SATURDAY 06 NOVEMBER 2010
SAT 00:00 He Belonged to Glasgow - The Will Fyffe Story (b00vky75)
Born in Dundee in 1885, Will Fyffe became synonymous with a different city when his song 'I Belong To Glasgow' captured the nation's hearts.
After spending his formative years in touring theatre, Will Fyffe switched to comedy and music hall, and became a headline act throughout Scotland. Along with his contemporary Harry Lauder, his humour transcended the regional stage and appearances all over Britain led to five Royal Variety performances.
A leading film star of the 1930s and 40s, he made one Hollywood film, although this burgeoning career was put on hold as war broke out and he returned to entertain the troops.
An accident in 1947 led to his untimely death, but his body of work lives on through his songs, sketches and films.
In this programme, singer-songwriter and Deacon Blue frontman Ricky Ross looks at Fyffe's life, career and legacy with family, film historians and music hall experts, including Professor Jeffrey Richards, and Will Fyffe's daughter, Eileen.
Producer: Elizabeth Foster
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2010.
SAT 00:30 Book of the Week (b00vkyyv)
Philip Larkin - Letters to Monica
Episode 5
Philip Larkin's Letters to Monica span the forty years of their relationship from 1946 when they met, until Larkin's death in 1985. They only came to light after Monica Jones died in 2001, when nearly two thousand letters were discovered in Larkin's house in Hull. This never previously published correspondence, edited by Anthony Thwaite, offers a unique insight into Larkin's most intimate thoughts.
Episode 5: Larkin looks back at his life leading up to his fiftieth birthday and despite the success of The Whitsun Weddings, wonders if he has achieved all that he set out to. Anthony Thwaite concludes the episode.
Read by Hugh Bonneville, who recently appeared in Downton Abbey and BBC TV's The Silence and played Larkin in Love Again on BBC 4.
In Episode 5, the letters are concluded with comment from Anthony Thwaite, a close friend of Larkin and the editor of the collection Letters to Monica.
The abridger is Miranda Davies and the producer Lucy Collingwood.
SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00vkz4p)
The latest shipping forecast.
SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00vkz4r)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
5.20am.
SAT 05:30 Shipping Forecast (b00vkz4t)
The latest shipping forecast.
SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00vlv5h)
With Shaunaka Rishi Das, Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.
SAT 05:45 iPM (b00vly4g)
"On tour we never have time to grieve." Listener John Vincent, an army chaplain, talks to Eddie Mair about Afghanistan, remembrance and coming home. Email ipm@bbc.co.uk.
SAT 06:00 News and Papers (b00vkz4y)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SAT 06:04 Weather (b00vkz50)
The latest weather forecast.
SAT 06:07 Open Country (b00vr59t)
Resistance
Author and poet Owen Sheers visits South Wales, the setting for his book Resistance, which was inspired by the tales he heard growing up of a secret rural army trained to hold off a potential German invasion during the second world war.
Owen meets one of the last surviving members of the rural auxiliary unit and speaks to some of the people who had no idea that members of their family were highly trained to move silently through the surrounding countryside, ensuring it became a difficult and hostile environment for the German army to infiltrate. Finally Owen heads underground into one of the secret bunkers, where ammunition was hidden in the Monmouthshire countryside.
SAT 06:30 Farming Today (b00vr59w)
Farming Today This Week
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Anne Marie Bullock.
SAT 06:57 Weather (b00vkz52)
The latest weather forecast.
SAT 07:00 Today (b00vr59y)
Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day; Yesterday in Parliament.
SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (b00tdzns)
Repeat edition due to industrial action by National Union of Journalists. The Reverend Richard Coles' guests are Benjamin Zephaniah and poet Elvis McGonagall. There's an interview with a woman who gave away the fortune she inherited, and the man who's translated Stieg Larsson's celebrated Millennium Trilogy from the original Swedish into English, a Sound Sculpture about a traditional barber's shop and the Inheritance Tracks of Julian Clary.
SAT 10:00 Excess Baggage (b00tdznv)
Bus trip
Due to industrial action called by the National Union of Journalists we're sorry that we're unable to bring you our scheduled programme. In its place we offer you a programme from 21st August this year. Sandi Toksvig asked the Excess Baggage audience to nominate their favourite bus journeys and she chose one that, while in many ways is very ordinary, reveals much of fascination and beauty along the way. She meets listener Sonia Mabberley, who nominated the route, at the bus station in Swindon. It could have been an unpromising beginning, given the town's reputation for dullness, but in fact there is much on offer and they soon find themselves in the heart of the Wiltshire countryside at harvest time. The bus passes much of historical interest including the white horse carved from a chalk hillside, the World Heritage site of Avebury and they arrive at Devizes a typical country town on market day. Sandi concludes there is much you can see and enjoy for little outlay and without even going far from home. The bus song is by Kitty Macfarlane.
Producer: Harry Parker.
SAT 10:30 The Goodies: Anything, Anywhere, Anytime (b00vr5d2)
In their twelve years in our living rooms the Goodies rediscovered the Lost Island of Munga, represented the UK in the Winter Olympics, started Britain's space program and blew up the BBC.
First appearing on our screens in November 1970, The Goodies' Bill Oddie, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor - were prime-time mainstays for the next decade. They were the fifth biggest-grossing pop act of 1975, bagged two Silver Roses of Montreux, and were so funny they caused a 50-year-old bricklayer to laugh himself to death.
Their shows, in which the trio played an agency of three bicycling blokes for hire to do "anything, anywhere, anytime", were freewheeling streams-of-nonsense in which TV conventions were upended and every silent-movie gag in history lovingly re-created.
On the 40th anniversary of the Goodies' television debut, comedian Ross Noble hops on his trandem and revisits a world of giant cats, Lancastrian martial artists, rampaging Dougals and funky gibbons.
Producer: Simon Barnard
A Wise Buddah production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (b00vr5dj)
Peter Riddell looks behind the scenes at Westminster
Tensions within the Conservative Party are rising again over Europe. That's because David Cameron promised to fight for a freeze in the EU budget. But he was forced to agree to an increase of 2.9 per cent. Here, the former Cabinet minister, Stephen Dorrell discusses the party's approach to Europe with the Eurosceptic, Douglas Carswell.
The Liberal Democrats promised to scrap tuition fees before the general election. But the coalition government - which includes Lib Dem ministers - this week announced the fees are to triple. Susan Kramer, a former Lib Dem MP who is standing for the presidency of the party, debates the rise with the Conservative, Margot James.
The independent reviewer of terror legislation, Lord Carlile, is preparing to stand down from the job he's held for nine years. Here, he gives a warning against 'siren voices' arguing for control orders to be scrapped.
Finally, new laws to allow a referendum on changing the voting system, and to ensure an equal number of votes in each constituency, passed the Commons this week. But how will they fare in the House of Lords? The Lib Dem, Lord Tyler and the Conservative, Lord Norton make their predictions.
SAT 11:30 Crossing Continents (b00tjrgx)
The Church in China
Christopher Landau explores the explosive growth of christianity in China, with millions flocking to the official Protestant and Catholic churches. The country has the world's largest bible printing press while some factories are run on Christian principles. Why has the Communist state, which is formally atheist, endorsed this transition? There is official interest in the idea of a "Protestant work ethic" aiding the country's economy while some branches of government hope that the church's social services will help care for an ageing population.
Producer: Caroline Finnigan.
SAT 12:00 Money Box (b00vr5k4)
News and advice on safeguarding and improving your personal finances.
SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (b00vkz0d)
Series 72
Episode 7
Sandi Toksvig presents another episode of the ever-popular topical panel show. Guests this week are Jeremy Hardy, Fred Macaulay and Andy Hamilton.
Produced by Sam Bryant.
SAT 12:57 Weather (b00vkz54)
The latest weather forecast.
SAT 13:00 A Point of View (b00vl4ns)
Traces of the Past
Sarah Dunant reflects on the removing of most of the railings around Kensington Palace and sees the balance between preservation and destruction as illuminating the constant tension between past history and future landscape.
Correction: In the piece there is an incorrect reference to St. James's Park. This should refer to Kensington Gardens.
Producer: Sheila Cook.
SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (b00vkz3b)
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs the topical discussion from St Bryce Kirk in Kirkcaldy, Fife, with questions for the panel including the novelist Ian Rankin, Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence Jim Murphy and the Scottish Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham.
Producer: Victoria Wakely.
SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (b00vr5s8)
Any Answers? Listeners respond to the issues raised in Any Questions? If you have a comment or question on this week's programme or would like to take part in the Any Answers? phone-in you can contact us by telephone or email. Tel: 03700 100 444 Email: any.answers@bbc.co.uk.
SAT 14:30 Saturday Drama (b00vr5sb)
Five Days in May
Written by Matthew Solon. Under extreme pressure and suffering from lack of sleep, the politicians argued and negotiated. There was nothing inevitable about a Conservative Liberal Democrat coalition. Revealing key moments of the negotiations, the drama unpicks what went on behind closed doors and shows how an allegiance between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat gradually formed, and how it withstood the resignation of Gordon Brown.
Based on pain-staking research, this is a must-listen 60-minutes - a compelling and entertaining dramatic retelling of the most extraordinary British election outcome in 70 years.
Cast:
David Cameron ..... Samuel West
Nick Clegg ..... Nicholas Boulton
Gordon Brown ..... Gerard Kelly
Peter Mandleson ..... Henry Goodman
Ed Balls ..... John Sessions
William Hague ..... Philip Jackson
Danny Alexander ..... Emun Elliot
David Laws ..... Anthony Calf
Chris Huhne ..... Rupert Frazer
George Osborne ..... Ian Hughes
Other parts are played by Charlotte Longfield, Wilf Gilmour and members of the cast.
SAT 15:30 Beat It: The World of The Modern Drummer (b00vkwvc)
When John Lennon was asked if Ringo was the best drummer in the world he quipped " He wasn't even the best drummer in the Beatles". Lennon's natural put-down is typical of the way drummers are belittled within music circles.
Presenter Phill Jupitus challenges this notion with the help of a cross-section of musicians to discover how they have gained this reputation?
We hear from Clem Burke (drummer with Blondie) and Dr. Marcus Smith who together have proven scientifically that Clem burns a similar amount of calories during a concert as a premiership footballer. Phil Collins (Genesis) and Stewart Copeland (The Police), explain how they cope with the physical demands of performing and how these veterans react to the negative image of the drummer.
Having established the physical demands made on drummers does this exclude women? Dame Evelyn Glennie thinks not as she believes the physicality is not an obstacle. The programme also hears from Kenny Jones (The Small Faces, The Faces and The Who) who still features a drum solo in his set but has the drum solo had its day? Has the modern drummer discarded this indulgence and settled for keeping time at the back? If so why?
For many, the drummer is the joker in the group, Phil Selway of Radiohead explains within the ranks of Britain's moodiest band, there is not too much light hearted banter but he does see his role as a supporting one for the others to be creative.
This whimsical programme hears its fair share of drummer jokes which happily filter through this engaging half hour and yes we discover what Phil Collins thought of the gorilla crashing his way through 'In The Air Tonight" for that famous chocolate TV commercial.
Beat It - The World Of the Modern Drummer an exhaustive and fun exploration of life at the back.
Producer: John Sugar
A Sugar Production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (b00vr5w1)
Weekend Woman's Hour
Presented by Jane Garvey. Maureen Lipman on the art of delivering a monologue.
Star of stage and screen Lesley Manville is tipped for an Oscar for her performance in Mike Leigh's latest film 'Another Year'. She discusses playing Mary - a single, lonely and needy middle aged woman who likes a drink.
The number of women over 50 who are HIV positive is rising. We ask why.
Two thirds of the Dixie Chicks, Martie Maguire and Emily Robison, perform and discuss their new band - the Court Yard Hounds.
We debate the merits of walking versus running.
Stephen Wynn talks about his new book 'Two Sons in a War Zone' - an account of being a father with two boys on active service in Afghanistan.
How can you stop people misusing personal photos posted on the internet? We hear about one young woman who successfully sued an American company for using her teenage photo on the cover of a porn DVD.
SAT 17:00 The Music Group (b00s97gt)
Series 4
Episode 5
The Thick of It's 'glummy mummy' Nicola Murray - better known as actress Rebecca Front - joins journalist James Brown and novelist Robert Hudson to explain why they've brought a slice of Sixties musical theatre, a punk rock rap record and a song about imminent environmental apocalypse to be scrutinised by the group this week.
Rebecca reveals how Sammy Davis Jr has helped her children's swimming lessons, and James tells tales of what happened when he visited some hip hop superheroes in the Hollywood Hills. Robert wonders why his father didn't give it all up for music and The Free Electric Band.
With Phil Hammond.
The music choices are:
The Rhythm of Life by Sammy Davis Jr
Sabotage by The Beastie Boys
We're Running Out by Albert Hammond
Producer: Tamsin Hughes
A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 17:30 The Bottom Line (b00vkyjh)
The view from the top of business. Presented by Evan Davis, The Bottom Line cuts through confusion, statistics and spin to present a clearer view of the business world, through discussion with people running leading and emerging companies.
Evan and a panel of top guests from the worlds of online retail, investment and utilities examine how young upstart companies can outsmart their well-established incumbent opponents, and how those opponents can defend themselves.
The panel also discusses company names. What makes a good one? And why the business obsession with changing them?
Evan is joined in the studio by Katherine Garrett-Cox, Chief Executive of Alliance Trust, an investment trust; Brent Hoberman, serial internet entrepreneur and founder of web-based furniture company made.com; Phil Bentley, Managing Director of utility company British Gas.
SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b00vkz58)
The latest shipping forecast.
SAT 17:57 Weather (b00vkz5b)
The latest weather forecast.
SAT 18:00 15 Minute Musical (b00fq37t)
Series 5
Pappa Pia
Series of brief musical comedies by Dave Cohen, David Quantick and Richie Webb.
Piers Morgan discovers that his father is one of three reality show judges - but which one?
With Richie Webb, Dave Lamb and Vicki Pepperdine.
SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (b00t0wrb)
Clive Anderson and guests with an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy.
Clive is joined by one of the most successful female artists of the sixties, pop icon Sandie Shaw. She'll be reclaiming songs sung by men that should've been sung by women. She's joined by special guests Sophie Ellis Bextor and Mica Paris and they're just one of the performances at the brand new festival celebrating British music, art and style, Vintage at Goodwood.
The playwright, composer, musician and lyricist and man behind Blood Brothers talks about having his own season at Londons Trafalgar Studios. Meera Syal, Tim Piggot Smith and Laura Dos Santos will soon be treading the boards in Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine. His musical version of Our Day Out starts up in Liverpool in August.
Domestic historian Ruth Goodman goes from Victorian Farms to Victorian Pharmacy on BBC Two. The series explains how high street healthcare emerged from the concocted recipes of apothecaries, herbalists and un-regulated quacks.
Critically acclaimed for his characters on Down the Line and Bellamys People, Felix Dexter gets his Multiple Personalities in Order for his Edinburgh Festival run. Arthur Smith talks to the man behind Early D, The Lion of Harlesden, Aubrey Dubuisson and Julius Olufemwe, Hotel Management student and lover of all things English.
There's music from two of the most talked about artists on the British music scene. Crouch End's indie four-piece Bombay Bicycle Club have gone acoustic for their latest album, Flaws.
And one of this years biggest success stories and the soul influenced sound of the summer, Plan B performs a stripped down version of Prayin' from his No 1 album The Defamation of Strickland Banks.
Producer: Cathie Mahoney.
SAT 19:00 From Fact to Fiction (b00vr60c)
Series 9
Inside the Bonfire
Writers create a fictional response to the week's news in the days leading up to transmission.
For Bonfire Night weekend, poets Jo Shapcott and Paul Farley respond in verse to a week of headlines full of bombs, blasts and eruptions.
Man ..... Brendan Coyle
Woman ..... Katharine Rogers
Director ..... Emma Harding.
SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (b00vr60p)
Tom Sutcliffe and guests - playwright Mark Ravenhill, historian Kathryn Hughes and novelist Bidisha - review the cultural highlights of the week.
ANOTHER YEAR is the latest film from Mike Leigh. The cast will be familiar to fans of the director's work - Jim Broadbent and Lesley Manville star, and Imelda Staunton has a memorable cameo role. The film revolves around the life and allotment of contented couple Gerri and Tom - or Tom and Gerri, a well-worked joke - and the less fortunate assortment of friends and aquaintances who provide a counterpoint to their happiness.
AN OBJECT OF BEAUTY is the latest novel from American comedian Steve Martin - it's set in the New York art world and takes place over two decades. It's not just about the price of pictures, but about their value - and unusually the book is also illustrated with them, a full colour reproduction of some of the works that feature in the story suddenly popping up when you turn the page.
JOURNEY THROUGH THE AFTERLIFE: ANCIENT EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD is the big new show opening this week at the British Museum. The Book Of The Dead operated for Ancient Egyptians as something between a posthumous passport and a Rough Guide to the Underworld, an assembly of spells and incantations intended to aid the recently deceased on their journey from this world to the next.
Finally, two new television offerings for later this month - Channel Four's ANY HUMAN HEART, adapted from his novel by the author William Boyd, and Sky Arts' run of four CHEKHOV shorts. The former ambitiously journeys through the 20th Century, glancing up against its major figures and events along the way. The latter cleverly casts leading British comedy actors in the title roles - Johnny Vegas, Steve Coogan and Julia Davis all feature.
SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (b00vr62g)
Our Obsession With Weather
The author Iain Sinclair presents a timely illustrated essay on that uniquely British obsession - the weather. Why has the seemingly-mundane weather forecast been an obsession for listeners and viewers since the early days of broadcasting? What does it tell us about our national character and the role of broadcasting in our lives?
The first weather forecasts lasted five minutes and resembled a military briefing. Today they last a couple of minutes but viewers barely pay any attention, they recall little of what the forecasters said. Weather forecasters call for more time but does anyone place too much faith in the BBC's weather forecast anymore?
We'll hear from the forecasters - Michael Fish, Bill Giles and Sian Lloyd - what does it mean to be at the forefront of the British public's interaction with their favourite subject?
Along the way we'll hear evocative archive of extreme weather events like: floods of '53, hard winter of 63, red rain in '68, summer of '76 and the gales of '87.
Messing with the weather is a tricky business. The latest style of TV graphics, the infamous tilting map called the fly over, caused disapproval up and down the country. Why was our Pleasant Land coloured brown not green? Proud Scots protested that their country appeared diminished- surely another example of bias from the South East of England?
Iain will ask what role the weather plays in our culture - any writer purposefully tuned to the language of the moment will be obliged to employ the weather as a moral sub-text, a framing device, a ceiling of depression - weather as prediction. Weather as a liquid mirror in which the writer, reads our future. A curious link develops between the great winds of 16 October 1987 and the collapsing financial markets on "Black Monday."
Producer: Barney Rowntree
A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 21:00 Classic Serial (b00vkp4q)
Amber Lone - The Ramayana
Cast Out
By Amber Lone. A distinctive modern version of an ancient Indian epic and one of the world's most popular love stories. Teenage Sita sees the most beautiful stranger in the street. She'll marry him or die. He is Prince Rama, heir to the throne but his stepmother wants Rama sent into exile.
Sita...Manjinder Virk
Rama...Lloyd Thomas
Lakshman...Adeel Aktar
Ravan...Paul Bhattacharjee
Surparnaka...Sasha Behar
Dasarath...Jude Akuwudike
Sister...Deeivya Meir
Bharat...Saikat Ahamed
Music composed by Niraj Chag
Directed by Claire Grove
The ancient Indian epic The Ramayana is one of the world's most popular love stories. The separation and reunion of two lovers gives it perennial appeal but Rama's jealousy and Sita 's metamorphosis into a strong independent woman gives the story a contemporary feel. "Be as Rama," young Indians have been taught for 2,000 years, "be as Sita." but Rama is an interestingly flawed character, driven by powerful emotions in a world where monkeys can be gods, and gods can be as fallible as humans. Amber Lone's modern version of this Indian epic is scheduled to coincide with Divali, the festival of Lights, which celebrates Rama and Sita's return to their kingdom. Outstanding composer Niraj Chag creates original music.
Amber Lone (dramatist) is a bold new British Asian voice. She has had three acclaimed plays at Birmingham Rep: Paradise (2003), Deadeye(2006) & Four Streets (2009). She was a regular writer on Silver Street for BBC Asian network.
Niraj Chag (composer) wrote original music for the R4 dramatisation of The Mahabharata and a witty score for Rafta Rafta at the National Theatre. He is currently working on the feature film of Rafta Rafta . He has written and produced his own albums 'Along the Dusty Road' 2006 and 'Lost Souls' 2009 and composed music for BBC TV documentaries on Turner, Picasso and Bhopal.
SAT 22:00 Africa at 50: Wind of Change (b00vcnpk)
Episode 2
Earlier this month, Nigeria celebrated 50 years as an independent nation after a long period of colonial rule by Britain. On October 1st 1960, the Union Jack was lowered and the green-white-green of Nigeria hoisted, signalling a new dawn for Africa's most populous country. It was one of the main events of 1960- Africa's year.
Nigeria was the largest- 30 million people gained their right to self-governance, and the number of countries gaining independence was to double over the next three years, as the wind of change swept through Africa.
Adewale Maja-Pearce was seven at the time of independence and remembers his father's elation as newly elected Prime Minister Alhaji Tafawa Balewa assumed leadership of the government with a promise of a bright future for Nigeria.
Born in London in 1953 to Yoruba and British parents, Maja-Pearce grew up in Lagos, and returned there after being educated in the UK. He's written a great deal about modern Nigeria, and many of his views are outspoken and controversial. Despite the early euphoria of independence, and despite the fact that he's chosen to make Lagos his home, he is personally very pessimistic about the future of his country.
Maja-Pearce reflects on 50 years of Nigeria's independence, on the country's failure to build a shared sense of national identity, on corruption and the curse of oil, and questions the viability of modern Nigeria.
Presented by journalist Adam Lusekelo
Producer: Ruth Evans
A Ruth Evans Production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 22:15 Moral Maze (b00vkxxw)
The Al-Qaeda bombs on cargo planes heading for America may have failed to detonate, but for psychological impact their timing couldn't have been better. The prospect of airline chiefs getting their much sought after reform of the stringent checks on passengers must now look remote. Of course the terrorists want us to be constantly reminded of their threat; to disrupt our lives; to make us live in fear, even though the chances of any of us being a victim of the terrorism are miniscule. But are we playing in to their hands with the blanket news coverage and seemingly constant stream of security experts ready to warn us of the sinister threats to our safety? Perhaps it's not only our psychological well being that's being eroded - there's our civil liberties as well. The police are allowed to hold suspects for 28 days without trial; the government is reviewing the use of detention orders, but it's going to take a brave politician in the current climate to stand up and say we need less security. Perhaps that's a case of moral cowardice, but then the ongoing inquest in to the 7/7 bombing is a sobering reminder of the horrors of terrorism. The terrorists only have to be lucky once, our security services have to be lucky every day. Shouldn't they have all the tools they need to combat those who want to do us harm and that may mean temporarily sacrificing some of our freedoms. So, terrorism, the politics of fear and the price we're willing to pay to defend our civil liberties.
Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk with Michael Portillo, Kenan Malik, Claire Fox and Melanie Philips.
SAT 23:00 Brain of Britain (b00vkwcq)
(2/17) The contestants in the second heat of the nationwide general knowledge contest are from Derbyshire, West Yorkshire and the West Midlands. Russell Davies is in the chair.
Producer Paul Bajoria.
SAT 23:30 The Electric Polyolbion (b00vkp4v)
Part poetry and part national topological survey with a rich seam of encounters along the way, The Electric Polyolbion will be poet and broadcaster Paul Farley's reimagining of Michael Drayton's sprawling, extraordinary Poly-Olbion, first published in 1612.
The term Poly-Olbion suggests 'many Albions', the plurality of place, and Drayton described his own project as "...a chorographicall [sic] description of tracts, rivers, mountains, forests, and other parts of this renowned isle... with intermixture of the most remarkable stories, antiquities, wonders, rarities, pleasures and commodities of the same."
Drayton's Poly-Olbion is a remarkable poem: 30,000 lines, arranged in 30 sections or 'songs', describing the geography and history of England and Wales county by county. References to place are clear and precise.
The Electric Poly-Olbion will follow and explore the same topographies as Drayton's work, and Paul Farley will use its precursor to create a new version out of our contemporary landscape that incorporates and synthesizes historical, scientific, political, literary, pop-cultural and autobiographical dimensions into the imaginative region of the long poem.
As he travels the country Farley writes his own long form verse in and around the places and references of Drayton's original: the same landscapes, two wildly different time frames. Paul has a lovely ease of style in conversation, and he'll meet other local writers along the way.
Presenter: Paul Farley
Producer: Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUNDAY 07 NOVEMBER 2010
SUN 00:00 Grayson on His Bike (b00vkw55)
Turner Prize winning artist Grayson Perry takes his teddy bear and childhood hero, Alan Measles, across Bavaria on a highly decorated Kenilworth AM1 motorcycle.
Grayson spent a troubled childhood in suburban Essex creating a fantasy life where he fought off the brutish invading Germans, under the command of his teddy bear Alan Measles, a plucky wartime Resistance leader who became his hero, a sort of personal God and the embodiment of everything that was good about masculinity.
Now Grayson Perry has commissioned a highly decorative Kenilworth AM1 motorcycle, with a shrine on the back for his teddy bear, whose inaugural voyage, Ten Days of Alan, takes them across Bavaria, on a mission of reconciliation with their old enemies.
Starting out from their hometown of Chelmsford, Grayson and Alan Measles' journey takes in the 1920s Nurburgring racetrack and religious icons like the Isenheim Altar by Matthias Grunewald and the church in Wies, where a peasant saw tears in the eyes of a flagellated Christ figure in 1738. They visit Mad King Ludwig's fantastically Rococo Schloss Neuschwanstein where much of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was filmed,the Steiff Teddy bear factory in Giengen and end up in Backnang, Chelmsford's twin town, to hand over a message of goodwill to the local Mayor.
As they go, Grayson and Alan reflect on the nature of art and pilgrimage, shared memories of childhood and the speed of their motorbike on Tyrolean mountain passes. Come sunshine ? Or rain.
Producer: Nicki Paxman.
SUN 00:30 Lost and Found (b00kdvm4)
Blackberry Day
Malachi Whitaker was the pen name of Marjorie Olive Whitaker. She wrote a number of short stories in the twenties and thirties and was regarded as one of the finest authors of that time.
Whitaker chronicled the lives of ordinary folk in the north of England, with sensitivity and humanity. She died in 1975. Her forgotten story, 'Blackberry Day' is a moving account of a woman in the Yorkshire Dales finding it hard to come terms with her husband's retirement from the mill.
Reader: Rosalind Ayres
Producer/Director: Martin Jarvis
A Jarvis & Ayres Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00vn5dw)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00vn5dy)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00vn5f0)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b00vn5f2)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b00vr77z)
The bells of the Parish Church of St. Peter, Tiverton, Devon.
SUN 05:45 The AA Bible (b00vr78f)
For millions of alcoholics around the world, Alcoholics Anonymous's basic text - informally known as the Big Book - is the Bible. After being hidden away for nearly 70 years the original manuscript by AA co-founder Bill Wilson is about to become public for the first time complete with evidence of re-writes that reveal a profound debate in 1939 about how overtly to talk about God.
Literary critic John Sutherland, himself a member of AA and a distinguished textual analyst, turns his textual critic's eye to the Wilson manuscript.
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b00vn5f4)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b00vr7b7)
The Wandering Minstrel
The troubadours of the medieval period carried news, good and bad, in song and gossip and were members of an exclusive court community. The writer Irma Kurtz reflects on their importance in court society and considers how the role of the troubadour has evolved in modern times.
Presented by Irma Kurtz
Producer: Ronni Davis
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 Living World (b00vr7c0)
The Potter Wasp
Surprisingly, the British Isles are home to 6500 species of wasp and bees. But only one species, living on southern heathlands, can build a delicate clay pot no bigger than a pea: the potter wasp. This clay pot is made in just a few hours by the female before she lays an egg and seals it before winter sets in. In late spring the larval wasp emerges to begin the cycle again. Today very little is known about this wasp in Britain, though increasingly it is being noticed and studied along English southern counties. Lionel Kelleway travels to Devon where he meets an ecologist who spent 4 years before he finally became one of only a handful of people who have ever seen a wasp build its pot in Britain. So much more is yet to be discovered about the life cycle of this fascinating solitary wasp amongst the British countryside.
Presented by Lionel Kelleway
Produced by Andrew Dawes.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b00vn5f6)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b00vn5f8)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b00vr7c2)
Edward Stourton with the religious and ethical news of the week. Moral arguments and perspectives on stories, familiar and unfamiliar.
Last week around 100 people turned up for evening mass at Our Lady of Salvation Catholic Church in Baghdad. A few hours later almost half of them had been killed. As the group responsible issues fresh threats to Iraqi Christians, Edward will speak live to Canon Andrew White, the Vicar of Baghdad.
This week the Coexistence Trust are determined to prove that the internet and social media can be used to bring people together. They are launching a viral video campaign aimed at Jewish and Muslim students. Ed talks to Rokhsana Fiaz, Director of the Trust.
BBC correspondent Sarah Rainsford reports on Pope Benedict's visit to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. He will consecrate the building designed by Anton Gaudi.
Trevor Barnes investigates the secrets of the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, a major new exhibition opening this week at the British Museum.
The 14th UK Jewish Film Festival opened this week, covering everything from politics to comedy. Ed talks to Eastenders and Dr Who star Tracy-Ann Oberman, who made the trailer for this years festival, about whether there is such a thing as Jewish humour.
The Church of England Synod will meet this month to discuss the proposed Anglican Covenant. But the covenant itself is now under attack from both Liberals and Conservatives. Ed speaks to Rev Dr Lesley Fellows who heads the newly formed No Anglican Covenant Coalition, and the Bishop of Asaph Dr Gregory Cameron.
In the run up to Remembrance Day Charles Carroll reports on the Royal British Legion's March For Honour. Money raised will help the current generation of servicemen and women injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The chief schools adjudicator warned in a report it published this week that Faith schools are discriminating against poor and immigrant children to favour those from the middle classes.Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain and Catholic School teacher Neil D'Aguiar discuss the role of Faith Schools.
E-mail: sunday@bbc.co.uk
Series producer: Amanda Hancox.
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b00vr7f5)
Pancreatic Cancer UK
Margaret Magnusson presents the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the charity Pancreatic Cancer UK.
Donations to Pancreatic Cancer UK should be sent to FREEPOST BBC Radio 4 Appeal, please mark the back of your envelope Pancreatic Cancer UK. Credit cards: Freephone 0800 404 8144. You can also give online at www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/appeal. If you are a UK tax payer, please provide Pancreatic Cancer UK 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: 1112708.
SUN 07:58 Weather (b00vn5fb)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b00vn5fd)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b00vr7ln)
In Christ all are alive!
Live from Our Lady and the English Martyrs, Cambridge. As the season of Remembrance approaches this morning's worship looks forward to the Christian hope of resurrection as saints past and present are united in the sacrament of the Mass.
Led by the Rector, Monsignor Peter Leeming with a homily from Father Alban McCoy, Catholic Chaplain to Cambridge University.
Director of Music: Nigel Kerry
Organist: James Devor.
SUN 08:50 A Point of View (b00vl4ns)
[Repeat of broadcast at
13:00 on Saturday]
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b00vr9jn)
News and conversation about the big stories of the week with Paddy O'Connell.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b00vr9jq)
For detailed synopses, see daily episodes
Written by: Carole Simpson Solazzo
Directed by: Kim Greengrass
Editor: Vanessa Whitburn
Brian Aldridge ..... Charles Collingwood
David Archer ..... Timothy Bentinck
Helen Archer ..... Louiza Patikas
Kenton Archer ..... Richard Attlee
Pat Archer ..... Patricia Gallimore
Ruth Archer ..... Felicity Finch
Tom Archer ..... Tom Graham
Tony Archer ..... Colin Skipp
Lilian Bellamy ..... Sunny Ormonde
William Grundy ..... Philip Molloy
Emma Grundy ..... Emerald O'Hanrahan
Edward Grundy ..... Barry Farrimond
Jim Lloyd ..... John Rowe
Harry Mason ..... Michael Shelford
Jazzer McCreary ..... Ryan Kelly
Nigel Pargetter ..... Graham Seed
Jamie Perks ..... Dan Ciotkowski
Jolene Perks ..... Buffy Davis
Kathy Perks ..... Hedli Niklaus
Fallon Rogers ..... Joanna Van Kampen
Lynda Snell ..... Carole Boyd
Caroline Sterling ..... Sara Coward
Vicky Tucker ..... Rachel Atkins.
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b00vr9l2)
Ian McMillan
Kirsty Young's castaway is the poet and broadcaster Ian McMillan.
Thirty years ago he was working in a factory gluing together tennis ball halves. Then he got a grant, chucked in his job and devoted himself to writing and performing.
These days he's known as the Bard of Barnsley and his appeal stretches from the terraces of his local football club to the balcony of the London Coliseum... he is poet in residence at both Barnsley FC and the English National Opera...
He still lives in the village where he was born and he considers and analyses British culture from his very particular vantage point in south Yorkshire.
He says: "You can do the universal in the local, I always think. You can see all the changes that have happened all over the world in the 20th and 21st centuries in microcosm."
Producer: Leanne Buckle
Record: 4' 33" - John Cage
Book: The Long and The Short of It: Poems 1955-2005 by Roy Fisher
Luxury: A tandem bike with wooden models of his family on the front.
SUN 12:00 The Unbelievable Truth (b00vkwg9)
Series 6
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.
Rhod Gilbert, Kevin Bridges, Tom Wrigglesworth and Lucy Porter are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as: Bells, Donkeys, The Police and Mrs Beeton.
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 (b00vr9ll)
Terra Madre
Sheila Dillon hears from some of the world's disappearing food tribes and finds out why efforts are underway to preserve indigenous food cultures in north America, Scandinavia and in Scotland's Highlands and Islands.
She travels to Turin for Terra Madre, the biannual gathering of food communities, farmers, fishermen and cooks organised by the international Slow Food movement. Among the 6000 delegates who'd travelled from 160 countries are people from indigenous communities like the Sami, nomadic arctic reindeer herders as well as native American rice harvesters, the Ojibwe.
Scientists, agriculturalists and nutritionists are now taking more interest in these traditional cultures seeing them as valuable models of sustainable food production and offering fresh insights into human diets.
But many of these food cultures are under threat because of disputes over land rights, prejudice and climate change and so work is underway to understand, document and support these communities. Sheila meets the people involved in making this happen.
Producer Dan Saladino.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b00vn5fg)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b00vr9m7)
A look at events around the world.
SUN 13:30 The New Global Indians (b00r0rkn)
Uniquely Indian?
In the week that President Obama visits India to strengthen ties that he hopes will help improve America's economy, there's another chance to discover why, despite being home to the highest number of illiterate people in the world, India produces so many numerate and ambitious graduates that are highly sought after by global companies. This confident and outward-looking Indian elite can now be found in countless top executive roles in multinational corporations (eg PepsiCo, Kraft, Google, Citigroup, Chevron, Deutschebank) and as global entrepreneurs. But what makes them so uniquely successful?
Many people point to the phenomenal success of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) which select the brightest and the best of India's students through intense competition and launch them into the international arena. At the IIT Kanpur campus Mukti Jain Campion watches the multinational company recruitment of last year's graduates. In Chicago she attends the annual global conference of the Indian Institutes of Technology alumni and hears of their wide-ranging achievements. How do they see their Indian-ness contributing to that success? And what lessons can they offer for Brits and Americans trying to maintain their previous pre-eminence in the global marketplace?
Originally broadcasted in March 2010.
Presented and Produced by Mukti Jain Campion
A Culture Wise production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b00vkyz9)
Sussex U3A Regional Association
Eric Robson and the panel are guests of the Sussex U3A Regional Association. The panel this week: Christine Walkden, Matthew Biggs and Pippa Greenwood.
We return to Brighton to visit the rooftop allotmenteers taking part in our Listeners' Gardens series. How can they maximise their allotments over the winter?
Jeremy Scott was recently crowned the 'champion of champions' in Thive and the RNIB's Blind Gardener of the Year awards. Christine Walkden visits him in his garden in Uckfield.
Produced by Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:45 How The Mighty Have Fallen (b00tmlgy)
Pills, Potions and Quackery
"How can a magic box of pills, syrup or vegetable juice, Eradicate at once those ills, Which years of luxury produce?" - Surgeon William Wadd in 1816, warning a gullible public of the dangers of obesity remedies.
The search for a wonder-drug to cure obesity has persisted for centuries. Over the ages, possible contenders have included such unlikely remedies as deadly poisons - mercury, arsenic and strychnine "as well as goats' ovaries, tobacco and perhaps even tape worms: 'Eat! Eat! Eat! And always stay thin!".
In his final programme on the history of obesity, Dr Hilary Jones focuses on Pills, Potions and Quackery.
In conversation with Professor David Haslam of the National Obesity Forum, he peruses a collection of weird and wonderful historic remedies, including the 'King of Corpulency Cures'. And he hears about the dire consequences of some of the more dangerous remedies.
What can we learn from the past- will there ever be a miracle obesity cure?
Other contributors include pharmacist Dr Terry Maguire and leading obesity expert Professor Stephan Rossner, of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.
Readings by Toby Longworth and Michael Fenton-Stevens
Producer: Susan Kenyon
A Ladbroke production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 15:00 Classic Serial (b00vrbq7)
Amber Lone - The Ramayana
Return
By Amber Lone. A distinctive modern version of an ancient Indian epic and one of the world's most popular love stories. Sita has been abducted by a ruthless warlord. Rama enlists the help of an army of monkeys to get her back but has she betrayed him with the evil ruler of Lanka?
Sita...Manjinder Virk
Rama...Lloyd Thomas
Lakshman...Adeel Aktar
Ravan...Paul Bhattacharjee
Surparnaka...Sasha Behar
Hanuman...Kulvinder Ghir
Sugreeva...Jude Akuwudike
Mandodari...Deeivya Meir
Kush...Omar Kent
Lava...Neil Reynolds
Music composed by Niraj Chag
Directed by Claire Grove
The ancient Indian epic The Ramayana is one of the most popular love stories in the world. The separation and reunion of two lovers gives it perennial appeal but Rama's growing jealousy and Sita 's metamorphosis into a strong independent woman gives the story a contemporary feel. "Be as Rama," young Indians have been taught for 2,000 years, "be as Sita." but Rama is an interestingly flawed character, driven by powerful emotions in a world where monkeys can be gods, and gods can be as fallible as humans. Amber Lone's modern version of this Indian epic is scheduled to coincide with Divali, the festival of Lights, which celebrates Rama and Sita's return to their kingdom. Outstanding composer Niraj Chag creates original music.
Amber Lone (dramatist) is a bold new British Asian voice. She has had three acclaimed plays at Birmingham Rep: Paradise (2003), Deadeye(2006) & Four Streets (2009). She was a regular writer on Silver Street for BBC Asian network
Niraj Chag (composer) wrote outstanding original music for the R4 dramatisation of The Mahabharata. He wrote a witty score for Rafta Rafta at the National Theatre currently being made into a feature film . He has written and produced his own albums 'Along the Dusty Road' 2006 and 'Lost Souls' 2009 and composed music for BBC TV documentaries on Turner, Picasso and Bhopal.
SUN 16:00 Bookclub (b00vrbr6)
Claire Tomalin (on Thomas Hardy)
James Naughtie and readers talk to award winning biographer Claire Tomalin about her life of Thomas Hardy - The Time-Torn Man.
Claire Tomalin is celebrated for her ability to create an intimacy of her subjects' life, whether it's Samuel Pepys, Jane Austen, Dickens's mistress Nelly Ternan or in this edition of Bookclub, the author and poet Thomas Hardy.
Claire reveals a personal relationship with Hardy - with childhood memories of her sister reciting his poem 'Lyonnesse'; and how she snuck into her local library to read Jude the Obscure at fourteen, much to her mother's dismay. Her mother was born just two years after the publication of Jude in 1895, and was aware of how its revolutionary ideas about marriage and its violence had shaken the literary establishment - Bishops had wanted to ban the book .
Thomas Hardy was a man full of contradictions. His marriage to his wife Emma disintegrated and even though they lived together they were no longer on speaking terms. Yet on her death he wrote movingly about their early love in the much praised collection "Poems 1912-13." including 'The Voice' - which begins 'Woman much missed, how you call to me, call to me...' and which normally makes Claire cry when she reads it.
He was known for his bucolic tales of Dorset but loved spending time in London for The Season. He wrote about the breakdown in rural communities but took no political action. Born into rural poverty, his funeral bier was carried by his great contemporaries George Bernard Shaw, AE Housman and Rudyard Kipling. He was a great Victorian novelist who became a great 20th century poet.
December's Bookclub choice : 'The Carhullan Army' by Sarah Hall
Producer : Dymphna Flynn.
SUN 16:30 The Poet's Indian, The Words are English (b00vrbs1)
Award-winning poet Daljit Nagra explores the place of English in Indian poetry, asking whether it's simply another Indian language to be absorbed by poets, or whether its colonial roots are an issue.
Indian poets writing in English have been accused of being elitist, inauthentic and of using the language of the middle classes and colonizers. But over the past 150 years they've also used English to engage in crucial political debate and create a rich poetic language.
Daljit will look at the legacy of the first Indian writers in English - nineteenth century poets in India who developed a post-Romantic Indian English style, culminating in the global fame of the poet Rabindranath Tagore, the first Indian writer to win the Nobel Prize.
After Indian Independence some wanted to get rid of English altogether, and whereas its poetry had once been nationalistic, romantic, mystical and lyrical, after 1947 the language of the colonisers divided opinion.
We explore how the Jewish Indian poet Nissim Ezekiel spearheaded the modern movement in the 50s, absorbing the language of postwar writers like Philip Larkin and Ted Hughes, but creating too a distinct free verse form of his own. Daljit also looks at the influences of other Indian writers including Kamala Das and Ramanujan.
Indian poetry in English has flourished over the past decades and is now an energetic and global scene. With poets Imtiaz Dharker, Keki Daruwalla, Meena Alexander, Jeet Thayil and Amit Chaudhuri Daljit rekindles the debate and explores this rich story.
Producer: Jo Wheeler
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (b00vkxkc)
The Somali Connection
Jenny Cuffe investigates how British-based Somalis are being lured into fighting for the al-Qaeda-linked Islamists of al-Shabaab.
There have been consistent rumours that dozens, perhaps scores of British-based Somali men have travelled to Somalia to join the militant Islamist group which was banned by the British Government earlier this year.
In September the rumours were given new urgency when the Director of MI5, Jonathan Evans, warned it was only a matter of time before the UK suffered an act of terrorism committed by al-Shabaab-trained Britons.
File on 4 explores the techniques used by Al-Shabaab to persuade young members of the 250,000-strong British Somali community to sign up for Jihad in Somalia. Members of the close-knit and reticent British Somali community tell Jenny Cuffe of their fears that youngsters are being seduced through the internet and by shadowy recruiting sergeants for the Horn of Africa's most feared military force.
And the programme travels to the state of Minnesota to see how a vigorous FBI investigation and cooperation from the Somali community have laid-bare a pipeline which first lured, then transported young American Somalis to the training camps and battlefields of Somalia.
Producer: Andy Denwood.
SUN 17:40 From Fact to Fiction (b00vr60c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b00vn5fj)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b00vn5fl)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00vn5fn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b00vrbvc)
Sheila McClennon makes her selection from the past seven days of BBC Radio
Ecky thump - the Goodies are reunited this week forty years after they first cycled onto our TVs. We also look at the history of the Doc Marten boot and hear about the controversial film that finished director Michael Powell's career. In a poignant moment there's the real story behind the Drifter's hit Save the Last Dance for Me and the not so true promise of a talking lion - all you have to do is send your bank details to an African prince. Pick of the Week with Sheila McClennon this Sunday.
Pick of the Pops - Radio 2
Anything, Anywhere, Anytime - Radio 4
Grayson On His Bike - Radio 4
Living World - Radio 4
Letters To Monica - Radio 4
Can't Get Used To Losing You - Radio 2
Setting A Glass - Radio 4
Baghdad Boy - World Service
Free Thinking - Radio 3
The Bob Servant Emails - Radio Scotland
Beautiful Dreamers - Radio 4
Radcliffe and Maconie - Radio 2
Doc Martens at 50 - Radio 4
Tom, Michael and George - Radio 4
Jazz Junctions - Radio 2
PHONE: 0370 010 0400
FAX: 0161 244 4243
Email: potw@bbc.co.uk or www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/potw
Producer: Cecile Wright.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b00vrc1y)
Jolene plans to join Kenton on a trip to the Websterbridge wholesalers on Tuesday. They're keen to snap up a one day only promotion. Meanwhile, Clarrie speculates on the upcoming race night. Joe's hoping it'll bring in some money for the British Legion. Robert and Clarrie discuss the Panto rehearsals, agreeing it's a shame Fallon can't do it. Jolene finds a way for her to be involved though, suggesting Fallon records a backing track.
Discussing Peggy's birthday tea on Saturday, Pat reassures Peggy it'll be a simple affair. Peggy's impressed by Tom's new energy efficiency drive. She also reveals all about her war time friend Conn. She considers how things have changed. Having recently made contact, Conn was gracious to ask about Jack. This in contrast to when the men first met all those years ago.
As Robert 'impresses' Lynda with his panto sound effects, Lynda notes that Harry's the only cast member who stays behind to tidy up after rehearsal. Alone together, Lynda opens up about her childhood. Acting in her first infant show helped her combat shyness. Harry can see how much the panto means to Lynda, and has an idea to help things along.
SUN 19:15 Americana (b00vrc20)
Americana examines the impact of this week's midterm elections.
Now that the elections have come to a close President Obama heads overseas for a visit to India. Americana hears from a few citizens about what it means to carve out a sense of cultural identity as an Indian living in the U.S. today.
As America continues to build and refine its relationships overseas Matt Frei talks to author Robert Kaplan. His newest book is called, "Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power.".
SUN 19:45 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.
SUN 20:00 Feedback (b00vkyz5)
Radio 4's forum for comments, queries, criticisms and congratulations.
Presented by Roger Bolton, this is the place for listeners to air their views on the things heard on BBC Radio.
Email the team: feedback@bbc.co.uk
Producer: Karen Pirie
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b00vkyzc)
On Last Word this week:
"Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." The man who put those words in John F Kennedy's mouth - his speechwriter Ted Sorensen.
Also the principal trumpeter of the London Symphony Orchestra Maurice Murphy, whose talents were showcased in movie soundtracks like Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Braveheart
Sheik Saqr bin Mohammed al Qasimi - the world's longest serving ruler - who led the emirate of Ras al Khaimah for 62 years.
The astronomer Professor John Huchra who developed a revolutionary map of the universe
And the Blackburn Rovers and England footballer Ronnie Clayton - who was a hero to the fans and earned £20 a week.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (b00vr5k4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 on Saturday]
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b00vr7f5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 Analysis (b00vkwk8)
Defence: no stomach for the fight?
To take successful military action, you do not only need soldiers, aircraft or warships. The support of the society and political leadership is crucial in sustaining armed action. Yet public involvement in current debates about the future of the military has been very limited, as old ideas of 'leaving it to the professionals' prevail.
So what happens when society becomes divorced from the business of defending itself? In liberal Britain, some sections of society seem more and more alienated from military action. Using force clashes with modern concerns about human rights and risk-avoidance. New forms of media have cut through the more sanitised portrayal of war in the mainstream media, adding to public concern. And politicians, scarred by the unpopularity of recent military actions, noting the grief which every single casualty prompts, are likely to be ever more wary of future warfare.
Within the military too there is change, and friction. New technology is taking armed action further away from old ideas of heroism and codes of conduct. These days lawyers sit in army headquarters challenging military decisions. Many in the military appear frustrated by what they see a lack of popular and political understanding of their role.
In this programme Dr Kenneth Payne, military specialist at King's College London, explores how deep these tensions run, and what they mean for Britain's military future. He asks too whether Britain's experience is different from that of other countries, such as the US. Contributors include distinguished military historian and commentator Hew Strachan, and former soldier and senior politician Lord Ashdown.
Producer: Chris Bowlby.
SUN 21:58 Weather (b00vn5fq)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b00vw0s7)
Reports from behind the scenes at Westminster.
SUN 22:45 What the Papers Say (b00vrc3h)
Episode 26
Gary Younge presents Radio 4's What the Papers Say from New York to digest the Republican victory in this week's Mid Term Elections. Gary looks at the changing political landscape in North America and examines coverage in the US press as well as on Fleet Street.
Gary Younge is the New York Correspondent for The Guardian and the editor this week is Catherine Donegan.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b00vkz0b)
In an extended interview, Francine Stock talks to Mike Leigh about his latest drama, Another Year
Actress Phyllida Law remembers the work of her husband Eric Thompson and the Magic Roundabout spin-off movie, Dougal And The Blue Cat, which is released on DVD for the very first time
Director Matt Reeves discusses his reasons for making an American version of the critically acclaimed Swedish vampire film Let The Right One In.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b00vr7b7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 08 NOVEMBER 2010
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b00vp0l8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b00vkxr2)
Supermax - Western Rule
Laurie Taylor explores the growth of high security prisons in America alongside the increased use of solitary confinement with criminologist Dr Sharon Shalev whose book 'Supermax' examines both topics. Laurie's second discussion is with Professor Ian Morris whose major new book 'Why The West Rules- For Now' examines the rise and fall and rise of Eastern and Western societies and asks whether it's possible for historians to predict the future with any confidence.
Producer: Chris Wilson.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b00vr77z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00vp0lb)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00vp0ld)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00vp0lg)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b00vp0lj)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00vrc40)
With Bishop Donal McKeown in Belfast
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b00vrcpf)
The price of food is rising - we ask how long it will be before it hits shoppers where it hurts - in our pockets and purses. Ten years on from the last outbreak of foot and mouth disease, a simulation is planned this week to see how well farmers and the government would cope should there be an other outbreak. And Farming Today takes a closer look at cow manure...
Presented by Caz Graham and Produced by Martin Poyntz-Roberts.
MON 05:57 Weather (b00vp0ll)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 06:00 Today (b00vrcwk)
Morning news and current affairs with Sarah Montague and Evan Davis:
08:10 A public inquiry begins this morning into failings at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust
08:35 Why a symphony which went missing for 200 years could have changed the course of musical history
08:50 Former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says the UK should consider the partition of Cyprus.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (b00vrcwm)
Andrew Marr talks to the Swedish poet, Lars Gustafsson about whether writers have a responsibility to challenge the establishment. Gillian Tett, the award-winning Financial Times journalist, who predicted the financial crash, does her own challenging of the status quo. The writer Patrick Wilcken describes the great intellectual Claude Levi-Strauss, as 'the poet in the laboratory' in a new biography. And Ed Vulliamy reports, in almost anthropological detail, on the lives of those caught up in the war of drugs, gangs and guns on the US-Mexican border.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b00vrcwp)
Autobiography of Mark Twain
Episode 1
Read by Kerry Shale. After dozens of false starts Mark Twain embarked on his "Final (and Right) Plan" for telling the story of his life. His innovative notion to "Talk only about the thing which interests you for the moment" meant that his thoughts could range freely.
The strict instruction that these texts remain unpublished for 100 years meant that when they came out, he would be "dead, and unaware, and indifferent" and therefore free to speak his "whole frank mind".
In celebration of the centenary of his death, the University of California Press have released his uncensored autobiography for the first time, exactly as he left it. The author's authentic and unsuppressed voice speaks clearly from the grave as he intended, brimming with humour, ideas and opinions.
Abridged by Jane Marshall Productions
Producer: Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00vrcx4)
Presented by Jane Garvey. Pamela Stephenson The psychotherapist, comedienne, author, wife of Billy Connolly and now ballroom dancer on BBC Television's Strictly Come Dancing, joins Jane to talk about her new role. Since 1993, nearly four hundred women have been murdered, raped or have disappeared in Ciudad Juarez, a Mexican city near the border with the US. This month artist Tamsyn Challenger launches an exhibition of paintings to highlight the brutal murders and rapes. We look at the rise in middle aged female bankruptcy and Marie-Louise Stenild talks about making history by becoming the first woman ever to run seven marathons in seven days over seven different continents.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b00vrcxz)
Writing the Century 15: A Desolate Bravery
Episode 1
The series which explores the 20th century through the diaries and correspondence of real people, returns with "A Desolate Bravery" by Lavinia Murray. The drama is inspired by the diaries of military artist David Rowlands who spent time in Bosnia during the civil war in 1993 with the UN Peacekeeping Forces.
David Rowlands arrives in Zagreb, but with no official letter of invitation from the UN, will he make it to his destination in Tomislavgrad safely?
David Rowlands.....Shaun Dooley
Mike.....Stephen Hudson
Lieutenant Andy Stanton.....Jamie De Courcey
Major Mike Heelis.....Charlie Anson
Mrs Trim.....Joanne Mitchell
Melodeon played by David Rowlands
Original music by Nicolai Abrahamsen
Directed by Nadia Molinari.
MON 11:00 Landscape With Canals and Machines: The Legacy of LTC Rolt (b00vrssh)
Hermione Cockburn on LTC Rolt, the writer who led us to value our industrial landscape.
LTC Rolt achieved something remarkable - he changed the character of the British - for the better - by altering their perception of their land and history. Before he began writing, and campaigning, our industrial landscape was regarded a desecration of a rural idyll. It was Rolt who taught us to value it, to appreciate its beauty and to appreciate the achievements of those who created the great engines, viaducts, lighthouses, ships and railways that revolutionised Britain - and the world.
The father of industrial archaeology, Rolt wrote definitive biographies of the Stephensons, Brunel, Watt and Telford. He wrote about railways, aeronautics and cars (his 1920s Alvis is still going), and 'High Horse Riderless' is an important early work of environmental philosophy. And he wrote fiction, including ghost stories.
His book 'Narrowboat' led to the establishment of the Inland Waterways Association and the canal network's navigation channels, structures, towpaths, bridges, tunnels and aqueducts were saved in the nick of time.
Rolt is now recognised as a pioneer of the leisure industry. He went on to rescue the bankrupt Talyllyn narrow-gauge railway and taught volunteers to restore, then run it. Such an endeavour had never been attempted before but now this is a model for renovation and conservation schemes all over contemporary Britain, and all over the world.
Hermione Cockburn, with help from Timothy West (who also has a narrowboat) and Rolt's widow, Sonia, tells the story of this remarkable engineer and author and reveals how his work shapes our thinking today - not just about our past but how we deal with it for the future.
MON 11:30 Craig Brown's Lost Diaries (b00vrssk)
November and December
November & December. As winter sets in, John Prescott, Germaine Greer and Nigella Lawson's thoughts turn to home.
A second chance to hear satirist Craig Brown dip into the private lives of public figures from the 1960s to the present day.
Voiced by Jan Ravens, Alistair McGowan, Lewis McLeod, Ewan Bailey, Margaret Cabourn-Smith and Dolly Wells.
Written by Craig Brown.
Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2010.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b00vrszy)
Andrew Dilnot the man tasked with cracking the problem of how we pay for social care joins us for the launch of Care in the UK 2010.
It's been described as one of the biggest unresolved issues of our time but we could be at a turning point. The Government has set up a commission to investigate the options, and promises new legislation this Parliament.
Three quarters of us are likely to need some form of care in retirement, there are some six million unpaid carers and thousands of younger disabled people receive support.
We are joined by Lord Lipsey, who sat on the 1997 Royal Commission on social care, Richard Jones President ADASS which represents directors of social care in England, and Agnes Fletcher from the disability charity RADAR.
BBC Social Affairs Correspondent Gillian Hargreaves fills in the political history and Julian Worricker speaks to people currently receiving care.
And we have the results of a You and Yours/ BBC Local Radio Poll which reveals just how much we know about care.
Care in the UK will run across Radio 4, and other parts of the BBC, in conjunction with BBC Local Radio's Living Longer campaign, looking at the cost of care, who should provide it and who should pay for it.
MON 12:57 Weather (b00vp0ln)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b00vrt00)
National and international news.
MON 13:30 Brain of Britain (b00vrt02)
(3/17) The contestants in the third heat of the nationwide general knowledge contest come from London, Middlesex, Surrey and Cardiff. Russell Davies asks the questions.
Producer Paul Bajoria.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b00vrc1y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b00vrt04)
Number 10 - Series 4
Episode 3
Written by Jonathan Myerson. The PM has recalled Hugo - his secret task is to open negotiations with the Lib Dems to form a permanent alliance. Hugo isn't keen but....
Meanwhile the Scottish Parliament is bringing in a ban on burqas and Number 10 wants the Prince of Wales to soften the blow by bringing Islam into his all-Faith Conference. But a Muslim millionaire announces he will pay all anti-burqa fines..
And Nathan is proposing a universal DNA database..
But everything goes up into the air when Princess Eleanor, seventeenth in line to the throne, goes missing, maybe kidnapped.... Is the Home Secretary to blame for cutting his bodyguarding bill? How furious is the Prince of Wales - just as they are asking him for a favour?
Cast:
PM (Simon Laity) .....Damian Lewis
Nathan ..... Mike Sengelow
Connie ..... Haydn Gwynne
Hugo ..... Julian Glover
Georgie ..... Gina Mckee
Amjad ..... Arsher Ali
Sir Giles/Mahmoud ..... Nick Woodeson
Lord Marris ..... Nigel Cooke
Home Secretary ..... Mathew Marsh
Sally Tyler ..... Jane Slavin
Princess Eleanor ..... Beth Cooke
Student ..... Helena Rice
Journalists ..... Theo Fraser Steele, Kate Gilbert, Kate Lamb
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill
A Pacificus Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 15:00 Archive on 4 (b00vr62g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Saturday]
MON 15:45 A Guide to Coastal Birds (b00t86sv)
Estuaries
Brett Westwood is joined by keen bird watcher, Stephen Moss, on the Devonshire coast. With the help of wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson they offer a practical and entertaining guide to identifying the birds which you're most likely to see and hear in Britain's estuaries; birds like Redshank, Dunlin, Curlew and Knot.
This is the first of five programmes to help identify many of the birds found around our British coastline in places like sandy beaches, rocky shores, sea cliffs, off-shore islands and estuaries. Not only is there advice on how to recognise the birds from their appearance, but also how to identify them from their calls and songs.
This series complements three previous series; A Guide to Garden Birds, A Guide Woodland Birds and A Guide to Water Birds and is aimed at both the complete novice as well as those who are eager to learn more about our coastal visitors and residents.
Producer: Sarah Blunt.
MON 16:00 The Food Programme (b00vr9ll)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:30 Click On (b00vrt0t)
Series 7
Episode 5
As the season for flu comes round again, Simon hears of the lessons learnt from last year's Swine Flu epidemic and how the internet is both hindering and helping the public understanding of its spread.
Reasonable people with unreasonable responses: why is it that message boards and forums often contain the most hostile of comments? Simon hears from the worst type of these offenders- a troll- and tries to understand the psychology of their behaviour.
And we discover how endangered animals' footprints are being tracked digitally to give scientists the ability to follow the movements of such species as the Bengal Tiger, Black Rhino....and the domestic dormouse.
Produced by Lucy Lloyd.
MON 17:00 PM (b00vrt91)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news. Plus Weather.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00vp0lq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 Just a Minute (b00vrt93)
Series 58
Episode 1
Paul Merton, Tony Hawks, Kit Hesketh-Harvey and Alun Cochrane are the panellists for this, the first of the new series of Just a Minute.
This is the long-running panel game which tests whether people have the gift of the gab. Panellists try to speak on a given subject without hesitation, repetition or deviation. Much more difficult than it sounds...
The suave and usually unflappable Nicholas Parsons is chairman as ever. Today the panellists struggle with a huge range of subjects as diverse as My First Kiss, Conkers and Having a Duvet Day.
This show comes from The Quays Theatre at The Lowry Centre in Salford.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b00vrt95)
Nic chooses a glamorous new dress for the Young Farmers' dinner dance on Friday. Spotting Sabrina Thwaite, she and Clarrie speculate on who she's flirting with on the phone. Clarrie hopes Ed and Will will get on ok on Friday. Nic says Will was just sore about the way he found out about Emma's pregnancy. Nic tries to persuade Clarrie to treat herself to a pashmina, and has an idea when Clarrie nips off to the loo.
Later on, as she and Mia help Clarrie feed the turkeys, Nic ponders how news of the baby touched a nerve with Will. She's sure he'll get over it though.
Tom tells Tony how Harry's plan to get Jazzer involved in the panto backfired. He didn't take well to the new "Idle Jock" character. Tom elaborates on his plans to install a whole new refrigeration unit. Pat's in favour and eventually a concerned Tony starts to come round. He's less keen on another supper with Kathy though, who's coming over this evening.
Pat worries that Helen's exercising too much and not getting enough rest. Considering Tom's plans, Helen's behaviour and Pat's hospitality towards Kathy, weary Tony weighs up that everyone seems to be against him.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b00vrt97)
Bill Bailey and Spooks actor Peter Firth
With Mark Lawson.
Comedian and musician Bill Bailey discusses his preparations for his new live act, and reveals why part of the show is an art lecture.
Actor Peter Firth talks about playing the role of Harry Pearce, the head of counter-terrorism of MI5, in the long-running TV drama Spooks.
The multi-award-winning director Rufus Norris makes his operatic debut with English National Opera's new production of Don Giovanni by Mozart. The production also marks the London operatic debut of the young Ukrainian conductor Kirill Karabits. Iain Paterson sings the role of Giovanni, fresh from stealing the show as Mephistopheles in ENO's Faust. Helen Wallace reviews.
Julian Barnes offers his verdict on My Afternoons with Marguerite, Gérard Depardieu's new film in which he plays an almost illiterate, unmarried man whose life is changed unexpectedly by a chance meeting with a woman 40 years his senior.
Producer Claire Bartleet.
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00vrcxz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 From Conflict to Compromise (b00vrt99)
ACAS has the difficult aim of bringing calmness and compromise in the face of anger, resentment and conflict.
Sometimes it succeeds, sometimes not - and often the difference between the two is down to dramatic, knife edge, last minute negotiations.
This documentary examines the work of ACAS, the service designed to help resolve industrial disputes, as its workload seems likely to increase with a rise in industrial tension as cuts hit the public sector.
During its time ACAS has handled a huge range of industrial disputes from the bitter battles of the winter of discontent in the 1970s and the miners dispute in the 1980s to the disputes of recent years at British Airways and the Royal Mail. Its history is a window on the changing history of British industrial relations since its foundation in 1974.
In this programme Carolyn Quinn talks to officials, employers and trade union leaders who have negotiated late into the night at ACAS, and explores the behind the scenes drama, tension and uncertainty of its work.
Producer Jane Ashley.
MON 20:30 Analysis (b00vrt9c)
Criminal rehabilitation: a sub-prime investment?
Ken Clarke has promised a "rehabilitation revolution" in which private investors will fund projects aimed at cutting the re-offending rate. If the projects succeed, the government will pay those investors a return. But if the projects fail, the investors will lose their shirts.
You can see why the idea is attractive to ministers. In a period of spending restraint - and with a huge and hugely expensive prison population - a 'payment by results' system promises to fund rehabilitation projects from future savings.
But will it work? After all, rehabilitation is hardly a new idea. And so far, it seems, most attempts have made little difference. So the question is whether a new way of paying for criminal rehabilitation might deliver better results. There's unrestrained excitement among some of those working with offenders. And deep scepticism among some criminologists.
Emma Jane Kirby investigates.
Interviewees include: the Justice Secretary, the Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke MP; criminologists Professor Sir Anthony Bottoms and Professor Carol Hedderman; Geoff Mulgan from the Young Foundation; the welfare expert Professor Dan Finn; Toby Eccles from Social Finance; and Rob Owen, chief executive of the St Giles Trust.
Producer: Richard Knight.
MON 21:00 Material World (b00vkybc)
The International Space Station - is it worth the cost? Giant Dragonflies from the First Forests; The Electrical Generator that Changed the World.
MON 21:30 Start the Week (b00vrcwm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b00vp0ls)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b00vrt9f)
President Obama travels to India - does India want to transform its role on the world stage?
Have the British lost their work ethic?
Why are Anglicans defecting to the Catholic Church?
With Ritula Shah and Felicity Evans.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00vrt9h)
Troubles
Episode 1
The recipient of the Lost Man Booker Prize for 1970, J. G. Farrell's tragi-comic masterpiece set against the Irish struggle for independence, read by Jim Norton.
Major Brendan Archer travels to Ireland after the war to visit Angela Spencer - the fiancée he appears to have accidentally acquired on an afternoon's leave, three years before. Arriving in the town of Kilnalough, he finds himself in the crumbling surroundings of a grand old Irish hotel - the Majestic - with its eccentric owner Edward Spencer (Angela's father), community of gently decaying old ladies and unceasingly proliferating cats.
Despite an unexpected resolution to his engagement and numerous resolutions to leave Ireland, the Major is increasingly unable to detach himself from the Majestic's faded and verging-on-dilapidated charms - not to mention the charms of one Kilnalough resident in particular - while the surrounding countryside becomes ever more unsettled and violent as the gathering storm of the Irish struggle for independence is about to erupt.
J. G. Farrell was born in Liverpool in January 1935. In 1956 he went to study at Brasenose College, Oxford; while there he contracted polio. He drew heavily on his experience for his second novel, The Lung (1965). He spent a good deal of his life abroad, including periods in France, America and the Far East. His novel, Troubles (1970), the first in the Empire Trilogy, won the Faber Memorial Prize in 1971 and was made in to a film for television in 1988. The second in the trilogy, The Siege of Krishnapur won the Booker Prize in 1973. In April 1979, he went to live in County Cork, where, only four months later, he was drowned in a fishing accident.
Troubles is abridged by Doreen Estall and produced by Heather Larmour.
MON 23:00 Off the Page (b00vky79)
Living Cheap
"My name is David Collins. I'm 69 years old and I live in an almshouse."
Everyone tells us we are living in tough times, so three guests explain what that means for them. David Collins is an actor who has found a medieval sounding solution - an almshouse - to the big squeeze. Laurie Penny is a 23 year-old recent graduate who writes for free on her blog Penny Red, and until recently was living in a house she described as a scene from 'Withnail and I.' And Pauline Black, the lead singer of the Selector, resists the charge that it was her baby boomer generation that has spent all the money and messed up the economy for everyone else.
Fresh, provocative writing and fiery debate. The presenter is Dominic Arkwright, the producer Miles Warde.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00vrt9k)
Sean Curran reports on events at Westminster.
TUESDAY 09 NOVEMBER 2010
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b00vrv9g)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b00vrcwp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00vncr7)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00vncr9)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00vncrc)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b00vncrf)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00vrv9j)
With Rev Dr Ruth Patterson of Restoration Ministries in Belfast.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b00vrv9l)
Plans for the UK's biggest dairy farm will be scaled back after criticism from locals and animal rights groups. Nocton Dairy in Lincolnshire was to be home to 8,100 cows, but the farmer behind the development tells Anna Hill the new plans feature fewer animals, more space, and guarantees that all the cows will be allowed outdoors.
Every time you fill your car up, about 5% of the fuel comes from plants grown on farms. But Greenpeace tells Farming Today biofuels could vastly increase greenhouse gas emissions and are worse for the environment than fossil fuels. The National Farmers' Union disagrees and says growing crops for fuel doesn't have to mean less land for growing food.
And Farming Today hears predictions that the weekly shop will continue to get even more expensive. Mark Hill from Deloittes warns that global demand for wheat means food prices rises are here to stay.
TUE 06:00 Today (b00vrv9n)
07:44 Coronation Street actor Bill Tarmey reflects on the life and death of Jack Duckworth
08:10 Nick Robinson analyses the PM's visit to China
08:51 Are the nation's classrooms better or worse behaved than they were 10, 20, 50 years ago?
TUE 09:00 Twin Sisters, Two Faiths (b00jsw51)
Identical twins, Elizabeth and Caroline, talk to Anna Scott-Brown about their choices to follow two very different faiths - Islam and Christianity. They discuss their strongly-held but separate beliefs, and how this affects their relationship within the family. As their own lives unfold, they also have to confront their mother's terminal illness and come to terms with what her death will mean to them.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b00vs4jk)
Autobiography of Mark Twain
Episode 2
Read by Kerry Shale. Mark Twain remembers the annual boyhood visits to his Uncle's farm in Florida. He admits transporting the farm to several other locations in his later work, and his memories of his time there and the characters he met are every bit as vibrant in his newly published autobiography as the writing in the classic stories he based on them.
Abridged by Jane Marshall Productions
Producer: Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00vrv9s)
Presented by Jane Garvey. Eleven million Britons have some sort of false teeth. So what is our relationship with dentures? We discuss the issues. With Islamic extremism on the rise in the Maldives, Jane is joined by the Olympic rower, Guin Batten, and the Maldivian High Commissioner, Dr Farah Faizal, to find out why the formation of a women's rowing team is encouraging young women back into public life. The historian Sarah Searight talks about her life-long passion for lapis lazuli. And, what drives children to sexually abuse other children?
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b00vs608)
Writing the Century 15: A Desolate Bravery
Episode 2
The series which explores the 20th century through the diaries and correspondence of real people, returns with "A Desolate Bravery" by Lavinia Murray. The drama is inspired by the diaries of military artist David Rowlands who spent time in Bosnia during the civil war in 1993 with the UN Peacekeeping Forces.
David Rowlands spends time with the Royal Army Medical Corps and begins to understand just how brutal this civil war is.
David Rowlands.....Shaun Dooley
Driver.....Kevin Harvey
Chief Clerk.....Conrad Nelson
Paul Newman.....Graeme Hawley
Major Tracey Clark.....Joanne Mitchell
Melodeon played by David Rowlands
Original music by Nicolai Abrahamsen
Directed by Nadia Molinari.
TUE 11:00 Saving Species (b00vrvdk)
Series 1
Episode 28
28/40. In the very first programme of Saving Species we had an exclusive report about Koalas. We heard that factors such as change in habitat use and the felling of their trees were forcing Koalas in many areas of Australia to spend more time on the ground and in doing so the Koalas were being attacked by dogs. We learnt that Koalas are in peril. We return to Australia and join ABC reporter Kim Kleidon and Koala Biologist Bill Ellis on St Bee's Island off the Queensland coast. Bill Ellis leads a research group from the University of Queensland on all aspects of Koala biology but is particularly interested in recording their sounds to decipher their interactions with each other. And St Bee's is one of his hot spots where the Koalas still live in healthy numbers and in an intact habitat. We're there because it's a key time in the Koala year - the time when males ascend the trees and bellow for mates. We've never recorded this - and Saving Species audiences will get exclusive access to this unique behaviour.
Also in the line up this week a special report from Madagascar and the work being done out there to save the Madgascan Pochard from the brink of extinction. Lucy Vincent of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust visits the people on the ground rearing captive Pochards for release.
Grey Seals are also in the programme. Chris Sperring sends a report to us from Orkney where the Grey Seals are pupping. And we hear from the Natural Environment Research Council's Sea Mammal Research Unit live in the programme about the status of the UK seas and how the Grey Seals help them understand it.
Our news hound Kelvin Boot is also live into the programme.
Presenter: Brett Westwood
Producer: Sheena Duncan
Series editor: Julian Hector.
TUE 11:30 Good Grief: The Story of Peanuts (b00vrvdm)
Pete Paphides, writer and music critic, talks to family, friends and fans of Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts cartoon. He asks why he related so strongly to long suffering Charlie Brown and why Peanuts was the most successful newspaper comic strip of all time.
Featuring interviews with Schulz's widow, Jean Schulz, two of his children- Craig and Jill, as well as contributions from graphic designer Chip Kidd, comic book artist Chris Ware and life-long fan Russell T. Davies.
He created Peanuts in 1950, and Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, Shroeder et al still hold a huge place in people's lives and memories. The Peanuts comic strip was the most popular cartoon strip of all time and crossed boundaries of young and old- some claim it did for comic strips what the Beatles did for music. Others called it 'a beat strip', perfectly reflecting American society. But its appeal was global.
Using the most minimum of lines, Schulz was able to convey emotions and humour. His characters were contemplative, philosophical, isolated, sometimes depressed. And surprisingly they made clever observations about classical music, theology psychiatry and sport. Classic story-lines included the Great Pumpkin, Lucy vying for attention at Shroeder's piano, Linus' blanket, Snoopy versus the Red Baron, and Charlie Brown never kicking the football.
Charlie Brown, the central character was isolated and lonely. A real person, with real problems was a new idea in comics and he spoke to people all over the world- including the presenter of this programme, Pete Paphides, growing up in Birmingham.
Schulz died in 2000.
Producer: Laura Parfitt
A White Pebble Media production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in November 2010.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b00vrvdp)
Is it fair that long-term benefit claimants should be forced to do community work? As part of its welfare reforms, the government's set to announce a scheme requiring those without a job and claiming benefits to do community tasks like gardening or collecting litter. The aim is to encourage the long-term unemployed back into the routine of a 9 to 5 job - and to cut the massive benefits bill. Anyone refusing to cooperate could lose their job-seekers' allowance of £65 a week for at least three months. Critics say it's punishing those who want to work but can't find a job. And it will mean they'll have less time to look for employment. But the government says the Work Activity scheme is designed to flush out those who've chosen a life on benefits or who are doing undeclared jobs on the side. So, with five million people on unemployment benefits and nearly two million children living in households where no-one has a job, what is the answer?
Call You and Yours with Julian Worricker. Your chance to share your views on the programme. Call 03700 100 444 (lines open at
10am on the day) or email youandyours@bbc.co.uk.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b00vncrh)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b00vrvqf)
National and international news.
TUE 13:30 Once in a Blue Moon: The Songs of Lal Waterson (b00vrvqh)
Lal Waterson's voice was stark but captivating and it's been said that the songs she wrote were close to German cabaret or chanson. They were lyrically ambitious and melodically powerful.
Since her death in 1998, her reputation has grown and now she is placed alongside the great singer song-writers like Nick Drake and Richard Thompson. She was a member of the famous Waterson family and numbered among other relatives the folk singer Martin Carthy and his daughter Eliza.
In this feature, Robin Denselow explores the life and legacy of Lal Waterson and assesses her impact on song-writers today.
Producer: Emma Kingsley
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2010.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b00vrt95)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b00vrvqk)
The Thali Revolution
Bettina Gracias's play The Thali Revolution focuses on India in the late 1970s. The local women are finding it harder and harder to feed their families. The country is rife with food shortages, financial difficulty and civil unrest. Young mother, Gurinder, is desperate to provide for her children and argues nightly with her husband who is unable to find work. Taking a stand against the government feels like the only option open to her. Gurinder decides to stand outside her house banging her thali dish in protest and before long, all the women in her village are doing the same.
Meanwhile, the leader of the country, Indira Gandhi, is getting more and more desperate too: she's losing support within congress, wondering how she can win back her opposition and her country's support. She's beginning to hear thali tins banging in her head at night.
Cast details:
Gurinder- Goldy Notay
Haresh- Saikat Ahamed
Paravati- Vineeta Rishi
Indira Gandhi- Shaheen Khan
Sanjay Gandhi- Christopher Simpson
Other roles are played by Adeel Akhtar and Deeivya Meir
Directed and produced by Lucy Collingwood
Details about writer:
Bettina Gracias is a former Radio Drama "Sparks" writer and her radio work includes MY NAME IS IQBAL MASIH (winner of a Clarion Award 2009),GOAN FLAME, SINGH TANGOS, JALLEBIES AND TEA, ASHA'S WORLD, COCONUT WISHES, FROM BANGALORE WITH LOVE, ME AND MY MAN and BELONGING. Theatre work includes - SINGH TANGOS, OTHER (Shortlisted for the Verity Bargate and Manchester Royal Exchange competitions) and for TV - THE WEDDING PARTY (BBC Choice).
TUE 15:00 Home Planet (b00vrvrl)
We all know that wind in the trees can produce a distinctive gentle rustle, but one Home Planet listener was startled to hear loud creaks and chirrups coming from French woodland on a hot sunny day. It wasn't insects, they could see no animals so what was producing this mysterious tree borne noise?
We have the tricky question of how many people can planet Earth naturally sustain, is it a scientific or a political question? Did Welsh drovers know of an otherwise hidden forest of Scot's pine, a species thought to be extinct in the UK, why do maps and atlases always have North at the top and how do trees growing on inclines keep their foliage the same height above the ground despite the slope.
Answering these questions in this week's Home Planet are are Human Geographer Professor Sue Buckingham of Brunel University, Dr Nick Brown, a forest ecologist from Oxford University and Professor Philip Stott, an environmental scientist from the University of London.
Contact:
Home Planet
BBC Radio 4
PO Box 3096
Brighton
BN1 1PL
Or email home.planet@bbc.co.uk
Or telephone: 08700 100 400
Presenter: Richard Daniel
Producer: Toby Murcott
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00vrvrn)
Three Stories by Mark Twain
The McWilliamses and The Burglar Alarm
To accompany Book Of The Week's broadcast of 'Autobiography of Mark Twain', there is a chance to hear three of the author's classic short stories, with their familiar trademarks of high farce and droll insight. His tales bring us eccentric burglars, cossetted children, and a visitor to a theme park obsessed with the making of mocassins. And also torrents of water...
1. The McWilliamses and The Burglar Alarm
Surely their home would be better off with a state of the art
security device - if it works, that is...
Reader Stuart Milligan
Producer Duncan Minshull.
TUE 15:45 A Guide to Coastal Birds (b00tcz9d)
Sandy Shores
Brett Westwood is joined by keen bird watcher Stephen Moss on the Devonshire coast. With the help of wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, they offer a practical and entertaining guide to birds that you're most likely to see and hear on sandy shores around Britain's coastline; birds like Common Tern, Sandwich Tern, Ringed Plover and Oystercatcher.
This is the second of five programmes to help identify many of the birds found around our British coastline in places like rocky shores, sea cliffs, off-shore islands, estuaries and sandy beaches. Not only is there advice on how to recognise the birds from their appearance, but also how to identify them from their calls and songs.
This series complements three previous series; A Guide to Garden Birds, A Guide Woodland Birds and A Guide to Water Birds and is aimed at both the complete novice as well as those who are eager to learn more about our coastal visitors and residents.
Produced by Sarah Blunt.
TUE 16:00 Law in Action (b00vrvrq)
Phone Tap Evidence in Terrorist Trials
In a revealing first broadcast interview since he left the intelligence organisation, GCHQ's former director for legal affairs, Michael Drury, tells Joshua Rozenberg why he believes that evidence obtained by electronic surveillance against suspected terrorists should not be admissible in court. He also discusses why secrecy about what GCHQ can and cannot do is so important.
Also in the programme, after his recent extended interview with the Justice Secretary, Kenneth Clarke, Joshua discovers if the Lord Chancellor's enthusiasm for replacing no-win, no-fee arrangements for lawyers in such cases as personal injury claims would be good for those who sue. Is enabling lawyers to be paid out of the compensation awards made to successful claimants involved in accidents at work or road traffic accidents an overdue reform? Or could it take much-needed money away from those needing full-time care following a life-changing accident?
Joshua also reveals how a judgment delivered by the UK Supreme Court could have profound implications for tenants living in housing owned by councils and housing associations. In an unusual ruling delivered in the name of nine of the Supreme Court Justices, Lord Neuberger said the protection for home life provided under the Human Rights Act could be used against attempts by public landlords to evict tenants. "Law in Action" discovers what the ruling might mean for future disputes over housing benefit payments for rent - and what it might mean for tenants of private landlords.
And, as the imbroglio continues over an election court's decision to declare void the election last May to the Westminster Parliament of the former Labour immigration minister, Phil Woolas, Joshua explores the role of the courts in elections.
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b00vrvrs)
Laura Wade and Will Gregory
Sue MacGregor invites contemporary playwright Laura Wade and composer (and Goldfrapp musician) Will Gregory to discuss favourite books by Colm Toibin, Philip K Dick and Edward St Aubyn.
Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
Publisher: Penguin
Ubik by Philip K Dick
Publisher: Orion
Mother's Milk by Edward St Aubyn
Publisher: Picador
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2010.
TUE 17:00 PM (b00vrvs1)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news. Plus Weather.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00vncrk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 The Write Stuff (b0156mth)
Series 14
Edgar Allan Poe
James Walton and team captains, John Walsh and Sebastian Faulks delve into the troubled life of Edgar Allan Poe who is this week's "Author of the Week". As well as attempting to solve the usual book-based brain-teasers they also pastiche Poe's work by imagining what it would have been like had Poe attempted to write romantic comedy.
Joining Sebastian and John this week are the novelists, Sue Limb and Philip Kerr.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b00vrvt9)
As Pip helps Ruth disbud a calf, Ruth asks if she's chosen which college she'd like to go to yet. She'd better make time to go through prospectuses. Pip's preoccupied with the dinner dance though, and she has an organ lesson later today as well. Alan has asked her to play her grandad's favourite hymn at the advent service. Pip's keen to do her best, as a tribute to Phil. It's the first time he won't be there to play at the service.
Kenton and Jolene have a productive trip to the wholesalers, looking for Christmassy
items for the pub restaurant and Jaxx. Over lunch, Jolene admits she almost cancelled
this morning. It's strange not doing this with Sid. Kenton surprises and cheers Jolene
up by trying out his new wind-up penguin in the quiet pub. It'll be a Jaxx Christmas
mascot.
Harry warns Jazzer to stop eating so much rubbish, and blows up when he what Jazzer has ruined his best knife and saucepan. When Jazzer finds out how much replacements will cost, he instead offers to clean for a month. Harry has another idea. He knows something Jazzer can do that'll help someone else out. And it's not negotiable.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b00vrvtf)
Tinie Tempah; Chinese film Aftershock
London rapper Tinie Tempah was voted Best Newcomer at the MOBO Awards this year, following his hit singles Frisky, Miami 2 Ibiza, Written In The Stars and Pass Out. The 22-year-old, who celebrated his birthday this week, recently spoke at the Oxford Union. Tinie Tempah talks to John Wilson about breaking away from the council estate and why he chose hip hop instead of the academic life.
Aftershock is a Chinese film about a family torn apart by the 1976 Tangshan earthquake. Directed by Feng Xiaogang, the film is now the highest-grossing locally-made film ever at the Chinese box office, and has been selected as the Chinese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at next year's Oscars. Writer Diane wei Liang reviews.
Documentary film-maker John Krish, who is now 86 years old, looks back at his long career in the industry, as four of his films return to the cinema this week. He explains why he was sacked for his unwelcome elegiac farewell to the London tram, why he isn't a fan of the Free Cinema movement and how he came to direct the opening credits for The Avengers.
Producer Jerome Weatherald.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00vs608)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (b00vrvv0)
Charities - Giving and Taking
Under the Prime Minister's project for The Big Society, the coalition government wants charities to have much greater involvement in the running of public services.
At the same time, substantial cuts are expected in official regulators which check that charities are competent and honest.
Recent financial scandals have shown the vulnerability of even the most prestigious organisations to systematic fraud.
The Charity Commission admits that a quarter of charities fail to file their accounts on time, covering a combined annual income of £6 billion. The Commission also says that in future allegations of fraud may no longer be automatically investigated.
Meanwhile, other national charities are facing rebellions from lifelong local supporters over planned reorganisations designed to win huge public contracts.
Gerry Northam asks if we can be confident that charities are fit and honest enough to take responsibility from the public sector.
Producer: Sally Chesworth.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b00vrvx1)
In Touch investigates how the cut in the mobility component of the Disabled Living Allowance will affect deaf blind people in residential care. And a new computer software programme that gives blind crossword fanatics
their 5 across and 4 down back.
Contributors : Sue Brown from Sense, Liz Ball, Eric Westbrook, Colin Dexter.
TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (b00vrvx3)
Young Offenders - Twenty Four Hour Memory Loss - Worrying
Psychologists at the University of Exeter have found that young offenders are two to three times as likely as everyone else to have had a head injury.
Huw Williams, Associate Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology at Exeter University spoke exclusively to Claudia Hammond about the implications of his study.
Twenty Four Hour Memory Loss:
A few years ago a film came out called 50 First Dates. It starred Drew Barrymore as a woman who had had a car accident which resulted in her losing her memory for the days' events every time she went to sleep. Now its happened in real life, a 48 year old woman asked Dr Christine Smith of the Department of Psychiatry at University of California San Diego for help. Dr Smith's account of this unusual case study has been published in the journal Neuropsychologia.
How to Stop Worrying:
Ad Kerkhof is a clinical psychologist at VU University in Amsterdam. He written a book aimed at any of us who worry, explaining how we can train ourselves to stop worrying.
TUE 21:30 Twin Sisters, Two Faiths (b00jsw51)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b00vncrm)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b00vrvxt)
Shares in Irish banks hit record lows - is the worst still to come for the Irish economy?
As President George W Bush's memoirs are published, we hear from one of his key advisers
And are tensions between India and China easing as their economies grow?
With David Eades and Ritula Shah.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00vstzz)
Troubles
Episode 2
The recipient of the Lost Man Booker Prize for 1970, J. G. Farrell's tragi-comic masterpiece set against the Irish struggle for independence, read by Jim Norton.
Major Brendan Archer travels to Ireland after the war to visit Angela Spencer - the fiancée he appears to have accidentally acquired on an afternoon's leave, three years before. Arriving in the town of Kilnalough, he finds himself in the crumbling surroundings of a grand old Irish hotel - the Majestic - with its eccentric owner Edward Spencer (Angela's father), community of gently decaying old ladies and unceasingly proliferating cats.
Despite an unexpected resolution to his engagement and numerous resolutions to leave Ireland, the Major is increasingly unable to detach himself from the Majestic's faded and verging-on-dilapidated charms - not to mention the charms of one Kilnalough resident in particular - while the surrounding countryside becomes ever more unsettled and violent as the gathering storm of the Irish struggle for independence is about to erupt.
J. G. Farrell was born in Liverpool in January 1935. In 1956 he went to study at Brasenose College, Oxford; while there he contracted polio. He drew heavily on his experience for his second novel, The Lung (1965). He spent a good deal of his life abroad, including periods in France, America and the Far East. His novel, Troubles (1970), the first in the Empire Trilogy, won the Faber Memorial Prize in 1971 and was made in to a film for television in 1988. The second in the trilogy, The Siege of Krishnapur won the Booker Prize in 1973. In April 1979, he went to live in County Cork, where, only four months later, he was drowned in a fishing accident.
Troubles is abridged by Doreen Estall and produced by Heather Larmour.
TUE 23:00 Beautiful Dreamers (b00vrvxw)
The Whalemen of Musungenyi
In this series documentary maker Nat Segnit investigates the untold stories of visionary mavericks.
This week Nat meets an extraordinary group of thrillseeking "Jonahs" who offer themselves up to be swallowed by whales. With contributions from Toby Jones, Kevin Eldon,Christine Kavanagh, Iain Batchelor, Jude Akuwudike and Ewan Bailey.
Writers ..... James Lever and Nat Segnit
Producers ..... Steven Canny and Sasha Yevtushenko.
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00vrvxy)
MPs hold a major debate on the Government's plans to place a cap on the amount of housing benefit any single jobless household can claim. Peers question the coalition's decision to axe a large number of public bodies or quangos. Up on the committee corridor, the head of the UK Border Agency admits it is struggling to deport the families of illegal immigrants. Susan Hulme and team report on today's events in Parliament.
WEDNESDAY 10 NOVEMBER 2010
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b00vncxr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b00vs4jk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00vrvzr)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00vrvzt)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00vncwb)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b00vncwd)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00vrwrh)
With Rev Dr Ruth Patterson of Restoration Ministries in Belfast.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b00vrwrk)
One farmer says he will take the law into his own hands if trespassing on his land continues. Farming Today meets Derek Cornforth in Yorkshire who wants action to stop rural crime. From now on beak trimming of laying hens in the UK will no longer be carried out using hot blades but by using infra-red technology. Farmers say the controversial practice is necessary for animal welfare, but others insist beak trimming is cruel and unnecessary. And as food prices rise, Farming Today learns that shoppers should be prepared for further cost increases over the coming months.
Presented by Anna Hill and Produced by Martin Poyntz-Roberts.
WED 06:00 Today (b00vrwrm)
Morning news and current affairs with Evan Davis and Justin Webb:
07:43 Ireland's former PM John Bruton analyses if the country will be able to pay all its debt back
08:10 A former UK ambassador to Kabul outlines why he thinks the strategy in Afghanistan is failing
08:20 Karl Lagerfeld discusses if the current era of austerity has changed the way he approaches design.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b00vrwrp)
This week Libby Purves is joined by Michael Allen, Giles Coren, Ludovico Einaudi and Priscilla Coleman.
Michael Allen is a Chelsea Pensioner who served in the the Royal Engineers and Royal Military Police for twenty-four years before becoming a Chelsea pensioner in 2007. During his career he served all over the world including Germany, France, North Africa, Borneo and Hong Kong and was a bodyguard to Sir Alec Douglas-Hume. He's one of the Pensioners performing on their new album 'Men in Scarlet' released on Rhino Records.
Giles Coren is the writer, critic, columnist and television presenter. In a new series on BBC Two, 'Giles and Sue Live the Good Life', Giles and Sue Perkins celebrate the 35th anniversary of one of the UK's best-loved sitcoms by going back to 1975 and trying their hands at self-sufficiency, recreating Tom and Barbara Good's lifestyle.
Ludovico Einaudi is an Italian pianist and composer. Playing to sell out audiences around the world, his music appears in films and television shows including Channel 4's This Is England '86 and the BBC's Top Gear and Holby City, as well as film soundtracks for I'm Still Here, This is England and The Reader. He will be touring the UK in November to coincide with the release of a new album 'The Royal Albert Hall Concert' and DVD.
Priscilla Coleman has been a court artist for over 20 years and works for ITN. Her sketches are featured in a new book 'Court Scenes' which mark many of the most important trials of that period including her first sketch of the Jeffrey Archer/Monica Coghlan libel trial, to the Heather Mills/Paul McCartney divorce and the freeing of the Birmingham Six. 'Court Scenes: The court art of Priscilla Coleman' is published by Wildy, Simmonds & Hill, and includes commentary by Paul Cheston, court correspondent of the London Evening Standard. There will also be an exhibition of Priscilla's work at the Royal Courts of Justice.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b00vs4k2)
Autobiography of Mark Twain
Episode 3
Read by Kerry Shale. In Nevada in 1864 there was a sudden fashion for duelling. At the time Samuel L. Clemens, better known now as Mark Twain, was City Editor on the Virginia City Enterprise. He was just 29 years-old and though ambitious, he claims he had no desire to fight a duel, even for the honour of his paper. But somehow, in spite of his intentions, he managed to provoke the proprietor of the rival Virginia Union.
Abridged by Jane Marshall Productions
Producer: Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00vrwrr)
Presented by Jenni Murray. Margaret Atwood's dystopian classic 'The Handmaid's Tale' imagines a future America under the violently oppressive rule of a far-right Christian sect. Women are back in the home and divided into domestic and reproductive functions, branded by coloured robes. The book was a huge global success, and is still regarded as a ground-breaking work of fiction. 25 years on, Margaret Atwood speaks to Jenni about why its central message has never been more relevant, with the journalist and literary critic Alex Clark. The classical guitarist, Xuefei Yang performs live in the studio. And we look at Caring in South Asian families in the UK. Many Asian families have been reluctant to take up social care for their elderly relatives, preferring to live with them and look after them themselves. But with pressure to move for careers and increasingly "western" values will the traditional structures sustain?
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b00vspd3)
Writing the Century 15: A Desolate Bravery
Episode 3
The series which explores the 20th century through the diaries and correspondence of real people, returns with "A Desolate Bravery" by Lavinia Murray. The drama is inspired by the diaries of military artist David Rowlands who spent time in Bosnia during the civil war in 1993 with the UN Peacekeeping Forces.
David Rowlands joins the soldiers as they travel across Serb lines to collect Muslims displaced from their homes and aid their safe passage to the Muslim enclave of Travnik.
David Rowlands.....Shaun Dooley
Major Bryan Watters.....Stephen Hudson
Major John Cusick.....Kieran Cunningham
Refugee Exchange Commission worker.....Hamilton Birstock
Original music by Nicolai Abrahamsen
Directed by Nadia Molinari.
WED 11:00 The Yellow Fleet (b00vrwrt)
In 1967 a convoy of cargo ships from 8 countries, including Britain, were trapped in the Suez Canal during the Six Day War. They were to remain there for 8 years, becoming covered in windblown desert sand, giving them the nickname "The Yellow Fleet". For the men involved this was an often dangerous but exciting time which many describe as the best of their sea-faring lives. Yet their stories have gone untold, until now.
Peter Flack was on the Agapenor, a ship heading for home with a cargo of plastic toys for Woolworths. It had been an ordinary sailing until the morning of June the 5th 1967. Peter was on deck when suddenly he saw Israeli jets streaking out of the rising sun towards Egypt. John Hughes was an electrician on another ship, The Melampus. He was at the top of a mast, fixing a light, when -glancing down- he saw Egyptian soldiers dug-in along the banks of the canal pointing their guns directly at him. Shortly after his speedy descent from the mast, the Israeli air-raid began. As his colleague, Graham McMorine, remembers the jets used the ships as cover, crossing the canal at mast height to bomb the Egyptian air-base.
As the war continued, Egypt decided to close the Suez Canal. It remained closed even after the war ended, trapping the ships and their crew. After a while the men were allowed home and relief crews arrived. As the long war of attrition rumbled on, the sailors caught in the middle began to swap cargo and have parties. There were onboard football tournaments, archery, sprinting and water-skiing. Ships from east and west took part, despite the ongoing Cold War.
After a while the ships were abandoned, and covered in windblown desert sand becoming known as The Yellow Fleet.
producer: Karen Gregor.
WED 11:30 The Secret World (b012ylgm)
Series 2
Episode 6
James Bond star Daniel Craig tries to get car insurance. Jon Culshaw explores famous folk's private lives. From August 2010.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b00vrwrw)
Another specialist mortgage lender has just gained approval to offer products to people who do NOT meet the strict criteria of high street banks. So are sub-prime mortgages are making a come back?
And as our Care in the UK season continues we look at how one person was stranded in hospital for a 130 days blocking a much needed bed. How can social service and the NHS work better?
The Food Standards Agency is currently inviting comments on EU proposals to change acceptable daily intake levels of six food colourings. We find out why.
WED 12:57 Weather (b00vncwg)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b00vrwry)
National and international news.
WED 13:30 The Media Show (b00vrws0)
This week the BBC Trust, while broadly praising BBC 4, has said the channel needs to make a bigger impact on the majority of viewers who do not watch it. The trust made similar comments about 6 Music earlier this year, before the BBC announced plans to close that radio station. Does controller Richard Klein have any fears for BBC 4's future?
There are claims that media reports of allegations of corruption at Fifa may harm England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup. One suggestion is that journalists should put their findings to Fifa's ethics committee rather than publish. The claims follow reports from the Sunday Times Insight team last month and ahead of a BBC Panorama report expected later this month. Richard Caborn, former minister and ambassador for the bid, discusses this with Andrew Hogg, formerly editor of Insight.
And why are Ann Widdecombe and Wagner so popular with Strictly Come Dancing and X Factor audiences, when the judges say their performances are technically so much weaker than their competitors? What role to the judges play in raising their popularity? Emma Cox of The Sun and The Telegraph's Neil Midgley discuss.
The producer is Simon Tillotson.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b00vrvt9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b00vrwss)
The Trenches Trip
In Jonathan Smith's new play unexpected conflicts emerge within a group of teachers and sixth-formers as they walk through the WWI trenches, tunnels and cemeteries of Flanders, trying to step into the boots of those who died there.
Martin .....Christian Rodska
Nick.....Max Dowler
Laura.....Tamzin Merchant
Rachel.....Leah Brotherhead
Connor.....Pip Carter
Ollie.....Sam Swann
Terry.....Tony Bell
Producer/director: Bruce Young.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b00vrx59)
On this afternoon's Money Box Live, Paul Lewis and guests will answer your questions about equality, rights and pay at work.
Last month's Equality Act requires employers to provide equal opportunities, avoid discrimination and be more transparent about pay - but how will this work in practice?
If you want to know how your workplace will be affected, or you have a general question about employment rights , why not call the programme.
Whether you're an employee or run a small business - phone lines open at
1.30 this afternoon and the number to call is 03700 100 444. Standard geographic charges apply. Calls from mobiles may be higher. The programme starts after the three o'clock news. That number again 03700 100 444.
WED 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00vrx5c)
Three Stories by Mark Twain
The Experience of the McWilliamses With Menbranous Croup
To accompany Book Of The Week's broadcast of 'Autobiography of Mark Twain', there is a chance to hear three of the author's classic short stories, with their familiar trademarks of high farce and droll insight. His tales bring us eccentric burglars, cosseted children, and a visitor to a theme park obsessed with the making of moccasins. And also torrents of water...
2. The Experience of the McWilliamses With Menbranous Croup
A strange fever is afflicting the neighbourhood, just as little Penelope begins to cough. Though the reason is hardly clear cut...
Reader Stuart Milligan
Producer Duncan Minshull.
WED 15:45 A Guide to Coastal Birds (b00tf9np)
Rocky Shores
3/5. Brett Westwood is joined by keen bird watcher Stephen Moss on the Devonshire coast. With the help of wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson they offer a practical and entertaining guide to birds that you're most likely to see and hear on rocky shores around Britain's coastline; birds like Rock Pipit, Turnstone, Herring Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gull.
This is the third of five programmes to help identify many of the birds found around our British coastline in places like sandy beaches, sea cliffs, off-shore islands, estuaries and rocky shores. Not only is there advice on how to recognise the birds from their appearance, but also how to identify them from their calls and songs.
This series complements three previous series; A Guide to Garden Birds, A Guide Woodland Birds and A Guide to Water Birds and is aimed at both the complete novice as well as those who are eager to learn more about our coastal visitors and residents.
Produced by Sarah Blunt.
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b00vrx5f)
Book publishing - Active Citizenship
Laurie Taylor talks to Cambridge sociologist Professor John Thompson about his book 'Merchants of Culture' which approaches the US/UK publishing trade from an anthropological point of view. Laurie also talks to MP Jesse Norman and author Dan Hind about Dan's new book The Return of the Public arguing for more active citizenship.
Producer: Chris Wilson.
WED 16:30 All in the Mind (b00vrvx3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 17:00 PM (b00vrx5h)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news. Plus Weather.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00vncwj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 What Went Wrong with the Olympics? (b00vrx5k)
Episode 3
Spoof documentary set in 2014, looking back at the fiasco that WAS the London Olympics, by Ian Hislop & Nick Newman.
The preparation for the London Olympics is a huge and very funny developing story. Eleven thousand people are now employed on the Olympic site to ensure everything is in place, on time. One and a half million tons of East End soil have been washed. Lorries, arriving on site at the rate of one per minute, are subjected to the same rigorous timetabling that applies at Heathrow Airport. Visitors undergo extensive security checks and are issued with a list of over sixty prohibited items (amongst them, animal stunners, icepicks and blowtorches).
It's an exciting race against time; the most important race of all being the one to get a memorable Olympic programme on air.
Introduced from the standpoint of 2014 by controversial reporter Sylvester Halloran (Kevin Eldon), 'What Went Wrong With The Olympics?' combines contemporary news reports, archive footage, stupid "audio graphics", live interviews and fisticuffs in the studio with the key figures responsible. We sift through the cock-ups and the conspiracies in a tough and revealing probe into the reality of what makes Britain run - not very fast.
Starring Kevin Eldon (Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, Harry & Paul, The I.T.Crowd, Big Train), the cast also features Vicky Pepperdine (Getting On), Adrian Scarborough (Psychoville, Gavin & Stacey), Lewis MacLeod (Dead Ringers, The Life Of Hattie Jacques, Harry & Paul) and the real Brian Perkins.
Cast:
Sylvester Halloran ..... Kevin Eldon
Toby Morrison ..... Adrian Scarborough
Lloyd Waterhouse ..... Dan Tetsell
Caroline Grant ..... Vicki Pepperdine
Writers Ian Hislop (Have I Got News For You) & Nick Newman (Dave Podmore) are the writing team behind News At Bedtime, Murder Most Horrid and My Dad's The Prime Minister.
Producer: Lucy Armitage
A Tiger Aspect production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b00vrx5m)
Brian helps Adam move a converted steel drum into the lambing pen. Adam's hopeful Ian will make Peggy's birthday meal, as well as being the conjurer for Ruairi's birthday party at the week-end.
Jill's spreading the word about the Remembrance Day service, when Des Penwell will be speaking about his experiences in Afghanistan. Peggy will be there. She insists Jill reads her e-mail from Conn.
Fallon's surprised to learn that Jazzer joined the panto cast last night, as Idle Jack. Pleased that Fallon is willing to do the music, Lynda talks her through the production notes. The greatest hurdle is not knowing who'll be singing Alice's romantic duet with Dick. If Lynda ends up casting Sabrina, she hopes Fallon will record it for Sabrina to mime to. Fallon thinks this is the next best thing to being in the show.
Jolene overhears them discussing how much better it would be if Fallon could play Alice. Jolene knows it'll be hard without Fallon in the Bull but she thinks the challenge is what she needs, and insists that Fallon does the panto - for both their sakes. Although technically not the right panto, Lynda's delighted that Fallon's coming to the ball.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b00vrx5p)
Screenwriter Jimmy McGovern on TV Drama Accused
Writer Jimmy McGovern talks about his new TV series Accused. In six dramas, lead characters played by Christopher Eccleston, Mackenzie Crook, Juliet Stevenson, Peter Capaldi and Andy Serkis, are each accused of a crime. Whether they are guilty or not emerges at different points in each episode.
High Society, a new exhibition at Wellcome Collection, explores the role of mind-altering drugs in history and culture. Over 200 exhibits are on display, including the original manuscript of Thomas de Quincy's Confessions of an Opium Eater and Coleridge's Kubla Khan manuscript, allegedly written after an opium dream. Angus Macqueen, maker of the documentary series Our Drugs War, reviews.
This weekend British jazz saxophonist Soweto Kinch teams up with BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Shabaka Hutchings to offer their own personal exploration of the history of jazz from its birth in the melting pot of the American south in the 19th century to the present day. The two musicians discuss their journey which will take them through the classic jazz of the 20s, via bebop, swing, and the avant-garde jazz of the 60s, to its 21st century incarnation.
The Prime Minister announced today, during his trip to Beijing, that there will be a major festival of British arts in China in 2012. Martin Davidson, chief executive of British Council, talks about the event which will potentially be the biggest ever celebration of UK arts held in China and will include exhibitions, concerts and performances across the country.
Producer Nicki Paxman.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00vspd3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b00vrx5r)
Government welfare reform plans to be released include proposals that the unemployed will be expected to join 4 week long community work projects - if they refuse they'll have their benefit stopped for 3 months. Critics say the idea is a way of punishing the workless and is humiliating people who are already extremely vulnerable. The Archbishop of Canterbury says it could drive them in to a spiral of despair. But why should people be allowed to sit at home on benefits doing nothing? What's wrong with expecting them to give something back to society in return? Perhaps it will also combat the culture of welfare dependency and encourage the poor to take more responsibility for themselves. This new conditionality in the welfare system isn't just a matter of tinkering at the edges - it could mean a fundamental change in what the state requires of us as citizens. In the past benefits were paid on a simple calculation of need, or age. But now there's an extra level - not only do you have to be unemployed, but you also have to do good works for the community. Will this kill off the culture of entitlement? And if so why not introduce the same principles for other benefits? Perhaps pensioners should have to baby sit one evening a week to qualify for their state handout? Ask yourself not what benefit I am entitled to, but what should I do to make myself worthy of receiving it.
WED 20:45 Wall in the Mind (b00vrx5t)
Episode 1
In the first of three essays exploring the subtleties of the barriers to social mobility, the writer Lynsey Hanley asks if our social class still largely determines the education we receive. She examines whether our birth postcode will funnel us into good or bad schools, into academic or vocational learning, and into long-established universities or post-2000 ones. She has a very personal starting point - her own education at a school where girls were trained for hair and beauty and boys for car mechanics.
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
WED 21:00 Frontiers (b00vrx5w)
After the Volcano
In April this year, air traffic across most of North West Europe was grounded by a cloud of abrasive ash from the erupting Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland. This was the first time in the era of jet flight that such an eruption has coincided with wind patterns to take ash into such busy airspace. But volcanologists say it will not be the last.
Tracey Logan investigates what is being done by geologists and meteorologists, engineers and aviation experts to ensure that they are better prepared for the next eruption. Producer Martin Redfern travels to Iceland with a team of geophysicists as they measure the rise of magma under the crater of Askja, one of the biggest volcanoes in central Iceland and finds out what they can do to predict the timing and severity of the next 'big one'.
Producer: Martin Redfern.
WED 21:30 Midweek (b00vrwrp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b00vncwl)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b00vrx5y)
Radio 4's daily evening news and current affairs programme bringing you global news and analysis.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00vsv1m)
Troubles
Episode 3
The recipient of the Lost Man Booker Prize for 1970, J. G. Farrell's tragi-comic masterpiece set against the Irish struggle for independence, read by Jim Norton.
Major Brendan Archer travels to Ireland after the war to visit Angela Spencer - the fiancée he appears to have accidentally acquired on an afternoon's leave, three years before. Arriving in the town of Kilnalough, he finds himself in the crumbling surroundings of a grand old Irish hotel - the Majestic - with its eccentric owner Edward Spencer (Angela's father), community of gently decaying old ladies and unceasingly proliferating cats.
Despite an unexpected resolution to his engagement and numerous resolutions to leave Ireland, the Major is increasingly unable to detach himself from the Majestic's faded and verging-on-dilapidated charms - not to mention the charms of one Kilnalough resident in particular - while the surrounding countryside becomes ever more unsettled and violent as the gathering storm of the Irish struggle for independence is about to erupt.
J. G. Farrell was born in Liverpool in January 1935. In 1956 he went to study at Brasenose College, Oxford; while there he contracted polio. He drew heavily on his experience for his second novel, The Lung (1965). He spent a good deal of his life abroad, including periods in France, America and the Far East. His novel, Troubles (1970), the first in the Empire Trilogy, won the Faber Memorial Prize in 1971 and was made in to a film for television in 1988. The second in the trilogy, The Siege of Krishnapur won the Booker Prize in 1973. In April 1979, he went to live in County Cork, where, only four months later, he was drowned in a fishing accident.
Troubles is abridged by Doreen Estall and produced by Heather Larmour.
WED 23:00 Bespoken Word (b00vw861)
Radio 4's performance poetry series, this week featuring performance poets Chris Redmond and Niven Ganner.
Chris Redmond (aka Ventriloquist) works in spoken word, music and theatre. Gigs have included London's Southbank Centre, Shepherds Bush Empire, Comedy Cafe, Cargo, Jazz Cafe, and at festivals - Glastonbury, Big Chill, Latitude, Camp Bestival, London Word Festival and many more.
He is performing as part of The Spoken Word All-Stars tour with Kate Tempest, Kat Francois, El Crisis, Oneness and Jason Yarde. A trained musician and producer he's played drums in dozens of bands and written music for theatre, dance, art installations, and various TV networks. He runs workshops and teaches music and poetry throughout the UK. Niven Ganner is a member of Manchester poetry collective, Pen-Ultimate.
Producer: Graham Frost
A Somethin Else Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:15 The Cornwell Estate (b01fd4cp)
Series 2
Bob Crevice
Phil Cornwell brings six edgy comic characters to life in a new series of The Cornwell Estate, starring Tony Gardner (Fresh Meat), Roger Lloyd-Pack (Only Fools and Horses, Vicar of Dibley), Simon Greenall (Alan Partridge) Daisy Haggard (Psychoville) Ricky Champ (Him and Her, BBC3) Jill Halfpenny (Eastenders, Legally Blonde) and Cyril Nri.
Written by Andrew McGibbon and Phil Cornwell
Bob Crevice is an enthusiastic train driver living on the Cornwell estate. When he is suspended from duty after a medical, his career seems to be over.
Cast:
Bob Crevice ..... Phil Cornwell
James Colagh ..... Roger Lloyd Pack
Charlene Crevice ..... Kate Terence
Derek Vaulter ..... Paul Brennan
Created by Phil Cornwell and Andrew McGibbon.
Additional material by Nick Romero
Producer/Director: Andrew McGibbon
A Curtains For Radio Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00vrx64)
Sean Curran reports on this week's session of Prime Minister's Questions.
THURSDAY 11 NOVEMBER 2010
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b00vnd0h)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b00vs4k2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00vnd0k)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00vnd0m)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00vnd0p)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b00vnd0r)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00vrx88)
With Bishop Donal McKeown in Belfast.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b00vrx8b)
There are calls for England's National Parks to be sold to raise money for the government, and with the cost of food at its highest rate in a year and rising, Farming Today asks just who is making money from the price hikes in the supermarket aisles.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and Produced by Martin Poyntz-Roberts.
THU 06:00 Today (b00vrx8d)
Morning news and current affairs with James Naughtie and Justin Webb, including:
07:30 Mike Thomson reports on India's Naxalite insurgency.
08:10 Iain Duncan Smith outlines his overhaul of the benefit system.
08:20 Are we entering a new era of public demonstrations?
08:30 Nobel Prize winning physicist Andre Geim explains the wonder of Fluorographene.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b00vrx8g)
The Volga Vikings
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Volga Vikings. Between the 8th and the 10th centuries AD, fierce Scandinavian warriors raided and then settled large swathes of Europe, particularly Britain, Ireland and parts of northern France. These were the Vikings, and their story is well known today. Far fewer people realise that groups of Norsemen also travelled east.These Volga Vikings, also known as the Rus, crossed the Baltic into present-day Russia and the Ukraine and founded settlements there. They traded commodities including furs and slaves for Islamic silver, and penetrated so far east as to reach Baghdad. Their activities were documented by Arab scholars: one, Ahmad ibn Fadlan, recorded that the Volga Vikings he met were perfect physical specimens but also "the filthiest of God's creatures". Through trade and culture they brought West and East into regular contact; their story sheds light on both Scandinavian and early Islamic history.With:James MontgomeryProfessor of Classical Arabic at the University of CambridgeNeil PriceProfessor of Archaeology at the University of AberdeenElizabeth RoweLecturer in Scandinavian History of the Viking Age at Clare Hall, University of CambridgeProducer: Thomas Morris.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b00vs4kd)
Autobiography of Mark Twain
Episode 4
Read by Kerry Shale.The Morris Incident was a cause celebre which blasted apparently far bigger stories off the front pages of the American Press. For Mark Twain, the fascination of the incident lies in what it tells you about the character of President Roosevelt.
Abridged by Jane Marshall Productions
Producer: Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00vrxjs)
Presented by Jenni Murray. A new biography of Catherine of Aragon paints a woman who battled with eating disorders while teetering on the brink of religious martyrdom. We look at historical evidence about the life of Henry VIII's first wife whose steadfast refusal to grant him a divorce changed the course of European history.
Two writers from the all female theatre company Clean Break discuss its new production, Charged, which deals with crime, women and justice. Founded by two women serving prison sentences, the company works with people whose lives have been affected by the criminal justice system.
It's a perceived wisdom that we need to drink three litres of water a day to stay healthy, but is this really the case? New thinking sugests we need a tailored approach to hydration, based on age and lifestyle. A dietician and nutritionist discuss the best ways to get fluid into our diet.
Performance poet Hollie McNish started writing poetry aged five with the lines 'my dad is fat and hates cats, my mum is thin like a pin.' She joins Jenni to talk about her poetry which is inspired by hiphop music and grime and sixties' protest lyrics.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b00vspgb)
Writing the Century 15: A Desolate Bravery
Episode 4
The series which explores the 20th century through the diaries and correspondence of real people, returns with "A Desolate Bravery" by Lavinia Murray. The drama is inspired by the diaries of military artist David Rowlands who spent time in Bosnia during the civil war in 1993 with the UN Peacekeeping Forces.
David Rowlands is shocked by conditions at the civilian hospital in the Muslim enclave of Travnik.
David Rowlands.....Shaun Dooley
Bryan Watters.....Stephen Hudson
John Cusick.....Kieran Cunningham
Brian Atherton.....Graeme Hawley
Tyrone Hillary.....Conrad Nelson
Soldier.....John Catterall
Soldier.....James Cartwright
Original music by Nicolai Abrahamsen
Directed by Nadia Molinari.
THU 11:00 Armistice Day Silence (b00vyrzw)
The traditional two-minute silence to mark Armistice Day.
THU 11:02 From Our Own Correspondent (b00vrxjv)
The Christian families enduring extreme sectarian violence in Baghdad.
The political perils that may lie in wait for booming China.
Remembering the horrifying wartime moment that haunts an old South African soldier.
And in the Maldives, we witness the massing of the manta rays.....
Every religious group in Iraq has suffered appalling violence in recent years. But just at the moment, the focus is very much on the country's ancient Christian community. It's now passing through an extraordinarily dark period. A group linked to Al Qaeda says that it regards all Christians as targets. Two Sundays ago more than forty worshippers were killed when gunmen launched an attack on a Catholic Cathedral. And on Wednesday there was series of bomb and mortar attacks on several Christian districts in Baghdad. Jim Muir has been spending time with this frightened, grief stricken minority....
One of the great stories of our time is the rise and rise of China. Its economic strength is gathering at extraordinary speed. It's hauling its masses out of centuries of poverty. A period of great power and prosperity seems to lie ahead... But realising all China's dreams.....steering it smoothly into that shining future...may not be quite so easy. John Humphrys believes there could be dangers along the way...
For many Westerners, Yemen used to be one of those far away countries of which they knew almost nothing. But recently, that's changed. Bomb plots hatched by Al Qaeda in Yemen have thrust the country into the news. And now the West sees it as a source of real danger. Suddenly Yemen has a serious image problem. And Lina Sinjab found its young people deeply disturbed by the way the world now views their country.....
It was on this day....the eleventh day of the eleventh month....that the madness of the killing in the First World War finally came to an end. This is an occasion when....in many parts of the world....thoughts turn to sacrifices made in that conflict, and in more recent ones. And Hamilton Wende has been talking to a World War Two veteran who began to reflect on what he endured in the deserts of North Africa....
Some of the greatest shows on earth are performed in the natural world. I'm thinking for example of the massing of flamingos on lakes in Africa.... or of the giant condor -- wings outstretched -- gliding through the thin, cold air of the Andes... Another of nature's shows goes on in one particular lagoon in the Maldive Islands, and Tim Ecott was lucky enough to be there when the curtain went up....
THU 11:30 The Last Of The Hardy Players (b00vrxjx)
President of the Hardy Society Julian Fellowes tells the extraordinary story of The Hardy Players, an amateur theatre group inspired and supported by Thomas Hardy. He meets original cast member Norrie Woodhall, who recalls rehearsals at Hardy's home at Max Gate, near Dorchester.
Hardy's celebrity status drew the attention of London critics, who thronged to Dorchester to see and review the Players' performances for the national newspapers. Hardy invited the drama critic of The Times, Harold Child, to stay with him and was rewarded by a whole column for the review and a leading article on the players. Hardy later wrote to Child suggesting that "the special attributes of the production were that the great grandparents of the actors were the real actors in the scenes depicted... they all know the events traditionally and of course are themselves continuators of the dialect, humours etc of the personages.."
There are many comical anecdotes about the members of the group and their performances which could come directly off the pages of 'Under the Greenwood Tree' or 'The Trumpet Major'. In 1909, the Hardy Players staged 'Far From the Madding Crowd'. Hardy insisted the sheep shearing scene was done properly so the director employed a professional sheep shearer to do the job on stage. The man was offered beer as payment - as he clipped the sheep he kissed and sang to them, drowning out the words of the actors, much to the amusement of the audience. For 'The Three Fiddlers' a local fiddle player was engaged to play for a scene. Harry Bailey (the fiddler) got so carried away it proved difficult to get him off stage when the scene ended.
The programme also reveals telling biographical detail about Hardy himself. First readings would often take place at Max Gate, in the presence of Hardy's guests - James Barrie, Sir Henry Newbolt and TE Lawrence among them. In 1910 Hardy supplied music for 'The Mellstock Choir' and at one rehearsal seized Mrs Emma Tilley as his partner to demonstrate a country dance he remembered from his youth. In 1913 Gertrude Bugler (sister of Norrie Woodhall) made her first appearance - an exceptional talent whom The Daily Mirror compared to Ellen Terry and Sarah Bernhardt. Hardy was said to be infatuated with the beautiful Gertrude - an assertion Norrie denies, although she recalls the 'insane jealousy' of Hardy's wife, Florence. When Gertrude married a cousin in 1921, her acting career was interrupted by inconvenient (from the Players' point of view) pregnancies, but she was later able to play Tess (a pre-condition of Hardy allowing permission) and went on to a season on the London stage.
Hardy presented the Players with an original verse play called 'The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall' in 1923. Such was the national interest in this play that the BBC (only a year old) broadcast it 'radiated from the Bournemouth station only.' But Hardy refused permission for London productions of his plays, perhaps protective of the special local qualities of the Hardy Players.
The New Hardy Players were formed in 2005, with original Player Norrie Woodhall as President. Norrie was cast by Hardy himself as Tess' sister, Liza Lu, in the stage version of his novel, Tess of the D'Urbervilles. She recalls how Hardy added some lines to her role at the read-through. Norrie still performs occasionally with the Players, at the age of 104.
A fascinating and entertaining story, beautifully told by Julian Fellowes, brings new insight to the Hardy story.
Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2011.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b00vrxjz)
We'll hear from one residential care home that's using pigs, goats and chickens to improve the quality of life for people with Dementia? The staff are so convinced it works they're now taking part in a research project to prove it.
And, why is it STILL so difficult to avoid card surcharges when you're buying a flight? The Visa Electron card is supposed to be the answer. But how easy it is to buy and use one? We investigate.
THU 12:57 Weather (b00vnd0t)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b00vrxk1)
National and international news.
THU 13:30 Off the Page (b00vrxk3)
On the Road
"The facts are that four out of five male children start life predisposed in favour of adventure," wrote Peter Fleming in 1933. "They do it because they want to. It suits them. It is their cup of tea."
In a travel themed edition of Off The Page, Dominic Arkwright asks domestic obsessive Lucy Mangan and Johnny Green, the former road manager of the Clash, if this is really the case. Writer Justin Marozzi weighs in with a compelling account of a mercury drinker he met in Uzbekistan, while debate centres on whether the nomadic urge is innate.
"When I first went out On The Road with punk rock terrors the Clash," write Johnny Green, "it was madly exciting, beyond my considerable wildest dreams." To which Lucy Mangan replies, who was feeding the cat ?
THU 14:00 The Archers (b00vrx5m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b01ngrwp)
Andy Walker - The Man Who Jumped From Space
The real life story of Captain Joe Kittinger and Project Excelsior. As jet planes flew higher and faster in the 1950s, the USAF became increasingly worried about the safety of flight crew who had to eject at high altitude. So Project Excelsior was initiated to perfect a parachute system that would allow a safe, controlled descent after a high-altitude ejection.
Producer Gary Brown
Project Excelsior was initiated in 1958 to design a parachute system that would allow a safe, controlled descent after a high-altitude ejection.
To test the parachute system, staff at Wright Field built a 200 ft (61 m) high helium balloon with a capacity of nearly 3 million cubic feet (85,000 m³) that could lift an open gondola and test pilot into the stratosphere. Joe Kittinger, who was test director for the project, made three ascents and test jumps. This is the story of the three jumps.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b00vr59t)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:07 on Saturday]
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b00vr7f5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00vrxk7)
Three Stories by Mark Twain
Niagara
To accompany Book Of The Week's broadcast of 'Autobiography of Mark Twain', there is a chance to hear three of the author's classic short stories, with their familiar trademarks of high farce and droll insight. His tales bring us eccentric burglars, cossetted children, and a visitor to a theme park obsessed with the making of mocassins. And also torrents of water...
3. Niagara
Hooray, it's a day trip to those intrepid Falls, to tramp
exciting trails and meet some friendly Red Indians. But
the best laid plans...
Reader Stuart Milligan.
Producer Duncan Minshull.
THU 15:45 A Guide to Coastal Birds (b00thnb7)
Sea Cliffs
4/5. Brett Westwood is joined by keen bird watcher Stephen Moss on the Devonshire coast. With the help of wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson they offer a practical and entertaining guide to birds which you're most likely to see and hear on sea cliffs around Britain's coastline; birds like Fulmar, Kittiwake, Guillemot and Razorbill.
This is the fourth of five programmes to help identify many of the birds found around our British coastline in places like sandy beaches, rocky shores, off-shore islands, estuaries and sea cliffs. Not only is there advice on how to recognise the birds from their appearance, but also how to identify them from their calls and songs.
This series complements three previous series; A Guide to Garden Birds, A Guide Woodland Birds and A Guide to Water Birds and is aimed at both the complete novice as well as those who are eager to learn more about our coastal visitors and residents.
Produced by Sarah Blunt.
THU 16:00 Bookclub (b00vrbr6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:30 Material World (b00vrxwp)
Quentin Cooper presents his weekly digest of science in and behind the headlines. He talks to the scientists who are publishing their research in peer reviewed journals, and he discusses how that research is scrutinised and used by the scientific community, the media and the public. The programme also reflects how science affects our daily lives; from predicting natural disasters to the latest advances in cutting edge science like nanotechnology and stem cell research.
Bigger bangs at CERN; What made last winter so cold? Invisibility cloaks come closer.
Producer: Roland Pease.
THU 17:00 PM (b00vrxwr)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news. Including at
5.57pm Weather.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00vnd0x)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Bleak Expectations (b00vrxwt)
Series 4
A Tolerable Life De-Happified
Our hero Pip sees his former nemesis - the badly named Gently Benevolent - thwarted and locked up in a prison within a jail within a gaol spelled the other way, and apparently repentant of his crimes. But late one foggy night when Pip is attacked with a bowl of sinister custard he realises a new form of evil is stalking the streets of London, and he is obliged to ask for help from his erstwhile foe. Can Benevolent now be trusted? And who is the sinister evil figure?
Meanwhile, Pip's wife Ripely has become obsessed with cutlery, and the purchase of some diamond-handled dodo knives looks likely to force Pip into bankruptcy. And his best friend Harry Biscuit claims to be having terrible problems with an angry badger, but is it all as it seems?
Mark Evans's epic Victorian comedy in the style of Charles Dickens.
Sir Philip ..... Richard Johnson
Young Pip Bin ..... Tom Allen
Gently Benevolent ..... Anthony Head
Harry Biscuit ..... James Bachman
Grimpunch ..... Geoffrey Whitehead
Ripely ..... Sarah Hadland
Pippa ..... Susy Kane
Producer: Gareth Edwards
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2010.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b00vrxww)
Jazzer's keen to work late, but only to avoid his first panto rehearsal. Tom's pleased to hear Fallon's signed up for the part of Alice, after Jolene insisted.
Tom tells Peggy about his plans to make Bridge Farm more energy efficient. Pleased, Peggy reveals she's mentioned Tom to her friend Conn by email. Tom plays up Tony's enthusiasm for his plans when Peggy asks.
David's concerned about a ewe that may have the disease orf. He might have to vaccinate the whole flock, so will ask Alistair to take a look. Pip's struggled to operate the organ while rehearsing her advent carol. She reminds him not to tell Jill about it and spoil the surprise.
Jill confides in David that Peggy's behaviour towards Conn is odd. When she questions the relationship David jumps to Peggy's defence.
At rehearsal, Eddie's feeling riled by Nathan Booth, who tried to convince him to get hold of a list of winners for the British Legion's race night in order to set up a side betting scam. Eddie's outraged that Nathan would be ripping off the Legion. Jazzer suggests that instead of giving him a rollicking, they come up with a plan to teach him a lesson.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b00vrxwy)
David Yates on directing Harry Potter; BBC Short Story shortlist
With Mark Lawson.
Tonight sees the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1. The seventh and final book in J.K. Rowling's series has been made into two films, both directed by David Yates who also directed the previous two Harry Potters. David Yates discusses the challenges and pleasures of directing the final instalment of the adventures of Harry, Hermione and Ron.
James Naughtie, Chair of the Judges of the BBC National Short Story Award 2010, announces the five authors shortlisted for this year's prize. Mark discusses this year's entries with James Naughtie and Shena Mackay who is one of the judges. The winner of the £15,000 prize will be announced on Front Row on Monday 29 November.
The neurologist and best-selling writer Oliver Sacks's latest book The Mind's Eye examines the personal stories of people who have lost their perception in different ways and illustrates the adaptive power of the human brain. Unusually, Sacks includes his own case study in the book, examining his experience of cancer of the eye.
When Neil Diamond appeared at the recent BBC Electric Proms, he sang I'm a Believer - a song he wrote, but which is usually heard in the version by The Monkees. David Hepworth discusses the songwriters who reclaim songs made famous by others - including Bruce Springsteen's version of his song Because The Night, a chart hit for Patti Smith.
Producer Philippa Ritchie.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00vspgb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 Law in Action (b00vrvrq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Tuesday]
THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (b00vrxx0)
The view from the top of business. Presented by Evan Davis, The Bottom Line cuts through confusion, statistics and spin to present a clearer view of the business world, through discussion with people running leading and emerging companies.
In the week that former BP boss Tony Hayward admitted the company had been unprepared for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in April, Evan and his panel of top business executives consider how companies plan for unexpected events. How prepared actually are they for a crisis or a disaster?
And dressing up, dressing down, power dressing, smart casual - they also discuss what to wear at work.
Evan is joined in the studio by Neil Gaydon, chief executive of set-top box maker Pace; Sara Weller, managing director of retail chain Argos; Richard Reed, co-founder of Innocent Drinks.
THU 21:00 Saving Species (b00vrvdk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Tuesday]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b00vrx8g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b00vnd0z)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b00vrxx4)
Radio 4's daily evening news and current affairs programme bringing you global news and analysis.
The government's Welfare Reform programme is outlined. How have other countries reduced benefit claims?
We hear a personal view of freedom of information.
And remembering Armistice Day with four brothers in the same regiment.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00vsv6g)
Troubles
Episode 4
The recipient of the Lost Man Booker Prize for 1970, J. G. Farrell's tragi-comic masterpiece set against the Irish struggle for independence, read by Jim Norton.
Major Brendan Archer travels to Ireland after the war to visit Angela Spencer - the fiancée he appears to have accidentally acquired on an afternoon's leave, three years before. Arriving in the town of Kilnalough, he finds himself in the crumbling surroundings of a grand old Irish hotel - the Majestic - with its eccentric owner Edward Spencer (Angela's father), community of gently decaying old ladies and unceasingly proliferating cats.
Despite an unexpected resolution to his engagement and numerous resolutions to leave Ireland, the Major is increasingly unable to detach himself from the Majestic's faded and verging-on-dilapidated charms - not to mention the charms of one Kilnalough resident in particular - while the surrounding countryside becomes ever more unsettled and violent as the gathering storm of the Irish struggle for independence is about to erupt.
J. G. Farrell was born in Liverpool in January 1935. In 1956 he went to study at Brasenose College, Oxford; while there he contracted polio. He drew heavily on his experience for his second novel, The Lung (1965). He spent a good deal of his life abroad, including periods in France, America and the Far East. His novel, Troubles (1970), the first in the Empire Trilogy, won the Faber Memorial Prize in 1971 and was made in to a film for television in 1988. The second in the trilogy, The Siege of Krishnapur won the Booker Prize in 1973. In April 1979, he went to live in County Cork, where, only four months later, he was drowned in a fishing accident.
Troubles is abridged by Doreen Estall and produced by Heather Larmour.
THU 23:00 A Charles Paris Mystery (b00qpsrd)
Cast in Order of Disappearance
Episode 4
Dramatised by Jeremy Front from the novel by Simon Brett.
Just who did kill Elliot Roth and will they stop at one murder?
Charles Paris ...... Bill Nighy
Jodie ...... Martine McCutcheon
Frances ...... Suzanne Burden
Maurice ...... Jon Glover
Nick ...... Rhys Jennings
Dr Mayhew ...... Stephen Hogan
Elspeth ...... Kate Layden
Directed by Sally Avens.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00vrxx6)
Report of the day in Parliament with Sean Curran.
Ministers are setting out plans to overhaul the benefit system to provide greater incentives for work and sanctions for those unwilling to do so.
Central to the plan, put together by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, is a single universal credit which replaces work-related benefits.
Claimants moving into work will keep more of their income than now, but face losing benefits if they refuse a job.
Labour said it would back making work pay but warned about a lack of jobs.
Also on the programme, Mps hear about the violence that erupted outside Conservative headquarters on Wednesday, as students marched on Westminster in protest at increased university fees.
FRIDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2010
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b00vnd37)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b00vs4kd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00vnd39)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00vnd3c)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00vnd3f)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b00vnd3h)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00vrxxv)
With Bishop Donal McKeown in Belfast.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b00vrxxx)
70 per cent of ducks bought in English butchers, game dealers and supermarkets have been shot with lead shot, despite that being banned 11 years ago. That's according to a new Defra funded study which has revealed that though the law was changed in 1999 to prevent other wetland birds swallowing the shot and getting lead poisoning, the majority of people are still using it to shoot ducks. But conservationists say lead poses a threat to both wildlife and human health. Also on Farming Today, The National park Authority insists there are no plans to privatise one of the country's biggest assets. The Government has just begun a public consultation, asking for views on improving the management of our national parks. Presented by Charlotte Smith and Produced by Anna Varle.
FRI 06:00 Today (b00vrxxz)
Morning news and current affairs with John Humphrys and James Naughtie, including:
07:30 Lord Lamont on the Irish borrowing crisis.
07:50 Pakistani wicket keeper Zulqarnain Haider on death threats and corruption in cricket.
08:10 Chancellor George Osborne on the fall out from the G20.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b00vr9l2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b00vs4lh)
Autobiography of Mark Twain
Episode 5
Read by Kerry Shale. Mark Twain maintained that the proper material for an autobiography was to talk about the things that interest you for the moment, as your views on this or that would give an insight into your character.
He also decreed that his autobiography should not be published until he'd been dead for 100 years so that he could feel free to speak his "whole frank mind." And his outspoken views on the Moro incident, and the conduct of the American forces in the Philippines, certainly show a very different side to the man who is famous for his childhood classics.
Abridged by Jane Marshall Productions
Producer: Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00vryl3)
Presented by Jenni Murray.
Danielle Raine and Lucy Cavendish discuss the art of good housekeeping. Are unwashed skirting boards now the accepted trade off for a life lived to the full or do more of us than maybe care to admit, still hanker after a house filled with flowers and the smell of beeswax polish?
As the military Junta in Burma retains power in the country's first elections for twenty years, there are distinct - if quiet - murmurings about Aung San Suu Kyi's recent decisions. Has she made a crucial mistake by asking the people to boycott what was always going to be rigged process? BBC Foreign Correspondent Sue Lloyd Roberts and Historian Justin Wintle discuss.
Claire Lara was such an impressive winner on MasterChef: The Professionals this year that Michel Roux Jr - one of the judges - was moved to say: "We started off the competition looking for a talent and we have uncovered a diamond." She joins Jenni to talk about her success.
The Royal Opera House and The Lowry in Salford have collaborated on a new exhibition which tells the story of the Royal Ballet. It pays tribute to its founder - Dame Ninette de Valois - and contains rarely seen sketches by LS Lowry which illustrate his involvement with the ballet in Britain. The current Director of the Royal Ballet - Dame Monica Mason - talks about the exhibition.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b00vspgz)
Writing the Century 15: A Desolate Bravery
Episode 5
The series which explores the 20th century through the diaries and correspondence of real people, returns with "A Desolate Bravery" by Lavinia Murray. The drama is inspired by the diaries of military artist David Rowlands who spent time in Bosnia during the civil war in 1993 with the UN Peacekeeping Forces.
It is Easter Sunday and David Rowlands joins the British Battalion on a rare day of peace.
David Rowlands.....Shaun Dooley
Tyrone Hillary.....Conrad Nelson
CO Lt Col Bob Stewart.....Mark Chatterton
Major Roddy McCauley.....Charlie Anson
Soldier.....John Catterall
Soldier.....Rory Murphy
The Pipe Major.....Gordon Macaoidh
Musical director.....Conrad Nelson
Original Music by Nicolai Abrahamsen
Directed by Nadia Molinari.
FRI 11:00 Boot Camp on a Boat (b00vryl5)
Why has the NHS in Hull spent nearly half a million pounds on a 72 foot yacht for young unemployed people?
Jolyon Jenkins reports on 'Cat.Zero', a controversial project which has a ten-day voyage in the North Sea at its heart. It's designed to change the lives of Hull's young NEET's (Not in Employment, Education or Training).
Jolyon follows one group of young people through the twelve week programme, learning vocational, health and life skills (such as cooking) which may have previously passed them by. He talks to Chris Long, head of the NHS in Hull, who supported the funding of the yacht, and to Councillor Steve Brady, who did not.
"It's Hull, isn't it. You don't get what you want." (Ash, NEET from Hull).
Unemployment is nearly twice the national average in Hull and until 2009, the city regularly came rock bottom of the national GCSE results tables. Perhaps these figures go some way to explain Hull's high rate of disengaged young people (9.5% are NEET compared with a national average of 6.4%). NEET teenagers typically leave school young with few or no qualifications. They eat fast food, smoke, often do little exercise and become nocturnal, playing computer games all night. Girls are much more likely to get pregnant and young NEETS rarely leave their estates, growing up unaware of the opportunities and open spaces on offer around the city.
And the reason for the NHS' involvement? NEETs cost money - lots of it - because they have such unhealthy lifestyles. And one in seven will be dead within ten years if they don't change, a statistic that haunts the founder of Cat.Zero, Jim Dick. He saw at first hand how sailing could transform the lives of young people, when he took part in the Round the World Clipper Race in 2007. Two young NEETs came along on his leg of the trip and he noticed that in a heavy sea at
3am they were just as good as any of the rest of the crew. He also witnessed how their willingness to participate in life changed as a result of the voyage.
There's an emphasis on a positive attitude and encouragement rather than any hint of punishment - but Cat.Zero doesn't give the young NEETs an easy ride. They have to pass a two-day SAS-style introduction before they can join the programme, and they have to learn to work as a team, looking out for other people as well as themselves. The voyage gives an opportunity to take the young people out of their usual habitat and to see the world differently for the first time.
This documentary touches on a raw nerve for a city that is trying to change its image and improve outcomes for its young people. It's an invigorating listen, by turns funny and poignant, and the results of the Cat.Zero project are clear. Eighteen year old Ben says it's turned his life around. "I'm off the drugs and the beer. I've been out of education so long that everything I tried before didn't work. But I can do this. I can do this."
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery.
FRI 11:30 Safety Catch (b00vryr6)
Series 3
What's My Motivation
Simon decides it's finally time to get self-motivated and starts composing his electronic music, self-motivation isn't as easy as he'd thought.
Take make life even more difficult his mother decides to get a job at Heathcote Sanders.
As Judith eloquently puts it, to have one member of the family working in the arms trade may be regarded as misfortune, to have two looks like genetic wickedness.
Laurence Howarth's black comedy of modern morality set in the world of arms dealing.
Simon is a generally nice chap who just fell into arms dealing and he needs to pay his mortgage just like everyone else. His real love is electronic music so this is just a stop gap until he finds the perfect outlet for it. Okay the gap has lasted five years, but that's not the point.
Simon McGrath ..... Darren Boyd
Anna Grieg ..... Joanna Page
Boris Kemal ..... Lewis Macleod
Judith McGrath ..... Sarah Smart
Angela McGrath ..... Brigit Forsyth
Madeleine Turnbull ..... Rachel Atkins
Producer: Dawn Ellis
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2010.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b00vryr8)
This vase sold for £43 million after it was found in a dusty attic. Tell us about the things that you have found lying around the house which have had an unexpected monetary or emotional value.
Why the Office of Fair trading is investigating suspected breaches of competition law in the online hotel booking sector.
From pit wheels to bicycle wheels..we visit the former mining area which is now attracting thousands of visitors every year.
The You and Yours listener who always wanted to know why Alan Titchmarsh wears clean wellies puts his question to him..
And why, after years of discussion, China has finally agreed to protect the name 'Scotch Whisky'.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b00vnd3k)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b00vryrb)
National and international news.
FRI 13:30 Feedback (b00vryrd)
Presented by Roger Bolton.
This week, Justin Webb explains why he wants to toughen up his act. But listeners say please don't as they rather enjoyed it when The Today programme was taken off the air by the recent national Union of Journalists' strike. It was replaced by gentler programmes including an audio essay about The Wash.
The novelist Joanna Trollope makes a plea for more adventurous drama on BBC Radio.
And should the BBC make people in the rest of the world pay for listening to its domestic services? Roger Bolton finds out if it's even possible.
Email the team: feedback@bbc.co.uk
Producer: Karen Pirie
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b00vrxww)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b00b7bcv)
Women of an Uncertain Age
By Rony Robinson and Sally Goldsmith
When a mutual friend dies, Clare, Heather and Kat throw caution to the winds and pursue what they really want in their middle age, as opposed to what they think they should want. A funny, touching play about what it is really like to survive the menopause.
Cast
Heather ..Deborah Findlay
Clare...Alwyne Taylor
Kat ..Gaynor Faye
Clare's Mother..June Broughton
Greg...Chris Jack
Piano performed by Paul Janes
Producer Pauline Harris
Director Polly Thomas.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b00vryrg)
Askham Bryan College, North Yorkshire
The panel are guests of students and staff at Askham Bryan College in North Yorkshire.
Eric Robson seeks some expert advice on growing Himalayan plants at the nearby Harewood House, In London, Matthew Wilson is on site at the 2012 Olympic Park with the park manager and horticulture consultant. Part one in a series.
Produced by Lucy Dichmont
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 A Guide to Coastal Birds (b00tkpf9)
Offshore Islands
5/5. Brett Westwood is joined by keen bird watcher Stephen Moss on the Devonshire coast. With the help of wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson they offer a practical and entertaining guide to birds that you're most likely to see and hear on Britain's off-shore islands; birds like Common Eider Duck, Puffin, Manx Shearwater and Arctic Tern.
This is the last of five programmes to help identify many of the birds found around our British coastline in places like sandy beaches, rocky shores, estuaries, sea cliffs and off-shore islands. Not only is there advice on how to recognise the birds from their appearance, but also how to identify them from their calls and songs.
This series complements three previous series; A Guide to Garden Birds, A Guide Woodland Birds and A Guide to Water Birds and is aimed at both the complete novice as well as those who are eager to learn more about our coastal visitors and residents.
Produced by Sarah Blunt.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b00vryrj)
On Last Word this week:
Joseph Gavin who led the team that designed and built the lunar module that carried the first men to land on the moon. One of them - Buzz Aldrin - pays tribute.
Also the Argentine Admiral Emilio Massera who presided over the systematic torture and killing of thousands of people and began the invasion of the Falkland Islands..
The African American soprano Shirley Verrett who overcame racial prejudice to become a celebrated operatic performer..
Professor Ehud Netzer the archaeologist who discovered the tomb of King Herod
And Geoffrey Crawley the scientific journalist who exposed the world's longest running photographic hoax - the Cottingley fairies.
FRI 16:30 The Film Programme (b00vryrl)
Ralph Fiennes on what every good villain needs, as he reprises his role of Harry Potter bad guy, Lord Voldemort.
Francine Stock talks to Gruff Rhys, lead singer of The Super Furry Animals, about his Patagonian odyssey in Separado.
A report on the Rex cinema in Wareham, Dorset, the first in a new series about the digital revolution and the rise of community cinemas across the country, where Nikki Bedi meets some local heroes nominated by listeners.
Agnes Poirier discusses the renaissance of controversial French icon Gerard Depardieu.
FRI 17:00 PM (b00vryrn)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news. Including at
5.57pm Weather.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00vryrq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b00vryrs)
Series 72
Episode 8
Sandi Toksvig presents another episode of the ever-popular topical panel show. Guests this week include Jeremy Hardy and Andy Hamilton.
Produced by Sam Bryant.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b00vryrv)
Will and Nic get ready to go to Pip's Young Farmers dinner dance at the Feathers. Clarrie and Eddie think they look a treat. When they head off, Clarrie tells Eddie she's disappointed that Ed and Emma hadn't had time to pop round too. Later she worries about how they're all getting on.
At the Feathers, things get awkward when Pip seats Will and Nic at the same table as Ed and Emma. Nic and Emma get on ok, but the conversation between Ed and Will is stilted. Later on it's tense when they dispute whose round it is. But Nic quickly intervenes, as she and Emma say it's their turn to buy the drinks. In a quiet moment, Emma apologizes to Will for not telling him about her pregnancy, but Will quickly changes the subject.
Clarrie smells a rat when Eddie seems keen for her to leave the house. She catches him out when she sneaks up on him in Joe's room. He's got a piece of paper out of Joe's trouser pocket with the winning horses on it for race night. Clarrie berates Eddie, but he assures her it isn't what she's thinking at all.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b00vryrx)
Sir David Attenborough and his love of fossils
Sir David Attenborough has returned to the subject closest to his heart in the natural world in his new two-part television series First Life. Fossils reveal the very origins of life on Earth, and David Attenborough discusses why this is such a personal quest for him.
Following the announcement of the shortlisted authors for the BBC National Short Story Award 2010, the first of the five writers, David Constantine, discusses his short story, Tea at the Midland, ahead of its broadcast on Radio 4 on Monday.
Henryk Gorecki, who died today aged 76, was a Polish composer who achieved immense popularity in Western Europe and America in the 1990s thanks to the ethereal splendour of his Symphony No 3, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. Tony Palmer remembers visiting Auschwitz with Gorecki, for a film about the Symphony, and talks about the power of his music
Painter Marcus Hodge was commissioned by 3 Rifles to spend time with them in Afghanistan and create a portrait of their work in Sangin. Multi-media artist David Cotterrell was sent by the Wellcome Trust to Afghanistan to devise a piece about medicine and war. In the season of Remembrance, Front Row explores the experience of being asked to depict conflict: talking to David Cotterrell, Marcus Hodge and Lt Col Nick Kitson, C.O. of 3 Rifles - and to Roger Tolson, head of collections at The Imperial War Museum, which has been commissioning war artists since the First World War.
Producer Nicki Paxman.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00vspgz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b00vrytz)
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs the topical debate from Alton College in Hampshire with questions for the panel including Chuka Umunna, Parliamentary Private Secretary to Ed Miliband, Margot James, Conservative MP, Bob Crow, General Secretary of the RMT union and the leader of UKIP Nigel Farage.
Producer: Victoria Wakely.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b00vryv1)
History through Religion
Sarah Dunant finds religion a powerful lens for a fresh look at history bringing into focus an episode like the Babington plot against Queen Elizabeth the First much more sharply than occurs in traditional Tudor soap opera.
Correction: the reference to Thomas Babington should be to Sir Anthony Babington.
Producer: Sheila Cook.
FRI 21:00 A History of the World in 100 Objects Omnibus (b00vryv3)
Tolerance and Intolerance (AD 1550-1700)
Another chance to hears Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum in London, as continues his global history as told through objects from the Museum's collection. In this episode, he looks at the great religions of the 16th & 17th centuries.
The Protestant Reformation split the western Church into two rival factions and triggered Europe's final major religious war. The failure of either side to achieve victory in the Thirty Years War would lead to a period of religious tolerance in Europe. Three great Islamic powers dominated Eurasia: the Ottomans in Turkey, the Mughals in India and the Safavids in Iran. The Mughals promoted religious tolerance, allowing the Indian subcontinent's largely non-Islamic population to continue to worship as they pleased. In Iran the Safavids created the world's first major Shi'i state. Exploration and trade provided opportunities for religions to attract new followers. Catholicism in Central America and Islam in South East Asia both adapted to accommodate the existing rituals of their new converts.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b00vnd3m)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b00vryv5)
Hopes are high that Burmese opoosition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi will be released from house arrest
Admiral 'Sandy' Woodward expresses surprise at joint letter by Defence Chiefs defending cuts.
Is China taking 'Spooks' too seriously ?
with Robin Lustig.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00vsv8s)
Troubles
Episode 5
The recipient of the Lost Man Booker Prize for 1970, J. G. Farrell's tragi-comic masterpiece set against the Irish struggle for independence, read by Jim Norton.
Major Brendan Archer travels to Ireland after the war to visit Angela Spencer - the fiancée he appears to have accidentally acquired on an afternoon's leave, three years before. Arriving in the town of Kilnalough, he finds himself in the crumbling surroundings of a grand old Irish hotel - the Majestic - with its eccentric owner Edward Spencer (Angela's father), community of gently decaying old ladies and unceasingly proliferating cats.
Despite an unexpected resolution to his engagement and numerous resolutions to leave Ireland, the Major is increasingly unable to detach himself from the Majestic's faded and verging-on-dilapidated charms - not to mention the charms of one Kilnalough resident in particular - while the surrounding countryside becomes ever more unsettled and violent as the gathering storm of the Irish struggle for independence is about to erupt.
J. G. Farrell was born in Liverpool in January 1935. In 1956 he went to study at Brasenose College, Oxford; while there he contracted polio. He drew heavily on his experience for his second novel, The Lung (1965). He spent a good deal of his life abroad, including periods in France, America and the Far East. His novel, Troubles (1970), the first in the Empire Trilogy, won the Faber Memorial Prize in 1971 and was made in to a film for television in 1988. The second in the trilogy, The Siege of Krishnapur won the Booker Prize in 1973. In April 1979, he went to live in County Cork, where, only four months later, he was drowned in a fishing accident.
Troubles is abridged by Doreen Estall and produced by Heather Larmour.
FRI 23:00 Freedom from Fear: Aung San Suu Kyi (b00sq2n1)
In the light of today's events in Burma, another chance to hear Mike Wooldridge's portrait of the life of Aung San Suu Kyi, first broadcast earlier this year.
How did she get swept up into Burmese politics, becoming one's of the world's most famous political prisoners? And what makes up the woman behind the icon?
Presenter: Mike Wooldridge
Producer : Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00vryv7)
Mark D'arcy reports on events at Westminster.
Today members of the House of Lords debate the government's recent Strategic Defence and Security Review.
More than 50 Peers are due to speak in the debate, including several former senior military figures.
Also on the programme Mark D'arcy examines the ramifications of the court ruling, ejecting former Labour Mp, Phil Woolas from the Commons, after he was found to have made "false statements" about his Liberal Democrat rival during the General Election campaign.