SATURDAY 23 JULY 2016
SAT 00:00 Midnight News (b07kldh7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SAT 00:30 Voices of the First World War (b06kngpq)
Kut: Sand, Mud, Mirage
Before the last survivors of the First World War passed away, the memories of many of those who fought it were captured in sound recordings. Speakers recall in great detail as though it were yesterday the conditions of the trenches, the brutality of the battlefield, the experience of seeing their first casualty and hearing their first shell, their daily and nightly routines, and their psychological state in the face of so much trauma. The Imperial War Museum's holdings include a major oral history resource of remarkable recordings made in the 1980s and early 1990s with the remaining survivors of the conflict. The interviews were done not for immediate use or broadcast, but because it was felt that this diminishing resource, that could never be replenished, would be of unique value in the future. Among the BBC's extensive collection of archive featuring first hand recollections of the conflict a century ago are the interviews recorded for the 1964 TV series 'The Great War', which vividly bring to life the human experience of those fighting and living through the war. In a unique partnership between the Imperial War Museums and the BBC, the two sound archive collections are brought together for the first time in this Radio 4 series. 'Voices of the First World War', a fifty-part series which began in Autumn 2014, broadcasts many of these recordings for the first time, and will run in short seasons throughout the commemorative period, tracking the course of the war.
Presented by Dan Snow, the second five programmes to be broadcast this year look at the events of 1915, including veterans' memories of their first trips home on leave, the rise of U-Boat attacks, the disastrous Battle of Loos, and the experiences of those fighting on the Eastern Front as the war expanded, in Salonika and Mesopotamia.
In the final programme of the 1915 series, Dan Snow hears the recollections of those who were present during the siege of Kut-Al-Amara, situated on a loop of the River Tigris between Baghdad and Basra, where British troops became trapped by Turkish Ottoman forces for five months from late 1915. Speakers recount their experiences of desert marches, starvation, and eventual surrender in one of the most humiliating defeats for the British Army in its history.
SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b07kldh9)
The latest shipping forecast.
SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b07kldhc)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
5.20am.
SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b07kldhf)
The latest shipping forecast.
SAT 05:30 News Briefing (b07kldhh)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b07ks7bx)
A reading and a reflection to start the day with the Rev'd Dr Craig Gardiner, a lecturer at the South Wales Baptist College, Cardiff.
SAT 05:45 iPM (b07ks7bz)
The dead should be names not statistics. Reporter Hugh Sykes on assignment in Turkey considers an email from an iPM listener asking why the victims of terror attacks are seldom named. With Eddie Mair.
SAT 06:00 News and Papers (b07kldhk)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SAT 06:04 Weather (b07kldhm)
The latest weather forecast.
SAT 06:07 Open Country (b07ks070)
Biodiversity at Heathrow
Helen Mark visits Heathrow Airport to discover what steps they take to encourage biodiversity and assesses the impact the proposed third runway will have should the decision be made for it to go ahead.
Heathrow has thirteen sites of Conversation, and Helen speaks to to the Airport's Biodiversity Manager Adam Cheeseman about the species he finds there including the Black Bee. Environmental Operations Manager Russell Knight explains how they've encouraged fish species to return to their rivers, and how they plan to create a green fringe around the proposed new runway. Helen also asks how much difference biodiversity can make to a project of this scale.
She visits Colne Valley Park, part of which will be taken up by the new runway, and asks Stewart Pomeroy about the challenges of balancing the needs of the Park with the need for development, and to Mathew Frith from the London Wildlife Trust about the potential impact on the Park's bird and fish species. She also speaks to Colin Rayner who farms land around Heathrow about what life's like for him now and what he thinks the future will be should permission for a third runway be granted.
This programme has been amended since first broadcast. Comments made that St Mary's Parish Church and the Great Barn at Harmondsworth were under threat from the proposed third runway were not correct and have been removed.
Producer: Toby Field.
SAT 06:30 Farming Today (b07kldhp)
Farming Today This Week: Water Management
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Sophie Anton.
SAT 06:57 Weather (b07kldhr)
The latest weather forecast.
SAT 07:00 Today (b07lf4g6)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (b07kldht)
Leslie Garrett
The Saturday Live Summer Road Trip pulls into its final stop in Cromer, Norfolk where Reverend Richard Coles and Kate Silverton will be broadcasting live from the Pavilion Theatre at the end of Cromer Pier.
They are joined by Lesley Garrett, one of Britain's most popular sopranos, actor and writer Charlie Higson who found fame with the Fast Show, the double bass playing beatboxer Bellatrix and Steve Ignorant, lead singer of seminal punk band Crass, who became a Norfolk lifeboat man and part time Punch and Judy performer.
Richard and Kate will also discover why the pier became a uniquely British institution from the man who has visited every single pier in the UK, Chris Foote Wood.
Hollywood actor Ethan Hawke shares the music he treasures and the music he would like to pass on to future generations in his Inheritance Tracks.
We'll hear from the man who has amassed Britain's largest private collection of tanks at Muckleburgh and Saturday Live reporter JP Devlin will be giving members of the audience a chance to say Thank You to the people they never got the chance to thank for a good deed done.
Producer: Steven Williams
Editor: Karen Dalziel.
SAT 10:30 Primo Levi's The Periodic Table (b07ksk93)
Mercury
Janet Suzman introduces a major new dramatization of Levi's short stories about the elements, dramatised by Graham White from the translation by Raymond Rosenthal.
1820s - an English captain and his wife live on a remote Atlantic island, with strange chemical properties.
Produced and directed by Marc Beeby and Emma Harding.
SAT 11:00 Week in Westminster (b07ksk95)
Steve Richards rounds up a year of extraordinary events at Westminster with Isabel Hardman of The Spectator, Helen Lewis of the New Statesman, and Jim Waterson of Buzzfeed.
The Editor is Marie Jessel.
SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (b07kldhw)
Reports from writers and journalists around the world. Presented by Kate Adie.
SAT 12:00 News Summary (b07kldhy)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 12:04 Money Box (b07lf4g8)
'We are so abused as private renters'
Today's millennial generation spend £44,000 more on rent by the time they reach 30 compared to baby boomers. That's according to the Resolution Foundation. Generation Rent estimate that new tenants in England and Wales pay more than £300m a year just in fees to lettings agents. We speak to the Financial Inclusion Centre who are calling for the creation of a Renters and Leaseholders Protection Agency to stop renters being victims of unfair, unreasonable practices.
We speak to one of a group of influential MPs who are urging the Energy Secretary to think again on a recent report which recommended price comparison websites only show energy deals they get commission from. They claim it will undermine consumer trust.
More on competition - this time in the water sector. Will a best case scenario saving of £6 a year be enough to encourage residential consumers to switch provider?
And summer may have eventually arrived but it's certainly not the silly season. Every day post-Brexit there is a new economic survey or forecast telling us that disaster is looming or that things are actually much brighter than anyone predicted. We look what's in store for the housing market, the exchange rate, interest rates and more over the summer months, as well as what new Chancellor Philip Hammond's promised 'fiscal reset' might look like.
Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporter: Charmaine Cozier
Producer: Alex Lewis
Editor: Andrew Smith.
SAT 12:30 Dead Ringers (b07ks4m2)
Series 16, Episode 6
Theresa May's first cabinet meeting, an investigation into the Winter Olympic doping scandal, and the new England manager makes his satirical debut.
Starring: Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Debra Stephenson and Lewis Macleod.
Written by: Nev Fountain & Tom Jamieson, Laurence Howarth, Ed Amsden & Tom Coles, James Bugg, Laura Major, Sarah Campbell, Max Davies, Jack Bernhardt, Liam Beirne, Alex Harvey and Sara Gibbs.
Produced and created by Bill Dare.
BBC Studios Production.
SAT 12:57 Weather (b07kldj0)
The latest weather forecast.
SAT 13:00 News (b07kldj2)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (b07ks4m6)
Hazel Blears, Richard Burgon MP, Anna Soubry MP, Peter Hitchens
Ritula Shah presents political debate and discussion from the Central United Reformed Church in Derby with former cabinet minister Hazel Blears, the Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon MP, former Business Minister Anna Soubry MP, and the author and columnist Peter Hitchens.
SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (b07kldj4)
Any Answers after the Saturday broadcast of Any Questions? Lines open at 1230
Call 03700 100 444. Email any.answers@bbc.co.uk. Tweet, #BBCAQ. Follow us @bbcanyquestions.
Presented by Julian Worricker
Producer Beverley Purcell
Editor Karen Dalziel.
SAT 14:30 Primo Levi's The Periodic Table (b07ksk97)
Iron
Akbar Kurtha and Henry Goodman star as the younger and older Primo Levi in a major new dramatization of Levi's short stories about our human relationship with the chemical elements. Introduced by Janet Suzman and dramatised by Graham White from the translation by Raymond Rosenthal.
Iron: The story of Primo Levi's early life as a chemist in Mussolini's Italy, from his student days, his early crushes and his first experiences as a professional chemist, at a time when it was increasingly hard for Jewish Italians to find work.
Produced and directed by Marc Beeby and Emma Harding.
SAT 15:30 Primo Levi's The Periodic Table (b07ksk99)
Gold
Henry Goodman and Akbar Kurtha star as older and younger Primo Levi in a major new dramatization of Levi's short stories about our human relationship with the chemical elements.
Introduced by Janet Suzman and dramatised by Graham White from the translation by Raymond Rosenthal.
Gold: The Nazis invade Italy and Primo's friends are forced to scatter. Primo and Vanda head into the mountains in order to join the partisans.
Produced and directed by Emma Harding and Marc Beeby.
SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (b07kldj6)
Weekend Woman's Hour
How much of ourselves should we present on social media? And what happens when this is turned into art? Amalia Ulman is the creator of 'Excellences and Perfections' and Ruby Elliot is known online as Rubyetc and is an illustrator. They discuss how much of what we see online is true.
Jo Pavey will be the first British track athlete to attend a fifth Olympics in Rio and she is also the oldest female European champion. She tells us how her preparations are going for Rio.
The journalist Karen Krizanovich and film critic Rhianna Dhillon discuss the film Dirty Dancing and it's continued popularity and we ask whether it is and should be considered a feminist film.
Patrisse Cullors is one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter Movement which started online and has resulted in an international outcry against police brutality and institutional racism. She tells us about how the movement began.
The novelist Jane Rogers discusses her new book Conrad and Eleanor which examines long marriages.
Guilt Trip is a new comedy series starting on Radio 4 next week. It stars Felicity Montagu, star of Alan Partridge ad The Durrells and her real life daughter Olivia Nixon. They tell us how the series explores the relationship between mothers and daughters.
Matilda Lloyd was just eight years old when she found her dads old trumpet in a cupboard and started to play. She is currently a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra. On Saturday night she makes her solo debut at the BBC Proms playing the 3rd Movement of Haydn's Trumpet Concerto.
Presented by Jenni Murray
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed
Editor: Jane Thurlow.
SAT 17:00 PM (b07kldj8)
Saturday PM
Full coverage of the day's news.
SAT 17:30 The Bottom Line (b07ks07b)
How to Build an Olympics
The Olympics Games is the biggest sporting event on earth. But the road to a successful Olympics can be more gruelling than a marathon. With less than two weeks to go until the opening ceremony in Rio, Evan Davis and guests discuss the difficulties of managing the money, the politics and the people.
GUESTS:
Neil Wood MBE, Partner, Deloitte and former CFO of London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG)
Gerhard Heiberg, International Olympic Committee (IOC) member and President and CEO of Lillehammer Winter Olympic,s 1994
Professor Andrew Zimbalist, Sports Economist, Smith College Massachusetts, Consultant and Author
Producer: Julie Ball
Editor: Innes Bowen.
SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b07kldjb)
The latest shipping forecast.
SAT 17:57 Weather (b07kldjd)
The latest weather forecast.
SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b07kldjg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (b07lf4gc)
Clive Anderson, Bobby Friction, Ken Loach, Toby Jones, Bruce Robinson, Sharon D. Clarke, Family Atlantica, Sidestepper
Clive Anderson and Bobby Friction are joined by Ken Loach, Toby Jones, Sharon D. Clarke and Bruce Robinson for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Family Atlantica and Sidestepper.
Producer: Sukey Firth.
SAT 19:00 Primo Levi's The Periodic Table (b07ksk9c)
Cerium
Henry Goodman and Akbar Kurtha star as older and younger Primo Levi in a major new dramatization of Levi's short stories about our human relationship with the chemical elements.
Introduced by Janet Suzman and dramatised by Graham White from the translation by Raymond Rosenthal.
Cerium: Primo's training as a chemist helps him to survive the terrible conditions of Auschwitz.
Produced and directed by Emma Harding and Marc Beeby.
SAT 19:20 Saturday Review (b07kldjj)
Spielberg's The BFG, Adam Haslett's Imagine Me Gone, Eggleston portraits, LaBute's Some Girls
The biggest film maker in contemporary Hollywood takes on a much-loved story by a master story teller. Stephen Spielberg directs Roald Dahl's The BFG.
Adam Haslett's novel Imagine Me Gone deals with an unhappy family trying to find happiness stability and normality.
An new exhibition of photographic portraits by William Eggleston provides an insight into his home life. Previously untitled works have now had the sitters identified, lending a new twist to the pictures
Some Girls by Neil LaBute is revived at London's Park Theatre. It's an examination of fragile male psyche with ulterior motives
Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Sathnam Sanghera, Alice Rawsthorn and Barb Jungr. The producer is Oliver Jones.
SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (b07lf4gg)
The Norma Percy Tapes
Norma Percy draws on taped interview rushes and her own TV archive to reflect on her long career in documentary making, recalling her favourite encounters and the interviews she will never forget - as well as the role of television in making history.
For decades television documentary maker Norma Percy and her team have interviewed Presidents and Prime Ministers, global leaders and heads of state. She has spoken to key players in some of the most monumental events in modern history - from the end of the Soviet Union and the break-up of Yugoslavia to the quest for peace in Northern Ireland; from Iran and its relationship with the West to the rise of Putin and the fall of Milosevic, the war in Iraq, elusive peace in the Middle East and decisions inside Obama's White House.
The list of interviewees for her TV series read like a Who's Who of modern history and international politics: Obama, Sharon, Clinton, Gorbachev, Milosevic, Putin, Blair, Carter, Bush, Yeltsin, Powell, Barak.
At the heart of her approach lies 'the method', devised by Norma. The starting point is that key political decisions take place between powerful people, behind closed doors, in private. Many of these meetings are secret. So, for a television series to tell these stories, the interviewer must first find out that the meetings occurred, then uncover in detail what happened, and then get the people who were actually there to tell their version of events.
This is what her programmes do, producing a body of work that is archived and cherished by historians as primary source material for students and scholars. But it's also exciting television, showing in incredible detail the human drama behind high politics.
Producer: Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 21:00 Drama (b04xmrnk)
The Last Days of Troy, Episode 1
The Last Days of Troy. Simon Armitage's dramatisation of Homer's Iliad . The Greeks are laying siege to Troy to win back their abducted queen, Helen. But as the conflict drags on, and despite battlefields scarlet with blood, opposing forces have reached a bitter stalemate. Desperate and exhausted, both Gods and mortals squabble amongst themselves for the spoils of war and the hand of victory.
The Last Days of Troy reveals a world locked in cycles of conflict and revenge, of east versus west, and a dangerous mix of pride, lies and self-deception.
Lily Cole gives her radio debut as Helen of Troy - the face that launched a thousand ships.
Original Music by Alex Baranowski
Directed for Radio by Susan Roberts
First directed for The Royal Exchange Theatre by Nick Bagnall.
'Beyond the battlefield, the original tale is a back-room story of wounded pride, and the push and pull of family ties and national loyalty - tense and intriguing, with moments of great tragedy and breath-taking humility. Everything we have come to expect of the great myths'
Simon Armitage.
SAT 22:00 News and Weather (b07kldjl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
SAT 22:15 Moral Maze (b07krdvz)
Nuclear Weapons
MP's have voted overwhelmingly to renew our Trident nuclear weapons system and the first job of any new prime minister is to write the "letters of last resort" which contain prime ministers' instructions for what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. The handwritten notes are taken to the UK's four Vanguard-class submarines, the ships which carry the ballistic missiles the Royal Navy calls "the nation's ultimate weapon" and contain instructions of what to do in the worst-case nuclear scenario: the obliteration of the UK state. The value of nuclear weapons is in their deterrence - the promise of mutually assured destruction. Theresa May has told the Commons that she wouldn't hesitate, but she could do no other. It is rumoured previous prime ministers may not have been so certain. By their nature the letters have to make broad moral judgments rather than situationally-dependent ones. They're about morality and ethics, not tactics. In the event that deterrence fails and we are attacked, would it be moral to use our nuclear weapons against civilians in retaliation? What would you do in the event of nuclear war? Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, collective punishment is a war crime. If you think the moral principles of collective punishment are clear when it comes to nuclear weapons what about in other stories in the news? Is it always wrong to punish the innocent in pursuit of a wider justice? Should we ban all Russian athletes from the Rio Olympics to punish the drug cheats? Is protecting American citizens against terrorist attacks a greater good than the right of Muslims to travel to the USA? The morality of retaliation and collective punishment on the Moral Maze. Witnesses are Major General Patrick Cordingley, Air Vice Marshall Nigel Baldwin, Avia Pasternak and Austen Ivereigh.
SAT 23:00 Counterpoint (b07knlh7)
Series 30, Heat 5, 2016
(5/13)
What was the name of the record label set up by Prince in 1985? Which British composer created the Poldark TV theme music? One of the earliest successes of the late Sir Peter Maxwell Davies was a musical portrayal of which British King?
Paul Gambaccini welcomes another three amateur music lovers to the fifth heat of the 2016 Counterpoint contest, at London's Maida Vale studios. He'll be testing the breadth of their musical knowledge across the usual wide range of styles and eras. They'll also have to choose a topic on which to answer individual specialist questions, with no prior warning of the subject categories. At stake is a place in the semi-finals and a chance to go forward to the 30th anniversary Final at the BBC Proms.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
SAT 23:30 The Echo Chamber (b07kp1d2)
Series 7, Tracy K Smith and Patricia Lockwood
Paul Farley hears new work from two young American poets: Tracy K. Smith and Patricia Lockwood. Outside of a few famous names recent British poetry has made little impact on American life and letters. The same might be said in reverse: though we speak the same language our poetries are oddly discrete. The Echo Chamber has opened its doors in the USA to seek some commonality by listening to some younger female American voices. Tracy K. Smith's book 'Life on Mars' won a Pulitzer Prize for her poems about space and race and David Bowie. Patricia Lockwood's writing-life on Twitter is watched from around the world and her 'sexts' and her 'Rape Joke' poem brought her a celebrity very rare in poetry. Both poets read from their ground-breaking books and share some new poems too. Producer: Tim Dee.
SUNDAY 24 JULY 2016
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b07ksmpy)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Dangerous Visions (b046j42x)
The Problem with Talitha
Sex as an opiate for the masses is taken to a whole new level in Lauren Beukes' celebrity-obsessed dystopia where every second of a star's life is filmed and recorded for consumers to plug into and experience at first-hand. Talitha Calix, a South African reality TV star, has become a worldwide phenomenon, people are riveted by the soap opera that is her love life. When a hacker group of obsessive fans decide to bring the network down and give Talitha an hour of privacy a whole new world of possibilities opens up to her but will she be allowed to walk away from the limelight?
Read by Chipo Chung
Produced by Gemma Jenkins
Lauren Beukes is the author of bestselling thrillers, The Shining Girls and Broken Monsters.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b07ksmq0)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b07ksmq2)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
5.20am.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b07ksmq4)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b07ksmq6)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b07lf74c)
St Mary's, Bishopstoke
The bells of St Mary's, Bishopstoke.
SUN 05:45 Profile (b07lfd12)
Owen Smith
Edward Stourton profiles the Labour leadership contender, Owen Smith.
MP for Pontypridd since 2010, Mr Smith is challenging Jeremy Corbyn, saying that he's not up to the job.
A former colleague at BBC Wales - where Mr Smith worked as a journalist - describes him as bright and ambitious, sometimes exasperating, and someone who 'didn't know their place'.
And an old family friend tells us his character is firmly rooted in the culture of the South Wales valleys.
Producers: Charlotte Pritchard and Laura Gray.
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b07ksmq8)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b07lf74f)
Creatures of the Wind
Mark Tully hears how winds like El Niño, the Sirocco and the Trade Winds connect the earth's ecosystems, as well as human societies and beliefs.
The science of this inter-connectedness is explained by David Carlson, Director of the World Climate Research Programme. He discusses with Mark how commerce, conflict and culture have been shaped by the flow of air around our planet, and how ideas can be carried on the breeze.
From idyllic breezes to tempestuous storms, and from the Saharan desert to the South China Sea, artistic images of the wind are summoned, in music, by Benjamin Britten, Nina Simone and Frederic Chopin - and, in words, by Joseph Conrad, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Jan DeBlieu.
Mark considers also how the wind can be one of the wonders of nature that connect us to God, and how it can so overawe us that we lose our self awareness and experience the transcendent.
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b07lf74h)
A New Dawn for British Farming?
As British agriculture prepares for its biggest changes in decades Anna Hill meets veteran farmer and commentator, David Richardson on his Norfolk farm.
David has farmed, innovated and written hundreds of newspaper and magazine columns since the United Kingdom joined the Common Market. On the eve of exit he considers the past, present and future for British farms, big and small.
Producer: Andrew Dawes.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b07ksmqb)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b07ksmqd)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b07ksmqg)
Rio Archbishop, Church PokeStops, Trump's religious sidekick.
Terrorism is a major concern for the organisers of Rio's Olympics due to start in less than three weeks time. So is the city's high levels of violent crime. The Archbishop of Rio, Dom Orani Tempesta, was recently caught up in a gun battle there. He spoke to our reporter, Bruce Douglas.
World Youth Day has been described by one commentator as sort of Olympic Games of the Catholic Church. It's the largest regular youth gathering in the world. This year it's being held in Krakow in Poland, home one former Papal superstar and about to welcome another - Pope Francis. Jonathan Luxmore will be there.
"Educate Together" run 77 primary and 4 secondary level schools in the Republic of Ireland and demand is said to outstrip supply. It also runs one in Bristol and plans to open more. What are these schools are doing differently? Kevin Boquet went to Bristol for the last day of term to find out.
Donald Trump has chosen his running mate, Indianan Senator Mike Pence, and unlike Mr Trump, Mike Pence knows his Bible and asks God for forgiveness. Sarah Posner talks to Edward about what the Senator will bring to the Republican campaign for the White House.
The Muslim Council of Britain, now in its twentieth year, has a new Secretary General, Haroon Khan. We hear from him about his childhood growing up in 1980s London, the need of MCB to reflect the diversity of Muslims in Britain and what he thinks of Theresa May.
It seems Pokemon Go has taken over the world and the churches. Emma Thomas joins Pokemon hunters at a church in Staffordshire. Dr Bex Lewis from Manchester Metropolitan University and "Geek Dad" Andy Robertson discuss the effectiveness of church engagement with digital youth culture.
Producer: Rosie Dawson
Series Producer: Amanda Hancox.
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (b07lf74k)
Autistica
Ruby Wax presents The Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Autistica
Registered Charity No 05184164
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal, mark the back of the envelope 'Autistica'
- Cheques should be made payable to 'Autistica'
Photo: Marcus Hessenberg.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b07ksmqj)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b07ksmql)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b07lf74m)
Buxton Festival
Choral Eucharist in St John's Church during the Buxton Festival sung to Mozart's 'Sparrow' Mass in C K.220 by the Buxton Madrigal Singers and soloists from the Festival Opera Company directed by Michael Williams. The Celebrant is the Rector of Buxton, the Revd John Hudghton, and the Preacher is Canon Stephen Shipley. Producer: Rowan Morton-Gledhill.
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (b07ks4m8)
Being English
Via steak and kidney pie and a spot of Morris dancing, AL Kennedy reflects on Englishness...at a time, she writes, "when Englishness is struggling to decide what it can be".
She appeals to England - with all its different views, customs, history and opinions - to "treasure yourself, all of yourself".
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b03x45s5)
Black Redstart
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Bill Oddie presents the black redstart. It was the German Luftwaffe which enabled black redstarts to gain a real foothold here. The air-raids of the Blitz created bombsites which mimicked their rocky homes and the weeds that grew there attracted insects. In 1942 there over twenty singing males in London alone and now they're being encouraged by the creation of 'green roof' habitats, rich in flowers and insects.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b07ksmqn)
Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b07ksmqq)
Harrison faces a new challenge, and Lynda and Fallon go head to head.
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b07lf8fw)
Professor Dame Ann Dowling
Kirsty Young's castaway is the engineer and international expert on aircraft noise reduction, Professor Dame Ann Dowling.
The first female president of the Royal Academy of Engineering, one of her passions is encouraging more young people, particularly women to choose engineering as a career. In 1998 she became the first female professor of Engineering at Cambridge University and went on to be the first female head of the Department.
As a child she was fascinated with how things worked, taking her bike apart aged six, and even dismantling the electric lights in her dolls house. Later, an over enthusiastic session with her chemistry set caused the conservatory curtains to briefly catch fire.
A passion for aeroplanes led her down the path of aeroacoustics and aircraft noise reduction alongside her hobby of flying airplanes.
She was awarded the DBE for services to science in 2007 and was appointed to the Order of Merit in 2016.
Producer: Sarah Taylor.
SUN 12:00 News Summary (b07ksmqs)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:04 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b07knqy0)
Series 65, Episode 4
The antidote to panel games pays a return visit to the Pavilion Theatre in Glasgow. Old-timers Barry Cryer and Tony Hawks are joined on the panel by locals Susan Calman and Fred Macaulay with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell attempts piano accompaniment.
Producer - Jon Naismith.
It is a BBC Studios production.
SUN 12:32 Food Programme (b07lf8fy)
Kitchens of Power
From the food of the White House to the Pope's favourite dessert, Dan Saladino peers into the kitchens usually hidden from public view - those serving heads of state and their guests.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b07ksmqv)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b07ksmqx)
Global news and analysis.
SUN 13:30 Power of the Whips: The Silent Enforcers (b07lfrjz)
As a rule of thumb, parliamentary whips are silent. They cannot afford to hold a view in public, they don't do media. Instead they hold a mysterious, shadowy status. But in this programme, it's a status which political reporter, Giles Dilnot, will uncover.
The myth of the whip is one thing - the disciplinarians who do their party's dirty work - ensuring their party members stick in line, do as they're told, and turn out and vote when needed. They'll resort to any means necessary to get what their party needs. As one former whip tells us, he was appointed "flusher" as assistant whip. It was his role to prowl the depths of parliament armed with a screwdriver, to unscrew the doors to the toilets flush out any of his MPs avoiding a vote: "I thought it a strange road to socialism".
Dissenters have long criticised the whips as a barrier to real democracy and freedom of speech for this reason - but what would happen without them?
As Giles discovers,their role extends far further than just disciplinarian. They are the lubricant in the system, the wheels on the vehicle, the stage managers to parliament's stage.
As the programme was recorded, the parties face an unprecedented political landscape - through the referendum and its aftermath both Labour and Tory parties are left divided. Giles speaks to whips, past and present, during this most testing time. What is their role in this time of flux and who do they work for?
From Callaghan's vote of no confidence in 1979, to Maastricht, to coalition of 2010 - how do they handle a crisis? As the parties' fire fighters, has their role changed? And how will they handle the huge flames of summer 2016?
Featuring Rosie Winterton, Anne Milton, Andrew Mitchell, Jacqui Smith, Lord Snape, Lord Heseltine, Lord Howard, Jack Straw, Caroline Lucas, and Professor Philip Cowley.
Producer: Polly Weston.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b07ks3kn)
Summer garden party, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Peter Gibbs presents the horticultural panel programme from the GQT Summer Garden Party at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Matthew Wilson, Matt Biggs, Anne Swithinbank and Jim McColl answer the questions.
This week the panel share their favourite horticultural scents, rescue some mistreated kale, and advise a Shetland gardener on how to grow magnolia.
Also Peter forecasts the weather from the top of the glasshouses, Matt Biggs goes in search of his plant-hunting hero, and Anne finds out how edible planting can encourage new gardeners.
Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Laurence Bassett
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b07lf8g0)
Sunday Omnibus
Fi Glover introduces conversations about the loss of personal interactions at work, the crisis that faced Cumbria in 2001, and a three year old's view of good and evil, in the Omnibus of the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
SUN 15:00 Primo Levi's The Periodic Table (b07ksrzl)
Arsenic and Silver
Henry Goodman stars as Primo Levi in a major new dramatization of Levi's short stories about our human relationship with the chemical elements. Introduced by Janet Suzman and dramatised by Graham White from the translation by Raymond Rosenthal.
Arsenic and Silver: At his retirement party, Primo recounts amusing stories from a professional chemist's life.
Produced and directed by Emma Harding and Marc Beeby.
SUN 16:00 Primo Levi's The Periodic Table (b07ksrzn)
Vanadium, Part 2
Janet Suzman introduces a major new dramatization of Primo Levi's short stories about life, work and matter. Starring Henry Goodman, Akbar Kurtha, Erich Redman and Juliet Aubrey. Dramatised by Graham White from the translation by Raymond Rosenthal.
Vanadium Part 2: In the course of his work as a chemist in a paint factory in the 1960s, Primo Levi has received a letter from one of the factory's German clients, Doktor Muller. The same Doktor Muller who had overseen Levi's work as a prisoner in the lab at Auschwitz. And now Muller wants to meet.
Produced and directed by Marc Beeby and Emma Harding.
SUN 16:25 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.
SUN 16:30 Adrian Mitchell: To Whom It May Concern (b07lf8g2)
Michael Rosen visits the house of the late poet Adrian Mitchell, where his widow, Celia, talks about Adrian's life and work and shows Michael unpublished poems that she keeps finding.
For nearly fifty years, Adrian Mitchell had a profound impact on three kinds of poetry - performance poetry, political poetry and poetry for children.
An 18 year-old Michael Rosen was at a CND demonstration in Trafalgar Square in 1964 when he saw Adrian Mitchell deliver his searing anti-war poem, To Whom It May Concern (Tell Me Lies About Vietnam). He came to know Adrian personally and performed alongside him many times.
Adrian occupied a unique position in British poetry because he absorbed the style and content of poets like Brecht, Neruda and Langston Hughes, while taking his poetry across a range of audiences unequalled by other contemporary poets, including Trafalgar Square, the Albert Hall, prisons, schools, hospitals, theatres, pubs and international festivals.
Adrian died in 2008. In this programme, we hear Michael as he visits Adrian's wife, Celia Mitchell, in the home they shared. The time is right for Celia to start the process of sifting and sorting through Adrian's published and unpublished work in preparation for writing her own book based on Adrian's autobiographical writings.
This contemplation of her husband's poetic legacy is interspersed with Adrian reading his own poems in archive recordings. With comments from political activist and campaigner Tariq Ali who worked with Adrian on a 1960s radical magazine, and former Scots Makar Liz Lochhead who remembers the sexy, "rock and roll poet" who offered great encouragement to young performance poets like her.
Producer: Emma-Louise Williams
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (b07kpydn)
What Happened at Aston Hall Hospital?
Police are investigating allegations of abuse made by people who, as children, were sent for psychiatric treatment at Aston Hall Hospital in Derbyshire. Some patients say they were only sent there because they were difficult to manage or had behavioural problems.
The Medical Superintendent is accused of 'experimenting' on his child patients, giving them an anaesthetic called sodium amytal in therapy sessions throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Phil Kemp investigates the history of this treatment, which was used on shell shocked soldiers during World War Two, employed as a 'truth serum' by police and intelligence agencies, and by the 80's had become implicated in false memory cases. The hospital closed in 2004 and the Medical Superintendent died in 1976, leaving his patients struggling to make sense of what happened to them at Aston Hall.
Although treatment records reveal the sodium amytal was used on some children, former patients question what really went on while they were drugged. File on 4 opens the medical archives and hears from former staff to piece together a troubled chapter in the history of psychiatric care, and in the lives of former patients.
Reporter - Phil Kemp
Producer - Ruth Evans.
SUN 17:40 Profile (b07lfd12)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:45 today]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b07ksmqz)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b07ksmr1)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b07ksmr3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b07ksmr5)
John Waite
Pick of the Week - the best of BBC Radio from the last week chosen by broadcaster and producer John Waite which includes clips about the most successful wild animal in the western world (there's one coming to a dustbin near you later tonight no doubt); we salute the doyenne of divas - Dame Joan Collins, and hear how on her arrival in Hollywood Bette Davies put the boot in (literally) Paul Merton impersonates Ringo Starr when he's not being Alec Guinness that is. And the weirdest and most wonderful saxophone sound you have ever heard.
Production Team: Kevin Mousley & Rachel Gill.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b07lffnf)
Henry wants to follow in Rob's footsteps, and Joe has got plans for Bartleby.
SUN 19:15 Primo Levi's The Periodic Table (b07kstl4)
Carbon
Henry Goodman stars as Primo Levi in a major new dramatization of Levi's short stories about our human relationship with the chemical elements. Introduced by Janet Suzman and dramatised by Graham White from the translation by Raymond Rosenthal.
Carbon: Levi imagines the incredible, centuries-long journey of a single atom of carbon.
SUN 19:30 Clap Clap: A Brief History of Applause (b07lffnh)
Simon Callow explores one of the earliest and most universal systems people have used to interact with each other - the clapping of hands.
Applause in the ancient world was acclamation. But it was also communication. An early form of mass media, connecting people to each other and to their leaders - instantly, visually and, of course, audibly.
Applause today is much the same. In the studio, in the theatre, in places where people become publics, we still smack our palms together to show our appreciation - to create, in cavernous spaces, connection.
But we're also reinventing applause for a world where there are, technically, no hands. We clap for each others' tweets, we Like, we link and we share content to amplify the noise it makes.
Clapping was formalised, in Western culture at least, in the theatre. During the Roman Empire when theatre and politics merged, one of the chief methods politicians used to evaluate their standing with the people was by gauging the greetings they got when they entered the arena. In later times of course there came the role of the Claquer, hired to clap at the right times during a performance.
The programme concludes with an account of how applause is being reinvented by the digital age. With the help of trend forecaster Faith Popcorn (who coined the term cocooning in the 1990s) Simon explores how we have become an Audience of One - and what this means for applause.
This is the story of how we liked things before we Liked things.
Presenter: Simon Callow
Contributors: Megan Garber, Ian McMillan, Llyr Williams, Peter Jones, Faith Popcorn and Dr Richard Mann.
Producer: Llinos Jones
A Terrier production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 19:45 The Crime Writer at the Festival (b07lffnk)
Same Crime, Next Year
Short story series celebrating the unique atmosphere of Crime Writing Festivals. Tonight, a new story by Val McDermid, who is one of the co-founders of the Theakston's Crime Writing Festival, held every July in Harrogate, and which has become one of the biggest celebrations of the genre in the world.
Her story, "Same Crime, Next Year" is set at Harrogate and imagines the fallout from a torrid affair between two crime writers.
Last Thursday (21st July), on the opening night of this year's Crime Festival in Harrogate, Val was awarded the prestigious Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award, joining past winners Sara Paretsky, Lynda La Plante, Ruth Rendell, PD James, Colin Dexter and Reginald Hill.
Reader: Siobhan Redmond
Writer: Val McDermid
Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.
SUN 20:00 Feedback (b07ks4m0)
Impartiality
Roger Bolton hears the questions and concerns of BBC radio listeners.
This series, one issue has been top of the Feedback agenda - impartiality. The surge in questions and comments from listeners was initially sparked by the EU Referendum coverage, with concerns that striving for impartiality meant the BBC did not sufficiently scrutinise the campaigns and determine which conflicting claims were right. Listeners have also been highlighting other areas where they question whether the BBC has not met its standards of impartiality - namely science and the arts. David Jordan, the BBC's Director of Editorial Policy and Standards responds to the concerns.
How does dancing on the radio work? That's a question Radio 3 tackled in their recent broadcast of the Strictly Come Dancing Prom. This year's host Katie Derham takes listeners on a behind-the-scenes tour of the rehearsal for a closer look at how the popular TV hit has been adapted for radio.
And find out why listeners were stopped in their tracks by the Radio 4 Drama Life Lines, which explores the challenging and often distressing world of work as an ambulance call handler.
Produced by Kate Dixon
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b07ks4ly)
Abdul Sattar Edhi, Professor Suzanne Corkin, Bernardo Provenzano, Garry Marshall
Matthew Bannister on
Abdul Sattar Edhi. Known as Pakistan's "Angel of Mercy", he built up a foundation which brought healthcare, orphanages and women's shelters to the poorest people in his country.
Dr. Suzanne Corkin - the neuroscientist who spent years studying a patient known as "H.M." An operation on his brain had left him with profound amnesia.
Bernardo Provenzano - the Sicilian mafia boss nicknamed "The Tractor" because he mowed down all his enemies.
And Garry Marshall the comedy writer and director who brought us "Happy Days" and "Pretty Woman."
Producer: Neil George.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (b07lf4g8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b07lf74k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 Analysis (b07knmpc)
A Subversive History of School Reform
Change, change, change - conventional wisdom is that the classroom is the site of an endless set of reforms, a constant stream of White Papers and directives that promise 'revolution' and sudden changes in direction. Yet is the real story of school reform really one of continuity?
Professor Alison Wolf of King's College London explores the post-war history of school reform in England. Speaking to former secretaries of state, historians, and teachers, she explores the forces and events that have shaped schools. She argues that real changes have been surprisingly few and that despite a great deal of fiery rhetoric, they have generally continued across party lines. And she asks if that means that governments have perhaps been listening to what parents genuinely want?
Producer: Gemma Newby.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b07ksmr7)
Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b07ks072)
Finding Dory
With Francine Stock.
Director Andrew Stanton and producer Lindsey Collins reveal why they took the plunge with the sequel to the 2003 hit Finding Nemo. They reveal how to cast a fish for a movie, what they look for in a sub-aquatic species and how to make an octopus more aesthetically pleasing.
Critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Tim Robey go head-to-head in the quest to find the best space opera - Aliens versus Starship Troopers. Let battle commence.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b07lf74f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today]
MONDAY 25 JULY 2016
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b07lfkhn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b07krdvv)
Food bank Britain, Food poverty in Europe
Hunger pains: Life inside foodbank Britain. Kayleigh Garthwaite, Leverhulme Trust funded researcher in the Centre for Health and Inequalities Research , Durham University, interviewed hundreds of people who depend on emergency food provision, one of the most controversial by products of the UK government's 'austerity' programme. Critics of these economic policies claim that food poverty has now become a major issue for many citizens - Trussell Trust foodbank use is at a record high with over one million three-day emergency food supplies given to people in crisis in 2015/16.
Beyond the statistics, the study focuses on the experience and feelings of users of foodbanks, as well as the volunteers. Stewart Lansley, Economist and visiting fellow at the School of Policy Studies, University of Bristol, joins the discussion, providing a historical perspective on hunger in Britain.
Also, food poverty in Europe. Owen Davis, Doctoral Candidate in Social Policy at the University of Kent, places hunger in Britain in a wider context. How do we compare to other countries?
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b07lf74c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b07lfkhq)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b07lfkhs)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b07lfkhv)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b07lfkhx)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b07mcz1p)
A reading and a reflection to start the day with the Rev'd Dr Craig Gardiner, a lecturer at the South Wales Baptist College, Cardiff.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b07lfkhz)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Sally Challoner.
MON 05:56 Weather (b07lfkj1)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zrcm9)
Goosander
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the goosander. Goosanders are handsome ducks and belong to a group known as 'sawbills' because their long slender bills are lined with backward pointing 'teeth', for gripping slippery fish. Underwater they're as agile as otters, chasing fish in raging currents or nosing for them under riverbanks.
MON 06:00 Today (b07lfkj3)
News and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 The Long View (b07lfl7t)
Pioneering Women
Jonathan Freedland presents the programme that examines a current news story through the prism of the past.
MON 09:30 In Therapy (b070v9y4)
Louise and Richard
Psychotherapist Susie Orbach explores the private relationship between therapist and patient. We join Susie in her consulting room, where she meets a different client each day.
All of the clients are played by actors, but these are not scripted scenes. Each client profile has been carefully constructed by therapist Susie, director Ian Rickson (former artistic director at the Royal Court, and director of the highly acclaimed 'Jerusalem') and radio producer Kevin Dawson. The client profiles have been given to the actors who have learnt about their characters lives, backgrounds, and individual reason for seeking therapy. The scenes have then been improvised and recorded on hidden microphones at Susie's surgery.
Today, Susie meets Louise and Richard who are expecting their first child in a few days.
Elsewhere in the series, we meet Helen, a high achieving corporate lawyer who is struggling to identify what is wrong - but knows that something is. John is older - in his 60s and a retired railway trade unionist. His wife and children are gone, but his therapy is helping him to turn his life around. We also hear Susie's first meeting with Jo - a new patient and an out of work actress.
We hear the therapist at work, eavesdropping on the most intimate of exchanges. To help us with our understanding of the process, Susie Orbach commentates on what is happening in the room, shining a light on the journey both she and her patient have embarked upon.
Presenter: Susie Orbach
Producer: Kevin Dawson
Director: Ian Rickson
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b07m8wsz)
Van Gogh's Ear: The True Story, The Beginning
Rebecca Front reads from Bernadette Murphy's revelatory account of her seven-year mission to solve one of the most infamous and perplexing art mysteries of the nineteenth century.
The period, when Van Gogh injured his ear, has come to define the way the great artist is viewed. Yet there are discrepancies and gaps in the story. In this new book, Bernadette asks what exactly did happen that fateful night? She pieces together the unfolding events, dogged in pursuit of the truth as she trawls through forgotten archives which lead to dead ends but also to unexpected and new revelations.
Bernadette Murphy has lived for thirty years in the south of France. By chance she became intrigued by Van Gogh's story and started investigating, but little did she expect the adventure it turned out to be.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b07lfkj5)
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b07lfn5f)
HighLites: Natural Bounce, Episode 1
Bev and Shirl, the world's worst hairdressers are providing the locals with hairodynamic cuts for the Bridgford Trot, the local annual fun run. When Bev cottons on to how much money there is to be made from fitness she starts getting ideas about expanding the salon ...
The enduring comedy of Bev, the bitter and vindictive Chief Stylist and Shirl, her fond and foolish assistant.
By Phil Nodding and Steve Chambers.
Directed by Liz Webb.
MON 11:00 The Untold (b07lfn5h)
Carry on Coxing
Paddy Davison is 77 years old and possibly the oldest rowing coxswain in the country. He's also never rowed a stroke in his life, and only discovered the sport five years ago. Despite the late start, he commands a crew of eight ladies at the City of Bristol Rowing Club and is desperately hoping for success at this year's Henley Women's Regatta. But this isn't really a story of a rowing race. This is a tale of recovery from grief, and how teamwork and friendship can be a powerful salve. Paddy lost his wife, Jules, nearly two years ago in sudden and unexpected circumstances. It knocked him for six. But his 'rowing girls' have been there for him, and are helping him get his life back on track.
Grace Dent presents.
Producer: Karen Gregor.
MON 11:30 Way Out East (b07lfng1)
No Animals Were Harmed
New comedy by Guy Meredith about a group of expats sharing a flat in Hong Kong. Into the lives of unsuccessful architect James (Tony Gardner) and failed-everything Malcolm (John Gordon Sinclair) comes Zoe (Katherine Kingsley) on a one-way ticket from England to start a new life.
After an unpromising start, she moves in with James and Malcolm, convinced that she can get these two undomesticated alpha males to change their ways and become more organised at home and work. She also becomes part of the scene at the Shakes, the local expat pub run by Wanda (Samantha Bond) and visited by James's boss Mr Ampersand (Nicky Henson) who gives her a job as his PA.
The flatmates share many adventures including a very disorganised pub quiz, a series of domestic mishaps, attempts to fix the result of the Hong Kong Derby and a local marathon, and the annual Hong Kong New Year celebrations.
Katherine Kingsley was Olivier nominated for her role in Piaf and Singin' in the Rain, John Gordon Sinclair has performed in several musicals and is remembered for the title role in Gregory's Girl, Tony Gardner is currently one of the stars of the award-winning Last Tango in Halifax, and Samantha Bond has starred in many award-winning television and theatre productions including Downton Abbey. Guy Meredith has written several very successful dramas and comedies for radio, including the long-running series Daunt and Dervish.
Series Music Composer: David Chilton
Writer: Guy Meredith
Producer: Cherry Cookson
A Goldhawk Essential production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:00 News Summary (b07lfkj7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:04 One to One (b047z8wx)
Tim Dowling talks to David Thomas
Tim Dowling fell into journalism by mistake; he is not an ambitious man, never was, never will be, but he's fascinated by what it means to be desperately driven to succeed.
In his two editions of One to One, he talks to those who have ambition searing through their veins.
Today he meets fellow journalist and author, David Thomas. Once the UK's Young Journalist of the Year and the youngest-ever editor of Punch, David believes his Eton/Cambridge education made him feel obliged to succeed.
Both now in their fifties, they discuss the merits and drawbacks of ambition: does it lead to happiness and fulfilment or a never-ending nagging discontent and anxiety?
Producer: Lucy Lunt.
MON 12:15 You and Yours (b07lfkj9)
Consumer affairs programme.
MON 12:57 Weather (b07lfkjc)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b07lfkjf)
Analysis of news and current affairs.
MON 13:45 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01gvkwh)
Treason and Plots
Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, continues his object-based history. Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Programme 11. TREASON & PLOTS - A tabloid history of Shakespeare's England, told through a collection of contemporary accounts of plots to murder Elizabeth I and James I.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b07lffnf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b07lfng3)
Brief Lives, Episode 3
Brief Lives by Tom Fry and Sharon Kelly.
A teacher is arrested for an unlawful relationship with a fifteen year old pupil. The teacher admits it. But Frank and Sarah realise that this is a far from straightforward case.
Director/Producer Gary Brown.
MON 15:00 Counterpoint (b07lfng5)
Series 30, Heat 6, 2016
(6/13)
Competitors from Worcestershire, Merseyside and North Wales join Paul Gambaccini for another tough contest of musical knowledge. Extracts from Mahler, Verdi and David Bowie are just some of the clips on which they'll be asked questions this week. As always, they'll have to choose a musical topic on which to answer individual specialist questions, without any forewarning of the subject categories. The winner will take another of the places in the semi-finals later this summer.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
MON 15:30 Food Programme (b07lf8fy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 With Great Pleasure (b07lfrjq)
Stephanie Cole
The veteran stage, TV and radio actress Stephanie Cole known for Radio 4 comedy shows such as Cabin Pressure and Ed Reardon's Week chooses her favourite literary extracts. They include passages from Miles Kington's Albanian Book of Proverbs, and poems by Liz Lochhead, Louis MacNeice, Gillian Clarke and Carol Ann Duffy, read by Pandora Colin and David Hargreaves. The show was recorded at Bristol's Old Vic Theatre which is celebrating its 250th anniversary.
Producer: Maggie Ayre.
MON 16:30 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b07lfrjs)
Series 14, Battle of the Sexes
Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined on stage by Professor Sophie Scott, Professor Steve Jones and comedian Sara Pascoe. They will be tackling the age old battle of the sexes, and asking whether men really are from Mars, and women really are from Venus? Probably not, according to Brian as Venus is too hot! Moving on from the pedantry of physics, they'll be asking whether the divide between men and women is based on a fundamental difference in our genetics, in our brain function, or is it all down to our upbringing. Let the battle commence.
Producer: Alexandra Feachem.
MON 17:00 PM (b07lfkjh)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b07lfkjk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b07lfrjv)
Series 65, Episode 5
The godfather of all panel shows pays a visit to the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend-on-Sea. Regulars Barry Cryer and Sandi Toksvig are joined on the panel by Miles Jupp and Richard Osman, with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell accompanies on the piano.
Producer - Jon Naismith.
It is a BBC Studios production.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b07lfrjx)
Caroline quizzes Shula, and Tom is torn.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b07lfkjm)
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b07lfn5f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]
MON 20:00 The Corbyn Story (b07lw2kd)
Episode 3
In this series, Steve Richards examines the dramatic story of Jeremy Corbyn over the past year, and what it tells us about the bitter battle for the soul of the Labour party.
Producer: Peter Mulligan.
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b07krycn)
Stealing Innocence in Malawi
Ed Butler explores the secretive and shocking world of Malawi's "hyenas". These are the men hired to sexually initiate or cleanse adolescent and pre-adolescent girls - some said to be 12 years old, or even younger. It's a traditional custom that is endorsed and funded by the communities themselves, even the children's families. We meet some of the victims, the regional chief campaigning to stop the practice, and the hyenas themselves, and ask if enough is being done to stamp out a custom that's not just damaging on a human scale, but is also undermining the country's economic development.
Reported and produced by Ed Butler.
MON 21:00 Natural Histories (b07kpfh9)
Fox
Brett Westwood investigates the biology and culture of the Fox - a creature long believed to be the devil in disguise. With poetry by Ted Hughes and Simon Armitage, the rollocking medieval bestseller Reynard the Fox, a fox seduction in an abandoned ruin, and a stakeout in a Bristol back garden with urban fox expert Professor Stephen Harris.
Producer: Melvin Rickarby.
MON 21:30 The Long View (b07lfl7t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b07lfkjp)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b07lfkjr)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b07lfrt8)
Dirt Road, Episode 6
Booker prize-winner James Kelman's new novel is a potent exploration of love, grief and the power of music.
As his family look forward to the Alabama Highland Gathering, Murdo starts to worry about the practicalities of joining Queen Monzee-ay for the Lafayette gig.
Read by Finn den Hertog
Abridged by David Jackson Young
Producer Eilidh McCreadie.
MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (b07875z5)
PR - How Not To Do It
Michael Rosen and Dr Laura Wright talk PR with Public Relations practitioner Hamish Thompson. He's collated examples of the words and phrases used in PR that people find most annoying, and is on a mission to root them out. Epic..or epic fail?
Producer Beth O'Dea.
MON 23:30 The Design Dimension (b075pxg6)
Series 3, Playing 'God'
In the first of a new series, Tom Dyckhoff looks at the doll and how we represent ourselves both individually and socially. He goes from the doll's ethnographic roots in stylised fertility to a future of personalised dolls - demonstrated as he has a life-like model created of himself through 3-D printing in a supermarket booth.
He questions gender and stereotypes, looking at the design features of successful dolls and meeting the voice of talking Barbie from the 1960s.
Not all dolls are for children, and Tom visits the workshop of a doll-maker who designs for adults with her re-born babies, also discovering how dolls can be used in education as well as therapeutically, with dementia patients in care homes.
Produced by Sara Parker
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
TUESDAY 26 JULY 2016
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b07lfklh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b07m8wsz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b07lfklk)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b07lfklm)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b07lfklp)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b07lfklr)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b07md7wl)
A reading and a reflection to start the day with the Rev'd Dr Craig Gardiner, a lecturer at the South Wales Baptist College, Cardiff.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b07lfklt)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by Sybil Ruscoe and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zrcdf)
Little Grebe
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the little grebe. Little grebes are our smallest grebes. They're dumpy birds with dark brown feathers and in the breeding season have a very obvious chestnut patch on their necks and cheeks. Little grebes are secretive birds, especially in the breeding season when they lurk in reeds and rushes or dive to avoid being seen.
TUE 06:00 Today (b07lfsrl)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 Front Row (b07m88y1)
The Cultural Response
John Wilson is joined by leading cultural figures to discuss how Britain's creative community can and should respond to the divisions in British society exposed by the recent EU Referendum result. Has the artistic community been at fault for not sufficiently reflecting areas of the country's population? Can art inform politics? What will be the cultural legacy of the books and plays written in the next few years? And will Britain's culture thrive or wither in the post Brexit age?
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b07m984r)
Van Gogh's Ear: The True Story, Van Gogh and Gaugin
Rebecca Front reads from the revelatory account by Bernadette Murphy about Van Gogh's years in Arles. Meticulous in her research, this is a story where detective like Bernadette trawls through dusty archives in her pursuit of the truth of what happened that fateful night when Van Gogh injured his ear. In today's episode, Paul Gaugin joins his fellow artist in southern France, but all is not well.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b07lfklw)
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b07lfz5r)
HighLites: Natural Bounce, Episode 2
The world's worst hairdressers install a dodgy gym in the flat above the salon as Bev tries to persuade Harriet, the local vicar, to enrol.
The enduring comedy of Bev, the bitter and vindictive Chief Stylist and Shirl, her fond and foolish assistant.
By Phil Nodding and Steve Chambers
Directed by Liz Webb.
TUE 11:00 Natural Histories (b07lfz5t)
Wolf
Brett Westwood meets a wolf and considers what wolfishness has come to mean in our culture and thinking. And how much does it have to do with the animal itself? Recorded at The UK Wolf Conservation Trust at Beenham, near Reading.
Taking part:
Mike Collins, wolf keeper and site manager
Claudio Sillero, Professor of Conservation Biology at the University of Oxford
Garry Marvin, social anthropologist and Professor of Human Animal Studies at the University of Roehampton
Erica Fudge, Director of the British Animal Studies Network at the University of Strathclyde
Judith Buchanan, Professor of Film and Literature at the University of York
Producer: Beth O'Dea.
TUE 11:30 Marc Riley's Musical Time Machine (b07lfz5w)
Series 2, Marc Bolan and Joni Mitchell
The BBC's archive is justifiably and inarguably world-famous, but most of this attention and praise is showered on the musical riches it contains - all those life-changing Peel performances, seminal sessions from Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie and so on. But there's another archive that's just as diverse and rich and rewarding - the BBC's spoken work archive.
As long as there have been pop stars, the BBC has spoken to them. Here, Marc Riley and his trusty Time Machine will steer you back through the years to visit the great and the good, the famous and the infamous. In each episode, Marc travels to two different points in time and revisits two interviews that have something in common - a person or place, a shared influence or ideology, a discovery or a misunderstanding.
In this first episode of the series, we hear from Marc Bolan and Joni Mitchell. Although the two interviewees may seem poles apart, in fact they had much in common. Both came out of the late-Sixties musical underground and they both started as acoustic singer-writers before heading into glam-pop territory (Bolan) and world music and jazz (Mitchell).
We find Marc Bolan in conversation with Radio 1's John Pidgeon from 1973, as he talks about the financial hardships of being part of the late Sixties counter-culture scene - a scene not quite as glamorous as often portrayed. And then we hear Joni Mitchell in conversation with Richard Skinner, from 1983, where she not only discusses the counter-culture from the American perspective - as vividly portrayed in her own song Woodstock - but also how fame has impacted her life.
A Smooth Operations production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:00 News Summary (b07lfkly)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 One to One (b048l0g5)
Tim Dowling talks to Saira Khan
Tim Dowling fell into journalism by mistake; he is not an ambitious man, never was, never will be, but he's fascinated by what it means to be desperately driven to succeed.
He talks to those who have ambition searing through their veins.
Today he meets Saira Khan, business woman and runner-up in the tv show The Apprentice, who claims to have been ambitious since she was a small child. Growing up in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, the oldest of four children of Pakistani immigrants, she set her heart on doing better than her parents, having financial security and learning the confidence to do whatever she wanted. Starting out as a town planner, she found her natural place in the sales team of a biscuit manufacturer. Since her appearance on 'The Apprentice', she went on to run her own business, and is now also a TV presenter and motivational speaker.
Saira's also a mother. She talks candidly about wishing not to be a pushy parent and about her need to curb her ambitious streak where her children are concerned.
Saira and Tim discuss the merits and drawbacks of ambition: does it lead to happiness and fulfilment or a never-ending nagging discontent and anxiety?
Producer: Lucy Lunt.
TUE 12:15 You and Yours (b07lfkm0)
Call You and Yours
Consumer phone-in.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b07lfkm2)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b07lfkm4)
Analysis of news and current affairs.
TUE 13:45 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01gvn29)
Sex and the City
Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, continues his object-based history. Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Programme 12. SEX & THE CITY - A delicate glass goblet reveals the twin seductions of Venice: its sought after luxuries and its equally sought after lecherous women.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b07lfrjx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Afternoon Drama (b04dk880)
The Vicar, the Automaton and the Talking Dog
The Vicar, The Automaton and The Talking Dog
by Lavinia Murray
Using a mixture of fact and fantasy, this is an extraordinary day in the life of Alexander Graham Bell as a child, where we discover the roots of his genius, and how his mother's impending deafness helped lead him to his invention of the telephone. Aleck, with the help of his friend and brother, made an automaton that could say 'Mama' and further, he manipulated his dog's throat and mouth so he indeed had a talking dog.
Produced and Directed by Pauline Harris
Further info
We begin with a symphony of various telephone rings through the ages brought to us on a light Scottish breeze, and then we cut to answer machine. We see the stark difference between Bell's world of sound and his mother's world into silence. This is a drama not without humour, fascinating, illuminating and enchanting; providing a real, dramatic insight into the roots of a scientific genius, told with imagination and originality, and created especially for radio.
TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (b07lg0mg)
Series 9, Field Guides
The lessons about love and life that we can learn from a fig, a walk in the woods and a connection to a lost love found in the water. Josie Long ventures outdoors, hearing stories of how human hearts become tangled in the forests, lakes and skylines of the natural world.
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 The Human Zoo (b07lg0mj)
Series 8, News of an Atrocity: The Psychology of Rare Events
The series that looks at current events through the lens of psychology. Michael Blastland explores the quirky ways in which we humans think, behave and make decisions.
In this episode - why do we tend to be more attuned to the dangers posed by rare, exceptional events, such as acts of terrorism, than we are to more everyday threats such as car crashes, which are a more immediate and real risk?
People are continually alert to the odd - we have a better memory for things that seem different from others. We will pay more attention to strange events than equally bad normal events. So the more used we become to a 'bad thing', the less we are unsettled by it. Which might mean that the impact of terrorism is diminished the more common it becomes.
But there is something else. Strange events suggest our view of the world is wrong - that the world makes less sense than we thought, and perhaps is more malevolent or unjust. And a feeling that we can make sense of the world and our own lives within it can be very important for our well-being.
Michael Blastland is joined by resident Human Zoo psychologist Nick Chater, Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School, and roving reporter Timandra Harkness.
Producer: Eve Streeter
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 16:00 The Inevitable (b07lg6hm)
We are encouraged to face the inevitable, bow to it, accept it. In this witty and personal exploration, the writer, poet, and professor of Modern Languages at Oxford University, Patrick McGuinness, delves behind the rhetoric to explore just what is inevitable.
Should we bow to it, or defy it?
Patrick begins by digging into the classical roots of The Inevitable to uncover how the Romans wielded Providence as a political weapon. He takes a spin on the medieval Wheel of Fortune, when concepts of Fate became a little less fixed.
Today, it's in the area of new technology where The Inevitable is invoked most often. Patrick mounts a defence of old technologies and media, such as paper and printed books, condemned to "inevitable" obsolescence. Why, he asks, should people abandon materials that have served them for centuries just because the tech companies have new gizmos to sell and are keen to consign their competitors to oblivion?
But surely there are some things that are genuinely and unarguably inevitable? Intrigued to discover if his own ageing process can be kept at bay, Patrick consults a leading cosmetic surgeon about double chins, puffy eyes, and the future of rejuvenation. Are we heading towards a time when the inevitable is not only delayed but transcended?
He meets a technologist at the cutting edge of medical research who believes it won't be too long before we potentially live to a thousand, repairing and upgrading our bodies as we go. So if the ageing process can be overcome, what about the ultimate inevitable, death itself?
Given a rare sighting of the skull of the only dodo remains that still contain soft tissue, Patrick learns about the radical possibilities of "de-extinction".
Produced by Paul Quinn
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b07lg6hp)
Christopher Biggins and Jenny Eclair
Actor Christopher Biggins and comedian Jenny Eclair chat and laugh about books they love with Harriett Gilbert. Books are Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates - even better than the film - The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark, which very much stands the test of time, and People Like Us by Dominick Dunne, who was famed for his articles in Vanity Fair.
Producer Beth O'Dea.
TUE 17:00 PM (b07lfkm6)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b07lfkm8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 The Missing Hancocks (b04nvkjn)
The Hancock Festival
Between 1954 and 1959, BBC Radio recorded 102 episodes of Ray Galton and Alan Simpson's comedy classic Hancock's Half Hour. The first modern sitcom, it made stars of Tony Hancock, Sid James and Kenneth Williams, and launched Galton and Simpson on one of the most successful comedy-writing partnerships in history. But 20 episodes of the show are missing from the BBC archives, and have not been heard since their original transmission nearly sixty years ago. Now, five of those episodes have been lovingly re-recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC Radio Theatre, featuring a stellar cast led by Kevin McNally as The Lad Himself.
Tonight's episode: The Hancock Festival. Inspired by Somerset Maugham's pay packet, Tony becomes a writer. His friends are recruited to bring his dramatic offerings to life.
Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, and with the classic score newly recorded by the BBC Concert Orchestra, the show stars Kevin McNally, Kevin Eldon, Simon Greenall, Robin Sebastian and Margaret Cabourn-Smith. The Hancock Festival was only ever broadcast once, in November 1954.
Produced by Ed Morrish and Neil Pearson.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b07lg6j4)
Ian wonders about his friendship with Helen, and Lynda is full of ideas.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b07lfkmb)
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b07lfz5r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 The Battle for the US Constitution (b07lg6j8)
How has an Amendment passed just after the US Civil War become the battleground on which modern America's most ferocious issues are fought out? Historian of 19th century America Adam Smith travels to Washington DC and North Carolina to find out.
The Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution declares that anyone born on US soil "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof" is an American citizen.
It was intended to give freed slaves guaranteed citizenship in the wake of the 1861-65 Civil War.
But today, it also means the children of illegal immigrants to the US automatically become American citizens. Which places it right at the heart of the huge controversy over immigration that has raged through the Presidential election.
That's why Donald Trump wants to abolish the Amendment altogether. Ted Cruz and other leading Republicans have expressed similar views. Adam talks to a senior Republican Congressman, Steve King, who wants instead to radically reform the interpretation of the Amendment - so that it no longer gives the children of undocumented migrants the right to a US passport.
And Adam talks to a Tito, 19 and born in Mexico, and Georgina, 14 and born in America. Their parents are undocumented Mexican migrants - but while Georgina is a citizen, Tito is not, despite living in America since he was six.
Meanwhile, the Fourteenth Amendment also guarantees the "equal protection of the laws." So the arguments over everything from voting rights to transsexual people's choice of public bathroom come back to this revolutionary change to American law.
Outside the North Carolina Legislative Building, Adam watches a protest vigil for the Orlando massacre, full of speeches and songs. There he talks to its charismatic leader, Rev. William Barber, about the crucial role of the Fourteenth Amendment in underpinning his struggle for both gay and trans rights - and voters' rights.
He goes inside the Legislative Building to meet David Lewis, who defends the redrawing of electoral boundaries in North Carolina against accusations of racist gerrymandering - and defends North Carolina Republicans' new law forbidding transsexuals to enter the bathroom of the gender with which they identify.
And Adam talks to Payton McGarry, a trans man who is one of those suing the state of North Carolina for banning him from entering the male bathroom in any public building.
Usually, conservatives insist on a strict interpretation which says the Amendment's authors were not intending to legalise gay marriage, for example - another instance of an extension of rights made possible by the Amendment.
But strikingly, the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment is also fought over in a very different way. This is the idea, bolstered by the Amendment, that, as Mitt Romney said "corporations are people too".
Adam talks to a former lawyer from the conservative campaign group Citizens United, who succeeded in having limits on election spending by corporations struck down. And he visits the offices of the liberal Stamp Stampede, which is campaigning for a new Amendment to outlaw the idea that corporations are people, in order to force 'big money' out of politics.
As America approaches a seismic Presidential vote in November, the fate of the Fourteenth Amendment hangs in the balance. Whoever wins will very likely get to appoint enough new Supreme Court justices to give the court a decisive majority - either conservative or liberal. And even if the Fourteenth Amendment survives, its meaning may be so radically reinterpreted that the current state of play on all these issues is upended for years.
Producer: Phil Tinline.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b07lfkmd)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted.
TUE 21:00 Inside Health (b07lg6jv)
Dr Mark Porter presents a series on health issues.
TUE 21:30 Front Row (b07m88y1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b07lfkmg)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b07lfkmj)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b07lg6k0)
Dirt Road, Episode 7
Booker prize-winner James Kelman's new novel is a potent exploration of love, grief and the power of music.
Murdo is feeling out of place amongst the kilts and Saltires of the Alabama Highland Gathering - until the live music session begins.
Read by Finn den Hertog
Abridged by David Jackson Young
Producer Eilidh McCreadie.
TUE 23:00 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b07lfrjs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Monday]
TUE 23:30 The Design Dimension (b076hrcj)
Series 3, Money, Money, Money
Tom Dyckhoff looks at how money is designed to maintain our trust in its value.
Why do so many of us still feel reassured by the pound in our pocket or note in our wallet when most transactions now take place through the virtual balance sheets of a global banking system?
What future is there for global crypto currencies like bit coin or real local alternatives, like the Brixton pound where the notes with the image of David Bowie may soon be worth more than their face value?
Tom meets Victoria Cleland, Chief Cashier of the Bank of England, whose signature is on our UK bank notes - and finds how design features can deter counterfeiters. He also gets a preview of the new polymer notes to be issued in September and visits the Royal Mint who still strike billions of coins a year.
With money and coins little changed over more than 2,500 years, Tom considers a future where the currency of the real world may become a thing of the past.
Produced by Sara Parker
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
WEDNESDAY 27 JULY 2016
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b07lfkpk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b07m984r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b07lfkpm)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b07lfkpp)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b07lfkpr)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b07lfkpt)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b07mdc43)
A reading and a reflection to start the day with the Rev'd Dr Craig Gardiner, a lecturer at the South Wales Baptist College, Cardiff.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b07lfkpw)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by Sybil Ruscoe and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zrckq)
Ruddy Duck
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the ruddy duck. Ruddy ducks are natives of North America. In the late 1950s and early 1960s several ruddy ducks escaped from the Wildfowl Trust's collection at Slimbridge and within 30 years they had become established breeding birds in the UK. Some even migrated to Spain where they mated with a very rare threatened relative, the white-headed duck. Many ornithologists believed that the resulting hybrids threatened to undermine years of conservation work in Spain, so after taking scientific advice, the UK government set out to eradicate the ruddy duck. This action has reduced our population to a handful so your best chance of hearing the courtship display is by visiting a wildfowl collection.
WED 06:00 Today (b07lh8ck)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Bringing Up Britain (b07lh8cm)
Series 9, Episode 2
Mariella Frostrup explores the realities of modern parenting.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b07m99dy)
Van Gogh's Ear: The True Story, A Discovery
Rebecca Front reads from Bernadette Murphy's revelatory account of her seven year mission to solve what happened the night Van Gogh injured his ear. Today, Bernadette pursues a new lead.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b07lfkpy)
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
WED 10:41 15 Minute Drama (b07lh8cp)
HighLites: Natural Bounce, Episode 3
Bev and Shirl, the world's worst hairdressers, try to hide the fact that they have illegally opened a gym in the flat upstairs, when the owner of the flat, local butcher Nigel, comes to visit ...
The enduring comedy of Bev, the bitter and vindictive Chief Stylist and Shirl, her fond and foolish assistant.
By Phil Nodding and Steve Chambers.
Directed by Liz Webb.
WED 10:55 The Listening Project (b07lhg2n)
Alkin and Paul - We Could Be Brothers
Fi Glover with a conversation between friends whose parents settled in the UK before Cyprus was divided and who celebrate the undivided identity they hope to pass on. 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 The Corbyn Story (b07lw2kd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Monday]
WED 11:30 Guilt Trip (b07lhg2q)
Episode 1
Comedy drama in which Felicity Montagu (Lynn in Alan Partridge and Mrs Mainwaring in the new Dad's Army film) and her daughter (Olivia Nixon) play a mother and daughter doing a two week sponsored walk along The Thames Path to raise money for the dead father's charity. But the mother and father had been divorced for nine years and he had re-married, so relationships between them all have been strained. Things come to a head at any mention of the French Oak gable table that Ros and her now dead ex bought together in Camden. This has somehow ended up in the step-mother's house, much to Ros's annoyance: "I mean she sits at it! It's my table and she sits at it." The series is co-written by Katherine Jakeways who also plays the step-mother.
In episode one mother and daughter are just starting out and in her usual putting-her-large-foot-firmly-in-it manner Ros get's her daughter's ex-boyfriend (Tim Key) to drop them at the source, but without any prior warning to the daughter. The renewed bonding Ros is hoping for may be a bit bumpier than expected. Especially when along the way Ros also manages to offend pretty much everyone she meets - not least an Eastern European camp site warden.
Also starring Jeff Rawle and Velibor Topic. The producer was Jane Berthoud, it was a BBC Radio Comedy production.
WED 12:00 News Summary (b07lfkq0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 One to One (b01d0rtl)
Samira Ahmed with Lucy Mathen
The journalist and broadcaster Samira Ahmed is taking over the One to One interviewer's microphone for the next three weeks.
Samira has spent 20 years reporting breaking news at home and abroad from Britain to Los Angeles to Berlin. Born to Hindu and Muslim parents and educated at a Catholic school, Samira married into a Northern Irish family. As a result, she's aware of the way news coverage can make sweeping assumptions about stories and tries to seek out the missing angles behind the headlines.
With that in mind, her first guest, Lucy Mathen, tells a tale of charitable endeavour, with a surprising twist.
Lucy Mathen joined John Craven's Newsround in 1976, becoming the BBC's first female British Asian to present a major TV programme. Several years later, after interviewing a local doctor in Afghanistan, she decided she could achieve a great deal more in a warzone by working as a doctor, not as a journalist. So she retrained as an ophthalmologist, and in 2000 launched the charity Second Sight which runs eye hospitals in northern India helping to cure cataracts for thousands of people.
But the story we're telling in One to One is about football....
Producer: Karen Gregor.
WED 12:15 You and Yours (b07lfkq2)
Consumer affairs programme.
WED 12:57 Weather (b07lfkq4)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b07lfkq6)
Analysis of news and current affairs.
WED 13:45 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01gvrxk)
From London to Marrakech
Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, continues his object-based history. Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Programme 13. FROM LONDON TO MARRAKECH - Sunken gold from West Africa sheds light on the complex relationship Elizabethan England had with the Moors of the Mediterranean.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b07lg6j4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b07lhg9z)
Black and Blue, Hands Up
When a white police officer shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9th 2014, it sparked a wave of protest across America and became emblematic in the Black Lives Matter movement.
Now, six black American playwrights aged between 30 and 40 years old, dig deep into what it's like being young, black and male today in an America of institutionalised profiling.
Hands Up'began as part of a theatre festival, The New Black Fest, based in New York. Keith Josef Adkins who runs the festival wanted these playwrights to think hard about their personal politics and to respond to what happened in Ferguson. They looked at the immediate aftermath of the tragic event, the protests and the wider implications.
Their testaments are extremely varied. For some, what happened to Michael Brown could happen to them anytime, any day, and they live in constant fear of witnessing or experiencing profiling, harassment, arrest and even a fatal shooting. Others feel guilty about not being able to relate to the racism Michael Brown faced because they come from a wealthier background, or because they come from the metropolis, or are lighter skinned. For one writer it's a sense of ambivalence because he was adopted by white parents. They all attempt to understand Brown's experience, to figure out what he could have done differently, if anything. They share their fears and feelings through real and imagined scenarios, and they offer their ideas and dreams about how to fight racism and change society.
The plays are linked by comments from young black men interviewed on the streets of New York and documentary news material from St Louis Public Radio and WBEZ Chicago.
The plays and playwrights:
How I Feel by Dennis A. Allen II
Walking Next to Michael Brown by Eric Holmes
Superiority Fantasy by Nathan James
Holes in my Identity by Nathan Yungerberg
They Shootin! by Idris Goodwin
Abortion: Letter to a Beautiful Soul by NSangou Njikam
This is the first in a two part series, Black and Blue, about black men and the police in America, broadcast on consecutive days . Judith Kampfner adapted Hands Up from the stage and the second play, String Music, from a George Pelecanos short story. Both were recorded and produced in America.
Music by Gene Pritsker
Sound Design by Allen Towbin
Produced by Judith Kampfner
A Corporation for Independent Media production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 15:00 Money Box (b07lfkq8)
Money Box Live: A hazardous year for UK holidaymakers. How can you best protect yourself financially?
This has been a hazardous year for British holidaymakers, who've had to endure terror attacks, a failed coup in Turkey and the recent collapse of travel firm Low Cost Holidays. To make matters worse, the pound has fallen against most major currencies, meaning your break abroad will cost you more than you first budgeted for. What are your rights if your break goes wrong? What will your insurance pay out for and what's not covered? And will you be avoiding popular summer getaway destinations like Turkey and Egypt in favour of other countries?
Joining Louise Cooper will be: Bob Atkinson, Travel Supermarket. And Sean Tipton, ABTA.
E mail: moneybox@bbc.co.uk with your comments or questions. Or call 03 700 100 444. Lines open on Wednesday at
1pm. Standard geographic charges apply.
WED 15:30 Inside Health (b07lg6jv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b07lhgb1)
Sociological discussion programme, presented by Laurie Taylor.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b07lfkqb)
Topical programme about the fast-changing media world.
WED 17:00 PM (b07lfkqd)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b07lfkqg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 I've Never Seen Star Wars (b05077kz)
Series 6, Reece Shearsmith
Marcus Brigstocke persuades his guests to try new experiences: things they really ought to have done by now. Some experiences are loved, some are loathed, in this show all about embracing the new.
Reece Shearsmith had never had a driving lesson - until now. Marcus also persuades him to try wallpapering for the first time.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b07lhgqq)
It is all hands on deck at Hollowtree, and Adam is treated to breakfast.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b07lfkql)
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b07lh8cp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:41 today]
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b07lhgqs)
Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk. With Claire Fox, Anne McElvoy, Melanie Phillips and Matthew Taylor.
WED 20:45 David Baddiel Tries to Understand (b07lhgqv)
Series 2, The IMF
David Baddiel tries to understand what the International Monetary Fund actually does.
He starts by speaking to the former Chancellor, Alastair Darling, and rapidly discovers that he might first need a quick course on basic macroeconomics. But even once he's got through that, can he figure out what this very opaque-seeming international body is and does?
Producer: Giles Edwards.
WED 21:00 Caravans in Space (b07lhgqx)
Is the Earth too perfect? The Moon too grey? Mars too dusty? Then how about setting up a human colony in the depths of space?
Richard Hollingham travels to the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop in Chattanooga, Tennessee to meet scientists, engineers, doctors and anthropologists planning human colonies in space and spaceships that will take humanity to the stars.
These are not dreamers - although they all have an ambitious dream - but well qualified experts. Several work at Nasa, others have day jobs at universities and research institutes.
Richard hears of proposals to build giant space stations and worldships - vessels packed with the best of humanity. These caravans in space might be lifeboats to escape an approaching asteroid or perhaps the first step to colonising the galaxy.
The programme features conference chair and Technical Adviser to Nasa's Advanced Concepts Office, Les Johnson. He is keen that any discussions about our interstellar future are rooted in reality, not Star Trek.
We also hear from John Lewis, Director of the Space Engineering Centre at the University of Arizona, who advocates mining asteroids and suggests the first space colonies would be like lawless frontier towns.
Other contributors include architect Rachel Armstrong, who is engineering soils for living, breathing organic spaceships and anthropologist Cameron Smith.
As the programme is recorded on location in Chattanooga, it would be remiss of us not to make some reference to trains. Fortunately, our spacefaring future is being discussed in a railroad-themed hotel and on the local tourist train passengers are surprisingly open to living life permanently away from Earth.
Producer: John Watkins
A Boffin Media production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 21:30 Bringing Up Britain (b07lh8cm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b07lfkqn)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b07lfkqq)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b07lhgqz)
Dirt Road, Episode 8
Booker prize-winner James Kelman's new novel is a potent exploration of love, grief and the power of music.
As excitement mounts for the Tennessee camping trip, will Murdo find the courage to travel to the music festival in Lafayette instead?
Read by Finn den Hertog
Abridged by David Jackson Young
Producer Eilidh McCreadie.
WED 23:00 Expenses Only (b07lhgr1)
Politics
Put away your P45, you're not going to need it - it's Expenses Only. Our two young interns Tim and Miranda face heated hot-seating, intense lunch runs and jingle-themed back-stabbing as they compete for the same internship in the acronym-obsessed world of advertising.
Expenses Only is a narrative sketch show by new writer Alex Lynch, centred around internships and the world of work experience.
In each episode, the show's two leading twenty-something protagonists, Tim (enthusiastic worker) and Miranda (jaded graduate), attempt to break into a different industry through a series of increasingly challenging placements.
The series is made up of an ensemble cast and is also tied together using linking sketches, signature ad-breaks and the Narrator who, with his deadpan delivery and wry commentary, guides us through the schadenfreude and chaos that unravels across an episode.
Cast:
Tim... Rasmus Hardiker
Miranda... Lucy Beaumont
Narrator... Robert Glenister
Player... Kathryn Bond
Player... Simon Bubb
Player... Beth Goddard
Player... Matt Green
Player... Simon Greenall
Player... Christine Kavanagh
Player... Paul G Raymond
Player... Lorna Shaw
Player... Kellie Shirley
Player... Tom Glenister
Recorded live at Bush Hall, London.
Creator / Writer: Alex Lynch
Additional material by Charlotte Michael
Director: Celia De Wolff
Executive Producer: Peter Hoare
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:15 Domestic Science (b07lhgr3)
Episode 2
A heady combination of maths, science and comedy with Festival of The Spoken Nerd trio who are stand up Mathematician Matt Parker, Physicist Steve Mould and Physicist and musician Helen Arney. It's science that you can play along with at home as the team look at domestic phenomena that we relate to on a day to day basis.
In this episode the power of static electricity is harnessed, our internal bacteria examined and get a great life hack on how to chill cans of beer without a fridge.
Producer.... Julia McKenzie
A BBC Studios Production.
WED 23:30 The Design Dimension (b077ggv7)
Series 3, Death by Design
Tom Dyckhoff examines the importance of design after death. He looks at the environmental considerations around the disposal of the body - including the work of British Columbia University's Death Lab.
With more than 75 per cent of the UK population being cremated, Tom takes a behind the scenes look at a crematorium which pipes its waste energy to heat a neighbouring Leisure Centre swimming pool - and takes a dip.
He also considers the option of a bespoke coffin designed in a range of replica shapes from musical instruments to cars, trains, planes and boats and hears from a woman who has already planned her green funeral in a coffin shaped like a pink satin ballet shoe.
Finally, Tom visits the most famous Victorian Cemetery of all at Highgate North London which numbers amongst its occupants celebrities, artists, musicians and philosophers including Karl Marx.
Produced by Sara Parker
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
THURSDAY 28 JULY 2016
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b07lfksp)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b07m99dy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b07lfksr)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b07lfkst)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b07lfksw)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b07lfksy)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b07mcfl7)
A reading and a reflection to start the day with the Rev'd Dr Craig Gardiner, a lecturer at the South Wales Baptist College, Cardiff.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b07lfkt0)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by Sybil Ruscoe and produced by Sally Challoner.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03x458y)
Great Crested Grebe
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Bill Oddie presents the great crested grebe. In Spring, great crested grebes perform a high ritualized mating display. This includes head shaking and a spectacular performance during which both male and female birds gather bunches of waterweed and as they swim towards each other, before rising vertically in the water, chest to chest, and paddling furiously to keep themselves upright.
THU 06:00 Today (b07lhgtj)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 The Global Philosopher (b07lw4cx)
Should the Rich World Pay for Climate Change?
Sixty people from thirty countries join Michael Sandel in a digital studio at Harvard to discuss the philosophical issues underlying the world's response to climate change.
The developed world has caused climate change, belting out greenhouse gases as it became rich (at least, most people think so). But the developing world - huge and growing economies like India and China - is increasingly a big part of the problem.
So who should pay to fix the mess? Is it fair to penalise the developing world as it strives to catch up? Is it acceptable that rich countries be allowed to buy credits, giving them permission to pollute? And is it time to re-think our material aspirations?
Audience producer: Louise Coletta
Producer: David Edmonds
Executive Producer: Richard Knight.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b07m9hj4)
Van Gogh's Ear: The True Story, A Petition
Rebecca Front reads Bernadette Murphy's revelatory account about her mission to solve one of the nineteenth century's most famous mysteries. Today, troubling news reaches Van Gogh, and Bernadette follows new leads in pursuit of the truth about the artist's final months in Arles.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b07lfkt2)
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b07lhgyp)
HighLites: Natural Bounce, Episode 4
Bev and Shirl, the world's worst hairdressers, try to deflect local Policewoman Wendy, who is trying to do a health and safety check on their dangerous new upstairs gym, by poisoning her relationship.
The enduring comedy of Bev, the bitter and vindictive Chief Stylist and Shirl, her fond and foolish assistant.
By Phil Nodding and Steve Chambers.
Directed by Liz Webb.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b07lhh6x)
Syria's Secret Library
Away from the sound of bombs and bullets, in the basement of a crumbling house in the besieged Syrian town of Daraya, is a secret library. It's home to thousands of books rescued from bombed-out buildings by local volunteers, who daily brave snipers and shells to fill it's shelves. In a town gripped by hunger and death after three years without food aid, Mike Thomson reveals how this literary sanctuary is proving a lifeline to a community shattered by war.
Produced by Michael Gallagher and translated by Mariam El Khalaf.
THU 11:30 An Obsessive Type: The Tale of the Doves Typeface (b07lhh6z)
Can a long lost design classic be rediscovered at the bottom of the Thames? The obsessive search for the lost Doves typeface of the influential craftsman TJ Cobden-Sanderson.
In 1916 TJ Cobden-Sanderson threw his precious Doves typeface into the Thames after a bitter row with his business partner. Almost 100 years later designer Robert Green set out on a four year long search to restore it for the digital age.
A peer of William Morris, TJ Cobden-Sanderson first became known among the proponents of Arts and Crafts and even coined the term. But it was later at the turn of the 20th century that he became a leader of the British Private Press movement seeking to revive the tradition of the book as an object of art and manual skill. In 1900 he established the Doves Press along with Emery Walker in London's Hammersmith. But when they fell out Cobden-Sanderson sabotaged their greatest achievement. He threw every piece of the Doves type into the Thames from Hammersmith Bridge. The only record of the drowned type was the handful of valuable printed books.
A century later and graphic designer Robert Green nervously paces along the Thames riverbank. This trip is the culmination of four years of his life and his art. He has persuaded the Port of London Authority divers to look for minuscule metal letters buried at the bottom of the river.
Robert has spent years painstakingly reconstructing the Doves Type. Using Cobden-Sanderson's diary entries, he believes he has located the place on the river where the type was thrown. This is the story of Robert's riverbed search reappraising the impact and legacy of the craftsmanship of the Doves Press and its co-creator Cobden-Sanderson.
Presenter and produced by Nicky Birch
A Somethin' Else Production for Radio 4.
THU 12:00 News Summary (b07lfkt4)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 One to One (b01dhrmd)
Samira Ahmed talks to Murray Melvin
Samira Ahmed explores some missing angles behind the headlines. In this programme, she meets celebrated actor, Murray Melvin, best known for his role in A Taste of Honey.
THU 12:15 You and Yours (b07lfkt6)
Consumer affairs programme.
THU 12:57 Weather (b07lfkt8)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b07lfktb)
Analysis of news and current affairs.
THU 13:45 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01gvthw)
Disguise and Deception
Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, continues his object-based history. Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Programme 14. DISGUISE & DECEPTION - Deception and religion, cross-dressing and travelling salesmen are all unpacked via a pedlar's trunk.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b07lhgqq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b07lhh71)
Black and Blue, String Music
Tonio is a teenager from a rough part of Washington DC who escapes his troubled life by playing pickup basketball. One afternoon, he impulsively insults some fellow players. They threaten him. He knows he's in for a long drawn out struggle. A seasoned white cop patrolling the neighbourhood tries to protect Tonio because he knows he's a good kid. The question is - what hope does a kindly cop have of preventing assault or worse? What will happen to Tonio now that a gang is after him?
String Music by George Pelecanos is from his short story collection The Martini Shot, adapted by Judith Kampfner. Crime writer Pelecanos tells stories about the area of DC where he grew up. For years, he's observed life on the streets, in the clubs, parks and playgrounds of a bad neighbourhood and listened to the diversity of voices in his community. He has been called 'the Zola of Washington DC and Emmy nominated for his TV work, writing and producing for The Wire and Treme.
String Music is set in the summer of 2001 when DC had one of the highest murder rates in the country. The streets that are home to Tonio and Sergeant Peters are especially violent this summer weekend when both the humidity and the tension rise.
This is the second in a two part series, Black and Blue, about black men and the police in America, recorded and produced in New York City and broadcast on consecutive days. The cast - many of whom performed in the TV series The Wire - all come from the area of Washington DC where the story is set, giving the drama authentic characters with the distinctive 'street' accent.
Sound Design by Charles De Montebello
Adapted and produced by Judith Kampfner
A Corporation for Independent Media production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b07lhh73)
Capability Brown at 300
Lancelot 'Capability' Brown is heralded as the Shakespeare of gardening who in the eighteen century designed an estimated 170 landscapes including Blenheim Palace, Warwick Castle and Highclere Castle. To mark the 300th anniversary of his birth, Helen Mark discovers how his naturalistic landscapes changed the face of the countryside in the eighteenth century and continue to endure today. She visits Wrest Park in Bedfordshire to identify the trademarks of a classic Capability Brown landscape and finds out how these gardens became the height of fashion for the ruling classes, and how Brown turned himself into a brand. Helen also visits Brown's grave in the village of Fenstanton and finds out how they're marking his life through music and literature.
Producer: Toby Field.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b07lf74k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (b07lhh75)
Evelyn Waugh, DBC Pierre, a literary postcard from Sweden
As a new biography of the writer comes out, Open Book offers a guide to the works of Evelyn Waugh. And Man Booker winner DBC Pierre tells Mariella Frostrup why he's written a 'how to' book about novel writing, offering advice on everything from writing convincing dialogue to incorporating real life moments into fiction. One of Sweden's leading contemporary writers, Jonas Hassen Khemiri. sends a literary postcard from Stockholm and one editor recommends a book from a rival publisher.
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b07lhh77)
How to Direct a Thriller by Paul Greengrass
With Francine Stock.
Jason Bourne director Paul Greengrass gives Francine a personal masterclass on how to make a contemporary thriller - how to stage a chase sequence through the streets of Las Vegas, the golden rules of editing a fight scene, and how to construct a plot that is both realistic and entertaining. He reveals why he would never want to direct a James Bond movie and why he thinks the world has reached a tipping point.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b07lfktd)
Adam Rutherford explores the science that is changing our world.
THU 17:00 PM (b07lfktg)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b07lfktj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Simon Evans Goes to Market (b07lhh79)
Series 3, Youth
Simon Evans' comedy lecture on four of the big life stages that mark our journey through life and how economics is part of every one of those stages, whether we like it or not.
As always, he is joined by Financial Times columnist and presenter of Radio 4's 'More or Less', economist Tim Harford, and by financial guru and editor of Money Week, Merryn Somerset Webb.
This week Simon looks at Youth - that period in life when the young suddenly disengage from the home unit and plummet from the safety of the family nest.
The programme looks at everything from pocket money and exam subject choice, to university and whether the property ladder still exists.
Baroness Alison Wolf is the guest expert, who shares her views on whether education matters and how that affects the labour markets. Which subjects should you study at school if you want to be a millionaire? Should you go to university? Take a gap year? What are the implications of all these decisions on your future economic standing.
Presenter: Simon Evans, with Tim Harford and Merryn Somerset Webb
Special guest: Professor Alison Wolf, Baroness Wolf of Dulwich
Written by Simon Evans, Benjamin Partridge and Andy Wolton.
Producer: Claire Jones
A BBC Studios Production.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b07lhh7c)
Neil is not sure he is the right person for the job, and Fallon is made to wait.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b07lfktl)
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b07lhgyp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (b07lhh7f)
Trump's Shock Troops
Why has Donald Trump clinched the Republican Party nomination despite angering a long list of key groups of American voters? Part of his success can be explained by an element of his political base, the "alt-right". It's a mostly young, disparate movement which organises and congregates online, and its supporters have little in common with traditional Republicans. They are tribal and mostly sceptical about religion. They yearn for a strong leader and they loathe political correctness with a passion. Some are leading figures in the white supremacist movement, a development that frightens many mainstream Republicans who promised a more inclusive party after Mitt Romney's defeat four years ago. And in an interesting twist, some of the leading voices in the movement come from Britain.
In this episode, David Aaronovitch finds out more about the alt-right - who are they, what do they believe, and for the next four months what role will they play in the Trump campaign and American politics at large?
THU 20:30 In Business (b07lhj83)
Return to Teesside
Job losses have plagued Teesside for decades and the area still has a stubbornly high unemployment rate. Ruth Sunderland grew up in Middlesbrough where her father worked as an engineer. In 1987 the company, where he'd been employed since he was a teenager, collapsed and he never worked again. Believing there was no future for her in her home town, she left to forge a career in London. Following more recent job losses in the steel industry, Ruth returns to her roots. Will entrepreneurial start-ups provide young Teessiders with prospects that, 30 years ago, she could not see? And what does the post-steel, post-Brexit future look like from Teesside?
Producer: Rosamund Jones.
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b07lfktd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]
THU 21:30 Lives in a Landscape (b06mv2nb)
Series 21, Care for Claire
Lives in a Landscape reports from Penistone, where Claire Throssell is being helped by her community after her sons were killed by their father in a house fire exactly a year ago.
As well as killing his sons and himself, Darren Sykes also destroyed much of the house, lighting fires throughout the terraced home and luring his boys into the loft with the promise of a new train set. He had cancelled the home insurance before the blaze and Claire faced both the devastating loss of her sons and also the terrible reminder in a home she couldn't sell because of such extensive fire damage.
Local people wanted to stand firm against such 'evil', according to a local singer and archivist, Dave Cherry, who has helped raise money. Teams of volunteers organised by Reverend David Hopkins at St John's Church and both the Rotary and 41 Clubs, have overseen the rebuilding of the home.
Whilst nothing will replace her loss, Claire tells Alan Dein that such community support has helped her focus on creating a legacy for her sons. Jack, who was 12 when he died, was a promising trumpet player and his younger brother, Paul, was only nine and already showing considerable athletic talent. She has set up awards in their name and wants to ensure that their lives are remembered.
The volunteer project manager is Ged Brearley, who has coordinated 480 plus volunteer hours and manages a core team of 40 through house clearance, stripping back the walls to complete rewiring, re-plastering and re-plumbing.
Dave Cherry was one of the first to offer to help: "That man destroyed everything. Her house, her kids and her life. If we don't do anything then he wins. If we can help this lass then we can stop him from winning."
Producer Susan Mitchell.
THU 21:58 Weather (b07lfktn)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b07lfktq)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b07lhj85)
Dirt Road, Episode 9
Booker prize-winner James Kelman's new novel is a potent exploration of love, grief and the power of music.
Murdo has run away to the festival in Lafayette but after buying the accordion and bus tickets, his savings don't run to somewhere to stay.
Read by Finn den Hertog
Abridged by David Jackson Young
Producer Eilidh McCreadie.
THU 23:00 Daphne Sounds Expensive (b07lhj87)
D.A.P.H.N.E.
Jason has an out-of-this-world plan to increase the show's listenership.
Join critically-acclaimed sketch trio, Daphne, as they pull out all the stops in a dazzling array of peculiar characters, whacky scenarios, dodgy remarks, curious observations, minor altercations and major peacemaking - served on a bed of catchy little numbers with a live nine-piece band.
Written by and starring: Jason Forbes, Phil Wang & George Fouracres
Featuring Sir Willard White, Emma Sidi & David Elms
Original music composed by Jeff Carpenter
Musical Director: Freddie Tapner
Piano: Jeff Carpenter
Drums: Ben Hartley
Bass: Rob Grist
Percussion: Ben Burton
Trumpet: Michael Maddocks
Tenor Sax: Greg Sterland
Trombone: Elliot Pooley
Violin: Hannah Bell
Cello: Nick Squires
The Production Coordinator was Hayley Sterling
It was produced by Matt Stronge
It was a BBC Studios production.
THU 23:30 The Design Dimension (b0787336)
Series 3, Panic Button
Tom Dyckhoff considers how we protect our personal space through design.
He asks whether increasingly sophisticated security makes us feel more fearful or more secure, looking at virtual systems which can let us see everything from who is at our front door using our smart phone to an alarm which alerts the police and neighbours to exactly what is happening if we are attacked. But at what cost?
Tom also looks at systems which monitor chronic illnesses, alerting health professionals if treatment is needed - and asks whether we really need the security of the Smart Home to keep us feeling safe when the mechanism of an 18th century lock invented by Joseph Bramah is still virtually unpickable.
Produced by Sara Parker
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
FRIDAY 29 JULY 2016
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b07lfkwl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b07m9hj4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b07lfkwp)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b07lfkwr)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b07lfkww)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b07lfkwy)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b07m9wnf)
A reading and a reflection to start the day with the Rev'd Dr Craig Gardiner, a lecturer at the South Wales Baptist College, Cardiff.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b07lfkx0)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by David Gregory-Kumar and produced by Mark Smalley.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03k5bwv)
Shelduck
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
David Attenborough presents the shelduck. Shelducks are birds of open mud and sand which they sift for water snails and other tiny creatures. They will breed inland and they nest in holes. Disused rabbit burrows are favourite places and they'll also settle down in tree cavities, sheds, out-buildings and even haystacks.
FRI 06:00 Today (b07m9wnh)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b07lf8fw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b07m9lzr)
Van Gogh's Ear: The True Story, The Mysterious Woman
Rebecca Front reads Bernadette Murphy's revelatory account of her mission to solve one of the art world's most perplexing mysteries. Today, Bernadette sets out to establish to whom Van Gogh gave his macabre gift.
Abridge by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b07lfkx3)
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b07lhk6m)
HighLites: Natural Bounce, Episode 5
The world's worst hairdressers' gym upstairs breaches Health and Safety rules, with disastrous effect ...
The enduring comedy of Bev, the bitter and vindictive Chief Stylist and Shirl, her fond and foolish assistant.
By Phil Nodding and Steve Chambers.
Directed by Liz Webb.
FRI 11:00 Down the Generations (b07krkgt)
As the Second World War drew to a close, the German army effectively blockaded parts of the Netherlands. Food supplies dried up and calorie intake fell to 600 per day in some areas. People starved - the only example of a widespread famine in 20th century Europe. Babies born to mothers who were pregnant during the famine tended to have a low birth weight. And those children, as they grew up, had more health problems than those in the womb before and after the famine. That in itself isn't surprising. But what is surprising is that many of the ill-effects took decades to emerge. Babies who were born apparently healthy, and were still fine at 18, were more likely to suffer from diabetes and schizophrenia and cardiovascular problems in later decades. And by the time they reached their 50s, the famine babies were more likely to be unemployed.
How bad the effects are often depends on how developed the foetus was when the famine struck. Babies malnourished in the first trimester tended to have normal birthweights, while those malnourished in the third trimester were born small. But here's the kicker: when the apparently normal babies grew up, they as mothers were more likely to have heavier than average babies. Something is being passed down the generations.
The Dutch "Hunger Winter" study is just one of many studies where economists, as well as health researchers, have made discoveries from looking at the big data sets which arise from "natural experiments" such as famines.
Kat Arney asks, from an economic point of view, would we be better off investing in people's health in the nine months before they are born, rather than playing catch-up later?
Producer: Jolyon Jenkins.
FRI 11:30 Start/Stop (b07lhk6p)
Series 3, The Third Way
Start/Stop is a sitcom by Jack Docherty about three marriages in various states of disrepair.
Starring: couple number one - Jack Docherty as Barney and Kerry Godliman as Cathy; couple number two - John Thomson as Evan and Fiona Allen as Fiona; and couple number three - Charlie Higson as David and Laura Aikman as Alice.
The set up: Barney and Cathy have been married for ages and it shows, Evan and Fiona's marriage is one big, noisy argument and David is old enough to be Alice's father.
Start/Stop follows the story of these three couples as they try to make the best of their marriages and friendships. The show is warm, smart and funny, and the characters are able to stop the action, explain themselves to the audience and start it all up again.
This week: 'The Third Way'. Fiona road tests Barney's theory about how to put the spark back in your marriage, much to Barney's annoyance. Meanwhile Evan is housebound, sitting in a rubber ring after breaking his coccyx. And David is worried his memory is failing, and he's trying everything under the sun to improve it.
Written by: Jack Docherty
Producer: Claire Jones.
FRI 12:00 News Summary (b07lfkx6)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 One to One (b01p9ksb)
Olivia O'Leary with Mick Fitzgerald
For 'One to One' Olivia O'Leary is speaking to people, who have reached the peak of their profession, about growing older.
This week she meets one of the greatest ever jump-jockeys, Mick Fitzgerald. He was forced to retire in 2008 after a very serious fall in the Grand National.
Producer: Karen Gregor.
FRI 12:15 You and Yours (b07lfkx8)
Consumer news and issues.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b07lfkxb)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b07lfkxf)
Analysis of news and current affairs.
FRI 13:45 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01gvwxr)
The Flag That Failed
Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, continues his object-based history. Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Programme 15. THE FLAG THAT FAILED - The problems in uniting Scotland and England and in creating a Great Britain are encapsulated in a set of designs for a common flag.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b07lhh7c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Afternoon Drama (b0499llf)
Strangers in the Night
By Georgia Fitch
It is 1969 and English actress Carol White is trying to make her name in Hollywood. When she finds herself unexpectedly drawn to Frank Sinatra, their intense friendship leads her on a journey of self-discovery. Will her career as a Hollywood star take off or will love prove the ultimate distraction?
Directed by Nandita Ghose
STORY:
The play covers an emotional few days in English actress Carol White's life. Fresh from her success as Cathy in Ken Loach's film Cathy Come Home, she comes to Hollywood to try and break into film. Embroiled in a passionate and dysfunctional affair with the actor Paul Burke, she also finds herself drawn to Frank Sinatra. Frank seems to understand Carol as no-one else does, but is what he offers real? Carol must make some decisions about what she really wants in her love and career.
Known as the "The Battersea Bardot", the real life Carol was a feisty woman who enjoyed unprecedented success with her portrayals of London working class women. However, a difficult childhood had left her vulnerable and unconfident in her relationships with men. She died in her forties, having not achieved the height of success she deserved.
WRITER:
Georgia Fitch's plays for the stage include adrenalin ...heart (Bush Theatre, London 2002, 2004 and Tokyo International Theatre Festival), I Like Mine With A Kiss (Bush Theatre, London 2007), Dirty Dirty Princess (National Theatre/Connections 2009), Fit and Proper People (RSC/SOHO), and Blair's Children (National Theatre, Cockpit ).
For BBC Radio her plays include: Romeo and Juliet in Southwark,The Mother of ..., Untitled Lover, I Met a Boy, Fortune's Always Hiding and adrenalin... heart.
Georgia was Radio Drama's Writer in Residence in 2004.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b07lhl0g)
The Lake District
Eric Robson hosts the horticultural panel programme from the Lake District. Bunny Guinness, Bob Flowerdew and Anne Swithinbank answer questions from local gardeners.
Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Laurence Bassett
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 The 29th of July (b07lhl0j)
On a certain 29th of July, Mairtin Crowley sets out on a heroic quest: to love everyone. But as the day unfolds and he encounters the various residents of the parish of Faha, he finds the task somewhat more complex than he had first imagined.
Dermot Crowley reads this new story from acclaimed Irish novelist Niall Williams. Longlisted for the Man Booker prize in 2014 for 'The History of the Rain', Williams's novels also include 'Four Letters of Love', 'As It Is In Heaven' and 'The Fall of Light.'
Writer ..... Niall Williams
Reader ..... Dermot Crowley
Producer ..... Heather Larmour.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b07lhl0l)
Obituary series, analysing and celebrating the life stories of people who have recently died.
FRI 16:30 More or Less (b07lhl0n)
Tim Harford returns with a new series of "More or Less". In the first programme he picks over leftovers of the Leave referendum win and the remains of Remain campaign. We introduce our new feature, the desk of good news, pay tribute to Trumpton and answer the really big question - should the Antiques Roadshow be inflation adjusting its valuations?
FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b07lj6yf)
John and Diane - Lemons with Liver
Fi Glover with a conversation between a brother and sister who recall the limited cuisine of their upbringing, apart from one strikingly unusual combination. 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.
FRI 17:00 PM (b07lfkxj)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b07lfkxl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The Museum of Curiosity (b07lj6yh)
Series 9, Kumar, Armstrong, Goodall
This week, the Professor of Ignorance John Lloyd and his new curator Noel Fielding welcome the Newsjack presenter and half of the double act Gentlemen of Leisure, the writer and comedian Nish Kumar; Professor of Experimental Architecture and TED fellow Rachel Armstrong; and the award winning composer of choral music, stage musicals, film and TV scores, Howard Goodall.
This week, the Museum's Guest Committee speculate on the appeal of a 50 year-old piece of vinyl; a magic spell in a bottle; and an extinct piano with no keys.
The show was researched by Mike Turner and Anne Miller of QI.
The producers were Richard Turner and James Harkin.
It was a BBC Studios Production.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b07lj6yk)
Toby is on shaky ground, and Tom gets the go-ahead.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b07lfkxn)
News, reviews and interviews from the worlds of art, literature, film and music.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b07lhk6m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b07lj6ym)
Shaun Ley presents political debate and discussion from Falmouth in Cornwall.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b07lj6yp)
Canaries in the Coal Mine
Tom Shakespeare gives a very personal view of the implications for society of a prenatal screening technology due to be announced shortly.
Tom inherited the genetic condition, achondroplasia, or restricted growth from his father and passed it on to both his children.
Soon we will have to decide, he writes, what sort of people we are prepared to accept in our families and in our society.
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
FRI 21:00 Promises, Promises: A History of Debt (b07mclw8)
Omnibus Episode 1
Anthropologist David Graeber explores the history of debt and the peculiar moral hold that debt hold over us, from earliest financial transactions to the classical age.
In this first episode, David draws upon his years of groundbreaking research to challenge established wisdom over the moral power of debt, the origins of money and even the definition of money itself (a remarkably contentious issue).
David argues that whenever we think about debt we end up in a deep moral confusion. We resent the "deadbeats" who fail to pay us back and yet many of us believe that people who get us into debt - money lenders - are, at best, immoral.
It turns out that debts have a very different meaning when there is a power imbalance between debtor and creditor. Normally, when a debt is between equals it can be renegotiated and even written off entirely. However when the creditor has all the power, debts transform into absolute imperatives that must be repaid, no matter what the cost.
David goes on to explore the theology of debt. The Bible is peppered with the language of debt. Sin, forgiveness, reckoning, redemption - all of these words actually derive from the language of ancient finance. What's more, this seems to be true in all the great religious traditions - not just Judaism and Christianity, but Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Islam - all of their texts are filled with financial metaphors, many of which relate to issues surrounding debt.
To conclude, David examines debt in the Classical period. It was during this age that coinage first emerged as an efficient way of paying soldiers. He explains that the spread of coinage had enormous political and intellectual consequences.
Presenter: David Graeber
Producer: Max O'Brien
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b07lfkxq)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b07lfkxs)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b07lj6yr)
Dirt Road, Episode 10
Booker prize-winner James Kelman's new novel is a potent exploration of love, grief and the power of music.
Murdo is on stage with Queen Monzee-ay and feels at home for the first time since the death of his mum.
Read by Finn den Hertog
Abridged by David Jackson Young
Producer Eilidh McCreadie.
FRI 23:00 Woman's Hour (b07lj6yt)
Late Night Woman's Hour: Anxiety
One in ten people are thought to experience anxiety disorders, women are almost twice as likely as men to be affected and those under 35 are particularly vulnerable. Lauren Laverne discusses living with and overcoming anxiety with guests
Daisy Buchanan who has written about her struggles with anxiety
Annie Ferguson who has written about her own experiences and those of other black women
Olivia Reems - an epidemiologist at Cambridge University, who studies anxiety
And clinical psychologist and psychotherapist Jay Watts.
The broadcast edition of this programme will be available on Iplayer soon after transmission. A longer version is available from the 28th July as a podcast. You can download the podcast by clicking the download button on the programme page or you can subscribe to the Woman's Hour daily podcast.
Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Luke Mulhall.
FRI 23:30 A Good Read (b07lg6hp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b07lj6zf)
Fanzi and Michele - Sharing Cultures
Fi Glover introduces a conversation between a Jewish mother-in-law and her son's Chinese wife about their discovery of a shared outlook. 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.