SATURDAY 02 OCTOBER 2021
SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m00100k4)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 00:30 The History of the World in 100 Animals by Simon Barnes (m00100k6)
Episode 5
We are not alone. We are not alone on the planet. We are not alone in the countryside. We are not alone in cities. We are not alone in our homes.
We are humans and we love the idea of our uniqueness. But the fact is that we humans are as much members of the animal kingdom as the cats and dogs we surround ourselves with, the cows and the fish we eat, and the bees who pollinate so many of our food-plants.
In The History of the World in 100 Animals, award-winning author Simon Barnes selects the 100 animals who have had the greatest impact on humanity and on whom humanity has had the greatest effect. He shows how we have domesticated animals for food and for transport, and how animals powered agriculture, making civilisation possible. A species of flea came close to destroying human civilisation in Europe, while the slaughter of a species of bovines was used to create one civilisation and destroy another. He explains how pigeons made possible the biggest single breakthrough in the history of human thought. In short, he charts the close relationship between humans and animals, with great insight and understanding.
The heresy of human uniqueness has led us across the millennia along the path of destruction. This book helps us to understand our place in the world, so that we might do a better job of looking after it. That might save the polar bears, the modern emblem of impending loss and destruction. It might even save ourselves.
We have chosen 10 out of the 100 animals for these extracts from the book.
Simon Barnes is the author of many wild volumes, including the bestselling Bad Birdwatcher trilogy, Rewild Yourself and On The Marsh. He is a council member of World Land Trust, trustee of Conservation South Luangwa and patron of Save the Rhino. In 2014, he was awarded the Rothschild Medal for services to conservation.
Abridged by Florence Bedell
Read by
Paul Westwood
Sophie Barker
Elliot James
Sarah Lambie
Mathew Wellard
Hannah Brackstone-Brown
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00100k8)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00100kb)
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 (m00100kd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m00100kg)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m00100kj)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Rev Lynne Gibson.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY 2ND OCTOBER 2021
Good morning.
I tend to set many alarms each morning, an alarm clock, my phone my smart watch. Even on so-called leisure days, we find ourselves dictated to by multiple alarms, paper diaries and electronic reminders.
Nature abhors a vacuum, scientists tell us – and we can fear an empty day. We strive to fill our time, and are busy, burdened and in perpetual motion. And so we still have no time to do the things that we’d like to do – if only we had time…
Over sixty years ago the French priest Michel Quoist wrote the prayer ‘Lord, I have time’ which still resonates powerfully today.
‘And so all men run after time, Lord. They pass through life running – hurried, jostled, overburdened, frantic and they never get there. In spite of all their efforts, they’re still short of time’.
It’s a sombre picture of those who spend their lives chasing after time, with no time for what is important. And yet these recent days have been also a time of spiritual and emotional awakening for us, a realisation that time is a gift, and that our pressures are not just external, but of our own making.
We can cram our time with endless ‘stuff’, until we have no time, as the poet WH Davies wrote ‘to stop and stare’. Or we can wake up, hear the birdsong, appreciate the beauty of the created world, and take joy in the small things of life. Filling our days with activity means that we have no time to look deep into our own souls and commune with God.
‘The days of my life…are mine to fill, quietly calmly but completely to the brim’ Quoist wrote.
Lord help us to cherish our time this day as we celebrate the gift of ‘now’. Amen
SAT 05:45 Four Thought (m00100kl)
Leaving Your Homeland
Eva Hnizdo reflects on the impulses which drive people to emigrate - or not, drawing on her Czech Jewish family's experience of the Holocaust and her own as a political asylum seeker. "Whenever members of my family thought about emigrating but didn't actually leave, they made a mistake, sometimes paying for it with their lives. In my case, some might say I made a mistake not to stay. Was it worth the struggle?"
Presenter: Olly Mann
Producer: Sheila Cook
Eva Hnizdo is a former GP and author of "Why Didn't They Leave?"
SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m00106xp)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
SAT 06:07 Ramblings (m00100cm)
Off the Beaten Track on the Island of Iona
Clare is walking on the beautiful island of Iona in today’s Ramblings. One of the Inner Hebrides, Iona is just three miles long by around a mile wide yet punches well above its weight both in terms of scenery and history. Her companion is David Allaway: a keen photographer, founding member of the island’s craft co-operative and a volunteer fire-fighter he also runs guided walking tours. Beginning and ending at the ferry terminal, they circumnavigate the coast at the north end of the island.
See the 'related links' box at the bottom of the Ramblings webpage for more info about David Allaway.
Presenter: Clare Balding
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Karen Gregor
SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m00106xr)
02/10/21 - Farming Today This Week: The Food Supply Chain Crisis
Our food supply chain is facing unprecedented challenges, with staff shortages at every stage from farm to fork. In this programme, Charlotte Smith is joined by a panel of experts to dig down into the problems, ask what's causing them, and look for solutions both in the short term and for the future.
The panel includes:
Minette Batters, President of the National Farmers Union
Nick Allen, Chief Executive of the British Meat Processors Association, representing abattoirs and meat packing plants
Shane Brennan, Chief Executive of the Cold Chain Federation, representing companies that store and transport chilled and frozen food.
Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced in Bristol for BBC Audio by Heather Simons
SAT 06:57 Weather (m00106xt)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 07:00 Today (m00106xw)
Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m00106xy)
Matt Baker and Josh Widdicombe
Matt Baker joins Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi. Matt's career has taken him from Blue Peter to The One Show and Countryfile. He’s recently returned to live on his family farm and feels growing up with nature helped in all aspects of his life.
Listener Jo Bradshaw is an office worked turned adventurer - who leads expeditions and was attempting to summit Everest during the earthquake of 2015.
Khadijah Mellah became the first British Muslim woman to win a horse race in the UK. Age 18 she won the Magnolia Cup at Goodwood Festival. Khadijah has now launched a scholarship programme to bring more people from underrepresented communities into the sport.
Robin Ince shares his Inheritance Tracks: Geoffrey Burgon's Theme from Brideshead Revisited and Batyar by The Ukrainians.
Josh Widdicombe is a comedian, writer and co-presenter of the award winning Last Leg. As a child in rural Dartmoor it was watching television, rather than performing, which mattered most to him.
A Year on Our Farm by Matt Baker is out now.
The Importance of Being Interested: Adventures in Scientific Curiosity by Robin Ince is out on the 7th October.
Watching Neighbours Twice a Day...How ’90s TV (Almost) Prepared Me For Life by Josh Widdicombe is out now.
Producer: Claire Bartleet
Editor: Richard Hooper
SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m00106y0)
Series 34
Home Economics: Episode 40
Jay Rayner hosts the culinary panel show packed full of tasty titbits. He's joined by Jordan Bourke, Shelina Permalloo, Tim Hayward and Dr Zoe Laughlin, to answer listeners' kitchen quandaries.
Heart rates are high as the panellists discuss their most challenging culinary marathons. And, inspired by our guest this week, Fliss Freeborn, the author of Student Cuisine for the Gloomy Teen, they hark back to their own student days, picking the best tips and recipes from those years.
What nifty kitchen appliance was Jordan Bourke's flatmate hiding in her room?
Producer: Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer: Aniya Das
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 11:00 The Briefing Room (m00100d6)
Non-Fungible Tokens
When a collage of digital images was sold in New York earlier this year for £50 million, the art world was convulsed. The reason? The picture couldn't be hung on a wall and was only visible online.
What had been bought and sold was the non-fungible token - or NFT - relating to the collage. David Aaronovitch and his guests discover how NFTs work for those who sell and those who buy them and also consider if NFTs are a passing fad or an aspect of our culture that is becoming increasingly common and might lead to the emergence of a future John Constable or Tracy Emin, eventually spreading to and influencing other art forms.
Enter the Briefing Room and find out why collectors are investing in NFTs; how easy it is to spot a fake and what you can do about it; and whether non-fungibles will be an enduring part of the artistic - and investment - worlds in the years ahead.
Those taking part include: Georgina Adam of The Art Newspaper; investor in NFTs and co-founder and chief executive of the Arts and culture portal Vastari, Bernardine Bröcker Wieder; and the art historian, former art dealer and presenter of the BBC FOUR series, Britain's Lost Masterpieces, Bendor Grosvenor.
Producers Simon Coates and Bob Howard
Editor Jasper Corbett
Image: Visitors to "Machine Hallucinations - Space: Metaverse" by Refik Anadol, which will be auctioned online as an NFT at Sothebys, at the Digital Art Fair, Hong Kong
Credit: REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m00106y2)
Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world
SAT 12:00 News Summary (m00106y4)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 12:04 Money Box (m00106y6)
The latest news from the world of personal finance
SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m00100jr)
Series 106
Episode 5
Lucy Porter, Angela Barnes, Alun Cochrane and Matt Forde join host Andy Zaltzman to chew over the week's news. On the menu this week: the fuel crisis, Labour conference, end of the furlough scheme, Amazon's new house robot and the new Bond film.
The chair's script is written by Andy Zaltzman, with additional material by Alice Fraser, Max Davis, Tasha Dhanraj and Heidi Regan.
It was produced by Sam Michell for BBC Studios.
SAT 12:57 Weather (m00106y8)
The latest weather forecast
SAT 13:00 News and Weather (m00106yb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m00100jw)
Jake Berry MP, Mary Bousted, Andy Burnham, Sonia Khan
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from Bolton Parish Church with the Conservative MP and Chairman of the Northern Research Group Jake Berry, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union Mary Bousted, the Labour Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham and the political consultant and former special adviser at the Treasury Sonia Khan.
Producer: Camellia Sinclair
Lead broadcast engineer: Phil Booth
SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m00106yd)
Have your say on the issues discussed on Any Questions?
SAT 14:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m00101jt)
Play Video Games
Do you struggle with multi-tasking, filtering out distractions, and prioritising your to-do list? Believe it or not, video gaming might help. In this episode, Michael Mosley enters the world of gaming to find out how it can benefit our brains! He enlists the help of cognitive neuroscientist Professor Daphné Bavelier to find out how, to Michael’s surprise, video games could actually help improve our vision and what types of features we should look out for when we play...
SAT 15:00 Drama (m00106yg)
The Goldilocks Zone
Astrophysicist Sofia Khaled's discovery of a potentially habitable planet opens up painful memories for her but a startling new truth for humanity.
When future Earth discovers an uncorrupted "cosmic" truth, data finally becomes a force for good as a cover-up with catastrophic global impact is revealed in this thrilling drama spanning fifty years.
The Goldilocks Zone by Tanika Gupta was developed through OKRE Experimental Stories. The consultant scientists were Professor Caswell Barry and Dr. Adam Kampff.
SOFIA.....Souad Faress
YOUNG SOFIA.....Raghad Chaar
GABRIEL.....Adetomiwa Edun
ZARA.....Anjli Mohindra
HASSAN.....Ammar Haj Ahmad
RAZIA.....Lara Sawalha
HAWKES.....Jonathan Keeble
Directed by Nadia Molinari
BBC Audio Drama North Production
SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m00106yj)
Highlights from the Woman's Hour week
SAT 17:00 PM (m00106yl)
Full coverage of the day's news
SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m00106yn)
The Nick Carter One
The Chief of the Defence Staff discusses the lessons learned in Iraq and Afghanistan, and being kicked out of his school's cadet force for playing golf.
SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m00106yq)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SAT 17:57 Weather (m00106ys)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00106yv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m001069s)
Kimberley Chambers, Sarah Solemani, Alexandra Burke, Lucy Beaumont, The Specials, Kat Eaton, YolanDa Brown, Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson and YolanDa Brown are joined by Kimberley Chambers, Sarah Solemani, Alexandra Burke and Lucy Beaumont for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from The Specials and Kat Eaton.
SAT 19:00 Profile (m00106yy)
Olaf Scholz
Olaf Scholz is expected to be the new leader of Germany if he can construct a successful coalition. How did the former mayor of Hamburg appeal to the country's voters? With Adrian Goldberg.
SAT 19:15 The Infinite Monkey Cage (m000r36l)
Series 23
In Praise of Flies
In Praise of Flies
Brian Cox and Robin Ince kick off a new series of Infinite Monkey Cage with a look at probably the least revered or liked group of insects, the flies. They are joined by fly sceptic David Baddiel , fly enthusiast and champion Dr Erica McAlister and maggot expert Matthew Cobb to discover why a life without flies would be no life at all. Can Erica and Matthew persuade David to put his fly gun down and learn to love those pesky pests, or is their reputation for being disgusting and annoying justified? What would a planet without flies look like?
Producer: Alexandra Feachem
SAT 19:45 It Ain't Me You're Looking For: Bob Dylan at 80 (m000w5vy)
Five: High Water Everywhere (1993-2021)
Five: High Water Everywhere (1993-2021)
Three days before the Bob Dylan's 80th birthday, Sean Latham, Director of the Institute for Bob Dylan Studies at the University of Tulsa, concludes his series about one of the most important and elusive artists of modern times.
In the final episode Sean Latham considers how stories are defined by their endings - a point Dylan makes in his Nobel speech when discussing Homer. Dylan invents a series of endings every bit as powerful as the beginnings around which he built his career in 1963. And, starting with 'Time Out of Mind', he reveals how Dylan fashions the roots music genre by becoming a musical historian, building on the past (including his own vast archive) to craft songs that are at once folk and pop, rock and poetry.
Latham examines different kinds of endings in Dylan's songs: the end of love, the end of the world (climate change), and the looming end of Dylan's own life as well. Latham concludes that over eighty years Dylan has learned his songs well and, at the end of his career, has learned to open a space for the future; his endings open the past, creating spaces for new stories and new voices that can build using the musical tools he has fashioned, as younger artists covering Dylan’s songs illustrate.
Producer: Julian May
SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (b07x12m5)
The Black Panthers
Dorian Warren explores the rise and fall of the Black Panther Party and its legacy for more recent black insurgency in America.
Founded in Oakland California in 1966, the Black Panther Party represented a revolutionary disavowal of mainstream Civil Rights. Its Ten Point Programme advanced a series of radical demands ranging from the right to armed resistance against police violence to universal healthcare, housing and education for the poorest sections of the black community.
While Martin Luther King argued for tactical non-violence and full integration, the Panthers carried guns and were resolutely internationalist, drawing instead on the philosophy of Malcolm X, Karl Marx and the African liberation movement.
The media image of the Panthers, of the glowering, gun toting, leather jacket-clad revolutionary, still dominates - it was highly stylised, coded to alarm white America, and members did indeed receive munitions and weapons training. Armed confrontation with the police and SWAT teams ensued. But a good deal of their work was dedicated to grass-roots and community outreach work - food programs, schooling and crèche support, raising funds for legal aid, prison welfare reform.
The reasons for the Panthers’ siege mentality and harrowing decline in the early 1970s are still contested: factional splits and trauma within the Party and internecine violence, but also huge pressure from without, police raids, FBI infiltration and the Nixon government pledging a platform of national law and order.
Hearing from former Panthers (including Party founder Bobby Seale) critics and scholars, broadcaster and writer Dorian Warren explores the different dimensions of the Black Panther Party. Fifty years after its foundation the Black Panther Party still casts a long shadow - in 2016 The Black Lives Matter coalition released a Six Point Platform for Black Power, Freedom and Justice, explicitly evoking the Panthers’ original 1966 Ten Point Programme.
Presenter: Dorian Warren
Producer: Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4
First broadcast in 2016
SAT 21:00 GF Newman's The Corrupted (b03dvx68)
Series 1
Episode 5
A new long-running drama series from G F Newman based on the characters from the multi-award winning writer's best-selling crime novel. Spanning six decades, it plots the course of one family against the backdrop of a revolution in crime as the underworld extends its influence to the very heart of the establishment, in an uncomfortable relationship of shared values.
Joey Oldman is a Russian Jew, who arrived in Britain before the war with only two words of English and married Cathy Braden. They had a son, Brian, and a daughter, Rose. Cathy's widowed mother, Gracie, takes up with a famous and glamorous gangster, Billy Hill, while her brother Jack wants to become World Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion. Both the army and the Kray twins interfere with this ambition. Jack is left feeling bitter and angry and plunges headlong into crime, running protection rackets and claiming a piece of other criminals' sometimes infamous pies. His actions become ever more savage and bizarre and harder to reconcile.
Haunted by the murder of his grandfather which he witnessed when he was six, Brian Oldman holds a terrible secret that he must keep for fear of his life as he falls deeper under his mother's spell. But there is a more disturbing secret he has yet to discover - one that will threaten his very existence. All the while he becomes a willing participant in the criminal underworld in the 1950s, where gangs such as the Krays and the Richardson are emerging to challenge the old guard in savage battles for territory.
Cast:
Joey Oldman..........Toby Jones
Cath Oldman..........Denise Gough
Brian Oldman.........Rory McMenamin
Jack Braden............Tom Weston-Jones
CSM /Ronnie Kray............Lewis Mcleod
Sammy Cohen /
Capt Tyrwhitt..........Jonathan Tafler
Bobby Brown /
Lambert..................Charles Davies
Billy Hill - Keffo........Robert Glennister
Joshua / Pongo.......Chinna Woddu
Bank Manager.........Matthew Townshend
Tinkerbell................Michael Eaves
Tom Driberg.............Nigel Cooke
Charlie Richardson...Oliver Mawdsley
Gladys Brown...........Catherine Henderson
With Ross Kemp as Narrator.
Written by G F Newman
Produced and directed by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 21:45 Shorts (b070cgkr)
Scottish Shorts
Still Life by Margaret Kirk
Artist Jack lives quietly on a remote Scottish island until a chance meeting with a tourist changes everything.
Read by Melody Grove
Producer Eilidh McCreadie
Margaret Kirk is a Highland Scot whose short stories have achieved success in a number of competitions. She recently published 'In The Blood', the third novel in the DI Lukas Mahler series.
SAT 22:00 News (m00106z0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 22:15 Bringing Up Britain (m0010216)
Series 14
Single Sex Education – is it right for my child?
Anjula Mutada asks if separating the sexes for education a good idea.
Do children do better academically or is that just a myth? Do they flourish in the classroom away from the opposite sex or does it make them awkward and unprepared for the real world?
In the light of Everyone’s Invited, there has been renewed interest in all girls’ schools. But what are facts? If you have the choice of single-sex education should you take it?
Anjula explores the pros and cons, unearthing the latest research to find out how it might shape a child’s confidence and sporting opportunities, their understanding of gender and sexual preference. She asks if single sex schools can protect girls from sexual harassment and discovers they do significantly affect the chances of a happy marriage.
The programme follows Ailsa who is facing the choice of an all girls’ or co-ed school for her daughters.
To help her decide, Anjula is joined by a panel of experts:
Jessica Ringrose, Professor of the Sociology of Gender and Education at University College London; Lise Eliot Professor of Neuroscience at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science; Kevin Stannard, Director of Innovation and Learning at The Girls' Day School Trust; Katja Kaufmann, Professor of Economics at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz; Ivy Wong, Associate Professor of Psychology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong; Sue Woodroofe, Principal at The Grammar School at Leeds and author and teacher Mark Roberts.
Producer: Sarah Bowen
SAT 23:00 Brain of Britain (m00101km)
Heat 11, 2021
(11/17)
Russell Davies welcomes another four competitors to Salford for the penultimate heat in the 2021 season of the general knowledge tournament.
In which book of the Bible will you find the story of Joseph and his multi-coloured coat? Whom did James Corden replace on television as host of America's Late Late Show? And which Lincolnshire-born painter was especially known for his many portraits of Emma, Lady Hamilton?
If the competitors can tackle these questions they may be on their way to a place in the semi-finals, and a step closer to the title Brain of Britain 2021.
Appearing today are:
Alan Burns, a retired solicitor from Salford
Charlotte Jackson-Orland, a modern languages teacher from Manchester
Derek Moody, a retired planning and logistics manager from Warrington in Cheshire
Lauren Watts-Keane, a data engineer from Cardiff.
There will also be a chance for a listener to win a prize by stumping the competitors with questions he or she has suggested.
Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
Producer: Paul Bajoria
SAT 23:30 Contains Strong Language, Live from Coventry (m00101kv)
At the Contains Strong Language Festival, Luke Wright discovers Coventry through the eyes of poets and writers who’ve been inspired by the city.
His guests include Pauline Black, founding member of 2 Tone band 'The Selecter' who were formed in Coventry in 1979, playwright and poet Amanda Dalton who grew up in Coventry, Liz Berry who has been commissioned to write a response to London Road Cemetery, and Emilie Lauren Jones, who finds the language of Coventry's industrial story entering her work.
Produced by Faith Lawrence
SUNDAY 03 OCTOBER 2021
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m00106z2)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:15 Green Originals (m000dfpp)
James Hansen
With his trademark hat and clear message about climate change, Dr James Hansen has been described as somewhere between an old testament prophet and Indiana Jones.
In 1988, when he was Director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at NASA, he gave evidence to Congress that changed the conversation about the greenhouse effect and climate change. Since then, he’s been a powerful advocate for the importance of listening to scientists on climate change and has himself become an activist.
"Einstein said to think and not act is a crime," Hansen said in 2011. "If we understand the situation, we must try to make it clear."
In this episode, the science educator, writer and broadcaster, Dr Emily Grossman explains why James Hansen is an inspiration for the scientists who are increasingly stepping out of their labs and onto the streets to protest about inaction from governments on climate change.
Producer: Natalie Steed
Series Editor: David Prest
A Whistledown production in association with The Open University.
SUN 00:30 New Frequencies (m00100jb)
Episode 1
A new series showcasing the work of writers between the ages of 16 and 21.
Part One
Little Boat On The Sea by Lydia Roskoszek
and
The Fall Of Man by Imogen McHugh
Writers: Lydia Roskoszek and Imogen McHugh
Readers: Vineeta Rishi and Amir El-Masry
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00106z4)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00106z6)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m00106z8)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m00106zb)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m00106zd)
St Andrew’s Church in Holt, Norfolk
Bells on Sunday comes from St Andrew’s Church in Holt, Norfolk. In 1708, a fire swept through the town and the church was gutted. Rebuilt in 1727, St Andrew’s was further restored in the 1860s. The church has eight bells from various foundries with the tenor bell weighing seven hundredweight and in the note of A. We hear the heaviest six bells ringing half muffled Grandsire Doubles.
SUN 05:45 Profile (m00106yy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Summary (m00107b1)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b01dd5tf)
The Moon in My Life
In 'The Moon in My Life' the space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin Pocock reflects on the cultural and scientific effects of the moon, and also on the role the moon has played in her personal life.
She talks to scientist Professor John Sutherland about recent research that indicates that the moon could have been responsible for generating all life here on Earth and chooses readings by H.G. Wells, Carol Ann Duffy and Carl Sandburg and music by Dvorak, Debussy and Carl Orff . The readers are Liza Sadovy and David Holt.
Producer: Ronni Davis
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:35 Natural Histories (b05w9dth)
Parrots
Colourful birds of the rainforest and companions of pirates, parrots evoke contradictory images. They encompass a huge range of forms from the flightless lumbering kakapo of New Zealand to the diminutive and talkative budgerigar of Australia, the chatty African grey parrot to the garishly colourful macaws of South America.
Their striking appearance and apparent sense of mischief have made parrots popular as pets from ancient Egypt to the present day. During the 19th century their exoticism made them status symbols of wealth and luxury. Noted by a young Edward Lear who, believing the upper classes fascination with the family might be lucrative, set about the task of illustrating as many species of parrot as he could for their admirers to collect. Picture the teenage Lear crouching inside the parrot enclosure at London Zoo drawing the birds – even rivalling the celebrated Audubon for best bird illustrator of the time.
The uncanny ability of some species of parrot to mimic the human voice only adds to their appeal. The Popes had a keeper of parrots and Henry VIII was supposedly captivated by his. We cast parrots as the clowns of the natural world; painted in many colours they appear mischievous but innocent, playful but intelligent. But has our anthropomorphism of parrots limited our true understanding of the family? In the words of Mark Cocker "parrots are held in cages, but they are trapped in our imaginations".
Original producer : Andrew Dawes
Reversion producer : Andrew Dawes
First broadcast in a longer form 22nd September 2015
SUN 06:57 Weather (m00107b4)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m00107b6)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m00107b8)
A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week.
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m00107bb)
Village Water
Garden historian Advolly Richmond makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Village Water
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 ‘Village Water'
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Village Water’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
Registered Charity Number: England & Wales (1117377) and Scotland (SCO44129)
SUN 07:57 Weather (m00107bd)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m00107bg)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m00107bj)
Renewed and eternal hope
From Croydon Seventh Day Adventist Church. Sunday Worship explores renewed and eternal hope amidst the uncertainties of life. This Sunday Worship explores how Christ’s gospel provides us with the resilience and peace we need to overcome — as He did. The Croydon Seventh Day Adventist Gospel Choir is directed by Ken Burton. Preacher: Pastor Royston Smith.
Producer: Alexa Good
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m00100jy)
In Praise of Mathematics
"Tomorrow's world," writes Zia Haider Rahman, "will be shaped still more by finance, tech, and the minds of the mathematically disposed."
He argues that we ignore maths at our peril.
Producer: Adele Armstrong
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b020tp6d)
Goldfinch
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Goldfinch. With its bright yellow wing-flashes and face painted black, white and red, the goldfinch is one of our most colourful birds.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m00107bl)
News with Paddy O'Connell including how food and other supplies are being affected by the labour shortage. Composer Paul Harvey, who has raised over £1m for dementia charities, conducts the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. A wildlife warden tries to spot the new beavers which have been released in Derbyshire. Reviewing the news coverage - Political Editor George Parker, Broadcaster Penny Smith and campaigner turned cookery writer Yasmin Khan.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m00107bn)
Writer, Katie Hims
Director, Kim Greengrass
Editor, Jeremy Howe
David Archer ….. Timothy Bentinck
Josh Archer ….. Angus Imrie
Ben Archer ….. Ben Norris
Helen Archer ….. Louiza Patikas
Brian Aldridge ….. Charles Collingwood
Jennifer Aldridge ….. Angela Piper
Lee Bryce ….. Ryan Early
Beth Casey ….. Rebecca Fuller
Tracy Horrobin ….. Susie Riddell
Chelsea Horrobin ….. Madeleine Leslay
Kirsty Miller ..... Annabelle Dowler
Lynda Snell ….. Carole Boyd
Robert Snell ….. Graham Blockey
Stella ….. Lucy Speed
SUN 11:00 Desert Island Discs (m00106jx)
Tom Ilube, entrepreneur
Tom Ilube is an entrepreneur, known for his successful start-up companies, and a philanthropist. He recently took up the post of chairman of the Rugby Football Union.
He was born in 1963 to a Nigerian father and a British mother, and grew up first in London, and then in Uganda, a stay cut short by the rise to power of Idi Amin. He began his teenage years back in the UK, enjoying rugby and ice-skating, before moving with his family to Nigeria, where he also attended university, studying Applied Physics and launching his first business selling flared trousers to fellow students.
He returned to London looking for work in information technology. After many unsuccessful job applications, British Airways gave him a break, and he later worked for the London Stock Exchange and Goldman Sachs. In 1996, he founded his first company and has since been involved with several other start-ups – “thinking up ideas, raising venture capital, building companies, selling them and doing it all again,” he says. He is also involved with philanthropic projects in education, including founding a school for high-achieving but disadvantaged girls in Ghana with a focus on maths and science.
In 2017 he topped the Powerlist, the annual list of the 100 most influential people of African and African Caribbean heritage in Britain, and was appointed a CBE in 2018. He is married to Karen and has two grown-up children.
Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor
SUN 11:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m00107bq)
Sing
Ever noticed how good singing makes you feel? In this episode, Michael is joined by comedian Sindhu Vee to embrace the joys - and health benefits - of singing on the top of your voice. He finds out all about its unique mood-lifting ability and how singing can produce similar effects to cannabis. He speaks to Dr Daisy Fancourt to find out about her research on revealing how singing can boost your immune system and how it could help treat chronic pain.
SUN 12:00 News Summary (m00107bs)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 12:04 Just a Minute (m00101lb)
Series 87
Episode 4
Sue Perkins hosts Radio 4’s longest running panel show, Just a Minute. Sue challenges guests Paul Merton, Sheila Hancock, Daliso Chaponda and Jan Ravens to talk without hesitation, deviation, or repetition. This episode was produced using remote recording technology, with the audience joining from their homes all over the world.
Devised by Ian Messiter
Whistle blown by Caroline Barlow
Produced by Hayley Sterling
A BBC Studios Production
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m00106bf)
Oz Clarke: A Life Through Wine
Oz Clarke, the popular man of wine, has enjoyed success in wine writing and broadcasting for four decades. First appearing on our screens on BBC2’s Food and Drink in the 1980s, he helped lead a wine drinking revolution in Britain.
Visiting Oz to share a glass or two from his collection, Jaega Wise hears about his varied career and lifelong passion for wine, as well as how he’s never been afraid of introducing controversy into the wine world. Oz also shares his thoughts on the natural wine movement and how the industry will need to adapt to climate change.
We also hear from fellow wine critic Jancis Robinson on Oz’s impact on our wine drinking culture; and we visit winemaker Emma Rice at Hattingley Valley to hear how the English wine industry is faring, which Oz has long been a cheerleader for.
Presented by Jaega Wise and produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol
SUN 12:57 Weather (m00107bw)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m00107by)
Radio 4’s look at the week’s big stories from both home and around the world.
SUN 13:30 The Listening Project (m00107c0)
Feeling connected
Fi Glover presents friends, relatives and strangers in conversation.
This week; As museums and other businesses begin to open to the public Peter and Charlene talk about being guardians of buildings during the lockdown and their plans for reopening. Faye and Viva discuss their very different feelings towards cities and the countryside and Justin and Jane debate whether technology is a help or a hindrance in people’s lives.
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. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation lasts up to an hour and is then edited to extract the key moments 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 this decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Gill Kearsley
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m00100j8)
GQT at Home: Autumn Trees and Miner Bees
Horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts, chaired by Kathy Clugston. Bob Flowerdew, Anne Swithinbank, and Pippa Greenwood are on hand to answer the questions.
This week, the panellists delight in all manner of bugs and bees in listeners' gardens, and encourage everyone to work harmoniously with these wonderful creatures.
Meanwhile, Matt Biggs heads to Waterperry Gardens in Oxfordshire, founded by a champion for women in gardening, Beatrix Havergal. He speaks with the current head gardener Pat Havers and horticultural manager Rob Jacobs about Havergal's lasting legacy.
And, as the leaves begin to fall, Humaira Ikram talks us through some of her favourite trees and plants for some glorious autumn colour.
Producer - Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer - Aniya Das
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 Green Originals (m000dfpp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
00:15 today]
SUN 15:00 The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck (m00107c2)
Episode 2
Wang Lung and wife O-Lan find a way to return to their home on the farm where steadily their riches increase. But Wang Lung’s riches bring untapped desires and he becomes obsessed with a concubine, Lotus.
Wang Lung - Chris Lew Kum Hoi
O-Lan - Chipo Chung
Earth - Gana Bayarsaikhan
Father/Doctor - Liam Woon
Cuckoo- Liz Sutherland
Lotus - Elizabeth Chan
Ching/Rich Man - Windson Liong
Son - Jonathan Raggett
Original music composed by Ruth Chan
Written by Pearl S Buck, dramatised by Mary Cooper with MW Sun
Directed by Shan Ng
Produced by Pauline Harris for BBC Audio Drama North
SUN 16:00 Bookclub (m00107c4)
Anthony Doerr - All the Light We Cannot See
Anthony Doerr talks to James Naughtie and a group of readers about his novel All the Light We Cannot See, which won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Set largely in St Malo in the 1940's, It tells the twin stories of Werner and Marie Laure,. They are on opposite sides during World War Two, but find themselves linked by a love of radio, and storytelling. Meanwhile, a Nazi officer is hunting down a diamond, which is said to be cursed. Anthony Doerr talks about how he tackled writing this highly structured, sweeping, adventure-filled tale.
Presenter : James Naughtie
Producer : Nicola Holloway
November's Bookclub Choice : The History of Bees by Maja Lunde . Email us at bookclub@bbc.co.uk if you have a question for Maja.
SUN 16:30 Art of Now (m001008b)
Hong Kong Artists
Art has been central to the Hong Kong protest movement with a new generation of artists creatively responding to curbs on civil and political freedoms since 2014's Umbrella Revolution. However, the introduction of the National Security Law in 2020 gave Beijing far reaching powers to crush any political dissent in Hong Kong and many artists went to ground.
Over 18 months, producer Neil McCarthy spends time with two artists, Lumli and Lumlong - husband and wife - as they adapt to increasing political repression in Hong Kong and are forced to make difficult choices about their future.
Additional reporting by Wai Sze Leung
Sound by Phil Channell
Produced and presented by Neil McCarthy
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (m001009z)
Occupational Hazard: The bus drivers who died from Covid
During the pandemic, it’s been one of the most dangerous occupations in the land, with a death rate similar to that of frontline nurses. Sixty London bus drivers have died of Covid-19, and yet the authorities still have little explanation as to why the disease spread among them in such deadly fashion.
Families of the deceased say it was due to poor safety standards and the slow introduction of protective measures. Transport for London say they were just following government guidance. But with bus drivers becoming more vociferous and the death rate too high to ignore, BBC File on 4 tries to uncover the truth behind the shocking statistics.
The programme hears from bus drivers across the capital who describe what was really happening on the ground, as well as the families of the deceased, and a TfL insider who alleges systemic problems with health and safety and says a Royal Commission is now needed to get to the bottom of what happened.
Reporter: Paul Kenyon
Producer: Annabel Deas
Editor: Carl Johnston
SUN 17:40 Profile (m00106yy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m00107c6)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 17:57 Weather (m00107c8)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00107cb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m00107cd)
Rob Crossan
Presenter: Rob Crossan
Producer: Elizabeth Foster
Production support: Liz Poole
Studio Manager: Sue Stonestreet
SUN 19:00 The Archers (m00106b9)
Lilian has her eyes on the prize while Josh wants to have his cake and eat it.
SUN 19:15 Comedy from the Wilderness (m00109vz)
The Wilderness Festival in Oxfordshire was one of the few UK summer festivals to go ahead this year. Join Molly, Jack, Will, Rob and James Peak as they report back on all the fun stuff you may have missed - including Letters Live with Jordan Stephens and Amanda Abbington; Gallic miserabilist Marcel Lucont; top festival hype-man Robin Clyfan; the fabulous Missy Fatale; Queen B and the Cabaret Fatale; Tom Hodgkinson and The Idler Magazine; Sanderson Jones and Sunday Assembly’s mass lockdown wedding; and not forgetting Henry Blofeld, who is coaxed from Test Match Special retirement to join Timmy Sampson in commentating on the annual WCC Goodies v Baddies Cricket Match.
Original Music by Tollon Adkins
Edited by Andre Jacquemin.
Produced and Presented by James Peak.
An Essential Radio production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 19:45 Miss Bessemer Saves the Train (m00107cg)
'Four Teenagers, One Pigeon Fancier and a Dog...'
Penelope Keith is Madge Bessemer in this 5-part serial inspired by the true story of one woman’s fight to halt the closure of her local railway.
Village Guide Captain Madge Bessemer is not a particular fan of railways. Who needs trains when you’ve got a 1948 Austin Princess to tootle around in? However, when she discovers that, as part of their closure plans, British Rail are going to auction off the line side footpath, which holds precious memories for her, she determines to put a stop to proceedings.
Supported by The Lewes and East Grinstead Railway Fighting Committee - two Girl Guides, two train spotters, one pigswill man and a dog - Madge takes her battle right to the heart of government.
But the Prime Minster has just been humiliated by Colonel Nasser and has no intention of suffering a further humiliation at the hands of a village Girl Guide leader. John Profumo, Under Secretary of State to the Minister of Transport and a rising star in the government, is tasked with seeing that Miss Bessemer’s plans are consigned to the dustbin of history.
All seems lost but, as Madge gains strength from the ghosts of her past, an unlikely idea for a railway of the future takes shape.
Everyone loves a fighter and Madge becomes a national hero, finding herself midwife not just to the birth of the world’s first preserved standard gauge passenger railway –the Bluebell Line - but also to the UK’s multi-million pound heritage railway industry.
Writer: Roy Apps
Reader: Penelope Keith
Director: Celia de Wolff
Sound Design: Matt Bainbridge
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 20:00 More or Less (m00100jh)
Is it easy being green?
Is our electricity extra expensive and our insulation inadequate? And a tale of tumbling trees.
Internet infographics suggest we’re paying way more for our energy than countries in the EU. Are they being interpreted correctly? And what part, if any, has Brexit had to play?
Insulation Britain activists have been gluing themselves to motorway slip-roads to raise awareness about poor home insulation. Their website says we have the least energy efficient homes in Europe. What’s the evidence?
Plus, what do the numbers tell us about migrants trying to cross the Channel in small boats? Are stereotypes about different generations backed up by the data? And is it or is it not true that the UK has lots of trees?
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m00100jf)
Lord Gowrie, Kamla Bhasin (pictured), Shirley Metherell MBE, Roger Hunt MBE
Matthew Bannister on
Lord Gowrie, the Tory peer who served as Northern Ireland minister and Arts minister under Margaret Thatcher. He was also a poet and went on to chair Sotheby’s and the Arts Council.
Kamla Bhasin, the Indian feminist writer who inspired millions of women in her campaigns against patriarchy.
Shirley Metherell MBE who founded a centre for the treatment of babies with hearing loss after her own daughter was diagnosed.
Roger Hunt MBE, the Liverpool FC striker who played a key role in England’s 1966 World Cup winning team.
Producer: Neil George
Interviewed guest: Julia Langdon
Interviewed guest: V (formerly known as Eve Ensler)
Interviewed guest: Aishwarya Bhuta
Interviewed guest: Julie Hughes
Interviewed guest: Imogen Manuel
Interviewed guest: John Keith
Archive clips used: BBC Radio 3, Private Passions - Lord Gowrie 01/08/1998; BBC Radio 4, The Ones That Got Away 01/08/2001; YouTube, Kamla Basin Official - Because I am a Girl 27/03/2020; YouTube, Kamla Bhasin - Slogans for One Billion Rising, 31/10/2013; TEDxDurbarMarg, Kamla Bhasin - In Women We Believe 08/06/2021; The Elizabeth Foundation Charity, Interview with Shirley Metherell MBE; BBC Radio 5Live, Football Daily 29/09/2021; British Pathe, Liverpool vs Leeds 1965 cup final; BBC1 Summer of 66 - Magyr Misery 26/05/1986; YouTube, England vs Scotland April 1966.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m00106y6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m00107bb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 Analysis (m00101lq)
Reimagining the Nation
What keeps a nation together? For political scientist Benedict Anderson, it was the idea of the 'imagined community'. Although people from different backgrounds in a country might not know one another, they could imagine themselves as part of the same larger story.
Peter Pomerantsev looks at how we can survive as a society when the idea of the 'imagined community' is under strain. Is it too late to find any commonality? Or are there other ways of imagining the future of the nation?
Producer Ant Adeane
Editor Jasper Corbett
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m00107cj)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (m00100ct)
The Last Picture Show
Francine Stock and Antonia Quirke co-present the final edition of The Film Programme. They discuss the future of cinema in the age of streaming, and hear from David Oyelowo, Matt Damon, Rebecca O'Brien and Sally Potter. They also reveal their favourite last scenes in the history of the movies.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b01dd5tf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 04 OCTOBER 2021
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m00107cl)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (m001020w)
Office Life
Office life: As more people return to the conventional workplace, Laurie Taylor talks to Craig Robertson, Associate Professor of Media Studies at Northeastern University, about a new study which charts the ‘vertical’ history of the filing cabinet and its role in capitalist modernity. Why was it advertised alongside gleaming skyscrapers & how did the logic of the cabinet come to penetrate the domestic sphere? Also, Harriet Shortt, Associate Professor in Organisation Studies at UWE, Bristol, considers the ways in which people deploy private possessions, from toys to photos, to personalise their increasingly sanitised working environments. Has Covid changed our relationship to such objects at work, as Zoom meetings have blurred the private and professional allowing us to enter our colleagues homes?
Producer: Jayne Egerton
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m00106zd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00107cn)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00107cq)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m00107cs)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (m00107cv)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m00107cx)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Rev Lynne Gibson.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY 4TH OCTOBER 2021
Good morning.
The past eighteen months have meant that for at least some of us: lockdowns, shielding and self-isolation have turned our homes into places of sanctuary and comfort and peace.
We have all become, to some degree, more domesticated. Our gardens are in a better state than they had ever come to expect, vegetables were grown, and BBQs and outdoor dining have stretched long into the season. We became slow cooker experts, bakers, crafters, knitters – and our homes became havens, ‘nests’ lined for the harder times.
‘Nests’ suggest safety, and privacy and comfort. There are visitors whom you would never allow to step over your welcome mat. We strive to keep the good in and the undesirable out of our homes – but what of the havens of our minds?
A quotation puts it like this: ‘‘Worries and tensions are like birds; we cannot stop them from flying near us but we can certainly stop them from making a nest in our mind’.
Worriers, it seems, simply can’t help worrying – it’s how they are wired. In a year of anxiety and stress, we’ve all become worriers - and ‘we cannot stop worries from flying near us.
But we can stop worry from intruding into the nest, the sanctuary of our minds. We haven’t just become more domesticated nowadays; we have become more ‘mindful’ –aware of where we are and how we are feeling.
Worries and tensions don’t have to build a nest in our minds. We can observe them objectively and leave them outside the door, as unwelcome and uninvited guests. We can trust in the care and provision of God, and simply take each day as it arrives, with its challenges and blessings.
God our protector, may we learn to leave our worries in your hands and to trust in your eternal provision, Amen
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m00107cz)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
MON 05:56 Weather (m00107d1)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b038qk9b)
Bluethroat
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Brett Westwood presents the bluethroat. This is a fine songbird and a sprightly robin-sized bird with a dazzling sapphire bib. Your best chance of seeing one is in autumn when they pass through the north or east coast on migration.
MON 06:00 Today (m001069g)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m001069j)
Images of power
What does the face of power look like? It’s a question the academic Mary Beard explores in her latest book, Twelve Caesars: Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern. She tells Kirsty Wark how the depiction of Roman autocrats have influenced art, culture and the presentation of power for more than two thousand years.
King George III was condemned in the 18th century as ‘the cruellest tyrant of his age’ and depicted as a diminutive and pompous figure in the 21st century musical, Hamilton. These are images the historian Andrew Roberts seeks to counter in his new biography of the King. His revisionist account argues that far from being a tyrant or incompetent he was one of the country’s most admirable monarchs.
Modern political leaders are no strangers to the importance of public image. As the Conservative government holds its party political conference in Manchester the political commentator and sometime-stand-up comedian Ayesha Hazarika looks at how leaders of different parties have tried to stage manage their hold on power.
Producer: Katy Hickman
MON 09:45 George III by Andrew Roberts (m00106c8)
1: The New King and Queen
Long portrayed by historians and writers across the centuries as one of England’s most disastrous of kings, Andrew Roberts’ new meticulously researched biography presents quite another view. Here is a monarch of intelligence, benevolence, devoted to his country and his family, a great patron of the arts and science who helped steer the country through domestic political and global storms.
Professor Andrew Roberts is one of Britain’s best-selling historians and his multi-award-winning works include studies of Churchill, Napoleon, and former Prime Minister the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury. Following the publication in 2007 of A History of the English Speaking Peoples Since 1900, he was invited to deliver the highly prestigious White House Lecture. Andrew Roberts is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Historical Society and has held many academic chairs and fellowships. He is currently Visiting Professor Department of War Studies King’s College London, and the Roger and Martha Mertz Visiting Research Fellow, The Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He is an accomplished broadcaster, in particular as a television commentator for major royal and state occasions.
Ben Miller is an actor, comedian and best-selling children’s author. Having abandoned his PhD in Quantum Physics, his comedy partnership with Alexander Armstrong landed him series on BBC Radio 4 and Channel 4. He is now very well known as a screen actor including, on television, lead roles in Professor T (ITV), Bridgerton (Netflix) and Death in Paradise (BBC). On the big screen he starred in the Johnny English series.
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Read by Ben Miller
Produced by Caroline Raphael
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001069n)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
MON 11:00 The Untold (m001069q)
We Lost Dancing
Alex Trenchard is the founder of Standon Calling, a 17,000 capacity festival that takes place every year in Hertfordshire. The festival brings together thousands of music fans and hundreds of talented workers who together are part of putting on something spectacular. But when festivals disappeared at the start of the pandemic - many of us didn’t realise just how much they meant to us.
Over 85,000 people in the UK are employed by the festival industry, and for many the first few months of 2021 left them in limbo, not knowing whether they were going to have a job come summer. After Alex was forced to cancel the festival in 2020, the festival was left almost bankrupt. Alex faced loosing his business and his livelihood. But as the vaccine programme progressed and case numbers for COVID-19 started to fall, it brought hope that the festival might be able to return for 2021. And so Alex started planning.
Our producer Robbie Wojciechowski has been following Alex and some of the voices that make the festival industry happen over the last few months as they fight to go ahead. For bands and artists, festivals this summer will be their first live performances in 18 months. And for Alex, if he manages to run, he'll be one of the first independent festivals to do so. But it’s a mammoth task, as variants of the virus spread, and case numbers continue to rise.
We find out what it took to get the festival industry and live music back on track.
Produced by Robbie Wojciechowski
MON 11:30 Loose Ends (m001069s)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
MON 12:00 News Summary (m0010841)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 12:04 The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (m001069x)
Episode One
A best-selling and controversial novel which explores issues of guilt and complicity in post-war Germany.
After a chance meeting in the street, 15-year-old Michael Berg begins a love affair with an older woman, Hanna. He visits her apartment after school, where they fall into a ritual of bathing together, making love and reading books (which Hanna asks Michael to read aloud to her during their hours together). As time goes on, Michael grapples with his guilt over keeping the relationship secret from his friends and family. And then one day, without warning, Hanna disappears from the city, leaving no forwarding address.
Years later, Michael will see Hanna again - in a courtroom. He is now a law student and Hanna is one of the defendants in a Nazi war crimes trial - one of a group of former concentration camp guards. As he watches the trial, he realises Hanna has been hiding a secret her whole life. A secret of which only he is aware.
The novel has provoked widely different reactions to its highly emotive and extremely nuanced portrayal of the post-WWII generation in Germany grappling with questions of guilt, revulsion and shame; and of personal and collective responsibility.
Bernhard Schlink was born in Germany in 1944. A professor emeritus of law at Humboldt University, Berlin, and Cardozo Law School, New York, he was also a practicing judge. He is the author of several prize-winning books including Olga, The Woman on the Stairs and Flights of Love. The Reader was made into an Oscar-winning film starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes. He lives in New York and Berlin.
Read by Rupert Wickham
Abridged by Sara Davies
Produced in Bristol by Mair Bosworth and Mary Ward-Lowery for BBC Audio
MON 12:18 You and Yours (m00106b0)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
MON 12:57 Weather (m00106b2)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m00106b4)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
MON 13:45 A Home of Our Own (m00106b6)
The Square, St Mawes, Cornwall
Lynsey Hanley explores Britain's broken housing market through the stories of ten very different homes and their occupants.
Every one of Britain's 27 million homes has a story to tell about Britain's housing crisis and how it might be fixed. Over ten episodes, Lynsey explores houses of every shape and size, new and old, right across the UK.
Today, the story of Hillside Cottage in St Mawes, Cornwall, owned by 79-year-old Phil Salter. Phil bought this 17th-century fisherman's cottage in 1989 after selling his ex-council house. Hillside is now worth over a million pounds.
Author and journalist Lynsey Hanley explores what Hillside Cottage tells us about the impact of council house sales and second homes in areas like Cornwall.
House historian Melanie Backe-Hansen also researches the history of Hillside Cottage, which started out a storehouse for fish.
In other episodes, we'll visit a wide range of other homes - from a brand new house in west Belfast, to a handsome Georgian terrace in Newcastle and the tenements of Glasgow. Each property will reveal something different about the UK's housing challenges.
Throughout the series, Paul Cheshire, emeritus professor of economic geography at the London School of Economics will put each home in context. Professor Cheshire is a member of the Centre for Economic Performance at LSE.
Producer: Laurence Grissell
MON 14:00 The Archers (m00106b9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 The National (m000bfh5)
Episode 1
by Sarah Wooley
1963. Sir Laurence Olivier becomes the first Artistic Director of the National Theatre. But there are many political battles ahead, not least with his lieutenant, the critic Kenneth Tynan
Sir Laurence Olivier . . . Robert Glenister
Kenneth Tynan . . . John Heffernan
Lord Chandos . . . Michael Pennington
Cecil Tennant . . . Neil McCaul
Diana Boddington . . . Scarlett Courtney
Stephen Arlen . . . Will Kirk
Harry . . . Rick Warden
Neville . . . Greg Jones
Peter O'Toole . . . Jonny Holden
Reporter . . . Clive Hayward
Directed by Marc Beeby
The first of three dramas about the birth of the National Theatre. Funded at huge cost to the taxpayer, the “theatre to end all theatres” was front page news in its early years. Running it was a high stakes political business as much as it was an artistic one. Never before had one theatre been the focus for such relentless national debate about the relationship between the arts, government, press and the public.
From its inception at the Old Vic to the opening of the Olivier Theatre in the National’s eventual home at the South Bank, from the fall of Macmillan to the rise of Thatcher, the series follows the legendary players in a fast-moving, entertaining saga. Big personalities clash and ambition, greed and power fight with artistic integrity and wider cultural responsibilities.
Writer Sarah Wooley has an impressive record of dynamic, character-driven factual drama including 'A Nice Little Holiday' about John Osborne, 'Victim', about Dirk Bogarde and the making of the film of the same name, and 'Fifteen' about Andy Warhol.
MON 15:00 Brain of Britain (m00106bc)
Heat 12, 2021
(12/17)
Which comedy film was set in a fictional town called Rock Ridge? And which writer boasted shortly before his death that he'd just had eighteen straight whiskies? You might be able to answer these questions, but more crucially, can the contestants in the last of the Brain of Britain 2021 heats? A place in the semi-finals is at stake, as competitors from London, Buckinghamshire, Surrey and Cambridgeshire take to the stage.
Russell Davies asks the questions, and there'll also be a chance for a Brain of Britain listener to challenge the contenders with questions specially devised to try and Beat the Brains. The programme was recorded under socially distanced conditions without a studio audience.
Today's competitors are
Nicola Baker, a retired communications manager from North London
Graeme Johnston, a semi-retired accountant from Chackmore in Buckinghamshire
Brenda Mortimer, a retired solicitor from Camberley in Surrey
Liz Walliker, an exam invigilator from Ely in Cambridgeshire.
Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
Producer: Paul Bajoria
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m00106bf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 The Dreams We Live Inside (m00100c4)
Visions in Glass
What do we ask for and what do we receive from the built environment? Engineer Roma Agrawal explores the ways in which the visions and dreams of architects and designers are experienced, co-created and changed by the people who live in their buildings.
In the first episode of this series, Roma explores our fascination with glass architecture, delving back into the Expressionist manifestos of Paul Scheebart, an early 20th-century writer who imagined an earth covered in cities of kaleidoscopic buildings. Priya Khanchandani (Design Museum) considers what the ubiquity of glass towers means in different parts of the world, and architectural historian Professor Rosemarie Bletter explores the notions of transparency, transformation, functionalism and luxury associated with the material.
We visit The Idea Store on Whitechapel Road in East London. Opened in 2005, the work of Sir David Adjaye, the building’s glass façades were intended to bring visibility and openness, offering the local community a new kind of library experience for the new century. Citizen researcher Eliza Islam and artist Ruhul Abdin describe what The Idea Store means to them and how the building is being used to house a new exhibit to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Bangladesh.
Presenter: Roma Agrawal
Producer: Phil Smith
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4
MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (m00106bh)
Poetry, the Language of Religion
To celebrate its 500th edition, Beyond Belief has recorded a special programme at the Contains Strong Language poetry festival in Coventry. From the stage of the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry to discuss the theme of ‘Poetry as the Language of Religion’, Ernie Rea is joined by a distinguished panel: Michael Symmons Roberts is one of Britain’s leading poets whose work explores the connection between the things of the spirit and the things of the world, Canon Mark Oakley is the Dean and Fellow of St John’s College Cambridge and the author of 'The Splash of Words, Believing in Poetry', Muneera Pilgrim is a British born convert to Islam and a poet and cultural producer and Bel Mooney is an author with a regular column in the Daily Mail where she also reviews books of poetry.
Each member of the panel has chosen (and recites) a poem to illustrate the idea that poetry can be the language of faith:
'Names' by Wendy Cope
'To men who use "Why are you single?" as a chat up line' by Muneera Pilgrim
'Belsen, Day of Liberation' by Robert Hayden
'Rehearsal for the Death Scene' by Michael Symmons Roberts
Producer: Helen Lee
MON 17:00 PM (m00106bk)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00106bp)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 Just a Minute (m00106br)
Series 87
Episode 5
Sue Perkins hosts Radio 4’s longest running panel show, Just a Minute. Sue challenges guests Paul Merton, Josie Lawrence, Shaparak Khorsandi and Gyles Brandreth to talk without hesitation, deviation, or repetition. This episode was produced using remote recording technology, with the audience joining from their homes all over the world.
Devised by Ian Messiter
Whistle blown by Caroline Barlow
Produced by Hayley Sterling
A BBC Studios Production
MON 19:00 The Archers (m00106bt)
Brian meets his match and Chelsea throws a spanner in the works.
MON 19:15 Front Row (m00106bw)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
MON 20:00 White Mischief (m00106by)
The background hum
Ekow Eshun is a writer and a curator of art exhibitions. He looks at the images and ideas that we use to build our view of the world - and, as a black person living in a mainly white society, he’s been thinking about race all his life. In this series, he’s on a personal journey to explore what he believes could be one of the most influential and elusive ideas of the modern age - whiteness.
In this first episode, Ekow goes in search of the origins of whiteness with help from his friend, the artist Grayson Perry. He looks at art and literature and science. He speaks to the geneticist Adam Rutherford and discovers that our ideas of race came from one of the founding fathers of modern science.
Ekow also travels back to 17th century Barbados to trace the legal origins of white supremacy.
Producer: Philly Beaumont
Executive Producer: John Shields
A Loftus Media production for Radio 4
MON 20:30 Analysis (m00106c1)
Who Defends Europe?
This summer's hasty and poorly executed withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan caused shock and profound unease among Washington's allies, just as they hoped the unilateralism of the Trump era had been left behind. But anxiety about America's position on defence only intensified with the unveiling in September of AUKUS - a trilateral security pact involving Australia, the US and UK covering the Indo-Pacific region. The exclusion of France from that deal not only enraged Paris but also further alarmed European allies about American intentions.
So what next? Can the Biden administration be trusted to uphold the security guarantee which underpins NATO? Or, as France's President Emmanuel Macron argues, do these and other actions by the United States show that the 70 year-old Alliance is effectively "brain dead" and that Europe has to set about achieving "strategic autonomy" without depending on Washington's whims?
In a lively forum with key players and thinkers about European security from both sides of the Atlantic, Edward Stourton considers what should happen now on European defence and whether seemingly divergent views about it can be reconciled.
Those taking part: Professor Malcolm Chalmers, Deputy Director of the Royal United Services Institute in London; Nathalie Loiseau, MEP, former French Minister of European Affairs and Chair of the European Parliament's Sub-committee on Security and Defence; Dr Constanze Stelzenmüller, expert on Germany and trans-Atlantic Relations in the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.; and Linas Linkevicius, former Foreign and Defence Minister of Lithuania.
Producer: Simon Coates
Editor: Jasper Corbett
Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
MON 21:00 Electric Ride UK (m0010088)
Episode 3
Peter Curran is getting back on the road, in an electric vehicle. When Peter set out on his first adventure in an electric vehicle for Radio 4, ten years ago, owning one was more of a niche interest than a regular part of life.
But things have changed. And with a deadline of 2030 on the last sale of combustion engine cars in Britain, manufacturers and researchers have had to kick their work up a gear.
In this new series, Peter travels from Lands’ End to John O’Groats and asking whether the country is ready for the new era of electric cars.
Along the way he’ll explore what makes an electric car, from mining of lithium and the latest in battery technology, to how manufacturers like Nissan plan to keep up with soaring demand. And he’ll also speak to people pushing electric vehicles to their very limits, whether it be in racing, like McLaren and Extreme-E, to Chris Ramsey, a maverick planning to drive an electric vehicle from pole-to-pole.
Presenter: Peter Curran
Producer: Ellie Clifford
Executive Producer: David Prest
MON 21:30 Start the Week (m001069j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m00106c4)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
MON 22:45 The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (m001069x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
MON 23:00 Have You Heard George's Podcast? (p09q1bkr)
Chapter 3
Episode 20 - Young
Story time. A man drifts away from his family after his brother is killed. His estranged wife struggles to raise four kids alone. Their youngest son turns to the streets. A mix of genius and luck propels him from the jaws of death to superstar status. What can we learn from the life and times of Shawn Carter?
Warning: This episode contains some very strong language, language which may offend and adult themes.
Credits:
Written by George the Poet
Produced by Benbrick and George the Poet
Mixing, recording and editing by Benbrick.
With music from:
Nines - NIC (feat. Tiggs Da Author)
Lonnie Liston Smith - A Garden of Peace
Jay-Z - Dead Presidents
Jay Z - My First Song
All original music is written by Benbrick and recorded by the BBC Concert Orchestra.
We had the following guests:
The former DMC world champion DJ Blakey scratching those Jay-Z samples, and Sandra Makumbi.
Thank you to:
My team Sandra, Vidhu, and Birungi. Dylan Haskins and the team at BBC Sounds, BBC Concert Orchestra, Jay-Z's Mum, Ms Lowden, Torrie Maas, DJ Clark Kent speaking on DJ Vlad, Kareem Burke talking on the Reasonable Doubt Documentary, Andrew Marr, Evan Rogers, Tom Kelly & Adam Miller, my nephews.
Archive:
The clip of Jay-Z in the restaurant at
12:10 is taken from the Jay-Z record Only A Customer.
There are various clips between
15:12 and
15:27 introducing Jay-Z and these are taken from CNN’s Van Jones Show, Stephen A. Smith on ESPN, Jay-Z on Conan O’Brien, Jay-Z’s appearance on 106 & Park, and Canada’s Breakfast Television.
The clips of Jay-Z’s mum Ms Gloria Carter used at
17:18 are taken from the Jay-Z record December 4Th.
The clips of Jay-Z’s teacher Renee Rosenblum-Lowden used at
18:11 are taken from the Brut Media video “Jay-Z Credits Teacher With His love of Language”.
The Jay-Z acapellas used at
18:03,
18:57,
19:46 are taken from the Jay-Z record Blueprint (Momma Loves Me)
The clip of DJ Clark Kent used at
20:21 is taken from the DJVlad show titled “Clark Kent on Introducing Biggie to Jay Z, Biggie Best Rapper but Jay Z Best MC".
The clip of Kareem Burke used at
23:06 is taken from the Tidal documentary Reasonable Doubt.
The clip of Jay-Z used at
27:04 is taken from the BBC Andrew Marr show.
Soundtrack:
Nines - NIC (feat. Tiggs Da Author)
00:37 -
02:30
Benbrick - Young Intro
02:18 -
03:51
Jay Z - My First Song [Benbrick Remake]
04:41 -
05:30
Benbrick - Young
05:45 -
06:40
Benbrick - Back to the kid
07:15 -
07:49
Benbrick - All Aboard
08:02 -
08:21
Benbrick - All Aboard
09:08 -
10:08
Benbrick - Damon
11:16-
12:03
Lonnie Liston Smith - A Garden of Peace
12:27 -
15:09
Jay-Z - Dead Presidents
15:10 -
15:54
Benbrick - Back to the kid
16:20 -
17:13
Jay Z - December 4Th (Benbrick Remake)
17:15 -
18:01
Benbrick - Dec 4
18:10 -
18:54
Benbrick - Back to the kid
19:05 -
19:46
Benbrick - Rodolfo
19:54 -
21:15
Jay Z - My First Song [Benbrick Remake]
21:48 -
22:45
Benbrick - Roc
23:04 -
24:00
Benbrick - Back to the kid
24:50 -
26:05
Jay Z - My First Song [Benbrick Remake]
26:08 -
26:57
Jay Z - My First Song
26:35 -
28:00
Have You Heard George’s Podcast? is a George the Poet production for BBC Sounds.
Commissioning Executive for BBC: Dylan Haskins
MON 23:30 Mastertapes (b04stzfk)
Series 4
The Boomtown Rats (the A-Side)
John Wilson continues with the series in which he 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. Each edition includes two episodes, with John initially quizzing the artist about the album in question, and then, in the B-side, the audience puts the questions. Both editions feature exclusive live performances.
Programme 7, A-side. 'A Tonic For The Troops'
Named after a gang in Woody Guthrie's autobiography, The Boomtown Rats had a series of hits between 1977 and 1985. Signed by Mercury records the same year that punk rock exploded in Britain, it was their second album 'A Tonic for the Troops', with tracks like "She's So Modern", "Like Clockwork" and "Me and Howard Hughes", that brought them their first Number 1 hit with "Rat Trap".
It's an album that treats dark themes like suicide and euthanasia in an often upbeat, pop-punk style - one critic described the track "Eva Braun" as "the happiest, cheeriest, best upbeat song about Hitler ever written." And another said "Vintage superstars who look like eyesores and sound like dinosaurs should carefully study this album."
The band broke-up in 1986, but reformed in 2013 to tour the UK. This will be a unique opportunity not only to hear them talk about their album but also to see them perform exclusive versions of key tracks.
Producer: Paul Kobrak
TUESDAY 05 OCTOBER 2021
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m00106c6)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 00:30 George III by Andrew Roberts (m00106c8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00106cc)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00106cf)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m00106ch)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m00106ck)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m00106cm)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Rev Lynne Gibson.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY 5TH OCTOBER 2021
Good morning
Life may indeed be ‘too short to stuff a mushroom’ as Shirley Conran once famously said. I tend to believe it’s too short to watch reality television programmes or to listen to podcasts. Yet I somehow stumbled upon not the podcast but a conversation and commentary about a podcast on the subject of ‘Pandemic Flux Syndrome’.
Perhaps you haven’t heard of ‘Pandemic Flux Syndrome’ – I certainly hadn’t. As a name, or label, for what we are living through, it made sense to me: an explanation for why we have struggled more with life in the past few months, than in the hardest of lockdowns last year.
The alternating between optimism and hope that it would all be over soon – and the realisation that we may never be ‘back to normal’. An acceptance that anxiety and uncertainty is a way of life now.
Pandemic Flux syndrome.
It seems like a reasonable attempt to define where we are.
And yet I have found myself wondering, whether it’s really necessary to give a name to the times we live in, or whether as individuals, as a society, we have an absolute need for labels. Sometimes those are labels we place on others – whoever the other might be, so that we can identify them, judge them or avoid them.
Sometimes however, the labels are for situations or conditions or where there is confusion or uncertainty, and so we look explanations as we name what is happening around us. In an unsteady, unclear world, those labels become the signposts which help us to make sense of where we are, and to navigate our way from darkness to light.
Lord you are the way, the truth and the light. Guard our steps and guide our way towards the One who is the Light. Amen
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m00106cp)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b02twjfh)
Tree Pipit
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the tree pipit.
Tree pipits are small brown birds without any bright colours or distinctive features; but you can identify one from a distance when it is singing, because it has a very obvious display flight. The male bird sings from April to the end of July, launching himself from a treetop perch, then parachutes downwards like a paper dart.
TUE 06:00 Today (m00107v6)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m00107v8)
Hannah Cloke and predicting floods
This summer, many parts of the world have seen devastating flooding, from New Orleans and New York, to the UK, Germany and Belgium. More than 300 people lost their lives in floods in central China, including a number who were trapped in a subway train in the city of Zhengzhou. Professor Hannah Cloke of the University of Reading is a natural hazards researcher and hydrologist, who spends her time trying to prevent these terrible losses. She models where flooding is likely to happen and advises governments.
Hannah Cloke talks to Jim al-Khalili about how her fascination with the water on the earth goes back to her childhood – her memories of holidays for instance all revolve around swimming or building dams on the beach. She is now passionate about finding new ways of telling the public about the dangers of flooding, which includes writing poetry.
TUE 09:30 One to One (m00107vb)
Faces of Fame: Janet Ellis meets Jackie Weaver
The former Blue Peter presenter talks to the woman who went viral, about overnight fame.
TUE 09:45 George III by Andrew Roberts (m00107vd)
2: The King Is Unwell
Long portrayed by historians and writers across the centuries as one of England’s most disastrous of kings, Andrew Roberts’ new meticulously researched biography presents quite another view. Here is a monarch of intelligence, benevolence, devoted to his country and his family, a great patron of the arts and science who helped steer the country through domestic political and global storms.
Professor Andrew Roberts is one of Britain’s best-selling historians and his multi-award-winning works include studies of Churchill, Napoleon, and former Prime Minister the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury. Following the publication in 2007 of A History of the English Speaking Peoples Since 1900, he was invited to deliver the highly prestigious White House Lecture. Andrew Roberts is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Historical Society and has held many academic chairs and fellowships. He is currently Visiting Professor Department of War Studies King’s College London, and the Roger and Martha Mertz Visiting Research Fellow, The Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He is an accomplished broadcaster, in particular as a television commentator for major royal and state occasions.
Ben Miller is an actor, comedian and best-selling children’s author. Having abandoned his PhD in Quantum Physics, his comedy partnership with Alexander Armstrong landed him series on BBC Radio 4 and Channel 4. He is now very well known as a screen actor including, on television, lead roles in Professor T (ITV), Bridgerton (Netflix) and Death in Paradise (BBC). On the big screen he starred in the Johnny English series.
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Read by Ben Miller
Produced by Caroline Raphael
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m00107vg)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
TUE 11:00 A Voice for the Voiceless (m000z0k5)
How does it feel to be a voice for the voiceless? This documentary gives a fascinating insight into the gruelling work of public service interpreters in the UK, through the personal story of Isaac, a Glasgow-based Urdu interpreter.
Isaac interprets for high profile murder trials, retelling devastating personal stories in asylum statements, taking police statements in the middle of the night, and delivering life-changing news in healthcare settings.
It’s a profession where every word matters. In the courts, the right words are the difference between freedom or imprisonment. In the asylum system, they are the difference between safety and danger. In health settings, they are the difference between life and death. The stakes are high, and interpreters need to be highly trained in order to make the right choices under pressure.
Despite the potential consequences of misinterpretation, there are concerns that standards are dropping, partly due to the challenges of outsourcing to agencies. We hear from those raising the alarm – an ex-agency employee, an agency CEO pushing for a better way of operating, the director of the National Register of Public Service Interpreters whose mandate is to protect the public, and a refugee who had a terrible experience during his asylum statement.
Isaac and his interpreting colleagues ask an important question - who is looking out for them? Exposed to extreme and traumatic situations on a daily basis, how can they let off steam without breaking confidentiality rules? What can be done to protect the public service interpreters whose skills are vital to our society?
A Snow Films production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 11:30 The End of the World Has Already Happened (m000cl66)
1: We're doomed!
Many feel that climate change will destroy the world’s economy, flood cities, cause mass migrations and even cause regional wars, but why is it so difficult for so many of us to engage with it?
In this three-part series Timothy Morton, dubbed ‘philosopher prophet of the Anthropocene’, rethinks our psychological relationship with the climate crisis, and our place in the biosphere.
Morton cuts an unusual figure, an English literature scholar teaching in a Texas university who spends almost as much time in art galleries as he does writing. He draws on Heidegger and pet cats, William Blake and garden centres, psychoanalysis and collaborations with artists and musicians such as Olafur Eliasson and Bjørk.
Most environmental programmes start with a dramatic landscape or a plunge into the depths of the ocean. But we start in Tim’s driveway. If this climate crisis is a trauma, is there a way to reframe it? And what happens to our feelings when we do? ‘This is foetal-position time,’ he says, ‘but it’s on us: dolphins don’t have fingers to turn off the oil pipes.’ Feeling guilty and powerless is not the answer: ‘How come we conned ourselves into thinking that being ecological means we can’t have any fun anymore?’
With contributions from psychotherapist Caroline Hickman, journalist Amy Westervelt, and environmentalists George Monbiot and Hilton Kelley.
Produced by Chris Elcombe
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4.
Featured music:
Anna Peaker - Realm of Perfume and Lights (Longform Editions)
Alexandra Spence - Immaterial (Longform Editions)
Dawn of Midi - Nix (Thirsty Ear)
John Tavener - Funeral Canticle (Harmonia Mundi)
Julia Reidy - Lament (Slip)
Siavash Amini - A Recollection of the Disappeared (Room40)
Tomoko Sauvage - Making of a Rainbow
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m00107vj)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 12:04 The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (m00107vl)
Episode Two
The relationship with Hanna intensifies as they take a trip together.
After a chance meeting in the street, 15-year-old Michael Berg begins a love affair with an older woman, Hanna. He visits her apartment after school, where they fall into a ritual of bathing together, making love and reading books (which Hanna asks Michael to read aloud to her during their hours together). As time goes on, Michael grapples with his guilt over keeping the relationship secret from his friends and family. And then one day, without warning, Hanna disappears from the city, leaving no forwarding address.
Years later, Michael will see Hanna again - in a courtroom. He is now a law student and Hanna is one of the defendants in a Nazi war crimes trial - one of a group of former concentration camp guards. As he watches the trial, he realises Hanna has been hiding a secret her whole life. A secret of which only he is aware.
A parable about the post-WWII generation in Germany grappling with questions of guilt, revulsion and shame; and of personal and collective responsibility. "What should our second generation have done, what should it do with the knowledge of the horrors of the extermination of the Jews?"
Bernhard Schlink was born in Germany in 1944. A professor emeritus of law at Humboldt University, Berlin, and Cardozo Law School, New York, he was also a practicing judge. He is the author of several prize-winning books including Olga, The Woman on the Stairs and Flights of Love. The Reader was made into an Oscar-winning film starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes. He lives in New York and Berlin.
Read by Rupert Wickham
Abridged by Sara Davies
Produced in Bristol by Mair Bosworth and Mary Ward-Lowery for BBC Audio
TUE 12:18 You and Yours (m00107vn)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
TUE 12:57 Weather (m00107vq)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m00107vs)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
TUE 13:45 A Home of Our Own (m00107vv)
Crowborough Road, Tooting, South London
Lynsey Hanley visits 32-year-old Danielle who still lives with her mum Lydia in their Edwardian house in Tooting, south London, 11 years after graduating.
Every home has a story to tell about the UK's housing crisis. NHS worker Danielle wants to buy a home but has been priced out of her local area. It was very different for mum Lydia who moved here 30 years ago when property was still affordable. Lynsey explores why Danielle's experience is so different to her mum's - and she examines the effect that living at home for so long has had on Danielle's confidence and development.
House historian Melanie Backe-Hansen researches Crowborough Road's history and Professor Paul Cheshire of the London School of Economics puts Danielle's experiences in context.
Producer: Laurence Grissell
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m00106bt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 The National (m000bfsq)
Episode 2
by Sarah Wooley
1971. With Sir Laurence Olivier due to end his tenure as Artistic Director, the Board attempts to find a successor - with potentially disastrous consequences.
Sir Laurence Olivier . . . Robert Glenister
Kenneth Tynan . . . John Heffernan
Sir Max Rayne . . . Clive Hayward
Peter Hall . . . Sam Troughton
Lord Goodman . . . Jon Glover
Lord Chandos . . . Michael Pennington
Kathleen Tynan . . . Sinead MacInnes
Constance Cummings . . . Jessica Turner
Doctor . . . Neil McCaul
Gerald . . . Will Kirk
Jane . . . Laura Christy
Diana Boddington . . . Scarlett Courtney
Jason . . . Greg Jones
Directed by Marc Beeby
TUE 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (m00106y0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:30 on Saturday]
TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (m00107vx)
Earthshot: Fresh Ideas For the Environment
Taking inspiration from President Kennedy’s Moonshot which united people around a goal to put man on the moon and spurred the development of new technology in the 1960s, the Earthshot Prize is centred around five simple but ambitious goals for our planet. Over the next three editions of Costing the Earth, Chhavi Sachdev meets the prize nominees from all around the world.
This week Chhavi concentrates on the innovators working to protect nature on land and in the oceans and meets those striving to improve the air quality of our cities. Vinisha Umashankar, an Indian schoolgirl, reveals her solar powered ironing cart which cuts pollution in her neighbourhood and the Living Seawalls team show off their beautifully carved additions to Sydney Harbour- works of art which provide marine life with a place to hide, feed and breed on the previously sterile sea walls of the harbour.
Producer: Julian Siddle
TUE 16:00 100 Years of Exile (m00107vz)
Who is a refugee?
It is 100 years since a civil war caused a refugee crisis on Europe's borders and the appointment of the first High Commissioner for refugees. Today, as a series of refugee crises roils European politics, Katy Long presents a series examining what the century in between has taught us all about how to deal with a refugee crisis.
Across three episodes, Katy will examine how refugee crises start, what it is like to be a refugee, how the business of supporting refugees has changed (and grown), and how refugee crises end. She speaks to refugees and former refugees, to those who work with them and to the politicians who decide what will become of them.
In this first episode, about how refugee crises start, Katy will examine how the definition of a refugee has changed. Covering Russia, Rwanda and Syria, she'll consider how international agreements, legal texts and political pressures have shaped public and political understanding of who refugees are, and what they are owed.
Producer: Giles Edwards
Assistant Producer: George Dabby.
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (m00106lx)
Neil Brand and Tiff Stevenson
Neil Brand the silent film accompanist and presenter of BBC4's Sound of Cinema chooses a book he loved as a teenager: England Their England by A.G. Macdonell. He calls it 'social history by the backdoor'. Published in 1933 its fictional Scots character Donald Cameron is commissioned by a Welsh publisher to write a book about the English from a foreigner's viewpoint. It is a satirical take on an England of the past but still throws up ideas of national identity that are relevant today.
Tiff Stevenson is an actor and stand up comedian whose TV roles include The Office and People Just Do Nothing. Her satirical Twitter account ‘ Bridget Trump’s Diary’ went viral , was featured on TV in the US and landed her regular satirical writing gigs for ‘Mashable’. Tiff's choice is I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings the first of Maya Angelou's books of memoirs about her childhood in the southern USA under segregation. It's a book Tiff loved as a schoolgirl and still loves today.
The final book in the mix this week is Harriett Gilbert's choice which unsurprisingly is a crime novel: Exit by Belinda Bauer. As the title suggests it starts with assisted dying carried out by pensioner Felix Pink who has to then go on the run from the police when things take a dramatic turn.
Producer: Maggie Ayre
TUE 17:00 PM (m00107w2)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00107w4)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 The Birthday Cake Game (m00107w6)
Series 1
Episode 6
A brand new comedic quiz hosted by Richard Osman that poses one simple question - do you know how old people are? Part quiz show, part panel show, and sometimes part chat show - The Birthday Cake Game is always play-along and full of entertaining guesses, with some surprising take home facts.
The trio joining Richard this week, battling to prove they're the best at working out ages and to take home the coveted birthday cake, are Suzi Ruffell, Andrew Hunter Murray and Sophie Duker. Tune in to find out who comes out on top and see if you can beat the players and score higher at home.
Production Manager: Ellie Threlfall
Production Executive: Gemma Whitford
Producer: Tamara Gilder
A Remarkable production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m00107w8)
Ben is desperate to impress and Amy bares her soul
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m00107wb)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m00107wd)
Award-winning current affairs documentary series.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m00107wg)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted
TUE 21:00 Inside Health (m00107wj)
A weekly quest to demystify the health issues that perplex us.
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (m00107v8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m00107wl)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
TUE 22:45 The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (m00107vl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
TUE 23:00 Fortunately... with Fi and Jane (m00107wn)
205. Paddling Pools and Remaining Desirable, with your Emails.
On this week's edition of the Fortunately podcast, Fi and Jane rifle through some interesting listener emails from the past month. Correspondences cover DIY mishaps, whip rounds for babies, international goodbyes and much much more. Before they get to the missives Fi and Jane reveal their long awaited opinions on ABBA's holographic revival.
Get in touch: fortunately.podcast@bbc.co.uk
TUE 23:30 Mastertapes (b04svfs3)
Series 4
The Boomtown Rats (the B-Side)
John Wilson continues with his new series in which he 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. Each edition includes two episodes, with John initially quizzing the artist about the album in question, and then, in the B-side, the audience puts the questions. Both editions feature exclusive live performances.
Programme 8, the B-side. Having discussed the making of "A Tonic For The Troops", their 1978 hit album, Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats respond to questions from the audience and performs acoustic live versions of some of the tracks from the album which brought them their first Number 1 single with 'Rat Trap'.
Producer: Paul Kobrak
WEDNESDAY 06 OCTOBER 2021
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m00107wq)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
WED 00:30 George III by Andrew Roberts (m00107vd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00107ws)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00107wv)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m00107wx)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (m00107wz)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m00107x1)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Rev Lynne Gibson.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY 6TH OCTOBER 2021
Good morning.
‘What do you think the word ‘compassion’ means?’ I asked a group of children recently, as we explored the story of the Good Samaritan.
‘It means having a good heart…being kind…it means not leaving anyone out’. In the innocence of childhood, their answers were clear. They understood the purpose of a parable, and that the Samaritan represented the ‘other’, whoever the other might be for us.
They grasp that loving God and loving our neighbour mean just that.
In that childlike faith, being open to God means talking the talk as well as walking the walk.
The God of our childhoods can however be portrayed as an unfortunate cross between a benign Santa Claus on a good day, and an angry thundering judge on a bad day – and yet the faith of a child, the integrity of a child’s faith, can still challenge us.
There is none of the quoting of intractable Bible verses in support of hard-line moral or ethical stances.
Children, in spite of that strange image of God that we implant in their imaginations, haven’t yet learned to abandon their understanding of being made in the image of a loving, gracious, compassionate God. They haven’t moved to creating God in their own image, as we tend to do.
Our grown-up God is often one who speaks only the words we want to hear,
His hardest and harshest words are those that we like to quote, perhaps out of context, in support of our most narrow and unforgiving views of the ‘other’.
The god of the extremist of every hue, is a far cry from the God of grace and love we actually encounter in the pages of Scripture, the God of compassion, the God, who, as 9-year-old Lily declared, ‘wouldn’t leave anyone out’.
God of Love, give us love in our thinking, in our doing and in our very being today, Amen.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m00107x3)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03bkdpz)
Pink-Footed Goose
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Pink-Footed Goose. To see and hear a skein of pink-footed geese as they fly from their roost on coastal mudflats to feed inland is a stirring experience. In winter the British Isles hosts well over half the global population of pinkfeet.
WED 06:00 Today (m001089t)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 More or Less (m00106kz)
Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics used in everyday life.
WED 09:30 Four Thought (m00106mx)
Thought-provoking talks in which speakers explore original ideas about culture and society
WED 09:45 George III by Andrew Roberts (m001089w)
3: Unrest in North America
Long portrayed by historians and writers across the centuries as one of England’s most disastrous of kings, Andrew Roberts’ new meticulously researched biography presents quite another view. Here is a monarch of intelligence, benevolence, devoted to his country and his family, a great patron of the arts and science who helped steer the country through domestic political and global storms.
Professor Andrew Roberts is one of Britain’s best-selling historians and his multi-award-winning works include studies of Churchill, Napoleon, and former Prime Minister the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury. Following the publication in 2007 of A History of the English Speaking Peoples Since 1900, he was invited to deliver the highly prestigious White House Lecture. Andrew Roberts is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Historical Society and has held many academic chairs and fellowships. He is currently Visiting Professor Department of War Studies King’s College London, and the Roger and Martha Mertz Visiting Research Fellow, The Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He is an accomplished broadcaster, in particular as a television commentator for major royal and state occasions.
Ben Miller is an actor, comedian and best-selling children’s author. Having abandoned his PhD in Quantum Physics, his comedy partnership with Alexander Armstrong landed him series on BBC Radio 4 and Channel 4. He is now very well known as a screen actor including, on television, lead roles in Professor T (ITV), Bridgerton (Netflix) and Death in Paradise (BBC). On the big screen he starred in the Johnny English series.
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Read by Ben Miller
Produced by Caroline Raphael
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001089y)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
WED 11:00 White Mischief (m00106by)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Monday]
WED 11:30 What's Funny About ... (m00108b0)
Series 2
3. Sally Phillips & Victoria Pile on Smack The Pony
TV veterans Peter Fincham and Jon Plowman talk to the writers, producers, and performers behind Britain’s biggest TV comedy hits, and hear the inside story of how they brought their programmes to the screen.
In this episode of the new series of What’s Funny About… Peter Fincham and Jon Plowman talk to Sally Phillips and Victoria Pile, who variously created, wrote, and starred in the award-winning sketch show Smack The Pony
When Smack The Pony arrived on Channel 4 in 1999, the critics talked about it being a “female” sketch show. Which was right in as much as it starred and was run by women, and it pushed back against the male gaze which had so dominated the world of British comedy for so long.
But of course, it also rather missed the point – it wasn’t a female sketch show. It was a brilliant, edgy, silly, and gloriously funny sketch show.
Victoria and Sally discuss the challenges the show faced on its journey from a small idea pitched (by a man!) at a fancy Park Lane supper, to its BAFTA and Emmy success. They talk us through some of their favourite sketches and reveal how they created their vast array of characters. And they talk about the possibility of more episodes of Smack The Pony finding their way on to our screens.
Produced by Owen Braben.
WED 12:00 News Summary (m00108b2)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 12:04 The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (m00108b4)
Episode Three
After Hanna turns up at the pool, she leaves without saying goodbye.
After a chance meeting in the street, 15-year-old Michael Berg begins a love affair with an older woman, Hanna. He visits her apartment after school, where they fall into a ritual of bathing together, making love and reading books (which Hanna asks Michael to read aloud to her during their hours together). As time goes on, Michael grapples with his guilt over keeping the relationship secret from his friends and family. And then one day, without warning, Hanna disappears from the city, leaving no forwarding address.
Years later, Michael will see Hanna again - in a courtroom. He is now a law student and Hanna is one of the defendants in a Nazi war crimes trial - one of a group of former concentration camp guards. As he watches the trial, he realises Hanna has been hiding a secret her whole life. A secret of which only he is aware.
A parable about the post-WWII generation in Germany grappling with questions of guilt, revulsion and shame; and of personal and collective responsibility. "What should our second generation have done, what should it do with the knowledge of the horrors of the extermination of the Jews?"
Bernhard Schlink was born in Germany in 1944. A professor emeritus of law at Humboldt University, Berlin, and Cardozo Law School, New York, he was also a practicing judge. He is the author of several prize-winning books including Olga, The Woman on the Stairs and Flights of Love. The Reader was made into an Oscar-winning film starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes. He lives in New York and Berlin.
Read by Rupert Wickham
Abridged by Sara Davies
Produced in Bristol by Mair Bosworth and Mary Ward-Lowery for BBC Audio
WED 12:18 You and Yours (m00108b6)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
WED 12:57 Weather (m00108b8)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m00108bb)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
WED 13:45 A Home of Our Own (m00108bd)
Lilley Farm Oast House, Kent
Every home has a story to tell about Britain's housing crisis. Lynsey Hanley looks at controversial proposals for a large housing development surrounding Ian and Angela's converted oast house in Tudeley, Kent.
When Ian and Angela first viewed Lilley Farm Oast House in 1986, it was love at first sight. Set in the Greenbelt, in a landscape of orchards and hop fields, it took just ten minutes to decide they were going to buy the property.
Now there are proposals to build thousands of houses on the land immediately surrounding them. Ian and Angela have come together with other locals to fight the plan.
House historian Melanie Backe-Hansen explores the history of Lilley Farm Oast House and Professor Paul Cheshire of the London School of Economics explores the dilemma of building on Greenbelt land.
Producer: Laurence Grissell
WED 14:00 The Archers (m00107w8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 The National (m000bg3r)
Episode 3
by Sarah Wooley
Plans for the opening of the new National Theatre building are threatened by construction delays and industrial action. Meanwhile, new Artistic Director, Peter Hall, faces criticism from inside the organisation itself.
This drama is based on real events but includes some invented scenes and dialogue
Peter Hall . . . Sam Troughton
Sir Max Rayne . . . Clive Hayward
Harold Pinter . . . Paul Ritter
John Goodwin . . . Neil McCaul
Sir Laurence Olivier . . . Robert Glenister
Lord Goodman . . . Jon Glover
Diana Boddington . . . Scarlett Courtney
Simon Replh . . . Will Kirk
Strike Leader . . . Rick Warden
Contractor . . . Greg Jones
Taxi Driver . . . Adam Courting
Directed by Marc Beeby
WED 15:00 Money Box (m00108bg)
Energy Prices
As temperatures drop and energy prices rise we're talking about bills, energy providers and switching on Wednesday's Money Box Live.
What are your rights if your energy supplier stops trading? What happens about credits you’ve built up or money you owe? Do you have a say about the new tariff you’re moved to and is financial support available if you’re worried about paying your bills?
We’d love to hear your energy stories, questions and views so e-mail moneybox@bbc.co.uk now. Please include a phone number if you’d like to chat to presenter Adam Shaw and guests on Wednesday.
Presenter: Adam Shaw
Producer: Diane Richardson
Editor: Emma Rippon
WED 15:30 Inside Health (m00107wj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (m00108bj)
Laurie Taylor explores the latest research into how society works.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (m00108bl)
Social media, anti-social media, breaking news, faking news: this is the programme about a revolution in media.
WED 17:00 PM (m00108bn)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00108bq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 The Cold Swedish Winter (b092gb3r)
Series 3
Summer: New Swedes
Edinburgh Comedy award winner Adam Riches stars as the bemused and culturally challenged comedian abroad - recorded in Sweden with a cast of the country's most popular comedy actors, and written by Danny Robins.
It's three years since Geoff moved to the tiny north Swedish town of Yxsjö with his girlfriend Linda (Sissela Benn from the Swedish version of The Office). It has been quite a culture shock and they've been through a lot in three years - rotting herring, moose and bears, battles with language, perfect ex-boyfriends and ice hockey, the birth of a son, a marriage proposal and a runaway hot air balloon.
In this third series, Geoff is faced with a road trip south with his disturbingly loved up parents-in-law, the vagaries of the Swedish immigration system, advanced Swedish lessons and the surprising generosity of the benefit system.
Episode 2:
Geoff's father-in-law Sten (Thomas Orredson) sponsors Ashkan, a young refugee from Afghanistan, who has applied for asylum. Was Trump right? Is Sweden being overwhelmed by refugees? Why is Sten friends with a Swedish cowboy, played by the original Wallnder, Krister Henriksson? And is football the only truly international language?
Writer Danny Robins is the co-creator of Lenny Henry's sitcom Rudy's Rare Records. Ashkan is played by Afghan refugee teenager Ajmal Shamsi.
Writer: Danny Robins
Director: Frank Stirling
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 19:00 The Archers (m00108bs)
Vince is in the doghouse and Jazzer seeks an escape.
WED 19:15 Front Row (m00108bv)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
WED 20:00 Bringing Up Britain (m00108bx)
Series 14
Bad Romance
What do you do if your teenage daughter is sending nudes to her untrustworthy and coercive boyfriend?
Anjula Mutanda asks how we can help the young negotiate the complexities of romantic and sexual relationships.
Eleanor's first boyfriend said he had deleted the nude photographs he had persuaded her to send. She was slut shamed and traumatised at school, withdrawing from lessons and self-harming. She moved schools but he sent them to her new classmates; she was blackmailed by strangers and didn't know where to turn for help.
Anjula asks to what extent these toxic relationships are now normalised amongst teens. It is rare to find a girl who hasn't been asked for nude photos or sent dick pics. Possessiveness is now framed as romantic, and in a recent Safe Lives survey, 70% of teenagers said they had seen behaviour that worried them in their friends' relationships.
Exploring how to spot unhealthy behaviour, how to talk to the young about nudes, sex and consent and the surprisingly positive role of the media, Anjula is joined by Founder of Big Talk Education, Lynette Smith; Susie Hay, psychotherapist and Safe Lives' Head of Research, Evaluation and Analysis; Kaitlynn Mendes, Associate Professor Of Sociology at Western University; Tanya Horeck, Associate Professor in Film, Media and Culture at Anglia Ruskin University and the team from the arts charity Tender.
Producer: Sarah Bowen
WED 20:45 Four Thought (m00106mx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:30 today]
WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (m00107vx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
15:30 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 The Media Show (m00108bl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m00108bz)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
WED 22:45 The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (m00108b4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
WED 23:00 Njambi McGrath: Becoming Njambi (m00108c1)
Confrontation
Kenyan-born comedian Njambi McGrath goes on a challenging journey of self-discovery, as she traces the roots of her upbringing and the British influences that shaped her life.
In this episode, Njambi revisits the confrontations that changed her and her families lives forever, before moving to Britain and engaging in an all too familiar culture.
Produced by Julia Sutherland
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:15 Tarot: Soundbleed (m00108c3)
Episode 1
Tarot: Soundbleed is the brainchild of multi-award winning sketch supergroup Tarot, which unites Gein's Family Giftshop and Goose, alongside stand-up and writer Kiri Pritchard-McLean.
In August 2019, Tarot were the 5th best-reviewed act in Edinburgh, the fourth best show of the year according to The List, and the best show of the year according to Chortle. The Guardian called it 'bark-out-loud funny', and The Telegraph called it 'hilarious'. Throughout their richly soundscaped first series, Soundbleed harnesses the group's inventive writing, rapid gag rate and fine ear for character. In Episode One we hear an unrelaxing meditation session, a disaster at a joust and, worst of all, someone gets a guitar out at a party.
Written and Performed by Adam Drake, Edward Easton, Kath Hughes, Ben Rowse and Kiri Pritchard-McLean.
Producer: Hayley Sterling
Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Sound Editor: Chris Maclean
A BBC Studios Production.
WED 23:30 Mastertapes (b04tj8nt)
Series 4
Noel Gallagher (the A-Side)
John Wilson continues with the latest series of Mastertapes, in which he 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. Each edition includes two episodes, with John initially quizzing the artist about the album in question, and then, in the B-side, the audience puts the questions. Both editions feature exclusive live performances.
Programme 9, A-side. 'Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds' with Noel Gallagher
In 2009 Noel Gallagher left Oasis – one of the seminal bands of the Britpop era with seven multi-platinum albums including: 'Definitely Maybe', '(What's The Story) Morning Glory?' and 'Be Here Now' – which became the fastest selling album in UK chart history. Two years later Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds also went to Number 1 in the UK with tracks like "Everybody's On the Run", "AKA... What A Life!" and "The Death of You and Me". Praised for its psychedelic tinges and eternal themes of love, loss and hope, it's been described as the best collection of songs "since his Morning Glory days".
With tracks inspired by New Orleans ragtime rhythms and Ennio Morricone-like strings, it put paid to rumours that its creator entered into a state of inertia after the end of Oasis. Noel Gallagher said of the album: "I won't criticize anything about Oasis because I loved being in that band and I was in charge of it, but there was always the feeling: how will this go down in Wembley, with 70,000 people braying for good times? This time I didn't have to think about that. I've got a guy playing wine glasses on one song, a saw on another. This is not Oasis."
Producer: Paul Kobrak
THURSDAY 07 OCTOBER 2021
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m00108c6)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
THU 00:30 George III by Andrew Roberts (m001089w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00108c8)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00108cb)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m00108cd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (m00108cg)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m00108cj)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Rev Lynne Gibson.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY 7TH OCTOBER 2021
Good morning.
Like many girls of my generation, I grew up reading ‘Anne of Green Gables’ and all of the subsequent books, so it is a great joy to me that my brother and his family now live on Prince Edward Island, where the books are set, and the author lived. The climate is temperate, similar to our own, so it’s easy to understand Anne’s excited exclamation, ‘I’m so glad that I live in a world where there Octobers.’
I have to confess that autumn is my favourite season- its colours, the sounds of crisp leaves underfoot, the smells of harvest thanksgiving.
And yet I don’t know that I feel the excitement of Anne of Green Gables this year- and I don’t believe I’m alone in that. As we alternate between stepping out in hope, and scurrying back in anxiety, we’re living in a kind of survival mode. We’re getting by – but where is our joy?
We seem to be exhausted with that combination of worry and yearning for better days. We are weighed down with our endless thoughts and fears. And so maybe Autumn is our teacher. Maybe, as the leaves fall from the trees around us, stripping themselves of all that is dead and weighing them down, it is our annual reminder to let go.
We may not be able to divest ourselves of everything that would hold us back – we’re not in control of all that is weighing us down. But we can let go of the need to have answers to everything. We can shed those attitudes that hold us back, the burden of unfulfilled promises and unexpected disappointments and start to grow towards the light.
As we crunch through the dead leaves of October under our feet, we will find joy in the small things.
Lord of our transformation, help us to cast all of our cares upon you, and to find new joy in your world, Amen
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m00108cl)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03dx8yf)
Black-tailed Godwit
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Martin Hughes-Games presents the Black-Tailed Godwit. A black-tailed godwit in its summer finery is a stunningly attractive bird, russet brown with a long orange and black bill. A few pairs of black-tailed godwits breed in the UK, most of them in damp grazing meadows such as the Ouse Washes in East Anglia. When breeding is over the male and female split up and spend the winter months apart, often in widely separated locations.
THU 06:00 Today (m00108gz)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m00108h1)
The Manhattan Project
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the race to build an atom bomb in the USA during World War Two. Before the war, scientists in Germany had discovered the potential of nuclear fission and scientists in Britain soon argued that this could be used to make an atom bomb, against which there could be no defence other than to own one. The fear among the Allies was that, with its head start, Germany might develop the bomb first and, unmatched, use it on its enemies. The USA took up the challenge in a huge engineering project led by General Groves and Robert Oppenheimer and, once the first bomb had been exploded at Los Alamos in July 1945, it appeared inevitable that the next ones would be used against Japan with devastating results.
The image above is of Robert Oppenheimer and General Groves examining the remains of one the bases of the steel test tower, at the atomic bomb Trinity Test site, in September 1945.
With
Bruce Cameron Reed
The Charles A. Dana Professor of Physics Emeritus at Alma College, Michigan
Cynthia Kelly
Founder and President of the Atomic Heritage Foundation
And
Frank Close
Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford
Producer: Simon Tillotson
THU 09:45 George III by Andrew Roberts (m00108jp)
4: The King Falls Ill, Again
Long portrayed by historians and writers across the centuries as one of England’s most disastrous of kings, Andrew Roberts’ new meticulously researched biography presents quite another view. Here is a monarch of intelligence, benevolence, devoted to his country and his family, a great patron of the arts and science who helped steer the country through domestic political and global storms.
Professor Andrew Roberts is one of Britain’s best-selling historians and his multi-award-winning works include studies of Churchill, Napoleon, and former Prime Minister the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury. Following the publication in 2007 of A History of the English Speaking Peoples Since 1900, he was invited to deliver the highly prestigious White House Lecture. Andrew Roberts is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Historical Society and has held many academic chairs and fellowships. He is currently Visiting Professor Department of War Studies King’s College London, and the Roger and Martha Mertz Visiting Research Fellow, The Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He is an accomplished broadcaster, in particular as a television commentator for major royal and state occasions.
Ben Miller is an actor, comedian and best-selling children’s author. Having abandoned his PhD in Quantum Physics, his comedy partnership with Alexander Armstrong landed him series on BBC Radio 4 and Channel 4. He is now very well known as a screen actor including, on television, lead roles in Professor T (ITV), Bridgerton (Netflix) and Death in Paradise (BBC). On the big screen he starred in the Johnny English series.
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Read by Ben Miller
Produced by Caroline Raphael
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m00108h5)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (m00108h7)
Insight, and analysis from BBC correspondents around the world
THU 11:30 The Dreams We Live Inside (m00108h9)
Dreams in the Air
What do we ask for and what do we receive from the built environment? Engineer Roma Agrawal explores the ways in which the dreams and ideals of architects and designers are experienced, co-created and changed by the people who occupy their buildings.
Roma explores a vision for post-war social housing that aims to bring lively street life to the air through generous elevated walkways called Streets in the Sky. At Sheffield’s Park Hill estate, we learn how Alison and Peter Smithson’s vision of building bustling communities at height is experienced by residents Dana and Tamara to understand how these spaces can facilitate connection and community among the towering raw concrete. Professor Ben Highmore shares the tenets of new brutalism, the building style that centred the provision of social housing, and brought modest and honest raw materials to the fore.
Stopping over in Singapore where super-high rises are attempting a similar feat with gardens, bridges and terraces in the sky, Roma considers the role of building at height in places where high density social housing is the norm, and we hear from architect Peng Beng Khoo, whose design for the Pinnacle@Duxton housing scheme includes sky gardens and terraces for residents, and the public on the 26th and 50th floor. Urbanist Ming Cheng reflects on whether similar schemes could ever be feasible in the UK.
With Dana Abdulkarim and Tamara Zoe, Park Hill residents; Ben Highmore, Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Sussex; Ming Cheng, Urbanist and Director of Urban Architecture at the London School of Architecture; and Peng Beng Khoo, architect and Director of ARC Studio.
Presenter: Roma Agrawal
Producer: Mae-Li Evans
Researcher: Nadia Mehdi
Executive Producer: Katherine Godfrey
Music and Sound Design by Phil Smith
Mix by Nigel Appleton
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4
THU 12:00 News Summary (m00108xk)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 12:04 The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (m00108hf)
Episode Four
Hanna has incriminated herself in court. But why?
After a chance meeting in the street, 15-year-old Michael Berg begins a love affair with an older woman, Hanna. He visits her apartment after school, where they fall into a ritual of bathing together, making love and reading books (which Hanna asks Michael to read aloud to her during their hours together). As time goes on, Michael grapples with his guilt over keeping the relationship secret from his friends and family. And then one day, without warning, Hanna disappears from the city, leaving no forwarding address.
Years later, Michael will see Hanna again - in a courtroom. He is now a law student and Hanna is one of the defendants in a Nazi war crimes trial - one of a group of former concentration camp guards. As he watches the trial, he realises Hanna has been hiding a secret her whole life. A secret of which only he is aware.
A parable about the post-WWII generation in Germany grappling with questions of guilt, revulsion and shame; and of personal and collective responsibility. "What should our second generation have done, what should it do with the knowledge of the horrors of the extermination of the Jews?"
Bernhard Schlink was born in Germany in 1944. A professor emeritus of law at Humboldt University, Berlin, and Cardozo Law School, New York, he was also a practicing judge. He is the author of several prize-winning books including Olga, The Woman on the Stairs and Flights of Love. The Reader was made into an Oscar-winning film starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes. He lives in New York and Berlin.
Read by Rupert Wickham
Abridged by Sara Davies
Produced in Bristol by Mair Bosworth and Mary Ward-Lowery for BBC Audio
THU 12:18 You and Yours (m00108hh)
News and discussion of consumer affairs.
THU 12:57 Weather (m00108hk)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m00108hm)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
THU 13:45 A Home of Our Own (m00108hp)
Black's Gate Crescent, Belfast
Lynsey Hanley visits 28-year-old Katrina who's just moved into her brand new house in west Belfast, an affordable home built on a brownfield site.
Katrina is thrilled with her new three-bed home. Constructed on the the former Visteon car manufacturing site, the Black's Gate development features hundred of new affordable homes in an area with a significant shortage of homes.
Every home has a story to tell about the UK's housing crisis. Old industrial sites appear to offer an answer to Britain's housing shortage. But as Lynsey discovers speaking to the site's developer, Radius Housing, building on brownfield sites is not without its challenges.
House historian Melanie Backe-Hansen looks at the history of the site, and Professor Paul Cheshire of the London School of Economics looks at the issues surrounding building on industrial land.
Producer: Laurence Grissell
THU 14:00 The Archers (m00108bs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 The Attendant (m00108hr)
Frankenstein
Strange things happen when you shake your hard-boiled egg in a packet of crushed up Monster Munch. A hilarious, unorthodox love story set on the night shift at a petrol station.
Alex is desperate to find someone to share his life with, but too scared to do anything about it. A film-obsessive, he works the night shift at an isolated petrol station on the outskirts of a two-bit town. Awkward, and with no real friends to speak of, he confides in his only ‘colleague’ - a smiley-faced vacuum cleaner named Keith, whose voice only Alex can hear.
Ella is a cycling-mad woman of action, prepared for anything and curious about everything. One stormy night, by chance, their lives intersect. These two lonely souls are made for each other, even if they don’t know it. This is their story.
Tonight, Keith (a raconteur of relationships with a variety of household appliances) suggests that they build a customer out of the recycling for Alex to practice his conversation skills on. A storm is raging outside. Strange electrical pulses keep blowing the station’s fuse-box. What could possibly go wrong?
Cast:
Alex (and Second Creation)……..…………………………….…….Will Merrick
Ella (and Female Creation)……….…………………………..………Patricia Allison
Keith and the ‘How To..’ Tapes......................................Kenneth Collard
Written and created by The Cullen Brothers
Script Editor: Abigail Youngman
Producers: Alison Crawford and Mary Ward-Lowery
Sound Design: Ilse Lademann
Includes original music by Tom Constantine
Director: Alison Crawford
THU 14:45 The Things We Leave Behind (m000vy2b)
Part 1. The Spoons
A five-part series specially written for Radio 4 by Mary Paulson-Ellis.
The Things We Leave Behind tells the story of a life in five objects. Starting near the end of her life and moving backwards in time, the defining moments of Rosalind Goddard’s life are revealed through seemingly random accumulated items.
Read by Alexandra Mathie.
Producer - Gaynor Macfarlane
THU 15:00 Ramblings (m00108hv)
The Slate Island of Seil
Clare crosses the famous ‘Bridge over the Atlantic’ for a ramble on the island of Seil. Her guide is the writer, educator, and director of the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics, Norrie Bissell. Geopoetics is described as “creatively expressing the earth” and is critical of the western way of thinking which separates humans from the rest of the natural world. Norrie has also published a novel, ‘Barnhill’, about George Orwell’s final years on the relatively nearby Island of Jura where he wrote 1984.
Approximately twelve miles south of Oban, Seil is a small island separated from the mainland by the narrowest of sea channels. It became known as one of the ‘slate islands’ thanks to its slate rock deposits which were quarried and used to ‘roof the world’. Norrie and Clare begin their walk on the mainland side of the bridge, at Grid Ref NM 785 196.
Please scroll down to the 'related links' box on the Ramblings webpage for more info.
Presenter: Clare Balding
Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Karen Gregor
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m00107bb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Bookclub (m00107c4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry (m00108hx)
Series 18
The Guiding Hound
How do guide dogs know where they're going? It's not like their handler whispers in their ear and asks to go to the pharmacy, maybe the toothpaste aisle. So how does it work? asks Charlotte, aged 42.
Dogs and humans have gone paw in hand for thousands of years. Historic and genetic evidence shows we’ve shaped each other's existence over millennia. But dogs were only first trained as guides for blind people in the UK 90 years ago. What’s the biology behind this extraordinary partnership? Hannah heads to Guide Dogs UK’s training school in Royal Leamington Spa. She meets up with expert Graham Kensett to find out what it takes to make a guide dog from nose to tail, starting from before birth and following the life course through to retirement.
Hannah also meets the delightful Wendy and Wilmott, a German shepherd and a retriever cross. Despite both still growing into their ears, they show her their already extraordinary skill set, from tackling obstacle courses to safely crossing roads. Cool, calm, patient, unflappable: Guide dogs are the astronauts of the canine world. But, as trainer Jenna explains, it’s all in the partnership with the owner, who needs to do plenty of work in terms of training and learning routes to journey in harmony with their furry guide.
Richard Lane has owned guide dogs for over 25 years, and confirms this first hand. He reveals just how he gets to the toothpaste aisle, and tells Adam how at its peak a partnership can navigate London Waterloo station better than some sighted people, even at rush hour. Richard also explains how deeply felt the bond that forms between owner and dog is, and describes the hardest part of guide dog ownership: Letting go at the end.
Presenters: Hannah Fry & Adam Rutherford
Producer: Jen Whyntie
A BBC Audio Science Unit production for BBC Radio 4
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m00108j0)
A weekly programme that illuminates the mysteries and challenges the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.
THU 17:00 PM (m00108j2)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00108j6)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 The Break (m000k3fp)
Series 3
2. Five Benches Outside Yatterby Hall, Flamford
Nothing could be more relaxing than a visit to a historical stately home - but this is Flamford. Andy (James Northcote) starts the day with a rather alarming haircut and it’s downhill from there on.
Jeff (Philip Jackson) drags Andy on a quest to local heritage site, Yatterby Hall, where he hopes to snag the autograph of his hero, Sir Trevor McDonald. On the way, they meet disgruntled and vengeful Big Blue Bus guide Glenn (Rasmus Hardiker), disgruntled and despondent primary school teacher Brendan Liversedge (Mark Benton) and several disgruntled and thin-skinned costumed museum guides.
Lording it over them all (quite literally) is Lord Yatterby, Johnny Hussey-Gore-Marshbanks (also Mark Benton), his conversationally-challenged wife Francesca (Shobna Gulati), his scheming dowager mother (Alison Steadman) and Alfred, his junkie son (Rasmus Hardiker).
Created and Written by Ian Brown and James Hendrie
Produced and Directed by Gordon Kennedy
An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4
THU 19:00 The Archers (m00106kn)
Writer, Tim Stimpson
Director, Peter Leslie Wild
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Ruth Archer ..... Felicity Finch
Ben Archer ..... Ben Norris
Josh Archer ..... Angus Imrie
Brian Aldridge ..... Charles Collingwood
Lilian Bellamy ..... Sunny Ormonde
Vince Casey ..... Tony Turner
Beth Casey ..... Rebecca Fuller
Justin Elliott ..... Simon Williams
Alan Franks ..... John Telfer
Amy Franks ..... Jennifer Daley
Martyn Gibson ..... Jon Glover
Tracy Horrobin ..... Susie Riddell
Chelsea Horrobin ..... Madeleine Leslay
Jim Lloyd ..... John Rowe
Jazzer McCreary ..... Ryan Kelly
Stella ..... Lucy Speed
THU 19:15 Front Row (m00108j8)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (m00108jb)
David Aaronovitch presents in-depth explainers on big issues in the news.
THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (m00108jd)
Evan Davis chairs a discussion providing insight into business from the people at the top.
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m00108j0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (m00108h1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m00108jh)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
THU 22:45 The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (m00108hf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
THU 23:00 Drop The Dead Panda (m00108jk)
East Asian-themed comedy show written by and starring East Asian performers, namely Evelyn Mok, Ken Cheng, Anna Leong Brophy and Kuan-Wen Huang; and featuring such sketches as "My Chinese Mum Wrote A Porno", "The Support Group for East Asian Stereotypes", and a Chinese take on "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares".
It is written by Ken Cheng, Evelyn Mok, Amille Jampa-Ngoen, Bruce Tang, Joanne Lau, and Vivian Xie.
Producer: Sam Michell
Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Sound Editor: Chris Maclean
A BBC Studios Production.
THU 23:30 Mastertapes (b04tjf5g)
Series 4
Noel Gallagher (the B-Side)
John Wilson continues with his new series in which he 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. Each edition includes two episodes, with John initially quizzing the artist about the album in question, and then, in the B-side, the audience puts the questions. Both editions feature exclusive live performances.
Programme 10, the B-side. Having discussed the making of 'Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds', his first studio album since leaving Oasis, Noel Gallagher responds to questions from the audience, performs acoustic live versions of some of the tracks from the album and looks forward to his next musical project "Chasing Yesterday" due out in 2015.
Producer: Paul Kobrak
FRIDAY 08 OCTOBER 2021
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m00108jm)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 00:30 George III by Andrew Roberts (m00108jp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00108jr)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00108jt)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m00108jw)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m00108jy)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m00108k0)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Rev Lynne Gibson.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY 8TH OCTOBER 2021
Good Morning
Most Saturday mornings, and on some summer evenings, you will find me in a boat on Belfast’s River Lagan. – not pootling around among the bullrushes, ‘Wind in the Willows’ style, but paddling as part of an amazing Dragon Boat team.
A dragon boat normally involves twenty paddlers and the name comes from China where in competitions dragon figures are placed on the prow. We’re still operating at half capacity for Covid safety, and so there are ten people in a boat, plus the helm at the rear.
Half a crew, but a whole team. The boat only moves through the water as the team work together. Beginners soon learn that while technique can always be perfected, timing is everything, as we strive to work in one single movement to propel the boat forward.
We’re a team of very different individuals from all walks of life, and all parts of our often-fractured land, but in the boat, we are all simply working in unity, leaving behind our worries and preoccupations as we step on the boat.
Unlike rowers, paddlers move forward- we don’t look behind as what has gone. We focus on the route ahead and the finishing line, distracted only by the occasional kingfisher or seal. We are a sociable bunch – but in the boat, the only voice that matters is that of the helm, instructing and guiding and encouraging us.
You’ve probably grasped it by now. What better metaphor for our life’s journey? What better illustration of how to leave behind our anxieties and concerns and live in the here and now. What better example of how to set aside differences and work together? And what better helm will we find today, than to listen to the voice of God, guiding, instructing and encouraging us on our way?
God our teacher and guide, may we hear your voice of calm and love as we navigate this day, Amen
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m00108k2)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b038qj54)
Greenshank
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Brett Westwood presents the Greenshank. The ringing triple call of a greenshank from a pool or marshy area is something to listen out for and a sure sign that autumn migration is under way. It's during their migration north that most of us meet greenshanks because in the UK they breed only in Scotland and even there, they are usually in the most remote bogs and mires of the Flow Country of Caithness and Sutherland.
FRI 06:00 Today (m00106jv)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m00106jx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 George III by Andrew Roberts (m00106m5)
5: France Declares War
Long portrayed by historians and writers across the centuries as one of England’s most disastrous of kings, Andrew Roberts’ new meticulously researched biography presents quite another view. Here is a monarch of intelligence, benevolence, devoted to his country and his family, a great patron of the arts and science who helped steer the country through domestic political and global storms.
Professor Andrew Roberts is one of Britain’s best-selling historians and his multi-award-winning works include studies of Churchill, Napoleon, and former Prime Minister the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury. Following the publication in 2007 of A History of the English Speaking Peoples Since 1900, he was invited to deliver the highly prestigious White House Lecture. Andrew Roberts is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Historical Society and has held many academic chairs and fellowships. He is currently Visiting Professor Department of War Studies King’s College London, and the Roger and Martha Mertz Visiting Research Fellow, The Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He is an accomplished broadcaster, in particular as a television commentator for major royal and state occasions.
Ben Miller is an actor, comedian and best-selling children’s author. Having abandoned his PhD in Quantum Physics, his comedy partnership with Alexander Armstrong landed him series on BBC Radio 4 and Channel 4. He is now very well known as a screen actor including, on television, lead roles in Professor T (ITV), Bridgerton (Netflix) and Death in Paradise (BBC). On the big screen he starred in the Johnny English series.
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Read by Ben Miller
Produced by Caroline Raphael
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m00106k1)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
FRI 11:00 The Young Farmers (m00106k3)
Lambing
A series of three programmes giving voice to the trials and triumphs of young farmers.
From springtime to harvest we follow three different groups of young people at the beginning of their farming lives.
It feels like a challenging time to be starting out as a farmer. Added to the usual demands are a mixture of concerns over meat-free diets, mental health awareness, industrial and automated farming methods, changing subsidies and the multifaceted problems of climate change and biodiversity loss. To say nothing of the ambiguities of international trade deals.
In the first programme, presented by Hannah Jackson - the Red Shepherdess - we accompany three young sheep farmers during their busiest period of the year: lambing.
Featuring Lucy Dickinson, Matthew Fearon and Ernie Richards
Producer: Martin Williams
FRI 11:30 Charlotte and Lillian (m00106k6)
Series 3
THE DOG
Charlotte (Helen Monks) and Lillian (Miriam Margolyes) are back, continuing with a Befriend the Elderly scheme despite not liking each other much. Both are convinced they’re doing the other a favour - Charlotte by providing company for a lonely old lady, Lillian by filling gaps on the CV of a self-absorbed millennial.
In this new series, Charlotte is ever eager to embrace the latest trends, from crowd funding and henna tattos to improved nutrition for the local community. She's also determined to get Lillian out of the house, where Lillian promptly reveals her unique take on the rules of the road, library membership and Charlotte’s preoccupation with what other people think of her.
Episode 2: The Dog
As a way of winning over Mo, a local dog owner (Kiell Smith-Bynoe), Charlotte is desperate to prove her love of all things canine. She lures Lillian into borrowing a dog - and promptly discovers that they're inseparable.
Miriam Margolyes is one of the most recognisable actresses working today. This year, at the age of 80, she has told her life story, which is being published as a memoir.
Helen Monks is the Co-Artistic Director of Lung Theatre, and the co-host of Bitchin', a podcast with Tilly Steele. She plays Shakespeare's daughter Susanna in Upstart Crow, and the young Caitlin Moran in Raised by Wolves.
Written by Kat Sommers.
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m00108yf)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:04 The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (m00106kb)
Episode Five
Hanna leaves the courtroom without looking back.
After a chance meeting in the street, 15-year-old Michael Berg begins a love affair with an older woman, Hanna. He visits her apartment after school, where they fall into a ritual of bathing together, making love and reading books (which Hanna asks Michael to read aloud to her during their hours together). As time goes on, Michael grapples with his guilt over keeping the relationship secret from his friends and family. And then one day, without warning, Hanna disappears from the city, leaving no forwarding address.
Years later, Michael will see Hanna again - in a courtroom. He is now a law student and Hanna is one of the defendants in a Nazi war crimes trial - one of a group of former concentration camp guards. As he watches the trial, he realises Hanna has been hiding a secret her whole life. A secret of which only he is aware.
A parable about the post-WWII generation in Germany grappling with questions of guilt, revulsion and shame; and of personal and collective responsibility. "What should our second generation have done, what should it do with the knowledge of the horrors of the extermination of the Jews?"
Bernhard Schlink was born in Germany in 1944. A professor emeritus of law at Humboldt University, Berlin, and Cardozo Law School, New York, he was also a practicing judge. He is the author of several prize-winning books including Olga, The Woman on the Stairs and Flights of Love. The Reader was made into an Oscar-winning film starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes. He lives in New York and Berlin.
Read by Rupert Wickham
Abridged by Sara Davies
Produced in Bristol by Mair Bosworth and Mary Ward-Lowery for BBC Audio
FRI 12:18 You and Yours (m00106kd)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
FRI 12:57 Weather (m00106kg)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m00106kj)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Jonny Dymond.
FRI 13:45 A Home of Our Own (m00106kl)
Garrick Street, Liverpool
Lynsey Hanley speaks to 39-year-old Chris who bought his house in Liverpool for just £1 and explores what his story tells us about the UK's housing crisis.
Every home has a story to tell about the UK's housing crisis. Chris purchased his Victorian terraced house from Liverpool City Council under their One Pound House scheme. The house was derelict after a regeneration scheme had been cancelled. Chris simply had to prove he had the money and the expertise to renovate the property. He's now living their with his partner, 38-year-old Emma, and they're expecting their first child. They love their home.
Melanie Backe-Hansen researches the history of Chris and Emma's home and Professor Paul Cheshire of the London School of Economics puts the story of the One Pound House scheme in context.
Producer: Laurence Grissell
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m00106kn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Nuremberg (m00106kq)
He Pointed to the Sky
The trial continues but British and American reporters are only interested in the gruesome stories. The camps, the slave labour ministry, the euthanasia programme. The German people either don’t believe the evidence or choose to ignore it. But they have to start paying attention, only then can the healing begin.
Seen through the eyes of Madeleine Jacob, a French Foreign correspondent, and Christa, the young German girl who works in the court cafeteria.
When Otto Ohlendorf, who led an SS Einsatzkommando, admits to shooting 90,000 Jews, Christa thinks it’s lies - if not, why don't the Americans just get on and execute them? The defendants find a range of limp excuses for their behaviour - they knew nothing, it was all Himmler (now dead), they had no choice. But the testimony of Hermann Graebe, a German engineer posted to occupied Ukraine, silences the courtroom and brings home to Christa the enormity of the Nazi crimes.
Cast:
Madeleine Jacob - ALEX KINGSTON
Christa - ROSIE SHEEHY
Hermann Graebe - HENRY GOODMAN
Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe - FORBES MASSON
Otto Ohlendorf - JONATHAN CULLEN
Daily Mirror Reporter - ANDREW WOODALL
New York Post Reporter - HARI DHILLON
Herald Tribune Reporter - CLIVE WOOD
Sir Geoffrey Lawrence - NICHOLAS WOODESON
John Amen - JOSEPH ALESSI
Roman Rudenko - NIGEL LINDSAY
Rudolf Hoess - JASPER BRITTON
Fritz Sauckel - MARK EDEL-HUNT
Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier - KATE PHILLIPS
Rudolf Hess - JOSEPH MYDELL
Charles Dubost and other roles - ILAN GOODMAN
Sound Designer - ADAM WOODHAMS
Studio Manager - MARK SMITH
Casting Director - GINNY SCHILLER
Original Score - METAPHOR MUSIC
Writer and Director - JONATHAN MYERSON
Producer - NICHOLAS NEWTON
A Promenade Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds
FRI 14:45 A History of Ghosts (m000nm64)
La Llorona
Illustration by Seonaid Mackay
'She was banished, condemned to wander the earth for all eternity, dressed in a long white veil, weeping and searching for her lost children. And if she can’t find them, perhaps she’ll take yours instead…'
The classic tale of La Llorona is the story of an irredeemable traitor, and monstrous mother. A woman who took a man into her bed, even though he had collonised her people's land, only to murder their children when he left her for a Spanish lady who was more useful to him in society. When she tried to enter heaven, she was turned away and condemned to forever search for the souls of her children.
Such a ghost is horrific, and yet La Llorona has evolved in a way that other ghosts simply cannot do. When a ghost story no longer serves a purpose in our culture, it dies off to be replaced with another, yet Kirsty Logan reveals how the Weeping Woman is fluid, and ever changeable, going from an ancient powerful goddess, to the arch traitor, to symbol of unity for a scattered people.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m00106ks)
GQT at Home
Kathy Clugston hosts the horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts. Matt Biggs, Bunny Guinness and James Wong are on hand to answer the gardening queries.
Producer - Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer - Bethany Hocken
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:45 New Frequencies (m00106kv)
Episode 2
A new series showcasing the work of writers between the ages of 16 and 21.
Part Two
A Piece Of Fabric by Eliyeh Iqbal
and
Festa Del Redentore by Cecilia Doran
Writers: Eliyeh Iqbal and Cecilia Doran
Reader: Vineeta Rishi
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m00106kx)
Matthew Bannister tells the life stories of people who have recently died, from the rich and famous to unsung but significant.
FRI 16:30 More or Less (m00106kz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Wednesday]
FRI 17:00 PM (m00106l1)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m00106l5)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (m00106l7)
Series 106
Episode 6
Andy Zaltzman presents a look back at the week's headlines.
FRI 19:00 Four Thought (b03hwbs0)
Series 4
Ambivalence: For and Against
Mark O'Connell argues that in an age of strong opinions, we should embrace ambivalence.
As a child, Mark's constitutional ambiguity meant his mother considered printing the phrase 'I might and I mightn't' on a t-shirt. Today, Mark's job as a writer for Slate magazine is to take strong positions. In this fascinating look at the role of ambiguity in our society, he attempts to square the circle - or should that be circle the square - in his determination to have the courage of his own ambivalence.
Producer: Giles Edwards.
FRI 19:15 Add to Playlist (m00106l9)
Episode 1
Add to Playlist takes us on a musical journey of discovery, exploring the web of connections between tracks across the breadth of all musical styles, from pop, rock, reggae and hip-hop to classical, jazz, folk and country.
Presenters Cerys Matthews and Jeffrey Boakye and their studio guests - music specialists including music director Kojo Samuel, who's worked with Stormzy, Rudimental and Pussycat Dolls - will unearth musical and thematic links that may well take you by surprise, with additional in-depth explorations of related music from other musicians and performers, as one track leads to another.
Ditch the computer algorithm as we offer an alternative playlist, offering five special tracks spanning genres, eras and continents. You’ll learn fascinating details about how the music is constructed, its history, tempo, rhythm, choice of key and use of instruments.
Which chord sequence links Beethoven to Britney? Which drum pattern can be found in the work of both Led Zeppelin and Beyoncé? And which one instrument, piece of technology or time signature, can bring together the music you love, hate or haven’t even heard yet?
The young and the not-so-young can enjoy the journey into the wonders of music, and there’ll be an accompanying playlist for them to explore more for themselves.
Find out all this and more and, who knows, you might even find your new favourite song.
Presenters Cerys Matthews and Jeffrey Boakye
Producer Jerome Weatherald
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m00106ld)
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from Nottingham Playhouse.
Producer: Camellia Sinclair
Lead broadcast engineer: Carwyn Griffith
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m00106lj)
Weekly reflections on topical issues from a range of contributors.
FRI 21:00 A Home of Our Own (m00106ln)
Omnibus Part 1
Lynsey Hanley explores Britain's broken housing market through the stories of five very different homes and their occupants.
Every one of Britain's 27 million homes has a story to tell about Britain's housing crisis and how it might be fixed.
In this omnibus episode, we visit Cornwall, Tooting, Kent, Belfast and Liverpool. Lynsey explores houses of every shape and size, new and old, right across the UK.
Producer: Laurence Grissell
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m00106ls)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
FRI 22:45 The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (m00106kb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
FRI 23:00 A Good Read (m00106lx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 The Delirium Wards (m000zsdn)
Ten years ago, in 2011, David Aaronovitch felt like he was losing his grip on reality. He'd been placed in a coma, after a surgery gone wrong. Now he was awake and in Intensive Care.
Every time he closed his eyes the inside of his eyelids would display a kaleidoscope of red, black and yellow violent cartoon images. Faces appeared before him like odd animation of computer game avatars. That was just the beginning. For the next four days and night David experienced what he describes as a "waking nightmare".
These types of hallucinations are called delirium and are a very common side effect of being placed in an induced coma.
Now the number of people experiencing delirium is on the rise. That's because those who are critically ill with Covid often have to be ventilated. While it helps their bodies fight the virus, and will often save their lives, the mental toll can be as serious as the physical one. Increasingly, patients are leaving hospital physically healed but mentally scarred.
In this powerful and immersive documentary David Aaronovitch hears from three people who have struggled with delirium, and shares his own experience.
Producer: Caitlin Smith
Executive Producer: Peter McManus
Researcher: Anna Miles
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
With thanks to Paul Henderson, Zara Slattery, Robin Hanbury-Tenison, ICU nurse Crystal Wilson and Dr Dorothy Wade of Barking Havering and Redbridge Universities Hospital Trust and North EAst London Foundation Trust.
Image courtesy of Zara Slattery.