SATURDAY 10 APRIL 2021

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m000twvj)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 00:32 Meditation (m000vjcv)
A meditation following the death of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, led by the Rev Dr Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, in London.


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000twvl)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000twvn)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.


SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000twvq)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m000twvs)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000twvv)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Cardinal Vincent Nichols

Good morning.

Today we mourn the death of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, a man of such vitality, determination and noble sense of duty. Who can forget the pageant on the River Thames marking the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee when he stood for hours in the rain at her side, not counting the cost? I recall also, at the Palace of Holyrood House, he stood alongside the Queen and the Pope, all three in their eighties, each committed to serving nation or church without regard for age or personal cost. A little time later, in an interview marking his ninetieth birthday, Prince Philip said that he would slow down and reduce his duties, stating that he had ‘done his bit’. Only much later did he in fact retire from public life.

This is how many of us will remember Prince Philip – always there beside his wife and sovereign, but active in his own right. This was the life he chose when he married her, knowing that she would one day be Queen. At the Coronation he was not crowned of course, but knelt before her with her hands enclosing his, and swore to be her ‘liege man of life and limb’. At the Diamond Jubilee the Queen referred to him as her ‘constant strength and guide’.

Lord, we thank you for the long life which you gave to your servant, Prince Philip, a life lived in loyalty and service to his Queen and to our country . As he now rests from his labours may he share in your peace and rise in glory.

Amen


SAT 05:45 Bodies (m000rcp7)
Episode 2: The skull cup and the shape-shifters - The body in prehistory

The human body is the battleground where our most fundamental ideas about the way the world is come into sharp focus.

When we think and talk about the body, we are suddenly very aware of that pattern of thinking which frames concepts in opposition, divides the world up between dark and light, material and immaterial, technology and humanity, invisible and visible, mind and body, body and soul.

In this new ten part series, academic and broadcaster Professor Alice Roberts traces how human knowledge of anatomy has grown and changed over time, and how this changing understanding has in turn affected our understanding of who we are.

Episode 2: The skull cup and the shape-shifters - The body in pre-history

What did our pre-historic ancestors think of the human body? Did they see it as the same as the animals they hunted – a collection of bones, muscle, sinews and blood vessels. Or was it somehow separate? Professor Alice Roberts contemplates tantalising glimpses of human bodies from our deep past – a human skull used as a drinking vessel, a statue of a half-man half-lion being, tiny figurines of Ice Age women.

Presenter: Professor Alice Roberts
Actor: Jonathan Kydd

A Made in Manchester production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m000v236)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (m000twh9)
Canna

Canna is four miles long and one mile wide. It has no doctor and the primary school closed a few years ago. The islanders depend on a weekly ferry service for post, food and medical supplies. Fiona Mackenzie and her husband, Donald, have lived on the island for six years. Donald is the harbourmaster and Fiona is the archivist for the priceless collection of Gaelic music, photographs and literature stored in Canna House. She's also an accomplished folk singer - the ideal guide for an Open Country visit to the island.

The folklorist and Gaelic scholar, John Lorne Campbell, bought the island in the 1950s. His family was part of Scotland's landed gentry, but he was opposed to sporting estates and absentee landlords and wanted to develop Canna as a flourishing, Gaelic-speaking community. He lived in the island's Big House with his wife, Margaret Fay Shaw - a Gaelic song collector. Canna House became a bohemian Hebridean retreat with a constant flow of colourful visitors including Compton Mackenzie, the author of Whiskey Galore. Campbell's vision for Canna never fully materialised and he gave the island and its archive to the National Trust for Scotland in 1981. It is run as a sheep and moor farm and has a population of just 14.

As well as her archive work, Fiona Mackenzie gives visitors impromptu history and nature walks. She and Fiona Hutton, owner of the island's only guesthouse, take the listeners on a tour of some of the island's sights of historic interest. Fiona and her neighbours also discuss the rewards and challenges of living in a small island community, particularly during the Covid lockdowns.

Down at the shoreline, she finishes the programme with a treat for the listener, a 'Song for Attracting Seals' – .and she promises it does work!


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m000v238)
10/04/21 - Farming Today This Week: Dogs in the countryside, wetland rewilding and spring on the farm

Should dogs be kept on leads all the time whenever they're out in the countryside? The Country Land and Business Association says yes. There's been a 10% increase in dog attacks on sheep since this time last year, but there's another problem dogs can cause for farmers: parasites found in some dog poo can be passed on to cattle, and can even cause cows to abort calves. Charlotte Smith hears from a dairy farmer about the emotional and financial impact of getting the infection in a herd.

Peat is a major ingredient in compost used by gardeners and farmers alike. But it's harvested from the wild, damaging peatland habitats and releasing carbon into the atmosphere. The Royal Horticultural Society has announced it will be completely peat free by 2025 as it switches to other growing media including sphagnum moss. But does it come as too little, too late?

We find out more about a project in East Devon to recreate a huge tidal wetland at Budleigh Salterton. A 200 year old sea embankment will be breached, to allow fields in the estuary of the River Otter to flood, creating salt marsh and mud flats, with the aim of improving habitats and capturing carbon.

And we bring you the sounds of Spring on the farm - from new calves and lambs, to the last seeds being planted.

Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced for BBC Audio by Heather Simons


SAT 06:57 Weather (m000v23b)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m000v23d)
Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m000v23g)
Mel Giedroyc and Alice Cooper

Nikki Bedi and Rev Richard Coles are joined by Mel Giedroyc, one half of Mel and Sue who shot to fame hosting Light Lunch, and then warmed our hearts and made us drool with the comforting TV cooking competition programme Great British Bake Off. Since Mel has acted, presented, podcasted about quilting, and she’s written her first novel.
Stuart Lawrence’s life was thrown into disarray aged 17 when his adored older brother Stephen was killed in a racially motivated attack. Determined to have an positive impact on young people, he became a teacher, and is now a motivational speaker.
Tiggi Trethowan is a listener who contacted us with her story of losing her sight.
Ade Adepitan is a paralympian and TV presenter whose latest series meets the people whose lives have already been affected by climate change.
Alice Cooper chooses his Inheritance Tracks: Train Kept a Rollin’ by The Yardbirds and Thunderclap Newman, Something in the air
and your Thank you.
Producer: Corinna Jones


SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m000v23j)
Series 31

Home Economics: Episode 28

Jay Rayner and his culinary panel are back with another episode, packed full of tasty titbits. Sumayya Usmani, Tim Hayward, Jordan Bourke and Dr Annie Gray answer your questions about how to achieve the perfect quiche, uses for wild garlic, and surprising gadgets they didn't know they needed.

And Melek Erdal joins the panel to talk about her favourite Kurdish dishes.

Producer: Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer: Millie Chu

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 11:00 The Briefing Room (m000twhw)
Global supply chains - is the UK vulnerable?

When the 400 metre long Ultra Large Container Vessel, Ever Given, got wedged diagonally across the Suez Canal at the end of March, it brought one of the world’s most important trade routes to a standstill for six days. Around ten per cent of global shipping passes through the canal.
Shipping itself is responsible for some 90 per cent of global trade. The blockage served to revive worries that global supply chains have become a source of vulnerability for economies that rely on international trade. The immediate effect of the Ever Given accident for the UK may not become clear for several weeks.
The Briefing Room asks what longer term vulnerabilities has it exposed and how might these best be mitigated?


Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Production team: Tim Mansel, Paul Moss and Kirsteen Knight



Satellite image shows stranded container ship Ever Given in Suez canal. Egypt March 25th 2021. Credit: Reuters


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m000v23l)
Jordan's palace intrigues

Jordan is often portrayed as a stable, moderate country whose royal family have guided it wisely through turbulent times in a dangerous neighbourhood. But that royal family has rifts of its own and they burst into full view in recent weeks, as a public feud broke out between King Abdullah and his half-brother, the former Crown Prince Hamza. The BBC’s Middle East editor, Jeremy Bowen, has his own memories of the country’s intimate power struggles – past and present.

In Rwanda, a man once seen around the world as a hero is now standing trial accused of terrorism. Paul Rusesabagina, a former hotel manager, sheltered hundreds of people from the killers during the 1994 genocide. But he became a critic in exile of the government of Rwanda's President, Paul Kagame - and apparently a target for Rwandan intelligence. Michela Wrong has spent years investigating the complex background to the story.

As the military crackdown on strikers and demonstrators goes on in Myanmar, journalists are also being targeted as they try and cover the situation. Ben Dunant has just returned to the UK after years spent reporting in Myanmar and reflects on the prospects for the colleagues he left behind.

As you might expect, the residents of Paris have been particularly pained by the closure of their restaurants and cafes. But for those in the know, there were still some illicit ways to eat out: networks of private dining rooms and functions. Recently some of those secret arrangements were revealed to the French public – and many who hadn’t been invited were outraged. Joanna Robertson reports.


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m000v23n)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m000v23q)
Why is the state pension so complicated?

More than 200 pensioners responded to a request to tell us how much their state pension was. They were nearly all different amounts. Next week the basic pension is rising to £137.60 a week and the new state pension paid to younger pensioners to £179.60. But those are amounts that hardly anyone actually gets. So why are pensions - the old and the new - so complicated?

Who better to answer that than two former pensions ministers. Sir Steve Webb had that job throughout the years of the coalition government and Baroness Ros Altmann for just over a year under David Cameron.

Pockit is not a bank. But it does offer what it calls a current account. In fact that is a pre-paid card which customers load money onto and then can spend it almost as if it was a bank account. But some users have told Moneybox that their accounts have been locked and they they have struggled to get through to Pockit to find out what's going on. Paul talks to Martyn James, consumer rights expert at Resolver.

It is now more than 90 days since the UK left the ambit of the EU at the end of the transition period. And more than one million UK people living in EU countries must adapt to the laws that apply to foreign residents. And if you have thought that maybe one day you would like to go to work or retire to an EU country what are the rules you will now have to follow? This week we look at Spain which is home to more people from the UK than any other EU country. Barry Davys is a partner in Spectrum International Financial Adviser group based in Catalunya.

Researcher: Sowda Ali
Producer: Ben Carter
Editor: Richard Vadon


SAT 12:30 The Now Show (m000twv4)
Series 58

Episode 7

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present the week via topical stand-up and sketches in front of a remote audience - and all from their own home!

Joining them from a safe distance is Ria Lina and Alun Cochrane with music supplied by Rachel Parris .

Voice Actors: Katie Norris and Luke Kempner

Producer: Pete Strauss
Production Co-Ordinator: Carina Andrews
Editor/Engineer: David Thomas

BBC Studios Production


SAT 12:57 Weather (m000v23s)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News and Weather (m000v23v)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m000twv8)
Lord Hennessy, Jennie Bond, Stephen Bush, Sir Max Hastings, Professor Margaret MacMillan, Sir Simon Schama

Chris Mason presents discussion on the impact of the life of Prince Philip and on how the UK and the world changed in his lifetime. Joining him are the constitutional historian Lord Hennessy; former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond; political editor of The New Statesman Stephen Bush; journalist and historian Sir Max Hastings, historian Professor Margaret MacMillan and broadcaster and historian Sir Simon Schama.
Producer: Camellia Sinclair
Studio director: Kirsty Starkey


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m000v23x)
Prince Philip, and Northern Ireland

Did you ever meet Prince Philip – have you got a story to tell? We’d love to hear from you.

What about other news – there’s been another night of rioting in Belfast -- are you in Northern Ireland? How worried are you?


SAT 14:45 One to One (m000lmdx)
Introverts & Extroverts: Russell Kane talks to Mark Vernon

What are you: an introvert or an extrovert? Russell Kane is a comedian, so he has always assumed he's a textbook loud-mouthed extrovert. But now he's not so sure.

Across this series of interviews, Russell explores exactly what we mean by the terms "introvert" and "extrovert". He questions whether it is useful to define people in this way and whether we have a cultural bias towards one personality type over the other.

In this first of three parts, Russell asks psychotherapist and author Mark Vernon about the origins of the terms "introvert" and "extrovert" as coined by psychoanalyst Carl Jung in 1921. How have Jung's definitions been interpreted over the last 100 years? And can his theories help us better understand ourselves?

Producer: Becky Ripley


SAT 15:00 Nora Webster (m000b5hr)
Episode 1

Dramatisation of Colm Tóibín’s powerful bestselling novel Nora Webster, by BAFTA winning screenwriter Adrian Hodges.

In late ‘60s Ireland, Wexford woman Nora Webster is grieving for her husband Maurice. She’s just 40, still wounded by their last weeks in hospital and now a single parent to four children. While her girls are away at school and college, Nora and the boys do their best at home, finding it hard to connect to one other. Nora’s world shrinks around her, forcing her back to the job she did as a young woman before marriage and children. Gradually, tentatively, through music and friendship, Nora begins to find hope again.

Siobhan McSweeney (DERRY GIRLS) stars as Nora Webster and leads a stellar Irish cast including Brid Brennan, Norma Sheahan, Ruth Bradley, Gary Lilburn, Edward MacLiam, Jonathan Forbes, Paul Reid, Sophie Robinson and Lauren Coe.

The bestselling and critically acclaimed novelist Colm Tóibín is perhaps best known for Brooklyn (which became a film starring Saoirse Ronan) and The Master.

Award-winning winning writer for screen and television Adrian Hodges wrote the Oscar nominated film My Week with Marilyn, BAFTA winning TV series Amongst Women (adapted from the novel by John McGahern), the BBC adaptation of Philip Pullman’s The Ruby in the Smoke starring Billie Piper, and was the writer and creator of The Musketeers and co-creator of Primeval.

Written by Colm Tóibín
Dramatised by Adrian Hodges
Directed by Allegra McIlroy

Cast:
Nora Webster …… Siobhan McSweeney
Aunt Josie ….. Brid Brennan
Una …… Norma Sheahan
Catherine …… Ruth Bradley
Jim Webster …… Gary Lilburn
Mick Sinnott …… Edward MacLiam
William Jnr …… Paul Reid
Fiona …… Sophie Robinson
Aine …… Lauren Coe
Conor …… Sinead McGee
Donal …… Tommy Harris
Sister Thomas …… Jessica Turner
Peggy Gibney …… Heather Craney
Other parts were played by the cast.
Sound design ….. David Chilton

Nora Webster is a BBC Northern Ireland Production


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m000v23z)
Weekend Woman's Hour: Body image; Caring for an abuser; Tracey Thorn on her friend Lindy Morrison

The 2011 Census found that 6.5 million people in the UK are carers and provide unpaid care by looking after an ill, older or disabled family member, friend or partner. It found that women are more likely to be carers than men, with 58% of carers being female and 42% male. Emily Holzhausen, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Carers UK and Alyson Corner, psychologist and co-runs the 'My Horrid Parent' website discuss carers who have a relationship with the person they are caring for that involves a history of abuse.

A parliamentary report into body image has just been published. The Women's and Equalities Committee has been looking into why so many people feel dissatisfied about the way they look. We hear from Caroline Nokes MP, Chair of the committee. Tatyana Findlater who's 21 and has visible burn scars who gave evidence to the Committee and Dawn Estefan, Psychotherapist who works with black women's groups.

Janice Baker, shepherdess on a farm in the Durham Hills, was badly injured when she working having been trampled by one of her own sheep. Her son, the Countryfile and former One Show presenter Matt Baker dropped everything to help keep the farm going. They discuss what happens when the roles are reversed and a child has to help a parent.

Women play a critical role in the cacao industry in West Africa but their voices are rarely heard. Dr Nyagoy Nyong'o’s, Fairtrade Global CEO talks about what life is like for women cocoa farmers.

Hairdressers and beauty salons have been closed for a total of eight months since the start of the pandemic. Weddings were banned in the UK for more than three months last year. Our reporter Melanie Abbott spoke to hair and make-up artist Kirsty McCall.

Writer and singer-songwriter Tracey Thorn talks about her new book, My Rock 'n' Roll Friend. The friend in question is Lindy Morrison who was drummer for an Australian band, The Go-Betweens. Tracey talks about friendship, being a female performer and why she chose to write about Lindy.

Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Paula McFarlane
Editor: Siobhann Tighe


SAT 17:00 PM (m000v241)
Full coverage of the day's news


SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m000v243)
Nick Robinson talks to the Scottish health secretary, Jeane Freeman, in a personal and political interview, about her journey from communism via Labour to the SNP, why she thinks Alex Salmond is not fit to hold office, and what went wrong over covid in Scotland's care homes.

Producer: Martin Rosenbaum


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000v245)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 17:57 Weather (m000v247)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000v249)
Prince Charles has spoken movingly, in his first public comments since the death of the Duke of Edinburgh. He said his 'dear Papa' had given the most remarkable, devoted service.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m000v1nb)
Dr Michael Mosley, Yasmeen Khan, Tez Ilyas, Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi, Emma Freud, Clive Anderson

Clive Anderson and Emma Freud are joined by Michael Mosley, Yasmeen Khan and Tez Ilyas for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi and Philippe Cohen Solal and Mike Lindsay.


SAT 19:00 Profile (m000v24d)
Lex Greensill

The billionaire banker whose finance firm has collapsed and who is now at the centre of a lobbying scandal involving ex-Prime Minister, David Cameron.

Alexander "Lex" Greensill, grew up on his family’s sugar cane and melon farm in Queensland, Australia. After moving to the UK, he went into investment banking, founded a supply chain finance empire - complete with private jets - and, under David Cameron, secured a role in Britain’s Conservative-led Coalition government. After leaving office, the ex-PM became an adviser to the firm – Greensill Capital - which went bust last month, putting at risk 50,000 jobs worldwide.

Mark Coles charts the rise and fall of the farmer’s son who, so the story goes, began his finance company to help small firms get paid more quickly by big businesses.

Researchers: Matt Murphy and Stefania Okereke
Producer: Sally Abrahams
Editor: Richard Vadon


SAT 19:15 The Infinite Monkey Cage (m000s1sh)
Series 23

The Fundamentals of Reality

The Fundamentals of Reality

Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined by Nobel prize winning physicist Frank Wilczek, cosmologist Janna Levin, and comedians Eric Idle and Sara Pascoe to look at what physics has revealed about the reality of our universe. From Einstein's equations more than 100 years ago through to the amazing discoveries we've made in the last few years about black holes and gravitational waves, the universe we think we see is not necessarily the true fundamental reality that physics has uncovered. What is real and what is not? All will be revealed.

Producer: Alexandra Feachem


SAT 19:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m000v3fz)
Early Morning Walk

Michael explores the secret power of early-morning light, revealing the surprising ways it can affect your brain to boost your mood and help get a better night’s sleep. But it’s not just when you go that’s important… He speaks to Marie Murphy, Professor of Exercise and Health at Ulster University, who’s shown how a simple change to the way you walk could cut your risk of heart disease by 20-50%.


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m000v24g)
Gagarin and the lost Moon

On 12 April 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became an explorer like none other before him, going faster and further than any human in history, into what had always been the impenetrable and infinite unknown.

Raised in poverty during the Second World War, the one-time foundry worker and a citizen of the Soviet Union became the first human to fly above the Earth in the vastness of space.

In doing so he became an instrument in The Cold War – an ideological battle between the superpowers: East versus West, communism versus democracy.

Dr Kevin Fong tells the story of how 27 year old Yuri Gagarin came to launch a new chapter in the history of exploration and follows the cosmonaut’s one hour flight around the Earth.

The Soviet Union's triumph in 1961 was the event that galvanised the United States to win the Space Race: to send the first people on the Moon by the end of the decade. Yuri’s own ambitions to voyage to the Moon were frustrated by his political masters, a faltering Soviet lunar space program and two tragic accidents.

As well as presenting archive recordings, Kevin talks to space historians and writers:

Tom Ellis, historian at the London School of Economics
Stephen Walker, author of ‘Beyond’
Slava Gerovitch, author of Soviet Space Mythologies’ and ‘Voices of the Soviet Space Program’
Andrew Jenks, author of 'The Cosmonaut who couldn’t stop smiling’
Cathleen Lewis, curator at the National Air and Space Museum

Actor Stewart Campbell is the voice of Yuri Gagarin. Tony Turner is Soviet space program founder Sergei Korolev. Nicholas Murchie is General Nicolai Kaminin, head of cosmonaut training.

Technical production is by Giles Aspen and Jackie Margerum.

Co-writer and producer: Andrew Luck-Baker of the BBC Radio Science Unit.

(Picture: Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Photo credit: Imagno/Getty Images.)


SAT 21:00 Tumanbay (b06rz91n)
Series 1

Coming of Age

In the third episode of this epic saga inspired by the Mamluk slave-dynasty, fourteen year old daughter (Olivia Popica) of slave merchant Ibn (Nabil Elouahabi) is adrift at sea in a small boat and captive to an escaped slave (Akin Gazi). Now she must depend on her slave captor for her survival. Madu (Danny Ashok), the spoilt nephew of the Sultan, also has to grow up quickly as he swaps palace life for hard graft in the army.

Tumanbay, the beating heart of a vast empire, is threatened by a rebellion in a far-off province and a mysterious force devouring the city from within. Gregor (Rufus Wright), Master of the Palace Guard, is charged by Sultan Al-Ghuri (Raad Rawi) with the task of rooting out this insurgence and crushing it.

Cast:
Gregor.....................................Rufus Wright
Heaven....................................Olivia Popica
Slave.......................................Akin Gazi
Cadali......................................Matthew Marsh
Al-Ghuri...................................Raad Rawi
Sarah......................................Nina Yndis
Ibn..........................................Nabil Elouahabi
Shajar.....................................Sarah Beck Mather
Madu.......................................Danny Ashok
Daniel.....................................Gareth Kennerley
The Hameed Brothers............Christian Hillborg and Alec Utgoff
Shamsi....................................Laure Stockley
General Qulan........................Christopher Fulford
Sergeant................................Nadir Khan
Maid........................................Laure Stockley

Music - Sacha Puttnam
Sound Design - Steve Bond, Jon Ouin
Editors - Ania Przygoda, James Morgan
Producers - Emma Hearn, Nadir Khan, John Dryden

Written by Mike Walker
Directed by John Dryden

A Goldhawk production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 21:45 The Black Dog (b08h0g4k)
Melissa Harrison's first short story for radio explores how tales take root in the countryside, and in our souls.

Melissa Harrison's debut novel, Clay, won the Portsmouth First Fiction Award, was selected for Amazon's Rising Stars programme and chosen by Ali Smith as a Book of the Year for 2013. Her second novel, At Hawthorn Time, was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2015 and longlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction 2016. A freelance writer, occasional photographer and columnist for The Times, the Weekend FT and the Guardian, Melissa lives in South London.

Written by Melissa Harrison
Read by Lia Williams
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:00 News (m000v24j)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 The Reunion (m000lstj)
Black Wednesday

Kirsty Wark brings together bankers, traders and politicians to recall the events of Black Wednesday in 1992, when the collapse of sterling forced Britain’s exit from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.

In 1990, the ERM was a central part of the then Chancellor John Major’s anti-inflationary policy, to “place Britain at the heart of Europe”. But as Prime Minister in 1992, he had to make the painful decision to pull out after a frenetic day in the City. Sterling was pegged to the deutsche mark and the idea was to use intervention on the exchanges to hold it within set bands on either side of a central rate. But a wave of short selling, led by the American hedge-fund manager George Soros, overwhelmed the ability of the Bank of England to support the pound.

Chancellor Norman Lamont raised interest rates from 10% to 12%, then to 15%, and authorised the spending of billions of pounds to buy up the sterling being frantically sold on the currency markets. But the measures failed to prevent the pound falling lower than its minimum level in the ERM.

Home Secretary Kenneth Clarke spent the day in crisis talks with the PM.

Sir Alex Allan was John Major’s principle private secretary.

Mark Clarke was the foreign exchange dealer at the Bank of America who sold half a billion pounds, making £10 million for his employers in eight hours of trading.

Jim Trott was the Bank of England’s chief currency dealer who bought more sterling in a day than anyone before or since.

Jeff Randall was the Sunday Times City Editor who watched the drama unfold.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Emily Williams
Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 23:00 Round Britain Quiz (m000tvlw)
Programme 5, 2021

(5/12)
The Welsh and the Scots do battle in the fifth contest of the 2021 season, with Val McDermid and Alan McCredie representing Scotland and Myfanwy Alexander and David Edwards playing for Wales. Tom Sutcliffe is on hand to ask the programme's trademark cryptic questions, and to give the teams helpful hints and nudges wherever required - on the understanding that the more help they need, the fewer points they'll get.

Today's edition has again been recorded under lockdown conditions so the panellists are beaming in from home rather than gathering in a studio.

There's the usual helping of questions based on listeners' ideas, and Tom will also be providing the answer to the question he left unanswered at the end of the previous episode.

Producer: Paul Bajoria


SAT 23:30 Grasshead Racers (b00x58v4)
To honour the great motor racing commentator, Murray Walker, who died last month aged 97, Radio 4 is repeating the programme that, in 2004 , tempted him out of retirement - Grasshead Racers.

In his long career as a commentator Murray Walker covered all manner of motor sports, so when radio producer Julian May told him about lawn mower racing he was intrigued. He agreed to present a programme exploring it, on one condition - that he would not have to commentate.

At the Le Mans (if he’s not mistaken) of the lawn mower racing world - a field dotted with straw bales in Kingston Maurwood, Dorset, Murray spends a summer's day with members of the British Lawn Mower Racing Association and discovers this is a sport with wide appeal. Sir Stirling Moss reveals he was a keen lawn mower racer; Oliver Reed was as enthusiastic, but less controlled. Murray meets one competitor with more world championships than Michael Schumacher.

So impressed is Murray by these grasshead racers and their diligently fettled machines that he can't resist picking up the announcer's microphone and painting the scene in words, commentating one last time on this most spectacular and democratic motor sport.

Lawnmowers, Murray reveals, have a surprisingly sexy provenance: Mr Benz of Mercedes launched his career making lawn mowers; Royal Enfield, more famous for their guns and motorcycles, made mowers. So did Rolls Royce!

But the real enthusiasts, like Bugatti owners, like to mount their chariots and tank them. Murray Walker joins them, enjoying the heady aroma of 2 stroke and grass clippings as, lap after lap, the grasshead racers gun their classic mowers over Kingston Maurwood's greensward at speeds approaching a dizzying 35mph.

Presenter: Murray Walker
Producer: Julian May