The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
EU referendum, Liz Truss at Conservative Party Conference, Fishing apprenticeships
A hot topic of debate at the Conservative Party conference has been the UK's relationship with Brussels ahead of the planned 'in-out' EU referendum. So how would UK farming be affected if we left the EU; and what would change if we vote to stay in? Agriculture accounts for about 38% of the total EU budget, many British farmers rely on the subsidies they get under the Common Agricultural Policy, and Europe is their biggest export market. But along with those financial benefits come rules and regulations which some argue farming would be better off without. We brought together the Steve Baker MP, the Co-Chairman of 'Conservatives for Britain', the group campaigning for a exit from the EU; and Peter Wilding, Director of the Pro-EU organisation 'British Influence'.
We take a closer look at the priorities laid out by the Secretary of State for Defra, Liz Truss, in her speech at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester.
And Nancy Nicolson meets the new fishing apprentices taking to the sea in Scotland.
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Miranda Krestovnikoff presents a bird which intrigued Darwin, the Galapagos mockingbird. There are four species of Mockingbird in the Galapagos islands, which probably all descended from a single migrant ancestor and then subsequently evolved different adaptations to life on their separate island clusters, hence their fascination for Charles Darwin. The most widespread is the resourceful Galapagos Mockingbird. Unlike other mockingbirds which feed on nectar and seeds, the Galapagos mockingbird has adapted to its island life to steal and break into seabird eggs and even attack and kill young nestlings. They'll also ride on the backs of land iguanas to feed on ticks deep within the reptiles' skin and will boldly approach tourists for foot. They aptly demonstrate the theory of the "survival of the fittest".
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Carol Black was an overweight child who, aged 13, put herself on a diet. Now, as an expert advisor to the government, she's the woman behind recent newspaper headlines suggesting that obese people who refuse treatment could see their benefits cut. In the last decade, Carol has conducted several reviews on work and health, sickness absence and how best to help people with obesity, alcohol and drug problems get back into the workplace. In 2008 she suggested the Sick Note should be replaced with a Fit Note which states what people can do rather than what they can't. Later she recommended that an independent assessor should decide who is, or is not, Fit for Work. Dame Carol Black talks to Jim Al-Khalili about the challenges associated with advising government on these controversial issues; and how, despite relative adversity and several bad decisions, she achieved such a position of power and influence.
Steve Backshall is one of our leading natural history broadcasters; he's also an extreme sportsman who has conquered some of the world's most dangerous mountains. Despite suffering a severe rock-climbing injury in 2008, he continues to set himself extraordinary challenges.
For One to One Steve meets two other extreme adventurers to discover what drives them to significant levels of danger and physical discomfort in order to complete challenges that are almost superhuman.
In this first programme he meets Ed Stafford. Ed was the first person to walk the entire length of the Amazon River - 6000 miles over two and a half years. Ed acknowledges that explorers have a 'chink in their armour, an insecurity, a fear of something in life... Doing something tangible, something remarkable, enables you to prove yourself'.
In the aftermath of the Falklands victory, Margaret Thatcher's stock was rising. This period of almost five years, up to the 1987 election, could be described as her golden years. With a decisive majority and a pre-eminent place on the world stage she could truly begin to make her mark.
Charles Moore was authorised by Margaret Thatcher to write her biography on the condition that it was published after her death. She also encouraged her former staff and colleagues to readily offer their recollections, diaries and memoirs of their time working with and for her.
This abridgement for Radio 4 of his second volume offers a series of windows onto the key events of her second term - a term that was packed with challenges and drama.
A momentous lunch at Chequers turns into a meeting with 'a man we can do business with'.
The music used to frame this series reflects the title of the book. As the author writes, "I have called this book Everything She Wants - the title of a song of the time by Wham! - because it expresses Mrs Thatcher's appetite for achievement and change and the degree to which she was the commanding personality of the era; but, hard as she fought for everything she wanted, this was not always what she got."
What's being done to support students who find the move to university difficult to cope with? We discuss with Dr Ruth Caleb, Head of the Counselling Service at Brunel University London and the Chair of the Mental Wellbeing Working Group of Universities UK and Dr Nicola Byrom, the Founding Director of Student Minds, the student mental health charity.
How do women's magazines balance talking about feminism with the needs of advertisers? Editor of Elle, Lorraine Candy and Editor of Stylist, Lisa Smosarski discuss their feminist themed editions.
In today's Woman in One from Liverpool: we talk to a young woman working in a tattoo parlour.
The Dead Ladies Project: following erratically in the footsteps of some of her favourite literary exiles Jessa Crispin travels around Europe to see if their lives have anything to teach her about recovering from depression and making a satisfying way of life for herself as a woman, a writer and a resolute rule-breaker.
Weary of life in the bustling Rwandan border town of Rusumo, Modeste, a blind and sickly homeless man resolves to return to his home village of Kibuye on the far side of the country with the help of his companion, Innocent, a cheeky seven year-old street orphan. The journey starts well when they stumble upon a small amount of money but little Innocent inadvertently spends the cash purchasing a basket of thirty raw eggs during a mix up in a market melee. With their peculiar bounty of raw eggs the unlikely duo set off on an adventure of a life time along the rising road cresting atop the many rolling hills of Rwanda.
A beautiful, funny and inspirational story which catapults you into life in Rwanda and one remarkable journey.
Irish writer Eoin O'Connor has spent a number of years living in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Having recently returned to Ireland, Eoin is currently working on two further feature scripts, a comedy, Family Remains, currently in development with Grand Pictures, Dublin, and a thriller set in Syria entitled Stolen, currently in development with Epos Films, Dublin.
Writer ..... Eoin O'Connor
Producer ..... Gemma McMullan.
Sea anemones are also known as the flowers of the sea. They inspire whimsy and fancy, poetry and art. The Victorian craze for aquariums which Philip Henry Gosse encouraged with his 1860 book "A History Of The British Sea-anemones and Corals" was intense, though short lived, and had an ecological effect in nature.
Today the collection of anemones for aquariums is devastating places like the Philippines, especially since the Hollywood blockbuster Finding Nemo was released. Bizarrely the complexity of anemone nerves means they are more closely related to humans than to flies and worms. Some species are as close to immortal as you can get. Cut them in half and you get two, cut off the mouth and it will grow a new one. They seem to go on and on, leading some scientists to use them in the search for eternal youth. The Natural History Museum in London owns delicate, anatomically accurate and beautifully crafted glass models of anemones are so realistic they look like the real thing crystallised from the sea. They were made by father and son glass blowers called Blaschka in the 19th century. These models allowed ordinary people to see the wonders beneath the sea.
What happens when your Dad's an African-American soul star and your Mum's a music-loving girl from working class Sheffield? Are your roots on the terraces at a Sheffield United match, or in the stylings of a Spike Lee film? For writer and photographer Johny Pitts, whose parents met in the heyday of Northern Soul, on the dance floor of the legendary King Mojo club, how he navigates his black roots has always been an issue. Not being directly connected to the Caribbean or West African diaspora culture, all he was told at school was that his ancestors were slaves, so for BBC Radio 4, he heads off to the USA, to trace his father's musical migration, and tell an alternative story of Black British identity.
From Pitsmore in Sheffield, to Bedford Stuyvesant in New York, and all the way down to South Carolina, where his grandmother picked cotton, Johny Pitts heads off on a journey of self-discovery. On the way he meets author Caryl Phillips, Kadija, a half sister he never knew, and historian Bernard Powers. He visits the Concorde Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York, and the Bush River Missionary Baptist Church, in Newberry, South Carolina. He tracks down a whole host of long-lost cousins, and talks to Pulitzer winning writer Isabel Wilkerson. On the way he shines a light on the shadows of his ancestry, and finds stories and culture that deliver him to a new understanding of his own mixed race identity and history.
A new report suggests that the UK has some of the highest standards of palliative care in the world. In its 2015 Quality of Death Index, the Economist Intelligence Unit has ranked the UK first out of eighty countries for the standard of its end of life care.
The report says that palliative care has become well integrated into the NHS, the UK has a strong hospice movement and also the public has a good understanding of the issues surrounding end of life care.
But it also says that standards could still improve and the UK's ability to provide care will be stretched by its ageing population and the expected increase in diseases such as dementia, cancer and diabetes.
The report has been welcomed by the National Council for Palliative Care, which represents people involved in end of life care in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. But the charity says many people are still being failed as they reach the end of their lives. It suggests that dying people cannot consistently rely on access to pain relief, 24/7 care or being able to die in the place of their choice.
What was your family's experience? Did your relative receive a good quality of care at the end of their life, or did you feel the system let them down?
Email us on youandyours@bbc.co.uk and leave a contact number so we can call you back.
Latest news from the Conservative Conference including an interview with Theresa May. Analysis of the European Court of Justice ruling on data transfers from Europe to the USA. Plus NATO response to Russian aircraft entering Turkey. Presented by Martha Kearney.
Evelyn Cheesman was an entomologist and the first female curator hired by London Zoo. An intrepid traveller and collector who defied expectations at a time when science, exploration and natural history were still heavily dominated by men.
A formidable character her 8 solo research trips to the Islands of the Pacific South Seas left Cheesman laid low by fever, septic sores, malaria and lack of food, found herself trapped in spiders webs and came close to falling to her death - but she always learned from her experiences and had an indomitable spirit.
Beulah Garner takes us into the beetle collections at the Natural history museum to explain why Evelyn Cheesman is her Natural History Hero.
Kevin Whately stars as Kempton Bunton, the pensioner who stole Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in 1961.
In 1961, a portrait of the Duke of Wellington by the great Spanish artist Francisco de Goya was bought by an American collector for £140,000. Following a public outcry the British Government stepped in, matched the bid and saved the painting for the nation.
It was put on display in the National Gallery from where, three weeks later, it was stolen by Kempton Bunton - a 61 year old retired lorry driver from Newcastle who was protesting about having to buy a television licence.
He was a dedicated campaigner who had already served time in jail for refusing to pay for his TV licence. His plan was to get the Government to pay another £140,000 for the return of the painting and then use this money to buy TV licences for OAPs. Once he had the painting safely stored in a wardrobe at his home in Newcastle, he started writing letters explaining his plan to the press and Chairman of the National Gallery. However, no one took his letters seriously.
This is a play about a heist, a manhunt and a marvellously English eccentric character. It also looks at art - highbrow Goya versus lowbrow TV - and the relative values we place upon it. Kempton Bunton was a man who, although he had a 19th century masterpiece in his wardrobe, just wanted to watch Emergency Ward 10 for free.
Kempton Bunton ...... Kevin Whately
Lord Robbins ...... Hugh Fraser
Mrs Bunton ...... Madelaine Newton
Inspector Greene ...... Simon Greenall
Sergeant Entwistle ...... Matt Addis
Have we been lied to about the quality of the air we breathe? Do car manufacturers, regulators and farmers have some explaining to do about their emissions to the atmosphere? Tom Heap investigates.
Michael Rosen & Dr Laura Wright look into how new commercial brand names are invented, with Greg Rowland, the semiotician who came up with the name of a new perfume for Calvin Klein. Which words and sounds work, and which don't, and why? Professor Will Leben talks about how his company came up with the name Blackberry, and the uses of sound symbolism.
Green MP Caroline Lucas and columnist Rod Liddle debate books with Harriett Gilbert. Under discussion are Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver, Red or Dead by David Peace and Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. No prizes for guessing who chose the novel about climate change, but there are some surprises along the way. Producer Sally Heaven.
The Home Secretary Theresa May announces tough new plans to reduce immigration
Things are looking up for Hardacre's. They may still be London's worst ad agency, but business has begun to trickle in.
Moreover, thanks to a herculean effort by accounts chief Amanda Brook, the agency will be featured in an article in industry bible Campaign. It's a chance to answer their critics and take control of their image. A reporter is coming by today to interview the team, and Amanda needs them at their very best. Or - failing that - their least incompetent.
But the team has other things on their mind. Like Joe's divorce lawyer, who seems to have developed a sideline as a blacksmith. Or their campaign for Hardacre's mysterious gentlemen's club. Or why Teddy is covered in spiders.
Or what to do when the office lift breaks down, stranding Joe, Teddy, Amanda, and Hardacre between floors, with the woman from Campaign due any minute.
Edward Rowett's sitcom starring Nigel Havers as Rupert Hardacre, Mathew Baynton as Joe, Josie Lawrence as Amanda Brook and Rasmus Hardiker as Teddy.
John Wilson hosts the BBC National Short Story Award live from the BBC Radio Theatre. With special guests William Boyd and Ian Rankin.
This year's shortlisted authors are Hilary Mantel, Jeremy Page, Frances Leviston, Jonathan Buckley and Mark Haddon.
The winner of the £15000 prize will be announced by Chair of Judges, Allan Little.
What does the theft of a billion dollars from Europe's poorest country have to do with a run-down housing estate in Edinburgh? Moldova was robbed of 12% of its GDP by the bafflingly complex financial scam uncovered earlier this year. It involved a web of companies in the ex-Soviet country, with the money thought to have ended up in Russia via Latvian banks.
But the trail also goes via a number of UK-registered companies, including one based in the district of north Edinburgh made famous by "Trainspotting", the novel about heroin addicts. It's not the only example of Eastern European fraudsters using the UK to launder their dirty money in this way. So why is it allowed to happen? Why is it so easy to set up an opaque shell company in the UK? And what is the role of so-called company formation agents? Tim Whewell investigates
Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese activist talks to Peter White about his life since escaping from China. He now lives in Washington, since being offered residencey by the United States.
Chen has written a book about his experiences and says the hardest part for him to write about was the abuse inflicted upon his mother and family during his imprisonment.
He says that he still feels he can make a difference to the lives of blind and disabled people in China, thanks to the internet. Guangcheng does envisage that he will be able to return to China at some stage in the future. Stephen Hallett provides the translation.
Plus artist Lynn Cox was frustrated by printed greetings cards she could neither read nor enjoy, so decided to create her own range of tactile and scented cards. She has some sighted help, but her art background informs her designs and helps her to achieve the movement and energy in the outlines of the subjects she is depicting.
Pregabalin and gabapentin misuse, Natural birth after caesarean, Adrenaline auto-injectors
Prescriptions for nerve drugs pregabalin and gabapentin have risen dramatically in recent years and at the same time, concerns about abuse. Former prisoner and addict "Patrick" tells Dr Mark Porter that "gabbies" or "pregabs" are drugs of choice in jail and Dr Iain Brew, a GP who works in prisons, says misuse is a growing problem and there are examples of doctors being pressurised into prescribing them. Dr Cathy Stannard, consultant in pain medicine at Southmead Hospital in Bristol, chaired an expert group that drew up new prescribing guidelines for pregabalin and gabapentin and she tells Mark that more attention needs to be paid to emerging evidence of misuse.
Many women say that if they've had one caesarean section, they feel pressurised to have another one and Sara describes how her medical team planted "a seed of doubt" about the potential risks to her baby which she says for her meant another C-Section was inevitable. But new guidelines from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists spell out that vaginal birth after a previous caesarean is a clinically safe choice, with a 75% success rate, the same as for first-time mothers. Inside Health's Dr Margaret McCartney discusses the history of changing attitudes to natural birth after caesarean and says why the new guidelines should give future mothers the confidence to discuss, well in advance of their birth, the best option for them.
How do you fill in health check forms that ask for family history if you don't know who your family was? Inside Health listener Jessica is adopted and her heart health check suggested a very low risk of a stroke or heart attack when she couldn't answer the family history question. Mark and Margaret discuss how common this is, and what difference family knowledge would make to Jessica's risk (not much).
Adrenaline auto injectors were first used in the 1960s when they were developed for soldiers to use during nerve gas attacks allowing them to self administer the antidote. But is a device designed to be used by fit, trained soldiers just as suitable for use in children and adults of widely varying size and weight? These concerns were raised by a coroner conducting the inquest into the death of a 19 year old student who died of anaphylactic shock caused by a nut allergy, despite her using her auto injector. The Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority and also the European Medicines Agency have been looking into issue and Dr Robert Boyle, allergy specialist at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington and Director of the Paediatric Research Unit at Imperial College, London provided expert advice. He talks to Mark about the limitations of auto injector design and urges everybody who might use the devices to ensure they are confident about exactly how to use them.
In 'Reading Europe', Radio 4 continues its journey across Europe exploring the best in contemporary literature with this hugely successful German thriller set on a small cliff-top town in which everyone has a secret.
Famous novelist, with a beautiful wife, grand house in the country and more money than he can spend - Henry Hayden has it all. Or so it seems. His perfect life rests on one carefully constructed lie, a lie he will stop at nothing to protect. He has been lucky until now, but when he makes one fatal error, the whole dream begins to unravel.
Today: Henry's editor - and mistress - has some news...
Writer: Sascha Arango is one of Germany's most renowned screenwriters, whose award-winning crime dramas are television events of the year. This, his first novel, has been a huge bestseller in Germany.
A genderwar has broken out in Wunderland, the Poundland of magical realms. Can the narrator help genderwar poet Penny Beard to bring peace between men and women?
New series by Alice Lowe, featuring Marcia Warren as the narrator, with Richard Glover, Simon Greenall, Rachel Stubbings and Clare Thompson.
Digital devices operate in binary ways; either they're working or they're a brick! Aleks Krotoski asks what this means for our natural instincts as tool builders and tool breakers?
As technology becomes more resistant to prying fingers and minds are we losing the ability to imagine it differently? Take the dying art of tuning an engine it can make cars faster and more efficient but only comes through a symbiotic relationship between mechanic and machine and of course every child knows the joy of taking something apart to see how it works at least until they're caught doing it
Are these the same sensibilities we see in the digital world? From hacking to playing a video game in such a perverse way as to see if it can be broken? Do the constraints of digital technology lock us out of our devices; licensing us to only use them in the prescribed ways, that while convenient are also dis-empowering?
WEDNESDAY 07 OCTOBER 2015
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b06f4xw9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b06flmck)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06f4xwc)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06f4xwg)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06f4xwj)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b06f4xwl)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b06fvlf2)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Bishop John Arnold.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b06fmnyq)
'Free-range' milk, Joe Henson tribute, Teaching children about food production
Dairy farmers in the North East of England are marketing their milk as 'free range'. But it's not the first such scheme: Somerset farmer Neil Darwent launched the free range dairy network a couple of years ago. He responds to the new initiative.
The Rare Breeds Survival Trust has announced the death of one of its founders, Joe Henson, father of Adam from Countryfile. Gail Sprake of the Trust pays tribute to the man who helped save endangered British livestock from becoming extinct.
Also, teaching children about where the food on their plate comes from. Caz Graham joins pupils from a primary school in Carlisle on their farm visit.
Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Mark Smalley.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04hkxn6)
Crested Lark
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the crested lark found from Europe across to China. The west coast of Europe is one edge of the huge range of the crested lark. Much like many larks it is a streaky brown bird but supports, as its name suggests a prominent crest of feathers on its head. Its song is delivered in a display flight over its territory as a pleasant series of liquid notes. Unlike skylarks which are rural birds, crested larks often nest in dry open places on the edge of built-up areas. Its undistinguished appearance and behaviour were cited by Francis of Assisi as signs of humility and he observed that like a humble friar, "it goes willingly along the wayside and finds a grain of corn for itself".
WED 06:00 Today (b06fvlf5)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b06fmnys)
Brian Blessed, Satish Kumar, Mark Harris, Alinah Azadeh
Libby Purves meets actor Brian Blessed; midwife Mark Harris; artist Alinah Azadeh and environmentalist and peace campaigner Satish Kumar.
For 20 years Mark Harris has worked as a qualified midwife, delivering hundreds of babies. He is one of just a small number of male midwives currently practising in the UK. Mark is also founder of the birth education programme Birthing For Blokes, a service providing antenatal classes designed to prepare men for fatherhood. Men, Love and Birth by Mark Harris is published by Pinter and Martin.
Actor Brian Blessed is the son of a miner who left school at the age of 15 and worked as an undertaker's assistant before training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He has played a variety of roles on stage, television and in film including Z-Cars, I, Claudius, the Blackadder series, Flash Gordon and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. He is also an explorer and mountaineer, becoming the oldest man to reach the North Magnetic Pole on foot and to reach 28,000 feet up Everest without oxygen. His autobiography, Absolute Pandemonium, is published by Sidgwick and Jackson.
Alinah Azadeh is an artist. She is taking part in a special evening of activities at the Freud Museum in London as part of the Museums at Night Festival. The night will include the first public screening of Alinah's film Burning the Books which is based on her personal experience of debt and explores the themes of gift and generosity, debt and gratitude. All About the Gift is at the Freud Museum, London NW3 5SX.
Satish Kumar is a peace and environmental activist. A former Jain monk, he is editor-in-chief of Resurgence and Ecologist magazine which celebrates its 50th anniversary next year. Born in Rajasthan, India, at nine he decided to follow a spiritual life and became a Jain monk, travelling from village to village with few possessions. In 1962, inspired by Bertrand Russell, he embarked on an 8,000-mile peace pilgrimage from India to the US, via Moscow, London and Paris. He is hosting The Resurgence Festival of Wellbeing in London.
Producer: Paula McGinley.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b06fmnyv)
Margaret Thatcher: Everything She Wants
Episode 3
In the aftermath of the Falklands victory, Margaret Thatcher's stock was rising. This period of almost five years, up to the 1987 election, could be described as her golden years. With a decisive majority and a pre-eminent place on the world stage she could truly begin to make her mark.
Charles Moore was authorised by Margaret Thatcher to write her biography on the condition that it was published after her death. She also encouraged her former staff and colleagues to readily offer their recollections, diaries and memoirs of their time working with and for her.
This abridgement for Radio 4 of his second volume offers a series of windows onto the key events of her second term - a term that was packed with challenges and drama.
Episode 3:
Arthur Scargill vs Margaret Thatcher.
Music :
The music used to frame this series reflects the title of the book. As the author writes, "I have called this book Everything She Wants - the title of a song of the time by Wham! - because it expresses Mrs Thatcher's appetite for achievement and change and the degree to which she was the commanding personality of the era; but, hard as she fought for everything she wanted, this was not always what she got."
Track: 'Everything She Wants' from the Wham! album Make it Big, 1984
Read by Nicholas Farrell
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06fmppr)
Suffragette screenwriter Abi Morgan, Hollywood actress Geena Davis
Suffragette - the film's screen writer, Abi Morgan, and its historical advisor, Professor Krista Cowman, on bringing the fight for women's right to vote powerfully to life on screen.
Plus, Hollywood actress Geena Davis on her mission to address gender inequality in film and TV, and her role in that ultimate female road-trip movie, Thelma & Louise.
How well does the Conservative party connect with working women? As this year's party conference continues, Isabel Hardman of The Spectator and Rosie Campbell of Birkbeck, University of London, consider the evidence.
And the suffragettes' importance today and their modern day torchbearers: Sam Smethers of the Fawcett Society and Hillary Margolis of Human Rights Watch discuss.
Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Emma Wallace.
WED 10:41 15 Minute Drama (b06g6sjj)
30 Eggs
Episode 3
Weary of life in the bustling Rwandan border town of Rusumo, Modeste, a blind and sickly homeless man resolves to return to his home village of Kibuye on the far side of the country with the help of his companion, Innocent, a cheeky seven year-old street orphan. The journey starts well when they stumble upon a small amount of money but little Innocent inadvertently spends the cash purchasing a basket of thirty raw eggs during a mix up in a market melee. With their peculiar bounty of raw eggs the unlikely duo set off on an adventure of a life time along the rising road cresting atop the many rolling hills of Rwanda.
A beautiful, funny and inspirational story which catapults you into life in Rwanda and one remarkable journey.
Irish writer Eoin O'Connor has spent a number of years living in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Having recently returned to Ireland, Eoin is currently working on two further feature scripts, a comedy, Family Remains, currently in development with Grand Pictures, Dublin, and a thriller set in Syria entitled Stolen, currently in development with Epos Films, Dublin.
Writer ..... Eoin O'Connor
Producer ..... Gemma McMullan.
WED 10:55 The Listening Project (b06fmsy4)
Glyn and Hywel – Dark Suits and Blazers
Fi Glover hears two of the first basses from the Cor Meibion Aberystwyth consider whether or not some swaying in time to the music would enhance the male voice choir experience. Another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen, this one recorded in the mobile Booth on the Promenade at Aberystwyth.
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 Recycled Radio (b06fmsy6)
Series 4
Travel
Today Recycled Radio invites you on a wondrous journey. Famous travellers including Colin Thubron, Bruce Chatwin and Paul Theroux are all jostling for a seat, while presenter Gerald Scarfe attempts to steer the wheel. This is the archive hour at breakneck speed, chopped up, looped up and mashed up with breathtaking results.
So, do four males out of five really start life predisposed in favour of adventure? Why does Lucy Mangan want to stay at home? And is that John Prescott on the last ever edition of Excess Baggage?
Thought-provoking silly fun with an unusually starry cast - Sue MacGregor, Sir John Betjeman, Nicholas Parsons, Benedict Allen, Sarah Wheeler, Humphrey Lyttleton and Clive James.
The producer is Miles Warde.
WED 11:30 The Sinha Carta (b051s4qh)
Magna Carta is a document, over 800 years old, that surprisingly few people have read, considering how important it is.
Luckily for you, comedian and quizzer Paul Sinha (The Chase) has read it, and it turns out it's ace, especially if you love keeping your own timber and hate fishing traps in the River Medway.
Get ready as Paul will be explaining why what’s in it is in it - how it came to be - and guide you through some of its 63 clauses of medieval Latin.
He'll also supply some new, modern clauses, for a Magna Carta fit for a modern Britain.
Written and performed by Paul Sinha.
Producer: Ed Morrish
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2015.
WED 12:00 News Summary (b06f4xwn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 Home Front (b064fzt6)
7 October 1915 - Dorothea Winwood
Dorothea writes to Ralph with news that will shake their marriage.
Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole
WED 12:15 You and Yours (b06fn26c)
Consumer affairs programme.
WED 12:57 Weather (b06f4xwq)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b06fvlv3)
Latest news from the Conservative Conference including an interview with Justice Secretary Michael Gove.
Presented by Martha Kearney.
WED 13:45 Natural History Heroes (b06fn26f)
George Verrall
George Verrall was an entomologist who loved lists. In a time when his peers were busy chasing butterflies and beetles Verrall made himself extremely busy attempting to list all the species of ‘true’ fly of the British Isles. His initial list of around 2000 flies from the late 1800’s has been updated over the years and at the last revision included over 7000 species.
Verrall’s love of wildlife and his concern for the British countryside inspired him along with the better known naturalist Walter Rothschild to start buying up the fenland around Cambridge.
On his death this land was gifted to the National Trust increasing the size of their very first nature reserve – Wicken Fen. Fellow fly expert Erica McAllister explains why Verrall is her Natural History Hero.
Produced by Ellie Sans
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2015.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b06flmfx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b067w6ts)
Frank and the Bear
Written by Emily Steel and inspired by real life experiences.
Baby Frank is just hours old when his breathing becomes difficult and he's whisked from his mother's arms. The situation is critical. Hours turn into days as the doctors try to make him better. Whilst they wait Frank's parents tell make-believe stories of their baby son and his pal Bear, as they desperately long for a happy ending.
A truthful and emotional drama about motherhood, hope and endless love.
Directed by Helen Perry
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.
Eve Myles is best known for playing Gwen Cooper in Torchwood, alongside her roles in Broadchurch, Belonging and Frankie.
WED 15:00 Money Box (b06fvlzn)
Money Box Live: The Finances of Bereavement
The loss of a loved one can be an overwhelming time emotionally and while financial decisions may be the last thing on your mind, you might be faced with paying for funeral costs or dealing with wills, probate and inheritance tax. To help you through this difficult time, Lesley Curwen and guests will answer your questions about the financial implications of bereavement. Call 03700 100 444 between
1pm and
3.30 pm on Wednesday or email moneybox@bbc.co.uk now.
How much will a funeral cost? Adam Heath from the National Association of Funeral Directors will be here to talk you through the likely costs, from the service itself to the flowers and newspaper announcements, plus sources of financial help for those on a low income.
If you're the executor of a will you may have a question about your role in sorting out the estate of a relative or friend. When and how do you apply for probate, the legal document which gives you the authority to share out the estate? What should you do about bank accounts, debts, inheritance tax or notifying beneficiaries?
Or perhaps you want to plan your own affairs by making a will. What are the key considerations about property, investments, pensions and personal possessions? Who do you want to provide for and how can you ensure that your wishes are carried out after your death?
Gary Rycroft, Solicitor at Joseph A Jones & Co and Alan Barr, Tax Practitioner at Brodies LLP in Scotland will be here to answer your legal questions.
Whatever you need to know, presenter Lesley Curwen and guests will be waiting for your call.
Phone lines are open from
1pm to
3.30pm on Wednesday, call 03700 100 444, standard geographic call charges apply. Or email us at moneybox@bbc.co.uk now.
WED 15:30 Inside Health (b06flmg7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b06fn26h)
Female Serial Killers, Secular Stagnation
Female Serial Killers: Although there is much written on male serial killers, there's less analysis of their female equivalent, perhaps because of their comparitive rarity. Elizabeth Yardley, Associate Professor of Criminology at Birmingham City University, talks to Laurie Taylor about her new study into the social context in which such killings occur. They're joined by Lisa Downing, Professor of French Discourses of Sexuality at the University of Birmingham.
Also Secular Stagnation: the impossibility of an economic future for our grandchildren? Kevin O'Rourke, the Chichele Professor of Economic History at All Souls College Oxford, discusses the recent revival of the hypothesis that 'secular stagnation' - negligible or zero economic growth - could lead to permanently depressed economies, if no policy counter-measures are taken. What's the history of this theory and how applicable is it today?
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b06fn26k)
Peston's move to ITV, Desmond newspaper prices, Dennis Publishing CEO on Coach
An investigation by BBC's Panorama into alleged VIP Paedophile rings has questioned whether there was in fact any reliable evidence to support claims. It questioned the methods of investigative website Exaro News - who have led the way in covering this story. Mark Watts, Editor in Chief of Exaro News, gives his response to Steve Hewlett.
BBC journalist and presenter Robert Peston is to join rival broadcaster ITV as its new political editor. The BBC's economics editor has been lured to switch networks with a reported salary of around £350,000 and the promise of a Sunday morning chatshow. Steve Hewlett talks to former Editor-in-Chief and CEO of ITN news Stewart Purvis about the reasons why ITV is so keen to hire him.
Express Newspapers, the newspaper arm of Desmond's Northern & Shell, has cut the cost of the weekday Daily Star, and the Saturday and Sunday editions. The move, which the company has described as a "very bold move to inject some overdue sales and excitement to the category", will challenge rivals including Trinity Mirror's Mirror and Sunday People and News UK's Sun. Douglas McCabe from Enders Analysis explains the thinking behind the decision.
Dennis Publishing today makes its first foray into the freemium magazine market with Coach, a title aimed at 'ABC1 men in the 24-55 age range.' Founded in 1974, Dennis Publishing's magazine portfolio includes the paid-for titles The Week, Viz and Men's Fitness. Coach comes less than 3 weeks after the re-launch of The NME as a free title. The CEO of Dennis Publishing in the UK, James Tye, joins Steve to examine the strategy behind the freemium model for Dennis.
Producer: Katy Takatsuki.
WED 17:00 PM (b06fn26m)
PM at
5pm - Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06f4xws)
Cameron's vision for a "Greater Britain"
The PM promises an all-out assault on poverty and attacks "Britain-hating" Corbyn. Russia launches missiles from the Caspian Sea to Syria. Sepp Blatter provisionally suspended.
WED 18:30 Sami Shah's Beginner's Guide to Pakistan (b06fn26p)
Episode 2
Sami Shah is an award-winning comedian and best-selling author, and one of Pakistan's most successful comedians. Yes, Pakistan has comedians. In A Beginner's Guide To Pakistan he has travelled to Birmingham - or, to give it its full name, the Islamic Republic of Birmingham - to give Radio 4 a quick guide to the country who have directly and/or indirectly provided the UK with 1.8% of its population: Pakistan.
In this second episode he looks at Pakistan's social and cultural history, from its music and cinema, to its increasing religious conservatism as the nature of Islam in the country has changed through the years, all the way to the best brewery in Pakistan. Alright, the only brewery in Pakistan.
Written and performed by ... Sami Shah
The Voice of the Guide ... Anita Anand
Producer ... Ed Morrish
A Beginner's Guide To Pakistan is a BBC Radio Comedy production first broadcast in 2015.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b06fn26r)
Fallon and Harrison look around at Woodbine before they move in properly and joke about the space, which includes some awful colours and prints. Fallon eyes up some work space, as her business is starting to thrive - she and Emma are getting bookings, including a January wedding in Borchester. Ed and Emma still can't move back into No 1 The Green for a while though.
Alan's taking donations for harvest supper on Sunday 25th and Pat and Jazzer discuss the many flood 'refugees'. Pat's happy to host the event in her barn. Jazzer meets the chap who has bought Mike's business and hopes to keep his job. Later, Jazzer tells Fallon and Harrison he's safe carrying on as normal but doesn't know where he stands for the future.
Adam tells Pip her parents are lucky to have her - but she's not sure they see it the same way. Pip wonders whether she should be travelling. Adam tells her not to worry and enjoy what she's doing. Adam feels that something's bound to go wrong with his venture at some point, having introduced so many changes. Adam's thinking about share farming, which could be a headache if you don't find the right people. Adam points out to Pip that she's clearly not the only one in Ambridge who has a lot to prove.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b06fn26t)
Ted Hughes biography, Frank Auerbach, Suffragette, Beasts of No Nation
Ted Hughes, The Unauthorised Life, a new biography by Jonathan Bate, has attracted attention because of its scandalous revelations about the poet's adulterous relationships; including the fact he was in bed with another woman the night Sylvia Path took her life. Jonathan Bate talks about the connection between the poet's life and work.
For more than 60 years Frank Auerbach has lived and worked in the same place, painting almost every day of his life. Tomorrow a major retrospective, of more than 70 of his portraits and landscapes, made almost abstract by his bold brushwork, opens at Tate Britain. The writer and art critic Sue Hubbard reviews.
Director Sarah Gavron on the film Suffragette, starring Carey Mulligan as a working class foot soldier of the feminist movement and Meryl Streep as Emmeline Pankhurst.
Beasts of No Nation, starring Idris Elba, is based on the novel by Nigerian author Uzodinma Iweala. The film follows the story of a child soldier trapped in the civil war of an unspecified African country. Elba, who made his name in The Wire and Luther, plays the warlord who leads the band of child soldiers into battle. The film, the first feature film acquired by Netflix, marks a new strategy in film distribution with a brief, limited cinema release before appearing on Netflix's home subscription service a week later. Briony Hanson reviews the film and discusses the changing landscape of feature film distribution.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b06g6sjj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:41 today]
WED 20:00 The Bottom Line (b06jt518)
Crisis at VW: A Bottom Line Special
Volkswagen is dealing with a corporate crisis following the emissions rigging scandal. Evan Davis and guests discuss.
Guests:
Sir John Egan, former CEO, Jaguar, former Chairman, Severn Trent
Lord Browne, former CEO, BP
Lucy Marcus, CEO, Marcus Venture Consulting
Arndt Ellinghorst, Senior MD, Evercore ISI
Producer: Sally Abrahams.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b06fngrq)
Why Run?
In this thoughtful essay Adharanand Finn provides a subtle answer to a simple question: why do we run? After all, he says, "running is hard. It requires effort. And after all the pain you usually end up right back where you started, having run in a big, pointless circle".
With reference to childhood, hunter-gatherers and even the monks of mount Hiei, who run the equivalent of 1,000 marathons in 1,000 days, Adharanand arrives at an answer: running brings us joy. Recorded at the End of the Road music festival.
Producer: Richard Knight.
WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (b06flmf1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
15:30 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 Midweek (b06fmnys)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b06fvlzq)
Is David Cameron returning to compassionate conservatism?
Prime Minister addresses Tory party conference.
Obama's Afghanistan headache.
Russia launches cruise missiles into Syria from warships.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b06flmgm)
Reading Europe - The Truth and Other Lies
Don't worry, I'll take care of things
Radio 4 continues its journey across Europe exploring the best in contemporary literature with this hugely successful German thriller set on a small cliff-top town, in which everyone has a secret.
Famous novelist, with a beautiful wife, grand house in the country and more money than he can spend - Henry Hayden has it all. Or so it seems. His perfect life rests on one carefully constructed lie, a lie he will stop at nothing to protect. But when he makes one fatal error, the whole dream begins to unravel.
Today: Henry prepares to meet his mistress on a remote clifftop.
Reader: Jamie Parker
Abridger: Sally Marmion
Producer: Justine Willett
Writer: Sascha Arango is one of Germany's most renowned screenwriters, whose award-winning crime dramas are television events of the year. This, his first novel, has been a huge bestseller in Germany.
Translated by Imogen Taylor.
WED 23:00 The Celebrity Voicemail Show (b06fnh5p)
Series 1
Katie Hopkins
Kayvan Novak imagines what it might be like to hear the answerphone messages of the rich and famous.
This time, we listen into the voicemail of controversial media personality, Katie Hopkins.
An entirely fictitious comedy show written, improvised and starring Kayvan Novak.
Producer: Matt Stronge
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2015.
WED 23:15 Dreaming the City (b02224wv)
Ashes
Four journeys into the dark, recurring dreams of the city. In each episode, leading writers collaborate with documentary-makers Russell Finch and Francesca Panetta to uncover the unsaid obsessions of city life.
Episode 1: Ashes by Craig Taylor.
When an urban explorer suffers a fatal accident, two friends are charged with the task of scattering his ashes. They travel to London and revisit the derelict buildings, river barges and train sidings he used to explore, to find the most appropriate location for his final resting place.
These experimental radio features blend archive, fiction and documentary footage. What's real and what's fiction becomes unclear, just like in the city.
A city isn't just a location on the map, it's a place we imagine, dream about, invent. A place to love, to endure or to resent. A place where you can find anything - but it always has a price.
You don't need to live in a city - it's part of the universal imagination. But the way we think of it has common dark undertones, recurring dreams that come round again and again. These late night woozy dreamscapes uncover those unsaid obsessions, each taking a different theme, and question why these ideas seem to keep coming back in the way we imagine urban living.
Featuring the voice of Joseph Kloska.
Producers: Russell Finch and Francesca Panetta
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:30 The Digital Human (b01nt3y2)
Series 2
Last Word
At the Digital Death Day Aleks meets with Vered Shavit from Israel who having dealt with her late brother's digital legacy set up a website called Digital Dust to help others going through the same experience.
Hearing Vered's story Alek's asks how are we using the web to adapt the rituals that we have used for centuries to help us transition between the living and the dead?
Aleks discovers that since Vered's brother's death people continue to communicate with him through his Facebook profile. Dr Elaine Kasket a Counselling Psychologist who practices psychotherapy with the bereaved likens Facebook to a modern day medium. She also explains how Facebook is enabling people to continue bonds with the deceased.
The distinction between our physical selves and mental states is a philosophical construction, but it signifies a line in the sand between those who believe our bodies make us human and those who define humanity by our thoughts and social lives. But after our death can our persisting digital selves continue our presence for those left behind?
Produced by Kate Bissell.
THURSDAY 08 OCTOBER 2015
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b06f4xxs)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b06fmnyv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06f4xxv)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06f4xxx)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06f4xxz)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b06f4xy1)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b06fpvnf)
A special Prayer for the Day marking National Poetry day with Simon Russell Beale.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b06fnjlh)
New Crop - Ahiflower, Farming at Yorkshire Career Fair, Piers Plowman
A new crop is launched in the UK, Ahiflower, which contains Omega 3. Derived from a weed, it's trademarked globally, with a view to seizing some of the global supplements market. However, nutritionists say that it doesn't replace a well-balanced diet.
Sarah Falkingham visits a Yorkshire schools career fair to find out what farming and farm-related jobs are on offer for school leavers.
As part of Radio 4's survey of English poetry, Farming Today finds out what the fourteenth century epic, 'Piers Plowman' tells us about rural life in the middle ages.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Mark Smalley.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03mg1dc)
Song Thrush (Winter)
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
David Attenborough presents the story of the song thrush and reads a passage from Thomas Hardy's poem, The Darkling Thrush.
Written at the end of the 19th century, this poem is about the hope that birdsong can bring at the bleakest time of the year. This episode examines how often song thrushes sing in winter.
THU 06:00 Today (b06fpvnh)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 We British (b06g1m60)
Foundation Stones
The British are brilliant at writing poems. On National Poetry Day, Andrew Marr is using them to tell our story.
In this opening episode Andrew looks at the various origins of our story found in some of the earliest verses written in these islands. Then he plunges into the majestic weirdness and strange familiarity of the medieval world. Before, in the figure of Chaucer he finds the first stirrings of an English ascendancy.
With Simon Armitage, Patience Agbabi, Gillian Clarke, Carol Ann Duffy and Jacob Polley.
We'll hear the origins of our British poetry, and of our national character, in poems like The Ruin, Y Goddodin and the Canterbury Tales. And fans of Lord of the Rings and King Arthur will recognise the mediaeval landscapes of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b06fnjlt)
Margaret Thatcher: Everything She Wants
Episode 4
In the aftermath of the Falklands victory, Margaret Thatcher's stock was rising. This period of almost five years, up to the 1987 election, could be described as her golden years. With a decisive majority and a pre-eminent place on the world stage she could truly begin to make her mark.
Charles Moore was authorised by Margaret Thatcher to write her biography on the condition that it was published after her death. She also encouraged her former staff and colleagues to readily offer their recollections, diaries and memoirs of their time working with and for her.
This abridgement for Radio 4 of his second volume offers a series of windows onto the key events of her second term - a term that was packed with challenges and drama.
Episode 4:
The Iron Lady and the Queen.
Music :
The music used to frame this series reflects the title of the book. As the author writes, "I have called this book Everything She Wants - the title of a song of the time by Wham! - because it expresses Mrs Thatcher's appetite for achievement and change and the degree to which she was the commanding personality of the era; but, hard as she fought for everything she wanted, this was not always what she got."
Track: 'Everything She Wants' from the Wham! album Make it Big, 1984
Read by Nicholas Farrell
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06fpwx3)
Nightclub racism, Andrew Marr on poetry, Lee Miller WWII photos, Children and sexuality
Racism and Nightclub Door Policies - Clubber Zalika Miller who claims that she and her friends were turned away from a London club because of their skin colour and weight and Reni Eddo-Lodge, a journalist who specialises in gender and race relations discuss nightclub entrance practices.
On National Poetry Day, Andrew Marr examines the work of women poets Edna St Vincent Millay, Claudia Rankine and Margaret Cavendish with British poets Helen Mort and Ruth Padel.
To discuss when children become aware of their own sexuality and how we should talk to them about it, Jenni is joined by Mel Gadd, Projects Co-ordinator at the Family Planning Association, and Polly Shute, Fundraising Director for London LGBT Pride.
As never-before-seen photos by Lee Miller are displayed in a new exhibition at The Imperial War Museum, curator Hilary Roberts and Miller's son Tony Penrose talk about the World War 2 photographer's vision of gender.
Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Rebecca Myatt.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b06g6t40)
30 Eggs
Episode 4
Weary of life in the bustling Rwandan border town of Rusumo, Modeste, a blind and sickly homeless man resolves to return to his home village of Kibuye on the far side of the country with the help of his companion, Innocent, a cheeky seven year-old street orphan. The journey starts well when they stumble upon a small amount of money but little Innocent inadvertently spends the cash purchasing a basket of thirty raw eggs during a mix up in a market melee. With their peculiar bounty of raw eggs the unlikely duo set off on an adventure of a life time along the rising road cresting atop the many rolling hills of Rwanda.
A beautiful, funny and inspirational story which catapults you into life in Rwanda and one remarkable journey.
Irish writer Eoin O'Connor has spent a number of years living in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Having recently returned to Ireland, Eoin is currently working on two further feature scripts, a comedy, Family Remains, currently in development with Grand Pictures, Dublin, and a thriller set in Syria entitled Stolen, currently in development with Epos Films, Dublin.
Writer ..... Eoin O'Connor
Producer ..... Gemma McMullan.
THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (b06fpwx5)
A Tunnel of Stories
Insight, writing, storytelling. In this edition Nick Thorpe reflects on the many tales he's heard in months covering the migrant crisis at the gateways of Europe; Gabriel Gatehouse is in Germany where the influx of refugees has caused a surge in the popularity of right-wing anti-immigration parties; Stephanie Hegarty talks of her visit to the Central African Republic where UN-troops are trying to restore peace after violent clashes between Christian and Muslim militias; Jonathan Fryer goes to Astana in Kazahstan, a capital city with awe-inspiring architecture and a president determined that nothing will stand in the way of his plans for the country's future and Kieran Cooke goes to Ireland's holy mountain, Croagh Patrick in County Mayo, to investigate a claim that 'nature's greatest cathedral in the west is being severely damaged'.
THU 11:30 We British (b06g1m62)
The Rise of England
The British are brilliant at writing poems. To celebrate National Poetry Day, Andrew Marr is using them to tell our story. In this episode Andrew Marr examines the long 16th century - from the rise of the Tudors to the elegance of Shakespeare. The 16th century is as elegant and brutal as a deft execution. This is a story of English power - entrenched in the South East of the country and never really relinquished. But also of Scottish elegance - the poets of the age reading and re-writing Virgil and the classics long before their Southern brethren.
Joining Andrew are a great cast of poets, historians and experts who help guide us through this golden age of poetry.
Black Country poet Liz Berry opens the programme, reclaiming Shakespeare for the Midlands with Sonnet 18 - 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?'.
We follow the path of Tudor aggression to Ireland, where professor Andy Orchard explores Seamus Heaney's reinterpretation of one of the great Irish anti-colonial poems: Brothers. And we observe the rise of power in the South East as Barry Rutter, founder of Northern Broadsides theatre company, describes his theatrical rebellion against it.
Diane Purkiss takes us to the heart of Tudor London: poets like Isabella Whitney chronicling the growth of the city, it's wealth and its dangers. We hear the torment of one the earliest-known female poets, Anne Askew, as she prepares to be burned at the stake.
A high-water mark in poetic brilliance is reached, as the sonnet arrives on these shores. Poet Don Paterson reads one of his own, and we hear Ben Jonson's extraordinary sonnet written for his dead son.
And do you know which Scottish poet outshone Shakespeare in his day? Professor Robert Crawford introduces us to George Buchanan.
THU 12:00 News Summary (b06f4xy3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:03 We British (b06gymyn)
The People's Shipping Forecast
The poet Murray Lachlan-Young presents his own poetic take on the Shipping Forecast.
THU 12:06 Home Front (b064g04b)
8 October 1915 - Sylvia Graham
Sylvia Graham finds her family at the centre of an unexpected theatrical incident
Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole
THU 12:18 You and Yours (b06fvgpy)
Mindfulness, High street revival, Fly-tipping
Mindfulness is a form of meditation based on paying attention to the present. A new report says it's so effective at treating depression that doctors and teachers should be given training in how to teach it. But some research raises questions - how can we be sure it is doing the good we think it is? We visit a school in Cumbria that includes mindfulness on the curriculum and talk to Florian Ruths Dr Miguel Farias who has reservations.
New figures suggest that our high streets are starting to revive - the story of the downturn has been empty shops, as shoppers go online and big retailers consolidate their shops. But there are fewer empty shops around now than at any time since 2010. What sorts of shops are filling those empty space and what does it say about the way we shop now? Samantha Fenwick is live in Bootle where they've turned their vacancy rates around.
And the tricky balancing act between financial freedom, and protecting vulnerable elderly people from crime. We'll speak to the son of a man who, despite being a consistent victim of fraud, was still lent money by his bank. Where should the line be drawn if a vulnerable person is borrowing money to hand it to fraudsters?
THU 12:57 Weather (b06f4xy5)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b06fvgq0)
As NATO meets to discuss Russia's intervention in Syria, one of President Putin's allies tells us that Russia's bombing campaign has secured Moscow a position of influence in future political talks to resolve the crisis.
Lord Owen, who helped to broker the famous Dayton peace deal which brought an end to the war in Bosnia reflects on how a political solution might be agreed over the future of Syria, and what those involved would have to concede before negotiations could begin in earnest.
We take you on an extraordinary journey - our reporter Manveen Rana has followed one Syrian family on their trek from the Middle East right across Europe. We hear her first report.
And...Was David Cameron's speech to Conference a triumph of Blairite Centrism, or One Nation Conservatism? Tony Blair's former head of strategy, and David Cameron's former chief of staff discuss.
THU 13:45 Natural History Heroes (b06fnjlw)
Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace is best known as the co-publisher of the theory of evolution by Natural Selection along with Charles Darwin. Yet this most famous of his achievements should not eclipse his equally important contributions to science. The ‘father’ of the study of evolutionary biogeography - the Wallace line is the place where the biogeography of Asia becomes distinct from Australia.
Well known in his time as an explorer, collector, naturalist, geographer, anthropologist and political commentator Wallace was above all driven by a wonder and enchantment for the natural world that would be considered childlike if it weren’t for the hugely important contribution he made to further our understanding of the natural world.
Entomologist George Beccaloni explains why Alfred Russel Wallace is his Natural History Hero.
Produced by Ellie Sans
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2015.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b06fn26r)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 We British (b06g1m64)
Things Fall Apart
The British are brilliant at writing poems. On National Poetry Day, Andrew Marr is using them to tell our story.
Episode three watches the world fall apart as Britain descends into war. Elizabeth I is dead. The Scottish King has inherited the English throne. After the Tudor age, came the greatest crisis in British history - civil war, religious fanaticism, King Vs Parliament, family vs family, faith vs faith in all corners of the land. As the poet John Donne bewailed "'Tis all in pieces, all coherence gone".
But this period of turbulence produced some of Britain's finest poetry; we hear great poems by Andrew Marvell, George Herbert, John Donne and John Milton, together with lesser known works by Anne Bradstreet and Margaret Cavendish.
With readings by Fiona Shaw, Alice Oswald, Barrie Rutter and Simon Russell Beale.
THU 15:00 Ramblings (b06fnkdg)
Series 31
Nun Appleton House, North Yorkshire
Clare Balding goes in search of Nun Appleton House in North Yorkshire, the subject of one of Andrew Marvells most famous poems. She's accompanied by contemporary landscape poet,
John Wedgwood Clarke and Stewart Mottram a Lecturer in Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Hull University.
Producer Lucy Lunt.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b06f4z39)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 We British (b06g1m6b)
Restoration to Revolution
The British are a people of poetry. On National Poetry Day, Andrew Marr is using the best British poems to tell our story. Episode 4 brings us into the 18th century. An age in which we tried hard to be civilised whilst enjoying the fact that we were not. The Age of Reason? No - an uneasy peace, not sedate, or reasonable, or ordered, and least of all enlightened. With literary scholars, John Mullan and Judith Hawley, the cartoonist Martin Rowson and a song from the times sung by Lucie Skeaping. Reader: Siobhan Redmond.
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b06fvgq2)
Robert Zemeckis on The Walk, Joe Wright on Pan
With Francine Stock.
The director of The Walk and Back To The Future, Robert Zemeckis explains the rules of employing 3D in film, and why it shouldn't just be used for effect.
Foley artist Barnaby Smyth demonstrates how he followed in the footsteps of Emmeline Pankhurst and co for the sound effects to Suffragette, which required him to wear specially adapted high heels.
Joe Wright, the director of Pan explains why Nirvana's Smell Like Teen Spirit makes an unlikely appearance in his new adaptation of J.M. Barrie's classic children's tale.
Denis Villeneuve reveals the pressure of making the sequel to Blade Runner.
THU 16:30 We British (b06g1mcd)
Hopeful Romantics
The British are brilliant at writing poems. On National Poetry Day, Andrew Marr is using them to tell our story.
The British are supposedly poor at romance, but they make excellent Romantics. The Romantics dominate our sense of what a poet is. Infact they loom pretty large in our sense of what an individual is. An outpouring of poetic genius not seen before or since. Yet this might just be the period when poetry went completely off the rails.
With Richard Holmes and Lucy Newlyn. Poems by Wordsworth, Byron, Coleridge and Clare and a new one by Andrew Motion; plus the archteypal romantic artist - a singing nightingale. Reader: Siobhan Redmond.
THU 17:00 PM (b06fvgq6)
PM at
5pm - Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06f4xy7)
FIFA suspends President Blatter and potential successor, Platini. Syrian army says major ground offensive underway. VW America blames rogue engineers for emissions scandal.
THU 18:29 We British (b06gyppz)
The People's Shipping Forecast
The poet Murray Lachlan-Young reads a poetic reimagining of the Shipping Forecast, based on listeners' suggestions.
THU 18:31 The Brig Society (b06fnkdj)
Series 3
The Housing Crisis
In this nicely-furnished affordable programme with very attractive views, Marcus Brigstocke decides to solve the housing crisis. He'll also be building a basement under the studio and knocking down a party wall he shares with The Archers.
With him on the show are stay-at-home twenty-somethings Margaret Cabourn-Smith ("Miranda"), William Andrews ("Sorry I've Got No Head") and Tom Crowley, all of whom should really have fled the nest by now.
Written by Marcus Brigstocke, Jeremy Salsby, Toby Davies, Nick Doody, Steve Punt and Dan Tetsell
Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b06fnkdl)
Jim's pleased to bump into Jazzer and they enjoy a pint and catch up at the Bull, where they both admit that they're tired of being out of their normal home - and miss each other's company. Jazzer also admits he can't make out his new boss. Neil stops in to put up an appeal for help with the village hall restoration. Kenton has also shared his plans for renovating the Bull.
Ruth thanks Rex for him and Toby playing touch rugby with Ben. Rex shares his thoughts about being a young lad and not being able to show your feelings - remembering when he lost his Gran. Ruth remembers her own childhood, before coming to Brookfield and joining a huge extended family. At times she just needed to talk to her own Mum.
Rob drives an edgy Helen to the clinic for her appointment at Borchester General, where her pregnancy becomes official. Afterwards, happy Rob vows to take the best care of her and looks forward to telling Pat and Tony.
Pat's delighted. But why didn't they tell her sooner?! She gives Rob a big hug. Helen says don't tell anyone, except for Tony and Tom. Rob shares some other news - he's going to complete a step-parental responsibility agreement for Henry - so they're on the way to having their own complete, perfect little family.
THU 19:15 We British (b06g1mn7)
Previously on We British
The British are brilliant at writing poems. On National Poetry Day, Andrew Marr is using them to tell our story. To start the evening Andrew presents a recap of the highlights of the day.
THU 19:35 We British (b06g1mn9)
The Victorians
The British are brilliant at writing poems. On National Poetry Day, Andrew Marr is using them to tell our story. By the middle of the evening Andrew has reached the Victorian Age accompanied by Sir Ian McKellen, Siobhan Redmond, Dinah Birch, Daljit Nagra, Michael Rosen & Matthew Sweet
The Victorians were a confident bunch but also terribly anxious. 'Play up, play up and play the game' pales against the tectonic anxiety of poems like Dover Beach. And we are still caught in Victorian dilemmas about capitalism, social justice, colonialism, marriage, science and faith.
We'll be guided through the 19th century by poems like Tennyson's In Memoriam, Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussycat, and Modern Love - George Meredith's portrait of a failing marriage; and we'll hear Victorians at their most unbuttoned in Elizabeth Barratt-Browning's seduction poem, Lord Walter's Wife.
THU 20:15 We British (b06g1nfp)
20th-Century Jukebox
The British are brilliant at writing poems. On National Poetry Day, Andrew Marr is using them to tell our story. The 20th century arrives and so does the BBC archive. Simon Armitage, Juliet Gardiner, Kate Tempest, Kei Miller and Glyn Maxwell help Andrew to paint a fresh portrait of the 20th century in poems.
THU 21:15 We British (b06g1nfr)
The Afterparty
Contemporary poetry and music broadcast live from the Radio theatre to celebrate the final act of We British: A Epic in Poetry will include live poetry performed by some of our new and best loved British poets including Simon Armitage, Mike Garry, Hollie McNish and Roger McGough. Music is provided by singer/songwriter Ricky Ross and Pauline Black of the Selecter.
Producer: Maggie Ayre.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b06fvkbr)
US officials say a number of Russian cruise missiles fired at Syria have crashed in Iran.
Will Russia's intervention in Syria make any difference to Britain's policy?
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b06fnh5m)
Reading Europe - The Truth and Other Lies
Darling, can you guess how it ends?
Radio 4 continues its journey across Europe exploring the best in contemporary literature with this bestselling German thriller set on a small cliff-top town, in which everyone has a secret.
Famous novelist, with a beautiful wife, grand house in the country and more money than he can spend - Henry Hayden has it all. Or so it seems. His perfect life rests on one carefully constructed lie, a lie he will stop at nothing to protect. But when he makes one fatal error, the whole dream begins to unravel.
Today: After the incident on the cliff, Henry has a most unexpected visitor.
Reader: Jamie Parker
Abridger: Sally Marmion
Producer: Justine Willett
Writer: Sascha Arango is one of Germany's most renowned screenwriters. This, his first novel, has been a huge bestseller in Germany.
Translated by Imogen Taylor.
THU 23:00 BBC Inside Science (b06fvgq4)
Ethiopian genome, Coral nutrients, The hunt for gravitational waves, Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
As evidence grows about the vulnerability of our ocean corals to climate change, what's often overlooked are the more subtle changes in the ocean waters that contribute to coral resilience. Adam visits Southampton's Oceanography Centre where new research is showing how an imbalance of nutrients in reef waters is increasing the vulnerability of reef corals to high water temperatures which could help direct future coastal management.
The long awaited hunt for gravitational waves gets underway as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the United States begins its first observational run. The waves, generated by some of the most dramatic events in space such as the explosion of stars and the merging of two black holes, were first postulated by Einstein in 1916. So far they've never been detected but if LIGO is successful it'll not only provide proof of Einstein's Theory of Relativity but also provide the first direct evidence of the existence of black holes.
And Adam meets theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli whose new book Seven Brief Lessons on Physics examines in seven short essays how 20th century physics is shaping our world view. In Italy, it's outsold 50 Shades of Grey and the Pope's Encyclical and has now been translated into English. What's been the key to its success?
THU 23:30 The Digital Human (b04mc1hf)
Series 6
Abandon
What happens when we abandon a place? And why is it so difficult for us to leave these places behind?
In this episode, Aleks explores abandon both on and offline. We tell the story of the only permanent resident of Fukushima's radiation exclusion zone. Naoto Matsura stayed in Tomioka while everyone around him fled. He's now the unofficial caretaker of this abandoned town.
Aleks contrasts this with a remarkable example of digital abandon. Meridian 59 was the first massively multiplayer online game. When newer competitors arrived on the scene, many players left. The game has been abandoned and restarted several times over since. Aleks hears from the hardcore community of players who refuse to let the game disappear entirely.
FRIDAY 09 OCTOBER 2015
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b06f4xz8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b06fnjlt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06f4xzb)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06f4xzd)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06f4xzg)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b06f4xzj)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b06fpy7n)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Bishop John Arnold.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b06fpyzb)
Fake Russian cheese, Dairy costs, Land-based education
Russia's agricultural watchdog has found that a quarter of all dairy products on sale are not true dairy. The picture's worse for cheese, where more than three quarters of those examined were found to be fake, in that palm oil had been added rather than just using milk. We hear that the report's led to denials and recriminations from different government departments, but how bothered are consumers?
"Golden hellos" and subsidised housing are just a few of the tactics some local authorities in Scotland are having to use to recruit enough teachers to keep their schools fully staffed. Attracting new teachers has become such a problem that six councils in the north and north east of Scotland have held a summit this week to try and come up with some solutions.
The majority of dairy farmers don't know how much it costs them to produce milk. That's according to five leading dairy consultancy groups who say that around 60% of producers who don't know, must get to grips with exactly what goes into producing a litre of milk, and make sure that figure includes costs like family labour and saving for retirement. With the price of milk remaining stubbornly low, farmers are being urged to do everything they can do reduce production costs and adopt more long term financial planning, so they're more able to withstand an increasingly volatile global market. We ask farmers at the Dairy Show in Somerset whether they know their cost of production.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Mark Smalley.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04kjgy6)
Pied Butcherbird
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the virtuoso songster the pied butcherbird of Australia. Australian parks, gardens resonate to the flute like calls of a medium sized black and white bird with stout blue-grey bills, and a black hood. They earned their name 'butcherbird' from their habit of storing prey by impaling it onto thorns or in a tree crevice before feeding on it with their hooked bill. They can sing for up to twenty minutes at a time, appearing to improvise as they perform a mellifluous, but unpredictable performance which they deliver as a solo or a duet with another butcherbird. Australian composer David Lumsdaine, described its call as..... "a virtuoso of composition and improvisation".
FRI 06:00 Today (b06fpy7q)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b06f4z3h)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b06fntm5)
Margaret Thatcher: Everything She Wants
Episode 5
In the aftermath of the Falklands victory, Margaret Thatcher's stock was rising. This period of almost five years, up to the 1987 election, could be described as her golden years. With a decisive majority and a pre-eminent place on the world stage she could truly begin to make her mark.
Charles Moore was authorised by Margaret Thatcher to write her biography on the condition that it was published after her death. She also encouraged her former staff and colleagues to readily offer their recollections, diaries and memoirs of their time working with and for her.
This abridgement for Radio 4 of his second volume offers a series of windows onto the key events of her second term - a term that was packed with challenges and drama.
Episode 5:
What was she really like?
Music :
The music used to frame this series reflects the title of the book. As the author writes, "I have called this book Everything She Wants - the title of a song of the time by Wham! - because it expresses Mrs Thatcher's appetite for achievement and change and the degree to which she was the commanding personality of the era; but, hard as she fought for everything she wanted, this was not always what she got."
Track: 'Everything She Wants' from the Wham! album Make it Big, 1984
Read by Nicholas Farrell
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06fpy4m)
Nigella Lawson
A celebration of all things food with Nigella Lawson. She'll be talking about her journey from Domestic Goddess to Simply Nigella. Is it an evolution or a revolution ? She'll be Cooking the Perfect salmon, avocado, watercress and pumpkin seed salad.
And joined by food writers Diana Henry, Bee Wilson and Cara Nicoletti, tackling the thorny issue of food and feminism and talking about why we should ditch the guilt and just enjoy the many pleasures that cooking and eating has to offer.
Presented by Jenni Murray
Producer Beverley Purcell.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b06g6vn8)
30 Eggs
Episode 5
Weary of life in the bustling Rwandan border town of Rusumo, Modeste, a blind and sickly homeless man resolves to return to his home village of Kibuye on the far side of the country with the help of his companion, Innocent, a cheeky seven year-old street orphan. The journey starts well when they stumble upon a small amount of money but little Innocent inadvertently spends the cash purchasing a basket of thirty raw eggs during a mix up in a market melee. With their peculiar bounty of raw eggs the unlikely duo set off on an adventure of a life time along the rising road cresting atop the many rolling hills of Rwanda.
A beautiful, funny and inspirational story which catapults you into life in Rwanda and one remarkable journey.
Irish writer Eoin O'Connor has spent a number of years living in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Having recently returned to Ireland, Eoin is currently working on two further feature scripts, a comedy, Family Remains, currently in development with Grand Pictures, Dublin, and a thriller set in Syria entitled Stolen, currently in development with Epos Films, Dublin.
Writer ..... Eoin O'Connor
Producer ..... Gemma McMullan.
FRI 11:00 Two Men and a Mule (b06fntmd)
To the Last City of the Incas
Hugh Thomson and Benedict Allen, along with their trusty mule Washington, continue their exploration of Peru's Inca past as they journey from the high Andes, deep down into the steamy Amazon jungle, searching for Espíritu Pampa, the extraordinary Last City of the Incas.
Espiritu Pampa means 'the Pampa of Ghosts' and this romantic and evocative site has been a magnet for every explorer in this part of Peru since Hiram Bingham, with its enormous plaza so overgrown that it is impossible to see from side to side, its towering ceiba trees and jungle birds like the oropendula with their long, looping calls. This is where the Incas escaped when on the run from the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th Century, and where the very last Inca emperor, Tupac Amaru, was finally captured and brought back to be executed in the main square of Cuzco.
Produced by Ruth Evans
A Ruth Evans production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 11:30 Shush! (b06fntmg)
Series 1
New Romantics
A wandering poet, a bottle of Calpol and some Roman bathing techniques cause trouble for Snoo and Alice. And just what is Dr Cadogan's unexpected skill?
Meet Alice, a former child prodigy who won a place at Oxford aged 9 but, because Daddy went too, she never needed to have any friends. She's scared of everything - everything that is, except libraries and Snoo, a slightly confused individual, with a have-a-go attitude to life, marriage, haircuts and reality. Snoo loves books, and fully intends to read one one day.
And forever popping into the library is Dr. Cadogan, celebrity doctor to the stars and a man with his finger in every pie. Charming, indiscreet and quite possibly wanted by Interpol, if you want a discrete nip and tuck and then photos of it accidentally left on the photocopier, Dr Cadogan is your man.
Their happy life is interrupted by the arrival of Simon Nielson, a man with a mission, a mission to close down inefficient libraries. Fortunately, he hates his mission. What he really wants to do is once, just once, get even with his inexhaustible supply of high-achieving brothers.
Written by Morwenna Banks and Rebecca Front
Alice ...... Rebecca Front
Snoo ...... Morwenna Banks
Simon Neilson ...... Ben Willbond
Dr Cadogan ...... Michael Fenton Stevens
Based on an idea developed with Armando Iannucci
Producer: David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in October 2015.
FRI 12:00 News Summary (b06f4xzl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 Home Front (b064g0nr)
9 October 1915 - Lilian Frost
Lilian Frost sees Roland in a new light as they share a day of photographic discoveries.
Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole
FRI 12:15 You and Yours (b06fpy4p)
Rural homes, Lease cars, Rugby World Cup
Are planners failing to act on planning guidance supposed to make it easier to build new homes in the countryside?
It's been a bumper year for car sales but not many consumers are buying them outright- they are leasing them; are these Personal Contract Purchases(PCP'S) any good?
Complaints that a furniture retailer is taking up to six months to deliver goods - why do some firms get their supply chains wrong and can the consumer tell if a store is as good as its word?
The Scottish tourist town making the most of dark nights.
The host has left the party but is England's exit from the Rugby World Cup really a disaster for the organisers and sponsors?
FRI 12:57 Weather (b06f4xzn)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b06fpy4t)
We hear how the NHS is in the worst financial position for a generation. As the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to four organisations in Tunisia, we find out what they've done to deserve it. Manveen Rana reports on the journey of a family of Syrian refugees across Europe. And a Professor of Disability tells us why new adverts for the Royal Institute for the Blind featuring Dame Shirley Bassey make him shudder. Presented by Mark Mardell.
FRI 13:45 Natural History Heroes (b06fnw13)
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek
The development of the microscope unlocked the tiny and enchanting world of microorganisms. Antony van Leeuwenhoek, a draper with an interest in the natural world spent 50 years making his own lenses and developing unique techniques to light and view his subjects. Leeuwenhoek’s descriptions of the movements and appearance of the organisms he observed, some of which he scraped from his teeth, are remarkably accurate given that the single lens he viewed them through was tiny itself – only 1mm in diameter.
He was the first person to see a red blood corpuscle, bacteria and sperm. His observations led to the conclusion that fertilisation occurred at the point that an individual sperm cell penetrates the egg. With lenses that were almost microscopic in size themselves Leeuwenhoek opened up a miniature world captivating and disturbing the public in equal measure.
Scientist Andrew Parker explains why the father of microbiology is his Natural History Hero.
Produced by Ellie Sans
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2015.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b06fnkdl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b06fpbxf)
Cuttin' It
Charlene James' multi award-winning drama set in South London.
Winner of 'Best Single Drama' in the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2016, winner of the Alfred Fagon Award for 'Best Play' and the George Devine Award for 'Most Promising Playwright' in 2015.
Two Somali teenagers, Muna and Iqra, go to the same school. They are from the same place but they are strangers; strangers who share a secret embedded in their culture.
Producer/Director ..... Jessica Brown.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b06fpbxh)
Beaulieu Motor Museum
Peter Gibbs hosts the horticultural panel programme from the Beaulieu Motor Museum in The New Forest.
Bob Flowerdew, Matt Biggs, and Pippa Greenwood answer questions from the audience of local gardeners.
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 The Enduring Land - Extracts from Sunset Song (b06fpbxk)
Episode 1
One of the most important Scottish novels of the 20th century, Sunset Song follows the childhood and coming of age of its heroine Chris Guthrie in rural Aberdeenshire. Set at the begnning of the last century, the novel is a beautifully wrought depiction of a rural community coming to terms with a rapidly changing modern world and the devastating impact of the Great War.
The extracts focus on Chris coming into her womanhood: the first shows her inheriting the farm in its entirety from her father, meeting and falling for Ewan Tavendale; the second, after he enlists, his return from military training, brutalised; and the third, the final pages from the book, in which Chris learns of his fate at the Front.
Terence Davies's eagerly anticipated film of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's classic get its UK premiere at the London Film Festival on 15th October and will go on general release at the beginning of December.
Reader: Hannah Donaldson
Writer: Lewis Grassic Gibbon
Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b06fpyzd)
Lord Denis Healey, Carmen Balcells, Henning Mankell, Revd Kenneth Leech and Captain Bob Arnott
Lucy Ash on the former Labour politician Denis Healey who was Chancellor of the Exchequer during the Winter of Discontent in 70s; Catalan literary agent Carmen Ballcells known as Big Mamma to her Nobel Prize winning authors;Captain Bob Arnott, beloved by his passengers on the QE2; Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell and radical priest Reverend Kenneth Leech, who founded the homelessness charity Centrepoint.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (b06fpbxm)
Does satire stand the test of time?
Influential comedy producer John Lloyd speaks to Roger Bolton about radio satire, as one of his earliest programmes comes under scrutiny from listeners.
When Radio 4 Extra rebroadcast a 1976 edition of the satirical programme News Huddlines, listeners were taken back to the days of Wilson, Callaghan and the rising star Margaret Thatcher. They were also exposed to an era with very different sensibilities about matters of race, gender and sexuality - and some listeners took offence. So should old comedy, with material many would consider racist and sexist by today's standard, ever be heard again? Roger discusses with John Lloyd and Radio 4 Extra's Head of Planning and Scheduling, Tony Pilgrim.
You might balk at the thought of hearing one man talk about themselves, uninterrupted, for an entire hour. But not when that man is John Lennon - according to many listeners. Last week's Archive on 4, John Lennon Verbatim, used the wealth of archive recordings to tell Lennon's story in his own voice, without a presenter or critics to interject. And many listeners loved it. Roger speaks to the programme's producer, Des Shaw, to find out why he thought Lennon was the best man to tell his story.
While John Lennon Verbatim was crammed with old material, we've also heard from listeners who think Archive on 4 isn't always living up to its name. Roger speaks to commissioning editor Mohit Bakaya to find out whether it's becoming just another documentary programme.
And Radio 4's Jim Naughtie recently suffered a bovine interruption as he recorded an episode of Radio 4's Bookclub at Charleston Farmhouse in Sussex. In a hard-hitting investigation by a listener we find out why the cows came home.
Producer: Katherine Godfrey
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b06fpc93)
Harry and John - Chelsea Pensioners
Fi Glover introduces two residents of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, reflecting on their life there, and whether or not they will remain there after they've passed on... Another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
FRI 17:00 PM (b06fpyzg)
News interviews, context and analysis.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06f4xzq)
NHS deficit almost a billion pounds
Health trusts in England have racked up a deficit of almost a billion pounds.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b06fpc99)
Series 88
Episode 4
A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Miles Jupp. This week, the programme comes from the Lyceum Theatre in Crewe and Miles is joined by Susan Calman, Hugo Rifkind, Terry Christian and Holly Walsh.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Radio Comedy Production.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b06fpc9f)
Ruth deals with a calving and she and David discuss the funeral next week. Ruth hasn't decided yet whether she's going to speak at the funeral? Ruth's keeping busy and won' relax until she's cleared Heather's bed. David later finds Ruth upset. She has been through Heather's suitcase and found the graduation gift for Pip. Ruth bursts into tears and David encourages her to let it all out. Ruth asks him to do one thing for her - get rid of this bloody bed!
The turkeys are plumping up nicely, but Eddie fears they won't sell many. They discuss Rob, who has 'wheedled' his way into the Archer fortune according to Joe. Eddie's bribe of a rabbit didn't work. At least Fallon and Emma's business is doing ok. Eddie rues the Fairbrothers stealing their trade, after years of building up their business. Eddie thinks they can add some value to the cost of their cider by saying it comes from a conservation site.
Ed's keeping a look out for poachers for Will and spots some with guns and dogs. Will arrives a few minutes after they've gone. Ed saw them carrying something away in a grey van - they follow, to no avail. Eddie thinks they were lamping for deer. Brian's following it up with the police. Will's convinced the poachers will be back.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b06fpz3r)
Abi Morgan, Rita Dove, British Art Show 8, Zygmunt Miloszewski
Bafta-winning screenwriter Abi Morgan - best known for The Hour, a 2011 cold war espionage drama set in a 1956 television newsroom - discusses her new TV crime drama River, starring Stellan Skarsgård (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) as John River, a brilliant police officer whose genius and fault-line is the fragility of his mind.
Every five years, the British Art Show tours the UK to showcase the work of artists who are making an important contribution to the British art scene. This year, British Art Show 8 opens at Leeds Art Gallery and features the works of forty-two artists. Art critic Richard Cork takes a look at this year's show.
Rita Dove, the first African American Poet Laureate of America, talks to Kirsty ahead of delivering the Annual Poetry Society Lecture, and explains how poetry can bring hidden histories to light, using the case of the mixed race violinist George Bridgetower, to whom Beethoven first dedicated what we now call The Kreutzer Sonata.
Polish author Zygmunt Miloszewski, who regards crime fiction as the best literary form of exploring his society. His thriller 'Entanglement', is now available in English, and has been dramatized for Radio 4's 'Reading Europe' Season.
Presenter Kirsty Lang
Producer Ella-mai Robey.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b06g6vn8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b06fpcgb)
David Aaronovitch, Diane Abbott MP, Charles Moore, Grant Shapps MP
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from Therfield College in Leatherhead, Surrey, with a panel including The Times columnist David Aaronovitch, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, Diane Abbott MP, Charles Moore the political journalist and authorised biographer for Margaret Thatcher and Internationanl Development Minister Grant Shapps MP.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b06fpcgd)
Will Self: Looks Matter
Will Self says we can't pretend that looks don't matter or that everyone is beautiful, including the obese.
"That different cultures, during different eras, have found different aspects of the human form beautiful is another straw the sub-gorgeous clutch for."
Producer:Sheila Cook.
FRI 21:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b064g17k)
5-9 October 1915
Omnibus edition of the epic drama series set in Great War Britain in which individual losses in Folkestone increasingly fuelled an interest in spiritualism.
Written by Sarah Daniels
Consultant Historian: Professor Maggie Andrews
Music: Matthew Strachan
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b06f4xzt)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b06fwxmq)
Pressure on Merkel over migrant policy
A report from Bavaria -- growing rebellion over German government policy
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b06fnkqq)
Reading Europe - The Truth and Other Lies
We've found your wife
Radio 4 continues its journey across Europe exploring the best in contemporary literature with this hugely successful German thriller set on a small cliff-top town, in which everyone has a secret.
Famous novelist, with a beautiful wife, grand house in the country and more money than he can spend - Henry Hayden has it all. Or so it seems. His perfect life rests on one carefully constructed lie, a lie he will stop at nothing to protect. But when he makes one fatal error, the whole dream begins to unravel.
Today: as the search for his wife begins on the windswept local beach, Henry prepares to tell his mistress what really happened on the cliffs.
Reader: tbc
Abridger: Sally Marmion
Producer: Justine Willett
Writer: Sascha Arango is one of Germany's most renowned screenwriters. This, his first novel, has been a huge bestseller in Germany.
Translated by Imogen Taylor.
FRI 23:00 A Good Read (b06flmfm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:27 The Digital Human (b04p7yg3)
Series 6
Ethics
If a driverless car has to choose between crashing you into a school bus or a wall who do you want to be programming that decision? Aleks Krotoski explores ethics in technology.
Join Aleks as she finds out if it's even possible for a device to 'behave' in a morally prescribed way through looking at attempts to make a smart phone 'kosher'. But nothing captures the conundrum quite like the ethical questions raised by driverless cars and it's the issues they raise that she explores with engineer turned philosopher Jason Millar and robot ethicist Kate Darling.
Professor of law and medicine Sheila MacLean offers a comparison with how codes of medical ethics were developed before we hear the story of Gus a 13 year old whose world was transformed by SIRI.
Producer Peter McManus.
FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b06fwx5y)
Andy and Josh – The Garden
Fi Glover introduces a visitor from Alabama and a much younger local from Bangor, whose honest conversation shows how quickly it's possible to develop a meaningful relationship. Another 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