The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Despite many periods of separation, John Osborne and Pamela Lane managed to remain in love, although Pamela's increasing requests for money took their toll on the relationship.
A completely fresh insight into the mind of one of the UK's greatest playwrights, the letters between John Osborne and his first wife, actress Pamela Lane, are also a love letter to a now defunct system of repertory theatre and life in post-war Britain.
As these letters reveal, soon after their divorce, Osborne and Lane began a mutually supportive, loyal, frequently stormy and sometimes sexually intimate alliance lasting thirty years until Osborne's death. By the mid- 1980s, they had become closer and more trusting than they had been since their earliest years together.
"You are for me what you always were," Pamela told him, "I am in love with you still."
It is, he declared, "my fortune to have loved someone for a lifetime."
Acerbic, witty, candid and heartbreaking, the letters reveal a unique relationship - troubled, tender and enduring.
The author, Peter Whitebrook, was born in London and has written and broadcast extensively on the theatre and literature. His co-adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath won a Fringe First Award. His biography of John Osborne was nominated for both the Sheridan Morley Prize for biography and the Theatre Book Prize.
Read by Simon Shepherd and Amanda Root
Abridged by Polly Coles
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A reading and a reflection to start the day, with the Rev Dr Stephen Wigley, chair of the Wales Synod of the Methodist Church.
iPM listeners tell of their encounters with potholes and share their expertise on how we can improve Britain's roads. And a listener rediscovers her family's connection with Enoch Powell, 50 years after his Rivers of Blood speech.
Plus Sarah Montague reads Your News.
iPM is the news programme that starts with its listeners. Email ipm@bbc.co.uk. Twitter: @BBCiPM. Presented by Eddie Mair and Luke Jones. Produced by Cat Farnsworth.
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
Actress Dominique Moore visits forests, moors and parkland around Doncaster to find out how young people here are using the countryside.
Rural landscapes in this area tend to be sandwiched between motorways, airports and industrial parks, but there are places to escape for a breath of fresh air, if you look carefully. And in Bawtry Forest, you won't just find trees. You might also bump into a couple of tanks or a helicopter from a film set, at the home of the largest paintballing centre in Europe. Owner Karl Broadbent says that young people think about the outdoor spaces through the prism of the computer games they play at home.
Being tied to a screen can adversely affect your mental health, according to young graduates Megan Humphries and Helen Earnshaw, who are part of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's 'Tomorrow's Natural Leaders' scheme. They are setting up an eco-therapy project to enable people to improve their mental well-being in the outdoors at the Trust's Potteric Carr Reserve.
Dominique also meets 19 year old Suzanne Lines, an apprentice with Flying Futures, at Hatfield Moor. Learning survival skills on the National Citizen's Service course helped her discover a passion for the outdoors which she had never suspected. Now she leads groups of young people in alternative provision education, building fires and searching for adders on the Moor.
The last visit is to meet the lions at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, which hosts 'ranger' training for young people on week-long courses in animal husbandry. The large carnivores are always popular with teenagers, according to Rachel Ford. But it's a shock for Dominique to go behind the scenes and visit the Meat Store. Hand-feeding the wallabies, on the other hand, is hard to resist.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
The latest weather forecast.
News and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by history obsessive Dr Lucy Worsley, whose mission is to make history accessible: she writes books for adults and children, she presents TV documentaries, often dressing up as historical characters to further tell their tales, and she is also Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces. Her latest book is about Jane Austen, who, Lucy says, was one of the most important Georgians.
Brian Conley might be best known as the host of his eponymous show, but he's played lead roles in musicals such as Me and My Girl, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Hairspray, Oliver!, The Music Man, Barnum and Jolson for which he was nominated for a prestigious Laurence Olivier Award. He's presented the Royal Variety Performance on eight occasions and appeared on TV shows such as The Grimleys and Time after Time and recorded three albums. He joins us in the middle of his latest tour: 'Still the Greatest Entertainer in His Price Range'.
Elizabeth Noble is a writer of fiction who mourns the demise of the letter. She has kept letters from parents, lovers, and children and finds them not only treasures in themselves but also with content even more revealing years later.
Listener Neil Rushton contacted us about a hobby of his - ice water swimming, which he does in a club run by Pauline Barker, who is the UK Country Ambassador for the International Ice Swimming Association. She joins us to talk about swimming in zero temperatures.
JP Devlin goes to Sheffield in search of the Record collector store for Record Store Day.
Samuel West chooses his Inheritance Tracks - Dory Previn's Play it again Sam and Matt Bianco's Get out of your lazy bed.
'Jane Austen at Home' and 'Lady Mary', are both by Lucy Worsley
Brian Conley's show 'Still the Greatest Entertainer in his Price Range' is touring the UK until June
Brian Conley's new TV series starts 16th April on Channel 4 'Buy it now'
Elizabeth Noble's latest novel is 'Letters to Iris'.
Jay Rayner and the panel visit Burton on Trent. Zoe Laughlin, Tim Anderson, Nisha Katona and Tim Hayward answer the culinary questions.
Produced by Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer: Laurence Bassett
Food Consultant: Anna Colquhoun
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
A look behind the scenes at Westminster.
Reports from writers and journalists around the world. Presented by Kate Adie.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
There's been a big increase over the past year in the number of young people acting as money mules. That's the name for people who are offered a fee to receive money into their bank account and then the cash is passed to someone else. It's illegal - as often what the money mule is doing is laundering the proceeds of crime. Money Box reporter Marie Keyworth spoke to 17 year old 'Holly' who was approached on social media to 'lend' her bank account to a stranger. The teenager was challenged by her bank, her account closed down and a warning flag put against her name. She talks to Money Box about living with the consequences of what she's done. The programme also hears from Mike Hayley, deputy chief executive of the financial fraud reporting agency, CIFAS.
'Dear business account holder we would like to encourage you to move your account to one of our competitors. Yours Royal Bank of Scotland.' That's the essence of the letters that are currently being sent out to 220,000 small and medium sized businesses who bank at RBS. The bank also has to stump up £775mn to encourage business customers to switch to newer rivals and to help the latter develop their technology. RBS has been told to do this, following an agreement between the UK Government and the European Commission. Independent banking expert, Frances Coppola explains why this is happening and whether the exercise will really stimulate competition in the business banking sector.
Presenter: Paul Lewis
Producer: Lesley McAlpine
Editor: Jim Frank.
Miles Jupp is joined by Michael Deacon, Kerry Godliman, Jeremy Hardy and Felicity Ward for a satirical review of the week's news.
Tonight the panel discuss the parliamentary debate over military action in Syria, the treatment of the Windrush Generation and the best way to get out of a binding gym contract in Belgium.
Written by James Kettle, Jenny Laville and Benjamin Partridge with additional material by Laura Major, Mike Shephard and Michael Stranney.
Produced by Joe Nunnery
A BBC Studios Production.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate from Bridlington Priory in East Riding of Yorkshire with a panel including Shadow Treasury Minister Anneliese Dodds MP, former diplomat Sir Mark Lyall Grant, the Archbishop of York John Sentamu and the Housing, Communities and Local Government Minister Rishi Sunak MP.
Listeners have their say on the issues discussed on Any Questions?
John Wyndham's science fiction novel adapted by Val McDermid. Performed with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in a terrifying modern retelling of alien invasion and global flooding. Starring Tamsin Greig, Paul Higgins and Richard Harrington.
The floods have recently devastated parts of Britain. But what if the flood waters never subsided? What if an apparent meteor shower was actually the invasion fleet of an alien race, incubating in the ocean deeps until they were ready to begin their war of attrition against the human race? What if we were trapped on a drowning planet?
Val McDermid is a long-time fan of Wyndham's work and retells this dramatic novel in light of contemporary fears of climate change.
Recorded with a live orchestral accompaniment from the BBC Philharmonic. Composer Alan Edward Williams worked with Val to create a brand new 50's B movie inspired orchestral score that takes on the role of the unseen Kraken during the performance .
Episode 2:
Following the remote, far flung lone alien attacks, Europe is now under attack too. When people fight back, the sea tanks withdraw, the attacks abate and there is a silence. It is short lived. A new form of attack takes hold. The weather is changing. Banks of fog smother the world. And the sea level is rising. Rivers begin bursting their banks, tracts of the country become uninhabitable and civil society starts to break down. The lights are going out all over the world. Silence.
Mike and Phyllis fight to survive as much of the world is submerged and most of the global population dead or displaced.
Performed 'as live' with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Composer: Prof Alan E Williams
Conductor: Clark Rundell
Director and Producer: Justine Potter
A Savvy production for BBC Radio 4.
Growing up in upstate New York, it wasn't a surprise that Claron McFadden wanted to be a singer - she was immersed in gospel music at church, soul and pop at home. That she aspired to be a classical soprano was, as she describes it, no choice at all. Her voice led her there.
Having lived in Amsterdam for over thirty years - a place she instantly recognised as home - she now inhabits a space somewhere between America and Europe, just as her voice is at home in music across stylistic boundaries and eras.
With hard-edged modern music by Brian Ferneyhough, an elegant aria by Rameau, Gershwin's Summertime, a jazz arrangement of Bach and even a visceral performance of Erwin Schulhoff's Sonata Erotica, Claron talks with Alan Hall about the life she's shared with her voice.
Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
Highlights from the Woman's Hour week.Presented by Jane Garvey
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed
Editor:Jane Thurlow.
Coverage of the day's news.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Clive Anderson and Nikki Bedi are joined by Jane Horrocks, Imogen Stubbs and Will Young for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Mr Jukes and Namvula.
Producer: Tim Bano.
Mark Coles profiles Pulitzer Prize winning rapper Kendrick Lamar, whose concepts and ideas are changing hip-hop culture.
Lamar won the award for his latest album Damn, which also collected five Grammy awards in January and is praised for lyrics which reveal the complexity of modern African-American life.
Growing up in the deprived city of Compton, California, Lamar credits his father with keeping him on the right path and providing the balance that some of his peers were missing. His second Album Good Kid, Mad City tells the stories of young black men trying to escape the negative influences surrounding them.
Lamar's lyrical journey explores violence, depression, religion and also the limits of fame and fortune, he's the rapper who says that helping the next generation find positivity and God is where it's at.
Let The Sunshine In, directed by Claire Denis is a French film starring Juliette Binoche as a divorced Parisienne dealing with love and looking for a relationship that will work for her
The latest West End jukebox musical Tina is about the tumultuous life of Tina Turner and her transformation from Anna Mae Bullock - born into rural poverty in the Southern USA - into half of Ike-and-Tina-Turner and a disastrous violent marriage into a world-conquering solo superstar
Aminatta Forna's new novel Happiness follows the story of two strangers who bump into each other on Waterloo Bridge in London and their intertwining narratives. An urban wildlife expert and a psychiatrist specialising in PTSD share a lot in common
Marina Amaral is a photograph colourisation expert and her work is much admired. She has colourised photographs of prisoners at Auschwitz and gained plaudits from the general public and survivors groups but does altering a historical document change our understanding of its meaning?
BBC TV's latest Sunday night series is an adaptation of Wilkie Collins' The Woman In White
Tom Sutcliffe's guests are David Olusoga, Shahidha Bari and Maev Kennedy. The producer is Oliver Jones.
In April 1988, Margaret Thatcher drove in the first pile of the building that was to be the tallest in Britain and to represent her vision of renewal, free markets and international finance. Thirty years on, journalist Jane Martinson looks back on the aspirations and speaks to those who have grown up and grown old in the shadow of Canary Wharf.
Thirty years ago, work began on a tower destined to transform London into a global financial capital. Canary Wharf, completed in 1991, heralded a new world order in which new jobs and new buildings were meant to improve the lives of all Londoners, not least the mainly white working class residents at the bottom of its 50 floors.
In 1987, the Isle of Dogs was an area of high unemployment and the highest concentration of council homes in England. Today, tensions over low paid jobs and housing are huge. While there have been winners and losers from the changes of the past three decades, the voices of these residents, particularly white working class women, have all too rarely been heard.
This programme mixes archive of the time - rich in promise of future prosperity - with a series of intimate and revealing conversations between the denizens of the Isle of Dogs today with someone who knows this area well - because it is where she grew up. Jane Martinson lived in a council house, went to the local comprehensive and worked on a local market stall on Saturdays before going on to become a journalist. Join her on a journey home to a changed Britain.
Martin Jarvis reprises his award-winning Broadway characterisation as Jeeves. Comic mastery directed by Rosalind Ayres and also starring Joanna Lumley, Ian Ogilvy and Michael York.
When Bertie Wooster (James Callis) embarks on an errand of matrimonial mercy down at Totleigh Towers, he needs all the help he can get from Jeeves (Martin Jarvis). Why? Because there's trouble between Madeline Bassett and Gussie Fink-Nottle. She's forcing Gussie to become a vegetarian. If Gussie refuses to abandon steak and kidney pies, Madeleine will dump him and marry Bertie. Can Wooster avoid such a fate?
Also, human gorilla Roderick Spode (Adam Godley) is besotted by Madeline and loathes Bertie, mistakenly viewing him as a rival. A midnight encounter between Bertie and an Aberdeen terrier doesn't help.
And Bertie's host Sir Watkyn Bassett (Ian Ogilvy) suspects he has designs on a valuable statuette. Joanna Lumley pitches in as dominant Aunt Dahlia, with Michael York as whisky-sodden Major Plank.
Can Jeeves sort it all out?
Dramatised by Archie Scottney
Sound Design: Mark Holden
Director: Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
Is the law fair to asylum seekers? Clive Anderson asks his expert guests if the law makes it too hard for people to prove they have a legitimate claim to asylum.
Around 30,000 people with immigration status issues are currently being held in UK detention centres, some for considerable lengths of time and in what NGOs have described as highly unsatisfactory conditions.
The UK is the only European Union country with no time limit on immigration detention. Issues arising from the UK's immigration detention system have led to a series of official inquiries.
Clive and his guests discuss concerns that it is currently too difficult for asylum seekers to prove who they are and where they have come from, or to convince the authorities that they have been persecuted because of their race, religion or sexuality. Campaigners claim that LGBT asylum seekers are often put though humiliating procedures to prove their sexual identity.
Producer: Matt Willis
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4.
(8/17)
Russell Davies returns to the Radio Theatre in London for the seventh heat in the 2018 general knowledge tournament. The questions cover everything from Spanish painting and Shakespeare to astronomy and the history of mathematics. A semi-final place awaits today's winner. There will also be a chance for a Brain of Britain listener to win a prize, by outwitting the Brains with questions of his or her own devising.
Today's competitors are:
Dan Adler, an IT consultant from Farnham in Surrey
Debbie Green, a puzzle magazine editor from Leatherhead, also in Surrey
Garry Holland, a writer from Didcot in Oxfordshire
Steve Lacey, a mortgage adviser from Corby in Northamptonshire
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
'My assigned counsellor told me I used
poetry to hide from myself, unhook
the ballast from my life; a floating ruse
of surreal jokes.'
Paul Farley brings together two poets working on opposite sides of the Atlantic whose latest work explores addiction and recovery with surrealism and dark wit. Caroline Bird's fifth collection, In These Days of Prohibition, has been shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry, while the Iranian-American poet Kaveh Akbar's debut collection Calling a Wolf a Wolf was published in the UK in early 2018 to great acclaim.
Produced by Mair Bosworth.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Alexa met Jim online. Most men hauled half a lifetime of baggage with them to the pub. But Jim was different. He didn't take it seriously.
A short story for radio by Anthony Adeane. Produced in Bristol by Becky Ripley.
Anthony Adeane is a journalist and writer. His first book, Out of Thin Air, came out in March 2018.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
Bells on Sunday comes from the Church of St Peter ad Vincula, Combe Martin in Devon. The 90 feet high West Tower contains a peal of eight bells cast by the Whitechapel Foundry of Mears & Stainbank in 1922. We hear members of the St Branock's Society ringing Yorkshire Surprise Major.
The latest national and international news.
Dr Rowan Williams, the Master of Magdalene College Cambridge, sets out to discover the true meaning and purpose of pilgrimage. He reveals that it's not so much a physical journey, but more of an internal search which realises the destination was not so far from where we started.
Rowan explains, "Pilgrimage prepares us for death simply by reminding us that we are not, to quote one of Iris Murdoch's novels, "that buzzing, blooming confusion" we carry around with us, the anxious, ambitious, defensive, greedy self we have constructed, which panics at the idea of loss or helplessness. We are held in a patient and generous truth, new every moment. We can dismiss the worrying over whether we deserve love or peace or homecoming. We are already there."
In the company of John Bunyan's Christian, we travel through Jerusalem and Santiago accompanied by a 14th Century English writer from Nottinghamshire, Walter Hilton, and the insights of TS Eliot and the Muslim poet Rumi. Music from Maddy Prior, Monteverdi and Wagner assist our journey to its conclusion, with another of Bunyan's heroes, Mr Valiant-for-Truth, as he is summoned to cross the river.
Presenter: Rowan Williams
Producer: Michael Wakelin
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4.
Viewed on a long summer's day life on a Highland croft might seem like a bucolic fantasy. In the depths of a Cairngorms winter things are a little different. In March 2016 Lynn and Sandra pooled their life savings to buy a derelict croft near Grantown-on-Spey. Two tough years of hard work planning a new farm business for the future based on woodland planting and grazing Highland cattle has brought not just fertility, but also an income stream, back to the farm
Moira Hickey joins the owners of Lynbreck Croft as they battle their way through their toughest winter yet.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
Sunday morning religious news and current affairs programme.
Toni Madigan, a beneficiary of the charity Elhers-Danlos Support UK, makes the Radio 4 Appeal on their behalf.
Registered Charity Numbers: England and Wales (1157027) Scotland (SC046712)
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 'Elhers-Danlos Support UK'.
- Cheques should be made payable to 'Elhers-Danlos Support UK'.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
The scriptural story starts in the garden and ends in the city. In today's service, the Bishop of Edmonton, the Rt Revd Rob Wickham, explores stories of resurrection hope in churches across inner city London. We hear from St John's Hackney, the site of London's busiest knife amnesty bin. the traditional parish church of St Mary, Primrose Hill, where their youth ministry is funded through St Mary's Brewery, a social enterprise established in the basement of the church, and finally The Engine Room and St Francis Church in Tottenham Hale, the first new church in the Diocese of London in forty years. Producer Andrew Earis.
"The past is concretised and solidified in things", writes Stella Tillyard "and they vibrate with the experience of their use".
Stella tells the story of a small Italian Museum - the Museum of Deportation and Resistance - and reflects on how we remember the past.
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
Martin Noble of British Sea Power leafs through the Tweet of the Day back catalogue to pick out five more favourite birds from the series.
Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.
Alistair opens up, and the stress rises for Helen.
Sue MacGregor meets former members of the Baader-Meinhof gang that terrorised West Germany with bombings, assassinations and hijackings in the 1970s.
In 1977, the Baader-Meinhof gang unleashed a wave of horror and tragedy which is now remembered as the "the German Autumn of terror". In April of that year, chief federal prosecutor Seigfried Buback and his bodyguard were killed by motorcycle gunmen. In July, banker Jurgen Ponto was fatally wounded in a bungled kidnap attempt which was meant to spring the leaders of the gang from prison. Then, in September, the powerful industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer was abducted and murdered.
When the government still refused to meet the gang's demands to release their members from prison, they persuaded Palestinian militants to hijack a Lufthansa jet. But when it landed in Mogadishu in Somalia it was stormed by German special forces and the passengers freed. The next morning, three of the group's founding members were found dead in their cells.
Rooted in the student protest movement of the late 1960s, the story of the group began in May 1970 with the freeing of Andreas Baader (imprisoned for planting fire bombs in protest against the Vietnam war) by the popular television journalist Ulrike Meinhof and others. They spent the years that followed stealing cars and robbing banks before being finally captured in 1972. Their prolonged trial began in 1975 and lasted for almost two years, in the course of which Ulrike Meinhof committed suicide. The other leaders of the group were convicted and received life sentences.
Among those joining Sue around the table to look back on the dramatic events are gang member Peter Jurgen Boock, former West German counter-terrorism chief Rainer Hofmeyer, radical lawyer Kurt Groenewold, and Stephan Aust, the journalist who covered the Baader-Meinhof story throughout the seventies.
Producer: Emily Williams
Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.
Arthur Smith, Jack Dee, Lucy Porter and Lloyd Langford are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as rabbits, inventions, butterflies and drugs.
Produced by Richard Turner
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
Salt has long been prized, but in recent years it has become, for many, something to be avoided: to reduce or even eliminate. At the same time, there are new salt making businesses popping up all over the UK, celebrating salts with - they claim - unique characteristics due to their location and methods of production; they are salts of a place. In this edition of The Food Programme Sheila Dillon asks if there is a place for salt - in our kitchens and on our plates.
Featuring chef and writer of 'Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat' Samin Nosrat, lexicographer and etymologist (and Dictionary Corner resident) Susie Dent, Senior Health Correspondent for online news site vox.com Julia Belluz, salt makers Alison and David Lea-Wilson, and the chef and author of 'Salt is Essential': Shaun Hill.
Presenter: Sheila Dillon
Producer: Rich Ward.
The reading of 'Sugar and Salt' in the podcast and Monday's broadcast is by Vicky Coathup.
The latest weather forecast.
Global news and analysis.
In the latest programme of the monthly series, Mishal Husain introduces dispatches from journalists and writers that reflect the range of contemporary life across the country. Andy Kershaw visits the most cluttered workbench he's ever seen to discover how restoration work is going on a monument to British endeavour in speed on water; Jane Labous samples libraries in two counties to assess exactly what they have to offer; Adrian Goldberg indulges his sweet tooth among the burgeoning dessert shops of Birmingham; Ruth Alexander discovers how the town that's trying to turn itself around - literally - is faring; and Travis Elborough discovers perestroika among sixty thousand tulips on the South Downs.
Eric Robson and his panel are guests of Incredible Edible in Bristol. Pippa Greenwood, Anne Swithinbank and Bob Flowerdew answer the questions.
This week the panellists help one audience member in his attempts to win a pumpkin growing competition, offer planting suggestions for underneath a street tree, and advise on a struggling Myrtle bush.
They are also ready with some handy tips for growing aubergines and peppers in pots and diagnosing a sickly Eucalyptus, and they suggest purple-foliaged plants for a shady spot.
Bob Flowerdew visits Bristol's notorious Bearpit roundabout to see what edibles are braving the conditions there.
Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Hester Cant
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
Fi Glover introduces conversations that explore the experience of being mixed race, the sectarian relevance of names, and the Doric dialect, 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.
Martin Jarvis reprises his award-winning Broadway characterisation as Jeeves. Masterly comic plotting down at Totleigh, directed by Rosalind Ayres and also starring Joanna Lumley, Ian Ogilvy and Michael York.
Local curate Rev 'Stinker' Pinker (Julian Sands) is in love with Sir Watkyn Bassett's niece, Stiffy Byng (Moira Quirk.) They can't get married until Pinker gets a vicarage of his own. Sir Watkyn (Ian Ogilvy) holds one in his gift, but he's not keen on Stinker. Control-freak Stiffy orders Bertie (James Callis) to help.
Bad idea.
Blackmail, petty larceny, elopement and knock-out blows ensue. Can Jeeves (Martin Jarvis), untangle these threads and keep the young master out of jail? Will bibulous Major Plank (Michael York) or cheery Aunt Dahlia (Joanna Lumley) hinder things?
Of course, it's Jeeves who engineers a surprising conclusion.
Cast:
Aunt Dahlia...Joanna Lumley
Bertie Wooster...James Callis
Jeeves...Martin Jarvis
Roderick Spode...Adam Godley
Major Plank...Michael York
Sir Watkyn Bassett...Ian Ogilvy
Rev Harold Pinker...Julian Sands
Stiffy Byng...Moira Quirk
Madeline Bassett...Elizabeth Knowelden
Gussie Fink-Nottle...Matthew Wolf
P.C. Oates...Darren Richardson
Emerald Stoker...Tara Lynne Barr
Cyril/Butterfield...Kenneth Danziger
Dramatised by Archie Scottney
Sound Design: Mark Holden
Director: Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.
Carys Davies has been widely praised, and won awards for her short stories. Now she's publishing her first novel. West is set in 19th century America, and follows the story of a farmer who sets off on an arduous trek across the country in search of ancient - possibly mythical - creatures.
Also on the programme the tradition of the Catalonia's Book Giving Day; novelist Alex Hourston on the way adulterous women have been depicted in fiction and a guide to the work of pioneering science fiction writer Octavia E Butler.
Sean Borodale shares poems from his collection Asylum, written deep within the caves of the Mendip Hills in Somerset. He is then joined in a caving pub by Holly Corfield Carr
Produced by Ellie Richold.
Who are the Russians who live in the UK? The community is under the spotlight as never before since the attempt on the life of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in March. Caught between fascination and horror, the press heaves with cliches about Russian oligarchs, spies and dissidents living - and spending - in the fancier parts of London. The programme looks at how the present wave of Russians took root in London in the 1990s, encouraged by successive British governments. Lucy Ash goes beyond the bling to find a complex community of many interlocking circles - artists and writers as well as tycoons and shoppers; parents as well as Godfathers. She explores how these communities have evolved over a generation and they have changed and continue to change the city they call home.
Producer: Monica Whitlock.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Stuart Maconie chooses his BBC Radio highlights.
Alistair struggles to cope, and Will is left disappointed.
A new one-off show as part of Radio 4's season of Sunday night stand-up specials from Tom Allen, star of The Royal Variety Performance, 8 out of 10 Cats and Mock The Week amongst many others.
Tom Allen is Actually Not Very Nice explores what happens when Tom's calm and collected exterior collapses, be it when confronting some rowdy teenagers on a bus or arguing with his Mum's friend Joyce about ham. He used to be such a nice boy but what has happened to turn him naughty?
With help from the assembled studio audience, Tom works out how best to navigate some tricky social situations and how to keep a lid on his fury when confronted with life's small injustices.
Featuring Gabby Best.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production.
Lynne Truss observes the inhabitants of Meridian Cliffs, a small wind-battered town on the south coast of England.
Jess, the hairdresser, keeps a map of the world on the salon wall, with pins for each client from far flung places. She loves her global network of haircuts - until someone starts tampering with the pins.
Written by Lynne Truss
Directed by Kate McAll
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
Roger Bolton hosts a Brexit special and also asks if the BBC was right to air the Rivers of Blood speech in full.
A panel of high-ranking BBC journalists and executives chew over listener complaints about the corporation's coverage of Brexit. Before the referendum, Feedback was inundated with complaints from listeners who felt that the BBC was overly biased in favour of Remain. But, in the months that have followed, that has shifted and the programme now receives more complaints from Remainers who see the BBC as the Brexit Broadcasting Corporation - in part thanks to a concerted online campaign.
Ric Bailey the BBC's Chief Political Adviser, Gavin Allen the controller of the BBC's daily news programming, and Today presenter Nick Robinson respond to listener complaints from all sides.
And, with some listeners saying that BBC comedy is too prone to bashing Brexit, is it possible to write a perfectly balanced comedy sketch? Cabin Pressure creator John Finnemore takes up the challenge.
A recent edition of Archive on 4 dealing with Enoch Powell's 1968 Rivers of Blood speech quickly became the most talked about radio programme of the year. The documentary featured actor Ian McDiarmid recreating the speech in full interspersed with analysis from contributors. But news of the broadcast of the speech in full caused many to question the BBC's judgement and motives. Mohit Bakaya, the Radio 4 commissioner for the programme, explains the reasoning.
Presenter: Roger Bolton
Producer: Will Yates
Executive Producer: Katherine Godfrey
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
Matthew Bannister on
Barbara Bush, the first woman in history to see both her husband and son sworn in as President of the USA.
Milos Forman, the film director who made Amadeus and the multi Oscar winning One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.
Dame Daphne Sheldrick who devoted her life to saving elephants orphaned by poachers and other Kenyan wild animals.
Livia Gollancz, the french horn player who took over the running of the family's successful publishing house from her father.
And Dale Winton who presented Pick of the Pops on radio and Supermarket Sweep on TV.
Producer: Neil George.
The World Trade Organisation could soon play a crucial role in how Britain does global business. If the UK fails to reach a trade deal with the European Union after Brexit, it will trade solely under rules set by the WTO. So what does that mean?
Jonty Bloom meets one of the many Brexiteers who believe that reverting to WTO rules could boost Britain's position as a global trade player. Derbyshire clothing manufacturer Christopher Nieper is relaxed about the UK agreeing quotas and tariffs through the WTO, which was created to be a free trade factory.
But at the WTO's headquarters in Geneva, Jonty learns that brokering trade deals can take many years, with bigger players like the European Union, China and the United States dominating the agenda. And there's the added complication that China and the United States are embarking on a trade war that threatens the WTO's ability to settle global trade disputes. Could the UK once free from the EU, be the one to reinvigorate the WTO and global free trade? Jonty goes looking for answers in its long corridors.
Producer: Estelle Doyle
Researcher: Darin Graham.
Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.
With Antonia Quirke.
Shirley Henderson reveals the meticulous research she conducted for her role as a woman in the advanced stages of Parkinson's Disease for her new film Never Steady, Never Still.
Maxine Peake and Tony Pitts on why they found working men's clubs impossibly glamorous in the 70s and 80s.
Midwives Kate Jackson and Christine Kelly reveal what the movies get wrong about their jobs.
Director Justin Edgar writes three rules that other film-makers should follow when making dramas with disabled characters.
And there is a podcast exclusive edition of Mind The Gap in which critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Tim Robey fill the gap in their knowledge of Merchant-Ivory films.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The winner of the 2018 BSA/Thinking Allowed Ethnography award. Laurie Taylor talks to Anna Lora-Wainwright, Associate Professor in the Human Geography of China at the University of Oxford, and author of 'Resigned Activism: Living with Pollution in Rural China' . Her study revealed the health consequences of drinking tainted water and breathing visibly dirty air in villages effected by phosphorous mining & fertiliser production, lead and zinc mining and electronic waste production. Residents suffered a range of ailments, from arthritis to nosebleeds, in areas with a high incidence of cancer. Her extensive fieldwork found that villagers often felt powerless to challenge the 'slow violence' and human costs of rapid industrialisation - their activism was tempered by resignation.
Isabel Hilton, international journalist and broadcaster joins the discussion. Isabel is the founder and editor of chinadialogue.net, an online publication that focuses on the environment and climate change. She was awarded the OBE for her work in raising environmental awareness in China.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A reading and a reflection to start the day with the Rev'd Dr Stephen Wigley, Chair of the Wales Synod of the Methodist Church.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Steve Backshall presents the yellowhammer. The yellowhammer is a member of the bunting family and its name comes from "ammer" the German for bunting. It's one of the few British birds to have its song transcribed into words and seems to be saying ..a little bit of bread and no cheese".
News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Tom Sutcliffe discusses free will and fate; dreams and reality. Jesmyn Ward's prize-winning novel Sing, Unburied, Sing, set in the American South, is haunted by the ghosts of the past. Ward writes of incarceration and freedom, and the strength - and weakness - of family bonds.
For his latest ballet, choreographer Kim Brandstrup has taken inspiration from Calderon's 17th century Spanish play Life is a Dream, in which a dire prophecy leads a King to imprison his son. Brandstrup uses contemporary dance to explore where dreams end and reality begins, but also to express wonder at life itself.
How to live well is at the centre of Edith Hall's self-help book based on the teachings of Aristotle. She examines the ancient Greek philosopher's ideas on how self-knowledge, responsibility and love could help us forge a more meaningful life.
And the philosopher John Gray continues his exploration of what it is to be human in his new work, Seven Types of Atheism.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
by Michelle Dean
As part of the Algonquin Round Table, Dorothy Parker established her reputation as one of the most brilliant wits in New York and came to epitomize the liberated woman of the 1920s.
Dean's book builds a picture of the social and political progress of women through the twentieth century from Dorothy Parker to Nora Ephron.
Dorothy Parker, Mary McCarthy, Susan Sontag, Pauline Kael and Nora Ephron -these brilliant women are the central figures of Sharp: The Women Who Made an Art of Having an Opinion. They are united by their 'sharpness', the ability to cut to the quick with precision of thought and wit. The world would not have been the same without Dorothy Parker's acid reflections on the absurdities of her life. Or Mary McCarthy's fiction which is noted for its acerbity in analysing the finer nuances of intellectual dilemmas. Or Susan Sontag's ideas about interpretation, or Pauline Kael's energetic swipes at filmmakers. Or Nora Ephron's biting wit and strong female characters. Together they define the cultural and intellectual history of twentieth century America.
Michelle Dean is a journalist, critic, and the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle's 2016 Citation for Excellence in Reviewing. A contributing editor at the New Republic, she has written for the New Yorker, Nation, New York Times Magazine, Slate, New York Magazine, and Elle.
abridged by Sara Davies
read by Alexandra Mathie
produced by Gaynor Macfarlane.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
By Annamaria Murphy
First in the latest series of the comedy drama set in Glan Don, a mysterious village perched on the wild Welsh coast.
Glan Don receives a strange visitor.
Starring Elis James (Josh), Emma Sidi (W1A) and Ifan Huw Dafydd (Gavin and Stacey).
Series created by Meic Povey
Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.
The American journalist Sally Herships has long felt she carries within herself a sense of the trauma suffered by her grandmother a century ago, in Russia, and subsequently passed down through her own mother. How is it possible to explain a fear that isn't of any thing tangible or present, a fear that isn't our own, that isn't rooted in direct experience?
Psychiatrists know that behaviour can condition how we feel with physically-measurable impact - for example, upon the PAG or periaqueductal gray which is the primary control centre for pain modulation. But now, neuro-epigeneticists believe it's possible that our biology may be altered by trauma and then, apparently, carried on through reproduction to future generations.
"It's like the ghost of a ghost," says Sally, "or the memory of a shadow".
Starting with testimony from her own family, Sally examines the relationship between psychology and biology, talking to the offspring of victims of the Holocaust, and a neuroscientist who has studied the impact of trauma on the foetuses of pregnant women caught up in the 9/11 attacks. As Sally describes their experience,"fear manages to grip us just the same".
The programme includes contributions from Aviva Sucher (whose mother Erzsébet Klein, in the light coat and headscarf, is shown in this photograph on her arrival at Auschwitz), psychiatrist Dr Bessel Van Der Kolk, neuroepigeneticist Professor Isabelle Mansuy and neuroscientist Dr Rachel Yehuda.
Presented and produced by Sally Herships.
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
Celebrating Spike Milligan's centenary year, this second show brings further revelations from an exclusive archive which uniquely captures Spike's life and perspective. Michael Palin and Spike's daughter Jane once again steer us through extracts of recordings made between 1980-1985, amid constant telephone calls and comedic discussions, to build a unique portrait of Spike and his home life.
Contributor...Michael Palin
Contributor...Jane Milligan
Producer...Verity Maidlow Cornwell
Production Manager...Emma Lawrence.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
On this day in 1918, a general strike was held in Dublin in protest against plans for Irish conscription, and in Folkestone, Gabriel finds that nothing goes his way.
Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
Why has a government-backed multi-million pounds new homes project failed to deliver any new homes?
We'll tell you about the charity with £475m in the bank, but has yet to make a payout.
Zero hours contracts...are they on the way out?
Why manufacturing firms are being targetted by online fraudsters.
And just how hard is it to win the war with your wobbly bits ahead of summer?
PRODUCER: PETE WILSON
PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
China rarely had an image as a great maritime power. But for a brief time in the mid-15th century, that all changed under the Ming dynasty and its admiral, Zheng He. He was sent out on seven voyages to points as far apart as Southeast Asia, Ceylon, and even the coast of Africa. His fleet consisted of numerous mighty vessels, larger than anything that Europe could manage. And his voyages created new routes for trade and influence; he even brought back a giraffe. Zheng He's voyages mark the greatest extent of China's explorations of the world until the modern era. No wonder he has become an icon again today as China seeks a global role.
Presenter: Rana Mitter
Producer: Ben Crighton
Researcher: Elizabeth Smith Rosser.
Anne Reid and Vincent Franklin star as mother and son in Daniel Thurman's new comedy. It's been 30 years since they last saw each other when Ian suddenly turns up at the parental home. A man on a mission, he soon finds out that things have changed in ways he could never have imagined.
Directed by Toby Swift.
(9/17)
Russell Davies is in the chair for another general knowledge test, with questions on subjects ranging from the English Civil War to the Eurovision Cong Contest, and from the Bible to the Beano. A semi-final place awaits today's winner.
The competitors are:
Mark Cooper, a civil servant from Brighton
Brian Eastty, an actor and teacher from Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex
Anthony Fish, a community safety officer from Pontypool
Daniel Fullard, an employment manager from Sunderland.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
Artist and sceptic Adham Faramawy asks if virtual reality's fantastical spaces can offer new ways to make and experience art. He sets out to discover what VR can offer beyond the shock of its novelty - from new bodies to new lovers, to new spaces for work and play.
He explores a bold new medium in its infancy, talking to artists and innovative game designers. Initially excited by the possibilities of pushing beyond the rectangle of a screen to create truly immersive moving image, Adham discovers a darker side to VR.
The speed and development of the technology is impressive, but how is it exciting or troubling artists and audiences? And how does this new frontier affect their attitudes towards themselves and the ways they behave and interact?
With digital art pioneer Rebecca Allen, artists Ed Fornieles and Rindon Johnson, games designer Robin Hunicke and Professor Henry Fuchs.
Music by Sega Bodega
Produced by Rose De Larrabeiti
A Boom Shakalaka production for BBC Radio 4.
Most people have a sacred space, a place which is special to them. It could be a beach, a mountain top, a building, even a sports ground - but why have they become 'sacred'? Many of the grandest sacred spaces have been created by the world's religions but what were their creators trying to achieve? Are there certain characteristics which define a sacred space and if so, are they still valid today To discuss sacred spaces, Professor Robert Beckford is joined by Ben Quash (Professor of Christianity and the Arts at King's College London), Karsan Vaghani (a Hindu Chaplain at Cardiff University) and Jon Cannon (author of 'The Secret Language of Sacred Spaces'). Robert also interviews Simon Jenkins (author of 'England's Cathedrals' and 'England's Thousand Best Churches').
Producer: Amanda Hancox.
Carolyn Quinn with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.
John Finnemore, Henning Wehn, Lou Sanders and Graeme Garden are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as The Rolling Stones, vegetarianism, eggs and Harry Potter.
Produced by Richard Turner
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
Peggy discovers the truth, and there is more bad news for Jennifer.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
With the closing ceremonial of the 2018 London Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting barely over, BBC radio's Royal Correspondent, Jonny Dymond, excavates the institution's origins in the depths of Queen Victoria's British Empire, through its transformation in 1949 when it was formally instituted into a post-colonial worldwide network of states that once flew the British flag, 'free and equal' within the organisation.
Some have joked that the long shadow of its colonial origins have made it the 'after-care service of Empire'. And with Her Majesty the Queen as its Head, the Commonwealth in the 1980s and 1990s indeed became a powerful tool in the pursuit of majority rule in Zimbabwe and South Africa. But since then it has often struggled to clearly define itself and its role for the closely interconnected 21st century.
Jonny Dymond visits the Commonwealth's palatial London home at Marlborough House and talks to Secretary General Patricia Scotland as she meets High Commissioners and high-level delegations on the eve of the London Heads of Government Meeting, always known by its acronym, CHOGM.
Producer: Simon Elmes.
Thousands of young Russian Muslim men were lured to join so-called Islamic State - taking their wives and children with them. But since the "caliphate" fell last year, those families have vanished - and grandmothers back in Russia are desperate for news. The Kremlin wants to bring the children home. It says they've committed no crimes. But finding them and their mothers is hugely difficult. Iraqi authorities say they're holding many IS families - but they won't name them. Gradually though, dramatic scraps of information are emerging - a scribbled note from a prison, whispered phone messages, photos and videos on social media. For months, Tim Whewell has been talking to the grandmothers as they've gathered such clues - and now he travels to Iraq in search of more information, tracing the route the fighters and their families took when they were defeated - and trying to solve the mystery of what happened to them. What was the fate of the men after they surrendered at a remote village school? And what of the reports that many of the women and children were subsequently abducted by a militia? As the story unfolds, Tim confronts a powerful Shia warlord. Will the jihadis' children be released? What kind of justice will their mothers face? And what will the grandmothers - convinced of their daughters' innocence - do to try to get them back?
Presenter Tim Whewell
Producers Nick Sturdee & Mike Gallagher.
BBC Health and Science correspondent James Gallagher explores the latest research into how our second genome, the vast and diverse array of microbes that live on and in our bodies, is driving our metabolism and our health and how we can change it for the better.
In this second episode he explores how researchers are uncovering a vital relationship between the healthy bugs we accumulate in our gut and our immune system . We have over the past 50 years done a terrific job of eliminating infectious disease. But in we've also done the same to many good bacteria and as a result we're seeing an enormous and terrifying increase in autoimmune disease and in allergy. Could correcting our encounters with bugs at birth, and in the first few month of life set us on a path of good health? And in if in later life the delicate balance between our body and bugs gets skewed, leading to inflammatory diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome or frailty in old age, how can this be rectified?
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Ba believes in destiny. Mukesh believes in coincidence. Neha believes in patterns and consistency. And Raks believes in the manifest destiny of his own male ego.
The One Who Wrote Destiny is the hilarious and moving new novel by Nikesh Shukla, Editor of The Good Immigrant anthology of essays and author of the novels Meatspace and Coconut Unlimited.
For Book at Bedtime, five voices tell the story of three generations of the same family, riven by feuds and falling-outs, united by fates and fortunes. Mukesh moves from Kenya to the drizzly northern town of Keighley in 1966. Decades later, his daughter Neha is dying from lung cancer, a genetic gift from her mother and an invocation to forge a better relationship with her brother and her widowed father before it's too late. Neha's brother Rakesh is a comedian but his career is flat-lining and he's grieving his mother and sister. Ba has never looked after her two young grandchildren before. After the death of her daughter, they come to stay with her and she has to work out how to bond with two children who are used England, not to the rhythms of Kenya...
Readers: Bhasker Patel, Chetna Pandya, Maya Sondhi, Indira Varma and Taru Devani
Producer: Mair Bosworth.
How do fonts change the meaning of a message? What was Comic Sans invented for? Why was Obama's first election campaign so typographically bold? And which font would make you buy one chocolate bar over another?
Michael Rosen is joined by graphic designer, author and the font of all knowledge when it comes to fonts, Sarah Hyndman, to discuss the psychology of typefaces.
Sarah is the author of 3 books, including 'Why Fonts Matter' and 'How to Draw Type and Influence people'. She is also the founder of the Type Tasting studio, which aims to change the way we think and talk about typography through interactive and sensory experiences.
Producer Rebecca Ripley.
News 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 reading and a reflection to start the day with the Rev'd Dr Stephen Wigley, Chair of the Wales Synod of the Methodist Church.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the swallow. A flash of blue across farmland or a stableyard and a burst of twittering can only mean one thing, the swallows are back after their long migration from South Africa. No matter how grey the April weather, the sight and sound of a swallow dispels the winter blues at a stroke. These agile migrants arrive as the insect population is beginning to increase, and they are a delight to watch as they hawk for flies in the spring sunshine.
News and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Jonathan Freedland and guests take the Long View on the expulsion of Russian diplomats - both in 2018 after the Skripal poisionings and in 1927 after a notorious raid of a building in London's Moorgate.
The story begins in 12 King's Bench Walk in London's Inner Temple, where on 9th May 1927 MI5's head of anti-Soviet work met with Edward Langston a whistle-blower who revealed that a secret military document had been in the possession of the Soviets in the Head Quarters of the All Russian Co-Operative Society, located at 49 Moorgate. And the story ends in Victoria Station where the expelled Russians started their journey home, sent off by crowds of supporters which included MPs and trade unionists.
Joining Jonathan Freedland to take this Long View are:
Timothy Phillips: Historian, and author of "The Secret Twenties: British Intelligence, The Russians And The Jazz Age"
Edward Lucas: Times columnist, espionage expert and author of "The New Cold War: Putin's Russia and the Threat to the West", "Deception: The Untold Story of East-West Espionage Today", and "Cyberphobia: Identity, Trust, Security and the Internet"
Oksana Antonenko: Visiting Fellow at Institute of Global Affairs at the London School of Economics and former Programme Director for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies
Sir Tony Brenton: Former British Ambassador to Russia (2004-08), including during the Litvinenko case
Tim McMullan: Actor who played Arthur Valentine, an MI5 operative in Foyles War
Producers: Ben Mitchell and Paul Kobrak.
Telling the stories of non-native invasive species and our complicated attitudes to them and with an uncertain political future how do we police our ecological borders?In many parts of the world including its native range the ring-necked parakeet is considered an invasive species. In the UK we still think of it as either an exotic curiosity or local nuisance. Should we be worried or continue to welcome this unlikely addition to British bird life?
by Michelle Dean
Mary McCarthy
As both a novelist and a critic McCarthy was noted for bitingly satiric commentaries on marriage, sexual expression and the role of women in contemporary urban America.
Dean's book builds a picture of the social and political progress of women through the twentieth century from Dorothy Parker to Nora Ephron.
Dorothy Parker, Mary McCarthy, Susan Sontag, Pauline Kael and Nora Ephron -these brilliant women are the central figures of Sharp: The Women Who Made an Art of Having an Opinion. They are united by their 'sharpness', the ability to cut to the quick with precision of thought and wit. The world would not have been the same without Dorothy Parker's acid reflections on the absurdities of her life. Or Mary McCarthy's fiction which is noted for its acerbity in analysing the finer nuances of intellectual dilemmas. Or Susan Sontag's ideas about interpretation, or Pauline Kael's energetic swipes at filmmakers. Or Nora Ephron's biting wit and strong female characters. Together they define the cultural and intellectual history of twentieth century America.
Michelle Dean is a journalist, critic, and the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle's 2016 Citation for Excellence in Reviewing. A contributing editor at the New Republic, she has written for the New Yorker, Nation, New York Times Magazine, Slate, New York Magazine, and Elle.
abridged by Sara Davies
read by Alexandra Mathie
produced by Gaynor Macfarlane.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
By Annamaria Murphy
Second in the latest series of the comedy drama set in Glan Don, a mysterious village perched on the wild Welsh coast.
Magda has gone missing... While Gareth and Emlyn search for ghosts.
Starring Elis James (Josh), Emma Sidi (W1A) and Ifan Huw Dafydd (Gavin and Stacey).
Series created by Meic Povey
Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.
The microbiome is the strange invisible world of our non human selves. On and in all of us are hoards of microbes. Their impact on our physical health is becoming clear to science, but a controversial idea is emerging too - that gut bacteria could alter what happens in our brains.
In this final episode of the series BBC Science and Health correspondent James Gallagher examines a growing body of research into the gut as a gateway to the mind and why some scientists believe we could be o the cusp of a revolution in psychiatry that uses microbes to improve mental health.
During the last ten years, The Unthanks have redefined what might be expected of English folk music. Their sequence of albums has reimagined traditional material in vivid new arrangements and reached into surprising new sources - for example, the songs of Molly Drake. But at the core of the group are the voices of Rachel and Becky, sisters born seven years apart.
Rachel and Becky share their sense of belonging to the landscape of the north-east, their inevitable attraction to melancholy and the qualities that allow each other's voice to blend so effortlessly.
And, in their studio in a Northumbrian farm-yard, they sing their signature melodies and a duet that most typically sounds for the two of them.
Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
On this day in 1918, the Reverend Sir Douglas Scott was given 18 months hard labour for bigamy, and Alec Poole risks ending up with less than one wife.
Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
Consumer phone-in.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
He was a servant of the Chinese empire, respected in Beijing and London alike. Yet he was no son of Shanghai, but of Ulster. Robert Hart grew up in Portadown, but his real life started when he shipped out to China. He rose to the top of the Maritime Customs Service, the remarkable body that kept tax revenue flowing into China. Hart was one of the people who brought real modernisation to China while managing to create a real bond with the imperial court. He agonised over how the British in China should conduct themselves, and did his best to bind the two nations together in his near half-century of work in Beijing. Little wonder that a London newspaper portrayed him in a cartoon wearing a silk robe and captioned "Chinese Customs."
Presenter: Rana Mitter
Producer: Ben Crighton
Researcher: Elizabeth Smith Rosser.
A new paranormal drama by award-winning writer and director Julian Simpson, starring Nicola Walker.
Incidents of death from heart failure have spiked at seven times the national average in a small village in Essex. Agent Lairre investigates.
Writer: Julian Simpson
Director: Julian Simpson
Producer: Karen Rose
Sound design & original music: David Thomas
Published music: Olafur Arnalds & Kronos Quartet
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
Large hydro-electric dams continue to be planned and built in Africa, Asia and South America. In Western Europe and the US they're tearing them down. Peter Gibbs wants to know why.
These wonders of engineering are a symbol of our ability to tame rivers and harness nature to produce renewable energy. The trouble is that they radically alter the natural life of rivers and change the lives of the people who rely on them. Gradually the conversation is changing and communities are making a choice between energy and biodiversity. A dam doesn't have to be forever. Old dams that are depleting fisheries, degrading habitats or have simply outlived their usefulness disrupt the majority of Europe's rivers, and there's a growing movement to remove the worst offenders and restore rivers to their natural state.
France is currently embarking on the biggest dam removal in Europe. Two large hydro-electric dams will soon be demolished on the River Sélune in Normandy. Peter Gibbs meets the different groups involved in the project to find out how they are planning for the removals. Will the opening up of wild salmon migration routes and improvements in water quality make up for the loss of low-carbon energy?
Producer: Sophie Anton.
Michael Rosen talks to Dr Tiffany Watt Smith about about the words we have (and don't have) for emotions, and what that can tell us about the way we feel and have felt at different times in the past. Did you know that nostalgia was listed as a cause of death on death certificates in not-so-distant history?
Producer Beth O'Dea.
Professor Laura Serrant of Sheffield Hallam University, named as one of the most inspirational figures in healthcare, chooses the life of the black, gay poet and activist Audre Lorde who still inspires the women's movement today. She tells Matthew Parris why Audre has meant so much to her both personally and professionally in her work in nursing. Professor Akwugo Emejulu of Warwick University is the studio expert.
Producer: Maggie Ayre.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Second series of the award-nominated comedy drama set in Alcoholics Anonymous, written by Pete Jackson and inspired by his own road to recovery. Stars Sue Johnston, John Hannah, Eddie Marsan, Rebecca Front, Paul Kaye and Julia Deakin.
Love in Recovery follows the lives of five very different recovering alcoholics. Taking place entirely at their weekly meetings, we hear them moan, argue, laugh, fall apart, fall in love and - most importantly - tell their stories.
In this final episode of the series, the group leave their meeting room to take Andy (Eddie Marsan) to his mum's wake. Andy hasn't seen the rest of his family in a long time and he's nervous, anxious and a little angry. He just wants to say goodbye to his mum and leave. But it's not as simple as that.
Writer Pete Jackson is a recovering alcoholic and has spent time in Alcoholics Anonymous. It was there he found support from the unlikeliest group of disparate souls - with 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.
There are lots of different kinds of AA meetings. Love in Recovery is about meetings where people tell their stories. There are funny stories, sad stories, stories of small victories and milestones, stories of loss, stories of hope, and those stories that you really shouldn't laugh at - but still do, along with the storyteller.
Written and created by Pete Jackson
Producer/Director: Ben Worsfield
A Lucky Giant production for BBC Radio 4.
Pat is on a mission, and Clarrie attempts to keep the peace.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
This year, St. Stephen's primary school in east London found itself at the centre of an incendiary and increasingly far-reaching debate that is rocking not only Muslim communities and campaigners across the UK but also penetrates the very heart of the country's education system.
An attempt to ban girls under the age of 8 from wearing the hijab to school resulted in a major backlash from the local community and beyond. Over 19, 000 people signed a petition to reverse the ban, a national campaign group got involved and social media was awash with outrage, some comparing the head teacher to 'Hitler' and branding her a 'paedophile'. The ban was swiftly reversed.
What is really at the root of the outrage given that Islam does not require children to cover their heads? And what is motivating the trend for younger girls -some as young as four- to wear the hijab, when previous generations would not have veiled so young?
Female Muslim campaigners have warned that it should be fiercely rejected' as it 'sexualises' young girls. Ofsted has voiced concern and is investigating whether teachers have come under pressure from religious groups to change uniform regulation. Others argue it is simply a case of girls copying their mums and suggesting otherwise is a form of Islamophobia.
In all the noise between parents, teachers, religious leaders, campaigners and authorities, who - if anyone - has the right to decide what a young girl puts on her head?
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted.
A lot of us experience a problem with our mental health at some point in our lives and help and support from people around us can make all the difference to how we cope day to day and on the road to recovery.
In the first of a new series Claudia Hammond meets the first of the nine finalists for the All in the Mind Awards 2018. We hear from Helen who nominated Sarah's Runners, a running group in Tunbridge Wells whose philosophy is far from personal bests on the track but all about people being included and getting the best they can from exercise. Claudia goes running with Helen and finds out why Sarah and the group were such a big support after bereavement
The Radio 4 All in the Mind Awards aims to champion some of the brilliant mental health care and recognises the unsung heroes who helped make the difference. The finalists will gather at a ceremony at Wellcome Collection in June at which the winners are announced.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Ba believes in destiny. Mukesh believes in coincidence. Neha believes in patterns and consistency. And Raks believes in the manifest destiny of his own male ego.
The One Who Wrote Destiny is the hilarious and moving new novel by Nikesh Shukla, Editor of The Good Immigrant anthology of essays and author of the novels Meatspace and Coconut Unlimited.
For Book at Bedtime, five voices tell the story of three generations of the same family, riven by feuds and falling-outs, united by fates and fortunes. Mukesh moves from Kenya to the drizzly northern town of Keighley in 1966. Decades later, his daughter Neha is dying from lung cancer, a genetic gift from her mother and an invocation to forge a better relationship with her brother and her widowed father before it's too late. Neha's brother Rakesh is a comedian but his career is flat-lining and he's grieving his mother and sister. Ba has never looked after her two young grandchildren before. After the death of her daughter, they come to stay with her and she has to work out how to bond with two children who are used England, not to the rhythms of Kenya...
Readers: Bhasker Patel, Chetna Pandya, Maya Sondhi, Indira Varma and Taru Devani
Producer: Mair Bosworth.
Award-winning writer and poet Richard Marsh stars alongside Russell Tovey and Phil Daniels in this new, heart-warming sitcom set in a greetings card company.
This week, Will and the gang help organise a stag do to remember - in more ways than one.
Richard Marsh is the writer and star of Love and Sweets, a Radio 4 comedy series that won Best Comedy in the BBC Audio Drama awards 2014. Now, in Cardboard Heart, he plays Will, a hapless romantic who's keen to find love and an aspiring writer with a 9 to 5 job writing poetry at a greetings card company.
Will shares an office with Goadsby (Rebecca Scroggs), who's responsible for the card artwork and being Will's nemesis, Colin (Sam Troughton), the firm's safety and survival-obsessed accountant, and charming renegade salesman Beast (Russell Tovey). Phil Daniels plays Rog, their roguish boss.
Paid to express heartfelt emotions for people he will never meet, Will consistently fails to express himself properly to anyone he does meet. Every social interaction is a minefield for Will. In his head, he knows exactly what to say but the minute he opens his mouth, it's a disaster. Luckily for you, Will shares his inner thoughts with the audience.
Written and created by Richard Marsh
Directed by Pia Furtado
Produced by Ben Worsfield
A Lucky Giant production for BBC Radio 4.
News 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 reading and a reflection to start the day with the Rev'd Dr Stephen Wigley, Chair of the Wales Synod of the Methodist Church.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
The simple call of the cuckoo in spring has inspired theatre director Tara Robinson to create a play all about bird migration.
Producer Andrew Dawes
Photograph Mark Pirie.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
"God only knows what I'd be without you"
For artist Kim Lynch God Only Knows is a song that she has carried with her from the moment her father played it to her mother back in their 1960's London home and it's the song that resonated throughout her parents 65 years together.
Meanwhile in land locked Burundi, another couple are bought together from two very different cultures. Sharing the same hopes and prayers, they began their married life by blending a traditional wedding ceremony with the Californian song that spans decades - and continents - to touch souls wherever it's played.
And across the ocean, Erin Prewitt tells her love story and describes how tragic and unexpected circumstances meant she has had to learn to live out those iconic lyrics and discover what it means to be without the person you love.
With reflections from musician Al Kooper and author Barry Miles.
Produced By Nicola Humphries.
For the Victorians, privacy meant keeping people out of your business. We hear from geneticist Sir Paul Nurse who has had several family secrets kept from him. We learn the importance of secrecy within the family as he describes the revelation of these secrets.
Produced by Kate Bissell.
by Michelle Dean
Susan Sontag was a brilliant essayist - inquisitive, analytical, fearlessly outspoken. Her work is characterised by a serious philosophical approach to modern culture including the ground-breaking "Notes on Camp" and the personal and liberating "Illness as Metaphor."
Dean's book builds a picture of the social and political progress of women through the twentieth century from Dorothy Parker to Nora Ephron.
Dorothy Parker, Mary McCarthy, Susan Sontag, Pauline Kael and Nora Ephron -these brilliant women are the central figures of Sharp: The Women Who Made an Art of Having an Opinion. They are united by their 'sharpness', the ability to cut to the quick with precision of thought and wit. The world would not have been the same without Dorothy Parker's acid reflections on the absurdities of her life. Or Mary McCarthy's fiction which is noted for its acerbity in analysing the finer nuances of intellectual dilemmas. Or Susan Sontag's ideas about interpretation, or Pauline Kael's energetic swipes at filmmakers. Or Nora Ephron's biting wit and strong female characters. Together they define the cultural and intellectual history of twentieth century America.
Michelle Dean is a journalist, critic, and the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle's 2016 Citation for Excellence in Reviewing. A contributing editor at the New Republic, she has written for the New Yorker, Nation, New York Times Magazine, Slate, New York Magazine, and Elle.
abridged by Sara Davies
read by Alexandra Mathie
produced by Gaynor Macfarlane.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
By Annamaria Murphy
Third in the latest series of the comedy drama set in Glan Don, a mysterious village perched on the wild Welsh coast.
As the search for Magda continues, Bethan makes a shocking discovery.
Starring Elis James (Josh), Emma Sidi (W1A) and Ifan Huw Dafydd (Gavin and Stacey).
Series created by Meic Povey
Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.
Friends reflect on the changes in one's life since a diagnosis of Parkinson's, and the involvement of the other in the charity they set up to support others with the disease. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
Producer: Marya Burgess.
Helen Keen is joined by Peter Serafinowicz and Susy Kane for a comic look at humanity's greatest challenges and some of our more surprising solutions. This week, the problem of boredom, and the potential solution that is gamification. Covering everything from bear-baiting to loyalty points, the show also asks how many times you can spot the mystery word? Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill. Produced by Gareth Edwards.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
On this day in 1918, the German Army claimed 6,000 prisoners at the second battle of Kemmel, while in Folkestone, Edie and Dilys feel trapped in different ways.
Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
Consumer affairs programme.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
To create one character who says something profound about the society you live in might be a stroke of luck. To create three suggests you really do have your hand on the nation's pulse. That creator was Lu Xun, widely regarded as modern China's greatest writer. His pithy, astringent short stories showcased figures who held a merciless mirror to China's people: Ah Q, the vainglorious everyman who treats every disaster as a triumph, Kong Yiji, the pathetic Confucian scholar reduced to begging for pennies, and the Madman, a character whose insanity allows him to spot cannibalism where his fellow-citizens see only Chinese tradition. Lu Xun is read by every schoolchild in China today - and his puncturing of pomposity still has continuing relevance.
Presenter: Rana Mitter
Producer: Ben Crighton
Researcher: Elizabeth Smith Rosser.
Mary Lairre (Nicola Walker), the ghost of a sixteenth century French nun murdered at Borley Rectory and rendered corporeal by the mysterious Department, is joined by Parker (Phoebe Fox), a character whose magical abilities rely upon her transforming her entire personality as circumstances require.
In the first of two new Mythos stories, Lairre and Parker accompany their boss Johnson (Tim McInnerny) to Glamis Castle in Scotland, where a secret door has been discovered. The door leads into a folkloric dimension, where monster hunter Libby Ward (Jana Carpenter) is tracking a dangerous monster and has kidnapped an innocent American tourist to use as bait. Time bends, dimensions fragment and our heroes realise that the monster Ward is hunting may be a lot closer to home than they thought.
Mythos is a series that looks at British folklore through a quasi-scientific prism. It's laced with sardonic humour, ridiculous situations and insane leaps of logic - but its foundations lie in the stories that have become part of the British cultural DNA over the last two thousand years.
Writer Julian Simpson won the Tinniswood Award for his Radio 4 play Fugue State.
Writer and Director: Julian Simpson
Sound Designer: David Thomas
Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
Financial phone-in.
Sociological discussion programme, presented by Laurie Taylor.
Topical programme about the fast-changing media world.
Carolyn Quinn with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Broadcaster and comedian Hardeep Singh Kohli sets out to find the next generation of white, black, Asian and minority ethnic satirical sketch writers, with a keen eye on finding the funny in a multicultural Britain.
Traditionally, some of the best UK sketch comedy shines a satirical light on social issues of the time, finding comedy from difficult subject matter or awkward social convention. When it comes to multiculturalism, sketch team Goodness, Gracious Me kicked open the door with their classic 90s sketch show, including the legendary Going For An English routine.
Sketchtopia aims to make sharp observations about modern Britain and, most importantly, allow shared experiences, common points of reference and authenticity to come together and hold a mirror up to our society and tell us a truth about ourselves.
Stand-ups and comedy writers from diverse backgrounds have been invited to give us a comic snapshot of UK society through their own observations and experiences. In these divisive times, Sketchtopia aims to poke fun at our multicultural society and tries to discover a diverse, multi-ethnic Utopia through good old-fashioned British sketch comedy.
Host: Hardeep Singh Kohli.
Performer: Vivienne Acheampong
Performer: Luke Manning
Performer: Jamie-Rose Monk
Performer: Nimisha Odedra
Performer: Paul G Raymond.
Script Editors: Sanjeev Kohli and Donny Mcleary
Writers: Sunny Bahia, Alice Gregg, Tamar Broadbent, Maddy Anholt, Karim Khan, Elizabeth Parikh, Stevie Cooke, Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi, Jim Felton, Neil Bratchpiece, Shai Hussain and In Cahoots.
Produced by Gus Beattie
A Gusman production for BBC Radio 4.
Emma makes a breakthrough, and Rex cements his new venture.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
Clive Anderson and guests ask if public inquiries are worth the huge investment of time and resources. Are judges, as establishment figures, the right people to spearhead these investigations?
Public inquiries are set up to uncover the truth following scandals or perceived injustices. They are designed to heal wounds through the rigorous, public airing of the issues and circumstances around controversial events. But they are also expensive and slow. The Bloody Sunday Inquiry took 12 years to report and cost £192m.
The Inquiries Act 2005 was intended to reduce the length and cost of inquiries, while maintaining the confidence of both the parties at the centre of the inquiry and the wider public. Has it been successful?
Clive's guests discuss whether judges are the right people to head inquiries. Their ability to hear evidence and reach judgements is not in dispute, but are they too much part of the establishment to be always truly independent?
Are the recommendations made by inquiries adequately implemented? In his 2,000 page report Sir Robert Francis QC made 290 recommendations. How many is too many?
And do inquiries really need lawyers to be involved at all?
Producer: Matt Willis
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4.
Talks with a personal dimension.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Ba believes in destiny. Mukesh believes in coincidence. Neha believes in patterns and consistency. And Raks believes in the manifest destiny of his own male ego.
The One Who Wrote Destiny is the hilarious and moving new novel by Nikesh Shukla, Editor of The Good Immigrant anthology of essays and author of the novels Meatspace and Coconut Unlimited.
For Book at Bedtime, five voices tell the story of three generations of the same family, riven by feuds and falling-outs, united by fates and fortunes. Mukesh moves from Kenya to the drizzly northern town of Keighley in 1966. Decades later, his daughter Neha is dying from lung cancer, a genetic gift from her mother and an invocation to forge a better relationship with her brother and her widowed father before it's too late. Neha's brother Rakesh is a comedian but his career is flat-lining and he's grieving his mother and sister. Ba has never looked after her two young grandchildren before. After the death of her daughter, they come to stay with her and she has to work out how to bond with two children who are used England, not to the rhythms of Kenya...
Readers: Bhasker Patel, Chetna Pandya, Maya Sondhi, Indira Varma and Taru Devani
Producer: Mair Bosworth.
Actor, writer, raconteur and impressionist John Sessions mixes showbiz stories, intriguing history, extraordinary impressions and fabulous one-liners - all linked to and from him.
John's dazzling array of skills - storytelling, erudition, vocal re-creations and comedy - are all brought into play as he starts each episode with a story or fact related to himself, and proceeds to take us all over the place by linking people, ending up back with himself.
Each show is a quick-witted, Peter Ustinov-style rollercoaster of storytelling - bizarre and brilliant, eccentric and effusive, autobiographical and alliterative, full of incredible impressions and droll digressions along the way.
Programme 1:
From Mel Gibson to Jimmy Nail via O'Toole and Kerensky.
Written and Performed by John Sessions.
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL production for BBC Radio 4.
John Moloney shares far too much information about his thoughts on life with the person on the other end of the phone at the utility centre. How hard can it be to change your electricity supplier? Well, it turns out that it's harder than it looks.
Written and performed by John Moloney
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4.
News 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 reading and a reflection to start the day with the Rev'd Dr Stephen Wigley, Chair of the Wales Synod of the Methodist Church.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
Wildlife artist Jane Smith describes her excitement at hearing the song of the whitethroat heralding his return to her garden every year.
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: Sarah Blunt
Photograph: Dave Bushell.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the discovery and growing understanding of the Proton, formed from three quarks close to the Big Bang and found in the nuclei of all elements. The positive charges they emit means they attract the fundamental particles of negatively charged electrons, an attraction that leads to the creation of atoms which in turn leads to chemistry, biology and life itself. The Sun (in common with other stars) is a fusion engine that turn protons by a series of processes into helium, emitting energy in the process, with about half of the Sun's protons captured so far. Hydrogen atoms, stripped of electrons, are single protons which can be accelerated to smash other nuclei and have applications in proton therapy. Many questions remain, such as why are electrical charges for protons and electrons so perfectly balanced?
With
Frank Close
Helen Heath
and
Simon Jolly
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
by Michelle Dean
The immensely influential critic of the New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991, Pauline Kael's biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused reviews espoused opinions often contrary to those of her contemporaries. She was one of the most influential American film critics of her day.
Dean's book builds a picture of the social and political progress of women through the twentieth century from Dorothy Parker to Nora Ephron.
Dorothy Parker, Mary McCarthy, Susan Sontag, Pauline Kael and Nora Ephron -these brilliant women are the central figures of Sharp: The Women Who Made an Art of Having an Opinion. They are united by their 'sharpness', the ability to cut to the quick with precision of thought and wit. The world would not have been the same without Dorothy Parker's acid reflections on the absurdities of her life. Or Mary McCarthy's fiction which is noted for its acerbity in analysing the finer nuances of intellectual dilemmas. Or Susan Sontag's ideas about interpretation, or Pauline Kael's energetic swipes at filmmakers. Or Nora Ephron's biting wit and strong female characters. Together they define the cultural and intellectual history of twentieth century America.
Michelle Dean is a journalist, critic, and the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle's 2016 Citation for Excellence in Reviewing. A contributing editor at the New Republic, she has written for the New Yorker, Nation, New York Times Magazine, Slate, New York Magazine, and Elle.
abridged by Sara Davies
read by Alexandra Mathie
produced by Gaynor Macfarlane.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
By Annamaria Murphy
Fourth in the latest series of the comedy drama set in Glan Don, a mysterious village perched on the wild Welsh coast.
Matty reveals the details of Magda's disappearance.
Starring Elis James (Josh), Emma Sidi (W1A) and Ifan Huw Dafydd (Gavin and Stacey).Series created by Meic Povey
Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.
Corruption Incorporated - the Odebrecht Story
Odebrecht was one of Brazil's premier companies - the largest construction firm in Latin America. But some of its success in securing multi-million dollar contracts across the region was built on a policy of colossal bribery. This edifice of graft began to crumble when the Brazilian authorities started to investigate the state-owned oil company, Petrobras. As a result, CEO Marcelo Odebrecht was convicted of paying millions of dollars in bribes to Petrobras executives in cash-for-contracts. The testimony of Odebrecht executives in plea-bargain agreements with prosecutors continues to have fall-out in an election year, especially with former President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva now in jail on charges related to Brazil's wider corruption scandal.
Linda Pressly explores the organisation at the heart of the Odebrecht scandal - a whole corporate department set up to administer bribes. And she meets the company's new CEO, Luciano Guidolin, who tells her the company will be compliant. It will not tolerate corruption. Meanwhile, the Federal Police of Brazil continue to attempt to crack the codes that prevent them from fully accessing Odebrecht's encrypted computer system.
Presenter: Linda Pressly
Producer in Brazil: Jessica Cruz.
Jonathan Glancey asks whether buildings are innocent of the purpose for which they were built. Eighty years after Hitler's building spree around Germany, many of the surviving buildings he constructed as "cathedrals of propaganda" for the Nazi Party are now in need of restoration. This opens a public debate about how the architectural legacy should be handled and whether buildings retain the charge of their toxic past.
Jonathan is in Nuremberg at the infamous rally ground where so many of Hitler's epic theatrical gatherings took place. Here the enormous structures and buildings of the complex are crumbling and the city has some hard decisions to make. And in Munich, the British architect David Chipperfield has been engaged to restore the Haus der Kunst, the gallery where Hitler staged the exhibition of German art, set in contrast to the "degenerate" art which was shown nearby and which he despised. Jonathan talks to David about his plans - but why are they so very controversial?
We also talk to architect Norman Foster about German buildings and about his own transformative work on the Reichstag in Berlin.
And we visit Clandon Park near Guildford in Surrey, a Palladian house which was gutted by fire in 2015. Its guilty secret is that it was built entirely on the proceeds of slavery. Should we ignore that and happily rebuild?
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
On this day in 1918, a man received £75 damages from the man who seduced his daughter, and in Folkestone, Kitty determines to lead a less selfish life.
Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
Consumer affairs programme.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
He is condemned as China's worst traitor. What made him do it? In 1938, as China was plunged into war, Wang Jingwei defected to the enemy, Japan. Yet in his early life, he had been one of the great figures of the Chinese revolution, second only to the legendary Sun Yat-sen. Wang's story is one of hope for a different Asia, liberated from imperialism, and the betrayal of those possibilities. Wang's decision to defect came at China's "darkest hour" when victory against a mighty enemy seemed impossible, and previously unthinkable political choices would tear China into many parts. Understanding why he chose to collaborate with Japan, and how he was in turn betrayed, illuminates one of the great tragedies of China's twentieth century.
Presenter: Rana Mitter
Producer: Ben Crighton
Researcher: Elizabeth Smith Rosser.
A sinkhole opens up beneath the City Of London and Lairre and Parker, fresh from battling Robin Hood and his Merry Men, are tasked by Miranda Hyde (Tracy Ann Oberman) to rescue Johnson from the depths of the city.
Lairre battles an incorrect cultural consensus of British history while Parker channels Modesty Blaise to become the world's greatest secret agent, and together they find themselves facing Gogmagog the Giant as Britain's past erupts through time to destroy the present.
Mythos is a series that looks at British folklore through a quasi-scientific prism. It's laced with sardonic humour, ridiculous situations and insane leaps of logic - but its foundations lie in the stories that have become part of the British cultural DNA over the last two thousand years.
Writer Julian Simpson won the Tinniswood Award for his Radio 4 play Fugue State.
Writer and Director: Julian Simpson
Sound Designer: David Thomas
Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
Lincolnshire is famous for vast fields of tulips, but this week Helen Mark meets people in the country who have a more personal relationship with flowers, including a family whose snowdrop wood is the location for a naming ceremony for their daughter, conducted by a Druid named Kevin. Helen contemplates the fading of memories with a Greek artist and choreographer, resident in Lincoln, who makes photographs using flower emulsions. There's a beekeeper who trains new recruits and packs her garden with as many flowers as she can to provide the bees with sustenance; a former IT manager turned English flower-grower and the only elderflower farmers in the UK.
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery.
Francine Stock presents a new series in The Film Programme. This Woman's Work is a regular discussion strand with some of the most important women in the British film industry. This week she talks to two producers about their adventures in motion pictures.
Adam Rutherford investigates the news in science and science in the news.
Carolyn Quinn with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
A sitcom, written by Moray Hunter and starring Angus Deayton, about five single, middle aged neighbours living in flats in a converted house in North London.
Mitch (Angus Deayton) is a widower and part-time therapist who is looking to put his life back together now that he is single and living - supposedly temporarily - with Will (Pearce Quigley), his younger, more volatile and unhappily divorced half-brother.
Elsewhere in the building are schoolteacher Ellie (Abigail Cruttenden) who is shy, nervous and desperately missing her ex-boyfriend, overly honest, frustrated actress Louisa (Kate Isitt), and socially inept IT nerd Morris (Bennett Arron).
In The Long Bad Friday Night, Mitch's late wife's sister Helen, (Carrie Quinlan) is keen to meet up with him for a drink. She's too keen for Mitch who hides out upstairs with Ellie while Will attempts to resolve the situation. But his attempts to get rid of Helen don't exactly go to plan. Meanwhile, Louisa needs to piggy back on someone's wi-fi to watch her favourite TV show and winds up having to hang out with Morris.
This Friday night is not panning out well for anyone
Cast:
Mitch: Angus Deayton
Ellie: Abigail Cruttenden
Will: Pearce Quigley
Louisa: Kate Isitt
Morris: Bennett Arron
Helen: Carrie Quiinlan
An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4.
Shula makes a fresh start, and Jazzer is surprised by a face from the past.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
Series looking at important issues in the news. Presented by David Aaronovitch.
Sexual harassment at work has become "normalised" according to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
A recent UK survey by polling company ComRes found that half of women and a fifth of men have experienced it during their careers.
From unwanted comments and jokes to inappropriate touching, actions that go beyond office banter seem to have become the norm for many in the workplace.
As MPs and shareholders start to look at the issue more closely - business reporter Katie Prescott explores how companies are grappling with the growing number of sexual harassment revelations, and how they can prevent it happening in the first place.
Producer: Charlotte McDonald.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Ba believes in destiny. Mukesh believes in coincidence. Neha believes in patterns and consistency. And Raks believes in the manifest destiny of his own male ego.
The One Who Wrote Destiny is the hilarious and moving new novel by Nikesh Shukla, Editor of The Good Immigrant anthology of essays and author of the novels Meatspace and Coconut Unlimited.
For Book at Bedtime, five voices tell the story of three generations of the same family, riven by feuds and falling-outs, united by fates and fortunes. Mukesh moves from Kenya to the drizzly northern town of Keighley in 1966. Decades later, his daughter Neha is dying from lung cancer, a genetic gift from her mother and an invocation to forge a better relationship with her brother and her widowed father before it's too late. Neha's brother Rakesh is a comedian but his career is flat-lining and he's grieving his mother and sister. Ba has never looked after her two young grandchildren before. After the death of her daughter, they come to stay with her and she has to work out how to bond with two children who are used England, not to the rhythms of Kenya...
Readers: Bhasker Patel, Chetna Pandya, Maya Sondhi, Indira Varma and Taru Devani
Producer: Mair Bosworth.
The number one podcast for those involved or just interested in the production of beef animals and dairy herds.
In this episode, we interview Roy Gluck Jr, the CEO of US fast food restaurant Burgers Barrel.
Written and performed by Benjamin Partridge, Andy Daly and Rhodri Viney
Produced by Benjamin Partridge.
News 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 reading and a reflection to start the day with the Rev'd Dr Stephen Wigley, Chair of the Wales Synod of the Methodist Church.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Puffin. Far better-known for its comical looks than its calls, the puffin is a bird that that is recognised by many and has earned the nickname "sea-parrot" or "clown of the sea".
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
by Michelle Dean
Nora Ephron was a journalist, blogger, essayist, novelist, playwright, Oscar-nominated screenwriter and film director. She brought her sharp New York wit to all her work and in particular to the romantic comedies Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry Met Sally.
Dean's book builds a picture of the social and political progress of women through the twentieth century from Dorothy Parker to Nora Ephron.
Dorothy Parker, Mary McCarthy, Susan Sontag, Pauline Kael and Nora Ephron -these brilliant women are the central figures of Sharp: The Women Who Made an Art of Having an Opinion. They are united by their 'sharpness', the ability to cut to the quick with precision of thought and wit. The world would not have been the same without Dorothy Parker's acid reflections on the absurdities of her life. Or Mary McCarthy's fiction which is noted for its acerbity in analysing the finer nuances of intellectual dilemmas. Or Susan Sontag's ideas about interpretation, or Pauline Kael's energetic swipes at filmmakers. Or Nora Ephron's biting wit and strong female characters. Together they define the cultural and intellectual history of twentieth century America.
Michelle Dean is a journalist, critic, and the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle's 2016 Citation for Excellence in Reviewing. A contributing editor at the New Republic, she has written for the New Yorker, Nation, New York Times Magazine, Slate, New York Magazine, and Elle.
abridged by Sara Davies
read by Alexandra Mathie
produced by Gaynor Macfarlane.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
By Annamaria Murphy
First in the latest series of the comedy drama set in Glan Don, a mysterious village perched on the wild Welsh coast.
Glan Don receives a strange visitor.
Starring Elis James (Josh), Emma Sidi (W1A) and Ifan Huw Dafydd (Gavin and Stacey).
Series created by Meic Povey
Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.
In the wake of recent political upheavals, psychotherapist Philippa Perry examines the role that humiliation plays, at personal, economic and political levels.
At the heart of this programme is the effect that humiliation has upon an individual and its potential to shape the behaviour of both individuals and communities. We hear the life story of reformed criminal Noel 'Razor' Smith and how humiliation has influenced his life - from childhood to the 33 years he spent in prison.
Provoking questions of masculinity, belonging and power, humiliation is an emotion as old as human nature itself, and relevant today in the international political shifts that led to Brexit and the Presidency of Donald Trump. Perry speaks to the clinical psychologist Professor Paul Gilbert about this emotion, from the evolution of humankind to the 21st Century. She also talks to sociologist Professor Victor Seidler whose perspective is shaped not just by his professional research into masculinity and social theory, but also by his own Jewish identity.
We hear from the actor and opera singer Rosie Middleton, who is starring in an upcoming opera, written by composer Michael Betteridge, based on the experiences of women who have been humiliated online by men. The arias are based on the personal experiences of Rosie and several other women. And so the programme's gaze moves towards how victims of humiliation can begin to overcome this emotion.
An Overtone production for BBC Radio 4.
The final series of Ronnie Corbett's popular sitcom, written by Ian Davidson and Peter Vincent.
Ronnie is granddad Sandy and his old dog is Henry. If the dog dies or his lodger moves on, Sandy's children want him to downsize. He doesn't.
To help his finances, Sandy, still in the family home, took in a young couple as lodgers. But then the man left, leaving the attractive Dolores behind. Sandy's children are quite sure Dolores is a gold-digger. Meanwhile, Sandy's opinion that it would be inhuman to move Henry somewhere unfamiliar is wearing a bit thin - as is the old dog himself. But keeping the dog alive and the lodger happy are one thing, what really concerns Sandy deeply is providing a guiding hand to his whole family - advising here, prompting there, responding to any emergency callout. If he kept himself to himself, things would be a lot simpler and smoother. But a lot duller too.
Episode Five: One Dog And His Man
Why is Henry chewing a leg of Sandy's piano? Is he losing his canine marbles? He needs to go to the Dog Whisperer. To get Henry back, Sandy has to take to the skies.
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
On this day in 1918, Lord Crewe presented 53 humble working Londoners with OBE's, while in Folkestone, Jeanie Jones, a working girl, is given in death all the respect she was denied in life.
Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
Consumer news and issues.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
This was the duel that shaped China. Hong Xiuquan was a poor boy who went into a trance and became convinced he was Jesus's younger brother, with a mission to conquer China. Zeng Guofan was a loyal Confucian bureaucrat who rose up the imperial hierarchy. In the mid-19th century, Hong's visions led him to launch a war under the name "Taiping" - heavenly kingdom of great peace. He created a quasi-state in some of China's richest heartlands, run on Christian principles, imposed on pain of death. The ruling house sent in Zeng to beat the rebels. The result was one of the bloodiest, most savage civil wars in Chinese history, shaped by the rivalry between two men, one set to conquer China, and one to save the old regime.
Presenter: Rana Mitter
Producer: Ben Crighton
Researcher: Elizabeth Smith Rosser.
A dark comedy about a disastrous school trip to France. A group of pupils are stranded outside Paris on their journey to the finals of the Young European Ethical Enterprise Awards. Newly qualified teacher Lee and more experienced colleagues Val and Lesley struggle to cope when one of their students goes missing and then try to minimise the fallout from the incident back home where headmistress Eve is determined to find out what really happened.
Directed by Liz Webb.
Peter Gibbs and his panel make a visit to Cambridge. Joining Peter this week are Bob Flowerdew, Matthew Wilson and Bunny Guinness.
Produced by Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer: Hester Cant
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
Writers choose poems as inspiration for new stories.
Episode 1/4
Crossing the Bar
An adventurous woman makes an unexpected journey.
A captivating story inspired by Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem about the journey from life to death.
By novelist and short-story writer, Linda Cracknell.
Credits
Writer ..... Linda Cracknell
Reader ..... Irene Macdougall
Producer ..... Claire Simpson
A BBC Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4.
Obituary series, analysing and celebrating the life stories of people who have recently died.
Investigating the numbers in the news.
A couple who were childhood sweethearts come to terms with life now his health has failed and she is his carer. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
Producer: Marya Burgess.
Carolyn Quinn with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Miles Jupp.
Brian continues to scheme, and Will faces a new problem.
News, reviews and interviews from the worlds of art, literature, film and music.
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from Sevenoaks School in Kent with a panel including Vice Chair of the Conservative Party Kemi Badenoch MP and Shadow Policing Minister Louise Haigh MP.
A weekly reflection on a topical issue.
Final omnibus of Season 13, A Woman's Place, set in the week when a general strike was held in Dublin in protest against plans for Irish conscription.
Cast
Gabriel Graham ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Rev. Alec Poole ..... Tom Stuart
Dilys Walker ..... Ellie Piercy
Kitty Lumley ..... Ami Metcalf
Isabel Graham ..... Keely Beresford
Esme Macknade ..... Katie Angelou
Norman Harris ..... Sean Baker
Edie Chadwick ..... Kathryn Beaumont
Juliet Cavendish ..... Lizzie Bourne
Howard Argent ..... Gunnar Cauthery
Alice Macknade ..... Claire-Louise Cordwell
Eleanor Tanney ..... Aimee-Ffion Edwards
Marion Wardle ..... Laura Elphinstone
Rose Allatini ..... Phoebe Fildes
Terence Wentworth ..... Jack Lowden
Rev. Ralph Winwood ..... Nicholas Murchie
Olive Hargreaves ..... Rhiannon Neads
Florrie Wilson ..... Claire Rushbrook
Nell Kingsley ..... Alice St Clair
Adeline Lumley ..... Helen Schlesinger
Dorothea Winwood ..... Rachel Shelley
Dennis Monk ..... Sam Swann
Charles Summer ..... Rufus Wright
Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Composer: Matthew Strachan
Consultant Historian: Maggie Andrews.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Ba believes in destiny. Mukesh believes in coincidence. Neha believes in patterns and consistency. And Raks believes in the manifest destiny of his own male ego.
The One Who Wrote Destiny is the hilarious and moving new novel by Nikesh Shukla, Editor of The Good Immigrant anthology of essays and author of the novels Meatspace and Coconut Unlimited.
For Book at Bedtime, five voices tell the story of three generations of the same family, riven by feuds and falling-outs, united by fates and fortunes. Mukesh moves from Kenya to the drizzly northern town of Keighley in 1966. Decades later, his daughter Neha is dying from lung cancer, a genetic gift from her mother and an invocation to forge a better relationship with her brother and her widowed father before it's too late. Neha's brother Rakesh is a comedian but his career is flat-lining and he's grieving his mother and sister. Ba has never looked after her two young grandchildren before. After the death of her daughter, they come to stay with her and she has to work out how to bond with two children who are used England, not to the rhythms of Kenya...
Readers: Bhasker Patel, Chetna Pandya, Maya Sondhi, Indira Varma and Taru Devani
Producer: Mair Bosworth.
Frank and funny conversation with Lauren Laverne and guests.
News from Westminster.
A mother and son consider the impact his brain tumour and its after effects has had on them and the rest of the family. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
Producer: Marya Burgess.