The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Claire Tomalin's acclaimed biography of one of Britain's best loved novelists paints a portrait of a brilliant writer and a complex man. Today's themes are adulation and farewells.
Claire Tomalin's well-received biography of one of the nation's literary giants is broadcast to mark the 150th anniversary of his death in June 2020. Here Tomalin evocatively portrays Dickens as a writer charged with tremendous imagination and energy, enabling him to create characters who continue to endure in our popular culture from The Artful Dodger, Mr Pickwick, Pip and David Copperfield. He was also a hard-working journalist, a philanthropist, a supporter of social causes, and father of ten, and yet his genius also had a dark side.
Claire Tomalin was literary editor of the The New Statesman and then the Sunday Times before becoming a full time writer. Her biographies are award winning. The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft, won the Whitbread First Book Award, and Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self was Whitbread Book of the Year in 2002.
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
"Should I call you Kate ... or Philthy Delphia?"
Following the controversy provoked by the all-male shortlist for the BBC's sports personality of the year award, listener Kate Moorhead tells us about this weekend's first ever Roller Derby World Cup. The sport is, she says, "the fastest-growing in the world - and it's all female and all amateur". When Kate takes to the track she adopts her 'derby name' - Philthy Delphia.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
British Waterways is responsible for over two thousand miles of canals and navigable rivers across the country. Next year, it is just one of many bodies preparing to become a charity due to Government cuts. As part of this new status, the organisation is launching a recruitment drive for volunteers to train as lock keepers. Today's Open Country, is from Caen Hill locks in Devizes, one of the most impressive and iconic canals in the country. Jules Hudson finds out how important volunteers will be in maintaining our canals and what the future holds for British Waterways.
Charlotte discovers some of the hidden complexities of the soil and finds out how growing food can put it under pressure, at the National Soil Resources Institute in Bedfordshire. Professor Jane Rickson, from the Institute, discusses how tilling soils can lead to erosion and compaction, and we hear how some farmers are moving away from traditional ploughing to avoid these problems. Professor Rickson also explains that the Institute is searching for new fertilisers to replace those made using finite resources like minerals and natural gas. And, she reveals why she gets excited about earthworms.
Morning news and current affairs, with John Humphrys and James Naughtie, including:
John Prescott explains what is at stake at the current climate change conference in S Africa.
Should the Paralympic Games become part of the Olympics rather than be held separately?
Noah Stewart, Aoife Mannix, photojournalist Giles Duley, Parliament Choir, art teacher David Wood, Mel C's Inheritance Tracks
Richard Coles with rising opera star Noah Stewart, poet Aoife Mannix, the fashion photographer turned photojournalist who went to Afghanistan where he stepped on a landmine and lost three limbs, the art teacher who taught Young British Artists Damian Hirst and Marcus Harvey, the Parliament choir, and the Inheritance Tracks of Sporty Spice Girl Mel C.
John McCarthy meets scriptwriter Edward Canfor-Dumas who has just returned from Gambia where he was acting as a Commonwealth observer in the recent Presidential elections. He describes how even with a scrupulously correct voting process in the remote bush the outcome can still be influenced. John also talks to journalist Julia Horton who went trekking in Nepal on the trail of the Maoist guerillas and Leigh Banks for whom the Himalayas meant white water rafting.
David Owen Norris and guests listen to Oscar Wilde's favourite songs, in the room in the Cadogan Hotel, Knightsbridge, where he was arrested. The guests include Wilde's grandson, Merlin Holland, who has unearthed a whole series of popular songs about Wilde.
This was before his disgrace, while Wilde was a celebrity, and the songs are satirical but affectionate - we hear 'The Flippety Flop Man' and 'Quite Too Utterly Utter'. Other guests are Wilde scholar Owen Dudley Edwards and Franny Moyle, the author of the recent biography of Wilde's wife Constance.
Constance and Oscar gave great parties in their 'house beautiful' in Chelsea, and visitors would write poems - and songs - in their autograph books. David Owen Norris digs these out of the British Library, and discovers a song written by George Grossmith of 'Diary of a Nobody' fame - a song about a party, so we hear it, 'Keep on Talking.' Also from the autograph books comes a song about Mrs Wilde and her baby son; a now-forgotten side of Wilde, as a family man. We hear too the favourite song of Wilde's lover and nemesis 'Bosie', Alfred Lord Douglas, a Mozart aria about seduction, deception, and ruin.
Presenter David Owen Norris is a broadcaster, composer and concert pianist. He has arranged the songs, which are performed by Thomas Guthrie and jazz singer Gwyneth Herbert.
Who's ahead in the long bout between George Osborne and Ed Balls ? The clashes between the Chancellor and his Labour shadow are perhaps the most riveting at Westminster. Here, reflecting from the political ringside after the Autumn Statement, are Janan Ganesh of The Economist, and William Keegan of The Observer.
How reliable are economic predictions? Andrew Dilnot, former director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies. explains the art of economic forecasting on which politicians rely.
After Wednesday's public sector strike over pensions, the trades unions are considering their next move. What should it be? The former union leader Bill Morris and the blogger Dan Hodges weigh the chances of success.
Finally, how do you go about painting a picture of the Commons Speaker ? The artist, Brendan Kelly, reveals his approach in the week his picture of John Bercow was unveiled.
Being Italian is bad for your health! Well at least that's the contention from Bologna where winter is descending and a range of ailments, unknown to British correspondent Dany Mitzman, are making their presence felt! It's election time in the Democratic Republic of Congo and while you might expect the sounds of tear gas canisters being fired and angry argument about electoral fraud, Will Ross has encountered a more unexpected accompaniment: an orchestra playing Handel's Water Music! A bag of snakes tipped out in a government office in India - Craig Jeffrey says the incident's once again got the country talking about corruption. A book fair --and a beating up: Sara Sheridan in the United Arab Emirates on the issues surrounding the release from prison of a group of people accused of being disrespectful to the ruling family. And it might be chilly in Des Moines, Iowa, but the state's preparing for its moment in the political sunlight. It's time for the Iowa caucuses, critical for Republicans hoping to become their party's candidate for the White House.
On Money Box with Paul Lewis.
How some banks are charging the equivalent of thousands of per cent APR for lending us small sums over a short period. The British Banking Association says that there are better ways of covering short term credit for small amounts. And that it may be more cost effective to arrange an overdraft. Ben Carter reports. The show also hears from Eric Leenders from the BBA and from consumer campaigner Mike Dailly from the Govan Law Centre.
In his Autumn Statement this week the Chancellor George Osborne announced what the level of most state benefits will be from spring 2012. Against a background of record borrowing, it's a pretty mixed picture for people who receive state benefits. The basic state pension will rise next April by £
- the largest ever cash hike in the basic state pension. However research has shown that some pensioners who receive pension credit will get rather less than the £
announced. Mr Osborne also announced reductions to child tax credits and froze another part of the working tax credit system. Phil Agulnik from the benefits organisation Entitled To joins the programme.
Millions of people will have an extra year before they are automatically enrolled into a pension scheme at work. The new auto-enrolment scheme will start as planned in October 2012 for people working for large employers. But those with fewer than 50 employees will have at least a year longer to prepare and all employers will have another year before contributions rise to their final level. Pensions expert Malcolm McLean, from Barnett Waddingham looks at the implications of the Government announcement.
Money Box listeners have been in touch this week about a price hike by Orange, the mobile phone company. The majority of its contract customers have been sent a text saying that due to an increase in inflation, tariffs will increase by
% from January 2012. Orange points to a clause in its contracts that states as long as the company doesn't increase the tariff by more than the rate of inflation, which this doesn't, customers can't exit their contracts without paying a penalty. Consumer lawyer Ingrid Gubbay from Hausfeld and Co speaks to the show.
How clearly are pension trustees explaining the complex working of occupational schemes to their members? Money Box has been contacted by a retired member of the BT final salary scheme worried figures in her annual statement seemed to show that the cost managing and administering the scheme each year was costing almost a quarter of a billion pounds. Paul Lewis speaks to Roger Turner, General Secretary of the National Federation of Occupational Pensioners.
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are joined by Jon Holmes, Jan Ravens, Andrew Maxwell and Mitch Benn to scour this week's news for comedy.
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs a live panel discussion of news and politics from the Dallow Community Centre in Luton with Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt; Shadow Justice Secretary, Sadiq Khan; writer, Bonnie Greer; and Chairman of NBNK Investment bank and former chairman of Lloyds, Lord Levene.
Call Jonathan Dimbleby on 03700 100 444 or email any.answers@bbc.co.uk or tweet #bbcaq. Topics include reaction to the Autumn Statement this week?, Bank bonus culture, Does money buy happiness? Our place in Europe as the economic crisis deepens? And Jeremy Clarkson's comments on the public sector strikers - funny or offensive?
Comedy thriller by Paul Mendelson, set in the 1960s, featuring Scotland Yard's most unwanted man, Chief Inspector Wilfred Dover, and his long-suffering gofer, Sergeant McGregor. A young woman, Isabel Slatcher, has been in an irreversible coma for months after being shot outside her local church in a small northern town. Now she has been smothered - murdered. Who killed her? Was it the person that shot her and why have they waited until now to complete their evil crime?
Chief Inspector Dover ...... Kenneth Cranham
Sergeant McGregor ...... Stuart McQuarrie
Chief Constable Muckle ...... Philip Whitchurch
Mrs Muckle ...... Colleen Prendergast
Reverend Bonnington ...... Shaun Prendergast
Mrs Horsley ...... Geraldine McNulty
Violet ...... Debbie Arnold
Freddie Gash ...... Ross Adams
Muckle ...... Cesca Bonetti
This week Ken examines the life and music of Joe Henderson, the tenor saxophone star of both Verve & Blue Note Records. Born in Ohio in 1937 Joe Henderson taught himself to play at the young age of 9, later perfecting his craft at college and university. By the time he was 25 he'd led his own band and joined a group with Kenny Dorham. Over the course of his career he went on to play with jazz greats such as Miles Davies and Herbie Hancock and even joined the jazz-rock band Blood, Sweat & Tears.
His own projects won several Grammys and in his later career he became something of a national star in America, even performing for Bill Clinton at his first presidential inauguration. He had a lovely lyrical style with a virtuosic technique and is widely regarded as one of the greatest improvisers in jazz.
Ken is joined in the studio by one of UK's leading saxophonists, Soweto Kinch.
Presented by Jane Garvey. Christmas knitwear, Haiti camps, Live music from Larkin Poe, Siblings - the longest bond and how does it change when it comes to caring for parents? We explore the causes of poor health care among the poorest women in society who fail to get the help they need and how honest should parents be with kids?
A fresh perspective on the day's news with sports headlines, presented by Carolyn Quinn.
Clive Anderson and guests with an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy.
Clive will be getting up close and personal with pop legend Jimmy Osmond, who topped the charts at the tender age of nine with 'Long Haired Lover From Liverpool' and has been performing with 'The Osmonds' for almost five decades. Jimmy talks to Clive about their final UK tour next year and how he'll soon be leading the cast of panto favourite 'Aladdin' in Swansea.
For those who have ever pondered what a bracket and a codpiece have in common, 'The Inky Fool', journalist, blogger and man of many words Mark Forsyth will be enlightening us about this and other etymological complexities at play in the English language. His book 'The Etymologicon' maps the secret labyrinth that lurks beneath our vocabulary.
Loose Ends Princess Allegra McEvedy will be trying on a glass slipper and talking to comic, presenter and handsome Prince Hardeep Singh Kohli about writing 'Bollywood Cinderella' for cross-cultural theatre Tara Arts.
This much loved Christmas classic has been spiced up with an Indian twist. Will Allegra escape her fate and go to the Bollywood Ball? Oh no she won't!...Oh yes she will!
Following the BAFTA-nominated success of 'Dead Set', journalist and screen burner Charlie Brooker returns to Channel 4 with three satirical, blackly comic dramas which tap into the collective unease of the modern world. Charlie wrote two of the three 'Black Mirror' episodes which start on 4th December at
Tragi-comic pop artist Liz Green will be performing 'Bad Medicine' from her album 'O! Devotion!' And Lightspeed Champion Devonté Hynes celebrates his solo return as Blood Orange and will be performing 'Bad Girls' from his album 'Coastal Grooves'.
Profile this week takes a look at the Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour who has surprised many by announcing he is to quit music for a career in politics. The son of a car mechanic, N'Dour went on to become one of the most influential recording artists in the world. With presidential elections taking place in Senegal next February, Edward Stourton asks if N'Dour has what it takes to succeed on the political stage.
Tom Sutcliffe and his guests the writers Liz Jensen and Natalie Haynes and comedian David Schneider review the week's cultural highlights including Martin Scorsese's film Hugo
Hugo is Martin Scorsese's first 3D film and also his first film for children. It stars Asa Butterfield as a young boy living in a Paris train station, stealing clockwork components from a toy shop owner (Ben Kingsley) to try and repair the automaton he inherited from his late father and evading the attempts of the station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) to send him to the orphanage. But the man in the toy shop turns out to be cinematic pioneer Georges Melies and Hugo's life takes an unexpected turn.
Fabrice Humbert's novel The Origins of Violence won the inaugural French Orange Prize when it was originally published in France in 2009. The narrator is a teacher who has all of his assumptions about his family and his background shaken when he visits the museum at Buchenwald and notices a prisoner in one of the photographs who looks a lot like his father.
After his critical success as Othello two years ago, Lenny Henry returns to Shakespeare in Dominic Cooke's production of The Comedy of Errors at the National Theatre in London. The setting is modern, but the confusion surrounding two sets of identical twins remains the same.
Enlightened is an HBO series on Sky Atlantic that stars Laura Dern as Amy - a 40 something Californian woman who undergoes a troubled spiritual rebirth after a spectacular meltdown at her work. Dern's co-writer Mike White plays one of her new colleagues in the dismal data entry department to which she's demoted.
United Enemies: The Problem of Sculpture in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s is a new exhibition at the Henry Moore Foundation in Leeds which focuses on practitioners from that era from two courses at the St Martin's School of Art - one focusing on a conceptual approach and the other concerned with making objects. The exhibition shows how their ambitions overlapped and fed into larger art movements.
How did the notion of journalistic impartiality develop? Former ITN editor Stewart Purvis explores how the line that separates reporting from opinion - and even propaganda - has been drawn and redefined over the past 80 years. Through rare archive and through interviews with some of the twentieth century's best-known correspondents, he charts the move from wartime censorship and Cold War clashes between broadcasters and the Government to more authored styles of reporting including Martin Bell's famous 'journalism of attachment'.
Stewart Purvis is Professor of Television Journalism at City University, London. Newsreel historian Jeff Hulbert helped with the archive research for this programme. The producer is Helen Grady.
By Stefan Zweig. Dramatised for radio by Stephen Wyatt.
Stefan Zweig is a remarkable writer who had a remarkable life, but is not nearly as well known as he deserves to be, as Simon Gray discovered when he was attracted by the cover of his only novel, Beware of Pity.
Simon Gray took the book on holiday with him and used it as an escape from worrying about his cancer and the likely prognosis, "it being too good to read except with the closest attention" and he became immersed in the story of "a young man betrayed by his own unwonted impulses, his own nature........ it's the way that the novel single-mindedly, almost obsessively, illustrates and analyses the destructive power of a single emotion -if that's what pity is - that makes it unique, at least in my experience."
Simon Gray embarked on a dramatisation of the book for Radio 4, but it was unfinished at his death in 2008. Another writer, Clare McIntyre, was also attracted by the story and wrote a stage version, but she too died before it was completed. Stephen Wyatt has taken on the task of writing a two part radio version based on Clare McIntyre's material, which will be broadcast on Radio 4 on 27 November and 4 December, with a cast that includes Piers Wehner, Bryony Hannah, Ronald Pickup, Jasper Britton & Michael Jayston.
Anton Hofmiller ...... Piers Wehner
Edith ...... Bryony Hannah
Kekesfalva ...... Ronald Pickup
Dr Condor ....... Jasper Britton
Josef ...... Michael Jayston
Ilona ...... Mabel Clements
Ferencz ...... Jack Chedburn
Jozsi/Flowerseller ..... Tai Lawrence
The Apothecary ..... Jason Devoy
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
They're calling it the biggest strike in a generation. Around 2 million public sector workers are expected to walk out on Wednesday, including teachers, health workers and immigration staff. More than 20,000 schools face closure, coastguard services will be restricted, benefits centres shut and emergency plans have been put in place at Heathrow to cope with the cues for passport control. The strike is in protest at plans to make workers contribute an extra 3% towards their pension and raise the retirement age to 67. The strike comes a day after what's being called "Black Tuesday" when the Chancellor George Osborne reveals just how bad our national economic prospects are. Of course no one wants to work longer and pay more towards their pension, but state sector pensions cost £32 billion a year - more than the police, prisons and courts combined. In times of such extreme economic peril and austerity is the duty of all us - not just the bankers - to ask what are we entitled to get from the state? The majority of public sector pensioners are less than £5,000; hardly excessive, but from the perspective of the 65% of workers in the private sector who have no pension at all Wednesday's strike might look like greed. For a long time we assumed that increasing people's sense of entitlement - to benefits, core public services, decent pensions - was a sign of moral progress but should we instead think the reverse? That we need to lower people's sense of entitlement and tackle the culture of dependency not just to make the economy more dynamic and services more affordable, but to strengthen the moral sinews of society? When Europe is looking to China to bail it out perhaps it's time to listen to the words of Jin Liqun, the chairman of China's sovereign wealth fund, who's blamed the Eurozone problems on the accumulated troubles of the worn out welfare society that, in his words, encourages sloth and indolence.
Witnesses: Andrew Harrop - General Secretary, Fabian Society; Dominic Lawson -Columnist on The Independent - former editor of The Spectator and the Sunday Telegraph; Patrick Nolan -Chief Economist, Reform; Sarah Veale -Head of Equality and Employment Rights Department, TUC.
Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by David Aaronovitch with Claire Fox, Clifford Longley, Anne McElvoy and Matthew Taylor.
Competitors from East Anglia, the West Midlands and London join Russell Davies at the BBC Radio Theatre for the third heat in the quest for the next Brain of Britain.
From which port, in 1588, did the Spanish Armada set sail? And which singer fronted the Jeff Beck Group in 1968 and 1969 before going on to sing with The Faces?
There's also a chance for a Brain of Britain listener to win a prize and outwit the contestants with questions of his or her own.
The ancient Greek poet Simonides hymned the dead of the first Persian Wars. What does his poetry say about war today? Poet Robert Crawford has translated his work into Scots.
SUNDAY 04 DECEMBER 2011
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b017n1cr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Afternoon Reading (b00kvh1q)
Three Stories By Giovanni Verga
Wolf-hunt
Series of stories about farming folk by the Sicilian writer of the 1870s, laced with dry humour.
Lollo says he is setting a trap for a local animal but really it will be for a human, someone close to his heart.
Read by Dermot Crowley.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b017n1ct)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b017n1cw)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b017n1cy)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b017n1d0)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b017vf0y)
The bells from the Church of St. David, Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire.
SUN 05:45 Profile (b017vdhk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:02 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b017n1d2)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b017vjlc)
The Choir
Through a visit to one of Britain's best known Cathedrals, Mark Tully investigates the importance of the choir's role in contemporary worship. With examples from some of the finest choral music ranging from contemporary masses and traditional psalms to the work of Gospel choirs and the New York Cantorial Choirs, this is a programme that explores the communal power of singing.
Why does such music continue to provide a vital and indispensible element of worship and how can it have a wider impact on the spiritual communities its serves?
With special recordings of the Winchester Cathedral Choir in rehearsal and in conversation with the Precentor and Director of Music, this is a celebration of singing to the glory of God.
This edition of Something Understood includes music by Antonio Lotti, Gustav Holst and Samuel Malavsky and readings by Samuel Butler, Wendy Cope and Siegfried Sassoon. The readers are Samantha Bond, Jack Shepherd and Wendy Cope.
Producer: Frank Stirling
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b017vjlf)
Bill Grayson from the Morecombe Bay Conservation Grazing Company has a herd of more than 100 organic native cows, which graze an area of around 2,500 acres in the North of England...but he has no farm and no land of his own.
His cows are brought on to nature reserves and areas of special interest to hoover up unwanted grasses without damaging the rare flowers and plants. This traditional way of managing land is now unusual in the UK.
The native breeds including Red Poll and Blue Grey cattle are rotated around more than thirty sites in Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire. Some are internationally important limestone pavements, others forests, wetlands and fens. As each site is different each of the wildlife groups and organisations he works with have different requests on how the so called 'old fashioned mowers' use the land.
Caz Graham follows the annual journey of three of the older cows, Buffy, Lilian and Alice as they are moved from a grazed hay meadow on the Natural England's Gaitbarrrows Nature Reserve to an ungrazed hilly forest reserve around 15 miles away.
She also catches up with the Cumbria Wildlife Trust and Rare Breeds Survival Trust who are using a GPS collar to map the activity of one of the cows 24 hours a day.
This programme is presented by Caz Graham and produced in Birmingham by Angela Frain.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b017n1d4)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b017n1d6)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b017vjlk)
Edward Stourton with the religious and ethical news of the week. Moral arguments and perspectives on stories familiar and unfamiliar.
A report by the Church in Ireland into the Raphoe Diocese has revealed more shocking stories of clergy abuse and cover ups. Edward will speak to Mary Harte, who has been following the case, and the Bishop of Raphoe Phillp Boyce
The High Court will rule on an appeal by the National Secular Society against Bideford Town Council's decision to ban prayers before council meetings. We will hear the arguments from Court 3
It's estimated around a million women are sold every year, making human trafficking the 3rd largest illegal trade in the world. Kevin Bocquet examines how the Catholic Church in the UK is hoping to prevent this highly profitable crime.
The Bishop of Bolton will be bringing in some chocolate to the studio, to help tell the story of the nativity. But a report this week says that 8 out of 10 people think that celebrating the birth of Christ is still an important part of Christmas. So is the real Christmas message alive and well?
Sara Silvestri from Cambridge University and Omar Ashour from Exeter University will discuss with Edward the new political, and religious landscape as Egypts elections continue
The number of Jews leaving Britain to make Aliyah in Israel has reached an all-time high. But it's still not enough for a country which needs thousands more Jews to return 'home'. Yolande Knell reports from Jerusalem
And Edward will examine the political and religious tensions in Tehran as relations between Iran and the west Deteriorate
Series Producer: Amanda Hancox.
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b017n1v9)
St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal
To give to this years appeal call: 0800 082 82 84. Or donate online via the Radio 4 website. Or send cheques payable to St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal, Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 4JJ
This will be the 85th year that St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square, has had a radio appeal at Christmas. Last year this appeal raised a over a million pounds. The Vicar of St Martins said at the time: "we're standing on the shoulders of lots of people who've done this before and we've reached a million pounds - it is extraordinary." The money helps homeless people who arrive in London from all over the UK, and receive shelter, food, help and advice at the Connection at St Martins. As Ben who's from Glasgow says: "It's easy to walk in your home city when you're a success, but when things are not going your way you want to be somewhere where nobody knows anything about you." The Christmas Appeal also maintains a special Vicar's Relief fund which makes thousands of one-off grants to people in need around the country. So a homeless family in Cardiff who were moving with their month old baby from a hostel to unfurnished temporary accommodation received a grant to buy bedding and a bed.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b017n1d8)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b017n1db)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b017vjlp)
A service for Advent: Searching for light from Our Lady and the English Martyrs, Cambridge
As Christmas approached, worship in the early centuries of the Christian church would direct thoughts towards the coming of Christ: looking back to his birth and forward to his return at the end of time. Lines inspired by scripture would be sung as a reminder of these events and humanity's continual longing for the kingdom of God. This week's service looks at humanity's search for light.
O Morning Star,
splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness:
Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death.
Leader: Monsignor Peter Leeming
Address: Dr Susan O'Brian, University of the Sorbonne
Director of Music: Nigel Kerry
Producer: Mark O'Brien.
SUN 08:50 A Point of View (b017mz49)
Lisa Jardine: Finding Family History
The historian Lisa Jardine welcomes recent moves to promote the teaching of history in schools and finds herself converted to the value of family history after the discovery of a tape recording shed light on a puzzling family photograph which was taken in 1906.
Producer: Sheila Cook.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b017vjlr)
News and conversation about the big stories of the week. With Paddy O'Connell.
SUN 09:45 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b017n1vc)
Received With Thanks
To give to this year's appeal call: 0800 082 82 84. Or donate online via the Radio 4 website. Or send cheques payable to St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal, Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 4JJ
"It's easy to walk in your home town when you're a success, but when things are not going your way you want to be somewhere where nobody knows anything about you." Ben, formerly a project manager in construction from Glasgow, found himself homeless in London for the first time: "I had no sleeping bag, I had no skills, I'd lived an ordinary life." He is one of the many people who have been helped by the Christmas Appeal this past year. He received shelter, food, help and advice at the Connection at St Martins. For 85 years radio listeners have been giving to this St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal. The money also maintains a special Vicar's Relief fund which makes thousands of one off grants to people in need across the UK. It might be a grant to help someone secure a tenancy and prevent homelessness or money for a family needing basic furniture - a bed, a cooker as they move from a hostel into temporary accommodation.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b017vjlt)
For detailed synopsis, see daily episodes
Written by: Nawal Gadalla
Directed by: Rosemary Watts
Editor: Vanessa Whitburn
David Archer ..... Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer ..... Felicity Finch
Tony Archer ..... Colin Skipp
Pat Archer ..... Patricia Gallimore
Helen Archer ..... Louiza Patikas
Tom Archer ..... Tom Graham
Brian Aldridge ..... Charles Collingwood
Jennifer Aldridge ..... Angela Piper
Ian Craig ..... Stephen Kennedy
Lilian Bellamy ..... Sunny Ormonde
Joe Grundy ..... Edward Kelsey
Eddie Grundy ..... Trevor Harrison
Clarrie Grundy ..... Rosalind Adams
William Grundy ..... Philip Molloy
Nic Hanson ..... Becky Wright
Neil Carter ..... Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter ..... Charlotte Martin
Mike Tucker ..... Terry Molloy
Vicky Tucker ..... Rachel Atkins
Brenda Tucker ..... Amy Shindler
Lynda Snell ..... Carole Boyd
Alan Franks ..... John Telfer
Annabelle Shrivener ..... Julia Hills.
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b017vjlw)
Sir Martin Sorrell
Kirsty Young's castaway is the businessman Sir Martin Sorrell.
He's been called "the world's most influential ad man," and is the founder and chief executive of the world's biggest advertising agency, WPP.
He was 40 when he left Saatchi and Saatchi to be his own boss, he says: "When I started off, what I wanted to do was to build a company and manage it - I wanted to be an entrepreneur and be a manager."
Producer: Leanne Buckle.
SUN 12:00 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b017m14y)
Series 56
Episode 3
The nation's favourite wireless entertainment pays a first-time visit Sage Gateshead. Regulars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by Marcus Brigstocke, with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell provides piano accompaniment. Producer - Jon Naismith.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b017vjly)
Britain's best food markets
Sheila Dillon talks to Food Award judges Jeremy Lee and Kath Dalmeny about some of the exciting grassroots developments in local markets around the country, focusing on the three outstanding examples of community food retailing which are transforming their communities in different and imaginative ways.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b017n1dd)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b017vjm0)
The latest national and international news, with Shaun Ley. Email: wato@bbc.co.uk; twitter: #theworldthisweekend.
SUN 13:30 Things We Forgot to Remember (b017vjyd)
Series 7
The English Armada
We remember the defeat of the Spanish Armada as a triumph for the English underdog. How Sir Francis Drake fought off a Spanish behemoth with superior seamanship, first rate gunnery and some friendly weather. But we forget that 'plucky' England sent a fleet of comparable might to invade Spain the very next year. And unlike its Spanish counterpart, The English successfully landed their troops. Michael Portillo tells the story of Sir Francis Drake and the English Armada and finds a series of events remembered very differently either side of the Bay of Biscay. Michael also finds the origins of our own forgetting amidst the scurrilous complexities of an Elizabethan cover up.
Producer James Cook.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b017mz3s)
Hailsham, East Sussex
Peter Gibbs chairs a gardening debate in Hailsham Pavilion, East Sussex. Joining him are Pippa Greenwood, Bunny Guinness and Bob Flowerdew.
Pippa discusses the latest biosecurity measures at Kew Gardens' Quarantine House.
Bunny Guinness discusses the use of architectural plants, a garden centerpiece, as it were.
In addition, "the toughest plant in the country" and making a meal of your Dandelions.
The questions addressed in the programme were:
What is the correct way to sharpen my hoe with a whetstone?
What is the best method of organically improving an established lawn?
How do I eliminate my dandelions without poisoning my goldfish
Ive been propagating my African violet. It is growing many leaves at its base. Do I remove the original large leaf or will it die?
My Clematis Montana is out of control. I prune every week in the Summer. How much can I prune it this winter?
My new house was built on clay. How can I grow cottage style flowers on it?
How can I stop the birds digging 2-inch holes in my lawn?
My 4ft Lonicera Nititda hedge is leaning over. When is the best time to cut it back?
How do I eliminate greenhouse bugs ( from veg )?
Produced by Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:45 Coming Out (b017vk95)
Kelly
Five programmes exploring the ways in which we decide how far to be honest about ourselves to the rest of the world, and in doing so make ourselves vulnerable to the judgements of others.
3. Kelly
At the age of 17, as a newly-qualified driver, Kelly knocked down an elderly woman on a pedestrian crossing. The case never came to court but for 40 years Kelly lived with the unexplored trauma and guilt of what had happened, until at last she was able to share her secret.
Producer Christine Hall.
SUN 15:00 Classic Serial (b017vk97)
Stefan Zweig - Beware of Pity
Episode 2
By Stefan Zweig. Dramatised for radio by Stephen Wyatt.
What had seemed to Hofmiller to be merely a social blunder has had unforeseen consequences and he's now embarked on a most perilous course of deception.
Stefan Zweig is a remarkable writer who had a remarkable life, but is not nearly as well known as he deserves to be, as Simon Gray discovered when he was attracted by the cover of his only novel, Beware of Pity.
Simon Gray took the book on holiday with him and used it as an escape from worrying about his cancer and the likely prognosis, "it being too good to read except with the closest attention" and he became immersed in the story of "a young man betrayed by his own unwonted impulses, his own nature........ it's the way that the novel single-mindedly, almost obsessively, illustrates and analyses the destructive power of a single emotion -if that's what pity is - that makes it unique, at least in my experience."
Simon Gray embarked on a dramatisation of the book for Radio 4, but it was unfinished at his death in 2008. Another writer, Clare McIntyre, was also attracted by the story and wrote a stage version, but she too died before it was completed. Stephen Wyatt has taken on the task of writing a two part radio version based on Clare McIntyre's material, which will be broadcast on Radio 4 on 27 November and 4 December, with a cast that includes Piers Wehner, Bryony Hannah, Ronald Pickup, Jasper Britton & Michael Jayston.
Cast:
Anton Hofmiller ..... Piers Wehner
Edith ...... Bryony Hannah
Kekesfalva ....... Ronald Pickup
Dr Condor ..... Jasper Britton
Colonel/ Josef ...... Michael Jayston
Ilona ..... Mabel Clements
Ferencz ..... Jack Chedburn
Director: Jane Morgan
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 16:00 Bookclub (b017vk99)
Sebastian Barry: The Secret Scripture
December's Bookclub author is Sebastian Barry. Well known as a successful dramatist and novelist, his literary career became stellar when he won the 2008 Costa Book of the Year Award with this month's chosen book, The Secret Scripture; and he is considered one of Ireland's greatest living writers.
The novel is told by Roseanne, who is uncertain of her age; she thinks she is now one hundred. She's been incarcerated in asylums in Ireland for over sixty years, and is writing the story of her life, on pieces of paper that she hides under the floor boards of her room.
This is the Secret Scripture of the title; which comes from a poem by an Irish nationalist poet, Thomas Kettle, who fought for the British in World War I. As the book unfolds, we discover the why and the how of her incarceration.
The second narrator of the novel is Roseanne's psychiatrist Dr William Grene, who must judge whether Roseanne can be released into society as the hospital is about to close. As he comes to know her, he becomes fascinated by her and the history - which is the history of twentieth century Ireland - that she represents.
Sebastian Barry tells readers how he uses his own family in his fiction and how the character of Roseanne came from hearing about a great aunt who had been shunned by the rest of the family - the only thing known about her was her great beauty. His was a family beset with secrets, and his mother, Joan O'Hara (a famous actress of her day), was a "consummate un-coverer of secrets".
January's Bookclub choice : 'The Beatles' by Hunter Davies.
Producer : Dymphna Flynn.
SUN 16:30 The Poetry of Aran (b017vk9c)
For centuries The Aran Islands, three limestone rocks of the west coast of Ireland, have been an inspiration to writers, artists and intellectuals, in search of an authentic Irish experience.
As the future of the Irish language in Ireland is far from secure, award-winning poet Daljit Nagra visits the islands where Irish is still the first language, and explores their rich poetic heritage.
He speaks to the poet Seamus Heaney about why he wrote three poems about the Aran Islands in his first collection and Heaney reads some poetry in Irish for the first time around 40 years; Daljit also visits the cottage where Anglo-Irish playwright John Millington Synge wrote his influential journal of island life - a mouthpiece for the Gaelic-seeking spirit of the Irish literary revival.
We also hear from a local poet who continues the tradition of oral poetry on the islands; and explore the life of one of the key modern, Irish language poets, Martin O Direain, who took his inspiration from his birthplace on Aran.
Producer: Jo Wheeler
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 17:00 The Last Jews of Iraq (b017wyym)
Jews in Iraq? Alan Yentob investigates a 2600 year old community, now almost disappeared. Once they thrived as a third of Baghdad's population, now only seven Jewish people remain.
Few people realise there was once a thriving Jewish community in Iraq - in 1917 it was a third of Baghdad's population. Jewish people had government jobs and dominated the music scene. They were an integral part of the community, living peacefully with Arab neighbours. The Jews had been in Iraq for more than two and a half millennia, since it was called Babylon, and remembered in Psalms. For centuries it was the centre of Jewish learning. Alan speaks to people who remember a life in Baghdad characterised by integration, religious diversity and colourful traditions.
In the 40s, everything changed. Nazism, Arab-nationalism and anti-Zionist feeling created a wave of anti-semitism. Violent pogroms flared up, young Jewish men were publically hanged, Jews were forced from jobs. By the 1970s nearly all had left, many in 1951 when 110,000 people were flown to safety in Israel. We hear from those who remember the community's traumatic final days.
Now those few Jews who remain are hidden away. They will certainly be the last of the ancient Babylonian Jewish line, says Canon Andrew White, the 'Vicar of Baghdad'.
In a very personal programme, BBC Creative Director Alan Yentob, himself the child of Iraqi Jewish immigrants, looks into his heritage and uncovers the hidden history of the Jews of Iraq. Although the community is now almost vanished in Iraq itself, its traditions survive though around the world. With interviews, archive recordings and contemporary music, Alan brings its vibrancy to life.
Producer: Hannah Marshall
A Loftus Audio production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 17:40 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b017n1vc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 today]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b017n1dg)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b017n1dj)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b017n1dl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b017vkrk)
Gerry Northam makes his selection from the past seven days of BBC Radio
In Pick Of The Week, Gerry Northam learns the extraordinary story of a submarine stoker in World War II who was the only survivor when HMS Perseus hit an Italian mine and sank. He struggled out, managed to surface from an unprecedented depth and then swam three miles in rough seas despite his injuries.
Gerry also tracks the career of one of Hollywood's most highly-credited directors, who never actually made a single film. We find out what Charles Dickens dreamed of as a career, before he found fame as a writer. And we hear the inside story of the race to keep the Human Genome Project freely available to the public. All that, and some expert musical analysis from Ken Clarke and Joan Armatrading.
The Life Scientific - Radio 4
Blood Stained Banner - Radio 4
Ken Clarke's Jazz Greats - Radio 4
A Good Read - Radio 4
One to One - Radio 4
Composer of the Week - Radio 3
Open Country - Radio 4
Escape from the Deep - Radio 4
The Alias Men - Radio 4
Jamie Cullum - Radio 2
The Last Jews of Iraq - Radio 4
A Night With A Vampire - Radio 4
Joan Armatrading - More Guitar Favourites - Radio 4
Email: potw@bbc.co.uk or www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/potw
Producer: Helen Lee.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b017vkrm)
Enjoying each other's company, Jim tells Christine he'll be starting off the Christmas lights around the green, as he's won the prize of switching on the lights at The Bull. For a moment Christine is reminded of Christmases past. She's already decorated her room with greenery but Jim offers to put up Christine's lights, and he'll fix her guttering while he's up there.
Lynda's determined that the Village Hall will be wonderfully decorated for her Cabaret Night, so Robert's rooting through the loft for lights. An old plastic walrus, that's been there for years, gives Lynda an idea - she'll hold a table decoration competition. Jim turns up unexpectedly to see Robert. He needs advice from someone who knows his way round a tool box.
Pat shows Kathy the Facebook photo of Rich. Kathy admits there are similarities to John but points out it's only one photo, at one angle. Kathy worries that it's all too much for Pat but Pat can't see how she can stop herself from thinking about the boy every second of every day.
Pat throws herself into work and Tony worries that she'll wear herself out. Pat can't see any other way of getting through the whole day without screaming.
SUN 19:15 Dilemma (b017vkrp)
Series 1
Episode 4
Sue Perkins puts Susan Calman, Greg Proops, Simon Evans and Louise Wener through the moral and ethical wringer in the show where there are no "right" answers - but some deeply damning ones...
Guests offer their own dilemmas - from Louise being offered a record deal if she sacked half the band - to Greg's choice between paying his rent or eating.
And what would they do if reporting a crime got them into trouble? - and is cheating on your partner ever acceptable?
Devised by Danielle Ward.
Producer: Ed Morrish.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2011.
SUN 19:45 Byng Ballads: The Story of Douglas Byng (b017vkrr)
I Had My Bit of Cake
In today's episode, Byng explains how he began playing risqué female characters, and became the darling of 'the smart set' at London's Café de Paris.
Douglas Byng (1893 - 1987) was a female impersonator and the most famous cabaret star of his day. Billed as "Bawdy but British", his professional career lasted for over 70 years. This short series traces the journey of the cross-dressing glamour queen from privileged childhood in the 1890s, through concert parties in Hastings, to his emergence as the darling of the society set, entertaining royalty and London's 'Bright Young Things' at the Café de Paris in the 1920s and 30s.
Douglas Byng has been dubbed 'the highest priest of camp'. He blazed a trail for others to follow, treading a fine line between sophisticated urbanity and risqué innuendo which presaged more contemporary, boundary-bending comedians such as Kenneth Williams, Danny La Rue, Barry Humphries and...our own Julian Clary.
Byng's debonair appearances in revue were described by Noel Coward as "the most refined vulgarity in London"!
After the Second World War, Douglas Byng became a familiar stage and film actor and much-loved pantomime dame. His saucy recordings of self-penned songs led to occasional bans by the BBC, but his popularity never diminished.
He wrote his autobiography (As You Were - published in 1970) in retirement in Brighton, and this book provides the material for the series.
With Julian Clary as Douglas Byng.
Compiled by Tony Lidington.
Pianist: Martin Seager.
Producer/Director: David Blount
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:00 More or Less (b017mz3x)
Public sector strike:
This week a 24-hour strike over pension changes saw hundreds of thousands of public sector workers at rallies, marches and on picket lines. But there were a lot of conflicting numbers being thrown about. Tim Harford explains how the government was able to make public sector pensions sound generous, at the same time the unions could make them sound small.
Eurostats:
The Financial Times this week reported that the head of Greece's new independent statistics agency, Andreas Georgiou, is facing an official criminal investigation for alleged statistical crimes. Tim finds out from the economist Professor Yanis Varoufakis of the University of Athens what Mr Georgiou is accused of.
And in the first of a series of scrutiny of Eurozone-crisis inspired statistical claims, Wesley Stephenson asks whether it's really true that there are more Porsche Cayenne owners than tax payers declaring an income of more than £55,000 in Greece.
Cheap homes?
We explain what affordable housing is, and how affordable it is.
World on an island:
It is often said that the world's population could fit on the Isle of Wight, if people stood shoulder to shoulder. But is it true, now that the UN estimates that there are 7bn people on earth? To test the theory, Tim Harford tries to squeeze as many people as possible into his studio.
Producer: Ruth Alexander
Editor: Richard Vadon.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b017mz3v)
Ken Russell, Gary Speed, Lana Peters and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu
Matthew Bannister on
The film director Ken Russell, once called the wild man of British cinema.
Gary Speed, the Premiership and intetrnational footballer who managed the Welsh national side.
The Nigerian soldier and politician Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who led the breakaway republic of Biafra with tragic results
Stalin's daughter Svetlana, who defected to the West and had an ambivalent attitude to her father.
And the operatic soprano Sena Jurinac.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (b017vcpk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 on Saturday]
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b017n1v9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 In Business (b017mws3)
Don't Cry for Me, Argentina
Is there life after a sovereign debt default such as Greece is now facing ? Peter Day reports from Argentina, a country which went through a similar sort of crisis ten years ago.
You can subscribe to "Peter Days World of Business" podcast, via the Radio 4 website. The podcast brings you both the "In Business" programme, which broadcasts twenty six times a year and also "Global Business" which broadcasts every week of the year on the BBC World Service.
Producer: Richard Berenger Editor Stephen Chilcott.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b017vkrt)
Carolyn Quinn talks to the political editor of the Independent, Andrew Grice, about the big political stories at Westminster.
She discusses the Eurozone crisis, the UK economy and plans to curtail executive pay with Conservative MP Matthew Hancock and Labour MP Chris Leslie.
Professor Ron Johnston of Bristol University and former Conservative MP Rob Hayward discuss their experience of the public hearings in England into proposals for new constituency boundaries.
Conservative MPs Andrea Leadsom and David Mowat debate the planned project to build a high speed rail network between London and the north of England.
SUN 22:45 What the Papers Say (b017vkrw)
Episode 81
Dennis Sewell of The Spectator analyses how the newspapers are covering the biggest stories in Westminster and beyond.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b017mwrn)
Martin Scorsese talks to Francine Stock about the future of cinema, his passion for its history and the way he has used 3D to bring them both to life in his new film Hugo.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b017vjlc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 05 DECEMBER 2011
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b017t05t)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b017mv24)
Grammar Schools and Social Mobility; The Opera Fanatic
Laurie Taylor explores opera fanatics at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and compares them to fans in Cardiff, with Professor Claudio Benzecry from the University of Connecticut and Professor Paul Atkinson from Cardiff University. And he explores the popularly held notion that grammar schools aid social mobility with Dr Adam Swift from the University of Oxford.
Producer Chris Wilson.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b017vf0y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b017t05w)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b017t05y)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b017t060)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b017t062)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b017vmfd)
with Richard Hill.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b017vmfg)
Charlotte Smith hears how DNA techniques used in murder investigations could now detect deer poachers.
Dr Shanan Tobe from the Centre for Forensic Science at the University of Strathcylde has been running the trial. He tells Charlotte, gloves on or gloves off, the trial proved 7 out of 10 poaching cases can be solved using DNA.
On Thursday 8th December, the Independent Panel of Forestry is expected to publish its interim report on the future of England's forests and woods. Charlotte talks to Andrew Weatherall at National School of Forestry in Cumbria about the state of England's forests compared to the rest of the UK and the world.
So far this year, the UK has imported £249m of New Zealand lamb. But what if we could eat British lamb all year round? Sheep farmer David Eglin farms two breeds in North Warwickshire - Poll Dorset and Charmoise - which can lamb at anytime throughout the year. Melvin Rickarby asks if the demand is there, why aren't more farmers doing the same?
Presented by Charlotte Smith. Produced in Birmingham by Clare Freeman.
MON 05:57 Weather (b017t064)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 06:00 Today (b017vmfj)
Morning news and current affairs with James Naughtie and Evan Davis, including:
07:50 Should the UK change its extradition laws?
08:10 New strategy to encourage the life sciences.
08:30 A drop in popularity for Putin's party in Russia.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (b017vmfl)
Philosophy: Bernard-Henri Levy, Mary Warnock and Roger Scruton
Andrew Marr discusses the role of the public intellectual on Start the Week. The French philosopher, journalist and activist Bernard-Henri Levy flexes his muscles as he sets out his views on everything from literature to politics and fame, Baroness Mary Warnock looks at morality and what philosophers can add to the current debates about privacy, society and fairness, while Roger Scruton argues that his 'green philosophy' finds a natural home in right wing politics.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b0184zfz)
Simon Garfield - Just My Type
Episode 1
"Just My Type" - a book about fonts by Simon Garfield.
Read by Julian Rhind Tutt
From type on the high street and book covers, to the print in our homes and offices, our world is surrounded by and spelt out by fonts. Little do we realise how our everyday choices are subtly informed and manipulated by these miniature works of art. Simon Garfield explores the history of the font and the people who brought them into being.
This week we begin to tell the story of the creation of the font - and start with a stark warning concerning the terrible reputation of the much derided 'comic sans'. What started out as a thrilling new concept quickly turned into a rather bizarre hate campaign.
Producer: Clive Brill
A Pacificus Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b017vmfn)
Christmas Cooking Phone-in with Mary Berry
Mary Berry's been seen most recently as a judge on the hugely popular Great British Bake Off on BBC Two and she's been teaching the nation to bake for over 30 years. Today she joins Jane Garvey live in the studio for a special Christmas cooking phone-in programme. She'll be on hand to guide us through all aspects of cooking for the festive season, including advice on planning ahead, how to co-ordinate the traditional turkey dinner, her family's favourites - including lemon and thyme pork stuffing - and alternatives to christmas pudding, such as her chocolate roulade.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b017vmfq)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Domestic Scenes
By Anne Bronte
Dramatised by Rachel Joyce
Episode 6. Domestic Scenes
Gilbert has read in Helen's journal of how her marriage has been severely tested by her husband's prolonged absences, his drinking and his infidelity. And now she has a son to care for too.
Gilbert - Robert Lonsdale
Helen - Hattie Morahan
Huntingdon - Leo Bill
Hargave - Stephen Critchlow
Annabella - Emerald O'Hanrahan
Lowborough - Chris Webster
Director: David Hunter.
MON 11:00 Unravelling Eve (b0183php)
Women who've suffered psychotic illness after childbirth talk about their journey back to recovery.
Between one in 500 and one in a thousand women suffer from postpartum psychosis after childbirth. It's an illness which often appears rapidly and without warning and leaves women in the grip of psychotic delusions or of mania. They talk of losing touch with reality and feeling split and fragmented.
However, because it's comparatively rare and can happen to women with no history of mental illness, postpartum psychosis may go undiagnosed or be confused with post natal depression. In fact if it's treated properly, recovery from this very severe disorder can be very swift.
Now Radio 4 has been offered unique access to a group of women who have experienced the illness. They're taking part in an art project, funded by the Wellcome Trust, whose aim is to raise awareness of the condition.
As they meet at a workshop and in the artist Joan Molloy's studio they talk openly about what they went through, the hallucinations they suffered in the depths of the psychosis and their journey back to health. They also tackle the difficult topics of whether they wanted to harm themselves or their baby, the decision about whether to have a second child, and their perception of themselves as mothers.
The art project is supported by leading perinatal psychiatrist, Dr Ian Jones, who is working with teams in Cardiff and Birmingham universities to try to discover what it is about the physical experience of childbirth that triggers the illness. He tells us if they were able to establish whether some women had a genetic pre-disposition to the condition, it would be possible to predict which women were at high risk and to take the right steps before rather than after the illness has struck.
Presented by former journalist - Clare Dolman, who suffered an episode of post partum psychosis herself after the birth of her first child twenty two years ago. She is the founder of Action on Postpartum psychosis and now works to raise awareness of the disorder.
Producer: Philippa Goodrich
A White Pebble Media production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 11:30 Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off (b017vmfs)
Series 5
Iron Man
When Giles accidentally enters an Iron Man triathlon in Spain, he has to enlist the help of Neil Diamond and a donkey...
Budleigh Salterton's most famous citizen is back! But this time, he's got a computer! Giles Wemmbley Hogg has been grounded by both the Home Office and his father, so he's set up GWH Travvel ("2m's 2g's 2v's, bit of a mix up at the printers").
Run from his bedroom in Budleigh Salterton, with the help of his long-suffering former Primary Schoolteacher Mr Timmis and the hindrance of his sister Charlotte, it's a one-stop Travel/Advice/Events Management/Website service, where each week, his schemes range far and wide - whether it's roaming the country lecturing would-be overlanders on how to pack a rucksack ("If in doubt, put it in. And double it"), or finding someone a zebra for a corporate promotion ("I'll look in the Phone Book - how hard can it be? Now, "A to D".....), GWH Travvel stays true to its motto - "We do it all, so you won't want to".
Starring Marcus Brigstocke as Giles
Cast:
Mr. Timmis .....Vincent Franklin
Charlotte Wemmbley Hogg ...... Catherine Shepherd
Jose ..... Mitch Benn
Mariluz ..... Debbie Chazen
Carl ...... Kieran Hodgson
Written by Marcus Brigstocke, Jeremy Salsby & Toby Davies
Producer/Director: David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4
Producer DAVID TYLER.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b017vnqw)
George Clarke on Empty Homes
Why short term restrictions on developing new medical technologies are costing us all more in the long run.
TV architect George Clarke on the scandal of empty homes in Britain.
Nearly a million homes in Britain are empty many of them for a period of six months and more.
As the climate warms up, its predicted flooding, drought, extreme heat and cold will become more pronounced. How will communities and businesses respond to extreme weather events?
There's a seasonal postal theme. The parcel service Yodel has a computerised tracking service, yet people are complaining that their deliveries are late or in some cases non-existent. The Royal Mail tells us what it's doing to improve its own parcel delivery service to try and reduce queues at the collection offices. And historian Dominic Sandbrook on the history of the Post Office. He's doing a Radio 4 series on the subject at the moment.
Plus if you are of a pensionable age you may be eligible for a free safety check on your gas boiler and other appliances.
MON 12:57 Weather (b017t066)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b017vnqy)
National and international news with Martha Kearney. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
MON 13:45 The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office (b017vp92)
The Secret Room
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook explores the social history of the post office.
Throughout its history, the Post Office has been a consistently progressive and democratising force in society. Launched in 1516 by Henry VIII, the Royal Mail was intended to support official communications and bolster intelligence. It was only a rise in literacy, trade and interest that stimulated a demand for a public service.
It became a vehicle for literacy, free speech, commerce and communications in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, before evolving into a kind of prototypical welfare state in the early twentieth century, when it was the largest employer in the world. The Post Office has become a cherished social institution, linking people together and extending their vision outward into the wider world.
It's called Royal Mail but it should be known as the People's Post
In the paranoid era of the English Civil War the postal network became an important instrument of state control. In a secret room deep in the post office building, agents opened and copied letters from suspected dissidents on a grand scale.
Writer and Presenter: Dominic Sandbrook
Historical Consultant: Susan Whyman
Musicians: Sam Lee, Bella Hardy, Mick Sands, Nick Hart
Actors:Morgan George, John Sessions, Simon Tcherniak,
Malcolm Tierney, Jane Whittenshaw
Producer: Joby Waldman
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b017vkrm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b017vp94)
Burning Up
By Rebecca Lenkiewicz
It's Monday 5th December, and Maisie steps out of a Secure Children's Centre. She's had an extraordinary year - she turned fifteen, met the love of her life, and then spent four months in detention following the London riots. Rebecca Lenkiewicz's hard-hitting drama tells her story.
Cast:
Maisie . . . . . Danielle Vitalis
Dad . . . . . Danny Sapani
Sonia . . . . . Aimee-Ffion Edwards
Scott . . . . . Richie Campbell
Simon . . . . . Carl Prekopp
Mrs Moon . . . . . Adjoa Andoh
Susan . . . . . Tracy Wiles
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko
Studio Manager: Anne Bunting
Editors: Colin Guthrie and Anne Bunting
Production Co-Ordinator: Jessica Brown.
Rebecca Lenkiewicz writes for the stage, radio and televsion. Previous work includes: Her Naked Skin, which premiered on the Olivier Stage at the National Theatre in 2008; The Painter on the life of JMW Turner at the Arcola in 2011; and Blue Moon Over Poplar at the Soho Theatre in 2006.
Danielle Vitalis is an actress whose recent work include roles in the plays Dream Pill (Underbelly), Dancing Bears (Latitude Festival), and Holloway Jones (Synergy). Film credits include the sci-fi comedy Attack The Block.
MON 15:00 Brain of Britain (b017vp96)
(4/17)
Russell Davies chairs the latest heat in the contest to become the 59th Brain of Britain. The competitors tackling the age-old general knowledge quiz this week are from Scotland and North-West England. As always, there's also a chance for a Brain of Britain listener to 'beat the brains' with teasing questions of his or her own.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b017vjly)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Three Wishes (b01608jr)
The genie - or jinn, to give it its original name - has been a key player in some of the world's oldest stories. Compared to similar beings from classical western mythologies, the jinn is much harder to predict and pin down thanks to its unpredictable spirit. Born of fire, it can be a tempestuous, vindictive, benevolent or sometimes just downright grumpy character, after thousands of years trapped in a lamp. The fact of its frequent servitude has led some to interpret the popularity of the stories during the abolition of slavery campaign as a commentary on the slave trade. Others have focused on the quandaries posed by the giving and receiving of wishes, while others, perhaps most famously Robin Williams, have simply revelled in the larger-than-life exuberance the shape-shifting genie offers. In 'Three Wishes', Janet Ellis talks with Marina Warner, an expert on the Arabian Nights; Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad, who's film 'Jinn' is released next year; Philip Kerr, best known for his crime novels but also responsible for series of seven children's books focusing on twin heroes who happen to be genies; polymath Hugh Montgomery, who's exploiting the metaphorical potential of the idea of the genie in the bottle for a major campaign against global warming; and the director and star in a production of perhaps the most famous genie story of them all - Aladdin.
Producer Geoff Bird.
MON 16:30 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b017vsj9)
Series 5
The Origins of Life
Robin Ince and Brian Cox are joined inside the Infinite Monkey Cage by rationalist comedian and musician Tim Minchin, science broadcaster and biologist Adam Rutherford and biochemist Professor Nick Lane to discuss the science of creation and the latest theories about the origins of life.
Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Presenters: Robin Ince and Brian Cox.
MON 17:00 PM (b017vsjc)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b017t068)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b017vsjf)
Series 56
Episode 4
The nation's favourite wireless entertainment with a second show from Sage Gateshead. Regulars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by Marcus Brigstocke with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell attempts piano accompaniment. Producer - Jon Naismith.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b017vsjh)
Christine's grateful to Neil for holding the ladder while Jim fixes her gutter. She knows how easily an accident can happen - poor Peggy's sprained her ankle by tripping over her cat. Neil remarks that cats are like other people's children - always getting under your feet. In return for putting up Christine's Christmas lights, Jim asks her to keep an eye on Joe, who'll be switching on Jim's lights on Thursday.
Shula takes Elizabeth to see Casper, a potential pony for Freddie. They agree he seems ideal. Elizabeth hopes Freddie will like him. She wants him and Lily to have a really good birthday to balance out some of the bad memories. Everything's in place for "Deck The Hall" and Elizabeth talks fondly of Nigel. Shula assures her that none of them have forgotten him. She asks Elizabeth if she's decided about joining them for Christmas dinner. Elizabeth's still not sure.
Neil's annoyed to learn that Tracy has no intention of moving out any time soon. She's enquired about moving the children to Loxley Barrett school after Christmas. Susan thinks she'll be good company once she's more settled. Neil just wants to know exactly how long she'll be around.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b017vsjk)
John Cleese interview
With Mark Lawson.
Writer and comedy performer John Cleese reflects on his career, including the rivalries between the Monty Python team, the creation of Fawlty Towers and the film A Fish Called Wanda. He also discusses breaking taboos, morality in comedy and the multi-million dollar divorce settlement which led to his recent show The Alimony Tour.
Producer Claire Bartleet.
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b017vmfq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 An African Asian Affair (b017vsjm)
Vishva Samani, a descendent of British Asian Ugandans, returns to the country of her family and witnesses the rekindling of a relationship with the land her parents left behind almost 40 years on.
Set against the trauma that came with being expelled from Uganda in 1972 and the fierce resilience of the Asian community in re-establishing their lives and livelihoods in the UK, Vishva explores the motivations and the current challenges faced by those British Asians who have chosen to make Uganda their focus.
She meets the Madhvanis - one of the most successful and powerful British Asian Ugandan families doing business in the country. What were the lessons learnt in 1972? She contrasts how two generations of family feel about the country today.
Putting the expulsion in context, Vishva speaks to Ugandan businessman Andrew Rugasira - founder of the international brand Good African Coffee. After the Asian Ugandans were expelled, the country suffered, not least economically. Despite this, she asks whether General Idi Amin's objective, to clear a space for Africans to thrive in business was in any way successful.
In the course of her travels Vishva witnesses a strike at the Madhvani's sugar plantation and asks if this is a sign of an entrenched resentment that still exists between 'outsiders' and locals.
Now, a new generation of British Asians are choosing to make Uganda their home despite being raised in the UK. Vishva meets Leicester-born Ashish Thakkar. At just 30 years old he owns a multi-national company operating out of the capital Kampala, as well as Dubai. How has Ashish's British background informed how he does business? And as the African continent once again becomes a prime land for investment is there the potential for it all to go wrong once more?
Producer: Vivienne Perry
A Like It Is Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b017mvx6)
Farming Zimbabwe
In 2000, President Robert Mugabe introduced "fast-track land reform" to Zimbabwe in a wave of often violent takeovers of mainly white-owned farms.
Led by veterans of the second Chimurenga - the Zimbabwe War of Liberation of the 1960s and 1970s - the takeover was seen internationally as a disaster. It was widely reported that cronyism and corruption meant only the country's politically-connected elite were benefiting from the land reform programme, and in the process were leading Zimbabwe's lucrative agricultural export industry into freefall. But what is the situation a decade on?
Martin Plaut travels across Zimbabwe to investigate new research which suggests that farm production levels are recovering. He meets some of Zimbabwe's new black farmers - some of whom took part in the land seizures - who reveal how land reform has transformed their lives.
He also examines the fortunes of Zimbabwe's remaining white farmers and the black farm workers they employed and asks if country's wider economy has recovered from the massive disruption caused by land reform.
Reporter: Martin Plaut
Producer: Richard Fenton-Smith.
MON 21:00 Material World (b017mwrq)
This week, Quentin Cooper hears about the impact of thawing permafrost on climate change; how generations of space worms may lead the way for humans to reach Mars; and how DNA barcoding is identifying species and spotting fraud.
Producer: Martin Redfern.
MON 21:30 Start the Week (b017vmfl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b017t06b)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b017w4wv)
National and international news and analysis.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b017w4wx)
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
Episode 1
Written by Helen Simonson.
A family bereavement sparks an unexpected friendship between retired Major Pettigrew and the lady who runs Edgecombe St Mary's village shop, Mrs Ali. Their encounter forces the Major to confront the reality of his life as a widower in this charming, against-all-odds love story.
Abridged by Nigel Lewis.
Read by Sam Dastor.
A BBC Cymru/Wales production directed by Nigel Lewis.
MON 23:00 Off the Page (b017mszw)
Imaginary Friends
Imaginary Friends. Did you have any as a child, or do you in fact have some now? Poet Matt Harvey, biographer Sarah Churchwell and writer Paul B Davies tell all about the imaginary relationships we have both as children and adults, to presenter Dominic Arkwright.
Producer Beth O'Dea.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b017w4wz)
Sean Curran presents the day's top news stories from Westminster.
TUESDAY 06 DECEMBER 2011
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b017t06x)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b0184zfz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b017t06z)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b017t071)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b017t073)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b017t075)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b018b9lj)
with Richard Hill.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b017w65m)
Twenty leading forestry and wildlife groups are calling for a new approach to woodland management. In the recent report, 'The State of the UK's Forests, Woods and Trees', it says the UK should be planting more broadleaf species. It also suggests landowners and businesses need to do more to capitalise on existing woods, whether that's boosting wildlife, carbon capture, tourism or making the most of the building materials. The report's author Sian Atkinson from the Woodland Trust explains the findings to Anna Hill - whilst John Morgan, the Head of Plant Health at the Forestry Commission explains the impact of the loss of 3,000,000 Japanese Larch to the tree disease Ramorum.
As 4G mobile broadband trials continue across the UK, Sarah Swadling is in Cornwall to see what impact this could have on rural communities. The service is using the spare capacity left over from the analogue TV switch-off. There are currently 200 homes taking part in the trial near Newquay.
And Charlotte Smith returns to the Upton Estate on the border of Warwickshire and Oxfordshire to look at the conservation work being done over the winter to encourage wildlife across the farm.
This programme is presented by Anna Hill and produced in Birmingham by Angela Frain.
TUE 06:00 Today (b017w65p)
Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (b017w65r)
Uta Frith
Professor Uta Frith came from a grey post war Germany to Britain in the swinging sixties, when research into conditions such as autism and dyslexia was in its infancy. At the time many people thought there was no such thing as dyslexia and that autism was a result of cold distant parenting, but Professor Frith was convinced that the explanation for these enigmatic conditions lay in the brain. And she set out to prove this through a series of elegant experiments. Together with her students Francesca Happe and Simon Baron Cohen she developed the idea that people with autism find it hard to understand the intentions of others, known as theory of mind. Neuro-imaging experiments carried out with her husband Professor Chris Frith, meant she was able to show that there is a region in the brain which is linked to dyslexia. Uta Frith talks about her pioneering work that has changed how we view these brain disorders with Jim Al Khalili.
Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald.
TUE 09:30 One to One (b017w65t)
Lucy Kellaway with Anon
Lucy Kellaway of The Financial Times, explores the complexities of having considerable personal wealth by talking to the super rich. For Ann (she wishes to remain anonymous) the day her company was floated on the stock market and became a multi millionaire, she was paralysed by fear.
'I had always believed that rich people were not nice people. I was terrified my money would taint and destroy my relationships with friends and loved ones'.
A decade on, she has come to terms with her position, becoming a member of The Network for Social Change, ' for people who want to do more than sign a cheque' and having worked out how she wants to spend her money and who she wants to give it to.
She talks honestly to Lucy about how she maintains boundaries on her spending and whether she now feels it's possible to be rich and nice.
http://thenetworkforsocialchange.org.uk/
Producer Lucy Lunt.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b018v7zs)
Simon Garfield - Just My Type
Episode 2
"Just My Type" - a book about fonts by Simon Garfield.
Read by Julian Rhind Tutt
From type on the high street and book covers, to the print in our homes and offices, our world is surrounded by and spelt out by fonts. Little do we realise how our everyday choices are subtly informed and manipulated by these miniature works of art. Simon Garfield explores the history of the font and the people who brought them into being.
Today we tell the sad tale of Vicki Walker who had the temerity to capitalise her emails. Then we go back in time to the origins of the font and the Gutenberg press. And end with the only example in history of a drowned font!
Producer: Clive Brill
A Pacificus Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b017wy6v)
Sue Lawley; grandparents and childcare; women in Egypt
Sue Lawley on her reign at Desert Island Discs; women reporting Egypt and the threat to their freedom; the effect of changing pension ages on grandparents and childcare; Christmas windows in the high street - a much loved annual tradition, or slight distraction when shopping for bargains? Presented by Jane Garvey.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b017wy6x)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Solitude
By Anne Bronte
Dramatised by Rachel Joyce
Episode 7. Solitude
The account of her husband's behaviour in Helen's journal has continued to be one of wild debauchery but now she is convinced he is changing his ways. Reading the journal Gilbert is not so confident.
Gilbert - Robert Lonsdale
Helen - Hattie Morahan
Huntingdon - Leo Bill
Annabella - Emerald O'Hanrahan
Hargrave - Stephen Critchlow
Arthur - Samuel Bridger
Director: David Hunter.
TUE 11:00 Saving Species (b017wy6z)
Series 2
Episode 29
29/30 Michael Scott reports from the Flanders Moss peat bogs near Stirling. He discovers it's all about the management of water. And the theme is continued on the Tibetan Plateau. Howard Stableford sends a second report about Pikas. We have already reported on the programme that biologists believe this endearing, burrowing and social mammal of the grasslands is critical for the survival of a whole host of wildlife - a so called key-stone species. The Chinese are poisening the Pikas because they blame them for degradation of this Himalayan grassland - pasture they want to stock Sheep and Yak. We broadcast in this series that the Chinese biologists concerned with the area do not accept that the Pika is so important for biodiversity, but also believe that there is room for both Pika and domestic animals, if there are less Pikas. In this second report the American biologists from Arizona State University explain that the Pikas are also critical for the retention of water on the plateau: their burrows, they claim, help prevent flood and drought.
We'll be talking to Jane Madgwick, Director of Wetlands International, about water and the conservation of peat bogs at home and in the Himalayas.
And what are fungi doing wearing tights? it's a parasitic fungus- the powder cap strangler - whose host is another fungus - Brett is in the field to find them.
Presenter: Brett Westwood
Producer: Sheena Duncan
Editor: Julian Hector.
TUE 11:30 Ken Clarke's Jazz Greats (b017wy71)
Series 9
Clifford Brown
In the last programme of the current series, Ken Clarke and his guest Abram Wilson discuss the life and music of the 1950s trumpeter Clifford Brown.
Given a trumpet by his father at the age of 15, Clifford's natural talent was immediately apparent. After only a few years of practising the instrument he was playing gigs with artists such as Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham and Fats Navarro. By 22 he already had an original style and the quintet he went on to form with Max Roach is regarded as one of the best of the 1950s.
Sadly his professional career was bookended by two horrific car crashes. The first was nearly ended his life and left him in hospital for a year. And only five years later he was involved in a second accident, but this time he was tragically killed. But, as Ken and Abram explain, in the short time he was playing and recording he did enough to put him up there with the all time Jazz Greats.
Abram Wilson is an award winning New Orleans trumpeter and vocalist based in the UK.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b017wy73)
Are more overseas students at British universities good or bad for our economy?
More overseas students at British universities: Is it good or bad for our economy?
A new report suggests growing numbers of science and maths students are coming from abroad to study at UK Universities. But there's concern that many simply return to their home country after graduating, taking their skills and knowledge with them. If you're an engineering or technology firm struggling to recruit British graduates we want to hear from you. Are you worried that we won't be able to compete in the future? Or do international students offer the perfect opportunity to develop trade and business links with the rest of the world.
Call You and Yours with Julian Worricker. An opportunity to contribute your views to the programme. Email youandyours@bbc.co.uk or call 03700 100 444 (lines open at
10am).
Producer Sally Abrahams.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b017t077)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b017zts9)
National and international news with Martha Kearney. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
TUE 13:45 The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office (b017wy75)
The London Penny Post
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines it's impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication.
Launched in 1680 by London merchant, William Dockwra, the Penny Post was the first accessible and cheap method for sending mail within the capital. Costing the equivalent of £6 today, there were receiving houses all over London and the suburbs where you could go to post a letter and expect same day delivery.
Writer and Presenter: Dominic Sandbrook
Historical Consultant: Susan Whyman
Musicians: Sam Lee, Bella Hardy, Mick Sands, Nick Hart
Actors:Morgan George, John Sessions, Simon Tcherniak,
Malcolm Tierney, Jane Whittenshaw
Producer: Joby Waldman
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b017vsjh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 McLevy (b017wy77)
Series 8
Flesh and Blood
Victorian detective mystery starring Brian Cox and Siobhan Redmond.
Written by David Ashton.
Episode 2: Flesh And Blood. A student is accused of murder after a tavern brawl.
McLevy..............................BRIAN COX
Jean Brash........................SIOBHAN REDMOND
Roach...............................DAVID ASHTON
Mulholland.........................MICHAEL PERCEVAL-MAXWELL
Hannah.............................COLETTE O'NEIL
Barnaby Buchanan.............MATTHEW PIDGEON
George Cameron................COLIN HARRIS
Norris Dunleavy..................ROBERT McINTOSH
Pedro the Monkey..............SIMON BUBB
Producer/director: Bruce Young.
TUE 15:00 Home Planet (b017wy79)
Docile Bees and Solar Panels
We have abundant energy trapped deep beneath our feet in the hot rocks of the Earth's crust. Why then have we not exploited this resource more widely. Should we be investing in this relatively untapped form of renewable energy. And staying with renewable energy, have new developments in solar panels really improved them to a point where they are a reliable and economical way of generating electricity. Should we be capping natural sources of carbon dioxide before considering curbing our own emissions? And we discuss two insect breeding conundrums. Should we breed butterflies artificially to boost the wild populations, and has over-breeding of honey bees resulted in feeble insects no longer able to resist natural threats and predators.
On the panel this week are Dr Ros Taylor of Kingston University; entomologist Richard Jones and Dr Nick Riley of the British Geological Survey.
The programme is presented by Richard Daniel.
Producer: Toby Murcott
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Off the Page (b017wy7c)
The Making of You
Dominic Arkwright talks to three guests about their formative years: The Making of You.
Sports writer Julie Welch recalls boarding school days of innocence, lusting after her Games Captain. Social entrepreneur, Gwilym Gibbons, remembers growing up in a commune, feeling an outsider from the mainstream world. Psychotherapist Paul Welcomme, whose schooldays were far from halcyon, argues that the decisions adults make for their children can have a devastating and lasting affect on their lives.
Producer: Sarah Langan.
TUE 16:00 Dishonour and Depression (b017wyy9)
Yasmeen Khan investigates the high rate of depression among South Asian women in Britain, looking at the underlying social and cultural factors and talking to those affected as well as doctors and counsellors.
Research has shown that suicide and self- harm are significant issues for South Asian women and that they are more likely to suffer depressive episodes than the general population. Concepts of family honour (izzat) and shame (sharam) are often cited as reasons for the denial of mental health problems which are shrouded in stigma within the community.
It's a problem which can affect all classes and generations from the bride just arrived from the Indian sub-continent only to experience abuse within her new family to the British-born university-educated professional. Yasmeen visits groups helping these women - Southall Black Sisters and Sahayak in Gravesend, run by the charity Rethink Mental Illness.
Surprisingly she is told the word counselling does not exist in Asian languages and that women suffering from depression are often labelled mad or bad. Can mainstream health service provision cope with these cultural and social differences or are sufferers too often fobbed off with anti-depressants?
Producer: Merilyn Harris
A Ladbroke production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b017wyyc)
Series 26
Philip K Dick
Actor Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon; The Queen; Midnight in Paris) explores the life of Philip K. Dick with Matthew Parris, and explains why he had such a big influence on his recent production of Hamlet.
Michael first discovered Philip K. Dick through the film Bladerunner, and moved onto his short stories which got him thinking about science-fiction in a new way. Whilst reading about philosophy, quantum physics, and comparative mythology, it struck him how Dick was intuitively weaving narratives around all the most interesting elements that these fields were throwing up.
He talks about Philip K. Dick's innate interest in multiples realities, and how they overlap with Sheen's own family experiences of mental health issues. In fact the more he found out about him, the more he was drawn to this enigmatic writer.
Producer: Toby Field.
TUE 17:00 PM (b017x7ld)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b017t079)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Mark Steel's in Town (b017wyyf)
Series 3
Berwick-Upon-Tweed
In this third series comedian Mark Steel visits 6 more UK towns to discover what makes them and their inhabitants distinctive.
He creates a bespoke stand-up show for that town and performs the show in front of a local audience.
As well as shedding light on the less visited areas of Britain, Mark uncovers stories and experiences that resonate with us all as we recognise the quirkiness of the British way of life and the rich tapestry of remarkable events and people who have shaped where we live.
During the series 'Mark Steel's In Town' Mark will visit Berwick-Upon Tweed, Holyhead, Basingstoke, Douglas (Isle of Man), Bungay and Wigan.
Episode 1 - In this first episode Mark performs a show for the residents of Berwick-Upon Tweed where he talks about war with Russia, Scottish rivalries and rather unusual local slang. From December 2011.
Written by Mark Steel with additional material by Pete Sinclair.
Produced by Sam Bryant.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b017wyyh)
The wedding's starting to feel real for Will and Nic. The seating plan is sorted, and Clarrie loves her new dress.
Joe's pleased that Will and Nic are bringing the children on Thursday. He doesn't want them to miss the lights going on, especially as he's got the special job of switching on Jim's lights, while Jim's at The Bull.
Pat can't stop herself from snapping at Helen. Tony suggests to Helen that if they knew the truth about Rich it might help them deal with how they feel about John. Helen totally disagrees. Even talking about it churns her up, and getting in touch with Sharon would only create more problems for everyone. She tells Tony that Tom feels the same way - Pat and Tony simply mustn't take this any further.
Pat finds it hard to believe that Helen has no interest in finding out if John had a son. Tony tries to explain that Helen can't face re-living the past. Tony begs Pat to stop tormenting herself. Tom and Helen have told them what they want so that's that. They must respect their wishes and leave things as they are. Pat knows, but cries into Tony's arms. It's going to be so hard.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b017wyyk)
Amy Winehouse Review; Brian Sewell; New Year's Eve
With Mark Lawson.
Amy Winehouse's posthumous album Lioness: Hidden Treasures was released yesterday and is already topping the midweek charts. Editor of NME magazine Krissi Murison gives her critical verdict on the disc, and considers the issues surrounding the release of recordings after an artist's death.
The acerbic art reviewer Brian Sewell reflects on his experience as a student at the Courtauld Institute with Anthony Blunt, his life as a critic and 21st century attitudes to art.
New Year's Eve is a seasonal romantic comedy, with an ensemble cast including Hilary Swank, Sarah Jessica Parker, Halle Berry and Robert De Niro. Jason Solomons reviews.
Producer Ellie Bury.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b017wy6x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 Greece: Broken Marble, Broken Future (b017x7kf)
Modern Greece has lived through the Asia Minor disaster of 1922, Axis occupation in 1940s, civil war and military dictatorship. But in those critical times there was at least an enemy, a cause and the belief that popular action could bring about significant change. But the current national crisis feel different. Different every day, different every week, different every month.
As the most recent 48 hour national strike gripped the nation, the writer Maria Margaronis navigated her way through her beloved country to hear - above the din of protest and the hiss of the tear gas - those voices trying to make sense of this spiralling crisis in Athens and in the mountains and villages beyond.
Prod: Mark Burman.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b017wyyp)
The blind Chinese human rights campaigner. 06/12/2011
The blind Chinese human rights campaigner Chen Guangcheng has been under house arrest since being released from four years' imprisonment. We hear what happened when BBC Correspondent Michael Bristow tried to visit him. And the self-confessed crossword addict who's determined to bring the joys of crosswords to visually impaired people
Producer Cheryl Gabriel.
Presenter Peter White.
TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (b017wyyr)
Biopolar Disorder - Complaints Choirs - Employment and Mental Illness
Zoe from South Wales spent twelve years with undiagnosed Bipolar Disorder. The personal cost to this mother of three was devastating, as, over the years, she was told she had Post Natal Depression and treated with anti-depressants. It's long been recognised that Bipolar Disorder could be both misdiagnosed and under-diagnosed and Dr Nick Stafford describes a new pilot project in Leicester to screen for the condition.
Complaints Choirs have sprung up all around the world with members putting their moans and whinges to song. But Guy Winch, a clinical psychologist from New York and author of The Squeaky Wheel, believes that to complain successfully, we need to harness the latest psychological research on the subject.
A government study showed just four in ten employers would hire somebody with a mental health problem. And that's despite the fact that the vast majority of unemployed people who experience mental illness want to work. Evidence shows too that working is an important part of recovery. A new scheme, called Individual Placement and Support, is unique in that employment advice and support is embedded within the Community Mental Health Team. Nicola Oliver, IPS Coordinator at the Centre for Mental Health says this approach is now used by almost half of NHS mental health trusts and Rachel describes how this support helped to find her dream job in fashion.
Presented by Claudia Hammond.
Producer: Fiona Hill.
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (b017w65r)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b017t07c)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b017wyyt)
Carolyn Quinn presents national and international news and analysis.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b017wyyw)
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
Episode 2
Major Pettigrew is dismayed to discover the contents of his brother Bertie's will. Meanwhile, his friendship the lady from the village shop, Mrs Ali, blossoms when they discover a shared love of Kipling.
Written by Helen Simonson and abridged by Nigel Lewis.
Read by Sam Dastor.
A BBC/Cymru Wales production, directed by Nigel Lewis.
TUE 23:00 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b017vsj9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Monday]
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b017wyyy)
George Osborne and Ed Balls clash twice in the Commons over the state of the economy. And an ex-Chancellor gives his prescription for the UK's economic future. Susan Hulme has the highlights. Also on the programme, why does the Office for Budget Responsibility fail to get its forecast figures more accurate? Peers look ahead to the week's EU Summit in Brussels . And is the system of criminal records checks too bureaucratic? Or are they a vital safeguard to protect children?
WEDNESDAY 07 DECEMBER 2011
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b017t07y)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b018v7zs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b017t080)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b017t082)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b017t084)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b017t086)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b018b9kp)
with Richard Hill.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b017x061)
Imported eggs will be tested under UV lights from 1st January to check they're not from hens in banned battery cages. The Agriculture Minister Jim Paice, says the government will be taking 'tough action' against eggs produced under illegal conditions. As energy bills soar, are our woodlands a neglected source of fuel for home heating? And the big problem facing veg growers: giant parsnips.
Presenter: Anna Hill
Producer: Sarah Swadling.
WED 06:00 Today (b017x063)
Morning news and current affairs with John Humphrys and Sarah Montague, including:
07:50 Is the UK becoming more self-sufficient as austerity bites?
08:10 The payday loan industry defends its business model.
08:10 What does the future hold for Afghanistan?
WED 09:00 Midweek (b017x065)
This week Libby Purves is joined by Runa Khan Marre, Charles Hazlewood, Matthew Bourne and Gebisa Ejeta.
Runa Khan Marre is preserving the unique cultural heritage of Bangladeshi boat-building through her living museum on the riverbank near Dhaka. She is one of six global innovators who is in London to receive a Rolex Award for Enterprise. The Rolex Awards for Enterprise will take place at the Royal Geographical Society.
Charles Hazlewood is an award-winning conductor who works regularly with great orchestras around the globe including the BBC Concert Orchestra. In a documentary for BBC Four, 'Scrapheap Orchestra', he sets about trying to create an entire orchestra of 44 instruments made entirely from scrap, culminating in performances at the 2011 BBC Proms. 'Scrapheap Orchestra' is on BBC Four.
Matthew Bourne is the renowned choreographer. He and his ballet company New Adventures' returns to Sadler's Wells this Christmas with their much loved production of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker! Originally created in 1992 for the ballet's centenary, this year it celebrates its own 20th birthday.
Gebisa Ejeta is one of the world's leading, and award-winning plant scientists who has been developing drought-resistant crops for Africa. He is now an adviser to President Barack Obama as well as being a World Food Prize Laureate and Distinguished Professor at Purdue University, USA. He will be taking part in a BBC World Service event, 'Exchanges at the Frontier, at the Wellcome Collection.
Producer: Lucinda Montefiore.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b018v85v)
Simon Garfield - Just My Type
Episode 3
"Just My Type" - a book about fonts by Simon Garfield.
Read by Julian Rhind Tutt
From type on the high street and book covers, to the print in our homes and offices, our world is surrounded by and spelt out by fonts. Little do we realise how our everyday choices are subtly informed and manipulated by these miniature works of art. Simon Garfield explores the history of the font and the people who brought them into being.
We spend so much of our lives travelling but barely give a thought to the design and display of countless transport messages that surround us. Today we explore the fonts we encounter on our journeys and end with the shocking story of the man who tried to give up helvetica.
Producer: Clive Brill
A Pacificus Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b017x067)
Angela Merkel - Iron Lady of Europe? HPV Vaccine update
Presented by Jenni Murray. Angela Merkel the Iron Lady of Europe? HPV vaccine update. Feminism and the Media, Christmas garlands, How much should tell your partner about your past - is total honesty always the best course?
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b017x069)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Escape
By Anne Bronte
Dramatised by Rachel Joyce
Episode 8. Escape
Helen Graham's marriage is now five years old and Huntingdon has refused to let her leave with her son but just as she is planning a secret flight he has discovered her journal.
Gilbert - Robert Lonsdale
Helen - Hattie Morahan
Huntingdon - Leo Bill
Lawrence - Carl Prekopp
Arthur - Samuel Bridger
Miss Myers - Alex Rivers
Director: David Hunter.
WED 11:00 Random Edition (b017x06c)
Pearl Harbor
US President Franklin D Roosevelt called the 7th December 1941 'a date which will live in infamy'. The total unexpectedness of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour is vividly captured in the newspaper which Peter Snow uses in this Random Edition Special to bring alive this key landmark in the history of the Second World War - the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The paper's 'Extra' editions describe bombs 'raining from the skies' and 'huge fires raging'. Civilian casualties are named and there are reports of suspected Japanese saboteurs. Other attacks in the Pacific are listed. Yet as there was only time to change a few pages of the newspaper, the Star-Bulletin also paints a picture of a Hawaiian community peacefully anticipating Christmas and following sport and movie stars. And it was clearly a society in which those of Japanese descent are deeply embedded.
As ever in Random Edition, Peter Snow uses news reports to recreate history. From the Star-Bulletin's pages spring some of the major players - Roosevelt and Churchill, legendary US Secretary of State Cordell Hull, Japanese navy minister Shigetaro Shimada and Emperor Hirohito among them. This Pearl Harbour special features colourful sound archive of the time, not least the BBC's reporting of the attack. There are eye-witness memories of the day and some of the music that Pearl Harbour inspired. Perhaps most fascinating is the story of the effect Pearl Harbour had on Japanese Americans on Hawaii and mainland USA.
Joining the programme is Daniel Martinez, grandson of a Pearl Harbor survivor and the foremost historian of the Japanese attack living in Hawaii. Central to everything is the ultimate significance of the day of 'infamy' - that in bringing the USA into the war, Pearl Harbor decided the fate of both Japan and Germany
Producer: Andrew Green.
WED 11:30 49 Cedar Street (b010t7x5)
As far as the residents of 49 Cedar Street are concerned, this is one place where the Outside World need not apply.
Laurence and Elliot have been living together for some time now - and it shows. They've settled into a sort of father and son role, with regular game nights and the occasional song and dance routine.
Laurence does his best to look after Elliot and read him bedtime stories, in return Elliot tries to keep his room tidy and always eats his greens before pudding. Their home is a haven of peace and contentment, with comfy sofas, crayon drawings on the fridge and nice homemade biscuits.
That is, until Hannah moves into the spare room. A walking collection of neuroses, emotions and non-stop jabbering about her ex, she crowbars her way into their life and threatens to turn everything upside down with her crazy woman's brain. However, the bond with her dysfunctional new family develops and she gradually lets go of some of her more destructive compulsions.
And so it becomes the three of them against the world, battling side by side through the strange adventures surrounding the house at 49 Cedar Street, in a ludicrous but ultimately lovely world.
Laurence ..... Colin Hoult
Elliot ..... Tom Parry
Hannah ..... Isabel Fay
Cupid ..... Duncan Wisbey
Victorian Orphan Boy ..... Alix Dunmore
Original music was composed and performed by Alexander Rudd, with Natalie Rosario on cello.
Written by Julie Bower
Produced by Colin Anderson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2011.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b017x0vf)
The Business of Online Dating
Behind the scenes of the internet dating industry which is now worth billions of pounds worldwide. Stolen documents force a massive reissue of car logbooks and more people are taking out short- term high interest loans - a valuable part of the credit industry or do they just create more debt.?
Presented by Winifred Robinson
Produced by Jon Douglas.
WED 12:57 Weather (b017t088)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b0180fh9)
Martha Kearney presents national and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
WED 13:45 The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office (b017x0vh)
A Culture of Letters
During the 18th century, an expanding postal network offered new possibilities for long-distance relationships. From traveling preachers to sailors and their families, people from all backgrounds found ways to write home.
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines it's impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication.
Writer and Presenter: Dominic Sandbrook
Historical Consultant: Susan Whyman
Musicians: Sam Lee, Bella Hardy, Mick Sands, Nick Hart
Actors:Morgan George, John Sessions, Simon Tcherniak, Malcolm Tierney, Jane Whittenshaw
Producer: Joby Waldman
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b017wyyh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Peter Tinniswood (b00v1r9k)
Visitors
Peter Tinniswoood's final play, written just before his death in 2003, is an elegiac drama on the shortness of life and the frailty of love.
Shacklock ..... Roy Hudd
Stella ..... Emma Fielding
Music ..... David Chilton
Abridger ..... Liz Goulding
Producer ..... Gordon House
Shortly before he died, Peter Tinniswood - one of Radio Drama's iconic dramatists - wrote Visitors. Set on a misty Thames embankment over the course of several evenings, the play recounts the meetings of two hospital "visitors", Shacklock and the much younger Stella, whose relationship - strange, erotic and yet seemingly entirely innocent, is the bedrock of this hauntingly sad and beautiful drama about the shortness of life and the frailty of love. We are in archetypal Tinniswood territory, where nothing is straightforward, where words take on a surreal existence of their own (the visitors' respective patients live in "Indifferent Ward" and "Terrified Ward") and where the quiet beauty of much of the descriptions is undercut by recurring echoes of loss, transience and death. Our two characters' lives, like Vladimir and Estragon, while providing much humour and no little sexual frisson, are essentially brief and unfulfilling.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b017x0vk)
The subject of Money Box Live with Paul Lewis is managing borrowing and debt.
Growing numbers of people are contacting debt advice agencies as they're struggling to pay basic household costs like utility bills. Citizens Advice says its latest quarterly statistics reveal that debt problems top the list of issues raised by people seeking help. Falling incomes coupled with increasing living costs and Christmas spending is putting pressure on many household budgets. The housing charity Shelter says that over two million people have resorted to using credit cards to pay their mortgage or rent in the last year and is urging people who are struggling to pay bills to seek help. So if you are in debt, stuggling to pay off loans or credit card bills which debts should you pay off as a matter of priority?
What should you do if you are falling behind with credit cards, bills or mortgage payments?
How do you prioritise debt and where can you find free, impartial advice?
If you are facing insolvency or bankruptcy - what are the options?
What are the cheapest credit cards or loans?
Can you pay back loans early and avoid further interest payments?
If you want to withdraw from a loan how much time do you have?
Phone lines open at
1.00 pm on Wednesday afternoon and the number to call is 03700 100 444. Standard geographic charges apply. Calls from mobiles may be higher. The programme starts after the three o'clock news.
Presenter Paul Lewis will be joined by:
Lynne Jones, National Debtline
Freelance debt consultant, Nick Lord
Kevin Mountford, Money Supermarket.
WED 15:30 All in the Mind (b017wyyr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b017x0vm)
Parents, Teens and the Culture of Sex: The Claims of Parenting
Laurie Taylor examines research into the advice offered to parents with Judith Suissa from the Institute of Education and Frank Furedi from Kent University and looks at comparative research in America and Holland into teenage sex in the parental home with sociologist Amy Schalet from the University of Massachusetts.
Producer: Chris Wilson.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b017x0vp)
Anne McElvoy presents the programme this week.
Jonathan Miller is back from Syria, where he's been reporting for ITN and working on a documentary for Channel 4, "Syria's Torture Machine". Following on from his experience in the making of "Sri Lanka's Killing Fields", the new documentary includes images taken from mobile phone videos, allegedly showing abuse and torture. He tells Anne what it is like to work openly as a foreign reporter in Syria and what happened when he tried to talk to people who had not been approved by his minders. The documentary will be shown on Channel 4 on Monday 19th December at
11.10pm.
Attorney General Dominic Grieve MP has been flagging up his intention to prosecute journalists who threaten to prejudice or impede trials, with a handful of convictions already since he took office 18 months ago. He is trying to stem the flow of stories about people who have been arrested with new emphasis on the risk of discouraging witnesses from coming forward if the suspect's name has been tarnished. Will he fine journalists in future, or go further and jail them?
And The Independent's had two front page stories this week which have made the news more widely, on lobbyists Bell Pottinger, based on secret filming of their staff when bidding for new business. Bell Pottinger say they are complaining to the PCC and have instructed lawyers. Iain Overton worked on the story for the Bureau of Investigation - is this story really in the public interest, when it arguably shows little more than lobbyists boasting to attract new clients? And how does The Times' Danny Finkelstein respond to the lobbyists claims that he is worth targeting to place ideas in his columns?
The producer is Simon Tillotson.
WED 17:00 PM (b017x0vr)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b017t08b)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Heresy (b00sg1vh)
Series 8
Episode 2
Victoria Coren presents another edition of the show which dares to commit heresy.
Her guests this week are comedians David Baddiel and Lucy Porter and the co-presenter of daytime quiz show Pointless, Richard Osman. Together they have fun exposing the wrong-headedness of received wisdom and challenging knee-jerk public reaction to events.
Arguing against the common belief that "the economy is up the creek without a paddle", David Baddiel says we're actually sailing serenely through the recession. Lucy Porter isn't convinced that "the innocence of children is snatched away too fast these days" and wants to know when her 13 month old daughter will start paying her share of the household bills, and Richard Osman finds reasons not to mourn the passing of the News of the World.
Producer: Brian King
An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b017x0vw)
Josh hopes to get more than his usual allowance for helping in the dairy over Christmas, especially as Pip will be busy with college work. He's looking for time and a half. David wishes Eddie's Christmas music would increase milk productivity as there's another dip in the yield figures. At least the beef has held up to last year's sales.
Tony and Pat are babysitting Henry while Helen has an evening out. They comment on Henry's mannerisms. Tony wishes they knew who the father was, to put all the pieces together. Pat notices an expression on Henry that she's not seen before. For a moment it reminds her of someone.
Unable to help herself, Pat secretly phones Sharon. Sharon coldly admits that Rich is John's biological son, but in every other way Eamonn is his father and nobody is going to change that. When Pat questions why Sharon never told them, she reminds Pat that they never even told her John had died. Then when Sharon came to see them they treated her with contempt and told her to leave. As Pat sobs at this painful but truthful memory, Sharon tells her she would prefer it if Pat never got in touch again.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b017x0vy)
Vikram Seth; Carole King; Richard II
With Mark Lawson.
Singer and songwriter Carole King enjoyed her first hit fifty years ago, and released her landmark album Tapestry four decades ago. She discusses her career so far and her first-ever seasonal album, A Christmas Carole, including a Chanukah Prayer recorded with her daughter and grandson.
Eddie Redmayne takes the title role in a new staging of Shakespeare's Richard II, directed by Michael Grandage. Adam Mars-Jones gives his verdict.
Don DeLillo, whose novels include the epic Underworld, talks about his new collection of short stories, The Angel Esmeralda, and reflects on his approach to writing and the depictions of time and history shown in his work.
Two films out this week make visual references to other films from the same production team. Mark Eccleston discusses the art of inter-film referencing, undertaken by directors including Tim Burton and Stanley Kubrick.
Producer Georgia Mann.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b017x069)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b017x0w0)
NHS patient data
The government has announced new plans to open up the NHS to the life-science industry. The Prime Minister said the health service should be working hand in glove with the industry and that could involve the sharing of the huge wealth of patient data held by the NHS. The idea is said to be win-win; supporting the industry, which is one of the most important in the UK worth £50bn a year and employing 160,000 people and at the same time will get new drugs in to NHS hospitals more quickly. But at what cost to our privacy? Drugs companies already have a certain amount of access to anonymised patient data held by hospitals, but the proposals would widen this to included GP records. Names would still be withheld, but critics argue that data such as postcodes could still be accessed making links to individuals easy to make. We are open with our doctors because we're confident that our privacy will be protected, but with high profile data breaches from organisations such as banks, local authorities and various government departments, are we really happy having such sensitive material, including things like lifestyles, shared? And what about the issues of informed consent? Should drug companies be allowed to use the data in fields that some people might find morally objectionable - for example in foetal stem cell research? Is it our duty to share this information freely, not only for the potential benefit of our nearest and dearest, but also all of human kind? Or is this a commercial Trojan Horse being driven right in to the heart of the NHS for the benefit of the multi-billion pound drug industry and its shareholders?
Witnesses: Professor John Harris -University of Manchester, Medical Ethicist, Sir Mark Walport -Director, Welcome Trust, Nick Pickles -Director, Big Brother Watch, Rebecca Wood -Chief Executive, Alzheimer's Research UK.
Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk with Clifford Longley, Kenan Malik, Michael Portillo and Melanie Phillips.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b017x0w2)
Series 2
David Perks: Re-thinking Science in Schools
David Perks, state school physics teacher and founder of the Physics Factory in London, believes current science teaching is depriving children of the academic science education they deserve.
Four Thought is a series of talks which combine thought provoking ideas and engaging storytelling.
Recorded live in front of an audience at the RSA in London, speakers air their latest thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect our culture and society.
Producer: Sheila Cook.
WED 21:00 Frontiers (b017x0w4)
Flying at many times the speed of sound has been an elusive goal of aeronautical engineers for many years. Gareth Mitchell looks at how near we are to achieving hypersonic flight.
Producer: Julian Siddle.
WED 21:30 Midweek (b017x065)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b017t08d)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b017x0w6)
EU leaders will study a proposal from Herman van Rompuy for 'fiscal union' without the need for treaty changes. Could this be the only way to get agreement ?
The son in law of King Juan Carlos is an official suspect in a major corruption scandal.
How British money is being spent to cut carbon emissions in Africa
with Robin Lustig.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b017x0w8)
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
Episode 3
Written by Helen Simonson.
At the golf club the ladies are trying to decide on this year's theme for the annual dinner dance. But Major Pettigrew has other matters on his mind - like how to confront his sister in law,Marjorie, about Bertie's gun.
Abridged by Nigel Lewis.
Read by Sam Dastor.
A BBC Cymru/Wales production directed by Nigel Lewis.
WED 23:00 Mark Watson's Live Address to the Nation (b017x0wb)
Goodwill
Mark Watson continues his quest to improve the world, nimbly assisted by Tim Key and Tom Basden.
As broadcast live with an audience in December 2011 - Mark will be asking the big questions that are crucial to our understanding of ourselves and society - in a dynamic and thought provoking new format he opens the floor to the live audience and asks them to jump into the conversation via tweets and messages to work out how we can all make the world a better place.
Quite a few years ago Matt Damon and Robin Williams went Good Will Hunting. Now Mark and co finish the job by finding it, as the final edition of the series takes on a festive aspect. What is goodwill? How we can incorporate it into our lives? Is it better than ill-will? (SPOILER: it is).
Producer: Lianne Coop.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2011.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b017x2wt)
David Cameron comes under pressure from MPs over what safeguards he will be seeking for Britain at this week's crucial EU summit on the Eurozone debt crisis.
The Prime Minister also faces challenges over his promise to Conservative backbenchers to use any treaty changes to repatriate powers to the UK.
The Chancellor appears before MPs to answer questions about his autumn statement, in which he cut the forecasts for economic growth.
In the Lords, peers discuss the impact of reductions in local council spending on the arts.
Sean Curran and team report on today's events in Parliament.
THURSDAY 08 DECEMBER 2011
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b017t08z)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b018v85v)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b017t091)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b017t093)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b017t095)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b017t097)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b018b9kr)
with Richard Hill.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b017x3p0)
Charlotte Smith hears in a new report that there is a future for public owned forests in England.
Remember the campaign Save Our Forests? At the start of the year there was public outcry when plans were announced to sell off one fifth of English woodland which is publicly owned and run by the Forestry Commission. After protests around the country, the government dropped plans for a sell off. Instead, they commissioned a panel to consult and investigate on the future for English woodlands. Today, the panel publishes its interim report.
The chairman of the panel, the Bishop of the Right Reverend James Jones, tells Farming Today that the forests earmarked for sell-off should remain in public hands.
And the Shadow Secretary of State for the environment Mary Creagh responds to the findings and says it's time the government officially cancelled any plans to sell off any English woods.
'Chickening out'. Charlotte investigates accusations that the British government is not banning illegal eggs from next year. From the first of January battery cages will be banned across Europe, but 13 countries admit they won't be ready to introduce the new enriched caged system in time.
The British Egg Industry Council says the government could and should simply ban illegally produced eggs from being imported here. And Charlotte asks the Food and Drink Federation how easy it is for food manufacturers to trace an egg back to find out whether it is a battery egg or not.
Presented by Charlotte Smith. Produced by Clare Freeman in Birmingham.
THU 06:00 Today (b017x3p2)
Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather, Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b017x3p4)
Heraclitus
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus. Writing in the 5th century BC, Heraclitus believed that everything is constantly changing or, as he put it, in flux. He expressed this thought in a famous epigram: "No man ever steps into the same river twice." Heraclitus is often considered an enigmatic thinker, and much of his work is complex and puzzling. He was critical of the poets Homer and Hesiod, whom he considered to be ignorant, and accused the mathematician Pythagoras (who may have been his contemporary) of making things up. Heraclitus despaired of men's folly, and in his work constantly strove to encourage people to consider matters from alternative perspectives. Donkeys prefer rubbish to gold, he observed, pointing out that the same thing can have different meanings to different people.Unlike most of his contemporaries he was not associated with a particular school or disciplinary approach, although he did have his followers. At times a rationalist, at others a mystic, Heraclitus is an intriguing figure who influenced major later philosophers and movements such as Plato and the Stoics.With:Angie HobbsAssociate Professor of Philosophy and Senior Fellow in the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of WarwickPeter AdamsonProfessor of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy at King's College LondonJames WarrenSenior Lecturer in Classics and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, University of CambridgeProducer: Natalia Fernandez.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b018v86k)
Simon Garfield - Just My Type
Episode 4
"Just My Type" - a book about fonts by Simon Garfield.
Read by Julian Rhind Tutt
From type on the high street and book covers, to the print in our homes and offices, our world is surrounded by and spelt out by fonts. Little do we realise how our everyday choices are subtly informed and manipulated by these miniature works of art. Simon Garfield explores the history of the font and the people who brought them into being.
How Eric Spiekermann - a legend in the world of graphic design - changed the face of the German type face - and how the Nazis exploited the font to their own ends.
Producer: Clive Brill
A Pacificus Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b017x3p6)
French ban on prostitution? Music from Lotte Mullen
Presented by Jenni Murray. The French parliament has backed a proposal to fight prostitution by making payment for sex a crime punishable by fines and prison - Can this model work? Live music from Lotte Mullen, Sensible seasonal drinking tips and how to set up a business if you're disabled.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b017x3p8)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Reconciliation
By Anne Bronte
Dramatised by Rachel Joyce
Episode 9. Reconciliation
Gilbert has reached the end of Helen's journal and now knows all the painful secrets of her past and her reasons for seeking seclusion at Wildfell Hall.
Gilbert - Robert Lonsdale
Helen - Hattie Morahan
Huntingdon - Leo Bill
Lawrence - Carl Prekopp
Arthur - Samuel Bridger
Eliza - Victoria Inez Hardy
Rose - Leah Brotherhead
Director: David Hunter.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b017x3pb)
Exposing Bali's Orphanages
Ed Butler reports on a cycle of abuse in the orphanages of Bali. Some seventy orphanages now populate the island, housing thousands of children, many recruited from poor families, on the promise of a decent diet, education, and healthcare. But in some cases the promises are empty, as unscrupulous owners abuse and exploit the children - using them for free labour over long hours, and forcing them to beg. The most lucrative profits come from well-meaning tourists, who are often convinced by the tough living conditions to give generously - the hope being the money will benefit the children, not the owner. Is such charity actually intensifying the misery of Bali's most vulnerable children?
THU 11:30 Hemingway in Havana (b017x3pd)
The least chronicled chapter of Ernest Hemingway's life is the 20 years he spent in Cuba. The political stand off with the USA meant that scholars were denied access to his home, Finca Vigia, and to the many papers and books he left there after his suicide 50 years ago in 1961.
But now, as Susan Marling reports from Cuba, a unique partnership between the Cubans and conservators and academics from America has allowed the house (and Hemingway's beloved fishing boat, Pilar) to be restored and, more importantly, many of his letters, manuscripts and books have also been saved.
Susan visits the house, speaks to Hemingway experts about the significance of the documents and gives an account of the writer's deep love of Cuba, its people, landscape and the fabulous Gulf Stream.
Producer: Susan Marling
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b017x3pg)
Marriage online, and curbing bailiffs and letting agents.
Winifred Robinson presents today's consumer news.
Letting agents are currently unregulated. A new report by the Resolution Foundation Report details the large variance in fees they charge, including upfront admin fees, fees for renewal, and deposits.
Marriage in the Asian community has moved from being the province of aunties to being a profitable online business. Rajeev Gupta looks at the biggest matrimonial site, Shaadi.com.
The Ministry of Justice is planning to launch a consultation into the reform of bailiff law in the new year. We hear from a woman whose parking fine escalated to a bill for £1,800. So would new laws curb excessive practices, like this one, and how general are problems like this?
Producer: Rebecca Moore.
THU 12:57 Weather (b017t099)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b0180hw0)
Martha Kearney presents national and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
THU 13:45 The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office (b017x3pj)
The Mail Coach
Introduced in 1784 the mail coach slashed journey times by two thirds, provided a new state of the art form of public transport, and allowed newspapers to reach the provinces within 24 hours. The time-pieces carried by guards also had the unintended consequence of creating standard UK time in the era before GMT.
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines its impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication.
Writer and Presenter: Dominic Sandbrook
Historical Consultant: Susan Whyman
Musicians: Sam Lee, Bella Hardy, Mick Sands, Nick Hart
Actors:Morgan George, John Sessions, Simon Tcherniak,
Malcolm Tierney, Jane Whittenshaw
Producer: Joby Waldman
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b017x0vw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Burning Both Ends: When Oliver Reed Met Keith Moon (b017x3pl)
The story of one of the most infamous, unexpected and touching of friendships between two icons of the 1970s, Oliver Reed and Keith Moon.
Starring Sean Pertwee as Oliver Reed, and Arthur Darvill as Keith Moon.
Other members of the cast include Matthew Gravelle, Richard Nichols, Bethan Walker and Claire Cage.
In the mid-1970s, Oliver was an international movie star, and Keith was a rock 'n' roll legend, the drummer for rock band, The Who. Both were famous for their partying and boozing, as well as their undeniable talents. Mercurial and unpredictable, both men were at the top of their game - but the top can be a very lonely place.
Then they met, on the film set of The Who's epic rock opera, Tommy. What followed was a revelation - in each other they found a true kindred spirit, their own shadow image.
This is a story of madness and mayhem, antics and adventures, but also of love and loss - the dangerous, dazzling brilliance of two unbridled spirits connecting, but then the huge pain when one of them dies prematurely.
Recounting the electrifying "bruv-affair" between these two iconic figures, Burning Both Ends is the story of two men who found in each other a true friend, and who loved each other as fiercely as they partied...
Written by Matthew Broughton - inspired by true events, but scenes and characters have been created for dramatic effect.
Directed by Sam Hoyle.
A BBC Cymru/Wales production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2011.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b017x3pn)
Lancashire: Shale Gas
Does the British landscape hold the key to a new and revolutionary form of energy? Jules Hudson is in Lancashire to find out about shale gas, a by-product of shale rock which forms much of the geology of the county's landscape. Using a technique known as 'fracking', which involves using a high pressure combination of water, sand and chemicals, the rock is then fractured in order to release the gas.
For Cuadrilla, the company responsible for the drilling, these are exciting times. But opponents to the process are concerned about the environmental damage this may cause and also about the possibility of earthquakes after drilling was halted earlier this year following two quakes close to Blackpool.
Should we unlock the vast resources of shale gas deep under our landscape? Jules Hudson visits Lancashire to meet the people responsible for the drilling and to find out what is so special about the Bowland Shale.
Presenter: Jules Hudson
Producer: Helen Chetwynd.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b017n1v9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Bookclub (b017vk99)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b017x3pq)
Truth - as they say - is stranger than fiction. Mike Cahill's science fiction morality tale, Another Earth, came out this week just days after it emerged that scientists had found Kepler 22b - a planet which, it seems, may share many of the attributes of our own bluey green globe. Francine Stock has been talking to Mike about coincidence, the genesis of his film and, of course, the multiverse. She's also taken a trip to the parallel world of American politics with Nick Broomfield to discuss his new documentary, Sarah Palin - You Betcha! and delved into the murky realm of Ben Wheatley's hit horror film, Kill List. And to dispel any notion of idleness she put herself through the initiation ceremony for Secret Cinema.... a new and playful way of screening films which draws you in through carefully calculated mystery and makes you an actor as much as a spectator.
Producer: Zahid Warley.
THU 16:30 Material World (b017x3ps)
Quentin Cooper asks if it's worth extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and how it might be done with carbon nanotubes. He hears how industry is planning for a world shortage of rare elements. A 500 million year old monster eye with 16 000 lenses and the first finalists shortlisted from listeners who want to be a scientist.
Producer: Martin Redfern.
THU 17:00 PM (b017z1nz)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b017t09c)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Elvenquest (b016c8y5)
Series 3
Episode 2
As they continue their search for the Sword of Asnagar, the noble Questers are lead to a quiet town in the countryside, which they have heard may hold their prize. But they get there only to discover that it has been razed to the ground by a band of ruthless barbarians, lead by the blood-thirsty Ragnar Half-tooth (Daniel Rigby), who has taken the Sword taken as booty. In order to get it back, the Questers decide to masquerade as barbarians and enter Ragnar's camp. Can they trick Ragnar, deceive his men and get the Sword? Well...they give it a jolly good go...
Meanwhile, Kreech tells Lord Darkness that his annual regeneration is coming up and that he needs to get some sleep in order to avoid meeting the new Dawn which will send his body crumbling into dust. Problem is, getting to sleep when it really matters is easier said than done. And Lord Darkness is suddenly overcome by a nasty bout of insomnia...
Cast:
Darren Boyd as Vidar
Kevin Eldon as Dean/Kreech
Dave Lamb as Amis aka The Chosen One
Alistair McGowan as Lord Darkness
Stephen Mangan as Sam
Daniel Rigby as Ragnar Half-tooth
and
Sophie Winkleman as Penthiselea
Written by Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto
Producer: Sam Michell.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b017x3px)
With tickets selling fast, Lynda's delighted by the response to her table decoration idea but acknowledges that they need more music to make the Christmas show go with a zing.
The new designs for Bridge Farm packaging look good. Tom might use the same design if he takes 'Tom Archer' into ready meals, which is looking hopeful. He wishes Pat would take more interest but realises she's all over the place. He and Helen feel sorry for her but still agree Pat shouldn't get in touch with Sharon. They don't know she's already done so.
Jim switches on the lights at The Bull and the chain begins. It comes to a standstill at Greenacres but only for a moment as Joe gets distracted with a mince pie. Everyone agrees the lights are lovely.
Neil's annoyed that Tracy and her children are taking over his home. Susan acknowledges it's getting difficult and thinks it would be best if they moved in with her dad and Gary. Neil's not convinced there's room, unless Bert moves into the dining room. The whole place needs re-decorating, which Neil's happy to do if it gets Tracy and the children out of his house. Susan suggests they raise it after Christmas. Neil hopes they can all survive till then.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b017x3pz)
Annie Lennox; Nick Park; The Ladykillers
With Kirsty Lang.
Singer Annie Lennox reflects on a career which has seen her push boundaries in both music and fashion, as she releases an album of Christmas songs and sees her V&A exhibition, The House Of Annie Lennox, go on tour early next year.
The Ladykillers, the classic Ealing comedy film, now arrives on stage in a new adaptation by Graham Linehan, with a cast including Peter Capaldi, Ben Miller and James Fleet. Writer Iain Sinclair reviews.
Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park makes a foray into live action directing with a music video for the band Native and the Name. He explains why the song in question had such resonance and how he persuaded 50 members of the Aardman staff to donate their time to help.
In the film Another Earth, a young woman's life is changed forever by the discovery of an identical Earth, moving ever closer to ours. Roger Luckhurst reviews this debut feature from screen-writer and actress Brit Marling.
The musical 42nd Street features a young unknown chorus-line dancer who's forced to step into the starring role when the leading lady can't go on. This actually happened in the opening night of a new production in Leicester. Understudy Lucinda Lawrence reveals what it was like to "come back a star".
Producer Rebecca Nicholson.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b017x3p8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b017x3q1)
How Secure are Britain's Borders?
It seems barely a day goes by without further damaging revelations about the UK Border Agency, the organisation which oversees Britain's immigration and customs operation. The recent disclosure that security checks were lowered at UK ports, allegedly without ministerial consent, cost Brodie Clark, former head of the Border Agency, his job. But behind the headlines, what is really going on in immigration halls up and down the land? In this week's The Report, Simon Cox investigates the under fire UK Border Agency. Can the public have confidence that it is now being run and managed properly? Are British ports now safe and secure?
THU 20:30 In Business (b017x3q3)
The Curse of the Bonus
THE CURSE OF THE BONUS
It started off as a nice pat on the back for exceptional work. But then the bonus became some people's primal motivation..first in the financial markets in the City of London, then in big business, and then in the way public services are run too. Peter Day traces the rise and rise of the bonus culture, and asks how much damage it causes.
Producer Caroline Bayley
Editor Stephen Chilcott.
THU 21:00 Saving Species (b017wy6z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Tuesday]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b017x3p4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b017t09f)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b017x3q7)
Europe's leaders meet to discuss the latest proposals to stem the crisis in the Eurozone. We hear from Germany what lies behind Angela Merkel's strategy.
Vladimir Putin blames the US for post-election unrest in Russia.
And has the coalition given up on being the 'greenest government ever'.
with Robin Lustig.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b017x3qc)
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
Episode 4
Written by Helen Simonson.
Major Pettigrew tries to help his son Roger with a tricky house purchase negotiation but it doesn't go to plan when the owner is shocked to find Grace and Mrs Ali on a bench in the garden.
Abridged by Nigel Lewis.
Read by Sam Dastor.
A BBC Cymru/Wales production directed by Nigel Lewis.
THU 23:00 Weird Tales (b01nrd24)
Series 3
Original Features by Christopher William Hill
When Carl and Rob buy a flat in a 19th century house, it seems they've found their perfect home.
With Carl away on business, Rob throws himself into restoring the flat, but he ends up with more of the original features than he'd anticipated...
Series of chilling plays for winter nights.
Carl ..... Martin Hutson
Rob ..... Carl Prekopp
Jess ..... Adjoa Andoh
Girl ..... Francine Chamberlain
Answerphone ..... Tracy Wiles
Woman ..... Alex Rivers
Man ..... Christopher Webster
Director: Mary Peate
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2011.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b017x3qh)
David Cornock reports on calls by Eurosceptic Tories for a referendum on any deal to save the Eurozone. The Chancellor George Osborne tells peers he'll defend the City of London. And there are complaints in the Lords about cyclists who ride on the pavements.
Editor: Peter Mulligan.
FRIDAY 09 DECEMBER 2011
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b017t0b0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b018v86k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b017t0b2)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b017t0b4)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b017t0b6)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b017t0b8)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b018b9kt)
with Richard Hill.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b017x4f9)
Farmers on the Isle of Man are urging people to buy more local produce and rely less on imports. This week bad weather meant limited deliveries by boat leaving some shops on the island with empty shelves. The Manx NFU says as there is a good supply of bread, milk, eggs, cheese and meat from local producers - and to avoid any future food supply problems, residents and business should be looking to be self-sustainable. The Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture on the Isle of Man says though there were restrictions on supplies, the Island has more than sufficient supplies.
Following on from yesterday's exclusive interview with the Bishop of Liverpool on the future of English woodlands, Charlotte Smith visits Thames Chase Community Forest in Essex where volunteers are working to manage the forest. Meanwhile in Scotland - currently around 17% of the land is woodland. Over the next few decades this is will change to meet the Scottish Government target of 25% of all land by 2050. To achieve that, about twenty five thousand acres of trees will have to be planted every year between now and then. The target has proved to be controversial, some farmers are concerned that land which could be used for food production will go for forestry. Charlotte talks to a farmer and the chair of a new group set up to help meet the target.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced in Birmingham by Angela Frain.
FRI 06:00 Today (b017x4fd)
Morning news and current affairs, with John Humphrys in London and Justin Webb in Brussels, featuring reaction to David Cameron's decision to use the UK veto in EU treaty negotiations from Foreign Secretary William Hague (
08:10) former foreign secretary Lord Owen (
07:35), former Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell (
08:45) and shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander (
07:36).
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b017vjlw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b018v874)
Simon Garfield - Just My Type
Episode 5
"Just My Type" - a book about fonts by Simon Garfield.
Read by Julian Rhind Tutt
From type on the high street and book covers, to the print in our homes and offices, our world is surrounded by and spelt out by fonts. Little do we realise how our everyday choices are subtly informed and manipulated by these miniature works of art. Simon Garfield explores the history of the font and the people who brought them into being.
The Font in politics. How Barack Obama used a font to win a presidency.
Producer: Clive Brill
A Pacificus Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b017x4fg)
Francesca Annis; the allure of candlelight; how much does neighbourliness matter?
Presented by Jenni Murray. Francesca Annis takes on her first musical role for more than 40 years. Her only other experience at age 20 was so terrifying she hasn't sung since, so what has persuaded her to tackle the role of Joanne in Stephen Sondheim's Company? How well do you know your neighbours or even their names? Not well, if we're to believe the many surveys that claim neighbourliness is on its way out. How much does neighbourliness matter? Scented candles are one of the most popular Christmas gifts for women. Yet the first candles were reed wicks dipped in stinking animal fat. The rich could light their homes with candles of wax and for them the candle was more than merely a source of light - it was also a symbol of their wealth. Today candles continue to symbolize celebration, mark romance, soothe the senses, define ceremony, and accent home decors. But what is the history, and the allure of candlelight?
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b017x4fj)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Startling Intelligences
By Anne Bronte
Dramatised by Rachel Joyce
Episode 10. Startling Intelligences
Gilbert is in despair. He hasn't seen Helen Graham for several months now and he has learnt that she has returned to nurse her sick husband.
Gilbert ... Robert Lonsdale
Helen ... Hattie Morahan
Huntingdon ... Leo Bill
Arthur ...Samuel Bridger
Lawrence ... Carl Prekopp
Director: David Hunter.
FRI 11:00 Backstage Tales (b017x4fl)
Getting a music tour on the road is a massive undertaking, particularly if the star has a large entourage. A big tour can be the size of a small town, and every night it ups sticks and takes to the road again. Just feeding the crew is a military operation, which takes an army of caterers. So how do they do it? Having spent nearly 30 years on the road, Midge Ure is perfectly placed to spill the beans on musicians on tour. As Midge says, it is an incredible thing to be part of but it is also a hermetically sealed bubble, detached from the real world and creating its own reality.
In this programme, Midge Ure goes backstage into the bizarre world of musicians on tour, to explore how touring has changed since his heyday in the 80s and to meet the army of crew behind the scenes who put the tour together: the roadies, lighting technicians, sound engineers, tour managers, caterers, and the artists themselves. He hears their backstage tales and finds out exactly what it takes to get the show on the road.
Presented by Midge Ure. With Jason Donovan, Boy George, Kim Wilde, Belinda Carlisle and Martin Kemp.
Producer: Melissa Fitzgerald
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 11:30 North by Northamptonshire (b017x4fn)
Series 2
Episode 2
Jan has Helen back at home, but is it what she really wants?
Sheila Hancock narrates the bittersweet adventures of the residents of Wadenbrook - a small town in Northamptonshire.
Written by Katherine Jakeways
John Biggins............Keith
Mackenzie Crook.........Rod
Kevin Eldon.........Jonathan / Ken
Shelia Hancock........... Narrator
Jessica Henwick.............Helen
Katherine Jakeways.... Esther / Jacqui
Felicity Montagu..............Jan
Geoffrey Palmer..........Norman
Lizzie Roper............Angela
Penelope Wilton............Mary
Rufus Wright..............Frank.
Producer: Victoria Lloyd
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2011
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b017x4fq)
The business of teaching men to flirt
How mobile phones are replacing cash.
Councillors in Edinburgh have just voted to become the first place in the UK to introduce a controversial 'bed tax'.
And why some men are having such a difficult time meeting women they are willing to pay nearly eight hundred pounds for a "boot camp" to teach them how to do it.
Presenter Peter White. Producer Alex Lewis.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b017t0bb)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b017x4fs)
Shaun Ley presents national and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
FRI 13:45 The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office (b017x4fv)
Freepost
In the early 1800s the post office operated an expensive and illogical payment system. This forced letter-writers into ever more imaginative ways of avoiding postage, from using private couriers, to hiding letters in barrels of butter, to sending coded newspapers. MPs were allowed to send letters for free, but as only a signature was required it created a system that was ripe for abuse.
As Royal Mail faces an uncertain future, Dominic Sandbrook charts the development of the post office and examines it's impact on literacy, free speech, commerce and communication.
Writer and Presenter: Dominic Sandbrook
Historical Consultant: Susan Whyman
Musicians: Sam Lee, Bella Hardy, Mick Sands, Nick Hart
Actors:Morgan George, John Sessions, Simon Tcherniak,
Malcolm Tierney, Jane Whittenshaw
Producer: Joby Waldman
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b017x3px)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b017x5zh)
Terri-Ann Brumby - The Benefit of Time
Debbie Green is dull. Debbie Green is plain. Debbie Green works in Human Resources, where she has few friends, and lives a very mundane existence. That is, until she starts going to visit a hypnotist, who claims to be able to explore people's past lives. And guess what? Debbie, apparently, has had a very eventful past life - she was once Anne Boleyn. Or so Donald Cruikshank her hypnotist excitedly confirms. He is, of course, a charlatan, and he's gulling her. Or is he? Is she gulling him? As the sessions progress, and Debbie starts doing an office round-robin e-mail of her experiences, her popularity at work increases dramatically, as do her career prospects.
In our celebrity-fixated world, what better celebrity to conjure up - and then actually be - than a famous figure of history? And as Debbie climbs that greasy pole to success and high status, she leaves a trail of human devastation in her wake.
Original Music composed by David Chilton
Produced by Gordon House
A Goldhawk Essential Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b017x5zk)
Scottish Borders
Eric Robson chairs a horticultural Q&A with Pippa Greenwood, Bunny Guinness and Matthew Wilson. How a rambling rose can ward off the burglars: Bob Flowerdew discusses allotment security. Anne Swithinbank considers colourful winter planting.
Also, encouraging blue-tits in order to fight off Woolly Aphid and an alternative to pruning Daphnes.
Questions addressed in the programme were:
My Labrador always gets at the bone meal I add to my flowerbeds. What shall I do?
What is the white fuzz growing on my apple trees?
My wife is an over-enthusiastic pruner. What to do?
What can I grow in tubs for a wedding next May?
Suggestions include: 'Spring Green' Tulips, Geranium Sanguineum, Cineraria & Silver birch
I would like to move my Rhododendron. When is the best time to do this?
Since August, my Fuchsias have lost all their leaves. Why is that?
Can the panel suggest permanent planting for a large patio pot? Has to survive a winter without fleece.
I've a 5x5ft Daphne bush. Should I trim it or let it go straggly?
Does the panel have any bad gardening habits?
Produced by Lucy Dichmont
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b017n1vc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Sunday]
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b017x76p)
Dev Anand, Christopher Logue, Sócrates, Helen Forrester, Wilfred Lambert
John Wilson on:
Christopher Logue, the performance poet who translated Homer, wrote for Private Eye, and acted alongside Jonathan Pryce in Hamlet.
Socrates - doctor of medicine, political activist and Brazilian World Cup captain.
We hear about Professor Wilfred Lambert , a scholar whose unrivalled knowledge of ancient Babylonian languages helped unlock historical mysteries.
Dev Anand - the matinee idol of Hindi cinema.
And Helen Forrester who wrote about childhood poverty in Liverpool in the 1930s.
FRI 16:30 More or Less (b017x76r)
Children's Books:
The National Literacy Trust said this week that one in three children does not own a book. The national media lamented, but we take a closer inspection of the report and the data collected, and find some better news.
Supermarket price wars:
Tim Harford and Anthony Reuben work out how all supermarkets can claim to be cheaper than each other, without being slapped down for false advertising.
Eurostats II:
We continue to scrutinise the enormous numbers emerging from the Eurozone crisis. Do Italian tax payers really pay 2 billion euros a year for their politicians to be chauffered around? Wesley Stephenson checks out the figures.
Amazing?
What are the odds of breaking four double-yolk eggs into your baking bowl, one after another? That's what happened to our colleague Jennifer Clarke and her friend Lynsey as they prepared profiteroles at the weekend. Tim Harford works out the probabilities for the amazed bakers...before Jennifer then breaks the remaining two eggs in the box...will they too be double yolkers?
Producer: Ruth Alexander
Editor: Richard Vadon.
FRI 17:00 PM (b017x76t)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b017t0bd)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The Now Show (b017x76w)
Series 35
Episode 5
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are joined by David Quantick, Paul Sinha, Laura Shavin and Mitch Benn to mine comedy nuggets from this week's news.
Producer: Katie Tyrrell.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b017x76y)
Jill and Shula discuss Christmas. Jill knows the rift between Elizabeth and David could spoil Christmas for everyone but it looks like Kenton has a solution. He and Jolene are going to invite all the family to The Bull on Christmas evening. The Ploughman's is big enough for David and Elizabeth to keep out of each other's way.
Joe's got a surprise for Will and Nic's wedding. He shows Nic the canopy he and Eddie have made for the trap - out of a bright orange tent, so that Nic can arrive at her wedding in style. Nic tells Joe it's a wonderful idea, and she loves it, but she's getting changed at Grey Gables. She assures him that it will be perfect for something on the day, she's just not sure what yet.
Pat admits to Tony that she's spoken to Sharon, and Rich is definitely John's son. She can't get out of her head that Sharon might have told them if they hadn't sent her away. Rich might have been part of their life and she doesn't know how she can ever forgive herself. Tony insists they both sent Sharon away. If there's a fault, it's his as much as hers. But how were they to know what they were doing?
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b017x770)
Comedy DVDs; Haunted Child; Graham Sutherland
With Kirsty Lang.
Lee Evans, Peter Kay, Ross Noble, Sarah Millican, Alan Carr and Milton Jones are among the host of comedians releasing new DVDs aimed at Christmas shoppers. Comedy critic Stephen Armstrong discusses the stand-up boom, and whether any of the DVDs is worth a second viewing.
Sophie Okonedo and Ben Daniels star in Haunted Child, a new play by Joe Penhall. A small boy and his mother struggle to understand why the father abandoned them to join a religious cult, and his motives for returning to the family home. Julie Myerson reviews.
The artist Graham Sutherland is the focus of a new exhibition curated by Turner Prize nominee George Shaw. Sutherland, who died in 1980, produced a wide range of work, including landscapes, images of the Blitz and portraits, including one of Winston Churchill, which was loathed by Churchill's wife. Writer Alexandra Harris and art critic Richard Cork reflect on Sutherland's current reputation.
Composer Joshua Cody was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer when in his early thirties. He charts his experience of treatment and his reaction to the diagnosis, whilst aiming to avoid what he describes as the classic cancer memoir. Instead, he describes his morphine delusions, and the comfort he found in writers, poets and artists.
Crime writer Mark Billingham loves a good narrative. And particularly in pop songs. He raises a glass to Two Little Boys, Copacabana and Bohemian Rhapsody, as there's nothing better than a good yarn with a beginning, a middle and an end set to music.
Producer Katie Langton.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b017x4fj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b017x772)
Dudley
Jonathan Dimbleby presents a panel discussion of news and politics from High Arcal School, Sedgley, Dudley, West Midlands, with Secretary of State for Defence, Philip Hammond; Shadow Minister for Crime Prevention, Gloria de Piero; former Chief Constable and now vice-chairman of restorative justice charity, Why Me?, Sir Charles Pollard; and Daily Telegraph columnist, Mary Riddell.
Producer: Victoria Wakely.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b017x776)
Beware the Experts
The historian Lisa Jardine recalls CP Snow for lessons on the dangers of leaving political decisions to technocrats and experts and calls for better informed debate by politicians and public alike in the fields of science and economics.
Producer: Sheila Cook.
FRI 21:00 The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office (b017x7g8)
The Origins of the Post Office
Introduced by Henry VIII to aid the spread of intelligence, the first 200 years of Royal Mail saw a series of attempts to reform the postal system with mixed results. By the early 19th century the system had reached breaking point as all social classes sought ever more ingenious ways to avoid the high cost of postage.
Launched in 1516, the Royal Mail was intended to support official communications and bolster intelligence. It was only a rise in literacy and trade that stimulated a demand for a public service. In the paranoid era of the English Civil War the postal network became an important instrument of state control. In a secret room deep in the post office building, agents opened and copied letters from suspected dissidents on a grand scale.
Launched in 1680, The London Penny Post was the first accessible and cheap method for sending mail within the capital for the equivalent of £6.
During the eighteenth century an expanding postal network offered new possibilities for long-distance relationships. From travelling preachers to sailors and their families, people from all backgrounds found ways to write home.
Introduced in 1784 the mail coach slashed journey times by two thirds, provided a new state of the art form of public transport, and allowed newspapers to reach the provinces within 24 hours. The timepieces carried by guards also had the unintended consequence of creating standard UK time in the era before GMT.
In the early 1800s the post office operated an expensive and illogical payment system. This forced letter-writers into ever more imaginative ways of avoiding postage, from using private couriers, to sending coded newspapers. MPs were allowed to send letters for free, but as only a signature was required it created a system that was ripe for abuse.
Writer and Presenter: Dominic Sandbrook
Historical Consultant: Susan Whyman
Musicians: Sam Lee, Bella Hardy, Mick Sands, Nick Hart
Actors: Morgan George, John Sessions, Simon Tcherniak,
Malcolm Tierney, Jane Whittenshaw,
Producer: Joby Waldman
A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b017t0bg)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b017x778)
A historic day for Europe. Twenty-six member states sign up to a new deal aimed at solving the Euro crisis - only the UK stays out.
Has the EU done enough to save the euro? How will a two-speed Europe work? Is this the beginning of the end for the UK's relationship with Europe? And what does this mean for the UK's coalition government?
We'll try to find some of the answers with Robin Lustig at
10pm.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b017x77b)
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
Episode 5
Written by Helen Simonson.
Major Pettigrew offers to solve Mrs Ali's family problem but his son Roger's nose is severely out of joint when he makes a surprise visit with his fiance, Sandy, and expects to stay over. The major takes solace in the thought of a walk with Mrs Ali next Sunday.
Abridged by Nigel Lewis.
Read by Sam Dastor.
A BBC Cymru/Wales production directed by Nigel Lewis.
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b017wyyc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b017x77d)
The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams leads off a Lords debate on the treatment of Christians in the Middle East. Mark D'Arcy pulls together the best of that debate. After that, he catches parliamentary reaction to the dramatic outcome of the EU summit meeting in Brussels.
Also on the programme:
Arguments over changes to the government's Welfare Reform Bill which shakes up the benefits system .
And. Is the system of electronic petitions, or E-petitions working satisfactorily?
LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 MON (b017vmfq)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 MON (b017vmfq)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 TUE (b017wy6x)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 TUE (b017wy6x)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 WED (b017x069)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 WED (b017x069)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 THU (b017x3p8)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 THU (b017x3p8)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 FRI (b017x4fj)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 FRI (b017x4fj)
49 Cedar Street
11:30 WED (b010t7x5)
A Point of View
08:50 SUN (b017mz49)
A Point of View
20:50 FRI (b017x776)
Afternoon Reading
00:30 SUN (b00kvh1q)
All in the Mind
21:00 TUE (b017wyyr)
All in the Mind
15:30 WED (b017wyyr)
An African Asian Affair
20:00 MON (b017vsjm)
Any Answers?
14:00 SAT (b017vcpm)
Any Questions?
13:10 SAT (b017mz47)
Any Questions?
20:00 FRI (b017x772)
Archive on 4
20:00 SAT (b017vdhp)
Backstage Tales
11:00 FRI (b017x4fl)
Bells on Sunday
05:43 SUN (b017vf0y)
Bells on Sunday
00:45 MON (b017vf0y)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 MON (b017w4wx)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 TUE (b017wyyw)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 WED (b017x0w8)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 THU (b017x3qc)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 FRI (b017x77b)
Book of the Week
00:30 SAT (b017mwz2)
Book of the Week
09:45 MON (b0184zfz)
Book of the Week
00:30 TUE (b0184zfz)
Book of the Week
09:45 TUE (b018v7zs)
Book of the Week
00:30 WED (b018v7zs)
Book of the Week
09:45 WED (b018v85v)
Book of the Week
00:30 THU (b018v85v)
Book of the Week
09:45 THU (b018v86k)
Book of the Week
00:30 FRI (b018v86k)
Book of the Week
09:45 FRI (b018v874)
Bookclub
16:00 SUN (b017vk99)
Bookclub
15:30 THU (b017vk99)
Brain of Britain
23:00 SAT (b017m14p)
Brain of Britain
15:00 MON (b017vp96)
Broadcasting House
09:00 SUN (b017vjlr)
Burning Both Ends: When Oliver Reed Met Keith Moon
14:15 THU (b017x3pl)
Byng Ballads: The Story of Douglas Byng
19:45 SUN (b017vkrr)
Classic Serial
21:00 SAT (b017lbqk)
Classic Serial
15:00 SUN (b017vk97)
Coming Out
14:45 SUN (b017vk95)
Crossing Continents
20:30 MON (b017mvx6)
Crossing Continents
11:00 THU (b017x3pb)
Desert Island Discs
11:15 SUN (b017vjlw)
Desert Island Discs
09:00 FRI (b017vjlw)
Dilemma
19:15 SUN (b017vkrp)
Dishonour and Depression
16:00 TUE (b017wyy9)
Drama
14:15 MON (b017vp94)
Drama
14:15 FRI (b017x5zh)
Elvenquest
18:30 THU (b016c8y5)
Excess Baggage
10:00 SAT (b017vclq)
Farming Today
06:30 SAT (b017vbbh)
Farming Today
05:45 MON (b017vmfg)
Farming Today
05:45 TUE (b017w65m)
Farming Today
05:45 WED (b017x061)
Farming Today
05:45 THU (b017x3p0)
Farming Today
05:45 FRI (b017x4f9)
Four Thought
20:45 WED (b017x0w2)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:30 SAT (b017vcm7)
Front Row
19:15 MON (b017vsjk)
Front Row
19:15 TUE (b017wyyk)
Front Row
19:15 WED (b017x0vy)
Front Row
19:15 THU (b017x3pz)
Front Row
19:15 FRI (b017x770)
Frontiers
21:00 WED (b017x0w4)
Gardeners' Question Time
14:00 SUN (b017mz3s)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:00 FRI (b017x5zk)
Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off
11:30 MON (b017vmfs)
Great Lives
16:30 TUE (b017wyyc)
Great Lives
23:00 FRI (b017wyyc)
Greece: Broken Marble, Broken Future
20:00 TUE (b017x7kf)
Hemingway in Havana
11:30 THU (b017x3pd)
Heresy
18:30 WED (b00sg1vh)
Home Planet
15:00 TUE (b017wy79)
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
12:00 SUN (b017m14y)
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
18:30 MON (b017vsjf)
In Business
21:30 SUN (b017mws3)
In Business
20:30 THU (b017x3q3)
In Our Time
09:00 THU (b017x3p4)
In Our Time
21:30 THU (b017x3p4)
In Touch
20:40 TUE (b017wyyp)
Ken Clarke's Jazz Greats
15:30 SAT (b017mszh)
Ken Clarke's Jazz Greats
11:30 TUE (b017wy71)
Last Word
20:30 SUN (b017mz3v)
Last Word
16:00 FRI (b017x76p)
Loose Ends
18:15 SAT (b017vdhh)
Mark Steel's in Town
18:30 TUE (b017wyyf)
Mark Watson's Live Address to the Nation
23:00 WED (b017x0wb)
Material World
21:00 MON (b017mwrq)
Material World
16:30 THU (b017x3ps)
McLevy
14:15 TUE (b017wy77)
Midnight News
00:00 SAT (b017mxdm)
Midnight News
00:00 SUN (b017n1cr)
Midnight News
00:00 MON (b017t05t)
Midnight News
00:00 TUE (b017t06x)
Midnight News
00:00 WED (b017t07y)
Midnight News
00:00 THU (b017t08z)
Midnight News
00:00 FRI (b017t0b0)
Midweek
09:00 WED (b017x065)
Midweek
21:30 WED (b017x065)
Money Box Live
15:00 WED (b017x0vk)
Money Box
12:00 SAT (b017vcpk)
Money Box
21:00 SUN (b017vcpk)
Moral Maze
22:15 SAT (b017mv2j)
Moral Maze
20:00 WED (b017x0w0)
More or Less
20:00 SUN (b017mz3x)
More or Less
16:30 FRI (b017x76r)
News Briefing
05:30 SAT (b017mxdw)
News Briefing
05:30 SUN (b017n1d0)
News Briefing
05:30 MON (b017t062)
News Briefing
05:30 TUE (b017t075)
News Briefing
05:30 WED (b017t086)
News Briefing
05:30 THU (b017t097)
News Briefing
05:30 FRI (b017t0b8)
News Headlines
06:00 SUN (b017n1d2)
News and Papers
06:00 SAT (b017mxdy)
News and Papers
07:00 SUN (b017n1d6)
News and Papers
08:00 SUN (b017n1db)
News and Weather
22:00 SAT (b017mxfj)
News
13:00 SAT (b017mxf8)
North by Northamptonshire
11:30 FRI (b017x4fn)
Off the Page
23:00 MON (b017mszw)
Off the Page
15:30 TUE (b017wy7c)
On Your Farm
06:35 SUN (b017vjlf)
One to One
09:30 TUE (b017w65t)
Open Country
06:07 SAT (b017vbbf)
Open Country
15:00 THU (b017x3pn)
PM
17:00 SAT (b017vdhf)
PM
17:00 MON (b017vsjc)
PM
17:00 TUE (b017x7ld)
PM
17:00 WED (b017x0vr)
PM
17:00 THU (b017z1nz)
PM
17:00 FRI (b017x76t)
Peter Tinniswood
14:15 WED (b00v1r9k)
Pick of the Week
18:15 SUN (b017vkrk)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 SAT (b017mz6f)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 MON (b017vmfd)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 TUE (b018b9lj)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 WED (b018b9kp)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 THU (b018b9kr)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 FRI (b018b9kt)
Profile
19:02 SAT (b017vdhk)
Profile
05:45 SUN (b017vdhk)
Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
07:55 SUN (b017n1v9)
Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
09:45 SUN (b017n1vc)
Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
17:40 SUN (b017n1vc)
Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
21:26 SUN (b017n1v9)
Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
15:27 THU (b017n1v9)
Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
15:45 FRI (b017n1vc)
Random Edition
11:00 WED (b017x06c)
Saturday Drama
14:30 SAT (b00p016z)
Saturday Live
09:00 SAT (b017vcln)
Saturday Review
19:15 SAT (b017vdhm)
Saving Species
11:00 TUE (b017wy6z)
Saving Species
21:00 THU (b017wy6z)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SAT (b017mxdr)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SUN (b017n1cw)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 MON (b017t05y)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 TUE (b017t071)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 WED (b017t082)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 THU (b017t093)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 FRI (b017t0b4)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SAT (b017mxdp)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SAT (b017mxdt)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SAT (b017mxfb)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SUN (b017n1ct)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SUN (b017n1cy)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SUN (b017n1dg)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 MON (b017t05w)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 MON (b017t060)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 TUE (b017t06z)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 TUE (b017t073)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 WED (b017t080)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 WED (b017t084)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 THU (b017t091)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 THU (b017t095)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 FRI (b017t0b2)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 FRI (b017t0b6)
Simonides: Body Bags
23:30 SAT (b01r5mk8)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SAT (b017mxfg)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SUN (b017n1dl)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 MON (b017t068)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 TUE (b017t079)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 WED (b017t08b)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 THU (b017t09c)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 FRI (b017t0bd)
Something Understood
06:05 SUN (b017vjlc)
Something Understood
23:30 SUN (b017vjlc)
Start the Week
09:00 MON (b017vmfl)
Start the Week
21:30 MON (b017vmfl)
Sunday Worship
08:10 SUN (b017vjlp)
Sunday
07:10 SUN (b017vjlk)
The Archers Omnibus
10:00 SUN (b017vjlt)
The Archers
19:00 SUN (b017vkrm)
The Archers
14:00 MON (b017vkrm)
The Archers
19:00 MON (b017vsjh)
The Archers
14:00 TUE (b017vsjh)
The Archers
19:00 TUE (b017wyyh)
The Archers
14:00 WED (b017wyyh)
The Archers
19:00 WED (b017x0vw)
The Archers
14:00 THU (b017x0vw)
The Archers
19:00 THU (b017x3px)
The Archers
14:00 FRI (b017x3px)
The Archers
19:00 FRI (b017x76y)
The Film Programme
23:00 SUN (b017mwrn)
The Film Programme
16:00 THU (b017x3pq)
The Food Programme
12:32 SUN (b017vjly)
The Food Programme
15:30 MON (b017vjly)
The Infinite Monkey Cage
16:30 MON (b017vsj9)
The Infinite Monkey Cage
23:00 TUE (b017vsj9)
The Last Jews of Iraq
17:00 SUN (b017wyym)
The Life Scientific
09:00 TUE (b017w65r)
The Life Scientific
21:30 TUE (b017w65r)
The Media Show
16:30 WED (b017x0vp)
The Now Show
12:30 SAT (b017mz41)
The Now Show
18:30 FRI (b017x76w)
The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office
13:45 MON (b017vp92)
The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office
13:45 TUE (b017wy75)
The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office
13:45 WED (b017x0vh)
The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office
13:45 THU (b017x3pj)
The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office
13:45 FRI (b017x4fv)
The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office
21:00 FRI (b017x7g8)
The Poetry of Aran
16:30 SUN (b017vk9c)
The Report
20:00 THU (b017x3q1)
The Week in Westminster
11:00 SAT (b017vcls)
The World This Weekend
13:00 SUN (b017vjm0)
The World Tonight
22:00 MON (b017w4wv)
The World Tonight
22:00 TUE (b017wyyt)
The World Tonight
22:00 WED (b017x0w6)
The World Tonight
22:00 THU (b017x3q7)
The World Tonight
22:00 FRI (b017x778)
The iPod Series
10:30 SAT (b017c8cd)
Things We Forgot to Remember
13:30 SUN (b017vjyd)
Thinking Allowed
00:15 MON (b017mv24)
Thinking Allowed
16:00 WED (b017x0vm)
Three Wishes
16:00 MON (b01608jr)
Today in Parliament
23:30 MON (b017w4wz)
Today in Parliament
23:30 TUE (b017wyyy)
Today in Parliament
23:30 WED (b017x2wt)
Today in Parliament
23:30 THU (b017x3qh)
Today in Parliament
23:30 FRI (b017x77d)
Today
07:00 SAT (b017vcll)
Today
06:00 MON (b017vmfj)
Today
06:00 TUE (b017w65p)
Today
06:00 WED (b017x063)
Today
06:00 THU (b017x3p2)
Today
06:00 FRI (b017x4fd)
Unravelling Eve
11:00 MON (b0183php)
Weather
06:04 SAT (b017mxf0)
Weather
06:57 SAT (b017mxf2)
Weather
12:57 SAT (b017mxf4)
Weather
17:57 SAT (b017mxfd)
Weather
06:57 SUN (b017n1d4)
Weather
07:57 SUN (b017n1d8)
Weather
12:57 SUN (b017n1dd)
Weather
17:57 SUN (b017n1dj)
Weather
05:57 MON (b017t064)
Weather
12:57 MON (b017t066)
Weather
21:58 MON (b017t06b)
Weather
12:57 TUE (b017t077)
Weather
21:58 TUE (b017t07c)
Weather
12:57 WED (b017t088)
Weather
21:58 WED (b017t08d)
Weather
12:57 THU (b017t099)
Weather
21:58 THU (b017t09f)
Weather
12:57 FRI (b017t0bb)
Weather
21:58 FRI (b017t0bg)
Weird Tales
23:00 THU (b01nrd24)
Westminster Hour
22:00 SUN (b017vkrt)
What the Papers Say
22:45 SUN (b017vkrw)
Woman's Hour
16:00 SAT (b017vdhb)
Woman's Hour
10:00 MON (b017vmfn)
Woman's Hour
10:00 TUE (b017wy6v)
Woman's Hour
10:00 WED (b017x067)
Woman's Hour
10:00 THU (b017x3p6)
Woman's Hour
10:00 FRI (b017x4fg)
World at One
13:00 MON (b017vnqy)
World at One
13:00 TUE (b017zts9)
World at One
13:00 WED (b0180fh9)
World at One
13:00 THU (b0180hw0)
World at One
13:00 FRI (b017x4fs)
You and Yours
12:00 MON (b017vnqw)
You and Yours
12:00 TUE (b017wy73)
You and Yours
12:00 WED (b017x0vf)
You and Yours
12:00 THU (b017x3pg)
You and Yours
12:00 FRI (b017x4fq)
iPM
05:45 SAT (b017mz6h)
iPM
17:30 SAT (b017mz6h)