SATURDAY 05 MAY 2012
SAT 00:00 Midnight News (b01gvxb3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SAT 00:30 Book of the Week (b01hxhnb)
Pico Iyer - The Man within My Head
Episode 5
"The high, thin light was turning the shacks and shanties on the hills to gold as I put my thoughts of Graham Greene behind me."
The travel writer Pico Iyer (author of Video Nights in Kathmandu, Falling Off The Map) has always wandered the world with a mentor 'looking on'. Whether it be Bogota, Cuba, California, Japan, the man inside Iyer's head, as he puts it, is always Graham Greene. And it is Greene's fights with faith, his reservations about innocence, his generous spirit, that are really inspiring. In the course of five episodes and from various destinations the author describes his fascination for the great man..
Pico Iyer is back in Bogota and a journey outside the city causes a roadside drama, which has him asking questions of Graham Greene again..
Reader Paul Bazely
Producer Duncan Minshull.
SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01gvxb5)
The latest shipping forecast.
SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01gvxb7)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
5.20am.
SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01gvxb9)
The latest shipping forecast.
SAT 05:30 News Briefing (b01gvxbc)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01gvxcq)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Rt Revd Chris Edmondson, Bishop of Bolton.
SAT 05:45 iPM (b01gvxcs)
Another country: a Briton who became French so he could vote there and a British Ghanaian on what she feels she owes to her country of birth. Plus flash fiction and the couple with 10,000 books. Danny Baker reads Your News. ipm@bbc.co.uk.
SAT 06:00 News and Papers (b01gvxbf)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SAT 06:04 Weather (b01gvxbh)
The latest weather forecast.
SAT 06:07 Open Country (b01gvtj0)
Northamptonshire Inspiration
Richard Uridge is in Northamptonshire to discover the inspirational landscape around Rockingham Forest.He meets musician, Nick Penny, who explains to Richard how he records the nightingales that frequently return to Glapthorn Cow Pasture and works with these sounds and other birdsong to create sound diaries of the landscape.His friend and collaborator David Garrett, takes inspiration from the Northamptonshire countryside for his poetry which began with 'Rose of the Shires, a tribute to the county he loves. And artist, Claire Morris Wright, takes Richard for a walk in the forest behind her house in the hamlet of Laxton and explains how important the feelings and textures of the landscape are to her in her work, whether in prints or clay.
Presenter: Richard Uridge
Producer: Helen Chetwynd.
SAT 06:30 Farming Today (b01h2c3g)
Farming Today This Week
Is there a future for common land? Sarah Swadling explores an ancient grazing tradition and asks if its decline is having a serious impact on landscape, farming and wildlife.
Centuries ago, common land accounted for half of Britain's landscape. Now these unfenced and open spaces accounts for only 5%. But why the decline and who are today's 'commoners'?
There are tens of thousands of people who have the right to graze common land but don't exercise that right,
Farming Today visit the Chilterns, the Lake District, the Malvern Hills and the Isle of Skye in Scotland to hear the difficulties faced by old and young grazers alike.
Produced by Clare Freeman.
SAT 06:57 Weather (b01gvxbk)
The latest weather forecast.
SAT 07:00 Today (b01h2c3j)
Morning news with John Humphrys in Athens and Evan Davis and Justin Webb in London, featuring:
0747
Last autumn we reported about how scientists had been able to follow five British cuckoos, flying from their breeding grounds in East Anglia to Africa for the winter. Today Phil Atkinson, head of international research at the British Trust for Ornithology, reveals that two of those cuckoos being tracked have returned to the UK.
0833
Boris Johnson is back in London's City Hall after a surprisingly narrow victory. Evan Davis talks to the newly elected Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and Matthew d'Ancona, political columnist for The Sunday Telegraph, explains why it is not just a big moment for Boris Johnson, but also significant for the Conservative government.
0841
John Humphrys reports from Greece ahead of the country's general election.
SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (b01h2c3l)
David Cassidy, Luke Wright, Jane Johnson, Patrick Duffy, Mary Hobson, Sound Sculpture, Paris Metro, penpal, Inheritance Tracks
Sian Williams and Richard Coles with 1970's pop mega-star David Cassidy; writer Jane Johnson who got lost in the Atlas mountains in Morocco and ended up marrying the Berber tribesman who rescued her; actor Patrick Duffy (aka Dallas' Bobby Ewing) who describes his love of caravanning; translator Mary Hobson who took a degree in Russian in her sixties and, now in her 80s, is winning awards for her version of Pushkin; John McCarthy reveals some secrets of the Paris metro; Chris Purkiss who lost her husband in a crowd; Steve Blacknell who wrote to his heroes, the Incredible String Band, and ended up living with them; Andrew Buckingham who struck up an unlikely pen-friendship with the iconic British wit and actor Kenneth Williams; a Bank Holiday poem from Luke Wright and the Inheritance Tracks of evergreen chanteuse and entertainer Cilla Black.
Producer: Dixi Stewart.
SAT 10:30 Asian Weddings: Something Gold, Nothing Borrowed, Everything New (b01h2c3n)
4 Extra Debut. Big fat gypsy weddings might have hit the headlines, but the traditional British Asian wedding has always been big. Often including several separate ceremonies and events spread over a week or more, the cost of the average Asian wedding in the UK is frequently well over £30,000. With the significance of marriage or 'shaadi' being huge in south Asian culture, weddings are a serious business. From the lavish designer outfits and the elaborate cakes to the grand stages where the bride and groom sit on their thrones, complete with a lighting and sound system to rival a TV talent show, this is an industry worth a reported £300 million a year in the UK alone.
Yasmeen Khan explores the glamorous world of British Asian weddings. She takes in an Asian wedding exhibition in the UK, meeting the clothes designers, wedding planners, toastmasters, food suppliers, chefs, videographers and 'yellow gold' jewellers making their fortunes as the second and third generation tie the knot, all of them keen to help the families show off their wealth. She learns about the different cultural aspects of a Muslim, Sikh and Hindu wedding. She visits a couple's big day and explore the meaning behind cultural traditions, such as the confiscating of the groom's shoes by the bride's sisters and cousins - finding out what he must do to get them back.
Yasmin also delves into the politics of the guest list at an Asian wedding, many of which are huge affairs with hundreds and sometimes thousands of guests! And she discovers just how much family relations are tested as an increasing number of couples pay for something that has traditionally been paid for by the bride's family.
Produced by: Yasmeen Khan & Neil Rosser
A Ladbroke Production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (b01h2c76)
Sue Cameron of The Daily Telegraph asks if power is draining away from Westminster?
She consults Tony Travers of the LSE; former Tory chief of staff Michael Dobbs; the Labour MP Gisela Stuart who wanted to stand as Mayor in Birmingham; and the Tory MP on the public accounts committee, Richard Bacon.
How far is disaffection with politics driving voting in the French elections? A subject for the former foreign secretary, Sir Malcolm Rifkind and the French journalist Agnes Poirier.
Editor: Peter Mulligan.
SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (b01h2c78)
In a week full of elections near and far, Mark Lowen says Sunday's vote in Greece could be the most critical of them all.
Justin Rowlatt is in Kenya noting a huge turnaround in the global economy -- while Europe and the USA are feeling the pain, the rest of the world is steadily getting richer.
Petroc Trelawney's been to find out why a new town in Ireland has houses and a new railway station, but very few people.
Lucy Ash is camping out in the Russian Arctic and seeing how Vladimir Putin's push for further energy supplies is affecting reindeer and their herders
And Alan Johnston - touring the celebrated sights of Rome - tells us there's one particular statue which casts a chill shadow -- even on the sunniest of Spring days.
SAT 12:00 Money Box (b01h2c7b)
Are you being short-changed by your energy company. We hear from one listener who thought she had agreed a set amount for direct debit yet found herself being charged nearly double when all the time her account was in credit. What are your rights when you think you are being over-charged and why does it happen?
Warning letters are going out this week to almost 70,000 households advising that their benefit will be cut next April when the controversial benefits cap is imposed. But there are concerns that the letters are being sent to many households who will not be affected and that some ways of mitigating the reduction are not mentioned in the letter.
The latest chapter in the HMRC odyssey: On-hold nightmares and wrongly sent letters. Since Tuesday 650,000 people have been clocking up fines of 10 pounds a day which could go on for 90 days and then have another 300 pounds added straight after that. Their offence is that they have not filed their 2010/11 tax return and it is now three months past the deadline. We hear from some listeners who have given up trying to get through on the phone to HMRC to sort this out even though they are being wrongly fined.
A landmark ruling from the Financial Services Authority to compensate investors who lost out in two risky Arch Cru funds. Independent financial advisors have been ordered to foot the bill. It's the first time the FSA has used a relatively new power which allows them to order a group of financial companies to refund customers if there's been widespread losses on a particular product. We talk to Daniel Grote from Citywire who has followed the story since it broke and an independent financial advisor who is frustrated that advisors who weren't involved with the Arch Cru investment will carry the can.
And when is a faster payment fast. We hear who is abiding by new EU rules and who is not.
SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (b01gvwy8)
Series 77
Episode 5
A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Sandi Toksvig. With Jeremy Hardy, Phill Jupitus and Hugo Rifkind.
Produced by Sam Bryant.
SAT 12:57 Weather (b01gvxbm)
The latest weather forecast.
SAT 13:00 News (b01gvxbp)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (b01gvwyg)
Marlborough Science Academy, St Albans
Jonathan Dimbleby presents a panel discussion of news and politics from Marlborough Science Academy, St Alban's, Hertfordshire, with Liberal Democrat peer and former leader, Paddy Ashdown; Minster of State for Universities and Science, David Willetts; Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Hilary Benn; and General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, Christine Blower.
Producer: Victoria Wakely.
SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (b01h2c7d)
Call Jonathan Dimbleby on 03700 100 444, email any.answers@bbc.co.uk or tweet #bbcaq. The topics discussed on Any Questions? were:
Do the local election results reflect a national government out of touch, or out of its depth?
How can the Liberal Democrats avoid being wiped out at the next general election?
Is three hours' wait acceptable for our security?
In the current economic climate, is it right for any disgruntled group to strike or threaten to strike to obtain an advantage for itself?
Does the panel think that all teachers should be paid more or only those who whose pupils can give them good stats results?
Producer: Rachel Simpson.
SAT 14:30 Saturday Drama (b00w055w)
A Month in the Country
By J. L. Carr
Dramatised by Dave Sheasby
WW1 survivor Tom Birkin spends a summer uncovering a medieval mural in the Yorkshire village of Oxgodby. Here he discovers treasures, riches he thought the war had blown away for ever.
Cast
Birkin ..... Rupert Evans
Alice ..... Hattie Morahan
Keach ..... Stephen Critchlow
Moon ..... Blake Ritson
Kathy ..... Leah Brotherhead
Station Master ..... Tony Bell
Produced by David Hunter
Tom Birkin, a Londoner has survived the Great War but is left with a stammer, a nervous twitch, and vivid nightmares. He is given the summer job of uncovering an ancient wall-painting in the church of Oxgodby, Yorkshire. When he arrives he discovers that Charles Moon, is already there. Moon is trying to uncover the bones of a medieval ancestor of the local woman (now deceased) whose will stipulated that funds be allocated from her estate both for this and for Birkin's task, and to find out the reason for their burial outside the church grounds. The two men share their horrific war-time experiences over early morning cups of tea in Moon's tent, bonding in what soon becomes a strong, delicately understated, friendship.
The work on the wall-painting progresses and reveals an unusually painted figure. Meanwhile Birkin begins to fall in love with Alice, the beautiful wife of the cold and unsympathetic vicar. As the summer days pass Birkin becomes more enmeshed in village life, more drawn to Alice. He discovers anew the gifts of compassion and acceptance, of friendship and respect that he thought the Great War had obliterated. And finally the vital connection between Birkin's and Moon's tasks is revealed.
A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY was the last piece of work by award-winning playwright Dave Sheasby who died in 2010.
SAT 15:30 Conjuring Halie (b01gvn23)
Cerys Matthews celebrates the life of one of her musical heroines, the great gospel singer Mahalia ("Halie") Jackson, who died in 1972. Jackson became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world at the height of her popularity, inspiring singers like Aretha Franklin and Mavis Staples. But she was also one of the unsung heroes of the civil rights movement in America, described by the legendary historian and broadcaster Studs Terkel as one of the bravest people he'd ever met.
As a child she suffered illness, poverty and deprivation. The Church was her shelter. During the late 1920s, at the height of the great migration, she toured Illinois performing in churches. But it was in Chicago that she made her name and carved out a place for herself as the first professional gospel singer. She refused to sing secular music, a pledge she kept throughout her professional life. Even Louis Armstrong couldn't persuade her to sing jazz with him. By the 1950s and 60s, touring across Europe, she was being described as "the greatest spiritual singer alive." Throughout, she remained a close friend and comrade of Martin Luther King, travelling with him to the deepest parts of the segregated south and often singing at gatherings where he spoke including at the famous march on Washington.
In this programme Cerys shares her passion for Mahalia with another huge fan, Sir Tom Jones. She also talks to gospel singer Vermettya Royster and to the Reverend Stanley Keeble both of whom knew and played with Mahalia. We also hear archive recordings of the historian Studs Terkel talking with Mahalia in the years when they became close friends. We hear from blues and gospel writers Val Wilmer and Viv Broughton. As well as hearing her live performances.
Produced by Sarah Cuddon
A Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (b01h2c8r)
Weekend Woman's Hour
Highlights from the Woman's Hour week. Presented by Jane Garvey.
SAT 17:00 PM (b01h2c8t)
Saturday PM
The day's top news stories, with sports headlines.
SAT 17:30 iPM (b01gvxcs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:45 today]
SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b01gvxbr)
The latest shipping forecast.
SAT 17:57 Weather (b01gvxbt)
The latest weather forecast.
SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01gvxbw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (b01h2c8w)
Alison Steadman, Richard Wilson, Marcus Du Sautoy and John O'Farrell
I Don't Believe It! Clive has One Foot In The Grave with actor Richard Wilson who, for ten years, played the archetypal grumpy old man and deadpan pensioner Victor Meldrew. Richard's new Radio 4 series is the hilarious, bizarre and revealing radiography of his fictional life story. 'Believe It!' starts on Wednesday morning 9th May at
11.30 on BBC Radio 4.
Clive talks to the Spitting Image of script writer, broadcaster and author John O'Farrell about his career writing for such great comedies as 'Alas Smith And Jones' and 'Have I Got News For You'. John's latest novel 'The Man Who Forgot His Wife' is the poignant story of a man who suddenly loses his memory - and his Mrs!
Nikki Bedi will be crunching the numbers with mathematician and would-be conductor Professor Marcus Du Sautoy, who competes in BBC Two's 'Maestro at the Opera' to master the ultimate art form. 'Maestro at the Opera' is on Fridays at
21.00.
Clive's invited actress Alison Steadman to the party to talk about her varied career playing such gems as the houseproud, Demis Roussos-loving Beverley in Mike Leigh's 'Abigail's Party' and Gavin's mildly hysterical mum Pam in 'Gavin & Stacey'. Alison's new BBC Four comedy is the monologue of a mother preparing for for her daughter's civil partnership. 'A Civil Arrangement' in on Sunday 6th May at
21.00.
With music from London based psychedelic quartet and hot new things Django Django. They'll perform 'Love's Dart' from their debut self-titled album.
And from the talented and unforgettable singer, composer and producer Eska, who performs 'To Be Remembered'.
Producer Cathie Mahoney.
SAT 19:00 Profile (b01h2c8y)
Roy Hodgson
Multi-lingual, a good listener and a surprise choice for arguably the biggest job in British sport - manager of the England football team.
Hodgson has coached football teams in eight different countries during a career which has lasted 36 years. He is said to have revolutionised the techniques of some players - he took Switzerland to the last 16 of the 1994 World Cup. He's much better known in Italy than the UK after his time at Internationale Milan.
At Fulham he was regarded as an eccentric but clever choice as they avoided relegation before reaching the 2010 Europa League Final.
Hodgson is not into mind games and isn't known for saying things for impact - like some other Premier League managers. Some say he is bereft of ego and a gentleman, others that he can be as passionate and defensive as the rest. He has a rigorous approach to preparation - players at Liverpool complained about the complexity of his training schedules.
A great lover of literature he is said to have read the works of nearly every Nobel prize winner - not intimidated by taking on the works of foreign authors.
Gerry Northam profiles the man friends say has a complex character - on the one hand obsessed with football, on the other never happier than when away from the beautiful game.
Producer: Samantha Fenwick.
SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (b01h2c90)
Tom Sutcliffe and his guests poet Cahal Dallat, anthropologist Kit Davis and academic and critic John Mullan review the week's cultural highlights.
The three acts of Mike Bartlett's play Love, Love, Love at the Royal Court in London are set in 1967, 1990 and 2011 respectively. The action follows Kenneth (Ben Miles) and Sandra (Victoria Hamilton) from when they first meet through their subsequent life together (and apart).
The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber is a verse novel which adds a twist to the life of Elizabethan poet and playwright Christopher Marlowe. Marlowe tells his story, from his days at Cambridge when he was recruited as a spy, but his death in a tavern brawl isn't as fatal as some might think...
Juan of the Dead is Cuba's first zombie film. Writer and director Alejandro Brugues uses the genre to make some points about the anti-Americanism of the Cuban government and the resourcefulness and stoicism of the Cuban people.
The Israeli television drama Prisoners of War (Hatufim) provided the inspiration for the US series Homeland. Two Israeli soldiers have been returned after 17 years in captivity and face the challenge of fitting back into a world which has changed enormously.
Bauhaus: Art As Life at the Barbican is the largest exhibition covering this influential German art movement to be staged in the UK for over 40 years.
Producer: Torquil MacLeod.
SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (b01h2c9p)
One Way Ticket - The Beeching Cuts Revisited!
When Dr Richard Beeching unveiled his little book 'Reshaping Britain's Railways' in the early 1960s the nation was left in shock at the scale of the cutbacks he was suggesting.
Britain's railways were losing millions every year. The rise of the car didn't help matters and the Government decided it was time to look afresh at the railways.
The original plan was to close 5,000 miles of railway and 2,000 stations. Around 70,000 people would eventually lose their jobs.
It's acknowledged that Dr Beeching's cuts were seismic but what impact did the decisions made in the early 60s have on future rail policy in the UK? And how much of Beeching's vision for the railways, including more focus on Inter City services, has been realised?
Here Michael Portillo revisits the archives and the events of 1963, hears from some of those working in the industry at the time and looks at how some lines were eventually resurrected and revitalised while others weren't.
As part of the programme Michael travels along the scenic Settle to Carlisle line which lost many of its stations during the Beeching cuts, he hears from rail expert Christian Wolmar and speaks to Richard Spendlove - writer and creator of TV series Oh Dr Beeching who at the time of the cuts was a Station Master in Cambridgeshire.
He also hears from former Transport ministers and secretaries about how the Beeching cuts impacted on Government rail plans and policy over the past five decades.
Finally given the recent huge rise in rail usage, the programme assesses what Dr Beeching would have made of the state of Britain's railways today.
Produced by: Ashley Byrne
A Made in Manchester Limited Production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 21:00 Electric Decade (b01gnjw9)
Uncle Fred in the Springtime
Episode 2
Dramatised by Archie Scottney
Charismatic Uncle Fred (Alfred Molina) is still at Blandings Castle masquerading as a 'brain doctor'. The Duke of Dunstable's lunatic pig-napping scheme continues. He calls in nephew Ricky. Money is involved, and maybe a chance for Ricky to marry Polly Pott. Lord Emsworth's prize-pig Empress of Blandings is purloined - and hidden.
Will all end happily? Will true love triumph? Even happiness for the Pig? Will our ageing hero, Uncle Fred, be able to leave for London, feeling that 'there are no limits to what I can accomplish - in the Springtime'? All-star cast directed by Martin Jarvis.
Cast:
Uncle Fred ..... Alfred Molina
Lady Constance ..... Patricia Hodge
The Duke of Dunstable ..... Christopher Neame
Rupert Baxter ..... Jared Harris
Ricky Gilpin ..... Rufus Sewell
Horace Davenport ..... Lloyd Owen
Mustard Pott ..... Julian Holloway
Polly Pott ..... Sophie Winkleman
Lord Emsworth ..... Martin Jarvis
P.G. Wodehouse ..... Ian Ogilvy
Lord Bosham ..... Simon Templeman
Pongo Twistleton ..... Matthew Wolf
Beach ..... Kenneth Danziger
Valerie Twistleton ..... Moira Quirk
Webster/Footmen ..... Darren Richardson
Singing Gardener ..... Mark Holden
Director: Martin Jarvis
Producers: Rosalind Ayres and Martin Jarvis
A Jarvis & Ayres Production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 22:00 News and Weather (b01gvxby)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
SAT 22:15 Four Thought (b01gvryj)
Series 3
Clare Melford: Buddah in the Boardroom
Clare Melford, CEO, International Business Leaders Forum, argues that Buddha should be in the boardroom. She explains what CEOs need to learn about the tenets of Buddhism to make their businesses thrive while being
sustainable.
Producer: Sheila Cook.
SAT 22:30 The Bishop and the Prisoner (b018wvn3)
Episode 1
In this three part series the BBC is given a rare degree of access to prisons as it accompanies the Rt Rev James Jones, the Church of England's "Bishop for prisons," into the country's jails. Conversations with prisoners - voices rarely heard on radio - are the centrepieces of these programmes, but the Bishop also talks to prison staff, politicians and opinion-formers about what prison should be for, how prisoners can be helped to become useful citizens and whether community sentences can ever win the public's confidence as a viable alternative to prison.
In this first programme, James Jones visits Liverpool, High Down and Forest Bank prisons. He witnesses the "processing" of inmates as they go through prison reception (or "The Churn" ) and gets out of the way of officers on the walkways responding to alarms that are always sounding. He measures a cell (12 paces by 9). He talks to prisoners - first-timers, old hands, self-harmers - about why they are there. Governors and prison officers tell him how they seek to manage inmates' routines and behaviour, and about the importance of looking out for themselves - when two staff can be responsible for a wing holding sixty prisoners, it doesn't do to let your guard down.
The prison population is at record levels, having almost doubled in the last twenty years. The Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke says he doesn't understand how it has been allowed to get so big, and lambasts attempts of previous Governments to cut crime by giving longer sentences as "pathetic". He tells the Bishop that his aim is to reduce the re-offending rate. Yes, it will help his department's bottom line, but it's common sense too.
How to cut re-offending is the million dollar question. Prisoners, governors and commentators seem to agree that an offender only stops committing crimes when he decides he's had enough; as one said, "I've got too old for it - my heart isn't in it anymore." The deprivation of liberty, courses in thinking skills and literacy don't seem to work as effectively as the simple passage of time.
If prison doesn't reduce re-offending, does that mean it doesn't work?
Prison is also there to punish - though some say it doesn't do that well enough.
In one obvious sense prison is effective; while prisoners are locked away from society, they can't commit crime on the outside. But if prison is to mend the prisoner as well as incarcerate him, it must do more - and that is the focus of the next programme.
This programme was first broadcast on January 2nd 2012.
SAT 23:00 Counterpoint (b01gvlfp)
Series 26
Episode 2
(2/13)
Which perfectly genteel musical instrument might George Bernard Shaw have been moved to describe as 'a snarling abomination'? And, at the other end of the spectrum, can you remember the title of the Monkees' surreal film comedy, made in 1968?
Paul Gambaccini puts these and many other questions to the competitors in the second heat in the 2012 series of the wide-ranging general knowledge music quiz. Music lovers from Gateshead, London and Hitchin in Hertfordshire line up this week to face Paul's questions on every musical genre, from the core classical repertoire to film music, jazz, show tunes, classic rock and pop.
As always, they'll be expected to pick a specialist musical topic to answer individual questions on - from a list of which they've had no prior warning.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
SAT 23:30 A Foreigner Everywhere (b01gnjwf)
Paul Farley explores the American poet Elizabeth Bishop's extraordinary years in Brazil, and how her rootless, traveller's condition inspired her creativity.
Elizabeth Bishop has been called the poets' poets' poet', and her work, often complex and multilayered, examines the big themes of home, travel and identity. Though she's regarded as an American poet, for nearly two decades Bishop lived in Brazil, where she wrote much of her best work. Essentially an orphan from the age of five, and a constant observer, a 'foreigner everywhere', she speaks to our modern rootless condition, asking how and where we find a sense of 'home'.
The poet Paul Farley, explores how Bishop tackles questions of travel, and how she challenged approaches to other cultures in the early days of mass tourism. Bishop met the love of her life in Brazil, became deeply involved in the Brazilian political tumult of the 1960s, and made the trip of her life up the Amazon river. But her Brazil years also ended in tragedy.
In many ways a poet of our times, Paul explores how Bishop's often overlooked Brazil years offer a new way into her work and its relevance - a constant observer, portraying life in all its nuanced complexity.
Produced by Jo Wheeler
A Brook Lapping Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUNDAY 06 MAY 2012
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b01h29jn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 The Greengrocer's Apostrophe (b01h2cfr)
The Sweet Possessive
Comic tales inspired by those hand-written signs offering "Apple's and Banana's" which can be found in every town in Britain.
Distracted by an apostrophe obsession, a woman fails to notice that her lover is not all that he seems. Monica Gibb reads a short story by Diana Hendry.
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01h29jq)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01h29js)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01h29jv)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b01h29jx)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b01h2cgz)
The bells of St Mary's Church, Andover, Hampshire.
SUN 05:45 Profile (b01h2c8y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b01h29jz)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b01h2ch1)
Henry David Thoreau
Mark Tully assesses Henry David Thoreau's influence, 150 years after his death. Advocate of the simple life, champion of emancipation, and fervent opponent of government interference in the lives of citizens, Thoreau's 19th century ideals have inspired civil rights leaders from Mahatma Gandhi to Martin Luther King.
Mark Tully looks not just at Thoreau's famous writings expressing his remarkable affinity with the American outdoors, but at his political activism too, and the legacy it has left around the world. From tax avoidance, to his opposition to slavery, Thoreau was an ardent supporter of the ordinary person. His passionate ideas inspired thinkers and humanitarians, as well as generations of writers, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman and WB Yeats.
Musicians and composers too, were moved to pay tribute to Thoreau and the programme includes works by such diverse fans as Charles Ives and Pink Floyd.
In asking what we can learn today from the writer of the American classic Walden, Mark Tully reassesses Thoreau's message for the 21st century.
Producer: Adam Fowler
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 Living World (b01h2chx)
Bee-flies
There's a pretender on the wing. Joanna Pinnock joins naturalist John Walters in Devon to find out more about a bee mimic, the Dark Edged bee fly. With its reddish hairy body and rapier-like proboscis it's said to look part bee, part mosquito and is often spotted in gardens in Spring hovering and darting above the ground. The long proboscis helps it take nectar from deep within flowers rather like a hummingbird.
While this furry, buzzing, rather attractive fly is harmless to humans, its pretence of being a bee is to help its young get a good start in life by using others' nests. In Spring the female bee fly coats her eggs in dust to give them some added weight and then hovering near solitary bee nesting holes will flick her eggs at the entrance. As they develop, her larvae head inside the bee's nest and devour the emerging bee larvae. It's a fly-eat-bee world. (First broadcast in 2012).
Producer: Sheena Duncan
Editor: Julian Hector
SUN 06:57 Weather (b01h29k1)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b01h29k3)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b01h2kv2)
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." "Till death us do Part" "Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest." Shakespeare? The King James Bible? Close -- the Anglican Book of Common Prayer marks its 350th anniversary this year. Trevor Barnes reports
This weekend we celebrate St Georges day - not in England but in the Middle East where the festival of Al-Khader brings together Muslims and Christians. Matthew Bell reports.
Greek Elections on Sunday are likely to see the far right Golden Dawn party pass the threshold of votes needed to enter parliament for the first time. The vote takes place against a backdrop of austerity and despair with an increase in suicides and the Orthodox Church feeding thousands of people every day. Samira speaks to Professor Othon Anastasakis.
Sheikh Amer Jamil is leading a campaign in Scotland to try and change the attitude and culture surrounding forced marriage.
Victims of child abuse in Ireland are calling for the resignation of Cardinal Sean Brady after a BBC investigation revealed more details of his role in investigating Ireland's most notorious paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth in 1975. We speak to the Michael Kelly, Deputy Editor of the Irish Catholic Newspaper and Father Brian Darcy
A new wine is on the market and its Halal - 0% alcohol. Samira talks to the maker asking why do we need Halal wine and what's the point of it?
On 8 May 2012, the Bishops' Conference and the Vatican's Justice and Peace office is hosting a conference on combating human trafficking. Samira talks with Detective Inspector Kevin Hyland about how the Metropolitan police are working closely with the Catholic church.
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b01h2kv4)
Bag Books
Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson presents the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the charity Bag Books.
Reg Charity: 1026432
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal, mark the back of the envelope Bag Books
Give Online www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/appeal.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b01h29k5)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b01h29k7)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b01h2kv6)
A service from Highfields Church in Cardiff, exploring the concept of "Grace" and how it influences and shapes our lives. The preacher is the Rev. Peter Baker and the music is directed by Philip Holt, with Kelvin Thomas as conductor. Producer: Sian Baker.
SUN 08:50 A Point of View (b01gvwyj)
Lords, lordlings and....crumpets
Fifteen years ago - Will Self writes - he had afternoon tea in the House of Lords with the late Conrad Russell. The distinguished historian was a hereditary peer who was entirely in favour of Lords' abolition. What Will Self remembers most about the encounter was the crumpets. "'Do have another crumpet" he'd say, 'they really are awfully good'". Fifteen years on, Will says: "Russell was right about the crumpets - and he was right about the hereditaries".
He looks forward to the Queen's Speech, which is widely expected to include a bill on Lords reform. A waste of time, he believes. But that matters little in his view. "After all, the first bill to create an elected second chamber was introduced over a century ago - and doesn't this simply prove that the great and glorious fudge that's the unwritten British constitution thrives on such slow and organic change".
Via what he calls the "Googlisation" of the political process, he attacks the move towards the centre ground by all three main UK parties. "We...are tormented by politicans who look the same, sound the same and spout so-called 'policies' that are usually only marginally different versions of the same routine ideas".
Back at the Lords, he concludes, hereditary peers "are still busily tucking into their excellent crumpets. Yummy-yummy".
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b01h2kv8)
Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b01h2kvb)
For detailed synopses, see daily episodes
Writer ..... Mary Cutler
Director ..... Rosemary Watts
Editor ..... John Yorke and Vanessa Whitburn
Jill Archer ..... Patricia Greene
Ruth Archer ..... Felicity Finch
Tony Archer ..... Colin Skipp
Pat Archer ..... Patricia Gallimore
Tom Archer ..... Tom Graham
Brian Aldridge ..... Charles Collingwood
Jennifer Aldridge ..... Angela Piper
Adam Macy ..... Andrew Wincott
Ian Craig ..... Stephen Kennedy
Debbie Aldridge ..... Tamsin Greig
Susan Carter ..... Charlotte Martin
Alice Carter ..... Hollie Chapman
Lynda Snell ..... Carole Boyd
Alan Franks..... John Telfer
Usha Franks ..... Souad Faress
Amy Franks ..... Jennifer Daley
Jim Lloyd ..... John Rowe
Carl ..... Nicholas Bailey.
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b01h2kvd)
Tim Minchin
Kirsty Young's castaway is the composer and performer Tim Minchin.
As a comic and musician he has sold out London's O2 Arena and won legions of fans. He wrote the songs for the Royal Shakespeare Company's musical Matilda - the production of Roald Dahl's children's story has been a smash hit on the West End, won seven Olivier awards and is due to transfer to Broadway next year.
He says: "I'm not a magical thinker - I don't think I need my special undies on or my special pencil - I'm not superstitious about the process. I just took my childhood of reading Dahl and said, 'I know what this is' and wrote some songs."
Producer: Isabel Sargent.
SUN 12:00 The Unbelievable Truth (b01gvlfy)
Series 9
Episode 5
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents. Danielle Ward, Henning Wehn, Tom Wrigglesworth and John Finnemore are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as: Bats, Cars, Orange and Dr. Johnson.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith, the team behind Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
Produced by Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b01h2kvg)
Seaweed, a Forgotten Food?
Despite a long history of use in coastal areas of the British Isles, and with a well-established role in folklore and traditional medicine - seaweed is not an ingredient currently found in many British kitchen cupboards.
The raw ingredient is something of an acquired taste, and knowledge of different seaweeds and their uses is not widespread. However, as Sheila Dillon discovers in this edition of The Food Programme, things are starting to change.
In food cultures such Japan's, seaweeds have long been an important and treasured food. Through the work of people such as Prannie Rhatigan, author of Irish Seaweed Kitchen, people are starting to rediscover how to cook and utilise seaweeds and are looking again out to sea.
With a rise in scientific interest into the unique compounds within seaweeds, appreciation of its unique flavour properties, and trials of its uses as a food fortificant, Sheila asks if seaweed is a food of the future?
Producer: Rich Ward.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b01h29k9)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b01h2kvj)
As voters go to the polls in both France and Greece, we ask if the political mood is shifting away from the need to undertake austerity measures across the Eurozone. Plus, reaction to the local election results in England, Scotland and Wales and a lookahead to the Queen's Speech.
SUN 13:30 North of the Border - The Rise of Mexican Music (b01dvw70)
Robin Denselow visits L.A., the commercial centre of the narcocorrido, or Mexican drug ballad. The lyrics celebrate the exploits of smugglers and cartels. But bizarrely it sounds like cheerful, almost comical, accordion polka.
As the Mexican drug war has spiralled out of control it has reinvigorated the music with alarming consequences for some musicians: numerous singers have been killed in unsolved cases since 2006.
The style is a legacy of German miner immigrants at the turn of the 20th century. Despite it's rather quaint sound, the links with drug cartels are close. Often the first thing a trafficker does, following a successful deal, is to contract somebody to write a song about his exploit.
The music is generally not played on Spanish language radio stations in Mexico. But in the United States there's a strangely ambivalent response in the Mexican community who often appreciate the beat from home, even if they don't like the hyper violent lyrics.
What is the enduring appeal of this music? And what does it say about the Mexican migrant community? The programme visits Los Angeles - the de facto capital of Mexican music - to find out.
Producer: Chris Elcombe
A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b01gvwxw)
Postbag Edition, Sparsholt College
A drought-themed postbag edition, chaired by Peter Gibbs. The panellists are Matthew Wilson, Pippa Greenwood, Bob Flowerdew.
How to keep get your fruit and veg through the drought.
Questions addressed in the programme:
How can I redesign my wide but short garden, giving a nicer view than my garden fence but without casting too much shade?
Plants suggested were: Espalier Apples; Bamboo; Ornamental Quince; Clematis; Leycesteria formosa - Himalayan Honeysuckle
Is it safe to eat any part of Allium Triquetrum?
How can I best secure nets over peas?
How can you distinguish between courgette and marrow plants?
What is the best lawn mower for a small lawn enclosed by walls?
Why do some fruit trees need more than one pollinator?
Can the panel suggest low-growing plants which won't over shadow our ground level solar panels?
Plants suggested were: Dwarf Phlox; House Leeks - Sempervivums; Purple Saxifrage; low growing Junipers; African alpines; European Alpines
Which plants might be comfortable in a conservatory that is very warm in summer but extremely cold on winter nights?
Plants suggested were: Succulents; Cacti - Astrophytums, Living Stones, Easter cacti; Christmas cacti.
Could the panel recommend any florescent pink, yellow, blue and grey plants for a display to celebrate the 1977 single God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols?
Plants suggested were: Gladioli; Chard; Begonia; Salvia Caradonna; Salvia Tanzerin; Colangela; Escholtzia; Petunias; Salvia Sizzler
Produced by Howard Shannon and Amy Racs
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b01h2kvl)
Sunday Edition
Fi Glover presents the Sunday edition of Radio 4's series capturing the nation in conversation: in today's programme, we meet 19 year old Afshan, who has left her traditional Muslim home in Manchester for university in London, and her mother, Flavia, who is unhappy that her daughter also seems to have left behind all plans for an arranged marriage. And from Radio Merseyside, a conversation through bars - not prison bars but those of an enclosed convent. Here brother and sister Peter and Mary, priest and nun, discuss their lives and religious vocations. And the producer who recorded this extraordinary Listening Project encounter gives his personal account of the meeting.
The Listening Project is a new initiative for Radio 4 that aims to offer a sort of snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Many of the long conversations are being archived by the British Library which they will use to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer Marya Burgess.
SUN 15:00 Classic Serial (b01h2kvn)
F Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
Episode 1
F Scott Fitzgerald's seminal novel, a portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, is perhaps the greatest book on the fallibility of the American dream.
Nick Carraway arrives in Long Island and is reacquainted with his distant cousin, Daisy Buchanan. He falls in with her wealthy crowd. His neighbour, the self-made and self-invented millionaire, Gatsby, is the man who has everything - but one thing will always be out of his reach.
Dramatised in two-parts by Robert Forrest.
Nick ..... Bryan Dick
Gatsby ..... Andrew Scott
Tom ..... Andrew Buchan
Daisy ..... Pippa Bennett-Warner
Jordan ..... Melody Grove
Wolfsheim ..... Karl Johnson
Klipspringer ..... Sam Dale
Wilson ..... Gerard McDermott
Myrtle ..... Susie Riddell
Catherine ..... Tracy Wiles
Chester ..... Patrick Brennan
Lucille ..... Christine Absalom
Alice ..... Amaka Okafor
Director: Gaynor Macfarlane.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2012.
SUN 16:00 Bookclub (b01h762n)
Ross Raisin - God's Own Country
Ross Raisin is a young writer who won much praise for his debut novel God's Own Country in 2008. He discusses the book with James Naughtie and a group of readers.
It's the story of Sam Marsdyke who's a troubled nineteen year old young man living on a remote farm in the North Yorkshire Moors. It's a place of beauty and Sam resents the incomers, be they the ramblers he spies upon, or the new neighbours who've just moved up from London.
Sam is one of contemporary fiction's unforgettable characters; thanks largely to his use of the local dialect - words like beltenger, raggald or snitter. But these words don't get in the way of the reading, and part of the success of Sam's language is its confirmation of his isolation.
There's an ambiguity for the reader about whether Sam's early mishaps in the novel are intentional, such as the neighbour's boy getting food poisoning from Sam's welcoming gift of hand picked mushrooms. But Ross Raisin says that for him, as Sam's creator, there's no ambiguity.
Later in the novel, Sam's demise is swift, dark and frightening; and it's Ross's achievement that the reader still feels sympathy for him.
Producer : Dymphna Flynn
June's Bookclub choice : The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory.
SUN 16:30 The Person from Porlock (b01h2l6n)
When the poet Coleridge failed to complete his 'dream poem' Kubla Khan, he laid the blame on a 'person from Porlock' who had called to see him on business, thereby fatally interrupting his writing.
'The Person from Porlock' has come to represent anything that interrupts the creative process, and he has inspired a number of poems in his own right, from writers as diverse as Stevie Smith and R S Thomas.
Paul Farley travels to Porlock in Somerset in search of Coleridge's mysterious visitor and, in the company of Tim Liardet, Hester Jones and Tom Mayberry, contemplates a number of poetic interruptions - both obstructive and curiously inspirational.
Producer: Emma Harding.
SUN 17:00 Life and Death on the Frontline (b01gvq3s)
The recent deaths in Syria of the journalists Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik have once again highlighted the dangers faced by correspondents and media teams reporting from areas of war and conflict. 10 journalists have died in Syria already this year and last year the International News Safety Institute recorded more than 120 deaths of journalists and media staff around the world.
After 30 years reporting from hot-spots around the world, the BBC's World Affairs Editor, John Simpson reflects on what it's like to work in the face of frequent danger, on the personal pressures and doubts as well as the relationship between front-line journalists and their managers back at base. He examines the pressure to "get the story" and how journalists on the ground judge the boundaries beyond which they should not stray. Simpson also looks at recent developments to improve the safety of journalists through training, support and the work of organisations aiming to raise international awareness. He asks whether the focus of these efforts is right or whether in the end it largely comes down to experience, judgement and luck.
In a world that has come to expect news and eye-witness reporting almost instantly from every corner of the globe are the dangers faced by journalists who seek to shine a light on some of the ugliest aspects of the human story a price worth paying?
Producer: Richard Clemmow
A Perfectly Normal Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 17:40 Profile (b01h2c8y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b01h29kf)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b01h29kh)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01h29kk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b01h2lj8)
Caz Graham makes her selection from the past seven days of BBC Radio
There's a menagerie of exotic creatures in Pick of the Week; we'll be watching out for the three booted long lashed weedle nittle, inspired by Edward Lear and brought to life by cartoonist Ralph Steadman. Geoffrey Palmer gives the performance of a lifetime as a neurotic hermit crab, and there's the dark horse of typography, bring on,..the ampersand.
Beyond the weird and wonderful, the programme's diving right into the heart of the biggest of themes, life and death on the frontline examined by John Simpson, the near impossible challenge of coping after the death of a child, and the healing and redemptive role of music.
Conjuring Haile - Radio 4
The Verb - Radio 3
It's My Story - Radio 4
Nature - Radio 4
Lives in a Landscape - Radio 4
Tidal Talk from the Rockpool - Radio 4
The Food Programme - Radio 4
From Our Own Correspondent - World Service
Ampers-Fan - Radio 4
Ed Reardon's Week - Radio 4
The Essay - How Pleasant to Know Mr Lear - Radio 3
Through the Wire - Radio 4
Life and Death on the Frontline - Radio 4
In Tune - Radio 3
Email: potw@bbc.co.uk or www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/potw
Producer: Cecile Wright.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b01h2ljb)
Amy tells Usha that Carl's dumped her. Usha consoles her; men like Carl can be very plausible. Amy asks what she means. When she finds out Carl's married she's horrified. But what angers her more is that Usha knew. Why on earth didn't she tell her? Usha apologises, saying she was in a quandary. She admits she wasn't sure if Amy herself knew or not. This is the last straw for Amy. Does Usha think she'd knowingly see a married man? How could she think such a thing? Amy storms out.
Meanwhile unsuspecting Alice chats to Alan about what a brilliant time Amy had in Bristol. Later Alice receives a distress call from Amy. Can she come over?
Amy wonders if Carl has split up with his wife. He was so caring. She just can't believe it. Alice tries gently to encourage her to accept the truth. Even so, Amy says she can never forgive Usha.
Alan's just as appalled as Amy over Usha's confession. He accuses Usha of not knowing Amy at all. He's distraught. There's never been a time when Amy couldn't talk to him about her problems. He blames Usha for Amy's withdrawal, and leaves. He needs time alone to think and pray.
SUN 19:15 French Presidential Elections: The Results (b01h2ljd)
Coverage of the results of the French presidential election. Presented by Ed Stourton.
SUN 20:00 More or Less (b01gvwy2)
A grand economic experiment?
A grand economic experiment?
Are we witnessing a Grand Economic Experiment being played out between Britain, trying to cut its way out of trouble, and the United States, trying to spend its way to redemption?
Border brouhaha
Just how long have travellers been waiting to get through immigration at Heathrow Airport? We wade into a statistical slanging match between an airline operator and a Home Office minister.
Bank holidays
What are you planning to do with the bank holiday? Paint the bathroom? Listen to old podcasts of More or Less? Or DESTROY THE ECONOMY? Could it possibly be true that cancelling all eight regular bank holidays in England and Wales would boost GDP by 1.3%?
Choral coincidence
Lister Julia Atkins wrote: "I belong to a wonderful choir, Rock Chorus, in Milton Keynes. I discovered one evening that 3 new ladies had come along from Olney, 10 miles away. They all sat next to each other. They had never met before. But most extraordinary was that they all lived in the same road!! That's quite a combination of coincidences, I think you'll agree." Well, we'll see.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Richard Knight.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b01gvwy0)
Khalil Dale, Leila Berg, Tomas Borge, Terry Spinks, Rev Ray Davey
Matthew Bannister on the Red Cross worker Khalil Dale who was kidnapped and killed in Pakistan;
The writer and educationalist Leila Berg whose controversial "Nippers" series taught children to read with stories from working class life;
The Nicaraguan revolutionary Tomas Borge who co-founded the Sandinista Front and cracked down on opponents as Interior Minister;
The flyweight Terry Spinks who became the youngest boxer to win a gold medal at the Olympics;
and the Reverend Ray Davey whose Corrymeela Community brought together Protestants and Catholics during Northern Ireland's troubles.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (b01h2c7b)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 on Saturday]
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b01h2kv4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 In Business (b01gvtjj)
Frugal Feast
Big companies may have lots to learn from the cheap and cheerful improvisation which is commonplace in the developing world, particularly India. Peter Day discovers some of the secrets of what is now being called Frugal Innovation.
Producer Sandra Kanthal
Editor Stephen Chilcott.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b01h2ljg)
Carolyn Quinn talks to Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson about tensions in the coalition government following the local elections in England, Scotland and Wales.
The Conservative MP Eleanor Laing explains why she wants the Prime Minister to reject Liberal Democrats proposals such as electing the House of Lords.
Professor Philip Cowley of Nottingham University and Sam Coates of The Times discuss the challenges facing all three main parties in the next session of Parliament.
Two MPs - Conservative George Hollingbery and Labour's Chris Leslie - debate the big political stories and react to the election of a new French president.
Programme editor: Terry Dignan.
SUN 22:45 What the Papers Say (b01h2ljj)
Episode 102
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 (b01gvtj2)
Tom Courtenay on 'The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner', music of the British New Wave
Fifty years on, Sir Tom Courtenay in conversation with presenter Francine Stock looks back at his first film role in Tony Richardson's The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.
Neil Brand is behind the piano to study the music of the British New Wave.
Critic Sandra Hebron discusses two psychological dramas of a different kind - Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat, and Dirk Bogarde in Reiner Fassbinder's Despair.
Producer: Craig Smith.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b01h2ch1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 07 MAY 2012
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b01h29lh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b01gvrxt)
Nationhood; recognising transgender
What drives people to make the often difficult choices to change their bodies and change their gender? How is the everyday affection for one's country changing in English life? Laurie Taylor discusses issues of transsexuals and the body modifications they choose. Also the place of ordinary English nationalism, as he meets the joint winners of The British Sociological Association's Philip Abrams first book prize.
Producer: Charlie Taylor.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b01h2cgz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01h29lk)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01h29lm)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01h29lp)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b01h29lr)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01h5xc8)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Rt Revd Chris Edmondson, Bishop of Bolton.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b01h5xcb)
Moira Hickey is in Skye to discover whether the new Crofting Commission can help secure a future for this ancient method of farming. Land prices are rising; young people struggling to find the money to buy crofts; and as more emphasis is now placed on growing food, crofters argue their method of food production is more vital than ever before.
Presented and Produced by Moira Hickey.
MON 05:57 Weather (b01h29lt)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 06:00 Today (b01h5xcd)
Morning news and current affairs, presented by John Humphrys in Athens and Evan Davis in Paris, including:
07:30 Will Greek politicians be able to form a coalition?
08:10 What does the French election mean for the European economy?
08:30 Lord Mandelson on the future of Europe.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (b01h5xcg)
The Digital Future
On Start the Week Andrew Marr looks into the digital future. Nick Harkaway dismisses fears of a digital dystopia in which distracted people, caught between the real world and the screen world, are under constant surveillance. He believes we need to engage with the computers we have created, and shape our own destiny. Simon Ings is the editor of a new digital magazine, Arc, which uses science fiction to explore and explain what the future might hold for society. While Anab Jain's design company uses scenarios and prototypes to probe emerging technologies and ideas, from headsets to help the blind to see, to everyday objects with their very own internet connection. And Charles Arthur investigates the battle for dominance of the internet with Apple, Google and Microsoft struggling to stay on top, and asks what that means for the rest of us.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b01h5xcj)
Granta's Britain
Sugar in the Blood
Four writers create a personal portrait, exploring their sense of identity and what it feels like to be at home in Britain.
'Sugar In The Blood' by Andrea Stuart. Read by Lorraine Burroughs.
This selection of original non-fiction is taken from a glorious and sometimes feistily cantankerous celebration of Britain.
Andrea Stuart arrived from Barbados in the mid 1970s, aged 14 yrs. Hers was a plantation owning Bajan family descended from an 18th century English emigrant. The essay explores the painful contradictions of race, money and class - all transcended by that arbitrary signifier, skin colour.
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01h5xcl)
Lone Parenting, Siobhan Benita, Art of Exaggeration
Lone parenting, one woman's experience competing against Ken and Boris, protecting Peruvian wildlife, the art of exaggeration, love across boundaries.
Presented by Jane Garvey.
Produced by Sarah Crawley.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01h5xcn)
Not a Love Story
Episode 1
By Shelagh Stephenson
When Maddie Cook is violently raped by someone she thought was friend, she is urged by the Police to prosecute her attacker, with decidedly mixed results
Madeleine Cook is 24 and, for the last nine months, she's been living back home with her parents whilst she temps and tries to pay off her student loan. Her boyfriend Nick is still living in London, and they see each other whenever they can.
Madeleine still has old friends from school days and a clutch of new ones. They meet up in local pubs most weekends. Like everywhere now the bars are open late, the drinks are cheap and usually most of them get anything between tipsy and very drunk. The sort of normal weekend behaviour you find in every town and city, but it being a small, relatively middle class place, it's less violent and not particularly aggressive.
One Friday night Madeleine leaves the pub and walks home along the seafront in the company of Danny, a boy of her own age, whom she's known for few months, through other friends. On the way and seemingly out of the blue, he jumps on her. At first she thinks it's a bad joke, but in fact he rapes her. We know it happens, because we're with her at the time.
Stunned, shocked, she calls her friend Louise, and together they go to a rape crisis centre. The next day, Louise persuades her to go to the police.
It sets in motion a whole chain of events which question our attitudes towards rape, sexuality and sexual assault.
Cast:
Maddie Cook ..... Jasmine Hyde
Danny King ..... Mark Quartley
Meg Harper .....Haydn Gwynne
Nick ..... Leon Ockenden
Janet ..... Jeany Spark
Louise ..... Michele Tate
Paula ..... Margot Leicester
Mike ..... Michael Elwyn
Barry ..... Jonathan Tafler
Ned ..... Jonathan Sayer
Director: Eoin O'Callaghan
A Big Fish Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 11:00 100 Years of the Royal Flying Corps (b01h5xcq)
After receiving its warrant from King George V, the Royal Flying Corps came into being in May 1912. Peter and Dan Snow look at the centenary of this corps of the British Army and how it advanced from primitive balloons and flimsy biplanes to sophisticated long range bombers.
Dan looks back on the experience of flying in a World War One trainer and Peter explores the aircraft of the Shuttleworth Collection, all working examples of trainers, fighters and bombers. Professor Richard Overy and General Sir Mike Jackson explain how the RFC's pioneering work altered the course of warfare, and documents from the Museum of Army Flying chart the tragic loss of life that went hand in glove with extreme bravery and remarkable technical development. In a few short years the RFC went from being perceived as a fad to a major component of 20th century warfare, and eye witness accounts tell of artillery spotting, photo reconnaissance and the carnage on the Somme.
More importantly, rather than focusing on the RFC as a curtain-raiser to the creation of the Royal Air Force in 1918, the programme looks at the Corps in its own right and what it brought in terms of intelligence, sophisticated mapping and air supremacy to the British Army in the field.
Producer: Alyn Shipton
A Unique Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 11:30 Mr Blue Sky (b01h5xcs)
Series 2
You're Leaving
Harvey Easter (played by Mark Benton), 46, is the eternal optimist. He is able to see the good in every situation, the silver lining within every cloud, the bright side to every bit of bad news.
This, however, is his downfall. Someone for whom the glass is always half-full can be difficult to live with, as his wife of 19 years, Jacqui (played by Claire Skinner), knows all too well. Even as life deals Harvey and the Easter family a series of sadistic blows, Harvey looks on the positive side. It's pathological with him. The way Jax sees it, instead of dealing with the problems of their marriage and their teenage kids, Harvey's optimism is actually his way of avoiding engagement with the big issues.
Mr Blue Sky is about one man battling to remain positive in moments of crisis, and one woman battling to live with someone who has his head in the clouds.
This week, Harvey's racist mum, Lou, moves in while she grieves for her plumber boyfriend and drives Jax out of the house, but will she give her blessing to Charlie and Kill-R's wedding when they fix a date?
Cast:
Harvey Easter ..... Mark Benton
Jacqui Easter ..... Claire Skinner
Charlie Easter ..... Rosamund Hanson
Robbie Easter ..... Tyger Drew Honey
Kill-R ..... Javone Prince
Lou Easter ..... Sorcha Cusack
Rakesh Rathi ..... Navin Chowdhry
Sean Calhoun ..... Michael Legge
Written by Andrew Collins
Title Music Arrangement by Jim Bob
Producer/Director: Anna Madley
Editor: Rich Evans
An Avalon Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b01h5xcv)
Live from Westfield Stratford
You and Yours is broadcasting live from Westfield shopping centre in Stratford to hear about your changing shopping habits and what entices you to hand over your hard earned cash when times are tight. We'll be hearing from bank holiday shoppers and about the winners and losers in the retail war.
Top fashion designer Paul Costelloe will be casting his eye over how we dress.
And we'll also have news of a revolution in supermarket CD and DVD sales - in the future you'll be able to have your music and films made specially for you on demand while you pick up your groceries.
Julian Worricker will be trying his hand at making pretzels. Prepare to be horrified at the shapes he comes up with.
And we also want your pictures and stories about your personal retail heaven and hell. Simply take pictures of what you love or hate about where you're shopping now on your phone and post them on Twitter using the hashtag #youandyours . The best will be featured in a You and Yours Flickr gallery. There is a link to the gallery on the You and Yours website.
Presented by Julian Worricker
Produced by Paul Waters.
MON 12:57 Weather (b01h29lw)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b01h645z)
We assess the post-election landscape in France, Greece and the EU at large. One of the world's most influential investors tells us whether it's worth owning Euros, and one of Angela Merkel's closest advisers insists the European Fiscal Stability pact will not be renegotiated.
As Conservative backbenchers call for an alternative Queen's Speech, the Lib Dem Deputy Leader Simon Hughes tells us that the Tories "aren't born to rule" and must adhere to the coalition agreement.
And the Police Minister talks to us about the backlash against the proposed Winsor reforms.
MON 13:45 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h6461)
A Time of Change, a Change of Time
Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum, enters the final week of his object-based history. Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Programme 16 A TIME OF CHANGE, A CHANGE OF TIME - A rare domestic clock with an equally rare minute hand and quarter-hour chimes reveals the changing relationship Shakespeare's audiences had to time.
This programme was originally broadcast in 2012.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b01h2ljb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b01h6463)
Roy Smiles - Dear Arthur, Love John
A comedy drama by Roy Smiles, writer of previous Afternoon Dramas Ying Tong, Good Evening and Pythonesque.
It's often assumed that it was Dad's Army that made John Le Mesurier and Arthur Lowe well known. This is not so. Arthur Lowe had come to national attention, after a long apprenticeship in theatre, as the uptight church warden Mr Swindley in Coronation Street. John had made many films and found success as the diffident Colonel in the popular sitcom George And The Dragon. But it was Dad's Army, late in their lives, that brought them fame, fortune and the oddest of friendships.
For these were strange bedfellows: Arthur was a grammar school boy made good, John a public schoolboy who'd shamed his family by going into showbusiness; Arthur was a high Tory, John a life-long fluffy liberal; Arthur had a happy and stable marriage, John notoriously difficult ones - his first wife (Hattie Jacques) had left him for a shifty car-dealer, his second wife (Joan) had left him for doomed comedian Tony Hancock.
In 1982 John writes to Arthur to say how much he misses him and, as he does, we flashback to Dad's Army: the first read through; the reaction to getting 21 million viewers; Lowe's hatred of being recognised by the public; the rivalry between John Laurie and Arnold Ridley; Lowe's hostility to Clive Dunn and socialism; the affection Le Mesurier had for them all, particularly Jimmy Beck; and how, after initial snobbery about the show, the cast came to realise it was the best time of their lives.
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 15:00 Counterpoint (b01h6465)
Series 26
Episode 3
3/13)
If you can name the Broadway musical in which Daniel Radcliffe played the lead role in a revival last year, you might be able to hold your own against the contestants in the music quiz Counterpoint, with Paul Gambaccini.
This week's edition comes from Media City in Salford, with competitors from Birmingham, Nottingham and Duns in Berwickshire facing Paul's questions on all aspects and genres of music. There are plenty of musical extracts, both familiar and surprising, to identify,
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b01h2kvg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Architects of Taste (b01d2l30)
Historian and actor Ian Kelly explores the cross over between food and feasting, art, architecture and performance.
From the most extravagant medieval feasts and festivals, to the modern gastronomy of chefs like Heston Blumenthal and Ferran Adria, food has long been moulded, sculpted, and displayed against the most theatrical of backdrops. Ian Kelly explores the story of artistry in cookery, and argues that it's a neglected cultural phenomenon.
He looks at the life of Antonin Careme, the first celebrity chef, whose enormous sugar sculptures and piece montees, for the likes of Napoloeon and the Prince Regent, epitomised centuries of high eating. And the Victorian Alexis Soyer, whose 'symposium of all nations' rivalled the Great Exhibition in its gastronomic extravagance.
We also hear from the chef Ferran Adria, Jane Asher, food historians Ivan Day and Marc Meltonville, and chef Anne Willan, and jelly mongers Bompas and Parr about how a new generation of food artists are bringing back the spirit of Careme in their events and performances.
Producer: Jo Wheeler
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 16:30 The Digital Human (b01h6469)
Series 1
Control
Control is one of the big attractions of living in the digital world, we only post the best pictures of ourselves enjoying the best parts of our lives. But does that mean we start to treat our lives more like a brand, to be sold to our friends and protected from anything negative?
Aleks Krotoski talks to Sherry Turkle director of MIT's Initiative on Technology and the Self to ask if this could cause us problems. She'll also find out what happens when you give up control of your online life or have it taken over.
Contributors:
Aidan Moffat
www.aidanmoffat.co.uk
@AidanJohnMoffat
Sherry Turkle
www.alonetogetherbook.com
@STurkle
David White
www.conted.ox.ac.uk/davidwhite
@daveowhite
Charlie McDonnell
www.youtube.com/user/charlieissocoollike
@coollike
Andy Zaltzman
www.andyzaltzman.co.uk/
@hellobuglers
MON 17:00 PM (b01h646c)
Carolyn Quinn presents full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01h29ly)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 The Unbelievable Truth (b01h646f)
Series 9
Episode 6
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents. Miles Jupp, Susan Calman, Marcus Brigstocke and Alan Davies are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as: Goats, Singing, Glue and Painting.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith, the team behind Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
Producer: Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b01h646h)
Amy agrees to see her dad. Alan wishes Amy could have told him about Carl. Amy says she felt so foolish that she couldn't even say Carl's name. She should have known it was too good to be true. Alan comforts her. They were all taken in by Carl. Amy stresses she would never knowingly have an affair with a married man. Alan assures her he knows that.
Adam's homecoming coincides with noisy maypole practice outside. He jokes that it's fine as long as he doesn't have to join in. Alice wakes him when she visits, and it's clear he's not back to full strength. But he's quite happy for now to just sit and enjoy the view.
Tom and Brenda are flat out with the burger van. Brenda wishes heartily that Tom would keep his mind on the job, instead of answering his phone all the time to troubleshoot Bridge Farm issues. Frazzled Brenda tells him he's got to sort it out with his mum and dad. Tom reckons he can't afford the time he's spending on the van at the moment. With such good takings he can't afford not to either, but he might have someone in mind to do it for him.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b01h646k)
Damon Albarn in his studio
In a special edition, John Wilson meets Damon Albarn at work in his studio, surrounded by instruments, as he prepares for a busy summer.
He's helping to launch the London 2012 Festival with the return of his opera Dr Dee, which is inspired by the Elizabethan alchemist and visionary, and his band Blur are marking the end of the Olympics with a big Hyde Park concert.
Damon begins his day spinning a 78rpm disc on his wind-up gramophone, and the tour of his studio includes the sounds of his specially-commissioned church bells and a Soviet-era Russian synthesizer.
Turning the pages of a large 17th century book about Dr Dee and the angels, he reflects on his interests in the magical ideas of the period. He also reveals his views on the future of his band Blur - and turns to his studio piano to perform the opening section of a brand new Blur song, which will be released later this year.
Producer John Goudie.
MON 19:45 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h6461)
[Repeat of broadcast at
13:45 today]
MON 20:00 It's My Story (b01g5zp6)
White Chief Humphrey
From sitcom to chiefdom - Michael Palin introduces the story of Humphrey Barclay's journey from TV comedy to an African village in Ghana.
Humphrey Barclay is the man behind some of Britain's best loved sitcoms. He started with the Cambridge Footlights and rubbed shoulders with the best of comic talent, soon finding himself working with John Cleese, Michael Palin, and Terry Jones in television shows such as 'Do Not Adjust Your Set'. Humphrey stayed behind the scenes as a producer, but now he has come centre stage in a very different world. Today Humphrey Barclay's work is a far cry from TV studios and scripts. We find him dressed in the most elaborate robes and taking part in African rituals, as we discover his life as a Chief in the remote Ghanaian village of Kwahu Tafo.
It all came about thanks to an African actor who played a part in 'Desmond's', a sitcom Humphrey made in the late 1980s for Channel Four.
Set in a barbershop in south London, it starred Gyearbour Asante from Ghana, with whom Humphrey soon had a strong personal friendship. When Gyearbour died, it was clear to Humphrey that he needed to attend his funeral in Ghana, and he made plans for the journey. The funeral lasted three days, and at the end of the elaborate ritual, Humphrey received an unusual request: would he like to join the royal family as a chief? The only answer seemed to be 'yes'.
We join Humphrey as he journeys from the capital Accra up into the interior of Ghana to his adopted village on the high Kwahu plateau. Humphrey will be with the villagers to celebrate Ghana's Independence Day, marking the moment that British colonial rule ended in 1957. He'll take us on a tour of his duties as 'Nkosuohene', or development chief, and he'll take us to see the sacred rock Buruku. Most importantly he'll show us some of the achievements of his time as chieftain of this remote Ghanaian outpost, where he has helped build a library, a music academy, as well as set up many medical projects.
From the Finchley Road to the Kwahu plateau - this will be a journey that links Humphrey's two disparate worlds and show what can happen when life takes an unexpected turn.
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b01gvthm)
A Death in Honduras
Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world. The People's Funeral Service deals daily with the fall-out from these extreme levels of violence. Set up by the Mayor of Tegucigalpa, the capital city, it distributes coffins, maintains two funeral homes, and even offers a mobile service where employees take everything necessary for a wake - including bread and coffee - to someone's house or local church. All of these services are totally free for poor people in the city.
In Crossing Continents, Linda Pressly profiles this unique organisation, and meets some of the families using its services. Among them, is the family of Ramon Orlando Varela, a 26 year old gunned down in the street after dropping his children off at school. It isn't clear why Ramon was targeted. But a toxic mix of gangs, guns, drug cartels - and fear - pervades Honduras. And it's unlikely his killers will ever be caught. Police corruption is endemic, impunity almost a given.
But in spite of the everyday challenges, the workers at the People's Funeral Service offer what help they can. At least they can lend some dignity to proceedings for families who have almost nothing.
MON 21:00 Material World (b01h646m)
Quentin Cooper examines the practicalities of expanding wind farms in the North Sea. Last week a meeting of European ministers called for greater investment in wind technology, and an industry consortium was launched to look at ways of increasing the amount of offshore power that could be generated from the North Sea. The engineering challenges are huge, we get to grips with the big questions on how to wire up the sea for electricity production and look to the shape of future wind turbines, which would need to increase in six years if the plan is to be realised.
Gamma rays can be bent. A French research institute has found a way of refracting these radioactive beams in much the same way as visible light. The discovery opens up a whole new area of research, and potential Nano scale probing technologies which could seek out many materials from drugs’ to nuclear waste and have the potential to treat cancer much more accurately than any current radiation based methods.
A few weeks ago we discussed the government’s plans to give the security services greater powers to snoop on our online activities. The plan would need the co operation of internet service providers, and mobile phone companies who would have to hand over data showing the activities of their customers. One person who knows all about the methodology is the author who goes by the pseudonym DR K, in the past he has been a computer Hacker, and written a book about his experiences, The Real Hacker’s Handbook.
Also, on today's So You Want To Be A Scientist. Our 18 yr old amateur scientist Izzy Thomlinson launching a national experiment on Horrible Sounds this week.
Together with her mentor, Prof Trevor Cox, they’ve designed an online test to find out why some people are more sensitive to nasty noises than others.
You can take part by listening to a selection of noises, from nails scraping down the blackboard to squeaking polystyrene, and rating them on a scale of ‘not unpleasant’ to ‘extremely unpleasant’.
Take the test now by clicking on the link below!
MON 21:30 Start the Week (b01h5xcg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b01h29m0)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b01h646p)
As Europe digests the results of weekend elections in France and Greece, we hear live from Paris, Athens and Berlin: is democracy rejecting austerity? And how will Germany react?
With Ritula Shah in Paris, Paul Moss in Athens and Charlotte Ashton in Berlin.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01h646r)
Beginner's Goodbye
Episode 1
By Anne Tyler.
Read by William Hope.
The new novel by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Tyler is the simple yet profound story of one man's recovery from the death of his wife.
While family and friends fuss around him, widower Aaron Woolcott ploughs on. He busies himself with work at the family firm, a small publisher with a successful line in "Beginner's Guides" to every stage and aspect of life (from "The Beginner's Spice Rack", to "...Kitchen Remodelling", to "...Funerals"). Then, at the point when Aaron thinks he can't go on, Dorothy, his wife, begins to appear to him in reassuringly solid form.
Abridged by Robin Brooks.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (b01gvn2h)
Interpreting
Michael Rosen investigates the world of interpreting. We meet interpreters in business, sport and even psychotherapy, discover how there's more to the job than just language skills, and hear a report on the work of interpreters in the new Russia.
MON 23:30 Balalaika Born Again (b01g61v9)
Pat Metheny or Paganini? Who is Alexey Arhipovskiy?
This is the story of the humble, three-stringed balalaika and the story of a maverick Russian virtuoso, Alexey, who wants to transform the balalaika's image; to show it is more than a piece of folksy soviet souvenir kitsch. Alexey has developed a beautiful new sound and a new repertoire for the balalaika, mixing a classical music sensibility with the temperament of prog rock. With his trusty manager, Mikhail, he wants to take the balalaika out of Russia and beyond the former Soviet borders. But can he take Russia out of the balalaika? Nick Baker travels to Moscow to meet him.
He finds a musical rebel and an intriguing character who combines both adult seriousness and childlike enthusiasm for an instrument once played only by peasants. At the Gnessian Musical Academy, Alexey's Professor recalls a gifted musical student who took his formal classical training and turned it into something else. He added his own spirited individualism, as well as some electronic effects.
In Dubrovnik, Croatia, Nick meets up with Alexey again as he prepares to perform at the Julian Rachlin and Friends Chamber Music Festival. He is virtually the only non-classical act on the bill. The festival is full of five star ex-Russian prodigies whose families left Russia in the 1980s and brought with them tried and tested classical music. What happens next?
Producer: Tamsin Hughes
A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.
TUESDAY 08 MAY 2012
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b01h29mv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b01h5xcj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01h29mx)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01h29n1)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01h29n3)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b01h29n5)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01h8tzk)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Rt Revd Chris Edmondson, Bishop of Bolton.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b01h666c)
Sarah Swadling discovers why it's just too wet for waders and finds out what is needed to entice the next generation farmers into the industry. Reporter Clare Freeman visits a farm to find out how the current wet weather has been affecting wildlife and a new report states that farmers should be paid public money to improve animal welfare on their farms. Sarah Swadling finds out why.
Presenter: Sarah Swadling Producer: Martin Poyntz-Roberts.
TUE 06:00 Today (b01h666f)
Morning news and current affairs, presented by James Naughtie and Justin Webb, including:
07:30 Lib Dem David Laws on the future of the coalition.
07:50 What next for the Eurozone?
08:10 Aviva boss quits.
08:15 Ken Livingstone.
08:20 Mike Leigh.
08:30 US foils "underwear bomb" plot.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (b01h666h)
James Lovelock
Jim al-Khalili talks to James Lovelock about elocution lessons, defrosting hamsters and his grand theory of planet earth, Gaia. The idea that from the bottom of the earth's crust to the upper reaches of the atmosphere, planet earth is one giant inter-connected and self-regulating system.
It's a scientific theory that's had an impact way beyond the world of science: Gaia has been embraced by poets, philosophers, spiritual leaders and green activists. Vaclav Haval called it "a moral prescription for the welfare of the planet".
James Lovelock, now 92, talks about the freedom and frustrations of fifty years spent working outside the scientific establishment.
Public interest in Gaia proliferated after the publication of his first book Gaia: a new look at life on earth in 1979; but the scientific community remained highly sceptical. For decades Gaia was ignored, dismissed and even ridiculed as a scientific theory. To this day, evolutionary biologists, in particular, take issue with the notion of a self-regulating planet. John Maynard Smith called it "an evil religion".
Jonathon Porritt says Lovelock taught him "the value of cantankerous, obstinate independence, sticking to what you think is right and making those the cornerstones of your existence". Outspoken in support of nuclear power, Lovelock has offered to store a large amount of high level nuclear waste in a concrete box in his garden. On climate change, he believes it's too late for mankind to save the planet.
At the start of his Life Scientific, Lovelock says he learnt more working as an apprentice for a photographic firm in south London than he ever did later at university. The best science, he insists, is done with your hands as well as your head.
Thanks to Henry Higgins style elocution lessons aged 12, he was able to get a job at the well respected National Institute for Medical Research. Wartime science was all about solving ad -hoc problems and he loved it. A prolific inventor, he made a very early microwave oven to defrost hamsters and invented the Electron Capture Detector - an exquisitely sensitive device for detecting the presence of the tiniest quantities of gases in the atmosphere and led to a global ban on CFCs.
Aged 40, Lovelock decided to go it alone and, he insists, the theory for which he is best known, Gaia, simply would not have been possible had he remained working within the scientific establishment.
Producer: Anna Buckley.
TUE 09:30 One to One (b01h666k)
Fi Glover talks to Dan Crow
In the new series of One to One, in which some of our most respected broadcasters follow their personal passions by talking to the people whose stories interest them most, Fi Glover meets some of the men and women who've founded new tech companies that are putting Silicon Roundabout in East London on the map.
Living locally, Fi's been fascinated by the way this area of Hackney has rapidly become the third most important technical start up centre in the world.- after Silicon Valley and New York. As a magnet to some of the most enterprising and innovative internet companies, Old Street Roundabout has been renamed Silicon Roundabout.
This generation of entrepreneurs are bringing back some old British business values: they're inventive, risk taking and barrier breaking. In the first programme she meets a veteran of Silicon Valley, Dan Crow . Now the chief technology officer at Songkick, he's had the expected triumphs and disasters in internet start-ups but feels this quiet revolution, that's happening now in Hackney, may have a real impact in changing the economic fortunes of Britain.
He explains to Fi why this should make us cheerful: a survey from the Boston Consulting Group recently put the UK as the leader of the G20 nations in our internet economy - so we are top at something after all .
Producer: Lucy Lunt.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b01hj7gw)
Granta's Britain
Stevenage 1/2
Four writers create a personal portrait, exploring their sense of identity and what it feels like to be at home in Britain.
'Stevenage 1/2' by Gary Younge. Read by David Harewood.
This selection of original non-fiction is taken from Granta magazine's volume 'Britain'.
Gary Younge was brought up in Stevenage, a place which even his fellow residents were hard pushed to locate on a map. It was an engineered community but one in which he and his brothers and their single parent mum participated in whole-heartedly. Nonetheless despite having only spent six weeks there as a four year old, whenever he was asked where he was from, 'home' was Barbados.
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01h666m)
Gok Wan, acclaimed fashion stylist and presenter of 'How to Look Good Naked' is firing up his wok to showcase his other great passion in life, Chinese cooking. Growing up with a Chinese restaurateur and chef for a father, Gok has a real passion for home cooked Chinese food and over the years has developed many recipes of his own. 'Gok Cooks Chinese' explores Chinese home cooking, creating healthy and quick meals.
Sapphire is the author of two collections of poetry and the best-selling novel Push about the abuse, violence and addiction suffered by a young black woman Precious Jones. The novel was adapted as the film Precious and received two Academy Awards. Sapphire has written a sequel The Kid - which follows the struggles of Precious's son, Abdul, after her death from AIDS.
There are some people who have such impeccable taste you rely on them for advice on everything from where to go on a night out with colleagues, what book to read on holiday or what to buy for the aged aunt who has everything. In the past we may also have been guided by experts and critics in newspapers and magazines. Now there are also hundreds of bloggers giving fashion advice and curated websites that suggest what to see at the cinema, or what to serve at dinner tonight. So who do you trust as arbiters of good taste?
Angolan ceramicist Helga Gamboa on rediscovering the indigenous art and pottery of her birthplace.
Single parents are often seen by some as a drain on the welfare state, reliant on benefits - but more than half of lone parents are in work. What are the economic issues they face, and are they really very much different from those facing all working families?
Presented by Jane Garvey.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01h8z2k)
Not a Love Story
Episode 2
By Shelagh Stephenson
Naively, Maddie hopes for the quick conviction of her attacker.
One Friday night Madeleine leaves the pub and walks home along the seafront in the company of Danny, a boy of her own age, whom she's known for few months, through other friends. On the way and seemingly out of the blue, he jumps on her. At first she thinks it's a bad joke, but in fact he rapes her. We know it happens, because we're with her at the time.
It sets in motion a whole chain of events which question our attitudes towards rape, sexuality and sexual assault.
Cast:
Maddie Cook ..... Jasmine Hyde
Meg Harper ..... Haydn Gwynne
Nick ..... Leon Ockenden
Helen ..... Jeany Spark
Louise ..... Michele Tate
Paula ..... Margot Leicester
Mike ..... Michael Elwyn
Ned ..... Jonathan Sayer
Director: Eoin O'Callaghan
A Big Fish Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 11:00 Hurricane Rash (b01h666p)
Dr Kevin Fong looks at the unlikely birth of modern reconstructive surgery, developed in direct response to the great air battles of the Second World War, and the horrendous burns suffered by the pilots who survived. Plastic surgery has had a bad press of late, more associated with the vanity of Hollywood, but its true origins lie in a small unassuming hospital in Sussex, with a surgeon called Archie McIndoe and the development of an aeroplane that would become one of the great heroes of the Battle of Britain: The Hawker Hurricane. The Hurricane was an awesome fighter, built for maximum efficiency when it came to shooting down enemy aircraft. What it was not built for was to protect the brave pilot flying in it, should it get hit. The result, for those who survived, were some horrific burns, (nicknamed Hurricane Rash) and terrible disfigurements. Kevin tells the story of Archie McIndoe, and his "guinea pigs", the pilots he operated on, who bravely endured months, if not years, of often experimental treatment that pushed the boundaries of the field, and whose legacy is still evident in the most cutting edge techniques of modern reconstructive surgery.
Presenter: Dr Kevin Fong
Producer: Alexandra Feachem.
TUE 11:30 The First LP in Ireland (b01h666r)
Colum Sands presents the story of how, in 1947, the Irish Folklore Commission and the BBC established a scheme to seek out and record folk music and stories throughout Ireland.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b01h666t)
The fight against cancer
On Tuesday's Call You and Yours we'll be taking a look at Cancer care. Our attitudes, the treatments available and the way that cost shapes the care we receive.
The UK has the 22nd highest cancer rate across the world. Every year 266.9 out of every 100,000 people in the UK develop some form of the disease. Women in the UK have the 12th highest cancer rate in the world while men in the UK have the 33rd highest cancer rate in the world.
The most common cancers in women are breast, ovarian and lung while men have higher rates of cancers in the bowel, prostate and bladder.
What's our attitude to the disease? Scientists estimate about a third of the most common cancers in the UK could be prevented though diet, physical activity and weight. Are we as individuals pro-active in maintaining our own health? Or do we think that it won't happen to us?
What happens when we get cancer? What treatments are out there?
So how much do we know about the cost and effectiveness of cancer care? What are the issues that drive up the cost of care and does it provide great improvements in health outcomes. What impact does the economics of care have on the individual and societal impact of cancer treatments.
Where and how is the money spent? Will better research allow us predict how rates of cancer will decline or rise in years to come?
We want to hear what you think. 03700 100 444 is the phone number - dialling will cost you the same as a call to an 01 or an 02 number - you can e-mail via bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours, and you can text to 84844.and if you do that you'll be charged your standard operator message rate, and we may call you back on that number.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b01h29n7)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b01h666w)
We report on the political crisis in Athens as attempts continue to try and form a government. We hear from there and we discuss the future for Europe with two senior politicians, Labour's David Miliband and the Conservative peer Michael Howard.
We hear from our correspondent Hugh Sykes who's reporting from Pakistan on Imran Khan and his hopes to lead the country.
And as David Cameron and Nick Clegg reaffirm their commitment to tackling the deficit and to the coalition itself, a Conservative MP David Ruffley tells us his party should give an ultimatum to the Lib Dems.
TUE 13:45 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h666y)
Plague and the Playhouse
Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum, continues his object-based history. Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Programme 17. PLAGUE & THE PLAYHOUSE - May 1603 saw not only a new king but the worst plague outbreak since the Black Death. Its impact and reach is told through a series of early seventeenth century proclamations.
This programme was originally broadcast in 2012.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b01h646h)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b01h6670)
Ronald Frame - The Dreamer
The son of a renowned Nazi hunter attempts to retrieve a stolen Matisse painting. Jane Asher and William Gaminara star in this atmospheric drama by Ronald Frame.
Paulette is a music teacher in Nice. She is being shadowed by a man. Levin, when cornered, claims that he wants to take up the piano again. In fact Levin is the son of a famous Nazi-hunter, recently deceased. Paulette is the daughter of an SS officer who escaped to Buenos Aires. In Paulette's apartment Levin locates the object of his searches - a Matisse painting. But is it an original? Both Paulette and Levin have been held in a dream-like state, troubled by and unable to shake off the past. Paulette moved to Nice, attracted by the image in the painting, and frustrated by her mother's attempts to ruin her romances. Levin was never able to please his father: by finding the painting, will he finally be 'proving' himself?
Producer/ Director: David Ian Neville.
TUE 15:00 Making History (b01h6672)
Tom Holland presents Radio 4's popular history programme in which listener's questions and research help offer new insights into the past.
Today: Tom Holland visits Stonehenge to look back on hundreds of years of tourism and assess the pull of the stones in the future. He is joined by archaeologist Mike Pitts who has put together a new exhibition for English Heritage called Monumental Journey which opens on Wednesday May 9th.
At the Wellcome Library in London, Helen Castor comes across the work of a Henry Bradbury who, in the 1850's, tried to exploit the Victorian fern craze with a book using a new printing technique he had brought to England from Austria. Tom Holland talks to the bio-geographer Professor Philip Stott about the then passion for ferns and what it says about the Victorian interest in popular science.
Jo Pinnock travels to the deserted village of Houghton on the Hill in West Norfolk to meet octogenarian Bob Davey who, with his late wife, stumbled across a ruined church 20 years ago which he has has fought to preserve. His passion was a spiritual one but, unknowingly, he was also saving some of most important wall paintings.
Making History listener Hilda Rodgers tells us about her grandfather's experiences during WW1 when he served in one of the 'kilted regiments' on the Western Front. The wet and cold made their kilts as sharp as knives, but commanding officers wouldn't allow the troops to do anything to stop the pain.
Producer: Nick Patrick
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (b01h6674)
Return of the king
In the rush to come up with new, clean ways to produce electricity many people assumed that dirty old coal was a fuel of the past, a relic of the Industrial Revolution. However, coal's dominance of the market in electricity generation is actually increasing. China is building many new coal-fired power stations. The booming economies of Poland, Australia and South Africa are almost exclusively reliant on coal whilst even the Germans have turned back to the black stuff as they abandon nuclear power.
In 'Costing the Earth' Tom Heap investigates the dramatic revival of Old King Coal and asks if there are any realistic ways to turn our cheapest, most abundant fuel into a clean source of energy.
Producer: Martin Poyntz-Roberts.
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (b01h6676)
Chugger Chat
Michael Rosen investigates the language of chuggers and street vendors. If you stop people in the street to ask them to donate to your charity, come to your show or buy your goods, which words work best? The word "chugging" was coined by a journalist ten years ago to describe what some charities would rather call "face to face fundraising". But, as Michael discovers, others in the charity world have decided to embrace the "ch" word and give it a positive spin.
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b01h6678)
Series 27
John Ford
John Ford had a monumental Hollywood career - over 140 films, Oscars he never turned up to receive, and a blunt way of approaching the business that made him enemies as well as friends. He stood up once at a meeting and said simply, "My name's John Ford, I make westerns."
Critic Ed Buscombe also joins Matthew Parris and we hear archive of the tough-talking director John Ford. From 2012.
Producer: Miles Warde.
TUE 17:00 PM (b01h667b)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01h29n9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Ed Reardon's Week (b01h667d)
Series 8
Keeping the Flame Alive
Ed Reardon leads us through the ups and down of his week, complete with his trusty companion, Elgar, and his never-ending capacity for scrimping and scraping at whatever scraps his agent, Ping, can offer him to keep body, mind and cat together.
With the Olympics looming Stan spies a golden opportunity - renting out Ed's flat for the duration of the games at the princely sum of £3,000 a week. So Ed has to pack up his newspaper collection, sift through his takeaway trays and leave the place he's called home for the last years. But where will he go?
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b01h667g)
Adam and Ian are gossiping about reported sightings of the mysterious creature of Ambridge. Calling round to check on Adam, Brian is discomfited to find them in the hot tub. He admits Adam had them all very worried indeed. He must take as much time off as he needs. The farm's all under control. Brian's got two spare tickets for the test match the week after next and wonders if Adam and Ian would like them.
David calls round with the good news that the police have picked up the men who attacked Adam.
Tom asks Pip if she'd be interested in helping Brenda with the Gourmet Grills van. Pip's prepared to consider it if Tom makes her a reasonable offer. Ruth's dismayed. Pip can't take on any more work, and surely it would clash with her shifts at the Orangery? Pip reassures her it's just weekends and bank holidays, and it won't interfere with her college work. And she was thinking it's time she moved on from Lower Loxley. Tom's made her a decent offer so she'd be getting more money.
Brian's told David that Amy's still staying with Alice. David tells Ruth that Brian didn't seem to know why, but Amy hasn't gone home.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b01h667j)
Mel Gibson reviewed and Pianist Mitsuko Uchida
With Mark Lawson.
Mel Gibson returns to the screen this week in How I Spent Last Summer, in which he plays a career criminal arrested by the authorities in Mexico and sent to a tough prison where he learns to survive with the help of a 9-year-old boy. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews the film (called Get the Gringo for its US release) which Gibson co-wrote.
Today, Japanese born classical pianist, Dame Mitsuko Uchida is awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal - one of the highest honours in classical music. Created to commemorate the centenary of Beethoven's birth in 1870, it counts Brahms, Delius, Elgar, Stravinsky, Britten, Bernstein, Alfred Brendel; Simon Rattle; Plácido Domingo and Daniel Barenboim among previous recipients.
Maxine Peake discusses returning to the role of Martha, an ambitious barrister, in a second series of Silk, the advantages of working in both TV and theatre and why Kate Bush's music helps her approach Strindberg.
We pay tribute to Maurice Sendak, the US author of the best-selling children's book Where the Wild Things Are, who has died aged 83
Producer Claire Bartleet.
TUE 19:45 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h666y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
13:45 today]
TUE 20:00 Something Rotten in Mayfield (b01hbp2m)
In August 2000, in Mayfield Kentucky, 19-year-old Jessica Currin was brutally murdered. When the local police failed to find her killer, a local woman, Susan Galbreath contacted veteran BBC investigative reporter Tom Mangold and asked his help in solving the crime.
Mangold, off work with a knee operation and bored, became intrigued by the story and flew to Mayfield, a dry town in the heart of America's bible belt, to work with Susan. Together the odd couple worked tirelessly from an ultra-modest room in a motel frequented by Hells Angels and interstate truckers, determined to crack the case. Within ten days it had become obvious not only that the local police had completely failed to mount a proper investigation, and charged an innocent man with the murder, but that the real identity of the killer was reasonably well known on the street. After two weeks, the couple handed their evidence to the Kentucky State Police, and both waited for results. But nothing happened. The police didn't act, the culprits weren't arrested, and the killers remained free. Why?
In "Something Rotten In Mayfield" Tom returns to Kentucky to tell the remarkable story of how he and Susan finally got justice for Jessica and reports on how some detectives, mired in scandal, could not or would not solve the crime on their doorstep.
Produced by Gemma Newby.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b01h667l)
Peter White talks to blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng who is currently in a Beijing hospital, recovering from the injuries he received escaping from being held under house arrest in his home town.
Guangcheng says he and his wife suffered terrible beatings by local officials during their arrest and he hopes to receive compensation for what he and his family have endured.
Lee Kumutat reports New College Worcester and meet students visiting from mainstream schools to compare methods of accessing the curriculum.
Prof Mike McLinden from VICTAR, Visual Impairment Centre for Training and Research at Birmingham University
explains the strategies behind teacher -training and inclusion in the classroom in both mainstream and single disability schools.
TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (b01h667n)
Claudia Hammond visits HMP Grendon, the only prison in Europe which operates wholly as a therapeutic community. More than nine out of ten prisoners at Grendon are serving indeterminate sentences for murder or serious violent offences. Inmates have to apply for a place and once approved undergo intensive group therapy three times a week for well over a year. Claudia talks to inmates, therapists and prison staff to find out how the prison operates and how its unique environment aims to reduce reoffending rates.
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (b01h666h)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b01h29nc)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b01h66fq)
Nine Asian men have been found guilty of the sexual exploitation of five teenage girls in Rochdale in Greater Manchester. The police deny that there is a racial element to the crime - are they right?
Human rights abuses in Azerbaijan - we have a special report.
The author of 'Where the Wild Things Are', Maurice Sendak, has died. We hear from a leading children's author.
With Carolyn Quinn.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01hc9st)
Beginner's Goodbye
Episode 2
By Anne Tyler.
Read by William Hope.
The new novel by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Tyler is the simple yet profound story of one man's recovery from the death of his wife.
In this episode, Aaron Woolcott, editor at his family's small publishing house in Baltimore, reveals how a freak accident claimed the life of his wife Dorothy.
Abridged by Robin Brooks.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
TUE 23:00 Tidal Talk from the Rock Pool (b01h66fs)
The Anemone and the Goby Fish
2/3. The Anemone and the Goby Fish.
The Anemone (played by Alison Steadman) and the Goby Fish (played by Sean Power), reveal the truth about life in a rock pool, in the second of three very funny salty tales, written and introduced by Lynne Truss, with a soundscape by Chris Watson, and recorded at the QEH Theatre in Bristol as part of BBC Radio 4's 'More than Words' festival.
The Anemone lives on the Hermit Crab's shell, which means she gets free rides around the rock pool to see her neighbours. And there's almost nothing the Anemone loves more than being able to parade her slim and highly toned body around the pool. Of course this means she is almost permanently on a diet and has to exercise to keep fit, stretching and bending her tentacles. All this thumping up and down on his roof annoys the Hermit crab, but the Anemone is used to his grumbling. She exercises a lot and he grumbles a lot. They are the perfect partners. And then one day; as she's bending and stretching, there's a terrible sound ..!
The Goby Fish is a very small fish in a big pool. He's a tough talkin', fast movin' fish who likes the girls and loves his mother. He zips about the pool showing off his fancy fin work, sweet-talking the girls and playing the cool guy - which is not always easy when, as he points out, you've got a not-very-cool sucker attached to one side of your body. Still a little guy can have big dreams and this little fishy has really big dreams!
Anemone : Alison Steadman
Goby Fish : Sean Power
Written and introduced by Lynne Truss
Sound design by Chris Watson
Produced by Sarah Blunt.
TUE 23:30 Folk Song, Art Song (b01gg7dm)
Christopher Maltman is an award-winning opera singer and recitalist. Alongside the lieders, chansons and art songs of his recital repertoire, he loves nothing more than performing folk song settings.
Audiences often respond well, but not all among the folk-singing fraternity are enthusiastic about this genre borrowing. Some contend that folk songs lose much of their impact when refined and beautified for the recital stage.
Christopher talks to folk singer Eliza Carthy and scholars Georgina Boyes and Tim Healey about the uneasy relationship between the two musical worlds.
Is the antagonism musical or to do with very English attitudes to class and accent? And why is it that so many of his opera-singing colleagues from Scotland, Ireland, Wales and further afield, have no such animosity from their respective folk cultures?
Christopher also talks to his regular recital accompanist Julius Drake and senior colleague Sir Thomas Allen about the best way of approaching this music, searching for a performance that is genuine to singer and song alike.
Producer: Tom Alban
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2012.
WEDNESDAY 09 MAY 2012
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b01h29p6)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b01hj7gw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01h29p8)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01h29pb)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01h29pd)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b01h29pg)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01h8tyv)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Rt Revd Chris Edmondson, Bishop of Bolton.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b01h73p4)
Anna Hill meets a family who feel forced to sell their 100-year-old pedigree dairy herd because of changes in the price paid to dairy farmers for milk. As a 5th milk processor decides to cut its price, the chair of the board representing Robert Wiseman milk producers has resigned because he believes the decision to drop the price is unjustified.
Young farmers across Europe are being prevented from entering the industry because of a lack of land and because banks aren't lending. That's the concern of CEJA, the European Council of Young Farmers, which says the problem is the same across the EU and is leading to an industry far too reliant on an aging workforce. Moira Hickey visits Inverness and hears how crofts lying idle are blocking the way for people who hope to enter farming.
Producer Clare Freeman.
WED 06:00 Today (b01h73p6)
Presented by John Humphrys and Sarah Montague. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather, Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b01h73p8)
Dr Rodrigo Medellin, Hannah Rothschild, Michael Ashton, Sir Roger Carrick
Joining Libby Purves will be bat expert Dr Rodrigo Medellin, filmmaker Hannah Rothschild, playwright Michael Ashton and former diplomat Sir Roger Carrick.
Dr Rodrigo Medellin is a scientist and bat expert. He will become the first recipient of the Whitley Fund for Nature's Gold Award for outstanding achievement in nature conservation in recognition of his efforts to de-demonise vampire bats. He has also successfully re-established Mexico's lesser long-nosed bats which are about to be taken off of the endangered species list. He is International Union for Conservation of Nature (UCN) Ambassador for the 'International Year of the Bat'.
Hannah Rothschild is a writer and filmmaker. She is also the great niece of Pannonica Rothschild who left her husband and five children to live among the black jazz musicians in New York and whose great love was the legendary Thelonious Monk. Hannah first heard about her eccentric great aunt at the age of 11 and has been investigating her life ever since. Her book, 'The Baroness - the search for Nica, the rebellious Rothschild' is published by Virago. The documentary 'The Jazz Baroness', directed by Hannah, is also available on DVD by 3DD Productions.
Michael Ashton was a human rights lawyer before he served a prison sentence for fraud. In prison he learnt playwriting through the Synergy Theatre Project, winning an award for his first play 'The Archbishop and the Antichrist'. His new play, 'The Beekeeper' - based on true events - tells the story of the relationship between the camp's Kommandant and a prisoner who survived Auschwitz because he was a skilled beekeeper. 'The Beekeeper' is at Waterloo East Theatre, London.
Sir Roger Carrick is a former British diplomat. His book, 'Diplomatic Anecdotage - Around the World in 40 Years' recounts his memories of life working in the British diplomatic service. Roger has been posted around the world from Bulgaria to Berkeley and Indonesia to Australia. He was shadowed by the secret police in Sofia, witnessed the 1968 riots in Paris, and negotiated the withdrawal of British troops from Singapore. His career includes positions as ambassador to Indonesia and High Commissioner to Australia. 'Diplomatic Anecdotage - Around the World in 40 Years' is published by Elliott & Thompson.
Producer: Paula McGinley.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b01hj877)
Granta's Britain
Stevenage 2/2
Four writers create a personal portrait, exploring their sense of identity and what it feels like to be at home in Britain.
This selection of original non-fiction is taken from Granta magazine's volume 'Britain'
Stevenage (2/2): Writer and commentator, Gary Younge explores his relationship to the new town of Stevenage and how the place he grew up in has evolved.
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01h73pb)
Tamsin Greig on the new series of Episodes; Separated parents - how do you sort out differences on the way the children should be raised?; As the Jubilee weekend approaches - the pros and pitfalls of organising a street party; Cameron and Osborne are called arrogant posh boys by one of their own MP's - who should you fear most - a friend or an enemy? And Mrs Robinson's husband sued for divorce in 1858 - one of the first such cases to be heard. Kate Summerscale on Mrs Robinson's Disgrace - The Private Diary of a Victorian Lady.
Presented by Jenni Murray.
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01h8z70)
Not a Love Story
Episode 3
By Shelagh Stephenson
Maddie begins to regret having involved the Police in the rape.
One Friday night Madeleine leaves the pub and walks home along the seafront in the company of Danny, a boy of her own age, whom she's known for few months, through other friends. On the way and seemingly out of the blue, he jumps on her. At first she thinks it's a bad joke, but in fact he rapes her. We know it happens, because we're with her at the time.
It sets in motion a whole chain of events which question our attitudes towards rape, sexuality and sexual assault.
Cast:
Maddy Cook ..... Jasmine Hyde
Danny King ..... Mark Quartley
Meg Harper ..... Haydn Gwynne
Nick ..... Leon Ockenden
Helen ..... Jeany Spark
Louise ..... Michele Tate
Paula ..... Margot Leicester
Mike ..... Michael Elwyn
Director: Eoin O'Callaghan
A Big Fish Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 11:00 Lives in a Landscape (b01h73pd)
Series 10
Dog Killers
Alan Dein delves into the deaths of two Labradors, Moz and Chloe and three Jack Russell Terriers, Monty, Poppy and Murphy, living in different families on the same street. Following the latest death, pork steak laced with pesticide was found in a garden and a local vet is in little doubt that this was a deliberate.
For Georgina and her husband Darren the attacks have unleashed mistrust and fear in their once close knit community. Their home on the sprawling council estate now hosts a shrine around the fireplace and the cremated remains of their loved pets are buried in the garden. Just weeks later Monty's mother, Poppy, was out in the garden when Emma spotted her eating something: "I rushed out and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw her with more meat. It was too late to stop her and she died later that afternoon."
For PC Charlie Banks, from the Pontefract and Knottingley neighbourhood policing team, the case is proving difficult to solve. There is no history of dispute between neighbours and he has found no evidence to suggest what might lie behind the attacks. Alan Dein meets those with theories of their own and looks at what these five dogs meant to their owners and who might have wanted them dead.
And just days into the recording the poisoner strikes again - with Alan Dein following the latest attack and also the reaction to it: Georgina and her husband, for instance, have decided to pack their bags and leave. But their son, Zac, has grown up on the estate and is reluctant to leave.
Meanwhile other neighbours speculate about what might be behind the latest attacks - could this be a personal vendetta....?
Producer: Sue Mitchell.
WED 11:30 Believe It! (b01h73pg)
Series 1
Drink
Believe it!
Celebrity autobiographies are everywhere. Richard Wilson has always said he'd never write one.
Based on glimmers of truth, BELIEVE IT is the hilarious, bizarre, revealing (and, most importantly, untrue) celebrity radiography of Richard Wilson.
He narrates the series, weaving in and out of dramatised scenes from his fictional life-story. He plays a heavily exaggerated version of himself: a Scots actor and national treasure, unmarried, private, passionate about politics, theatre and Manchester United (all true), who's a confidant of the powerful and has survived childhood poverty, a drunken father, years of fruitless grind, too much success, monstrosity, addiction, charity work, secret work for governments and fierce rivalry with Sean Connery (not true). All the melodramatic staples of celebrity-autobiography are wonderfully undercut by Richard's deadpan delivery.
(The title - in case you hadn't spotted - is an unashamed reference to his famous catchphrase.)
Richard is supported by a small core cast viz:
David Tennant
John Sessions
Lewis Macleod
Arabella Weir
And Jane Slavin
Who plays anyone and everyone!
Ghost written by Jon Canter
Produced by: Clive Brill
A Pacificus Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b01h73pj)
Ofsted inspections and letting your spare room
School inspectors used by Ofsted are taking money from schools for advice on how to perform well in school inspections.
Thinking of renting your home out to visitors to the London Olympics? Then you are subject to the regulations for landlords.
The Government is pressing ahead with plans to appoint a regulator to oversee relations between supermarkets and their suppliers. The Groceries Code adjudicator.
Clinton's, the greeting card company, are being put into administration putting around eight thousand jobs at risk.
WED 12:30 Face the Facts (b01h73pl)
John Waite investigates criticism of one of the UK's biggest commercial waste collectors, accused of misselling contracts, unfairly driving up prices and resisting clients' attempts to terminate their contracts. PHS Wastetech - a division of the PHS group, which specialises in "workplace services", admits to mistakes in the past and says it is reviewing its practices to make contracts clearer and more transparent. However the company was unable to explain why a copy of a letter sent to one client, differed slightly but significantly from the version of the letter submitted to court. Stephanie Hutchings, Managing Director of PHS Wastetech, faces the facts.
Presenter: John Waite
Producer: Nick Jackson.
WED 12:57 Weather (b01h29pj)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b01h73pn)
As the Queen announces the government's legislative programme, we'll have analysis from the BBC's Political Editor Nick Robinson and Business Editor Robert Peston.
And we'll discuss the government's proposals with Transport Secretary Justine Greening, President of the Liberal Democrats Tim Farron and Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
WED 13:45 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h73pq)
London Becomes Rome
Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum, continues his object-based history. Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Programme 18. LONDON BECOMES ROME - A set of designs for the Coronation Procession of James I reveals the extent of classical knowledge amongst Shakespeare's audience.
This programme was originally broadcast in 2012.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b01h667g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b01h75cx)
Ink Deep
Ink Deep by Vivienne Franzmann
Annie has rebuilt her life following a nervous breakdown. She lives in a beautiful isolated cottage on the Isle of Mull. She is in a new relationship with a local artist, Ed. Her children are healthy and attend a secondary school on the mainland. So why isn't she happy?
Producer/Director Gary Brown
Vivienne Franzmann won the Bruntwood Playwriting Competition in 2008 for her play 'Mogadishu', which was produced in 2011 by the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester to huge critical acclaim. She went on to win the George Devine Award for 'The most promising playwright of 2010'. She has a new play premiering at the Royal Court in June 2012. This is her first original drama for radio.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b01h75cz)
Nursery fees are rising faster than inflation, salaries are frozen and tax credits are being cut - which can all have a big impact on families trying to manage their household budget. Research suggests many parents spend more than a third of their incomes on childcare. So, if you'd like advice on tax-efficient schemes like childcare vouchers, or details on your rights and responsibilities when employing a nanny, you can call Money Box Live. Paul Lewis and a panel of experts will answer your calls and emails on the finances of childcare. Email moneybox@bbc.co.uk or call 03700 100 444. Lines open at
1pm, Wednesday.
Producer, Sally Abrahams.
WED 15:30 All in the Mind (b01h667n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b01h75d1)
Hebden Bridge; neighbours
Hebden Bridge was once a working class textile town shaped by a culture of chapel and self help. But a new book finds its character transformed by a wave of incomers - from hippies to home workers. The writer Paul Barker talks to Laurie Taylor about community, past and present, in Hebden Bridge. Also, the social historian, Emily Cockayne explores relations between neighbours down the ages. As long as people have lived in shelters they have had people living next door. But how has the support, as well as the noise and nuisance of neighbours changed over time?
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b01h75d3)
BSkyB chief executive Jeremy Darroch gives Steve Hewlett a rare interview on his strategy for Sky, including investment in programmes and importance of Premiership football rights - and addresses some of the stories surrounding Sky including its relationship with Rupert Murdoch and rivalry with the BBC. For further context, there was a discussion of BSkyB's recent strong financial report in last week's programme.
Film director Michael Apted has been closely connected to the "Up" series on ITV since working on World in Action's "7 Up" in 1964. From Los Angeles, he tells Steve and the Guardian media writer Maggie Brown what he has learnt in the making of "56 Up" which is being shown next Monday - and why it would be much harder to attempt this kind of documentary series today.
And Maggie Brown and Steve discuss what politicians might expect from the evidence of Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson at the Leveson Inquiry tomorrow and on Friday.
The producer is Simon Tillotson.
WED 17:00 PM (b01h75d5)
Eddie Mair presents coverage and analysis of the day's news.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01h29pl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 The Castle (b00tdn0f)
Series 3
There's No Place Like Woodstock
Hie ye to The Castle, a rollicking sitcom set way back then, starring James Fleet (The Vicar Of Dibley, Four Weddings and a Funeral) and Neil Dudgeon (Life Of Riley)
In this episode, we discover that somewhere, over the rainbow... there are a bunch of idiots from Woodstock and a mysterious man known only as 'Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber'.
Cast:
Sir John Woodstock ....... James Fleet
Sir William De Warenne ....... Neil Dudgeon
Lady Anne Woodstock ....... Martha Howe-Douglas
Cardinal Duncan ....... Jonathan Kydd
Lady Charlotte ........ Ingrid Oliver
Master Henry Woodstock ........ Steven Kynman
Merlin ........ Lewis Macleod
Written by Kim Fuller & Paul Alexander
Music by Guy Jackson
Producer/Director: David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b01h75d7)
Keith Horrobin turns up, surprising Tracy. His daughter Samantha's getting married, and she'd like Chelsea to be a bridesmaid. Tracy thinks Chelsea will be over the moon. Susan catches Keith up with all the news, although business (car sales) is terrible. She's looking forward to her wedding invitation. She wishes Emma and Ed would get married.
Ruth thinks Pip's going to accept Tom's job offer, but Ruth's worried about her college work. Pat's apologetic, but Ruth acknowledges it's not Pat's fault. They meet up with Hattie Marshall. Hattie thinks it's not worth appealing against the dairy plans. She proposes instead to continue with the protests. Pat and Ruth are sceptical. Neither do they agree with a boycott of Home Farm produce, mainly Adam's businesses. They think they've lost, but Hattie's not going to throw in the towel.
Usha admits Ruth was right. She should have told Amy straight away about Carl. Ruth tells her not to blame herself. Usha says the worst thing is that Alan's feeling wretched. She wants to help him, but they're barely speaking. He blames her. It was a long time before Usha was allowed to be part of their family, and now she's on the outside again.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b01h75d9)
Writer John Hodge; Naxos Records; plot against Edward VIII
With Mark Lawson.
Edward VIII: The Plot to Topple a King is a new TV drama/documentary which tells the story of Archbishop Cosmo Gordon Lang, played by David Calder. He believed that Edward VIII's love for Wallis Simpson made a mockery of all that he stood for, and so assembled a group of grandees to oust the King. AN Wilson reviews.
Trainspotting screenwriter John Hodge discusses his first play, Collaborators, which recently won the Olivier Award for Best New Play. Collaborators focuses on an imagined encounter between Joseph Stalin and playwright Mikhail Bulgakov. Hodge discusses the differences between writing for stage and screen.
Klaus Heymann, the founder of the bargain classical music label Naxos, now celebrating its 25th anniversary, is joined by music critic Jessica Duchen to reflect on how his label revolutionised the music industry, whether there is a downside to affordable recordings and if the record business has a profitable future.
Producer Nicki Paxman.
WED 19:45 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h73pq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
13:45 today]
WED 20:00 Leader Conference (b01h75dc)
Series 2
A careless omission from the Queen's Speech; executive pay and performance, tidy streets
Careless omission from the Queen's Speech. Executive pay and performance. Tidy streets.
In the second edition of the new series of Leader Conference, Andrew Rawnsley was joined by Mary Ann Sieghart of the Independent; Jack Blanchard of the Yorkshire Post; Sarah Sands of the London Evening Standard; Rafael Behr of the New Statesman; and Daniel Finkelstein of the Times.
We debated: Why social care should be a government priority; making executive pay better reflect performance; and taking the fight to the litter bugs. .
Caring for the elderly
The coalition should not be distracted from significantly reducing the structural deficit. However, the Queen's Speech presented an opportunity to deliver on another of its pledges: a new type of politics. This it did not really take. Specifically, it should have tackled the growing cost of social care.
Eleven million people alive today will reach the age of 100. The rising population of older people presents future challenges that can be measured accurately. Andrew Dilnot's report, commissioned by the government and published last year, set out the facts. It also proposed credible measures to tackle problems that the insurance market cannot currently sort out on its own.
What is required now is the political courage to act. That would be good in itself. But it could also diminish cynicism about politicians' willingness to rise above tribal differences by setting out plans for high quality care at prices that do not impoverish the people who need it in old age.
The coalition does not shoulder this responsibility alone. We also urge the Opposition to play its part in tackling the issue. In doing so Labour could demonstrate its seriousness about distinguishing priorities when tackling the deficit.
The taxpayer cannot afford rising social care costs. Those who should pay are those who receive the care. Compulsory insurance may be required of many people to ensure that decent social care is self-financing. But making the public aware of this now and proposing simple schemes that meet future care needs is imperative.
Pricking the Executive Pay Bubble
We fear that cronyism not market-driven reward for performance now predominates in too many company boardrooms. Cosy committees of directors who serve on each other's boards set a bad example. They permit executive greed at shareholders' and consumers' expense. They need reform.
Pay at the top ought to reflect better the ups and downs of performance, including the share price of public companies. Annual pay rises of ten per cent or more do not incentivise executives; they make them complacent. They encourage executives across different industries to demand similar "compensation packages" from remuneration committees frightened that footloose talent may otherwise leave.
That bluff should be called. Performance targets need to be made more demanding and shareholders should be enabled to hold managers more closely to account for meeting them. This is not only in shareholders' financial interest; it serves the public interest too. The coalition's proposal to legislate in this area is timely.
More broadly, market failure on executive pay needs to be tackled by opening up remuneration committees to wider talent, knowledge and experience. That may include workers - although we are not convinced that worker representatives alone will address the problem. They could simply encourage higher pay costs.
Rather, shareholders should be more numerous and prominent on remuneration committees. In particular, we exhort pension funds and other investors who pool the public's savings to seek their views on executive pay and act on that information.
Heroine of the week!
We congratulate the BBC Radio 4 newsreader, Alice Arnold. She intervened against a littering couple whom she witnessed chucking an unwanted plastic bottle from their car onto the roadway. She got out of her own car and threw the bottle back through the open window of the couple's car.
She said her "heart beat faster" as she did this. We understand why. We do not advocate that litter is wilfully thrown back at those who drop it. But intolerance of littering - rather than indifference to it - shows commendable public spiritedness.
We all have responsibility for the environment that we use and enjoy. Tidy streets are important for road safety, public health and our self-esteem.
So good on Alice Arnold for reminding us of the simple truth: take your litter home with you.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b01h75df)
Series 3
Matthew Syed: Does Talent Trump Effort?
Writer and former England table tennis champion Matthew Syed says we should not overemphasise the importance of talent over effort.
Four Thought is a series of talks recorded before an audience at the RSA in London.
Producer: Sheila Cook.
WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (b01h6674)
[Repeat of broadcast at
15:30 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 Midweek (b01h73p8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b01h29pn)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b01h75dh)
The government's new legislative programme has been announced - but will it help the coalition shake off its mid-term blues?
A bomb blast hits UN monitors in Syria. What hope is there for the future of the mission?
And the remarkable tale of how one whale stepped in to save another.
With Robin Lustig.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01hdfvp)
Beginner's Goodbye
Episode 3
By Anne Tyler.
Read by William Hope.
The new novel by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Tyler is the simple yet profound story of one man's recovery from the death of his wife.
In the aftermath of the freak accident that killed his wife, Aaron seeks to regain some semblance of normality by going back to live in the wreckage of their home. Throwing himself into his work, as editor at his family's small vanity press in Baltimore, he tries to evade the sympathetic efforts of his colleagues and neighbours.
Abridged by Robin Brooks.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
WED 23:00 The Music Teacher (b01h75l2)
Series 2
Episode 6
Richie Webb returns as multi-instrumentalist music teacher Nigel Penny.
Nigel finds himself losing pupils as a new music teacher who is able to get outstanding exam results starts working at the Arts Centre.
Meanwhile Belinda is keen to put the new income stream to good use.
Audio production by Matt Katz
Directed by Nick Walker
Written and produced by Richie Webb
A Top Dog Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:15 The Cornwell Estate (b00w7cgy)
Series 2
Switzerland McNaughtiehorse
Written by Phil Cornwell.
Phil Cornwell brings six edgy comic characters to life in a new series of The Cornwell Estate, starring Tony Gardner (Fresh Meat), Roger Lloyd Pack (Only Fools and Horses, Vicar of Dibley), Simon Greenall (Alan Partridge) Daisy Haggard (Psychoville) Ricky Champ (Him and Her, BBC3) Jill Halfpenny (Eastenders, Legally Blonde) and Cyril Nri.
Switzerland McNaughtiehorse, Switzy to his associates is a Bronx, New York ex-pat living on the Cornwell Estate. He is a dedicated anglophile too and finds the differences in American and British culture fascinating, especially when it comes to his special line of work - 'waste disposal'. Phil Cornwell stars.
Created by Phil Cornwell and Andrew McGibbon.
Additional material by Nick Romero
Producer/Director: Andrew McGibbon
A Curtains For Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01h75l4)
Susan Hulme reports on the reaction from MPs and peers to the Queen's Speech
Editor: Peter Mulligan.
THURSDAY 10 MAY 2012
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b01h29qk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b01hj877)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01h29qm)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01h29qp)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01h29qr)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b01h29qt)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01h8tyx)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Rt Revd Chris Edmondson, Bishop of Bolton.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b01h75xk)
Following the Queen's Speech, Charlotte Smith hears plans for a supermarket adjudicator will go ahead. The Groceries Code Adjudicator will investigate complaints from suppliers about the way retailers treat them. But will it make a difference? Whilst the National Farmers' Union have welcomed it, the British Retail Consortium says it's a waste of time.
And Caz Graham meets the next generation of hill famers, signed up to The Fell Farming Apprenticeship Programme in Cumbria. She asks whether there's enough new blood in the industry to keep the fields stocked and ancient traditions like fell farming in good health.
Presented by Charlotte Smith. Produced by Clare Freeman.
THU 06:00 Today (b01h75xm)
Morning news and current affairs, presented by James Naughtie and Evan Davis, including:
07:30 Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration on Heathrow queues
07:50 Why wasn't a social care bill in the Queen's Speech
08:10 Why are the police going on protest?
08:30 President Obama announces support for gay marriage.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b01h75xp)
Game Theory
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss game theory, the mathematical study of decision-making. First formulated in the 1940s, the discipline entails devising 'games' to simulate situations of conflict or cooperation. It allows researchers to unravel decision-making strategies, and even to establish why certain types of behaviour emerge. Some of the games studied in game theory have become well known outside academia - they include the Prisoner's Dilemma, an intriguing scenario popularised in novels and films, and which has inspired television game shows. Today game theory is seen as a vital tool in such diverse fields as evolutionary biology, economics, computing and philosophy. With:Ian StewartEmeritus Professor of Mathematics at the University of WarwickAndrew ColmanProfessor of Psychology at the University of LeicesterRichard BradleyProfessor of Philosophy at the London School of Economics and Political Science.Producer: Thomas Morris.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b01hj8fs)
Granta's Britain
Theatre of Fortune
Four writers create a personal portrait, exploring their sense of identity and what it feels like to be at home in Britain.
This selection of original non-fiction is taken from Granta magazine's volume 'Britain'.
'Theatre of Fortune' by Nikolai Khalezin and Natalia Kaliada. Read by Basher Savage . A young couple flee from Belarus where their theatre has been closed down and their colleagues tortured and jailed.
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01h75xr)
Penny Junor on Prince William
Penny Junor on the boy born to be King - Prince William. Tessa Peake-Jones on why she thinks a role in Dennis Potter's Brimstone and Treacle is so perfect for her. Yasmin Alibhai-Brown on the fallout of the Rochdale grooming case. The hidden problem of alcohol abuse in the Forces. Plus the pitfalls of dating if you're a single parent.
.
Producer Sarah Johnstone
Presenter Jenni Murray.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01h90jc)
Not a Love Story
Episode 4
By Shelagh Stephenson
Maddie's decision to identify her rapist her divides her friends.
One Friday night Madeleine leaves the pub and walks home along the seafront in the company of Danny, a boy of her own age, whom she's known for few months, through other friends. On the way and seemingly out of the blue, he jumps on her. At first she thinks it's a bad joke, but in fact he rapes her. We know it happens, because we're with her at the time.
It sets in motion a whole chain of events which question our attitudes towards rape, sexuality and sexual assault.
Cast:
Maddy Cook ..... Jasmine Hyde
Meg Harper ..... Haydn Gwynne
Nick ..... Leon Ockenden
Helen ..... Jeany Spark
Louise ..... Michele Tate
Jamie ..... Mark Quartley
Paula ..... Margot Leicester
Mike ..... Michael Elwyn
Ned ..... Jonathan Sayer
Director: Eoin O'Callaghan
A Big Fish Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b01h75xt)
Russia's New Energy Frontier
Lucy Ash visits Russia's new energy frontier in the Arctic Yamal region and explores the impact oil and gas extraction is having on the indigenous people there.
Gradually but inexorably, reindeer give way to railroads and gas rigs. She goes to stay with a family of herders near the base of the Yamal Peninsula, whose name in the local Nenets language means "the end of the earth." Yamal is home to the largest single area of reindeer husbandry in the world and unlike many indigenous people of the north in Canada, the USA and other parts of Russia, the Nenets herders have proved remarkably resilient. They survived both collectivisation in Soviet times and the chaos of the transition to a market economy in the 1990s. But now there is a new threat as Vladimir Putin has vowed to "turn Yamal into the new oil and gas province of Russia."
Lucy's host in the tundra, Nikolai Khudi, is philosophical about the changing world around him and wary of criticising the state monopoly Gazprom. The flow of oil and gas revenue to the region has brought social benefits such as decent schools and hospitals. Many nomads have willingly given up their traditional lives, and even those who've remained on the tundra now enjoy snow mobiles, satellite dishes and mobile phones. But Nikolai's brother Yevgeny worries their way of life is endangered and that fish may soon disappear from lakes and rivers because of the drilling.
But Moscow is determined to exploit the treasures under the permafrost. The president elect is heavily dependent on hydrocarbons and is counting on them to fulfil recent campaign promises. At the current levels of price and consumption, the natural gas reserves in Russia's Arctic region, would generate enough fuel to feed Europe for around 75 years, with a total value of almost $17 trillion. The fate of this frozen territory thousands of miles from the Kremlin speaks volumes about the Russian state both past and present.
THU 11:30 The Library Returns (b01h75xw)
The public outcry over the predicted closure of libraries masks a subtler story. Across Europe, the USA and Britain libraries are being re-invented. They are being given a much needed architectural facelift and a profound review of services in order to guarantee their survival into the 21st century.
Jonathan Glancey presents this programme which visits the great game-changing library in Seattle, Europe's 'most modern' library in Deft, a library in Stuttgart which is reviving a whole neighbourhood, Piers Gough's 'super library' for Canada Water in London's Docklands and, of course, the huge new library at the centre of Birmingham which will open next year as the largest public cultural space in Europe.
He considers what these libraries are doing to secure their place in the future - what they can offer in terms of inspiring architecture, engagement with the communities they serve and democratic access to the digital world.
Producer: Susan Marling
A Just Radio Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b01h75xy)
Cheaper mobile roaming charges, failing academies, and spoof reviews
Mobile charges abroad will be cheaper from the summer if MEPs approve new roaming charges today. Winifred Robinson finds out what it'll mean for us. Spoof reviews are promoting some bizarre products on the internet - we hear about some of the best.
Plus landfill taxes and carbon targets have led to a boom in applications for incinerators. So are they the best way to get rid of our rubbish?
Unauthorised motor insurance - we hear about the latest arrests.
What happens when a Academy fails? Michael Rosen says it was never meant to happen, and nobody quite knows how to fix it. We find out.
The first shipbuilding firm in 100 years has been launched on the Humber this month - we hear what's behind the new order. We ask what small businesses need to do now to plan for the Olympics.
And the smokers paid to quit.
Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Rebecca Moore.
THU 12:57 Weather (b01h29qw)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b01h75y0)
The Defence Secretary - Philip Hammond - tells us why he's decided to do a U-turn and change the type of fighter jet to be bought for the Navy's aircraft carriers.
After scores of people are reported to have been killed in two car bomb attacks in the Syrian capital, we hear from our correspondent in Damascus.
We discuss the impact of today's public sector strikes.
And as the flame that will burn during the London Games is lit at the birthplace of the ancient olympics we hear an expert's view that the ceremony was invented by the Nazis.
Comment on Twitter #WATO.
THU 13:45 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h75y2)
The Theatres of Cruelty
Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum, continues his object-based history. Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Programme 19. THE THEATRES OF CRUELTY - A human eyeball in a silver setting provides a striking insight to the theatre of cruelty in Elizabethan and Jacobean Britain.
This programme was originally broadcast in 2012.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b01h75d7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b00tmtjg)
Julie Mayhew - Stopgap
by Julie Mayhew. New graduate Max takes a temp job while on her way to bigger things. She considers her colleague Emma to be a victim of dull office life, but Emma's secret postcards tell a very different story.
Emma ..... Liz White
Max...... Claire Harry
Ian..... Iain Batchelor
Directed by Jeremy Mortimer.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b01h75y4)
Devon Farm Vet
Jules Hudson shadows a farm vet in Devon. As the landscape has changed and farms have grown larger the role of the farm vet has changed also. A large part of their role is now on disease prevention rather than simply treatment and they can be crucial in spotting disease outbreaks like foot and mouth which have devastated the countryside in the past. Jules shadows newly qualified vet Jen Hall to find out what's involved and how important the relationship with the farmer can be in protecting animals and the countryside.
Producer: Anne-Marie Bullock.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b01h2kv4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Bookclub (b01h762n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b01h77lg)
Francine Stock meets with Jonny Lee Miller to discuss his role in Tim Burton's Dark Shadows.
Screenwriter Paul Laverty talks about his Bolivian epic, Even the Rain, starring Gael Garcia Bernal.
Nigel Havers looks back at his time in Borneo with a wild Nick Nolte.
Julie Delpy on 2 Days in New York, and why she wants to direct Woody Allen in her next film.
Producer: Craig Smith.
THU 16:30 Material World (b01h77lj)
Quentin Cooper looks at alchemy. Ancient and now somewhat discredited, early alchemic experiments led to the development of many of today’s scientific disciplines. Base metals may not have been turned into gold, but the fields of chemistry and metallurgy have their roots in Alchemy according to Cambridge researcher Jenny Rampling.
'The hour of dog and wolf' is a new book by Neuroscientist John Coates. A former Wall Street trader, he argues that financial decision making may owe rather more to the bodies hormonal response to success and stress than prudent financial planning. He argue the recent financial crisis was worsened by hormones designed primarily to keep us alive in dangerous situations, and his experimental work with traders shows a direct link between hormone secretions and profit levels.
Afghanistan is a great place to watch the stars because of the high altitude and clear skies due to the lack of light pollution. Now a new international project ‘Reach For The Stars’ is aiming to put astronomy on the Afghan school curriculum. Through distributing astronomy text books in local languages and giving practical demonstrations, the organisers hope to encourage wider interest in science amongst Afghanistan’s schoolchildren. Mike stone worked in Afghanistan for the UN before becoming involved in the project.
Do people with similar faces also have similar voices? ‘So You Want to be a Scientist?’ finalist William Rudling was at the Bang Goes the Theory roadshow in Sheffield over the bank holiday to find out what visitors thought.
Almost 900 people took part in William’s test, including Andy Kershaw from BBC Radio Sheffield.
If you were not able to make it to Sheffield last weekend, you can take part in William’s online experiment now – just click on 'The Experiment' link below.
Producer: Julian Siddle.
THU 17:00 PM (b01h77ll)
Eddie Mair presents full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01h29qy)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Tom Wrigglesworth's Open Letters (b01h77ln)
Series 2
Episode 2
Sony Award-winning comedian Tom Wrigglesworth performs another of his open letters.
Tom turns his attentions to the low-cost airline industry. Are they are all they are cracked up to be?
If he does enough online check-ins, can he legitimately claim to be part-time staff and get an invite to the Christmas do?
Written by Tom Wrigglesworth, James Kettle and Miles Jupp.
Producer: Simon Mayhew-Archer.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2012.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b01h77lq)
Nic's getting ready for her shift. She's a little flustered when Will admires her sexy top. She thinks she ought to change, but Will says she looks ravishing.
Chris thinks Amy seems more angry with Usha than with Carl. Alice feels a bit sorry for Usha. She was obviously just trying to do the right thing and it went wrong.
Ifty spots Daniel's potential at nets; he's obviously played cricket before. Alistair explains Daniel plays at school. In the pub, Rhys tells Chris he's been asked to nets by Alistair, and to enter the single wicket competition. Chris reckons if Rhys plays his cards right he could be on the team; they're short at the moment. Rhys laughs that a man can dream...
There's much ribbing of the womenfolk in the pub over their admiration of Ifty. Nic's worried Will might take it seriously, but he's very relaxed about it and just likes to see her blush.
Meanwhile Alistair and Ifty are going through their team selection. They might give Jamie Perks a go, but they still need an eleventh man. So they call on Rhys. He's delighted. This is nearly as good as being asked to play rugby for Wales.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b01h77ls)
Hilary Mantel, Tim Burton, 56 Up
With Mark Lawson.
Hilary Mantel discusses her novel Bring Up The Bodies, a sequel to her Booker Prize-winner Wolf Hall. It focuses on the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn and, like Wolf Hall, the story is told from the point of view of Henry VIII's minister Thomas Cromwell. Mantel reflects on the art of writing historical fiction.
Tim Burton's latest film Dark Shadows stars Johnny Depp as a 200 year old vampire, who finds himself in the 1970s. Burton explains how he was inspired by a 1960s gothic soap opera.
56 Up is the latest instalment of the landmark TV documentary series which has returned every seven years to focus on a group of people from varying social backgrounds who were first filmed at the age of seven. The new series revisits all but one of the original group. Rachel Cooke and Chris Dunkley review.
Producer Jerome Weatherald.
THU 19:45 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h75y2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
13:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b01h77lv)
Tax Relief on Charity Donations
When a proposal to cap the amount of tax relief that individuals can claim was included in the recent Budget, charities mounted a huge campaign against the changes. Hundreds of organisations have signed up to the 'Give it Back George' campaign, urging the Chancellor to rethink the plans.
The charities involved include some of Britain's biggest not-for-profits, along with many tiny local organisations, and groups of all sizes in between. Yet the reduced tax relief will only affect a small, elite band of charity donors - those who give more than £50,000 or a quarter of their yearly income.
Who are these big donors and why have charities been so vocal about saving their tax breaks? Simon Cox finds out more about wealthy charity backers, investigates the proposed changes and asks how much tax affects the motivations of Britain's biggest givers. If the Coalition proposals turn into law, how much does the Exchequer stand to gain - and how much do charities stand to lose?
Producer: Mike Wendling.
THU 20:30 In Business (b01h77lx)
Bank to Basics
Bank to basics.
Britain's big four banks are being challenged by newcomers. Peter Day asks what new arrivals on the high street have to do to prize customers away from their traditional loyalties.
The Government wants more competition in banking with the aim of getting a better deal for customers who have been complaining about the service they receive in record numbers. There are key developments taking shape but will they be enough to create bigger banks to compete with the big boys?
Well, Virgin Money has bought Northern Rock and Lloyds is currently negotiating to sell more than 630 branches, possibly to Co-Op Bank. Meanwhile, newer banking players like Handelsbanken and Metro are expanding, promising better local customer service and in some cases, that elusive thing - a bank manager. Big retail names like Tesco and Sainsbury's have banking licences and hope to grow the business from the financial products they currently offer. Shawcross Bank and Aldermore Bank aim to take small business customers away from the high street banks.
But there are big stumbling blocks to competition. The big four - Lloyds Banking Group, RBS/Natwest, Barclays and HSBC have an eye watering 77% market share of personal current accounts, and 85% of Small and Medium Enterprises current accounts.
There are other factors too which complicate the picture. While the technology may be cheaper to create a new banking platform, banks will shortly have to hold more ready capital to prevent any future financial crises.
So can the newcomers really make a dent in the big four's domination of UK banking?
Producer Lesley McAlpine
Editor Stephen Chilcott.
THU 21:00 Hurricane Rash (b01h666p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Tuesday]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b01h75xp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b01h29r0)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b01h77lz)
Two huge blasts rock Damascus - we ask who's behind them and what hopes there are for the UN peace plan.
Public sector workers take to the streets across the UK to protest against pensions changes. Our reporter joins policemen to ask how far they are prepared to take their battle.
And a new film stirs controversy in China on the anniversary of the Great Famine.
With Robin Lustig.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01hdfzl)
Beginner's Goodbye
Episode 4
By Anne Tyler.
Read by William Hope.
The new novel by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Tyler is the simple yet profound story of one man's recovery from the death of his wife.
Arriving home from work to find water pouring through the roof of his house, Aaron is forced to call in a builder and face up to the extent of the tree's damage.
Abridged by Robin Brooks.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
THU 23:00 Tonight (b01h77nt)
Series 2
Episode 1
Rory Bremner and the team return for another series of Tonight, the topical satire show that digs that bit deeper into national and international politics.
Rory's mantra is that it's as important to make sense out of things as it is to make fun of them. With a team that includes veteran satirists Andy Zaltzman and Nick Doody and versatile impressionist and character comedian Kate O'Sullivan, Tonight promises to do both. This is half an hour of stand-up, sketches, and investigative satire. And at the core of the show are Rory's incisively funny interviews with the most informed guest commentators on the current political scene.
More global crises, more political scandal, more jokes with the word fiscal in them - and some truly brilliant impressions: a shot in the arm for satire lovers everywhere.
Producers: Simon Jacobs & Frank Stirling
A Unique Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01h77nw)
The Queen may have departed from Parliament but the debates on the Queen's Speech are only just beginning. Both MPs and peers took part in lively discussions on different aspects of the Government's programme. Home Secretary Theresa May spoke about law and order issues in the Commons, while Lord Strathclyde led a debate on constitutional changes, in the House of Lords.
Also on the programme:
* Arguments fly in the Commons over the Government's decision to block a so-called 'Health Risk Register', detailing what the effects might be of the recent Health Act's changes to the running of the NHS in England .
* Peter Mulligan reports on the Government's U-turn over the type of jet fighter aircraft that will fly from the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers.
FRIDAY 11 MAY 2012
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b01h29rx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b01hj8fs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01h29rz)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01h29s1)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01h29s3)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b01h29s5)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01h8tyz)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Rt Revd Chris Edmondson, Bishop of Bolton.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b01h7cd9)
Growing plants under LEDs could lead to farming in underground bunkers and city high-rises. Sarah Falkingham visits Stockbridge Technology Centre to see an indoor farm in action.
The European Council of Young Farmers warns that young British farmers are losing out financially because the UK government is choosing not to access financial support for them. Farming Minister Jim Paice MP explains why he believes simply handing out money is not the answer.
The National Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs is trialling a new scheme to help people get into the industry by matching the skills of young farmers with landowners. And we hear from 23 year old Luke Abblitt who got into farming by renting a council farm near Peterborough.
Presented by Charlotte Smith. Produced by Emma Weatherill.
FRI 06:00 Today (b01h7cdc)
Morning news and current affairs, with James Naughtie and Justin Webb, including:
07:12 Children's minister says adoption system has been given "overhaul".
07:22 Tweeting in space
07:50 Is the Department for Education in control of its budget?
08:10 Can Spain stabilise its banking system?
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b01h2kvd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b01hj9w1)
Granta's Britain
The Magic Place
Four writers create a personal portrait, exploring their sense of identity and what it feels like to be at home in Britain.
This selection of original non-fiction is taken from Granta magazine's volume 'Britain'
'The Magic Place' written and read by Kapka Kassabova. A Bulgarian Kiwi novelist finds her sense of home in Scotland.
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01h7cdf)
Jenni Murray will be taking your calls about single parenting. How do you negotiate with your ex-partner when it comes to making decisions about the children? What are the difficulties of dating? How do you introduce a new partner to your children and to your ex? Is there still a stigma to being a single parent? What are the financial implications? How are children affected when their parents are no longer together?
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01h90jy)
Not a Love Story
Episode 5
By Shelagh Stephenson
The rapist's testimony seems to sway the jury.
One Friday night Madeleine leaves the pub and walks home along the seafront in the company of Danny, a boy of her own age, whom she's known for few months, through other friends. On the way and seemingly out of the blue, he jumps on her. At first she thinks it's a bad joke, but in fact he rapes her. We know it happens, because we're with her at the time.
It sets in motion a whole chain of events which question our attitudes towards rape, sexuality and sexual assault.
Cast:
Maddie Cooke ..... Jasmine Hyde
Danny King ..... Mark Quartley
Meg Harper ..... Haydn Gwynne
Nick ..... Leon Ockenden
Prosecution Barrister ..... Jeany Spark
Chambers ..... Jonathan Tafler
Louise ..... Michele Tate
Paula ..... Margot Leicester
Mike ..... Michael Elwyn
Ned ..... Jonathan Sayer
Director: Eoin O'Callaghan
A Big Fish Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 11:00 The Trouble with Moody Teens (b01h7cdh)
In every school class, at least one teenager will need urgent treatment for clinical depression. With thousands of under-16s on anti-depressants, there is concern that mental health problems amongst youngsters are on the rise. So what is the difference between typical teen behaviour and something more serious?
Presenter Miranda Sawyer hears from young people who speak frankly about their thoughts and feelings, often hidden from those around them. She talks to parents, teachers and experts to find out what are the first signs that a teenager is suffering from clinical depression - and asks why it is sometimes so difficult to spot those early symptoms.
In this programme, teenagers speak about the increasing pressures of growing up today - from school, home and friends - and Miranda asks why do some teenagers cope with these pressures whilst others spiral down into depression? How much are social networking and today's economic climate to blame and how much of the illness is hereditary?
At school, some teachers may dismiss early signs of depression as bad behaviour or lack of attention in class, but increasingly secondary schools like Bradley Stokes near Bristol have a specialist unit and strategies in place to identify vulnerable pupils and refer them early for psychological help.
Often social stigma and guilt make it difficult for teenagers and parents to come forward and GPs may initially put problems down to adolescence, while child and adolescent mental health services (CAHMS) can be patchy and oversubscribed. Miranda investigates the treatment available and finds out how charities like Young Minds support both teenagers with mental health problems and worried parents.
Producer: Sara Parker
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 11:30 Another Case of Milton Jones (b00rp1wd)
Series 4
Oil Baron and Mining Engineer
In this episode, Milton waves goodbye to the world of dance and musical theatre to pursue his dream of becoming - a miner! And then his fortunes skyrocket when he strikes oil in the middle of the ocean - on an oil tanker. Diamonds, gold, laser beams and Eastenders combine in a glamorous yet gritty tribute to Billy Elliot in "Another Case Of Milton Jones".
He's joined in his endeavours by his co-stars Tom Goodman-Hill (Camelot), Dave Lamb (Come Dine With Me) and Ingrid Oliver (Watson & Oliver).
Britain's funniest Milton and the king of the one-liner returns with a fully-working cast and a shipload of new jokes in this series of daffy comedy adventures.
Each week, Milton is a complete and utter expert at something - Top Gun aviator, Weatherman, Billy Elliot-style dancer, World-beating cyclist, mathematical genius and Extreme Travel Entrepreneur.
And each week, with absolutely no ability or competence, he plunges into a big adventure with utterly funny results.
"Milton Jones is one of Britain's best gagsmiths with a flair for creating daft yet perfect one-liners" - The Guardian
"King of the surreal one-liners" - The Times
"If you haven't caught up with Jones yet - do so!" - The Daily Mail
Written by Milton with James Cary (Think The Unthinkable, Miranda)
Produced & directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b01h7cdk)
Fuel efficient cars and national anthems
The councils that want to increase the prices they charge for allotments by up to 500%... and the allotmenteers who are going to court to try to stop them.
The self styled bad boys of brewing - Brew Dog - accuse the drinks giant Diageo of snatching away a trade award they'd already won.
The car industry, in the form of Paul Paul Everitt of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and Sherif Marakby 'Power Train' Director at Ford Europe, share their views on the future of fuel-efficient cars.
A world first for Wales as it could become the first country to force local authorities to provide and maintain safe cycle lanes walkways.
Plus why the price of a ferry is about to go up and why longer routes could disappear completely.
And should England have its own national anthem? Singer Billy Bragg thinks it should; former Scotland international rugby player John Beattie argues its time all nations ditched their anthems, at sporting events at least.
Producer: Joe Kent.
FRI 12:52 The Listening Project (b01h7cdm)
Best Buddies: Darren and Jeremy
Fi Glover presents Radio 4's series capturing the nation in conversation: today Darren and Jeremy, who met at school in Cardiff back in the 1980's and have been best friends ever since ,talk about friendship and what life has taught them.
The Listening Project is a new initiative for Radio 4 that aims to offer a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Many of the long conversations are being archived by the British Library which they will use to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer Marya Burgess.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b01h29s7)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b01h7cdp)
Peter Hunt reports on a dramatic day of testimony as Rebekah Brooks gives evidence to the Leveson Inquiry.
As efforts to form a government in Greece start to run out of steam, we speak to a leading member of the Pasok party who tells us another election is all but inevitable.
As Spain announces drastic plans to restructure its banks, a government representative insists it will not need to go to the IMF.
And Hugh Sykes reports from Pakistan on the country's energy crisis.
FRI 13:45 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h7cdr)
Shakespeare Goes Global
Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum, brings to an end his object-based history. During the past four weeks he has taken artefacts from William Shakespeare's time and explored how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asked what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. Carefully selected objects shed light on the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and revealed much about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
In this, the final programme of the series, Neil considers how William Shakespeare made the transition from successful playwright to possibly the greatest dramatist the world has known
Programme 20 SHAKESPEARE GOES GLOBAL - The publication of the First Folio of Shakespeare's collected plays in 1623 began the process of turning an early modern playwright into a global phenomenon. An annotated copy of the Collected Works of Shakespeare reveals the extent to which Shakespeare has inspired and influenced audiences across the globe and through the ages.
This programme was originally broadcast in 2012.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b01h77lq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b01h7cdt)
Martyn Hesford - Mrs Lowry and Son
Mrs Lowry and Son
Written by Martyn Hesford
Artist L. S. Lowry lived all his life with his over-bearing mother Elizabeth. Bed-ridden and bitter, Elizabeth actively tried to dissuade her bachelor son from pursuing his artistic ambitions, whilst never failing to voice her opinion at what a disappointment he is to her. This powerful drama imagines the impact this obsessive mother and son relationship had on the great artist.
Directed by Gary Brown
Produced by Charlotte Riches.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b01h7cdw)
Malvern Spring Gardening Show
Eric Robson and the panel are garden trouble-shooting at Malvern Spring Gardening Show. Bob Flowerdew, Matthew Wilson and Pippa Greenwood form this week's panel of experts.
Questions answered in the programme:
What gardening gadget would members of the panel not be without?
How do I dilute comfrey fertiliser? Does it benefit all plants?
Do members of the panel have a place for alpine plants in their garden?
The panel grow Sedum acre and Semprevivums 'Rubin' alpines amongst others.
How do you prune grasses?
Can I grow tropical fruits in a polytunnel in Herefordshire without heat?
Is my 100ft x 50ft garden big enough for a Catalpa tree?
Alternative trees suggested: Zelkova, flowering cherries, Paulownia 'Floxglove tree'
Suggestions for cut-and-come-again crops for an Edible garden please.
The panel suggest lettuce, chards, spinaches, Pueraria oy' Kudzu vine', and raspberries.
Produced by Howard Shannon and Lucy Dichmont
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 Hidden Agendas (b01h7cdy)
Christmas '83 in the Rhondda
The last of three stories from Wales about secrets and lies, even those set with good intentions. It's Christmas '83 in the Valleys, and Ceri has two young children. She'd like to give them toys but their father has other plans.
Shelley Rees reads a story by Rachel Trezise.
A BBC Cymru Wales Production, directed by Emma Bodger.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b01h7cf0)
Vidal Sassoon, Angelica Garnett, Maurice Sendak and Lloyd Brevett
Matthew Bannister on
Vidal Sassoon - who revolutionised the world of hairdressing during the swinging sixties. We'll hear his own memories of fighting the blackshirts in London's East End and Mary Quant recalls their trend setting collaboration..
Also the artist Angelica Garnett, only daughter of the Bloomsbury Group painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant and niece of Virginia Woolf
Maurice Sendak, the children's writer best known for "Where The Wild Things Are". Michael Rosen pays a literary tribute.
And Lloyd Brevett, the bass player behind the ska rhythm that gave birth to reggae.
FRI 16:30 More or Less (b01h7cf2)
Are CEOs worth it?
Are CEOs worth it?
This is a question which has been widely discussed this week, after Andrew Moss - chief executive of the insurance firm Aviva - was forced out by shareholders who are, it seems, no longer content to watch him trouser £50,000 a week.
Greek rail
In recent editions of More or Less we've tackled a lot of 'Eurostats' - some of the wad of statistics which have emerged, with increasing frequency, as the Euro crisis has deepened. How about this one: it's said the Greek railways are so expensive to run, it would be cheaper to send all its the passengers by taxi instead. Can it possibly be true?
Chess puzzle
Forget the Olympics, the World Chess Championship match has just started. The champion is a man. His challenger is a man. In fact there is only one woman in the world's top 100 chess players. Why?
Dilnot returns
The first in a regular series of interview with former presenters of the show. Actually, it may be a short series, because there is only one: Andrew Dilnot. He's gone on to better things as the new chairman of the UK Statistics Authority. (Broadcast in the May 13 and podcast versions only.)
Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Richard Knight.
FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b01h7cf4)
Travelling Through Generations: Millie and Douglas
Fi Glover presents Radio 4's series capturing the nation in conversation: 13 year old Millie is doing well at school. Her grandfather, born into the life of a travelling showman in Lincolnshire, didn't the same educational opportunities. But that's no barrier to their closeness. The final visit to the Listening Project is at
11.55pm this evening.
The Listening Project is a new initiative for Radio 4 that aims to offer a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Many of the long conversations are being archived by the British Library which they will use to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer Marya Burgess.
FRI 17:00 PM (b01h7cf6)
Eddie Mair presents coverage and analysis of the day's news.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01h29s9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b01h79sr)
Series 77
Episode 6
A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Sandi Toksvig. With Jeremy Hardy, Mark Steel, Fred Macaulay and Bridget Christie.
Produced by Sam Bryant.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b01h7cf8)
Brian tells Jennifer he's recruited someone called Mark Winford to help out in Adam's absence. They watch the swifts nesting at Valley Farm. It reminds Jennifer of her own brood. It's hard when her children live so far away. Brian mentions that Valley Farm's coming up for sale. Perhaps they could buy it to house the workers at the new dairy.
The atmosphere is still tense between Alan and Usha. Usha points out it's good that Amy's sleeping now she's back home. Alan counters that she should never have had to leave. He can't believe Carl could have lied to everyone like he did. Usha says it's similar to criminals having no idea of the damage they're doing, but Alan asks to be spared her insights. He just wants to punch Carl. He loses his temper. When Usha consoles him that this would be any parent's natural reaction he tells her not to make excuses. She can't possibly understand what it's like.
Finally Usha herself snaps. She's made a mistake, she's said she's sorry, and Alan has to forgive her. He knows she's right. But when Usha finds Alan and Amy cooking later they refuse her help, and she leaves them to it.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b01h7cfb)
Coronation Street musical; Anish Kapoor's Olympic sculpture
With Kirsty Lang.
Street of Dreams is a new arena musical based on Coronation Street, Britain's longest-running tv soap. Hosted by Paul O'Grady and starring cast members including Julie Goodyear (Bet Lynch) and William Roache (Ken Barlow), it opened last night in Manchester. Author and Corrie fan Livi Michael reviews.
Anish Kapoor discusses Orbit, his towering steel sculpture for the Olympic Park, which was unveiled today. Kirsty ascends to the viewing platforms, and critic Richard Cork gives his verdict.
The Proclaimers, Craig and Charlie Reid, discuss the inspiration behind their new album Like Comedy.
As the Brighton Festival opens, Kirsty reports from a disused market, the setting for a drama based on a murder case from Belgium; and on a piece of waste-land at the end of the promenade, we eavesdrop on lovers in their cars.
Producer Philippa Ritchie.
FRI 19:45 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h7cdr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
13:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b01h7cfd)
Woodstock
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs a live discussion of news and politics from The Marlborough School, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, with Business Secretary, Vince Cable; Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Mary Creagh; broadcaster and director of Colourful Radio, Henry Bonsu; and Conservative MP, Douglas Carswell.
Producer: Victoria Wakely.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b01h7cfg)
Military matters
"Suppose you've spend the entirety of your working life pushing paper in an office and concocting ways of winning elections - then the heavy wooden door of Number 10 finally swings closed and....in the back garden, a couple of strapping fellows are parading up and down the lawn with Heckler & Koch machine guns around their necks, their mission: to stop the baddies scything you down".
Will Self asks what can drive political leaders into the arms of the military. From the era of Margaret Thatcher on, he says, "a key aspect of the premiership seems to have become posing with tough, tough boys and their tough, tough toys".
In Will Self's view, this close relationship between politicians and the military helps no-one. His solution - to bring back National Service. "The cry", he writes, "beloved of the ramrod-straight and the crew-cut is joined by me with all my bohemian heart". And he says he would be first in line!
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
FRI 21:00 Friday Drama (b01gvx87)
Greed All About It
It is 1986 and Alice longs to be taken seriously as a proper journalist. So when Greg 'from management' takes a shine to her and mentions that he is involved in setting up a new newspaper in a high tech office in Wapping, she senses an opportunity.
A sharp, satirical look at the Wapping dispute by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman. Part of the Eighties season on TV and Radio.
Alice ..... Sally Hawkins
Ted ..... Ron Cook
Greg ..... Richard Dillane
Harry ..... Clive Russell
Eileen ..... Marion Bailey
Andy ..... Freddie White
Charles ..... Nigel Hastings
Graham ..... John Biggins
Reporter ..... Keely Beresford
Producer Gary Brown.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b01h29sc)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b01h7cfj)
Rebekah Brooks gives evidence to the Leveson Inquiry, we examine the relationship between press and politicians.
Political parties in Greece fail to form a coalition government
And why the work of cartoonists is important to democracy
All that and more with Robin Lustig on The World Tonight.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01hdg0t)
Beginner's Goodbye
Episode 5
By Anne Tyler.
Read by William Hope.
The new novel by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Tyler is the simple yet profound story of one man's recovery from the death of his wife.
Slowly, as the repairs to his home start to take shape, Aaron's grief begins to ease.
Abridged by Robin Brooks.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b01h6678)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01h7cfl)
Mark D'Arcy reports on events at Westminster.
FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b01h7cfn)
Marriage Across the Sectarian Divide: Mabel and JD
Fi Glover presents Radio 4's series capturing the nation in conversation: in today's last visit Mabel and her son, JD, reflect on how an attack on their family during the sectarian troubles in Northern Ireland brought them to a new life in Reading.
The Listening Project is a new initiative for Radio 4 that aims to offer a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Many of the long conversations are being archived by the British Library which they will use to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer Marya Burgess.