The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Derived from the juice of the poppy, it relieves our pain and cures our insomnia. It may even inspire great art. It also causes addiction, misery and death. Historian Lucy Inglis' new book explores man's long and complex relationship with opium.
The final episode of Milk of Paradise looks at the global issue of heroin addiction today.
"It's everywhere, isn't it?" says the author's husband, as they sit in a bar in the south of France watching some twitchy addicts at the next table.
"Yes," she agrees, but concludes on a controversially non-judgmental note that "the very ordinariness of it all made me remember than addictions of all kinds surround us, making us neither good nor bad, nor less human. They make us who we are. Our petty daily tallies, the small triumphs in the face of finality, are measured out in teaspoons for the billionaire and the street addict alike."
Milk of Paradise is written by Lucy Inglis and abridged by Anna Magnusson.
The reader is Anita Vettesse.
The producer is David Jackson Young.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with novelist and poet Zahid Hussain.
Two iPM listeners tell us about their marriages ending in divorce.
We've also got our Your News bulletin and we talk alpacas. Let us know your story on iPM@bbc.co.uk
Presented by Luke Jones and Chris Mason. Produced by Cat Farnsworth.
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
Ian Marchant hunts for dragons, real and imaginary, in the spooky and fantastic landscape of Radnorshire in Wales. He'll meet a sleeping dragon in Presteigne made by blacksmith Peter Smith; he'll look at the range of hills known as the 'dragon's back' with writer Phil Rickman and he'll hunt for newts - which are tiny dragons, after all - in Radnor Forest. And he'll find out why so many churches in Radnorshire are dedicated to St Michael. It turns out they're all needed to hold down the Radnorshire dragon, or the evil forces it represents.
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery.
Sybil Ruscoe visits Weir End farm in Herefordshire to meet star of #combinekaraoke Ally Hunter Blair and find out how the weather is affecting this year's harvest of Spring Barley, Wheat and Oilseed Rape. Ally explains that although yields are down prices have gone up so in many ways they'll probably finish up in the same position as last year, but it's the quality of the crops being produced that's of most concern. They sit down with Ally's Father Graham, now retired from the farm but who still confesses to annoying his Son on a daily basis. With just four days of harvesting left to go Ally is itching to get started again but there's just time for he and Sybil to hop into the cab for a spot of #combinekaraoke.
Producer: Toby Field.
The latest weather forecast.
News and current affairs including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
We're live from the YMCA Theatre in Scarborough with Sir Michael Parkinson, folk legend Martin Carthy, surfer Tori Gower and Jennifer Dunne on the exhibition the Ancient Seas of the Yorkshire Coast. With Inheritance Tracks from Kiki Dee.
Sir Michael Parkinson talks about his early life in Yorkshire, happy memories of holidays in Scarborough, his passion for cricket and forthcoming tour - An Evening With Sir Michael Parkinson.
Jennifer Dunne is Collections Manager, Scarborough Museums Trust. She describes the Rotunda Museum's new exhibition for the Scarborough's Dinosaur coast, which includes a recently discovered fossilized Walrus skull.
Tori Gower discovered surfing while on a visit to Scarborough and stayed. She's now a qualified surf instructor and RNLI beach lifeguard. When she's not in the water, she's usually painting - she's created seascapes as well as surfboard art.
Ben Davis is running some 470 miles around Yorkshire. He set off on Yorkshire Day 1 August and he finishes in Scarborough today. He describes the journey and benefits of running for his mental health - and his weight.
Folk legend Martin Carthy performs live, including a new arrangement of Scarborough Fair. He recalls his family's musical roots, his acting ambitions and what brought him to the area.
Kiki Dee shares her Inheritance Tracks - Some of Your Lovin by Dusty Springfield and Calling All Angels, Jane Siberry.
Mark Lawson continues his exploration of the ways in which technology is shaping the way that stories are being told today. He begins by describing the various ways that mobile phones, search engines and CCTV cameras would blow huge holes in the plots of so many classic crime novels - the late Ruth Rendell once told him in an interview that none of her many novels would be plausible in the digital age. Mark talks with TV producers, novelists and showrunners (including Dreda Say Mitchell, Denise Mina, Jed Mercurio and Nicola Shindler) about the possibilities that technology offers them and the pressure it puts on them to make sure their stories are sufficiently sophisticated to bear scrutiny. He also speaks with the new artistic director of the Young Vic, Kwame Kwei Armah, about the perils of updating plays for the stage and his excitement at the ways future generations will use technology in their work. Mark also visits the BBC's research and development department to hear how new digital developments are allowing the audience to enjoy a much more active engagement with a wide range of radio and television stories.
In the ten years since his death, the impact of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent on women's fashion remains undimmed. The tailored suit, trench coat and many other iconic designs are now staples of the modern Western woman's wardrobe. So what were the key moments that shaped Saint Laurent's life? And what was the relation between his fashion innovations and the fast-moving social changes of his time? Bridget Kendall looks back on his life and legacy with director of the Yves Saint Laurent Museum, Olivier Flaviano, fashion historian Emilie Hammen and one of Saint Laurent's last assistants, Charles Sébline.
Photo: Yves Saint Laurent, French designer, with two fashion models, Betty Catroux (left) and Loulou de la Falaise, outside his 'Rive Gauche' shop.
Credit: John Minihan, Getty Images.
Reports from writers and journalists around the world. Presented by Kate Adie.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Inflation can change your sex life - and pretty much everything else.
Economics with Subtitles is your everyday guide to economics and why you should care. In this show, Ayeisha and Steve make sense of inflation. They'll explain how hyperinflation is affecting how Venezuelans have sex, why you can't afford a ticket to see your favourite band in concert anymore and why a sale on sofas isn't always a good thing.
Producers: Simon Maybin & Phoebe Keane
Presenters: Ayeisha Thomas-Smith & Steve Bugeja.
An energetic, intelligent female-anchored show with a female panel - using the events, trends and talking points they think should really be top of the news agenda in a series of fresh and funny challenges.
Host Jo Bunting is joined by a panel of women including Katie Mulgrew, Sally Philips, Fi Glover and Julia Hartley-Brewer.
Jo Bunting is a producer and writer of topical comedy and satire, with credits including Have I Got News For You, the Great British Bake Off spin off show An Extra Slice with Jo Brand, and the successful topical chat show That Sunday Night Show presented by Adrian Chiles on ITV. Jo was a guest interviewer on Loose Ends for several years and a panellist on Loose Women.
An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
Shaun Ley presents political debate from the Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House London with a panel including The Spectator magazine political correspondent Katy Balls, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government James Brokenshire MP , the Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb who is Chairman of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee and the Shadow Rail Minister Rachael Maskell MP.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson.
Listeners have their say on the issues discussed on Any Questions?
The final mystery in our popular long-running thriller set in 10th century Japan - and the final ever mystery for Lady Shonagon and her Lieutenant Yukinari.
The Pillow Book series follows the adventures of Shonagon and Yukinari - an unlikely and compelling duo. Written by one of our leading radio writers, Robert Forrest, The Pillow Book captures a strange, magical world - simultaneously utterly remote and wonderfully familiar to our own - and it tells a cracking mystery at the same time.
With the Empress Teishi dead, Lady Shonagon has been banished from the Imperial Palace and separated from her policeman. Under Imperial guard, she is sent back to her only remaining relative, her brother Takai. But there has been no love lost between Shonagon and her brother since they were children, and Shonagon must set out once more on her own in search of her friend Saisho. Meanwhile, the villain Ikiryo walks abroad, and no one is safe.
Directed by Lu Kemp.
A BBC Scotland Production for Radio 4.
At a vibrant open-air party in Mumbai, stories of young, contemporary India converge - from the rise of the nation's first global superstar DJ, to the varied lives of his young fans.
DJ Nucleya is the hottest property in Indian dance music: the breakout star whose rise marks a turning point in Indian culture. Before him, dance music (or EDM) was the preserve of the monied middle-classes. But Nucleya has ripped up the rule book: placing traditional Indian street music - ecstatic pounding tabla and dholes - at the core of his art, and attracting a legion of young, predominantly working-class fans.
Told in immersive binaural stereo, Indian Rave charts the story of a single event in the searing Mumbai heat earlier this year - a teeming aural world of stories, sensations and sheer headrush. Woven through it are the voices and stories of just some of the thousands of Indians in attendance - and the tale of the rise of a 21st century Indian musical superstar.
Producer: Steven Rajam for BBC Wales.
Anne Maguire and writer Julie Bindel talk about one of the best-selling lesbian novels of all time - An Emergence of Green by Katherine V Forrest.
How do you go about rebuilding your relationship when your partner's had an affair. A listener we're calling Heather tells us her story and the relationship counsellor Anshu Rastogi gives some advice.
Why does an interest in clothes and fashion equate to a lack of seriousness? Dr Kate Strasdin objected to a comment made by Ariana Huffington of the Huffington Post on this programme. She is a senior lecturer in 19th century dress at Falmouth University and discusses the issue with Rachel Arthur a business journalist specialising in fashion and technology.
How do you best support a mother when her adult child dies? Jane Wessman's son Billy died when he was just 44. Carolyn Brice from Compassionate Friends and Julia Samuel a grief psychotherapist discuss.
What are the challenges when you're in a relationship where one of you is much older than the other? Alice and Mike tell us about their 26 year age gap relationship and Dee Holmes from Relate offers advice.
Over the past six months, the gender pay gap scandal has made the news and headlines but listener Jessica wanted to talk about the pay gap between white and BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) employees. Employment Lawyer Adele Edwin-Lamerton and ITN Journalist Natalie Morris discuss.
What is your take on the old adage 'A son is a son until he takes a wife. A daughter is a daughter all of her life'. Louise Halling and the writer Stephanie Calman discuss cultural expectations.
Presented by Jenni Murray
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed
Editor: Jane Thurlow.
Coverage and analysis of the day's news.
Two iPM listeners tell us about their marriages ending in divorce.
We've also got our Your News bulletin and we talk alpacas. Let us know your story on iPM@bbc.co.uk
Presented by Luke Jones and Chris Mason. Produced by Cat Farnsworth.
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 Ruth Jones, Jennifer Kidwell & Scott R Sheppard, Athena Kugblenu and Olaf Falafel for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert and Daniel Martinez Flamenco.
Produced by The Loose Ends Team.
Syrian qanun virtuoso Maya Youssef explains why - to her - music is "the opposite of death" in this powerful and poignant talk.
"I played a concert in a refugee centre in Aalborg, Denmark," she says, "and afterwards a ten-year old child approached me and said, 'Your music brought back the memory of beautiful days in Syria and the smell of lemon and jasmine.' Another woman added, 'I haven't felt happy like this for a long time'. I felt joy and grief at the same time hearing this."
Recorded in front of a live audience at the WOMAD world music and arts festival in Wiltshire.
Producer: Richard Knight.
We're in Edinburgh for the festivals. In venues throughout the city there's a barrage of theatre, cabaret, music, books, kids' shows; something for everyone, . We're reviewing Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord's productions of The Beggar's Opera and La Maladie de la Mort as well as National Theatre Of Scotland's Midsummer. Also Raqib Shaw exhibition; Reinventing The Old Masters. We're discussing Andrew Miller's novel Now We Shall Be Entirely Free and the film The Eyes of Orson Welles. AND mentioning as many other recommended events as we can cram into the programme!
Onstage at the BBC's Big Blue Tent, Tom Sutcliffe is joined by Denise Mina, Don Paterson and Peggy Hughes . The producer is Oliver Jones.
What do the working class heroes of 1960s cinema say about class in the Britain of 2018?
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, A Taste of Honey and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner - Woodfall films from a time when the working class was at the forefront of visions of the future. The BFI's senior curator, Danny Leigh, looks through films when the working class was shown on the big screen as a force to be reckoned with for the first time, bringing energy and anger to transforming the world.
He takes the films back to their original settings - Nottingham, Salford, and Blackpool - to the contemporary working-class communities, to find out how people relate to them today. Danny asks if, where and why this cinematic vision of the future has been lost - and what it now means to be working class.
He reflects on when and how working class women, and communities other than an indigenous white working class were included in films. He explores the importance of the first generation of immigrant workers and how they have shaped class identity.
Danny also explores his own relationship to the films. His parents were working class children from Nottingham and Bradford of the 1950s - one becoming socially mobile and the other not. In both cases, it was film that helped him to know what they came from.
The programme also tells the story of Woodfall Films itself. The company was founded in Chelsea, around the corner from the Royal Court Theatre, although there isn't a Woodfall film set in London.
At a time when the whole issue of class is hotly contested and even the term "working class" is sometimes claimed to be outdated, Danny Leigh uses film archive to suggest a new sense of working class identity - distinct from, but connected to, big-screen visions of the past.
Producer: Jo Meek
An Overtone production for BBC Radio 4.
Lee Ross, Indira Varma, Sagar Radia and Ewan Bailey star in this story by Michael Chaplin.
In the build up to the Somme Mickey Bliss's plan to test Capitaine Vasserot's new communication device in No Man's Land doesn't go according to plan.
Meticulously based on war diaries and eye-witness accounts, each episode of TOMMIES traces one real day at war exactly 100 years ago.
This series of TOMMIES follows the fortunes of Mickey Bliss and his fellow signallers from the Lahore Division of the British Indian Army. They are cogs in an immense machine, one which connects situations across the whole theatre of war, over 4 long years.
Series created by Jonathan Ruffle
Producers: David Hunter, Jonquil Panting, Jonathan Ruffle
Director: David Hunter.
Psychotherapist Susie Orbach explores the private relationship between therapist and patient. We join Susie in her consulting room, where she meets a different client each day.
Today, Susie meets Helen. She's a 30 year old lawyer who has recently had treatment for early stage breast cancer.
All of the clients are played by actors, but these are not scripted scenes. Each client profile has been carefully constructed by therapist Susie, director Ian Rickson (former artistic director at the Royal Court, and director of the highly acclaimed Jerusalem) and radio producer Kevin Dawson. The client profiles have been given to the actors who have learned about the characters' lives, backgrounds, and reasons for seeking therapy. The scenes have then been improvised and recorded on concealed microphones at Susie's surgery.
Throughout the encounters in this series, we get to hear the therapist at work, experiencing what it's like to eavesdrop on the most intimate of exchanges.
To help us with our understanding of the process, Susie Orbach commentates on what is happening in the room, giving us an insight into her role as a therapist and shining a light on the journey both she and her patient have embarked upon.
Psychotherapist: Susie Orbach
Helen: Vanessa Kirby
Producer: Kevin Dawson
Director: Ian Rickson
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
Anne McElvoy returns with the series that asks figures from opposing sides of a political issue to listen to each other, and explore the roots of each other's beliefs, with the help of conflict resolution specialist Gabrielle Rifkind.
In this edition, Anne brings together Polly Toynbee, columnist for the Guardian, and Melanie McDonagh, writer for the London Evening Standard and the Spectator, to discuss the question: 'Is Assisted Dying Morally Wrong?'
Producer: Phil Tinline.
(2/13)
The competitors in this second heat of the 2018 season will need to show a good grasp of music ranging from Brahms to New Order, to tackle Paul Gambaccini's questions in the famously unforgiving music quiz. As well as general knowledge questions on music, they'll be offered a choice of topics on which to answer individual questions, of which they've had no prior warning and no chance to bone up. There are copious clips and musical illustrations, both familiar and surprising.
The quiz comes from the BBC's historic studios at Maida Vale, and the line up today is:
Liz Ashling, a registered nurse and midwife from Amersham in Buckinghamshire
Steve Brown, a software developer from Llanddeusant in Carmarthenshire
Brian Thorne, a plasterer from Shillingstone in Dorset.
The winner will take his or her place in the semi-finals in the autumn.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
Roger McGough is joined by Kate Tempest, who shares a selection of her favourite poems from the Poetry Please archive of listeners' requests.
A playwright, poet, novelist and spoken word artist who began performing when she left school at the age of 16, Kate Tempest has gone from performing to strangers on buses to winning accolades including being the youngest winner of the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry with her piece, Brand New Ancients in 2013, and she was selected as one of the 2014 Next Generation Poets by the Poetry Society, a once-in-a-decade award. She's been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and won Best Female Solo Performer at The Brits for her music. Equally influenced by Joyce, Bukowski, Blake and the Wu-Tang Clan she has a musical sense of language, bridging the worlds of rap and traditional lyric verse.
She joins Roger on the publication of her new collection of poetry, Running Upon The Wires (Picador) with poem choices including Wislawa Szymborska, Yusef Komunyakaa, Zia Ahmed, Sharon Olds, Christopher Logue, Langston Hughes and readings by Kim Moore and one of the children from the anthology, Poems From A School, Maah Noor Ali.
Producer: Sarah Addezio.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
It's a dreich August morning during Edinburgh Festival and a 22 year-old student is home for summer, handing out flyers.
What does it feel like to have your home town turned into a stand-up comedy theme park for tourists every August? Edinburgh is an original short work for radio written and performed by Kieran Hurley. It's a story of soggy flyers, disappointing encounters and splitting headaches. It's also about that transient moment when teenage memories and adult hopes are as raw as each other.
Kieran Hurley is a writer, performer and theatre maker based in Glasgow. His Fringe First-winning play Heads Up won Best New Play at the Critics' Awards 2017 for Theatre in Scotland. Other plays include Rantin: a ceilidh-play with music; Hitch: an autobiographical story with a live band, and Beats: a monologue performed with a DJ, which is currently being adapted into a screenplay.
Written and performed by Kieran Hurley.
Produced by Eliza Lomas.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
Bells on Sunday comes from St. Augustine, West Monkton in Somerset. The seventeen and three quarter hundredweight tenor, tuned to D, was cast by the Loughborough Foundry in 1881. In 1986 the six original bells were re-hung in a steel frame and two more bells were added to form the present ring of eight. We hear them ringing a quarter peal of 'Grandsire Triples'.
Manwar Ali tells Dominic Lawson why he changed from violent Islamist fighter pursuing global jihad, to become a leading campaigner in Britain against violence and extremism.
Manwar Ali fought in many wars around the globe to achieve the victory of radical Islam. He backed armed conflict to right what he saw as fundamental injustice done to him and fellow Muslims. He fought in Afghanistan, Kashmir and Burma, and helped recruit and radicalise hundreds of others for this cause. But witnessing specific horrors on the battlefield led him to change his mind about jihad. He became convinced that the very means he had embraced to liberate his people were actually destroying individuals and their community. He tells his story of how he realised that violence would not serve the aims he sought, and how he overcame suspicion and intimidation from within his own community to campaign for anti-radicalisation measures against the extremists he sees as destroying Muslim communities around the globe.
Producer: Jonathan Brunert.
The latest national and international news.
After being present at the death of a friend, journalist Abdul-Rehman Malik has been thinking about what - if anything - comes next. In many faith traditions, death is just the end of the beginning and is the doorway to the eternal. It is the soul that carries us forward.
From the visions of an itinerant Baptist preacher and the reflections of James Baldwin, Abdul-Rehman looks to the urgency of understanding something of the mystery of death while we are alive. The world's most enduring mythologies and beliefs describe a supernatural drama and kind of unseen theatre. Whether it's Virgil writing about crossing the River Styx, or the Prophet Muhammad explaining how the angels surround the soul after death, Abdul-Rehman takes us into this grey area between life and life everlasting.
Richard Thompson captures the comedy of what purgatory might look like, and theologian Dave Tomlinson offers a reinterpretation of the Christian narrative which has resonance with some enigmatic words from Einstein.
Abdul-Rehman seeks solace in the belief that his friend's soul is somewhere full of "life", dancing with the angels nourished by a truer reality. His eternity is just beginning.
Presenter: Abdul-Rehman Malik
Producer: Jonathan Mayo
A TBI production for BBC Radio 4.
Makhan Singh Padda was born in Punjab and arrived in the UK as a teenager in 1966, with his family but not much else. Over the next thirty years, he worked in foundries, factories and fields - before buying a few acres near Worcester in 1996 and planting some strawberries. Originally a one-man operation with just one glasshouse, Vicarage Nurseries has now grown to over 200 acres and produces 800 tonnes of fruit a year. Sybil Ruscoe meets the man known locally as "Mr Strawberry" - the only Asian soft fruit supplier in the UK - and finds out about the determination and hard work which lie behind his remarkable success story.
Produced by Emma Campbell.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
Sunday morning religious news and current affairs programme.
Olivia Colman makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of UNICEF.
Registered Charity Numbers: 1072612 (England & Wales) and SC043677 (Scotland)
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 'UNICEF'.
- Cheques should be made payable to 'UNICEF'.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
Marking the Edinburgh Festival from Greenbank Parish Church, Edinburgh.
Led by The Rev Dr Martin Ritchie.
With the Scottish Chamber Choir directed by Iain McLarty; Organist: John Kitchen.
The service explores how the warm-hearted pastor, James Melville (1556-1614), placed music and poetry at the heart of his work as a parish minister in the East Neuk of Fife. He stands in contrast both to his firebrand uncle, the great reformer Andrew Melville, and to later caricatures of Reformed severity. James reveals the rich spirituality of the early reformed Church of Scotland, still offering inspiration for today with his insight into the depth of creativity which we see underpinning the city's extraordinary Festival.
Producer: Mo McCullough.
Tom Shakespeare on why he rejects the idea of a bucket list.
He proposes instead an idea dreamt up by one of his mates - a list that rhymes with bucket but begins with an F. "Let's call it a Forget-it-list" he says.
Tom shares the top ten items on his Forget it List this week.
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
Chris Turner's quotable gags and rapid freestyle raps have established him as one of the most in-demand comedy acts on the circuit. Possibly less well known is his interest in birds. Thus for this Tweet of the Day, coinciding with his month long show at the Edinburgh Festival, Chris gives his own comedic view on those tweety-birds.
Producer: Elliott Prince
Photograph: Abby Tebeau.
News with Paddy O'Connell. Reviewing the news coverage: Conservative peer Patience Wheatcroft, film fan Gaylene Gould and comedian Chris Neill.
Pressure mounts for Elizabeth, and the wedding day dawns for Harrison and Fallon.
In this special 150th edition of the programme, Sue MacGregor brings together four people who survived the Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz.
"There were no hugs, no kisses, no embrace. My mum was just pushed away with the other women and children. The dehumanisation began immediately. I didn't cry, it was as though I'd lost all my emotions."
Established by the Germans in 1940, in the suburbs of Oswiecim in south-west Poland, more than one million men, women and children were killed at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest of the Nazi death camps and the site of the largest mass murder in human history. Most of those brought to the camp were Jewish and nearly all were immediately sent to the gas chambers. Only a fraction survived.
Sharing their stories with Sue around the table are Auschwitz survivors Susan Pollack, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, Zigi Shipper and Lily Ebert.
Producer: Eve Streeter
Series producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Series 82 continues with another fine cast of players as Paul Merton, Pam Ayres, Josie Lawrence and Julian Clary show their skills with words and refined prevarication.
This week's game features intel on our panellists' favourite breakfast eateries and a small contretemps about canals.
Hayley Sterling blows the whistle.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production.
There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of varieties of mango. Some creamy and sweet, some a bit hot, some like pineapple and some that are just a bit bland. Unfortunately it's the latter that are usually peeled, chopped and potted for us on supermarket shelves. In this programme, Sheila Dillon looks at how our experience of the mango in the UK has been limited by convenience and explores the breadth of mangoes that we could all be delighting in.
The latest weather forecast.
Global news and analysis.
In the latest programme of the monthly series, Mishal Husain introduces dispatches from journalists and writers around the United Kingdom that reflect the range of contemporary life in the country.
Garry Owen takes us to the west Wales coast and finds an Aberystwyth hotelier honing his plans to meet the competition from the hospitality chains. Sarah Oliver goes on an East Anglian road trip with an old friend she's not seen for years to discover how well their bonds have stood the test of time. Tom Edwards visits Cartmel in English Lakeland and finds that what was once a place of pilgrimage is again today but for reasons twelfth century visitors would definitely have frowned upon. John Forsyth unearths the secrets of a good furrow from two Scots about to participate in the European ploughing championships. And Jane Labous is in Biggleswade keen to discover why retraining to plant flowers in Beds is so popular there.
Producer Simon Coates.
Peter Gibbs chairs the horticultural panel programme from Herefordshire. Pippa Greenwood, Chris Beardshaw and Anne Swithinbank take questions from amateur gardeners.
The panellists discuss avocados and plants due a comeback in popularity. They have good news for an old Wisteria and offer advice on getting apricots to fruit. They also give a masterclass in starting a prairie garden and they suggest colourful, drought-resistant plants for pots and hangers.
James Wong dives into the expanding world of Aquascaping with one of the UK's leading curators, George Farmer.
Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Hester Cant
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
Fi Glover introduces conversations about working with family or partners, caring for loggerhead turtles, and facing a delayed pension age 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.
Taut crime thriller by leading Polish writer, Zygmunt Miloszewski, dramatised for radio by Mark Lawson. War time secrets and modern politics mesh in a murder mystery.
The complexities and frustrations of the modern Polish legal system are the setting for this bestselling crime novel, featuring long suffering State Prosecutor Szacki who finds himself trapped in a limbo land of half-truths and secrets from post-Communist Poland. Will he prove himself to be a redoubtable seeker of the truth or will he compromise?
Episode 2: The Body is Lying
State Prosecutor Szacki investigates a series of murders, all of which seem to point crudely towards some kind of alleged Jewish ritual killing. But appearance is not always what it seems. His girlfriend Klara and a cliched daytime soap bizarrely unlock the answers at last,
The writer:
Zygmunt Milosewski is a leading Polish writer. The Teodor Szacki series is hugely popular in Poland and the book series is currently being filmed.
The translator:
Antonia Lloyd Jones is a full time translator of Polish literature. She won the Found in Translation Award 2008 for the English version of The Last Supper by Pawel Huelle and is a committee member of the UK Translators Association.
The dramatist:
Mark Lawson is a well-known writer, critic and journalist.
Warsaw backgrounds - Zofia Morus
Polish language advisor - Antonia Lloyd Jones
Producer/director................Polly Thomas
Sound design.................... Eloise Whitmore
Production coordinator...........Sarah Kenny
Executive producer...............John Dryden
A Naked production for BBC Radio 4.
A special edition exploring book criticism and asking whether using critical tools can make us better readers. Mariella Frostrup is joined on stage at the Edinburgh International Book Festival by critic Alan Taylor, book podcast host Books&Rhymes, novelists Kaite Welsh and Sarah Moss, and Sarah Dillon from Cambridge University to explore the current state of book reviewing, the explosion of conversations about books online and on social media, the role of the professional reviewer and whether we can all learn useful critical tools to help us read well, and enrich our reading experience.
Bristol's first poet laureate, Miles Chambers, joins Roger McGough with a selection of his favourite poems from the Poetry Please archive of listeners' requests. His choices include requests for Benjamin Zephaniah, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Azfa Awad and Robert Burns.
Miles Chambers is a performance poet, slam champion and playwright, who was appointed Bristol's first City Poet in 2016.
Donald Trump and his supporters have spoken of a Deep State in America, undermining his presidency from within - a shadowy coalition of security and intelligence services, hidden from plain sight, bent on sabotaging an elected government.
The term has caught on, becoming part of political folklore. But what does the idea of a Deep State really mean - where did it come from, what would it consist of, who uses it and for what political purpose? Is the Deep State just another example of conspiracy theory in politics, or is it a more serious concern than that - and does it exist here in Britain?
Drawing on expertise from a range of countries and political contexts, from the USA to the UK, from Russia and Turkey to Zimbabwe and Greece, journalist and writer David Aaronovitch goes in search of this most elusive idea.
The term Deep State may well be at the more respectable end of conspiracy theory but the question why it keeps resurfacing is an interesting one. This programme draws on both recent and historic cases, from Eisenhower's military-industrial complex and Harold Wilson's concerns about MI5 in the 1960s and 70s to the reppearance of the term around the deposition of Robert Mugabe and in Donald Trump's public rhetoric, railing against what he calls the "criminal Deep State".
Not everyone is convinced. Some writers have argued the term is more psychological than political, saying more about people's sense of political impotence and paranoia about government than it does about the real workings of power.
Contributors include British intelligence expert Peter Hennessy, former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufkis, FBI and CIA historian Tim Weiner, Turkish political scholar Esra Osyurek, former British diplomat and Iraq expert Carne Ross, Zimbabwean political commentator Miles Tendi, Soviet historian Daniel Beer, political writer Thomas Frank and Chris Mullin, author of 'A Very British Coup'.
Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Producer: Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
This week, John Waite's pick of the week brings you the Evita story the musical didn't tell you: how her embalmed body went walkabout for twenty-odd years after she died; there's the axe wielding Prime Minister; the essential books for a complete education - all displayed on a five foot shelf; we learn how to write the perfect love letter and how to spurn an unwanted lover by return of post; there be dragons in mid-Wales and unicorns in the Arctic, and Laurel and Hardy, the most beloved comedy duo of all time. In the blue ridge mountains of Virginia, we're on the trail of the love-able pair.
Reality bites for Fallon, and Lynda is determined to get to the truth.
The fourth instalment in this acclaimed, occasional series in which acclaimed, occasional writer Henry Normal uses poetry, stories and comedy to tackle those subjects so big only radio can possibly contain them.
In this new episode Henry looks at imagination, perception and how we express ourselves through art and creativity.
From the first cave paintings through to Henry's own experiences of creating, writing and producing some of Britain's best loved comedies over the years, Henry explores the wonders of the human imagination.
Henry Normal is a multi-award winning writer, producer and poet. Co-writer of award winning television programmes such as The Royle Family, The Mrs Merton Show, Coogan's Run and Paul Calf, and producer of, amongst many others, Oscar-nominated Philomena, Gavin and Stacey and Alan Partridge.
He has published several volumes of poetry, including Travelling Second Class Through Hope, Staring Directly at the Eclipse and his new volume, Raining Upwards. And his memoir, A Normal Family: Everyday adventures with our autistic son.
Praise for previous episodes - 'A Normal Family', 'A Normal Life' and 'A Normal Love':
"It's a rare and lovely thing: half an hour of radio that stops you short, gently demands your attention and then wipes your tears away while you have to have a little sit down."
"It's a real treat to hear a seasoned professional like Henry taking command of this evening comedy spot to deliver a show that's idiosyncratic and effortlessly funny."
"Not heard anything that jumps from hilarious to moving in such an intelligent, subtle way as Henry Normal's show.".
Eight new cases to challenge the detective wit of Annika Strandhed, queen of the Oslo Police boat patrol.
Since we last met her, Annika has been promoted to Chief Inspector. Her first act was - apart from choosing a new speedboat - to co-opt Mikel, her forensic photographer of choice, to accompany her. Her son Tor is about to start school.
Being Chief Inspector means a bigger case-load. What follows will test her physically and emotionally as never before.
Episode 1: Beginnings
On Tor's first day at school, Annika has to investigate the death of his class teacher.
Nick Walker is the author of two critically-acclaimed novels, Blackbox and Helloland. His plays and short stories have often featured on BBC Radio 4, including the First King of Mars stories (2007 - 2010) and the plays Life Coach (2010) and Stormchasers (2012). The previous series of Annika Stranded were broadcast in 2013, 2014 and 2016.
Writer: Nick Walker
Reader: Nicola Walker
Sound Design: Jon Calver
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
Roger Bolton is joined by A Point of View editor Richard Vadon to discuss the programme's Brexit editions. Also, PM listeners bid a fond farewell to Eddie Mair and review his temporary replacement, and we go behind the scenes at BBC Research and Development to see how the department is reinventing radio for a younger audience.
Author Michael Morpurgo's recent episode of A Point of View divided listeners. He took a heavily critical stance of Brexit, titling the edition Think Again and making a passionate plea for the people of the UK to reconsider the decision to leave the EU. It came hot on the heels of John Gray's episode, Brexit and Illiberal Europe, in which the philosopher criticised the Remain camp. Both episodes angered many listeners. Roger puts their comments to the programme's editor Richard Vadon.
The BBC has recently promised to "reinvent radio" for a new generation, but what will the radio of the future look and sound like? Feedback reporter Rob Crossan takes us behind the scenes of the BBC's Research and Development unit, teenagers in tow, to see and hear their work.
As Eddie Mair makes his low-key exit from the PM hot seat, listeners reflect on Chris Mason's week at the helm.
And one Radio 4 listener tells us how she was taken aback while listening to A Life's Work and hearing the familiar voice of her late husband.
Presenter: Roger Bolton
Producer: Will Yates
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
Pictured: Aretha Franklin
Matthew Bannister on
Sir VS Naipaul, the Nobel prize winning author of acclaimed books including "A House For Mr Biswas" and "A Bend in The River". He was a controversial figure who fell out with some of his fellow writers and was accused of cruelty in his relationships.
Nan Joyce, who campaigned for the rights of Ireland's travelling people.
Winston Ntshona,, the South African actor who won a Tony award for his Broadway performance in Athol Fugard's play "Sizwe Banze Is Dead" but was arrested by the apartheid government on his return home.
And the "Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin.
Producer: Paul Waters
Archive clips from: African and Caribbean Writing: A House for Mr Biswas, Radio 4 03/05/1981; Desert Island Discs, Radio 4 05/07/1980; Profile, Radio 4 11/05/1984; Omnibus, Radio 1 21/04/1988; Paul Gambaccini: Aretha Franklin Interview, Radio 1 01/01/2000; Night Waves, Radio 3 19/03/2007.
Life expectancy is going up, pensions are declining. Meanwhile the official retirement age has been abolished, while the age at which you can draw your state pension is rising. As a result, more and more of us will have to work until our 70s, or even our 80s. So, asks David Baker, is this the end of retirement?
That may not be as bad as it sounds. For In Business, David meets people who could live a quiet, retired life, but choose not to. One founded a bikini company in her 70s, others sell vintage goods, or left organisations to set up on their own. For them, the very word "retirement" is negative, they love what they do, and wouldn't want to give it up.
Experts say that most of us will need to work into old age. Professor Lynda Gratton tells David that the previous life pattern of education-work-retirement will have to yield to a multi-phase one of different careers, broken up by breaks, even late-life gap years, and re-skilling. Why retire at 60 if you could live to 100?
The government, too, wants a million more over-50s in the workplace by 2022 - but not all employers are playing ball. Without the prospect of older staff leaving at a fixed retirement age, bosses are making them redundant instead, including by ugly means, and before they can draw a pension. Some companies though do value older people's skills and experience, and even take them on as apprentices. Until more organisations do this, however, it may be up to us to take matters into our own hands and prepare for a long working life.
Producer: Arlene Gregorius.
Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.
Radiolab look behind the curtain of how memories are made...and forgotten. With Jad Abumrad, Robert Krulwich and neurologist, Oliver Sacks.
Radiolab is a Peabody-award winning show about curiosity. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and the human experience.
Hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich investigate a strange world.
First broadcast on public radio in the USA.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
A porcine presidential campaign, the feeling of freedom in a communal action and a Danish poet who helps you re-imagine the world - Josie Long hears stories of small radical acts.
Comedian and activist Mark Thomas talks about the feeling of liberty on a city street flooded with bicycles, we explore how Inger Christensen's words have fed into the imaginations of Danish activists, and we hear about Pigasus's curtailed political campaign.
Pigasus the Immortal
Featuring Abe Peck, Jim Lato and Judy Gumbo
Interviews by Sarah Geis
Inger Christensen
Produced by Maria Dønvang
Critical Mass
Featuring Mark Thomas
Produced by Sarah Cuddon
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with novelist and poet Zahid Hussain.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Sir David Attenborough presents Australia's laughing kookaburra. At 45cm the laughing kookaburra is one of the world's largest kingfishers. Native to south and eastern Australia, they have now been introduced to Western Australia and parts of New Zealand. Although they do catch fish, they hunt mainly on land where they eat reptiles, small mammals and invertebrates. The cacophony of loud hooting laughs from which they get their Aboriginal name, is often produced by several birds in chorus. The cackling call is one of the few exotic bird sounds that is recognised around the world: a captive kookaburra named Jacko became a radio celebrity in Australia through his ability to break into that laughing call on demand. By the time of his death in 1939 he was one of the best known birds in the world.
News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Louis Armstrong recorded this classic in 1967, amidst civil rights demonstrations and protests against the Vietnam War. Was it naïve or a powerful anthem for peace?
The Olympic rower, Helen Glover, speaks to Kriss Akabusi about 'life after gold'.
Helen Glover is one of our most successful athletes. In a life devoted to rowing, she has won a phenomenal 21 Olympic, World and European gold medals. But now that she is considering retirement, a life away from competitive rowing feels as daunting as it is liberating.
In this programme she speaks to Kriss Akabusi MBE, the larger-than-life, multiple medal-winning Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European sprinter and hurdler. Since leaving athletics, Kriss has had a successful career on TV and in motivational speaking. He and Helen talk about the challenges in finding a new role and identity, and he encourages her to think about what she would like to do next..
Producer: Karen Gregor.
Radio 4 presents 'The Freedom Papers' in collaboration with Edinburgh International Book Festival. It's a pivotal point in our modern history in terms of political uncertainty and challenges to social justice. This motivated Edinburgh's International Book Festival to commission 52 writers to explore ideas related to freedom. In a one-off Book of the Week, we showcase five very different perspectives on freedom from some of the world's most exciting literary voices, including Yan Lianke, Sandip Roy, Nicola Davies, Carmen Maria Machado, Gavin Francis and Esa Aldegheri.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
44 Scotland Street - Series 5
written & dramatised by Alexander McCall Smith
Episode 1: Monday
Life and love in Scotland Street is full of surprises. Bruce has a new girlfriend with a chequered past; Bertie encourages his mother to travel, and his father, Stuart, has a poetic encounter in Big Lou's cafe.
Edinburgh's Georgian New Town is the setting for the quirky tales and 'goings on' of Alexander McCall Smith's much loved characters from his bestselling series of books, 44 Scotland Street.
In this new series, Bruce, a young surveyor, is smitten by an adventurous Australian girl, but is she all she seems? Edinburgh's most hot housed seven year-old, Bertie Pollok, is up for the role of Macbeth in the school play. Meanwhile his father, Stuart, meets a young poet who may just turn his head. All this and more, observed by portrait painter Angus Lordie and his dog, Cyril - the only canine in Scotland with a gold tooth.
Cast:
ANGUS LORDIE ............................................... CRAWFORD LOGAN
DOMENICA/Mrs MacGillvray.................CAROL ANN CRAWFORD
CLAIRE/Big Lou/Barmaid......................................ANITA VETTESSE
BRUCE.....................................................................JAMES ROTTGER
IRENE......................................................................EMMA CURRIE
STUART......................................................DAVID JACKSON YOUNG
BERTIE...........................................................................SIMON KERR
KATIE........................................................................HELEN MACKAY
Producer/director: David Ian Neville.
The journalist John Harris examines the potency of narrative, both in the stories that define us as individuals and in those that shape our understanding of the public domain.
Story is ubiquitous - and not simply in the realm of literature and entertainment. From television and advertising to religion, science, business and politics, narratives shape our world. They make connections, explain cause and effect and infer meaning. More than that - stories bewitch us. And recent political events have demonstrated quite how potent they can be.
In this first episode, with the help of psychologist Drew Westen (author of The Political Brain) and Ed Woodcock (Director of Narrative at creative agency Aesop), John deconstructs the stories deeply woven into the two most successful slogans of recent times - Take Back Control and Make America Great Again. He asks neuroscientist Tali Sharot about how our brains are pre-disposed to respond to story, and talks about nostalgia, master narratives and narrative ecologies with Yiannis Gabriel who studies organisational storytelling. John also visits the Brian Haw collection at the Museum of London to see how counter-narratives can become mainstream, and hears from podcaster Chrystal Genesis about the need to allow different voices the opportunity to challenge the prevailing stories of our times.
Presented by John Harris
Produced by Nina Garthwaite and Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
By Ed Harris
The very idea of the 'countryside' fills Dot with horror, so when she finds herself recruited by the Women's Land Army to work the land, she sets about planning a great escape. Comic adventures in Ed Harris' witty and quirky wartime comedy.
Director . . . . . Sasha Yevtushenko.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.
Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to discuss a really big question. This week he's asking 'Why are things beautiful?'
Helping him answer it are Mathematician Vicky Neale, historian of science Simon Schaffer and philosophers Barry Smith and Angie Hobbs.
For the rest of the week Vicky, Simon, Barry and Angie will take us further into the history of ideas about beauty with programmes of their own.
Between them they will examine the mathematics of beauty, whether beauty has moral force, whether beauty can be explained in evolutionary terms and how David Hume developed a theory of good taste.
News and discussion of consumer affairs.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
DIY Biology is the concept of taking what were until recently high-end lab technologies and techniques and having a go at home, in the garage or in the growing number of "Biohacking" spaces around the world. Many of the activities being undertaken are about education and fun. Some others are more ambitious; looking at changing the ways we grow and police future foods for example. But there are increasing concerns around the idea of gene editing of human beings in an unregulated, untested, therapeutic underworld. Prof Jonathan Ball, who has worked in genetic engineering since its early days, explores how these trends might affect all of us, and very soon.
In the first episode he investigates who is doing it and what their motivations might be.
Presenter: Prof Jonathan Ball
Producer: Alex Mansfield.
Jaime Winstone plays Lydia, a parent who refuses to accept her daughter Ros is on the autism spectrum - even when the diagnosis is from Ros herself.
Teenager Ros has been different all her life. Recently connecting to others on the autism spectrum, she decides to interview her mum and come out in her podcast. Reluctantly her mum Lydia agrees to be interviewed, but strongly rejects her daughter's self-diagnosis. She describes a period from Ros's childhood when she sought magical answers from an American educator and therapist.
Indigo Children by Hannah Silva explores a mistrust of conventional diagnosis and a misunderstanding of autism spectrum condition. It's a modern fairy tale about a parent's overwhelming need to do the best for her child. But in this case, it is the teenage child who decides what she needs - to be accepted as a young person on the autistic spectrum.
Ros is played by Lizzy Clark, an actor with asperger's syndrome. She is the face for the campaign 'Don't Play Me Pay Me', set up to encourage disabled people to follow their own creative path.
Hannah Silva has written a number of dramas for radio including Marathon Tales co-written with Colin Teevan, Jump Blue, The Music Lesson and Solitary.
Director Jude Kelly has recently stepped down from 12 years as Artistic Director of the South Bank to devote herself to WOW - the Women of the World Festival she set up eight years ago. Indigo Children is her directorial debut for BBC Radio 4.
Cast:
Ros..................Lizzy Clark
Lydia...............Jaime Winstone
Jack.................Luke Jerdy
Ivy....................Sylvestra Le Touzel
Writer: Hannah Silva
Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore
Director: Jude Kelly
Producer: Melanie Harris
Exec Producer: Polly Thomas
A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4.
(3/13)
Who wrote the classic tune Lullaby of Birdland? Which composer wrote the score for the recent film McQueen, about the life of the fashion designer Alexander McQueen? And how many of Shakin' Stevens' British number ones could you name?
Paul Gambaccini is in Salford for the third heat of the 2018 tournament. The whole of the classical repertoire, film music, jazz,, musical theatre and 60 years of the pop charts are all represented in the questions facing today's competitors. As always, they'll face general knowledge questions on all aspects of music, before getting a chance to answer specialist questions of their own choice.
Taking part today are:
Julie Cowburn, an administrator from Hyde in Cheshire
Charles Dusting, a retired accountant from Worcester
Rachael Neiman, a record label owner from Manchester.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
Join Natalie Haynes and guests for half an hour of comedy and the Classics from the BBC Radio Theatre in London.
Natalie is a recovering comedian who is a little bit obsessive about Ancient Greece and Rome. Each week she takes a different figure from the Ancient World and tells their story through a mix of stand-up comedy and conversation.
Today she stands up in the name of Roman historian Livy, who gave us Hannibal crossing the Alps and the inspiration for Shakespeare's Coriolanus. Meticulously researched facts or a damn fine story? History or myth? Mostly the latter, but priceless nonetheless.
Elephants, early science and a lot of gossip from a thousand years ago.
With special guests comedian - and history buff - Al Murray and classicist Professor Llewelyn Morgan.
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery.
Early one morning in July 1918, the Russian Imperial Family was led into a basement and murdered. Nicholas the Second was only 26 when he became Tsar of All the Russians. He was ill equipped for the job and faced challenges which would have tested a more gifted man. But Nicolas was deeply religious and had a profound sense of his duty to God to uphold autocracy and defend the Church. Joining Ernie Rea to discuss the last of the Romanovs is Andrew Phillips, Archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church; the historian Janet Ashton, and authors Helen Rappaport and Martin Sixsmith.
Producer: Amanda Hancox.
Sarah Smith with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
The first of two special episodes recorded at this year's Edinburgh Festival featuring guests Paul Merton, Zoe Lyons, Gyles Brandreth and Janey Godley.
Hayley Sterling blows the whistle.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production.
Phoebe attempts to offer advice, and Pip has a new project.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
If you were forced to leave your home for a new life in another country, what would you take with you?
In Refugee Reminiscence, three refugees talk about something special they have brought with them from their 'old' life and its importance to their new life here in the UK.
Ryad is a beekeeper who lost hundreds of hives in his native Syria when he was forced to leave because of the war. Aminah's parents put her on an airplane to London when she was 15 because they feared that she might be kidnapped and raped by Somali fighters. And Maurice was only nine years old when he arrived in the UK as a refugee from the Biafran War unable to speak English and mourning the death of his beloved grandmother from starvation.
Each one of them has something from their home country that they treasure now that they live in Britain. What do these special things say about them and about what is important in life?
Producer: Helen Lee.
Seaweed is liberating women in a conservative corner of east Africa. Thousands of women have gained more control over their lives thanks to Zanzibar's seaweed farms. In a traditional island village there is a surprisingly high divorce rate and women have safeguarded their interests with earnings from this salty crop which has given them a much needed income and new independence. At first the husbands were outraged - they complained that seaweed farming made women too tired for their matrimonial duties. The women eventually prevailed but their hard won freedom is now threatened by climate change. Lucy Ash meets the seaweed farmers of Paje village and looks at the ways they are fighting to save their livelihood and raise their families.
Producer: Chloe Hadjimatheou.
There can be few animals which inspire such fascination and intrigue as the Narwhal. Discoveries of their long spiral tusk which is actually a tooth which protrudes from the jaw of the male (and very occasionally the female), inspired legends about Unicorns. The horns were treasured for their purifying and health-giving properties and cups made from the horns were claimed to be able purify water and detect poisonous substances. But the true nature of the tusk is no less extraordinary that the fictional ones as Brett Westwood discovers when he explores our relationship with this Arctic legend. Producer Sarah Blunt
Contributors
Doug Allan - wildlife documentary cameraman
Dr Martin T. Nweeia - Lecturer at The Harvard School of Dental Medicine and Smithsonian research associate and content curator for the Smithsonian exhibit "Narwhal : Revealing an Arctic legend".
Dr William W. Fitzhugh - Arctic Curator and Director of the Smithsonian Institution's Arctic Studies Centre in the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
Barbara Drake Boehm - medievalist and Paul and Jill Rudduck Senior Curator at The Met Cloisters at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Dr Marianne Marcoux - Research Scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Dr Cortney Watt - Research Scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Ken Mantel - former geologist and owner of an Inuit Art Gallery
Ben Clanton - writer and illustrator of Narwhal and Jelly Books
Georgie Glen - Actress
Additional sound recordings of Narwhals courtesy of Dr Susanna Blackwell- Greeneridge Sciences Inc.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Henry Goodman kicks off Peter Benchley's classic 1974 novel, which went on to become one of the greatest movies of all time.
It's high summer on Cape Cod's Amity Island, and the tourists are arriving in their hundreds. But something is lurking just off the coast and one young holiday-maker is about to go skinny dipping...
Will it ever be safe to go back into the water?
Reader: Henry Goodman is an award-winning stage and TV actor.
Writer: Peter Benchley's 1974 novel shot straight on to the bestseller lists, and has since sold some 20 million copies. It was adapted into the iconic film by Steven Spielberg a year later. The film won three Academy Awards.
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Richard Hamilton.
by Jon Canter
Produced by Sally Avens
Comedy as James Boswell, Dr Johnson's celebrated biographer, pursues other legends to immortalise. Today he meets Madonna and lives to tell the tale.
Philip Ball reveals the real Cyrano de Bergerac - forget the big nosed fictional character - and his links to 17th Century space flight.
Cyrano was a soldier, gambler and duellist who retired from military exploits on account of his wounds around 1639, at the grand old age of 20. But he studied at university and, to judge from the books he went on to write, he was well versed in the philosophical and scientific debates of his day.
He wrote two books, called The States and Empires of the Moon and its sequel, The States and Empires of the Sun. And he designed spaceships to travel to the moon and to the sun. Philip discusses the life and times of Cyrano with Mary Baine Campbell of Brandeis University in Massachusetts.
Journeys to the New World in the seventeenth century were voyages of trade - and ultimately of colonisation. What those travellers wanted were minerals, spices, gold, rare and precious objects that could fetch a fortune in the Old World. Today, the profit motive has returned to space travel. Efforts to develop spacecraft and to send people into space are increasingly being conducted not just by government agencies but by private companies, in search again of land and minerals. The use of resources on the moon and the planets is in principle governed by the Outer Space Treaty. Philip discusses the control of exploitation of space with Patricia Lewis of ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with novelist and poet Zahid Hussain.
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.
Brett Westwood presents the swallow. You can see Swallows at this time of year gathering on telegraph wires, strung out like musical notes on a stave, before their long journey south to Africa. The female swallow often rears two broods of young each year but in sunny weather when there are plenty of flying insects, she may manage three broods.
News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
In this series, the historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week, he invites his guest to explore their early formative influences, their experiences and their impressions of people they've known.
This week's guest is Iain Duncan Smith, who led the Conservative Party for two years between 2001 and 2003, when he famously described himself as "the quiet man." Duncan Smith discuses his family background - his father was a celebrated war-time Spitfire pilot, whose family had lived in India, and his maternal grandfather worked in the Far East and China. He tells why he joined the army and talks about the challenges of serving in Northern Ireland during 'the Troubles' and Southern Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe) during its transition to majority rule. Later, while working in industry he was made redundant and has never forgotten its devastating personal impact.
In 1992, Duncan Smith became Conservative MP for Chingford after Norman Tebbit stood down. He soon made his name in the Commons by opposing the Major Government's European policy, and his political life has been devoted to getting the UK out of the European Union. Yet perhaps his 'quiet man' side meant that his passion for social policy has been insufficiently noticed. He talks about the inspiration behind his interest in tackling the root causes of poverty, setting up the Centre for Social Justice as an independent think-tank, and his efforts to reform welfare policy while Work and Pensions Secretary in the Cameron Government.
Producer: Rob Shepherd.
Radio 4 presents 'The Freedom Papers' in collaboration with Edinburgh International Book Festival. It's a pivotal point in our modern history in terms of political uncertainty and challenges to social justice. This motivated Edinburgh's International Book Festival to commission 52 writers to explore ideas related to freedom. In a one-off Book of the Week, we showcase five very different perspectives on freedom from some of the world's most exciting literary voices, including Yan Lianke, Sandip Roy, Nicola Davies, Carmen Maria Machado, Gavin Francis and Esa Aldegheri.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
44 Scotland Street: Series 5
written & dramatised by Alexander McCall Smith
There's poetry in the air for Stuart Pollok; Bruce's girlfriend has hidden skills; and Angus' dog has history. It's all happening in Edinburgh's New Town.
Edinburgh's Georgian New Town is the setting for the quirky tales and 'goings on' of Alexander McCall Smith's much loved characters from his bestselling series of books, 44 Scotland Street.
Bruce, a young surveyor, is smitten by an adventurous Australian girl, but is she all she seems? Edinburgh's most hot housed seven year-old, Bertie Pollok, is up for the role of Macbeth in the school play. Meanwhile his father, Stuart, meets a young poet who may just turn his head. All this and more, observed by portrait painter Angus Lordie and his dog, Cyril, the only canine in Scotland with a gold tooth.
Episode Two
Producer/director: David Ian Neville.
Holding what looks like a television aerial, reptile ecologist Nigel Hand strides across the heath. It may look something out of a science fiction movie, but as Nigel explains to Brett Westwood he is on a serious quest; searching for adders. These adders he has previously caught and fitted with tiny radio transmitters and the aerial is used to track and follow them as he learns more about the behaviour and habits of these much misunderstood snakes. Like Nigel, Brett Westwood has been fascinated by adders since he was a child and as he discovers they have long been the subject of myths and superstitions often attributed with powers of wisdom or a sly nature, giving rise to stories about their ability to hypnotise their prey and swallow their young. But as Brett discovers the truth about our only venomous snake is even more fascinating. Producer Sarah Blunt
Contributors
Jim Foster - Conservation Director at Amphibian and Reptile Conservation
Erica Fudge - Professor of English studies at the University of Strathclyde
Nigel Hand - Reptile Ecologist
Stephanie Hoehl - Professor of Development Psychology at the University of Vienna
Sylvia Sheldon - Naturalist and Adder Recorder
Readers - Elizabeth Counsell and Georgie Glen.
You are a rhythmic being. Inside each and everyone one of us exists a polyrhythmic symphony that lasts a lifetime. The virtuoso percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie searches for musical inspiration from the body's internal rhythms with the help of a team of leading scientists and doctors.
The brain is a massively rhythmical structure, with diverse groups of neurons firing in time producing vastly increased processing power. We hear the legendary experimental composer Alvin Lucier's groundbreaking work in which he used his own brainwaves to play a selection of drums, we also hear a piano composition in which the notes are triggered by the firing of neurons.
The programme also includes Kate Elswit, a scholar and artist who has spent years developing dance pieces that fuse choreography with scientific data drawn from the lungs in order to explore the rhythms of breathing.
Of all the body's internal rhythms, the heart is the most iconic. Evelyn meets heart surgeon Francis Wells who invites her into his operating theatre. Peering into the chest cavity during an operation and seeing the heart beating in front of her, Evelyn is amazed at the beauty of this internal metronome.
Finally, Evelyn heads to the lab to examine the complex circadian rhythms which see countless pacemaker cells ticking away in response to the steady oscillation of the light/dark cycle as we move back and forth between day and night.
In conclusion, Evelyn argues that by listening to our biological rhythms and appreciating the fact that we are all part of a vast symphony of life, we can draw fresh creative inspiration from our bodies and connect with each other in a more profound and meaningful way.
Presenter: Evelyn Glennie
Producer: Max O'Brien
A TBI production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Philosopher and wine enthusiast Barry Smith samples David Hume's theory of good taste. The 18th century Scottish philosopher argued that the appreciation of beauty was not easily arrived at - it required dedication, knowledge, expertise. In that sense he is the godfather of the critic and the patron saint of the connoisseur. As he delves into our sense of 'good taste' Barry recounts a wine laden tale from Don Quixote, talks to Neuroscientist Semir Zeki and to Art Historian Liz Prettejohn.
This programme is part of a week of programmes looking at the history of ideas around Freedom.
Producer: Jolyon Jenkins.
Consumer phone-in.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
Prof Jonathan Ball finds out just how easy it has become to sequence a genome and edit it. Matt Loose and Chris Denning helpfully demonstrate the cheapness and practical simplicity of a USB connected DNA sequencer and the clever potion that is CRISPR/Cas-9 editing technique.
What once took $3bn and earned a presidential congratulation, can now be done in a hotel room with a laptop and a coffee machine.
Presenter: Prof. Jonathan Ball
Producer: Alex Mansfield.
A chilling and heart warming drama by Susan Lieberman.
Elena was born and raised in Chicago, but her Mexican parents are undocumented immigrants. As the family prepares for Elena's quinceanera - her 15th birthday celebration - immigration officers infiltrate their neighbourhood. Although the Mayor of Chicago has declared it a "sanctuary city", Elena and her family are increasingly terrified as Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers impact their lives.
Will Elena's hardworking mother and father be deported under the US government's new policies? Should Elena, an American citizen, stay or go to foster care?
On the cusp of womanhood, she discovers what it means to be a citizen in a country that no longer welcomes her own parents. To stay together, the family must hide in the shadows of American society.
Elena has to mature fast to take care of her family and community. She will use her Quince celebration as a launch pad for adult action.
Author Susan Lieberman says, "I grew up in Chicago surrounded by immigrants. A few years ago, I created a script based on US-born Hispanic teenagers' personal stories. The violence and poverty that drove their parents from Central America reminded me of my own family's reasons for leaving their homeland. But now, instead of finding freedom, these kids' parents lived in fear of "la migra" - immigration officers who could crush their dreams by simply asking their names."
Recorded by Louis Mitchell in Manhattan NYC
Mixed by Jon Calver in London
Produced and Directed by Judith Kampfner
A Corporation For Independent Media production for BBC Radio 4.
Life on the streets is hard and precarious but every soul who sleeps on a pavement has a story. Tara and George is a six-part series exploring the lives of two people in their late forties who sleep rough in London's Spitalfields. It asks the simple questions - what led them there and why do they remain?
Journalist Audrey Gillan has come to know them as neighbours in this diverse and fashionable area of the capital, and has been recording her conversations with Tara and George for nearly two years.
In this second episode, Tara goes walkabout and George, sitting in his favourite spot on the doorstep of the house lived in by the collaborative art duo Gilbert and George, shares alarming news about his health.
Written and presented by Audrey Gillan
Produced by Audrey Gillan and Johnny Miller
Original music by Francis Macdonald
Series Producer: Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
The final programme in the fifth series of Mastertapes, in which John Wilson talks to leading performers and songwriters about the album that made them or changed them. Recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC's iconic Maida Vale Studios.
Having discussed the recording of Antonio Vivaldi's 'The Four Seasons' (in the A-side of the programme, available online), Nigel Kennedy responds to questions from the audience and performs exclusive excerpts from his classical and jazz repertoire.
Producers: Paul Kobrak and John Goudie.
Broadcaster Lauren Laverne meets three men who trained as refrigeration and air conditioning engineers at Eastleigh Technical College in Hampshire in 1977 and finds out the surprising turns their lives have taken.
In 1977 when punk was at its height three teenagers - Nick Petford, John Russell-Sanders and Dave Coombs - sat down to start their City and Guilds course in refrigeration and air conditioning at Eastleigh Technical College in Hampshire.
The year long vocational course was designed to produce engineers who would go on to design, install and maintain cooling systems. But Nick, John and Dave had other plans. Today one of them is a university vice-chancellor and an expert in volcanology; one a photographer whose images have appeared on the front pages of national newspapers and one a teacher and carpenter who has created work for Windsor Castle and Salisbury Cathedral. How did they leave the welding and brazing behind and find their true vocations 40 years on?
In this programme the three look back in wonder at what happened to them in the intervening years. They reflect on the choices they made and how they surpassed the expectations of their parents and teachers.
Producer: Paula McGinley
Editor: Eleanor Garland.
Patricia Greene, the actress who plays Jill Archer, makes the case for Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury, or Bess of Hardwick as she's more commonly known. Like her heroine, Patricia was born in Derby and was aware of the nearby grand stately home Hardwick Hall. 'More glass than wall' was the local saying; as the key feature of this 1590s house was the exuberant use of this rare material. Only recently did she discover that the initials 'ES', which are blatantly carved on the turrets, stood for a woman - Elizabeth Shrewsbury.
And so began Patricia Greene's admiration and obsession. Who was this woman born in Tudor times, when women had few if any rights at all? Bess ended up becoming the richest woman in the land after Queen Elizabeth I, but she was portrayed by some as a 'cold hearted shrew' who only became rich by marrying four husbands, Patricia's job is to defend her hero. The expert witness is Dr Nigel Wright, the House & Collections Manager with National Trust at Hardwick Estate.
The presenter is Matthew Parris and the producer is Perminder Khatkar .
Sarah Smith with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Recorded at the famous Pavilion Theatre on Cromer Pier, Tim Vine brings his own brand of sunshine to Radio 4 with the "SummerTim Special" of his acclaimed Chat Show. Seaside one-liners and songs abound as Tim rolls up his trousers, has a paddle and talks at crossed porpoises with the people of Norfolk.
Broadcast includes a man with an interesting collecting hobby and a song about a metronome.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production.
Ian imparts some bad news, and Neil is asked an important favour.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
With a quarter of its people trapped in poverty, and economic strength at the bottom of UK league tables, Wales seems further than ever from standing on its own feet financially. Add to that the apparent failure of a massive tidal lagoon project and cancellation of rail electrification to Swansea, and things seem bleak. But does it have to be like this?
Sarah Dickins challenges economists and business leaders to imagine a new Wales, one which pays its way and offers prosperity to its inhabitants. We meet the new wave of entrepreneurs growing high-tech businesses and look at whether natural resources such as tidal power, wind and water could bring the jobs and wealth once made possible by coal. Could thinking the unthinkable even give a glimpse of a Wales as an economic powerhouse for a post-Brexit UK?
Producer: Michael Surcombe for BBC Wales.
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted.
Matthew Taylor continues his series asking what charities are for, in this episode examining service delivery and charities' relationships with government.
In recent years, governments of all political stripes have looked to charities to deliver many of their services, including to some of the hardest-to-reach individuals and communities in the UK and around the world. But what happens when charities get almost all their money from government? How free are they to speak out on behalf of the people they are supposed to help? And what else happens when charities start behaving like contractors, competing with each other for business?
Visiting Bradford and Leeds, Matthew speaks to charities, to service users, and to commissioners about the relationship with government. He hears some real concerns about where it is going wrong, and how it can be improved.
Producer: Giles Edwards.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Henry Goodman continues Peter Benchley's classic novel, and one of the most terrifying movies of all time.
It's high summer in Cape Cod's Amity Island, and a mutilated body has been washed up on the beach. It looks like a shark attack, but Police Chief Brody is having trouble convincing the islanders that it's time to close the beaches...
Will it ever be safe to go back into the water?
Writer: Peter Benchley's 1974 novel shot straight on to the bestseller lists, and has since sold some 20 million copies. It was adapted into the iconic film by Steven Spielberg a year later. The film won three Academy Awards.
Reader: Henry Goodman
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Richard Hamilton.
A current affairs parody and stupidly feasible visit to the 24-hour Hall Of Opinion Mirrors. Because there are two stories to every story.
A scientific breakthrough, a human rights scandal and Britain's favourite fruit come under the idiot microscope of a team of talking heads, hosted by hostioneer Alexandra Palisades in this new parody created by Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris.
With Carrie Quinlan as Alexandra Palisades and the voices of:
Justin Edwards
Melanie Hudson
Samson Kayo
Jess Robinson
Luke Sumner
Tony Way
and featuring Josh Berry
Written by Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris
Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
Philip Ball tells the story of German chemist Friedrich Wöhler's creation of urea, an organic substance previously thought only to be produced by living creatures. Yet in 1828 Wöhler created urea from decidedly non-living substances. It was exciting because the accidental transformation seemed to cross a boundary: from inorganic to organic, from inert matter to a product of life. It's a key moment in the history of chemistry but like many scientific advances, this one has also been turned into something of a myth. To read some accounts, this humble act of chemical synthesis sounds almost akin to the 'vital spark of being' described by Mary Shelley in her book published ten years previously, when Victor Frankenstein brought dead flesh back to life.
Philip Ball sorts out fact from fiction in what Wöhler really achieved in conversation with Peter Ramberg of Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri, and he finds out about chemical synthesis of natural products today from Professor Sarah O'Connor of the John Innes Centre in Norwich.
Producer: Erika Wright.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with novelist and poet Zahid Hussain.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Sir David Attenborough presents the White-Bearded manakin of tropical South America. The sound of party-poppers exploding in a forest clearing tells you that white-bearded manakins are displaying at a lek. At a carefully chosen spot each male clears the forest floor of leaves and other debris before his performance begins. The commonest display is the snap-jump. As he jumps forward he strikes the back of his wings together creating a loud snapping sound followed by an excited "pee-you" call. Snap-jumps are often followed by grunt jumps or a manoeuvre known as "slide-down-the-pole". These displays continue throughout the day, but intensify when females visit.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Akram Khan is one of the UK's leading dancer-choreographers. As he prepares his final full-length solo show, Xenos, about Indian soldiers in World War One , Beaty Rubens follows the creative process.
Akram Khan's first professional engagement was aged 7, and at 10 he was cast by the legendary director Peter Brook in his production of the Indian epic, the Mahabharata. Now, at 43, he's announced that Xenos will be his final, full-length solo show. Xenos explores a subject close to Akram's heart - the largely unacknowledged experience of the 1.4 million Indian soldiers who fought for the British in the First World War. Telling the story of an Indian court dancer who becomes a communications engineer, laying down wires in the mud of the trenches, Xenos enables Akram to showcase both his Kathak and Contemporary repertoire.
In the months leading up to its world premiere in Athens, Beaty Rubens has been behind the scenes to observe the creative process, speaking extensively with Akram and his talented international team. Xenos integrates live Indian and Western music and original voice archive to create a hugely powerful narrative in which the mass horrors of the trenches are brought back to life by by one sensational solo dancer.
Featuring the music and sound design of Vincenzo Lamagna and rehearsal performances by Nina Harries, Aditya Prakash, Tamar Osbone, B.C.Manjunath and Andrew Maddick.
Akram Khan has collaborated in the past with the French ballet sensation, Sylive Guillem, the actor Juliet Binoche and the sculptor Anthony Gormley, and performed at the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics to live music from Emilie Sande.
Presented and produced by Beaty Rubens.
David Cannadine examines the careers of British Prime Ministers through their props of power.
It was during the Second World War that Winston Churchill adopted the cigar as his most indispensable Prime Ministerial prop and he rarely appeared in public without it. Clenched tightly between his jaws, his cigar signified defiance and determination, resolve and resolution.
Glowing brightly and accompanied by expansive gestures, it radiated confidence and hope. But the fact that Churchill liked cigars was a sign for Hitler that he was a weak man and a poor leader, and Nazi propaganda depicted Churchill and his cigar as decadent and self-indulgent.
David visits Chartwell, Churchill's Kent country home, to view his famous cigar cabinet which now houses paints in his studio. He discusses the way in which Churchill's cigar became synonymous with his political image - so much so that, towards the end of his life, he gave out cigars as a calling card and his global fame meant they went for thousands at auction.
Readings by Ewan Bailey and Will Huggins
Series Producer: Melissa FitzGerald
Series Researcher: Martin Spychal
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
Radio 4 presents 'The Freedom Papers' in collaboration with Edinburgh International Book Festival. It's a pivotal point in our modern history in terms of political uncertainty and challenges to social justice. This motivated Edinburgh's International Book Festival to commission 52 writers to explore ideas related to freedom. In a one-off Book of the Week, we showcase five very different perspectives on freedom from some of the world's most exciting literary voices, including Yan Lianke, Sandip Roy, Nicola Davies, Carmen Maria Machado, Gavin Francis and Esa Aldegheri.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
44 Scotland Street - Series 5
written & dramatised by Alexander McCall Smith
Bruce is getting a fashion makeover, courtesy of his new girlfriend. And young Bertie is having a challenging time at school as Olive over-shares gossip about his father.
Edinburgh's Georgian New Town is the setting for the quirky tales and 'goings on' of Alexander McCall Smith's much loved characters from his bestselling series of books, 44 Scotland Street.
Bruce, a young surveyor, is smitten by an adventurous Australian girl, but is she all she seems? Edinburgh's most hot housed seven year-old, Bertie Pollok, is up for the role of Macbeth in the school play. Meanwhile his father, Stuart, meets a young poet who may just turn his head. All this and more, observed by portrait painter Angus Lordie and his dog, Cyril, the only canine in Scotland with a gold tooth.
Producer/director: David Ian Neville.
There are a lot of decisions to make, but it's essential to keep sight of what really matters, and that's the baby. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
Producer: Marya Burgess.
The hit series returns for an eighth series with more shop based shenanigans and over the counter philosophy, courtesy of Ramesh Mahju and his trusty sidekick Dave. Written by and starring Donald Mcleary and Sanjeev Kohli.
Set in a Scots-Asian corner shop, the award winning Fags, Mags and Bags sees a return of all the shop regular characters, and some guest appearances along the way, from the likes of Moray Hunter, Lorraine McIntosh & Mina Amwar.
In this episode, Ramesh gets his fiancé Malcolm jealous when it's revealed that the Cash and Carry promotions manager, Helena (played by Lorraine McIntosh), fancies him.
Join the staff of Fags, Mags and Bags in their tireless quest to bring nice-price custard creams and cans of coke with Arabic writing on them to an ungrateful nation. Ramesh Mahju has built it up over the course of over 30 years and is a firmly entrenched, friendly presence in the local area. He is joined by his shop sidekick, Dave.
Then of course there are Ramesh's sons Sanjay and Alok, both surly and not particularly keen on the old school approach to shopkeeping, but natural successors to the business. Ramesh is keen to pass all his worldly wisdom onto them - whether they like it or not!
Producer: Gus Beattie for Gusman Productions.
A Comedy Unit production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Mathematician Vicky Neale is keen to explain why mathematics is beautiful but also to work out whether beauty can itself be explained mathematically. There is a rich tradition of thought here going all the way back to the Greek philosopher Pythagoras, whose understanding of mathematical relationships sits at the origins of western music. Vicky talks to guitar technician Eltham Jones and to Prof Thomas Johansen from the philosophy faculty in Oxford.
This programme is part of a week of programmes looking at the history of ideas around Freedom.
Consumer affairs programme.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
Prof Jonathan Ball explores new genetic technologies and how they might change society.
Mrs Adeline Washington is one of only four black American YMCA workers, sent to support the 200,000 black American soldiers arriving in France in 1918.
In this story by Patricia Cumper and Jonathan Ruffle, Mrs Washington's duties should keep her away from the fighting. But when she uncovers a shocking secret about the US 371st Regiment, currently in the frontline at Esnes-en-Argonne, she has to find any way to get there - and fast.
Meticulously based on unit war diaries and eye-witness accounts, each episode of TOMMIES traces one real day at war, exactly 100 years ago, telling untold stories about the war in Gaza, Gallipoli, Serbia, Mesopotamia, Russia, Macedonia, Italy, Turkmenistan and Tanzania, as well as on the Western Front.
And through it all, we've followed the fortunes of Mickey Bliss and his fellow signallers, from the Lahore Division of the British Indian Army. They are the cogs in an immense machine, one which connects situations across the whole theatre of the war, over four long years.
Produced and directed by Jonquil Panting.
Josie Long hears stories of observation - from glimpsing who you might become to an artist who secretly surveilled her father.
Rosalind Jana explores the crackle of possibility and hope in a love story observed across a crowded room, Johanna Heldebro talks about her art project - To Come Within Reach of You - in which she followed and photographed her father, and Sarah Algashgari talks about working at the first football match in Saudi Arabia that allowed female spectators.
Deciphering
Featuring Rosalind Jana
The Watchers
Featuring Sarah Algashgari
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft
Following Father
Featuring Johanna Heldebro
Produced by Tom Henley
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
Topical programme about the fast-changing media world.
Sarah Smith with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Part 1: Seventy-Three Seconds
"Good luck, bad luck, who can tell..."
Multi-award winning storyteller Sarah Kendal returns with more hilarious, gripping and moving stories.
This second volume of Sarah Kendall's Australian Trilogy, is one show in three parts. A collection of seemingly unconnected stories and memories, which, together, combine to form a meditation on luck, survival and hindsight.
Scrolling backwards and forwards in time to different moments in her life, over the three parts, Sarah creates an intricate montage, demonstrating the interconnectedness of life.
In this first part Sarah tells us her childhood memories of her brother's 6th birthday party, of their first pet and of her family gathering on the lawn to catch a glimpse of Halley's Comet in 1986. And we get an insight into the process of how this show came together, as Sarah watches a video of the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster.
Written by Sarah Kendall & Carl Cooper
Performed by Sarah Kendall
Producer - Carl Cooper
Production Co-ordinator - Beverly Tagg
This is a BBC Studios production
Photo Credit - Rosalind Furlong
Series One of Sarah Kendall's Australian Trilogy-
Winner - Writers' Guild Award - Best Radio Comedy
Winner - BBC Audio Drama Award - Best Scripted Comedy (Longform)
Winner -Silver ARIA Award - Best Fictional Storytelling
Nominee - Chortle Comedy Awards - Best Radio Show
Nominee - Music and Radio Awards - Best Storytelling.
Helen is on a mission, and Jim hatches a plan.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
Anne McElvoy returns with the series that asks figures from opposing sides of a political issue to listen to each other, and explore the roots of each other's beliefs, with the help of conflict resolution specialist Gabrielle Rifkind.
In this edition, Anne brings together Kerry-Anne Mendoza, Editor-in-Chief of The Canary, and Juliet Samuel, columnist for the Daily Telegraph, to discuss the question: 'Is Tax a Burden?'
Producer: Phil Tinline.
Talks with a personal dimension.
Andy Zaltzman, the comedian, cricket fanatic and lapsed classics student will be spending a week living by the teachings of three ancient schools of philosophy. This week he'll mostly be being an epicurean. But this is a lot harder than you think. It's a philosophy that arose in around 300 BC in Athens and was named after Epicurus who set up a school of philosophy called The Garden, on the outskirts of Athens, where his followers lived and supposedly shared all their possessions. For Epicureans, the goal of life is happiness or pleasure, rather than virtue, but they advocated an analytical and questioning approach to the question of happiness and tended to live simply, eat simply.
Today psychologists are exploring how Epicurus' ideas on happiness can be used to teach people how to manage negative memories. Researchers in the psychology of happiness are experimenting with adapting the teachings to help people with obsessive compulsive disorders to focus on their internal life rather than external stimuli that drive their conditions. And the science of happiness is being used in economic and political theory. The bigger question behind all of these programmes is just how much one can recover of the original teachings, how far they can be updated with modern knowledge and will Andy be happier living a day without cricket?
Producer: Phil Pegum.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Henry Goodman continues Peter Benchley's classic 1974 novel, which went on to become one of the greatest movies of all time.
It's high summer on Cape Cod's Amity Island, and now two people have been killed just off the coast. Chief Brody is convinced the killer is a shark, and now all he has to do is work out how he's going to catch it...
Will it ever be safe to go back into the water?
Reader: Henry Goodman
Writer: Peter Benchley's 1974 novel shot straight on to the bestseller lists, and has since sold some 20 million copies. It
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Richard Hamilton.
Australian stand up Felicity Ward stars in her first BBC Radio 4 series where she tries to solve her mental health issues, one app at a time.
In Episode 3, Felicity tries to alleviate her depression with the help of patented swimming app 'You Can Swim to Save Yourself' (as voiced by Nick Helm).
Throughout the series, Felicity downloads a new app each week to help her destress, refocus and find practical solutions to her various trouble areas - anxiety, depression, IBS and insomnia.
Written and performed by Felicity Ward.
Script Editor: Gareth Gwynn
Producer: Adnan Ahmed
A BBC Studios Production.
The Celebrity Voicemail Show is an entirely fictitious comedy show written, improvised and starring only Kayvan Novak in which he imagines what it might be like to hear the answerphone messages of the rich and famous.
This week we listen in to the voicemail of US President, Barack Obama.
There's a story told about French philosopher René Descartes and his daughter. He boards a ship for a voyage over the North Sea with a large wooden box which he insists be handled with such great care that the sea captain's curiosity is aroused. When Descartes is out of his cabin the sea captain opens the box and is horrified to find a life sized automaton inside. He's so shocked he throws the "daughter" overboard.
Descartes championed a view of nature in which everything happened because of the physical forces acting between its constituent parts: nature as a machine. It was a coolly rational vision that caught the scientific spirit of the seventeenth century. He was fascinated by automata and what they tell us about what it is to be human.
Philip Ball tells the story of Descartes and his "daughter" and his writings about humans and machines. He finds out more about the thirst for mechanical wonders and what it said about theories of the human body in Descartes' time, from historian of science Simon Schaffer of Cambridge University. And Kanta Dihar of the Centre for the Future of Intelligence also at Cambridge University talks about current research into AIs, driven purely by some mechanism of formal logic, that can mimic the capabilities of the human mind, and how contemporary culture explores our fears about them.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with novelist and poet Zahid Hussain.
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 Gannet. The North Atlantic is the international stronghold for this impressive seabird - with its wingspan of nearly 2 metres, remorseless expression and dagger-like bill.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Evan Davis looks for reasonable ways to address the most divisive of issues.
It's the most celebrated period of British ingenuity, but are our Victorian forebears due a rethink? Sci-curious sisters Kat and Helen Arney are on hand with some revisionist revelations that could turn what we think we know completely upside down.
Charles Darwin's discoveries have done more than anything before or since to radically change the way we think about natural history and where we came from. It's one of the most robust and powerful scientific concepts of all time and Darwin applied it across the animal kingdom - but he was always reluctant to be drawn on the role of natural selection in human development. However, his cousin Francis Galton had no such qualms, and used Darwin's ideas to develop a theory of Eugenics.
Between the good of Darwin and the bad of Galton, whose ideas were the more powerful?
Helen Arney is a presenter and comedian, and Dr Kat Arney is a writer and broadcaster who has published a book on genetics.
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4.
Radio 4 presents 'The Freedom Papers' in collaboration with Edinburgh International Book Festival. It's a pivotal point in our modern history in terms of political uncertainty and challenges to social justice. This motivated Edinburgh's International Book Festival to commission 52 writers to explore ideas related to freedom. In a one-off Book of the Week, we showcase five very different perspectives on freedom from some of the world's most exciting literary voices, including Yan Lianke, Sandip Roy, Nicola Davies, Carmen Maria Machado, Gavin Francis and Esa Aldegheri.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
44 Scotland Street: Series 5
written & dramatised by Alexander McCall Smith
Young Olive wants to re-write Shakespeare; Bruce's girlfriend is leading him into danger; and Angus has six puppies too many. It's 44 Scotland Street!
Edinburgh's Georgian New Town is the setting for the quirky tales and 'goings on' of Alexander McCall Smith's much loved characters from his bestselling series of books, 44 Scotland Street.
Bruce, a young surveyor, is smitten by an adventurous Australian girl, but is she all she seems? Edinburgh's most hot housed seven year-old, Bertie Pollok, is up for the role of Macbeth in the school play. Meanwhile his father, Stuart, meets a young poet who may just turn his head. All this and more, observed by portrait painter Angus Lordie and his dog, Cyril, the only canine in Scotland with a gold tooth.
Producer/director: David Ian Neville.
When someone in Jamaica emigrates to the UK, it is said they have 'gone to foreign'. Over the past 70 years several hundred thousand Jamaicans have done this, following in the footsteps of the so-called 'Windrush generation' who first arrived in Britain in the late 1940s. But the spirit of adventure and optimism those early pioneers bought with them has changed over the years and a recent political scandal now finds some of them unwanted and rejected by Britain. Following changes to immigration law and failing to comply with citizenship requirements, they have been designated illegal immigrants. On returning from holiday in the Caribbean, some of the children of the Windrush generation (now in their 50s and 60s) have been refused entry back to Britain, and others have been deported from Britain back to the Caribbean. For Crossing Continents, Colin Grant travels to Jamaica to meet two men who, despite having lived in the UK for decades, working and paying taxes, find themselves in limbo, trapped and unable to return to the place they call home. What happens when you are stranded in a place you were never really familiar with, an island which you have little memory of, and may not have returned to for half a century? Grant hears of their endeavour to return to the UK and how they have struggled to keep up hope in the face of a very painful and public rejection.
Colin Grant reporting and producing.
(image: West Indian mother keeps the rain off her child with an umbrella, as they depart the Spanish passenger vessel Montserrat at Southampton docks Oct 1961 / BBC copyright)
As Britain opens the latest in a series of large new jails, architect Danna Walker looks at the unique tensions in architecture's relationship with the judicial system - where the go-to design for prisons is 250 years old, and where ideological conflicts between incarceration and rehabilitation dominate.
In the late 18th century, British utilitarian thinker Jeremy Bentham developed the Panopticon - a circular design featuring a central hub from which a single watchman could observe all prisoners without them knowing they were being watched. Bentham described the design as "a mill for grinding rogues honest".
Over the centuries, the standard, go-to design for prisons has been based on Bentham's ideas, apparently unchallenged. Yet report after report damns poorly-designed buildings, inadequate for rehabilitation. Outcomes are concerning - people who have already been through the criminal justice system commit approximately half of all crime, at an estimated cost to the taxpayer of £10-15 billion per year.
A prison transformation programme is underway, with the Ministry of Justice earmarking 10,000 places in old Victorian prisons for replacement with new purpose-built facilities.
New prisons like HMP Berwyn in Wrexham are not places of beauty - they follow the centuries-old blueprint of plain facades, punctuated by tiny windows. Yet the work that takes place inside them is of fundamental importance to the safety of our society.
Visiting London's oldest jail, HMP Brixton, as well as the unusual setting of HMP Styal near Manchester, the programme questions the role of prison, whether it should make people feel happy and whether good design can drive better outcomes.
Producer: Andrew Wilkie
A PRA production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Historian of science Simon Schaffer is interested in the purpose of beauty within evolutionary explanations. Taking the ideas of Charles Darwin as his starting point, he wants to know how and why the capacity to see beauty evolved and whether this powerful, fleeting and apparently most useless of attributes can really have an evolutionary explanation. Simon talks to neuroscientist and biologist Stephen Rose and film-maker and anthropologist Chris Wright about whether Darwin really can explain why he finds Mahler's 5th Symphony beautiful.
This programme is part of a week of programmes looking at the history of ideas around Freedom.
Consumer affairs programme.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
Prof Jonathan Ball explores new genetic technologies and how they might change society.
written and dramatised by Alexander McCall Smith.
Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi receive a visit from an extremely important person - a hero, as it happens, of the two detectives at the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Mma Potokwani has had bad news at the Orphan Farm. And one of Mr J.L.B. Matekoni's apprentices, Fanwell, gets himself into deep water.
produced and directed by Gaynor Macfarlane.
Stretched along the northern side of the Severn Estuary, the historic and naturally rich landscape of the Gwent Levels represents the largest and most significant example in Wales of a 'hand-crafted' landscape. They are entirely the work of man, having been recurrently inundated and reclaimed from the sea from the Roman period onwards.
This stunning patchwork of natural habitats has become nationally renowned for the diverse wildlife which has made it's home amongst the alluvial wetlands and intertidal mudflats. It is also home to the Lave-Net Fishermen at Blackrock, a group who have fished along the estuary for centuries.
But having been carved out by the hand of man the levels are now facing re-invention once again as plans to extend the M4 through part of the landscape are currently being debated through a local public enquiry.
Helen Mark journeys through this ever shifting area to hear the stories from those who live and work there and asks what these potential changes could mean for them.
Antonia Quirke presents a special edition of The Film Programme with Spike Lee.
Adam Rutherford investigates the news in science and science in the news.
Sarah Smith with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Comedy about the inept staff at an historic house. Starring Simon Callow and Jane Horrocks.
Every year, thousands of tourists flock to the Lake District. But one place they never go to is Plum House - the former country home of terrible poet George Pudding (1779-1848). Now a crumbling museum, losing money hand over fist, it struggles to stay open under its eccentric curator Peter Knight (Simon Callow).
Can anyone save Plum House from irreversible decline?
Tom Collyer, sent from the Trust to do just that, seems to be the most likely candidate but the challenge is huge as he confronts the reality of winning round Peter Knight's handpicked team - the hopelessly out of touch deputy Julian (Miles Jupp), the corner-cutting gift shop manager Maureen (Jane Horrocks) intent on making profit from extremely cheap plum-themed merchandise, and maintenance man Alan (Pearce Quigley) who has heard the words "health" and "safety" but never in the same sentence.
In this opening episode, the museum's preparations for the annual WI visit include hiding away valuable artefacts as, according to Peter, some members are prone to stealing them. And Julian gives a disastrous lecture on the life and work of George Pudding.
Written by Ben Cottam and Paul McKenna
Directed and Produced by Paul Schlesinger
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4.
Elizabeth needs help, and Tom is desperate to impress.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
Series looking at important issues in the news. Presented by David Aaronovitch.
Young Taiwanese entrepreneurs working in a start-up hub are offered attractive sweeteners. But this isn't in California or even Taipei, it's on the outskirts of Shanghai. The People's Republic of China is setting its sights on Taiwan's youth by encouraging them to relocate to the 'mainland'. Wages in Taiwan have stagnated as its economic growth has failed to keep pace with that of China, prompting thousands of people to leave the island and head to the mega cities of the People's Republic for better jobs and access to greater opportunities.
In February the Chinese government unveiled a package of measures to attract Taiwanese young people and businesses to the mainland, with tax breaks, subsidies, research grants and access to government contracts.
Taiwan's current pro-independence government is worried about a potential 'brain drain' and there are fears that Beijing, which views Taiwan as a rebel province is using its vast economic clout in a soft power offensive to promote and enhance social and commercial integration between its young peoples.
Caroline Bayley travels to Shanghai and Taipei to meet young Taiwanese and asks whether Taiwan's younger generation can be lured in this way by China and whether Taiwan can do anything to stem the exodus.
Presenter/Producer: Caroline Bayley.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Henry Goodman continues Peter Benchley's classic 1974 novel, and one of the greatest movies of all time.
As the victims mount, Amity Island's beaches are finally closed. And Chief Brody decides to call in an expert who can might help him catch the shark...
Will it ever be safe to go back into the water?
Reader: Henry Goodman
Writer: Peter Benchley's 1974 novel shot straight on to the bestseller lists, and has since sold some 20 million copies. It was adapted into the iconic film by Steven Spielberg a year later. The film won three Academy Awards.
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Richard Hamilton.
Between 1954 and 1959, BBC Radio recorded 102 episodes of Ray Galton and Alan Simpson's comedy classic Hancock's Half Hour. The first modern sitcom, it made stars of Tony Hancock, Sid James and Kenneth Williams, and launched Galton and Simpson on one of the most successful comedy-writing partnerships in history. But 20 episodes of the show are missing from the BBC archives, and have not been heard since their original transmission nearly sixty years ago. Now, after a highly successful first series, another five of those episodes have been lovingly re-recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC Radio Theatre, featuring a stellar cast led by Kevin McNally as The Lad Himself.
Tonight's episode: How Hancock Won The War. Tony tells Andree how he got his war wound, which is a story you may find hard to believe...
Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, and with the classic score newly recorded by the BBC Concert Orchestra, the show stars Kevin McNally, Kevin Eldon, Simon Greenall, Robin Sebastian and Susy Kane. How Hancock Won The War was last broadcast in February 1956.
Produced by Ed Morrish and Neil Pearson
Written by Ray Galton & Simpson
A BBC Radio Comedy Production.
Naomi Alderman's tale is a murder mystery, the story of Hypatia, the mathematician murdered by a mob in the learned city of Alexandria, around the year 415 CE. Hypatia was a communicator of science, tackling difficult maths and teaching it to her students. This was incredibly important work. It was enough, at the time, to make her Alexandria's pre-eminent mathematician, and probably therefore the leading mathematician in the world.
And there's historical evidence that Hypatia made some discoveries and innovations of her own. She invented a new and more efficient method of long division. In a time before electronic calculators, the actual business of doing sums was an arduous part of engineering or astronomy, and any improvement in efficiency was very welcome.
All quite innocent science, so why did Hypatia end up being murdered by a mob? Natalie Haynes presenter of "Natalie Haynes Stands Up For The Classics" tells the inside story to Naomi Alderman. And Professor Edith Hall discusses Hypatia's legacy.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with novelist and poet Zahid Hussain.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
The white crested laughing thrush is a superb accompaniment to David Rothenberg as he plays the clarinet, the best bird to play along with in this Tweet of the Day.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. In this latest 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 Tim Dee
Image WikiCommons / cuatrock77.
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Radio 4 presents 'The Freedom Papers' in collaboration with Edinburgh International Book Festival. It's a pivotal point in our modern history in terms of political uncertainty and challenges to social justice. This motivated Edinburgh's International Book Festival to commission 51 writers to explore ideas related to freedom. In a one-off Book of the Week, we showcase ten very different perspectives on freedom from some of the world's most exciting literary voices, including Sandip Roy, Nicola Davies, Rory Maclean, Kapka Kassabova and Gavin Francis.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
44 Scotland Street - Series 5
written & dramatised by Alexander McCall Smith
Bruce is facing a dangerous challenge on Skye; and secrets are uncovered in the Pollok household leading to a showdown between Bertie's parents.
Edinburgh's Georgian New Town is the setting for the quirky tales and 'goings on' of Alexander McCall Smith's much loved characters from his bestselling series of books, 44 Scotland Street.
Bruce, a young surveyor, is smitten by an adventurous Australian girl, but is she all she seems? Edinburgh's most hot housed seven year-old, Bertie Pollok, is up for the role of Macbeth in the school play. Meanwhile his father, Stuart, meets a young poet who may just turn his head. All this and more, observed by portrait painter Angus Lordie and his dog, Cyril, the only canine in Scotland with a gold tooth.
Producer/director: David Ian Neville.
In the second part of her investigation into why so many people in Britain hate their jobs, Emma Kennedy looks at ways to rethink the whole concept of work and the workplace.
A string of studies have produced worrying evidence that that as many as 75 per cent of British workers feel they are in jobs which don't suit them. One in five employees are actively trying to find other kinds of work.
In last week's programme Emma looked at the extent to which the problem is caused by a lack of career's advice and meaningful work experience as well as the failure of the worlds of education and employment to collaborate effectively. In this programme, she looks at the arguments for more fundamental changes to our whole work environment. And she asks why the UK appears to have one of the unhappiest and least productive workforces in Europe.
Anthropologist David Graeber says part of the problem is that a huge number of people are employed in "bullshit jobs" - meaningless activities which benefit no-one. Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the Royal Society of Arts led a major review of employment practices and says the political emphasis need to switch away from obsession with numbers of jobs to concentrate on quality of jobs. And Frederic Laloux, author of Reinventing Organisations, calls for the creation of "soulful" workplaces in which employees can feel valued and fulfilled.
Emma meets some companies who are trying to do things differently. In Brighton, she discovers how a major health care social enterprise is combining mindfulness and table-tennis to bring out the best in their workforce. And she finds out why global engineering consultants Mott MacDonald are regularly hailed as one of the best employers in the UK.
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4.
Episode 5: 'Poetry No Thanks'
Ed becomes involved in the work of a committee when he agrees to get involved in the erection of a statue on University Grounds to honour the plucky wartime songbird 'Beryl Bassett'. This means not only ploughing through hundreds of entries for a poetry competition to find a suitable ode to be read at the unveiling, but liaising with Beryl's son who has his eye on Antonia, a small gauge railway and a dubious family past.
Written by Andrew Nickolds and Christopher Douglas
Produced by Dawn Ellis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Philosopher Angie Hobbs is interested in Plato's idea that there is a relationship between beauty and morality. The idea that goodness is beautiful and evil things are ugly is written deep into our culture. But Plato's ideas also suggest that beautiful things could not be appreciated by evil people. Can that idea really survive the image of a Nazi Camp Kommandant listening to classical music?
This programme is part of a week of programmes looking at the history of ideas around Freedom.
Consumer news and issues.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
Prof Jonathan Ball explores new genetic technologies and how they might change society.
written and dramatised by Alexander McCall Smith.
Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi have received a visit from an extremely important person - a hero of the two detectives at the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Mma Potokwani has had bad news at the Orphan Farm and the ladies are determined to help her. And Mr J.L.B. Matekoni sets out to clear the name of his apprentice, Fanwell.
produced and directed by Gaynor Macfarlane.
Eric Robson and the panel are in Liverpool. Bunny Guinness, Pippa Greenwood and Bob Flowerdew answer this week's questions.
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
An original short story for BBC Radio 4 from the Northern Irish writer Rosemary Jenkinson. As read by Julie Maxwell (BBC 'Soft Border Patrol').
Rosemary Jenkinson is a playwright and short story writer from Belfast. Winner of The Sunday Tribune's Hennessy Award for New Irish Writing, she has published several short story collections including 'Contemporary Problems Nos. 53 & 54', ' Aphrodite's Kiss' and 'Catholic Boy'. Her work for radio includes 'Castlereagh to Kandahar' (BBC Radio 3) and 'The Blackthorn Tree' (BBC Radio 4).
Writer ..... Rosemary Jenkinson
Reader ..... Julie Maxwell
Producer ..... Michael Shannon.
Obituary series, analysing and celebrating the life stories of people who have recently died.
Investigating the numbers in the news.
A mother and daughter share the loss and the joy of now being in touch with the son and brother they never knew. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
Producer: Marya Burgess.
Sarah Smith with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
The Now Show team returns to Edinburgh with another helping of satirical silliness from the world's biggest arts festival.
Expect the usual news related japes and a section of the best performers handpicked from across the vast Festival.
Russ plays a dangerous game and Susan faces an ultimatum.
News, reviews and interviews from the worlds of art, literature, film and music.
Shaun Ley presents political debate from the Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House, London with a panel including the Chair of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady MP, the commentator and founder of Childline and Silverline Esther Rantzen, and the Scottish National Party MP Tommy Sheppard.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson.
A weekly reflection on a topical issue.
In a series tracing decisive moments in the life of our National Health Service, medical historian Sally Sheard explores the archive to tell the stories behind five crucial moments, in this second omnibus edition from Radio 4's National Health Stories series.
Cigarettes & Chimneys: When a new deadly disease, lung cancer, began to grip the nation, the NHS was forced to consider its role - should it just treat the illnesses of its patients, or prevent them too?
Hip Innovation: Life in the new NHS gave some hospital doctors the time and freedom to innovate, like John Charnley who invented the 'Charnley' hip replacement.
Kidney Dilemma: How the life-saving invention of the 'artificial kidney' machine in the 1960s came at a cost, bringing moral dilemmas in its wake, for doctors and for society as a whole.
Modern Hospital: How the new 'modern' hospital designs transformed not only the lives of staff, who worked and often lived in hospitals, but the experiences of patients too.
Sexual Health Service: How the contraceptive pill forced the NHS to acknowledge, for the first time, all women's healthcare needs, sexual health included.
Producer: Beth Eastwood.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Henry Goodman continues Peter Benchley's classic 1974 novel, and one of the greatest movies of all time.
As Brody becomes more and more obsessed with the shark, he's oblivious to the threats to his own marriage... Will the beaches open for the 4th of July? And will it ever be safe to go back into the water?
Reader: Henry Goodman
Writer: Peter Benchley's 1974 novel shot straight on to the bestseller lists, and has since sold some 20 million copies. It was adapted into the iconic film by Steven Spielberg a year later. The film won three Academy Awards.
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Richard Hamilton.
Mary Anning lived in Lyme Regis on what is now known as the Jurassic Coast in the first half of the 19th century. Knowing the shore from childhood and with a remarkable eye for detection she was extremely successful in finding fossils. In 1812 she unearthed parts of an Icthyosaur and in 1823 she discovered the first skeleton of what became known as a Plesiosaurus - a long-necked, flippered creature with a tiny head. It looked a bit like an elongated turtle with no shell.
Naomi Alderman tells the science story of how Mary Anning, a poor and relatively uneducated young woman, became the supplier of the best fossils to the gentlemen geologists who were beginning to understand that the earth was very old and had been inhabited by strange extinct creatures. Naomi talks to Tracy Chevalier, author of Remarkable Creatures, a novel about Mary Anning, about her life and relationship with the geologists of the time, and to Dr Susannah Maidment, Curator of Dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum, about fossil hunting today.
A mother reveals to her daughter how she had to keep her pregnancy secret, and how her own mother was won over by her grandchild. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
Producer: Marya Burgess.