SATURDAY 01 MAY 2010
SAT 00:00 Midnight News (b00s3hvs)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SAT 00:30 Book of the Week (b00s799m)
Defending the Guilty
Episode 5
Criminal barrister Alex McBride has come to the end of his trainee year: his 'pupillage'. Only one of the six trainees in Alex's chambers will be offered a job.
In this amusing and revealing series, Alex takes us behind the scenes of Britain's criminal justice system, introducing us to its outlandish personalities, arcane eccentricities and stories of triumph and defeat.
The producer is David Roper, and this is a Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00s3hvv)
The latest shipping forecast.
SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00s3hvx)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
5.20am.
SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00s3hvz)
The latest shipping forecast.
SAT 05:30 News Briefing (b00s3hw1)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00s3hw3)
Presented by the Revd Bob Fyffe, General Secretary of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.
SAT 05:45 Ankle High History (b00jlxjy)
Episode 4
Scotland has a lost archaeological history - the ruins of thousands of townships and buildings which have never been recorded on any map, yet which tell the tale of life in a period of dramatic change. Mark Stephen follows attempts to uncover those stories before the buildings fade from the landscape.
On the island of Mull, he meets two ladies who stumbled across a lost chapel. As he joins the specialist team surveying the site, he learns that not a single written record of it exists - but that it's probably over a thousand years old.
Producer Monise Durrani.
SAT 06:00 News and Papers (b00s3hw5)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SAT 06:04 Weather (b00s50lx)
The latest weather forecast.
SAT 06:07 Open Country (b00s50lz)
Scotland's Coldest Winter
Helen Mark is in Scotland to find out how the wildlife and landscape have been affected by the longest and coldest winter in decades. Many species of birds have suffered and there has been concern over deer which have moved to lower ground in search of food and, in some places, have literally been starving to death . The long term effect could be devastating and recovery could take years. Farmers have struggled to reach livestock and those that have managed to do so find themselves facing huge bills for extra feed. And in forests many trees have either died or lost branches when succumbing to the heavy weight of snow on their boughs.
But is it all bad news? Reports of a midge free summer after the icy weather caused the hibernating insects to freeze to death in the ground have been greeted with delight by tourists and locals alike. And in ancient forests such as the Abernethy Nature Reserve which works to create deadwood, this winter has been one of their best with naturally created deadwood serving as food for bugs which, in turn provide a hearty meal for birds. So, has it been an exceptionally bad winter......or have we simply forgotten what a 'real' winter is like?
Helen journeys through the Highlands of Scotland to find out about the impact of the freezing temperatures and deep snow, which lay on the ground for almost 3 months. She begins at the Aigas Field Centre in Beauly, home of writer, Sir John Lister Kaye. For years, John has closely observed the changes in nature from his regular walks round a loch near his home and feels that this winter has hit the wildlife in the area pretty hard. From Beauly, Helen travels to the Black Isle to meet up with Dan Tomes of the RSPB to hear how the bird population has coped with the arctic conditions, particularly the barn owl which relies so heavily on the mice and voles which would have been buried under thick snow.
But not all is doom and gloom. Wardens at the Abernethy Nature Reserve in the Cairngorm National Park, part of which is ancient Caledonian woodland, work to create deadwood which provides food for bugs and, in turn, the birds that feed on them. Helen is shown how this is done, and lends a hand by helping to winch a tree to the ground. This winter, with heavy snow on the boughs of ancient trees, the forest came to life with the gunfire sound of branches breaking and snapping naturally. For Desmond Dugan and Ian Perks at Abernethy, this has been a great winter!
But not so for farmers. Finally, Helen travels the few miles to Balliefurth Farm where she meets farmer Alastair McLennan. Alastair has struggled through the thick snow to reach his sheep which have been reliant on supplementary feed all winter and this problem will continue well into the year with the arrival so late of spring.
Producer: Helen Chetwynd.
SAT 06:30 Farming Today (b00s50m1)
Farming Today This Week
Twelve months ago, Farming Today took possession of its own beehive. The aim was to keep the colony of honeybees alive for a year and to examine the problems facing beekeepers and honeybees close up. Now the year is at an end, Charlotte Smith looks back at the trials and tribulations of the programme's beekeepers and makes one final visit to see Aunty, the Queen bee, at the apiary in Warwickshire.
Producer: Fran Barnes.
SAT 06:57 Weather (b00s50m3)
The latest weather forecast.
SAT 07:00 Today (b00s50m5)
With John Humphrys and Evan Davis. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (b00s50m7)
The Reverend Richard Coles is joined by author Jodi Picoult, poet Murray Lachlan Young, a man who's painted the portraits of the Queen, the Princess Royal (six times) and Bruce Forsythe (once), one woman who eighty years ago in Chicago got caught in the cross fire between law enforcement and Mr Al Capone, and another who for years has been the victim of a cyber stalker. And the Inheritance Tracks of actor Ian Hart.
SAT 10:00 Excess Baggage (b00s50m9)
John McCarthy focuses on the Caucasus, the mountainous region between the Black and the Caspian Seas. It contains Europe's highest mountain and landscapes ranging from subtropical to Alpine and semi-desert. It is ideal walking country but international tensions, particularly between Georgia and Russia, have meant that it is not as well visited as it deserves to be according to Oliver Bullough and Peter Nasmyth who have both travelled widely in the region.
Doug Patterson is a painter and architect who, following in the footsteps of 18th and 19th century artists, has painted monasteries and mosques across North Africa, Greece, India and Bhutan. He talks to John about what, despite the differences in religion, the buildings and locations have in common - including those in Greece and Bhutan which are perched on or cling to cliff faces.
SAT 10:30 The Art of the Public Address (b00s50mc)
Laurie Taylor investigates the pain - and occasional pleasure - of the UK's public address announcements and goes on a mission to improve people who make these announcements. It's a form of broadcasting that often has very little or no training whatsoever, yet it's heard by millions each day.
Laurie discovers what elements are needed to make us listen to public messages and asks if the people who make them simply get handed a microphone and told to speak. What causes the un-natural pronunciation with the stress nearly always in the wrong place? Why is the language often so archaic? Laurie holds a master-class for shop workers eager to improve their announcements and tests the before and after results.
Comedian Arthur Smith, who has trained train workers to speak, challenges Laurie to master the tannoy himself and we hear what happens when he takes over making the announcements on the
12.03 to Birmingham.
The producer is Howie Shannon, and this is a White Pebble production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 11:00 The Heckler (b00s50mf)
Episode 4
Clive Anderson presents a quirky, irreverent guide to the events of the election campaign. This week, anyone for tennis? How the hidden rules of English electioneering were revealed in a Wimbledon final. What the politicians really think of the voters they have to woo and flatter, and if we do get a hung parliament, will our leaders be simply too exhausted by all that campaigning to thrash out a deal to run the country?
Plus the author Michael Dobbs sketches out some alternative endings to the story of this campaign ... will the final chapter bring a fairytale ending, a horror-writer's bloodbath, or a cliffhanger, setting up an inevitable sequel?
Producers: Peter Mulligan / Mark D'Arcy / Leala Padmanabhan.
Editor: Martin Rosenbaum.
SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (b00s50mh)
In today's programme..
The man who's shaking the foundations of Egyptian politics.
We're with Maoist rebels in the jungles of India.
The endless, agonising wait for those who went missing in Lebanon's civil war.
And a earthquake warning rattles the nerves of our man in Los Angeles...
President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt has been in power for nearly thirty years. His rule has not been a triumph for democracy. The great weight of the state has often been brought down on his opponents. It's believed that the ageing Mr Mubarak either wants -- yet again -- to renew his term in office next year..or allow his son, Gamal to take over. The President's critics accuse him of governing Egypt in the style of a modern Pharoah. But as Christian Fraser explains, quite suddenly a new challenger has begun to stir the country's stagnant political waters..
They call it the "Red Corridor". It's the swathe of central and eastern India where Maoists rebels are fighting a guerrilla war. There are attacks on police stations, bomb blasts and skirmishes with security forces. The rebellion first surfaced more than forty years ago, and it's cost several thousand lives. The Maoists say they're fighting for the rural poor...people marginalised and exploited by the state. India's leaders are worried. They've called the insurgency the country's "biggest internal security challenge". And they've thrown a-hundred-thousand extra soldiers and police into the fight. Alpa Shah has been spending time with the Maoists in the jungles of Jharkhand state ..
When mounting tensions finally erupted, Lebanon moved from peace to war in the space of just a few hours. A church was shot at and a bus was ambushed..and so a decade-and-a-half of conflict began. It all happened one day thirty-five years ago. Two-hundred thousand people died in the war, and half-a-million more were injured. But others simply went missing. And Dahlila Mahdawi reflects now on the anguish of those who..all these years on..still wait for sons and daughters who never came home...
Everywhere, the sense of anticipation and excitement is rising. We're now just five weeks from the start of the great festival of football that is the World Cup. Once the tournament's underway the host nation, South Africa will feel like the centre of the universe. Inevitably, some have questioned how well the country will cope with the pressure. But Hamilton Wende believes that..whatever happens on the field..South Africa will be a winner..
The continual, nagging fear of earthquakes casts a shadow over life in the sunshine of California. Everybody there knows that vast and dangerous forces could be building in the earth just beneath their feet. Nobody forgets how the great city of San Francisco was once laid waste. And like everyone else, David Willis in Los Angeles wonders when the next "big one" will strike..It is the most deadly serious question, but even so..he can see the funny side of his bleak predicament..
SAT 12:00 Money Box (b00s50mk)
Paul Lewis brings you the latest news from the world of personal finance.
How should investors view this week's news that three eurozone countries have been rated a higher debt risk? Is the diagnosis correct, and is the UK immune from this contagion given the country's high deficit?
Plus: we hear from the Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesman Vince Cable about his plans for our personal finances if his party wins the General Election.
And it's a rainy day for one Manchester Building Society saver who simply wants to get a better interest rate for his money.
Producer: Penny Haslam.
SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (b00s3hrw)
Series 71
Episode 3
Sandi Toksvig presents another episode of the ever-popular topical panel show. Guests this week include Andy Hamilton and Francis Wheen.
Produced by Sam Bryant.
SAT 12:57 Weather (b00s50mm)
The latest weather forecast.
SAT 13:00 News (b00s50mp)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (b00s3hry)
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs the live debate from Garston in Hertfordshire with questions from the audience for the panel including: Shaun Woodward, Northern Ireland Secretary; Michael Gove, Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families; Charles Kennedy, former leader of the Liberal Democrats and Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy Leader of the Scottish National Party.
SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (b00s50mr)
Jonathan Dimbleby takes listeners' calls and emails in response to this week's edition of Any Questions?
SAT 14:30 Saturday Drama (b00s50mt)
The Indian in the Cupboard
Eleven year old Omri isn't very impressed with the rubbish birthday present from his friend Patrick, a plastic Native American Indian figure. But he's delighted with the old bathroom cupboard given him by his elder brothers Adiel and Gillon. That night Omri puts the Indian in the cupboard for safe keeping, and locks the door. In the morning he's woken by noises from inside the cupboard - and opening the door, finds the Indian has come to life, and his name is Little Bull. Which is all very exciting, but now he has to find a way of looking after a real human being who, although he is only 3 inches tall, needs to be fed, and wants a horse, and a wife. And when Patrick finds out, it becomes very difficult indeed.
Written by Lynne Reid Banks (who also wrote The L Shaped Room), she brings to it all the seriousness and humanity - and humour - of her adult fiction. And like that other story of little people, The Borrowers, this story explores human nature and real moral and ethical issues as Omri realises the power he has over Little Bull.
Dramatised for radio by Jane Purcell.
Omri ..... Dominic Herman-Day
Patrick ..... George Sanderson
Little Bull ..... Ben Crowe
Tommy Atkins ..... Tom Andrews
Adiel ..... Luke Banasiewicz
Gillon ..... Sam Harris
The producer is Chris Wallis, and this is an Autolycus production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 15:30 The Music Group (b00s2xhh)
Series 4
Episode 3
Comedian Milton Jones joins editor of 'The Lady' Rachel Johnson and Wilf Lunn - best known for his satirical inventions on Vision ON - to explain why they've brought a pop-punk record, a Californian country ballad and a Swedish harmonica epic to this week's show.
Milton makes public his desire to be Billy Idol. Rachel reveals what happened when her Sixties liberal dad caught her with a Mohican-wearing boyfriend and Wilf explains how he got sacked from his job as a projectionist - for not playing Larry Adler. And in one surreal episode, a guest muddles up a 'rubbery egg' with a well known lyric. It all makes for some bizarre conversation.
Hosted by Dr Phil Hammond.
The music choices are:
Swedish Rhapsody by Larry Adler
Rebel Yell by Billy Idol
Me and Bobby McGee by Janis Joplin
Producer: Tamsin Hughes. A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (b00s50q8)
Weekend Woman's Hour
Presented by Jane Garvey.
Actor Harriet Walter talks about her role as a scheming widow in the Jacobean tragedy Women Beware Women, now enjoying a revival at London's National Theatre.
Voting behaviour: is it hereditary? Kevin Maguire, associate editor of the Daily Mirror, Rachel Johnson, editor of The Lady and Olly Grender, former communications director for the Lib Dems, discuss parental influence.
For years women endured the girdle and now men have a garment of their own to hold it all in. Designer Jeff Banks assesses the benefits of 'the mirdle'.
Childcare guru Penelope Leach on the argument that allowing young babies to cry for prolonged periods could harm their developing brains.
Horrockses Fashions - a look back at one of the best known brands of the 1950's and the designs that are selling for top prices in the vintage clothes market.
Maths in schools: why some experts say that despite the national numeracy strategy, maths teaching is failing to score top marks.
Swearing: is it worse when women use bad language?
SAT 17:00 PM (b00s50qb)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Carolyn Quinn, plus the sports headlines.
SAT 17:30 iPM (b00s5172)
iPM hears from listeners who have submitted election questions, a listener whose family is divided by politics, a tale of inter-country adoption and Your News read by Andrew Neil.
SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b00s5174)
The latest shipping forecast.
SAT 17:57 Weather (b00s5176)
The latest weather forecast.
SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00s5178)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (b00s517b)
Peter Curran and guests with an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy.
Peter is joined by Australian comedy actress Jane Turner, one half of the cult hit sitcom Kath and Kim, as she makes her London stage debut in 'Holding the Man'.
Michael Mosley talks about the wonder of science and how it shaped the world in his latest landmark series, The Story of Science: Power, Proof and Passion.
Choirmaster Gareth Malone moves from singing in schools and housing estates to exploring the history of Sea Shanties for BBC Four.
Emma Freud looks at Picasso, Dali, Matisse and Warhol with art critic Alastair Sooke and presenter of Modern Masters on BBC One.
There's comedy from the delightful Hal Cruttenden.
Plus music from dub-reggae legends Dreadzone.
And pop perfection from Marina and the Diamonds.
SAT 19:00 From Fact to Fiction (b00s517d)
Series 8
Motorway Man
It's the last weekend before polling. The debates are over, and it's 'make your mind up time'. Across the country, barbeques are being primed, lawns are being mown and choices are being mulled over. Somewhere amidst the Home Counties marginals, Motorway Man - this election's successor to Worcestershire Woman and Mondeo Man - has been distracted from his task. By Tony Grounds.
Adam ... Rhys Thomas
Mikey ... Kenneth Cranham
Rochelle ... Kellie Shirley
Ian ... Jude Akuwudike
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko.
SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (b00s517g)
Tom Sutcliffe and guests Esther Freud, David Benedict and Kathryn Hughes discuss cultural highlights of the week including Thomas Middleton's drama Women Beware Women, which ends with one of the grandest bloodbaths in Elizabethan drama, Goetz Spielman's film Revanche - an Austrian revenger's tragedy and David Mitchell's new novel The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - in which the hero is a Dutch clerk for the Dutch East India company, dispatched to the closely guarded enclave of Dejima in Nagasaki bay. Also in the programme is BBC 4's new film season, Sea Fever, including the Art of the Sea in Pictures and in Words, presented by novelist and poet Owen Sheers, and exhibition, The Concise Dictionary of Dress at Blythe House.
SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (b00s517j)
The Bradford Fire: A Day That Will Live With Me Forever
May 11th 1985 is a day which will live with Gabby Logan forever.
The third division trophy had just been paraded around Valley Parade by the triumphant Bradford City players and the game against Lincoln City was a formality the home side had to go through before they could really start celebrating.
Gabby's dad, Terry Yorath, was assistant manager of Bradford City that season and aged 12, she attended the match with her family. The fire which later swept through one of the stands in just four minutes, started about four rows from where Gabby and her brother and sister would usually sit.
56 people died in the disaster while more than 260 were injured. The majority of those who perished were either young children or the elderly. In some cases, several generations of the same family were wiped out.
The horrific TV images of the fire taking hold shocked a nation and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Prince Charles and Princess Diana all visited Bradford in the days following the tragedy.
It was the worst fire disaster in British football history and In this Archive on 4, Gabby hears from survivors who were forced to make split second decisions to escape as well as the lengths people went to in order to save others.
In the weeks and months following the fire, £3.5 million pounds was raised by The Bradford Disaster Appeal Fund - the highlight being a special version of the 1960s Gerry and The Pacemakers hit "You'll Never Walk Alone". The Crowd's cover version would later go to Number One.
The disaster led to major changes in football safety as well as pioneering medical products for burns injuries and the establishment of the Bradford Burns Unit. Gabby reflects on how, 25 years on, lives are still being saved as a result of this often forgotten disaster.
The producer is Ashley Byrne, and this is a Made in Manchester production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 21:00 Classic Serial (b00s1pdv)
Book 3: Smiley's People
Part 3
Simon Russell Beale stars as the intelligence officer George Smiley in a three-part dramatisation by Robert Forrest of John le Carre's classic novel, first published in 1979 and the third in the celebrated 'Karla Trilogy' following 'Tinker, Tailor, Solder, Spy' and 'The Honourable Schoolboy.'
Part 3: Smiley is ready to spring the trap on his life-long Russian adversary Karla. With Toby Esterhase watching his back, he now moves the operation to Berne in Switzerland. But can he be certain he's the hunter, not the hunted?
Ann ..... Anna Chancellor
Ostrakova ..... Lindsay Duncan
Peter Guillam ..... Richard Dillane
Saul Enderby ..... James Laurenson
Inspector Mendel ..... Kenneth Cranham
Toby Esterhase ..... Sam Dale
Grigoriev ..... Finlay Welsh
Night Registrar/Sister ..... Joanna Monro
Karla ..... Philip Fox
Tatiana ..... Alison Pettitt
Producer Patrick Rayner
This production continues BBC Radio 4's major undertaking of dramatising all of the eight novels that feature the spymaster George Smiley, played throughout by Simon Russell Beale.
'a radio triumph... Simon Russell Beale's pitch-perfect master spy.' (Financial Times)
The Smiley Books:
The bespectacled, tubby, eternally middle-aged, deceptively ordinary, constantly cuckolded, morally perplexed and steel-trap-minded George Smiley - a man said to possess 'the cunning of Satan and the conscience of a virgin' - is one of the most brilliantly realised characters in British fiction, and one of the very few to have an iconic status comparable to Sherlock Holmes.
Gripping as they are as sophisticated thrillers - le Carre is first and foremost a master storyteller - the eight novels are also profound studies of the British governing class and its institutions over the long years of the Cold War.
What the critics have said of The Complete Smiley:
'A cracking adaptation' (Financial Times)
'promised to be delicious, and it was.' (Guardian)
'radio drama at its best. Chillingly good.' (Daily Mail)
'Another utterly gorgeous adaptation.' (Time Out)
The eight and final novel in the Smiley sequence, 'The Secret Pilgrim', will be broadcast in June.
Simon Russell Beale's distinguished career has been concentrated almost entirely on the classical stage, where his parts include Hamlet, Iago and Macbeth. He won the Best Actor Olivier for his performance as Vanya in Uncle Vanya in 2003. He was awarded a CBE the same year.
Robert Forrest has written extensively for radio, where his work has won three Sony Awards. He has dramatised works by, among others, Leo Tolstoy, George Eliot, Robert Louis Stevenson, Conan Doyle, Ford Madox Ford and Vladimir Nabokov. His stage play for children Jason and the Argonauts has toured internationally and on Broadway. He lives in Strathaven, Lanarkshire.
This episode is available until
3.00pm on Sunday 2nd May as part of the Series Catch-up Trial.
SAT 22:00 News and Weather (b00s517l)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
SAT 22:15 Unreliable Evidence (b00s3gq7)
Jury Trial
The British tradition of trial by jury is under threat.
Amendments to the Criminal Justice Act have allowed the first criminal trial to take place without a jury for over 400 years. And a senior judge is recommending the removal of juries from libel trials.
In the last in the current series of Unreliable Evidence, Clive Anderson and guests discuss the future of the jury.
Long-standing critic of the jury system, Sir Louis Blom-Cooper argues that the failure of juries to give reasons for their verdicts, makes them unaccountable. He argues that defendants should at least be given the option to be tried by a judge alone.
Crown Court Judge Simon Tonking, and criminal barrister Chris Sallon QC, both support the jury system, though Judge Tonking admits he doesn't always agree with the verdicts returned by juries. Prof Cheryl Thomas' report for the Ministry of Justice concluded that juries are fair, efficient and effective, but she concedes that there is room for improvement.
An Above the Title production for BBC Radio 4
Producers: Anne Tyerman Brian King.
SAT 23:00 Counterpoint (b00s2w22)
Series 24
2010 Heat 6
Paul Gambaccini chairs the general knowledge music quiz from Manchester.
The questions cover every aspect of music - from the classical repertoire to world music, show tunes, film scores, jazz, rock and pop.
The three contestants from Glasgow, Cheadle and Blackpool are:
Wilson Bain
Mick Frankel
Christopher Rodwell
Producer: Paul Bajoria
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2010.
SAT 23:30 Lost Voices (b00s1pdz)
Series 2
Thomas Blackburn
BBC Radio 4's Poet in Residence, Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry with 'Lost Voices: Thomas Blackburn'.
Novelist Julia Blackburn joins Brian Patten to talk about the life and work of her father, Thomas, whose powerful and remarkable poetry reflects the lifelong struggles he had with his demons. Thomas's father handed on to his son a hideous sense of shame which was in due course compounded by alcoholism and an addiction to prescription drugs. Yet Thomas Blackburn's rich and unflinching poetry is still well worth reading, and at the end of his life he was able to make peace with the past and die in contentment.
Poems read by Patrick Romer.
Producer: Christine Hall.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.
SUNDAY 02 MAY 2010
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b00s54c7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Afternoon Reading (b009psp2)
What I Learned from the Metaphysical Poets
Taken in Shadows
By Helen Dunmore
A painted portrait, depicting the charismatic beauty of John Donne, inspires this short story by a mistress of the form.
Reader: Emma Fielding.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00s54c9)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00s54cc)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00s54cf)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b00s54ch)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b00s54ck)
The Bells of St Stephen's church in Brannel, Cornwall.
SUN 05:45 It Happened Here (b00sb22y)
Admiralty House
In the first of three programmes showing how places have influenced political events, the leading historian of post-war Britain, Peter Hennessy visits Admiralty House in London.
The government building at the north end of Whitehall, close to Trafalgar Square, has frequently been the office and home of post-war prime ministers when 10 Downing Street has needed refurbishment.
Peter first recalls the momentous events of the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 and reveals that it was from Admiralty House that the dramatic order was given by prime minister Harold Macmillan for Britain's nuclear weapons to be put on standby for imminent launch. He also discusses the remarkable "Night of the Long Knives" that summer when Macmillan notoriously sacked a third of his Cabinet.
Thirty years later, during John Major's premiership, Peter shows how Admiralty House once again became the focus of worldwide political and public attention as the place where the United Kingdom's membership of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (the ERM) finally collapsed in ignominy, causing lasting damage to the reputation and credibility of the recently-elected government.
Producer: Simon Coates.
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b00s54cm)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b00s54cp)
Westminster Abbey
Mark Tully presents a special edition of Something Understood from Westminster Abbey, which this month celebrates the 450th anniversary of its establishment as a collegiate church by Elizabeth I.
The Dean of Westminster, The Very Reverend Dr John Hall, guides us through some of the Abbey's most sacred spaces, and talks about the inspiration he finds in the 'prayer-soaked walls'. Prayer is the main theme of the programme, and The Dean talks personally about how and why he prays, including an admission that before any great State Service involving the Queen, he sends up a quick 'stiffening' arrow of prayer.
The programme includes prayers by some of those who are buried in the Abbey, like Charles Dickens, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Sir Isaac Newton. The music too is by the great musicians commemorated there: Handel, Purcell, Stanford, and Noel Coward, whose moving wartime song 'London Pride' celebrates the spirit of the Blitz. Other readings include an account of Charles II's coronation in the Abbey by Samuel Pepys - as always just as interested in the fine ladies as the spectacle going on round him; and a sharp satire on prayer by John Betjeman.
A programme which evokes the awe of a very beautiful sacred space - but which is also witty, and lively, never too solemn.
The producer is Elizabeth Burke. This is a Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b00s54cr)
Welsh sheep and wool
Adam Henson visits Cwmchwefru Farm and talks to Lesley Wickham about her passion for coloured sheep, her Dexter cows and the numerous varieties of goats to be found on her 100 acre farm in the Cambrian Mountains. Originally a knitwear designer and spinner Lesley has developed her interest in naturally coloured fleeces, ethical farming methods and animal husbandry in general into a successful business which supplies high quality wool and woollen goods. She has been successfully cross breeding her sheep for 20 years and despite working almost single handedly still occasionally finds time to spin and knit in her own studio on the farm, a welcome and relaxing refuge from the mountain weather and the rounds of feeding and muck clearing.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b00s54ct)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b00s54cw)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b00s54cy)
William Crawley with the religious and ethical news of the week. Moral arguments and perspectives on stories, familiar and unfamiliar.
How seriously do our civil servants take faith issues? Trevor Barnes reports.
May 6th is The National Day of Prayer in the USA. Matt Wells reports from New York on the controversy surrounding the day of prayer this year.
Chris Morris film Four Lions which follows a group of Jihadists in Sheffield is released next Friday, author of 'Love in A Headscarf', Shelina Janmohammed reviews the film.
Greece is on the cusp of a financial meltdown which could effect other EU countries, we investigate how the Orthodox church has been caught up in the crisis and talk to Greek Journalist Rosy Voudouri.
In the last of our election discussions with faith communities, William Crawley discusses how the Sikh and Hindu communities are likely to vote and asks what issues are they most keen to see the political parties tackle.
Is the Archbishop of Canterbury right to suggest Christianity should have special legal privileges? We speak to Steve Clifford the General Director of the Evangelical Alliance and Andrea Williams from the Christian Legal Centre
William Crawley discusses the contentious issue of Faith Schools, with politicians from the major parties (Conservative, Labour, and Lib Dem), explaining their policy.
E-mail: sunday@bbc.co.uk
Series producer: Amanda Hancox.
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b00s54d0)
Contact a Family
Muriel Gray appeals on behalf of Contact a Family.
Donations to Contact a Family should be sent to FREEPOST BBC Radio 4 Appeal, please mark the back of your envelope Contact a Family. Credit cards: Freephone 0800 404 8144. If you are a UK tax payer, please provide Contact a Family with your full name and address so they can claim the Gift Aid on your donation. The online and phone donation facilities are not currently available to listeners without a UK postcode.
Registered Charity Number: 284912.
SUN 07:58 Weather (b00s54d2)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b00s54d4)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b00s54d6)
A service from Farnham United Reformed Church led by the Minister, the Revd Michael Hopkins. Preacher The Revd Roberta Rominger, General Secretary of the URC. Director of Music Edwin Rolles; Producer Stephen Shipley.
SUN 08:50 A Point of View (b00s3hs0)
When money is just an illusion
Simon Schama reflects on the meaning of money as represented by coins and notes and in art. He celebrates the solidity of coins with their seeming defiance of monetary transience in contrast to paper money which embodies more readily the ephemeral nature of fortunes made and lost. Simon Schama sees the current economic crisis as an ideal moment for artists to emulate their predecessors from earlier times of boom and bust by producing paintings to express financial worthlessness.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b00s54d8)
Paddy talks to a former teacher who returned to the classroom after 30 years and found it a more menacing place. Also, if you voice an opinion, should you check your facts first? The Sunday newspapers reviewed by John Sergeant, John O'Farrell and Jenny Seagrove.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b00s54db)
Written By: Tim Stimpson
Directed By: Kate Oates
Editor: Vanessa Whitburn
Kenton Archer ... Richard Attlee
David Archer ... Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer ... Felicity Finch
Tony Archer ... Colin Skipp
Pat Archer ... Patricia Gallimore
Helen Archer ... Louiza Patikas
Tom Archer ... Tom Graham
Brian Aldridge ... Charles Collingwood
Jennifer Aldridge ... Angela Piper
Kate Madicane ... Kellie Bright
Matt Crawford ... Kim Durham
Lilian Bellamy ... Sunny Ormonde
Peggy Woolley ... June Spencer
Fallon Rogers ... Joanna Van-Kampen
Kathy Perks ... Hedli Niklaus
Joe Grundy ... Edward Kelsey
Eddie Grundy ... Trevor Harrison
Ed Grundy ... Barry Farrimond
Mike Tucker ... Terry Molloy
Vicky Tucker ... Rachel Atkins
Brenda Tucker ... Amy Shindler
Kirsty Miller ... Annabelle Dowler
Jazzer McCreary ... Ryan Kelly
Paul ... Michael Fenton Stevens
Ted ... Paul Webster.
SUN 11:15 The Reunion (b00s54dd)
Tonight Programme
On the 18th February 1957 the BBC broadcast the first programme of a series that was destined to run to over a thousand episodes, although many people involved in making the programme were far from convinced that they would be able to pull off even the pilot successfully.
Tonight was the first time that the BBC had tried to broadcast a live current affairs programme that ran five nights a week, but it turned out to be an important milestone in the BBC's evolution, marking a shift from an "Auntie Knows Best" attitude to being a voice for the viewer.
An incredible array of talent went through Tonight's offices, and Sue is joined by five of its leading lights. Alasdair Milne was, with Donald Baverstock, one of the programme's original executive producers and went on become Director General of the BBC. Antony Jay was in charge of the ground-breaking film unit and went on to write Yes Minister. Cynthia Kee was in charge of the cultural side of the programme, booking famous names such as Louis Armstrong and Brigitte Bardot.
Jack Gold worked in the editing department before branching out to become a successful film director, responsible for The Naked Civil Servant, Aces High and The Medusa Touch, and Julian Pettifer was one of the programme's roving reporters.
There are also contributions from other key players: presenter Cliff Michelmore, reporter Alan Whicker and singer Cy Grant.
The producers are James Crawford and David Prest. A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:00 The Unbelievable Truth (b00s2w3d)
Series 5
Episode 5
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.
Tony Hawks, Arthur Smith, Phill Jupitus and Catherine Tate are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as ostriches, toast, spectacles and the colour red.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith, the team behind Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
Producer - Jon Naismith.
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b00s54dg)
Food and Photography
Food is photographed a lot. From features in the weekend papers to oozing pudding adverts on TV - from shots on supermarket packaging to the artful single lettuce leaf suspended above the aisle.. It's quite possible that we see more photographs of food than we do real food. In the first of two programmes about portrayal of food, Sheila Dillon explores the world of commercial food photography. Do they REALLY use mashed potato instead of ice-cream? And which image on the cover of a food mag is most likely to shift copies? Sheila is joined by cook/foodwriter, Nigel Slater, to discuss the changing fashions in depicting dinner.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b00s54dj)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b00s54dl)
A look at events around the world with Shaun Ley.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b00s3hrp)
Matt James gives the lowdown on invasive plants: How is the government proposing to restrict the sale of these potent plants?
This week, the team is in Nottinghamshire, The panel members are Pippa Greenwood, Bunny Guinness and Bob Flowerdew. Eric Robson is the chairman.
The producer is Lucy Dichmont. This is a Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:45 Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen's Escape to the Country (b00s54j7)
Octavia Hill
How Octavia set up the National Trust, based on her belief in the importance of nature for the working class.
SUN 15:00 Laurie Lee - Cider with Rosie (b0075qkb)
Episode 1
Tim McInnerny plays Laurie and Niamh Cusack his mother, in this production recorded on location in and around the Slad valley. In the first of two episodes dramatised by Nick Darke, the Lee family arrive in their new home.
Laurie........Tim McInnerny
Mother.......Niamh Cusack
Young Loll..Sunny Leworthy
With Jennifer Compton, Paul Currier, Briony Fforde, Daniel Clifford, Lisa Kay, Laura Strachan, Jed Blacklock, David Goodland, Constance Chapman, Val Lorraine, Chris Grimes, June Barrie, James Lawton, Pupils of Rodborough Primary School.
Music by Paul Burgess
Directed by Viv Beeby and Jeremy Howe.
SUN 16:00 Bookclub (b00s54tn)
Orhan Pamuk
Orhan Pamuk, Turkey's most prominent writer and winner of the Nobel Prize for Fiction, joins James Naughtie and readers to discuss My Name is Red.
The novel is a complicated mixture of murder mystery, fairy tale and exploration of the medieval world of the Turkish miniaturist painter.
The novel begins - surreally - from the point of view of the murdered man; his body thrown down the bottom of a well, he waits for this death to be discovered. The story is then taken up by a myriad of characters, which include a coin and a horse, as well as the colour Red itself. They recount a chapter at least each - in fact this book has twenty narrators and yet, as James Naughtie and readers testify, it is a page-turner.
My Name is Red is the most popular of Pamuk's in the English speaking world, due he says to the whodunnit element, but also to the global appeal of the art.
Orhan Pamuk discloses how as a young man he longed to be a painter, and so as a successful writer, it was a natural progression to write about the joys of painting, and to explore how an artist feels as their hands move across the page.
His reputation as the funny man of his family is also in evidence. Despite his intellectual credentials, humour is an important tool for him. He says he doesn't like writing a serious book, and if the reader isn't smiling when he reads his work, then he feels guilty.
June's Bookclub choice : The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks
Producer : Dymphna Flynn.
SUN 16:30 Lost Voices (b00s556s)
Series 2
Padraic Fiacc
Padraic Fiacc was born in Belfast in the mid-1920s and migrated with his family to New York in search of a less violent society - unfortunately they found themselves in the notorious Hell's Kitchen area where social problems were rife and gang warfare raged. Coming back to Belfast later in his life, Fiacc recognised many of these social problems and was able to write about them with an outsider's eye. His straightforward language and spare, stark style marked him out from the more lyrical poets writing in the great Irish tradition, and for decades he has been cold-shouldered by the literary establishment. Brian Patten tells the story, illustrated with some of Fiacc's most poignant and sometimes disturbing poems.
The reader is Jonjo O'Neill.
Produced by Christine Hall.
SUN 17:00 Thank You For My Freedom (b00s2yll)
Former Beirut Hostage John McCarthy has never thanked Giandomenico Picco, the United Nations negotiator who arranged his release. In this documentary John at last travels to meet him and explores the development of the role of the crisis negotiator.
The journey John McCarthy makes is a deeply personal one. He is intensely grateful for the role Picco took in arranging his release - at no small risk to himself - and John's journey to New York provides a compelling holding form for his wider purpose.
John is fascinated by the skills and dedication of men such as Picco, and he explores how the techniques used in negotiation have changed and developed.
With the help of archive and interviews, John contemplates the development of the role of the negotiator. Beginning with the emergence of negotiation as a psychological study in early 70s America, he considers negotiation tactics being used in international crises and domestic incidents - can the same tactics be employed in both arenas?
The programme culminates in John's meeting with Picco. He will endeavour, in the light of his investigations into the role of the negotiator, to answer some of his closer unanswered questions regarding the back room story that led to his own personal freedom.
Producer - Kevin Dawson
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 17:40 From Fact to Fiction (b00s517d)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b00s556v)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b00s556x)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00s556z)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b00s5571)
Val McDermid makes her selection from the last seven days of BBC Radio
The Vote Now Show - Radio 4
Black Watch, 3 Scots - A War in Their Own Words - Radio Scotland
Great Lives - Radio 4
Thank You For My Freedom - Radio 4
Start the Week - Radio 4
Defending The Guilty - Radio 4
Unreliable Evidence - Radio 4
Bette and Joan and Baby Jane - Radio 4
Charles Hawtrey, That Funny Fella with the Glasses - Radio 4
The Music Teacher - Radio 4
The Art of the Public Address - Radio 4
The Bradford Fire - A Day That Will Live with Me for Ever - Radio 4
The Aspern Papers - Radio 4
PM - Radio 4
Mark Steel's in Town - Radio 4
Tony Bennett Presents the great American Songbook - Radio 2
Val McDermid wants to lock the politicians in a cupboard with a pair of headphones. She's convinced that a week of BBC radio would help them to understand the thoughts and feelings of the electorate. Because all human life is there on the radio. Heartbreak and hilarity, bravery, buffoonery and Buckminster Fuller. Join Val McDermid for Pick of the Week on Sunday at
6.30pm.
PHONE: 0370 010 0400
FAX: 0161 244 4243
Email: potw@bbc.co.uk or www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/potw.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b00s55c3)
Ruth's pleased to see Pip but suggests she should spend less time with Jude, with her exams coming up. Pip reminds Ruth she can only see Jude at his, and he's the only one making her happy.
Pat tells Helen that Sid's asked Tony to train as an umpire while he's away in New Zealand. Helen wishes Tony would come round to the idea of her having a baby. Pat tells her to give him time. Helen's having an ultrasound on Thursday and Pat's delighted when Helen asks if she'll go with her.
Peggy shows Helen and Pat some old photos and reflects on how times have changed. As Helen and Pat leave, Lilian turns up. Peggy suddenly remembers she's left her stock on but it's too late. It's burned dry. As Lilian lets some air in, Peggy's concerned that the fan isn't working. Lilian assures Peggy she'll get it sorted.
Paul phones to see if it's still ok to pop round on Wednesday. Lilian tells him about Peggy's accident. Paul offers to bring an electrician round to fix things, and Lilian accepts. When Peggy asks who she was talking to, Lilian tells her it's not important.
SUN 19:15 Americana (b00s55c5)
The BBC's North America Editor Mark Mardell presents Americana.
Princeton professor and award-winning author Melissa Harris-Lacewell discusses the top stories buzzing across the United States this week.
Arizona has gone "maverick" and passed new immigration legislation meant to tackle the influx of illegal immigrants into the south western state. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed the legislation into law and now leaders and activists around the nation are voicing their opinions on this controversial measure. Some states have said they may follow in Arizona's footsteps while other states are calling for boycotts of Arizona, opposed to what they say is a bill that may encourage racial profiling.
Also this week - the best selling author Mary Higgins Clarke. She's been a successful novelist for years but it's her real life experiences that have taught her the most about survival and the human spirit. She shares some of her lessons learned with Americana.
And one of America's most celebrated opera singers, Denyce Graves, remembers civil rights pioneer Dorothy Height. This week she led the musical tributes to Ms Height in front of the President inside Washington's National Cathedral. Denyce Graves graduated from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in 1981 and studied voice at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the New England Conservatory.
Email: americana@bbc.co.uk
Twitter: @bbcamericana.
SUN 19:45 Afternoon Reading (b00br85h)
Hay-on-Wye Stories 2008
You've Got Everything Now
A married man is haunted by his school experiences and in particular, by his memories of his inscrutable, troubled classmate, Quinn. Costa Award winning novelist Catherine O'Flynn reads her specially commissioned short story for BBC Radio 4 in front of an audience at the Hay Festival.
Read by Catherine O'Flynn
Producer: Emma Harding.
SUN 20:00 Feedback (b00s55c7)
Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer discusses drama, BBC cuts and whether or not he regrets dropping the UK theme.
Also on the programme, guests on Any Questions aren't supposed to know what's coming up. But have they recently been getting briefed? Plus as ever, the best of your comments concerning BBC radio.
Producer: Brian McCluskey
A City Broadcasting production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b00s3hrr)
The subjects of today's programme include Dorothy Height, described by Barack Obama as "the godmother of civil rights" in the United States. A campaigner from the 1930s, according to the US President she was "at every march and milestone along the way".
Also the prolific writer Alan Sillitoe, who first came to prominence with his novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. We hear from his son David.
Professor Fred Halliday, renowned scholar of international relations and expert on the Middle East. His fluency in ten languages helped him to gain a deeper understanding of Arabic culture and politics
And the poet Peter Porter. Russell Davies recalls the long Soho lunches they shared with Clive James, Kingsley and Martin Amis, Ian McEwan and other luminaries.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (b00s50mk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 on Saturday]
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b00s54d0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 In Business (b00s55c9)
Small World
Outsourcing used to be something that big companies did when they transferred the work of whole departments to offshore specialists across the world to save money. But now small start-ups are learning how to build global organisations from day one of their existence. Peter Day finds out why.
Producer : Caroline Bayley.
SUN 21:58 Weather (b00s55cc)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b00s55cf)
Reports from behind the scenes at Westminster.
SUN 22:45 What the Election Papers Say (b00s55ch)
Episode 9
BBC Radio 4 brings back a much loved TV favourite - What the Election Papers Say. It does what it says on the tin. Each programme will see a leading political journalist take a wry look at how the broadsheets and red tops treat the biggest stories of the campaign.
Hear all about it - with former Editor of The Sun Kelvin MacKenzie.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b00s3hrt)
Francine Stock talks to actor Eddie Marsan about working with Mike Leigh and Martin Scorsese, and about his new thriller, The Disappearance Of Alice Creed
Terence Stamp reveals why being sacked by one legendary Italian director helped him get a job with another.
Three community cinemas around the country offer advice on how to start your own film society.
Orson Welles and a false nose are the stars of Jane Eyre, which is released for the first time on DVD. Jane Graham reviews this 1944 production.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b00s54cp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 03 MAY 2010
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b00s55lp)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b00s3fzq)
Capitalism and Development
"Capital is the lifeblood that flows through the body politic of all those societies we call capitalist, spreading out, sometimes as a trickle and other times as a flood, into every nook and cranny of the inhabited world", writes David Harvey, the world's most cited academic geographer. He gives Laurie a radical critique of what governs that flow of capital and what causes the crises which, he claims, will increasingly disrupt that flow with alarming rapidity. Modern economics has buried its head in detail but ignored the systematic character of capital flow, he claims, and it is time for a restore an understanding of how capital works.
Also on Thinking Allowed is the Cambridge development economist Ha-Joon Chang. In his analysis the detailed global programmes on international development amount to little more than poverty reduction, and the rich world is keeping the less developed countries poor in the name of free trade.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b00s54ck)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00s55n5)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00s55rd)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00s55rq)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b00s56f3)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00s5fpk)
Presented by the Revd Bob Fyffe, General Secretary of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b00s5ft9)
Presented by Charlotte Smith. Produced by Fran Barnes.
MON 05:57 Weather (b00s5nt3)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 06:00 Today (b00s5fty)
With James Naughtie and Evan Davis. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day with Rev'd Canon Dr Giles Fraser.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (b00s5nt5)
Andrew Marr Starts the Week with Sir Peter Hall talking about directing comedy as he returns to Bedroom Farce, a play he first directed in 1977; Professor Edith Hall discussing Greek tragedy; Director of the National Youth Theatre Paul Roseby talking about turning teenagers on to Shakespeare and John Freeman, the editor of Granta on writing about sex.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b00s5h5f)
Blood Knots
Episode 1
Author Luke Jennings writes about a lifetime of fantastic fishing and fishing mentors.
Luke is hooked by that monster of freshwaters - the pike.
Reader: Nigel Hastings
Abridged by Katrin Williams
Producer: Duncan Minshull.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00s5h62)
Now We Are Sixty. On the verge of her sixtieth Birthday, Jenni Murray takes a look at the differences between the baby-boomers and the sixty year old women of previous generations.
As the women who were born in the years immediately after the war reach 'senior' status, what will their priorities be and is sixty really the new forty?
Jenni Murray celebrates her sixtieth Birthday with Helena Kennedy QC who was born on the same day.
Also on the programme: Liz Shorrocks [sociologist and Course Director of Creative Writing at the University of Bradford], and journalists Eve Pollard, Minette Marrin and Sarah Vine.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b00s5hsb)
An Unsuitable Attachment
Episode 6
Penelope Wilton stars in Barbara Pym's wonderful story of love, requited and otherwise, in unfashionable north London in 1960. The parish party set off on their trip to Rome, full of expectations. And it doesn't disappoint, indeed there are even a few surprises.
An Unsuitable Attachment was turned down by Barbara Pym's publishers, Faber, when she gave them the manuscript in 1963, with very little explanation. Her previous 6 books had met with some success, so she was very upset and according to her correspondence felt very badly treated. It wasn't until 1977, when the Times Literary Supplement published a symposium on the most over and under-rated writers of the century and two contributors named her in the second category - the only living writer to be so distinguished - and her next novel was published before the year was out. She was widely interviewed, appeared on Desert Island Discs, and was the subject of a tv film. She died in 1980. An Unsuitable Attachment was finally published in 1982.
Dramatised by Jennie Howarth.
Narrator ..... Penelope Wilton
Penelope ..... Sophie Thompson
Sophia ..... Lucy Akhurst
Ianthe ..... Raquel Cassidy
Mervyn ..... Stephen Critchlow
Mark ..... Martin Ball
Rupert ..... Ben Crowe
John ..... Tom Andrews
Sister Dew ..... Angela Curran
Lady Selvedge ..... Joanna Wake
Mrs Grandison ..... Frances Jeater
Edwin ..... Robin Bowerman
Basil ..... Joe Coen
The director is Chris Wallis, and this is an Autolycus production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 11:00 The Name Game (b00s5nzv)
The number of people changing their name by deed poll has doubled in the past five years and should top 70,000 this year. With a one hour express service that costs just a few pounds, people are hastening to fill in the forms, make the change and become someone new.
Tim Samuels asks what is driving this self-reinvention - is it divorce, immigration or the quest for a little cheer?
After tea with Christine Hamilton - now Mrs British Battleaxe - Tim heads off to meet some of the migrants, attention seekers, former drunks and others reinventing themselves. He encounters Ian Roberts, who transformed himself into the distinguished actor and playwright Kwame Kwei Armah, a young man called Dylan who changed his surname to reject his undeserving father, and Princess-Rainbow.com who woke up one morning with more than just a hangover.
He brushes dust off the Close Rolls at the National Archives to discover the origins of the deed poll and is on his best behaviour with the Senior Master at the Royal Courts of Justice.
And before he takes the plunge to change his own name, Tim pauses to contemplate identity, aspiration and belonging.
Producer: Sarah Bowen
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2010.
MON 11:30 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.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b00s5hw2)
Alistair Darling has promised tougher action on bank lending to business and even promised a new watchdog, a "credit adjudicator", which he announced in the budget to give small businesses a right of appeal against their bank. But how are small businesses faring with the banks in the meantime?
Today we begin a series of reports we're calling the Campaigners' Campaign where we're taking a look at specific issues causing controversy locally and examining how much - or little - they influence national politics. We begin in the North West with one place that has been hitting the headlines over the past week, Rochdale, where locals are campaigning for urgent investment in the town centre. The candidates for Rochdale are Simon Danczuk (Labour), Mudasir Dean (Conservative), Colin Denby (UK Independence Party), Chris Jackson (National Front), Paul Rowen (Liberal Democrats and current MP), Mohammed Salim (Islam Zinda Baad) and John Whitehead (Independent).
MON 12:57 Weather (b00s5jh1)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b00s5jlb)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b00s55c3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b00s5nzx)
Barbershopera!
By Rob Castell and Tom Sadler with Sarah Tipple
John Sessions narrates this comedy musical set in the murky world of barbershop singing.
When star tenor Tony decides to quit his barbershop group on the eve of the Euro Barbershop Competition final, a replacement must be found. But how? Where? Whom?
Old Fabiano........John Sessions
Toni Soprano.......Lara Stubbs
Al Legro..............Pete Sorel-Cameron
Frank Sonata......Rob Castell
Hugh B. Doo.......Tom Sadler
Young Fabiano....Sam Spedding
Jean-Claude........John Evanson
Gunther..............Jeremy Limb
Gangrenus..........Ian Aitkenhead
Director...........Ben Walker.
MON 15:00 Archive on 4 (b00s517j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Saturday]
MON 15:45 The Drawings on the Wall (b008vl2x)
The Legless Women of Creswell Craggs
Archaeologist Dr George Nash explores five of Western Europe's most remarkable rock art sites.
His journey begins with extinct animals and strange female forms in Church Hole Cave in Derbyshire. Who created this prehistoric graffiti, and why?
Producer: Chris Eldon Lee
A Culture Wise production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 16:00 The Food Programme (b00s54dg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:30 Traveller's Tree (b00s6rwz)
Series 6
South Africa
Katie Derham hears about holidays to South Africa.
There's growing excitement in the country just a few short weeks from the World Cup. Infrastructure and hotels have been upgraded but what's on offer for the tourist? How easy is it to navigate the country and the social divide?
We have reports from Johannesburg and Cape Town and the Winelands. There's advice on ways of meeting local people and how to access some world class music. We hear a listener report from the Reeves of Worcester and follow the Mandela trail to Robben Island.
Katie is joined in the studio by guest Lenny Henry who has recently returned from South Africa, exploring the country through its music and by South-African born travel editor of the Telegraph, Graham Boynton.
The producer is Susan Marling. This is a Whistledown and Just Radio Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 17:00 PM (b00s5jq8)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00s5k66)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 The Unbelievable Truth (b00s6rx2)
Series 5
Episode 6
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents. Fred MacAulay, Susan Calman, Liza Tarbuck and Charlie Brooker are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as: ducks, Thomas Edison, make-up and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith, the team behind Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
Producer - Jon Naismith.
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b00s5jp3)
Joe's in Clarrie's bad books because of the state of the garden, and the shed's full of junk. Clarrie wants it cleared by the weekend. Jim suggests an auction. Joe thinks it's a great idea, and is soon telling Jill about his lucky dip auction to raise money for a "good cause". After a moment's hesitation, he decides it's for the Ambridge Heritage Group.
Josh wants to film Jill demonstrating some cookery, for his ICT project. Josh's teacher has suggested old-fashioned family classics, so Jill's going to dig out some old recipes from Auntie Pru. Jill berates Kenton for not posting Meriel's birthday presents. Kenton says he'll do it tomorrow.
Kenton takes Josh and Jamie to the country park. Jamie boots their football into the undergrowth, and Kirsty emerges. She's doing some clearing for the wildlife trust, and helping Patrick with counting dragonfly larvae. Kenton asks if she's made a decision about coming to work for him at Jaxx. Kirsty needs time to think but Kenton uses his charm and persuades her to say yes. Kenton's delighted, but the smile is wiped from his face when Jamie kicks the football and hits him on the nose.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b00s5l2y)
Ten Years of Tate Modern
In May 2000 the Queen became the first visitor to Tate Modern, the giant gallery housed in a former power station on the banks of the River Thames. Ten years on and 45 million people have passed through the building which once generated electricity for London but has now become a cultural powerhouse for Britain.
In a special edition of Front Row, John Wilson looks at the social and artistic impact of Tate Modern with guests including artists Tracey Emin and Grayson Perry, and writers AS Byatt and Ian Rankin. The programme also includes a profile of Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota and a look at the gallery's many appearances at the cinema.
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00s5hsb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 The Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia: The Story of Tito (b00s6rx4)
Episode 2
Martin Bell traces the story of Tito, the fall of Yugoslavia and the crisis in Bosnia.
15 years after the international community stepped in to end the war in Bosnia, Martin Bell heads to Sarajevo to find out whether the old arguments that made talks between communities break down in 1990 are rearing their heads two decades later. Nationalist arguments, playing on ethnic identities and old fears, have returned in a country that is more separated and segregated than ever.
Examining the Dayton Peace Agreement Martin asks whether it was successful in rebuilding post-war Bosnia or whether it remains part of the reason Bosnia is still struggling. He explores whether foreign interference, in enforcing a share of power amongst multiple agencies has stalled any meaningful progress, and what can be done to stop Bosnia collapsing back into a state of civil war, as some fear. Should the international community step away and risk creating a black hole in Europe or do they continue to intervene to ensure violence is abated and peace remains, even if it is manufactured by outsiders?
Returning to Sarajevo, the place where he was shot and injured, Martin explores what has changed and what has remained the same since the war in the early nineties, talking with Bosnian Serb, Muslim and Croats about their hopes and fears for Bosnia's future.
Martin also meets with Bosnia's current High Representative, and its most famous former High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, to find out what role the International Community can play in securing a safer future for Bosnia and for all of the Balkans.
The producer is Gemma Newby. This is an All Out production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 20:30 The Report (b00s6rx6)
Eyjafjallajokull: The Icelandic Volcano Eruption
The dust from the Icelandic volcano has started to settle, but questions remain in the air. Were the authorities acting too cautiously when they closed British airspace for six days? Who was really making the decisions, and could it have been sorted out much faster?
The Report this week will trace the story of the volcano and the airspace shut down, with contributions from the regulators, airlines, and a couple who made a nightmare journey back overland - from Morocco.
MON 21:00 Material World (b00s3h44)
Quentin Cooper and guests dissect the week's science news. This week:
With oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico following an explosion that sank the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, Professor Chuck Kennicutt of Texas A&M University outlines the threat the oil slick represents, what might be done to mitigate the effects and how the oil will eventually disperse.
Can scientific development and innovation push the economic recovery forward? The authors of a new report "Big Potatoes: The London Manifesto for innovation" believe so. Launched at the Royal Society the report highlights how there is currently very little debate in society about research and development. It has become socially acceptable not to know about science, argue the authors, and this change in public and political attitude is stifling economic recovery as well as limiting future innovation and therefore the creation of new industries and jobs for the future. Quentin is joined by one of the reports co-authors Professor James Woudhuysen and the former vice-president of the Royal Society, Sir Martin Taylor.
Another of our 'So You Want To Be A Scientist' finalists, John Rowlands, starts his experiment on 'noctilucent clouds'. These luminous layers of ice crystals appear high up in the atmosphere between May and August, but no one knows exactly why these mysterious clouds appear. Quentin takes John to meet his mentor, Prof Nick Mitchell from the Centre for Space, Atmospheric & Oceanic Science, who is going to try and help him find out.
Interior Traces is a series of live radio plays that next week go on tour. They explore the effects of brain imaging on individual identity and society through the stories of two characters with different brain conditions. They contrast present understanding with an imagined future in which people can be told in advance that they may develop a tumour or even a violent criminal tendency. Quentin meets writer and neuroscientist Dr Louise Whiteley and Dr Daniel Glaser of the Wellcome Trust and the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience.
Producer: Martin Redfern.
MON 21:30 Start the Week (b00s5nt5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b00s5lm1)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b00s5lty)
The UN hears calls for a nuclear free Middle East
Election 2010 : Can politicians protect the least well-off from cuts ?
The search goes on for a plan to cap oil outflow from a collapsed rig in the Gulf of Mexico
With Ritula Shah.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00s5m08)
Henry James - The Aspern Papers
Episode 6
Episode 6 of The Aspern Papers by Henry James, read by Samuel West.
Jeffrey Aspern's obsessive devotee has become more desperate to obtain the elusive letters held by Miss Bordereau. Fearing that the old lady will destroy the papers he has put pressure on her niece to rescue them, but he begins to realise that neither of them is a match for the calculating Juliana herself.
Abridged and produced by Christine Hall.
MON 23:00 The Vote Now Show (b00s5ncl)
Series 1
Episode 10
Punt and Dennis present a nightly satirical round up of election news and comment from comedians, journalists and commentators. Recorded in front of an audience at the Radio Theatre about 4 hours before transmission, this is a very topical comedy show.
MON 23:30 Art Attack (b00nf33j)
Episode 1
An assault on the Mona Lisa with a teacup raises the question, why do people attack art? In two programmes the art historian and broadcasters Tim Marlow (programme one) and Lawrence Pollard (programme two) investigate centuries of attacks on art works from the earliest times to the present day. Charting the reasons why and telling the stories of some of the most sensational and provocative attacks, they explore how the wilful destruction of art is as old as art itself and how it shows no signs of stopping. Statues are demolished in the name of religion, photographs doctored for political reasons, paintings are slashed and protestors even urinate on art works. Art is attacked so that the power of a particular work is nullified, in order to eradicate the art's subject from the face of the earth, as a publicity seeking stunt and even - and increasingly - to make an artistic comment on the existing artwork. Do these attacks have anything in common? Can art be made by breaking existing art? Why are art attacks continuing?
Programme 1
Tim Marlow looks at some of the most renowned attacks on art carried out in the name of politics and religion. He speaks to Professor Eamon Duffy in the Lady Chapel at Ely Cathedral, which was desecrated in the sixteenth century during the Reformation. A place which is beautiful in its brokenness, with the damage (defaced figures and empty pedestals) clearly visible.
On 10th March 1914, suffragette Mary Richardson attacked Velazquez's Rokeby Venus with an axe at the National Gallery in London. Her motive for the attack was to bring to public attention the cruelty and hypocrisy of the Government's treatment of Emily Pankhurst. Professor Lynn Nead discusses the wider political issues of this act and the public outrage that followed.
For the past three decades, author and photo-historian David King has assembled the world's largest archive of photographs, posters and paintings from the Soviet era. Tim takes a look at his collection and discusses the doctoring of photographs by the Communists for propaganda purposes.
The Bamiyan Buddhas, which were arguably Afghanistan's most important historical monument, were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001 causing an international outcry. What does it mean to destroy art for your beliefs?
TUESDAY 04 MAY 2010
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b00s55kl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b00s5h5f)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00s55lr)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00s55n7)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00s55rg)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b00s56b8)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00s5fmc)
Presented by the Revd Bob Fyffe, General Secretary of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b00s5fpm)
The risk of an outbreak of bluetongue disease in Britain is rising, because farmers are importing animals from infected areas in Europe. That's according to The British Veterinary Association which says there has been a sharp decline in the number of farmers vaccinating their stock this year, and warns that although bluetongue hasn't been found in Britain since 2008 the disease is still at large in northern Europe, and the likelihood of an outbreak here is growing. Also in Farming Today, The Police are asking farmers, abattoirs and butchers to be extra vigilant after a spate of sheep thefts in Scotland. 300 sheep and lambs have been stolen from a number of farms in the Lothian and Borders area over recent months.
Presented by Charlotte Smith. Produced by Anna Varle.
TUE 06:00 Today (b00s5ftc)
With Justin Webb and James Naughtie. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day with Abdal Hakim Murad.
TUE 09:00 Archive on 4 (b00s6svj)
Morecambe and Wise: The Garage Tapes
Jon Culshaw uncovers an extraordinary audio archive of early Morecambe and Wise material, including a number of long lost tapes.
This is a genuine archive find of real importance. A few years ago, Doreen Wise, widow of Ernie, cleared the old family garage of piles of tapes and 78 recordings.
At the end of last year, Independent radio company Whistledown were contacted by Eric and Ernie's agents, and producer David Prest offered to look at the material.
"It was an extraordinary sight - a couple of old fruit boxes full of reel to reel tapes and a musty old red suitcase brimming with 78 records," says producer David Prest.
The most important finds are a number of long-lost episodes of Eric and Ernie's first radio show, "You're Only Young Once" which was made for the BBC between November 1953 and June 1954.
These feature songs, sketches, their trade mark banter and guest cameo appearances from other well-known performers including Bob Monkhouse.
The tapes in Ernie's garage are believed to be "run off" copies recorded at 33/4 ips by studio engineers immediately after the recordings, and probably never played since, as well as acetate copies which Doreen paid the studio engineer a few shillings for.
"Much of the value of the material is in what it shows about their comedy development. The early radio series are very naturalistic, and feature historical sketches and songs which precede the 1970s BBC TV shows by almost 15 years", says David.
Other treats include: Andre Previn's speech to Eric and Ernie at a Variety Club lunch in 1974, rare recordings of their Great Yarmouth and Blackpool shows from the mid-late sixties.
Also included are many original master tapes of songs, written for the duo, which show their skill in the recording studio.
The producers are David Prest and Stewart Henderson, and this is a Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b00s5h0n)
Blood Knots
Episode 2
Author Luke Jennings writes about a lifetime of fantastic fishing and fishing mentors.
A summer holiday in Shropshire sees twelve year old Luke fishing dark deep lakes for lively perch.
Reader: Nigel Hastings
Abridged by Katrin Williams
Producer: Duncan Minshull.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00s5h5h)
Presented by Jane Garvey.
Actress Gemma Arterton discusses going from blockbusters and James Bond to a low budget British thriller The Disappearance of Alice Creed.
The divorce rate may be at its lowest rate since 1979, but for the fourth year running, twentysomethings had the highest divorce rate of any age range.
Why do so many of these so-called 'starter marriages' fail, and what can be done to give young couples better support?
When Sarita Mandanna started writing her first novel she got the highest advance ever paid by an Indian publisher for a debut novel. She joins Jane to discuss that book - Tiger Hills - the story of a secret love affair on a South Indian coffee plantation in the nineteenth century.
What do you if you want to grow your own food but don't have a garden or can't get an allotment? Anna Bailey reports on scheme in Brighton which pairs up gardeners.
And Dr Rachel Hewitt discusses the early history of Ordnance Survey maps.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b00s5hmp)
An Unsuitable Attachment
Episode 7
7/10
Penelope Wilton stars in Barbara Pym's wonderful story of love, requited and otherwise, in unfashionable north London in 1960. The parish party are doing Rome, and Rupert turns up, to Penelope's delight, but unlike Rome, he may not be what she had hoped.
An Unsuitable Attachment was turned down by Barbara Pym's publishers, Faber, when she gave them the manuscript in 1963, with very little explanation. Her previous 6 books had met with some success, so she was very upset and according to her correspondence felt very badly treated. It wasn't until 1977, when the Times Literary Supplement published a symposium on the most over and under-rated writers of the century and two contributors named her in the second category - the only living writer to be so distinguished - and her next novel was published before the year was out. She was widely interviewed, appeared on Desert Island Discs, and was the subject of a tv film. She died in 1980. An Unsuitable Attachment was finally published in 1982.
Dramatised by Jennie Howarth.
Narrator ..... Penelope Wilton
Penelope ..... Sophie Thompson
Sophia ..... Lucy Akhurst
Ianthe ..... Raquel Cassidy
Mervyn ..... Stephen Critchlow
Mark ..... Martin Ball
Rupert ..... Ben Crowe
John ..... Tom Andrews
Sister Dew ..... Angela Curran
Lady Selvedge ..... Joanna Wake
Mrs Grandison ..... Frances Jeater
Edwin ..... Robin Bowerman
Basil ..... Joe Coen
The director is Chris Wallis, and this is an Autolycus production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 11:00 Saving Species (b00s6svl)
Series 1
Episode 5
There's a massive leak of crude oil from a BP well in the Gulf of Mexico with many reporting it as the largest slick in history - And the crude is making landfall on the Mississippi Delta, one of the most biodiverse areas in the USA. We ask wildlife film maker and author Steve Nicholls, who has been to this wildlife hotspot many times, who and what is most threatened and insight into the natural resilience of such wilderness. Our regular news hound Kelvin Boot will focus on how the Americans are reporting this story and how the disaster is being dealt with.
Also in the programme, the demise of the Wood Warbler in British woodlands. This migrant songbird from Africa was one of the key choristers in the British Dawn Chorus. But there are more Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps. We ask ornithologist and bird migration expert Ian Newton how the songsters that make up the dawn chorus have changed and why.
And we hope also to bring you the story of the Field Cricket release in sothern England - but the running order is a bit fluid at the moment as we watch the developmewnts in the Gulf of Mexico.
Presented by Brett Westwood
Produced by Mary Colwell
Series Editor Julian Hector.
TUE 11:30 Pistols at Dawn (b00s6svn)
Between 1613 and 1614 it is claimed that every distinguished family in the UK lost a member to duelling. James I even campaigned against it, but the aristocracy wanted to retain it as a legal way of settling disputes 'honourably'. The practice continued until it was eventually outlawed at the end of the nineteenth century. Until it was, the duel has a fascinating place in British history as a means of 'solving' dispute and novelists and playwrights have been using it as a way of spicing up plots and intrigue along the way.
As a youngster, Justin Champion loved adventure novels that were jam-packed with sword play - The Three Musketeers, The Prisoner of Zenda and Scott's Waverley series. He has always been intrigued as to why men felt the urgency to defend their honour in such a dangerous way. In this programme, he tracks the history of the duel, its influence, some particularly pivotal duels, is shown how to sword fight and thinks he's found the reason why duelling eventually ceased as a practice in the UK.
Justin talks to experts of Shakespeare to discuss how frequently the Bard picked up on the duelling debate in many of his plays including Romeo and Juliet. He visits the Royal Armouries Collection in Leeds to witness a sword fight. Justin is shown the techniques and is handed a sword for a tutorial. He charts the move from sword to pistol and gets a tour behind the scenes at the Royal Armouries Collection to look at some important swords and pistols involved in duelling.
Justin also talks to fellow historians about significant duels and their political and literary impact. The duel has even been used by Cabinet Ministers and Prime Ministers as a way of settling their differences. We hear from BBC Diplomatic Correspondent, James Landale (who tells the story of his ancestor's involvement in the last fatal duel in Scotland in 1826) and who also tells listeners about Wellington's engagement in a duel in Battersea.
Listeners will also hear from a social historian of the 19th century about how the meaning of "honour" changed for men during this period and how a pension arrangement changed forever as the willingness of men to accept an invitation to "pistols at dawn".
Producer: Sarah Taylor
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2010.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b00s5hsd)
You and Yours with Julian Worricker. The main hopefuls in the next election lay out their plans for transport. Would you buy a complete lifestyle off the peg - even the home you choose to live in?
Also, comedian David Quantick is intrigued by online music service Spotify's plan to launch a tool to help you make a 21st century version of the classic cassette mix tape.
Plus how does the election impact on local issues? There is strife in Penzance over plans for a new ferry terminal serving the Scilly Isles.
The full list of candidates for the West Cornwall and Isles of Scilly constituency of St Ives.
Conservative - Derek Thomas,
Cornish Democrats - Jonathan Rogers,
Green - Tim Andrewes,
Labour - Philippa Latimer,
Liberal Democrat - Andrew George MP,
Mebyon Kernow - Simon Reed,
UKIP - Mick Faulkner.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b00s5j6j)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b00s5jk1)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b00s5jp3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b00s6svq)
Gentleman Jim
Gentleman Jim is Raymond Briggs' own dramatisation of his graphic novel of the same title. It is the story of Jim Bloggs, a toilet attendant who dreams of a better life for him and his beloved wife Hilda.
Ruminating over the jobs in the paper, Jim's imagination leaps into action as he seeks adventure and excitement. He sets out to turn his dreams into reality, but soon discovers that things aren't so straightforward.
Hindered not least by a lack of education and funds, Jim's life begin to spiral out of all control, and his romantic dreams turn into terrible nightmares.
Gentleman Jim is a wonderfully funny and yet intensely moving tale, which despite its melancholy has at its heart a real feeling of optimism.
Jim ..... David Haig
Hilda ..... Jan Ravens
Other characters ..... John Sessions, Adrian Schiller and Sara Markland
The producer is Celia de Wolff, and this is a Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:00 Home Planet (b00s6sw1)
Richard Daniel and the team discuss listeners' questions about the natural world and our impact on it.
TUE 15:30 Come Away, Come Away! (b00s6t4m)
Peanut Butter and Cello, by Geraldine McCaughrean
A young girl from the favela carries an unexpected burden on a cross-city journey.
Melody Grove reads 'Peanut Butter and Cello' by Geraldine McCaughrean.
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie.
To mark 150 years since J M Barrie's birth, three leading writers for young people contribute new stories inspired by a chapter title from 'Peter Pan'. The authors have been set the task of exploring the joys and the terrors of childhood without sentimentality, much as Barrie did in his original text.
Geraldine McCaughrean has been awarded the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread Prize and the Guardian Fiction Award for her books written for all ages. In 2004 she fought off fierce competition to be selected by the Trustees of Great Ormond Street Hospital to write an official sequel to 'Peter Pan'. Her novel, 'Peter Pan In Scarlet', was published to critical acclaim in 2006.
TUE 15:45 The Drawings on the Wall (b008wv2c)
Graffiti Gorge
Archaeologist George Nash explores five of Western Europe's most remarkable rock art sites.
Today he risks his neck in Northern Portugal's Coa Valley to see Iron Age carvings of beasts and warriors. But why are they engraved directly on top of earlier art in such dangerous places? And what drives modern day graffiti artists to risk their lives to the same end?
Producer: Chris Eldon Lee
A Culture Wise production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (b00s778z)
Michael Rosen enters the world of flavour, examining how what goes in to our mouths corresponds with the words which come out of them.
Visiting the lab of a flavourist, he finds out how language is used to create tastes that don't exist yet. Food historian Ivan Day demonstrates how words have been imported alongside the food they describe.
Michael's also joined in the studio by food critic for the Guardian, Jay Rayner, to discuss what makes a great menu.
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b00s77ft)
Series 21
Matthew Flinders
Sir Stuart Rose, chairman of Marks and Spencer, chooses the cartographer Matthew Flinders for Great Lives. Flinders mapped Australia two hundred years ago in His Majesty's ship the Investigator. "Since neither birth nor fortune have favoured me," he wrote, "my actions shall speak to the world." Sir Stuart Rose clearly finds inspiration in what Flinders achieved and the way he led his men. Rose also reveals that his first ambition was to join the Royal Navy, and that he applied to 25 companies before Marks and Spencer took him on. Dr Nigel Rigby of the National Maritime Museum offers the expert's view on Flinders life and Matthew Parris presents. The producer is Miles Warde.
TUE 17:00 PM (b00s5jp5)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00s5jqb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Baggage (b00ls77k)
Series 4
Tales of the Unexpected
Comedy series by Hilary Lyon, set in Edinburgh.
It's December in Edinburgh and the Christmas spirit is in short supply. The spirit of whisky, however, features heavily, as Ruth decides whether or not to risk falling off the wagon and Caroline and Roddy risk seriously falling out.
Caroline ...... Hilary Lyon
Fiona ...... Phyllis Logan
Ruth ...... Adie Allen
Roddy ...... Robin Cameron
Hector ...... David Rintoul
Nicholas ...... Moray Hunter
Miriam ...... Nicola Grier
Directed by Marilyn Imrie.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b00s5jld)
Oliver turns up for the committee meeting with celebratory bubbly. They agree to officially open the community shop on Wednesday 2 June.
Oliver mentions Joe's charity auction. Nobody's heard of the Ambridge Heritage Group. Realising Joe's plot, Oliver suggests the committee could decide what the funds are spent on. A new bench for the churchyard sounds good. Oliver enlists Kathy, to start a rumour going. Pat shows Susan Brenda's article in the Echo. Susan reflects on how well things have turned out for Brenda and herself.
Jude wants Pip to join him and his mates downstairs but she's busy with her music revision. He charms her into stopping but Pip wants him to take her to see Auntie Elizabeth, to look at the Lower Loxley website, before taking Pip home for the night. Jude would prefer to stay in, as they'll soon have the house to themselves but Pip persuades him to go to Lower Loxley.
Elizabeth is impressed by Jude's computer knowledge. Pip wishes her parents could be as appreciative of him. Elizabeth wants Pip to pass a message on to David but Pip's had a change of plan. Jude's persuaded her to go back to his, so Elizabeth will have to call David herself.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b00s5l0z)
Four Lions reviewed; Turner Prize shortlist; Valerie Grove on Kaye Webb
Four Lions, the debut feature film from controversial comedian Chris Morris, takes a satirical look at Jihadism. Mark Ecclestone reviews.
As Puffin Books celebrates its 70th anniversary, Valerie Grove discusses her biography of Kaye Webb, the Puffin editor who revolutionised children's publishing in the 60s and whose success and fame masked turmoil in her private life.
Phillip Hensher, one of the judges of this year's Turner Prize for contemporary art, reveals the shortlist.
Tristan Sharps, Artistic Director of theatre company Dreamthinkspeak and former Literary Editor of The Sunday Times Peter Kemp discuss whether or not site specific theatre works.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00s5hmp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 PVS: The Search for Consciousness (b00s77m0)
It was John Waite's coverage of the Tony Bland case which eventually led to the Law Lords giving permission for feeding to be withdrawn. He'd been in a persistent vegetative state for four years following the Hillsborough disaster and died nine days after that ruling. With the tubes and clinical paraphernalia removed his father, Allan, said it was: "the first time he's looked like our Tony since the day he set off for the football match."
It was Tony's parents wish that future medical efforts focused on trying to improve the diagnosis of PVS, and now Dr Adrian Owen and his fellow Cambridge researchers are using functional MRI scans to try to detect brain activity. They've been asking patients and healthy volunteers to imagine playing tennis to answer questions whilst being scanned. In each of the healthy volunteers this stimulated activity in the pre-motor cortex part of the brain which deals with movement. This also happened in four out of 23 of the patients presumed to be in a vegetative state.
These are not patients who show any signs of any physical recovery but the research raises the possibility that they might retain a degree of consciousness and there might be a way of communicating with them. Up to 12,000 people under 40 in this country suffer traumatic brain injury every year and, according to Professor John Pickard, head of neurosurgery at Addenbrooke's hospital in Cambridge, there are serious deficiencies in their care: "The tendency for patients to be left to languish on general medical, surgical and orthopaedic wards continues to their detriment."
The work might eventually lead to improved diagnosis and care for some patients. It started with the case of Kate Bainbridge, a 37 year old teacher thought to be in a vegetative state after contracting a viral infection. Dr Owen showed her photos of her parents whilst her brain was being scanned: "We found that areas of her brain burst into activity that accorded perfectly with the brain locators of healthy volunteers doing the same task." Today Kate sits in a wheelchair "speaking" with the aid of a letter-board and tells of her relief that doctors finally realised that she was conscious even though she could not speak or make any kind of signal.
Vegetative state and minimal-conscious state are different from brain death, which involves the total destruction of all brain areas and the consequent collapse of heart-lung function. If a vegetative state lasts for more than three months (longer in certain forms of brain insult) there is thought to be progressively less chance that the patient will return to even minimal consciousness.
Today Kate is grateful for the work going on at Cambridge University and credits neuroscientist Dr Owen with helping her communicate - she can send and recieve e-mails, watch television and listen to music. She would like to see much more done to help others diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state: "Not being able to communicate was awful - I felt trapped inside my body. I had loads of questions, like 'Where am I?', 'Why am I here?', 'What has happened?'.
"I just have to look and see what the scans did for me. They found I was there inside my body that did not respond.".
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b00s77m2)
Torsten Brand devised a pioneering form of access technolgoy called Talx, which allowed blind people to access mobile phones in the same way as sighted people.
Torsten recently died tragically early, due to a routine operation going wrong, and tributes are being paid to him around the world. Terry Clasper and Jonathan Mosen pay their own respects to Torsten.
Ailsa Irvine, from the Electoral Commission, offers advice on how blind and partially-sighted people can get the best out of their polling station on Thursday and explains the assistance and accessible formats which are available to enable people to vote as independently as possible.
There is also reaction to earlier programmes from Phil Jenkins and Susannah Hancock.
TUE 21:00 Case Notes (b00s77m4)
Trauma
Dr Mark Porter visits the Trauma Centre at the Royal London Hospital, in East London. It has set up teams of experts to rapidly deliver treatments to those who are seriously injured, following a model of care that was established in the United States. This approach has been shown to save lives and improve the outcome for severely injured patients.
The Royal London Hospital Trauma Centre treats around 1400 patients a year, and about a quarter of these are very seriously injured. This can be the result of knife or gunshot wounds, traffic accidents, burns or falls. The team was heavily involved in the treatment of the victims of the London bombings in 2005. The Trauma Centre is now one of three in London, which are collaborating to provide the best treatment to the capital.
Mark Porter spends a day with the team of doctors and nurses, to find out how they work together to save the lives of the seriously injured.
TUE 21:30 In Our Time (b00s3h3w)
The Great Wall of China
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Great Wall of China.The Great Wall is not a single Wall. It is not visible from space, contrary to popular belief, as it is much too thin. But it remains a spectacular architectural and historical phenomenon.The Great Wall's military importance, and its symbolic power, have varied widely in its long existence, as its place in Chinese life has shifted with the country's history. It was initially constructed at the command of the first Emperor, from 221 BC, and was a combination of the various protective walls that had been built by the smaller states which he had conquered and merged to form China. The original Wall was made of pounded earth, and in places the wind-carved remains of this two thousand year old construction are still visible. But the Wall which is familiar to us today is the work of the Ming Dynasty, and its vast programme of reinforcement - prompted by a renewed threat from the Mongols in the north. In the 17th century, amazed Jesuits sent back reports to Europe about the Wall, and ever since it has held a powerful place in the imagination of the West. Some scholars argue that this in turn has shaped the modern Chinese appreciation of their astounding inheritance.Julia LovellLecturer in Chinese History at Birkbeck College, University of LondonRana MitterProfessor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of OxfordFrances WoodHead of the Chinese Section at the British LibraryPRODUCER: PHIL TINLINE.
TUE 21:58 Weather (b00s5ljq)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b00s5lm3)
No let up for party leaders as the vote nears . We're in Wales to discuss power-sharing.
Can the EU sort out its fragmented air control system now volcanic ash is returning ?
Times Square bomber says he was acting alone.
With Robin Lustig.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00s5lv0)
Henry James - The Aspern Papers
Episode 7
The final episode of The Aspern Papers by Henry James, read by Samuel West.
After all his scheming to obtain Jeffrey Aspern's letters to Juliana Bordereau, the obsessive collector is tantalizingly close to them but cannot feel confident of possessing them. He knows where they are in the house, he knows that Juliana has not long to live. It has now become a matter of ensuring the old lady doesn't destroy the papers before she dies. His one hope is the co-operation of the loveless Miss Tina.
Abridged and produced by Christine Hall.
TUE 23:00 The Vote Now Show (b00s5nc8)
Series 1
Episode 11
Punt and Dennis present a nightly satirical round up of election news and comment from comedians, journalists and commentators. Recorded in front of an audience at the Radio Theatre about 4 hours before transmission, this is a very topical comedy show.
TUE 23:30 Art Attack (b00nk2xr)
Episode 2
An assault on the Mona Lisa with a teacup raises the question, why do people attack art? In two programmes the art historians and broadcasters Tim Marlow (programme one) and Lawrence Pollard (programme two) investigate centuries of attacks on art works from the earliest times to the present day. Charting the reasons why and telling the stories of some of the most sensational and provocative attacks, they explore how the wilful destruction of art is as old as art itself and how it shows no signs of stopping. Statues are demolished in the name of religion, photographs doctored for political reasons, paintings are slashed and protestors even urinate on art works. Art is attacked so that the power of a particular work is nullified, in order to eradicate the art's subject from the face of the earth, as a publicity seeking stunt and even - and increasingly - to make an artistic comment on the existing artwork. Do these attacks have anything in common? Can art be made by breaking existing art? Why are art attacks continuing?
Programme 2 -
Lawrence Pollard investigates some of the more bizarre assaults on contemporary art including attacks on Marcel Duchamp's 'Fountain' which has been both urinated on and whacked with a hammer. In this age of anti-art, it is increasingly common for vandals to claim their actions as 'art'.
Lawrence also visits the Tate Liverpool for their 'Joyous Machines' exhibition which features the work of Jean Tinguely - one of the most radical, inventive and subversive sculptors of the mid twentieth-century. Discussing his work with Lawrence is Michael Landy, artist and co-curator of the exhibition whose own work has been influenced by the artist and his constructive and destructive tendencies. In 'Break Down' (2001) Landy catalogued and destroyed every single one of his possessions from his birth certificate to his car.
WEDNESDAY 05 MAY 2010
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b00s55kn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b00s5h0n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00s55lt)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00s55n9)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00s55rj)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b00s56bb)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00s5fmf)
Presented by the Revd Bob Fyffe, General Secretary of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b00s5fpp)
A record year for asparagus sales is expected as the first spears of the crop appear, Anna Hill discovers how this year's harsh winter has affected the potato growing season and Farming Today hears how Open Farm Sunday, a scheme that gives the public a chance to find out what goes on behind the farm gate, is preparing for this year's event.
WED 06:00 Today (b00s5ftf)
With John Humphrys and Justin Webb. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b00s77mx)
This week Libby Purves is joined by Felicity Simpson and Francisco Javier Hurtado, Josh Axelrad, Rusty Firmin and Liam Scarlett.
Felicity Simpson founded Circo Para Todos. A foundation offering a variety of programmes using circus as a tool for social change and empowerment, it includes outreach work, teaching circus skills in shanty towns and working with institutions that house former street children. Francisco Javier Hurtado is a product of the circus school and performs with the 'Circolombia', a strand of Circo Para Todos at London's Roundhouse and the Freerange in Brighton.
Josh Axelrad was an Ivy League graduate in a dead-end job until a chance meeting at a party changed his life. He became a member of a blackjack card-counting gang, winning millions of dollars from casinos across America. He tells his story in the book 'Repeat Until Rich', published by Ebury Press.
Rusty Firmin was a member of the SAS assault team which took part in the Iranian Embassy siege on 5th May 1980. The siege had begun six days before when gunmen took over the Embassy in London's Princes Gate, taking twenty-six hostages. After the gunmen executed a hostage the decision was taken by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to send in the SAS and Operation Nimrod was launched. In his book (written with Will Pearson) 'Go! Go! Go! The Dramatic Inside Story of the Iranian Embassy Siege' he tells his story, on the 30th anniversary of that dramatic event. Go! Go! Go! Is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Liam Scarlett is 23 year old dancer with The Royal Ballet who has been choreographing work since developing an interest at school. The world premiere of his first piece with the Royal Ballet, 'Asphodel Meadows', is part of a triple bill on the main stage of the Royal Opera House in May.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b00s5h0q)
Blood Knots
Episode 3
Author Luke Jennings writes about a lifetime of fantastic fishing and fishing mentors.
Luke thinks that his dad's wartime experiences might have drawn him to the waterside - to fish.
Reader: Nigel Hastings
Abridged by Katrin Williams
Producer: Duncan Minshull.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00s5h5k)
Presented by Jane Garvey.
Why would anyone risk their career for an office romance? Lucy Kellaway is an agony aunt for the FT. Her latest novel is set in the high-pressure world of a global oil company in London. She joins journalist Eleanor Mills to discuss the workplace fling.
Project Prevention is an organisation in the United States which offers drug users long term contraception, or even a sterilisation in return for money. Jane discusses the issues involved in bringing this controversial model to the U.K.
Annie Ross moved to Los Angeles at the age of 4, where she worked as a child actress, appearing with Judy Garland. She went on to become a jazz singer and now, as she approaches her 80th birthday, she is back in London to perform at Ronnie Scott's.
And with more than half of migraines in women occurring just before, during, or after a woman has her period, what can be done to control hormone related migraine?
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b00s5hmr)
An Unsuitable Attachment
Episode 8
Penelope Wilton stars in Barbara Pym's wonderful story of love, requited and otherwise, in unfashionable north London in 1960. While everyone else has gone back to England, Ianthe and Sophia go to visit Sophia's Aunt in her villa in Ravello. It's romantic, if run down, and Ianthe tells Sophia of her love for John. Sophia's reaction is not quite what she would expect.
An Unsuitable Attachment was turned down by Barbara Pym's publishers, Faber, when she gave them the manuscript in 1963, with very little explanation. Her previous 6 books had met with some success, so she was very upset and according to her correspondence felt very badly treated. It wasn't until 1977, when the Times Literary Supplement published a symposium on the most over and under-rated writers of the century and two contributors named her in the second category - the only living writer to be so distinguished - and her next novel was published before the year was out. She was widely interviewed, appeared on Desert Island Discs, and was the subject of a tv film. She died in 1980. An Unsuitable Attachment was finally published in 1982.
Dramatised by Jennie Howarth.
Narrator ..... Penelope Wilton
Penelope ..... Sophie Thompson
Sophia ..... Lucy Akhurst
Ianthe ..... Raquel Cassidy
Mervyn ..... Stephen Critchlow
Mark ..... Martin Ball
Rupert ..... Ben Crowe
John ..... Tom Andrews
Sister Dew ..... Angela Curran
Lady Selvedge ..... Joanna Wake
Mrs Grandison ..... Frances Jeater
Edwin ..... Robin Bowerman
Basil ..... Joe Coen
The director is Chris Wallis, and this is an Autolycus production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 11:00 Cutting the Lifeline (b00s9j0s)
Migrant workers' remittances provide a lifeline for millions in the world's poorest countries. But the global economic crisis is cutting that lifeline for many people. The flow of remittance money is drying up - and increasingly it's the workers themselves - rather than their wages - that are heading home.
The small Central American country of Honduras is one of the poorest in the western hemisphere and depends for almost thirty percent of its income on remittances. In this programme we hear from Honduran migrant workers in the U.S. who are struggling to find jobs - and from their impoverished families back home.
Producer: Vera Frankl
An IGA production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 11:30 The National Theatre of Brent's Iconic Icons (b00lsxh0)
Bob Dylan
The multi award winning National Theatre of Brent Artistic Director Desmond Olivier Dingle and the entire acting company (Raymond Box) return, celebrating the living artists deemed by Desmond to be Iconic Icons.
The first iconic icon is the legendary singer, songwriter and artist Bob Dylan. Desmond and Raymond will trace his path from his humble beginnings as Robert Zimmerman in Hibbin, Minnesota, through journeying to bohemian New York, finding his inner voice and becoming the icon that is Bob Dylan.
Written by Patrick Barlow, with additional material by John Ramm, and performed by Patrick and John in front of an audience at the Bush Hall in London.
Desmond Olivier Dingle ..... Patrick Barlow
Raymond Box ..... John Ramm
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b00s5hsg)
Winifred visits the "House of the Future" and hears how one day we could be using "negative ions" - and not water - to wash our clothes. The car hire service that allows you to make money by hiring out your own car to other people.
Melanie Abbott reports on plans for a "super sewer" in South London. This report includes contributions from candidates standing for election in Hammersmith - the full list of candidates is as follows.
Conservative: Shaun Bailey
Labour: Andy Slaughter
Lib Dem: Merlene Emerson
British National Party: Lawrence Searle
Green: Rollo Miles
Independent: Stephen Brennan
UK Independence Party: Vanessa Crichton.
WED 12:57 Weather (b00s5j6l)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b00s5jk3)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b00s5jld)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Brief Lives (b00s77wr)
Series 3
Episode 2
By Tom Fry and Sharon Kelly
Debby is representing a posh, middle aged good time girl who has been held at the airport on suspected drugs charges. She says she has friends in high places. But will they help her? Meanwhile Sarah's sister suddenly shows up. A North London Princess who gets a nose bleed if she goes past Watford? What's her game?
Frank ..... David Schofield
Debbie ..... Emma Atkins
Sarah .....Tracey- Ann Oberman
Rebecca ..... Jessica Blake
Caroline ..... Kathryn Hunt
Sumner ..... Malcolm Raeburn
Alex ..... Jake Norton
O'Brien ..... David Corden
Producer Gary Brown.
Original music by Carl Harms.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b00s77wt)
Vincent Duggleby and guests will be here to answer your questions about identity theft on this afternoon's Money Box Live.
What steps can you take to protect your personal data? How can you stay safe when banking online?
And if you do become a victim of fraud or identity theft how can you repair your credit report?
You can call the programme when lines open on Wednesday at 1330 BST. The number is 03700 100 444.
Standard geographic charges apply. Calls from mobiles may be higher.
Producer: Diane Richardson.
WED 15:30 Come Away, Come Away! (b00s6t4p)
Daredevil, by Michael Morpurgo
A reckless challenge leads to a dark discovery in a tale of nature and brotherhood.
James Bryce reads 'Daredevil' by Michael Morpurgo.
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie.
To mark 150 years since author J M Barrie was born, birth, three leading writers for young people contribute stories inspired by a chapter title from 'Peter Pan'. The authors have been set the task of exploring the joys and the terrors of childhood without sentimentality, much as Barrie did in his original text.
Award-winning author and former Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo has written over 100 books including 'The Wreck of the Zanzibar' and 'Kensuke's Kingdom'. The stage production of his 2007 novel, 'War Horse' has just transferred to the West End after an award-winning run at the National Theatre.
WED 15:45 The Drawings on the Wall (b008yn1c)
Irish Illusions
Archaeologist George Nash explores five of Western Europe's most remarkable rock art sites.
George visits County Meath in Ireland where strange patterns adorn the walls of the Fourknocks Passage Grave. What do the patterns mean?
George finds himself being stared at by a very odd cartoon-like face inside a 5000-year-old Irish tomb. It's a very early example of what we now call "graffiti" - and around it are hypnotic patterns of concentric circles, horizontal zigzags and strings of diamond shapes. Strangely similar carvings occur in Wales, Brittany and the Iberian peninsular. So who created them? What do they all mean? And who was copying who in Neolithic times?
George teams up with the modern-day Muslim graffiti artist Mohammed Ali to study these patterns for their spiritual significance, which may just lie in the fact that they are not as perfect as they seem. And he considers the possibility that Stone Age Man may well have been 'stoned' when he created them.
Producer: Chris Eldon Lee
A Culture Wise production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b00s782f)
Dective tours and Russian organised crime
Crime tours which take people to the scenes from works of detective fiction are an increasing feature of regional tourism across Europe. What draws people to the places where fictional murders were imagined to have taken place?
Laurie Taylor talks to Stijn Reijnders who has made an anthropological study of three detective tours, Wallander in Sweden, Baantjer in Holland and Morse in Oxford. The crime fictional novelist Val McDermid joins them to discuss her impression of the importance of landscape in encapsulating impressions of crime and guilt.
Also on the programme Patricia Rawlinson discusses her study of organised crime in Russia. When Soviet era economics made way for 'Shock Therapy' privatisation in the early 1990s, the resulting social chaos was blamed on organised crime. Was it to blame? And is gangsterism really so antithetical to unbridled capitalism?
Producer: Charlie Taylor.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b00s782h)
The TV debates were the big new media event this campaign, but has their success been at the expense of the newspapers? Steve Hewlett discusses this with Anne McElvoy of the London Evening Standard and Professor George Brock of City University.
Reports this week have claimed that allowing children to watch TV in their early years causes long-term harm to their development. But is that what the research really shows? Steve goes to the original source in Canada to find out.
And, following our interviews with the three main parties' spokespeople on the media, Plaid Cymru and the SNP discuss their plans for news and the BBC in Wales and Scotland.
WED 17:00 PM (b00s5jp7)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00s5jqd)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Mark Steel's in Town (b00s782k)
Series 2
Gateshead
Comedian Mark Steel travels to Gateshead to perform to locals who under no circumstances want their town to be confused with Newcastle.
Whilst up there Mark enjoys a memorable night out in a local pub; a telling-off in the Baltic Art Gallery, a visit to the Angel of The North and an ugly car park that some people want to preserve because of its role in a grisly murder.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b00s5jlg)
Jennifer and Adam are inspecting the caravans, ahead of the students arriving. Jennifer's still hoping Kate can find a suitable course in Johannesburg. Adam tells Jennifer not to worry. Brian's just back from the solicitors. The lease is signed for the community shop, so Peggy need worry no more. Brian mentions that Joe's auction is to raise money for a new bench for the churchyard. Adam wants Jennifer to put in a bid for Joe's old mangle.
Lilian takes Paul and his electrician to look at Peggy's cooker hood, introducing Paul as just an acquaintance. While he's there, Peggy asks him to look at a leaky tap. Paul's happy to oblige, and doesn't want payment. Jennifer turns up unexpectedly and wonders why Lilian asked Paul, and how will she explain it to Matt. Lilian knows it won't be easy, but thinks things will change once Matt meets Paul and sees what a good man he is. Paul accepts Lilian's offer of dinner.
Jennifer tells Brian about Paul, and wonders if Lilian is having doubts about having Matt back. Maybe Lilian would be better off with someone like Paul. Brian agrees. The sooner Lilian gets shot of Matt, the better.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b00s5l11)
Nigel Kennedy; Marc Quinn; Oxford Professor of Poetry nominees
Mark Lawson and novelist Dreda Say Mitchell review a new film version of Barrie Keeffe's play SUS, about police corruption on election night in '79.
Marc Quinn talks about his exhibition of sculptures which depict people who have undergone extreme levels of physical transformation, including Pamela Anderson and Michael Jackson.
As the nominations period for the new Oxford Professor of Poetry closes, former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion assesses the candidates and the pros and cons of the post.
And Nigel Kennedy discusses Shhh, the latest album from his Polish quintet; and his forthcoming Polish Weekend at London's Southbank, which will see the violinist transform The Southbank Centre into a mini Poland and perform a live soundtrack to the backdrop of the notorious 1973 qualifying match between England and Poland.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00s5hmr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Devil's Advocate (b00s782m)
Celebrity Privacy
David Aaronovitch invites two guest speakers to turn their established views on their head and debate the contrary position.
Speakers are given two weeks to research their arguments before appearing in the debate in front of an invited audience at Cambridge University. We follow the debate, but also hear about their research process and from the people who have acted as their mentors.
At the end of a programme, a vote is taken, and the speakers are invited to reflect on the experience. Has it changed their established views?
The motion is: 'Celebrities have no automatic rights to a private life.'
Speaking for the motion is TV presenter John Leslie, and against is columnist and writer Toby Young.
In an increasingly celebrity-centric society, should stars who ultimately survive on the oxygen of publicity have the right to a private life? Is a lack of clear privacy laws eroding the freedom of the press, and are celebrities hypocritical when it comes to balancing privacy with publicity - or do they need protection?
The programme is recorded in front of an invited audience at Judge Business School in Cambridge.
Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 20:45 What the Election Papers Say (b00s782p)
Episode 10
BBC Radio 4 brings back a much loved TV favourite - What the Election Papers Say. It does what it says on the tin. Each programme will see a leading political journalist take a wry look at how the broadsheets and red tops treat the biggest stories of the campaign.
Hear all about it - with Assistant Editor of the Sunday Express Julia Hartley-Brewer.
WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (b00s7b36)
Cerrado
With 5% of the world's flora and fauna Brazil's enormous Cerrado region is a rich mosaic of grass and woodland that is being destroyed at twice the speed of the Amazon rainforest.
Taking up one quarter of Brazil's land mass the Cerrado lacks the high profile of the Amazon or its celebrity supporters, making it easier for the fast expanding sugarcane and soya industries to take bigger bites out of the savannah. That can mean the loss of unique species and the destruction of traditional ways of life in the region.
For 'Costing the Earth' Tim Hirsch visits the Cerrado to hear from local people who are trying to save their land by making it pay. Ice creams flavoured with unusual Cerrado fruits and bird-watching holidays for British tourists may not be able to compete with large-scale farming but locals hope they'll give the area the publicity it needs for real protection.
WED 21:30 Midweek (b00s77mx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b00s5ljs)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b00s5lm5)
The election campaign - the parties' last bid for votes.
Violence in Greece and political rows in Germany over the bail-out.
And we'll announce the winner... of the Election Song Contest.
With Robin Lustig.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00s5m0b)
A Perpetual Love Affair
Byron in Venice
Henry James described his relationship with Venice as "a perpetual love affair," and in Bryon's case this is very apt. Byron arrived in Venice in 1816, following great scandal in England. He had not meant to stay long but soon fell in love - notably with the wife of his landlord - and his letters chronicle the development both of this affair and of his eccentric decision to learn Armenian.
This selection of Byron's letters is read by Mark Meadows.
Abridged and produced in Bristol by Christine Hall.
WED 23:00 The Vote Now Show (b00s5ncb)
Series 1
Episode 12
Punt and Dennis present a nightly satirical round up of election news and comment from comedians, journalists and commentators. Recorded in front of an audience at the Radio Theatre about 4 hours before transmission, this is a very topical comedy show.
WED 23:30 In Search of the Holy Quail (b00mdy17)
Rock musicians and bird watchers Guy Garvey, Martin Noble and Marc Riley go to Shetland in search of the quail. From September 2009.
THURSDAY 06 MAY 2010
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b00s55kq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b00s5h0q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00s55lw)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00s55nc)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00s55rl)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b00s56bd)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00s5fmh)
Presented by the Revd Bob Fyffe, General Secretary of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b00s5fpr)
The rush is on to get the season's vegetables sown after the long harsh winter, while Farming Today reports on the plight of Scottish wild birds following the freezing temperatures of the past few months. And the Farming Today pigs are now getting bigger as they are being fattened up for the butcher.
THU 06:00 Today (b00s5fth)
With Sarah Montague and Justin Webb. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b00s7b6r)
The Cool Universe
The Cool Universe is the name astronomers give to the matter between the stars.These great clouds of dust and gas are not hot enough to be detected by optical telescopes.But over the last few decades, they have increasingly become the focus of infrared telescopy.Astronomers had long encountered dark, apparently starless patches in the night sky. When they discovered that these were actually areas obscured by dust, they found a way to see through these vexing barriers, using infrared telescopes, to the light beyond.However, more recently, the dust itself has become a source of fascination.The picture now being revealed by infrared astronomy is of a universe that is dynamic.In this dynamic universe, matter is recycled - and so the dust and gas of the Cool Universe play a vital role. They are the material from which the stars are created, and into which they finally disintegrate, enriching the reservoir of cool matter from which new stars will eventually be formed. As a result of the new research, we are now beginning to see first-hand the way our planet was formed when the solar system was born.With:Carolin CrawfordMember of the Institute of Astronomy, and Fellow of Emmanuel College, at the University of CambridgePaul MurdinVisiting Professor of Astronomy at Liverpool John Moores University's Astronomy Research InstituteMichael Rowan-RobinsonProfessor of Astrophysics at Imperial College, LondonProducer: Phil Tinline.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b00s5h0s)
Blood Knots
Episode 4
Author Luke Jennings writes about a lifetime of fantastic fishing and fishing mentors.
Luke realls another angling mentor - the enigmatic Robert, who teaches him the art of fly-fishing for trout.
Reader: Nigel Hastings
Abridged by Katrin Williams
Producer: Duncan Minshull.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00s5h5p)
Presented by Jenni Murray.
Whether you're proud of your feet and can't wait to show them off in this summer's sandals or want to hide away your callouses, cracked heels and ragged toenails, we discuss how to keep feet healthy and looking good.
Maids and mistresses - 18th century stories of women and intrigue at the court of George II and Queen Caroline.
Artist Daphne Todd, shortlisted for a portrait award, on why she chose to paint her mother in the days after her death and the therapeutic yet uncomfortable process of capturing this image.
Retirement - the end of a productive life or a new beginning? One group shares its ideas for enjoying life beyond work and we discuss what's involved in retiring well.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b00s5hmt)
An Unsuitable Attachment
Episode 9
9/10Penelope Wilton stars in Barbara Pym's wonderful story of love, requited and otherwise, in unfashionable north London in 1960. Confused by Penelope's tearfulness in Rome, Rupert heads over to Ianthe for solace. But it is not to be.
An Unsuitable Attachment was turned down by Barbara Pym's publishers, Faber, when she gave them the manuscript in 1963, with very little explanation. Her previous 6 books had met with some success, so she was very upset and according to her correspondence felt very badly treated. It wasn't until 1977, when the Times Literary Supplement published a symposium on the most over and under-rated writers of the century and two contributors named her in the second category - the only living writer to be so distinguished - and her next novel was published before the year was out. She was widely interviewed, appeared on Desert Island Discs, and was the subject of a tv film. She died in 1980. An Unsuitable Attachment was finally published in 1982.
Dramatised by Jennie Howarth.
Narrator ..... Penelope Wilton
Penelope ..... Sophie Thompson
Sophia ..... Lucy Akhurst
Ianthe ..... Raquel Cassidy
Mervyn ..... Stephen Critchlow
Mark ..... Martin Ball
Rupert ..... Ben Crowe
John ..... Tom Andrews
Sister Dew ..... Angela Curran
Lady Selvedge ..... Joanna Wake
Mrs Grandison ..... Frances Jeater
Edwin ..... Robin Bowerman
Basil ..... Joe Coen
The director is Chris Wallis, and this is an Autolycus production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b00s7dvr)
India's Red Belt
After 40 years of fighting and 6000 deaths the Indian government has launched its biggest ever offensive against Maoist rebels. The government has sent thousands of troops into remote jungle areas in an attempt to control the insurgents.
British anthropologist Alpa Shah visits a Maoist-controlled region of Jharkand in eastern India. She's been given a rare interview with a Maoist leader and she reports on day-to-day life in some of the country's poorest villages in areas under Maoist influence.
The fields are still tilled by oxen. There are few roads and 85% of the population have no electricity. Yet Jharkhand has vast forest and mineral resources. It produces 48% of India's coal, 40% of the country's iron, 48% of its bauxite and 100% of its kyanite. Multi-national companies are looking to set up here. But the Maoists say the local people are seeing little of this new-found wealth.
The Maoists are seen as terrorists by the Indian authorities. But in these villages, Alpa discovers that they are responsible for the running many aspects of day-to-day life. Described by many as "the party", it's a complex social landscape where the Maoists are firmly embedded.
Against this backdrop, Alpa explores the appeal of the Maoist fighters to these poor communities.
Presenter: Alpa Shah
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
THU 11:30 Launching The Style Decade (b00s7dvt)
Launched in 1980, Robert Elms investigates the origins and influence of The Face, the 'style bible' of the 80s. The magazine was at the forefront of a remarkable change in the visual landscape of Britain in the 1980s: from Sunday newspaper supplements, to television ads, to ordinary high street shop fronts.
Until 1980 music magazines were black and white broadsheet papers like the NME and Melody Maker. Then in the summer of 1980 The Face changed all that. Started by the former NME and Smash Hits editor Nick Logan, it brought a flash of colour to the magazine industry, mixing pop, politics, photography, fashion and style, all tied together by the iconic design of art director Neville Brody.
The Face advocated that music didn't matter unless everyone looked good. With the innovative marriage of fashion and music, 'the best dressed magazine' quickly became the arbiter of style and cool in 1980s England.
At its most successful The Face was at the forefront of every major youth movement and was pivotal in launching the career of models Kate Moss and photographer Juergen Teller. Taking stock, publisher Nick Logan and Neville Brody reveal what they believe to be the lasting impact of The Face on style and design.
Producer: Barney Rowntree
A Somethin Else production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b00s5hsj)
Creator of the luxury brand of bath oils and candles, Jo Malone talks to Winifred Robinson about how she grew her business from the kitchen table to a multi-million pound concern that she sold to Estee Lauder in 2006. In her new project - a television series on BBC1 called High Street Dreams - she's being a mentor to fledgling entrepreneurs; helping them to get their products sold in big-name high street stores.
We'll have the latest on the volcano fall-out: how the hoilday industry is coping with the uncertainty about the ash clouds; and whether or not BA are likely to cause more holiday flight disruption.
We're also finding out about off-the-shelf, new-build eco-homes; how the Lada hopes to do a Skoda and move to mainstream motoring; and art-collectives.
THU 12:57 Weather (b00s5j6n)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b00s5jk5)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.
THU 13:30 Costing the Earth (b00s7b36)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:00 The Archers (b00s5jlg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b00s7dvw)
Can't Live Without You
By Kellie Smith
Starring Sarah Smart and Bryan Dick
A psychological thriller about a man's craving for control in his marriage.
When Greg's partner Anna becomes ill and needs constant care, Greg flourishes as her carer and becomes intoxicated by her dependency. Greg's apparent overwhelming love for his partner, his deepening desire to feel needed takes him to the limit in their relationship.
Greg......Bryan Dick
Anna..... Sarah Smart
Neil........Dean Smith
Nurse.....Emma Hartley-Miller
Produced and Directed by Pauline Harris.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b00s50lz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:07 on Saturday]
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b00s54d0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Come Away, Come Away! (b00s6t4r)
The Beautiful Freedom Cage by Julie Bertagna
Alam travels from his desolate mountain community to the glittering promise of Europe, where he hopes to learn the true meaning of freedom.
Laura Smales reads 'The Beautiful Freedom Cage' by Julie Bertagna.
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie.
To mark 150 years since author J M Barrie's birth, three leading writers for young people contribute stories inspired by a chapter title from 'Peter Pan'. The authors have been set the task of exploring the joys and the terrors of childhood without sentimentality, much as Barrie did in his original text.
Julie Bertagna writes for children and young adults and will shortly publish the final part of her acclaimed Savage Earth saga, 'Aurora'. She has been shortlisted for the Whitbread Children's Book award and the Blue Peter Book Awards.
THU 15:45 The Drawings on the Wall (b0090g5r)
The Master of Paspardo
Archaeologist George Nash explores five of Western Europe's most remarkable rock art sites.
George visits the prehistoric art of northern Italy's Val Camonica. Carved into the rock is one of the world's first maps, images of some of Europe's earliest houses and scores of Iron Age warriors. He asks if these fighting figures could be the work of just one artist.
Producer: Chris Eldon Lee
A Culture Wise production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 16:00 Bookclub (b00s54tn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:30 Material World (b00s7dvy)
Quentin Cooper meets the scientists making news. He hears the science behind clearing up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and how engineers trying to stop the leak are at the cutting edge of technology.
We find out about strange undersea domes that have been spotted off the California coast. They are extinct asphalt volcanoes made from a mixture of hardened crude oil and marine fossils.
Also on the programme, how one of our "So You Want to be a Scientist?" finalists will be contributing to the growing amount of research into crowd dynamics. Could his idea lead to changes in crowd management at major events?
And Quentin investigates the science of Plasmonics, the ultimate ability to control light and use it to process information and manipulate materials at the smallest scale imaginable.
Controlling the interaction between light and matter is fundamental to science and to technology - from probing entanglement in quantum physics to harnessing the spectacular information carrying capacity of optical fibres. Nanoscale fabrication allows the manufacture of new materials with increasing sophistication and freedom of design, but controlling light at the nanoscale remains a challenge. Traditionally light can only be controlled on length scales down to a little below the wavelength of light, a few hundred nanometres, hence the usual resolution limit of optical microscopes and telescopes. However, a new paradigm called plasmonics is emerging, to control light below its wavelength limit, down to nanometre length scales.
THU 17:00 PM (b00s5jp9)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00s5jqg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Arthur Smith's Balham Bash (b00s7dw0)
Series 2
Episode 4
Arthur Smith invites us into his Balham flat in south London for comedy, music and entertainment.
With his guests: Nine Below Zero, Phill Jupitus, Josh Widdecombe and Marlon Davies.
Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2010
THU 19:00 The Archers (b00s5jlj)
Fallon jokingly chastises Kenton for stealing her staff, then tells him to get going while she serves a gorgeous customer - who turns out to be Harry the milkman. Fallon tells Harry about the single wicket competition. Harry's keen to play but resentful Jazzer points out that the rules state he has to live in the village. Fallon asks Jazzer what his problem is. Harry's nothing like he described.
Joe's at the village hall, but not to vote. He wants more bids for his lucky dip auction. Everyone seems to have heard that he's raising money for a new bench for the churchyard.
Kenton hopes to win some old car parts to use as wall art for Jaxx. Jim is horrified but gets his revenge by successfully bidding on a garden gnome, to display as a mascot. Jazzer sneakily bids on behalf of Harry.
Oliver's disappointed not to win the mangle. Joe explains he couldn't bear to part with it. To Jazzer's dismay, Harry's delighted to win a set of dumbbells and thanks Jazzer for entering on his behalf.
Oliver suggests Joe can put a plaque on the bench, to say it was donated by the Grundys - a fitting tribute to the oldest family in Ambridge.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b00s5l13)
Trumpeter Hugh Masekela; author Jane Smiley; One Night in Turin
With Mark Lawson. South African trumpeter and singer Hugh Masekela talks to Mark about his long and varied career, from meeting Nelson Mandela to his forthcoming perfomance at the football World Cup.
Football correspondent Patrick Barclay reviews One Night in Turin, a documentary about England's ill-fated bid for the World Cup in 1990.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley talks about her new novel Private Life, a tragic story of marriage and love set in Missouri and San Francisco in the build up to the Second World War.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00s5hmt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b00s7dw2)
Football's Financial Crisis
With the football season drawing to a close, Morland Sanders investigates the financial crisis facing Premiership clubs. Many are saddled with huge debts.
One manager says his club's business model of high wages and bonuses simply does not stack up and threatens the viability of the national game.
And the outgoing Football League chairman has warned that the affairs of some clubs are not transparent, making it impossible to determine who the owners are - and the level of debts on the books.
Producer: Samantha Fenwick.
THU 20:30 In Business (b00s7dw4)
Press Under Pressure
Many of the world's best-known business newspapers and magazines are being painfully squeezed by the recession and the rise of rival media. In London and New York, Peter Day finds out why it matters... and how they are going about fighting for survival.
Producer: Julie Ball.
THU 21:00 Saving Species (b00s6svl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Tuesday]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b00s7b6r)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 Election Night 2010 (b00s8c2v)
Presented by James Naughtie & Carolyn Quinn.
Live results, analysis and interviews as the UK finds out who has won the right to govern.
A night of unfolding drama, as told by Radio 4's best known and respected presenters including Martha Kearney, Andrew Marr, Justin Webb, Jane Garvey, Jenni Murray, Ritula Shah, Libby Purves, Ed Stourton, Julian Worricker and Paddy O'Connell.
We know the nation has never been less in love with those who represent us, so Election Night 2010 promises to be both brutal and dramatic.
We'll hear from the winners and the losers. James Naughtie and Carolyn Quinn and Radio 4's election number cruncher, Professor Phil Cowley will look at the stats, the swings, the new names and whether any party has attracted enough support to form the next government. As Phil makes sense of of the numbers, Carolyn will make clear the state of the parties and Jim invariably will make a complete mess of whatever is left around him.
A night to remember.
FRIDAY 07 MAY 2010
FRI 06:00 Today (b00s5ftk)
With John Humphrys and Evan Davis. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day with John Bell.
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b00s5h0v)
Blood Knots
Episode 5
Author Luke Jennings writes about a lifetime of fantastic fishing and fishing mentors.
Luke takes us back again to dark, brackish waters for that freshwater monter - the pike. Very big pike, in fact.
Reader: Nigel Hastings
Abridged by Katrin Williams
Producer: Duncan Minshull.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00s5h5s)
Presented by Jenni Murray. Election response: Jenni is joined by two women who are heading to Westminster for the first time. They're among nearly 150 new MP's who will take their seats after this election. She'll be asking them what they're expecting of the new Parliament and what they think the next five years might hold for women.
Mothers on stage - how she's been portrayed in drama from the Middle Ages to Modern Times. How did the Renaissance and the Reformation change her, and how did female writers differ in how they represented mothers in their plays?
Corkscrews, bride grooms, ears and tongues - welcome to the world of pasta. The list of shapes, and their wonderful names, is endless. If you don't know your farfalle from you fusilli, then join Jenni for Woman's Hour at 10 o'clock.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b00s5hmw)
An Unsuitable Attachment
Episode 10
Penelope Wilton stars in Barbara Pym's wonderful story of love, requited and otherwise, in unfashionable north London in 1960. Ianthe Broome and John Challow are to be married. It says so in The Times. But can it be true? It's so unsuitable. Perhaps it won't happen after all.
An Unsuitable Attachment was turned down by Barbara Pym's publishers, Faber, when she gave them the manuscript in 1963, with very little explanation. Her previous 6 books had met with some success, so she was very upset and according to her correspondence felt very badly treated. It wasn't until 1977, when the Times Literary Supplement published a symposium on the most over and under-rated writers of the century and two contributors named her in the second category - the only living writer to be so distinguished - and her next novel was published before the year was out. She was widely interviewed, appeared on Desert Island Discs, and was the subject of a tv film. She died in 1980. An Unsuitable Attachment was finally published in 1982.
Dramatised by Jennie Howarth.
Narrator ..... Penelope Wilton
Penelope ..... Sophie Thompson
Sophia ..... Lucy Akhurst
Ianthe ..... Raquel Cassidy
Mervyn ..... Stephen Critchlow
Mark ..... Martin Ball
Rupert ..... Ben Crowe
John ..... Tom Andrews
Sister Dew ..... Angela Curran
Lady Selvedge ..... Joanna Wake
Mrs Grandison ..... Frances Jeater
Edwin ..... Robin Bowerman
Basil ..... Joe Coen
The director is Chris Wallis, and this is an Autolycus production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 11:00 Random Edition (b00s3d1r)
350th Anniversary of the Restoration Special
The English Revolution was as brutal, divisive and - in its way - as politically significant as its counterparts in France and Russia.
But somehow the nation more or less came together again in the spring of 1660 in support of one route out of the chaos that followed Oliver Cromwell's death in 1658 - monarchy. And this Random Edition examines, with the help of the Parliamentary Intelligencer 'newsbook' for April 30th to May 7th 1660, just how Charles II came to be accepted back as king, eleven years after his father had been beheaded.
The Intelligencer describes in graphic detail the arrival before both Houses of Parliament of Sir John Grenville, a messenger from Charles, who is currently in the Dutch town of Breda. Grenville carries the king's 'Declaration of Breda' containing the various guarantees that will prove to make his restoration possible.
Using other extracts from the Intelligencer, Peter Snow, examines some of Charles's guarantees - that all in the army will be paid arrears owing to them; that a general pardon will be offered to (almost) all those who worked against the monarchy in the preceding years; and that freedom of religion will be respected.
Just how far were these guarantees fulfilled?
Peter Snow is joined by Restoration historian Ronald Hutton for a tour of various sites in Westminster that help bring alive the Intelligencer's stories.
Also in the programme, Andrew Green travels to Breda to learn about Charles II's years of exile. Trevor Barnes fills out the Intelligencer's story of how militant Republican resistance has been snuffed out. And historian Jenny Uglow stands on the beach at Deal in Kent to imagine the great fleet preparing to cross the North Sea to bring Charles home from The Netherlands.
All this....and the newspaper's ads.
Programme contributors include historians Pene Corfield, Jenny Uglow, Jason Peacey, Ronald Hutton, Mark Goldie, John Morrill and David Farr.
Sites visited include undercroft of Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, St Margaret's Westminster, and Banqueting House in Whitehall.
This is an Andrew Green production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 11:30 When the Dog Dies (b00s7f9r)
Series 1
Spying Is Believing
Grandad Sandy has started snooping on his daughter-in-law Victoria, hiding in a car boot and climbing a tree. With Ronnie Corbett and Liza Tarbuck. From May 2010.
FRI 12:00 World at One (b00s5jk7)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b00s5jlj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 News (b00sjq5h)
PM Special
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:15 Gardeners' Question Time (b00s7f9t)
Anne Swithinbank goes in search of bedding-plant inspiration at Sunderland's municipal gardens.
Matthew Biggs, Anne Swithinbank, Bob Flowerdew and chairman Eric Robson are guests of Herrington Flower Club.
The producer is Howard Shannon, and this is a Somethin' Else Sound Directions production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b00s7f9w)
On Last Word this week:
The campaigner for gay rights Antony Grey. He was a leading figure in the lobbying that produced the legalisation of homosexuality for adults over the age of twenty one in 1967.
Also: Jean-Louis Dumas who turned the French luxury brand Hermes into a multi billion dollar global company.
The actress Lynn Redgrave who had a gift for comedy and battled her personal demons in public.
Guenter Wendt who was in charge of the final pre-flight checks before pioneering American astronauts launched into space.
And Avigdor Arikha, the Israeli artist whose first drawings depicted the horrors of the concentration camp where he was taken as a child.
FRI 16:30 The Film Programme (b00s7f9y)
Jenny Agutter revisits The Railway Children, Walkabout and The American Werewolf in London, and reveals why her school decided which film roles she took when she was a teenager.
Actor Riz Ahmed talks about controversial satire Four Lions, in which he plays the leader of a group of suicide bombers.
Matthew Sweet waxes lyrical about Googie Withers in The Loves of Joanna Godden, in which she plays a female farmer - Romney Marsh's first - with radical ideas.
FRI 17:00 PM (b00s5jpc)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b00s5jll)
Matt cranks up the pressure, and a crisis at Brookfield brings Jude to the farm.
FRI 19:15 The News Quiz (b00s7fb0)
Series 71
Episode 4
Sandi Toksvig presents another episode of the ever-popular topical panel show. Guests this week are Jack Dee, Jeremy Hardy, Francis Wheen, and Sue Perkins.
Produced by Sam Bryant.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00s5hmw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b00s7fb2)
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs the live debate from Cokethorpe School in Witney, Oxfordshire. Panellists include the former Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, Michael Portillo, former Conservative cabinet minister; Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Shirley Williams and associate editor of The Times Daniel Finkelstein.
Producer: Victoria Wakely.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b00s7g8c)
Hearts of Oak
In the week when Britain goes to the polls, Simon Schama reflects on the significance of one of the sights that will greet new MPs in the chamber of the House of Commons - the panelling made of solid oak. He traces the power and symbolism of the oak tree in British history from tales of Druids in ancient oakwoods to the songs of Nelson's sailors at Trafalgar and fears a new blight which could threaten its survival.
Producer: Sheila Cook.
FRI 21:00 Friday Drama (b00s7g8f)
RIP Boy
Eleven years ago Zahid Mubarek was beaten to death by his cellmate, teenager Robert Stewart in Feltham Young Offenders Institution. In Neil McKay's new factual drama, prison offer John acts as our narrator, leading us through an overloaded prison system to reveal how a known racist with psychopathic tendencies ended up sharing a cell with a quiet Asian lad serving only 90 days for petty theft.
Stewart's manipulative actions get him moved round the country from one YOI to another as his behaviour becomes increasingly violent and erratic, from tattooing RIP onto his forehead, to inciting the murder of a fellow inmate during a cookery class. He eventually ends up in the huge, overcrowded nightmare that is Feltham, where cells designed for one hold two, and boys are banged up for twenty-three hours out of twenty-four. Astonishingly, Stewart's long record of violence and racist behaviour fails to reach Swallow wing, where the only spare bed is in Zahid Mubarek's cell.
It is now ten years since Zahid's death and many of the recommendations of the public inquiry have still not been fully implemented. Prisons remain overcrowded and overstretched. Violence is rife. More than 70% of prisoners suffer two or more mental health disorders. As prison officer John in the play observes: "But it's all out of sight so we keep it out of mind. It shouldn't be, for the sake of everyone. Zahid could have been your son or mine. Remember him. Remember his name. Zahid Mubarek."
RIP Boy is written by Bafta award-winning TV dramatist Neil McKay (Mo, See No Evil, Dunkirk, The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper) who specializes in dramatizing stories about real lives. Matthew NcNulty (Five Days, Unforgiven, The Mark of Cain) plays Robert Stewart and Ross Boatman (Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, Cassandra's Dream) plays John. Zahid Mubarek is played by Darren Kuppan who has just appeared in East is East at Birmingham Rep.
Robert Stewart ..... Matthew NcNulty
John ..... Ross Boatman
Zahid Mubarek ..... Darren Kuppan
Jamie Barnes ..... Ashley Gerlach
Karen Stewart, Nurse ..... Fiona Clarke
Prison Officers ..... Nick Underwood
Prison Officers ..... Greg Wood
Travis ..... John Cattrell
Simmo ..... James Adler
Directed by Melanie Harris. This is a Red production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b00s5ljx)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b00s5lm9)
National and international news and analysis.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00s5n6p)
A Perpetual Love Affair
Henry James' Venice
Henry James considered his relationship with Venice "a perpetual love affair."
Selina Cadell reads a selection of James's writing about the city he loved.
Abridged and produced by Christine Hall.
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b00s77ft)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 I Want to Work in... (b00m535t)
Laurie Taylor - himself a former careers master at a comprehensive school - takes an affectionate look back at 50 years of careers advice.
He goes back to the time when careers were really only for middle-class boys; girls and the lower orders were expected to make do with mere jobs. This was reflected in the inadequate careers advice handed out at the time by school careers masters and by the often patronising schools TV films about everything from working in insurance to the distinctive pleasures of shelf-filling in a supermarket. How much was anyone helped by such sources of information?
Laurie finds out how different the situation is today, when fewer and fewer children follow in their parents' career footsteps and when even the notion of a 'career' itself is under attack by the proponents of the 'portfolio' society. He talks to experts and visits a jobs fair for graduates, and asks if, over the past 50 years of careers advice, anybody has taken a blind bit of notice.