SATURDAY 17 APRIL 2021

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m000v3rb)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 00:31 Into Thy Hands, O Lord (m000vmst)
The Archbishop of York leads a meditation on the eve of the funeral of HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Reading: Psalm 31 vv.1-6

Tallis: Te lucis ante terminum
Alamire / David Skinner (cond)

Sheppard: In manus tuas
The Sixteen / Harry Christophers (cond)

Burgon: Nunc dimittis
Paul Phoenix (treble) / English Symphony Orchestra / Barry Rose (cond)

The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended (St Clement)
Choir of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh

Presenter: The Archbishop of York, The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Stephen Cottrell
Producer: Ben Collingwood


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000v3rg)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000v3rj)
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 (m000v3rl)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m000v3rn)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000v3rq)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Bishop of Manchester David Walker

Good Morning.

Funerals have, over the last few decades, become a lot more personal. Close friends and relatives line up to share precious stories that, to them, sum up the one whose loss they wish to mourn. Music and readings are chosen with great care and because of what they signified in or about the life of the deceased. We are in this place, mourning the death of this person, who meant these very particular things to us. There's a lot I can cheer in that. And yet the very distinctness of the ceremony obscures the central fact that what has happened to this one individual is what will, in due course, befall us all. We commend and commit our loved ones to the common lot of humanity, the fate of prince and pauper alike.

Today's funeral service will, beneath the pomp and ceremonial of state, be grounded in the common prayers of the Church of England. The words will be largely ones that can be prayed over any Christian's coffin. They offer a hope that remains rooted in the universal mission of Jesus Christ, who came for the eternal salvation of all. They are words not just for the Duke of Edinburgh over whom they will be spoken this day. They are words for you, and for me.

Heavenly Father,
Whose Son Jesus Christ came for the salvation of all,
Grant that the words of today's funeral may live long in our memories.
May they be a source of hope in times of sadness,
A comfort in times of need,
And an assurance that we too are included in their promises.

Amen.


SAT 05:45 Bodies (m000rdl5)
Episode 3: Slaughterhouse Anatomy - The body in ancient Egypt

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 3: Slaughterhouse Anatomy - The body in ancient Egypt

The first civilisation to leave us traces of medical knowledge is ancient Egypt. And among these records of ancient injuries and remedies, one set stands out – the Edwin Smith papyrus. For the first time, magic spells are mixed with a rational and proto-scientific understanding of the human body. Professor Alice Roberts uncovers the papyrus's examples of anatomical thinking - its description of membranes around the brain, of cerebrospinal fluid, and the relation between neck injuries and paralysis. She asks where this anatomical knowledge came from – could it be from the battlefield or ritual embalming rites?

Presenter: Professor Alice Roberts
Actor: Jonathan Kydd

A Made in Manchester production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m000v743)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (m000v2x0)
Songs of England

English Heritage manages some of our most important historic sites, such as Stonehenge and Hadrian's Wall. In this Open Country, folk singer and song collector Sam Lee explains how he has paired these sites with relevant or revealing folk songs from the British Isles.

We meet Sam at Stonehenge, to hear him perform the song 'John Barleycorn'. From Salisbury we travel to Hadrian's Wall with The Brothers Gillespie and the borders song 'When Fortune Turns the Wheel'. At Whitby Abbey Fay Hield performs the tragic tale of 'The Whitby Lad' and at Ironbridge, the birthplace of industry, Abel Selaocoe sings about the impacts of the industrial revolution in 'The Four Loom Weaver’.

The aim of English Heritage and the musicians of the Nest Collective is to connect us to the people who inhabited these historic landscapes through the power of song. The music gives voice to how people felt and how they lived in a way that the monuments and buildings we have left cannot. Their hope is that by hearing these stories from the past we can connect with the landmarks we see today, even when we can’t visit them in person.

Produced by Helen Lennard

Photo: English Heritage/Andre Pattenden


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m000v745)
Farming Today This Week 17/04/21 - 100 Days of Brexit, breeding calmer cows and a new market for wool

As the dust settles after new rules came into force for exporting to the EU, Charlotte Smith investigates how food and farming businesses are coping. In January, there were some serious problems, but this week figures from the Office for National Statistics suggested trade between the UK and the EU partially recovered in February. However, trade was still below levels for this time last year and we hear from businesses struggling with the burden of new administrative costs. We also hear hope for the future, as new trade deals could mean more opportunities for exporting further afield.

Can you breed a calmer cow? Researchers in Northern Ireland are looking into it after getting funding from the devolved Government. Cattle were involved in more than a quarter of the deaths on Northern Ireland farms over the last 20 years, and DAERA hopes this new research could reduce that figure.

We also hear from a small holder on a mission to find a new market for her sheep's wool and a celebrate 70 years of the Peak District National Park.

Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons


SAT 06:57 Weather (m000v747)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m000v749)
Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m000v74f)
Ben Fogle

Ben Fogle became famous over twenty years ago when he spent a year living on a Scottish Island for early reality TV programme Castaway. It was the springboard for remarkable career involving television presenting, publishing ten books, climbing Everest, swimming with crocodiles, saving elephants, walking to the South Pole and rowing across the Atlantic Ocean. He tells Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi about his most recent project; travelling around the country to tell people about his extraordinary life.

Ade Adepitan is a former Paralympian and a globe-trotting TV presenter, but he has only just started his most important adventure - fatherhood. He joins us to talk about this new chapter in his life and his latest three-part series, Ade on the Frontline: Climate Change.

Liz Knight never felt comfortable in a suit when she worked in sales. After being made redundant she began working in a day care centre and, through the elderly people she met there, she learned more about local wildlife on the Welsh Borders. Liz turned that knowledge into a business and now a book Forage: Wild Plants to Gather, Cook and Eat.

Listener Christina Longden contacted Saturday Live to tell us about her great great great grandfather, whose life had been shrouded in secrecy for a hundred years. Robert Stanley was a working class man from Manchester, who rose to become mayor and was one of the earliest converts to Islam.

And snooker player Steve Davis shares his Inheritance Tracks.

Producer: Laura Northedge
Editor: Claire Bartleet


SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m000v74h)
Series 32

Home Economics: Episode 29

Jay Rayner and his culinary panel are back with another episode of The Kitchen Cabinet. Tim Anderson, Sophie Wright, Nisha Katona and Professor Barry Smith answer your questions on their favourite guilty eats, ideas for picky vegetarians, and using wine in cooking.

Producer: Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Millie Chu

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m000v74k)
Radio 4's assessment of developments at Westminster


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m000v74m)
The White House has announced a deadline for US troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and the government in Kabul looks isolated. The Taliban are in control of large parts of the country, running a parallel administration. Secunder Kermani visited a Taliban-controlled zone in Balkh province to hear how Talib commanders and fighters have reacted to the American plan.

Russia seems to be concentrating military resources along its border with Ukraine, but why? And how can or should Ukraine prepare to respond? Jonah Fisher has been to the trenches and artillery-damaged villages of eastern Ukraine and sensed a nervy game of 'wait and see'.

The city of Minneapolis has been at the centre of continuing debate over race, crime and policing in the United States. Just as the world's media moved in to cover the trial of Derek Chauvin over the death of George Floyd in 2020, news came on Sunday of the death of Daunte Wright, aged 20, shot and killed by a police officer. Larry Madowo reflects on how much anger and sadness there is to go around.

The South China Sea is dotted with reefs, atolls and islets coveted by rival neighbours, including Vietnam, Brunei, China, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines. Tensions have risen recently over an outcrop called Whitsun Reef., The Philippines claim sovereignty there - but it's currently bristling with ships from mainland China. Howard Johnson reports on the latest chapter of a long dispute.

And Joe Myerscough reveals what it's like to travel in the shadow of Greta Thunberg. While filming with one of the world's youngest and best-known climate activists, he saw her dealing with the demands of a global public image as well as fighting global climate change.

Producer: Polly Hope


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m000v7mj)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m000v74r)
MPs demand action on IR35

The Loan Charge All-Party Parliamentary Group has called on the Government to take urgent action to address the exploitation of some contractors, in a new report. MPs are also demanding a government-backed independent review into how the contracting market operates, to ensure contractors are paid and taxed fairly for the work they do. Paul talks to an IT project manager who barely avoided bankruptcy after an unexpected six-figure tax bill and Sir Ed Davey, co-chair of the Loan Charge APPG Group.

How do banks protect vulnerable customers and protect their money from criminals? We hear one victim’s story about how she had tens of thousands of pounds stolen not once, but twice and how her bank failed to keep her money safe. Paul talks to Tamlyn Edmonds, specialist fraud prosecutor with Edmonds, Marshall, McMahon.

A pilot scheme with a new approach to improve support for people with health and financial problems is being launched in Lambeth and Southwark in South London. If it's successful there are hopes it will be rolled out nationally. Paul talks to two of the people involved - Damon Gibbons, Executive Director of the Centre for Responsible Credit and Gay Palmer, a nurse and social prescriber.

And in our podcast available from 2pm on Saturday you'll be able to listen to Anna Bowes from Savings Champion talking with Money Box listener Elettra about how to find the right savings account in a market with hundreds of different options.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Researcher: Sowda Ali
Reporter: Dan Whitworth
Production co-ordinator: Sacha Cowlam
Producer: Ben Carter
Editor: Alex Lewis


SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m000v3qs)
Series 105

Episode 1

Andy Zaltzman squares up to the week's headlines with panellists Hugo Rifkind, Susie McCabe, Daliso Chaponda and Lucy Porter.

Panellists lobby for points as they answer questions on the Greensill affair and the theft of a giant rabbit.

Written by Andy Zaltzman with additional material from Alice Fraser, Simon Alcock, Tasha Dhanraj and Jenan Younis.

Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production


SAT 12:57 Weather (m000v74t)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News and Weather (m000v74w)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m000v3r0)
Andrew RT Davies, Jane Dodds, Vaughan Gething, Delyth Jewell

Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from BBC Wales Central Square in Cardiff with the leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew RT Davies, the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds, the Welsh Cabinet Minister for Health, Labour's Vaughan Gething, and Plaid Cymru's Delyth Jewell.
Produced by Camellia Sinclair for BBC Audio in Bristol
Studio engineer: Mark Harrison


SAT 14:00 The Funeral of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh (m000vpqv)
Martha Kearney presents live coverage of the Ceremonial Procession and Service at St George’s Chapel Windsor, with a commentary team including Clare Balding, Eleanor Oldroyd, Clive Myrie and Allan Little describing the proceedings as the husband and consort of Her Majesty The Queen is laid to rest.

As the event unfolds, there will be contributions from historian Tracy Borman, personal friend Martin Palmer who worked with him for four decades and reflections from BBC Royal Correspondent Jonny Dymond. The Funeral Service is conducted by the Dean of Windsor, the Right Reverend David Conner, with a blessing by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby.

Technical production is led by Bob Nettles; the outside broadcast engineering team at Windsor is led by Jon Wilson; event editor is Peter Griffiths, James Whitbourn is the producer at St George's Chapel, the programme producer is Graham McMillan and the editor is Karen Dalziel.


SAT 16:10 Woman's Hour (m000v750)
Weekend Woman's Hour: Maureen Lipman; Women feeling the cold; Imelda May

Actor and writer Dame Maureen Lipman recently lost Guido Castro, her partner of more than thirteen years, having already been widowed in 2004 when her husband Jack Rosenthal died after 30 years of marriage. She tells us how you come to terms with such a loss after so long.

Why do some people live in vans? Is it to save money to put down a deposit on a house or is it a lifestyle choice? We hear from George McKimm who lived in her van until 2020 and Missy who currently lives in a van with her husband, daughter and their pets.

In 2018, an art and textiles teacher from a secondary school in north west London won the one million dollar Global Teacher Prize. Andria Zafirakou shares her approach to teaching and her passion for the power of visual art to create confidence and unlock trauma in young people.

This month marks 18 years since the legal 'right to request' flexible working came into effect for parents of children aged under six, or 18 if they have a disability. We hear from Sarah Jackson OBE, a workplace consultant and visiting professor at Cranfield University School of Management and Rhonda D'Ambrosio who used 'right to request' in 2004.

Do women really feel the cold more than men? A question for Clare Eglin, principal lecturer in Human and Applied Physiology with the University of Portsmouth. Plus Amanda Owen, Shepherdess and star of Channel 5's 'Our Yorkshire Farm' tells us about how she copes working outdoors.

Irish singer, song writer Imelda May has performed alongside the like of Lou Reed, Bono, Smokey Robinson and Van Morrison. She talks about her new album new album - 11 Past the Hour – and the contributions from feminist thinkers and activists.

Presenter Anita Rani
Producer Paula McFarlane
Editor Beverley Purcell


SAT 17:00 PM (m000v752)
Full coverage of the day's news


SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m000v754)
Nick Robinson talks about what's really going on in British politics.


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000v756)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 17:57 Weather (m000v758)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000v75b)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m000v75d)
Emma Kennedy, Kate Humble, Errollyn Wallen, Katy Wix, Billie Marten, Evans McRae, Athena Kugblenu, Clive Anderson

Clive Anderson and Athena Kugblenu are joined by Emma Kennedy, Kate Humble, Errollyn Wallen and Katy Wix for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Billie Marten and Evans McRae.


SAT 19:00 Profile (m000v75g)
Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland - who's facing calls to resign over the policing of a republican funeral during the pandemic, sparking violent disorder and protests.

Simon Byrne, who's 57, is a policeman through and through. He joined the Metropolitan police as a teenager, straight out of school. Rising through the ranks, he took on senior roles in Merseyside, Manchester, London and Cheshire. He's now head of police in Northern Ireland, a post which many regard as the most difficult policing job in the UK, if not the world. Less than two years in post, and with the added challenges of Covid-19 and Brexit, Simon Byrne finds himself in a situation where policing and politics have collided.

Becky Milligan talks to friends and colleagues about the man with a reputation for getting things done, a love of steam trains and a commitment to public service.

Researcher: Stefania Okereke
Producer: Sally Abrahams
Editor: Richard Vadon


SAT 19:15 The Infinite Monkey Cage (m000s815)
Series 23

A History of Rock

A History of Rock

Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined by rock enthusiasts Ross Noble, Paleontologist Susie Maidment and Geologist Chris Jackson to look at the history of rock. Unfortunately for Ross, this turns out to mean actual rolling stones, rather than THE Rolling Stones. We hear what secrets the study of rock reveals about the very birth of our planet, to the incredible creatures that walked the Earth many millions of years ago, preserved in our ancient stones.

Producer: Alexandra Feachem


SAT 19:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m000v3g2)
Eat Some Bacteria

In this episode, Michael speaks to expert Kirsten Berding Harold, University College Cork, for all the latest science on all things good bacteria. Our willing human guinea pig Clare has a go making her own kefir at home and Michael has a go at cultivating some healthy bacteria in the form of sauerkraut - which he claims is far simpler to make at home than you might think!


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m000v75j)
A Night with Prince

To mark the fifth anniversary of Prince’s passing, US music critic and broadcaster Ann Powers presents a tribute framed around a night she spent with the star in 2008.

This was a night for hanging out in the star’s mansion in Beverly Park (which had ‘the European opulence of an upscale spa’), for meeting his protege and girlfriend Bria Valente, and for listening to tracks in Prince’s limo, a local club – even his bedroom.

Contributors include keyboard player Doctor Fink, sound engineer Susan Rogers, biographer Dan Piepenbring who was working on Prince's memoir just before he died, and Kristin Scott Thomas whose first ever film role was in the Prince directed Under The Cherry Moon.

Produced by Clem Hitchcock
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 21:00 Tumanbay (b06s9j7l)
Series 1

Hidden Knowledge

In the fourth episode of this epic saga inspired by the Mamluk slave-dynasty of Egypt, Shajar, the Sultan’s chief wife (Sarah Beck Mather), plots her son Madu's (Danny Ashok) succession to the throne. While Gregor, Master of the Palace Guard, is determined to discover what it is she has taken from the aged Hafiz and is having repaired in the workshop of a pair of artisans in the city. Marching with the army out to the provinces, Madu's slave find solace with an unlikely companion.

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
Sarah......................................Nina Yndis
Ibn..........................................Nabil Elouahabi
Shajar.....................................Sarah Beck Mather
Madu.......................................Danny Ashok
Daniel.....................................Gareth Kennerley
General Qulan........................Christopher Fulford
Boy.........................................Darwin Brokenbro
The Hameed Brothers............Christian Hillborg and Alec Utgoff
Rajik.......................................Akbar Kurtha
Pamira....................................Nathalie Armin

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 Death and Taxis (b079r6tg)
The Andy Warhol Diaries, Part One.

Adapted by Sean Grundy and starring Scott Capurro as Andy Warhol. Also starring Ronni Ancona, Jon Culshaw and Kerry Shale.

Everyone who is anyone in New York from 1976 to 1987 is in Warhol's diary - from Mick Jagger to Donald Trump.

"Friday, August 30, 1978: The doorbell rang and it was Liza. She said, 'give me every drug you've got.' I gave them some coke, Valium and four Quaaludes. A little figure in a white hat came up, and it was Marty Scorsese, hiding around the corner. He and Liza went off to have their affair on all the drugs. (Valium $1)"

Beginning in the fall of 1976, America’s most famous artist Andy Warhol talked to his secretary by phone at 9:00 AM, every Monday to Friday morning, for ten years. He would talk about the events of the previous day, and his office would transcribe his monologues into diary pages.

The diary began as a careful recording of his use of money, from phone calls to nickels for bag-ladies to cab rides (lots of cab rides), but quickly evolved into Warhol’s personal observations. It was posthumously published in 1989 - a condensed version of Andy’s more-than-20,000 page, phoned-in audit/diary.

The core themes to the dramas are Warhol’s loves (art, men, fame, money, mainly money) and his fears (failure, embarrassment, death, mainly death).

The episodes follow four key themes, using four people in Andy’s life from 76-87 - homeless Crazy Matty, Warhol’s boyfriend Jon Gould, writer Truman Capote and artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Woven into this world are buddies Mick and Bianca Jagger, Jerry Hall, Liza Minnelli and Donald Trump.

Nobody escapes his sharp tongue.

Cast:
BIANCA JAGGER/ JERRY HALL/ JADE JAGGER.................RONNI ANCONA
ANDY WARHOL.............................................................SCOTT CAPURRO
MICK JAGGER / JOHN LENNON/ MUHAMMED ALI............JON CULSHAW
FRED HUGHES..............................................................KERRY SHALE
RONNIE CUTRONE........................................................MARTIN T SHERMAN

Based on The Andy Warhol Diaries, edited by Pat Hackett
Writer: Sean Grundy
Producer: David Morley
Director: Dirk Maggs

A Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:00 News (m000v75l)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 The Reunion (m000v2lz)
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Kirsty Wark brings together well control experts, US Coast Guard Officials and environmentalists who fought to contain a massive off-shore oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig suffered a catastrophic blowout and exploded in April 2010.

For the next 87 days, BP engineers tried to staunch the flow of crude oil gushing out of the well on the ocean floor. An estimated 184 million gallons were spilt, 18 times the amount spilled by the Exxon Valdez, making it the largest accidental marine oil spill in the world, and the largest environmental disaster in US history.

As oil coated more than 1,000 miles of coastline in six US states, Americans grew more and more angry. A group calling itself “Seize BP” held demonstrations in 50 US cities, calling for the company to be stripped of its assets. BP’s CEO Tony Hayward was told by an angry US Congressional panel that his company had shown a reckless lack of attention to safety. After the company’s share price plummeted and 12 billion pounds was wiped off its value in a single day, Tony Hayward was forced to resign.

The programme includes: Mark Mazzella, BP’s resident well-control expert, who fought on and off-shore to stop the oil flowing before finally capping it; Admiral Thad Allen, National Incident Commander, who was in charge of the federal response; PJ Hahn, then Director of coastal zone management for Plaquemines parish, Louisiana, which was on the front line of the oil spill; Keith Jones, whose son Gordon worked on the Deepwater Horizon rig and was killed in the accident; and Bob Kaluza one of two BP supervisors on the rig that night.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Emily Williams
Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 23:00 Round Britain Quiz (m000v1ns)
Programme 6, 2021

(6/12)
Leicester's chairman, Shakespeare's weaver and Richard Gough's village: are they in the right order?

The panellists in today's quiz will be trying to unravel this and many other impenetrable-seeming puzzles, as the South of England take on the Midlands in the sixth of this year's contests. Paul Sinha and Marcus Berkmann appear for the South of England, opposite Elizabeth-Jane Burnett and Stephen Maddock on the Midlands team. Tom Sutcliffe asks the questions, and provides helpful hints as the panellists work towards their solutions. But the more hints and steers they need, the fewer points they'll win.

As always there are musical clues to identify and connect, and a sprinkling of questions devised by Round Britain Quiz listeners and submitted to the programme in recent months.

Producer: Paul Bajoria


SAT 23:30 Recall of the Rock (m000v2mr)
To mark its centenary, mountaineering members of the all-female Pinnacle Club have recorded their memories for the British Library Sound Archive. Climber and poet Helen Mort responds to these recordings in a poetic interview with a constant witness - the rock itself.

Interwoven with Helen’s new poem, we hear voices from the new archive - women sharing stories and thoughts about challenge, fear, independence, identity and risk.

The club's oral history project has recorded the distinct ways in which women plan together, adventure together, and remember together. Recollections range from the private ambitions that propelled a girl up her local cliff for the first time, to dramatic expeditions in far flung mountain ranges.

Social expectations in the early 20th century placed barriers between women and climbing. Among the determined pioneers were those who founded the Pinnacle Club in 1921. One hundred years later, the club thrives, with members including renowned mountaineers and relative novices; it is one of several groups that exist to support women in scaling rock on their own terms.

Helen Mort's poem personifies and ‘interviews’ the rock - millstone grit of Derbyshire, limestone of Kalymnos, rhyolite of Snowdonia, gabbro of Skye, granite of Yosemite - being as it is the great and ancient witness, the inspiration, the opportunity and the obstacle that attracts adventurers with a promise of personal achievement, which can also be a dasher of dreams and sometimes bodies.

Written and read by Helen Mort
Produced by Jon Lewis
Music by Diagrams (Sam Genders)
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4