The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
An eyewitness records the fitful progress that Leonardo was making on his masterpiece and the frustration of the prior of Santa Maria delle Grazie at the artist's capricious regime. But when his Last Supper was finally finished, the world came to wonder at this new marvel.
Nigel Anthony reads from Leonardo and the Last Supper by Ross King.
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Revd Dr Janet Wootton.
The Cuban Missile Crisis gets the Musical treatment, courtesy of an iPM listener; in the week that the London Paralympics kicked off, the nation's favourite Paralympian, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, reads your news; and we hear from a man who wrote to us to say that his wife has struck up an intimate relationship with an old friend, following a reacquaintance on Facebook.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
Jules Hudson is in North Yorkshire to find out about the history of the landscape around Richmond Castle and the surrounding Dales. Founded by the Normans around 1070, just a few years after the Battle of Hastings, Richmond Castle was a formidable addition to the landscape and firmly stamped its authority on the people and the surrounding land. The town of Richmond slowly grew up around it and the castle still sits imposingly above the River Swale. During the First World War, the prison cells at Richmond Castle were used to hold the Richmond 16. The graffiti that survives on the walls of these cells includes that written by these conscientious objectors, sixteen men who were among the first in this country to refuse to fight on moral or religious grounds.
Jules also hears about the landscape history of the Dales around Richmond and the ways in which people down centuries have used the land, including the rich heritage of the lead mining industry.
Caz Graham investigates how farming cooperatives work in the UK, Europe and globally. And asks whether working together could improve the future for UK farmers.
In the Netherlands up to 90% of dairy farmers are part of a cooperative. This compares to around 30% in the UK. The Farming Minister Jim Paice says coops have a big part to play in long-term role in Britain's dairy industry. Farming Today visit coops, large and small, in the UK and Europe.
The UN has designated 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, the FAO, explain the impact farming cooperatives have across the world.
Presented by Caz Graham.
Morning news and current affairs presented by John Humphrys and Evan Davis. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Lynda Bellingham, chimp circus, cameraphone inventor, Claire Grogan, anaesthetic awareness, Robert Cray's Inheritance Tracks
Suzy Klein and Richard Coles with studio guest Lynda Bellingham. This weekend in 1939 more than 400,000 pets were killed at the outbreak of World Ward Two. We talk to Dr Hilda Kean who's researched this forgotten piece of history. Fifteen years ago Philippe Kahn invented the camera phone which has revolutionised the way we view the world and communicate. Nicholas McCarthy, who has only one hand, talks about his life as a concert pianist, Sally Pearson shares her experience of waking up on the operating table, Singer Clare Grogan takes a daytrip around North London with JP Devlin, and the Inheritance Tracks of blues guitarist Robert Cray.
Blackpool's town motto is 'Progress'. And in the past 150 years the combination of brilliant entrepreneurs and a town council keen to promote tourism, turned Blackpool into the country's most popular seaside destination for working people - with annual visits topping 17 million at one time.
One example of progress was the town's early adoption of electric street lighting and an electric tramway by the sea. This gave rise to the first Illuminations, 100 year ago.
The Illuminations 'the greatest free show on earth' continue to draw large numbers of visitors. Laurence Llewelyn Bowen, who loves Blackpool, is creative curator of the Illuminations designing lights and tableaux, and he presents this programme.
All Lit Up begins with Laurence among the crowds and celebrities at the centenary Switch On on Friday night. We then tour Blackpool to hear his tribute to the exceptional architecture which has given the town is magical distinctiveness through the years - the restored Winter Garden and Tower, the elegant 19th century buildings of the piers and the Modernist casino building at the Pleasure Beach.
We'll hear from local MP Gordon Marsden, Professor Fred Gray and CEO of the Pleasure Beach Amanda Thompson about what Blackpool can do to build on its seaside heritage and continue its appeal to the next generation.
As digital technology gets ever more integrated into our lives we present a special edition of The Forum from the Aspen Festival of Ideas in the USA. What effect does digital technology have on how we think, live and learn? Should we worry about creating virtual echo chambers where we only hear what we want? Or should we celebrate the increased interconnectivity the internet brings? Bridget Kendall's guests bring very different perspectives to bear:
Joi Ito is the Director of the MIT media lab and a leading writer on innovation, global technology policy, and the role of the internet in transforming society in substantial and positive ways. He believes that the internet enables decentralized innovation, a type of openness which in turn is shaping approaches in science and education.
Mike Gallagher is president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the trade association representing U.S. computer and video game publishers. He argues that we can achieve connectedness and empathy through game play and that playing digital games are another way of forming communities.
We also hear from Julie Taymor, a filmmaker and the innovative theatre director who turned the animated film The Lion King into a big theatrical hit. She cautions us about the limiting power of two dimensional screens.
The BBC's foreign correspondents take a closer look at the stories behind the headlines. Presented by Kate Adie.
The Government is taking action against claims management companies. They are the firms that claim to help people get redress and compensation for mis-sold products. Two things are planned by the Ministry of Justice which regulates the sector. Kevin Rousell, Head of Claims Management Regulation, at the MoJ and Andrew Wigmore from the Claims Standards Council speak to the programme.
If you or a relative have been paying for care that should have been free under the NHS, you'll need to act quickly if you want to try and get back that money. The deadline for starting a claim is 30th September 2012. After that date, you won't recover the full amount. You might not even realise that you can get free care - and that includes care in your own home or in a specialist care home. But you can, if the main needs are assessed as medical rather than social. The NHS in England will pay the full amount. The law is different elsewhere in the UK. The programme hears from Daughne Taylor, who recovered nearly £84,000 costs paid towards her father's care. And talks to Lisa Morgan, a partner at solicitors Hugh James.
On the back of your credit or debit card is a three digit number the CVV or Card Verification Value. You should only give it out over the phone or online. But some retailers are asking for it in face to face transactions. Can they do that? Should they do that? And can you refuse? Bob Howard reports.
The great points purge. If you are using your MBNA credit card to save up points to buy something special - beware! They run out after three years. We talk to a man who lost 30,000 points which he had been saving up to buy an iPad. So when - and why - do points expire? Rachel Springall from Moneyfacts explains all.
The interviewee on the previous show, Caitlin Moran returns to interview her comedy hero, Jennifer Saunders. They talk shoes, Bananarama and women in comedy.
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs a live discussion of news and politics from Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, with the former Conservative MP, author and broadcaster Edwina Currie, the Chief Political Correspondent of The Independent, Steve Richards, the Chief Executive of the gay rights organisation, Stonewall, Ben Summerskill and the Sunday Times Columnist, Minette Marrin.
Listeners' calls and emails in response to this week's edition of Any Questions?
The much acclaimed Chichester Festival production of David Hare's play is brought to radio. Set in the 60s in Lancing College, Sussex, where the author went to school.
A pin sharp young pupil ( an astonishing professional debut from Alex Lawther) is cut off from his fellow boys by virtue of his own intellect, background and questioning spirit.
The school, with its unyielding and rigid outlook on life, leaves the boy isolated and confused. In an unlikely meeting with the free-spirited mother of another pupil (Anna Chancellor) her generosity and sound advice offers the boy a world of kindness and possibility.
The original music was composed by Paul Englishby and the original theatre sound was designed by Ian Dickinson.
The Chichester Festival production of South Downs was first performed at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester.
While for many, it will be always associated with brown bread, the Largo from Dvorak's New World Symphony is an enduring a piece that never fails to move and inspire. We hear from the anti- apartheid campaigner Albie Sachs, who explains that through whistling the theme while in solitary confinement, he was able to make contact with the wider world and kept his spirit and hope alive.
Margaret Caldicott recalls the important role the piece played in her mother's life while in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.
Highlights from the Woman's Hour week, including the Norwegian lawyer who prosecuted Anders Behring Breivik. Novelist Dame Jacqueline Wilson on the inspiration of writer E Nesbit, a look at support available to parents with learning disabilities, the revelation of family secrets, senior civil servants reaching the glass ceiling, the role of intimacy in relationships, and music from digital diva Imogen Heap.
Presented by Jane Garvey.
Clive talks to Dead Ringer Phil Cornwell, who's moved from Stella Street to London's West End to star as Charlie in 'One Man, Two Guvnors'. Set in the criminal underworld of Brighton in 1963, one man must keep his two guvnors apart at all costs. But is it that simple? 'One Man, Two Guvnors' at Theatre Royal Haymarket from Monday 3rd September.
Actress and 'Iron Lady', Alexandra Roach talks to Clive about starring alongside Meryl Streep as the young Margaret Thatcher and her current role as shipwreck survivor Helene in 'Hunderby'. Washed ashore in a gothic village, populated by fiends, physicians, hunchbacks and crones, Helene is swept off her feet by a widowed pastor. But can she keep her dark past a secret? 'Hunderby' is on Sky Atlantic HD on Mondays at
What have the Romans done for us? Left some terrific art according to Alastair Sooke in his new series Treaures of Ancient Rome. From glorious mosaics and masterpieces in marble, bronze and paint, the series follows the art and style of Ancient Rome from its Republican beginnings, the extravagance of the emperors to the decline and fall of an empire. The three part series begins on Monday 3rd September at
Windswept Jo Bunting has a typically British conversation about the weather with author, broadcaster and all-round ray of sunshine, Charlie Connelly. His new book 'Bring Me Sunshine' breezes through the lives of meteorological eccentrics, rainmakers and cloud-busters to bring us a rain-soaked and sun-kissed guide to our weather.
With a double helping of musical spice from Brooklyn based Bhangra Funk and Dhol n' Brass band Red Baraat, who perform 'Shruggy Ji' and 'Chaal Baby'.
Claire Bolderson profiles Frances O'Grady, soon to become the first woman to lead the Trades Union Congress. She hears from colleagues and close observers of the trade union scene about how she has risen so far, how she has dealt with the macho traditions of union leadership, and what kind of challenge she may mount to the government as austerity bites.
Tom Sutcliffe and his guests writers Susan Jeffreys, Giles Fraser and Jim White review the week's cultural highlights.
Tim Pigott-Smith plays Prospero in Adrian Noble's production of The Tempest which has just opened at the Theatre Royal in Bath. This staging of Shakespeare's final play is based on the production which Noble directed at the Old Globe in San Diego last year.
Jennifer Egan's 2010 novel A Visit from the Goon Squad won her the Pulitzer Prize. Her follow up - Black Box - had the distinction of making its first appearance as a series of tweets in May. Written in series of terse 'stanzas' it follows a young American on a dangerous espionage mission in the Mediterranean.
Peter Strickland's film Berberian Sound Studio is set in the 1970s and star's Toby Jones as Gilderoy - a mousy sound editor from Dorking who is hired to work on a film in Italy. The film is a 'giallo' horror film and - subjected to increasingly disturbing images and the claustrophobic and oppressive atmosphere of the studio - Gilderoy begins to unravel.
Having played Silvio Dante in The Sopranos, Steve Van Zandt appears as another mobster in Lilyhammer on BBC4. Frank Tagliano needs to disappear after testifying against a Mafia don, so he asks the FBI to arrange a new life for him in Norway. He thought Lillehammer looked pretty when he watched the 1994 Olympics, but it's not quite what he was expecting.
As a young artist Tony Cragg had a studio behind the Science Museum in London and drew inspiration from objects in all the museums along Exhibition Road. Now that the road has been partially pedestrianised, Cragg has been commissioned to site some of his idiosyncratic sculptures along the street and in the V&A, Science and Natural History museums.
John Cage was one of the Twentieth Century's most controversial and exciting musicians. On the centenary of his birth, English composer and protégé Gavin Bryars explores Cage's archive appearances to examine what lay behind the American's artistic personality and to consider how the reception of his work and ideas has changed.
Throughout his sixty-year career, John Cage was a composer whose radical aesthetic outlook and unashamed iconoclasm challenged audiences, critics and fellow composers alike. Cage's most infamous achievement is undoubtedly 4'33", a piece which calls for its performer to remain silent on stage for the prescribed time, but - as the archive interviews and performances reveal - Cage was continually rethinking what the word "music" could mean and forever defending his work in the face of confused crowds, hostile critics and - amazingly - an angry community of Buddhist monks!
Gavin talks to Jean Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, who takes inspiration from Cage's ideas of letting "sounds be themselves", as well as Brian Eno, a composer fascinated by the notions of process-based music that he traces back to Cage. Dancer Carolyn Brown recalls the legendary Happenings of the 1950s, where painting, music and dance collided, and Stewart Lee offers his take on Cage's command of timing, comic or otherwise.
For Gavin Bryars, a 1966 performance in London by John Cage and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company was a life-changing moment, inspiring him to pursue a career as a composer. For a new generation who could never have such proximity to the man and his ideas, the archive of interviews and performances that remain offer a window into the world of a true icon.
The final part of Thomas Mann's Nobel Prize winning story of a 19th Century merchant family struggling to keep pace with changing times. J Thomas and Gerda's son Hanno shows no aptitude for business, but may make a great musician.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
How should we teach? Why are we obsessed with testing? Are we really exploiting the benefits of the internet and technology? And to what extent can young people teach themselves?
Britain's education system is going through a period of huge upheaval. A new curriculum comes in next year, the way children are tested is being revamped, and academies and free schools now have new freedoms to teach what and how they want.
The internet means children can access untold amounts of knowledge and new ways of learning - as well as interact with each other and their teachers in ways that were unimaginable just ten years ago. So how are schools and pupils responding to these dramatic advances?
John Humphrys chairs a panel of leading education experts including cognitive scientist Professor Guy Claxton and union leader Mary Bousted to ask how we should teach.
Another edition of the 48th series of Quote... Unquote, the popular quotations programme presented and devised by Nigel Rees. The guests this week are the broadcaster Samira Ahmed, actor Simon Jones, historian Dominic Sandbrook, and journalist Dominic Lawson. The reader is Peter Jefferson.
Roger McGough challenges the notion that 'Happiness writes white' as he begins a new series with a cheering selection of poetry.
There are poems celebrating a sense of freedom in summertime by Elizabeth Jennings and Robert Frost. There's a delicate poem by Norman MacCaig about the beauty of rain and a selection of poems about weddings including a moving and joyful one that Ted Hughes wrote about the day he married Sylvia Plath. With Plath in her pink woollen knitted dress and Hughes beside her in his thrice dyed corduroy jacket, he talks of being subjected to a strange tense: that of the spellbound future.
Even poets not known for their cheeriness, Emily Dickinson and Charles Bukowski have happiness pouring out of them.
There are also poems about the joys of gardens by Kipling and the ancient Chinese poet Po Chu-i, and a beautiful Ethiopian tribal love poem.
The readers are Pippa Haywood, Patrick Romer and Harry Livingstone.
SUNDAY 02 SEPTEMBER 2012
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b01m84tk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Robin Black - If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This (b00sm5mc)
The Guide
'If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This' is the debut collection by US author Robin Black, whose work has drawn comparisons with that of Lorrie Moore and Alice Munroe.
A father wrestles with his spirited blind daughter's unexpected independence, and with his own role as her father, as he helps her to prepare for life away at college.
Robin Black's stories and essays have appeared in numerous US magazines and newspapers, where she has also won several awards, but this is her first published collection. She is currently teaching creative writing at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania, and lives with her family in Philadelphia.
Reader: William Hope
Abridger: Richard Hamilton
Producer: Justine Willett.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01m84tm)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01m84tp)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01m84tr)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b01m84tt)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b01m9gpv)
The bells of St.Mary's Church, Abergavenny.
SUN 05:45 Profile (b01m9f1z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b01m84tw)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b01m9mps)
Familiarity Breeds Content
Familiarity plays an important part in life. Familiar people, familiar places, familiar objects can provide us with security, strength and comfort. Why is it then that the most common phrase that we associate with the word familiarity is that it breeds contempt? Mark Tully asks whether it is actually more likely to be a source of happiness and investigates the paradox that causes this common source of contentment to be so frequently overlooked. With music by Lyle Lovett and Sir Henry Wood and with readings from Katherine Mansfield and U. A. Fanthorpe, he celebrates the pleasures of the familiar.
The readers are Philip Franks and Grainne Keenan.
Produced by Frank Stirling
A Unique Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b01m9mqj)
A peer with a passion for pedigree pigs. Sarah Swadling meets the President of the British Pig Association, the Marquess of Salisbury. He is an enthusiast for traditional breeds and Sarah joins him in the pig tent at the annual show held at his home, Hatfield House.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b01m84ty)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b01m84v0)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b01m9mx2)
Islamic leaders in Pakistan back an 11 year old girl accused of desecrating the Quran - Journalist Shahid Saidullah says the move will make no difference
In Ghana when a women is accused of witchcraft she will be driven out of her home and usually end up in a witch camp with hundreds of other women who then have to rely on aid from charities to survive. Kati Whittaker reports from one of these camps and Edward also speaks to Adwoa Kluviste - Ghana Country Director for Action Aid.
Some call him "the American Pope" - the most powerful and charismatic church leader of the modern era. But for others, Cardinal-Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, is presiding over a disastrous showdown with the White House over the Health Care Bill, that could lead to an irrevocable split between the conservative and liberal wings of the American church. Matt Wells reports
Ahead of the European Court hearing of four Christian religious discrimination cases, Joshua Rozenberg unpacks possible outcomes and implications for the British legal system. Is the hearing a good thing for religious freedoms in Britain? Andrew Marsh from the Christian Legal centre tells Edward why they have taken the cases to Europe.
A discussion on how the language and ideas expressed in the New Testament affect our perceptions of disability. Edward talks to Professor John Hull and Professor John Swinton.
A "Profoundly negative culture" within the Diocese of Chichester led to two decades of Child protection failure says a report this week. Bishop Paul Butler Head of Child Protection in the Church of England talks to Edward about what has been learnt from the Chichester report.
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b01m9mx4)
Railway Children
Ian Hislop presents the Radio 4 Appeal for Railway Children.
Reg Charity:1058991
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal, mark the back of the envelope Railway Children.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b01m84v2)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b01m84v4)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b01m9my1)
Holy Islands: Bishop Stephen Oliver visits Caldey Island in the in the last of the summer services exploring the spirituality of islands on Britain's coastline. As a place of prayer and pilgrimage, the community of Cistercian Brothers live by the old saying: "to work is to pray". Producer: Sian Baker.
SUN 08:50 A Point of View (b01m6d0d)
The alchemy of memory
John Gray explores the role of memory in giving meaning to our lives. Through the writings of J.G. Ballard, he reflects on how we struggle to preserve our past but at the same time sometimes long to leave it behind.
Gray praises the power of Ballard's imagination - and his enchanting fables - to make good all this.
His conclusion is upbeat. "Through the alchemy of memory the leaden buildings in which [Ballard] wandered as a boy became the golden vistas of his fiction, and the traumas of his childhood were transmuted into images of fulfilment".
Producer:
Adele Armstrong.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b01m9mzz)
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 (b01m9n01)
For detailed descriptions please see daily programmes
Writer .....Keri Davies
Director .....Rosemary Watts
Editor .....John Yorke & Vanessa Whitburn
Shula Hebden Lloyd .....Judy Bennett
David Archer .....Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer .....Felicity Finch
Elizabeth Pargetter .....Alison Dowling
Freddie Pargetter .....Jack Firth
Lily Pargetter .....Georgie Feller
Adam Macy .....Andrew Wincott
Matt Crawford .....Kim Durham
Lilian Bellamy .....Sunny Ormonde
Fallon Rogers .....Joanna Van Kampen
Jamie Perks .....Dan Ciotkowski
Emma Grundy .....Emerald O'Hanrahan
Edward Grundy .....Barry Farrimond
Mike Tucker .....Terry Molloy
Vicky Tucker .....Rachel Atkins
Roy Tucker .....Ian Pepperell
Hayley Tucker .....Lorraine Coady
Lynda Snell .....Carole Boyd
Jazzer McCreary .....Ryan Kelly
Harry Mason .....Michael Shelford
Elona Makepeace .....Eri Shuka
Darrell Makepeace .....Dan Hagley
Rhys Williams .....Scott Arthur
Mr Chalmers .....Anton Lesser
Arthur Walters .....David Hargreaves
Joyce Walter .....Ann Beach.
SUN 11:15 The Reunion (b01m9n0t)
Poll Tax
In this week's Reunion, Sue MacGregor and guests revisit one of the most dramatic battles of Margaret Thatcher's premiership: the poll tax.
The Community Charge, or poll tax as it was known, was designed to replace the rates and to make local councils more accountable to their voters by charging every resident for the use of local services. But with a wealthy landowner potentially paying the same as a dustman, it was seen by many as grossly unfair. A massive campaign of civil disobedience followed, that saw even Members of Parliament jailed for refusing to pay their bills.
On the eve of its introduction, on 31st March 1990, thousands of people demonstrated in London against the Poll Tax. But as the day wore on, police and demonstrators clashed violently. Buildings were set on fire, cars overturned, windows smashed, and shops looted. There were accusations of police brutality, and agents provocateurs. Dozens of protestors and police were injured. For many looking back, it was the final nail in the coffin of Mrs Thatcher's Britain.
By the end of that year Mrs Thatcher was forced to step down. Months later, the poll tax was scrapped.
Joining Sue MacGregor to recall the period is: Lord Baker, who as Local Government Minister helped devise the Community Charge, Chris Brearley, one of the civil servants who worked on the legislation, David Magor, Assistant Treasurer of Oxford City Council, Danny Burns, who co-ordinated resistance to the tax in the South West, and Chris Moyers, who started up her own protest group near Edinburgh to oppose the Scottish poll tax.
Producer: Deborah Dudgeon
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:00 Just a Minute (b01m5hk3)
Series 64
Episode 4
Nicholas Parsons challenges Tim Vine, Jason Byrne, Gyles Brandreth and Paul Merton to speak for 60 seconds. From 2012.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b01m9n2z)
A Guide to Spice, Part 3: Mustard
Sheila Dillon explores a food story of decline and revival, British mustard.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b01m84v6)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b01m9n31)
The latest national and international news with James Robbins, including an in-depth look at events around the world. Email: wato@bbc.co.uk; twitter: #theworldthisweekend.
SUN 13:30 No Triumph, No Tragedy (b01m9n33)
Mark Goffeney
When, aged eight, Mark Goffeney strolled into a guitar shop to enrol for lessons, the owner thought he was being kidded. Mark had no arms, the result of an unexplained birth defect. He didn't even have prosthetic limbs, because he had found they were more trouble than they were worth. It's a measure of Mark's persuasiveness, even then, that the shop proprietor took him on as a pupil. He taught him to tune and play the guitar with his feet, laying it in front of him on the floor. He's been a highly respected rock musician for more than twenty years, running his own bands, and touring the world.
This was only the start of Mark's career of choices which apparently would make life as difficult for him as possible. In No Triumph, No Tragedy, he talks with humour, warmth, and practical common sense, about the philosophy that there's usually a solution, if you think hard enough about it. Only Mark, for instance, could choose tiling roofs as an early occupation. When asked how he got the tiles up there, he seemed faintly surprised. It involved, logically enough, getting down on the ground, manoeuvring them with his feet into a container that had a strap or a rope, and then a lot of wriggling till he got it on his back. Simple enough!
He used similar techniques bringing up his three children. He'd always done his share, but when the marriage broke up, amicably but irrevocably, his former wife asked him if he would take custody of the children while she put herself through college! They preferred to live with him, she said. He did it without a second thought, devising ways of lifting, carrying and feeding them. The only problem, he says, was fighting off the older women who wanted to rescue them from his tender mercies. His life as a touring musician was a bigger handicap to childcare than his so-called "handicap". "It's hard to check kids are doing their homework in the wings, when you're onstage doing a gig," he explained.
Recently, Mark has become something of an online sensation, with his act receiving hundreds of thousands of "hits" on YouTube. Is there a danger that people are more concerned with how he plays than what he plays? He says he doesn't care, as long as they end up hearing the music. He drives, as he does most things, with his feet. It works fine, but it's also led to the biggest scare of his life. Late one night he was stopped by a cop. He then heard the dreaded words: "put your hands out of the window; then get out of the car". He tried explaining that he had no hands. The cop said he'd shoot him if he didn't put his hands out of the window. It was only the word "disabled", which Mark doesn't use very often, which finally persuaded the officer to check. "So how was I supposed to know," he said grumpily. Listening to Mark Goffeney on No Triumph, No Tragedy should avoid such mistakes in the future.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b01m6crj)
Norfolk
Eric Robson and the team join gardeners in Norfolk. Bob Flowerdew, Chris Beardshaw and Bunny Guinness are on the panel. In addition, Christine Walkden makes some surprising discoveries about birds' feeding habits.
Produced by Amy Racs & Robert Abel
A Somethin' Else Production for BBC Radio 4.
Questions answered in the programme:
Q. Which fruit trees should I plant in a new school orchard. I'm particularly interested in peach trees.
The variety 'Avalon Pride' can withstand peach leaf curl. Unfortunately, peach trees would crop during the school holidays. Alternatively, try Apricot. These varieties come recommended: 'Flavourcot' and 'Tomcot'. In addition, medlar, mulberry, quince, Mirabelle plum, fig or 'Golden Hornet' crab apple trees would be suitable.
Q. I've a lichen-type growth on my Acer and Salix. What is it and how do I treat it?
Lichen is a sign of clean air, moist atmosphere, but most importantly, that your trees are struggling a little. Try feeding them.
Q. When and how should I take cuttings from a Brugmansia?
Broadly speaking, you can prune and propagate at any time. To propagate: take 20-30cm cuttings, insert half-way into loam-based compost. Keep moist and cover with half plastic bottle.
Q. I grow Gardeners Delight tomatoes in an unheated greenhouse. Can the panel recommend larger tomatoes which are as flavoursome?
The varieties recommended were: Marmande, Pink brandywine, Alicante, Shirley.
Q. I've 7 x 7ft Hebe which is very woody. Can I prune it? I've been advised to dig it up.
You can prune them, but it's best to wait until the end of May/early June when they are in full growth. Prune it in stages, i.e. half the stems one year and the other half, the next. You may want to take a cutting incase the plant does not grow back.
Q. When a tree is pollarded or regularly pruned, is the root system reduced? I'm thinking of a Catalpa.
Yes, regularly pruning can reduce a tree's root system. Summer pruning can also cause the root system to die back.
Q. How can I encourage my hydrangea to flower?
Many hydrangeas will only flower on one year-old wood. Also, try feeding with potash.
Features
The varieties mentioned in Matthew Biggs' Eucalyptus feature are:
Eucalyptus paucilfora, Eucalyptus niphophila, Eucalyptus archeri, Eucalyptus risdonii, Eucalyptus stellulata, Eucalyptus Crenula, Eucalyptus Globulus.
SUN 14:45 Witness (b01m9n83)
Farzad Bazoft - Observer journalist in Baghdad
In September 1989 the Observer journalist Farzad Bazoft was arrested in Baghdad and accused of spying for Britain. Six months later he was executed by the Iraqi authorities.
A British nurse called Daphne Parish was also arrested. She was eventually released and returned to the UK. She, and British diplomat Robin Kealy, spoke to Witness about their memories of Farzad Bazoft.
SUN 15:00 Classic Serial (b01m9n85)
John Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath
Episode 1
By John Steinbeck
Dramatised by Donna Franceschild
A Pulitzer Prize winning novel about economic migration and the endurance of the human spirit.
Set against the backdrop of America's Great Depression and Dust Bowl, a family of farmers from Oklahoma head west in search of work, only to discover thousands like them are also on the move.
Stars Robert Sheehan as Tom, Zubin Varla as Preacher Casy, Michelle Fairley as Ma and Steven McNicol as Pa
Michelle Fairley won Best Actress for her performance at the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2013.
Director: Kirsty Williams.
SUN 16:00 Bookclub (b01m9ntb)
Victoria Hislop - The Island
Victoria Hislop talks to James Naughtie and readers about her debut novel The Island, a fictional account of a real life leper colony, the island of Spinalonga, just off the coast of Crete. First published in 2005, The Island has now sold over a million copies.
Victoria says that when she first went to Spinalonga, as a curious tourist, she had no idea that leprosy still even existed in the 20th century. She thought it had been wiped out hundreds of years ago. Even today, around 500 new cases are diagnosed every year in India and South America.
Before writing novels Victoria was a successful travel journalist. On that first visit, her initial idea had been to write a piece for one of the Sunday newspapers, but after fifteen minutes wandering around the abandoned village on the island, she decided to tell the story in fiction instead.
The resulting novel tells the story of a family beset by two cases of leprosy in the 1930s and 50s, before the cure was found. In the 1930s, Eleni, a school teacher in the village opposite the leper colony, catches the disease, probably from a pupil. As the pair are exiled to Spinalonga, we see how her husband and two daughters cope in her absence, one of whom will also succumb to the disease some fifteen years later.
Victoria explores the shame and stigma of the disease through these characters and their lives and love affairs in a family saga stretching to present day London.
October's Bookclub choice : Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Producer : Dymphna Flynn.
SUN 16:30 Poetry Please (b01m9p7x)
Roger McGough presents a varied selection of listeners' poetry requests with work by Frost, Yeats and Julia Copus. The readers are Pippa Haywood, Patrick Romer, Harry Livingstone and Philip Franks.
Poems that celebrate the miniscule and the massive, and from all sorts of perspectives and dimensions in between, starting with Robert Frost observing a tiny mite scurrying across his book. Moon poems feature too with work by Carol Ann Duffy, Ted Hughes and Yeats's deceptively simple yet beguiling tale of The Cat and The Moon. There's a famous love poem by ee cummings, and a skilful and moving 'mirror' poem by Julia Copus. There are also a handful of poems on the perspectives of war with work by the late Wislawa Szymborksa. And there's a note of warning about the passing of time, by Derek Mahon, in his poem 'Dog Days'.
Producer: Sarah Langan.
SUN 17:00 The Lifecycle of a Bullet (b01m5k37)
A deadly weapon and an economic cornerstone, the impact of a bullet spreads far and wide. In this documentary BBC Defence Correspondent Caroline Wyatt takes an extraordinary journey through the defence industry as she tracks the fate of a bullet. From manufacture to gun barrel, Caroline tracks her bullet from the docks where the explosive propellant are imported, through the Cheshire factory where it is machined, to testing and out to its final destination - war.
With its deep historical roots, its reliance of raw materials from all over the world and its central role in the economy this most basic of military equipment involves a huge cross-section of British society, all working for a war effort that sees millions of rounds produced every week of the year. By the time she sees the shot fired, Caroline will have met the huge variety of people employed in its creation.
As she tracks the bullet's journey, Caroline will ask what would happen to our economy if peace bloomed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and how people feel about making products that are designed to kill.
Producer: Lucy Proctor.
SUN 17:40 Profile (b01m9f1z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b01m84vb)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b01m84vd)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01m84vg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b01m9q7b)
Gerry Northam learns which singer Elton John regards as the greatest ever recorded. There's also the melody which inmates sang to keep sane in Japanese prisoner of war camps. And the life of one of Mississippi's original bluesmen.
We hear how the satire of two thousand years ago finds echoes in current stand-up comedy.
Maxine Peake returns to Radio 4.
And the bleak pen of Cormac McCarthy portrays the despair of a 1950s British holiday camp.
Today - Radio 4
Soul Music - Radio 4
Poetic Justice - Radio 4
Away with Words - BBC Radio Leeds
Before They Were Famous - Radio 4
Great Lives - Radio 4
Book of the Week - Leonardo and the Last Supper - Radio 4
15 Minute Drama: Craven - Radio 4
Hoboing wih Honeyboy - Radio 2
Brian Gulliver's Travels - Radio 4
All Lit Up: A Century of Illumination in Blackpool - Radio 4
Bernie TAupin - A Conversation with the Brown Dirt Cowboy - Radio 2
The Elton John Show - Radio 2
Producer: Bernadette McConnell.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b01m9q7d)
Roy's lending Vicky a hand shifting piles of magazines from the study to clear room for the nursery. Roy chastises Vicky for attempting to help lift a heavy table. He is happy when his father returns, believing he will be of help with the larger items.
However Mike is annoyed to find his 'carefully' catalogued magazines everywhere and asks Roy to leave him and Vicky alone. Mike doesn't want to be rushed into anything but Vicky says she'll clear the nursery herself while she can still move around with ease.
At The Stables, Freddie is telling his mother about his riding skills when Shula arrives asking him to untack Topper while she deals with a livery problem. However Elizabeth finds her son shortening the stirrups so that he can ride Topper.
Elizabeth is initially reluctant says he can just ride Topper round the ring. However, Freddie takes on some jumps despite his mother's instructions. When a motorbike backfires, Topper rears in shock and throws Freddie.
Freddie emerges from A&E with a broken collar bone. Furious Shula tells Elizabeth that she should be stricter with her son and have the guts to say no.
SUN 19:15 Alex Horne Presents The Horne Section (b01m9qkz)
Alex Horne Presents the Horne Section: Edinburgh 2012
A one-off Edinburgh special of music and comedy from Alex Horne and his 5 piece band. With special guests Al Murray and poet Tim Key.
Alex Horne .... Host
Joe Auckland .... Trumpet and Banjo
Mark Brown .... Saxophone and guitar
Will Collier .... Bass
Ben Reynolds .... Drums
Joe Stilgoe .... Keyboards
Al Murray .... Guest
Tim Key .... Guest
Producer .... Julia McKenzie.
SUN 19:45 Comic Fringes (b01m9qlw)
Series 8
'Club Sandwich'
Mark Watson completes the line-up of literary comedians specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 to write and perform their own short stories in front of an audience, recorded live at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
SUN 20:00 Feedback (b01m6crq)
Is BBC radio suffering from an increase in technical problems? Many listeners think so, and over the last few months have sent in a flood of examples as part of Feedback's Operation Drop Out. Dropped lines, disappearing interviewees and correspondents who sound like Daleks. Roger asks technology controller Peter Coles what is going on. And the Today programme's Foreign Affairs Correspondent Mike Thomson reveals how a dropped line left him AWOL in North Korea.
History was made this week when Radio 4's Woman's Hour and 5Live's Men's Hour got together for a joint programme, broadcast simultaneously on both networks. Was it love across a crowded studio? And what did the listeners make of it? Roger gets the gossip from presenters Jane Garvey and Tim Samuels and editors Alice Feinstein and Gloria Abramoff.
In the hunt for Feedback's very own jingle, we reveal some lyrical, wry and frankly epic listener compositions. Do keep them coming.
And finally, we plan to hand a bound volume of your suggestions to the new Director General George Entwistle on his first day in the job, Monday 17th September. So let us know what you think should be in his in-tray.
Presented by Roger Bolton
Produced by Kate Taylor
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b01m6crn)
Neil Armstrong, Meles Zenawi, Carlo Curley and Phyllis Diller
Matthew Bannister on
The first man to set foot on the moon, Neil Armstrong. We hear the story of that historic voyage plus his classmates at school, his fellow Korean war pilot and the Professor who taught alongside him after he left NASA.
Also: the flamboyant Carlo Curley who made it his mission to bring organ music to the widest possible audience.
Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, once a darling of the West, he lost international support after his violent crackdown on the opposition
And Phyllis Diller, said to be America's first female stand up comedian.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (b01m9cvs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 on Saturday]
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b01m9mx4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 In Business (b01m68w4)
Face the Music
Public spending cuts are putting a big squeeze on orchestras all over the world. Peter Day hears how musicians are trying to find new ways of ensuring that the bands play on.
Producer: Ben Crighton
Editor: Stephen Chilcott.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b01m9s3q)
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 (b01m9s3v)
Episode 119
Nick Watt of The Guardian analyses how the newspapers are covering the biggest stories in Westminster and beyond.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b01m68vp)
Matthew Sweet meets with actor Toby Jones to discuss the weird word of the Berberian Sound studio, director Peter Strickland's love letter to Italian horror films of the 1970s. How do you make money from a British film? Producers Lisa Marie Russo and Matthew Justice discuss. Plus, Mark Gatiss rounds off his selection of favourite biopics with Gods and Monsters, starring Ian Mckellan as director James Whale.
Producer: Craig Smith.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b01m9mps)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 03 SEPTEMBER 2012
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b01m84wj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b01m5nls)
Italian Family 2: Naples
Italy, home to the Pope and the Holy See, perhaps the most Catholic of all countries, is undergoing a peculiarly un-Catholic crisis; it now has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. There are so few children being born that if the current trend persists, traditional Italians are at risk of dying out in just a handful of generations. How can the nation famed for Romanticism, for enormous affectionate families, for Mamma Mia and for an enviable certainty that all you need is good food, good wine and your family around you, be the same nation that no longer gives birth? Laurie travels to the South of Italy and visits the sole-remaining glove maker in Naples, in an attempt to discover whether the Italian family business is heading for extinction. He also explores whether organised crime is a distortion of Italian family values - or their logical extension.
Producer: Charlie Taylor.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b01m9gpv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01m84wl)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01m84wn)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01m84wq)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b01m84ws)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01mby20)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Revd Dr Janet Wootton.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b01mby22)
It's the wettest summer since records began and the weather has delayed the farmers bringing in the wheat harvest. Glenn Mason is a trader for Openfield, a Lincolnshire based co-operative, which deals with 20 percent of the grain grown in the UK. He tells Farming Today that it has gathered in less half of the expected grain.
The weather has also affected English wine producers who say rain and a lack of summer sunshine will delay this year's grape harvest. Vineyard manager Mike Garfield talks to Georgina Windsor about the weather damage at The Three Choirs vineyard in Gloucestershire.
Farmers in Scotland are being offered free tests to see if their animals are infected by the Schmallenberg virus. The virus causes abortion and deformities in calves and lambs. It's a joint initiative between the Scottish Government and NFU Scotland to try and stop the disease moving north of the border.
Presented by Caz Graham and produced in Birmingham by Ruth Sanderson.
MON 05:57 Weather (b01m84wv)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 06:00 Today (b01mby52)
Morning news and current affairs with John Humphrys and Sarah Montague. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Amanda Vickery on... Men (b01mbztm)
The Explorer
Amanda Vickery, Professor of Early Modern History at Queen Mary, University of London, explores the history of masculinity through six different archetypes of the ideal man. This week: the Explorer.
The rugged explorers of the 19th and early 20th century still fascinate us. One in particular is burned, or rather frozen, into the national consciousness: Captain Scott. Professor Vickery begins the programme on location in a recreation of Scott's Antarctic hut (in the Natural History Museum). She talks to historian Max Jones about the ideal of masculine heroism which Scott personified, and about the male camaraderie of his team. Historian John Tosh puts Scott in a long tradition of earlier role models for men, and explores men's desire to escape the home and domestic responsibility. The programme also includes an interview with modern-day explorer Wade Davis, author of a book about the conquest of Everest, who speaks passionately about the continuing appeal of these early explorers for men like him.
Sources include Scott's diary; adventure stories for boys; Baden-Powell's scouting manual; and cinematic representations of Scott.
Producer: Elizabeth Burke.
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 09:30 Head to Head (b01mbztp)
Series 4
Pornography and censorship
Edward Stourton continues to revisit broadcast debates from the archives - exploring the ideas, the great minds behind them and echoes of the arguments today.
When these two men encountered each other on the BBC programme Late-Night Line-up in 1972, the Longford report on pornography had recently been published. Malcolm Muggeridge had sat on the committee and took a conservative stance, served by his Christian beliefs, that pornography was corrupting and something had to be done about the laws around publishing it.
Bernard Levin was as well-known as Muggeridge as a television personality and member of the cultural and political commentariat. Levin, though, was a libertarian and vehemently against what he saw as potential censorship of literature that he thought did not harm people and society as much as the Longford report suggested.
Was there a limit to the freedoms that the permissive society of the late-60s and early-70s demanded? Or is censorship a sacred cow? On to today and in the view of relatively recent developments in publishing, such as on the internet, how have the arguments around access to pornography changed?
In the studio dissecting the debate is Bel Mooney, broadcaster and journalist; and Christopher Booker, journalist and first editor of Private Eye.
Producer: Dom Byrne
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b01mbzrt)
Winter Journal
Episode 1
On January 3, 2011, exactly one month before his 64th birthday, Paul Auster sat down and wrote the first entry of Winter Journal, his unorthodox examination of his own life as seen through the history of his body.
Composed in the manner of a musical fugue, the journal advances from one autobiographical fragment to the next jumping backward and forward in time as the various themes intersect, bounce off one another, and ultimately merge in a great chorus of multiple voices, of one voice multiplied into many. Auster takes us from childhood to the brink of old age as he summons forth a universe of physical sensation, of pleasures and pains, moving from the awakening sexual desire as an adolescent to the ever deepening bonds of married love, from the shocks of violent accidents to an account of his mother's sudden death in 2002, from meditations on eating and sleeping to the "scalding, epiphanic moment of clarity" in 1978 that set him on a new course as a writer. Winter Journal is a book that looks straight into the heart of what it means to be alive.
Today Paul Auster takes his cue from his imminent 64th birthday to examine his life in the present and as a young man embarking for life in Paris. Read by Garrick Hagon.
Produced by: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment Limited Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01mbztr)
Jane Garvey talks to Debbie Jevans, director of sport for LOCOG; What is a normal birth with Cathy Warwick head of the Royal College of Midwives and Pauline Hull from elective cesarean. Discussion about the other woman with Susanna Abse and Bibi Lynch; Mexican investigative journalist and activist Lydia Cacho on sex trafficking; Judi Herman reports at Fifty Years of Bond style at the Barbican.
MON 10:45 Shardlake (b01mbztt)
Dissolution
Episode 1
C J Sansom's bestselling Tudor crime novel, adapted for radio by Colin MacDonald.
London, 1537. As he plots to bring down the Abbeys, Thomas Cromwell sends his trusted lawyer-detective, Matthew Shardlake, to investigate the murder of a King's Commissioner in a monastery on the south coast of Kent. Which of the terrified monks is the murderer - and can Shardlake catch him before he strikes again?
Produced and directed by Kirsteen Cameron.
MON 11:00 Journey of a Lifetime (b01mc0m3)
2012: Jaswinder Jhalli
Each year, the Royal Geographical Society organises in association with BBC Radio 4 a contest to discover the most imaginative and exciting dream travel project. Jaswinder Jhalli was the 2012 winner and her goal was to visit the gauchos of Argentina and discover to what extent the reality of their lives tallies with the romantic image of prairie horsement that they have always had.
Jaswinder writes: "The wistful gaucho myth of a proud, well dressed, virtuous individual, free to roam the Pampas and work as he choses, has little connection with their history. It reminds me of how the Indian community is portrayed. You get the impression all we do is arrange marriages, dance in unison and eat chicken tikka masala. Of course every culture throws up it's own clichés. But this kind of typecasting always forced me to feel I was an outsider. Constantly struggling to escape the elusive cultural stereotype that seemed to precede me everywhere I went. I want to break down these myths and find how today's gauchos view these caricatures."
Producer: Simon Elmes
MON 11:30 Everyone Quite Likes Justin (b01mc0mc)
Series 2
Episode 1
Justin's still living with his father-in-law, still working with his ex-wife and still calling on his Gran for her words of wisdom. This week he also has to cope with not having a plus one to bring to his school reunion.
Starring Justin Moorhouse, Anne Reid and Paul Copley.
Sitcom written by Justin Moorhouse and Jim Poyser.
In one version of his life, Justin is a loveable celebrity who is successful, funny, and stopped in the street by adoring fans. He's the man who has everything.
In the more realistic version he's a DJ in a slightly shabby local radio station who gets hassled by the occasional oddball on the street. And he's the man who hopes for everything.
And at home? Well, it's chaotic. His wife has left him, taking custody of his 8-year-old son Justin jnr. So he's back on the market. So he's currently living in his father-in-law's spare room in Bury. The only person who understands him is his Gran, living in luxury in an old folk's home in Warrington. Oh, and his producer Bryn but this might not be such a good thing.
Justin ..... Justin Moorhouse
Gran ..... Anne Reid
Ray ..... Paul Copley
Lisa ..... Christine Bottomley
Bryn ..... Lloyd Langford
Miles ..... Rob Rouse
Tanya ..... Victoria Elliott
Man ..... Jim Poyser
Recorded in front of an audience in Manchester.
Producer: Steven Canny
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2012.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b01mc0zw)
Texting for free, phonies on Twitter and new national parks.
How so-called "Twitter dealers" are helping businesses trick customers into thinking they're more popular than they really are. And how you can spot phonies on the internet.
Why farmers are fighting plans to establish two new national parks in Northern Ireland - and what they and the government can learn from land owners in the South Downs.
And how to send text messages for free - and who is trying to stop you.
Presenter by Julian Worricker
Produced by Paul Waters.
MON 12:45 The New Elizabethans (b01mc0zy)
Tony Blair
The New Elizabethans: Tony Blair
James Naughtie considers the political legacy of Tony Blair, the youngest and longest serving Labour Prime Minister.
Sweeping Labour to power in 1997, Blair enjoyed huge popularity, and his government, under the banner of "New Labour" was credited with policies improving schools and the health service, as well as brokering the Good Friday peace agreement in Northern Ireland. He was involved on more foreign conflicts than any other Prime Minister of the 20th Century, and remains controversial with the regards to the British military involvement in the war in Iraq.
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: Alison Hughes.
MON 12:57 Weather (b01m84wx)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b01mc10b)
National and international news with Shaun Ley.
MON 13:45 Coming Out (b017c9p9)
Daniel
Five programmes exploring the ways in which we decide how far to be honest about ourselves, and in doing so make ourselves vulnerable to the judgements of others.
1. Daniel
Daniel's political ambitions led him to imprisonment for theft in 2009. He's now working hard to rebuild his life in the village where everyone knows what he's done, and is putting his dreams of serving the public into mentoring ex-offenders. Is he able now to be entirely frank about his past?
Producer Christine Hall.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b01m9q7d)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b01mf8ly)
Craven: Looking for Mr King
CRAVEN: "There's between 2 and 3 murders a day in this country. Most get a mention in the local news and that's it. A handful become a hit with the public... Gavin Spinoza's murder became a star murder because it involved a rich man, a sports car and a well-known beauty spot."
It also has a list of fabulous suspects: wives; lovers; business partners - just exactly the types of people that can get a case bogged down when the police are under intense pressure within the media spotlight.
And then there's Craven's regular irregular love life. Now that Macca has a steady, perfect, fitness instructor girlfriend, Craven is less than happy to play the tired role of the "affair". She also lacks the strength of character to let him go. The two decide it's time to come clean with Becky and neither are the least bit prepared for what happens next.
Craven is played by Maxine Peake and is written by Amelia Bullmore and produced by an all female team from Manchester. Craven is a regular returner to Radio 4 so watch out for more to come.
Producer: Justine Potter
A Red Production Company Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 15:00 Round Britain Quiz (b01mc132)
(1/12)
Where would you be most likely to find a durable Welsh-language soap opera, a plant with bell-shaped flowers, and a highwayman hanged in 1670?
This question heralds the start of a new series of radio's longest-running quiz. Tom Sutcliffe is in the chair to welcome the regular panellists from six regions and nations of the UK, who'll be trying over the next three months to solve the programme's trademark cryptic cultural conundrums.
In the first programme of the series, last year's Round Britain Quiz champions - the Midlands pairing of the writer Rosalind Miles and the Chief Executive of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Stephen Maddock - begin the defence of their title. Their opponents are the South of England team, this year consisting of the journalist Marcel Berlins and the author and columnist Marcus Berkmann.
In the coming weeks the regular teams from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the North of England will join the fray. Northern Ireland are on home turf this year, as the series is being recorded at a rural hideaway in County Antrim. As always, the programme features a generous helping of questions suggested by listeners. The eclectic references and convoluted connections encompass literature, science, music, etymology, the natural world, history and popular culture of all kinds.
The questions are on the programme's website each week, as is a special 'teaser' question to exercise listeners' brain-cells between broadcasts - with Tom revealing the solution at the beginning of the next edition.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b01m9n2z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Mr Jupitus in the Age of Steampunk (b01md9fj)
If you've ever encountered a person with flying goggles, clad in tweeds and clutching a mahogany laptop or brass smartphone on a chain, what's the explanation? Phill Jupitus steps into an era where the 19th and 21st centuries charmingly collide, to investigate the time travelling cult known as Steampunk.
Travelling back to the steam-powered future, Phill discovers a cast of modern characters - engineers, scientists, writers, artists and inventors - taking their inspiration from the Victorian and Edwardian arts and sciences, and from the fiction of H.G. Wells.
"It's still the early twenty-first century. The Victorian world, the Edwardian world carried on", explains Ian Crichton aka Herr Doktor amongst an array of fantastical homemade devices: digital camera modified with rivets, brass-etched ray gun, steam pistol and a space helmet like that worn by Lionel Jeffries in The First Men on The Moon. "We've got steam-powered cars on the streets. We've got huge dirigibles flying to Japan".
Steampunk speculates on an imaginary overlap between the 19th century and the present day. Phill investigates at a Steampunk convivial, The Houses of Parliament, on an x-ray ward, at a punk gig and in a shed in suburban Surrey.
With Dr Chandrika Nath from the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology ; consultant radiologist Dr Adrian Thomas; comedian Andrew O'Neill; science fiction author, Adam Roberts and lecturer in 19th Century Literature, Dr Christine Ferguson.
Producer: Tamsin Hughes
A Testbed Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (b01md9fl)
Egalitarianism
Ernie Rea and guests discuss religious responses to economic inequality.
MON 17:00 PM (b01md9fn)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01m84wz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 Just a Minute (b01md9v4)
Series 64
Episode 5
Nicholas Parsons challenges Graham Norton, Liza Tarbuck, Sue Perkins and Paul Merton to speak for 60 seconds. From 2012.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b01md9v6)
Eddie and Joe are wondering what to do with the rest of the boar meat after Clarrie's curry disaster. Watching George as he plays on the swing. Joe mentions how much Will has been doing with him recently. Eddie is proud of George when he takes a tumble off the swing but gets himself up without a fuss.
Freddie is sore from his riding accident and is finding life a little boring due to his restricted movement. Lily brings him a computer game but is not keen to be his servant and they start to argue. Lily's fed up with Freddie getting attention when the accident was his fault. She becomes tearful and it's clear she has Nigel's fall in mind. Elizabeth knows it is her fault as she didn't stop Freddie. But he looked so happy she didn't have the heart to deny him.
Roy is worried his father is getting depressed, so he invites him to the pub to distract him. Mike reveals that the baby has Down's syndrome. He really doesn't know what to do or what he wants.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b01md9v8)
Hermione Norris, Anna Karenina reviewed, Henning Mankell
With Mark Lawson
Hermione Norris, who played Ros Myers in the BBC TV spy series Spooks, returns to our screens tonight in A Mother's Son, a two-part ITV drama about a mother who suspects her son might have committed a murder. The actress discusses the challenge of the role and looks back over her award-winning television career which has included the series Cold Feet, and Kingdom, alongside Stephen Fry.
Keira Knightley and Jude Law star in a new film version of Anna Karenina, directed by Joe Wright with a screenplay by Tom Stoppard. Writer and broadcaster Viv Groskop reviews.
Henning Mankell is best known in the UK for his Wallander series of crime novels, but the crime genre represents only a small part of his output. His latest novel explores the secretive world of Sweden's immigrant community, and the impact it has on Swedish society. He explained why he felt this story needed to be told.
Today the world's largest human form sculpture is unveiled. A quarter of a mile long, Northumberlandia is a landform sculpture of a reclining naked woman, designed by Charles Jencks and shaped from the waste from a surface mine in the village of Cramlington in Northumberland. The poet and historian Katrina Porteous gives her verdict.
Producer Ellie Bury.
MON 19:45 Shardlake (b01mbztt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 The Speaker, Behind the Scenes (b01jwhzl)
The House of Commons Speaker, John Bercow, has adopted an outspoken approach unusual for someone in his role. He has been introducing important changes to the way the Commons is run - changes which some say are having a significant effect on our democracy. The BBC's Parliamentary Correspondent Mark D'Arcy goes behind the scenes at Westminster to find out how John Bercow does the job and why he inspires admiration in some and loathing in others. He speaks to Speaker Bercow about his views on the behaviour of MPs, how to tackle rowdiness in the chamber, and what he thinks of his critics.
Producer: Chris Bond.
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b01m68v7)
Gold and Governance in Romania
Tessa Dunlop travels to Romania to investigate why a proposed open-cast gold mine has caused the longest-lasting political storm in the country since the end of Communism.
The mine, in the rural community of Rosia Montana in the Transylvanian mountains in western Romania, would be Europe's largest. Its supporters, including most locals, say it would bring much-needed jobs to the area, which has suffered very high unemployment since the last mine closed there a few years ago, after two millennia of gold mining.
But opponents, ranging from local shopkeepers to NGOs in Bucharest and abroad, argue that the project would destroy what they see as the area's only chance for more sustainable development: turning the 2000-year old Roman mines located in those same mountains into tourist attractions, perhaps as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The mining company admits that many of the Roman galleries would be destroyed by the open-cast mine, but they are largely inaccessible anyway. As a quid pro quo, the company is already restoring those galleries that will be protected, to make them accessible and a tourism destination.
Is the destruction of the majority of the Roman mines a price worth paying for the restoration of a few? Or is the conflict about something else entirely?
Some campaigners admit that their real fight is not with the company, but with the government, because they suspect official corruption. Meanwhile politicians say it is easier to cut public salaries than to give the go-ahead to a big project like this, precisely because of the ensuing suspicion of sleaze.
The project is seen as a test case for prosperity, transparency and good governance for Romania.
Producer: Arlene Gregorius.
MON 21:00 Material World (b01m68vr)
Quentin Cooper presents his weekly digest of science in and behind the headlines...
The Kepler spacecraft has spotted a binary star system with more than one planet orbiting. Furthermore, one of the planets could have liquid water.
An image of the rocky base of Mount Sharp on Mars shows a feature which, to a terrestrial geologist, looks exactly like evidence for a river delta.
This week a paper in the Journal of Neuroscience looks at the physical structure of piano tuners' brains. An area in the hippocampus shows changes in size that relate to the amount of time piano tuners have been working, not to their age.
And it is suggested by researchers in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that chimpanzees won't punish thieves unless they are themselves the victim. Could it be that "third party punishment" is unique to humans among the higher primates?
MON 21:30 Amanda Vickery on... Men (b01mbztm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b01m84x1)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b01mdbrv)
National and international news and analysis.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01mdbrz)
Ian McEwan - Sweet Tooth
Episode 1
Ian McEwan's novel of love and deception set in MI5 during the early 1970s, read by Amelia Bullmore.
Episode 1 : "My name is Serena. More than forty years ago I was sent on a secret mission for the British security service. I didn't return safely."
Abridged and produced by Christine Hall.
MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (b01m5jth)
Reading aloud
How to stand and hold your head, what to do with your hands and how to make appropriate facial expressions - these were skills studied by people who read aloud to their friends at home in the 18th century. Chris Ledgard discusses domestic reading in the great age of elocution with Oxford University's Abigail Williams and explores the instruction manuals which helped people mimic the great readers of their time. Chris meets modern families who read to each other and visits a primary school to brush up on his own reading skills.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01mdbt9)
The Deputy Prime Minister tells the Commons, on the first day back after the summer recess, that he hopes Lords reform will be considered again in the next Parliament.
Nick Clegg's plans for the second chamber were dropped over the summer after it became clear MPs would not back the timetable proposed for his legislation.
The Education Secretary, Michael Gove, rejects calls for the re-grading of this summer's GCSE English exams after an investigation found pupils who took the test early were marked "more generously".
And the Government defends its decision to stop London Metropolitan University from recruiting students from outside the European Union. Ministers say the college was clearly breaking the rules.
Sean Curran and team report on today's events in Parliament.
TUESDAY 04 SEPTEMBER 2012
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b01m84y6)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b01mbzrt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01m84y8)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01m84yb)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01m84yd)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b01m84yg)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01mc117)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Revd Dr Janet Wootton.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b01mc119)
A voluntary code of practice for farmers and milk processors has finally been agreement after 13 months of negotiations. Many farmers are hoping this will mark the start of better prices for milk and better times for the UK dairy industry. Luke Ryder is a dairy advisor from the National Farmers Union. He tells Farming Today that the code is good news for farmers. Jim Begg, the Chairman of Dairy UK - the body that represents the whole supply chain in the dairy industry - says it offers vital protection from volatile global prices.
Schools on farms have increased by over 50% in the past 6 years. The Farm Schools Network says it improves the attendance and discipline of pupils. Robin Markwell goes to The Brymore boarding school in Somerset to talk to some student farmers.
Sparkle the cow was stuck up a tree. Caz Graham visits her to find out how she is recovering and how she got stuck in the branches.
Farming Today was presented by Caz Graham and produced in Birmingham by Ruth Sanderson.
TUE 06:00 Today (b01mc11c)
Morning news and current affairs presented by John Humphrys and Justin Webb, including:
0734
More shops in towns and cities are becoming vacant, and the situation could remain for some time, according to a Local Data Company report published today. Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, and Caroline Jackson, who used to own the Pink and Lilly clothes shop in Nottingham before it went bust in January, debate the findings of the report.
0743
Arts correspondent Rebecca Jones reports on a new film adaptation of Tolstoy's epic novel of love and loss, Anna Karenina, starring Keira Knightley, which is challenging the traditional idea of how to make a period drama.
0751
The European Court of Human Rights is hearing today the cases of four British Christians who say they have been discriminated against at work because of their faith. One of them, Gary McFarlane, who was sacked by a marriage counselling service because they said they could not be sure he would provide proper sex advice to gay couples, debates the issue with Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society.
0810
London Metropolitan University is challenging a ruling effectively banning it from taking students from outside the EU. The Today programme's Andy Hosken reports on a memo which suggests there was some confusion at the university as to what it was meant to do to monitor the status of the students. Prof Malcolm Gillies, vice-chancellor of the university, gives his reaction.
0818
Peter Riddell, director of the Institute of Government and the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson discuss who is likely to win and lose in David Cameron's shuffle.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (b01mc11f)
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins' first book on evolutionary biology "The Selfish Gene" was published to much acclaim and some controversy in 1976. In this interview with Jim Al-Khalili, Professor Dawkins discusses his enthusiasm for the science that inspired the book and how he popularised the idea of the immortal gene. Using the source material from scientists such as Bill Hamilton, Robert Trivers and John Maynard Smith, he presented a gene's eye view of the world.
He's written many other books on evolutionary biology, such as "The Extended Phenotype" "Unweaving the Rainbow" and "The Ancestors Tale". In 2006 he published a polemic which he describes as "a gentlemanly attack on religion", "The God Delusion". Jim asks what he hoped to achieve by writing the book and finds out why he would rather be known for his science than his atheism.
TUE 09:30 One to One (b01mc1rj)
Paddy O'Connell explores a subject that reflects his own experience: the effect of great emotional upheaval on family life.
When Paddy was 11 his father died, and in this week's programme -- in order to explore what impact this can have -- he meets Professor Sir Al Aynsley-Green who, at the age of 10, lost his own father. Almost immediately he decided that, when he grew up, he would become a doctor so that other children "didn't have to lose their mummies and daddies".
This passion for helping children has continued throughout his career: Sir Al was the first Children's Commissioner for England (2005-2010), having also been involved in the political arena of Children's Services since 2000. He was appointed Chair of the NHS Taskforce for Children and then the first National Clinical Director for Children in government. He believes strongly that the topic of childhood bereavement should be spoken about more openly.
Producer: Karen Gregor.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b01mgyx2)
Winter Journal
Episode 2
On January 3, 2011, exactly one month before his 64th birthday Paul Auster sat down and wrote the first entry of Winter Journal, his unorthodox examination of his own life as seen through the history of his body.
Composed in the manner of a musical fugue, the journal advances from one autobiographical fragment to the next, jumping backward and forward in time as the various themes intersect, bounce off one another, and ultimately merge in a great chorus of multiple voices, of one voice multiplied into many. Auster takes us from childhood to the brink of old age as he summons forth a universe of physical sensation, of pleasures and pains, moving from the awakening sexual desire as an adolescent to the ever deepening bonds of married love, from the shocks of violent accidents to an account of his mother's sudden death in 2002, from meditations on eating and sleeping to the "scalding, epiphanic moment of clarity" in 1978 that set him on a new course as a writer. Winter Journal is a book that looks straight into the heart of what it means to be alive.
In today's episode Paul Auster muses on how he always gets lost and finds that a piano in a newly-rented Paris apartment presents surprising moral dilemmas. Read by Garrick Hagon.
Produced by David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment Limited Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01mddkc)
Rose Tremain, GPs and infertility, and husband hunting
Rose Tremain on her new novel, a sequel to the award winning Restoration; Are GPs failing infertile women? US author Tracy McMillan on husband hunting. Presented by Jane Garvey.
TUE 10:45 Shardlake (b01mk34y)
Dissolution
Episode 2
C. J. Sansom's bestselling Tudor crime novel, adapted for radio by Colin MacDonald.
Winter, 1537, the South Kent Coast. Thomas Cromwell's trusted lawyer-detective, Matthew Shardlake, arrives at Scarnsea monastery with orders to investigate the brutal killing of a King's Commissioner, Robin Singleton. As he begins to meet the prime suspects, it soon becomes clear that the case will not be as simple to solve as he had hoped.
Produced and directed by Kirsteen Cameron.
TUE 11:00 Saving Species (b01mddkf)
Series 3
Episode 1
Saving Species is back for another year of live broadcasting about the world of wildlife conservation, presented by Brett Westwood. We kick off the first programme with look back at the summer of 2012. At the time this programme is broadcast many of our summer migrants will already be heading south to Africa. But how did they fare over the summer? This summer has been one of the wettest on record, has this affected our wildlife? We look at some of the winners and losers in the battle for survival.
Also in the programme - Saving Species heads to Dungeness in Kent where a long term project is underway to return the short haired bumblebee to Britain. This formerly widespread bee was last recorded in 1988 and declared extinct in 2000. Queen bees collected from Sweden have been released in specially prepared farmland and Joanna Pinnock was there to witness this memorable day.
At the opposite end of the country, Chris Sperring reports from Devon where he joined a public night-time safari to look for one of our most enigmatic and enlightening beetles, the glow-worm. Devon last conducted a country wide survey in 1999. Glow worms have declined across the rest of Britain, but have Devon's glow worms declined since the last survey was completed?
Also in the programme - News from around the world with our regular news reporter, Kelvin Boot. And we'll update you on the activities of the Open University's iSpot.
TUE 11:30 Soul Music (b01mddl6)
Series 14
Beethoven's Violin Concerto
Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major Opus 61 was written in 1806, but was not a success at its premiere. 200 years on and this Concerto is regarded as one of the greatest pieces ever written for the violin. This programme explores ways in which the Beethoven Violin Concerto has touched and shaped people's lives. Writer Kelly Cherry describes her father loving this piece and still remembering it even when he had Alzheimers. Violinist Robert Gupta talks about this piece being the music which cemented his friendship with Nathaniel Ayers - a moment which changed Robert's life. Joe Quigley remembers hearing the Concerto at a crucial point in his life whilst living in a monastery. Devorina Gamalova recalls being entranced by this music as a child. And violinist Christian Tetzlaff talks about what it's like to play the Beethoven Violin Concerto.
Producer: Rosie Boulton.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b01mddl8)
Will the Paralympics challenge negative stereotypes around disability?
On Call You and Yours tomorrow we'll be asking if the Paralympics will make a difference in attitudes towards people with a disability?
In a survey published just before the Games four in 10 people said they thought the Government is not doing enough to support people with disabilities. Ministers have been accused of hypocrisy for talking up the Paralympic Games at the same time as implementing sweeping changes to the welfare state.
Three-quarters of people surveyed thought that people with disabilities often experience prejudice or discrimination in society, while almost the same proportion think disabled people are invisible in the media outside the Paralympics.
What do you think?
Will the Paralympics challenge negative stereotypes?
03700 100 400 is the phone number to call or you can e-mail via the Radio 4 website or text us on 84844. Join me at four minutes past twelve tomorrow.
TUE 12:45 The New Elizabethans (b01mddr0)
Fred Goodwin
The New Elizabethans: James Naughtie examines the legacy of banker Fred Goodwin. Having turned the Royal Bank of Scotland into a major player in global banking, he lost millions of pounds, a knighthood, and any public esteem. Just how much did the actions of "Fred the Shred" and other leading bankers jeopardise the global economy?
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.".
TUE 12:57 Weather (b01m84yj)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b01mddr2)
The Prime Minister, David Cameron, has re-shaped his cabinet, but resistance from some forced a re-think. We discuss the changes. As the number of women in the cabinet goes down one MP tells us "it is important we have diversity across the whole of government".
A senior police officer in Northern Ireland has demanded action from politicians, after a second night of rioting in north Belfast. We ask the Justice Minister what he intends to do.
And making an exhibition of himself : why the best of David Bowie is heading for the V & A.
Presented by Shaun Ley
To share your views email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
TUE 13:45 Coming Out (b017lbqh)
Cathy, Andrew and Emily
Five programmes exploring the ways in which we decide how far to be honest about ourselves, and in doing so become vulnerable to the judgements of others.
2. Cathy, Andrew and Emily
Multiple Sclerosis is most often diagnosed in people aged between 20 and 40, a time when careers and relationships are of primary importance. Two MS patients in their 30s talk about the challenges of coming out with the disease, and how far to be totally open about it.
Producer Christine Hall.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b01md9v6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Brief Lives (b01mddr4)
Series 5
Episode 4
Brief Lives by Elizabeth Heery. Series created by Tom Fry and Sharon Kelly
Another case from the files of Frank Twist and his paralegal team in sunny Manchester. A marijuana operation is discovered at Bella Houghton's farm and she swears she knows nothing about it. But she has two grown up sons. Could they be guilty?
Director/Producer Gary Brown
Original Music by Carl Harms.
TUE 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (b01mfhr5)
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Jay Rayner hosts a special edition of the food panel show that travels the country answering questions about cooking and eating. Recorded at Edinburgh Festival Fringe this episode also features food writer and Scottish chef Sue Lawrence as a guest panellist."
Also on the team this week are: Rachel McCormack a Glaswegian who spent her formative years in Spain and who is now successfully spreading the word on all things Spanish; Henry Dimbleby the food writer and co-founder of the Leon restaurant chain, and the Scottish-Indian fusion chef and entrepreneur Angela Malik.
As well as discussing some of Edinburgh's food specialities the team takes questions on all aspects of food and drink.
Food Consultant: Anna Colquhoun
Produced by Robert Abel and Darby Dorras.
A Somethin Else Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (b01mdf08)
People Power
In the UK thousands of people spend many hours - and pounds - looking to burn off energy at gyms and while playing sports. Could that energy be harnessed and used to power some of our gadgets and devices? Tom Heap puts on his trainers and breaks a sweat to find out.
Trevor Baylis's wind-up radio revolutionised access to information in Africa by using human power rather than expensive batteries. The inventor also demonstrated his piezoelectric phone-charging shoes by walking across the Namib desert and he says there's far more potential for inventions that use our heat or movement to power the devices we use - saving on the mountain of batteries we throw away and replace each year. It also makes lighting and phone charging easier for countries not on the electric grid.
It's possible you've even had some of your energy captured without realising. Tom sees the floor tiles storing energy from commuters', shoppers' and schoolchildren's footsteps to help power lighting. He learns about ink patterns on clothing that use energy from our movement to monitor our health and hears about futuristic implantable devices which could be powered by the body's internal movements.
The experts say we won't be going off-grid to power our homes with exercise bikes but even tiny devices could be major players in helping our energy demands.
Producer: Anne-Marie Bullock.
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (b01mdf0b)
Conflict Resolution
Chris Ledgard examines how the words we use play a critical role in resolving conflicts. From hostage negotiations to relationship counselling to dealing with difficult neighbours or pupils in school, the language we use is all-important in defusing arguments and bringing calm and reconciliation.
Contributors:
Chris White, retired police hostage negotiator, now communications trainer
Matt Overd, Director of Programme Development - Dfuse
Barbara Bloomfield, Relate trainer and counsellor
Stephen Drew, Headteacher, Brentwood County High School
Producer Beth O'Dea.
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b01mdf0d)
Series 28
Stan Laurel
The late Ken Dodd explains to Matthew Parris why Stan Laurel inspired him to get into comedy, with the help of expert Glenn Mitchell.
Born Stan Jefferson into a theatrical family, in Lancashire, he later moved to the United States, where talent and a leg of lamb helped forge the Laurel & Hardy partnership.
They became the last big comedy sensation of the silent era but took to talkies like "ducks to water" and were mobbed by fans and reporters everywhere they went.
Features archive clips, including their memorable performance of The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.
TUE 17:00 PM (b01mdf0g)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news. Includes Weather.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01m84yl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Thom Tuck Goes Straight to DVD (b01bwp8v)
Pilot
Thom Tuck recounts heart-rending tales of love and loss, laying bare all the failures he's suffered in his relationships and drawing comparisons with the 54 straight-to-DVD Disney movies he's watched, so we don't have to. These underrated gems - perhaps rightfully ignored and forgotten - mirror his experiences with women he has loved too often and too soon.
A show with a huge heart, all about heartbreak in various forms...the perfect antidote for Valentines Day.
Thom Tuck's brilliant debut solo show was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Fosters Comedy Awards in Edinburgh 2011. He is also part of acclaimed sketch group "The Penny Dreadfuls".
"...a seductive experience" The Guardian
Produced by Lianne Coop.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b01mdf5x)
It's evening at Bridge Farm as Tom and Brenda unload the carrots from the first of this year's main crop. Tom offers Kathy some free carrots as she admires the quality of his crop. Tom seizes the opportunity to do some market research for his ready meals. Kathy is unwillingly roped into a debate concerning whether Tom's products should be sold as chilled or frozen. She concedes that chilled sounds fresher and the consumer can always freeze their purchase themselves.
Tom and Brenda have some other news to contend with, after a phone call from Roy reveals Mike's unborn child has Down's syndrome. They ponder the information over a drink and wonder why Mike hasn't told Brenda.
Kathy is surprised to hear that Jamie hasn't been given any homework after his first day of college. Jamie soon changes the subject. He's disappointed that Fallon has enforced a strict over-18 policy for the Tug Fowler comedy night.
Elizabeth apologises to her sister. Shula was right to query her discipline skills. Elizabeth also believes she should have been firmer with her son, who is a risk-taker just like his father. She recognises she has been blaming everyone for her actions.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b01mdf5z)
Novelist Howard Jacobson; actor Damian Lewis; Lawless reviewed
With Mark Lawson.
The Booker Prize-winning writer Howard Jacobson has just published Zoo Time, the tale of an author who fears the novel is dying. He explains where his fictional hero ends and he begins.
Fresh from the success of his portrayal of Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody in the US TV series Homeland, British actor Damian Lewis's latest role is in Nick Love's new film version of The Sweeney, based on the TV series. Lewis plays Frank Haskins, the office boss of the notoriously violent and rule-breaking unit who 'act like criminals to catch criminals'. Damian Lewis discusses The Sweeney and his 'uniform' roles - Homeland and Band of Brothers.
Scripted by rock star Nick Cave, Lawless is a new film set in Prohibition-era America and tells the story of a band of brothers who produce moonshine under their floorboards and go toe-to-toe with a new law enforcer in an increasingly violent turf war. Sarah Churchwell gives her verdict.
Producer Stephen Hughes.
TUE 19:45 Shardlake (b01mk34y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 And Now an Urgent SOS Message... (b01mdf9r)
Radio 4 used to broadcast SOS messages - "could Mr and Mrs Snodgrass, believed to be travelling in the Cotswolds please ring this hospital where their auntie is dangerously ill".
Eddie Mair wants to know more about them. He hears from listeners whose lives were dramatically changed through the SOS service. These short messages were transmitted regularly on The Home Service, and later Radio 4, for much of the 20th century. They appealed for relatives of dying people, often on holiday and thus, before mobile phones and internet cafes, uncontactable, to return home before it was too late.
Eddie invited readers of his Radio Times column to send in their recollections of the SOS Message Service, and little did the PM Presenter expect such a rich response of vivid memories, first person experiences and in one case, unexpected consequences as a result of the broadcast.
Some of these remarkable testimonies are told, in understated, haunting and even cheery ways in this narrative tribute to radio, and a nation, - "as it was". Best summed up by the tale of a six year old girl in the North East who while staying with a relation in 1958, was hospitalised with a very serious illness. She survived and tells Eddie her story. In the days of very few domestic telephones, the BBC's SOS message brought her parents to her bedside from London courtesy of an observant member of the public who heard the message and recognised the car number plate that had been announced.
The SOS Service, was the vision of John Reith, the first General Manager, and later Director General of the BBC. But its heart was the listener, as Eddie reveals.
Producers: Jo Coombs and Stewart Henderson
A Loftus Audio production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b01mdf9t)
Paralympics medallists and spectators talk about their experience of the games
We speak to David Blunkett about his opening ceremony experience . We do a roundup of the results and highlights of visually impaired athletes and opera singer Denise Leigh talks about her performance during the ceremony.
We also talk to men and women from the goalball team, a sport devised specifically for visually impaired athletes about their experience and explore the irony that the game created for blind players is offering no audio description for blind spectators.
TUE 21:00 Inside Health (b01mdfc0)
New HIV test, Vitamin D and TB, Vitamin B12, mouth ulcers
HIV testing
The first over-the-counter DIY testing kit for HIV is expected to go on sale in America in the next month. It's said to allow people to screen potential sexual partners for HIV before deciding to have sex them - all in the comfort of their own home. But sexual health consultant from London's Chelsea and Westminster hospital Ann Sullivan believes that the idea is flawed as someone could be recently infected and still show a negative result. Her hospital offers an HIV test to all patients who are admitted to the Emergency Department. A positive result is picked up in around 4 people in every thousand tested. Glasgow GP Dr Margaret McCartney analyses the latest HIV figures for the UK - which are on the rise. She advises that safe sex should be practised even with a negative result to help protect people from all sexually transmitted infections.
Vitamin D and TB
As much of the UK enjoys the last of the summer sun, Vitamin D is back in the headlines. The body makes its own Vitamin D with sun exposure - but supplements in tablet form can be taken by anyone who's deficient. A dose of the Vitamin D was given to patients with tuberculosis - along with the regular antibiotics - and it helped to speed up their recovery. Dr Adrian Martineau, who's a Senior Lecturer in Respiratory Infection and Immunity at Queen Mary University, London, says that the Victorian idea of giving "consumptive" patients of sunshine was spot on.
Vitamin B12
A growing number of people believe they're deficient in another Vitamin - B12. Sources of the vitamin include meat, fish and dairy products - so strict vegans can be at risk of deficiency. The vitamin is crucial in the production of red blood red cells and for the normal functioning of the brain and nervous tissue. Symptoms of low levels can include anaemia, tiredness, pins and needles, memory loss and confusion. If it's not addressed promptly the damage can be irreversible. John Hunter who's Professor of Medicine at Cranfield University sees many patients who can't absorb the vitamin because of problems with their gut like Crohn's or Coeliac disease. Another condition - pernicious anaemia - is caused by the lack of a protein required to make absorption possible. As many as 1 in 30 adults have B12 deficiency - rising to 1 in 16 in the over 65s. A blood test which is used to check levels is thought by many doctors and patients to be inaccurate. The top-up injections of B12 are usually given every 2 or 3 months, in spite of many patients saying that their symptoms return well before their next one is due. Martyn Hooper from the Pernicious Anaemia Society says that testing and treatments need to be improved - to stop patients resorting to their own drastic solutions outside mainstream medicine.
Mouth Ulcers
One in 5 of the UK population will get mouth ulcers at some stage of their lives. For some, they can recur every month or so - in painful crops that can take a fortnight to heal. Some are associated with underlying problems such as inflammatory bowel disease, or vitamin and mineral deficiencies, but in many cases no cause is found.
Patients like Ruth have to avoid certain foods - like chocolate and fruit - to reduce the risk of recurrence. She's had ulcers since her teens and now takes immunosuppressant drugs to reduce their impact on her life. Tim Hodgson who's a consultant in oral medicine at the Eastman Dental Institute in London has had some success treating them with drugs like thalidomide. He says that some patients fear that their recurrent ulcers could develop into oral cancer - but that simply isn't the case.
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (b01mc11f)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b01m84yn)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b01mdfwq)
David Cameron reshuffles his Cabinet - is this a shift to the Right?
Tensions between China and the US in the Pacific;
Dutch arts suffer huge funding cuts.
With Robin Lustig.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01mdfwv)
Ian McEwan - Sweet Tooth
Episode 2
Ian McEwan's novel of love and deception set in MI5 during the early 1970s, read by Amelia Bullmore.
Episode 2: Serena's affair with Tony is painfully over, but she's determined to pursue her chances with MI5.
Abridged and produced by Christine Hall.
TUE 23:00 Jack's Return Home (b01mdfwx)
Episode 2
By Ted Lewis.
Dramatised for radio by Nick Perry.
It's 1970 and Jack Carter, a gangland enforcer, has returned to his hometown of Scunthorpe to investigate the suspicious death of his brother Frank. After unexpectedly running into another gangster, Eric Paice, Jack follows him to a private gambling club, gate-crashing a high stakes poker game in the penthouse suite.
Cast:
Jack Carter . . . . . Hugo Speer
Mrs Garfoot . . . . . Tracy Wiles
Thorpey . . . . . John Biggins
Kinnear . . . . . Robert Blythe
Eric . . . . . Ben Crowe
Keith . . . . . Joe Sims
Glenda . . . . . Charlotte Riley
Brumby . . . . . James Weaver
Youth . . . . . Sam Alexander
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko
Studio Managers: Anne Bunting, Keith Graham, Alison Craig.
Editor: Anne Bunting.
Production Co-ordinator: Lucy Collingwood.
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01mdfxt)
It's always a tricky day when Ministers are being moved, transferred and reshuffled at Westminster, and Susan Hulme covers the final parliamentary debate for Chris Grayling before his switch from Work & Pensions Minister to Justice Secretary. He responds to MPs' criticisms of the way the company, Atos Healthcare, has been carrying out assessments of disability benefit claimants. Also on the programme: Another committee investigates the latest developments in the long-running phone hacking saga. Britain's former ambassador to Afghanistan gives his verdict on the country's future. And the Foreign Secretary talks about the rising tension in Iran over its nuclear programme.
WEDNESDAY 05 SEPTEMBER 2012
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b01m850b)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b01mgyx2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01m850f)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01m850j)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01m850n)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b01m850x)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01mdg2z)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Revd Dr Janet Wootton.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b01mdg31)
Robin Markwell presents from Livestock 2012 and investigates the future of the dairy industry.
After months of silence, Farming Today hears from milk processor, Arla, about why it's decided to do a u-turn on price cuts to its dairy farmers.
And there's big political changes in the farming world... Hours before David Cameron announced he was replaced as Farming Minister, Robin talks to Jim Paice.
WED 06:00 Today (b01mdg33)
Morning news and current affairs, presented by James Naughtie and Justin Webb: including:
0753
Fewer than 20% of people who have heart attacks in hospital in the developing world survive to be discharged, according to research published by The Lancet. Dr Jerry Nolan, who works at the Royal United Hospital in Bath and who is a member of the Resuscitation Council, gives his thoughts on what should be done to improve the survival rate.
0810
The departure of Justine Greening as transport secretary in yesterday's government reshuffle is being seen as opening the way for a change of policy, as she is a dedicated opponent of expansion at Heathrow Airport. Zac Goldsmith, MP for Richmond Park and opponent to the third runway, shares his thoughts, and Grant Shapps, the new Conservative Party chairman, gives his reaction to the cabinet reshuffle.
0822
According to Prof Colin Blakemore of Oxford University, explanations of things we hold dear: love, responsibility, friendship, will come from our greater knowledge of how the brain works in this golden age of neuroscience. Professor Geraint Rees, director of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL and the philosopher Professor Mary Midgley, discuss whether our thinking about freedom, society and culture need to change fundamentally because of new developments in neuroscience.
0833
The auditors for the Europeans and the IMF are back in Greece to look over the books and say yes or no to the next tranche of money. Today hears from Georgios Papakonstantinou, the Greek Environment minister, explains why this decision from the auditors will shape Greece's future in the eurozone.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b01mdg35)
Felicity Aston, Billy Bragg, Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi, Wayne Phillips
Polar explorer Felicity Aston is the first woman to ski across Antarctica alone. The 1744km, 59-day journey was completed in January 2012. She will be speaking about this journey for the Transglobe Expedition Trust event Here, There & Everywhere at the Royal Geographical Society on September 10th.
Musician and activist Billy Bragg celebrates the centenary of singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie with a four date tour in September. Bragg curated this tribute to Guthrie's legacy and will perform songs based on the lyrics Guthrie left behind before his death in 1967. In collaboration with the band Wilco, Billy is also releasing the CD Mermaid Avenue - the complete sessions.
Chefs Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi were born in Jerusalem in the same year - Sami on the Arab east side and Yotam in the Jewish west. Nearly 30 years later they met in London and discovered they shared a language, a history, and a love of great food. In their new book 'Jerusalem', they feature recipes from this vibrant and diverse city. 'Jerusalem' is published by Ebury Press.
Wayne Phillips is a boxing coach who is one of the trainers for 'Punchline', a performance project which is part of the Cultural Olympiad. 'Punchline' brings together boxers and dancers with youngsters - many not in education or employment - to create a performance in a boxing ring. The work showcases their talents and also explores their personal stories and struggles. The show opens at the Preston Guild arena and will then be performed at three boxing clubs across the region: the Rotunda, Runcorn ABC and Wild Card ABC.
Producer: Paula McGinley.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b01mgywt)
Winter Journal
Episode 3
Read by Garrick Hagon.
On January 3, 2011, exactly one month before his 64th birthday, Paul Auster sat down and wrote the first entry of Winter Journal, his unorthodox examination of his own life as seen through the history of his body.
Composed in the manner of a musical fugue the journal advances from one autobiographical fragment to the next, jumping backward and forward in time as the various themes intersect, bounce off one another, and ultimately merge in a great chorus of multiple voices, of one voice multiplied into many. Auster takes us from childhood to the brink of old age as he summons forth a universe of physical sensation, of pleasures and pains, moving from the awakening sexual desire as an adolescent to the ever deepening bonds of married love, from the shocks of violent accidents to an account of his mother's sudden death in 2002, from meditations on eating and sleeping to the "scalding, epiphanic moment of clarity" in 1978 that set him on a new course as a writer. Winter Journal is a book that looks straight into the heart of what it means to be alive.
In today's episode Paul Auster charts the course of his life through the addresses he's lived at and the lives he has lived in each of them.
Produced by David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment Limited Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01mdg40)
Naomi Wolf; Cabinet Reshuffle; Romantic Fiction
Naomi Wolf on her new biography of the vagina. Consenting adults - when should the law intervene in sexual relationships? Summer reads - the appeal of romantic fiction. Cabinet reshuffle - how far away is David Cameron from women making up a third of his cabinet? Presented by Jenni Murray.
WED 10:45 Shardlake (b01mk35v)
Dissolution
Episode 3
C. J. Sansom's bestselling Tudor crime novel, adapted for radio by Colin MacDonald.
Winter, 1537, the South Kent Coast. Lawyer-detective Matthew Shardlake, and his assistant Mark, delve deeper into the mysteries of Scarnsea monastery. The list of suspects for Commissioner Singleton's murder is getting longer, but a frustrating lack of hard evidence is hampering the investigation.
Produced and directed by Kirsteen Cameron.
WED 11:00 Hy-Brasil (b01mdg51)
Hy-Brasil is a phantom island which features in many Irish myths. The island is said to be cloaked in mist except for one day every seven years, when it becomes visible but still cannot be reached. It appears on a map in 1325 off the south west coast of Ireland. Despite the failure of so many attempts to find it, there exist sketches of this island, circular in shape with a river running east to west across its diameter. Written and narrated by Paul Evans with sound recordings by Chris Watson, Hy-Brasil tells the story of a journey across a sea of imagination in search of this phantom isle.
Its post World War II and drained and disillusioned by war, the narrator goes in search of peace and solitude "Like an earwig in a matchbox ... I crawl from the stinking wax towards life outside the deaf lug of the Metropolis" His destination is Hy-Brasil ; a "place rumoured to be filled with strange animals and a lone magician." Finding a sailor who will take him part of the way ".. I put all my money and my grandfather's watch into his cold squid hands and he says we're bound for the Porcupine Bank and the fog of Hy Brasil". In the shroud of fog which cloaks the isle " ... there are no landmarks to fix my bearings only stones crouching like monkish supplicants ...." But there is life on the island "I drift to sleep listening to a demented choir in the fog; birds or people or some demonic crossbreed of both". Later, he encounters "hellish creatures screaming". Far from offering him peace and sanctuary the island is a place of "sorcery", as the narrator encounters The Magician, Black Gliders, Jasconye the Fish, and Far Laith. Given such a strange, wild, dark black place, the journey's end is unexpected as the magic of Hy-Brasil works its spell in an unexpected way.
WED 11:30 Brian Gulliver's Travels (b01mdg8l)
Series 2
Anidara
Brian Gulliver, a seasoned presenter of travel documentaries, finds himself in a hospital's secure unit after claiming to have experienced a succession of bizarre adventures.
More memories as Brian relives his experiences in Anidara where he finds himself put out to stud.
Brian Gulliver ..... Neil Pearson
Rachel Gulliver ..... Mariah Gale
Computer ..... Duncan Wisby
Gem ..... Gerard McDermot
Markl ..... Harry Livingstone
Dorka ..... Vicki Pepperdine
Liberator ..... Duncan Wisby
Master ..... Patrick Brennan
Producer: Steven Canny
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2012.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b01mdg9w)
Buying a new car, new financial advice rules and half-price supermarket wine
September is traditionally a strong month for car sales; this year there are all sorts of offers in showrooms to tempt the motorist ranging from fancy extras to service deals but are any of them value for money?
The rules are changing on financial advice. Independent financial advisers will no longer be allowed to receive commission from the products they sell, instead they will have to charge fees for their advice up front. The consumer will benefit from cheaper products but will good financial advice now be only for the rich?
The government want companies to release data on shoppers habits so the consumer can plan future spending more efficiently. A voluntary scheme launched in the Spring has only signed up thirteen companies and now the government wants to make the scheme compulsory. Business fears it will add extra cost and bureaucracy at a time when they could do without another burden.
Shoppers want supermarkets to make clear the unit price of goods so they can compare value for money between different pack sizes. The consumer association Which? says most shoppers find supermarket pricing displays misleading or difficult to understand.
Ever wondered how the wheelchairs used by Paralympians are kept in tip top condition? Peter White meets the mechanics who keep the show on the road plus other stories from behind the scenes at the Paralympics.
The volunteer motor bikers who have been trained up to carry blood for the health service around the north west of England.
WED 12:45 The New Elizabethans (b01mdgch)
Rupert Murdoch
The New Elizabethans: Rupert Murdoch the global media magnate whose career began when he inherited newspapers from his father, founded Australia's first national daily paper, the Australian and then came to the UK to buy The News of the World, The Sun and eventually The Times and The Sunday Times.
His influence spread to the USA where he acquired other papers, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and several independent television stations. He formed BSkyB in 1990 which has dominated the British pay-TV market ever since.
At the age of 81, despite the damage done to his business due to the phone hacking scandal, his political influence and business skills elicit both fear and admiration and Forbes magazine lists him as the 24th most powerful person in the world.
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.".
WED 12:57 Weather (b01m8515)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b01mdgld)
National and international news with Shaun Ley. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
WED 13:45 Coming Out (b017vk95)
Kelly
Five programmes exploring the ways in which we decide how far to be honest about ourselves to the rest of the world, and in doing so make ourselves vulnerable to the judgements of others.
3. Kelly
At the age of 17, as a newly-qualified driver, Kelly knocked down an elderly woman on a pedestrian crossing. The case never came to court but for 40 years Kelly lived with the unexplored trauma and guilt of what had happened, until at last she was able to share her secret.
Producer Christine Hall.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b01mdf5x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b012wjcq)
Anna Symon - The Meaning of Love
by Anna Symon
When Ed finds himself sleeping in the spare room he realises he might have to rediscover exactly what love is. But coming up with the correct definition proves harder than he first imagines.
Directed by Sally Avens.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b01mdgph)
Saving and investing
Vincent Duggleby and expert guests take calls on saving and investing.
It is a difficult economic climate for savers and investors hoping to get a good return and beat inflation. The Bank of England Base Rate has been at its record low of 0.5% since March 2009, with little indication that it will rise in the near future.
The continuing economic troubles in the Eurozone and stock market turbulence have made it a worrying time for people who want to invest for the long term. But experts say there are opportunities for people to snap up undervalued shares and to invest in well capitalised companies that pay good dividends.
Whether you're keen to save, new to investing or experienced in the stock market, you may have a question for our panel of experts.
Which savings accounts pay the best rate of interest?
How are your savings and investments protected?
What type of equity investments are available?
Which sectors should you choose?
How much should you pay in fees and charges?
How do you assess risk and choose a fund?
Joining Vincent Duggleby will be:
Christine Ross, Group Head of Financial Planning at SG Hambros
Kevin Mountford, Head of savings & current accounts, Money Supermarket.
and Darius McDermott, managing director, Chelsea Financial Services.
Ring 03700 100 444 from
1pm.
WED 15:30 Inside Health (b01mdfc0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b01mdgpk)
Italian Family 3: Studio discussion
What has cause the Italian family to decline so fast? What are the prospects for encouraging Italians to start having more children? Laurie is joined in the studio by three experts in order to discuss his explorations of the family in Italy. Geoff Andrews, David Gilmour and Annalisa Piras give their views on what has caused the Italian crisis and what hopes there are for the future.
Producer: Charlie Taylor.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b01mdgpm)
Freesat
Steve Hewlett interviews Emma Scott, managing director of Freesat, as the free to air satellite TV operator launches a new service called "Free Time". What's in the in-tray of the new Culture Secretary Maria Miller? And will ITV's relaunch of Daybreak with a new set and new presenters draw viewers?
WED 17:00 PM (b01mdgpp)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01m8519)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 When the Dog Dies (b013n0q2)
Series 2
Tangled Web
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.
Episode Four- Tangled Web
Whenever people tell porkies, they seem to come to Sandy for help. Being a spare man and his own master - he can provide the alibi or hide the goods. However, multi-tasking was never his strongpoint even when he was Manager (Acting) of the Five Feathers, Frinton. Deceiving needs practice and not on the job, either.
Cast:
Sandy ..... Ronnie Corbett
Dolores ..... Liza Tarbuck
Ellie ..... Tilly Vosburgh
Blake ..... Jonathan Aris
Calais ..... Amelia Clarkson
PC - Stephen Critchlow
Megan ..... Polly Frame
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b01mdgpf)
Darrell is making some business calls in his garden when he is disturbed by Brenda. He's worried she has overheard the nature of his conversation and will tell Matt and Lillian he is looking for word from other companies.
Darrell continues his repair work at the Walters' house. Arthur is not impressed with Matt's money-saving techniques. Over a cup of tea, Darrell tells Arthur about the prospect of working on the church restoration job at Fawcett Magna. Darrell is excited by the chance to use his specialist carpentry skills. But Arthur is worried what will happen if Darrell leaves the repairs at the Walters' house to Matt.
Jim and Oliver indulge in a spot of bird watching. They discuss impressive birds they have spotted before and Oliver is deflated by Jim's extensive knowledge. When Oliver wrongly identifies a moorhen, he is annoyed by Jim's suggestion that it is an easy mistake for a beginner. The friendly competition continues when both reveal their plans to have a go at bread making for the flower and produce show.
Brenda pops round to Willow Farm on her lunch break to see Vicky and offer her support with the pregnancy.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b01mdgrn)
Donny Osmond, AN Wilson on Cecil Beaton, the return of Dallas
With Mark Lawson.
As Donny Osmond prepares for a series of British concerts with his sister Marie, the 1970s teen star-turned middle-aged grandfather looks back over his career, including his adolescent years, sharing a stage with the Jackson Five, and his parents' role in the Osmonds phenomenon.
Cecil Beaton was one of Britain's most celebrated photographers and designers, best known for documenting royalty and celebrity, but a new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in London explores a lesser-known side of his work. Cecil Beaton: Theatre of War follows Beaton on his travels during the Second World War as he explored the impact of war on people and places. Writer A N Wilson reviews.
A new series of the long-running US TV soap Dallas returns tonight. Viewers last saw the Ewing family two decades ago, and now everyone is gathering at Southfork Ranch where old family rivalries are about to erupt. TV critic Chris Dunkley considers how the new model compares with the old, and Dallas rookie Larushka Ivan-Zadeh gives her initial response to the every day story of Texan oilfolk.
Art of Change: New Directions from China is a new exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London which focuses on contemporary installation and performance art from China from the last two decades. Charlotte Mullins reviews.
Producer Jerome Weatherald.
WED 19:45 Shardlake (b01mk35v)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 The Education Debates (b01mdgrq)
Episode 3
As a host of new players gets involved in the running of schools and rules about qualifications for academy school teachers are relaxed, John Humphrys asks leading educationalists - who should teach? As long as the quality is high - does it matter who provides our children's education?
More groups of parents are setting up free schools; Disney and Fulham Football Club are among businesses backing a new generation of "studio schools" in which work experience is part of the timetable - and Labour wants the military to be involved helping to run so-called "service schools".
Meanwhile academies can now recruit teaching staff who don't have Qualified Teacher Status.
John Humphrys also asks - what's the role of the state in education? How much freedom have schools really got and how much should they have? Can the market drive up standards? Why do we have private schools? Can a non-educationalist run a school or teach a class?
An invited audience gathers at Bristol University to hear a panel of key decision makers and thinkers including shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg and pro-private schools guru Prof James Tooley - debate the crucial and timely question - who should teach?
Producer: Karen Pirie
Executive Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b01mdgrs)
Series 3
Niall Iain MacDonald: Rowing the Minch
Gaelic broadcaster Niall Iain MacDonald vanished from his Stornoway home on May 17th 2007.
In this powerful talk he discusses his extraordinary fightback against depression: to row 45 miles of grey water in a challenge to himself and his illness: Rowing the Minch.
WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (b01mdf08)
[Repeat of broadcast at
15:30 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 Midweek (b01mdg35)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b01m851c)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b01mdgws)
Turkey calls Syria a 'terrorist regime' - we hear from a senior government adviser.
Groundbreaking comedy on the Paralympics, but who is allowed to laugh at whom?
And how solar power has become a hot political issue in the United States.
With Robin Lustig.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01mdgwv)
Ian McEwan - Sweet Tooth
Episode 3
Ian McEwan's novel of love and deception set in MI5 during the early 1970s, read by Amelia Bullmore.
Episode 3
Still reeling from the news of Tony's death, Serena finds an alarming piece of evidence while she's operating under cover.
Abridged and produced by Christine Hall.
WED 23:00 Political Animals (b01mdgwx)
Series 1
Larry
Larry, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office since 2011, gives a cat's eye view of life in Downing Street under a coalition government.
Series of scurrilous talks given by well-known, if unreliable, Downing Street cats, who relate their trials and tribulations under four different prime ministers.
Larry..... Clive Swift
Aide ..... Tracy Wiles
Written by Tony Bagley.
Director: Marc Beeby
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2012.
WED 23:15 Before They Were Famous (b01mdgwz)
Series 1
Episode 4
Ian Leslie presents a new Radio 4 comedy show which brings to light the often surprising first literary attempts of some of the world's best known writers. A project of literary archaeology, Leslie has found evidence in the most unlikely of places - within the archives of newspapers, periodicals, corporations and universities-showcasing the early writing examples of writers such as Jilly Cooper-during her brief and unfortunately unsuccessful foray into the world of war reporting, and Hunter S Thompson - in his sadly short-lived phase working in the customer relations department for a major American Airline.
These are the newspaper articles, advertising copy, company correspondence and gardening manuals, that allow us a fascinating glimpse into the embryonic development of our best loved literary voices - people whom we know today for their novels or poems but who, at the time, were just people with a dream...and a rent bill looming at the end of the month.
Produced by: Anna Silver and Claire Broughton
A Hat Trick Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01mdgx1)
The Prime Minister tells MPs his new ministerial team shows the Government "means business" and that the coalition is "strong and united".
But the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, says this week's reshuffle left in place the "same old faces and the same old policies" which had "spectacularly failed".
In a Labour-led debate, MPs call on ministers to act to ease the pressure on commuters in England by cutting the proposed increases in rail fares.
Officials from the UK Border Agency face MPs once again and there is a call for more action to tackle the problem of dangerous dogs.
Sean Curran and team report on today's events in Parliament.
THURSDAY 06 SEPTEMBER 2012
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b01m852l)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b01mgywt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01m852n)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01m852q)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01m852s)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b01m852v)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01mdhtg)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Revd Dr Janet Wootton.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b01mdhtj)
Charlotte Smith discusses the new order at DEFRA and what it might mean for rural Britain. The RSPB, NFU and CLA are invited to comment on their views - for and against.
Farming Today hears of the prospects for beef farming. The National Farmers' Union says the industry is worth £2.8bn and there's a growing demand for British beef, particularly for the bits of the animal which the British don't eat, like the improbably named paddywhack...
And forget the cattle shed, Robin Markwell finds cow igloos designed to house calves!
Presented by Charlotte Smith.
Produced by Clare Freeman in Birmingham.
THU 06:00 Today (b01mdhyn)
Morning news and current affairs presented by John Humphrys and Justin Webb, including:
0748
The government is announcing measures which they say will help first time buyers and remove restrictions on housing planning. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg explains what the announcement entails, and whether homebuilding will provide at least part of the solution to the economic woes of the country.
0810
A group of families is calling for a public inquiry into the work of pathologist Dr Freddy Patel who has been struck off the medical register for making some serious mistakes in the case of Ian Tomlinson, the newspaper seller who died during a demonstration in London. Andrew Hosken has been speaking to some of the families who say their complaints have been ignored for years. Niall Dickson, chief executive of the General Medical Council, gives his thoughts on the issue.
0823
Mariella Frostrup spoke to author Zadie Smith about her new book, NW, described as a tragi-comic tale set in present day North West London.
0833
The police in France have been saying a little more about the shooting in the Alps that seems to have involved Britons. Imogen Foulkes reports.
0837
Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, has given an interview to the Independent in which he seems to agree with the Liberal Democrat's proposals of a mansion tax and other wealth taxes. His colleague Rachel Reeves, the shadow chief secretary to the treasury, explains Labour's tax policies.
THU 09:00 Fry's English Delight (b01mdj96)
Series 5
The Story of X
Stephen Fry's X rated account of the 24th letter of the English alphabet starts in ancient Greece and ends with exploitation movies carrying X ratings. On the way we hear the truth about how x was used as a signature, its place in algebra, marketing and medicine, and with the help of Mr Gyles Brandreth why X is a mixed blessing in the English version of Scrabble.
We venture into the unknown with the story of physicist Willhelm Roentgen who discovered an odd luminescent ray that appeared to have immoral properties, and Mark Kermode explains to Stephen why marking movies with an X made them seem more attractive to the very audience they were designed to exclude.
And we end with some affectionate xxxx kisses on the bottom with a mathematical explanation as to how and why you gottem and what they mean, courtesy of Rene Descartes and Fats Waller.
Producer: Nick Baker
A Testbed Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 09:30 Twin Nation (b0146420)
Episode 5
Ask any twin and the one thing they say they hate is the constant comparison to the other. Unchecked this leads to a competitiveness that can poison what should be a uniquely close relationship. Edi Stark talks to two brothers whose relationship has been brought to the brink by competition.
Producer: Peter McManus.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b01mgyww)
Winter Journal
Episode 4
On January 3, 2011, exactly one month before his 64th birthday, Paul Auster sat down and wrote the first entry of Winter Journal, his unorthodox examination of his own life as seen through the history of his body.
Composed in the manner of a musical fugue, the journal advances from one autobiographical fragment to the next, jumping backward and forward in time as the various themes intersect, bounce off one another, and ultimately merge in a great chorus of multiple voices, of one voice multiplied into many. Auster takes us from childhood to the brink of old age as he summons forth a universe of physical sensation, of pleasures and pains, moving from the awakening sexual desire as an adolescent to the ever deepening bonds of married love, from the shocks of violent accidents to an account of his mother's sudden death in 2002, from meditations on eating and sleeping to the "scalding, epiphanic moment of clarity" in 1978 that set him on a new course as a writer. Winter Journal is a book that looks straight into the heart of what it means to be alive.
Today, a phone call brings surprising news. Paul Auster's mother has suddenly died. He considers her life and feelings for her, the events he didn't fully understand as a boy and his understanding of them with the distance of adulthood.
Read by Garrick Hagon.
Produced by: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment Limited Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01mdjfl)
Emma Thompson, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Muslim women in Rochdale, and what is 'butch'?
In May this year 9 men from Rochdale were sentenced for the grooming and sexual abuse of young girls. Jenni speaks to three women from the Rochdale Muslim community about the impact that this case has had on them. Emma Thompson tells Jenni about taking up the baton from Beatrix Potter and writing a sequel to Peter Rabbit. Have the Democrats successfully cast themselves as the party of women's interests? Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall will be combining blackberries, apple and cream into the perfect fruity granita. And at PMQs yesterday David Cameron attacked Ed Miliband for not being butch enough. What did he mean? Presented by Jenni Murray.
THU 10:45 Shardlake (b01mk370)
Dissolution
Episode 4
C. J. Sansom's bestselling Tudor crime novel, adapted for radio by Colin MacDonald.
Winter, 1537, the South Kent Coast. Lawyer-detective Matthew Shardlake, and his assistant Mark, continue their investigation into the murder of a King's Commissioner at Scarnsea monastery. The case has been further complicated by Novice Whelplay's revelation, while delirious with fever, that there has been an earlier, undiscovered murder.
Produced and directed by Kirsteen Cameron.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b01mdjh4)
Israel's New Front Line
When Israel was established, its tiny community of ultra-Orthodox Jews were, uniquely, exempted from the normal requirement of service in the Israeli Defence Force. They were seen as keepers of the spiritual soul of the nation, and their vital duty of studying religion and Jewish law was more important than wielding guns. 70 years on, and the community's numbers have grown massively - and there are increasing demands for the ultra-Orthodox to play their part in the defence of the nation. A Supreme Court decision which has cleared the way for the drafting of all Jewish citizens reaching the age of eighteen has divided the coalition government and led to furious rows.
Linda Pressly investigates how conscription is exposing deep faultlines among Israeli Jews. Secular and mainstream religious Jews increasingly see the ultra-Orthodox as a drain on the Israeli state, and resent this community ruthlessly exploiting their political power. Meanwhile the ultra-Orthodox see themselves as fulfilling a sacred duty which lies above the day-to-day considerations of politics or defence. Can the rifts be healed - or will Israeli society become irrevocably split?
Producer: Mark Savage.
THU 11:30 Dancing with Mountains (b01mdjh6)
Andrew Greig; writer, poet and one time mountaineer discovers the unexpected connections between the visual arts and the act of climbing.
Andrew starts his exploration by visiting his good friend the acclaimed Scottish painter Rob Fairley at his home in Glen Uig. They discuss how Rob's ability as a climber has fuelled not only his depictions of mountains in his paintings but the strange otherworldly elements that he infuses them with, inspired by being in what Rob describes as the world's "thin places."
But there's much more to the connections between climbing and art than just the painting of epic landscapes. Some of climbing's elite are also very fine artists. World class alpinist Andy Parkin makes his living jointly from climbing and art made in his studio at the foot of Mont Blanc in the French Alps. And it's from here that he describes what these two passions have in common for him, a sense of adventure, risk and unknown outcome. Here he not only paints and draws but also sculpts and makes installations all inspired by a lifetime exploring.
This contrasts with Northern Ireland based climber and artist Dan Shipsides who has fused the two activities to the point where the climbing is the art. His art is of a much more human scale reflecting the climbing of short but incredibly difficult rock climbs in his native peak district or the coastline of his adopted home . He's even recreated the physical moves of a climbing route in galleries that act both as sculptures and performance pieces.
Reflecting on both the range of climbing and art it inspires Andrew will see how what the two activities really have in common is a creative engagement with life itself.
Producer: Peter McManus.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b01mdjtn)
The boss of the CQC, paying for parking, and buying property abroad
The new boss of the Care Quality Commission gives his first interview. It's the body that inspects care homes and hospitals. There's been scandal after scandal and devastating criticism from a committee of MPs, We find out what David Behan is going to do to put things right.
As new figures show the cost of parking has risen by over 10% in a year, we investigate why.
Our reporter Shari Vahl's been given rare access to the workings of the Transport Select Committee as they investigate the seemingly intractable battle between insurance companies and legal firms who specialise in accident claims.
The heads of two of the leading private providers of cosmetic surgery are calling for improved regulation of their industry following the PIP breast implant scandal.
We explore the dos and don'ts for those buying property abroad.
Plus how do rising grain prices, caused by bad weather in Russia and America, affect the price we pay for food in the UK?
And, three onions for 94p or three at 87p per kilogram? Which? is campaigning to force supermarkets to display prices in a way we can all understand.
Producer: Kevin Mousley
Presenter: Winifred Robinson.
THU 12:45 The New Elizabethans (b01mdjw1)
Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell is today's New Elizabethan. Cowell started out on Pop Idol in 2001, before devising X-Factor and Britain's Got Talent. Franchised around the world, these programmes have helped Cowell into the top ten of the Sunday Times music rich list, estimated worth £200-million. Known for offering his blunt opinions to less than talented wannabes, he chose a mirror as his luxury item when he appeared on Desert Island Discs in 2006.
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.
THU 12:57 Weather (b01m852x)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b01mdjw3)
National and international news with Shaun Ley. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
THU 13:45 Coming Out (b0183r3n)
Rosie
Five programmes exploring the ways in which we decide how far to be honest about ourselves, and in doing so make ourselves vulnerable to the judgements of others.
4. Rosie
Rosie was 20 and at university when her son was born. In desperate financial and emotional circumstances, she agreed that he should live with his father while she finished her PhD, but a temporary solution became permanent and from the age of three and a half her son lived apart from her. 38 years on, Rosie at last feels able to be open about what happened and wants to get away from the shame, the guilt and the sorrow that has haunted her for so long. This is her story.
Producer Christine Hall.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b01mdgpf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b012qq85)
A9
Article 9 of the Tokyo Judgement at the end of WWII withdrew from the Japanese constitution the state's right of belligerency. Traumatised and guilt ridden for having killed enemy soldiers in war, Bernard has to attempt to coerce his children to continue his life's work, and makes their awaiting inheritance dependent on their abandoning their present careers and dedicating their lives to the promotion of A9.
Article 9 of the Tokyo judgement. 1948:
Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. The right of belligerency of the State will not be recognised.
Writer:
Though a hugely experienced writer, Helen Cooper is new to Radio Drama.
Three of her plays: Mrs Gauguin(Almeida Theatre) Mrs Vershinin (Riverside Studios) and Three Women and a Piano Tuner (Hampstead Theatre) were nominated for The Susan Smith Blackburn Award. She wrote the screenplay for Miss Julie directed by Mike Figgis, wrote and produced a short film Station, which received two Scottish Bafta nominations and is currently working on Desiderius Ersamus, a new commission from The Royal Shakespeare Company.
Director: Eoin O'Callaghan.
THU 15:02 Open Country (b01mdkpl)
Isle of Bute
Helen Mark explores the landscape and waters of the Isle of Bute off the west coast of Scotland where, for over 200 years, visitors have gone 'doon the watter' to take advantage of the island's relaxing atmosphere and healing properties. Suggestions have been made that Bute should be designated as Britain's first 'blue space', an area defined by blue sea, sky and fresh air which all have a therapeutic effect. Boarding the ferry at Wemyss Bay, Helen joins Shiona Lawson, one of those whose family would take the ferry each year to go 'doon the watter'. Shiona recalls that back then the beaches seemed to go on forever and the sun seemed to be always shining and remembers an island that had such an effect on her that she eventually moved to live there. At the harbour to meet Helen is James McMillan. James is a 'Brandane', someone who was born and bred on the island.
Helen then meets up with Roddy McDowell who runs Kayak Bute and who takes Helen out on the waters around the island and gives her a lesson in sea kayaking , an experience which Roddy describes as crossing the boundary between the green space and the blue. Helen then hears from archaeologist, Paul Duffy, about the rich heritage of Bute. Walking from the car park at Scalpsie Beach to the seashore, Paul takes Helen on a journey through 8000 years of history in 8 minutes. Finally, wildlife photographer Philip Kirkham gives Helen a lesson in photography on the shoreline in front of his house under the big skies of the island he loves.
Producer: Helen Chetwynd.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b01m9mx4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Bookclub (b01m9ntb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b01mdkqc)
Francine Stock talks to Joe Wright about "Anna Karenina" - adapted for the screen by Tom Stoppard and starring Keira Knightly, Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
Sandra Hebron discusses the numerous screen adaptations of Tolstoy's epic novel, including Clarence Brown's 1935 version starring Greta Garbo and Frederic March, and the Alexander Korda picture produced in 1948 with Vivien Leigh, Ralph Richardson and Kieron Moore.
John Hillcoat and Nick Cave discuss Lawless. Lawless is directed by John Hillcoat (his previous works include The Road and The Proposition) and Nick Cave adapted the screenplay from Matt Bondurant's book "The Wettest Country In The World", a fictional account of the exploits of his paternal grandfather. Nick Cave also composed the music with Warren Ellis.
Portugese film director Miguel Gomes discusses his third feature film, "Tabu", a film which probes Portugal's colonial past through the medium of cinema - with reference to Murnau's 1931 film Tabu, A Story of the South Seas.
Producer: Hilary Dunn.
THU 16:30 Material World (b01mdkrg)
Quentin Cooper features some of the highlights of the British Science Festival in Aberdeen, including research into foods that could make us feel full for longer that could be useful to help people lose weight. He'll also be finding out why Aberdeen University ecologists have been tracking voles in the north west of Scotland and how the flooded old mines under Glasgow could be a source of heating for homes and offices. And there's a report on the latest news about the human genome which reveals more of what our DNA actually does.
THU 17:00 PM (b01mdkrj)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01m852z)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Just a Minute's Indian Adventure (b01f5hnq)
Just a Minute grew to prominence in India, when it became available to Indian audiences via the BBC World Service. This exposure gave birth to a number of 'Indianised' versions of the game, which continue to be played amongst smart, young, Indian college graduates today. Dubbed 'JAM', they are a testament to the show's transnational appeal.
As part of the Radio 4 Just a Minute anniversary celebration, Nicholas Parsons visits Bangalore and Mumbai to take a look at these JAM sessions; modern Indianised and radically different take up of the Just a Minute British audiences know and love. The documentary follows a group of lively young Indian college students as they prepare for a competitive JAM tournament against their peers at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore.
To see photos and video clips of these shows please go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006s5dp
The Producer is Tilusha Ghelani.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b01mdks1)
David and Adam are overseeing the calves at the milk-bar when Lynda pops round to enquire about an oak tree. She has heard that the Wards want a crown reduction but has a feeling there is a tree preservation order on it.
Obtaining no information from David or Adam, Lynda goes to Mike. She also offers a supportive word and suggests Vicky will be an excellent mother. Later in the evening Mike confronts his wife. He is upset that Vicky has told people outside of their immediate family about the Down's syndrome diagnosis. She thinks Mike is being unreasonable.
Bored Pawel is disappointed that Adam is not at Honeysuckle Cottage. Ian invites him to stay for dinner and offers him a glass of wine while he waits. Once Ian has prepared the meal he joins Pawel. They chat about the phone calls Ian had been receiving from contestants asking for breadmaking tips. Pawel states that Ian is attractive and swoops in for a kiss. Ian firmly tells Pawel his actions are out of line, and when Pawel doesn't get the message he is asked to leave.
Adam is shocked to hear the news, but Ian attempts to reassure his husband he wasn't tempted by Pawel's advances.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b01mdks3)
Darcey Bussell, Bob Dylan reviewed, and the Bristol Old Vic reopens
With John Wilson.
Ballerina Darcey Bussell reflects on her career, in the light of a new photographic book chronicling her remarkable time with the Royal Ballet. She also looks ahead to her new role as a judge on Strictly Come Dancing.
Bob Dylan's new album Tempest is released next week. It is the singer's 35th studio album in 50 years of recording, and features three tracks of over seven minutes, with the title track about the sinking of the Titanic coming in at almost a quarter of an hour. The New Statesman's music critic Kate Mossman reviews.
BBC Economics Editor Stephanie Flanders reviews The Queen of Versailles, a new documentary that explores the financial crash in America through the riches to rags tale of an incredibly wealthy couple, who build their dream home to resemble the French palace.
As the Bristol Old Vic theatre throws open its doors following 18 months of refurbishment, artistic director Tom Morris takes John on a tour of Britain's oldest continually-working theatre, revealing some Georgian stage secrets.
Producer Ellie Bury.
THU 19:45 Shardlake (b01mk370)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b01mdl65)
Cosmetic Surgery
Following the PIP breast implants scandal, has the cosmetic surgery industry cleaned up its act? Melanie Abbott investigates.
THU 20:30 In Business (b01mdl67)
A Great Disruption
Series about the world of work, from vast corporations to the modest volunteer.
THU 21:00 Saving Species (b01mddkf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Tuesday]
THU 21:30 Fry's English Delight (b01mdj96)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b01m8531)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b01mdl9m)
National and international news and analysis.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01mdl9p)
Ian McEwan - Sweet Tooth
Episode 4
Ian McEwan's novel of love and deception set in MI5 during the early 1970s, read by Amelia Bullmore.
Episode 4: Serena is given her first real mission for the Service; its codename is Sweet Tooth. Just as she's promoted, her friend Shirley is sacked - and she tells Serena she's being watched too.
Abridged and produced by Christine Hall.
THU 23:00 Two Episodes of Mash (b01mdl9r)
Series 2
Episode 1
Diane Morgan and Joe Wilkinson discover they don't actually have a radio series at all.
A mix of silly, surreal sketches and banter.
The series features an absurd narrative, making fun of its new home at BBC Radio 4, after starting life on BBC Radio 2.
With:
David O'Doherty
Paul Harry Allen
Peter Donaldson
Ken Bruce
Bobbie Pryor
Gary Newman
You can also see an animation of one sketch via the BBC Radio 4 Extra website - it's a fishy tale.
Animation: Tom Rourke.
Producer: Clair Wordsworth
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2012.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01mdlbl)
Rachel Byrne covers the best of the day's debates in the House of Commons ----- where the Government has unveiled its latest ideas to streamline the planning process in England, and where there's been a lively reaction among MPs to the week's ministerial comings and goings.
Also on the programme:
* Chris Bond covers the latest developments in the saga of London Metropolitan University and its granting of student visas.
* Simon Jones follows the day's main debate in the chamber on immigration.
and
* Viv Robins analyses the performance of the Home Secretary Theresa May as she talks to a committee of MPs about the initial problems with security arrangements at the London Olympic Games.
FRIDAY 07 SEPTEMBER 2012
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b01m853w)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b01mgyww)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01m853y)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01m8540)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01m8542)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b01m8544)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01mf7j5)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Revd Dr Janet Wootton.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b01mf7j7)
Harvests around the world are being affected by the erratic weather. In this edition of Farming Today, Anna Hill is in the fields of drought hit Missouri and Charlotte Smith hears concerns that this year's poor monsoon in India threatens their rice exports. The recent deluge here in the UK, however, means that mushrooms are thriving. Sarah Falkingham goes out foraging for fungi in Yorkshire.
Also in the programme, according to predictions for the year 2030 from a new report from the the charity Oxfam, extreme weather events could push some food prices up by an additional 140 percent.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced in Birmingham by Rich Ward.
FRI 06:00 Today (b01mf7n8)
Morning news and current affairs presented by Jim Naughtie and Sarah Montague, featuring:
0810
The European Central Bank is promising to buy bonds from indebted government in the eurozone, under strict conditions, to try to stabilise the currency. Peter Spiegel, Brussels bureau chief of the Financial Times, and former chancellor Lord Lamont, give their thoughts on how these latest measures will affect the future of the eurozone.
0818
Investigators in France have been giving more details of yesterday's shootings at a beauty spot near Annecy in the Alps, including the information that three of the four of those killed were shot in the head. Imogen Foulkes reports from Annecy.
0823
Panorama on BBC One tonight looks at excessive drinking among the older generation. Joan Bakewell, who has put together tonight's Panorama, explains the issue.
FRI 09:00 The Reunion (b01m9n0t)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b01mgyx0)
Winter Journal
Episode 5
On January 3, 2011, exactly one month before his 64th birthday, Paul Auster sat down and wrote the first entry of Winter Journal, his unorthodox examination of his own life as seen through the history of his body.
Composed in the manner of a musical fugue, the journal advances from one autobiographical fragment to the next, jumping backward and forward in time as the various themes intersect, bounce off one another, and ultimately merge in a great chorus of multiple voices, of one voice multiplied into many. Auster takes us from childhood to the brink of old age as he summons forth a universe of physical sensation, of pleasures and pains, moving from the awakening sexual desire as an adolescent to the ever deepening bonds of married love, from the shocks of violent accidents to an account of his mother's sudden death in 2002, from meditations on eating and sleeping to the "scalding, epiphanic moment of clarity" in 1978 that set him on a new course as a writer. Winter Journal is a book that looks straight into the heart of what it means to be alive.
In today's final episode of Winter Journal Paul Auster examines his 64-year-old self and looks forward rather than back on a life still to be lived. Read by Garrick Hagon.
Produced by: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment Limited Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01mf7nb)
Zdenka Fantlova, Lynn Woo, oysters and surviving retirement
Zdenka Fantlova is one of a dwindling number of Holocaust survivors still alive today. Born in Czechoslovakia, She spent time in Terezin concentration camp, Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen and weighed only 77lbs when she was rescued by a British Army officer in 1945. When she and her young lover Arno were separated during the war, he gave her a handmade tin ring, to keep her safe until they could be together again. Now her story of survival in adversity has been turned into a one-woman play, to debut at the Lowry in Salford this week. She'll tell Jenni about how she survived internment and why she believes that what she went through enriched the rest of her life.
This weekend will see the Hillsborough International Oyster Festival takes place in Ireland.The oyster is a delicacy dating from Roman times. Once considered food for the poor, years of over-fishing have elevated the oyster to luxury status. Native or Pacific, farmed or wild, from Colchester, Cornwall or Carlingford they all have their own unique character. We find out how to choose, serve and eat them.
It's two years since a young British doctor, Karen Woo, was shot dead by gunmen, never confirmed but thought to be the Taliban, in a remote mountainous region of Afghanistan. Having completed a medical relief mission, Karen's convoy was ambushed returning back to Kabul. Karen was murdered alongside nine other team members. She had been due to get married in London just two weeks later. Her mother Lynn joins Jenni to talk about her daughter and how work among Afghan women and children is now under way as a result of the foundation created in her name.
As you approach the end of your working life retirement can seem like a light at the end of the tunnel, a new era of freedom where you're finally able to do all the things you ever dreamed of. But it may not be everything it's cracked up to be. What if you get bored? What if your partner gets on your nerves? What if you get on their nerves? When a listener wrote to Woman's Hour sharing concerns about her husband's impending retirement, it raised the question of how to survive retirement - and how to make sure your relationship does too. Presented by Jenni Murray.
FRI 10:45 Shardlake (b01mk37j)
Dissolution
Episode 5
C. J. Sansom's bestselling Tudor crime novel, adapted for radio by Colin MacDonald.
Winter, 1537, the South Kent Coast. Lawyer-detective Matthew Shardlake's investigation into the murder of a King's Commissioner is further complicated by the discovery of another suspicious death at Scarnsea Monastery.
Produced and directed by Kirsteen Cameron.
FRI 11:00 Hearing Ragas (b01mf7nd)
This is violinist Professor Paul Robertson's remarkable story of the Indian ragas he heard from within a coma, and the healing effect that Sir John Tavener's music had on him in his recovery.
When Paul and John met at a conference in 2007 they discovered that they had a shared interest in near death experiences. During the course of their conversation, John stated that he wanted to write a piece for Paul involving four string quartets to be called "Towards Silence". John duly wrote the piece and Paul started to make arrangements for its premiere. At this point, John suffered a heart attack and was taken into intensive care in Switzerland. Within weeks, Paul's aorta gave way and he found himself in a London hospital. During his six week coma, Paul had a series of horrific visions, but was occasionally comforted by the sound of a woman singing Indian ragas. Only when he came out of the coma did he realise for the first time, that the music John had written for him: "Towards Silence", was based on an Indian raga. Paul then used the practising of this piece to rehabilitate himself after the paralysing strokes he'd suffered during his coma.
Paul and John are brought together to share their experiences properly for the first time and to talk about what happened to them; how they view their respective illnesses and how these episodes have changed their lives.
It includes music by Sir John Tavener, a soundtrack by Simon Hall and Sanchita Pal singing Ragas.
There will be a longer version of this programme available on Listen Again at the time of TX which includes more detail about Paul's recovery. There will also be a chance for listeners to hear more of the conversation between Paul and John Tavener on the programme's web page.
Producer: Rosie Boulton.
FRI 11:30 Beauty of Britain (b01mf7ng)
Series 3
The New Best Friend
Sitcom by Christopher Douglas and Nicola Sanderson about Zimbabwean care worker Beauty Olonga.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b01mf7pf)
Leisure provision and council cuts, Paralympics, new tech devices and crayfish
Peter White reveals how many local councils have cut back on sport - despite all the hopes of Olympic legacy. We'll be hearing from the President of the International Paralympic Committee - Sir Philip Craven and also looking at how you can study to make ice-cream.. in Italy, of course.
FRI 12:45 The New Elizabethans (b01mf7ph)
Queen Elizabeth II
The New Elizabethans: Queen Elizabeth II who celebrates her Diamond Jubilee this year.
As the longest-lived and second-longest-reigning monarch of the United Kingdom after Queen Victoria, she has been served by a total of twelve different Prime Ministers and has witnessed tremendous social, political and cultural changes, including the transformation of the British Empire into the Commonwealth of Nations.
The Queen and her family have adapted to increased public scrutiny and media interest during that time, allowing cameras to film behind the scenes at Buckingham Palace, meeting ordinary people during the first walkabout in 1970 and even in 2012 participating in the opening ceremony of the Olympics where The Queen met her most famous spy, James Bond.
Despite criticism after the death of Diana, The Queen's position has not weakened but strengthened. In an address to Parliament in 2012, she paid a rare public tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh, her "constant strength and guide" and in her Diamond Jubilee message said she hoped "this Jubilee year will be a time to give thanks for the great advances that have been made since 1952 and to look forward to the future with clear head and warm heart."
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.".
FRI 12:57 Weather (b01m8546)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b01mf7q0)
National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
FRI 13:45 Coming Out (b01888d8)
Bankruptcy
Five programmes exploring the ways in which we reveal our true histories to the world.
5. Bankruptcy
Hannah, like many students, left university with a burden of debt in addition to her student loan. Unable to find a job in the field she had trained for, her debts escalated to the point where she had to consider bankruptcy. With her father and a friend who had also had to declare herself bankrupt she looks back over the depression and guilt which accompanied her financial disaster and is now able to draw some positive conclusions from it.
Producer Christine Hall.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b01mdks1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b01mkztj)
David Morley - A Cold Supper Behind Harrods
50 years after the end of the war that first brought them together, three Special Operations Executive agents meet once again to record interviews for a TV documentary investigating the murder of their colleague Patricia at the hands of the Gestapo.
Whilst waiting to be interviewed Vera Atkins, Leo Marks and John Harrison reminisce but soon move beyond pleasantries to re-examine their conduct during the war. In doing so they gradually reveal a complicated history of lies, self-deception and guilt. In the murky world of sabotage and spying each one was compromised and the lines between right and wrong became blurred. Why did Vera and the London team apparently ignore evidence that the Gestapo had infiltrated Patricia's SOE network in France? And what does her cold exterior hide? Could the genius code maker Leo have done more to persuade his superiors to stop sending young agents to inevitable capture in France? What is the truth about John Harrison's years spent in German captivity? Did he break under interrogation? In this drama, inspired by real characters and events, it is only as the three former agents depart for London in a taxi that the disturbing truth finally emerges.
Written by David Morley
Directed by Philip Franks
Producer: Richard Clemmow
A Perfectly Normal Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b01mf7zc)
Postbag Edition
Peter Gibbs and the GQT team tackle gardening questions in his very own garden in Berkshire. The panellists are Pippa Greenwood, Bunny Guinness and Christine Walkden. In addition, Anne Swithinbank and Bob Flowerdew meet a roses expert at Mottisfont Abbey in Hampshire to get the lowdown on scent and longevity of flowering.
Produced by Howard Shannon.
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
Questions answered in the programme:
Q. In Act 1 of Shakespeare's Henry V, the Bishop of Ely says "The strawberry grows underneath the nettle, and wholesome berries thrive and ripen best, neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality". Has any member of the team tried nettle planting?
A. The quote probably refers to wild strawberries, as they would not have had cultivated strawberries in Shakespearean times. Wild strawberries do not require the sun like cultivated varieties but, on the whole, nettles are not to be recommended for companion planting!
Q. My bare-rooted Malwina strawberries are sprouting new plants from the pointed tip of the berry. Is there something wrong with the plants, or the way I am cultivating them?
A. These could be parthenocarpic fruit (produced without sexual fertilisation), as a result of this year's unusual weather.
Q. Can I continue to use rhubarb leaves as a mulch for keeping the weeds at bay, or might these poison the soil and make it unsuitable for growing vegetables?
A. No. In such minute quantities and diluted by rain, the oxalic acid will not be a problem.
Q. I planted a Virginia creeper at the front of our house and after ten years took it out. I have since found tendrils growing within the cavity wall. Do Virginia creepers regroup within cavities and, if so, what is the best way to get rid of them ?
A. A systemic weed killer should get rid of it, for example Glyphosate. Removing the plant mechanically (without weed killer) can damage the pointing/brickwork.
Q. My newly planted New Dawn roses have come up white instead of pink. Is it true that pink roses are coming up white this year because of all the rain?
A. Yes. Not just pink to white, but other coloured roses coming up paler too. This is probably related to potassium deficiency as a result of nutrients being washed out of the soil by the high rainfall. Lower light levels are also affecting them. Give them time and a good rose food and they should be fine next year.
Q. I have bought some 3in tall hellebore plants. What do I do with them now?
A. Plant them out, give them a good mulch and leave them to get on with it. Keep them moist and try not to move them once you have planted them out.
Q. This year my allotment was affected by potato blight. Is there any way of cleaning the soil and how long will it be before I can plant potatoes in the area again?
A. Blight does go into the soil, unless you thoroughly remove the affected greenery promptly - do not do anything but bin or burn what you cut down. If the blight is in the soil, keeping susceptible plants out of the soil for a three year rotation will clear it.
Q. How do you dead-head pelargoniums? Mine have brown parts on the flower head which I would like to remove without taking off the healthy parts too.
A. Use a pair of pointed hairdressing scissors to get into the flower head and take off the individual flower stalks.
Q. Over the decades, my hedges have steadily grown in width and height, despite annual trimming. When and how should I attack them with a chainsaw? The hedges include Escallonia, beech, Australian holly and hawthorn.
A. Wait until next February/May and take it down to about half. Alternatively, those species can be cut to ground level and will re-shoot. Do check for nesting birds first though!
Q. I was surprised to read recently that berberis darwinii has edible berries. Is this true and if so, have the panel ever tried them?
A. The berries are quite sour but delicious in - for example - Iranian dishes. An Iranian cookbook is recommended! Proceed with caution if you suffer from diverticulitis, as berberis berries can cause problems.
Q. How do you prolong the life of a Christmas cactus? My cactus, which is kept in the conservatory, has purple-turning, withered leaves.
A. Water well, weekly between April and September. This species is a forest cactus, so does not require the hot, dry conditions of desert cactuses and the purple leaves are probably a sign of heat distress.
Q. My yew tree needs transplanting. The tree is 12 years old, approx. 8ft tall and had a trunk diameter of 4.5in. Please advise on the size of hole needed and the best time of year to move it.
A. Take a root ball of around 90cm diameter - the tree is likely to have deep tap roots, so will suffer. It may be worth reducing the size by cutting back foliage first. The move should be made in October to allow time in autumn for root growth (unless in wet heavy soil), but the whole process should be done over two seasons.
FRI 15:45 Hitch-Hiker's Guide to Europe (b01mf7zf)
On the Road
Read by Mark Little.
The Hitch-hiker's Guide to Europe was the book most often stolen from British libraries in the 1970s. Mark Little reads from the young travellers' bible that nestled in every student rucksack forty years ago as they set off to explore Europe on £10 a week. Australian Ken Welsh was the hitcher who inspired thousands to follow "the infinite miles of tarmac and pot-holes which criss-cross the world, the magic ribbon which can lead to a thousand other worlds."
With a great deal of humour, some common sense and a spirit of recklessness lost to today's youngsters, Welsh's book covered everything from How To Hitch ("Providing a driver isn't obviously bombed out of his mind, my rule is to take any car that stops which has its bonnet pointed even vaguely in the direction I want to go...") to tips on How To Survive ("If you make the mistake of getting in with a fast driver who won't stop, make sounds which suggest you're about to throw up all over his upholstery...")
Re-reading it forty years on it's surprising what a different world it was then for the young traveller. There seemed to be more trust around (hitch-hikers are a rarity nowadays), and no real worries about roughing it far from home without the comfort of a mobile phone and by relying on the black markets, pawn shops or even blood banks when cash machines were simply not an option.
Produced by Neil Cargill
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b01mf7zh)
Rev Moon, Max Bygraves, Rhodes Boyson, Daire Brehan, Hal David
Matthew Bannister on
The controversial founder of the Unification Church. The Reverend Sun Myung Moon was a self proclaimed Messiah who faced allegations of brainwashing and embezzlement and was imprisoned for tax evasion.
The singer and comedian Max Bygraves. His son recalls his rise from poverty to stardom.
The Conservative MP Sir Rhodes Boyson - a former head teacher who was outspoken on education policy.
Daire Brehan - the radio presenter best known for her work on Radio 4's Afternoon Shift
And the lyricist Hal David who penned many a classic with Burt Bacharach.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (b01mf7zk)
When it comes to music, variety is the spice of life at BBC Radio 2. Its database of tracks carries some 14,000 hits from every decade since the 40s. But it's the network's much vaunted playlist that every band and musician is itching to get on. This list of around 30 songs guarantees regular plays on the BBC's most popular radio station. Every week the great and the good of BBC Radio 2 gather for the playlist meeting, and this week Roger gets in on the action. Will it be the end for The Beach Boys? Will rockstars Muse make it on? Or is there a surprise joker in the pack? Feedback finds out.
Roger will also talk to Radio 2's Head of Music, Jeff Smith, to discover just how the playlist is put together - and finds out what makes the ultimate Radio 2 song.
And listeners respond to Radio 4's Chain Reaction, the series in which public figures choose who they want to interview, with their subject, in turn, turning interviewer. Too chummy? Or entertaining, unguarded and revealing discussions? Roger talks to the programme's producers, and to interviewee, turned interviewer - Caitlin Moran (warning some answers may include Bernie Clifton and his ostrich).
And finally, you say twenty-twelve, I say two-thousand and twelve - let's call the whole thing off. Luckily the BBC Pronunciation Unit is on hand to help Roger out.
Presented by Roger Bolton
Producer: Kate Taylor
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 17:00 PM (b01mf7zm)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01m8548)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b01mf7zp)
Series 78
Episode 1
Paralympics, Presidentials and Planning Permission. In the week where David Cameron's Cabinet reshuffle dominated the headlines, Sandi Toksvig hosts Radio 4's long running topical panel game. Andy Hamilton, Fred Macaulay and Sarah Millican join regular panellist Jeremy Hardy, and Corrie Corfield reads the news.
Produced by Lyndsay Fenner.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b01mf7zr)
Matt consults with Brenda and tells her to delay paying their suppliers. When Darrell comes into the office to drop off his timesheet, Matt is thankful to have caught his employee. He isn't happy that Darrell has been avoiding him. Matt demands to know why Darrell hasn't taken up the floorboards at the Walters' house. Darrell doesn't think it's right to leave an elderly couple's home in a state of disrepair. They could fall and seriously injure themselves.
Adam confronts Pawel about kissing Ian. Pawel is amused by Adam's anger and suggests he merely wants some fun while in England. Adam and Ian's marriage is clearly having problems as Adam cheated. Now that Adam is ignoring Pawel's advances, Pawel has turned to Ian instead.
Helping Neil with the pigs, Mike becomes snappy when Neil mentions pregnancy. Neil's immediate thought is that Vicky has had a miscarriage and he questions Mike. Mike reveals his child will be born with Downs syndrome. Though Vicky wants to go ahead with the pregnancy, Mike doesn't know how they will cope.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b01mf83s)
Charles Sturridge, Iraq War novel, revival of silent cinema
With Kirsty Lang.
Charles Sturridge, the director of the landmark TV series Brideshead Revisited, discusses his latest project, a TV adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's The Scapegoat, a tale of two identical looking men who swap lives. He also reflects on how television drama has changed since the days of Brideshead.
Iraq war veteran Kevin Powers has drawn on his own experiences in his novel The Yellow Birds, the story of a young recruit sent to Iraq's Nineveh Province in 2004, and his struggle to adapt to civilian life on his return. Kevin reveals the frequently asked question that was the starting point for the book.
Not since the invention of sound cinema have silent movies been so popular, partly due to the unexpected Oscar success of The Artist. This week sees two new films which pay homage to the silent era - Tabu, which has no dialogue in its last half hour and takes its name from a famous F W Murnau drama, and a Spanish adaptation of Snow White which looks like it's been made in the 1920s and not the 21st century. Historian Matthew Sweet and silent film accompanist and composer Neil Brand explain why we've learned to stop worrying and love silent cinema
The Art of Chess is a new exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery which brings together 16 chess sets designed by some
of the world's leading contemporary artists, including Jake and Dinos Chapman, Rachel Whiteread, Damien Hirst and Tim Noble and Sue Webster. Each set is individually crafted in a wide variety of different materials including wood, porcelain, glass, amber and silver. Scotland's strongest chess Grandmaster Jonathan Rowson reviews.
Producer Erin Riley.
FRI 19:45 Shardlake (b01mk37j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b01mf83v)
Lympstone, Devon
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs a discussion of news and politics from Lympstone Parish Church, Devon
marking twenty-five years of Jonathan's chairing of the show. On the panel, two of the panellists from that 1987 programme: Conservative Peer Norman Tebbit and Labour Peer Roy Hattersley; joining them, the producer of the 1987 Any Questions, Carole Stone, now chairman of YouGov Stone and the political historian and cross-bench peer, Peter Hennessy.
Producer: Victoria Wakely.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b01mf83x)
Policing Sex
"Once again the snake pit of policing sexual behaviour and the conflict between men and women's attitudes of it have become news" writes Sarah Dunant.
She discusses the remarks by the American would-be senator who claimed that after "legitimate rape", women's bodies protect them from pregnancy. She looks at George Galloway's assertion that what Julian Assange did or didn't do in bed was simple bad sexual etiquette. And she discusses the controversy surrounding Fifty Shades of Grey.
She starts from a very personal perspective, and broadens the debate on attitudes to sex by looking at it from an historical perspective. She concludes that a storm of female outrage serves only to stifle debate and that men must be involved in the discussions.
Producer Adele Armstrong.
FRI 21:00 Saturday Drama (b01b8w6h)
An American Rose
by Charlotte Jones
The Kennedys were the most famous family in
England when Joseph became American Ambassador
in London. But daughter Rosemary's behaviour began to
cause the family increasing concern.
Produced by Claire Grove
Directed by Sally Avens
Award winning writer Charlotte Jones' play is inspired by the lives of two of JFK's sisters, 'Rosemary' Kennedy, who died in 2005, but underwent a prefrontal lobotomy aged 23 and Kathleen 'Kick' Kennedy who married the heir to the Duke of Devonshire.
Charlotte's work includes 'Airswimming' and 'Humble Boy' for the National Theatre. She has written several plays for Radio.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b01m854b)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b01mf83z)
US jobs figures - what do American companies think of the solutions being offered by the Presidential candidates; what's behind the recent tensions in Northern Ireland; and the latest from the Syrian conflict with Ritula Shah.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01mf841)
Ian McEwan - Sweet Tooth
Episode 5
Ian McEwan's novel of love and deception set in MI5 during the early 1970s, read by Amelia Bullmore.
Episode 5
Serena's affair with Max Greatorex is not progressing as she'd hoped, but a new love interest emerges as she embarks on her Sweet Tooth mission and meets young writer Tom Haley Then Max tells her the devastating truth about Tony Canning, the lover who recruited her.
Abridged and produced by Christine Hall.
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b01mdf0d)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01mf843)
As the Commons hears pleas for better recognition of those who spend hours of their lives caring for an elderly relative, Mark D'Arcy brings us the best of the debate. Also on the programme: There's a new government chief whip. So will he be exerting greater discipline over the Coalition's often troublesome and rebellious MPs ? And do ministerial reshuffles actually make for an efficient way of running the country?. One senior MP plans to invite past and present Prime Ministers to a committee inquiry studying the precise value of reshuffles.