The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
"One of the most powerful indictments of economic inequality I've ever read. If Bollywood ever decides to do its own version of The Wire, this would be it." Barbara Ehrenreich
Sudha Bhuchar reads Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Katherine Boo's landmark work of life, death and hope in the slums of Mumbai. Based on years of uncompromising reporting, Behind the Beautiful Forevers tells the story of Annawadi, a makeshift slum sitting in the shadow of Mumbai's glittering luxury hotels and shiny new international airport. Through the stories of the characters she meets, Boo reveals what it takes to escape poverty in one of the 21st century's great, unequal cities.
Today: while some slum dwellers are forging their way up into the overcity, others are fighting for their lives back in the slum.
Author: Katherine Boo is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who is currently a staff writer at the New Yorker. This is her first book.
Reader: Sudha Bhuchar is joint founder and Artistic Director of the theatre company, Tamasha, and is both an actor and playwright.
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Shaunaka Rishi Das, Director of The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.
It's an iPM Olympic Special; the listener who was responsible for writing the official opening ceremony creates one for us, we hear from the World Champion who can't compete, and a gold medallist reads Your News.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
From Dover to Dundee, London to Leeds and Cardiff to Cambridge, there is much more to our towns and cities than concrete and cars. Take the time to listen and look and a world of wildlife is there just waiting to be spotted. As Britain's largest city London is alive with wildlife and Jules Hudson takes a journey across West London in search of just a few of the feathered, furry and winged residents that call the city home.
As the day begins, Jules meets David Lindo, aka The Urban Birder, who takes Jules for a walk across Wormwood Scrubs, the 183 acres of open land close to the prison of the same name. This is David's patch, his 'garden' where he says he has had the privilege of seeing Meadow Pipits, Woodpeckers, passing Northern Wheatears, Honey Buzzards and even nesting Skylarks. Leaving David doing what he does best, looking up to the skies, Jules joins Jan Hewlett at the Gunnersbury Triangle Nature Reserve. Cut off from the surrounding area by railway tracks in the late nineteenth century, this reserve in a corner of Chiswick has developed into a lively ecological community which became one of London Wildlife Trust's first reserves when it was saved from development by a local campaign. Jan takes Jules on a walk through the woodland of the reserve, which is home to an array of birdlife, butterflies and bats, as well as hedgehogs and field voles, to the pond to discover what creatures thrive there.
Leaving Jan taking in the peace of the Triangle, Jules continues his journey to the home of Kelly Gray where he finds some surprising residents in her back garden. Longing for the rural lifestyle, Kelly has brought the countryside and the idea of life on the farm to Brentford. Introducing Jules to Rosie and Jim, the pigs that share her back garden with the ducks and chickens she also has, Kelly explains why she took such such a huge decision to bring the countryside in to her West London garden.
No urban wildlife story would be complete without the gardener's best friend, the hedgehog. Jules rounds off his journey with a visit to the home of Sue Kidger in Twickenham from where she runs her hedgehog hospital, caring for orphaned and injured hedgehogs with the aim of releasing them once again to secure gardens. With Sue is Hugh Warwick, self-confessed hedgehog obsessive who tells Jules about an initiative to safeguard the future of hedgehogs whose numbers have been declining rapidly in recent years. As Hugh says, a hedgehog friendly garden is a wildlife friendly garden.
Caz Graham discovers how biomass could be the next money-maker for British farmers.
Following new renewable energy incentives, Department for Energy and Climate Change says it believes the UK can double biomass electricity produced by the end of the decade.
Caz visits Shropshire farmer Keith Wilson who grows 1,000 hectares of miscanthus, a popular biomass crop, after ditching cereals in 2004. Now a passionate evangelist and biomass convert, he tells Farming Today that it couldn't be a better time for farmers to turn to energy crops. With Natural England grants readily available to new starters and Drax power stations making big investments, Professor Tony Bridgwater of Aston University says biomass is the fuel of the future.
But with questions over the UK's reliance on imports and their sustainability, will the UK be able to meet these ambitious deadlines? And with a growing population and issues of self-sufficiency, is it right that farmers are choosing to grow energy crops instead of producing more food?
Presented by Caz Graham. Produced by Clare Freeman in Birmingham.
Morning news and current affairs presented by John Humphrys and Sarah Montague. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Sian Williams & Richard Coles live from the Olympics with newsman turned novelist Gerald Seymour, and James Partridge who founded of the disfigurement charity Changing Faces; JP Devlin mingles with the Olympic crowds; archer Tony George sets us aquiver with his Sound Sculpture; listener Arnold Gordon tells the tale of singing along to Over The Rainbow with Judy Garland in a bar during the Tokyo Olympics; John McCarthy gets out his bucket and spade in Weymouth; and Olympic athlete turned politician Ming Campbell shares his Inheritance Tracks.
Actor Billy Boyd, who played a hobbit in the films of The Lord Of The Rings, narrates the story of the first ever stage production of J.R.R.Tolkien's The Hobbit, at New College School in Oxford in 1967. It was written by Humphrey Carpenter, with music by composer, Paul Drayton, then Director of Music at the school. We hear from the boys who performed it, who were choristers at the time and who are now renowned in the musical world: Choral conductor Simon Halsey, Martin Pickard Head of Music at Opera North, artist's agent Stephen Lumsden and composer Howard Goodall- who watched his older brother Ashley, now a marketing professional, perform. They talk about their memories and about Tolkien's presence in the audience on the last night.
The present-day Chamber choir at New College School sing some of the original songs, and we also play a never before broadcast recording of the production as it happened in 1967.
Bridget Kendall's guests consider the best way to think about our own death. What is the best way to prepare for it?
After a life as a literary editor, Diana Athill has become well known for her frank and eloquent memoirs and thoughts on her impending death. Now at the age of 94, she has come to relish life in an old people's home.
Pauline Chen has to deal with life and death in her daily work as a liver transplant and cancer surgeon. She thinks doctors could benefit from thinking more about the way we handle death and the emotional impact it has on the patient's family. She has written about the subject both as a book and as an online column for the New York Times.
And the poet Paul Muldoon from Northern Ireland shares his personal experiences of dealing with the death of his sister, as well, as his latest work based on the verses of The Bible's Book of Lamentations.
Could Mogadishu be about to lose its title as the world's most dangerous city? Mary Harper says soon there'll be a new parliament and a new president in the Somali capital and there's hope the days of war, drought and famine could come to an end.
The authorities in Yemen helped by the US have been taking the battle to al-Qaeda but Natalia Antelava, in the capital Sana'a, says some believe hearts and minds are being lost in the process.
Three years ago the north-eastern tip of Sri Lanka was the scene of the Tamil Tigers' last big battle against the Sri Lankan army. Charles Haviland's been allowed to visit the area which he says remains scarred by that bitter fighting.
Henry Nicholls, who's been in the Galapagos Islands out in the Pacific Ocean, says people there are finding it hard to pick themselves up after the death of their most famous resident, the giant tortoise, Lonesome George.
The annual Bayreuth Festival has been taking place in the south of Germany and Stephen Evans has been learning about its history, its catering and why it just can't seem to go ahead without a row about the Nazis!
Big British banks are now widely accused of damaging the economy by failing to support their customers.
In this 4-part series, Michael Robinson examines what went wrong and how it might be put right.
The series opens by showing how the once close relationship between bank managers and customers has broken down. It charts how the introduction of computer systems from the 1980s replaced local decision-making with centralised lending controls. At the same time, pressure on front-line branch staff to sell highly profitable financial products such as Payment Protection Insurance increased massively. With testimony from industry insiders, this programme shows how PPI became one of the big banks' major sources of income. It reveals why early attempts to blow the whistle on industry malpractice failed and how the scandal of PPI mis-selling ended up increasing distrust in what had started out as a good financial product. As a result, many who would benefit from such insurance now shun it, putting themselves at greater risk. The programme shows how PPI became a touchstone for what has happened to British banking and the widespread cynicism with which it's now regarded.
Rebecca Front talks to her Thick Of It co-star and fellow Nude-a-phobe, comedian Chris Addison about working with Armando Iannucci and embracing his middle-classness through stand-up
Producer ..... Carl Cooper
"In an unclothed state I look like a child has done a collage with some Twiglets".
Rebecca Front being interviewed by the man who knows her best, her big brother, Jeremy Front.
Chris Addison in a rare interview with the actually-really-nice-and-he-doesn't-do-any-of-that-weird-stuff-in-real-life, Derren Brown;
Derren Brown chatting hair, beliefs and Tim Minchin with comedy musical megastar and fellow sceptic Tim Minchin;
A poorly Tim Minchin being handed tissues whilst attempting to interview with no questions a not-at-all-poorly and hilarious Caitlin Moran.
Caitlin Moran getting to spend time and talk shoes, Bananarama and women with her comedy hero Jennifer Saunders.
Jennifer Saunders turning up a week later to find the series has ended. Probably. We weren't there because the series had ended.
Shaun Ley chairs a live discussion of news and politics from Clevedon Community Cinema, Somerset, with author, journalist and chairman of the National Trust, Simon Jenkins; Labour Peer, Angela Billingham, cross-bench peer and businessman, Digby Jones and author Harriet Sergeant.
Call Anita Anand on 03700 100 444, email any.answers@bbc.co.uk or tweet #bbcaq. The topics discussed on Any Questions? were: sport in schools, Syria, Lords Reform, Olympic legacy and films.
Do too many of our best sportsmen and women succeed because of privileged backgrounds and education?
Will the shelving of Lords Reform be the government's next U-turn, and if so, what are the likely consequences for the coalition?
With central London apparently deserted have the economic benefits of the Olympics been exaggerated?
This week the BFI announced the latest list of top films of all time. The Curzon has done the same in its centenary year. What is the panel's favourite film?
A moving drama by Mike Walker about the most famous British fighter aircraft in history, first broadcast in September 2010 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Framed by recollections from veteran
Geoffrey Wellum, the drama features specially made recordings of RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Spitfires, including the only Spitfire still flying today to have fought in the Battle.
Inspired by real people and real events, the drama traces RJ Mitchell's design from creation to legend and the fortunes of two young pilots who join a frontline Spitfire squadron just as the Battle of Britain begins.
Many factors were important in the Battle, but it was the excellence of the Spitfire which most famously evened the odds in the fight against the Luftwaffe. Mike Walker's drama takes us close to this magnificent aircraft
and gives us a feeling of what it was like to fly the legendary plane which became, in test pilot Jeffrey Quill's words, 'a symbol of defiance and victory'.
Cultural commentator Paul Morley explores a history of popular music through some of the iconic recording studios in which classic albums were created.
Without them music as we know it would simply not exist. There'd be no technology to capture the sounds envisaged by the musicians and created and enhanced by the engineers and producers... and there'd be no music for the record companies to market and distribute. But more than that, the studios actually played a crucial part in the structure and fabric of the music recorded there - the sounds enhanced by the studio space itself... the potential and shortcomings of the equipment and technology housed in the cubicles... and the ability and 'vision' of the engineers and producers operating it all to find the new sound that makes the recordings sound different and fresh.
Today he visits the world's first purpose built recording studio, and possibly the most famous: the one at No 3, Abbey Road, a stone's throw from a much photographed zebra crossing in London's St John's Wood. Opened by Sir Edward Elgar conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in a recording of "Land Of Hope And Glory", the studios went on to record everyone from Adam Ant, The Bolshoi and Nick Cave... to XTC, Diana Yakawa and the Zombies - to say nothing of Pink Floyd and the Beatles.
But that's not what's drawn Paul Morley to these historic recording rooms - it's the continuing work in capturing the sound of orchestras that is put under the spotlight in this programme. With the help of engineers and producers, composers and those that keep the studios running on a day to day basis, Paul explores how the relationship classical music has with the recording studio differs from the one that pop music enjoys.
Highlights from the Woman's Hour week including the author Shirley Conran reflecting on her novel "Lace" and on whether it's okay to stuff a mushroom. What's it like to watch a member of your family taking part in the Olympics? The joys - and possible exploitations - of volunteering. A chance to hear more of the special interview that Maeve Binchy gave to Woman's Hour at her home three years ago. And the shape and size of female genitalia: just what is "normal"? Presented by Jane Garvey.
Clive is cast away to Prospero's magical isle with the award-winning actor, Tim Pigott-Smith, who stars as the marooned Duke of Milan in Adrian Noble's production of 'The Tempest' at the Theatre Royal Bath later this month. It's a world of spirits and monsters, mistaken identity and sweet romance - but where does the reality end and fantasy begin? After all, ''We are such stuff as dreams are made on".
Clive navigates his way to calmer waters and dry land where he meets The Man in the Rubber Mask, otherwise known as Robert Llewellyn or Kryten from Red Dwarf. Robert's novel, 'News from Gardenia', presents a utopian vision of Great Britain in the future, as seen through the eyes of a man from the present.
Nikki dials up 'Fonejacker' Kayvan Novak in his alter-ego role of Terry Tibbs, the used car salesman. Terry's now got his own prime time chat show, 'Verry Terry', which sees him interviewing a variety of celebrity guests. First up for the Terry treatment are all round tough guy, Mickey Rourke, and TV presenter, Anthea Turner. 'Verry Terry' is part of Channel 4's 'Funny Fortnight' on Thursday 16th August at
American folk legend and grande dame, Peggy Seeger, talks to Clive about her new album 'Folksploitation', which sees her in an unlikely collaboration with the experimental dance music producer Broadcaster. She will also perform the original acoustic version of 'First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' - the song her husband Ewan McColl wrote for her when they first met in 1957.
Further musical entertainment comes from the soulful pop sensation Eugene McGuinness who plays 'Shotgun' from his new album 'The Invitation to the Voyage'.
With his trademark blonde hair and a reputation for colourful antics, Boris Johnson has had a seemingly unstoppable rise through the ranks of UK politics. After seizing a second term as London mayor earlier this year and thanks to the Olympic games coming to London, he's become firmly associated with the city on the world stage.
But alongside his various careers as mayor, journalist, author and quiz show panellist, it seems his political prospects within the ranks of the Tory party also remain strong. Recent polls suggest a groundswell of support for him as a potential future leader of the party. James Silver charts the rise and rise of a unique politician.
Tom Sutcliffe and his guests novelists Adam Mars Jones and Lisa Appignanesi and writer Ekow Eshun review the week's cultural highlights including Seth MacFarlane's film Ted.
Mark Haddon's best-selling novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time has been adapted for the stage by Simon Stephens. The production at the National Theatre is directed by Marianne Elliot and stars Luke Treadaway as Christopher Boone - a 15 year old "mathematician with behavioural difficulties" (his own description). When Christopher tries to find out who killed a neighbour's dog he unearths more about his own life than he anticipated.
The Daylight Gate is Jeanette Winterson's latest book and is published by the Hammer imprint. The book is set in 17th century Lancashire and is based on events around the notorious Pendle witch trials. The central character is Alice Nutter, a free-thinking woman who finds herself drawn into a dangerous conflict with the local magistrate and a witch-finder newly arrived from London, determined to uproot witchery and popery.
Seth MacFarlane's television series American Dad and Family Guy have made him one of the best paid writers in Hollywood. His first feature film is Ted - the story of a boy called John and his teddy bear. A wish makes the bear come to life, but John (Mark Wahlberg) is still hanging out with Ted twenty-five years later and his girlfriend (Mila Kunis) is increasingly unhappy about the situation.
Water House in Walthamstow was William Morris's family home from 1848 to 1856. It became the William Morris Gallery in 1950 and has just reopened to the public after a major refurbishment. Apart from personal memorabilia and samples of Morris's work, there is also a gallery to house temporary exhibitions where Grayson Perry's Walthamstow Tapestry can be seen until 23rd September.
To celebrate its 30th birthday, Channel Four is launching a season of new comedies under the title of Funny Fortnight. This will comprise over 30 hours of programming featuring sitcoms, comedy dramas and stand up from new talent and established names. The programmes being reviewed here are three pilots: Bad Sugar, Toast of London and The Function Room.
In October 1998 Gordon Bell went paperless. This is Gordon Bell, of Microsoft, who has been described as "the Frank Lloyd Wright of computers". He has archived everything he has written and now records the minutiae of his life digitally as part of a project called MyLifeBits, an experiment designed to assist and maybe even supersede memory. But now that we can record so much of our lives are we missing out on the living of them?
The wealth, range and affordability of devices to record your own life - from the 'basic' camera phone, hand-held internet connection, and even biological and genetic sequencing, has expanded exponentially over recent years.
Take a look at the next event you are enjoying - viewing the Mona Lisa, watching David Byrne at the Royal Festival Hall, enjoying a friend's birthday cake candles being blown out - and count how many people are watching and how many are recording the moment.
But what is all this for? Why are we doing it? And is an archive an archive if it is not structured, indexed, given meaning? Talking to passionate archivist Robert Fripp, from King Crimson, dispassionate archivist Geoff Dyer, and Sue Aldworth, an artists whose whole house is her archive, presenter and self-archivist Toby Amies argues that the virtual moment has now become a vital part of the moment, not a dilution of it and that by being part of this new explosion of archiving we are playing our part in a shift of consciousness. He believes that the virtual is becoming as important, or as real, as the real and that this is part of the slow move into a future where technology and humans intersect in a different way.
He examines the explosion in the archiving of human existence, wondering whether we are in the age of the super diary or at a launching point for the transference of our consciousness into the digital universe, for good.
John Wyndham's post-apocalyptic science fiction classic dramatised by Jane Rogers.
Genetic mutation has devastated the world. In the emergent bleak, primitive society, any deviation is seen as the work of the devil, ruthlessly hunted out and destroyed. In law abiding, God-respecting Waknuk anyone who does not conform to the 'norm' must keep their deviation secret or face the consequences of discovery.
Written in 1955 Wyndham's novel explores the dangers inherent in discrimination and the threats posed by religious fundamentalism. The 'Old People' who caused the apocalypse are depressingly like us: ' They were shut off by different languages and different beliefs. They created vast problems then buried their heads in the sands of idle faith.' The children of the future (the Chrysalids) are able to 'think-together' and so can rise above the selfish violence and conflicting religions of the past. Wyndham's story of a group of persecuted teenagers is more timely than ever in our post-Fukushima, war-riven, genetically engineered and religiously divided world. Jane Rogers is a playwright and novelist, her latest novel The Testament of Jessie Lamb won the Arthur C Clarke Award this year.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
The Olympics - you can hardly miss them. They're said to have cost more than government cuts in the welfare budget and with the rows over security, Zil lanes, empty seats and the ruthless protection of the Olympic brand it's perhaps too easy to forget that the purpose of all this is the essentially trivial pursuit of sport. Have we come to demand so much from modern sport that we've forgotten its true purpose and value? As the cost of major sporting events like the Olympics has escalated we demand and expect more of them; to make us better, healthier people, to promote social inclusion, contribute to the economy and even peace among nations. That all may sound farfetched from the comfort our or sofas and our ever expanding waistlines, but it's worth recalling that morality is at the core of the spread of modern sport around the world. Pierre De Coubertin, founder of the Olympic Movement, was one of many who thought sport was morally improving - a way of shaping character, transmitting values and challenging anti-social behaviour. "Play up and play the game" feels a long way from the mores of the modern professional footballer, but even here, can we still see the faintly beating heart of the morality play that makes sport so compelling - with its themes of challenge, defeat and redemption? Or in the era of professional corporatized sport is that a hopelessly romantic notion that has fallen victim to the win at all cost Nietzschean Ubermensch? What exactly is the moral value of sport?
Mihir Bose - Sports journalist & writer, author of 'The Spirit Of The Game', on the ethics & politics of sport
Matthew Syed - Former Olympic table tennis player, now sports & feature writer for The Times
Sam Tomlin - Sports ThinkTank and go author of a report with Theos "Give Us our Ball Back"
Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk with Claire Fox, Kenan Malik, Matthew Taylor and Melanie Phillips.
Another edition of the 48th series of Quote... Unquote, the popular quotations programme presented and devised by Nigel Rees. The guests this week are Charlie Higson, Martin Kelner, Nat Luurtsema and Stephanie Merritt. The reader is Peter Jefferson.
In celebration of London 2012, the BBC and The Scottish Poetry library have created Poetry 2012, a wonderfully ambitious and inspiring collaboration, taking a poem from each country competing in this year's Olympics and asking someone from each nation now living in the UK to read and reflect.
In this programme, Jamaican poet Kei Miller and Robyn Marsack, Director of the Scottish Poetry library, explore the recurring themes of family, loss, love, and landscape, bringing together some of the most memorable poems and readers from Poetry 2012, who were profoundly moved and affected by the experience, and they share just how impactful and poignant reading the poem was and the unexpected emotional journey it sent them on.
SUNDAY 05 AUGUST 2012
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b01ldgtr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Afternoon Reading (b00lyf65)
We Are Stardust, We Are Golden...
Dreams of Milk and Honey
Read by Mark Bazeley
These three short stories were commissioned by Radio 4 to mark the 40th anniversary of the famous Woodstock Music Festival. With different themes reflecting that momentous time, We Are Stardust We Are Golden begins with Dreams of Milk and Honey by Patrick Neate.
The narrator, Tommy, is a child of Woodstock whose parents' relationship blossomed during the festival. On his way to visit his rather remarkable mother, still in some ways a child of the 60's, he has to break some news to her about his personal life and finds himself contemplating how she will take it. But it is not at all as he had imagined.
Producer: Cherry Cookson
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01ldgtt)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01ldgtw)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01ldgty)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b01ldgv0)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b01lh966)
The bells of Solovsky Monastery, Russia.
SUN 05:45 Profile (b01ldg65)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b01ldgv2)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b01lh968)
The Instinct for Meaning
Writer Jake Arnott believes narrative is a powerful force. In this week's Something Understood, he explores the idea that the instinct to create stories is innate within us all, and is vital to our understanding of the world and our own lives. After all, without a narrative to join everything together, our time on earth becomes little more than a series of random, unconnected events.
As a novelist, stories are Jake's stock in trade, it's his job to engage with them. But he thinks the desire to do so is universal - since our earliest evolution humans have been telling tales. Fairy stories in particular, passed down through an oral tradition, echo across time and across cultures. EM Forster described story as a 'low atavistic form'. Atavistic, yes, and deeply engrained, but Jake argues that Forster's insistence that story is mere causality is wrong. Story occurs without anything having had to happen, it's not just an order of events. Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot' is a play in which nothing much happens, and yet it resonates with a powerful sense of story.
Jake speaks to Jane Davis, founder of The Reader Organisation. Jane's charity invites people to come together and read aloud, using narratives from books to engage with their own life stories. Through her work and her own personal experiences, she has found that stories can transform lives. And the telling of our own life story can be a powerful tool.
Readings from Jeanette Winterson and Joan Didion, and music including the Beatles' Eleanor Rigby and Schumann's Fairytale Pictures, help Jake to unravel the potent energy of narrative.
Producer: Jo Coombs
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:35 Living World (b01lh96b)
The UK's Rarest Frog
The UK's rarest frog is the pool frog and they can be found in ponds at a secret location in Norfolk. Although the last native English pool frogs died out over a decade ago, they were reintroduced here from Sweden in 2005-2008. Joanna Pinnock meets John Baker, a consultant specialising in reptiles and amphibians, who is monitoring their numbers. Joanna also comes face to face with a couple of grass snakes on site and encounters their very smelly defence strategy! Producer Brett Westwood
SUN 06:57 Weather (b01ldgv4)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b01ldgv6)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b01lh96d)
Kevin Bocquet reports on a law dating back to the dissolution of the monasteries which could mean thousands of 21st century home owners are liable for the cost of church repairs.
Relations between the Vatican and China have reached an all-time low over the appointment of Bishops to the Chinese church. David Willey reports from Beijing and Rome.
40 years after the expulsion of the Ugandan Asians by Idi Amin, one of those who fled the country for Britain talks to Jane Little about the role of race and faith in the rebuilding of communities.
Over 200 British households have hosted families of Olympic athletes through the Church of England's 'More than Gold' campaign. Trevor Barnes dropped in on one to see how they were getting on.
A year on from the riots, as the Olympics continue to grip Britain, the mood of the nation could not be more different. But have the underlying causes been addressed? Professor James Arthur and Christian youth worker, Patrick Reagan, discuss.
Punk, politics and the religion - what does the Moscow based 'Pussy Riot' trial say about the direction of the Russian Orthodox Church and its relations with President Putin?
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b01lh96g)
Health Poverty Action
Felicity Finch presents the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the charity Health Poverty Action
Reg Charity: 290535
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal, mark the back of the envelope Health Poverty Action.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b01ldgv8)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b01ldgvb)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b01lh96j)
Bishop Stephen Oliver explores Celtic spirituality on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne and its impact on English Christianity. Meeting local islanders and experiencing the bleak landscape Bishop Stephen finds out what has drawn pilgrims to the island for over 1300 years. With music recorded in the island's parish church of St Mary the Virgin by the Choral Scholars of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Director of music: Andrew Earis. Producer: Mark O'Brien.
Islands have about them a particular mystique. Maybe that is why many of them have a long history of being home to religious communities. The islands of Iona, Lindisfarne and Caldey all have ancient monastic roots yet each island continues to be a place of contemporary spirituality. They are all very different and yet whilst each of them is a place of distinctive prayer and quiet reflection they are visited by thousands of tourists and pilgrims in the course of a year and particularly in the summer months.
Lindisfarne (Holy Island) is where St. Aidan arrived from Iona. It is where the famous Illuminated Gospels were inscribed in the early eighth century. Today the monastery is a ruin but it is still a place of pilgrimage and for many represents the resurgence of a particular Celtic spirituality. Twice a day Lindisfarne is cut off by the sea. It's this sense of isolation and of being 'beyond' that gives it its unique spiritual atmosphere and draws walkers from all over Britain for the famous Holy Cross pilgrimage every Easter.
SUN 08:50 A Point of View (b01l8rc1)
Price of a Postage Stamp
The philosopher John Gray wonders what bulk buying of stamps ahead of the price rise tells us about economic gloom. "The relative security that many people enjoyed in the recent past is fading from memory".
Producer:
Sheila Cook.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b01lh96l)
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 (b01lh96n)
For detailed synopsis, see daily episodes.
Writer ..... Keri Davies
Director ..... John Yorke
Editor ..... John Yorke
Kenton Archer ..... Richard Attlee
David Archer ..... Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer ..... Felicity Finch
Josh Archer ..... Cian Cheesbrough
Pat Archer ..... Patricia Gallimore
Brian Aldridge ..... Charles Collingwood
Jennifer Aldridge ..... Angela Piper
Adam Macy ..... Andrew Wincott
Ian Craig ..... Stephen Kennedy
Jolene Perks ..... Buffy Davis
Fallon Rogers ..... Joanna Van Kampen
Eddie Grundy ..... Trevor Harrison
Clarrie Grundy ..... Rosalind Adams
Emma Grundy ..... Emerald O'Hanrahan
Susan Carter ..... Charlotte Martin
Mike Tucker ..... Terry Molloy
Vicky Tucker ..... Rachel Atkins
Roy Tucker ..... Ian Pepperell
Hayley Tucker ..... Lorraine Coady
Phoebe Aldridge ..... Lucy Morris
Brenda Tucker ..... Amy Shindler
Lynda Snell ..... Carole Boyd
Jazzer Mccreary ..... Ryan Kelly
Alan Franks ..... John Telfer
Annabelle Shrivener ..... Julia Hills
Tracy Horrobin ..... Susie Riddell
Pawel Jasinski ..... Max Krupski
Keith Horrobin ..... Sean Connolly.
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b01lh96q)
Baroness Campbell
Kirsty Young's castaway is the campaigner Baroness Jane Campbell.
She was born with a degenerative condition and her parents were told she would not survive infancy. Now in her mid-fifties and a cross-bench peer, she's spent her adult life campaigning for equality for disabled people and was one of the leading voices behind the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995.
She recalls: "I found myself sitting in the middle of Westminster Bridge bringing the traffic to a standstill. The police didn't know what to do with us - whether to pat us on the head or, you know, put handcuffs on us. They were quite confused."
Producer: Leanne Buckle.
SUN 12:00 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b01l7qxc)
Series 57
Episode 6
Back for a second week at the Rose Theatre in Kingston-upon-Thames, regulars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by Ross Noble, with Jack Dee in the chair. Piano accompaniment is provided by Colin Sell. Producer - Jon Naismith.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b01lh96s)
Camping Food
For most people, the idea of camping food is not an appetising one. You'll not find food-loving Tim Hayward under canvas unless it's in the big tent of a food festival.
Tim has got wind of a man who is throwing all of his energy into changing forever how people see (and taste) camping food. Setting off on an arduous voyage to meet Josh Sutton - aka The Guyrope Gourmet - our intrepid presenter learns about tribal caches, a pioneering outdoorsman with a love of Italian cuisine, as well as a whole new way to experience 'local food'.
Tim Hayward is joined by Matthew De Abaitua, author of 'The Art of Camping'.
Producer: Rich Ward.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b01ldgvd)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b01lh96v)
The latest national and international news, including an in-depth look at events around the world. Email: wato@bbc.co.uk; twitter: #theworldthisweekend.
SUN 13:30 Stepping Stones of Islamic Spain (b01lh96x)
Episode 2
The 750 year Muslim rule of Spain left a complex social, religious and cultural legacy.
Great buildings, such as The Alhambra Palace and the Cathedral-Mosque of Cordoba, link us to much of this past and are stepping stones in Michael's journey. Along the way, he asks why there are so few mosques in Spain, despite its many Muslims, and he digs into the Reconquista - the expulsion of Muslims and their forced conversion to Christianity.
The construction of places of worship was, and still is, a strong indication of the vitality of a religion. So in the centuries of fluctuating power struggle between Islam and Christianity churches became mosques, which turned back into churches.
Michael starts his trip in Badalona - a bustling city in Catalonia. The region has around 280,000 Muslims in 100 registered communities, yet there is not one purpose built Mosque for them to use. Each Friday, Muslims have been conducting their prayers on a sports pitch, but now the local Mayor has ruled that even this cannot continue.
He tells Michael 'those who don't make an effort to integrate into the community, well I don't want them to feel too comfortable in Badalona....I would like them to leave - to another city or go back to their home country'.
Michael says 'Spain is a self-consciously Christian country, despite and because of its years of Islamic rule and its border with Muslim North Africa. Many of its own Muslims struggle to fit in, yet the fabric of the country is interwoven with Islam - enormous Cathedrals, tiny chapels, grand mosques, daunting castles and even ordinary backstreet houses show the influence of Islamic architecture, philosophy and engineering.'
Producer: David Morley.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b01l8nv8)
Fishbourne Roman Palace, Chichester
Eric Robson and the team answer gardening questions in Fishbourne Roman Palace and Gardens. In addition, Bob Flowerdew asks "what did the Romans ever do for British gardeners!"
Questions answered in the programme:
Q. My wife has a chocolate themed border, boasting chocolate-scented Cosmos amongst other plants. Which plants can she add to extend the collection?
Suggestions included:
Dark leaved Heuchera 'Paddy's pride' or 'Plum pudding'; Pelargonium 'Chocolate Peppermint'; Zaluzianskya capensis or Night Phlox
Q. This year, why do my broad beans have very large pods but no beans?
Often bad weather leads to low rates of pollination. Try companion planting 'Forget Me Nots' are good to attract pollinators.
Q. My quince tree usually crops very well. This year I've no fruit and spotty, sparse foliage.
The quince seemed to be suffering from scab.
Q. My Agave is 35 yrs old. Will it bloom in my lifetime? I'm 72.
Some Agaves can live for hundreds of years and take a long time to flower.
The ethylene released by old banana skins may encourage flowering. Similarly, smoke can trigger flowering too.
Q. Can the panel suggest a plant to fill a gap in my small shrub bed. It should grow no taller than 1.5m and, if possible, flower in June or July.
Suggestions include Daphne Burkwoodii 'Somerset Gold edge'; Desfontainia Spinosa variegata; Drimys lanceolata or 'Mountain pepper'
Q. What has happened very beloved, old apple tree?
It is suffering from leaf miner, scab and powdery mildew. Old cooking apple trees, such as these need extra potash to help fight off disease. Try spreading woodash under the canopy.
Q. Will a 'Pride of Madeira' Echium survive outside in this area? (West Sussex)
Yes, it needs hot, dry, well-drained conditions. However, be sure to keep it cold and dry in the winter.
Q. Is it true you should not pull rhubarb sticks from July onwards, due to a toxin rising in the fruit?
This is false.
Q. I planted a Eucalyptus five years ago. It has a kinked trunk. Will it survive coppicing?
Produced by Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:45 Witness (b01lh96z)
Water polo and the Hungarian uprising in 1956
In November 1956 the Hungarian uprising against Soviet rule was quickly quashed. Tanks were sent into the capital Budapest and rebels were rounded up. But the Olympics in Melbourne later that month, gave the country's water polo team one last chance to stand up to the USSR. Before his death in April this year, Hungarian water polo player Ervin Zador, spoke to Witness about the clash which became known as the 'blood in the water match'.
SUN 15:00 Classic Serial (b01lh971)
John Wyndham - The Chrysalids
Episode 2
John Wyndham's post-apocalyptic science fiction classic dramatised by Jane Rogers.
Genetic mutation has devastated the world. Any deviation is seen as the work of the devil, ruthlessly hunted out and destroyed. David Strorm is one of a group of young people who can communicate by transferring thought-shapes. In God fearing, law abiding Waknuk, David and his friends would be classed as Mutants. Will David be forced to flee to the Fringes, the lawless territory inhabited by mutants or risk discovery?
Directed by Nadia Molinari
Written in 1955 Wyndham's novel explores the dangers inherent in discrimination and the threats posed by religious fundamentalism. The 'Old People' who caused the apocalypse are depressingly like us: ' They were shut off by different languages and different beliefs. They created vast problems then buried their heads in the sands of idle faith.' The children of the future (the Chrysalids) are able to 'think-together' and so can rise above the selfish violence and conflicting religions of the past. Wyndham's story of a group of persecuted teenagers is more timely than ever in our post-Fukushima, war-riven, genetically engineered and religiously divided world. Jane Rogers is a playwright and novelist, her latest novel The Testament of Jessie Lamb won the Arthur C Clarke Award this year.
SUN 16:00 Bookclub (b01lh973)
Michael Ondaatje - The English Patient
Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje talks to James Naughtie and readers about his 1992 Booker prize-winning novel The English Patient.
The novel tells the story of the entanglement of four damaged lives in an Italian villa as the Second World War ends. The exhausted nurse Hana, the maimed thief Caravaggio, the bomb disposal expert Kip who are each haunted by the riddle of the English patient, the nameless burns victim who lies in an upstairs room.
As well as the mystery of the patient, the novel weaves two love stories - one from the past in pre-war Cairo, the other in the Italian villa.
Noted for his lyrical prose, Michael Ondaatje talks about his love of poetry, how the characters of Hana and Caravaggio haunted him so much from a previous novel - In the Skin of a Lion - that he brought them back to appear in The English Patient. He also describes his painstaking method of writing a novel - by longhand in notebooks.
September's Bookclub choice : The Island by Victoria Hislop
Producer : Dymphna Flynn.
SUN 16:30 My Heart Is in the East (b01lh975)
Medieval historian Miri Rubin explores the rich history of the most famous of Hebrew poems.
My Heart is in the East is probably the best-known poem in the Hebrew language. It was written in the twelfth-century by Rabbi Yehuda Halevi, the finest Hebrew poet of the Middle Ages. Though he had lived his entire life in Spain, it describes his deep yearning for his spiritual home, Jerusalem.
This longing could have remained a poetic preoccupation but, in his sixties, this successful doctor, renowned philosopher and poet, took the extraordinary decision to try and make his way to the Holy Land, crossing the Mediterranean by ship to Alexandria in 1140. The journey was a perilous one and he must have known he would not be welcome in Jerusalem. Since the Christian conquest during the First Crusade in 1099, Muslims and Jews were banned from living in the city.
What happened next to Halevi remained unknown for centuries and became the stuff of legend. But thanks to the discovery of the Cairo Genizah in 1896, remarkable documentary evidence of Halevi's epic journey has emerged. Letters preserved in the Genizah enable historians to trace much of Halevi's route and also reveal the fame and stature he had acquired as a poet and philosopher around the Mediterranean region.
Long after Halevi's death, My Heart is in the East still resonates with new audiences. His poetry was revived by romantic and early Zionist poets in nineteenth century Europe, and has continued to influence Israeli poets and singers to this day.
Contributors: Dr Tamar Drukker, Professor Nicholas de Lange and Dr Ben Outhwaite.
Producer: Mukti Jain Campion
A Culture Wise Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (b01l7sq4)
Tuberculosis
Figures released this month reveal almost 9000 new tuberculosis cases in the United Kingdom last year, the highest level since the 1970s. The disease has risen by more than a third in the past decade. In parts of London, Birmingham and other cities it is already at the level of high-risk countries in the developing world.
Yet in most of the rest of Europe TB rates have been steadily falling in recent years. Health experts have found that cases of TB remain static among people of all ethnicities who were born in Britain. They attribute the national rise in cases to migration from some former British colonies in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian sub-continent.
Airport screening of migrants, using a chest x-ray, identifies only active cases of the disease in the lungs. It misses the much more numerous cases of latent TB which can progress to become active at any time. An estimated 10,000 cases of latent TB arrive undetected in the UK each year.
A nationwide survey of NHS blood-test screening programmes shows that the areas with populations most at risk are also those with least effort put into screening for latent disease. Patients' groups also question the level of GPs' awareness of the many manifestations of tuberculosis, citing cases of repeated missed diagnosis or misdiagnosis which have left patients suffering as the disease advances with sometimes fatal consequences.
Gerry Northam investigates the resurgence of a condition once thought to be all-but eliminated from the UK and asks if the NHS is failing to tackle it.
Producer: Gail Champion
Reporter: Gerry Northam.
SUN 17:40 Profile (b01ldg65)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b01ldgvg)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b01ldgvj)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01ldgvl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b01lh977)
Martin Wainwright makes his selection from the past seven days of BBC Radio.
Find out who put the 'admin' into Badminton this week, and how the birds of Wormwood Scrubs set one prisoner on the path to a new life. We hear from the cast of York Mystery plays, the voice of the Sixties Don McLean and a warrior and an elf in Mosley Bog, deep in the suburbs of Birmingham. That and the radio pirate who survived for a fortnight on salad cream mixed with instant coffee grounds
Pm - Radio 4
The Now Show 2012 Live - Radio 4
Great Lives: Henry Cooper - Radio 4
In Living Memory - Radio 4
A Long Long Time Ago: Don McLean Story - Radio 2
Tolkien in Love - Radio 4
The Hobbit: The Musical - Radio 4
Making Tracks - Radio 4
Whatever Happened to the Chemistry Set? - Radio 4
Word of Mouth -Radio 4
Open Country - Radio 4
Radio York
1948 Olympics: London's Austerity Games - Radio 2
Email: potw@bbc.co.uk or www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/potw
Producer: Bernadette McConnell.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b01lh979)
Hayley learns the cause of Phoebe's strange behaviour. Kate was having an affair and lied to Phoebe so that she could be with her other man. When Phoebe was in the cab, she was running away. Roy calls Kate to confront her, but softens when he realises Kate is upset. He assures her that Phoebe will come round.
Adam didn't come home last night, and isn't answering his phone. Ian's even more worried when he learns Adam's not gone to work.
Adam wakes up in a hotel room with Pawel. Though Pawel still seems keen, Adam insists last night was a one-off, and is anxious to get to work. He wants to make a discreet entrance but Brian sees them. Adam tries to explain that he is merely playing the Good Samaritan by taking an unwell Pawel to the doctors.
Phoning Ian from work, Adam pleads drunken stupidity and explains he checked into a hotel alone to recover from his sorry state. Back at home, they quickly reconcile. Ian understands Adam's reluctance to be involved with the dairy. He suggests that if Adam is truly unhappy, they can leave Ambridge together. He just doesn't want Adam to do anything like that without him again.
SUN 19:15 I've Never Seen Star Wars (b015fkl4)
Series 4
Kathy Burke
Marcus Brigstocke invites actress Kathy Burke to try some new experiences, like visiting Harrods in London.
Whether the experiences are banal or profound, the show is about embracing the new and getting out of our comfort zones.
The title comes from the fact that the show's producer and creator Bill Dare had never seen the film Star Wars.
Producer: Bill Dare
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2011.
SUN 19:45 8.51 to Brighton (b01lh97c)
Housekeeping, by Vanessa Gebbie
A series of short stories written by new writers to radio. Each writer has taken the
8.51 to Brighton and given the journey their own twist, introducing us to characters whose lives have changed by taking that particular train.
Episode 3 of 3: Housekeeping by Vanessa Gebbie
Everyone is a stranger on a train. But none more strange than the heroine in Vanessa Gebbie's wonderfully unnerving tale Housekeeping. Who is this woman and why is she following this man? Surely it's a strange way for a housekeeper to behave?
Read by Lesley Sharp.
Recorded in front of an audience at The Old Courtroom as part of 2012's Brighton Festival.
The stories are introduced by Lynne Truss.
Director: Celia De Wolff
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:00 More or Less (b01l8rbq)
How extraordinary is Ye Shiwen?
In this week's programme:
How extraordinary is Ye Shiwen?
There was controversy this week after Ye Shiwen, a young Chinese swimmer, won the 400 metre individual medley in fine style. A US swimming coach called the performance "disturbing", implying that she may have cheated. More or Less investigates the numbers and finds there's no statistical smoking gun.
Homelessness
Does the news that homelessness has risen by 25% mean that homelessness has risen by 25%? The simple answer is yes. But that word "homeless"; in the words of the great Inigo Montoya, I do not think it means what you think it means.
How many songs could ever be written?
TV's Yan Wong answers this listener's question: "I'm always amazed by the number of songs one can recognise on hearing the first second or two of music. Is it possible to calculate the total number of potential opening bars? Surely it must be finite?"
The crime capital of television
We look for the most dangerous place in TV crime drama. Why? Because we can.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Richard Knight.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b01l8rbn)
Maeve Binchy, Gore Vidal, Ann Atkinson and Geoffrey Hughes
Matthew Bannister on the Irish novelist Maeve Binchy, who sold forty million books around the world and didn't include sex scenes because she said she didn't have enough first hand experience
The wit, commentator and writer Gore Vidal, admired for his elegant prose and poise, but involved in many a public feud
The poet laureate of the Peak District Ann Atkinson - Barnsley's own Ian McMillan will be here with a tribute
And the actor Geoffrey Hughes, best known for playing lovable rogues like Eddie Yeats in Coronation Street, Twiggy in the Royle Family and Onslow in Keeping Up Appearances. Patricia Routledge - Hyacinth Bucket herself - shares her memories.
SUN 21:00 Face the Facts (b01l7wq5)
Wed-Locked
Today on Face the Facts we reveal how scores of people with learning disabilities are ending up in illegal forced marriages.
It ranges from immigration scams, right through to well meaning relatives who hand pick a sometimes unwitting spouse, as a carer for the disabled person.
It predominantly, but not exclusively, involves South Asian families. It has also happens in some East European , African, Mediterranean and traveller families.
The key issue is to do with consent. If someone does not have mental capacity they can't consent to marriage, and no one else can consent on their behalf.
However, many families do not know about the Mental Capacity Act, and presume they are simply 'arranging' a marriage, which they have done for generations, and which is perfectly legal.
John Waite speaks to families of people with learning disabilities who have ended up in a forced marriage. We hear from a mother who is planning her disabled son's wedding for the end of the year.
We report about a couple who say their marriage is happy, even though experts agree the husband does not appear to have capacity to consent, and the wife is acting as his carer.
Plus we hear from a woman who was unwittingly married to a man who turned out to have learning disabilities and who has described how they are both victims.
The Government's recent announcement to criminalise Forced Marriage in general has been welcomed by some campaign groups, but opposed by others who say it will only push the practice underground.
For those working with people with learning disabilities, they view the reported cases of forced marriage involving people with learning disabilities as only the 'tip of the iceberg'.
Join John Waite for Face The Facts, Wednesday August 1st at
12.30pm.
Producer;Carolyn Atkinson.
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b01lh96g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 In Business (b01l8n7y)
Thames Gateway
NEW GATEWAY
Britain is getting a new port on the Thames, the first for many years. When London Gateway opens next year, it will be able to handle several million containers a year.
Peter Day asks what impact this vast undertaking is likely to have on the way the country works and on the port's competitors.
Producer: Caroline Bayley
Editor Stephen Chilcott.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b01lh97f)
Preview of the week's political agenda at Westminster with MPs, experts and commentators. Discussion of the issues politicians are grappling with in the corridors of power.
SUN 22:45 What the Papers Say (b01lh97h)
Episode 115
Hugo Rifkind of The Times analyse how the newspapers are covering the biggest stories in Westminster and beyond.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b01l8n7f)
Matthew Sweet and guests look back at the film career of Ivor Novello, one of the most popular British entertainers of the 20th century. With contributions from actor Simon Callow, composer Neil Brand, academic Lawrence Napper, and former criminal Frankie Fraser.
Producer: Craig Smith.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b01lh968)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 06 AUGUST 2012
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b01ldgwj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b01l7wqh)
Jobs for the Boys
'Jobs for the Boys?' New research presented at the British Sociological Association's 2012 conference claimed that middle class people hoard job opportunities in the UK TV and film industry. In a pre- recorded interview from the conference, Professor Irena Grugulis, suggests to Laurie Taylor that working class people don't get these jobs because they don't have the right accents, clothes, backgrounds or friends. Indeed, it's hard to find an area of the economy where connections and contacts are more significant. But is this mainly due to structural changes in the industry rather than to class based prejudice? The media expert, Sir Peter Bazalgette and Professor of Sociology, Mike Savage, respond to this research and explore nepotism, networking and discrimination in the media world and beyond.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b01lh966)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01ldgwl)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01ldgwn)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01ldgwq)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b01ldgws)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01lhbfr)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Shaunaka Rishi Das, Director of The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b01lhbft)
American farmers say livestock numbers will have to fall as the cost of animal feed continues to rise due to the worst drought in decades.
Meanwhile livestock farmers in the UK,say their cost of production is unsustainable and they need to make more money from their end product.
Shadow Secretary of the Environment Mary Creagh tells Caz Graham the Government should introduce legislation to try and help the livestock industry.
And why reduced numbers of insects this year could have a damaging effect on fruit and crops. Emma Weatherill investigates how the cold, wet summer has affected the food chain and pollinators.
This programme was presented by Caz Graham and produced in Birmingham by Ruth Sanderson.
MON 05:57 Weather (b01ldgwv)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 06:00 Today (b01lhbfw)
Morning news and current affairs with James Naughtie and Evan Davis, including Nasa's touchdown on Mars. Plus, what has happened in the one year since riots in English cities?
MON 09:00 Amanda Vickery on... Men (b01lhbfy)
The Knight
Amanda Vickery explores the history of masculinity through six different archetypes of the ideal man, archetypes which still have an echo today.
The history of men and masculinity is now at the cutting edge of scholarship. In conversation with historians, Professor Vickery asks: Where did these ideals of how men should behave come from? How influential were they on the lives and careers of real men? And what did women make of them?
The series begins in the Middle Ages and ends in the 1950s. It explores The Knight, The Gentleman, The Lover, The Sailor, The Explorer, and The Suit.
This first programme, The Knight, begins on location in Pembroke Castle with crusader historian Tom Asbridge. He reveals how the man who built it, William Marshal, came to be seen as the perfect knight, an example men tried to emulate for centuries. Marshal is fascinating to historians because he is the first ordinary man to have had a biography written about him - but the cold ruthless warrior the biography reveals is at odds with our Hollywood idea of chivalry.
Knights were the professional footballers of their day. They could rise socially and accumulate princely wealth through lithe horsemanship and prowess in the joust, but they also composed love songs and sang the blues.
Cultural historian Bill Burgwinkle introduces some revealing songs which suggest there was a strong homosexual subculture among knights. And medieval historian Helen Castor uncovers manuscript evidence of the struggle (personal and financial) ordinary gentlemen faced to live up to the exacting ideal.
Amanda Vickery is Professor of Early Modern History at Queen Mary, University of London.
Producer: Elizabeth Burke
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 09:30 Capital Justice (b01lhbg0)
Episode 5
Helena Kennedy QC presents a new series uncovering the profound and powerful relationship between our financial and legal systems, between capitalism and the law, between freedom and justice.
The great British system of common law - judge made, ever evolving and adaptable - flourished in the 19th century under the growing dynamism of markets and new ideas of individual freedom. And market capitalism was given legal security and freedom to flourish in turn.
For centuries our financial and legal systems have been profoundly intertwined, a close arrangement of 'spontaneous order' that travelled to America and then around the world. So how has this dynamic really shaped the course of our history, and what have been its deepest moral and political consequences? The economist Adam Smith championed both free commerce and the rule of law, but feared a moral vacuum growing up between the two in society. Now, after years of deregulation, what happens when we turn to the law to set limits, both legal and moral, on what can be done in the name of market freedoms and the pursuit of profit? Can justice have any meaning in these terms?
This reflective series mixes the historical and contemporary with Helena Kennedy's sharp legal insight, exploring the connectedness between capitalism and the law that, beneath the surface, has so profoundly shaped our modern life.
Contributors include Naomi Klein, John Lanchester, John Grey, Julian Assange, Gillian Tett, Matt Ridley, Peter Oborne and Lord Neuberger, Master of the Rolls (and second most senior judge in England and Wales).
Producer: Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b01ljxt4)
Tubes: Behind the Scenes at the Internet
Episode 1
Written by Andrew Blum.
You write an email. You hit send. It appears ten thousand miles away. How did that happen?
In April 2011, a seventy-five year old woman deprived Armenia of its Internet access when she sliced through a buried cable with her garden spade. That January, Egyptian authorities simply switched off 70% of the country's Internet connections in an attempt to quell a revolution. In 2009, a squirrel chewed through a wire in Andrew Blum's backyard, slowing his broadband to a trickle and catapulting him on a quest to find out what this so-called 'Internet' actually is.
This is the Internet as you've never seen it before. It's not a concept. It's not a culture. It's most certainly not a cloud. It's a mass of tubes.
But what tubes! Hundreds of thousands of miles of fibre-optic cable, criss-crossing the globe, pulsing with trillions of photons of light, linking us via anonymous exchanges in secretive locations with vast data-warehouses where our online selves are stored in banks of spinning hard-drives.
In Tubes, Andrew Blum takes us behind the scenes of this hidden world and introduces us to the remarkable clan of insiders and eccentrics who design and run it everyday. He explains where it is, how it got there, what it looks like, how it works - and what happens when it breaks.
Reader: John Schwab
Abridger: Libby Spurrier
Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01lhbg4)
So-called honour violence, Jamaican Independence, home-working
Fifty years of Jamaican independence through the eyes of three women playwrights. Shafilea Ahmed's murder and so-called honour crime. Why the Met Police are facing claims that not enough is being done to keep senior women on board. The pros and cons of working from home.
Presenter: Aasmah Mir
Producer: Sarah Crawley.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01lhbg6)
The Little Ottleys
Episode 1
Series Three (5 episodes)
Episode One
It is the Summer of 1916 and the Little Ottleys,
as that tall, fine-looking couple had been known,
are a couple no longer ...
Directed by Tracey Neale
Bruce, who headed off to the States with Madame Frabelle, has found life with her less than idyllic, and he returns to England (without her) in quick time. However, Edith is all ready to marry Aylmer. The divorce papers are drawn up and marriage plans are being made.
When Bruce returns, Edith quickly realises that the poor man can't manage if he's left to his own idiotic devices. She doesn't love him. Aylmer is the love of her life and she is looking forward to making a new life with him but Bruce's hopelessness arouses pity and concern in her, as well as extreme frustration, and she allows him back into the spare room in the concise house in Knightsbridge. But when is she going to tell Aylmer?
Vincy Wenham Vincy - friend and confidant to Bruce, Edith and Aylmer (mentioned in Series 1 and 2, but never given his voice) - finds himself in the impossible position of keeing secrets from all three of them, and offering advice to them at the same time.
The Writer
Martyn Wade is a skilled and talented radio writer and dramatist. He has a sure and dry comic touch which is ideal for continuing the stories created by Ada Leverson, a contemporary and friend of Oscar Wilde.
Music Used
"Forgotten Dreams" - Max Jaffa with the Palm Court Orchestra.
MON 11:00 Mysteries from the Past (b01lhbg8)
Last Thursday a new outdoor production of the medieval York Cycle of Mystery Plays opened in the city starring Ferdinand Kingsley as Jesus, Graeme Hawley as the devil and a community cast and crew of over 500 people.
The revival of these plays first took place as part of the Festival of Britain in 1951 and were staged, like the 2012 production, against the backdrop of the ruined St Mary's Abbey in the Museum Gardens. The York Mystery Plays are the most complete cycle telling stories from the bible in 48 separate plays each one originally performed by one of the city's medieval guilds. Staged on the back of wagons at various locations around the city the plays were performed on Corpus Christi Day from around 1390 until 1575 and took all day to perform. Since 1951 the plays have been staged every three or four years until 2000 when the last full-scale production took place in York Minster directed by the RSC's Gregory Doran.
In Mysteries from the Past the playwright John Godber takes to the medieval streets of York to look back at how these 'modern-day' performances relate to the original ideas behind the plays of communicating bible stories to the illiterate masses. Examining archive material including medieval manuscripts and recordings of the some of the productions he talks to experts in medieval drama and some of the people involved in past productions which have launched the careers of actors Judi Dench, David Bradley and Mary Ure. The productions have not been without controversy - such as casting a women as God or having Hindu actor, Victor Banerjee, playing Christ - guaranteeing publicity for these adventures in major community theatre production.
Producer: Andy Cartwright
A Soundscape Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 11:30 Bleak Expectations (b00w2282)
Series 4
A Wretched Life Made Much, Much Sadder
After an embarrassing disaster involving a bridge and a train full of puppies and orphans Pip and Harry travel to America on the SS Massive Britain, where Pip begins a reading tour.
But all is not as it seems and Mister Benevolent lures our hero into a gunfight at the "All Right I Suppose Corral"
Mark Evans's epic Victorian comedy in the style of Charles Dickens.
Sir Philip ..... Richard Johnson
Young Pip Bin ..... Tom Allen
Gently Benevolent ..... Anthony Head
Harry Biscuit ..... James Bachman
Grimpunch ..... Geoffrey Whitehead
Ripely ..... Sarah Hadland
Pippa ..... Susy Kane
Producer: Gareth Edwards
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2010.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b01lhbgb)
Can patients with private medical insurance still choose their doctor?
BUPA, Britain's biggest supplier of private medical insurance, is changing the way it reimburses private doctors for carrying out operations. If a patient chooses to go to a doctor who isn't on BUPA's approved list, they may have to pay a shortfall. We hear from a listener who had to pay extra for surgery he thought was covered by his policy and ask BUPA why they are making changes.
The US lingerie giant Victoria's Secret is opening its flagship UK store on London's up-market Bond Street. Despite the recession, the market for women's lingerie is buoyant. Is there a gap in the UK market for posh pants without a high price tag?
There are "X-Factor Style" contests for engineers, scientists and computer coders and competitions to solve problems including climate change and the financial crisis. Are competitions the best way to encourage innovation and nurture talent?
We hear from a disabled mother who was blocked from using Lufthansa's family service. We ask just how helpful airport services are for parents with disabilities?
MON 12:45 The New Elizabethans (b01lhbgd)
Vivienne Westwood
She's worked in a factory and was a primary school teacher for a while. But it's her career as a fashion designer which has brought her fame. She's been designing clothes and shoes which have seized the headlines since the late 70s.
Dame Vivenne Westwood has won British Designer of the year three times and has influenced young designers in the UK and around the world with her particular take on fashion: subversive, funny and quirky.
The New Elizabethans have been chosen by a panel of leading historians, chaired by Lord (Tony) Hall, Chief Executive of London's Royal Opera House. The panellists were Dominic Sandbrook, Bamber Gascoigne, Sally Alexander, Jonathan Agar, Maria Misra and Sir Max Hastings.
They were asked to choose: "Men and women whose actions during the reign of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and/or given the age its character, for better or worse."
Producer: Sukey Firth.
MON 12:57 Weather (b01ldgwx)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b01lhbgg)
The Liberal Democrat Leader - Nick Clegg - is understood to be dropping his plans for Lords reform. We have reaction to that and ask what this means for the future of his party's relationship with the Conservatives.
A year on from the riots we return to one of the areas which was hit to see what's changed - and talk to the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.
The high profile Conservative MP, Louise Mensch, is to leave Parliament - sparking a by-election in her marginal seat. We ask what lies behind her resignation.
Only two British scientists are involved in NASA's mission to Mars, one of them - Professor Sanjeev Gupta talks to us live.
And how do you keep the jolliness of the Olympics after the Games have finished? - we have a discussion.
MON 13:45 A War of Words (b01lhbgj)
Episode 1
On 17th July 1936, an uprising began in Spanish Morocco that was to lead to nearly three years of civil war and the deaths of tens of thousands of Spaniards. It was a struggle fundamentally of Right versus Left, and Spain was to become a rehearsal for the World War to come.
From all over the world a host of men and women came to Spain, prepared to fight and die for one cause or the other. Some followed Franco's armies - Americans such as William P Carney and Hubert Knickerbocker and Brits such as Sefton Delmer and Harold Cardozo. But it was the left-wing Republican side that attracted the many famous literary names - George Orwell, Laurie Lee, W.H. Auden, Stephen Spender and Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway went there as a journalist, reporting for the North American Newspaper Alliance, alongside his wife-to-be Martha Gellhorn who was writing for the American magazine Collier's Weekly.
These five programmes tell the stories of the correspondents who risked their lives to report on the Spanish war. The resulting journalism was in some cases extraordinary: the unemotional prose of Steer reporting on the horrific destruction of Guernica; the poignant writing of Gellhorn as she observed the gruesome effects of Franco's bombardments of Madrid; the fabrications of writers pre-empting Rebel victories.
In episode one, John Simpson explores some of the great pieces of journalism that were to come out of the Spanish Civil War from Times correspondent George Steer, The Nation writer Louis Fischer and Collier's contributor and Hemingway's wife-to-be Martha Gellhorn.
Producer: Neil Rosser
A Ladbroke production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b01lh979)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b01lhbgl)
Higher - Series 4
Privatisation, the Final Battle
Higher by Joyce Bryant. Privatisation the Final Battle.
The free market winds of change are blowing through the breezeblock corridors of Hayborough University. What will the old stalwarts do? Embrace the new? Or resist and fight for academic freedom? Or will they hide and hope it will all just go away?
Producer/Director Gary Brown.
MON 15:00 Quote... Unquote (b01lhbgn)
Another edition of the 48th series of Quote... Unquote, the popular quotations programme presented and devised by Nigel Rees. The guests this week are author Louise Doughty, writer and broadcaster Natalie Haynes, newsreader Nicholas Owen and columnist Hugo Rifkind. The reader is Peter Jefferson.
Producer: Ed Morrish.
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b01lh96s)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 With Great Pleasure (b01lhbgq)
John Sessions
Another chance to hear John Sessions perform a personal cabaret of specially chosen poetry and readings.
MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (b01lhbgs)
Fear
Ernie Rea is joined by sociologist Frank Furedi and theologians David Thomas and Simon Podmore to discuss the significance of fear in religious traditions. The programme will consider the theology of fear and explore how religions have made use of fear and responded to it throughout the ages. It will also look at how our fears have changed in the modern world and whether religions have played down their teachings about hell and damnation in recent years. And how does fear affect morality? Are we responsible for crimes committed under the threat of reprisals? And are we to be congratulated for good deeds performed only as a response to the fear of negative consequences for ourselves if we don't behave?
MON 17:00 PM (b01lhbgv)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01ldgwz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 Just a Minute (b01lhbgx)
Series 64
Episode 1
Join Nicholas Parsons and friends for the first of another series of the grandaddy of all panel games.
Panellists Paul Merton, Sue Perkins, Liza Tarbuck and Graham Norton join Nicholas for the verbal equivalent of the Olympics. It's an energetic game this week - but who will win gold medal for the greatest gift of the gab?
Paul talks about The Biggest Fib he Ever Told, Sue Perkins divulges a lot of information about her Famous Friends, Liza Tarbuck speaks knowledgeably on the subject of Fake Tan and Graham Norton gives his tips on How To Annoy The Audience.
Producer: Claire Jones
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2016.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b01lhbgz)
After a meeting with the accountant, Matt tells Lilian they're not maximising their assets. A couple called Walters have a long-term lease on a house in Hollerton that could be earning Amside double the current rent. Matt decides to pay them a visit. Lilian can hardly believe he offered them the empty flat in Hillside, and is not surprised they turned it down. She thinks they should start making essential repairs to the house in Hollerton, and look at it as a long-term investment.
Pawel tries to talk but Adam doesn't want to discuss what happened. Lilian also wants to talk to Adam. She's worried about him. He should think carefully about leaving Ambridge, and to keep Ian's happiness in mind as well as his own.
Mike accompanies Vicky to the hospital for her scan but feels uncomfortable among all the younger parents-to-be. On the journey home, Vicky wants to start making a list of possible names, but Mike's got to get back to Grange Farm. Vicky later finds him staring at the ultrasound. She is relieved and delighted to learn that it's finally sunk in, and he thinks it's amazing. Vicky wants to tell everyone now but Mike prefers to choose their moment.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b01lhbh1)
New Pixar film Brave, Mike Scott of the Waterboys, pop stars changing names
With Kirsty Lang,
Brave is the latest animated film from Pixar and features the voices of Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly and Julie Walters. Set in the Scottish highlands in the 10th century, the film tells the story of a Princess who defies her family's expectations by refusing an arranged marriage. Writer Denise Mina reviews.
Brave and another major film The Bourne Legacy are set to be released next Monday, five days before the traditional Friday opening, Front Row discusses the possible impact upon the industry with historian Ian Christie, cinema owner Kevin Markwick and critic Nigel Floyd.
Scottish-born musician and lead singer of The Waterboys discusses his new memoir Adventures of a Waterboy. The autobiography takes him from his early years as a struggling musician in Ayr to Ireland, New York, Dublin, and the Findhorn spiritual community in northern Scotland.
In celebration of the Olympics, the BBC - in partnership with the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh - has selected and recorded a poem representing every single country competing. Each is read by a native of that country who's made their home here in Britain. Every night for the Olympic fortnight Front Row features one of these poems.
And as Lily Allen and Snoop Dogg announce they've decided it's time for a name-change, Danny Robins considers the ramifications for those who've chosen a nomenclature makeover in the past.
Producer Jerome Weatherald.
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01lhbg6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 Greening the Military (b01lhbh3)
In 'Greening the Military' Angus Crawford finds out how British armed forces are increasingly having to take account of the environmental impact of their activities. But given the fact that war zones are highly hazardous locations, subject to extreme and enduring destruction, the thought of Britain's armed forces caring for the natural world can strike many as an extraordinary paradox. Nonetheless their activities are increasingly answerable to European environmental legislation, and battalions in the field are having to think carefully about their carbon footprints and carbon-dependency.
We hear how each new weapon system receives an environmental audit before it is deployed, and because of noise abatement measures, Eurofighter planes have to do full combat training exercises over the North Sea rather than over mainland Europe.
Angus Crawford asks whether the armed forces can do their job whilst also respecting the environment. Speaking to serving infantry officers fresh back from Helmand Province, he also visits a Swedish arms factory that prides itself on making environmentally-friendly lead-free bullets that don't pollute the water table. We also hear about so-called green fuel initiatives being deployed by British and American armed forces in order to reduce their reliance on diesel. This, we hear, is in response to the high human and financial cost of delivering fuel to remote theatres of war, such as Helmand. And, as one of Britain's largest landowners, we hear how the MoD's firing ranges have become a refuge for many rare species of wildlife that are no longer found in rural areas that are farmed in the conventional way.
Producer: Mark Smalley.
MON 20:30 Bookclub (b00d8h6r)
Gore Vidal - Point to Point Navigation
James Naughtie talks to one of the great American men of letters - novelist, screenwriter, playwright, essayist, raconteur and notorious wit Gore Vidal. Now in his eighties but with his acerbity still intact, Vidal joins an audience of readers to discuss his memoir Point to Point Navigation.
MON 21:00 Material World (b01ljl5n)
Quentin Cooper reports on the latest surface rover mission to Mars - NASA's Curiosity, or Mars Science Laboratory - twice as long, twice the science, and five times as heavy as its famous forebears.
Landing on the floor of the Gale Crater, next to a mountain of sedimentary strata, the 10 different instruments carried on board will provide more knowledge of the geological history of Mars - including the possibility of microbial life during an earlier, wetter epoch of Mars' past - than any previous mission.
MON 21:30 Amanda Vickery on... Men (b01lhbfy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b01ldgx1)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b01lhbkh)
As Nick Clegg abandons plans for Lords reform, how much trouble ahead for the coalition?
Forty years after the expulsion of the Asians by Idi Amin, how much has Uganda changed?
And why is Australia not delivering at the Olympics?
With Ritula Shah.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01lhbkk)
Duty Free
Episode 5
Read before a live studio audience in the BBC Radio Theatre by Meera Syal.
In today's episode; the clock is ticking, wedding season is upon us, and in downtown Lahore, it's time to check out Bride Number Two...but is this a set-up by false friend Mulloo?
As every woman knows, matchmaking is no easy job. Particularly when you're trying to find a girl for your dull, balding, freshly-divorced cousin and on top of that manage a house full of servants, shop for contraband Prada goods and attend parties every night. Not to mention the fact that your husband's work trips are becoming increasingly frequent, your city is under attack, and your friends can't be trusted. How is a girl to cope?
Jane Austen's Emma is transported to the outrageous social melee of 21st-century Lahore. "Our plucky heroine's cousin, Jonkers, has been dumped by his low-class, slutty secretary, and our heroine has been charged with finding him a suitable wife -- a rich, fair, beautiful, old-family type. Quickly. But, between you, me and the four walls, who wants to marry poor, plain, hapless Jonkers?"
As our heroine social-climbs her way through weddings-sheddings, GTs (get togethers, of course) and ladies' lunches trying to find a suitable girl from the right bagground, she discovers to her dismay that her cousin has his own ideas about his perfect mate. And secretly, she may even agree.
Full of wit and wickedness, Duty Free is a delightful romp through Pakistani high society - although, even as it makes you cry with laughter, it makes you wince at the gulf between our heroine's glitteringly shallow life and the country that is falling apart around her Louboutin-clad feet.
Moni Mohsin, already a huge bestseller in India, has been hailed as a modern-day Jane Austen, and compared to Nancy Mitford and Helen Fielding. Duty Free is social satire at its biting best.
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 23:00 The Now Show (b01lhbkm)
The Now Show 2012 - Live!
Episode 4
A special late 'n' live edition of The Now Show keeping you abreast of all the happenings at the London Olympics. Hosted by Punt and Holmes with Alex Horne and The Horne Section, stand-up Jason Cook and Margaret Cabourn-Smith.
MON 23:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (b01k9wpp)
Series 2
Bristol
Jay Rayner presents the first programme in the new series of BBC Radio 4's food panel show, recorded in front of a live audience, aimed at anyone who cooks at home, not just the experts. Each week the programme travels around the country to visit interesting culinary locations and answer questions from local food-loving people.
In this programme, The Kitchen Cabinet are in Bristol ahead of the city's annual Grillstock festival, which finds barbeque enthusiasts from around the world flocking to the West Country. As well as discussing the science behind what makes the perfect barbeque, the panellists field questions on all aspects of grilling and cooking on an open flame.
The panel this week features: Rachel McCormack, a Glaswegian cook who is now successfully spreading the word on all things Spanish, not least by teaching authentic Catalan cookery; Peter Barham the food scientist who has worked with Heston Blumenthal; Allegra McEvedy the chef, food writer and regular on Loose Ends; and Tim Hayward - acclaimed food critic, writer, and broadcaster.
The show is witty, fast-moving, and irreverent, but packed full of information that may well change the way you think about cooking.
Food Consultant: Anna Colquhoun.
Produced by Robert Abel and Darby Dorras
A Somethin' Else Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUESDAY 07 AUGUST 2012
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b01ldgy4)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b01ljxt4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01ldgy6)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01ldgy8)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01ldgyb)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b01ldgyd)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01lsmvk)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Shaunaka Rishi Das, Director of The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b01lhfs1)
Russia's grain yields are being forecast sharply lower. Could an export ban follow, as occurred in 2010?
How have floods affected farmers in Scotland? The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has warned that if weather conditions persist, some farmers may be harvesting late in October.
But farmers in Suffolk are still irrigating crops . Anna Hill finds out the science behind it from one arable grower.
This week, Farming Today is examining the barley harvest. Emma Weatherill visits a barley farmer in Hereford.
Presented by Anna Hill and Produced by Ruth Sanderson in Birmingham.
TUE 06:00 Today (b01lhfs3)
Morning news and current affairs, presented by James Naughtie and Evan Davis, including Standard Chartered bank's denial of allegations that it illegally 'schemed' with Iran.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (b01lhfs5)
Steve Jones
Professor Steve Jones is a geneticist who says he lives life in the slow lane, studying snails. His work shows how animals adapt to the environment they live in. He is also a prolific writer of science books who wrote his first book, "The Language of the Genes" as a response to unsuccessful grant applications.
TUE 09:30 One to One (b01lhfs7)
Razia Iqbal talks to Hanif Qadir
Razia Iqbal takes the One to One chair for the next three weeks to try to discover what it means to be a Muslim in Europe in the 21st century. She talks to three people, in three countries, about their identity as Muslims where they live against a context of prejudice and misunderstandings about their faith.
This week she talks to Hanif Qadir who decided to reject fighting in Afghanistan on the side of the Taliban and chose to help young people in the UK who were in danger of becoming radicalised. In Walthamstow, East London, he set up the Active Change Foundation to encourage young people to a positive future. He explains to Razia about what motivated him to become involved with the Taliban and why he ultimately chose to turn his back on them.
Razia says, 'There are fifteen million Muslims in Europe. The continent looks completely different now compared to how it looked two decades ago. I want to talk to people for whom navigating that change is almost a daily challenge'
Producer Lucy Lunt.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b01ljxw2)
Tubes: Behind the Scenes at the Internet
Episode 2
Written by Andrew Blum.
The author journeys to Silicon Valley to meet the men behind one of the internet's most important locations, past and present.
You write an email. You hit send. It appears ten thousand miles away. How did that happen?
In April 2011, a seventy-five year old woman deprived Armenia of its Internet access when she sliced through a buried cable with her garden spade. That January, Egyptian authorities simply switched off 70% of the country's Internet connections in an attempt to quell a revolution. In 2009, a squirrel chewed through a wire in Andrew Blum's backyard, slowing his broadband to a trickle and catapulting him on a quest to find out what this so-called 'Internet' actually is.
This is the Internet as you've never seen it before. It's not a concept. It's not a culture. It's most certainly not a cloud. It's a mass of tubes.
But what tubes! Hundreds of thousands of miles of fibre-optic cable, criss-crossing the globe, pulsing with trillions of photons of light, linking us via anonymous exchanges in secretive locations with vast data-warehouses where our online selves are stored in banks of spinning hard-drives.
In Tubes, Andrew Blum takes us behind the scenes of this hidden world and introduces us to the remarkable clan of insiders and eccentrics who design and run it everyday. He explains where it is, how it got there, what it looks like, how it works - and what happens when it breaks.
Reader: John Schwab
Abridger: Libby Spurrier
Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01lhfs9)
Politics v family life, the Jewish woman banned from the '36 Olympics, and Condoleeza or Hillary for US Vice President?
Politics v family life? Condoleeza or Hillary in the race for the US Vice President? The Jewish woman banned from the '36 Olympics; Should men and women compete against each other at the next Games? Young Scottish women writers. Presented by Jenni Murray.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01ljk6c)
The Little Ottleys
Episode 2
Series Three (5 episodes)
Episode Two
Edith had been so happy. Divorced from the
impossible Bruce, and anticipating marriage
to Aylmer Ross, the man she adores. But
Bruce is back home, albeit in the spare
room, and Aylmer still doesn't know ...
Directed by Tracey Neale
Bruce who headed off to the States with Madame Frabelle, has found life with her less than idyllic, and he returns to England (without her) in quick time. However, Edith is ready to marry Aylmer. The divorce papers are drawn up and marriage plans are being made.
When Bruce returns, Edith quickly realises that the poor man can't manage if he's left to his own idiotic devices. She doesn't love him. Aylmer is the love of her life and she is looking forward to making a new life with him but Bruce's hopelessness arouses pity and concern in her, as well as extreme frustration, and she allows him back into the spare room in the concise house in Knightsbridge. But when is she going to tell Aylmer?
Vincy Wenham Vincy - friend and confidant to Bruce, Edith and Aylmer (mentioned in Series 1 and 2, but never given his voice) - finds himself jn the impossible position of keeping secrets from all three of them, and offering advice to them at the same time.
The Writer
Martyn Wade is a skilled and talented radio writer and dramatist. He has a sure and dry comic touch which is ideal for continuing the stories created by Ada Leverson, a contemporary and friend of Oscar Wilde.
Music Used
"Forgotten Dreams" - Max Jaffa with the Palm Court Orchestra.
TUE 11:00 Nature (b01lhfsc)
Series 7
Quest for the World's Largest Butterfly
Queen Alexandra's Birdwing is the world's largest butterfly with a wingspan of 30 cm. Despite its enormous size, it is hard to find and is almost restricted to a remote plateau in the rainforest of Papua New Guinea.
Travel writer and naturalist Mark Stratton has been itching to see this gargantuan insect for years and in this special edition of "Nature" he sets off on a quest to find out more about this striking and elusive creature which would dwarf British robins or wrens. His journey takes him to the remote Manangalas Plateau in the mountains north of the capital city, Port Moresby.
Here in the dense and humid rainforest he discovers a dedicated conservation scheme to grow the butterfly's food-plants, rear caterpillars and protect its habitat. In the face of general decline and the destruction of rainforest for oil-palm and cocoa plantations, it seems that the butterfly has staunch allies among the local tribes-people and conservation groups, but still its future is far from secure and Mark learns that in common with other rare and threatened animals, the world's biggest butterfly may need to pay its way in order to survive.
TUE 11:30 Making Tracks (b01lhgw0)
Metropolis
Cultural commentator Paul Morley explores a history of popular music through some of the iconic recording studios in which classic albums were created.
Without them music as we know it would simply not exist. At its most basic, there'd be no technology to capture the sounds envisaged by the musicians and created and enhanced by the engineers and producers... and there'd be no music for the record companies to market and distribute. But more than that, the studios actually played a crucial part in the structure and fabric of the music recorded there - the sounds enhanced by the studio space itself... the potential and shortcomings of the equipment and technology housed in the cubicles... and the ability and 'vision' of the engineers and producers operating it all to find the new sound that makes the recordings sound different and fresh.
In the final programme of the series Paul Morley ventures to West London and one of the last major studio complexes to be built in the heyday of the music industry. But without an exalted musical history to fall back on and decades of experience to help run it, how do you go about creating a world-class facility frequented by the likes of Amy Winehouse, Mick Jagger and Rihanna... and how do you keep it going when all around you are closing their doors?
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b01lhgw2)
Call You and Yours: Ensuring a lasting Olympic legacy
Team GB's impressive medal haul is inspiring many hundreds or even thousands of youngsters to get involved in sport. But how do we turn this energy and enthusiasm into the lasting legacy that Lord Coe has been dreaming about and talking about for the last 7 years?
Last week the British Olympic Association chairman Lord Moynihan called on the government to use the momentum of the Games to create more opportunities for young people to get into sport at clubs and schools.
So what would you like to see schools doing to develop sporting excellence? Can school PE lessons ever be good enough to launch the career of future champions?
And how do we pay for the training and coaching programmes necessary to support these young athletes as they turn inspiration in to aspiration?
How do we ensure a LASTING Olympic legacy?
If you are a young athlete dreaming of your own gold medal in Rio or beyond, do get in touch with your experiences. If you coach youngsters, what do you think we need to build on the success of London 2012?
Call us on 03700-100-400 before ten, 03700 100444 after ten, or email us via our website at www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours; leave us a message or a name and number where we can call you back.
Or text us on 84844. Or tweet @BBCRadio4 during the programme, using the hashtag #youandyours.
Presented by Julian Worricker
Produced by Karen Dalziel.
TUE 12:45 The New Elizabethans (b01lhgw4)
Jayaben Desai
Jayaben Desai, defied stereotyping all her life. "A person like me, I am never scared of anybody," she told managers at the Grunwick film processing plant in Willesden, London shortly before she led a walkout in August 1976. Desai and her co workers were dubbed "strikers in saris" by the media but she went on to lead a campaign which eventually led to a respect for immigrant workers and a recognition of the very long hours and low wages they were prepared to tolerate.
The New Elizabethans have been chosen by a panel of leading historians, chaired by Lord (Tony) Hall, Chief Executive of London's Royal Opera House. The panellists were Dominic Sandbrook, Bamber Gascoigne, Sally Alexander, Jonathan Agar, Maria Misra and Sir Max Hastings.
They were asked to choose: "Men and women whose actions during the reign of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and/or given the age its character, for better or worse."
Producer: Sarah Taylor.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b01ldgyg)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b01lhgw6)
National and international news with Martha Kearney. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
TUE 13:45 A War of Words (b01ljxw4)
Episode 2
On 17th July 1936, an uprising began in Spanish Morocco that was to lead to nearly three years of civil war and the deaths of tens of thousands of Spaniards. It was a struggle fundamentally of Right versus Left, and Spain was to become a rehearsal for the World War to come.
In the second episode John Simpson examines one of the knotty problems faced by foreign correspondents in wartime - how, or whether, to be objective. Chicago Daily Tribune Jay Allen is in the spotlight and John focuses on Allen's famous interview with General Franco.
Producer: Neil Rosser
A Ladbroke production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b01lhbgz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b01ljylg)
The Third Eye and the Private Eye
by David Lemon and Mark Eccleston.
Based on real events, this is the story of one of literature's greatest and most long-lived hoaxes, featuring yetis, owls and talking cats.
Directed by Marc Beeby
This is the remarkable story of one of literature's greatest hoaxes; a tale of auras and astral projection; of jealous rivals and embarrassed publishers.
According to his bestselling 1956 autobiography 'The Third Eye', Tuesday Lobsang Rampa was born into Tibetan aristocracy and chosen as a boy to become a Lama. According to others, including the private detective employed to delve into his background, he was somebody else entirely... Lobsang Rampa's books are still in print and have sold millions of copies.
TUE 15:00 The Philosopher's Arms (b01lhgw8)
Series 2
Theseus' Ship
Welcome to the Philosopher's Arms - a place where philosophical ideas, logical dilemmas and the real world meet for a chat and a drink.
Each week presenter Matthew Sweet takes a puzzle with philosophical pedigree and asks why it matters in the everyday world. En route we'll learn about the thinking of such luminaries as Aristotle, Hobbes, Hume, Kant, John Stuart Mill and Wittgenstein. All recorded in a pub with an audience, who'll have their own contributions to make - but whose assumptions and intuitions will be challenged and, perhaps, undermined.
Propping up the bar this year will be philosophers such as Julian Baggini and Nigel Warburton, and academic experts on memory, the law, art and computers. We'll be meeting bald men, a woman who used to be a man, and a woman who can't remember being a girl. Plus music from The Drifters - a far more philosophical group than you'd ever imagine.
This programme is a repeat
The producer was David Edmonds.
TUE 15:30 The House I Grew Up In (b00t8qy9)
Series 4
Kay Mellor
Television screenwriter Kay Mellor was born into a working class Leeds household in the 1950s and brought up single-handedly by her mother from the age of three. Her mother re-married when Kay was 10. She remembers a secure childhood. But money was tight, she did badly at school and was married, with a child, at just sixteen. The marriage has endured the intervening decades and the success she eventually found. She talks to Wendy Robbins about the loneliness of teenage motherhood, her uphill struggle to educate herself and her writing life which has always been inspired by the Yorkshire people she still lives amongst.
Producer: Smita Patel.
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (b01lhgwb)
Brussels - A Language Story
Chris Ledgard visits Brussels, a melting pot of European languages. He meets interpreters, language planners and voice coaches to discover how the European Commission operates "interpreting on an industrial scale." We find out why officials fear a looming shortage of interpreters, and we meet the man who teaches people how to speak and behave in a multilingual setting.
Producer: Chris Ledgard.
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b01lhgwd)
Series 28
Josephine Bonaparte
"I get to Milan," wrote Napoleon. "I fling myself into your room. I have left everything in order to see you, to clasp you in my arms .... you were not there." The tale of Napoleon and Josephine is one of history's great love affairs, and while she did not win the battles he fought, she was both present, and perhaps influential, at a great moment in Europe's past. Her own life before then was equally extraordinary - born in Martinique, her first husband was executed and she was in jail too, expecting the madame guillotine at any time.
Reporter Janine di Giovanni champions Josephine with the expert help of her biographer Andrea Stuart, who makes no apology for the methods Josephine employed to ensure her survival and rise. An astonishing life, though presenter Matthew Parris remains unconvinced that she was truly great. The producer is Miles Warde.
TUE 17:00 PM (b01lhgwg)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01ldgyj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 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.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b01lhgyj)
Brian and Jennifer discuss Alice's limited job prospects and Jennifer's fear that Adam will stick to his guns and move away. She wants Brian to talk to him.
Later, at Phoebe's welcome home party, Jennifer hears Brian telling Mike they can get someone else in to manage the arable, and is cross that he's talking to others about their business.
Roy's busy with the barbecue. He tells Phoebe not to let what happened spoil the good times she had in South Africa. Phoebe assures him she's fine. Vicky's desperate to tell everyone her news. When Jennifer remarks on her healthy glow, it's the excuse Vicky needs to divulge her secret. When she hints heavily about children keeping you young, Hayley offers to lend her Abbie but Phoebe jokingly suggests Vicky is pregnant. Vicky is quick to tell Mike that Phoebe has guessed, and that Brenda already knows, and launches into her announcement without Mike's backing.
Roy assures Mike he's happy for them but Jennifer's not convinced it's what Mike wants. Mike still wishes Vicky had waited a little longer before they told people. Vicky's sure he must feel better, now it's out in the open.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b01lhgyl)
Tributes to Marvin Hamlisch and Robert Hughes
With John Wilson.
The lyricist Don Black remembers his friend the composer Marvin Hamlisch whose death has been announced today. There is another chance to hear Hamlisch - best known for the musical A Chorus Line and the score and song for The Way We Were - at the Front Row piano three years ago, explaining how he wrote the songs which won him Emmys, Grammys,Oscars and a Tony.
The art critic Richard Cork assesses the influence of Robert Hughes whose death has also been announced today. How did his writing change criticism ad critics?
And, as Jamaica celebrates its 50th year of Independence we find out about Studio 17, one of Kingston's best-known recording studios, record shops, and meccas for reggae music in the late 60s and 70's. The studio is also celebrating its 50th anniversary and Front Row has been offered the chance to hear some of their newly discovered archive recordings from reggae greats like Dennis Brown, Lord Creator, and John Holt. Reshma B, Reggae & Dancehall correspondent talks to John.
Producer Erin Riley.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01ljk6c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (b01lhgyn)
World health chiefs have branded diesel exhaust emissions a major cause of cancer. Despite the efforts of car-makers to filter out the most noxious substances, these fumes still play a big part in causing air pollution.
Britain has the second worst respiratory death rates in Europe and has long been under notice from Brussels to clean up its act. So why are most UK areas in breach of legal limits?
And do ministers have any clear plan to reduce the huge annual total of resulting deaths?
Julian O'Halloran investigates.
Producer : Rob Cave.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b01lhgyq)
Blind photography and Olympic audio-description
Ian MacRae, editor of Disability Now presents.
The Seeing With Photography Collective in New York enables visually impaired people to experiment with photography. Peter White and Cheryl Gabriel travelled to the US to meet members of the group including Mark Andres and Donald Martinez - two sighted photographers, and also Victorine Floyd-Flood and John, two of the blind members of the cooperative. Cheryl, who is partially-sighted is a keen photographer whereas Peter - blind from birth - has a more sceptical approach. Together they chart their participation in several photographic sessions using the technique known as painting with light.
And we speak to some of our listeners who have visited the 2012 Olympics and found the audio-description and assistance services less than adequate.
Presented by Ian MacRae
Produced by Cheryl Gabriel.
TUE 21:00 Inside Health (b01lhgys)
Steroids, the killing season, telehealth, Dupuytren's
Apart from a few cases that hit the headlines, the use of anabolic steroids is rare among the athletes in the Olympic village. But in the wider society abuse has exploded, according to an expert from Liverpool John Moores University. Jim McVeigh - who's Deputy Director at the Centre for Public Health - says that anabolic steroid abusers are the largest group using needle exchanges. Anabolic steroids are naturally occurring hormones, like testosterone, which influence growth, physical development and the workings of the reproductive system. Abuse allows athletes to train harder for longer so they become bigger, stronger and faster. But those effects will not be seen if you don't exercise or fail to eat and sleep properly. The injected steroids are often combined with tablets. There are a number of side effects like a growth in breast tissue, acne, baldness and shrinking testes - as well as longer-term health concerns for the heart and kidneys. Although they share the same umbrella term - steroids - anabolic steroids are not the same as drugs from the corticosteroid family - found in cortisone joint injections and some types of creams for eczema, sprays for hayfever and inhalers for asthma.
For the best chance of good recovery from strokes patients need to be treated within a few hours. In the Lake District new technology is giving suspected stroke patients access to specialists - using high speed broadband and video cameras. Dr Paul Davies is Consultant Stroke physician at the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle. He can assess a patient's scans and other tests over a video connection - with the help of nurses and doctors treating them locally. Thrombolytic - or clotbusting treatment - can be given if the stroke is one of the 80% caused by a clot. It's important to get this diagnosis right as the other 20% are the result of a bleed - which could be potentially fatal if thrombolysis is given.
It's has been dubbed the Killing Season by some sections of the media - but Dr Margaret McCartney believes that August isn't as risky a time to be in hospital as the headlines claim. One study compared the number of deaths at the end of July and the beginning of August - but the difference wasn't statistically significant and could have been down to chance rather than a real harmful effect of new doctors.
Inside Health listener and keen pianist Roger emailed the programme about Dupuytren's contracture - where the fingers curve into the hand and can't be straightened. A new treatment is becoming available on the NHS for this common problem which affects 1 in 10 people's hands. The only option used to be surgery but Mike Hayton, who's a Consultant Orthopaedic Hand Surgeon at Wrightington Hospital in Lancashire, is now carrying out collagenase injections on some of his patients. Up to 60% of Dupuytrens patients can benefit from the treatment - which helps to break down the collagen-rich cords so they can then be snapped a day or two later.
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (b01lhfs5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b01ldgyl)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b01lhgzh)
National and international news and analysis, presented by Robin Lustig.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01lhgzk)
Duty Free
Episode 6
Read before a live studio audience in the BBC Radio Theatre by Meera Syal.
In today's episode; with sectarian violence hampering the social season, how's a girl to concentrate on matchmaking? And now the terrorist threat comes very close to home...
As every woman knows, matchmaking is no easy job. Particularly when you're trying to find a girl for your dull, balding, freshly-divorced cousin and on top of that manage a house full of servants, shop for contraband Prada goods and attend parties every night. Not to mention the fact that your husband's work trips are becoming increasingly frequent, your city is under attack, and your friends can't be trusted. How is a girl to cope?
Jane Austen's Emma is transported to the outrageous social melee of 21st-century Lahore. "Our plucky heroine's cousin, Jonkers, has been dumped by his low-class, slutty secretary, and our heroine has been charged with finding him a suitable wife -- a rich, fair, beautiful, old-family type. Quickly. But, between you, me and the four walls, who wants to marry poor, plain, hapless Jonkers?"
As our heroine social-climbs her way through weddings-sheddings, GTs (get togethers, of course) and ladies' lunches trying to find a suitable girl from the right bagground, she discovers to her dismay that her cousin has his own ideas about his perfect mate. And secretly, she may even agree.
Full of wit and wickedness, Duty Free is a delightful romp through Pakistani high society - although, even as it makes you cry with laughter, it makes you wince at the gulf between our heroine's glitteringly shallow life and the country that is falling apart around her Louboutin-clad feet.
Moni Mohsin, already a huge bestseller in India, has been hailed as a modern-day Jane Austen, and compared to Nancy Mitford and Helen Fielding. Duty Free is social satire at its biting best.
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:00 Kevin Eldon Will See You Now (b01lhgzm)
Series 1
Hooter
Comedy's best kept secret ingredient gets his own sketch show. Sketches, characters, sound effects, bit of music, some messin' about, you know...
In this episode, a fly, a fruit bowl and the Hallelujah Chorus. Obviously. Plus maverick street-artist Banksy's first-ever in-depth interview. Oh, did we mention the fruit bowl? Yep.
Kevin Eldon is a comedy phenomenon. He's been in virtually every major comedy show in the last fifteen years. But not content with working with the likes of Chris Morris, Steve Coogan, Armando Iannucci, Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse, Stewart Lee, Julia Davis and Graham Linehan, he's finally decided to put together his own comedy series for BBC Radio 4.
After all the waiting - Kevin Eldon Will See You Now...
Appearing in this episode are Amelia Bullmore (I'm Alan Partridge, Scott and Bailey), Julia Davis (Nighty Night), Rosie Cavaliero (Peep Show), Paul Putner (Little Britain), Justin Edwards (The Consultants) and David Reed (The Penny Dreadfuls) with special guest Phil Cornwell as a man shouting "Wisbeach".
Written by Kevin Eldon with additional material by Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris (Flight Of The Conchords, That Mitchell and Webb Sound).
Original music by Martin Bird.
Produced and directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (b01kjt7t)
Series 2
Episode 2
Jay Rayner presents episode two in the series of BBC Radio 4's food panel show. Each week, the programme travels around the country to visit interesting culinary locations and answer questions from local food-loving people. Recorded in front of a live audience, The Kitchen Cabinet is aimed at anyone who cooks at home, not just the experts.
In this programme, The Kitchen Cabinet is in Brighton. As well as talking about ice cream beyond the seaside cone, the team takes questions on all aspects of cooking.
The panel this week features: Angela Malik, the Scottish-Indian fusion chef and entrepreneur; Henry Dimbleby - cook, writer, and co-founder of Leon restaurants; Peter Barham, the food scientist who has worked with Heston Blumenthal; and Thomasina Miers - 2005 Masterchef winner and co-founder of Mexican street-food chain Wahaca.
The show is witty, fast-moving, and irreverent, but packed full of information that may well change the way you think about cooking.
Food Consultant: Anna Colquhoun
Produced by Robert Abel and Darby Dorras
A Somethin' Else Production for BBC Radio 4.
WEDNESDAY 08 AUGUST 2012
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b01ldh00)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b01ljxw2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01ldh02)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01ldh04)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01ldh06)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b01ldh08)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01lsmzf)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Shaunaka Rishi Das, Director of The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b01lhj0j)
RSPB Scotland fear cuts to agri-environment schemes in Scotland will have a detrimental impact on wildlife and threatened bird species. Whilst the Scottish Government say it's confident that there is sufficient funding to meet demand, conservationists argue that the environment is disappearing slowly down the table of priorities when it comes to politics and the money pot.
The Institute of Animal Health warns that Schmallenberg disease may spread north during the next lambing and calving season. Plus the British confetti harvest that's been washed away by the rain. And from barley to beer, Anna Hill learns about old brewing traditions - by using her ears!
Presented by Anna Hill. Produced by Clare Freeman in BBC Birmingham.
WED 06:00 Today (b01lhj0l)
Morning news and current affairs, presented by James Naughtie and Evan Davis. Today's programme includes reports that missiles have been fired by Egyptian forces in Sinai against suspected Islamic militants, the Bank of England is expected to react to the severity of the double-dip recession by lowering its growth forecast and how old does a book have to become to be considered as a classic?
WED 09:00 What's the Point of...? (b01lhj0n)
Series 4
Lord Lieutenants
Quentin Letts returns with another series offering a witty and thought-provoking look at some of Britain's cherished institutions. Over the next three weeks he casts a quizzical eye over universities, pubs and in the first programme, Lord-Lieutenants.
The office of Lord-Lieutenant was created by Henry VIII in 1547. They were the eyes and the ears of the monarch in the shires when there was a real prospect of sedition and rebellion. They also had the job of raising a militia when the country was under threat. The military functions of Lord-Lieutenants have long gone and their main duties now are to organise official Royal visits to their county. With Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee this year Lord-Lieutenants have perhaps never been busier, or had such a high profile. But how many could name the Lord-Lieutenant in their area, or could even explain what their job is, or how they're appointed? In an era where democratic accountability and transparency are increasingly important, what's the point of Lord-Lieutenants?
WED 09:30 The Listening Project (b01g4ksc)
Omnibus
Fi Glover presents an Omnibus edition of Radio 4's series capturing the nation in conversation: today Mike talks to his adoptive son about how he rescued him as a baby from South Vietnam; Jayne talks to her mother Sally in Liverpool about their life together and the father she never knew; from London, Jamaican-born Monica discusses with her gay son Rikki how coming out as gay was difficult for her too; and in Stoke on Trent Marc discusses with his foster dad Colin about how he's managed to turn his life round after a very difficult beginning.
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 Simon Elmes
(Repeat).
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b01ljx8m)
Tubes: Behind the Scenes at the Internet
Episode 3
Written by Andrew Blum.
The author learns about the biggest threats to the internet's security and meets members of the curiously named 'peering' community.
You write an email. You hit send. It appears ten thousand miles away. How did that happen?
In April 2011, a seventy-five year old woman deprived Armenia of its Internet access when she sliced through a buried cable with her garden spade. That January, Egyptian authorities simply switched off 70% of the country's Internet connections in an attempt to quell a revolution. In 2009, a squirrel chewed through a wire in Andrew Blum's backyard, slowing his broadband to a trickle and catapulting him on a quest to find out what this so-called 'Internet' actually is.
This is the Internet as you've never seen it before. It's not a concept. It's not a culture. It's most certainly not a cloud. It's a mass of tubes.
But what tubes! Hundreds of thousands of miles of fibre-optic cable, criss-crossing the globe, pulsing with trillions of photons of light, linking us via anonymous exchanges in secretive locations with vast data-warehouses where our online selves are stored in banks of spinning hard-drives.
In Tubes, Andrew Blum takes us behind the scenes of this hidden world and introduces us to the remarkable clan of insiders and eccentrics who design and run it everyday. He explains where it is, how it got there, what it looks like, how it works - and what happens when it breaks.
Reader: John Schwab
Abridger: Libby Spurrier
Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01lhj0q)
Family secrets, older women workers and Cook the Perfect tiramisu
Sue Woodford Hollick describes how she discovered the family secret that dominated her childhood. We ask whether enough is being done to help older people stay in employment. Scottish writer Kapka Kassabova tells us about her favourite place and restaurateur Russell Norman Cooks the Perfect Tiramisu - Venetian style. Presented by Jenni Murray.
Producer: Dianne McGregor.
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01ljk4p)
The Little Ottleys
Episode 3
Series Three (5 episodes)
Episode Three
Edith has kept Bruce's return a secret
from Aylmer for reasons of diplomacy
and in the hope that Bruce might go away
again soon but can she count on Vincy
remaining silent too?
Directed by Tracey Neale
Bruce who headed off to the States with Madame Frabelle, has found life with her less than idyllic, and her returns to England (without her) in quick time. However, Edith is all ready to marry Aylmer. The divorce papers are drawn up and marriage plans are being made.
When Bruce returns, Edith quickly realises that the poor man can't manage if he's left to his own idiotic devices. She doesn't love him. Aylmer is the love of her life and she is looking forward to making a new life with him but Bruce's hopelessness arouses pity and concern in her, as well as extreme frustration, and she allows him back into the spare room in the concise house in Knightsbridge. But when is she going to tell Aylmer?
Vincy Wenham Vincy - friend and confidant to Bruce, Edith and Aylmer finds himself in the impossible position of keeping secrets from all three of them, and offering advice to them at the same time.
The Writer
Martyn Wade is a skilled and talented radio writer and dramatist. He has a sure a dry comic touch which is ideal for continuing the stories created by Ada Leverson, a contemporary and friend of Oscar Wilde.
Music Used
"Forgotten Dreams" - Max Jaffa with the Palm Court Orchestra.
WED 11:00 In Living Memory (b01lhj0s)
Series 16
Episode 2
In 2003, a waste disposal firm in Hartlepool got a contract to dismantle 13 elderly American naval ships that had been rusting away in a river in Virginia. The ships had asbestos on them, as well as PCBs. When local environmental groups heard of the plan there was uproar. The vessels were dubbed the "ghost ships" and described as "toxic timebombs". It turned out that the Hartlepool firm did not have the required planning permission to dismantle them, and the Environment Agency told the American government not to send the ships. But four of them set off across the Atlantic anyway. They arrived in Hartlepool where they were eventually dismantled. A decade on, feelings still run high in the area. Should the ships have been sent back? Should American toxic waste end up in a Hartlepool landfill site? Or was it better for the ships to be broken up here than in a developing country with little environmental regulation? Jolyon Jenkins reports.
WED 11:30 The Castle (b01jyq99)
Series 4
A Term for the Worse
Hie ye to The Castle, a rollicking sitcom set way back then, starring James Fleet ("The Vicar Of Dibley"), Neil Dudgeon ("Life Of Riley"), Martha Howe-Douglas ("Horrible Histories") & Ingrid Oliver
Anne's off to Cambridge but Charlotte doesn't know the meaning of the word "thick". Literally. Is this the end of a beautiful friendship? And what will Sir Warenne do?
Written by Kim Fuller & Paul Alexander
Music by Guy Jackson
Produced and directed by David Tyler.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b01lhj0v)
The future of the tobacco industry
£10 billion is expected to be injected into the UK economy as a result of refunds for mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance. What difference will it make and what are people spending their windfalls on?
We debate the effect plain cigarette packaging will have on the tobacco industry.
Plus, the latest in producer in our Food and farming Awards.
Presenter: Winifred Robinson.
Producer: John Neal.
WED 12:30 Face the Facts (b01lhj0x)
Pardon for the Disowned Army
The thousands of Irish soldiers who swapped uniforms to fight with the British against Hitler went on to suffer years of persecution on their return home John Waite's first investigation into their plight, which was broadcast earlier this year, generated huge interest from listeners and was debated in the Irish Parliament.
This was the first broadcast to highlight the injustice they suffered and to hear from them about the on-going repercussions and their continued fight for a pardon.
The programme led directly to the Irish Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter, undertaking an urgent review and, just six months after the broadcast, he announced an official pardon.
As John Waite now hears, one of those relieved by the news is 92-year-old Phil Farrington, took part in the D-Day landings and helped liberate the German death camp at Bergen-Belsen. Up until now he has had to wear his service medals in secret after having spent time in a military prison in Cork for deserting the Irish army. He returned to a British unit on his release but has had nightmares that he would be re-arrested by the authorities and punished again for his wartime service.
"They would come and get me, yes they would," he said in a frail voice at his home in the docks area of Dublin. Mr Farrington was one of about 4,500 Irish soldiers who deserted their own neutral army to join the war against fascism and who were brutally punished on their return home as a result. They were formally dismissed from the Irish army, stripped of all pay and pension rights, and prevented from finding work by being banned for seven years from any employment paid for by state or government funds.
A special "list" was drawn up containing their names and addresses, and circulated to every government department, town hall and railway station - anywhere the men might look for a job. It was referred to in the Irish parliament - the Dail - at the time as a "starvation order", and for many of their families the phrase became painfully close to the truth.
John Stout served with the Irish Guards armoured division which raced to Arnhem to capture a key bridge. He also fought in the Battle of the Bulge, ending the war as a commando. On his return home to Cork, however, he was treated as a pariah. "What they did to us was wrong. I know that in my heart. They cold-shouldered you. They didn't speak to you.
It was only 20 years since Ireland had won its independence after many years of rule from London, and the Irish list of grievances against Britain was long - as Gerald Morgan, at Trinity College, Dublin, explains. "The uprisings, the civil war, all sorts of reneged promises - I'd estimate that 60% of the population expected or indeed hoped the Germans would win. To prevent civil unrest, Eamon de Valera had to do something. Hence the starvation order and the list."
Today, thanks largely to this BBC investigation, those Irish servicemen have at last been recognised for the part they played in helping defeat fascism.
WED 12:57 Weather (b01ldh0b)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b01ljgv0)
National and international news presented by Martha Kearney. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
WED 13:45 A War of Words (b01ljx8v)
Episode 3
On 17th July 1936, an uprising began in Spanish Morocco that was to lead to nearly three years of civil war and the deaths of tens of thousands of Spaniards. It was a struggle fundamentally of Right versus Left, and Spain was to become a rehearsal for the World War to come.
John Simpson examines the writings of the journalists who reported on the Spanish Civil War, men and women who, unlike today's correspondents, got involved in a dirty war.
In the third episode, John looks at the right wing journalists who followed the Rebel armies, in particular Sefton Delmer of the Daily Express and Hubert Knickerbocker of the Hearst press.
Producer: Neil Rosser
A Ladbroke production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b01lhgyj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b01ljgv2)
Kenneth Emson - Eight Hundred and Thirty Seven Point Nine
Conor left Ireland at eighteen. He's lived in England ever since, much to the annoyance of his brother Gareth who still lives back in Newry. It's been a year since Gareth and Conor's younger sister died. Gareth's been talking about doing something to raise some money for a cancer charity in her honour for most of that year. But that's just what Gareth does - talk.
So when he turns up on Conor's doorstep and tells him he is going to cycle from Land's End to John O'Groats and he needs his brother driving behind him to carry his stuff, he doesn't believe him at first. But as the two brothers set off on the journey with only the AA route finder to guide them the eight hundred and thirty seven point nine miles, Conor realises that this time his brother might not be just talking.
A story of family, endurance and the power of loss. As the two brothers, devoid of a valid driving licence, any real cash or actual planning, make the journey across the country they are forced to confront their own relationship and the times they have missed together as they have grown up apart.
Kenneth Emson is a first time writer for radio. He won the Old Vic US/UK Exchange in 2009 for his play Sonderkommando, won the Adopt a Playwright Award in 2010, and took part in the Royal Court Supergroup attachment where he developed his new play White.
Written by Kenneth Emson
Producer: Clive Brill
A Pacificus Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 15:00 Fixing Broken Banking (b01ldg5v)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 on Saturday]
WED 15:30 Inside Health (b01lhgys)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b01ljk4r)
Social capital; gentrification
What happens when middle class white people move into vibrant, ethnically diverse and challenging areas in inner city London? Emma Jackson talks to Laurie about the developing attitudes of the 'gentrifiers' in Peckham and in Brixton.
Also, Irena Grugulis, author of Jobs for the Boys returns to the programme: She address points raised by listeners on her study of networking in the media and discusses the concept of 'social capital'.
Producer: Charlie Taylor.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b01ljk4t)
Have TV's Red Button and HD channels struck gold at the Olympics? Plus where are we with DAB and the digital radio switchover.
Presenter Steve Hewlett
Producer Beverley Purcell.
WED 17:00 PM (b01ljk4w)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01ldh0d)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 When the Dog Dies (b012r7k7)
Series 2
Catchment if You Can
Ronnie Corbett reunites with the writers of his hit sitcom Sorry, Ian Davidson and Peter Vincent. Sorry ran for seven series on BBC 1 and was number one in the UK ratings.
In the second series of their Radio 4 sitcom, Ronnie plays Sandy Hopper, who is growing old happily along with his dog Henry. His grown up children - both married to people Sandy doesn't approve of at all - would like him to move out of the family home so they can get their hands on their money earlier.
But Sandy's not having this. He's not moving until the dog dies. And not just that, how can he move if he's got a lodger? His daughter is convinced that his too attractive lodger Dolores (Liza Tarbuck) is after Sandy and his money.
Luckily, Sandy has three grandchildren and sometimes a friendly word, a kindly hand on the shoulder can really help a Granddad in the twenty-first century. Man and dog together face a complicated world. There's every chance they'll make it more so.
Sandy's quiet life is shattered by the need to make himself scarce while his daughter Ellie and his son-in-law Blake pretend, for reasons of social mobility and educational opportunity, that his address is their address. Hiding in the shed doesn't seem right for someone who dreams of being a hero. Not in the world's eye, perhaps - but certainly in his grandson Tyson's.
Cast:
Ronnie Corbett ..... Sandy
Liza Tarbuck ...... Dolores
Sally Grace ..... Mrs Pompom
Tilly Vosburgh ..... Ellie
Jonathan Aris ...... Blake
Daniel Bridle .....Tyson
Stephen Critchlow ...... Mr Mountjoy
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b01ljk4y)
It's Shula's birthday. She should be getting ready to go to the Olympics but Daniel's grandfather Reg, rings to say Bunty has had another fall. Suddenly Shula's Olympic plans fall apart. Fortunately Jamie is able to take her ticket, so he goes with Daniel and Alistair.
Phoning from the show jumping arena, Alistair reckons Reg and Bunty need to look into sheltered accommodation. Shula's had that conversation with them but they won't move. Alistair doesn't think it should be up to Shula to cope, but there's nobody else.
David can't believe Keith's got bail. Adam acknowledges that at least they caught him, which is the main thing.
Pip's back from her holiday. She's tired but amazed that in the week she's been away the whole gang has been arrested. She's had a great holiday and thinks David and Ruth should go away for a few days. They deserve a break. She could look after the farm, and Josh could stay and help her.
Jennifer is worried that Adam's not in a fit state to be making big decisions about his life. She tells him how precious he and Ian are to her and asks him to think of what he's got. She begs him not to throw it all away.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b01ljk50)
Bourne writer Tony Gilroy, large-scale public theatre, Jackpot review
With John Wilson.
Tony Gilroy wrote the original Bourne trilogy of films starring Matt Damon and has written and directed the latest, The Bourne Legacy, following the departure of director Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon. Gilroy, who wrote and directed the George Clooney film Michael Clayton, discusses the latest re-incarnation of the spy franchise, and the challenge of creating a Bourne sequel without the central character whose name appears in the title.
Jackpot, a crime caper based on a story by bestselling Norwegian author Jo Nesbo, is the latest slice of Nordic noir to arrive in our cinemas. Kim Newman reviews.
7,500 volunteers performed in the Olympic opening ceremony, 1700 volunteers are involved in this year's production of the York Mystery plays, and for the National Theatre of Wales's new production of Coriolanus, 450 audience members walk around with the actors, playing an active part in 'the crowd scenes'. John finds out why theatre is increasingly expecting audiences to get up and join in, talking to theatre directors Damien Cruden and Mike Pearson, and the critic Natalie Haynes.
Producer Jerome Weatherald.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01ljk4p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 The EU Debate (b01ljk52)
With the crisis continuing in the eurozone, recent polls suggest that the vast majority of the British electorate would be in favour of a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union.
In the current climate the voices of those in favour of the European project have been noticeable by their absence.
Evan Davis chairs a debate at the London School of Economics on the motion "Britain should stay in the European Union."
Sir Stephen Wall, the former diplomat and EU adviser to Tony Blair, speaks in favour of the motion, arguing his position against a panel who want Britain out.
The Panel:
Roger Helmer - UKIP MEP for the East Midlands
Dr Helen Szamuely - Head of research for the Bruges Group and blogger on Your Freedom and Ours
Mark Reckless - Conservative MP for Rochester and Strood
George Eustice - Conservative MP for Camborne and Redruth
Producer: Hannah Barnes.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b01ljk54)
Series 3
Ali Mangera: The Future of Shopping
Architect Ali Mangera discusses the closely-connected futures of cities and shopping.
He describes how the retail industry is coming to terms with the major challenges it faces: from internet shopping to increasing demands for a local and sustainable experience. And, through the prism of his own experience working between Barcelona and London, he shares his vision for the future of shopping.
Ali argues that the two sides to the current retail experience - need, and hedonism - will be much more closely intertwined in future, with shopping being as much about entertainment and even education as it is about filling our bellies or clothing ourselves.
Producer: Giles Edwards.
WED 21:00 Darwin's Tunes (b01ljk56)
Is our taste in music, and how it's changed over the centuries, governed by creative genius or simply by survival of the fittest sounds, chosen by us the consumer? Does Darwin's theory of natural selection apply to more than just life on the planet? The idea of survival of the fittest and cultural evolution can be applied to many aspects of our lives; from fashion to the naming of our children. In a world of digital sampling evolutionary biologist, Professor Armand Leroi of Imperial College and his colleagues have designed an experiment to see if they can create the perfect song by asking individuals to choose which tunes survive and reproduce to create new tunes and which ones die out. If they can do this, where does that leave today's musical producers and composers? Do we still need a trained mind to compose truly amazing music? Armand Leroi discusses the idea that music evolves with evolutionary biologists Dr Luke Rendell of St Andrews University and Professor Mark Pagel of Reading University, composer Dr Martin Parker of Edinburgh University, and composer Aphrodite Raickopoulou.
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz.
WED 21:30 What's the Point of...? (b01lhj0n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b01ldh0g)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b01ljk58)
Who are the winners and losers in 'zero growth' Britain?; the Church of England sells New Corp shares saying it 'can no longer ethically hold the stock after the phone-hacking scandal, and looking ahead to the Gu Xilai murder trial in China with Robin Lustig.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01ljk5b)
Duty Free
Episode 7
Read before a live studio audience in the BBC Radio Theatre by Meera Syal.
In today's episode; a near-death experience gives our heroine a moment of fame...And with time running out, Bride Number One's mother is pressing for a decision about her daughter, while the prospective groom has some big news...
As every woman knows, matchmaking is no easy job. Particularly when you're trying to find a girl for your dull, balding, freshly-divorced cousin and on top of that manage a house full of servants, shop for contraband Prada goods and attend parties every night. Not to mention the fact that your husband's work trips are becoming increasingly frequent, your city is under attack, and your friends can't be trusted. How is a girl to cope?
Jane Austen's Emma is transported to the outrageous social melee of 21st-century Lahore. "Our plucky heroine's cousin, Jonkers, has been dumped by his low-class, slutty secretary, and our heroine has been charged with finding him a suitable wife -- a rich, fair, beautiful, old-family type. Quickly. But, between you, me and the four walls, who wants to marry poor, plain, hapless Jonkers?"
As our heroine social-climbs her way through weddings-sheddings, GTs (get togethers, of course) and ladies' lunches trying to find a suitable girl from the right bagground, she discovers to her dismay that her cousin has his own ideas about his perfect mate. And secretly, she may even agree.
Full of wit and wickedness, Duty Free is a delightful romp through Pakistani high society - although, even as it makes you cry with laughter, it makes you wince at the gulf between our heroine's glitteringly shallow life and the country that is falling apart around her Louboutin-clad feet.
Moni Mohsin, already a huge bestseller in India, has been hailed as a modern-day Jane Austen, and compared to Nancy Mitford and Helen Fielding. Duty Free is social satire at its biting best.
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:00 The Now Show (b01ljk5d)
The Now Show 2012 - Live!
Episode 5
A special late 'n' live edition of The Now Show keeping you abreast of all the happenings at the London Olympics. Hosted by Punt and Dennis with Nathan Caton, Paul Sinha, Margaret Cabourn-Smith and Mitch Benn.
WED 23:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (b01ks53b)
Series 2
Episode 3
Jay Rayner presents episode three in the series of BBC Radio 4's food panel show. Each week the programme travels around the country to visit interesting culinary locations, and answer questions from local food-loving people. Recorded in front of a live audience, The Kitchen Cabinet is aimed at anyone who cooks at home, not just the experts.
In this programme The Kitchen Cabinet is at Latitude Festival where, as well as discussing the ins and outs of foraging for food, the team takes questions on all aspects of eating and drinking.
This week the panel features; Angela Malik the Scottish-Indian fusion chef and entrepreneur, Tim Hayward - acclaimed food critic, writer, and broadcaster, Allegra McEvedy; chef, food writer and regular on Radio 4's Loose Ends, and Miles Irving; the internationally renowned forager who has recently supplied goods for Noma in Copenhagen (which some consider to be the best restaurant in the world).
The show is witty, fast-moving, and irreverent, but packed full of information that may well change the way you think about cooking.
Produced by Robert Abel and Darby Dorras.
Food Consultant: Anna Colquhoun.
A Somethin' Else Production for BBC Radio 4.
THURSDAY 09 AUGUST 2012
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b01ldh19)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b01ljx8m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01ldh1c)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01ldh1f)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01ldh1h)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b01ldh1k)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01lsnpq)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Shaunaka Rishi Das, Director of The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b01ljl4t)
Dry conditions and frosts have hit tea production in Kenya. In Sri Lanka and India a relatively dry monsoon is also resulting in a smaller tea harvest. This means that the cost of wholesale imported tea has risen by over 40% in the past year.
The British Bee Keeping Association says queen bees are struggling to mate in the cold weather. This means that the bee population will fall and hives will be lost.
Each year the UK produces around 5 and a half million tons of Barley which is used for animal feed and the malting industry. Only the premium barley goes to make Scotch Whisky. Moira Hickey visits the Benromach distillery in Forres to find out how small-scale distilleries can be a boon for local farmers.
Farming Today is presented by Charlotte Smith and produced in Birmingham by Ruth Sanderson.
THU 06:00 Today (b01ljl4w)
Morning news and current affairs, presented by James Naughtie and Evan Davis, including a look back at the five years to the day since the beginning of the credit crunch.
THU 09:00 Inside the Ethics Committee (b01ljl4y)
Series 8
Ventilation in Children
Ayisha and Ben both have life-limiting degenerative conditions which means their muscles are getting weaker over time. Both are taken to intensive care when their conditions get to the point where they can't breathe unaided. Efforts to get vital oxygen to them mean they end up needing ventilation in hospital.
Ayisha is less than a year old, Ben just two and a half. How much treatment should be given to keep them alive? Both could have a procedure where a tube is inserted directly into the neck which would allow them to leave hospital go home.
Ayisha's condition is more severe than Ben's with a worse prognosis, does this make a difference when deciding what should be done? And if treatment is given how do their parents and medical team decide when is the right time to withdraw that life saving treatment if their health declines?
Joan Bakewell discusses the ethical issues raised with a panel of expert guests: Dr Paul Baines is Consultant in Paediatric Intensive Care Medicine at Alder Hey hospital. Deborah Bowman is Professor of Ethics and Law at St George's Hospital, London. John Wyatt is Emeritus Professor of Ethics & Perinatology at University College London. Sally Flatteau Taylor is Founder and Chief Executive of the Maypole Project that supports children with life-threatening illnesses and their families.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b01lhbg2)
Tubes: Behind the Scenes at the Internet
Episode 4
Written by Andrew Blum.
The author travels to Docklands and Cornwall on his journey behind the scenes.
You write an email. You hit send. It appears ten thousand miles away. How did that happen?
In April 2011, a seventy-five year old woman deprived Armenia of its Internet access when she sliced through a buried cable with her garden spade. That January, Egyptian authorities simply switched off 70% of the country's Internet connections in an attempt to quell a revolution. In 2009, a squirrel chewed through a wire in Andrew Blum's backyard, slowing his broadband to a trickle and catapulting him on a quest to find out what this so-called 'Internet' actually is.
This is the Internet as you've never seen it before. It's not a concept. It's not a culture. It's most certainly not a cloud. It's a mass of tubes.
But what tubes! Hundreds of thousands of miles of fibre-optic cable, criss-crossing the globe, pulsing with trillions of photons of light, linking us via anonymous exchanges in secretive locations with vast data-warehouses where our online selves are stored in banks of spinning hard-drives.
In Tubes, Andrew Blum takes us behind the scenes of this hidden world and introduces us to the remarkable clan of insiders and eccentrics who design and run it everyday. He explains where it is, how it got there, what it looks like, how it works - and what happens when it breaks.
Reader: John Schwab
Abridger: Libby Spurrier
Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01ljl50)
Crime fiction, generation rent
We discuss the issues some young men face growing up in very traditional British Asian families. Scottish writer Kirsty Logan. Generation rent: does it matter that young women with good jobs can't afford to buy a home? Woman's Hour summer reads: crime fiction - what should you pack for the beach? Presented by Jenni Murray.
Producer: Louise Corley.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01ljl52)
The Little Ottleys
Episode 4
Series Three (5 episodes)
Episode Four
The Ottley residence is out of bounds
to Aylmer. As a result, he suspects
the worst. Meanwhile, Bruce tries to
keep his meetings with Miss Flummerfelt
a secret from Edith.
Directed by Tracey Neale
Bruce, who headed off to the States with Madame Frabelle, has found life with her less than idyllic, and he returns to England (without her) in quick time. However, Edith is all ready to marry Aylmer. The divorce papers are drawn up and marriage plans are being made.
When Bruce returns, Edith quickly realises that the poor man can't manage if he's left to his own idiotic devices. She doesn't love him. Aylmer is the love of her life and she is looking forward to making a new life with him but Bruce's hopelessness arouses pity and concern in her, as well as extreme frustration, and she allows him back into the spare room in the concise house in Knightsbridge. But when is she going to tell Aylmer?
Vincy Wenham Vincy - friend and confidant to Bruce, Edith and Aylmer - finds himself in the impossible position of keeping secrets from all three of them, and offering advice to them at the same time. He mustn't tell Aylmer that Bruce is back and now he mustn't let Edith know that Bruce is meeting Miss Flummerfelt for tea in the afternoon.
The Writer
Martyn Wade is a skilled and talented radio writer and dramatist. He has a sure and dry comic touch which is ideal for continuing the stories created by Ada Leverson, a contemporary and friend of Oscar Wilde.
Music Used
"Forgotten Dreams" - Max Jaffa with the Palm Court Orchestra.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b01ljl54)
Cold Turkey in Karachi
Karachi is facing a drugs epidemic. Pakistan's sprawling port city has an estimated half a million chronic heroin addicts. The drug is cheap and easily available as it comes across the Pakistan/Afghanistan border, before being shipped to Europe and the US. Mobeen Azhar finds out how a charity is trying to help addicts and their families.
An NGO called the Edhi Foundation operates what is thought to be the world's largest drug rehabilitation centre. It's here that Mobeen meets brothers Yusaf and Husein who have checked themselves in. Patients who volunteer for treatment like this can leave whenever they feel ready. But the majority of patients, like 24-year-old Saqandar, are brought in by their desperate relatives, and according to Edhi rules, only the family can decide when they will be released.
The centre offers heroin users food and painkillers to ease the physical symptoms of withdrawal - but conventional treatment like methadone is not available. So does enforced cold turkey really work?
Mobeen follows the stories of three heroin addicts and finds out how the stress of their addiction takes its toll on them and their families.
Presenter: Mobeen Azhar
Producer: Ben Crighton.
THU 11:30 The Best of Everything (b01ljl56)
The Best of Everything was written by Rona Jaffe in 1958 and became an instant best seller. It was a novel about the travails of four working girls in the early 50s.
The book was devoured by the Mad Men generation of women entering the world of work for the first time. They worked in publishing houses and for advertising agencies. They dreamed of leaving the typing pool behind and rising to the rank of copyist or editor. Jaffe crystallized the contradictions of this generation; ambitious and independent, yet constrained by their own traditional notions of femininity - desperate to marry, not to be 'left on the shelf, yet yearning for opportunity and independence.
Jaffe's heroines reflected the real lives of these proto feminist American women.
This programme looks at the importance of the 'Best of Everything' - reissued after Mad Men's lotharia Don Draper was spotted reading it in bed. Why did it speak so clearly to this generation? What of Jaffe herself - she never married - rejecting the road that so repulsed, yet beguiled her heroines. The Best of Everything is presented by the writer Vivien Goldman, who read the book as a girl in England.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b01ljl58)
Radio 4's consumer affairs programme with Winifred Robinson. Why the bank account you pay for may not deliver the product you thought. Concerns over the delivery of the Personal Independence Payment and how the Olympics has affected London nightlife and culture. We will also hear why living near a church could mean you are liable for costs of any repairs.
THU 12:45 The New Elizabethans (b01ljl5b)
Stuart Hall
The New Elizabethans: Stuart Hall. To mark the Diamond Jubilee, James Naughtie examines the lives and impact of the men and women who have given the second Elizabethan age its character.
Stuart Hall is a leading thinker on British culture, race and identity. Born and educated in in Jamaica, Hall won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University and arrived in Britain in 1951, three years after the Empire Windrush carried the first generation of post-war West Indian immigrants to the UK. He went on to become a founding figure in cultural studies through his work at Birmingham University with Richard Hoggart. His writing and ideas have influenced politics and public debate across the Second Elizabethan Age.
The New Elizabethans have been chosen by a panel of leading historians, chaired by Lord (Tony) Hall, Chief Executive of London's Royal Opera House. The panellists were Dominic Sandbrook, Bamber Gascoigne, Sally Alexander, Jonathan Agar, Maria Misra and Sir Max Hastings.
They were asked to choose: "Men and women whose actions during the reign of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and/or given the age its character, for better or worse."
Producer: James Cook.
THU 12:57 Weather (b01ldh1m)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b01ljl5d)
National and international news with Martha Kearney. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
THU 13:45 A War of Words (b01ljxrz)
Episode 4
On the 17th of July 1936 an uprising began in Spanish Morocco that was to lead to nearly three years of civil war and the deaths of tens of thousands of Spaniards. It was a struggle fundamentally of Right versus Left, and Spain was to become a rehearsal for the World War to come.
Having heard in yesterday's programme that some of the right wing journalists fabricated reports of Republican losses, in this fourth episode John Simpson turns his attention to the left wing promulgation of untruth by Communist correspondent, Claud Cockburn.
Producer: Neil Rosser
A Ladbroke production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b01ljk4y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b01ljl5g)
Lucy Flannery - Like a Daughter
An afternoon drama by award-winning writer Lucy Flannery.
Home help Ruth cares for Harry above and beyond the call of duty. She fetches his shopping, brings him meals, makes sense of his paperwork. All in all, she's like a daughter to him.
When his health begins to decline, Ruth tries to discover friends or family to care for him but Harry insists there is no one, he's all alone in the world. She becomes even more concerned when a chance discovery reveals a sizable sum of money languishing in his bank account.
When Harry collapses and is given only days to live, Ruth faces a moral dilemma. Should she do nothing and allow a faceless state to benefit from Harry's death, or should she claim some of it as her own bequest?
Supported by friends, criticised by those in authority, Ruth's decision forces both her and others to examine their own moral compass and to penetrate the mystery of the inheritance itself. Her actions reveal the legacy of the dysfunctional dynamic of thirty years ago, still resonating and impacting upon the present day.
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b01ljl5j)
Lughnasa Festival
The festival of Lughnasa (pronounced Loon-asa) is an ancient Celtic celebration of the harvest, with its roots in County Meath in Ireland. The god Lugh is said to have established the festival in honour of his foster mother Tailtiu, who had exhausted herself by clearing forest land for agriculture. Helen Mark visits Teltown in Meath, which is said to have taken its name from that of Tailtiu, to see how Lughnasa is celebrated there today.
Presenter : Helen Mark
Producer : Moira Hickey.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b01lh96g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Bookclub (b01lh973)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b01ljl5l)
Matthew Sweet meets with Jeremy Renner to discuss his role as the lead in The Bourne Legacy.
We take a trip back in time with Austin Vince from The Adventure Travel Film Festival.
Academic Melanie Williams champions an early kitchen sink drama from 1957, Woman in a Dressing Gown.
And Mark Gatiss is back for the summer to pick 4 of his favourite biopics - first up, Lewis Gilbert's Carve Her Name With Pride, starring Virginia Mckenna.
Producer: Craig Smith.
THU 16:30 Material World (b01ljl5n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Monday]
THU 17:00 PM (b01ljl5q)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01ldh1p)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Fags, Mags and Bags (b010dhcy)
Series 4
The Bewerdine Spectrum
The hit Radio 4 series 'Fags, Mags & Bags' returns with more shop based shenanigans and over the counter philosophy, courtesy of Ramesh Mahju and his trusty sidekick Dave.
Written by and starring Donald McLeary and Sanjeev Kohli 'Fags, Mags & Bags' has proved a hit with the Radio 4 audience with this series picking up a Writers' Guild nomination for best comedy in 2011.
In this episode Sanjay goes on work experience at the local paper, The Lenzie Trumpet, and ends up writing the problem page which spells disaster for Ramesh and his loyal customers.
So join the staff of 'Fags, Mags and Bags' in their tireless quest to bring nice-price custard creams and cans of coke with Arabic writing on them to an ungrateful nation. Ramesh Mahju has built it up over the course of 30 years, and is a firmly entrenched feature of the local area. Ramesh loves the art of the 'shop'.
However; he does apply the 'low return' rules of the shop to all other aspects of his life. Ramesh is ably assisted by his shop sidekick Dave, a forty-something underachiever who shares Ramesh's love of the art of shopkeeping, even if he is treated like a slave.
Then of course there are Ramesh's sons Sanjay and Alok, both surly and not particularly keen on the old school approach to shopkeeping, but natural successors to the business, and Ramesh is keen to pass all his worldly wisdom onto them whether they like it or not!
Cast:
Ramesh ..... Sanjeev Kohli
Dave ..... Donald Mcleary
Sanjay ..... Omar Raza
Alok ...... Susheel Kumar
Keith Futures ...... Greg McHugh
Hilly ..... Kate Brailsford
Lovely Sue ..... Julie Wilson Nimmo
Mutton Jeff ..... Sean Scanlan
Producer: Gus Beattie
A Comedy Unit production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b01ljl5s)
Mike's going off to the Cider Club, so Vicky pops over to see Lynda and reveals her pregnancy. Lynda is astounded to learn Vicky's symptoms weren't due to the menopause. There's a tiny pang about her own childlessness.
Eddie's in a rush to get to the cider club and cook the wild boar burgers before the others arrive, but Joe's suffering the effects of having eaten too much rich meat. Clarrie gets wind of Eddie's plans to sell boar burgers and warns him there'll be trouble if he if does.
With Harry and Jazzer away, Mike's feeling the strain at work. He doesn't know how he will cope with being a father again. Roy assures him he's still fighting fit. Roy offers him Abbie's old baby things but Mike doesn't think it is right to inherit his granddaughter's things.
The rest of the Cider Club tease Mike but agree it's something to celebrate. Eddie gives him a boar-burger on the house but quickly takes it back off him. Clarrie's been on the phone, insisting nobody eats the boar meat. Eddie decides baby Tucker should be made an honorary member of the Cider Club - that way, it's got to be a boy. They raise a toast to the new baby, and to Mike for his virility.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b01ljl5v)
New TV comedies set at school; Edinburgh round-up
With Kirsty Lang.
Writer John O'Farrell reviews two new TV comedies set in and around schools. Bad Education is written by and stars comedian Jack Whitehall as a teacher who seems less mature than most of his students. Gates stars Joanna Page and Sue Johnston and focuses on the relationships formed by parents at the school gates.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is underway, with more acts than ever competing for audiences. Comedy critic Stephen Armstrong reports on the trends and highlights emerging from the first frenetic week.
How much should you pay for theatre? What's it worth? Kirsty reports from the Bush Theatre, London, which has opened up all its spaces for Bush Bazaar, a theatrical marketplace, where audiences pay performers according to the quality of the work. Artistic Director Madani Younis and the founders of Theatre Delicatessen discuss the project.
In celebration of the Olympics, the BBC - in partnership with the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh - has selected and recorded a poem representing every single country competing. Each is read by a native of that country who's made their home here in Britain. Every night for the Olympic fortnight Front Row features one of these poems.
Producer Ellie Bury.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01ljl52)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b01ljl5x)
Olympic Legacy
The Government has claimed that the London Olympics will provide a 13.5 billion pound boost to the British economy. In The Report, Simon Cox investigates the key areas of jobs in the Olympic boroughs, new business deals for the UK and tourism across the country, and asks whether attempts to link the Games with economic growth are flawed.
THU 20:30 In Business (b01ljl5z)
The Fizz Biz
THE FIZZ BIZ
There's a new boom in English sparkling wine. It is taking on Champagne and (sometimes) beating it. But what's behind the bubbles? Peter Day finds out from some of the top English growers ... and a select group of world wine experts on a pioneering trip into unknown territory. You can also watch a special video with Peter Day, by following the link on the In Business webpage, via the Radio 4 website.
Producer: Sandra Kanthal
Editor: Stephen Chilcott.
THU 21:00 Inside the Ethics Committee (b01ljl4y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:45 A Life With ... (b01dht25)
Series 6
Corals
A Life With... Corals
Corals? In Devon? Believe it or not there are lots of corals around the British coastline. Mary Colwell meets a man who has spent his life finding out about them. Keith Hiscock was inspired to find out about the hidden life of the British seas as a child when he read books by the Victorian naturalist, Philip Henry Gosse. Keith began to retrace his steps, described in detail in his books, and re-discovered many of the treasures Gosse found in the 19th Century. Years later he became a marine scientist, discovering new species and helping protect the marine life of Britain.
On a warm September day Keith took Mary to one of Gosse's favourite beaches, Tunnels Beach in Devon, to find a treasure that many pirates would covet - the Scarlet and Gold Star Coral. You don't have to go to the Barrier Reef to see beautiful sea life, it is right on our doorstep, although it has to be said, the sea is a lot colder!
First broadcast on 28th March 2012 at
1.45pm.
THU 21:58 Weather (b01ldh1r)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b01ljl61)
Syria - we hear the latest from Aleppo. Iran hosts a new diplomatic initiative - can it work?
Usain Bolt runs in the 200m. Team GB has another golden day.
Paul Moss reports from Chile
All that and more on The World Tonight with Robin Lustig.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01ljl63)
Duty Free
Episode 8
Read before a live studio audience in the BBC Radio Theatre by Meera Syal.
In today's episode; it's time to go and meet bride Number Three, but this time the groom is doing the choosing - a radical idea for his bossy cousin to take on board...
As every woman knows, matchmaking is no easy job. Particularly when you're trying to find a girl for your dull, balding, freshly-divorced cousin and on top of that manage a house full of servants, shop for contraband Prada goods and attend parties every night. Not to mention the fact that your husband's work trips are becoming increasingly frequent, your city is under attack, and your friends can't be trusted. How is a girl to cope?
Jane Austen's Emma is transported to the outrageous social melee of 21st-century Lahore. "Our plucky heroine's cousin, Jonkers, has been dumped by his low-class, slutty secretary, and our heroine has been charged with finding him a suitable wife -- a rich, fair, beautiful, old-family type. Quickly. But, between you, me and the four walls, who wants to marry poor, plain, hapless Jonkers?"
As our heroine social-climbs her way through weddings-sheddings, GTs (get togethers, of course) and ladies' lunches trying to find a suitable girl from the right bagground, she discovers to her dismay that her cousin has his own ideas about his perfect mate. And secretly, she may even agree.
Full of wit and wickedness, Duty Free is a delightful romp through Pakistani high society - although, even as it makes you cry with laughter, it makes you wince at the gulf between our heroine's glitteringly shallow life and the country that is falling apart around her Louboutin-clad feet.
Moni Mohsin, already a huge bestseller in India, has been hailed as a modern-day Jane Austen, and compared to Nancy Mitford and Helen Fielding. Duty Free is social satire at its biting best.
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:00 Lucy Montgomery's Variety Pack (b012qtv1)
Series 2
Episode 1
The human chameleon's host of characters from a chatty school girl to a decrepit charwoman.
Multi-paced, one woman Fast Show showcasing the exceptional talent of Lucy Montgomery.
With:
Philip Pope
Sally Grace
Waen Shepherd
Natalie Walter
Written by Lucy Montgomery with additional material by Steven Burge, Jon Hunter, Fay Rusling and Barunka O'Shaughnessy.
Script Editor: Dan Tetsell
Music by Philip Pope
Producer: Katie Tyrrell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2011.
THU 23:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (b01l0d4q)
Series 2
Episode 4
Jay Rayner presents episode four in the series of BBC Radio 4's food panel show. Each week the programme travels around the country to visit interesting culinary locations, and answer questions from local food-loving people.
Recorded in front of a live audience, The Kitchen Cabinet is aimed at anyone who cooks at home, not just the experts.
In this programme The Kitchen Cabinet is in Newcastle to tie in with the Eat! Newcastle-Gateshead festival. The team takes questions on ingredients and food traditions in the North East.
This week the panel features: Rachel McCormack, the Glaswegian cook who is also an expert on Catalan cooking; Thomasina Miers, the 2005 Masterchef winner and co-founder of Mexican street-food chain Wahaca; Henry Dimbleby, cook, writer, and co-founder of Leon restaurants; and food scientist Peter Barham, who is a consultant for Heston Blumenthal and Noma in Copenhagen (which some consider to be the best restaurant in the world).
The show is witty, fast-moving, and irreverent, but packed full of information that may well change the way you think about cooking.
Food Consultant: Anna Colquhoun.
Produced by Robert Abel and Darby Dorras
A Somethin' Else Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRIDAY 10 AUGUST 2012
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b01ldh2n)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b01lhbg2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01ldh2q)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01ldh2s)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01ldh2v)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b01ldh2x)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01lsnvv)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Shaunaka Rishi Das, Director of The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b01ljwls)
Scottish gamekeepers say incidents of raptor poisoning are down but prospects for The Glorious Twelfth are poor. There's better news for the tea harvest on the Tregothnan Estate, Cornwall.
And we go inside the malting house at Molson Coors in Burton-on-Trent to check the quality of this year's barley.
Presented by Charlotte Smith.
FRI 06:00 Today (b01ljwlv)
Morning news and current affairs presented by James Naughtie and Evan Davis, including the end of UK-wide consultation on plans to introduce mandatory plain packaging for tobacco.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b01lh96q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b01ljwlx)
Tubes: Behind the Scenes at the Internet
Episode 5
Written by Andrew Blum.
The author discovers how our data is stored, what a 'cloud' really is and pays a visit to the headquarters of Google and Facebook.
You write an email. You hit send. It appears ten thousand miles away. How did that happen?
In April 2011, a seventy-five year old woman deprived Armenia of its Internet access when she sliced through a buried cable with her garden spade. That January, Egyptian authorities simply switched off 70% of the country's Internet connections in an attempt to quell a revolution. In 2009, a squirrel chewed through a wire in Andrew Blum's backyard, slowing his broadband to a trickle and catapulting him on a quest to find out what this so-called 'Internet' actually is.
This is the Internet as you've never seen it before. It's not a concept. It's not a culture. It's most certainly not a cloud. It's a mass of tubes.
But what tubes! Hundreds of thousands of miles of fibre-optic cable, criss-crossing the globe, pulsing with trillions of photons of light, linking us via anonymous exchanges in secretive locations with vast data-warehouses where our online selves are stored in banks of spinning hard-drives.
In Tubes, Andrew Blum takes us behind the scenes of this hidden world and introduces us to the remarkable clan of insiders and eccentrics who design and run it everyday. He explains where it is, how it got there, what it looks like, how it works - and what happens when it breaks.
Reader: John Schwab
Abridger: Libby Spurrier
Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01ljwlz)
Models' Union, Underparenting
Next month the TUC will vote on a motion by arts and entertainment union Equity, to boost the representation of fashion models amongst its members. We discuss why models need union protection and the implications for the fashion industry. A new report shows that a significant proportion of congenital abnormalities are going unreported because there are no registers in some areas of the UK. The report's editor Professor Joan Morris explains the dangers of not monitoring substantial parts of the country. As part of our series about female writers in Scotland, Zoe Strachan talks about her favourite place in her home town of Kilmarnock. There is huge pressure to cram children's days full with activities: ballet, judo, tennis, piano, sport, art projects and after school tuition. How can parents learn to take a step back and stop trying to micro-manage their children's lives? In the summer of 2006 Kate Rawles cycled 4500 miles from El Paso to Anchorage, all in the name of adventure and environmental campaigning. She followed the spine of the Rocky Mountains as closely as possible and along the way, spoke to those she met about climate change, what they knew of it and what they were doing about it. Kate has now written a book about her adventures and joins Jenni to explain what she found out about herself, the environment and American attitudes to life.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01ljwm2)
The Little Ottleys
Episode 5
Series Three (5 episodes)
Episode Five
Vincy has been allowed to reveal one
secret to Edith and feels so much better
but he and Edith now have to decide what's
to be done about Bruce.
Directed by Tracey Neale
Bruce, who headed off to the States with Madame Frabelle, has found life with her less than idyllic, and he returns to England (without her) in quick time. However, Edith is all ready to marry Aylmer. The divorce papers are drawn up and marriage plans are being made.
When Bruce returns, Edith quickly realises that the poor man can't manage if he's left to his own idiotic devices. She doesn't love him. Aylmer is the love of her life and she is looking forward to making a new life with him but Bruce's hopelessness arouses pity and concern in her, as well as extreme frustration, and she allows him back into the spare room in the concise house in Knightsbridge. But when is she going to tell Aylmer?
Vincy Wenham Vincy - friend and confidant to Bruce, Edith and Aylmer - finds himself in the impossible position of keeping secrets. He still mustn't tell Aylmer that Bruce is back but he has now been able to tell Edith about Bruce meeting Miss Flummerfelt for afternoon tea. It feels good to get that off his chest but now he and Edith must decide what to do about Bruce.
The Writer
Martyn Wade is a skilled and talented radio writer and dramatist. He has a sure and dry comic touch which is ideal for continuing the stories created by Ada Leverson, a contemporary and friend of Oscar Wilde.
Music Used
"Forgotten Dreams" - Max Jaffa with the Palm Court Orchestra.
FRI 11:00 The 'arse that Jack Built (b01ljwm4)
Ian McMillan goes on a quest to find one of Britain's strangest linguistic features.
Somewhere between Sheffield and Chesterfield, people stop saying house and say something that sounds a lot more like 'arse.
It's an isogloss, a kind of linguistic boundary line where accent and dialect changes. Ian calls it the house / arse interface, and with his friend the musician Ray Hearne and linguist Kate Burland in tow, he sets out to track it down.
But can it really be as simple as crossing a line on a map?
Producer: Laura Thomas
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2012.
FRI 11:30 The Gobetweenies (b01ljwm8)
Series 2
The Next Story
Tom and Lucy are furious they are not allowed a dog. Their parents say that when kids go between two households it's too complicated. But their mum and dad's love lives are even more tangled. After all, Tom has seen his parents kissing. So where does that leave their mum's new third husband, and the unstable pet shop owner their dad has been secretly dating?
Written by Marcella Evaristi
Director: Marilyn Imrie
Producer: Gordon Kennedy
An Absolutely Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b01ljwmb)
Payday loan fine, Olympic PR and the TVs of the future
The payday lender which has had its licence revoked by the Office of Fair Trading and been fined over half a million pounds. It failed to check the identities of those applying for loans allowing fraudsters to borrow millions - it then demanded repayment from people who never took out loans in the first place.
We visit the National Houses in London where other nations seek to use the 2012 Olympics to promote themselves.
We examine the future of television - will your broadband connection soon be replacing the need for an aerial.
And have you seen the Nike advert featuring athletes competing in London? London Canada and London Nigeria that is. Or the Oddbins promotions centred around the event they can't name, in the city they mention, in the year they can't refer to? Steve Martin of M&C Saatchi and Noelle McElhatton help us weigh up who's won gold for Olympic marketing.
Plus the latest plan to get empty and derelict houses back into use. Stoke on Trent City Council want to sell some of the properties it owns for a pound and offer cheap loans to help refurbish them.
The presenter is Nick Ravenscroft
The producer is Joe Kent.
FRI 12:45 The New Elizabethans (b01ljwmd)
David Attenborough
The New Elizabethans: David Attenborough Britain's well-known broadcaster and naturalist whose landmark Life series changed the way we watched TV and attracted record audiences. He received more public votes to be a New Elizabethan than anyone else.
Starting as a trainee producer at the BBC in 1952 making shows like 'Animal, Vegetable, Mineral' and 'Zoo Quest' he became Controller of BBC 2 in 1965. There he shook up the schedule, commissioning programmes such as 'Man Alive', 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' and 'Civilization'.
But despite being promoted to Director of Programmes for BBC 1 and 2 in 1969, Attenborough's heart lay in programme-making and he resigned from the BBC to present and write Life on Earth. This was the first in the Life series with unforgettable scenes such as Attenborough encountering Dian Fossey's mountain gorillas in Rwanda.
Since then, Attenborough's films have pushed the boundaries of wildlife film-making and his hushed tones enthusing about the natural world have earned him the title "greatest living national treasure".
The New Elizabethans have been chosen by a panel of leading historians, chaired by Lord (Tony) Hall, Chief Executive of London's Royal Opera House. The panellists were Dominic Sandbrook, Bamber Gascoigne, Sally Alexander, Jonathan Agar, Maria Misra and Sir Max Hastings.
They were asked to choose: "Men and women whose actions during the reign of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and/or given the age its character, for better or worse."
Producer: Clare Walker.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b01ldh2z)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b01llg17)
National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
FRI 13:45 A War of Words (b01ljwmj)
Episode 5
On the 17th of July 1936 an uprising began in Spanish Morocco that was to lead to nearly three years of civil war and the deaths of tens of thousands of Spaniards. It was a struggle fundamentally of Right versus Left, and Spain was to become a rehearsal for the World War to come.
In these five programmes, John Simpson tell the stories of the correspondents who risked their lives to report on the Spanish war.
The final episode returns to Martha Gellhorn and Ernest Hemingway. John also explores some of the recordings in the Imperial War Museum and assesses the importance of another female journalist, Virginia Cowles, and Republican censor Constancia de la Mora.
Producer: Neil Rosser
A Ladbroke production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b01ljl5s)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b01ljwmm)
Loveness and Me
A sequel to the much acclaimed Radio 4 drama Boniface and Me, this play is based on a true story.
Nell Porter (Harriet Walter) decides to see whether paying school fees for just one child, Loveness Matakuro, in poverty-stricken rural Zimbabwe will make a difference.
Loveness dreams of playing netball for her country. She has been inspired by her crippled mother who tells her stories about how she used to play netball when she was younger, and how it was their love of sport that brought her and Loveness' late father together.
Loveness and her sister Rutendo form a village team, with their mother as coach, and are supported by headmaster, Godfrey Rubaya, who insists that if she wants to form a school team and play matches, all the girls will have to pay school fees and attend. This is the story of how Loveness realises her dream and, against unimaginable odds, takes her team to represent Zimbabwe in an International Tournament in Zambia.
Director: Catherine Bailey
A Catherine Bailey Limited production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b01ljwmp)
Thetford
Eric Robson, Bunny Guinness, Chris Beardshaw and Bob Flowerdew and the team are guests of Thetford Garden and Allotment Club.
Peter Gibbs delves into the RHS Wisley weather records to learn a lesson from previous bad summers. Bob Flowerdew reveals some of the ingenious tricks used in his Norfolk garden.
Q. Why won't my five-year-old potted gooseberry bear any fruit?
Try repotting to a larger container in spring and top dress with blood, fish and bonemeal. Apply woodash sporadically and thin the fruit. A very sweet variety is 'Rokula'
Q. What is on the underside of my fern leaf?
These are sporangia or sori which contain the spores.
Q. Since I removed my Laurel tree, the roots continue to sprout. How can I kill these off?
These should be physically cut out with a stump-grinder
Q. Last year my 'Giant Prague' celeriac grew well, though some of them had purple veining. When we tried to cook them they turned black. What is causing this?
Violet root rot. Try changing variety. Next time round, spray with seaweed solution which contains all the essential elements.
Q. My Clematis produces flowers with anything between 4 and 10 petals per flower? What is causing this variation?
This is symptomatic of a stressed or frail plant. Treat with care.
Q. How can I ensure my crop of cauliflower is successful this year? Last year they bolted.
Shade the white curd with a few leaves to stop it budding.
Q. How did my white Hyacinths gradually turn into bluebells?
Q. Which garden tasks do the panel consider a marathon.
Produced by Robert Abel.
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 Gotta Dance! (b01ljwmr)
Just a Tango
The legendary Gene Kelly was born a hundred years ago this year.
These three newly commissioned stories celebrate the world of dance and its power to inspire and attract.
'Just a Tango' by Kapka Kassabova. In this heady tale we delve into the exotic world of tango and the tango addict. Will they find what they are looking for?
Read by Anita Vettesse.
Producer: Patricia Hitchcock
Kapka Kassabova was born in Bulgaria but then emigrated as a teenager to New Zealand. She has lived and travelled all over the world and now lives in Scotland. She is an award-winning travel writer and author of three novels with Penguin NZ: LOVE IN THE LAND OF MIDAS, RECONNAISSANCE (Commonwealth Prize for best 1st novel) and VILLA PACIFICA. She has written several poetry collections and was chosen for the 2012 Poetry Parnassus event at London's Southbank.
She has also written about growing up in Bulgaria in STREET WITHOUT A NAME, as well as a second memoir about her decade-long tango odyssey TWELVE MINUTES OF LOVE: A TANGO STORY (UK: Portobello 2011).
She is the winner of Golden Quill (Zlatnoto Pero) Award for contributions to Bulgarian culture 2009.
'Kassabova is that rare thing, an author who excels in every genre. She's a published poet and novelist, a writer of travel guides, and of memoirs, whose earlier book, STREET WITHOUT A NAME, is an autobiographical travelogue about rediscovering her native Bulgaria. ... TWELVE MINUTES OF LOVE: A TANGO STORY is her touching and insightful chronicle of a ten-year obsession that dragged her around the world and back again by the heartstrings.' -- The Scotsman.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b01ljwmv)
Robert Hughes, Sir Bernard Lovell, Lakshmi Sehgal, Sir John Keegan and Franz West
Matthew Bannister on
the pugnacious Australian art critic Robert Hughes, who presented the acclaimed TV series Shock of The New.
The astronomer Sir Bernard Lovell who led the building of the enormous radio telescope at Jodrell Bank
Doctor Lakshmi Sehgal, the Indian independence campaigner who raised a regiment of women to fight against the British during the second world war
The military historian and Reith Lecturer Sir John Keegan
And the controversial Austrian artist Franz West who built giant colourful sculptures and invited the public to climb on them.
FRI 16:30 More or Less (b01ljwmx)
How to lose money, fast
In this week's programme:
High frequency trading
Last week Knight Capital lost a lot of money very quickly. It was the latest chapter in the story of something called 'high frequency trading'. Investors have always valued being the first with the news. But high frequency trading is different: algorithms execute automatic trades, conducted by computers, at astonishing speeds. We ask: is the rapid growth of high frequency trading progress, or - as some think - a threat to the stability of the entire financial system?
Medalling with the Olympics
While the Olympic medal table puts all UK successes together, some people have been tempted to peer under the surface. Scotland has been pronounced superior to England per head of population, while Yorkshire has been hailed as the number one county, beating Australia in the medals table. We check the sums.
Trumptonomics
A year after Trumptonshire's Treasurer (Con. T Harford) embarked on a round of public spending cuts which included sacking Fireman Dibble, we return to Trumpton to find out what happened next to the county's economy - and to poor old Dibble.
The geeks are coming
Mark Henderson discusses his new book, The Geek Manifesto, which argues for more scientific thinking in public life.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Richard Knight.
FRI 17:00 PM (b01ljwn1)
Carolyn Quinn with interviews, context and analysis.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01ldh31)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 Chain Reaction (b01ljwn3)
Series 8
Chris Addison interviews Derren Brown
Comedian Chris Addison gets the rare chance to talk to the amazing Derren Brown about magic, comedy, art, faith and Hitler.
Episodes in the chain include:
Rebecca Front being interviewed by the man who knows her best, her big brother, Jeremy Front.
Rebecca Front talking to her Thick Of It co-star and fellow non-nudist, Chris Addison, about working with Armando Iannucci and embracing his middle-classness through stand-up;
Chris Addison in a rare interview with the actually-really-nice-and-he-doesn't-do-any-of-that-weird-stuff-in-real-life, Derren Brown;
Derren Brown chatting hair, beliefs and Tim Minchin with comedy musical megastar and fellow sceptic Tim Minchin;
A poorly Tim Minchin being handed tissues whilst attempting to interview with no questions a not-at-all-poorly and hilarious Caitlin Moran.
Caitlin Moran getting to spend time and talk shoes, Bananarama and women with her comedy hero Jennifer Saunders.
And.
Jennifer Saunders turning up a week later to find the series has ended. Probably. We weren't there because the series had ended.
Produced by Carl Cooper
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra in 2012.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b01ljwn5)
Matt asks Darrell to survey the Walters' house and list all the repairs that need doing. Matt is keen that Darrell should be extremely thorough and points out it's all work for Darrell. Elona hopes that the extra work will mean they can help Rosa to buy a scooter. Darrell feeds back to Matt. He thinks everything is repairable but Matt clearly wants to turn the house upside down.
Adam receives a text from Pawel. He makes light of it but Ian suggests they both meet Pawel for a drink later. Adam is hesitant - he'll talk to Pawel when he sees him later.
Adam confronts Pawel and tells him to stop texting. He insists their one night stand was a mistake and tries to explain why it happened. Pawel suggests it's not him Adam should be talking to.
Adam returns home, making his excuses for not going for a drink with Pawel. He tells Ian he's changed his mind about moving away. He doesn't want Ian have to give everything up, so he'll carry on with the arable even though he doesn't agree with it being used for the mega dairy.
But later Adam sees Brian's advert for a new arable manager. Ian begs him not to do anything stupid.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b01ljwsj)
Nicola Benedetti interviewed; Paralympic drama The Best of Men reviewed
With Kirsty Lang.
Violinist Nicola Benedetti discusses the importance of music education and why being a classical musican is not unlike being an Olympic athlete.
As the musician Beck announces that his new album will be released as sheet music only, Paul Gambaccini tells Kirsty how this is an echo of an earlier age in the music industry, when a song's popularity was judged by its sheet music sales
Rob Brydon and Eddie Marsan star in The Best of Men, a TV drama which tells the story of the birth of the Paralympic Games in 1948. Sports writer and former cricketer Ed Smith reviews the programme.
Three of the best reviewed movies of the year have now come to DVD - Once Upon A Time In Anatolia, Kid With A Bike and Le Havre. Sandra Hebron delivers her verdict.
In celebration of the Olympics, the BBC - in partnership with the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh - has selected and recorded a poem representing every single country competing. Each is read by a native of that country who's made their home here in Britain. Every night for the Olympic fortnight Front Row features one of these poems.
Producer Stephen Hughes.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01ljwm2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b01ljwsl)
Media City, Salford
Eddie Mair chairs a live discussion of news and politics from the BBC Philarmonic studio in Salford, Manchester,
with panellists Maajid Nawaz of the counter extremism think tank Quilliam; novelist A L Kennedy; Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, founder of the Black Farmer sausage range; and Father Christopher Jamison of the Catholic church's National Office for Vocation.
Producer: Miles Warde.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b01ljwsn)
Climate for Culture
John Gray reflects on the climate needed for culture to thrive, recalling Orson Welles' quote from the film "The Third Man" that despotism in Italy produced the Renaissance whereas democracy in Switzerland produced the cuckoo clock."We know that art can flourish under despots but we're reluctant to admit it: if creativity and tyranny can co-exist, the value of freedom seems diminished."
Producer:
Sheila Cook.
FRI 21:00 Drama (b01lwdx3)
Paul Theroux - The White Man's Burden
A radio adaptation of Paul Theroux's stage play about the young Rudyard Kipling's humiliating final months as an American resident. The great English writer plans to settle in Vermont with his American wife, but a clash with his brother-in-law results in death threats, a court case and public scandal. Will Kipling manage to keep his head when all about are losing theirs?
Written by Paul Theroux
Adapted and directed by Emma Harding.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b01ldh33)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b01ljwsq)
What has the the London Olympic fortnight taught us about ourselves? Have the anti-London 2012 curmudgeons been pursuaded? And will the feel-good factor last beyond the closing ceremony? We'll be discussing the legacy of Games with a panel of guests. We'll also be asking how the funding for the Syrian opposition pledged by the UK will reach the rebels on the ground? And Paul Moss is in Santiago looking at the wide income inequalities within Chilean society. Presented tonight by Ritula Shah.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01ljwss)
Duty Free
Episode 9
Read before a live studio audience in the BBC Radio Theatre by Meera Syal.
In today's episode; can a happy ending really be in store for Jonkers at the eleventh hour, in spite of his furious mother?
As every woman knows, matchmaking is no easy job. Particularly when you're trying to find a girl for your dull, balding, freshly-divorced cousin and on top of that manage a house full of servants, shop for contraband Prada goods and attend parties every night. Not to mention the fact that your husband's work trips are becoming increasingly frequent, your city is under attack, and your friends can't be trusted. How is a girl to cope?
Jane Austen's Emma is transported to the outrageous social melee of 21st-century Lahore. "Our plucky heroine's cousin, Jonkers, has been dumped by his low-class, slutty secretary, and our heroine has been charged with finding him a suitable wife -- a rich, fair, beautiful, old-family type. Quickly. But, between you, me and the four walls, who wants to marry poor, plain, hapless Jonkers?"
As our heroine social-climbs her way through weddings-sheddings, GTs (get togethers, of course) and ladies' lunches trying to find a suitable girl from the right bagground, she discovers to her dismay that her cousin has his own ideas about his perfect mate. And secretly, she may even agree.
Full of wit and wickedness, Duty Free is a delightful romp through Pakistani high society - although, even as it makes you cry with laughter, it makes you wince at the gulf between our heroine's glitteringly shallow life and the country that is falling apart around her Louboutin-clad feet.
Moni Mohsin, already a huge bestseller in India, has been hailed as a modern-day Jane Austen, and compared to Nancy Mitford and Helen Fielding. Duty Free is social satire at its biting best.
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 23:00 The Now Show (b01ljwsv)
The Now Show 2012 - Live!
Last in series of live Now Shows, as comedians reflect the highs and lows of the Olympics.
A special late 'n' live edition of The Now Show keeping you abreast of all the happenings at the London Olympics. Hosted by Punt and Dennis with Jon Holmes and Margaret Cabourn-Smith.
FRI 23:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (b01l7sft)
Series 2
Episode 5
Jay Rayner presents episode five in the series of BBC Radio 4's food panel show. Each week the programme travels around the country to visit interesting culinary places, and answer questions from local food-lovers.
Recorded in front of a live audience, The Kitchen Cabinet is for anyone who cooks at home, not just the experts.
In this programme the team are in Cumbria discussing damsons, salt marsh lamb, and Morecambe Bay Shrimps as well as taking questions on all aspects of cooking and eating.
This week the panel features: Rachel McCormack, the Glaswegian cook who is also an expert on Catalan cooking; Stefan Gates, self-styled food adventurer and Gastronaut, Tim Hayward the acclaimed food critic, writer, and broadcaster, and Dr Annie Gray, a food historian who specializes in Georgian and Victorian dining.
The Kitchen Cabinet is fresh and funny, but may well change the way you think about food.
Food Consultant: Anna Colquhoun.
Produced by Robert Abel and Darby Dorras
A Somethin' Else Production for BBC Radio 4.