The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Michael Holroyd confronts an army of automobiles in this charming memoir. Weaving together personal stories and historical anecdote, he traces his relationship with cars through a lifetime of biography.
Learning to drive was no easy matter for Michael. The lessons required military precision when practising how to get in and out of his car correctly. His biographical subjects also had their difficulties: Bernard Shaw drove with reckless gusto when overtaking his eightieth year; Vita Sackville-West's car became a chamber for sudden romantic assignations and getaways; Augustus John and his family careered through vulnerable villages as the poor vehicle, piled high with bohemian friends, stuttered and jerked along in first gear.
Wry, thoughtful and very funny, On Wheels is an elegy to the glamour of the car. Subtle and perceptive, Michael Holroyd finds surprising ways to understand the past and challenge our view of the future.
In the final episode, Michael Holroyd describes playwright Bernard Shaw's enthusiastic, if cavalier, approach to driving - only thwarted by the outbreak of world war. For Michael Holroyd, however, it was the satnav that did for him.
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 Chris Bennett of the Titanic Quarter in Belfast.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
Over 80 years after the publication of 'Swallows and Amazons', Helen Mark visits the Lake District to find out why the lakes and landscapes that inspired some of Arthur Ransome's most famous stories are now the setting for a variety of different and often more daring adventures. From trails to triathlons, ghyll scrambling to zorbing and aqua rolling, there is now something for everyone to be found on the Lakeland fells.
On the lower slopes of Helvellyn, around 1200 people prepare to take part in a trail run designed to test and exhilarate them as they make their way through some of the most dramatic views that Lakeland has to offer. Helen meets the organiser, Graham Patten, to find out more about the people who travel miles to take part and also why the National Park is so keen to promote the area as the UK's Adventure Capital. It's a far cry from the more genteel adventures of sailing, camping and fishing experienced by the Walker children, John, Susan, Titty and Roger, who Arthur Ransome wrote about.
Out on Coniston water Arthur's cousin, Richard Ransome, tells Helen how his own childhood, growing up in the area, was very like something from his cousin's books and how he feels that the magic element of imagination seems to be missing from the adventures of today. Helen is given a demonstration of ghyl scrambling by a group of adventurers who describe the thrill this gives them. And finally, Helen meets John Nettleton and Jenny Massie, whose own adventures climbing and running on the screes and fells of this landscape began at a time when they almost had their own bit of Lakeland to themselves.
Farming Today this Week visits the cold packing warehouses of Walsh Mushrooms in Evesham. It's the UK's second largest mushroom producers and packers, they supply supermarkets and pre-prepared mushrooms for processed food and pre-prepared meals and have an annual turnover of £30 million a year.
Celebrity chef, Valentine Warner tells Charlotte Smith about the weird and wonderful morsels of mushrooms that can be found by foraging and more importantly what can be done with them.
Scottish farmer, Tyle de Bordes tells Farming Today This Week about the ecological advantage of finding over 300 varieties of fungus on his farm and mycologist, Lynn Boddy talks about how important mushrooms are for the natural environment.
Farming Today This Week was presented by Charlotte Smith and produced in Birmingham by Ruth Sanderson.
Morning news and current affairs with John Humphrys and James Naughtie, including:
The main opposition group trying to depose President Assad, the Syrian National Council (SNC), has chosen a new leader. He is a Christian, George Sabra, a former Communist who has been a long-term opponent of the Assad regime, and fled the country last year. Bassam Imadi, an opposition member and a former Syrian ambassador to Sweden, and Ahmet Unal Cevikoz, Turkey's ambassador debate whether the fact that George Sabra is a Christian, is evidence that the movement was not sectarian.
Heckling is a part of the theatre tradition. The Downton Abbey star, Laura Carmichael, was doing live theatre recently - playing Sonya in Uncle Vanya. Her final scene did not impress one member of the audience who was heard shouting "Stop! It's not good enough!" The heckler was Britain's most famous theatre director Sir Peter Hall. The actor Michael Simkins examines this issue from his experience.
Last night Newsnight introduced it's programme with the words "a new crisis facing Newsnight" after it broadcast an item that made allegations about children being abused and linking to that abuse a man who had been a senior politician in the Thatcher years. They did not name him but there were enough clues in the report for him to be named on the internet and many people knew the man was Lord McAlpine. However, it turns out that the man, Steve Messham, had made a mistake, and that Lord McAlpine is innocent. The BBC's Director General, George Entwistle and the Conservative MP who chairs the House of Commons Culture Commitee, John Whittingdale, discuss.
Sian Williams and Richard Coles talk to tenor Alfie Boe, find out about a World War Two Lancaster Bomber airman's letter from his daughter which was lost in France during the War then found again, hear from the British Legion's youngest member, talk to a man who has recorded everyday day of his son's 21 years with a camera, shudder to the sound of a TVR sports car exhaust, thrill to the commanding presence of a circus ringmaster, enjoy Andrew Motion's Inheritance Tracks and travel with John McCarthy to Utrecht.
Based on new interviews with surviving GI's and their brides, and more than 150 archive interviews from both the Imperial War Museum and the National Library of Congress, Martha Kearney presents the second of two programmes exploring the wartime GI years and their social and cultural impact.
Marking the 70th anniversary, Martha tells the story of how the number of American servicemen based in the UK grew to more than 1.5 million from the start of 1942 through to 1944. The programme evaluates the military importance of the GI's, the integration of British and American troops and the sometimes difficult relationship between their commanders.
The arrival of large numbers of ebullient young men from an alien culture inevitably made a huge impression on British society. For many Britons the GI's were 'over sexed, over paid and over here' and misunderstandings on both sides frequently led to tension and hostility.
Racial tensions sometimes spilled over into violence, notably at the so-called Battle of Bamber Bridge in 1943 when Black and White GI's fought in the streets of the village near Preston.
The programme evokes Rainbow Corner, the American Red Cross Club near London's Piccadilly Circus where servicemen went for food, entertainment or even just a hot shower. Luxuries were available there of which most Britons could only dream.
In the aftermath of VE day, it is believed that around 70,000 British girls married American GI's with many girls emigrating immediately. Unofficial estimates also suggest that around 9,000 illegitimate children were born after the war as a result of relationships with serving GI's.
Iain Martin of The Daily Telegraph follows events in Westminster this week.
All eyes were on the US presidential election as Barack Obama was returned for a second term. Are there lessons to be learnt for all parties from his re-election? Labour Siobhain McDonagh who campaigned for Obama, and Brooks Newmark who knows Mitt Romney, talk about their experience of US politics: and shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander evaluates the result.
This week marked the midpoint of the coalition government .Conservative MPs Mark Field and Margot James consider its durability.
And as the enduring interest in the English Civil war is made evident in a sell-out play 55 Days at the Hampstead Theatre in London. MPs Tristram Hunt (Labour) and Douglas Carswell (Conservative) explain why we are still interested in roundheads and cavaliers.
Burma: Jonathan Head goes to Rakhine state in Burma where bitter unrest has resulted in more than a hundred deaths and a hundred thousand displaced.
Libya: Kevin Connolly visits a war graves cemetery and considers stories of loss and love, grief and anger.
Japan: Rupert Wingfield-Hayes takes a boat to the islands at the centre of a bitter argument in the South China Sea.
USA: As the dust settles after the election Jonny Dymond's in Indiana looking on as the real business of America gets done.
and Mexico: Will Grant's in Oaxaca state where they believe in bidding farewell to the dead in a festive rather than a funereal atmosphere.
Buyer beware: When Money Box listener Julia wanted a new TV, the best deal was on a website. The firm wouldn't take plastic so she transferred the money direct from her Lloyds account to the firm's account at the same bank. After making the payment she got suspicious, and it turned out, the firm had disappeared. But Lloyds would not refund her money. Paul Lewis hears how paying by bank transfer is the least secure way to shop online. Sarah Pennells of savvywoman.co.uk outlines the best ways to pay for goods online.
Free broadband deal ends early: Orange is writing to customers who signed up for its free broadband offer to tell them that the deal is ending unless they pay for an Orange landline. Money Box asks when a company is within its rights to change the terms of a contract part way through a deal. Many customers insist they were promised free broadband for life by Orange shop assistants - what can they do? Paul Lewis speaks to Guy Anker from moneysavingexpert.com and compliance expert Adam Samuel. (For more information about the Communications and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme, visit www.cisas.org.uk)
Insurance auto-renewal: Last week's item on insurance policies which roll over from year-to-year has caused a big response from listeners. One firm now admits that you cannot opt out of auto-renewal at the start of the contract. Instead you have to wait until a few weeks before the cover ends and then opt out. We find out how best to overcome the insurers' desire to hang on to you.
Investing for income: The FTSE 100 index is stuck in the doldrums but there are many shares that produce a good income. If you have money to invest is it worth going for dividends? Paul Lewis discusses the topic with Jason Hollands of Bestinvest.
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present the week in stand-up and sketches with Jon Holmes, Laura Shavin, Mitch Benn and special guests Andi Osho, and Tina C. Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
Jonathan Dimbleby presents the political discussion and debate programme from the National Railway Museum at Shildon in Co Durham. Guests include John Redwood MP, Lord Steel the former leader of the Liberal Party, Commentator Charlie Wolf and Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rachel Reeves MP.
A chance for Radio 4 listeners to have their say on the issues discussed on Any Questions. Call Anita Anand on 03700 100 444 or email any.answers@bbc.co.uk or tweet using #bbcaq. Topics included: Is it right for the BBC and others to broadcast the names of celebrities relating to child abuse with no real evidence? Should there be one over arching inquiry into child abuse across government institutions the BBC and public life? Obama victory - What are the economic implications for Britain and Europe and Nadine Dorries in the jungle - should MPs have a contract of employment to ensure they attend work?
Someone is assaulting and killing young girls in the parks of Stockholm. With only a brutal mugger and a three year-old boy for witnesses, the investigation is stalling. It's only a tiny detail surfacing in Beck's mind that puts the murder squad on the trail of the killer, but will they get him before he strikes again?
Stuart Maconie presents Swansong Ep 3 this week looking at Big Country's 1999 album Driving To Damascus.
Big Country were one of the most successful acts of the 1980's - with a dual guitar sound that's been likened to Thin Lizzy in Kilts- their epic Celtic anthems ontracks like 'Fields of Fire' and 'In A Big Country' sold millions both in the UK and the States. Singer and guitarist Stuart Adamson had previously tasted the limelight with his post-punk outfit The Skids - but it was the mainstream success of Big Country with their uniquely Scottish sound and lyrics emphasizing the plight of the working man that heralded their worldwide fame and to Adamson brought its associated troubles.
In summer 1999 the band entered Rockfield Studios in Monmouth to record Driving To Damascus - it would be their last full album with Adamson. Swansong Ep 3 features honest and revealing interviews with guitarist, Bruce Watson, drummer Mark Brzezicki, album's producer Rafe Mckenna, Eddi Reader and Stuart's daughter Kirsten Adamson who then aged 14 sang backing vocals on the album.
Kirstie Allsopp tells us how to get the vintage look at home. Golden-girl Jessica Ennis on her success at London 2012. Helen Fielding reveals there's a new Bridget Jones' Diary on the way. How to be a woman in your own right... Anne Dickson discusses her landmark book which is being republished after 30 years, with journalist Suzanne Moore. What's the appeal of a onesie? Editor of British Vogue, Alexandra Schulman and Amy Childs assess the overgrown babygrow for adults. Birmingham schoolgirls read extracts from the blog of Pakistan schoolgirl Mulala Yousafsai and Orla Guerin, the BBC's correspondent in Pakistan updates us on the situation there for girls wanting an education.
The view from the top of business. Presented by Evan Davis, The Bottom Line cuts through confusion, statistics and spin to present a clearer view of the business world, through discussion with people running leading and emerging companies.
Evan and his guests discuss financial services. They have the power to enrich an economy - or to ruin it completely. But what kind of makeover do they need to get them fit for the 21st century? Should the industry be more innovative and clever - or just a bit more old-fashioned and simple?
Joining Evan in the studio are former fund manager David Pitt-Watson; Martin Gilbert, chief executive of Aberdeen Asset Management; Richard Ward, chief executive of insurance market Lloyd's of London.
Sir Michael Parkinson, Brian Sewell, Mitch Albom, Susan Calman, Resonators and Punch Brothers
Clive chats to broadcaster, journalist and doyen of British talkshow hosts, Sir Michael Parkinson, who returns to our TV screens doing what he does best. He's grilled everyone; from Fred Astaire to Madonna and in 'Parkinson: Masterclass', Sir Michael conducts interviews with an array of superstar guests from the artistic spectrum. The series begins on Tuesday 13th November at
Clive gets some perspective with art critic Brian Sewell, who talks about the second instalment of his scandalous and haunting memoir 'Outsider II - Always Almost: Never Quite'. The final chapter charts his path to becoming, as The Spectator noted, 'Surely the funniest art critic of our time'.
Jo Bunting gets the giggles with former lawyer and now award-winning comedian Susan Calman. She now shoots from the hip in her personal and political show 'This Lady's Not for Turning Either' which chronicles how she met and wed the love of her life in a civil ceremony. Susan's at London's Soho Theatre from Tuesday 13th to Saturday 24th November.
Clive's just in time to talk to international bestselling author, journalist and broadcaster Mitch Albom. His book 'Tuesday's with Morrie' recounts the life-changing time he spent with his 78-year-old sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz and is one of the top selling memoirs of all time. Mitch's new novel 'The Time Keeper' sees the inventor of the world's first clock punished for trying to measure time.
We're skanking with nine-piece dub reggae band Resonators who play 'Try Again' from their new album 'The Constant' .
And some Musical Youth from progressive bluegrass band Punch Brothers, who perform 'Movement and Location' from their acclaimed album 'Who's Feeling Young Now?'
Mark Coles profiles the controversial Conservative MP Nadine Dorries, who has been suspended from her party for taking part in the reality TV show "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here".
Dorries - a self-proclaimed council estate Scouser not afraid of speaking her mind - left school with few qualifications but went on to become a hospital nurse before setting up a successful company providing childcare services to working parents. Then she astonished her mother by entering politics.
In the House of Commons Dorries has clashed with the Opposition and many within her own party over the issues of abortion and sex education. She has sparred with David Cameron, who she regards as a "posh boy", and been criticised - even by those who like her - of being too outspoken.
According to Ian Birrell, a former Cameron speechwriter, the celebrity jungle will make or break Dorries.
"She'll either do very very well at getting across the fact she is unusual for a politician," he says, "or she will rub everyone up the wrong way and be ejected within about 20 seconds. She will be a great success or a great failure - which I think is possibly the story of Nadine.".
Tom Sutcliffe and guests - the novelist Tracy Chevalier, critic Sarfraz Manzoor and director of the Serpentine Gallery Julia Peyton-Jones - discuss the cultural highlights of the week, including Alan Bennett's new play "People" starring Frances de la Tour and Linda Bassett which opens at the National Theatre this week. The play explores the theme of heritage Britain and the price we put on privacy - through the prism of analysing available options for elderly sisters occupying a grand stately home in an advanced state of decay.
Ben Affleck directs and stars in Argo, a feature film which manages to be both political thriller and hilarious satire on the movie business itself. It's based on a real story in which the CIA funds a fake science fiction movie in order to rescue six fugitive Americans holed up in the Canadian Ambassador's house as the Iranian revolution reaches boiling point in November 1979. Can a fake bad film make a real good one?
The Taj Mahal is one of the Wonders of the World - but how much do we know about the culture that created it? Mughal India, Art Culture and Empire at the British Library is the first exhibition to document the entire historical period of the Mughals - one of the greatest dynasties of world history - from the 16th to the 19th century, through more than 200 exquisite manuscripts and the finest paintings drawn almost exclusively from the British Library's extensive heritage collection. At its peak the empire encompassed India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Michael Winterbottom has made 17 films in 15 years - his latest, Everyday, was made for Channel 4 and shot over a period of five years. Starring Shirley Henderson and John Simm, with four children from the same North Norfolk family - it's shot in their home and at their school - the film explores the effect a long term prison sentence has on the wife and children of the offender.
The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vasquez won Spain's top literary prize 2011 - the Alfaguara is also one of the richest prizes in the world, with prize money at over £100,000. The author was born in 1973 and says that the relationship his country has with the drug trade has shaped his life. The book is set in the 1990s when the war between drug baron Pablo Escobar and the government who were trying to stop his illegal activities was at its height.
As the BBC approaches its 90th birthday, arch scrutiniser and listeners' champion Roger Bolton examines the genesis of Reithian values and finds out how well Lord Reith - the first Director General of the BBC - lived up to his own exacting standards.
Memos and diary entries reveal Reith's spotless fingerprint on daily transmissions. "Hot jazz" was a "filthy product of modernity" and announcers should be "indirect and impersonal".
In conversation with Malcolm Muggeridge, Reith recalls how he stopped the BBC being taken over by the Government during the General Strike - a stand-off which caused a life-long rift with Churchill.
Former BBC Director General Greg Dyke says Reith set a precedent in establishing the Corporation's relationship with the Government and he talks about his own political conflicts. Ex-BBC radio controller and Reith biographer Ian McIntyre points out how Reith's public disdain for divorce and immorality contrasted with his own confused lovelife. Reith's daughter Marista Leishman - who wrote a frank biography of him - tells Bolton that her father's affairs were just his way of making himself the centre of attention.
Former Daily Telegraph editor Max Hastings says the role of the director general has strayed too far from its editorial origins. And BBC historian Jean Seaton assesses the impact and relevance of Reithian values in the 21st century.
The second part of a new production of Mary Shelley's heart-breaking modern myth of obsession, pride and the need for love. In attempting to find some peace from his troubles, Frankenstein has gone walking in the mountains, where he is about to come face to face with what he most hates and fears.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
The USA has once again emerged from its presidential electoral bout of soul searching. Candidates for the White House don't just have to have a plan for jobs and the economy, they have to have an inspiring vision and purpose for the nation. The grandiloquent rhetoric that candidates employ when they're setting out this message my sound strange on this side of the Atlantic, but it's no accident that presidents as poles apart as John F Kennedy and Ronald Reagan describe their country as a "shining city upon a hill". It's taken from Matthew's Gospel and Jesus' Sermon on the Mount where He tells His listeners that they are "the light to the world." From the founding Pilgrim Fathers to presidents today there's always been a strong sense in American politics that it is different from other countries; that its founding Enlightenment principles of liberty, equality and individual freedom not only make America exceptional, but also embody the nation with a duty of moral leadership to the rest of the world. The USA is still the richest and most powerful country in the world, but what about its moral capital? There are those who'd argue that America, especially in its foreign policy, has forfeited any claims to moral superiority. Or is this an example of a strong streak of anti-Americanism in the West that's driven by jealousy, prejudice and moral relativism? Many countries around the world and throughout history, including Great Britain, have seen themselves as exceptional with a unique gift to give to the world. Are nations that believe they are "chosen" and their unique status is the moral justification of their actions always going to be a threat to others? Is America guilty of religious nationalism, or do we need the most powerful country in the world to stand up for Western values? Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk with Melanie Phillips, Kenan Malik, Matthew Taylor and Claire Fox. Witnesses: Mehdi Hasan - political director Huffington Post and writer for New Statesman, Francis Beckett - Writer and historian, Charlie Wolf - Broadcaster, former Communications Director of Republicans Abroad UK, Daniel Hannon - Author "Anglosphere" and MEP for South East England.
Why could you be forgiven for thinking a Labour Prime Minister, a Daphne du Maurier novel and a Fred Astaire film had caused a surprising amount of fuss?
Tom Sutcliffe puts this and many other cryptic teasers to the regular panellists from the South of England and the North of England, in the latest contest of the mind-bending quiz. As always, he'll be available to provide just the right amount of help when the teams seem to be struggling - but the more help he has to give them, the fewer points they'll win.
Marcus Berkmann and Marcel Berlins play for the South of England, and Jim Coulson and Adele Geras for the North.
Ruth Padel and the The Dove Cottage Poets in Grasmere work on some poems in progress. Tough love for poems.
Poetry Workshops are gathering all over the country. In the back rooms of pubs, in libraries and in front rooms, poets meet to hone their craft and sharpen their verse. Ruth Padel begins a new series of programmes by working with The Dove Cottage Poets in Grasmere.
Going behind the scenes of the poems, the group are ruthless yet supportive as they chuck out words and redraft; listening, pruning and testing their work as they go. The theme for this week's poems is fathers, apt of course for the home-place of Wordsworth, the father of English romanticism.
The group discuss the techniques, inspiration, wordplay and imagination that make poetry so enjoyable and rewarding. As well as working on their own poems, the group bravely try out a writing exercise to warm up their poetry muscles, focussing on line endings by experimenting with a very famous poem by William Carlos Williams. They also consider a poem by a much loved poet associated with the area; Norman Nicholson.
SUNDAY 11 NOVEMBER 2012
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b01nsy21)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Casual Cruelty (b01nsz74)
The Villager
Series of short stories by the American author Shirley Jackson, who wrote in a style of 'creeping unease' from the 1940s until her death in 1965.
Miss Clarence's visit to an apartment in Greenwich Village, New York, gives her an unexpected insight into other people's lives as well as her own.
Read by Glenne Headly.
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01nsy23)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01nsy25)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01nsy27)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b01nsy29)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b01nsz76)
The bells of Westminster Abbey.
SUN 05:45 Profile (b01nsyxl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b01nsy2c)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b01nsz78)
Remembering the Wounded
In a special edition for Remembrance Sunday, Mark Tully remembers those wounded in action or taken ill while in the Services.
We rightly commemorate those who have died defending our country, but is there a danger that we sometimes forget those who are seriously injured in the armed services and those who devote their lives to caring from them?
Mark Tully talks to staff and patients at Headley Court Defence Medical Rehabilitation Unit in Surrey and draws on readings from 20th and 21st century wars in a programme honouring the wounded. He plays music by John Adams, Slim Gaillard and the band of the Royal Army Medical Corps and introduces readings of Wilfred Owen and A.E. Housman. The readers are Toby Jones and Francis Cadder.
Producer: Frank Stirling
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 Living World (b01nsz7b)
The Harvestman's Garden
In the autumn harvestmen, with their exceptionally long thin legs and small central body, are some of the most visible and numerous invertebrates to be found in our gardens and countryside. For most observers harvestmen are just long legged spiders; however this is not the case. Autumn is the best time of the year to look for harvestmen and so for this Living World Trai Anfield travels to Sheffield where with entomologist Paul Richards she goes on a harvestman safari unravelling the many differences between harvestmen and spiders.
One of the joys of studying harvestmen is that most of the 27 species can be seen in and around people gardens and to illustrate this Paul leads the way into his suburban garden to explore. As they rummage amongst his garden borders Paul explains that harvestmen are more closely related to scorpions than to spiders and that their scientific name Opiliones is Latin for "shepherd" referring to the ancient use of stilts by shepherds to watch over their flocks. Harvestmen do not spin webs, and although they do feed on other invertebrates, unlike spiders they will eat berries and fruits.
After a thorough search of his garden, Paul reveals that although there are 27 recognised British species of harvestman, earlier that week he found what is believed to be a newly discovered harvestman in Britain; so newly discovered that this species 28 doesn't even have a name yet.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b01nsy2f)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b01nsy2h)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b01nszcb)
On Friday, the Bishop of Durham, Dr Justin Welby, was named 105th Archbishop of Canterbury. We profile the man who has been a bishop for less than a year and who served Mammon before he served God. We ask what will be in his in-tray when he takes up office at Lambeth Palace, and what his priorities should be. The Rev'd George Pitcher, Canon Rosie Harper and the Rev'd Rod Thomas give their advice.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, one of Christianity's holiest sites, is threatened with closure over an unpaid water bill. Meanwhile Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill is on his first visit to Jerusalem since his appointment in 2009 and is due to visit some of the city's holy sites, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Harriet Sherwood of The Guardian reports.
As Church Action on Poverty celebrates its 30th birthday, Kevin Bocquet visits one of its projects in Salford, to find out how it's helping the most vulnerable, including ex offenders and teenage mothers. He also finds out about Church Action on Poverty's plans for the next three decades.
Jane Little reports from Washington DC on the religious implications of the US presidential election. How did the religions vote? Is this a watershed moment for liberal values? And is it really the end of the Christian Right?
On Remembrance Sunday, David Brittain of the UK Armed Forces Humanist Association talks about his bid for Humanists to be allowed to participate at the Cenotaph ceremonies.
Rahul Tandon reports from the Indian city of Calcutta where Hindus have been celebrating the Goddess Durga Puja but not everyone is happy with the commercialisation of the festival.
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b01nszcd)
Bowel Cancer UK
Charlene White presents the Radio 4 Appeal for Bowel Cancer UK
Reg Charity:1071038
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal, mark the back of the envelope Bowel Cancer UK.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b01nsy2k)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b01nsy2m)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b01nszcg)
A service for Remembrance Sunday live from Brecon Cathedral in Powys, Mid Wales, led by the Dean, the Very Reverend Geoffrey Osborne Marshall. The Cathedral Choir is directed by Mark Duthie and the organist is Paul Hayward. Producer: Sian Baker.
SUN 08:50 A Point of View (b01nq50g)
Rich man, poor man
Mary Beard on the long history of the rich looking down their noses - sometimes with a hearty Roman snort - at the poor.
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
SUN 09:00 News and Papers (b01nszsr)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 09:15 The Archers Omnibus (b01nszst)
For detailed synopsis, see daily episodes
Writer.....Tim Stimpson
Director....Kim Greengrass
Editor.....Vanessa Whitburn
Jill Archer..... Patricia Greene
Kenton Archer..... Richard Attlee
David Archer..... Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer..... Felicity Finch
Elizabeth Pargetter..... Alison Dowling
Tom Archer..... Tom Graham
Brian Aldridge..... Charles Collingwood
Jennifer Aldridge..... Angela Piper
Matt Crawford..... Kim Durham
Lilian Bellamy..... Sunny Ormonde
Jolene Perks..... Buffy Davis
Fallon Rogers..... Joanna Van Kampen
Kathy Perks..... Hedli Niklaus
Jamie Perks..... Dan Ciotkowski
William Grundy..... Philip Molloy
Nic Grundy..... Becky Wright
Emma Grundy..... Emerald O'Hanrahan
Edward Grundy..... Barry Farrimond
Brenda Tucker..... Amy Shindler
Robert Snell..... Graham Blockey
Lynda Snell..... Carole Boyd
Kirsty Miller..... Annabelle Dowler
Paul Morgan..... Michael Fenton Stevens
James Bellamy..... Roger May
Leonie Snell..... Jasmine Hyde
Rhys Williams..... Scott Arthur.
SUN 10:30 Ceremony of Remembrance from the Cenotaph (b01nszsw)
Nicholas Witchell sets the scene in London's Whitehall for the solemn ceremony when the nation remembers the sacrifice made by so many in the two World Wars and in other more recent conflicts. The traditional music of remembrance is played by the massed bands and, after the Last Post and Two Minutes Silence, Her Majesty the Queen lays the first wreath on behalf of nation and commonwealth. The Bishop of London leads a short Service of Remembrance; then, during the March Past, both veterans and those involved in present conflicts throughout the world share their thoughts.
Producer: Philip Billson.
SUN 11:45 The Art of Remembrance (b01nszsy)
The work of war poets such as Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen is well known, as is music such as Vaughan Williams' Pastoral Symphony, but artists responded in many more ways to the fallen of the Great War. Mark Whitaker looks at some particularly striking and lesser known examples of these responses, assisted throughout by the leading expert on Remembrance, Professor Jay Winter. Recorded largely on location in the UK, France, Belgium and Germany, Whitaker records his impressions of works by a painter, an architect, a film-maker, a sculptor and a poet.
In France he sees the extraordinary Thiepval Memorial on the Somme, created by Edwin Lutyens to commemorate the 70,000 British and Empire soldiers who died in the area and have no known grave. In Belgium he visits the sculpture Grieving Parents by Käthe Kollwitz, depicting her and her husband kneeling despairingly in front of their son Peter's grave, symbolising the loss felt by a generation of German parents. In Germany, he discovers the paintings of Otto Dix, in particular The Match Seller showing the fate of a severely disabled veteran scraping a living on the street, ignored by the affluent passers-by.
The film J'Accuse shows a great film-maker's response in the extraordinary scene where the war dead rise from their graves and march on a nearby town to confront the villagers whose behaviour is unworthy of their sacrifice.
Finally Whitaker looks at the controversial French non-combatant Maurice Barres who wrote romantically of dead soldiers rising up in the trenches to help their besieged comrades, bringing a stinging rebuke from combat veteran and poet Marc de Larreguy de Civrieux for this rosy view of trench warfare.
Producer: Mike Hally
A Square Dog Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:00 The Museum of Curiosity (b01npjp9)
Series 5
Pascoe, Abrahams, Aldrin
Professor of Ignorance at the University of Buckingham, Professor John Lloyd CBE is joined by comedian Jimmy Carr for the fifth series.
Three guests are invited to donate one item each and explain why it deserves a place in the museum.
John and Jimmy welcome comedian Sara Pascoe, Ig Nobel founder Marc Abrahams and Astronaut Dr Buzz Aldrin.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b01nszt0)
Street food heroes
From Moroccan food to traditional British puddings. Valentine Warner and Charles Campion taste their way through the BBC Food & Farming Awards "Best street food or takeaway" category.
The judges had the challenge of travelling and eating their way around the three finalists very different stories in what turned out to be something of a "food road trip" .
Charles and Valentine, find out about north African cooking cuisine with The Moroccan Soup stand team in west London, they talk authentic Indian dishes at Inder's Kitchen in Cambridge, and if it's acceptable to have strawberry jam in a Bakewell Tart at The Pudding Stop, a small team who bake desserts and then sell them from in a van parked outside a train station.
After the journey both Charles and Valentine have to decide a winner.
Producer: Dan Saladino.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b01nsy2p)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b01nszt2)
An extended look at the latest national and international news presented by James Robbins. Email: wato@bbc.co.uk; twitter: #theworldthisweekend.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b01nq3h7)
Postbag Edition
This week the team is in the GQT potting shed in Sparsholt to tackle listeners' questions as Eric Robson hosts a postbag edition of Gardeners' Question Time, with Matthew Wilson, Christine Walkden and Anne Swithinbank on the panel.
Produced by Robert Abel
A Somethin' Else Production for BBC Radio 4.
This week's questions:
Q. I have two species of Acer Palmatum, or Japanese Maple, both around 8 years old. I transplanted one, the leaves of which have gone a beautiful deep red rather than the usual rust colour. What affects this change?
A. This is almost certainly to do with stress, so you may need to transplant them every year! Pelargoniums react in the same way to stress.
Q. An Echium Pininana seed has taken root in a large stone pot alongside an established Cercis Canadensis. The Cercis Canadensis lost a lot of top growth this winter. Will separating them mean losing them both?
A. Echium Pininana should be fine to be transplanted and bedded out, taking great care with the large taproot. Alternatively, as the Echium is a biennial, it will die after flowering and could be left in the same pot until that happens. However, if the top of the Cercis Candensis does not return after pruning, it may be lost.
Q. Should autumn leaves be removed from flower and shrub borders?
A. Under trees and shrubs where there is capable ground cover, they can be left. Around small or delicate groundcover plants, I will remove them, mulch them down and then return them.
Q. How do I prevent grass growing in my long gravel path?
A. Lifting the gravel and laying a geotextile or terram beneath it will suppress the growth of grass. Alternatively, you could sprinkle seeds and add flowers to the grass. A very light spraying of glyphosate once a year would help. Alternatively a flame gun could be used to deal with weeds.
Q. Due to the wet weather, my garden is overgrown with weeds. Can I leave it for the frost to kill off or do I need to weed it?
A. Between now and Christmas is a good time to weed. Next year it would be advisable to apply mulch and cover any weeds you can't pull up. The frost won't help you!
Q. Last Christmas I bought a red Poinsettia which was very healthy. I planted it out and it is now a large, healthy and green plant. How do I make the red colour come back?!
A. The poinsettia requires short days, so the exclusion of light (14 hours of darkness in every 24) is important for flowering.
Ash Dieback Disease
Ash dieback is a serious disease caused by a fungus called Chalara fraxinea. The disease causes leaf loss and crown dieback in affected trees and can lead to tree death. Chalara Fraxinia is considered to be so serious a threat that the government's COBRA emergencies committee met to discuss it.
The Forestry Commission would like the public to help spot affected ash trees and to report them. The Commission's website has useful photos and a video guide on how to spot the symptoms and how to report suspected cases.
You can find this here: www.forestry.gov.uk/chalara
There is also a smart-phone app that has been developed by the University of East Anglia that shows symptoms and allows suspected cases to be reported. More information on this app can be found at: http://ashtag.org/
Affected trees can be reported using the following contacts:
In England and Wales, on the Chalara helpline: 08459 33 55 77 or email: plant.health@forestry.gsi.gov.uk
In Scotland, to Forestry Commission Scotland: 0131 314 6156 or email: fcscotlandenquiries@forestry.gsi.gov.uk
The Forestry Commission are appealing for everyone to think about bio security - in other words the possibility that fungus could be spread on footwear, clothing, gardening tools, even our pets - and, if out and about in gardens, parklands or countryside, to think about the need to clean anything that might have come in contact with the ground or the trees themselves before venturing out again.
SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b01nt013)
Sunday Edition
Fi Glover presents a Sunday Edition dedicated to Listener Uploads, with conversations between family members about love, marriage, death, travelling to Nepal and eating spaghetti bolognese for breakfast in an Oxford coffee shop. The Radio 4 series proves once more that it's surprising what you hear when you listen
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Many of the long conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
SUN 15:00 Classic Serial (b01nt015)
Rebus: The Black Book
Episode 1
1/2. Ian Rankin's maverick detective, Inspector John Rebus, investigates an unsolved murder with the help of a notebook full of coded clues.
Dramatised in two parts by Chris Dolan.
When DS Brian Holmes is left in a coma after being severely beaten, Rebus discovers his colleague's black notebook contains coded clues on a case involving arson and murder. Five years before, a mysterious fire burned down Edinburgh's seedy Central Hotel. All the staff and customers were accounted for but an unidentified body was found in the rubble. The post mortem revealed the victim had died from a bullet through the heart before the fire broke out.
Producer/director: Bruce Young.
SUN 16:00 Open Book (b01nt07h)
Jeremy Bowen discusses the Arab Spring
Mariella Frostrup talks to Jeremy Bowen about his book The Arab Uprisings and his experiences of being the BBC Middle East Editor during this turbulent time. He explains how people risked their lives to help them and inform them of the situation and why despite all his best precautions, being on the front line can often be a numbers game.
And it's not just foreign journalists who've been reporting on the Arab Spring. For many years authors have been reflecting the undercurrents and frustrations of life under such totalitarian regimes in their novels.
Syrian writer Ghalia Kabbani, whose 2010 novel Secrets and Lies deals with life under the Assad regime and Rasheed El-Enany, trustee and judge of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction and Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter discuss the response from authors to the on-going situation in the Middle East.
For his travel book, The Robber of Memories, Michael Jacobs has journeyed down the Magdalena, the river which runs through the heart of Columbia. It's a country which has suffered decades of bitter fighting between FARC guerrillas, paramilitaries and the army. Michael explains the appeal of the River and why a chance meeting with Columbia's legendary writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez led him to reflect on the importance of memory.
Producer: Andrea Kidd.
SUN 16:30 Poetry Workshop (b01nt07k)
Series 2
Episode 2
Ruth Padel meets poets from East Suffolk to work on some poems in progress. Testing and revising as they go, in a spirit of supportive criticism. Tough love for poems.
Poetry Workshops are gathering all over the country. In the back rooms of pubs, in libraries and in front rooms, poets meet to hone their craft and sharpen their verse.
Ruth and the group work on three very different poems on the theme of 'darkness' - poems that evoke mystery, longing and sadness. In the process they consider the pros and cons of abstractions and the effective use of titles in a poem. The group are ruthless yet supportive as they chuck out words and redraft; listening, pruning and testing their work as they go.
The group discuss the techniques, inspiration, wordplay and imagination that make poetry so enjoyable and rewarding. As well as working on their own poems, the group consider a poem by Lavinia Greenlaw called 'Night Photograph.'
Producer: Sarah Langan.
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (b01nq1cg)
Second-Class Patients?
Britain has 1.5 million people with learning difficulties, and the number is growing. Campaigners say the health service is struggling to cope: the number of specialist nurses is falling, and though extra support is supposed to be available for this vulnerable group, hospitals and other health facilities often struggle even to identify them.
Families say their relatives have been left to die in pain - and in some cases people who were not dying have had 'do not resuscitate' orders placed on their notes without being told. The learning disabled are more likely to be ill, more likely to be obese or underweight and more likely to die prematurely. And with health service cuts starting to bite, are things set to get worse? Fran Abrams reports.
Producer: Gail Champion.
SUN 17:40 Profile (b01nsyxl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b01nsy2r)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b01nsy2t)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01nsy2w)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b01nt07m)
Barack Obama and Billy Bragg, Doc Pascowitz, the 91 year old father of surfing in Israel, and John Howard Griffin the white journalist who lived as a black man in America's deep south, poet and former soldier Theo Snell and astronaut Buzz Aldrin - just some of the voices in this week's impressive line-up of people with amazing stories to tell about the power of poetry, protest, art and sport. Yet it's a programme that would have Lord Reith calling for the transmitters to be shut down! What on earth could he object to? - Find out with Liz Barclay on Pick of the Week.
In Alistair Cooke's Footsteps - Radio 4
Andrew Peach - BBC Radio Berkshire
Witness - World Service
The Verb - Radio 3
Today - Radio 4
Mastertapes - Radio 4
The Museum of Curiosity - Radio 4
The Gaza Surf Club - Radio 4
Midweek - Radio 4
The Art of Remembrance - Radio 4
Two Pipe Problem - Radio 4
Archive on 4 - Who's Reithian Now - Radio 4
Jazz Record Requests - Radio 3
If there's something you'd like to suggest for next week's programme, please e-mail potw@bbc.co.uk.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b01nt07p)
Tom phones to check whether Brenda's on her way home. She's been to see Mike and Vicky but now she's just outside the door. Before she can get in, Matt appears and, with time on his hands, he wants to talk about the house that's up for auction. Brenda invites him in, only to hear Tom singing "I Love You Baby". When Matt leaves, Tom explains that it was supposed to be a romantic surprise for Brenda because she's been so stressed with work.
Having told Matt she needs to go to the supermarket, Lilian meets Paul in a pub in Fawcett Major. She thanks him for the chance to escape for a while. He admits he's thought a lot about her since his impulsive declaration last time they met. They agree it's been great seeing each other again.
Back home, Matt wonders what took Lilian so long. He tells her about Tom singing soppy love songs to Brenda. Lilian points out it's called romance. Matt moans he he can't move for couples drooling over each other. He heads off to his office before James comes in, and asks Lilian to bring him a sandwich. Lilian mutters that his wish is her command. As usual.
SUN 19:15 The Golden Age (b01nt07r)
Interesting Talks
Set in the BBC's Broadcasting House in London during the 1930s, this series follows head of programmes, John Tharb and his assistant, Mabel Hopcraft as they struggle to deal with the foibles and fragile egos of radio's biggest stars.
These include the perpetually drunk band-leader, Ronaldo and the most boring man in radio, Mallard Tofts. Tharb's task is not made any easier by having to constantly defer to the whims and wishes of his irascible boss, Lord Reith.
Robert Bathurst stars in the first radio sitcom to be written by Channel 4's Father Ted writer, Arthur Mathews.
In this episode, a series of mysterious deaths brings the police to the BBC.
What could be causing people to die in front of their wireless sets? Meanwhile, Mabel tries to introduce some modern entertainment to the BBC from "up north".
John Tharb ...... Robert Bathurst
Mabel Hopcraft ...... Vicky McClure
Lord Reith ...... Ford Kiernan
Inspector Cawls ...... Peter Egan
Captain Mallard Tofts ...... Malcolm Tierney
Chip Gibney ...... Kevin Bishop
Ronaldo / Dickie Squires ...... Ewan Bailey
Producer: Simon Mayhew-Archer.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2012.
SUN 19:45 Alice Munro - Dear Life (b01nt07t)
To Reach Japan
Alice Munro was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2013. She is widely regarded as a doyenne of the short story form, a writer whose acuity and compassion shines through all her work. These stories are from her 2012 collection, Dear Life.
Set mostly in the small towns and quiet domestic surroundings of her native Canada, Munro, as always, captures the ordinary and reveals the extraordinary that lies beneath. Life is laid bare, and the complicated emotions of normal lives resonate long after the final page is turned.
Today in To Reach Japan, a young poet sets out across a continent and finds more than she imagined.
The reader is Laurel Lefkow
The abridger is Sally Marmion
The producer is Di Speirs.
SUN 20:00 Feedback (b01nq3lx)
Presented by Roger Bolton, this is the place to air your views on the things you hear on BBC Radio.
Can the future of radio really be digital when only 5% of the UK's 34 million vehicles have digital car radios? Earlier this week the Drive 2 Digital conference aimed to spread D-Love about digital on the move, but Feedback listeners still have questions. Roger invites one listener to join Tim Davie, the BBC's Director of Audio and Music, and Ford of Britain's Steve Humbles to find out more about DAB coverage at home and on the move.
And Feedback's postbag has been brimming over with messages of alarm after BBC East announced it would be axing its popular The Naked Scientists programme from January. "Vital for public understanding of science", "making listeners more science literate", were just some of the things said about the programme. But does it fulfil the BBC's remit for local radio? Mick Rawsthorne, Head of Local and Regional Programming for BBC East, doesn't think so.
Finally, where would the BBC be without its listeners? Well it would certainly have some bigger gaps in its archive. No 'Music While You Work' or John Peel's early 'Top Gear' Radio 1 shows. That is, at least, until the Listeners' Archive was launched to mark the Corporation's 90th birthday. Since then, home-grown recordings have been sent into the BBC to help plug the gaps. We meet the team sifting through the gems.
Presenter: Roger Bolton
Producer: Kate Taylor
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b01nq3lv)
Clive Dunn, Elliott Carter, Lord Lofthouse, Han Suyin, Brian Cobby
Matthew Bannister on
The actor Clive Dunn - best known as Corporal Jones in Dad's Army. We have tributes from fellow cast members and the show's writer Jimmy Perry.
Also the American composer Elliott Carter - Sir John Tavener tells us he was one of the greats of the twentieth century.
Lord Lofthouse of Pontefract - the former miner who became a Labour MP and then deputy speaker of the House of Commons.
Han Suyin, the Chinese-born author best known for her romantic novel "A Many Splendoured Thing"
And the voice of the speaking clock, Brian Cobby.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (b01nsygx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 on Saturday]
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b01nszcd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 Analysis (b01npjpk)
Left Turn to Catholic Social Teaching?
Catholic Social Teaching embodies a tradition of thought which goes back to Aristotle; yet its proponents say that it offers the sharpest critique of rampant capitalism in our present time. Charting a course through the dichotomies of capital versus labour, the free market versus welfare state, public versus private, its aim is to redraw the social and political landscape and put human dignity and virtue back at the centre. Matthew Taylor, former policy advisor to New Labour, ponders the tradition and asks what it might offer to post credit crunch polities which are looking for ways to regenerate.
There is no doubt that it has captured the policy zeitgeist. A whole programme of public lectures, seminars and events is rolling out to feed the demand for more information. Business people, academics and players from both Left and Right are attending, looking for an ethical alternative for our time.
So exactly what do its core principles, which include ideas like 'solidarity', 'subsidiarity', and the 'common good', offer practising Labour party politicians which they cannot find elsewhere? Jon Cruddas, currently responsible for the Labour Party's policy review, and Labour Peer Maurice Glasman, say they find Catholic Social Teaching 'inspirational'. On the Right, free marketers like Professor Philip Booth of the IEA, also point to its prescience. Is this more than a political fad? And will political enthusiasts for Catholic Social Teaching inevitably be forced to engage with issues such as abortion and euthanasia?
Presenter: Matthew Taylor
Producer: Sue Davies
Editor: Nicola Meyrick.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b01nt07w)
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 (b01nt07y)
A look at how the newspapers are covering the biggest stories.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b01nq7db)
Ben Affleck on directing and starring in his Iranian hostage thriller, Argo.
Director Sally El Hossaini on her award-winning debut, My Brother The Devil, set in the crime-ridden estates of Hackney.
And director Paul Thomas Anderson talks about The Master, his enigmatic film that's generating so much debate.
Producer: Craig Smith.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b01nsz78)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2012
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b01nsy3t)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b01nq3t3)
Couchsurfing - Trauma Advocacy
Ever in need of a new way to travel? 'Couchsurfing', in the form of online social networking, allows users to travel with and stay at the homes of fellow users. It's just one example of how the internet aids face to face intimacy - sometimes amongst strangers. Paula Bialski talks to Laurie Taylor about her book 'Becoming Intimately Mobile' . Based on five years of ethnographic research amongst coach surfers and online hitchhiking website users, it documents new forms of human hospitality and connection. Also, trauma advocates in Croatia. Vanessa Pupavac and Ben Shephard reflect on the growth of compensation schemes for victims of civil war.
Producer:Jayne Egerton.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b01nsz76)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01nsy3w)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01nsy3y)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01nsy40)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b01nsy42)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01nt1qr)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Revd Chris Bennett of the Titanic Quarter in Belfast.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b01nt1qt)
Anna Hill visits a turkey farmer who tells us it's make or break time; with Christmas rapidly approaching the rush is on to get the turkeys ready.
The Unite Union tells Farming Today the government's consultation on abolishing the body that sets farm workers' wages has been unlawful, an accusation that DEFRA denies. Meanwhile we hear from the National Farmers' Union who support the proposed abolition.
And environment minister Owen Paterson explains why he is trying to sell tea to China, as he takes a group of British food businesses to the country to boost the UK exports.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced in Birmingham by Polly Procter.
MON 05:57 Weather (b01nsy44)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 06:00 Today (b01nt1qw)
Morning news and current affairs with John Humphrys and Justin Webb. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (b01nt1qy)
Award-winning film director Kevin Macdonald
On Start the Week Andrew Marr talks to the award-winning director Kevin Macdonald whose films often focus on real events or people, from Touching the Void, to Marley. The filmmaker Roger Graef discusses the ethical issues in documenting real life. And the Indian writer Aman Sethi explores the margins of society with his study of the world of itinerant labourers in a Delhi market.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b01nt1z0)
Former People
Episode 1
From the last days of the monarchy to the Red Terror of the Bolshevik Revolution and then Stalin's 'Operation Former People', the hundreds of thousands of families who formed the Russian nobility were subjected to a series of bloodthirsty purges.
This disparate group of people ranged from the entrenched monarchists of the old tsarist regime to the impoverished rural nobility who struggled to make a living out of their lands.
Some of these nobles were in favour of change and supported the revolution but very few families escaped without at least one member experiencing imprisonment, exile, forced labour or execution. Palaces were looted and estates burned as the enemies of the new Soviet state were made to pay over and over for their centuries of glittering privilege.
Drawing on meticulous research including letters and diaries from the period Douglas Smith brings to life the tiny human details of this extraordinary and tumultuous time.
Episode 1 of 5:
In the late 19th century, Russia was still very much a peasant and a feudal society ruled over by the decrees of one man. But this was a country racing towards industrialisation and the people's clamour for change could not be ignored.
Read by Robert Powell
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01nt1z2)
Singer songwriter Beth Orton; Allegra Stratton on the Power List; David Lammy on absent dads
The BBC's Allegra Stratton on the women in politics who could make the Power List, cook and self-professed perfectionist Mary Berry discusses the desire to be the best with psychologist Professor Jason Moser, singer songwriter Beth Orton performs a track from her latest album, why absent dads are an issue in the Afro Caribbean community with David Lammy MP whose own father left when he was 12.
Presented by Jane Garvey.
Producer: Ruth Watts.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01nt1z4)
Children in Need: Jess's Story
Episode 1
Nell Leyshon created her drama Jess' Story for Children in Need with young people facing mental health challenges who attend a School which has special facilities and staff .
Part One Jess lives by the sea with her mother , but when her dedication to getting good exam results tips over into an overwhelming obsession, Juliet decides her daughter needs more help than she can provide.
Directed in Salford by Susan Roberts.
MON 11:00 The Naughty Pictures Committees (b01nt3xk)
It's 100 years since the British Board of Film Censors was set up, yet few people know that it has always been local authorities that had - and still have - the final say over what films are shown in their areas. And from the late Forties through to the Seventies, many councils such as Manchester and London used these powers to push back the boundaries of what was considered acceptable to public 'taste and decency'. They passed many films the BBFC had banned, causing the Board to slowly relax its views on nudity and sex in particular. Other councils, like Sale in Cheshire, tried desperately to hold back the tide of X-rated films, insisting they could not be shown in their town without the express permission of the council - which was often denied.
Laurie Taylor explores this peculiarly British system of film censorship, where the local councils have the power - "people power" some say - while the national Board has most of the expertise but no legal powers and its certificates are only guidance.
He starts his journey in the "birthplace of British Cinema", the Regent Street cinema in London, now being refurbished, and along the way he looks at such classics as The Birth of A Baby, the naturist Garden of Eden, the gory Joker Is Wild, the notorious Ulysses, and more.
Finally Laurie looks at how the BBFC has, over recent decades, got much more involved with audiences and so almost eliminated the conflict with local councils that at one time threatened its very existence.
Producer: Mike Hally
A Square Dog Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 11:30 55 and Over (b01nt3xm)
Episode 1
Ray and Jane's marriage is rocked by some very bad singing and late-life crises take hold.
Juliet Stevenson and Philip Jackson star in Peter Souter's comedy about love, sex and other foolhardy mistakes made by the modern 50-pluser.
Jane ..... Juliet Stevenson
Ray ..... Philip Jackson
Tony ..... Patrick Brennan
Heather ..... Liza Sadovy
Honey ..... Stephanie Racine
Sam ..... Adam Nagaitis
Peter Souter is a multi-award winning writer.
His Radio 4 play, Goldfish girl, received both a Sony and a Tinniswood award for Best Drama. He also wrote THAT'S Mine, This is Yours (picked as Play of the Week podcast), Puddle, and Stream River Sea. His ITV comedy series Married, Single, Other was internationally broadcast and received much media praise. He also wrote Deep & Crisp & Even a short film for Sky One starring Timothy Spall and Natascha McElhone.
Director: Helen Perry
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2012.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b01nt3xp)
Getting more people on trains, the living wage and the Food and Farming Awards.
How can we increase passenger numbers on trains without spoiling everyone's journey and can we make more money from the railways while doing so?
Sheep feed on the roof of this farm shop and restaurant that's a finalist for the BBC Food and Farming Awards.
We look at what the "living wage" should pay for. A week's holiday a year? The occasional bar of chocolate? And should employers be obliged to pay it - or is it more than businesses can bear?
And good news for blind gamers - more video games you can play without needing to see what's on screen.
MON 12:57 Weather (b01nsy46)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b01nt3xr)
National and international news presented by Edward Stourton. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
MON 13:45 In Pursuit of the Ridiculous (b01nt3xt)
Water Beetle
All naturalists have personal obsessions with particular species or activities which may, to non-naturalists, seem ridiculous . In this five-part series Matthew Oates, naturalist and ecologist with the National Trust, meets the people for whom nothing in the natural world is out of bounds. His colleague Andy Foster, known in entomological circles as "Foz " has spent thirty years in search of a rare water-beetle called Agabus brunneus. It lives in fast-flowing gravelly streams in just a handful of places in Southern England and Foz has only found it twice in three decades.
Will it appear on their joint trip to the New Forest and is it all worth it anyway?
Presenter: Matthew Oates
Producer: Brett Westwood
Editor: Julian Hector.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b01nt07p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b00vy37d)
All the Blood in My Veins
A special Radio 4 Afternoon Drama, commissioned with BBC Children in Need. Award-winning playwright Katie Hims worked with Carers Lewisham, a 'Children in Need'-supported project, to create the story of Viola, a fourteen year old girl, with responsibilities far beyond her age. The play was then recorded with a mix of professional cast and the carers themselves.
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
MON 15:00 Round Britain Quiz (b01nt3xy)
(11/12)
What tasteful connection might there be between Carmen Miranda above the neck, Josephine Baker around the waist, and Lady Gaga from head to toe?
Northern Ireland take on the Welsh in the penultimate clash of the current series, and this is just one of the puzzles they'll be asked to unravel this week. Tom Sutcliffe asks the questions and provides the teams with the hints they may need to nudge them towards the solutions - but the more clues they need, the smaller their scores will be.
Polly Devlin and Brian Feeney play for Northern Ireland, and David Edwards and Myfanwy Alexander for Wales. Both will be hoping to add to their tally of victories across the series, to propel them as far as possible up the final table.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b01nszt0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Tim Key and Gogol's Overcoat (b01nt3y0)
Tim Key spins his own surreal tale of one of Russian fiction's greatest short stories, whilst contending with his own filthy disgrace of a jacket. With contributions from Alexei Sayle and John Motson.
Tim Key - poet, comedian, and crumpled polymath - is obsessed with Nikolai Gogol's short story "The Overcoat". Written in 1842, it's a fable of a simple clerk, Akakiy Akakievich, whose desire for a new coat to keep the St Petersburg winter at bay forever changes his life...and ultimately destroys him.
Its author - the enigmatic Ukrainian-born writer Nikolai Gogol - is one of Tim's idols. In this deceptively simple yet utterly surreal tale, Gogol spins webs around the reader, foxing them with an unreliable narrator, blending stark realism with the eye-poppingly fantastical, and constantly deconstructing and undercutting the story of poor Akaky Akakievich with his own running commentary.
More than 150 years on, no-one, it seems, quite knows what The Overcoat is really about. Is it a dark satire on the powerlessness of the individual and the tyranny of totalitarian governments? A fantastical, proto-Dadaist fable of devils, toenails and ghostly goings-on? Or a deeply realist moral message to be kind to the poorest in our society?
Tim's off to find out what - if anything - Gogol's mysterious story can tell us...and why The Overcoat feels even more relevant in the 21st century. Is this fable the seed of alternative comedy? Should more of us pay heed to this bizarre morality tale? And above all, isn't it about time Tim replaced his own filthy disgrace of a coat?
Fact blends with surreal fantasy, as Tim gets sidetracked, Gogol-style, into his own private coat Hades...
Featuring contributions from Russian experts Donald Rayfield, Maria Rubins and Konstantin von Eggert - plus East End tailor and Master Cutter Clive Phythian, 'father of alternative comedy' Alexei Sayle, and football commentator and sheepskin coat-wearing icon John Motson.
MON 16:30 The Digital Human (b01nt3y2)
Series 2
Last Word
At the Digital Death Day Aleks meets with Vered Shavit from Israel who having dealt with her late brother's digital legacy set up a website called Digital Dust to help others going through the same experience.
Hearing Vered's story Alek's asks how are we using the web to adapt the rituals that we have used for centuries to help us transition between the living and the dead?
Aleks discovers that since Vered's brother's death people continue to communicate with him through his Facebook profile. Dr Elaine Kasket a Counselling Psychologist who practices psychotherapy with the bereaved likens Facebook to a modern day medium. She also explains how Facebook is enabling people to continue bonds with the deceased.
The distinction between our physical selves and mental states is a philosophical construction, but it signifies a line in the sand between those who believe our bodies make us human and those who define humanity by our thoughts and social lives. But after our death can our persisting digital selves continue our presence for those left behind?
Produced by Kate Bissell.
MON 17:00 PM (b01nt3y4)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01nsy48)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b01nt3y6)
Series 58
Episode 1
The 58th series of Radio 4's multi award-winning 'antidote to panel games' promises yet more quality, desk-based entertainment for all the family. The series starts its run at the Grove Theatre in Dunstable, where regulars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by Tony Hawks, with Jack Dee as the programme's reluctant chairman. Regular listeners will know to expect inspired nonsense, pointless revelry and Colin Sell at the piano. Producer - Jon Naismith.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b01nt3y8)
Kenton sorts out some staging from Elizabeth for next week's fashion show. Kenton's pleased Elizabeth seems to have her old determined sparkle back. Elizabeth's realised she can't keep treading water with the business.
Elizabeth and Lewis discuss an ambitious conversion project for the old dairy. The dairy's
grade two listed so obtaining planning permission won't be easy.
As Jolene and Kenton share a laugh, they don't hear Rhys offer to help with music for the fashion show.
Jim reveals his article will be published in next month's Borsetshire Life magazine. The first of a series of interviews with interesting people. Joe puts himself forward for a future feature .
Jim suggests decorating the orchard for a family event, and setting up a stall to explain about the Community Orchard. Joe sees this as a money spinner - he and Eddie could take orders for their holly and mistletoe. Rhys suggests storytelling for the children, but once again he seems to be talking to himself.
In earshot of Rhys, Jim congratulates Kenton on his storytelling idea. Rhys repeats his offer to help with music at the fashion show, but again it goes unheard as Kenton and Jolene leave him looking after the bar.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b01nt3yb)
Quentin Blake interviewed; Hitler's dark charisma discussed
With Mark Lawson.
Quentin Blake is known for his illustrations of books by Roald Dahl and Michael Rosen, as well as his work as a writer and an exhibiting artist. In his 80th year and as he publishes a new book of drawings, he reflects on how the breadth of his work, from children's books to hospital wards, makes him one of Britain's most recognized artists.
Dramatist Anya Reiss, who was a teenager when her first play ran in 2010 at the Royal Court in London, has now adapted Chekhov's The Seagull. She and actor Matthew Kelly, who stars in the production, discuss the new version, and reveal why one of the play's most famous lines has disappeared.
A new TV series examines how Adolf Hitler managed to persuade millions of people to support his vision for Europe that led to the deaths of 60 million people. Historian and documentary maker Laurence Rees is the writer and producer of The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler, and he explains his theories.
Producer Stephen Hughes.
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01nt1z4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 Document (b01nt3yd)
The BBC and the Hungarian Holocaust
Mike Thomson investigates the role of the BBC Hungarian Service in World War II.
In March 1944 German troops occupied Hungary. In doing so they brought the Final Solution to the largest remaining Jewish population in Europe. Within months over 400,000 people were deported and killed by a now almost perfect mass killing machine.
Mike Thomson investigates documents which suggest that the BBC was directed not to broadcast crucial information and examines claims that it could have saved thousands of lives.
MON 20:30 Analysis (b01nt3yg)
Green Shoots from the Arab Spring
With the downfall of the former Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, political change has already happened in Egypt. But how has such a revolution affected the mindset of ordinary people in the region?
In this edition of Analysis, the writer, Christopher de Bellaigue, considers the consequences for Arab society of a new culture in which ordinary people openly question those in authority - not just in the political sphere but within the family and religious realm too.
The programme explores a number of examples: From an apparent new determination to resist paying bribes to public officials, through a greater desire to see active debate rather than passive obedience in the classroom, to the growth of salafists - conservative Muslims who advocate a return to the core texts of Islam and a less deferential attitude towards the traditional scholars.
Though not all these phenomena were unknown before the Arab Spring, the political revolution does seem to have fuelled their growth: Key to many appears to be the disappearance of personal fear - one unmistakable consequence of the demise of the Mubarak regime. Today, despite often remaining wary of the future, Egyptians are, it seems, fearlessly asserting their own views as never before, without seeking external validation.
Questions, however, remain: If a new, more assertive mentality is indeed emerging, who shares it - and crucially, who does not? Would such an increased personal conviction necessarily result in more pluralism, as is sometimes assumed in the west, or give greater voice to Egypt's innate social and religious conservatism? And what are the chances that it could survive the country's overwhelming economic and political problems?
Producer: Michael Gallagher.
MON 21:00 Material World (b01nq7dd)
Climate change alone could wipe out wild Arabica coffee by the end of this century, according to new research published in the journal PLOS One. Commercially grown Arabica coffee is from limited genetic stock and the loss of the wild crop could have significant implications for the sustainability of high quality coffee. Dr. Aaron Davis, Head of Coffee Research at Kew Gardens, who led the study, discusses the findings with global crop wild relative expert Dr. Nigel Maxted from the University of Birmingham.
A haul of stone blades from a cave in South Africa suggests that early humans were already masters of complex technology more than 70,000 years ago. The journal Nature reports on the new find which suggests that early humans passed on this knowledge down the generations. Dr. Curtis Marean, an archaeologist at Arizona State University in Tempe, who led the team that found the bladelets and Dr. Matthew Pope from the University College London argue that this could be the earliest evidence of truly modern human behaviour.
Finally why are birds migrating to the UK literally falling out of the sky and dying - Graham Madge from the RSPB explains more.
MON 21:30 Start the Week (b01nt1qy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b01nsy4d)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b01nt3yj)
National and international news and analysis presented by Ritula Shah.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01nt3yl)
The Liars' Gospel
Episode 1
In her new novel, the award-winning writer Naomi Alderman provides a compelling and challenging fictional account of life in Roman-occupied Judea. Her novel begins in 63 BC with Pompey's Roman army assailing the fortifications of Jerusalem, and ends with the bloodshed of the Jewish-Roman war in the first century CE.
Within this context of Roman brutality and Jewish insurrection, Alderman presents the life and death of a charismatic Jewish preacher, Yehoshuah. A year after his death, four people tell their stories - his mother, Miryam; his former friend and follower Iehuda of Qeriot; the High Priest at the great Temple in Jerusalem, Caiaphas and the rebel, Bar-Avo.
In today's episode, Pompey's army storms the walls of Jerusalem. Some hundred years later, a woman from Natzaret mourns the death of her charismatic preacher son.
Read by Stephanie Racine and Tracy-Ann Oberman
Abridged by Sally Marmion
Produced by Emma Harding
Author Note: Naomi Alderman grew up in the Orthodox Jewish community in north-west London. Her first novel, 'Disobedience', was published in ten languages and won the Orange Award for New Writers; like her second novel, 'The Lessons', it was read on BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime. In 2007, she was named Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year, and one of Waterstones' 25 Writers for the Future. In 2009 she was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award.
MON 23:00 Mastertapes (b01nt3yn)
Series 1
Suzanne Vega (the B-Side)
John Wilson talks to Suzanne Vega about her career defining album "Solitude Standing".
Programme 2 (B-side).Now it's the turn of the audience to ask Suzanne the questions.
We hear how the sound of Solitude Standing changed toughened from her previous album, as Suzanne decided to bring out the drums and give the sound an edge.
Suzanne describes writing the song "Gypsy" for a boy she met at summer camp and how the two of them got back in touch when he realised the song was about him.
And we hear how Suzanne has written a follow-up song to the album's hit song "Luka".
Producer: Emma Kingsley.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01nt3yq)
Sean Curran with the day's top news stories from Westminster .
There's widespread criticism of the decision to award a payout of 450 thousand pounds to the outgoing BBC Director-General, George Entwistle.
TUESDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2012
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b01nsy57)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b01nt1z0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01nsy59)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01nsy5c)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01nsy5f)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b01nsy5h)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01nz9kq)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Revd Chris Bennett of the Titanic Quarter in Belfast.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b01nt4br)
Huge numbers of migrating birds are flocking to Britain, but will find very little food for the winter.
The supermarket Morrisons criticises new EU food labelling laws saying it's a huge change which will leave shoppers no better informed.
And as equine charities warn that more horses are being abandoned, Farming Today visits the New Forest to see the effect on the wild pony population.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced in Birmingham by Ruth Sanderson.
TUE 06:00 Today (b01nt4bt)
Morning news and current affairs with John Humphrys and James Naughtie. Including Sports Desk; Yesterday in Parliament; Weather; Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Long View (b01nt4n9)
Airport Expansion and 19th Century Ports
Jonathan Freedland compares the controversy over airport expansion now with the 19th century battle of the sea ports, examining how we should determine where Britain's gateway to the world should be.
Bristol had been a major port since the Middle Ages but, with the advent of travel by steam ship, Liverpool steals a march on its West Country competitor. Though engineered in Bristol, Brunel's ground-breaking SS Great Britain steam ship made its maiden voyage from Liverpool. But in the long term, it's Southampton that eventually reigns supreme.
As debates continue to rage over a third runway at Heathrow, the proposed 'Boris Island' airport and other options, Jonathan asks what we can learn from the Victorian approach.
Jonathan and guests visit the SS Great Britain - then travel on to the Cunard Building in Liverpool - to debate the issues. He's joined by Andrew Lambert, Professor of Naval History at King's College, Dr Lucy Budd, Lecturer in Transport Studies at Loughborough University, Paul Leblond, a former director of BAA and John Twigg, Planning Director of Manchester Airports Group. Readings are provided by Bristol Old Vic regular Christian Rodska and Liverpool based actor Neil Caple.
Producer: Laurence Grissell.
TUE 09:30 In Alistair Cooke's Footsteps (b01nt4nc)
From Pittsburgh to Chicago
Alvin Hall continues across the USA revisiting Alistair Cooke's Letter from America. This week finds him in Pittsburgh and at a baseball game at Chicago's historic Wrigley Field.
Letter from America was Alistair Cooke's weekly radio broadcast that ran continuously for 58 years on the BBC, from 1946 to 2004. The BBC will be making available the entire archive - over 900 programmes - on the Radio 4 website, from November 1st. Cooke had set himself a challenge that seemed deceptively simple: to explain the United States to Britain and the world. His Letters achieved that and more. He was an acute observer, a marvellous story teller, a man who loved America but saw it in intensely clear terms - a country that was both great and sometimes terribly flawed in its greatness.
All the major issues, all the significant stories were grist for his writer's mill. The Korean War and the Cold War, desegregation, the assassinations of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King, the fall of Nixon, the rise of Reaganomics, immigration, September 11 and the George W Bush presidency.
But eight years after his death are the Letters still relevant? For Alvin Hall, the answer is emphatically yes. Crisscrossing America he tests the insights and observations of Cooke on subjects as diverse as desegregation and jazz, the American Dream and immigration. And Hall discovers that Alistair Cooke remains as fresh and insightful as he ever was when he wrote and spoke over all those years about an America he loved and understood so well. Alvin Hall is an internationally renowned financial educator, television and radio broadcaster, bestselling author, and regular contributor to magazines, newspapers, and websites. He is an unabashed admirer of Alistair Cooke and Letter from America.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b01nx7vq)
Former People
Episode 2
From the last days of the monarchy to the Red Terror of the Bolshevik Revolution and then Stalin's 'Operation Former People' the hundreds of thousands of families who formed the Russian nobility were subjected to a series of bloodthirsty purges.
This disparate group of people ranged from the entrenched monarchists of the old Tsarist regime to the impoverished rural nobility who struggled to make a living out of their lands.
Some of these nobles were in favour of change and supported the revolution but very few families escaped without at least one member experiencing imprisonment, exile, forced labour or execution. Palaces were looted and estates burned as the enemies of the new soviet state were made to pay over and over for their centuries of glittering privilege.
Drawing on meticulous research including letters and diaries from the period Douglas Smith brings to life the tiny human details of this extraordinary and tumultuous time.
Episode 2 of 5
The dying days of the Tsarist Empire were both glittering and desperate as the aristocracy partied their way into history, the workers demanded a fair wage and violence erupted both at home and abroad.
Read by Robert Powell
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01nt4nf)
Nick Clegg; Judy Chicago; Ann McKechin
Nick Clegg on flexible working; artist Judy Chicago; three sisters abused by their father talk about why they won't be defined by it; MP Ann McKechin on women in the workplace. Presented by Jane Garvey.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01nt4nh)
Children in Need: Jess's Story
Episode 2
Nell leyshon created her drama Jess' Story for Children in Need with young people facing mental health challenges who attend a School with special facilities and staff .
Part Two. Jess settles into her new routine of clinic and lessons in her new school and begins to explore why her dedication to getting good exam results tipped over into an overwhelming obsession. And she finds a new friend..
Directed in Salford by Susan Roberts.
TUE 11:00 Saving Species (b01ntfvl)
Series 3
Goliath Grouper/Asiatic Lion/Waxwings
This week on Saving Species we look at some of the international stories which have caught our attention, from Asia in the East to the United States in the West.
Reporter Mark Brazil travels to the Gir Forest National Park in India to report on the plight of the last lions in Asia. through hunting and loss of habitat, the Asiatic lion was brought to near extinction. In 1972 a sanctuary was set up and from a few lions the sanctuary now holds about 400 individuals.
The Atlantic Goliath Grouper is a huge, majestic fish only found in significant numbers today off the coast of Florida. At up to 2.5m in length, they are outsized only by the few remaining sharks and they are critically endangered across their range due to historical overfishing. Goliaths are now strictly protected in Florida. Helen Scales meets her first wild goliaths in the company of Dr Sarah Frias-Torres from ORCA (Ocean Research and Conservation Association) who is studying many aspects of these huge fish including a survey of scuba divers that she hopes will show that a goliath is worth more alive than dead.
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 Swansong (b01ntfvn)
The Smiths' Strangeways, Here We Come
In the summer of 1987 Britain's best loved indie band abruptly came to end when guitarist Johnny Marr sensationally quit. The Morrissey/Marr partnership that had produced such a wealth of finely crafted pop tunes was over, just weeks after the group finished recording their fourth album, "Strangeways, Here We Come." Since then, all four band members have separately pronounced the LP as their best work. Bass player Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce also claim that, at the time, they were blissfully unaware of any conflict. So what happened?
In this final part of the Swansong series, Stuart Maconie examines the circumstances surrounding the final recording by The Smiths, revealing the reasons behind one of the most famous breakups in British pop history. With new interviews from Mike Joyce, Andy Rourke and producer Stephen Street and contributions from music journalist Sian Pattenden and Morrissey biographer Simon Goddard.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b01ntfvq)
Call You and Yours: How can the BBC regain your trust?
What would restore your trust in the BBC?
A radical "structural overhaul" of the BBC is necessary after the resignation of the director general, the BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten has said.
George Entwistle quit on Saturday after a controversial Newsnight report. He will receive a year's salary as part of a pay-off. Acting director general Tim Davie will be setting out his plans to rebuild trust in the corporation.
On Call You & Yours, we want to hear your views. After all, it is your BBC.
If the BBC is to be radically overhauled, what changes would you like to see? What do you fear might be lost? What does the BBC do best? And what does the BBC mean to you?
03700 100 444 is the phone number to call or you can e-mail via the Radio 4 website or text us on 84844. Join Julian Worricker at four minutes past twelve today.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b01nsy5k)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b01ntfvs)
National and international news presented by Martha Kearney. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
TUE 13:45 In Pursuit of the Ridiculous (b01ntfvv)
Twitching
All naturalists have personal obsessions with particular species or activities which may, to non-naturalists, seem ridiculous . In this five-part series Matthew Oates, naturalist and ecologist with the National Trust, meets the people for whom nothing in the natural world is out of bounds. Today he explores the world of twitching rare birds with Rob Lambert, from the University of Nottingham. Rob has travelled around the UK amassing a huge list of over 450 species of birds and he's keen to show Matthew a rare long-billed dowitcher at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire. But Matthew wants to know if this is just trainspotting or are there other benefits to be gained from twitching. According to Rob Lambert, it's all about tribes, memories and experience. and birds too.
Presenter: Matthew Oates
Producer: Brett Westwood
Editor: Julian Hector.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b01nt3y8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b01ntfvx)
Mad Girl
By Phil Gladwin
Fifteen year old Rose hears voices. Mostly she gets along with them ok, but when her real Dad turns up out of the blue to take her away for the weekend, things get completely out of control.
Directed by Mary Peate
This drama has sprung out of a project that listened to people with mental health issues, and in this case people who hear voices. The project was run by Company Paradiso, a charity that enables groups of people who encounter some form of disadvantage to tell their stories. If you would like more information about hearing voices, there is support information and peer groups in many areas, organised through the Hearing Voices Network.
TUE 15:00 Making History (b01ntfvz)
Helen Castor and her guests discuss listener's questions and the latest research that's making history.
This week:
What next for archaeology on TV now that Time Team has been scrapped, and what has the programme achieved? Tony Robinson joins in the discussion with Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe and Marion Blockley.
Phil Harding takes us up onto the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire to the spot where he first realised that he wanted to be an archaeologist.
Tom Holland visits Europe's most important Bronze Age site, Flag Fen near Peterborough, to meet Francis Pryor who discovered this ancient causeway exactly thirty years ago.
And the team at Dig Ventures explain how crowd-funding might well be the way that archaeological digs are financed in the future.
Join in the discussion on Facebook or by emailing making.history@bbc.co.uk
Producer: Nick Patrick
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Mastertapes (b01ntfw1)
Series 1
Paul Weller (the A-Side)
John Wilson continues with his new series in which he talks to leading performers and songwriters about the album that made them or changed them. Recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC's iconic Maida Vale Studios. Each edition includes two episodes, with John initially quizzing the artist about the album in question, and then, in the B-side, the audience puts the questions. Both editions feature exclusive live performances.
Programme 3, A-side. "The Gift" - 30 years after the band's split, Paul Weller talks about 'The Gift' - the last album for The Jam. The band's only No 1 album, it marked a musical departure from the classic Jam sound to a more soul-influenced style, and it ushered in Weller's ideas for the Style Council. It was an album that didn't just focus on the state of society, it also had a lot to say about where music was going in the 1980s - and it included the classic No 1 'Town Called Malice' as well as 'Running On The Spot' and 'Carnation'. Paul also plays exclusive live versions of some of the tracks on the album.
In the B-side of the programme, it's the turn of the audience to ask the questions and that programme can be heard next Monday at
11.00pm.
Producers: Paul Kobrak & India Rakusen.
TUE 16:00 Dads Who Do (b01ntfw3)
Among African Caribbean children, 65% are looked after by a lone parent and 90% of these are mothers. The Tottenham MP David Lammy meets young fathers who are trying to buck the trend by playing a more active role in raising their children and asks why they think so many of their peers are walking away. The result is a moving and insightful exploration of the challenges facing young African Caribbean fathers.
Lammy's own father left when he was 12. "I struggled with anger and self-doubt. It meant leaning heavily on other figures in the community to fill the great father-shaped hole in my life." He asks young dads how having an absent father affected them. "I broke into a school and took some stuff,"says Cameron. "I had to get into trouble before I realised I don't want this. If my dad had been around I honestly believe I wouldn't have got into trouble and I would have done good in school."
Warren, 26, feels women are partly to blame: "Girls are trapping guys to have babies, knowing the father won't play a major role. I got a text - I'm pregnant. I got a text nine months later - Your baby's born. I was having a lot of sex. I didn't pay no attention."
Lammy visits a parenting course for young fathers at St. Michael's Fellowship in South London. Shawn, a father of five who had his first son at 15, runs some of the courses "I think dads feel pushed to the corner so they stay in the corner. Lots of people have a good heart, they just need guidance."
Produced by Kim Normanton.
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b01ntfw5)
Peter White and Heydon Prowse
Being blind hasn't ever stopped the broadcaster Peter White from loving football, and that's reflected in his own choice of a good read when he argues in favour of Brian Clough - as captured by Duncan Hamilton who covered Notts Forest during their glory years for the local paper.
By contrast the satirist and prankster Heydon Prowse, fresh from his BBC3 series, 'The Revolution will be Televised', brings a description of tax havens and how they work to the table, in 'Treasure Islands' by Nicholas Shaxson.
Harriett Gilbert meanwhile proposes 'Faro's Daughter', a romantic Regency thriller by Georgette Heyer. We'll see what Peter and Heydon make of that.
Producer: Mark Smalley.
TUE 17:00 PM (b01ntfw7)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Includes Weather.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01nsy5m)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Rudy's Rare Records (b01ntfw9)
Series 4
Sound of da Police
When Doreen is mugged Adam and Rudy react very differently. Adam intends to become a role model for the community and Rudy intends to whack the mugger with a cricket bat.
Father and son comedy set in the finest old-school record shop in Birmingham. Starring Lenny Henry, Larrington Walker and some terrific tunes.
Rudy's Rare Records is a tiny down at heel old reggae record shop in Birmingham - one of a dying breed; a place with real soul, stacked with piles of vinyl, where the slogan is "if we don't have it - them don't mek it". It's owned by the charismatic, irrepressible Rudy Sharpe (Larrington Walker), reluctantly helped out by his long-suffering neurotic son Adam (Lenny Henry) and Handsworth's first, black, surly girly goth, Tasha (Natasha Godfrey). Rudy has recently married his long-term love interest Doreen (Claire Benedict) who is enjoying the challenge of getting the Sharpe men in shape - until she is shaken by a mugging.
Adam............Lenny Henry
Rudy.......... Larrington Walker
Tasha...........Natasha Godfrey
Doreen..........Claire Benedict
SGT Popper........ Andrew Brooke
Hoodie.........Adam Nagaitis
Hoodie 2.......Joe Sims
MISS JAMAICA * JIMMY CLIFF
007 SHANTY TOWN* DESMOND DEKKER
SOUND OF DA POLICE * KRS ONE
POLICE OFFICER * SMILEY CULTURE
INFORMER * SNOW
WELCOME TO JAMROCK * DAMIAN MARLEY
TROUBLE IN THE TOWN * DANDY
POLICE AND THIEVES* JUNIOR MURVIN
GUNS OF BRIXTON* JIMMY CLIFF
RING THE ALARM* FU SCHNICKENS.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b01ntfwc)
It's Peggy's birthday and there's an uninvited guest.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b01ntfwf)
A Bigger Splash; The Hour returns; photography from the Middle East
With Mark Lawson.
This week sees the return of The Hour, the drama set in a TV newsroom in the 1950s. The series picks up where the last one left off with ambitious producer Bel, played by Romola Garai, attempting to keep Dominic West's newsreader Hector in check, with a little help from Peter Capaldi as the new head of news. Former Deputy Director of BBC News Mark Damazer gives his verdict.
A new Tate Modern exhibition takes David Hockney's A Bigger Splash and Jackson Pollock's action painting Summertime as its starting point, and surveys modern art movements which claimed that the making of art is as important as the art itself, whether it's Yves Klein painting nude models blue and imprinting their figures on rolls of paper or Niki De Saint Phalle shooting her paintings with air rifles. Lionel Shriver delivers her verdict.
Dramatist Nick Dear's new play is the story of poet Edward Thomas, scraping a living in the Hampshire countryside in the winter of 1913. He meets the American poet Robert Frost and as their friendship blossoms, so does Thomas's work. Nick Dear and director Richard Eyre discuss the play, The Dark Earth and the Light Sky, and its approach to biography.
Light from the Middle East at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London is the first major UK museum exhibition of contemporary photography from the region, spanning North Africa to Central Asia. It includes a series of images of Mecca, which on closer inspection are of architect's models of the city; photojournalism from the streets of Kabul and portraits of professional women in Saudia Arabia. Shahidha Bari reviews.
Producer Dymphna Flynn.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01nt4nh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (b01ntfwh)
The Zombie Effect
It's estimated there are up to 150,000 so called zombie companies in the UK. They are often defined as businesses which are only able to pay off the interest on their debts and have little prospect of growing without restructuring or an injection of cash.
The BBC's Chief Economics correspondent, Hugh Pym, examines businesses caught in this situation and looks at what effect they are having on the UK economy. He hears from business experts who say these companies are partly responsible for the poor levels of growth. They say banks have huge amounts of capital tied up in businesses which are currently going nowhere and that means they have less money available to invest in more dynamic operations which have the ability to grow and create jobs. They say the banks are also unwilling to lend because they need to build up reserves to absorb losses if these businesses eventually fail.
Private equity investors such as Jon Moulton say in some cases the companies should be allowed to fail in order to let new businesses come through. But Hugh speaks to the head of a major bank's restructuring unit which is responsible for managing companies in distress who argues these companies can be nursed back to health and it is better to keep them alive and save jobs.
This decision often involves what is known as forbearance by the banks - where they ease or modify the terms of the loan to give a company breathing space. This is happening not only in business, but in the mortgage market too where billions of pounds of loans have been converted from repayment to interest only.
Some economists warn many of these debts will never be repaid and this means the banks aren't admitting to the true level of losses they are facing. Even the governor of the Bank of England is now warning of the dangers of forbearance and says banks should ensure they have enough funds to be able to draw a line under their losses.
Presenter: Hugh Pym
Producer: Paul Grant.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b01ntfwy)
Blind and partially sighted people in media
Lee Chang Hoon from South Korea is one of the latest blind journalists to land a job on television.
Lee reads the news, but blind people in the media are rare.
In Touch talks to Nuria del Saz a blind newsreader from Spain, Sean Dilley, a freelance journalist in the UK and Gary O'Donoghue, the BBC's political correspondent about their work and advice to budding broadcasters.
Steven Scott and Gill Daley from RNIB's internet station Insight, tell Peter that they are looking for new talent to join their station.
TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (b01ntfx0)
Gaydar, the Me Generation, IQ tests and learning disabilities
Sexuality and Faces - How does our "Gaydar" work ?
Most of us think we're pretty good at guessing when somebody's gay or straight, but what signals are we using to make our decision, and how often are we right ?
Psychologists at Queen Mary University of London are, for the first time, trying to isolate the individual signals and patterns in somebody's face, in order to work out exactly what motivates us to make a snap decision about sexuality.
Using cutting edge computer imagery, researchers have found a way of transferring male facial expressions onto female faces and vice versa, which means they can work out exactly how our "gaydar" works.
Dr Qazi Rahman, assistant professor in Cognitive Biology, and PHd student, William Jolly, are hoping that their research will challenge stereotypes and prejudice by increasing awareness of how quickly, and often inaccurately, people classify each other.
The Me Generation
Professor Jean Twenge from San Diego State University in California has already coined the phrase, "Generation Me", describing the growing number of people who take it for granted that the self comes first. And she's less than flattering abut the downsides of this fundamental cultural shift.
She talks to Claudia Hammond about her latest research using data mined from the American Freshman Survey. This study captures students' attitudes right back to 1966, and compares how current students rate themselves and their abilities compared to the generation 45 years ago. Unsurprisingly, she finds that the younger generation is more likely to view themselves as above average, even though these attitudes aren't born out by the facts.
IQ Tests and Learning Disabilities
Psychologists are considering whether guidelines on how learning disabilities are assessed should be revised, following concerns that IQ test scores could be depriving people of a formal diagnosis, and therefore access to services.
Dr Simon Whitaker, consultant clinical psychologist and senior visiting research fellow at Huddersfield University, has completed research which raises questions about the reliability and consistency of IQ scores for people with learning difficulties.
Current rules mean people must score less than 70 on an IQ test as well as fulfilling other criteria but Dr Whitaker claims IQ tests aren't reliable enough and that those missing out on a diagnosis are also missing out on access to services.
Dr Theresa Joyce, consultant clinical psychologist and the person leading the British Psychological Society Review on how learning disabilities are diagnosed and assessed, tells Claudia Hammond that a range of scores is used before a diagnosis is reached.
Producer: Fiona Hill.
TUE 21:30 The Long View (b01nt4n9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b01nsy5p)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b01ntfx2)
An internal report speaks of the UN's "grave failure" to protect civilians in the final stage of Sri Lanka's civil war three and a half years ago. And President Obama delays nominating a top American general for the post of NATO Supreme Commander in Europe amid an investigation into his role in a scandal which has forced the CIA director, David Petraeus, to step down. Presented by Robin Lustig.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01nyj8q)
The Liars' Gospel
Episode 2
In her new novel, the award-winning writer Naomi Alderman (author of 'Disobedience' and 'The Lessons') provides a visceral fictional account of life in Roman-occupied Judea.
Within this context of Roman brutality and Jewish insurrection, Alderman presents the life and death of a charismatic Jewish preacher, Yehoshuah. A year after his death, four people tell their stories - his mother, Miryam; his former friend and follower Iehuda of Qeriot; the High Priest at the great Temple in Jerusalem, Caiaphas and the rebel, Bar-Avo.
In today's episode, Miryam, puts her village of Nazaret in danger by continuing to shelter the young man, Gidon, a follower of her dead preacher son. His presence in her house awakens memories of her son, Yehoshuah, but he also gives her some shocking news.
Read by Tracy-Ann Oberman
Abridged by Sally Marmion
Produced by Emma Harding.
TUE 23:00 Arthur Smith's Balham Bash (b00ls6bt)
Series 1
Episode 4
More fun and frolics round at Arthur Smith’s home in Balham, south London.
With comedians Stewart Lee and Reginald D Hunter.
Plus music from Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Will she be in Arthur’s kitchen?
Pippa Evans - as singer-songwriter Loretta Maine - lends a hand.
Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2009.
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01ntfx4)
The Energy Secretary says anyone involved in attempts to rig the UK gas market will face the "full force of the law".
Ed Davey promises MPs that "firm action" will be taken if allegations prove to be true about efforts to manipulate wholesale gas prices.
The Health Secretary unveils the Government's priorities for public health and says more needs to be done to cut the numbers of people dying from serious diseases such as cancer.
MPs pose more questions to ministers about the release of the terrorist suspect, Abu Qatada.
The International Development Secretary says the UK will reflect "very carefully" before giving more financial aid to Rwanda.
While in the House of Lords, peers consider the recent outbreaks of ethnic violence in Burma and Nigeria.
Susan Hulme and team report on today's events in Parliament.
WEDNESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2012
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b01ntfxl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b01nx7vq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01ntfxv)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01ntfyc)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01ntfyp)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b01ntg4q)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01nz9kb)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Revd Chris Bennett of the Titanic Quarter in Belfast.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b01ntg4s)
A disease that causes needles to change colour and fall off Christmas trees is starting to cause serious problems for some growers. Experts are still trying to understand the exact causes of Current Season Needle Necrosis (CSNN), and one British grower has lost up to a third of this year's crop. Caz Graham hears the latest from Colin Palmer, who advises the British Christmas Tree Growers Association on this puzzling condition.
Also on the programme, a Staffordshire farmer who farms 700 acres of parsnips and Professor Charles Godfray on why he believes 'sustainable intensification' is the key to feeding a growing population.
Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Rich Ward.
WED 06:00 Today (b01ntg4v)
Morning news and current affairs with John Humphrys and Evan Davis. Including Sports Desk; Yesterday in Parliament; Weather; Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b01ntg4x)
Ian Thorpe, Pablo Borboroglu, Clair Symonds, Hyperpotamus
Libby Purves meets Olympian Ian Thorpe; penguin expert Pablo Garcia Borboroglu; former ballet dancer Clair Symonds and musician Hyperpotamus.
Pablo Garcia Borboroglu is an international penguin expert. He is the founder and president of the Global Penguin Society, an international science-based conservation coalition dedicated to the survival and protection of the world's penguin species.
Ian Thorpe is a freestyle swimmer and one of Australia's greatest ever Olympians. At the age of 14 he became the youngest male swimmer ever to represent his country and went on to win nine Olympic medals - five of them gold. His autobiography 'This Is Me' is published by Simon & Schuster.
Clair Symonds danced with the Iranian National Ballet prior to the overthrow of the Shah. During her time with the company she fell in love with and married an Iranian dancer. In her book 'Romance and Revolution' she describes what life was like as an outsider, living and working in pre-revolutionary Iran. 'Romance and Revolution - A Leap of Faith at the Iranian National Ballet' is published by Mantua Books.
Hyperpotamus has been described as a 'one-man orchestra without the orchestra'. A Spanish multi-vocal solo artist, he produces music using only his voice, a few microphones and a loop pedal. After spending six months honing his craft in the underground tunnels of Madrid's metro system, he was playing in front of thousands of people all over Spain. He has since released two albums and toured worldwide. He is performing at Ray's Jazz in London's Soho on Thursday November 15th.
Producer: Paula McGinley.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b01nx7xv)
Former People
Episode 3
From the last days of the monarchy to the Red Terror of the Bolshevik Revolution and then Stalin's 'Operation Former People' the hundreds of thousands of families who formed the Russian nobility were subjected to a series of bloodthirsty purges.
This disparate group of people ranged from the entrenched monarchists of the old Tsarist regime to the impoverished rural nobility who struggled to make a living out of their lands. Some of these nobles were in favour of change and supported the revolution but very few families escaped without at least one member experiencing imprisonment, exile, forced labour or execution.
Palaces were looted and estates burned as the enemies of the new soviet state were made to pay over and over for their centuries of glittering privilege.
Drawing on meticulous research including letters and diaries from the period Douglas Smith brings to life the tiny human details of this extraordinary and tumultuous time.
Episode 3 of 5
The Bolshevik coup created whole new categories of person - all those who has previously been members of the rich classes, owned land or held positions of authority in the imperial regime became 'former people' and were thus designated as enemies.
Read by Robert Powell
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01ntg4z)
Women in the workplace - phone-in
Jane Garvey hosts a phone-in on women's experiences in the workplace, with MP Rebecca Harris.
Produced by Dianne McGregor.
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01ntg51)
Children in Need: Jess's Story
Episode 3
Nell leyshon created her drama Jess' Story for Children in Need with young people facing mental health challenges who attend a School with special facilities and staff.
Part Three . Jess' recovery is progressing well until her close friendship with new friend Maddie takes her in an unexpected direction
Directed in Salford by Susan Roberts.
WED 11:00 From Worcester with Love (b01ntg53)
Episode 1
Fifty years ago Peter White, at the age of eleven, left home for Worcester College. Then it was a residential school for blind and partially sighted boys. He had a love-hate relationship with it, but freely admits now that it changed his life and gave him the tools to compete in a tough world. Throughout the last academic year, Peter has returned to Worcester, to follow his twenty-first century successors: seven eleven- and twelve-year-olds, who have come to the school from a variety of backgrounds.
Much has changed. In the 1960's it was almost universally assumed that blind children would be educated together; now its far more common for them to attend mainstream schools. Worcester, now known as New College, is still residential; but pupils live in small houses, not in the institution itself, where they learn to cook, care for their clothes, and generally look after themselves. Its co-educational, and children go home far more often. Throughout the year, through a mixture of exchanged letters, and frequent visits, Peter and the current year seven pupils have been getting to know each other and comparing their experiences of school.
Nothing's been off-limits: the pupils have discussed homesickness, getting lost, bullying, a case of racism; and how the experience of living at New College is changing them. We've not only heard from the pupils; but staff, house-parents, and the children's families. They have proved to be a very varied, and engaging group of youngsters, who have talked very honestly about their experiences: Rufus: self-contained, fascinated by technology and delighted with Peter's tales of bad behaviour back in the sixties; Grace; clever, full of common-sense, but suffering badly from missing home and family. And then there's Zoey, the form all-rounder; bookworm, athlete, and learning to play the organ: Ali, obsessed with rap and the London street life he has left: but not quite as tough as he would like to make out; William, who is struggling to make friends and settle in and Jess, who describes daily dramas as she gets lost, battles with bees and plans mammoth sleep-overs at her London home.
From Worcester with Love follows the group through the year, as work gets harder, and the novelty wears off. Listeners will be able to track the engaging ins and outs as Will and Ali attempt to settle their differences and to find out how Angel, who revealed at the beginning of her year that she'd never had real friends before, copes with living away from home. Meanwhile Jess is considering whether to swap the hothouse atmosphere of a residential special school for the familiarities of home and the more Laissez-faire attitude of her local comprehensive. Peter follows what happens and is given pause for thought by an old school friend who actually works at the school today. How have things changed and what might life be like for those starting their secondary education at the blind school which played such an important role in shaping Peter's life.
Producer: Susan Mitchell
(Repeat).
WED 11:30 Mr and Mrs Smith (b01b9kdj)
Sally's Birthday
Will and Annabelle attend her mum's 60th Birthday Party. Will makes an effort to get on with his straight talking father-in-law John.
Will Smith's sitcom about a couple in marriage counselling,
Counsellor Guy must mediate another dispute between Will and Annabelle, with flashbacks to the events that spawned the argument, and by the end, the couple find marital equilibrium once more. Sort of.
Will Smith ..... Will Smith
Annabelle Smith ..... Sarah Hadland
Guy ..... Paterson Joseph
John ..... Geoffrey Whitehead
Sally ..... Susie Blake
Shop Assistant ..... Tracy Wiles
Producer: Tilusha Ghelani
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2012.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b01ntg55)
Wainwright's walks, supermarket own labels and country road signs
An inquiry into the quality of care for people with schizophrenia in England is calling for widespread changes. Countryside campaigners are urging the government to take action to rid our country roads of thousands of unnecessary road signs. The Department for Education is investigating changing the regulations to make it easier to release information held on the National Pupil Database. Sales of supermarket own-label goods are increasing, but are the big well known brands being damaged, and how might consumers be affected?
Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Jonathan Hallewell.
WED 12:57 Weather (b01nsy61)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b01ntg57)
Unemployment is down but the Bank of England forecasts higher inflation and slow growth. We discuss the future of the economy with the Treasury minister David Gauke.
We ask what does Toyota's recall of millions of vehicles mean for the car maker's reputation?
Jackie Ballard of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority and Conservative MP Charles Walker disagree about the regulation of MP's expenses.
And a celebration of ninety years of radio.
WED 13:45 In Pursuit of the Ridiculous (b01ntg59)
Rare Orchids
All naturalists have personal obsessions with particular species or activities which may, to non-naturalists, seem ridiculous. In this five-part series Matthew Oates, naturalist and ecologist with the National Trust, meets the people for whom nothing in the natural world is out of bounds. Nowadays conservationists tend to conserve species and many ignore or dismiss hybrids between species. But at Hartslock near Goring , Matthew meets Chris Raper from the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust and Andy Byfield from the wild flower conservation charity Plantlife, to view a "hybrid swarm" of extremely rare orchids.
The reserve is one of only two sites in the UK for the Monkey Orchid and management is carefully tailored to nurturing this beautiful flower. Recently another rare orchid, the Lady Orchid has arrived , and the two plants have cross-bred to produce many hybrids. These have the potential to breed with either of the pure species, so creating a dilemma: are they to be treasured as unique entities, or discouraged as they may undo decades of conservation work? Matthew and his guests discuss the importance of recognising hybrids and of giving plants and other animals room to hybridise naturally, and they conclude by offering a vision of a wider conservation landscape in which this hybridisation can take place.
Presenter: Matthew Oates.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b01ntfwc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b01ntg5c)
Two Pipe Problems
I Love a Lassie
Sandy decides to travel to Greenock on Clydeside to collect his Freedom of the City award. As he has no living relatives or close friends, he invites William to accompany him on condition he behaves himself. Once again
Stanley Baxter and Richard Briers play the two elderly detectives who solve mysteries by stealth and intuition.
When Sandy and William arrive in the old shipbuilding town, they meet the Provost's secretary Moira. It becomes clear that his hosts really know virtually nothing about Sandy - in fact Moira asks to interview him so she can write up the Provost's speech for the ceremony.
The following day, Sandy shows William around his birthplace. They visit the tenement where he was born and meet a man he was at school with. He isn't wholly friendly and, when they return to the hotel, there is a message: "Do you know how much pain you left behind. Why?". Sandy is anxious, especially when another message appears on the morning of the ceremony: "Why, oh why? Now it's your turn to feel the pain. You will suffer as others have suffered".
So the race is on to uncover who exactly is out to get Sandy and why. The solution to the riddle is finally revealed at the Freedom of Greenock ceremony, when the roots of everyone's resentment are uncovered.
Director : Marilyn Imrie
A Catherine Bailey production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b01ntg5f)
Banks and Banking
Vincent Duggleby and a panel of guests answer calls on questions and problems you have had in dealing with your bank. Vincent is joined by Guy Anker, News Editor for Moneysavingexpert, Mark Mullen, Chief Executive Officer at the bank First Direct and Michelle Slade, Media Relations Manager from Nationwide Building Society.
Are you getting a good enough interest rate on your savings? If not, could you do better? How much are you being charged for your overdraft or loan? Could you pay less elsewhere?
Is your bank treating you well as a customer? Does it communicate with you clearly? If you have a complaint, is it dealt with quickly and fairly?
Banking practices are changing all the time but are they always changing for the better? One bank is planning to no longer send monthly paper statements. Many are using automated calls to warn customers they are going overdrawn or an unexpected transaction has appeared on their account. Another bank now allows you to access emergency cash without your bank card using a code. Is this making banking easier or may these changes create new problems?
In tough economic times, how are the banks treating customers who fall into debt? If you want to borrow but do not have a full credit history, is your bank willing to accommodate you?
Are the banks doing enough to help customers who can only have, or need a basic bank account?
Is it easy enough to switch banks?
Producer Bob Howard.
WED 15:30 All in the Mind (b01ntfx0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 The Media Show (b01ntgsw)
The crisis at the BBC - special one-hour edition
The BBC management was already in trouble over the way it struggled to handle revelations about Jimmy Savile. It was then thrown into chaos when Newsnight broadcast a child abuse survivor's story, pointing at a senior Conservative politician, that turned out to be completely false. It was a failure of the BBC's most prized possession - its journalism. The new Director General resigned and the Chairman of the BBC Trust Lord Patten is in danger of following him out of the door. So how did the BBC get it so wrong? What is the future of investigative journalism at the BBC and elsewhere? And who - or what - next for the top job? Joining Steve Hewlett for an hour long Media Show special are Richard Tait a former member of the BBC's board of governors and more recently a member of the Trust, Sian Kevill former Editor of Newsnight,Editor , Richard Peel, a former Controller of Communications for BBC News for 10 years up until 1998, veteran investigative journalist John Ware, Tim Suter of Perspective Consulting but formerly of Ofcom, the DCMS and at one time a senior BBC executive. Professor Stewart Purvis whose past roles have included: Partner for Content and Standards at Ofcom, Chief Executive and Editor in Chief at ITN. Claire Enders of Enders Analysis and Richard Sambrook -the one-time director of BBC news who lost his job as a result of the last major crisis to hit BBC News - the Hutton Enquiry and after a stint running the world service is now head of journalism at Cardiff University.
The producer is Simon Tillotson.
WED 17:00 PM (b01ntgsy)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01nsy63)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! (b00x97hy)
Series 6
Gone Fishing
On a fishing trip to Spiggy Lakes with long suffering friends, Sally, Geoffrey and Wilf, things start to go awry for Arthur after he 'finds' a rowing boat.
He thinks may give him the edge in their £
5.10 per head sweepstake based on who will catch the most fish, and sets out into the lake unaccompanied.
Cast:
Steve Delaney
Alastair Kerr
Dave Mounfield
Mel Giedroyc
Producers: Richard Daws, Mark Radcliffe & John Leonard
A Komedia Entertainment & Smooth Operations production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b01ntgt0)
Freddie's not looking forward to his maths lesson with Iftikar. But he's won
over by Iftikar's creative approach and at the end tells Elizabeth how much he's enjoyed
it.
Emma goes shopping but is frantic when she discovers there's no money in the account and Ed doesn't get paid until next week. She drops into a Borchester church hall to ask for a food donation. Emma's very grateful when a volunteer reluctantly tells her that although she's not entitled to a food box she can stay for a hot meal. When Susan arrives at the church hall with some donations, she's mystified to See Emma, who's forced to reveal the truth of her situation. Upset Emma says she's sorry, but it's Susan who apologises - she had no idea. Later Susan pays for some food shopping and Emma tells her how they got into such a financial mess. Susan reassures proud Emma that she won't see her family going without.
Later Ed's mortified when he learns that Emma had to resort to the food bank, hating the idea of not being able to provide for his family. But Emma tells him that they need to accept help - she doesn't know what else they can do.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b01ntgw3)
Billie Piper in The Effect; Twilight; author Phil Rickman
With Mark Lawson
Billie Piper stars in The Effect, a new play by Lucy Prebble about drugs trials and mental health. It's Prebble's first major new work since her success with ENRON, her play about the American financial scandal. Senior consultant neurosurgeon Henry Marsh reviews.
The Heresy of Dr Dee is the latest in a series of novels about the Tudor astrologer and magician Dr John Dee by writer Phil Rickman. The novel explores the mysterious death of Amy Dudley, wife of Elizabeth I's favourite Lord Robert Dudley. Phil Rickman explains his fascination with Dee and why self-publishing is a temptation he's keen to resist.
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart star in Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 2, the final instalment in the globally successful vampire film franchise. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh gives her verdict.
Death: A Self Portrait is a new exhibition with more than 300 works - from images by Rembrandt and Goya to a chandelier made from 3000 plaster-cast bones - which confront our mortality. Dr Sarah Jarvis considers how attitudes have changed over the centuries.
And we mark 90 years of BBC radio by remembering the moment when playwright Joe Orton was discovered by a young drama producer.
Producer Penny Murphy.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01ntg51)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b01ntgw5)
The Moral Code of Social Media
If Lord McAlpine decides he's going to sue those who wrongly accused him of being a paedophile any lawyers he consults could be extremely busy in the coming weeks. Not only would they have Newsnight and the BBC in their sights, but also those who named the peer on Twitter and other social networking sites. Newsnight and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism that combined forces to produce the initial report may be clinging on to the fig leaf that they didn't name Lord McAlpine, but they published all the clues like a scattered mosaic and it didn't take very long for those on social networks to put them all together, wrongly as it happens and in some cases perhaps maliciously. The internet feeding frenzy over who could be the top-Tory paedophile grew to such a fever pitch that Phillip Schofield, presenter of ITV1's This Morning, on a live programme and without any evidence to back it up, gave a list of names he'd printed off the internet to the Prime Minister and invited him to investigate them. The situation at the BBC is serious, but those involved will be identified and some could lose their jobs and careers as a result. But how should we deal with the almost countless thousands of people who used the internet to destroy the character of an innocent man they didn't know and who seemed, from many of their tweets at least, to take great pleasure in doing so? Twitter and other social media were supposed to be the tools to bring freedom of thought and expression to the internet; the ultimate democratiser giving anyone a voice to broadcast their thoughts to the world. Is freedom of speech on the net so important that we have to accept that the occasional witch-hunt and trashed reputation is the price some people have to pay for the rest of our rights and entertainment? Does the speed, anonymity and mimetic quality of social media make them uniquely malicious? Or are we in danger of blaming the medium, rather than the message - all Twitter has done is lay bare our baser instincts; our love of gossip and the mob mentality that feeds on the weak and vulnerable? And as we and traditional media increasingly tap in to this digital fog of instant comment, rumour and innuendo are we in danger of losing sight of a fundamental value - truth?. Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk with Michael Portillo, Kenan Mailk, Giles Fraser and Claire Fox. Witnesses: Jamie Bartlett -
Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media and Head of the Violence & Extremism Programme, Demos, David Allen Green - head of media at Preiskel & Co and legal correspondent of the New Statesman, Vicky Beeching - Visiting Research Fellow in Internet Ethics, University of Durham; theologian and social media consultant, John Rentoul - Chief political commentator for The Independent on Sunday, visiting fellow at Queen Mary, University of London.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b01ntgw7)
Series 3
Ismail Einashe: The Challenge for British Somalis
Ismail Einashe, who came to Britain as a child refugee from Somalia, reflects on the link between childhood war trauma suffered by young Somali men and the way some are drawn to violent gang culture.
Four Thought is a series of talks offering a personal viewpoint recorded in front of an audience at the RSA in London.
Producer: Sheila Cook.
WED 21:00 Frontiers (b01ntgx9)
Why do women live longer than men?
In the UK today, male life expectancy is 78 years old, whereas women will on average live four years longer.
Evolutionary biologist Dr Yan Wong looks at the latest evidence suggesting that where ageing is concerned, men seem to be at a genetic disadvantage. From research on ancient Korean eunuchs to laboratory fruit flies, new studies seek the answer to why males across the animal kingdom live faster and die younger.
So, is the gender gap here to stay?
WED 21:30 Midweek (b01ntg4x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b01nsy65)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b01ntgxc)
National and international news and analysis presented by Robin Lustig.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01nyjkz)
The Liars' Gospel
Episode 3
In her latest novel, the award-winning writer Naomi Alderman provides a challenging fictional account of the world of Roman-occupied Judea and the life of a charismatic Jewish preacher, Yehoshuah.
A year after Yehoshuah's death, four people tell their stories - his mother, Miryam; his former friend and follower Iehuda of Qeriot; the High Priest at the great Temple in Jerusalem, Caiaphas and the rebel, Bar-Avo.
In today's episode, Miryam remembers a bloody Jewish rebellion at the festival of Shavuot, to which the Romans responded with savage brutality. And Iehuda of Qeriot, now living a new life as a Roman citizen in Caesarea, remembers his devotion to his beloved friend, Yehoshuah.
Read by Tracy-Ann Oberman and Tobias Menzies
Abridged by Sally Marmion
Produced by Emma Harding.
WED 23:00 Irish Micks and Legends (b01ntgxf)
Series 1
Deirdre of Sorrows
Aisling Bea and Yasmine Akram become Ais and Yaz and are the very best pals. They are taking their role as Ireland's freshest story-tellers to the British nation very seriously indeed but they haven't had the time to do much research, learn their lines or work out who is doing which parts.
The girls' unconventional way of telling stories involves a concoction of thoroughly inappropriate modern-day metaphors and references to many of the ancient Irish stories.
With a natural knack for both comedy and character voices Yasmine Akram and Aisling Bea will bring you warm, modern re-workings of popular ancient Irish stories.
Today it's Deirdre of Sorrows.
Written and performed by Aisling Bea and Yasmine Akram.
Producer: Raymond Lau.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2012.
WED 23:15 Living with Mother (b01nthhy)
Series 2
Sandy Belle
Apparently you're only allowed to live in your beach chalet for the summer months, but Pip and Tilly are broke and decide to stay in their chalet, Sandy Belle, over winter to save money on renting in town.
It's all Tilly's idea. Pip is beside himself with worry. Terrified the police will catch them, he's forced to hide old Pru - his beloved car - in the sand dunes. He's so miserable - hiding away as if they're criminals. However he soon discovers that all is not lost when he receives something unexpected in the post...
Writing about the first series of Living with Mother, Radio Times described it as "Alexander Kirk's astutely-observed comedy series...underpinning each of these tales is a bittersweet poignancy, a moment when the easy laughs are replaced with a lip-trembling insight into the vulnerability, lack of self-confidence and interdependency".
Cast:
Tilly ..... Alison Steadman
Pip ..... Tom Goodman-Hill
Written by Alexander Kirk
Producer: Anna Madley
An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01nthj0)
Sean Curran reports on today's sitting of the House of Lords, where three retired judges questioned the need for a fresh review of the investigation into child abuse in North Wales. Also, another argument over whether it is in the UK's economic interests to remain in the European Union. And a look ahead to next week's Youth Parliament in the Commons. Editor: Alan Soady.
THURSDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2012
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b01nsy70)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b01nx7xv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01nsy72)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01nsy74)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01nsy76)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b01nsy78)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01nz9kd)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Revd Chris Bennett of the Titanic Quarter in Belfast.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b01nthyz)
In Victorian times, goose was the traditional meat eaten on Christmas day. Farming Today visits a poultry farm where plucking parties are imminent, to get the birds ready for this year's festive season.
Anglers are being asked to be on the look out for salmon poachers in North Wales to help combat illegal fishing. The Campaign For The Protection of Welsh Fisheries says the crime can damage fish stocks and the ecology of the rivers.
And even though shoppers looking to save money are becoming more picky, new research suggests farmers can still cash in on high quality produce.
The programme is presented by Charlotte Smith and produced in Birmingham by Angela Frain.
THU 06:00 Today (b01nthz1)
Morning news and current affairs with John Humphrys and Justin Webb. Including Sports Desk; Yesterday in Parliament; Weather; Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b01nthz3)
Simone Weil
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the French philosopher and social activist Simone Weil. Born in Paris in 1909 into a wealthy, agnostic Jewish family, Weil was a precocious child and attended the prestigious Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, achieving the top marks in her class (Simone de Beauvoir came second).
Weil rejected her comfortable background and chose to work in fields and factories to experience the life of the working classes at first hand. She was acutely sensitive to human suffering and devoted her life to helping those less fortunate than herself. Despite her belief in pacifism she volunteered on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War and later joined the French Resistance movement in England.
Her philosophy was both complex and intense. She argued that the presence of evil and suffering in the world was evidence of God's love and that Man has no right to ask anything of God or of anyone whom they love. Love which expects reward was not love at all in Weil's eyes.
Weil died of TB in Kent at the age of only 34. Her strict lifestyle and self-denial may have contributed to her early death. T.S Eliot said "she was not just a woman of genius, but was a genius akin to that of a saint"; Albert Camus believed she was "the only great spirit of our time."
With:
Beatrice Han-Pile
Professor of Philosophy at the University of Essex
Stephen Plant
Runcie Fellow and Dean of Trinity Hall at the University of Cambridge
David Levy
Teaching Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh
Producer: Natalia Fernandez.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b01nx7zn)
Former People
Episode 4
From the last days of the monarchy to the Red Terror of the Bolshevik Revolution and then Stalin's 'Operation Former People' the hundreds of thousands of families who formed the Russian nobility were subjected to a series of bloodthirsty purges.
This disparate group of people ranged from the entrenched monarchists of the old Tsarist regime to the impoverished rural nobility who struggled to make a living out of their lands. Some of these nobles were in favour of change and supported the revolution but very few families escaped without at least one member experiencing imprisonment, exile, forced labour or execution. Palaces were looted and estates burned as the enemies of the new Soviet state were made to pay over and over for their centuries of glittering privilege.
Drawing on meticulous research including letters and diaries from the period Douglas Smith brings to life the tiny human details of this extraordinary and tumultuous time.
Episode 4 of 5
Jewels were hidden and fur coats sold as the nobility learned that nothing could ever be taken for granted again. Hundreds of thousands of former people were imprisoned and executed, many others fled the homeland.
Read by Robert Powell
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01nthz5)
Monica Galetti; Heather McGregor on power in business
What impact could the death of Savita Halappanavar after a refused medical termination have on Ireland's abortion laws? Monica Galetti prepares ceviche in the studio and talks about how she manages to combine motherhood with her role as chef at two Michelin-starred restaurant Le Gavroche. Power list: Heather McGregor, who runs a head-hunting company, tells us about the women with power in the business world. The sperm donor asked by the CSA , 13 years later, to contribute to his children's upbringing: Mark Langridge says he was doing lesbian friends a favour and is disputing the claim. Flavia Coelho plays live.
Presenter Jenni Murray
Producer Caroline Donne.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01nthz7)
Children in Need: Jess's Story
Episode 4
Nell Leyshon created her drama Jess' Story for Children in Need with young people facing mental health challenges who attend a School with special facilities and staff
Part Four . Jess' recovery is progressing again after her trip to the sea with Maddie. In the clinic sessions with David she begins to understand why her obsession with studying developed .
Directed in Salford by Susan Roberts.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b01nthz9)
The Mayor of Mogadishu
Andrew Harding meets the Mayor with the job of running Somalia's capital, Mogadishu. Can the man nicknamed "Tarzan" tackle mass corruption and the physical and psychological impact of years of brutal warfare?
Andrew joins Mohamed Ahmed Noor who, by request of the president, has returned with his wife and family from a life in London to try and clean up Mogadishu.
The mayor discusses his ambitious vision for a city, much of which currently lies in ruins. He proudly shows off the new Mogadishu Mall and talks about the constant risk of attack by the militant Islamist group al-Shabaab - and narrowly escapes death by a car bomb along the way.
Producers: Kate Forbes and Daniel Tetlow.
THU 11:30 Words on Water (b01nthzc)
Mike Greenwood explores modern writing that uses the contemplative pursuit of fishing to explore our relationship with nature and our place in the world, with readings and location recordings from the river bank.
Samuel Johnson once dismissed angling as an activity "with a worm at one end and a fool at the other". Nevertheless there's a growing body of writers who take the contemplative pursuit of fishing as a starting point to explore our relationships with people, Nature and our place in the world. These are not manuals on catching fish, but often poignant, intense meditations, a means of connecting with the wild, or a quest for arcadia.
Mike Greenwood talks to a number of writers about their literary fascination with fish, including:
Luke Jennings who discusses his book Bloodknots - a meditation on fishing, but also a personal memoir about place, the past and personal loss; Chris Yates who casts a keen eye on the minutiae of the waterside; Andrew Greig who revisits a remote Highland loch as an act of tribute to his late friend, the poet Norman Maccaig; Charles Rangeley-Wilson who travels from the wildernesses of Alaska to a concrete culvert through a High Wycombe shopping precinct; and Dexter Petley, the writer of dark novels, observing the uneasy edges of society from the side of a carp lake in France.
Presented and produced by Mike Greenwood
With music composed by Michael Burdett.
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b01ntj9v)
Consumer news.
THU 12:57 Weather (b01nsy7b)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b01ntj9x)
National and international news presented by Martha Kearney. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
THU 13:45 In Pursuit of the Ridiculous (b01ntj9z)
Slugs and Snails
For most people, naturalists or not, some creatures are definitely minority interests. In a UK summer noted for its wet weather, slugs and snails have been very obvious in our gardens and, coupled with reports in the media about "Spanish killer slugs", maybe their time has come. Matthew Oates of the National Trust meets Mary Seddon, a malacologist(studier of slugs and snails) of international renown to hear about her fascination for the creatures and to find out why our slug fauna is increasing . He learns the truth about the boom in numbers this summer and about the discovery in Wales of the ghost slug new not just to the UK but to science.
Presenter: Matthew Oates
Producer: Brett Westwood
Editor: Julian Hector.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b01ntgt0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b01ntjb1)
The Other Simenon
The Venice Train
When he wasn't writing Maigret, Georges Simenon produced a huge body of novels and short stories, often tough, gripping and psychologically-penetrating dissections of lives confounded by fate. In The Other Simenon we explore more of his dark tales of human misfortune!
The Venice Train is a classic Simenon study of anxiety. Justin Calmar returns early from holiday. On board the express train to Paris he is asked by a stranger to deliver a briefcase to an address in Lausanne. He subsequently makes two discoveries: the first, that there is a dead body in the apartment, the second that the suitcase contains a fortune in paper currency. He flees, on the next rapide to Paris condemning himself to an existence of lies and fear, with seemingly no way out.
Dramatised by Ronald Frame and starring Paul Bown and Clare Corbett.
Other parts played by members of the cast.
Producer/Director: David Ian Neville.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b01ntjpv)
Beasts of Brighton
Helen Mark visits Brighton to find surprising wildlife in the city. She finds an urban flock of sheep grazing on ancient chalk downland areas in the city. Their gentle nibbling is kinder to wildlife than mowing and ensures that green spaces stay clear for wildlife and people. Helen meets a volunteer shepherd in charge of watching the sheep through the winter months.
Nearby, Moulsecoomb Forest Garden and Wildlife Project works with excluded school pupils growing vegetables and gardening for wildlife. Helen is shown the project's tree house, outdoor clay oven, turf sofa, and traditional bee hive. Now a thriving garden run by an army of volunteers the original piece of land, hidden away behind Moulsecoomb railway station, had been left overgrown and derelict for nearly twenty years.
Down on Brighton's beach Helen joins Huw Morgan from Sussex Wildlife Trust as he splashes around in rock pools with children from a local school. Their city centre school lacks green space for them to explore so the beach is the perfect place for them to run free and learn about marine wildlife and sustainable fishing.
Producer Beatrice Fenton.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b01nszcd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (b01nt07h)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b01ntjpx)
Francine Stock and guests look at Michael Haneke's latest, Amour, starring Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva who face the end together in their Paris apartment. Is Haneke the greatest living European filmmaker? Dr Catherine Wheatley and critic Jonathan Romney consider.
Bradley Cooper discusses his dance around disruptive personality disorders in the romcom Silver Linings Playbook.
Fashion journalist Chris Laverty pulls apart Ben Affleck's garb in Argo.
And from 1970, there's romance - with more than a dash of satirical comedy - across the racial divide in a New York suburb on the verge of gentrification in Hal Ashby's The Landlord. We talk to its star, Beau Bridges.
Producer: Craig Smith.
THU 16:30 Material World (b01ntjpz)
Quentin Cooper presents his weekly digest of science in and behind the headlines.
A report this week issued by Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the RSPB suggests that crucial mistakes in our carbon accounting procedures make burning biomass in the form of wood appear a better idea than it really is. In fact, they go so far as to suggest we'd be better off sticking with coal. Yet recently some of the UK's biggest coal-fired plants have announced big increases in their biomass mix. From Princeton University in the US, Tim Searchinger - upon whose work much of the report is based - outlines the thinking. Gaynor Hartnell, CEO of the industry's Renewable Energy Association disputes the report.
Also this week, many results form the different LHC experiments at CERN are being presented at a meeting in Kyoto. Many scientists' hopes over the years have been that the LHC will find unexpected results and discoveries that will herald the "New Physics" - the theories that will take us beyond the standard model. A favourite has been supersymmetry. This week, a new type of decay (a Bs meson decaying into a muon and an anti muon) has been observed at a rate that almost exactly supports the standard model, rather than anything more exotic. And as we go to air, even the recently discovered Higgs boson seems to be nothing more exciting than a bog-Standard Model Higgs. But are reports of supersymmetry's demise highly exaggerated?
In the Netherlands, researchers have been working out whether emotions may be transmitted between humans via "Chemosignals" in people's sweat. You don't smell them, they are neither pleasant nor unpleasant, but left on a sweaty rag and wafted under female's noses they elicited a fear-like (and a disgust-like) response.
And finally Lambert Dopping-Hepenstal of consortium ASTRAEA talks to Quentin about imminent testing of civilian applications for Unmanned Aircraft, AKA drones...
THU 17:00 PM (b01ntjq1)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01nsy7j)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Andrew Lawrence: How Did We End Up Like This? (b01ntjq3)
Health and Medicine
Sketches, stand-up and song in a comic exploration of health. With Andrew Lawrence and Sara Pascoe. From November 2012.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b01ntjq5)
Ruth teases 'power hungry' David about his bid for County Chair. With the Primestock Show coming up, and Pip busy, Josh puts himself forward to help with halter training. Discussing Pip's recent spending, Josh is keen to discuss his own finances.
Susan and Neil agreeing to economise as they settle on giving Ed and Emma £40 a week to help out. They won't tell Eddie - that's up to proud Ed.
Lynda plans for the Christmas show include a bawdy song for Jazzer. Ruth asks Neil if Josh's permit has come through yet. It hasn't. Josh is already planning how he's going to spend his money. When Ruth says it all adds up, Neil ruefully agrees.
David chats to distracted Susan, who's visiting Ed and Emma. Meanwhile, Josh checks on Hereford entry 'Wiggo' - David thinks they stand a chance of winning. Josh wants to go to the show, but David reminds him about school.
Leonie's obsessive carer behaviour is irritating Lilian who ask Lynda to calm Leonie down. However, Lynda suggests that James is taking advantage of Leonie, who's easily manipulated. Leonie later reveals to Lynda she has taken unpaid leave, so won't be heading back to London for a while yet.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b01ntjq7)
Ben Elton, Danny Boyle on regional theatre cuts, computer art
With John Wilson
Ben Elton began his career as a stand-up comedian, and went on to write TV comedies, musicals and novels including Popcorn. His latest novel is Two Brothers, inspired by his family history about adopted brothers who go on to fight on opposite sides of the second world war. He reveals why this is a story he'd always wanted to tell.
Danny Boyle - film-maker and impresario behind the London Olympics Opening Ceremony - joins regional theatre directors from across the UK who are meeting at the National Theatre to raise concerns about their funding and the potential cuts they may soon face.
Creating art on a computer is commonplace now, but in the early days of computing, it was quite unexpected. As new solo shows of work by pioneering computer artists Ernest Edmonds and Manfred Mohr open this week, Catherine Mason, author of A Computer in the Art Room, discusses how they created a new area of art in the 1960s and changed the way that computers are viewed.
As Silver Linings Playbook is released in cinemas next week, critic Jane Graham considers other film titles which may seem baffling or too long and considers whether a bad title can affect a movie's box-office takings
Producer Jerome Weatherald.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01nthz7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Invention of... (b01ns477)
Spain
Episode 3
On February 15 1898, an American warship blew up suddenly and sank. The USS Maine had been moored in Havana harbour, sent by President McKinley from Key West to protect American interests in Cuba. It's still unclear if Spanish colonial forces were in anyway responsible for the sinking of the USS Maine. What we know for certain is that the brief, bloody war that followed completely changed the world.
In the third and final programme of The Invention of Spain, Misha Glenny charts imperial decline, from the early independence of Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico, up to the 1898 war that saw Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines all break free. With contributrions from Cayetana Alvarez de Toledo, Sir John Elliott, and Samuel Moncada, historian and Venezuelan ambassador to London. "The point is why do they (the colonies) follow Spain so long ? That is the miracle, not independence."
Misha Glenny is a Sony award winning broadcaster. His previous collaborations with producer Miles Warde include The Invention of Germany,.
THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (b01ntjqc)
Planet New
The view from the top of business. Presented by Evan Davis, The Bottom Line cuts through confusion, statistics and spin to present a clearer view of the business world, through discussion with people running leading and emerging companies.
There are many arguments about how to solve the world's economic problems, to increase employment and achieve economic growth. But if there's one solution that most will agree on it's that we need more new products or services, which drive capitalism and make us richer. Evan's guests this week discuss the importance of innovation for the global economy and the impediments to this kind of creativity. They also swap thoughts on the 'pivot' - when to change your mind in business.
Joining Evan in the studio are Suranga Chandratillake, founder of video and audio search engine Blinkx; Simon Woodroffe, founder of YO! Company; Olaf Swantee, chief executive of mobile phone operator EE.
Producer: Ben Crighton
Editor: Innes Bowen.
THU 21:00 Saving Species (b01ntfvl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Tuesday]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b01nthz3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b01nsy7l)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b01ntjqf)
Gaza-Israel clashes escalate - could a ground offensive follow?
A profile of the new head of the Syrian opposition.
And why is the number of UFO sightings going down?
With Robin Lustig.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01nyjmp)
The Liars' Gospel
Episode 4
In her latest novel, Naomi Alderman (author of 'Disobedience' and 'The Lessons') conjures the world of Roman-occupied Judea and the followers of an inspired Jewish preacher named Yehoshuah.
A year after Yehoshuah's death, four people tell their stories - his mother, Miryam; his former friend and follower Iehuda of Qeriot; the High Priest at the great Temple in Jerusalem, Caiaphas and the rebel, Bar-Avo.
In today's episode, Iehuda of Qeriot remembers his first encounter with Yehoshuah and the heady and complex friendship that followed.
Read by Tobias Menzies
Abridged by Sally Marmion
Produced by Emma Harding.
THU 23:00 The Headset Set (b01ntjqh)
Series 2
Episode 3
EPISODE 3
Audience sketch show set in the world of a call centre called Smile5, a company that sells anything and everything.
Aleesha and other characters ..... Chizzy Akudolu
Bernie and other characters ..... Margaret-Cabourn Smith
Big Tony, Ralph and other characters ..... Colin Hoult
Various ..... Lucy Montgomery
Sailesh, Bradley and other characters ..... Phaldut sharma
Writers ..... Various
Producer ..... Tilusha Ghelani.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.
THU 23:30 Malala's Diary (b01nw6wp)
The Pakistani schoolgirl, Malala Yousafzai, was shot in the head by the Taliban for campaigning for girls' education. Her protests began with the publication in 2009, on the BBC's Urdu website, of a blog describing her everyday life and efforts to continue with her education. She only actually recorded one short extract of this in English, but as she recovers in a Birmingham hospital, local British schoolgirls read aloud from the entire blog as a gesture of solidarity.
Meanwhile, Aasmah Mir reports on Malala's progress and explores the impact of this event on the lives of girls and women in Pakistan.
Producer: Beaty Rubens.
FRIDAY 16 NOVEMBER 2012
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b01nsy8h)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b01nx7zn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01nsy8k)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01nsy8m)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01nsy8p)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b01nsy8r)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01nz9kg)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Revd Chris Bennett of the Titanic Quarter in Belfast.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b01ntlrn)
A farmer's heartbreak as his sheep are slaughtered alive by criminals. Charlotte Smith talks to the Greater Manchester police about who might be behind the attacks.
With Christmas approaching, Farming Today visits a cranberry farm in Kent as the race starts for the festive harvest.
And battle lines are drawn over a proposed 25 billion Euro cut to the Common Agricultural Policy.
Presented by Charlotte Smith. Produced in Birmingham by Ruth Sanderson.
FRI 06:00 Today (b01ntlrq)
Morning news and current affairs with Sarah Montague and Evan Davis. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b01ntlrs)
Blanche Marvin
Kirsty Young's castaway is the critic, actress, and producer Blanche Marvin.
Blanche has been immersed in the theatre for seven decades. She worked with James Mason, Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr and Peter Ustinov and calmed the nerves of Tennessee Williams. She brought Samuel Beckett to an American audience and persuaded Peter Brook to launch a series of awards to encourage artistic risk-takers.
A doyenne of the West End, she's at nearly every opening night and her reviews are read by producers on Broadway - looking for the next hit that could cross the Atlantic.
She says: "people say, how can you go to the theatre for 50 years and still be enthusiastic? Every time I go, I think, Oh, I'm going to see something, I'm going to be surprised!"
Producer: Isabel Sargent.
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b01nx80p)
Former People
Episode 5
From the last days of the monarchy to the Red Terror of the Bolshevik Revolution and then Stalin's 'Operation Former People' the hundreds of thousands of families who formed the Russian nobility were subjected to a series of bloodthirsty purges.
This disparate group of people ranged from the entrenched monarchists of the old Tsarist regime to the impoverished rural nobility who struggled to make a living out of their lands.
Some of these nobles were in favour of change and supported the revolution but very few families escaped without at least one member experiencing imprisonment, exile, forced labour or execution. Palaces were looted and estates burned as the enemies of the new soviet state were made to pay over and over for their centuries of glittering privilege.
Drawing on meticulous research including letters and diaries from the period Douglas Smith brings to life the tiny human details of this extraordinary and tumultuous time.
Episode 5 of 5
With the death of Lenin and Stalin's assumption of power, a new kind of paranoia fuelled the savage quest for 'class enemies'. Reprisals against counter-revolutionaries led to the brutality of 'Operation Former People'.
Read by Robert Powell
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01ntlrv)
Susan Morgan - Navy Wren; Men in Hats; Manchester's Radical Women
Susan Morgan: The Royal Navy's Longest Serving Wren, Men in Hats: What does a hat say about a man? From Peterloo to the Pankhursts; Manchester's Radical Women. The Woman's Hour Power List: We assume powerful women are people we have all heard of. We discuss those women who run public organisations and private companies most of us don't know about.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01ntlrx)
Children in Need: Jess's Story
Episode 5
Nell Leyshon created her drama Jess' Story for Children in Need with young people facing mental health challenges who attend a School with special facilities and staff.
Part Five . Jess' recovery is progressing so well that there's talk of her going home. But this brings its own anxieties as she thinks about what her friends might think when she returns to her own school.
Jess's recovery is progressing so well that there is talk of her going home. But this brings its own anxieties as she thinks about what her old school friends might think
Directed in Salford by Susan Roberts.
FRI 11:00 A Place for Us (b01ntlrz)
Last year in Britain there were 1277 applications from unaccompanied children seeking refugee status. We follow three young people as they adapt to life without their families.
Fleeing war and persecution, teenagers arrive on their own shocked and bewildered: "I was 17 when I left my country. I remember that. It was very sad when I came. They put me in a house in Barking. For the first three weeks, it was a very difficult time for me because I was there by myself. I was very scared."
The young people in this programme have found their way to DOST, the Centre for Young Refugees and Migrants in east London. It gives them support, practical advice and the opportunity to socialize with others in the same situation.
Dembo from Guinea, West Africa, Hassan from Iraq, and Faryad from Afghanistan offer us a picture of life in Britain: "When I came I couldn't speak English, I didn't have a friend, didn't know where to go, I had no future, but now, I feel this is like my place and this is my life now. I feel like this is my country. One day I'd love to bring my Mum to the UK and show her where I live, how I spend my life here, show her my best places I've been, and the places I love in London. I will take her to the river and sit with her."
A moving exploration of community and diversity in multicultural Britain.
Music by Mansour Izadpanah.
Produced by Emma-Louise Williams and Kim Normanton.
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 11:30 Polyoaks (b01ntls1)
Series 2
Distance Healing
Polyoaks is just an ordinary Health Clinic somewhere in Bristol, but it lives in extraordinary times. General Practice is facing a revolution in health care, "the biggest shake-up to the NHS in a lifetime" - the third of those in the last five years or so. Doctors are being asked to manage their own budgets, cut costs and regularly prove their own competence. This tends to present opportunities and crises in equal measure.
In this episode, Distance Healing, Hugh is pioneering a new online diagnosis system that will save time, money and any necessity to meet patients face to face. This promises to be a money spinner too, if he can persuade other West Country Clinical Commissioning Groups to buy it. The two flies in the ointment are Mrs. Lewis, their most persistent hypochondriac who will insist on arriving at the surgery unannounced, and of course Roy, who has his own ideas about contact healing.
Cast:
Dr. Roy Thornton..............................Nigel Planer
Dr. Hugh Thornton............................Simon Greenall
TV's "Dr. Jeremy".............................David Westhead
Betty Crossfield................................Jane Whittenshaw
Nurse Vera Duplessis........................Polly Frame
Mr. Devlin.........................................Phil Cornwell
Mrs. Lewis........................................Mel Hudson
Mr. Wring..........................................Duncan Wisbey
Written by Dr. Phil Hammond and David Spicer
Directed by Frank Stirling
Producer by David Spicer
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b01ntls3)
School meals, ghost insurance brokers and how to haggle
Tens of thousands of students from low income families are missing out on free school meals because sixth form colleges and further education institutions don't offer them.
Ofcom have revealed a surge in mobile internet use and have published plans to ensure that the UK's communication infrastructure matches demand for mobile capacity in the future.
Which goods and services will you most likely be able to negotiate a discount; if you have never haggled, how should you go about it?
Home ownership in the UK has slid back from its historic high of nearly 70% in 2003 to 64.7% today. A home owners pressure group says a whole generation is in danger of being locked out of ownership and that's not good for the economy.
The insurance industry is warning customers to be on the lookout for 'ghost brokers' who offer 'cheap' car insurance - they'll leave you out of pocket and without cover.
Have you ever wanted to tell it like it is? A new website is inviting you to review your job, warts and all.
A pressure group for home owners is calling on the government to introduce policies to halt the decline in home ownership but is raising the numbers of home owners the answer to the housing crisis?
FRI 12:52 The Listening Project (b01ntls5)
Molly and Emma: Just Get Married, Mum!
Fi Glover hears 9 year old Molly talking to her mum at her after-school club at Benchill Community Centre in Wythenshawe, which Children in Need helps to fund. Molly's life would be perfect if only her parents would get married!
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Many of the long conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b01nsy8t)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b01ntls7)
National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
FRI 13:45 In Pursuit of the Ridiculous (b01ntls9)
The Purple Emperor
Matthew Oates has long been obsessed with the elusive and beautiful purple emperor, a butterfly of the high tops which is aggressive to other butterflies and yet often lands on people. But in this programme he's out-obsessed by Neil Hume, a self-confessed addict of the emperor .Together they watch the butterflies chasing off rivals high in the tree-tops and discuss its anti-social feeding habits which include sipping human sweat and animal dung - this is a butterfly which avoids flowers. As they enthuse over emperors, Neil explains what the experience of seeing this butterfly means and how it takes him to special places at the height of summer.
Presenter: Matthew Oates
Producer: Brett Westwood
Editor: Julian Hector.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b01ntjq5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b01ntlsc)
Series 5
Talk to the Bones
By Nick Warburton. Trevor Peacock is back as inspirational chef Warwick Hedges who runs an idiosyncratic restaurant in the Cambridgeshire Fens with his permanently anxious son Jack. In the first of a new series of this comedy drama, Warwick dreams of expansion. He gets it into his head that they should have a covered area built on the side of the restaurant with romantic views over the river.
Directed by Claire Grove
Trevor Peacock stars as inspirational chef Warwick Hedges - Mr Toad meets King Lear - who runs an up market restaurant in the Cambridgeshire Fens. His son Jack , played by Sam Dale, works alongside his father, which makes him permanently anxious. They are assisted by Samuel, played by John Rowe, an earthy odd-job man "who crawled out of the slime with the eels" and Zofia, a Polish waitress. The mixture of food, family relationships and Fenland legend is handled with Nick Warburton's characteristic deft comic touch.
Trevor Peacock is a brilliant character actor best known as the bumbling Jim Trott in The Vicar of Dibley. At 81 he is still at the top of his game appearing alongside Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins and Michael Gambon in Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut film Quartet. Other recent appearances include Much Ado About Nothing at the National Theatre, playing Stephen Fry's father in the TV series Kingdom and four series of On Mardle Fen for R4.
Nick Warburton won the Peter Tinniswood Award for the Best New Play on Radio. His series The Peoples Passion went out to great acclaim last Easter on R4. His afternoon play Friday When It Rains (TX October) was Radio Times Choice. Nick dramatised 'Father and Son' and 'The Snow Goose' for R4's Classic Serial. His original radio plays include Our Late Supper with Marcia Warren. Other work includes 6 episodes of Thrush Green and Moonfleet for Radio 4. Plays for stage and radio include Conversation from the Engine Room, which won the 1985 BBC/Radio Times Award, The Messenger for Radio 3, an adaptation of Tolstoy's Resurrection, A Grove of Straight Trees (short-listed for the BBC/Radio Times Drama Award), and A Soldiers' Debt (entered for the Prix Italia).
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b01ntlsf)
Bishop's Castle, Shropshire
The GQT team is in Bishops Castle, Shropshire, for this week's programme. Eric Robson is joined by Chris Beardshaw, Pippa Greenwood and Matthew Wilson, plus special guest Nicholas Parsons as Gardeners' Question Time meets Just A Minute in aid of BBC Children in Need.
Produced by Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
This week's questions:
Q. Would it be possible to keep a tender Jasmine outside over the winter, if it was covered in fleece?
A. It will die if left outside, so it would be better to prune the jasmine down to a suitable size to be brought inside. If you want it to flower next year, you will need to leave some of this year's growth on the plant.
Q. Could the panel advise on growing damsons, plums and apples on our smallholding? It is1250ft above sea level and with strong prevailing winds.
A. Plant other species such as Euonymus, Birch or Willow, which could help create a shelterbelt. In addition, grow on very dwarf rootstocks and grow against the sides of any buildings or sheltered areas. Join your local fruit group, who will have a repository of knowledge of varieties that grow well locally.
Q. What treatment can be used to prevent the gall midge ruining my Hemerocallis lilies?
A. Promptly remove affected buds on a very regular basis.
Q. Can the panel suggest some evergreen plants that will grow to about 3ft (though they can be clipped) and be happy living in pots at 600ft altitude and with a southwesterly aspect?
A. With shelter, you could grow Artemisia Arborescens which has a distinctive smell, as do Helichrysum and Rosemary. Buxus Sempervirens and Buxus Rotundifolia (the cultivar 'Pylewell' is resistant to Box Blight) can be kept low, as can Taxus or other small topiarised Yews. The small-leaved forms of Ilex, such as Ilex Crenata, could be used. Japonicus Aureopictus is also suggested.
Q. Why can I not grow miniature cucumbers in large pots in an unheated greenhouse? The initial crop is prolific, but subsequent baby cucumbers turn yellow.
A. Try not to let temperatures fluctuate too much. Also, a small cucumber will need at least 2 litres of water a day in full growth.
Q. I would like to move my 12-year-old, 3ft tall monkey puzzle tree. Would it be OK to do this?
A. At this size and age there should be no problem, but remember to give it plenty of space, as they will get very big. Move it with as much of a root ball as possible - a foot or so either side of the trunk - and replant and water straight away.
Gardeners' Question Time Meets Just A Minute
For plenty more hesitation, deviation or repetition, you can listen to an extended version of the GQT recording with Nicholas Parsons from Just A Minute, all in aid of BBC Children in Need, on the programme page here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01ntlsf
There are lots of ways to donate to BBC Children in Need, details of which can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008dk4b/features/cin-donate
Ash Dieback Disease
Ash dieback is a serious disease caused by a fungus called Chalara fraxinea. The disease causes leaf loss and crown dieback in affected trees and can lead to tree death. Chalara Fraxinia is considered to be so serious a threat that the government's COBRA emergencies committee met to discuss it.
The Forestry Commission would like the public to help spot affected ash trees and to report them. The Commission's website has useful photos and a video guide on how to spot the symptoms and how to report suspected cases.
You can find this here: www.forestry.gov.uk/chalara
There is also a smart-phone app that has been developed by the University of East Anglia that shows symptoms and allows suspected cases to be reported. More information on this app can be found at: http://ashtag.org/
Affected trees can be reported using the following contacts:
In England and Wales, on the Chalara helpline: 08459 33 55 77 or email: plant.health@forestry.gsi.gov.uk
In Scotland, to Forestry Commission Scotland: 0131 314 6156 or email: fcscotlandenquiries@forestry.gsi.gov.uk
The Forestry Commission are appealing for everyone to think about bio security - in other words the possibility that fungus could be spread on footwear, clothing, gardening tools, even our pets - and, if out and about in gardens, parklands or countryside, to think about the need to clean anything that might have come in contact with the ground or the trees themselves before venturing out again.
FRI 15:45 First for Radio (b01ntlsh)
Series 1
Hanging On
Four acclaimed novelists write their first stories for radio.
In Holding On by Ross Raisin, a woman stands at the end of a cliff, which is at the end of her garden - which means what, exactly?
Reader Deborah Findlay
Producer Duncan Minshull.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b01ntlsm)
Sir Rex Hunt, Valerie Eliot, Duke Vin, Susan Jeffers, Joe Melia
Matthew Bannister on
Sir Rex Hunt who was the Governor of the Falkland Islands when the Argentinians invaded. We have eyewitness accounts from Major Mike Norman who commanded the marines and Patrick Watts of the island's radio station.
Also Valerie Eliot who married the poet TS Eliot when he was 68 and she was 30. After his death, she became the gatekeeper of his literary legacy.
Duke Vin who introduced the first Jamaican style sound system to the UK after stowing away on the Empire Windrush.
The psychologist Susan Jeffers, who wrote the best selling book "Feel The Fear and Do It Anyway"
And the actor Joe Melia - playwright Peter Nichols pays tribute.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (b01ntlsp)
Radio 4's forum for comments, queries, criticisms and congratulations. Presented by Roger Bolton, this is the place to air your views on the things you hear on BBC Radio.
In a week when the BBC's own troubles have filled the schedules, what do you think of the way the Corporation has covered its crisis? Have programmes like Today, Call You and Yours and the Media Show restored your faith in the BBC's journalism or indulged in pointless navel-gazing?
Also, Feedback goes to the Radio Festival in Salford to participate in a session about the relationship between programme makers and their audience. The Festival was packed with industry types - but light on listeners. So we decided to take three listeners along to hear their views on the matter.
And as the BBC marks its 90th anniversary, the Radio 4 comedy The Golden Age satirises the early days of broadcasting. But some listeners felt that the comedy missed the mark and was inappropriate given the BBC's recent troubles.
Presenter: Roger Bolton
Producer: Kate Taylor
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b01ntlsr)
Maria and Sarah: Safe at Last
Fi Glover hears 11 year old Maria and her mother Sarah (not their real names) remembering their years of surviving domestic abuse. Now part of Voices of Experience in Stoke on Trent, which helps victims of domestic violence, they have been helped by Children in Need funding to do some of the ordinary things every child has a right to experience and to create some happy memories of childhood.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Many of the long conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
FRI 17:00 PM (b01ntlst)
Carolyn Quinn with interviews, context and analysis.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01nsy8w)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The Now Show (b01ntlvy)
Series 38
Episode 2
Stepping Aside: in the week that George Entwhistle stepped aside as DG of the BBC, Starbucks stepped aside from paying UK tax, and the public stepped quickly aside to avoid the voting booths for the Police & Crime Commissioner elections, Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present the week in stand-up and sketches with Jon Holmes, Laura Shavin, Mitch Benn and David Quantick. Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b01ntlw0)
It's Daniel's 18th party tonight and Kenton's in teasing mood. Kenton's pleased that Ryan's going full time at Jaxx. Fallon only now needs a part-time barperson.
At the party, busy Shula shares some frustrations with Kenton, about guests Reg and Bunty. Meanwhile Daniel shows off photos on his new tablet to Jamie. They show Daniel getting some welcome attention from two college girls. He asks Jamie how on earth he managed to swing quitting college. Daniel's looking forward to his gap year and hopes for an internship - possibly America. Jamie starts making excited plans to come and stay out there when he's made some money.
Shula reflects on letting go of Daniel, who'll be leaving home soon. Kenton says he's a fine young man, who Mark would be proud of.
Rhys apologies to Fallon for not being able to accept her offer of a job. He says he feels more at home at The Bull. Fallon makes it clear she misses Rhys, before checking herself and getting into rehearsal mode. Afterwards they share a joke but get interrupted. Rhys later admits to Ed that Kenton and Jolene make a different team to him and Fallon. Working at the Bull just isn't the same without her.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b01ntm2x)
Jimmy Page; natural history programmes over the years
With Kirsty Lang.
Jimmy Page is the guitarist and founder member of Led Zeppelin. As Celebration Day, a film of their one-off 2007 reunion concert is released on DVD, Jimmy reflects on the performance, and why it's very unlikely the band will re-form.
Sir David Attenborough is celebrating six decades of natural history programmes for the BBC. Charles Lagus was his cameraman in the 1950s when they worked as a two-man team on Zoo Quest. Simon King is a cameraman and film maker who's worked with Attenborough more recently. They consider the huge changes in technology in making wildlife programmes.
Suranne Jones and Tom Ellis star in The Secret of Crickley Hall, a new TV adaptation of a novel by James Herbert. Natalie Haynes reviews the programme.
Producer Ellie Bury.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01ntlrx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b01ntm2z)
All Saints Church, Dulverton, Somerset
Jonathan Dimbleby presents the political discussion and debate programme from All Saint's Church in Dulverton Somerset. Guests include Baroness Shirley Williams, David Willetts MP the Minister for Universities and Science, Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Hilary Benn MP and Alex Deane who's Head of Public Affairs for Public Relations company Weber Shandwick.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b01ntm31)
Mary Beard: Age of Consent
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
FRI 21:00 Friday Drama (b01ntm33)
Enquirer
A radio adaptation of the acclaimed National Theatre of Scotland and London Review of Books production.
An investigation into the current crisis in newspaper journalism in the UK, based on interviews with leading figures from the industry by Paul Flynn, Deborah Orr and Ruth Wishart.
Music by Davey Anderson.
Co-edited by Andrew O'Hagan.
Edited and directed by Vicky Featherstone and John Tiffany.
Producers: Clara Glynn and Carolynne Sinclair Kidd.
A Hopscotch Films production for BBC Radio 4 in association with the London Review of Books and the National Theatre of Scotland.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b01nsy8y)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b01ntmcg)
The election of Police and Crime Commissioners in England and Wales has been largely ignored by voters. And Palestinian militants have fired a rocket at Jerusalem for the first time in decades as Israel continues its air strikes on the Gaza Strip. Presented by Ritula Shah.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01nyjq0)
The Liars' Gospel
Episode 5
In her new novel, award-winning author Naomi Alderman imagines the world of Roman-occupied Judea and the fate of a charismatic Jewish preacher named Yehoshuah.
A year after Yehoshuah's death, four people tell their stories - his mother, Miryam; his former friend and follower Iehuda of Qeriot; the High Priest at the great Temple in Jerusalem, Caiaphas and the rebel, Bar-Avo.
In today's episode, Iehuda of Qeriot remembers the events that lead to his loss of faith in Yehoshuah and his eventual betrayal of the man who had been his dearest friend.
Read by Tobias Menzies
Abridged by Sally Marmion
Produced by Emma Harding.
FRI 23:00 A Good Read (b01ntfw5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:27 Swimming with Piranhas (b01l5kl5)
Mike Greenwood journeys into one of the world's final frontiers, the relentlessly hot Chaco in Paraguay, to uncover how environmental groups, ranchers and missionaries are battling for the soul of one of the last wildernesses.
In the hostile environment of the north Chaco in Paraguay, indigenous peoples, cattle ranchers, illegal loggers, eco-warriors, zealous missionaries - not forgetting piranhas - combine to create the febrile atmosphere of a new frontier.
This is a meeting point for several major habitats. It is also one of the last places on earth where un-contacted peoples live. Some scientists believe these lesser-known habitats are more threatened than rainforest regions such as the Amazon. Paraguay's Chaco grasslands are particularly at risk because they easily convert to cattle pasture. Cattle ranching is profitable but, as well as destroying the local ecology, it has also pushed out indigenous people.
Mike experiences, close-up, this anthropological and environmental melee and meets its remarkable, and sometimes unexpected characters - from German-speaking Mennonites thriving in the Chaco to Moonies who have bought up an entire town in the Chaco; and from environmental campaigners to indigenous people displaced from their ancestral land. We will also hear from pro-development governors and ranchers who argue conservation is a luxury Paraguay can not afford - development brings in money that promises to lift the country's many poor out of poverty.
This is the closest most of us will get to the 'wild west'. A 21st-century frontier country in which a battle is being fought for the socio-economic and spiritual soul of a hitherto little explored region.
Presenter: Mike Greenwood
Producer: Eve Streeter
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b01ntmcj)
Kate and Alison: Cyber-bullying
Fi Glover presents a conversation from Cumbria between teenage victim Kate and her mother Alison about the sinister and destructive experience of being cyber-bullied.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Many of the long conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.