The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
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.
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."
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
A spiritual reflection and prayer to start the day with The Rev Richard Frazer of Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh.
"It was probably the most wonderful experience of my life". Faced with cancer, William Gayler went in search of his real father, and gained three siblings in the process. iPM with Eddie Mair and Jennifer Tracey. Email iPM@bbc.co.uk.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
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.
Charlotte Smith is at Bridgwater College in Somerset to meet students hoping to make a career in agriculture - from livestock farming, to veterinary technology. The college has invested millions of pounds into the 200 acre on-site farm and an agriculture innovation centre.
Caz Graham has been with primary school children in Cumbria on a visit to a local farm which is run as a community interest company, to teach them where their food comes from.
Sarah Falkingham checks out a careers fair where students find out that there's more to farming as a career than driving a tractor and milking cows - and that could be anything from agronomy to experts in biodiversity.
And we discuss why changes to qualifications could put school children interested in a land-based career at a disadvantage.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
He rose to fame playing windmill dwelling magician sleuth Jonathan Creek, but it was quite a departure from his roots in the comedy circuit. Alan Davies has since garnered our sympathy as the fall guy to Stephen Fry's genius in TV quiz QI. But all the while he's never stopped the stand up and he joins us mid tour.
When she was only 13 years old, Yeonmi Park fled North Korea for a better life. She survived trafficking, gangsters, extreme hunger and cold, and constant fear. Her speech at the One World Summit in Dublin last year went viral, with more than 2 million views online, detailing how she wanted to "shed light on the darkest place in the world".
Brett Nielsen believes he was the first of about 35 thalidomide babies born in Australia, but says he has shaped his story into a happy one. At 55, he's a successful musician with three children and two step-children. He hasn't let the fact that he was born with no arms stop him from driving a tractor or - his great love - playing the piano. In 1964 Brett was the star of Roger Graef's award-winning documentary entitled, One of them is Brett. In February this year Roger Graef revisited Brett and the result is a new hour long film about Bretts' life some 50 years later.
Scott Bryan is entertainments editor at Buzzfeed who has made every single technical challenge from this year's Great British Bake off with largely disastrous results. In the week of the programme final, he joins us on Saturday Live to tell us about his experiment, bringing his final effort, the Millefeuilles.
Sticking with the theme of popular TV programmes, we catch up with Jeremy Vine on his participation in Strictly come Dancing.
Alan Davies' Little Victories tour continues in Middlesborough on 30th October. The new series of QI starts on 16th October.
The film Brett a Life Without Arms, is scheduled for broadcast on BBC1 13th October 2015.
Brett Nielsen's latest album, Pigs in Space is available now published by Big Toe Music.
"Let's Get Lost..." croons Chet Baker, harmonising with his own trumpet. It's a recording made in the 1950s, at the high-water mark of jazz, that improvised and meandering art form. Taking his instruction from Baker, Stephen Smith sets out on a journey.
But he knows he has a difficult task. Getting lost is getting harder. Modern technology can almost guarantee that we'll never be lost again - in cities, encyclopaedias or record shops. Many of today's teenagers have never been lost, either literally or metaphorically. We've been given wifi-enabled omnipotence. But, Stephen asks, "What's the fun in that?"
In the company of other longing-to-be-lost souls, Stephen turns off his GPS and explores the joys of mooching about, taking a wrong turn and stumbling upon an unexpected delight.
He has some rollicking encounters along the way. Stephen's attempts to deliberately disorient himself lead him to Hampton Court Maze where he meets a man - incidentally also called Smith - who claims he was clean shaven when he went in. He goes on a Sunday drive - remember them? - with design guru Stephen Bayley where they reminisce about "the Proustian pleasure of a packet of cheese and onion...on an absolutely futile drive". Via Virginia's Woolf's great essay on getting lost, "Street Haunting", he goes to see Graham Gouldman of 10cc. The idea of getting lost strikes a chord with Gouldman. There's lots of messing around on guitars. Gouldman talks about getting lost in the record shops of his youth, relives the writing of their greatest hit "I'm Not in Love", and in the end pens a new song to lostness. Stephen asks Graham what he might do with it. A week later a fully recorded version arrives in Stephen's inbox - and he hits play....
In an ever-expanding world, why do so many of us favour the brevity of a tweet or Facebook post and find scaled down miniature models magical and appealing? Jeff Nunokawa is a literature professor who loves long 19th century novels but reaches out to his students in bite sized posts. Slinkachu is an artist whose miniature figurines could be hidden in a street nearby, waiting for you to stoop down and enter their tiny world. Plus, a salutatory reminder that small is not always better from clinical geneticist Usha Kini who has pioneered research into microcephaly, a medical condition where disrupted growth means smaller than normal heads and brains. Photo: Balancing Act (credit: Slinkachu).
The programme which takes you places. In this one, to Wolfsburg in Germany, forever associated with Volkswagen and today speculating about the long-term consequences of the emissions scandal that has so damaged the car-maker's reputation. Is it the end for the 'Rainbow Nation? A new generation of black South Africans is coming of age and is angry that so much of the country's wealth remains in the hands of the white population. There may be oxcarts in the villages outside the North Korean capital, but no shortage of flash cars in Pyongyang itself, a city where some people are taking power into their own hands. Seven families have set up home in a former bank in troubled South Sudan - there's safety in numbers, they hope. And as summer burns out to autumn, it's time to go foraging in the hills of Austria and time later for a dinner to remember!
So far more than 200,000 people have accessed their pension in the first three months of freedom. Only 20,000 received telephone or face-to-face guidance from Pensions Wise the Government service set up specifically to help people understand their options. Low take up of this service has meant staff being redeployed elsewhere. So what of its future now?
Roger Kirkham had PPI added to his BMW car finance agreement without his knowledge. BMW Finance have told him they won't repay. The Financial Ombudsman Service thinks they should but they can't enforce it.
The Government's just announced the second Lloyds share sell off will take place some time in the Spring. Investors with under £1000 are being prioritised. Helal Miah from The Share Centre takes us through the pros and cons.
And why aren't banks facing action from regulators for laundering the proceeds of vishing crimes?
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.
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.
Oscar Wilde's courtroom battle with the Marquess of Queensbury. Wilde naturally assumes that he can take on the man who invented the rules of boxing and win. Based on the book "Irish Peacock and Scarlet Marquess" by Merlin Holland (Oscar's grandson).
Produced in association with Mike Mansfield Television and Paul Knight Productions.
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.
Nigella Lawson discusses food and pleasure with fellow food writers Diana Henry and Bee Wilson.
Lorraine Candy from Elle magazine and Lisa Smorsarski of Stylist on the growing appetite for feminist content in women's glossy magazines.
Are nightclubs guilty of misogynoir? Reni Eddo Lodge and Salika Miller discuss racism, colourism and sexism and why it can be so difficult to challenge such discrimination.
The award winning actor Geena Davis, best known for her role in the ultimate female road trip movie Thelma and Louise, on her career and campaign to improve the representation of women in films.
Student mental health: Ruth Caleb, Head of the Counselling Service at Brunel University and Nicola Byrom, founding director of Student Minds talk about why some students struggle at university and what services are on offer to help them.
And poets Ruth Padel and Helen Mort, along with Andrew Marr, celebrate women poets for National Poetry Day.
Volkswagen is dealing with a corporate crisis following the emissions rigging scandal. Evan Davis and guests discuss.
Geoffrey Howe -- one of the key Conservative ministers of the 1980s -- has died.
Clive Anderson, Danny Wallace, Bill Bryson, Tanika Gupta, Steve Backshall, Rory O'Neill, Frazey Ford, Hugh Cornwell
Clive Anderson and Danny Wallace are joined by Bill Bryson, Tanika Gupta, Steve Backshall and Rory O'Neill for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Frazey Ford and Hugh Cornwell.
Bernie Sanders is a socialist and a grump. But is he also a future US president?
Some 20,000 people recently turned out to hear Sanders speak - the sort of crowd Barack Obama would have been proud of in 2008. He is, it seems, an increasingly viable contender for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Sanders has spent the last forty years attacking inequality and he is known for giving loud and impassioned speeches. But he can also be prickly with the media and he doesn't do small talk.
So could Bernie Sanders, the self-styled socialist and "grumpy old guy", beat Hillary Clinton - and the Republicans - to become the next President of the United States? Chris Bowlby reports.
The song "Feel the Bern", used in this programme, was performed by Tony Tig and produced Corbett.
The American government's war on drugs is a familiar subject for a film. How does the latest - Sicario - advance the genre?
The Donmar Warehouse's production of a play about LGBTQ politics on an American campus - Teddy Ferrara - has been reworked from its US origination. How will it work in London?
Jonathan Lee's novel High Dive reimagines the story of the 1984 Brighton Bombing where the IRA tried to kill the Tory cabinet. How well does it meld fact and fiction?
Frank Auerbach is often hailed as Britian's finest living painter. We attend a retrospective exhibition at Tate Britain in London
Black Roses was Simon Armitage's prose poem - originally written for the radio - about the murder of Sophie Lancaster, a young goth girl kicked to death by a frenzied group of young men. It's now been made into a TV production as part of National Poetry Week
Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Charlotte Mullins, Ryan Gilbey and Emma Woolf. The producer is Oliver Jones.
No other conductor has made such an impact on Marin Alsop as Leonard Bernstein. He taught her at several points along her path to becoming a professional conductor and imparted his humanistic perspective on life and his love of sharing great music with others. He instilled in her his beliefs, his values, his dedication to education, as well as his understanding of conducting. Her sense of gratitude to Bernstein is part of the subject of this programme.
We hear Marin talk very personally about her memories of working with the maestro at the famous Tanglewood music center in Massachusetts and watching him conduct concerts in New York.
We also hear the reflections of Leonard's daughter, Jamie Bernstein, who remembers - as a child - watching the Young People's Concerts that Bernstein presented to vast televisions audiences across America while director of the New York Philharmonic.
John Mauceri and Matthew Barley who, like Marin, benefitted from Bernstein's teaching and mentoring offer their perspectives on his huge capacities as a teacher, conductor and composer.
The programme considers the music Bernstein himself composed, in particular West Side Story, Kaddish and Mass. Marin discusses what makes Bernstein's music so rewarding and complex, so innovative, experimental and widely appreciated. She admires his commitment to harmony, to tonal music - the place where he felt music communicated most deeply to people.
The next stop on Radio 4's literary journey across Europe is Timur Vermes' transgressive novel which topped the bestseller list in its native Germany.
Look Who's Back shocked and then thrilled over 1.5 million German readers with its bold approach to the most taboo of subjects - Adolf Hitler. David Threlfall stars as the infamous Nazi leader in this provocative satire.
Having woken up in modern day Berlin Adolf Hitler decides he needs to re-take control of his beloved Fatherland. But when he is mistaken for a comedy impersonator by TV Executives, rather than running the country, he finds himself the star of a satirical show. As his rants against foreigners and current politics increase in popularity, so does his power over the German people.
Timur Vermes is a journalist and a ghost-writer. Look Who's Back is his first novel.
David Threlfall is a prominent stage, film and TV actor and director. He is best known for his portrayal of Frank Gallagher in the long running TV show Shameless. He recently played Noah in BBC drama The Ark, he has portrayed iconic comedian Tommy Cooper in Not Like That, Like This and real-life cop David Baker in ITV drama Code Of A Killer.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
Another chance to hear three great talks combining personal stories and new ideas.
Adjoa Andoh talks movingly about raising a transgender child, and about what really defines who we are or who we might become. "In too many places today," she says, "and in too many ways, we suffocate our true potential selves at birth."
Matt Haig describes how words helped him live with depression. "You have to believe there is a point of there being words, and that they can offer real meaning. Normally this belief is taken for granted, but that is because normally we are taking the world itself for granted. But when your mind crumbles to dust everything you thought you knew suddenly becomes something to question. You have to build reality up again. And the bricks we use to shape our realities are called words."
Tim Meek explains why he and his family have left their old life behind them for a year of adventure on the road. "We believe that the real measure of modern success is nothing to do with your bank balance or the size of your house, but instead, the amount of free time you have at your disposal."
Quote ... Unquote, the popular quotations quiz, returns for its 51st series.
In almost forty years, Nigel Rees has been joined by writers, actors, musicians, scientists and various comedy types. Kenneth Williams, Judi Dench, PD James, Larry Adler, Ian KcKellen, Peter Cook, Kingsley Amis, Peter Ustinov... have all graced the Quote Unquote stage.
Join Nigel as he quizzes a host of celebrity guests on the origins of sayings and well-known quotes, and gets the famous panel to share their favourite anecdotes.
Presenter ... Nigel Rees
Producer ... Carl Cooper.
Roger McGough presents a programme in celebration of the islands around the UK, from Sark to Shetland. With poetry by AC Swinburne, TE Brown and Sorley MacLean. Producer Sally Heaven.
SUNDAY 11 OCTOBER 2015
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b06g1k4p)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Opening Lines (b037gt62)
Series 15
Looking Sadly out of Windows
The series which gives first-time and emerging short story writers their radio debut.
Daisy Haggard reads Sarah Courtauld's comic tale about a precocious young girl trying to find her place in the world who decides to adopt John the Baptist as her role model.
Producer: Robert Howells.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06g1k4r)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06g1k4t)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
5.20am.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06g1k4w)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b06g1k4y)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b06gq016)
Bells from the church of St Leonard, Bledington in Gloucestershire.
SUN 05:45 Profile (b06gtcdl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b06g1k50)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b06gtghb)
Why Do We Need the Devil?
Does the idea of the devil fulfil a useful social purpose? Mark Tully investigates the arguments for myth, for belief in the diabolic and the need for the concept of evil personified.
Mark talks to Canon Ralph Godsall in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey about the apparent reluctance in some religious circles to discuss the devil. He asks whether humanity really needed the idea of the devil in the first place and whether it can help us come to terms with social evils.
The programme includes a broad range of readings from authors including Imtiaz Dharker, Oliver Lansky and Mikhail Bulgakov - and there's music from Stravinsky, Stephen Sondheim and The Charlie Daniels Band.
The readers are Cyril Nri, Francis Cadder and Jane Whittenshaw.
Presenter: Mark Tully
Producer: Frank Stirling
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 Living World (b06gthjt)
The Seven-Month Sleeper
Chris Packham relives programmes from The Living World archives.
In this programme recorded in 2003, Lionel Kelleway is joined by Michael Woods in a Somerset woodland. On a warm late summer day Lionel and Michael head off in search for one of Britain's most secretive mammals, made famous by Lewis Carrol. To do this they check artificial tubes in the hope of finding a dormouse as they fatten up in preparation for a seven month sleep. As Lionel discovers, for such a small mammal who sleeps for most of the year they are quite elusive, and therefore difficult to monitor in the wild.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b06g1k52)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b06g1k54)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b06gthjw)
Fighting Ebola, Choosing childlessness, A Good Brew.
Although the West is alarmed by President Putin's military intervention in Syria, he has widespread support at home. We report on why the Russian Orthodox church has called it a "holy war" and the country's Inter-religious council has also backed the action.
It's one hundred years since a Norfolk nurse was executed by the Germans for helping prisoners of war escape from Occupied Belgium. Kate Adie reflects on the world-wide impact of the death of Edith Cavell.
More than half of the 27,000 people infected with the Ebola virus in West Africa come from Sierra Leone, and while the medical crisis is easing, the long term effects on the communities affected are only now beginning to emerge. Kati Whitaker presents the first of two special reports for the programme this week.
Photo Credit Layton Thompson / Tearfund
The art of a good homebrew owes a lot to medieval monasteries. The recipe still used by the monks at Ampleforth Abbey dates back to the 17th century. Andrew Fletcher reports on what they might have to teach the burgeoning microbreweries today.
Nigerian Archbishop Matthew Man-oso Ndagoso, says calls on the Catholic Synod on the Family to discuss gay marriage are a distraction imposed by the Western media. Meanwhile, Professor Joel Baden suggests that the Synod should take seriously Biblical texts which honour childlessness.
When loved ones die, the last thing grieving relatives need are additional financial burdens. Church Action on poverty claims that the cost of a funeral has risen by nearly 80% in the last 10 years and are calling on clergy to help to reduce the impact of " funeral poverty."
Presenter Edward Stourton
Producer Rosie Dawson
Peter Everett
Editor Amanda Hancox.
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (b06gthjy)
Neuroblastoma Children's Cancer Alliance UK
Leona Knox presents The Radio 4 Appeal for Neuroblastoma Children's Cancer Alliance UK
Registered Charity No 1135601
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal, mark the back of the envelope 'NCCA - UK'.
- Cheques should be made payable to 'NCCA - UK'.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b06g1k56)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b06g1k58)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b06gthk2)
'A nurse who tried to do her duty'
Norwich Cathedral is the last resting place of Edith Cavell, where her life is commemorated each year on the Sunday nearest to the day of her death, this year, on the 100th anniversary of her execution by German firing squad in First World War Belgium. The British nurse was part of a secret underground network helping hundreds of Allied soldiers escape to safety - many of them carrying secret information gained by spying. The story of this Norfolk vicar's daughter who did her duty as a nurse, treating wounded men of both sides equally, and who faced her death with great faith and courage gained her the status of folk heroine and martyr - but she maintained that all she did was inspired by the life of Christ. In words and music, Norwich Cathedral Choir, and the people of her native Norfolk celebrate this aspect of her life.
SUN 08:48 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.
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b04hkxh9)
Common Hawk Cuckoo
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the common hawk cuckoo from the Bengal region. The repetitive call of the common hawk-cuckoo, otherwise known as the brain-fever bird, is one of the typical sounds of rural India and on into the foothills of the Himalayas. Its name partly derives from its call sounding like "brain fever" but also what one writer called its repetition being a "damnable iteration". It looks like a bird of prey, and flies like one too, imitating the flapping glide of a sparrowhawk in the region, known as the shikra, often accompanied by mobbing small birds. Unwittingly as they mob her, birds like babblers betray their nest, into which the cuckoo will lay her egg.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b06g1k5b)
Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b06gthsv)
Please see daily episodes for a detailed synopsis.
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b06gthsz)
Lemn Sissay
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Lemn Sissay.
As a poet, writer and playwright, much of his work tells the story of his search for his birth parents. Born to a young Ethiopian woman who wanted him temporarily fostered while she completed her studies, he was with a family until he was 12. He would spend the next five years in a number of children's homes where he began to write. On leaving care at 17, he self-published his first book of poetry while on the dole.
Several poetry collections, plays and programmes for radio and TV followed and his work has taken him around the world. He was the first poet to be commissioned to write for the 2012 London Olympics and his success has also brought him two doctorates and an MBE for services to literature. He is about to be installed as Chancellor of the University of Manchester, an elected post he will hold for the next seven years. He takes writers' workshops for care-leavers and set up Culture World, the first black writers' workshop.
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
SUN 12:00 News Summary (b06g1k5d)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:04 Just a Minute (b06fkm2w)
Series 73
Episode 1
Record breaking, Cologne and Street Performers get the Just a Minute treatment in a special edition recorded at the Edinburgh Festival in August 2015. Nicholas Parsons is joined by Janey Godley, Gyles Brandreth, Joe Lycett, and Paul Merton - who disrobes to display his Edinburgh Tattoo. Thank goodness it's Radio. Hayley Sterling blows the whistle.
Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b06gqh8k)
How Did the Chicken Cross the World?
As a race, we humans owe a fair amount to the chicken. Throughout time it has been a religious deity, a medicine source as well as being a food. It's travelled the world alongside explorers, inspired scientific revelations and of course been the nub of the world's most famous joke.
Today, chicken is the second biggest supply of meat protein in the world, and it's on the rise. More than four times as much chicken is now consumed in the USA than in the 1950s, and as new markets emerge in the Middle East and Asia, our hunger for chicken is only set to grow. To meet demand, the bird has become a valuable commodity, farmed and processed in a factory setting.
In this programme Dan Saladino tracks the chicken from its roots in the Asian jungle, to its place on our dinner plates today with help from Andrew Lawler, author of 'Why Did The Chicken Cross The World'. He discovers how a competition in the 1950s had a radical impact on the type of chicken we eat and hears how genetics, cooking and art might have a role to play in preserving some almost forgotten breeds and tastes.
Dan asks geneticist Professor Bill Muir where will we take the chicken next?
Presented by Dan Saladino
Produced by Clare Salisbury
NB. Correction. The Buckeye chicken was developed in the 1890s, not the 1820s as stated in the programme.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b06g1k5g)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b06gtk1t)
Global news and analysis, presented by Mark Mardell.
SUN 13:30 Highway 61: Fifty Years On (b06gtk2l)
Andy Kershaw re-examines the Bob Dylan album that changed popular music and his life.
Beginning with the resounding hit of a snare drum, Like A Rolling Stone starts Bob Dylan's first fully electrified album, Highway 61 Revisited. When he first heard the song in his mother's car, Bruce Springsteen said it was "like somebody kicked open the door to your mind." The album represents the birth of rock music, as opposed to the pop or beat music that preceded its release.
It sounds as subversive now as it did fifty years ago.
Besides revolutionising popular music, the album transformed the life of broadcaster Andy Kershaw. For him, nothing would be the same after Highway 61.
Andy travels to America to meet the surviving musicians and hear the extraordinary stories behind the recording sessions. Dylan was only 24 years old when he walked into Columbia Studio A in New York City to record the album in June 1965. For a masterpiece record, it is all the more remarkable that almost no preparation, and absolutely no rehearsal, went into it.
Al Kooper, who was brought in as an observer, tells how he mistakenly and fortunately found himself playing the organ on Like A Rolling Stone, discovering the song's melody on the spot. Bassist Harvey Brooks talks about the patience that was required to work with the unorthodox Dylan. Legendary Nashville musician Charlie McCoy describes how he was accidentally brought in to play the memorable Spanish-sounding guitar on Desolation Row. And Keith Richards provides a surprising take on Highway 61's legacy.
Produced by Colin McNulty
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:00 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.
SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b06gtl3r)
Sunday Omnibus - Men Talking
Fi Glover with conversations between first basses in a male voice choir, residents of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, and members of church groups on either side of the Atlantic, in the Omnibus edition of the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
SUN 15:00 Drama (b06gtr70)
Reading Europe - Poland: Entanglement
The Reflection Room
Radio 4 continues its journey across Europe exploring the best contemporary literature. In this hugely successful Polish crime thriller, a long suffering State Prosecutor finds himself trapped in a post-Communist limbo land of half-truths and secrets. Will he prove himself to be a redoubtable seeker of the truth or will he compromise? A perplexing murder reveals tantalising glimpses of links to the old regime.
Part 1: The Reflection Room
When Henryk Telak is found dead with a meat skewer in his eye during a Family Constellation Therapy weekend, State Prosecutor Szacki and his police colleague Olga, Kuzniecow, have to work together to deduce who killed the man and why. An apparent total absence of motive is compounded when attractive young news reporter Monika Grezlka, shows a more than professional interest in Szacki.
The writer Zygmunt Miloszewski is a leading Polish writer. The Teodor Szacki series is a best seller in Poland. Antonia Lloyd Jones is an award winning translator of Polish fiction and chair of the Translators Association. Dramatised for radio by the writer, critic and journalist, Mark Lawson.
About Reading Europe:
Europe is central to our lives - we go on holiday to Europe, we do business in Europe, we watch in amazement as the various states try to grapple with migration in Europe. Over the next year or so we will be engaged in the debate as to whether or not we stay in Europe. But how much do we know this continent's countries and, in particular, how much do we know about what they're reading?
Over the course of two years, Reading Europe will travel from Calais to Istanbul. Through dramatisations, readings and essays, Reading Europe and Front Row will explore what Europe is writing, publishing and reading - and why.
Cast:
Teodor Szacki................Bryan Dick
Olga Kuzniecow.............Christine Bottomley
Cezary Rudzki................David Crellin
Monika Grzelka/
Hanna Kwiatowska........Rachel Austin
Barbara Jarczyk/
radio news reader.........Alexandra Mathie
Euzebius Kaim...............Dermot Daly
Henryk Telak/
Father Pazcek...............Glenn Cunningham
Written by Zygmunt Miloszewski
Translated by Antonia Lloyd Jones
Dramatised for radio by Mark Lawson
Warsaw backgrounds: Zofia Morus
Polish language advisor: Richard Abel
Sound design: Eloise Whitmore
Producer/director: Polly Thomas
Executive Producer: Joby Waldman
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 16:00 Open Book (b06gtn4x)
British Gothic
Mariella Frostrup talks to novelist Andrew Michael Hurley whose Gothic novel The Loney has been one of the publishing stories of the year. 300 copies were first published by an small press, it grabbed the attention of a larger publisher, received glowing reviews from Stephen King amongst others and now the film rights have been snapped up. Andrew talks to Mariella about his success and the tradition of British Gothic Writing.
Also in the programme, novelist Matt Haig introduces a new literary star as he talks about the winner of the BBC Young Writers Award, Philip Jones from the Bookseller on whether the ebook reader is becoming outdated and academic Vybarr Cregan-Reid asks why novelists are not inspired by running.
SUN 16:30 Poetry Please (b06gtn4z)
Rural Miscellany
Roger McGough presents listeners' favourite poetry on a rural theme, including works by Robert Frost, John Clare, Christina Rossetti, and Wendell Berry, recorded for the programme in his native Kentucky. Producer Sally Heaven.
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (b06flmfz)
Dirty Money UK
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
Reporter: Tim Whewell Producer: Simon Maybin.
SUN 17:40 Profile (b06gtcdl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b06g1k5j)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b06g1k5l)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06g1k5n)
Thousands of people gather to honour the victims of Turkey bomb attack.
President Assad's forces make advances against rebel groups, after Russian air attacks.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b06g1k5q)
Isy Suttie
Isy Suttie chooses her BBC Radio highlights from the past week.
Have you ever been surrounded by people but felt completely on your own? Then realised it's not that bad, maybe even hummed a little ballad to yourself?
This week we're dusting off our running shoes and fleeing from bears, dealing with nits and awkward chit chat in the barber's chair, meeting a real-life fairy...and discovering why, when there's no doctor on call, Brian Blessed is the next best thing.
This week's pick of the iPlayer is In The Dark Tower - Louis MacNeice at the BBC
Produced by Stephen Garner.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b06gqfjg)
Clarrie brings Ruth and David a pie and offers some emotional support as Ruth explains a few details about Heather's funeral on Wednesday. Ruth doesn't feel up to speaking at the funeral - she'll ask the vicar to do all of it. Pip has been playing down her upcoming graduation and inevitable celebrations, but Ruth wants Pip to just enjoy herself and not worry about her.
David chats to Eddie about helping with milking. Meanwhile, Will's got trouble with poachers, but Ed seems to be doing ok for work with some maize harvesting coming up. Ruth's annoyed to be kept out of the loop over some worrying dairy figures.
Phoebe's anxious to finish her personal statement by Thursday, but Alex distracts her and puts doubts in her mind about her suitability for Oxbridge. Phoebe also talks about Kate, who never seems to stick at anything - despite her big claims of how she's going to change the world.
Clarrie gently chastises Eddie for trying to suss out Ruth and David over a possible Christmas turkey order. She and Eddie agree they need to join the 21st Century and get online to rival the Fairbrothers. Clarrie encourages Eddie to fight back and join forces with Emma, who could help him get online.
SUN 19:15 Shedtown (b01ppn91)
Series 2
Shed Report
Who hasn't thought about running away from it all at some time or other? Throwing caution to the wind, wrenching oneself out of a long established orbit to head for the deep space of the unknown?
In series two of Shedtown, our wooden icon of escape and isolation - the shed - continues to be a symbol of possibility and change. Our Sheddists arrived and survived - and, now waking from a beach-baked slumber, the familiar residents find faces old and new on the sand.
Episode 1:
Deborah Dearden arrives back at the beach. Not such a stranger - yet stranger still.
Barry............................Tony Pitts
Jimmy..........................Stephen Mangan
Eleanor..................Ronni Ancona
Colin........................Johnny Vegas
Deborah.....................Emma Fryer
William..................Adrian Manfredi
Diane....................Rosina Carbone
Dave......................Shaun Dooley
Father Michael........James Quinn
Wes......................Warren Brown
Nell...........................Eleanor Samson
Narrator.................Maxine Peake
Music....................Paul Heaton and Jonny Lexus
Written and Directed by Tony Pitts
Produced by Sally Harrison
A Woolyback Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 19:45 Funny Bones (b06gtr72)
Fete Worse than Death
A new series of original stories in which Irish writers showcase their funny bones.
In this fantastically funny series, Yasmine Akram tells a tale of young woe and magical intervention. Tara Flynn takes us into the world of competitive baking and zombie hordes in 'Fete Worse than Death'. Finally, a trip to the cinema takes a surprising turn in a new story by comedian Maeve Higgins.
Writer ..... Tara Flynn
Reader ..... Tara Flynn
Producer ..... Jenny Thompson.
SUN 20:00 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.
SUN 20:30 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.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (b06gtbt2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b06gthjy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 Analysis (b06fkm3g)
The Iran-Iraq War's Legacy
Lyse Doucet asks how far the Middle East today is defined by the legacy of the Iran-Iraq war? The conflict - the longest convention war of the 20th century- exposed deep fault lines in a region still shattered by violence. Thirty five years after it began, Iraq has imploded. Syria too. And Iran is extending its influence. Lyse retells the story of the war, then is joined by a panel of guests to ask if the events of three decades ago can help us understand what's going on in the Middle East today?
Guests:
Professor Mansour Farhang : Former Ambassador to UN of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Sinan Antoon: Iraqi poet and novelist
Dr Haider al-Safi: BBC Arabic service
Professor Ali Ansari: Historian and Director of the Institute for Iranian Studies, St Andrews University
Producers: Mike Gallagher and Rozita Riazati.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b06g1k5s)
Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.
SUN 22:45 What the Papers Say (b06gtn51)
A look at how the newspapers are covering the biggest stories.
SUN 23:00 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.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b06gtghb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 12 OCTOBER 2015
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b06g1k6x)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 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.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b06gq016)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06g1k6z)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06g1k71)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06g1k73)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b06g1k75)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b06gq01b)
A spiritual reflection and prayer to start the day with The Rev Richard Frazer of Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b06gq01d)
Farm innovation, Milan Expo, Nighthawking
Why conventional and organic farmers are turning innovative ideas into practical solutions. The idea has grown out of the Soil Association's field labs, where groups of farmers worked together to come up with and test ideas. Now LEAF, Linking Environment and Farming and Innovation in Agriculture are joining to form a network which aims to have £800,000 to fund farmer based research over the next 5 years.
Also, Sally Challoner reports from the World Expo in Milan, which looks at food and the way we produce and use it.
Heritage groups from different parts of England report that illegal metal detecting - or nighthawking - is robbing us of our chance to examine the past and causing damage to landowners' property. Archaeologist Mark Horton finds out that some criminal metal detectorists are churning up the land in the hope of finding valuable relics left by our ancestors.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Mark Smalley.
MON 05:56 Weather (b06g1k77)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04mj5kt)
New Zealand Bellbird
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Chris Packham presents the New Zealand bellbird. In 1770, during Captain James Cook's first voyage to New Zealand, an extraordinary dawn chorus caught the attention of his crew "like small bells exquisitely tuned": these were New Zealand bellbirds. New Zealand bellbirds are olive green birds with curved black bills and brush-like tongues which they use to probe flowers for nectar. Like other honeyeaters , they play an important role in pollinating flowers and also eat the fruits which result from those pollinations and so help to spread the seeds. The well camouflaged bellbird is more often heard before it is seen. They sing throughout the day, but at their best at dawn or dusk when pairs duet or several birds chorus together. Their song can vary remarkably, and it is possible hear different 'accents' in different parts of New Zealand, even across relatively short distances.
MON 06:00 Today (b06gqdwf)
News on the aftermath of the bomb attack in Turkey and criticism of the government's refugee policy from senior legal figures. Plus Marlon Brando and Shakespeare.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (b06gqdwk)
Kissinger
On Start the Week Andrew Marr talks to historian Niall Ferguson about his biography of Henry Kissinger. Reviled and revered in equal measure Kissinger was the statesman at the heart of American foreign policy for decades, and Ferguson argues that far from being a Machiavellian realist he was driven by idealism. Jane Smiley's trilogy of novels chart a hundred years of American life through the lives of one family. She shows clearly how the big political and social upheavals of the time were reflected in the day-to-day. The personal and political come together in the extraordinary diaries of Ivan Maisky, the Russian ambassador to London before WWII. Gabriel Gorodetsky has compiled the diaries which document Britain's drift to war during the 1930s.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b06gqdwm)
1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear
The Theatre
by James Shapiro
Episode One : The Theatre
In 1606, Shakespeare was writing for a Royal Family hungry for new entertainment while the threats of plague, insurrection and rebellion threatened English society. At the peak of his powers, he was writing for actors who he knew well within a theatre company with which he had been involved for more than a decade. The resulting plays, KING LEAR, MACBETH and ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA were extraordinary.
Ten years ago James Shapiro won the Samuel Johnson Prize for his bestseller 1599: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.
1606: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AND THE YEAR OF LEAR is a compelling look at a no less extraordinary year in his life. The book traces Shakespeare's life and times from the autumn of 1605, when he took an old and anonymous Elizabethan play, THE CHRONICLE HISTORY OF KING LEIR, and transformed it into his most searing tragedy, KING LEAR.
1606 proved to be an especially grim year for England, witnessing the bloody aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot, divisions over the Union of England and Scotland, and an outbreak of plague. But it turned out to be an exceptional one for Shakespeare who, before the year was out, went on to complete two other great Jacobean tragedies that spoke directly to these fraught times: MACBETH and ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
Abridged by Anna Magnusson
Read by Ian McDiarmid
Produced by Gaynor Macfarlane.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06gqdwr)
Intimate skin care, Mothers on marriage certificates, Steelworks job crisis
Do women really need specialist skincare products to keep fresh intimate areas of their bodies? We hear from a feminist blogger and a company behind one of the latest product ranges.
A year ago David Cameron promised to modernise an outdated law that doesn't require mothers' details to be recorded when a couple marries. Green Party MP Caroline Lucas says she's still waiting.
As SSI's Teesside's iron and steel making plant closes with the loss of 1,700 jobs, we look at the impact on women and families in the north of England.
Experts say that Dyspraxia, often known as clumsy child syndrome, is consistently under-diagnosed in girls. We look at why with Paediatric Occupational Therapist Sally Payne.
Elaine Madden was one of only two female SOE agents parachuted into Belgium during WW2. Her story is told in 'I Heard My Country Calling,' an account of wartime service and her dramatic escape from occupied Europe, written by Sue Elliott who joins Jane on Monday.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b06gqdwt)
Early One Morning
Episode 1
Rome 1943. A split-second decision is about to change Chiara's life forever.
Cardiff 1973. Welsh teenager Maria learns some shocking news about her past.
Greta Scacchi, Juliet Aubrey and Sophie Melville star in Virginia Baily's powerful novel of love, loss and learning to be a mother.
The action moves between Nazi-occupied Rome and 1973. Dramatised in ten parts by Miranda Emmerson.
Narrator.....Greta Scacchi
Chiara.....Juliet Aubrey
Maria.....Sophie Melville
Cecilia.....Alex Tregear
Daniele.....Adam Thomas Wright
Gennaro/ Adult Daniele.....Cesare Taurasi
Simone/ Nonna.....Jessica Turner
Antonio.....David Hounslow
Gabriele.....David Acton
Tommaso/ Nazi officer/ Brian.....Felix Auer
Edna.....Amelia Lowdell
Barry/ Goffredo.....Chris Pavlo
Gianni.....Sam Dale
Director: Emma Harding
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2015.
MON 11:00 In Search of Great Uncle Frank (b06gqdwy)
Actor and comedian Hugh Dennis takes a personal journey to Gallipoli in Turkey to find out about his great uncle, private Frank Hinnels, who was sent there to fight against the mighty Ottoman Empire in the First World War.
Following in Frank's footsteps is poignant yet serene. In the middle of what was no-man's land, surrounded by fields of sun-flowers and olive trees, Hugh reads from a journal which describes the aftermath of a sniper attack:
"We were all completely exhausted and fellows risking their lives to get to a small water hole full of tortoises and covered by enemy snipers".
Hugh's guide is battlefield historian, Major Mike Peters who takes him to the very spot where his great-uncle fell in October 1915.
"One of the great sadnesses for my grandparents," says Hugh, "was that the letter telling them that he had died arrived before his last letter home. It was like correspondence from beyond the grave."
Hugh's journey is tinged with sadness but also characteristic edginess and humour.
Curious to hear the Turkish story, Hugh meets the descendants of Turkish Gallipoli soldiers. He is surprised to find that some villages on the peninsula have never truly recovered since the campaign. Hayriah is a 75 year old café owner whose grandfather was killed in the battle. She tells Hugh that, because his great-uncle fell on Turkish soil, Frank had now become "one of our sons".
Hugh and Mike finish their travels sitting in an ANZAC trench as night falls. They ask whether the political lessons of Gallipoli have ever been truly learned.
One month later, back home in Sussex, Hugh consults his philosopher's stone to tell us what ultimately he thinks he's learned from his trip to Gallipoli.
A Jolt production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 11:30 Dilemma (b01qmb08)
Series 2
Episode 1
Sue Perkins puts Paul Sinha, Lemn Sissay, Margaret Cabourn-Smith and Graeme Garden through the moral and ethical wringer.
The return of the panel show posing finely-balanced dilemmas as Sue cross-examines their answers.
Comic Paul struggles with his sporting loyalties; poet Lemn experiences something new, actor and comic Margaret faces up to some poor parenting; and Graeme contemplates life without one of his favourite Aunties.
There are no "right" answers - but there are some deeply damning ones.
Devised by Danielle Ward.
Producer: Ed Morrish.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2013.
MON 12:00 News Summary (b06g1k79)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:04 Home Front (b064g27j)
12 October 1915 - Adeline Lumley
On this day, Edith Cavell was shot by a German firing squad, and a letter arrives at the Grahams' with bad news.
Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
MON 12:15 You and Yours (b06gqdx2)
E-cigarettes and teenagers, Tesco price-matching, Roadside trees
The government has acknowledged that electronic cigarettes can help people to give up smoking. So why has it changed the law in England to ban sales of e-cigarettes to under 18s? A mother tells us that she believes they could be the best way to help her teenage son to give up smoking.
Tesco has changed its price-matching scheme which compares the prices of goods at their biggest rivals, and gives shoppers back the difference. The vouchers, given out when you pay, have been scrapped. Instead the difference will be deducted immediately at the checkout. But it will only apply to branded goods and the system won't compare prices at the discounters Aldi and Lidl. We investigate why they are making the change and ask if it could help them to win back customers.
For more than a year, You & Yours has been investigating the Cavity Wall Insulation industry and the problems people have had in putting things right when they go wrong. We've received complaints that insulation has been fitted in many homes that were unsuitable for it and as a result people have suffered serious damp. Last week one of the big players in the industry, the Mark Group, went into administration with the loss of more than 900 jobs. Where does that leave customers who are still facing problems?
We report on a row in Sheffield about plans to fell around 4000 of the city's road-side trees and replace them with smaller trees which provide less canopy. Campaigners describe it as vandalism and complain that they haven't been properly consulted. Civic leaders insist that diseased and damaged older trees need to be replaced and their plan will leave the city with more trees than before.
Producer: Jonathan Hallewell
Presenter: Winifred Robinson.
MON 12:57 Weather (b06g1k7c)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b06gqdx6)
Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Martha Kearney.
MON 13:45 Peter Snow Returns to the Future (b06gqdx8)
Alan Johnson MP
Peter Snow takes Alan Johnson MP on a journey in his time travelling DeLorean to the dark days of the Victorian Mill, and forwards to the end of work as we know it.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b06gqfjg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b06gqh7y)
The Life and Times of Arthur Miller
Beginnings
Arthur Miller would have been 100 years old on October 17th this year. To mark the centenary BBC Radio 4, LA Theatre Works, and a stellar American cast have come together to produce four new dramas by Mike Walker and Jonathan Holloway.
As a writer Miller felt that to create a character, you had to understand how family, circumstances and events had shaped that character. 'The fish is in the water and the water is in the fish', as he famously put it. These specially commissioned plays recreate some of the experiences that shaped Miller himself, throwing light on how he would become one of the most influential playwrights in American literature.
1. Beginnings
Arthur Miller is born in New York on the 17th of October 1915 to a prosperous family in the clothing business. A poor school student, he loves making things with wood and dreams of becoming a crooner. But when the stock market crashes and the Millers face ruin, Arthur contemplates a different future. By Mike Walker.
Producer for LA Theatre Works: Susan Loewenberg
Associate Producers: Anna Lyse Erikson and Myke D Wysekopf
Sound by Mark Holden, Wes Dewberry, and Catherine Robinson
A BBC/Cymru Wales and LA Theatre Works Co-Production, directed by Kate McAll
LA Theatre Works is a non-profit audio drama company based in Los Angeles that records classic and contemporary plays. They have been collaborating with the BBC for nearly 30 years, beginning with a production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible that starred Richard Dreyfuss and Stacey Keach.
MON 15:00 Quote... Unquote (b06gqh8f)
Quote ... Unquote, the popular quotations quiz, returns for its 51st series.
In almost forty years, Nigel Rees has been joined by writers, actors, musicians, scientists and various comedy types. Kenneth Williams, Judi Dench, PD James, Larry Adler, Ian KcKellen, Peter Cook, Kingsley Amis, Peter Ustinov... have all graced the Quote Unquote stage.
Join Nigel as he quizzes a host of celebrity guests on the origins of sayings and well-known quotes, and gets the famous panel to share their favourite anecdotes.
Episode 6
Oscar winning lyricist Don Black
Actress and writer Shobu Kapoor
TV Presenter Fern Britton
Novelist and Screenwriter Anthony Horowitz
Presenter ... Nigel Rees
Producer ... Carl Cooper.
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b06gqh8k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Let's Go Round Again - The Story of The Magic Roundabout (b06gqh8m)
In October 1965, a new version of the French children's television programme Le Manège Enchanté was shown on the BBC. Scripted and voiced by the Playschool presenter Eric Thompson, and broadcast with its English title - The Magic Roundabout, it soon became a firm favourite with viewers of all ages. So much so, that when the transmission time was changed to an earlier timeslot, there were so many complaints to the BBC from outraged adults, that it was moved back to its place just before the six o'clock news.
To celebrate the programme's 50th anniversary, Sophie Thompson, Eric's daughter, and his wife Phyllida Law tell us the story behind the much-loved series. We'll hear tales of Zebedee, Florence and Ermintrude, and how Dougal the dog nearly caused international relations with France to break down.
With contributions from Fenella Fielding, Nigel Planer and Mark Kermode, climb aboard for one more spin on the Magic Roundabout.
Producer: Elizabeth Foster
Presenter: Sophie Thompson & Phyllida Law.
MON 16:30 The Digital Human (b06gqjpt)
Series 8
Detection
In the first of the new series, Aleks Krotoski explores how the web has influenced detection, from uncovering Osama Bin Laden to discovering the identity of long-abandoned Jane and John Does.
As human beings, what is it in our nature that drives us to find out the end of the story - even when that story has nothing to do with us?
The online world has made the detective mystery one in which we can all play a role. Hundreds of cold cases have been re-examined and re-explored by cyber sleuths around the world - and some cases have picked up definitive leads from eagle-eyed members of the public. But what are the implications for law enforcement, and how does detection work when so many of us are playing outside of the rules?
Producer: Victoria McArthur.
MON 17:00 PM (b06gqjq1)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06g1k7h)
Tom Watson stands by role in Leon Brittan rape inquiry
Three accused of beheading plot
MON 18:30 Just a Minute (b06gqkv8)
Series 73
Episode 2
A Trip to Ikea and The Hippocratic Oath are amongst the subjects on the cards as Paul Merton, Julian Clary, Susan Calman and Josie Lawrence join Nicholas Parsons to see who can avoid hesitation, deviation and repetition. Hayley Sterling blows the whistle.
Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b06gqr5y)
Rob's all dressed up in his 'ratcatcher' and Henry wants to join him at autumn hunting. Rob agrees with Helen that he can't because of school, but mentions Saturdays and the holidays as a possibility.
Fallon and Emma look around at Bridge Farm, the site for their new tea room once the café's up and running. Meanwhile, Clarrie's keen to use Susan's kitchen to make some apple pies. Clarrie asks Emma to help Eddie set up a website.
Helen defends Rob when Emma innocently asks about how the job hunting's going - for the time being, says Helen, Rob is project-managing the shop, which is great surely. Rob finds Helen talking to Emma about her plans for the café space and he privately criticises Fallon's style, which he thinks is a bit twee.
Ed discovers that his cattle have gone missing (have they been stolen?), which leaves him feeling depressed. Feeling confident about making something of herself - helping Fallon's business and giving up her cleaning job - Emma reassures Ed he'll bounce back.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b06gqr61)
Tom Jones, The Lobster, Abraham Cruzvillegas
John Wilson talks to Sir Tom Jones, as he publishes his first autobiography (Over the Top and Back) and a new album (Long Lost Suitcase).
Antonia Quirke reviews The Lobster, a new film starring Colin Farrell and Olivia Coleman.
Mexican artist Abraham Cruzvillegas turns the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern into a giant allotment.
And why are the films Spectre and Suffragette being released on a Monday?
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b06gqdwt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 The Last Adventure in Aviation (b06hhmbv)
An insight into the world of ferry pilots in Britain who risk their lives in a lucrative but high stakes industry. Ferry pilots deliver small planes across oceans and continents; distances these aircrafts were not designed to fly.
Journalist and broadcaster Poonam Taneja, whose own ferry pilot father was killed in a plane crash while delivering a plane from Scotland to Canada in 1999, gets a rare insight into this largely hidden world.
She meets ferry pilots - Dave Henderson, Julian Storey and Robin Durie. She hears their tales of action and adventure and tries to discover what inspires them to fly in these extreme conditions. Poonam also tracks ferry pilot Joe Drury whose flying a small old plane from England to the United States. Will Joe get his plane from Scotland to Ford Lauderdale ?
Producer :Perminder Khatkar.
MON 20:30 Analysis (b06gqr68)
Scotland's Radical Land Reform
In June the Scottish Government introduced radical proposals for land reform. Local communities would gain a new right to ask the government to force a landowner to sell their land if they are deemed a barrier to sustainable development. The plan caused uproar amongst landowners. David Cameron's father-in-law, Lord Astor, claimed the SNP was staging a Mugabe-style land grab. Yet campaigners in the growing cross-party movement for reform see this as just the start of a generational mission to break up the most unequal pattern of land ownership in the developed world. Is this an attack on the right of individuals to hold on to their property - or a much-needed step towards sustainable development?
Euan McIlwraith asks why so few people own so much of Scotland, whether it matters, and how you can legitimately diversify ownership in a 21st century liberal democracy.
Producer: Liza Grieg.
(Image: The Scottish Highlands. Credit: Shutterstock)
MON 21:00 Natural Histories (b05w9dxn)
Anemone
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.
Original Producer : Andrew Dawes
Archive Producer : Andrew Dawes for BBC Audio
Revised Repeat : First Broadcast BBC Radio 4; 6th October 2015
MON 21:30 Start the Week (b06gqdwk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b06g1k7k)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b06gqr6b)
Turkey mourns its dead after the Ankara march attack
Erdogan says authorities close to identifying one of the bombers.
Trade in fake European passports.
South Sudan's civil war - a special report.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b06fpcgg)
Reading Europe - The Truth and Other Lies
No corpse is beautiful
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: An unexpected encounter on the way to the mortuary.
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.
MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (b06flmfc)
Inventing Brand Names
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.
Producer Beth O'Dea.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b06gqs1s)
Sean Curran reports as VW defends its response to the diesel emissions scandal and Labour's Tom Watson refuses to apologise for raising sex abuse allegations against Leon Brittan.
Health ministers say they did not put "pressure" on officials to delay the release of NHS debt figures until after the Conservative Party conference.
And Labour says the agreement reached between the Government and Housing Associations to give tenants the "right-to-buy" is "a backroom deal to sidestep legislation".
TUESDAY 13 OCTOBER 2015
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b06g1k8m)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b06gqdwm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06g1k8p)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06g1k8r)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06g1k8t)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b06g1k8w)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b06gqt4n)
A spiritual reflection and prayer to start the day with The Rev Richard Frazer of Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b06gqssm)
End of 2015's badger cull, BBC Two Harvest, UN Expo on food waste
This week marks the end of this year's badger cull in Somerset, Gloucestershire and Dorset. We find out how it went in Dorset.
Gregg Wallace talks about his experience of presenting another BBC 2 Harvest series, starting tonight.
How the UN Expo 2015 in Milan is tackling the issue of food waste.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04mj64k)
Red-breasted Goose
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Chris Packham presents the red-breasted goose in Siberia. Red-breasted geese are colourful birds with art-deco markings of brick-red, black and white. Despite their dainty and somewhat exotic appearance, these are hardy birds which breed in the remotest areas of arctic Siberia. They often set up home near the eyries of birds of prey, especially peregrine falcons. But there's method in the madness; These wildfowl nest on the ground where their eggs and chicks are vulnerable to predators such as Arctic foxes. But the ever vigilant peregrine falcons detecting a predator, will defend their eyries by calling and dive-bombing any intruders, and this also doubles as a warning system for the geese. In winter red-breasted geese migrate south where most of them graze on seeds and grasses at a few traditional sites in eastern Europe around the Black Sea.
TUE 06:00 Today (b06gqx6b)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (b06gqx6d)
Danielle George on electronics
Danielle George is a radio frequency engineer from the University of Manchester. She designs amplifiers that have travelled everywhere, from outer space to underground.
Becoming a professor aged just 38, she talks to Jim about the challenges of age discrimination and working in a male dominated field.
As presenter of last year's Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, she's passionate about DIY electronics and coding, and how to inspire the UK's next generation of inventors.
TUE 09:30 One to One (b06gqx6j)
Steve Backshall meets Leo Houlding
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.
In this programme, he meets Leo Houlding. Leo is one of our greatest rock-climbers. He has free-climbed the world's most challenging peaks and is an experienced base-jumper. One of his greatest achievements was a successful expedition to tackle an unclimbed route on Ulvetanna - a fearsome tower of granite in eastern Antarctica.
Producer: Karen Gregor.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b06j6zlk)
1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear
The Gunpowder Plot
by James Shapiro
Episode Two: The Gunpowder Plot
The impact of the Gunpowder Plot of late 1605 has implications not only for the monarchy and aristocracy but also for the work of the contemporary playwrights, including William Shakespeare.
Ten years ago James Shapiro won the Samuel Johnson Prize for his bestseller 1599: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF WILLIAM SHAKSEPEARE.
1606: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AND THE YEAR OF LEAR is a compelling look at a no less extraordinary year in his life. The book traces Shakespeare's life and times from the autumn of 1605, when he took an old and anonymous Elizabethan play, THE CHRONICLE HISTORY OF KING LEIR, and transformed it into his most searing tragedy, KING LEAR.
1606 proved to be an especially grim year for England, witnessing the bloody aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot, divisions over the Union of England and Scotland, and an outbreak of plague. But it turned out to be an exceptional one for Shakespeare who, before the year was out, went on to complete two other great Jacobean tragedies that spoke directly to these fraught times: MACBETH and ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
Abridged by Anna Magnusson
Read by Ian McDiarmid
Produced by Gaynor Macfarlane.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06gqx6l)
Laurie Anderson; Bee Rowlatt on Mary Wollstonecraft; Gizzi Erskine; Dinah Jefferies
Laurie Anderson, musician, performance artist and filmmaker, talks about her first new film in almost thirty years, Heart of a Dog, about the loss of her dog, Lolabelle.
Mary Wollstonecraft is best remembered for her pioneering feminist work, The Vindication of the Rights of Women. She also published a bestselling book about her travels through Scandinavia. In her new book, In Search of Mary, writer Bee Rowlatt retraces Mary's travels and uncovers the secret behind this journey.
Gizzi Erskine takes a pragmatic approach to healthy eating and argues for cooking that prioritises flavour and balance over the latest fashionable food fads. She cooks gigantes with eggs, yogurt & hot chilli butter from her latest book, Gizzi's Healthy Appetite.
Dinah Jefferies is relatively new to writing, but her second novel, The Tea Planter's Wife, has already hit the number 1 slot in the paperback fiction chart. Dinah talks about why she waited until sixty to start her writing career.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b06gqx6n)
Early One Morning
Episode 2
Italy 1943. Chiara has to flee Rome with her sister and Daniele Levi, the young Jewish boy she is sheltering.
Thirty years later, Welsh teenager Maria is still coming to terms with the bombshell that her real father is an Italian man she's never met, a man called Daniele Levi.
Greta Scacchi, Juliet Aubrey and Sophie Melville star in Virginia Baily's powerful novel of love, loss and learning to be a mother.
Dramatised by Miranda Emmerson.
Narrator.....Greta Scacchi
Chiara.....Juliet Aubrey
Maria.....Sophie Melville
Cecilia.....Alex Tregear
Daniele.....Adam Thomas Wright
Gennaro/ Adult Daniele.....Cesare Taurasi
Simone/ Nonna.....Jessica Turner
Antonio.....David Hounslow
Gabriele.....David Acton
Tommaso/ Nazi officer/ Brian.....Felix Auer
Edna.....Amelia Lowdell
Barry/ Goffredo.....Chris Pavlo
Gianni.....Sam Dale
Director: Emma Harding
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2015.
TUE 11:00 Natural Histories (b05w9l70)
Hornbill
Exotic and bizarre, hornbills wowed European society when the first live specimens arrived in the nineteenth century. Their almost human like walk combined with their unbelievable bills and strange calls presented an image of nature most Europeans had never encountered. When their odd breeding behaviour became known - the males seal up the female in a hole in a tree cavity so that only her beak can protrude for weeks on end - they became great curiosities. The bill of the helmeted hornbill was particularly prized for carving the Victorian obsession - netsuke. Beautifully coloured, especially if reddened by the oil from a preen gland, the "ivory" became the most sought after material for Victorian display cabinets. Hornbill ivory is still so highly prized by the Chinese that the helmeted hornbill is on the verge of extinction; its bill fetches a higher price than elephant ivory. However in their Indonesian homeland they are seen as mythical creatures that guard the thin veil between life and death, ferrying souls between the earth and heaven. This sacred belief is now being used by modern conservationists to help protect them as they disappear at an alarming rate from the face of the earth. Because many of the Asian Hornbills nest in the largest trees, they are at greatest risk from loggers, legal or illegal, and therefore stand as flagship species for forest conservation in SE Asia.
TUE 11:30 Tales from the Stave (b06gr3vr)
Series 12
Dvorak's New World Symphony
Frances Fyfield begins a new series of Tales from the Stave with one of the most popular Symphonies ever written. Dvorak's Symphony 'From the New World' was composed during his time working in American in the 1890's. There have been claims and counter-claims about his use of spirituals and native American music but the manuscript, held at the Czech National Museum of Music in Prague, and the accompanying sketchbooks, tell a story of both inspiration and craft.
Frances is joined by the world renowned Czech conductor Jiri Belohlavek, the American music historian David Beveridge and, given the famous tune from the second movement, the Cor Anglais player Vladislav Borovka. To Vladislav and most Czechs it's difficult to imagine this melody having anything to do with 'bread' (let alone Hovis!) but so it is for British audiences.
However, the sketchbooks reveal a fascinating evolution of both this tune and several others that make this work so beloved of audiences the world over. The first movement, for example, was originally conceived in a major key. 'How strange' as an American songwriter was to opine some time later 'the change from Major to Minor.'
Producer: Tom Alban.
TUE 12:00 News Summary (b06g1k8y)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 Home Front (b064g2bj)
13 October 1915 - Kitty Lumley
On this day the education aspect was dropped from the recruitment test, and Kitty is shocked to discover a whole world she knew nothing about.
Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
TUE 12:15 You and Yours (b06gr3vv)
Call You and Yours: In your experience, does gaming undermine academic achievement?
Call You and Yours: Does playing video games undermine academic achievement?
A study suggests children who play video games twice a day are less likely to achieve five good GCSE grades. The National Children's Bureau Northern Ireland research involved more than 600 14 to 16-year-olds from 2012-14. It found 41% of children who used portable gaming devices at least twice a day achieved at least five GCSE A* to C grades, compared with 77% of those who used them less than once a week. The research does not establish why this might be the case.
You and Yours wants to hear your experience. Has frequent gaming led to fewer high grades in your household? Or do you believe the video games make no difference at all? Perhaps those who played regularly had other disadvantages?
Email us at YouandYours@bbc.co.uk
Please include a phone number, so that a researcher can ring you back.
Presented by Winifred Robinson
Produced by Natalie Donovan.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b06g1k90)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b06gr3vz)
Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Martha Kearney.
TUE 13:45 Peter Snow Returns to the Future (b06hgw85)
Maggie Aderin-Pocock
Space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock boards Peter Snow's time travelling DeLorean for an alien encounter which will span the past and the present.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b06gqr5y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b06gr444)
The Life and Times of Arthur Miller
The Lure
2. The Lure
The second of four plays marking the centenary of the great American playwright, Arthur Miller.
By the time he was 35, Arthur Miller had a very eclectic CV. He was the son of an illiterate Jewish immigrant, whose once flourishing coat business had failed during the Depression. He'd worked nights in an auto-parts warehouse, been a dock-yard worker, a jobbing writer for Orson Welles, a prize-winning student playwright, and a writer of radio drama for Roosevelt's Federal Theatre Project. He was a communist activist and a highly skilled carpenter. In 1950 Death of A Salesman, directed by his good friend Elia Kazan, became a major Broadway hit. By that time Miller was the father of two children and had been married to his college sweetheart, Mary Slattery, for ten years. Now Hollywood beckoned, where a chance meeting with Marilyn Monroe would change everything. Written by Jonathan Holloway.
Producer for LA Theatre Works: Susan Loewenberg
Associate Producers: Anna Lyse Erikson and Myke D Wysekopf
Sound by Mark Holden, Wes Dewberry, and Catherine Robinson
A BBC/Cymru Wales and LA Theatre Works Co-Production, directed by Kate McAll
LA Theatre Works is a non-profit audio drama company based in Los Angeles that records classic and contemporary plays. They have been collaborating with the BBC for nearly thirty years, beginning with a production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible that starred Richard Dreyfuss and Stacey Keach.
TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (b06gr4b7)
Series 8
The Other
From the other woman to the other Michael Jackson, Josie Long hears stories from 'others'.
John Osborne explores how your identity can become inextricably linked with someone you've never met, two academics discover how a piece of theatre can push you outside of society and a homicide detective talks about how you communicate with someone whose actions are outside of your understanding.
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
The items featured in the programme are:
A Boy Called Michael Jackson
Feat. John Osborne
Flopsy
Feat. Chris Knight and Camilla Power
The Conversation
Feat. Asbjorn Rachlew
Produced by Ronan Kelly
Originally featured in Curious Ear
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/2013/0529/647430-radio-documetary-podcast-exam-asbjorn-rachlew-anders-breivik-norway/
The Other Woman
TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (b06grjmx)
Paying For Our Parks
Our National Parks are getting less money from central government - some have seen their grant cut by 40% in the past 5 years. To make up the shortfall, they're exploring new commercial opportunities.
As well as coming up with individual fund-raising plans, the 15 National Parks in England, Wales and Scotland have formed a joint body, called National Parks Partnerships. It's exploring new ways of selling their collective logo: "Britain's Breathing Spaces". The idea is modeled on a similar organisation in the USA, which has done million dollar deals with companies like Disney and Coca-Cola.
So, how far should our parks go down the commercial route? Tom Heap investigates.
Producer: Chris Ledgard.
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (b06grjn0)
The Alphabet
Michael Rosen and Dr Laura Wright take us through the A-Z of the alphabet, with the help of Professor Nils Langer. How do we come to have the letters we do?
Producer Beth O'Dea.
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b06grjn2)
David Morrissey and Julia Blackburn
Actor David Morrissey and writer Julia Blackburn join Harriett Gilbert to discuss and recommend favourite books.
They include a breath-taking collection of stories by JD Salinger: For Esme - with Love and Squalor, which is often eclipsed by 'The Catcher in the Rye' but is equally brilliant on children and young people.
David's choice is by the American writer John O'Hara. Appointment in Samarra was published in 1934, and it's a stylish and surprisingly sexy novel depicting the self-destructive decline of Julian English, a high-ranking member of a small-town elite.
Harriett's choice is Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight. It's the devastating and funny memoir of Alexandra Fuller about her childhood as the daughter of white settlers in Rhodesia of the 1970s.
Producer Mary Ward-Lowery.
TUE 17:00 PM (b06grjn4)
News interviews, context and analysis.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06g1k92)
Official report says Flight MH-17 downed by Russian built missile. Government withdraws bid to run Saudi jails. John McDonnell says changed tactics not policy on fiscal charter.
TUE 18:30 There Is No Escape (b06grjn7)
Episode 1
Andrew Lawrence's sitcom about a man dissatisfied with his life, whose feeble attempts to run away invariably end with him traipsing home defeated.
In this opening episode, Andrew arrives home from work one evening to find the house even more of a mess than usual. An argument with his girlfriend about cleaning escalates and Andrew storms out to find something to eat.
After a soul destroying encounter with the woman in the local shop, who can only recommend frozen turkey dinosaurs for his meal, Andrew joins his work mate, Lennie, for a consolation dinner in the pub.
Later he returns home and is forced to negotiate about a cleaner through the letterbox before he is finally allowed back in.
Starring:
Andrew Lawrence
Diane Morgan
With Rosie Cavaliero and Marek Larwood.
Producer: Jane Berthoud
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2015.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b06grlhn)
Clarrie encourages Eddie to dress up a bit as Emma takes photos of him at work for his new Grundy Turkey website. The Fairbrothers' website looks pretty swish and Eddie feels he can't compete, as Emma comes up with ideas for the site - a few recipes perhaps.
Clarrie mentions that the Christmas Show is at Lower Loxley this year - the Village Hall won't be ready again this side of Christmas, says Eddie.
Toby suggests to Rex that they take part in the Felpersham Food Fair. They're also looking forward to the Goose Producers' farm walk on Thursday. Rex reminds Toby about 'phase 2' of their operation - ducks. Pip runs an idea by the Fairbrothers about share farming with Adam.
Bitter about the Fairbrothers going after their clients, Eddie confronts Rex over supposedly breaking their agreement and they have a bit of an argument. Rex defends himself - he hasn't been aggressively marketing their geese, some people just want a change. Eddie and Rex temporarily put differences aside to wish Pip and her family all the best at the funeral tomorrow.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b06grlhq)
Marlon James, Stephen Frears's The Program, Fiona Banner
Marlon James is the first Jamaican novelist to be shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. His nominated novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings, is a portrait of Jamaica in the '70s when gang warfare and reggae reigned, and is based on the attempted assassination of Bob Marley in 1976. The winner of the 2015 Prize will be announced later this evening.
James Daunt, founder of Daunt Books and Managing Director of Waterstones, discusses how the publishing industry responds to the Booker shortlist and winner, and the impact it has upon sales.
Stephen Frears' new feature film The Program delves into the doping scandal surrounding seven-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. Michael Carlson reviews the film starring Ben Foster as the disgraced cyclist.
Artist Fiona Banner discusses her new exhibition Scroll Down and Keep Scrolling, the most comprehensive exhibition of her work to date, at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham.
Presenter John Wilson
Producer Rebecca Armstrong.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b06gqx6n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (b06grl93)
Colleges in Crisis
David Cameron has promised three million new apprenticeships by 2020. But Further Education colleges must deliver them against a background of year-on-year cuts - with the axe likely to fall again in this Autumn's spending review.
The National Audit Office has warned more than a quarter of further education colleges could be deemed financially inadequate by the end of the year. And this month MPs on the Public Accounts Committee will launch an inquiry into the financial sustainability of the sector.
But how far is the crisis also a result of poor planning and excessive borrowing by colleges themselves? A File on 4 investigation finds some institutions taking increasingly desperate measures to make ends meet.
And it asks whether the sector is being adequately policed: when a college faces financial collapse, what safety nets are in place?
Reporter: Fran Abrams Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b06grl95)
RNIB's library catalogue issues, Young VIP campaigners, Tony Shearman's column
Listener Eve Smyth is a keen reader who, as a member of a number of reading groups, enjoys browsing through book catalogues like the RNIB's library of braille and audiobooks. However, last September she became unable to log in. We find out why, and ask Dr Mike Townsend from the British Computer Association of the Blind what can be done to solve this problem.
We hear from two young visually impaired campaigners, Elise Crayton and Christopher Reddington, who are off to Westminster to tell MPs what protection they want in the workplace.
And Tony Shearman presents a column where he calls for more positive language when talking about blindness.
Producer: Cheryl Gabriel.
TUE 21:00 The Letters of Ada Lovelace (b069jjmg)
The Poetry of Mathematics
Georgina Ferry presents part one of the correspondence of Ada Lovelace, dramatised by an all-star cast; and reveals the intense inner world of a young Victorian lady who anticipated our digital age.
Ada Lovelace (Sally Hawkins) was the abandoned daughter of the romantic poet Lord Byron. Concerned that Ada might inherit her father's feckless and 'dangerous' poetic tendencies, her single mother Lady Byron (Olivia Williams) made sure she was tutored thoroughly in mathematics, and regularly prescribed 'more maths' to improve her mental health. When she came out in London society, Ada met the man who would change her life, but not in the way most debutantes would have imagined. The distinguished mathematician, Charles Babbage (Anthony Head) became her life-long friend and mentor: Ada was fascinated by his steam-powered calculating machines. Supported by her husband William (George Watkins), she defied society's expectations, studying mathematics with extraordinary passion and determination when she was married with three small children; and later suggesting boldly to Babbage that he might like to work with her on his innovative thinking machines.
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (b06gqx6d)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b06g1k94)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b06grl97)
Government confirms withdrawal from Saudi prison contract.
Justice Secretary, Michael Gove, says decision reflected a focus on domestic priorities
Three Israelis killed in a day of violence and protest
Booker prize winner announced;
Remembering the career of BBC journalist, Sue Lloyd-Roberts.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b06gqr6d)
Reading Europe - The Truth and Other Lies
You scare me, Henry
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 tells his mistress what he thinks happened on the cliffs that night...
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.
TUE 23:00 A Charles Paris Mystery (b01p3lg0)
An Amateur Corpse
Episode 1
Actor-cum-sleuth Charles Paris is once again out of work - an event made worse by his maddening mother Joan's arrival to recuperate from an operation.
So when he bumps into old friend, Hugo, who offers him some voiceover work, Charles is doubly happy; some money and a chance to escape the house.
But a simple voice job leads Charles into Hugo's drink-fuelled depressing marriage. His young wife spends most of her time at an am-dram group with some very strange members and Hugo seems ready to crack....
Bill Nighy stars as actor-cum-sleuth, Charles Paris.
By Jeremy Front - based on Simon Brett's novel.
Charles ..... Bill Nighy
Frances ..... Suzanne Burden
Joan ..... Geraldine McEwan
Hugo ..... Paul Ritter
Ellie ...... Amaka Okafor
Saskia ..... Christine Absalom
Geoff ...... Patrick Brennan
Clive ...... Sam Alexander
Director: Sally Avens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2012.
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b06grl9c)
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster.
WEDNESDAY 14 OCTOBER 2015
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b06g1k9z)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b06j6zlk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06g1kb1)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06g1kb3)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06g1kb5)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b06g1kb7)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b06gy0rt)
A spiritual reflection and prayer to start the day with The Rev Richard Frazer of Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b06gy0rw)
Lord Krebs on Badger Cull; Insect Farming; Copa-Cogeca New President
Professor Lord Krebs has accused the National Farmers Union of giving farmers false hope about the impact of badger culling on bovine tuberculosis. Lord Krebs is the author of the report which led to the 10 year Randomised Badger Culling Trials from 1998- 2008. He tells us how he believes figures showing a fall in bovine TB cases in areas where the current cull have taken place are not enough to claim it is a success.
Next week the European Union will vote on new legislation about the production of insects as animal feed and a nutritious food source. We're back at the Expo in Milan where Sally Challoner caught up with two researchers involved in a project to see if insect farming really could be viable for farmers, and help feed millions.
And we talk to Martin Merrild, the new president of the pan-EU farming union Copa-Cogeca about his priorities for his time in office.
Presenter: Anna Hill
Producer: Sophie Anton.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04ml9bd)
North Island Kokako
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Chris Packham presents the North Island kokako from New Zealand. Kokakos are bluish-grey, crow-sized birds with black masks. Those from the North Island sport bright blue fleshy lobes called wattles; one on each side of the bill. And they are famous in New Zealand for their beautiful haunting song which males and females sing, often in a long duet in the early morning. Known by some people as the squirrel of the woods because of their large tails and habit of running along branches, kokako used to be widespread, today fewer than 1000 pairs remain. The kokako's slow and deliberate, almost thoughtful, flute-like song evokes the islands' forests and in the film, The Piano, it features as part of the chorus of woodland birds in some of the most atmospheric scenes.
WED 06:00 Today (b06kd208)
George Osborne's fiscal charter is discussed, and a close family friend of murdered teenager Georgia Williams speaks to the programme. Also, Man Booker prize winner Marlon James.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b06grwnc)
Dermot Turing, Gulwali Passarlay, Dawn Rose, Rhiannon Adam.
Dawn Rose started out as a session drummer with bands including 90s group Right Said Fred before becoming a psychologist and music therapist. She is performing in The Happiness Project at the Roundhouse which was devised by a company of young artists, scientists and academics to explore our understanding of happiness and well-being. Dawn will perform a drum duet with one of the teenagers during the performance. The Happiness Project is at the Roundhouse, London.
At 12 Gulwali Passarlay was sent away from Afghanistan by his mother to escape the conflict that claimed his father's life. After a harrowing journey across eight countries he arrived in the UK a year later. Now 21, he is in his third year studying politics at the University of Manchester and works with aid organisations and youth groups. His ambition is to return to Afghanistan and become its president in 2035. The Lightless Sky - An Afghan Refugee Boy's Journey is published by Atlantic Books.
Sir Dermot Turing is the nephew of the mathematician and codebreaker Alan Turing. The author of a new biography of his uncle, Dermot brings his personal insights, drawn from family sources and Alan's own notebook and diaries. The book explores the impact of Alan's codebreaking work at Bletchley Park and the tragedy of his early death in the wake of his conviction for gross indecency in 1952. Along the way Dermot presents a portrait of Alan the man - his friendships, his loyalty and his extraordinary achievements. Prof - Alan Turing Uncoded by Dermot Turing is published by the History Press.
Rhiannon Adam is a photographer and the winner of the Royal Geographical Society's Journey of a Lifetime contest. The contest, established in association with BBC Radio 4, offers individuals the chance to make an exciting and imaginative journey and present it in a radio documentary. Rhiannon, who grew up on a sailing boat in the Atlantic reading romantic stories about The Mutiny on the Bounty, chose to explore the romance and reality of Pitcairn Island. Journey of a Lifetime is broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
Producer: Paula McGinley.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b06j70c7)
1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear
Plague
by James Shapiro
Episode Three : Plague
An outbreak of the plague threatens the livelihood of William Shakespeare when the theatres are closed. It also looms close to his home in London.
Ten years ago James Shapiro won the Samuel Johnson Prize for his bestseller 1599: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.
1606: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AND THE YEAR OF LEAR is a compelling look at a no less extraordinary year in his life. The book traces Shakespeare's life and times from the autumn of 1605, when he took an old and anonymous Elizabethan play, THE CHRONICLE HISTORY OF KING LEIR, and transformed it into his most searing tragedy, KING LEAR.
1606 proved to be an especially grim year for England, witnessing the bloody aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot, divisions over the Union of England and Scotland, and an outbreak of plague. But it turned out to be an exceptional one for Shakespeare who, before the year was out, went on to complete two other great Jacobean tragedies that spoke directly to these fraught times: MACBETH and ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
Abridged by Anna Magnusson
Read by Ian McDiarmid
Produced by Gaynor Macfarlane.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06grwnf)
Nadiya Hussain; Rachel Weisz
Funny, self-deprecating and skilled winner of this years' Great British Bake Off' Nadiya Hussain joins Jane to discuss all things baking;
Bosses should stop encouraging employees to lead & teach them to be skilled and valued followers. Professor Birgit Schyns explains 'followership' and is joined by Peninah Thomson, Chief Executive of the Mentoring Foundation;
We hear the story of a female Syrian refugee on the island of Kos and her hopes for her future;
Hollywood actress Rachel Weisz talks about her unusual new film The Lobster, her views on feminism, and how buying the rights to novels is giving her greater control of her career.
WED 10:41 15 Minute Drama (b06grwnh)
Early One Morning
Episode 3
Italy 1943. Chiara, Cecilia and Daniele are attempting to flee Rome for the countryside.
Thirty years later, Chiara takes a phonecall from a young Welsh girl, Maria, who claims to be Daniele's daughter.
Greta Scacchi, Juliet Aubrey and Sophie Melville star in Virginia Baily's powerful novel of love, loss and learning to be a mother.
Narrator.....Greta Scacchi
Chiara.....Juliet Aubrey
Maria.....Sophie Melville
Cecilia.....Alex Tregear
Daniele.....Adam Thomas Wright
Gennaro/ Adult Daniele.....Cesare Taurasi
Simone/ Nonna.....Jessica Turner
Antonio.....David Hounslow
Gabriele.....David Acton
Tommaso/ Nazi officer/ Brian.....Felix Auer
Edna.....Amelia Lowdell
Barry/ Goffredo.....Chris Pavlo
Gianni.....Sam Dale
Dramatised by Miranda Emmerson.
Director: Emma Harding
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2015.
WED 10:55 The Listening Project (b06grwnl)
Danny and Roberta - Not One Bit
Fi Glover introduces a couple whose relationship has been shadowed by the Troubles, but who eventually returned to make their home in Omagh with no regrets. Recorded in the mobile Booth at Omagh Library, this is 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.
WED 11:00 Recycled Radio (b06grwnq)
Series 4
Evolution
Gerald Scarfe is back to guide you through the BBC archive - mutated into something completely different. Today's subject: Evolution.
This episode tackles the history of our evolution and searches the archive for answers to some of the biggest questions ever posed on Radio 4. Why are we like we are? Can things only get better? What's the full title of the Origin of Species? What can Darwin, Lemarck, Bernard Lovell, Tony Blair, Brian the Snail, D:Ream, Mary Berry, and the prawn cracker tell us about evolution? Recycled Radio might have the answer.
Producer: Polly Weston.
WED 11:30 A Trespasser's Guide to the Classics (b06grwnt)
Series 1
Mr Gray's Decorators
By John Nicholson, Richard Katz and Javier Marzan
In 19th-century London, a butler struggles to keep pace with the destructive lifestyle of his employer, a hauntingly good-looking and impressionable young man of means. The butler hires painter-decorators to carry out repairs but when they accidentally damage a portrait hidden in the attic, they find that it has alarming effects on the young man.
In this new series the comedy troupe Peepolykus assume the roles of minor characters in great works of fiction and derail the plot of the book through their hapless buffoonery.
Cast:
Richard . . . . . Richard Katz
Javier . . . . . Javier Marzan
John . . . . . John Nicholson
Dorian Gray . . . . . Blake Ritson
Sybil . . . . . Rebecca Hamilton
Lord Henry . . . . . Stephen Critchlow
Basil . . . . . Sam Dale
Young Dorian . . . . . Evie Killip
Director . . . . . Sasha Yevtushenko
Peepolykus (pronounced people-like-us) has exported its brand of irreverent comic theatre to over 100 towns and cities across four continents, often under the auspices of the British Council. The company's varied CV includes two tours of Bangladesh, winning the audience award at The Tehran Festival, performing to royalty in Brunei, to Indian states people in the Himalayas, a truly disastrous run in Barbados, an unforgettable stint on The Price is Right in Australia and other occasional bits of telly for the BBC. Their theatre scripts are licensed world wide and their award-winning musical with NYMT:UK is pencilled for re-launch. The company has also played for 3 months in the West End and collaborated with numerous organisations including Neal Street Productions, Aardman, NT, The Kevin Spacey Foundation and currently with Brunel University on STUCK - working with schools to adopt improvisation into the curriculum. Past forays on Radio 4 have included a co-penned series with Rik Mayall, a star-studded adaptation of A Christmas Carol and a live recording of The Hound of The Baskervilles. Peepolykus is produced by Eleanor Lloyd Productions.
WED 12:00 News Summary (b06g1kb9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 Home Front (b064g2c8)
14 October 1915 - Adam Wilson
On this day, Emmeline Pankhurst declared 'There should be a place for every man, no matter his age, to wear a uniform and learn to shoot', but Adam cannot celebrate.
Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
WED 12:15 You and Yours (b06grz0x)
Divorce settlements, Small energy suppliers, Food Crime Unit, Alvin Hall on financial apathy, University discrimination
Consumer affairs programme.
WED 12:57 Weather (b06g1kbc)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b06grz0z)
Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Martha Kearney.
WED 13:45 Peter Snow Returns to the Future (b06hgwkl)
Simon Calder
Travel writer Simon Calder spends his life crossing borders. Today he accompanies Peter Snow on a journey to 1961 to witness the building of the Berlin Wall, and forward to a world in which the last border of all is about to come down...
WED 14:00 The Archers (b06grlhn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b06grz13)
The Life and Times of Arthur Miller
Sin
3. Sin
The third of four plays marking the centenary of the great American playwright, Arthur Miller.
Arthur Miller's play 'The Crucible' opened in New York City in January 1953. The reviews were mixed. The parallels with Senator McCarthy's witch hunt for Communists with the House Un-American Activities Committee were obvious. Few realised, however, that it also portrayed Miller's dying marriage to his first wife and college sweetheart, Mary Slattery. One of Marilyn Monroe's New Year resolutions of 1955 was to improve her acting by taking lessons. She moved to New York later that year to study with Lee Strasberg. Four years after she and Arthur had first met on the West Coast, they began to see each other again, in secret. The secret wouldn't be kept for long. By Jonathan Holloway.
Producer for LA Theatre Works: Susan Loewenberg
Associate Producers: Anna Lyse Erikson and Myke D Wysekopf
Sound by Mark Holden, Wes Dewberry, and Catherine Robinson
A BBC/Cymru Wales and LA Theatre Works Co-Production, directed by Kate McAll
LA Theatre Works is a non-profit audio drama company based in Los Angeles that records classic and contemporary plays. They have been collaborating with the BBC for nearly thirty years, beginning with a production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible that starred Richard Dreyfuss and Stacey Keach.
WED 15:00 Money Box (b06grz15)
Money Box Live: Buying a New Home?
Got a question about mortgages, conveyancing or shared ownership? Call 03700 100 444 from
1pm to
3.30pm on Wednesday or email moneybox@bbc.co.uk now.
If you're buying a home you'll need to negotiate with mortgage lenders and estate agents, ensure the legal work is complete and make sure stamp duty is paid.
If you're buying a property in Scotland are you familiar with missives and sealed bids? You will need to be.
Are you considering shared ownership as a viable way to get on the housing ladder?
Or perhaps you're a 'mortgage misfit' struggling to get a loan due to unusual circumstances and tighter lending restrictions.
To help you through the process, Lesley Curwen and guests will be ready to answer your questions on Wednesday. Joining Lesley will be:
Ray Boulger - Senior Technical Manager, John Charcol the independent mortgage experts
Ronnie Fulton - Partner at Fultons Law and Director of the Glasgow Solicitors Property Centre
Keith Barber - Director, Business Development at the Family Building Society,
Julie Stafford - Head of Sales and Marketing, Guinness Partnerships Housing Association
Whatever you need to know, Lesley 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 The Letters of Ada Lovelace (b069jjmg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b06grz17)
Being Single - Modern Romance
Modern romance: love in the age of technology. Laurie Taylor talks to Eric Klinenberg, Professor of Sociology at New York University, & co- author of a new study exploring the dilemmas & pleasures of dating in the age of Tinder. He's joined by the writer & blogger, Zoe Margolis.
Also, Ai Ling Lay, lecturer in Marketing & Management at the University of Leicester, discusses her research on 'singles' in the marketplace.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b06grz19)
BBC Studios, Ad-blocking, Female tech journalists, The Voice
The BBC's latest submission to the Government on the Charter Review consultation includes further detail on BBC Studios. The proposal removes the key guarantees and quotas for BBC in-house programmes but establishes BBC Studios as a separate entity, to maintain the BBC's tradition of programme making. To discuss the implications for the UK's independent TV production sector at large, Steve is joined by Cat Lewis, CEO of Nine Lives Media and Debbie Manners, MD Keo Films and former Chair of Pact Council.
Axel Springer, the owner of the German tabloid Bild, has become the first major German publisher to insist that users of ad-blocking software either pay a monthly fee, or turn off the ad-blockers before viewing its content. Earlier this month, Apple launched its first operating system permitting users to download ad-blocking software from its app store. Media Editor of The Times, Beth Rigby, joins Steve.
New research shows 20% of female technology journalists surveyed said they had disguised their gender, name or published anonymously, to avoid abuse. Catherine Adams, freelance journalist & senior lecturer in Communications at Nottingham Trent joins Steve to discuss the conclusions of her new research. And Holly Brockwell, Editor in Chief of Gadgette, a technology website aimed at women, talks about the sexist abuse she has experienced in the course of her work.
The BBC have issued a statement denying that it has axed The Voice, saying: "We are in discussions about its future, but we won't get into a bidding war." Reports from The Daily Mirror had suggested the BBC had dropped the programme and that it could appear on ITV. The Guardian's Tara Conlan joins Steve to discuss the wrangling over this Saturday night talent show.
Producer: Katy Takatsuki.
WED 17:00 PM (b06grz1d)
PM at
5pm - Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06g1kbf)
Two women win a landmark divorce settlement appeal. A nurse is critically ill with ebola.
WED 18:30 To Hull and Back (b06hjkv6)
Series 1
The French Connection
Sophie still lives at home with her mum in Hull. They make a living doing car boot sales at the weekend. Except they don't really make a living because her mum can't bear to get rid of any of their junk.
Plus, they don't have a car. As their house gets more cluttered, Sophie feels more trapped. Sophie dreams of moving to London to meet her dad and to become a famous actress. Will this dream come true?
Pilot episode of the sitcom by BBC New Comedy Award winner, Lucy Beaumont.
Starring Lucy Beaumont as Sophie and Maureen Lipman as Sheila.
Producer: Carl Cooper
A BBC Radio Comedy Production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2014.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b06gs5y9)
Kate makes conversation with Phoebe about the Christmas Show - Kate wonders what it'll be and hopes for something edgy. Kate also shares the latest about her retreats - the planning application's in for the barn conversion and installation of the yurts. There's even scope for Phoebe to work in an admin role. Phoebe's distracted as Roy arrives to take her for her driving lesson.
Having told Phoebe about Joe doing the upcoming ghost walks at Lower Loxley, Roy asks Phoebe how the Oxford application's going, and discovers that Alex has been talking her out of it. Roy points out that if Alex really cares he'll support her - whatever she decides. Roy's chuffed when Phoebe later phones to tell him she has submitted her application.
Usha comforts Ruth at Heather's funeral, where Pip does a reading which is by a Major killed in WW2. Usha talks warmly of Heather and the service - reminding Ruth that the difficult last year was only a small part of Heather's rich life. Pip and Ruth also share memories. But Ruth tells Usha she feels she let Heather down when Heather needed her most.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b06gs5yd)
James Shapiro, Ben Folds, Zareer Masani, Giacometti
Author James Shapiro describes how the Gunpowder Plot and King James' desire to unite England and Scotland inspired Shakespeare's great plays King Lear and Macbeth.
In India 40 writers have returned their literary awards in protest against what they consider a 'rising intolerance of free speech' which has seen some writers attacked and murdered. Historian Zareer Masani considers the significance of their action and its political and historical context.
Giacometti: Pure Presence at the National Portrait Gallery in London is the first major exhibition to focus on his portraiture and includes his paintings, sculptures and drawings. Art critic Charlotte Mullins reviews.
Ben Folds discusses his new album So There, which sees him collaborating with New York sextet, yMusic. The resulting eight 'chamber rock' songs are followed by his first piano concerto and he reveals why he enjoys blurring the lines between classical and pop.
Presenter Samira Ahmed
Producer Angie Nehring.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b06grwnh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:41 today]
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b06gs5yh)
The Work Ethic
The Moral Maze returns this week to apply its nose to the grindstone and naturally the prospect of work is exercising our collective mind. Ringing, perhaps guiltily in our ears, are the words last week of the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. Defending the changes to tax credits he said "We want this to be one of the most successful countries in the world in 20, 30, 40 years' time. There's a pretty difficult question that we have to answer, which is essentially: are we going to be a country which is prepared to work hard in the way that Asian economies are prepared to work hard, in the way that Americans are prepared to work hard? And that is about creating a culture where work is at the heart of our success." According to one business expert he may have a point. Rohit Talwar, the chief executive of Fast Future, has said teachers should be preparing schoolchildren for a future that could see them having to work in 40 different jobs until they reach 100. For many this debate isn't just about increasing life expectancy and the cost of state pensions. It's about what kind of contribution society has the right to ask of its citizens and whether the common good demands that we try to meet it. Is work not just financially rewarding, but morally improving? Is self-reliance a virtue that is undervalued in Britain? Or are they both a moral smokescreen for a soulless, utilitarian attitude that sees us all as units of economic production and only values us while we continue to contribute? Isn't the true test of good work not whether it's 'hard' but whether it's fulfilling and productive? Whether we enjoy it? The Moral Maze chaired as ever by Michael Buerk. Michael is a man known for his love of hard work. He says he can watch it for hours.
Chaired by Michael Buerk with Melanie Phillips, Michael Portillo, Giles Fraser and Matthew Taylor.
Witnesses are Sheila Lawlor, Dan Taylor, Tom Hodgkinson and Lord Maurice Glasman.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b06gs5yk)
Trust Me, I'm a Magician
Paul Hyland is a writer and a magician - but, as he explains in this entertaining essay, he is not a trickster. At least, not a dishonest one. "Did the painter trick you when his reclining nude turned out to be no more than a layer of pigments, textures, lines of perspective, light and shade on a flat canvas?" Recorded at the End of the Road music festival.
Producer: Richard Knight.
WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (b06grjmx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
15:30 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 Midweek (b06grwnc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b06gs5ym)
Labour rebellion on economic surplus vote
Government wins by 320 votes to 258, a majority of 62.
Migration - a key issue in Polish election.
Are Russia and America in a "proxy war" over Syria ?
and Ken Clarke on new Brian Clough documentary.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b06grl99)
Reading Europe - The Truth and Other Lies
I need to get away from here
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 tells his friend Obradin the what really happened to his wife, with shocking repercussions...
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.
WED 23:00 The Celebrity Voicemail Show (b06gs5yr)
Series 1
Barack Obama
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 US President, Barack Obama.
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 (b0214801)
The Fox Wife
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 2: The Fox-Wife by Sam Thompson
In Oxford, we follow a man whose wife has turned into a fox.
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.
Producers: Russell Finch and Francesca Panetta
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b06gs6j2)
Sean Curran reports from Westminster as MPs vote on the Chancellor's Charter for Budget Responsibility.
Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn face each other over the despatch box.
And the government suffers three defeats in the Lords over its childcare proposals.
THURSDAY 15 OCTOBER 2015
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b06g1kcb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b06j70c7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06g1kcd)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06g1kcg)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06g1kcj)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b06g1kcl)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b06gvn41)
A spiritual reflection and prayer to start the day with The Rev Richard Frazer of Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b06gvn47)
NFU, dairy forum, flooding, future foods
The World Dairy forum is meeting in Edinburgh. Dr Judith Bryans is the chief executive of Dairy UK. She says it's more important than ever to find new ways of adding value to milk, and that increasing exports is key to the dairy industry surviving. Meanwhile, business analyst Geoff Burch says dairy farmers need to find out their real cost of production - it's estimated that 60% of farmers don't know that figure. He thinks that attitude makes margins tight and extremely perilous.
Sally Challenor reports from the World Expo in Milan, where she meets food producers who are using algae to replace protein.
Charlotte Smith meets a Dutch flooding expert to find out what lessons the UK can learn from Holland's approach.
Presenter Charlotte Smith. Producer Ruth Sanderson.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04mlmf8)
Blue Jay
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Chris Packham presents the North American blue jay. The loud warning screams of blue jays are just part of their extensive vocabulary. These birds are intelligent mimics. Blue jays are neat handsome birds; lavender-blue above and greyish below with a perky blue crest, black collar and white face. But the blue jay is not blue, but black. Its feather barbs contain a dark layer of melanin pigment; the blue we see is caused by light scattering through modified cells on the surface of the feather barbs and reflected back as blue. Common over much of eastern and central North America, blue jays will move in loose flocks to take advantage of autumnal tree mast. A single blue jay can collect and bury thousands of beechnuts, hickory nuts and acorns (in a behaviour known as caching) returning later in the year to retrieve these buried nuts. Any they fail to find, assist in the natural regeneration of native woodlands.
THU 06:00 Today (b06kd20t)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b06gw3jj)
Holbein at the Tudor Court
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543) during his two extended stays in England, when he worked at the Tudor Court and became the King's painter. Holbein created some of the most significant portraits of his age, including an image of Henry VIII, looking straight at the viewer, hands on hips, that has dominated perceptions of him since. The original at Whitehall Palace was said to make visitors tremble at its majesty. Holbein was later sent to Europe to paint the women who might be Henry's fourth wife; his depiction of Anne of Cleves was enough to encourage Henry to marry her, a decision Henry quickly regretted and for which Thomas Cromwell, her supporter, was executed. His paintings still shape the way we see those in and around the Tudor Court, including Cromwell, Thomas More, the infant Prince Edward (of which there is a detail, above), The Ambassadors and, of course, Henry the Eighth himself.
With
Susan Foister
Curator of Early Netherlandish, German and British Painting at the National Gallery
John Guy
A fellow of Clare College, University of Cambridge
And
Maria Hayward
Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Southampton
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b06j76tg)
1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear
Religion
by James Shapiro
Episode Four : Religion
The ferment in the country and King James' insistence on an Oath of Allegiance brings religious tensions to the fore in 1606. Anyone refusing to take communion (and therefore presumed to be Catholic) was fined. These matters come very close to William Shakespeare when a member of his family refuses communion in Stratford Upon Avon.
Ten years ago James Shapiro won the Samuel Johnson Prize for his bestseller 1599: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.
1606: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AND THE YEAR OF LEAR is a compelling look at a no less extraordinary year in his life. The book traces Shakespeare's life and times from the autumn of 1605, when he took an old and anonymous Elizabethan play, THE CHRONICLE HISTORY OF KING LEIR, and transformed it into his most searing tragedy, KING LEAR.
1606 proved to be an especially grim year for England, witnessing the bloody aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot, divisions over the Union of England and Scotland, and an outbreak of plague. But it turned out to be an exceptional one for Shakespeare who, before the year was out, went on to complete two other great Jacobean tragedies that spoke directly to these fraught times: MACBETH and ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
Abridged by Anna Magnusson
Read by Ian McDiarmid
Produced by Gaynor Macfarlane.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06gw3js)
The right to challenge divorce settlements
As two women, who said they were misled by their ex-husbands and should get more money in their divorce settlements, win their Supreme Court fight, Jane Garvey talks to family legal expert and Senior Associate at Spring Law Emma Nash. Could the ruling pave the way for many more people to try and renegotiate their deals?
Zaha Hadid recently became the first woman in 167 years to win the Royal Institute of British Architects Royal Gold Medal. We hear from two leading UK architects Rachel Haugh and Jo Cowen about what it's like for women in the profession and from Christine Murray Founder of Women in Architecture.
Heather Wakefield tells us why she wants to be the first female General Secretary of the public service union UNISON
Plus Newsnight's Political Editor Allegra Stratton reports from the SNP Conference. Live music from American hip hop artist Akua Naru. And what the women of Liverpool love about dance.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b06gw3jz)
Early One Morning
Episode 4
Italy 1943. Chiara flees Rome for the countryside with her sister, Cecilia and Daniele, the small Jewish boy she has saved from the Nazis' clearance of the Rome ghetto.
Thirty years later, in 1973, Chiara has lost touch with her troubled, junkie adoptive son, but she must now decide how to deal with the young Welsh teenager who keep phoning her and who claims to be Daniele's daughter.
Greta Scacchi, Juliet Aubrey and Sophie Melville star in Virginia Baily's powerful novel of love, loss and learning to be a mother.
Narrator.....Greta Scacchi
Chiara.....Juliet Aubrey
Maria.....Sophie Melville
Cecilia.....Alex Tregear
Daniele.....Adam Thomas Wright
Gennaro/ Adult Daniele.....Cesare Taurasi
Simone/ Nonna.....Jessica Turner
Antonio.....David Hounslow
Gabriele.....David Acton
Tommaso/ Nazi officer/ Brian.....Felix Auer
Edna.....Amelia Lowdell
Barry/ Goffredo.....Chris Pavlo
Gianni.....Sam Dale
Dramatised by Miranda Emmerson.
Director: Emma Harding
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2015.
THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (b06gw3k5)
Old Fears Return
In Israel's parks and shopping districts more people are now visibly carrying guns amid the worst surge of violence in months. Also in this programme: Myanmar prepares for an historic election in November -- but one candidate, try as he might, just can't get to his constituency to campaign! We're up in the Alps in south west France where specialist wolf hunters have just been deployed after an angry campaign by shepherds and sheep farmers; talking to a man on the coast of Senegal in west Africa who's doing his best to keep hope, fish and his community alive - by tending to some remarkable trees. And there's drama on a family holiday in China which did not go entirely according to plan!
THU 11:30 Open Art (b06gw3k9)
Inside the Rock
In the middle of Ben Cruachan in the hills of Argyl and Bute is a man-made cavern 90 metres high and 36 metres long, reached through a kilometre long rock tunnel. It's tall enough for an entire Cathedral to sit in its belly. This is the home of the Cruachan Power Station.
Marking it's 50th anniversary, the writer Maria Fusco is creating a site-specific work. Master Rock is a repertoire for the mountain and will be performed live inside the power station for broadcast on 17th October 2015.
This documentary provides context to Maria's work and tells the remarkable story of the power station's construction. We'll hear from some of the self-styled Tunnel Tigers, workers brought in from around the UK to perform the highly dangerous task of blasting into the rock. We also hear from Elizabeth Falconer - the unknown artist who made a huge mural inside the turbine hall of the power station.
Master Rock was commissioned as part of a wider collaboration between Artangel and BBC Radio 4 to find ground-breaking projects from artists working in any medium that will transform the UK's cultural landscape.
Producer: Hana Walker-Brown
Executive Producer: Joby Waldman
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:00 News Summary (b06g1kcn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 Home Front (b064g2tc)
15 October 1915 - Isabel Graham
On this day, the Battle of Loos ended, but it's clear that the war has changed Isabel Graham irrevocably.
Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
THU 12:15 You and Yours (b06gw3kc)
Fraud statistics, Charity award ceremonies, Safety in hospitals
The annual Crime Survey for England and Wales, released this morning, includes fraud statistics for the first time. It gives the clearest picture we've ever had of the scale of financial cons - many of which go unreported because victims choose not to come forward. Crime has steadily fallen in recent years, but some experts suggest rather than having disappeared completely, many criminals have simply moved online. We speak to the City of London Police, which heads up the UK Fraud Intelligence Bureau, about the scale of fraud and what's being done to combat it.
The health watchdog the CQC has described safety in the NHS in England as "a significant concern". They judged three quarters of the hospitals they visited to be inadequate or requiring improvement. Of care homes and nursing services more than 40% had problems with safety. As did one in three GP services. What's being done?
Charity Award Ceremonies are nothing new - big, glitzy events with celebrity hosts handing out gongs to people who have given up their time to help others. Some probably don't cost much to stage. But we speak to one woman who was asked to pay £400 to attend an event; money which she pointed out could have been better spent on charity aid. Can that ever be acceptable? We speak to the organisers of annual event, The Charity Awards.
Presented by: Winifred Robinson
Produced by: Olive Clancy.
THU 12:57 Weather (b06g1kcq)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b06gw3kf)
News and current affairs analysis. Including latest crime figures for England and Wales, Kids Company investigated by MPs, SNP Conference and part three of a refugee family's journey from Syria to Western Europe. Presented by Martha Kearney and Shaun Ley.
THU 13:45 Peter Snow Returns to the Future (b06hgwyf)
Steve Jones
Geneticist Professor Steve Jones boards Peter Snow's time travelling DeLorean on a journey to the past and the future to explore the origins of the red head and the future of the human race.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b06gs5y9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b06gw3kh)
The Life and Times of Arthur Miller
Dreams
4. Dreams
The last of four plays based on the life of the American playwright.
1982, Roxbury, Connecticut. Following his divorce from Marilyn Monroe, Arthur Miller has been happily married for many years to photographer Inge Morath, whom he met on the set of The Misfits. They live in the New England farmhouse he bought as a summer retreat after his first big Broadway success, All My Sons. Miller has always loved this place. It's where, in 1948, he built a wooden studio, ten feet by twelve, and sat down to write Death of A Salesman. Now in his late sixties, it's been a long time since he had a major success. In Mike Walker's drama, a mysterious young visitor appears at the door and compels him to look back on his life.
Producer for LA Theatre Works: Susan Loewenberg
Associate Producers: Anna Lyse Erikson and Myke D Wysekopf
Sound by Mark Holden, Wes Dewberry, and Catherine Robinson
A BBC/Cymru Wales and LA Theatre Works Co-Production, directed by Kate McAll
LA Theatre Works is a non-profit audio drama company based in Los Angeles that records classic and contemporary plays. They have been collaborating with the BBC for nearly thirty years, beginning with a production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible that starred Richard Dreyfuss and Stacey Keach.
THU 15:00 Ramblings (b06gw3kk)
Series 31
Artists' Ways - Wiltshire
Clare Balding has been exploring Artists' Ways in this series of Ramblings. This week she walks with Matthew Hopwood whose project 'A Human Love Story' takes him walking through England as a pilgrim, seeking hospitality where it is offered, meeting people where they are; on the path, in the pub, around the corner, on the street, in prison, in church, on the towpath. The people he meets share their love stories, which Matthew records and publishes on his online audio archive.
Producer: Karen Gregor.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b06gthjy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (b06gtn4x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b06gwcp9)
Tom Hiddleston, The Program, The Lobster, Beasts of No Nation, Virtual Reality
With Francine Stock
We can see Tom Hiddleston in three movies over the next few months; he explains why his films are like London buses.
Actor Ben Foster mounts a defence of Lance Armstrong, the disgraced cyclist he plays in Stephen Frears' new drama The Program.
Yorgos Lanthimos discusses the reasons that his characters are transformed into animals if they don't find a a mate in his satire The Lobster.
Chris Milk reveals the future of virtual reality and why it will supersede the medium of cinema.
Cary Fukunaga discusses the use of child actors to play child soldiers in his harrowing war movie Beasts Of No Nation
Producer Catherine Bray remembers the time when she thought her hair might actually be space worms, after watching a horror movie at the tender age of ten.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b06gwcpf)
Time Travel in Science and Cinema
In a special programme to mark, amongst other things, the centenary of Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, Adam Rutherford is joined by The Film Programme's Francine Stock to explore the theme of time-travel - in science, in film and as film. With studio guest, science writer Marcus Chown, they'll discuss time-machines - as imagined by scientists and film-makers; the grandfather of all paradoxes; the notion of the multiverse and how the pioneers of cinema created their own 'time-machines' through the art of editing. And to mark Back the Future Day, otherwise known as 21 October 2015, they talk to director Robert Zemeckis about how and why he imagined a future with hover-boards but, oddly, no smart phones.
Producers: Stephen Hughes and Rami Tzabar.
THU 17:00 PM (b06gwcpk)
PM at
5pm - Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06g1kct)
England's to get its first new grammar school site for 50 years.
THU 18:30 The Brig Society (b06gwcpm)
Series 3
Being a Lord
Good Lord. Exactly what Marcus has become in order to peer under the ermine and see if we really do need that second chamber. Along the way he'll be looking at the history and function of the House of Lords, getting himself a Coat Of Arms and having a good old rummage in the Woolsack.
Helping him declare his interests will be Margaret Cabourn-Smith (2Miranda"), William Andrews ("Sorry I've Got No Head") and Justin Edwards ("The Thick Of It").
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 (b06gwcpr)
Rex and Toby head to Norfolk for the Goose Producers' walk - they need to raise their profile locally and get some goodwill going in Ambridge. Rex suggests getting involved with the big village hall project and worries that they've made a mistake in focusing just on geese. Toby suggests they pursue the share farming idea with Adam as well and be really ambitious.
Helen updates Peggy on the latest from the Bridge Farm shop and dairy. Peggy's surprised about Phoebe applying to Oxbridge - noting that Roy didn't have quite the same academic ability.
Rob and Helen have a home visit and interview to discuss Helen's health history and pregnancy. Rob chips in supportively. With Rob out of the room comes the delicate question- is Helen suffering any kind of abuse? Helen insists no. Rob comes back in with coffees and answers a couple of questions about having his first child. He's confident of bringing up Henry as his own. He sounds like the perfect man, jokes the health professional - Ellie. Later, Peggy phones Rob to check on Helen. She's worried Helen's working too hard and looks peaky. Rob explains that she's expecting a baby. Peggy's delighted - Helen's in perfect hands with Rob.
On the drive back to Ambridge, David tries to make small talk with Ruth about Dan returning soon. Alone in her room, back at Brookfield, an upset Ruth quietly says sorry to Heather.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b06gwfzs)
Pan, Titian to Canaletto, Lisa Genova, Marcus Gardley
Hugh Jackman stars as Blackbeard in Pan, a new adaptation of J.M. Barrie's story of the boy who never grew up. Mark Eccleston reviews the film which also features Cara Delevingne and Rooney Mara.
A new exhibition Titian to Canaletto: Drawing in Venice focuses on the overlooked element of Venetian art from 1500 to 1750 which opens today at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Martin Kemp, Emeritus Professor of the History of Art at Oxford University, assesses the works on display.
Lisa Genova, a trained neuroscientist and author of Still Alice which explored early-onset Alzheimer's, discusses her new novel Inside The O'Briens, in which the head of the family discovers he has Huntington's Disease. The writer reveals why she believes she can achieve more in that field by writing novels than she did in the lab.
A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes is a theatrical reworking of Moliere's satire Tartuffe, transplanted to present-day Atlanta, Georgia. It's a comedy set in a world of guns, fast-food tycoons and black churches. The dramatist Marcus Gardley, whose father was a pastor and whose uncle a founder of the Black Panthers, discusses his adaptation.
Presenter Samira Ahmed
Producer Jerome Weatherald.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b06gw3jz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b06gwfzv)
How to Get Into the UK
There's been much talk of immigration this year, and intense coverage of the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have been making their way to Europe. Some, in Calais, continue to make desperate attempts to reach Britain. Tens of thousands of people from outside the European Union do come to Britain each year, to live and to work. But how do they manage it? Peter Marshall finds out in this week's edition of The Report, meeting four recent migrants and hearing about the obstacles they've faced. And he meets a lawyer who represents the super rich, for whom entry is guaranteed provided they stump up millions of pounds.
THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (b06gwfzx)
Going Public
Companies like Royal Mail, Saga and the AA have recently listed their shares on the stock market. It gives them access to plenty of money to help them grow, but also means they're subject to public scrutiny. Evan Davis and guests discuss why firms decide to float and how they must adapt to becoming a plc.
Guests:
Martin Clarke, CFO, the AA;
Dan Wagner, CEO, Powa Technologies;
Gillian Karran-Cumberlege, Co-Founder, Fidelio Partners.
Producer: Sally Abrahams.
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b06gwcpf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b06gw3jj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b06gwfzz)
Lockerbie: prosecutors want to interview 2 Libyans
Scottish prosecutors want to interview two Libyans they have indentified as new suspects in the Lockerbie bombing investigation.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b06gs5yp)
Reading Europe - The Truth and Other Lies
You need help
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.
Famed as a novelist, 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 Betty's mysterious death, suspicion falls on Henry...
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 Rob Newman (b06gwnx2)
Robert Newman's Entirely Accurate Encyclopaedia of Evolution
Episode 1
One of Britain's finest comedians, Rob Newman, with a witty, fact-packed series mixing stand-up and sketches, challenging notions of Survival of the Fittest and The Selfish Gene with a new theory that's equal parts enlightening and hilarious.
Rob is our guide on a journey through a unique audio A-Z of nature that takes in everything from altruistic amoebae and dancing squid to Richard Dawkins wrestling naked with a postal worker.
Piecing these fragments together allows Rob to correct some major distortions of Darwinism, as well as rejig the theory of natural selection in the light of what we now know about epigenetics, mirror neurons and the Flintstones.
Written by Rob Newman
Starring Claire Price, with Jenni Murray as the voice of the Encyclopaedia.
Producer: Jon Harvey
Executive Producer: Richard Wilson
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b06gwnx4)
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster where there's torrid questioning of the head of the collapsed charity Kids Company. Also in the programme: Labour says the Government's financial package to help the Redcar steelworks is no more than a PR gimmick. And the Home Secretary is accused of using "inflammatory" language about immigration in her recent speech to the Conservative Party Conference. Editor: Rachel Byrne.
THU 23:55 The Listening Project (b06gwp4j)
Jordan and Janet - I Don't Need to Worry About You
Fi Glover hears a grandmother and her grandson reflect on their special relationship, after she took on his care when he was 10 months old, because of his mother's heroin habit. Recorded when the mobile Booth was in Glasgow, this is 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.
FRIDAY 16 OCTOBER 2015
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b06g1kdr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b06j76tg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06g1kdt)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06g1kdw)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06g1kdy)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b06g1kf0)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b06gxw91)
A spiritual reflection and prayer to start the day with The Rev Richard Frazer of Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b06gxw93)
Scottish food, Milan Expo, Veterinary history, Crab apples
Scottish rural affairs minister Richard Lochhead talks to Farming Today from the SNP conference. He tells Charlotte Smith how he wants to transform Scotland into a good food nation, and why global exports are a key factor in achieving that goal.
Agricultural historian Professor Abigail Woods explains how the government's action on cattle plague 150 years ago is still shaping our veterinary policy today.
Sally Challenor reports from the Milan Expo and talks to some global producers about how they are aiming to make their food more sustainable.
Mark Smalley raids the hedgerows and joins a group of school children being taught to cook up a storm with seasonal crab apples.
Presenter Charlotte Smith. Producer Ruth Sanderson.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04mj32d)
Toco Tucan
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Chris Packham presents the South American toco tucan. Few of us are lucky enough to have seen or heard a Toco Toucan at home in its South American strongholds but its image will be familiar to drinkers of a certain age. Its pied plumage and sky-blue eye-rings are striking enough but it is the toco toucan's huge black-tipped orange bill that makes the bird instantly recognisable. Despite appearances this cumbersome-looking banana-shaped bill is really quite light. Under the colourful plates which cover the bill a matrix of horny fibres and air-pockets combines strength with lightness a formula which has caught the attention of light aircraft manufacturers . The bird's massive bills were prominent in advertisements for a well-known brand of Irish stout beer in the 1930s and 40s. In various poses, often with a pint pot perched precariously on its bill, toucan's, extolled the virtues of beer-drinking.
FRI 06:00 Today (b06gxw95)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b06gthsz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b06j78nc)
1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear
Union
by James Shapiro
Episode Five : Union
King James' quest for the union of England and Scotland is not easily resolved.
Ten years ago James Shapiro won the Samuel Johnson Prize for his bestseller 1599: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.
1606: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AND THE YEAR OF LEAR is a compelling look at a no less extraordinary year in his life. The book traces Shakespeare's life and times from the autumn of 1605, when he took an old and anonymous Elizabethan play, THE CHRONICLE HISTORY OF KING LEIR, and transformed it into his most searing tragedy, KING LEAR.
1606 proved to be an especially grim year for England, witnessing the bloody aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot, divisions over the Union of England and Scotland, and an outbreak of plague. But it turned out to be an exceptional one for Shakespeare who, before the year was out, went on to complete two other great Jacobean tragedies that spoke directly to these fraught times: MACBETH and ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
Abridged by Anna Magnusson
Read by Ian McDiarmid
Produced by Gaynor Macfarlane.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06gxxl3)
Helping kids sleep, Dame Valerie Beral, WWI pregnancies, Precious Awards 2015
Techniques to get your children to go to sleep with Carl-Johan Forssen Ehrlin, author of "The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep," and Vicki Dawson, founder of The Children's Sleep Charity.
Epidemiologist Dame Valerie Beral on using the Million Women Study to investigate how a woman's reproductive history can affect her health. She talks about her concerns with HRT and why she believes the contraceptive Pill has received unfair bad publicity.
Working women's experience of pregnancy and childbirth 100 years ago with Dr Gill Scott, historian of the Women's Co-operative Guild, and actor Rachel Shelley, whose character in the BBC Radio 4 drama Home Front has lost her three-week old son in a cot death.
Precious Awards founder, Foluke Akinlose discusses what the 2015 event means for Black and Asian women in Business, along with one of the winners, Kerrine Bryan, a Principal Electrical Engineer.
Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Rebecca Myatt.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b06gx5qh)
Early One Morning
Episode 5
Italy 1943. Sisters Chiara and Cecilia are now installed in their grandmother's farmhouse in the mountains, where they shelter passing army deserters and Daniele, the small Jewish boy Chiara saved from the Nazis' clearance of the Rome ghetto.
Thirty years later, in 1973, Chiara has lost touch with her troubled, junkie adoptive son, but is now preparing for a visit from Maria, the Welsh teenager who claims to be Daniele's daughter.
Greta Scacchi, Juliet Aubrey and Sophie Melville star in Virginia Baily's powerful novel of love, loss and learning to be a mother.
Narrator.....Greta Scacchi
Chiara.....Juliet Aubrey
Maria.....Sophie Melville
Cecilia.....Alex Tregear
Daniele.....Adam Thomas Wright
Gennaro/ Adult Daniele.....Cesare Taurasi
Simone/ Nonna.....Jessica Turner
Antonio.....David Hounslow
Gabriele.....David Acton
Tommaso/ Nazi officer/ Brian.....Felix Auer
Edna.....Amelia Lowdell
Barry/ Goffredo.....Chris Pavlo
Gianni.....Sam Dale
Dramatised by Miranda Emmerson.
Director: Emma Harding
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2015.
FRI 11:00 Two Men and a Mule (b06gx5qk)
The Festival of the Snows
The Andes have become a symbol of a lost world of Inca wisdom and cities in the clouds, of the Celestine Prophecy and Indiana Jones. It needs two men (and their mule) to cut their way through the mystique with some machetes and wit.
For the third and final programme of the series, explorers Hugh Thomson and Benedict Allen - along with their trusty mule Washington - make the arduous journey to Qoyllurit'i, the so-called 'festival of the snows' held high up in the glaciers of Peru, where 30,000 people gather for what is very much a Glastonbury of the Andes.
This is one of the very last places where the rituals and beliefs of ancient Peru still intersect with the present in an extraordinary mix of pre-Colombian and Christian ritual - festival goers walk to the high glacier with crosses, which take on the spirit of the glacier and are then carried down the mountain to local chapels, from where the spirit of the glacier can watch over the community.
The festival is policed by bear-men who whip the participants if they do not follow the elaborate set of rituals prescribed for the festival from the beginnings of Andean culture.
Produced by Ruth Evans
A Ruth Evans production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 11:30 John Finnemore's Double Acts (b06gx5qm)
Series 1
A Flock of Tigers
A seemingly ordinary train ride turns into an unexpected adventure for Edmund and Dolorosa.
Celia Imrie and Charles Edwards star in the first of six two-handers written by Cabin Pressure's John Finnemore.
Cast:
Dolorosa.............Celia Imrie
Edmund..............Charles Edwards
Written by John Finnemore
Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:00 News Summary (b06g1kf2)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 Home Front (b064g3dq)
16 October 1915 - Albert Wilson
On this day, Britain heard that nurse Edith Cavell had been executed, and Albert Wilson is up and out early as the troops are marching to the harbour.
Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
FRI 12:15 You and Yours (b06gxxl5)
Craft beer, Missing luggage, Train refunds
How savers could help family members get on the property ladder and boost their income.
Will the mega brewery merger of ABInBev and SABMillerbe good or bad news for the burgeoning micro brewery scene in the UK?
Following Virgin train's commitment to refund passengers on late trains automatically how have other train companies responded?
Charity launches awareness campaign as they discover most hearing dog users say they've been turned away from shops and restaurants.
Skype UK boss answers consumers complaints.
The Spanish budget airline that delivers your bags- eight days late!
FRI 12:57 Weather (b06g1kf4)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b06gx5qt)
News and current affairs analysis, including details of the EU migrant deal with Turkey and the latest from the SNP conference. Presented by Edward Stourton.
FRI 13:45 Peter Snow Returns to the Future (b06hh19v)
Kate Williams
Peter Snow's guest today is the historian Kate Williams who accompanies him to the bedchamber of Queen Victoria and the home of an African billionaire.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b06gwcpr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b03b0q9m)
Drone Pilots
By Robert Myers. Two night shift operators fly a drone from a trailer in the American desert. He's a much-decorated fighter pilot from rural Georgia, who has come out of retirement to make ends meet. She is a superstar gamer from New Jersey, who's just been recruited to the job of sensor.
They are working for a private corporation in New Mexico but are supervised by an imposing female Captain at a military base in Virginia, who gives them orders to stake out a family in South Waziristan.
As they circle their target, the sixty plus pilot and the twenty year old female sensor argue about music, fighting and flying.
Sound Design ..... Scott Lehrer
Producer/Director: Judith Kampfner
A Corporation for Independent Media production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b06gx5qx)
Ayrshire
Eric Robson hosts the horticultural panel programme from Ayrshire, Scotland.
Matthew Wilson, Anne Swithinbank, and Bunny Guinness are on this week's panel, answering questions from the audience.
Also, James Wong visits an exceptional urban garden in Vauxhall cultivated by Andy 'The Shanks Pony Gardener'. And to kick off our 'Exotic' season, Eric Robson makes the trip to Logan Botanic Garden near Port Logan.
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 The Enduring Land - Extracts from Sunset Song (b06hhc3l)
Episode 2
One of the most important Scottish novels of the 20th century, Sunset Song follows the coming of age of its heroine Chris Guthrie in rural Aberdeenshire. Set at the beginning 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.
In this extract, Chris and her young son look forward to the return of Ewan, husband and father, from army training. But he's a changed man, brutalised by his experiences and frightened by the prospect of going to the Front. A poignant, searingly honest examination of how the war fractured families and communities.
Terence Davies's eagerly anticipated film of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's classic novel had its UK premiere at the London Film Festival this week and will go on general release at the beginning of December.
Reader: Hannah Donaldson
Writer: Lewis Grassic Gibbon
Abridger / Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b06gxxl7)
Geoffrey Howe, Sue Lloyd-Roberts, Joe Henson, Hugh Scully and Alexander Faris
Julian Worricker on:
The former Chancellor and Foreign Secretary, Geoffrey Howe, whose resignation speech in the Commons was generally regarded as the beginning of the end for Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister.
The journalist, Sue Lloyd-Roberts, whose reporting frequently took her to some of the most dangerous parts of the world.
The farmer and conservationist, Joe Henson, who founded the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.
Hugh Scully, who rose to fame as a television presenter through his work on 'Nationwide' and 'Antiques Roadshow'.
And the composer, Alexander Faris, best known for writing the theme tune to the 1970s ITV drama, Upstairs Downstairs.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (b06gxxl9)
Debating the Past
When it comes to debate, how combative is too combative? When historian Niall Ferguson and novelist Jane Smiley appeared on Start the Week, a heated discussion took place about the nature of historical truth. But while a few listeners enjoyed the sparku exchange, it was too much for many. Two Feedback listeners hold their own debate, asking whether the exchange made for great radio or an argumentative mess. Roger Bolton is in the chair, but can he mediate?
Last week saw BBC Radio 4 celebrating National Poetry Day, with a marathon of live programming hosted by Andrew Marr, exploring British history and identity through poetry. 'We British: An Epic in Poetry', considered verse by the likes of Donne, Tennyson and Tempest, with contribution from a wide array of actors and experts. But how did the programming define British? And was the choice of verse radical enough for our listeners' tastes? Roger puts the listener reaction to the BBC Bristol Arts and Poetry editor, James Cook.
Last week, a Radio 4 play took on the difficult subject of Female Genital Mutilation. Many listeners were left shocked and moved. Written by Charlene James, the play told the story of two South London teenagers both affected by FGM. Listeners tell us why they felt they couldn't turn off.
And, what on earth is Grass Frost? Listeners have spotted the term popping up on the BBC's recent weather output, but the new terminology has left some listeners baffled. Roger speaks to BBC weather forecaster, Peter Gibbs, for answers on this meteorological phenomenon. And while he's there, where did 'pokey showers' come from?
Producer: Katherine Godfrey.
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b06gx714)
Linda and Ethan - Inside Looking Out
Fi Glover with a mother and her mixed race son, who moved back to Lowestoft after living in London and have been confronted with ignorance and racism. Recorded in the mobile Booth on Claremont Pier in Lowestoft, this is 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 (b06gxxlc)
PM at
5pm - Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06g1kf6)
16/10/15 1,200 jobs to go at steel plants
1,200 jobs to go at three UK steel plants
Inquest finds neglect contributed to death at NHS unit
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b06gx716)
Series 88
Episode 5
A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Miles Jupp. Joining Miles this week in the name of news are Jeremy Hardy, Bob Mills, Anne McElvoy and Sara Pascoe.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Radio Comedy Production.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b06gx718)
Charlie's interviewing Mike for a job at Berrow Farm, as Mike reminds Charlie that he started out as a dairy manager - which reminds Mike of the terrible TB outbreak which scuppered the enterprise. Charlie points out that Berrow is a much bigger operation, but mike talks confidently about adjusting to different systems over the years - pointing out that he's flexible to do whatever shifts Charlie has to offer. Charlie's about to give mike a tour of the site when he's interrupted - there's something urgent Charlie needs to deal with.
Eddie takes Ed for a pint to cheer him up and jokes that his ears are deceiving him when Joe offers to get them in. Kenton's in a good mood, as the contractors will be in next week to start underpinning and refurbishment work on the pub. The mood changes, though, when Kenton innocently reveals that he saw Ed's beasts being taken away in a truck. He thought nothing of it. But Ed can't believe it, and grills Kenton on what type of truck it was.
Joe and Mike look forward to Apple Day and Mike gossips that he thinks there's some kind of disease problem at Berrow. Joe speculates that it could be the start of a plague that could devastate the whole of Borsetshire.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b06gxysv)
The Last Kingdom; Guillermo del Toro; West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song; haiku master Buson poems rediscovered
In Front Row tonight: The Last Kingdom, the BBC's epic new drama series about the Vikings' invasion of Anglo-Saxon England. Nina Ramirez reviews.
Kirsty Lang visits a huge exhibition at the British Library of literature and music from West Africa - from the great African empires of the Middle Ages to the cultural dynamism of the region today.
The director Guillermo del Toro, who has made films in many genres - fairy tale, horror, monsters - embraces the Gothic in his latest, Crimson Peak, and tells Kirsty how, for a Mexican such as he, ghosts are an every day reality.
More than 200 poems by the great 18th century haiku author and painter Yosa Buson have just been discovered in a library near Kyoto. Stephen Gill, a poet and translator who lives nearby reports on the significance of this find.
Kirsty speaks to Robert Seethaler whose A Whole Life describes the world of a man of few words in the Austrian Alps. A slim novel, it condenses the story of Andreas Egger into the episodes that shaped his life, amid the magnificent and dangerous mountains that take the lives of those he loves. His novel is part of the Radio 4 series, Reading Europe and can be heard next week every night at
22.45pm.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b06gx5qh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b06gxc1q)
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh MP, Ian Murray MP, Owen Paterson MP, David Watt
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from Elphinstone Hall at Aberdeen University with a panel consisting of one of the SNP's new MPs at Westminster Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland Ian Murray, former cabinet minister Owen Paterson, and head of the Institute of Directors in Scotland David Watt.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b06gxysx)
Will Self: On Gardening
Will Self reflects on our relationship with gardens and gardening.
FRI 21:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b064g3jt)
12-16 October 1915
Omnibus edition of the epic drama series set in Great War Britain covering a week when the dead seem more present than ever.
Written by Sarah Daniels
Consultant Historian: Professor Maggie Andrews
Music: Matthew Strachan
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b06g1kf8)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b06gxyt1)
Tata Steel is set to cut 1,200 jobs.
Scunthorpe MP Nic Dakin tells us what the government should do to intervene.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b06gwg03)
Reading Europe - The Truth and Other Lies
Better always alone than never
In 'Reading Europe', Radio 4 continues its journey across Europe exploring the best in contemporary literature as Jamie Parker concludes this hugely successful German thriller set on a small cliff-top town, in which everyone has a secret.
Acclaimed as a novelist, 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: The denouement: when his wife's body is washed up after the storm, suspicion on Henry mounts...
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 besteller in Germany.
Translated by Imogen Taylor.
FRI 23:00 A Good Read (b06grjn2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b06gxc1x)
Mark D'Arcy reports as MPs approve plans for a medical innovations database.
The idea - which would allow doctors to share information about treatments - sparked a fierce debate in the Commons.
A senior Conservative, Dr Sarah Wollaston, who chairs the Commons health committee said the proposals would "unravel very important patient protections2 and have "unintended and very dangerous consequences for research".
The plan was proposed by another Conservative, Chris Heaton-Harris, who said his private members bill would help doctors share ideas and "lead to good practice".
The measure cleared its first parliamentary hurdle when it was given a second reading by 32 votes to 19, a majority of 13.
And tonight's edition of the programme includes a special feature. Former BBC parliamentary correspondent, Robert Orchard, has been trawling the archives to celebrate 70 years of Today in Parliament.