The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Laurie Taylor explores impartiality in TV political interviewing and he examines how the colour 'yellow' became applied to people of Asian origin.
Professsor Ian Hutchby from the University of Leicester discusses a recent seminar 'Going Ballistic: Non-neutrality in the Televised Hybrid Political Interview'. In it, he outlines the structures of a new form of televised political journalism, the Hybrid Political Interview (HPI), which combines standard forms of interview technique with much more tendentious, opinionated, and even argumentative reporting. Laurie and Ian are joined by the Director of Broadcasting at City University, Lis Howell.
Laurie also discusses a new book called 'Becoming Yellow: A short history of racial thinking'. Professor Michael Keevak from The National Taiwan University explores how the notion of the colour yellow became attached to people of Asian origin.
The cow which Farming Today is following through a year of milk production has given birth, and the time has come for separation from her two day old calf. Dairy farmer, David Cotton, discusses why he believes the process causes minimal distress to the animals. As plans for a commercial gold mine in the Loch Lomond National Park look likely to be approved this week, Charlotte Smith discusses the role of National Park Authorities 60 years after they were first created.
Professors Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw explain why quantum physics is not as difficult as it seems.
Foreign Secretary William Hague outlines why Tory euro rebels are wrong on an EU referendum.
Actress Emma Thompson, who has just visited Burma, reflects on the possibility of reform in the country.
Andrew Marr talks to musician Jarvis Cocker about lyrics and the lyricism of the everyday; to playwright Jez Butterworth about his vision of bucolic myths and modern brutality in the English countryside; to poet Melanie Challenger about the extinction of species and also of ways of life and to Matthew White who catalogues and compares the brutality of humanity throughout the ages.
Five prominent thinkers from five EU countries offer personal reflections on the idea of Europe at this critical moment in its history.
Today, writer and journalist Beppe Severgnini contemplates the view from Italy.
BEPPE SEVERGNINI has been writing for the Italian newspaper "Corriere della Sera" since 1995 and has just published "La pancia degli italiani. Berlusconi spiegato ai posteri" (Rizzoli 2010, Berlusconi Explained to Posterity and Friends Abroad). Since 1998 he has been moderating the online forum "Italians" (www.corriere.it/italians), the subject of his book "Italians. Il giro del mondo in 80 pizze" (Rizzoli 2008). He has written for "The Economist" (1993-2003) and for the New York Times Syndicate (2007-2009). In 2004, Beppe Severgnini was voted "European Journalist of the Year" in Brussels.
Will Young performs in the studio and talks about his musical career, ten years on from Pop Idol. Parenting is under scrutiny like never before but is it time to stop blaming parents for problems in society? New research has identified an enzyme that could be responsible for recurrent miscarriage - we look at what this might mean for future treatment. Actress Carmen Aguirre on growing up with political protest in South America. Presented by Jane Garvey.
Episode 1. Bed.
Four months into their long distance relationship single parents Rosie and Tom have only spent five weekends together and they still haven't told their online pals.
In a 1930s art deco building on an industrial site in Edinburgh's Craigmillar estate, a group of evangelical travellers meets every Sunday and Thursday in the Life and Light church. Alan Dein meets Violet and other members of the church as they mingle with former heroin addicts, and joins them and Pastor Alister as they go 'witnessing' on Craigmillar.
Once a thriving community, today Craigmillar lies two thirds empty, with promised re-development on hold. For the last twenty years Craigmillar has been in a constant state of flux as one housing project after another has been flattened and entire neighbourhoods moved from one end of the estate to the other.
In contrast, the travellers' site has been isolated from Craigmillar's ever changing landscape. Through their church they have created a bubble in which to live. It's a small pocket of life, pretty much self contained and contrasts greatly with the fragmented estate next door.
Venturing into the heart of a housing scheme rife, so say the travellers, with drug dealers, Alan is not sure what kind of reception they will receive. On the estate he meets Heather, Craigmillar born and bred, who takes him to a wasteland. Once her home, it's now an eerie landscape with the roads and street lights still there but the houses gone.
Violet and Heather: a story of a small patch of inner-city life with two very different perspectives...
A comedy series written by Lynne Truss set in and around a Brighton police station in the 1950s.
Second World war Bomb disposal hero Captain 'mad Hoagy' Hoagland, reassures a doubtful Sergeant Brunswick that he does indeed deserve his silver truncheon award for bravery, and saves the day at the bandstand presentation ceremony of this presentation when he defuses a ticking bomb in a box with the aid of his old army bomb disposal team member Terence Chambers; who discovers that criminal Adelaide Vine has arranged for the severed head of his old criminal fraternity friend Birthmark Potter to be placed in the ticking box so it will appear that Mrs Groynes is responsible for his murder.
Vine is led off by Chambers to meet her fate at his hands, and the Brighton police station team learn that Inspector Steine can be persuaded into all kinds of useful behaviour by the employment of reverse psychology; with hilarious results..
Inspector Steine ...... Michael Fenton Stevens
Mrs Groynes ...... Samantha Spiro
Sergeant Brunswick ...... John Ramm
Twitten ...... Matt Green
Captain Hoagland ...... Robert Bathurst
Adelaide Vine ...... Janet Ellis
Terence Chambers ..... Ewan Bailey
Why local councils are trying to increase the number of travellers sites in order to avoid expensive evictions such as Dale Farm. How will the localism bill affect this?
New austerity measures by local councils could leave parts of the countryside with few or no bus services.
We hear from some elderly people who agreed to pay more than £3000 for a scheme that promised to save them thousands of pounds in care fees. But is it possible to avoid fees for care homes? We investigate.
The online service which offers new bands access to hundreds of gig venues and helps them to hone their performance skills and promote themselves online.
The cost of postage stamps could soon rise, but how will this affect our mailing habits?
We catch up on the progress in the fight against scrap metal theft. Catalytic converters, which contain platinum, and plaques from York Minister are the two of the latest targets for thieves.
With Shaun Ley. National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
What would a philanthropist with an aversion to Mondays, the Goons' harmonica player, and all of the inhabitants of Arnhem, do to a horse?
In answering this week's batch of convoluted questions, Tom Sutcliffe is joined by the teams from The Midlands and Wales, both currently looking like strong contenders for the Round Britain Quiz champions' title this year.
Rosalind Miles and Stephen Maddock of the Midlands take on Myfanwy Alexander and David Edwards of Wales, in what will be the last match this season for both teams. They'll need all their powers of lateral thinking as usual, along with a healthy store of random information from history, music, sport, literature, popular culture and science.
There are questions supplied by Round Britain Quiz listeners and a chance, as ever, to submit your own ideas.
A young teacher is accused of having an affair with a sixth former. This is now a criminal offence and the teacher stands to lose more than his career. To make matters worse the pupil's mother seems to have given her blessing to the affair and theoretically she could be charged with aiding and abetting. A complicated case of trust and consent for Frank Twist and co.
Why do we sleep, and why do many of us find crossing the threshold of sleep so difficult?
Sleep is our shadow life: if it were a place we'd spend about a third of our life there. We are as varied and eccentric in sleep as we are in our waking lives. And we still understand very little about why we sleep, how it works and what sleep and dreams actually mean. In this series mixing science with art, myth and poetry, award winning poet and broadcaster Paul Farley goes on the long journey through a night's sleep.
We hear from Armond Aserinsky, whose father discovered REM sleep in the 1950s and poetry from across the centuries capturing the enduring mysteries of sleep. Paul also spends the night wired up at a sleep clinic to find out what happens to the brain as we cross the threshold into sleep.
This series blends theories of treatment and cause with the surreal, the supernatural and fantastic; the eerie recording of sleep talkers and testimony of sleep walkers with poetry from Sylvia Plath, WH Auden, Philip Larkin and Jane Kenyon.
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
Hosted by the Professor of Ignorance from the University of Buckingham John Lloyd C.B.E. and the intensely curious comedian Dave Gorman.
Natalie Haynes is an author, comedian and critic. Her book, The Ancient Guide To Modern Life is all about the wisdom and lifestyles of the ancient Greeks and Romans and uses them to give us a better perspective of our own time. Natalie is bubbling with facts and loves busting cherished myths about the classical past. Natalie is also a massive fan of detective fiction, to which she has applied her prodigious intellect. An obsessive Diagnosis Murder fan, Natalie would give up a year of her life to live in the time in which Dick Van Dyke was the "biggest star in the world".
David McCandless is a journalist and the author of Information Is Beautiful, a book which uses imaginative new ways to display complex statistical information, using novel graphics. David was also once the UK's Doom video game champion, narrowly beaten in the world final by a 14-year-old boy with a moustache.
David Crystal is the Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor. He is without doubt Britain's top linguist. He has written over a hundred books on the subject, including the standard texts read by every linguistics student in the country, and edited the Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English language. He knows exactly how many different words there are in an average edition of the Sun, because he's counted them, knows just why people are wrong when they say that txtspk is the death of English, and once sold two dozen adjectives at a shilling each.
Will and Nic find that the registrar does have a slot on 1 January, and Caroline manages to accommodate them too. Nic can't believe it, especially when she realises they are to be married in the Darrington Room, where the Duchess of Cornwall had her tea. Nic's mum will be delighted. Shula and Caroline have lunch together and have a good catch up.
Emma is off to see her nan, and not looking forward to it, as Ivy is so poorly. But she is looking forward to going to the cinema with George this afternoon. However, when they come out of the cinema, they bump into Clive. He manages to get George to agree to go bowling with him, to Emma's horror.
She goes home and tells Ed, who is very clear that they will not allow it. They'll take George out somewhere on that day themselves, and they'll get Susan to tell Clive. What with that and seeing Nic sporting a sparkly new ring, it's not a good day for Emma. When Ed tells her the wedding is a good thing, as it takes the pressure off them for a bit, Emma flounces off.
Anonymous, directed by Roland Emmerich, claims Shakespeare didn't write any plays or sonnets: the real author was the Earl of Oxford - played by Rhys Ifans - who wrote them all in secret. Ryan Gilbey reviews.
Stephan Solzhenitsyn, son of the Nobel Prize-winning writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, reflects on his father's life and legacy, as a new collection of his short stories is published in English for the first time.
Oscar-nominated actress Viola Davis talks to Mark about her new film The Help. She reflects on the differences between acting in Hollywood and on stage, and the roles she is offered as an African-American actress.
Germany history is often obscured by the fog of Nazism, making it easy to forget both the high culture, and its often feeble past. There is for example in Koblenz a fountain, marked in 1812 by Napoleon's army heading east, and by the Russians in 1813 heading west. In this series Germany is the turntable, the chess board, the stomping ground of Europe.
"It's very difficult to think of Germany at this time as having a future of unity and power," says Professor Norman Davies. "It was in many ways retarded."
In this second programme, Misha Glenny explores the rise of Prussia - from Frederick the Great in 1740 to humiliation by Napoleon in 1806. He discovers a state far removed from the images of Iron Crosses, spiked helmets and officious bureaucrats of popular imagination. It is Prussia that will eventually create modern Germany, but first there are several myths to dispel.
Misha Glenny is a former BBC central European correspondent and winner of a Sony gold. The producer is Miles Warde, who collaborated with Misha Glenny on previous series about the Alps, the Habsburgs and Garibaldi.
Frances Stonor Saunders looks at the role of cultural diplomacy in spreading liberal British values around the world.
The British Council and the BBC World Service, both part-funded by the Foreign Office, are the two most important institutions of British cultural diplomacy.
The British Council organises exhibitions and events at its offices around the world with artists such as Grayson Perry. He feels that the fact his work deals with controversial themes is part of his attraction for the cultural diplomats keen to convey the values of liberalism by saying, "Look what we put up with in our country: a cross-dressing potter who's talking about the evils of advertising."
The BBC World Service is editorially independent but is funded by the Foreign Office.
Frances Stonor Saunders explores the tension between the fact that cultural diplomacy has an official purpose yet the endeavours it seeks to promote need to maintain freedom and independence as a mark of a liberal society.
Contributors include Grayson Perry, Timothy Garton Ash and Sir Sherard Cowper Coles.
Quentin Cooper presents his weekly digest of science in and behind the headlines. He talks to the scientists who are publishing their research in peer reviewed journals, and he discusses how that research is scrutinised and used by the scientific community, the media and the public. The programme also reflects how science affects our daily lives; from predicting natural disasters to the latest advances in cutting edge science.
Anna Funder shot to fame when her first book, 'Stasiland', about the secret police in East Germany, won the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2004. Now she has taken a true story and written a gripping novel that reveals what happened to the German Left as the Reich took over in the early nineteen-thirties. In a story of fear and fortitude, enormous bravery and terrible betrayal, she reveals not only the lengths the Gestapo went to, to drive the socialists out and to pursue them across Europe, but also the sacrifices made by the émigrés who wanted to tell the truth about what was happening in their homeland.
Anna Funder was inspired by the true story of her friend, Ruth Blatt, and by those of Dora Fabian, Ernst Toller and Hans Wesemann. She has woven history into a story of passion for a cause, for the truth and for life.
Today: As Ruth Becker reaches the end of her life she finds herself remembering more and more, and above all thinking of her beloved cousin Dora.
Hattie Morahan, Sara Kestelman and Samuel West read All That I Am by Anna Funder.
Radio 4's Radio 4's 2009 Poetry Slam second semi-final was held at the South Street Arts Centre in Reading, where nine slammers battled it out for a place in the final. They were: Catherine Brogan, Alison Brumfitt, Danny Chivers, Kit Lambert, Simone Mansell Browne, Brenda Reade Brown, Deanne Rodger, Pete the Temp, Liv Torc.
A slam is a knockout performance poetry competition in which poets perform their own work to a time limit and are given scores based on content, style, delivery and level of audience response. In the space of two minutes, performers must demonstrate their word-play, performance skills and inventiveness; over two or three rounds, poets are knocked out until one top scorer emerges as the winner. Slams attract a wide range of performers and styles, from heartfelt love poetry to searing social commentary, uproarious comic routines, and bittersweet personal confessional pieces.
Sean Curran presents the day's top news stories from Westminster. MPs vote on whether they think there should be a national referendum on EU membership. On committee corridor, a couple who were kidnapped by Somali pirates, Paul and Rachel Chandler, tell the Foreign Affairs committee about their experience.
TUESDAY 25 OCTOBER 2011
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b0162p2n)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b0167zk0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0162p2q)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0162p2s)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0162p2v)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b0162p2x)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b016812b)
with Shaunaka Rishi Das, Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b016812d)
Anna Hill finds out how conservationists go about legitimate bird netting, amid concern about illegal trapping. MPs will vote on Government plans to abolish the Agricultural Wages Board in England and Wales, which sets minimum pay levels, and conditions including overtime rates, for farmworkers. The AWB is due to be scrapped under the Public Bodies Bill, which gets its third reading in the Commons today. And, Anna learns what it's like to farm in a National Park from a man who grazes three thousand Aberdeen Angus on the Broads.
Presenter: Anna Hill
Producer: Sarah Swadling.
TUE 06:00 Today (b016812g)
Morning news and current affairs, with John Humphrys and Evan Davis, including:
07:50 Is the eurozone crisis Silvio Berlusconi's fault?
08:10 Education Secretary Michael Gove on the EU referendum.
08:30 How many people can the Earth sustain?
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (b016812j)
Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Jim Al-Khalili talks to astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell.
Jocelyn Bell Burnell forged her own path through the male-dominated world of science - in the days when it was unusual enough for women to work, let alone make a discovery in astrophysics that was worthy of a Nobel Prize.
As a 24-year old PhD student, Jocelyn spotted an anomaly on a graph buried within 100 feet of printed data from a radio telescope. Her curiosity about such a tiny detail led to one of the most important discoveries in 20th century astronomy - the discovery of pulsars - those dense cores of collapsed stars.
It's a discovery which changed the way we see the universe, making the existence of black holes suddenly seem much more likely and providing further proof to Einstein's theory of gravity.
Jocelyn Bell Burnell was made a Dame in 2008 and a year later became the first ever female President of the Institute of Physics.
Producer: Anna Buckley.
TUE 09:30 One to One (b016812l)
Lyse Doucet with Nader Nadery
For this week's edition of 'One to One' Lyse Doucet has travelled to Kabul to speak to Nader Nadery, a human rights campaigner who, despite living under direct threat from the Taliban, continues to work for the future of his country.
He's in his thirties, which means that in his lifetime his country has never been at peace. When he was eight his primary school was destroyed by the Mujahideen and, in his twenties, he was arrested and tortured by the Taliban. Highly educated and able to live abroad should he want to, he's chosen to remain in Kabul and now works for a human rights organisation. His inspiration is Ghandi - his telephone screensaver bears his image - yet he must travel in an armoured car for his own protection.
Producer: Karen Gregor.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b016g4v2)
State of the Union
Episode 2
Five prominent thinkers from five EU countries offer personal reflections on the idea of Europe at this critical moment in its history.
Today, Michael Stürmer contemplates the view from Germany.
Producers: Justine Willett and Emma Harding
Michael Stürmer is a distinguished, though sometimes controversial, historian and author; his most recent work was Putin and the Rise of Russia. During the 1980s, he was advisor and script writer to Helmut Kohl, and is currently Chief Correspondent on Die Welt.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b016812n)
Anna Chancellor; young adults with autism
First-born women who could have been Queen - we start a new series with a feature on Matilda; Anna Chancellor on her newest role as a journalist; Zsuzsi Roboz and her paintings of authors; and what happens next for school leavers with autism? Presented by Jane Garvey.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b016972w)
Soloparentpals.com: Series 3
Wedding
SOLOPARENTPALS.COM by Sue Teddern
Episode 2. Wedding.
After a disastrous and decidedly unromantic weekend away Rosie is worried that Tom doesn't want her at his ex-wife's wedding.
Rosie - Liz White
Tom - Kris Marshall
Tash - Karina Jones
Gill - Jane Whittenshaw
Barb - Adjoa Andoh
Waiter - James Lailey
Director: David Hunter.
TUE 11:00 Saving Species (b016812q)
Series 2
Episode 23
Four years in the making, months and months of gruelling filming in both the Antarctic and Arctic, this week BBC1 airs the Natural History Units latest wildlife landmark Frozen Planet. The series Executive Producer Alastair Fothergill will be in the Saving Species studio to talk about the series and especially recounting the experience taking Sir David Attenborough down to the Antarctic ice shelf - a lasting experience Alastair tells us that portrays the change under way in the Antarctic.
And we're live to Bird Island, South Georgia with British Antarctic Survey Biologists in amongst the albatrosses and fur seals of the South Atlantic.
Also in the programme, the latest news of the Spectacled Eiders Julian Hector visited in the Arctic. This species is the only bird in the Arctic to winter on ice. Matt Sexson of the U.S. Geological Survey will tell us the latest movements and behaviour of the birds our programme met in the summer.
Presenter Brett westwood
Producer Sheena Duncan
Editor Julian Hector.
TUE 11:30 Classics Illustrated: The Comic Book Unbound (b016812s)
Bill Paterson marks the 70th anniversary of the launch of the comic book series Classics Illustrated.
Marking the 70th anniversary of the comic book series Classics Illustrated, actor Bill Paterson explores the publication's impact and recent revival on Britain's bookshelves.
Classics Illustrated, the comic book adaptations of classic literature, began in America in 1941, starting with an adaptation of The Three Musketeers, followed by Ivanhoe and The Count of Monte Cristo, and soon became a favourite reading material for children and many adults.
Paterson reveals his lifelong passion for the comic as he charts the fortunes of Russian Jewish immigrant Albert Kantner, who conceived the idea of a comic book series as self-contained abridgments of a literary work into a single comic book.
Over a thirty year period a vast range of literary classics were adapted; from The War of the Worlds, to Sherlock Holmes, Moby Dick, Treasure Island, Faust and Dr No. These publications later became popular in Britain but the series regularly came under fire for distracting children from reading the original stories.
Contributors include Professor John Sutherland and British bookseller Jeff Brooks who in recent years revived the comic book versions using the original artwork with new covers.
Readings are provided by Buzz Hawkins, Jayne Ashbourne and Barnaby Gordon.
The programme is written by Roger Dobson and produced in Manchester by Stephen Garner.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b016812v)
As the Commons prepares to debate whether the UK should remain a member of the European Union, leave it altogether or renegotiate the terms of its membership, we ask; Is it time for a national referendum? Have your say on Call You and Yours with Julian Worricker. Email youandyours@bbc.co.uk or call 03700 100 444 (lines open at
10am).
TUE 12:57 Weather (b0162p2z)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b016812x)
With Shaun Ley. National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
TUE 13:30 Tales from the Stave (b016812z)
Series 7
Episode 2
Frances Fyfield and a team of musical experts look at the scores of one of Sir Hubert Parry's best known works: his anthem 'I Was Glad'.
'Dear Parry,
The King wishes you to write something for the Coronation Service and I am desired to propose this to you in His Majesty's Name. Your know already how much I hope you will write an anthem ' I was glad'.
The Director of Music for the forthcoming coronation of King Edward VII contacted Parry with this request and Parry's resulting setting of Psalm 122 remains one of the great pieces of Anglican ceremonial music. It's been a favourite at Coronations and it was played at Westminster Abbey earlier this year when Catherine Middleton processed up the aisle to meet Prince William.
Frances Fyfield is joined by Parry expert, Jeremy Dibble, Peter Wright, director of music at Southwark Cathedral, custodian of the score, Royal College of Music librarian Peter Horton and handwriting expert, Ruth Rostron.
Producer: Sarah Taylor.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b0167zkx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b015cnnh)
Tontine
When a community savings system goes wrong, disaster looms for one struggling family. A hard hitting new play from Karen Brown, starring Alison Steadman.
Current Treasury figures suggest that
1.75 million UK adults have no access to a transactional bank account. So how are they keeping their money safe?
Tontines were started on mainland Europe in the 17th century, but fell out of favour. Such schemes still exist in the UK, where people are struggling to make ends meet, without access to the banking system. Tontines run successfully in small communities, where trust and responsibility are still respected. The Tontine collector is given regular payments every week. The savers can call on the money in an emergency or often at Christmas, paying back a small fee on any loan.
Thomas and Anne Lally have taken over the local tontine scheme from Thomas' mum, Marie. A run of bad luck culminates in Thomas being on crutches and so not able to work. Anne reveals that she has been dipping into the tontine savings - and now owes thousands to their friends and neighbours. The family have to make the money back. The grim reality is that they are too much in debt to ever reach their target..so what options do they have?
The writer
Karen Brown's recent work includes a Radio 4 Woman's Hour, Sherbet Dolls, and two 45 dramas for BBC1. The first, The Rain Has Stopped was nominated for a RTS award.
Marie..............Alison Steadman
Anne..............Jess Schofield
Thomas.............Shaun Mason
Cheryl..............Angela Simms
Gordon............Roy Brandon
Director/producer Polly Thomas
Sound designer Eloise Whitmore
Executive producer Kate McAll
A BBC Radio Drama at Cymru/Wales production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:00 Making History (b0168131)
Normandy 1204: Helen Castor talks to Professor Daniel Power author of The Norman Frontier in the Twelfth and Early Thirteenth Centuries (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004) about impact of the loss of the Duchy of Normandy in 1204 on families with Norman ancestry.
The Black South African Football Tour of 1899: Making History listener Eryl Freestone has a memoir written by her grandfather which describes a tour of black South African footballers that he helped organise in 1899, just as the South African war was about to start. Eryl meets with Dr Chris Bolsmann at the University of Aston who has been researching the tour and was desperate to find an ancestor of WM Williams' - Ery's grandfather.
Professor Vanessa Toulmin at the National Fairground Archive explains the tour in the wider context of entertainment history in the late Victorian period.
1872 - a peak in republicanism?: Rohan McWilliam at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge goes head to head with Dr Alex Windscheffel at Royal Holloway University of London.
Dr Matt Edgeworth (a Bedford archaeologist and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Leicester) explains how aerial photos satellite maps available on the internet and accessible through personal computers can help identify previously hidden archaeological features. He takes us to the River Great Ouse to find out more about a medieval weir he discovered using such a technique.'
Producer: Nick Patrick
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b0168133)
Just William: Rightin' Wrongs
The Pennymans Hand on the Torch
Adapted by Martin Jarvis.
Martin Jarvis chooses and performs three more Richmal Crompton stories about her immortal hero, William Brown. Today, the Outlaws are intrigued by some eccentric newcomers to the village who plan to persuade everyone to return to the simple life.
They say they want to 'bring back the morning to the world'. The village, naturally, isn't too keen on the idea. But when William gets involved - which includes his exciting performance as Saint George's dragon - there's a surprisingly effective, if unexpected, outcome.
Producer: Rosalind Ayres
Director: Pete Atkin
A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:45 The Sleep Diaries (b016k8qy)
3am Eternal
Paul explores the dead of night where each moment brings the insomniac closer to the first chink of light through the curtains.
Sleep is our shadow life: if it were a place we'd spend about a third of our life there. We are as varied and eccentric in sleep as we are in our waking lives. And we still understand very little about why we sleep, how it works and what sleep and dreams actually mean. In this series mixing science with art, myth and poetry, award winning poet and broadcaster Paul Farley goes on the long journey through a night's sleep.
We hear from Armond Aserinsky, whose father discovered REM sleep in the 1950s and poetry from across the centuries capturing the enduring mysteries of sleep. Paul also spends the night wired up at a sleep clinic to find out what happens to the brain as we cross the threshold into sleep.
This series blends theories of treatment and cause with the surreal, the supernatural and fantastic; the eerie recording of sleep talkers and testimony of sleep walkers with poetry from Sylvia Plath, WH Auden, Philip Larkin and Jane Kenyon.
Presenter: Paul Farley
Producer: Jo Wheeler
A Brook Lapping Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 16:00 Law in Action (b0168135)
Inquiries: Advice to Lord Justice Leveson
As the Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press takes evidence, Joshua Rozenberg looks at the expanding role of public inquiries and independent reviews, their practices and procedures and how accountable they are.
In his inquiry, Lord Justice Leveson is seeking an inclusive approach, holding open seminars and teach-in sessions and creating a role for "core participants" who have demonstrated a special interest in the Inquiry's work. The panel of experts working with the judge has been chosen, it is claimed, for its independence. But just how transparent will the Inquiry be? Joshua Rozenberg talks to those involved in previous high-profile public inquiries to discover what effect they have had on our law and public policy, whether they represented value for money for the taxpayer and whose interests they really served.
Among those taking part are:
Lord Falconer, former Lord Chancellor;
Inquiries expert, Richard Lissack QC;
Inquirer into the death of Victoria Climbie, Lord Laming;
Inquirer into the deaths caused by Harold Shipman, Dame Janet Smith; and
Inquirer into the Soham murders and child protection issues, Lord Bichard.
Producer: Simon Coates.
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b016817f)
Christopher Frayling and Nikki Bedi
Christopher Frayling, Professor Emeritus at the Royal College of Art, and broadcaster Nikki Bedi talk to Harriett Gilbert about the books they love.
Christopher's recommendation is a passionate political polemic: Ill Fares The Land: A Treatise On Our Present Discontents, by Tony Judt.
Nikki picks The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, the story of a boy growing up in an Indian family in America.
Harriett's choice is the first in the celebrated Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin.
Producer: Beth O'Dea
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.
TUE 17:00 PM (b016817h)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0162p31)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Hard to Tell (b016817k)
Series 1
Episode 3
Hard To Tell is a four part relationship comedy by Jonny Sweet (Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer 2009). who conjures up characters depicting every relationship from father and daughter to the mirror in the bathroom and the feller hiding at a party; from the stalker and the stalked to dog owners and their dogs; and from lifelong friends to long term partners and their dearly departed.
In episode 3, if your son is visiting with his new girlfriend, how far apart should their beds be placed? Can she be trusted with a remote control? And is it OK to indulge your fondness for Helen Mirren?
Producer: Lucy Armitage
A Tiger Aspect production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b016817m)
Jennifer is worried about the differences between Adam and Brian. Brian is very busy as the opening of the new market gets closer. He doesn't have time for Adam. Jenny has talked to Adam though, and his visit to a big dairy has not given him cause to change his mind. He still has questions to ask. Brian is irritated.
Jim is staying at Woodbine Cottage to help Christine feel safer with Clive around in the village. He goes off the Bull to talk to the cider club about his plans to restore the orchard at Grange Farm. Some of the cider club are worried that they will be working hard just to give the Grundys more cider and more profit. Mike spells it out to Eddie in no uncertain terms and Jim has to smooth things over. He suggests he keeps a tally of who does what, and they'll get paid in cider. Eddie isn't happy, but he has to accept it. Christine arrives in the pub looking upset, but it isn't anything to do with Clive. She's realised that people are gossiping about her and Jim. Jim tells her everyone who matters knows exactly why he's doing it.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b016817p)
Umberto Eco in a Front Row special
Kirsty Lang meets Italian intellectual and novelist Umberto Eco, now nearly 80, at his home in Milan. The writer looks back at the surprise success of his first novel The Name of the Rose, published when he was 48, which has sold 50 million copies.
Following successes with subsequent novels including Foucault's Pendulum and Baudolino, Umberto Eco's sixth novel is published in the UK next week. The Prague Cemetery is a controversial novel set in 19th Century Europe, which focuses on the birth of modern-day anti-semitism. The book has already sold one million copies and abounds with conspiracy theories, forgery and deceit. In a rare interview Umberto Eco, a professor in semiotics, reflects on his fascination for language and the way it is used to deceive, which lies at the heart of much of his writing.
Producer Jerome Weatherald.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b016972w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (b016817r)
Cash from the Crisis
World leaders preparing for the G20 conference are facing a threat to the global economy from the on-going Eurozone sovereign debt crisis. But as they try to avert further economic catastrophe some investors see opportunities to profit from the mayhem.
Michael Robinson reveals how on-going economic volatility and uncertainty can also present golden investment opportunities - and how, through complex trades, bets and investments, some find cash in the current crisis.
Producer: Gail Champion
Reporter: Michael Robinson
Editor: David Ross.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b016817t)
More on the Lucentis-Avastin debate
The drug Lucentis - used in the treatment of Wet AMD - costs the NHS more than one per cent of its whole drugs budget. Now the Macular Disease Society wants the Government to appraise the far cheaper alternative Avastin. It's currently unlicenced for the treatment of eye disease because of concerns about side effects but is being prescribed by some private opthalmologists and an increasing number of Primary Care Trusts in the NHS.
Helen Jackman from the MD Society explains why they want the Department of Health to act now.
And former In Touch presenter Jane Copsey on why she missed out on our 50th Birthday celebrations.
After a spell in hospital she tells us why a common sense approach to care could make all the difference and not cost a penny.
Producer Cheryl Gabriel.
TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (b01681ky)
Sleep - Hysteria
How can a good night's sleep improve your memory? Why does the answer to a crossword clue suddenly appear first thing in the morning after a night's rest? In this week's programme Claudia Hammond talks to psychologist, Kimberly Fenn about what happens in the brain when we sleep and why it can significantly improve our memory.
Hysteria or conversion disorder is surprisingly, not confined to medical history. Nearly 1 in 5 patients seen by neurologists will have symptoms like paralysis, fits or loss of vision which can't be explained neurologically. Claudia talks to neurologist, Mark Edwards and psychiatrist, Richard Kanaan about the history of conversion disorder, how common it is today, the best way to treat it and its complex causes. Also in the programme, Claudia meets the carers getting involved in mental health research and why their input is making a a difference to research projects exploring mental health across the country.
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (b016812j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b0162p33)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b01681l0)
European Union finance ministers are struggling to come to an agreement ahead of a crucial meeting of EU leaders, tomorrow. Can the countries in the eurozone afford another delay?
Official election results from Sunday's vote in Tunisia are to announced today. The Ennahda party, which is expected to win, says it is inspired by the Turkish model of Islamism. Is that the way forward for the new Arab democracies?
And we have a special report from the Netherlands, which has managed to keep youth unemployment at reasonably low levels.
On The World Tonight, with Ritula Shah.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01681l2)
Anna Funder - All That I Am
Episode 2
Anna Funder shot to fame when her first book, 'Stasiland', about the secret police in East Germany, won the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2004. Now she has taken a true story and written a gripping novel that reveals what happened to the German Left as the Reich took over in the early nineteen-thirties. In a story of fear and fortitude, enormous bravery and terrible betrayal, she reveals not only the lengths the Gestapo went to, to drive the socialists out and to pursue them across Europe, but also the sacrifices made by the émigrés who wanted to tell the truth about what was happening in their homeland.
Anna Funder was inspired by the true story of her friend, Ruth Blatt, and by those of Dora Fabian, Ernst Toller and Hans Wesemann. She has woven history into a story of passion for a cause, for the truth and for life.
Today: Ruth remembers the heady early days when she fell first under her cousin, Dora's, spell, and then met the charismatic Toller and the handsome Hans Wesemann, and love and the cause of the left became intertwined.
Hattie Morahan, Sara Kestelman and Samuel West read All That I Am by Anna Funder.
It was abridged by Sally Marmion
The producer is Di Speirs.
TUE 23:00 Warhorses of Letters (b01681l4)
Series 1
Episode 1
Deep in the British Library tucked into the slipcover of a book on the history of Blenheim Palace a packet of extraordinary letters has been discovered.
"Dear Marengo brackets Napoleon's horse close brackets, I've never written a letter like this before...."
Thus begins the first passionate letter from Copenhagen, the Duke of Wellington's horse, to his hero Marengo in this epistolary equine love story. A story of two horses united by an uncommon passion, cruelly divided by a brutal conflict.
Stephen Fry stars as Marengo, the seasoned, famous and just-a-little-bit-short mount of Emperor Napoleon. Daniel Rigby stars as Copenhagen, the frisky young racehorse who as our story begins is about to be the new mount for the Duke of Wellington.
Introduced by Tamsin Greig.
In this opening episode, the early days of their romance and the early days of the Peninsular Campaign, and as their love blossoms the shadow of impending combat looms over our two heroes.
Marengo ..... Stephen Fry
Copenhagen ..... Daniel Rigby
Narrator ..... Tamsin Greig
Written by Robbie Hudson and Marie Phillips.
Director: Steven Canny
Producer: Gareth Edwards.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2011.
TUE 23:15 Living with Mother (b0100grq)
Series 1
Spilt Milk
Michael has never had a girlfriend and his mum Susan decides it's time for him to buck his ideas up and get a woman. She wants him out of the house for both their sakes, he's 41 after all!
But Michael is a lazy dreamer. No woman in her right mind would want him. Still, Susan has a plan. Her friend's got a single niece and if needs be, Susan will drag Michael over there. Perhaps the niece will take pity on him. But maybe Michael has plans of his own...
Cast:
Susan: Alison Steadman
Michael: Alexander Kirk
Producer: Anna Madley
An Avalon Television production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b016dq0t)
Susan Hulme listens in as MPs reflect on the big Tory rebellion over Europe. The justice secretary, Ken Clarke, casts doubt on locking up youngsters carrying knives. There are protests at plans to scrap the chief coroner for England and Wales. And peers begin a long look at the government's health reforms.
Editor Peter Mulligan.
WEDNESDAY 26 OCTOBER 2011
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b0162p3p)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b016g4v2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0162p3r)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0162p3t)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0162p3w)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b0162p3y)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01684j3)
with Shaunaka Rishi Das, Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b01684j5)
Investors are swapping bricks and mortar for their own piece of the countryside. It is thought that alongside farmers who want to expand, pension funds and foreign companies are also buying up the fields and pastures across the UK. It is predicted that the value of land could increase by up to 12% by next year. Anna Hill talks to an auctioneer to hear how land is bought and sold through closed secret bids. Simon Rubinsohn from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors explains why farmland is the new hot property.
The area covered by the UK's 15 National Parks has grown by 3,000 square miles in the past decade. There is a delicate balance being struck in the parks to secure the magnificent views whilst still providing amenities to those who live and work there. Moira Hickey visits the Cairngorms National Park to see how the march of the pylons has been halted in one area.
Presenter: Anna Hill; Producer Angela Frain.
WED 06:00 Today (b01684j7)
Morning news and current affairs, with John Humphrys and James Naughtie, including:
07:30 Can European leaders save the eurozone?
07:50 Why we need a review into breast cancer screening.
08:25 The life of Hurricane Higgins.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b01684j9)
This week Libby Purves is joined by Richard Rycroft, Sir Terry Wogan, Matt Croucher and Sona Jobarteh.
After a long career in the police force, Richard Rycroft became an actor and also a stand-up comedian. He says that the two roles of policeman and actor are quite similar, but his only frustration as an actor is that no one will cast him as a policeman - he's just not convincing in that role apparently! He is appearing as the CEO in the improvisational show, 'The Office Party' which is running at London's Pleasance Theatre.
Sir Terry Wogan has been a radio and TV broadcaster since the sixties, first in Ireland and then the BBC. He retired from his Radio 2 show 'Wake Up to Wogan' in 2009, which boasted a regular eight million listeners, including the TOGS - Terry's Old Geezers and Gals. His book, 'Wogan's Ireland', which was also a BBC series, recalls his memories of Ireland, from the politics to the personal. 'Wogan's Ireland' is published by Simon & Schuster.
Matt Croucher GC joined the Royal Marines aged sixteen. He served in Iraq and in Afghanistan, where in 2007 he was awarded the George Cross when he jumped on a live grenade to protect his men in Afghanistan. Now an ambassador for the Royal British Legion, he has written the book 'The Royal British Legion: 90 Years of Heroes - the official 90th anniversary tribute', which is published by Collins.
Sona Jobarteh is the first female Kora virtuoso from the prestigious West African Jobarteh Griot family, coming from a long line of hereditary musicians. She is also a singer, producer, film composer and multi-instrumentalist and is the granddaughter of the master Griot Amadu Bansang Jobarteh. She is performing at the Nour Festival at Leighton House Museum, London W14. Her latest CD 'FASIYA' is out on West African Guild Records.
Producer: Chris Paling.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b016g4vs)
State of the Union
Episode 3
Five prominent thinkers from five EU countries offer personal reflections on the idea of Europe at this critical moment in its history.
Today political commentator and author Agnès Poirier contemplates the view from France.
Producers: Justine Willett and Emma Harding
Agnès C. Poirier is a political commentator and film critic for the British, American, Canadian, French and Italian press, and a regular contributor to the BBC, Sky News, and Al Jazeera. She is the author of Les Nouveaux Anglais (2005), Touché, A French woman's take on the English (2006), Le Modèle anglais, une illusion française (2007), Les Pintades à Londres (2008). She is currently writing her next book, a study on post-war French intellectuals.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01684jc)
Joely Richardson; dyslexia; Eva Braun; child protection
Joely Richardson on playing Queen Elizabeth I with her mother Vanessa: she tells us about her latest film role. Can dyslexia sometimes be an advantage? We discuss proposals to improve social work and child protection. Eva Braun: her life with Hitler and impact on Nazi Germany. Presented by Jane Garvey.
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0169761)
Soloparentpals.com: Series 3
Choices
SOLOPARENTPALS.COM by Sue Teddern
Episode 3. CHOICES.
Long-distance single parent couple Rosie and Tom both have difficult decisions to make and they confide in different online pals.
Rosie - Liz White
Tom - Kris Marshall
Tash - Karina Jones
Callum - Keaton Lansley
Gill - Jane Whittenshaw
Tony - James Lailey
Director: David Hunter.
WED 11:00 Number One Forensic Detective Agency (b01684jf)
The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency returns to BBC Radio 4 shortly. The stories, of course, are set in Botswana. But did you know that this tiny nation of under 2 million is probably the most advanced in Africa in crime scene investigation, with police from all over the continent sent there for training ? And the United States has one of only four international police academies based there.
Yet, at the same time, traditional beliefs, such as witchcraft and the power of curses, persist ; senior police officers are also cattle farmers; and the head of the police training college sees herself as a real-life Mma Ramotswe.
The former BBC Home Affairs Correspondent, Professor Jon Silverman, has travelled to Botswana to unravel these contradictions and finds that truth is at least as strange as fiction.
Producer: Vera Frankl
A IGA Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 11:30 The Rivals (b01684jh)
Series 1
The Problem of Cell 13
By Jacques Futrelle.
Dramatised by Chris Harrald.
Inspector Lestrade was made to look a fool in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Now he has a chance to get his own back, with tales of Holmes' rivals. He continues with the extraordinary story of Professor SFX Van Dusen, who thinks his way out of a locked prison cell.
Lestrade . . . . . James Fleet
Van Dusen . . . . . Paul Rhys
Lucy . . . . . Alex Tregear
Fielding . . . . . Sean Baker
Merriman . . . . . Stuart McLoughlin
Hatch . . . . . Alun Raglan
O'Connor . . . . . Simon Bubb
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b01684jk)
Why washing laundry at lower temperatures might not be enough to kill disease-causing bugs.
Eight million people have now signed up for electronic NHS records, which will make information more readily available to doctors but will the system be able to deliver on all it promises?
The government is releasing raw data on road works, parking spaces and cycling accident black spots with the hope of making our journeys quicker and safer. We hear from the people who are using it to make mobile apps and websites.
On Wednesday MEPs will vote for a 5% cuts in expenses but some MEPs are refusing to back it. Melanie Abbott explains why.
And how Prince Charles came to rescue of the last working Victorian pottery in the UK, Burleigh Pottery in Stoke-On-Trent.
Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Steven Williams
WED 12:57 Weather (b0162p40)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b01684jm)
With Shaun Ley. National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
WED 13:30 The Media Show (b01684jp)
WikiLeaks and the i
WikiLeaks has said that it may have to close after payment companies, including Visa, Mastercard and Paypal, blocked payments to the site, cutting off its funding. So why are these companies targeting WikiLeaks and what does the move mean for freedom of speech? Journalist and former WikLeaks employee James Ball and Jean-Francois Julliard of Reporters Without Borders ask whether WikiLeaks can survive.
It's a year since The Independent launched its compact sister paper, the i. The move, which was seen as a risky tactic at a time of declining newspaper sales, seems to have paid off and the i is now outselling The Independent. To discuss what i's success could mean for the future of the Independent, Steve Hewlett is joined by Andrew Mullins, the managing director of both newspapers as well as the London Evening Standard.
ITV's hit entertainment show The X-Factor has seen a drop in ratings compared to last year's series, as bigger audiences for Strictly Come Dancing close the gap between the rival shows. Has the X-Factor lost appeal without Simon Cowell? Or could this be a sign that its format needs refreshing? Showbiz journalist Dan Wootton and former ITV director of programmes Simon Shaps discuss how producers can maintain the appeal of long running formats.
The producer is Simon Tillotson.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b016817m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b01684jr)
Mike Harris - Stevenson in Love
Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes
By Mike Harris.
Based on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic travelogues, journals and personal letters.
Stevenson sets off with a donkey across the Cevennes in France and in the process keeps a journal that later becomes his popular travelogue "Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes." But does his journeying help him to forget the woman he has met and fallen in love with - Fanny Osbourne?
In 1879 and 1880, three years before he was to write 'Treasure Island', Robert Louis Stevenson was a largely unpublished and unsuccessful writer.
Despite his father's wishes, however, he saw his life in literature. In 1876, he had met Fanny Osbourne the woman who was to become his lover and later his wife. At the time of their meeting Fanny was escaping from America with her children - away from a husband who only brought her misery through his serial infidelities.
One of Stevenson's earliest publications was an essay 'On Falling in Love' for The Cornhill magazine.
In 1878 Fanny decided that she had to return to America and to her husband. Stevenson embarked on a walk through the Cevennes with a donkey in 1879 which was later to be published as 'Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes' and in August of the same year he resolved to follow Fanny to America.
His journey was also published - most particularly in 'The Amateur Emigrant'.
Mike Harris' two plays portray these two enormously significant journeys and attempt to capture Stevenson's feelings for Fanny and how they affected him on his travels.
Producer: Clive Brill
A Pacificus Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 15:00 Stephanomics (b016bhsr)
Series 1
Episode 2
In the second of three programmes, Stephanie Flanders discusses the global financial crisis with a panel of top economic thinkers including George Soros. She'll be asking just who is to blame for the current economic mess we're in. Was it the fault of the bankers - who plenty of people want to blame - or was it the economists? And what can we learn from this, or is the problem that we simply don't learn lessons from past crises? Stephanie Flanders will be joined in the studio to debate these questions by the billionaire investor, George Soros, Sir Howard Davies, who is the former director of the LSE, former chairman of the FSA and former deputy governor of the Bank of England, and also Dr DeAnne Julius, chairman of Chatham House and a former member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee.
The programme is broadcast first on BBC Radio 4 and later on BBC World Service Radio, BBC World News TV and BBC News Channel TV.
Producer: Caroline Bayley
Editor: Stephen Chilcott.
WED 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b016dggx)
Just William: Rightin' Wrongs
The Knights of the Square Table
Adapted by Martin Jarvis.
Martin Jarvis chooses and performs three more Richmal Crompton stories about her immortal hero, William Brown. William persists in his belief that there's money to be made from 'rightin' wrongs' - a shilling for big ones and sixpence for little ones. And he'll be in charge as King William. His faith is rewarded by the arrival of an amiable young man who has a wrong that is definitely worth a shilling to put right - one that involves a fair damsel and a false knight. William's ingenuity as a knight of the square table is tested to the limit as tea-time approaches.
Producer: Rosalind Ayres
Director: Pete Atkin
A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 15:45 The Sleep Diaries (b016k8td)
In Dreams
In deep sleep, where the places we go and things we see are almost unlimited, but does dream interpretation matter?
Sleep is our shadow life: if it were a place we'd spend about a third of our life there. We are as varied and eccentric in sleep as we are in our waking lives. And we still understand very little about why we sleep, how it works and what sleep and dreams actually mean. In this series mixing science with art, myth and poetry, award winning poet and broadcaster Paul Farley goes on the long journey through a night's sleep.
We hear from Armond Aserinsky, whose father discovered REM sleep in the 1950s and poetry from across the centuries capturing the enduring mysteries of sleep. Paul also spends the night wired up at a sleep clinic to find out what happens to the brain as we cross the threshold into sleep.
This series blends theories of treatment and cause with the surreal, the supernatural and fantastic; the eerie recording of sleep talkers and testimony of sleep walkers with poetry from Sylvia Plath, WH Auden, Philip Larkin and Jane Kenyon.
Presenter: Paul Farley
Producer: Jo Wheeler
A Brook Lapping Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b01684jw)
Muslim women's basketball - Still life
Is tradition under threat from capitalism, or are we overly negative about the cultural impact of globalisation? Henrietta Moore challenges what she sees as despair about the impact of international capitalism and new technology and claims that globalisation is just as likely to improve the human experience. She tells Laurie Taylor that her new theory about how we create culture, rejects the notion that it is ever 'imposed' from abroad.
Also, there's an absence of visible Muslim female sportswomen. Islamic rules on gender segregation and dress codes can create limitations on women's ability to be athletes. And the secular world of sport doesn't always welcome women who don't wear shorts and swimsuits. But new research suggests that the picture is changing as women find ways to play sport which don't conflict with their faith. The sociologist, Dr Sam Farooq, tells Laurie about the young British Muslim women who see no contradiction between basketball and religious belief.
Producer: Charlie Taylor.
WED 16:30 All in the Mind (b01681ky)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 17:00 PM (b01684jy)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0162p42)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 I've Never Seen Star Wars (b014gsmn)
Series 4
Frank Skinner
Marcus Brigstocke invites comedian Frank Skinner to try 4 new things, including getting a spray tan and eating Jugged Hare.
Whether the experiences are banal or profound, the show is about embracing the new and getting out of our comfort zones.
The title comes from the fact that the show's producer and creator Bill Dare had never seen the film Star Wars.
Producer: Bill Dare
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2011.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b01684k2)
Lynda is auditioning for Christmas Around the World. She sees Rhys and Jazzer, among a few others, and Jim is going to do his Roman poetry. By the end of the session she despairs. It's supposed to be a dazzling visual and aural display of internationalism, and instead they have a half-hearted trek around the British Isles.
Vicky tries to encourage her by suggesting various international influences in the village. Lynda should try Usha, and Elona's daughter. Lynda is heartened. When Rhys is keen to know how he did, they tell him he's in the show.
Tom comes home with good news. He's reclaimed one of his old customers. In fact, it's Dave Langdon, who was his best sausage customer. And he said he'd enjoyed watching Tom's pig video. Tom takes this as evidence that his rebranding has made all the difference.
Pat and Tony are pleased, but still resistant to Tom's insistence that they should rebrand their products. Tom goes to see Pat and begs her. Please can they sit down and discuss it, at least.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b01684k4)
David Attenborough; Jeanette Winterson
With Mark Lawson.
George Clooney directs and stars in The Ides of March, a political drama set on the US primary campaign trail. Ryan Gosling plays an up and coming political strategist, whose idealism is threatened by the discovery of a dirty secret. Baroness Shirley Williams reviews.
Jeanette Winterson made her literary debut with Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, a novel with strong autobiographical references to her troubled childhood. She talks about her new memoir, Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal?, which promises the true story of her upbringing.
As David Attenborough's latest series Frozen Planet starts on BBC One, he discusses how making programmes about the natural world has changed during his career - and why it's now impossible to ignore climate change when filming.
As protesters remain camped outside St Paul's Cathedral, Mike Bartlett's new play 13 opens at the National Theatre and explores political and social unrest in contemporary London. Andrew Rawnsley gives his verdict.
Producer Georgia Mann.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0169761)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Unreliable Evidence (b01684k6)
Reporting The Law
Clive Anderson and some of the country's top lawyers and judges discuss legal issues of the day.
The second programme in the series explores growing concerns that press coverage of the judicial process is out of control, resulting in trial by media and a threat to the defendant's right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Guests include the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, who is responsible for initiating contempt of court proceedings against the media and has successfully prosecuted several national newspapers this year.
Challenged to take action more frequently, he says he is reluctant to act in a way which would inhibit freedom of speech, but says that if newspapers flagrantly disregard the law he would be forced to consider introducing tougher laws.
The other guests are Old Bailey judge Peter Rook, leading barrister Desmond Browne QC and Gill Phillips, a senior lawyer in the legal department of the Guardian.
Producer: Brian King
An Above The Title production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b01684k8)
Series 2
Christie Watson: What's Worse than Death?
Novelist and former paediatric nurse Christie Watson asks whether there are some things worse than death.
She describes the extraordinary medical breakthroughs which allow children to be kept alive today who previously would have died.
But she asks whether community care and medical ethics have kept up with the increasing number of technology-dependent children, that is, children who cannot breathe without life support machines.
Four Thought is a series of talks which combine thought provoking ideas and engaging storytelling.
Recorded in front of an audience at the RSA in London, speakers take to the stage to air their latest thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect our culture and society.
Producer: Giles Edwards.
WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (b01685zk)
Let it Snow!
With planes grounded, airports shut and chaos on the roads, last winter was the harshest in a century.
Temperatures plummeted to minus 22 degrees in Scotland and the whole of the UK was covered in a thick blanket of snow and ice for weeks. Britain was brought to a standstill.
It is estimated that the cold weather cost the economy around £700 million; energy demand rocketed with demand for gas breaking all records; 60,000 miles of roads were gritted; thousands of schools were shut.
Weather forecasters are unsure if the last two winters are the shape of things to come, or whether the country suffered freak conditions.
With winter 2011 approaching, Tom Heap finds out what preparations are being made to ensure the country's transport infrastructure, power stations, emergency services and food retailers are ready for another big freeze.
Producer: Martin Poyntz-Roberts.
WED 21:30 Midweek (b01684j9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b0162p44)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b01685zm)
National and international news and analysis.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01685zp)
Anna Funder - All That I Am
Episode 3
Anna Funder shot to fame when her first book, 'Stasiland', about the secret police in East Germany, won the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2004. Now she has taken a true story and written a gripping novel that reveals what happened to the German Left as the Reich took over in the early nineteen-thirties. In a story of fear and fortitude, enormous bravery and terrible betrayal, she reveals not only the lengths the Gestapo went to, to drive the socialists out and to pursue them across Europe, but also the sacrifices made by the émigrés who wanted to tell the truth about what was happening in their homeland.
Anna Funder was inspired by the true story of her friend, Ruth Blatt, and by those of Dora Fabian, Ernst Toller and Hans Wesemann. She has woven history into a story of passion for a cause, for the truth and for life.
Today: As Ruth Becker reaches the end of her life she finds herself remembering more and more, and today recalls her marriage, Dora's love affair and the night in the TicTacToe Club in Berlin, when the noose began to tighten around them all.
Hattie Morahan, Sara Kestelman and Samuel West read All That I Am by Anna Funder.
It was abridged by Sally Marmion
The producer is Di Speirs.
WED 23:00 Don't Start (b01685zr)
Series 1
Idea
Celery rears its ugly head again as Neil attempts his Androcles and the lion tactic when making tea, and Kim admits she has grievance nostalgia.
What do long term partners really argue about? Sharp new comedy from Frank Skinner. A masterclass in the great art of arguing. Starring Frank Skinner and Katherine Parkinson.
Well observed, clever and funny, Don't Start is a scripted comedy with a deceptively simple premise - an argument. Each week, our couple fall out over another apparently trivial flashpoint - a text from a friend, a trilby and a bad night's sleep. Each week, the stakes mount as Neil and Kim battle with words. But these are no ordinary arguments. The two outdo each other with increasingly absurd images, unexpected literary references (Androcles and the Lion pop up at one point) and razor sharp analysis of their beloved's weaknesses.
Cast:
Neil ..... Frank Skinner
Kim ...... Katherine Parkinson
Producer/Director: Polly Thomas
An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:15 The Music Teacher (b00smrlt)
Series 1
Episode 6
Written by Richie Webb.
Shut away in a tiny practice room in the bowels of Letchington Arts Centre Nigel endures a steady stream of challenging pupils: a tone deaf Priest struggling to sing mass, a highly-strung harpist with a over-strung harp and the world's most flatulent tuba player rank among the most trying.
Particularly as Nigel is in the middle of an OFSTED inspection - the impending results of which prey heavily on his mind. Almost as heavily as the prospect of the closure of Arts Centre, which Belinda is convinced is on the cards. So much so that she has started a 'Save Letchington Arts Centre' campaign - and she wants Nigel to front a protest song live on the local TV news.
Cast:
Nigel Penny ..... Richie Webb
Belinda ...... Vicki Pepperdine
Other roles by Dave Lamb, Jim North and Jess Robinson.
Directed by Nick Walker
Produced by Richie Webb
A Top Dog Production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01685zt)
Sean Curran presents the day's top news stories from Westminster .
The Prime Minister, David Cameron faces the opposition leader, Ed Miliband, at Prime Minister's Questions.
Also on the programme, Mps debate the government's record on the National Health Service while on the committee corridor defence ministers and military top brass talk about the situation in Libya.
THURSDAY 27 OCTOBER 2011
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b0162p4q)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b016g4vs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0162p4s)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0162p4v)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0162p4x)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b0162p4z)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b016924q)
with Shaunaka Rishi Das, Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b016924s)
The Yorkshire Dales National Park is preparing to expand by around a fifth in size. Natural England has given the green light to its expansion along with the Lake District National Park by around three percent. The Secretary of State will now consider the plans. Caz Graham travels to meet villagers within the proposed new boundary who say it will benefit businesses and residents but she also hears from a farmer who's concerned he'll face too many restrictions.
While some parts of the UK are still suffering the effects of this Summer's drought others are being deluged by rain. Parts of Belfast have seen a month's worth of rain in three days this week, causing flooding in some areas. Caz Graham hears how farmers in Northern Ireland have been coping with swamped crops and potatoes and the emergency rescue of piglets.
Produced by Anne Marie Bullock. Presented by Caz Graham.
THU 06:00 Today (b016924v)
Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather, Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b016924x)
The Siege of Tenochtitlan
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Siege of Tenochtitlan. In 1521 the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes led an army of Spanish and native forces against the city of Tenochtitlan, the spectacular island capital of the Aztec civilisation. At first Cortes had been welcomed by the Aztec leader, Moctezuma, and he and his men were treated like kings. But their friendship proved short-lived, and soon celebrations turned into vicious fighting. After a prolonged siege and fierce battle, in which many thousands died, the city finally fell. This major confrontation between Old and New Worlds precipitated the downfall of the Aztec Empire, and marked a new phase in European colonisation of the Americas.With:Alan Knight Professor of the History of Latin America at the University of OxfordElizabeth GrahamProfessor of Mesoamerican Archaeology at University College, LondonCaroline Dodds Pennock Lecturer in International History at the University of Sheffield Producer: Natalia Fernandez.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b016g4w7)
State of the Union
Episode 4
Five prominent thinkers from five EU countries offer personal reflections on the idea of Europe at this critical moment in its history.
Today, writer and journalist Fintan O'Toole contemplates the view from Ireland.
Producers: Justine Willett and Emma Harding
Fintan O'Toole is an assistant editor of, and a columnist with, The Irish Times. His work has appeared in many international newspapers and magazines, including The New Yorker, the New York Review of Books, Granta, The Guardian, the New York Times and the Washington Post. His books include 'Enough is Enough is Enough: How to Build a New Republic' (2010), 'Ship of Fools: How Stupidity and Corruption Sank the Celtic Tiger' (2009), 'The Irish Times Book of the 1916 Rising' (2006), and 'Shakespeare is Hard but so is Life' (2002).
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b016924z)
Risks of breast cancer in older women; Stephanie Beacham
Stephanie Beacham on Dynasty, Corrie and the afterlife; concerns that not enough women are aware of the increased risk of developing breast cancer as they get older; the appeal of Argentina's leader Cristina Kirchner; and we discuss the play "Speechless" and children who don't speak.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0169251)
Soloparentpals.com: Series 3
Plain Tie No Hair Gel
SOLOPARENTPALS.COM by Sue Teddern
Episode 4. Plain tie no hair gel.
Rosie is keeping the baby but Tom doesn't know about it yet. And Tom is being interviewed for a job in Manchester but he hasn't told Rosie.
Rosie - Liz White
Tom - Kris Marshall
Tash - Karina Jones
Gill - Jane Whittenshaw
Callum - Keaton Lansley
Director: David Hunter.
THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (b0169253)
A dystopian vision of Venice - Rachel Harvey's words as she watches the flood waters approaching Bangkok's city centre. Allan Little, covering the historic first Arab Spring election in Tunisia, says there aren't many days in a life spent chasing news that are as unremittingly positive as this! Jennifer Pak's in Kuala Lumpur reporting on a controversy in Malaysia over a proposal to extend Islamic law. Garreth Armstrong visits the South African town of Mafeking -- once the scene of a British military triumph, today a peaceful place with more interest in the arts than in history. And Alex Kirby takes a boat trip in Ukraine and finds that when something as finite and crucial as water has to be shared between competing needs, there are inevitably losers. The programme's introduced by Kate Adie.
THU 11:30 Jack Jackson: Rhythm and Radio Fun Remembered (b0169255)
Exploring the legacy of musician and broadcaster Jack Jackson, who died in 1978, through the eyes of three generations of his family.
Kenny Everett said of him 'He was the first person to have fun on radio', but even though he inspired many broadcasters and musicians it is the incredible impact Jackson still has on his family.
This programme uncovers another Jackson dynasty overflowing with musicians, record producers and artists all striving to preserve his memory and make their own impression on the world. His two sons established a recording studio, used by artists such as Elton John, Tom Robinson and Motorhead. His daughter is a successful artist and designer and several of his grandchildren are forging effective careers in the music business - one of which co-founded production group 'Bimbo Jones' which has taken numerous number ones to the top of the dance charts. His great grand children are all encouraged to be musical.
Jackson's career in entertainment spanned fifty years. Jackson formed his band in the thirties and was a regular at London's Dorchester Hotel. He became a disc jockey in 1948 on the BBC Light Programme and his programmes featured a mix of linking his voice with comedy clips and popular music. According to his grandson Marc he was the first broadcaster in Britain to introduce the technique of sampling and to present a "clip show" programme.
He is also often cited as the man who gave the BBC the nickname 'Auntie' and the first voice heard on ITV.
Producer: Stephen Garner
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b0169257)
A new natural, calorie free sweetener - an answer to obesity?
Data protection breaches should be punishable by custodial sentences, and the Information Commission's powers enlarged. These are some of the recommendations of the new Justice Committee's report on data protection and referral fees. Winifred Robinson speaks to Justice Committee with Chairman Sir Alan Beith, and Malcolm Tarling from the Association of British Insurers.
York is the home of a pilot to become Britain's first dementia friendly city - we find out what this means.
Stevia is the first calorie free sweetener and set to be approved for use across the EU in a few weeks. So will it answer dieters dreams of eating treats and staying slim, as well as making a lot of money ? We find out, and ask how good the science is that calorie free sweeteners do in fact help you lose weight. We also report on the government's Call to Action on Obesity - will it halt the rise in obesity by 2020 as pledged, and does it put too much emphasis on us, and too little emphasis on the food industry.
We look at the new banks promising a better deal for customers - do they deliver.
And what effect will anticipated changes to solar tariffs mean for green energy.
Presented by Winifred Robinson.
Producer: Rebecca Moore.
THU 12:57 Weather (b0162p51)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b0169259)
With Shaun Ley. National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
THU 13:30 Costing the Earth (b01685zk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:00 The Archers (b01684k2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b016fs6f)
Mike Harris - Stevenson in Love
The Amateur Emigrant
By Mike Harris.
Based on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic travelogues, journals and personal letters.
In pursuit of the woman he loves Stevenson first catches a steamer to New York and then undertakes a momentous train journey across America - ending in California. But will she leave her husband for him.
In 1879 and 1880, three years before he was to write 'Treasure Island', Robert Louis Stevenson was a largely unpublished and unsuccessful writer.
Despite his father's wishes, however, he saw his life in literature. In 1876, he had met Fanny Osbourne the woman who was to become his lover and later his wife. At the time of their meeting Fanny was escaping from America with her children - away from a husband who only brought her misery through his serial infidelities.
One of Stevenson's earliest publications was an essay 'On Falling in Love' for The Cornhill magazine.
In 1878 Fanny decided that she had to return to America and to her husband. Stevenson embarked on a walk through the Cevennes with a donkey in 1879 which was later to be published as 'Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes' and in August of the same year he resolved to follow Fanny to America.
His journey was also published - most particularly in 'The Amateur Emigrant'.
Mike Harris' two plays portray these two enormously significant journeys and attempt to capture Stevenson's feelings for Fanny and how they affected him on his travels.
Producer: Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 15:00 Ramblings (b0167qph)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:07 on Saturday]
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b0167vjh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b016fwlk)
Just William: Rightin' Wrongs
William Helps the Cause
Adapted by Martin Jarvis.
Martin Jarvis chooses and performs three more Richmal Crompton stories about her immortal hero, William Brown. Since he's recovering from flu, William is compelled to go with his mother to a planning meeting for the local Bazaar. His quietness is ill-advisedly taken for seriousness and a genuine interest in the proceedings, so, rashly, the organisers give him the responsibility of running one of the stalls. But his initial lack of enthusiasm turns into one of his greatest triumphs when his stall becomes the centre of an extraordinary incident which the village will never forget.
Producer: Rosalind Ayres
Director: Pete Atkin
A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 15:45 The Sleep Diaries (b016k9yr)
Walking in Your Sleep
Paul explores the uncanny world of sleep disorders and sleep talk.
Sleep is our shadow life: if it were a place we'd spend about a third of our life there. We are as varied and eccentric in sleep as we are in our waking lives. And we still understand very little about why we sleep, how it works and what sleep and dreams actually mean. In this series mixing science with art, myth and poetry, award winning poet and broadcaster Paul Farley goes on the long journey through a night's sleep.
We hear from Armond Aserinsky, whose father discovered REM sleep in the 1950s and poetry from across the centuries capturing the enduring mysteries of sleep. Paul also spends the night wired up at a sleep clinic to find out what happens to the brain as we cross the threshold into sleep.
This series blends theories of treatment and cause with the surreal, the supernatural and fantastic; the eerie recording of sleep talkers and testimony of sleep walkers with poetry from Sylvia Plath, WH Auden, Philip Larkin and Jane Kenyon.
Presenter: Paul Farley
Producer: Jo Wheeler
A Brook Lapping Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 16:00 Open Book (b0167vk4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:30 Material World (b016928z)
London Science Festival Special
Material World this week comes from the London Science Festival. Quentin Cooper presents an outside broadcast recorded in front of an audience at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.
The programme celebrates citizen science and do-it-yourself discovery, as part of 'So You Want to Be a Scientist?', Radio 4's search for the next BBC Amateur Scientist of the Year.
Producer: Michelle Martin
THU 17:00 PM (b0169291)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0162p53)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Dave Podmore (b00nct5b)
Strictly Dave Podmore
This is the hitherto untold story of Strictly series Seven, when England's least co-ordinated cricketer Dave Podmore spun his way onto the dancefloor of Strictly Come Dancing, stumbling in the twinkle-toed footsteps of Messrs Ramprakash, Gough and Tuffnell.
Can England's legendary journeyman, never known for his timing and footwork on the field, pull it off on the night? Will he manage the Rhumba without spilling his Red Bull?
Its Saturday Night Fever meets Test Match Special. Not exactly Dirty Dancing, but certainly a disappointing standard of hygiene. Dave Podmore is written and performed by Christopher Douglas and Andrew Nickolds with Nick Newman.
Producer: Richard Wilson
A Hat Trick Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b0169293)
Christine and Jim do some gardening together, and plan to reward themselves with lunch in the pub. But as they're walking to The Bull next door, chatting about Lynda's efforts with the Christmas show, Christine spots Clive across the Green. Terrified, she's about to rush back into the house, but Clive goes into the shop. Jim says Clive is as anxious to avoid Christine as she is to avoid him. But she's trembling, and Jim takes her home.
Emma and Ed have taken George to the ploughing competition, ostensibly for a day out but actually as an excuse for keeping George away from Clive. Emma finds it all a bit bemusing. Bert comes second, and is peeved.
David and Ruth come to see Bert's efforts and George tells them all about Nic and Will getting married. Emma is uncomfortable, and Ruth picks up on it. She knows Emma likes to be the centre of attention in the family but she won't be for the next few months.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b016944r)
Gerard Butler; Kate Prince from Zoo Nation
With Kirsty Lang.
The enduring fascination with Wallis Simpson continues in The Last of the Duchess, a new play by Nicholas Wright. Juliet Gardiner reviews Richard Eyre's production, and considers Simpson's recent popularity in film, television and literature.
Gerard Butler discusses his role in the film Machine Gun Preacher, based on the true story of a drug dealer who becomes a crusader for children caught up in conflict in Africa.
Kate Prince is the founder and creative director of Zoo Nation, an award winning dance and theatre company. Their show Into The Hoods became both the first ever hip-hop dance show to open in the West End and the longest running dance show in the West End's history. She tells Kirsty how she's trying to change hip hop's violent image.
Space Age technology and ancient Sufi poetry are fused in a new sound installation at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire. Artists Tasawar Bashir and Brian Duffy and astrophysicist Tim O'Brien discuss a work featuring the voice of the celebrated Pakistani musician Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan alongside the sounds of the cosmos.
Producer Lisa Davis.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0169251)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 Law in Action (b0168135)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Tuesday]
THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (b0169295)
Product Proliferation
The view from the top of business. Presented by Evan Davis, The Bottom Line cuts through confusion, statistics and spin to present a clearer view of the business world, through discussion with people running leading and emerging companies. The programme is broadcast first on BBC Radio 4 and later on BBC World Service Radio, BBC World News TV and BBC News Channel TV.
This week Evan and his guests serve up a smorgasbord of topics, from Swedish business and the IKEA model, to the crisis in the Eurozone crisis. They also discuss proliferation - how many different products should a company sell?
Joining Evan in the studio are John Vincent, co-founder of Leon Restaurants; Helena Morrissey, chief executive of global asset manager Newton Investment Management, part of BNY Mellon Asset Management; Peter Jelkeby, senior vice president of Swedish chain store Clas Ohlson.
Producer: Ben Crighton. Editor: Stephen Chilcott.
THU 21:00 Saving Species (b016812q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Tuesday]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b016924x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b0162p56)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b01692fw)
As Europe sends a delegate to go to China to raise funds for the European Financial Stabilisation Fund , we ask how solid the deal agreed this morning is . And is Britain better off in the outer ring of a 'two speed' Europe?
Anti Wall Street protestors in California stand firm against the police after a raid with tear gas led to casualties
and why Saif Gaddafi wants to go to the International Criminal Court
with Felicity Evans.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01692fy)
Anna Funder - All That I Am
Episode 4
Anna Funder shot to fame when her first book, 'Stasiland', about the secret police in East Germany, won the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2004. Now she has taken a true story and written a gripping novel that reveals what happened to the German Left as the Reich took over in the early nineteen-thirties. In a story of fear and fortitude, enormous bravery and terrible betrayal, she reveals not only the lengths the Gestapo went to, to drive the socialists out and to pursue them across Europe, but also the sacrifices made by the émigrés who wanted to tell the truth about what was happening in their homeland.
Anna Funder was inspired by the true story of her friend, Ruth Blatt, and by those of Dora Fabian, Ernst Toller and Hans Wesemann. She has woven history into a story of passion for a cause, for the truth and for life.
Today: As Ruth Becker reaches the end of her life she finds herself remembering more and more. Tonight she recalls 1933 and the night when stormtroopers forced Hans and herself into exile and Dora into terrible danger.
Hattie Morahan, Sara Kestelman and Samuel West read All That I Am by Anna Funder.
It was abridged by Sally Marmion
The producer is Di Speirs.
THU 23:00 Tonight (b01692g0)
Series 1
Episode 3
A new age of austerity, riots on our streets, phone hacking, the prospect of global economic meltdown...not since the 1980s has Britain needed its sharp-tongued satirists to pour a healthy dollop of scorn on these uncertain and tumultuous times.
And who better to do that than the country's most well-known satirical impressionist, Rory Bremner? He hosts Tonight, a brand new topical satire show for Radio 4.
Rory's mantra is that it's as important to make sense out of things as it is to make fun of them. He believes only then will people laugh at the truth. So expect a blend of stand-up and sketch combined with investigative satire and incisive interviews with a diverse range of characters who really know what they're talking about.
Regular performers will include Political Animal veteran Andy Zaltzman and the multi-talented impressionist Kate O'Sullivan with a special guest each week.
Presenter: Rory Bremner
Producers: Simon Jacobs & Frank Stirling
A Unique Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01692g2)
David Cornock hears the chancellor, George Osborne, give his reaction to the deal on Europe's debt crisis.
There's distressing stories from the NHS about the treatment of the elderly in hospital and demands for change.
And Tory MPs criticise the European Court of Human Rights which they're told is 'drowning' in a huge backlog of cases.
Editor: Peter Mulligan.
FRIDAY 28 OCTOBER 2011
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b0162p5s)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b016g4w7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0162p5v)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0162p5x)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0162p5z)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b0162p61)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01693gd)
with Shaunaka Rishi Das, Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b01693gg)
Caz Graham hears how the government's food and farming department is failing to source its own food sustainably.
In June DEFRA published new rules on buying sustainable food for its government canteens. But figures show that DEFRA hasn't sourced all its fish from sustainable sources and hasn't met its target of 10% of food meeting organic or other high-environmental specifications.
Instead, DEFRA managed just 3%. Caz asks Agriculture minister Jim Paice why.
After a decade of debate, Caz hears Northern Ireland still isn't any closer to having a National Park.
And she visits a Cumbrian sheep farmer in the final stages of fattening up this year's lambs and preparing them for market.
Presented by Caz Graham. Produced by Clare Freeman.
FRI 06:00 Today (b01693gj)
Morning news and current affairs, with James Naughtie and Evan Davis, including:
0730 Market reaction to eurozone deal.
0750 Do crime maps work?
0810 Why does executive pay keep rising?
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b0167vjr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b016g4wr)
State of the Union
Episode 5
Five prominent thinkers from five EU countries offer personal reflections on the idea of Europe at this critical moment in its history.
Today, writer Ersi Sotiropoulos contemplates the view from Greece.
Producers: Justine Willett and Emma Harding
Ersi Sotiropoulos, who was born in Patra and now lives in Athens, is the author of ten works of fiction and a book of poetry. Her novel Zigzag through the Bitter Orange Trees (Peter Green's English translation of which was published in 2005 by Interlink Books) was the first novel ever to win both the Greek national prize for literature and Greece's preeminent book critics' award.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01693gl)
Presented by Sheila McClennon.A new exhibition uses art, science and industry to explore the symbolism of lace; The bereaved parents fighting to change the rules on bail applications; Is the French presidential election in danger of being overshadowed by the tangled love lives of the candidates?. French Journalist, Anne-Elisabeth Moutet, attempts to unravel the web of political gamesmanship; Stagecoach co founder, Ann Gloag, reflects on why she's driven to improve the health of women in Africa; And how to cook the perfect parkin with Matthew Benson-Smith.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01693gn)
Soloparentpals.com: Series 3
Rosewood and Ebony
SOLOPARENTPALS.COM by Sue Teddern
Episode 5. Rosewood and Ebony.
Rosie and Tom are not a couple any more but can a piano be ever without its stool?
Rosie - Liz White
Tom - Kris Marshall
Chatroom voice - Karina Jones
Director: David Hunter.
FRI 11:00 The Iraqi Interpreter's New Home (b01693gq)
1/1
Iraqis who risked their lives helping the British during the Iraq war were offered the chance to live in the UK. Yet few of them knew what awaited them and their families when they took up the opportunity to escape from Iraq and start afresh. Many were told that they would be going to Glasgow, a city they knew almost nothing about. On arrival they found themselves treated as asylum seekers, faced with the most difficult of housing conditions. The shock of finding damp and cold rooms for those with families led to a sense of betrayal. If they had risked their lives for the British, why were they being treated like that?
Now the families have been in Glasgow for some time, and Aasmah Mir catches up with them to find out if things have improved. She speaks to a dentist who at one time treated British patients in Baghdad. Now, because he has yet to get UK qualifications, he is barred from practice in Glasgow. Ali was an interpreter for Tony Blair and many other politicians who visited Iraq. Today he is unemployed and living in a tower block, looking desperately for work.
Aasmah Mir gets to the heart of their stories, from war-torn Iraq to the streets of Glasgow. Will they manage to turn the corner and make a new life in Scotland, or would they like to go back to a place they once called home? Given their time again, would they make the same choice?
FRI 11:30 Clare in the Community (b01693gs)
Series 7
Basic Attraction
Finally, it's Clare and Brian's wedding day! But first there's the Hen Party and Stag Night to get through.
Sally Phillips is Clare Barker the social worker who has all the right jargon but never a practical solution.
A control freak, Clare likes nothing better than interfering in other people's lives on both a professional and personal basis. Clare is in her thirties, white, middle class and heterosexual, all of which are occasional causes of discomfort to her.
Join Clare in her continued struggle to control both her professional and private life. In today's Big Society there are plenty of challenges out there for an involved, caring social worker. Or even Clare.
SALLY PHILLIPS Clare
ALEX LOWE Brian
NINA CONTI Megan / Nali
RICHARD LUMSDEN Ray
LIZA TARBUCK Helen
ANDREW WINCOTT Simon
SARAH KENDALL Libby
TRACY WILES Nina / Mrs Mellish
GERARD MCDERMOT Registrar
ADAM BILLINGTON Gavin / Terry
VICTORIA INEZ HARDY Nurse / Trudi
Written by Harry Venning and David Ramsden
Producer Katie Tyrrell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2011.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b01693gv)
Forty winks on four wheels? We road test Megabus' new sleeper service
How US online film specialist Netflix plans to compete with well-established streaming services like LoveFilm, Virgin Media and BSkyB when it enters the UK market next year.
The number of libraries offering e-books is steadily increasing, with most offering them free of charge. So why has one council started imposing a fee for every ebook it lends, and will others follow suit?
The Oxford pensioner who has raised over one hundred thousand pounds for charity by restoring old camera equipment.
And how easy is it to get forty winks on four wheels? We road test Megabus' new sleeper service.
The presenter is Peter White. The producer is Katy Takatsuki.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b0162p63)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b01693gx)
With Edward Stourton. National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
FRI 13:30 Feedback (b01693gz)
Why were listeners' views on the two biggest news stories of last week not covered in Any Answers? Roger Bolton asks the programme's editor Clare McGinn why calls on the row over the St Paul's protest, school results and downsizing of homes left no room for listeners' views on Gaddafi's death and the proposed EU referendum.
It's the beginning of the end for long wave. Tens of thousands of small-time mariners, who can't afford expensive equipment and currently rely on hearing the Shipping Forecast on long wave, will have to find other ways of checking the weather once the signal is switched off.
Your verdict on Radio 4's new Sunday night schedule. Finnemore fans call for a second series of his Souvenir Programme and mixed reviews for Tonight with Rory Bremner.
Producer: Karen Pirie
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b0169293)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b01693h1)
On It
A young man joins Tony's boxing ring in an attempt to escape the circle of addiction he has come to inhabit.
Tony Pitts is an exciting and accomplished northern Writer-Performer, now turning his hand to BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Play. Tony is also a boxing coach. He conquered some of his own demons through boxing - and has helped others to do so too. This is a story of one of his students, Liam Jones.
Heroin addiction. It's not news. This all-too-familiar story is difficult but not shocking. And that's the shame.
On It, is a play written full of gut-wrenching love, determination and the hope that one day there may be a full stop, instead of another comma in the story of every family with this fight on its hands.
The writer, cast and crew would like to extend their thanks, sympathy and love to the Jones family.
Written and Directed by Tony Pitts
Produced by Sally Harrison
A Woolyback Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b016943v)
Wheatfields, Scunthorpe
Eric Robson chairs this Grow Your Own themed programme, hosted by the Wheatfields Allotment Group.
White beetroot and purple Pak Choi : this week the panel answer questions on 'edibles'.
Bob and Bunny can't seem to agree on fig cultivation methods. And Bob explains why he collects Venetian blinds.
Questions addressed in the programme:
How can I eradicate this weed [Shaggy Soldier] from the allotment?
Should I prune my old, gnarled but productive apple tree & pear tree?
I have French tarragon grafted on Russian tarragon? Is it possible that it is reverting back to Russian?
I am growing Gardeners' Delight tomatoes indoors and outdoors without much success. Advice?
How can I best store my summer crop? How can I extend the growing season?
Suggestions included: Growing leaf crop under fleece, growing chard and chervil.
Do allotments provide nesting ground for pests and diseases?
Will autumn-fruiting raspberries fruit twice if they are not cut back?
How and when is the best time to prune a productive fig tree (turkey)?
What can I feed my blueberry plant?
Why does my Goji berry plant flower but not fruit?
Producer: Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 The Sleep Diaries (b016kb0w)
The Mattressphere
Beds are the places we withdraw to, away from currents of society and community.
Sleep is our shadow life: if it were a place we'd spend about a third of our life there. We are as varied and eccentric in sleep as we are in our waking lives. And we still understand very little about why we sleep, how it works and what sleep and dreams actually mean. In this series mixing science with art, myth and poetry, award winning poet and broadcaster Paul Farley goes on the long journey through a night's sleep.
We hear from Armond Aserinsky, whose father discovered REM sleep in the 1950s and poetry from across the centuries capturing the enduring mysteries of sleep. Paul also spends the night wired up at a sleep clinic to find out what happens to the brain as we cross the threshold into sleep.
This series blends theories of treatment and cause with the surreal, the supernatural and fantastic; the eerie recording of sleep talkers and testimony of sleep walkers with poetry from Sylvia Plath, WH Auden, Philip Larkin and Jane Kenyon.
Presenter: Paul Farley
Producer: Jo Wheeler
A Brook Lapping Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b016943z)
Elouise Cobell, Edmundo Ros, Gil Hayward, Sue Mengers, Norman Corwin
Matthew Bannister on
Elouise Cobell, who fought a long legal battle against the US government to recover billions of dollars owing to Native Americans.
Edmundo Ros, who brought Latin American music to the UK and taught the Queen how to dance the rumba
Gil Hayward, who helped to design the Tunny 2 codebreaking machine - which deciphered thousands of messages from German High Command during the second world war.
Powerful Hollywood agent Sue Mengers - one of her clients, Sir Michael Caine, pays tribute.
And Norman Corwin, who wrote, produced and directed acclaimed dramas during the golden age of American radio.
FRI 16:30 The Film Programme (b0169441)
Francine Stock meets with director Roland Emmerich whose new film Anonymous claims William Shakespeare is not the man behind the plays.
Is George Clooney a future President of the United States of America? His character in the Ides of March is hoping to go all the way to the White House - at any cost. The man behind the film Beau Willimon discusses the grubby game of getting elected.
Mexican filmmaker Gerardo Naranjo explains why his film Miss Bala is a desperate plea to the Mexican authorities to rid his country of organised crime.
Analogue film made by the old photochemical process is fast becoming a thing of the past. It's been announced that a trio of leading film camera manufacturers - Arri, Panavision and Aaton - have made their last. Paul J Franklin - the man responsible for the onscreen wizardry of Christopher Nolan's Batman films - laments its demise.
Producer: Craig Smith.
FRI 17:00 PM (b0169443)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0162p65)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b0169445)
Series 75
Episode 8
Cuts, Conservative Revolts, and Charity Shops. In the week that a Greek bailout deal was agreed; David Cameron found his backbenchers revolting; and Mary Portas took on the high street's charity shops, Sandi Toksvig presents Radio 4's perennially popular topical quiz, with panellists including Jeremy Hardy, Fred Macaulay and Susan Calman. Neil Sleat reads the news. Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b0169447)
Lynda is a bit more hopeful about her Christmas show, but she's rather clutching at straws.
Helen tells Ian that Tom thinks they should rebrand everything using his now successful name. Helen feels extremely resistant to this idea. It feels like a bit of a takeover to her.
Debbie calls Adam, thinking she should have heard from him by now. It's a prickly conversation as Adam lists his reasons for opposing the big dairy that Debbie has proposed. She offers him a bit more land for his livestock within the scheme, and Adam is furious. They're talking about a massive change to the way Home Farm operates. Their major income sources would be radically different. And he is being treated like a junior partner. Plus he thinks Borchester Land will have too much control over the Home Farm part of the venture. They've always been independent. Irritated, Debbie ends the call.
Later, she's critical of Brian. They should have involved Adam from the start. He has very strong feelings about it all, and Brian is just going to have to get him on side. He must talk to Adam. Brian says he will.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b0169449)
Yo-Yo Ma, Emma Donoghue, Soviet Architecture
With Kirsty Lang.
Emma Donoghue is the bestselling author of Room, the Booker-nominated novel inspired by the real life Josef Fritzl case. Her latest book is The Sealed Letter, a historical romp that deals with a scandalous 19th Century divorce case. She talks to Kirsty about why she always avoids taking sides among her characters.
Music critic Caspar Llewellyn Smith reviews a selection of new albums - including Coldplay's recent Mylo Xyloto; Tom Waits' long-awaited Bad As Me; and Parisienne singer Camille's bilingual Ilo Veyou.
Johnny Hallyday has announced he will play his first British concert at the Royal Albert Hall next year. French journalist Agnes Poirier explains the enduring appeal of the Gallic rocker.
Martin Sixsmith reviews a new exhibition of Soviet art and architecture at the Royal Academy in London, which explores how the Russian avant-garde aesthetic reflected the energy and optimism of the new Soviet Socialist State
Plus: America's most famous cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, is renowned for performing works which range far beyond the standard classical repertoire. His latest CD, The Goat Rodeo Sessions, is a collaboration with three string virtuosos: a bluegrass fiddler, a mandolin wizard, and a bassist. Ma talks about his attitude to improvisation - and explains what a goat rodeo is.
Producer Ellie Bury.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01693gn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b01694ny)
Newcastle upon Tyne
Jonathan Dimbleby presents a panel discussion of news and politics from Hoults Yard in Newcastle.
On the panel this week: David Davis, Conservative MP; Rachel Reeves, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury; Matthew Parris, columnist and broadcaster, and Jeremy Browne, Minister of State at the Foreign Office.
Producer: Chris Ledgard.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b01694p0)
The Arms Trade
Will Self deplores the arms trade and Britain's role in it, including the sale of weapons to authoritarian regimes which abuse human rights. He takes aim at the euphemisms that surround the sector. "The elision of business-speak with the foggy verbiage of warfare is perhaps the most deranging aspect of the contemporary arms trade," he says.
Producer: Sheila Cook.
FRI 21:00 Friday Drama (b01694p2)
Recordings Recovered from the House of Leaves
Adapted by Mike Walker.
"The Navidson Record now stands as part of this country's cultural experience and yet, in spite of the fact that hundreds of thousands of people have seen it, the film continues to remain an enigma. Some insist it must be true, others believe it is a trick on a par with the Orson Welles radio romp The War of the Worlds. Many more have never even heard of it."
With these words Zampano preludes the excerpts from an extraordinary film, cut together by Will Navidson from cameras located within his house and those he took with him into the labyrinth that had sprung up there over the course of a few days.
According to the Navidson record, it was when the family returned to the house from a trip to Seattle that they first discovered the additional door and the space behind it. Will Navidson, celebrated adventure photographer, was intrigued, his partner Karen insisted that the door be permanently locked. But one night after a row, Navidson opened the door and went in. He found rooms beyond rooms, all windowless, all unlit, and only narrowly escaped becoming lost forever in the labyrinth. Not long afterwards the spiral staircase appeared, corkscrewing downwards to a dark infinity. So Navidson equipped his brother Tom and others for an expedition, as if they were embarking on a quest into some architectural jungle. The cameras rolled and they descended, and here's the audio.
House of Leaves is the remarkable cult novel by Mark Z Danielewsky, a labyrinth of its own kind with its multiple interwoven narratives and textual tricks. This dramatic piece re-imagines the terrifying heart of the story.
The narrator in this production is Jim Norton who recently received both an Olivier award for the National Theatre production and a Tony for the hit Broadway production of Conor McPherson's The Seafarer, and is currently appearing again at the National in McPherson's new play The Veil.
Producer/Director: John Taylor
A Fiction Factory production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b0162p67)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b01694p4)
Anger as executive pay rockets - but will protests make any difference?
Violence mars a new start for Tunisia's democracy
And as unemployment in Spain hits 21%, we hear from Barcelona.
The World Tonight with Ritula Shah.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01694p6)
Anna Funder - All That I Am
Episode 5
Anna Funder shot to fame when her first book, 'Stasiland', about the secret police in East Germany, won the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2004. Now she has taken a true story and written a gripping novel that reveals what happened to the German Left as the Reich took over in the early nineteen-thirties. In a story of fear and fortitude, enormous bravery and terrible betrayal, she reveals not only the lengths the Gestapo went to, to drive the socialists out and to pursue them across Europe, but also the sacrifices made by the émigrés who wanted to tell the truth about what was happening in their homeland.
Anna Funder was inspired by the true story of her friend, Ruth Blatt, and by those of Dora Fabian, Ernst Toller and Hans Wesemann. She has woven history into a story of passion for a cause, for the truth and for life.
Today: Ruth remembers how hard life was as a refugee in London, with no money, no rights, no status, but how some rose to the challenge.
Hattie Morahan, Sara Kestelman and Samuel West read All That I Am by Anna Funder.
It was abridged by Sally Marmion
The producer is Di Speirs.
FRI 23:00 A Good Read (b016817f)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01694p8)
Mark D'Arcy with all the news from Westminster.