The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
An essential tool kit for understanding the modern world, by the Director of London's Design Museum, Deyan Sudjic.
Not a dictionary, though it attempts to tell you all you need know about everything from Authenticity to Zips. It's not an autobiography either, though it does offer a revealing and highly personal inside view of contemporary culture.
It's about what makes a Warhol a genuine fake, the creation of national identities, the mania to collect. It's also about the world seen from the rear view mirror of Grand Theft Auto V, and digital ornament and why we value imperfection. It's about drinking a bruisingly dry martini in Adolf Loo's American bar in Vienna, and about Hitchcock's film sets. It's about fashion and technology, about politics and art.
Born in London, Deyan Sudjic studied architecture in Edinburgh, edited Domus in Milan, was the director of the Venice architecture biennale, and a curator in Glasgow, Istanbul and Copenhagen. He's the author of The Language of Things and The Edifice Complex.
W is for War and whether design collections are really the place for weapons? Y asks is Youtube really so democratic? Z is for Zip and how in the thirties it was the height of modernity. Deyan Sudjic considers them all.
W is for War: are museums the place for weapons? Y is for Youtube and Z is for Zip.
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day, with the Most Rev George Stack, Archbishop of Cardiff.
'I'd been living a crooked life for a while, lying to everyone, screwing people over' - an iPM listener and her son discuss his years of drug abuse. One Scottish listener talks about his quest to become a master of Indian music. Presented by Eddie Mair and Jennifer Tracey. iPM@bbc.co.uk.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
Helen Mark visits the Derwent Valley, an area dotted with old, looming cotton mill structures to discover what the future holds for these 'industrial giants' of the landscape.
At the turn of the 19th Century, Britain was world leader in cotton manufacturing and home to the largest industrial complexes on the planet. The last spinning machines closed in 2003 and the UK now produces zero amount of cotton, but the awesome brick structures still tower over the Derbyshire Countryside. Stretching 15 miles down the river valley from Matlock Bath to Derby, the Derwent Valley World Heritage Site contains a fascinating series of historic mill complexes, including some of the world's first 'modern' factories. But how can these structures remain relevant rather than redundant? Visiting Cromford Mills, The Belper River Gardens and the beautiful natural landscape that surrounds these giant structures, Helen meets the people whose passion keeps this history alive.
Charlotte Smith and a panel of four experts take a look at the issue of flooding, after the wettest winter on record. Pete Fox, head of strategy at the Environment Agency, Professor Phil Haygarth, a water and soil expert from Lancaster University, Ian Moodie, flood management adviser at the National Farmers' Union, and environmentalist and journalist George Monbiot discuss how farming contributes to flooding, and how it might also offer solutions. The panel also debates the thorny issue of prioritising homes over farmland when it comes to flooding. And is there a choice to be made between flood defence and food security in the future?
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Thought for the Day and Weather.
Anita Anand and Andrea Catherwood are joined by British designer Bruce Oldfield OBE, best known for his couture and bridalwear designs. Tom Mackenzie recalls his experiences as the last child to be admitted to the Foundling Hospital, a charity run on strict Victorian values that brought up children born outside marriage. Lynne Moore is an war artist who was embedded with the British Forces in Helmund, Hannah Rochell writes the En Brogue blog describing the joys of wearing brogues. Plus JP Devlin has a hot encounter with Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson and author Helen Fielding shares her Inheritance Tracks. And two men from Birmingham, Jon Bounds and Danny Smith tell us about their mission to visit all 56 seaside piers in England and Wales in just two weeks.
BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz meets the cultural entrepreneurs whose aesthetic sense infects and influences our daily lives... who know what we want, even when we do not... the men and women whose impact goes beyond mere commerce, it shapes contemporary culture.
Programme 3. Theaster Gates - a man with two degrees in urban planning (and a further one in religious studies), who worked for the city's Transport Authority, but now uses sculpture, installation and performance to bridge the gap between art and life. Will Gompertz travels to Chicago to meet the the artist who is using collectors' desire for his artworks (they sell for anything upwards of several hundred thousand dollars each) to transform the rundown Southside where he now lives.
This week, we're taking a look at counterfeiting. How do you spot a forgery in the art market? How can you tell if a medicine is a useless or even harmful fake which might make your illness even worse? Bridget Kendall is joined by Ghanaian anti-counterfeiting entrepreneur Bright Simons; art auctioneer and author of Breakfast at Sotheby's - An A-Z of the Art World Philip Hook; and art historian Winnie Wong whose new book Van Gogh on Demand takes us on a trip to China, to a village where every year millions of copies of well-known oil paintings are churned out to be distributed for sale in around the world. Photo courtesy of Getty Images
Global insight and colour. In this programme: Russians or locals? Gabriel Gatehouse goes to meet some of those still occupying government buildings in the east of Ukraine. Lives and jobs start to disappear in South Africa as a bitter mining dispute continues amid a mood of deepening disenchantment, a despatch from Hamilton Wende; On one of Rome's holiest weekends of the year, Alan Johnston's been to a non-Roman Catholic corner of the eternal city which enchanted the poets Keats and Shelley; Carrie Gracie starts her new job as the BBC's China editor with a list of hard-to-answer questions while Owen Bennett-Jones is down on the banks of the River Ganges wondering how a journalist can sort facts from the fiction. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.
Tough new rules will make it harder to get a mortgage from 26 April. At least that's one view. Others say the new rules will mean some people can borrow much more than they could now. Under the new 'responsible lending' rules, lenders will have to assess affordability and 'stress test' it by seeing if the borrower could still repay if interest rates go up several percentage points. Paul Lewis interviews Martin Wheatley, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority. He discusses the issue with Ray Boulger, of John Charcol mortgage brokers and mortgage expert Melanie Bien.
This week Pensions Minister Steve Webb said that when people reach state pension age they could be told how long they can expect to live. That will help them eke out whatever savings and pension funds they have to cover the rest of their life. But the idea is fraught with difficulties. Not least that every year ONS publishes these projections life expectancy grows. So if we want to plan our retirement finances can we get any idea of when we will die that we could use for financial planning? Paul Lewis crunches the numbers with actuary Ronnie Bowie of Hymans Robertson.
Buying hotel rooms online is quick and convenient. But in some cases the price might depend not just the time of year, or how far ahead you book, but whether you use a desktop computer, a tablet or a mobile phone. Paul Lewis discusses dual pricing strategies with Simon Calder of The Independent.
In a couple of months most firms will be banned from making customers call a number beginning with 084. Calls to these numbers normally cost more - sometimes a lot more - than calling geographic numbers that begin 01 or 02 or 03. But financial firms are exempt from these rules. Now the regulator says they will have to conform too - by this time next year. Paul Lewis talks to Martin Wheatley of the Financial Conduct Authority and David Hickson, of the Fair Telecoms Campaign. For a list of which numbers cost what, see our links below.
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are joined by special guest Elis James for a comic romp through the week's news. With Mitch Benn, Pippa Evans and Jon Holmes.
Written by the cast with additional material from Jon Hunter and Carrie Quinlan. Produced by Alexandra Smith/ m.
Nick Robinson presents political debate & discussion from the BBC Radio Theatre in London with Treasury Minister and Minister for Women Nicky Morgan MP, Fiona Hyslop MSP, the Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs in the Scottish Government, Labour MP David Lammy, and the Government's Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Lords, Lord Newby.
In a BBC interview, Speaker John Bercow has said that some female MPs are refusing to attend Prime Minister's Question Time as it is "so bad". Also this week, an expert at the UN has described Britain as the most sexist country in the world - thanks to our 'boys' club' culture. So is our society sexist and what can we do about it?
TWITTER: Tweet us using hashtag BBCAQ.
1935: When Marjorie finds Dorothy, her pretty young sister, lying dead with her head in the oven, the obvious assumption is suicide.
But the girl's mother, Mrs Clair, a tough-minded woman is not convinced. She believes that Dorothy was murdered by Marjorie's cheating husband Ted.
Unable to prove her theory, Mrs Clair begins to cook up a secret, terrible revenge...
One of three seminal psychological thrillers by CS Forester - dramatised by Paul Mendelson.
Most famous for his Hornblower series, CS Forester wrote these thrillers at the start of his career taking crime writing in a new direction, portraying ordinary, desperate people committing monstrous acts, and showing events spiralling terribly, chillingly, out of control.
Music composed by Gary C. Newman
Labi Siffre wrote Something Inside So Strong in 1984. Widely believed to have been inspired by seeing film footage from South Africa, of young blacks being shot at by white policeman, he now reveals that the lyrics were also informed by the oppression he had experienced as a homosexual.
The song has been taken up by individuals and groups around the world who have suffered from discrimination. The Choir With No Name in Birmingham, made up of homeless singers, always close their concerts with the song. Choir members explain why it's so important to them, giving them a sense of pride and dignity.
The American singer Suede, talks about the power she finds in the song and the South African singer, Lira talks about making a special recording of it for the birthday of Nelson Mandela, as it was one of his favourite pieces. We hear how Celtic football fans sing it as an act of solidarity with their beleaguered manager, Neil Lennon.
In his first interview for over a decade Siffre explains how he still sings the songs as he tries to put his life back together after the death of his partner, Peter.
IVF for single women. We talk about how bullying can affect academic success with Liam Hackett from charity, Ditch the Label and Lesley Rose. Our archive interview this week is Stella Rimington, the first female DG of MI5. Professor Christopher Andrew, the Official Historian to MI5 tells us about the role of women in spying.
Nicci French: the husband and wife team on writing together and their latest novel Thursday's Children. School reunions - why do we go to them? And do they bring out the best, or the worst, in us?
Clive talks to one of our best loved film and television actors, Tim Pigott-Smith about his latest role. The Queen is dead: after a lifetime of waiting, the prince ascends the throne...Tim is King Charles III. But how to rule? Mike Bartlett's controversial piece explores the unwritten rules of our democracy, and the conscience of Britain's most famous family.
One of the stars of a classy new adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's gothic classic 'Jamaica Inn', Shirley Henderson is perhaps best known for her roles as Gail in Trainspotting, Jude in Bridget Jones's Diary and Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter films.
Arthur Smith chats with comedian and star of 'The Thick of It' Chris Addison who's just made a rom-com series 'Trying Again'. Chris plays Matt; half of a just-about-functioning couple giving love a second chance. Following an 'indiscretion' with her boss Iain, Matt and Meg are trying to make up and move on, but it's not easy in a small Lake District town where there are no such thing as secrets and your friends share a knack for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.
A favourite with both cult and mainstream tv audiences, Mark Heap has created some brilliant comedy roles: Brian Topp in 'Spaced', Dr Alan Statham in 'Green Wing' and Jim in 'Friday Night Dinner'. He has worked with Chris Morris appearing in 'Jam' and 'Brass Eye' and had a long-running role as head postman Thomas Brown on ' Lark Rise to Candleford'. Who better to take on the role of Jeeves opposite Robert Webb's Bertie Wooster, in the five-star hit 'Perfect Nonsense'.
With Music from Neil Finn, who performs new single' Dizzy Heights' from his album of the same name, available now on Lester Records. And more music from Sohn, who performs 'Tempest' from his debut album 'Tremors' out now on 4AD.
Mark Coles profiles new Culture Secretary, Sajid Javid. Son of 1960s immigrants from Pakistan, after a stellar banking career he's now in the Cabinet. What's behind his rise? And what kind of Culture Secretary will he be?
In 1941, following a life-threatening illness, Matisse decided to change the way he made his art; from painting on canvas to creating cutout shapes of painted paper and arranging them to create brilliant vivid images - he described it as "painting with scissors". A new exhibition at Tate Modern in London brings together a collection of these works, many of which haven't been seen together since their creation more than 5 decades ago.
Locke is a film set entirely in a car driving down the motorway, no car chases just a bit of mild speeding, with just one actor, suffering personal crises and talking mostly about concrete. The film -and especially actor Tom Hardy's performance - has been getting rave reviews from many critics. Is it an indulgent creation for the delight of the film's director (Steven Knight) or will the Saturday Review panel be won over?
Since The Coen Brothers released their Oscar-winning film Fargo in 1996 there have been a few unsuccessful attempts to turn the darkly comic work into a TV series. And now it's happened. Based on the spirit of the film rather than recreating the characters or scenarios, it features the dysfunctional citizens of a small Minnesota settlement when a mysterious drifter comes to town with evil intentions...
The RSC's latest production in Stratford is Henry IV pts 1 and 2 as part of their staging of all Shakespeare's 40 plays. Directed by Gregory Doran and with a cast that includes Anthony Sher as Falstaff, this is one of Shakespeare's most dramatic history plays and the double-bill is a major undertaking; what will this new production bring to a much-loved work?
Jayne-Anne Phillips is an American author of historical fiction whose newest book is based on a real-life mass murderer in 1930s Illinois. It's the story of the capture and trial of a serial killer, which followed a series of brutal murders preying on lonely middle-aged single women whom he killed for their money. The story was later the basis of Charles Laughton's chilling film 'Night Of The Hunter'. Is "Quiet Dell" deathly dull or a killer read?
When Christine Finn's in-flight entertainment was accidentally tuned to cockpit radio on a transatlantic flight, the voice of air traffic control as they reached Irish airspace seemed to be welcoming her as well as the pilot.
As a creative archaeologist, she wanted to unravel the connections between those who fly the Atlantic and those who guide them safely over, especially when she discovered that datalink - effectively text messaging - is increasingly being used, so that voice communication is on the wane.
Listening to archive of transatlantic flights from the first by Alcock and Brown in 1919, Christine discovered that the west coast of Ireland looms large in the history. She visited Shannon airport in County Clare, scene of many departures and reunions and, in the 1950s and 60s - before the jet engine - a stop-over for most of the popular icons of the day as their planes re-fuelled after the 3000 mile flight; every US President since JFK has visited Shannon, and most stars from Marilyn Monroe to Fred Astaire.
And at the North Atlantic Communications Centre in nearby Ballygirreen, Christine met the faces behind the voices she heard coming out of the dark on her own Atlantic Crossing.
3. Paradiso
Blake Ritson, Hattie Morahan and John Hurt star in Stephen Wyatt's dramatisation of Dante's epic poem - the story of one man's extraordinary journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise.
In Episode 3: Paradiso, Dante's spiritual journey comes to a glorious conclusion as he (Blake Ritson) is led by Beatrice (Hattie Morahan) through the spheres of Paradise and into the presence of God himself. As they ascend, they encounter a number of souls who have also achieved blessedness.
Many years later, the older Dante (John Hurt), still in enforced exile from his beloved Florence, reflects on the episodes from his life that have inspired his great poem.
Dante the Poet .... Blake Ritson
Older Dante .... John Hurt
Beatrice .... Hattie Morahan
Piccarda .... Priyanga Burford
Cacciaguida/ St Peter .... Sam Dale
Emperor Justinian/ St Benedict/ St James .... Michael Bertenshaw
Spirit 1 .... Clive Hayward
Spirit 2 .... Steve Touissaint
Cunizza .... Carolyn Pickles
Eagle .... Cassie Layton
St John .... David Cann
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
In a new series of thought-provoking debates, Claire Bolderson looks at something another country does well, or differently, and asks whether it could work here.
Re-offending, or recidivism rates, are difficult to compare from country to country because of different methodologies and metrics. However, it's clear that rates in the UK are amongst the highest in Western Europe, and worryingly high amongst criminals who have been released from prison. As prisons reach full capacity, the cycle of crime, punishment and re-offending needs to be broken. Norway might provide a solution, since it boasts a re-offending rate of 20%, the lowest in Western Europe.
Prisons appear to play a different role in Norway - less about punishment and more a place of rehabilitation. One in particular - Bastoy, an open prison on an island south of Oslo, where only 16% of released prisoners re-offend - has received widespread international attention. How far is its success attributable to the environment or a more humane philosophy? Guards are trained in criminology and psychology, and inmates enjoy a lifestyle described by critics as being like a "holiday camp" (despite the fact it is cheaper to run than most Norwegian prisons).
A quiz show hosted by Steve Punt where a team of three University students take on a team of three of their professors.
Coming this week from the University of Kent, "The 3rd Degree" is a funny, lively and dynamic quiz show aimed at cultivating the next generation of Radio 4 listeners whilst delighting the current ones.
The Specialist Subjects in this episode are Anthropology, Journalism and Computing, and the questions range from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Engelbert Humperdinck via database hacking and Babar the Elephant
The show is recorded on location at a different University each week, and it pits three Undergraduates against three of their Professors in a genuinely original and fresh take on an academic quiz. Being a Radio 4 programme, it of course meets the most stringent standards of academic rigour - but with lots of facts and jokes thrown in for good measure.
Together with host Steve Punt, the show tours the (sometimes posh, sometimes murky, but always welcoming!) Union buildings, cafés and lecture halls of six universities across the UK.
The rounds vary between Specialist Subjects and General Knowledge, quickfire bell-and-buzzer rounds and the 'Highbrow & Lowbrow' round cunningly devised to test not only the students' knowledge of current affairs, history, languages and science, but also their Professors' awareness of television, film, and One Direction... In addition, the Head-to-Head rounds, in which students take on their Professors in their own subjects, were particularly lively, and offered plenty of scope for mild embarrassment on both sides...
The resulting show is funny, fresh, and not a little bit surprising, with a truly varied range of scores, friendly rivalry, and moments where students wished they had more than just glanced at that reading list...
In this series, the universities are Bristol, Kent, Bedfordshire, Birmingham, Nottingham & Aberystwyth.
The host, Steve Punt, although best known as a satirist on The Now Show is also someone who delights in all facets of knowledge, not just in the Humanities (his educational background) but in the sciences as well. As well as "The Now Show" he has made a number of documentaries for Radio 4, on subjects as varied as "The Poet Unwound - The History Of The Spleen" and "Getting The Gongs" - an investigation into awards ceremonies - as well as a half-hour comedy for Radio 4's 2008 Big Bang Day set in the Large Hadron Collider, called "The Genuine Particle". This makes him the perfect host for a show which aims to be an intellectual, fulfilling and informative quiz, but with wit and a genuine delight in exploring the subjects at hand.
The 3rd Degree is a Pozzitive production, produced by David Tyler. His radio credits include Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive, Cabin Pressure, Bigipedia, The Brig Society, Thanks A Lot, Milton Jones!, Kevin Eldon Will See You Now, Jeremy Hardy Speaks To The Nation, Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off, The 99p Challenge, My First Planet, The Castle and even, going back a bit, Radio Active. His TV credits include Paul Merton - The Series, Spitting Image, Absolutely, The Paul & Pauline Calf Video Diaries, Coogan's Run, The Tony Ferrino Phenomenon and exec producing Victoria Wood's dinnerladies.
Paul Farley meets the poet Jen Hadfield at home and out and about in Shetland taking some of her new poems from her book Byssus back to where they were written, their source. Byssus is the name given to a mussel's beard, it is what anchors the shellfish to its rock. Many poems in the book explore both molluscs and bivalves but also what a home might mean to other creatures including poets. Half the poems need wellington boots, the others a good raincoat, but the Spring is here too and life grows afresh. Producer: Tim Dee.
SUNDAY 20 APRIL 2014
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b0413zts)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Morven Crumlish - Murals (b01pgll7)
A Bowl of Cherries
These three stories by Morven Crumlish - commissioned specially for Radio 4 - are inspired by the work of the artist Phoebe Anna Traquair. Traquair (1852-1936) was born in County Dublin and in the 1870s moved to Edinburgh, where she would later become a prominent figure in the Scottish Arts and Crafts movement.
Probably her best-known works are the vibrantly-coloured murals in what was formerly the Catholic Apostolic Church in Broughton Street, Edinburgh, which Traquair took eight years to complete (1893-1901). When the church fell out of ecclesiastical use, the murals suffered badly through neglect, but following the formation of the Mansfield Traquair Trust, a major restoration was undertaken, completed in 2005.
While art is at the core of all three fictions, Murals also mirrors the evolution of a similar building: from church, to brickyard, to present-day use for visitors and as a venue for events."
3/3. A Bowl Of Cherries
An events manager, organising a christening party at the former church, is beset by crises. One is professional - there's a dead dog in the basement. But the other is more existential.
Morven Crumlish's stories have been broadcast widely, and she also contributes to the Guardian. Her work has featured in four previous Sweet Talk productions for BBC Radio 4, including Dilemmas of Modern Martyrs - five of her stories - in 2008; and most recently 'Harold Lloyd Is Not The Man Of My Dreams' (Three For My Baby, 2011).
Morven lives in Edinburgh.
Reader: Ashley Jensen
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0413ztv)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0413ztx)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
5.20am.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0413ztz)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b0413zv1)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b0414br8)
St Mary the Virgin, Bathwick
The bells of St.Mary the Virgin, Bathwick, Somerset.
SUN 05:45 Profile (b04146b3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b0413zv4)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b0414bzs)
Impermanence
Melissa Viney considers how we can be challenged by - as well as take comfort from - the impermanence of things.
With reference to the writings of Raymond Carver, Thich Nhat Hanh and William Blake, music by Emily McGuire and Michael Zev Gordon and audio archive of the playwright Dennis Potter.
Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 Sunrise Service (b0414bzv)
From St George's College Weybridge whose award winning choir sings Easter anthems and carols to welcome the dawn. Leader: Fr Aidan Rossiter CJ; Music Director: Tansy Castledine.
Music: Now the green blade riseth (Lindley); The Easter Song of Praise (Shephard); O healing River (trad); Blessed be the God and Father (Wesley).
Reading: John 20: 1-18.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b0413zv6)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b0413zv8)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b0414c8c)
In a special Easter programme from Belfast, William meets Baroness May Blood asking how Northern Ireland has changed since the signing of the Good Friday agreement. Bishop Harold Miller of the Church of Ireland has said the absence of the Church in the plan for the future of Northern Ireland is "regrettable". And we explore the rise of Islam in Belfast. Also as the Church of England launches a twitter campaign #EasterMeans, Kevin Bocquet asks What is the meaning of Easter? Senior Liberal Democrat MP, Simon Hughes, just back from Ukraine tells William about his meeting with Church leaders. As new figures released by the Trussell Trust demonstrate the extent of food poverty in the UK William asks what that means for the people of Northern Ireland with Rev Kevin Graham from the Church of Ireland and Cormac Wilson - Regional Senior Vice President, Society of St Vincent de Paul. Two victims of the troubles Jude Whyte and Ann Travers debate on how best to deal with the past in Northern Ireland.
Producers
Carmel Lonergan
David Cook
Editor
Amanda Hancox
Contributors
Baroness May Blood
Bishop Harold Miller
Rev Kevin Graham
Cormac Wilson
Jude Whyte
Ann Travers.
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b0414c8f)
Get Connected
Tanya Byron presents The Radio 4 Appeal for Get Connected.
Registered charity no. 1081840
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal, mark the back of the envelope 'Get Connected'.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b0413zvb)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b0413zvd)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b0414dz3)
Easter Sunday Worship: Inside Joy
Inside Joy - As we approach the 450th anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare, our celebration for Easter Day comes from the Guild Chapel, Stratford Upon Avon, opposite Shakespeare's home. It was a building he would have known intimately and we are joined by the Choir and Orchestra of Stratford's world famous Swan Theatre performing Haydn's Little Organ Mass.
The Rt Revd John Stroyan, Bishop of Warwick, preaches, and the Revd Dr Paul Edmondson of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust presides, at this joyous Easter Sunday morning celebration of Shakespeare's great themes of faith and redemption.
Producer: Stephen Shipley.
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zrc4v)
Swallow (Spring)
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the swallow. A flash of blue across farmland or a stableyard and a burst of twittering can only mean one thing, the swallows are back after their long migration from South Africa. No matter how grey the April weather, the sight and sound of a swallow dispels the winter blues at a stroke. These agile migrants arrive as the insect population is beginning to increase, and they are a delight to watch as they hawk for flies in the spring sunshine.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b0414dz5)
Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b0414dz7)
Adam has a surprise visitor, and Shula tries to persuade Dan.
SUN 11:15 The Reunion (b0414dz9)
Life on Earth
Life on Earth was the first natural history blockbuster on television. Written and narrated by David Attenborough, it told the story of evolution in thirteen weekly instalments, stunning viewers with incredible underwater photography, and astonishing close-ups of creatures never before seen on British screens.
Broadcast in 1979, it took three years to make and involved a staggering one and a half million miles of travel. Viewers were exposed to more than 650 different species of animal, in a survey of life from bacteria to man and all in between.
In The Reunion, Sir David Attenborough is reunited with some of the team he worked with on the series. Richard Brock produced the popular episode on amphibians featuring extraordinary varieties of frog: one whose young emerge from under the skin on its back and another whose male incubates the eggs in his vocal sac, ultimately giving birth through his mouth. Assistant producer Mike Salisbury recalls the difficulties filming lions in Tanzania that eventually resulted in a groundbreaking depiction of a lion-hunt.
The most enduring sequence in the series was David Attenborough's astonishing encounter with gorillas in the mountains of Rwanda, frequently voted one of the top TV moments of all time. He and cameraman Martin Saunders reminisce about the extraordinary experience they had.
Pam Jackson and Jane Wales, the producer's assistants who planned the incredibly complex filming schedules describe what was happening behind the scenes, and their attempts to keep their presenter looking presentable even while scrambling through wild jungle.
Producer: Deborah Dudgeon
Series Producer: David Prest
THE REUNION is a Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:00 The Unbelievable Truth (b040hjyb)
Series 13
Episode 2
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents. Lloyd Langford, Jon Richardson, Katherine Ryan and Graeme Garden are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as whales, pigs, Canada and buses.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith, the team behind Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
Producer: Jon Naismith.
A Random production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b0414dzc)
A Tribute to Derek Cooper
Sheila Dillon pays tribute to the late Derek Cooper who started The Food Programme back in 1979 and changed the face of food broadcasting and journalism.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b0413zvg)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b0414dzf)
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 Love Your Country? (b040hk4r)
Events in Ukraine and the forthcoming referendum in Scotland have focused attention on deeply felt ideas of nationalism and national sovereignty.
Here, Professor David Cannadine dispatches a few myths about nation states - arguing that they a relatively modern inventions and that, in part, the loyalty we owe them was a carefully constructed political strategy.
He looks at the ways in which nationalism reached a peak at the time of WW1 and how the artificially created states that emerged after the War were inevitably flawed .
He also asks questions about whether, in a globalised world, we couldn't do better in terms of governance - either by looking to collections of cities or to groupings of nations to solve the problems of the 21st century.
Producer: Susan Marling
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b0414dzh)
Eccles
Eric Robson hosts the horticultural panel programme from Eccles. Taking the audience's questions are Chris Beardshaw, Pippa Greenwood and Bunny Guinness.
Would you be brave enough to consider entering your local flower and vegetable show? Matt Biggs meets one gardener in Nottinghamshire who has risen to the challenge.
Produced by Howard Shannon.
Assistant Producer: Darby Dorras.
A Somethin' Else Production for BBC Radio 4.
Q. What would the panel recommend to create a low maintenance garden in quite a cold climate with low soil density?
A. Lilac does very well in free draining soil. Also try Helleborus orientalis or a variety of Fern. You need to introduce more organic matter, so it might be worth creating a community composting system. Buddleia is the ultimate low maintenance plant or some of the Hypericums would work. Increase the number of bulbs and in some of the sunnier spots try summer-flowering bulbs such as Nyrenes.
Q. Could the panel give some advice on how to grow Asphodel?
A. Asphodel is a member of the Lily family and is typically found in South-East Europe. It has a rosette of grey leaves forming an almost onion-like shape. From this grows a spike of up to 1m (3ft) in height. The yellow form is Asphodelus luteus. There are white forms with a single spike, such as Asphodel Albus or branching Ramosus. It will need free-draining soil-based compost in a container. Make sure it does not get too wet or cold in the winter. It also requires plenty of sunshine and reduced fertility. Asphodel is easier to grow from a herbaceous perennial rather than a bulb.
Q. Could the panel suggest some plants and seeds that will produce edible flowers in the Manchester climate?
A. Pansies, Violets and Marigolds can all be eaten and add a lot of colour. Also try allowing Chives and Garlic Chives to flower into their purple pompoms. The blue flowers of the Rosemary have a surprising flavour. Wasabi has small white flowers and can be grown in a pot and saucer. Wasabi roots can only be harvested after the second year, but the leaves and flowers are very easy to grow. The pot Marigold, Calendula, adds a vibrant shade to any salad. Borage will crop up everywhere and the blue flowers have a slight cucumber taste. Roses, such as Rosa Glauca and Rosa Rugosa, provide wonderful petals.
Q. Is it possible to over scarify a lawn?
A. It is done to remove any detritus that may be sitting on the surface of the soil, to prevent thatch developing, and to encourage finer foliage. The lawn can take a long time to recover from a heavy job. It also depends on the soil type and more damage can be done to a light soil. If you want a manicured lawn then it is necessary, but you could just use a mulch mower for a more natural look. If you think you have over-scarified then you can add a top layer of soil mixed with fine compost and grass seed.
Q. I am a beekeeper on an urban allotment and am in the process of planting wild plants in area previously inundated with Couch Grass and a mass of unidentified weeds. Could the panel recommend colourful, nectar-rich flowers to plant for early summer?
A. The annual Lavatera has a broad open flower making it good for bees. Yellow Rattle is highly recommended if you are looking to reduce the vigour of grass and improve the opportunity for subsequent crops. It is a parasitic plant which will lead to a dramatic reduction in the speed of the grass growth, opening up the opportunity for more wild flowers to grow. However, the soil will need to have a low fertility for it to thrive. The Ground Elder you already have on site will actually produce lovely white flowers.
Outlawed plants added to Section 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act: Water Fern, Parrot's Feather, Floating Pennywort, Water Primrose and Australian Swamp Stonecrop.
SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b0414dzk)
Sunday Omnibus
Fi Glover introduces conversations about Muslim attitudes to the arts, the experience of wartime evacuation, and life with Type 1 diabetes, from Cardiff, Torquay and South Shields, proving once again that it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
SUN 15:00 Classic Serial (b0414qty)
Ring for Jeeves
Episode 1
Brilliantly funny comedy-thriller.
Jeeves is on loan to young Lord Rowcester (Bill). Wooster is absent, attending a school designed to teach the aristocracy to fend for itself. Jeeves has to exert his gigantic fish-fed brain to help his new master raise money by selling his crumbling pile to a wealthy American widow.
She thinks the Abbey is wonderful, full of ghosts. (Her hobby: psychic phenomena.) Will she buy it? There are complications. It's damp. She has fibrositis. Plus Bill's fiancée Jill mistrusts 'Rosie's' motives. There's also bluff Captain Biggar on the trail of a bookie and his clerk, who conned him at Epsom races and have somehow gone to ground in the Abbey. They are in fact Bill and Jeeves. Will he unmask them? Will Jeeves be on hand to provide more than brandy?
Dazzling star cast; witty production. Martin Jarvis having played Jeeves on Broadway now brings his award-winning characterization to the Classic Serial, abetted by Rufus Sewell, Joanne Whalley, Glenne Headly, Jamie Bamber and Ian Ogilvy.
Dramatised by Archie Scottney
Director Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4
RING FOR JEEVES. R4 Classic Serial - 2 Episodes
Episode 1 - Sun 20th April
3pm. Wk 16. Rptd
9pm Sat 26th April 2014. Wk 17.
Episode 2 - Sun 26th April
3pm. Wk 17. Rptd Sun 4th May
9pm. Wk 18.
An all-star cast brings P.G. Wodehouse supremely funny 1950s horse-racing novel to galloping life. Dramatised by Archie Scottney. Jeeves, on loan to young Lord Rowcester (Bill), devises a plan to assist his impoverished new master sell his crumbling pile to a wealthy American widow. But will she buy it?
There's also White Hunter Captain Biggar on the trail of a bookie and his clerk who conned him at Epsom races. Who are they? Could they in fact be Bill and Jeeves? Will the captain unmask them? Will Jeeves and his gigantic fish-fed brain win the day?
Finally our impeccable 'gentleman's personal gentleman' has a solution to dazzle and amaze us all. A stellar cast in Rosalind Ayres' sparkling production. Martin Jarvis, having played Jeeves on Broadway and in various one-man performances, now brings his award-winning characterisation to the Classic Serial, abetted by Rufus Sewell, Joanne Whalley, Glenne Headly, Jamie Bamber, Christopher Neame and Ian Ogilvy.
SUN 16:00 Open Book (b0414qv0)
Kamila Shamsie; Young feminist writing
Kamila Shamsie on her latest novel A God in Every Stone, a powerful interwoven story that crosses continents and decades, culminating in dramatic and tragic events in Peshawar in 1930. She talks about the little-known history of the Indian soldiers (sepoys) who fought in the First World War and about what it is like to be officially both a British and a Pakistani writer.
Laura Bates is the author of Everyday Sexism, a new book bringing together some of the personal experiences of sexist behaviour sent in to her website by people from all over the world. Emer O'Toole is another young feminist working on a book, Girls Will Be Girls, out later this year. They consider what their message is for a new generation of feminists; and post-Caitlin Moran, does feminism have to be funny?
John Crace has been writing Digested Reads for the Guardian newspaper since the turn of the century. He tells Mariella about the fine art of finding a writer's tics and making something fresh and funny out of them.
Presenter: Mariella Frostrup
Producer: Sarah Johnson.
SUN 16:30 The Echo Chamber (b0414qv2)
Series 3
Episode 3
In Belfast, Paul Farley and fellow poets remember Seamus Heaney six months after his death. With contributions from Michael Longley, Don Paterson, Leontia Flynn and Ciaran Carson. Producer: Tim Dee.
SUN 17:00 How Do Children Learn History? (b040hy5k)
Last year, the Government's original proposals for a new history curriculum provoked much intense debate.
With schools preparing to introduce the revised version of the new curriculum this September, Adam Smith investigates the question that caused perhaps the greatest controversy: what history should primary school pupils study - and how should it be taught?
To find out, he asks educational experts, Education Secretary Michael Gove and his Shadow Tristram Hunt.
And he also asks teachers and their pupils.
As a Lecturer at University College London Adam teaches history to young adults. But, he asks, what fires interest in the subject among young children?
In one East Midlands primary, he watches a lesson on the Vikings which involves pupils going on 'quests' that involve runic tablets and Viking helmets, vector notation and i-Pads.
At a south London primary, he sees a very different lesson on the Greek gods - it's based on a single text, and led strongly by the teacher.
And at a Northamptonshire country house, Adam dons top hat and tails to find out what pupils can learn from an 'immersive' day spent dressed as Victorian servants.
So, Adam asks, what's more useful? Timelines, dressing up - or Horrible Histories?
Is it better to set them off on an enquiry in the hope that that will lead them to factual knowledge - or should we teach them facts in the hope that they will start to ask questions?
Should children be taught a 'true' narrative? Or should we expect them to learn to question sources?
And why teach eight year olds history in the first place?
Producer: Phil Tinline.
SUN 17:40 Profile (b04146b3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b0413zvj)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b0413zvl)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0413zvn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b0414qv4)
How do Children Learn History (Radio 4,
8pm Tuesday 15th April)
Mad About the Mustang (Radio 2,
10pm Thursday 17th April)
Costing the Earth (Radio 4,
3.30pm Tuesday 15th April)
Ring for Jeeves (Radio 4,
3pm Sunday 20th April)
Hillsborough's Untold Stories (5Live,
9pm Monday 14th April)
Caribbean Domino Club (Radio 4,
11am Monday 14th April)
Are You Sitting Comfortably (Radio 4,
11am Tuesday 15th April)
The Reunion (Radio 4,
11:15am, Sunday 20th April)
Tacita Dean: Save This Language (Radio 4,
11:30am Thursday 17th April)
Bob Harris's Ultimate Playlist (Radio 2,
10pm Tuesday 15th April)
No Triumph, No Tragedy (Radio 4,
9am Tuesday 15th April)
The Documentary: Preparing for Disaster (World Service,
3:30 pm Tuesday 15th April)
Soul Music (Radio 4, 1
1:30 am Tuesday 15th April)
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b0414qv6)
On Easter Sunday, Jill delights in hearing the St Stephen's organ playing again. Alan remembers Phil, who played the organ for 35 years. Jill is touched when he marks Phil's years of service with a plaque.
Alan also makes a special mention of Tom and Kirsty before their wedding on Thursday. Tom's a little daunted but Alan reassures him that they'll run through the service tomorrow.
Dan starts his Army training at Sandhurst on 4 May. Shula confides in Alan that she's trying to come to terms with Dan's decision.
Jill plants flowers by Phil's grave and gets chatting with an excited Kirsty. Jill admits that moving back into Brookfield makes her feel like she's come home.
Kenton's busy hiding Easter eggs for the hunt, whilst grumbling about new barman Callum. Kenton shows Tom the huge luxury egg he has stashed away for Jolene. They talk marriage. Tom wonders at Jolene and Kenton's tempestuous relationship, which Kenton proudly calls banter. Kenton bamboozles Tom by reminding him of all the stresses of planning a wedding. Shula reassures Tom he'll be fine.
Kirsty and Tom both say how much they're looking forward to the wedding. While Kirsty's excited, Tom's looking forward to the relief of it being over.
SUN 19:15 Tim FitzHigham: The Gambler (b0414qv8)
Series 1
Episode 3
Adventuring comedian Tim FitzHigham recreates an 18th Century bet, attempting to outrun a racehorse over a hundred yard dash. Tim turns to Kriss Akabusi and his former school PE teacher for training advice.
Written by and starring Tim FitzHigham with Olivia Fitzroy and Bob Slayer.
Additional material written by Jon Hunter and Paul Byrne.
Produced by Colin Anderson.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.
SUN 19:45 Infinite Possibilities and Unlikely Probabilities (b0414qvb)
Balance
Three contemporary stories by Anita Sullivan - commissioned specially for Radio 4 - set in a seaside town and exploring a wider world that co-exists with our everyday lives.
Balance:
In the charity shop, Fran counts and checks all the pieces in the donated board games. but are the scrabble tiles trying to tell her something?
Anita Sullivan has written a number of plays and short stories for BBC Radio, among them 'Countrysides' (2011), 'The Last Breath' (created with Ben Fearnside, 2012) and the adaptation for 'An Angel At My Table', which won Best Audio Drama (series or serial) at the BBC Audio Drama awards in 2014.
Reader: Rakie Ayola
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:00 Feedback (b040lwrx)
It's the most popular programme on Radio 4 by far, the flagship Radio 4 news programme, which begins the day for more than seven million listeners. No programme attracts more correspondence from Feedback listeners than Today.
This week Feedback puts some of that correspondence to Jamie Angus, who's been Editor of the programme for almost nine months. In his first radio interview, Jamie deals with listener complaints including an interview in which presenter Evan Davis continually interrupted politician Iain Duncan Smith, a Today item with the victim of an acid attack, and the question of balance on climate change. He also sets out his vision for Today.
The BBC iPlayer App is a popular device for radio listeners wanting to 'tune in' on the move, via their tablets and phones. But recent changes to the way it works have left many Feedback listeners unhappy. One of them is Nick Gilbody. He took up Feedback's invitation to come to London and meet Roger Bolton, as well as the man responsible for making sure the app is coming up to scratch, Andrew Scott, General Manager of Radio - BBC Future Media. But does the encounter solve his problems, and leave him a satisfied Feedback customer?
We'll also be travelling to Emmanuel Church in Didsbury near Manchester, to meet the team who produce the world's longest-running daily non-news radio show. The Daily Service has brought Christian worship to BBC listeners since 1928. We hear from the singers, the presenter and producer who decide on the themes for worship, and the music at the programme's heart.
Producer: Lizz Pearson
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b040lwrv)
Gabriel García Márquez, Edna Doré, Richard Hoggart, Gerardo D'Ambrosio, John Shirley-Quirk
Julian Worricker on
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Nobel prize-winning Colombian author, best known for 'One Hundred Years of Solitude'.
The television, stage and film actress, Edna Doré, who played Mo Butcher in 'Eastenders'.
Richard Hoggart, writer and cultural commentator, whose book 'The Uses of Literacy' was regarded as hugely influential in the immediate post-war era.
Gerardo D'Ambrosio, the magistrate, who led investigations into terror attacks, financial malpractice and systematic corruption in his native Italy.
John Shirley-Quirk, the bass-baritone singer whose talents proved an inspiration to Benjamin Britten.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (b041469n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 on Saturday]
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b0414c8f)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 In Business (b040lpgz)
Has the book a future?
Orange Shortlisted Kamila Shamsie discusses her latest novel A God in Every Stone
International publishing is in the throes of an upheaval it has not faced since the advent of the paperback in the 1930s. Giant publishers are merging to get even bigger in order to square up to new digital media giants. From the London Book Fair Peter Day asks a basic question: Can books survive, and if so, how?
Producer: Kent DePinto.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b0414rs8)
Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.
SUN 22:45 What the Papers Say (b0414rsb)
Hugh Muir of the Guardian looks at how papers covered the week's big stories.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b040lnlc)
James Dean remembered; Whales in cinema; Steven Knight on Locke
With Antonia Quirke.
Film and theatre director Sir Richard Eyre reveals how he fell in love with James Dean at first sight.
Steven Knight discusses his new thriller, Locke, which is set entirely in a car driving down the M6.
Philip Hoare, author of the award-winning Leviathan, reflects upon the representation of the whale in cinema, from Free Willy to Moby Dick,via Orca The Killer Whale
Sound editor Richard Hymns talks about the challenges of making a film without any dialogue in All Is Lost, starring Robert Redford as a yachtsman who is marooned at sea.
Presenter: Antonia Quirke
Producer: Stephen Hughes.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b0414bzs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 21 APRIL 2014
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b0413zx0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b040j023)
British working class gardens - Why England fails (at football)
Gardens of the British Working Class - the historian, Margaret Willes, considers the remarkable feats of cultivation by the working class in Britain, even if the land they planted and loved was not their own: From lush gardens nurtured outside crumbling workers' cottages to 'green' miracles achieved in blackened yards. In doing so, she reveals the ingenious ways in which determined workers transformed drab surroundings. She's joined by Lisa Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Leeds Metropolitan University, who has explored the ways in which struggles over classed and gendered tastes are played out in our gardens.
Also, 'Why England Fails At Football' - a sociological account of our international 'shame' from Anthony King, Professor of Sociology at the University of Exeter
Producer: Torquil Macleod.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b0414br8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0413zx5)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0413zx7)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0413zx9)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b0413zxc)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b04190mn)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day, with the Most Rev George Stack, Archbishop of Cardiff.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b0415h9p)
Farm Shop Pioneer
Persuading old farmers to retire is never easy, and at 90 years old Charles Hinchliffe must be one of Britain's oldest working farmers and shop assistants. He's still going strong on the floor of the farm shop he set up near Huddersfield thirty years ago. When he's not keeping an eye on the retail side of the family businesses, you can find him buying or selling cattle at market, checking the sides of beef in the carcass fridge or chatting to customers.
There are thousands of farm shops around the country now. They've proved a profitable diversification for farmers and a favourite with shoppers looking for fresh local produce, but when Hinchliffe's first opened its doors in 1974 they were practically unheard of. Caz Graham has been to meet Charles and his grandson Simon Hirst who runs the shop now, as they turn the page of a new chapter in the development of the business.
Presented and produced by Caz Graham.
MON 05:56 Weather (b0413zxh)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zrcdf)
Little Grebe
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the little grebe. Little grebes are our smallest grebes. They're dumpy birds with dark brown feathers and in the breeding season have a very obvious chestnut patch on their necks and cheeks. Little grebes are secretive birds, especially in the breeding season when they lurk in reeds and rushes or dive to avoid being seen.
MON 06:00 Today (b0415h9r)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (b0415h9t)
James Lovelock
Picture of James Lovelock provided by the Science Museum
Anne McElvoy looks back at the life of the maverick scientist James Lovelock who pioneered the theory of Gaia, of a self-regulating Earth. Lovelock also looks to the future and the next evolution of Gaia which could lead to the extinction of human life, and a rise of Artificial Intelligence, but the writer and ecologist George Monbiot prefers his future world with wolves, wild boars and beavers living alongside humans. The UN's intergovernmental panel on climate change has warned to expect more volatile weather patterns, and the physicist Joanna Haigh explains how scientists from all disciplines are working together to measure the impact of solar activity on the Earth's climate.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b0415h9w)
The Land Where Lemons Grow
Episode 1
A celebration of the Italian love affair with citrus fruit.
Mixing travel writing, history and horticulture, author Helena Attlee sets out to meet Italy's dedicated gardeners and farmers - whose passion for their life's work is as intoxicating as the sweet scent of zagara (citrus blossom).
In this episode: the elaborate naming systems of Renaissance botanists for the myriad varieties of citrus; and a journey to the Gulf of Naples to experience the mild yet intensely flavoured juice of the Amalfi lemon.
Read by Francesca Dymond
Written by Helena Attlee
Abridged by Laurence Wareing
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron
First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2014.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0414b5p)
Celia Birtwell; Grayson and Philippa Perry; Breton stripes
Jenni Murray talks to Celia Birtwell about her passion for print, textiles and her career in fashion.
We discuss the difference between clothes and fashion; why is it that we form an emotional attachment to some clothes and throw others out?
Grayson and Philippa Perry talk about the wardrobe they share with Clare, Grayson's alter ego.
Fashion historian Amber Butchart and Melanie Rickey examine the enduring appeal of the Breton Stripe.
And we ask why do so many of us adopt a kind of uniform, wearing the same colours and styles, day in and day out?
Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Laura Northedge.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0415h9y)
Incredible Women
Danielle Simmons
BAFTA award-winning Rebecca Front (the Thick of It, Up the Women, Nighty Night, The Day Today) stars alongside her brother Jeremy Front in this series about five extraordinary women.
Each day this week Jeremy meets one of the UK's most 'incredible women'. He spends 24 hours in their company, visiting their homes and finding out what makes them tick. Plus we discover some very odd things about the real woman behind her image.
In the first programme of this series, Jeremy meets TV reality star Danielle Simmons to find out why she wants to leave the life of reality TV behind her and how she's going to do it.
Along the way, Jeremy meets Felix Porter-Wills, the Machiavellian producer of the hit reality series OMG Ongar. Jeremy unwittingly reveals his dedication to the series, and experiences some discomfort as the divide between reality TV and reality become increasingly blurred.
Featuring Rebecca Front, Jeremy Front, Kevin Eldon, Joel McCormack and Georgie Fuller. Plus a special appearance by Mr TV himself, Eamonn Holmes.
Producer: Claire Jones.
MON 11:00 Lives in a Landscape (b0415hb0)
Series 16
Spirit of Battle
Wrestling, which used to draw millions of viewers to the box on Saturday afternoons in the 1970's, is still going strong in theatres up and down the country. Characters like Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks have given way to The Avalanche, Tony Spitfire and Thunder who throw each other about and continue to delight and appal passionate audiences.
Alan Dein follows Gareth Pugh, a young wrestler touring the UK circuit. Known by the Welsh name Caden Lay (Spirit of Battle), Gareth is breaking into the big time having just turned professional. Alan takes a wild ride from the booming ringside along endless motorways into changing rooms and training gyms to Gareth's village in mid-Wales. There, in the family home, he discovers the source of Gareth's spirit of battle and learns how his dream to become a wrestler was born.
Producer Neil McCarthy.
MON 11:30 Secrets and Lattes (b0415hb2)
Series 1
Spring Awakening
It's Spring in Edinburgh but sisters Trisha and Clare's newly opened cafe isn't blossoming. A business-boosting Polish music evening ends in major heart trauma all round but can an unexpected proposal save the day?
It's Spring in episode 3 of Hilary Lyon's Edinburgh-based series and everything is blossoming...... apart from sisters Trisha and Clare's new business, unfortunately. 'Cafe Culture' is way too quiet for comfort and it's time to be financially inventive. Temperamental, opera-loving, Polish chef, Krzysztof, (Simon Greenall) suggests that they hold an Eastern European music evening and it's full steam ahead.....apart from the fact that he, mysteriously, keeps nipping off.........
Arty younger sister, Trisha, (Julie Graham) has recently returned to her native city after years of living in London and also loves to nip off out, but not mysteriously......she's just healthily jogging round the Meadows.
However, one morning, she bumps into a friendly American (Guy Paul) making far too many offers for her liking and she finds it hard to be friendly back. Fretting that Clare has plans to bail out and sell the cafe to the highest bidder, Trisha is all set for a barney with her. Indeed, sensible big sister Clare (Hilary Lyon) is harbouring a few secrets on several fronts whilst Lizzie (Pearl Appleby) continues to battle with her shoplifting habit, but comes up trumps, however, when she's unexpectedly left holding the fort on the big night.
There are identity issues and heart traumas of the major variety all round but can an unexpected, yet welcome, proposal save the day..........
Director: Marilyn Imrie
Producers: Moray Hunter and Gordon Kennedy
An Absolute production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b0415hb4)
Britain's apprenticeship revolution - is it delivering?
Business leaders hope it can lift productivity and politicians of all colours are embracing the modernisation of the apprenticeship system - the Chancellor calls it his "march of the makers". But is the revolution delivering on its promise to our workers-to-be? Despite the rising cost of university and the promise of the new training, the numbers taking up apprenticeships are falling. You and Yours asks what it will take to create a system that can tackle the skills shortage and bolster long term economic recovery.
MON 12:57 Weather (b0413zxp)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b0413zxr)
National and international news with Shaun Ley. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
MON 13:45 In Search of Ourselves: A History of Psychology and the Mind (b0415hb6)
High Anxieties
Psychology is as old as the human race. People have always sought to understand what makes us think, feel and act the way we do.
In Episode 1, Martin examines the government's plan for a national 'happiness index' and traces our search for ourselves back to the ancients.
The term 'psychology' was first used in about 1600 and means, literally, 'study of the soul'. But it was only in the late 19th century that psychology emerged as a separate science. Today it draws on the intellectual legacy of philosophy, physiology and, increasingly, neurobiology and social science.
The author and broadcaster Martin Sixsmith retrained as a psychologist in the last decade, following careers as a BBC correspondent and government adviser. Martin's experience both studying applied psychology and as a recipient of therapy reflects the growing acceptance of psychological counselling in Britain and the lessening of the stigma attached to mental illness. There has been a growth of interest in the therapeutic aspects of psychology, but many of us still have a frustratingly incomplete knowledge of its history, techniques and broader applications.
This series taps into a defining aspect of modern existence and addresses the widespread desire to know more, charting the path from today's democratisation of psychological care back to early beliefs, the birth of modern experimental psychology, the related 'psy professions' - psychiatry and psychotherapy - and the splits and controversies of the 20th century.
Produced by Alan Hall and Sara Parker
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b0414qv6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Martyn Hesford - Tittle Tattle (b0415hb8)
Tittle Tattle by Martyn Hesford
It is 1964 and the 'Carry On' films are at the height of their popularity. Kenneth Williams is taking his mother Louie out for afternoon tea to celebrate her 60th birthday. He makes sure it is in a 'select' tea room - Derry and Toms. But who does he bump into? None other than fellow 'Carry On' actor Charles Hawtrey and his mother Alice. Charles is meeting a director about an upcoming film, but he is being very secretive as to who this mystery person is.
Director/Producer Gary Brown
Martyn Hesford is a hugely experienced scriptwriter and is best known for FANTABULOSA! (BBC 4) starring Michael Sheen which chronicles the life of Kenneth Williams. Martyn was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Single Drama for this film.
After starting his career as an actor, Martyn turned to screenwriting and penned a number of highly acclaimed BBC award winning single dramas such as A SMALL MOURNING, winner of Radio Times Drama Award, BRAZEN HUSSIES starring Julie Walters and A LITTLE BIT OF LIPPY starring Kenneth Cranham. As well as working on original pieces, Martyn has adapted several classic novels for TV. NICHOLAS NICKLEBY (ITV1), DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE (Clerkenwell Films/Working Title/Universal Pictures) and THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP (ITV1).
MON 15:00 The 3rd Degree (b0415hbb)
Series 4
University of Bedfordshire
A quiz show hosted by Steve Punt where a team of three University students take on a team of three of their professors.
Coming this week from the University of Bedfordshire, "The 3rd Degree" is a funny, lively and dynamic quiz show aimed at cultivating the next generation of Radio 4 listeners whilst delighting the current ones.
The Specialist Subjects in this episode are Psychology, Theatre and Sports Science and the questions involve Konstantin Stanislavski, Geoff Hurst, osmium and cauliflowers.
The show is recorded on location at a different University each week, and it pits three Undergraduates against three of their Professors in a genuinely original and fresh take on an academic quiz. Being a Radio 4 programme, it of course meets the most stringent standards of academic rigour - but with lots of facts and jokes thrown in for good measure.
Together with host Steve Punt, the show tours the (sometimes posh, sometimes murky, but always welcoming!) Union buildings, cafés and lecture halls of six universities across the UK.
The rounds vary between Specialist Subjects and General Knowledge, quickfire bell-and-buzzer rounds and the 'Highbrow & Lowbrow' round cunningly devised to test not only the students' knowledge of current affairs, history, languages and science, but also their Professors' awareness of television, film, and One Direction... In addition, the Head-to-Head rounds, in which students take on their Professors in their own subjects, were particularly lively, and offered plenty of scope for mild embarrassment on both sides...
The resulting show is funny, fresh, and not a little bit surprising, with a truly varied range of scores, friendly rivalry, and moments where students wished they had more than just glanced at that reading list...
In this series, the universities are Bristol, Kent, Bedfordshire, Birmingham, Nottingham & Aberystwyth.
Overflow (incl Cast Lists)
The host, Steve Punt, although best known as a satirist on The Now Show is also someone who delights in all facets of knowledge, not just in the Humanities (his educational background) but in the sciences as well. As well as "The Now Show" he has made a number of documentaries for Radio 4, on subjects as varied as "The Poet Unwound - The History Of The Spleen" and "Getting The Gongs" - an investigation into awards ceremonies - as well as a half-hour comedy for Radio 4's 2008 Big Bang Day set in the Large Hadron Collider, called "The Genuine Particle". This makes him the perfect host for a show which aims to be an intellectual, fulfilling and informative quiz, but with wit and a genuine delight in exploring the subjects at hand.
The 3rd Degree is a Pozzitive production, produced by David Tyler. His radio credits include Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive, Cabin Pressure, Bigipedia, The Brig Society, Thanks A Lot, Milton Jones!, Kevin Eldon Will See You Now, Jeremy Hardy Speaks To The Nation, Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off, The 99p Challenge, My First Planet, The Castle and even, going back a bit, Radio Active. His TV credits include Paul Merton - The Series, Spitting Image, Absolutely, The Paul & Pauline Calf Video Diaries, Coogan's Run, The Tony Ferrino Phenomenon and exec producing Victoria Wood's dinnerladies.
Producer: David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b0414dzc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Bombay Jazz (b0415hbd)
Sarfraz Manzoor explores a fascinating period of music history in India when American violinist Leon Abbey brought his jazz band to Bombay in the 1930's, leaving behind an incredible legacy.
The early years of jazz calls to mind places such as New Orleans, Chicago and Paris. What is often overlooked is that the Indian city of Bombay, now Mumbai, had its very own thriving jazz scene in the 1930's that lasted three decades.
Manzoor charts this extraordinary story of jazz in India when some of the world's most accomplished musicians including Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong brought their talents to the East and mixed with performers such as Chic Chocolate, Micky Correa, Teddy Weatherford and Frank Fernand -all regarded in India today as jazz legends. This cultural exchange produced music that wove threads into Bombay's story. These threads would later become inextricably a part of the city's own definitive creation: Bollywood, and its music in particular.
Discovering India's jazz heritage and the areas the music has been preserved Manzoor travels to Mumbai to visit Naresh Fernandes author of the critically acclaimed book The Taj Mahal Foxtrot. He meets with musicians and singers along with the widow of Micky Correa and the daughters of Chic Chocolate and explores the development of jazz with saxophonist Braz Gonsalves, the first man to play Be-Bop in India.
Examining the music and legacy of the Indian Jazz legends he searches for their impact today and his journey ends in Goa, now regarded as the new 'Jazz Capitol of India' by music promoter Colin D'Cruz .
Producer: Stephen Garner
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
MON 16:30 The Digital Human (b0415hbg)
Series 5
Whispers
Today tens of thousands of people run the Boston marathon amidst tight security. A year ago two bombs were detonated at the finishing line, killing three and injuring 260. Social media went into overdrive as people frantically pieced together clues which might lead them to the bombers. From this patchwork of evidence two suspects emerged and rumours began to spread.
During the London riots in 2011 people tweeted photos of the London Eye ablaze. Rumours circulated that rioters had broken into the zoo and released wild animals. A tiger was even spotted prowling around in Primrose Hill; there was even a grainy picture to prove it.
We seem to be spending less time verifying facts and more time believing things that fits in with what feels right. Is technology helping or hindering the flow of good information? Do we need to think before we retweet?
In this episode of The Digital Human, Aleks explores how rumours spread both online and in the physical world and discovers how in the echo chamber of social media falsehoods repeat until they become truth.
Contributors: Alexis Madrigal of The Atlantic, psychologist Nicholas DiFonzo, computer scientist Kalina Bontcheva, DJ Russ Gibb, Twiggy Garcia and Ty Evans.
Producer: Caitlin Smith.
MON 17:00 PM (b0415hbj)
Coverage and analysis of the day's news, presented by Carolyn Quinn.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0413zxt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 The Unbelievable Truth (b0415hbl)
Series 13
Episode 3
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents. Alex Horne, Lucy Beaumont, John Finnemore and Jack Dee are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as: Legs, The Internet, Dogs and The Middle Ages.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith, the team behind Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
Producer - Jon Naismith.
A Random production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b0415hbn)
Pat and Helen discuss the wedding rehearsal. Tom has been up early writing notes for Maurice and clear instructions for Jazzer for his absence on honeymoon. He's clearly preoccupied with work, so Kirsty cracks the whip.
Tony's also busy getting the carrots in, aware that the weather could break up in the week. Pat hopes the weather will be fine. Kirsty's counting on it.
Pat finally persuades Tony to accompany her shopping for a bag and to pick up his suit. Kirsty has a surprise for Tom. The rings have been engraved with "
24.04.14 Today and forever". They try the rings on. Tom's is a bit tight, but Kirsty says it's just hot in the shop. Kirsty's fits perfectly. Pat secretly suggests to Tom that he go and buy Kirsty a little surprise, perhaps as her 'something new'.
The wedding rehearsal is an emotional event for Pat and Helen. Even Tony can't help a little sniff after he watches the couple go through their vows and then hears their music play. Alan acknowledges that there won't be a dry eye in the house. Pat agrees - it's going to be beautiful.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b0415hbq)
Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil on Miss Saigon and Les Miserables
In a special edition of Front Row, John Wilson talks to the writers of two of the biggest stage musicals of all time - Miss Saigon and Les Misérables. Composer Claude-Michel Schönberg and lyricist Alain Boublil discuss their working process and how they bring a French sensibility to a modern American artform, as their musical, Miss Saigon - now in its 25th anniversary year - is reinvented for a new production.
Producer Ella-mai Robey.
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0415h9y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 The Crime Conundrum (b0415hbs)
Since the mid-1990s something remarkable has been happening. Crime has been falling for two decades. More remarkably hardly anyone predicted this development, and it has continued despite the recent recession and cuts to police budgets.
And this surprising trend is not confined to the United Kingdom, but seems to be replicated throughout the developed world.
In The Crime Conundrum, Dominic Casciani attempts to explain this extraordinary phenomenon, talking to experts and policy makers. Have we misunderstood the causes of crime and the role of government policies, the prisons and the police?
Producer: Adam Bowen.
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b040llvj)
India: Press for Sale
India's election campaign is under way with more than 800 million voters going to the polls. But questions are being asked about the news media which will inform their choices. For several years, Indian newspapers have been dogged by the scandal of "paid news" in which apparently genuine news articles turn out to be paid-for content, aimed at manipulating public opinion. In this edition of Crossing Continents, the BBC's Shilpa Kannan - herself an Indian citizen - investigates the phenomenon, it's origins, growth and implications. As she discovers, the Indian newspaper industry in particular may be uniquely susceptible to this kind of problem. However, tackling it is likely to be difficult. Some argue that it is now impossible to believe anything is printed in good faith. As one veteran journalist despairs: "When there's so much money to be made by doing fake journalism, why do real journalism?".
MON 21:00 Are You Sitting Comfortably? (b0415hbv)
Is prolonged sitting bad for us? Chris Bowlby gets up from his desk to find out.
He meets researchers at Leicester University who think that simply standing up increases the metabolic rate and so reduces the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
The Department of Health is watching this and other similar research closely. If the causation is proved there could be serious implications for how we live and work.
But as Chris finds out, when he gives up his own chair, it's not easy being a stand-up guy in a world built for sitting.
Producer: Daniel Tetlow
Presenter: Chris Bowlby
Editor: Richard Knight.
MON 21:30 Start the Week (b0415h9t)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b0413zxw)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b0415hbx)
As a high-profile delegation of American politicians arrives in Kiev, we ask is the diplomatic deal on Ukraine falling apart on the ground? Can the French tradition of work-life balance survive? And what's the best way to safely exchange secrets? With Ritula Shah.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0415hbz)
History of the Rain
Episode 6
We are our stories. We tell them to stay alive or to keep alive those who only live now in the telling.
19-year-old Ruth Swain is lying in her childhood home in the small Irish village of Faha in the attic room at the top of the stairs in the bed which her father had to construct in situ and which turned out to be as much boat as bed. She has Something Wrong with her, having collapsed during her fresher year at Trinity in Dublin, and finds herself bedbound in the attic room beneath the rain, in the margins between this world and the next.
Ruth is in search of her father. To understand the father she has lost. To find him Ruth journeys through the ancestry of the curious Swain family - from the Reverend Swain her great-grandfather, to her grandfather Abraham to her father Virgil – and in doing so discovers an enchanting story of pole-vaulting, soldiering, stubbornness, leaping salmon, poetry, the pursuit of the Impossible Standard, and the wild rain-sodden history of fourteen acres of the worst farming land in Ireland. Above all, Ruth embarks on a journey through books. Three thousand, nine hundred and fifty-eight books to be precise, which are piled high and line the walls of her attic room. As Ruth searches for her father in their pages, her story becomes a vital, witty and poignant celebration of imagination, books, love and the healing power of storytelling.
Niall Williams is also the author of bestselling novels including As It is In Heaven, The Fall of the Light, Only Say the Word and Four Letters of Love.
Abridged by Doreen Estall
Read by Ailish Symons
Producer: Heather Larmour
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (b040hx6v)
Social Register
Michael Rosen questions whether we change the way we speak according to the social class of the person we're speaking to. Novelist Graham Joyce has had an interesting experience with language throughout his life, moving between classes, as has critic Stephen Bayley. Linguists Julia Snell and Vineeta Chand fill in the detail. And the programme features archive clips of comedy making full use of the rich comic potential of this way of behaving.
Producer Beth O'Dea.
MON 23:30 Don't Log Off (b03d7v5f)
Series 4
Escape
Alan Dein crosses the world via Facebook and Skype, hearing the real life dramas of random strangers as Don't Log Off comes to Saturday mornings for the first time.
And in this first programme, Alan speaks to a range of people looking for escape - in a range of honest and moving encounters which take him right around the globe. He hears from a female human rights activist in Saudi Arabia trying to flee the country after hearing her life is in danger - and a Marilyn Manson fan yearning to escape Russia.
There are lighter moments, too, as Alan speaks to a Japanese man about his dashed hopes of a career singing love songs and a Ugandan hoping for a happy ending to his romance with a woman in Finland.
Hooked up to a computer into the early hours of the morning, Alan crosses continents online - inviting anyone and everyone to talk to him. He never knows who he will be speaking to next or what secrets they will reveal.
Producer: Laurence Grissell.
TUESDAY 22 APRIL 2014
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b0413zyq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b0415h9w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0413zys)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0413zyv)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0413zyx)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b0413zyz)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0415j54)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day, with the Most Rev George Stack, Archbishop of Cardiff.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b0415j56)
Maggots in animal feed, Young farmers' song, Great British Beef Week, Robotic milking
Charlotte Smith has the latest from a three-year project looking at using maggots in feed for pigs, chicken and fish. Scientists at the Food and Environment Research Agency say the dried maggots could make up to 10% of some feeds, but farming fly larvae isn't as easy as you might think.
It's Great British Beef Week and Charlotte kicks off a series of special reports on the beef industry by talking to Andy Foot, chairman of the NFU's beef group. He explains why the UK suckler herd has shrunk by 4% over the last year.
Essex Young Farmers have released a charity single called "Put That Hoedown" to raise money ahead of their national AGM. Not only that, but they've got their sights set on reaching Number One in the charts.
Jess Roche, one of the singers, tells Charlotte why they recorded the track at Abbey Road studios and - despite stiff competition from the likes of Katy Perry and Lily Allen - says "there's no harm in trying".
And Caz Graham explores the robotic revolution on dairy farms. Sally Wilson farms 300 Holsteins in the Scottish Borders and shows Caz how she milks them using three robots.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced in Bristol by Anna Jones.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zrcfq)
Stock Dove
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the stock dove. Perhaps 'stock pigeon' would be a better name, because they're like slightly smaller versions of the woodpigeon. Unlike their bigger relatives they have no white marks on their wings or neck and are more blue-grey in colour. When they fly, they look dumpier ...stockier you might say. Unlike woodpigeons, stock doves haven't taken to a life in town and they're mainly birds of wooded farmland.
TUE 06:00 Today (b0415j58)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 No Triumph, No Tragedy (b0415j5b)
Sophie Christiansen
In this programme Peter meets Sophie Christiansen, who became a triple gold Paralympic medallist at the London 2012 Games and talks about her cerebral palsy how she is using her fame to help challenge attitudes around disability:
"We should use the Games as a platform to speak about disability as the public love the Paralympics and sport but don't always understand what life as a disabled person can be like. Whenever anyone tells me I'm doing a good job at that, it means I'm doing the right thing."
Sophie was introduced to horse riding on a school trip when she was just six years old - eventually discovering a love of speed riding which frequently saw her Dad running alongside her ready to catch her should she fall. Her first major international competition came ten years later - the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games, where, riding Hotstuff, she won an individual bronze medal. That same year, she was also voted BBC London Disabled Athlete of the Year.
Sophie was awarded an MBE in the 2009 New Year Honours list for services to disabled sport and an OBE in the 2012 New Year Honours list.As well as becoming a triple gold Paralympic medallist at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, 2012 also saw Sophie achieve her Masters degree in Maths from Royal Holloway University
Peter White explores her motivation, experiences and even her love life as the two chat about life after the Paralympics and the impact the Games have had.
TUE 09:30 Witness (b0415j5d)
The Greek Military Coup
In April 1967, seven years of military dictatorship began in Greece. During the rule of the colonels, thousands of people were arrested and tortured. Sociologist Gerasimos Nortaras was part of the armed resistance to the military. He was captured, but refused to give away his fellow fighters, even under brutal torture.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b0415j5g)
The Land Where Lemons Grow
Episode 2
Sicily's rich tradition of citrus cultivation.
Citrus first arrived on the island in the ninth century, brought by the Arabs whose sophisticated irrigation systems made it viable there as a crop. The island is still renowned for the quality of its fruit, particularly the arancia rossa, the blood orange, hailed as the 'prince among oranges', which is grown in the shadow of Mount Etna.
Mixing travel writing, history and horticulture, author Helena Attlee takes a celebratory journey through Italy, exploring the special place that citrus holds in the Italian imagination.
Read by Francesca Dymond
Written by Helena Attlee
Abridged by Laurence Wareing
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron
First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2014.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0414b51)
Julie Bailey; Telling children off; Mrs Moneypenny; Dame Freya Stark
NHS campaigner Julie Bailey talks to Jenni Murray about why she took action and the consequences of having made that decision. New research has suggested that excessive shouting, punishing or ignoring naughty children increases their behavioural problems. Heather McGregor AKA Mrs Moneypenny reveals some of her 'Financial Advice for Independent Women' from her new book, and we hear archive of, explorer and travel writer, Dame Freya Stark.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0418kfr)
Incredible Women
Helen McKee
BAFTA award-winning Rebecca Front (the Thick of It, Up the Women, Nighty Night, The Day Today) stars alsongside her brother Jeremy Front in this series about five extraordinary women.
Each day this week Jeremy meets one of the UK's most 'incredible women'. He spends 24 hours in their company, visiting their homes and finding out what makes them tick. Plus we discover some very odd things about each incredible woman.
In today's programme, Jeremy meets MI5 whistle blower Helen McKee to find out how and why she leaked details of the British/American plans to infiltrate the newly elected government of the central American country, Manuella.
Along the way, Jeremy meets Manuellan Ambassador, Javier Fernando Francisco Marquez who explains what a heroine Helen has become to his country. At the embassy Jeremy experiences the extremely cramped conditions in which Helen is living. He finds out about her love of her two cats Pablo and Pedro and he witnesses her accident proneness first hand.
Jeremy also gets an exclusive interview with the former director of MI5, Dame Stella Rimington, who gives Jeremy her thoughts on how dangerous a character Helen McKee may be.
Will Jeremy get in deeper than he means to, and become embroiled in the murky world of illegal deeds?
Featuring Rebecca Front, Jeremy Front, Jake Canuso, Carolyn Pickles. Plus a special appearance by former director of MI5, Dame Stella Rimington.
Producer: Claire Jones.
TUE 11:00 Save the Moon! (b0418kft)
Professor Chris Riley speaks to space lawyers, scientists and commercial spaceflight entrepreneurs and argues that we need to act now to preserve the Moon for all mankind.
There is a new race to the Moon. Companies around the world are competing to get there first and anyone with enough cash can book their place on a lunar break. Alongside tourism, there are commercial interests. The Moon contains valuable rare minerals as well as a potential source of fuel.
The Moon is under threat. It is supposed to belong to all of us yet thousands of people have already bought lunar plots. One former astronaut believes he can legally claim ownership of a piece of lunar soil.
As the Moon opens for business, so does the potential for commercial exploitation. What can be done to save it?
Producer: Sue Nelson
A Boffin Media production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 11:30 Soul Music (b0418kfw)
Series 18
Myfanwy
The hauntingly beautiful Welsh song Myfanwy 'is in the air in Wales' according to singer Cerys Matthews. She along with others discuss what the melodic tale of unrequited love means to them. They include a Welsh woman living in Sicily for whom the song represents 'hiraeth', a longing or homesickness for Wales and another who believes it expresses the 'wounded soul of the Welsh'. A man remembers how his late brother and he used to sing it in pubs in North Wales and how the song symbolises the unrequited love he felt for him. Members of the Ynysowen choir, started after the mining disaster in Aberfan as a way of dealing with the emotion, talk about the song's power, and an ex soldier recalls digging for survivors with lines from it playing in his head "Give me your hand, my sweet Myfanwy".
Producer: Maggie Ayre.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b0418kfy)
Call You and Yours: Who Would Be a Teacher?
The National Union of Teachers has voted for a strike. It's over pay and workload. At the same time, some teachers admit to being insulted online So why do people teach? Call 03700 100 444.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b0413zz1)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b0413zz3)
David Moyes is sacked as Manchester United , the most famous football club in the world. Was it failure on the pitch or in commercial terms which forced his dismissal ? Ex England Manager, Graham Taylor extends his sympathies and Jim O'Neill of Goldman Sachs , who tried to buy the club, tells presenter, Martha Kearney why failures of leadership in football and business are equally punished. US Vice President Joe Biden tells Ukrainians in Kiev he will support them. Why healthcare in Wales and England is divided by more than geography. Foreign Office Minister, Hugh Robertson condemns plans for a Presidential election in Syria in June. And violinist Tasmin Little on the unique appeal of 'Lark Ascending'.
TUE 13:45 In Search of Ourselves: A History of Psychology and the Mind (b041dm1y)
The Freudian Age
In Episode 2, Martin traces a line from current government interest in 'talking cures' back to the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, visiting Freud's private apartments and also Europe's oldest mental asylum, the Narrenturm - literally, the Tower of Fools - in Vienna.
Producers: Alan Hall and Sara Parker
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b0415hbn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b0418kg0)
Road to Venice
It's rare to have a play about three women who are no longer in the first flush of youth, but Douglas Livingstone's Road to Venice is an account of the hen party in Venice of three women nearing seventy, with one of them being the future bride.
Barbara Flynn, Gabrielle Lloyd and Angela Pleasence play the three women with Ronald Pickup as the elderly fiancé and though there's a lot of humour in the play Douglas Livingstone has a real insight into the problems which face the three women. And with recordings that were specially made during the Regata Storica last September, the listener will feel that he also has taken the Road to Venice.
Written by Douglas Livingstone
Directed and produced by Jane Morgan
It is a Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (b0418kg2)
Series 5
Anonymity
Josie Long presents a sequence of mini documentaries exploring what happens when nobody knows your name.
From our transgressions online through to an unusual love affair between two strangers who had never set eyes on each other, Josie hears how anonymity can both ensnare and liberate us.
The items featured in the programme are:
Long Distance
Feat. Victor LaValle
Produced by Katie Burningham
Undercover
Feat. Fergal Keane
The Mollusc and the Peacock
Produced by Natalie Kestecher
Anonymous
Produced by Hana Walker-Brown
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall.
TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (b0418kg4)
Power of Scotland
Scotland is the principal source of Britain's renewable energy as well as its oil and gas. What would independence mean for the UK energy market? Would England struggle to source clean energy? Could Scotland continue to subsidise its wind turbines and tidal energy schemes? What would a split mean for energy prices in Scotland and in the rest of the UK?
Tom Heap reports from Edinburgh on an energetic debate that's certain to heat up as the Scottish independence referendum approaches.
Producer: Alasdair Cross.
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (b0418kg6)
Scots
Michael Rosen goes to Glasgow to learn the language of Scots and discovers that Scotland's second language is enjoying greater usage among young people and foreigners. He speaks to Glasgow bus driver James Lillis who has been giving classes to Polish drivers to help them understand passengers, student Lorna Wallis whose online poem Tae A Selfie, written in the style of Robert Burns went viral, and to comedian Sanjeev Kohli, a proponent of the Scots vernacular.
Producer: Maggie Ayre.
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b0418kg8)
Series 33
Marcus du Sautoy on Jorge Luis Borges
Mathematician Marcus de Sautoy champions the blind Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. He is fascinated by the connection between the creator of 'The Library of Babel' and science - did Borges really understand notions of infinity and space?
Biographer Jason Wilson adds colourful detail to the life of a great writer whom he insists was just being impish when it came to the weighty matters that have excited more than one mathematician over the years.
The programme includes beautiful recordings of Borges in conversation in 1971. Marcus du Sautoy is the Charles Simonyi Professor for the Understanding of Science.
Presented by Matthew Parris.
Produced by Miles Warde.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra in 2014.
TUE 17:00 PM (b0418kgb)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0413zz5)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Down the Line (b010dp1c)
Series 4
Episode 6
The return of the ground-breaking, Radio 4 show, hosted by the legendary Gary Bellamy; brought to you by the creators of The Fast Show.
Down The Line stars Rhys Thomas as Gary Bellamy, with Amelia Bullmore, Simon Day, Felix Dexter, Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse.
Special guests are Adil Ray and Arabella Weir.
Producers: Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse
A Down The Line production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b0418kgd)
Kirsty and Tom prepare to be separated until the big day. Kirsty has another surprise for Tom. He's to meet her at the church's lych gate on the day to find out.
Shula's upset that Dan's going to Sandhurst so soon. Dan asks for a truce and they read through his briefing information together. Shula gives Dan some cufflinks that belonged to his father Mark. Dan's touched.
Tony tells Tom how proud he is - and how John would be too. He thanks Tom for enabling his parents to see one of their sons marry. Overwhelmed, Tom goes to collect his thoughts at John's grave.
Henry finds an injured bird and brings it in to Kirsty and Helen. With nothing to be done but put it out of its misery, Kirsty snaps its neck away from Henry.
Restless Henry spills some juice on Kirsty's wedding dress. Kirsty sobs - it's ruined. Helen persuades Kirsty to wear the other dress that she originally liked. Tom pops round wanting to see Kirsty, who squeals to see him as she's wearing her dress. It's not a good time, so he drops off her surprise - a set of pearls. Kirsty tries them on and they suit her replacement dress perfectly. At last, she realises, everything's going to be ok.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b0418kgg)
Transcendence Review; James Graham and Josie Rourke on Privacy; Michael Nyman at 70
As he celebrates his 70th birthday, composer Michael Nyman reveals for the first time the inspiration for his new cycle of symphonies, playwright James Graham and director Josie Rourke discuss their new play Privacy which examines how our personal data is collected and what governments are doing with it. Also tonight Catherine Bray reviews Johnny Depp in sci-fi spectacle Transcendence.
Presenter: Kirsty Lang
Producer: Ellie Bury.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0418kfr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 Teachers vs Government: Seventy Years of Education Policy (b03ynt6y)
The 1944 Education Act laid the foundations for the modern education system. It extended free secondary education to all and introduced the tripartite system (grammar, technical and modern). It also set in train a common national distinction between primary and secondary education at 11.
It was welcomed by teachers as it recognised the importance of education for all children and it was a consensus policy that was part of the optimism about what could be achieved after the war.
But fifty years later the relationship between the teaching profession and the Government had changed to be one based on conflict. In 1999 David Blunkett was booed at the NUT conference and taunted with chants of "bring back the Tories". When the electorate finally did give the teachers a Conservative Education Secretary, relations between the Government and the teachers sank to an all-time low.
Roy Blatchford is Director of the National Education Trust. He has worked in education over the last five decades as a teacher, head teacher and inspector. In this programme he tells the story of modern education from 1944 to the present day and how it went from consensus to conflict, and from a world where qualifications were for just a tiny elite to one where all students are in school or training until the age of 18, with close on 50% going on to higher education. He speaks to key decision-makers from the period, including several former secretaries of state to ask how much of the original vision has survived and what the story of education over the last 70 years tells us about what the future might hold for Britain's schools.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b0418kgl)
Speaking Across the Generations, part 1
Two visually impaired people in their twenties, exchange experiences of schooling, family and employment, with two visually impaired people in their seventies. How are things different? Are there still similarities and have attitudes changed?
Fred Reid is an historian who lost his sight when he was fourteen back in 1952.
Jean MacDonald was born in 1931 with a visual impairment and went out to work to support her family when she was fourteen.
Jonjo Brady is 22 and studying law at university.
Joy Addo wants to run her own events management company.
They discuss schooling, employment and social opportunities from their own unique perspectives.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Lee Kumutat
Editor: Andrew Smith.
Photo: Joy Addo, Jonjo Brady and Peter White.
TUE 21:00 Inside Health (b0418kgn)
Hospital patients dying of thirst; Paracetamol; Saturated fats; Baclofen and alcoholism
Headlines this week claim that 'thousands of patients die in hospital of thirst' but did the authors of the study actually analyse hydration?
Mark Porter investigates the evidence for using Baclofen to treat alcoholism and hears how it helped a listener to stop drinking 6-8 bottles of wine a day.
Why did NICE question the use of Paracetamol - the UK's favourite painkiller - in the treatment of osteoarthritis?
And are saturated fats really bad for us?
TUE 21:30 No Triumph, No Tragedy (b0415j5b)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b0418kgq)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0418kgs)
History of the Rain
Episode 7
We are our stories. We tell them to stay alive or to keep alive those who only live now in the telling.
19-year-old Ruth Swain is lying in her childhood home in the small Irish village of Faha in the attic room at the top of the stairs in the bed which her father had to construct in situ and which turned out to be as much boat as bed. She has Something Wrong with her, having collapsed during her fresher year at Trinity in Dublin, and finds herself bedbound in the attic room beneath the rain, in the margins between this world and the next.
Ruth is in search of her father. To understand the father she has lost. To find him Ruth journeys through the ancestry of the curious Swain family - from the Reverend Swain her great-grandfather, to her grandfather Abraham to her father Virgil – and in doing so discovers an enchanting story of pole-vaulting, soldiering, stubbornness, leaping salmon, poetry, the pursuit of the Impossible Standard, and the wild rain-sodden history of fourteen acres of the worst farming land in Ireland. Above all, Ruth embarks on a journey through books. Three thousand, nine hundred and fifty-eight books to be precise, which are piled high and line the walls of her attic room. As Ruth searches for her father in their pages, her story becomes a vital, witty and poignant celebration of imagination, books, love and the healing power of storytelling.
Niall Williams is also the author of bestselling novels including As It is In Heaven, The Fall of the Light, Only Say the Word and Four Letters of Love.
Abridged by Doreen Estall
Read by Ailish Symons
Producer: Heather Larmour
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
TUE 23:00 Shedtown (b0418kgv)
Series 3
End of the Pier
The waters rise on Shedtown and its no-rules pier is about to reach its beachy head.
Will the Sheddists choose to shed this new life again and drip back off the big wheel and into reality (home)? Or will they keep on drifting? - Dipping back into the sea, headed for a headier life still, in their dreams.
CAST
Jimmy.................. Stephen Mangan
Barry.................... Tony Pitts
Wes..................... Warren Brown
Father Michael.... James Quinn
Dave.................... Shaun Keaveny
Diane................... Rosina Carbone
1st Diane............. Suranne Jones
Diane (in wigs).....Debra Stephenson
William................ Seymour Mace
Deborah.............. Emma Fryer
Eugenius............. Neil Maskell
Norma No Rules..Juliet Oldfield
Narrated by Maxine Peake
Written and Directed by Tony Pitts
Music by Richard Hawley and Paul Heaton
Produced by Sally Harrison
A Woolyback Production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 23:30 Don't Log Off (b03f86kq)
Series 4
Found in Translation
Alan Dein hears the story of Bryan from the US and Anna from Russia who met online - using Google Translate.
Bryan doesn't speak Russian and Anna doesn't speak English - they conduct their communication entirely via the online translation tool.
Alan has been following the story for Don't Log Off for over a year, speaking to Bryan on Skype on numerous occasions. Since they first spoke, Anna decided to move to the US with her two children. She sells her house in Russia and takes just three suitcases to set up home with Bryan. The couple's understanding of each other's languages remains minimal.
She arrived in the US in July this year - and the couple had 90 days to get married or Anna would have to leave the country. The wedding date is set for 21st September - but then, suddenly, it's called off... because Anna has concerns.
Alan decides to travel to Boise, Idaho to see how things work out...
Producer: Laurence Grissell.
WEDNESDAY 23 APRIL 2014
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b0414002)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b0415j5g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0414004)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0414006)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0414008)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b041400b)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0418lnp)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day, with the Most Rev George Stack, Archbishop of Cardiff.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b0418lnr)
Land Workers' Alliance; Boy farmer; Beef
A group of small-scale farmers is calling for a greater share of the subsidies paid out under the Common Agricultural Policy. The Land Workers' Alliance, which was formed last year, wants a cap on the amount of subsidy any one farmer can claim, and the money to be redistributed among smaller family farms. Farming Today hears from Dorset farmer Joyti Fernandes, who led a protest outside Defra's offices in London last week, calling for better representation of small food producers. Anna Hill puts those views to Guy Smith, vice president of the National Farmers' Union.
It's Great British Beef Week and, continuing our exploration of the industry, Anna takes a look at some beefy specimens with a butcher. The UK is the fourth largest producer of beef in Europe and as consumers demand more provenance in their food, native breeds like Hereford, Angus, and Lincoln Red are making a comeback. Anna checks out some native breeds on the hoof, before they are entered into the carcass competition at the Suffolk Show.
And the inspirational story of a teenager who saved up to buy seven ewes from the money he made chopping firewood. A couple of years later 15-year-old Joseph Pritchard has built up a flock of 64 sheep and is well on the way to achieving his dream of being a sheep farmer.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Anna Jones.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zrcgb)
Capercaillie
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the capercaillie. The bizarre knife-grinding, cork-popping display of the male capercaillie is one of the strangest sounds produced by any bird. The name 'Capercaillie' is derived from the Gaelic for 'horse of the woods', owing to the cantering sound, which is the start of their extraordinary mating display. These are the largest grouse in the world and in the UK they live only in ancient Caledonian pine forests.
WED 06:00 Today (b0418lnt)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b0418lnw)
Baroness Trumpington, David Adam, Pauline Butcher Bird, James Sawyer
Libby Purves meets Baroness Jean Trumpington; Pauline Butcher Bird, former secretary to Frank Zappa; science writer David Adam and James Sawyer of the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).
James Sawyer is director of disaster management at the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA). He leads teams which respond to disasters around the world including the tsunami in Japan and the Haiti earthquake. In a BBC Two documentary, Vets in the Disaster Zone, James and his team travel to the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan to try and save the lives of animals caught up in the crisis. Vets in the Disaster Zone is on BBC Two.
Baroness Jean Trumpington of Sandwich is a former Conservative Minister and one of the oldest members of the House of Lords. In her autobiography, Coming Up Trumps, she looks back over her remarkable life. She writes about her student days in Paris, working as a land girl on Lloyd George's farm, a stint in naval intelligence at Bletchley Park and her long career in politics. Coming Up Trumps is published by MacMillan.
David Adam is a science writer and editor at Nature magazine who has suffered from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) for 20 years. In his book, The Man Who Couldn't Stop, he attempts to understand the condition and his own experiences. He writes about the latest neurological research and recounts historical accounts of patients and their treatments. The Man Who Couldn't Stop - OCD and the True Story Of A Life Lost In Thought is published by Picador.
In 1967 Pauline Butcher Bird - a young English girl - met the unconventional, avant-garde rock star, Frank Zappa, while he was on a trip to London. Pauline followed him to Hollywood where she lived and worked in Zappa's house amid an entourage of musicians, freaks and other rock stars. Her memoir, Freak Out, has now been adapted into a radio play, Frank Zappa and Me for BBC Radio Four.
Paula McGinley.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b0418lny)
The Land Where Lemons Grow
Episode 3
The extraordinary story of the Lake Garda lemon. In spite of the coolness of its northern latitude, Lake Garda was once the centre of a thriving citrus industry, producing extremely bitter lemons that were exported all over northern Europe. It was a feat only made possible by dogged determination and a lot of hard work.
Mixing travel writing, history and horticulture, Helena Attlee's celebratory journey through Italy explores the special place that citrus holds in the Italian imagination.
Read by Francesca Dymond
Written by Helena Attlee
Abridged by Laurence Wareing
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron
First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2014.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0414b53)
Juliette Binoche; Victoria Coren; Lindsey Davis
Jenni speaks to Victoria Coren Mitchell about becoming the first two-time winner of the European Poker Tour with lifetime winnings of £1.5 million.
Juliette Binoche discusses playing a war photographer in her latest film A Thousand Times Goodnight.
We hear about the career opportunities open to women in John Lewis - 150 years ago.
Jenni talks to Lindsey Davis about her 27th novel and the enduring appeal of Ancient Rome as the backdrop to her popular crime stories.
And the women who take part in roller derbies - what drives them to train so hard?
Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Ruth Watts.
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0418p73)
Incredible Women
Rita Rayner
BAFTA award-winning Rebecca Front (The Thick of It, Up the Women, Nighty Night, The Day Today) stars alongside her brother Jeremy Front in this series about five extraordinary women.
Each day this week Jeremy meets one of the UK's most 'incredible women'. He spends 24 hours in their company, visiting their homes and finding out what makes them tick. Plus we discover some very odd things about each incredible woman.
In today's programme, Jeremy meets singing legend Rita Rayner. She and her sisters are reforming The Rayner Sisters close harmony group, to record a song for a new album of 50s hits with the likes of Michael Buble, Rod Stewart and Ozzy Osborne.
Actor and broadcaster Nicholas Parsons recalls what the sisters were like during their early career, throwing some light on the very different personalities of the sisters.
Jeremy goes to leafy Totteridge to spend time with Rita at her home and escorts the 'girls' to Abbey Road recording studios. There he witnesses a falling out between the octogenarian sisters during their recording session and has to step in in an unexpected way to save the day.
Featuring Rebecca Front, Jeremy Front, Barbara Windsor, Sam Spiro, Harry Jardine. Producer: Claire Jones.
WED 11:00 A Gripping Yarn (b0418p75)
In A Gripping Yarn, Jane Garvey explores the world of knitting. It's a lot more exciting and dynamic than the simple 'knit one, purl one' sweater would have you believe!
Tracing its popularity from the American revolution through to modern "guerilla" knitters, Jane comes across composer such as Hafdís Bjarnadótti, who designs music to represent knitting patterns, and jailbirds who earn remission through knitting.
Utilised by therapists, developed by social media and discovered by Reality TV, its image is now a million miles away from the knitting granny.
Introducing Jane to this hitherto hidden world are fashion historian Dr Joanne Turney, Christine Kingdom of the UK Hand Knitting Association and Rachel Matthews, owner of an Aladdin's cave of different Yarns of all colours and textures in East London.
Producer: Joanne Watson
An Alfi production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
WED 11:30 Gloomsbury (b0418p77)
Series 2
Ever Decreasing Literary Circles
Flushed with her recent success, Ginny is to hold a literary salon, but she wants Vera to co-host it. They argue about where to have it, whom to invite and what kind of refreshments should be offered. Mrs Gosling is obstructive about the possibility of vegetarianism.
Meanwhile, Henry can't decide whether to carry on working for the Foreign Office or write a biography of Byron or Tennyson, and follows Vera round the castle unsuccessfully trying to elicit her advice.
When the great day arrives, Henry is banished from the castle lest he gets in the way. Instead of the longed-for literary celebrities, however, the only arrival at Sizzlinghurst that day is a snowstorm of apologetic telegrams. Hurt and aghast that nobody loves them, Vera and Ginny blame each other.
The only person who turns up is Venus, who wasn't invited and has never read a book in her life. Only as the day draws to a close does Vera remember with horror that today was Henry's birthday and that she has neglected him without so much as a card, a gift or a kiss. Wracked with guilt, Vera makes up to Henry on a pile of dusty sacks in Gosling's shed.
GLOOMSBURY - THE SERIES
Green-fingered Sapphist Vera Sackcloth-Vest shares a bijou castle in Kent with her devoted husband Henry, but longs for exotic adventures with nervy novelist Ginny Fox and wilful beauty Venus Traduces. It's 1921, the dawn of modern love, life and lingerie, but Vera still hasn't learnt how to boil a kettle.
Producer: Jamie Rix
A ittle Brother Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b0418p79)
Term time holiday ad banned
An advert for a family holiday that can only be taken during school term time is banned. We find out why and hear from campaigners who want fairer prices from holiday companies.
The Government is considering changing Underground Trespass laws. We find out what that might mean for people who live on land that could be mined for shale gas.
And passwords. So many of us use the same ones over and over again that ID thieves find them more valuable than bank details.
Presented by Winifred Robinson
Produced by Natalie Donovan.
WED 12:30 Face the Facts (b0418p7c)
London's Hidden Homes
Converted shop storerooms, freezing ex-factories, so-called "slum" houseboats and busy car repair garages - rents in London are driving more and more people to live in desperate and sometimes dangerous places. The London Fire Brigade tells Face The Facts of its "grave concerns" over safety in properties that were never meant for human habitation. In the last nine months alone, it's attended over thirty fires in such makeshift homes, and two people have died. John Waite meets some of the residents of London's "shadow" housing market, and asks what's being done to prevent people risking their lives every time they shut their front door.
Producers: Joe Kent and Nick Jackson
Editor: Andrew Smith.
WED 13:00 World at One (b041400d)
National and international news with Martha Kearney. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
WED 13:45 In Search of Ourselves: A History of Psychology and the Mind (b041dmzy)
It's All about Sex
Freud's development of a new psychological science, psychoanalysis, provoked controversy because of his focus on sexuality.
In episode 3, Martin examines Freud's legacy, with audio archive of his one-time colleague then rival Carl Gustav Jung, his daughter Anna Freud and a new interview with Christopher Hampton, author of the play 'The Talking Cure'.
Producer: Alan Hall
A Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b0418kgd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b0418p7f)
The Surprising Effect of Miss Scarlett Rosebud
A new comedy from David Nobbs. Two retired women teachers share a house, but little else. Then a former student, now turned rock-star, bursts into their lives and threatens to change everything.
Music, song and lyrics composed and performed by Stephen Benham
Directed by Peter Kavanagh.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b0418p7h)
Welfare Benefits
If you've a question about welfare benefits, Paul Lewis and guests will be ready to help. Call 03700 100 444 from
1pm to
3.30pm on Wednesday or e-mail moneybox@bbc.co.uk now.
Joining Paul will be:
Phil Agulnik, Director, entitledto.
Jean French, Legal Rights Service Manager, Royal National Institute of Blind People.
Will Hadwen, Welfare Rights Advisor, Working Families.
WED 15:30 Inside Health (b0418kgn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b0418p7k)
The Ethnography Award 'Short List'
The Ethnography award 'short list': Thinking Allowed, in association with the British Sociological Association, presents a special programme devoted to the academic research which has been short listed for our new annual award for a study that has made a significant contribution to ethnography, the in-depth analysis of the everyday life of a culture or sub culture. Laurie Taylor is joined by three of the judges: Professor Beverley Skeggs, Professor Dick Hobbs and Dr Louise Westmarland.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b0418p7m)
Royal video; FT rejects IPSO; Documentaries on adoption; Peter Greste update
The Financial Times newspaper has said it will not be joining IPSO, the Independent Press Standards Organisation. It's announced it will regulate itself by setting up it's own in-house system. Some other papers, including the Independent, have still to decide whether to join. Steve Hewlett talks to the editor of the Independent, Chris Blackhurst, about whether the FT's decision to go it alone is influencing their decision to join.
The latest in a series of programmes on adoption starts on ITV this week. "Wanted: A Family of My Own", is a four part series nearly two years in the making. It follows other documentaries this year on the subject, like Channel 4's, "Finding Mum and Dad" and "15,000 kids and counting". Steve Hewlett talks to its series producer Claire Lewis about the challenges they faced. Also, Roger Graef, executive producer of the Panorama' documentary, 'The Truth About Adoption', and former chair of the British Association of Social Workers, David Niven, talk about how a shift in the relationship between the media and local authorities is enabling film makers to make more programmes about this subject.
The trial of ex-BBC correspondent Peter Greste and other Al-Jazeera staff continued in Cairo yesterday. It was the sixth court session underway at Tora Prison, and the trial has now been adjourned until May 3rd. The court is trying 20 people in the case, 12 in absentia including Al-Jazeera British journalist Sue Turton. Steve Hewlett talks to her about the latest developments in court.
As the Royal Tour of Australia draws to a close, Sarrah Le Marquand, associate editor of the Telegraph in Australia, on a row which has erupted over a video of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their, 'day off'.
Producer: Katy Takatsuki
Editor: Andrew Smith.
WED 17:00 PM (b0418p7p)
Coverage and analysis of the day's news, presented by Eddie Mair.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b041400g)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Susan Calman Is Convicted (b0418p7r)
Series 2
What Makes Humans Human?
Susan Calman explores issues on which she has strong opinions. This week: What makes humans human?
In the 1990's Susan worked at the United Nations in Geneva on the Human Genome project. It was a project which looked at the increasing genetic databases that were being set up all over the world. It got her thinking - can you really encapsulate people in one scientific code?
Susan thinks that the answer is no. Science is making great advances in coding human beings, but that's not what we are. Siblings share a genetic code but can be incredibly different. Everyone is made up of people we meet, books we read and experiences we have. Science is wonderful but we should also consider the human soul.
Produced by Lyndsay Fenner.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b0418p7t)
Roy takes Tom through the plan of action for tomorrow. Tom's still working on his speech. Roy's plan is like a military operation. Tom wryly jokes that Dan will have an easier time at Sandhurst.
Roy notices that Tom's nervous and a bit uptight. Roy tries to relax Tom with anecdotes from other weddings he's been to but they unsettle Tom further.
Alice needs to find a replacement balloon arch after a sudden cancellation. She calls on Jennifer who buys 150 balloons - it's all hands to the pump. Alice calls on Chris to come up with some kind of structure to hang the balloons on. Jennifer has a brainwave, suggesting they make paper flowers to hang with the balloons in bunches. She'll get Lilian to help. Temporarily relieved, Alice hears a flash of thunder and lightning. To her dismay it looks like rain.
Tom confides in Peggy that the wedding and everything else has become too much. His whole life seems to have been mapped out for him. Everything changed on the night John died. Tom suddenly had to replace him and grow up - the heir not the spare.
Peggy tells Tom that if he really can't go through with the wedding, he must tell Kirsty tonight.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b0418p7w)
Artist Richard Wilson; playwright Mike Bartlett; Generation War; Exhibition
Artist Richard Wilson unveils his vast 77-tonne new silver sculpture, Slipstream, in Heathrow's new Terminal 2 building. Playwright Mike Bartlett, who is currently enjoying a major critical success with King Charles III, discusses his play about the potential future monarch as well as An Intervention which premieres in Watford this week. Booker-winning novelist Rachel Seiffert discusses the new German TV drama series Generation War which follows the lives of five friends in Berlin on different paths through Nazi Germany and World War II. British director Joanna Hogg returns with her third film Exhibition starring Viv Albertine of punk band The Slits. Shahidha Bari reviews.
Producer Jerome Weatherald.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0418p73)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Would That Work Here? (b0418p7y)
Japan: Cashless Community Care for the Elderly
Japan: cashless community care for the elderly
Claire Bolderson concludes a series of thought-provoking debates which look at something another country does well, or differently, and ask would that work here?
The UK, like many countries, faces the problems of an increasingly ageing society. The number of people aged 65 and over is projected to rise by 23% from 10.3 million in 2010 to 16.9 million by 2035. How can we provide and pay for their care?
Japan is at the forefront of the ageing crisis, with the highest proportion of elderly citizens in the world. By 2030, almost a third of the population will be 65 or older. At the same time the overall population is shrinking, leaving fewer young working people to shoulder the burden of paying for care for the elderly.
One creative response to this challenge at local level has been a cash-less system of time-banking. Under the fureai kippu system, individuals donate time to looking after the elderly, and earn credits which they can - in theory at least - "cash in" later for their own care, or transfer to elderly relatives in other parts of the country.
Could something similar work here, or do we have very different attitudes to community and volunteering? Who would benefit from such a cash-less scheme, and who might lose out? Could it be scaled up to meet the escalating needs of a growing elderly population?
Produced by Ruth Evans and Jennie Walmsley
A Ruth Evans production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b0418p80)
Series 4
Benet Brandreth
Benet Brandreth argues that our current political discourse is bankrupt, so he proposes a novel solution: a legislature by lot.
Four Thought is a series of thought-provoking talks in which speakers air their thinking, in front of a live audience, on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect culture and society.
Presenter:Ben Hammersley
Producer: Sheila Cook.
WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (b0418kg4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
15:30 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 Midweek (b0418lnw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b041400j)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b0418p82)
Obama backs Japan in China dispute, Shakespeare at 450 and Brazil riots as World Cup approaches, with Ritula Shah.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0418p85)
History of the Rain
Episode 8
We are our stories. We tell them to stay alive or to keep alive those who only live now in the telling.
19-year-old Ruth Swain is lying in her childhood home in the small Irish village of Faha in the attic room at the top of the stairs in the bed which her father had to construct in situ and which turned out to be as much boat as bed. She has Something Wrong with her, having collapsed during her fresher year at Trinity in Dublin, and finds herself bedbound in the attic room beneath the rain, in the margins between this world and the next.
Ruth is in search of her father. To understand the father she has lost. To find him Ruth journeys through the ancestry of the curious Swain family - from the Reverend Swain her great-grandfather, to her grandfather Abraham to her father Virgil – and in doing so discovers an enchanting story of pole-vaulting, soldiering, stubbornness, leaping salmon, poetry, the pursuit of the Impossible Standard, and the wild rain-sodden history of fourteen acres of the worst farming land in Ireland. Above all, Ruth embarks on a journey through books. Three thousand, nine hundred and fifty-eight books to be precise, which are piled high and line the walls of her attic room. As Ruth searches for her father in their pages, her story becomes a vital, witty and poignant celebration of imagination, books, love and the healing power of storytelling.
Niall Williams is also the author of bestselling novels including As It is In Heaven, The Fall of the Light, Only Say the Word and Four Letters of Love.
Abridged by Doreen Estall
Read by Ailish Symons
Producer: Heather Larmour
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
WED 23:00 Helen Keen's It Is Rocket Science (b0418p87)
Series 3
Episode 4
Last in the series of the comic but factually accurate history of space exploration. This week we look at Astronomical Errors. How mistakes have shaped the history of rocket science, including how the universe is made out of ice, or possibly isn't; when you should keep quiet about the shape of the solar system; and some of the more surprising activities of unpredictable genius Isaac Newton.
Starring Helen Keen, Peter Serafinowicz and Susy Kane
Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill
Produced by Gareth Edwards.
WED 23:15 Bunk Bed (b0418p89)
Series 1
Episode 4
Everyone craves a place where their mind and body are not applied to a particular task. The nearest faraway place. Somewhere for drifting and lighting upon strange thoughts which don't have to be shooed into context, but which can be followed like balloons escaping onto the air. Late at night, in the dark and in a bunk bed, your tired mind can wander.
This is the nearest faraway place for Patrick Marber and Peter Curran. Here they endeavour to get the heart of things in an entertainingly vague and indirect way. This is not the place for typical male banter.
From under the bed clothes they play each other music from The Residents and Gerry Rafferty, archive of JG Ballard and Virginia Woolf. Life, death, work and family are their slightly warped conversational currency.
Writers/Performers:
PETER CURRAN is a publisher, writer and documentary maker. A former carpenter, his work ranges from directing films about culture in Africa, America and Brazil to writing and presenting numerous Arts and culture programmes for both radio and television.
PATRICK MARBER co-wrote and performed in On The Hour and Knowing Me, Knowing You..with Alan Partridge. His plays include Dealer's Choice, After Miss Julie, Closer and Don Juan in Soho. Marber also wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay for the film Notes on a Scandal.
Producer: Peter Curran.
WED 23:30 Don't Log Off (b03g89bw)
Series 4
Away from Home
Alan Dein continues his night time conversations with internet strangers, discovering the lives behind the profiles of people he randomly meets through Facebook and Skype.
This week he speaks to people living and working away from home. A nurse in Germany awaits the arrival of battle-injured troops, a disabled Romanian longs for the arrival of the family's first car, and an Icelander asks Alan if he should put a rose on his girlfriend's grave.
Producer: Sarah Bowen.
THURSDAY 24 APRIL 2014
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b041401g)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b0418lny)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b041401j)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b041401l)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b041401n)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b041401q)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0418ph5)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day, with the Most Rev George Stack, Archbishop of Cardiff.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b0418ph7)
Storm damage in national parks; Bird-scaring drones; Nutrition
With nearly two thirds of British men and more than half of women now classified as overweight, could changes in agriculture be the best way to improve our diets - perhaps without us even noticing? Charlotte Smith hears about new research into so-called functional foods, which could help introduce 'health by stealth'.
A farmer in Suffolk shows Farming Today his specially-modified drone, designed to scare pigeons off his crops. It's the size of a dustbin lid, can reach speeds of 40 miles an hour, and is complete with a siren and lights that look like eyes.
And Charlotte Smith hears about four hundred thousand pounds of government money for repairing storm damage to our national parks.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Emma Campbell.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zrckq)
Ruddy Duck
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the ruddy duck. Ruddy ducks are natives of North America. In the late 1950s and early 1960s several ruddy ducks escaped from the Wildfowl Trust's collection at Slimbridge and within 30 years they had become established breeding birds in the UK. Some even migrated to Spain where they mated with a very rare threatened relative, the white-headed duck. Many ornithologists believed that the resulting hybrids threatened to undermine years of conservation work in Spain, so after taking scientific advice, the UK government set out to eradicate the ruddy duck. This action has reduced our population to a handful so your best chance of hearing the courtship display is by visiting a wildfowl collection.
THU 06:00 Today (b0418phc)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b0418phf)
Tristram Shandy
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Laurence Sterne's novel Tristram Shandy. Sterne's comic masterpiece is an extravagantly inventive work which was hugely popular when first published in 1759. Its often bawdy humour, and numerous digressions, are combined with bold literary experiment, such as a page printed entirely black to mark the death of one of the novel's characters. Dr Johnson wrote that "Nothing odd will do long. Tristram Shandy did not last" - but two hundred and fifty years after the book's publication, Tristram Shandy remains one of the most influential and widely admired books of the eighteenth century.
With:
Judith Hawley
Professor of Eighteenth-Century Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London
John Mullan
Professor of English at University College London
Mary Newbould
Bowman Supervisor in English at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge.
Producer: Thomas Morris.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b0418rc7)
The Land Where Lemons Grow
Episode 4
Uncovering the origins of the fantastically violent and messy Battle of the Oranges - an annual event that marks the end of carnival in the Northern Italian town of Ivrea.
Mixing travel writing, history and horticulture, Helena Attlee's celebratory journey through Italy explores the special place that citrus holds in the Italian imagination.
Read by Francesca Dymond
Written by Helena Attlee
Abridged by Laurence Wareing
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron
First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2014.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0414b55)
Midwives Special - live from the Liverpool Women's Hospital
A midwives special - live from the Liverpool Women's Hospital presented by Jenni Murray.
We'll be unveiling the findings of a Freedom of Information request submitted to NHS Trusts in England which looked at vacancy rates for midwives, and get reaction from the health minister and the Royal College of Midwives. We'll discuss the impact of these figures on staff moral, recruitment and the number of people leaving the profession. We'll talk to midwives about what their job actually involves, what patients now expect from them and the pressures they face delivering a first class service for all women no matter what their needs. Plus what do mum's think about maternity services - what are their priorities? And what might maternity care in the future look like?
Presented by Jenni Murray.
Producer Karen Dalziel.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0418rc9)
Incredible Women
Tish Watts
BAFTA award-winning Rebecca Front (The Thick of It, Up the Women, Nighty Night, The Day Today) stars alongside her brother Jeremy Front in this series about five extraordinary women.
Each day this week Jeremy meets one of the UK's most 'incredible women'. He spends 24 hours in their company, visiting their homes and finding out what makes them tick. Plus we discover some very odd things about each incredible woman.
In today's programme, Jeremy meets fashion guru Tish Watts who's spearheading a campaign to clean up the modelling business. He sits in on a meeting with a newly-signed model and witnesses Tish's hard-nosed attitude as she jumps on a flight to New York to trouble shoot when the model turns out to be underage as this could be catastrophic for her image as a caring boss.
On the plane to New York Jeremy encounters Joanna Lumley who knows Tish from their former modelling days and tells Jeremy some home truths about her. But will the young model have the last laugh in the end?Featuring Rebecca Front, Jeremy Front, Stephen Ashfield, Carolyn Pickles and Georgie Fuller. Special appearance by Joanna Lumley.
Producer: Claire Jones.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b0418rcc)
South Korea: Sex in the Sunset Years
It's the generation that raised South Korea from the ashes of war to one of the richest, most technologically advanced countries on earth. Even without a Confucian tradition of filial piety, you'd think they'd at least be made comfortable in their old age. But they're not. South Korea has the highest rates of suicide and relative poverty among seniors in the rich world. For some this has meant finding a second career to make ends meet. At a park in Seoul, Lucy Williamson finds an old profession getting some surprising new recruits.
THU 11:30 Derek Tangye - The Cornish Gardener (b02x66zs)
John McCarthy explores the fascinating life of British author Derek Tangye and reveals a remarkable and enigmatic portrait of this influential writer.
Popular writer Derek Tangye who lived in the West Country for almost fifty years penned a score of books collectively known as 'The Minack Chronicles'. The stories illustrate the anomalous lives Derek and his wife Jeannie led when, in the 1950's, they abandoned their sophisticated metropolitan lifestyle to live in isolation working a cliff top daffodil farm with their beloved animals in the farthest reaches of Cornwall.
As McCarthy travels to the area surrounding Minack, the main inspiration for Tangye' work, he explores the world of a writer whose literary triumphs mask a mysterious and complex life. His descriptions in the books of the 'glorious anthem' of a cat's purr and the 'sweet moment when a long-awaited harvest awakes' provide an atmospheric backdrop to the captivating discoveries and secrets of his life.
Derek Tangye was educated at Harrow and subsequently worked as a journalist. During and after the war he was a member of MI5 and throughout his days at Minack was a neighbour of novelist John Le Carre. A few years after Derek Tangye's death in 1996 a national newspaper ran allegations that he was a Russian spy. The sensational headlines were quickly dismissed by those who knew him but last year during a Tangye centenary event an audio project also revealed a life a lot bleaker than the books portrayed, uncovering the author's intense jealousy and the extent to which the couple managed to avoid the Second World War.
Speaking with the Tangye's inner circle, followers and experts in spy history, McCarthy attempts to uncover some of the mysteries and unanswered questions surrounding the author whilst evoking the struggles and triumphs he encountered making a living from the land. He'll examine the Tangye's marriage, the motivation behind the couple's decision to discard glamour to live in a neglected cottage, and why after Derek Tangye's death his inspirational books fell so quickly out of print.
In recent times there has been renewed interest in Tangye's books with publishers set to re-launch his canon of work using 21st century technology. McCarthy will discover the impact and merits of the anthologies past and present and consider whether Tangye's chronicles should receive greater recognition for their contribution towards literature.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b0418rcf)
Tuition fees, Green Deal scams, Gap insurance
A new report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies suggests the government's plans to increase tuition fees for students in England may not save the taxpayer any money. We'll talk to the author of the report.
Citizens Advice warns that seventy percent of queries to them about Green Deal are about scams.
We look at the idea of gap insurance - and whether high pressure sales pitches when you are buying a car should be allowed, and as two of the biggest TV shopping channels close - is it the end for the road for buying what you see.
THU 12:57 Weather (b041401s)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b041401v)
National and international news with Shaun Ley. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
THU 13:45 In Search of Ourselves: A History of Psychology and the Mind (b041dn0f)
Pavlov's Bell
Starting with the 'conditioned reflex' that the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov famously identified while studying dogs, Martin explores the development of a significant alternative to the Freudian way of thinking, 'behaviourism' - including recordings of the controversial American psychologist BF Skinner and an interview with his daughter Deborah, who as a child was the subject of her father's close scientific observations.
Producer: Alan Hall
A Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b0418p7t)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 The Interrogation (b0418rch)
Series 3
Jonny
by Roy Williams, with Kenneth Cranham and Alex Lanipekun. The story of Jonny.
When the defendant in a rape case is found innocent, Max just can't seem to let it go.
Directed by Mary Peate
Original music by David Pickvance.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b0418rck)
Walking on Water, Isles of Scilly
Without quite walking on water, Helen Mark uses a very low spring tide to walk between Tresco and Bryher, two of the Isles of Scilly. She meets people who delight in what is revealed on the seabed, such as 3,000 year old Neolithic field walls, indicating the time when the islands were a single landmass.
Local harbour master Henry Birch stands with Helen at the mid point between the islands which normally sits 5 meters below the sea.
Helen hears how it's all possible because of what must surely be one the best words to have up your sleeve during a game of Scrabble: syzgy, which is when the sun, moon and earth are aligned creating the extreme highs and lows known as spring tides.
Producer: Mark Smalley.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b0414c8f)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (b0414qv0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b0418rcm)
Mia Wasikowska; Joanna Hogg; Neil Brand on Noah
Actress Mia Wasikowska talks about acting with camels in Tracks, the true story of Robyn Davidson who walked 1700 miles across the Australian desert.
Director Joanna Hogg discusses her latest dissection of middle-class alienation in Exhibition about two artists who have to leave their dream home, a modernist house in West London.
Composer Neil Brand unpicks Clint Mansell's score for Noah and discovers the "God chord".
The Film Programme follows two teams competing in Sci-Fi London's 48 hour film challenge, in which they have to make a short movie in only two days.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b0418rcp)
Y chromosome; Everest avalanche; Aphid survey; Longitude
Y Chromosome
We learn from a young age that if a fertilised egg carries XX chromosomes it will be a girl, but with XY it will be a boy. This male Y sex chromosome has lost many genes along its evolution over the past 180 million years and now only about 20 genes remain. Now two new studies in Nature journal have given clues into how the Y chromosome evolved into its current state by looking at the genetic make up of 15 species the team built an archaeological record of all the mutations that occurred over time - to trace the timing of how the Y originated.... Professor Henrik Kaessmann from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland explains that the genes that remain play a more important role than previously believed.
Everest Avalanche
Last week the biggest single loss-of-life event occurred on Everest: a huge avalanche killed 16 Sherpa guides. All were so-called "icefall doctors", possibly the riskiest job of all, which involves finding a route through the broken mass of icefall, and then securing ladders and ropes for mountaineer tourists to follow.
The Himalayan Sherpas have abandoned the climbing season out of respect for the fallen. There are many questions about health and safety, but we want to know what could be done to help? BBC Science Reporter Victoria Gill has been looking at the science behind avalanches, Are avalanches predictable? And will global warming in the Himalayan region make them more common?
Aphid Survey
This month the Rothamsted Research in Hertfordshire's Insect Survey will have been monitoring national aphid populations for fifty years. Aphids, such as greenfly and blackfly, can cause extensive damage to plants and crops. The aphid season - as many gardeners will know - is just about to start. But how has the recent mild, wet winter affected their numbers?
Lichens
An Inside Science listener emailed in to ask about lichens - what are they and how do they live. We called in plant ecologist Professor Howard Griffiths, at the University of Cambridge to fill us in on these hardy, pioneering organisms.
Longitude
300 years ago there was no way of knowing the position of a ship out on the high seas. The greatest scientific challenge of the age was navigation. Britain's response was to offer a large prize fund for the solution to the problem of Longitude. Richard Dunn, curator and head of science and technology at Royal Museums Greenwich tells Marnie Chesterton the story of John Harrison, a clockmaker and carpenter, who solved this seemingly impossible problem.
Producer: Fiona Roberts.
THU 17:00 PM (b0418rcr)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b041401x)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Cabin Pressure (b01q8qqc)
Series 4
Wokingham
When his Mum falls ill, Martin has to deal with a sister, a van and a moustache. Meanwhile, Carolyn and Douglas become locked in a game that can never end.
Cabin Pressure is a sitcom about the wing and a prayer world of a tiny, one plane, charter airline staffed by two pilots: one on his way down, and one who was never up to start with. Whether they're flying squaddies to Hamburg, metal sheets to Mozambique, or an oil exec's cat to Abu Dhabi, no job is too small, but many, many jobs are too difficult.
Written by John Finnemore
Produced and directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b0418rct)
Kirsty and Tom are Getting Married
Three weeks of themed programmes from the last two decades reliving key moments from the characters’ lives and the events that make Ambridge unforgettable. This episode forms part of the first week looking at how four different couples tied the knot and how one much loved character left the series.
Kirsty first got to know Tom when they were both young eco-warriors and she became part of the family at Bridge Farm continuing to work for Helen even after Tom had dumped her.
But she and Tom got back together and now their wedding has been planned down to the last detail. All they’ve got to do is make it through the day..
This programme was originally broadcast on 24th April 2014
Pat Archer ..... Patricia Gallimore
Joe Grundy ..... Edward Kelsey
Tom Archer ..... Tom Graham
Alan Franks ..... John Telfer
Kirsty Miller ..... Annabelle Dowler
Tony Archer ..... David Troughton
Helen Archer ..... Louiza Patikas
Roy Tucker ..... Ian Pepperell
Eddie Grundy ..... Trevor Harrison
Writer, Joanna Toye
Director, Sean O'Connor
THU 19:15 Front Row (b0418rcw)
Damon Albarn, Art Fund Prize shortlist, Sophie Hannah, Proms line-up
John Wilson is in the recording studio with Damon Albarn to discuss his latest album Everyday Robots, an autobiographical journey in which he returns to his childhood and his London and Essex roots. Albarn describes the stories that lie behind the songs of this his first fully-realised solo album. Roger Wright reveals the line-up for his last ever BBC Proms. The poet and crime writer Sophie Hannah on her new novel The Telling Error, a psychological puzzle about about the seductive appeal of lying. Plus The Art Fund director Stephen Deuchar announces the shortlist for the Museum of the Year Prize.
Producer Elaine Lester
Presenter: John Wilson.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0418rc9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b0418rcy)
The Muslim Brotherhood in Britain
The Muslim Brotherhood is an Egyptian Islamist organisation with branches throughout the world - including Britain, where it has had a presence for several decades. During this time, the organisation has courted little attention and has at times been viewed by British authorities as a force for good in the fight against extremism. So why has David Cameron called for an investigation into their activities now?
In this edition of The Report, Peter Marshall hears claims that this review is less about national security, and more about appeasing the rulers of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, who are ideologically opposed to the Brotherhood. The UAE and Saudi Arabia also happen to have lucrative contracts with British businesses.
The programme also reveals how senior members of the Conservative party have been raising concerns about the Muslim Brotherhood for several years - in particular the Brotherhood's ties to Hamas - and so the new investigation is perhaps not a complete surprise. However, this is the same organisation which received the backing of the British government when Mohammed Morsi was elected president of Egypt, and so is the government now guilty of hypocrisy?
Critics of the Brotherhood say much has changed in the Middle East over the past year - especially in Egypt - and there are concerns that rogue elements of the Muslim Brotherhood will seek refuge in Britain. Already, members of the Brotherhood and its political wing, The Freedom and Justice Party, have come to London to seek asylum. The Report speaks to them about the on-going investigation into their activities and asks them why they have come to the UK and what does the Muslim Brotherhood really stand for?
CONTRIBUTORS:
Anas Altikriti - The Muslim Association of Britain & The Cordoba Foundation
Mohamed Soudan - The Freedom and Justice Party
Olivier Guitta - The Henry Jackson Society
Dr Robert Lambert - University of St Andrews & former head of the Muslim Contact Unit, Metropolitan Police Special Branch
Baroness Falkner - Liberal Democrat lead spokesperson on foreign affairs in the House of Lords
Alistair Burt - Conservative MP & former Foreign Office minister for the Middle East
Reporter: Peter Marshall
Producer: Richard Fenton-Smith
Researcher: James Melley.
THU 20:30 In Business (b0418rd0)
Korea Change: The End of the South Korea Model?
South Korea is at a turning point. The country is one of the economic miracles of the twentieth century, transforming itself from extreme poverty at the end of the Korean War to one of the richest nations in the world. The government supported families to establish huge 'chaebol' companies which are now world renowned names such as Samsung, Hyundai and LG. These companies epitomise the development of South Korea as a nation - Samsung started as a general store and is now one of the largest manufacturers of smartphones in the world.
However South Korea is now the country with the highest suicide rate in the world. The Koreans work the longest hours in the OECD group of rich nations and these chaebol companies are no longer creating enough jobs. Are these signs of a society in stress?
For In Business this week, Peter Day travels to Seoul to find out about the Korean government's strategy to solve these economic issues: 'The Creative Economy'. Korea aims to become Asia's 'start-up nation' in the next three years, and is throwing vast sums of money into the technology sector to encourage people to become entrepreneurs. But this is a career choice that has until recently been seen as a failing in South Korean society. Can a government change a culture?
How is the 'creative economy' working out? And what does Korea's experience tell other nations, such as China, which are en route to transform from a developing economy to a rich, established one?
Producer: Charlotte Pritchard.
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b0418rcp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b0418phf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b041401z)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b0418rnc)
Russia starts military exercises near border with Ukraine.
Israel withdraws from peace talks after Fatah-Hamas reconciliation.
Uganda's fight with HIV infection.
With Philippa Thomas.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0418rnf)
History of the Rain
Episode 9
We are our stories. We tell them to stay alive or to keep alive those who only live now in the telling.
19-year-old Ruth Swain is lying in her childhood home in the small Irish village of Faha in the attic room at the top of the stairs in the bed which her father had to construct in situ and which turned out to be as much boat as bed. She has Something Wrong with her, having collapsed during her fresher year at Trinity in Dublin, and finds herself bedbound in the attic room beneath the rain, in the margins between this world and the next.
Ruth is in search of her father. To understand the father she has lost. To find him Ruth journeys through the ancestry of the curious Swain family - from the Reverend Swain her great-grandfather, to her grandfather Abraham to her father Virgil – and in doing so discovers an enchanting story of pole-vaulting, soldiering, stubbornness, leaping salmon, poetry, the pursuit of the Impossible Standard, and the wild rain-sodden history of fourteen acres of the worst farming land in Ireland. Above all, Ruth embarks on a journey through books. Three thousand, nine hundred and fifty-eight books to be precise, which are piled high and line the walls of her attic room. As Ruth searches for her father in their pages, her story becomes a vital, witty and poignant celebration of imagination, books, love and the healing power of storytelling.
Niall Williams is also the author of bestselling novels including As It is In Heaven, The Fall of the Light, Only Say the Word and Four Letters of Love.
Abridged by Doreen Estall
Read by Ailish Symons
Producer: Heather Larmour
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
THU 23:00 A Short Gentleman (b0196rnd)
Episode 2
Robert woos Elizabeth, by means of a putty-coloured carpet.
Hugh Bonneville stars as Robert Purcell, QC, a perfect specimen of the British Establishment, who applies faultless legal logic to his disastrous personal life.
Jon Canter's comic novel 'A Short Gentleman' adapted by Robin Brooks.
Elizabeth ..... Lyndsey Marshal
Guy ..... Adam Billington
Sophie ..... Francine Chamberlain
Anthony ..... Carl Prekopp
Isabel ..... Lauren Mote
Alan ..... Gerard McDermott
Director: Jonquil Painting.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.
THU 23:30 Don't Log Off (b03gtk05)
Series 4
Egypt - Silence and Waiting
Via Facebook and Skype Alan Dein connects to the lives of strangers across the globe to hear their stories. The tumultuous events of the Arab spring have reached an uncertain conclusion in Egypt. Now, with Friday night curfew drawing close, Alan hears a diversity of experience. From Shady who has found a new life in the revolutionary protests of January 25th 2011 ,a sleeper awoken from his days as a football fanatic, waiting for the next seismic event to Rasa who defies the curfew to maintain her sanity. Elsewhere in Alexandria a newly qualified doctor, Doaa, reflects on the passing of her father and her new responsibilities.
Producer: Mark Burman.
FRIDAY 25 APRIL 2014
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b0414035)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b0418rc7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0414037)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0414039)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b041403c)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b041403f)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0418wy1)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day, with the Most Rev George Stack, Archbishop of Cardiff.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b0418wy3)
Nitrogen pollution, Meat consumption, Hedgehogs
Should we all reduce our meat consumption? In a new report the UN Economic Commission for Europe says that if we cut our intake of meat and dairy products by half then nitrogen emissions would fall by 40%.
Livestock farming has been identified as a major source of nitrogen pollution. Farming Today speaks to Professor Mark Sutton from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology about why reducing livestock herds in Europe by half would reduce pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and in turn release farmland to grow other crops. However the National Farmers' Union say the findings are over-simplifying the issue.
And a study has found that the government's Randomised Badger Culling Trial, from 1998 to 2007, led to an increase in the number of hedgehog numbers.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Lucy Bickerton.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zrcm9)
Goosander
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the goosander. Goosanders are handsome ducks and belong to a group known as 'sawbills' because their long slender bills are lined with backward pointing 'teeth', for gripping slippery fish. Underwater they're as agile as otters, chasing fish in raging currents or nosing for them under riverbanks.
FRI 06:00 Today (b0418wy5)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 The Reunion (b0414dz9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b0418wy7)
The Land Where Lemons Grow
Episode 5
A journey to Calabria, in the deep south of Italy, to discover one of the rarest and most precious of citrus fruits: the bergamot.
Bergamot is the product of a natural cross-pollination between a lemon tree and a sour orange that occurred in Calabria in the mid-seventeenth century. It's very particular about its environment and fruits successfully only on a thin strip of land that runs for seventy-five kilometres from the Tyrrhenian coast to the shores of the Ionian Sea.
Mixing travel writing, history and horticulture, Helena Attlee's celebratory journey through Italy explores the special place that citrus holds in the Italian imagination.
Read by Francesca Dymond
Written by Helena Attlee
Abridged by Laurence Wareing
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron
First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2014.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0414b57)
New employment rights for surrogate parents
In South Korea a popular game show called' Now on My Way To Meet You' is growing in popularity. It is a part talk, part talent show that features attractive women who fled the North in search of a better life. Nearly 70% of all defectors from North Korea are female. Why?
From next year, those who have become parents through surrogacy will be given employment protection, leave and pay equivalent to maternity rights. These new rights will be a form of adoption leave and means that intended parents can choose which of them get the main leave, the equivalent of maternity leave and which gets the secondary leave, the equivalent of paternity leave. The new UK legislation has become law in the same week that the European Court of Justice has announced its decision that EU law does not give a right to maternity leave to mothers conceiving through surrogacy.
How police mugshots from 1905 can reveal what life was like for women in Dundee working in the textile industry.
Bear Grylls' latest television show is to feature men on a desert island but women too are expert in survival and wilderness skills!
And blues musician Ben Harper has teamed with his mum, Ellen Harper, to record a duet album "Childhood Home." They play live on the programme.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0418wy9)
Incredible Women
Annabel de Lacy
BAFTA award-winning Rebecca Front (The Thick of It, Up the Women, Nighty Night, The Day Today) stars alongside her brother Jeremy Front in this series about five extraordinary women.
Each day this week Jeremy has met one of the UK's most 'incredible women'. He spends 24 hours in their company, visiting their homes and finding out what makes them tick. Plus we discover some very odd things about each incredible woman.
Today Rebecca and Jeremy Front introduce us to our final incredible woman of the week: Olympic equestrian Annabel de Lacy.
Clare Balding is on hand to explain the importance of Annabel's contribution to the 2012 Olympics and recalls her winning a gold and winning the hearts of the nation.
The only fly in the ointment is her estate manager Rob Peters who seems to have persuaded Annabel to live in the stables while he makes himself at home in her inherited Tudor mansion. A terrible accident occurs just after Jeremy's uncomfortable stay with Annabel in the stable. However this results in Jeremy getting a world exclusive of Annabel's invention 'jazzage' - anew form of dressage which she's developing for her horse Caravaggio, and with which she plans to wow the crowds in Rio 2016.
Starring Rebecca Front, Jeremy Front, Clare Balding, Robert Daws, Sean Murray and two pairs of coconut shells.
Producer: Claire Jones.
FRI 11:00 Moscow on Thames (b0418wyc)
More and more wealthy Russians are settling in London drawn by the financial security of the City and the prestige of a British private education for their children. From a lavish Russian Ball at the Royal Albert Hall to home-buying in the capital's most exclusive postcodes, Olga Betko enters the world of work and play of the Russian business elite to find out why London is so appealing.
Producer Neil McCarthy.
FRI 11:30 Hobby Bobbies (b03775g0)
Series 1
Dangerous Posters
The useless officers' crackdown on fly posting leads to the disappearance of "Daddy Warbucks" - and the sight of Bernie in a bright red wig.
Britain's longest serving PCSO is paired with the laziest in Dave Lamb's sitcom. (Dave is the voice of TV's Come Dine With Me)
Geoff............................Richie Webb
Nigel............................ Nick Walker
The Guv....................... Sinead Keenan
Jermain.........................Leon Herbert
Bernie...........................Chris Emmett
Geoff's Dad:...........................Noddy Holder
Producer: Steve Doherty
A Top Dog production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b0418wyf)
Free boilers, Unwanted paint, Delays in cancer treatment
A major part of the Government's flagship energy saving programme has been put on hold by the UK's biggest energy supplier. British Gas says it's temporarily stopped taking applications for free boilers under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) because it has met a target one year early.
The killing of three children believed to have been suffering with Spinal Muscular Atrophy has brought a little known condition to national attention; we hear from a Mum about living with the disease.
There are believed to be 40 millions litres of unwanted paint sloshing around in our homes. Many councils won't accept it at their tips so how do you get rid of it?
Four in ten people with cancer say there were delays in their diagnosis and treatment leading to a lesser quality of life.
Fraudsters who took out mortgages on wholly owned homes without their owner's knowledge have been jailed in a £7million fraud.
The man behind the UK's Record Store day says there's life in the event yet despite claims that touts and major music labels have been muscling in distorting its original purpose.
It's claimed that a debt collector charged with collecting some student loans has started taking direct debit payments despite promising not to do so without notifying the debtors.
FRI 12:52 The Listening Project (b0418wyh)
Adie and Ruth: Adventure in the Blood
Fi Glover introduces Adie, who might not have been born if his mother hadn't set off travelling, and Ruth, who might have had fewer worries if Adie hadn't inherited her travel bug - another conversation in the series that proves 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 (b041403h)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b041403k)
Ed Miliband takes the Shadow Cabinet to Scotland to urge voters to reject independence . Why isn't Labour fighting harder in Scotland when its chances of governing the Union Kingdom depend so heavily on regaining electoral territory there? Shaun Ley quizzes two Labour veterans. The Treasury vetoes a bonus package at RBS . London City MP , Mark Field says it could be relegating the state owned bank to the second division and destroying £bns of value. French voters in Marseille are turning 'eurosceptique'. Should your MP be a local? And job cuts at Kew Gardens could threaten British dominance in the world of botany .
FRI 13:45 In Search of Ourselves: A History of Psychology and the Mind (b041dn37)
Talking Cures?
Martin considers some of the therapies that combined the psychoanalytic principles of Freud and Jung with the behaviour modifying techniques of the mid-Twentieth Century's other significant psychological movement 'behaviourism'.
With reference to the 'Gloria' tapes that featured the same patient being treated by three different 'talking cures' - Albert Ellis's Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy, Fritz Perls's Gestalt Therapy and Carl Rogers's Person Centred Therapy.
Series consultant, Professor Daniel Pick, Birkbeck, University of London.
Producer: Alan Hall
A Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b0418rct)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b0418wyk)
Demolition
Contemporary drama from Spain by Eugenio Amaya.
Thomas, a British expat living on the Spanish coast for almost 20 years, is suddenly threatened with the imminent demolition of his beachfront home when the local authority declares the development illegal ahead of elections. In a bid to save his house with the help of his student daughter Lisa, he uncovers a dark underbelly of political and financial corruption he never suspected existed and which will ultimately force him to make some hard choices.
Based around true events and recorded live on location in Spain.
Born in Chile, Eugenio Amaya is a Spanish theatre director and playwright based in the Region of Extremadura, southern Spain. His recent stage play Anomia has been nominated for a Spanish National Drama Award (Premios Max).
Sound design: Steve Bond & Juan Garcia
Executive producer: Sara Davies
Writer: Eugenio Amaya
Produced and directed by Nicolas Jackson
An Afonica Sound Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b0418wym)
Nissan Car Factory
Peter Gibbs presents GQT from the Nissan Car Factory in Sunderland. Taking audience questions are Matt Biggs, Bob Flowerdew and Anne Swithinbank.
Bob Flowerdew takes on the ultimate scrapheap challenge, and Matt Biggs gives advice on transporting plants from the garden centre.
Produced by Howard Shannon.
Assistant Producer: Darby Dorras.
A Somethin' Else Production for BBC Radio 4.
Q. What should I plant in my garden to get colour in the Autumn?
A. You could try planting Chrysanthemums, in particular Korean Chrysanthemums. You could also try Dahlias. Asters also bring colour in the autumn months. Aster Andenken An Alma Pötschke is a particularly bright variety, as are the King George Aster, the New England Aster and the Aster Michaelmas Daisy. You could also try planting Nerines, the Clerodendrum Bungei is a good variety.
All these plants will need hardier plants nearby to provide wind protection. Sea Buck Thorn (Hippophae Rhamnoides) would be a good option.
Q. Could the panel suggest vegetables to grow in a shady garden?
A. Most vegetables will have a hard time growing in the shade. It would be better to grow soft fruits such as Raspberries, Blackcurrants, Tae Berries, Strawberries and Bramble Berries which all grow well in dappled shade. You might also try growing Mint, Parsley, Jerusalem Artichokes and Globe Artichokes. To increase the light in the plot, you could paint the walls white to increase light reflection. Raising the bed would also increase light exposure.
Q. Could the panel recommend a perennial Fuchsia that would thrive on a south-facing wall in a pot?
A. The gold-leafed Fuchsia Magellanica would be a good option when put with some Actea (formerly known as Cimicifuga). Lady Boothby and Lady Bacon are also good varieties.
Q.I have been growing Marigolds alongside my tomatoes to keep away the white fly, but have recently read criticisms of this technique. What is the panel's opinion on companion growing to keep away garden pests?
A. French or African Marigolds will keep the whitefly away. Petunias can also trap white fly and green fly to prevent the spread of this pest, as will types of White Tobacco.
Produced by Howard Shannon.
Assistant Producer: Darby Dorras.
A Somethin' Else Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 State of the Nation (b0418wyp)
We Live in the Sky
In the first in a series of hard-hitting stories looking at the lives of those living on the economic margins of society, Jenni Fagan tells the story of Okello, a young Ugandan boy trying to make sense of his new life in a London tower block. While his uncle is away, working round the clock to feed them, Okello wonders why life up in the clouds should be like this.
Reader: Damson Idris
Producer: Justine Willett
Writer: Jenni Fagan, one of Granta Magazine's '20 Best Novelists under the Age of 40' last year. She's the author of the acclaimed 'Panopticon'.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b0418x10)
Mark Shand, Mrs Pilkington Garimara, Derek Cooper, Wally Olins, Julian Wilson
Matthew Bannister on
The playboy and conservationist Mark Shand who devoted his life to saving the Asian elephant.
The aboriginal author Mrs Pilkington Garimara, whose book "Follow The Rabbit Proof Fence" highlighted the experiences of Australia's 'stolen generation'.
The Radio 4 presenter Derek Cooper, who founded The Food Programme.
Wally Olins who pioneered the business of brand consultancy in the UK, advising companies like Bovis and British Telecom. Sir Martin Sorrell pays tribute.
And the BBC's former racing correspondent Julian Wilson.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (b0418x12)
With The Archers taking a dramatic turn this week (switch off if you don't want to hear a spoiler before the omnibus on Sunday!), listeners question its recently appointed editor, Sean O'Connor, about whether he's making their favourite programme too tabloid. Are some characters undergoing personality transplants? And why, on Good Friday, were some Archers listeners left upset by what they felt was an irreverent approach to the Passion story?
Also this week, we hear from just some of the many listeners who felt that BBC Radio news went over the top with the story that Manchester United manager David Moyes' had been sacked. Football fans and phobics alike want to know why it was placed at the top of bulletins and news programmes throughout the day, rather than in the sports bulletin.
And Roger Bolton pays a visit to the nerve centre of BBC Radio 4 Extra to find out how they resurrect the radio legends of the past. The predominantly archive station is in its second decade, so are there still treasures to be found in the BBC archives? And is some comedy from a different era too offensive to be broadcast?
It's our last programme of this series but please keep your comments and questions about BBC Radio coming in. We'll be back in the summer.
Producer: Lizz Pearson
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b0418x68)
Ray and Alan - Search and Rescue
Fi Glover introduces two search and rescue experts sharing their years of experience of working with dogs, including the role a flask of coffee can play in warming frozen paws - another conversation in the series that proves 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 17:00 PM (b0418x6d)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b041403m)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The Now Show (b0418x6g)
Series 43
Episode 2
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are joined by special guest Holly Walsh for a comic romp through the week's news. With Mitch Benn, Laura Shavin and Jon Holmes.
Written by the cast, with additional material from Sarah Morgan, Carrie Quinlan and Kev Core. Produced by Alexandra Smith.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b0418xyf)
It's Thursday afternoon. Bemused guests are wandering outside the church. Pat's desperate to talk to Tom but he'll only speak to Alan. Roy wonders what to do about guests and the reception at Cathridge Hall. Joe's keen to find out what's happening with all the food and drink. Alice feels horrible for Kirsty and laments her own wasted efforts. Roy sets up a tab at the Bull bar for disappointed guests - namely Joe Grundy.
At Lower Loxley, Kirsty throws her ring away. Realising that Tom expressed doubts to Helen at his stag do, she tears a strip off of Helen for not telling her. After everything she has done to support Helen with Rob. It's the end of their friendship. Tom goes after Kirsty, desperate to explain. Helen tells him to keep away and chastises him for destroying her friendship with Kirsty.
Tony's furious. He and Pat can't understand how Tom could be so heartless. Peggy reveals that she tried to tell Tom to call it off last night. When sheepish Tom turns up, no one agrees with his view that what he did was brave - rather, it was cowardly and despicable. Tony's ashamed, as John would be. Tom had better go.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b0418xyh)
Hinterland; Alain de Botton; Tracks; Bryony Lavery
Mandy Walker, the Director of Photography of new film Tracks, discusses the challenges she faced capturing the remote and hostile Australian outback on screen. Welsh drama Hinterland, a dark crime series filmed simultaneously in English and Welsh, is coming to BBC4 this Monday, lead actor Richard Harrington and co-creator Ed Talfan discuss the epic process of filming the whole drama twice. The philosopher Alain de Botton has put his theory that art can be therapeutic into practice, with a new exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. De Botton explains why he hopes visitors will find this sort of exhibition more fulfilling. And playwright Bryony Lavery discusses her new work The Believers, which explores faith, belief systems and parenting.
Presenter: Kirsty Lang
Producer: Rebecca Armstrong.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0418wy9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b0418xyk)
Grant Shapps MP, Tim Aker, Baroness Grender, Dan Jarvis MP
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate from Casterton Business and Enterprise College in Great Casterton, Rutland with the head of the UKIP Policy Unit Tim Aker, the new Lib Dem Peer Baroness Grender, Shadow Justice Minister Dan Jarvis MP and the Conservative Chairman Grant Shapps MP.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b0418xym)
Mile Milestone
Mary Beard looks forward to the 60th anniversary of the first "four minute mile". But in the midst of the celebrations, she argues that we should also remember that Roger Bannister's victory was a "glaring display of class division".
Maybe appropriate then that this month also sees the return of that "wonderful working-class... comic-strip hero, Alf Tupper".
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
FRI 21:00 In Search of Ourselves: A History of Psychology and the Mind (b0418xyp)
Omnibus Edition
Episode 1
Psychology is as old as the human race. People have always sought to understand what makes us think, feel and act the way we do.
The term 'psychology' was first used in about 1600 and means, literally, 'study of the soul'. But it was only in the late 19th century that psychology emerged as a separate science. Today it draws on the intellectual legacy of philosophy, physiology and, increasingly, neurobiology and social science.
The author and broadcaster Martin Sixsmith retrained as a psychologist in the last decade, following careers as a BBC correspondent and government adviser. Martin's experience both studying applied psychology and as a recipient of therapy reflects the growing acceptance of psychological counselling in Britain and the lessening of the stigma attached to mental illness. There has been a growth of interest in the therapeutic aspects of psychology, but many of us still have a frustratingly incomplete knowledge of its history, techniques and broader applications.
This series taps into a defining aspect of modern existence and addresses the widespread desire to know more, charting the path from today's democratisation of psychological care back to early beliefs, the birth of modern experimental psychology, the related 'psy professions' - psychiatry and psychotherapy - and, in this first episode, the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, as well as his successors and rivals in the Twentieth Century.
Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b041403p)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b0418xyr)
The CBI tells us it was a mistake to register as a campaigner against Scottish independence. The business lobby registered last week with the Electoral Commission as a campaigner against Scottish independence. The Electoral Commission said it has received the CBI's application to "deregister". It is currently considering whether this is possible... and it will make a public statement when it has reached its conclusion.
In Slaviansk - the most volatile of the eastern Ukrainian towns where pro Russian separatists have seized official buildings - contact has been lost with a delegation of international observers. And Moscow may be facing a new round of sanctions if it doesn't act to rein in the separatist groups in eastern Ukraine - after a diplomatic conference call today between President Obama and several European leaders. Moscow's credit rating has been downgraded by the US-based agency Standard and Poor's. Standard and Poor's told us why.
190 girls are still missing after being abducted from their school in northeastern Nigeria last week. There's been no communication from them, or from their suspected kidnappers, the militant Islamist group Boko Haram. And not much from the Nigerian government - although it has now held a top level security meeting. A government spokesman did give the World Tonight an interview and said the delicacy of the situation had meant the government could not give ongoing comment.
The life story of Alan Turing, the mathematician who worked with a team at Bletchley Park to crack crucial German codes during the Second World War, has been set to music. Our reporter, Paul Moss, has been hearing from the composer and the musical director of this new work, named "Codebreaker."
With Philippa Thomas.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0418xyt)
History of the Rain
Episode 10
We are our stories. We tell them to stay alive or to keep alive those who only live now in the telling.
19-year-old Ruth Swain is lying in her childhood home in the small Irish village of Faha in the attic room at the top of the stairs in the bed which her father had to construct in situ and which turned out to be as much boat as bed. She has Something Wrong with her, having collapsed during her fresher year at Trinity in Dublin, and finds herself bedbound in the attic room beneath the rain, in the margins between this world and the next.
Ruth is in search of her father. To understand the father she has lost. To find him Ruth journeys through the ancestry of the curious Swain family - from the Reverend Swain her great-grandfather, to her grandfather Abraham to her father Virgil – and in doing so discovers an enchanting story of pole-vaulting, soldiering, stubbornness, leaping salmon, poetry, the pursuit of the Impossible Standard, and the wild rain-sodden history of fourteen acres of the worst farming land in Ireland. Above all, Ruth embarks on a journey through books. Three thousand, nine hundred and fifty-eight books to be precise, which are piled high and line the walls of her attic room. As Ruth searches for her father in their pages, her story becomes a vital, witty and poignant celebration of imagination, books, love and the healing power of storytelling.
Niall Williams is also the author of bestselling novels including As It is In Heaven, The Fall of the Light, Only Say the Word and Four Letters of Love.
Abridged by Doreen Estall
Read by Ailish Symons
Producer: Heather Larmour
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
FRI 23:00 In the Psychiatrist's Chair (b0418yx2)
Les Dawson
Comedian Les Dawson's earnest and open interview with Dr Anthony Clare recorded the week before his death in 1993.
In published transcripts of the interview, Clare says he felt privileged to have been given the interview and described Les as being "in good humour and talked, joked, clowned and recalled memories of his life with an energy and gusto that was infectious." At the time of its first broadcast, it formed part of the BBC's tribute to, as Clare put it, "a funny, generous, wise and happy man".
Born in Dublin, author Anthony held a doctorate in medicine, a master's degree in philosophy and was a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. After becoming a regular on BBC Radio 4's Stop the Week in the 1980s, he became Britain's best-known psychiatrist and earned his own vehicle, In the Psychiatrist's Chair. Starting in 1982, this series ran until 2001 and also transferred to TV. Series highlights include conversations with Bob Monkhouse, Cecil Parkinson and Gerry Adams.
Anthony Clare died suddenly in Paris aged 64 in 2007.
Produced for BBC Radio 4 by Michael Ember Associates. From September 1993.
FRI 23:42 Elizabeth Taylor Short Stories (b01kbm0s)
Plenty Good Fiesta
Joanna Tope reads this charming and moving tale about Fernando, a child refugee from the Spanish Civil War who comes to stay with an English family. The language barrier and the strangeness of his new surroundings are all things he takes in his stride, until the day he sees a village fair.
FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b0418yy0)
Kiri and Darryl - Wedding Plans
Fi Glover introduces a couple who are facing an uncertain future because of Kiri's diagnosis of unstable epilepsy. But it's not going to stop them getting married. Another conversation in the series that proves 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.