The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Bettany Hughes - The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life
Socrates lived in a city that nurtured the key ingredients of contemporary civilisation - democracy, liberty, science, drama, rational thought- yet, as he wrote nothing in his lifetime, he himself is an enigmatic figure. "The Hemlock Cup" tells his story, setting him in the context of the Eastern Mediterranean that was his home, and dealing with him as he himself dealt with the world.
The Spartans break down Athenian walls and Socrates is barred from associating with the city's youth. His card is marked.
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
"Did you cause harm to people?" "Oh yeah." How the past haunted an SAS veteran and how he overcame post-traumatic stress. The History of the World in Three Coins with an expert from the Fitzwilliam Museum. And Michael Buerk reads Your News. The show which uses the ideas, experiences and expertise of its listeners, presented by Eddie Mair and Jennifer Tracey. ipm@bbc.co.uk.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
Richard Uridge joins South Cumbrian Wildlife Crime Officers, volunteers and members of the local community on the trail of poachers in an attempt to crack down on wildlife crime. Wildlife Officers receive several wildlife crime reports a month, many of which relate to deer poaching which is becoming big business for criminals, particularly in the run up to Christmas. This year has also seen hundreds of sheep rustled across Cumbria and hundreds of ewes and lambs have been stolen in several separate incidents.
Richard hears from Bob Jarratt, of the local Deer Management Group, about the extent of the problem of deer poaching in the area and meets up with some of the people affected by wildlife crime and poaching including Keith Loxam, Warden of Hay Bridge Nature Reserve, who recently lost a prize stag, and farmer Andrew Allen who has been the victim of sheep rustling twice in the last 6 years. Estate owner, Myles Sandys of Graythwaite Hall tells Richard about how the success of 'Poacher Watch' has helped put a stop to the problem of losing deer from his land. Later, as night falls, Richard joins Wildlife Crime Officer, PC John Baldwin and Bob Jarrett from the Deer Management Group on their latest poacher watch operation, as they scour local hotspots in at attempt to thwart the poachers' next move.
Charlotte Smith looks at how farm wildlife is coping in the wintry weather. Hoards of birds swirl over the Upton Estate in Oxfordshire, where many species rely on farm wildlife schemes to stay alive. Birds can lose one third of their bodyweight on a cold night, so winter food provided by farmers can be critical.
The shooting of ducks, geese and waders has been suspended in Scotland and Northern Ireland because of the weather. So Moira Hickey travels to the frozen fringes of the Moray Firth, normally a popular shooting ground, which many birds have fled as the weather has worsened. The RSPB is also asking anglers and walkers to minimise disturbance of wading birds.
And on one farm in Norfolk, Anna Hill meets an insect-loving farmer who has managed his farm to maximise their chances of survival as the cold continues.
Climate Secretary Chris Huhne outlines a draft deal at the Cancun UN climate summit.
Chris Bryant MP and Kelvin Mackenzie debate if another police force should investigate the Met's handling of the News of the World phone hack allegations.
The Reverend Richard Coles with actor Tom Hollander and poet Aoife Mannix, a student protestor from the 1970's and a woman who gathered top secret information at Bletchley Park during the war and was married to a spy. There's an I Was There from the Russian Revolution and Inheritance Tracks from author Jilly Cooper.
Anita Anand explores pilgrim routes from Canterbury to Kerala and meets Tony Giles, the blind and severely deaf traveller, who has undertaken two solo trips around the world.
Emma Hamilton, Nelson's mistress, was an accomplished singer and a famous dancer- at the height of her fame, women all over Europe were dancing to her tunes. Haydn wrote specially for her.
David Owen Norris discovers how her favourite songs reflect an extraordinary life. With biographer Kate Williams and historians Quintin Colville and Rachel Cowgill, he looks through Emma's songbooks and recreates the music she loved all her life. Recorded at the National Maritime Museum. With singers Gwyneth Herbert, Thomas Guthrie and Laura Crowther.
George Parker Political Editor of The Financial Times looks at this week's events in Westminster.
Seven months into the coalition government and its biggest challenge to date, the vote on raising the cap on university tuition fees, a measure which for the moment applies only to England.
In the end the government won this acrimonious battle by a majority of 21, but with the Liberal Democrats' votes splitting 3 ways, the conclusion was that this was their grimmest week so far.
Sir Menzies Campbell, Nick Clegg's predecessor as Liberal Democrat party leader voted against the policy. Did he not think this whole episode was very damaging to a party that had waited so long to be in government?
There have been more back bench rebellions in this government than in any other of the post war era, according to research by Professor Phillip Cowley of Nottingham University. He joins Chris Heaton Harris a new and occasionally rebellious Conservative MP, and Hilary Armstrong a Chief Whip in the last Labour government, to consider why.
Central to Liberal Democrat policy is a change in the voting system. If the referendum on the Alternative Vote scheduled for May 5th 2011 were to deliver a YES, their fortunes could be changed. Former Home Secretary John Reid now Lord Reid, is backing the NO campaign, former independent MP Martin Bell supports a YES.
The Conservative Jacob Rees Mogg, take the view that a pact between Conservatives and Liberals should be seriously considered come the next election. A minority view perhaps but he explains his case.
BBC foreign correspondents with the stories behind the world's headlines. Introduced by Kate Adie.
Son of cheque book. More detail on what paper based system might replace it.
And: throwing caution to the wind. How pound shops can get addictive. But can you really bag a bargain?
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis take a topical trip around tuition fees and Today tongue-twisters. Musical Mitch Benn sees the world through Lennon's eyes; German stand-up Henning Wehn probes our World Cup hypocrisy; John Finnemore wonders at the sexual magnetism of a certain Lib Dem MP and Laura Shavin reveals what every woman wants for Christmas.
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs the topical discussion from The Queen Katherine School in Kendal with questions for the panel including Rory Stewart, Conservative MP, Andy Burnham, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, Laurie Pennie, columnist and writer Harry Mount.
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.
Lapo ..... Phil Daniels
Loti ..... Bryan Dick
Pope Julius ..... Gary Waldhorn
Cardinal Alidosi ..... Roger Lloyd Pack
Composer ..... Adam Cork
High up on the wooden scaffolding tower of the Sistine Chapel, two fresco plasterers get on with the day's work preparing the ceiling for their boss Michelangelo who has not bothered to turn up for work again. As they do so, they bemoan the uselessness of the great master.
Pope Julius and Cardinal Alidosi visit the chapel to inspect the progress of their commission. They are never very impressed, and the Pope is more concerned about getting Michelangelo to do his funeral monument at a knock-down price.
On the Ceiling is not about great artists; it is about those people whose names don't go down in history: the ones who do the essential drudge work, their frustration at their lack of genius and their pride in their own technical expertise. In this version of events, low elements combine to make high art.
Nigel Planer is best known as Neil in The Young Ones, and as Nicholas Craig - The Naked Actor. Other television productions include Shine on Harvey Moon; Dennis Potter's Blackeyes. On stage, Nigel has performed in Simon Gray's Unnatural Pursuits; Ben Elton's We Will Rock You and Hairspray.
As his ship was sinking through the Antarctic pack-ice, Ernest Shackleton allowed each member of his expedition to take 2lbs of possessions with them as they abandoned ship. One exception was made; Shackleton saved Leonard Hussey's banjo saying, "We must have that banjo. It's vital mental medicine."
So it proved; when Shackleton set off in a small boat to sail to South Georgia to get help, he left behind on Elephant Island twenty-two men. They lived for months under an upturned boat and some old sails. Every Saturday the banjo-playing meteorologist mounted a concert. He composed songs and whenever they caught a seal to eat brought out his banjo. He played, the men sang - and anger and depression were kept at bay.
Leonard Hussey survived, as did his banjo, now in the National Maritime Museum, its skin marked with a dozen signatures of members of the failed expedition to the South Pole.
Tim van Eyken is best known as a squeeze-box player and singer - he was the Song Man in 'War Horse' at the National Theatre. But he also plays the banjo. Tim explores the character of Hussey and the role he and his banjo played in saving the sanity of the explorers. He plays some of his songs - sadly not on Hussey's banjo, which is too fragile, but on his own, made by Pete Stanley, who sheds some light on the original instrument.
Tim also hears from Pieter van der Merwe of the National Maritime Museum about the importance of music in expeditions and, thanks to some remarkable archive recordings, Hussey himself. He plays the tune Shackleton asked for the night he died. Hussey reveals, too, that his banjo had seen action in warmer climes, "having among other things been played to an audience of cannibals in Africa."
Presented by Jane Garvey. Keeping secrets - should you ever share them? Why lung cancer in women is on the rise with Professor Stephen Spiro and the recently diagnosed Cassandra Jardine. I'm a Celebrity's Gillian McKeith on fainting, food and getting out of the jungle. Can women entrepreneurs expect more help in getting their business off the ground? Reflections on Ruth First's account of her imprisonment in South Africa as a white anti-apartheid campaigner when her daughter the writer Gillian Slovo joins the programme. Dragon robes and platforms - what women in China's Imperial family have worn. The role of women in Royal Navy submarines.
Clive Anderson and guests with an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy.
Clive is joined by David Sedaris, American humorist and best-selling author. In his new collection of stories Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Wicked Bestiary, David contemplates sex education for storks, interspecies dating and the existential torment of lab rats.
Jean Marsh is about to reprise her role of Rose Buck in the new series of Upstairs Downstairs, which Jean devised with fellow actress Eileen Atkins in 1971. She joins Clive to discuss revisiting her past.
Comedy writer Jane Bussman gave up her job interviewing A-list celebrities in LA and travelled to Uganda in order to track down human rights activist John Prendergast. In an attempt to gain the affections of this modern-day Indiana Jones, Jane found her self investigating the abduction of 25,000 children and writing her book The Worst Date Ever Or How it Took a Comedy Writer to Expose Africa's Secret War.
And Emma Freud talks to Anneka Rice about her Radio 4 documentary Inside the Life Drawing Class, in which art-lover Anneka investigates the world of artists and models, and explores the fascination with the human nude.
With music from American superstar Josh Groban, who was named the number one best selling artist in the United States in 2007. Josh plays his single 'Hidden Away' from his recently released album Illuminations.
Two strangers in a remote cottage by a frozen lake.One is about to release an incendiary secret video clip on the internet. The other wants to stop him. What are the consequences? A haunting, lyrical drama by Linda Marshall Griffiths.
Harry... Conrad Nelson
Paul... David Fleeshman
FROM FACT TO FICTION presents writers with the opportunity to work in a bold and instinctive way as they respond to events in the news, beginning on a Monday when an idea is selected through to Friday when the programme is recorded and edited.
Tom Sutcliffe and his guests - crime writer and playwright Denise Mina; comedian, writer, and former rapper Ben "Doc Brown" Smith; and Journalist Matthew D'Ancona - review the cultural highlights of the week.
The National Theatre's seasonal offering is a revival of Season's Greetings, Alan Ayckbourn's farcical yet brutal comedy which stars Mark Gatiss, Catherine Tate, and Marc Wottoon.
Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp star in The Tourist, a thriller from Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, writer and director behind the award-winning film The Lives of Others. The screenplay is co-written by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) and Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) and has a supporting cast including Timothy Dalton, Paul Bettany and Stephen Berkoff.
For the first time in Europe, the robes worn by emperors and empresses of the Qing Dynasty - the last ruling dynasty of China - are being shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The exhibition features over 50 garments and accessories from the collection of the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City in Beijing.
Tessa Hadley's new novel The London train is written in two parts. Each is a story in its own right, but brought together in a single moment. The stories examine the lives of Paul and Cora who both learn someone close to them has gone missing.
Episodes is a new seven-part sitcom from acclaimed writing partnership David Crane (Friends) and Jeffrey Klarik (The Class). Sean and Beverly Lincoln - played by Green Wing's Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig - are the successful producers of a British television show who are seduced by a powerful US executive to remake their hit show for an American audience, with disastrous results.
Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens discuss the proposition that religion is a force for good in the world.
Recorded in front of a live audience in the Canadian city of Toronto, the debate is chaired by Rudyard Griffiths, and forms part of the twice yearly series of Munk Debates.
Growing up amid the intrigues of the Imperial family, Claudius learns his grandmother Livia's true ambition - and finds himself and his brother Germanicus in danger.
Claudius ..... Tom Goodman-Hill
Augustus ..... Derek Jacobi
Livia ..... Harriet Walter
Tiberius ..... Tim McInnerny
Pollio ..... Trevor Peacock
Germanicus ..... Joseph Kloska
Agrippina ..... Hattie Morahan
Sejanus ..... Sam Dale
Herod Agrippa ..... Zubin Varla
Postumus ..... Henry Devas
Livilla ..... Leah Brotherhead
Cassius Chaerea ..... Jude Akuwudike
Pomponius ..... Sean Baker
Antonia ..... Christine Kavanagh
Castor ..... Iain Batchelor
Piso ..... Tony Bell
Pallas ..... Lloyd Thomas
Young Caligula ..... James Warner
Specially composed music by David Pickvance.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
The government has announced that it's going ahead with legislation that will allow employers to select workers on the basis of their sex, race or disability. It's argued the new law is needed because despite years of anti-discrimination laws there are still invisible barriers in the workplace for some groups in society. The government call it "positive action" - if two people going for the same job are equally qualified it will enable firms to chose women, ethnic minorities or disabled if they feel those groups are under represented in their business. Although, if you're the person who doesn't get the job it may feel more like positive discrimination.
How far should we go in tackling inequalities in the work place? Combating prejudice is the key to an equitable society, so isn't it time we took it seriously, from the boardroom to the building site? If the law hasn't worked up to now, why not quotas? But are we in danger of sacrificing one set of prejudices for another? What becomes of the principle of meritocracy, where you get on on the basis of your skills and not on your sex or race? Does this legislation encourage identity politics and blur the line between equality of opportunity and equality of outcome? Are we really all born equal? Or is inequality a vital part of the human condition that encourages competition and motivates people to strive to better themselves? Or is this the thinly veiled prejudice of vested interests that is always trotted out to defend the indefensible?
Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk with Michael Portillo, Claire Fox, Melanie Philips and Matthew Taylor.
(7/17) Russell Davies welcomes four contestants to the BBC Radio Theatre in London, for the seventh heat in the current series of the evergreen general knowledge quiz. This week's competitors come from South Wales and the South East of England. As always, there's an opportunity for a listener to outwit them, in 'Beat the Brains'.
"Adventures in Poetry" returns to unpack a new series of classic poems whose lines or images have entered our national consciousness.
This week, presenter Peggy Reynolds asks what it is about Stevie Smith's poem "Not Waving but Drowning" which has kept it relevant since 1957. The phrase itself turns up endlessly in newspapers, both red-tops and broadsheets, and is particularly loved by writers on sports pages - not, you might think, the obvious place to look for soul-searching poetry. But underneath the snappy economy of the first line runs a complex and universal emotional truth, examined here by a Samaritan, a sports writer and Stevie Smith's biographer.
SUNDAY 12 DECEMBER 2010
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b00wkb22)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Afternoon Reading (b00cn2sf)
Urban Welsh
Last Dance at Johnny's
Stories by Welsh writers. In Craig Hawes's tale, Johnny doesn't dance any more. However, when the music is turned up loud, two old mates can't resist having one last rave. Read by Matthew Rhys.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00wkb24)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00wkb26)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00wkb28)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b00wkb2b)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b00wkp84)
The bells of St Thomas the Martyr, Oxford.
SUN 05:45 Blond on Britain (b00wgqjb)
The Monarchy
Some of the ancient institutions of Britain - the monarchy, the House of Lords and the Church of England are often derided as archaic, outmoded and out of touch with the contemporary world. The leading political thinker Phillip Blond makes a powerful case for their continuing significance. In this authored piece he defends the monarchy.
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b00wkb2d)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b00wkp9y)
On Walking
What many of us take for granted as a rather mundane activity is elevated for others into a creative, spiritual or philosophical meditation.
Drawing on the writings of a Buddhist monk, the artist Richard Long and the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard, among others, Melissa Viney explores walking's physical and psychological benefits. Also, with music from Herb Alpert, Mozart, Ella and Elvis.
And she talks to Mark Hennessy, who's having to learn to walk all over again following a brain injury.
Readers: Emma Fielding and Jonathan Keeble
Producer: Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b00wkr4s)
In the first of a series of two programmes, Caz Graham visits Tiverton in Devon to speak to farmers who support Government proposals to allow them to shoot badgers to control TB in cattle.
Farmers and landowners will be able to apply for licences to cull badgers across large areas where TB is a major problem. Farmers can then shoot them or vaccinate them at their own expense. Conservation groups such as the Wildlife Trust and the RSPCA have said they'll oppose the cull and intend to campaign against it.
Caz Graham talks to two farmers in Tiverton about how TB has affected them financially and emotionally and asks whether this proposal is the way to combat the disease. Next week, On Your Farm will talk to conservation groups campaigning against a cull and investigate why they believe the proposal for a badger cull is the wrong way to tackle bovine TB.
Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Anna Varle.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b00wkb2g)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b00wkb2j)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b00wkr5v)
William Crawley with the religious and ethical news of the week. Moral arguments and perspectives on stories, familiar and unfamiliar.
The Catholic Bishops Conference has launched a campaign to support victims of domestic abuse. We will be asking whether priests and congregations are equipped to deal with the issues.
Our reporter Kevin Bocquet has a special report on research from Faith Matters which shows that the English Defence League is targeting faith groups for new members ....and we will be looking at how the Anglican church in Bradford is being reorganised.
The Muslim mourning festival takes place over the weekend...we will be finding out why it is so significant and why it has led to violent clashes in some places in recent years.
There' s long been mystery surrounding the exact location of where William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway were married. At least four churches have laid claim to the honour, but now a grant has been awarded to one of them to display all the evidence.
We will be finding out why there's been shock in Glastonbury over the vandalism of a special tree....and we will be inviting listeners to pen a limerick for 2011 with the help of the Bard of Barnsley Ian McMillan.
E-mail: sunday@bbc.co.uk
Series producer: Amanda Hancox.
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b00wkr67)
Riders for Health
Ross Noble presents the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the charity Riders for Health.
Donations to Riders for Health should be sent to FREEPOST BBC Radio 4 Appeal, please mark the back of your envelope Riders for Health. 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 Riders for Health 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: 1054565 501.
SUN 07:58 Weather (b00wkb2l)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b00wkb2n)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b00wlbhk)
Miracles for City People
The third of our services for Advent which visits 4 cities across the nations of the United Kingdom exploring the meaning of incarnation in daily city life.
Live from St. David's Cathedral in Pembrokeshire; led by the Dean, the Very Rev Jonathan Lean. Preacher: The Bishop of St. David's, the Right
Rev Wyn Evans. Musical Director: Alexander Mason. Producer: Sian Baker.
SUN 08:50 A Point of View (b00wdl7r)
Extreme Food
Joan Bakewell reflects on our current obsession with ever more elaborate food and cookery, from peculiar crisp flavours to the outpourings of celebrity chefs. Have we forgotten, she wonders, that food is essentially nourishment and an "excuse for conviviality."
Producer: Sheila Cook.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b00wlbhm)
News and conversation about the big stories of the week with Paddy O'Connell.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b00wlbhp)
For detailed synopses, see daily episodes
Written by: Simon Frith
Directed by: Kim Greengrass
Editor: Vanessa Whitburn
Jill Archer ..... Patricia Greene
David Archer ..... Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer ..... Felicity Finch
Pip Archer ..... Helen Monks
Nigel Pargetter ..... Graham Seed
Elizabeth Pargetter ..... Alison Dowling
Freddie Pargetter ..... Jack Firth
Lily Pargetter ..... Georgie Feller
Tony Archer ..... Colin Skipp
Pat Archer ..... Patricia Gallimore
Helen Archer ..... Louiza Patikas
Brian Aldridge ..... Charles Collingwood
Jennifer Aldridge ..... Angela Piper
Kate Madikane ..... Kellie Bright
Fallon Rogers ..... Joanna Van Kampen
Kathy Perks ..... Hedli Niklaus
Joe Grundy ..... Edward Kelsey
Eddie Grundy ..... Trevor Harrison
Clarrie Grundy ..... Rosalind Adams
William Grundy ..... Philip Molloy
Nic Hanson ..... Becky Wright
Edward Grundy ..... Barry Farrimond
Phoebe Tucker ..... Lucy Morris
Lynda Snell ..... Carole Boyd
Kirsty Miller ..... Annabelle Dowler
Jazzer McCreary ..... Ryan Kelly
Harry Mason ..... Michael Shelford
Hay Dealer ..... Shaun Prendergast.
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b00wlbhr)
Sir Torquil Norman
Kirsty Young's castaway week is the aviator, inventor and arts patron, Sir Torquil Norman.
He comes from a family where derring-do is in the DNA - his grandfather was a pioneering airman, his grandmother an adventurer and his father also a keen pilot.
Torquil ended up in the toy trade where the skills needed were, he says, a close attention to detail combined with the outlook on life of a seven year old. He was, he admits, perfectly qualified. In retirement he set about his biggest project - he bought a disused railway engine shed and raised tens of millions of pounds to safeguard its future as a venue for performing arts and a centre for young people.
Record: Nobody Knows You when You're Down and Out - Bessie Smith
Book: Book by his father: Nigel Norman - Verses 1911 - 1943.
Luxury: A miniature still with a little ice-making machine attached to it to make dry martinis.
SUN 12:00 Just a Minute (b00wdffp)
Series 58
Episode 5
Nicholas Parsons chairs the grandaddy of all panel games with Paul Merton, Sue Perkins, Julian Clary and Kevin Eldon as the panellists. The aim of the game is to speak on a subject without hesitation, repetition or deviation. Much, much harder than it sounds...
On today's show Julian Clary talks about Building Bridges, Paul Merton reveals all about his Relationship with the Chairman, Kevin Eldon reels off Seven Ways to Say Goodbye and Sue Perkins dazzles on the subject of Dostoyevsky.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b00wlbht)
Venison
Sheila Dillon explores the varieties of venison - wild and farmed - we can now find in butchers and supermarkets in the UK. She joins a stalker in Berkshire and talks to the biggest game dealer in the country.
Producer Dilly Barlow.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b00wkb2q)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b00wlbhw)
A look at events around the world.
SUN 13:30 Moments of Genius (b00wq9v2)
Omnibus
Geoff Watts and guests, Nobel laureate Sir Tim Hunt and Mark Henderson, listen to and discuss the week's Moments of Genius and ask if scientists get the recognition they deserve.
Moments include the discovery of the structure of DNA when playing with cardboard cutouts of the different building blocks; how Hooke's observations of the behaviour of a metal spring launched modern science and the moment Edward Jenner proved the principle of vaccination, experimenting on an eight year old boy.
Producer: Anna Buckley.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b00wdkfg)
RHS Conference Centre, London
Eric Robson chairs a horticultural discussion at the RHS Conference Centre in London. The panel this week are Christine Walkden, Chris Beardshaw and Bunny Guinness.
This programme replaces the Northumberland show advertised, which had to be cancelled due to severe weather conditions.
Producer: Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:45 In The Footsteps of Giants (b00rzvft)
Susan Greenfield on Rita Levi-Montalcini
Eminent neurologist Susan Greenfield, a professor at Oxford, life peer and recipient of the Royal Society's Michael Faraday Prize looks into the life of someone who has inspired her own career, Nobel Laureate Rita Levi-Montalcini.
She draws upon the parallels in their lives- both Jewish women in the field of neurology- and delves into Rita Levi-Montalcini's extraordinary career, while questioning whether she could ever have the stamina to overcome the stumbling blocks that were placed in Professor Levi-Montalcini's way.
Produced by Lucy Adam.
SUN 15:00 Classic Serial (b00wlbj0)
I, Claudius
Sejanus
Dramatisation by Robin Brooks of Robert Graves' ground-breaking histories of first-century Rome.
As he struggles to keep his throne, the Emperor Tiberius finds his Commander of the Guard, Sejanus, an invaluable aide against treason. And Sejanus finds Claudius an unwilling collaborator in his rise to power.
Claudius ..... Tom Goodman-Hill
Tiberius ..... Tim McInnerny
Livia ..... Harriet Walter
Caligula ..... Samuel Barnett
Sejanus ..... Sam Dale
Agrippina ..... Hattie Morahan
Antonia ..... Christine Kavanagh
Livilla ..... Leah Brotherhead
Pallas ..... Lloyd Thomas
The Fisherman ..... Adeel Akhtar
Macro ..... Tony Bell
Calpurnia ..... Sally Orrock
Plautius ..... Jude Akuwudike
Cremutius ..... Sean Baker
Officer ..... Iain Batchelor
Senator ..... Henry Devas
Plancina ..... Claire Harry
Aelia ..... Deeivya Meir
Pallas ..... Lloyd Thomas
Specially composed music by David Pickvance.
Directed by Jonquil Panting.
SUN 16:00 Open Book (b00wlbj2)
Mariella Frostrup talks to Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer about her collected short fiction, which spans a fifty year career. They discuss the appeal of writing short stories, and how re-reading early work influences the writing process.
Mariella also explores the legacy of the iconic novel, I, Claudius, set in ancient Rome. Historian Tom Holland explains why it has provided a template for so many Roman novels which have followed.
Plus, the never-ending allure of railways in fiction is examined with the help of three train-mad writers - poet Ian McMillan and novelists Tessa Hadley and Andrew Martin.
PRODUCER: AASIYA LODHI.
SUN 16:30 Adventures in Poetry (b00wlbj4)
Series 11
Waltzing Matilda
Was "the alternative Australian national anthem" written as a political statement or a way of impressing a girl? Peggy Reynolds examines Banjo Paterson's lyric Waltzing Matilda, with help from some contemporary Australian voices.
Producer Christine Hall.
SUN 17:00 A Level Playing Field for the Paralympics (b00wdh4t)
The Beijing Paralympics in 2008 brought the full glories of disabled sport to a worldwide audience and set up a host of expectations for 2012 . But behind the scenes of triumph, longstanding controversies were raging which have dogged many Paralympic Games over the decades. In this programme, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Paralympics, Peter White explores the issues behind the Games and asks what changes are being made to improve conditions for athletes in time for London 2012.
One of these controversies centres on the classification of disabled athletes, a system which uses medical evidence, examination and in-competition appraisals to try to ensure parity of ability. However, over the years, the process, which divides the athletes into many, often confusing sub-groups has become fraught with problems and anomalies. In 2008, the British competitor Rebecca Chinn had a silver medal taken away after being judged to have been put in the wrong category.
Another issue which has dogged the Paralympics recently has been whether to include athletes with learning disabilities. Although they had previously taken part in many events, they were ejected from the Paralympics after the Sydney Games in 2000, when fit Spanish athletes pretended to have learning difficulties and won gold. London's bid contained plans to include them again, and in this programme, we follow the new testing methods which have been developed to bring these athletes back in 2012.
The programme also explores the deep-rooted tension within the Paralympics - are they the home of quasi-professionalism with big money tie-ins, or should they retain the school sports day tradition from which they emerged, of gentle encouragement and the odd race rerun when something goes wrong?
To mark the 50th anniversary of the Paralympics, Peter White explores the preparations for the next games and investigates past and potential inconsistencies underlying them. He hears the athletes' stories and draws on archive from the past to contextualise today's debates and look forward to 2012.
Producer: Emma Kingsley.
SUN 17:40 From Fact to Fiction (b00wkmpf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b00wkb2s)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b00wkb2x)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00wkb2z)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b00wlbj6)
Hardeep Singh Kohli makes his selection from the past seven days of BBC Radio
Hardeep Singh-Kohli's Pick of the Week has something for everyone. There is an amazing drama, God's President, by Kwame Kwei-Armah, about the negotiations that formed Zimbabwe. Lucy Montgomery offers an alternative take on Gardeners' Question Time, Sir Christopher Meyer on the bisexuality of the KGB..and a delightful documentary about love, friendship and dancing.
The Odd Half Hour - Radio 4
The Hemlock Cup - Radio 4
God's President - Radio 4
Great Lives - Radio 4
Lucy Montgomery's Variety Pack - Radio 4
The Today Programme - Radio 4
John Lennon - The New York Years - Radio 2
Vital Mental Medicine - Radio 4
Danish Noir - Radio 4
The Phone - Radio 4
Lives In A Landscape - Radio 4
Taking A Stand - Radio 4
Clare Teal - Radio 2
Heel, Toe, Step Together - Radio 4
PHONE: 0370 010 0400
Email: potw@bbc.co.uk or www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/potw
Producer: Cecile Wright.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b00wlbkc)
Lily and Freddie's birthday party goes well, with everyone enjoying the skating. As thank you for putting him up, Kenton wants to organise a mysterious highwayman character for the final week of Deck The Hall.
Kate feels guilty when Phoebe says that Kate's going back to Johannesburg for six whole weeks, and Hayley tells Kenton how difficult it's made things. He also notices a chilly atmosphere between Jill and Nigel. Elizabeth explains that Jill thinks they're pushing Freddie too hard with his extra tuition.
It's Tony and Pat's wedding anniversary and Tony's booked a romantic dinner. They end up discussing the new refrigeration unit, which is being installed tomorrow, and Vicky's training - which Susan will start on Tuesday. Tony questions Vicky's suitability, but Pat's sure she's just the person they've been looking for.
They discuss their plans for Christmas and New Year, and ponder how different next year will be with Helen's baby. Pat's pleased Helen wants her at tomorrow's antenatal class but Tony still has strong feelings about Helen bringing up the baby on her own. He and Pat have come through good and bad times together, and he just wanted Helen to have the same chance as they did.
SUN 19:15 Americana (b00wlbkf)
Alice Rivlin, the first director of the United States Congressional Budget Office and Christopher Whalen, the author of 'Inflated: How Money and Debt Built the American Dream', discuss America's relationship with debt and the prospects for improvement in the future.
Presenter Richard Wolffe talks to Gore Vidal. The internationally renowned essayist, playwright, and dramatist reflects on what made America great and what threatens the strength of the nation.
And during this lame duck session of the United States Congress, Americana heads to the fields of Iowa to talk to champion duck caller Todd Copley about what can be accomplished outside of the Congressional chambers.
SUN 19:45 Afternoon Reading (b00c83jp)
SOS: Save Our Souls
The Weight of the Earth and the Lightness of the Human Heart
Short stories to mark the 100th anniversary of the international distress call.
In Linda Cracknell's tale, a climber teeters between life and death on the slopes of a remote mountain.
Read by Ralph Riach.
SUN 20:00 More or Less (b00wdkf9)
We look at the numbers behind the increase in the cap on undergraduate tuition fees in England. Are the changes fair and progressive? Are they dropping future students into a deep hole of debt? Or are they both?
Do traffic lights do more harm than good? That's the suspicion of one listener with a professional interest - he's a London bus driver. As ever, we look for the evidence.
Wikileaks revealed last week that Britain and the US are concerned about the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. And this week Iran claimed that it is now self-sufficient in the production of uranium - a necessary material for any aspiring nuclear nation. But how worried should we be? The physicist Richard A Muller gives us the numbers.
David Lammy - a Labour MP who was Minister of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills in the last government - published an article in the Guardian on this week in which he included a statistic that caught everyone's imagination: "Just one British black Caribbean student was admitted to Oxford last year," he wrote. We check his sums.
Those of you who followed the World Cup might recall Paul the Octopus, who alerted us all to the miraculous and potentially world-transforming technology of using zoo animals to forecast the results of sporting contests. Paul sadly passed away in October but we remained curious about the phenomenon. So we asked Jack, a Newcastle-based monkey, to forecast the results of the Ashes.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b00wdl79)
On Last Word this week:
Sir Peter Wakefield, British diplomat in Cairo during the Suez crisis and in Libya during the coup which brought Colonel Gaddafi to power.
Bill White, who studied human skeletons to reveal our history, and kept hundreds of bones in his garage
TV comedy producer and director Douglas Argent who brought us classics like "The Liver Birds" and "Till Death Us Do Part". Warren Mitchell pays tribute.
Samuel Cohen who invented the neutron bomb, which he described as a "sane and moral weapon".
And Peter Hofmann, the German tenor who made his name as a sexy Siegmund in Wagner's Ring, but made his money by covering easy listening standards.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (b00wkmgm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 on Saturday]
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b00wkr67)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 In Business (b00wdjyg)
Bitter Pills
Britain's pharmaceutical companies have invested hundreds of millions of pounds in a search for new drugs and treatments which has not delivered the breakthroughs that were promised when the money was spent. It is a problem for the whole global industry, too. Peter Day talks to GlaxoSmithKline CEO Andrew Witty about the ways he is changing the company's quest for drug discovery and discusses the way ahead for big pharma.
Producer : Sandra Kanthal.
SUN 21:58 Weather (b00wkb31)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b00wlbld)
Carolyn Quinn talks to Westminster-watcher and blogger Iain Martin about the big political stories.
She asks Lib Dem MP Lorely Burt about the prospect of further strains in the Coalition following last week's vote in the House of Commons to approve higher university tuition fees in England.
Conservative MP Kwasi Kwarteng and Labour MP Tom Harris join Carolyn for a live discussion.
We hear from the Chief Executive of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, Andrew McDonald, about criticisms of the way IPSA is monitoring MPs' expenses and allowances.
Programme Editor: Terry Dignan.
SUN 22:45 What the Papers Say (b00wlbls)
Episode 31
BBC Radio 4 brings back a much loved TV favourite - What the Papers Say. It does what it says on the tin. In each programme a leading political journalist has a wry look at how the broadsheets and red tops treat the biggest stories in Westminster and beyond. This week Anne McElvoy takes the chair.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b00wdl7c)
The creators of Airplane, Jerry and David Zucker, discuss the comedy's 30 year legacy and its star Leslie Nielsen
Ex-Bond villain Matthieu Amalric reveals some of 007's secrets
The Film Programme continues its series on the quiet revolution in community cinemas, talking to local film heroes and taking an audio 'snapshot' of some of the most lively and memorable places to watch film around the country.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b00wkp9y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 13 DECEMBER 2010
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b00wkdrs)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b00wdjd2)
Cuban Cure - Moral Panics
With the huge investment needed and patents which have the potential to generate a lot of money, biochemistry is perhaps the most capitalistic strain of science. How did Cuba - a socialist, embargoed, isolated, developing world country - manage to become one of the world's leaders in genetic modification and bioscience? Laurie talks to Simon Reid Henry, Lecturer in Geography at Queen Mary London about his new book The Cuban Cure; Reason and Resistance in Global Science.
Also on the programme - 'moral panics'. The phrase was first defined by Stan Cohen in an analysis of the reaction to Mods and Rockers fighting on Britain's beaches. Since then it has been used many times by social scientists to describe media reaction to everything from dangerous dogs to binge drinking, but how useful is the term? Does it falsely imply that there is no underlying reason for social concern? Laurie discusses the uses and abuses of the notion of moral panic with Chas Critcher, Emeritus Professor of Communications at Sheffield Hallam University and Jewel Thomas, Post Graduate Researcher, Oxford University.
Producer: Charlie Taylor.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b00wkp84)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00wkdrv)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00wkdrx)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00wkdrz)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b00wkds1)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00wlbsj)
Daily prayer and reflection with Michelle Marken.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b00wlbsl)
The countryside will close to walkers as councils will no longer be able to afford to maintain footpaths. This warning comes from the Ramblers Association who believe that within a matter of months Britain will undo the good work from the past few decades in opening the countryside to all.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Emma Weatherill.
MON 05:57 Weather (b00wkds3)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 06:00 Today (b00wlbsn)
Morning news and current affairs with James Naughtie and Justin Webb, including:
08:10 Communities Secretary Eric Pickles explains cuts to local council funding
08:20, Peter Bazalgette on what the popularity of The X Factor tells us about the UK's TV viewing habits
08:32, US Pastor Terry Jones, who threatened to burn the Koran on the anniversary of 9/11, outlines why he wants to visit Britain.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (b00wlbsq)
Andrew Marr talks to the conductor Semyon Bychkov about Tannhauser, Wagner's tortured artist, out of place in conventional society. While the scientist Mark Miodownik takes a measure of the world, and asks 'Does size matter?' in this year's Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. Author Susan Hill ponders kindness, grief and miracles and the television screenwriter Tony Jordan forsakes EastEnders to take on 'the greatest story ever told', the Nativity.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b00wlbss)
Richard Cohen - Chasing the Sun
Episode 1
"Once upon a time we thought that we were the centre of the universe and that even the sun revolved around us...
Thousands of years later we know that our earliest, most basic idea about our place in the cosmos was false, and that that cosmos is vastly larger than we ever dreamed. We are mere specks..."
Richard Cohen took eight years to write his account of the sun. The sun's biography, in fact. He looks at the myth, the legend, the science. Also the social context and how the sun figures in various art forms. And, will it be with us for ever? We have to hope so. His celebration of that gold disc in the sky is now caught in five episodes...
In the first of five episodes, abridged by Penny Leicester, the author highlights some of the astounding myths associated with the sun, then he views the pefect sunrise...
Reader Allan Corduner
Producer Duncan Minshull.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00wlbsv)
Presented by Jane Garvey. A special programme devoted to the menopause and Hormone Replacement Therapy. We'll be discussing your experiences and concerns with Professor Mary Ann Lumsden from the British Menopause Society: what are the latest thoughts on the prescription of HRT, what research is being done, how do you weigh up the risks and beneifts and what are the alternatives? Jane is also joined by Dr Wendy Denning and Dr. Marilyn Glenville.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b00wlbsx)
Uncle Gwyn's Posthumous Curse
Episode 1
The characters in Lynne Truss's new comedy drama live under the shadow of The Rock, an impressively large geological feature at a remote Golf Club in Wales, where it has been raining for twenty years. There's the severely repressed Angharad, 'Mad' Auntie Susan, who is clearly a man, Riddle, the disgusting old greenkeeper, and poor long suffering Charles who has devoted his life to saving each and every one of the club's members from an untimely death, only to fail. At this Club it's easy to make a fatal mistake, all you have to do is break one of the rules. Inadvertently enter the wrong score on your partner's scorecard, or let your wife order her own drink at the bar and you'll probably be spikes up by tea-time. And when Jaci Hughes the young cartographer from distant Cardiff turns up, all manner of skeletons come rattling out of the closet. Margaret John, otherwise known as Doris in the BBC's comedy Gavin and Stacey, stars as Angharad, Brian Hibbard as Aunty Susan, and comedian Tom Allen as Charles. Lynne Seymour plays Jaci, Lee Mengo is Uncle Gwyn and Howell Evans plays Riddle.
A BBC/Cymru Wales production, directed by Kate McAll.
MON 11:00 Thesiger At 100 (b00wlbvv)
An exploration of the life of photographer and traveller, Wilfred Thesiger, who travelled and documented - in thousands of photos - both Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
BBC Security correspondent Frank Gardner, who was encouraged by Thesiger to learn Arabic, looks back on his fascinating life and reflects how it is through Thesiger's work that we currently have such an understanding of the North African and Arab world. Thesiger lived among the marsh Arabs of southern Iraq, and he also became famous for crossing the Rub' al Khali, the "Empty Quarter" of Saudi Arabia, surviving on less than a pint of water a day.
Gardner talks to Christopher Morton of the Pitt Rivers about Thesiger's work, and what it reveals of past ways of life, and he also speaks to the curator of the exhibition, Philip N Grover about ways of interpreting the graphic imagery of the photographs.
Thesiger's biographer Alexander Maitland tells the story of his wartime service with the SAS and SOE, and explorer Benedict Allen assesses the importance of Thesiger's travels and writing.
Despite Thesiger's keen appreciation of desert peoples and their way of life, he hated modern society. The only modern invention he valued was the camera. We hear his voice in historic broadcasts from the 1940s and 50s, his elegant prose recalling his travels in what is now a lost age.
Made to mark the centenary of Wilfred Thesiger's birth on 3rd June 1910.
Producer: Alyn Shipton
A Unique production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2010.
MON 11:30 A Charles Paris Mystery (b00wlbvx)
Murder in the Title
Episode 4
By Jeremy Front
Based on the novel by Simon Brett
Someone wants to close The Regent Theatre, and is willing to murder to do so.
Directed by Sally Avens
As ever, Charles is his own worst enemy, a louche lush who can resist anything except temptation especially in the form of women and alcohol. His intentions may be good but somehow the results always go wrong
He's been out of work so long now he feels he may never get a job and he's driving Frances his semi-ex-wife mad. So when he's offered a small role in an awful play up in Rugland she nearly pushes him out the door.
The production is as creaky as anything Charles has ever appeared in but the next play the theatre is scheduled to do is much more controversial. Soon a protest group has formed calling for a 'Porn Free Rugland'. Nasty accidents begin to befall members of the cast and crew. It seems someone wants to close down the theatre and they will even murder to get their way.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b00wlc0y)
Julian Worricker is joined by Michael Roberts, the head of the Association of Train Operating Companies, who explains the increases in rail fares, some of which look set to rise by up to 13 percent.
We hear about two men who have been jailed for fraud, after they charged five local authorities more than a million pounds for care services they never delivered.
And we revisit condensing boilers, which are once again causing problems for our listeners.
A management company, which runs 50 GP surgeries, has been piloting a scheme which passes calls from the surgery to a call centre after three rings. We hear whether this pilot has been a success.
And we discuss the merits of online reviews on internet shopping sites - a healthy exchange of opinions or a vicious, slanging, free for all?
MON 12:57 Weather (b00wkds5)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b00wlc10)
National and international news.
MON 13:30 Brain of Britain (b00wlc12)
(8/17)
Four contestants from the North of England join questionmaster Russell Davies in Manchester for the latest heat of the nationwide general knowledge quiz. Which of them will win a place in the series semi-finals?
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b00wlbkc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b00wlc2c)
Series 3
The Dream Insists
By Nick Warburton. Comedy drama starring Trevor Peacock as inspirational chef Warwick Hedges. Warwick has a strange, recurring dream featuring a ramshackle hut out on the Cambridgeshire Fens. Odd job man Samuel has the same dream. But when Warwick discovers that the hut in his dream really exists, he decides to investigate.
Warwick Hedges...Trevor Peacock
Jack...Sam Dale
Marcia...Kate Buffery
Samuel...John Rowe
Zofia...Helen Longworth
Directed by Claire Grove.
MON 15:00 Archive on 4 (b00wv3vt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Saturday]
MON 15:45 Head to Head (b00t9t6t)
Series 2
Bertrand Russell and Hugh Gaitskell
In a returning series, Edward Stourton revisits passionate broadcast debates of the 1960s and 70s when keen intellects clashed on matters of real moment. Each programme explores the ideas, the great minds behind them and echoes of the arguments in present-day politics.
The first episode is taken from Prospects of Mankind (1960), a television series chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, the former US first lady. The subject: Britain's place in the rivalry of the cold war.
At 88, Bertrand Russell, one of the greatest 20th-century thinkers, battles for Britain's neutrality in a dangerous world. In Hugh Gaitskell 'the best prime minister we never had', some say, the grand old man of pacifism meets his match. The then leader of the Labour party argues for Britain's continued close relations with the United States and the need for nuclear arms to avert Armageddon.
Should Britain keep a nuclear deterrent? And continue to nurture its 'special relationship' with the White House? The current discussion over Trident was never more relevant.
In the studio dissecting the debate are Tony Benn, whose political career goes back to the Gaitskell days, and Ray Monk, professor of philosophy at Southampton University and Russell's biographer.
Producer: Dominic Byrne
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 16:00 The Food Programme (b00wlbht)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (b00wlcb2)
The Supernatural
Ernie Rea returns with a new series of Radio 4's discussion programme in which guests from different faith and non-faith perspectives debate the challenges of today's world.
Each week a panel is assembled to represent a diversity of views and opinions, which often reveal hidden, complex and sometimes contradictory understandings of the world around us.
In this programme, the first in a new series, Ernie and guests discuss the supernatural and ask whether there are always rational explanations for the apparently inexplicable.
Why does belief in the supernatural appear to have increased in recent years? Can it be explained by an increase in visibility in books, television and the internet or could our fascination with ghosts, spirits and the hereafter be filling a void left by organised religion.
The panellists hear from a medium and paranormal investigator who claims to have daily visions and has helped police forces solve murder cases.
Joining Ernie to discuss the supernatural are Gordon Smith, one of Britain's best known psychic mediums, the Reverend Anthony Delaney, pastor of Ivy Church in Manchester and Professor Christopher French, head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit in the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths College, London.
Producer: Karen Maurice.
MON 17:00 PM (b00wld4t)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news. Plus Weather.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00wkds7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 Just a Minute (b00wld4w)
Series 58
Episode 6
Nicholas Parsons chairs the panel game that rewards those who can talk the hind leg off a donkey.
The panellists on today's show are Paul Merton, Sheila Hancock, Gyles Brandreth and Barnsley poet Ian McMillan.
The aim of the game is to speak on a given subject for sixty seconds without hesitation, repetition or deviation. A task much harder than it sounds...
Today's show comes from the British Library where the show is a guest of the Evolving English exhibition.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b00wld4y)
Helen's pleased Pat's coming to her antenatal class. She'll help Helen make the right choice when it comes to her birthing plan. Helen's keen on a water birth, but will keep an open mind. They discuss the nursery. Ian's done a marvellous job, although Helen feels guilty he's giving up so much time. Pat suggests Tony could help, but Helen's convinced he wouldn't want to - he's made it clear he wants nothing to do with her baby.
Cheery Nic and grumbling Will make an early start in preparation for today's turkey plucking. Will's keen to avoid Ed, while Nic encourages Clarrie to relax and leave them to it. Emma surprises Clarrie by bringing George with her. He's off school, and Clarrie's left to look after him as best she can while Emma makes hot drinks for the workers.
At Grundy's Field, Emma is spooked while reluctantly trying to help Ed catch a turkey. They're joined by Nic, whose turkey catching skills are more impressive.
With the turkeys all prepared, Clarrie enjoys a glass of sherry with Pat. They speculate on Vicky's ability to stand in for Clarrie at the dairy. Pat admits that they're taking a gamble.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b00wld50)
Kirsty Lang reviews Burlesque and offers the pick of new fiction for young children
With Kirsty Lang.
Two new films about burlesque performers arrive in our cinemas this week: Burlesque, starring Cher and Christina Aguilera, and On Tour, directed by and starring Mathieu Amalric. Writer and critic Adam Mars-Jones reviews.
Screenwriter Howard Overman, the man who gave superpowers to ASBO teenagers in his BAFTA-winning series Misfits, talks about his new TV drama, an adaptation of Douglas Adams' holistic-detective creation, Dirk Gently.
Recently on Front Row, the mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli argued that not many composers wrote music for the singers of today. So is there a lack of harmony between contemporary composers and singers? The composer William Mival and the soprano Lynne Dawson debate the score.
Georgia Coleridge, children's book editor of The Daily Mail, gives her selection of picture-books and new fiction for young children. PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR LISTINGS.
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00wlbsx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 Freudian Slippage (b00wld52)
Episode 1
David Aaronovitch explores the influence of the founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud on British theatre, film, novels and biography and asks: has his impact on our writers and directors been slipping away?
On the stage of the Old Vic Theatre in London, David Aaronovitch meets Michael Billington, theatre critic of the Guardian, who tells him how arguably the greatest British actor of the last century, Laurence Olivier, was strongly influenced by Freud's ideas, along with his pioneering director, Tyrone Guthrie.
David and Michael also explore how Olivier's landmark, Oscar-winning movie version of Hamlet in 1948, was overtly Freudian - to the point where an American journalist was moved to lambast Olivier for overdoing it.
And David meets Jonathan Miller, whose production of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure in the early 1970s was set in Freud's Vienna. Miller criticises Olivier's over-enthusiasm for Freud, which he says was widely shared by actors in the following decades, but has since worn off.
With the film historian Matthew Sweet, David looks at one of the biggest hit British movies of the 1940s: The Seventh Veil, starring James Mason. This shows how Freud's ideas seemed to offer a kind of magic key that could open up and explain any character - whether newly written, or as old as Hamlet.
Sweet argues that, for a time, audiences' familiarity with Freud gave directors and screenwriters a powerful new set of stories. But, he argues, since the work of screenwriter Leo Marks (Peeping Tom, Twisted Nerve) and of the director Ken Russell (Women in Love, Mahler), few British directors have made work as overtly engaged with such ideas as the 'split personality' and sexual repression.
The novelist A.S. Byatt charts the profound but often ambivalent relationship with Freud of her predecessors, from DH Lawrence to Irish Murdoch. She recalls her own resistance to the Freudian orthodoxies of Oxbridge in the 1950s, and how she has fought free of them. And she reveals how her new novel features psychoanalysts as characters, without looking at the world through a Freudian lens.
The biographer Hermione Lee explains why 'psychobiography' flowered from the 1920s to the 1960s and how the notion that psychoanalysis could unlock every facet of a famous figure has faded, even as a more subtle Freudian influence endures.
And classicist Fiona Macintosh explains how the work most associated with Freud - Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus Tyrannos - is now performed far less often than in the first half of the twentieth century. And how, when it is, directors now tend to resist or avoid Freud's once ubiquitous 'complex'.
PRODUCER: Phil Tinline.
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b00wdjrd)
Nichi Vendola
Rosie Goldsmith profiles Nichi Vendola, the governor of Puglia and the hope for the Italian left. Can this gay, Catholic poet and environmentalist challenge Silvio Berlusconi?
Producer: Helen Grady.
MON 21:00 Material World (b00wdjvf)
Quentin Cooper presents his weekly digest of science in and behind the headlines. In the programme this week he discusses the new government proposals to include fewer science voices on the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. Getting into space is still proving harder than it looks, Quentin looks back on recent mishaps in man's attempts to conquer space. Also in the programme, will we soon be sequencing our own genomes in our own homes?
Producer: Roland Pease.
MON 21:30 Start the Week (b00wlbsq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b00wkds9)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b00wld6y)
Councils face deepest cuts in their recent history - where will services be cut?
Silvio Berlusconi prepares for no confidence vote
The Stockholm bomber - a lone operator or part of a network?
With Ritula Shah.
MON 22:45 Helen Dunmore - The Betrayal (b00wld70)
Suspended From Duty
With the stakes rising, Anna and Andrei know they must try to protect Kolya - then an early morning call confirms their worst fears.
Helen Dunmore's sequel to 'The Siege' read by Sara Kestelman.
Set ten years on, the starvation and bitter cold of the war years have been replaced with fear and suspicion. City residents do their best to keep their heads down and their lives unremarkable in an era of accusations, arrests and the midnight knock at the door.
Helen Dunmore (1952-2017) was the writer of 12 novels and 10 poetry collections winning several accolades for her work.
Abridged by Sally Marmion
Producer: Di Speirs
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.
MON 23:00 Off the Page (b00wdjrn)
Never Trust a Writer
Never Trust a Writer, or you'll end up in their book, and you might not like what you read. Is everything fair game in the artistic process? Three writers who have all either dished on their loved ones or been dished on - Antonia Quirke, Terence Blacker and Bill Coles, battle it out, refereed by presenter Dominic Arkwright. New writing and heated debate in Off the Page.
Producer Beth O'Dea.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00wld72)
Susan Hulme reports on events at Westminster.
TUESDAY 14 DECEMBER 2010
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b00wkj4v)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b00wlbss)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00wkj4x)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00wkj4z)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00wkj51)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b00wkj53)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00wldd1)
Daily prayer and reflection with Michelle Marken.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b00wldd3)
The cost of the 2001 outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease cost the taxpayer over £4billion. A new report suggests establishing a 'partnership board' to move the responsibility and cost of animal health outbreaks onto animal keepers. But the National Farmers Union says it won't be represented on the board and fears farmers will be landed with most of the costs.
It's estimated people with mobility problems have access to less than 1% of countryside paths. There are fears that changes to Higher Level Steweardship payments and local authority budget cuts will mean fewer of them will be able to access the countryside.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Anne-Marie Bullock.
TUE 06:00 Today (b00wldd5)
Morning news and current affairs with James Naughtie and Evan Davis, including:
07:51 What does the future hold for Silvio Berlusconi?
08:10 Lib Dem MP Paul Burstow and Tory MP Stephen Dorrell analyse the impact of the cuts on England's health service
08:18 Remembering the late US diplomat, Richard Holbrooke.
TUE 09:00 Taking a Stand (b00wldd7)
Fergal Keane talks to Mohsen Sazegara. He was at the heart of Ayatollah Khomeini's regime from the moment the spiritual leader returned to Iran in 1979. Sazegara helped found the now feared Revolutionary Guard. He watched as those who dissented were executed in their hundreds. But then the regime began to turn against him. Following an interrogation in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison, Mohsen Sazegara began to speak out against the Islamic state he had helped create - a dangerous course of action.
TUE 09:30 I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Into Here (b00wldd9)
Episode 4
When Spitting Image came to an end, Roger Law decided it was time for a fresh start. Having made one attempt to emigrate to Australia in the 1960s, thwarted by the cultural attaché who told him that it was 'a one way ticket to hell' , Ten years ago, Roger decided to give it a second shot. He's now living in Bondi Beach concentrating on in-depth surfing, and he's never looked back.
This week he travels to the Blue Mountains to meet up with Chris Darwin, the great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin, who takes him for a trip into Australia's great outdoors.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b00wmnby)
Richard Cohen - Chasing the Sun
Episode 2
"Once upon a time we thought that we were the centre of the universe and that even the sun revolved around us...
Thousands of years later we know that our earliest, most basic idea about our place in the cosmos was false, and that that cosmos is vastly larger than we ever dreamed. We are mere specks..."
Richard Cohen took eight years to write his account of the sun. The sun's biography, in fact. He looks at the myth, the legend, the science. Also the social context and how the sun figures in various art forms. And, will it be with us for ever? We have to hope so. His celebration of that gold disc in the sky is now caught in five episodes...
2. How has the sun cast its influence in such diverse activies as warfare and holiday-making?
Reader Allan Corduner.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00wlddc)
Presented by Jane Garvey. It's official, according to the Oxford English Dictionary the pavlova did originate in New Zealand. The Kiwi chef Peter Gordon shows Jane how to whip up the perfect meringue. Exhibitions in art galleries and museums often display explicit imagery - how appropriate is this for children to see? The journalist Kathryn Flett and the art critic Jonathan Jones discuss the issues. Ken Clarke, the Justice Secretary, has revealed new plans for prison reform. What impact will his vision of community sentencing have on women offenders? And how women in Mali are dealing with the effects of climate change.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b00wmp5s)
Uncle Gwyn's Posthumous Curse
Episode 2
In the second episode of Lynne Truss's new comedy drama, something miraculous happens when Jaci Hughes, a young cartographer, arrives to map The Rock, an massive large geological feature overhanging a remote Golf Club in Wales, where it has been raining for twenty years. No one is glad to see Jaci - not severely repressed Angharad, nor 'Mad' Auntie Susan, who is clearly a man dressed up, nor Riddle, the disgusting old greenkeeper, and certainly not Charles who is desperate to prevent the curse claiming another victim. Margaret John stars as Angharad, former Flying Picket Brian Hibbard as Aunty Susan, and comedian Tom Allen as Charles. Lynne Seymour plays Jaci, Lee Mengo is Uncle Gwyn and Howell Evans plays Riddle
A BBC/Cymru Wales production, directed by Kate McAll.
TUE 11:00 Saving Species (b00wldf8)
Series 1
Episode 33
33/40. We tend to think of Sloths living in the Amazon, but they also live on the islands off the Atlantic coast of Panama. Linked to a natural history film "Decade of Discovery", being broadcast this week on BBC 2, Saving Species has been sent a report by our team out there about the pressures impacting on the Sloths that live on these islands at the end of the Caribbean chain.
We have the first of our special Ladybird Book series which has been recorded through the year. Chris Sperring takes the first editions of the famous book series about Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter - published in 1959 - and explores what species have gone, what have arrived and what hasn't changed. For sure, it's full of surprises.
And sharks. With news of two species of sharks attacking holiday makers in the Red Sea what does this do to the efforts to save sharks from extinction?. We talk to one expert who works with sharks on a daily basis and to another expert in the conservation of the White-tip shark, a species implicated in the attacks.
Presented by Brett Westwood
Produced by Sheena Duncan
Series Editor Julian Hector.
TUE 11:30 Inside the Life Drawing Class (b00wldfx)
Anneka Rice invites us to discover a hidden community of amateur and professional artists who frequent the thousands of life-drawing classes that happen every week, all around the country. Anneka tells us why she loves to draw, and talks to artists, models and teachers about our endless fascination with the naked human body.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b00wldfz)
Call You and Yours with Julian Worricker. An opportunity to contribute your views to the programme. Call 03700 100 444 (lines open at
10am on the day) or email youandyours@bbc.co.uk
Has Wikileaks struck a blow for the open society by underlining that in the internet age nothing is liable to remain secret forever?
If knowledge is power then who has been empowered by the Wikileaks and how? What do we have the right to know?
Governments claim that a level of confidentially and secrecy is required to operate in even the most open of societies- do you agree? How does wikileaks dumping thousands of pages of diplomatic gossip differ from journalists hacking the phone calls of the rich and famous?
What is the correct response to the leaks? Prosecute the leakers on grounds of national security, or accept that if you do not want someone to know what you are saying about them then don't say it or create better data security system.
And if the data security surrounding the most confidential government documents can find its way into the public domain can we ever take government or business seriously when they promise to look after data they hold about us?
TUE 12:57 Weather (b00wkj55)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b00wldg1)
National and international news.
TUE 13:30 The Big Squeeze (b00wldht)
When an American cheese company was looking for a musical instrument to symbolise the stringy, bland and synthetic product of its rival it turned to the accordion. This, surely, was the low point for an instrument routinely associated with French cafe scenes on TV and buskers of dubious musical ability. But for James Crabb, it's time to give the instrument a break, time people really heard what the 'stomach Steinway' can do.
It's certainly an instrument with an incredible history. In the tiny Italian town of Castelfidardo, just outside Bologna, he discovers the beating heart of the global accordion industry, a workforce which at one time was competing head-on with Fiat as the country's number one exporter. And it continues to this day: factory after factory of craftsmen hand-making instruments which in many cases contain as many as 10,000 parts.
Crabb's real passion is the classical accordion. And this turns out to be an instrument which needed a double revolution. First there was the invention of a new instrument, one capable of escaping the tyranny of the oom-pah. It sounds crazy, but for years accordionists could play only chords with their left hand. No wonder they got a reputation for music that all sounded the same. But with a radical redesign along came a new repertoire. No longer were accordionists relegated to bit-parts in operas where they played in an on-stage dance band. Now accordion composers, and accordion players, were limited by their imagination alone....
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b00wld4y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b00fz12l)
Tony Staveacre - Wodehouse in Hollywood
In 1930 MGM shipped PG Wodehouse out West and thrust $104,000 into his hand - in return for zilch. The stories and novels that Wodehouse created out of his Hollywood experience were his satiric riposte to those that had made a dishonest man out of him. Comedy combining Wodehouse's own writing with dramatised fictional scenes by Tony Staveacre.
PG Wodehouse......Tim McInnerny
Ethel Wodehouse.....Fenella Woolgar
Sam Marx......Rowe David McClelland
Dorothy......Fiona Clarke
Clarence......Declan Wilson
Thalberg/Bobby......Paul Ryder
Directed by Stefan Escreet.
TUE 15:00 Home Planet (b00wldv7)
Harlequin ladybirds are invading the British Isles, threatening native species of these iconic beetles. But they still munch greenfly and are still the gardeners friend. This week one listener wants the answer to her particular conundrum, whether to welcome or remove the harlequins hibernating in their allotment.
Could pumping compressed air into holes in the ground smooth out the erratic electricity supply produced by wind turbines? Why did some toad tadpoles living in an abandoned sink fail to mature into adults?
Should carbon dioxide be seen as a valuable fertiliser rather than a threat to the climate and why don't lions get scurvy despite the lack of fresh fruit in their diet.
The panel for this week is made up of ecologist Dr Lynn Dicks of Cambridge University; Dr Nick Riley of the British Geological Survey and marine and freshwater biologist Professor Graham Underwood from Exeter University.
Contact:
Home Planet
BBC Radio 4
PO Box 3096
Brighton
BN1 1PL
Or email home.planet@bbc.co.uk
Presenter: Richard Daniel
Producer: Toby Murcott
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00wldv9)
Julia Blackburn - For the Love of a Child
Chocolate Pudding
The first of two stories about relationships between adults and children, drawn from real-life.
1. Chocolate Pudding
A psychiatrist is perplexed by several cases of coma in a young child. With patience and bowls of chocolate pudding he manages to wake the child, by describing how delicious the pudding is and putting it under the child's nose. The story is inspired by conversations with the psychiatrist and his descriptions of 'Sleeping Beauty Syndrome'.
Written and read by the Costa-shortlisted writer Julia Blackburn. The stories are written with the same mesmerising delicacy of touch that Julia brought to her Penn-Ackerley prize-winning memoir 'The Three of Us', demonstrating her extraordinary capacity to find the best in people while encompassing their frailty.
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery
Music: Trois Morceaux en Forme de Poire by Eric Satie.
TUE 15:45 Head to Head (b00tdmqt)
Series 2
AJP Taylor and Hugh Trevor-Roper
Edward Stourton continues to revisit passionate broadcast debates of the 1960s and 70s exploring the ideas, the great minds behind them and echoes of the arguments in present-day politics.
This episode pitches AJP Taylor against Hugh Trevor-Roper, two big-name historians and the 'telly dons' of their time.
It's 1961 and the fall-out of world war two is still fresh in the minds of the British people. Taylor had just published his provocative revision of the orthodox view of the causes of the war in 1939 - that Britain had scuppered a lunatic dictator's plans of world domination. Taylor argued instead that Hitler was a rational statesman who carried out the expected foreign policies of any German leader, and that a war against Britain and France was unintended.
It caused outrage.
Also on the table is the question of Munich - were tweaks to Germany's frontiers to save another world war morally right? The inflation of the term 'appeasement' has many contemporary connotations.
In the studio dissecting the debate is Adam Sisman, biographer of both AJP Taylor and Hugh Trevor-Roper, and Richard Evans, Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge.
Producer: Dominic Byrne
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 16:00 Waking Up in the Dock (b00wldvd)
As legal defences go, it seems to have more in common with the sensational novels of Wilkie Collins than with cutting edge research - but with sleepwalking increasingly being used in court as a defence against strangulation, smothering, rape and stabbing, Edi Stark investigates how scientists are seeking to bring our knowledge about parasomnia out of the Victorian era.
The sleepwalking defence has now been used to clear about 70 people worldwide of murder, including Brian Thomas, found not guilty of murdering his wife in a caravan as they slept last year. Thomas had a genuine sleep disorder, but there is serious concern in scientific circles that the sleepwalking defence is misused.
The brain activity occurring during parasomnia is still not fully understood, but it's thought any sleepwalker does not have control over their emotions. Edi explores how scientists are trying to wrestle the judgement on whether an accused person is a genuine sleepwalker- or a genuine murderer - from the jury room to the laboratory.
Produced by Lucy Lloyd.
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b00wldvg)
Series 23
DH Lawrence
DH Lawrence was, in the words of Geoff Dyer, a man with thin wrists and thick trousers. He was also the author of Women in Love, Sons and Lovers and Lady Chatterley's Lover. But poet and performer John Hegley has chosen him above all for the quality of his poetry, an admiration presenter Matthew Parris also shares.
Lawrence died aged just 44. An obituary at the time reckoned he was 'a rebel against all the accepted values of modern civilization'. Certainly his life - born in Eastwood, Notts, became a teacher only to run off with a German-born mother of three to embark on his 'savage pilgrimage' around the world - was unpredictable. As indeed was this programme, recorded in front of an audience at the Arnolfini in Bristol, with John Hegley using both music and verse to make his point. Geoff Dyer, the author of Out of Sheer Rage, makes the case that Lawrence's unpredictability was a sign of strength, and that his best work lies in his letters and not his books.
The producer is Miles Warde.
TUE 17:00 PM (b00wldvj)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news. Plus Weather.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00wkj57)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 My Teenage Diary (b00wldvl)
Series 2
Sheila Hancock
Rufus Hound hosts this six-part comedy series in which celebrities are asked to revisit their teenage diaries and read them out in public for the very first time. This week, Sheila Hancock.
Producer: Victoria Payne
A TalkbackThames production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b00wldvn)
Irritated Susan's running over-eager Vicky through the yoghurt making process. But Vicky's a quick learner and is soon a dab hand. They agree Pat's taken the brunt of the difficulty with work and staffing. Susan mentions Pat went with Helen to her antenatal class yesterday. Vicky's touched; it's nice that Helen wants her mum there. Vicky starts to fish, and Susan confirms that Tony has issues with Helen's pregnancy. They chat further about it, and both agree that it'll be nice to be able to work and natter together. Vicky thinks they'll make a great team.
Jennifer's slightly nervous about exactly who Susan's inviting to her Christmas Eve drinks and nibbles, especially as she mentions Tracey. Susan wants to know Jennifer's numbers as soon as possible.
Jennifer interrupts Kate's packing to tell Brian the bad news. She'll need to invite someone supportive, so is pleased when Lilian agrees to come with Matt. Brian confirms Adam's coming too.
Brian's not sure that Phoebe coming to the airport to see Kate off is a good idea. Sure enough, when they get there miserable Phoebe can't fight the tears; she doesn't want her mum to go. Kate tearfully drags herself away, promising to text when she gets there.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b00wldvq)
Comedian Russell Howard; the art of Norman Rockwell
With John Wilson.
John talks to comedian Russell Howard, who describes the pressures of stadium gigs, explains how his BBC Three Good News team see themselves as the topical comedy version of The A-Team, and reveals how tragedy inspired him to pursue a career in stand-up.
The illustrator Norman Rockwell, renowned for his magazine covers and depictions of everyday American life, divided critics during his lifetime, with some suggesting that he wasn't a true artist. As a new exhibition opens in Britain, novelist Tracy Chevalier re-assesses Rockwell's work and career.
Tron: Legacy reaches British cinemas this week, the sequel to the 1982 film which was considered ground-breaking at the time due to its use of what was, in those days, cutting-edge, computer-generated visuals. Science-fiction expert Professor Roger Luckhurst reviews
And with Front Row's latest guide for anyone attempting Christmas shopping, Julia Eccleshare, Children's Books Editor of The Guardian, chooses a selection of titles for older children.
Producer Rebecca Nicholson.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00wmp5s)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 Inside the IMF (b00wldvt)
In the past two years the International Monetary Fund has come out of the shadows to play a key role in efforts to fix the global financial crisis. Governments say they want it to fix the global economy as well. But what do the staff inside this institution in Washington really think about their work? And are they up to the job? The BBC Economics Editor, Stephanie Flanders has had an exclusive opportunity to find out.
Producer: Neil Koenig.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b00wldvw)
DLA and e-Books
More on the government's plan to save one billion pounds through reform of the Disability Living Allowance. What impact will it have on blind people and those with partial sight who are the most likely group to be affected.
We review the Kindle e-reader along with others from Samsung and Sony to find out which brand might suit you best and Ian Macrae demonstrated the way he accesses e-books via his smart phone..
TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (b00wldvy)
Adoption and Social Networking
Adoption
These days the secrecy surrounding adoption has lessened and many children are interested to know where they come from and may receive letters from their birth families or even meet up with them. Claudia Hammond reviews the evidence for this approach and also looks at how social networking could change adoption.
TUE 21:30 Taking a Stand (b00wldd7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b00wkj59)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b00wldw0)
Silvio Berlusconi wins no confidence motion by 3 votes - will he be able to govern effectively?
Julian Assange awaits a decision on his bail
As a Michael Jackson album is released, is posthumous music any good?
With Robin Lustig.
TUE 22:45 Helen Dunmore - The Betrayal (b00wmpf0)
The Midnight Knock on the Door
Dr Brodskaya has been arrested. Now, in the dead of night, a car door slams beneath Andrei and Anna's flat.
Helen Dunmore's sequel to 'The Siege' read by Sara Kestelman.
Set ten years on, the starvation and bitter cold of the war years have been replaced with fear and suspicion. City residents do their best to keep their heads down and their lives unremarkable in an era of accusations, arrests and the midnight knock at the door.
Helen Dunmore (1952-2017) was the writer of 12 novels and 10 poetry collections winning several accolades for her work.
Abridged by Sally Marmion
Producer: Di Speirs
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.
TUE 23:00 The Phone (b00wldw2)
All-Night Cafe
By Rebecca Lenkiewicz.
A series of late night thrillers, each connected by a mysterious mobile phone. In Rebecca Lenkiewicz's drama, an insomniac mathematician is forced to turn hero when he answers a phone belonging to a prostitute.
Abraham . . . . . Toby Jones
Sybil . . . . . Niamh Cusack
Kate . . . . . Sarah Goldberg
June . . . . . Kate Williams
Max . . . . . Adeel Akhtar
Manager . . . . . Christine Kavanagh
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko.
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00wldw4)
Sean Curran and team report on events at Westminster - including the latest on university tuition fees, with a debate and vote in the House of Lords on raising fees in England, plus student representatives and the Police appearing before a parliamentary committee to talk about the protests. Editor: Rachel Byrne.
WEDNESDAY 15 DECEMBER 2010
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b00wkl2y)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b00wmnby)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00wkl30)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00wkl32)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00wkl34)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b00wkl36)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00wldx3)
Daily prayer and reflection with Michelle Marken.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b00wldx5)
A new currency is launched in rural Kent. Shipbourne Farmers Market has launched the Shipbourne Pound in answer to a lack of rural cash machines. And the debate continues over who should fund access to the countryside. Walkers in Norfolk fear budget cuts could impact footpaths there, meanwhile landowners round the English Coast say funding a coastal path is 'an indefensible waste of money'
Presenter: Anna Hill
Producer: Fran Barnes.
WED 06:00 Today (b00wldy4)
Morning news and current affairs with Evan Davis and Justin Webb, including:
07:34 Why is there a £100bn black hole in the Local Government Pension Scheme in England?
08:10 Security minister Dame Pauline Neville-Jones explains the strategy to tackle radical islamisation
08:44 Iain Dale and Tom Watson MP debate if political blogging is on the decline.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b00wldz9)
This week Libby Purves is joined by Professor Chris Rapley, Boyd Clack, Elisabeth Parry and Jamelia.
Professor Chris Rapley MBE is the Director of the Science Museum in London. Before that he was Director of the British Antarctic Survey. The new high tech, interactive 'Atmosphere' gallery opened last week and aims to outline the basics of climate science and explain about human activity and our impact on weather patterns. The Science Museum will be the first and only museum in the UK to display an Antarctic ice core, an object many scientists consider to be pivotal in the study of climate science. The 'Atmosphere' gallery is at the Science Museum, London SW7.
Boyd Clack is a Welsh actor, writer and musician. In his memoir 'Kisses Sweeter Than Wine' he tells of how an ordinary lad from Tonyrefail via Vancouver learns to cope with the early loss of his father and abandonment by his widowed mother. After leaving the Welsh valleys to seek fame and fortune in Australia and Canada, it was a chance audition at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff that ultimately changed his life and set him on a course to become a cult actor. 'Kisses Sweeter Than Wine' is published by Parthian Books.
Elisabeth Parry sang with the Staff Band of the Royal Army Medical Corps as a soprano soloist during the Second World War and toured with them in Britain and the Middle East. She was voted Forces sweetheart for Paiforce (Pacific and Iraq Force). She went on to launch the Wigmore Hall Lunch Hour Concerts for young musicians, sang for a Glyndebourne First Night and set up and ran her own opera touring company for fifty-six years. Her memoir Thirty Men & A Girl - A Singer's Memoirs of War, Mountains, Travel, and always Music is published by Allegra.
Jamelia is the MOBO award-winning R&B singer songwriter. She features in a new Channel Four series 'The House That Made Me' in which celebrities examine how the past has shaped the person they are today. They visit their former homes, which have been transformed to look as they did when they were teenagers and are reunited with family and old friends and acquaintances, some of whom they haven't seen since they left home. 'The House That Made Me' is on Channel Four.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b00wmngc)
Richard Cohen - Chasing the Sun
Episode 3
"Once upon a time we thought that we were the centre of the universe and that even the sun revolved around us...
Thousands of years later we know that our earliest, most basic idea about our place in the cosmos was false, and that that cosmos is vastly larger than we ever dreamed. We are mere specks..."
Richard Cohen took eight years to write his account of the sun. The sun's biography, in fact. He looks at the myth, the legend, the science. Also the social context and how the sun figures in various art forms. And, will it be with us for ever? We have to hope so. His celebration of that gold disc in the sky is now caught in five episodes...
3. The author journeys across the world to witness the most dramatic of eclipses...
Reader Allan Corduner.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00wlf00)
Presented by Jenni Murray. What motivates and inspires today's top photographers? Jenni talks to journalist Anne-Marie Jaeger and photography lecturer Anna Mossman from Camberwell College of Arts to give practical tips on how to take the very best photos of family and friends. According to the Women's Budget Group, a group of almost 100 female academics and policymakers, cuts to public services are pushing the fight for gender equality into reverse. Later this week the Secretary of State for Health will issue statutory guidance for local authorities and local health bodies on supporting the needs of adults with autism. What will it mean for people with the condition and their families? And we'll hear about the modern day dolls house.
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b00wmp70)
Uncle Gwyn's Posthumous Curse
Episode 3
Jaci Hughes's arrival has caused all sort of ructions at the Golf Club. For one thing it's stopped raining after twenty years. For another she's revealed her golfer's arms to Riddle, the digusting old greenkeeper, to whom those arms look strangely familiar. Meanwhile, spurred on by sexual jealousy after years of repression matters come to a head for Angharad, so to speak, in Riddle's hut. To make matters worse, Mad Aunty Susan, the lady owner of the Club who looks suspiciously like a rugby prop forward, has gone missing.
Margaret John, otherwise known as Doris in the BBC's comedy Gavin and Stacey, stars as Angharad, Brian Hibbard as Aunty Susan, and comedian Tom Allen as Charles. Lynne Seymour plays Jaci, Lee Mengo is Uncle Gwyn and Howell Evans plays Riddle.
A BBC/Cymru Wales production, directed by Kate McAll.
WED 11:00 Lives in a Landscape (b00wlf19)
Series 6
The Hall
In the heart of London's former docklands on the Isle of Dogs, surrounded by the steel and glass of Canary Wharf stands an outpost of an old London that's all but disappeared. St John's Community Centre is a little hall that's used seven days a week by a staggering variety of people, from the devout evangelical Christians who hold services there to the Moslem worshippers for whom the same space is their mosque. But for tango dancers it's the East End's equivalent of Buenos Aires, while for the bingo brigade, it's Full House - and for those who fancy a pint of an evening, St John's is simply the Local: at St John's, when one group have finished, another one is poised to move in.
At the hub of these extraordinarily diverse groups and juggling the space's complex timetable is George, now in his 70s but still working as piermaster just down the road at Canary Wharf. As a fifth generation stevedore, George Pye has seen the ships disappear from the river and the old wharves nearby transformed into gentrified pads for wealthy loft-dwellers. With Christmas approaching George has his time cut out to meet the many demands on the the little space that's been home to so many people for more than three decades.
Producer: Neil McCarthy.
WED 11:30 Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! (b00wlf1c)
Series 6
Citizens' Advice
Count Arthur Strong - one-time Variety Star and now sole proprietor and owner of Doncaster's Academy of Performance - is a show-business legend, raconteur and lecturer extraordinaire. In each episode of this sixth series we hear, as ever, a confused, muddled and often challenging day-in-the-life of Count Arthur - with his mixed-up delivery of words and forthright self-delusion.
When Arthur attempts to return an item of clothing to a local shop, things don't quite go to plan - leading him to take some 'legal' advice at the Citizen's Advice Bureau. With an ever-increasing list of complaints, plus the possibility of having to acquire a puppy (or puppies) to boot, Arthur's day doesn't go quite as he'd hoped.
The occasion does give him a chance to take a trip down memory lane however, re-living an acting moment in a legal TV drama - which of course enables Arthur to give some sound advice of his own!
Cast:
Count Arthur Strong ..... Steve Delaney
Announcer, Shop Worker, Mr Smith & Wilf ..... Alastair Kerr
Geoffrey, Jack, Person and Advisor ..... Dave Mounfield
Sally, Brillo and Receptionist ..... Mel Giedroyc
Producers: Richard Daws, Mark Radcliffe and John Leonard
A Komedia Entertainment Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b00wlf49)
The latest EU diktat suggests restricting the sale of Christmas Crackers to over 16's. The EU directive only called for restrictions on sales to under 12's but when drafting that into UK law the officials decided an age of 16 would lead to less confusion all round. We look at how this came to pass, what the law in the UK was before the EU got involved, and ask if any retailer has ever actually been prosecuted on this one.
Age UK wants new, stronger regulations to protect residents of retirement housing from financial exploitation.
The charity has been investigating complaints by older leaseholders about the cost of transfer fees when properties are sold, unpredictable service charges and the lack of transparency about maintenance contracts. In "Putting Retirement Housing in order" they say thousands of people are now living in fear of rising costs. Many say the worry is making them ill and spoiling their retirement.
More than 386 vulnerable people died in Somerset last winter from causes directly attributable to the cold and poor living conditions - far more than the norm and the tip of an "at risk" iceberg. The vast majority affected are over 75 years old. In the innovative Surviving Winter appeal, the Foundation is emulating the Coalition's Big Society and calling on all who can afford it to forego their Winter Fuel Payment (WFP) and donate the money to those for whom it is not nearly enough. Many pledges have already been received before the campaign has been launched.
Whiskey - with or without an 'e' - is a traditional tipple at this time of year. And, traditionally it has made - or has been for the last hundred years or so- in Scotland. But this Christmas, the St George's distillery in Norfolk - which makes the only English Whisky on the market - will be marking their first year in business.
Our mobile phone panel will be in the studio taking a look at why Vodafone will stopping levying roaming charges within the EU and ask will other providers follow suit? They also look at new products available and see how they compare with what's already on the market? And marketing strategies for mobile contracts - why do they tie in with cultural events like cinema or gig tickets?
WED 12:57 Weather (b00wkl38)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b00wlf4c)
National and international news.
WED 13:30 The Media Show (b00wlf4f)
Yesterday the BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons announced the BBC's strategy review, saying that it couldn't rule out the closure of some services. Steve Hewlett talks to Michael Lyons about where the BBC cuts are likely to fall and his response to the culture secretary Jeremy Hunt's recent claims that BBC political reporting has been out of touch with the national mood.
Banker Nicholas Shott has been looking into the viability of US style local television news channels for the UK. In his report, commissioned by the government, he outlines how local television news would be funded. He talks to Steve Hewlett about the possibility of local television news at the touch of a digital button.
With changes to the BBC and television news on the horizon, media commentators Maggie Brown and Neil Midgley are in the studio to explain the implications of the BBC review and Nicholas Shott's report.
The producer is Simon Tillotson.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b00wldvn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b00wlf5m)
How to Be an Internee With No Previous Experience
How to Be an Internee With No Previous Experience
by Colin Shindler
In 1944, PG Wodehouse, the creator of Jeeves and Wooster, was questioned by MI5 after broadcasting to America from a German internment camp. One of the interrogators was an up and coming journalist called Malcolm Muggeridge. The other was Major EJP Cussen, who later became a high court judge. The stakes were high: one of Britain's best loved authors was facing the possibility of the death penalty.
Wodehouse - Tim McInnerny
Muggeridge - Alex Jennings
Cussen - Anton Lesser
Connor - Stephen Critchlow
Flannery - Gunnar Cauthery
Producer/Director Peter Leslie Wild.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b00wlg37)
On Money Box Live this afternoon:
Vincent Duggleby and guests take your calls and e mails on pensions.
If you need advice on understanding new rules on annuities; taking lump sums from your pension pot; or how your retirement savings will be index linked - why not give the programme a call.?
WED 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00wlg39)
Julia Blackburn - For the Love of a Child
Call Me and I'll Come to You
Written and read by the Costa-shortlisted writer Julia Blackburn, the second of two stories about relationships between adults and children, drawn from real-life.
2. Call me and I'll Come to You
At a low ebb, Julia rediscovers a letter her father wrote to her before his death. He describes how the love between a parent and child is not diminished by death. Julia is comforted, as if her father was with her in that moment.
The stories are written with the same mesmerising delicacy of touch that Julia brought to her Penn-Ackerley prize-winning memoir 'The Three of Us', demonstrating her extraordinary capacity to find the best in people while encompassing their frailty.
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery
Music: Trois Morceaux en Forme de Poire by Eric Satie.
WED 15:45 Head to Head (b00tgd1d)
Series 2
AJ Ayer and Edward de Bono
Edward Stourton continues to revisit broadcast debates from the archives - exploring the ideas, the great minds behind them and echoes of the arguments in present-day politics.
In this episode, two leading minds thrash out the question of whether democracy works. It was a meeting of logical and lateral thinking in 1976 when celebrity philosopher AJ Ayer discussed the fairness and efficiency of democracy with Edward de Bono, the original lateral thinker.
The 1970s were trying economic times in the UK and the British public was losing faith in its government. Why was it Britain had won the war yet countries such as France and Germany were prospering and we weren't? In this context, Ayer and de Bono explore the fault lines in representative government: do elected politicians actually represent the interests of the population? Are these politicians equipped to do the job? And who makes the big decisions anyway - ministers or civil servants?
Their debate is in part a search for innovative solutions - not unlike the current UK political situation.
In the studio dissecting the debate are Ben Rogers, Associate Fellow at think tank Demos and writer of Ayer's biography, and author Piers Dudgeon, who wrote de Bono's biography.
Producer: Dominic Byrne
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b00wlg3c)
'Over by Christmas' - Race, Sport and Politics
When Jack Johnson became heavy-weight champion of the world and then knocked out the 'Great White Hope' Jim Jeffries in 1910, riots and celebrations broke out throughout the United States. Black people had a champion who stood as the finest man in the world, and many white people saw that as an image which threatened their supremacy. In sporting terms the image of the black athlete was forged, a hyper-masculine individual characterised by aggression and defined by physicality. Laurie is joined by Ben Carrington, author of Race, Sport and Politics, and the sociologist Brett St Louis to discuss the complex history of that stereotype. An image which has been both to the benefit and also to the great detriment of black people.
Also on the programme, Stuart Hallifax discusses why it was that people said that the First World War would be over by Christmas and whether they truly believed it.
Producer: Charlie Taylor.
WED 16:30 All in the Mind (b00wldvy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 17:00 PM (b00wlg3f)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news. Plus Weather.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00wkl3b)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Lucy Montgomery's Variety Pack (b00wlg3h)
Series 1
Episode 4
Posh privately educated teenagers Daisy and Maisie show prospective parents around their school.
Joanna Lumley visits her mother with a Christmas present and the Mona Lisa lets us into a secret.
Multi-paced, one woman Fast Show showcasing the exceptional talent of Lucy Montgomery.
With Philip Pope, Sally Grace, Waen Shepherd and Natalie Walter.
Written by Lucy Montgomery with additional material by Steven Burge, Jon Hunter and Joe Wilkinson.
Music by Philip Pope
Producer: Katie Tyrrell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2010.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b00wlg3y)
Ben's eager to put up the massive Christmas tree which Mike has delivered to Brookfield. Ruth says they can do it tonight when Pip and Josh are home. David wants to book a meal for their anniversary but Ruth's happy to stay at home with the kids. They can go out at the weekend.
As they prepare their meat at Crowther's, Ruth reminds David her mum's coming on Monday. It'll be strange to have Christmas without Phil. He'll be missed by everyone, especially Pip. They're pleased Pip's got her UCAS form done at last. All she has to do now is pass her re-sits.
Fallon's keen to join Harry for a rehearsal tomorrow but Lynda assures her there's no need on this occasion. She thinks Jolene needs her more.
At the carols on the green, Harry confesses to being tired due to Jazzer's 'open house' policy. Lynda's cheerful. Freddie's going to be the replacement rat henchman, there's chemistry between the romantic leads. They're on course for one of their best pantomimes ever.
Reluctant Phoebe joins in with the carols thanks to Hayley's coaxing. Later Phoebe admits she's feeling weird. It's like she wants to be in two places at once, and that's just not possible.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b00wlg4b)
Review of new film Catfish; Australian poet Les Murray; review of TV drama Zen
Catfish, a dark and unsettling documentary about an online relationship, formed through Facebook, is released in Britain this week. The film has caused controversy, with suggestions that it might be a hoax. Antonia Quirke reviews.
Australian poet Les Murray talks about working as a "word catcher" for a dictionary, why he thinks the "snipers in the bush" are still trying to pick him off for the language and style of his writing and how a family quarrel and the day he found a dead body in a river inspired poems written years later.
Rufus Sewell plays Michael Dibdin's Italian detective Aurelio Zen in a new TV adaptation. Crime writer NJ Cooper has been watching the series which begins on BBC One in the New Year.
Following the launch of Pete Doherty's jewellery range, Danny Robins considers why rock-stars branch out into merchandise and the range of goods available.
Producer Gavin Heard.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00wmp70)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b00wlg5c)
Around 20 million people watched it and many many more words have probably been written about it. The X Factor has finished its series, but if you thought you were in for a break from the incessant drone of popular culture you're wrong. We've got the Strictly Come Dancing final next week and after that a Christmas TV schedule rich with opportunity to veg out and switch off your brain. You may argue that programmes like these are just a bit of fun - water cooler moments that we can all share and enjoy; that in a fragmented society offer us a small piece of common ground. But has our addiction to popular culture got out of hand? Is it like counterfeit currency, driving out quality and any programme that attempts to engage you mentally beyond having to punch a few numbers in to a phone to vote? Is that elitist, patronising snobbery of the worst kind or have these sorts of programmes now become so powerful that they've elevated the cult of celebrity to something we aspire to and admire, while at the same time turning a blind eye to the moral turpitude that so often goes hand in hand with that culture. Post the cultural studies revolution, who now argues that Bach is of more moral worth than Britney? Is that the triumph of democracy or demagoguery? Have the arts given in to the forces of cultural relativism and sacrificed the intellectual high ground in their quest for a wider audience? Or is the problem not the power of programmes like the X Factor, but that those in the arts industry are more interested in talking to each other rather than championing intellectual excellence. How do we judge the moral worth of art?
Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk with Matthew Taylor, Claire Fox, Clifford Longley and Michael Portillo.
WED 20:45 Blond on Britain (b00wlg5f)
The House of Lords
Some of the ancient institutions of Britain - the monarchy, the House of Lords and the Church of England are often derided as archaic, outmoded and out of touch with the contemporary world. The leading political thinker Phillip Blond makes a powerful case for their continuing significance. In this piece he turns his attention to the House of Lords.
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
WED 21:00 Ivory Tower (b00wlg73)
Many scientists in British universities now have close links with industry. Spin-off companies are a feature of academic life.
The Government applauds this entrepreneurial spirit, pointing out that it boosts the economy and helps to pay the cost of higher learning.
But critics argue that the commercial imperative distorts research priorities and undermines the established values of the university system.
Geoff Watts asks are they right. Is the urge to make profit subverting the search for knowledge?
Producer: Beth Eastwood.
WED 21:30 Midweek (b00wldz9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b00wkl3d)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b00wlg79)
Members of the Kenyan government are accused by the International Criminal Court of causing post election violence in 2007 which led to the deaths of 1500 people.
The FSA bows to pressure over a report on the RBS banking collapse.
Polar bears and Grizzlies are meeting and mating thanks to climate change.
with Robin Lustig.
WED 22:45 Helen Dunmore - The Betrayal (b00wmpfn)
Don't Think It Can't Happen to You
Andrei has been arrested. Will anyone help Anna to help him? And how much danger is she putting herself and their unborn child in with her inquiries?
Helen Dunmore's sequel to 'The Siege' read by Sara Kestelman.
Set ten years on, the starvation and bitter cold of the war years of Leningrad have been replaced with fear and suspicion. City residents do their best to keep their heads down and their lives unremarkable in an era of accusations, arrests and the midnight knock at the door.
Helen Dunmore (1952-2017) was the writer of 12 novels and 10 poetry collections winning several accolades for her work.
Abridged by Sally Marmion
Producer: Di Speirs
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.
WED 23:00 iGod (b00wr7v2)
Food
iGOD is a highly original and funny new late-night comedy series for Radio 4. It stars Simon Day (The Fast Show) and David Soul (Starsky & Hutch) and is written by one of the head writers of the BAFTA award-winning The Thick Of It, Sean Gray and produced by Simon Nicholls (Ed Reardon's Week / News At Bedtime).
We all worry about the end of the world, as economists and environmentalists speak in apocalyptic terms everyday. iGOD says that trying to predict the end of the world is as pointless as moisturising an elephant's elbow.
In each episode, an unnamed, all-seeing narrator (David Soul - Starsky and Hutch) shows us that it is stupid to be worrying, as he looks back at some of the most entertaining apocalypses on parallel Earths. Each week our case study is a normal bloke called Ian (Simon Day) who manages to accidentally initiate the apocalypse of a different parallel world through a seemingly harmless single act (telling a lie, being lazy, cooking some lambshanks). A succession of comic vignettes ensue that escalate to the end of a parallel world.
With a full-range of sound effects and wonderfully funny and surreal twists, iGOD will be a true aural extravaganza.
Written by Sean Gray
Producer: Simon Nicholls
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.
WED 23:15 Comic Fringes (b00m69wz)
Comic Fringes: Series 5
May Contain Nuts
Written and read by Janey Godley.
"If I'm slowly turning into my dad, then I'd better start collecting owl calendars and squirrels."
A woman glimpses her own mortality when she calculates that only twenty-seven years separate her from her cantankerous father. Brilliant, unsentimental insight into the father / daughter relationship.
Another chance to hear this series of short stories by leading comedians recorded live in front of a packed audience at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2009. Coming up, at the same time over the next three Wednesdays, are stories by Sarah Millican, Jon Richardson and Susan Calman.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00wlg8l)
Ed Miliband accuses David Cameron of breaking a string of promises over spending on health and education during the last Prime Minister's question time before Christmas. In response, Mr Cameron says Mr Miliband is "dithering and has no answers on the economy". MPs debate a Government measure allowing the Treasury to lend Dublin more than £3 billion. And the Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke, insists there is no "dissent" within the Government over his proposals to close courts, cut legal aid and reform sentencing. Alicia McCarthy and team report on today's events in Parliament.
THURSDAY 16 DECEMBER 2010
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b00wkl69)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b00wmngc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00wkl6c)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00wkl6f)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00wkl6h)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b00wkl6k)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00wlg9t)
Daily prayer and reflection with Michelle Marken.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b00wlg9w)
Farmers should be able to continue spraying pesticides without giving prior warning to their neighbours, despite the public saying in a DEFRA consultation that they would like to be told first.
Fish quotas have been decided after lengthy discussions in Brussels. We hear reaction from the Scottish Fishermen's Federation.
And how the Big Society is working for volunteers clearing footpaths in Suffolk.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Emma Weatherill.
THU 06:00 Today (b00wlg9y)
Morning news and current affairs with James Naughtie and Justin Webb, including:
07:30 Former Home Office drugs minister Bob Ainsworth explains why he is calling for drugs to be decriminalised.
08:10 The government is planning to close one in four magistrates and county courts.
08:40 Is Dame Judi Dench a better stage actor than Laurence Olivier?
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b00wlgbg)
Daoism
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Daoism. An ancient Chinese tradition of philosophy and religious belief, Daoism first appeared more than two thousand years ago. For centuries it was the most popular religion in China; in the West its religious aspects are not as well known as its practices, which include meditation and Feng Shui, and for its most celebrated text, the Daodejing.The central aim in Daoism is to follow the 'Dao', a word which roughly translates as 'The Way'. Daoists believe in following life in its natural flow, what they refer to as an 'effortless action'. This transcendence can be linked to Buddhism, the Indian religion that came to China in the 2nd century BC and influenced Daoism - an exchange which went both ways. Daoism is closely related to, but has also at times conflicted with, the religion of the Chinese Imperial court, Confucianism. The spirit world is of great significance in Daoism, and its hierarchy and power often take precedence over events and people in real life. But how did this ancient and complex religion come to be so influential?With:Tim Barrett Professor of East Asian History at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of LondonMartin PalmerDirector of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education and CultureHilde De WeerdtFellow and Tutor in Chinese History at Pembroke College, University of Oxford Producer: Natalia Fernandez.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b00wmnlj)
Richard Cohen - Chasing the Sun
Episode 4
"Once upon a time we thought that we were the centre of the universe and that even the sun revolved around us...
Thousands of years later we know that our earliest, most basic idea about our place in the cosmos was false, and that that cosmos is vastly larger than we ever dreamed. We are mere specks..."
Richard Cohen took eight years to write his account of the sun. The sun's biography, in fact. He looks at the myth, the legend, the science. Also the social context and how the sun figures in various art forms. And, will it be with us for ever? We have to hope so. His celebration of that gold disc in the sky is now caught in five episodes...
4. Throughout the ages artists have caught the sun on canvas with astonishing results...
Reader Allan Corduner.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00wlgc9)
Presented by Jenni Murray. Including Sarah Phillips whose tribute to her dying mother became an internet hit and the burgeoning musical career that she's hoping will help fund research into a cure for cervical cancer, the disease responsible for her mother's death. There's an update on the case of three women living in the Irish Republic who are awaiting a judgment from the European Court of Human Rights on their legal challenge to the country's strict law on abortion. Novelist Leila Aboulela and the childhood upbringing that provided the inspiration for her latest book which is set in 1950s Sudan. The use of hormone implants as contraception is on the rise but what impact will this - and the reduced use of condoms - have on the spread of sexually transmitted disease?
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b00wmp7s)
Uncle Gwyn's Posthumous Curse
Episode 4
In the penultimate episode of Lynne Truss's comedy drama Charles has finally realised that his Aunty Susan is in fact Tony Llewellyn the famous Welsh golfer, cartographer Jaci Hughes seems to have fallen subject to the Club curse and probaby only has hours to live, and Angharad is suffering post-coital tristesse after her liaison with the disgusting old greenkeeper, Riddle. Could things get any worse? Well yes, actually. Margaret John, otherwise known as Doris in the BBC's comedy Gavin and Stacey, stars as Angharad, Brian Hibbard as Aunty Susan, and comedian Tom Allen as Charles. Lynne Seymour plays Jaci, Lee Mengo is Uncle Gwyn and Howell Evans plays Riddle.
A BBC/Cymru Wales production, directed by Kate McAll.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b00wlgcc)
The Two Faces of Bahrain
Bahrain projects itself towards the world as an Arab state that is open to investment, progressive about change and moving confidently toward democracy. But there is another Bahrain where dissent is suppressed and critics jailed. It is a country where allegations are rife that political prisoners are routinely tortured. Bill Law investigates both sides of the Bahrain story and asks what lies behind the apparently heavy-handed repression of those who criticize the ruling al Khalifa family
Producer: Caroline Pare.
THU 11:30 Joan Turner: The Highs and Lows of the Wacky Warbler (b00wlgg4)
Lesley Garrett tells the fascinating story of operatic comedienne Joan Turner.
Joan Turner was a larger-than-life star who enjoyed a successful stage and television career in the 1960s and 70s. She was born in Belfast in 1922 and made her debut at the Finsbury Empire as a singing comedienne.
Joan could perform pop or opera with her four-and-a-half-octave soprano voice, impersonate Judy Garland and Bette Davis, and then change to stand-up comic.
In her early career she worked with The Crazy Gang, appeared at many Royal Events, recorded for Pye Records and became the highest-earning female singer in Britain. After touring all the major music halls she was considered a 'female Harry Secombe', and in the States they billed her as "The Wacky Warbler".
One reviewer described her as having "the voice of an angel and the wit of a devil".
Even though she gained a reputation for being difficult and unpredictable she remained a much loved figure on the show business circuit.
Her daughter Susanna Page always believed that "the best way to describe Mum is that she thought every day was Christmas". She was to discover painfully that it was not.
By the late nineties an unkind reverse reduced her to the status of a bag lady walking the streets of Las Vegas and Los Angeles searching for work. This downturn in her life and career was a result of a long term battle with gambling and alcoholism.
A few film and television roles saw a short revival in her fortunes but her last live comeback attempt ended in a drunken shambles. She spent her final years in sheltered accommodation in Surrey.
The programme features interviews with Actor Harry Dickman,Variety entertainer Roy Hudd and Joan's daughter Susanna page.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b00wlggk)
We look at why the price of domestic heating oil has soared over the last few weeks. With prices rises in the region of 40%, and deliveries hampered by bad weather, we talk to those affected.
And we look at how NHS dementia patients are treated in hospitals on the day the first 'National Audit of Dementia' is published. The report's author, Professor Peter Crome will reveal key findings from the preliminary results.
Plus, are high parking prices deterring shoppers from using local shops? Are some cash strapped councils raising car park charges to help plug the holes in their budgets? How does it affect high street businesses?
And as many shops are in the middle of their busiest period of the year, we do a spot of window shopping. Christmas window displays not only showcase the products on offer, they can also be stunning works of art in their own right, but how good are they at making us open our wallets?
THU 12:57 Weather (b00wkl6m)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b00wlgj9)
National and international news.
THU 13:30 Off the Page (b00wlgjc)
I Don't Know
"I don't know" - three little words so hard to say nowadays. Doubt and uncertainty are out, confident assertions are in. Opinions, even received ones, are the order of the day. The temptation is always to bluff our way with some kind of response, however little we know about the subject in hand. Phil Hammond is a doctor and Kathy Sykes is a science professor. John Harris is a journalist whose job is to express opinions. Are they able simply to admit: "I don't know"? Dominic Arkwright presides over new writing and straight-to-the-point discussion.
Producer Beth O'Dea.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b00wlg3y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b00wlglj)
Chequebook and Pen
Written by Andrew Lynch and Johnny Vegas.
Johnny Vegas pays tribute to the legendary Les Dawson in a comic flight of fancy. Les has a way with words but is northern, rather crumpled, a little shambolic and an unknown quantity, and delightfully unpredictable when he is faced with representing a national institution.
Nicholas Parsons is Farson, a resplendent foil for Dawson. Farson embraces and embodies the hammiest forces of the 'traditional BBC'.
A nemesis to Les and all he stands for and aims to subvert.
This homage is a pure joyous farce, taking full artistic license in imagining how the BBC might have engaged the iconic Les to become a game show great in its eighties flagship, Blankety Blank.
Cast:
Les ..... Johnny Vegas
Farson ..... Nicholas Parsons
Helen ..... Shobna Gulati
Dave Parkins ..... Mick Miller
BBC Executive ..... Mark Chatterton
Number Two ...... Paul Foot
Doris (Barmaid) ..... Catherine Kinsella
Other parts ..... Peter Slater (and cast).
Directed by Jim Poyser
Producer: Sally Harrison
A Woolyback Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b00wklwq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:07 on Saturday]
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b00wkr67)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00wlgmm)
Julia Blackburn - For the Love of a Child
Three Buzzing Boys
The last of three stories about relationships between adults and children, drawn from real-life. The stories are written and read by Julia Blackburn, whose most recent book 'The Three Of Us' has won the 2009 Pen/Ackerley prize for memoir and autobiography. The stories have Julia's mesmerising delicacy of touch in the way they describe human relationships and her capacity to find the best in people while encompassing their frailty.
3. Three Buzzing Boys
When Julia meets Dominique she is reminded of naturalist Gilbert White's account of a young boy in the village of Selbourne. The boy sleeps by the hearth during the winter and wakes in the spring, going from hive to hive, eating honey, keeping live bees under his shirt, and buzzing with strange contentment.
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery
Music: Trois Morceaux en Forme de Poire by Eric Satie.
THU 15:45 Head to Head (b00tjf54)
Series 2
Malcolm X and James Farmer
Edward Stourton continues to revisit passionate broadcast debates from the archives - exploring the ideas, the great minds behind them and echoes of the arguments in present-day politics.
In this last episode, two leading black activists clash at the very height of the Civil Rights movement. It was summer 1963 when the radical Muslim Malcolm X met mainstream campaigner James Farmer. They were fired up by the same ideals but were divided on how to achieve them. Malcolm X demanded the creation of an all-black nation, by violent means if necessary. Farmer believed in de-segregation through peaceful protest and the law - using the US constitution to fulfill its promise of an America free for all men.
Whether segregation still exists today is up for question. In the studio dissecting the debate are the author Bonnie Greer, who was a teenager in 1960s Chicago, and Dr Stephen Tuck, lecturer in American Studies at Oxford University.
Producer: Dominic Byrne
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 16:00 Open Book (b00wlbj2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:30 Material World (b00wlgmp)
2010 - year of disasters. Floods, wild fires, volcanoes, earthquakes, and a record breaking oil spill. Material World has time and again been reporting on some of the disasters that have struck over the year. And earth scientists gather at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco to review their data from each event, Quentin Cooper asks how science helped, and what the lessons are for the future.
Producer: Roland Pease.
THU 17:00 PM (b00wlgmr)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news. Including at
5.57pm Weather.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00wkl6p)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Bleak Expectations (b00wlgnn)
Series 4
A Life Destroyed Then Repaired and Rehappied
Pip in the company of Pippa, the Reverend Fecund and Harry Biscuit, now just a brain in a jar, have tracked Mister Benevolent to the heart of the vast Russian Empire.
But when they find him, he is at the head of a mighty army. Who will triumph in the final battle between good and evil? Will Harry get a new body? Will Mister Benevolent detonate his infamous cheese bomb? And what is the correct way to spell Czar?
As fate decides these crucial questions it seems there are a few surprises in store for Pip.
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
Reverend Godly Fecund ..... David Mitchell
Producer Gareth Edwards.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2010.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b00wlgp5)
Freddie's upset over not doing well in a Maths practice paper and he and Lily have a set-to over his part in the panto. Jill's concerned that if Freddie's upset now, how will he be if he fails the real thing? Elizabeth insists that even if he doesn't pass they'll ensure he goes to the right school for him.
Kenton and Lewis find highwaymen's outfits in the attic for Kenton's Deck the Hall idea. Kenton thinks he's going to enjoy this.
Pat and Tony share a smile over the combination of Susan and Vicky in the dairy. But Vicky's working well, and Pat's happy that a level of normality is returning.
Helen's out Christmas shopping but when Tony takes a delivery to the shop he's perturbed to find she's carried a steriliser all the way back from Underwoods. She's already declined help from Kenton after an insensitive remark about managing alone, so when Tony tries to help, she explodes and accuses him of being against her every step of the way. Tony tries to reason with her but she tells him to go.
Tony tells Pat he can't leave it like this but he doesn't know what to do, or where to start.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b00wlgph)
Walliams and Lucas, Crime fiction selection, Nam June Paik
With Mark Lawson
David Walliams and Matt Lucas discuss their new tv series Come Fly With Me and what they consider to be "the dangerous areas of comedy".
The South Korean artist Nam June Paik is regarded as the father of video art. He was also a composer and a performance artist fascinated by the possibilities of new technology. He's the subject of a joint retrospective at Tate Liverpool and FACT. The musician Andy McCluskey reviews.
And Jeff Park picks a selection of crime fiction to give for Christmas.
Producer Robyn Read.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00wmp7s)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b00wlgq4)
Ireland's Toxic Tiger
How much will British taxpayers suffer from the fallout in Ireland? British banks such as RBS and Lloyds have large debts in the Republic, and are making decisions about which to call in, threatening more pain for local communities. Morland Sanders hears protests from small contractors in Donegal where Ulster Bank want to sell off a prestige residential development at rock bottom prices. This amid questions about the part British institutions actually played in fuelling the property market bubble.
As the Irish government deals with the "toxic loans" of the Republic's banks, it's being estimated that 15% of them are in the UK. We explore how this will affect the businesses reliant on that borrowed money, and what will happen to those trophy assets such as Claridges, now 'owned' by the Republic's new holder of its toxic debts, NAMA.
The Chancellor, George Osborne may have said the £3.2bn loan to Ireland was to support a friend in need, and protect British exports, but we report on the importance to British banks and British businesses of an economic recovery in Ireland.
Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane.
THU 20:30 In Business (b00wlgt1)
Euro on the Rocks?
In Business
EURO ON THE ROCKS?
Euroland slides into big trouble as the crisis spreads from one country to another. In this change to the advertised programme, Peter Day asks a panel of experts what's happening and why it matters.
Producers: Caroline Bayley and Sandra Kanthal.
THU 21:00 Saving Species (b00wldf8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Tuesday]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b00wlgbg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b00wkl6r)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b00wlgt3)
Radio 4's daily evening news and current affairs programme bringing you global news and analysis.
The founder of the Wikileaks website, Julian Assange, is free on bail. We ask a member of his legal team: what next?
A special report from Belarus looking ahead to presidential elections.
We're live in Brussels as the EU summit discusses the continent's economic woes.
That's all on the World Tonight, with Robin Lustig.
THU 22:45 Helen Dunmore - The Betrayal (b00xk4f0)
Insufficient Vigilance
Andrei comes face to face with Gorya's father, Volkov, and learns just what the powerful can do.
Helen Dunmore's sequel to 'The Siege' read by Sara Kestelman.
Set ten years on, the starvation and bitter cold of the war years of Leningrad have been replaced with fear and suspicion. City residents do their best to keep their heads down and their lives unremarkable in an era of accusations, arrests and the midnight knock at the door.
Helen Dunmore (1952-2017) was the writer of 12 novels and 10 poetry collections winning several accolades for her work.
Abridged by Sally Marmion
Producer: Di Speirs
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.
THU 23:00 Elvenquest (b00wlgt5)
Series 2
Episode 5
The Questers continue their search for the Sword of Asnagar. This time they accidentally trespass upon grounds of the Emperor Jackie.
Jackie claims to have the Sword of Asnagar but he'll only hand it over if the Questers, and particularly Penthiselea, stay with him for a while.
In the meantime, Lord Darkness' main evil priest, Gaydok, is upset - he doesn't believe Darkness is evil anymore. In a fit of pique Darkness fires him.
But it's not long before he realises that keeping the faith with the evil hordes isn't as easy as he originally thought...
Fantasy-based sitcom set in Lower Earth written by Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto.
Sam …. Stephen Mangan
Lord Darkness …. Alistair McGowan
Emperor Jackie …. Sanjeev Bhaskar
Dean/Kreech …. Kevin Eldon
Vidar …. Darren Boyd
Amis – The Chosen One …. Dave Lamb
Penthiselea …. Sophie Winkleman
Producer: Sam Michell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2010.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00wlgt7)
Sean Curran reports on events at Westminster.
FRIDAY 17 DECEMBER 2010
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b00wkl8y)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b00wmnlj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00wkl90)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00wkl92)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00wkl94)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b00wkl96)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00wlgx2)
Daily prayer and reflection with Michelle Marken.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b00wlgx4)
A senior research scientist believes a cattle vaccine for TB may be given a UK licence in 2012, but it could be five years before an agreement is reached to lift an EU ban on on-farm TB vaccination.
Charlotte Smith finds out why Barn Owls are struggling to survive in the freezing conditions. Plus, the cost of controlling species like Japanese Knotweed and Asian Long-Horned Beetles. And, horse riders argue the need for more bridleways.
Presenter: Charlotte Smith. Producer: Sarah Swadling.
FRI 06:00 Today (b00wlgx6)
Morning news and current affairs with John Humphrys and Sarah Montague, including:
07:30 Alistair Darling calls for an urgent stress test on the European banking system.
08:10 Why are one in seven boys in some areas of England are starting secondary school with the reading skills of an average seven-year-old?
08:50 Why is Britain obsessed with a white Christmas?
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b00wlbhr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b00wmnpy)
Richard Cohen - Chasing the Sun
Episode 5
"Once upon a time we thought that we were the centre of the universe and that even the sun revolved around us...
Thousands of years later we know that our earliest, most basic idea about our place in the cosmos was false, and that that cosmos is vastly larger than we ever dreamed. We are mere specks..."
Richard Cohen took eight years to write his account of the sun. The sun's biography, in fact. He looks at the myth, the legend, the science. Also the social context and how the sun figures in various art forms. And, will it be with us for ever? We have to hope so. His celebration of that gold disc in the sky is now caught in five episodes...
5. How long will the sun shine? And time for the autor to seek the perfect sunset...
Reader Allan Corduner.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00wlgz2)
Presented by Jenni Murray. Twirling Tory - Ann Widdecombe - talks about her 'Strictly Come Dancing' experience. How much stress is too much stress? Eric Knowles takes a look at Pilkington Pottery and the women who worked in the Pilkington factory. What difference would it make if feminist values and perspectives were included in judicial decision making?
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b00wmp8m)
Uncle Gwyn's Posthumous Curse
Episode 5
In the final episode of Lynne Truss's comedy drama, the secret of Uncle Gwyn's swingeing curse is finally revealed. Well, sort of. In a violent storm the giant Golf Ball Rock has come careering down the hill, across the course and into the bunker on the fourth, narrowly missing cartographer Jaci Hughes, a slightly flushed Angharad, and Mad Aunty Susan, who has now been revealed to be Tony Llewellyn, the famous Welsh golfer who disappeared years ago after winning a big tournament. Not only that but Tony Llewellyn, it turns out, is actually Jaci Hughes's father. And to catch you up with other events, Angharad has had a shameful tryst with disgusting greenkeeper Riddle in his abominable hut. What could possibly happen next? Margaret John, otherwise known as Doris in the BBC's comedy Gavin and Stacey, stars as Angharad, Brian Hibbard as Aunty Susan, and comedian Tom Allen as Charles. Lynne Seymour plays Jaci, Lee Mengo is Uncle Gwyn and Howell Evans plays Riddle.
A BBC/Cymru Wales production, directed by Kate McAll.
FRI 11:00 A Friend in Need (b00wlgz4)
Lost your job and need a bogus boss to fool your family that you're still in work? Can't think who to have as your best man at your wedding?
The BBC's Tokyo correspondent Roland Buerk investigates Japan's growing "rent a friend" service sector. Several agencies now rent out fake spouses, best men, relatives, friends, colleagues, boyfriends and girlfriends to help clients get through social functions such as weddings, parents' evenings - and even funerals.
Ryuichi Ichinokawa launched his Hagemashi Tai - which translates as "I Want to Cheer You Up" - agency four years ago and the requests have been flooding in. He now employs 30 agents of various ages and both sexes, working all over Japan. They research their assignments assiduously so that they appear totally convincing.
We hear from one client who not only rented a fake mother to introduce to his prospective in-laws, but also hired 30 guests to attend his wedding. In fact, only two of the "guests" on the groom's side were genuine. Even his 'boss' who made a speech was fake, as he had just been made redundant. When, however, he finally confessed to his wife and her family, their response was not to be furious about the lies, but grateful that he had done it for them and to protect their social standing.
Is the rise of the phoney friend a symptom of social and economic changes and increasing isolation or a logical extension of a consumer society where money will buy you almost anything? As Japan enters a third decade of recession, how much is this phenomenon a result of Japan's changing labour market ? With more temporary jobs, people have less opportunity to make friends at work, but social expectations seem to be lagging behind economic reality.
Producer: Ruth Evans
A Ruth Evans Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 11:30 Electric Ink (b01jyq9c)
Series 2
Episode 3
Struggling print journalist Maddox takes a moral stance with disastrous results.
A comic satire set in the struggling world of newspapers.
A group of dysfunctional journalists attempt to cover major news stories whilst grappling with the demands of a multi-platform environment, as circulation figures plummet as the recession means half the workforce is laid off.
Written by Alistair Beaton and Tom Mitchelson.
Maddox ..... John Sessions
Oliver ..... Alex Jennings
Freddy ..... Stephen Wight
Carol ..... Polly Frame
Masha ..... Debbie Chazen
With Joanna Monro, Sean Baker, Adeel Akhtar,Henry Devas and Sam Dale.
Producer: Sally Avens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b00wlh18)
As more snow approaches, we assess whether the weather will be bad enough to cause serious travel problems over the Christmas period.
Going to the pictures this weekend? As the amount of time a film's shown in cinemas decreases, we ask what impact this is having on the industry.....and on cinema-goers.
And at 1230 "Lions, Gold and Confusion," our first adaptation of Delete This At Your Peril - the Bob Servant E-Mails, by Neil Forsyth. In today's episode Bob assists a Nigerian Prince and recruits wild animals for a private zoo.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b00wkl98)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b00wlh21)
National and international news.
FRI 13:30 More or Less (b00wlh2t)
Tim Harford and the More or Less team offer another numbers-eye view of the news.
This week:
Local government funding: why everything depends on Wokingham.
Inflation: who came up with the 1-3% target? Why? And why do we keep missing it?
Age-adjusted earnings: how much should you be earning if you're a 43-year-old man called David?
Correlation or causation: Are you really more likely to give birth if you live near a mobile phone mast?
And, finally, oracular Jack - our magic monkey - with his latest Ashes predictions.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b00wlgp5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b00wlh7q)
The Other Simenon: Striptease
Georges Simenon is best known for Maigret but he published scores of other novels - many of them tough, gripping and psychologically-penetrating dissections of small lives confounded by fate and circumstance. Ronald Frame dramatises a Simenon story set in a night club in Cannes in 1958. Celita is the mistress of the club owner - but she faces a younger rival for her lover's affections when he hires a sensational new dancer.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b00wlh7s)
Purleigh & District Gardeners' Society, Essex
Pippa Greenwood, Anne Swithinbank and Matthew Wilson are guests of the Purleigh & District Gardeners' Society in Essex. Peter Gibbs is the chairman.
Matthew Wilson and Anne Swithinbank are at RHS Hyde Hall, taking an alternative approach to winter pruning.
Produced by Lucy Dichmont
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 Head to Head (b00wlh7v)
Series 2
Foucault and Chomsky
Edward Stourton continues to revisit passionate broadcast debates from the archives - exploring the ideas, the great minds behind them and echoes of the arguments in present-day politics.
In this episode, two thinkers discuss the nature of power and oppression in contemporary society. This rare footage was recorded on Dutch television in 1971 with a backdrop of social unrest the world over. Michel Foucault, the French philosopher, had emerged in his own country as a militant leader after the 1968 student riots. Across the Atlantic, amid growing civil unrest, the American intellectual Noam Chomsky was central to the anti-Vietnam War movement.
Both men of the left, but with two distinct ideas about how power is wielded. Chomsky saw groups of elites in charge - the military, the economic and multinational elites. But also an intellectual elite that feeds ideas into the public domain and thus controls the flow if ideas and how people think. Foucault, however, thought the mechanisms behind oppression were more deceptive. Social institutions, such as universities, psychiatric hospitals and prisons, subtly imposed restrictions on knowledge and the way people behave. And if a theory can be put into practice, what of civil disobedience and how to justify it?
In the studio dissecting the debate are David Macey, Professor in Translation at Nottingham University, who wrote a biography of Foucault, and John Taylor, Professor of Politics at London's South Bank University.
Producer: Dominic Byrne
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b00wlh84)
On Last Word this week:
Richard Holbrooke - the bulldozer of US diplomacy who negotiated an end to the war in Bosnia.
The film director Blake Edwards who brought us Peter Sellers in "The Pink Panther", Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and Dudley Moore in "10".
The Russian poet Bella Akhmadulina, a superstar whose fans flocked to football stadia to hear her read
And the doyen of New York restaurateurs - Elaine Kaufman - whose eponymous eatery played host to the rich and famous.
FRI 16:30 The Film Programme (b00wlh9k)
Francine Stock talks to Peter Weir, the director of Witness and The Truman Show, about his new drama, The Way Back
The directors of Catfish, one of the big hits of the Sundance Film Festival, discuss their documentary about an on-line romance that takes a turn for the surreal.
Nikki Bedi meets the members of a community who saved their cinema from closure in Prestatyn and learns the secrets of their success
Writer Andrew Collins considers the influence of video games on modern movies and asks if they really have taken cinema to the next level.
Producer Stephen Hughes.
FRI 17:00 PM (b00wlh9m)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news. Including at
5.57pm Weather.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00wkl9b)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The Now Show (b00wlh9p)
Series 32
Xmas Party political indiscretions
On the last 'normal' show of the year (next week is The Now Show panto) Marcus Brigstocke talks about the English Defence League and the other Terry Jones; Jon Holmes travels into the Matrix of real and unreal news; Mitch Benn assesses how happy we are this Christmas and our audience reflect on the most memorable moments of 2010. Plus as a one-off exclusive on Radio 7, Boxing Day listen to an extended version of this week's Now Show with extra performances from stand-up Imran Yusuf and music duo Ginger and Black.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b00wlhbg)
Roy promises he'll be home to make sure Phoebe gets an internet connection in time to Skype with Kate at
7pm. He's frustrated with Kate for causing Phoebe so much anxiety. The call comes through, and Kate's full of how busy she's been. She gets Nolly to say hello but soon has to end the call, leaving Phoebe upset that she didn't get the chance to tell her everything. Roy praises Phoebe for being so grown up about taking to Nolly, and assures her they'll have a good Christmas.
Pat tries to reason with Helen but Helen insists that if Tony cared about her, he wouldn't be so again her having the baby without a partner. Ian turns up to work on the nursery and senses the atmosphere. Pat leaves but Helen insists she wants Ian to stay. He tries to get her to talk but Helen insists she's fine.
Pat calls on Kathy with a Christmas card and presents, and is glad of the chance to talk about the situation with Helen. Kathy's sure Helen and Tony are both hurting, and Christmas should help to bring them together. Pat's not convinced. She can't see how they're ever going to mend it.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b00wlhbj)
Ronnie Corbett at 80
Veteran comedian Ronnie Corbett, who celebrated his 80th birthday this month, talks to Mark Lawson about working with and without the late Ronnie Barker.
Corbett also explains his views on modern British comedy and discusses starring in The One Ronnie, a new TV sketch show in which he stars alongside younger comedians, including Miranda Hart, Rob Brydon and David Walliams and Matt Lucas.
Producer Jack Soper.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00wlbsx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 on Monday]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b00wlj72)
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs the topical discussion from the Chrysalis Theatre in the Camphill Community in Milton Keynes with questions for the panel including Oliver Letwin, Cabinet Office Minister, John Healey, Shadow Health Secretary, Laurie Penny, columnist, and Paul Staines, better known as the blogger Guido Fawkes.
Producer: Victoria Wakely.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b00wlj74)
A Time for Empathy
Joan Bakewell contrasts our empathy for fictional characters on the stage and on screen with a reported growing lack of sympathy for real people in need. When the prevailing culture is one of self-regard and narcissism the quiet work of charities deserves all the more applause.
Producer: Sheila Cook.
FRI 21:00 Friday Drama (b00wlj76)
Banished: Mugabe of Zimbabwe
By Andrew Whaley. It is 2000, and Aurelia, studying in London, returns home to Zimbabwe following her father's death. Years before he had worked with Robert Mugabe, and now Aurelia learns that the President is to attend the funeral. Their meeting is the start of a dark and frightening journey.
Aurelia ...Tariro Foote
Ignatius ... Danny Sapani
Mother ...Adjoa Andoh
Ratidzo.. .Gbemisola Ikumelo
Robert Mugabe...Lucian Msamati
Ruth.. . Pamela Nomvete
Paradzai...Jude Akuwudike
With Ben Onwukwe, Lloyd Thomas, Michael Shelford
Directed by Jeremy Mortimer
Andrew Whaley's most recent play 'Great Escape' (broadcast on Radio 3 in 2009) is, like his earlier play 'The Rise and Shine of Comrade Fiasco', an analysis of his native Zimbabwe.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b00wkl9d)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b00wlj78)
The FSA exempts most institutions from new rules on bonus pay.Has the government gone soft on bankers bonuses ?
Cold weather warnings. Has the travel chaos started already ?
Free and fair elections promised this weekend in Belarus , but not for everyone.
with Ritula Shah.
FRI 22:45 Helen Dunmore - The Betrayal (b00wmqkf)
Volkov Is Dead
In a final act before his fall from grace, Volkov, Commissar of the secret police, has given Andrei a way out. Instead of execution he will be sent to Siberia.
Meanwhile Anna is in hiding, waiting for the birth of their baby.
Helen Dunmore's sequel to 'The Siege' concluded by Sara Kestelman.
Set ten years on, the starvation and bitter cold of the war years of Leningrad have been replaced with fear and suspicion. City residents do their best to keep their heads down and their lives unremarkable in an era of accusations, arrests and the midnight knock at the door.
Helen Dunmore (1952-2017) was the writer of 12 novels and 10 poetry collections winning several accolades for her work.
Abridged by Sally Marmion
Producer: Di Speirs
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b00wldvg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00wlj7b)
Mark D'Arcy reports on events at Westminster.