The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
It's 1956 and Boris Pasternak presses a manuscript into the hands of an Italian publishing scout with these words, 'This is Doctor Zhivago. May it make its way around the world.'
Pasternak knew his novel would never be published in the Soviet Union as the authorities regarded it as seditious, so instead he allowed it to be published in translation all over the world - a highly dangerous act.
By 1958 the life of this extraordinary book enters the realms of the spy novel. The CIA, recognising that the Cold War was primarily an ideological battle, published Doctor Zhivago in Russian and smuggled it into the Soviet Union. It was immediately snapped up on the black market. Pasternak was later forced to renounce the Nobel Prize in Literature, igniting worldwide political scandal.
With first access to previously classified CIA files, The Zhivago Affair gives an irresistible portrait of Pasternak, and takes us deep into the Cold War, back to a time when literature had the power to shake the world.
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
Why do young men seek out war? Listener and former soldier Mark Wilkins meets Usama Hasan, who travelled to join the Mujahideen in Afghanistan in his teens, and now works to challenge extremism, to discuss the allure that travelling abroad to take up arms holds for British men.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
"Turn right at the psychedelic hay barn". The new landmark is easy to spot and has brought a smile and a surprise to many passing through Newton Stewart. The British landscape has inspired thousands of artists and Helen Mark travels through Dumfries and Galloway to see how teams of street artists have been working on 'rural murals' adorning old hay barns, slurry tankers and horse coats offered up by locals as a new canvas. While they may divide opinion, those on the Mull of Galloway say it's helped connect them with the rest of the region. She also stops off at the carved 'rosnes benches' - designed to make you stop, lie down and take a very different perspective on your surroundings.
Presented by Helen Mark.
When you buy a bouquet of flowers or a plant for your garden, do you make sure that what you are buying is British grown? Farming Today explores the British flower industry and how it competes on the world market. 90% of cut flowers in the UK are imported from overseas and it's becoming increasingly difficult for florists to find British grown flowers to sell. Charlotte Smith is it Hampton Court Palace Flower Show where she speaks with growers, florists and consumers.
Farming Today also looks at the potential threat flower imports may have on our biosecurity and the length of time it takes to breed a new variety of an English rose.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Thought for the Day and Weather.
Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are in the studio with Britain's best-selling author, children's writer Julia Donaldson, who created the character of the Gruffalo. Also, Matt Lewis, who as a young marine biologist was shipwrecked in the Antarctic seas and has written about the experience in "Last Man Off", busker Catrina Davies, who travelled 11,000 miles with her cello, and the captain of the Cheshire cricket team attempting to save face after the humiliation of being bowled out for three in a league game. Plus, JP Devlin joins the Routemaster bus enthusiasts gathering from around the World to mark the icon's 60th birthday and the outgoing Radio Three Controller and Director of the Proms, Roger Wright, shares his Inheritance Tracks.
Julia Donaldson talks about a life spent creating and bringing to life some much-loved children's characters, including the Gruffalo, Tabby McTat and the witch in Room on the Broom. Her latest book 'The Scarecrows' Wedding' is published by Scholastic and is out on the 17th July.
In 1998 Matt Lewis was a 23 year old research scientist on the South African trawler the Sudur Havid. His trip to the Antarctic seas was meant to be an opportunity to monitor and study wildlife. Instead it became a battle to survive, after the ship went down in a storm. Matt talks about his experiences, which he's written about in "Last Man Off", serialised on BBC Radio Four.
Catrina Davies took her cello on travels of 11,000 miles as she busked around Europe. She gives us tips on the most generous countries, with the biggest coins. She has written a book called 'The Ribbons are for Fearlessness' published by Summersdale. Her EP is called 'Ribbons'.
Wirral Cricket Club player Nick Jones talks about what it's like to face humiliation on the pitch. His team 'went viral' after being bowled out for just three runs in a local match against Haslington Cricket Club. Now a rematch gives Wirral the chance to redeem themselves.
Fiona Macalister describes her most treasured possession, for Saturday Live's feature 'The Thing About Me'. A gold ring, showcasing a lock of the hair of Bonnie Prince Charlie, has been in her family for more than 200 years.
As the Routemaster bus celebrates its 60th birthday, JP Devlin goes to Finsbury Park in London to meet its biggest fans as they prepare for a special bus rally.
This week's Inheritance Tracks are from the outgoing Controller of Radio Three Roger Wright, who is also the Director of the BBC Proms. He chooses Sibelius' Second Symphony, performed by the Halle Orchestra and conducted by Sir John Barbirolli, and Via Con Me by Paolo Conte.
Steve Punt returns as Radio 4's very own gumshoe, examining the mysterious case of millionaire financier Alfred Loewenstein who fell out of his own aeroplane in 1928.
The suspicious death of this fabulously wealthy Belgian tycoon - then reportedly the world's third richest man - may well be Punt's most baffling investigation yet.
During that fateful flight across the English Channel, Loewenstein got up to go the loo - but somehow ended up falling out of the plane. What exactly happened to him remains a mystery to this day.
Was it just an accident, did Loewenstein jump - or was it murder? Punt reopens the case.
George Parker of the Financial Times talks to MPs about how to combat child abuse. He hears direct from Brazil about a new style of diplomacy. And what's the best way to run Number 10 Downing Street?
A golden statue of Chairman Mao, thirty swanky apartments and forty-six mistresses - just a few examples of the excess displayed recently by corrupt Chinese officials.
That said, it seems barely a day goes by without news coming out of China of yet another high profile sacking - in fact, since coming to power President Xi Jinping has made fighting corruption his top priority. But he has a big battle on his hands, says BBC Beijing reporter Martin Patience, with corruption being so deeply embedded in Chinese culture.
Also: In the east of Mexico is the state of Veracruz - an area which has traditionally proved popular with tourists. Today, however, the region is at the centre of a territorial dispute between criminal cartels - although people don't like to talk about it. BBC Mexico correspondent Will Grant discovers a culture of silence when it comes to the violence in the region, with journalists self-censoring and locals wary of speaking out of turn.
The Italians, it seems, love a man in uniform and this weekend they will be showing a lot of love for the oldest of the country's multiple police forces - the Carabinieri - which celebrates its 200th anniversary. Dany Mitzman charts their curious place in Italian popular culture.
Here in the UK, the ability to speak plain-English is often seen as an asset - especially if you're a politician, or a journalist. In France, however they aspire to something more sophisticated. As BBC Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield has discovered, a flair for Latin is preferred over more simple layman's terms.
Germany's football team are now favourites to lift the World Cup, with the team being championed for its sterling team work rather than depending on the efforts of a single solo star, which has characterised so many other teams. Germany is also in with a chance of winning the tournament's fair-play award, in recognition of good sportsmanship. But as BBC Berlin correspondent Stephen Evans reveals, that side of the game is perhaps not such a long-standing German footballing tradition, especially in the days when Berlin was a divided city.
Financial issues are among the top concerns of voters in Scotland who are considering whether to vote Yes or No on 18 September to the question 'Should Scotland be an independent country'. Whichever way the vote goes - and especially if it is 'yes' - the referendum will affect everyone in the UK. So we put questions raised with us by listeners to both sides - a Scottish National Party MP for the Yes vote and a UK Government Treasury Minister for the No vote.
A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Sandi Toksvig, with regular panellist Jeremy Hardy and guest panellists Andy Hamilton, Hugo Rifkind and Lucy Porter.
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from Pollokshields in Scotland with deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon MSP, chair of the Westminster Defence Select Committee Rory Stewart MP, journalist Lesley Riddoch, and shadow secretary of state for International Development, Jim Murphy MP.
Response to Gaza conflict; Future of Scottish shipbuilding; Public Sector strike action
Around 6,000 schools had to close this week due to public sector strike action. The closures were based on a poll of a quarter of union members two years ago prompting a pledge from David Cameron to change strike laws. Is it time to reform the strike ballot system?
And the Gaza Strip is experiencing some of the most intense violence for months. What kind of solutions should we be considering?
Call: 03700 100 444 (Calls will cost no more than calls to 01 and 02 geographic landlines. Lines open Sat
).
Nancy Carroll stars as Harriette Wilson - one of the most infamous and talked-about women of the early 19th century. Her lovers included aristocrats, adventurers and even the Duke of Wellington, and when they all ceased to support her after her retirement, she had a simple bargain for them - 'pay up, and I'll keep you out of my memoirs'.
A scandalous bestseller of their time, her memoirs reveal a sharp-witted, good-hearted, infinitely adaptable, madcap woman who took on the patriarchy of the time and did something close to beating them at their own game.
Having finally made contact with the mysterious Lord Ponsonby, Harriette finds there are all kinds of obstacles to their blossoming romance - including the small matter of his wife whom everyone agrees is an angel. Harriette's former lovers, the dashing Duke of Argyll and the taciturn but loyal Duke of Wellington, are never far from the picture and are soon joined by a new, passionate young admirer. The Marquis of Worcester is devoted to Harriette as only a 19 year-old can be.
Eventually Harriette is persuaded to reveal all in her memoirs - a course of action which leads Wellington to make one of the most famous remarks in the English Language.
Harriette ...... Nancy Carroll
Ponsonby ....... Charles Edwards
Wellington ....... Barnaby Kay
Argyle ...... Blake Ritson
Fanny ....... Anna Francolini
Amy ....... Abigail Burdess
Matthew Lee ...... Jonathan Dryden Taylor
Poodle Byng/ Doctor/ Beaufort ..... Gus Brown
Porter/ Brougham ....... Jonathan Coote
Leinster ....... Andrew Mudie
Worcester ....... Nigel Thomas
Poet and performer John Hegley thinks he might be descended from the leading French Baroque composer and theorist, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and for Radio 4 sets out to see if he is.
According to family legend, John's great grandmother was a descendant of Jean-Philippe Rameau, a connection evidenced by a shared surname and a bank note in local currency (now lost) linking them to the same small community near Paris. In the 250th anniversary year of the great composer's death, John undertakes a Rameau pilgrimage to Paris, looking for further evidence of whether he is related to the Baroque Master, discovering the importance of Rameau's contribution to classical music, and learning something about his life and sublime music along the way. Very much the philosopher-composer, Rameau caused a stir with his first opera: he was fiercely attacked for his revolutionary use of harmony, and for breaking Lully's mould. For much of his career he seems to have been involved in wars of words over musical ideas, and even, occasionally, unseemly brawls. He was under fire especially during the 'Querelle des Bouffons', a bust-up between the defenders of the French operatic tradition and the champions of Italian music, which included his enemy Rousseau. John attempts to get to know Rameau the musician and the man: strict; secretive; slightly eccentric, and prone to breaking his employment contracts as an organist. His superiors at Clermont cathedral, unwilling to release him 8 years into a 29 year contract, were horrified when Rameau decided to select the most disagreeable stop-combinations and discords possible at the organ during an important Easter service, and let him go.
Rooting for Rameau with the help of experts and performers in Britain and Paris, John discovers perhaps Rameau's most significant legacy, his Treatise on Harmony of 1722, which sparked a revolution in music theory. In this tome he used mathematics, analysis and commentary to attempt to derive universal harmonic principles from natural causes, becoming known as the Isaac Newton of Music in the process (a title possibly invented by his friend Voltaire). Rameau's fame spread throughout Europe, and his Treatise formed the foundation for instruction in Western music that persists to this day. Undeterred by this hefty achievement, and having discovered that Rameau did not write his own first opera until he was 50, John has been inspired to begin a musical of his own, and has taken up piano lessons so that he can perform some of Rameau's easiest pieces. We hear the fruits of this endeavour, and a few episodes of reflection through music and poetry of the inspiration John's found in his believed connection to his ancestor, whether true or not.
Keira Knightley moves from costume drama to wannabe pop star in her latest project. She reveals her thoughts on singing on screen and her marriage in France last summer.
What is empathy? We discover how being empathetic is good for our mental health.
Celebrities accused of child abuse have been all over the media but what is the impact of the reporting of this on people who have been abused. A listener shares her story.
Zoologist Lucy Cooke tells us why she's turned sloths into TV stars and shares her love of frogs. Why have triathlons become such a popular sport for women? We hear from a professional triathlete and an excited newbie.
Cook the Perfect...Pad Thai noodles with Mimi Aye. And the art of social kissing, the do's and the don'ts.
Margaret Macmillan chronicles the events leading up to the First World War. Each episode draws together newspaper accounts, diplomatic correspondence and private journals from the same day exactly one hundred years ago, giving a picture of the world in 1914 as it was experienced at the time.
The series tracks the development of the European crisis day by day, from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand through to the first week of the conflict. As well as the war, it gives an insight into the wider context of the world in 1914 including the threat of civil war in Ireland, the sensational trial of Madame Caillaux in France and the suffragettes' increasingly violent campaign for votes for women.
Readings: Andrew Byron, Stephen Greif, Felix von Manteuffel, Jaime Stewart, Simon Tcherniak, Jane Whittenshaw
Making money from old phones, engines and plastic bottles is the topic for Evan Davis and guests.
How do you ensure that you collect what others throw away? How much profit is there really to be had from creating new from old? And why aren't milk bottle tops quite the colour they once were?
Clive Anderson, Nick Broomfield, Viv Groskop, Charles Hazelwood, James Heneage, Emma Freud, Ibibio Sound Machine, Sam Brookes
Clive's tuning up with conductor Charles Hazlewood, who talks about his forthcoming production (with Kneehigh Theatre) of Benjamin Britten's Noye's Fludde (Noah's Flood) with members of the Philharmonia Orchestra. This spectacular fully staged opera, with a cast of hundreds will be followed by a summer party.
Clive heckles journalist and broadcaster Viv Groskop who always wanted to be a stand-up comedian. So when she was fed up, recession-scarred and pushing forty, Viv attempted 100 comedy gigs in 100 consecutive nights, from Atlanta, USA, to a biker bar in Truro. The hilarious result is her book I Laughed, I Cried: How One Woman Took on Stand-Up and (Almost) Ruined Her Life'.
Emma Freud talks to His Big White Self; filmmaker Nick Broomfield, who has been making iconoclastic, award-winning documentaries since the mid-1970s. His previous work includes 'Kurt & Courtney' and 'The Leader, His Driver and the Driver's Wife'. His new film, 'Tales of the Grim Sleeper' examines the apartheid and class system in the US.
Clive's embroiled in The Battle For Byzantium with former bookshop boss and author James Heneage. 'The Towers of Samarcand' is a powerful historical novel full of lively characters and enthralling scenes of battle, wealth, beliefs and trade in a part of the world torn by the clash of empires.
Music from Ibibio Sound Machine who perform 'I'm Running (Nya Fehe)' from their self-titled album and from Sam Brookes, who performs 'This Is The Place' from his album 'Kairos'.
Elizabeth Butler-Sloss has been chosen this week to lead a major enquiry into abuse allegations. But the choice has proved controversial, with claims that she is too close to the establishment. A specialist in family law who became a high-ranking judge, she's been involved in many important decisions. Mary-Ann Sieghart looks at her life and career.
Intimate Apparel, Boyhood, Upstairs at the Party, People Just Do Nothing, Sikhs in WW1
Richard Linklater's latest film, Boyhood, was filmed over 39 days over a period of 12 years, so the actors and characters on the screen age in real time. When production began, the lead actor was 6 and it follows him dealing with life's ups and downs as he progresses towards adulthood.
Linda Grant's new novel Upstairs At The Party is the tale of a group of friends at a northern university in the 1970s and how their lives are changed by a personal catastrophe
Intimate Apparel is a play by African American playwright Lynn Nottage at London's Park Theatre. Set in 1905, it tells the story of Esther, a 35-year old African American seamstress who moved from North Carolina to New York City to seek her fortune and her relationships with the city's upper crust and lowlife alike.
BBC 3's People Just Do Nothing is a comedy set in a London pirate radio station and its cheerfully deluded team of enthusiastic idiots.
A new exhibition at SOAS in London chronicles the role of Sikh soldiers in The First World War. Indian soldiers made up one-in-six of the ranks of the British Empire forces, but their role has now been largely forgotten.
Sarfraz Manzoor is joined by Cahal Dallat, Louise Doughty and Antonia Quirke. The producer is Oliver Jones.
From her influential government reports which led to changes in special education and to the establishment of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, to her career as an academic, author and mother of five, the philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock meets her younger self in the BBC sound archive and discusses her reaction to what she hears with John Wilson.
The second season of adaptations of some of Sir Walter Scott's most popular novels with David Tennant as Walter Scott.
Set in 1194 after the failure of the third Crusade, King Richard I is said to be in captivity in Austria after having been taken on his way back to England. In his absence, his brother John is plotting to take over the throne.
Wilfred of Ivanhoe, son of Cedric and one of the few remaining Saxon Lords, joined Richard in the Crusade but has been disinherited by his father for showing allegiance to a Norman. Ivanhoe is rumoured to have come to the rescue of his King in his hour of need but has since disappeared. Is he alive? Rowenna - the woman he loves - anxiously waits for news.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
The moral purpose of the NHS was clear to its founders - it should be free at the point of delivery, be based on clinical need, not ability to pay and should meet the needs of everyone. These 3 principals have guided the development of the NHS over more than 60 years and remain at its core, but for how much longer? With an increasingly aging population with multiple and often chronic needs the NHS is facing a £30 billion black hole by the end of the next decade. 15 million people in England have a long term health condition and 70% of the NHS budget is spent caring for them. The NHS in Scotland in the past 3 years has spent nearly £230m on drugs just to treat diabetes and obesity. In Wales 3 health boards have been warned about a £60 million pound overspend while at the same time it's claimed the Principality has the worst waiting times in the UK for life saving diagnostic tests. In a letter to the Times this week a high powered group of doctors, including the leaders from 4 royal colleges, says that the status quo is not an option and that fundamental reforms, including cutting services and charging for others, should now be considered. The NHS is woven deep in to the psyche of our nation, but are its core moral principles still valid? Is it still fair that those who've taken least care of themselves take most out of the system? Can we still afford the moral hazard that it doesn't matter what you do to your body; the NHS will always be there to bail you out? Should health care be rationed? Ill health is often linked to poverty - is it fair to expect the poor to pay, for example, for visits to the GP? Is it moral to defend a set of principles at the expense of making brave decisions in the interest of the country? Moral Maze - Presented by Michael Buerk
Witnesses are Dr Louise Irvine, Thomas Cawston, Dr Richard Cookson and Sir David Nicholson.
Where could you find a bowl for washing, a European Royal dynasty and the people they ruled over, a navigable waterway and something to read, all together in a crescent?
Tom Sutcliffe promised to provide the answer to that question in this latest edition of the ever-popular lateral thinking quiz. This week Adele Geras and Diana Collecott of the North of England are hoping to take revenge on Stephen Maddock and Rosalind Miles of the Midlands, who beat them on their previous encounter earlier in the series.
As always, they'll need to muster arcane snippets of knowledge they never knew they possessed, from Classical literature and popular culture, from history and music and science. The programme also features some of the best recent question ideas sent in by listeners.
Poet Deryn Rees-Jones looks at the life and work of writer Helen Thomas, her tempestuous marriage to poet Edward Thomas and her role in keeping his flame alive after his death in World War One.
She travels to Liverpool, south London and Steep in Hampshire, in the footsteps of this incredibly spirited, progressive woman, who scandalised Thomas' friends with her candid accounts of her relationship with Edward in her memoirs, As It Was and World Without End. Deryn talks to playwright Nick Dear, poet Alison Brackenbury, critic Edna Longley and members of the Edward Thomas Fellowship about Helen's extraordinary life, her response to the tragedy of Edward's death and her talents as a writer.
Deryn also reads from her own poetic sequence, 'And you, Helen' - a response to Edward Thomas' poem of the same name.
To choose. I would give you youth,
Or given to me. If I could choose
SUNDAY 13 JULY 2014
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b0495fwv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Fairy Tales Retold by Sara Maitland (b01pt9nf)
Mother Love
Mother Love, a dark and powerful fairy tale of maternal jealousy retold by Sara Maitland. It's read by Lia Williams.
Producer Beth O'Dea.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0495fwx)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0495fwz)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
5.20am.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0495fx1)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b0495fx3)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b0495llg)
Old St Martin in the Cornmarket
The bells of Old St. Martin Church in the Cornmarket, Worcester.
SUN 05:45 Four Thought (b048nkdd)
Series 4
Jasper Fforde
Jasper Fforde explains why he is concerned that humans have reached the limits of intellectual creative thought.
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: Kamin Mohammadi
Producer: Estelle Doyle.
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b0495fx5)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b0495llj)
Rocks that Fail
Mark Tully asks what happens when the things or people we rely on to be strong, to be there, to be with us, turn out to be fragile, absent, or against us.
From Peter's denial of Jesus, to the failure of financial institutions in times of economic depression, Mark suggests that a crack in a rock need not necessarily be a fatal fault line. From one of the great medieval love stories, he draws from the letters of Heloise castigating her lover Abelard for failing her, while insisting that still only he can be her rock. And he finds a metaphor for our very human tendency to mask our inner weakness with a show of outward strength in the extraordinary phenomenon that is a Prince Rupert's Drop - a tear-shaped drop of glass that can withstand the blows of a hammer to its bulbous end, but will explode into fragments at the slightest twist of its tail.
The programme features the song Anthem by Leonard Cohen, which includes the lyrics, "There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in". Mark considers if it is ever possible to find perfection or whether, paradoxically, we should use the flaws we come across to strengthen our faith in the people and institutions on which we build our lives.
The readers are Brian Cox, Frank Stirling and Fiona Shaw.
Producer: Adam Fowler
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b0495lll)
North Ronaldsay
North Ronaldsay is the most northerly of the Orkney Islands and home to a unique breed of sheep. The animals are largely kept on the rocky shore, the ewes brought on to grass only for lambing, and are held on the fringes by a thirteen-mile stone dyke built in 1832 on the orders of the local laird. The more fertile inland fields were then used for beef cattle, which is still the case today, and the sheep thrived on their seaweed diet.
Nearly 200 years on, the dyke still plays a crucial role in North Ronaldsay farming, but the population has drastically reduced and farming life on the island has changed beyond recognition. With fewer people able to maintain the dyke and fewer crofters keeping more sheep per head, the responsibility for maintaining this breed, which some say dates back five thousand years, is resting on fewer shoulders. Housing is in short supply on North Ronaldsay, which makes it hard to attract new people, and although there is a primary school, the roll currently stands at only three.
What, then, is the future for the island and for the sheep? Moira Hickey finds widespread optimism among the islanders, based on the quality of the meat they produce, the demand for wool spun in the local wool mill and the self-reliance of the population. Transport links are good, the bird observatory brings in a steady stream of visitors and young islanders are choosing to return to live and work where they grew up - so hopes are high that this tiny community can sustain itself and its unique flock of sheep, despite all the many changes that are taking place on and around the island.
Produced and presented by Moira Hickey.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b0495fx7)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b0495fxj)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b0495lln)
Women bishops, Gandhi statue, World Cup Popes
Trevor Barnes reports from the General Synod of the Church of England as members gather for a second vote on whether to allow women bishops. What concessions have been granted to opponents and what options are available to the Archbishop of Canterbury should the measure fail?
The Vatican Bank has closed hundreds of customer accounts in an effort to rid itself of associations with corruption and money laundering. Stefan Stern explains why Pope Francis has ordered a clear-out of toxic accounts.
Sikhs have accused the Foreign Secretary of appeasing the Indian Government by announcing a statue in Parliament Square of Mahatma Gandhi. Edward asks if their opposition is justified.
We continue our series to mark the centenary of the start of World War 1. Geoffrey Durham tells the story of the Quaker reaction to the outbreak of war through the remarkable archive of letters and diaries at Friends House in London.
As the Home Secretary announces that Baroness Butler-Sloss will head a wide-ranging probe into how allegations of abuse by politicians and other powerful figures in public institutions were handled, we debate the factors that change our collective and individual awareness of what is morally right and wrong.
Mark Dowd joins Edward to muse over the fact that an Argentinian and a German Pope could meet to cheer on their respective home countries in the final of the football World Cup. Is there passion for the beautiful game in The Vatican?
Producers:
David Cook
Zaffar Iqbal
Contributors:
Stefan Stern
Professor Gordon Lynch
Oliver Kamm
Davinder Singh
Pratik Dattani
Mark Dowd
Geoffrey Durham.
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b0495llq)
Action for Brazil's Children (ABC Trust).
Gary Lineker presents The Radio 4 Appeal for Action for Brazil's Children (ABC Trust).
Registered Charity No 1069022
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal, mark the back of the envelope 'Action for Brazil's Children (ABC Trust)'.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b0495fxs)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b0495fxv)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b0495lls)
A Seed Sown
from Eton College, Windsor with choristers attending the Eton Choral course and rejoicing in the many ways seeds of faith are sown and grow.
Led by Rev'd La Stacey, Vicar of Eton with Eton Wick and Boveny and Dorney
with preacher The Ven. Sheila Watson, Archdeacon of Canterbury reflects on leadership in the church
Director of Music, Ben Parry
Organist, Christopher Witton
Producer, Clair Jaquiss.
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (b048nsnk)
Isis: A modern revolutionary force?
Philosopher and author John Gray argues that the Sunni extremist group Isis (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) is actually more of a modern revolutionary force than a reactionary one intent on a reversion to mediaeval values.
Surprising as this may sound says Gray, Isis is thoroughly modern. It's organised itself into an efficient company, and has become the wealthiest jihadi organisation in the world. And while it invokes the early history of Islam, the society it envisions has no precedent in history. Some of the thinkers who developed radical Islamist ideas are known to have been influenced by European anarchism and communism, especially by the idea that society can be reshaped by a merciless revolutionary vanguard using systematic violence. Isis is part of the revolutionary turmoil of modern times warns Gray, and until the West grasps that uncomfortable fact, it won't be able to deal with the dangers Isis presents.
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b0378t4y)
Great Black-backed Gull
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Michaela Strachan presents the great black-backed gull. These gulls are the largest in the world. They are quite common around our coasts and you can see them in summer perched on a crag watching for any signs of danger or potential prey. Although they are scavengers Great Black-Backs will attack and kill other birds.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b0495llv)
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 (b0495llx)
For detailed synopsis see daily episodes
Writer .... Caroline Harrington
Director .... Rosemary Watts
Editor .... Sean O'Connor.
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b0495llz)
Anne Reid
Actress Anne Reid is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs.
For a long time the bedrock of Anne Reid's successful career seemed to be her perfectly nuanced portrayal of a variety of northern mums - what she calls "skirt and jumper roles". Her first major role was playing Valerie Tatlock in Coronation Street - her character's funeral was watched by millions.
In 2003 the skirt and the jumper came off when she and Daniel Craig starred in the highly acclaimed movie The Mother, about a frumpy looking woman in her late 60s who passionately seduces her daughter's boyfriend.
Anne Reid has appeared in Victoria Wood's comedy series Dinnerladies and is currently playing Celia in BBC drama Last Tango in Halifax about two widowed septuagenarians finding love again.
She says, "...inner talent gives you that ease. It's not a remarkable thing - just a knack that gives you a very nice life."
Producer: Paula McGinley.
SUN 12:00 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b048jmyh)
Series 61
Episode 2
The 61st series of Radio 4's multi award-winning antidote to panel games promises more homespun wireless entertainment for the young at heart. This week the programme pays a return visit to the Theatre Royal in Norwich. Regulars Graeme Garden, Barry Cryer and Tim Brooke-Taylor are once again joined on the panel by Susan Calman with Jack Dee in the chair. At the piano - Colin Sell.
Producer - Jon Naismith.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b0495lm1)
Food in Opera
Food in Opera. Sheila Dillon hears the story of food told through 400 years of music history. Gluttonous composers, cuisine centred plotlines and singers needing nourishment.
Renowned opera critic and gourmet traveller, Fred Plotkin holds an event at the Royal Opera House on food in opera. We get to listen in to stories of a sugar addicted Mozart, Pavarotti's post performance meals and find out who gave their name to Pasta Norma.
The interval is spent at Glyndebourne opera speaking with chorus members and prop makers about the travails of eating on stage.
Presented by Sheila Dillon with help from Opera on 3's Christopher Cook. Produced by Emma Weatherill in Bristol.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b0495fxx)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b0495lm3)
Shaun Ley presents national and international news, including an in-depth look at events around the world. Email: wato@bbc.co.uk; twitter: #theworldthisweekend.
SUN 13:30 AL Kennedy: Holding Hands (b04754xq)
There is something uniquely intimate and comforting about holding someone's hand. Perhaps because it's something that begins in childhood - our small hand enveloped in that of other, stronger, larger hands.
We associate it with comfort, concern, care. And then, for a while, we abandon it - not holding your parents' hands is a sign that you have grown up - only to have the joy of rediscovering new shades of meaning in the gesture.
As adults, we may hold hands with our own children. Hand holding may be a part of courtship - it's not as flashy as a kiss, but can be a clear signal to ourselves and others that we are together - it can be a subtle brush or glancing touch, it can be a complex form of foreplay.
We may also have our hands held at times of stress and crisis - sometimes by people we don't even know. And we may hold the hands of the sick and even the dying as they leave us, or after they have gone.
We separate the joyful hand holding from the horrible - hand holding can induce emotions and by contrast, unruly emotions can be the reason to reach for a hand.
Novelist AL Kennedy talks to scientists Professors Roger Lemon and Steve Jones, Rabbi Julia Neuberger, GP Adnan Siddiqui, triple amputee Giles Duly and poet-undertaker Thomas Lynch. She visits Monkey World to find out about hand holding among non-human primates, and we hear from her mum amidst the voices of people remembering holding hands.
Producer: Kate Bland
A Cast Iron production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in July 2014.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b048nsmx)
National Botanic Garden of Wales
Peter Gibbs is joined by Matt Biggs, Toby Buckland, Pippa Greenwood and Matthew Wilson to answer questions from a local audience at the National Botanic Garden of Wales.
Peter Gibbs also goes behind the scenes at the Botanic Gardens to hear about their project to create a database of DNA barcodes for all the native flowering plants and conifers in the UK. For more information on the barcoding project, please go to www.gardenofwales.org.uk/science/barcode-wales/
Produced by Darby Dorras
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
This week's questions:
Q. What can I plant in my garden to remind me of my son who lives in New Zealand? The garden is north facing and 600ft above sea level.
A. Tree ferns suitably protected with hay, hessian and plastic will come back year after year. Astelias will do well if planted in a sheltered area. Raoulia hookeri is another option.
Q. My Solomon Seal has been depleted by gray caterpillar-like grubs. What can I do?
A. This sounds like your plant has been plagued by sawfly. There's not much you can do this year but mark the date in you diary of when the infestation became apparent and so next year you can try to deal with it before it gets out of hand. One option would be to use nematodes as a form of biological control. Birds will also help so you could put a couple of birdfeeders to increase the numbers.
Q. Along my neighbour's fence there are Chestnut, Lime and Alder trees. I'd like to grow Clematis up some of the shrubs in my garden to screen from the trees. Could the panel recommend some varieties that would cope with a bit of shade and the dryness beneath the trees?
A. Firstly, you will have to dig a big hole when planting anything beneath the trees. Make sure to use plenty of compost and use leaf mould to help retain moisture. Clematis Montana is a robust variety. Clematis Alpinas are a bit more delicate. The Elizabeth and Frieda cultivars of Clematis Montana are a bit less rampant than the standard Clematis Montana but should still grow well.
Q. I have limited space for growing vegetables so I try to clear and store what I grow. What's the best way to store leaks onions and potatoes?
A. Make sure all the vegetables are well dried. Only store the Onions that have narrow necks - a bull neck means it will not store well. Handle Onions and Garlic carefully as bruising can be a source of problems later on. You could hang them up to dry or use a palate or chicken wire to ensure a good circulation of air around the vegetables. If they dry well over several consecutive sunny days you can plat the stems, or store them in old seed trays. As long as the place you store them is cool, frost-free, well ventilated and not at all damp they should keep well. With potatoes, just rub off any clumps of mud and leave them to dry and then store them in hessian bags. Leaks can actually be left in the ground over winter, just use straw to stop them from freezing.
Q. Some of my squash plants have done well, while others have yellowed, wilted and died. What went wrong?
A. Planting in cold soil can cause yellowing. What you can do next time is warm up the soil before you plant. Put cardboard over the soil and then dark mulch over that. The sun will warm the soil this way. A more worrying cause of the problem would be aphids that spread disease. This might be a case of the Tobacco Mosaic Virus. The problem might also be down to slug and snail damage. Have a look at the base of the wilting plants to look for signs of chewing around the base. Also, if transferring squash plants from a greenhouse to the garden, make sure to acclimatise the plants first by first bringing them out in the day and putting them back at night for about ten days before planting them in the ground.
Q. What is the best way to look after my Auricular now the flowers are over?
A. Divide the plant after flowering. Snap open the stems and divide them into chunks with the crown with some root on, pot them up into terracotta pots with some light-weight compost and keep them moist through the summer and feed with tomato feed. Keep them sheltered in the winter and they should do well.
Q. Please explain the advantages of a double-walled garden.
A. Double walls help get rid of insects. The more wall space, the more areas to grow plants up. The double walls keep the temperature low in the winter, helping the plants go dormant and getting rid of unwanted pests.
Q. Which plants attract wasps or emit noxious smells?
A. Gloire de Marengo Ivy attracts wasps, particularly in late summer. The Dracunculous vulgaris smells like rotting meat. Angelica Gigas attract wasps as does Bupleurum.
SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b0495nl8)
Sunday Omnibus
Fi Glover presents the Omnibus edition with conversations about life after anorexia, proposals over satellite phone and posing nude from Edinburgh, Leicester and Cumbria, 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 (b0495nlb)
The Great Scott
Redgauntlet
A free adaptation by Robin Brooks of Scott's novel - now set in the year 2035, in a fictional future Scotland.
This is the second season of adaptations of some of Sir Walter Scott's most popular novels, with David Tennant as Walter Scott.
Alan Fairford is destined to become a lawyer but is distracted from his studies by the sudden disappearance of his best friend Danny Latimer.
Danny's absence seems to be connected with the sudden appearance of Stuart Galloway - aka Redgauntlet - who has business with Alan's father, Alexander.
But who is Redgauntlet? And what is his mission?
Alan Fairford sets out to find out the answers and hopefully to rescue his friend.
Written by Robin Brooks.
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill.
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 16:00 Open Book (b0495r3z)
Richard Flanagan
This week Mariella speaks to the award-winning Australian writer Richard Flanagan about his latest novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, an epic tale with a dark heart inspired by his father's experience of surviving the Death Railway during WW2.
Also in the programme, agent Peter Straus explains why you should read Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens; Jeremy Dyson and friends celebrate cult author, Robert Aickman; and as an avalanche of self-help manuals hit bookshops, a look at what lies behind this phenomenon.
SUN 16:27 Derek Walcott: A Fortunate Traveller (b0495r41)
Glyn Maxwell meets the Nobel Laureate poet Derek Walcott at his home on the Caribbean island of St Lucia on his 84th birthday. From his beach home, Walcott talks about the sea and what it is like to come from a place he feels to be without history. He remembers his late friend Seamus Heaney and enthuses about Edward Thomas and Philip Larkin. They talk of teaching poetry - Glyn was once Derek's student. He reads some of his own poems and, from memory, a sad and beautiful lyric by Walter de la Mare. The surf and the tropical rain make their own calypso music. Producer: Tim Dee.
SUN 16:55 1914: Day by Day (b0495r43)
13th July
Margaret Macmillan chronicles the events leading up to the First World War. Each episode draws together newspaper accounts, diplomatic correspondence and private journals from the same day exactly one hundred years ago, giving a picture of the world in 1914 as it was experienced at the time.
The series tracks the development of the European crisis day by day, from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand through to the first week of the conflict. As well as the war, it gives an insight into the wider context of the world in 1914 including the threat of civil war in Ireland, the sensational trial of Madame Caillaux in France and the suffragettes' increasingly violent campaign for votes for women.
Margaret Macmillan is professor of international history at Oxford University.
Readings: Andrew Byron, Stephen Greif, Felix von Manteuffel, Jaime Stewart, Simon Tcherniak, Jane Whittenshaw
Music: Sacha Puttnam
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Producer: Russell Finch
A Something' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (b048l0sh)
Late Payments
Last month, in the Queen's Speech, the Government announced a series of measures to support small businesses -- including proposals to deal with the problem of late payment of bills by larger companies.
It follows a long history of horror stories about major high street names leaving suppliers and sub-contractors out of pocket because of delays in settling accounts.
Figures produced by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills revealed that 85 per cent of small and medium sized businesses said they had experienced late payment in the last two years and that, in total, there was £30bn outstanding to them.
But File on 4 has found that it's not just in private business that serious problems are occurring.
The programme speaks to business owners who say that that ineffective rules and sanctions have left them badly out of pocket on contracts undertaken in the public sector.
Local authorities, the NHS and other Government departments have strict rules about how long they should take to pay their contractors.
But Jenny Chryss reveals how some small firms are having to cut back on staff because bills still aren't being settled promptly.
And she reveals how big contractors who do get paid on time, often delay before passing the money down the supply chain.
So are critics right when they say the Government's proposed new measures still aren't enough to deal with the problem?
Reporter: Jenny Chryss Producer: Emma Forde.
SUN 17:40 Profile (b0495dt7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b0495fxz)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b0495fy1)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0495fy3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b0495r45)
Stewart Henderson has been up above the sombre clouds this week hearing how the poem, An Irish Airman Foresees His Death, by WB Yeats came to be. There's also a remarkable peace walk remembered, at the end of which an intended meeting with President Kennedy sadly didn't take place. And despite Soviet censorship, the eventual triumph of Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago is recalled.
Rodger Law and the Chinese Curiosities (All week, Radio 4)
Open Country (Thur 10th July, Radio 4)
The Hotel Suite (Mon 7th July, Radio 4)
The Zhivago Affair (All week, Radio4)
The Documentary: No Destination (Sat 12th July, World Service)
Blofeld and Baxter: Memories of Test Match Special (Sun 29th June, Radio 4)
Cold Water California (Mon 7th July, Radio 4)
Farran at Bay (Thur 10th July, Radio 4)
The Documentary: The Yellow Cab Blues (Tue 8th July, World Service)
It's a Fair Cop (Wed 9th July, Radio 4)
The Essay: Goodbye to All That (All week, Radio 3)
The Infinite Monkey Cage (Mon 7th July, Radio 4).
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b0495r47)
The Bull's nice and busy for the World Cup final. PC Burns is there with a few mates and jokes about how his friends' Facebook posts do him no favours. Fallon's planning a vintage tea tent at Loxfest. There's a little spark between them as Burns says he'll be there for a cuppa.
Burns mentions that he used to sing in a Smiths tribute band. Fallon tells him he should audition for the Midnight Walkers.
Brian is having a nightmare in the new kitchen. Ian ends up rustling him up a gourmet meal. As a thank you, Brian invites Ian and Adam to stay and get comfy with some food, wine and the footy.
Pat's worried about Susan being upset over Neil's pay at Bridge Farm. She wonders if they are indeed taking advantage of Neil. But Tony doesn't agree, and doesn't seem to understand Susan's point of view.
Neil apologises to Tony for Susan's actions, but politely makes it clear to Tony he'll only do the work he's being paid for. The management is Tony's affair. Pat and Tony worry about who will manage the pigs, and agree they'd better think about a proper rate to offer Neil.
SUN 19:15 John Shuttleworth's Lounge Music (b0495t6m)
Series 1
Chas & Dave
Since the mid-1980s, aspiring singer/songwriter, John Shuttleworth has been posting audio cassettes of his 'finest songs to date' to pop stars throughout the land, in the hope that someone would record his material. But all to no avail.
However, the BBC has very kindly given John a series and asked him to invite pop starts to bring their music to his Sheffield home. So it is that Chas & Dave, Heaven 17, Toyah Willcox and Leee John find themselves in John's lounge having tea with wife Mary, being flirted with by Mary's friend Joan and hassled by John's agent Ken Worthington, as they try and perform not only one their greatest hits but more importantly, one of John's.
In the first show John welcomes Chas Hodges from Chas & Dave into the lounge. But where's Dave? Has he heard that Mary won't allow jellied eels in the house or didn't he want to come?
Whatever the reason, Chas will have to perform on his own using John's trusty keyboard although, as he's been influenced by Jerry Lee Lewis, John warns him that he won't tolerate any feet on the keyboard.
Written and Performed by Graham Fellows.
Producer: Dawn Ellis
A Chic Ken production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 19:45 Annika Stranded (b0495t6p)
Series 2
Sub Zero
Annika Strandhed is a leading light in the murder squad of the Oslo police. Her neuroses - and she has a few - are mostly hidden by a boisterous manner and a love of speedboats. As fictional Scandinavian detectives go, she's not as astute as Sarah Lund or Saga Norén, perhaps, but probably better company.
In this second series of stories by Nick Walker - commissioned specially for Radio 4 - Annika is learning to juggle the demands of policing the Oslofjord with a new challenge. Namely, single motherhood.
Episode 2 (of 3): Sub Zero
A woman is found, killed by a falling icicle. But Annika believes this was no accident.
Nick Walker is the author of two critically-acclaimed novels, Blackbox and Helloland. His plays and short stories are often featured on BBC Radio 4, including Arnold In A Purple Haze (2009), the First King of Mars stories (2007 - 2010), the Afternoon Drama Life Coach (2010) and the stories Dig Yourself (2011) and The Indivisible (2012). The first series of Annika Stranded was broadcast in 2013.
Reader: Nicola Walker
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:00 Feedback (b04c03vd)
The editor of The World at One answers listeners' complaints about his programme's interview with the actor Nigel Havers, there's Radio 4's new comedy series about cancer survivors, and the dos and don'ts of eating on the radio.
Feedback received many emails this week from listeners who question The World at One's decision to interview actor Nigel Havers about the integrity of his aunt Baroness Butler Sloss and her appointment to lead a government inquiry into child sex abuse. Was it a case of celebrity leakage? The programme's editor Nick Sutton answers his critics.
Also, should we be laughing at cancer? Some listeners are turned off by the new radio comedy Bad Salsa which looks at dancing and cancer survivors. Roger discusses the thinking behind the programme with the writer Kay Stonham and producer Alison Vernon-Smith.
And we consider the art and perils of eating on the radio with Woman's Hour presenter Dame Jenni Murray and the broadcaster Simon Parkes.
Producer: Will Yates
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b048nsn1)
Alfredo Di Stefano, Eduard Shevardnadze, Ultra Violet, Chester Nez and Horace Silver
Matthew Bannister on
The Argentinian-born footballer Alfredo Di Stefano. Some say he was the greatest player of all time, leading Real Madrid to successive European Cup victories and scoring an amazing 800 goals.
The former Soviet Foreign Secretary and Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze. He was the leading ally of Mikhail Gorbachev in liberalising Russia's relations with the West.
Also the artist Ultra Violet - one of Andy Warhol's Factory superstars.
Chester Nez, one of the Navajo Indians used by the American military to create an unbreakable wartime code.
Horace Silver, the influential jazz pianist, composer and bandleader. Julian Joseph pays tribute at the piano.
SUN 21:00 Face the Facts (b048n3fj)
A Thousand Philomenas
The film Philomena starring Dame Judi Dench brought the scandal of Ireland's mother and baby homes to the wider world. Claims that children's bodies were dumped in a septic tank at a home in Tuam have focussed fresh scrutiny on the issue. But what about north of the border in the UK? Face the Facts looks at allegations of forced adoptions, high infant death rates, mass graves and the search for answers from Catholic-run institutions in Northern Ireland. And hears from the mothers still trying to find the children taken from them.
Producer:Paul Waters
Presenter:John Waite
Editor:Andrew Smith.
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b0495llq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 Analysis (b048l00t)
Is it Time for the Internet to Grow Up?
In its short lifetime, the world wide web has raised giants and monsters. It's transformed sections of the economy, from retail to publishing and the music industry. It has had a profound effect on journalism and the transmission of ideas. It has facilitated social networks which have penetrated deep into the private lives of millions of people around the world. It has even been held responsible for far-reaching political upheavals like the Arab Spring.
Some internet evangelists compare the web to the Wild West, a territory full of exciting opportunity that will lose its character and potential if it's brought under the rule of law. Others insist that the web is too disruptive to established institutions and practices and must be tamed. So, what do we want from the next 25 years of the internet? And how can we go about getting it?
Producer: Luke Mulhall.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b0495vtd)
Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.
SUN 22:45 What the Papers Say (b0495vtg)
Tom Newton Dunn of the Sun looks at how papers covered the week's big stories.
SUN 23:00 1914: Day by Day (b0495vtj)
1914: Day by Day - Omnibus
Episode 2
Margaret Macmillan chronicles the events leading up to the First World War. Each episode draws together newspaper accounts, diplomatic correspondence and private journals from the same day exactly one hundred years ago, giving a picture of the world in 1914 as it was experienced at the time.
The series tracks the development of the European crisis day by day, from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand through to the first week of the conflict. As well as the war, it gives an insight into the wider context of the world in 1914 including the threat of civil war in Ireland, the sensational trial of Madame Caillaux in France and the suffragettes' increasingly violent campaign for votes for women.
Margaret Macmillan is professor of international history at Oxford University.
Readings: Andrew Byron, Stephen Greif, Felix von Manteuffel, Jaime Stewart, Simon Tcherniak, Jane Whittenshaw
Music: Sacha Puttnam
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Producer: Russell Finch
A Something' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b0495llj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 14 JULY 2014
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b0495fz9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b048nkcw)
A History of Tennis, Talking Treatments
Tennis: From Victorian Pastime to Global Phenomenon. Laurie Taylor talks to life long tennis fan and cultural historian, Elizabeth Wilson. The story of tennis illuminates social change and struggle across the 20th century, going hand in hand with the march of modernity, globalisation, commercialisation and gender equality.
Also, Daniel Holman, a post doctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge, discusses class differences in the use of 'talking treatments' for mental health problems with Stephen Frosh, Professor of Psychology at Birkbeck College. Why are these treatments so underused by working class people?
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b0495llg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0495fzc)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0495fzf)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0495fzh)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b0495fzk)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b04966rp)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Claire Campbell Smith.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b04966rr)
Organics report
One of the largest studies ever carried out in to the health benefits of organic food has concluded that it is higher in antioxidants and therefore could be better for your health. The paper, led by Professor Leifert from Newcastle University is the latest study that looked at 343 peer reviewed papers comparing nutrient and pesticide levels in organic and non organic crops. His findings are disputed by Dr Alan Dangour, the reader in food and nutrition for Global Health at the London school of tropical hygiene. He queries the quality of the date used. Meanwhile Dr Helen Crawley, a public health nutritionist says its all about the volume of fruit and veg you eat, not whether it's organic or not. The Soil Association welcome the report as a positive step forward after a difficult time for the organic sector.
Presented by Charlotte Smith. Produced in Bristol by Ruth Sanderson.
MON 05:56 Weather (b0495fzm)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b02tvys6)
Osprey
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Steve Backshall presents the osprey. Ospreys are fish-eaters and the sight of one of these majestic birds plunging feet first to catch its prey is a sight to cherish. The return of the ospreys is one of the great UK conservation stories. After extinction through egg-collecting and shooting in the 19th and early 20th centuries, birds returned in the 1950s and have responded well to protection.
MON 06:00 Today (b04966rt)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Playing the Skyline (b04966rw)
Series 1
Millennium Bridge, London - Anna Meredith and Courtney Pine
On old nautical charts as well as the bird's eye view there is often a coastal profile - the outline of the land seen from the point of view of a sailor approaching it. Radio producer Julian May was struck by the musicality of these, the undulations of hills are melodic, the spacing of landmarks - trees, spires - rhythmic. Musicians could, he thought, take the line dividing the earth from the air, place it on a stave, and play the skyline.
Prominent musicians were intrigued - the Scottish composer James MacMillan; Julie Fowlis, leading light of Gaelic song; Kizzy Crawford, an eighteen year old singer-songwriter of Welsh and Bajan heritage, at home in the English and Welsh; and Gwilym Simcock the Welsh pianist who writes classical pieces, and improvises, too.
For Radio 4 Tim Marlow presents three programmes, in England, Wales and Scotland, in which two musicians look at the skyline, give their responses, then begin playing it. Tim hears how they are getting on and, finally, the musicians, Tim and Radio 4's listeners hear for the first time the finished pieces.
The first programme begins in the National Maritime Museum where Robert Blyth, Senior Curator of Maritime History, shows Tim some coastal profiles and ponders what seamen whose lives depended on them might make of the idea that they could be an inspiration for music.
Then jazz musician Courtney Pine and the composer Anna Meredith join Tim on the Millennium Bridge in London. They consider the view from St Paul's, past the Walkie Talkie and Blackfriars Bridge to the Shard.
They speak about their responses, what intrigues them, and discuss how they they will render such a dramatic skyline, with its history and physical variety, in sound.
Producers: Julian May and Benedict Warren.
MON 09:30 World Agony (b04966ry)
Cheryl Strayed, USA
Irma Kurtz, Cosmopolitan magazine's Agony Aunt for over 40 years, talks to a different agony aunt from around the world for each programme in this series.
She speaks to Aunts from America, India, Australia, Egypt and South Africa, and reflects on the universal and contrasting problems that occur in their particular society. These Aunts, many of whom have dramatic personal lives themselves, offer advice in newspaper columns, on radio phone-ins and on-line.
Irma draws on her ample experience to offer a useful perspective on their approach to problem solving. Together they discuss the problems specific to their communities and listeners hear examples of some of the letters they receive and the advice given.
Programme 1: Cheryl Strayed, U.S.A.
Irma talks to Cheryl Strayed, an American agony aunt who has received thousands of queries to her 'Dear Sugar' online column. Cheryl has grappled with many problems herself, including sexual abuse, bereavement and divorce. It's no surprise then that her strap line reads, "From someone who has been there".
Irma and Cheryl compare notes. They consider American optimism compared with the perceived attitude of the British stiff upper lip and reflect on why so many men write to Dear Sugar.
Producer: Ronni Davis
A White Pebble Media production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b04966s0)
Matt Lewis - Last Man Off
Episode 1
In his first job as a scientific advisor, Matt Lewis makes a last-minute and fateful decision to join the fishing vessel Sudur Havid.
In the spring of 1998, Matt Lewis was just 23 and not long out of college when he accepted a job as a scientific observer on the deep-sea fishing vessel Sudur Havid. It was his first time as an observer and, with the fishing season already started, he was rushed out to Cape Town to join the crew. The boat then sailed off to the Southern Ocean, off South Georgia, to fish in some of the most hostile conditions on the planet.
'Last Man Off' is Matt Lewis's story of that journey and the fateful consequences. The author waited over 15 years for this story to be told. "I was waiting for more time to make the story less painful," said Lewis.
Matt Lewis was born in Bristol in 1974. He trained as a marine biologist at Bangor University and completed his MSc in marine and fisheries science (with distinction) at Aberdeen University. He now lives in Aberdeen with his wife and two children.
Writer: Matt Lewis
Reader: Sam Troughton
Abridger: Pete Nichols
Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2014.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b04966s2)
Islamophobia and the veil; Growing up in a cult; Women in Parliament; David McKee on Elmer
With women making up fewer than one in five MPs at Westminster, politicians across parliament are calling for new measures to get more women to stand for election. Conservative MP Mary Macleod, who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Women in Parliament, joins Jane Garvey to discuss the culture and behaviour that needs to change, and the barriers still facing female candidates.
Baroness Oona King talks to Jane Garvey about why girls are flocking to public speaking. Nine years ago only 30% of students taking part in Jack Petchey's "Speak Out" Challenge, now it's 70%.
The ban on the burqa in France has been upheld by the European Court of Human Rights. And, attacks on Muslim women wearing the veil in the UK are reported to be on the increase. Does traditional dress put women at risk? Would a UK ban protect women and reduce Islamophobic attacks? The criminologist Dr Irene Zempi has spoken to women who wear the veil in Leicester. Shalina Litt is Muslim and wears a full veil on the streets of Birmingham. They both join Jane to discuss UK attitudes to the burqa.
Born into the notorious Children of God cult, Natacha Tormey spent her childhood convinced that she was part of an elite children's army that would one day save the world from the Antichrist. Denied an education, Natacha had barely any knowledge of life outside of the various communes her family lived in, where followers followed teachings that encouraged total sexual freedom. Natacha was physically and sexually abused from a young age but finally escaped the cult at eighteen and began to piece together her life in the outside world she knew nothing about. She joins Jane to talk about her childhood and her ongoing struggle to adapt to freedom.
The bestselling children's book Elmer the Patchwork Elephant celebrates 25 years this summer. The story of a boldly coloured elephant, Elmer's adventures teach children about empathy and tolerance. The author David McKee, who grew up reading fables, believes stories with a moral are important. So what impact do cautionary tales have on children and how have they changed since they were popularised in the 19th century?
Jane speaks to David McKee and The Guardian's children's books editor, Julia Eccleshare.
MON 10:45 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b0499dly)
Babycakes
Episode 1
Babycakes is the fourth book in the Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin, originally serialized in the San Francisco Chronicle and set in the city . Dramatised for radio by Bryony Lavery. Landlady Mrs Madrigal is watching over the tenants of her house on Barbary Lane.
Babycakes is often cited as the first work of fiction to address the AIDS pandemic.
It begins in 1983, with the revelation of Jon Fielding's death from AIDS. His lover Michael is bereft. Brian, now 38 wants a baby but Mary Ann is still working hard. The Britannia is in town along with the Queen and the Royal party
Directed in salford by Susan Roberts.
MON 11:00 Doing It the Milton Keynes Way (b04966s8)
Milton Keynes is gaining a reputation for something other than its roundabouts and concrete cows. The much maligned new-town is now leading the way in the economic recovery and topping the league tables as the UK's most business-friendly town.
MK, as it's affectionately known by its residents, has many of the key ingredients when it comes to attracting business investment. It has good connections to London and the rest of the country, plenty of factory and office space, an abundance of skilled graduates on its doorstop and house prices well below the national average, as building has kept up with the town's booming population. All this has helped Milton Keynes build one of the strongest city economies in the UK, boasting the 4th highest business start-up rate and the 3rd highest output per worker out of 64 cities.
Deborah Meaden, the fearsome business brain of TV's 'Dragon's Den', travels to Milton Keynes to visit different businesses and find out if there is a secret ingredient beyond the issues of location and education. Local entrepreneurs talk about the 'Milton Keynes can-do attitude'. They say part of the reason MK has thrived is due to their drive to push their businesses forward and work together. Deborah discusses the nature of the unique MK mind-set with three small business owners to pin down exactly what it is.
But there is a question over whether Milton Keynes is going to inspire its next generation - just in the same way today's business leaders were galvanised by the town's planners or 'founding fathers', who cemented a pioneering spirit into its culture. Two young entrepreneurs tell Deborah that although MK is a great place to start up, it needs to make sure it attracts more innovative hi-tech companies and independent shops and businesses in order to maintain its success into the future.
So what can other cities learn from Milton Keynes? Chief executive of the think tank Centre For Cities, Alexandra Jones, shares her thoughts on which parts of MK's success can be replicated in other parts of the UK, especially in the cities of northern England where economic growth is desperately needed. Should more cities be doing it the Milton Keynes way?
Producer: Sophie Anton.
MON 11:30 Bad Salsa (b06vkj1w)
Series 1
Mount Kilimanjaro
After treatment for Ovarian and breast cancer Chippy, is mad Jill is sad and Terri is definitely dangerous to know! The road back after cancer treatment can be tricky and full of obstacles.
Two middle aged women and their younger friend seek to regain their zest for life and love by learning to dance at Bad Salsa, the club where everyone knows your name but no-one knows your prognosis!
Depictions of people with cancer on TV and radio too often follow a standard format; there is the diagnosis, the depression the chemo, then the false recovery followed by the tragic death.
Written by Kay Stonham, Bad Salsa tries to paint a picture at once more hopeful and more in line with survival rates which have improved immensely over the past 20 years.
For many, 'living with cancer' is now their day to day challenge. Our characters have finished their treatment and are in the process of finding their way back to normal life or at least finding a "new normal." Everyday challenges must go on like boring marriages, distracting crushes, troublesome children, difficult workmates and infuriating parents. But their brush with mortality gives them a new perspective.
So do they preserve their pre-cancer status quo or in Terri's words, to say "sod it all" and "go for it!"
Follow the women as they embrace the world of salsa whilst they adjust to life after cancer.
Chippy ...... Sharon Rooney
Jill ...... Natasha Little
Terri Camille ...... Coduri
Marco ...... Derek Elroy
Gordon ...... Andrew Obeney
Elaine ...... Ayesha Antoine
Georgie ...... Emily Chase
Joel ...... Joe Johnsey
Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2014.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b04967j5)
Cold calls, Country and Western, Fast e-cars
Why cold calls asking you to take part in a "lifestyle survey" could put you at risk.
What makes a brand cool?
Are Formula e-cars a racing certainty?
More on our investigation into customers buying VW cars but then being told they haven't paid enough for them.
And the man Out IN Africa - stuck without a passport.
MON 12:57 Weather (b0495fzp)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b04967j7)
Martha Kearney presents national and international news.
MON 13:45 A Guide to Garden Wildlife (b036k1s5)
Log Piles and Long Grass
What looks like a woodlouse, can roll up into a ball, and was at one time thought to cure digestive disorders when swallowed? Well the answer can be found in the first of a new series of five programmes in which Brett Westwood joins naturalist Phil Gates in a garden near Bristol, and with the help of wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, they offer a practical and entertaining guide to the wildlife which you're most likely to see and hear in different habitats around the garden, beginning with log piles and long grass. Here they find "tiggy hogs and coffin cutters", local names for woodlice; endearing little armoured scavengers that feed mostly on fungi. And where you find woodlice you might also find their predators; a spider, "which has got these enormous fangs and the woodlice meets a sticky end!". The decaying leaves which accumulate in log piles are also good hibernation sites for bumblebees; which in spring will emerge to collect nectar and pollinate garden plants. So log piles can help ensure pollination! In the long grass nearby, Brett and Phil go looking for cuckoo spit, and an insect which can catapult itself to a height of 140 times its body length! They are also attracted by a hive of activity; the sounds of red mason bees buzzing around artificial nesting sites which have been built for them; these are short lengths of drainpipe containing dozens of hollow tubes in which the bees make their nests and lay their eggs. Artificial nests are a great way of encouraging pollinators into your garden. Finally they discuss the merits of wood mice in a garden and the creatures they attract; "What could better than being in bed at night and hearing Tawny Owls hunting in your garden, wood mice are something you really do need!"
Producer Sarah Blunt.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b0495r47)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b04967j9)
The Great Squanderland Roof
In 'The Great Squanderland Roof', Julian Gough explores another puzzling area of modern economics with the help of the BBC's Stephanie Flanders. This time Gough turns his attention to the eurozone crisis and, along with the Chancellor of Frugalia and the Head of the European Bank of Common Sense and Stability, conjures an ambitious and unorthodox plan to save Europe, the Markets and the World.
Jude lives in a henhouse with no roof, in the bankrupt Republic of Squanderland. Purchased for ten million euro at the height of the credit bubble, his henhouse has been rated the asset in Europe most likely to default. To solve this small but symbolic problem and restore confidence in the markets, Europe's leaders need a plan. Sadly, putting a roof on Jude's henhouse quickly escalates out of control. Soon they are committed to building a roof over the entire country, half a mile above the startled voters... But what happens when a structure that's too big to fail finally fails? To the horror of Europe's bankers and politicians, Jude comes up with a dramatic (and rather romantic) solution to the Eurozone crisis...
'The Great Squanderland Roof' stars Rory Keenan as the hapless Jude (whose recent credits include 'The Kitchen' at the National, 'A Dublin Carol' at the Donmar and 'Birdsong' on BBC TV) in his debut BBC Radio role, Dermot Crowley as a banker turned government minister, and Stephanie Flanders, the BBC's Economics Editor.
Julian Gough is an Irish novelist, short story writer, blogger and playwright, who lives in Berlin. He won the BBC National Short Story Award in 2007 for his story 'The Orphan and the Mob' and his most recent novel 'Jude in London' was short listed for the 'Not the Booker' Award 2011. His story 'The Great Hargeisa Goat Bubble' - about boom and bust - was the first short story to appear in the Financial Times. It was dramatised for Radio 4 in 2009 and again starred Stephanie Flanders.
Director Di Speirs.
MON 15:00 Round Britain Quiz (b049699v)
(9/12)
This week's contest of lateral thinking and convoluted connections pits the Midlands against Wales for the second time this season, with Tom Sutcliffe in the chair to ensure fair play and to provide gentle hints wherever needed.
Rosalind Miles and Stephen Maddock of the Midlands are making their final appearance of the series, and they need a victory against Myfanwy Alexander and David Edwards of Wales to stay in the running for the overall series title.
The questions require often-arcane snippets of knowledge of history, the visual arts, literature, film and popular culture, and the winners will be the team who need fewest helpful hints from the chairman in order to unravel the complex questions. The questions, as always, include a few of the best recent ideas submitted by listeners.
Tom will also reveal the answer to the question he left tantalisingly unanswered at the end of last week's programme.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b0495lm1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 The Art of Home (b03y36w2)
How does an artist's sense of home shape and direct their work? Do they need to be rooted in a familiar place where ideas and have personally been shaped? Or can being cast far from home galvanise an artist's work, giving them a fresh perspective?
Author Rosie Dastgir explores the importance of roots and home on the work of an artist in this authored programme. She meets different artists from diverse places across Britain.
Clio Barnard is one of Britain's rising filmmakers and her work made Rosie wonder about her roots and sense of place. Much of Barnard's film work is centred in Yorkshire and her movies The Arbour and the latest, BAFTA nominated The Selfish Giant reflect a social realism that could only come from an intimate knowledge of the area.
Going home to Wolverhampton, was something that Sathnam Sanghera felt compelled to do to write his funny and moving memoir The Boy with the Top Knot - as he had learnt his father was a schizophrenic, explaining some of his family's strange behaviour while he was growing up. The memoir takes him on an extraordinary journey from his father's harsh life in rural Punjab to the steps of the Wolverhampton Tourist Office.
Simon Stevens is an award-winning playwright. His writing is characterised as part of a new generation of gritty realism and is widely performed, not only in the UK but also throughout Europe. His work and writing grapple with his past of growing up on the streets of Stockport. The playwright believes that writers and artist invariably reflect back on their past, hoping to resolve conflict, upheaval and other events - a futile endeavour but, as we hear, an exercise that has resulted in some wonderful creative energy.
Producer: John Sugar
A Sugar production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in March 2014.
MON 16:30 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b049699x)
Series 10
Are Humans Uniquely Unique?
Are humans uniquely unique?
Robin Ince and Brian Cox are joined on stage by human and non-human ape experts Keith Jensen, Katie Slocombe and Ross Noble to ask whether humans are truly unique amongst animal species. They'll be looking at why studying our nearest relative, the chimpanzee, could reveal clues as to how humans evolved some of the traits that make us stand out, such as language, culture and truly altruistic cooperation, or whether these are traits that are now being uncovered in our primate cousins. They'll also be revealing why a chimpanzee could be classified as far more rational than its human counterpart.
MON 16:55 1914: Day by Day (b049699z)
14th July
Margaret Macmillan chronicles the events leading up to the First World War. Each episode draws together newspaper accounts, diplomatic correspondence and private journals from the same day exactly one hundred years ago, giving a picture of the world in 1914 as it was experienced at the time.
The series tracks the development of the European crisis day by day, from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand through to the first week of the conflict. As well as the war, it gives an insight into the wider context of the world in 1914 including the threat of civil war in Ireland, the sensational trial of Madame Caillaux in France and the suffragettes' increasingly violent campaign for votes for women.
14th July: The French parliament hears revelations that the military is short of arms.
Margaret Macmillan is professor of international history at Oxford University.
Readings: Andrew Byron, Stephen Greif, Felix von Manteuffel, Jaime Stewart, Simon Tcherniak, Jane Whittenshaw
Music: Sacha Puttnam
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Producer: Russell Finch
A Something' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 17:00 PM (b04969b1)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0495fzr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b04969b3)
Series 61
Episode 3
The nation's favourite wireless entertainment pays a visit to the Assembly Hall in Worthing. Regulars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by Harry Hill, with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell provides piano accompaniment.
Producer - Jon Naismith.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b0496bg5)
David and Ruth are having t-shirts and stickers made for the anti-road campaign.
Jill and Elizabeth discuss John Tregorran, who has recently died. His daughter Anna has been in touch with Jill. Jill and Peggy reminisce about John and Carol Tregorran, although Peggy is a bit distracted.
Alan is keen to unveil the new stained glass window at St Stephens on Boxing Day. It will be 100 years since the Christmas truce. The window will commemorate agricultural workers during the war.
Tony is keen to speak to Neil. Susan warns Neil to say no to whatever it is Tony wants. But she's delighted when he offers Neil a part time manager role. He will have a share of the profits and will retain his stake, so Tom can't just take things over if and when he comes back.
Elizabeth plans to talk to Freddie about his attitude since he caught her having a hug with Roy. She's not keen on doing a radio interview with Roy in case they seem too close.
Susan tells Peggy about Neil's new role. Peggy excuses herself and Jill puts up with Susan gossiping about John Tregorran. Convinced there used to be something going on between John and Jennifer, Susan wonders how Jennifer will react to news of his death.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b0496bg7)
Nadine Gordimer remembered, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Utopia
Paul Theroux, Albie Sachs and Justin Cartwright remember the Nobel Prize-winning South African novelist Nadine Gordimer whose death was announced today; Matt Reeves on directing Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, starring Andy Serkis and Gary Oldman; and Dennis Kelly discusses his TV drama series Utopia, which deals with a plan created by 'The Network' to control the expanding world population by sterilising 95% of its inhabitants.
MON 19:45 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b0499dly)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 Who's British Now? (b0496bg9)
Politicians often express concerns about the failure of immigrant voters to integrate into "mainstream British life," or embrace "British" values. But data from the 2011 census seems to indicate a layer of complexity to British Asian attitudes about nationality which is missing from the rhetoric around British identity.
The 2011 census introduced a reporting category which was intended to capture whether voters considered themselves to have British identity only, English identity only, other UK identity only, or other identity only.
The results were fascinating- the groups most likely to report a British identity were Bangladeshi (72%) Pakistani (63%) and Indian (58%). White people living in England declared themselves 72% English: amongst whites in England, Englishness had outstripped Britishness in popularity. (In Scotland and Wales, Britishness had been in decline for decades.)
But while Asians in England cleaved to British identity, Asians in Scotland were far more likely to identify themselves as Scots. What is happening? Ritula Shah talks to those on both sides of the border to discuss national identity with recent and long standing immigrants.
Is Englishness so irrevocably tied up with white skin that it proves unattractive to incomers? Are Asian immigrants wedded to an old fashioned idea of Britishness, or could they be at the heart of a reconstruction of Britishness around multi ethnicity?
And what happens if Britishness shatters this year under the force of the Scottish Independence Referendum? How will the Asian community in England engage with Englishness if Britain no longer exists?
MON 20:30 Analysis (b0496bgc)
The End of the Pay Rise?
Something strange has been happening in the British economy. For over six years now, wages have fallen for most of us, which is unprecedented in British modern history. And despite the return of economic growth, wages still have not picked up.
What has happened? And crucially is this a long term problem - is this the end of the pay rise? Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, explores the mystery of our falling wages and finds out how it is related to how productive we are, but also to how wages themselves are shared out between the top earners and the rest of us.
Producer: Estelle Doyle
Contributors:
** Nikki King, Honorary Chairman, Isuzu Trucks UK
** Andy Haldane, chief economist, Central Bank of England
** Jonathan Haskel, Professor of Economics, Imperial College Business School
** Paul Gregg, Professor of Economic and social policy, University of Bath
** Nick Crafts, Professor of Economic History, Warwick University
** Andrew Sentance, former member of Central Bank MPC
** Matt Whitaker, Chief Economist, Resolution Foundation
** Nicola Smith, Trade Union Congress
** Sarah Collyer, Peter Murphy, Hillary Rogers from Isuzu Trucks UK.
MON 21:00 Shared Planet (b047z8x3)
Overland Migration
Overland migrations of terrestrial mammals form some of the most impressive natural spectacles in the world. But humans have been making it more and more difficult for animals to move long distances overland. Roads and railways cause mortalities, fences block the way, growing towns and cities disrupt routes. Monty Don hears from projects in the USA designed to help the pronghorn antelope continue on its lengthy migration and how a road planned for the Serengeti might affect the wildebeest migration.
MON 21:30 Playing the Skyline (b04966rw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b0495fzt)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b0496bgf)
David Cameron starts ministerial reshuffle.
Egypt proposes a ceasefire plan for Gaza and Israel.
Butler-Sloss resigns as abuse inquiry head.
With Ritula Shah.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0496bgh)
A Man Called Ove
Episode 6
Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet. Every morning he makes his rounds of the local streets, moving bicycles and checking the contents of recycling bins, even though it's been years since he was fired as Chairman of the Residents' Association in a vicious coup d'etat.
But behind the surly pedant there is a story, and a sadness.
When one morning his new neighbours in the house opposite accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it sets off a comical and heart-warming tale of unexpected friendship which will change the lives of one man - and one community - forever.
The word-of-mouth bestseller in Sweden is Fredrik Backman's debut novel. The main protagonist was born on his blog, where over 1000 readers voted for Backman to write a book about a man called Ove.
Written by Fredrik Backman
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Read by Kenneth Cranham
Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier production for Radio 4.
MON 23:00 Short Cuts (b042jhlf)
Series 5
Explorers
Josie Long goes on an adventure as she presents a sequence of mini documentaries about exploration.
With tales of riding cellos down the mountain side and romantic exploration on the U Bahn.
Great Bear Rainforest
Produced by Elizabeth Arnold
Die Fremde
Produced by Phil Smith
Out of the Blocks (Extract)
Produced by Aaron Henkin and electronic musician Wendel Patrick
Everest Glissando
Feat. Stephen Venables
Produced by Hana Walker-Brown
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b0496bgk)
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster.
TUESDAY 15 JULY 2014
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b0495g0k)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b04966s0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0495g0m)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0495g0p)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0495g0r)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b0495g0t)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0496bzx)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Claire Campbell Smith.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b0496bzz)
Harvest, poaching, green farm
This year's harvest has had an early start across the country. Guy Gagen from the National Farmers Union says although the harvest is early and yields look good, the price will be lower this year. Anna Hill visits John Pawsey who grows organic oats, wheat and spelt on three thousand acres in Suffolk.
The Environment Agency say that they have more reports of illegal fishing in UK waterways since joining forces with other organisations like the Angling Trust. BBC Environment and Rural Affairs Correspondent for the West Midlands, David Gregory-Kumar goes out with officers on a night time sting.
Wyke Farms is a major cheesemaker, milking a thousand cows and producing 300 million litres of milk per year. Anna Jones visits them to find out how it has invested a million pounds in a state-of-the-art water recovery plant to make it 100% self-sufficient in green energy.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Ruth Sanderson.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b02tydrm)
Whinchat
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the whinchat.
Whinchats are perky little summer visitors, about the size of a robin and migrate to the UK in spring from their wintering grounds south of the Sahara. They're birds of open country, preferring moors, heaths and rough ground and are often found where gorse bushes grow, which explains their common name, whin being a Scottish word for gorse.
TUE 06:00 Today (b0496c01)
News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather, Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (b0496c03)
Jeremy Farrar on fighting viruses
In October 2013, Jeremy Farrar was appointed Director of the Wellcome Trust - UK's largest medical research funding charity. The Trust funded �750 million's worth of health-related research - about the same as the government's Medical Research Council. This means Jeremy Farrar is a major figure in British science.
Since 1996, the doctor and clinical scientist had run the Wellcome-funded Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam - a British-Vietnamese collaboration specialising in infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV, TB and avian flu. He lost close friends and colleagues when the SARS pandemic took off in East Asia in 2003, and dealt with the first cases of the dangerous H5N1 bird flu when it arrived in Vietnam the following here.
In conversation with Jim Al-Khalili, Dr Farrar talks about the personal and professional impact of those experiences and of his feelings of impotence as a doctor treating HIV/AIDS patients as a junior doctor in London in 1980s.
With his international perspective and his hands-on experience of the deadly potential of infectious diseases, he talks to Jim about the great health challenges faced by the world in the coming decades.
TUE 09:30 One to One (b0496c05)
Sarah Montague talks to Cassie
In the first of two interviews for One to One, Sarah Montague, presenter of the Today programme on Radio 4, gets an insight into the life of those coping on the outside while a family member is in prison.
Cassie's life changed forever when her sister was charged with manslaughter and subsequently imprisoned.
Producer: Perminder Khatkar.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b049mtyp)
Matt Lewis - Last Man Off
Episode 2
Late for the start of the season, the Sudur Havid heads to the fishing grounds in the Southern Ocean...
In the spring of 1998, Matt Lewis was just 23 and not long out of college when he accepted a job as a scientific observer on the deep-sea fishing vessel Sudur Havid. It was his first time as an observer and, with the fishing season already started, he was rushed out to Cape Town to join the crew. The boat then sailed off to the Southern Ocean, off South Georgia, to fish in some of the most hostile conditions on the planet.
'Last Man Off' is Matt Lewis's story of that journey and the fateful consequences. The author waited over 15 years for this story to be told. "I was waiting for more time to make the story less painful," said Lewis.
Reader: Sam Troughton
Abridger: Pete Nichols
Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2014.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0496c07)
Primary school leavers; Women Bishops; Yasmina Reza; Joan Bakewell
For the children leaving primary school there are now discos, proms, and sleepovers until the end of term. Then there is the leavers' play and the inevitable tears from children and parents. Why has it got so important and emotionally charged? And is this a good thing?
The Church of England has voted to allow women to become bishops for first time in its history. The Rev. Katrina Scott describes what the decision means to her and her congregation.
Elgar's The Kingdom kicks off The Proms. Soprano Erin Wall and mezzo-soprano Catherine Wyn-Rogers talk about the challenges of singing this demanding work.
Joan Bakewell DBE, talks about how technological advances in medicine and an aging population are changing clinical ethics.
TUE 10:45 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b0499ly3)
Babycakes
Episode 2
Babycakes from the Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin, originally serialized in the San Francisco Chronicle and set in the city . Dramatised for radio by Bryony Lavery.
Following the drug and sex counter-culture, the AIDS pandemic has arrived .The Queen is visiting san Francisco. Mary Annhas struck up a friendship with Simon - a British officer who has left the ship .
Directed by Susan Roberts.
TUE 11:00 Shared Planet (b0496c09)
Urban Wildlife
Wildlife in urban areas can be surprisingly diverse - particularly when neighbouring more natural areas. Can the urban jungle actually be better than some rural areas for bees and birds? In this episode Monty Don hears from scientists working to find out just how important our urban areas are for wildlife.
Presented by Monty Don and produced by Brett Westwood.
TUE 11:30 Karaoke As Art? (b0497zz3)
Rumour has it that one of the most exciting music scenes in America is happening right now in Portland, Oregon and doesn't feature a single person playing an instrument. Music critic and presenter Katie Puckrik heads out on a karaoke crawl across the city to find out if karaoke really is the centre of cool in Portland.
On the way she meets eminent KJs (karaoke jockeys), in particular John Brophy whose Baby Ketten Karaoke nights are where the serious performers go. He's eradicated the top 100 favourite songs from his list so everyone has to dig deeper to find more challenging material.
Katie embraces it all.
There's 'Stripperaoke', where she finds singing next to a scantily clad, tattooed dancer is surprisingly freeing. At Chopsticks II, she meets a KJ who admits that serious karaoke fans are addicted to performance. At Trio she hits the Latin scene with a big celebration of Cinque de Mayo, where mariachi meets karaoke and becomes 'mariaoke'.
On another night she gets up and sings live with a karaoke band called 'Karaoke from Hell' who've been playing backing tracks for amateur singers for 22 years. At one club she trips over a merry band of puppeteers who've brought their alter egos out for a night of singing and performance. At Baby Ketten Karaoke she meets performers who make a point of never singing the same song twice.
Producer: Mel Harris
A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b04980ds)
Call You and Yours: Should we pay for using the NHS?
Call You and Yours: Should you be paying for some NHS services and what would you pay for? Do you think overweight people should pay for their own gastric band surgery to help with type II diabetes? Should we pay for GP appointments? What about a monthly membership fee for NHS treatment? Could we create a more efficient system or will pay-as-you-go mean that those who can afford to pay get treated and those who can't - don't?
Some say the NHS is not in good shape to deal with continuing austerity and could experience a funding crisis - not decades away - but as early as 2015. Views gathered from health and social care leaders show they believe the NHS will be in debt if it carries on giving the service it does and that within ten years, the NHS will no longer be free at the point of use. For others, a free NHS is ideological - it should remain free at the point of use, be publicly funded and be publicly accountable. Any charging for the use of the NHS above that which we already pay for as taxpayers could actually cost us more money in the long run. But has the cultural and political climate in which the NHS was conceived changed so much that it is no longer fit for purpose in its current state?
If you want to have your say you can email youandyours@ BBC.co.uk or Tweet using the hashtag you and yours.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b0495g0w)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b04980dv)
Education Secretary Michael Gove moved to Chief Whip; we hear from the chairman of the Education Select Committee, Graham Stuart. Nicky Morgan takes over Gove's job, Liz Truss and Lady Stowell are also promoted to the Cabinet, while Lord Hill will be Britain's next EU Commissioner.
The sacked Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, warns against pulling out of the European Convention on Human Rights. And we also speak to the former Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Heseltine.
Shaun the Sheep has topped a poll of favourite BBC children's characters over the last 70 years. We hear from its creator, the man who co-created Basil Brush, and David McKee, who was behind Mr Benn. What makes a popular show and are enough children's programmes being commissioned?
Presented by Martha Kearney.
TUE 13:45 A Guide to Garden Wildlife (b036tsnf)
Ponds
Brett Westwood is joined by naturalist Phil Gates in a garden near Bristol and with the help of recordings by wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson and Tom Lawrence, they offer a practical and entertaining guide to the wildlife which you're most likely to see and hear in a garden pond. Garden ponds are arguably the most diverse of all garden wildlife habitats, and Brett and Phil begin by watching pond skaters (the wolves of the pond) and whirligig beetles on the surface of the water. "They remind me of bumper cars at the fair" says Phil as whirligig beetles whizz about over the elastic surface film. These beetles are able to look down and up at the same time. Imagine if we could this! "What goes on in a Whirligig beetle's brain I just can't contemplate" laughs Phil. Surprisingly, below the surface, life is anything but quiet as water boatmen communicate with one another by stridulation - producing a remarkably loud tapping sound. There are also backswimmers (so called because they swim upside down), which can be identified explains Phil as "the ones that bite really painfully" so best left alone! Further below the surface, you might frogs (their loud purring courtship calls announcing their return to the pond after hibernation and the arrival of spring), and the terrors of the deep; the dragonfly nymphs. These are fearsome predatory larvae with needle-sharp pincer-like jaws, "jet propelled" and feed on tadpoles. These larvae are transformed into the beautiful flying adults, which are not uncommon; species like the Southern Hawker Dragonfly readily colonise small garden ponds and "they'll come and check you out. They're very curious insects, they hover round your head and come and look at you." Don't be alarmed they are completely harmless despite their old names such as 'Horse stinger' and 'Devil's darning needle'!
PRODUCER: Sarah Blunt.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b0496bg5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b04980dx)
Come to Grief
A first radio play by Hannah Vincent.
Sylvia (Claire Rushbrook) is in hospital suffering from memory loss. She cannot remember anything about her life. The treatment she is undergoing is radical - she is suspended above the floor, hanging by her neck. Medical staff assure her that this way 'everything will fall into place'.
As she hangs, Sylvia is visited by a series of figures, including her husband (Philip Jackson), her daughter (Emerald O'Hanrahan) and a man (Carl Prekopp), calling himself her friend, whom she cannot recognize.
But are these people real or phantoms? It soon becomes apparent that part of the space of the play is Sylvia's unconscious, the land of her memory. As she comes to understand this, she slowly starts to remember the appalling events that have occurred....
Original Music: David Chilton
Directed and produced by Gordon House
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:00 Making History (b04980dz)
Tom Holland is joined by Professor Richard Drayton from Kings' College London and Dr Sean Lang from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, to discuss a new project celebrating the 90th anniversary of the British Empire Exhibition of 1924. Dr Katy Layton Jones has been working with local archivists and she opens the book on this forgotten event which attracted millions. But what is its historical significance? Was it a celebration of the British Empire or more of a marketing opportunity in the face of domestic opposition?
Historian and polar guide Dr Huw Lewis-Jones joins the programme from Truro to explain how the ship's cabin where Sir Ernest Shackleton died in South Georgia ended up in Norway. He and a group of historians and enthusiasts are planning to move it to Shackleton's birthplace in Ireland.
Finally, a student blog from the University of St Andrews leads Helen Castor to Corfe Castle in Dorset to examine the case against England's most notorious Queen Consort, Aelfryth. Did she murder a king so that her son would take the throne back in the 10th century? Dr Ryan Lavelle from the University of Winchester is on hand to explain that all isn't what it seems.
You can contact the programme by emailing making.history@bbc.co.uk - or write to Making History, BBC Radio 4, PO Box 3096. Brighton BN1 1PL
Producer: Nick Patrick
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 The Human Zoo (b04980f1)
Series 4
Episode 4
Familiarity breeds contempt, as the saying goes. But psychologists say that repetition does something powerful to our appreciation of everything we hear - be it music, comedy or a political speech.
The first time you hear a piece of music you may like it, you may hate it, you may be indifferent. Listen again and then again, and the chances are it will grow on you. It becomes familiar, enjoyable and may even enter your desert island discs.
This is the power of repetition in action. Politicians attempt to harness it by repeating key phrases, though that can be a double edged sword - remember Norman Lamont's "green shoots of recovery"?
The way our brains deal with repetition reveals some of the extraordinary ability we have to identify speech in an otherwise meaningless jumble of noise. Listen as Michael Blastland explores the power of repetition, the power of repetition.
Produced by Toby Murcott
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (b04980f3)
Weighing Your Words
Chris Ledgard investigates three situations where the precise use of words is crucial. He speaks to a cancer specialist and a woman in remission from the disease about the language of diagnosis and prognosis. How do doctors balance the need to be sensitive with the need to be accurate? Is the word cancer itself still one that people prefer not to use? The second situation under consideration is when journalists, covering a fast moving story for the popular press, are made party to information they are requested not to print. Reporter Paul Sims describes how he dealt with one such situation during the hunt for the gunman, Raoul Moat in 2010. Finally, there can be few situations where choosing precisely the right words matters more than during negotiations to end an armed conflict.
Britain's Chief Negotiator on Northern Ireland, Jonathan Powell and Sinn Fein's Conor Murphy, discuss the language that paved the way to the Good Friday Agreement and why it was often ambiguous rather than clear language that kept the talks on track.
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b04980f5)
Julian Rhind-Tutt and Steve Oram
Actors Julian Rhind-Tutt (Green Wing, The Hour) and Steve Oram (Sightseers) talk favourite books with Harriett Gilbert. Julian's choice is a collection of Annie Proulx's short stories including Brokeback Mountain. Steve's is Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, which has been the subject of fierce debate as to whether it should be taught in schools. Harriett chooses Martin Amis' memoir, Experience.
Producer Beth O'Dea.
TUE 16:55 1914: Day by Day (b04980f7)
15th July
Margaret Macmillan chronicles the events leading up to the First World War. Each episode draws together newspaper accounts, diplomatic correspondence and private journals from the same day exactly one hundred years ago, giving a picture of the world in 1914 as it was experienced at the time.
The series tracks the development of the European crisis day by day, from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand through to the first week of the conflict. As well as the war, it gives an insight into the wider context of the world in 1914 including the threat of civil war in Ireland, the sensational trial of Madame Caillaux in France and the suffragettes' increasingly violent campaign for votes for women.
15th July: Jean Jaurès calls for an international general strike in the event of war.
Margaret Macmillan is professor of international history at Oxford University.
Readings: Andrew Byron, Stephen Greif, Felix von Manteuffel, Jaime Stewart, Simon Tcherniak, Jane Whittenshaw
Music: Sacha Puttnam
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Producer: Russell Finch
A Something' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 17:00 PM (b04980f9)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0495g0y)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Life: An Idiot's Guide (b044w2t8)
Series 3
Coming of Age
Stephen K Amos is joined by comedians Mae Martin, Travis Jay and Dan Antopolski to present a guide to coming of age.
Additional material by Christine Rose and Hugh Sington.
Producer: Colin Anderson.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2014.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b049828g)
Jennifer is home from a lovely relaxing holiday. Brian insists (not entirely truthfully) that he has coped fine on his own. He tells Jennifer that John Tregorran has died, which she's sad to hear.
Ruth enjoys seeing a robotic milking parlour. David is sceptical but Ruth points out that it would be brilliant to not have to get up at five every morning. And in all seriousness, if the worst happened they'd have options. The compensation money would help them. David goes to sort out the SAVE campaign t-shirts.
Ian wants Adam to himself this evening to enjoy a takeaway. But Charlie nabs Adam and makes him late, looking at the new kit. Adam has fitted new terminals on the tractors and talks enthusiastically about new technology, clearly expecting Charlie to be impressed. Unmoved Charlie simply tells Adam not to let him down.
Over dinner, Adam apologises to Ian for their lack of quality time together. Ian tries to engage Adam in planning a holiday but Adam's brain is clearly somewhere else. He complains that he doesn't know what on earth he can do to make Charlie happy.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b049828j)
Nigel Havers; Malevich at Tate Modern; Michael Rosen; Caine Prize for African Writing
John Wilson talks to Nigel Havers and director Lucy Bailey about their revival of The Importance of Being Earnest, framed within the confines of an amateur dramatics production of the play. Art critic Charlotte Mullins reviews a major retrospective of Russian modernist Kazimir Malevich at Tate Modern. The winner of the Caine Prize for African writing, Okwiri Oduor, talks about her winning short story and the impact she hopes the prize will have on her Writing, and head judge, Jackie Kay, reveals why Okwiri's story was an unanimous winner. And author Michael Rosen on the enduring appeal of We're Going On A Bear Hunt, 25 years on and a record-beating reading.
TUE 19:45 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b0499ly3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (b049828l)
Childhood Cancer
Every year more than 1,500 UK children are diagnosed with cancer.
For some the outlook is good but for those struck down by one of the rarer cancers, the prognosis can be a bleak one.
Two hundred and fifty children die each year from the disease.
Parents have told File on 4 there is a worrying lack of research into new drugs for childhood cancers, with youngsters sometimes offered treatments which have hardly changed in the last forty years - treatments that can have a limited chance of success and which can cause fatal, serious and life-long side-effects for those lucky enough to survive.
In the battle to get the most up-to-date treatments for children with some of the most aggressive cancers, increasing numbers of families say they are forced to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds to travel abroad to take part in pioneering drugs trials elsewhere.
Meanwhile UK researchers say they face a constant battle for funding. They also warn of a loophole in European regulations which they say stops break-through drugs that have been developed for adult cancer sufferers, being developed to benefit children.
As science takes the treatment and understanding of disease to new levels, Jane Deith asks whether enough is being done to give children a fighting chance.
Reporter: Jane Deith
Producer: Nicola Dowling.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b049828n)
Peter White speaks to Peter Bourton, Ofcom's Head of TV Content Policy, about its calls for input on whether TV providers should be doing more to give viewers access to speaking electronic programme guides. At present, only a few providers are offering this service, and Ofcom wants to learn more about the costs and implications for TV providers if they were to include speaking electronic programme guides in future releases of their digital hardware.
We hear some of your feedback on our recent item on eating out. Reporter Tom Walker meets qualified visually impaired football coach Craig Riach and asks him about the pitfalls of coaching football when you can't see. And contributor Dave Williams shares his moving personal thoughts on dealing with making arrangements after the sudden death of a loved one.
TUE 21:00 Inside Health (b049828q)
Screening for Breast Cancer
Switzerland looks set to be the first country in Europe to halt routine breast screening; yet in the UK a review of the same evidence came to the opposite conclusion. Dr Mark Porter asks how two groups of experts can arrive at such different decisions, and examines the harms and benefits of screening for breast cancer.
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (b0496c03)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b049828s)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b049828v)
A Man Called Ove
Episode 7
Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet. Every morning he makes his rounds of the local streets, moving bicycles and checking the contents of recycling bins, even though it's been years since he was fired as Chairman of the Residents' Association in a vicious coup d'etat.
But behind the surly pedant there is a story, and a sadness.
When one morning his new neighbours in the house opposite accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it sets off a comical and heart-warming tale of unexpected friendship which will change the lives of one man - and one community - forever.
The word-of-mouth bestseller in Sweden is Fredrik Backman's debut novel. The main protagonist was born on his blog, where over 1000 readers voted for Backman to write a book about a man called Ove.
Written by Fredrik Backman
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Read by Kenneth Cranham
Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier production for Radio 4.
TUE 23:00 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b049699x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Monday]
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b049828x)
Legislation to allow police and security services to continue to monitor phone and internet data goes through the Commons in one day. And peers call for the failure to report suspicions of child abuse to be an imprisonable offence. Sean Curran reports from Westminster.
WEDNESDAY 16 JULY 2014
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b0495g1p)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b049mtyp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0495g1r)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0495g1t)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0495g1w)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b0495g1y)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b04982j5)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Claire Campbell Smith.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b04982j7)
Defra's new secretary of state, Organic pigs
The MP for South West Norfolk, Lizz Truss, has taken over from Owen Paterson as Defra's Secretary of State. The move comes as part of David Cameron's reshuffle of his cabinet. Ms Truss takes up the post as the farming industry prepares for the second year of the highly controversial pilot badger cull in Somerset and Gloucestershire. In light of this, how will she be greeted by farmers and wildlife organisations? Farming Today speaks to the National Farmers' Union and the Wildlife Trusts.
The organic pig sector has declined dramatically in recent years and as Farming Today continues to look at organic farming Sarah Falkingham meets an organic pig farmer near Scunthorpe.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Lucy Bickerton.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b02tw750)
House Martin
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the house martin.
House martins are often confused with swallows , but look shorter-tailed and lack the rusty throats. They're compact birds which build their with pellets of mud under our eaves and although they're so familiar to us in summer, we still can't be certain where they spend the winter. Ornithologists believe that they may spend our winter catching insects high over African rainforests.
WED 06:00 Today (b04982j9)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 The Long View (b04982jc)
The Politics of History Textbooks
Jonathan Freedland examines the current anxieties surrounding the teaching of history through the prism of history textbooks from around a century ago with his guests in front of an audience at the Chalke Valley History Festival.
What is the balance to be struck between dry facts and flamboyant descriptions? Should British history imbue children with a sense of patriotism and chronology?
We hear about the "fierce" English warriors chasing wild boar and buffalo before drinking "huge bowls of a sort of beer" in Cassell's Historical Course for Schools in 1884, the wives of the "wicked" Henry VIIIth in H. E. Marshall's Our Island Story in 1905 and examine C.R.L. Fletcher and Rudyard Kipling's A History of England in 1911 with its portrait of "the dark continent of Africa".
Jonathan's guests include writer and historian William Dalrymple, Dr Katharine Burn of Oxford University who was a teacher and leads the PGCE history course, historian Dr Peter Yeandle from Manchester University who is an expert on history textbooks at the turn of the last century and history textbook author and examiner Ben Walsh.
Producer: Clare Walker.
WED 09:30 Publishing Lives (b03bqchd)
Series 1
John Murray
As the digital revolution shakes publishing to its foundations, writer and former publisher Robert McCrum explores the stories of five great British publishers. He looks back at their remarkable lives and asks what they can tell us about the challenges facing their successors today.
The story of British book publishing is the story of taking ink and paper, words and ideas, to the people. It's a tale of incredible showmen, hustlers, mavericks, gamblers and talent scouts - people with a global vision and pioneers who found new ways to take books to a mass market.
Robert starts with the John Murray publishing dynasty. In seven generations of John Murrays, the list of authors is a roll-call of English literature: Jane Austen, Lord Byron, Charles Darwin, Walter Scott, Arthur Conan Doyle, John Betjeman, and many more.
In 1768 John Murray set up a publishing company, whose most celebrated author was Lord Byron. When Murray published his 'Childe Harold' in 1812, it was said that Byron 'woke up to find himself famous'. It was also the making of Murray the publisher. Yet Murray participated in one of the most notorious acts in publishing history when he burnt the manuscript of Byron's personal memoirs because he thought the scandalous details would damage Byron's reputation.
During the Victorian age, through charm, luck and hard work, the second John Murray put himself at the centre of the literary scene and transformed his trade as a coarse bookseller into a profession for gentlemen.
Robert meets the seventh and last John Murray, as well as experts in literature and publishing, to discuss one of the oldest publishing houses in Britain.
Produced by Melissa FitzGerald
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b049mvlz)
Matt Lewis - Last Man Off
Episode 3
Fishing for the Patagonian Toothfish, the haul has proved disappointing. So a change of scenery is decided on.
In the spring of 1998, Matt Lewis was just 23 and not long out of college when he accepted a job as a scientific observer on the deep-sea fishing vessel Sudur Havid. It was his first time as an observer and, with the fishing season already started, he was rushed out to Cape Town to join the crew. The boat then sailed off to the Southern Ocean, off South Georgia, to fish in some of the most hostile conditions on the planet.
'Last Man Off' is Matt Lewis's story of that journey and the fateful consequences. The author waited over 15 years for this story to be told. "I was waiting for more time to make the story less painful," said Lewis.
Reader: Sam Troughton
Abridger: Pete Nichols
Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2014.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b04982jf)
Cabinet reshuffle; Britpop; Warsan Shire; Marcus Setchell
Who's who in the Cabinet reshuffle? Isabel Hardman of The Spectator analyses what the changes mean and Cheryl Gillan M.P. reflects on the experience of joining the Cabinet . 20 years on from Britpop - where were all the women? Jo Whiley and Sonya Madan of Echobelly discuss. Marcus Setchell, former gynaecologist to the Royal Household, on changes in approaches to women's health. Warsan Shire, Young Poet Laureate for London, reads her poetry live. And classic archive of Nadine Gordimer. Jenni Murray presents.
WED 10:45 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b0499gp5)
Babycakes
Episode 3
Babycakes by Armistead Maupin, part of the Tales of the City series. Set in the era following the free sex and love counter culture. Following the death from AIDS of his partner, Michael is in England having swapped his flat with Englishman Simon who arrived on the Royal yacht Britannia. Brian wants a baby with Mary Ann.
Dramatised by Bryony lavery.
Directed in Salford by Susan Roberts.
WED 11:00 Gone to Earth (b0499dl1)
Cover from View
Infantry soldiers are trained, challenged and shaped by the Brecon Beacons. Horatio Clare walks with former soldiers to see the Welsh mountains through their eyes.
For decades the Brecon Beacons in South Wales have played an important part in British Army infantry training. Soldiers have walked, crawled, run, taken cover, got cold and wet, cursed and been shaped by the terrain of the Brecon Beacons. Writer Horatio Clare, who grew up in the Beacons, meets ex-infantry soldiers to explore their unique and lasting relationship with this landscape.
2. Cover from View: Horatio spends a night bivouacking in the hills with former Parachute Regiment reserve officer Nic Shugar and Royal Marine Gary Mapletoft who teach him the skills of remaining unseen in the landscape; of using it strategically; of dead ground, cover from view and cover from fire. And they explore inner landscapes as they consider the hills' importance in the healing process for both military and civilian mental health casualties.
The landscape of the Brecon Beacons played an important part in preparing soldiers for the Falklands War. Horatio talks to Col. John Crosland who fought with the Parachute Regiment at the Battle of Goose Green. John recalls how British infantry soldiers felt on familiar terrain in the Falklands because it reminded them of the Beacons where they had trained.
Horatio also meets Maj. Gen Tony Jeapes, a former Commanding Officer of the SAS who ran selection for the regiment in the Brecon Beacons in the early 1960s.
Producer: Jeremy Grange.
WED 11:30 A Charles Paris Mystery (b0499dl3)
Corporate Bodies
Episode 4
by Jeremy Front
Based on the novel by Simon Brett
Bill Nighy stars as unsuccesful actor, but ace detective, Charles Paris. A corporate video turns into a horror movie when an employee is killed. But Charles is about to uncover blackmail and sexual intrigue and plenty of motives for murder amongst the workforce.
Charles ..... Bill Nighy
Frances ..... Suzanne Burden
Maurice ..... Jon Glover
Will ..... Tim McInnerny
Trevor ..... Wilf Scolding
Heather ..... Jane Whittenshaw
Ken ..... David Cann
Tricia ..... Heather Craney
Brian ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Shelly ..... Jaimi Barbakoff
Directed by Sally Avens.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b0499dl5)
The in-house energy company debt collection services that aren't what they seem
We've been investigating the energy companies and the methods they use to collect debt. Hear from a man who wants to spend more than a hundred thousand pounds for six minutes in space. And should sales reps be allowed on maternity wards? Peter White will discuss.
WED 12:30 Face the Facts (b0499dl7)
Filling the Autism Gap
John Waite investigates why scientists say autism research receives a fraction of the funding invested in other conditions and that as a consequence, there are very few effective interventions to treat the disorder. Meanwhile, parents of autistic children say they face a long wait for treatment provided by their local authority, and have instead turned to unproven methods offered by nutritionists and psychotherapists.
Presenter:John Waite
Producer:Richard Hooper
Editor:Andrew Smith.
WED 13:00 World at One (b0499dl9)
Martha Kearney presents national and international news.
WED 13:45 A Guide to Garden Wildlife (b03757cm)
Hedges
Ever wondered what causes the semi-circular holes in your rose bushes, and what is it that raids the honeysuckle for nectar? Well the answers to these garden mysteries are revealed when Brett Westwood is joined by naturalist Phil Gates in a garden near Bristol and with the help of recordings by wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson and Geoff Sample, they offer a practical and entertaining guide to the wildlife which you're most likely to see and hear in a garden hedge. Hedgerows provide food, shelter and nesting sites for birds, climbing frames for plants and food for insects. Male wrens build multiple nests (often in hedges) and the female then selects one in which to lay her eggs. Wrens are also notable for their song; it's a very loud explosive song for such a small bird "The whole bird seems to vibrate". Brett and Phil then turn their attention from song to scent; and to the honeysuckle which grows in this garden around the porch, but is often entwined in hedges and likely to attract the lovely Twenty-plume Moth - so called because "their wings look like beautiful Chinese fans ... and each wing is divided into what look like little feathers", and although its called the Twenty-plume Moth, it actually has 24 plumes, six on each of the four wings; a really exquisite moth. They also look for signs of leafcutter bees, before finally discussing hedgehogs, the ardent adventures of one particular male in Phil's garden, their extraordinarily noisy courtship, and the importance of hedges as highways and corridors between gardens.
PRODUCER: Sarah Blunt.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b049828g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b0499dlc)
Hatch, Match and Dispatch
A Certain Date by Alan Harris
Geoff Levine, aka the Slim Reaper, is a pest control technician. All day long he kills rats and other vermin. Until Mystic June tells him something that will alter the rest of his life – what's left of it anyway.
A surreal and darkly comic exploration of the meaning of death. With talking pigeons.
A series of linked plays that start in a Register Office and end in either a birth, a marriage or a death.
Geoff ..... Julian Lewis Jones
Valmai ..... Sara McGaughey
Sandy ..... Katy Owen
Mystic June ..... Lisa Palfrey
Doctor Ramis ..... Richard Mitchley
Pigeon ..... Sion Pritchard
King Rat ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Written by Alan Harris
Directed by Helen Perry
A BBC Cymru Wales production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b0499dlf)
Credit Reports
Worried about your credit score? Lesley Curwen and guests are ready to help. Call 03700 100 444 from
1pm to
3.30pm on Wednesday or e-mail your questions to moneybox@bbc.co.uk now.
When you apply for a mortgage, loan or credit card your lender may check your credit report before they make an offer, but do you know what information is held about you?
If you want to find out about your report, deal with a problem or boost your score you can talk to the team on Wednesday.
Lesley Curwen will be joined by:
James Jones, Head of Consumer Affairs, Experian.
Kirsty La Garde, Consumer Experience Co-ordinator, Noddle.
Regina Martin, Money Adviser, National Debtline.
Call 03700 100 444 from
1pm to
3.30pm on Wednesday. Standard geographic call charges apply.
Presenter: Lesley Curwen
Producer: Diane Richardson.
WED 15:30 Inside Health (b049828q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b0499dlh)
Rio, Protests and the World Cup; Dying in Prison
Rio, protests and the World Cup. Laurie Taylor talks to Jessica Leigh Glass, graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at Georgia State University, about her research into the street protests taking place in Rio since June 2013. Initially arising in reaction to a hike in public transport fares, the protests broadened to target wider social inequalities, expenditure on multi-million dollar projects ahead of the 2014 World Cup & the 2016 Olympics and the clearing of some favelas. What is the impact of such sporting 'mega-events' on the people who live in the host cities.? They're joined by Professor Anthony King from the University of Exeter.
Also, men dying in prison. Marian Peacock, Senior Research Associate in the Faculty of Health and Medicine at Lancaster University, discusses the increasing number of elderly men - many of whom are sex offenders - who may end their lives in jail.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b0499dlk)
BBC commissions up for grabs; IMPRESS regulation plans; Immigration Street
The Director General of the BBC, Tony Hall, has announced plans that have been described as a, "historical moment", for BBC production. He wants to scrap quotas, which currently guarantee 50 per cent of TV programmes are made in-house. Whilst still to be approved by the BBC Trust, it's a move which has been largely welcomed by the independent sector, and rival broadcasters. Steve Hewlett talks to Natalie Humphreys, Controller of BBC Factual & Daytime Production about the proposals, and how it could impact the BBC, and Cat Lewis, Vice Chair of PACT and CEO of Nine Lives Media, a small independent production company.
The team behind the television show Benefits Street has confirmed it will film a follow-up series on immigration in Southampton. The Channel 4 show, with the working title "Immigration Street", will be shown next year. The six-part series is being filmed on Derby Road in the Bevois area of the city.
Channel 4 called it "an ethnically diverse street where the majority of residents were not born in the UK". However, local residents are concerned the programme will bring unwanted attention to the area. We hear from local councillor and resident Satvir Kaur about why she doesn't want a documentary on such an emotive issue being made in her area.
The press regulator IMPRESS has today announced plans for an arbitration service, which it says will reduce legal costs for the press and public alike. A service like this, offering affordable access to justice, was one of Sir Brian Leveson's central recommendations for press regulators in November 2012. Steve Hewlett talks to Jonathan Heawood, Founding Director of the IMPRESS Project, about whether they can offer a viable alternative to the other press regulator IPSO.
Producer: Katy Takatsuki.
WED 16:55 1914: Day by Day (b0499dlm)
16th July
A meeting of Suffragettes is attacked by a mob.
Margaret Macmillan chronicles the events leading up to the First world war. Each episode draws together newspaper accounts, diplomatic correspondence and private journals from the same day exactly one hundred years ago, giving a picture of the world in 1914 as it was experienced at the time.
The series tracks the development of the European crisis day by day, from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand through to the first week of the conflict. As well as the war, it gives an insight into the wider context of the world in 1914 including the threat of civil war in Ireland, the sensational trial of Madame Caillaux in France and the suffragettes' increasingly violent campaign for votes for women.
16th July: A meeting of Suffragettes is attacked by a mob.
Margaret Macmillan is professor of international history at Oxford University.
Presenter and Writer: Margaret Macmillan
Researcher: Dawn Berry
Music: Sacha Puttnam
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Broadcast Assistant: Hannah Newton
Development Consultant: Catriona Pennell
Readings: Andrew Byron, Stephen Greif, Felix von Manteuffel, Jaime Stewart, Simon Tcherniak,
Jane Whittenshaw
Producer: Russell Finch
Executive Producer: Joby Waldman
Assistant Producers: Phil Smith and Carly Maile
A Somethin' Else Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 17:00 PM (b0499dlp)
Coverage and analysis of the day's news.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0495g20)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 It's a Fair Cop (b0499dlr)
Series 1
Episode 2
Policeman turned stand-up comedian Alfie Moore swears his audience in and takes them through a real life scenario to see what sort of officers they would have made.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b0499dlt)
Pat is pleased to see Tony so positive again. Tony asks Rob for his opinion on the new Angus bull - a magnificent beast. Rob talks about life over at Berrow Farm under Charlie. Adam is taking the brunt of it.
Helen is keen to impress Rob's parents, who are coming for dinner on Friday. Pat wants it to go well too, especially for Helen. Rob asks Helen not to build it up too much. But she's into overdrive, planning a trip to the hairdressers and worrying about what she can and can't say to them. Rob tells her to stop worrying about impressing them. And there's no need to 'warn' them about Henry.
Roy and Elizabeth do their radio interview, plugging Loxfest and headline band Quaintance Smith. The interview turns to Elizabeth and Roy's working relationship. Roy says that they complement each other well and calls Elizabeth a brilliant boss. Uncomfortable Elizabeth stumbles over how they researched for Loxfest.
Back at Lower Loxley, Roy pours them a celebratory glass of wine but Elizabeth is reluctant to join his celebration. Roy declares his feelings for Elizabeth. He's willing to be with her for more than a fling. But Elizabeth tells him to leave her alone.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b0499dlw)
WWI Galleries at the Imperial War Museum, Linda Grant, John Fay, Grand Central
The curators of the new First World War Galleries at the Imperial War Museum in London walk Samira Ahmed round their new exhibition, part of the extensive new design for the building. Linda Grant discusses her new novel Upstairs at the Party, where the arrival of a glamorous, androgynous couple at a university campus in the '70s has long-term consequences. John Fay returns to The Mill, his Channel 4 drama series. And Catherine Bray reviews the French film Grand Central which stars Blue is the Warmest Colour's Léa Seydoux.
WED 19:45 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b0499gp5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b0499gp7)
Assisted Dying
The issue of assisted dying is the moral discussion of our age and the latest effort to get it legalised comes before the House of Lords this week. The debate has been given new energy by the intervention of two former Anglican archbishops, Desmond Tutu and George Carey, who've now come out in support of the right of terminally ill people to end their lives - flying the face of the teaching of their church. There are a plethora of moral principles at stake and at the heart of them, which all sides acknowledge, the terrible suffering that some people go through at the end of their lives. What are the moral, ethical, philosophical and religious principles at stake in this debate? What happens when two moral principles collide and both sides could be right? What moral calculus can you apply to decide how to choose between right and wrong? Moral Maze - Presented by Michael Buerk
Witnesses are Dr. Iain Brassington, Dr. Kevin Yuill, Professor Raymond Tallis and Professor Margaret Somerville.
Produced by Phil Pegum.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b0499gp9)
Series 4
Noreena Hertz
When economist Noreena Hertz became very ill she confronted a difficult question: who should she trust?
The answer was much more complicated than it first appeared and her quest to find out more about her treatment led her to a deep scepticism about expertise.
Four Thought is a series of thought-provoking talks in which speakers air their thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect culture and society in front of a live audience.
Presenter: Ben Hammersley
Producer: Mike Wendling.
WED 21:00 Into the Abyss (b0499gpc)
The Hadal Zone
Rebecca Morelle talks to explorers of deep ocean trenches, from film-maker James Cameron to biologists discovering dark realms of weird pink gelatinous fish and gigantic crustaceans.
The deepest regions of the ocean lie between 6,000 and 11,000 metres. Oceanographers term this the Hadal Zone. It exists where the floor of abyss plunges into long trough-like features, known as ocean trenches. The hadal zone is the final frontier of exploration and ecological science on the planet.
At its most extreme, the water pressure rises to 1 tonne per square centimetre and the temperature drops to 1 degree C. Despite the challenging conditions, some animals survive and thrive in the trenches. Because the technical challenges to operating down there are so high, we are only now just learning what is down there and how creatures adapt to live in the extremes.
Based at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, deep sea ecologist Alan Jamieson is one of the premier explorers of life in the hadal zone. In the programme, he talks through some of the latest video footage he's acquired from the depths of the Kermadec Trench in New Zealand - not by visiting in person but by dropping cameras on a deep sea probe called a hadal lander to the distant sea floor. The images were gathered on an expedition two months ago and revealed new habits of hadal creatures.
Rebecca does talk to two people who have ventured to the far limit of the hadal zone: US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh who went down to the bottom of Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench in 1960, and Hollywood director James Cameron who, 52 years later, repeated Walsh's voyage to 11,000 metres down.
WED 21:30 The Long View (b04982jc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b0495g22)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b0499gpf)
Dutch liable over Srebrenica deaths, EU to assign top jobs, Ireland investigates abuse of single mothers. With Caroline Wyatt.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0499gph)
A Man Called Ove
Episode 8
Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet. Every morning he makes his rounds of the local streets, moving bicycles and checking the contents of recycling bins, even though it's been years since he was fired as Chairman of the Residents' Association in a vicious coup d'etat.
But behind the surly pedant there is a story, and a sadness.
When one morning his new neighbours in the house opposite accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it sets off a comical and heart-warming tale of unexpected friendship which will change the lives of one man - and one community - forever.
The word-of-mouth bestseller in Sweden is Fredrik Backman's debut novel. The main protagonist was born on his blog, where over 1000 readers voted for Backman to write a book about a man called Ove.
Written by Fredrik Backman
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Read by Kenneth Cranham
Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier production for Radio 4.
WED 23:00 Before They Were Famous (b01mdgwz)
Series 1
Episode 4
Ian Leslie presents a new Radio 4 comedy show which brings to light the often surprising first literary attempts of some of the world's best known writers. A project of literary archaeology, Leslie has found evidence in the most unlikely of places - within the archives of newspapers, periodicals, corporations and universities-showcasing the early writing examples of writers such as Jilly Cooper-during her brief and unfortunately unsuccessful foray into the world of war reporting, and Hunter S Thompson - in his sadly short-lived phase working in the customer relations department for a major American Airline.
These are the newspaper articles, advertising copy, company correspondence and gardening manuals, that allow us a fascinating glimpse into the embryonic development of our best loved literary voices - people whom we know today for their novels or poems but who, at the time, were just people with a dream...and a rent bill looming at the end of the month.
Produced by: Anna Silver and Claire Broughton
A Hat Trick Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:15 Tina C (b01by7d5)
Tina C's Global Depression Tour
United Kingdom
Country legend Tina C challenges the Secretary for the US Treasury, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve and the former CEO of Goldman Sachs.
Where they have failed, she can come up with a solution to the Global Recession.
So Tina set off on a six country tour to prove it - and her final stop sees her camping in London outside St Pauls.
Tina C...Christopher Green
With:
Paul Mason
Victoria Inez Hard
James Lailey
Musical arrangements by Duncan Walsh Atkins and Christopher Green
Director: Jeremy Mortimer.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2012.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b0499gpk)
Labour presses David Cameron on his shake-up of Ministers at the final Prime Ministers Question time before Parliament's summer break. Susan Hulme reports on a lively session in the Commons. Also on the programme: Peers debate the emergency Bill that allows personal data to be accessed by the security services. The health secretary unveils plans to extend a system of placing failing hospitals in "special measures" to cover care homes.
THURSDAY 17 JULY 2014
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b0495g2x)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b049mvlz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0495g2z)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0495g31)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0495g33)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b0495g35)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0499j27)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Claire Campbell Smith.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b0499j29)
BVA, organic retail, biodiversity
The British Veterinary Association criticise the government as TB testing is put out to tender. Currently testing is done by a farmer's local vet, but the government want to put the testing contract out to tender. The BVA say this will break the bond between farmer and vet, and that prevention of TB has a lot more to do than simply testing. The latest sales of Organic produce grew by more than 5% over the past 12 months adding £44m to the sector. Ed Garner from retail analysts Kantar World panel says that it's mainly due to large high end products which just happen to be Organic. Charlotte Smith visits farmer Jim Collins who went Organic in the 1990s and has converted back to conventional farming. A new study shows that wildlife and biodiversity needs as much encouragement on an organic farm as on a conventional farm. Dr Peter Dennis who led the report, says it's all about how the wild habitats on the farm outside of the field are managed. Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Ruth Sanderson.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b02twhqd)
Coal Tit
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the coal tit.
Coal tits often visit our bird-tables but don't hang around. They dart off with food to hide it in crevices and crannies. What the bird is doing is hiding or cache-ing food to be eaten later. Coal tits are smaller than their relatives and have lower fat reserves, so they store food to compensate for any future shortages. In the winter they store seeds and in summer they will hide small insects.
THU 06:00 Today (b0499j2c)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 Inside the Ethics Committee (b0499j2f)
Series 10
Treating Teenagers
The teenage years are full of change and confusion, creating tensions for parents and children. How much worse can things get when a long-term illness becomes part of the mix?
May is fourteen years old and has type-1 diabetes. After being diagnosed at the age of seven, she initially copes well but, within a few months, she struggles to take her insulin regularly.
The diabetic team try on numerous occasions to help her, and her mum, to manage May's diabetes better, but she doesn't see the point. The risks don't seem real to her and she wants to be normal, like her friends.
At the age of eleven, May is admitted to hospital three times with dangerously high blood sugars. By the age of twelve, the long term complications the team have warned May about, start to appear.
Now on the brink of adolescence, May can't cope. She feels controlled by her diabetes and when those around her try to help, it feels like pressure.
What lengths can the medical team go to to encourage May to take the treatment she needs? Can they force her to take insulin?
Joan Bakewell and her panel discuss the issues.
Producer: Beth Eastwood.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b049mvs9)
Matt Lewis - Last Man Off
Episode 4
Though other vessels had pulled in their lines, the Sudur Havid continued to fish, and suffered the consequences.
In the spring of 1998, Matt Lewis was just 23 and not long out of college when he accepted a job as a scientific observer on the deep-sea fishing vessel Sudur Havid. It was his first time as an observer and, with the fishing season already started, he was rushed out to Cape Town to join the crew. The boat then sailed off to the Southern Ocean, off South Georgia, to fish in some of the most hostile conditions on the planet.
'Last Man Off' is Matt Lewis's story of that journey and the fateful consequences. The author waited over 15 years for this story to be told. "I was waiting for more time to make the story less painful," said Lewis.
Reader: Sam Troughton
Abridger: Pete Nichols
Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0499j2h)
Europe - what has the EU done for women?
In this year's European elections, UKIP took the biggest share of votes and more seats in the new parliament, than each of the other parties. And across Europe, Eurosceptic and anti-European parties also gained electoral ground. Defenders of the European project argue that it is misunderstood, that this was a protest vote and that the EU has done more for gender equality than any single nation state. Its critics say that it's one size fits all approach is failing everyone, that regulation and quotas are a burden for women and that it's time for a change. Jenni hears about what Europe has done, what women voters want and the role women are playing in shaping the future of Europe.
THU 10:45 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b0499j2k)
Babycakes
Episode 4
It's San Francisco 1983. After the atmosphere of free sex and drug taking of the 70's the AIDS virus has changed things. In Mrs Madrigal's house, Mouse has swapped flats with Englishman Simon. Mouse is in London in pursuit of Mona. mary Ann is in pursuit of Simon whilst Brian is away.
Dramatised by Bryony Lavery
Directed in Salford by Susan Roberts.
THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (b0499j2m)
Fasting Under Fire
Stories from correspondents including: how Gaza families have been coping amid the fighting between the Israeli military and Palestinian militants. As the Scots prepare to vote on independence, are there lessons to be learned from the break-up of Czechoslovakia 21-years ago? It's left both Czechs and Slovaks saying: we get on better now than we ever did. In Japan, can a talk on growing vegetables save a valuable slice of the planet's DNA? More than twenty thousand murders in 12-months -- the problems facing Venezuela's police force are clear to see when we follow officers out on patrol in the capital, Caracas. And thousands are preparing to take summer holidays in Greece -- yet few of them, and no women at all, will visit the spectacular peninsular known as the Holy Mountain.
THU 11:30 With Great Pleasure (b0499j2p)
Heidi Thomas at the Hay Festival
"Do you think because I am poor, obscure, plain and little I am soulless and heartless?" cries Jane Eyre to Mr Rochester in one of Heidi Thomas's favourite books, and Heidi uses this rallying cry for the oppressed and under-estimated as a motif for her choice of readings in With Great Pleasure. She is joined onstage at the Hay Festival by Nicholas Farrell and Sylvestra Le Touzel, who read a wide selection including poetry, Bills of Mortality, novels and social history.
Heidi's interest in the small, the uncelebrated life has informed much of her work, from her television adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford to her current work, the massively successful Call the Midwife.
Producer Christine Hall.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b0499j2r)
Wedding Dress Secrecy; Phone Theft and ITRA
Two sides to every story as we hear from a bride who couldn't understand a wedding shop's security measures. And a report into ITRA, who offered a 71-year-old the chance to pay £4,000 to leave her timeshare obligation - when she could have left it for free. We'll also be on the bounce with Caz Graham, as our reporter heads to Wales to experience underground trampolining. And the National Crime Survey suggests fewer people are experiencing the particular headache that is mobile phone theft. There's also more on the staggering amount of complaints to the energy ombudsman about billing. We pick apart a typical experience - a threatening letter, when you haven't even received the initial bill. Wilf from Bristol tells us his story.
THU 12:57 Weather (b0495g37)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b0499j2t)
Martha Kearney presents national and international news.
THU 13:45 A Guide to Garden Wildlife (b037gxxb)
Trees and Shrubs
If you want to take a closer look at the wildlife in your garden trees and shrubs, then you need an umbrella! The reason why becomes clear, when Brett Westwood is joined by naturalist Phil Gates in a garden near Bristol and with the help of recordings by wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson they offer a practical and entertaining guide to the wildlife which you're most likely to see and hear in garden trees and shrubs.
Storied vegetation creates the most diverse habitat for birds in gardens, mimicking the woodland edge. Willow Warblers, Blue Tits and Great Tits all use trees as a caterpillar food source and song posts. With the help of the umbrella, Brett and Phil discover looper caterpillars (larvae of Geometrid moths) and a staple diet of many nesting tits and warblers. They get their name from the way in they loop their body up and then stretch out. They are sometimes called 'measurers' or 'inch worms' as they appear to measure out an inch at a time! Phil then produces a strange looking object "It reminds me of dish mop" he laughs. It turns out to be Rose bedeguar gall (Robin's pin-cushion) and Phil explains how these and other galls are produced in a fascinating process in which insects, (a wasp in the case of the Bedeguar gall) reprogramme plant tissue development. Brett and Phil then move into the back garden to compare notes on the ideal tree for a small garden before finally discussing the value of old trees and dead wood in the garden; including feeding sites for birds like Nuthatches and sounding boards for drumming woodpeckers!
PRODUCER: Sarah Blunt.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b0499dlt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b0499llf)
Strangers in the Night
By Georgia Fitch
It is 1969 and English actress Carol White is trying to make her name in Hollywood. When she finds herself unexpectedly drawn to Frank Sinatra, their intense friendship leads her on a journey of self-discovery. Will her career as a Hollywood star take off or will love prove the ultimate distraction?
Directed by Nandita Ghose
STORY:
The play covers an emotional few days in English actress Carol White's life. Fresh from her success as Cathy in Ken Loach's film Cathy Come Home, she comes to Hollywood to try and break into film. Embroiled in a passionate and dysfunctional affair with the actor Paul Burke, she also finds herself drawn to Frank Sinatra. Frank seems to understand Carol as no-one else does, but is what he offers real? Carol must make some decisions about what she really wants in her love and career.
Known as the "The Battersea Bardot", the real life Carol was a feisty woman who enjoyed unprecedented success with her portrayals of London working class women. However, a difficult childhood had left her vulnerable and unconfident in her relationships with men. She died in her forties, having not achieved the height of success she deserved.
WRITER:
Georgia Fitch's plays for the stage include adrenalin ...heart (Bush Theatre, London 2002, 2004 and Tokyo International Theatre Festival), I Like Mine With A Kiss (Bush Theatre, London 2007), Dirty Dirty Princess (National Theatre/Connections 2009), Fit and Proper People (RSC/SOHO), and Blair's Children (National Theatre, Cockpit ).
For BBC Radio her plays include: Romeo and Juliet in Southwark,The Mother of ..., Untitled Lover, I Met a Boy, Fortune's Always Hiding and adrenalin... heart.
Georgia was Radio Drama's Writer in Residence in 2004.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b0499llh)
Hafod, Mid Wales
Once, the Hafod estate near Aberystwyth was one of Wales' most popular attractions, but that was 200 years ago. Then the grand stately home burnt down, and by 1950 the landscaped grounds (inspired by visions of classical Italy - unlikely as that might sound, given the extremely high annual rainfall in mid-Wales!) had fallen into disrepair, off the map, and out of the guidebooks. That's when the Forestry Commission bought the estate and planted it with conifers.
As Felicity Evans finds out, in recent years there's been an ongoing programme to restore the fine paths through the estate's wooded hills, and preserve the ancient parkland trees that still remain. This makes it a fascinating place to visit.
She's shown around by estate manager, David Newnham, landscape historian Jennie Macve (who's written a history of Hafod, and its remarkable founder, Thomas Johnes) and the botanist Ray Wood. Felicity also visits the nearby Llywernog Silver Lead Mine to meet Peter Lloyd Harvey who shows her how this mine reveals a very different attitude to landscape in the early Victorian period: it was far from being a tourist attraction for visiting gentry.
Producer: Mark Smalley.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b0495llq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (b0495r3z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b0499llk)
Mark Gatiss; Bob Stanley; Script supervisors; dawn of the prequel
With Matthew Sweet.
Sherlock co-creator Mark Gatiss lines up another of his favourite screen detectives.
St Etienne's Bob Stanley picks his favourite London soundtrack.
Penny Eyles and Angela Allen reveal some of the script supervisors' trade secrets, from working on classics like The African Queen, Kes and Women In Love.
Antonia Quirke tells us why she thinks that Some Like It Hot is the perfect movie.
As Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes hits cinemas across the country, Matthew Sweet presents a brief history of the prequel, and reveals what it all has to do with Charlton Heston.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b0499llm)
A special programme on plants and their pollinators, poisons and pests
Plants and bees
The relationship between flowering plants and bees is a long-evolved, complex one. Plant scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew are currently conducting field trials to see how Acontium, or Monkshood, uses toxins to protect itself against nectar-thieving, short-tongued bumblebees. But how does it make sure it doesn't poison the helpful, pollinating long-tongued bumblebees?
Plants from Roots to Riches
Professor Kathy Willis, Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew will be presenting a new series on BBC Radio 4 exploring our relationship with plants from the birth of botany through to modern day. She describes some of the series highlights.
The Azolla Event
A tiny ancient fern-like pond weed could have been responsible for changing the fate of the planet. Some scientists think that Azolla could have played a significant role in reversing an increase in the greenhouse effect that occurred 55 million years ago. The researchers claim that massive patches of Azolla growing on the (then) freshwater surface of the Arctic Ocean consumed enough carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for the global greenhouse effect to decline, eventually causing the formation of ice sheets in Antarctica and the current "Icehouse period" which we are still in.
Chomping caterpillars
Plants can hear. Well, they can sense sound-vibrations. New research from the University of Missouri shows that when the mustard-like Arabidopsis senses the chomping sounds of a caterpillar munching on leaves, it primes itself for a chemical response.
Composting low down
A listener asks why orange peel takes so long to rot down in the compost heap? Is it because it's an exotic fruit? Adam asks Kew's Head of Horticulture and 'keeper of the heap' Dave Barns.
Producer: Fiona Roberts.
THU 16:55 1914: Day by Day (b0499llp)
17th July
Lloyd George warns of civil unrest among the Trade Unions and in Ireland.
Margaret Macmillan chronicles the events leading up to the First world war. Each episode draws together newspaper accounts, diplomatic correspondence and private journals from the same day exactly one hundred years ago, giving a picture of the world in 1914 as it was experienced at the time.
The series tracks the development of the European crisis day by day, from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand through to the first week of the conflict. As well as the war, it gives an insight into the wider context of the world in 1914 including the threat of civil war in Ireland, the sensational trial of Madame Caillaux in France and the suffragettes' increasingly violent campaign for votes for women.
17th July: Lloyd George warns of civil unrest among the Trade Unions and in Ireland.
Margaret Macmillan is professor of international history at Oxford University.
Presenter and Writer: Margaret Macmillan
Assistant Producers: Phil Smith and Carly Maile
Researcher: Dawn Berry
Music: Sacha Puttnam
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Broadcast Assistant: Hannah Newton
Development Consultant: Catriona Pennell
Readings: Andrew Byron, Stephen Greif, Felix von Manteuffel, Jaime Stewart, Simon Tcherniak,
Jane Whittenshaw
Producer: Russell Finch
Executive Producer: Joby Waldman
A Somethin' Else Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 17:00 PM (b0499llr)
Eddie Mair presents coverage and analysis of the day's news.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0495g3d)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Ed Reardon's Week (b01h667d)
Series 8
Keeping the Flame Alive
Ed Reardon leads us through the ups and down of his week, complete with his trusty companion, Elgar, and his never-ending capacity for scrimping and scraping at whatever scraps his agent, Ping, can offer him to keep body, mind and cat together.
With the Olympics looming Stan spies a golden opportunity - renting out Ed's flat for the duration of the games at the princely sum of £3,000 a week. So Ed has to pack up his newspaper collection, sift through his takeaway trays and leave the place he's called home for the last years. But where will he go?
THU 19:00 The Archers (b0499llt)
Jennifer's organising a soiree to mark the opening of her new kitchen. She plans to invite local notables and the editor of Borsetshire Life. With the kitchen complete, Jennifer now contemplates remodelling the bathroom. Appalled Brian says if she does it will end in divorce or murder!
Fallon has bought a Russian samovar and enthuses to Jolene about her 'Ambridge Tea Service' idea for Loxfest. Jill is baking cakes for her. To Peggy's amusement, Lilian has been volunteered for the craft stall.
Peggy still doesn't seem herself. Jennifer and Jill wonder if it's to do with John Tregorran's death. The funeral will be at St Stephen's, at his request. Jennifer remembers the book she co-wrote with John and is keen to do anything she can to help with arrangements. She even suggests to Brian that they hold the wake at Home Farm, although he's discouraging.
PC Burns auditions for the Midnight Walkers. Fallon sneaks in to listen, eventually joining in a couple of songs with him. Jolene notices the spark between them. She tells Fallon that after that performance she reckons he's stolen Fallon's heart.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b0499llw)
Gilbert and George, Jonathan Harvey, Chichester Festival Theatre
Artistic duo Gilbert & George on their provocative exhibition, Scapegoating Pictures, and why they think religion should be banned.
Author and Coronation Street writer Jonathan Harvey on his new novel, The Girl Who Just Appeared, set amidst the searing tension of the Toxteth Riots.
As the Chichester Festival Theatre prepares to re-open its doors tonight after a £22m refurbishment - with Rupert Everett in Amadeus - the theatre's Artistic Director Jonathan Church and architect Steve Tompkins discuss their vision for the 1960s brutalist concrete hexagon.
And why a new 'memoir' about Harper Lee has forced the famously reclusive author back in to the public limelight.
Photo Credit: Ben Westoby.
THU 19:45 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b0499j2k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b0499lly)
Internet Jihadi: Babar Ahmad
How does a middle class boy from Tooting end up, in middle age, pleading guilty to terrorism offences in a US court?
British Muslim Babar Ahmad has been convicted in a court in Connecticut of providing support to terrorists. In the late 1990s, Ahmad founded the first English language jihadi website. Two years after 9/11, he was arrested and then spent nearly a decade fighting extradition to the United States. The US authorities claimed that Ahmad's actions helped garner support for al-Qaeda. Ahmad maintains that he has only ever tried to assist Muslims suffering at the hands of oppressive regimes.
BBC Home Affairs Correspondent Dominic Casciani traces Ahmad's journey from a privileged upbringing in South London to a US prison. The programme contains insights from those who witnessed Ahmad's radicalisation and an interview with Ahmad himself, recorded in prison.
Reporter: Dominic Casciani
Producer: Keith Moore.
THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (b04bsykw)
Location, Disruption, Location
Civil war in Sierra Leone, political unrest in Ukraine, the Japanese tsunami and Hurricane Sandy on the east coast of the US - three guests tell Evan Davis how they led businesses through periods of unexpected and extended turmoil.
Guests :
Peter Kaye, Director of Business Development, Pilgrims Group
Bryan Disher, Ukraine Country Manager, PWC
Mary Bahsoon, Co-owner Bennimix
Producer : Rosamund Jones.
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b0499llm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 Zeitgeisters (b03z089k)
Series 2
Marina Abramovic
BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz returns for another series of profiles of those entrepreneurs who through their designs and cultural activities are defining the very spirit of our age.
He kicks of the series with the self-proclaimed "grandmother of performance art", Marina Abramovic as she prepares for a major new exhibition in London's Serpentine Gallery. She recalls her early forays into performance art, including in her native Yugoslavia, along the Great Wall of China, during her record breaking residency at New York's Museum Of Modern Art... and as a postie in London.
And then over the next four weeks Will Gompertz will be talking with the visionary masterminds who are plotting to take architecture into a new future that also recognises the past; who are using their own art as leverage in community activism; and who are dragging mainstream theatre into the 21st century. He'll be talking to Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates and British born impresario Sonia Friedman.
These are not Turner Prize winners or the recipients of grants from the Arts Council or the Lottery Fund. These are the people whose aesthetic sense infect and influence our daily lives. They know what we want, even when we do not. They are the tastemakers that know what will work at the box office and what will sell on the high street. Their impact goes beyond mere commerce, it shapes contemporary culture. They are the Zeitgeisters and it's about time we met them.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
THU 21:58 Weather (b0495g3v)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b0499lm2)
Airliner show down over Ukraine.
Israel starts Gaza ground offensive.
With Philippa Thomas.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0499lm4)
A Man Called Ove
Episode 9
Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet. Every morning he makes his rounds of the local streets, moving bicycles and checking the contents of recycling bins, even though it's been years since he was fired as Chairman of the Residents' Association in a vicious coup d'etat.
But behind the surly pedant there is a story, and a sadness.
When one morning his new neighbours in the house opposite accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it sets off a comical and heart-warming tale of unexpected friendship which will change the lives of one man - and one community - forever.
The word-of-mouth bestseller in Sweden is Fredrik Backman's debut novel. The main protagonist was born on his blog, where over 1000 readers voted for Backman to write a book about a man called Ove.
Written by Fredrik Backman
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Read by Kenneth Cranham
Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier production for Radio 4.
THU 23:00 Don't Make Me Laugh (b0499lm6)
Series 1
Episode 1
David Baddiel hosts this brand-new show as Jack Dee, Ben Miller, Aisling Bea and Miles Jupp go against their natural instincts and try not to make an audience laugh.
Scorer: Emily Dean
Producer: Dave Cribb
A So Television/Fierce Tears production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b0499lm8)
Sean Curran hears a message for 'on the runs'. There are new fears about the scale of child abuse. And the chief whip and the smallest room.
Editor: Peter Mulligan.
FRIDAY 18 JULY 2014
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b0495g4v)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b049mvs9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0495g4x)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0495g4z)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0495g53)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b0495g55)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0499m3c)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Claire Campbell Smith.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b0499m3f)
EU Farming Debate, Organic Carrots, Pollinators
The CLA Game Fair gets underway at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire today. More than 140,000 people are expected to visit the three-day event, including UKIP leader Nigel Farage. He'll take part in a debate today, with Ross Murray from the Country Land and Business Association, on the subject "Would the countryside be better off if we left the EU?" We hear from both sides of the argument.
After a significant drop in the number of organic producers between 2009 and 2013, it seems things may now be starting to look up for organics. We visit one of the UK's biggest growers of organic carrots, in Inverness.
And the Defra minister Lord de Mauley launches a "call to action" on pollinators today. He tells Sybil Ruscoe what ordinary members of the public can do to try and support bee and bird populations.
Presented by Sybil Ruscoe and produced by Emma Campbell.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b02twjfh)
Tree Pipit
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the tree pipit.
Tree pipits are small brown birds without any bright colours or distinctive features; but you can identify one from a distance when it is singing, because it has a very obvious display flight. The male bird sings from April to the end of July, launching himself from a treetop perch, then parachutes downwards like a paper dart.
FRI 06:00 Today (b0499n5z)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b0495llz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b049mwb1)
Matt Lewis - Last Man Off
Episode 5
In the sub-zero waters of the Southern Ocean, it's all about survival for the crew of the Sudur Havid.
In the spring of 1998, Matt Lewis was just 23 and not long out of college when he accepted a job as a scientific observer on the deep-sea fishing vessel Sudur Havid. It was his first time as an observer and, with the fishing season already started, he was rushed out to Cape Town to join the crew. The boat then sailed off to the Southern Ocean, off South Georgia, to fish in some of the most hostile conditions on the planet.
'Last Man Off' is Matt Lewis's story of that journey and the fateful consequences. The author waited over 15 years for this story to be told. "I was waiting for more time to make the story less painful," said Lewis.
Reader: Sam Troughton
Abridger: Pete Nichols
Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2014.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0499n61)
Jackie Kay, Drug Mules, Dame Maud McCarthy, Gender Pay Gap
Poet Jackie Kay performs a new work with jazz pianist/composer Adam Fairhall called 'The Imaginary Road'. Dr Jennifer Fleetwood explores the motivations and experiences of female drug mules. She is joined by Carlotta Allum, from the charity STRETCH, who was arrested for carrying ecstasy at LA airport in 1996. As a blue plaque is erected in Chelsea to the memory of Dame Maud McCarthy [Matron-in-Chief in France during WW1], Sue Light and Professor Christine Hallett discuss her life and work and the role that nurses played on the Western Front.
FRI 10:45 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b0499n63)
Babycakes
Episode 5
The conclusion of Armistead Maupin's Baby cakes. Set in 1983 in San Francisco and part of the Tales of the City series. Mary Ann has told Brian she's been sleeping with Englishman Simon. Michael is in England trying to find Mona .
Dramatised by Bryony lavery
Directed in salford by Susan Roberts.
FRI 11:00 The Leadership Gap (b0499n65)
Episode 2
In the light of recent problems of leadership in many of our large organisations, public and private, Sir John Tusa, former Head of the BBC World Service and London's Barbican Centre, takes an objective look at the state of leadership in large UK organisations today.
He talks to a range of leaders, from one who employs 3000 people to one who employed 1.3 million. He asks how dispersed leadership can really be and when it needs to be focussed in one individual. He explores the difficulties of leading organisations that are enormously complex - often with blurred lines of accountability. And he probes the gaps - in pay, culture and values - that can emerge between leaders and led.
Along the way he watches a charismatic lecture in leadership at London Business School, and hears from some of its recipients. He goes with John Timpson CBE to pay surprise visits on the staff of some of his many shops. And he visits a fast-growing young company to find out how they took on specialist leaders to join the founders, and how that has changed the company's culture.
With:
Lucy Armstrong (The Alchemists)
Lord (Tony) Hall (Director-General, BBC)
Margaret Hodge MP (Chair, Public Accounts Committee)
Sir Andrew Likierman (Dean, London Business School)
Tarek Nseir (CEO, TH_NK)
Sir David Nicholson (ex-Chief Executive, NHS England)
Jesse Norman MP (Treasury Select Committee)
Sir Hugh Orde (President, ACPO; former Chief Constable of Northern Ireland)
Pat Ritchie (Chief Executive, Newcastle City Council)
Sir Stuart Rose (ex-CEO, Marks and Spencer)
Dame Nancy Rothwell (Vice-Chancellor, University of Manchester)
Sir Martin Sorrell (Chief Executive of WPP)
John Timpson CBE (Chair and ex-CEO of Timpsons)
PRODUCER: Phil Tinline.
FRI 11:30 The Stanley Baxter Playhouse (b0499n67)
Series 6
Meg's Tale
How Robert Burns discovered the real story of Tam O'Shanter's big night out at Alloway Kirk.
Revealed from the point of view of a young barmaid called Norah and her Aunty Meg, who finds herself the victim of a spell malfunction, becoming the horse whom Burns made famous in Tam O'Shanter.
Murdo Fletcher ...... Stanley Baxter
John Knox ...... Stuart McQuarrie
Mary Queen of Scots ...... Tracy Wiles
Chronicler ...... Hugh Ross
Other parts played by the cast.
Written by Rona Munro.
Director: Marilyn Imrie
A Catherine Bailey production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2014.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b0499n69)
Timeshare Misery; Seaside Tourism Boom; Rating NHS Services
It's one year since the NHS introduced its Family and Friends test, asking patients if they would recommend the hospital or unit where they were treated. How is it working and is the test doing what it was supposed to do?
The British holidaymakers sold false promises of fantastic holidays by people using high pressure selling techniques and not given a cooling off period. You and Yours investigates.
A new report says that our seaside resorts are providing more employment than the motor, pharmaceutical, aerospace or steel industries.
Producer: Olive Clancy
Presenter: Peter White.
FRI 12:52 The Listening Project (b0499n6c)
Karen and Sheila - Make-up Matters
Fi Glover introduces two friends who are losing their sight but not their standards. They would never go out without the full works.
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 (b0495g57)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b0499n6f)
Ukrainian PM Yatsenyuk appeals for outside help over plane crash "international crime"; David Cameron says those responsible must be "held to account", Putin blames Kiev; 173 passengers were Dutch, nine were British. The former foreign secretary, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, tells us sanctions against Moscow should be toughened.
Israel says it's prepared to expand its ground offensive in Gaza significantly. Our correspondent Paul Adams reports from Gaza.
The House of Lords debates Lord Falconer's Bill to make it legal to help someone who's terminally ill and wants to die. A consultant in palliative medicine debates the issue with a palliative care nurse.
And the High Court orders a fresh inquest into the death of a young soldier, Private Cheryl James, at Deepcut barracks in Surrey nearly 20 years ago.
Presented by Shaun Ley.
FRI 13:45 A Guide to Garden Wildlife (b037smx8)
Stones
Stones, patios, rockeries and walls may at first seem an unlikely habitat for wildlife but that's far from the truth as you can hear when Brett Westwood is joined by naturalist Phil Gates in a garden near Bristol and, with the help of recordings by wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, they offer a practical and entertaining guide to the wildlife which you're most likely to see and hear associated with walls and stones in the garden. Many invertebrates like to sunbathe on sun-drenched stones whilst others live in the cool shade under the stones. Wolf spiders and zebra spiders (the latter so called because of their black and white markings) can be found sunbathing on patios or house walls. "Watch out for their courtship - this is real edge of the seat drama " says Phil of the wolf spider as the smaller males risk their lives as they approach the female signalling to her, often for hours, before he mates, or in some cases, is eaten! Stone walls may also harbour slow worms, although you can also encourage these into your garden with pieces of corrugated iron as Phil explains. Turning over some edging stones, Brett and Phil discover masses of black garden ants, which milk aphids for their sugary honeydew "rather like we milk herds of cattle", explains Phil. Snails in the garden are kept in check by Song Thrushes which use stones as anvils on which to crack the snail shells and extract the contents for a juicy meal. Perhaps most valuable of all are ivy-clad walls which offer shelter in winter for many species, as well as nesting sites for birds, and year round food. And if you have ivy and holly in your garden then you could be rewarded with the sight of a lovely Holly Blue butterfly which requires both to complete its life cycle.
PRODUCER Sarah Blunt.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b0499llt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b0499n6h)
Daniel Glattauer - Love Virtually
Starring David Tennant and Emilia Fox, Love Virtually by Austrian novelist Daniel Glattauer is a thoroughly modern epistolary novel with one difference - its protagonists Emmi Rothner and Leo Leike communicate exclusively by email.
The European answer to You've got Mail.
Two million copies sold in Germany to date. And bought by thirty-five publishers around the world, Love Virtually by Austrian novelist Daniel Glattauer, is well on the way to becoming a global publishing phenomenon.
They "meet" when Emmi mistakenly sends an e-mail to Leo's inbox. A romance ensues that allows them to live out a shared secret life far removed from their day-to-day existences. But to what extent does it rely on fantasy and escapism, and will it survive a real-life meeting?
The problem is...Emmi (a modern Madame Bovary) is married....
Have email, Facebook, texting and the like created a generation of isolated young people who prefer to communicate remotely - who may be in fact afraid to engage in face to face contact to find love? Is it possible to fall in love with someone you've never met? Does a virtual affair 'count' as adultery? What are the implications of the fact that we can pretend to be anyone in cyberspace?
Adapted by Eileen Horne.
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b0499snv)
Correspondence at Sparsholt
Peter Gibbs hosts from the GQT potting shed at Sparsholt College as the panel tackle listeners' questions sent in by post, email and social media.
Produced by Victoria Shepherd
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
This week's questions and answers:
Q. Any suggestions for suitable plants to brighten up an office with no natural light and 24-hour air conditioning?
A. With no natural light and only strip lighting, any plant will struggle. You could try using strips of LED lights to improve your chances. Try Mediterranean plants in big pots; Lemon Trees and Olive trees might work. Try Hibiscus, Bougainvillea and Clivia.
Q. I inherited a delicate pink rose from my grandfather. After years of keeping it in a greenhouse, it is eight foot high but struggling to flower and is losing its leaves, which are covered in cobwebs and dusty mould. How can I save it?
A. If it has been growing in a pot, try putting it in the ground. Burst it into growth and then take long cuttings and try those in the ground outside. It might not need to be grown in a greenhouse after all. Keep it well fed and watered and try to identify the dusty mould which can be treated with chemicals. The webs might be down to spider mites, which can cause damage to the plant. Identify and treat all the plant's ailments before taking cuttings.
Q. Why do the Tomatoes, Courgettes and Peppers I grow in clay pots need more watering than the ones I grow in plastic pots? I am based in the Pennines and am growing them in a greenhouse.
A. The clay pots are losing water via evaporation. The best way to grow these plants would be in black plastic posts on good quality capillary matting.
Q. Is it possible to grow Mecanopsis in East London?
A. Anything is possible, but it is very difficult.
Q. What flower seeds can the panel recommend for a woodland garden that is fifteen by twenty meters wide? I want plants that will flower in the later half of the summer.
A. There aren't many annuals that like shade, so try perennials like Martagon Lilies, Japanese Anemones and autumn bulbs like Corchicums. Fox Gloves such as Illumination Pink should work. White Willow Herb grows well in these conditions, as do Herbaceous Geraniums, Laniums, Paniculata Hydrangeas, Golden Philadelphia, Macarisms and Epimediums.
Q. Any recommendations for a climbing plant on a south-facing wall? Something that won't damage the brickwork - and evergreen would be a bonus.
A. Trachelospermums are wonderful plants with beautiful scented flowers. Wall shrubs like Cytisus battandieri (Pineapple Broom) would be great and wouldn't damage the wall. Itea Ilicifolia are graceful wall shrubs. Banksia Roses have amazing flowers and grow tall. Espalier Pears could work well as could Pyracantha or Clematis Armandii.
Q. Why do some Poinsettias survive with little attention and others die despite a lot of work?
A. You can keep them alive, but they will never be quite the same as when you bought them.
FRI 15:45 Stories from the Southern Cross (b0499snx)
The Road from Austinmer Beach, by Catherine Cole
Stories from the Southern Cross consists of three new pieces of writing produced in collaboration with the first Australia New Zealand Literature Festival. Each story represents a new voice from the Antipodes - a place at once very familiar, but in fact quite different.
The series depicts a world of aggressive ennui, of suburban sprawl battling with a voracious bush and extreme weather, of taboos and generations colliding as old, White Australia comes to terms with another generation of migration.
In "The Road from Austinmer Beach", widower Bert Hamilton travels for two hours a week to visit residents in a home - when, one day, a traffic jam forces a change of route, the discovery of a cake shop and an encounter with the latest wave of immigration that sheds new light on his life.
Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b0499snz)
Elaine Stritch, Nadine Gordimer, Michael Scudamore and Lorin Maazel
Matthew Bannister on
The formidable actress Elaine Stritch. Famous for her remarkable voice, witty put downs and hard drinking youth, she was known as "The First Lady of Broadway".
The South African novelist Nadine Gordimer, whose work embodied the complex story of the nation's struggle with race.
The jockey and trainer Michael Scudamore, who competed in 16 consecutive Grand Nationals, winning in 1959 on a horse called Oxo.
And the conductor Lorin Maazel, who was a child prodigy and went on to direct some of the world's greatest orchestras.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (b0499sp1)
On Thursday, the BBC announced 415 jobs losses from its news department. The job cuts are to save money after the last licence fee agreement left the BBC needing to find £800 million in efficiency savings. But what do the cuts mean for radio news? Roger Bolton asks the BBC's Director of News, James Harding.
And amid accusations of bias on both sides, Roger speaks to the World News Editor, Andrew Roy, about whether the BBC is sufficiently impartial in its coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Also this week, hard hitting journalism isn't only for Radio 4. As Radio 1 celebrates 40 years of documentary-making and its Newsbeat programme, we'll be asking some of its young listeners for their views on its documentaries. The Radio 1 and 1Xtra Stories are an hour long and cover anything from domestic violence and teacher-pupil relationships to the lifestyles of the rich and famous. But are they too long for the audience? Is there too much music? We put those questions to Radio 1 Commissioning Editor Piers Bradford and Chloe Straw, an Executive Producer from the independent production company Somethin' Else.
Producer: Will Yates
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:55 1914: Day by Day (b0499sp3)
18th July
Mohandas Gandhi leaves South Africa.
Margaret Macmillan chronicles the events leading up to the First world war. Each episode draws together newspaper accounts, diplomatic correspondence and private journals from the same day exactly one hundred years ago, giving a picture of the world in 1914 as it was experienced at the time.
The series tracks the development of the European crisis day by day, from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand through to the first week of the conflict. As well as the war, it gives an insight into the wider context of the world in 1914 including the threat of civil war in Ireland, the sensational trial of Madame Caillaux in France and the suffragettes' increasingly violent campaign for votes for women.
18th July: Mohandas Gandhi leaves South Africa.
Margaret Macmillan is professor of international history at Oxford University.
Presenter and Writer: Margaret Macmillan
Producer: Russell Finch
Executive Producer: Joby Waldman
Assistant Producers: Phil Smith and Carly Maile
Researcher: Dawn Berry
Music: Sacha Puttnam
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Broadcast Assistant: Hannah Newton
Development Consultant: Catriona Pennell
Readings: Andrew Byron, , Stephen Greif, Felix von Manteuffel, Jaime Stewart, Simon Tcherniak,
Jane Whittenshaw
Producer: Russell Finch
A Somethin' Else Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 17:00 PM (b0499sp5)
Eddie Mair presents coverage and analysis of the day's news.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0495g59)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b0499sp7)
Series 84
Episode 7
A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Sandi Toksvig, with regular panellist Jeremy Hardy and guest panellists David Mitchell, Andy Hamilton and Rebecca Front.
Produced by Lyndsay Fenner.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b0499sp9)
Rob tries to calm anxious Helen as she prepares everything for dinner with his parents. Pat and Tony arrive first and enjoy a drink with Rob outside. They discuss Tony's new bull.
Rob's parents seem to be very late and Helen worries. Rob becomes bitter, spitting that this is just what his parents do. He's keen to eat without them, but angrily agrees to phone them when pushed by Helen. Pat and Tony try to eavesdrop on the conversation, speculating on what's going on between Rob and his parents. Rob reports that his parents are at home. They'd decided not to bother coming out.
Embarrassed Pat and Tony head home. Pat wonders whether they've been misjudging Rob. With a difficult family like his, there may be a more sensitive side to his character and a reason for his difficult nature.
When mystified Helen questions Rob about whether his parents were definitely coming, he gets defensive. He booked them a room at Grey Gables, for goodness sake. Helen apologises. Rob opens up about his past. He could never please his father and just had to get away. Helen comforts Rob. She and Henry are his family now. He doesn't need anyone else.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b0499spc)
Rebecca Hall, Medea at the National Theatre, Long Yu, Commonwealth Games Festival
Actress Rebecca Hall discusses new film A Promise and explains why she'd love to be cast in a singing part. Also conductor Long Yu on bringing a Chinese orchestra to the Proms for the first time, and the National Theatre's Ben Power on adapting Medea and attracting new audiences. Finally, as the Commonwealth Games Festival gets under way this weekend, artist Phil Collins explains what he's doing to kick it off.
FRI 19:45 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b0499n63)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b0499spf)
Hilary Benn MP, Patrick McLoughlin MP, Molly Scott Cato MEP, Maxine Aldred
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from Uppingham School in Rutland with the Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin MP and the Shadow Secretary of State for Local Government and Communities Hilary Benn MP, Molly Scott Cato the new Green MEP for the South West and Maxine Aldred from the Federation of Small Businesses.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b0499sph)
Believing in reason is childish
Some critics of religion see having faith as being childish. But John Gray argues that believing that human beings are rational is more childish than believing in religion. The belief in the power of reason to improve humankind rests on childishly simple ideas he says. One of the commonest is that history's crimes are mistakes that can be avoided as we gain greater knowledge. But if history teaches us anything, Grey asserts, it's that behaviours and attitudes like cruelty and hatred are permanent human flaws. To imagine that we can become more rational is an example of magical thinking and an expression of the belief in the omnipotence of the human will that psychoanalysts identify as the fundamental infantile fantasy. John Gray believes that we'd all be better off if we saw ourselves as we are: intermittently and only ever partly rational creatures, who never really grow up.
FRI 21:00 Saturday Drama (b03c2417)
Calum's Road
Ian McDiarmid leads this drama inspired by the extraordinary true story of how, over a period of ten years, one man built two miles of road by hand (including passing places) on the Scottish island of Raasay, which lies just off the east coast of Skye.
Set in the 1960s and 1970s, Calum MacLeod desperately wanted to save his dying island community; with schools and medical services located more than a half day's journey away, people were finding it increasingly difficult to continue a way of life handed down to them by their ancestors.
Born in 1911, MacLeod came from a long line of tough, strong and hard-working Raasay folk. When the council repeatedly turned down his requests for a road to link the north of Raasay to the south he would not be beaten. Instead, he went to a second-hand bookshop and found a dusty volume written in 1910: "Road Making And Maintenance - A Practical Treatise for Engineers, Surveyors and Others" and his extraordinary ten year project began.
Colin MacDonald's drama is inspired by Roger Hutchinson's book of the same name.
Other parts are played by members of the cast
Dramatiser: Colin MacDonald.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b0495g5c)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b0499spr)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0499spt)
A Man Called Ove
Episode 10
Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet. Every morning he makes his rounds of the local streets, moving bicycles and checking the contents of recycling bins, even though it's been years since he was fired as Chairman of the Residents' Association in a vicious coup d'etat.
But behind the surly pedant there is a story, and a sadness.
When one morning his new neighbours in the house opposite accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it sets off a comical and heart-warming tale of unexpected friendship which will change the lives of one man - and one community - forever.
The word-of-mouth bestseller in Sweden is Fredrik Backman's debut novel. The main protagonist was born on his blog, where over 1000 readers voted for Backman to write a book about a man called Ove.
Written by Fredrik Backman
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Read by Kenneth Cranham
Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier production for Radio 4.
FRI 23:00 A Good Read (b04980f5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b0499spw)
Demonstrators gathered outside Parliament as a record number of peers prepared to debate a bill which calls for terminally-ill patients in England and Wales to have the right to receive medical help to end their own life.
This is one of the most controversial issues facing the courts and Parliament.
The President of the Supreme Court has called for Parliament to consider whether or not the law should be changed.
This week the Prime Minister, David Cameron, said he wasn't convinced that Parliament needed to take "further steps" and said he was worried about any moves to legalise euthanasia.
On Friday a crowded House of Lords gathered to hear the Labour former Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer make the case for his Assisted Dying Bill.
It would allow doctors to prescribe a lethal dose to terminally ill patients who have less than six months to live.
Critics say the proposals amount to "licensed suicide".
It was a serious - and at times emotional - discussion stretching over many hours which allowed peers to draw upon their experience and expertise.
Mark D'Arcy and Tom Sandars watched the debate.
Also in this programme Alasdair Rendall reports from Strasbourg on the European Parliament's decision to confirm the former Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker as the next President of the European Commission.
Presenter: Mark D'Arcy
Editor: Sean Curran.
FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b0499spy)
Naveed and Amjad – Scouts and Samosas
Fi Glover introduces brothers who run the first Muslim Scouts Group in Wales. Introduced to Beavers, aged 6, a whole new world opened up to them, and they are keen to share it.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess