SATURDAY 27 AUGUST 2011

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (b013gfqm)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


SAT 00:30 Book of the Week (b013n5k1)
Fire Season

Episode 5

Written by Philip Connor. Abridged by Jane Marshall.

A new relief lookout appears on the mountain but the author is unsure that he has what it takes to cope alone in the wilderness. And some smokejumpers arrive to put out a fire, which reminds the author of the famous tragedy of the Mann Gulch fire which inspired Norman Maclean's famous book.

Capturing the wonder and grandeur of this most unusual job and place, Fire Season evokes both the eerie pleasure of solitude and the majesty, might and beauty of untamed fire at its wildest. Connors' time on the peak is filled with drama - there are fires large and small; spectacular midnight lightning storms and silent mornings awakening above the clouds; surprise encounters with smokejumpers and black bears.

Read by Kerry Shale

Produced by Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b013gfqp)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b013gftv)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at 5.20am.


SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b013gftx)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (b013gftz)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b013gfv1)
Short reflection and prayer with Glenn Jordan.


SAT 05:45 iPM (b013r8r6)
'Everywhere I go people are nervous. I see people holding on to their bags.' We hear from pupils who have been expelled from mainstream education. And, a teacher tells us she is "a bit of a cow" to her students, but her approach gets results. Plus Evan Davis reads Your News. With Eddie Mair and Jennifer Tracey. iPM@bbc.co.uk.


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (b013r40n)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SAT 06:04 Weather (b013r40q)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (b013r40s)
The Devil's Beeftub

17th Century Scotland was a troubled time. Immortalised by Sir Walter Scott the cavernous 'Devil's Beeftub' and the spectacular 'Grey Mare's Tail' waterfall became hiding places for Border Reivers and Covenanters as the countryside became a battleground for clans and religious factions.

Alistair Moffat has written about the infamous Reivers. They hid the cattle they stole from either side of the border in the 'Beeftub' as it provided a perfect vantage point to see any approaching armies. Theirs was a lawless time and knowledge of the landscape was vital for survival. Today the landscape is being carefully restored to a time before intensive cattle and sheep grazing had created the open vistas we see today. The Borders Forest Trust are attempting to plant thousands of native trees and work with farmers like Jim Mitchell to integrate todays community with conservation for the future.

Just down the road is the 'Grey Mare's Tail', one of the highest waterfalls in Scotland. Today it is home to feral goats and rare plantlife but in the 17th century it provided a hiding place for the Covenanters, those who objected to the interference of the Stuart Kings in the affairs of the Presbyterian Church. The National Trust now own the site and as well as the human history and wildlife the area also features some extremely old fossils.


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (b013r42s)
Farming Today This Week

Anna Hill discovers how a third of food produced across the world gets wasted before it reaches the plate. In the UK, this amounts to 16 million tonnes of food waste every year - with 40% going into landfill. Anna visits Richard Simkins' farm near Wolverhampton to hear how he cuts waste at every stage of food production.

In developing countries waste can be due to poor infrastructure or storage, but in industrialised nations it's consumers who are the main culprits for wasting food. Though Emma Marsh from Love Food, Hate Waste says this is a relatively new trend.

Around 2.6 million tonnes of food waste is generated every year during the manufacturing process - according to the waste reduction organisation WRAP. But some surplus food and by-products from processing does find its way back into the chain - as animal feed. Richard Simkins feed his animals leftover vegetables, whereas Pete Norris's cattle and sheep get fed waste chocolate and biscuits.

Scientists are researching ways to ensure we hold onto our food for as long as it's safe to eat. Pete Higgins has been developing the 'Use Within' label with Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh which will warn the consumer when their food reaches its 'Best Before Date'. However, the TV chef and food writer Mary Berry believes that all people need is common sense.

According to The Sustainable Food Restaurant Association, every meal we eat in a restaurant wastes around 500 grammes of food - the majority of which is wasted preparing their meal. Matthew Strange manages a chain restaurant in Birmingham and explains how they reduce waste.

Presented by Anna Hill. Produced by Emma Weatherill.


SAT 06:57 Weather (b013r49z)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 07:00 Today (b013r4b1)
Morning news and current affairs with Evan Davis and Justin Webb, featuring:
08:10 Could the killer of PC Yvonne Fletcher finally face justice?
08:16 Will a bigger police presence spoil the Notting Hill carnival?
08:33 From Tripoli, the BBC's John Simpson reflects on what the future may hold for Libya.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (b013r4b3)
Stella Duffy; Luke Wright; former Vice Consul Hugh Hunter, May Shigennobu, George Orwell's landlady Irene Stacey, Chris Tarrant

Richard Coles with writer and performer Stella Duffy, poet Luke Wright, a man who used to be a Vice Consul in Orlando and Marseilles, and a woman whose mother was a leader of the Japanese Red Army. There's a strange story about George Orwell's beer mug and Chris Tarrant's Inheritance Tracks.
Producer: JP Devlin.


SAT 10:00 Excess Baggage (b013r4b5)
Istanbul - Part 2

Sandi Toksvig in the second of two programmes continues her exploration the ancient and modern city of Istanbul which straddles the border between Europe and Asia. She looks at the its richness both in history and the fusion of eastern and western cultures in the arts and cuisine.

Producer: Harry Parker.


SAT 10:30 Ibiza: Britain's Balearic Soul (b013r76j)
The island of Ibiza has subtly influenced British youth culture and the nation's night-time economy for well over 20 years.

The Balearic attitude to nightlife and entertainment was adopted in Britain during the late 1980s and soon many young Brits were united by their devotion to house music, recreational drug taking and warehouse parties or raves.

By the mid-90s, millions of ordinary young people spent weekends 'dancing on drugs'. As alcohol sales dropped, the licensed leisure industry replaced so-called spit 'n' sawdust pubs with more modern bars. Bottled beers and alcopops became the drinks of choice. With BBC Radio 1 broadcasting live from the world's house music clubs, dance music culture became mainstream – staying there ever since.

Dr Kate O'Brien meets those at the heart of these changes. Internationally celebrated DJ Paul Oakenfield shares his first experience in Ibiza and how he tried to recreate the island's bohemian, hedonistic party scene. DJ Pete Tong explains how he pushed Radio 1 into being part of this unrelenting youth movement.

A former Chief Constable recalls struggling to manage 40,000 party-goers at an all-night rave. Plus experts on alcohol and drug consumption tell how society and government reacted to the 'normalisation' of recreational drug taking, with young people's determined move away from the limitations of licensed premises.

The history of British dance culture and clubbing is complex and fascinating, and Kate explores its impact.

Producer: Russell Crewe

A Made in Manchester production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in August 2011.


SAT 11:00 Beyond Westminster (b013r76x)
Talking Straight

Why can't politicians speak their minds? Instead of giving honest interviews, all too often politicians end up regurgitating the same soundbite over and over. What would be the consequences of greater openness? To what extent are the voters and the media responsible for driving this behaviour? Would the public prefer politicians to be more open? While voters often warm to a maverick, would they ever elect a government of mavericks? How do politicians themselves feel about having to be evasive? And has coalition government changed the rules of the game? Tim Samuels looks at what happens when politicians do speak their minds. He talks to voters, journalists, experts and politicians about whether it would be desirable for this aspect of our political culture to change, and whether it could ever happen?


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (b013r8f2)
The Arab-Israeli conflict seems to have been sidelined in this year of revolutions. But our Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen tells us that it hasn't gone away, and the signs are not good. It was 37-degrees at the Italian air base where Jonathan Marcus has been to meet some of the pilots flying NATO missions over Libya -- but not too hot for them all to tuck into a full English breakfast while Jonathan inquired: just how much have the pilots contributed to the rebels' success on the ground in and around Tripoli? They've been celebrating twenty years of independence in the Baltic state of Estonia and, not surprisingly, we find they've been doing it in song. Kieran Cooke's been to Shangri-La. This town in western China is supposed to be as close as you can get to an earthly paradise, but Kieran's not entirely convinced. And call him a hypochondriac but our man in the Hollywood hills, David Willis, is more than a little scared when he opens up an email telling him how likely it is that he'll get Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.


SAT 12:00 Money Box (b013r8f4)
On Money Box with Paul Lewis:

People who lost their homes and possessions in the recent riots are complaining that some mortgage lenders are not doing enough to help them. They've asked for their mortgage payments to be suspended for long enough to organise their lives once again but say their banks don't seem willing to go the extra mile. Bob Howard reports. The programme also hears from Rob Garnham, Chairman of the Association of Police Authorities.

Plus: Almost six million low income households in the UK get a reduction in their council tax bill through the means-tested council tax benefit. It now costs close on £5 billion a year and in an age of austerity, the Government decided to cut 10% - almost £500mn - off the bill. Some people, like pensioners - who account for nearly half the beneficiaries - will be protected, leaving the cuts to fall on younger households. A consultation has just been launched in England asking for ideas on how the planned cuts could be made by local authorities. Similar consultations are expected in Scotland and Wales. The Housing Minister Grant Shapps and Phil Agulnik from the website, Entitledto speak to Money Box.

Also: The Royal Bank of Scotland announced that it was going to stop its basic bank account holders from using cash machines owned by other banks. That decision will affect hundreds of thousands of customers, mainly on low incomes. The Lloyds Banking Group operates a similar policy. The Chairman of the Commons Treasury Select Committee, Andrew Tyrie, speaks to the programme.

And: With the volatility on the world's stock markets continuing, what should investors bear in mind? Justin Urquhart Stewart from Severn Investment Management, considers the options.


SAT 12:30 Chain Reaction (b013gfnh)
Series 7

Kevin Eldon interviews Mark Steel

Chain Reaction is Radio 4's tag-team interview show. Each week, a figure from the world of entertainment chooses another to interview; the next week, the interviewee turns interviewer, and they in turn pass the baton on to someone else - creating a 'chain' throughout the series.

Kevin Eldon is a writer and actor for whom it would probably be quicker to list the brilliant programmes he's not been in than those he has - which include Brass Eye, 15 Storeys High, Spaced, Look Around You, Black Books, Big Train, World of Pub, Jam, I'm Alan Partridge and Attention Scum!. He also wrote and starred in Radio 4's Poets' Tree, in character as the Islington poet Paul Hamilton, and is the singer in Beergut 100.

Mark Steel has presented a range of his own programmes on Radio 4, from The Mark Steel Solution, The Mark Steel Revolution, The Mark Steel Lectures to, most recently, the Sony Silver Award and Writers Guild Award-winning Mark Steel's In Town. He also occasionally appears in programmes that don't have his name in the title, such as The News Quiz.


SAT 12:57 Weather (b013r8f6)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 13:00 News (b013r8f8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (b013gfnm)
Aylesbury

Edward Stourton presents a topical discussion of news and politics from the Waterside Theatre in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. This week's panel will be Dame Wendy Hall, Professor of Computer Science and Dean of the Faculty of Physical and Applied Sciences at the University of Southampton; award-winning theatre director and Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre, Jude Kelly; the UK Director of Islamic Relief, Jehangir Malik and financial services columnist Margaret Doyle.

Producer: Kathryn Takatsuki.


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (b013r8fb)
Presented by Edward Stourton. Call 03700 100 444 or email any.answers@bbc.co.uk to comment on the issues raised by the audience in Aylesbury.

This week's panel: Dame Wendy Hall, Professor of Computer Science, University of Southampton; Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre Jude Kelly; the UK Director of Islamic Relief, Jehangir Malik and financial services columnist Margaret Doyle.


SAT 14:30 Saturday Drama (b013r8fd)
Winston Graham - Marnie

It's 1961 and blonde and stunning Marnie Elmer poses as a secretary in order to steal from her employers and fund her mother's existence in Torquay. But she's yet to meet handsome company director, Mark Rutland, whose pursuit of her will ultimately lead to her downfall.

Winston Graham is probably best known for his "Poldark" series, but also wrote a number of taut thrillers, of which "Marnie" (written in 1961) may be the best remembered - having been filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in the early 1960s. This new adaptation for radio returns to the heart of the book itself.

Dramatised for radio by Shaun McKenna

Director: Marion Nancarrow

The dramatist, Shaun McKenna's, many radio credits include "The Complete Smiley", "The Postman Always Rings Twice", "The Cry of the Owl" and "East of Eden".


SAT 15:30 Soul Music (b013f96w)
Series 12

Wichita Lineman

Wichita Lineman, the ultimate country/pop crossover track, is the subject of this week's Soul Music.

David Crary is a lineman from Oklahoma. He describes his job - storm-chasing to mend fallen power-lines; travelling on 'dirt roads, gravel roads, paved roads... up in the farmlands of Illinois and Missouri... down south in the Swamplands... it ain't nothing to swerve in the middle of the road in your bucket-truck to miss an alligator '.

He recalls the first time he heard Wichita Lineman, travelling in the back of his family's Station Wagon, listening to the radio... thinking that being a lineman 'must be a cool job' if someone's written a song about it. Also a part-time musician, David has recorded his own version of the song which sums up his working life... on the road, working long hours, away from his wife and six kids.

Wichita Lineman was written by Jimmy Webb for the Country star Glen Campbell. It tells the story of a lonely lineman in the American midwest, travelling vast distances to mend power and telephone lines.

Released in 1968 it's an enduring classic, crossing the boundary between pop and country. It's been covered many times, but it's Glen Campbell's version which remains the best loved and most played.

Johnny Cash also recorded an extraordinary and very raw version. Peter Lewry, a lifelong Cash fan, describes how this recording came about, towards the end of Cash's career.

Meggean Ward's father was a lineman in Rhode Island... her memories of seeing him in green work trousers, a plaid shirt and black boots, wrapping his cracked hands in bandages every morning before setting off to climb telephone poles are interwoven forever with Wichita Lineman... as a child she always felt the song was written for her father, who else?

Glen Campbell also gave an interview for this programme. Shortly after the interview was recorded, Campbell went public about his diagnosis of Alzheimer's. His contribution to the programme is brief, and includes an acoustic performance of the song. It was a real privilege to record this, appropriately enough, down the line.

Producer: Karen Gregor.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (b013r8gp)
Weekend Woman's Hour

As Anne Hathaway's new film One Day opens, how does a beautiful woman play a plain one? Plus: Miriam O'Reilly on ageism in TV; Esther Rantzen on being lonely; why babies are getting bigger; training or GCSEs - would some teenagers be better off leaving school at 14?; jazz singer Tammy Weis on the memories of her mother that inspire her songs; and Cook the Perfect...Gazpacho soup.

Recipe - serves four:

1kg/2.2lbs very ripe tomatoes, diced

1 ripe red pepper and 1 green pepper, deseeded and diced, plus 1/2 a ripe red pepper, cut into fine dice, to garnish

1 large cucumber, 3/4 peeled and diced, 1/4 washed and cut into fine dice, to garnish

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

150ml/5fl oz extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve

100g/4oz slightly stale crusty white bread, soaked in cold water for 20 minutes

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

Small bunch of mint, leaves finely chopped, to garnish

Method:

1. Mix the diced tomatoes, peppers and cucumber with the crushed garlic and olive oil in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Squeeze out the bread, tear it roughly into chunks, and add to the bowl. Blend until smooth.

2. Pass the mixture through a sieve, pushing through as much as possible, then cover and refrigerate until well chilled. You will need to do this in batches.

3. Add salt, pepper and vinegar to taste, and stir well.

4. Spoon the chilled soup into bowls. Put a teaspoon of finely diced cucumber and red pepper, and a teaspoon of chopped mint in the centre of the soup and circle with olive oil.

Presented by Jane Garvey.


SAT 17:00 PM (b013r8k4)
A fresh perspective on the day's news with sports headlines.


SAT 17:30 iPM (b013r8r6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:45 today]


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b013r8xc)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 17:57 Weather (b013rflj)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b013rfll)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (b013rg2h)
Clive Anderson and guests with an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy.

In the studio this week is a diva. Sheila Ferguson was one of the longest serving members of the 1970's soul group The Three Degrees performing hits such as 'When Will I See You Again'. She now stars at The Garrick Theatre in 'Respect La Diva' covering songs by the likes of Whitney Houston and Tina Turner.

The seventies have been seen by many as one long hangover after the excesses of the swinging sixties. In his new book 'In The Seventies, Adventures in the Counterculture' Barry Miles recasts this decade as a fascinating period when many of the dreams of hippies became reality.

John Crace has written 'Vertigo', discussing how fandom for his favourite Tottenham Hotspur Football Club started out in boyish hope but ended in dark comedy. John discusses how even when your favourite club are performing like champions, you soon become anxious through fear of success.

Nikki Bedi will be talking to Wayne Thallon, the director of new film 'A Spanking in Paradise'. This semi-autobiographical comedy looks into the dirty and dangerous world at the 'Paradise Sauna' and has been taking this year's Edinburgh Festival by storm.

There's music from two American bands, the first are 'Water Tower Bucket Boys' who have been brewing up a storm in the folk music world and will be bringing their bluegrass style into the Loose Ends studio with track 'Easy Way Out'. Also performing are 'Other Lives' who are just completing a UK tour after 3 months on the road in the US and will be playing their new single 'Tamer Animals'.

Producer: Sukey Firth.


SAT 19:00 Profile (b013rg2k)
Mustafa Abdul Jalil

Mustafa Abdul Jalil is a former Justice Minister for the Gaddafi regime and now head of Libya's National Transitional Council. He publicly challenged Gaddafi's authority and offered his resignation but it was turned down and the dictator preferred to keep Mustafa Abdul Jalil close, apparently encouraged by the leader's son Saif al-islam Gadaffi.

Known as a man of integrity and a stickler for the law, he defected in February after visiting the city of Bengazi, and saw peaceful protestors being shot. In May Mr Abdul Jalil did the rounds of European capitals calling on their governments to support the rebel National Transitional Council. But as Nick Ravenscroft reports there are doubts as to whether he has the leadership qualities to manage the disparate groups and steer the country toward democracy.

Producer: Rob Cave.


SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (b013rg2m)
Tom Sutcliffe and guests historian Kathryn Hughes, novelist Louise Doughty and writer Jim White discuss the cultural highlights of the week including the film The Skin I Live In.

The Skin I Live In is Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's latest film. Ever since his wife died of her burns in a car crash, surgeon Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) has been interested in creating a new skin with which he could have saved her. After twelve years, he manages to cultivate a skin that is a real shield against every assault. But the research laboratory in his own home has its own sinister secret.

The Genius in My Basement, the Biography of a Happy Man is Alexander Masters' story of mathmatics genius Simon Phillips Norton. Simon is exploring a theoretical puzzle so complex and critical to our understanding of the universe, that it is known as the Monster. This is Masters' folllow-up to his critically acclaimed Stuart: A Life Backwards

Bartlett Sher's production of South Pacific reinvents Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic musical. It swept the 2008 Tony Awards, played to sold-out houses on Broadway for 2 years, was televised across America, and now makes its London debut.

The tenth anniversary of 9/11 is almost upon us. Memory Remains: 9/11 Artifacts at Hangar 17 at the Imperial War Museum is a photographic exhibition by artist Francesc Torres to mark the 10th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks. We juxtapose that with a visit to another exhibition. The Museum of Broken Relationships is a touring exhibition, now open in London, which has collected together the weird and wonderful paraphernalia of hundreds of failed romances.

Phase Eight is a contemporary spy film, by David Hare, featuring Johnny, played by Bill Nighy, a long-serving MI5 officer. His boss and best friend Benedict dies suddenly, leaving behind him an inexplicable file, threatening the very stability of the organisation. Johnny is forced to walk out of his job, and then out of his identity, to find out the truth.

Producer: Anne Marie Cole.


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (b013rg2p)
When the Eyes of the World Were on the Clyde

"We are not going to strike. We are not even having a sit-in strike. Nobody and nothing will come in and nothing will go out without our permission. And there will be no hooliganism, there will be no vandalism, there will be no bevvying, because the world is watching us." (Jimmy Reid)

Back in 1971, shipyard workers in Glasgow embarked on a paradigm-shifting piece of industrial action. The general public of the 1970s were used to strikes. But a mass work-in in the Clyde ship yards drew support from across the political spectrum, and delivered a humiliating blow to the Heath Government.

In June 1971 John Davies, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, declared there will be no more state subsidies for the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders - all part of Ted Heath's plans to remove "lame duck" industries from the public purse. Shop steward Jimmy Reid's responded: "We don't only build ships on the Clyde, we build men. They have taken on the wrong people and we will fight."

The eyes of the world's media fell on Clydeside for the fourteen month work-in. Radio Four revisits the dramatic confrontations at Westminster between John Davies and Tony Benn, the Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, and reveals a private meeting between union leaders and Ted Heath at No 10, where they were reputedly offered whisky, but refused.

Journalist John Lloyd looks back at the extraordinary story of how Clydesiders took their future into their own hands, and looks at its relevance to current day events.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2011.


SAT 21:00 Classic Serial (b013fnz7)
Anthony Trollope - The American Senator

Episode 1

The American Senator
By Anthony Trollope
Dramatised by Martyn Wade
Part One
Arabella is determined to keep her engagement to John Morton a secret. Perhaps, there is a more exciting and wealthy husband she might be able to catch ...

Anthony Trollope..........Robert Glenister
Arabella Trefoil.............Anna Maxwell Martin
Lady Augustus.............Barbara Flynn
John Morton.................Blake Ritson
Senator Gotobed..........Stuart Milligan
Reginald Morton...........Daniel Rabin
Mrs Morton..................Richenda Carey
Mary Masters...............Penelope Rawlins
Lawrence Twentyman...Carl Prekopp
Lord Rufford.................Henry Devas
Mr Bearside.................Sean Baker

Directed by Tracey Neale

The Story:
In this little known tale, Anthony Trollope never allows The American Senator's attitude to get in the way of plot -and his ability to weave story strands which arise out of credible motivation, psychology and emotion is as sure as ever. The characters are as finely drawn as we have come to expect from the pen of Trollope. There's the extraordinary Arabella but also the comic, kind natured and the tragic characters too.

Arabella finds herself in the ignoble occupation of husband/fortune-hunting. She's aware that the years are passing and the strain of numerous failed relationships have made her prospects increasingly poor. She is unofficially engaged to John Morton, a diplomat, and owner of a large estate, but now the wealthy and more exciting Lord Rufford has come into view. His estate being larger and more grand. Surely he is worth fighting for?

Arabella, encouraged by her monstrous mother, Lady Augustus, decides to try and keep Morton on the back-burner (but deny her engagement in public) while engineering a series of compromising situations in an outrageous attempt to win Rufford.

But Arabella is playing a dangerous game and although her behaviour is both conniving and ruthless, she is extraordinary and powerfully-drawn and so does not become an out-and-out anti-heroine. She is, to some degree, the victim of her situation - and of her mother. She is courageous as well as devious, and she has her pride. As the tale concludes and she seeks some degree of redemption she achieves tragic status.

A parallel but secondary plot concerns Reginald Morton, an elder cousin of John, and Mary Masters, who is the complete antithesis to Miss Trefoil. Mary's absurd, domineering stepmother thinks that Mary should marry a besotted local farmer, Lawrence Twentyman but Mary is in love with Reginald Morton. Is he in love with her though? She finds support in the shape of Reginald's kind and gentle aunt, Lady Ushant, but there is the stern and grim grandmother of both John and Reginald who stands in the way of happiness because of a long-standing family feud.

Elias Gotobed, the visiting senator of the book's title, has little impact on events - but he has an important part to play as an observer of events; a gauche but vigorous critic of the antiquated elements of English society and the establishment. Gotobed's conclusions are a supplement to those which can be drawn from Arabella's tale, where greed, class-consciousness and snobbery are mercilessly displayed.

'The American Senator' is, in part, a state of the nation novel - enhanced by the parallels between Trollope's world and ours. Arabella has her modern-day equivalents, and the Senator's remarks throughout the dramatisation about the working man's passive and subservient nature have not lost their relevance.

The Author:
Anthony Trollope produced a vast collection of work about credible people and their foibles. He gained recognition as a writer who portrayed English life is a wry and honest manner with a cast of humorous and delightful characters. His portrayal of female characters is particularly skilful and Arabella Trefoil is no exception.

The Dramatist:
Martyn Wade is a skilled and talented radio writer and dramatist. He has dramatised the 'Barsetshire' novels for radio and the 'Palliser' series too. His other Trollope dramatisations have included 'Orley Farm' and 'Miss Mackenzie'. He also dramatised Ada Leverson's 'The Little Ottleys' for Woman's Hour.


SAT 22:00 News and Weather (b013rg2r)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.


SAT 22:15 Black Roses Debate (b013n5j5)
Matthew Taylor chairs an audience debate on the issues raised by today's Radio 4 drama 'Black Roses' about the murder, four years ago, of 20-year-old 'goth' Sophie Lancaster. How should 'hate crime' be defined - and what can we do to stop it? The panel includes Sophie's mother, Mrs Sylvia Lancaster, and will involve members of the invited studio audience.

Was the killing of Sophie an exceptional crime or was it typical of a wider problem of unprovoked attacks on strangers?

If 'hate crimes'- ranging from verbal abuse to murder - are commonplace, is the situation worse or better than it was a generation or two generations back? How has the authorities' response to these crimes changed during that time?

'Hate-crime' in the UK currently includes offences motivated by prejudice about the victim's race, religion, sexuality or disability. Sylvia Lancaster is campaigning to extend the definition of 'hate crime' to include offences motivated by 'hatred of sub-cultural groups'. But how could these be defined? Were the authorities hampered by legal constraints in their attempts to deal appropriately with what happened in Sophie's case? Would changes in the law be useful in future similar cases?

Is there anything to be gained from trying to understand the mental processes that lead to such crimes? Can anything be done to reform such criminals either before or after they've offended?

Would harsher sentences act as a deterrent to hate-criminals or would they make no difference?

Are there no-go areas in our towns and cities? Times of night when it's unwise to walk in the park or down a particular street? Places where it's unwise to be obviously different? If so, should we accept it as 'the way it is'? Contributory negligence on the part of the victim?

Producer: Peter Everett.


SAT 23:00 Round Britain Quiz (b013f120)
(2/12)
Another two of the regular teams join Tom Sutcliffe for the notoriously devious quiz of lateral thinking and fiendish connections. This week Michael Alexander and Alan Taylor of Scotland take on Stephen Maddock and Rosalind Miles of The Midlands.

Tom will be revealing the answer to last week's teaser: he asked what stature is shared by a French international who played for Arsenal and Chelsea, an anonymous author, and the straight man in a 1970s double-act.

There will be plenty more puzzles along similar lines for the panellists to tackle, including, as usual, some devised by Round Britain Quiz listeners.

Producer: Paul Bajoria.


SAT 23:30 Maledictions and Disaffections - Poetry That Doesn't Please (b013gjhz)
Not all poetry comes out of praise and celebration. An anthology of spells and grudges presented by Matthew Parris, delving deep into hate poems: the poetic equivalent of a doll and a box of pins. Horace and Catullus begin it all but bad-mouthing stretches to the football terraces and the family photo album. Anger is an energy and curses are alive and well even if witches are not.