The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Mitterrand left the Elysee Palace for the last time in 1995, after 14 years in power. In the words of his rival Jacque Chirac, he bequeathed to France 'a modern, calm democracy'.
He spent his last days not at the house he had shared with his wife, but in a state apartment where both of his families could spend time with him.
This biography of the French President was written by Philip Short, and is read by Henry Goodman.
Abridged and produced by Jane Marshall.
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Revd Johnston McKay.
'If I get caught I will be executed' - iPM speaks to Syrians living in Istanbul including a defected soldier who worries about spies and a banker who fled after being called in by secret police for interrogation. Email iPM@bbc.co.uk.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
We explore our infatuation with lighthouses as the Irish coastline spends two million pounds on renovating five of them across the region -two in County Donegal and three in Northern Ireland. Helen Mark visits two of them for Open Country. In the pretty town of Whithead sits Blackhead Lighthouse build in 1902 it proudly sits on the cliff top. St John's Point in County Down is a striking yellow and black building and was threatened with closure as it now sits empty and vacant with no purpose like so many along the the coastline. But Helen discovers a much deeper story -for most there is a need to preserve these iconic buildings as what they symbolise today is just as important.
Sybil Ruscoe travels to South Dakota in the United States and meets a young ranching couple who lost a third of their cattle in the October blizzard 'Storm Atlas'. Monty and Bobbi-Jo Williams rent 12,000 acres around Rapid City and live on the farm with their 22-month-old daughter Pacey. When the two-day storm eventually passed, Monty trekked through the snowdrifts to find his ranch strewn with nearly 200 dead cattle. He was forced to bury the bodies out in the wilderness but amidst the devastation, there was one miracle. Sybil meets the calf that survived 17 days buried under the snow.
Meanwhile, ranchers from neighbouring states have been pulling together and donating cattle to restock the worst hit ranches. Sybil talks to Ty Linger, the founder of Heifers for South Dakota.
And there's more of that interview with State Governor Dennis Daugaard about America's delayed Farm Bill and why the US Government is doing little to help snow-hit ranchers.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Richard Coles and Anita Anand with chef and restaurateur Rick Stein who tells of the ups and downs of his life, the Inheritance Tracks of Canadian author Margaret Atwood and traveller Tim Cope's tales of his journey on the trail of Genghis Khan. Teacher Guy Tarrant talks about the items that teachers have confiscated from pupils and Steve Rodgers, a fourth generation fisherman from Devon, joins Richard and Anita with his personal recollections of life on the sea and the future of fishing and we hear the latest on Fynnjan Leach-Verhoeven the boy with Aspergers who has made a Christmas single.
Peter Curran has bought the 40 year old remains of a piece of motoring history. The Enfield 8000 was a prototype electric car built in the early 1970s at the height of the energy crisis, when the British Government feared that the country would grind to a halt at the hands of the oil producing nations of the world.
The car was the result of a secret deal brokered between a Greek shipping billionaire and the Electricity Boards, and was aimed at creating a revolution in the way we thought about transportation.
The Enfield 8000 was shorter than a Mini but had bold styling and came in a range of classic 70's shades. It was powered by four giant tractor batteries and applied the latest electrical circuitry to control the car. It had no gear stick, just a tiny toggle switch which flicked it instantly from forward to reverse. Just over a hundred vehicles were produced, and enthusiastic early owners talked about its delicate handling, impressive pick up speed and natty aero-dynamics.
Peter Curran tells the first of a two-part story of this ground-breaking British car and tries to breathe life into his 40 year old Enfield for one final challenge.
Peter Oborne of The Daily Telegraph hears both sides of the story as the government presses for reform of the Civil Service. How to make agreements with Iran. And the impact of Scottish independence.
Correspondents with stories from the news. Today, Steve Rosenberg on how Ukraine is caught in a tug-of-war between Russia and the European Union; a huge refugee camp by the Sahara Desert is hit by drought - Chris Terrill says it's difficult for the inmates and the aid agencies trying to help them. But it's a boon for Islamic militant groups looking for recruits. Freak weather has killed thirty thousand cattle in the American state, South Dakota - Sybil Ruscoe's been there to see how the ranchers are coping. James Menendez has been travelling in Burma, also known as Myanmar. The place is fast modernising, but transformation is yet to arrive on its railways. And Robin Lustig goes hiking through Peru's Andean foothills looking for coca growers and finding out why they are dubious about their government's anti-drugs initiative.
Some listeners tell us they are being quoted home insurance premiums that are double or treble last year's with their insurer blaming new flood risks. But the official line is nothing has changed. Has a new deal to ensure affordable flood cover been sandbagged?
Some of us cannot imagine going to a cash machine and leaving the cash behind. But others say 'Oh yes, I've done that'. Some of the latter group are getting a nice surprise. Banks are trawling through their records back to 2005 and reimbursing people.
Time was we replaced things when they wore out or stopped working. Not now. We upgrade when our technology is slightly out of date. But what do you do with the old tech that is still usable and can be valuable? We look at firm that offers cash for your phone but often promises more than it gives.
An online alternative to tearing your hair out and shouting has just gone live. You have a complaint. You go through the proper channels and get silence or, perhaps worse, blandishments. What next? Resolver.co.uk is said to be the answer to making a complaint - from the first contact to the resolution. We try it out.
A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Sandi Toksvig. With guest panellists Grace Dent, Fred MacAulay and Justin Edwards, joining regular Jeremy Hardy.
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from the Aldeburgh Jubilee Hall in Suffolk with environmentalist and writer, Sir Jonathon Porritt, Shadow Minister for Crime Prevention Stella Creasy MP, Transport Minister Baroness Susan Kramer and the Conservative Peer and Former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Lamont.
Would you want a nuclear reactor in your neighbourhood? What's the best approach to future energy policy and keeping prices down? After an EU commissioner says Britain is in danger of being seen as the 'nasty country' what, if anything, should David Cameron do about it?
Julian Worricker hears your reaction to the subjects discussed in Any Questions? by Susan Kramer, minister of state for transport, Stella Creasy, shadow business minister, Norman Lamont, Conservative peer and former chancellor of the exchequer, and Jonathon Porritt, environmentalist and writer.
You can have your say on any of the subjects discussed on Any Answers? just after the news at
on Saturday. Call 03700 100 444 from 1230, email anyanswers@bbc.co.uk, tweet using #BBCAQ, or text 84844.
Frank Chambers, a young drifter in 1930s California, stops at a diner and is offered a job. The owner is Nick Papadakis, and his much younger, beautiful wife, Cora. There is immediate sexual chemistry between Frank and Cora, and they begin a passionate affair. Cora is tired of working at the diner, and of her husband, so they decide to murder Nick and start a new life together. The plan is to hit Nick over the head and make it look like he drowned in the bath. But the plan goes wrong, and soon everything starts to unravel. Adapted by Charlotte Greig
"Southern trees bear a strange fruit, blood on the leaves and blood at the root..." Billie Holiday's famous song expresses the horror and anguish of those communities subjected to a campaign of lynching in the American South. Soul Music hears the stories of people whose relatives were lynched by white racists and of the various forms of grief, anger and reconciliation that have followed. These include the cousin of teenager Emmett Till, whose killing in 1955 for whistling at a white woman, added powerful impetus to the civil rights movement.
Despite its association with the deep south, the song was actually composed in 1930's New York by a Jewish schoolteacher, Abel Meeropol. Meeropol adopted the children of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg after they were executed in 1953 as Soviet spies. One of those children, Robert, talks of his adopted father's humanity and his belief that the Rosenberg's were killed in a 'state sanctioned lynching by the American government'. For him, Strange Fruit is a comforting reminder of his adopted father's passionate belief in justice and compassion.
Grammy Award winner Mary J Blige on how she got started in the music business. Baroness Brenda Hale deputy president of the Supreme Court who's Number 4 on the Woman's Hour Powerlist. Charlotte Walker - known as the Bipolar Blogger - talks about why she decided to open up about her condition on a blog. The impact of cuts in the legal aid system on couples divorcing. Plus after a recent survey found that 76% of women had never asked for a pay rise - we discuss how best to ask for more money. A look at how women's sexual behaviour has changed in the last ten years. Why are there so few women cyclists on the road? And live music from 17 year old new comer Birdy who performs her new single "No Angel"
It's Nil by Mouth for Clive, who talks to award-winning actress, comedian and director Kathy Burke, who's directing riotous comedy 'Once a Catholic'. Set in a convent girls' school in 1957, where the nuns at Our Lady of Fatima preach chastity and diligence as the swinging sixties approach. Final exams loom. The day of reckoning is nigh. But for the girls in class 5A, their last year in uniform is set to be one of discovery of the less holy kind. 'Once a Catholic' is at London's Tricycle Theatre until 18th January 2014.
Clive's Kept Hangin' On by singer and presenter Kim Wilde, who shot to fame in 1981 with her smash hit 'Kids In America' and is the most-charted British solo female act of the 1980s. Kim's in a festive mood with a new album of part original songs / part classic Yuletide tunes. She sings 'Hey Mr Snowman' from 'Wilde Winter Songbook'.
Arthur Smith's Born Sloppy with DJ Sara Cox, whose new Radio 2 show 'Sounds of the '80s' looks at a decade that saw synthesizers, ghetto blasters and the moonwalk explode on to the music scene. It was the age of New wave and synth pop, hip-hop, hard rock and glam metal, leaving a legacy of shellsuits, mobile phones, the CD, the Yuppie and even ET. 'Sounds of the '80s' is on 30th November at
Clive's tuned in to comedian and actor Robert Webb, who returns to the Radio 4 airwaves alongside David Mitchell with their distinctive and lopsided views on the world through satirical sketches and surreal characters. The second episode of 'That Mitchell and Webb Sound' is on 3rd December at
With more music from Nottingham's gloriously lugubrious pop-noir balladeers Tindersticks, who perform 'This Fire Of Autumn' from their album 'The Something Rain'.
With the SNP announcing its plans for an independent Scotland this week, Lesley Curwen profiles Nicola Sturgeon - a figure who may be key to the party's chances of success.
She's deputy to Alex Salmond but is central to the party's campaign, and she's playing a major but perhaps under-reported role in negotiating with London too.
How did she achieve such a rapid rise to political prominence? And why is she so obsessed with the TV drama Borgen?
New film Saving Mr Banks tells the story of Disney's courting of PL Travers - the woman who wrote Mary Poppins. It wasn't an easy courtship as she didn't want any animation, any songs or even anything that was the colour red in it. Eventually she relented and this film shows her reconciled to the Disney-fication of her work. But is this version anything like reality? And could one expect Disney Studios to make a film about their founder that showed him in anything other than a flattering light?
Irish writer Eimear McBride's first novel A Girl Is A Half-formed Thing was rejected by all the major publishing houses as too difficult. Now it's won the inaugural Goldsmith's Prize- worth £10,000. The prize recognises 'published fiction that opens up new possibilities for the novel form', and the stream of consciousness story of a young girl has been compared to a cross between James Joyce and Edna O'Brien.
This American Life is a radio programme from WBEZ in Chicago and the most popular podcast in the USA. What's it about? How does it consistently win popular and critical acclaim? We listen to a couple of editions of the podcast to see whether it might appeal to a UK audience.
Comedian Larry David came to public attention as co-creator, writer and producer of Seinfeld on US television. He went on to create Curb Your Enthusiasm - and both of these shows have been hailed as groundbreaking comedy and much loved by TV audiences around the world. His newest project is a 90 minute comedy film for HBO, reprising his curmudgeonly obsessive character; does it still seem funny over an hour and a half, or can you have too much of a good thing?
White Light White Heat at The Wallace Collection in London is not a tribute to Lou Reed, but a display of work by contemporary artists such as Tracey Emin and Gavin Turk where they have collaborated with Venetian glass workers. Originally part of this year's Venice Bienalle, it's a small collection, but is it a thing of beauty or an indulgent experiment?
Tom Sutcliffe is joined by writer Deborah Moggach, Professor John Mullan and deputy editor of The New Statesman Helen Lewis
Fifty years since Pierre Boulle wrote 'La Planete des Singes' (or 'Monkey Planet' as the English translation was known), Will Self considers where great apes end and human apes begin.
Boulle's novel, which became the basis for the movie 'Planet of the Apes' is a playful inversion for a man whose faith in humanity had been erased by the experiences he described in 'Bridge Over the River Kwai', his other best-seller.
Boulle genuinely wondered whether human beings were any better than apes, placing him in a long line of satirists from Swift onwards who drew parallels between the beast in man and the man in beast.
In the modern era, experiments like Project Nim explored the idea that a chimpanzee infant raised like a human baby could be taught to communicate, and be 'civilized' by its contact with humans. The tragic end of Nim, shipped off to an animal experimentation camp when he, inevitably, became too violent to control in a domestic setting, did not entirely end the human fantasy (see Michael Jackson and Bubbles) that chimps are just like hairy children who will never answer back.
Will Self, whose novel 'Great Apes' portrayed a world in which apes run the show and make as bad a job of it as humans, explores the connection between man and his closest living relative, from Darwin to Nim and King Kong to the PG Tips chimps.
With Volker Sommer, Janet Browne, Kim Bard, Charlotte Macdonald and Frans de Waal.
A brilliant, penniless, pianist gets a job as tutor to the daughter of a wealthy Russian oligarch living in London and is sucked into a world of obsession and chance.
A modern-day take on Dostoevsky's The Gambler, by writer/actor Dolya Gavanski, with Ed Stoppard, Matthew Marsh and Graham Seed.
The Russian Gambler is Dolya Gavansk's first drama for Radio 4. As an actor she worked with Steve Coogan and Michael Winterbottom on The Trip and with Angelina Jolie in the Bosnian film In the Land of Milk and Honey. Her radio work includes The Mumbai Chuzzlewits, The Bid and UTZ for Radio 4 and Massistonia on Radio 3.
Original music composed by Sacha Puttnam.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
"Plebgate", the Hillsborough disaster, evidence of blatant fixing of crime statistics - by any standards our police have come under searching scrutiny lately and haven't exactly come out with flying colours. So this week's report by a former commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, John - now Lord Stevens - on the future of policing is certainly timely. But this is more than just a debate about numbers, structures and complaints procedures, this is a fundamental question about what our police should be for. Lord Stevens says it's time to accept that police "are not simply crime fighters", but they should also have a "social mission" that should be enshrined in law which would incorporate improving safety and well-being within communities. We've come a long way since the days of the Sweeney catchphrase "get your trousers on - you're nicked", but do we want our police to take on the mantle of social workers as well as crime fighters? Is this mission creep by the police, or an abdication of our own responsibility? By widening the scope of what we expect our police to police are we in danger of turning them from law enforcers, in to enforcers of social norms? And that this will lead to a subjective understanding of what society regards as right and wrong and blur the moral line between what is and isn't a crime?
Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk. With Claire Fox, Anne McElvoy, Giles Fraser and Matthew Taylor.
Can you re-arrange a tidal wave so it becomes a Richard Burton epic, a Dutch migrant, or a handicap in York?
Journalist and author Marcel Berlins and former Mastermind Fred Housego take on the literary historian Michael Alexander and the journalist Alan Taylor, in this week's battle of wits between the South of England and Scotland. Tom Sutcliffe is in the chair, asking the questions and giving out helpful clues wherever the teams need them. But the more helpful hints he has to give, the more points he deducts from their scores.
A win for either team could make a big difference to their final positions in this year's Round Britain Quiz rankings, as the end of the 2013 series approaches.
As usual there are several questions suggested by listeners hoping to outwit the panel, and the questions are available in full on the programme's webpages so you can play along.
Paul Farley in discussion with Glyn Maxwell, poet and author of On Poetry. White, Black, Form, Pulse, Chime, Space and Time are Glyn's chapter titles. How and why are poems written? With readings by Glyn of his own work, new and old. Producer: Tim Dee.
SUNDAY 01 DECEMBER 2013
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b03jp6zh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Afternoon Reading (b0128pyw)
Three for My Baby
Awesome Day
These stories take their cue from the Johnny Mercer classic 'One For My Baby' - made famous by Fred Astaire, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and especially Frank Sinatra. Each of these specially-commissioned pieces tell of a 'brief episode' of the kind the song alludes to but doesn't describe. In other words, these are stories about doomed love: affairs that turned sour, were thwarted by circumstance or were never, ever, going to work.
Awesome Day by Shena Mackay
"Rick looked up at the clock above the counter. A quarter to three. It was always a quarter to three at the Wooden Nickel ... It had been quarter to three when he and Meriel first came to the Wooden Nickel and it was still quarter to three when they left." Meriel loves the theatre. Rick loves Meriel. Or is it New York he's in love with?
Shena Mackay was born in Edinburgh. She is author of two novellas, three collections of short stories and eight novels. Her novel Dunedin and the collection of short stories, The Laughing Academy, both won Scottish Arts Council Book Awards and the bestselling The Orchard On Fire was shortlisted for the 1996 Booker Prize and the McVitie's Prize. Her most recent book, The Atmospheric Railway: New and Collected Stories was published in paperback in 2010. Shena lives in Southampton.
Reader: Burn Gorman
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03jp6zk)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03jp6zm)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
5.20am.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03jp6zp)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b03jp6zr)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b03jyf65)
The bells of St Mary and St Chad, Brewood in Staffordshire.
SUN 05:45 Profile (b03jssmx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b03jp6zt)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b03jyf67)
Anticipation
Mark Tully looks at both sides of anticipation and how we can either relish or dread what is to come. He considers the problems of anticipating too much, or too little, with the help of Thomas Hardy, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Linda Pastan and Winnie the Pooh.
Can neuroscience explain why the anticipation of something bad is often worse than the actual event or the prospect of a treat sometimes better than the treat itself? And does the anticipation of the future, either good or bad, mean that we risk squandering the present? Or as Seneca said, "Expecting is the greatest impediment to living. In anticipation of tomorrow, it loses today."
Producer is Adam Fowler.
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b03jyf69)
Losing Dad
Michael Besent was a successful and respected dairy and cereal farmer from Dorchester, but a diagnosis of terminal cancer threw his family's lives into turmoil. Medical treatments took over from milking and the business suffered. After Michael died, his wife Carol and their three daughters were forced to make some difficult decisions, while also coping with their grief. As tenant farmers, giving up the business would also have meant losing their home and jobs. Charlotte Smith visits the three generations of women who run 'Besent and Sons' to find how they managed love, loss and livelihoods.
Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced in Bristol by Anne-Marie Bullock.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b03jp6zw)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b03jp6zy)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b03jyf6c)
Pilling Report; Scottish Catholic Church and safeguarding; St Katherine
William Crawley speaks to Father Jim Thomson, Chaplain to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in the aftermath of the Police Helicopter crash in Glasgow.
Reverend Andrew Symes, Executive Secretary of Anglican Mainstream and Savi Hensman, Vice Chair of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement discuss the Pilling Report recommendations on same sex blessings with William.
Bruce Douglas reports from Brazil on why the country is seeing a decline in Catholicism and Afro-Brazilian religions.
William talks to Donal McKeown, the Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Down and Connor about the proposal by Northern Ireland's Attorney General, John Larkin to deal with the legacy of the Troubles.
The life of St Katherine of Alexandria is to be told in a new film with a star-studded cast, including Peter O'Toole and Edward Fox. British Film Director Michael Redwood tells William about his fascination with this 4th Century Martyr.
Trevor Barnes takes a look at the new safeguarding initiatives announced by the Catholic Church in Scotland. And William speaks to Tina Campbell the woman appointed by the Church to be it's national Safeguarding Officer.
Producers:
Jill Collins and Zaffar Iqbal
Guests:
Father Jim Thomson
Reverend Andrew Symes
Savi Hensman
Bishop Donal McKeown
Michael Redwood
Tina Campbell.
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b03jyf6f)
St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal 2013
The Revd Dr Sam Wells makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the Radio 4 St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal.
Reg Charity:261359
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 082 82 84.
- Send a cheque to St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal, Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 4JJ
- Or donate online via the Radio 4 website
The BBC Radio 4 St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal is now in its 87th year. The money raised from this annual appeal supports work with homeless and vulnerable people across the UK, through the work of The Connection at St Martin's and the Vicar's Relief Fund. You can hear how last years donations were spent by listening to Libby Purves in Received with Thanks.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b03jp700)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b03jp702)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b03jyf6h)
The Coming of Christ as Saviour
The coming of Christ as Saviour: Advent hope amidst national and global challenges.
The Advent season begins with a service live from Kelvinside Hillhead Parish Church in Glasgow.
Reading: Romans
13:11-14
Preacher: The Revd Doug Gay.
With Glasgow University Chapel Choir directed by James Grossmith.
Organist: Kevin Bowyer.
Producer: Mo McCullough.
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (b03jfvg5)
Political Trojan Horses
Will Self warns against politicians' superficially attractive policies which turn out to be Trojan horses. "It all comes down to gifts - presents that we save up for through the countrywide Christmas club we call progressive taxation, and which are then handed out by the jolly, hoho-ing Government in the form of public services."
Producer: Sheila Cook.
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b03dx8yf)
Black-Tailed Godwit
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 Black-Tailed Godwit. A black-tailed godwit in its summer finery is a stunningly attractive bird, russet brown with a long orange and black bill. A few pairs of black-tailed godwits breed in the UK, most of them in damp grazing meadows such as the Ouse Washes in East Anglia. When breeding is over the male and female split up and spend the winter months apart, often in widely separated locations.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b03jyf6k)
Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.
SUN 09:45 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b03jyp1m)
Received with Thanks
Broadcast in December 2013, Libby Purves on how the money from the 2012 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal helped homeless and vulnerable people across the UK. To give to this year's appeal call: 0800 082 82 84. Or donate online via the Radio 4 website. Or send cheques payable to St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal, to FREEPOST St Martin's Christmas Appeal. You won't need to use a stamp.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b03jyf6m)
Helen feels confused, and Ed makes a terrible mistake.
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b03jyf6p)
Clare Balding
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the broadcaster Clare Balding.
The BBC TV coverage of London's 2012 Olympics was her triumph and much like Team GB she'd been in training for her big moment for quite a while.
She's worked on five Olympic Games, four Paralympics, three Winter Olympics and a great deal of horse racing. It's on the turf that's she's most at home - her father was a champion racehorse trainer and for a number of years she herself was a leading amateur flat jockey.
The first pony she ever rode, as a toddler, was a gift from the Queen; she went to public school and Cambridge but her life hasn't been an entirely easy ride. She has coped with thyroid cancer, being forcibly "outed" by the tabloid press and in her own words being "a disappointment from the moment" she was born.
She says, "This may sound nauseating but I'm a very happy person. I love my work, I love my life and I'm told by those who know and love me that it's a bit like living with Tigger".
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
SUN 12:00 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b03j9m1h)
Series 60
Episode 3
The nation's favourite wireless entertainment pays a visit to the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Regulars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by special guest Victoria Wood, with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell provides piano accompaniment.
This programme was originally broadcast in November 2013.
Producer - Jon Naismith.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b03jyf6r)
Alice Waters, a Delicious Revolution
The Californian chef and campaigner Alice Waters shares her story with Sheila Dillon; from early life in the 1960's counter-culture to influencing the food thinking of Presidents.
Alice Waters founded the restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley in 1971. Her life had been changed forever by experiences as a student in France and at UC Berkeley, where the Free Speech Movement lay the ground for the big political movements of the sixties. Alice and her restaurant went from these humble and idealistic beginnings to international recognition.
With a focus on local, organic ingredients and farmers' markets before they were widely celebrated she moved on to educate children and prisoners about growing and cooking food. In her own words Alice's food journey became a 'delicious revolution'.
As debates in the US rage about healthcare and the nation's relationship with food, this is a story of one woman's attempts to show the way to an alternative way to eat. It's a story that took her from small French taverns to Californian growers and even to the White House.
Producers: Rich Ward & Dan Saladino.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b03jp704)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b03jyf6t)
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 Auditioning for Auntie (b03dfl04)
Pete Paphides delves into the BBC auditions process for aspiring bands in the 1950s and 60s such as The Rolling Stones, Elton John, The Who and Pink Floyd.
Throughout this era, any artist hoping to achieve wider national recognition would try and secure national radio exposure. To do this, they would have to meet the exacting standards of a small but powerful board of assessors within the BBC. Producers and sound engineers of the time remember the sessions and we hear musicians recalling their audition process - including Peter Hammill of Van der Graaf Generator, Judy Dyble of Fairport Convention and Alvin Stardust.
The audition panels' notes are carefully kept to this day in the BBC archive. Nick Drake's notes, for example, read as follows: "Suitable to broadcast, but would probably only be in specialist late night programmes. Type of artist who would appear on 'John Peel' record label – underground, folky. YES."
Among the artists the BBC wasn't initially convinced about were the Rolling Stones, while the errant behaviour of other groups recording BBC sessions – Pink Floyd, for example – threatened their relationship with the Corporation.
Producer: Laura Parfitt
A White Pebble Media production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2013.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b03jfmq4)
Bradford-on-Avon
Eric Robson hosts GQT from Bradford-on-Avon with Matt Biggs, Matthew Wilson and Christine Walkden taking the local audience's questions. This week the team explores the variety of plants along our highways, and Matt Biggs goes in search of Bath Asparagus.
Produced by Howard Shannon.
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
This week's questions:
Q. Could the panel make some suggestions for plants that could be grown on top of a canal boat, preferably providing a crop of some sort?
A. You will need plants that can cope with a limited depth of soil and can be cropped quite quickly. Herbs would grow well such as prostrate thymes or coriander. Tomatoes or strawberries would also work. You could even attempt to plant apple trees in buckets. Do not try planting anything substantial or perennial. Certainly don't use water from the canal.
Q. My roses are still in bloom and I am concerned that this will have an affect on their flowering period next year.
A. The cold spring retarded growth this year and everything came into flower at once in early summer. Roses keep going until there is a hard frost. It is best to follow your normal routine and prune them now. Make the decision for them and take the head back by about a third. Prune again early next year.
Q. I have a narrow, shady bed measuring 20ft(6m) by 1ft(30cm). It is bordered either side by tarmac and hedgerow. Could the panel suggest something that would add interest but also disguise any weeds?
A. Lamium Orvala is a beautiful dead nettle with flower spikes about 15inches(38cm) tall. Alchemillas and Francoa Sonchifolia would cope well on this site. Tiarellas and Mitellas would also work.
It is important to remember that less is more, as there is a risk that it could look fragmented. To create a matrix use something like Hakonechloa Macra, the variegated Japanese grass. Some of the Begenias or Pachysandra Terminalis are very beautiful. Perhaps add some structure using ferns and add something striking like Jeffosonia Dubia or Pulmonarias. Try punctuating the bed using taller structures or even topiary.
Q. Could the panel suggest some annuals or perennials that would extend the cut flower season?
A. Think about using flowers that you can dry such as Molucellas and Zinnias. Sowing later will allow for an extended period. Try Cornflowers or Hesperantha Coccinea. Schizanthus are late flowering and one particular variety called Jennifer produces a beautiful pink colour.
Q. Why would onions start to rot after they had been thoroughly dried and stored in the correct manner?
A. This is probably a case of Botrytis and will be a skin-based problem. If you have a particularly wet spell the water travels down the leaf blades and congregates on the leaf sheaths. Turn the bulbs over when drying them so to remove a high proportion of water.
Q. I have a Nordland Fir Tree in a 16inch (40cm) pot with ericaceous compost. It is now about 5ft (1.5m) tall. Should I repot it, and if I were to chop off the leading spur would it sprout at the bottom?
A. Don't take out the top because it will become squat and won't sprout. Pruning it too much can change its habits. You could repot the fir and remove the top few inches. However, it will require a lot of aftercare.
SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b03jyf6w)
Sunday Edition - The Connection at St Martin in the Fields
Fi Glover introduces conversations between people who work at The Connection and those who have found friendship and purpose there, whether through art or cooking, proving 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 The James M Cain Series (b03jyp1c)
James M Cain - Double Indemnity
Walter Huff has a good steady job in the insurance business and leads a quiet life. Then he meets and falls in love with Phyllis, an unhappily married woman, enquiring about accident insurance for her husband. They come up with a plan in which Phyllis's husband will die an unlikely death, by falling from a moving train. The 'accidental' nature of his demise will trigger the 'double indemnity' clause of the policy, forcing the insurance company to pay the widow twice the normal amount.
The couple carry out their plan but things soon turn sour. The Insurance Investigator is suspicious, and so are Phyllis's daughter, and her mysterious boyfriend Nino.
Adapted from James M Cain's novel, by Stef Penney
A BBC/Cymru Wales production, directed by Kate McAll.
SUN 16:00 Bookclub (b03jyp1h)
Lee Child - Killing Floor
With James Naughtie.
Lee Child discusses the first in his hugely successful Jack Reacher series, Killing Floor, and published in 1997. He's now gone on to write 18 books featuring his grizzled action hero, a former military policeman of no fixed abode.
Lee reflects on the genesis of Jack Reacher, who appeared when he decided to write fiction after being made redundant by Granada TV in 1995. Lee says that he and Jack were on a parallel journey in Killing Floor, as Jack has just left the military and is out in an unfamiliar world at the same time as Lee. As he looks back, he can see his own raw emotion in Jack, who in Killing Floor is a character full of fury. But by book seven, the frustration had abated and Jack's anger had calmed down.
The books have gone on to sell over 60 million copies worldwide.
As always on Bookclub, a group of invited readers join in the discussion.
January's Bookclub choice : The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Producer : Dymphna Flynn.
SUN 16:30 The Whitsun Weddings (b03jyp1k)
Whitsun Weddings was the title poem of the collection - published 50 years ago - that made Larkin famous. Poet Jean Sprackland, who teaches Larkin and whose father, a librarian, met him professionally, retraces the train journey at the heart of the poem.
She considers Larkin's views about marriage, about class and about the 'state of Britain', against the background of the poet's own seemingly quiet life in the provincial town of Hull.
For many, Whitsun Weddings is Philip Larkin's most characteristic poem, expressing his detachment from the crowd and from love and marriage of the ordinary sort.
With James Booth, Andrew Motion, John Osborne and Larkin's surviving mistress, the 'third woman' Betty Mackereth.
Producer: Susan Marling
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 17:00 The Next Global Killer (b03jb36z)
Ten years after the SARS pandemic, science journalist Alok Jha investigates whether we'll ever predict or at least be well prepared for future deadly global epidemics, be they bird flu or bat viruses
When it comes, the pandemic will be caused by a virus which originated in an animal and then crossed the species barrier into humans. This is how the so-called Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 started. That global epidemic killed an estimated 50 million people. The AIDS pandemic of the last 30 years resulted from a virus in forest primates jumping into hunters in Central Africa. Since then a bat virus spread through other animals to humans to cause SARS, infecting thousands and killing hundreds. And since the late 1990s, scientists have been closely watching the deadly avian flu virus H5N1 for indications that it might begin to spread from person to person.
Outbreaks of infectious zoonotic diseases have been increasing since the 1950s. Epidemiologists blame a combination of accelerating encroachment into wild habitats, increasing human and farm animal numbers, ever more urbanisation and the modern day ease of travel. Humans and their domestic animals are making increasing contact with wildlife (from which these viruses originate) and forming ever denser and complex transmission routes which increase the chances of an infection taking off.
However the fact that more of these 'spill-over' outbreaks are documented is also likely to be down to the fact that the world is looking harder for them. Even greater and more intensive surveillance is one of the keys to pandemic prediction and preparedness.
Alok Jha visits a new human-animal virus surveillance project in Vietnam, operated by the University of Oxford, the Wellcome Trust and Vietnamese authorities where they are looking for previously unknown viruses causing illness in the general population, as well as doing long term surveillance on hundreds of farms, animal markets and wildlife sites, both of animals and the people who come into contact with them. Alok visits a live animal market in the Mekong delta where rats are sold and butchered for customers and a small farm where all the animals are being sampled for state of the viral detection. The Oxford-led project hope their project will act as a model for more intensive and sophisticated novel disease surveillance systems in Vietnam and other developing countries.
But even with better surveillance and an improved grasp of what viruses are out there, another major obstacle to accurate pandemic prediction is our lack of knowledge of which particular viruses we should be most worried: those which need swift preventative action and those that don't. Which versions of avian influenza H5N1 for example would have the ability to spread from person to person as easily as seasonal flu. There is a controversial line of research which would get us to these answers though.
Alok meets the leading and controversial Dutch virologist Ron Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam. Prof Fouchier's team has evolved a variant of H5N1 which can spread through the air between mammals in his Level 3 biosecure lab. The technique involved a combination of preliminary genetic engineering with 3 mutations already found out in the real world and then letting the virus evolve by itself. Only a handful of genetic changes are needed to turn H5N1 which reaches a dead end once it gets into mammals to a virulent pathogen which becomes airborne and infectious.
Colleagues of Fouchier at the University of Cambridge used his findings to calculate the odds of that transformation in the laboratory happening in the real world. It is a real possibility they say, given the billions of domestic birds and people, and that H5N1 is still out there in many flocks in Asia.
The experiments have caused alarm among bioterrorism experts and there has been a moratorium on publishing Fouchier's data. However Fouchier and other virologists argue that the information about which mutations in animal viruses cause them to jump to and then spread easily between humans is essential for global pandemic surveillance if we are going to predict and prevent the next global killer.
Alok Jha is one of the science correspondents at 'The Guardian' and a regular reporter on BBC TVs 'Science Club'.
SUN 17:40 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b03jyp1m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 today]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b03jp706)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b03jp708)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03jp70b)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b03jyp1p)
The best of BBC Radio this week chosen by Stella Duffy.
This week we've taken off the rose-coloured glasses to look at what's behind the stories, with the background to some powerful music, comedy and writing - Hardeep Singh Kohli on Dougie Maclean's Caledonia, Stuart Maconie's The People's Songs considering our love of the countryside, and Felicity Evans on The New Welfare in Wales, Erica Wagner on the Legacy of Uncle Tom, and Soul Music looking at Strange Fruit, the song Billie Holiday made her own, and President Obama's private spiritual adviser, there's politics, people, past, present - and possibility.
Programmes chosen this week
Caledonia - A Love Song to a Nation - Radio 4
The People's Songs - Radio 2
Andrew Maxwell's Public Enemies - Radio 4
Leaving the Faith - Radio 4
Andrew Peach - Radio Berkshire
Through the Wardrobe - The Belle Dress - Radio 4
PM - news read in regional accents, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday - Radio 4
Yip Yap Rap - Simeon Courtie - BBC Radio Wiltshire
That Mitchell and Webb Sound - Radio 4
Women - A History of Britain in Numbers ep 9 - Radio 4
1963 That Was The Year That Was - Radio 4
The Infinite Monkey Cage - Radio 4
What Does the K Stand For? - Radio 4
The Legacy of Uncle Tom - Radio 4
Living with New Welfare - Radio 4
Today - Wednesday - Radio 4
Heart and Soul - World Service
Produced by Kevin Mousley
If there's something you'd like to suggest for next week's programme, please e-mail potw@bbc.co.uk.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b03jyp1r)
Will finds George putting Baz's collar in the ground so that he won't get off his lead again. Will bites his tongue and comforts George, telling him that Baz is safe in heaven.
It's time to switch on the Christmas lights around the Green. As Kirsty tells Tom to hit the switch, she worries they've overdone it but Tom insists it's perfect. Jess finds the lights magical and wants to tell Tom and Kirsty how great their home looks.
Eddie's selling Tom some mistletoe and persuades Rob to buy some too. Kirsty's glad when they manage to get away from Rob and Jess. Rob makes her so angry. She can't let it go, not when Helen's still heartbroken over him.
Will's still in a state, convinced that Ed knew he was shooting at Baz. Clarrie insists it was an accident but Will won't hear of it. Eddie doesn't want them discussing it. Not now. He just wants Clarrie to enjoy the lights. Clarrie hopes Will is still going to help with the turkeys but he won't be there if Ed is. Clarrie tries to convince Will that Ed's sorry but it makes no difference. Will won't spend a minute in Ed's company.
SUN 19:15 Meet David Sedaris (b03jysr6)
Series 4
Episode 1
One of the world's funniest storytellers is back on BBC Radio 4 doing what he does best.
There are two stories, this week: "The Happy Place", dealing with the ups and downs of a colonoscopy; and "The Shadow of Your Smile", about how the right lighting can make us all look good.
Producer: Steve Doherty
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 19:45 Through the Wardrobe (b03jysr8)
Tilly's Tale
In tribute to Belfast-born C.S. Lewis who died on 22nd November 1963, three new short stories take us though doors and portals into unexpected worlds and situations. While novelist and playwright Lucy Caldwell charts a defining moment in the life of someone struggling with their sense of identity, a woman gets to know her neighbours a little more intimately than she could ever have expected in a story from novelist and screenwriter Glenn Patterson. And finally in a new story from Frank Cottrell Boyce we discover what might happen if C.S. Lewis himself were to discover an opening to another world. What might such a world contain?
Tilly's Tale by Glenn Patterson
Read by Michelle Fairley
Produced in Belfast by Heather Larmour.
SUN 20:00 Feedback (b03jfmqc)
There are irritants aplenty this week as listeners tell us about the Radio 4 programmes that have driven them to distraction. Many of them wrote to ask why Radio 4's Book of the Week about the life of former French president Mitterrand used French accents that rendered it more 'Allo 'Allo! than serious biography.
And many other listeners are infuriated by the repeated use of just four piano notes heard in Radio 4's A History of Britain in Numbers. The series' Executive Producer, David Prest, tells us why they decided to use a 'motif' that some say distracted them from the vital statistics.
We'll also be talking to the Controller of BBC Radio 2, Bob Shennan. While Radio 2's audience reached a record high of 15 million this year, the changes to the Sunday evening schedule and the loss of firm favourites like Big Band Special and Russell Davies has left some listeners deeply disappointed. The Controller explains why he made the changes.
And should an active politician appear on Desert Island Discs? We air your views on Ed Miliband's appearance on Sunday's edition.
Producer: Will Yates
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b03jfmq9)
A priest, Walt Disney's daughter, a centenarian Labour campaigner, a footballer, an actor
Matthew Bannister on
Father Alec Reid, the Catholic priest who played a pivotal role in the Northern Ireland peace process.
Walt Disney's daughter Diane Disney Miller who inspired some of her father's best known creations.
Hetty Bower, a lifelong Labour Party campaigner who died aged 108.
Bill Foulkes, the Manchester United defender who survived the Munich air crash which killed many of his team mates
And Lewis Collins - who starred alongside Martin Shaw in the 70s TV series The Professionals.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (b03jsrwm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 on Saturday]
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b03jyf6f)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 In Business (b03jfg37)
Mao and Silicon
It's
6.15am and over loudspeakers across quiet streets of Nanjiecun blares out a song more familiar during the days of Chairman Mao, "The East is Red". As the sun rises, a huge white statue of Chairman Mao, surrounded by four equally huge portraits of Lenin, Marx, Stalin and Engels become visible in the town's main square. This the last Maoist collective in China, a little enclave of the past in the socialist market economy that China has now developed. How does their economy work and what is it like to live there? Meanwhile, at 3W Coffee in Beijing's 'Silicon Valley' district entrepreneurs are queuing up for their early morning burst of caffeine. This is Beijing's first tech business incubator where you're catapulted to the China of the twenty first century, with young people pushing the boundaries of the internet to create a very different China to that of Mao sixty years ago.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b03jysrb)
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 (b03jysrd)
George Parker of the FT looks at how papers covered the week's biggest stories.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b03jfc47)
Emma Thompson; Leviathan; Carrie
Francine Stock talks to Emma Thompson about Saving Mr Banks, in which she plays the author PL Travers. After prolonged artistic wrangles and a painful grappling with childhood memories, she eventually gives Walt Disney, played by Tom Hanks, the rights to her creation, Mary Poppins.
Crowd-sourced films are explored with producer Jack Arbuthnott, who worked on Life in A Day and has now produced Christmas in a Day, a montage of video sent in by the public and directed by Kevin Macdonald. Excerpts have been released on TV as part of a leading supermarket's Christmas advertising campaign with the full version unveiled online on 29th November.
Plus documentary makers Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel on Leviathan, an unconventional portrait of deep sea fishing in the North Atlantic.
And a look at Stephen King horror tale and iconic film Carrie, originally directed by Brian de Palma in 1976 and now re-made by Kimberly Peirce and starring Chloe Grace Moretz. Author Neil Mitchell compares the two and explains why the original endures.
Producer: Elaine Lester.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b03jyf67)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 02 DECEMBER 2013
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b03jp724)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b03jdw6k)
Boxing in Gleason's Gym; Sport and Capitalism
Sport and capitalism: Laurie Taylor talks to Professor of History, Tony Collins, about his new book which argues that modern sport is as much a product of our economic system as the factory, the stock exchange and the unemployment line. Also, The US sociologist, Lucia Trimbur, invites us into the everyday world of Gleason's gym, the last remaining institution of New York's golden age of boxing. Once the domain of white and black working class men, it's now shared with women as well as the wealthy.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b03jyf65)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03jp728)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03jp72b)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03jp72d)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b03jp72g)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b03ldgst)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Clair Jaquiss.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b03jz1hg)
Sybil Ruscoe travels to South Dakota in the United States and meets a young ranching couple who lost a third of their cattle in the October blizzard 'Storm Atlas'. Monty and Bobbi-Jo Williams rent 12,000 acres around Rapid City and live on the farm with their 22-month-old daughter Pacey. When the two-day storm eventually passed, Monty trekked through the snowdrifts to find his ranch strewn with nearly 200 dead cattle. He was forced to bury the bodies out in the wilderness but amidst the devastation, there was one miracle. Sybil meets the calf that survived 17 days buried under the snow.
Meanwhile, ranchers from neighbouring states have been pulling together and donating cattle to restock the worst hit ranches. Sybil talks to Ty Linger, the founder of Heifers for South Dakota.
And there's more of that interview with State Governor Dennis Daugaard about America's delayed Farm Bill and why the US Government is doing little to help snow-hit ranchers.
Presented by Sybil Ruscoe and produced, in South Dakota, by Anna Jones.
As this years pilot badger cull comes to an earlier than expected end, there are calls for the Government to gas badgers in an effort to control the spread of bovine TB. The method of gassing was abandoned in 1981, but Farming Today hears from a dairy farmer in Somerset who believes it's the most humane method of culling the animals. However the RSPCA hits back in the argument saying it should never be re-introduced.
Seventeen years since the BSE crisis and Singapore becomes the latest country to allow British beef imports. With a trade mission in China this week, the organisation for the English beef and sheep industry (EBEX) say they're focus now turns into breaking into the Chinese beef market.
And all this week Farming Today will look at what impact countryside sports, such as hunting, shooting and even the likes of llama trekking and quad biking have on the rural economy. With around four million people taking part in such pursuits the programme looks at what opportunities they offer farmers and rural communities.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Lucy Bickerton.
MON 05:56 Weather (b03jp72p)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03jz1hj)
Whooper Swan
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Chris Packham presents the whooper swan. The elegance and beauty of wild swans has inspired writers and musicians across the centuries - the most familiar perhaps being Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake, which may well have been inspired by the Whooper swan.
MON 06:00 Today (b03jz1hl)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (b03jz1hn)
Landscape and Community
Bridget Kendall talks to Patrick Keiller about the relationship between film, cities and landscape. Victoria Henshaw is interested in what our cities smell like, and what we lose when we sterilise our environment. The poet Robin Robertston has written about the bleak, remote island of St Kilda and how the remnants of its close-knit community left together in 1930. The importance and difficulty of creating a sense of community is at the heart of Giles Fraser's new series which asks whether we've become merely nostalgic for a bygone age of close neighbourhoods, or whether it's possible to reconstruct them.
Producer: Natalia Fernandez.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b03jz1hq)
Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life
Episode 1
Penelope Fitzgerald's novels were short, spare masterpieces, self-concealing, oblique and subtle. She won the Booker Prize for her novel Offshore in 1979, and her last work, The Blue Flower, was acclaimed as a work of genius.
The early novels drew on her own experiences - a boat on the Thames in the 1960s, the BBC in war-time, a failing bookshop in Suffolk, an eccentric stage-school. The later ones opened out to encompass historical worlds which, magically, she seemed to possess entirely: Russia before the Revolution, post-war Italy, Germany in the time of the Romantic writer Novalis.
Fitzgerald's life is as various and as cryptic as her fiction. It spans most of the twentieth century, and moves from a Bishop's Palace to a sinking barge, from a demanding intellectual family to hardship and poverty, from a life of teaching and obscurity to a blaze of renown.
She was first published at sixty and became famous at eighty. This is a story of lateness, patience and persistence - a private form of heroism.
Loved and admired, and increasingly recognised as one of the outstanding novelists of her time, she remains also mysterious and intriguing. She liked to mislead people with a good imitation of an absent-minded old lady, but under that scatty front was a steel-sharp brain and an imagination of wonderful reach.
This biography by Hermione Lee pursues Fitzgerald's life, her writing, and her secret self, with fascinated interest.
Read by Penelope Wilton
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b03jz1hs)
Power List Scientists: Jocelyn Bell Burnell; Ann Dowling; Wendy Hall
We often hear about the shortage of women working in science, technology and engineering. But there are women at the very top of their field and ten per cent of the women on the Power List are working in science.
Jane is joined by three of the leading women in science and Power Listers all - the astrophysicist, Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell; engineer, Professor Dame Ann Dowling; and, pioneering developer of web science, Professor Dame Wendy Hall. They'll be talking about their lives and work - and what can be done to inspire and encourage more women to go into science and pursue a career.
We also hear from graduate students at Newnham College, Cambridge about their first taste of research and from particle physicist Dr Claire Timlin about her early career experiences, including the time she spent at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
Presenter: Jane Garvey
Producer: Ruth Watts.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b03jz1hv)
HighLites: Split Ends
Episode 1
by Steve Chambers and Phil Nodding. Bridgeford is blessed with the meanest hairdresser in Britain, and the stupidest. An impending wedding looks like a great opportunity for Bev. The fact that her rival, Anton, has already secured the business is not likely to put her off.
Produced by Jessica Dromgoole and directed by Colin Guthrie.
The enduring comedy of Bev, the bitter and vindictive Chief Stylist, played by Lorraine Ashbourne, and Shirley, her fond and foolish assistant, played by Rosie Cavaliero.
Highlites, 'Split Ends', is the third 15 minute series with the fourth, 'Wash 'n' blow', due for broadcast next year.
MON 11:00 Friends with my Ex (b03jz1hx)
Some couples manage to separate and not hate each other. They choose to carry on seeing each other, going on holiday and spending Christmas together. How and why do they do it? What happens when new partners come along? A light-hearted feature about what family means in Britain today - three long-term couples describe their separation and reconciliation as friends.
Nicola and Barry met when Nicola was 16, married when she was 21 and had two boys, but the tension between them grew until they couldn't bear to be in the same room. They separated after 12 years: "There were lots of tears, but from that day everything got better." Now they speak on the phone every day. This month, Nicola is re-marrying; Barry is going to the wedding and staying in the same hotel as the honeymoon couple.
The husband of the second couple is a divorce lawyer. Adam and Brigitte lived together for 35 years until Brigitte fell in love with Gleb – 28 years her junior. Adam decided to let her go without a fight: "I'm a lawyer committed to making divorce less contentious." They now see each other several times a week for chats and evenings out: "I love him like a brother, a best friend, but I never want to sleep with him again, we've changed."
Mark and John built a house, got a dog and celebrated their civil partnership – but then Mark fell in love with another man. But John was quite happy to carry on living together: "I was devastated. But as time goes by you make your peace with the situation. Six months later he moved in and we shared the same house for eighteen months. I enjoyed it actually."
Producers: Kim Normanton and Elizabeth Burke.
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2013.
MON 11:30 Ed Reardon's Week (b03jz1hz)
Series 9
Blood of the Reardons
Ed Reardon leads us through the ups and down of his week, complete with his trusty companion, Elgar, and his never-ending capacity for scrimping and scraping at whatever scraps his agent, Ping, can offer him to keep body, mind and cat together.
Ed discovers that he has diabetes and his daughter, Eli, turns up to be his calorie counter- in-chief. To escape Eli's gluten free falafel salad, Ed enrols on a clinical trial, and that's when his son, Jake turns up in the hope of a fly-on-the-wall documentary, although as Ping Points out, it will only be marketable if Ed dies!
Written by Andrew Nickolds and Christopher Douglas
Produced by Dawn Ellis.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b03jz1j1)
Energy bill cuts; Rising house prices; Timeshares
Plans to cut energy bills, the dream holidays that people can't give away for free. We answer your questions about Timeshares. And there's a housing theme. Find out why your broadband connection could be the key to selling your home. Plus, we'll track down the cash buyers who are skewing the London property market.
MON 12:57 Weather (b03jp73f)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b03jp73h)
National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
MON 13:45 Greenback: How the Dollar Came to Rule the World (b03jz1j5)
From Wampums to Spanish Reals
The US dollar - or the Greenback as it is often known - is still the world's most important currency today, just as it was for most of the 20th Century. Wherever you go in world, you can be fairly certain that one currency - the American dollar - will be accepted. Yet it was not always so - and indeed, the dollar had a tortuous birth and a chequered history.
In the year that marks the centenary of the US Federal Reserve System, Graham Ingham presents a five-part exploration of how the dollar became established and how it ultimately became a symbol of American identity - a process that took several hundred years, and was no easy task.
Although today it seems obvious that the international importance of the dollar is a reflection of American power, its establishment and development didn't mirror the growth of the US economy at first. Indeed, long before the dollar became America's currency, the 17th century colonists from Britain had been forced to address the basic question of what money was and who should control it.
In this first programme we hear how, when the first colonists arrived in the 17th Century, money was in such short supply they bartered with native Americans using Wampums, or cowrie shells, in order to survive. Later they traded with each other using nails, peas or even dried tobacco - anything that was small and could be carried around. They also used an assortment of foreign coins, but there was always a shortage of money because the British parliament prevented the colonies from raising taxes or issuing currency.
Producer: Ruth Evans
A Ruth Evans production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b03jyp1r)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b03jz22c)
Ian Kershaw - Lost and Found
Lost and Found by Ian Kershaw
A tender and humorous drama about how a father and daughter explore the memories of the past in order to connect in the present.
Producer/Drirector Gary Brown
Tom Courtenay needs no introduction. He first came to prominence in the sixties with iconic movies such as 'The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner', 'Billy Liar' and 'Dr Zhivago'. In the 1980s he was acclaimed for his performance in 'The Dresser' with Albert Finney. Recently he has been in the West End portraying the poet Philip Larkin in a one man show 'Pretending To Be Me'. He was knighted in 2001.
Ian Kershaw has a wealth of experience in TV, Radio and Theatre. He is a graduate of the BBC Writers' Academy and has written for EastEnders, Holby City, Casualty and Shameless. Filming has just finished on his BBC TV drama 'Castles in the Sky' about Robert Watson-Watt, the father of radar, which stars Eddie Izzard. 'Lost and Found' was inspired by his wife Julie's relationship with her father John Hesmondhalgh.
MON 15:00 Round Britain Quiz (b03jz22f)
(12/12)
The 2013 season of the lateral thinking quiz reaches its final contest, with Wales hoping to complete a full house of victories this year. Only the Northern Ireland team can stop them sweeping all before them for the fourth time in five years.
Tom Sutcliffe asks the questions, and provides the teams with helpful nudges where necessary - but the more clues he has to give, the fewer the points he awards them for their answers.
The Wales team consists of Myfanwy Alexander and David Edwards, while Roisin McAuley and Brian Feeney play for Northern Ireland.
For the final contest, by tradition, every question asked in the programme has been submitted by a Round Britain Quiz listener.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b03jyf6r)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Hitler's Favourite Cowboy (b03jz22h)
At the end of the 19th century, Karl May was in the process of selling more books than any other German in history - his 80 plus works have now totalled approaching 200 million copies. The most popular feature the character Old Shatterhand - a greenhorn German (supposedly based on May himself) freshly arrived in the Wild West - and his friendship with the Apache chief Winnetou.
Among those gripped by the stories was the future leader of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler, who from the point he first discovered them as a 13-year-old boy continually turned to them in his darkest hours - even to the point of sending copies to his field-generals to embolden them and offer fresh tactical tips.
Joe Queenan heads to Germany to find out why May - who became a pacifist - was so appealing to Hitler, and also why such a popular figure in German life and letters remains virtually unknown in English speaking countries. Along the way he discovers that May's own story was every bit as interesting and fantastical as the Western tales he wrote.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2013.
MON 16:30 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b03jz22k)
Series 9
Science Rocks!
Science Rocks! This week, Brian Cox and Robin Ince are travelling back in time, to discuss when and how geology became a science, what the dinosaurs ever did for us and why cryptids, creatures of popular mythology, hold such fascination for those on the fringes of science. Joining the panel are paleobiologist Dave Martill, geologist and BBC broadcaster Hermione Cockburn, the comedian Ross Noble and legendary actor, writer and performer, Eric Idle. Producer: Rami Tzabar.
MON 17:00 PM (b03jz22m)
Coverage and analysis of the day's news.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03jp749)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b03jz22p)
Series 60
Episode 4
The antidote to panel games pays a return visit to the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Regulars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by special guest Victoria Wood with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell attempts piano accompaniment.
Producer - Jon Naismith.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b03jz22r)
Clarrie is unsuccessful in asking Nic to try to calm Will down over Ed's shooting of Baz. Nic thinks Will is in the right this time. Caroline explains to Clarrie that she saw Ed after the shooting and he was very upset. Caroline believes it was a tragic accident. She was in a similar position herself once when Mike shot at her dog. In both instances they were only trying to protect their livestock.
Nic is pleased the doctor has given Joe the all clear after his accident. Joe is touched with the news that Poppy's middle name will be Josephine. Clarrie hides her sadness at the fighting between Ed and Will.
Daniel thinks Darrell has outstayed his welcome. Shula is surprised when Daniel announces he is off to Leeds to visit an old friend for a few days. She is worried it is because of Darrell. Alistair is also annoyed with Shula for doing everything for Darrell. Alistair thinks Daniel should go away and enjoy himself and be spared the misery at home. Shula apologises but asks if Daniel could show some sympathy. Daniel is dismissive and eager to leave. Shula asks him to let them know when he is coming back.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b03jz22t)
Hilary Mantel; Spike Lee's Oldboy; Liberty and Bergdorf's
With Mark Lawson.
The RSC's stage adaptations of Hilary Mantel's bestselling novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies are currently in rehearsal before their sell-out run in Stratford-upon-Avon. Hilary Mantel and Mike Poulton, who has adapted the novels, discuss the challenges of transposing such vast and densely populated books to the stage.
Critics Catherine Bray and Adam Smith review Oldboy, Spike Lee's re-make of the Korean revenge drama, and discuss how it compares with other Hollywood versions of foreign-language dramas.
The historic department stores Liberty of London and Bergdorf's in New York come under the spotlight this week. A three-part Channel 4 documentary series goes behind the scenes at Liberty's, while a new film Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's hears from leading figures in the fashion world about the profile of the family-run store. Finance writer Lucy Kellaway reviews both.
Producer: Jerome Weatherald.
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b03jz1hv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 Whatever Happened to Community? (b03jz22w)
Through Thick and Thin
Giles Fraser has left a glittering job as Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral and is now working as the priest of a run-down parish in Elephant and Castle. This has set him thinking about the nature of community, which he investigates in this very personal series.
Community has become one of those warm and fuzzy notions about which it feels impossible to complain. But Giles thinks our presumptions about community should be challenged.
His parish in inner London is rich in diversity, but many people survive in bedsits on short-term lets and have little in common with their neighbours. Their communities have become very thin and they struggle to find common ground.
Nowhere is that common ground more apparent than in our nostalgic ideal of community - embodied in the picture postcard English village. Here is the ultimate 'thick' community - everybody knows everybody else's business, some people still leave their back doors unlocked, and locals are broadly similar in their worldview.
To examine this rural idyll, Giles travels to Northamptonshire to talk to his parents. He has no desire to live in this sort of place, but he's really interested to try to get under the skin of a close, cohesive and un-diverse community and to get a sense of the real benefits and disadvantages of living there. He also goes to nearby Finedon to talk to the vicar - Rev Richard Coles. He asks what it's like to live in a place like this if you're not quite the same as the majority - perhaps because you're gay, an immigrant, or simply plain different.
Producer: Jane Greenwood.
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b03jdy3w)
Mexico: Exorcising Evil
Vladimir Hernandez follows the Mexican priests who believe they can fight the evil of drug trafficking through the ancient Catholic practice of exorcism.
It is estimated that 60,000 people have died in Mexico in the "drug wars" linked to the narco-traffickers, who are among the most vicious criminals in the world. To some Catholic priests and believers, this is clear evidence that the Devil has taken hold among much of the population. They also point to the popularity of cults like that of "Santa Muerte", the saint of death, who is a figure of popular veneration among some of the narco-gangs. The priests are responding by practicing exorcisms, both in private and public, as they seek to expunge this evil. Vladimir watches dramatic individual and mass exorcisms, hears from those who have been through the rite and talks to critics and supporters of the practice.
Producers: Keith Morris and Mark Savage.
MON 21:00 Shared Planet (b03jb1vz)
Wildlife Conflict
As human population grows there is increasing conflict between people and nature. Competition for space and resources is intense in many areas and increasingly some species are regarded as pests when they raid crops, damage forestry or compete with us for game. Identified as one of the greatest challenges for conservation in the 21st Century, solutions are actively being sought. Whether it is living with big cats, birds of prey or reptiles, solutions will require conservationists to sit down with those who want to eradicate unwanted wildlife and be willing to accept compromise. Monty Don explores where the hotspots are, what is happening to broker solutions and what the future looks like in an increasingly crowded world.
MON 21:30 Start the Week (b03jz1hn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b03jp74k)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b03jz22y)
Protests on ther streets in Ukraine;
Latest on Glasgow helicopter crash;
Could the Profumo affair be re-investigated?
Syrian government calls for help transporting chemical weapons;
Turner Prize winner announced;
Kindertransport children remember - 75 years on.
With Ritula Shah.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b03jz230)
The Charioteer
Episode 6
By May Renault
After an injury at Dunkirk, Laurie Odell is sent to a veterans' hospital to convalesce. There he befriends Andrew, a conscientious objector serving as an orderly. But when Ralph, a mentor from his school days, reappears in his life, Laurie is forced to choose between the sweet ideals of innocence and the distinct pleasures of experience.
Episode 6:
Laurie risks court martial when a friend's marriage is threatened with ruin; Ralph tells him that he's no longer 'with' Bunny and, in return, Laurie must tell him about Andrew.
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 23:00 Mastertapes (b03k3gmb)
Series 3
Edwyn Collins (A-Side)
John Wilson talks to musicians about the album that made or changed them. Edwyn Collins discusses and plays from "Gorgeous George", his best known solo album which includes the hit song "A Girl Like You". 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.
Edwyn Collins is an Ivor Novello Award winning songwriter who has enjoyed great success both as a solo artist and as the lead singer of Orange Juice.
"Gorgeous George" was produced in the studio which Edwyn built himself and highlights Edwyn's witty melodic style. 'Girl Like You' spent 14 weeks in the charts and features in the films 'Empire Records' and 'Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle'. Edwyn has also produced records for the likes of The Cribs, Space, Little Barrie and The Proclaimers, produced and starred in his own sitcom as well as creating a book of illustrations.
In May 2009, he won the Ivors Inspiration Award in recognition of his struggles following a double brain haemorrhage in 2005. He has continued to record and his latest album 'Understated' was recently released on his own label.
In Mastertapes John Wilson 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. The B-Side of this programme can be heard on Tuesday 3rd December at
3.30
Producer: Helen Lennard.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b03jz234)
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster.
TUESDAY 03 DECEMBER 2013
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b03jp793)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b03jz1hq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03jp795)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03jp797)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03jp799)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b03jp79c)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b03ldgv5)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Revd Johnston McKay.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b03jz7s9)
The Gloucestershire badger culling pilot has fallen well short of its target. 40% of badgers in the zone have been shot, the target was 70%. Despite this, the Government and National Farmers Union have described it as a success. The President of the National Farmers Union, Peter Kendall says protesters slowed progress of the cull and methods other than free shooting may have to be considered for year two of the pilots.
'It's a lot of kissing': tonnes of Mistletoe and Holly are on sale today at the second of the annual auctions in Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire.
Anna Hill finds out drones are being used to monitor the health of crops.
And MPs on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee give their verdict on plans to shift 15% of direct farm payments into the rural development budget.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Sarah Swadling.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03jz828)
Barn Owl
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Chris Packham presents the barn owl. As soft-plumaged birds which weigh very little Barn Owls avoid hunting in strong winds or heavy rain. Snow is a problem too because it allows voles and mice to tunnel beneath its blanket, out of the owls' reach. But in spite of seasonal perils, barn owls are a welcome sight over grassy fields and verges in many parts of the UK.
TUE 06:00 Today (b03jz82b)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Politics of Architecture (b03jznq3)
Episode 3
Jonathan Glancey investigates the forces that shape our everyday architecture. Today, he looks to the future - and asks whether we should try to build a new city.
Producer: Phil Tinline.
TUE 09:30 15 by 15 (b037v9ch)
Series 2
Hip
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 'Hip', which shoots off in various directions from different roots.
Susie Dent is on hand to trace the origins of the different meanings, from the anatomical sense to the essence of 'cool'.
Hardeep tests Amber Butchart on who is 'hip' and who is not, talks to orthopaedic surgeon Adrian O'Gorman about the sharper points of hip replacements, and gets his come-uppance from salsa teacher Douglas Gomes as he tries to make Hardeep's hips move to the Latin-American beat.
And there are shorter excursions into the origins of hip hip hooray and hip hop.
Producer: Richard Bannerman
A Ladbroke production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b03jznq5)
Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life
Episode 2
Penelope Fitzgerald's novels were short, spare masterpieces, self-concealing, oblique and subtle. She won the Booker Prize for her novel Offshore in 1979, and her last work, The Blue Flower, was acclaimed as a work of genius.
The early novels drew on her own experiences - a boat on the Thames in the 1960s, the BBC in war-time, a failing bookshop in Suffolk, an eccentric stage-school. The later ones opened out to encompass historical worlds which, magically, she seemed to possess entirely: Russia before the Revolution, post-war Italy, Germany in the time of the Romantic writer Novalis.
Fitzgerald's life is as various and as cryptic as her fiction. It spans most of the twentieth century, and moves from a Bishop's Palace to a sinking barge, from a demanding intellectual family to hardship and poverty, from a life of teaching and obscurity to a blaze of renown.
She was first published at sixty and became famous at eighty. This is a story of lateness, patience and persistence - a private form of heroism.
Loved and admired, and increasingly recognised as one of the outstanding novelists of her time, she remains also mysterious and intriguing. She liked to mislead people with a good imitation of an absent-minded old lady, but under that scatty front was a steel-sharp brain and an imagination of wonderful reach.
This biography by Hermione Lee pursues Fitzgerald's life, her writing, and her secret self, with fascinated interest.
Read by Penelope Wilton
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b03jznq7)
Mona Eltahawy; Randi Zuckerberg; Pregnancy and mental health
Egypt is the worst country for women's rights in the Arab League according to a new Reuters poll. We talk to US-Egyptian journalist and activist Mona Eltahawy. Randi Zuckerberg, former Spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to founder Mark, shares her advice on how to cope with social media and fast changing technology. Pregnancy and mental health - what help should women be getting?
Role models for girls - why are so many choosing reality TV star Charlotte Crosby over Jessica Ennis or Malala? And should we be worried?
Presenter: Jane Garvey
Producer: Lucinda Montefiore
Editor: Karen Dalziel.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b03jznq9)
HighLites: Split Ends
Episode 2
by Steve Chambers and Phil Nodding. Bev's plans to muscle in on the arrangements for Theresa and Nigel's wedding are moving forward. But whether Lois, the wedding planner, is delighted with this prospect is another matter.
Produced by Jessica Dromgoole and directed by Colin Guthrie.
TUE 11:00 Shared Planet (b03jznqc)
Ocean Pollutants
Sea lions in California are developing cancer and the most likely cause is pollution in the ocean. As world population grows and demands on agriculture increase, can we control the amount of damaging chemicals entering rivers and then being taken into the sea? Many of these agricultural and industrial chemicals are long lasting and highly toxic and, although officially banned, substances like DDT and PCBs are still in use in some areas. As pressure grows to control diseases in order to feed a growing world, solutions have to be found to stop these harmful chemicals damaging wildlife. Monty Don explores the problems of keeping our coastal waters free of toxins. Can we grow food and control disease while still protecting wildlife?
TUE 11:30 Soul Music (b03jznqg)
Series 17
Gymnopédie No 1
From the seat of a concert hall piano, Pascal Rogé, one of the world's greatest interpreters of French piano music, leads us through a personal and musical journey of Erik Satie's Gymnopédies. You may not immediately know the title but in hearing just the first few notes you are most likely to know the music.
Erik Satie's Gymnopédies are a collection of short, atmospheric pieces of which Gymnopédie No.1 is perhaps the most popular. Music historian and author Mark Prendergast has studied Satie's work and reveals the complex character of the man who revolutionised the 19th century classical music of Europe. Melbourne based artist Colin Duncan reflects on the music's 'physical form which takes you into space and time' and for him inspired a body of work created in brail. Murder Mystery writer Cathy Ace remembers how this meditative music could shut out the noise of the city as she sped around London in her old brown mini, whilst Mathematician and author Ian Stewart explores the mathematics of this special piece and how music can touch our soul.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b03jznqj)
Call You and Yours
Shari Vahl discusses debt. Do you rely on it to support your lifestyle, or has it spiralled out of control? Tell us your experiences, good or bad.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b03jp79f)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b03jp79h)
National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
TUE 13:45 Greenback: How the Dollar Came to Rule the World (b03jznqm)
Not Worth a Continental
Throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries, the British pound - or sterling - was the internationally accepted medium of exchange, based on the gold standard. The American dollar only came into existence in late 18th century because of the desire of the inhabitants of what had already become Britain's most important colony to run their own lives. Indeed, the trigger for Revolution was money - the British Monarch's need for tax revenues from the colonies and the settlers' determination to run their own affairs.
In the second programme of this five-part series, Graham Ingham continues the story of how the dollar became the established currency of the United States - a process that took the best part of 200 years and was no easy task.
In 1785, nine years after the declaration of independence and two years after the end of the Revolutionary War, the leaders of the newly established republic declared that the dollar would be the monetary unit of the United States. At that time they were weren't thinking about global dominance or even about making America a mighty economic power - they were responding to the financial chaos that plagued their new country in the aftermath of the War of Independence. Establishing the dollar as the unit of currency was meant to provide economic and financial stability. The following year, in 1786, the first American mint was established in Philadelphia.
Producer: Ruth Evans
A Ruth Evans production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b03jz22r)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b03jznqp)
Julian Poidevin - Kindness
Psychological drama written by Julian Poidevin.
Happy family life is disrupted when Tom's son Simon comes to stay. His arrival unearths the past, catalysing a chain of events that exposes old and new deceptions. Simon wants to fit in and be loved, Sophie wants to escape and be loved and Tom's second wife Lorna is forced to question the stability of her seemingly perfect home life.
Director: Peter Darney
Producer: Lucinda Mason Brown
A Goldhawk Essential production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (b03jznqr)
Series 5
Fishbourne Roman Palace
Jay Rayner hosts this episode of Radio 4's culinary panel programme from Fishbourne Roman Palace, West Sussex. Answering questions from the audience are resident food historian Dr Annie Gray, Catalan cuisine specialist Rachel McCormack, food writer Tim Hayward and 2011 Masterchef-winner Tim Anderson.
Amongst the magnificent mosaics of the Roman villa, we discuss the classic combination of sweet and sour, curious recipes of Apicius, the delicacy of fattened dormice and the merits of forgotten winter fruits.
We also find out the difference between black and white pepper, attempt to solve a marital dispute over brown sauce and ask the panel about their memories of gastronomic extravagance.
Food Consultant: Anna Colquhoun.
Produced by Victoria Shepherd.
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Mastertapes (b03k3h2k)
Series 3
Edwyn Collins (B-Side)
John Wilson continues with his Radio 4 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 4 (B-side). Having discussed the making of "Gorgeous George", the career changing solo album with the world wide hit A Girl Like You (in the A-side of the programme, broadcast on Monday 2nd December and available online), Edwyn Collins - together with his wife and manager Grace Maxwell - responds to questions from the audience and, with a small band, performs acoustic live versions of some to the tracks from the album which he started recording 20 years ago.
Producer: Helen Lennard.
TUE 16:00 Spin the Globe (b03jznqw)
Series 1
0BC
Historian Michael Scott ends his new series offering a global perspective on familiar historic dates with a seasonal focus - the Year 0 BC in Judea and the birth of Jesus in the south east corner of the Roman Empire between Egypt and Syria when Romans controlled the entire Mediterranean basin.
Jesus was born into a region which was one of the great fault lines of the ancient world. Emperor Caesar Augustus annexed Egypt and opened up a trade route to the east via the Red Sea. Rome was wealthy, and had a great demand from Asia. Roman traders learned from the Arabs to sail with the monsoon winds from the Red Sea to the west coast of India. This encouraged demand for goods from Asia.
Augustus was the first emperor of Rome. He transformed Rome from a republic, led by competing nobles, to an empire, ruled by one man. When he died in 14 AD he was declared a god by the Roman Senate.
So as Christianity was beginning, so too the concept of the divine Roman emperor forming in Roman pagan religion. This would lead to a big problem later down the line as Christians could not accept the one thing Romans insisted upon: ultimate worship of the emperor.
In the Maya region, the first true city ,El Mirador (located in Guatemala), was entering its greatest century of growth. The largest structures, including massive pyramids with multiple temples on top, ever built by the Maya were constructed during the first century. By the year 0 we are also looking at the rise of the great Mayan cities like Tikal and Calakmul. Writing flourished; kingdoms appropriated power and were later to expand exponentially.
Glass blowing was invented around this period and it revolutionised the production of glass vessels. It is believed to have originated in Roman Syria and rapidly spread to Italy and the western provinces. The use of moulds helped speed up production and meet the demand for utilitarian household storage or transport vessels, as well as decorative pieces.
And a king was also said to have been born in the far east. Yuri was the son of Jumong, the founder of Goguryeo, the northernmost of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. He became King upon his father King Jumong's death and is described as a powerful and militarily successful king. He died in 18 AD having ruled for 37 years.
Producer: Mohini Patel.
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b03k0s5d)
Fern Britton and Katherine Grainger
TV presenter Fern Britton and Olympic gold medallist rower Katherine Grainger talk to Harriett Gilbert about the books they love.
They include The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill, The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett and To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
Producer Beth O'Dea.
TUE 17:00 PM (b03k0s5g)
Coverage and analysis of the day's news.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03jp79k)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 That Mitchell and Webb Sound (b03k0s5j)
Series 5
Episode 2
The real point of owning a cat and a culture clash at the Proms.
Comedy from the lopsided world of David Mitchell and Robert Webb.
With Olivia Colman and James Bachman.
Producer: Gareth Edwards
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2013.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b03k0s5l)
Jill's got her glasses but Ruth reminds her she still needs to sort out her cataract operation. Jill admits she still hasn't got round to phoning the doctor, and doesn't think she'll have time before the new year.
Helen's mortified when Jess comes into Ambridge Organics, and sends Kirsty out to serve her. Jess explains she's getting into village life by trying a recipes from the Appetising Ambridge cookbook. She receives a call, which is an offer of a job, and is delighted. She can move up now, and is looking forward to living with her husband again.
Rob tells Jess he's looking forward to a fresh start. She's surprised when he suggests they look at buying a property further afield and reminds him that she wants to be part of a community. Rob insists it would be better for both of them if they were nearer to Felpersham.
Helen acknowledges that Kirsty was right all along. She knows now there's no point clinging on to false hope. It doesn't help that Jess is so nice but Helen's just going to have to face facts. Whatever she and Rob had, it's over. And it's not coming back.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b03k0s5n)
Nebraska; One-woman shows; John Pilger
Nebraska is the latest road movie from Alexander Payne, the director of oenophile comedy Sideways. In Nebraska, Bruce Dern plays an ageing father who takes a trip with his son across the mid-west to pick up a million-dollar prize. Critic Leslie Felperin delivers her verdict.
Josephine Baker, Billie Holiday and Julie Andrews have all appeared on the London stage this year, in one-woman shows performed by Cush Jumbo, Nina Kristofferson and Sarah-Louise Young respectively. The three actresses reflect on the pitfalls of dedicating a show to a beloved performer, and how it feels to have a close friend of that performer make themselves known in the audience.
Philomena director Stephen Frears reveals the part he played in one of this year's surprise hits in publishing, Love, Nina, a nanny's account of family life by Nina Stibbe.
Investigative journalist John Pilger turns his gaze on his home country of Australia and the treatment of indigenous people, in his latest documentary Utopia. He tells Mark about the reception he is expecting down under.
Producer: Stephen Hughes.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b03jznq9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 Cry Freehold (b03k0s5q)
There is a housing crisis in many parts of Britain. But is land the real issue? Chris Bowlby goes to Oxford, where the problem is acute, to investigate.
He hears how a dynamic city can end up with virtually nowhere to build, how land prices help make homes so costly and how land shortage creates invisible victims.
Producer: Lucy Proctor.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b03k0s5s)
Owner-trained guide dogs; Tactile tours of Parliament
Two listeners describe their experiences of having trained their own guide dogs from puppy to fully-fledged working dog. They are calling on the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association to provide minimum standards for owner trained guide dogs as well as develop a policy on providing support and accreditation.
This week's guest presenter Gary O'Donoghue, Radio 4's Chief Political Correspondent, takes a tactile tour of the Houses of Parliament, availing himself of the rare chance to sit on The Woolsack in the House of Lords and orate from the Speaker's chair.
Presenter: Gary O'Donoghue
Producer: Lee Kumutat.
TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (b03k0s5v)
For its 25th anniversary All in the Mind launches 3 new awards to recognise outstanding help, support or advice in the field of mental health. Claudia Hammond explains the categories and how to nominate. Also in the programme, a new look at one of the most famous and controversial psychology experiments ever. In 1961 Stanley Milgram ran a series of experiments where unwitting volunteers were ordered to give increasing electric shocks to a man they'd never met under the guise of research into memory. Many gave a series of increasing shocks up to 450 Volts despite hearing screams and calls for help from the unseen 'victim'. But it was a set up. The shocks were fake and the victim was an actor. The results of Milgram's obedience research caused a worldwide sensation. Milgram reported that people had repeatedly shocked a man they believed to be in pain or even dying and he linked his findings to Nazi behaviour. But was his version of the results really what happened? Claudia Hammond talks to Gina Perry who has researched Milgram's unpublished papers and spoken to those who took part in the experiment. Her findings reveal a story far from Milgram's own version of his obedience research.
TUE 21:30 The Politics of Architecture (b03jznq3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b03jp79m)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b03k0s5x)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b03k0s6w)
The Charioteer
Episode 7
By Mary Renault
After an injury at Dunkirk, Laurie Odell is sent to a veterans' hospital to convalesce. There he befriends Andrew, a conscientious objector serving as an orderly. But when Ralph, a mentor from his school days, reappears in his life, Laurie is forced to choose between the sweet ideals of innocence and the distinct pleasures of experience.By Mary Renault
After an injury at Dunkirk, Laurie Odell is sent to a veterans' hospital to convalesce. There he befriends Andrew, a conscientious objector serving as an orderly. But when Ralph, a mentor from his school days, reappears in his life, Laurie is forced to choose between the sweet ideals of innocence and the distinct pleasures of experience.
Episode 7:Laurie and Andrew are drawn closer than ever by an emergency on the ward, then argue and make up. Both men are left in a state of confusion, just as Laurie is transferred to town.
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4
Episode 1:
Idealistic Laurie Odell is up in arms when his hero, prefect Ralph Lanyon, is expelled from their school for immorality - and Ralph bequeaths him a life-changing book.
Read by: Anton Lesser
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:00 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b03jz22k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Monday]
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b03k0s6y)
The Education Secretary responds to international statistics putting British academic achievement outside the top 20 in English, Maths and Science. The Guardian Editor appears before the Home Affairs Committee following leaks from the former US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden. And is it tokenism to have female sports presenters? Sean Curran reports from Westminster.
WEDNESDAY 04 DECEMBER 2013
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b03jp7bk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b03jznq5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03jp7bm)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03jp7bp)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03jp7br)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b03jp7bt)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b03ldgvg)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Revd Johnston McKay.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b03k0wm5)
Farmers are being urged to capitalise on what's being described as the 'best opportunities for a generation'. HSBC say now is the best time for farmers to sell into the global market. The message comes as David Cameron is in China with the largest British trade delegation ever to visit the country.
Every year in the UK around three hundred and fifty thousand pink-footed geese spend winter at a number of sites including some in Eastern Scotland, around the Wash and North Norfolk. Although a spectacular sight, Farming Today hears about the serious problem they cause to farmers as they feed on recently sown wheat and barley.
And with their reputation of highly sought after milk, Holland is now home to its first herd of Guernsey cows. With help from the English Guernsey Cattle Society a Dutch farmer has imported twenty-four heifers and a yearling bull. If proved to be successful he hopes to welcome many more to his herd.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Lucy Bickerton.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03k21n6)
Blackbird
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs
Chris Packham presents the blackbird. Resident blackbirds are on the alert just now because their territories are under siege. Large numbers of Continental blackbirds pour in to the UK each winter to escape even colder conditions elsewhere.
WED 06:00 Today (b03k0wm7)
News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather, Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b03k0wm9)
June Brown, James Torme, Jo Bell, Dr Peter Sharrock
Jo Bell is the first Canal Laureate, appointed by the Poetry Society and the Canal and River Trust to encourage more people to appreciate their local waterways. She has lived aboard her 67ft narrowboat Tinker for a decade, mostly on the canals of the Midlands and North West. She is currently writing new verse inspired by her observations and collating work by other poets who have written about our canals and rivers.
Actor June Brown has played Dot Cotton in EastEnders for over 25 years. Her autobiography, Before the Year Dot, traces the first 30 years of her life from her childhood in Ipswich to her days as a gifted stage actor. Like her on-screen persona, June has suffered her share of tragedy including the deaths of her elder sister and her first husband. She trained at the Old Vic Company and her television career started with small parts in Coronation Street, Doctor Who and Minder before she joined the cast of EastEnders. Before the Year Dot is published by Simon and Schuster.
James Tormé is a jazz singer and son of the popular vocalist and composer Mel Tormé. James grew up surrounded by jazz legends including Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald. As well as his own compositions, James pays tribute to his late father by performing songs from Mel Tormé's repertoire including the Christmas Song, written with Bob Wells. James Tormé is performing at The Hippodrome in Leicester Square.,
Dr Peter Sharrock is an art historian at SOAS, University of London. As a young news reporter, he covered the war in Vietnam during the 1970s. Although witness to a brutal war that decimated much of the region, the experience triggered his lifelong passion for the art and culture of South East Asia. He later became an academic and one of his former students recently donated £20m to SOAS to fund scholarships for students from South East Asia.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b03k0wmc)
Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life
Episode 3
Penelope Fitzgerald's novels were short, spare masterpieces, self-concealing, oblique and subtle. She won the Booker Prize for her novel Offshore in 1979, and her last work, The Blue Flower, was acclaimed as a work of genius.
The early novels drew on her own experiences - a boat on the Thames in the 1960s, the BBC in war-time, a failing bookshop in Suffolk, an eccentric stage-school. The later ones opened out to encompass historical worlds which, magically, she seemed to possess entirely: Russia before the Revolution, post-war Italy, Germany in the time of the Romantic writer Novalis.
Fitzgerald's life is as various and as cryptic as her fiction. It spans most of the twentieth century, and moves from a Bishop's Palace to a sinking barge, from a demanding intellectual family to hardship and poverty, from a life of teaching and obscurity to a blaze of renown.
She was first published at sixty and became famous at eighty. This is a story of lateness, patience and persistence - a private form of heroism.
Loved and admired, and increasingly recognised as one of the outstanding novelists of her time, she remains also mysterious and intriguing. She liked to mislead people with a good imitation of an absent-minded old lady, but under that scatty front was a steel-sharp brain and an imagination of wonderful reach.
This biography by Hermione Lee pursues Fitzgerald's life, her writing, and her secret self, with fascinated interest.
Read by Penelope Wilton
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b03k0xj4)
If shoes could talk; women and the budget; Barbara Broccoli; prostitution round the world
Old shoes with special memories - why the largest collection of footwear heritage want to have your shoes. How the autumn budget statement will impact on women. As France changes their laws on prostitution, we look at legislation round the world, and ask who's getting it right. James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli tells Jenni about turning her hand to theatre. And author Virginia Gilbert on her first novel - a psychological thriller.
Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Kirsty Starkey.
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b03k0xj6)
HighLites: Split Ends
Episode 3
by Steve Chambers and Phil Nodding. Highlites hairdressing salon looks to be expanding its business. But Bev's plans to muscle in on the arrangements for Theresa and Nigel's wedding hit a considerable obstacle.
Produced by Jessica Dromgoole and directed by Colin Guthrie.
WED 11:00 Monogamy and the Rules of Love (b038c0fj)
Does monogamy still have a place in a society where choice is everything? Jo Fidgen asks why people are still so wedded to the ideal, if not always the practice. Does true love really demand sexual fidelity and what happens when people choose to open up their relationships?
WED 11:30 Hard to Tell (b03k21n8)
Series 2
Episode 4
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 4:
The Bicycle Thief. It's Ellen's birthday and, despite money troubles, Tom wants to make an unforgettable impression, while all of Ellen's friends are determined to keep her away from him.
Producer: Lucy Armitage
A Tiger Aspect production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b03k21nb)
Could high bills for flood insurance put small shops out of business?
Could high bills for flood insurance put small shops out of business? Consumer news with Winifred Robinson.
WED 12:57 Weather (b03jp7bw)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b03jp7by)
National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
WED 13:45 Greenback: How the Dollar Came to Rule the World (b03k21nd)
The First and Second Banks
In the chaotic aftermath of the War of Independence, one of the most pressing challenges facing the new nation was the need to establish a monetary system that would facilitate trade - both within the United States and with overseas trading partners. But the Founding Fathers disagreed about how to manage the monetary system.
In the third programme of this five-part series, Graham Ingham traces the history of how the dollar became the established currency of the United States - a process that took the best part of 200 years, and was no easy task.
Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, was convinced that a degree of central control over monetary policy, including a central bank, was essential for the future economic and political stability of the union and a prototype central bank was established in Philadelphia in 1791. But opponents of this approach succeeded in ensuring the first bank's charter wasn't renewed.
In 1816, Congress tried again with the second Bank of the United States. But in 1832, President Andrew Jackson vetoed attempts to renew the second bank's charter. The debate between those that wanted a strong federal government and those who supported states' rights continued throughout the 19th Century - and still echoes through Washington today
Producer: Ruth Evans
A Ruth Evans production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b03k0s5l)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Father Brown Stories (b010y0sr)
Father Brown - The Secret Garden
By G. K. Chesterton.
Dramatised by Bert Coules.
Paris, 1911. A dinner party given by Aristide Valentin, Chief of the Paris Police, is disturbed by the discovery of a stranger lying murdered within the grounds of his high-walled garden. Who is he? How did he get there? And which of the distinguished guests has committed the gruesome crime?
Time for Father Brown to step forward. Intuitive and unassuming, his unremarkable exterior conceals a profound knowledge of human frailty. Who better than a priest to understand the nature and prevalence of evil?
Directed by Kirsteen Cameron.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b03k21nj)
Saving Money on Your Energy Bills
How will your gas and electricity bills be affected by the government's new deal with energy companies?
Customers are being promised a cut of around £50 a year on their fuel bills after the government announced a series of energy measures designed to help struggling households.
Green policy targets are being slowed and the Warm Homes Discount, to help those in fuel poverty, will now be paid for by the taxpayer.
But as five of the Big Six energy companies have already put up their prices, how will you benefit? And what help is available to reduce your fuel bills? Some energy companies have already confirmed they won't pass on the cut to customers who have already fixed.
If you're looking to fix your energy bills, what are the best deals around? And if you're on a pre-paid meter, will you gain from these changes?
Whatever your energy question, our panel of experts are here to help.
Ruth Alexander will be joined by:
Joe Malinowski, from The Energy Shop; Anne Robinson, Director of Consumer Policy at USwitch;
and Jamie Walters, advice centre manager, from The Centre for Sustainable Energy.
Call 03700 100 444 from
1pm to
3.30pm on Wednesday or e-mail moneybox@bbc.co.uk
Presenter: Ruth Alexander
Producer: Diane Richardson.
WED 15:30 All in the Mind (b03k0s5v)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b03k21nl)
Tooth Loss; Communist Utopia in a Spanish Village
Communist 'utopia' in a Spanish village. Laurie Taylor talks to the writer, Dan Hancox, about his research into a tiny community in Andalucia which set out to create an egalitarian enclave after the demise of General Franco. Does the reality match the dream? They're joined by the social geographer, Helen Jarvis. Also, the health researcher, Nicolette Rousseau, discusses the experience and meaning of tooth loss and replacement.
Producer:Jayne Egerton.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b03k21nn)
TV exports to China; macho news desks; Gary Barlow on Radio 2; UGC local paper
As David Cameron concludes a trip to China in which the country's love of Downton Abbey has become clear, we discuss the opportunities for exporting British TV programmes.
Eleanor Mills, editorial director of The Sunday Times, and new Chair of Women in Journalism, on the action that's needed to tackle what she believes is a macho culture on the news desks of some national newspapers.
Why the commercial radio sector will be listening carefully to BBC Radio 2 next week as it features Gary Barlow during the day, before a concert in the evening.
And the first edition of a newspaper designed to be largely made up of user-generated content has been published by Johnston Press. We discuss whether making groups and schools content producers will kill local Lincolnshire journalism.
Producer: Katy Takatsuki.
WED 17:00 PM (b03k21nq)
Coverage and analysis of the day's news.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03jp7c0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 What Does the K Stand For? (b03k21ns)
Series 1
My Mum Is Shirley Bassey
Stephen traces his ability to spin a yarn back to an incident with his mum and the school fete.
Stephen K Amos's sitcom about his teenage years, growing up black, gay and funny in 1980s South London.
Written by Jonathan Harvey with Stephen K Amos.
Himself ... Stephen K Amos
Young Stephen ... Shaquille Ali-Yebuah
Stephanie Amos ... Fatou Sohna
Virginia Amos ... Ellen Thomas
Vincent Amos ... Don Gilet
Miss Collins ... Gemma Whelan
Jayson ... Frankie Wilson
PE Teacher/Red Coat ... Harry Jardine
Producer: Colin Anderson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2013.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b03k21nv)
Shula is delayed with Darrell in Borchester, so she can't give Jill a lift to Penny Hassett. Jim can't understand why Shula perseveres with Darrell. He offers to give Jill a lift, and accepts her invitation to join her at the bring and share lunch, even though it's a church do.
Caroline hopes Oliver isn't too disappointed that she's decided to give Kathy the deputy manager job. She knows he preferred another candidate. He assures her he'll stand by her decision.
Caroline tells Will that she saw how devastated Ed was when the accident happened. Will's not interested. Caroline points out that George will suffer more if they stay at loggerheads. She suggests he thinks about it, for George and Clarrie's sake.
Ed brings George to help with Bartleby and is pleased it takes George's mind off Baz. Ed wishes the accident hadn't happened and is still beating himself up. When Joe insists Will won't be there, Ed agrees to help with the turkeys.
As Ed and George leave, Joe tells Ed that he'll let Clarrie know he'll help with the turkeys. Joe then takes a call from Will, with another message for Clarrie. Will's decided to help with the turkeys after all. Joe tells him he's sure Clarrie will be pleased as punch.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b03k21nx)
Jude Law in Henry V; Atiq Rahimi; Politicians and music; 28 Up South Africa
With Mark Lawson.
Last night Jude Law took to the London stage as Henry V in Michael Grandage's final play in his current West End season. Law, who previously played Hamlet under Grandage's direction, performs a paired-down text in a simple stage setting. Rachel Cooke was at the first night last night and gives her response.
As the Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls prepares to play a 'short but difficult' Schumann piano piece at a charity event this weekend, music critic Norman Lebrecht considers other politicians who have stepped up to the mic for a musical performance. David Steel, Bill Clinton, Condoleezza Rice and Silvio Berlusconi are just a few who've performed in public, but is it always a good idea?
Atiq Rahimi talks about his film, The Patience Stone, adapted from his award-winning novel of the same name. A powerful tale of one woman's resolve to break free from silence and oppression, he reveals the influence behind the story, and discusses the difficulties of turning his novels into films.
The "...Up" series of documentaries, revisiting the same diverse group of children every 7 years began in Britain in 1964, with the original children reaching 56 in the most recent series. The format has also been adopted all over the world and tonight ITV broadcasts the most recent South African version, with the participants now aged 28. Gabriel Tate reviews the programme.
Producer: Ellie Bury.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b03k0xj6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b03k21p1)
Morality on the battlefield
This Friday a court martial will sentence Marine A - the sergeant who was found guilty of the murder of a wounded Afghan insurgent. In footage from a helmet camera we heard the Commando shooting the man point blank in the chest with the words: "Shuffle off this mortal coil... It's nothing you wouldn't do to us." He then said to his comrades: "Obviously this doesn't go anywhere, fellas. I just broke the Geneva Convention". With these words you might feel that Marine A was condemned out of his own mouth. His guilt has certainly been established, now perhaps the more morally difficult question of his culpability has to be answered. Is he simply a cold blooded ruthless killer or a man who having been through the horrors of war, momentarily lost his bearings? For almost all of us it's hard to imagine the exhaustion and pressure that soldiers like Marine A have been through and if we were in the same situation, might we too have pulled the trigger? But would any hint of clemency incentivise revenge jihadist attacks and undermine our moral ascendancy over our enemies? If that is the case why are we trying Marine A and not the drone operators who fire missiles which kill innocent bystanders? We rely on our armed forces to fight on our behalf and when needs be, to kill on our behalf too, but how do we ensure they do the right thing? Is it still sufficient to rely on a "band of brothers" military ethos born out of Aristotelian virtue ethics- where we do the right thing out of strength of character that's inculcated through training and regimental honours? Or do the demands of modern warfare, where targets can be an enemy one moment and a civilian the next, mean that we should focus on more sophisticated rules of engagement and legal documents such as the Geneva Conventions?
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b03k21p3)
Series 4
Courage and Effect
Brian Lavery tells the remarkable story of Mrs Lillian Bilocca, and how a fishwife from Hull changed the country's most dangerous industry. He examines how the fame and misfortune she suffered as a result might have played out in our current social media age and asks how much life has really changed.
Producer: Giles Edwards.
WED 21:00 Frontiers (b03k21p5)
Nitrogen Fixing
3.5 billion people are alive today because of a single chemical process. The Haber-Bosch process takes Nitrogen from the air and makes ammonia, from which synthetic fertilizers allow farmers to feed our massive population.
Ammonia is a source of highly reactive nitrogen, suitable not just for fertilizer but also as an ingredient in bomb making and thousands of other applications.
Now we make around 100 million tonnes of ammonia annually, and spread most of it on our fields.
But this is a very inefficient way to use what amounts to 1-2% of the planet's energy needs. Only around 20% of fertilizer made ends up in our food.
Prof. Andrea Sella explores some of the alternative ways we might make fertilizer.
Legumes, such as peas and beans, allow certain cells in their roots to become infected by a specific type of bacteria. In return, these bacteria provide them with their own fertilizer.
Could we infect the plants we want to grow for food - such as cereals - in a similar way to cut down the climatic and environmental impact of Haber-Bosch?
WED 21:30 Midweek (b03k0wm9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b03jp7c2)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b03k21p7)
The government cuts subsidies for onshore wind and solar - where does that leave green energy in the UK?
The US Vice President takes on China tensions. We hear from islands claimed by both Beijing and Taiwan.
And new violence in the Central African Republic, with Ritula Shah.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b03k21p9)
The Charioteer
Episode 8
By Mary Renault
After an injury at Dunkirk, Laurie Odell is sent to a veterans' hospital to convalesce. There he befriends Andrew, a conscientious objector serving as an orderly. But when Ralph, a mentor from his school days, reappears in his life, Laurie is forced to choose between the sweet ideals of innocence and the distinct pleasures of experience.
Episode 8:
Laurie's transfer to the civilian hospital puts his relationship with Ralph in crisis, and he is given special leave to return home in order to attend his mother's wedding.
Reader: Anton Lesser
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:00 Political Animals (b03k21pc)
Series 2
Bo and Barack
President Obama's dog, Bo, suffers an identity crisis.
The first of four talks giving an unreliable dog's eye view of the trials and tribulations of living in the White House.
Written by Tony Bagley.
Director: Marc Beeby.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2013.
WED 23:15 Bird Island (b01jrknt)
Series 1
Episode 1
On the one hand, Ben is on the trip of a lifetime to Sub-Antarctica. On the other, he's trapped in an icy hell with one other person, a dodgy internet connection and a dictaphone. Loneliness is something of a problem. His fellow travelling scientist Graham should alleviate this, but the tragi-comic fact is, they are nerdy blokes, so they can only stumble through yet another awkward exchange. Ben experiences all the highs and lows that this beautiful, but lonely place has to offer but fails miserably to communicate this to Graham. So, Ben shares his thoughts with us in the form of an audio 'log'.
Apart from his research studying the Albatross on the Island, Ben attempts to continue normal life with an earnestness and enthusiasm which is ultimately very endearing. We're with him as chats awkwardly with Graham, telephones his mother and as he tries to form a long distance relationship with a woman through Chemistry.com. In fact, we follow Ben as everything occurs to him. We also hear the pings and whirrs of machinery, the Squawks and screeches of the birds and the vast expanse outside. Oh, and ice. Lots of ice.
Bird Island is written by Katy Wix, one half of the sketch Duo 'Anna and Katy'. Katy is a writer performer who has made appearances in 'Miranda', 'Outnumbered' and stars regularly as Daisy in 'Not Going Out'.
EPISODE ONE:
Bird Island is the story of Ben, a young scientist working in Antarctica, trying to socially adapt to the loneliness by keeping a cheery audio diary on his Dictaphone. An atmospheric 15 minute non-audience comedy. In episode 1, Ben loses his watch and logs on to a dating website.
Written by ..... Katy Wix
Produced by ..... Tilusha Ghelani.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b03k21pf)
Susan Hulme hears Nick Clegg claim credit for the economic recovery. Peers raise the case of a man sent back to Nigeria. And MPs ask how far 'genetics' accounts for children's ability to learn.
Editor: Peter Mulligan.
THURSDAY 05 DECEMBER 2013
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b03jp7d0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b03k0wmc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03jp7d2)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03jp7d4)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03jp7d6)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b03jp7d8)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b03ldgvx)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Revd Johnston McKay.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b03k279l)
The closure of nearly half the Government's animal health and veterinary labs poses a risk to animal and human health, according to the Royal College of Pathologists. The AHVLA, which runs the labs, will close six labs next year and another two at a later date. It says the re-organisation will mean that new or re-emerging animal diseases can be spotted and dealt with earlier, by building a network of experts including independent vets, universities, and other agencies. But, as Charlotte Smith's been finding out, the plan is meeting strong opposition.
Subsidies for on-shore wind farms are to be reduced, in favour of off-shore projects. With so many farmers and landowners now diversifying into energy production, what will the impact be?
And we hear about the work of a charity which aims to bring disadvantaged children out into the countryside, by getting them interested in fishing.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Emma Campbell.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03k279n)
Fieldfare
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Chris Packham presents the fieldfare. Fieldfares are thrushes, and very handsome ones. They have slate-grey heads, dark chestnut backs and black tails and their under parts are patterned with arrows. Although birds will stick around if there's plenty of food available, fieldfares are great wanderers and are quick to move out in freezing conditions.
THU 06:00 Today (b03k289c)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b03k289f)
Hindu Ideas of Creation
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Hindu ideas about Creation. According to most Western religious traditions, a deity was the original creator of the Universe. Hinduism, on the other hand, has no single creation story. For thousands of years, Hindu thinkers have taken a variety of approaches to the question of where we come from, with some making the case for divine intervention and others asking whether it is even possible for humans to comprehend the nature of creation. The origin of our existence, and the nature of the Universe we live in, is one of the richest strands of Hindu thought.
With:
Jessica Frazier
Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Kent and a Research Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies at the University of Oxford
Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad
Professor of Comparative Religion and Philosophy at Lancaster University
Gavin Flood
Professor of Hindu Studies and Comparative Religion at the University of Oxford.
Producer: Thomas Morris.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b03k289h)
Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life
Episode 4
Penelope Fitzgerald's novels were short, spare masterpieces, self-concealing, oblique and subtle. She won the Booker Prize for her novel Offshore in 1979, and her last work, The Blue Flower, was acclaimed as a work of genius.
The early novels drew on her own experiences - a boat on the Thames in the 1960s, the BBC in war-time, a failing bookshop in Suffolk, an eccentric stage-school. The later ones opened out to encompass historical worlds which, magically, she seemed to possess entirely: Russia before the Revolution, post-war Italy, Germany in the time of the Romantic writer Novalis.
Fitzgerald's life is as various and as cryptic as her fiction. It spans most of the twentieth century, and moves from a Bishop's Palace to a sinking barge, from a demanding intellectual family to hardship and poverty, from a life of teaching and obscurity to a blaze of renown.
She was first published at sixty and became famous at eighty. This is a story of lateness, patience and persistence - a private form of heroism.
Loved and admired, and increasingly recognised as one of the outstanding novelists of her time, she remains also mysterious and intriguing. She liked to mislead people with a good imitation of an absent-minded old lady, but under that scatty front was a steel-sharp brain and an imagination of wonderful reach.
This biography by Hermione Lee pursues Fitzgerald's life, her writing, and her secret self, with fascinated interest.
Read by Penelope Wilton
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b03k289k)
Women in Film; Christmas Jumpers
Christmas jumpers: faux pas to fashion essential. Fashion writer Hannah Rochelle from InStyle magazine tells on how robins and reindeers have moved from novelty, through irony to this season's must have item. Writer Abi Morgan and director, Susanna White discuss the recent BFI report which shows female screenwriters outperforming men at the box office. An asylum seeker tells us her experience of Yarl's Wood immigration centre and we speak to immigration lawyer, Harriet Wistrich about the issues. Gender segregation at university - is it ever okay? Sara Khan, Director of Inspire and journalist Reyhana Patel discuss.
Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Rebecca Myatt
Output Editor: Jane Thurlow.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b03k289m)
HighLites: Split Ends
Episode 4
by Steve Chambers and Phil Nodding. With the wedding just two days away Harriet, the vicar, pops in for a trim. It looks as if she and Bev have very different ideas about the service.
Produced by Jessica Dromgoole and directed by Colin Guthrie.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b03k29xr)
India: Resisting Rape
One year on from the horrific attack in Delhi, Joanna Jolly hears from three women who've chosen to report a rape in a country that is at last waking up to the problem. The authorities have introduced tougher laws since the young student was raped on a bus last December but is the experience of women who choose to prosecute their attackers getting any better? Three women talk about their struggle: reporting rape to a not always sympathetic police, being examined in the government's often overcrowded hospitals and finally standing up in court.
Joanna Jolly talks to the senior policewoman running the Delhi's Women and Children's Unit, a leading gynaecologist who has treated rape victims in the city and to those who've worked in the Indian legal system.
Will the public outcry over the attack over a year ago make it easier for women to report rape and will their experience of India's overburdened courts be any better?
Producer: Mark Savage.
THU 11:30 Laura Barton's Tomboys (b03k29xt)
Drawing on her own experiences and those of a literary heroine (the figure of Mick, the female protagonist of Carson McCullers' novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter), Laura Barton shares her fascination with a way of engaging with the world that's simultaneously challenging of social norms and curiously unthreatening.
Along the way, she talks to the writer Jacqueline Wilson, the fashion expert Cally Blackman and the psychologist Melissa Hines about adolescence, sexual identity and personal freedom of expression.
With music by Cat Power, Sufjan Stevens, Bjork and Antony and the Johnsons. Reading by Cecilia Fage.
Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b03mzd80)
After a listener tells us his diesel woes, we try to find out if there's a wider problem with fuel filters.
George Osborne unveils his latest plans for the economy in the Autumn Statement.
And a new police team targets the on-line counterfeit trade.
Presenter: Winnifred Robinson
Producer: Pete Wilson.
THU 12:57 Weather (b03jp7db)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b03jp7dd)
National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
THU 13:45 Greenback: How the Dollar Came to Rule the World (b03k29xw)
Greenbacks and Goldbugs
Battles between big finance and small, and between the North and the South, were to plague the US for much of the 19th Century - and in some ways came to a head in the Civil War of 1861 to 1865 and its aftermath.
In the fourth programme of this five-part series, Graham Ingham traces the history of how the dollar became the established currency of the United States - a process that took the best part of 200 years and was no easy task.
Before the Civil War there were thousands of different dollar bills in circulation because any bank could produce them. But this made life easier for counterfeiters and more difficult for traders who couldn't be sure of the worth of the currency they were using. The Civil War made this ad hoc system of currency issues unsustainable and, ultimately, led the federal government to start issuing its own, more widely accepted banknotes.
More Americans died in the four years of the Civil War than in the first and second world wars combined. Although slavery came to be seen as the key issue of the conflict, the underlying cause was the issue of the rights of individual states versus the federal government, which is what led the Southern states to secede from the Union. The federal government needed to finance the war somehow and started to issue banknotes not backed by gold. The notes became known as Greenbacks because of the green ink, used on the reverse of the bills to prevent counterfeiting.
Producer: Ruth Evans
A Ruth Evans production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b03k21nv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Pilgrim by Sebastian Baczkiewicz (b03k29xy)
Series 5
Woolmere Walter
By Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Episode 3: Woolmere Walter
Pilgrim is forced assist a mismatched couple in their very unusual courtship.
William Palmer ..... Paul Hilton
Norah ..... Michelle Terry
Michael ..... Ralf Little
Handley ..... Joel MacCormack
Sterne ..... Peter Hamilton Dyer
Fran ..... Priyanga Burford
Daddy ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Piano ..... Colin Guthrie
Directed by Marc Beeby
THU 15:00 Open Country (b03k29y0)
Romney Marsh
Tales of smuggling and 'lookers huts' unfold as Helen Mark explores Romney Marsh in Kent. Historically, this great coastal marshland was the result of reclamation of land from the sea, and is the site of an on-going battle to drain it and keep the sea from taking it back. Throughout the centuries life on the Marsh had been difficult, but by the 19th century the economy and the landscape was dominated by sheep; the Romney Marsh sheep. Today, alongside the sheep the area boasts a Nuclear power station at Dungeness, sitting in stark contrast to the shingle landscape of the National Nature Reserve it neighbours. This, along with the 14 medieval churches which dot the landscape, is what gives Romney Marsh it's unique character.
Produced by Perminder Khatkar.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b03jyf6f)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Bookclub (b03jyp1h)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b03k29y2)
Kill Your Darlings; Nebraska; A Long Way From Home; BIFA Awards
Francine Stock talks to Daniel Radcliffe and Dane Dehaan about Kill Your Darlings in which Radcliffe plays beat poet Allen Ginsberg.
Plus Sideways director Alexander Payne on his new film Nebraska starring Bruce Dern. Shot in black and white, it charts a father and son's road journey across the mid West to claim a non-existent sweep stake prize.
And James Fox on A Long Way From Home, a portrayal of a marriage under strain after a couple retires to the south of France.
Plus a look at the best of British film making as we examine the nominations for the British Independent Film Awards.
Producer: Hilary Dunn.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b03jfc49)
Badger culls; Douglas Mawson; Plastics; Uptalk
Badger culls in England have ended and Professor Roland Kao from the University of Glasgow discusses with Dr Adam Rutherford the scientific options remaining to tackle the spread of bovine tuberculosis. Field trials of the TB cattle vaccine are due to start next year and Professor Kao hopes that their success in sequencing the genome of Mycobactrium bovis will also provide a greater understanding about how this devastating disease spreads.
The name of Douglas Mawson isn't discussed along with the famous triumvirate, Scott, Amundsen and Shackleton, but one hundred years ago, he led the first science-only Australasian Antarctic Expedition. A century later, Professor Chris Turney is co-leading a repeat expedition, where scientists will repeat many of the measurements of the Mawson trip.
Rising inflexion at the end of your sentences is known as "uptalk" or "valleygirl speak" and it's usually associated with young Californian females. But now a new study shows that uptalk is expanding to men. Professor Amalia Arvaniti explains that uptalk has negative connotations which makes men less likely to admit to using it, but it was clear was that this pattern of speech is like totally spreading.
Waste plastic makes its way into many areas of the environment which can threaten wildlife. Small particles of plastic can also be ingested by organisms and as they act almost like sponges the plastics attract other chemicals onto their surface. Despite this their hazard ranking is the same as scraps of food or grass clippings. Dr Mark Browne from the National Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, USA, describes his new research in the journal, Current Biology, which shows that these microplastics have toxic concentrations of pollutants in which can harm biodiversity. He also explains how these microplastics transfer toxic pollutants and chemicals into the guts of lugworms. These worms have been nicknamed "eco-engineers" because they eat organic matter from the sediment and prevent the build-up of silt.
Producer: Fiona Hill.
THU 17:00 PM (b03kkd5v)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03jp7dg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 The Secret World (b03k2bt9)
Series 4
Episode 2
Sean Connery, Griff Rhys Jones, Pam Ayres, Kirsty Young, Peter Sallis, all have one thing in common.
They enjoy nothing more than coming together every week or so for a bit of bare knuckle fighting.
Well, they do in the strange alternative universe that is The Secret World. The impressions show with a difference.
With
Jon Culshaw
Julian Dutton
Lewis MacLeod
Jess Robinson
Debra Stephenson
Duncan Wisbey
Written by Bill Dare, Julian Dutton and Duncan Wisbey.
Produce and created by: Bill Dare.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2013.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b03k2bth)
Shula tries hard to persuade Darrell to get up and eat. He doesn't want to but she's insistent. They need to look for a flat for him. He hardly eats anything and then fumbles with the dishes, managing to drop them. Shula realises he's been drinking, and this time his tears don't wash. She tells him to get and grip and act like a man. She's not prepared to take care of him for much longer.
Jamie takes Kathy for a meal at the Bull to celebrate her new job as deputy manager of Grey Gables. Neil congratulates Kathy on her third job offer in as many months. She's happy to sponsor Neil for his three hour peal. After an enjoyable meal, Jamie spots Rosa. Kathy leaves him to have a drink with her.
Jamie and Rosa go through to the bar where Rosa sees Darrell, completely drunk. She's disgusted and wants to get away from him. Darrell just wants to talk and follows her back through to the Ploughman's. He promises her he's going to get better and be a proper dad. Rosa tells him not to bother. As far as she's concerned, he's not her dad any more.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b03k2btm)
Kill Your Darlings, John Newman, Emil and the Detectives, Autobiographies
With John Wilson.
Daniel Radcliffe's latest project is playing the young Allen Ginsberg in Kill Your Darlings. Based on a true story, the film follows a 17-year-old Ginsberg as he starts at Columbia University in 1944. A murder draws him together with Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs and leads to the birth of the Beat Generation. Writer and critic Michael Carlson gives his verdict.
Writers Alex Clark and Danny Kelly discuss which of this year's best-selling autobiographies have the X-factor, judging the works of Morrissey, Sir Alex Ferguson and Jennifer Saunders by artistic impression, revelations, scores settled and sexual content.
Singer John Newman first attracted attention for his vocal on Rudimental's hit single Feel the Love last year. He followed that success this year when both his debut single Love me Again and debut album Tribute topped the UK charts. He reveals where the raw emotion on his album comes from and discusses the challenge of writing a follow-up.
This year's National Theatre Christmas show is an adaptation of Erich KÃstner's classic children's novel Emil and the Detectives. Detective novelist and critic Stephanie Merritt was at the first night and gives her response.
Producer: Jerome Weatherald.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b03k289m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b03k2btr)
Terror Laws: An Unhappy Compromise?
Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed's audacious escape from terror restrictions by removing his electronic tag and absconding from a west London mosque in a burka has brought the Coalition's terror laws into the spotlight. Should we be worried that under the relaxed legislation six other suspected terrorists will have restrictions on them lifted in January? Phil Kemp investigates Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures - or TPIMs - and asks if the civil liberties of suspects have been put ahead of public safety.
THU 20:30 In Business (b03k2k7y)
Longevity War Game
In Newcastle if you live in a well off area you are likely to have eleven more healthy years then if you reside in a more deprived part of the city just a few miles away. These figures are replicated in areas all over Britain. Peter Day attends a Newcastle University war game put together to try and find a way to bridge this gap by 50% in ten years with no extra money. Can they come up with new solutions or will the exercise just highlight how big a problem the country faces as the population ages?
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b03jfc49)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b03k289f)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:50 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03jp7d4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
01:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b03jp7dj)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b03k2bv2)
Osborne says austerity plan working, but job of recovery "not yet done". Thousands evacuated from homes as severe storm and tidal surge batter large parts of UK. France promises immediate military action to protect civilians in Central African Republic after UN authorises intervention. Presented by David Eades.
THU 23:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03jp7d4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
01:00 today]
FRIDAY 06 DECEMBER 2013
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b03jp7fg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03jp7fj)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03jp7fl)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03jp7fn)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b03jp7fq)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b03ldgww)
A spiritual comment, prayer and tribute to Nelson Mandela with Andrew Graystone.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b03k2gq6)
It's a disease in cattle that causes problems with export. As countries such as Northern Ireland act to eradicate it, an expert tells Farming Today that England and Wales must follow suit. Bovine Viral Diarrhoea, or BVD, can cause infertility, abortion and even death. With legislation also in place in Scotland, a Professor from the Royal Veterinary College says it's important other countries don't fall behind.
The UK could be exporting chicken feet to China by this time next year. The Northern Irish poultry processor, Moy Park, tells Farming Today the support from politicians means they're a step closer to being able to export tens of thousands of tonnes of fifth quarter products. A deal on pork products was announced a year ago after a visit by the then Farming Minister Jim Paice, but no trade has happened yet.
There's warnings that many young hedgehogs may not survive the winter because of an increase in serious parasite infestations. The Buckinghamshire based charity Tiggywinkles say they're looking after 300 young hoglets suffering with the infection.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Lucy Bickerton.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03k2gq8)
Teal
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Chris Packham presents the teal. Teal are our smallest duck and the drakes are striking birds, heads burnished with chestnut surrounding a green mask fringed with yellow. They whistle softly in a piping chorus which sounds, from a distance, like the chime of tiny bells. That sound of the male's call is probably the origin of the bird's name, teal.
FRI 06:00 Today (b03k2gqb)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b03jyf6p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b03k2gqd)
Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life
Episode 5
Penelope Fitzgerald's novels were short, spare masterpieces, self-concealing, oblique and subtle. She won the Booker Prize for her novel Offshore in 1979, and her last work, The Blue Flower, was acclaimed as a work of genius.
The early novels drew on her own experiences - a boat on the Thames in the 1960s, the BBC in war-time, a failing bookshop in Suffolk, an eccentric stage-school. The later ones opened out to encompass historical worlds which, magically, she seemed to possess entirely: Russia before the Revolution, post-war Italy, Germany in the time of the Romantic writer Novalis.
Fitzgerald's life is as various and as cryptic as her fiction. It spans most of the twentieth century, and moves from a Bishop's Palace to a sinking barge, from a demanding intellectual family to hardship and poverty, from a life of teaching and obscurity to a blaze of renown.
She was first published at sixty and became famous at eighty. This is a story of lateness, patience and persistence - a private form of heroism.
Loved and admired, and increasingly recognised as one of the outstanding novelists of her time, she remains also mysterious and intriguing. She liked to mislead people with a good imitation of an absent-minded old lady, but under that scatty front was a steel-sharp brain and an imagination of wonderful reach.
This biography by Hermione Lee pursues Fitzgerald's life, her writing, and her secret self, with fascinated interest.
Read by Penelope Wilton
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b03k2gqg)
Abortion rights; getting boys to read; author Jeff Kinney; female sports presenters
Abortion rights; getting boys to read; author Jeff Kinney; female sports presenters
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b03k2gqj)
HighLites: Split Ends
Episode 5
by Steve Chambers and Phil Nodding. It's already been quite a week for bride to be, Tess. Maybe a visit to HighLites is the last thing she needs.
Produced by Jessica Dromgoole and directed by Colin Guthrie.
FRI 11:00 Forever Young (b03k2gql)
Rights and Responsibilities
What does it mean, in 21st Century Britain, to be an adult? In this series of 'documentary pop songs' we examine the shifting borders of adulthood in personal, social and financial relations.
Much of a young person's sense of maturity evolves from his or her changing relationship with the world around them. Part of that comes from how they feel about the way they fit into it - but a significant part is also determined by social conventions, civil institutions and the structure of the State.
For each episode of Forever Young, we've commissioned a new song on each of the three themes. The Rights and Responsibilities song is written and performed by Ghostpoet.
Produced by Eleanor McDowall with Hana Walker-Brown
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 11:30 On the Rocks (b03k2gqn)
Series 1
Omens
by Christopher William Hill. It's 1937 on the remote Scilly Island of St. Martin's, where the islanders are resisting the attempts of the Penzance GPO man to modernise the post office - around which their world revolves.
Episode 2: Omens. Old Grace is convinced that strange things have started to happen since the new telegraph machine was installed.
directed by Mary Peate.
Sound by Jenni Burnett, Anne Bunting and Graham Harper
Production Co-ordinator, Jessica Brown.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b03kk9bk)
World Cup travel prices
Friday is the World Cup draw. We'll be looking at ticket and travel prices and the man who didn't know that his face had been printed on a t-shirt and sold around the world by a major high street retailer.
And gift cards are a great present and no doubt there will be many under Christmas trees this year. But what happens when someone 'steals' your balance and you're left red faced at the till?
FRI 12:52 The Listening Project (b03kk9bm)
Charlie and Chaz - When I'm Cleaning Windows
Fi Glover introduces a conversation between window cleaners. Charlie's now retired but, after falling 40 feet himself, he worries about his daughter Chaz's safety on the job. He still has nightmares that he has to clean a school, 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.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b03jp7fs)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b03jp7fv)
National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
FRI 13:45 Greenback: How the Dollar Came to Rule the World (b03k2gqq)
The Missing Ingredient
By the late 19th Century the US economy had begun to overtake Britain. So the continued pre-eminence of London as a financial centre, and the pound as the leading global currency, had begun to be something of an anomaly.
In the last programme of the series, considering how the dollar became the established currency of the US, Graham Ingham looks at the circumstances that eventually led to the establishment of the Federal Reserve.
One important factor holding back the dollar was the volatile nature of the American economy, which was plagued by financial panics throughout the 19th Century - 12 of them in the hundred years to 1913. Each time the financial system went into a tailspin, businesses went bust, jobs were lost and growth was harmed. The turning point came with the panic of 1907 when the stock market collapsed and had to be rescued by a consortium of private bankers. The system was no longer sustainable without a central monetary authority and Senator Nelson Aldrich was charged with finding a solution to the problem. The result of the process that involved officials dressed as duck hunters and secret meetings was the proposal to establish the Federal Reserve System, which came into being in December 1913.
Producer: Ruth Evans
A Ruth Evans production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b03k2bth)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b0112gvf)
Mike Bartlett - Heart
by Mike Bartlett. Alison Steadman plays Susan, a recently retired primary school teacher. She sells things on eBay, paints her own version of modern art and grows exotic plants in a poly-tunnel. Her husband Steve is stressed at work and is becoming depressed and increasingly vicious. She hardly recognises him. Even hates him at times. Retirement wasn't meant to be like this.
Directed by Claire Grove
Can love cope with personality change? In Mike Bartlett's play, Steve thinks he is being sidelined by his new young boss. His mounting stress unleashes a ferocity of emotions between him and his wife. Susan tries to be light and funny but it only makes things worse. Mark is actually in a downward spiral into full blown clinical depression. Neither he nor Susan recognise this until it is too late. Alison Steadman and Nicholas Farrell star.
Mike Bartlett is one of the most exciting writers in Britain today. He has worked with Paines Plough, the Royal Court and the National Theatre, where he was writer-in-residence. His play LOVE,LOVE,LOVE won Best New Play in the 2011 Theatre Awards UK and COCK won an Olivier Award in 2010 for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre. NOT TALKING for BBC Radio 3 scooped both the Imison Award for Best First Radio Play and The Tinniswood Award for Best Play in 2007. His television series THE TOWN was nominated for a BAFTA for Breakthrough Talent.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b03k2gqs)
Wainfleet
Eric Robson is in the chair as GQT visits Wainfleet near Skegness. Bunny Guinness, Pippa Greenwood and Matthew Wilson answer the questions from local gardeners.
This week's topical tips focus on sowing poppies, and Bunny Guinness visits a local garden with links to Lord Alfred Tennyson and Rudyard Kipling.
Produced by Howard Shannon.
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
This week's questions:
Q. Could the panel suggest some perennials for planting in tubs that will be hardy, provide year-round cover and add interest?
A. You will need to plant perennials that can tolerate tricky conditions. A pot will eventually have poor soil and little water due to the plant's canopy. Perhaps plant Mediterranean plants. Try shrubs such as Ceratostigma Willmottianum, a late flowering, low-growing shrub with intense blue flowers. Combine it with an autumn, pink-flowering bulb called Nereen Buldiniae. Grasses are another option, providing a long season and changing appearance. A grass such as Miscanthus Yakushima Dwarf grows to about 1m (3ft) and has great autumn flowers. You could try a new hardy Salvia called Amistad. It grows to about 1m (3ft) high, has inky blue blooms and flowers from May right through until winter. Lavender would add structure if you prune them in August sparking new growth for the winter.
Q. I am planning to turn a small piece of land into an orchard. Is it a waste of time to plant fruit trees if the site has Honey Fungus and old tree stumps?
A. There are several species and strains of Honey Fungus and it can be a gardener's ultimate nightmare. It has the potential to wipe out the majority of woody plants. If there isn't too much destruction on the site it may not be much of a threat, but fruit trees are particularly susceptible to damage. Dig out as many of the stumps as you can so that the fungus has nothing to feed on. Perhaps test the site with a young, feathered, bare root tree and treat it with a lot of care.
Q. How and when can we move a Dracunculus Vulgaris?
A. Dig down deep in spring or autumn, lifting as much of the soil as possible to reduce damage. Choose a protected site similar to that which it was in previously.
Q. Could the panel suggest any plants that will produce a scent similar to that of the Philadelphus Mock Orange?
A. Mexican Orange Blossom Choisya Ternata has a very good smell. Daphnes are renowned for their scent, such as the Daphne Odora Marginata with its mass of pinky-white blossoms. For a different sort of scent, try winter flowering Honeysuckle Lonicera Purpusii or the Winter Box.
Q. Could the panel suggest an evergreen tree for container planting in a sunny courtyard?
A. There are many options, such as Box, Yew, Laurel, Cork Oak, Bay. However, a container will mean that the growth will always be stunted. Try planting straight into the ground for better results. The Quercus Suberqercasuba or Cork Oak would provide a lovely looking bark.
Q. I have four apple trees, all twenty-six stock. The varieties are Discovery, Fiesta, Russet and Howgate Wonder. The trees have not produced any apples and I wondered if I should plant a crab apple as a pollinator.
A. When choosing a pollinator it is important to check that the flowering periods coincide. There will probably be a diverse range across the four varieties. One of the best pollinators is James Grieve.
Q. When is the best time to split up Nerines? They have been in the same position for ten years and didn't bloom well this year.
A. Early spring is probably the best time. They usually thrive when in congested clumps. Choose a very sunny, warm site.
FRI 15:45 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b03jyp1m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Sunday]
FRI 16:00 Mandela in His Own Words (b00wr4j3)
Nelson Mandela wrote a letter every day of his life. He also wrote diaries, kept notebooks, scratched out ideas for speeches and doodled his thoughts and meditations on scraps of paper.
In this programme Fergal Keane takes a journey through this special archive, which was bequeathed to the Nelson Mandela Foundation in 2009 and published by Macmillan in the book 'Conversations With Myself' in October 2010.
The archive reveals surprises, painful reminders and unanswered questions and offers insight into the experiences which led to Mandela's daily disciplines, life lessons and to the moral and political vision which inspired and continues to inspire so many.
We hear the voice of someone who is communicating not necessarily to a particular audience but who is laying out his personal thoughts. We are also given snatches of audio archive - conversations between Mr Mandela and one of his closest friends and colleagues, Ahmed Kathrada speaking on a range of subjects from lessons on how to fire a rifle, to Tracy Chapman.
We hear Mandela's reflections as an activist with the ANC in the 1960s. We hear his voice at the moment he is told he will be sent to Robben Island, and in more personal moments, recalling dreams about his wife Winnie and his children, during his years apart from his family. We hear diary excerpts written on the night of his release from Pollsmoor in February 1990, and drafts of his very early speeches as leader of the ANC. And we hear extracts from letters and diaries written during his years in retirement, as he observes the ongoing political struggles of his country.
Producer: Sarah Cuddon
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (b03kk9bp)
Did Radio 4 devote far too much airtime this week to the marital strife of a cook and an ad man? That's the view of many Feedback listeners who complained that the BBC became more gossip-mag than public service broadcaster in its coverage of Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi's very public divorce.
Also, why has Radio 4 been asking sailors how they get their weather information? Does this signal the beginning of the end for The Shipping Forecast? Network manager Denis Nowlan eases listeners' fears.
And we wander the lanes of Ambridge with the Archers Archivist, Camilla Fisher and long-term writer Jo Toye, who give us the lowdown on how they ensure all the characters are in the right place at the right time.
Producer: Will Yates
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:56 The Listening Project (b03kk9br)
Ali and Peg - Love, Life and Leeds United
Fi Glover introduces a conversation between friends about how football has seen them through divorce and re-marriage, even if Elland Road isn't the best place to find a new partner.
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 (b03kk9bt)
Coverage and analysis of the day's news. Including Weather at
5.57pm.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03jp7fx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b03k2gqv)
Series 82
Episode 5
A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Sandi Toksvig. With guests Susan Calman, Justin Moorhouse and Greg Proops joining regular panellist Jeremy Hardy.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b03k2gqx)
Rob and Kirsty turn up for the panto rehearsal. Kirsty tenses when she realises they're doing the proposal scene. Lynda's disappointed at their lack of feeling and suggests Rob takes himself back to the time he proposed to Jess. Kirsty can't bear to listen to him talk about when there wasn't anyone else in the world for him.
Kirsty confronts Rob about his behaviour. He insists he never promised Helen anything, and she knew the situation. Kirsty feels like walking off stage but won't do it to Lynda - out of loyalty. Rob decides to leave the show instead, and tells Lynda he's dropping out. She's aghast, and doesn't know who she'll find to replace him.
Kirsty phones Tom and begs him to step in. Tom hopes she's joking but realises she's not. He gives in, and agrees to take on the lead role.
Shula's had a text from Dan. He's coming home on Sunday.
Alistair notices all the paracetamol has gone from the medicine cabinet and Shula realises Darrell has also gone. Shula's really worried and they go off to look for him. They find Darrell outside the house he used to share with Elona and the girls. He's taken the paracetamol and drunk a bottle of brandy. The paramedics arrive and start treating him.
Mortified Shula feels totally responsible. If Darrell dies, it's going to be her fault.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b03k2gqz)
Lenny Henry on Nelson Mandela; Lesley Manville; Beauty and the Beast
With Kirsty Lang.
Lenny Henry pays tribute to Nelson Mandela and discusses the role that musicians and comedians played in the movement to free him.
Mat Fraser and Julie Atlas Muz talk about their retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Fraser is one of the UK's best-known disabled performers and Muz is one of New York's most famous burlesque artists. They met whilst performing at a Freak show on Coney Island and their love story entwines with that of Beauty and the Beast.
Lesley Manville discusses her acting career and her two new productions, Ghosts on stage and The Christmas Candle on film.
Jason Solomons reviews Fill The Void, a new Israeli film about an arranged marriage.
Producer: Stephen Hughes.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b03k2gqj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b03k2gr1)
Andrew Lansley MP, Tristram Hunt MP, Jeanette Winterson, Paul Johnson
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from Gloucestershire College, Royal Forest of Dean Campus in Coleford with the Leader of the House of Commons, Andrew Lansley; Shadow Education Secretary, Tristram Hunt; Paul Johnson from the Institute for Fiscal Studies; and the writer, Jeanette Winterson.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b03k2gr3)
It's Always the Others Who Die
Will Self reflects that our modern, secular society has silenced the voices of the dead. As a result, he argues, we fail to appreciate the sacred buildings, art and literature of the past.
"Having purged them on the basis that they can furnish no proof of their existence, do we not begin to undermine the capacity of that which they have left behind to also speak to us?"
Producer: Sheila Cook.
FRI 21:00 Out of the Darkness - The Triumph of Nelson Mandela (b03nxv2f)
In a change to the published schedule, the BBC's former South Africa correspondent Allan Little tells the life story of Nelson Mandela. Through the voices of his friends and colleagues he traces Mandela's extraordinary journey, from birth in a small village, his legal training, his growing political consciousness, to the Rivonia Trial and imprisonment on Robben Island. He hears about how Mandela controlled his own release from prison, his ascent to the presidency and his vital message of peace and reconciliation.
Producer: Vanessa Harrison.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b03jp7fz)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b03k2h4h)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b03k2bv6)
The Charioteer
Episode 9
By Mary Renault
After an injury at Dunkirk, Laurie Odell is sent to a veterans' hospital to convalesce. There he befriends Andrew, a conscientious objector serving as an orderly. But when Ralph, a mentor from his school days, reappears in his life, Laurie is forced to choose between the sweet ideals of innocence and the distinct pleasures of experience.
Episode 9:
Laurie is racked with guilt and worry about his two great loves - and fears that Andrew will find out he's 'with' Ralph now. He begs for time to think but it seems it is too late.
Reader: Anton Lesser
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 23:00 Book at Bedtime (b03k2h4k)
The Charioteer
Episode 10
By Mary Renault
After an injury at Dunkirk, Laurie Odell is sent to a veterans' hospital to convalesce. There he befriends Andrew, a conscientious objector serving as an orderly. But when Ralph, a mentor from his school days, reappears in his life, Laurie is forced to choose between the sweet ideals of innocence and the distinct pleasures of experience.
Episode 10:
Laurie pursues Andrew to London, furious with Ralph for betraying him and unable to accept that things are over with Andrew - only to discover a potentially fatal misunderstanding.
Reader: Anton Lesser
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 23:15 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b03jyp1m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Sunday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b03k2h4m)
Mark D'Arcy reports from Westminster as peers debate plans to protect children from violent and pornographic content on the internet.
Their Lordships also wrestle with proposals to introduce gender equality into the peerage. As well as changing the law so that the eldest child can inherit a title regardless of their gender the Equality (Titles) Bill proposes that husbands of female peers and civil partners of peers should be given a courtesy title. But as Mark reports once peers started looking at the details they found there was plenty to argue about.
Also tonight, Mark reports on the work of a group of MPs which has begun a new inquiry into the human form of "mad cow disease".
And he has the latest on the campaign to change the law so there can be a referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union.
FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b03kk9bw)
Joan and Angela - Heidi, Hobbits and Horror
Fi Glover introduces another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen, between friends who met through a Get Into Reading group and whose tastes range from Tolkien to bloody murder.
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.