The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Consumerism: a history of our modern, material world and the endless quest for more 'things'. Laurie Taylor talks to Frank Trentmann, Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London and author of a study which examines how the purchase of goods became the defining feature of contemporary life. They're joined by Rachel Bowlby, Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London.
Also, the middle class bias in work/life balance research. Tracey Warren, Professor of Sociology at the University of Nottingham, suggests that working class experience of precarity complicates the debate.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Reverend Richard Littledale.
Brexit and UK farming - shall we stay or shall we go now? Wagyu beef, Land prices
Brexit & UK farming - shall we stay or shall we go now? Professor Alan Buckwell, author of a new report on the subject, tells Charlotte Smith that the devil's lurking in the detail, whichever way the vote goes.
Wagyu beef from Japan is renowned for its exceptional flavour and tenderness. Sarah Falkingham meets Yorkshire Wolds farmer Jonathan Shepherd who rears more than a thousand of the cattle.
Land prices in the UK are holding up, despite many areas of farming losing money and the uncertainty created by the upcoming referendum on EU membership. (more on that in a moment) But the big growth in the price of land is slowing. George Chichester, partner in the farming department at Strutt and Parker, told me there are many pressures on price.
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Sir David Attenborough presents the superb lyrebird of eastern Australia. Superb lyrebirds are about the size of pheasants. During courtship, as the male struts and poses, he unleashes a remarkable range of sounds. Up to 80% of the lyrebird's display calls are usually of other wild birds. However, if kept in captivity, they can mimic a chainsaw, camera click, gunshot and a whole host of other man made sound. Research recently discovered that the lyrebird co-ordinates his dancing displays to particular sounds. But superb lyrebirds are promiscuous performers and it's quite likely that another male may have played the leading role while he dances and sings away.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
On Start the Week Andrew Marr talks to Jane McGonigal, a designer of alternate reality games, about her latest innovation SuperBetter. Designed to aid her recovery from a brain injury and subsequent depression, the game reportedly gives people a sense of control over their own health. Harnessing the mind in the fight against chronic illnesses is the subject of Jo Marchant's book, Cure, which looks at the latest research into the science of mind over body. Rational thought and magic went hand in hand in the Renaissance period and the philosopher AC Grayling looks back at the life of John Dee - mathematician, alchemist and the Queen's conjurer. The actor Simon McBurney tests the limits of perception and human consciousness as he recreates what it feels like to be lost in the remote part of the Brazilian rainforest.
Ben Rawlence tells the stories of just a few of the forgotten thousands who make up the half a million stateless citizens of Dadaab - the world's largest refugee camp, in the desert of northern Kenya, close to the Somali border, where only thorn bushes grow.
The author, a Swahili speaker, and former researcher for Human Rights Watch in the horn of Africa made several long visits to the camps over the course of four years. His account bears vivid witness to the lives of those who live in fear, poverty and limbo.
In the first episode, we meet seventeen year old Guled, as he struggles to survive on the outskirts of Mogadishu. He still tries to attend school as well as to earn a living, but the al-Shabaab militias are closing in.
According to a major study published recently in the Lancet , Britain has the lowest rates in the world of women breastfeeding for up to six months. There has hardly been a change since 1980. There has been an increase in the numbers of women willing to give it a go, up to 80%, but of these women at least one in five stop in the first two weeks. So why do women give up in this country? Are women being given the right kind of help? How much does it matter if babies aren't breastfed in first world countries? What about mixed feeding? What about the length of time? Is a small amount better than nothing? When is it a good idea to stop trying? Why do so many women find it so difficult? We have two experts on hand - an academic who has spent her career researching breastfeeding rates and a baby feeding expert who is available to give practical help. Do email, tweet or phone the programme on 03700 100444. Lines are open from
The Williams Family bumbles along in a normally dysfunctional way until something happens which causes them all to unravel.
Halfway Here is a beautifully observed account of a family in meltdown by Lucy Catherine.
Lucy Catherine is a distinguished radio, television and film dramatist. Recent TV includes Musketeers, Frankie and Being Human. Listeners will know her from adaptations of The Master and Margarita (which has just won an Audio Drama Award for best adaptation) and Frankenstein, as well as several original dramas.
The excellent cast includes Tyger Drew-Honey (best known as the older son in Outnumbered); Sharon Small, best known for The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Mistresses and Cutting It; and Justin Salinger who, aside from his work in TV and theatre, is well known to Radio 4 listeners.
Grace Dent tells the story of Jean, 73, who's being harassed by her 80 year old estranged husband, George. After over 40 arrests, a judge must decide whether George's actions are the result of dementia.
Jean and George finally split up in early 2015 after nine years of unhappy marriage. But for George, that wasn't the end of their relationship. For months, George has been harassing Jean: writing her love letters, verbally abusing her and coming to her flat trying to gain entry. Jean now feels like a prisoner in her own home, scared to go out alone.
Despite over 40 arrests, George won't keep away. As the day of George's court appearance approaches, a judge must weigh up whether George's actions are deliberate or if they stem from dementia.
Comedian Mark Steel returns with a new series, looking under the surface of some of the UK's more distinctive towns to shed some light on the people, history, rivalries, slang, traditions, and eccentricities that makes them unique.
Creating a bespoke stand-up set for each town, Mark performs the show in front of a local audience.
As well as examining the less visited areas of Britain, Mark uncovers stories and experiences that resonate with us all as we recognise the quirkiness of the British way of life and the rich tapestry of remarkable events and people who have shaped where we live.
During this 4th series of 'Mark Steel's In Town', Mark will visit Tobermory, Whitehaven, Handsworth, Ottery St Mary, Corby, and Chipping Norton.
This week, Mark visits Chipping Norton and uncovers the relationship between the Camerons, the Clarksons, and a town full of rebels. From January 2013.
On this day the siege of Kut al Amara entered its 63rd day, and Isabel finally finds a solution for the persistent young Cristine.
A Shakespeare quote is hidden in each Home Front episode that is set in 1916. These were first broadcast in 2016, the 400th anniversary year of the playwright's death. Can you spot them all?
Our reporter Samantha Fenwick is live from Westfield Shopping Centre to hear the latest news around what shops will look like in the next two years. Research has identified five key trends which will inform the debate about how physical retail should adapt. We have exclusive access to the data.
In April the Government want to make it easier for people to apply for bankruptcy by going online. You'll no longer have to complete the lengthy forms in triplicate or attend your local County Court. But the new service could prompt some to make rash decisions without thinking about the potentially serious consequences
"Putting the process online will make it be easier for people to complete, incur less expense for the debtor - for the first time, the fee will be payable in instalments - and will remove the stigma of going to court, which we know stops some people from applying. "All applications will be examined by the Adjudicator, who will consider and validate the information given, against other sources before making the order. "The launch of online applications on GOV.UK is part of a wider government plan to transform public services, making them easier to use and saving the taxpayer money."
The welfare of greyhounds is back on the agenda with a review of how new regulations, introduced in 2010, have improved conditions for the dogs. But campaigners are calling for still higher standards and more transparency when it comes to the number of retired dogs being put down. With greyhound stadiums closing up and down the country the industry say they can't carry out the welfare changes without financial help. Henrietta Harrison went to the dogs in South London.
The stories of five different singles and what happened to them in 2015. 89 and widowed; 36 and a Mum of two; 25 and gay; 52 and divorced; 41 and never been in a long term relationship. At the beginning of last year, we started recording them. Were they looking for something? Did they find it?
Episode 1 follows Roy - an 89-year-old widower who goes on a singles holiday.
A four-part drama following the fortunes of a left-wing theatre company, written by acclaimed dramatist Doug Lucie.
We meet the Stage Left Theatre Collective in 1985: founder members Emma (artistic manager) and Robert (literary manager), director Saul, playwright Alan, and finance manager, Frank.
Stage Left follows the fate of the company over the course of the past four decades, catching up with the characters as they negotiate the cultural and economic climate in which they find themselves. There are clashing ideals, conflicting egos, personal grievances, differing tastes and petty quarrels, but at the heart of the drama is the story of a group of idealistic friends who see their vision refined, altered, dented, rebuilt and corroded by the wider artistic and cultural landscape.
A sharp, satirical drama starring Ewan Bailey, Alex Jennings, Richard Lumsden, Anna Madeley, Gerard McDermot and Tracy Wiles.
Written by ..... Doug Lucie
Produced & Directed by ..... Heather Larmour.
Russell Davies welcomes competitors from Kidderminster, Chester, Stirling and Rothbury in Northumberland to Media City in Salford for the latest contest in the 2016 series.
To stand a chance of making it through to the semi-final stage they'll have to know where Britain's first-ever safari park was, which 19th century war was ended by the Treaty of San Stefano, and the name of the party led by the Greek politician Alexis Tsipras.
There's also an opportunity for a Brain of Britain listener to 'Beat the Brains' with his or her question suggestions.
Melville's Moby-Dick is one of the weirdest great novels. Most people know that. What not many people know is how Melville came to write the book and how he nearly didn't and how he almost became a Liverpudlian in the process. Paul Farley, poet and Liverpudlian, salutes an almost-ran and looks out after Melville across the Atlantic.
Melville had one of the strangest and saddest lives. He died broke. Very few copies of Moby-Dick had been sold in his lifetime. Earlier he had a bizarre interlude in his life when he thought of settling in Liverpool and being thereby 'annihilated' as he called it. Taking this as his starting point Paul tracks Melville, his work and inspiration and his life, and looks at the novel and its author from the western-facing sea ports of Britain. How did the white whale and all that it has come to mean and suggest come from Melville's crossing of the Atlantic? What does it mean to undergo a sea change? Are we all eligible?
With Chris Routledge, Philip Hoare, Philip Davis and Horatio Clare.
Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined by US superstar neuroscientist David Eagleman, Professor Sophie Scott and comedian Bridget Christie to ask what is reality? Is our sense of the world around us a completely personal experience and a construct of our brains? How can we ever know whether what one person perceives is exactly the same as what another person perceives. Is your sense of the world around you an illusion constructed by this extraordinary organ, the brain, that has no direct access to the outside world that it is helping you to understand.
The Prime Minister wants to reduce re-offending and give prison governors more autonomy
A BBC Radio Comedy production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in February 2016.
Peggy and Jill are busy sewing the new curtains for the village hall. Jill mentions the Bull's new chef Zoe is starting today, and they discuss their arrangements for Pancake Day. Pip comes in from lambing to find Ruth showing off the brochures - their cattle is now officially up for sale. They reflect on the long history of the herd. Jill moves on to Valentine's Day, noting it will be Bert's first without Freda. Jill knows how he feels; she has kept and cherished the final card Phil wrote for her.
Peggy is sceptical about the latest in a long line of Kate's business ventures, or "hippy ideas". Peggy suspects she is looking for a hand-out. Nonetheless she agrees to meet her.
Ruth notices Pip is distracted during lambing. She confesses that she and Matthew had their first ever row last night, and she worries they won't be able to work as a long-distance couple.
Peggy and Pat discuss Helen's situation, and come to the conclusion that the baby must be her priority... just as Rob said.
Vinyl, A Bigger Splash, Margaret Forster, Louis Andriessen, Theatre at the V&A
Vinyl is an upcoming HBO tv drama created by Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese, starring Bobby Cannavale as a music executive in late 1970s New York who hustles to make a career out of the city's diverse music scene.
Staying with the world of record production, Tilda Swinton plays a rock star recovering from surgery on an Italian island in the new film A Bigger Splash from director Luca Guadagnino. The film is a remake of La Piscine (1969) and also stars Ralph Fiennes. Antonia Quirke and Boyd Hilton review the two productions.
Melvyn Bragg remembers his fellow Cumbrian writer Margaret Forster, who died today.
Theatre designers Tom Piper and Bob Crowley take us around the Curtain Up! exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum and offer some insight into what happens behind the scenes - from designing costumes, manufacturing props and building stage sets.
Louis Andriessen is one of the world's leading composers and this week the Barbican is holding a series of concerts and events to celebrate six decades of his music. He discusses his life in music with John.
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.
If the UK leaves the EU, what happens on the island of Ireland? Its people would be living on either side of an EU border. In this edition of Analysis, Edward Stourton explores an aspect of the Brexit debate that few elsewhere in the UK may have thought about, but which raises urgent questions. Would there be a new opportunities, with a new version of the old Anglo-Irish special relationship? Or could a divisive border and economic harm revive dangerous tensions?
Humans have been altering animals for millennia. We select the most docile livestock, the most loyal dogs, to breed the animals we need. This "artificial selection" is intentional. But as Adam Hart discovers, our hunting, fishing and harvesting are having unintended effects on wild animals. Welcome to the age of "unnatural selection".
This accidental, inadvertent or unintentional selection pressure comes form almost everything we do - from hunting, fishing, harvesting and collecting to using chemicals like pesticides and herbicides; then pollution; urbanisation and habitat change as well as using medicines. All these activities are putting evolutionary pressures on the creatures we share our planet with.
Commercial fishing selects the biggest fish in the oceans, the biggest fish in a population, like Atlantic cod, are also the slowest to reach breeding maturity. When these are caught and taken out of the equation, the genes for slow maturity and 'bigness' are taken out of the gene pool. Over decades, this relentless predation has led to the Atlantic cod evolving to be vastly smaller and faster to mature.
Trophy hunting is another example of unnatural selection. Predators in the wild tend to pick off the easiest to catch, smallest, youngest or oldest, ailing prey. But human hunters want the biggest animals with the biggest antlers or horns. Big Horn Sheep in Canada have evolved to have 25% smaller horns due to hunting pressures.
Probably the best understood examples of unnatural selection are the evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. By using antibiotics we're inadvertently selecting the bacteria that have resistance to the drugs. The same goes for agricultural pesticides and herbicides.
Even pollution in Victorian times led to the Peppered moth to change its colour.
Adam discovers that our influence is universal; often counter to natural selective pressures and is rarely easy to reverse. He explores the impact on entire environments and asks whether we could or should be doing something to mitigate our evolutionary effects.
As thousands of people flee from fighting in and around the Syrian city of Aleppo we hear an account from Peter Oborne, who's just returned from the war-torn city, and Lina Khatib on why the advance of Assad's forces may be an 'existential battle' for the opposition forces.
In Virginia Woolf's high spirited novel her eponymous heroine is preoccupied by the penalties and privileges of womanhood. First off all a sojourn in the mountains of Broussa leads to further reflections on love and nature.
The reader is Amanda Hale.
Michael Rosen and Dr Laura Wright guide us through the top 20 words in English. Not the best or most popular (that would include tentacular, ping-pong and sesquipedalian (look it up - it's a cracker). Plus a lot of swearing. No this is the 20 most commonly used. It's actually quite a boring list - full of 'And', 'I', 'of' etc - but look a little closer and it tells you all about the structure of language. The little words you really can't do without that glue all the other ones together.
This kind of list comes from a branch of lingustics called Corpus Linguistics. It looks at the frequency and distribution of words in large bodies of text or speech. You can apply it to anything - political debates, lonely hearts columns or pop songs. Which is exactly what our guest Prof Jonathan Culpeper has done. That's high end linguistics and Pharrell Williams. Only on Word of Mouth.
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster on the row between the government and junior doctors.
TUESDAY 09 FEBRUARY 2016
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b06zj48z)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b06zqn0x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06zj491)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06zj493)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06zj495)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b06zj497)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b070sfrv)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Reverend Richard Littledale.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b06zr1l2)
Antibiotic resistance, EU trade mission to Mexico, Brexit
There are concerns that the overuse of antibiotics in livestock can lead to the bacteria behind infections like campylobacter becoming immune to the effect of antibiotic treatments. An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism shows that the UK regulator does not publish details of antibiotic use on farms.
And Brexit: we hear why Norwegian dairy farmers are doing well.
Presented by Caz Graham and Beatrice Fenton.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04dw7qv)
Black Stork
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Sir David Attenborough presents the globally widespread but secretive black stork. High up in a forest canopy, the black stork is a large but fairly secretive and mostly silent bird. They are also strong migrants capable of sustained flight, flying up to 7,000 kilometres or more, often over open seas. Black storks are summer visitors to eastern Europe and breed from Germany across Russia to Japan. A small population is resident in Spain, but most birds migrate south in winter to Africa, India or China. Unlike their relative the more flamboyant and colonial nesting white stork, black storks are a solitary nester. It is at this time of the year adults can produce a few grunts or bill clapping sounds during courtship, the young however are far more vocal at the nest.
TUE 06:00 Today (b06zr3z8)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (b06zs3m2)
Peter Piot on tackling ebola and HIV
With the Zika epidemic in Brazil being declared an international health emergency just months after the recent Ebola epidemic in West Africa, Jim Al-Khalili talks to Professor Peter Piot about a lifetime spent trying to stop the spread of deadly viruses.
Peter came across a strange new virus in 1976 when he was working in a small lab in his home town, Antwerp. Weeks later he was in Zaire meeting patients and trying to understand the transmission routes of this terrifying new virus which, together with colleagues, he named Ebola. Thousands of miles from home and surrounded by people dying, he says he felt very much alive. His career path was set.
He was heavily involved in the recent Ebola epidemic but most of Peter's career has been devoted to stopping the transmission of another deadly virus, HIV. He spent most of the eighties trying to convince the world that HIV/AIDS was a heterosexual disease and much of the nineties trying to mobilise the World Health Organisation and other UN agencies to take the threat posed to the world by HIV more seriously. It wasn't easy.
Today he is Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London.
Producer: Anna Buckley.
TUE 09:30 One to One (b06zr3zb)
Jan Ravens talks to Germaine Greer
Jan Ravens has created impressions of some of our most iconic women but all she has to work with is the public persona, how someone in the public eye presents themselves for our view. In her series of One to One she talks to some of her subjects about their image as seen by others and how it differs from how they see themselves. Is image something they have consciously created or has it sprung naturally from their personality and from the way they look? Jan wants to know if their self perception is changed through their portrayal by impressionists and cartoonists.
Is image a useful tool, or does it become a millstone around your neck ?
Academic and author, Germaine Greer, has been in the public eye for over forty years, she talks to Jan about the way her image has changed over the decades.
Producer Lucy Lunt.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b06zr3zd)
City of Thorns
Episode 2
Ben Rawlence tells the stories of just a few of the forgotten thousands who make up the half a million stateless citizens of Dadaab - the world's largest refugee camp, in the desert of northern Kenya, close to the Somali border, where only thorn bushes grow.
The author, a Swahili speaker, and former researcher for Human Rights Watch in the horn of Africa made several long visits to the camps over the course of four years. His account bears vivid witness to the lives of those who live in fear, poverty and limbo.
After the deaths of his parents, Guled has been struggling to survive, together with his sister, in a makeshift camp on the edge of Mogadishu. But when al-Shabaab force him from the classroom he fears not just for his own life but also worries about his new bride, Maryam.
Read by David Seddon
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06zr3zg)
Leila Zerrougui, Lucy Kalanithi, Internet dating and rape
New figures from the National Crime Agency show the number of people who report being raped by someone they met via a dating app or website has risen six fold in the last 5 years. Jane talks to Sean Sutton, Head of the of the National Crime Agency's Serious Crimes Analysis Section and Rebecca Hitchen of Rape Crisis.
Algerian Human Rights expert Leila Zerrougui talks about her work as the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.
Lucy Kalanithi, the wife of neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi who wrote the book 'When Breath Becomes Air' about facing his own death.
Bridget Kendall, the BBC's Diplomatic Correspondent looks at whether the next Secretary General of the UN could be a woman.
A tribute to Margaret Forster, author and biographer, who died yesterday.
Presenter: Jane Garvey
Producer: Eleanor Garland.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0705763)
Halfway Here
Episode 2
by Lucy Catherine.
Nettie's mum and dad wait by her hospital bed to see if she will come round after her accident and Luke tries to find out who has been making her so unhappy.
Director ..... Mary Peate.
TUE 11:00 Editing Life (b06zr3zj)
In the last couple of years, a new genetic technology has taken the world of medical and biological research by storm. It is known as CRISPR and it allows scientists to change the DNA code of any organism precisely, quickly and cheaply. The A's, G's, C's and T's of the genetic code have never been so easy to edit and rewrite. Professor Matthew Cobb, a biologist at the University of Manchester, has witnessed the profound impact of CRISPR on his field and for Radio 4, he explores the enormous potential and the challenges unleashed by this new power over the genetic code.
CRISPR-cas9's came out of apparently arcane science on how bacteria defend themselves from viruses . Now there is speculation about when the first CRISPR baby will born. This will be a child who will have started out as the first human embryo to have a genetic fault edited and corrected in such a way that its descendents will also never carry that gene and suffer the disease it causes.
CRISPR's appearance and rapid adoption by scientists around the world has made hitherto impractical genetic manipulations doable in any species. The most controversial form of genetic engineering - human germline line gene therapy (on single celled embryos, egg and sperm) now looks feasible because of CRISPR's ease and accuracy. The ethical debate about germline gene therapy has a much greater sense of urgency for scientists and non-scientists alike.
The applications and concerns about CRISPR's potential uses extend way beyond the human germline into the natural world. For the first time, the gene editing technology makes practical a genetic mechanism called gene drive. Organism engineered with gene drives could be used to spread lethal genes through wild populations of pest animals and plants - such as malaria-carrying mosquitoes, invasive cane toads in Australia or weeds. But many question whether this is a use of CRISPR we could control once it had been released into the environment.
Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker
Sound engineer: Bob Nettles.
TUE 11:30 Tropicalia: Revolution in Sound (b06zr3zl)
Tropicalia was a musical revolution in Brazil. Singer and journalist Monica Vasconcelos meets the key artists and contemporary champions of Tropicalia - from Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil to Marcos Valle and Talking Heads' David Byrne - and explores its enduring musical and political force.
Burning brightly for only few years in the late 1960s, and politically inspired by the uprisings in Paris in May 68, the Tropicalia movement electrified Brazilian music, combining the sophistication of bossa nova, samba and baiao with psychedelia, new Beatles-inspired electric sounds and orchestral experimentation. It was a deliberately subversive mix that provoked the country's military regime and led to the exile and imprisonment of some of Brazil's star musicians.
Tropicalia brought a new wave of liberation and energy into Brazilian music. Earlier in the decade, bossa nova had captured a mood of national optimism but, as the 1960s wore on, the political situation darkened. The military junta, in power since 1964, was drifting into open repression - the arts would be censored, musicians targeted, imprisoned and exiled. A new, more combative approach was called for.
Based around a core group of musicians - Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, the group Os Mutantes, singer Gal Costa and Tom Ze - Tropicalia was a mash up of styles which drew on the country's deep roots but pushed the sound elsewhere, radically. Harvesting influences from inside and outside Brazil, drawing especially on Western rock, classical orchestration and electronic effects, Tropicalia parodied, mixed and sampled global styles.
Produced by Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:00 News Summary (b06zj499)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 Home Front (b06l4kvy)
9 February 1916 - Norman Harris
On this day four bombs were dropped near a girls' school in Kent causing 3 casualties, while Norman Harris receives wonderful news.
Written by Shaun McKenna
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
TUE 12:15 You and Yours (b06zr3zn)
Call You and Yours: How to tackle 'middle-aged misery'
A report from the Office of National Statistics suggests that, on average, we are at our most miserable during our middle aged years. Where younger people and the over 65s tend to be more satisfied with life, people aged 45 to 54 report a lower level of personal well-being than any other age group. Anxiety levels are also higher among middle aged people.
What is it about middle age that is so difficult? How have you faced up to the challenge of mid-life and found ways to fend off the misery? Whether it's job pressures, financial worries, the relentless demands of family life or a sense that all those dreams you once had may not after all come true, we are keen to hear your experience of middle age. Do also tell us your remedies for "middle aged misery".
Email us now - youandyours@bbc.co.uk and don't forget to leave your phone number, so we can call you back.
Then join Winifred Robinson at
12.15.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b06zj49c)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b06zryhh)
Should police and security authorities be able to collect internet records of every British citizen? We hear from Dominic Grieve whose Parliamentary report says the plans do not do enough to protect an individual's privacy.
He also tells us that plans for a new sovereignty act to counter EU laws would be pointless.
The UN's special representative to Libya warns of the growing strength of so-called Islamic State and says there's a risk they will join up with terrorist groups in other African countries.
And will Donald Trump triumph? Jim Naughtie reports on the New Hampshire primary.
TUE 13:45 Give It a Year (b06zryhk)
Susie
The stories of five different singles and what happened to them in 2015. 89 and widowed; 36 and a Mum of two; 25 and gay; 52 and divorced; 41 and never been in a long term relationship. At the beginning of last year, we started recording them. Were they looking for something? Did they find it?
Episode 2 follows Susie - a 36-year-old single Mum of two, whose year doesn't begin as she'd have chosen.
Produced by Polly Weston.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b06zqq9g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b0705hd8)
Stage Left
Episode 2
by Doug Lucie
Not everyone is happy with the changes that have been made at Stage Left Theatre Company. Tensions rise at the tenth anniversary party.
Cast:
Alan ..... Ewan Bailey
Saul ..... Gerard McDermot
Kelly ..... Tracy Wiles
Emma ..... Anna Madeley
Robert ..... Richard Lumsden
Frank ..... Alex Jennings
Annabel ..... Rebecca Hamilton
Jim ..... Caolan McCarthy
Waiter ..... Richard Pepple
Director ..... Mary Peate.
TUE 15:00 Making History (b06zryym)
Tom Holland shares the stories that light up our past
In the first of a new series, Tom Holland shares the stories and new research that light up our past.
With the BBC's iconic wartime comedy Dad's Army entertaining cinema goers, Helen Castor sets out to find if this view of a rather amateurish war effort, in which the British won through against the odds, is really true. She's joined by historian James Holland who argues that Britain's military victory came about through science and industrial expertise that was actually well ahead of the Nazi's. She's also joined by Dr Chris Smith from the University of Kent who claims this is true also in the rigorous approach used by the codebreakers at Bletchley Park.
In Cambridge, Professor Mary Beard settles by the fire to tell us about the year she thinks is the most important in history - 212AD, a year in which everyone who wasn't a slave received citizenship across the Roman Empire.
In Birmingham, musician David Hinds from the band Steel Pulse is taken back to the streets he grew up on, by the remarkable photographic archive of Janet Mendelssohn. Through her lens, we can see just what it was like to live in one of the new, immigrant communities in places such as Balsall Heath and Handsworth. David is joined by Dr Kieran Connell from Queen's University Belfast who has helped put together a new exhibition at the Ikon gallery in Birmingham.
And - quiet please - is the role of the library about to be shelved in this digital age? Young historian and BBC Radio 3 New Generation Thinker Tom Charlton thinks not. He argues that, for the historian, the library will remain the 'go to' place for new research - however tempting doing it online might become.
Producer: Nick Patrick
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (b06zryhm)
Britain Disconnected
Extreme weather this winter has cut off large areas of Britain from the outside world. Does our Victorian infrastructure need an urgent update?
With parts of Cumbria cut-off since early December, bridges down in Yorkshire, hundreds of ferry cancellations and the West Coast train line out of action until March it's increasingly clear that Britain can't cope with the strong winds and floods that are becoming the new norm.
Should we embark on a new transport revolution, pouring concrete and laying steel to future-proof our roads and railways or should we accept a disconnected Britain?
Presenter: Tom Heap
Producer: Sarah Swadling.
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (b06zryhp)
Taking Turns in Conversation
Michael Rosen and linguist Dr Laura Wright discuss how well we judge taking it in turns when we're in conversation. Professor Stephen Levinson has new research on the science behind this, and joins them in the studio for a carefully-calibrated discussion.. He believes that the back-and-forth pattern we instinctively fall into may have evolved before language itself. Levinson's research has found that it takes about 200 milliseconds for us to reply to each other, but it takes about 600 milliseconds to prepare what we're going to say - so we're preparing as we listen. Levinson notes that this is a pattern found across all human languages, and some animal species, and that infants begin taking turns in interactions at about six months of age, before they can even speak. But what's going on when someone seems to get it wrong, to interrupt or talk over the other person?
Producer Beth O'Dea.
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b06zrzx5)
Rebecca Root & Jake Arnott
The Long Firm author Jake Arnott and Rebecca Root, who recently became the first trans actor to play a trans role in a mainstream BBC series, Boy Meets Girl, nominate favourite books for discussion with Harriett Gilbert. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut is Jake's choice, while Rebecca has gone for a graphic novel, Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, by Chris Ware. Harriett nominates Maggie and Me, Damien Barr's memoir of growing up gay in Thatcher's Britain.
Producer Sally Heaven.
TUE 17:00 PM (b070dp1y)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06zj49f)
Investigation into a train crash in southern Germany in which 10 people died.
TUE 18:30 Ed Reardon's Week (b05tlv9r)
Series 10
The Go-To Destination
Ed Reardon returns to Radio 4 in a new series and whatever happens you can guarantee he'll be scrimping, scraping and ranting in order to keep mind, soul and cat together.
When we last met Ed he was happily involved with BBC Radio producer Laura and her BBC expenses. As we meet again, the pair seem to be enjoying a state of not uncomfortable, slightly drunken, bliss and the relationship has enabled Ed to reconnect with life in London whilst keeping a toehold, and a cat, in Berkhamsted. But good things never last for Ed and the course of the series sees him and Elgar having to take advantage of the numerous empty premises in need of temporary caretakers and live-in guardians, or guardian angels as Ed likes to think of them as Stan throws him out on the street.
Things have also changed for Ping who is suffering the biggest disaster to hit the office since they stopped making pens shaped like bananas - she has a new boss in the form of Suzan -pronounced 'Suzanne'. Ed, of course, wastes no time trying to get on the right side of Suzan in the hope of some work whilst Jaz Milvane continues to be his nemesis, plaguing his every move.
The regular cast are joined this series by guests including Raquel Cassidy, Pam Ferris, Celia Imrie and Jeremy Paxman
Written by Andrew Nickolds and Christopher Douglas.
Produced by Dawn Ellis.
Ed Reardon's Week is a BBC Radio Comedy production.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b06zs22s)
Rex is exasperated that Toby has still not signed the rental agreement for the land, and even more exasperated by Toby's romantic advice. Toby encourages Rex to "get in there" with Pip, partially because her farming knowledge would prove useful. Rex tells Toby he gives men a bad name.
Jennifer joins Peggy in refusing to invest in Kate's new business. She drives off in a huff, but Brian is pleased.
Ruth and Rex discuss their new farming schemes, going back to traditional methods with more nutrients. Ruth tells Rex that Pip will be attending The Bull's fancy dress Flippin' Pancakes event. Later, the event is going swimmingly until Belgian chef Zoe tells Jolene she is unhappy making pancakes all night - despite the fact that it is Pancake Day. Meanwhile, Brian tells Tom about Adam being back in charge with the Estate contract. Tom advises Rex and Toby that they will need an "egg-mobile", and elect to ask Bert to build it. Rex is disappointed when Ruth arrives at The Bull without Pip in tow.
Zoe quits after a stressful night in the Bull kitchen, so Jolene gives Kenton an ultimatum. Either they hire her ex-husband Wayne or Kenton will have to run the kitchen himself.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b0705765)
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Steve Coogan, Leonardo da Vinci, Chinelo Okparanta
Lily James and Sam Riley star as Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy in an unorthodox new film interpretation of Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Novelist Naomi Alderman, co-creator of the app Zombies, Run!, reviews the film.
Chinelo Okparanta's novel, Under the Udala Trees, is set in Nigeria and begins during the Biafra War. It features a young Christian girl from the South who falls in love with a Muslim girl from the North, and explores the insurmountable difficulties surrounding this. The author explains how she writes with Nigerian readers in mind, and how she hopes, one day, for unity in her home country.
Leonardo da Vinci may be known worldwide for his great artworks, from the Mona Lisa to the Last Supper, but he also dedicated much of his life to dreaming up machines such as his early version of the helicopter with beating wings that evoke an eagle. Curator Claudio Giorgione introduces us to the Mechanics of Genius at The Science Museum in London which celebrates Leonardo the "engineer and inventor".
Steve Coogan tells us about bringing Alan Partridge back to the small screen in the second series of Mid Morning Matters for Sky Atlantic.
Presenter Samira Ahmed
Producer: Dixi Stewart.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0705763)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (b06zs22v)
After the Floods - A Tale of Two Cities
The Dutch city of Nijmegen has much in common with the English city of York. Similar in size, both are much visited by tourists because of their histories and architecture. But both also have rivers running through them and are susceptible to flooding. So how do their defences compare? And, as York and other communities continue to mop up the damage caused by the latest catastrophic flooding, did basic mistakes and a failure of planning make a bad situation very much worse?
Reporter: Allan Urry Producer: Rob Cave.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b06zj49h)
Technology: How can it make life easier?
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted.
TUE 21:00 Inside Health (b06zs22x)
Chicken pox in pregnancy, Club foot, Test for Conn's syndrome, Teeth brushing
Dr Margaret McCartney reviews advice to pregnant women concerned about the Zika virus while Andrew Shennan, Professor of Obstetrics at King's College and St Thomas' Hospital in London tells Dr Mark Porter about the risks of infection closer to home - chicken pox.
One in every one thousand babies born in the UK has congenital talipes, or club foot. This is where the foot points inwards and downwards, the sole facing backwards. But thanks to the late Ignatio Ponseti, an orthopaedic surgeon from Iowa in the USA, 95% of children born with club foot will make a complete recovery. Dr Ponseti was concerned about the low success rate of surgical treatment, which often resulted in life-long pain and stiffness and a 50% chance of recurrence. He developed a new technique in the 1960's that involves stretching the foot, holding it in plaster casts and eventually braces. The problem was that nobody believed him and it wasn't until the early 2000's that his technique became the new gold standard for club foot treatment - the news spread by his patients and their parents using the internet. Mark visits the club foot clinic at The Royal London Hospital, which sent a team, led by consultant paediatric orthopaedic surgeon, Manoj Ramachandran to study with Dr Ponseti at his Iowan clinic. Mark meets Hannah, whose 8 week old baby, Penelope, is just beginning treatment and hears from Claire, whose son, Lucas, now four years old, has, post-treatment, two perfect feet.
Professor of Endocrine Hypertension at Queen Mary University London, Morris Brown, gives more details about the test for Conn's Syndrome - which could account for as many as one in ten cases of high blood pressure.
And Inside Health listener Howard, calls on Mark to settle a teeth cleaning dispute between him and his wife. Should you brush before or after breakfast? The British Dental Association's Chief Scientific Officer, Professor Damian Walmsley adjudicates.
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (b06zs3m2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b06zj49k)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b06zs22z)
UN calls on Turkey to let refugees in
Former Turkish Europe minister says there's only so much Turkey can do. Alex Salmond tells us why he wants the EU referendum to be held in the autumn. And we hear from the first Catholic service to be held at Hampton Court Palace for almost 450 years.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b06zs231)
Orlando
Society's Seductions
In Virigina Woolf's boisterous novel Orlando finds herself in eighteenth century England where she is seduced by London society, and intoxicated by the words of the poets. The reader is Amanda Hale.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
TUE 23:00 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b06zqpcg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Monday]
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b06zs235)
Sean Curran hears the latest exchanges on the junior doctors' strike. There are protests about the date being mooted for the EU referendum. And what next for Libya?
Editor: Peter Mulligan.
WEDNESDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2016
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b06zj4bj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b06zr3zd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06zj4bl)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06zj4bn)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06zj4bq)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b06zj4bs)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b07149xt)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Reverend Richard Littledale.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b06zs4hs)
Right to Buy in Rural Areas, Brexit and the Environment, Beavers in Devon
The latest on 'right to buy' housing association properties in rural areas as the Commons Select Committee for Communities and Local Government monitors the government's proposals, announced last April. Committee chairman Clive Betts MP calls for clear protections for rural communities, given that housing association properties in villages tend to be few and far between.
All this week on Farming Today we're looking at the impact of Brexit on UK farming. Today Caz Graham considers the environment - whether EU legislation and targets have been critical in improving the quality of the UKs water, air and habitats. Alternatively, whether getting out of Europe would mean getting rid of all that red tape that ties farmers' and developers' hands. Caz speak to Alistair Maltby, northern director of the Rivers Trust.
New research carried out in Devon suggests reintroducing beavers could bring benefits to both flood management and water quality. Beavers released in a controlled environment by a Devon farmer have been studied by the local Wildlife Trust and researchers from the University of Exeter. Professor Richard Brazier explains that the quality of water flowing from their dams has been improved.
Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Mark Smalley.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04dyh49)
Sociable Weaver
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Sir David Attenborough presents the sociable weaver of the Kalahari Desert in Namibia. Travel through the dry margins of the Kalahari Desert and the telegraph poles stretching across the treeless plain could be wearing giant haystacks. These colossal communal homes are actually a home to the sociable weaver. These sparrow relatives build the largest nesting structure of any bird in the world. A hundred pairs may breed in a nest weighing nearly one tonne, built on isolated trees or any suitable man made structure such as pylons. Developed over generations these colonial nests provide a cooling structure during the searing heat of day and a warm refuge for night time roosts in this inhospitable landscape. Other animals find a use for these structures, from nesting vultures using it as a safe platform, to snakes; who if they enter the nest, can have free rein to this weaver larder.
WED 06:00 Today (b06ztsj1)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b06ztsj5)
Sally Wainwright, Erwin James, Angela Kiss, Abi Roberts
Libby Purves meets writer and director Sally Wainwright; writer Erwin James; comedian Abi Roberts and author Angela Kiss.
Abi Roberts is a stand-up comedian. She is performing her new show, Anglichanka - meaning Englishwoman - in Moscow. She says she's the first UK comedian to perform in Russia - in Russian. The show is based on the story of her adventures in Moscow during the 1990s when she was studying opera at the Conservatoire and became a member of the Russian Orthodox Church. Anglichanka is at the bilingual Moscow Comedy Bar and Club.
Angela Kiss is a writer. Born in Hungary, she has lived and worked in London for 10 years. Her book, How to be an Alien in England, is based on the 1940s classic, How to be an Alien by fellow Hungarian George Mikes. Following Mikes's example, she takes an affectionate look at the English and scrutinises their approach to subjects ranging from love and optimism, to the weather, awkwardness and politeness. How to Be an Alien in England - A Guide to the English, is published by September Publishing.
Erwin James is a writer and columnist. After a difficult childhood, he committed his first crime at 10 before being jailed for life for murder in 1984. While in prison, he met a psychologist who helped him to confront the truth about his past and to understand how it had shaped him from a young age. The sessions transformed his life and, with his psychologist's encouragement, he enrolled in education classes in prison, gained a BA in History and wrote a regular column about life inside. His memoir, Redeemable - A Memoir of Darkness and Hope is published by Bloomsbury.
Sally Wainwright is a writer and director. She began writing for The Archers on BBC Radio 4, before moving into television, writing for Coronation Street and Emmerdale. She has gone on to write award-winning series including At Home with the Braithwaites, Scott and Bailey, Last Tango in Halifax and police drama Happy Valley. In 2015, she was awarded a BAFTA for Best Writer for Happy Valley. The new series of Happy Valley is on BBC One.
Producer: Annette Wells.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b06ztsj8)
City of Thorns
Episode 3
Ben Rawlence tells the stories of just a few of the forgotten thousands who make up the half a million stateless citizens of Dadaab - the world's largest refugee camp, in the desert of northern Kenya, close to the Somali border, where only thorn bushes grow.
The author, a Swahili speaker, and former researcher for Human Rights Watch in the horn of Africa made several long visits to the camps over the course of four years. His account bears vivid witness to the lives of those who live in fear, poverty and limbo.
Nisho has only ever known life in Ifo - one of the camps in Dadaab. His job as a porter in the market enables him to scrape together a little extra to help his mother, whose failing mental health fills him with anxiety. But from his position, almost at the bottom of the pile, he harbours ambitions for the future.
Read by David Seddon
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06ztsjb)
Hollie McNish, Amy Cuddy, First love, Women's global health
More than 18 million women a year worldwide are killed by non-communicable diseases, such heart disease, stroke and diabetes. The UN's Sustainable Development Goals include a target on reducing premature death from these diseases by 2030, and yet women's health strategies are still largely focused on sexual and reproductive health. Professor Robyn Norton joins Jenni to discuss a new paper, entitled Women's Health: A New Global Agenda.
Adopt the 'Wonder Woman' pose and power up! Standing in certain positions can transform your life, says American guru Amy Cuddy. The Harvard professor joins Woman's Hour to explain how the way we hold our bodies is key to giving us 'Presence' - the title of her latest book - and how shyness and anxiety can be overcome.
Award winning spoken word artist Hollie McNish speaks to Jenni about her new book Nobody Told Me, a collection of poetry and prose about becoming a mother. Hollie talks about sex, pregnancy, feeding and viewing society's inequalities through the eyes of her baby daughter.
And why is teenage heartbreak so poignant? Three young women share their experiences.
Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Laura Northedge.
WED 10:41 15 Minute Drama (b07053mk)
Halfway Here
Episode 3
by Lucy Catherine.
Everyone is feeling the strain of Nettie's situation.
Director ..... Mary Peate.
WED 10:55 The Listening Project (b06ztsjg)
Georgina and Holly - Community Spirit
Fi Glover introduces a conversation between friends in their 70s who still put working for their local community association at the top of their to-do list. Another in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
WED 11:00 Instrument Makers (b06ztsjj)
The Instrument Makers
Musical instrument making is a vibrant craft industry in Britain today. The great cellist Raphael Wallfisch plays a cello by Andreas Hudelmayer of Clerkenwell. Want a handmade, yet affordable, guitar? Victoria Hurley, in Orpington, can build you one. In Redhill, Christopher Bayley combines engineering and acoustics to create the sophisticated chamber instrument of Ireland, the uillean pipes. Adam Doughty makes West African koras, in Wales.
Verity Sharp, a cellist herself, hears from these makers in their workshops as each goes about their business: Andreas, at the highest end of the western classical music tradition; Victoria, who works on the world's most popular instrument; Christopher and Adam whose instruments might seem niche, but are sold all over the globe.
Interesting questions arise: classical players favour venerable instruments, violins by Stradivarius. But techniques and the understanding of acoustics have improved. Might modern instruments, then, be better than the old ones? Raphael Wallfisch explains why he loves his cello and duets with the Belgian violinist, Jens Lynen, who has come to try out a new fiddle, in Hudelmayer's workshop it. Factories all over the world churn out guitars, so how does Victoria Hurley, compete. Clients come to makers with different requirements so is the instrument evolving? How can Christopher Bayley realise players' wishes in the wood, metal, leather and reeds of his pipes? And how did Adam Doughty come to learn to play and make the kora?
The instrument maker's vocation is almost monastic - contemplative, laborious and forever seeking perfection. Verity hears their stories, and the music of the amazing instruments they create.
Producer: Julian May
WED 11:30 Reluctant Persuaders (b06bhk9h)
Series 1
Lemon
Welcome to Hardacres, the worst advertising agency in London, and setting of Edward Rowett's new series.
In this opening episode, the agency is shaken by the arrival of a new accounts chief, Amanda Brook who is determined to rebrand and re-launch the agency as a legitimate business.
Inept creative team Joe and Teddy, two recent graduates who are still not entirely sure what it is they're supposed to be doing, find themselves fighting to save their jobs and prove they are not quite as clueless as they appear.
Meanwhile, creative director and advertising legend Rupert Hardacre is appalled to discover Amanda expects him to do slightly more than play golf and drink whisky all day.
And receptionist Laura...well, she doesn't care what happens.
The team must work together as they head to the Advertise NOW! Awards and find an answer to the question - how do you advertise yourself?
Rupert Hardacre - Nigel Havers
Amanda Brook - Josie Lawrence
Joe - Matthew Baynton
Teddy - Rasmus Hardiker
Laura - Olivia Nixon
Director: Alan Nixon
Producer: Gordon Kennedy
An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015.
WED 12:00 News Summary (b06zj4bv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 Home Front (b06l4kzq)
10 February 1916 - Victor Lumley
On this day conscription came into effect, and Victor Lumley is desperate to return to his men in France.
Written by Shaun McKenna
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
WED 12:15 You and Yours (b06zttbj)
Fundraising initiatives, Legal highs, High street fashion
We investigate how one of the UK's best known charity collection firms went into administration owing major charities hundreds of thousands of pounds. Kenneth Bauso and Cathy Sullivan started Fundraising Initiatives in 1999. But its links to a firm called Caring Together have left charities out of pocket - and there are big questions for the charities who hired them. We ask the Chief Executive of the Public Fundraising Association who is monitoring the sector.
New research shows legal highs are mostly used by young men in local authority care - we speak to a listener who has finally managed to kick their addiction.
The banks will now pass on evidence to the police when fraud is committed on their customers. We speak to the Royal Bank of Scotland on how this will help convict criminals.
High fashion designers like Tom Ford and Burberry are going to put their collections straight into their stores, instead of showcasing designs on catwalks a season ahead. It means high street retailers can't copy them. What does this mean for fast fashion retailers?
Lots of luxury developments are being built in towns and cities to for students; but are they what students want or need?
And how charities are getting increasingly pushy when they're left money in people's wills.
WED 12:57 Weather (b06zj4bx)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b06zttbl)
As thousands of doctors go on strike in England, we hear views from the picket line and from patients. We also talk to the NHS employers and the doctors' union, the British Medical Association.
Jeremy Corbyn has challenged David Cameron over housing at Prime Minister's Questions. We discuss that with the Conservatives' Matthw Hancock, Labour's Lord Falconer and the SNP's Stephen Gethins.
We report from France on changing attitudes to the EU.
WED 13:45 Give It a Year (b06zttbq)
Ibrahim
The stories of five different singles and what happened to them in 2015. 89 and widowed; 36 and a Mum of two; 25 and gay; 52 and divorced; 41 and never been in a long term relationship. At the beginning of last year, we started recording them. Were they looking for something? Did they find it?
Episode 3 follows Ibrahim - a 25-year-old living in London, who is gay and Muslim. We follow his year as he moves back home to the North West and closer to family again.
Produced by Polly Weston.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b06zs22s)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b0705hk9)
Stage Left
Episode 3
A four-part drama following the fortunes of a left-wing theatre company, written by acclaimed dramatist Doug Lucie.
We meet the Stage Left Theatre Collective in 1985: founder members Emma (artistic manager) and Robert (literary manager), director Saul, playwright Alan, and finance manager, Frank.
Stage Left follows the fate of the company over the course of the past four decades, catching up with the characters as they negotiate the cultural and economic climate in which they find themselves. There are clashing ideals, conflicting egos, personal grievances, differing tastes and petty quarrels, but at the heart of the drama is the story of a group of idealistic friends who see their vision refined, altered, dented, rebuilt and corroded by the wider artistic and cultural landscape.
A sharp, satirical drama starring Ewan Bailey, Alex Jennings, Richard Lumsden, Anna Madeley, Gerard McDermot and Tracy Wiles.
Written by ..... Doug Lucie
Produced & Directed by ..... Heather Larmour.
WED 15:00 Money Box (b0705h4w)
Money Box Live: Have charities become too commercial?
Age UK has been in the news accused of compromising its reputation as a champion of older people by ripping them off with their branded insurance and energy packages. With income from donations declining, charities are increasingly relying on commercial trading deals to generate income. But have they gone too far?
We want to know your thoughts on whether charities have become too commercial. Whether it's aggressive fundraising tactics or the use of trading arms to raise money through sales, we want to know your thoughts.
What about the regulator, the Charity Commission? Do they have enough power, do they have the right power?
And what duty does the sector have to help the public understand what it takes to run a charity in the 21st century?
Join Ruth Alexander and expert guests including:
Sarah Atkinson - Director of Policy at the Charity Commission
Caroline Fiennes - author and expert on 'giving well' to charity
Professor Carole Parkes - Winchester Business School, specialises in ethics and corporate social responsibility
Send us your questions on the topic. Call 03 700 100 444 - lines are open from
1pm on Wednesday. Email: moneybox@bbc.co.uk or tweet using #BBCMoneyBox.
Presenter: Ruth Alexander
Producer: Alex Lewis
Editor: Andrew Smith.
WED 15:30 Inside Health (b06zs22x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b06zttbs)
Weather forecasting, Young people and politics
Weather forecasting: Laurie Taylor explores a scientific art form rooted in unpredictability. He talks to Phaedra Daipha, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Rutgers University, who spent years immersing herself in a regional office of the National Weather Service in America. How do forecasters decide if a storm is to be described as severe or hazardous; or a day is breezy or brisk? Do they master uncertainty any better than other expert decision makers such as stockbrokers and poker players? Charged with the onerous responsibility of protecting the life and property of US citizens, how do they navigate the uncertain and chaotic nature of the atmosphere?
Also, young people, populism and politics. How do young Europeans regard the political process and are they more attracted to populist ideologies than their older counterparts? Gary Pollock, Professor of Politics at Manchester Metropolitan University, has used survey evidence from 14 European countries, to explore the mixture of political positions held by young people, finding they don't map easily on to the typical 'left-right' spectrum.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b06zttbv)
New Ipso rules, Assisted suicide being 'normalised' in the media
The Independent Press Standards Organisation, which regulates many national newspapers, says its members have given it enhanced powers and increased independence. The Media Show speaks to IPSO Chairman Sir Alan Moses about exactly how these new powers will work. For instance, under what circumstances will IPSO be able to launch investigations in the absence of a complaint? And will newspapers really be risking a £1 million fine if they misbehave? We'll be asking how IPSO's newly chosen reviewer will oversee the operation of the press regulator. And we'll also get Sir Alan's response to claims from critics that IPSO is both too close to and too lenient towards the newspapers it regulates. Plus, The Guardian's Jane Martinson reacts to his comments.
The BBC will tonight air a programme showing an assisted suicide taking place at a facility in Switzerland. It's the latest in a line of similar documentaries shown in recent years, leading to concerns from campaigners that assisted suicide is being 'normalised' in the media. The documentary, called "How to Die: Simon's Choice", was filmed against the backdrop of a House of Commons debate last year, in which MPs voted resoundingly against a Bill to legalise assisted suicide. Steve Hewlett talks to the producer director Rowan Deacon about the making of the film. Plus, Alistair Thompson, spokesman for Care Not Killing, shares his concerns about documentaries depicting assisted suicide; and film maker Charlie Russell, director of Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die discusses the ethical dilemmas he faced.
Producer: Katy Takatsuki.
WED 17:00 PM (b0705hly)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06zj4bz)
A former judge to look at how detectives investigated historical sex abuse allegations. Government sources say new contracts for junior doctors could be imposed within days.
WED 18:30 Tim FitzHigham: The Gambler (b05qgm0y)
Series 2
Episode 3
Adventuring comedian Tim FitzHigham recreates a 19th-century bet.
Can he cook a pudding ten feet under water?
Producer: Joe Nunnery.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b06zttby)
Bert comes up with the idea of having a piggy bank in the church for the Lent appeal. Feeling like they need a catch up, Shula treats Bert to a coffee at the Ambridge Tea Room. They notice the tea room's event for Valentine's Day will be alcohol-free, perfect for Shula who has given up alcohol for Lent. They also discuss Lynda's planned production to celebrate rural life. They see Rob and Bert comments that Helen's lucky to have him to look after her.
Rob insists Helen eats regular snacks, for the baby's benefit. He talks about her odd behaviour, especially her recent secretly-planned day out with Kirsty. Helen admits she doesn't know what came over her. Rob advises that she speaks to him rather than Kirsty. Rob books an "urgent" appointment with the GP on Helen's behalf, and then cooks her a big dinner.
Rex bumps into Pip while looking for Bert, and he's delighted when she accepts his invitation to a drink tonight. Meanwhile, Bert agrees to build the Fairbrothers' egg-mobile. At the pub, Pip asks for Rex's advice about her long distance relationship with Matthew. Rex can't bring himself to encourage her to end it, although he clearly wants to. Pip thanks Rex for being such a "good mate".
WED 19:15 Front Row (b06ztttm)
Kate Winslet in Triple 9, Nell Gwynn, One Child
Kate Winslet discusses her role as a Russian-Israeli mafia villain in new heist film Triple 9, starring Casey Affleck and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
As a new play about Nell Gwynn opens in the West End, John talks to the playwright Jessica Swale and Charles Beauclerk, Earl of Burford, who is a direct descendant of Charles II and Nell Gwynn and has written a biography of the Restoration actress.
Writer Guy Hibbert discusses his new TV series One Child, a political thriller set in China that addresses political corruption and the one-child policy.
And as new rules for the acceptance speeches by the winners of the forthcoming Oscars are announced, film critic Jason Solomons considers the likely outcome.
Presenter John Wilson
Producer Jerome Weatherald.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b07053mk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:41 today]
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b06ztttp)
Charities
Charity in the UK is big business. There are over 165,000 charities registered with the Charity Commission, and the total annual income of the sector is more than £100 billion. But what should they be allowed to spend their money on? The government has just announced that charities which receive state grants will not be allowed to spend any of that tax payers cash on political campaigning. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations has described the change as "draconian" and will amount to "gagging" them. There is a lot at stake. Charities get £13 billion pounds a year from national or local government. Figures from the National Audit Office show that that money makes up well over a half of the annual income of many well-known charities. Being a prophetic witness has always been a key aspect of what charities do. Campaigning and political activity is a vital part of that, but should it be funded by us the taxpayer, whether by direct grants or via the tax breaks that are part of charitable status. Or do we need to rethink our definition of what is and isn't a charity? If public schools can qualify for charitable status, why not campaigning groups like "Liberty"? With headlines about aggressive fund raising tactics of some organisations, the charity halo has become somewhat tarnished in recent times. But do we have an outdated "Lady Bountiful" view of what charities are for? If we want our charities to make a difference is it time to accept that they need to apply all the modern commercial tools you'd expect from such a large industry. Or, in their rush for influence and impact, have charities lost site of the personal relationships, responsibilities and trust that lie at the heart of altruism? What should charity be for? Chaired by Michael Buerk with Michael Portillo, Anne McElvoy, Giles Fraser and Matthew Taylor. Witnesses are Andy Benson, Debra Allcock-Tyler, Christopher Snowdon and Craig Bennett.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b06j5bjn)
On Being Ignored
John Osborne tells a story of waiting for a bill in a cafe, and explores how a proliferation of new ways of communicating can mean we end up feeling ignored.
Producer: Katie Langton.
WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (b06zryhm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
15:30 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 Midweek (b06ztsj5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b06ztw0m)
Scotland Yard has asked a former High Court judge to review its investigation into a VIP paedophile ring
A former High Court judge is to review the Metropolitan Police's investigation into a VIP paedophile ring. Should all feminists be voting for Hillary in the US primaries? And why is Twitter failing to grow?
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b06ztw0p)
Orlando
Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine, Esquire
In Virginia Woolf's boisterous novel the oppressive nineteenth century dawns, and an extraordinary encounter takes place out on the moor. The reader is Amanda Hale.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
Virginia Woolf's high-spirited novel, read by Amanda Hale.
WED 23:00 The Future of Radio (b06ztw0r)
Series 2
Bad Continuity
These programmes reveal the secret work of the Institute of Radiophonic Evolution in South Mimms - drawing on conference calls, voice notes and life-logs, to tell a compelling and strange story of the technological lengths to which the researchers will go to push forward the boundaries of the emerging digital technologies.
Each week a jiffy bag of sound files arrives at BBC Radio 4. We listen to the contents to discover what backroom boffins Luke Mourne and Professor Trish Baldock (ably assisted by Shelley – on work experience) have been up to.
In this episode, they develop an algorithm to replace continuity announcers – resulting in industrial unrest and ‘easy listening’ on every BBC radio network – which is fine if you’re a James Last fan.
Luke..................William Beck
Trish..................Emma Kilbey
Shelley...............Lizzy Watts
Felix....................David Brett
Colin..................Chris Stanton
with Jessica Carroll
Written by Jerome Vincent and Stephen Dinsdale
Producer David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in February 2016.
WED 23:15 Nurse (b03xf1k2)
Series 1
Episode 4
A brand new series starring Paul Whitehouse and Esther Coles, with Rosie Cavaliero, Simon Day, Cecilia Noble and Marcia Warren.
The series follows Elizabeth, a Community Psychiatric Nurse in her forties, into the homes of her patients (or Service Users in today's jargon). It recounts their humorous, sad and often bewildering daily interactions with the nurse, whose job is to assess their progress, dispense their medication and offer comfort and support.
Compassionate and caring, Elizabeth is aware that she cannot cure her patients, only help them manage their various conditions. She visits the following characters throughout the series:
Lorrie and Maurice: Lorrie, in her fifties, is of Caribbean descent and has schizophrenia. Lorrie's life is made tolerable by her unshakeable faith in Jesus, and Maurice, who has a crush on her and wants to do all he can to help. So much so that he ends up getting on everyone's nerves.
Billy: Billy feels safer in jail than outside, a state of affairs the nurse is trying to rectify. She is hampered by the ubiquitous presence of Billy's mate, Tony.
Graham: in his forties, is morbidly obese due to an eating disorder. Matters aren't helped by his mum 'treating' him to sugary and fatty snacks at all times.
Ray: is bipolar and a rock and roll survivor from the Sixties. It is not clear how much of his 'fame' is simply a product of his imagination.
Phyllis: in her seventies, has Alzheimer's. She is sweet, charming and exasperating. Her son Gary does his best but if he has to hear 'I danced for the Queen Mum once' one more time he will explode.
Herbert is an old school gentleman in his late Seventies. Herbert corresponds with many great literary figures unconcerned that they are, for the most part, dead.
Nurse is written by Paul Whitehouse and David Cummings, who have collaborated many time in the past, including on The Fast Show, Down the Line and Happiness.
Written by Paul Whitehouse and David Cummings with additional material from Esther Coles
Producers: Paul Whitehouse and Tilusha Ghelani
A Down the Line production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b06ztw0t)
Labour's Jeremy Corbyn tells David Cameron Britain is facing a serious housing shortage. Rachel Byrne follows the exchanges at Prime Minister's Question time.
Also on the programme.
* The former Labour Security Minister Lord West talks about his party's difficulties over the question of whether Britain should renew the Trident nuclear weapons system.
* Ministers face stiff questioning from two committees on the recent round of job losses in the UK steel industry.
* MPs argue over the financing of the Police forces of England and Wales.
THURSDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2016
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b06zj4d1)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b06ztsj8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06zj4d3)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06zj4d5)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06zj4d7)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b06zj4d9)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b070jd0k)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Reverend Richard Littledale.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b06ztx2t)
Fairer funding for rural areas; Brexit in the nations; Farming in Serbia; Rotting carrots
The government has announced a £300m relief fund to mitigate the effects of cuts. Graham Stuart MP argues that rural areas should be given a greater proportion of funding, because costs are higher.
Brexit - how is the debate on UK membership of the EU playing out in the nations of the UK? We also take a look at farming in Serbia, a country which is looking to join the European Union.
And carrots - why do they seem to rot at the bottom of the fridge?
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Mark Smalley.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04dwdm3)
Vogelkop Bowerbird
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Sir David Attenborough presents the Vogelkop bowerbird of west New Guinea. The forest floor resembles a market stall with neat piles of brightly-coloured fruits and leaves placed carefully on a mossy lawn in front of a cave of thatched twigs. This is the work of the Vogelkop bowerbird. Native to New Guinea and Australia, this drab olive brown male, uses aesthetic tastes to bring vibrancy of colour into his life: and to woo his mate. His brightly coloured exhibits are graded for size and colour and any withered or faded items are quickly replaced. Satisfied with his work, he whistles, and growls to entice her to a private view. After mating the female departs to rear her single chick unaided, while the male returns to the task of tending his creation.
THU 06:00 Today (b070jd0m)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b06ztx2w)
Rumi's Poetry
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the poetry of Rumi, the Persian scholar and Sufi mystic of the 13th Century. His great poetic works are the Masnavi or "spiritual couplets" and the Divan, a collection of thousands of lyric poems. He is closely connected with four modern countries: Afghanistan, as he was born in Balkh, from which he gains the name Balkhi; Uzbekistan from his time in Samarkand as a child; Iran as he wrote in Persian; and Turkey for his work in Konya, where he spent most of his working life and where his followers established the Mevlevi Order, also known as the Whirling Dervishes.
With
Alan Williams
British Academy Wolfson Research Professor at the University of Manchester
Carole Hillenbrand
Professor of Islamic History at the University of St Andrews and Professor Emerita of Edinburgh University
And
Lloyd Ridgeon
Reader in Islamic Studies at the University of Glasgow
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b06ztzwk)
City of Thorns
Episode 4
Ben Rawlence tells the stories of just a few of the forgotten thousands who make up the half a million stateless citizens of Dadaab - the world's largest refugee camp, in the desert of northern Kenya, close to the Somali border, where only thorn bushes grow.
The camp is a semi-permanent home (the inhabitants are not allowed to leave without permission) to people fleeing conflicts from all over Africa. And it's far from exclusive to people of one faith. So when Monday, a young Catholic man from Sudan. falls for the beautiful Muna - a Somali Muslim - tensions are bound to ensue.
The author, a Swahili speaker, and former researcher for Human Rights Watch in the horn of Africa made several long visits to the camps over the course of four years. His account bears vivid witness to the lives of those who live in fear, poverty and limbo.
Read by David Seddon
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06ztzwn)
How to have a good death?
Nearly five years ago Dr Kate Granger was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Kate talks to Jenni about her decision to talk publicly about her illness, her wobbly days and being a normal Yorkshire girl.
Research for the Dying Matters Coalition said 32% of British adults think about dying and death at least once a week, but 72% of the public believe that people in Britain are uncomfortable discussing dying, death and bereavement. Do we struggle to talk about these things and if so why? And if we do why do we need to learn to? Rabbi Julia Neuberger & Jenny Kitzinger, Professor of Communications Research discuss.
What image springs to mind when picturing funeral directors - men in black? Not for much longer. Largely excluded from funeral services for a couple of centuries, women are reclaiming their role in the ceremonies we perform for the dead. Gemma O'Driscoll set up her own funeral directors three years ago in South Wales. Its name? Gemma O'Driscoll & daughters. Jo Morris went to meet the seven of them.
Columnist & broadcaster, Emma Freud lost four members of her family quite close together and had to arrange their funerals. She talks about what she learned in that emotional rollercoaster ride. Barbara Chalmers set up finalfling.com in an effort to help people in Emma's situation but also to encourage people to think through and record their own funeral wishes. They join Jenni to share what they think people need to know & remember to plan for.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0705clm)
Halfway Here
Episode 4
by Lucy Catherine.
Nettie is still in a coma and the family is finding it a strain.
Director ..... Mary Peate.
THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (b06zj4dc)
Black Lives Matter
The fuller story. In this edition, crime's a major talking point as campaigning intensifies in the US presidential election - activists under the banner 'Black Lives Matter' are drawing attention to the number of young African-American men who've been shot by the police; security forces are standing by as a presidential election looms in Uganda - some aren't happy that President Museveni is trying to extend a rule which has already lasted thirty years; Malaysia may be a rainbow nation made up of ethnic Malays, Chinese, Indian and indigenous people but resentment is festering and a controversy over the prime minister's financial affairs threatens to polarise the country further; thousands of migrants have come ashore on the Italian island of Lampedusa - it's a place which used to rely on its tourism, today the holidaymakers are staying away and .. as Valentine's Day approaches, we look inside the world of internet dating - more and more people are using it but some say it's addictive, impersonal and it's made looking for love a depressing business.
THU 11:30 Reaction Time (b06ztzwr)
"Your breasts look fantastic in that dress."
From abysmal chat-up lines like this, to love at first sight in Victoria Train Station, BBC Radio Four listeners have some incredible relationship stories.
Reaction Time broadcasts them to the nation, in a programme composed entirely of smartphone contributions from the public. BBC Radio Four shouted out for stories about love on social media - gave out the reactiontime@bbc.co.uk email address and received poignant, funny and downright odd tales - which have been crafted into a half-hour of dreadful dates, poignant memories and one incredible relationship that begins with a heart attack.
Contributors simply recorded their two minute stories on their phone recorders - and emailed the sound file in. The contributor Narelle Lancaster, was called back and asked to record the script over her phone - so it's 100% listeners in a programme made on phones - a new way of creating a programme, and a unique platform for the wit and inventiveness of the BBC Radio 4 audience.
Presented by Narelle Lancaster
Produced by Kevin Core.
THU 12:00 News Summary (b06zj4df)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 Home Front (b06l4lm5)
11 February 1916 - Kitty Lumley
On this day nurse and women's rights campaigner Emma Golden was arrested in New York, and the Wilson family struggle with their secrets.
Written by Shaun McKenna
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
THU 12:15 You and Yours (b06zv3ws)
Flood-damaged cars, Age UK, Broadband failures
We ask Age UK if the offers available on their website are as good as they could be. Also, is the current media scrutiny faced by charities fair, or an over-reaction?
We hear about the risks of buying a flood-damaged second hand car.
BT's come up with a new plan to get rid of nuisance calls - before your phone even rings.
With the rise of directly elected mayors, we ask how changing the way we choose our civic leaders could affect local transport.
Are we REALLY spending an extra £1000 a year on supermarket multi-buy deals we don't need? The Money Advice Service tells us their research suggests we are....
Producer: Pete Wilson
Presenter: Winifred Robinson.
THU 12:57 Weather (b06zj4dh)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b0705d0x)
Rigorous analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Edward Stourton.
THU 13:45 Give It a Year (b06zv3wv)
Susanna
The stories of five different singles and what happened to them in 2015. 89 and widowed; 36 and a Mum of two; 25 and gay; 52 and divorced; 41 and never been in a long term relationship. At the beginning of last year, we started recording them. Were they looking for something? Did they find it?
Episode 4 follows Susanna - a 52-year-old health therapist, who is divorced - and formerly ran a matchmaking service.
Produced by Polly Weston.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b06zttby)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b0705h3s)
Stage Left
Episode 4
by Doug Lucie.
Any tensions between the old members of Stage Left Theatre Company dissolve as they visit Alan's wife in hospital.
Director ..... Mary Peate.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b06zv3wz)
Return to the Fens
In the final episode of this series Helen Mark visit Woodwalton Fen in Cambridgeshire with writer Simon Barnes to discover the lost landscape which inspired Charles Rothschild to draw up the Rothschild list. This list of wild places in need of preservation helped establish modern conservation ideas and in 1912 Rothschild established the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves for Britain and the Empire, the first society in Britain concerned with protecting wildlife habitats.
Today the bungalow on stilts which Rothschild built lies at the heart of the Great Fen. This 50 yearlong project aims to join another early nature reserve at Holme Fen to Woodwalton by creating a mosaic of wetland habitat. Helen finds out how this vision is already attracting wonderful wildlife and how the long term residents of the fens are now enjoying a growing appreciation of the landscape they love.
With a changing climate the fens offer natural solutions to flooding and nearby at Must Farm archaeologists have recently discovered how Bronze Age man embraced a watery landscape and thrived. In the future the Great Fen hopes it too can offer man viable alternatives to drainage which are beneficial for all the fen inhabitants.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b06zqc2c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Bookclub (b06zqk2y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b06zv3x1)
Suffragette
With Francine Stock.
Film-maker Sarah Gavron talks about Suffragette and the marked reactions to the film since it was released in cinemas.
Director Mark Jenkin shows Francine how to develop film in instant coffee.
Debut director Stephen Fingleton discusses the unexpected challenges of making his low budget feature, The Survivalist, a post-apocalyptic drama set almost entirely in a small hut.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b06zj4dl)
Gravitational Waves Special
The universe is silent no longer - physicists at the LIGO observatory have detected gravitational waves.
LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, with its giant laser beam arms totalling 5 miles across the remote Hanford desert, is the largest lab on the surface of the planet. It was constructed in the Columbia Basin region of south-eastern Washington specifically to detect gravitational waves -- ripples in the fabric of space-time.
First predicted a century ago by Einstein in his theory of general relativity, gravitational waves are produced by exotic cosmic events, such as when 2 black holes collide. Scientists have hunted for them for decades with increasingly sensitive equipment. The laser beam tubes of the observatory have proved sensitive enough to detect the signal from deep space as small as a thousandth the diameter of a proton.
Tracey and studio guest Dr Andrew Pontzen from UCL examine the science of gravitational waves, and how LIGO is both an eye and an ear on the motion of distant objects. They scrutinise the cutting-edge technology, which has to be of almost unimaginable sensitivity to enable detection of some of the universe's most dramatic events.
Inside Science also shines a spotlight on the passion of individuals who have worked for nearly three decades on a single science experiment, inventing a whole new branch of physics in order to prove the last piece of Einstein's theory of general relativity, and to "hear" the universe in a whole new way.
THU 17:00 PM (b06zv3x3)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06zj4dn)
11/02/16 Scientific breakthrough heralded.
Gravitational waves detected. Jeremy Hunt to impose a new contract on junior doctors
THU 18:30 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b06zv3x5)
Series 5
Episode 6
John Finnemore - writer and star of Cabin Pressure and John Finnemore's Double Acts, regular guest on The Now Show and The Unbelievable Truth - concludes the fifth series of his multi-award-winning sketch show, joined as ever by a cast of Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan.
This final episode of the series finds John apologising for a delay, and wondering what his hobbies are. And, well, since you ask him for a tale of national mourning and robots...
"One of the most consistently funny sketch shows for quite some time" - The Guardian
"The best sketch show in years, on television or radio" - The Radio Times
"The inventive sketch show ... continues to deliver the goods" - The Daily Mail
"Superior comedy" - The Observer
Written by and starring ... John Finnemore
Original music composed by ... Susannah Pearse
Original music performed by ... Susannah Pearse & Sally Stares
Producer: Ed Morrish
A BBC Radio Comedy production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2016.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b06zv3x7)
Lilian heads off to Felpersham Races with Justin. Brian tells Justin they should all go out for a drink some time. He specifies that Miranda should come too, pointedly. Lilian and Justin's horse comes in, so she treats them to champagne. During the next race, Justin announces he has a proposition for Lilian. He wants her to work for him, as a "social secretary" with a clothing and expenses allowance. She quickly accepts.
Ed and Adam are making good progress in the fields. Eddie is keen to let some bullocks graze at Grange Farm, but Ed protests. It would be subletting, which their contract with Oliver does not allow. Later, Eddie goes ahead and agrees to have the bullocks, to Ed's dismay.
Kenton has chosen The Bull's film for Valentine's Day - Brief Encounter. Brian makes Adam squirm asking his opinion about it. Adam's interpretation is that, in the end, the couple "did the right thing. Even though it's hard".
Brian is annoyed that Kate's solution to her business problems is to rent out her own cottage and move in with Brian and Jennifer. That, coupled with Lilian, calls for a very large whisky for Brian.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b06zv3x9)
The Survivalist, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Shakespeare in the Royal Library, The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary!
The Survivalist is a dark imagining of a post-apocalyptic world where society has collapsed and each must fend for himself. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews this BAFTA nominated film staring Martin McCann.
Composer Mark-Anthony Turnage and Kevin O'Hare, the Director of The Royal Ballet, discuss Strapless, a new ballet inspired by John Singer Sargent's scandalous Portrait of Madame X, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon.
The Royal Librarian, Oliver Urquhart Irvine, reveals the exhibition, Shakespeare in the Royal Library, at Windsor Castle which traces the royal family's connection with Shakespeare and includes the second folio collected works that Charles I took with him to prison.
The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary! is a stage adaptation of Gustave Flaubert's novel at the Liverpool Everyman. Except that this version is a comedy. Vicky Armstrong reviews.
Waldemar Januszczak assesses the Louvre's restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's St John the Baptist, which one expert argues is putting this masterpiece at risk.
Presenter: Kirsty Lang
Producer: Angie Nehring.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0705clm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b06zv3xc)
Trump v the Republicans in New Hampshire: PJ O'Rourke on the campaign trail
The New Hampshire primary is the first proper vote of the American Presidential election. Finally, after all the debates, polls and bluster, voters get to choose their preferred candidate for president.
This year, New Hampshire is seen by many as the moment of truth for the Republican frontrunner Donald Trump. The polls say he is on his way to the nomination, but the pundits are almost universally sceptical.
Conservative satirical journalist PJ O'Rourke is a long time watcher of the Republican Party and a veteran at covering elections. He is also a long term resident of New Hampshire, a state so small where you do not have to go looking for the candidates - they will find you. In the last week of the New Hampshire primary, PJ O'Rourke goes on the campaign trail to discover whether voters will really choose a candidate who breaks all the rules of US politics.
THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (b06zv3xf)
Customer Service
All businesses rely on customers. So, why do some businesses bend over backwards to keep customers happy, and why do some of them appear not to care? What is the impact of poor customer service on a business and how much does it cost them to invest in improving their infrastructure? Evan Davis discusses dos and don'ts of customer service with an airline, an energy company and a retailer, all of which have tried to completely overhaul their image. Has it worked?
Guests: Kenny Jacobs, Chief Marketing Officer at Ryanair; Neil Clitheroe CEO retail and generation at Scottish Power and Gary Booker, Chief Marketing Officer at Dixons Carphone
Producer: Sally Abrahams
Researcher: Sofia Patel.
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b06zj4dl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b06ztx2w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b06zv3xh)
A Century on - Einstein's Theory is Proved Right
We discuss how the discovery of gravitational waves fits in with the rest of Einstein's work. We also hear how President Zuma managed to create political waves in the South African parliament as he delivered his state of the nation address. Plus the urban birder on why 1 out of 9 children don't visit parks. And the new play about women who formed relationships with undercover police officers.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b06zv3xk)
Orlando
The Most Influential Critic of the Victorian Age
Orlando arrives at an ending and a new beginning.
THU 23:00 Talking to Strangers (b06zv3xm)
Episode 2
Comic monologues in which a range of characters find themselves engaging in that most un-British of activities: talking to a stranger.
Each piece is a character study: funny, frank, absurd, moving... Characters include a sex councillor who loves to draw, a spy who loves to share, a woman who likes to help too much ('I'm a serial helpist...'), a frustrated falconer, and a cheater who has to call her cheatee the morning after. And in this show, the listener themselves 'plays' the silent stranger in the piece...
Written and performed by Sally Phillips and Lily Bevan.
With guest stars including Emma Thompson, Olivia Colman, Jessica Hynes, Steve Evets, Sinead Matthews and Joel Fry.
A BBC Comedy Production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2016.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b06zv3xp)
Sean Curran reports from Westminster where the Government says it will impose a new contract on junior doctors in England. Labour warns that could mean months of industrial action.
Google bosses insist the internet giant paid tax at 20 per cent, like any other firm operating in the UK. Labour condemns as "shabby" Government proposals to cut taxpayer funding for opposition parties. Over in the Lords, peers raise concerns over cuts in funding for local services.
FRIDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2016
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b06zj4fn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b06ztzwk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06zj4fq)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06zj4fs)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06zj4fv)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b06zj4fx)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b070j7l8)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Reverend Richard Littledale.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b06zv8gx)
Should animal antibiotics be banned on farms? The idea has been suggested by Lord O'Neil who's leading the Government's review on the issue. However, the British Veterinary Association doesn't agree. As we gauge what British farming would look like if we left the European Union, we get the view from Scotland. Meanwhile a seasoned New Zealand agriculture expert describes what happened when subsidies there ended thirty years ago. Renewable energy on UK farms is now commonplace, especially solar panels. But after Whitehall reduced or withdrew many subsidies last year, farmers and energy companies have been meeting to decide the way forward. Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Vernon Harwood.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04dwdb1)
Eurasian Scops Owl
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Sir David Attenborough presents the Eurasian scops owl found in Mediterranean regions. In summer a mournful monosyllabic call interrupts the heady scented air of a Greek olive grove at dusk. A male scops owl is proclaiming his territory with a repeated call lasting over 20 minutes. Hearing these tiny owls, no bigger than a starling is one thing, seeing one roosting in an old tree is quite a challenge. They feed mainly on moths and beetles which they hunt for in open country with scattered trees. By autumn these largely nocturnal birds are heading south to sub-Saharan Africa, until the following spring when once again the olive groves resound to their plaintive song.
FRI 06:00 Today (b06zvdlb)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b06zqchz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b06zvb6f)
City of Thorns
Episode 5
Ben Rawlence tells the stories of just a few of the forgotten thousands who make up the half a million stateless citizens of Dadaab - the world's largest refugee camp, in the desert of northern Kenya, close to the Somali border, where only thorn bushes grow.
Monday and Muna find their child, Christine, is being attacked by embittered Somali clan members. Guled threatens to make the long journey to Italy, and in Washington Ben Rawlence tries in vain to explain the nuances of Dadaab life to the National Security Council.
The author, a Swahili speaker, and former researcher for Human Rights Watch in the horn of Africa made several long visits to the camps over the course of four years. His account bears vivid witness to the lives of those who live in fear, poverty and limbo.
Read by David Seddon
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06zvb6h)
Camila Batmanghelidjh
Camila Batmanghelidjh, founder and former chief executive of the children's charity Kids Company gives her first broadcast interview since a committee of MPs published a report into the collapse of the charity earlier this month.
Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Helen Fitzhenry.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0705ckj)
Halfway Here
Episode 5
by Lucy Catherine.
Ailsa is struggling to accept that her daughter will never recover.
Director ..... Mary Peate.
FRI 11:00 Mao's Golden Mangoes (b06zvb6k)
Why would people preserve a mango in formaldehyde? Why would they make thousands of wax replicas of mangoes and carry them in processions, venerating the fruit like a sacred icon? It seems mystifying. But at the height of the Cultural Revolution, China was gripped by a peculiar hysteria - a mania for mangoes.
In the summer of 1968, China's student Red Guards had brought the country to the brink of chaos. Over 1700 teachers and administrators died in two months in Beijing alone, and factions of students were in open battle at the city's Qinghua University.
Mao Zedong sent thousands of workers to occupy the campus and quell the violence, declaring that the working class, rather than the students, would direct the next stage of the revolution. A week later, the Pakistani foreign minister visited Beijing and presented Chairman Mao with a basket of mangoes.
As Benjamin Ramm finds out, Mao sent the mangoes on to the workers at Qinghua and sparked a nationwide passion for the fruit. The gift was interpreted as an act of selflessness and mangoes became synonymous with the Chairman and a symbol of his love for the workers.
The Communist Party's propaganda department quickly set to work creating thousands of mango-themed cotton fabrics and domestic goods. Floats with giant papier-mache mangoes dominated the National Day Parade in 1968. Armed peasants even fought over a black and white copy of a photograph of a mango.
As Benjamin Ramm learns, the mangoes represented the hope and faith of a traumatized population during one of the most violent periods in China's history.
A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 11:30 Agatha Christie - Ordeal by Innocence (b03z91x2)
Episode 3
Now Philip has been found dead, most of the family members now believe that Dr. Calgary was right when he said that their late mother's killer is still amongst them and everyone is on their guard.
FRI 12:00 News Summary (b06zj4fz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 Home Front (b06l4mns)
12 February 1916 - Hilary Pearce
On this day a secret meeting of the Non-Conscription fellowship was held in Kentish town, while in Folkestone it's a day of celebrations.
Written by Shaun McKenna
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
SECRET SHAKESPEARE
A Shakespeare quote is hidden in each Home Front episode that is set in 1916. These were first broadcast in 2016, the 400th anniversary year of the playwright's death. Can you spot them all?
FRI 12:15 You and Yours (b070j7lb)
Lettings ID checks and the US ban on selling water in plastic bottles
Peter White on the new ID checks that have to be made before you can rent a property in England. Some agents tell us they feel like they're becoming immigration officers.
The security worries preventing access to disabled toilets.
And the ban on selling plastic bottles of water in parts of the US. Will it be effective in stopping the empties ending up in landfill?
Producer: Mike Young
Presenter: Peter White.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b06zj4g1)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b070j7ld)
World leaders have given a cautious welcome to a plan for a ceasefire in Syria agreed at a meeting in Munich. Yet the rancour over who should take the refugees fleeing Aleppo continues.
The Chancellor is at a meeting of European finance ministers amid suggestions the French are seeking to change the balance of power between the Eurozone and the City of London. We hear from the Conservative MP who represents the City.
And we'll hear the Latin phrases considered essential to daily life in Europe in the Sixth Century.
FRI 13:45 Give It a Year (b06zvb6m)
Daniel
The stories of five different singles and what happened to them in 2015. 89 and widowed; 36 and a Mum of two; 25 and gay; 52 and divorced; 41 and never been in a long term relationship. At the beginning of last year, we started recording them. Were they looking for something? Did they find it?
Episode 5 follows Daniel - a 41-year-old academic editor, who has never had a serious relationship.
Produced by Polly Weston.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b06zv3x7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b06zvbwj)
Love Me Tender
Love Me Tender by Ian McMillan.
A radio producer meets a group of trainspotters after he is delayed. He decides they will make a good a subject for a radio feature. But are they interesting enough? Comedy verse drama by the 'Bard of Barnsley' where all the characters speak in different verse forms.
Director/Producer
Gary Brown
Ian McMillan is the ever popular 'Bard of Barnsley' and presenter of Radio 3's 'The Verb'. Conrad Nelson is Associate Director of Northern Broadsides and recently played 'Leontes' in their acclaimed production of 'The Winter's Tale'. Bernard Wrigley is a celebrated folk singer and actor and is known in folk circles as 'The Bolton Bullfrog' because of his inimitable bass voice.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b06zvbwn)
Seedy Sunday
Eric Robson hosts the horticultural panel programme from Seedy Sunday in Brighton- the UK's biggest and longest-running community seed swap event.
James Wong, Bob Flowerdew and Christine Walkden answer questions from the audience on topics such as increasing the snail population, growing show-stopping carrots, and 'to shred, or not to shred'. They also discuss their favourite seeds.
Produced by Howard Shannon
Assistant Producer: Hannah Newton
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 Special Deliveries (b06zvbwq)
Second Class, Signed For by Colin Carberry
A young wife and mother makes some tough decisions by way of the Royal Mail.
Jodie Whittaker reads Colin Carberry's short story.
One of a special series about some rather Special Deliveries, commissioned to mark the anniversary of the Royal Mail in 2016, 500 years after Cardinal Wolsey appointed the first Master of the Posts in 1516.
Producer: Jenny Thompson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2016.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b06zvbwv)
Marvin Minsky, Margaret Forster, Peter Powell, Sir Brian Tovey, Joe Alaskey
Matthew Bannister on
Professor Marvin Minsky - the computer scientist who carried out pioneering work on artificial intelligence.
Margaret Forster who wrote novels like Georgy Girl and acclaimed biographies including a life of Daphne Du Maurier.
Peter Powell who invented the stunt kite and turned it into a global business, before it all came crashing down.
Sir Brian Tovey who was director of the Government Communications Head Quarters - GCHQ - when the government tried to introduce a ban on trade union membership.
And Joe Alaskey, the voice artist behind Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny.
FRI 16:30 More or Less (b06zvbwz)
Selfies, Sugar Daddies and Dodgy Surveys
Advertising dressed up as research has inspired us this week. Firstly recent reports that said that young women aged between 16 and 25 spend five and a half hours taking selfies on average. It doesn't take much thinking to realise that there's something really wrong with this number. We pick apart the survey that suggested women are spending all that time taking pictures of themselves.
The second piece of questionable research comes from reports that a quarter of a million UK students are getting money from 'sugar daddies' they met online. The story came from a sugar daddy website. They claim around 225,000 students have registered with them and have met (mostly) men for what they call "mutually beneficial arrangements". We explain our doubts over the figures.
There were reports recently that there will more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2050. The report comes from The Ellen MacArthur Foundation. But, as we discover, there's something fishy about these figures.
Away from advertising, studies have shown that children born in the summer do not perform as well as children born earlier in the academic year. For this reason schools are being encouraged to be sympathetic to parents that want their summer-born children to start a year later. But what should parents do? Is this a good option? We speak to Claire Crawford, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University.
Gemma Tetlow from the Institute for Fiscal Studies explains how some areas of public spending having fallen to similar levels seen in 1948. She explains how spending has changed over time, and what might happen in the future.
And friend of the programme, Kevin McConway, explains some of the statistical words that non-statisticians do not understand.
FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b06zvdld)
Jayne and Margaret - Mayor and Consort
Fi Glover with friends who share a history of trade union activism and when one was appointed Mayor of the Vale of Glamorgan, her friend and holiday-partner became Consort. 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 (b070j7lh)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06zj4g3)
Syrian rebels throw peace talks into doubt. Print edition of the Independent to end
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b06zvdlg)
Series 89
Episode 6
Series 89 of the satirical quiz. Miles Jupp is back in the chair, trying to keep order as an esteemed panel of guests take on the big (and not so big) news events of the week. This week's programme comes from Bristol and Miles is joined by Jeremy Hardy, Susan Calman, Justin Moorhouse and Steve Lamacq.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Radio Comedy Production.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b06zvdlj)
Tom and Rob butt heads over the shop's stock, with the lack of Tom's sausages being one of the contentious points. Rob puts his foot down, saying he knows the clientele better. Later, Tom and Helen have a gossip and Helen says it's the first time she has laughed in a long time.
Ruth talks to Rex about her shopping trip - shopping for new livestock at Brookfield. Ruth thanks Rex for cheering Pip up about Matthew. She informs Rex that Matthew has managed to get the weekend off so he and Pip can spend Valentine's Day together. Through gritted teeth, Rex says he's pleased for her.
Toby and Rex discuss Pip and Matthew. Rex refuses to ruin things for them. After, they decide, definitively, to launch the pastured egg business, with strong marketing behind it.
Rob oversees Helen and Henry's breakfasts and points out that he will need to help Helen more with Henry this half term. Rob has arranged for his mother to come and stay with them. Helen protests a little, saying she has only met Ursula once before (and that wasn't in the best circumstances). Henry, however, is very excited to meet Grandma Ursula. When putting Henry to bed that evening, Rob talks to Henry about his behaviour. He proceeds to sit down and explains the meaning of the word "obedient".
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b06zvdll)
The People v OJ Simpson, Figaro, Pre-Raphaelites, 14 Bottoms
Cuba Gooding Jr, John Travolta and David Schwimmer star in The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, a new TV series in which the dramatic trial of the American football legend accused of double homicide unfolds. Journalist Gary Younge reviews.
As Welsh National Opera stages three new productions featuring Figaro - Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Rossini's The Barber of Seville and a new sequel, Figaro Gets a Divorce by Elena Langer - WNO's Artistic Director David Pountney and opera historian Sarah Lenton explore one of opera's most fascinating characters.
Pre-Raphaelites: Beauty and Rebellion at the Walker Gallery in Liverpool reveals how important the city was in the emergence of the Pre-Raphaelite artists. With more than 120 works on show, including those by Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown and William Holman Hunt, curator Christopher Newall argues that although the London art scene first rejected the Pre-Raphaelites as subversive and dangerous the Liverpool Academy accepted their work as new and inspirational.
To mark 400 years since Shakespeare's death, the Royal Shakespeare Company is staging A Midsummer Night's Dream in which the characters of Bottom and the mechanicals are played by amateur theatre groups throughout the country. RSC Director Erica Whyman and some of her 14 Bottoms reveal what it's like working together.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0705ckj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b06zvdln)
Lord Blunkett, David Davis MP, Dr Kate Hudson, Quentin Letts
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from the Royal College for the Blind in Hereford with the Labour peer Lord Blunkett, the Conservative backbench MP David Davis, The General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Dr Kate Hudson, and the Daily Mail sketchwriter and author Quentin Letts, the panel discussed new GP Contracts, the effect of a possible Brexit on immigration to the UK, the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrence and the issue of online surveillance and security.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b06zvdlq)
Anti-Political Punditry
Adam Gopnik argues that the votes cast in America's primary in New Hampshire say far less about shifts in political opinion than the pundits and commentators claim.
"It takes less 'anger' and 'alienation' than a mild reshuffling of the ideological deck in a peculiarly shaped contest to produce results that look, on first glance, revolutionary."
Producer: Sheila Cook.
FRI 21:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b06l4n8z)
8-12 February 1916
In the week that conscription came into effect, there are secrets and celebrations in Folkestone. Final Omnibus of the season, Home Front returns on 4th April 2016
Adeline Lumley ..... Helen Schlesinger
Albert Wilson ..... Jamie Foreman
Anna White ..... Amelia Lowdell
Charles Chaplin ..... Owen Clarke
Cristine ..... Ysabelle Cooper
Dolly Clout ..... Elaine Claxton
Dorothea Winwood ..... Rachel Shelley
Dr Streatfield ..... Chris Pavlo
Elsie Buss ..... Tracey Wiles
Eric Morton ..... Paul Rainbow
Florrie Wilson ..... Claire Rushbrook
Gabriel Graham ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Hilary Pearce ..... Craige Els
Isabel Graham ..... Keely Beresford
Ivor Davies ..... Alun Raglan
Ivy Layton ..... Lizzy Watts
Jessie Moore ..... Lucy Hutchinson
Johnnie Marshall ..... Paul Ready
Kitty Lumley ..... Ami Metcalf
Laurie Pearce ..... Will Howard
Lilian Frost ..... Alex Tregear
Maisie Harris ..... Cassie Layton
Nancy Parker ..... Jane Whittenshaw
Norman Harris ..... Sean Baker
Roland Pemble ..... Jack Holden
Ruby Tulliver ..... Martine McCutcheon
Ruth Billings ..... Katie Redford
Sylvia Graham ..... Joanna David
Victor Lumley ..... Joel MacCormack
Winifred Dinsdale ..... Alice Lowe
Clerk ..... Richard Pepple
Written by Shaun McKenna
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole
Story-led by Shaun McKenna
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Composer: Matthew Strachan
Consultant Historian: Maggie Andrews.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b06zj4g5)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b06zvdls)
Will Saudi Arabia send troops into Syria?
Saudi's thinking on Syria; the politics of the Pope meeting the Patriarch; and the art of a sickie.
Picture credit: Saudi foreign minister Abdel Al-Jubeir (Getty images).
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b06zvdlv)
Orlando
The Present
In Virginia Woolf's sumptuous novel the present catches up with Orlando's extraordinarily lengthy past. The reader is Amanda Hale.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
FRI 23:00 A Good Read (b06zrzx5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b06zvdlx)
Mark D'Arcy reports from Westminster.
FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b06zvdlz)
Nyree and June - Sharing Life Skills
Fi Glover with a conversation about how a monthly Tea Party helped a widow re-engage with life, and also pass on skills to the younger generation. Another in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.