions, but until recently, languished forgotten in the vinyl collections of middle-aged men, gathering dust in the post-punk apocalypse. But with The War of the Worlds now filling stadiums world wide thirty years on, and Rick Wakeman's two tudor-tastic Six Wives of Henry VIII concerts selling out at Hampton Court last year, can Mitch be discovering a symphonic rock renaissance?
Produced by Jackie Curthoys and Dave Dodd
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b00n4kcw)
Consumer news and issues with Julian Worricker.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b00n4khf)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b00n4kls)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.
TUE 13:30 The Number 1 Ladies' Opera House (b00n8swn)
The author of The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, Alexander McCall Smith, has converted a disused garage in Botswana into an opera house. Pauline McLynn charts his progress as he trains local people to sing.
Produced by Bill Lloyd.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b00n4w49)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b00c50ht)
Dickens Confidential
Dickens and Dizzy
Series of plays looking at how Charles Dickens, as the head of a daily paper, would have tackled bringing the news to the masses.
In the weeks leading up to Queen Victoria's coronation, Dickens meets Benjamin Disraeli, a journalist and ambitious young politician. There is an instant rivalry and unease between the two men, which only increases when the team believe they have uncovered a secret that Disraeli wants to keep hidden.
Charles Dickens ...... Dan Stevens
Agnes Paxton ...... Eleanor Howell
Daniel Parker ...... Andrew Buchan
Benjamin Disraeli ...... Julian Rhind-Tutt
William Percy ...... Bertie Carvel
Mary Anne Wyndham Lewis ...... Liz Sutherland
Lady Londonderry ...... Joan Walker
Rachel ...... Lydia Leonard
Official ...... Ben Crowe
Footman ...... Nyasha Hatendi
Archbishop ...... Dan Starkey
Speaker ...... Stephen Critchlow
Rabbi ...... Alan Lee
Directed by Tracey Neale.
TUE 15:00 Making History (b00n55lz)
Vanessa Collingridge presents the series exploring ordinary people's links with the past. Is the skin that binds a book in Bristol the gruesome remains of a listener's ancestor?
TUE 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00n55n4)
Lyrical Ballads
Lewti and The Thorn
In today's episode we hear the poems 'Lewti' - Coleridge's 'love-chant' to an enigmatic and stony-hearted woman and 'The Thorn', Wordsworth's ballad about a mysterious outcast and the superstitions that the locals have attached to her. Recorded on location in Coleridge's Cottage in Nether Stowey, Somerset and in the Quantock Hills.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Julius D'Silva
William Wordsworth - Mark Meadows
The Captain - Peter Gruffydd
Adapted and produced by Emma Harding.
TUE 15:45 Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life (b00n4wyj)
Domestic Harmony
Historian Amanda Vickery reveals the importance of family music-making at home, and the chances it created for finding a partner.
TUE 16:00 Advertising: The Most Fun You Can Have With Your Clothes On! (b00gl57t)
Episode 2
Advertising executive Robin Wight presents a history of the advertising industry.
How clients watched advertising bosses grow rich in the 1990s and so turned to new media, prompting the rise of internet advertising. Robin also examines how the industry creates memorable advertising campaigns that work away from TV screens. Including contributions from Richard Dawkins, John Hegarty and Gemma Calvert, professor of neuro-imaging at Warwick University.
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b00n55sn)
Vanessa Feltz and Johann Hari
Sue MacGregor talks to broadcaster Vanessa Feltz and journalist Johann Hari about their favourite books by Noel Streatfeild, Christopher Hitchens and Paul Aster.
The Saplings by Noel Streatfeild
Publisher: Persephone Classics
The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice by Christopher Hitchens
Publisher: Verso Books
The New York Trilogy by Paul Aster.
Publisher: Faber
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2009.
TUE 16:56 1989: Day by Day (b00n4x5f)
13th October 1989
Sir John Tusa looks back at the events making the news 20 years ago.
Margaret Thatcher address the Tory conference on her 64th birthday to chants of '10 more years', Douglas Hurd declares war on the 'scourge of acid house parties', and shares plunge in the last hour of trading on Wall Street, sparking fears of another Black Monday.
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 17:00 PM (b00n4x7k)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00n4x9w)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Too Much Information (b00n55sq)
Episode 2
Waft Tourist Information struggle to attract visitors by promoting their most famous local resident, a local doctor who burps - but when a genuinely famous dissolute TV comic stops off for a pee, they are to determined not to let him leave!
Neil Warhurst's four-part comedy drama set in the idiosyncratic world of a tourist information office.
The ancient northern town of Waft appears in the Lonely Planet Guide with the advice: "Don't bother". It has more people in the cemetery than living in it, is twinned with a town near Chernobyl and is most often visited by people using the toilet on the way to Alton Towers. So Waft Tourist Information Centre is hardly a hive of activity! But Warren along with the other members of the "Friends of Waft" each week attempt to solve the endless conundrum of how on earth they can attract visitors to Waft!
WARREN .......................................................................... JEFF RAWLE
DOUGLAS.................................................................. MALCOLM TIERNEY
HEATHER........................................................................... LIZA SADOVY
LUCY ........................................................................ JOANNAH TINCEY
BRYAN ........................................................................ PAUL BARNHILL
RICKY ............................................................................... PHILLIP FOX
GEORGE...................................................................... STEPHEN HOGAN
Producer: Liz Webb
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2009.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b00n4w3q)
Lilian and Jennifer take Peggy to look at another care home. They think it might do, but Peggy is absolutely determined that Jack should go into the Laurels. It's the only place for Jack as far as she is concerned.
When Lilian returns home, she finds out that Matt's recent business partner Terry has disappeared. It seems he's gone to India and isn't likely to return. It's the end of the shoe business for Matt, and he's lost a lot of money.
Fallon is fed up because Wayne seems to have disappeared from her life again. She tells Kirsty it's only to be expected. Just when she's given him up again, he returns. It seems he's been back to see his old girlfriend, and he has a CD of a potential guitarist for Fallon to hear. It's his ex-girlfriend Emmy's son, he's called Rollo and he's brilliant. Fallon is delighted. She's touched that her dad has gone to all this trouble. If Rollo works out, the Lies might still have a future.
Episode written by Tim Stimpson.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b00n4xj2)
Arts news and reviews with Mark Lawson.
The existence of Terry Gilliam's latest film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, was threatened when one of its stars, Heath Ledger, died before filming was completed. Jude Law, Colin Farrell and Johnny Depp stepped in to help finish the project. Critic Sarah Crompton assesses the result.
Mark Lawson speaks to Olivier and Tony Award-winning actor Mark Rylance on his taking over the role of Hamm in Complicite's forthcoming London revival of Samuel Beckett's Endgame, after Richard Briers and Adrian Scarborough both pulled out of the theatre production's original cast. Rylance discusses the characters he plays in Endgame and the Jez Butterworth play Jerusalem, which will be transferring to the West End in the New Year.
Publishers called October 1 Super Thursday because so many books came out on that day. The national art collections are all opening their autumn shows and theatre critics have been kept busy with a raft of first nights. Front Row investigates why so many arts events seem to happen at the same time, talking to Lorraine Heggessey, CEO at Talkback Thames TV, Joanna Mackle from the British Museum, associate editor of the Bookseller magazine Benedicte Page, theatre critic Matt Wolf and theatre producer Nica Burns.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00n9kjw)
Degrees Of Separation
Fatima the Catima
Series of five linked stories by Katie Hims on the theme of separation, based on experiences sent in by Woman's Hour listeners.
While Karen's husband is fighting in Afghanistan, she tries hard to keep normal family life going and her anxieties at bay for the sake of their children.
Karen ...... Alison Reid.
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (b00n569w)
Levels of Executive Pay
Fears over deep cuts in council jobs and services have brought predictions of a winter of discontent and strife unlike anything seen for 30 years. But as councils prepare to wield the axe, Julian O'Halloran asks if some authorities have added to their budget crises by awarding over-the-top pay, perks and severance terms to their own top executives.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b00n569y)
Only one in three blind people between 18 and 29 has a job. As Blind in Business launch a year-long campaign to highlight the skills of visually-impaired graduates, our reporter Lee Kumutat, over in the UK from Australia, tries to discover why finding employment here, can be a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Plus writer and broadcaster Rob Crossan on why, instead of making light of his sight loss to put people at ease, he is often tempted to 'blind up' and let people overestimate his disability.
TUE 21:00 Trials For Life (b00n5sxk)
Episode 2
Vivienne Parry follows patients and doctors involved in clinical trials.
Cystic fibrosis is the commonest life-threatening inherited disease, affecting many areas of the body. Vivienne talks to patient volunteers helping scientists to replace the gene at fault.
TUE 21:30 The Choice (b00n52kv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b00n4y85)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b00n4ybs)
National and international news and analysis with Ritula Shah.
MPs anger over expenses - do they have a point?
Hillary Clinton meets her Russian counterpart; what progress have they made on Iran?
The Archbishop of Canterbury gives a lecture on climate change.
Is there a crisis in Pakistan's security situation?
Why has Spain's economy suffered so badly in the recession?
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00n4yyh)
And Another Thing...
Episode 2
Stephen Mangan reads from Eoin Colfer's sequel to Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Read by Stephen Mangan, with Peter Serafinowicz.
An old friend appears.
Abridged by Penny Leicester.
TUE 23:00 As Told To Craig Brown (b00b7qs7)
Episode 1
Craig Brown introduces a mixture of satire, social observation and nonsense.
Narrated by Juliet Stevenson and Steve Wright.
With John Humphrys, Ronni Ancona, Jon Culshaw, Lewis MacLeod, Ewan Bailey and Margaret Cabourn-Smith.
Producer: Victoria Lloyd
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2008.
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00n4z61)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with Susan Hulme.
WEDNESDAY 14 OCTOBER 2009
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b00n4dq7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b00n8vw7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00n4dsp)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00n4dzq)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00n4dy8)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b00n4g32)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00n4g34)
Daily prayer and reflection with the Right Rev Chris Edmondson, Bishop of Bolton.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b00n4g50)
A new convert to organic farming tells Anna Hill you can't make a living from small organic farms. While a rural estate agent says that farmland has beaten the FTSE 100 index for the last 15 years and will double in price over the next five years.
WED 06:00 Today (b00n4gbf)
Presented by John Humphrys and Sarah Montague.
Many MPs are angry at having to retrospectively pay back some of their expenses. Party leaders signalled that those MPs who refused to co-operate with the audit of expenses, carried out by Sir Thomas Legg, could be barred from standing at the next election. Labour MP Stephen Pound discusses the mood among backbench MPs.
Scientists have found a new type of dinosaur. Dave Unwin, lecturer in palaeobiology at Leicester University, comments on the new discovery.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), has banned an advert for a yoghurt. The ASA has criticised the advert for claiming that drinking the yoghurt could help normal healthy children protect against illness. Chief executive of the ASA, Guy Parker, and head of surgery and cancer at Imperial College, London, Professor Jeremy Nicholson, examine whether a yoghurt drinks have health benefits.
In Washington a furious battle over Afghanistan policy is being conducted both within and outside the White House. Today, President Obama and his senior advisors will hold a fifth meeting of the national security team to discuss the strategy. North America editor Mark Mardell reports from Washington.
The basic state pension will rise by 2 pounds 40 per week next April, even though inflation measured by the Retail Prices Index (RPI) was negative last month. Pensions are altered in April in line with the inflation rate the previous September, which fell to minus 1.4 per cent. The government has pledged that the basic state pension will rise by at least 2.5 per cent each year if inflation falls below this level. Mark Serwotka of the Public and Commercial Services Union and economics editor Stephanie Flanders analyse how a low-inflation environment could impact on pensions and wage expectations.
It is almost 20 years since the writer Roald Dahl died, yet he is selling more books now than he did in his lifetime. An animated film version of one of his best known stories, Fantastic Mr Fox, receives its world premiere at the London Film Festival. It is directed by Wes Anderson and features the voices of George Clooney and Meryl Streep as Mr and Mrs Fox. Arts correspondent Rebecca Jones visited the home Roald Dahl shared with his wife Liccy, to find out more about the author and his works.
Thought for the Day with Akhandadhi Das, a Vaishnav Hindu teacher and theologian.
Gordon Brown will announce that another 500 troops will be sent to Afghanistan, taking the total number of British troops there to 9,500. For some military chiefs and the American military, this is not enough. Jason Straziuso, the Associated Press's chief reporter in Afghanistan for the past three years, discusses whether more or less troops are needed in Afghanistan.
The development of the expenses scandal has damaged the reputation of MPs and political institutions. Despite threats from the party leaders, many MPs are still refusing to admit they may have been greedy and pay back what the auditor Sir Thomas Legg says they should pay back. Deputy political editor James Landale, and the Leader of the House of Commons, Harriet Harman, examine the anger among MPs and how long party leaders can contain the discontent.
Artist Antony Gormley's fourth plinth project in Trafalgar Square, Anish Kapoor's installation at the Royal Academy, and the Unilever series in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall are all examples of theatrical installations of modern art. Antony Gormley and the arts editor-in-chief at the Telegraph, Sarah Crompton, discuss whether modern art has become more about theatre.
ITV has been looking for a chief executive since April, following the resignation of Michael Grade. There have been many possible replacements, but all have pulled out the running for the five million pounds-a-year job. Roger Laughton, former chief executive of the ITV company Meridian, and Steve Tappin, author of The Secrets of CEOs, discuss why the search for a new chief executive is proving so difficult.
A memorial service at sea will take place for the 833 men who drowned when the battleship HMS Royal Oak was sunk in Scapa Flow 70 years ago today after being torpedoed by a German U-boat, just weeks into the war. Kenneth Troop, who was on HMS Royal Oak's last voyage, tells his story, and the nephew of Commander Ralph Lennox Woodrow-Clark, who drowned when Royal Oak was sunk, and historian David Turner comment on the battleship's last voyage.
The Guardian has prevented an injunction attempt by a firm of oil traders which would have stopped it reporting proceedings in parliament. The injunction prevented The Guardian reporting that the MP Paul Farrelly had tabled a parliamentary question about the oil traders Trafigura and its solicitors, Carter-Ruck. Legal commentator Joshua Rosenberg explains the case.
Bob Dylan has released his new Christmas album - not something his hardiest fans would have expected. David Hepworth, writer for Word Magazine, discusses the reacti
WED 09:00 Midweek (b00n58cr)
Nick Hewer is a former PR man who became a well-known face in his advisor capacity to friend and business partner Lord Sugar in the hit BBC series The Apprentice. He now teams up with former Apprentice star Saira Khan for Around the World in 80 Days, in which six pairs of celebrities race against the clock in a global relay, re-enacting the journeys of Phileas Fogg and Michael Palin, for BBC Children in Need. Around the World in 80 Days is on BBC One.
Victoria Coren is a writer, broadcaster and professional poker player. In September 2006 she won a million dollars on the European Poker Tour. In her book For Richer, For Poorer she tells the story of that victory, but also of a 20-year obsession with the game. For Richer, For Poorer: A Love Affair with Poker is published by Canongate.
Maureen Lipman is an actress, writer, comedienne and, possibly, 'national treasure'. In her latest book, Past-It-Notes, she recalls her personal and professional adventures and misadventures, including affectionate recollections of her late husband, the playwright Jack Rosenthal, and her mother and muse, the irreplaceable Zelma. Past-It-Notes is published by JR Books.
Simon McBurney is an actor, writer, director and co-founder of Complicité, one of Britain's leading exponents of visual drama. He has written, directed and acted in more than 30 productions for the company, most recently Shun-kin, A Disappearing Number, and Measure for Measure. He began acting in Shakespeare at the age of nine but later switched to comedy at Cambridge. He is currently acting and directing Samuel Beckett's Endgame, at the Duchess Theatre in London.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b00n8vvv)
The Defence of the Realm
Episode 3
Peter Firth reads from Christopher Andrew's history of the British Security Service, MI5.
Using material released by the organisation's archives to mark its centenary year, this charts MI5's successes and failures through the two World Wars, the Cold War and the complex modern world of counter-terrorism.
The recruiting of spies was never an exact science, owing much to the clubbable atmosphere of Oxbridge and public schools.
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00n4k2j)
Leona Lewis; Sir Ranulph Fiennes; Agatha Christie's house
X-Factor winner Leona Lewis on her roots. Plus, adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes on his remarkable family; and a tour of Agatha Christie's holiday home in Devon.
WED 11:00 Home Grown (b00n58ct)
Yasmeen Khan investigates the growing trend among second-generation British Asian men to bypass British Asian women and instead marry women from their parents' native countries, often leading to culture shock, unhappiness and divorce - and a generation of unmarried British Asian women.
WED 11:30 Hut 33 (b01j9hsk)
Series 3
Know Thyne Enemy
It's 1942 and the war is not going well - so the codebreakers of Bletchley Park are under even more pressure than usual.
Archie, Gordon and Charles try to think like Germans to predict the Enigma machine code...
Stars Tom Goodman-Hill as Archie, Robert Bathurst as Professor Charles Gardner, Fergus Craig as Gordon, Alex MacQueen as 3rd Lt. Joshua Featherstonhaugh-Marshall, Olivia Colman as Minka and Lill Roughley as Mrs Best.
Written by James Cary.
Producer: Adam Bromley
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2009.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b00n4kcy)
Consumer news and issues with Winifred Robinson.
WED 12:57 Weather (b00n4khh)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b00n4klv)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.
WED 13:30 The Media Show (b00n58cy)
Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger gives us the inside story on his paper's legal battle to report on Parliament.
The Comment Awards were the first to celebrate comment in all its forms, from newspapers to the blogosphere. We discuss whether comment is still the 'beating heart' of the press.
Silvio Berlusconi personally owns nine TV channels, and as the Italian prime minister he has indirect control over the 18 channels run by the country's state broadcaster as well. We hear about concerns for media pluralism in Italy.
Plus an update on how the first internet-only broadcast of an England football match worked, and reaction to the BBC securing highlights at the eleventh hour.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b00n4w3q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b00n58d1)
The Island With No Name
By Alison Joseph. Hebridean island life isn't for everyone, yet when Kathleen decides to sell her family's croft and head to Glasgow, her friends are appalled. Her decision becomes a catalyst that causes people in the small community to re-examine their heart's desires.
Kathleen ...... Elspeth Brodie
Martinn ...... Finn Den Hertog
Wendy ...... Meg Fraser
Fergus ...... Jamie Lee
Grandmother ...... Dolina MacLennan
Trina ...... Sally Reid.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b00n58kf)
Paul Lewis and a panel of guests answer calls on financial issues, live from the BBC's Money Matters Roadshow at the Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow.
His guests are:
Graham Hooper, Bestinvest
Jackie Coyne, MacDonald Reid Scott Financial Services
John Douglas, Finesco Financial Services.
WED 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00n9k19)
Lyrical Ballads
The Nightingale and the Lucy Poems
A selection of poems from Wordsworth and Coleridge's 1798 collaboration which marked the beginning of the English Romantic poetry movement.
The Nightingale, Coleridge's 'conversation poem' in which he disputes the traditional association of the nightingale with melancholy. And Wordsworth's series of elegiac poems about the narrator's love for the enigmatic Lucy. Recorded on location in the Quantock Hills, Somerset and in the Wye Valley, Monmouthshire.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge ...... Julius D'Silva
William Wordsworth ...... Mark Meadows
Adapted by Emma Harding.
WED 15:45 Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life (b00n4wyl)
Men at Home
In her hidden home history, Amanda Vickery reveals the stories of family 'black sheep'. Not everyone adhered to polite etiquette.
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b00n58kh)
Modern-day Grave Goods - Politics of Alcohol
Laurie Taylor finds out about what we leave with the dead and why. From clothes to jewellery, photographs, hats, eye glasses, walking sticks, letters and even food, alcohol and tobacco, the objects mourners leave in the coffins and caskets of their loved ones tells us a huge amount about our attitudes to death and the rituals it involves.
Laurie talks to Sheila Harper, sociologist at the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath, whose new study about 'modern-day grave goods' uncovers the fascinating, touching and often moving examples of our gifts to the dead and why the objects we leave today are remarkably similar to the kinds of items uncovered by archaeologists in graves going back thousand of years.
Duncan Sayer, archaeologist from the Centre for Death and Society, discusses how human society has buried their dead.
Also in the programme: alcohol as a lens to understand social change. The links between drink, national identity and economic prosperity.
WED 16:30 Trials For Life (b00n5sxk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:56 1989: Day by Day (b00n4x5h)
14th October 1989
Sir John Tusa looks back at the events making the news 20 years ago.
Hungarian-born Estee Lauder opens the first cosmetics shop in the new-look socialist Belgrade, Poland faces 1,000 per cent inflation and London Fashion Week anticipates the 90s look.
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 17:00 PM (b00n4x7m)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00n4x9y)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Rudy's Rare Records (b00n594p)
Series 2
Ill Communication
It's Adam's chance to tidy up the Birmingham shop, but will father Rudy get his revenge?
The collisions of life for Grandad Rudy, father Adam and son Richie living all crammed together over an old record store in Birmingham.
Starring Lenny Henry, Larrington Walker and Joe Jacobs.
Sitcom by Danny Robins, set in the finest, feistiest, family-run record shop in Birmingham.
Adam Sharpe ...... Lenny Henry
Rudy Sharpe ...... Larrington Walker
Richie Sharp ...... Joe Jacobs
Clifton ...... Jeffery Kissoon
Tasha ...... Natasha Godfrey
Doreen ...... Claire Benedict
Police Officer ...... Andrew Brooke
Producer: Lucy Armitage
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2009.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b00n4w3s)
Busy times at Lower Loxley, as they set up the antiques fair and their pre-Christmas events. Nigel takes time out to get the Seyval grapes picked, with the usual people helping, while Lewis helps Elizabeth hold the fort.
David comes along to help with the grapes, and chats to Nigel as they eat their well earned - and excellent - lunch after a hard morning's work. He tells Nigel about his new soil health initiatives on the farm. Nigel is able to relate to it through his growing knowledge of grape cultivation.
Ed and Mike go to look at some Guernsey cows in Oxfordshire, with a view to buying in-calf heifers for their herd expansion. Much to Ed's surprise Vicky has decided to tag along. After all, she's funding the purchase. She talks non-stop and distracts Mike so much that Ed doesn't take in all the information he needs.
However, when Vicky learns that Robert and Lynda have gone to see Coriander and the baby, she is more worried about her dinner party. She's got everything planned! What is she supposed to do if they can't make it?
Episode written by Tim Stimpson.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b00n4xj4)
Writer and Journalist Ray Connolly reviews a National Portrait Gallery exhibition celebrating the 1960s in 150 photographs and ephemera from the period, and an exhibition of the photographs of 60s photographer Brian Duffy.
Rock writer John Harris has compiled a list of the 'rock follies', which he discussed on Front Row last week. Now John responds to your suggestions for other disappointing albums made by revered acts.
A report on the One and Other Fourth Plinth art project in Trafalgar Square. Mark Lawson talks to some of the 2,400 people who have taken part, and to the artist Antony Gormley.
Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway and Yvonne Brewster discuss the launch of the Black British Theatre Archive, a canon of plays written by black dramatists which have been produced professionally.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00n9kjp)
Degrees Of Separation
The Boy in the Library
Series of five linked stories by Katie Hims on the theme of separation, based on experiences sent in by Woman's Hour listeners.
Billy lives in the same town as his son and grandson, but he has never seen the little boy because of a family quarrel. When he sees a boy in the local library who he believes is his grandson, he sets in train a series of events which threaten to land him in trouble with the police.
Billy ...... Richard Bremner
Janice ...... Janice Acquah
Karen ...... Alison Reid.
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b00n59ww)
Michael Buerk chairs a debate on the moral questions behind the week's news. Michael Portillo, Melanie Phillips, Clifford Longley and Matthew Taylor cross-examine witnesses.
When should we forgive and should we ever forget? It's the 25th anniversary of the Brighton Bomb and the man who planted it will be sharing a platform in Parliament with the daughter of one of the people he killed - talking about forgiveness. Is anyone ever beyond redemption? Are any crimes ever too heinous to forgive? How do we balance the desire for retribution with society's need to pursue wider understanding and reconciliation?
Witnesses:
Paul Bowman
Father of Sally Anne Bowman who was murdered in 2005
Bishop Peter Price
Bishop of Bath and Wells
Ruth Dudley Edwards
Historian, commentator and author of Aftermath: The Omagh Bombings and The Families Pursuit of Justice
Hon Timothy Knatchbull
Lost his grandfather, Lord Mountbatten, and twin brother 30 years ago in IRA bombing.
WED 20:45 Conserving What? (b00n5ngf)
Episode 2
Peter Oborne investigates the meaning of Conservatism and tries to discover where David Cameron sits in its intellectual tradition.
Peter searches for clues in the character of different Conservative governments.
WED 21:00 Nature (b00n52kz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 Midweek (b00n58cr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b00n4y87)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b00n4ybv)
National and international news and analysis with Robin Lustig.
Gordon Brown promises more troops for Afghanistan, but only if America commits to an uplift.
The government promises targeted help for white working-class voters; will they reject the BNP?
Translators for Glaswegian wanted.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00n4yyk)
And Another Thing...
Episode 3
Eoin Colfer's sequel to Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Read by Stephen Mangan, with Peter Serafinowicz.
A deal is struck and there is some bad Vogon poetry.
Abridged by Penny Leicester.
WED 23:00 One (b00n5ngh)
Series 3
Episode 2
Sketch show written by David Quantick, in which no item features more than one voice.
With Graeme Garden, Dan Maier, Johnny Daukes, Deborah Norton, Katie Davies, Dan Antopolski, Andrew Crawford and David Quantick.
WED 23:15 Rik Mayall's Bedside Tales (b00n5ngk)
Train to Paris
Settle down, brush your teeth, do whatever it is you do at this time of night. But, most of all, listen because Rik would like to talk to you. One on one. Tonight he'd mostly like to tell you about Train to Paris
Performer ..... Rik Mayall
Writers ..... Rik Mayall & John Nicholson
Producer ..... Steven Canny
We open a small and peculiarly shaped window in to the mind of Rik Mayall. Written by Rik and John Nicholson, it's a woozy, strange and resonant series from one of the country's most loved comic performers. Rik wants to sit with you in your room - one on one. He wants to let you know things - important, secret things, things about your neighbours. About him. About you.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00n4z63)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with David Wilby.
THURSDAY 15 OCTOBER 2009
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b00n4dq9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b00n8vvv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00n4dst)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00n4dzs)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00n4dyb)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b00n4g36)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00n4g38)
Daily prayer and reflection with the Right Rev Chris Edmondson, Bishop of Bolton.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b00n4g52)
Millions of pounds is continuing to be wasted managing subsidy payments to English farmers. A new report from the National Audit Office says Defra and the Rural Payments Agency have shown 'scant regard' to protecting public money. Since 2005, the scheme has seen 304 million pounds spent on additional staff and 280 million pounds in EU fines for late payments. It also relies on an IT system which has cost a total of 350 million pounds. A further 43 million pounds of overpayments to farmers are likely to go unrecovered.
It all means that the cost of processing a claim in England is now on average 1,743 pounds which compares with an average cost in Scotland of 285 pounds.
THU 06:00 Today (b00n4gbh)
Presented by James Naughtie and Sarah Montague.
The EU's farm subsidies system has been criticised by the National Audit Office (NAO). Its report described the current European Single Farm Payment Scheme in England as expensive, cumbersome and inefficient. Faming minister Jim Fitzpatrick examines the scheme and the reports findings.
The Arctic Ocean could lose most of its ice in summertime in as little as 10 years, according to new research - far sooner than previously forecast. Professor Peter Wadhams, head of the Polar Ocean Physics Group at Cambridge University, which carried out the research, explains the findings.
A third of official investigations into cases of serious child abuse in England are inadequate, according to a report from Ofsted. The reviews are meant to identify lessons to be learned where a child has died or been seriously harmed, but inspectors are concerned that important opportunities to improve child protection are being missed. Chief Inspector of Schools, Christine Gilbert, and Joanna Nicholas, an independent social worker and author of a number of serious case reviews, discuss the quality and adequacy of child abuse case reviews.
Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy has become a Swedish international literary phenomenon. Two films, tours around Stockholm and websites in homage to the author and his characters have taken over Swedish society. Larsson's third book in the trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest, has now hit the bestsellers list. Europe correspondent Jonny Dymond went to Stockholm to investigate the novels' success.
Almost 50 NHS trusts are failing to improve beyond the minimum standards and face new sanctions unless they make progress before next year, say health standards inspectors. Health correspondent Adam Brimelow reports from Stafford Hospital, which earlier this year was strongly criticised by the health service regulator, and Chair of the Care Quality Commission Lady Young discusses the report.
Acclaimed artist Maggi Hambling will be exhibiting her seascapes this weekend in Manchester, alongside little-known seascapes by painter LS Lowry. Sarah Montague met the artist on a beach in Suffolk to discuss art, sculpture and the inspiration of the sea.
Thought for the Day with Rev Angela Tilby, Vicar of St Bene't's Church in Cambridge.
What effect is the expenses scandal having on the families of MPs? While parliamentarians go off to work in Westminster, it is their families who bear the brunt of public anger. Linda MacDougall, wife of Labour backbencher Austin Mitchell, discusses how MPs' families are dealing with public anger over the expenses scandal.
Pakistani authorities say that at least 18 people have been killed after a police station and two training academies in Lahore were attacked by gunmen. There has been an upsurge in violence in Pakistan in recent weeks, as the Pakistani army prepares to launch an offensive against the Taliban in the country's South Waziristan tribal region. Danyal Hasan from Dawn News in Pakistan and the BBC's Islamabad correspondent, Aleem Maqbool, report on the attacks.
A group of public figures, including Stephen Fry and Alastair Campbell, have called for more investment in mental health research. Of the 700 million pounds spent by the Medical Research Council each year, less than 20 million goes on mental health. More than 5,000 people with mental illness kill themselves each year in the UK. Til Wykes, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College, London and Professor Chris Kennard of the Clinical Neurology unit at Oxford, and Chair of the Neuroscience and Mental Health Board at the Medical Research Council, which allocates medical funding, examine the problems around tackling mental health.
Yesterday on Today, John Humphrys interviewed Harriet Harman about MPs' expenses, and they discussed the case of the former home secretary Jacqui Smith. Ms Smith has been in touch with us to complain that we had made a mistake. In the interview we stated that 'the Standards Commissioner himself found that Jacqui Smith had not been entirely honest in what she told us, and she had broken the rules.' Today is happy to clarify that the Commissioner did find Ms Smith had broken the rules, but he did not make any judgement about her honesty.
The Prince Philip Designers' Prize is awarded for the 50th year at Buckingham Palace today. The Prince has recently said that 'to work out how to operate a television set, you practically have to make love to the thing. And why can't you have a handset that people who are not actually ten can actually read?' Chief executive of the Design Council, David Kester, and author Stanley Johnson discuss whether Prince Philip's views on the design of electronics is fair.
The government has brought in two troubleshooters to try to resolve why thousands of students still have not received their student loans. David Willetts, shadow secretary of state for in
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b00n5nqr)
The Death of Elizabeth I
Melvyn Bragg and guests John Guy, Clare Jackson and Helen Hackett discuss the death of Queen Elizabeth I and its immediate impact, as a foreign monarch became King in the face of plots and plague.By the spring of 1603, Elizabeth had been Queen for 44 years, and it was clear that she would leave no heir. Many feared that her death would spark insurrection, led perhaps by Puritans, perhaps by Catholics, possibly with the support of Spain. As it became clear that she was dying, Elizabeth's chief minister, Sir Robert Cecil, put into action his covert strategy to secure the succession of King James the Sixth of Scotland.What follows is a story of plots, plague and high politics, as a foreign monarch brought a thoroughly Continental approach to Kingship to the English throne. James's accession was widely welcomed, but his relationship with Cecil was initially tense, and his long procession south from Edinburgh attracted both celebration and criticism. His treatise on Kingship, published on his succession, became a bestseller in London - at least until an outbreak of plague, which also drove him from the capital not long after he arrived. His coronation was hurried through to circumvent plots against him, but his triumphal entry into London had to be delayed until a year after Elizabeth's death. And, as the high expectations which first greeted James were increasingly frustrated, the English started to invoke the ghost of their dead Queen to criticise their new ruler.John Guy is a Fellow of Clare College, University of Cambridge; Clare Jackson is Lecturer and Director of Studies in History at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge; Helen Hackett is Reader in English at University College, London.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b00n8vvx)
The Defence of the Realm
Episode 4
Peter Firth reads from Christopher Andrew's history of the British Security Service, MI5.
Using material released by the organisation's archives to mark its centenary year, this charts MI5's successes and failures through the two World Wars, the Cold War and the complex modern world of counter-terrorism.
The most publicly turbulent disagreements between the spies and the politicians to whom they reported occurred during Harold Wilson's final term in office.
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00n4k2l)
Handel's Women; Why philosophy matters
Handel's Women discussed. Plus, Dr Angie Hobbs on making philosophy accessible; cooking for Diwali; and Mahapajapati Gotami, the Buddha's foster mother examined.
THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (b00n5nqt)
Kate Adie introduces BBC foreign correspondents with the stories behind the headlines.
THU 11:30 My Yiddisher Mother Tongue (b00n5nz2)
Writer and comedian David Schneider goes on a personal journey through Yiddish culture and language.
Schneider, who first came to fame on The Day Today and I'm Alan Partridge, is the grandson of a Yiddish playwright and a Yiddish actress. He returns to Whitechapel and Vienna where his grandparents performed and considers the rich thousand-year history of the language.
Contributors include Yiddish enthusiasts including Michael Grade and General Colin Powell, who picked up the language in his teens when he worked in a Jewish toy store in New York.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b00n4kd0)
Consumer news and issues with Winifred Robinson.
THU 12:57 Weather (b00n4khk)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b00n4klx)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.
THU 13:30 Costing the Earth (b00n51z5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Monday]
THU 14:00 The Archers (b00n4w3s)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b00bz4cm)
Dropping Bombs
A bittersweet generational comedy by Paul Cotter.
Sixty five years after a bungled bombing raid, a former RAF pilot, with wife and son in tow, makes the long drive to Germany to deliver an apology. The trip turns out to be explosive for all concerned.
Valerie ...... Rosemary Leach
Alistair ...... Nigel Anthony
Ross ...... Ivan Kaye
German Woman ...... Susan Engel
Manager/Official ...... Kenneth Collard
Weert ...... Dan Starkey.
THU 15:00 Ramblings (b00n3mpr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:07 on Saturday]
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b00n474r)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00n9k0l)
Lyrical Ballads
Tintern Abbey and Love
In today's episode we hear 'Lines Written A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey', Wordsworth's celebrated exploration of the relationship between the contemplation of Nature and his sense of the divine. And Coleridge's pseudo-medieval ballad, 'Love', in which a minstrel woos his beloved with the dramatic tale of a knight and his lady. Recorded on location in Tintern Abbey and the Wye Valley in Monmouthshire and the Quantock Hills, Somerset
Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Julius D'Silva
William Wordsworth - Mark Meadows
Adapted and produced by Emma Harding.
THU 15:45 Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life (b00n4wyn)
Illicit Guests
Historian Amanda Vickery shares stories from adultery cases of women sneaking lovers into houses, spied on by their prying servants.
THU 16:00 Open Book (b00n48k4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:30 Material World (b00n5psk)
Quentin Cooper is joined by Pen Hadow, the polar explorer who reports that the Arctic could be free of ice during summers within a decade because of global warming. Quentin hears how Pen's trek over the polar ice drew him to this conclusion.
Physicist Prof Alan Guth explains why he calls the beginning of time, the first instant when the Universe was created out of nothing, 'the ultimate free lunch'.
As Kew Millennium Seed Bank announces that it has banked 10 per cent of the world's wild plant species, we ask how technology can help to conserve the remaining 90 per cent.
THU 16:56 1989: Day by Day (b00n4x5k)
15th October 1989
Sir John Tusa looks back at the events making the news 20 years ago.
ANC leader Walter Sisulu is released from prison sparking nationwide celebrations, the UN agrees a global ban on the ivory trade, and Jive Bunny, the cartoon rabbit, reaches number one in the charts.
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 17:00 PM (b00n4x7p)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00n4xb0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! (b00grrzy)
Series 4
Pub Quiz
Spoof reminiscences of a former variety star. Count Arthur Strong is an expert in everything from the world of entertainment to the origins of the species, all false starts and nervous fumbling, poorly concealed by a delicate sheen of bravado and self-assurance.
Promoting himself to team captain of the Three Musketeers, Arthur enters the Shoulder of Mutton pub quiz. Can he win the 50 pound rollover, or will it all end in tears?
With Steve Delaney, Mel Giedroyc, Dave Mounfield and Alastair Kerr.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b00n4w3w)
Pip comes home very stressed and goes straight up to her room. Concerned, Ruth goes to see how she is. Pip is clearly upset, but tells her mum she's just finding college really hard. They expect you to do much more work on your own. That's all it is, and Ruth shouldn't worry.
Fallon is bowled over by the brilliance of Rollo the guitarist, who seems to tick all the boxes that the Lies need. He could be a really good new member of the band. She goes out with Jazzer, celebrating.
They're having a great evening until Jazzer spots someone who wants a confrontation. He tries to get out of his way. When Fallon presses for details, Jazzer admits to a dalliance with the guy's fiancée. A fight ensues during which Jazzer is hit on the head with a bottle. He ends up in Casualty waiting for stitches.
Caring Fallon chats to him while they wait. How long is he going to go on like this? Surely it's time he changed his ways and found ... well, a really nice girl to go out with. Someone who is not just another notch on the bedpost. It's food for thought for Jazzer.
Episode written by Tim Stimpson.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b00n4xj6)
16 October is the 175th anniversary of the Houses of Parliament burning down - and with it, the complete destruction of a set of 17th-century tapestries depicting the defeat of the Armada.
However, an engraving of the works survived. John Wilson visits curator Malcolm Hay at the Palace of Westminster and travels to Wrest Park, the country house in Bedfordshire where, for the past two years, artist Anthony Oakshett has been leading a team painstakingly recreating six tapestries - as paintings - prior to their being reinstalled in the House Of Lords in 2010.
As co-founder of Joy Division, and later New Order, musician Peter Hook found global success, with New Order's single Blue Monday becoming the best selling 12-inch single of all time. But the profits from these record sales were largely poured into the running of a nightclub in his home-town of Manchester. The Hacienda changed the face of Manchester's music scene forever, but spiralling debts forced it to close in 1997. Peter Hook reflects on the Hacienda's legacy, its immortalisation on film, and why Bernard Manning was the first act to perform there.
American artist John Baldessari, who pioneered conceptual art in the 1960s, talks about how he was inspired by a group of teenage delinquents, what place words have in his art and why he cremated many of his early works.
Trevor Griffiths's play Comedians first appeared in 1975, and was soon being described as, 'the best play of the 1970s'. A new production has just opened, starring Keith Allen, Reece Shearsmith, Mark Benton and David Dawson; comic Natalie Haynes and John Wilson assess its continuing relevance.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00n9kjr)
Degrees Of Separation
Twins
Series of five linked stories by Katie Hims on the theme of separation, based on experiences sent in by Woman's Hour listeners.
Janice already has two boisterous boys and is delighted when she discovers that one of the twins she is carrying is a girl. She dreams of the little dresses she will buy, how she'll fix her hair and how lovely it will be to have a dainty little creature around. Of course she's looking forward to another boy as well, but it's the little girl she is really excited about. But when the twins are born and she must be separated from one of them, her dreams come crashing down around her head.
Janice ...... Janice Acquah
Dan ...... Mark Meadows
Doctor ...... Saikat Ahamed.
THU 20:00 The Report (b00n5qbn)
Bloody Sunday Inquiry
Rob Walker investigates the Bloody Sunday Inquiry. What has made it the longest and most expensive inquiry in British legal history?
THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (b00n5rc9)
Evan Davis presents a special edition of the business magazine from the University of Derby. He asks his panel of guests about the role played by lawyers in business and how we can fill the hole left by financial services in the UK.
Evan is joined by:
Ian Livingstone, life president of Eidos Interactive, the company that produced Lara Croft, one of the best-selling video games of all time
Colin Walton, chairman of Bombardier Transportation, who runs the only train factory left in the UK
David Gold, senior partner at Herbert Smith, one of Britain's leading law firms.
THU 21:00 Leading Edge (b00n5rcc)
The 2009 Science Book Prize Winner and The Evolution of Technology
Geoff Watts meets Richard Holmes, winner of the 2009 Royal Society Science Book Prize; he hears how history and biography can reveal the workings of science and discusses science literature with former Guardian science and literary editor Tim Radford.
Also, does technology evolve? According to W Brian Arthur, a professor at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico and author of The Nature of Technology, machines develop in some ways akin to biological organisms. Instead of natural selection, humans and markets force the changes. Instead of genes, sub-systems and new materials come together from diverse sources. And sometimes there are innovations rather than incremental developments - jet engines did not result from gradual changes to propeller engines. But overall, the argument is that technologies do indeed evolve.
And how much can computers tell us about the way the human brain processes information? Two cognative neuroscientists, Padraic Monaghan from Lancaster University and James Keidel from Manchester University, discuss their research.
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b00n5nqr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b00n4y8c)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b00n4ybx)
National and international news and analysis with Robin Lustig.
Another MP is standing down after allegations about his parliamentary expenses.
Militants carry out a series of bomb attacks on security forces in Pakistan, killing nearly 40 people.
Is our thirst for celebrity gossip an ethical catastrophe or a harmless diversion?
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00n4yym)
And Another Thing...
Episode 4
Eoin Colfer's sequel to Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Read by Stephen Mangan, with Peter Serafinowicz.
A far-off planetoid is in need of a presiding god, as are some hitchhikers.
i
Abridged by Penny Leicester.
THU 23:00 Pick Ups (b00n5rwp)
Series 2
Little Grey Cells
Sitcom by Ian Kershaw, set around a Manchester taxi company.
Dave's marriage proposal is temporarily postponed by an omelette.
Mike ...... Paul Loughran
Lind ...... Lesley Sharp
Dave ...... Phil Rowson
Rebel ..... Parvez Qadir
Drunk ...... Mark E Smith
Stevie ...... Suranne Jones
Pat the Butcher ...... Andrew Grose.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00n4z66)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with Sean Curran.
FRIDAY 16 OCTOBER 2009
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b00n4dqc)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b00n8vvx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00n4dsy)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00n4dzv)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00n4dyd)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b00n4g3b)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00n4g3d)
Daily prayer and reflection with the Right Rev Chris Edmondson, Bishop of Bolton.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b00n4g54)
2009 might be the best year for English wine - so good that they are hoping to export across the world. It is also a good year for organic farming, according to one of our listeners. A cosmetics company is supporting the Hunt Saboteurs Association with the proceeds from their soap, much to the opposition of the Countryside Alliance.
FRI 06:00 Today (b00n4gbk)
Presented by James Naughtie and Justin Webb.
A secret document has added to the tensions surrounding the dispute between Royal Mail and the Communication Workers' Union (CWU). The document suggests that Royal Mail has drawn up plans to no longer recognise the CWU, and wants to use the dispute to 'consider programme of reducing relationship with union'. General secretary of the CWU, Billy Hayes, discusses the report.
An independent study by education academics at Cambridge University suggests children should not begin formal schooling until the age of six. The reports argues that children respond better to play-based learning at a young age, and that National Curriculum tests, SATS, should be scrapped. Correspondent Sarah Campbell went to one primary school which contributed to the study.
The Commons Speaker, John Bercow, has defended the investigation into parliamentary expenses. Many MPs have criticised Sir Thomas Legg's inquiry and would like the Speaker to defy public opinion and find the retrospective rules on their claims unacceptable. Another MP, the Conservative David Wilshire, was forced to announce that he would stand down over allegations that he paid more than 100,000 pounds of office allowances to his own company. Mr Wilshire claims he did nothing wrong. Mike Warburton, tax director at accountants Grant Thornton, examines Mr Wilshire's case.
The director general of MI5, Jonathan Evans, has defended the security service from accusations of collusion in torture. He was speaking at Bristol University last night. Security correspondent Gordon Corera, explains the allegations.
Three weeks ago, 600 French gendarmes closed down 'the Jungle' illegal migrants camp in Calais. The closure was met with protests, as 300 refugees were rounded up by French police. The UN agency for refugees says the living conditions for migrants in Calais and elsewhere are now unacceptable. Reporter Andrew Hosken went to Calais to investigate the lives of the migrants after the closure.
The husband of a woman who was brain damaged as the result of an undiagnosed haemorrhage has won nearly 4.5 million pounds in court. Cristina Malcolm has been left with a 'ten-minute memory' as a result of her experience, which her husband Sandy argued had come about because of the negligence of a GP. She requires round-the-clock care. Mr Malcolm discusses his family's ordeal.
Thought for the Day with Lord Harries of Pentregarth, Gresham Professor of Divinity.
Taliban attacks in Pakistan have killed at least 38 people, with three of the attacks aimed at security forces. The latest wave of violence has delayed a Pakistani army offensive on Taliban strongholds in South Waziristan. An expert on the Taliban, Ahmed Rashid, examines the current situation in the region.
The biggest review of primary school teaching in England in 40 years says children should not begin formal learning until they reach the age of six. 'Children, their World, their Education' took three years to compile and concludes that pupils are taught too narrowly, with too much emphasis on the basics of Maths and English. Professor Robin Alexander, the lead author of the report, explains its findings.
The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva will vote on whether to accept the report on the Gaza offensive compiled by the former South African judge, Richard Goldstone. The report concludes that both Israel and Hamas may have been guilty of war crimes. The decision could have a profound effect on the attempts to revive peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The British government is expected to abstain in the vote. Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen comments on the implications for the peace process.
A film of Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road will premiere at the London Film Festival tonight. The post-apocalyptic story tells the journey of a father and son through a landscape and society that has been devastated by some unknown catastrophe. The film's director, John Hillcoat, explains the making of the film.
The Scottish National Party is starting its annual conference in Inverness. The SNP, who have been in power for two years, are still ahead of the polls. One of their main campaigns is to create an independent Scotland. SNP Deputy Leader and the Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, discusses what the party envisage for the future, and the possibility of a referendum on independence.
Ranchers in America's northern Midwest are facing tough times. The high price of feed and low prices for cattle is making their lives, and the future of the cowboys who manage the cattle, uncertain. Correspondent Kevin Connolly went to Medora North Dakota, an old frontier town turned tourist attraction, to see what the future holds.
A six-year-old boy who set off a massive search and rescue operation in the United States has been found alive. Falcon Heene was feared to be inside a missing helium balloon belonging to his father, which ended up floating thousands o
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b00n4754)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b00n8vvz)
The Defence of the Realm
Episode 5
Peter Firth reads from Christopher Andrew's history of the British Security Service, MI5.
Using material released by the organisation's archives to mark its centenary year, this charts MI5's successes and failures through the two World Wars, the Cold War and the complex modern world of counter-terrorism.
Bringing the story up to date.
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00n4k2n)
Margaret Beckett interviewed; Alison Moyet sings live
Former Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett on her political career. Plus, being the first in the family to go to university; and Alison Moyet sings live.
FRI 11:00 Terry Nutkins: In the Ring of Bright Water (b00n5td6)
Episode 1
Following the sad death of Terry Nutkins, we revisit two documentaries he made about his unusual childhood spent with the author, Gavin Maxwell, in the remote west highlands.
When Terry Nutkins was 13 he moved from London to the isolated west highlands to live with Maxwell, whose most famous book is 'Ring of Bright Water' . In 2009 - forty years after Maxwell's death - Terry told the remarkable story of his life with this mercurial man and his famous otters, Edal and Teko.
'Ring of Bright Water' is, arguably, the finest book ever written about a man's relationship with landscape and wildlife. Published in 1960, it tells the story of Maxwell's life in the now almost mythical setting of Camusfearna. His poetic observations of otter behaviour and the detailed sketches and photographs in the book helped to change - on a worldwide basis - the reputation of these animals which were widely persecuted at the time.
Terry Nutkins had a boy's own adventure in a uniquely beautiful landscape. But he also found himself living a peculiar existence, in virtual isolation, with a man who was as charming as he was difficult, and whose depression led to severe mood swings. As Terry said, he had to grow up quickly.
Producer: Karen Gregor.
FRI 11:30 The Adventures of Inspector Steine (b00n5tzr)
Variation on A Theme
Comedy drama series by Lynne Truss set in 1950s Brighton.
Brunswick is back with his dear friends from the station, just in time for the annual cricket match between the villains and the police. But Steine's life continues to be under threat. So if it's not Brunswick, who is responsible?
Inspector Steine ...... Michael Fenton Stevens
Sergeant Brunswick ...... John Ramm
Constable Twitten ...... Matt Green
Mrs Groynes ...... Samantha Spiro
Unknown Villain ...... Adrian Bower
Albert ...... David Holt.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b00n4kd2)
Consumer news and issues with Peter White.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b00n4khm)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b00n4klz)
National and international news with Shaun Ley.
FRI 13:30 Feedback (b00n5vjq)
Roger Bolton airs listeners' views on BBC radio programmes and policy.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b00n4w3w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b00n5vjs)
Stephen Wakelam - A Dose of Fame
By Stephen Wakelam
In the final stages of writing Howards End, and nervous of success, E.M. Forster grapples with a mysterious death, his own sexuality and the seed of an idea for his next novel Maurice.
Morgan....Stephen Campbell Moore
Lily.............Diana Quick
Masood.....Navin Chowdhry
Malcolm.......Matt Addis
Ernest.....Benjamin Askew
Unwin......Sam Dale
Edward Arnold.Philip Fox
Roger Fry...Malcolm Tierney
Hilda........Caroline Guthrie
Director: David Hunter.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b00n5vrf)
Peter Gibbs chairs the popular horticultural forum.
Anne Swithinbank, Bob Flowerdew and Pippa Greenwood meet the valley gardeners of Itchen Abbas, near Winchester.
The country's top groundsman advises on autumn lawn maintenance and keeping the perfect lawn or sports field.
Including Gardening weather forecast.
FRI 15:45 Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life (b00n4wyq)
Domestic Violence
Continuing her hidden history, Amanda Vickery reveals the dark side of private life, and how the home became a trap.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b00n5vt7)
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.
FRI 16:30 The Film Programme (b00n5w33)
Terry Gilliam tells Francine Stock how he managed to cope with the death of his star Heath Ledger half-way through the making of his latest film, The Imaginarium Of Dr Parnassus.
FRI 16:56 1989: Day by Day (b00n4x5m)
16th October 1989
Sir John Tusa looks back at the events making the news 20 years ago.
The financial markets recover after Friday's Wall Street crash, averting another Black Monday; rehearsals begin for the first televised coverage of parliament; 120,000 East Germans gather in Leipzig for the largest anti-government demonstration in the nation's history.
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 17:00 PM (b00n4x7r)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00n4xb2)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b00n5w35)
Series 69
Episode 4
Sandi Toksvig chairs the topical comedy quiz. The panellists are Jeremy Hardy, Fred MacAulay, Simon Evans and Sue Perkins.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b00n4w3z)
It's the day of Mike and Vicky's dinner party. Lynda and Robert enjoy dips and crudités in the new garden at Willow Cottage. Lynda tells Mike and Vicky about Brian's offer to give the village a piece of land. However, she is horrified by the non-environmentally friendly lighting and outside heating arrangements in the garden.
Annette has a hangover, so Susan lets her off work early.
Later in the day Susan takes up her keys and finds Annette very low. It seems that Max has decided to end their relationship. He's got a new job, and is moving away - and he feels they haven't been going out long enough to keep up a commitment. Having heard from Vicky that her days at the shop might be numbered, Susan gets confirmation from Annette that Peggy is thinking about closing the shop. She is very upset. The shop means everything to her. If it closes, she doesn't know what she'll do.
Episode written by Tim Stimpson.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b00n4xj8)
A new cinema documentary The Cove attempts to penetrate a secret hidden cove in Japan where, for six months every year, thousands of dolphins are herded in and trapped before being slaughtered. The wildlife photographer and the film's director, Louie Psihoyos, discusses the risks he and his team took and the secrets they discovered.
In a grand building that was formerly the home of the Sierra Leonean Embassy, a multi-disciplinary group has created an exhibition which explores the fragility of democracy. The Embassy exhibition includes a genuine ballot box from Texas containing some of the infamous hanging-chads, a presidential palace made from mud and a specially-commissioned national anthem for a badly-run nation. Kirsty Lang speaks to curator Alex Dellal.
Jacqueline Springer reviews two new albums. Whitney Houston's first album for seven years, I Look to You, is released on the same day as last year's X-Factor winner, Alexandra Burke's debut Overcome.
When film director Jean-Stephane Sauvaire decided to make a film about child soldiers in Africa, he flew to Liberia with his camera to cast real ex-child soldiers as his actors, whom he then lived with for over a year. The resulting film, Johnny Mad Dog, based on the novel by Emmanuel Dongola, is a graphic and violent depiction of loss of innocence. Sauvaire discusses the impact he hopes the film will have and how he turned his young cast from soldiers into actors.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00n9kjt)
Degrees Of Separation
Ashes
Series of linked stories by Katie Hims on the theme of separation, based on experiences sent in by Woman's Hour listeners.
Rishi is a doctor whose sister has unexpectedly died, leaving the family, and especially her mother, grief stricken. The old lady turns on Leela's husband Paolo, who is trying to cope with his own loss.
Rishi Hussein ...... Saikat Ahamed
Vanhi ...... Taru Devani
Paolo ...... Andy Morton.
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b00n5w37)
Eddie Mair chairs the topical debate from Cerne Abbas in Dorset. The panellists are the Leader of the House of Lords, Baroness Royall, columnist and writer Viv Groskop, Howard Davies, Director of the London School of Economics, and Grant Shapps, shadow minister for housing, communities and local government.
FRI 20:50 David Attenborough's Life Stories (b00n5w39)
Series 1
Collecting
Why do we collect things? Is it a male response to ancient hunting instincts to provide food for the family?
Today, collecting by children is in decline, and with it the development of an early fascination with the natural world around them.
Series of talks by Sir David Attenborough on the natural histories of creatures and plants from around the world.
Producer: Julian Hector
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2009.
FRI 21:00 A History of Private Life: Omnibus (b00n5w7h)
Episode 3
Omnibus edition of Prof Amanda Vickery's series revealing the hidden history of home over 400 years, drawing on first-hand accounts from letters and diaries, many of which have never been heard before. Including songs which have been specially recorded for the series.
How the home was opened up in the 18th century, as visiting began.
The readers are Deborah Findlay, John Sessions, Madeleine Brolly and Simon Tcherniak.
The singers are Gwyneth Herbert and Thomas Guthrie, with David Owen Norris at the keyboard.
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b00n4y8f)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b00n4ybz)
National and international news and analysis with Felicity Evans.
The High Court rules that details of the torture allegedly inflicted on a former Guantanamo Bay detainee should be made public.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has endorsed a report that accuses both Israel and Hamas of war crimes in Gaza.
Are the days of books numbered?
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00n4yyr)
And Another Thing...
Episode 5
Eoin Colfer's sequel to Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Read by Stephen Mangan, with Peter Serafinowicz.
An immortal challenge must be faced.
Abridged by Penny Leicester.
FRI 23:00 A Good Read (b00n55sn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00n4z68)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with Mark D'Arcy.