The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Published when the National Theatre turned 50 in 2013, Philip Ziegler's biography, based on previously unseen letters and diaries, tells the story of Laurence Olivier as he developed his craft, focusing on his career path from early school days through rep theatre to Hollywood, before returning to triumph in his greatest role ever, as the first director of the National Theatre.
Olivier goes to the Royal Court to star in 'The Entertainer' which, in turn, sets him on a path to the last two great loves of his life - Joan Plowright and the National Theatre.
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
Presented by the Chaplain to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in Kabul, Padre David Anderson.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
The sport of geocaching has become increasingly popular. The modern twist on a treasure hunt involves using GPS to solve clues and follow trails to find caches and the rise of the smartphone has seen its popularity soar.
Helen Mark joins hundreds of geocachers in the Salcey Forest in Northamptonshire where people have travelled from across the world to be at the 'mega-event'. The ancient hunting forest was used by Henry VIII but also once saw elephants roam the land. Will the clues help her find out more about its history?
Charlotte Smith travels into the heart of the Peak District to meet a young farming couple, Kirsty and Paul Storer, on the day they receive the keys to their new home. Hayes Farm is a 42-acre small holding complete with a beautiful stone farmhouse and outbuildings. It may look pretty as a picture but Charlotte also discusses the drawbacks and difficulties of farming land you don't own.
Paul and Kirsty are well up for the challenge though - something which has impressed their landlord, the Peak District National Park Authority. Estates manager Chris Manby joins the team on the farm and shares his thoughts on the benefits of tenant farming and why he chose Paul and Kirsty - who were up against tough competition - to take over Hayes Farm. Charlotte watches as landlord and tenant sign the contract and shake hands on a seven-year tenancy.
And we look back over a week of special reports, including the NFU's National Tenant Farmers Conference in Harrogate.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Richard Coles and Anita Anand with neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield talking about her life and work, Julie Bailey who campaigned for reform after her Mother died at Stafford Hospital and who has been hounded from her Stafford home and business, 'Lorna' who lives in Belfast, was in care from around 14 years of age and now volunteers with a Children in Need project that helps others in care, and Diccon Bewes who has followed in the diary footsteps of Miss Jemima Morrell from Selby in Yorkshire, who took an 1863 tour of Switzerland organised by Thomas Cook. JP Devlin visits the village of Herbrandston in Wales which is a doubly 'Thankful Village'- all the village soldiers returned from both World Wars. Back in the studio, Medwyn Parry talks about his motorbike ride to 51 Thankful Villages in the UK- and tells of two new ones discovered recently. And Gary Barlow shares his Inheritance Tracks.
Via Facebook and Skype Alan Dein connects to the lives of strangers across the globe to hear their stories. The tumultuous events of the Arab spring have reached an uncertain conclusion in Egypt. Now, with Friday night curfew drawing close, Alan hears a diversity of experience. From Shady who has found a new life in the revolutionary protests of January 25th 2011 ,a sleeper awoken from his days as a football fanatic, waiting for the next seismic event to Rasa who defies the curfew to maintain her sanity. Elsewhere in Alexandria a newly qualified doctor, Doaa, reflects on the passing of her father and her new responsibilities.
This week the programme examines how Ed Miliband's ideas on the cost of living crisis are resonating with voters, getting the public involved in law making, the hazards faced by MPs who do not toe the party line, and spending taxpayers' money wisely - plus the power of political cartoons.
With MPs Jesse Norman, Diane Abbott, Peter Lilley, and Richard Bacon, Andrew Hawkins of polling agency ComRes, Richard Heaton, Permanent Secretary to the Cabinet Office and First Parliamentary Counsel, former senior Whitehall mandarin Sir Richard Mottram, and Dr Tim Benson on the power of political cartoons.
Correspondents worldwide: Kevin Connolly talks of unfinished business in the Middle East finally being attended to after one hundred years. Historical and continuing allegations of rape and torture in Sri Lanka are investigated by Frances Harrison. For India, its mission to Mars is an opportunity to come out top of a new Asian space race. Justin Rowlatt examines the question: couldn't the cash instead have been used to lift many Indians out of poverty? Kieran Cooke boards a train in the west of Ireland to see if passengers feel optimistic now their prime minister has decreed the country is well on the way to seeing off an economic crisis. And David Mazower on stories of remembrance and loss which emerge in the wake of that extraordinary discovery of a huge cache of looted artwork in Germany.
Time to renew that passport. Put passport in this search engine. Click, click, search. Ah, three top of the list. Click. Mmmm. One says 'Official'. Click. And there's a crown. That must be right. Click. And it only charges £45. I thought passports were dearer than that. Where's my credit card. Done. Oh. But now I have to pay £
for the passport itself! Should've gone to GOV.UK! We investigate what's being done to crack down on copy cat websites which pose as government agencies talking to the Consumer Minister, Jo Swinson and the Advertising Standards Agency.
Co-operative Bank is asking 13,000 retail bondholders to save it. A deal announced this week has to be approved by a supermajority of them - two thirds must take part in the process and of those three quarters must vote yes. They will get a lot more than the original deal promised - but they will still see the annual return from their perpetual bonds end in ten or twelve years. We speak to Euan Sutherland, the CEO of Co-operative Group and Mark Taber, Chairman of the Bondholders Committee.
The Big Sleep - zzzzzz. Zzzzzzzz. Zzzzz. That's your money, that is. I know it's only been in the account a year but it's fallen asleep already. Dormant, as we say. And you remember it was instant access? Because you wanted to be sure you could get it out quickly for Life's Little Emergencies? Well now it could take you up to 12 weeks - and in some cases much longer - to get it back. And I would say sorry. Except it's the rules. We talk to Mike Dailly from the FCA's Consumer Panel about concerns that banks are acting too quickly.
A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Sandi Toksvig, with panellists including Katy Brand, Miles Jupp and Bob Mills, with regular guest, Jeremy Hardy.
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from Glasgow with Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland Johann Lamont and Leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson.
On the programe today; at what age should you able to join the military and at what age should you be able to vote. Or maybe like Russell Brand you may prefer not to vote at all - is time for a new political system?
We are warned of a looming crisis in the country's A&E departments but is it solvable through use of out of hours GPs'?
And we consider the UK in or out of the EU, Scotland in or out of the UK, and the effect all that might have on jobs and business.
The presenter is Julian Worricker. The producer is Alex Lewis.
Written and directed by Patrick Barlow. Comic interpretation of the story of Joan of Arc performed by comic troupe the National Theatre of Brent.
Crowd and courtiers played by Beth Nestor, Carrie Quinlan, Humphrey Ker, David Reed and Thom Tuck.
Writer Chris Salewicz revisits Jamaica 40 years since the premiere of the cult film The Harder They Come and talks to the musicians who were directly inspired into a life of crime by the film.
In the second and final part of his investigation, Chris asks why so many Jamaican musicians have associations with criminality, how Kingston's gun culture began and when politicians carved up downtown Kingston. Former Met Police officer Mark Shields and community worker Pastor Bobby Wilmott of Trenchtown talk about the reality of everyday life there.
Back in Britain, Chris examines the legacy of Jamaica's music and culture on today's youth in the form of reggae's cultural descendant, Bass Culture, which to many eyes glorifies the 'Badman' archetype portrayed in The Harder They Come. Grime MC Flowdan, reggae singer Tappa Zukie, Jimmy Cliff, and black music historian Mykaell Riley all contribute.
Laura Jurd with a trumpet improv ahead of the EFG London Jazz Festival. Equalities Minister Maria Miller and Nicola Smith from the TUC discuss equal pay. Dido Harding, CEO of TalkTalk, on her career and her position on the WH Power List.
We discuss some myths surrounding adoption with Roger, Pamela and Alice Noon from charity and adoption agency, Coram.
Raven Kaliana, whose parents forced her to work in the pornographic film industry as a child, speaks about her experience and her work with puppets that she hopes will help others speak out.
The Howard League for Penal Reform publishes a new report looking at the impact of campaigners Pauline Campbell and Violet Van der Elst. We discuss flirting in Shakespeare with actress Samantha Spiro and Professor of English at Queen Mary, University of London, Peggy Reynolds.
Infrastructure projects can take decades to complete and are meant to last for generations. Planning for new rail networks, roads, bridges, airports - in the UK and overseas - all require assumptions and predictions about the future. What shape will the country's economy be in? Will the population grow or shrink? How might travel patterns change? And will the political regimes support the project over the years?
Evan Davis and guests discuss the problems and pitfalls of planning for the long view.
Sir Cliff Richard, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Richard E Grant, Tamara Rojo, Flavia Coelho, Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Clive's Wired For Sound with the UK's all-time greatest hit-maker Sir Cliff Richard, who unbelievably is about to release his 100th album. 'The Fabulous Rock 'n' Roll Songbook' is Cliff's tribute to the rock 'n' roll greats who inspired him, such as Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly. He treats us to his debut 1958 hit 'Move It'.
Clive revisits Uncle Monty's country cottage with actor and director Richard E Grant. Withnail and Clive learn How To Get Ahead in Advertising and discuss Richard's new film 'Dom Hemingway', playing safecracker Dom's sidekick Dickie. Dom (Jude Law) is back after twelve years in prison, and it's time to collect what he's owed. 'Dom Hemingway' is in cinemas on Friday 15th November.
Nikki Bedi brings intrepid explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes in from the cold to talk about his life, dedicated to researching and exploring some of the most brutally freezing and hostile places on earth. His new book 'Cold' documents his many adventures, exposed to perilous temperatures, leading to frostbite and loss of fingers. Sir Ranulph deservedly holds the title of 'the world's greatest adventurer'.
Clive's final nutcracker of a guest is English National Ballet's Artistic Director Tamara Rojo, who's been repeatedly recognised for her artistic excellence. Tamara is currently leading a production of 'Le Corsaire'; a swashbuckling drama of captive maidens, rich sultans, kidnap and rescue, culminating in a breath-taking shipwreck. 'Le Corsaire' at Bristol's Hippodrome from 26th November to 30th November.
With music from Rio-born, Paris-based Flavia Coelho, who performs 'Sunshine' from her album 'Bossa Muffin'. And from Unknown Mortal Orchestra perform 'Swim & Sleep Like A Shark' from their 'Blue Record EP'.
She's been described as the UK's most experienced criminal prosecutor, responsible for bringing some of the most infamous criminals to justice. But she also has a passion for cooking and entertaining. Becky Milligan profiles Alison Saunders, who this week became the new Director of Public Prosecutions.
Life in space is impossible, Gravity is a film about surviving out there. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney play astronauts working on a space shuttle when their lives are threatened by space shrapnel - a disintegrating satellite sends million of pieces of potentially murderous debris hurtling at them. Directed by Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron, it cost $100m to make and has taken more than $400m at the box office already, but will our reviewers be impressed by the scale of its reach and its success?
Rustication is the first novel in 14 years from the highly-acclaimed writer Charles Palliser. It's a mystery story set in 1864 in a rural village where someone is sending anonymous threatening letters and immolating livestock. The protagonist is a 17 year old opium addict who has tricky relationships with just about everybody, including his own family, but how much can we trust his version of events
Young black British playwright debbie tucker green's latest work - nut - looks at mental health issues. Opening with two friends planning their own funeral orations and wondering which of them will die first and how, it's full of honest language, frank portrayals of long-established relationships and sadness. Does the joyful use of language make for a joyful play?
Between 1927 and 1932, Stanley Spencer was commissioned to paint a series of canvases showing his experience of the first world war to be displayed in a specially constructed chapel in Berkshire. Because of reconstruction work being undertaken on the chapel's fabric, 16 of the paintings are on display outside their original setting (for only the second time in nearly 80 years). Can the non-consecrated context of Somerset House in London do them justice?
Yonderland is the new comedy TV series from the team behind Horrible Histories. Humans and puppets work together to create a fairytale fantasy set in a magical kingdom far far away. With puppets created by Henson alumni, it certainly has a fine pedigree, but will it live happily ever after?
Change has swept through the way history is presented to the public. Programmes, films and books dealing with the past used to emphasise authority and accuracy as their great strengths. While those elements are still valued, argues historian and broadcaster Juliet Gardiner, the over-riding aim now has become to present an authentic view of the past. But how is that achieved? And what happens when the desire for authenticity conflicts with the facts?
Drawing on her role as an historical adviser on television programmes, feature films and to writers of historical fiction over the years, Juliet Gardiner shows how directors, writers and producers achieve authenticity in their work and how this affects the history we see, read and hear. She also lifts the veil on behind-the-scenes tensions and disagreements over how far the facts should be bent to achieve the precious authentic "feel".
Taking her examples from documentaries, recent movies, dramas and books as well as children's programmes, Juliet Gardiner presents a lively and revealing personal essay on how the ways of presenting history have evolved - and how they have in turn shaped the way we, the public, see and think about the past.
selected for a mission to Italy. He travels to
Evelyn Waugh's trilogy of WW2 novels mark a high point in his literary career. Originally published as three volumes: Officers and Gentlemen, Men at Arms and Unconditional Surrender they were extensively revised by Waugh, and published as the one-volume Sword of Honour in 1965, in the form in which Waugh himself wished them to be read. They are dramatised for the Classic Serial in seven episodes.
This is a story that continues to delight as we follow the comic and often bathetic adventures of Guy Crouchback. Witty and tragic, engaging and insightful, this work must be counted next to 'Brideshead Revisited' as Waugh's most enduring novel. Like Brideshead, Waugh drew heavily upon his own experiences during WW2. Sword of Honour effortlessly treads the line between the personal and the political - it is at once an indictment of the incompetence of the Allied war effort, and a moving study of one man's journey from isolation to self fulfilment.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
In the last of his four Reith Lectures, recorded in front of an audience at Central St Martins School of Art in London, the artist Grayson Perry discusses his life in the art world; the journey from the unconscious child playing with paint, to the award-winning successful artist of today. He talks about being an outsider and how he struggles with keeping his integrity as an artist. Perry looks back and asks why men and women throughout history, despite all the various privations they suffered, have always made art. And he discusses the central purpose of creating art - to heal psychic wounds and to make meaning.
Perry was awarded the Turner Prize in 2003 and is well known for his ceramic works, printmaking, drawing, sculpture and tapestry. He is also known as one of Britain's most famous cross-dressers as alter ego Claire.
'How might a legendary fire-fighter, an Islamic festival and a case of the winter blues engender articles in Der Spiegel?'
Tom Sutcliffe welcomes the teams from the North of England and Wales to the latest bout of cerebral sparring - with the North hoping to turn the tables on the Welsh who defeated them the last time they met.
Diana Collecott and Jim Coulson represent the North of England. Opposite them are David Edwards and Myfanwy Alexander for Wales. How many points they score on the programme's notoriously impenetrable questions depends on how many clues Tom has to give them to help them arrive at the answers.
As always, there are several fiendish suggestions from Round Britain Quiz listeners hoping their question ideas might outwit the panel.
Paul Farley returns with a new series showcasing the best of the latest poetry. Lavinia Greenlaw and Simon Armitage have been kidnapping three ancient poems and making them new, dub genius King Tubby has been remixing Dylan Thomas and Kaiti Soultana has taken Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to heart. Producer: Tim Dee.
SUNDAY 10 NOVEMBER 2013
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b03gqbv8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Afternoon Reading (b011vdv3)
Alexandros Papadiamandis - The Boundless Garden
Black Scarf Rock
Mark Williams reads from an anthology of 19th century Greek short stories. Yannios, an old fisherman, saves a boy from drowning in the shadow of the mysterious Black Scarf Rock.
Alexandros Papadiamandis (1851 - 1911) was born on the western Aegean island of Skiathos, where many of his short stories are set. He has been compared to Dostoyevsky and Hardy and, shares with them similar qualities in the great European tradition of story-telling. His reflections on, and observations of, Greek life - particularly on his native Skiathos - define the Greek experience at the turn of the last century in a way unattained by any of his (now forgotten) contemporaries.
In these stories he explores the souls of ordinary men and women as they succumb to, or struggle against, the power of evil, and try to deal with life's ambiguities. Aware of the way in which the past breathes life into the present, Papadiamandis also delves into Greek mythology, as it survived through people's belief in supernatural wonders on both land and sea.
Mark Williams is well known as one of the stars of BBC TV's The Fast Show ("Suits you, sir..!!") and for the role of Ron Weasley's father in the Harry Potter films.
Translated by Liadain Sherrard
Abridged by Roy Apps
Producer: David Blount
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03gqbvb)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03gqbvd)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
5.20am.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03gqbvg)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b03gqbvj)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b03gtnnd)
The bells of Worcester Cathedral.
SUN 05:45 Profile (b03gtk0p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b03gqbvl)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b03gtnng)
Artificial Soul
As robots become more human-like, John McCarthy asks whether there is any aspect of humanity that could never be programmed into a machine.
Experts from the informatics department of King's College, London, reflect on the possibility of developing artificial emotions, morality and creativity. Will there come a time when it will be impossible to tell a machine from its maker?
The programme includes extracts from the first work of fiction about robots, by the Czech playwright Karel Capek, as well as more recent imaginings by Isaac Asimov.
William James, Andrew Marvell and Richard Dawkins muse on the nature of self, soul and culture.
We hear computer-generated music, as well as compositions by Stockhausen, Wasifuddin Dagar and Regina Spektor.
Readers: Michael Colgan and Sarah Lawrie.
Producer: Jo Fidgen.
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 Living World (b03gtnnj)
Fairy Rings
Both mysterious and fascinating fairy rings are steeped in mythology and. In this episode of the Living World Chris Sperring accompanies fungi expert Lynne Boddy from Cardiff University to the National Botanical Garden of Wales to bust the myths and explore the little known subterranean world of fairy rings. Each ring is formed of a single individual fungus and are at their most obvious when their mushrooms appear above ground on pasture and in woodland.
Chris discovers that while the short-lived fruiting bodies, which often appear in the autumn, may be the most noticeable indicator of the presence of fairy rings the real action is taking place all year round below ground. A network of fungal tubes called mycelia make up the bulk of each individual fungi. This network spreads out underground decomposing, parasitizing, or forming mutualistic relationships with trees and grasses depending on the species of fungi. And when two fairy rings meet a battle ensues that often results in mutual annihilation. In learning about fairy rings Chris also finds out just what an important role fungi play in the world's ecosystems.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b03gqbvn)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b03gqbvq)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b03gtnnl)
Bishop of Portsmouth, Congo, Remembrance
The Bishop of Portsmouth speaks to William Crawley about the end of shipbuilding in his city.
Trevor Barnes meets key members of the Somali Community in London to discover why young Somali's are at risk of involvement with Al-Shabaab
Angela Robson visits Zoroastrianism exhibition, The everlasting flame.
We mark Remembrance Sunday with two men associated with Biggin Hill and it's role during the 2nd World War - RAF Veteran, Flight Lt Rodney Scrase DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) and Rev Chris Baker.
Decades of war among ethnic groups and rebel forces in eastern Congo have killed millions and displaced an estimated 1.7 million Congolese, according to the U.N. refugee agency with rape used by armed groups to intimidate and demoralize communities. Kati Whitaker has just returned from DRC and presents the first of two special reports.
Is there anything that can be done to protect the religious and historical sites in the middle of a civil war? William Crawley has been talking to Karin Hendili from UNESCOs World Heritage Cities programme.
Producers: Carmel Lonergan
Rosie Dawson
Guests:
Bishop of Portsmouth, Rt Rev Christopher Foster
Flight Lt Rodney Scrase
Rev Chris Baker
Karin Hendili.
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b03gtnnn)
Mines Advisory Group (MAG)
Giles Duley, photographer and amputee, presents the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the charity Mines Advisory Group (MAG).
Reg Charity:1083008
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal, mark the back of the envelope MAG.
Give Online www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/appeal.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b03gqbvs)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b03gqbvv)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b03gtnnq)
Questioning Silence
Questioning Silence - Canon Margaret Guite and the Revd Dr Malcolm Guite explore the space that silence brings us at Remembrance-tide. With the choir of Girton College Chapel, Cambridge directed by Nicholas Mulroy. Producer: Stephen Shipley.
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (b03ggrr5)
Kennedy 50 Years On
Will Self reflects on America's view of the assassination of JF Kennedy, fifty years on. After years of talk of conspiracy, cover-up and doctored film footage, he concludes, "It isn't so much that the Kennedy assassination has transitioned smoothly into a commonsensical past; it's rather that it was the first instance of a peculiarly modern variant of the historic event: its media simulation".
Producer: Sheila Cook.
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b03dwsxw)
Curlew
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Martin Hughes-Games presents the story of the curlew. The UK is a vital wintering ground for flocks of curlews. Some birds fly in from as far away as Belgium and Russia, probing our coastal mudflats and thrilling us with their mournful cries.
SUN 09:00 News and Papers (b03gtqbc)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 09:15 The Archers Omnibus (b03gtqbf)
Caroline receives an important letter, and Lynda mulls things over.
SUN 10:30 Ceremony of Remembrance from the Cenotaph (b03gtqbh)
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. After the Last Post and Two Minutes Silence, Her Majesty the Queen lays the first wreath on behalf of nation and commonwealth, before The Bishop of London leads a short Service of Remembrance. During the March Past, both veterans and those involved in present conflicts throughout the world share their thoughts.
Producer: Simon Vivian.
SUN 11:45 Some Corner of a Foreign Field (b03gtqbk)
A global network of cemeteries and memorials now marks every Commonwealth military casualty of the two World Wars - a commitment that was born amid the mud and slaughter of the Western Front.
The man responsible for this was Fabian Ware and, in this programme, Mark Whitaker tells his extraordinary story.
Ware arrived in France for the Red Cross and was shocked to find the graves of fallen soldiers going unrecorded. So his unit started registering all they could find and, over the next two years, sent 12,000 photographs to bereaved relatives.
As the War dragged on, Ware lobbied for an official organisation to carry on the work, with equality of treatment in death regardless of rank, race or creed. The Imperial War Graves Commission was born on 21 May 1917, with three of the finest architects of the day - Sir Edwin Lutyens, Sir Herbert Baker and Sir Reginald Blomfield - engaged to design the cemeteries and memorials for every known casualty.
But there were fierce arguments over two key principles - non-repatriation of bodies and rejection of private memorials, so that officers and men would lie side-by-side, as they had served. This argument culminated, in 1920, with one of the great Parliamentary debates, partly dramatised in this programme. Winston Churchill, as chairman of the Commission, made a majestic closing speech saying future generations would gaze in wonder upon their work, and the opponents were defeated.
Whitaker visits the Commission's headstone production centre, historic cemeteries in France, Belgium and the UK, and sees how horticulture remains at the heart of its work in creating the look of 'an English cottage garden' in no less than 153 countries around the World.
Producer: Mike Hally
A Square Dog Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:00 The Museum of Curiosity (b03g9b1f)
Series 6
Frost, Sinha, Aderin-Pocock
John Lloyd and curator Humphrey Ker welcome objects from Paul Sinha, Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock and David Frost. From April 2013.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b03gtqbm)
The Sugarman of Brazil
Leontino Balbo - The Sugarman of Brazil. The incredible story of one maverick farmer who is trying to change the way we produce our food.
David Baker brings us a story from Sao Paulo about a man who is managing to produce sugar whilst also helping wildlife.
Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced in Bristol by Emma Weatherill.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b03gqbvx)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b03gtr3z)
The latest national and international news, including an in-depth look at events around the world. Email: wato@bbc.co.uk; twitter: #theworldthisweekend.
SUN 13:30 Reflections with Peter Hennessy (b036w394)
Series 1
Jack Straw
In this series, Peter Hennessy, the leading historian of modern Britain, asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. In each week's conversation, he invites his guest to explore what influenced their thinking and motivated them to enter politics, their experience of events and impressions of people they knew, and their regrets and satisfactions.
Peter's guest in this week's programme is Jack Straw MP, who was first elected to the House of Commons in 1979 and sat in the Labour Government between 1997 and 2010. He served as Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House in Tony Blair's Cabinet, and as Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor in Gordon Brown's Cabinet. In his role as Foreign Secretary, Straw's support for British involvement in the Iraq War was crucial in Tony Blair's final decision to commit British forces to the invasion.
Peter's guest next week is Lord Tebbit (Norman Tebbit), the former Conservative Cabinet Minister.
Presenter, Peter Hennessy. Producer, Rob Shepherd.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b03ggrqj)
Correspondence at Sparsholt
Eric Robson hosts from the GQT potting shed at Sparsholt College as Matt Biggs, Anne Swithinbank, Bob Flowerdew and Rosie Yeomans tackle listeners' questions sent in by post, email and via Twitter.
Also in this episode, Pippa Greenwood provides top tips on how to get the best crops from your tomato plants next year and Matt Biggs visits Leicester University to hear about the latest research into the spread of Japanese Knotweed.
Produced by Darby Dorras
A Somethin' Else Production for BBC Radio 4.
Q. When is the best time of year to move a three to four-year-old fruit cage?
A. During the dormant period, any time between leaf fall and bud burst when the ground isn't waterlogged or frozen. The plants should move quite easily and be planted at the same level. Seaweed extract is a good tonic once they have settled in their new location. Make sure it is a weed-free site. If they are older than about four-years-old, propagation may be a better idea.
For blackcurrants, you would be better taking cuttings. But for strawberries, it is worth buying new plants instead.
Q. I have a north facing, 20x15ft (6mx1.8m) area of shaded garden inhabited by hens from May through to November. Is there anything that would grow between November and May that the hens would enjoy on their return?
A. Claytonia (Miner's Lettuce) disappears in the summer and reappears in the winter. Grass would encourage insects and worms for the chickens. Perhaps you could lay straw, giving the chickens something to scratch at. A Brassica planted early, such as a Spring Cabbage or Mustard, would also please the hens.
Q. Why would Giant Viper's Bugloss planted from seed not have flowered? Also, how should I treat them over the winter months?
A. They are very difficult to keep over the winter, as they don't like the damp. Protect the smaller ones by keeping them dry and in sunshine. They may have not flowered because they are monocarpic, meaning they grow until they are ready to flower and then die shortly afterwards. Flowering may have been delayed by last year's poor weather, but they will almost certainly flower next year.
Q. Do you have any suggestions for edibles to be grown on a cold, breezy allotment over winter?
A. It is unusual to have an exposed allotment, so perhaps invest in some windbreaks. Beetroot and Jerusalem Artichokes would work with cloches or collars of straw. Oriental vegetables, Chervil, Lamb's Lettuce, or Winter Kale could be grown under horticultural fleece. Leeks and Savoy Cabbage are very hardy and could work in an enriched soil.
Q. My first pickings from a crop of Gardeners' Delight tomatoes were tasteless and spongy. The trusses I picked later and left to ripen were much better. Would the fruit have been tastier if I had held back on watering so that the plant thought it was starving?
A. Over watering will reduce the taste of any fruit. Keeping plants slightly under stress can work. Make sure the compost is no more than slightly moist.
Q. Why would a healthy crop of grapes have turned colour before the fruit is ripe enough to eat?
A. The grapes will not be sweet because the season has been too short. Also, a heavy crop will mean that the plant cannot produce enough sugar. Always thin the crop, removing half of the fruit so that the remainder can grow bigger and sweeter. This year, you could make wine or dry the grapes to make raisins.
Q. How should recently planted Amazonian Lilies (Eucharis grandiflora) bulbs be kept throughout the winter?
A. The bulbs should be planted in the spring. During the winter treat them like a houseplant, keeping them in a conservatory or a bright position in the house. The temperature shouldn't be too high: protect them from the frost but keep the growth process at a slow rate.
Q. Could the lack of flowers on an Agapanthus be due to overcrowding?
A. Yes, it could be. There will be nowhere for the root growth to go. You should divide and repot them. However, the root growth is very tough and can be hard to remove from the pot. Perhaps run a knife around the edge, soak the soil, or even use a little detergent.
SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b03gtsbv)
Sunday Edition - Couples Talking
Fi Glover introduces conversations between four couples about pregnancy, weight loss and marathons, being an army wife, and how two different worlds can collide within a marriage, proving once again 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. Most of the unedited 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 (b03gtvty)
Evelyn Waugh - Sword of Honour
Unconditional Surrender
by Evelyn Waugh
Dramatised by Jeremy Front
Evelyn Waugh's satirical WW2 masterpiece:
After injuring his knee during a parachute jump, Guy believes his wartime experience is at an end, but then he receives orders to fly to Italy on a secret mission.
Directed by Tracey Neale
Evelyn Waugh's trilogy of novels mark a high point in his literary career. Originally published as three volumes: Officers and Gentlemen, Men at Arms and Unconditional Surrender they were extensively revised by Waugh, and published as the one-volume Sword of honour in 1965, in the form in which Waugh himself wished they to be read. They are dramatised for the Classic Serial in seven episodes.
This is a story that continues to delight as we follow the comic and often bathetic adventures of Guy
Crouchback. Witty and tragic, engaging and insightful, this work must be counted next to 'Brideshead Revisited' as Waugh's most enduring novel. Sword of Honour effortlessly treads the line between the personal and the political - it is at once an indictment of the incompetence of the Allied war effort, and a moving study of one man's journey from isolation to self fulfilment.
SUN 16:00 Open Book (b03gtvv0)
Margaret Drabble on her novel The Pure Gold Baby, and Sebastian Faulks and Helen Dunmore on WWI novels
Margaret Drabble talks about her latest novel The Pure Gold Baby, which spans the decades since the swinging 60's with the tale of Jess and her daughter Anna, the eponymous child of the title, around whose special needs Margaret traces changing attitudes to caring and community. She explains why she wrote the story from the perspective of a narrator, the appeal of nostalgia and the trials of writing in later life.
The First World War has continued to influence novelists from both sides of the conflict, from Henri Barbusse's Le Feu published at the height of the carnage in 1916 and the hugely influential All Quiet on the Western Front by the German writer Erich Maria Remark, to the long list of contemporary writers including Pat Barker, Sebastian Barry and Michael Morpurgo.
To mark Armistice Day and the eve of The First World War, Sebastian Faulks, author of the acclaimed Birdsong, and Helen Dunmore, whose novels The Lie and Zennor in Darkness explore The Great War from both the home and front line perspectives, discuss novelists' response to this "war to end all wars."
From expressions of love, celebratory comments or messages of hope and comfort, many of us have written inscriptions in the books we have given as presents to friends and loved ones. Over the years these once treasured possessions can find their way to charity shops and second hand bookshops. This is where they get another lease of life, in the hands of people like the journalist and writer Wayne Gooderham. Wayne is a habitual buyer of second hand books and his fascination with the inscriptions he's found has led him to compile a collection of some of the most heart warming and intriguing.
Producer: Andrea Kidd.
SUN 16:30 The Echo Chamber (b03gtvv2)
Series 2
City Streets and Seashores
Paul Farley meets Roy Fisher and Michael Longley: two of the greatest older poets at work in English today. City streets and the seashore sing loud in their poems. Roy Fisher's long sequence City about Birmingham is the best poetic account of modern urban life. Michael Longley has been writing lyric poems about a short stretch of the coastline of County Mayo for decades. Producer: Tim Dee.
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (b03gbxn8)
Up to the Job?
The Work Programme is the Government's flagship scheme designed to help the long term unemployed off benefits and into lasting jobs. But how well is it working - both for those at whom it is aimed and for the private companies who are paid to deliver it?
Official figures paint a patchy picture and some companies have already been sanctioned for not meeting targets. Their record has been particularly poor for claimants whose illness or disability makes it hard to find a job.
Despite this, the Chancellor recently announced an addition to the scheme - called Help to Work - which places new demands on those the Work Programme has failed to move into employment.
But, with the economy still struggling in many areas, is it asking too much? Gerry Northam investigates.
Producer: Sally Chesworth.
SUN 17:40 Profile (b03gtk0p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b03gqbvz)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b03gqbw1)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03gqbw3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b03gtvv4)
Antonia Quirke chooses the best of the previous seven days of BBC Radio.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b03gtvv6)
George is really enjoying spending time on his own with Will while training Baz. Will is equally pleased to spend some quality time with George.
It's Remembrance Day in Ambridge, and as ever Alan puts on a lovely service. Afterwards, Shula confides in Jill that she and Alistair have had a row about Darrell. Alistair is adamant that Darrell will have to leave, and if Shula doesn't tell Darrell, he will. Shula feels awful about this but Jill tries to convince Shula that she's done all she possibly can for Darrell.
Shula looks to Alan for advice in how to handle the situation. Alan thinks this could be a turning point for Darrell. But Shula and Alistair need to stand together and not let the situation come between them
Shula receives some news from Daniel. He's coming back this week! Alistair reiterates that Darrell must go. However, Shula has had some time to think and is not prepared to throw Darrell out on the street unsupported again. Appalled Alistair wonders what the hell they're going to do now!
SUN 19:15 My Teenage Diary (b01l7wtr)
Series 4
Julia Donaldson
Another brave celebrity revisits their formative years by opening up their intimate teenage diaries, and reading them out in public for the very first time.
This week, comedian Rufus Hound is joined by the author of The Gruffalo, Julia Donaldson. Donaldson's diaries are a vivid account of her obsession with Mick Jagger and the lengths she went to in order to meet the elusive Rolling Stone.
Producer: Harriet Jaine
A Talkback production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 19:45 Nadine Gordimer - A Flash of Fireflies (b03gtxv7)
City Lovers
Marking Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer's death in July, the second of three stories from her remarkable career as a writer and political activist.
In this story of forbidden love, set during apartheid in South Africa and first published in 1975, an Austrian geologist falls foul of the country's Immorality Act.
Read by Alice Krige
Abridged and produced by Gemma Jenkins.
SUN 20:00 Feedback (b03ggrqq)
The last of the Reith Lectures was delivered earlier this week. Grayson Perry's series of four lectures on the world of contemporary art has had, in the words of their Commissioning Editor, 'by far the most response ever for a series of Reith Lectures'. Feedback has received many letters of congratulations for Grayson Perry but some listeners question whether the programmes have been in keeping with the Reith Lectures' reputation for showcasing the thoughts of 'significant international thinkers'. We ask Mohit Bakaya, the Commissioning Editor for the Reith Lectures, why he chose Mr Perry and whether anyone can now follow him?
Last week we spoke to Radio 4's Drama Commissioner, Jeremy Howe, about why the network decided to air G.F. Newman's The Corrupted over ten consecutive editions of the Afternoon Drama, especially given its violent and sexual content. This week, many of you wrote to heap praise on the series and the experimental scheduling. But some listeners were deeply disappointed that the first five of the episodes disappeared from BBC iPlayer before the series ended.
Too late for fans of The Corrupted, but changes to BBC iPlayer are afoot which will mean that many programmes remain available for thirty days. We speak to the Controller of Multi-Platforms for BBC Radio Mark Friend to find out more.
And it's one of the most coveted slots on Radio 4, so how do authors and publishers get picked for Book of The Week? Roger Bolton speaks to the Commissioning Editor for the series, Jane Ellison.
Producer: Will Yates
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b03ggrqn)
A BBC political editor, a naturalist, a landscape architect, a Sultan and a union leader
Matthew Bannister on the BBC Political Editor John Cole who covered the turbulent politics of the 1980s - and was satirised by Spitting Image.
Also Professor John Cloudsley-Thompson - once called the "Titan of the Sahara" - he was a leading expert on the wildlife of the world's deserts.
Georgina Livingston, the landscape architect who designed a competition-winning scheme for Stonehenge
Roy Grantham, the moderate trade union leader who struggled to resolve the bitter 1970s dispute at the Grunwick photo processing plant
And the Sultan of Sulu - who late in life launched an abortive bid to annexe part of North Borneo.
Producer: Neil George.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (b03gtk0c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 on Saturday]
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b03gtnnn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 Analysis (b03g9fql)
Importing the Metropolitan Revolution
In America, there is talk of a "metropolitan revolution" as big cities reinvent themselves. Matthew Taylor asks if Britain too can transform its economy by setting city halls free.
In America, there's a growing realisation that the old economic model, based on every city aiming for "a Starbucks, stadia and stealing business," has failed to revive urban economies. But now cities such as Denver, Colorado -- once famous for the oil money that inspired the soap opera Dynasty -- have turned a corner. This "Metropolitan Revolution" was led by local mayors who ripped up the old administrative boundaries and did creative things to diversify the economy and create jobs, such as building a vast new airports and offering incentives to hi-tech start-ups.
For this week's edition of Analysis, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the RSA and a former insider in Downing Street under Tony Blair, sets out to see if these new ideas could hold answers for Britain's long term economic future. Cities are where the modern global economy happens, but ever since the decline of heavy industry, Britain's northern cities have performed below the national average. Now, key national and local figures, from Lord Michael Heseltine to Bristol's new Mayor George Ferguson, famous for his red trousers, are pinning their hopes for an economic revival on giving greater economic powers to city halls.
Speaking to a wide range of voices from both sides of the Atlantic, and combining wit with insights from urban geography, history and economics, Matthew asks: could Britain's great cities be the key to us all turning the economic corner?
Producer: Mukul Devichand.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b03gty5k)
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 (b03gty5p)
Zoe Williams of the Guardian looks at how newspapers covered the week's big stories.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b03ggfwn)
George A Romero; Scottish sci-fi; James Toback; Ealing rarities
Forty five years after the release of genre-defining Night of the Living Dead, Francine Stock talks to the director George A Romero about inventing the undead zombie and where he might unearth horror in contemporary society. Plus why he doesn't rate Stanley Kubrick as a horror director.
As Gravity is released on the big screen, with an even bigger budget, we look at the trend for Scottish sci fi in short films with young directors Jamie Stone and Mark Buchanan. They discuss the magic of space and how to do it on a shoe string.
The writer and director James Toback, known for Fingers and Bugsy among others, takes his camera on the trail for the big bucks. With actor and friend Alec Baldwin in tow, they mingle at the Cannes Film Festival, lobbying for the cash to make their proposed film Last Tango in Tikrit. Follow their efforts, often hilarious, in the resulting documentary Seduced and Abandoned. James Toback explains just how flexible you have to be before the financiers show you the money...
And Ealing studio gems, and not the well-known comedies.. Melanie Williams, from the University of East Anglia, on the overlooked films from the famous studios including Young Man's Fancy and The Feminine Touch. They're now available on DVD as part of the Ealing Studios Rarities series.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b03gtnng)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 11 NOVEMBER 2013
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b03gqbx3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b03gg7n1)
Richard Hoggart; The Anti-Social Family
Richard Hoggart: Laurie Taylor talks to Professor of Cultural Studies, Fred Inglis, about his biography of this leading cultural commentator and academic. Hoggart's 1957 book 'The Uses of Literacy' documented the lives and hardships of the life of the poor in pre-World War Britain as well as providing an account of the transition from working class to 'mass' culture in the post War period. Inglis considers some of Hoggart's key ideas including his emphasis on working class community and family life as a source of support and sanctuary. Also, the sociology of the family, then and now. Hoggart's views about the family form part of an ongoing sociological debate to which the late Mary McIntosh made a major contribution. Professor of Sociology, Carol Smart, pays tribute to her classic 1982 book 'The Anti Social Family' which offered a socialist and feminist critique of the traditional nuclear family, arguing that it was as often a site of inequality and conflict as of refuge, particularly for women. Deborah Chambers, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, joins the debate.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b03gtnnd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03gqbx5)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03gqbx7)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03gqbx9)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b03gqbxc)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b03j98vt)
Presented by the Chaplain to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in Kabul, Padre David Anderson.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b03gv7xh)
Schools in rural areas face very different issues to their counterparts in urban areas. In this programme, Farming Today embarks on a week of reports looking at the problems, the advantages, and the likely future for schools in rural areas.
For demographic reasons, many rural schools are small. Charlotte Smith hears about the approach taken to keeping small schools open in Scotland, where a government-commissioned report proposes that an independent body, rather than the local council, should make the final decision on any school closure, and that any school surviving a closure threat should be safe from similar threats for five years.
Meanwhile in England, North Yorkshire has more small primary schools than anywhere else in the country. BBC Radio York reporter Sarah Urwin finds out how schools there are sharing staff and resources in order to survive.
Presented by Charlotte Smith. Produced by Emma Campbell.
MON 05:56 Weather (b03gqbxf)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03dwxfp)
Siskin
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Martin Hughes-Games presents the Siskin. Siskins are visiting our gardens as never before. These birds now breed across the UK and cash in on our love of bird-feeding. They are now regular visitors to seed dispensers of all kinds.
MON 06:00 Today (b03gv7xk)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (b03gv7xm)
Andrew Marr on poet George Herbert
Andrew Marr returns to Start the Week for a special programme on the early 17th century poet George Herbert. His English poetry was never published in his lifetime, but he hoped it would act as consolation 'of any dejected poor soul', and his latest biographer John Drury argues that with its focus on love over theology, his poetry still speaks to and for modern readers. The composer Sir John Tavener and the writer Jeanette Winterson discuss prayer in a secular age, and the power of music and words to soothe the soul.
This programme was recorded before the sad announcement of Sir John Tavener's death.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b03gv9qx)
Martin Sandler - The Letters of John F Kennedy
Episode 1
Letters to and from President Kennedy are published in book form and edited by Martin W Sandler to mark fifty years since the assassination of 1963. And a selection, abridged in five episodes by Penny Leicester, reveal the drama and tensions to do with American foreign policy. Other letters reveal Kennedy's wit and warmth when contacting friends and members of the public.
1. During WW2 young Kennedy was in touch with his brother Joe and the lovely but frowned upon 'Binga'.
Readers Colin Stinton, Richard Laing, Trevor White and Kelly Burke
Producer Duncan Minshull.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b03gvctr)
Power-lister Carol Black; Mood marketing; Children in Need
Power Lister Professor Dame Carol Black on her route from history graduate to becoming one of the country's leading doctors. The message behind this week's drama inspired by real life stories of child exploitation and grooming. A quarter of midwives are so disenchanted with the profession that they're thinking of leaving according to a survey of more than a thousand members of the Royal College of Midwives which it is publishing ahead of its annual conference. Two experts from organisations supported by Children in Need discuss identifying those at risk. It's Monday and if you don't feel your best, that's no surprise according to one American study. In theory that makes it a good day for advertisers to bombard you with products to give you a lift. To what extent do they gauge our moods and do they get it right? Ex-nanny Nina Stibbe on her role in the domestic set-up of an unusual literary family.
Presenter: Jane Garvey.
Producer: Ruth Watts.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b03gvctt)
Children in Need: Holding On to You
Episode 1
D.L.Weller's powerful drama about child sexual exploitation and grooming.
Fourteen year old Holly can't believe her luck when she is asked out by twenty year old Jay; so why is her best friend Leah not happy for her and why can't her parents just leave her alone?
D.L. Weller has done extensive research with victims and their families and professionals working in child protection and safeguarding. Holding On To You, although fictional, is informed and inspired by these interviews. It explores a problem thought to affect tens of thousands of children, of all backgrounds, yet that still remains largely hidden and apparently unaddressed in many regions.
MON 11:00 Armistice Day Silence (b03gvd80)
The traditional two-minute silence to mark Armistice Day.
MON 11:04 Fan Power (b03gvd82)
Can fan power change the world?
"If Harry Potter was in our world, wouldn't he do more than celebrate the fact he is Harry Potter? Wouldn't he fight for justice in our world the way he did in his?" Andrew Slack, founder of the "Harry Potter Alliance" believes that the millions of Potter fans worldwide can be mobilised for change in the real world. He's been successful: the Alliance has sent five cargo planes to Haiti, built libraries across the world, funded the protection of civilians in Darfur and Burma, and lobbied to get gay marriage legalised in American states.
For many teenagers, the question "What would Harry do?" is a more compelling motivation for action than any political ideology. And there are enough Harry Potter fans to bring about change in the real world.
Thanks to social media, many celebrities have an intimate and intense two-way relationship with their fans. In one case, Lady Gaga tweeted her fans to lobby their senators on gay rights, two fans videoed themselves phoning their senator; the video went viral; Lady Gaga made her own video; and other fans started doing the same. No longer are the fans just consumers of the star's product - they can be collaborative and creative.
It's particularly true in the case of the new generation of online celebrities, some of whom have millions of subscribers who feel an intense connection with the star. Two video bloggers, the brothers Hank and John Green, have a huge following among teenagers for their quirky YouTube videos. The brothers have mobilised the fans to lend $5 million to entrepreneurs in the developing world, but beyond this, their liberal political and social philosophy has the potential to be far more influential than conventional politicians. Compared to going on demonstrations, handing out leaflets, or other traditional forms of activism, it may not look like much but, as Hank Green says, "if you can change a generation's minds about something, that's how culture changes".
Presenter/producer: Jolyon Jenkins.
MON 11:30 Ed Reardon's Week (b03gvqlz)
Series 9
The Personal Statement
Episode 1: "The Personal Statement"
He's back. Despite many thwarted attempts at literary success and a lifetime of scrimping and scraping to keep mind, soul and cat together, the curmudgeon's curmudgeon can never be kept down for long and returns to Radio 4 for a new series.
Ed Reardon once more finds himself grabbing at whatever scraps his agent, Ping, throws his way, with his only source of regular income coming from teaching the increasingly savvy and adventurous pensioners their module in short story writing. Jaz Milvane continues to be his nemesis, somehow making money out of mad schemes whilst Ed makes nothing and his love life remains, like his payment of utility bills, erratic to say the least.
As we renew our acquaintance with Ed we find him grovelling to his former girlfriend Fiona, claiming to be a 'changed man'. But as she quite rightly points out, he's still wearing the same socks and sandals. As Ed tries to get back into her good books, he finds himself retiring from the writing trade and applying for real jobs. So it is, he writes a personal statement and attends his first interview for a salaried position since, well, ever........
Written by Andrew Nickolds and Christopher Douglas
Produced by Dawn Ellis.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b03gvqm1)
CPP mis-selling; Haggle on the high street
Card Protection Plan, or CPP, admitted miss-selling policies between 2005 and 2011 that duplicated the basic protection that comes with a bank account. The company said it would contact seven million customers. Now it's sending out letters and automatically renewing its cover. We get to bottom why customers of BrandAlley aren't receiving the goods they bought online. We'll get tips on how to haggle in huge high street chains and how the humble lightbulb could revolutionise data speeds. 'Li-Fi's creator, Professor Harald Hass, explains how the system works.
MON 12:57 Weather (b03gqbxh)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b03gvqm3)
National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
MON 13:45 London v Paris (b03gvqm5)
Capitals of Power
This is the gripping story of a battle of two cities, London and Paris, and a battle of two competing cultures.
Historians Robert and Isabelle Tombs are a husband and wife team and they can shed a particular light on the story - Robert is English and Isabelle is French. Having written on the 'love-hate' relationship between the two countries, they are ready to focus on the two great capitals at the heart of it all. How much was competition, and how much cultural exchange?
1. Capitals of Power.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b03gtvv6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b00w7cwy)
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
An Exceptionally Wicked Lady
Written and dramatised by Alexander McCall Smith
The first of two plays adapted from Alexander McCall Smith's enormously successful and popular series set in Botswana.
Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi face an old adversary while a letter from America sets the agency a seemingly impossible task.
Director: Gaynor Macfarlane.
MON 15:00 Round Britain Quiz (b03gvqm7)
(9/12)
Why would Sportin' Life, Rumpole and Columbo make a flush with the King of Diamonds and the Jacks of Hearts and Spades?
Tom Sutcliffe has the answer to this and plenty more of Round Britain Quiz's trademark cryptic questions, in the latest heat which pits the South of England against Northern Ireland. Fred Housego and Marcel Berlins are hoping to get their own back on Roisin McAuley and Brian Feeney who beat them in their previous clash, earlier in the series.
As usual, the programme includes several questions provided by Round Britain Quiz listeners, and Tom will also be revealing the answer to the question he left unanswered at the end of last week's edition.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b03gtqbm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 A Poem for Matisse (b03gvslg)
Irma Kurtz looks at painter Matisse's complex relationship with poetry and words through his illustrations of various French poets.
Matisse often used other media for inspiration and he had a particularly close relationship with poetry - reciting it every morning before painting and thinking of it as a kind of oxygen, "just as when you leap out of bed you fill your lungs with fresh air".
Matisse didn't separate the act of painting with the act of producing a book and, throughout his career, he produced illustrations or etchings for many beautiful limited edition poetry books, such as 'Poesies' by Stephane Mallerme and Charles D'Orleans 'Poemes' and 'Florilége des Amours de Ronsard' - 16th century love poems which inspired Matisse's famous line drawings of women's faces.
By talking to his great grand daughter, Sophie Matisse (also a painter), biographer Hilary Spurling, poet and artist Pascale Petit and various Matisse experts, Irma looks at the relationship between poetry and Matisse, with location recording at his home in Nice.
Producer: Laura Parfitt
A White Pebble Media production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 16:30 The Digital Human (b03gvslj)
Series 4
Adaptation
Aleks Krotoski explores how technology can give someone back a life that had seemed gone forever.
From a 93 year old painter whose failing eyesight has left him no option than to turn to technology, to an agoraphobic blogger who shares her thoughts on fashion online; technology can be the only means some people can express the things that are most important to them. Aleks Krotoski explores the stories of individuals who've become reliant on technology to keep living the lives they love. She also discovers if this can be a trap for some robbing them of the will to tackle their problems head on.
Contributors: Hal Lasko (the pixel painter), Ryan Lasko, Ron Lasko, Sera McDaid, Dr Jennifer Wild, Dr Skip Rizzo
Producer: Peter McManus.
MON 17:00 PM (b03gvsll)
Coverage and analysis of the day's news.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03gqbxk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b03gvsln)
Series 60
Episode 1
The 60th 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 Playhouse Theatre in Weston-super-Mare, where regulars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by John Finnemore, 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 (b03gvslq)
Helen is still thinking about her recent encounter with Rob and Jess and is curious to know what Kirsty made of Jess. Kirsty has to be honest, and admits that she thinks that Jess seemed really nice.
Kirsty is worried that Helen won't ever get back to her normal self. She is also increasingly concerned at the thought of acting opposite Rob in the Christmas production. Determined that Rob should not ruin anything else in Ambridge. Tom reassures Kirsty that it will be fine.
Darrell gets a letter from the Jobcentre confirming that he will begin to receive his benefits again, which Shula is glad to hear. She tells Darrell that Daniel will be arriving in Ambridge again this week. Darrell sees this as a request to leave immediately but Shula assures him he can stay until he has decided whether to rent a flat or move to a hostel.
When Caroline and Shula catch up, Caroline is generally positive, with things looking up at Grey Gables. But she is still upset about Joe and the strained relationship with the Grundys. Caroline is not sure that this is something that will ever be repaired.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b03gvsls)
Bryan Adams; Lang Lang; Kennedy films
With Mark Lawson.
Bryan Adams - best known as a musician and singer songwriter - also works as a professional photographer. For the past five years, Adams has been taking photographs of British war veterans who have suffered life changing injuries. The series of photographs has been published in a new book "Wounded: The Legacy of War". Bryan Adams discusses working with injured soldiers and his aim to show the effects of war.
Mark interviews the Chinese pianist Lang Lang, as he releases a new disc of music by Prokofiev and Bartok, with conductor Sir Simon Rattle.
As we approach the fiftieth anniversary of the Assassination of John F. Kennedy, two new films revisit the 22nd November 1963. Parkland, staring Zac Efron, Paul Giamatti and Marcia Gay Harden, focuses on people who were unexpectedly caught up in events - including hospital staff and the brother of Lee Harvey Oswald. In the TV documentary The Day Kennedy Died, key witnesses, including the doctor who tried to save Kennedy's life, offer their version of events. Michael Goldfarb and Diane Roberts review both films.
Producer Timothy Prosser.
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b03gvctt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 Steve Richards Stands Up for Politics (b03bpxxx)
Steve Richards is a leading columnist about politics for the national press. But he has also been developing a new career in stand-up comedy, putting on a one-man show which explores some of the manoeuvering and absurdities of politics without being cynical or distrustful about the motives of politicians.
He says he's trying to do what he calls "pro-politics comedy". This is his audio diary of how it went.
Producer: Martin Rosenbaum
MON 20:30 Analysis (b03gvslv)
France: Sinking Slowly?
The French are far more attached to the idea of a centralised, big state than their Anglo-Saxon counterparts. The philosophy behind it, Colbertism, holds that the economy of France should serve the state and that the state should direct the economy.
But as France's big state looks less affordable, some French intellectuals are arguing that it is time that French identity became less tied to the dirigiste idea. Former BBC Paris Correspondent Emma Jane Kirby travels to France to meet those questioning their country's traditional resistance to economic reform.
Producer: Fiona Leach.
MON 21:00 Shared Planet (b03g9rgz)
Human Rubbish and Wildlife
More and more rubbish is put in landfill every year. Can rubbish tips and industrial sites be modified to help wildlife thrive in an increasingly crowded and consumerist world? The UK produces more than 100 million tonnes of rubbish annually, including 15 million tonnes of food. Much of this ends up in landfill; how can these sites be used to help wildlife? This week's field report comes from Essex, from a reclaimed landfill site which is now a wildlife haven. But is this a one-off or can it be replicated around the world? Monty Don explores the world of waste and wildlife in a world where human population is growing and consumerism increasing.
Producer Andrew Dawes.
MON 21:30 Start the Week (b03gv7xm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b03gqbxm)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b03gvslx)
President of Philippines declares state of national calamity after typhoon.
Iran nuclear talks - why wasn't a deal reached?
Dutch far right to welcome Marine le Pen.
With Ritula Shah.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b03h2nmx)
The Lowland
Episode 1
Indira Varma reads Jhumpa Lahiri's Man Booker-listed new novel, The Lowland, spanning India and America, and exploring the price of idealism and the enduring power of love.
It is the 1960s, and violent revolution has come to India and America. Two brothers, Subhash and Udayan, born in Calcutta just fifteen months apart, have been inseparable since birth, but their paths are diverging. Udayan - charismatic and impulsive - finds himself drawn to the Communist movement sweeping Bengal. He will risk all for what he believes. But Subhash, the dutiful son, doesn't share his brother's political passion, and leaves home to pursue a life of scientific research in a quiet corner of America. But when Subhash learns what happened to his brother in the lowland outside their family's home, he returns to India, hoping to pick up the pieces of a shattered family, and to heal the wounds Udayan left behind.
Jhumpa Lahiri shot to fame with her Pulitzer-winning story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, followed by novel The Namesake and another collection, Unaccustomed Earth. The Lowland is her latest work, and has been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize.
Today: Subhash and his brother Udayan are inseparable. But revolution is in the air, and Udayan's growing political commitments and Subhash's own ambitions are about to drive them apart.
Reader: Indira Varma is an acclaimed stage, film and television actor. Her recent TV credits include: Rome, Luther and What Remains.
Abridger: Sally Marmion
Producer: Justine Willett.
MON 23:00 Mastertapes (b03gvsxn)
Series 3
Robbie Williams (A-Side)
John Wilson returns with a new series of Mastertapes, 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 1, A-side. "Life Thru A Lens" with Robbie Williams
Today, Robbie Williams is the UK's best-selling solo artist of all time. But when he released his debut solo album, "Life Thru A Lens", after leaving the all-conquering boyband, Take That, it was initially met with negative reviews and was slow to take off. However, with songs like Ego A Go Go, Lazy Days, Let Me Entertain You and, of course, Angels, the album not only went on to spend more than 4 years in the charts and become the 58th best-selling album of all time, it also laid down the solid foundations for all that was to follow: nine further solo albums, seven number one singles and more BRIT awards than any other artist.
Here Robbie Williams talks candidly with John Wilson about the album that started it all and they are joined in the studio by the album's co-writer and producer, Guy Chambers as well as guitarist Gary Nuttall and a string quartet.
The B-side of the programme, where it's the turn of the audience to ask the questions, can be heard tomorrow at
3.30pm.
Complete versions of the songs performed in the programme (and others) can be heard on the 'Mastertapes' pages on the Radio 4 website, where the programmes can also be downloaded and other musical goodies accessed.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b03gvsxq)
Sean Curran reports from Westminster. The Foreign Secretary makes a statement on relations with Iran. There are fears legal action could threaten freedom of speech in parliament. And in the House of Lords, ministers have been told to simplify the process for giving someone a power of attorney.
TUESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2013
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b03gqbyg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b03gv9qx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03gqbyj)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03gqbyl)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03gqbyn)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b03gqbyq)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b03j98wc)
Presented by the Chaplain to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in Kabul, Padre David Anderson.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b03h2nqt)
'The inequality has just grown and grown and grown:' The Liberal Democrat MP for North Devon, Sir Nick Harvey, claims successive Governments have failed to fund rural schools as adequately as urban schools.
Scottish farmers are angry that EU funding which they believe should come their way will be shared across the UK.
And, 89% of loan applications made by farmers in the second quarter of this year were accepted, making it the most successful business sector in getting credit. But what does it say about the health of the industry itself?
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Sarah Swadling.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03dwy14)
Black-Headed Gull
Martin Hughes-Games presents the Black-Headed Gull.
Black-Headed Gulls are our commonest small gull and throughout the year you can identify them by their rather delicate flight action, red legs and the white flash on the front edge of their wings.
TUE 06:00 Today (b03h2nqw)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Brave New World (b03h2rdj)
On the day the world gasped in shock at the shooting of John F Kennedy, two of the 20th century's greatest literary minds passed away almost unnoticed. Christian apologist C S Lewis and intellectual and philosopher Aldous Huxley died on the same day, 50 years ago.
In an audio portrait, using archive and contemporary accounts, biographers Alister McGrath and Nicholas Murray explore the events that shaped Lewis and Huxley's lives. Taking some of the authors' seminal works - such as Lewis's 'Chronicles of Narnia' and Huxley's 'Brave New World', - they explore some of the ideas and visions of the future that made Lewis and Huxley such influential and prophetic figures of the 20th century.
The programme is set against the backdrop of some of the key events in 20th century history that shaped and influenced literary and political thinking - the First and Second World Wars, the rise of fascism and modern consumer culture.
The programme features historic audio from the BBC's archives and the voices of C S Lewis and Aldous Huxley.
Contributors include:
Alister McGrath - biographer, C S Lewis
Nicholas Murray - biographer, Aldous Huxley
Dr Lucy Noakes - social historian
Producer- Mark O'Brien.
TUE 09:30 15 by 15 (b037smxs)
Series 2
Box
Hardeep Singh Kohli chooses a word and sets off on an exploration into its origins, meeting people for whom it has different associations. He hopes to learn 15 things along the way.
Today's word is 'box' and Hardeep joins boxing coach Naomi Gibson in the ring. Naomi runs a boxing school for aspiring women boxers and, for Hardeep, there is no hiding place.
The word 'box' comes from Greek and Latin roots, and Russell Coates is an expert on topiary, running a nursery specialising in different shapes made from the slow-growing box wood tree.
Susie Dent is on hand to explain phrases like 'box and cox', and Hardeep ends his journey at one of the many gigantic storage facilities, where Sonia Pirie tells him that a considerable part of her job is acting as a therapist for people whose relationship breakdowns mean they need to put their stuff somewhere fast.
Producer: Richard Bannerman
A Ladbroke production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b03h2rdl)
Martin Sandler - The Letters of John F Kennedy
Episode 2
Letters to and from President Kennedy are published in book form and edited by Martin W Sandler to mark fifty years since the assassination of 1963. And a selection, abridged in five episodes by Penny Leicester, reveal the drama and tensions to do with American foreign policy. Other letters reveal Kennedy's wit and warmth when contacting friends and members of the public:
2. At the time of his inauguration Kennedy was lauded by a famous poet. Afterwards he wrote about the threat of communism and America's youth abroad. He also wished somebody a very happy birthday.
Readers Colin Stinton, Richard Laing, Peter Marinker, Trevor White and Stephen Greif.
Producer Duncan Minshull.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b03h2rdn)
Where Have All the Good Nuns Gone?
From Philomena to The Nun to endless smutty jokes, Roman Catholic nuns on film or TV are often portrayed as evil, repressed, bitter or a punchline. Writer Joanna Morehead and Sister Lynda Dearlove discuss why nuns are seen as fair game for drama and comedy and what it about the role of women in the Catholic Church.
Cecelia Ahern on her latest book, How to Fall in Love. Woman's Hour Powerlister Mary Curnock Cook, Chief Executive of UCAS.
United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka on protecting girls and women in emergencies.
Presented by Jane Garvey
Produced by Lucinda Montefiore.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b03h30g6)
Children in Need: Holding On to You
Episode 2
D.L. Weller's powerful drama about child sexual exploitation and grooming.
Police are called to the family home when fourteen year old Holly goes missing for the night. As Holly's desperate parents try to track her down, Holly finds herself in danger.
D.L. Weller has done extensive research with victims and their families and professionals working in child protection and safeguarding. Holding On To You, although fictional, is informed and inspired by these interviews. It explores a problem thought to affect tens of thousands of children, of all backgrounds, yet that still remains largely hidden and apparently unaddressed in many regions.
TUE 11:00 Shared Planet (b03h30g8)
Sequoia - Nowhere to Go
Climate change is causing some National parks in America to re-think their boundaries. As the earth warms many species try to move to cooler climates but national parks are rooted in one place. The Sequoia National Park in California runs mainly east-west but now plans are being formed to shift it to run north-south, allowing species that need cooler temperatures to thrive. But in an increasingly crowded world, and with climate change continuing to change the earth, can we protect our treasured areas? Monty Don explores how climate change, national parks, wildlife and people are sharing the earth.
TUE 11:30 Tim Key's Easy USSR (b03h30gb)
"I remember exactly where I was when I was first exposed to Vyacheslav Mescherin's tunes. I was at a dinner party and the host handed me the sleeve with a glint in her eye. She thought I might quite like it. The insinuation was that none of the other guests would. She was right."
Nine years ago, comedian and poet Tim Key was given a copy of a CD entitled Easy USSR Vol. 2. One car journey to Devon and four consecutive listens later, and he was hooked. The strange yet catchy sounds of Vyacheslav Mescherin's Ensemble of Electronic Musical Instruments have underscored his life and his work ever since. On stage and on the radio, Mescherin's music lies beneath him like a crashmat.
With very little information available about Mescherin, Tim sets out to find out more about the man.
His search takes him from one of the world's leading Theremin players to a Soviet Cosmonaut. Tim discovers that, far from the obscure rarity it is today, in the 1960s and beyond Mescherin's music was a quirky soundtrack to life in the Soviet Union - on radio, TV and even in factories. The futuristic sounds of the electronic instruments he pioneered provided the perfect accompaniment to the space race era. Nearly twenty years after his death, many Russians can hum Mescherin's tunes, yet few know his name.
But what of the rumours that Mescherin's sounds were blasted into space? And will Tim be able to find more of the music he craves?
Producer: Peggy Sutton
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b03h347z)
Call You and Yours: Is Remembrance Sunday losing its true meaning?
The poppy of Remembrance is the symbol of the sacrifice made by service men and women in two world wars. But it's claimed that in recent years it's been hijacked by politicians trying to bolster support for other more controversial conflicts. That's the view of Harry Leslie Smith. Now 90, he was in the RAF in the second world war. He says he may never wear the poppy or attend a memorial service again. He wrote about it in the Guardian in an article that's been circulated by thousands of people online. Is he right? Has the poppy lost its meaning? Is Remembrance Sunday losing its true meaning?
Email youandyours@bbc.co.uk
Producer: Jonathan Hallewell
Presenter: Winifred Robinson.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b03gqbys)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b03h3481)
National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
TUE 13:45 London v Paris (b03h3483)
Capitals of Pleasure
This is the gripping story of a battle of two cities, London and Paris, and a battle of two competing cultures.
Historians Robert and Isabelle Tombs are a husband and wife team and they can shed a particular light on the story - Robert is English and Isabelle is French. Having written on the 'love-hate' relationship between the two countries, they are ready to focus on the two great capitals at the heart of it all. How much was competition, and how much cultural exchange?
2. Capitals of pleasure.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b03gvslq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b00w7f87)
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Canoeing for Ladies
written and dramatised by Alexander McCall Smith
The second of two plays adapted from Alexander McCall Smith's enormously successful and popular series set in Botswana.
Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi have to face the dangers of crocodiles, hippos and a tiny canoe as their case takes them to the Okovango Delta to trace a safari guide. There is also the problem of Phuti's aunt to solve, as well as the necessity of confronting their old adversary, Violet Sepotho.
Director: Gaynor Macfarlane.
TUE 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (b03h35jq)
Series 5
Oxford
Jay Rayner chairs this week's episode of The Kitchen Cabinet from Oxford. Answering questions from the audience are Catalan cuisine specialist Rachel McCormack, Scottish-Indian fusion chef Angela Malik, 2011 Masterchef-winner Tim Anderson, and food scientist Peter Barham.
In a food science special, the experimental psychologist Professor Charles Spence discusses the relationship between food perception and taste. The panel tests the effects of cutlery on our taste buds, and we ask whether Margaret Thatcher was really responsible for soft-scoop ice cream.
We find out whether the panel members believe they are better cooks than their mothers, ask how not to commit a sausage faux pas, and question why the British have a peculiar love for Marmalade.
Food Consultant: Anna Colquhoun.
Produced by Victoria Shepherd.
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Mastertapes (b03h35tp)
Series 3
Robbie Williams (B-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 1, the B-side. Having discussed the making of "Life Thru A Lens", the album he released after leaving boy-band Take That (in the A-side of the programme, broadcast on Monday 11th November and available online), Robbie Williams candidly responds to questions from the audience and performs live versions of some to the tracks from that debut solo album, as well as his new release, "Swings Both Ways"
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
TUE 16:00 Spin the Globe (b03h36ll)
Series 1
1605
Michael Scott launches his new series which takes familiar historical dates and finds out what was happening away from the geographical centre that makes them so familiar to us. It's an attempt to see the globe as an historic whole and so break out of the modular way in which historic dates are traditionally drummed into children. At the same time he connects previously diverse events in cultural, political and economic history all over the globe.
In programme one, with the ashes of Bonfire Night scarcely cold, he looks at 1605. The gunpowder plot and its impact on the status of Catholics within Britain is kept alive to this day, but it was also in that year that the world's first Newspaper was published, in Strasbourg.
Headline news might well have been that Tsar Boris Godunov died, the catalyst for events known to this day in Russia as 'The Time of Troubles'. Godunov is more familiar now as the subject of Mussorgsky's 19th century Opera but Professors Robert Frost and Krzysztof Lazarski outline the background and importance of Godunov's reign in the story and development of Eastern Europe.
Meanwhile in Persia Shah Abbas I was presiding over a period of supreme regional stability and self-confidence, crowned by the defeat of Turkey in battle.
Spin the Globe to the West and we find reports of the capture of an American Indian who was later to be a vital figure in the protection of the Pilgrim Fathers during their first winter in the New World. But as Michael finds out the story of Squanto is shrouded in historical half-truth. However, the impact of the Gunpowder plot did have a direct baring on the development of British Colonies in America.
And this was also the year that Don Quixote was first published.
It's a programme full of surprises, connections and a sense that events across the world move at different rates and through different phases only occasionally brushing against each other.
Producer: Tom Alban.
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b03h3fwy)
Kate Silverton and Johnnie Walker
R2 presenter Johnnie Walker and BBC newsreader Kate Silverton talk about their favourite books with Harriett Gilbert.
Johnnie discusses Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig, which has been a big influence on his own life.
Kate chooses the biography of her heroine. It's Daughter of the Desert - the Remarkable Life of Gertrude Bell by Georgina Howell.
And Excellent Women by Barbara Pym is the recommendation of presenter Harriett Gilbert.
Producer Beth O'Dea.
TUE 17:00 PM (b03h3fx0)
Coverage and analysis of the day's news.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03gqbyv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:27 DEC Appeal for the Philippines (b03kkzz6)
Kirsty Young presents the DEC Philippines Typhoon Appeal on behalf of the Disasters Emergency Committee.
You can give by calling 0370 60 60 900 [standard geographic charges from landlines and mobiles will apply] or send a cheque payable to DEC Philippines Typhoon Appeal to PO Box 999, London EC3A 3AA.
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
TUE 18:30 It's Your Round (b019rgtc)
Series 2
Episode 5
Angus Deayton hosts the show which is totally different every time, as it's the panellists themselves that devise the format.
Each of the contestants has brought their own round for the other panellists to play. But will they be beaten at their own games?
Featured rounds:
Lucy Porter's "Who's the Daddy?" in which the other three, childless, male panellists must complete the quote from a 70's parenting bible.
Tom Wrigglesworth's "Dodo's Den" in which each contestant must pitch their idea for a new invention that they think will make them their millions. Examples include the "Herring Aid" and the intriguingly titled "Bam".
Robert Popper's brilliant parlour game, "ORAG" aka "The Opposite Rhyming Animal Game", which is pretty much, er, self-explanatory...
And Lloyd Langford devises a quiz based on Welsh talisman and eccentric, Dr William Price, in his round "The Price Is Right".
Producer: Sam Michell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2012.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b03h3fx2)
In the shop, Eddie proudly shows Jill pictures of baby Poppy, who is growing very quickly. Discussion moves to Darrell. Although Eddie sings Shula's praises, Jill doesn't comment.
Joe is still very happy with his compensation money, despite the fees from the solicitors. Eddie realises that a potentially difficult Christmas is looming but Joe is determined to put the money into his savings. Eddie suggests to Joe that he helps out in picking some mistletoe. But Joe feels it's too much hard work and would prefer to stay at home.
Josh has singled out a Hereford steer, whom he has named Castor, as this year's entry to the primestock show. But David is not sure about his choice. Josh sends Pip pictures of Castor and the steer that David prefers. Ruth thinks David knows best but David wonders if this could be a chance to prove his confidence in Josh.
Josh hears back from Pip who agrees that Castor is the best beast. David tells Josh that maybe he is right. David reveals to Josh that he has decided to take Ruth away for their upcoming anniversary, and will need Josh's help. He is determined that it will have to be somewhere really special.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b03h3fx4)
John Tavener; Poirot's Last Case; Don Jon review
With Mark Lawson,
The composer Sir John Tavener died today. Famous for his choral pieces The Lamb and Song for Athene - which was sung at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales - and for The Protecting Veil, for cello and orchestra. Nicholas Kenyon discusses his life and work. Plus a recent Front Row interview with Tavener himself.
Curtain: Poirot's Last Case will see David Suchet making his final appearance as Agatha Christie's iconic Belgian detective. Crime writers Dreda Say Mitchell and Natasha Cooper, with crime fiction specialist Jeff Park, discuss the TV drama alongside a new translation of Pietr the Latvian: the first novel in Georges Simenon's Maigret series.
Don Juan is given a modern day treatment in Don Jon, written, directed and staring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Also starring Scarlett Johansson and Julianne Moore, the comedy explores how films can lead to unrealistic expectations when it comes to finding love and a lasting relationship. Bel Mooney reviews.
Producer Claire Bartleet.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b03h30g6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (b03h3fx6)
A Healthy Market?
The biggest ever slice of the NHS is up for grabs in Cambridgeshire. Ten bidders, including NHS hospital trusts and private companies Serco, Virgin Care and Circle, are competing for a five year contract to run older peoples' services. It will be worth a minimum of £700,000. The successful bidder will provide everything from podiatry and occupational therapy to dementia treatment and end of life care. The stakes are high. But how much will patients be told about how the bid was won? With commissioners advertising dozens of other big money tenders, File on 4 looks at the secrecy surrounding NHS contracts when they're awarded and when they're challenged. Does commercial confidentiality make public accountability impossible? And how far does the competitive market improve healthcare for patients?
Reporter Jane Deith
Producer Ian Muir-Cochrane.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b03h3fx8)
Motability scheme, Action for Blind People rehabilitation course
Peter White talks to Hetal Bapodra about her experience of using her DLA Higher Rate Mobility payment against a Motability vehicle.
Tony Shearman reports on an Action for Blind People two day rehabilitation course for newly blind people.
Tony is keen to hear from people who were at Manor House in Torquay, when he was there on a three month residential rebab course in 1988. If you were there do contact us here at In Touch.
TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (b03h3fxb)
The first ever edition of All in the Mind was broadcast in October 1988. For its 25th anniversary, Claudia Hammond is joined by community psychiatrist, Graham Thornicroft, Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind and by the artist, Bobby Baker to look back at archive editions of the programme and explore how attitudes to mental health have changed in the last 25 years. Have campaigns to raise awareness of mental health been successful and how far is there still to go? More and more public figures are talking about their own experience of mental illness. Even last year MPs made history by opening up to the House of Commons about their own mental health problems. How much do these kinds of conversations help change attitudes?
TUE 21:30 The Brave New World (b03h2rdj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b03gqbyx)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b03h3fxd)
UN starts huge Philippine rescue effort.
China's leaders decide future direction.
Is French racism on the rise?
With Ritula Shah.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b03h3fxg)
The Lowland
Episode 2
Indira Varma reads Jhumpa Lahiri's Man Booker-listed new novel, The Lowland, spanning India and America, and exploring the price of idealism and the enduring power of love.
It is the 1960s, and violent revolution has come to India and America. Two brothers, Subhash and Udayan, born in Calcutta just fifteen months apart, have been inseparable since birth, but their paths are diverging. Udayan - charismatic and impulsive - finds himself drawn to the Communist movement sweeping Bengal. He will risk all for what he believes. But Subhash, the dutiful son, does not share his brother's political passion, and leaves home to pursue a life of scientific research in a quiet corner of America. But when Subhash learns what happened to his brother in the lowland outside their family's home, he returns to India, hoping to pick up the pieces of a shattered family, and to heal the wounds Udayan left behind.
Jhumpa Lahiri shot to fame with her Pulitzer-winning story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, followed by novel The Namesake and another collection, Unaccustomed Earth. The Lowland is her latest work, and has been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize.
Today: as Subhash tries to make a new life in the US, a letter from his rebellious brother still has the power to shock.
Reader: Indira Varma is an acclaimed stage, film and television actor. Her recent TV credits include: Rome, Luther and What Remains.
Abridger: Sally Marmion
Producer: Justine Willett.
TUE 23:00 Small Scenes (b03h3fxj)
Series 1
Episode 4
Meet the funniest (and unhappiest) man in the world and also listen in on a couple of lorry drivers as they discuss hopes, dreams and life on the road.
Symphonious sketch series with Daniel Rigby, Mike Wozniak, Sara Pascoe and Henry Paker.
Written by the cast and Benjamin Partridge with additional material from Madeleine Brettingham.
Producer: Simon Mayhew-Archer
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2013.
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b03h3fxl)
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster as MPs and peers begin a half term break.
WEDNESDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2013
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b03gqbzt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b03h2rdl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03gqbzw)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03gqbzy)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03gqc00)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b03gqc02)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b03j98xj)
Presented by the Chaplain to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in Kabul, Padre David Anderson.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b03h3l0h)
Farming Today is rounding up the ewe-sual suspects, at an identity parade to reunite farmers with their stolen sheep.
Continuing our exploration of rural education: does lower funding equal lower attainment at rural schools, compared to urban?
And, hill farmers win Royal support.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Sarah Swadling.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03dwy1y)
Golden Plover
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Martin Hughes-Games presents the Golden Plover. If, among a flock of lapwings circling over a ploughed field, you see smaller birds with wings like knife-blades and bell-like calls ... these are golden plovers.
WED 06:00 Today (b03h3l0k)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b03h3l0m)
Philip Pittack, Martin White, Annie Tempest, Nicholas Shakespeare, Dillie Keane
Libby Purves meets cloth merchants Philip Pittack and Martin White; cartoonist Annie Tempest; author Nicholas Shakespeare and singer and songwriter Dillie Keane.
Cloth merchants Philip Pittack and Martin White have 120 years of experience in textiles between them and run Crescent Trading. They have been working together as woollen merchants for 25 years and are based in London's Spitalfields which used to be the centre of Britain's rag trade. Last September a fire destroyed their entire stock but they are back in business in a new warehouse which brims with tweed, worsteds and silks - all woven in Britain.
Cartoonist Annie Tempest started writing her Tottering-By-Gently cartoons for Country Life magazine nearly 20 years ago. Her inspiration for Tottering Hall came from her family home, Broughton Hall in North Yorkshire. The characters including Dicky and Daffy, Lord and Lady Tottering, are based on family members - Lord Tottering is inspired by her father. Annie lived in the run-down Broughton Hall from the age of 12 and recalls the draughty hallways and idiosyncratic plumbing in her cartoons. Tottering-by-Gently: The First 20 Years is published by Frances Lincoln.
Nicholas Shakespeare is an award-winning novelist and biographer. His acclaimed biography of Bruce Chatwin was published in 1999. His latest book is a personal one and tells the story of his aunt who lived in occupied France during the war. The book investigates how she survived the war and whether she really was the heroine of family myth. Priscilla - The Hidden Life of an Englishwoman in Wartime France is published by Random House.
Dillie Keane is an actor and singer/songwriter. She founded the satirical cabaret trio Fascinating Aida in 1983. Now in their 30th year, Fascinating Aida are touring the country with their brand new show, Charm Offensive, which includes a long run at London's Southbank Centre.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b03h3l0p)
Martin Sandler - The Letters of John F Kennedy
Episode 3
Letters to and from President Kennedy are published in book form and edited by Martin W Sandler to mark fifty years since the assassination of 1963. And a selection, abridged in five episodes by Penny Leicester, reveal the drama and tension to do with American foreign policy. Other letters reveal Kennedy's wit and warmth when contacting friends and members of the public:
3. In the early 60's Kennedy is starkly reminded of events in Vietnam. He also jokes with a friend about the worth of his signature - and how to make more out of it!
Readers Colin Stinton, Richard Laing, Trevor White and Stephen Greif.
Producer Duncan Minshull.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b03h3l0r)
Biddy Baxter, Blue Peter legend; Breast cancer; Vintage clothes
Biddy Baxter, legendary Editor of Blue Peter on her pioneering career. Ann Cairns of Mastercard on being part of the WH Power List. Vintage dressing - what and where to buy. New approaches to breast cancer - will a single large dose of radiation prove more effective than a long course of treatment? With Jenni Murray.
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b03h3l0t)
Children in Need: Holding On to You
Episode 3
D.L. Weller's powerful drama about child sexual exploitation and grooming.
Jo is desperately worried about her fourteen year old daughter Holly who she feels she is losing to something she does not understand and cannot control. To Holly it seems the only person she can turn to is her boyfriend Jay. As Jay's hold on Holly gets stronger will anyone be able to help her?
D.L. Weller has done extensive research with victims and their families and professionals working in child protection and safeguarding. Holding On To You, although fictional, is informed and inspired by these interviews. It explores a problem thought to affect tens of thousands of children, of all backgrounds, yet that still remains largely hidden and apparently unaddressed in many regions.
WED 11:00 Bright, Black and Looking for Work (b03h3ybc)
In 2006, Radio 4 followed a group of boys on a radical educational scheme designed to revolutionise the prospects of young black men. The scheme, called Generating Genius, was designed to help young black males avoid gang culture, drugs and low expectations, and overcome a lack of role models.
Generating Genius was the brainchild of academic Tony Sewell: "My philosophy is brighter, younger, longer. This means targeting the top pupils rather than those who are struggling, catching them before the age when achievement often falls off, and sticking with them."
But did it work?
Dotun Adebayo revisits some of the boys, reflecting on their stories and what they tell us about the education and employment of young black men. Back in 2006, Marcus Nelson, Simeon Balson Jones, Jamal Miller and Ashleigh Kelly were all selected to be part of the scheme and Dotun allows them to listen to their younger selves, asking them to consider the paths they have taken over the last seven years.
Jamal, applying for a career in banking, doesn't think racial prejudice will cause him problems, as long as he markets himself correctly. Ashleigh criticizes the school system, recalling clever classmates who fell by the wayside. Simeon questions why Generating Genius now takes girls, although their results have never been as low as boys. And Marcus tells Dotun how important it is to do outreach work to convince "people like me" that the university could be for them.
Tony Sewell's views have also changed: "I used to think there was a real problem about teachers not understanding black males. But culture is crucial - and the key issue now is about class and social mobility."
Producer: Kate Taylor
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 11:30 Hard to Tell (b03h3ybf)
Series 2
Episode 1
Second series of the relationship comedy written by Jonny Sweet.
It tells its central love story through the couple's individual conversations with their family and friends. In the process, we are introduced to all manner of relationships from a father and his cherished tour van to two women rivalling for the position of Best Friend, from a brother and sister comparing notes on Brazilians to a vicar and his new parish, and from a lodger's historic fling with a local waitress to a mum's lack of control over her desire to monitor her son's life.
Recorded on location, Hard To Tell's naturalistic, contemporary and conversational style brings new meaning to restaurants, funerals, French dressers and monkey puzzle trees.
Jonny Sweet is also the writer of Radio 4's Party and co-writer/co-star of Chickens on Sky 1.
Episode 1:
Tom and Ellen organize a night out so that their parents can meet. Ellen's Dad's lodger invites herself along, while Tom's Mum and Dad decide to open up about an aspect of Tom's lifestyle that's been troubling them.
Producer: Lucy Armintage
A Tiger Aspect production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b03h3ybh)
Do children get too many presents?
Consumer news. Started your Christmas shopping already? Winifred Robinson wonders whether children get too many gifts, and hears from the couple who couldn't get a plumber.
WED 12:57 Weather (b03gqc04)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b03h3ybk)
National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
WED 13:45 London v Paris (b03h3ybm)
Capitals of Sport
This is the gripping story of a battle of two cities, London and Paris, and a battle of two competing cultures.
Historians Robert and Isabelle Tombs are a husband and wife team and they can shed a particular light on the story - Robert is English and Isabelle is French. Having written on the 'love-hate' relationship between the two countries, they are ready to focus on the two great capitals at the heart of it all. How much was competition, and how much cultural exchange?
3. Capitals of sport.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b03h3fx2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b03h3ybp)
Lavinia Greenlaw - The Icelandic Journals
At the height of his fame, William Morris left his wife Janey and mentor Rossetti to their affair and headed for Iceland, as ever in pursuit of an answer to the question: how to live? While travelling this starkly dramatic landscape, he kept a journal for his confidante Georgie, the wife of his friend Edward Burne-Jones. The journals are Morris at his best: visually attentive, relishing wonders and noting every good dinner as well as every shift of light and mood. He also writes about what he doesn't know he's feeling: what it means to go away and come back, to be apart and alone. Setting the journals in this context, Lavinia Greenlaw has drawn on the letters and journals of Morris's circle to reimagine the events of that summer.
The music is Debussy's String Quartet in G Minor performed by the Alban Berg Quartet.
Production Coordinator: Eleri McAuliffe
Sound: Nigel Lewis
A BBC/Cymru Wales production, written and directed by Lavinia Greenlaw and produced by Kate McAll.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b03h3ybr)
Renting and Letting
Need help with renting or letting? Whether you're hoping to rent a property which you can happily call home or you want to be a successful landlord, you can ask the Money Box Live property experts for guidance. Call 03700 100 444 between
1pm and
3.30pm on Wednesday or email moneybox@bbc.co.uk.
A new 'Tenant Charter' has just been launched by the Department for Communities and Local Government to give tenants a better deal, drive out rogue landlords and force letting and property management agents to join a compulsory redress scheme.
If you want to find out about your obligations as a landlord or a tenant, we'll have a team of experts ready with free advice.
How do you negotiate a fair rent or rent increase?
What rights are given by a tenancy agreement and how do you end one?
Where should deposits be secured?
If you use a letting agent will there be a fee ? Does the agent or the landlord take responsibility for the deposit and repairs?
Perhaps you're thinking about letting a property and are concerned about the legal requirements?
Joining presenter Ruth Alexander to answer your questions will be:
Sian Evans, Chair, Law Society Housing Law Committee & Head of Property Litigation at Weightmans.
Dominic Preston, Housing and Social Welfare Team, Doughty Street Chambers.
Carolyn Uphill, Chairman, National Landlords Association.
To talk to the team call 03700 100 444 between
1pm and
3.30pm on Wednesday or e-mail moneybox@bbc.co.uk now. Standard geographic charges apply. Calls from mobiles may be higher.
WED 15:30 All in the Mind (b03h3fxb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b03h428y)
Work and Consumption; Neo-liberal Economics
The truimph of Neoliberal economics in the post Recession world. Laurie Taylor talks to US Professor of Economics, Philip Mirowski, about his analysis of why neoliberalism survived, and even prospered, in the aftermath of the financial meltdown of 2008. Although it was widely asserted that the economic convictions behind the disaster would be consigned to history, Mirowski says that the opposite is the case. He claims that once neoliberalism became a Theory of Everything, providing a revolutionary account of self, knowledge, markets, and government, it was impossible to falsify by data from the 'real' economy. Neoliberalism, he suggests, wasn't dislodged by the recession because we have internalised its messages. Have we all, in a sense, become neoliberals, inhabiting "entrepreneurial" selves which compel us to position ourselves in the market and rebrand ourselves daily? Also, why do work almost as hard as we did 40 years ago, despite being on average twice as rich? Robert Skidelsky, Emeritus Professor of Political Economy, suggests an escape from the work and consumption treadmill.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b03h4290)
BT Sport; Nicholas Coleridge; Digital switchover
BT TV's chief executive Marc Watson on his long term view for BT Sport, now it's won the rights to show Champions League football.
President of Condé Nast International Nicholas Coleridge on the history, and the future, of magazines, as the trade body for the industry, the PPA, celebrates its centenary.
And why small local commercial radio stations fear they won't survive the digital switchover.
Producer: Katy Takatsuki.
WED 17:00 PM (b03h4292)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03gqc06)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang-Ups (b03h4294)
Series 1
Horsing Around
Tom is annoyed that his parents don't trust him - even with his own car. He is determined to prove them wrong and what better way - than taking care of his sister Amy when she comes to London? But first he has to persuade mum and dad to trust him.
Tom persuades his parents that he can be trusted to look after his sister Amy when she comes to London.
Every episode, Tom Wrigglesworth rings his parents for his weekly check-in. As the conversation unfolds, Tom takes time out from the phone call to explain the situation, his parent's reactions and relate various anecdotes from the past which illustrate his family's views. And sometimes he just needs to sound-off about the maddening world around him and bemoan everyday annoyances.
A fascinating and hilarious glimpse into Tom, his family background and the influences that have shaped his temperament,opinions and hang-ups.
During all this Hang Ups explores class, living away from 'home', trans-generational phenomena, what we inherit from our families and how the past repeats in the present. All in a 30 minute phone call.
Get underneath the skin of Tom and the Wrigglesworth family, as you sit back and enjoy a bit of totally legal phone hacking.
Tom Wrigglesworth ...Tom
Judy Parfitt ... Granny
Paul Copley ... Dad
Kate Anthony ... Mum
Amy Wrigglesworth ... Amy
Written by Tom Wrigglesworth and James Kettle
Additional Material by Miles Jupp
Producer: Katie Tyrrell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2013.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b03h4296)
Brian reflects on how well Berrow Farm (the mega-dairy) is doing, and in particular how impressed he is with Rob. Jennifer thinks it will be nice when Jess moves to Ambridge permanently and becomes a real part of village life.
Lynda reveals to Ruth her tactics in trying to recruit Robert to the cast of the Christmas production. He has thus far been adamant he will not be taking to the stage but Lynda is sure she can persuade him somehow.
David, Ruth and Brian discuss all of their upcoming celebrations, with Brian's birthday and Ruth and David's anniversary both on the horizon. However, David doesn't seem too concerned about making plans for celebrating the anniversary.
Kirsty and Tom call into The Lodge to wish Peggy a happy birthday. The smitten couple remind Peggy of her and Jack when they were first getting to know each other. She is keen to encourage their happiness.
Following their afternoon with Peggy, Kirsty decides that she should forget about Rob and just enjoy doing the production. But when she learns she will have to sing an intimate duet with him, she doesn't know what on earth she's going to do.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b03h4298)
Paul Smith; The Counsellor; Johnny Cash
John Wilson talks to the fashion designer Paul Smith, on the eve of a major exhibition of his work and influences at the Design Museum, London.
Natalie Haynes reviews The Counsellor, a film about drug dealers on the US / Mexico border, starring Cameron Diaz, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt and Penelope Cruz, with an original screenplay by Cormac McCarthy.
As the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Richard II, starring David Tennant, is streamed live to cinemas across the UK tonight, Lorne Campbell, artistic director of Northern Stage in Newcastle and Tom Morris from Bristol Old Vic debate the effect that live screening has on regional theatre.
Johnny Cash biographer Robert Hilburn was the only journalist to witness the Folsom Prison Concert in 1968. He talks to John Wilson about Cash's troubled life and career.
Producer Timothy Prosser.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b03h3l0t)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b03h429b)
Should charity begin at home?
The devastation left by the super-typhoon Haiyan is now becoming all too plain to see. Great swathes of the Philippines have simply been flattened in its path. The official death toll is now put at 10,000, but that's almost certain to rise. More than nine million people have been affected and many are now struggling to survive without food, shelter or clean drinking water. A massive international relief effort is now underway and the UK has pledged £6 million in aid and adverts from charities appealing for donations from the public have appeared in many national newspapers. In such an inter-connected world coverage of the disaster and the calls for aid and donations will quite rightly continue for some time, but in such a world, where we have so detailed knowledge of the desperate needs of people like those in the Philippines, is it still morally tenable to believe that charity should begin at home? Of course there are those who would argue that these things are not mutually exclusive, that one does not preclude the other and there is no moral hierarchy of need. But if that's the case why has the plight of Syrian refugees not ignited the same kind of response? So far the UN's £2.7bn appeal for Syrian refugees is only 50% funded as many people and government's manage to turn a blind eye to the suffering. Do we have to accept that it is just human nature to put your loved ones first? Or is giving to strangers more virtuous than giving to kith and kin?
Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk. With Michael Portillo, Claire Fox, Matthew Taylor, Giles Fraser. Witnesses: Dr Beth Breeze, Gareth Owen, Jonathan Foreman, Peter Singer.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b03h429d)
Series 4
Putting Profit in Its Place
Jane Burston argues that by placing too much emphasis on profit, companies behave in an unethical way, and it is time for social purpose to take centre stage.
Jane describes what she sees as a systematic problem in big companies and argues that only by viewing profit as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself, can we create an ethical business sector. And she believes that shareholders will embrace her plan, even if it means business leaders taking on the mantle of moral leaders and sometimes compromising profit for social good.
Producer: Giles Edwards.
WED 21:00 Frontiers (b03h429g)
Gut Microbiota
What is it about the microbes in our guts that can have such an impact on our lives?
The human gut has around 100 trillion bacterial cells from up to 1,000 different species. Every person's microbiota (the body's bacterial make-up) is different as a result of the effects of diet and lifestyle, and the childhood source of bacteria.
Scientists are learning more and more about the importance of these bacteria, as well as the viruses, fungi and other microbes that live in our gastrointestinal tracts. Without them, our digestion, immune system and overall health would be compromised.
Adam Hart talks to researchers who are discovering how important a balanced and robust gut microflora is for our health. And he asks how this can be maintained and what happens when things go wrong.
WED 21:30 Midweek (b03h3l0m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b03gqc08)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b03h429j)
UK recovery has "taken hold", says Bank of England. Report from Iraq as more than 20 killed in bomb attacks on Shia pilgrims and police. Minister attacks review of death of starved boy. Presented by Philippa Thomas.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b03h429l)
The Lowland
Episode 3
Indira Varma reads Jhumpa Lahiri's Man Booker-listed new novel, The Lowland, spanning India and America, and exploring the price of idealism and the enduring power of love.
It is the 1960s, and violent revolution has come to India and America. Two brothers, Subhash and Udayan, born in Calcutta just fifteen months apart, have been inseparable since birth, but their paths are diverging. Udayan - charismatic and impulsive - finds himself drawn to the Communist movement sweeping Bengal. He will risk all for what he believes. But Subhash, the dutiful son, does not share his brother's political passion, and leaves home to pursue a life of scientific research in a quiet corner of America. But when Subhash learns what happened to his brother in the lowland outside their family's home, he returns to India, hoping to pick up the pieces of a shattered family, and to heal the wounds Udayan left behind.
Jhumpa Lahiri shot to fame with her Pulitzer-winning story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, followed by novel The Namesake and another collection, Unaccustomed Earth. The Lowland is her latest work, and has been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize.
Today: As Subhash finally starts to make a life in America, tragic news arrives from Calcutta...
Reader: Indira Varma is an acclaimed stage, film and television actor. Her recent TV credits include: Rome, Luther and What Remains.
Abridger: Sally Marmion
Producer: Justine Willett.
WED 23:00 Before They Were Famous (b03h429n)
Series 2
Episode 5
Even the most successful of writers have, at some point, had to take day jobs to pay the bills.
Ian Leslie presents the second series of this Radio 4 spoof documentary, which sheds light on the often surprising jobs done by the world's best known writers in the days before they were able to make a living from their art.
In a project of literary archaeology, Leslie unearths archive examples of early work by great writers, including Fortune Cookie messages written by Germaine Greer, a political manifesto by the young JK Rowling, and a car manual written by Dan Brown. In newspaper articles, advertising copy, and company correspondence, we get a fascinating glimpse into the embryonic development of our best-loved literary voices.
We may know them today for their novels, plays or poems but, once upon a time, they were just people with a dream - and a rent bill looming at the end of the month.
Producers: Anna Silver and Claire Broughton
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:15 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 23:30 Who Sold the Soul? (b03c3cmy)
Rhythm & Business
Jazz, Blues, Rhythm and Blues, Rock 'n' Roll, Soul, Funk and Hip-Hop; there's no question African American musical creativity has fuelled the modern music industry. But faced with racism and cultural theft for decades, African-American musicians, DJs, businessmen and women have struggled to have any real control or ownership in the business. Even though millionaire music moguls like P Diddy and 50 Cent today give the impression blacks have real industry power, aren't they just a few very visible exceptions? Exceptions whose companies are actually distributed by white-owned conglomerates? In this three part series financial educator, broadcaster and music obsessive Alvin Hall examines the political economy of African American music, from jazz to Jay Z.
Our series begins with Alvin travelling back to the turn of the 20th century. Just 50 years after the American Civil War, the emerging jazz and blues music was gaining popularity but blacks were still very much second class citizens. America was segregated, Jim Crow laws were in full effect and lynching was prevalent. The nascent recording industry was simply a reflection of America at that time. Alvin examines the early history of blacks in the recording industry in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll. From the first black-owned record label to white record companies re-recording black music it seems that blacks created new music while whites exploited it. But was there more than racism at work? Did middle class blacks ignore the music of working-class blacks, allowing whites to take control?
THURSDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2013
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b03gqc13)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b03h3l0p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03gqc15)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03gqc17)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03gqc19)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b03gqc1c)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b03j98yf)
Presented by the Chaplain to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in Kabul, Padre David Anderson.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b03h6px1)
Environmental groups in Scotland are calling for new legal measures to force landowners to cull deer. A voluntary deer management system has been running for the past year and a half, but environmentalists say it isn't working and claim deer are causing serious damage to sensitive areas. They want Scottish Natural Heritage to impose targets for the number of deer landowners must kill. The move is opposed by many landowners. This week Members of the Scottish Parliament have been hearing the arguments from both sides.
Farming Today continues its look at rural schools, with a report from Cornwall - where a third of the school transport budget is now spent on taxis to get children to school.
And ways to get Welsh lamb half way across the world, but still delivered fresh to the consumer.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Emma Campbell.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03dwyv9)
Common Crane
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Martin Hughes-Games presents the Common Crane. Common Cranes were extinct in the UK in the 17th century. Now, they are being re-introduced to the Somerset Levels and Moors. The aim is to release a hundred birds into the wild over five years and establish a strong population.
THU 06:00 Today (b03h6px3)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b03h6px5)
The Tempest
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Shakespeare's play The Tempest. Written in around 1610, it is thought to be one of the playwright's final works and contains some of the most poetic and memorable passages in all his output. It was influenced by accounts of distant lands written by contemporary explorers, and by the complex international politics of the early Jacobean age.
The Tempest is set entirely on an unnamed island inhabited by the magician Prospero, his daughter Miranda and the monstrous Caliban, one of the most intriguing characters in Shakespeare's output. Its themes include magic and the nature of theatre itself - and some modern critics have seen it as an early meditation on the ethics of colonialism.
With:
Jonathan Bate
Provost of Worcester College, Oxford
Erin Sullivan
Lecturer and Fellow at the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham
Katherine Duncan-Jones
Emeritus Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford
Producer: Thomas Morris.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b03h6px7)
Martin Sandler - The Letters of John F Kennedy
Episode 4
Letters to and from President Kennedy are published in book form and edited by Martin W Sandler to mark fifty years since the assassination of 1963. And a selection, abridged in five episodes by Penny Leicester, reveal the drama and tensions to do with American foreign policy. Other letters reveal Kennedy's wit and warmth when contacting friends and members of the public:
4. During the Berlin Crisis of 1961, the leaders of America and the Soviet Union agreed to communicate with letters that were 'personal and private'. Refreshingly, their respective tones were different to official missives. Kennedy also received thanks from Elizabeth II.
Readers Colin Stinton, Richard Laing, Stephen Greif and Kelly Burke
Producer Duncan Minshull.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b03h6px9)
Lily Allen; Nadine Shah
Is the video for Lily Allen's first single in four years feminist, or further reinforcement of misogynistic attitudes throughout the music industry, as well as reinforcing stereotypes of race and class.
Why women with asthma may struggle to get pregnant according to a new Danish study. So should women with the condition consider trying to start a family earlier?. We hear from 78 year old Dr Sylvia Earle one of the world's great oceanographers, and Eliza Rebeiro of "Lives not Knives" winner of the Young Star Award at the Women of the Future Awards. And singer songwriter Nadine Shah performs live in the Studio.
Presenter Jenni Murray.
Producer Steve Williams.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b03h6pxc)
Children in Need: Holding On to You
Episode 4
D.L. Weller's powerful drama about child sexual exploitation and grooming.
As the pressure on Holly escalates she tries to stand up to Jay but when Jay won't take no for an answer will Holly seek help?
D.L. Weller has done extensive research with victims and their families and professionals working in child protection and safeguarding. Holding On To You, although fictional, is informed and inspired by these interviews. It explores a problem thought to affect tens of thousands of children, of all backgrounds, yet that still remains largely hidden and apparently unaddressed in many regions.
THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (b03h6pxf)
The Lost Orchards
Correspondents' despatches: Jeremy Bowen on the talks, restarting in Geneva next week, about Iran's nuclear ambitions; the Colombian authorities are trying to rehabilitate child soldiers who have fought for leftist armed groups like the FARC - Tom Esslemont has been along to take a look; Steve Vickers finds out why people no longer want to live among the thousands of islands off the coast of Sweden; an atheist goes to church: Andrew Whitehead visits Martin Luther King's Baptist church in Atlanta, Georgia and finds himself caught up in a service. And is there any trace left of the apple orchards which once covered the island of Jersey? The answer to that one comes from Christine Finn.
From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.
THU 11:30 Creative Forces (b03h6r5j)
Comedian Dawn French is the daughter of an RAF technician. Actress Juliet Stevenson's father was a British Army Officer. In conversation with Fiona Lindsay (herself a Navy child), they explore how their highly nomadic childhoods may have shaped their adult careers.
Between them, they went to 28 junior schools in Germany, Malta, Australia, Cyprus, Italy, North Africa and all over the UK. They found themselves constantly adjusting to different climates, geology, cultures and people. They also regularly had to make new friends and adopt new life styles. Each developed strategies for dealing with the constant change.
Juliet sees parallels between the lives of an actor and army child. Both enter a community, make close relationships very quickly, and then move on. Her own separation from her mother, on being sent to boarding school, caused her great distress. It's an experience she says gave her a wellspring of emotional memory from which to draw when performing roles such as in the play Duet For One.
Dawn wonders whether her enforced childhood gregariousness helps her face new audiences. After a sleepless night, she would arrive at a new school and put on a display of 'personality fireworks' in order to win acceptance. She became the joker of the pack, perhaps laying the foundation for her starring roles in The Vicar of Dibley and French and Saunders. Indeed, when she first met Jennifer Saunders she reckons they got on so well because Jennifer too was a Forces child.
Producer: Chris Eldon Lee
A Culture Wise production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b03h6r5l)
Should you buy the album before you wear the T-shirt?
Band t-shirts: Should you buy the album before you wear the t-shirt?
Intensive farming of dogs - how the practice is leading to bitter disappointment for the people who buy them.
We hear from the parents of a 13 year old autistic boy who say he's trapped hundreds of miles from home in a specialist hospital because there is no care available for him in their county.
THU 12:57 Weather (b03gqc1f)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b03h6r5n)
National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
THU 13:45 London v Paris (b03h6r5q)
Capitals of Art
This is the gripping story of a battle of two cities, London and Paris, and a battle of two competing cultures.
Historians Robert and Isabelle Tombs are a husband and wife team and they can shed a particular light on the story - Robert is English and Isabelle is French. Having written on the 'love-hate' relationship between the two countries, they are ready to focus on the two great capitals at the heart of it all. How much was competition, and how much cultural exchange?
4. Capitals of art.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b03h4296)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b03h6yrv)
Ray Connolly - Sorry, Boys, You Failed the Audition
Sorry Boys You Failed The Audition by Ray Connolly
In the summer of 1962 the Beatles auditioned for producer George Martin at Parlophone Records. Having been rejected by every other record company, it was their last chance to get a recording contract. As the world soon found out, they passed the audition.
But what if they'd been turned down? Seen through the eyes of Freda, their teenage Liverpool fan club secretary, this is an affectionate comedy drama about what might have happened to the Beatles if George Martin had said, 'No'.
Producer/Director Gary Brown
Ray Connolly is a celebrated journalist and author. He is perhaps best known for writing the screenplays for the films 'That'll Be the Day' and the sequel 'Stardust' for which he won a Writers Guild of Great Britain best screenplay award, and for his many interviews with the Beatles. He was due to interview John Lennon on the day the ex-Beatle was murdered, an event he wrote about in the BBC radio play 'Unimaginable'. In addition to the biography John Lennon 1940-1980, he wrote the introduction to The Beatles Complete songbook.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b03h6yrx)
Moseley Bog
Felicity Evans visits the land that inspired Tolkien's Middle Earth and discovers how this Birmingham Bog also kick started the Urban Wildlife Movement.
From the ages of four to eight , J.R.R. Tolkien, author of 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings', lived with his mother and brother opposite Sarehole Mill on the Wake Green Road in Birmingham, a short walk from what is now Moseley Bog and 'Joy's Wood', a local nature reserve. As a boy, it is into this unexpected patch of woodland that Tolkien would disappear - both literally and in his imagination. Years later he would cite this period of his life as the inspiration for the landscapes and characterless of his now legendary books. A century on, urban development of the ever increasing Birmingham City has stopped short of this special site. This rural idyll, just three miles from Birmingham's city centre was preserved by local mum, Joy Fifer who launched a local campaign in the 80's which went on to start a national urban wildlife movement. It is now cared for by enthusiastic volunteers and enjoyed by the local school children who still disappear into this land and their imaginations - much as Tolkien did so many years before them.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b03gtnnn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (b03gtvv0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b03h6yrz)
Jude Law on Dom Hemingway; Lee Daniels on The Butler; Vivien Leigh's centenary
The latest news from the world of film.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b03h71bp)
DNA to ID typhoon victims; Volcanic ash; Hope for red squirrels; Robogut
Global experts in DNA identification are flying to the Philippines to assess whether they can help families to determine, beyond doubt, which of the hundreds of victims of Typhoon Haiyan are their relatives. The International Commission on Missing Persons in Sarajevo used DNA matching to identify the thousands killed in the former Yugoslavia and has since helped in conflict zones around the world. Now, working with Interpol, scientists from the ICMP are called on to assist in victim identification after natural disasters as well, and head of forensic services, Dr Thomas Parsons, tells Adam Rutherford that a team will be sent to the Philippines on Monday.
The enormous ash cloud following the 2010 eruption of the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokell, grounded aircraft across Europe for more than a week and caused unprecedented disruption. Dr Fred Prata has invented a weather radar for ash, and off the Bay of Biscay, his AVOID infra red camera system, the Airborne Volcanic Object Imaging Detector, has just been tested after a ton of Icelandic volcanic ash was dropped by aeroplane into the sky. From France, Dr Prata describes the experiment and Dr Sue Loughlin, Head of Volcanology at the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh, tells Adam how Iceland has become the scientific "supersite" for seismic research.
Show Us Your Instrument: Dr Glenn Gibson at the University of Reading with his Robo gut, a full-working model of the human large intestine.
Liverpool University's Dr Julian Chantrey, and his PhD student have spent the past 4 years monitoring red squirrels in the Sefton area. Out of the 93 they trapped and blood tested, 5 had antibodies for the normally-deadly squirrel pox, suggesting they had contracted the pox and survived. It's early days but this could mean that reds are developing a level of resistance to the squirrel pox, like rabbits have to myxomatosis. We could be seeing evolution by natural selection in action.
Producer: Fiona Hill.
THU 17:00 PM (b03h71br)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03gqc1h)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Clare in the Community (b01q8qpv)
Series 8
The Scapegoat
After an unprofessional mishap at the Sparrowhawk Family Centre, one of the Social Workers needs to fall on their sword.
Sally Phillips is Clare Barker the social worker who has all the right jargon but never a practical solution.
A control freak, Clare likes nothing better than interfering in other people's lives on both a professional and personal basis. Clare is in her thirties, white, middle class and heterosexual, all of which are occasional causes of discomfort to her.
Each week we join Clare in her continued struggle to control both her professional and private life
In today's Big Society there are plenty of challenges out there for an involved, caring social worker. Or even Clare.
Written by Harry Venning and David Ramsden.
Clare ...... Sally Phillips
Brian ...... Alex Lowe
Megan ...... Nina Conti
Nali ...... Nina Conti
Ray ...... Richard Lumsden
Helen ...... Liza Tarbuck
Simon ...... Andrew Wincott
Libby ...... Sarah Kendall
Man ...... Robert Blythe
Mr Needham ...... Patrick Brennan
Trudi ...... Sarah Thom
Producer: Katie Tyrrell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2013.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b03h71bt)
Emma tells Lynda that a run-in with a dog walker has led to Ed snapping at her and the children. Lynda suggests that Emma should talk to Ed when things have settled on the farm.
When testing recipes for the cookbook, Lynda makes an executive decision to alter some of them. Emma is concerned but Lynda is adamant that she shouldn't worry.
Excited by Daniel's imminent arrival, Shula drives to the airport to collect him.
Alistair sits Darrell down to discuss his options. Darrell seems to have forgotten the conversation he had with Shula and begins to panic, thinking that he has to leave immediately. Alistair reassures him that this is not going to happen but Darrell must make a decision. Darrell is overwhelmed, but supportive Alistair suggests that they begin looking into renting a private flat and makes the necessary arrangements.
Shula and Daniel have a happy reunion at the airport. When she tells him about Darrell still staying with them, not only does Dan already know, thanks to a message from Jamie, but he is surprisingly ok with it. After all, it's not as though Darrell will be there forever, will he?
THU 19:15 Front Row (b03h71bw)
Donna Tartt; Forest Whitaker
With Mark Lawson
Author Donna Tartt discusses her long-awaited third novel, The Goldfinch. Like her previous books, The Secret History and The Little Friend, The Goldfinch has taken Tartt a decade to write. The plot centres around the theft of a priceless painting, the goldfinch of the title, which is stolen from a museum after a horrific bombing in the opening chapters. Donna Tartt talks about the long gestation period for her novels, and how studying Greek tragedy informed the book's structure.
Actor Forest Whitaker discusses his starring role in The Butler, a film inspired by the real-life story of a White House butler who served during seven presidential administrations. Through the eyes of the butler and his family, the film follows the changing tides in American politics and race relations - from the assassinations of John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King, to the Black Panthers, and Watergate.
The Pet Shop Boys' latest single is called Thursday. David Quantick considers which days of the week are the least-loved, by songwriters.
Producer Rebecca Nicholson.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b03h6pxc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b03h71by)
Birmingham Children's Services
Last month, a serious case review into the death of two year old Keanu Williams concluded that there were a number of significant opportunities to save him from being beaten to death by his mother. It's the latest in a series of horrific child deaths that have shocked Birmingham and exposed shortcomings which have led to the city's children's services department repeatedly failing inspections and the city being branded a 'national disgrace' by the head of the watchdog, Ofsted. Simon Cox investigates what is wrong with social services at Britain's largest local authority and asks whether its reputation is justified.
THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (b03h71c0)
Shipping
It's the lifeblood of the world's economy, moving most of our imports and exports and around the globe. But shipping is changing: vessels and ports are getting bigger and competition for trade is coming from the Far East.
Evan Davis and guests from the world of shipping discuss how ports are run and how the shipping business manages the risk of accidents and piracy.
Guests:
James Cooper - CEO of Associated British Ports. , a private company which owns and runs 21 ports in the UK.
Kenneth MacLeod - Chairman of Stena Line UK and President of the UK Chamber of Shipping.
Rupert Atkin - CEO of Talbot Underwriting and Chairman of the Lloyd's Market Association.
Producer - Smita Patel.
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b03h71bp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b03h6px5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b03gqc1k)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b03h71c2)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b03h71c4)
The Lowland
Episode 4
Indira Varma reads Jhumpa Lahiri's Man Booker-listed new novel, The Lowland, spanning India and America, and exploring the price of idealism and the enduring power of love.
It is the 1960s, and revolution has come to India and America. Two brothers, Subhash and Udayan, born in Calcutta just fifteen months apart, have been inseparable since birth, but their paths are diverging. Udayan - charismatic and impulsive - finds himself drawn to the Communist movement sweeping Bengal. He will risk all for what he believes. But Subhash, the dutiful son, does not share his brother's political passion, and leaves home to pursue a life of scientific research in a quiet corner of America. But when Subhash learns what happened to his brother in the lowland outside their family's home, he returns to India, hoping to pick up the pieces of a shattered family, and to heal the wounds Udayan left behind.
Today: As Subhash learns of his brother's death, he becomes further troubled by the life now open to his widow, Gauri.
Jhumpa Lahiri shot to fame with her Pulitzer-winning story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, followed by novel The Namesake and another collection, Unaccustomed Earth. The Lowland is her latest work, and has been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize.
Reader: Indira Varma is an acclaimed stage, film and television actor. Her recent TV credits include: Rome, Luther and What Remains.
Abridger: Sally Marmion
Producer: Justine Willett.
THU 23:00 Andrew Maxwell's Public Enemies (b007jtr3)
The Food Industry
Andrew Maxwell is one of the UK's most informed and fearless stand ups.
In this series of one-off stand up shows, he uses his trademark intelligence and political incisiveness to dig behind the clichés and assumptions about four possible threats to British society: food, the internet, drugs and Nationalism.
Andrew kicks off with a look at the food industry.
From horseburgers right up to snail ice-cream, it seems like there's something wrong with every rung of the food ladder. But given that food is essential to survival, shouldn't we be clearer about what it is we want from the industry that provides it?
A series showcasing a comedian at the top of his abilities tackling difficult and important 'slow news' topics with a depth and perceptiveness that remains outside the remit of mainstream 'topical' comedy.
Written and performed by Andrew Maxwell
Script edited by Paul Byrne.
Producer: Ed Morrish
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2013.
THU 23:30 Who Sold the Soul? (b03cmt4w)
Soul Power
Jazz, Blues, Rhythm and Blues, Rock 'n' Roll, Soul, Funk and Hip-Hop; there's no question African American musical creativity has fuelled the modern music industry. But faced with racism and cultural theft for decades, African-American musicians, DJs, businessmen and women have struggled to have any real control or ownership in the business. In this three part series financial educator, broadcaster and music obsessive Alvin Hall examines the political economy of African American music, from jazz to Jay Z.
In this second episode, Alvin looks at the 1960s and 70s. Soul music wasn't just the soundtrack and fashion to a turbulent and eventful period in the civil rights movement. It defined a specific period of social development for black people. Motown became the sound of young America with the first, commercially successful black-owned record label. James Brown preached his black capitalist message through his self-titled Soul Power. And CBS Records commissioned the Harvard Business School to investigate the profitability of black music. A report that would change industry thinking forever.
FRIDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2013
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b03gqc2d)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b03h6px7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03gqc2g)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03gqc2j)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03gqc2l)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b03gqc2n)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b03j9908)
Presented by the Chaplain to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in Kabul, Padre David Anderson.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b03h7grb)
"The reality is 92% of Britain is undeveloped". Following Lord Wolfson's suggestion that garden cities should be built on farmland, the countryside hits back. Charlotte Smith interviews Andrew Shirley from the Country Land and Business Association, who says rural Britain is more than a prospective building site.
The Soil Association hosted its National Soil Symposium this week. As the Environment Agency warns of an increased likelihood of flooding this winter, Charlotte Smith asks 'Soil Trailblazer' and farm manager Rob Richmond whether British soil can withstand another battering like last year's.
We have the latest report in our series looking at the state of rural schools. Mark Jones from BBC Radio Gloucestershire finds out why schools in the most remote parts of the county struggle to attract teachers.
And it's Children in Need day! We hear how your donations are helping children in the middle of Bristol learn how to farm.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced in Bristol by Anna Jones.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03dwz7f)
Linnet
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Martin Hughes-Games presents the Linnet. Linnets gather in large flocks to feed on weed-seeds and the seeds of oilseed rape and flax left behind after harvesting. You can often identify the flocks from a distance as the birds circle over a field, by their tight formation and bouncing motion.
FRI 06:00 Today (b03h7grd)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b03h7grg)
Alfred Brendel
Kirsty Young's castaway is the classical pianist, Alfred Brendel.
A performer of world renown, his career spans seven decades, and he is particularly famous for his interpretations of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt. An Austrian who's lived in the UK for many years, he was born in 1931 in what is now the Czech Republic. Although not from a musical family, he began playing the piano aged six and gave his first recital aged 17. Largely self-taught, in addition to his live performances, he's enjoyed a long and successful recording career. Revered for his intellect and individual and original take on the world, he is also a published poet and essayist.
He says, "I regard pessimism as a sign of intelligence. Optimism is a very welcome and life-enhancing feature, a gift, but not necessarily a realistic outlook. I am a pessimist who enjoys being pleasantly surprised."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b03h7grj)
Martin Sandler - The Letters of John F Kennedy
Episode 5
Letters to and from President Kennedy are published in book form and edited by Martin W Sandler to mark fifty years since the assassination of 1963. And a selection, abridged in five episodes by Penny Leicester, reveal the drama and tensions to do with American foreign policy. Other letters reveal Kennedy's wit and warmth when contacting friends and family:
5. Kennedy receives a vivid communique from his advisor JK Galbraith about the practicalities of shelter during nuclear attack. Later he writes to the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan - words of social nicety and trepidation about the Russians.
Readers Colin Stinton, Richard Laing, Peter Marinker and Trevor White
Producer Duncan Minshull.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b03h7grl)
Oprah Winfrey; presidential elections in Chile; Helena Morrissey and Manchester orchestras and Children in Need.
Oprah Winfrey is an American media owner, presenter, producer, philanthropist and actor. Oprah joins Jenni to discuss her latest role, as Gloria Gaines in The Butler; her memories of the civil rights movement in America; and to explain what drives her ambition and her give her view of power.
The Chilean presidential election of 2013 will be held on Sunday 17 November 2013 we look at the lives and politics of both the leading candidates; Michelle Bachelet and Evelyn Matthei.
Helena Morrissey, chair of Opportunity Now and a Woman's Hour Power Lister tells us about a new survey which will be asking women aged between 28 and 40 about their experiences in the workplace.
Manchester's two big professional orchestras have come up with a unique fundraising idea for this year's Children in Need - an orchestral "battle of the sexes". Who will sell the most to raise funds for the charity- the men or the women?
Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Bernadette McConnell
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b03h7grn)
Children in Need: Holding On to You
Episode 5
D.L. Weller's powerful drama about child sexual exploitation and grooming.
As Holly is helped to come to terms with the truth, she faces a difficult decision about Jay.
D.L. Weller has done extensive research with victims and their families and professionals working in child protection and safeguarding. Holding On To You, although fictional, is informed and inspired by these interviews. It explores a problem thought to affect tens of thousands of children, of all backgrounds, yet that still remains largely hidden and apparently unaddressed in many regions.
FRI 11:00 In Britten's Footsteps (b03h7grq)
To mark the centenary of Benjamin Britten's birth, wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson follows in the footsteps of the composer, presenting a soundscape based on the daily walks which Britten took around Aldeburgh to reflect on his morning's work. Benjamin Britten was born in Lowestoft in November 1913 and grew up on the coast of Suffolk. From his earliest years, the rhythm of the tides and the calls of redshank, curlew, and dunlin were the wild music which inspired much of his work. Suffolk was the place where he felt rooted and a sense of belonging and lived most of his life. Each day, after a morning spent composing, he would walk from his home, the Red House, either across the golf course, or through the woods, alongside the reed beds, or across the marshes reflecting on his morning's work accompanied and no doubt inspired by the atmosphere and sounds of the landscape around him; from the sigh of the reeds and the rhythm of the waves on the shingle beach to the haunting cries of curlew across the marshes or the exquisite songs of Nightingales in the woods.
Over the course of a year wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson retraced these walks, recording the seasonal sounds of the landscapes for a live performance commissioned by Aldeburgh Music. Using these and additional recordings, together with interviews with Rita Thompson, Britten's nurse companion, friend and writer Ronald Blythe, composer and biographer David Matthews and Director of Aldeburgh Music Jonathan Reekie, this immersive sound walk follows in the footsteps of the composer as Chris Watson discovers for himself the 'sense of place' which Britten felt so strongly here and which inspired so much of his music.
Presenter and wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, Producer Sarah Blunt.
FRI 11:30 The Gobetweenies (b03h7grs)
Series 3
Episode 5
Joe has had to cancel a holiday with his girlfriend and it's Mimi's fault. So Mimi gets no back up when she wants to get the dog fixed and stop Lucy wearing latex.
Their friend Bobby (Stephen Critchlow) is fed up listening to them squabble because he has a real problem - his son Stevie is stonewalling him. Bobby even offers to help out so Joe can go to Barcelona to be with Tuberose - but Joe is enjoying the moral high ground and loves seeing Mimi up to her neck in his brownie points.
Mimi broke her arm when she went to check out Tuberose at Latex Couture of Holloway and now she can't can't type, floss or fasten her bra. When she complains of the pain, Lucy thinks it must be to do with the weight of her low hanging bosom. She is trying to soft soap her mum so she is allowed to wear the latex dress for the school Springtime Fashionista contest.
Science-loving Tom hates superstition but he is so undone by Poppy's coldness that he decides to start saying Good Morning Mr Magpie and he even steals Lucy's lucky mascot. And it turns out that Mr Hanky, the South Park Christmas Poo, saves the day. The anguish of the Millers has been healed by a cloth turd.
Writer: Marcella Evaristi
Director: Marilyn Imrie
Producer: Gordon Kennedy
An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b03h7grv)
Blockbuster; Small energy companies; 'No win, no fee' ads in A&E
Research by You and Yours has found that more than 100,000 people have switched to smaller energy companies since the beginning of October. We ask what kind of deal do you get if you shun the Big 6?
You may have seen offers of trial boxes of healthy snacks. Peter White speaks to the man who set up Graze. And he talks to one of the administrators who will determine what happens next to the troubled DVD rental chain Blockbuster.
Plus the no win no fee personal injury adverts flouting a Department of Health ban in A&E departments.
And we visit the Northern cities which have commissioned "light festivals" to tempt in the tourists on cold dark nights.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Joe Kent.
FRI 12:52 The Listening Project (b03h7grx)
Amanda and Jamie - Why Me?
The Listening Project joins Children in Need as Fi Glover introduces a conversation between a 14 year old who's been bullied, and his mum. With the help of the charity Kidscape, supported by Children in Need, they've come up with strategies to deal with it.
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. Most of the unedited 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 (b03gqc2q)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b03h7grz)
National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
FRI 13:45 London v Paris (b03h7gs1)
Capitals of Fashion
This is the gripping story of a battle of two cities, London and Paris, and a battle of two competing cultures.
Historians Robert and Isabelle Tombs are a husband and wife team and they can shed a particular light on the story - Robert is English and Isabelle is French. Having written on the 'love-hate' relationship between the two countries, they are ready to focus on the two great capitals at the heart of it all. How much was competition, and how much cultural exchange?
5. Capitals of fashion.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b03h71bt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b010fd88)
Mary Toft's Rabbit Tale
Written by Colin Bytheway.
In 1726, 26 year old mother-of-three Mary Toft gave birth to a rabbit. And then another. And then another. All were stillborn, some were just rabbit body parts, but all were the fruit of her loins.
Local surgeon John Howard confirmed the phenomenon, delivering several rabbits himself. He wrote of his findings to the Secretary of George I. The King, intrigued, sent his personal anatomist Nathaniel St Andre to investigate - and he soon concluded that Toft was telling the truth and was preternaturally giving birth to rabbits.
Mary quickly became a national sensation and was brought to London to be studied at length. But, inevitably, Mary broke and she confessed. The whole thing was a hoax.
Mary was imprisoned. She, the medical profession, and even the country, were publicly ridiculed. Mary herself was immortalised in a sketch by Hogarth. After five months of incarceration, she was released, returning to Godalming, her children, her husband and her old life. She later claimed she made up the rabbit tale "to get so good a living that I should never want as long as I lived."
Producer/Director: Celia de Wolff
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b03h7gs3)
Rochdale Pioneers Museum
Eric Robson and the team visit the birthplace of the modern co-operative movement at the Rochdale Pioneers Museum. Taking questions are panellists Christine Walkden, Bob Flowerdew and Pippa Greenwood.
Produced by Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
Q. Could the panel recommend a plant that will discourage Leek Moth?
A. A lot of pests find their host plant by searching for its scent, so growing something pungent nearby can work to distract them. Carrots work well to keep pests away from Allium. You can't completely rely on this technique though. If you don't dig up all of last year's Leeks and wait until they have flowered, you can plant the bulbs at the end of August. This way your Leeks will be growing outside of the Leek Moth season. Fleecing or mesh over the crop will prevent the female moth from laying her eggs.
Q. House sparrows have made a recent return to the Rochdale area after a number of years. Could you suggest any flowers or shrubs that will encourage them to stay?
A. A diverse garden is key to maintaining wildlife throughout the year. Choose plants with late berries and flowers. Cyclamen and the winter flowering bulbs will all attract insect life. It is also important to create a habitat that will suit them, such as ivy or installing boxes. If you have the room, you could plant Wheat seeds. The birds will have a store of seeds to feed from over the winter. You could also try Milk Thistle Silybum Marianum which produces very oily seeds.
Q. I have a cutting of a Himalayan Honeysuckle. Where should I put it, what are its preferred growing conditions and what size will it grow to?
A. They are very tolerant plants and will grow in a range of different soil types. They are often used as hedging and are very easy to nurture. They can grow to quite a size (up to 10ft/3m across) but are very easy to cut back.
Q. I have planted Snow Queen Rose in a tub with compost and manure. It is in a north-facing garden and is positioned by the house for shelter. How should we care for it?
A. It will be completely reliant on you for moisture and for food. You should start to feed it from mid-spring next year. It will dry out very easily in a container. In the winter months, insulate the pot so that the compost doesn't freeze.
Q. How can I prevent nettles from repeatedly growing back on a patch of scrubby land?
A. If they are growing happily, they will grow back each time you chop them down. You could plant grass for the first year and mow it weekly. Or try digging them out in January/February when the ground has thawed and the roots give way easily. A herbicide will require two to three applications in August and September, but it does make the garden look a mess.
Q. I have a steep, west-facing slope backing onto moorland. Can you suggest any plants that will survive in this exposed position and spread horizontally so as to subdue the grass that is still trying to grow?
A. Cornuses or suckering plants would work. Try Willows, Dogwoods or Alders which will stabilize the ground and provide colourful stems. You could introduce Rubus Cockburnianus or Biflorus. Conifers always provide reliable evergreen cover. Osmaronia or Nutalia is a suckering shrub that doesn't get too tall and has wonderful white flowers in the spring. You also can't go wrong with the hardy Juniper Horizontalis.
Q. We planted a Silver Birch - Betula Pendula Golden Beauty - in a pit of heavy, clay soil about four years ago. It has not really grown and the canopy diminishes each year. What could we do to encourage it?
A. The pit in which you planted it will have turned into a sump. The tree will be drowning. You could try digging it out and replanting it at a higher position. Fill the pit with stony waste and stake the Birch really well.
FRI 15:45 Where Were You When Kennedy Was Shot? (b03h7gs5)
The Long Laneway
The 22nd November 2013 marks the fiftieth anniversary of one of the most significant and shocking events in 20th century history, the assassination of President John F Kennedy. Most people know exactly where they were and what they were doing when the news hit. Inspired by this concept, three major writers give their own spin on that day through fictional stories of ordinary people as their lives are caught in that precise moment, perhaps even undergoing monumental changes in their own lives?
For most, TV and radio broke the news of JFK's assassination across the world, but for an Irish farmer it came from closer to home.
The Long Laneway by Colum McCann read by Des McAleer. Produced in Belfast by Morag Keating.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b03h7gs7)
A British composer, a Northern Irish MP, a Romanian architect, a German mayor and a British supercentenarian
Matthew Bannister on the prolific composer Sir John Tavener, who wrote a seven hour epic called The Veil, and music performed at Princess Diana's funeral.
Eddie McGrady - the respected SDLP MP for South Down in Northern Ireland who worked tirelessly for peace and helped to negotiate the Good Friday agreement.
Anca Petrescu - the architect who built an enormous palace for the Romanian dictator Nicolai Ceaucescu - it's the world's second largest building.
And Manfred Rommel, son of the German General Erwin Rommel and Mayor of Stuttgart for many years. We have a tribute from Viscount Montgomery who became his friend.
Plus Grace Jones, who has died aged 113 years old.
Producer: Laura Northedge.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (b03h7gs9)
Was last week's edition of Radio 4's Profile programme sexist? Some Feedback listeners have accused the programme of just that after a profile of the new Director of Public Prosecutions, Alison Saunders, featured numerous references to her cooking and baking abilities. In this week's Feedback, the Editor of Profile, Richard Knight, defends the programme.
Roger Bolton also speaks to Ric Bailey, the BBC's Chief Political Advisor, about the challenges facing the Corporation in the lead up to the Scottish Referendum. How can it ensure impartiality in its coverage? The BBC Trust has launched a 12 week consultation seeking views on the BBC Executive's proposed additional guidelines for reporting on the referendum. Visit the BBC Trust website to find out how you can have your say.
Also this week, meet the new generation of Just A Minute panellists who are giving Paul Merton, Sue Perkins, and Graham Norton a run for their money on Radio 4 Extra's Junior Just a Minute.
And a radio fan digs out a rare edition of Feedback from almost exactly thirty years ago and finds an unexpectedly topical item about Radio 4 continuity announcer Susan Rae.
Producer: Will Yates
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:56 The Listening Project (b03h7gsc)
Ruth and Jet - The Lone Ranger and The King
Fi Glover introduces a conversation about how being born with a cleft lip is part of a 9 year old's identity, but is no bar to achieving his dreams. Jet and his mother are both members of CLAPA, the Cleft Lip and Palate Association, which is supported by Children in Need.
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. Most of the unedited 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 (b03h7gsf)
Coverage and analysis of the day's news. Including Weather at
5.57pm.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03gqc2s)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b03h7gsh)
Series 82
Episode 2
A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Sandi Toksvig, with panellists Susan Calman, Andrew Maxwell and Hugo Rifkind joining regular guest Jeremy Hardy.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b03h7gsk)
Darrell is optimistic following a positive meeting with the housing officer. He's grateful to Alistair who arranged the meeting, and even went in with him. It seems that Darrell is well on his way to finding his own flat.
Shula cooks Daniel a special birthday dinner. Over the meal, Dan asks Darrell about his younger days travelling in Europe. This reminds Darrell of Elona and he makes an emotional exit from the table. Shula is concerned but Jill is angry that Shula seems to be putting Darrell first over Daniel. Jill feels that Darrell should be asked to leave. But Shula reiterates that this won't happen until he has somewhere else to go.
Ian persuades reluctant Helen to go out with him to a restaurant. Over dinner, Helen realises that Ian knows about her and Rob. She opens up about her intense feelings and makes it clear that she is upset and angry with Rob. When Helen suggests she might tell Jess exactly what Rob is like, Ian is shocked. But Helen thinks that this is what he deserves.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b03h7gsm)
Adam Price; Jason Manford; Collider exhibition
With Kirsty Lang.
Borgen is the Danish political drama that became an unexpected hit for the BBC when the first series aired in 2012. Now back on our screens with the third and potentially final series, creator Adam Price discusses why it was so important for the central character of the Prime Minister to be female and why Danish television has taken the world by storm in recent years.
Jason Manford's career has taken him from stand-up to prime time presenter to singer, after winning TV talent show Born to Shine. Currently touring a new comedy show, Manford discusses entertaining the troops in Afghanistan, his scientific evaluation of his performances and, following his departure from The One Show, reflects on the roller coaster nature of fame.
Collider, a new exhibition at The Science Museum, takes visitors into the heart of the biggest scientific experiment of our time, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Through the use of performance, music and video installations, the exhibition explains the discovery of the Higgs boson. Kirsty Lang takes a first look inside Collider and meets the curator, designer and particle physicists who have worked out how to convey the complex scientific concepts involved.
Jude Law plays the title role in Dom Hemingway, a film about a London gangster looking to get compensation for spending twelve years in prison. Richard E. Grant co-stars as Hemingway's devoted best friend and side kick Dickie. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews.
Producer: Olivia Skinner.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b03h7grn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b03h7gsp)
Margaret Hodge MP, David Starkey, Dame Helen Ghosh, Jeremy Hunt MP
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from Chartwell in Kent with the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt MP, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee Margaret Hodge MP, TV historian David Starkey and Dame Helen Ghosh Director General of the National Trust.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b03h7gsr)
Self Confident Culture
Will Self argues for greater British cultural self confidence in the debate over the wearing of the veil.
Apologies are not needed for an insistence on uncovered faces in court, he says, and the best safeguard against extremism is engagement with the Western philosophic tradition and its multicultural influences.
"Of course British culture will be changed by the cultures of our recent immigrants, but surely our greatest desideratum is precisely this: to be the heirs, possessors and transmitters of a legacy that is ready and able to adapt."
Producer: Sheila Cook.
FRI 21:00 Saturday Drama (b01qspvq)
Charlotte Williams - Well, He Would, Wouldn't He?
By Charlotte Williams. In 1963, at the tender age of 18, Mandy Rice-Davies found herself at the centre of one of the most sensational scandals of the 20th century. She was a witness in the trial of Stephen Ward who was charged with living off the earnings of prostitutes. At the age of 16 Mandy had run away to London and become a dancer at Murray's Club in the West End, where she'd met Christine Keeler and society osteopath, Stephen. Soon she was mixing with London's elite and living as Peter Rachman's mistress. But when there was a shooting incident at Stephen's flat, and news broke of Christine's secret affair with Government Minister John Profumo, events began to spiral out of control. Fifty years later, Mandy looks back at those events and the impact they've had on her life.
A BBC/Cymru Wales production, directed by Kate McAll.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b03gqc2v)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b03h7gst)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b03h7gsw)
The Lowland
Episode 5
Indira Varma reads Jhumpa Lahiri's Man Booker-listed new novel, The Lowland, spanning India and America, and exploring the price of idealism and the enduring power of love.
It is the 1960s, and revolution has come to India and America. Two brothers, Subhash and Udayan, born in Calcutta just fifteen months apart, have been inseparable since birth, but their paths are diverging. Udayan - charismatic and impulsive - finds himself drawn to the Communist movement sweeping Bengal. He will risk all for what he believes. But Subhash, the dutiful son, does not share his brother's political passion, and leaves home to pursue a life of scientific research in a quiet corner of America. But when Subhash learns what happened to his brother in the lowland outside their family's home, he returns to India, hoping to pick up the pieces of a shattered family, and to heal the wounds Udayan left behind.
Today: Subhash hopes that the arrival of Gauri's baby will bring them together. But might his mother's prediction come true?
Jhumpa Lahiri shot to fame with her Pulitzer-winning story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, followed by novel The Namesake and another collection, Unaccustomed Earth. The Lowland is her latest work, and has been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize.
Reader: Indira Varma is an acclaimed stage, film and television actor. Her recent TV credits include: Rome, Luther and What Remains.
Abridger: Sally Marmion
Producer: Justine Willett.
FRI 23:00 A Good Read (b03h3fwy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:27 Who Sold the Soul? (b03dsk4q)
Empire State of Mind
Jazz, Blues, Rhythm and Blues, Rock 'n' Roll, Soul, Funk and Hip-Hop; there's no question African American musical creativity has fuelled the modern music industry. But faced with racism and cultural theft for decades, African-American musicians, DJs, businessmen and women have struggled to have any real control or ownership in the business. In this three part series financial educator, broadcaster and music obsessive Alvin Hall examines the political economy of African American music, from jazz to Jay Z.
In this final part, Alvin looks at the 1980s and beyond. Beginning with the black pop of Michael Jackson, Prince and Whitney Houston the series concludes with the rise of hip-hop, today American's most dominant form of popular music. Many people suggest that rap's rise to the top demonstrates African Americans now exert real power in the music industry. But is that really the case?
Contributors include writer Kevin Powell, Jay Z's former business partner Damon Dash and rapper and activist KRS-One.
FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b03h7gsy)
Charlotte and Martin - Belonging
Fi Glover introduces a conversation between two teenagers who were adopted as babies and met through the Talk Adoption Wales group (sponsored by Children in Need). They found that sharing their thoughts about their adoption with other teenagers has increased their confidence - to the point that they've spoken about adoption in front of the Welsh Assembly.
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. Most of the unedited 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.