The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
When Jacqueline Yallop moves to south-west France with her husband, she embraces rural village life and buys two pigs to rear for slaughter. But as she gets to know the animals better, her English sentimentality threatens to get in the way and she begins to wonder if she can actually bring herself to kill them.
This is a memoir about that fateful decision, but it's also about the ethics of meat eating in the modern age, and whether we should know, respect and even love the animals we eat.
At its heart, this book is a love story, exploring Jacqueline's increasing attachment for her particular pigs, and celebrating the enduring closeness of humans and pigs over the centuries.
Written by Jacqueline Yallop
Read by Imogen Stubbs
Abridged by Amanda Hargreaves
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day, with Sarah Bradley.
iPM has a look around listener Phil's tower block, as work starts to fire proof it.
We start with our listeners. Email us at ipm@bbc.co.uk or tweet us @BBCiPM.
Presented by Luke Jones and Eddie Mair.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
The latest weather forecast.
For 75 years a stately home near Reading has eavesdropped on the world. As BBC Monitoring changes, Caz Graham hears why the organisation is leaving Caversham.
Caz speaks to staff past and present to hear about the vital daily work conducted behind the grand portico, amidst splendid grounds, listening in to and translating radio broadcasts since 1943.
Retired staff recall being on shift when major world events occurred, such as the deaths of Stalin, Franco and Brezhnev. With its roots in short wave technology, Caversham's sensitive radio aerials and satellites could be retuned to listen in to countries around the world. Current manager at BBC Monitoring, Chris Greenway, describes the organisation's work today, for example tracking social media and the broadcasting activities of Islamic State (IS).
Producer: Mark Smalley.
Ruth Sanderson visits the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute to find out how their scientists are helping farmers boost productivity and increase tight profit margins in Northern Ireland.
Dr Steven Morrison gives her a tour of the rotary milking parlour and explains how they monitor nutrition and animal health to help maximise herd potential. David Johnston speaks about how good grassland management and grazing could be the key for farm profitability, and the President of the Ulster Farmers Union Barclay Bell joins the conversation to discuss the unique trading relationship between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and the implications Brexit could have on the entire agricultural sector.
There are also reports about the Environmental Farming Scheme and how it can improve the picture for wild bird species, and an insight into the 'All island value chain' that keeps the dairy industry ticking.
Producer: Toby Field.
The latest weather forecast.
News and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Alexei Sayle talks about his Imaginary Sandwich Shop and forthcoming appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Martine Wright lost both her legs in the 7/7 London bombings and went on to represent Great Britain in the London Paralympics in 2012. Unbroken by Martine Wright is out on the 13th July.
Cyrus Todiwala is a chef and restaurateur who has followed the spice route from Bombay to London. Mr Todiwala's Spice Box is out now.
Barn the Spoon is an artisan spoon carver, teacher, author and co-founder of Spoonfest. Spon: A Guide to Spoon Carving and the New Wood Culture by Barn the Spoon is out now.
JP meets electronic dance music duo Orbital.
Plus the Inheritance Tracks of Alan Partridge. Alan chooses Who Put The Bomp by Barry Mann and the theme from Grandstand by Keith Mansfield. A-ha!
Jay Rayner and his panel of culinary experts visit Margate. Dr Annie Gray, Tim Hayward, Andi Oliver and Jordan Bourke answer this week's questions and delve into the local food history.
The panellists discuss all sorts of seaside delights from whelks to rock and from fish to chips. And once again they can't resist the opportunity to praise the deep-fat fryer.
Producer: Miranda Hinkley
Assistant Producer: Alice Twomey
Food consultant: Anna Colquhoun
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
George Parker of the Financial Times looks behind the scenes at Westminster.
The Editor is Peter Mulligan.
Reports from writers and journalists around the world. Presented by Kate Adie.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
The latest news from the world of personal finance.
Recorded the day before transmission, the satirical sketch show remains as sharp and topical as ever. Impressions and caricatures are the charming couriers of explosively satirical truth-bombs.
The series is written by Private Eye writers Tom Jamieson and Nev Fountain, together with Tom Coles, Ed Amsden, Sarah Campbell, Laurence Howarth, James Bugg, Laura Major, Max Davis, Jack Bernhardt and others.
The series stars Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Lewis MacLeod, Deborah Stephenson and Duncan Wisbey.
A BBC Studios Production.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
Ritula Shah presents political debate and discussion from Hungerford in Berkshire with a panel including the chair of the European Research Group Suella Fernandes MP, Bronwen Maddox from the Institute for Government, political activist and writer Jack Monroe, and the Labour MP Chuka Umunna.
Any Answers after the Saturday broadcast of Any Questions?. Email any.answers@bbc.co.uk. Tweet,#BBCAQ. Follow us @bbcanyquestions.
Lines open at 1230 on Saturday 03700 100 444.
Presenter Anita Anand
Producer: Maire Devine
Editor Eleanor Garland.
David Cornwell (the real name of the spy and thriller writer John Le Carré) is the star of this comedy drama as we follow his desperate efforts to uncover the latest mole in the secret service. John F Kennedy's official visit to Berlin looms and the pressure is on to get to the truth. Dramatic tension and big laughs abound in this seventh comedy play by acclaimed sketch group The Penny Dreadfuls. Also starring Miles Jupp as Cornwell and Mark Heap as the narrator. Recorded in front of an audience in the Radio Theatre.
Writer...David Reed
Producer...Julia McKenzie
A BBC Studios Production.
After decades suppressed by Myanmar's military regime, we go inside Yangon's booming counter-cultural art scene to reveal the city as seen through the eyes of the young artists on the frontline of change.
Until censorship was lifted in 2012, dissident artists, musicians and poets lived with the threat of jail for speaking out against the military regime that had gripped Myanmar - or Burma - since 1962 and turned it into a police state. Now, from modern art to punk rock and poetry, a new vibrant youth culture is flourishing. It's something that was inconceivable only five years ago, when there was no internet, no mobile phones, and no freedom of expression.
Recorded on location in the country's biggest city, we meet the emerging artists and performers breaking through and forging a new Myanmar.
It's a critical juncture in Myanmar's history, but the rules are still unclear. How open can the artists be? Work by former political prisoners is now on show, and even the country's former spymaster has opened an art gallery. But we hear from a young poet who was imprisoned for six months for a six-line poem deemed to insult the former president and released in 2016. Under Aung San Suu Kyi's government, prosecutions under the notorious 66D defamation clause, seen by critics as a weapon to silence anyone speaking out against the state, have risen sharply. Old habits of self-censorship can be hard to break.
But are young artists optimistic about their country's future? You bet they are.
Produced by Eve Streeter
A Greenpoint production for BBC Radio 4.
Fifteen years ago Milly Dowler aged 13 was abducted and murdered in Surrey. Her sister Gemma has now written a book about what her family went through. She tells us about that time alongside her mum Sally.
WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) were outraged when the Pensions Minister said that the government would not change the law and said they would assist everyone affected into retraining and employment. How would that work?.
Megan a patient at The Huntercombe Hospital Cotswold Spar which specialises in treating eating disorders explains how her difficulties with food first began and her road to recovery from anorexia.
We hear from writer Hannah Khalil and support worker Heather Jones about The Scar Tests a new play which explores life inside Yarl'sWood Detention Centre, based on verbatim interviews.
Dating can be hard but how much harder is it if you have a difficult personal situation that you have to explain to a prospective partner. Samantha who's living with HIV tells us what dating's been like for her.
Plus, can Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) help treat menopausal side effects experienced by women as a result of breast cancer treatment? And how do you get your children to do what you want?
Presented by Jenni Murray
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed.
Full coverage of the day's news.
Evan Davis discusses the reasons why some companies have multiple brands. Is it to bamboozle or does it help consumers navigate the wide variety of choices? Can there be too many? When does product proliferation make sense? Evan talks to three guests: a brand consultant, a marketing executive from drinks company Diageo and a representative from Johnson & Johnson about how we can better understand the world of brands.
GUESTS
Robert Jones - Brand consultant at Wolf Olins and a visiting professor at the University of East Anglia
Jana Ignatova - Head of Baby global franchise for EMEA at Johnson & Johnson
Ed Pilkington - European Marketing and Innovation Director at Diageo.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Clive Anderson and Francesca Martinez are joined by Danny Brocklehurst, David Sedaris, Amma Asante and Akala for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Miles From Kinshasa and Miss Hope Springs.
Producer: Sukey Firth.
The Gulf region is in crisis this weekend after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt condemned Qatar's response to a series of demands they've made. Qatar's four Arab neighbours broke links with the Gulf emirate a month ago accusing it of supporting terrorism. On this week's Profile, Mark Coles looks at one of the key players in the dispute....Saudi Arabia's new Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Producer Smita Patel
Researcher Kate Lamble
Editor Richard Vadon.
Committee is a new musical that's opened at London's Donmar Warehouse. Based on the parliamentary investigation into Kids Company. It might seem like an unorthodox source of inspiration , but so were London Road and Jerry Springer
Terrence Malick's latest film Song To Song has polarised critics; will our reviewers s be beguiled or bewildered?
State of Freedom by award winning author Neel Mukherjee is a novel which explores the interweaving of five stories and five lives via an initially invisible thread.
There's a free outdoor exhibition of sculpture in Regents Park with 23 works from contemporary artists.
The BBC's Gay Britannia season includes a drama on Radio 3 exploring the troubled creative process behind the 1961 film Victim which dealt with homosexual blackmail. Also a series of radio essays The Love That Wrote Its Name exploring significant and long-lasting gay partnerships among important figures in the arts.
Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Deborah Moggach,Kate Williams and Geoffrey Durham. The producer is Oliver Jones.
This year the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists set its Doomsday Clock at two and a half minutes to midnight, their judgement that humanity had moved closer to its own destruction. It's a theme embraced in popular culture, from the surprise-bestseller, The Ladybird Book of the Zombie Apocalypse to armageddon-chic on the catwalk.
However while politics, pollution and the very real threat of terrorism may indeed have made our world less stable, science broadcaster Robin Ince considers whether our concern with disaster is also age-old and sometimes imagined. Using the archive he explores our longstanding preoccupation with the apocalypse, from religion and science to comedy and drama, and what it tells us about the way we think.
Drawing on diverse sources from nuclear missile tests to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Orson Wells' infamous radio hoax, Ince discovers how destruction has been portrayed in different ways across the decades, with archive contributions from thinkers including physicist Richard Feynman and philosopher Noam Chomsky.
He hears from contemporary commentators with an interest in the darker side of human thought. Novelist Lionel Shriver and psychotherapist Susie Orbach are among those who explain what the apocalypse means to them.
Ince also searches the archive for practical advice in the event of catastrophe. He meets Professor Lewis Dartnell, a disaster-expert who explains how to reboot civilisation in the event of apocalypse.
Producer: Harry Kretchmer.
by John le Carré
1/3. 'Love is whatever you can still betray. Betrayal can only happen if you love.' So says Magnus Pym, the spy of the title; and he has betrayed a lot in his life - countries, friends and lovers. When Magnus disappears after his father's funeral MI6 launches an urgent manhunt to prevent his defection. Dramatised by Robert Forrest.
Other parts are played by the cast.
Director: Bruce Young
BBC Scotland.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
Hilary Mantel analyses how historical fiction can make the past come to life. She says her task is to take history out of the archive and relocate it in a body. "It's the novelist's job: to put the reader in the moment, even if the moment is 500 years ago." She takes apart the practical job of "resurrection", and the process that gets historical fiction on to the page. "The historian will always wonder why you left certain things out, while the literary critic will wonder why you left them in," she says. How then does she try and get the balance right?
The lecture is recorded in front of an audience in Exeter, near Mantel's adopted home in East Devon, followed by a question and answer session. The Reith Lectures are chaired by Sue Lawley and produced by Jim Frank.
(1/13)
Paul Gambaccini welcomes the first of the competitors in the 2017 season of Radio 4's music quiz, who this week come from London, Exeter and Sunderland. Whether it's Beethoven or Bowie, Kiri te Kanawa or Kraftwerk, there's always something to suit every taste and no shortage of intriguing musical extracts. The contestants are tested on their range of musical general knowledge, as well as being asked to choose a musical subject on which to answer individual specialist questions, from a list of which they've had no advance warning. Today's winner will go forward to the semi-finals in September.
BBC Africa Editor Mary Harper meets Somalia's most beloved poet in a rare glimpse into the country's soul.
In Hargeisa, the capital of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland, everyone knows the nation's most famous living poet - Hadraawi. They call him their Shakespeare. His work over the last 50 years has given voice to Somalis' desire for love, freedom, justice and peace.
The poetry of Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame 'Hadraawi' holds a mirror up to all aspects of life - social tensions, politics, love, peace and the fractures of the Somali people. Born in 1943 to a nomadic camel-herding family, forged as a poet in Somalia's liberal years pre-1969, jailed in 1973 for 'anti-revolutionary activities' without trial under the military junta, a campaigner for peace, Hadraawi's poetry tells the story of modern Somalia.
Now in his 70s, this encounter with Hadraawi at his home in Somaliland was recorded just as the first rains fell after the devastating three-year drought. The self-declared republic is rarely seen by the outside world, as the shadow cast by the ongoing violence in Somalia to the south is long. But it's a place Mary Harper has come to know and love during 25 years writing about and reporting on Somalia for the BBC. It is a nation of poets, where poetry is woven deep into the fabric of everyday life.
Poems featured are from Hadraawi: The Poet and the Man, published by Ponte Invisible/Redsea Online/The Poetry Translation Centre. Clarity translated by WN Herbert and Said Jama Hussein, and The Killing of the She-Camel translated by WN Herbert, Said Jama Hussein and Maxamed Xasan 'Alto'.
Produced by Eve Streeter
A Greenpoint production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
A new story by the acclaimed Irish novelist Niall Williams, author of the 2014 Man Booker Prize longlisted 'History of the Rain'. Williams has written several best selling novels, including 'Four Letters of Love' and 'The Fall of Light', and has lived in County Clare in the west of Ireland for over thirty years.
Reader ..... Dermot Crowley
Writer ..... Niall Williams
Producer ..... Michael Shannon.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
This week's Bells on Sunday, comes from the church of St. Lawrence Jewry, in London. The church was built by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire and its original ring of six bells was increased to eight in 1710. When these bells were destroyed in the Blitz in December 1940, the metal was saved and recast into the present ring of eight. We hear them here ringing Spliced Surprise Major.
The latest national and international news.
Mark Tully explores the strengths and limitations of parochialism and the ease with which any label can become pejorative.
He puts forward a definition of parochialism as 'thinking you are living at the centre of the world', and addresses the perils of self-importance and condescension that being a 'big fish in a small pond' can lead to.
But he also considers two writers - the 18thC philosopher and composer Jean-Jacque Rousseau and the contemporary Indian poet Arvind Mehrotra - for whom the small town, rather than the big city, has been an impetus to their creativity.
Drawing on works from Trollop to Simon and Garfunkel, he compares arguments for living in both the town and city and suggests ultimately that it's not where you live that matters so much as who you are and how you live.
Producer: Adam Fowler
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4.
Brett Westwood relives programmes from The Living World archives. In this episode from 2013, Chris Sperring is in Buckinghamshire with Robin Scagell on a glow worm safari.
Literature is full of references to these enigmatic little beetles who glow when its dark enough not to be able to differentiate colours. With Chris is Robin Scagell who has been studying glow worms for over 40 years and still gets a sense of excitement seeing one in some long grass by a lake near Little Marlow.
Related to fireflies which do not occur in the UK, the glow worm lifecycle is fascinating. After hatching from eggs the larva may take up to 3 years to develop into adults, during which time they will feed on snails and molluscs. When they emerge as adults, neither the winged male or the wingless female have any mouthparts and their sole purpose is now to mate and start the next generation off again as eggs.
As Chris learns on a wonderfully warm July night, it is the female in vegetation that glows, it is this glow that the flying male is looking for. Once mated the female then switches off her light and after laying eggs, dies. While recording the programme, Chris witnessed a male come to a female and mate with her. Something that is very rare to see in the wild.
Producer: Andrew Dawes.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
Sunday this weekend is presented by William Crawley.
The Church of England and the Methodist Church in Britain are considering proposals that would bring them into a new relationship of full communion, after 200 years of formal separation. What would John Wesley think?
Warwickshire allotment holders are up in arms about a proposal from Coventry diocese to sell off their land. Historian Andrew Bradstock finds resonances between their battle and that of the 17th century Diggers led by Gerrard Winstanley.
A major evangelical event - JustOne - held at London's Emirates stadium on Saturday 8th July - was the first evangelistic stadium gathering since October 2012 - and 26 years since the American evangelist Billy Graham last filled stadiums in the UK. It was organised and led by the preacher J.John. Is this style of mission still effective?
It's "Sea Sunday" when Catholic churches will hold special services to remember seafarers the world over.Trevor Barnes went along to one of Britain's largest ports - Immingham on the Humber Estuary - to see how port chaplains seek to meet the needs of those who work at sea.
"Two communities going in very different directions" is how one rabbi has described the latest findings of a report into synagogue membership. What are the implications for British Judaism?
And the Church of England's General Synod meets this weekend, where talk in the bar is likely to dominated by discussions of the fall-out from the Gibb enquiry into the handling of the Peter Ball case and the Church's safeguarding record .
Producers: Rosie Dawson
Louise Clarke-Rowbothom
The Church of England's General Synod meets in York this weekend.
Alison Steadman makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Pancreatic Cancer UK.
Registered Charity Number 1112708
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. (That's the whole address. Please do not write anything else on the front of the envelope). Mark the back of the envelope 'Pancreatic Cancer UK'.
- Cheques should be made payable to 'Pancreatic Cancer UK'.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
The Revd Dr Thabo Makgoba, Archbishop of Capetown preaches as Worship visits South Africa with former BBC world affairs correspondent Mike Wooldridge to experience faith in action in a country still making its transition from the apartheid era to a society in which the institutionally race-based politics and economy of that time no longer shapes people's lives. We will be in Soweto, the huge and sprawling township outside Johannesburg, hearing and meeting the celebrated choir of a church that was in the forefront of absorbing the suffering and the long-thwarted aspirations of black people under apartheid. We hear how today's young of South Africa are being equipped for the opportunities and challenges of the new South Africa and how its infectious music nourishes their lives and worship. There will be reflections, too, from those who lead and those who follow in furthering faith in the land that became synonymous with reconciliation, so badly needed elsewhere today. Producer: Andrew Earis.
A reflection on a topical issue.
Wildlife photographer John McPherson recalls, for Tweet of the Day, watching hooded crows working intelligently to obtain food caught by an otter on the Isle of Mull.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer Maggie Ayre.
Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.
Will tries to gather support, and Justin gets the lie of the land.
Kirsty Young's castaway is the comedian and TV presenter Sue Perkins.
She and her friend Mel Giedroyc first appeared as a comedy duo at the Edinburgh Fringe over 20 years ago and together they presented the first seven series of The Great British Bake Off.
Born at the end of the 1960s, Sue grew up in Croydon, the eldest of three siblings. By her own description a "shy and awkward" child, she nonetheless made it to Cambridge University to study English. She and Mel met at a Footlights open mic gig soon after she'd arrived. Their first joint high-profile success was landing a new live daytime programme on Channel 4 called Light Lunch, which turned them into household names.
Sue also formed a second presenting partnership, making historical food programmes with Giles Coren. When she was 38 she was diagnosed with a benign brain tumour which left her unable to have children. Sue has been in a relationship with the TV presenter Anna Richardson since 2013.
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
The 67th series of Radio 4's multi award-winning 'antidote to panel games' promises more homespun wireless entertainment for the young at heart. This week the programme pays a return visit to the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford where regulars Barry Cryer and Tim Brooke-Taylor are once again joined on the panel Andy Hamilton and Jo Brand, with Jack Dee in the chair. At the piano - Colin Sell. Producer - Jon Naismith. It is a BBC Studios production.
Dan Saladino asks if hunter gatherers, the Hadza tribe, hold the key to our future health.
Presented and produced by Dan Saladino.
The latest weather forecast.
Global news and analysis.
In the second part of this series, the journalist and author Matthew Syed continues his investigation of how and why individuals and organisations learn from their mistakes or fail to do so. In this programme he looks at the role of entrepreneurship and education.
Producer: Martin Rosenbaum.
Peter Gibbs and the panel visit Upwell in Norfolk. Helping answer the audience questions this week are Bunny Guinness, Bob Flowerdew and Christine Walkden.
The panellists offer advice on sowing a wild-flower garden on rich soil and how to stop spinach quickly running to seed, and they suggest the best trees to grow in pots.
Peter Gibbs noses around the Cambridge Botanical Gardens to find out how best to incorporate scent into your garden at home.
Produced by Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer: Laurence Bassett
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
Fi Glover with conversations about the impact of a Killers gig on disabled access, the way the music learned in childhood lives on, and a year of prom preparations in the Omnibus edition of the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
by John le Carré
2/3. When Magnus Pym disappears after his father's funeral MI6 launches an urgent manhunt to prevent his defection. But Pym is on a search of his own to solve the central mystery of his life - what made him the perfect spy. Dramatised by Robert Forrest.
Other parts are played by the cast.
Director: Bruce Young
BBC Scotland.
Matt Haig has written frankly and movingly about his struggles with depression, topped the seasonal bestseller lists with A Boy Called Christmas and The Girl Who Saved Christmas and his new novel, How To Stop Time, takes on big questions of life, death and mortality. He talks to Mariella Frostrup about his varied writing career.
Also on the programme, as part of BBC Radio 4's Queer Icon Season, Val McDermid celebrates Virginia Woolf's 1928 novel Orlando; and a literary postcard from Argentina.
Last year, Maura Dooley was poet-in-residence at the Jane Austen House Museum in Chawton, Hampshire.This is where Austen lived for the last eight years of her life and worked on her novels. While there Dooley listened a great deal, to conversations of visitors and workers, the sounds of garden and village and, most of all, the house itself. In response she wrote a series of poems, 'A Quire of Paper'. The inspiration for these is sometimes surprising; A 'Quire of Paper' is the name given, so thin are they, to cream pancakes the recipe for which is in the Austen family's household book.
'A Quire of Papers - A Poem for Jane Austen and her House ' gathers the sounds of a life Austen would recognise - the shutters being opened in the early morning (as they are each day, by the volunteers, and were by Jane and her family); footsteps on the stairs; the floorboards creaking; a C19th square piano; birdsong in the garden; horses on the road. Interwoven with these are the sounds of Jane Austen and her work reverberating now, as an industry, in contemporary life - the conversations of visitors from around the world; comments from curators and staff running the house. These are punctuated by Dooley's poems, recorded in the house and garden.
At Alton, where Jane and her sister walked all the time, there is still a market. The fruit and vegetable woman who calls out wares - exactly in the manner of street cries Jane Austen would have heard. At the edge of Chawton is a sound she could not imagine, heavy traffic roaring down on the A31. With new poetry set against the history of the place. 'A Quire of Papers - A Poem for Jane Austen and her House ' offers an unusual, contemporary and creative way to think about Jane Austen.
Presenter: Maura Dooley
Producer: Julian May.
In 2015, reporter Adrian Goldberg investigated the state of England's mental health provision and measured the promise of equal treatment for psychiatric patients against the reality on the wards of psychiatric hospitals and in the community. The notion of "parity of esteem" has been enshrined in law in 2012, and has been promoted by successive Prime Ministers, but was found in many areas to be sadly lacking.
So, two years on what progress has been made? And what more needs to be done to help patients in crisis?
Adrian talks to former NHS executive Lord Crisp, nurses and the families of those who have lost their loved ones as a result of failures in the system. Are mental health patients still regarded as equal but somehow different to those with physical ailments.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Love, family squabbles and what drives a person to murder.
We'll journey along the road to love in Ireland - and explore the story of Britain's first professional scientist who spent her life unveiling comets.
Gerald Scarfe looks within to find out what darkness feeds his satirical artistry.
Why did Josephine Baker create a family she called the Rainbow Tribe?
And how Donna Summer's 70s hit "I'm in Love" strike struck a chord for dance music.
A range of emotions are explored in Pick of the Week with Naga Munchetty .
Justin demonstrates his love and Fallon wants to be equal.
The cast of TV's hugely popular sketch show return for their second series on BBC Radio 4. Pete Baikie, Morwenna Banks, Moray Hunter, Gordon Kennedy and John Sparkes revisit some of their much-loved sketch characters, while also introducing some newcomers to the show.
In 2013, the group that made their name on Channel Four in the 1980s and 90s got back together for Radio 4's Sketchorama: Absolutely Special - which won the BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Live Scripted Comedy. The first series of The Absolutely Radio Show picked up a Celtic Media Award nomination for Best Radio Comedy.
The third episode of the series features the Little Girl with her views on what is or isn't the Truth, Frank Hovis inviting us to support his new charity, the Reverend McMinn having a surprise encounter in his local minimart with a visiting President, the Tour Guide taking us on a trip round what may possibly be Edinburgh and Calum Gilhooley giving some unhelpful and unwelcome advice to a train ticket collector. There are songs about addiction to being healthy and the joys or otherwise of middle age, a look at the perils of box set bingeing and a brand new, same-as-all-the-rest police drama about a TV detective who is always off the case.
Cast:
Peter Baikie
Morwenna Banks
Moray Hunter
Gordon Kennedy
John Sparkes
Gus Beattie
Gordon Kennedy
Produced by Gordon Kennedy and Gus Beattie.
An Absolutely/Gusman production for BBC Radio.
As part of their final Media Degree assessment at NUC in Northern Ireland, three university students - Natalie Driver, JJ Collins and Vic Grant - decide to make a podcast about a cold case which happened in Colecastle fourteen years ago. On Saturday April 26th 2003, Toby Ellis was minding his four month old nephew, Derek Ellis. He nipped into his local newsagents and left the pram outside on the street. He claimed he left the child for no longer than two minutes. During this time, the baby was abducted and six days later the infant's body was discovered buried in a nearby wooded area, Mountfort. Cause of death, a blow to the head. No one was ever charged with the murder and the case has remained on-going.
The first episode of Hiding Out is a podcast hosted by one of the students, Natalie; she reveals she is currently in hiding fearing for her safety. Having published their first podcast on The Murder at Colecastle, her fellow student Vic had received a call from someone who had heard the podcast claiming they had new evidence about the day the child was abducted. Vic and JJ met with the source. That was 3 days ago and no one has seen or heard from either Vic or JJ since... The only contact Natalie has received is a text sent from her classmate JJ's phone which reads "We're watching you. Stop this now." Natalie knows their disappearance is clearly linked to digging into the murder of Derek Ellis. If she finds them, she may finally find the truth of what happened in Colecastle. Natalie's nightly podcasts are attracting more and more interest - #whereisnatalie and #findvicandjj are rife with speculation. Are these three students actually in danger? Or - as their media lecturer believes - is this all an elaborate media hoax?
Gerard Stembridge ..... Writer
Gemma McMullan Series Producer and Director.
In the past two weeks, former party leaders Iain Duncan Smith and Ed Milliband have been taking turns replacing Jeremy Vine on his Radio 2 show. But why did they say yes to this risky venture? And what did they learn from spending time on the other side of the microphone? Ed and Iain join Roger Bolton to look back at their time on air.
The BBC has, for the first time, published an annual plan that lays out its commitments for the year ahead. But what does it mean for BBC radio listeners? Colin Browne, Chairman of the Voice of the Listener and Viewer, discusses the strategy and shares some concerns about the BBC's approach to accountability and transparency.
Only Artists has replaced Midweek in the schedule. But many of Midweek's fans are disappointed that the new series chose to leave Libby Purves' sharp interviewing behind. Meanwhile, other listeners love how the new programme gives artists more time and space to explore their work. Only Listeners debate the change.
Finally, BBC Radio 4 is in the middle of a season of dark and disturbing Dangerous Visions, dramas and readings that present an alternative vision of the future. The man behind it, BBC Radio 4's commissioning editor for Drama and Fiction Jeremy Howe, sits down with Roger to discuss the appeal of dystopia, the place of Kafka in a slate of science fiction and where the season will go next.
Producer: Will Yates
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
Matthew Bannister on
Barry Norman - best known for presenting the BBC television's Film programme,on radio he also fronted the Today Programme and the News Quiz.
Gordon Wilson, the leader who re-built the Scottish National Party after electoral defeat and internal division.
Jazz pianist and composer Geri Allen who played in a wide range of styles and was committed to the advancement of women in jazz.
John Thompson, the regulator who presided over the introduction of independent local radio in the UK.
And Jack O'Neill who made a successful business out of his obsession with surfing.
Producer: Neil George.
Constitutions put controls on the people who run countries - but how are they created and how well do they work?
In ordinary times constitutional debate often seems an abstract business without very much relevance to the way we live our lives. But political turmoil can operate like an X-ray, lighting up the bones around which the body politic is formed.
Drawing on recent political events, Edward Stourton explores the effectiveness of the constitutions of the United Kingdom, the USA and France and asks are they doing what they were meant to do?
CONTRIBUTORS
Lord Peter Hennessy, Professor of Contemporary British History, Queen Mary University of London
Alison Young, Professor of Public Law, University of Oxford
Professor Tom Ginsburg, University of Chicago Law School
Sophie Boyron, Senior Lecturer, University of Birmingham Law School
David S Bell, Professor of French Government and Politics, University of Leeds
Presenter: Edward Stourton
Producer: Richard Fenton-Smith.
Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.
Radiolab stares down the very moment of passing, and speculates about what may lie beyond. With Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich.
Radiolab is a Peabody-award winning show about curiosity. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and the human experience.
First broadcast on public radio in the USA.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Fertility holidays: Laurie talks to Amy Speier, Assistant Professor in Sociology & Anthropology at the University of Texas, Arlington, about her study of IVF tourism. Focusing on a group of North Americans travelling to the Czech Republic in search of low cost treatments, she explores reproductive travel as a form of consumption motivated by complex layers of desire for white babies, a European vacation, better health care and technological success. They're joined by Michal Nahman, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at The University of the West of England, Bristol. Also, male infertility. Alan Dolan, Associate Professor in Social Work at the University of Warwick, considers the relationship between conventional masculinity and fertility.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day, with Sarah Bradley.
Farming Today continues its summer trip around the UK, spotlighting devolved food and farming stories. This week the focus is on England - with the BBC's North East Environment Correspondent Paul Murphy sharing his thoughts on the past and present of English farming.
Panorama is set to tackle the subject of Brexit's impact on the farming sector tonight - with the former boss of Sainsbury's, Justin King, warning that leaving the EU could mean higher food prices, lower quality and less choice. But others say more global trade will help cut the cost of our weekly food bill. Tonight's Panorama reporter Tom Heap chats to Anna Hill.
There are a multitude of challenges facing honeybees today - but an event this weekend has been celebrating a new generation of young beekeepers who are promoting and protecting the species. The 2017 International Meeting of Young Beekeepers has been held in the UK for the first time; Sally Challoner went along.
Presented by Sybil Ruscoe; produced by Lucy Taylor.
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
Kim Durban recalls an encounter with a blackbird for Tweet of the Day.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer Maggie Ayre.
News and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Mariella Frostrup is joined by First News Editor Nicky Cox, Buzzfeed's James Ball, columnist and comedian Viv Groskop and former A and AS Level Critical Thinking Chief Examiner John Butterworth to discuss the value of critical thinking and how to nurture it as a habit of mind in children and young people.
They hear from Steve Bramhall who teaches philosophy and critical thinking at Aboyne Lodge Primary school in St Albans in Hertfordshire, with a class of 4 and 5 year olds and some of their parents.
Dr Nadia Siddiqui from the School of Education at Durham University shares her findings from a recent Nuffield Foundation study into the impact of the Philosophy for Children programme, in which she uncovered new data on the benefits of critical thinking skills as revealed by more than 2,500 - 9 to 12 year old pupils at 42 primary schools across the UK.
Members of the Manchester-based spoken word collective Young Identity discuss how they weigh up the truth of what they encounter in the media and on social media.
First News is published weekly. John Butterworth, with Geoff Thwaites, is author of Thinking Skills: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving. James Ball's book Post Truth - How Bullshit Conquered The World is available now and Viv Groskop's show Anchorwoman is on tour and will be at the Edinburgh Fringe this summer.
Producer: Dixi Stewart.
In his new book, Philip Hoare seeks out various shorelines, examining our need to be immersed in water. Or at least to be near it.
He arrives in Provincetown, Cape Cod, boards the Dolphin VIII, and is soon amongst loons and gannets, minkes and rorquals. He also thinks about Herman Melville and a passage from Moby Dick - 'a vast sound of sighing and sobbing' - but what is this phenomena?
Reader Tobias Menzies
Producer Duncan Minshull.
According to journalist, activist and feminist Laurie Penny, it's toxic masculinity that's killing the world. She places women's politics and gender politics at the centre of her writing. Not doing so, she says, wouldn't be just wrong, but intellectually bankrupt. There's a new collection of her writing out now called 'Bitch Doctrine: Essays for Dissenting Adults'. She joins Jane to discuss.
What's best for skin? Cleanse, tone and moisturise? Or cleanse, serum and moisturise? Facialist, Abigail James, has some suggestions.
We continue our exploration of anorexia by speaking to Professor Tim Kendall, NHS England's National Clinical Director for Mental health. He outlines the Government's strategy for eating disorders as well as its funding commitment.
And more real life stories about Dating With Difficulty. This time we talk about children. One single mum talks about the men she's dated who've been put off compared to the ones who didn't mind. And our second guest shares her story of finding a future partner when you know who can't, or don't, want children.
Tales of the City: The Days of Anna Madrigal by Armistead Maupin. Dramatised by Lin Coghlan.
Episode 6
The final series of Tales of the City. Now ninety-two, Mrs Madrigal has arrived back in her home town of Winnemucca and she recalls a troubling encounter with her friend Lasko. Meanwhile at the Burning Man Festival in Nevada, Michael tells Mary Anne of Shawna's offer.
Director/Producer Gary Brown
'The Days of Anna Madrigal' is the ninth novel of Armistead Maupin's bestselling 'Tales of the City' series. It features one of modern literature's most unforgettable characters - Anna Madrigal, the legendary landlady of 28 Barbary Lane as she embarks on a road trip that will take her deep into her past.
Isobel is a much longed for baby for Catherine and James, who want to spend as much time as possible with her on Bradford Infirmary's neo-natal unit. Being born at just 26 weeks old means she needs a good deal of mechanical intervention to survive and she has a round the clock dedicated nursing team to closely monitor her progress.
As Grace Dent hears, her chances of survival are good, but there is vigilance about possible longer term complications and in the early weeks there is concern about both her eyes and her liver. As tests continue, there is also an added burden for her parents: they both work and Catherine's job takes her round West Yorkshire collecting and disposing of all manner of pets.
It's lambing season and Catherine's older son, Joshua, sees parallels between the work going on by the Bradford neo-natal team and his own approach on the farm when it comes to very sick lambs. He helps deliver some who are too ill to survive and believes it is sometimes kinder to let them die. Medical advances give doctors far more scope to act, but as the case of baby Charlie Gard shows, such progress can bring its own problems.
As the weeks go by, Isobel makes significant progress. All seems to be going well - and then there is a change. It is a testing time for Catherine, James and their Consultant, Dr Chris Day. He knows how difficult it is to predict who will do well and although girls born early tend to do better than boys, he says Isobel still has a lot of catching up to do if she's going to reach significant milestones like breathing and feeding unaided.
Producer: Sue Mitchell.
Susan (Susan Calman) and Fiona (Ashley Jensen) are grown up sisters who live together. But that's all they have in common. Written by Susan Calman, Sisters tackles the painfully funny world of the love/hate relationship you can never escape.
Fiona's relationship with electrician and general handyman Gregg looks like it's getting serious. They first met when he came to the sisters' rescue during a self inflicted power cut. Much to Susan's irritation, Fiona's "knight in shining polyester" is becoming a regular fixture in their lives, threatening Susan's cosy existence in the flat in the process.
Will she become homeless? Or will next door neighbour Blake (Nick Helm) provide alternative accommodation?
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Warren Buffett is the world's most successful investor. In a letter he wrote to his wife, advising her how to invest after he dies, he offers some clear advice: put almost everything into "a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund". Index funds passively track the market as a whole by buying a little of everything, rather than trying to beat the market with clever stock picks - the kind of clever stock picks that Warren Buffett himself has been making for more than half a century. Index funds now seem completely natural. But as recently as 1976 they didn't exist. And, as Tim Harford explains, they have become very important indeed - and not only to Mrs Buffett.
Producer: Ben Crighton
Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon.
News and discussion of consumer affairs.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
Bridget Kendall hears how a student and a schoolgirl witnessed the North's final victory in the Vietnam War - and how many Vietnamese fled the newly communist South on small boats.
With: Nguyen Huu Thai, Minh Hoa-Ta
Producer: Phil Tinline.
Pauline McLynn and Owen O'Neil play a middle aged married couple living on a farm that straddles the Irish border. They are overwhelmed by debt. When a mysterious man they've contacted online arrives to meet them in person they hope he has the solution to all their problems.
Set on St Bridget's Day, which also happens to be the pagan festival of Imbolc, Gabriel arrives on the Ward's property suggesting a way out of their impossible money problems. Over the years, they've re-mortaged way beyond the value of the farm. Dávid, a Lithuanian migrant worker, senses something is up.
After a tour of the farm and a lunch meeting with the enigmatic Gabriel, Kath and Matthew Ward must reach a decision. Should they entrust their future to this strange businessman?
The Crossing marks a Radio 4 debut for writer Tara Hegarty and director JP McKeown.
Written by Tara Hegarty
Director: JP McKeown
Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore
Producer: Melanie Harris
Executive Producer: Jo Meek
A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4.
(2/13)
Who played the drums on the Marvelettes' recording of Please Mr Postman? And on which occasion would you routinely hear the prelude to Marc Antoine Charpentier's 17th century Te Deum?
The competitors in today's heat of the wide-ranging music quiz will be expected to know the answers to these and many other questions, as Paul Gambaccini welcomes them to the Radio Theatre in London. They'll also have to use their judgement in choosing a set of specialist questions, from a list of categories of which they've had no warning.
Today's winner will go through to the semi-finals in September.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
Film presenter Antonia Quirke speaks to key crew members working on the film and drama series that are defining modern entertainment.
In this episode Antonia meets a trio of fearless women that perform life-threatening stunts for the camera, as they break through windows, run through fires, hang from planes, crash cars and jump off buildings often in bikinis and tight clothing.
On three closed and top-secret film sets Antonia observes a dangerous stunt being performed, she meets one co-ordinator as she choreographs a traumatic battle scene and watches another stuntwoman, who doubled for Kate Winslet on Titanic, supervise a dramatic fall.
Determined and skilled, the women in this programme explain the skills both physical and mental required and disclose the social obstacles they have had to overcome and we discover their work is very much at the heart of what makes a film dramatic.
Producer: Stephen Garner.
Astronaut Special
Brian Cox and Robin Ince transport the cage to Trondheim Norway, host of this year's Starmus Festival, for an extraordinary gathering of astronauts. They are joined on stage by NASA astronauts Sandra Magnus and Terry Virts, ESA astronaut Claude Nicollier, and Apollo 16's Charlie Duke, one of the last people to have walked on the moon. They talk about their personal journeys to fulfill their long-held dreams, and literally reach for the stars. They hear from Charlie Duke about the extraordinary Apollo missions he was part of, including his role as Capsule Communicator for the very first moon landing, before taking his own first steps on the lunar surface as part of Apollo 16. They explore the different experience of astronauts from Charlie's era, and those who now become residents of space, spending months and months aboard the International Space Station, and the challenges each mission brings. And Claude Nicollier describes his epic spacewalk to repair the Hubble Telescope.
Producer: Alexandra Feachem.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
The nation's favourite wireless entertainment pays a visit to the Victoria Theatre in Halifax. Old-timers Barry Cryer and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by Susan Calman and John Finnemore with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell provides piano accompaniment. Producer - Jon Naismith. It is a BBC Studios production.
Jill's blood boils, and Jolene shares her worries.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
Anita Anand embarks on a highly personal exploration of an angry dispute which is fracturing the feminist movement.
The daughter of Indian parents, Anita was disconcerted to find herself drawn into the controversy in which black feminists were accusing white middle-class women of "whitewashing" the feminist movement, insisting they have no right to comment on issues affecting poor black women.
She became touched by the dispute after the premier of the Hollywood film Suffragette when she refused calls by black feminists to criticise the movie. They were angry that the Indian suffragette Sophia Duleep Singh, whose biography Anita had written, was not depicted. "I was urged to attack the film for being racist and to condemn suffragettes for hating women of colour," says Anita.
Though disappointed at Sophia's absence from the film, she did not feel angry. She found the whole situation confusing. She had always believed in a universal sisterhood transcending colour.
In this documentary, Anita sets out to explore the issues, re-evaluating her own beliefs and convictions by talking to feminists with a range of opinions - including US-based journalists Mona Eltahawy and Rafia Zakaria, and blogger Feminista Jones, who challenge the right of white women to comment on issues affecting poor black women.
In Britain, she talks to young black feminists like 23 year old Liv Little, the founder of gal-dem - an online and print magazine run by and for women of colour - and to white feminists such as Rachel Holmes and comedian Kate Smurthwaite, as well as Helen Pankhurst, the great-granddaughter of the suffragette leader.
Anita asks if women are stronger as a united force, or divided into groups focused on specific issues.
An Above The Title production for BBC Radio 4.
Michael Blastland asks if it's desk-bound work, rather than over-eating, which is making more and more of us obese. He hears about remarkable research which, despite received wisdom, suggests that people in the UK have reduced their calorie intake. However, they are expending far less physical energy, particularly because of new patterns of work which now require little if any bodily exertion. Michael examines projects to change individual behaviour such as corporate wellness programmes and altering office layouts - but finds it's going to be a tough sell.
Interviewees:
Dr Melanie Lührmann, Senior Lecturer, Royal Holloway
Professor Alexi Marmot, architect, UCL
Professor Andre Spicer, Cass Business School
Professor Mike Kelly, School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge University
Producers: Estelle Doyle, Phoebe Keane and Smita Patel.
Brett Westwood investigates the peaceful, hefty, cud-chewing beasts which have been by our side for thousands of years. In Natural Histories we find out what Shakespeare made of this special relationship, hear Dinka songs from the intense cattle-based cultures of South Sudan and travel to a Leicestershire dairy where robots do the milking. It's a pastoral scene and a violent one too: the fearsome virility of the bull in the poetry of Lorca, sacred cows prompting vigilante violence in India, and a Greek tyrant who would bake his victims alive in a giant metal bull, its resonance turning their cries to moos. From all this bovine history it's clear that the domestication of the cow has fundamentally changed human society.
Producer: Melvin Rickarby
Picture: 'Jogoth Mata-Go Lukhi, ca. 1960. India' courtesy of Museum of International Folk Art, gift of the Girard Foundation Collection, A.1981.28.574.
The latest weather forecast.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Montag has quit his job as fireman, burning books for a living. He has a copy of the Bible, maybe the last one in existence, and he can't burn it.
He can't talk to his wife. His only hope is Faber, a retired English professor.
Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper burns.
It's Guy Montag's job to know these things: he's a fireman and he has burned books all his life. He used to love his job, doing this service for the public, but he can't do it anymore. As his life unravels he begins to question all his beliefs.
Ray Bradbury's cult classic was first published in 1953 but it imagines a world very like 2017, in which sophisticated mass media are used to pacify and control people; love is a commodity; attention spans are short and police hunts are live entertainment.
Poetic, dazzling and shocking: Ray Bradbury's vision of the future has become terrifyingly familiar.
Abridged by Sara Davies. Read by Alex Jennings
Part of BBC Radio 4's 'Dangerous Visions' season.
A tribute presented by Liza Tarbuck.
Ronnie Corbett CBE had a career in entertainment spanning 60 years - from early days in Danny La Rue's West End Nightclub, through The Frost Report, The Two Ronnies and Sorry! to his popular Radio 4 sitcom When The Dog Dies. He achieved national treasure status in the 1970s and never lost it.
His death at the age of 85 in March of this year was marked by tributes from the Prime Minister, the First Minister of Scotland, his fellow entertainers old and young, and by his many friends and fans.
Liza Tarbuck acted with him in When The Dog Dies from 2010 to 2014 and knew him all her life. She's joined by Barry Cryer whose friendship with him started when they met at Danny la Rue's nightclub in the 1960s, David Renwick who wrote Ronnie's famous monologues on The Two Ronnies, and Ian Davidson and Peter Vincent who wrote his hit BBC1 sitcom Sorry! as well as When The Dog Dies.
They reminisce and listen to clips of Ronnie talking about his early days and career with Roy Plomley, Michael Parkinson and Kirsty Young, as well as picking favourite clips from When The Dog Dies.
The programme also contains also contributions from a couple of stars who knew him well and admired him greatly - Harry Hill and Michael Palin.
Presenter: Liza Tarbuck
Writers: Ian Davidson and Peter Vincent
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL production for BBC Radio 4.
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day, with Sarah Bradley.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
Gull researcher Peter Rock on the Lesser Black Backed Gull he ringed in Bristol turning up in the Bay of Biscay for Tweet of the Day.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer Maggie Ayre.
News and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Hilary Mantel on how fiction changes when adapted for stage or screen. Each medium, she says, draws a different potential from the original. She argues that fiction, if written well, doesn't betray history, but enhances it. When fiction is turned into theatre, or into a film or TV, the same applies - as long as we understand that adaptation is not a secondary process or a set of grudging compromises, but an act of creation in itself. And this matters. "Without art, what have you to inform you about the past?" she asks. "What lies beyond is the unedited flicker of closed-circuit TV."
The programme is recorded in Stratford-Upon-Avon in front of an audience, with a question and answer session, chaired by Sue Lawley. The producer is Jim Frank.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
Tales of the City: The Days of Anna Madrigal by Armistead Maupin. Dramatised by Lin Coghlan.
Episode 7
Mrs Madrigal remembers how Lasko tried to humiliate him.
Director/Producer Gary Brown.
From their beautiful song that ushers in the spring to our rhymes of birds stuffed in pies, Brett Westwood explores the cultural significance of the blackbird. With Mark Cocker, Hanna Tuulikki and poems by Bertolt Brecht, Seamus Heaney and Adam Zagajewski. Reader: Anton Lesser. Producer: Tim Dee.
How is modern music helping striptease to adapt its traditional image? Some of the biggest stars and producers of 21st century burlesque reveal what makes a great striptease soundtrack.
Sixty years ago it was all sassy, jazzy show tunes. Today it can be techno, post-punk, hip hop, spoken word - even sound effects.
So what's happened to the soundtrack - and the image - of striptease? We hear what works best, and what should be avoided. And we explore how the sound of contemporary and neo-burlesque can support its social, cultural and political power.
Starring:
Julie Atlas Muz (former crown holder, Miss Exotic World and Miss Coney Island)
Darlinda Just Darlinda (multiple winner, Golden Pastie Awards)
Tigger! (The Original King of Boylesque - The Godfather of Neo-Burlesque)
Nasty Canasta (The Girl with the 44DD Brain)
Luna TikTok (The Tickin' Time Bombshell)
Aurora Galore (finalist, Miss Exotic World)
Also featuring:
Zoe Ziegfeld, Fancy Feast, Lux DeLioux, DJ Scott Ewalt, DJ Momotaro
Producer: Steve Urquhart
A White Stiletto production for BBC Radio 4
Playlist:
Buddy Morrow - Night Train
Buddy Guy - What Kind Of Woman Is This
Nero's Day At Disneyland - No Money Down Low Monthly Payments
Big Spender (instrumental) - from the musical Sweet Charity
Reverend Horton Heat - D for Dangerous
Aqua - Barbie Girl
Blood Sweat and Tears - You've Made Me So Very Happy
Norman Greenbaum - Spirit In The Sky
KRS One - Sound of Da Police
Sam Taylor - Harlem Nocturne
Louis Armstrong - St Louis Blues
Sounds of various car alarms
Garbage - Number One Crush
Infected Mushroom - Saeed
Perez Prado - Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Not every baby has a mother who can breastfeed. Indeed, not every baby has a mother. In the early 1800s, only two in three babies who weren't breastfed lived to see their first birthday. Many were given "pap", a bread-and-water mush, from hard-to-clean receptacles that teemed with bacteria. But in 1865 Justus von Liebig invented 'Soluble Food for Babies' - a powder comprising cow's milk, wheat flour, malt flour and potassium bicarbonate. It was the first commercial substitute for breastmilk and, as Tim Harford explains, it has helped shape the modern workplace.
Producer: Ben Crighton
Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon.
Consumer phone-in.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
Bridget Kendall explores how 'Ostpolitik', the 1970s thaw in relations between West and East Germany, allowed family members separated by the Cold War division of their country to see each other - even as the East German secret police, the Stasi, kept watch. And she hears too how the relaxation of the border allowed a West German journalist new access to life in the East.
With: Annemarie Knecht, Lorenz Knecht, Ingrid Bartel, Eva Eberbeck, Peter Pragal
Producers: Sabine Schereck and Phil Tinline.
Fiona Shaw plays a music teacher striving for the impossible - the perfect sound. Her chosen student can't believe her luck. But the lesson soon becomes her worst nightmare.
Mika studies the recorder at Britain's most prestigious conservatoire of music. She winds up unexpectedly staying with Isla King, a recorder teacher of legendary repute. When Isla offers personal one-to-one tutoring, Mika is elated. But as she struggles with the Bach cello suites on her recorder, she realises Isla is playing from a different score. As Mika reaches for an ever more distant point of excellence, the walls close in around her.
Fiona Shaw and Erin Doherty star in this taut, psychological drama. Set in that most private of worlds - the music lesson - we are privy to the inside workings of the musical mind.
The Music Lesson is written by poet and playwright Hannah Silva, loosely inspired by her experiences studying the recorder at a world-class conservatoire. Hannah plays all the music in the drama. In collaboration with theatre director Susannah Tresilian, they have created a real-time, stripped down, psychological journey of wounded musicianship.
Writer: Hannah Silva
Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore
Director: Susannah Tresilian
Producer: Melanie Harris
Executive Producer: Jo Meek
A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4.
Helen Castor is joined by Dr Sam Willis to discuss food shortages in the First World War, Silk Roads, the history of the duffle coat and Franklin's infamous last voyage.
Food blogger Jack Monroe heads for the National Archives to learn how the submarine war in 1917 presented a serious threat to food supplies. She discovers that the rationing put in place then was successfully used again in World War Two.
Tom Holland meets the author of the best-seller Silk Roads, Peter Frankopan, to ask whether China is trying to emulate a centuries old history of trade and influence through its Belt and Road policy.
Fashion historian Amber Butchart marks the passing of author Michael Bond to explain the history of Paddington Bear's iconic duffle coat.
And Sam Willis previews Death in the Ice, a new exhibition on Franklin's ill-fated journey to find the North West passage.
Producer: Nick Patrick
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
Board games are back. Samira Ahmed sets out to uncover the modern allure of an analogue table top game in an increasingly digital world.
When a computer finally beat the world's best player of Go, we had a problem. If even the most complex game can be reduced to a mathematical procedure, are games as the embodiment of human desires and abilities doomed?
Not a chance. Board games are booming, and self-confessed board-game geek Samira Ahmed is determined to find out why.
Along the way, she meets the designers, players and everyday obsessives who throng in their thousands to shows like Essen's famous Spiel festival. She discovers how games mirror the preoccupations of our age and how they allow us to vent our instinctive desire for combat.
But could the real answer to our gaming addiction lie elsewhere? As it turns out, old-fashioned gaming seems to create a safe space like no other, where we can explore sides of our identities forbidden in real life. Samira talks to the man who rediscovered the rules of one of mankind's oldest games.
A Leaping Wing production for BBC Radio 4.
TV presenters Stacey Dooley (Stacey Dooley Investigates) and Gaia Vince ( Escape to Costa Rica) tell Harriett Gilbert about the books they love.
The Bees by Laline Paull, a story told from the point of view of a bee, is Stacey Dooley's choice. Her documentaries investigate topics such as the war on drugs, domestic abuse and the disappearance of indigenous girls in Canada.
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor is chosen by Gaia Vince, a science specialist and author.
And My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout, which deals with the complexity of mother-daughter relationships, is recommended by presenter Harriett Gilbert.
Producer Beth O'Dea.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
The globetrotting, trash-picking, aisle-rolling storyteller with more words of wit and wisdom. This week, urban myths, the truth and what it means to be called a liar in Of Mice and Men. Also, A Can of Worms, a story about overheard conversations and the right way to eat pie.
With sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, David Sedaris has become one of America's pre-eminent humour writers. The great skill with which he slices through cultural euphemisms and political correctness proves that he is a master of satire and one of the most observant writers addressing the human condition today.
David Sedaris's first book, Barrel Fever (1994), which included The SantaLand Diaries. was a critical and commercial success, as were his follow-up efforts, Naked (1997), Holidays on Ice (1997) and Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000). He became known for his bitingly funny recollections of his youth, family life and travels, making semi-celebrities out of his parents and siblings.
David Sedaris has been nominated for three Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album. A feature film adaptation of his story C.O.G. was released after a premier at the Sundance Film Festival (2013). He has been a contributor to BBC Radio 4 since 1996.
Producer: Steve Doherty
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4.
Shula has unexpected news, and Clarrie draws a line.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
Volkswagen Group faced a 15 billion fine after the US environmental protection agency found it had fitted cars with software designed to cheat official pollution tests.
Their engines seemed clean in laboratory tests; on the road they emitted much higher levels of nitrogen oxide gas which can damage our health.
Although 8.5 million VW engines in Europe were fitted with the same so-called 'defeat devices', no EU state has yet to take any action against the manufacturer.
File on 4 tells the story of how the emissions scandal has spread to manufacturers beyond Volkswagen.
Europe's MEPs have voted for a new 'real driving emissions' test, but critics accuse European Council ministers of watering it down to please their domestic car industries. A proposal for an independent EU agency to oversee emissions tests and issue sanctions was blocked.
And the manufacturers have been given breathing space before they must meet the legal emissions standards - the new legislation lets them emit beyond the pollution limits for years to come.
Diesel cars were supposed to bring down emissions of the greenhouse gas CO2. But have those plans now gone up in smoke?
The programme asks whether this is the next emissions scandal and whether Europe has the power to make cars as clean as they say they are.
Reporter: Jane Deith
Producer: Rob Cave.
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted.
Dr Mark Porter presents a series that aims to demystify perplexing health issues.
For 50 years, one of the most powerful psychoactive drugs, LSD, has been illegal in Britain. The authorities do not want you to alter your state of consciousness. In 2016, the government passed a law banning all psychoactive substances except caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine.
But can you enter altered states of consciousness without drugs? Since the 60s, experimental "psychonauts", deprived of psychedelics, have been trying. Sensory deprivation, flotation tanks, hyperventilation, and light machines are just some of the methods that are claimed to be able to put you in trance states, expand your consciousness, or even produce spiritual experiences.
Jolyon Jenkins, who has never taken LSD or even had a spiritual experience, investigates, even going so far as to construct his own retro "altered states of consciousness induction device". Will his consciousness expand, or retain its current dimensions?
Producer/presenter: Jolyon Jenkins.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Montag's boss suspects him of hiding books. The fire station alarm sounds and the firemen hurtle through the streets on a new mission to burn.
The engine booms to a halt, outside Montag's house.
Ray Bradbury's dystopian classic, abridged by Sara Davies and read by Alex Jennings.
Sean Curran reports from Westminster.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
In his new book, Philip Hoare seeks out various shorelines, examining our need to be immersed in water. Or at least to be near it.
To Scotland. To the North Sea. To Bass Rock: a 'wedding cake dropped into cold waters', where the bird life teems and where he thinks about light-houses, those built by the Stevensons.
Reader Tobias Menzies
Producer Duncan Minshull.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day, with Sarah Bradley.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
RSPB Old Moor Learning Officer John Clifton on the bee-eater for Tweet of the Day.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Two artists discuss creative questions.
Soldiers and officers speak about the issue of rank and class in the British Army of 1917, by which time many ex-public school officers had been wiped out. With Dan Snow.
In his new book, Philip Hoare seeks out various shorelines, examining our need to be immersed in water. Or at least to be near it.
He remembers family trips to Torquay, destination caravan-land. And it leads him to think about another inhabitant of this seaside town. A woman of the 1830's, a famous poet, who came to know the life maritime as a blessing and a curse..
Reader Tobias Menzies
Producer Duncan Minshull.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
Tales of the City: The Days of Anna Madrigal by Armistead Maupin. Dramatised by Lin Coghlan.
Episode 8.
Shawna is at 'Burning Man' art festival, hoping to find a father for her prospective child.
Director/Producer Gary Brown.
Friends - one of whom is a humanist celebrant - have different ideas as to what's needed at the graveside. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
Producer: Marya Burgess.
After treatment for Ovarian and breast cancer Chippy, is mad Jill is sad and Terri is definitely dangerous to know! The road back after cancer treatment can be tricky and full of obstacles. In Bad Salsa, two middle aged women and their younger friend seek to regain their zest for life and love by learning to dance at Bad Salsa, the club where everyone knows your name but no-one knows your prognosis!
Depictions of people with cancer on TV and radio too often follow a standard format; there is the diagnosis, the depression the chemo, then the false recovery followed by the tragic death.
Bad Salsa tries to paint a picture at once more hopeful and more in line with survival rates which have improved immensely over the past twenty years. For many, 'living with cancer' is now their day to day challenge. The characters in the series have finished their treatment and are in the process of finding their way back to normal life or at least finding a "new normal." As in the real world, the challenges of everyday life go on for our characters; like us they have boring marriages, distracting crushes, troublesome children, difficult workmates and infuriating parents, but unlike us their brush with mortality has given them a new perspective. The fun and excitement of the series is in watching them decide to preserve the pre-cancer status quo or in Terri's words, to say "sod it all" and "go for it!"
The series follows the women as they embrace the world of salsa whilst they adjust to life after cancer.
Writer ..... Kay Stonham
Producer ..... Alison Vernon-Smith.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
The economist Gabriel Zucman is the inventor of an ingenious way to estimate the amount of wealth hidden in the offshore banking system. In theory, if you add up the assets and liabilities reported by every global financial centre, the books should balance. But they don't. Each individual centre tends to report more liabilities than assets. Zucman crunched the numbers and found that, globally, total liabilities were eight percent higher than total assets. That suggests at least eight percent of the world's wealth is illegally unreported. Other methods have come up with even higher estimates. As Tim Harford explains, that makes the tax haven a very significant feature of the modern economy.
Producer: Ben Crighton
Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon.
Consumer affairs programme.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
Bridget Kendall hears three veterans of the Cold War proxy conflict in Angola - one Angolan, one Cuban and one South African.
With Rene Gatorno, Osvaldo Leitao Willem van der Waals
Producer: Michael Rossi.
Anna's looking for comedy material, George is looking for love. When two people inhabit completely different emotional worlds, can there ever be a happy ending? Harry McEntire and Niamh McGowan feature in this romantic comedy by Lucy Montague Moffatt.
Aspiring comedian Anna, has moved to Manchester from Ireland to try to make it on the stand-up scene. She joins a dating app, looking for excitement and material for her shows.
Mancunian undertaker George is looking for love. When he meets Anna for a first date, he is immediately smitten. She finds him endearing, but endearing like a puppy. To help him out, she offers to spruce up his dating profile. He offers to do the same for her. How can you say no to a puppy?
George's brother Will tries to persuade George to give up now. Anna's friend Tash thinks Anna is wasting her time on someone so obviously unsuitable. Romance, cynicism and undeniable attraction make for a powerful mix. Will they, or won't they ever get together? Perhaps with a little help from Cher...
In His Kiss marks a debut on Radio 4 for writer Lucy Montague Moffatt and director Julia Ford.
Writer: Lucy Montague Moffatt
Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore
Piano arrangements and performance: Sarah Spencer
Director: Julia Ford
Producer: Melanie Harris
Executive Producer: Jo Meek
A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4.
Financial phone-in.
Sociological discussion programme, presented by Laurie Taylor.
Topical programme about the fast-changing media world.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Alec is late as usual. But Percy is wearing different socks. Something big is brewing.
Michael Palin joins Cabin Pressure actor and writer John Finnemore in the last of this series of two-handers.
Written by John Finnemore
Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
Ruth has a decision to make, and Roy makes a bad first impression.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk. With Matthew Taylor, Melanie Phillips, Jill Kirby and Shiv Malik..
Hanna Pickard says we need to understand the reasons why desperate people become addicted to drugs, seeing them neither as "victims of a neurobiological disease", nor as "selfish, lazy hedonists".
"Choosing to use drugs, including alcohol, to gain pleasure and escape from life's banality, isn't the same as choosing to use drugs to relieve suffering."
Recorded at the Phoenix Artist Club in London.
Presenter: Helen Zaltzman
Producer: Sheila Cook.
Yogita Limaye investigates concerns, highlighted in a United Nations study, that vitally important reserves of sand are running out, with serious consequences for human society and the planet.
Sand is quite literally the foundation of our society. Nearly everything we build in the modern world is made from concrete and its most integral component is sand. But the resource takes thousands of years to form and we're consuming it faster than it is being replenished.
UK Geologist Andrew Bloodworth says that much of the way we're mining sand is unsustainable. Around the world we're taking from active ecosystems - river beds, beaches and the sea floor increasing the risk of droughts, coastal flooding and causing damage to fisheries.
In Mumbai, Yogita meets environmental campaigner Sumaira Abdulali who has been threatened and violently attacked for her work in highlighting sand mining. In many parts of the country, sand mining without a permit is now illegal - but she says that has only pushed the practice underground creating 'sand mafias'.
In Goa, Professor Purnanand Savoikar is working to reduce our dependence on sand. He's researching ways to make concrete by partially replacing sand with recycled waste plastic. Professor John Orr from the University of Bath says 10% of sand can be saved in this way if applied globally. He says there is a huge amount of wastage in the way we design buildings.
Pascal Peduzzi of the United Nations Environment Programme believes doing nothing is not an option - only a wholesale change in attitudes can prevent irreversible damage to the planet.
Producer: Matt Willis
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest weather forecast.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Beatty is dead. Montag is on the run from the authorities and the chase is being broadcast live.
Ray Bradbury's dystopian classic, abridged by Sara Davies and read by Alex Jennings.
Comedy drama by Pete Jackson, set in Alcoholics Anonymous and inspired by his own road to recovery. Starring Sue Johnston, John Hannah, Eddie Marsan, Rebecca Front, Paul Kaye and Julia Deakin.
The programme follows the lives of five very different recovering alcoholics. Set entirely at their weekly meetings, we hear them get to know each other, learn to hate each other, argue, moan, laugh, fall apart, fall in love and, most importantly, tell their stories.
There are funny stories, sad stories, stories of small victories and milestones, stories of loss, stories of hope, and stories that you really shouldn't laugh at - but still do. Along with the storyteller.
In the first programme, Fiona (Rebecca Front), a competitive and snobby ex-banker, tries to come to terms with the fact that she might have more in common with the rest of the group than she'd like to admit.
Writer Pete Jackson is a recovering alcoholic and has spent time with Alcoholics Anonymous. It was there he found, as many people do, support from the unlikeliest group of disparate souls, all banded together due to one common bond. As well as offering the support he needed throughout a difficult time, AA also offered a weekly, sometimes daily, dose of hilarity, upset, heartbreak and friendship.
Written and created by Pete Jackson
Produced and Directed by Ben Worsfield
A Lucky Giant production for BBC Radio 4.
by Jenny Eclair.
Bea can tell you how to peel an onion without crying or how to make the perfect pavlova. In her Shaker style kitchen she prepares a very special Birthday cake for her husband and reflects on a lifetime of culinary success and marital woe.
Produced by Sally Avens.
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day, with Sarah Bradley.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
Paul Brook discusses heading a garden warbler for Tweet of the Day.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer Maggie Ayre.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
In 1883 a grass-roots political organisation was founded that re-shaped Victorian politics. The Primrose League signed up a million members and an army of Conservative activists who helped win elections by reaching out to new Tory voters in industrial cities and rural shires.
Today another innovative grass-roots organisation is proving influential. Emerging from Jeremy Corbyn's 2015 leadership campaign, Momentum has proved highly effective at winning over new Labour voters, swapping the magic lantern shows and Stately Home fetes of the Primrose League for a cutting edge social media campaign.
Jonathan Freedland and his guests compare electioneering in the nineteenth century and today and explore the often troubled relationship between grass-roots organisations and the parliamentary parties they support . They also ask whether the Conservatives need a latter-day Primrose League to boost their electoral appeal, particularly with younger, urban voters.
Joining Jonathan are Dr Jon Lawrence of the University of Cambridge, James Kanagasooriam of Populus and the journalists Sebastian Payne and Ellie-Mae O'Hagan. Laura Morgan is the reader.
Producer: Julia Johnson.
Mark Steel has two addictions: stand-up comedy (his job) and sport (watching, playing, talking about it). He's certain that the two have much in common - risk taking, performance anxiety, dealing with crowd hostility and more. His guest this week is former Premiership and England footballer, Graeme Le Saux, whose strategies for coping with playing at the highest level are more similar than you might think to Mark's own experiences - especially when it comes to dealing with crowds who don't really like you.
In this series, he meets Dr. Faye Didymus, a sports psychologist at Leeds Beckett University (who was impressed by his flow-state, but would like him to reduce his dependence on ironing). And Mark also meets former World Champion snooker player, John Parrott. All three programmes are available as podcasts after broadcast. And there are extra, un-broadcast, bits in the John Parrott & Graeme Le Saux podcasts.
Producer in Bristol: Karen Gregor.
In his new book, Philip Hoare seeks out various shorelines, examining our need to be immersed in water. Or at least to be near it.
To a dry dock in Portsmouth, then to Greenwich, to enjoy special access to sartorial artefacts worn by a legend of the high-seas - "there's a naval strategy to this design: the sweep of the lapel, the rise of the collar, the arch of the pockets."
Time hasn't diminished allure of such a coat, nor memory of its wearer..
Reader Tobias Menzies
Producer Duncan Minshull.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
Tales of the City: The Days of Anna Madrigal by Armistead Maupin. Dramatised by Lin Coghlan.
Episode 9
Mrs Madrigal meets Lasko's son.
Director/Producer Gary Brown.
Reports from writers and journalists around the world. Presented by Kate Adie.
Radio 4 documentary.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
In 1876 John Warne Gates described the new product he hoped to sell as "lighter than air, stronger than whiskey, cheaper than dust". We simply call it barbed wire. The advertisements of the time touted it this fence as "The Greatest Discovery Of The Age". That might seem hyperbolic, even making allowances for the fact that the advertisers didn't know that Alexander Graham Bell was just about to be awarded a patent for the telephone. But - as Tim Harford explains - while modern minds naturally think of the telephone as transformative, barbed wire wreaked huge changes in America, and much more quickly.
Producer: Ben Crighton
Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon.
Consumer affairs programme.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
Bridget Kendall presents an oral history of the early Cold War.
A story of myth and faith set at this year's St David's Day celebrations in the city of the same name.
The legends of Welsh saints are full of sex and violence - but you can also find faith in Britain's smallest city. It might seem that St David's Day in St Davids is just full of fun and games for the children, but for two of this year's pilgrims it's a serious business as they seek help and guidance from two Welsh saints.
The writer Douglas Livingstone and director Jane Morgan have taken various "Roads" over the years - visiting an event and recording the sounds particular to it before Douglas writes a play based on their experiences.
Their first play, the Sony Award winning Road to Rocio, was about a pilgrimage in Andalusia and this year's play is also about a pilgrimage - a handful of people making their way from St. Non's Well, where St Non gave birth to David, to the cathedral in Britain's smallest city. For the children it's all about the Dragon's Parade in the city, but for many it's a profound experience and two of the pilgrims need considerable help and guidance from the Welsh saints.
A largely Welsh cast is headed by the young English actress Faye Castelow (RSC and National Theatre) and they're supported ably by the people of St. Davids themselves. It's a beautifully dramatic mix of ancient myth, dragons, adultery and faith with special recordings made on location.
Written by Douglas Livingstone
Directed by Jane Morgan
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
For 75 years a stately home near Reading has eavesdropped on the world. As BBC Monitoring changes, Caz Graham hears why the organisation is leaving Caversham.
Caz speaks to staff past and present to hear about the vital daily work conducted behind the grand portico, amidst splendid grounds, listening in to and translating radio broadcasts since 1943.
Retired staff recall being on shift when major world events occurred, such as the deaths of Stalin, Franco and Brezhnev. With its roots in short wave technology, Caversham's sensitive radio aerials and satellites could be retuned to listen in to countries around the world. Current manager at BBC Monitoring, Chris Greenway, describes the organisation's work today, for example tracking social media and the broadcasting activities of Islamic State (IS).
Producer: Mark Smalley.
Warren Beatty tells Francine Stock about the making of Bonnie And Clyde in the year of its 50th anniversary.
Adam Rutherford explores the science that is changing our world.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
'The Pin' is a double-act comedy show which sees Alex and Ben revise, tweak and comment on their sketches as they go, deconstructing the boundary between them and the listener, revealing the twisted logic behind their skewed approach to comedy and life.
This is the third series from The Pin, with their first two series having won them a slew of awards and fans ranging from David Walliams to Ben Stiller.
In this episode, in a desperate bid not to be cut, Alex and Ben are determined to prove they can be educational...
- 'The Pin prove it's still possible to play with the conventions of the medium of sketch comedy. The Pin also has a property not shared by as many programmes as you might wish. It will actually make you laugh.' - The Guardian
- 'Knowing and inventive. a blast.' - The Times
- 'The sketches are funny, and made special by Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen also examining, subverting and reversing familiar tropes. The material is excellent.' - Radio Times
Written and performed by Ben Ashenden and Alex Owen.
Featuring Steve Brodie and Jo Enright.
Produced by Sam Bryant.
A BBC Studios Production.
Lilian has got her hands full, and Brian gets another talking to.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
Series looking at important issues in the news. Presented by David Aaronovitch.
Evan Davis presents the business magazine.
The latest weather forecast.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Faber has done what he can to help Montag. Now he's on his own, with the deadly Mechanical Hound in pursuit: the chase broadcast live into every home.
Ray Bradbury's dystopian classic, abridged by Sara Davies and read by Alex Jennings.
The Daphne boys host a charity gala night in George's native Wolverhampton, where guests include award-winning author Caitlin Moran. All seems to be going swimmingly before George makes a shocking confession.
As usual they are joined by their live band, The Daphnettes and renown opera singer Sir Willard White.
Written by and starring: Jason Forbes, Phil Wang & George Fouracres
with Celeste Dring, Jack Kirwan, Sir Willard White and special guest the actual Caitlin Moran
Original music composed by Jeff Carpenter
Orchestrator: Simon Nathan
The Daphnettes were the London Musical Theatre Orchestra:
Musical Director - Freddie Tapner
Violin - Debs White
Cello - Nick Squires
Trumpet - Michael Maddocks
Trombone - Elliot Pooley
Tenor Sax - Joe Atkin Reeves
Drum Kit - Ben Hartley
Percussion - Ben Burton
Piano - Jon Ranger
Bass - Jack Cherry
The Production Coordinator was Hayley Sterling
It was produced by Matt Stronge and was a BBC Studios production.
Sean Curran reports from Westminster.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day, with Sarah Bradley.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
Wildlife cameraman Nigel Bean relives the moment he discovered a water rail nest deep among a reedbed in west Wales, a nest that became the star of a BBC Springwatch series
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer Tom Bonnett.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
In his new book, Philip Hoare seeks out various shorelines, examining our need to be immersed in water. Or at least to be near it.
A final quest sees him going to Bantry Bay. He's previously been swimming with whales and dolphins, but never with 'aurelia aurita', let alone 'chrysaora hysoscella'. Truth be told, it's quite an unnerving experience with these unpredictable creatures..
Reader Tobias Menzies
Producer Duncan Minshull.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
Tales of the City: The Days of Anna Madrigal by Armistead Maupin. Dramatised by Lin Coghlan.
Episode 10
Concluding episode of the final series. Mrs Madrigal arrives at the Burning Man Festival and is feted like the living legend that she is.
Anna......................Kate Harper
Brian......................Simon Lee Phillips
Wren....................Julie Teal
Michael...................Trevor White
Shawna..................Suzie Grimsdick
Andy.....................Oscar Porter
Ben.......................Martin T Sherman
Mary Anne.............Barbara Barnes
Jake.....................Fox Fisher
Director/Producer Gary Brown.
Fifty years ago, Edward de Bono coined the term "lateral thinking". From Blair to Branson, the Eurythmics to Gorbachev, de Bono's influence has been impressive. Stephen Smith dons his lateral thinking cap to ask how this concept - berated by many for its intellectual scope - has become a by-word for creativity.
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
As Bristol's most challenged NHS surgery reels from one crisis to another, there are questions to be asked about health and safety, funding, complaints procedures, patient numbers, secure record keeping and the sheer number of patients who will insist on getting ill. Guest starring Monica Dolan as the last of the single-handers.
Escaping the chaos of his understaffed surgery, Dr Roy (Nigel Planer) goes for dinner with an old flame, who runs a single-handed practice somewhere on the Downs, and he dreams mistily of life as a solo GP. Back at Polyoaks, the patients are spilling out into the car park as increasingly desperate practice manager Nurse Monica (Polly Frame) struggles to persuade the doctors to cut appointment times.
Her cause is a forlorn one, as Dr Jeremy has been seconded to A&E, because of the pressure on hospital emergency departments, and Dr Hugh (Simon Greenall) is increasingly preoccupied with NHS politics.
Writers: Dr Phil Hammond and Mr David Spicer
Director: Frank Stirling
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Flamboyant American retailer Harry Gordon Selfridge introduced Londoners to a whole new shopping experience, one honed in the department stores of late-19th century America. He swept away previous shopkeepers' customs of keeping shopper and merchandise apart to one where "just looking" was positively encouraged. In the full-page newspaper adverts Selfridge took out when his eponymous department store opened in London in the early 1900s, he compared the "pleasures of shopping" to those of "sight-seeing". He installed the largest plate glass windows in the world - and created, behind them, the most sumptuous shop window displays. His adverts pointedly made clear that the "whole British public" would be welcome - "no cards of admission are required". Recognising that his female customers offered profitable opportunities that competitors were neglecting, one of his quietly revolutionary moves was the introduction of a ladies' lavatory. Selfridge saw that women might want to stay in town all day, without having to use an insalubrious public convenience or retreat to a respectable hotel for tea whenever they wanted to relieve themselves. As Tim Harford explains, one of Selfridge's biographers even thinks he "could justifiably claim to have helped emancipate women."
Producer: Ben Crighton
Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon.
Consumer news and issues.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
Bridget Kendall presents an oral history of the early Cold War.
Theresa Ikoko's award-winning play is the story of three teenage girls who are kidnapped from their school in Nigeria. With their world turned upside down, can their close friendships endure as they struggle to survive their ordeal. There are jokes and fights, hope and despair in equal measure as they wait to see if they have been abandoned to their fate.
Directed by Abigail Gonda
Theresa Ikoko won the Alfred Fagon Award in 2015 and the George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright in 2016. She studied psychology and has a Masters in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Theresa has had a variety of roles in prisons, secure settings and social inclusion/community engagement projects and now works in the area of gangs and serious youth violence.
Horticultural panel programme.
Events after a concert on London's South Bank transport Gustav back to the Prague of his youth. Written by Federica Lugaresi and specially-commissioned for Radio 4.
Federica Lugaresi is from Cesena, Italy, and now lives in London. In 2016 she graduated from Birkbeck with an honours degree in Creative Writing. Her work has appeared in The Mechanics' Institute Review Online, and has been shortlisted for the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize and the BlueCat Screenplay Competition. The New World is her first story for radio.
Writer: Federica Lugaresi
Reader: Jonathan Coy
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
Obituary series, analysing and celebrating the life stories of people who have recently died.
Radio 4's forum for audience comment.
Friends debate whether the one with faith should pray for the other, who doesn't believe. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
Producer: Marya Burgess.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Recorded the day before transmission, the satirical sketch show remains as sharp and topical as ever. Impressions and caricatures are the charming couriers of explosively satirical truth-bombs.
The series is written by Private Eye writers Tom Jamieson and Nev Fountain, together with Tom Coles, Ed Amsden, Sarah Campbell, Laurence Howarth, James Bugg, Laura Major, Max Davis, Jack Bernhardt and others.
The series stars Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Lewis MacLeod, Deborah Stephenson and Duncan Wisbey.
A BBC Studios Production.
Tom is keen to attract attention, and Matt aims not to please.
News, reviews and interviews from the worlds of art, literature, film and music.
Ed Stourton presents political debate from Heswall Hall on the Wirral with the Shadow Attorney General Shami Chakrabarti, the SNP's Europe Spokesman at Westminster Stephen Gethins MP, and the Sunday Telegraph columnist Simon Heffer.
A reflection on a topical issue.
Bridget Kendall hears stories from the Cold War, from the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War to Poland's 'Solidarity' movement.
Producer: Phil Tinline.
The latest weather forecast.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Montag has found friends and evaded the authorities, for now. There may be a way to save the books that still exist, and even those that do not.
Ray Bradbury's dystopian classic, abridged by Sara Davies and read by Alex Jennings.
Mark D'Arcy reports from Westminster.
The need for a spiritual life took a husband and wife to different religions - Catholicism for one, Judaism for the other. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
Producer: Marya Burgess.