The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
By Colin Clark. Abridged by Robin Brooks.
In 1956, 23-year-old Colin Clark (younger brother of Tory MP Alan and son of Kenneth 'Lord Clark of Civilisation') worked as a 'gofer' on the set of The Prince and the Showgirl. In this memoir, Clark recalls how, during filming, he became Monroe's confidante and helped her to escape from the pressures of stardom.
In today's episode, Colin helps Marilyn cope with a tragic and unexpected event. Next morning he wakes to the realisation that he must put an end to their friendship: too many people claim Marilyn as their property to allow him to stay close to her for much longer. His week-long adventure is over.
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection presented from Edinburgh by Alison Twaddle.
"Green Grows My Peston, Oh!" Ramblin' Syd Rumpo puts listeners' invented swearwords to music. Becky Milligan meets the Indiana Jones of ancient Egyptian bread. And listeners share their stories, including for the father of a dead Royal Marine who dreads public acts of Remembrance; a wife who's sticking by her fraudster husband despite his crime having ruined their lives; and the bisexual son who feared coming out to his strict policeman father, until it became clear his private life was complex too. Also Evan Davis reads Your News. With Eddie Mair and Jennifer Tracey. iPM@bbc.co.uk.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
In the second of two programmes on the Channel Islands, Open Country visits Jersey to find out what it was like to live on the Island during the German occupation in World War 2. The Channel Islands were the only part of the British Isles to be seized and for five years, residents lived under Nazi rule. Now a file of papers which spent decades stuffed in the back of a wardrobe has been found revealing graphic accounts of some of those who were deported to Germany after being caught in acts of resistance. Richard Uridge investigates why these accounts are only just coming to light.
In an age of computers and technology, the old fashioned sheepdog is growing into a global industry. Dogs and puppies are exported around the world to places like Japan and South America, to breeders and farmers keen to use British Border Collies.
The most prized dogs can achieve prices of around £10,000 and that's not counting the stud fees!
Charlotte Smith visits a sheepdog trainer in Worcestershire to learn for herself how to run a dog and find out why the animals are still out performing modern technology when it comes to rounding up sheep high on the hills. Also in the programme, Former World Champion Sheepdog Handler, Aled Owen gives his views on what traits are needed for the perfect working dog and Sarah Swadling visits a farm in Hertfordshire using the barking New Zealand Huntaways. And it's a tense time for the farmers selling dogs at one of the biggest sheepdog sales of the year at Bala in North Wales.
This programme is presented by Charlotte Smith and produced in Birmingham by Angela Frain.
With John Humphrys and Justin Webb. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather, Thought for the Day.
Patricia Cornwell, Elvis McGonagall, Cassius Clay's 'Stand By Me', Assisted Dying, Whisky Galore Shipwreck
Richard Coles with crime writer Patricia Cornwell, poet Elvis McGonagall, Michelle Clements who accompanied her terminally ill husband to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland, Alisdair Macleod from the Outer Hebrides who's explored the shipwreck which inspired Whisky Galore, the club DJ who found a rare recording of Cassius Clay singing 'Stand By Me', and the Ulrika Jonsson shares her Inheritance Tracks.
John McCarthy explores storytelling in Japan with charity founder Nicola Grove who visited the country recently to learn about the heritage of folk tales there and in particular the depiction and involvement of those with learning difficulties. Journalist Richard Hamilton compares this with his own experience of the tellers of tales in the market place of Marrakesh and how this is surviving in modern times. John also meets Geoff Saunders who made a series of journeys all round the British Isles to the coastal weather stations featured in the early morning shipping forecast.
David Owen Norris and guests listen to Robert Burns' favourite songs in his drinking club in Tarbolton, near Glasgow. With National Poet of Scotland Liz Lochhead (writer of a play about Burns), Dr Kirsteen McCue and Professor Nigel Leask - and featuring Burns' own fiddle.
We hear the songs with the tunes he wanted - not always the ones which have become famous. For instance, 'My Love is like a Red Red Rose' was changed by his publisher against Burns' wishes. Kirsteen McCue is the world expert on Burns' songs and she reveals the original versions. We also hear a naughty song called 'Nine Inch will Please a Lady'.
Robert Burns' playlist reflects his political vision and also his complex love life. Burns was writing for the high-class Edinburgh ladies who took him up in his 30s, but he was also composing songs in broader Scots about their maids. Songs were a crucial part of his seduction technique - and they seem to have worked for him. He left 15 illegitimate children. Even on his death-bed, Burns was writing songs - for the pretty blonde teenager who was nursing him. That song, 'Oh Wert Thou in the Cold Blast', is one of his most beautiful and almost unbearably moving. Burns was destitute, he was dying at the age of only 37, and yet he sang to his nurse: "Oh wert thou in the cold blast, I'd shelter thee, I'd shelter thee".
Presenter David Owen Norris is a broadcaster, composer and concert pianist. He has arranged the songs, which are performed by Thomas Guthrie and jazz singer Gwyneth Herbert.
Producer: Elizabeth Burke.
Next week's autumn statement will be the result of much policy wrangling amongst ministers in the coalition government. But where is the power brokered and what is the so-called "Quad"? Liberal Democrat Lord Oakshott -a former treasury spokesman-and Matthew Hancock MP, once an adviser to the Chancellor George Osborne, give their views.
According to Sir Gus O'Donnell, the outgoing head of the civil service, the Freedom of Information Act has had a negative effect on the workings of government. Jonathan Powell who used to be Tony Blair's Chief of Staff agrees. John Kampfner from Index On Censorship does not.
While the Leveson inquiry this week was taking evidence from celebrities pursued by tabloids, the Communications Committee of the House of Lords was taking evidence from newspapers editors on the future of investigative journalism. Lord Inglewood and Lord Razell talk about the aims of their inquiry.
David Lammy Labour MP for Tottenham was a boy when riots tore through his constituency in 1985. His book Out of the Ashes tells of his own experience then and what he thinks should be happening now.
'But of course there will be violence,' says one seasoned observer to Andrew Harding as he travels in the Democratic Republic of Congo wondering if Monday's election is a chance for Africa's wounded giant to get back on its feet. And there's another election, in Egypt, starting on Monday: Lyse Doucet joins a family whose window, overlooking Tahrir Square, offers a unique view of world history unfolding. Fergal Keane, who's been watching the opening of the Khmer Rouge trial in Cambodia, finds young people there more interested in the future than in their country's bloody past. Mark Lowen's in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia which lost the major part of its Jewish population to the holocaust and recalls the life of his own grandmother who once came face to face with the commandant of a Nazi death camp. And why James Harkin, chasing revolutionaries in Syria, found himself drawn, repeatedly, to what he claims is the best ice cream shop in the world!
Topical comedy with Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis plus; Josie Long, Marcus Brigstocke, Laura Shavin and Mitch Benn.
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs a live discussion of news and politics at the BBC Radio Theatre in London with chief executive of advertising group WPP, Sir Martin Sorrell; general secretary of the TUC, Brendan Barber; Conservative MP and former chief of staff to George Osborne, Matthew Hancock; and Labour's deputy leader and Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Harriet Harman.
Call Jonathan Dimbleby on 03700 100 444 [calls cost no more than to 01, 02 landline numbers] or email any.answers@bbc.co.uk or tweet #bbcaq. Topics include: Public Sector strike and pensions reform, High executive pay, NEETs and youth job opportunities.
Comedy thriller by Joyce Porter, set in the 1970s, dramatised by Paul Mendelson.
Chief Inspector Dover's annual seaside break becomes a busman's holiday with the death of a local policeman. Was it suicide and was it linked to the recent murder of a well-known gangster? It's another strange case for Scotland Yard's laziest detective.
Chief Inspector Dover ...... Kenneth Cranham
Sgt McGregor ...... Stuart McQuarrie
Chief Constable ...... Philip Madoc
Mrs Dover ...... Carolyn Pickles
Sgt Rhys-Smith ...... Gareth Armstrong
Joey the Jock ...... Ben Crowe
Miss Ffiske ...... Jennifer Hill
Sandra Pugh ...... Siwan Morris
Zoot Sims was one of the most naturally talented saxophone players in jazz, most remembered for his incredible sense of swing. He was the archetypal saxophonist and found fame with the general public thanks to having a Muppets puppet modelled on him, right down to the name.
Born in 1925, Zoot grew up as the youngest in a family of vaudeville performers. He took up the saxophone, developing his signature sound in the early 1940s when he was picked up by bandleader Benny Goodman. A few years later he was playing alongside fellow saxophonists Stan Getz, Herbie Steward and Serge Chaloff in Woody Herman's famed Second Herd band.
But after a move to New York his career stalled and by the early 50s Zoot was making ends meet working as a house painter. He was rescued by the legendary baritone saxophone player Gerry Mulligan who asked Zoot to join his quartet. From the late 50s onwards Zoot went on to form a series of successful partnerships, the most enduring with tenorman Al Cohn. Although his style got gruffer with age, Zoot's popularity continued right up until his death in 1985.
Ken Clarke, QC, MP and his guest John Altman discuss Zoots' life and music, revealing how he never once lost his enthusiasm or that gifted sense of swing throughout his career.
Ken's guest John Altman is a BAFTA award winning film and television composer. He's also a saxophonist who has played with such jazz luminaries as Chet Baker, Slim Gaillard and Red Holloway. He's played on rock music sessions too with stars such as Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Jimmy Page and Little Richard. Zoot Sims is one of his all-time favourite musicians.
Presented by Jane Garvey. French shoes designer Christian Louboutin, Has Lapdancing become normalised? The history of Madame Tussauds, Chef Giorgio Locatelli on cooking the perfect Sardine Pasta, Female Bishops? Health in pregnancy and the female ideal of beauty in history.
Clive Anderson and guests with an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy.
Award-winning actor and author Terence Stamp will be talking to Clive about his extraordinary acting career, which has spanned over fifty years and has seen him appear in over sixty films. From Superman villain to transgender showgirl, Terence has played a variety of roles. His memoir 'Rare Stamps, Reflections on Living, Breathing and Acting' takes an introspective journey into the life of a British icon.
Author and historian Simon Sebag Montefiore will be making a pilgrimage to the Loose Ends studio to tell us about his new BBC Four series 'Jerusalem - The Making of A Holy City'. Simon explores how this unique city came into being and illuminates its sacred history.
Rachael Stirling will be getting her skates on and talking to ice legends Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean about their dazzling Olympic gold win dancing to 'Bolero' at the 1984 games. This year, Jane and Chris joined a host of celebrities for 'Torvill & Dean's Dancing on Ice - The Live Tour 2011', which is now available on DVD.
Clive will be posing for the UK's leading fashion photographer, Rankin, whose snap-happy career has seen him photograph countless celebrities. In BBC Four's 'America in Pictures', Rankin examines the work of the iconic 'LIFE' magazine's legendary photographers and how they pioneered new forms of photojournalism. Say 'cheese' Clive!
8 piece Mariachi El Bronx will have their trumpets at the ready to perform '48 Roses' and 'Revolution Girls' from their album 'Mariachi El Bronx (II)'. Olé!
With Parliamentary elections due next week, Chris Bowlby charts the career of 76 year old Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the key figure in Egypt's new political crisis.
A young military officer at the time of Suez, Tantawi went on to fight against the Israelis in the wars of 1967 and 1973.
Rising through the military ranks, he was appointed Defence Minister by President Hosni Mubarak in 1991.
Known as a courteous but inscrutable figure, Tantawi came to be viewed as the loyal heir apparent to President Mubarak.
But when the democracy demonstrators of Tahrir Square demanded the President's resignation earlier this year, it was his right hand man Mohamed Tantawi who told the longstanding premier that his time was up.
Nine months later the demonstrators are back, frustrated by the slow pace of political change. And this time they are demanding Tantawi's resignation.
Tom Sutcliffe and his guests writers Louise Doughty and Dreda Say Mitchell and creative director of the Royal Opera House Deborah Bull review the week's cultural highlights including Matilda The Musical.
Matilda The Musical is Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin's adaptation of Roald Dahl's much loved book. After a brief but very successful run in Stratford-upon-Avon at the end of last year, this RSC production has now opened at the Cambridge Theatre in London.
Jeff Nichols' film Take Shelter stars Michael Shannon as a man increasingly crippled by anxiety. As he struggles to protect his family against a threat that only he senses, he becomes more and more alienated from all those around him.
Deep Field is award-winning poet Philip Gross's new collection which focuses on his elderly father's aphasia and trying to communicate with him as he gradually loses all the words from the five languages that he spoke.
Electroboutique pop up at the Science Museum in London is an interactive exhibition by Russian artists Aristarkh Chernyshev and Alexei Shulgin.
Charlie Brooker's new Channel 4 series Black Mirror consists of three stand-alone dramas which cast a satirical eye on our relationship with the technology around us. The first - The National Anthem - stars Rory Kinnear as a prime minister faced with an unpalatable demand from a kidnapper.
Maxwell Hutchinson analyses the great push to re-build post war Britain.
In the 1990's architect and broadcaster Maxwell Hutchinson began recording interviews with the men who re-built Britain after World War 2. These idealists - then in their eighties- told how they'd returned from war to a country ravaged by the Luftwaffe, determined to design a country fit for heroes . Many were graduates of the left-leaning Architectural Association and brought their radical ideas, influenced by le Corbusier and Walter Gropius, to building social housing for slum clearance families ; hospitals for the infant NHS; schools for the children of the Butler Education act; and bold new tower blocks that would transform the city skyline. Most of them worked for local authorities and saw their profession as a public service. These "duffle-coated pip-squeaks" as they were known, included Sir Phillip Powell ,Sir Andrew Derbyshire , Ivor Smith, Peter Smithson , the father of Brutalism; Lord Esher and Jim Cadbury Brown. Many have since died. Using these interviews, plus newsreel and contemporary archive , this programme captures that idealism and reflects the later disillusionment when modernism - and architects - fell out of fashion.
2011 was the fiftieth anniversary of Parkhill Flats, Sheffield. It was seen as the embodiment of the modernist movement - streets in the sky to replace the grim terraces bulldozed after the war to give families indoor lavatories, central heating and airy balconies. At first the families couldn't believe their luck - they loved their modern new homes. But as the building began to show cracks, and the community spirit failed to translate from slum-terrace to deck access, Parkhill Flats became a by-word for all that was rotten in the state of post war architecture. It wasn't long before residents starting chucking their rubbish over the balconies, and the flats became the new slums. Peter Smithson, once blamed the residents of his much criticised development, Robin Hood Gardens (a sister project to Parkhill) for letting the building go to rack and ruin; for "painting their doors purple" and not applying "the minor arts of occupation".
Parkhill Flats - the largest listed building in Europe - is undergoing extensive renovation by the trendy developers Urban Splash; so the story of this emblematic building, which Sheffielders love and loathe in equal measure, is still a talking point. Maxwell Hutchinson goes back to Parkhill to see the renovation, talk to former residents and find out if the post-war dream of the young architects who designed this colossal building can be revived.
THE AMBASSADORS, adapted by Graham White from the Henry James novel centres on Lambert Strether, a New Englander dispatched to Europe on a mission. Henry Goodman is the hapless protagonist.
EPISODE 2 Strether had hoped to persuade the fun-living son of his wealthy fiancee to return home to New England. But now Strether has fallen under the spell of the beautiful Mme de Vionnet. More ambassadors are sent by the angry fiancee to bring both men home.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
Don't take offence, but this week the Moral Maze is talking about the f-word. A 20 year old man has had his conviction for repeatedly swearing at police officers quashed. A High Court judge decided that use of the f- word is now so commonplace that, in the rather quaint legal definition, it could not cause "harassment, alarm or distress" to those who heard it. Is he right? Should we all be a bit more thick skinned about this? How many of us still reach for the smelling salts when we overhear bad language on the street or in the media? The sight of an 89 year old Baroness caught, on the floor of the House of Lords, flashing a V-sign at a fellow peer of the realm, may have raised eyebrows but there's a serious issue here. Are we allowing a coarsening of society and a debasing of the standards that underpin a civil society? Have we become too tolerant of this kind of thing, or just more censorious? How should we define what language or behaviour is offensive and should it always be in the eye of the beholder? FIFA president Sepp Blatter may have been naïve about the problem of racism in football, but how many of us, in the heat of the moment, haven't said something we regret and which would be best dealt with immediately with a face to face apology rather than in the court? Much of what passed for humour in the 1970's would now probably be regarded as "hate speech" and end up with a criminal charge of racism. Has this made us a more tolerant society or a society that is less willing to tolerate?
Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk with Claire Fox, Melanie Phillips, Michael Portillo and Matthew Taylor.
Dr Stuart Waiton - Lecturer in Criminology at Abertay University in Dundee, and co-founder of the group Take a Liberty (Scotland)
Mary Ann Sieghart - Journalist and patron of the National Campaign for Courtesy.
According to the comic history classic '1066 And All That', which parliament was so-called because it had been sitting for such a long time? And which figure from South American history gives his name to the currency of Venezuela?
These are among the questions posed by Russell Davies in the second heat of the evergreen general knowledge contest, which comes this week from the BBC Radio Theatre in London, with competitors from Nottinghamshire, Wiltshire, London and Northern Ireland.
It is one hundred years since the American poet Hilda Doolittle came to live in London. She lived through explosive changes in twentieth century culture with her dramatic life often overshadowing her work.
Considered for decades as Ezra Pound's Imagiste acolyte, she held her own through psychoanalysis with Freud, travelled extensively, had numerous long term relationships with both men and women, and an intense emotional and artistic connection with DH Lawrence.
Yet it was her poetry that was the core of her being. Though her early Imagist poems are her best known work, it was World War 2 that saw her at the height of her powers. Breaking from the Imagist tradition, in Trilogy, her epic poem, she reports on the war torn city from a pacifist perspective. The life of the bombed city is central and Doolittle redefines the heroic in terms of the suffering of ordinary people. Her trilogy is ranked alongside and Eliot's Four Quartets and Pound's Pisan Cantos as among the greatest civilian poetry of war in the 20th century.
Writer and broadcaster Diana Collecott is our guide to the world of Hilda Doolittle and Sara Kestelman reads a selection of her poetry.
SUNDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2011
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b017jdqx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Afternoon Reading (b00kvh1x)
Three Stories By Giovanni Verga
Getting to Know The King
Series of stories about farming folk by the Sicilian writer of the 1870s, laced with dry humour.
It should be an honour taking the King in your wagon, but after the fireworks and trumpets die down and the journey beckons, Cosimo begins to worry. Read by Dermot Crowley
Read by Dermot Crowley.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b017jdqz)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b017jdr3)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b017jdr5)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b017jdr7)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b017lbcv)
The bells of St Eadburgha in Ebrington, Gloucestershire.
SUN 05:45 Profile (b017l87h)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b017jdr9)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b017lbcx)
The Unresolved
Poet Stewart Henderson questions whether the agitated, complaining presence of the unresolved - in the form of disappointed hopes, continuous regret, or hideous trauma - can be stilled, even silenced, bringing the individual to a contemplative and functioning resolution.
Stewart talks to Julie Nicholson whose daughter Jenny was killed in the London bombings on 7th July 2005. At Horfield Church in Bristol, where Jenny is buried, they talk about her struggle with this cataclysmic event - the shock, the loss of her priestly vocation and the search for reconciliation.
Julie says: "Jennifer was a vibrant, joyous human being, a 24 year old young woman on the cusp of fully adult life. At the time of her death Jenny lived with her partner in Reading, had recently completed a Masters in music and worked for a music publishing company in London. She had so much to look forward to. Jenny's death and circumstance of her death will always contain elements of the unresolved, how could it not? So much was lost. The unresolved is a reality I live with and within that state attempt to live well. Jenny's passion for learning and her love of music and literature is reflected in a charitable trust established in her name. Jenny is gone but her name and the essence of her continue to make a difference and to inspire others." Julie Nicholson's book about her daughter, "A Song for Jenny" tells the story of her loss and grief.
The programme includes poetry from George Herbert, Rainer Maria Rilke and Carol Ann Duffy and music from Christian Forshaw and Charles Ives.
Perhaps that which seems to bankrupt us at the time, leaving us naked and numb, is not necessarily the final reckoning?
Producer: Jo Coombs
A Loftus Audio production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 Living World (b017lbcz)
Cuckoo Trees
In early winter, Joanna Pinnock heads up to the Stiperstone Hills in Shropshire. Here she meets up with Sara Bellis and Carl Pickup from the Shropshire Wildlife Trust at a remarkable place, The Hollies. Here high up on the windswept hills, Joanna encounters ancient holly trees, which could be as old as 400 years. Holly, naturally an understory tree of more developed woodland, is not suited to grow up here in the cold windy conditions. But how and why these trees came to be here is something of a mystery.
These holly trees though are a living link to a past age in this landscape, where lead mining was once common and over 2 centuries ago there were thousands of people eking a subsistence living up here. Possibly the hollies we seen now, gnarled and twisted though they are, are all that remains of a woodland which at one time covered all the hills around here. That woodland was subsequently cleared for whatever reason, leaving the holly trees as a valuable source of winter fodder. With the altitude and animal grazing on the hills these days, young holly cannot regenerate, so this landscape is one of preservation not conservation.
But the story ends with a surprise, the cuckoo trees up here. Sometimes known as bonded trees, here Joanna witnesses the growing of full height rowan trees, inside the trunks of older holly trees. How did the rowan trees get there, well, it all has something to do with winter thrushes, as is revealed in the programme.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b017jdrc)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b017jdrf)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b017lbd1)
Edward Stourton with the religious and ethical news of the week. Moral arguments and perspectives on stories familiar and unfamiliar.
On Prisons Sunday, we hear from Minister for Prisons, Crispin Blunt, on how restorative justice works and from Joanne Nodding who has experienced the scheme.
To mark World AIDS Day on Dec 1st. In the second of his reports on Russia and HIV/AIDS, Peter Van Dyk visits a Christian-run detox centre in Russia's Ural mountain region.
Interview with Lord Fowler on 1st Dec debate in the House of Lords on the Select Committee's report on HIV in the UK.
Fidelma Meehan talks to Edward Stourton about the significance of marking the centenary of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's visit to the UK.
The Children's Minister Tim Loughton has warned of failure by local agencies to recognise and deal with the problem of child sexual exploitation in many areas of the country. In the week he launched a national action plan in which he emphasized the need for social services to build links with faith and race networks, our reporter Kevin Bocquet looks at whether this approach would help in tackling child sexual exploitation.
American political and religious campaigner Jim Wallis is in the UK and this week visited the Occupy site at St Paul's Cathedral. We hear how he compares the church reaction to the protests here with the US and the
Dean of Sheffield, the Very Rev Peter Bradley, talks of how the protest in Sheffield is detracting from the work of the Cathedral.
Gavin Drake reports on the case before an Employment Tribunal of Rev Mark Sharpe who was forced to leave his Worcestershire parish. The outcome of the case could change the status of clergy within the Church of England.
Series Producer: Amanda Hancox.
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b017lbd3)
Move Europe
Griff Rhys Jones presents the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the charity Move Europe.
Reg Charity: 1062307
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Send a cheque payable to Move Europe to Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal.
Mark the back of the envelope Move Europe
- Give Online www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/appeal.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b017jdrh)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b017jdrk)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b017lbd5)
Advent 1: Longing for wisdom
A service for Advent from Mayfield Salisbury Parish Church, Edinburgh.
As Christmas approached, worship in the early centuries of the Christian church would direct thoughts towards the coming of Christ: looking back to his birth and forward to his return at the end of time. Lines inspired by scripture would be sung as a reminder of these events and humanity's continual longing for the kingdom of God. This week's service looks at humanity's search for wisdom.
O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,
reaching from one end to the other mightily,
and sweetly ordering all things:
Come and teach us the way of prudence.
Leader: The minister, the Revd Scott McKenna
Preacher: The Revd Dr Alison Jack of New College, Edinburgh.
With Edinburgh University Music Society Chorus directed by Neil Metcalfe.
Organist: John Willmett
Producer: Mo McCullough.
SUN 08:50 A Point of View (b017clxk)
The Oxbridge Interview
Mary Beard reflects on the purpose of the much-maligned "Oxbridge interview" and defends the "Would you rather be an apple or a banana" school of questioning....
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b017lbd7)
News and conversation about the big stories of the week. With Paddy O'Connell.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b017lbd9)
For detailed synopsis, see daily episodes
Written by: Caroline Harrington
Directed by: Jenny Stephens
Editor: Vanessa Whitburn
David Archer ..... Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer ..... Felicity Finch
Pip Archer ..... Helen Monks
Josh Archer ..... Cian Cheesbrough
Tony Archer ..... Colin Skipp
Pat Archer ..... Patricia Gallimore
Helen Archer ..... Louiza Patikas
Brian Aldridge ..... Charles Collingwood
Jennifer Aldridge ..... Angela Piper
Christine Barford ..... Lesley Saweard
Kathy Perks ..... Hedli Niklaus
Eddie Grundy ..... Trevor Harrison
Clarrie Grundy ..... Rosalind Adams
William Grundy ..... Philip Molloy
Nic Hanson ..... Becky Wright
Neil Carter ..... Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter ..... Charlotte Martin
Lynda Snell ..... Carole Boyd
Jim Lloyd ..... John Rowe
Tracy Horrobin ..... Susie Riddell.
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b017lbdc)
Bear Grylls
Kirsty Young's castaway is the adventurer Bear Grylls.
His first career was with the SAS, but he was forced to leave after a parachute jump went wrong and he broke his back in three places. As he recuperated, he rekindled his childhood ambition of climbing Mount Everest - he went on to become the youngest Briton to reach its summit. His TV series, Born Survivor, has a global audience of more than a billion people who regularly watch him eating the apparently indigestible and risking his life by pitting himself against nature. Married with three young sons, he says: "The unresolved struggle in my life is the fact that I have a job that has an element of danger to it and at the same time I have a gorgeous family - three young boys that are the pride of my life."
Producer: Leanne Buckle.
SUN 12:00 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b017cb10)
Series 56
Episode 2
The 56th series of Radio 4's multi award-winning antidote to panel games promises more homespun wireless entertainment for the young at heart. This week the programme pays a return visit to G-Live in Guildford. Regulars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are once again joined on the panel by Jeremy Hardy, with Jack Dee in the chair. Regular listeners will know to expect inspired nonsense, pointless revelry and Colin Sell at the piano. Producer - Jon Naismith.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b017lbdf)
Britain's best food producers
Sheila Dillon reports on the winners and finalists of The BBC Food & Farming Awards 2011.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b017jdrm)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b017lbdh)
With Shaun Ley. The latest national and international news, with an in-depth look at events around the world. Email: wato@bbc.co.uk; twitter: #theworldthisweekend.
SUN 13:30 Things We Forgot to Remember (b017lbdk)
Series 7
French Resistance
Michael Portillo discovers how romantic memories of the French Resistance created an enduring military legend which overshadowed its more important political role in shaping post war France.
When we remember the Resistance we think of square-jawed men in leather jackets hiding out in caves and young women in berets bent over secret radios - thanks to film and TV portrayals of those who resisted the German occupation. However, while acknowledging the bravery and sacrifice of individuals, historians and resisters themselves agree that the Resistance was not an effective military force. Active resisters numbered only 2% of the French population and until 1943 it was a fractured group of several different movements.
But in 1944 the Resistance, which had become increasingly made up of Communists, drew up a charter of social and political reforms to be implemented after the liberation of France. General Charles de Gaulle, whose regard for the Resistance was equivocal and who was not a champion of the left was, however, a pragmatist. Mindful that he needed the support of the Resistance to bolster his case to become Prime Minister - in the face of Allied opposition - he agreed to these far reaching reforms which went on to shape the course of modern day France.
Michael Portillo hears from former resisters including Stephane Hessel who believes modern France has lost sight of the values many people lost their lives for.
Producer: Paula McGinley.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b017clwz)
Eric Robson chairs a programme from Othery Somerset. Chris Beardshaw, Anne Swithinbank and guest panelist Toby Buckland join him on the panel. Anne Swithinbank discusses good cultivation techniques in a nut forest near Totnes. Chris Beardshaw puts 'No Dig' to the test.
In addition, how to harvest the water falling onto your polytunnel and why do carrots fork?
Questions answered in the programme:
Why did this newly-planted pear tree fail?
Why does my variegated Oleandar produce flower buds but never flower?
How do I harvest water falling on polytunnel.
What can I plant to cover the concrete blocks holding up my 2-tier terrace.
Suggestions included: Stefanandra incisa and Periwinkle alba.
Why do some carrots fork?
Can the panel suggest some cheap plants for the front of village hall?
My Bougainvillea flowered well on the Yorkshire coast but in Somerset flowers less and later in the year/ Why?
A herd of cows damaged my lawns. Shall I fix them now or after the winter? Will the frost cause damage?
Produced by Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:45 Coming Out (b017lbqh)
Cathy, Andrew and Emily
Five programmes exploring the ways in which we decide how far to be honest about ourselves, and in doing so become vulnerable to the judgements of others.
2. Cathy, Andrew and Emily
Multiple Sclerosis is most often diagnosed in people aged between 20 and 40, a time when careers and relationships are of primary importance. Two MS patients in their 30s talk about the challenges of coming out with the disease, and how far to be totally open about it.
Producer Christine Hall.
SUN 15:00 Classic Serial (b017lbqk)
Stefan Zweig - Beware of Pity
Episode 1
By Stefan Zweig. Dramatised for radio by Stephen Wyatt.
Stefan Zweig is a remarkable writer who had a remarkable life, but is not nearly as well known as he deserves to be, as Simon Gray discovered when he was attracted by the cover of his only novel, Beware of Pity.
Simon Gray took the book on holiday with him and used it as an escape from worrying about his cancer and the likely prognosis, "it being too good to read except with the closest attention" and he became immersed in the story of "a young man betrayed by his own unwonted impulses, his own nature........ it's the way that the novel single-mindedly, almost obsessively, illustrates and analyses the destructive power of a single emotion -if that's what pity is - that makes it unique, at least in my experience."
Simon Gray embarked on a dramatisation of the book for Radio 4, but it was unfinished at his death in 2008. Another writer, Clare McIntyre, was also attracted by the story and wrote a stage version, but she too died before it was completed. Stephen Wyatt has taken on the task of writing a two part radio version based on Clare McIntyre's material, which will be broadcast on Radio 4 on 27 November and 4 December, with a cast that includes Piers Wehner, Bryony Hannah, Ronald Pickup, Jasper Britton & Michael Jayston.
Cast:
Anton Hofmiller ...... Piers Wehner
Edith ...... Bryony Hannah
Kekesfalva ...... Ronald Pickup
Dr Condor ....... Jasper Britton
Josef ...... Michael Jayston
Ilona ...... Mabel Clements
Ferencz ...... Jack Chedburn
Jozsi/Flowerseller ..... Tai Lawrence
The Apothecary ..... Jason Devoy
Director: Jane Morgan
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 16:00 Open Book (b017ldlf)
Mariella Frostrup continues Open Book's celebration of funny books with Tony Parsons, award winning writer of "Man And Boy" and "One For My Baby", whose choice for Open Book's Funniest Book is "The Virgin Soldiers" by Leslie Thomas. First published in 1966 The Virgin Soldiers sold over 7 million copies world wide, it is both a satirical indictment of the futility of the war and a celebration of young manhood.
In Open Book's Mini History of Comedy Professor of Literature at UCL, John Mullan, is joined by writer and biographer Jenny Uglow to take a romp through the 18th century and the birth of the comic novel in such masterpieces as The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne and Tom Jones by Henry Fielding. What do these two comic masterpieces have to tell us about our own time and how have they influenced the development of the contemporary comic novel?
And a round up of the Best Book of 2011 with critic Suzi Feay and writer and bookseller Evie Wyld. Following on from the controversial Booker short list this year, our contributors assess the best "readable" books of the year - are they the same as simply "best" books and what does the term "readable" actually imply when it comes to literary fiction?
Producer: Hilary Dunn.
SUN 16:30 Simonides: Body Bags (b01r5mk8)
The ancient Greek poet Simonides hymned the dead of the first Persian Wars. What does his poetry say about war today? Poet Robert Crawford has translated his work into Scots.
SUN 17:00 From Frestonia to Belgravia: The History of Squatting (b017cfv4)
Against a backdrop of high unemployment and a reported million empty properties former squatter Robert Elms charts the history of squatting. He assesses the ideology and mythology that has surrounded this subversive search for a home. As the Government consider new legislation to further criminalise squatting, could it soon be a thing of the past?
Producer: Jim Frank.
SUN 17:40 Profile (b017l87h)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b017jdrp)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b017jdrr)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b017jdrt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b017ldnt)
Ernie Rea makes his selection from the past seven days of BBC Radio.
This week's Pick of the Week features people struggling with dilemmas. The young man who finds himself being seduced by Marilyn Monroe. The advertising executive who decides that the best way to sell his product is to declare that it has no redeeming qualities - in fact it's rubbish. Then there's the tragic story of the British airman captured by the Nazis who betrays his friends under torture. And the extraordinary moment when Sting decided to accept the invitation to share a drug induced experience with Amazonian Indians just days before he played to an audience of thousands in Brazil.
My Week With Marilyn - Radio 4
I've Never Seen Star Wars - Radio 4
One To One - Radio 4
The Strand - World Service
The Infinite Monkey Cage - Radio 4
The Counter Tenor - Radio 4
Drama on 3: Cock - Radio 3
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue - Radio 4
From Frestonia to Belgravia - Radio 4
Food and Farming Awards - Radio 4
BBC Radio Cornwall - Wednesday 23rd
The Freedom Trail - Radio 4
Johnny Walker Meets Sting - Radio 2
Something Understood - Radio 4
Email: potw@bbc.co.uk or www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/potw
Producer: Helen Lee.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b017ldnw)
Susan's worried that Pat will ring Sharon, who'll then blame her for giving Pat her number. Susan's also worried for Tracy's children Brad and Chelsea, as Tracy has money worries. Neil understands that Susan couldn't turn them away, but he's not happy, especially when he's left to babysit while Susan and Tracy shop for Bert and Gary.
Lynda wonders if Susan and Tracy would join her catering team for the Christmas show. Susan explains that she hasn't got time to help. Lynda's delighted to learn from Alan that Mabel has offered to read a Jamaican Christmas story. She'll also supply her home-made non-alcoholic version of the traditional Jamaican drink Sorrell. That sounds warming for a winter night.
Pat's desperate to ring Sharon and ask if Rich is John's son. Tony's equally desperate for her not to. Tony finds Pat absorbed with the internet, trying to find Kylie's Facebook page. If there's a photograph of Rich, she's got to see it. Pat's so grateful when Tony calmly suggests they look together. They find her page, and on it a picture of Rich. Both are emotional when they see he's the image of John. Tony can't believe it but Pat has no doubt. John had a son.
SUN 19:15 Dilemma (b017lfd5)
Series 1
Episode 3
Sue Perkins puts Shappi Khorsandi, Simon Munnery, Fi Glover and Hugo Rifkind through the moral and ethical wringer in the show where there are no "right" answers - but some deeply damning ones...
Can the panel manage to justify the murder of a pet - and the theft of a girlfriend?
Devised by Danielle Ward.
Producer: Ed Morrish.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2011.
SUN 19:45 Byng Ballads: The Story of Douglas Byng (b017lfd7)
The Cabaret Boys
Julian Clary plays camp cabaret star, drag artiste and the finest of panto dames, Douglas Byng - who makes a ghostly comeback to entertain his friends at the Pavilion Theatre, Brighton.
In today's episode, Byng tells of his first professional engagement as a member of a concert party in Hastings , remembers working at London's Gaiety Theatre during the First World War, and has a thing or two to say about theatrical 'digs'!
Douglas Byng (1893 - 1987) was a female impersonator and the most famous cabaret star of his day. Billed as "Bawdy but British", his professional career lasted for over 70 years. This short series traces the journey of the cross-dressing glamour queen from privileged childhood in the 1890s, through concert parties in Hastings, to his emergence as the darling of the society set, entertaining royalty and London's 'Bright Young Things' at the Café de Paris in the 1920s and 30s.
Douglas Byng has been dubbed 'the highest priest of camp'. He blazed a trail for others to follow, treading a fine line between sophisticated urbanity and risqué innuendo which presaged more contemporary, boundary-bending comedians such as Kenneth Williams, Danny La Rue, Barry Humphries and...our own Julian Clary.
Byng's debonair appearances in revue were described by Noel Coward as "the most refined vulgarity in London"!
After the Second World War, Douglas Byng became a familiar stage and film actor and much-loved pantomime dame. His saucy recordings of self-penned songs led to occasional bans by the BBC, but his popularity never diminished.
He wrote his autobiography (As You Were - published in 1970) in retirement in Brighton, and this book provides the material for the series.
With Julian Clary as Douglas Byng.
Compiled by Tony Lidington.
Pianist Martin Seager.
Producer/Director: David Blount
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:00 Feedback (b017clx5)
Less than two years ago the BBC Asian Network faced extinction. It was spared, but now its budget is set to be cut by almost half. What will this mean for the station, and for its audience? Listener Ravinder Sondh relies on the Tommy Sandhu breakfast show to get her family out of bed in the morning, so Roger goes behind the scenes to meet Tommy and his team in the studio. Roger also talks to Husain Husaini, the Asian Network's head of programmes, about how the station will manage the cuts.
Are you filling in the Delivering Quality First consultation document? If so you still have plenty of time, the deadline is 21st December 2011. But some listeners feel the document itself isn't delivering much in the way of quality; too dense, too long and too much jargon. Roger enlists the help of Marie Clair of the Plain English Campaign.
And after a Radio 4 news report accidentally declares the speed of light to be many thousand times slower than it really is, Feedback sorts out all this pesky business with neutrinos and relativity once and for all.
Radio 4's forum for comments, queries, criticisms and congratulations. Presented by Roger Bolton, this is the place to air your views on the things you hear on BBC Radio.
This programme's content is entirely directed by you.
Producers: Karen Pirie and Kate Taylor
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b017clx3)
Basil D'Oliveira, Shelagh Delaney, Sir Robin Mountfield, Sir David Jack and Peter Reading
Matthew Bannister on
The South African cricketer Basil D'Oliveira. His selection to play for England on a tour of his homeland was seen as a turning point in the anti apartheid campaign.
The playwright Shelagh Delaney. Her ground-breaking play "A Taste of Honey" was written when she was a teenager. Jeanette Winterson pays tribute.
The civil servant Sir Robin Mountfield. Under New Labour, he reviewed the government information service, paving the way for the controversial influx of special advisers.
Sir David Jack was the scientific mind behind the success of the pharmaceutical company Glaxo. The drugs he developed transformed the lives of asthma sufferers and people with stomach ulcers.
And the poet Peter Reading - we have a tribute from his admirer and fellow poet Ian Macmillan.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (b017l74n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 on Saturday]
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b017lbd3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 In Business (b017cjn5)
Survival Strategy
As economic gales blow even harder, are there lessons to be learned from previous recessions? In hard times many businesses owners concentrate on increasing turnover at any cost. They fail to realise that some, maybe much, of the work they take on may force up overheads without delivering profits. People who run their own enterprises can be so involved in the day-to-day running of their firms that they lose sight of important financial details and of the world in which they operate.
Peter Day talks to some veteran small business survivors and small business advisors to find out how they manage to get through tough times and he hears about some surprising strategies to keep a business afloat in these unpredictable times.
Producers: Sandra Kanthal and Michael Wendling
Editor: Stephen Chilcott.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b017lffl)
Preview of the week's political agenda at Westminster with MPs, experts and commentators. Discussion of the issues politicians are grappling with in the corridors of power.
SUN 22:45 What the Papers Say (b017lffn)
Episode 80
George Parker of the Financial Times analyses how the newspapers are covering the biggest stories in Westminster and beyond.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b017cjms)
Conflict is this week's theme. It begins with the clash between Marilyn Monroe and Sir Laurence Olivier during the filming of The Prince and The Showgirl - a story which lies at the heart of Simon Curtis' My Week with Marilyn starring Kenneth Branagh and Michelle Williams; it continues with the friction caused when belief bumps into psychoanalytic dogma in Nanni Moretti's We Have a Pope; it encompasses the struggle between invading Nazis and Welsh farmers in Resistance - a counterfactual film made by Owen Sheers and Amit Gupta; and it concludes with Michael Shannon's fight with his personal demons in Take Shelter, Jeff Nichols' follow up to Shotgun Stories. Francine Stock lends an ear to all the factions and questions their assertions in this week's Film Programme.
Producer: Zahid Warley.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b017lbcx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 28 NOVEMBER 2011
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b017jdsx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b017chq4)
Older gays in rural areas; Protest over art and culture in America
Protests against art and culture occur every day across America. Conservatives object to artworks deemed blasphemous or obscene; liberals rally against depictions they see as racist or misogynist. But why do some parts of the United States see more such controversies than others? Why so many protests in Atlanta and so few in West Palm Beach? The US sociologist, Steven Tepper, talks to Laurie Taylor about his new book 'Not Here, Not Now, Not That..Protest over Art and Culture in America'. They're joined by Jo Glanville, the editor of Index on Censorship. Also, Dr Kip Jones from Bournemouth University discusses the challenges faced by older gay men and lesbians who live in rural areas of The South West of England and Wales. His paper, 'Gay and Pleasant Land?' uses first hand evidence to explore the attitudes of both older gay countryside dwellers and the communities they live in.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b017lbcv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b017jdsz)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b017jdt1)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b017jdt3)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b017jdt5)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b017lt4v)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection presented from Edinburgh by Alison Twaddle.
Producer: Mo McCullough.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b017lt4x)
Charlotte Smith hears soil deterioration and pollution is costing the EU 38 billion euros a year in lost food production. The last major study of soil in the UK, in 2009, found that soil erosion is jeopardising food production. Two years on, Farming Today hears from scientists who warn we don't enough about our soils to guarantee we'll be able to feed a growing population.
And a committee of MPs is demanding the Government do more to prevent illegal eggs entering the country when the rules on battery cages change in the New Year. Anne Mackintosh MP says DEFRA should ban the imports, even though that would breach European trade rules.
Presenter: Charlotte Smith Producer: Melvin Rickarby.
MON 05:57 Weather (b017jdt7)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 06:00 Today (b017lt4z)
Morning news and current affairs, with John Humphrys in London and Evan Davis in Leeds. Including:
07:42 Art Garfunkel on his relationship with Paul Simon, the secret of their success, and his own singing voice.
08:10 Why are patients in English hospitals more likely to die at weekends?
08:20 Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander on a £30bn boost to infrastructure spending.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (b017lt51)
Political leadership: George Ayittey, Simon Heffer, Martin Wolf and Maha Azzam
On Start the Week Andrew Marr discusses the pursuit of power, and the art of leadership, from dictators to technocrats. The Ghanaian economist George Ayittey sets out the fight against tyranny in Africa and around the world, while Maha Azzam looks to see whether Egypt could learn any lessons from his assertion that many of today's despots were yesterday's freedom fighters. The columnist Simon Heffer discusses how the desire to protect or assert power has distorted the course of history, and the economist Martin Wolf assess the rise of the technocrat in Europe.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b017lt53)
Charles Dickens: A Life, by Claire Tomalin
Episode 1
Claire Tomalin's acclaimed biography of Britain's great novelist paints a portrait of an extraordinarily complex man. Today's theme is Dickens' troubled childhood.
Claire Tomalin's acclaimed biography of one of the nation's literary giants is broadcast to mark the 150th anniversary of his death in June 2020. Here Tomalin portrays Dickens as a writer "so charged with imaginative energy that he rendered nineteenth century England crackling, full of truth and life, with his laughter, horror and indignation - and sentimentality." The Artful Dodger, Mr Pickwick, Pip and David Copperfield are just a handful of the characters he created and who continue to endure. He was also a hard-working journalist, a philanthropist, a supporter of liberal social causes, and father of ten, and yet his genius also had a dark side which emerged with the breakdown of his marriage.
Claire Tomalin was literary editor of the The New Statesman and then the Sunday Times before becoming a full time writer. Her biographies are award winning. The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft, won the Whitbread First Book Award, and Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self was Whitbread Book of the Year in 2002.
Read by Penelope Wilton
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b017lt55)
Ruby Wax, Anne Brontë, Childcare costs
Ruby Wax discusses depression and her quest to establish an environment where people can talk freely about their own mental illness. Against a background of rising costs in childcare, there's new research today showing that families can expect to continue to struggle over the next four years. We look at how affordable childcare is and how it can be paid for. We hear how nearly two years after the Haitian earthquake, women and young girls living in camps are being subjected to sexual violence. Campaigners say the response of the authorities to such attacks has been wholly inadequate. As we begin a ten-part serialisation of Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, we discuss why the book's 1848 publication was controversial and what it tells us about women's position in that period.
Presented by Jane Garvey.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b017lt57)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
The Tenant
By Anne Bronte
Dramatised by Rachel Joyce
Episode 1. The Tenant
Helen Graham is the mysterious and striking new tenant of the dilapidated Wildfell Hall. As gentleman farmer Gilbert Markham becomes more and more powerfully drawn to this enigmatic "widow" he finds that her unconventionally independent life disguises a turbulent and painful past.
Gilbert Markham - Robert Lonsdale
Helen Graham - Hattie Morahan
Mrs. Markham - Carolyn Pickles
Rose - Leah Brotherhead
Mr. Lawrence - Carl Prekopp
Eliza - Victoria Inez Hardy
Rev. Millward - Gerard McDermott
Arthur - Samuel Bridger
Director: David Hunter.
MON 11:00 Prisoners' Women (b017lt59)
When a man goes to prison, there is usually a woman - wife, girlfriend, mother, sister, daughter - left behind whose life is changed for ever, and who may have to confront challenges she's completely unprepared for. This programme is about a group of women, whose paths would never normally cross, who have come together to support each other while their men are inside - and afterwards.
String of Pearls is an informal support group set up to raise awareness of the impact of imprisonment on families. The participants come together to share first-hand experience of the isolation and anxiety that affects prisoners' families; the group is often the only place they feel confident enough to talk about their situation they find themselves in: their distress, their fears for their families and hopes for the future. For some, it is the only place they ever actually feel able to talk about the fact that they have a husband, partner or family member in prison. They talk about the shock of suddenly having to run a family on their own, cope with telling the truth to children and other family members, or hiding it from them, learn how the prison system works when they've never encountered it before and never expected to, and the ways in which their lives and relationships have changed irrevocably.
String of Pearls offers much-needed support to families at a very vulnerable time, and it also provides training for professional and support agency staff in how to deal with these families. Some of the women involved in this programme have trained, and are training others, to be mentors, spreading the network across the country.
MON 11:30 Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off (b017m14c)
Series 5
Local Hero
When an American mogul tries to buy up every last pebble in lovely Budleigh, Giles decides to run for Mayor. Meanwhile his sister Charlotte goes on a tent protest...
Budleigh Salterton's most famous citizen is back! But this time, he's got a computer! Giles Wemmbley Hogg has been grounded by both the Home Office and his father, so he's set up GWH Travvel ("2m's 2g's 2v's, bit of a mix up at the printers").
Run from his bedroom in Budleigh Salterton, with the help of his long-suffering former Primary Schoolteacher Mr Timmis and the hindrance of his sister Charlotte, it's a one-stop Travel/Advice/Events Management/Website service, where each week, his schemes range far and wide - whether it's roaming the country lecturing would-be overlanders on how to pack a rucksack ("If in doubt, put it in. And double it"), or finding someone a zebra for a corporate promotion ("I'll look in the Phone Book - how hard can it be? Now, "A to D".....), GWH Travvel stays true to its motto - "We do it all, so you won't want to".
Starring Marcus Brigstocke as Giles
And featuring -
Mr. Timmis ...... Vincent Franklin
Charlotte Wemmbley Hogg ...... Catherine Shepherd
Annie ...... Rebecca Front
Ronald Crump ..... Stuart Milligan
Mayor Netherclap ..... Flip Webster
Gabe Bjesterveldt ...... David Armand
Written by Marcus Brigstocke, Jeremy Salsby & Toby Davies
Producer/Director: David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b017m14f)
An initiative to ease the shortage of curry chefs
Five centres of excellence have been opened around the UK to help recruit more people to work in the UK's curry industry - we find out how this will help ease a shortage of chefs.
Why a legal ruling in Europe could pave the way for VAT to be removed from hot takeaway food and drink, and recent sales figures show small stores are out-performing their larger counterparts. Why is this good for the wider economy?
Presented by Julian Worricker. Produced by Alex Lewis.
MON 12:57 Weather (b017jdt9)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b017m14h)
Martha Kearney presents the national and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
MON 13:45 Joan Armatrading: More Guitar Favourites (b017m14k)
Alex Kapranos
Following on from the success of her first series, legendary guitarist, singer and songwriter, Joan Armatrading, brings together a collection of great guitarists form around the world, in this five part series. Alex Kapranos, front man of the Scottish band, Franz Ferdinand has captured Joan's attention for this great musical sense and performance. She brings out the staccato style of his guitar, the tone changes in the music, the influence of his Greek heritage, and the importance of the Glasgow art scene to his ideas about and attitude towards music.
Producer: Kate Bland
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b017ldnw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b017m14m)
Sleeping Dog
Sleeping Dog.
Dave is an uptight architect who's fed up with designing public lavatories. He needs to impress the boss, who likes blues music. So he hires an old busker who had a hit in the sixties. And what should improve his prospects actually starts to unravel his life. A comedy by Peter Roberts.
Mitchell......David Shaw-Parker
Dave..........Conrad Nelson
Karen.........Natasha Byrne
Paul............Paul Greenwood
Anastasia....Kathryn Hunt
Jonathan.....Adam Billington
Producer Gary Brown
What happens when your carefully constructed cat's cradle of a life becomes tangled when a stranger enters your house twanging his own tune?
MON 15:00 Brain of Britain (b017m14p)
(3/17)
Competitors from East Anglia, the West Midlands and London join Russell Davies at the BBC Radio Theatre for the third heat in the quest for the next Brain of Britain.
From which port, in 1588, did the Spanish Armada set sail? And which singer fronted the Jeff Beck Group in 1968 and 1969 before going on to sing with The Faces?
There's also a chance for a Brain of Britain listener to win a prize and outwit the contestants with questions of his or her own.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b017lbdf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 The Alias Men (b017m14r)
Alan Smithee never directed a film in his life. He didn't even exist. Yet he has more films to his name than almost anyone. Andrew Collins looks back on the 40-year career of an extraordinary non-entity, a journey which lays bare a radical turning-point in the history of twentieth-century cinema.
MON 16:30 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b017m14t)
Series 5
A Balanced Programme on Balance
The Infinite Monkeys, Brian Cox and Robin Ince, are joined on stage by Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, and comedian and theology graduate Katy Brand to look at how science is portrayed in the press and whether opinion is ever as valid as evidence. Occasionally accused of lack of balance by lovers of astrology and the supernatural, the unashamedly rational and evidence loving duo tackle the issue of balance head on. Does the media skew scientific debate by giving too much weight to public opinion over the scientific evidence? Do important science messages get lost because scientists don't engage enough with seemingly irrational concerns and beliefs? A witty irreverent look at some of the issues surrounding the public's perception of science and how it's reported in the media.
Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Presenters: Robin Ince and Brian Cox
Guests: Katy Brand and Sir Paul Nurse.
MON 17:00 PM (b017m14w)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b017jdtc)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b017m14y)
Series 56
Episode 3
The nation's favourite wireless entertainment pays a first-time visit Sage Gateshead. Regulars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by Marcus Brigstocke, with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell provides piano accompaniment. Producer - Jon Naismith.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b017m150)
Clarrie helps Nic make an angel outfit for Mia's nativity play. Clarrie doesn't have a new outfit for the wedding. Although Nic tells her she doesn't need one, she senses that Clarrie's worried she'd be letting Will down. Nic talks to Will and he calls Clarrie to insist on buying her a new outfit.
Brian's mind is firmly on Borchester's new livestock market. There's a dry run tomorrow, ahead of Thursday's formal opening. Debbie has reluctantly given her approval to Plan B for the super dairy, since Adam has vetoed them growing supply feed. Brian's waiting to hear from a couple of potential suppliers, including Spencer's father, Pete Wilkes. Jennifer thinks the board should be grateful. She believes the farmers and landowners will be thanking Brian for a long time to come.
Convinced that Rich is John's son, Pat wants to talk to Sharon. Tony tells her to consider how Sharon might react after all these years. Rich might not even know about his father, and they also need to consider Tom and Helen. She agrees to talk to them tomorrow night. They can discuss it as a family before she takes any action. Tony's pleased. They owe the children that, at least.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b017m152)
Martin Scorsese's Hugo 3D; Sports Book of the Year
Martin Scorsese has directed his first film in 3D. Adapted from the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, Hugo is the tale of a boy who lives in a Paris railway station in the 1930s, and features Ben Kingsley, Jude Law and Sacha Baron Cohen. Naomi Alderman reviews.
The winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2011 is announced today. Mark interviews all seven shortlisted authors, whose books cover a range of sports including football, rugby, cycling, running and bullfighting, and the winner of the £27,500 prize responds to the judges' verdict.
The death of the film-maker Ken Russell was announced today. He was 84. Critic Mark Kermode reflects on Russell's life and career, and there's another chance to hear Ken Russell himself discussing his home movies and his opinions on the film industry, from a Front Row interview recorded in 2008.
Producer Nicki Paxman.
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b017lt57)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 Blood Stained Banner (b017m154)
The Confederate Battle Flag was presented to the armies of the Confederacy in a ceremony on November 28th 1861, a few months after the start of the American Civil War. It wasn't the only flag flown by the Confederacy, nor was it the first, but it has become known as The Confederate Flag.
In 2011 for some people the Confederate Flag represents their region - the South - and is a symbol of the sacrifices their forbears made to defend their homes. They fly it outside their homes, it appears on car bumper stickers and T-shirts.
But for others it is a potent symbol of racism; inextricably linked to the South's struggle to preserve slavery during the Civil War and its ongoing legacy of segregation and inequality.
Gary Younge explores what attitudes to the Confederate Flag say about American identity today. 150 years after the civil war started, and the flag was first flown, can the American South move beyond its divisive legacy?
He begins his journey in the city of Columbia, where the Confederate Flag flies just a few meters away from the South Carolina State House.
Producer: Peggy Sutton
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b017cjmd)
Roubles and Radicals in Dagestan
The main focus of the violence in the North Caucasus these days is in Dagestan, Chechnya's neighbour. Shoot-outs between police and Islamist militants occur almost daily, and suicide bombings and assassinations have become common. In response, the authorities use what many see as excessive force and the violence spirals still further. In the past two years suicide bombings in the Moscow metro and a Moscow airport have been traced to the region. In Dagestan it's a war that has touched almost every community and family, and one where differences between the opposing sides are apparently irreconcilable. For the authorities, Dagestan is part of Russia and subject to its secular laws; for the militants the region should be a sharia state independent of Moscow.
After ten years trying to combat the militants and their appeal, Russian businessman Suleiman Kerimov has hit on a new idea - football. Sports facilities and pitches are being built across this impoverished and deeply conservative Muslim republic, encouraging young boys and men to play on the pitch rather than join the militants in the forest, and girls to watch them instead of withdrawing behind the veil. Dagestan's top club Anzhi Makhachkala has been bought up by the pro-Kremlin Dagestani billionaire and now he is buying world-class footballers, including Samuel Eto'o, currently the highest-paid player on the planet.
Lucy Ash asks whether this is just bread and circuses for the masses or whether it is making a real difference in this restive Russian republic. Mr Kerimov is bankrolling many other projects from mosque building to job creation, from a glass factory to a glistening vision of an entirely new city. The reclusive billionaire's representative in Dagestan says he is trying to find an economic solution to one of the poorest and most troubled regions in Russia. The government is also trying a new tactic; it has recently set up a commission to persuade young fighters to lay down their arms and return to a peaceful civilian life. Lucy watches an anti-terrorism policeman lecturing university students in the capital, Makhachkala, on the dangers of radical Islam.But with entrenched corruption, heavy-handed policing and a blatant disregard for law, the Islamic underground shows little sign of retreat. More alarmingly, it looks as if the insurgency is spreading from the north to the traditionally peaceful and secular south of the republic. Lucy visits the village of Sovetskoye where in May this year police beat up dozens of young Salafists. A few months later the head teacher was murdered, allegedly because he'd banned the hijab in class. Can a massive injection of cash really neuter deep-seated pressures for change?
MON 21:00 Material World (b017mr3t)
This week, risk and uncertainty: how to communicate it to politicians and the public. Quentin Cooper asks the Government Chief Science Advisor, Sir John Beddington and the Chairman of the Lord's Committee on Science and Technology, Lord Krebs. Also, revealing the secrets of locust flight: how they may help the design of miniature flying robots.
Producer: Martin Redfern.
MON 21:30 Start the Week (b017lt51)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b017jdtf)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b017mr2y)
With Ritula Shah. National and international news and analysis.
MON 22:45 A Night with a Vampire (b017mz4h)
Series 2
The Lady of the House of Love
This wonderful retake on the Sleeping Beauty story first appeared in Carter's 1979 volume "The Bloody Chamber".
A virginal English soldier, travelling through Romania by bicycle, finds himself in a deserted village. He comes across a mansion inhabited by a vampiress who survives by enticing young men into her bedroom and feeding on them. She intends to feed on the young soldier but his purity and virginity have a curious effect on her.......
David Tennant returns with another selection of chilling Vampire stories.
Last year in the first series we concentrated on Victorian Vampire output but in these five tales we enter the 20th Century and introduce stories with a little twist from the UK and the USA.
Producer: Clive Brill
A Pacificus Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 23:00 Off the Page (b017cfkn)
Japan
Hiroko Kawanami, Richard Lloyd Parry and Imran Yusuf explore the idea of Japan. What is it really like, and how does it match up to people's preconceptions?
Hiroko Kawanami is a Japanese lecturer in Buddhism who prefers living in the UK. Richard Lloyd Parry is Asia Editor of The Times and has lived in Tokyo for sixteen years. British stand-up comedian Imran Yusuf has visited Japan and loved it.
All three write and talk about the Japan they know, with presenter Dominic Arkwright - who has never been to Japan and freely admits he knows little about it..
Producer: Beth O'Dea.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b017mr60)
Susan Hulme with the day's top news stories from Westminster.
TUESDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2011
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b017jdv0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b017lt53)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b017jdv2)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b017jdv4)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b017jdv6)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b017jdv8)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b017x7q6)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection presented from Edinburgh by Alison Twaddle.
Producer: Mo McCullough.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b017mrb8)
Food Standards Agency research shows two thirds of UK grown oysters contained the virus which can cause Winter Vomiting Disease. Conservationists estimate that the peat dug out of the ground every year for UK farming and gardening releases carbon emissions equivalent to 300,000 extra cars on the road. Anna Hill asks the National Farmers' Union how growers plan to end their reliance on peat compost, ahead of a Government target to phase it out completely by 2030. And, the debate over whether wildlife or food production should be the priority reaches a head in the Lake District.
Presenter: Anna Hill.
Producer: Sarah Swadling.
TUE 06:00 Today (b017mrbb)
Morning news and current affairs with Sarah Montague and Evan Davis, including:
07:50 Can voluntary national agreements tackle climate change?
08:10 Evan Davis searches for sustainable growth in West Yorkshire.
08:20 Should Stonehenge be lit at night?
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (b017mrbd)
John Sulston
Jim al-Khalili talks to biologist John Sulston about sequencing the genome first of a worm and then of man.
When, as a young man, John Sulston first decided to sequence the DNA of a worm, many of his fellow scientists thought he was wasting his time. It took twenty years of painstaking research but it paid off handsomely. Sulston's research on this humble worm led to one of the most significant scientific breakthroughs of the modern age - the sequencing of the human genome. Jim al -Khalili talks to Sulston about the highs and lows of doing genetic research; fighting to keep scientific findings in the public domain; protecting human health against corporate wealth; and having his DNA portrait done.
Producer: Anna Buckley.
TUE 09:30 One to One (b017mrbg)
Evan Davis talks to Elliot Castro
Evan Davis continues his exploration into deception by talking to those who've had cause to be economical with the truth. Today he talks to convicted fraudster Elliot Castro. Elliot was a teenage credit-card thief who found the buzz he got from lying about his identity was truly addictive.Yet when he was finally caught six years later, it was a relief. He talks to Evan about why he started lying and how it overtook his life, bringing material comfort and excitement but also social isolation. He says his career in fraud lasted so long because he often managed to lie to himself as well as others.
Producer: Lucy Lunt.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b017mrbj)
Charles Dickens: A Life, by Claire Tomalin
Episode 2
Claire Tomalin's acclaimed biography of Britain's great novelist paints a portrait of an extraordinarily complex man. Today's themes are his early successes as a writer, and new beginnings.
Claire Tomalin's acclaimed biography of the novelist who called himself the "inimitable" is being broadcast in the 150th year since his death. Here Tomalin paints a vivid portrait of the writer at work, his extraordinary energy allowing him to write at an intense rate. His personal life required almost as much energy, a husband, a father of ten and a man who enjoyed a busy social life, with evenings spent at the theatre among friends before returning home to write.
Claire Tomalin was literary editor of the The New Statesman and then the Sunday Times before becoming a full time writer. Her biographies are award winning. The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft, won the Whitbread First Book Award, and Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self was Whitbread Book of the Year in 2002.
Read by Penelope Wilton
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b017mrfm)
Sibling relationships; Larkin Poe; Mary Barbour
It's more often than not life's longest relationship - you may simultaneously love and loathe them, but you can never divorce them - siblings. In the nineteenth century, the 'long family' was the norm, with multiple siblings growing up together in very close quarters. The decline of this family structure at the beginning of the twentieth century altered the nature of our sibling relationships and heralded the beginning of the 'vertically extended' family. Jane talks to Professor Leonore Davidoff from Essex University, about the hitherto neglected history of brothers and sisters and is joined by counsellor Keren Smedley to discuss the tensions between siblings and how to resolve them; Larkin Poe play live; Helena Kennedy on the findings of the Scottish inquiry into human trafficking; and the story of Mary Barbour, Glasgow's WWI political activist.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b017mtf9)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
A Snake in the Grass
By Anne Bronte
Dramatised by Rachel Joyce
Episode 2. A Snake in the Grass
Helen Graham is the mysterious and striking new tenant of the dilapidated Wildfell Hall. As gentleman farmer Gilbert Markham becomes more and more powerfully drawn to this enigmatic "widow" he finds that her unconventionally independent life disguises a turbulent and painful past.
Gilbert Markham - Robert Lonsdale
Helen Graham - Hattie Morahan
Mrs. Markham - Carolyn Pickles
Rose - Leah Brotherhead
Mr. Lawrence - Carl Prekopp
Eliza - Victoria Inez Hardy
Arthur - Samuel Bridger
Director: David Hunter.
TUE 11:00 Saving Species (b017mrfp)
Series 2
Episode 28
28/30 In this weeks programme Buzzards are implicated as part of the cause in the decline of Brown Hares in North Wales. Hares are not commonly linked to a Buzzards diet - so can this be right. We're in North Wales to find out.
We're also in Brazil with Mark Brazil who is exploring the flooded Amazon forest in search of the White Uakari Monkey.
And back in the UK - news that many more of the global species of whales can be found in British waters.
Presenter Kelvin Boot
Producer Sheena Duncan
Editor Julian Hector.
TUE 11:30 Ken Clarke's Jazz Greats (b017mszh)
Series 9
Joe Henderson
This week Ken examines the life and music of Joe Henderson, the tenor saxophone star of both Verve & Blue Note Records. Born in Ohio in 1937 Joe Henderson taught himself to play at the young age of 9, later perfecting his craft at college and university. By the time he was 25 he'd led his own band and joined a group with Kenny Dorham. Over the course of his career he went on to play with jazz greats such as Miles Davies and Herbie Hancock and even joined the jazz-rock band Blood, Sweat & Tears.
His own projects won several Grammys and in his later career he became something of a national star in America, even performing for Bill Clinton at his first presidential inauguration. He had a lovely lyrical style with a virtuosic technique and is widely regarded as one of the greatest improvisers in jazz.
Ken is joined in the studio by one of UK's leading saxophonists, Soweto Kinch.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b017mszk)
Call You & Yours - Youth Unemployment
Young and jobless: Is the government doing enough to help record numbers of unemployed 16-24 year-olds into work? The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, has called youth unemployment 'an economic waste and a slow burn social disaster'. He's promised a billion pounds to give work experience and training to some of the million young people out of work. There'll be cash incentives for employers willing to give a 6-month job to unemployed youngsters, thousands more apprenticeships and a quarter of a million unpaid work placements. We'll get more details tomorrow when the Chancellor delivers his Autumn Statement. But will these measures be enough to tackle the problem? If you're an employer, would subsidised wages encourage you to take on a jobless teenager? Are work placements a short-term fix - with no guarantee they'll lead to a permanent job? Or, if you're out of work, is this the lifeline you need? The chance for on-the-job experience that could lead to full-time paid employment? Call You and Yours with Julian Worricker. Your chance to share your views on the programme. Email youandyours@bbc.co.uk, text 84844 and we may call you back or call 03700 100 444 (lines open at
10am Tuesday)
Producer: Sally Abrahams.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b017jdvb)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b017mszm)
National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
TUE 13:45 Joan Armatrading: More Guitar Favourites (b017mszp)
Sharon Isbin
Following on from the success of her first series, legendary guitarist, singer and songwriter, Joan Armatrading, brings together a collection of great guitarists from around the world, in this five part series. In today's programme she meets Sharon Isbin, America's leading Classical guitarist and winner of 2 Grammys for her guitar playing: virtually unheard of in the Classical music world. Joan hears how Sharon has recorded with a diverse range of musicians around the world, adding richness and complexity to the classical guitar repertoire. Sharon describes her rendition of older pieces and her care to set them in an accurate musical context for their time.
Producer: Kate Bland
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b017m150)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 McLevy (b017mszr)
Series 8
The Blue Gown
New four-part series of Victorian detective mysteries starring Brian Cox and Siobhan Redmond.
Written by David Ashton.
Episode one: The Blue Gown.
McLevy enlists the help of Jean Brash as he investigates the death of a young seamstress.
McLevy....................................................................BRIAN COX
Jean Brash..................................................SIOBHAN REDMOND
Mulholland..................................MICHAEL PERCEVAL-MAXWELL
Roach...............................................................DAVID ASHTON
Cory Metcalf....................................................IAIN ROBERTSON
Andrew Crichton..................................................DAVID RINTOUL
Sarah Crichton.......................................................TRACY WILES
Christine McKenna.............................................JAYNE McKENNA
Maureen......................................................VICTORIA INEZ HARDY
Producer/director: Bruce Young.
TUE 15:00 Home Planet (b017mszt)
Ageing Apples and Invisible Pheasants
Ground nesting birds are highly vulnerable while on their nests, how do they avoid detection by hungry predators? And how do modern apples stay so fresh for so long?
Pheasants appear on the face of it to employ a rather foolhardy breeding strategy. They nest on the ground within easy reach of foxes, marauding dogs and other predators. Yet they do manage to raise chicks and clearly avoid detection, so how do they do it? Plans are in hand to build a new mega-sewer for London, but you want to know this week whether sewer disposal is the most effective way to deal with our effluent? Then there's the puzzle of how do bee eating birds avoid getting stung? How do some apples appear to remain forever young? And how do you attract swifts to new nesting boxes?
On the panel this week are Professor Sue Buckingham of Brunel University, Graham Appleton of the British Trust for Ornithology and Professor Philip Stott, an environmental scientist from the University of London.
The programme is presented by Richard Daniel
Producer: Toby Murcott
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Off the Page (b017mszw)
Imaginary Friends
Imaginary Friends. Did you have any as a child, or do you in fact have some now? Poet Matt Harvey, biographer Sarah Churchwell and writer Paul B Davies tell all about the imaginary relationships we have both as children and adults, to presenter Dominic Arkwright.
Producer Beth O'Dea.
TUE 16:00 Brain Culture: Neuroscience and Society (b017mszy)
Brain Science and Behaviour Change
Matthew Taylor continues his exploration of "Brain Culture," looking at how multinational companies and governments are trying to alter our behaviour by exploiting new ideas about how decisions are made in the human brain. He looks at how "neuro-marketing," based on new understandings of how our brain operates automatically, is already all around us: in fast food restaurants, on some cherished TV ad campaigns, and even being used by politicians in elections. Number 10 is catching up: Matthew looks at the idea of "nudging" citizens to make decisions, and how brain science is feeding into it. The programme asks how valid the neuroscientists' challenging new ideas of human nature really are, and whether they are being over-used by the powerful. Matthew also discovers how the science may be used to give us, as individuals, more power to control our lives and resist mind control.
Producer: Mukul Devichand.
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b017mt00)
Lucy Worsley, Barbara Stocking
Chief Executive of Oxfam Barbara Stocking, and historian Lucy Worsley discuss their favourite paperbacks with Harriett Gilbert.
Barbara's choice is Antonia Fraser's intimate portrait of her relationship with Harold Pinter: Must You Go.
Lucy's book is a kitchen classic: Food in England by Dorothy Hartley.
Harriett's choice is the seedy crime thriller that gave us the malevolent character Pinkie: Brighton Rock by Graham Greene.
Producer: Toby Field.
TUE 17:00 PM (b017mt02)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b017jdvd)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Richard Herring's Objective (b017mt04)
Series 2
The Old School Tie
Richard Herring examines 'The Old School Tie' an object that has come to represent public school networks and contacts. Richard asks if it is acceptable to be prejudice against the posh?
Series in which Richard Herring pokes and prods a variety of controversial objects and sees if the controversy falls out. Through vox pops, interviews and stand up comedy Richard examines the objects' history, meaning and significance and challenges our assumed logic and stereotypes.
Can we reclaim these objects away from their unfortunate associations?
Written by and starring Richard Herring.
With Emma Kennedy and special guest Alexei Sayle.
Producer: Tilusha Ghelani
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2011.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b017mt06)
Brian's pleased with the new market and has an answer for all Joe's criticisms about the 21st century technology. Tony's impressed but finds it all rather intimidating, until all the electrics suddenly fail, leaving Brian chasing after Cliff in the dark.
As Pat prepares dinner, Tony tells Tom about the electrical failure, and how they had to resort to handwritten receipts in the end. Brian was furious but Joe, of course, was pretty smug. Helen comes in, cheerfully showing off her dress for Nic's wedding. The tension's too much for Pat, who just wants to share the good news about Rich.
Tom and Helen don't share Pat's excitement. They're shocked that she can even be thinking that Sharon had John's child. Pat gets the laptop and shows them the photograph of Rich. It's too much for Helen, and Tom's furious with them. He rushes after Helen. Pat wishes she's gone ahead and rung Sharon. Tony reminds her they need to take this on board as a family, which is going to take time.
Helen's distraught that Pat would want to take them back to that terrible time. She and Tom agree the photo clearly resembles John but Helen can't go back there. She just can't.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b017mtf7)
Ricky Gervais; Wayne McGregor
With Mark Lawson.
Ricky Gervais discusses the response to his TV comedy series Life's Too Short, which stars Warwick Davies as a "showbiz dwarf", and his return as host of the Golden Globes, following this year's insult-packed ceremony.
Choreographer Wayne McGregor and composer Mark-Anthony Turnage discuss their new collaboration, Undance, inspired by the 19th Century photographer Eadweard Muybridge.
Wealth-creation gurus are the focus of a new three-part documentary series Money by the film-maker Vanessa Engle. Lucy Kellaway of the Financial Times reviews the series alongside Channel 4's documentary The Ultimate Guide to Penny Pinching, about the UK's thriftiest people.
And in the first of a series of interviews with the four artists contending for this year's Turner Prize, John Wilson meets sculptor Karla Black.
Producer Timothy Prosser.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b017mtf9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 The Last Jews of Iraq (b017wyym)
Jews in Iraq? Alan Yentob investigates a 2600 year old community, now almost disappeared. Once they thrived as a third of Baghdad's population, now only seven Jewish people remain.
Few people realise there was once a thriving Jewish community in Iraq - in 1917 it was a third of Baghdad's population. Jewish people had government jobs and dominated the music scene. They were an integral part of the community, living peacefully with Arab neighbours. The Jews had been in Iraq for more than two and a half millennia, since it was called Babylon, and remembered in Psalms. For centuries it was the centre of Jewish learning. Alan speaks to people who remember a life in Baghdad characterised by integration, religious diversity and colourful traditions.
In the 40s, everything changed. Nazism, Arab-nationalism and anti-Zionist feeling created a wave of anti-semitism. Violent pogroms flared up, young Jewish men were publically hanged, Jews were forced from jobs. By the 1970s nearly all had left, many in 1951 when 110,000 people were flown to safety in Israel. We hear from those who remember the community's traumatic final days.
Now those few Jews who remain are hidden away. They will certainly be the last of the ancient Babylonian Jewish line, says Canon Andrew White, the 'Vicar of Baghdad'.
In a very personal programme, BBC Creative Director Alan Yentob, himself the child of Iraqi Jewish immigrants, looks into his heritage and uncovers the hidden history of the Jews of Iraq. Although the community is now almost vanished in Iraq itself, its traditions survive though around the world. With interviews, archive recordings and contemporary music, Alan brings its vibrancy to life.
Producer: Hannah Marshall
A Loftus Audio production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b017mtff)
Gadgets to help you if you've just lost your sight. 29/11/2011
Blindness for Beginners. Geoff Adams-Spink and Jane Copsey join Peter White with their top tips and suggestions for gadgets which are useful or can help you adjust if you're newly blind.
Everything from items that will help you tell the time, identify the prices of goods in the shops, make sure you get on the right bus and even pay with the right money. Plus details of the RNIB's Talking Book Service and a way to download audio books.
TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (b017mtfh)
Anxiety - Fraud in Psychology - Earworms
In May this year All in the Mind featured an intriguing Dutch study which reported that when there's a lot of rubbish in the street we're more likely to stereotype other people. Earlier this year it was found that the co author, Diederik Stapel had made up the data. As well as fooling us, he fooled the journal Science. Now the three Dutch universities involved have published their interim report on the extent of his fraud. Claudia talks to Martin Keulemanns, Science Editor at the Dutch broadsheet, the Volkskrant to ask why Stapel was able to get away with it for so long and what questions does his case raise about the way psychological research is conducted.
Also in the programme, Claudia reports on an innovative mentoring project in Manchester where people with social phobia, agoraphobia or other anxiety disorders are matched up with volunteer mentors who've been through, and are mostly recovered from their own experiences of anxiety. Claudia meets the mentors and mentees who meet once a week for six months and finds out how successful the scheme has been so far.
That catchy tune in your head - or earworm - might help to uncover some of the workings of memory. Dr Vicky Williamson who lectures on Music, Mind & Brain at Goldsmiths University of London is studying hundreds of earworms to try to come up with strategies for banishing them. She also explains why her research could help get rid of more intrusive and troubling memories like those resulting from post-traumatic stress disorder.
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (b017mrbd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b017jdvg)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b017mtfk)
With Robin Lustig. National and international news and analysis.
TUE 22:45 A Night with a Vampire (b017mv2s)
Series 2
The Girl With the Hungry Eyes
Written by Fritz Lieber.
This 1949 story has exerted it's grip on many an imagination and has been filmed several times. It concentrates on the magnetic power of the Vampire and - in this case - the utterly captivating and inescapable lure of a Vampiress cum glamour model.
David Tennant returns with another selection of chilling Vampire stories.
Last year in the first series we concentrated on Victorian Vampire output but in these five tales we enter the 20th Century and introduce stories with a little twist from the UK and the USA.
Producer: Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:00 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b017m14t)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Monday]
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b017mtfp)
The Chancellor announces public sector pay rises will be capped for a further two years in his Autumn Statement.
George Osborne also confirms that UK economic growth will be lower, and borrowing higher, than was forecast during the Budget in March.
The Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls, says the Government's economic strategy has gone "catastrophically wrong".
A transport minister says the law needs to change to tackle an "epidemic" of metal thefts.
And the Foreign Secretary promises to respond "robustly" as Iranian protesters, in Tehran, storm the British embassy.
Sean Curran and team report on today's events in Parliament.
WEDNESDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2011
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b017jdw1)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b017mrbj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b017jdw3)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b017jdw5)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b017jdw7)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b017jdw9)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b017x7r5)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection presented from Edinburgh by Alison Twaddle.
Producer: Mo McCullough.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b017mv1c)
Conservation groups say the Government's plans could undo years of work to promote wildlife and diversity. In an interview with Anna Hill, the RSPB questions whether the Treasury and Defra are working together when it comes to sustainability and the environment following the Chancellor's Autumn Statement. Farmers groups however have welcomed the speech which includes a review of the habitat legislation, improved broadband access, changes to the planning system and a reduction in fuel duty.
Also in the programme, some abattoirs may be forced to close their doors today due to the one day public sector strike. The Association of Independent Meat Suppliers says it expects smaller businesses could be forced to shut if there aren't approved meat inspectors on site.
And Anna visits a farm in East Anglia to see how mustard is being used to breathe new life into the soil.
This programme was presented by Anna Hill and produced in Birmingham by Angela Frain.
WED 06:00 Today (b017mv1f)
Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather, Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b017mv1h)
This week Libby Purves is joined by Jeremy Wade, Jacqui Thompson, Chris Mullin and Professor Roger Kneebone.
Jeremy Wade is a former science teacher turned extreme fisherman. He presents the award-winning TV series 'River Monsters' in which he travels to remote rivers in the Congo, Amazon rainforest and the mountains of India tracking down large, weird and little-known fish. His book 'River Monsters' is published by Swordfish.
Jacqui Thompson's husband Gary, a reservist with the RAF Regiment, was killed in Afghanistan on 2008. Since his death, Jacqui and her five daughters have been helped by the RAF Benevolent Fund. Money raised at this years British Military Tournament will go to the three armed forces charities; ABF The Soldier's Charity in association with The Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity and The Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund.
Chris Mullin was Labour MP for Sunderland South from 1987 to 2010, serving as chairman of the influential Home Affairs Select Committee and as Minister in three departments. For sixteen years he kept a witty and irreverent diary of the daily life of an MP and it is now a play A Walk On Part at the Soho Theatre. His diaries have appeared as three books, A View from the Foothills, Decline and Fall, and A Walk on Part - all published by Profile Books.
Roger Kneebone is Professor of Surgical Education at Imperial College London. He's presenting his first 'Professor Kneebone's Incredible Inflatable, Pop-Up Anatomy Lesson' at the Wellcome Collection as part of the Performing Medicine season, a series of performances, conversations and workshops exploring the fertile relationship between performance and anatomy.
Producer: Lucinda Montefiore.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b017mv1k)
Charles Dickens: A Life, by Claire Tomalin
Episode 3
Claire Tomalin's acclaimed biography of Britain's great novelist paints a portrait of an extraordinarily complex man. Today the novelist is well received in America.
Marking the 150th anniversary of Charles Dickens death, Radio 4 is broadcasting Claire Tomalin's acclaimed biography of the literary giant who called himself the "inimitable". Here Tomalin has created a vivid and evocative portrait of one of the nation's best loved writers. The characters Dickens created are instantly recognisable, from David Copperfield, to Mr Micawber and Nicholas Nickleby. His literary output was phenomenal. He was also the father of ten, and a supporter of various social causes, all evident in his novels. He was also a deeply complex man and a dark side accompanied his genius.
Claire Tomalin was literary editor of the The New Statesman and then the Sunday Times before becoming a full time writer. Her biographies are award winning. The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft, won the Whitbread First Book Award, and Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self was Whitbread Book of the Year in 2002.
Read by Penelope Wilton
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b017mv1m)
Sports Personality - where are the women? Scandi knits
Presented by Jenni Murray. Today's industrial action by public sector workers over pensions is being described by some as 'a women's strike.' We'll be discussing the strike and what the issues it raises will do for politicians' relationship with women voters. Knitwear, and in particular the so called 'Scandi Jumper', is hot fashion this Christmas, will you be wearing one? Women in Business - Daniella Genas puts on her annual big event. And where are the female nominees in this year's Sports Personality of the Year contest?
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b017mv1p)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Assault
By Anne Bronte
Dramatised by Rachel Joyce
Episode 3. Assault
Helen Graham is the mysterious and striking new tenant of the dilapidated Wildfell Hall. As gentleman farmer Gilbert Markham becomes more and more powerfully drawn to this enigmatic "widow" he finds that her unconventionally independent life disguises a turbulent and painful past.
Gilbert Markham - Robert Lonsdale
Helen Graham - Hattie Morahan
Mrs. Markham - Carolyn Pickles
Rose - Leah Brotherhead
Mr. Lawrence - Carl Prekopp
Rev. Millward - Gerard McDermott
Arthur - Samuel Bridger
Director: David Hunter.
WED 11:00 Mel's Iron Age Holiday (b017mv1r)
Mel Giedroyc takes a British family back 2,000 years to live in a Danish Iron Age village at Sagnlandet Lejre. Every summer ordinary families apply to live in the authentically reconstructed village for a week, to experience living as close to the Iron Age as possible. This year one lucky British family has been accepted.
Mel Giedroyc joins them and immerses herself with glee: putting on the layers of hand-woven woollen garments and matching bonnet and settling down onto her sheepskins in her pitch-dark wattle-and-daub hut. It's hard and primitive living. Days are occupied by gathering and preparing food as close to authentic Iron Age food as possible, grinding flour, fetching water, forging iron and chopping wood. Through the week, there are emotional highs and lows for all of them.
Then the week ends with a pagan ceremony at the Sacrificial Bog...
Producer Beth O'Dea.
WED 11:30 The Stanley Baxter Playhouse (b00txjth)
Series 4
In the Name of the Wee Man
Stanley Baxter, inspired in his own stellar career by the man's outstanding impersonations, stunning pantomime dame performances and brilliant comic timing; pays tribute to Tommy Lorne, one of Scotland's greatest early twentieth century comedians
Stanley says: "In the long and distinguished history of great Scottish comedians there is one name that stands out particularly in my mind, that of Tommy Lorne. His star burned brightly, but briefly, in the early years of the 20th century. My parents loved him, as did many Glaswegians, and in 1934 as an eight year old boy I was taken to the Theatre Royal to see him as Dame in Babes in the Wood. Although he died only a year later and I was to see him no more, his hilarious and extraordinary stage persona is still etched in my memory. He was, rightly, a huge star in Scotland, and although he may be long gone I'd hate for him to be forgotten. So this is my tribute to the great Tommy Lorne entitled, in the words of his own, famous catch phrase: 'In the Name of the Wee Man.'"
Baxter recounts the triumphs and disappointments of Tommy's short life, where he brought laughter and happiness to many in his Pantomime Dame performances and musical hall routines, recreated in this production by Stanley himself, joined by John Sessions, himself an ace impersonator and life long fan of Stanley's , he says that Stanley has had exactly the same kind of lasting influence on his work as Tommy Lorne had on Stanley himself.
Cast:
Tommy Lorne ..... Stanley Baxter
Willie Barbour ..... John Sessions
Harry McKelvie ..... John Ramage
Mary ..... Gabriel Quigley
Danny ..... David Holt
Producer: Marilyn Imrie
A Catherine Bailey production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b017mv1t)
The effect of the strike on NHS services, Liverpool's World Heritage Status and Madrassa schools
Consumer news with Winifred Robinson.
Controversy over plans for a 5.5 billion pound development along the docklands in North Liverpool. Unesco says it is extremely concerned because of the possible impact on the city's historic waterfront. What are the implications for Liverpool's world heritage status?
A new report raises concerns about Madrassas which are schools for Muslim children which aren't in mainstream education. One of the issues is how many of the adults in these schools have been subject to CRB checks.
And the places to avoid in London when travelling during the Olympics.
Producer Bernadette McConnell.
WED 12:57 Weather (b017jdwc)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b017mv1w)
Martha Kearney presents national and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
WED 13:45 Joan Armatrading: More Guitar Favourites (b017mv1y)
Richard Thompson
Following on from the success of her first series, legendary guitarist, singer and songwriter, Joan Armatrading, brings together a collection of great guitarists from around the world, in this five part series.
In today's programme, she talks to Richard Thompson, the guitarist's guitarist and all round philosopher. Inspired by Django Rheinhardt, Richard is the Fairport Convention veteran guitarist who brought the excitement of rock to British folk music.
Producer: Susan Marling
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b017mt06)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b017mv20)
Oliver Emanuel - Ancient Greek
Sony nominated writer, Oliver Emanuel's sharp contemporary drama about a sixth-former who decides to take a stand.
Since Christmas, strange words have been appearing all over the school - on the walls of the maths department, across the windows of the gym, scratched into the deputy head's Mondeo. A protest of sorts it would seem. Apparently written in Ancient Greek.
On the last day of school, Alex King walks into Head's office and admits that the work is all his. He's one of the brightest students in the school. And now he wants his chance to speak.
Directed by Lu Kemp.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b017mv22)
The Chancellor George Osborne has delivered his Autumn Statement with bad news on the economic growth and borrowing front. Measures in the statement include: Changes to the State Pension; benefit upratings and investing in start ups. As well as public sector pay rises capped at 1% and a doubling of Air Passenger Duty.
Money Box Live will look at the small print of the Autumn Statement and answer your questions on any tax, welfare, saving and investment issues.
Joining Vincent Duggleby on the programme:
John Whiting, Tax Policy Director, Chartered Institute of Taxation
Louise Oliver, partner, Taylor Oliver.
Will Hadwen - Working Families
So join Vincent Duggleby and guests and ring in with your question. Phone lines open at
1.45pm on Wednesday afternoon and the number to call is 03700 100 444. Standard geographic charges apply. Calls from mobiles may be higher. The programme starts after the three o'clock news.
WED 15:30 All in the Mind (b017mtfh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b017mv24)
Grammar Schools and Social Mobility; The Opera Fanatic
Laurie Taylor explores opera fanatics at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and compares them to fans in Cardiff, with Professor Claudio Benzecry from the University of Connecticut and Professor Paul Atkinson from Cardiff University. And he explores the popularly held notion that grammar schools aid social mobility with Dr Adam Swift from the University of Oxford.
Producer Chris Wilson.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b017mv26)
The Sun, the Agent and the Paparazzo
With tabloid newspapers under sustained attack at the Leveson Inquiry, The Sun's managing editor Richard Caseby talks about his paper's future.
The front pages of the upmarket newspapers yesterday carried the story told by Charlotte Church in Monday's Leveson session: that, when she was 13, she turned down £100,000 to sing Pie Jesu at Rupert Murdoch's wedding to Wendi Deng in exchange for favourable coverage. Jonathan Shalit was her agent at the time and he tells Steve what he remembers of the deal - business as usual or a "Faustian pact"?
And paparazzo Max Cisotti responds to the series of claims made against press and celebrity photographers in the Leveson sessions so far - in his view, are celebrities and people in the news really responsible for the way they are treated?
The producer is Simon Tillotson.
WED 17:00 PM (b017mv28)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b017jdwf)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Heresy (b017mv2b)
Series 8
Episode 1
The first in a new series of the programme that dares to commit heresy. Victoria Coren and her guests have fun exposing the wrong-headedness of received wisdom and challenging knee-jerk public reaction to events.
Her guests in the first programme are comedian Mark Steel, novelist Jessica Berens and actor and national treasure, Christopher Biggins.
Christopher Biggins gets on his high pantomime horse, arguing against the assertion that Panto is an outdated art form, Mark Steel comes out in support of public displays of drunkenness and former Tatler journalist Jessica Berens explains why people are totally misguided if they think it would be nice to live in a house like Downton Abbey.
Producer: Brian King
An Avalon Television production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b017mv2d)
The power's finally back on at the market but Brenda's disappointed when Lilian wants her to stay in the office tomorrow.
The news about Rich is a bigger bombshell. Brenda knows how Helen adored John and that her problems stem from his accident. Tom can't understand why their parents are prepared to risk ruining all the progress she's made by trumping Henry, her greatest achievement. Brenda's worried about Tom coping too. He admits that it's spooked him. All his life he's tried to move out from under John's shadow, and now this.
Tony finally seems to make Pat see that she needs to stop being obsessed with Rich and concentrate on Tom and Helen, who need time to deal with the news. When Helen begs Pat not to phone Sharon, Pat promises she won't, not yet.
Lilian calls in on Tony and they discuss the new market. Although Tony's sick of Brian and Jennifer going on about this so-called legacy project, he agrees with Lilian that it's not in anyone's interests if the opening's a flop. Brian may be jetting off to the Maldives next week but Lilian acknowledges there are always problems waiting when you get back. Tony agrees that's true.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b017mv2g)
Lenny Henry in The Comedy of Errors; Rob Brydon
Lenny Henry was acclaimed when he made his stage debut as Othello, and now he returns to Shakespeare as Antipholus of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors, in a new production at the National Theatre. Rachel Cooke reviews.
Comedy performer and actor Rob Brydon reflects on his career so far, including his first appearance in a play, starring alongside Kenneth Branagh in Belfast earlier this year. He also recalls an awkward encounter with Harold Pinter.
Charlie Brooker's latest project is Black Mirror, described as a dark trilogy of twisted tales about the power of technology in the 21st century. In the first episode of the TV drama, The National Anthem, written by Brooker, the Prime Minister finds himself forced to consider how far he would go for his country. Matt Thorne gives his verdict.
And John Wilson talks to the artist Martin Boyce in his latest report on Turner Prize nominees.
Producer Jerome Weatherald.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b017mv1p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b017mv2j)
Culture of Entitlement
They're calling it the biggest strike in a generation. Around 2 million public sector workers are expected to walk out on Wednesday, including teachers, health workers and immigration staff. More than 20,000 schools face closure, coastguard services will be restricted, benefits centres shut and emergency plans have been put in place at Heathrow to cope with the cues for passport control. The strike is in protest at plans to make workers contribute an extra 3% towards their pension and raise the retirement age to 67. The strike comes a day after what's being called "Black Tuesday" when the Chancellor George Osborne reveals just how bad our national economic prospects are. Of course no one wants to work longer and pay more towards their pension, but state sector pensions cost £32 billion a year - more than the police, prisons and courts combined. In times of such extreme economic peril and austerity is the duty of all us - not just the bankers - to ask what are we entitled to get from the state? The majority of public sector pensioners are less than £5,000; hardly excessive, but from the perspective of the 65% of workers in the private sector who have no pension at all Wednesday's strike might look like greed. For a long time we assumed that increasing people's sense of entitlement - to benefits, core public services, decent pensions - was a sign of moral progress but should we instead think the reverse? That we need to lower people's sense of entitlement and tackle the culture of dependency not just to make the economy more dynamic and services more affordable, but to strengthen the moral sinews of society? When Europe is looking to China to bail it out perhaps it's time to listen to the words of Jin Liqun, the chairman of China's sovereign wealth fund, who's blamed the Eurozone problems on the accumulated troubles of the worn out welfare society that, in his words, encourages sloth and indolence.
Witnesses: Andrew Harrop - General Secretary, Fabian Society; Dominic Lawson -Columnist on The Independent - former editor of The Spectator and the Sunday Telegraph; Patrick Nolan -Chief Economist, Reform; Sarah Veale -Head of Equality and Employment Rights Department, TUC.
Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by David Aaronovitch with Claire Fox, Clifford Longley, Anne McElvoy and Matthew Taylor.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b017mv2l)
Series 2
Angela Saini: Throwaway Technology
Science writer Angela Saini confesses that as a late adopter of new technology.
She struggles to reconcile a deep human desire to make, mend and recycle with the throwaway culture on which the development of new computers, gadgets and phones seems to depend. Much of this is inherited from the thrifty traditions of her parents.
Four Thought is a series of talks which combine thought provoking ideas and engaging storytelling.
Recorded live in front of an audience at the RSA in London, speakers air their latest thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect our culture and society.
Producer: Sheila Cook.
WED 21:00 Frontiers (b017mv2n)
Why don't we all get depressed? The short answer is that most of us do - and, paradoxically, there may be good reasons, rooted in our evolutionary past, for this. But depression comes in all degrees of severity, and only a minority of us get clinically depressed: a state which is not only more intense than ordinary everyday gloom and despondency, but less obviously adaptive. In Frontiers, Geoff Watts explores the origins of depression and efforts to find new treatments. The latest research is looking into the brains of those who never get depressed, those who seem to have a natural resilience. Could these hardy individuals hold the key to preventing depression taking hold in the first place?
The notion that milder forms of depression may be helpful emerged a little over a decade ago, prompted by the observation that this state of mind is so relatively common. The claim is part of a more general attempt to explain the kinds of illness we suffer from by reference to our evolutionary history. Natural selection is pretty good at adapting organisms to function effectively in their environments. If depression is a regular feature of our state of mind, so the argument goes, maybe it's serving some useful purpose. It could be a bit like pain: something we don't like, but which has a biological value.
The father of this theory is the American psychologist Randolph Nesse, who believes that mild depression deters you from wasting energy pursuing unattainable goals, and encourages you to disengage from them and turn instead to something else. At first hearing the idea sounds fanciful. But since Nesse put forward the hypothesis, at least one study seems to have confirmed its plausibility.
So much for mild depression; but what of the more severe forms that don't so much prompt sufferers to reconsider their goals as drive them to give up entirely? Why, ask researchers, if mild depression is an adaptation, can it become so destructive so easily? Can this destructive form of depression be understood and prevented?
One helpful clue towards a better means of doing so can be found in the biology of people who experience huge amounts of stress, yet show no signs at all of depression. They have what is known in the trade as "resilience", and a research group in Manchester is trying to understand what it is and why it works. Is it a specific brain process? A variation of brain chemistry, a set of genes or all three in combination with specific life experiences? If something specific in people with resilience can be uncovered and then targeted, might we be able to prevent other people who face major life stress from succumbing to this debilitating disease?
Producer: Rami Tzabar.
WED 21:30 Midweek (b017mv1h)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b017jdwh)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b017mv2q)
David Cameron has called Trades Unions' day of strikes 'a damp squib'.As more cuts are planned , have they already lost the battle?
Britain closes down Iran's Embassy. Will the tit for tat achieve anything?
The Libyan exiles who don't want to return to Manchester
with Robin Lustig.
WED 22:45 A Night with a Vampire (b017mr5y)
Series 2
Bewitched
Written by Edith Wharton.
A tale of Vampire possession written in 1925
Saul Rutledge had a girlfriend before he married his current wife. Unfortunately, he still slips at night to see her. Even though she dies several years ago...
David Tennant returns with another selection of chilling Vampire stories. Last year in the first series we concentrated on Victorian Vampire output but in these five tales we enter the 20th Century and introduce stories with a little twist from the UK and the USA.
Producer: Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:00 Mark Watson's Live Address to the Nation (b017mv2v)
Tolerance
Mark Watson continues his quest to improve the world, nimbly assisted by Tim Key and Tom Basden
As broadcast live with an audience in November 2011 - Mark asks the big questions that are crucial to our understanding of ourselves and society - in a dynamic and thought provoking new format he opens the floor to the live audience and asks them to jump into the conversation via tweets and messages to work out how we can all make the world a better place.
This time Mark looks at "Tolerance" - Religious tolerance, moral tolerance, not striking the person next to you on the bus because they haven't worked out you can send a text without your phone beeping every time you press a key.
It's important to tolerate others' faults, their little quirks, and their massive despicable crimes. But can tolerance make us into doormats, allowing evil to thrive? Probably. Shame, that.
Producer: Lianne Coop.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2011.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b017mv2x)
Alicia McCarthy with the day's top news stories from Westminster. The public sector pensions strike and yesterday's Autumn Statement dominate Prime Minister's Questions. The Foreign Secretary announces that the British Embassy in Iran is to close. And in the House of Lords, peers turn their attention to the payment of interns.
THURSDAY 01 DECEMBER 2011
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b017jdx2)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b017mv1k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b017jdx4)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b017jdx6)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b017jdx8)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b017jdxb)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b017x7s8)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection presented from Edinburgh by Alison Twaddle.
Producer: Mo McCullough.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b017mvwt)
New research suggests that the price of food is likely to continue rising, even though food inflation is at its highest for almost twenty years. The report by the Universities of Exeter and Nottingham says that increases in the price of food hit those on low incomes disproportionately hard. The Environment Agency is warning that the drought in some areas of England could continue into next summer unless we have a wet winter. The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced, in his Autumn Statement, that he wants a review of the EU Habitats Directive. We find out what the Directive was set up to do. And, continuing our exploration of the soil, the organic farmer who says nurturing it is like getting a good party going.
Presenter: Charlotte Smith
Producer: Sarah Swadling.
THU 06:00 Today (b017mvww)
Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather, Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b017mvwy)
Christina Rossetti
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of the Victorian poet Christina Rossetti. Rossetti was born into an artistic family and her siblings included Dante Gabriel, one of the leading lights of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, to whose journal, 'The Germ', Christina contributed poems. She was a devout Anglican all her life and her religious beliefs are a recurring theme in her work. Christina never married, although she was engaged twice - one of her fiancés was the Pre-Raphaelite painter, James Collinson. She spent her time writing and volunteering for charitable works. It is said she even considered going to the Crimea with Florence Nightingale, but in the end ill health prevented her from doing so. Best known for her ballads and long narrative poems, she also wrote some prose and children's verses. Christina was admired by contemporaries including Swinburne, Tennyson and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Her work was to have an influence on later writers such as Virginia Woolf and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Rossetti's poetry has a spirituality and sensitivity that has led to her redisovery in recent decades, not least by feminist critics who praise her powerful and independent poetic voice. With:Dinah BirchProfessor of English Literature and Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research at Liverpool University Rhian WilliamsLecturer in Nineteenth-Century English Literature at the University of GlasgowNicholas ShrimptonEmeritus Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford Producer: Natalia Fernandez.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b017mvx0)
Charles Dickens: A Life, by Claire Tomalin
Episode 4
Claire Tomalin's acclaimed biography of one of Britain's literary giants paints a portrait of an extraordinarily complex man. Today a theatrical performance changes the course of his life.
Claire Tomalin's acclaimed biography of one of the nation's literary giants is broadcast to mark the 150th anniversary of his death in June 2020. Here Tomalin portrays Dickens as a complex man, a writer who created characters who continue to endure in the popular imagination from the The Artful Dodger, Mr Pickwick, Pip and David Copperfield. He was also a ferociously hard-working writer, a philanthropist, a supporter of liberal social causes, and father of ten, and yet his genius also had a dark side.
Claire Tomalin was literary editor of the The New Statesman and then the Sunday Times before becoming a full time writer. Her biographies are award winning. The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft, won the Whitbread First Book Award, and Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self was Whitbread Book of the Year in 2002.
Read by Penelope Wilton
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b017mvx2)
Job sharing at a senior level - can it work?
Presented by Jenni Murray. Job sharing at senior level - can it work? Parenting and honesty about past indiscretions: Should we always tell the truth to children? New report by the Rowntree Foundation into poverty levels and another in our series about Stately homes - Hardwick Hall.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b017mvx4)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
The Warnings of Experience
By Anne Bronte
Dramatised by Rachel Joyce
Episode 4. The Warnings of Experience
Rumours have been building about Helen Graham's relationship with her landlord Mr. Lawrence. After scurrilous rumours and an incident of violence Helen has revealed that he is her brother. Now she has given Gilbert her journal to explain the events of her past.
Gilbert Markham - Robert Lonsdale
Helen Graham - Hattie Morahan
Mrs. Maxwell - Tracy Wiles
Huntingdon -Leo Bill
Annabella - Emerald O'Hanrahan
Mr. Boarham - James Lailey
Director: David Hunter.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b017mvx6)
Farming Zimbabwe
In 2000, President Robert Mugabe introduced "fast-track land reform" to Zimbabwe in a wave of often violent takeovers of mainly white-owned farms.
Led by veterans of the second Chimurenga - the Zimbabwe War of Liberation of the 1960s and 1970s - the takeover was seen internationally as a disaster. It was widely reported that cronyism and corruption meant only the country's politically-connected elite were benefiting from the land reform programme, and in the process were leading Zimbabwe's lucrative agricultural export industry into freefall. But what is the situation a decade on?
Martin Plaut travels across Zimbabwe to investigate new research which suggests that farm production levels are recovering. He meets some of Zimbabwe's new black farmers - some of whom took part in the land seizures - who reveal how land reform has transformed their lives.
He also examines the fortunes of Zimbabwe's remaining white farmers and the black farm workers they employed and asks if country's wider economy has recovered from the massive disruption caused by land reform.
Reporter: Martin Plaut
Producer: Richard Fenton-Smith.
THU 11:30 St Ives and Me (b017mvx8)
St Ives, a Cornish seaside town 300 miles from comedian and poet Anna Chen's London home has been attracting artists for two centuries. A varied assortment of eccentrics, entrepreneurs and free spirits have turned the pilchard-fishing and tin-mining town into a popular cultural haven.
Anna has been holidaying there since she was ten and knew many of the famous artists who've populated and popularised St Ives.
In the late 1970s the bohemian fashion journalist and novelist Molly Parkin was a regular on the St. Ives scene and she recalls how, in the dark recesses of Mr Peggotty's disco, she introduced Anna to artist Patrick Heron. In his Porthmeor studio by the Atlantic, Heron used to make Anna mugs of tea while he painted and sketched her and their conversations opened her eyes to the arts. Revisiting those studios, she meets two present day painters maintaining the St Ives' tradition.
On a personal tour of the town, she returns to Barbara Hepworth's sculpture garden, hears about the unique light conditions that attract so many artists and reveals the vital roles Napoleon, Von Ribbentrop and the 1960s hippies played in promoting and preserving St Ives.
At lunchtime, in Norway Square, Anna performs her comic poetry in the St Ives Festival, which has been attracting trendsetters for thirty years.
And she waits on the beach, with bated breath, for the legendary 33rd wave.
Producer: Chris Eldon Lee
A Culture Wise production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b017mvxb)
Charities and business rates, food price rises imminent and the government announce their disability strategy
Consumer news with Winifred Robinson.The charities offering struggling businesses a way out of paying their rates. A global report into commodity prices say a significant rise in the cost of food is inevitable next year. Ofcom warns internet providers that they must tell customers in plain English about how their plans to manage internet traffic may affect the on-line experience. And how will the French take to shopping for clothes in charity shops as Oxfam launches its first venture in the country.
THU 12:57 Weather (b017jdxd)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b017mvxd)
Martha Kearney with national and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
THU 13:45 Joan Armatrading: More Guitar Favourites (b017mvxg)
Jennifer Batten
Following on from the success of her first series, legendary guitarist, singer and songwriter, Joan Armatrading, brings together a collection of great guitarists from around the world, in this five part series. In today's programme she talks to the American rock chick, effects supremo, shredder and tapper Jennifer Batten, who rose to fame with Michael Jackson and then Jeff Beck. Jennifer is the one of the world's great session guitarists with an added ability to perform. She was Jackson's 'blonde twin' who he dressed in camp outfits and choreographed her to fly to stage alongside him. She never tires of pushing her guitar to the limits, finding the latest technology and effects to dazzle her listeners.
Producer: Kate Bland
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b017mv2d)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b017mvxj)
The Hamster
Written by Anders Lustgarten.
Things are going to get out of hand for David and Nicola soon after they realise their hamster's unique capacity for growth. It's getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Life has been tough but soon it's improving dramatically. Money is rolling in as people queue up to view the rapacious rodent. But how long can it last? Where will it end?
It must be like the economists say - growth is guaranteed to get us out of the grim situation that we find ourselves in. Or will it?
The Hamster is a dark comedy inspired by an observation made by the New Economics Foundation; a Hamster doubles in weight every week until maturity, after which its growth slows down. If it were to continue growing at that rate it would reach nine billion tonnes by its first birthday. This is why growth, in nature, is limited - and yet we are told that economic growth should continue for ever and ever.
Cast:
Nicola ...... Louise Ford
David ..... Nick Chambers
Mr Marshall ...... Patrick Driver
Mrs Bannister ..... Illona Linthwaite
Reg Taylor ...... John Yapp
Robert Benson ..... Dominic Hawksley
Other parts played by Bill Nash, Ania Tomaszewska-Nelson, Avita Jay, Oliver Lavery and Anders Lustgarten.
Sound and Music: Alisdair McGregor and Howard Jacques
Thanks to Nishil Solanki, Andrew Sims and Viki Johnson
Producer/Director: Boz Temple-Morris
A Holy Mountain production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b017mwrl)
British Waterways is responsible for over two thousand miles of canals and navigable rivers across the country. Next year, it is just one of many bodies preparing to become a charity due to Government cuts. As part of this new status, the organisation is launching a recruitment drive for volunteers to train as lock keepers. Today's Open Country, is from Caen Hill locks in Devizes, one of the most impressive and iconic canals in the country. Jules Hudson finds out how important volunteers will be in maintaining our canals and what the future holds for British Waterways.
Presenter: Jules Hudson
Producer : Anna Varle.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b017lbd3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (b017ldlf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b017mwrn)
Martin Scorsese talks to Francine Stock about the future of cinema, his passion for its history and the way he has used 3D to bring them both to life in his new film Hugo.
THU 16:30 Material World (b017mwrq)
This week, Quentin Cooper hears about the impact of thawing permafrost on climate change; how generations of space worms may lead the way for humans to reach Mars; and how DNA barcoding is identifying species and spotting fraud.
Producer: Martin Redfern.
THU 17:00 PM (b017mwrs)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b017jdxg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Elvenquest (b01616lj)
Series 3
Episode 1
When Sam is left behind to "guard the stuff" whilst the others are off killing the Man-munching Giant of Rankor he is accosted by a beautiful maiden, Eirwen, who has been kept captive in the giant's castle and takes Sam to be her rescuer. She promptly proposes, throwing the future of the Questers' Fellowship into jeopardy.
Meanwhile, Lord Darkness' attempts to conquer Lower Earth take a new turn when Kreech discovers an ancient prophesy enabling Lord Darkness to create the "UnChosen One", an evil spirit that is the only being that can defeat the Chosen One. Problem is, it means Lord Darkness has to impregnate a hideous, misshapen creature. If only there was one of those close to hand...
Starring:
Darren Boyd as Vidar
Kevin Eldon as Kreech/Dean
Martha Howe-Douglas as Eirwen
Dave Lamb as Amis/The Chosen One
Stephen Mangan as Sam
Alistair McGowan as Lord Darkness
and Sophie Winkleman as Penthiselea
The producer is Sam Michell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2011.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b017mwrx)
The primestock show at the new market is in progress. David acknowledges the facilities are outstanding but can see that the competition's hot. Ruth gives their steer a final brush, assuring David he's done his best.
Clarrie's taken over while Joe gets a hot drink. She's doing well with mistletoe sales, and Eddie's hopeful for some decent tips.
Brian's anxious, especially when he hears a buzzing from the electrics. Annabelle calms him down and reminds him of how well they've done.
Ruth's mulling over the idea of switching to another processor to get a better deal. The steer doesn't win anything. David knows a rosette would have done wonders for their sales. Ben reckons they'll prove the judge wrong when they get tons of orders for their Christmas beef.
Brian and Jennifer toast the perfect launch. Jennifer notices an article about Joe in the newspaper. He's certainly made the most of the electrics failing. Jennifer's confident that next week's story will be about today's fabulous opening. Brian remarks that Pete Wilkes still hasn't got back to him about supplying feed. He'll have to ring him next week. Jennifer tells him he jolly well won't. They're going on holiday, and that's that.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b017mwrz)
Stephen Schwartz; The Big Year
With Kirsty Lang.
Kirsty meets Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, whose hugely successful musicals include Godspell and Wicked, and whose 1972 show Pippin now receives a new British production.
Steve Martin, Owen Wilson and Jack Black star in the film The Big Year, in which they compete to see who can spot the most species of birds in North America in one year. Comedian Alex Horne spent a year following his bird watching father and discusses whether the passion and paranoia on screen accurately represent the real world of birding.
Arts Council England has just published Internships in the Arts, which suggests that arts organizations should pay young people working as interns. Martin Bright, founder of New Deal of the Mind, and Richard Mantle, General Director of Opera North, discuss whether theatres and galleries can afford to pay interns in these cash-strapped times.
John Wilson talks to the artist Hilary Lloyd in his latest report on this year's Turner Prize nominees.
Producer Philippa Ritchie.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b017mvx4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b017mws1)
TUC's Day of Action: Behind the Lines
The TUC's Day of Action has been supported by an estimated two million public sector workers, on strike for a 'fair deal' on pensions'. Lucy Ash has been behind the scenes in Birmingham - where the TUC national rally is taking place - and with union members planning the strike, some taking action for the first time. Tension mounts between the TUC and local authority about the planned march, and negotiations falter over the route - there have been several strikes in the city already this year. Elsewhere in the West Midlands, small businesses are angry that their market is being closed by the council - action they see as unnecessary. The Report reflects some of the antipathy between public and private sector workers in one British city.
Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane.
THU 20:30 In Business (b017mws3)
Don't Cry for Me, Argentina
Is there life after a sovereign debt default such as Greece is now facing ? Peter Day reports from Argentina, a country which went through a similar sort of crisis ten years ago.
You can subscribe to "Peter Days World of Business" podcast, via the Radio 4 website. The podcast brings you both the "In Business" programme, which broadcasts twenty six times a year and also "Global Business" which broadcasts every week of the year on the BBC World Service.
Producer: Richard Berenger Editor Stephen Chilcott.
THU 21:00 Saving Species (b017mrfp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Tuesday]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b017mvwy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b017jdxj)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b017mws5)
Mervyn King warns banks to brace themselves for a systemic financial crisis - so what plans are in place for a euro breakup?
The EU widens sanctions against Iran after the storming of the UK embassy, what impact will they have?
And what's the effect of the government policy change on solar panels?
With Robin Lustig.
THU 22:45 A Night with a Vampire (b017mtfm)
Series 2
Drink My Blood
Written by Richard Matheson.
Written in 1951 this is an unusually dark comic twist on the Vampire tale about a young pasty-faced school kid, Jules, whose only ambition in life is to become a vampire. But will his dreams come true? Richard Matheson wrote "I am Legend".
David Tennant returns with another selection of chilling Vampire stories.
Last year in the first series we concentrated on Victorian Vampire output but in these five tales we enter the 20th Century and introduce stories with a little twist from the UK and the USA.
Producer: Clive Brill
A Pacificus Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:00 Les Kelly's Britain (b017mws9)
Episode 4
Les Kelly (Kevin Bishop) hosts a magazine show from hell. Les is a cross between Jeremy Kyle and a slap in the face. He claims this is the only radio show for 'normal, decent people'. 'If you aren't normal or decent, this is not the show for you,' says Les.
This week Les talks to Britain's only male nun, a man who only speaks using sound fx and answers the question: what is the world coming to?
Written by Bill Dare with Julian Dutton.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b017mwsc)
Sean Curran presents the day's top news stories from Westminster.
FRIDAY 02 DECEMBER 2011
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b017jdy3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b017mvx0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b017jdy5)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b017jdy7)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b017jdy9)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b017jdyc)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b017x7zy)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection presented from Edinburgh by Alison Twaddle.
Producer: Mo McCullough.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b017mwyy)
Environment secretary Caroline Spelman tells Farming Today the misuse of wildlife laws means she will now be reviewing the European rules. Chancellor George Osborne attacked some environment legislation in his Autumn statement, saying it holds businesses back. The RSPB has warned this could be an agenda which will ruin years of work promoting wildlife.
Charlotte Smith hears about the 'holy grail' of crop science - self-fertilising wheat. Jeremy Murray from the John Innes Centre says it could halve agriculture's carbon footprint.
And a trip round the flowers and fields of the Upton Estate in the Midlands shows how farmers now rotate food for wildlife just as they rotate their crops.
Presenter: Charlotte Smith Producer: Melvin Rickarby.
FRI 06:00 Today (b017mwz0)
Morning news and current affairs, with James Naughtie and Evan Davis, including:
07:30 Should banks do more to curb top bonuses?
07:50 Is reading prayers at council meetings discriminatory?
08:10 Should public sector pay be calculated regionally not nationally?
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b017lbdc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b017mwz2)
Charles Dickens: A Life, by Claire Tomalin
Episode 5
Claire Tomalin's acclaimed biography of one of Britain's best loved novelists paints a portrait of a brilliant writer and a complex man. Today's themes are adulation and farewells.
Claire Tomalin's well-received biography of one of the nation's literary giants is broadcast to mark the 150th anniversary of his death in June 2020. Here Tomalin evocatively portrays Dickens as a writer charged with tremendous imagination and energy, enabling him to create characters who continue to endure in our popular culture from The Artful Dodger, Mr Pickwick, Pip and David Copperfield. He was also a hard-working journalist, a philanthropist, a supporter of social causes, and father of ten, and yet his genius also had a dark side.
Claire Tomalin was literary editor of the The New Statesman and then the Sunday Times before becoming a full time writer. Her biographies are award winning. The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft, won the Whitbread First Book Award, and Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self was Whitbread Book of the Year in 2002.
Read by Penelope Wilton
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
Read by Penelope Wilton
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b017mwz4)
Yorkshire's greatest women; Women's rights in Afghanistan; Inequalities in female healthcare and author Sarah Hall
Presented by Jenni Murray. The results of a poll to find the greatest Yorkshirewoman ever is about to be released - author and Yorkshirewoman, Joanne Harris, joins Jenni to evaluate the frontrunners.
What's the prospects for women in Afghanistan, as the US and peacekeeping forces prepare to pull out in 2014? Jenni will hear the views from Kabul and the UK ahead of a major conference on the country's future. Are lower paid working women losing out in healthcare? One Yorkshire pharmacist thinks so, and says the inequalities in the health service between rich and poor women has never been so pronounced. Plus award winning writer Sarah Hall on why the darker side of the Cumbrian landscape provides inspiration for her work.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b017mwz6)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Episode 5
By Anne Bronte
Dramatised by Rachel Joyce
Episode 5. Matrimony
Gilbert has been reading Helen's journal about her tempestuous courtship and marriage with the "wildish" Mr. Huntingdon. Now he is worried about how the story will proceed.
Gilbert ... Robert Lonsdale
Helen ... Hattie Morahan
Huntingdon ... Leo Bill
Arthur ...Samuel Bridger
Mrs. Markham ... Carolyn Pickles
Rose ... Leah Brotherhead
Annabella ... Emerald O'Hanrahan
Hargrave ... Stephen Critchlow
Lowborough ... Chris Webster
Miss Myers ... Alex Rivers
Lawrence ... Carl Prekopp
Eliza ... Victoria Inez Hardy
Rev. Millward ... Gerard McDermott
Mrs. Maxwell ... Tracy Wiles
Boarham ... James Lailey
Director: David Hunter.
FRI 11:00 Escape from the Deep (b017mx3x)
Louis de Bernieres returns to Cephalonia, the setting for Captain Corelli's Mandolin, to tell one of the greatest, most controversial, submarine escape stories of World War II.
In the village of Mavrata, in the south east corner of the Greek island of Cephalonia, is a memorial to the 60 men who died when their submarine HMS Perseus hit an Italian mine and sank, instantly, to the seabed 170 feet below.
But at the bottom of this memorial are the extraordinary words "The sole survivor John H Capes was rescued and sheltered by patriotic islanders who helped him to escape."
When John Capes, romantic, adventurer, womaniser and submarine stoker was found half-dead on a Cephalonia beach on the morning of 7th December 1941, he had a scarcely believable tale to tell: he claimed to have, almost miraculously, survived the destruction of Perseus, and have escaped, alone, from the wreck at the bottom of the sea.
For nearly 70 years after the event, Capes' story was a source of controversy for naval historians: could he really have escaped through a jammed hatch in the severely damaged, flooded vessel? Could he possibly have made it to the surface through 170 feet of water from the bottom of the Mediterranean, a depth never before survived? Could he then have swum, injured, through three miles of cold, choppy sea to the island?
Almost as extraordinary are the eighteen months Capes spent on the island before being spirited away by the Royal Navy in 1943. The islanders, at great risk to themselves, sheltered and disguised Capes from the occupying Italian forces, and fed him when they themselves were on the brink of starvation.
Louis explores John Capes' extraordinary story, and asks: could it really be true?
Producer: Jane Greenwood
A Loftus Audio production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 11:30 North by Northamptonshire (b017mx3z)
Series 2
Episode 1
As is well-known: Yorkshiremen wear flat caps and Essex girls wear short skirts; Liverpudlians are scallies and Cockneys are wideboys. Northamptonians gaze wistfully at these stereotypes and wish for an identity of any kind and a label less ridiculous than Northamptonians.
Northamptonshire, let us be clear, is neither north, nor south nor in the Midlands. It floats somewhere between the three eyeing up the distinctiveness of each with envious eyes. Now Katherine Jakeways is giving Northamptonshire an identity. And she waits, benevolently, for her home-county to thank her. And possibly make her some kind of Mayor.
Joined by the same incredible cast which graced Series One - including Sheila Hancock as the Narrator, Penelope Wilton, Mackenzie Crook, Felicity Montagu and Kevin Eldon - and with the exciting addition of Geoffrey Palmer, North by Northamptonshire promises once again to delight audience and critics.
Wadenbrook is a small market town in a corner of Northamptonshire, and will be familiar to anyone who has ever lived anywhere. This year, its residents are building up to a Dickensian Festival weekend, so expect mob caps, cravats and shawls which are usually used as cat-blankets.
Written by and also starring Katherine Jakeways.
John Biggins............Keith
Mackenzie Crook.........Rod
Kevin Eldon.........Jonathan / Ken
Shelia Hancock........... Narrator
Jessica Henwick.............Helen
Katherine Jakeways.... Esther / Jacqui
Felicity Montagu..............Jan
Geoffrey Palmer..........Norman
Lizzie Roper............Angela
Penelope Wilton............Mary
Rufus Wright..............Frank
Producer: Victoria Lloyd
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2011.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b017mx41)
The Durham nightclub that says bring your own alcohol.
The latest scam that's targeting consumers trying to cut the cost of their energy. Trading Standards are investigating four firms behind a £99 plug-in that claims to cut the cost of your gas and electricity bill by nearly half.
"Bring Your Own" - the Durham nightclub owner who's inviting customers to bring their own alcohol because he just can't compete with the supermarket prices.
Why the designer chocolate business is booming despite the recession.
And who will blink first? While some shops are price cutting already, others are trying to hold their nerve. But how long will Christmas shoppers be prepared to wait before spending their cash.
Presented by Peter White and Produced by Beverley Purcell.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b017jdyf)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b017mx5v)
Shaun Ley presents national and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
FRI 13:45 Joan Armatrading: More Guitar Favourites (b017mx5x)
Baaba Maal
Following on from the success of her first series, legendary guitarist, singer and songwriter, Joan Armatrading, brings together a collection of great guitarists from around the world, in this five part series.
In today's programme she transforms listeners to the northern most reaches of Senegal and the music and culture of Baaba Maal, an inspirational musician at home and abroad. She hears about the core of classical music at the heart of traditional and contemporary music, the range of instruments that make up the beautiful sounds from the region and the extraordinary position of Senegal in Africa, a meeting place for Arabic and African cultures. Baaba demonstrates some different tunings to Joan, that reveal the geographic and cultural origins of the music; he also discusses the resurgence of interest in traditional music among young musicians in Dakar.
Producer: Kate Bland
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b017mwrx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b00tt6fs)
Andrew Doyle - The Second Mr Bailey
John is a young gay man living in Edinburgh in 1967. Homosexuality is about to be legalised in England, but not in Scotland. When John takes up lodgings with the enigmatic Mrs Margaret Bailey, he begins to experience what life as a conventional straight man could be like. But Margaret is no ordinary house-wife; she's slowly turning John into a replica of her husband. And John's beginning to like it.
Haunting drama by Andrew Doyle.
Cast:
Young John...... Sam Swann
Older John ...... Richard Greenwood
Brian................ Owen Whitelaw
Margaret..... Gerda Stevenson
Hilary........ Gabriel Quigley
Policeman...... James Bryce
Producer: Kirsty Williams
Director: Bruce Young.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b017mz3s)
Hailsham, East Sussex
Peter Gibbs chairs a gardening debate in Hailsham Pavilion, East Sussex. Joining him are Pippa Greenwood, Bunny Guinness and Bob Flowerdew.
Pippa discusses the latest biosecurity measures at Kew Gardens' Quarantine House.
Bunny Guinness discusses the use of architectural plants, a garden centerpiece, as it were.
In addition, "the toughest plant in the country" and making a meal of your Dandelions.
The questions addressed in the programme were:
What is the correct way to sharpen my hoe with a whetstone?
What is the best method of organically improving an established lawn?
How do I eliminate my dandelions without poisoning my goldfish
Ive been propagating my African violet. It is growing many leaves at its base. Do I remove the original large leaf or will it die?
My Clematis Montana is out of control. I prune every week in the Summer. How much can I prune it this winter?
My new house was built on clay. How can I grow cottage style flowers on it?
How can I stop the birds digging 2-inch holes in my lawn?
My 4ft Lonicera Nititda hedge is leaning over. When is the best time to cut it back?
How do I eliminate greenhouse bugs ( from veg )?
Produced by Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 Afternoon Reading (b00szzmv)
A Little More Love in the Afternoon
Chitting
By Elizabeth Buchan.
Read by Melody Grove.
Twelve-year-old Edie is not happy. Her mum's going away for a week which means she has to go to her grandmother's house after school. Worse still, she'll have to eat her gran's cooking (stew, with boiled carrots! White fish with cabbage!). Needless to say, her grandmother's none too happy to have the company of a "sulky young miss". As the week passes, slowly, the pair learn to make the best of a bad situation.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b017mz3v)
Ken Russell, Gary Speed, Lana Peters and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu
Matthew Bannister on
The film director Ken Russell, once called the wild man of British cinema.
Gary Speed, the Premiership and intetrnational footballer who managed the Welsh national side.
The Nigerian soldier and politician Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who led the breakaway republic of Biafra with tragic results
Stalin's daughter Svetlana, who defected to the West and had an ambivalent attitude to her father.
And the operatic soprano Sena Jurinac.
FRI 16:30 More or Less (b017mz3x)
Public sector strike:
This week a 24-hour strike over pension changes saw hundreds of thousands of public sector workers at rallies, marches and on picket lines. But there were a lot of conflicting numbers being thrown about. Tim Harford explains how the government was able to make public sector pensions sound generous, at the same time the unions could make them sound small.
Eurostats:
The Financial Times this week reported that the head of Greece's new independent statistics agency, Andreas Georgiou, is facing an official criminal investigation for alleged statistical crimes. Tim finds out from the economist Professor Yanis Varoufakis of the University of Athens what Mr Georgiou is accused of.
And in the first of a series of scrutiny of Eurozone-crisis inspired statistical claims, Wesley Stephenson asks whether it's really true that there are more Porsche Cayenne owners than tax payers declaring an income of more than £55,000 in Greece.
Cheap homes?
We explain what affordable housing is, and how affordable it is.
World on an island:
It is often said that the world's population could fit on the Isle of Wight, if people stood shoulder to shoulder. But is it true, now that the UN estimates that there are 7bn people on earth? To test the theory, Tim Harford tries to squeeze as many people as possible into his studio.
Producer: Ruth Alexander
Editor: Richard Vadon.
FRI 17:00 PM (b017mz3z)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b017jdyh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The Now Show (b017mz41)
Series 35
Episode 4
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are joined by Jon Holmes, Jan Ravens, Andrew Maxwell and Mitch Benn to scour this week's news for comedy.
Producer: Katie Tyrrell.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b017mz43)
Vicky's cross with Mike for coming home late last night. His head's thumping as he shrugs off to the burial site. Vicky joins him there later with a peace offering, her freshly baked calzonelli. She's done a dummy run for the Christmas show. Mike apologises for being out late, but his excuses don't work as Vicky realises she missed out on quite a gathering at the Bull.
Lynda's delighted with Ian's idea for the Christmas show - Les Très Desserts Noel. Thirteen desserts to represent Christ and the disciples, a tradition from Provence. Lynda can't wait to research it.
Helen shares her anguish with Ian, and what she went through after John died. Ian thinks she's stronger than she realises. He tells her to focus on Henry and her own life. The past can't threaten that. Helen wishes she had his faith in her.
Pat's anxious to hear Tom's thoughts but it's not what she's expecting. He tells her to ditch the whole idea of ringing Sharon, it's too high a price to pay. She can't push Helen like this, so she needs to draw a line under the fantasy and move on.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b017mz45)
Robin Hood at the RSC, Tracy Chevalier and Joanna Trollope
The Heart of Robin Hood is the new family show at the RSC. But it's the Robin Hood story with a twist. The production is directed by Gisli Örn Gardarsson, who has a reputation for challenging staging. Andrew Dickson reviews.
Novelists Joanna Trollope and Tracy Chevalier discuss how a selection of Tudor portraits of unknown people at the National Portrait Gallery in London inspired them to invent fictional biographies for the mystery portrait sitters.
Professional double-bass player Andy Wood and percussion instrument maker Paul Jefferies discuss making music out of scrap, and perform with instruments including a boiler double bass and tea urn snare drum. The challenge, to be shown in a BBC4 documentary, was to build a Scrapheap Orchestra in 11 weeks and perform Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture at the 2011 Proms.
And John Wilson concludes his reports on the Turner-Prize-shortlisted artists when he meets painter George Shaw, whose landscapes feature the area of Coventry where he grew up.
Producer Jerome Weatherald.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b017mwz6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b017mz47)
Luton
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs a live panel discussion of news and politics from the Dallow Community Centre in Luton with Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt; Shadow Justice Secretary, Sadiq Khan; writer, Bonnie Greer; and Chairman of NBNK Investment bank and former chairman of Lloyds, Lord Levene.
Producer: Victoria Wakely.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b017mz49)
Lisa Jardine: Finding Family History
The historian Lisa Jardine welcomes recent moves to promote the teaching of history in schools and finds herself converted to the value of family history after the discovery of a tape recording shed light on a puzzling family photograph which was taken in 1906.
Producer: Sheila Cook.
FRI 21:00 Friday Drama (b017mz4c)
The Bid
After five years of planning and an 18-month campaign to win votes costing more than £15m, England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup ended in humiliation in front of millions of TV viewers around the world.
Exactly a year after FIFA President Sepp Blatter walked onto the stage at the Messe Centre in Zurich and revealed that Russia would be hosting the 2018 World Cup, this drama tells the behind-the-scenes story of what happened in Zurich in the days leading up to the announcement on 2nd December 2010.
Focusing on the England bid team - which included David Cameron, Prince William and David Beckham - the drama is based on interviews with many of those who were there, and on published material, and uses actors to play all the key characters.
The England bid team arrived in Zurich with high hopes. They were well organized, had a strong technical bid and their formal presentation to the FIFA voting executives went without a hitch - it was heartfelt, passionate and had the biggest A-list celebrities.
But behind England's super-confident presentation, a desperate struggle was taking place in hotel rooms and the corridors of FIFA's HQ in Zurich as England jostled with other countries, courting FIFA executive members, lobbying for votes and making deals.
This is a gripping story of hope, broken promises and disappointment - a compelling and entertaining insight into the business behind the game.
Cast:
Andy Anson ..... Adrian Rawlins
Geoff Thompson ..... Richard Ridings
David Dein/Sepp Blatter ...... John Sessions
David Beckham/Prince William ..... James Hurn
David Cameron ..... Christopher Villiers
Jack Warner ..... Larrington Walker
Eddie Afekafe ..... Jermaine Liburd
Chuck Blazer ..... Glenn Wrage
Mohamed Bin Hamman ..... Nadim Sawalha
Voiceover ...... Justine Greene
Other parts ..... Dolya Gavanski & Tracy Ifeachor
Writen by Matthew Solon
Matthew is an award-winning writer whose work has regularly been heard on Radio 4. His drama about the collapse of Lehman Brothers, 'The Day That Lehman Died' won a coveted Peabody Award in the US as well as silver at the 2010 Sony Radio Awards. He also wrote 'Five Days In May', broadcast on Radio 4 last year, a dramatic reconstruction of the tense negotiations between the political parties after the last UK general election.
John's dramas for BBC Radio include the Sony Award winning "Q & A" (Aka Slumdog Millionaire), Bleak House, Fatherland, A Suitable Boy, A Tokyo Murder, The Cairo Trilogy, The Day That Lehman Died, Five Days In May and Severed Threads.
Director: John Dryden
A Goldhawk Essential Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b017jdyk)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b017mz4f)
Ritula Shah is in Paris as David Cameron meets Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss the euro. We'll hear what French voters think of their President's handling of the crisis.
The UN Human Rights Commissioner's office tells us how they hope to increase pressure on Syria.
And why are US Republicans finding it so hard to settle on a candidate for the presidential nomination?
FRI 22:45 A Night with a Vampire (b017mws7)
Series 2
A Lot of Mince Pies
Written by Robert Swindells.
Swindells is a British author known mainly for his children's books and indeed, this tale first appeared in a collection of haunted tales for the young adult. But it has a macabre and chilling undertone - set at Xmas and focussing on a group of carollers who visit the same cottage every year - and receive a special treat in return.....
David Tennant returns with another selection of chilling Vampire stories.
Last year in the first series we concentrated on Victorian Vampire output but in these five tales we enter the 20th Century and introduce stories with a little twist from the UK and the USA.
Producer: Clive Brill
A Pacificus Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 23:00 A Good Read (b017mt00)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b017mz4k)
Mark D'Arcy presents his weekly round-up of events at Westminster.