SATURDAY 11 APRIL 2015

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (b05pkm3d)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


SAT 00:30 The Story of Alice (b05qt8j8)
Episode 3

The Alice books prove far better than their creator at adapting to the modern world. And illness begins to take its toll.

Where did Alice stop and 'Alice' begin?

Wonderland is part of our cultural heritage – a shortcut for all that is beautiful and confusing; a metaphor used by artists, writers and politicians for 150 years.

But beneath the fairy tale lies the complex history of the author and his subject. The story of Charles Dodgson the quiet academic, and his second self Lewis Carroll – storyteller, innovator and avid collector of child-friends. And also of his dream-child Alice Liddell, and the fictional alter ego that would never let her grow up.

This is their secret history - one of love and loss, of innocence and ambiguity, and of one man's need to make Wonderland his refuge in a rapidly changing world.

Drawing on previously unpublished material, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst traces the creation and influence of the Alice books against a shifting cultural landscape – the birth of photography, changing definitions of childhood and sexuality, and the tensions inherent in the transition between the Victorian and modern worlds.

Read by Simon Russell Beale.

Producer: Joanna Green

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in April 2015.


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b05pkm3h)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b05pkm3k)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at 5.20am.


SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b05pkm3m)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (b05pkm3p)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b05prrjg)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Andrew Martlew.


SAT 05:45 iPM (b05prrjj)
'I had to show the police my knife.' With information on the unsolved murder of Elsie Frost, a man who lived close to the murder scene comes forward with an unusual offer of help. Presented by Eddie Mair. Email iPM@bbc.co.uk.


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (b05pkm3r)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SAT 06:04 Weather (b05pkm3t)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (b05pqsl7)
The Hoo Peninsula

In the marshy landscape of the Hoo Peninsula you can find much of British history. Saxon and Roman remains point to mans first efforts to hold back the sea and use this land for agriculture. The Churchyard in Cooling provides the backdrop for one of Dickens best known works 'Great Expectations'. In Cliffe you can find the remains of an Edwardian explosives factory and at the RSPB reserve on Northward Hill what is left of a radio station used in the Second World War. Today the military history of the area remains but at Lodge Hill the unused Ministry of Defence site has now become home to a substantial nightingale population. This is the great irony of The Hoo landscape, we can clearly see the imprint of heavy industry at places like Grain where we find essential power stations and infrastructure yet it's isolation has also made this place attractive to birds and rare wildlife. Helen Mark explores this unique part of Kent and uncovers just some of the stories which exist beside the container ports and farmland.


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (b05q4zmc)
Farming Today This Week

Seventeen year-old Cameron Hendry was always going to take over the family farm - two-and-a-half thousand acres of tough hill country in the Trossachs - but the sudden death of his father, David, on Christmas Day last year has left him in charge much sooner than he would have wanted. Determined that he, his mother Marianne and brother Duncan would not lose the farm as well as their husband and father, he immediately decided to leave school and put his plans to go to college on hold. Charlotte Smith talks to Cameron about the family's grief for David and their determination to keep the farm running and do him proud. Drawing enormous strength from the support offered to them by the local community, the family discuss the changes they have had to make to the farm since David's death, their plans for the future and their absolute conviction that losing him was bad enough: they refuse to lose their farm as well.


SAT 06:57 Weather (b05pkm3w)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 07:00 Today (b05q4zmf)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Thought for the Day and Weather.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (b05q4zmh)
Zandra Rhodes

Dame Zandra Rhodes is one of Britain's best-known fashion designers, putting London at the forefront of the international fashion scene in the 1970s. Her extensive list of clients has included Princess Diana and Freddie Mercury. Rhodes now lives with her partner, the 94 year old film producer Salah Hassanein and former head of Warner Bros. In 2003 Zandra founded The Fashion and Textile Museum, the only museum in the UK solely dedicated to showcasing developments in contemporary fashion, as well as providing inspiration, support and training for those working in the industry. Since 2000 Zandra's career has diversified into designing sets and costumes for the opera. She first worked for San Diego Opera, who invited her to do costumes for The Magic Flute. After The Magic Flute, she was asked to design both sets and costumes for Pittsburgh Bizet's Pearl Fishers in 2004. Still the woman with the pink hair, Zandra joins Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles in the studio.

Also in the studio is Chilly Gonzales, a classically trained pianist from Montreal, Canada. He's a composer, and self-proclaimed musical genius who has co-authored musicals; pursued an alternative rock career; set a Guinness records for longest-ever solo piano performance; tried his hand at rapping, soft rock, and electronic music as a solo artist; and collaborated with Daft Punk, Bjork and rapper Drake. He has made a career out of bridging the gap between classical and pop music. He lives in Cologne, Germany and has just released his new album, Chambers.

From music to mullets. Hairdresser extraordinaire Jon-Paul Holt gave Kevin Keegan his curly perm, helped launch what became Europe's biggest chain of hairdressing salons and even sang in a band that played at The Cavern in the '60s. After leaving Liverpool for Canada where he set up two salons, he was awarded North American Hairdresser of the year in 1996. He set up his Avant Garde Hair Studio, where he has looked after the hair of film stars such as Meg Ryan and rock star friends like Vancouver's own Bryan Adams.

Mark Cockram is a book binder and has bound books for seven Man-Booker prize award ceremonies. He was elected Fellow of Designer Bookbinders in 2001 and Brother of the Art Workers Guild in 2008. Member of the Society of Bookbinders and the Tokyo Bookbinding Club.
After studying art and design at Lincolnshire College of Art, Mark worked as a free lance artist and designer. He discovered his passion for bookbinding and book arts whilst working in Paris restoring Art Deco loos.

Sharing his Inheritance Tracks this week is Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee, Tom Conti. He inherits the Scarlatti Sonata in G major played by Yuja Wang and is passing on Piangerò la sorte mia sung by coloratura soprano Simone Kermes (from Handel's Giulio Cesare)
Tom Conti is currently reprising his role in acclaimed courtroom play Twelve Angry Men and is on tour from Monday 13th April beginning in York.

Producer: Maire Devine
Editor: Karen Dalziel.


SAT 10:30 Hollow Earth: A Travel Guide (b05q4zmk)
Robin Ince takes us on a tour of a world beneath the earth's crust, exploring the history of Hollow Earth theory through literature, legend and scientific theory.

Virtually every ancient culture, and most religions worldwide, have shared a belief in some sort of mysterious subterranean world, often inhabited by strange and powerful creatures. To the Greeks and Romans it was Hades. To many early Christians, Hell was conceived as a fiery pit deep in the centre of the earth, a scene most elegantly depicted by Dante in his Inferno.

Hollow earth narratives have also inspired many great fantasy and science fiction writers including Jules Verne, Edgar Allan Poe and Tarzan creator, Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Robin Ince's tour of this world within a world, starts with the obvious question of how to get into it. Is the entrance at the North Pole, the South Pole or even in Newcastle? With the help of his "tour guides", including the graphic novelist Alan Moore, Robin gets advice on where to descend and what he might see once he gets down there. Is this a Dystopia full of desperate souls, or the Utopia imagined by someone like the messianic 19th century physician Cyrus Teed, who established a hollow earth cult in Florida and whose ideas later went on briefly to inspire the Nazis.

On his subterranean journey, Robin also meets a classicist, a biblical scholar, and a literary critic. Together they explore the physical aspects of this world and consider who he might bump into. Will it be the three-headed dog Cerberus, or the plesiosaurs and dinosaurs of Jules Verne? Or is this voyage into the interior, actually just a journey into the depths of our own minds?

Producer: Philippa Goodrich
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 11:00 Campaign Sidebar (b05q4zmm)
What's in a name - for the political parties? Did you know that people with particular names are more likely to vote in particular ways? And even the spelling can make a noticeable difference. So who's winning the Charlottes, the Nigels and the Annes?

Plus, how the numbers game in a future hung parliament might unfold - a mathematician takes us through the equations of power,

And after Ed Miliband's debate notes reveal he's drawing on Wordsworth's poem, Character of the Happy Warrior, poet and performer, Ian McMillan, composes an election ode and ponders the relationship between poetry and politics.

Hugo Rifkind ringmasters a quirky, irreverent take on the election campaign - with a campaign ditty from Capital Chorus.

And this is Ian McMillan's special election poem:

THE HAPPY WARRIORS: A CAUTIONARY TALE

Who are these Happy Warriors, who are they?
Who spout poetic soundbites every day;
They all campaign in poetry we're told,
'Cos governing in prose makes them feel old.

So: verse your way through this endless campaign
Twist old Red Shelley in the pouring rain:
Pretend you're Keats as you address the throng:
Supply-side economics done in song
As memorable as a nightingale's
Can put the wind of victory in your sails.
The voters will be friendly to your plan
If you can make your ideas rhyme and scan!

Remember, though, some poets can die young
Feet falter on the very bottom rung;
Shall I compare you when on polling day
All your fine bardic language falls away
And all the mark I need to make is this
Upon the ballot paper Ae Fond Kiss
(As Burns said).


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (b05pkm3y)
Battles Over Books and Statues

History rears its head, not for the first time, in this edition of From Our Own Correspondent. Attacks on colonial-era statues in South Africa mean people there are making a fresh assessment of their country's historical legacy; while in the Far East, what's written in the text books is the subject of a fierce row between South Korea and Japan. A farewell may be bid to decades of hostility between the US and Cuba - their leaders are in Panama and historic developments are anticipated. Why do HIV rates remain so high in Russia? We're out with health workers whose efforts seem stymied by ideology and a sense that if it works in the West, then it must be bad for Russia. And a correspondent in Thailand tries to bid a temporary farewell to the torrid world of journalism and goes to a monastery to hunt instead for inner peace. He wasn't entirely successful.


SAT 12:00 News Summary (b05pkm40)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (b05q4zmp)
Scottish Nationalists Eye Balance of Power

What will the Scottish National Party want to do with the tax, benefits and pensions systems if they hold the balance of power after the election in May? Money Box talks to Stewart Hosie, depute leader of the SNP who speaks on Treasury matters. Stewart is the second person in our series of interviews with the people who would be Chancellor. The Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls will be on the programme next week.

Can you claim on your insurance if the person cleaning your home steals from your property? One Money Box listener found her cleaner had taken £10,000 worth of jewellery but her insurers, Churchill refused to pay out because the cleaner had been let into her home willingly. The Ombudsman agreed with Churchill's ruling. So what can you do to protect yourself?

One listener was surprised when her 19 year son received a letter from a debt recovery company saying he owed British Gas money. Her son, a student, had never held an account and British Gas told her they hadn't instructed any debt company to recover money. Money Box investigates.


SAT 12:30 Dead Ringers (b05prpcq)
Series 14

Episode 1

The topical impressions show returns just in time to reflect the build up to one of the most important and incisive votes for decades. Will Austria win again or does Britain's Electro Velvet stand a chance? Satire meets silliness in the flagship comedy for hard working families up and down the country.

Starring Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Duncan Wisbey, Lewis MacLeod, Debra Stephenson.

Producer: Bill Dare.


SAT 12:57 Weather (b05pkm42)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 13:00 News (b05pkm44)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (b05prq80)
Paddy Ashdown, Hilary Benn, Caroline Lucas, Grant Shapps

Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from Totnes. On the panel: former leader of the Liberal Democrats, Paddy Ashdown; shadow secretary of state for comumities and local government, Hilary Benn; former leader of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas; chairman of the Conservative Party, Grant Shapps.

Produced by Emma Campbell.


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (b05q4zms)
Volunteering, Trident and Surrey Oil

The Conservative proposal of three days off a year to do charity work - inspirational or a public sector headache?

The newly discovered oil reserves near Gatwick Airport - should we be concentrating on renewables, or does this find secure our energy supply for the future?

And Trident - how credible a deterrent is it?

Anita Anand takes listeners' calls and emails in response to this week's edition of Any Questions?

Tweet: Follow us @BBCAnyQuestions or tweet using #bbcaq
Email: anyanswers@bbc.co.uk

Producer: Alex Lewis
Editor: Karen Dalziel.


SAT 14:30 Good Omens (b04vjrjm)
Episode 6

As Aziraphale and Crowley, the Witchfinder Army, and the Horsepersons of the Apocalypse descend on Lower Tadfield, the fate of the Earth rests on the shoulders of Adam Young

With a cast led by Peter Serafinowicz and Mark Heap, this is the conclusion of the first ever dramatisation of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens.

Events have been set in motion to bring about the End of Days. The armies of Good and Evil are gathering and making their way towards the sleepy English village of Lower Tadfield. The Four Horsepersons of the Apocalypse - War, Famine, Pollution and Death - have been summoned from the corners of the earth and are assembling.

Witchfinder Sergeant Shadwell and his assistant Newton Pulsifier are also en route to Tadfield to investigate some unusual phenomena in the area, while Anathema Device, descendent of prophetess and witch Agnes Nutter, tries to decipher her ancestor's cryptic predictions about exactly where the impending Apocalypse will take place.

Atlantis is rising, fish are falling from the sky; everything seems to be going to the Divine Plan.

Everything that is but for the unlikely duo of an angel and a demon who are not all that keen on the prospect of the forthcoming Rapture. Aziraphale (once an angel in the Garden of Eden, but now running an antiquarian bookshop in London), and Crowley (formerly Eden's snake, now driving around London in shades and a vintage Bentley) have been living on Earth for several millennia and have become rather fond of the place. But if they are to stop Armageddon taking place they've got to find and kill the one who will the one bring about the apocalypse: the Antichrist himself.

There's just one small problem: someone seems to have mislaid him...

Crowley ...... Peter Serafinowicz
Aziraphale ...... Mark Heap
Agnes Nutter ...... Josie Lawrence
Anathema Device ...... Charlotte Ritchie
Newton Pulsifer ...... Colin Morgan
Madame Tracy ...... Julia Deakin
War ...... Rachael Stirling
Famine ...... Paterson Joseph
Pollution ...... Harry Lloyd
Death ...... Jim Norton
Shadwell ...... Clive Russell
Melatron ...... Nicholas Briggs
Beelzebub ...... Steve Toussant
Mr Young ...... Simon Jones
Tyler ...... Andy Secombe
Deisenburger ...... Martin Sherma
Baddicombe ...... Tom Alexander
Guard ...... Ben Crowe
Security Guard ...... Trevor White
Adam ...... Adam Thomas Wright
Pepper ...... Hollie Burgess
Wensleydale ...... Bobby Fuller
Brian ...... Lewis Andrews

Adaptation and sound design by Dirk Maggs.

Producer: Heather Larmour.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2014.


SAT 15:30 Billie Holiday: Fine and Mellow (b05pn3t6)
A great singer and a great song. Marking the centenary of Billie Holiday's birth, four living jazz musicians and her biographer celebrate her extraordinary and dramatic life, along with her legacy and achievements, through the prism of one historic 12-bar blues.

The song Fine and Mellow, which Billie Holiday wrote herself, was recorded in 1957 with an all-star backing band including her friends Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Vic Dickenson, Roy Eldridge and Gerry Mulligan.

The programme is introduced by saxophonist Andy Sheppard, and also features expert
commentaries from band leader Guy Barker, singers Cleo Laine and Jacqui Dankworth, and Julia Blackburn, author of With Billie.

Producer: Tony Staveacre
An Above The Title production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (b05q4zqf)
Weekend Woman's Hour: Clare Balding on the Boat Race; End of a Relationship; Body Beautiful

For the first time the Women's Boat Race will be rowed on the same day and place as the men's. Clare Balding will be discussing what it means for women's sport. Why are rock hard abs and perfectly toned triceps seen as the perfect body shape? Writer and classicist Natalie Haynes on why the ancient Greeks were just as obsessed with the body beautiful as we are today. How Jennifer Teege discovered by chance that her grandfather was the Nazi war criminal Amon Goeth and how she's come to terms with her inheritance. Two ballet dancers tell us what it's like to cope with how pregnancy changes their bodies and their ability to dance. Virginia Ironside on the role of the 21st century grandmother and how it's changed. When a relationship breaks down, how long is it acceptable to mourn its end?
Presenter: Jane Garvey
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed
Editor: Anne Peacock.


SAT 17:00 PM (b05q508v)
Saturday PM

Full coverage of the day's news.


SAT 17:30 iPM (b05prrjj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:45 today]


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b05pkm48)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 17:57 Weather (b05pkm4b)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b05pkm4d)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (b05q5vbs)
Nikki Bedi, Sara Cox, Noddy Holder, Jimmy Somerville, Enda Walsh, Ron Sexsmith

Nikki Bedi is joined by Sara Cox, Noddy Holder, Jimmy Somerville and Enda Walsh for an eclectic mix of conversation and comedy. With music from Jimmy Somerville and Ron Sexsmith.

Producer: Sukey Firth.


SAT 19:00 Profile (b05q5vbv)
The Teletubbies

We learned this week that Jane Horrocks, Jim Broadbent and Fearne Cotton are to voice a new run of the hit children's TV series Teletubbies. It's estimated that around a billion children in over 120 countries have watched Teletubbies but there have been no new episodes since 2001, and the imminent return of Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po has made news around the world. But who, or what, are the Teletubbies? And why have they proved such an enduring cultural phenomenon?

Presenter: Becky Milligan
Producers: Ben Crighton and Hannah Barnes.


SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (b05q5vbx)
Eric Ravilious, Force Majeure, Ice Rink on the Estate, After Electra, Jesse Armstrong

Eric Ravilious was one of the finest watercolourists that the UK has ever produced. Born in 1903, he died in 1942 while on duty as an official war artist. Does a new exhibition of his work reveal his genius?
In Swedish film 'Force Majeure', an avalanche during a family skiing holiday causes no physical damage but opens fissures in the happy family structure
Olympic gold medallists Torvill & Dean have a new TV series: 'Ice Rink On The Estate'. They attempt to turn a group of kids from a deprived Nottingham housing estate are turned into an ice dance troupe.
There are very few roles for older actresses, but in April de Angelis' play 'After Electra', the main character is 81 years.
The co-writer of Peep Show, Jesse Armstrong has written his debut novel - Can a successful witty TV writer easily make the transfer?


SAT 20:00 The Meaning of Life According to AJ Ayer (b05pw9tw)
What was an English philosopher doing at a New York party, saving the young model Naomi Campbell from a rather pushy boxing heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson? The philosopher was Alfred Jules Ayer, who was just as at home mixing with the glitterati as he was with Oxford dons. On the one hand he was an academic, on the other a celebrity and bon viveur.

So what does this logician have to say about the meaning of life?

In 1988, a year before his death, he gave a lecture at the Conway Hall in which he set out his notion of existence. By this time, ‘Freddie’ Ayer was one of the UK’s most prominent public intellectuals, with regular television and radio appearances, discussing the moral issues of the day.

Ayer’s former student at Oxford, philosopher AC Grayling, remembers the tutor that became his friend. He explores the man of contradictions – the atheist who almost recanted after a near-death incident; the deep thinker with a weakness for mistresses and Tottenham Hotspur. What was his contribution to philosophy? How did it inform the way he lived his life? What, if anything, can we learn from Freddie’s view on the big question?

Producer: Dom Byrne
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 21:00 Drama (b05pl647)
A Fine Balance

Episode 3

Dramatisation of Rohinton Mistry's acclaimed novel about India's underclass.

Uncle and nephew, Ishvar and Om have come to the city to escape the caste violence in their native village. They start working as tailors in the cramped flat of Dina, a middle-aged Parsi widow. Maneck, a reluctant student from the mountains, rents a room from Dina and the four strangers form an unlikely bond against a backdrop of India in crisis - during "the Emergency" of the mid-1970s, a period marked by huge political unrest and human rights violations.

A comedy, a tragedy, and a story of the triumph of the human spirit under inhuman conditions.

Music: Sacha Putnam
Sound Design: Steve Bond

Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon and Kewel Karim from the novel by Rohinton Mistry

Producer: Nadir Khan
Director: John Dryden
A Goldhawk production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 22:00 News and Weather (b05pkm4g)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.


SAT 22:15 The Human Zoo (b05pnw2x)
Election Special

A month before the general election, Michael Blastland examines whether or not the way we vote can really be changed, and asks if political persuasion is pointless.

In a series of experiments run in the Human Zoo lab, the team gauges how opinions are formed in members of the public, and the extent to which psychological 'tricks' can provoke a shift in mindset.

How does a politician's physical appearance impact on how their policies are perceived? Can the temperature of our lab have an impact when our subjects debate evidence for man-made global warming? Can opinion on an issue such as crime be changed when the facts are presented?

At the heart of the matter are our biases and judgements - how we perceive the world and how rationally or irrationally we behave.

Michael is guided by Nick Chater, Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick University, and resident reporter Timandra Harkness sets out to discover how other countries use behavioural science in an attempt to win elections.

Produced by Dom Byrne and Eve Streeter
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 23:00 Brain of Britain (b05pmrtm)
Semi-Final 3, 2015

(15/17)
The 2015 Brain of Britain tournament reaches the third semi-final, with Russell Davies' questions encompassing topics as diverse as 1980s TV theme music, the genetic code, and the political history of Greece.

The participants today have all come through the heats with flying colours and will be hoping to take a coveted place in the 2015 Final in two weeks' time. They hail from Bristol, Buckinghamshire, Lancashire and Cumbria.

As always, Russell will also be giving a listener the chance to 'Beat the Brains' with ingenious questions of his or her own devising.

Producer: Paul Bajoria.


SAT 23:30 Blast of the Century (b05pl64f)
Poet John Cooper Clarke explores the radical work and philosophy of the Vorticists, an inflammatory but short-lived artistic movement that dragged British art into the modern world.

In the summer of 1914, while Europe imploded, London's art scene burst into life. The Vorticists had arrived - a radical and iconoclastic art movement that wanted to destroy the old and champion the modern. Lead by the pugnacious genius Wyndham Lewis, they declared war on the Victorian hangover which blighted British art. The classist nude and the twee landscape were dead, they claimed, it was time for art to reflect the beauty of the modern industrialised world.

The arrival of the Vorticists was announced by the Blast manifesto, a bright pink sneering lament aimed firmly at the art world. The manifesto contained extensive lists of the things they loved ('Blessed') and hated ('Blasted').

The Vorticists brought more to London than just personal attacks and vitriol. Their radical art was abstract, embracing modernist cubist influences. Jacob Epstein's rock drill was a seminal piece, a statue which integrated man and machine in a warlike expression of power and virility.

The Vorticists are not well known today. Just 33 days after the manifesto was published, war was declared on Germany. The resulting destruction overshadowed Blast's nonconformist demands and the movement's radical energy could never be rekindled.

John Cooper Clarke relives Vorticism, the Edwardian youth movement cut short by cataclysmic events. Speaking to young artists, historians and a 94 year-old Princess, he shines a light on one of the most radical chapters in modern British art.

Producer: Harry Graham
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.



SUNDAY 12 APRIL 2015

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b05q5w6v)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


SUN 00:30 Ballads of Thin Men (b0113fws)
The Night Ride

Bob Dylan - one of the most significant and influential cultural figures of the late 20th and early 21st century - was 70 on 24 May 2011. The three stories in Ballads Of Thin Men were commissioned specially to mark the occasion.

Written by Simone Felice

The starting point for this story is the line from Bob Dylan's 'Joey': 'Born in Red Hook, Brooklyn, in the year of who-knows-when.' When the lights in his apartment fuse Adrian Young puts on a dress and takes to his bike to ride the borough's streets on a wintry December night.

Simone Felice is the author of two novellas, Goodbye, Amelia and Hail Mary Full Of Holes, and numerous short stories, poems and songs. He is a founding member of The Felice Brothers and his new band The Duke & King's first album 'Nothing Gold Can Stay' has been described as 'Neil Young meets Marvin Gaye on the kind of record that cults are made of.' His new novel, Black Jesus, publishes in April 2011. Simone lives in the Catskill Mountains of New York State.

Reader: Madeleine Potter
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b05q5w6x)
The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b05q5w6z)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at 5.20am.


SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b05q5w71)
The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b05q5w73)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b05q5y3n)
The bells of St. Bartholomew's Church in Sutton-cum-Lound, Nottinghamshire.


SUN 05:45 Profile (b05q5vbv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b05q5w75)
The latest national and international news.


SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b05q5y3q)
I Am

John McCarthy is joined by Christian theologian Paula Gooder to consider the phrase 'I Am' as a means of exploring and asserting identity. They begin with God's assertion of His name in Exodus chapter 3, 'I am that I am' and follow this phrase into Jesus' I Am statements in the New Testament - I Am the Bread of Life, I Am the Light of the World, and so on.

The programme then broadens out to consider Descartes use of the phrase 'cogito ergo sum' and then John Clare's poem, I Am.

John McCarthy also explores the South African phrase Ubuntu which translates as 'I am because we are' or 'I am what I am because of who we all are'. And finally, he notes the recent taking up of the I Am phrase in the slogan Je suis Charlie.

The programme includes readings from works by Anne Holm, Mary Oliver and James Weldon Johnson, as well as two poems by Gregory Leadbetter and Sibyl Ruth, specially commissioned for this programme by Writing West Midlands. There's music by Chris Wood, Blind Gary Davis, Gounod and Ben Glover.

Readers: Hayley Doherty and Fraser James

Produced by Rosie Boulton
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 06:35 Living World (b05q5y3s)
Bradfield Woods

Chris Packham relives programmes from The Living World archives.

In this first programme recorded in 1997, Lionel Kelleway is joined by Britain's leading woodland historian, Oliver Rackham, who died earlier this year. Lionel and Oliver visit Bradfield Woods in Suffolk which since 1252 has been under traditional woodland management. At the time of broadcast, Oliver had regularly visited this unique woodland for over 20 years. His understanding and knowledge guides Lionel to parts of the wood which link us to the primeval wild wood of Britain.


SUN 06:57 Weather (b05q5w77)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b05q5w79)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (b05q5y3v)
Bring Back Our Girls, Anglican schools admissions, 'Gay conversion'

Ahead of the first anniversary this week of the abduction of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls by Islamist militants Boko Haram, Edward Stourton speaks to Oby Ezekwesili, co-founder of the Bring Back Our Girls Campaign.

An open letter from several Anglican clergy and lay people is calling for Church of England schools to scrap admissions based on church attendance. We debate the issues.

In his first interview with Sunday since stepping down as Chief Crown Prosecutor for the north-west of England, Nazir Afzal tells us how he believes Muslim communities should respond to the radicalisation of British teenagers by Islamic State.

US President Barack Obama has condemned psychiatric therapies championed by some Conservative religious groups, designed to "repair" gay, lesbian and transgender youth. It comes ahead of a conference in the UK this week on the theme of 'gay conversion' therapy. Trevor Barnes reports.

We speak to the Bishop of Manchester, David Walker, who has just returned from Pakistan, where he spent Easter visiting churches in Lahore and meeting victims of last month's deadly bomb attacks by Taliban militants.

Two convicted Australian drug traffickers are facing execution in Indonesia after losing their latest appeal. Their lawyers argue that they are reformed. Ken Crispin QC, former Australian Supreme Court judge and member of the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, explains his concerns.

And John Laurenson reports from Mount Athos in Greece, seen by many as the centre of the Orthodox Christian world and inhabited by more than 2000 monks.

Producers:
Dan Tierney
David Cook

Series producer:
Amanda Hancox

Contributors:
Bishop David Walker
Hon Ken Crispin QC
Nazir Afzal
Oby Ezekwesili
Rev Stephen Terry
Anne Davey.


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (b05q5y3x)
The Who Cares? Trust

Diane Louise Jordan presents The Radio 4 Appeal for The Who Cares? Trust
Registered Charity No 1010518
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal, mark the back of the envelope 'Who Cares? Trust'
- Cheques should be made payable to The Who Cares? Trust.


SUN 07:57 Weather (b05q5w7c)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b05q5w7f)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b05q5y3z)
On the Road to Emmaus

Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir with Tracey Campbell and Friends, and the Rev'd Lucy Winkett take a journey through Gospel music from the resurrection to a point on the road where they meet a stranger who shares with them bread and wine. From St James's Church Piccadilly, London. Producer: Rowan Morton-Gledhill.


SUN 08:48 A Point of View (b05prq82)
Life's a Selfie

Howard Jacobson explains why he dislikes the narcissism of the selfie.

"It's always possible that there's some Rembrandt of the selfie out there, using his 'phone to investigate the ravages of age, the incursions of melancholy, and even the psychology of self-obsession itself, but commonly the selfie performs a less self-critical function, putting the self at the centre of everything we see, marking the landscape with our faces, as though the only possible interest of the outside world is that we're in it."

Producer: Sheila Cook.


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zrccd)
Little Owl

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Kate Humble presents the little owl. Little owls really are little, about as long as a starling but much stockier with a short tail and rounded wings. If you disturb one it will bound off low over the ground before swinging up onto a telegraph pole or gatepost where it bobs up and down, glaring at you fiercely through large yellow and black eyes. Today, you can hear the yelps of the birds and their musical spring song across the fields and parks of much of England and Wales.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b05q5ynl)
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 (b05q5ynn)
See daily episodes for detailed synopsis.


SUN 11:16 The Reunion (b05q5ynq)
The Fastnet Race Disaster

Sue MacGregor reunites five people who experienced the worst disaster in the history of ocean racing - the Fastnet Race of 1979.

It was the race that every ocean going yachtsman aimed to complete at least once in his life-time. A 600 mile course through mercurial tides and dangerous headlands, the Fastnet was the Grand National of ocean racing. In 1979, Former Prime Minister Edward Heath and CNN founder Ted Turner were among the 2,500 competitors.

But as they made good progress around Land's End and up towards the south coast of Ireland, the wind was changing. Described as the storm of the century, Low Y was a depression which swept across the Atlantic gathering force. Fifty foot waves and winds of up to 60 knots took forecasters by surprise and scattered the 300 plus yachts taking part.

Vessels from Holland, France, Ireland and Germany joined British naval and RAF search teams and rescue crews scouring the 20,000 square miles of ocean looking for yachts, life-rafts and bodies.

Unknown terror, selfless bravery and superhuman strength saved most of them, but 15 people perished.
Joining Sue around the table to look back on the wildest and most desperate night in ocean racing history are: Jerry Grayson, the first helicopter pilot sent out to rescue the stricken yachts; Alan Green of the Royal Ocean Yachting Club which organised the race; Nick Ward whose crew-mates abandoned their yacht in a life-raft without him; Christian Schaumloffel who helped rescue Nick; and Stuart Quarrie who was out in the storm with four terrified trainees.

Producer: Karen Pirie
Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:00 News Summary (b05q5w7h)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:04 Dilemma (b05pmrtt)
Series 4

Episode 1

Sue Perkins returns with a fourth series of the show that puts the big moral and ethical questions to a mixed panel. This week, it's the turn of comedians Sarah Millican and John Robins, journalist Michael Deacon and former Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis, who discuss how to deal with sexist wedding DJs, answer an audience question about coming out for a second time, and pit themselves against the moral clock in the Quickfire Round, where shades of gray are discarded in favour of immediate, black-or-white responses. Episode one of six.

Dilemma is presented by Sue Perkins, and was devised by Danielle Ward.

Presenter ... Sue Perkins
Guest ... Sarah Millican
Guest ... Michael Deacon
Guest ... Janet Ellis
Guest ... John Robins
Devised by ... Danielle Ward
Producer ... Ed Morrish.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2015.


SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b05q615r)
The Ark of Taste

Dan Saladino meets the people working to save foods and flavours at risk of extinction. A global project called the Ark of Taste is now attempting to catalogue traditional ingredients in more than 100 countries.

It was started in the 1990s when a group of Italian Slow Food campaigners realised the flavour of a traditional street food snack had changed. The reason was that chefs could no longer source a local variety of pepper. It's led to thousands of people all over the world submitting their local traditional varieties of fruits and vegetables, rare breeds of livestock, cheeses and other products into the Ark.

As the leader of the project Serana Milano explains it's not just a list. Once an ingredient is placed in the catalogue work begins to find ways of saving it. An early example was a traditional cheese that was being made by one elderly producer. The Ark project led to a group of young producers learning how to make the cheese and so the recipe and technique has been kept alive.

Slow Food is now working with the European Commission, United Nations and Google to record the stories from the Ark of Taste and support projects to keep food diversity thriving around the world.

As Dan explains earlier examples of this work can be found across the UK going back more than a century. Writers including Florence White (Good Things In England), Dorothy Hartley (Food in England) and F. Marian McNeill (The Scots Kitchen) and researchers such as Minwell Tibbott (Welsh Folk Museum) made records of how we produced food and cooked in earlier times.

Presented and produced by Dan Saladino.


SUN 12:57 Weather (b05q5w7k)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b05q615t)
Global news and analysis, presented by Mark Mardell.


SUN 13:30 Same Tune, Different Song (b05mrptd)
In Same Tune, Different Song, composer Debbie Wiseman explores the world of the song lyricist, providing a rare window into an age-old industry. With the lyricist Don Black, famed for many songs including Diamonds Are For Ever, Born Free and Thunderball, and also the lyricist Gary Osborne who has regularly collaborated with artists such as Elton John, Cliff Richard and Alice Cooper, we delve into the processes of collaboration between the composer and the lyricist.

Debbie begins this exploration by presenting a standard song melody she has written especially for this programme, to both lyricists. Don Black and Gary Osborne then work on this brand new song totally independent of each other. What follows is an opportunity to see how different lyricists from differing backgrounds work, and what problems they encounter along the way. During the programme there is also an opportunity to hear the results from each lyricist, including a performance by Mica Paris.


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b05prkhg)
Forest of Bowland

Eric Robson chairs the programme from the Forest of Bowland. Bob Flowerdew, Bunny Guinness and Anne Swithinbank answer horticultural questions from the audience.

Matthew Wilson visits Beth Chatto's garden in Essex to take some inspiration for a new season.

Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Hannah Newton

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b05q615w)
Sunday Omnibus

Fi Glover introduces conversations from Cumbria, Wales and Northern Ireland, about CDG1A, birth partners, and whether to marry or buy a camper van, in the Sunday Omnibus of the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject

Producer: Marya Burgess.


SUN 15:00 Drama (b05pkpgg)
Ursula Le Guin - The Left Hand of Darkness

Episode 1

In a snow-changed city in the middle of an Ice Age on an alien world, one young man prepares for the biggest mission of his life. Alone and unarmed, Genly Ai has been sent from Earth to persuade the world of Gethen to join The Ekumen, a union of planets. But it’s a task fraught with danger. Genly is shocking to the natives. This is a world in which humans are ambigendered – everyone can be a mother, and everyone can be a father.

First Minister Estraven is the only person who champions Genly’s cause, but their relationship is deeply incomprehensible and troubling. Genly’s life is at risk and he must decide who to trust.

Sci-fi with incredible humanity from brilliant feminist writer, Ursula Le Guin.

This is the first dramatisation of her 1969 novel, which is as groundbreaking in its approach to gender as when it was first published over 45 years ago.

Adapted in two parts by Judith Adams.

Genly Ai…..Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Estraven…..Lesley Sharp
Argaven…..Toby Jones
Tibe…..Louise Brealey
Faxe…..Noma Dumezweni
Ashe…..Ruth Gemmell
Ong Tot…..Adjoa Andoh
Shusgis…..Stephen Critchlow
Obsle…..David Acton
Driver…..David Hounslow
Guard…..Rhiannon Neads

Director: Allegra McIlroy

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2015.


SUN 16:00 Open Book (b05q6321)
Christopher Bollen on Orient

American novelist Christopher Bollen talks about his novel Orient, a literary murder mystery set in a remote town on the very tip of Long Island. Local people are already dismayed by the number of newcomers, mostly artists, moving to the town from New York and their fears are increased when a young orphan arrives to stay. Meanwhile, strange creatures are washing up on the beach and a caretaker dies in mysterious circumstances. Christopher Bollen talks to Mariella about his own experiences living in Orient and how he has fictionalised its inhabitants.

Also on the programme novelists Dorothy Koomson and Roma Tearne talk about taking their inspiration from photographs and Louise Stern reveals the book she'd never lend. And we take a twilight walk around London to discover the literary inspiration the city's streets have offered generations of writers.


SUN 16:30 The (Half) Life of Strontium (b05q6323)
A poetic meditation on the element which unites the atomic bomb which dropped on Nagaski, a remote village in Argyll, and a mutant bounty hunter. Strontium is the 38th element in the Periodic Table, discovered in 1792 in a mine in the Scottish village of Strontian, named by the father of Chemistry Sir Humphry Davy in 1808 and used first as the agent by which sugar was produced from sugar beet, then as a compound in pottery glazes and neon tubes, and finally as an ingredient in the nuclear bomb which inspired the name "Strontium Dog", the mutant bounty hunter in the comic 2000AD.

This experimental poetry programme visits Strontian and tells the story of the element and the town, while the poet Robert Crawford writes new poems connecting the element, the bomb and the "mutie" hunter who scours an apocalyptic post nuclear landscape hunting criminals hideously disfigured by the element from which he takes his name.

The Actor is David Jackson Young.


SUN 17:00 Is Cancer Money Well Spent? (b05pnsr8)
Matthew Hill investigates how money is spent on cancer treatments and asks have we got the balance right?

The NHS England budget for cancer treatment is over £6 billion and given that one in two of us is likely to be diagnosed with cancer at some time in our lives how the money is spent potentially affects us all.

UK survival rates are improving but they still lag behind many countries in Europe. Matthew travels to a hospital in Lille, France, to see if we can learn from how cancer is treated there.

Given that early diagnosis remains a problem in the UK, and research shows that palliative care can improve the quality and length of life, should more money be invested in these two areas?


SUN 17:40 Profile (b05q5vbv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b05q5w7n)
The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 17:57 Weather (b05q5w7q)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b05q5w7s)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b05q63c3)
Liz Barclay

Liz Barclay chooses her BBC Radio highlights and sport is high on our agenda: from hot dog eating and pig racing, to famous cricketers who helped make the world a better place and the disaster and tragedy of the 1979 Fastnet race. Endurance and stamina feature alongside daring-do, misplaced optimism and over enthusiasm!


SUN 19:00 The Archers (b05q63c5)
David's impressed by Dan's award of Second Lieutenant, as Shula tells him about the Sandhurst ceremony. She'll show David the photos.

Heather's now back home in Prudhoe - Josh drove her. Ruth tells Shula her mum's considering sheltered housing.

Adam shows Ian the crop footage he and Charlie took - you really notice the flood damage from the air, and David and Adam discuss the flooded fields. Ian fishes to know more from Adam about Charlie and their working relationship. Ian joins Adam for a walk to check the crops with David. The soil's warming up nicely at Brookfield and Ruth notes that the wheat's starting to move. Adam shows Ian the improving soil. They discuss David staying at Brookfield - Adam's pleased he gets to keep his arable contract.
Alistair saw Shula and Dan having a heart to heart at Sandhurst. Trying to be supportive in the face of their busy lives and recent lack of communication, Alistair echoes Dan - they're facing a new chapter in life.

Shula really wants she and Alistair to make more time for each other. How about doing something tomorrow evening? Yes, I promise, says Alistair.


SUN 19:16 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b01nbrjc)
Series 2

Episode 6

John Finnemore, the writer and star of Cabin Pressure, regular guest on The Now Show and popper-upper in things like Miranda and Family Guy, presents the last in this second series of his hit sketch show.

The first series was described as "sparklingly clever" by The Daily Telegraph and "one of the most consistently funny sketch shows for quite some time" by The Guardian. It featured Winnie the Pooh coming to terms with his abusive relationship with honey, how The Archers sounds to people who don't listen to the Archers and how Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde decided whose turn it was to do the washing up.

This week's show starts by going to the dogs and ends with what is surely the oldest hymn in the world.

John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme is written by and stars John Finnemore. It also features Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan. The original music is by Susannah Pearse. It is produced by Ed Morrish.


SUN 19:45 Liars' League (b05qf586)
Do Days

The Liars' League, which launched in 2007, is a live short story event now spanning the globe. 'Liars' because in a sense fiction and acting are both lies - and a 'league' because a company of actors and writers work to bring an evening of themed stories to an audience, once a month in London, New York and Hong Kong.

This is the second of three stories recorded at the Liars' League events. In London the theme is 'Boom and Bust', in Hong Kong it's 'Cruelty and Mercy', and in New York - where we are this week - it's 'Entrances and Exits'.

Each story brings a distinct flavour of its country of origin - of the culture, people and concerns. Each is populated by ubiquitous skyscrapers and familiar corporations and brands, but at the same time beats to an older rhythm of the people and their traditions - from a Catholic boyhood in New York, through life in London's drabber suburbs, to old traditions surviving amidst the bustle of modern Hong Kong.

In Vito Racanelli's Do Days, Paulie and Steven are friends, living across the street from each other in Queens. Steven went to the public school, Paulie to the Catholic one where, more than anything, he learned what not to do. Don't do this, don't do that. For Steven, every day was a 'do day', and Paulie jumped at the chances Steven presented him with, whatever the consequences.

Written by Vito Racanelli
Read by E James Ford

Produced by David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 20:00 Feedback (b05prkhr)
The Easter weekend is a prime opportunity for regular radio presenters to take a step out of the spotlight and into the sun for some rest and relaxation. But their stand-in presenters can be left to face the disappointment of an audience devoted to their favourite host. What are the challenges facing stand-ins and how do they overcome them? Lewis Carnie, the head of Radio 2 programmes, discusses how Sara Cox and Zoe Ball have filled in for leading men Chris Evans and Ken Bruce.

The spring breaks also produced trials for users of the BBC Radio iPlayer. As listeners got heavily engrossed in hair-raising dramas and eye-opening documentaries - they were left hanging mid-sentence as iPlayer Radio failed to give them the last few minutes of the programme. The General Manager for Audience Facing Services at BBC Future Media, Andrew Scott, clarifies what happened and how he is working to prevent future failings.

And in the election campaign coverage, BBC local radio has launched a series of 170 debates taking place across the country. David Holdsworth, the controller of English Regions, explains why issues affecting smaller communities are still key to political coverage. Station Editor David Harvey outlines how Radio Cambridgeshire is reflecting its listeners' main concerns. And, behind the scenes at BBC Essex's first local debate, producer Mark Syred lets listeners shine a light on what they see as the biggest question in their community.

Producer: Karen Pirie
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 20:30 Last Word (b05prkhm)
Frei Otto, Richie Benaud, Albert Maysles, Julio Cesar Strassera, Mary Clarke

Matthew Bannister on
The influential German architect Frei Otto, best known for his lightweight structures. Lords Foster and Rogers pay tribute.

The Australian cricketer and commentator Richie Benaud. David Gower recalls working with him.

The documentary director Albert Maysles who made a celebrated film about the Rolling Stones and 'Grey Gardens' about two eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy.

The Argentinian lawyer Julio Cesar Strassera who successfully prosecuted members of the country's military junta.

And Mary Clarke, the ballet critic who edited the Dancing Times.


SUN 21:00 Money Box (b05q4zmp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b05q5y3x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 In Business (b05pqx2g)
Blank Screens

The Information Technology department used to be a mysterious backroom operation, but has become the vital component of a successful company. With relentless technical developments businesses are facing a constant risk of their computer systems being past their sell by date.

Peter Day explores how companies are wrestling with the increasing demands of keeping their I.T fit for purpose.

Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane

Credit: Photo and LEO Computer recording in the programme courtesy of LEO Computers Society, www.leo-computers.org.uk.


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b05qf588)
Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.


SUN 22:45 What the Papers Say (b05qf58b)
Tom Newton Dunn of The Sun analyses how the newspapers are covering the biggest stories.


SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b05pqtg8)
Ryan Gosling; 25 Years of BBC Films

With Francine Stock.

Ryan Gosling discusses his directorial debut Lost River, which was met with a mixture of cheers and jeers at its Cannes premiere.

The head of BBC Films, Christine Langan, looks back at its 25 years history, including such hits as Billy Elliot, Philomena, and Fish Tank, and laments the lack of original stories that land on her desk.

One of Britain's few winners at this year's Oscars, hair and make-up artist Frances Hannon, talks about her award-winning moustaches and wigs for The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Ruben Ostlund, the director of Force Majeure, a black comedy about a family holiday from hell, reveals why he would like his film to help increase the divorce rate.


SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b05q5y3q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today]



MONDAY 13 APRIL 2015

MON 00:00 Midnight News (b05q5w8v)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b05pnvqh)
Free Will Explored

Free will explored. Laurie Taylor talks to Julian Baggini, writer and Founding Editor of The Philosophers' Magazine, about his latest work which considers the concept of freedom. He argues against the idea that free will is an illusion due to a combination of genes, environment and personal history. Instead he posits a sliding scale of freedom which allows for the possibility of individual agency and responsibility. Also, pets as family: Nickie Charles, Professor and Director of the Centre for the Study of Women and Gender at Warwick University, discusses her study of kinship across the species barrier.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b05q5y3n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b05q5w8x)
The latest shipping forecast.


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b05q5w8z)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b05q5w91)
The latest shipping forecast.


MON 05:30 News Briefing (b05q5w93)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b05qf6h2)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Andrew Martlew.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (b05qf6h4)
Stressed Pigs, One Man and His Shires, Sugar

Scientists have found that pigs living under stressful conditions are more likely to develop viral symptoms including diarrhoea, breathing problems and weight loss. Researchers at the Royal Veterinary College looked at what happened when pigs were kept in hot or crowded pens.

We explore why there's been an oversupply problem on so many farm commodity markets of late.

And, we meet a man whose passion is Shire horses.

Presented by Sybil Ruscoe and produced by Sarah Swadling.


MON 05:56 Weather (b05q5w95)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.


MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03x45m5)
Egyptian Goose

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Bill Oddie presents the Egyptian goose. Although Egyptian geese are common throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa and in Egypt, they are now officially a British bird. These striking birds attracted the attention of wildfowl collectors and the first geese were brought to the UK in the 17th century. By the 1960's it became obvious that the geese were breeding in the wild in East Anglia and since then they've spread in south and eastern England.


MON 06:00 Today (b05qfj11)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (b05qfj13)
David Sloan Wilson on Altruism

On Start the Week Tom Sutcliffe asks whether altruism is best explained through evolutionary science or moral philosophy. David Sloan Wilson argues for the former and believes altruism is part of group dynamics and social behaviour. William MacAskill may study the moral case for doing good, but is more interested in the practical impact than the heroic sacrifice. The Mexican campaigner Lydia Cacho knows what it means to make enormous personal sacrifices for the sake of others - her exposure of sexual and physical abuse has led to numerous threats on her life. While the composer Tansy Davies attempts to bring to the stage human beings in extremis as she creates an opera based on the events of 9/11.

Producer: Luke Mulhall.


MON 09:45 The Shepherd's Life (b05r0b35)
Episode 1

Some people's lives are entirely their own creations. James Rebanks's isn't. The first son of a shepherd, who was the first son of a shepherd himself, he and his family have lived and worked in and around the Lake District for generations.

It's a life lived according to the demands of the seasons: sending the sheep to the fells in the summer and making the hay; the autumn fairs where the flocks are replenished; the gruelling toil of winter when the sheep must be kept alive, and the light-headedness that comes with spring, as the lambs are born and the sheep get ready to return to the fells.

Through his eyes, we see that the Lake District is not a playground or a scenic backdrop, it's a working landscape that needs sheep and its farmers to survive.

James Rebanks has a huge following on Twitter (using his moniker: @herdyshepherd1) where you can see photographs detailing day to day life on the farm - including his fine flock of Herdwick sheep and, the latest additions to the workforce, sheepdog Floss's ten puppies.

Read by Bryan Dick
Written by James Rebanks
Abridged by Sian Preece
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron

Music details:
Track: "The Nightshift"
CD: Country Escape
Label: BBC Production Music BBCPM031.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2015.


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b05qfj17)
Hillary Clinton, Patricia Duncker

The 2016 US Election and the possibilities for a much anticipated Hillary Clinton run for the presidency.

Zoe Williams and Anne McElvoy on how the 2015 General Election campaign is shaping up as the parties battle to win over women voters. And are we getting the politics we deserve?

Patricia Dunker talks about her love of George Eliot and why she features in her latest novel.

And, we discuss research into why some women say they choose sex work.

Presenter: Jane Garvey
Producer: Ruth Watts.


MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b05qfj19)
Writing the Century 27 - The Journal of a Joskin

1940: The Doorstep War

The series which explores the 20th century through the diaries and correspondence of real people. Further journals of Yorkshire farm labourer and aspiring writer Fred Kitchen adapted by Stephen Wakelam. The Cowman's first book is finally published.

Director: David Hunter.


MON 11:00 The Fishwives' Tale (b05qfj1c)
It is the most dangerous peacetime job a man can do. And for the wives, mothers and daughters who lose their loved ones to the sea, rather than to war, the burden is no less to bear.

In 2008, Jane Dolby's husband Colin went missing when his fishing trawler was caught in a freak storm. The boat was finally located and lifted from the bottom of the sea - but Colin was not found.

Aside from the emotional pain, there are practical complications. The law says that a death certificate cannot be issued without a body - which means no life insurance and no widowed parents' allowance, despite having four young children to bring up.

So in 2012, united by a common bond of understanding the dangers of fishing and a desire to raise money for The Fishermen's Mission who help so many fishing families in hardship, Jane formed the Fishwives' Choir with women from all over the UK who have lost husbands, fathers, brothers and sons to the sea.

Although the choir was only formed to create a one-off charity record, the women received so many performance requests that they decided to carry on in any way they could. Most had not sung since their school days, but we now join Jane, Laura, Leigh and Wendy as they record their debut album.

This is a tale of transforming tragedy and grief into music and hope.

Lead by Jane and over a bed of raucous laughter, The Fishwives' Tale is a heart-warming and at times hilarious tale of women overcoming grief through friendship and sea shanties - proving that, even in the darkest of times, there is still light.

With original music by Josh Winiberg
Producer: Hana Walker-Brown
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 11:30 Deborah Frances-White Rolls the Dice (b05qfjn1)
Series 1

Episode 1

Comedian Deborah Frances-White tells the true life story of her search for her birth mother.

Deborah is Australian but now living in London. With the vocal assistance of Thom Tuck, Alex Lowe, and Celia Pacquola, she ploughs through Google and Facebook to seek out her long lost family before finally hiring a private detective.

Deborah soon uncovers clues that lead her to the discovery of a genuine relative - her aunt - but not before some odd detours, including possibly being related to a one-armed champion pole dancer.

Eventually, contact is made with Deborah's real mother, Devon, and she must ask the awkward question - why was she given away?

Producer: Alan Nixon
A So Radio production for BBC Radio 4


MON 12:00 News Summary (b05q5w97)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 A History of Ideas (b05qfkjm)
What Does It Mean to Be Me?

A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.

Each week Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to discuss a really big question. This week he's asking 'What does it mean to be me?'

Helping him answer the question are philosopher Barry Smith, neuropsychologist Paul Broks, writer A L Kennedy and philosopher Jules Evans.

For the rest of the week Jules, Paul, Alison and Barry take us further into the history of ideas about the self with programmes of their own. Between them they will examine Descartes idea 'I think therefore I am', ask what role memory plays in ideas of the self, discover how stories and myths burrow into our unconscious, and ask whether there's more to existentialism than wearing black and pondering deep thoughts.

Producer: Melvin Rickarby.


MON 12:16 You and Yours (b05qfkjp)
Tesco Compensation and Clickbait

Tesco are paying two councils compensation after they pulled out of building a store in Somerset. We find out what the other 48 stores earmarked by the supermarket may get.

Councils have been trying to introduce voluntary schemes to tackle problems associated with extra strength lagers and ciders. They ask local retailers to sign up, but some shops say they're being forced to.

Clickbait headlines are everywhere on the internet. Why does just about every news organisation write in this style, and why does it make us click?

From today, convicted criminals in England and Wales must pay up to £1,200 towards the cost of their court case. Legal experts warn it may lead to more people pleading guilty.

Children with rare diseases are being helped by their parents who've formed online communities with other families in the same situation. We'll hear from some of the families.

Young people are apathetic about voting in the upcoming General Election, but do they know not registering to vote can also affect their credit rating?

We hear from our listeners about their problems with Royal Mail.


MON 12:57 Weather (b05q5w99)
The latest weather forecast.


MON 13:00 World at One (b05qfkjr)
Analysis of current affairs reports, presented by Martha Kearney.


MON 14:00 The Archers (b05q63c5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Drama (b05qfm6r)
Clean Trade

Former 'Casualty' regular Ivana Basic is Rosa in Winsome Pinnock's new drama set in an investment bank. We follow the changing fortunes of a tight knit group of cleaners and members of a Jamaican style 'pardner ring' - a type of savings club. There's one problem - they have hardly any savings and all have terrible financial problems. Led by wannabe trader Nessa, they try their hand at trading on the stock market. Much to their surprise they start to make money, but as they do so they find that their new found riches lead to conflict as their friendships are put to the test.

Directed by Nandita Ghose

Award-winning writer Winsome Pinnock has written widely for the stage including for the Royal Court, Clean Break Theatre Company, Soho Theatre, and Lyric Theatre Hammersmith. Awards include the George Devine Award, The Pearson Plays on Stage Award and the Unity Theatre Trust Award. She wrote Lazarus for Radio 3 and recently completed a writer's residency at the National Theatre.


MON 15:00 Brain of Britain (b05qfm6t)
Semi-Final 4, 2015

(16/17)
Who declared himself King of France in 1795 but didn't come to the throne for another nineteen years? And which Hollywood actress's autobiography was entitled 'Goodness Had Nothing To Do With It'?

Russell Davies asks the questions in the nail-biting fourth semi-final of the 2015 tournament, with four more keen quizzers vying for the single remaining place in the Final next week. The winner stands a real chance of being named the 62nd BBC Brain of Britain champion.

The contenders come from London, Bath, Bromley and Lytham in Lancashire.

Producer: Paul Bajoria.


MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b05q615r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]


MON 16:00 Arts Technologica (b05qfsll)
Music

Martha Lane Fox explores how musicians use the internet to create and distribute their work as network speeds increase.

Twenty years ago, we connected to and disconnected from the internet with dial-up modems. With broadband technology, the internet is always there. And better connection speeds don't just mean we can download music and movies faster. They're creating new opportunities for musicians to collaborate and make music online.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir features singers from countries as diverse as Syria and Cuba.

Former 10CC musician Kevin Godley wants to democratise the music business with his Whole World Band App that allows anyone to make music with musicians anywhere on the planet - even with Ronnie Wood.

Musicians at Edinburgh Napier University and the Royal College of Music in London are using new technology on high-speed research networks that allows them to play together with musicians in other countries in real-time. The Young Vic want to use similar technology to stage an international three-centre performance. New York's Metropolitan Opera say the technology will revolutionise opera performance.

And Ian O'Connell from Musion, the company that brought the late rapper Tupac Shakur back to life at the Coachella festival, talks about how faster networks and hologram technology mean music concerts of the future will be a whole new experience.

Producer: Gill Davies
An Overtone production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 16:30 The Digital Human (b05qfxfb)
Series 7

Secrets

Secret holders share why and how they have used the internet to disclose their most intimate or well kept secrets - how does a compulsion to confess in a public setting effect those who the secret is about? And can this audition of secrets online naturally lead to revealing them offline?

Aleks talks to her high school friends to unravel the secrecy about SARGON, an open secret society at her high schoo,l which she was never invited to join. She discovers the power of secrets for those on the inside and outside of SARGON. Could such a society exist today in the presence of social media?

We also hear from Frank Warren the secret keeper of the online website and app PostSecret. Yorick Pheonix who used PostSecret to air a secret kept for 30 years tells us why he was happy to use such a public setting to explain that he kept his daughter a secret from his family. Aleks addresses the ownership of secrets and how the internet can impact on this. We hear from Yorick's daughter, Rachael about how she feels that her father's secret, which is also her own, is online for all to hear.

And former MI6 officer Harry Fergusson talks about context collapse and how he managed to keep his work and family life separate.

Producer: Kate Bissell

Digi Human graffiti by NOIR aka Glynn Judd.


MON 17:00 PM (b05qfxfd)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b05q5w9d)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 18:30 Dilemma (b05qg5jh)
Series 4

Episode 2

Sue Perkins presents another edition of the show that puts the big moral and ethical questions to a mixed panel. This week, it's the turn of comedians Lucy Porter and Andy Zaltzman, BBC 6Music DJ Shaun Keaveny, and food writer Jack Monroe, who debate letting your children play with the offspring of racists, going on the minimum wage in exchange for other people's living standards being raised, and how to react to discovering infidelity just before you get married. Episode two of six.

Dilemma is presented by Sue Perkins, and was devised by Danielle Ward.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2015.


MON 19:00 The Archers (b05qg5jk)
Helen tries to reassure sceptical Rob that her recent work at the shop was a one off.

Helen insists on driving Rob today, and being there for him as he takes the paternity test. On the journey, Rob says the whole thing is a waste of time - pure vindictiveness from Jess. She's clearly a fantasist. All the more reason to take the test, says Helen.

The doctor understands that Rob's there under protest. He explains it could be a week to ten days before Rob gets the results. The mother and the Child Maintenance Service will also see the results.

Jim asks Tom about his sausages and Tom says yes he will be cooking them in the shop .

Tony has found a good looking bull. Having checked it out online, Tom agrees to go with Tony for a proper look, to help him decide.

Shula's cooking a special dinner of smoked salmon soufflé for Alistair, to celebrate Dan's commissioning as a Second Lieutenant. Alistair's not around though - Jim saw his car heading for Penny Hassett. Richard Locke phones Shula, asking to meet up for coffee. Shula takes his number, offering to call back. As she's distracted, the soufflé spoils. Oh no.


MON 19:16 Front Row (b05qg5jm)
Baileys Shortlist, Gunter Grass, Dear Lupin, The Last Five Years

Chair of judges for the Baileys shortlist, Shami Chakrabarti, reveals the six shortlisted novels, and Alex Clark delivers her verdict on the list.

We remember the German novelist Günter Grass who has died aged 87. British novelist Lawrence Norfolk, and German novelist, Daniel Kehlmann, discuss the work and life of the Nobel prize winning writer.

Charlie Mortimer's collection of letters from his father Roger Mortimer, Dear Lupin, became a surprise success when they were published in 2012. Now the letters have been adapted into a new play based on the book, starring real life father and son James and Jack Fox. Charlie Mortimer and Michael Simkins, who adapted the book for the stage, discuss why the humorous and poignant letters have such appeal.

Jason Solomons reviews the film The Last Five Years - a musical that plays with time and love.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Rebecca Armstrong.


MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b05qfj19)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


MON 20:00 The Hobsbawm File (b05qg5jp)
Frances Stonor Saunders explores the hidden history of Britain's covert programme against Communism during the Cold War. Using the prism of the recently released MI5 surveillance file on the late Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm, she tells the story not so much of the man himself but of the British State that developed such an obsessive interest in him.


MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b05pqskm)
The Bizarre Workings of St Louis County, Missouri

Are excessive traffic fines and debtors' jails fuelling community tensions in suburban Missouri? Claire Bolderson reports on a network of ninety separate cities in St Louis County, most of which have their own courts and police forces. Critics say that their size makes them financially unviable and allege that some of them boost their incomes by fining their own citizens and locking them up when they can't pay.

This edition of Crossing Continents goes out and about in St Louis County to meet the people who say they are victims of a system which sees arrest warrants issued for relatively minor misdemeanours. Many of the victims are poor and black. The programme also takes us into the courts, and out onto the freeways with some of the County's police, who say they are upholding the law and promoting road safety.

The US government is not so sure. One of the towns in question is Ferguson where riots erupted after a white police officer shot a young black man dead last summer. In a recent report on the riots, the Department of Justice concluded that the Ferguson police had been stopping people for no good reason. It said they were putting revenue before public safety.

Claire Bolderson investigates how widespread the practice is and considers the impact on relations between citizens and the authorities that govern them.

Produced by Michael Gallagher.


MON 21:00 3D Bioprinting (b05pn3t4)
It is hard to escape the explosion of 3D printing stories in the media. Every day it seems, the latest developments in 3D printing are thrust in front our eyes and ears. 3D printing is at the cusp of an electronic and technological revolution. A revolution the likes of which the world hasn't seen since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution over 200 years ago. The indications are that it could soon be possible for 3D Printers to manufacture any object from any material...including living cells.

Presenter Howard Stableford investigates a specific aspect and whether this development in 3D printing can bring real benefit to the natural world.

Along the way Howard discovers a 3D printed reef structure and scientific applications. With species extinction in the natural world is a reality Howard then asks the bigger question, "could 3D bioprinting to reverse this? Are we near the point when we could reproduce a living species?

An Orwellian thought maybe, but is it unreasonable to think that 3D printing might one day bring the iconic Dodo back from the dead.


MON 21:30 Start the Week (b05qfj13)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 21:58 Weather (b05q5w9g)
The latest weather forecast.


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b05qg5jr)
Election - The Labour Manifesto

Will "fiscal responsibility" be a vote winner ?
plus John Crace's "digested read" of the manifesto


MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b05qg5p7)
Gorsky

Episode 1

A fabulously wealthy Russian visits a struggling Chelsea bookshop with a proposal.

When the enigmatic Russian billionaire Roman Gorsky enters a quiet Chelsea Mews bookshop, Nick - himself an immigrant from the former Yugoslavia - has no idea of the impact this man will have on his work and private life. He only knows that he has been handed the best commission of his life - to create a private library of unparalleled scope and almost priceless worth.

But what lies behind Gorsky's desire to create this masterpiece, in a land far from his birth, as he endeavours to put down roots in this new city he calls home?

Read by Philip Arditti

Written by Vesna Goldsworthy
Abridged by Isobel Creed

Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015.


MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (b05pn676)
Landscape Language

Michael Rosen and Laura Wright talk to Dominick Tyler about the evocative words he's collecting, words that people use to describe features in the British landscape - from Dingle to Desire Path..
Dominick Tyler is the author of Uncommon Ground: A word-lover's guide to the British landscape, and with his Landreader Project he aims to create a glossary of the British landscape.
Producer Beth O'Dea.


MON 23:30 The Design Dimension (b04p84h8)
Series 2

Know Your Place

In the first of a new series, Tom Dyckhoff, writer about architecture, looks at the world we inhabit through the lens of design.

He examines how the design of the built environment can influence who we are and who we might become. He talks to an ex-offender about life inside Strangeways prison and finds echoes in the experiences of Lynsey Hanley, who's written about growing up on a large housing estate in the Midlands. Also, Tom taps into the little known use of 'parkour' (urban free-running) in the testing of high security facilities.

He draws on the research of criminologist Yvonne Jewkes about prison design and rehabilitation, visits an Oxford Street retailer with the neuro-scientist Tim Holmes and gauges the social and personal impact of privatising public space with the author Anna Minton.

Produced by Alan Hall and Hana Walker-Brown.
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.



TUESDAY 14 APRIL 2015

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b05q5wbh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


TUE 00:30 The Shepherd's Life (b05r0b35)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b05q5wbk)
The latest shipping forecast.


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b05q5wbm)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b05q5wbp)
The latest shipping forecast.


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b05q5wbr)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b05qg60s)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Andrew Martlew.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b05qg60v)
Labour Manifesto, Cow Attacks, the History of the Chicken, the Scilly Shrew

The rural analysis of the Labour Party manifesto.
Cows become dangerous during springtime calving.
The history of the ubiquitous chicken.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Beatrice Fenton.


TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03x45pj)
Alpine Swift

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Bill Oddie presents the alpine swift. Alpine swifts are impressive anchor-shaped birds, the colour of coffee above and milk-white below. In the UK Alpine swifts are annual visitors, appearing in Spring, but they don't breed here. They spend the winter in Africa and on their journey north in spring some birds overshoot their breeding areas. Alpine swifts can be seen as they arc through the skies and because they travel so fast they can turn up almost anywhere from central London to Shetland.


TUE 06:00 Today (b05qgcgg)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (b05qgcgj)
Nigel Shadbolt on the worldwide web

Sir Nigel Shadbolt, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Southampton University, believes in the power of open data. With Sir Tim Berners-Lee he persuaded two UK Prime Ministers of the importance of letting us all get our hands on information that's been collected about us by the government and other organisations. But, this has brought him into conflict with people who think there's money to be made from this data. And open data raises issues of privacy.

Nigel Shadbolt talks to Jim al-Khalili about how a degree in psychology and philosophy lead to a career researching artificial intelligence and a passion for open data.


TUE 09:30 One to One (b03q6dzr)
Professor Iain Hutchison

Anita Anand knew she was meant to be a journalist from the moment she covered her first news story. An instinct she followed proved to be correct, and convinced her that she should pursue journalism.

In this series of interviews for 'One to One', Anita discovers what drives people to pursue certain careers. Was there an epiphany, something in their very core, or a series of events that motivated them?

This week's guest is world-renowned facial surgeon, Professor Iain Hutchison. In the very early part of his career he spent a year working in casualty. He treated many young men with facial injuries sustained in car accidents. He realised that - simply by stitching them up under local anaesthetic - he could make not just a medical, but an emotional difference to their lives. It was this that led him onto his career in facial surgery, and to the establishment of a charity that researches the prevention and treatment of facial diseases and injuries.

Next week Anita speaks to Mathew Waddington, a partner in a law firm who chose to specialise in children's law following the death of his daughter.

Producer: Karen Gregor.


TUE 09:45 The Shepherd's Life (b05r3tcz)
Episode 2

After his grandfather's death, James Rebanks's family face a difficult financial decision about the farm.

James Rebanks is the first son of a shepherd, who was the first son of a shepherd himself, he and his family have lived and worked in and around the Lake District for generations.

An increasingly marginalised and precarious livelihood - it costs £1 to sheer a sheep, yet each fleece is worth only 40p - Rebanks' anger at the way small farmers are treated, and his passion for continuing his ancestors way of life, is palpable. Through his eyes, we see that the Lake District is not a playground or a scenic backdrop, it's a working landscape that needs sheep and its farmers to survive.

James Rebanks has a huge following on Twitter @herdyshepherd1 where you can see photographs detailing day to day life on the farm - including his fine flock of Herdwick sheep and, the latest additions to the workforce, sheepdog Floss's ten puppies.

Read by Bryan Dick

Written by James Rebanks
Abridged by Sian Preece

Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2015.


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b05qgcgn)
Hollie McNish, Coral and Paul Jones

Spoken word artist, Hollie McNish, performs live; Coral and Paul Jones talk about the loss of their little girl, April; we hear prisoners experiences of the Women's Institute being set up in Northern Ireland's Women's Prisons; Sue McAllister, Director General of the NI Prison Service discusses her role in setting up the WI for women prisoners and her vision for the support they offer;

Presenter Jane Garvey
Producer: Kirsty Starkey.


TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b05qgcgq)
Writing the Century 27 - The Journal of a Joskin

1940: The Promised Land

The series which explores the 20th century through the diaries and correspondence of real people. Further journals of Yorkshire farm labourer and aspiring writer Fred Kitchen adapted by Stephen Wakelam. Pastures new for published cowman Fred Kitchen.

1940: The Promised Land

Director: David Hunter.


TUE 11:00 Future Speak (b05qgcgs)
Look closely and you'll see that computer code is written all over our offices, our homes and now in our classrooms too.

The recent Lords' Digital Skills report says the UK's digital potential is at a make or break point, with a skills gap to be plugged and a generation gap to be bridged.

As technologist Tom Armitage argues, there's also a leap of the imagination to be made, to conceive of the wider benefits of reading, writing, and even thinking in code.

In Future Speak, Tom sets out to decode digital literacy for the so-called 'second machine age'. He considers why and how we should become fluent in the language of computing and, once we've mastered it, what we might do with it. With perspectives from education, industry, academia, the media, science and the arts, he explores a world where, increasingly, code is what you make of it.

Baroness Morgan explains why digital skills are high on the House of Lords' agenda; Ian Livingstone CBE, role-playing game creator, tells us why he campaigned for coding in schools; and Professor John Naughton considers what the rest of us should learn to engage democratically in the digital age.

Tom visits Benton Park in Newcastle, claiming to be the first primary school in the country to boast a Raspberry Pi Orchestra and speaks to Clare Sutcliffe who founded Code Club before computer science made it onto the curriculum.

Outside of the classroom, Tom finds out how the STEMettes are using coding to increase the presence of women in science, technology, engineering and maths - and he discovers why Imogen Heap now prefers to make music with wearable technology.


Producer: Kirsty McQuire
A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 11:30 Soul Music (b05qgcgv)
Series 20

Hallelujah

Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' took him years to write. It originally had as many as 80 verses. Recorded for his 'Various Positions' album, it was almost ignored when first released in 1984. Only Bob Dylan saw its true worth and would play it live. John Cale eventually recorded a version which was heard by an obscure musician called Jeff Buckley.

The song has been covered by hundreds of artists including Rufus Wainwright, kd lang and Alexandra Burke.

We hear from those whose relationship with the song is deep and profound: singer Brandi Carlisle listened to it over and over again as a troubled teenager; it became a sound-track to James Talerico falling in love and Jim Kullander made a connection with the song after the death of his wife.


TUE 12:00 News Summary (b05q5wbt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:04 A History of Ideas (b05qgcgx)
Paul Broks on John Locke and Personal Identity

Neuropsychologist Paul Broks asks how we can be sure we're the same person as we were yesterday. The philosopher John Locke thought it depended on what we could remember: if we could remember something happening to us, then we were the same person as the person it happened to. But is that true?

What if our memories could be downloaded and then uploaded into another body? Would that new person be the same as us? And if so, how much would we care if the body we now inhabit was destroyed? These sci-fi philosophical thought experiments can make us rethink our concept of personal identity and maybe even our attitudes towards death. In the end, is there really a self at all, or are we just a bundle of mental states and events?

Presenter: Paul Broks
Producer: Jolyon Jenkins.


TUE 12:16 You and Yours (b05qgcgz)
Call You and Yours: Are you 'sandwiched' between caring for your parents and children?

They've been dubbed the Sandwich Generation - those who care for ageing parents while still looking after their own children at home. Reports suggest one in five middle-aged people are part of it and it's starting to define a new way of living. It's just been announced that Allison Pearson's hugely popular newspaper column, Sandwich Woman, is to become a novel.

On tomorrow's Call You and Yours, we'll be asking: How you cope with the sandwich of caring for both your elderly parents and younger children? We want to hear your stories of being in a so-called care "sandwich". How do you cope? What are the pressure points? What do you do and who do you turn to when it all goes wrong?

Email us on youandyours@bbc.co.uk and join Winifred Robinson tomorrow at quarter past twelve.

For advice related to caring, please contact Carers UK
Carers UK helpline: 0808 808 7777
advice@carersuk.org.


TUE 12:57 Weather (b05q5wbw)
The latest weather forecast.


TUE 13:00 World at One (b05qgch1)
Analysis of current affairs reports, presented by Martha Kearney.


TUE 14:00 The Archers (b05qg5jk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama (b01k9q71)
The Last Breath

The drama is set in 2018. Assisted suicide has been legalised in the UK.

Ben Fearnside is an abstract expressionist painter. He has had some success with London galleries but his work has now fallen out of fashion. Without an audience his life-work is unwitnessed and 'uncreated'. He decides to make one final piece of art: he will capture a dying breath in a jar and exhibit it.

Ben invites freelance radio producer Anita Sullivan to profile him and document the process of capturing The Last Breath. But as the date for breath capture approaches, the identity of the donor remains a mystery.

'The Last Breath' is a high-concept piece of drama about a high-concept piece of art. It plays with narrative form by blending documentary and drama, using real people and real names with a fictional story. The play asks some big questions: what is art, what should be sacrificed in the name of art... and what is the price of a soul?

The Last Breath was created by Ben Fearnside with Anita Sullivan

Nicky is played by Nicola Walker
The interviewees are;
Derek and Mo Fearnside, Ben Fletcher, Professor Emma Jones, Anthony Chopper White, Linda Keenan and Dr Mark Gretason.
The Static State artists are;
Kenny Watson, Alex Allan, Joseph Watts and Robert Perry.

Music was written and performed by Nick Tettersell.

Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (b05qgch3)
Series 7

Heartsong

From the first touch to the last kiss, Josie Long hears stories of love, loss and finding yourself.

An audio diary shines a light on how we rebuild ourselves after the end of a relationship, a final kiss in a love affair holds us in a moment crackling with tension, and a first touch offers a moment of tenderness.

Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

The items featured in today's programme are:

A Kiss
Produced by Kaitlin Prest with music by Kyle Kaplan
Editorial support from the School of Making Thinking, and Terrence Pender and Mitra Kaboli.
Originally aired on Radiotopia's The Heart.
http://www.theheartradio.org/

Edith's Passport
Produced by Eloise Stevens with music by Raphaella
Cello played by George Cooke

When Will This End?
Produced by Sally Herships with Carolyn Lenske

Prepared to Love
Feat. Adrian Howells
Produced by Karl James
Originally aired on The Dialogue Project
You can hear the story in it's entirety here: http://understandingdifference.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/prepared-to-love.html.


TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (b05qgch5)
Cycle City

The bulldozers have already begun work on London's 'cycle superhighways' or 'Crossrail for bikes'. Cycling enthusiasts have declared these segregated lanes to be the infrastructure which London needs to make cycling much more appealing for all. Andrew Gilligan, the Mayor's Cycling Commissioner says if Transport for London can get the engineering right then cycling in the capital will become safer and far more people might make the switch from cars, buses and trains to carbon free pedal power. The potential carbon and congestion savings are huge, up to 25% of transport emissions if we can reach the levels of cycling now seen in Copenhagen, and those who cycle are also healthier. However, to replicate Dutch or Danish bike culture cycling's appeal must move beyond the lycra-clad males to become the first choice for women, children and older people too.

Tom Heap finds out if these cycle superhighways can really deliver for the capital and if the huge amounts of money being spent here and elsewhere across the country can ensure a cycling revolution for all of Britain's would-be bikers.

Producer: Helen Lennard.


TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (b05qgch7)
The Pedant

What is a pedant, and where does pedantry come from? Michael Rosen and Dr Laura Wright discuss with Times writer Oliver Kamm, who describes himself as a "reformed pedant".

Producer Beth O'Dea.


TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b05qgch9)
Series 36

Rachel Johnson on Ottoline Morrell

Rachel Johnson author and journalist champions the life of Ottoline Morrell. The Bloomsbury hostess, a mistress, a dominant figure in the arts without being an artist herself was often mocked and ridiculed. Rachel tells Matthew Parris why her extraordinary life was a great life. They are also joined by author and one of Lady Ottoline's biographers Miranda Seymour.

Producer : Perminder Khatkar.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.


TUE 17:00 PM (b05qgcjl)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b05q5wc0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 18:30 The Casebook of Max and Ivan (b05qgcjn)
Series 1

Case #19 - Screen Test

Max and Ivan are private detectives for whom no case is too small......Sorry, for whom no fee is too small. Matt Lucas joins them to solve a showbiz mystery.

Driven by their love of truth, justice (and the need to pay off their terrifying landlord, Malcolm McMichaelmas), they take on crimes that no-one else would consider. In this case, the mysterious disappearance of film impresario Bernie Goldfinkelrubenstein's leading man.

Max and Ivan - comedians and actors Max Olesker and Ivan Gonzalez - are a critically acclaimed, award-winning double act who have quickly established themselves as one of the most exciting comedy duos on the circuit.

Over the course of the series they are dropped into new worlds, and have to use their skills to penetrate deep into each community. If that means Ivan dressing up as a 14 year old German girl, so be it!

Cast:
Max...............Max Olesker
Ivan..............Ivan Gonzalez
Bernie...........Matt Lucas
Malcolm.........Lewis MacLeod
Norman.........David Reed
Lizzie............Jenny Bede


Produced by Victoria Lloyd
A John Stanley production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 19:00 The Archers (b05qgcn6)
Jennifer collects comments for the Flood Action Plan. She debates with Susan, who's not ashamed of her positive views about the new road. Susan also thinks they should get Justin Elliot on board for the group. Jennifer's not so sure.
Usha's organising roles for the village meal / barn dance. Susan's keen to help (and score organizational points over Jennifer, who's making quiches).
Susan gossips about Dr Locke to Shula and Usha - pointedly mentioning how nice it was to bump into him. Susan then makes a big deal of apologizing to Usha for her insensitivity. Usha says no need - what happened is all ancient history.
Lilian has had Botox. Brian's shocked, but under duress from Jennifer he tells Lilian she looks stunning. A rather uncertain Lilian thanks Brian for making her feel so much better.


TUE 19:16 Front Row (b05qgcn8)
Alan Rickman, Sonia Delaunay, Punchdrunk Theatre, Anne Frank

With Kirsty Lang.

Alan Rickman discusses his new film A Little Chaos which he directed and also stars in as Louis XIV. The film also stars Kate Winslet and tells the story of the creation of the magnificent gardens at Versailles. He explains why it took him 18 years to follow up his directorial debut, The Winter Guest.

The artist Sonia Delaunay dedicated her life to experimenting with colour and was a key member of the abstract movement. Louisa Buck reviews a new exhibition at Tate Modern celebrating her contribution to painting, fashion and textile design.

Against Captain's Orders is a new collaboration between Punchdrunk Theatre and the National Maritime Museum, which takes families through the museum's wealth of maritime history and artefacts. Kirsty meets Pete Higgin from Punchdrunk and Sarah Lockwood from the museum to find out about the show.

Anne Frank, whose life was tragically cut short by the Nazis, died 70 years ago. No-one knows the exact date of her death but the Anne Frank Trust UK have decided to mark it today, one day before the anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen. Deborah Moggach, who adapted her diary for television, talks about the affecting and engaging content that reveals a typical teenager in horrifying circumstances.

Presenter : Kirsty Lang
Producer : Dymphna Flynn.


TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b05qgcgq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


TUE 20:00 The Edge (b05qgd0n)
As cruise missiles and precision bombs rained down on Iraq in 1990 some believed it marked the dawn of a new age in which the US would stand supreme and police the world. But this was a fleeting moment of overwhelming military superiority relying on forces built up over a decades-long Cold War arms race.

Almost everything that has happened since Operation Desert Storm, when the US and its allies kicked Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait, has served to demonstrate the limitations of Western power and the rise of other forces. Defence spending has been falling in many NATO states, and assumptions made at the end of the Cold War about the nature of future threats now look questionable.

With Vladimir Putin challenging Europe, China's inexorable economic rise and Islamic radicalism remaking the Middle East, the West seems everywhere on the defensive. And there's disturbing evidence to suggest that Western forces - including even those of the United States - are nowhere near as strong as many might assume. In this programme Mark Urban asks an uncomfortable question: Is the West losing its military edge?

Producer: Mike Gallagher
Editor: Richard Knight.


TUE 20:40 In Touch (b05qgd0q)
Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Washing Machines

Cathy Yelf, new CEO of The Macular Society, talks to Peter White about the differences between the available treatments for AMD (Age-related macular degeneration) and Nick Marr, CEO of Henshaws, discusses the charity's new strategy, which will broaden its remit to offer services not only to blind and visually-impaired people, but also to those with other disabilities.

Peter also hears listener Charlotte Bennie's thoughts on accessible washing machines.

Producer: Cheryl Gabriel.


TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (b05qgd0s)
London Bombings, Insight and Analysis

As the ten year anniversary of the 2005 London bombings approaches, Claudia Hammond talks to Rachel Handley, a clinical psychologist whose first job was to treat people for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and travel phobia after the bombings. She talks about the overwhelming guilt felt by many people she counselled and how cognitive behavioural therapy helped stop people experience terrifying flashbacks. She explains why PTSD can also have a delayed onset, even as much as ten years after the original event. Also in the programme, Gary Klein discusses his research into insights and whether it's impossible to improve our own capacity to have them. Claudia is joined by cognitive neuropsychologist, Catherine Loveday to talk about new research into emotions and the brain.


TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (b05qgcgj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


TUE 21:58 Weather (b05q5wc3)
The latest weather forecast.


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b05qgd0v)
Election - Conservative Manifesto Day

As David Cameron promises the Good Life to voters, we hear what voters in a London marginal constituency think of giving the "right to buy" to Housing Association tenants.
The Green Party also publishes its manifesto and calls on voters to back a peaceful political revolution.


TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b05qsylp)
Gorsky

Episode 2

Chelski: a London home for Russian wealth. Gorsky: a story about beauty, money and books.

A beautiful Russian woman, married to an Englishman, but do they really share a gilded life?

Natalia and Tom Summerscale are a golden couple who live an opulent life in Chelsea. When Nick is called upon to deliver an art book for Natalia to their home, The Laurels, he enters a world where everything appears to be perfect.

Read by Philip Arditti

Written by Vesna Goldsworthy
Abridged by Isobel Creed

Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 23:00 Wondermentalist Cabaret (b015p632)
Cheltenham Literary Festival

Matt Harvey presents a comedy-infused, musically-enhanced, interactive poetry cabaret, joined by one man house band Jerri Hart, fellow poet AF Harrold, and musical comedian, Helen Arney. The Cheltenham Literary Festival audience will contribute a crowd-sourced poem on a theme of their own choice. In past shows it's ranged from the delights of gerbils to garden sheds. What will they choose?

Producer: Mark Smalley.


TUE 23:30 The Design Dimension (b04ps6py)
Series 2

Designing Protest

In the second of a new series, Tom Dyckhoff, writer about architecture, looks at the world we inhabit through the lens of design.

Through the experiences of an activist on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, who made a gas mask from a 'how to' guide exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the playfully provocative design of giant 'carbon bubbles' for a climate change march, Tom explores the history and the practice of design in protest.

Fashion writer Cally Blackman reflects on Victorian 'rational fashion' and political T-shirts in the era of Margaret Thatcher, to test Quentin Bell's declaration that the history of fashion is largely about protest.

And Catherine Flood, co-curator of Disobedient Objects, discusses with the comedian and political activist Mark Thomas how necessity can be the mother of inventive design for those engaged in movements for social change.

Produced by Alan Hall and Hana Walker-Brown
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.



WEDNESDAY 15 APRIL 2015

WED 00:00 Midnight News (b05q5wcz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


WED 00:30 The Shepherd's Life (b05r3tcz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b05q5wd1)
The latest shipping forecast.


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b05q5wd3)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b05q5wd5)
The latest shipping forecast.


WED 05:30 News Briefing (b05q5wd7)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b05qgjjr)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Andrew Martlew.


WED 05:45 Farming Today (b05qgjjt)
Conservative Manifesto, Anchovy and Chips, Herdy Shepherd, Rural Broadband

The rural analysis of the Conservative and Green Party manifestos. Britain's favourite fish may off the menu in the next few decades because of warming in the North Sea. We hear from rural businesses struggling with communications.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Beatrice Fenton.


WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03x45q5)
Ruff

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Bill Oddie presents the ruff. The glory of the ruff lies in its extravagant courtship displays. For most of the year these waders look similar to our other long-legged water-birds such as redshanks or sandpipers but in the breeding season the males sprout a multi-coloured ruff. The impressive ruffs of feathers come in infinite variety, black, white, ginger, or a mixture of these. The males gather at traditional spring leks with the aim of winning one or more mates.


WED 06:00 Today (b05qgk89)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


WED 09:00 Midweek (b05qgk8c)
Carl Davis, Samantha Ellis, Simon Annand, Caitlin Doughty

Carl Davis CBE is a composer and conductor, best known for his film and television music including The World at War; Pride and Prejudice and The French Lieutenant's Woman. He has also created symphonic scores for a range of Charlie Chaplin's movies such as The Gold Rush and City Lights. He conducts a live orchestra in London and Birmingham at the screening of two classic silent movies: Buster Keaton's The General and Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times. Philharmonia at the Movies: The General is at Royal Festival Hall. Friday Night Classics - Charlie Chaplin is at Symphony Hall in Birmingham. The BFI DVD Charlie Chaplin: The Mutual Comedies featuring music by Carl Davis is on general release.

Samantha Ellis is a journalist and playwright. Her new play Operation Magic Carpet is based on her own experiences as the daughter of Iraqi-Jewish parents who fled Baghdad before she was born. Featuring a child heroine, the play tackles the stories of second generation immigrants who have never visited the countries their parents came from. Operation Magic Carpet is at Polka Theatre, London.

Simon Annand has been a photographer for over 30 years. His work focuses on all aspects of the theatre including production and rehearsal photos, posters and his own project called The Half about actors preparing for the stage. His new exhibition features images of some of Britain's leading playwrights and marks the 10th anniversary of The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting. 2015 Bruntwood Prize Exhibition: Portraits of Playwrights by Simon Annand is at the Royal Exchange, Manchester.

Caitlin Doughty is a mortician and writer. Her book, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, tells the story of her apprenticeship as a mortician at a crematorium in San Francisco. It also tackles society's fear of death and the funeral industry's approach to the dead and their families. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - and Other Lessons from the Crematorium is published by Canongate.

Producer: Paula McGinley.


WED 09:45 The Shepherd's Life (b05r3xc3)
Episode 3

Clashing with his father, James Rebanks gains a place at Oxford University, but misses the farming life.

James Rebanks is the first son of a shepherd, who was the first son of a shepherd himself, he and his family have lived and worked in and around the Lake District for generations.

Small scale farming is an increasingly precarious livelihood, it's almost impossible to earn enough money to bring up a family, you need a secondary income. And so, as disagreements with his father intensified, James, aged twenty-one, decided to return to education, resulting in a place at Oxford. All the time he was away, he longed to be back home, working on the fells.

James Rebanks has a huge following on Twitter ( as the @herdyshepherd1 ) where you can see photographs detailing day to day life on the farm - including his fine flock of Herdwick sheep and, the latest additions to the workforce, sheepdog Floss's ten puppies.

Read by Bryan Dick

Written by James Rebanks
Abridged by Sian Preece

Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2015.


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b05qgk8f)
Ed Miliband, Noomi Rapace

Labour say that the Coalition Government's cuts have hit women hardest - Jenni talks to Ed Miliband, Leader of the Labour Party, about his offer to women voters.

And Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, best known for her role in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, discusses her new film Child 44.


WED 10:41 15 Minute Drama (b05qgk8h)
Writing the Century 27 - The Journal of a Joskin

1948: Gooseberries

The series which explores the 20th century through the diaries and correspondence of real people. Further journals of Yorkshire farm labourer and aspiring writer Fred Kitchen adapted by Stephen Wakelam. Finances are tight and writing commissions are few and far between.

1948: Gooseberries

Director: David Hunter.


WED 10:56 The Listening Project (b05qgk8k)
Geoff and Vincent - Not Enough Love in the Workplace

Fi Glover introduces two men with highly successful careers who are determined to diminish the stigma of mental health problems in the workplace by acknowledging their own, in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject

Producer: Marya Burgess.


WED 11:00 Lives in a Landscape (b05qgk8m)
Series 19

Holy Island: Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

Alan Dein meets the modern residents of the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. While the recorded history of of the place can be traced back to the 6th century and includes the followers of St. Aiden and St Cuthbert, the current residents try to maintain a way of life that has existed for hundreds of years. Where the monks of Lindisfarne had contend with the Vikings and the Reformation, today's residents face an annual invasion of half a million tourists.

With the help of residents - both young and old - Alan Dein explores their options... whether they should stay on island and keep the old industries going, or leave and discover what the wider world has to offer. Fishermen Andrew and Stuart Johnson, farmer Alison Brigham and retiree Brian Paterson have always lived on the island... recent school-leavers Molly Luke and Joel Rain are planning to leave in the autumn... and island shop keeper Gary Watson left only to come back. But what is the draw of the place?

When the tide is out coachloads of tourists and pilgrims flood onto the island. But when the tide comes in and the island is cut off from the mainland, the visitors disappear and silence descends.

Producer: Paul Kobrak.


WED 11:30 Thanks a Lot, Milton Jones! (b03wq26m)
Series 1

Smugglers

Mention Milton Jones to most people and the first thing they think is 'Help!'.

King of the one-liners, Milton Jones returns BBC to Radio 4 for an amazing 10th series in a new format where he has decided to set himself up as a man who can help anyone anywhere - whether they need it or not. Because, in his own words, "No problem too problemy".

But each week, Milton and his trusty assistant Anton set out to help people and soon find they're embroiled in a new adventure. So when you're close to the edge, then Milton can give you a push.

This week, the local seafarers' pub starts serving only coffee, there's no denying it's rum....the coffee, that is. So who better than Milton to sort it out?

Written by Milton with James Cary ("Bluestone 42", "Miranda") and Dan Evans (who co-wrote Milton's Channel 4 show "House Of Rooms") the man they call "Britain's funniest Milton," returns to the radio with a fully-working cast and a shipload of new jokes.

The cast includes regulars Tom Goodman-Hill ("Spamalot", "Mr. Selfridge") as the ever-faithful Anton, and Dan Tetsell ("Newsjack"), and features the one and only Josie Lawrence working with Milton for the first time.

Producer David Tyler's radio credits include Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive, Cabin Pressure, Bigipedia, Another Case Of Milton Jones, Jeremy Hardy Speaks To The Nation, The Brig Society, Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off, The 99p Challenge, The Castle, The 3rd Degree and even, going back a bit, Radio Active.

Produced and Directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:00 News Summary (b05q5wd9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:04 A History of Ideas (b05qgm0g)
Writer AL Kennedy on Sartre and the Individual

Writer AL Kennedy on Existentialist ideas about the individual. Jean Paul Sartre argued that, for humans, 'existence preceded essence'. This means that there is no blueprint or template from which to work - humans are free to make themselves up as they go along. Being an individual comes from the way you negotiate this freedom and the choices you make in the face of it.


WED 12:16 You and Yours (b05qgm0j)
Flight Compensation, Colouring Books for Adults, Art House Film Releases

Despite a Supreme Court ruling, some passengers are struggling to claim money for delayed flights. Why are the airlines not fulfilling their obligations?

One of the surprise hits for the publishing industry has been the demand for colouring books for adults. We hear from best-selling illustrator Johanna Basford, and why some adults are colouring more than reading.

And by all accounts the new Swedish film Force Majeure is worth seeing, but patrons of Sheffield's Showroom cinema will have to wait a few weeks, because the film's distributor will be releasing it their own chain of cinemas first.

Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Joel Moors.


WED 12:57 Weather (b05q5wdc)
The latest weather forecast.


WED 13:00 World at One (b05qgm0l)
Analysis of current affairs reports, presented by Martha Kearney.


WED 14:00 The Archers (b05qgcn6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 Drama (b01k2bvz)
Douglas Livingstone - Road to the Borders

Written by Douglas Livingstone.

Road to the Borders is set in Hawick over the weekend of the Reivers' Festival - a few days when the deeds of the reivers (dictionary definition: one who makes raids or plunders) are celebrated.

Until James I & VI united England and Scotland the reivers ruled the Borders, stealing their neighbours' cattle and exacting revenge for the raids they suffered themselves. Hamish is as English as they come, but his father was born in the Borders and Jim's pride in his ancestry becomes more marked the older he becomes. As he looks back with regret to the rules that governed his forbears, he wishes his son could be more like the reivers of old.

Road to the Borders is the sixth play in the Road series, in which writer Douglas Livingstone and director Jane Morgan team up at an event. The particular sounds are recorded and the atmosphere absorbed before Douglas writes the play. On this occasion, he responded to the romance and melodrama of the story of the reivers and the fact that his own father was a Scot played some part in the making of the play.

Producer/Director: Jane Morgan
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b05qgm0p)
Benefits

Puzzled by benefits or tax credits? Paul Lewis 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.

Illness, disability, losing your job, retirement or changing family circumstances can have a serious impact on your finances, making it harder or impossible to make ends meet.

Support may be available in the form of benefits or tax credits and if you need help understanding your entitlement, making a claim or making sense of the system, Paul Lewis and guests will be waiting for your call on Wednesday.

Are you affected by the changing benefits system or the roll out of Universal Credit?

What can you do if you've been told there is an overpayment, who can check the figures and how will you repay the money?

If you are trying to move into work, how will you manage if your salary is low?

Or perhaps you are reducing your working hours to care for a relative or as you edge closer to retirement?

Whatever stage of life you're at, joining Paul Lewis to answer your benefit questions will be:

Phil Agulnik, Director, entitledto
Will Hadwen, Working Families
Gill Williams, Case Worker, Independent Age

Call 03700 100 444 from 1pm to 3.30pm on Wednesday or e-mail your question to moneybox@bbc.co.uk now. Standard geographic call charges apply.


WED 15:30 All in the Mind (b05qgd0s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b05qgm0r)
The Ethnography Award 'Shortlist'

The Ethnography award 'short list': Thinking Allowed, in association with the British Sociological Association, presents a special programme devoted to the academic research which has been short listed for our second annual award for a study that has made a significant contribution to ethnography, the in-depth analysis of the everyday life of a culture or sub culture. Laurie Taylor is joined by three of the judges: Professor Beverley Skeggs, Professor Adam Kuper and Dr Coretta Phillips.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.


WED 16:30 The Media Show (b05qgm0t)
Politico, Labour's Media Policy, Katie Hopkins, Google

Politico, the non-partisan, Washington based political news organisation is to launch a European edition next week in print and online. With new headquarters in Brussels, it aims to become the dominant voice on European politics and policy. John Harris, co-founder and editor-in chief of Politico joins Steve to discuss their plans for expansion.

The columnist and former Apprentice contestant Katie Hopkins is well known for her outspoken and controversial comments. Dubbed the most hated woman in Britain, she's been accused of making disgraceful and ill-informed remarks on Twitter about everything from obesity to dementia. She tells Steve why being offensive shouldn't be classed as an offence.

The European Commission has filed a complaint against Google over its alleged anti-competitive behaviour. The competition commissioner has stated that the firm's promotion of its own shopping links amounted to an abuse of its dominance in search. Steve speaks to the Guardian's Charles Arthur who has been following this story.

And in the latest of our interviews with political parties in the run up to the general election, we hear from Labour's Chris Bryant about the party's media policy.

Producer: Dianne McGregor.


WED 17:00 PM (b05qgm0w)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b05q5wdf)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 18:30 Tim FitzHigham: The Gambler (b05qgm0y)
Series 2

Episode 3

Adventuring comedian Tim FitzHigham recreates a 19th-century bet.

Can he cook a pudding ten feet under water?

Producer: Joe Nunnery.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.


WED 19:00 The Archers (b05qgm10)
Ed and Jazzer manage to get some sheep shearing work at Brookfield. Pip considers working as their catcher. Ed's new tractor arrives - it's huge and he wonders if it's too much. Ed and Emma take it for a spin. Emma's annoyed that Ed went ahead with the purchase without consulting her, but softens as he explains why he had to.

Keepers Cottage is being ripped out from the floorboards. Clarrie can't bear to watch, but Eddie's staying positive. He's confident Hazel will sort them out top spec furniture and they'll get the house made over. Eddie also promises to have Clarrie's sideboard fixed up good as new, having tried himself and seen Clarrie's utter dismay. It has sentimental value for her.

Pip struggles paring a hoof with David and admits she needs practice. Pip's stressed about her dissertation, and frustrated as she's keen to make her mark in the world. David encourages Pip that she just needs to get through the next few months. Her time will come and she'll get her chance.


WED 19:16 Front Row (b05qgm1g)
Child 44, Carol Morley, Francis Bacon, Lisa McInerney

John Wilson discusses the new espionage thriller Child 44, starring Tom Hardy.

A major exhibition in Norwich compares the work of Francis Bacon with other great painters including Velazquez, Rembrandt, Titian and Picasso.

Director Carol Morley on her film The Falling, about an epidemic of fainting that grips a girls school in the 1960s, starring Maxine Peake and Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams.

And Irish writer Lisa McInerney talks about her novel The Glorious Heresies, set in the seamier side of Ireland's second city, Cork, with drug dealers, prostitutes and gangland bosses.


WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b05qgk8h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:41 today]


WED 20:00 Two Rooms (b05qgm2n)
Fi Glover hosts a unique experiment as two groups of people share their contrasting experiences, and voice their inner concerns about the way society is developing, as Britain faces arguably the most unpredictable election of modern times.

In the first programme, the groups explore whether they feel that the UK is creating a secure and financially stable society for all.

Producer: Emma Jarvis
Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 20:45 Four Thought (b05qgm1y)
Jamie Bartlett

Jamie Bartlett finds out that internet trolls can be surprisingly human. The author of "The Dark Net", he says that demonising people behind shocking and hidden online subcultures may not be the best way to deal with them. Greater understanding of the complexity of their motivation could lead us to a more effective response. Without condoning their disturbing and unacceptable behaviour, he tells the stories of his surprising encounters with them.
Producer: Sheila Cook.


WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (b05qgch5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:30 on Tuesday]


WED 21:30 Midweek (b05qgk8c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b05qgm20)
Election - Lib Dem Manifesto launch

We examine their proposals and ask if they're sacrificing principles in favour of power.
And we report from the fishing town of Grimsby - how did the UKIP manifesto go down there?


WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b05qt15f)
Gorsky

Episode 3

Chelski: a London home for Russian wealth. Gorsky: a story about beauty, money and books.

Nick's rented home abuts an enormous construction site for a 'private palace' in Chelsea. The owner of this massive undertaking and edifice is his employer, the elusive Roman Gorsky.

After his visit to The Laurels, Nick bumps into Tom Summerscale and they have lunch together. Tom invites Nick to visit his accountant with him.

Read by Philip Arditti

Written by Vesna Goldsworthy
Abridged by Isobel Creed

Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


WED 23:00 Jigsaw (b01r0zbh)
Series 1

Episode 3

Dan Antopolski, Nat Luurtsema and Tom Craine piece together a selection of silly, clever, dark sketches. Produced by Colin Anderson.


WED 23:15 The Music Teacher (b03b2mdg)
Series 3

Episode 3

Richie Webb returns as multi-instrumentalist music teacher Nigel Penny.

Belinda offers Nigel's services as a songwriter to the local football team to celebrate their possible cup run. Nigel, however, is slightly more concerned with a money-spinning sideline selling cheap and nasty music satchels whilst coping with his usual array of challenging pupils.

Directed by Nick Walker
Audio production by Matt Katz

Written and produced by Richie Webb
A Top Dog Production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 23:30 The Design Dimension (b04svfs1)
Series 2

Ageing Gracefully

Tom Dyckhoff, the writer about architecture, looks at the world we inhabit through the lens of design.

In today's episode, he talks to Sir Kenneth Grange about his ideas on designing furniture for older people, for whom the shiny surfaces and minimal comfort of much modernist design poses challenges.

He visits a retro-fitted 'Fifties home in Staffordshire and the site of the soon-to-be restored vintage-style amusement park, Dreamland in Margate, asking at what point a building, object or experience should become monumentalised.

And from Brooklyn, New York Tom hears about 'creative caring' and the need to 'respect age' for the objects in our lives, from participants in the Fixers' Collective.

Produced by Alan Hall and Hana Walker-Brown
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.



THURSDAY 16 APRIL 2015

THU 00:00 Midnight News (b05q5wfd)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


THU 00:30 The Shepherd's Life (b05r3xc3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b05q5wfg)
The latest shipping forecast.


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b05q5wfj)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b05q5wfl)
The latest shipping forecast.


THU 05:30 News Briefing (b05q5wfn)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b05qjlv2)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Andrew Martlew.


THU 05:45 Farming Today (b05qjlv4)
Asda mislabel NZ lamb as British; Lib Dem and Ukip manifestos

The Scottish sheep farmer who bought British-labelled lamb from Asda, but found it was from New Zealand. Asda say it was 'colleague error'.

We go through the Lib Dem and Ukip manifestos to find out their plans for UK agriculture and rural communities.

And into the spring woods with horse forester Kate Mobbs-Morgan and her horse Kip in Monmouthshire, as they extract the timber with horse power.

Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Mark Smalley.


THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03x45r3)
Little Ringed Plover

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Bill Oddie presents the little ringed plover. In 1938, there was great excitement at a Hertfordshire reservoir. On the gravelly shoreline a pair of birds, which had never bred in the UK before, were showing signs of nesting. They were little ringed plovers, summer visitors to Continental Europe and they'd been attracted to the reservoirs' shingle banks where they laid their clutch of four eggs. Today there are around a thousand pairs in the UK.


THU 06:00 Today (b05qjq65)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


THU 09:00 In Our Time (b05qjq67)
Matteo Ricci and the Ming Dynasty

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life of Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit priest who in the 16th century led a Christian mission to China. An accomplished scholar, Ricci travelled extensively and came into contact with senior officials of the Ming Dynasty administration. His story is one of the most important encounters between Renaissance Europe and a China which was still virtually closed to outsiders.

With

Mary Laven
Reader in Early Modern History at the University of Cambridge

Craig Clunas
Professor of the History of Art at the University of Oxford

and

Anne Gerritsen
Reader in History at the University of Warwick

Producer: Simon Tillotson.


THU 09:45 The Shepherd's Life (b05r3zjm)
Episode 4

James Rebanks recalls the dark days of 2001, facing the horror of foot-and-mouth disease.

James is the first son of a shepherd, who was the first son of a shepherd himself, he and his family have lived and worked in and around the Lake District for generations.

In this episode, he remembers the dark days of 2001, when farmers faced the horror of Foot and Mouth disease. From the loss came something unexpected: a neighbour's kindness led him to breed pure Herdwick sheep.

James Rebanks has a huge following on Twitter (he's the @herdyshepherd1 ) where you can see photographs detailing day to day life on the farm - including his fine flock of Herdwick sheep and, the latest additions to the workforce, sheepdog Floss's ten puppies.

Read by Bryan Dick

Written by James Rebanks
Abridged by Sian Preece

Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2015.


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b05qjq69)
Wedding Dress Choice, Children's Injuries - Spotting Abuse, Personal Identity After 50

Wedding dress choice - why are they such a hotly contested minefield? Writers Justine Picardie of Harper's Bazaar and Kenya Hunt of Elle share their views. Plus Jill Bialosky on her book History Of A Suicide, looking back on her late sister's life. Children's accidental injuries and social services - is it right to fear social services when your child accidentally injures themselves? How can doctors tell when a bruise is caused by abuse? Parent Sally Sutherland describes her experiences, and Geoff Debelle, Consultant Paediatrician at Birmingham Children's Hospital and child protection lead for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, explains how doctors identify non-accidental bruises. And personal identity after 50 - does your sense of self change, and is it a good time to set new life goals? Columnist Juliet Rix, actor Claire Dyson, and university course director Susan Rowland share their thoughts and experiences.


THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b05qjq6c)
Writing the Century 27 - The Journal of a Joskin

1958: Preacher

The series which explores the 20th century through the diaries and correspondence of real people. Further journals of Yorkshire farm labourer and aspiring writer Fred Kitchen adapted by Stephen Wakelam. Fred is now a school gardener and preacher alongside his spasmodic writing career.

1958: Preacher

Pianist: Colin Guthrie

Director: David Hunter.


THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b05qjq6f)
Who's Afraid of Teatr Doc?

Teatr doc was founded 12 years ago by playwrights who couldn't find a venue willing to stage their documentary-style plays that often challenge the status quo. In December the theatre was raided and forced to shut its doors but it quickly reopened in new premises and is still cocking a snook at the authorities. "Doc" as it is known to those who frequent it, has been recognised internationally as one of Russia's most prolific, innovative, and socially engaged theatre companies. For Crossing Continents Lucy Ash attends the opening night in the theatre's new home, and asks its actors, directors and its audience what the theatre says about life in Russia today.


THU 11:30 The Buchan Tradition (b05qjq6h)
A century after its first print run, the famous novel The 39 Steps continues to sell worldwide. It's never been out of print.

The book's author, John Buchan, wasn't just a master of the suspense thriller, he also wrote poetry, short stories, essays, biographies and histories - all on top of his ambitious career as editor, publisher, intelligence officer, civil servant, politician, churchman, peer and, at the end of his life, Governor-General of Canada.

The writer Nicholas Rankin examines Buchan's literary legacy through the lens of two of his descendants who have themselves become authors - James Buchan is one of John's grandsons, a former FT Middle East correspondent who now writes both fiction and non-fiction; while Ursula Buchan, a granddaughter of John Buchan, is a distinguished gardening journalist and social historian.

With additional contributions from best selling novelist William Boyd and literary critic Kate MacDonald, James and Ursula reflect in a personal way on the influence John Buchan has had on their own writing and the significance of his books today.

Producer: Dan Shepherd
A Far Shoreline production for BBC Radio 4


THU 12:00 News Summary (b05q5wfq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 12:04 A History of Ideas (b05qjq6k)
Philosopher Jules Evans on Jung and the Mind

Philosopher Jules Evans explores Jung and the shadow inside all of us. With archive contributions from Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud; plus fantasy writer Juliet McKenna and Mark Vernon, author of Carl Jung: How to Believe.


THU 12:16 You and Yours (b05qjq6m)
Braiding, Tinnitus Treatment, New Airline Ombudsman

Consumer affairs programme.


THU 12:57 Weather (b05q5wfs)
The latest weather forecast.


THU 13:00 World at One (b05qjq6p)
Analysis of current affairs reports, presented by Martha Kearney.


THU 14:00 The Archers (b05qgm10)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 Drama (b02yl46p)
Sarah Cartwright - The Means to an End

When Barney's dog is run over he wonders if life is worth living but then fate in the shape of a Spanish veterinary nurse and a parrot called mittens intervenes.

Directed by Sally Avens.

Barney hates everything about his life. Everything, but his dog. His dog doesn't care that he's an awkward loser. That he's 36, single and broke. That he sweats when he's nervous. That he's been stuck in the same job for seven years and three months and still doesn't know how to work the cappuccino machine. That he's scared of his pubescent boss, and lusts after a girl who doesn't know he exists.

So when his dog is run over, Barney realises he's got nothing left to lose, but then a motivational talk from his boss is the beginning of a series of apparently life-changing events.


THU 15:00 Open Country (b05qjs7w)
Sheffield Wild at Heart

Helen Mark discovers why adults aged 50-105 are feeling Wild at Heart in Sheffield.
With rising issues of loneliness and isolation, Project Co-Ordinator Jan Flamank recognised a need to support older adults in her community. As someone who is passionate about the great outdoors - and knowledgeable about the health benefits that nature can offer - Jan set about creating the 'Wild at Heart Project'. The oldest Wild at Heart participant so far has been 101, with the average in their mid 80s. Many of the participants remember a time when people spent more of their lives outdoors so for them 'getting back to nature' is really about reconnecting with their past and their youth.

Presented by Helen Mark
Produced by Sophie Anton and Nicola Humphries.


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b05q5y3x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 Open Book (b05q6321)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]


THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b05qjvnr)
Jemaine Clement; Dark Horse; Cry of the City; Christopher Young

With Francine Stock.

Flight Of The Conchords' Jemaine Clement discusses his vampire mockumentary What We Do In The Shadows and reveals why they used their IT engineer called Stu to play an IT engineer called Stu.

Jan Vokes is the star of a new documentary Dark Horse about the staff and members of a working men's club in the South Wales valleys who clubbed together to buy a race horse. She tells Francine about her new-found fame, and what it's like to see her face plastered on billboards opposite the supermarket where she works.

The producer of The Inbetweeners Movie, Christopher Young, reveals why he pumped the profits from the record-breaking comedy into a delicate Portuguese art-movie, The Invisible Life.

Antonia Quirke enters the murky world of Cry Of The City, a forgotten film noir from 1948 that's about to be re-released and re-assessed.


THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b05qjvnt)
Hubble Space Telescope at 25

On 25th April 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was released into space from the Discovery space shuttle. Though off to a famously bumpy start - the first images sent by Hubble were blurry due to a flaw with one of the mirrors - it has been collecting data that has been contributing towards shaping our understanding of the cosmos and it continues to do so.

The HST is operated by the Space Telescope Science Institute located at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Tracey Logan speaks to Mario Livio, an astrophysicist at the institute, who shares his perspective on the Hubble mission for the last 25 years and talks about ongoing Hubble projects.

At the cutting edge of cosmology research, data recorded by Hubble is used to improve our understanding of such things as the universe's rate of expansion and theories about the hitherto elusive dark matter. A team led by University of Arizona astronomer Peter Milne has found hints that cast a new light on the currently accepted view that the universe is expanding at an increasingly faster rate. Could it be that a particular type of supernova - type 1A - is not the perfect cosmological "Standard Candle" we've thus far thought it to be?

Another group of astronomers, led by Dr Richard Massey at the University of Durham, used data from Hubble in their attempt to unravel the elusive nature of dark matter. Dr Massey talks to Tracey Logan about how having a particular angle on a collision between galaxies some 1.4 billion light years away has allowed for potentially the first ever observation of dark matter colliding with itself. We still don't know what the nature of dark matter is, but this could be our first knowledge of it interacting with anything, possibly implying "Dark Forces" at work.

This new research is put into perspective by Dr Malcom Fairbairn, who has revived the neglected telescope on the roof of King's College London. He talks to Tracey Logan about how these recent findings could herald genuinely new areas of physics.

Meanwhile, closer to earth rocks, what could or should be done about the danger of asteroid impact? This week in Frascati, Italy, the European Space Agency hosts the 2015 Planetary Defence Conference. Detlef Koschny, head of ESA's Near Earth Object section, speaks to Tracey Logan about coordinating global efforts.

Producer: Marnie Chesterton.


THU 17:00 PM (b05qjvnw)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b05q5wfv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 18:30 Ed Reardon's Week (b03jz1hz)
Series 9

Blood of the Reardons

Ed Reardon leads us through the ups and down of his week, complete with his trusty companion, Elgar, and his never-ending capacity for scrimping and scraping at whatever scraps his agent, Ping, can offer him to keep body, mind and cat together.

Ed discovers that he has diabetes and his daughter, Eli, turns up to be his calorie counter- in-chief. To escape Eli's gluten free falafel salad, Ed enrols on a clinical trial, and that's when his son, Jake turns up in the hope of a fly-on-the-wall documentary, although as Ping Points out, it will only be marketable if Ed dies!

Written by Andrew Nickolds and Christopher Douglas
Produced by Dawn Ellis.


THU 19:00 The Archers (b05qjypd)
Rob brings Helen a simple birthday breakfast in bed - he can at least boil an egg. Helen noticed Rob's restless night's sleep. They agree to pop to the Bull tonight for a simple celebration, as Henry comes in with a card for Mummy.

Tom's organic sausages are popular in the temporary Bridge Farm shop. Susan's keen to exploit their produce when the main village shop's back up and running. Jolene's interested in serving them at the Bull as well.

Kenton and Jolene discuss Lilian's Botox - he almost didn't recognise her.
Jolene suggests she and Kenton look into debt consolidation. Stubborn Kenton refuses - he'll show David he's doing just fine. Kenton hasn't told David he's not coming to the Barn dance at Brookfield.
Tom's still keen to close Organics but suggests to Helen they open a farm shop together. Helen runs it by Rob who's against it. Rob snaps then apologises. Helen thinks he's stressed about the paternity test and troublesome wife Jess. There's nothing to worry about now, surely, says Helen.


THU 19:16 Front Row (b05qjypg)
Gypsy, Martin Parr, Hermitage Director, Tennessee Williams Drama Found

Sondheim and Styne's stage production of Gypsy, starring Imelda Staunton, is reviewed by Sarah Crompton.

Photographer Martin Parr discusses his collection of Chinese Photobooks at The Photographers' Gallery in London, which chart the culture, history, politics and propaganda of China in photographs from 1900 to the present.

Gerri Kimber was undertaking research in archives at the University of Texas when she came across a new fragment of a play by Tennessee Williams. It features the real-life couples DH and Frieda Lawrence, and Katherine Mansfield and John Middleton Murry, caught during the First World War as a Zeppelin threatens overhead. She tells John more about her find.

Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, discusses Russian-British cultural and political relations and how he was behind the recent loan of one of the Elgin Marbles from the British Museum.

Presenter John Wilson
Producer Jerome Weatherald.


THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b05qjq6c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


THU 20:00 The Report (b05qjypj)
Sharia Law in Britain

Britain's sharia councils are to be reviewed by the government. Reporter Jenny Chryss investigates Islamic law in the UK and asks if sharia councils should be under any greater scrutiny than other religious tribunals.

Producer: Chloe Hadjimatheou
Reporter: Jenny Chryss.


THU 20:30 In Business (b05qjypl)
Last Tango

Less than fifteen years since Argentina last plunged into a serious economic crisis, there are fears that trouble is looming again. Peter Day reports from Buenos Aires on why the country finds it so hard to learn from its past and hears about potential solutions. He also watches the world famous tango dancing.

Producer: Keith Moore.


THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b05qjvnt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]


THU 21:30 In Our Time (b05qjq67)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b05qjypn)
Who came out on top in the BBC's opposition leaders' debate?

Miliband faces demands from SNP, Greens and Plaid to go further in reversing austerity.


THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b05qt72c)
Gorsky

Episode 4

Chelski: a London home for Russian wealth. Gorsky: a story about beauty, money and books.

The parallels with The Great Gatsby begin to emerge. Roman Gorsky has asked Nick to furnish the library of his mansion under construction with books of untold value and priceless editions of Russian classics. He also wants a section of art books which will impress a connoisseur.

The bookseller of modest means finds himself drawn into a world of endless wealth. He also begins to spend time with the voracious former Bulgarian gymnast, Gery.

Read by Philip Arditti

Written by Vesna Goldsworthy
Abridged by Isobel Creed

Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


THU 23:00 Chat Show Roulette (b05qjypq)
Episode 5

Justin Edwards is the host of the new improvised chat show. His guests are Simon Day, David Reed, Luisa Omielan and Beardyman - with musical accompaniment from James Sherwood.

Devised by Ashley Blaker and Justin Edwards.

Produced by Ashley Blaker
A John Stanley production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 23:30 The Design Dimension (b04tjdxz)
Series 2

For Better or Worse

Tom Dyckhoff considers the digital future of design. He examines Daan Roosegaarde's "Smart Highway" initiative- building interactive and sustainable roads- looks at an android phone-based diagnostic eye examination for use in remote locations, and talks to Dominic Wilcox about the integration of craft and computer technology in his driverless car.

Produced by Alan Hall and Hana Walker-Brown
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.



FRIDAY 17 APRIL 2015

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b05q5wgw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


FRI 00:30 The Shepherd's Life (b05r3zjm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b05q5wgy)
The latest shipping forecast.


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b05q5wh0)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b05q5wh2)
The latest shipping forecast.


FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b05q5wh4)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b05qk05p)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Andrew Martlew.


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b05qk05r)
Poldark's Scything Technique, Dog Attack on Cows, Grass Fires, Plaid Cymru Manifesto

Only on Farming Today...we critique Poldark's scything technique in the hit BBC drama with the scything coach for the new Far From The Madding Crowd film, Chris Riley. He also shares some of the joys of using a scythe in the modern world.

8 cows have been put down after what police describe as an 'horrific' dog attack in Anglesey.

The dry weather has increased the risk of grass and heath fires, with several blazes across the UK this week.

And, we examine Plaid Cymru's Farming Election Manifesto.

Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Sarah Swadling.


FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03x45s5)
Black Redstart

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Bill Oddie presents the black redstart. It was the German Luftwaffe which enabled black redstarts to gain a real foothold here. The air-raids of the Blitz created bombsites which mimicked their rocky homes and the weeds that grew there attracted insects. In 1942 there over twenty singing males in London alone and now they're being encouraged by the creation of ‘green roof’ habitats, rich in flowers and insects.


FRI 06:00 Today (b05qk0bk)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


FRI 09:00 The Reunion (b05q5ynq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:16 on Sunday]


FRI 09:45 The Shepherd's Life (b05r6sx0)
Episode 5

Spring is the farmer's reward for the hard days of winter - and in this final episode, the cycle of the year begins again, as James Rebanks prepares for lambing.

The first son of a shepherd, who was himself the first son of a shepherd, James and his family have lived and worked in and around the Lake District for generations. Through his eyes we see that the Lake District is not a playground or a scenic backdrop, it's a working landscape that needs sheep and its farmers to survive.

Concluded by Bryan Dick

Written by James Rebanks
Abridged by Sian Preece

Producer: Kirsteen Cameron

Music details:
Track: "The Nightshift"
CD: Country Escape
Label: BBC Production Music BBCPM031.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2015.


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b05qk1d8)
Carey Mulligan, Julie Fowlis, Election Manifestos, Katherine Freese of Nordita, Revenge porn

Actor Carey Mulligan on her leading role as Bathsheba Everdene in the new film version of Thomas Hardy's Far From The Madding Crowd.

Election manifestos: Allegra Stratton on the big offers for women in the party manifestos and the impact of the opposition leaders' debate, with women leaders in the majority.

Revenge Porn in honour based communities: Newsnight's Katie Razzall on how women have found themselves the target of blackmail and the devastating impact it had on their lives.

Katherine Freese, American cosmologist and first female director of the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics talks to Jenni about her passion for the search for dark matter.

Singer Julie Fowlis has been nominated for Best Artist at the Radio 2 Folk Awards. She joins Jenni to talk about singing the theme song from Brave, having two daughters, recording her fourth studio album, getting a degree and touring all over the world.

Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Rebecca Myatt.


FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b05qk1db)
Writing the Century 27 - The Journal of a Joskin

1968: Man with a Scythe

The series which explores the 20th century through the diaries and correspondence of real people. Further journals of Yorkshire farm labourer and aspiring writer Fred Kitchen adapted by Stephen Wakelam. Nearly 78 Fred Kitchen is still writing.

1968: Man with a Scythe

Pianist: Colin Guthrie

Director: David Hunter.


FRI 11:00 The Sunday Night Drop (b05qk1dd)
A look at the lives of children from divorced parents who travel between parental homes.

Every Sunday - in service stations, lay-bys and car parks - children pass from one family to another. For a few hours these children exist in a no-mans land between two parental homes, bridging the distance between their parents' broken relationships. Most of Britain is unaware of how far some families have to travel to spend time with each other.

It's a sign of our times. Nearly half of divorcing couples in England and Wales have at least one child aged under 16 and 4 million British children now live in separated families. In England and Wales, only 10% of divorce cases go to court, which means that the majority of parents might have found arrangements that work for them and their families.

The Sunday Night Drop focuses on the living and loving in modern fragmented families - sharing 'quality time', keeping up appearances, being together yet also alone. It's a glimpse at how families today are managing complexity, difficulty and difference in a way that wasn't necessary in the past.

Producer: Emma Colman
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 11:30 Paul Temple (b037j7m0)
Paul Temple and the Gregory Affair

Virginia van Cleeve

Part 5 of a new production of a vintage serial from 1946.

From 1938 to 1968, Francis Durbridge's incomparably suave amateur detective Paul Temple and his glamorous wife Steve solved case after baffling case in one of BBC radio's most popular series. Sadly, only half of Temple's adventures survive in the archives.

In 2006 BBC Radio 4 brought one of the lost serials back to life with Crawford Logan and Gerda Stevenson as Paul and Steve. Using the original scripts and incidental music, and recorded using vintage microphones and sound effects, the production of Paul Temple and the Sullivan Mystery aimed to sound as much as possible like the 1947 original might have done if its recording had survived. The serial proved so popular that it was soon followed by three more revivals, Paul Temple and the Madison Mystery, Paul Temple and Steve, and A Case for Paul Temple.

Now, from 1946, it's the turn of Paul Temple and the Gregory Affair, in which Paul and Steve go on the trail of the mysterious and murderous Mr Gregory.

Episode 5: Virginia van Cleeve

A sinister shop in the East End may hold a vital clue.

Producer Patrick Rayner

Francis Durbridge, the creator of Paul Temple, was born in Hull in 1912 and died in 1998. He was one of the most successful novelists, playwrights and scriptwriters of his day.


FRI 12:00 News Summary (b05q5wh6)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:04 A History of Ideas (b05qk1n3)
Philosopher Barry Smith on Descartes and Consciousness

Rene Descartes, one of the most influential philosophers ever, thought the mind was like an open book that could be read by the light of reason. So there was nothing that we could not access or examine in our own minds. In fact Descartes argued that consciousness was the mind - there was nothing beyond it. Now we see the mind as a labyrinthine cellar full of bric-a-brac and untapped rooms of which consciousness is merely one - and a small one at that. Barry Smith charts this change and explains some of the contemporary thinking about consciousness.


FRI 12:16 You and Yours (b05qk1n5)
Smart Motorways and Greener Aviation Fuel

One year since their introduction, Peter White looks at "smart " motorways where the hard shoulder sometimes opens as a lane and the speed limit keeps on changing. The trouble is, a lot of drivers are being caught speeding on them.
The new greener fuel being used by the aviation industry- but will it see our air fares rise or fall?
And Tom Robinson and his biggest fan meet at the Abbey Road Studios to make sweet music.


FRI 12:57 Weather (b05q5wh8)
The latest weather forecast.


FRI 13:00 World at One (b05qk1n7)
Analysis of current affairs reports, presented by Martha Kearney.


FRI 14:00 The Archers (b05qjypd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 Drama (b05qk32w)
Carter Mysteries: The Incident of the Russian Visitors

by Jonathan Holloway

The 20th Century has left the Carter warehouse crammed with history. When a dodgy pair arrive looking for a long-lost Russian table it's the beginning of a far-reaching and dangerous tale.

Director: David Hunter.


FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b05qk6yw)
Stratford-upon-Avon

Eric Robson chairs the panel in Warwickshire, with an audience of local gardeners. Chris Beardshaw, Pippa Greenwood and Christine Walkden answer the questions.

Produced by Howard Shannon
Assistant Producer: Hannah Newton

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 15:45 Stories by Teffi (b05qk6z1)
Heart of a Valkyrie

A series of tales by Teffi, a literary star in pre-revolutionary Russia who has been published again:

3. In Heart of a Valkyrie, translated by Anne Marie Jackson, the husband does little as his wife works all hours. The neighbours laugh at him, until a remarkable 'change' takes place..

Reader Hattie Morahan

Producer Duncan Minshull


FRI 16:00 Last Word (b05qk6z7)
Guenter Grass, Sheila Kitzinger, Andrew Porter, Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott, Percy Sledge

Matthew Bannister on

The Nobel prize winning author Günter Grass who challenged Germans to confront their uncomfortable past.

The anthropologist Sheila Kitzinger who fought against the medicalisation of child birth.

Andrew Porter, the distinguished music critic of the Financial Times and then the New Yorker.

Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott, the colourful champion poker player: Victoria Coren pays tribute.

And Percy Sledge, best known for his hit "When A Man Loves A Woman".


FRI 16:30 Feedback (b05qk6zb)
This week, our look at how the election is being covered across BBC radio takes us to 5Live for the launch of their #FridayTakeover. Each week, the station is selecting one key politician to face individual listener questions. Stephen Mawhinney, the station's Head of News, explains how the nature of a political interview changes when led by the public while presenter Nicky Campbell discusses the balance between handing the reins over to listeners and knowing when to regain control.

The recent Trust review of BBC music stations concluded that Radio 3 needs to make its identity and programming more distinctive in certain areas. Recently appointed Controller Alan Davey has begun to set out his vision for the station's future and, in this week's Feedback, he addresses listeners points about what they want.

The History of Ideas series hosted by Melvyn Bragg has provided listeners with much food for thought on subjects of freedom, morality and the origin of time. Yet, despite offering heavyweight discussions that demand the full attention of their audience, the use of sound effects and cartoon noises has led to complaints from some listeners.

Producer: Karen Pirie
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 16:56 The Listening Project (b05qk6zf)
Kat and Shelby - Being an SMA Teenager

Fi Glover introduces two seventeen year olds with Spinal Muscular Atrophy who have very clear ideas about what it is they need from a carer of PA, in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject

Producer: Marya Burgess.


FRI 17:00 PM (b05qk75m)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b05q5whb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 18:30 Dead Ringers (b05qk6zm)
Series 14

Episode 2

The topical impressions show returns just in time to reflect the build up to one of the most important and incisive votes for decades. Will Austria win again or does Britain's Electro Velvet stand a chance? Satire meets silliness in the flagship comedy for hard working families up and down the country.

Starring Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Duncan Wisbey, Lewis MacLeod and Debra Stephenson.

Producer: Bill Dare.


FRI 19:00 The Archers (b05qk6zq)
At tonight's barn dance Jolene's doing the calling. With Fallon's bunting it looks very 'Oklahoma'. Shula's keen for Alistair to make the effort and dance with her and won't let him cry off tonight.
Jolene tells David that Kenton isn't coming - and in all honesty she can understand why. Adam's wearing his cowboy shirt, which Ian enjoys. Charlie turns up, on his crutches and apparently with a date.
Charlie invites Adam to go to an open day on the subject of profiting from new technology. Adam's up for it. Ian apologises for butting in as he takes Adam away. Later, David gives a thank you speech - to all the volunteers and the whole community that everyone depends on.
Adam chats to a rather drunk Pip. Pip feels frustrated as she talks to David. She's keen to plan for the future at Brookfield, but how can they with so many unknowns like the road? David tells her to be patient, but Pip doesn't want to be.
Shula phones Richard and they agree to meet for coffee next Wednesday afternoon.


FRI 19:16 Front Row (b05qk6zs)
Dark Horse, National Theatre changes, artist Luke Jerram, playwright Danai Gurira

With the surprise announcement that the National Theatre's new Chief Executive, Tessa Ross, is stepping down after just six months in the job, former Artistic Director of the Tricycle Theatre, Nicolas Kent, and Alistair Smith, Editor of The Stage, discuss the challenges within the National Theatre structure.

Dark Horse, a new documentary from film-maker Louise Osmond, tells the story of Dream Alliance, a race horse bought by a barmaid and a group of her friends in a former Welsh mining village which went on to win the Welsh Grand National. Tim Robey Reviews.

Danai Gurira's latest play, Eclipsed, is set during the Liberian civil war, and specifically focuses on the plight of women at that time. She talks to Kirsty about her mission to give voice to the voiceless and to help address the under-representation of African stories on stage and screen.

2015 is Bristol's year as European Green Capital. As part of the city's arts programme to celebrate the award, artist Luke Jerram, who made headlines worldwide last year with his 95 metre Park and Slide waterslide in the centre of Bristol, has created Withdrawn - an installation featuring a small flotilla of boats cast adrift in the city's woodland. Luke takes Kirsty to visit the site and tells her about being inspired by climate change and Radio 4.


FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b05qk1db)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b05qk6zv)
Sadiq Khan, Mark Reckless, Liz Truss, Humza Yousaf

Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate from Eltham in South London with Sadiq Khan for Labour, Mark Reckless for UKIP, the Secretary of State for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Liz Truss, and Humza Yousaf the Minister for Europe and International Development in the Scottish Government.


FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b05qk6zx)
Ideology Versus Art

Howard Jacobson explains why he prefers art to ideology, especially at election time, and always has. "I consider myself fortunate enough to have been brought up in a state of dogma-free grace." "...the point of art is to refute whatever it is we've made up our minds about."
Producer: Sheila Cook.


FRI 21:00 A History of Ideas (b05qk6zz)
Omnibus

What Does It Mean to Be Me?

A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg, but told in many voices.

Each week Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to discuss a really big question. This week they're tackling the question 'What does it mean to be me?'.
Helping him answer it are the writer A. L. Kennedy, the neuropsychologist Paul Broks, the philosopher Jules Evans, and the ontologist Barry Smith. Between them they will investigate consciousness, delve into memory, examine ideas about the 'self' and veer into existentialism. Then each of them attempt to take us further into the subject, with programmes of their own. This Omnibus edition has all five programmes together.


FRI 21:58 Weather (b05q5whg)
The latest weather forecast.


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b05qsj4h)
Election - Foreign Policy Special

Ritula Shah and guests discuss the challenges for the next government on Europe, the Middle East and China
with Anne Applebaum, Timothy Garton-Ash, Jamie Rubin and Robin Niblett.


FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b05qt8jb)
Gorsky

Episode 5

Chelski: a London home for Russian wealth. Gorsky: a story about beauty, money and books.

Nick Kimovic is rewarded for his efforts in the antiquarian book auctions with a holiday of unsurpassed luxury on Gorsky's private island. The other guests are an eclectic array of Russian gangsters and English financiers.

On his return he meets Gery, who has something to tell him.

Read by Philip Arditti

Written by Vesna Goldsworthy
Abridged by Isobel Creed

Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 23:00 The Vote Now Show (b05qk706)
Series 2

Episode 1

A series of election specials from the Now Show gang kicks off this evening. Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis will host a series of six shows spread across four weeks in the lead up to the General Election. With the help of Jon Holmes, Pippa Evans, Laura Shavin, Mitch Benn and special guests from across the political spectrum they'll give their own unique take on the election news and shenanigans. In the first show there'll be their critique of the second of the leader's debates.

In the first episode Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are joined by Jon Holmes, Pippa Evans, Mitch Benn, Sean Kemp and Nish Kumar.

Producers; Alexandra Smith, Joe Nunnery and Rachel Wheeley.

Executive Producer Alison Vernon-Smith.


FRI 23:30 Great Lives (b05qgch9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]


FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b05qk70d)
Celia and Julie - Coping with Loss

Fi Glover introduces a widow with a single long marriage behind her and her three times married daughter, comparing their losses from death and divorce, in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject

Producer: Marya Burgess.