The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Our circular stroll through the English language takes us to Venice and Ancient Rome, to Germany and the Hudson River, in search of the derivations of magazines and salt cellars, fast bucks and bucks that are passed -as we finally end up in the office of President Harry S Truman.
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
Emilia Fox, Rory Kinnear, Diana Rigg and Kenneth Cranham read short stories inspired by listeners' lives and written by listener Calum Kerr. From a henpecked husband to Sandra the postman; from a sax addict to a brand new prime minister. With Eddie Mair and Jennifer Tracey. iPM@bbc.co.uk.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
This is one of the busiest times of year on the Farne Islands off the Northumberland Coast. Almost 1,500 seal pups are being born and almost half of these will die in their first three weeks. Since 1951, wardens have been counting and tagging the pups born on the Farne Islands. During this time, the number of pups born has trebled, from 500 to 1499, making it the largest English colony of Atlantic grey seals.
When the survey began, scientists knew almost nothing about how seals bred, what they ate or where they went during the winter. Those early studies on the Farnes were groundbreaking, setting the standard for all later seal research around the world.
The local port, Seahouses, used to be a major fishing town. During the 1960's and 70's, thousands of seals were shot because they were thought to be a threat to local fish stocks. Now the town relies more on tourism than fishing.
Jules Hudson visits the Farne Islands to find out more about the research project and to investigate the impact the seals are having on the fishing industry and the local area.
Caz Graham visits the Brisbourne family farm in Shropshire as 500 of their geese and turkeys are collected by customers ready for Christmas dinner.
Last year £366m was spent on roasting meats in December. And about a third of that was spent on, you guessed it, turkey. But increasingly, goose has come back into fashion.
Farming Today investigates how goose, turkey, pork and beef are reared, plucked and presented ready for our plates.
And, Colin Spencer the author of 'From Microliths to Microwaves: The Evolution of British Agriculture, Food, and Cooking' explains how Christmas dinner has changed through the centuries from peacock, through goose, to turkey.
Presented by Caz Graham. Produced by Clare Freeman in Birmingham.
With John Humphrys and Justin Webb. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Steve Backshall, Murray Lachlan Young, gorilla surrogate mum, famine relief, transatlantic rowers, macaque attack, Julian Lennon
Sian Williams with adventurer Steve Backshall, poet Murray Lachlan Young, a zookeeper who acted as a surrogate mother to a sick baby gorilla, a man who flew the only relief flight into Ethiopia on Christmas Day 1984 with 'Do They Know It's Christmas' playing over the airplane PA, a group of women who are rowing across the Atlantic, a man who was attacked by his neighbour's macaque monkey and the Inheritance Tracks of musician and Beatle son Julian Lennon.
John McCarthy discusses travel biography at October's Cheltenham Literature Festival with eminent writers in the field; Sir Christopher Ondaatje, Sara Wheeler and Alexander Maitland.
4 Extra Debut. Stage and science collide to show how laboratory research may one day make panto fantasies a reality. With Sharon Ann Holgate.
George Parker of The Financial Times chairs the Week In Westminster's round-up of the political year joined by fellow presenters Jackie Ashley of The Guardian, Steve Richards of The Independent, Peter Oborne of The Daily Telegraph, and Andrew Pierce of The Daily Mail.
The most significant events of 2011, the high points and low points for the party leaders, the survival of the coalition government, and the expectations for 2012.
A dead man's suitcase in Cape Town transports Tim Butcher from today's Africa via World War Two Italy to Renaissance Tuscany. The most cosseted pets in the world: it's no dog's life, says Joanna Robertson, for the pampered pooches of Paris. High in the Himalayas Joanna Jolly goes searching for a little yellow idol which once wreaked terrible vengeance. Allan Little shares some of the jokes which have fuelled the big news stories in years gone by and Petroc Trelawny on the extraordinary history of Odessa and its enduring passion for music.
Paul Lewis and expert panel predict your financial future for 2012. They'll be looking at the future of the troubled Eurozone, saving and investing to pensions and the mortgage market.
Guests include: Justin Urquhart Stewart from 7 Investment Management, Malcolm McLean from Barnett Waddingham, Jane King from AshRidge Asset Management and Rachel Thrussell from the price comparison site MoneyFacts.
It's Christmas: in the week that Kim Jong-Il died, Sir Gus O'Donnell predicted the breakup of the United Kingdom, and metal thieves made off with a priceless sculpture, Radio 4 presents a festive review of the week's news. Sandi Toksvig hosts, and the glittering (literally) panel are Alexei Sayle, Susan Calman, Miles Jupp & Jeremy Hardy. Peter Donaldson reads the news. Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
Toby Stephens returns as agent 007 James Bond in a thrilling dramatisation of Ian Fleming's 1959 novel, with a glittering cast is led by Ian McKellen in the title role.
Auric Goldfinger is not only a cheat at canasta and golf, he's also an international criminal on a massive scale. His obsession: gold. James Bond is charged by the Bank of England and MI5 to discover what Goldfinger is actually doing with his vast hoards of gold. Is he somehow connected with SMERSH - the feared soviet spy-killing organisation?
When 007 becomes an undercover member of Goldfinger's team he soon learns that the madman's plans are more grandiose than even 'M' could possibly have imagined. Amazingly, robbing Fort Knox is on the agenda - and mass murder...
Directed by Martin Jarvis, with cameo roles by top actors - all delighted to contribute to this remarkable Fleming adventure.
Rosamund Pike plays wacky gang-boss Pussy Galore and Lisa Dillon is the vengeful Tilly Masterton. John Standing reteurns as 'M'. Tom Hollander, Tim Pigott-Smith and American star Hector Elizondo as New York City mobsters. Bond and Goldfinger are joined in the famous golf game by Alistair McGowan as the caddie, Hawker. Henry Goodman, Ian Ogilvy and Lloyd Owen contribute to the excitement. And Jon David Yu throws his bowler-hat with deadly effect as 'Oddjob'.
Goldfinger ...... Ian McKellen
'M'..... John Standing
Col.Smithers ..... Ian Ogilvy
Tilly Masterton ..... Lisa Dillon
Hawker ..... Alistair McGowan
Felix Leiter ..... Lloyd Owen
Jill Masterton ..... Anna Louise Plowman
Oddjob ..... Jon David Yu
The poem 'Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening' was written about nightfall on the shortest day of the year, though it was actually put to paper at dawn on June 21st, 1922 - the longest day. This has always puzzled Kenneth Steven, a poet captivated by Robert Frost's seemingly effortless mastery of rhyme, metre, language and imagery.
Kenneth Steven visits the poet's home in Shaftesbury, Vermont, now a museum. He talks to the curator there, Carole Thompson, and a pair of Frost scholar, Lea Newman and David Sanders, and he walks the very woods that are possibly evoked by the horseman who pauses to watch the snow settle, despite having "promises to keep/And miles to go before I sleep".
He makes a pilgrimage to Frost's final resting place in a New England cemetery - his gravestone covered in glinting pennies left by fellow pilgrims - and he reveals compelling new insights into the origins and impact of the poem which Frost himself considered his "best bid for remembrance".
For many people around the world, A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, live from the candlelit chapel of King's College, Cambridge, marks the beginning of Christmas. It is based around nine Bible readings which tell the story of the loving purposes of God. They are interspersed with carols old and new, sung by the world famous chapel choir who also lead the congregation in traditional Christmas hymns.
Presented by Jane Garvey. Singer Rebecca Ferguson, North Korea update, Sports Personality Award: Where are all the women? Sex and the Single Girl and highlights from our phone in about the first night with a new baby.
Ritula Shah presents a fresh perspective on the day's news with sports headlines.
Christmas cheer from Loose Ends as Clive Anderson and Emma Freud talk to some very seasonal and special guests. We have some of the best known celebrities who have ever existed, usually unavailable because they are dead or for some other convincing reason.....
William Shakespeare defends accusations of plagiarism and life in Stratford (not the Olympic site, the other one). Cinderella talks to Clive about marrying her Prince Charming. We hope to secure an exclusive interview with Rupert Murdoch and folk singer Kate Rusby introduces us to some special South Yorkshire carols.........
Emily Buchanan profiles the Archbishop of Canterbury and examines his long struggle to stop the Anglican Church from fragmenting. Rowan Williams was tipped at an early age for high office and he is rated as possibly the most intellectually talented Archbishop of Canterbury for a thousand years. Yet after all the high hopes at his appointment, many are disappointed at what they see as a lack of key leadership qualities.
Dragged into seemingly endless rows about gay clergy and women bishops, Williams has had to endure a great deal of abuse from some members of the world's 77 million strong Anglican Communion. His period of office has even been described as a crucifixion. Is he misrepresented by Britain's tabloid press or does he actively court controversy?
His opposition to the Iraq war, his call for reparations for the slave trade and his candid predictions that last summer's riots could easily be repeated have raised eyebrows among parts of the political establishment. In 2008, he provoked an outcry after saying the application of Sharia law in England under certain circumstances was unavoidable.
A former Religious Affairs Correspondent, Emily Buchanan speaks to those who know him well including the Bishop of London, his school friend John Walters, his biographer Rupert Shortt, and the satirist Ian Hislop. She discovers how Rowan Williams' warm and sympathetic character, with the ability to see all sides of a question, is both his great strength and his weakness.
Tom Sutcliffe and his guests historian Kathryn Hughes, writer Kevin Jackson and Canon Giles Fraser review the week's cultural highlights including The Artist.
The Artist is a silent movie which begins in Hollywood in 1927, as silent movie star George Valentin wonders if the arrival of talking pictures will cause him to fade into oblivion. For young film extra Peppy Miller it seem movie stardom awaits.
We wade into the self help genre with our books. The Chimp Paradox by Dr. Steve Peters presents a mind management model that purports to help you become a happy, confident, healthier and more successful person.
18 Minutes, Find your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done is by management and leadership guru Peter Bregman. Will they change the lives of our reviewers?
The great Dickens anniversary is almost upon us, and we look at some of the offerings coming up. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens' story of a humble orphan, who suddenly becomes a gentleman with the help of an unknown benefactor, has been adapted into a major three part drama for BBC television by Sarah Phelps, starring Gillian Anderson as Miss Haversham and Ray Winstone as the convict Abel Magwitch.
And in Armando's Tale of Charles Dickens, Armando Iannucci's television feature looks beyond the stature of Dickens as a national institution and instead explores the qualities of his works, which make him one of the best British writers.
Your Paintings - Uncovering the Nation's art is the first national online museum of all publicly owned oil paintings in the UK. It was launched in June of this year by the public Catalogue Foundation and the BBC. Now a further 40,000 paintings have been uploaded to the site, over half the national collection.
And we round up the year by looking back at the best, when our reviewers and listeners pick their own cultural highlights of 2011
Mariella Frostrup and her line up of comedians and authors debate their funniest book. Taking the stage in the Radio Theatre to convince an audience that their choice is the most chortle-worthy will be Jo Brand, Tony Parsons, A L Kennedy, Christopher Brookmyre and John Sessions. They're joined by Professor John Mullin who guides us through the books and authors in question, and by readers Sam Barnett and Alastair Cording. The books being debated are
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged thirteen and three quarters - Sue Townsend (Jo Brand)
From Waugh to Mole, and from subjects as unlikely as guerrilla war and ancient history - which one will get the most laughs?
Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais. Dramatised by Lavinia Murray.
Concluding the bawdy and scatological adventures of Medieval giants. This episode concentrates on the story of Gargantua's son, Pantagruel and his morally dubious friend Panurge, as they go on a quest to discover whether marriage is for them. On the way they have many adventures before they come before the Seer of the Holy Bottle who gives them a definitive judgement.
This tale is a dizzying blend of fantasy, comedy, philosophy and scatological humour. The world's a messy place. All the big mock-heroic novels that followed - Don Quixote, Tristram Shandy, Gulliver's Travels, Ulysses - are about mess, they're about slops and slime, encyclopaedic in their efforts to encompass humanity in all its bawdy, chaotic, grungy, and painful reality. And like Gargantua and Pantagruel they're also very funny. The Rabelaisian world view is founded on the assumption that the humourless are not yet wise - and these tales insist you learn to laugh at humanity.
Gargantua and Pantagruel is dramatised by Lavinia Murray, one of our leading radio playwrights whose credits include 'The Anatomy of Melancholy' and 'The Confessions of an English Opium Eater'.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
Sheila Hancock reads a selection of poems written especially for Christmas by U. A. Fanthorpe, a poet both popular and critically acclaimed.
In 1972 U.A. Fanthorpe and Rosie Bailey started sending new poems as Christmas cards to their friends. They continued, graduating from an old Banda machine to a small Adana moveable type press, up to U.A.'s death in 2009.
Fanthorpe was witty, original, and she reworked the Christmas story from quirky angles, such as from the donkey's point of view (the donkey who, it is suggested, later carries Christ into Jerusalem) and from the cat and sheep-dog left out of the stable. There's even a wicked fairy who intrudes from another genre, with alternative gifts for Jesus.
These were so popular with their recipients that Enitharmon Press published a collection called 'Christmas Poems', and Sheila Hancock reads a selection from this volume.
U. A.'s partner Rosie Bailey, recorded at their home, with the press and some of the cards, introduces the poems. We hear, too, from some of those on their Christmas card list, including the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and writers Lawrence Sail and Jackie Kay. For them receiving U.A's poem was important, a funny but thoughtful beginning to Christmas.
The first of two stories about relationships between adults and children, drawn from real-life.
1. Chocolate Pudding
A psychiatrist is perplexed by several cases of coma in a young child. With patience and bowls of chocolate pudding he manages to wake the child, by describing how delicious the pudding is and putting it under the child's nose. The story is inspired by conversations with the psychiatrist and his descriptions of 'Sleeping Beauty Syndrome'.
Written and read by the Costa-shortlisted writer Julia Blackburn. The stories are written with the same mesmerising delicacy of touch that Julia brought to her Penn-Ackerley prize-winning memoir 'The Three of Us', demonstrating her extraordinary capacity to find the best in people while encompassing their frailty.
If the contestants' general knowledge is up to scratch in this week's Brain of Britain contest, the answer to this question may help them in their bid to become the 59th proud holder of the Brain of Britain title. Russell Davies is joined by four contestants from the North of England in this sixth heat of the series.
Live from York Minster, the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe, the Most Revd and Rt Hon Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, celebrates the First Mass of Christmas and gives the homily. Richard Shephard's Mass of the Nativity is sung by the St William's Singers accompanied by the York Young Soloists Orchestra, led by Sophie Lockett and under the direction of the composer. Traditional carols include 'It came upon the midnight clear', 'O little town of Bethlehem' and 'O come all ye faithful.' The readings are Isaiah 52 vv7-10 and John 1 vv1-14. The Organist is York Minster's Assistant Director of Music, David Pipe, and the Producer is Stephen Shipley.
SUNDAY 25 DECEMBER 2011
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b018g0y1)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b018g0y3)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b018g0y5)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b018g0y7)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b018g14f)
The bells from the Parish Church of Our Lady and St Nicholas, Pier Head, in Liverpool.
SUN 05:45 Profile (b018fzw6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b018g0y9)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b018g14h)
In the Company of Children
"But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.", Matthew 19
It is an old saying that 'children make Christmas', but in this Christmas Day edition of Something Understood, Mark Tully considers what it is that we can all learn from that. He asks how a 'child-like' attitude to the celebrations of Christ's Nativity can help us get more from the day, both spiritually and socially.
In conversation with children's author Michael Morpurgo he discusses both the importance of Christmas traditions that are handed down the generations and what we can learn from children to make the idea of 'a season of peace and good will' more than just a well-meant form of words.
The programme includes contributions from children, including specially written verse and music and readings from successive younger generations, fictional and real, from the seventeenth century to the present. There's music from Debussy, Johnny Cash and The St. Petersburg Children's Choir and readings from Ronald Searle, Mary Haley Bell and Jean Jacques Rousseau.
The readers are Madeleine Southey, Samantha Bond, Gene Goodman and Jack Shepherd.
Producer: Frank Stirling
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b018g14k)
As farmers work around the clock to get fresh vegetables from the field to our Christmas dinner plates, some producers are donating their food for free to provide more than 50,000 meals to needy people over the festive period.
In this Christmas Day edition of On Your Farm, Anna Hill is in her home county of Norfolk to meet some of the 40 farmers who support The Buckingham Emergency Food Appeal. It is a charity which helps feed homeless people, and struggling families across East Anglia and Lancashire.
Anna helps out by bagging up spuds in the packing shed of a farmer who gives around two tonnes of potatoes each year. She also freezes in the chill of -28 degrees centigrade as she shown some of the charities meat supplies including frozen chickens, turkeys, sausages and pies; and she visits a centre for homeless young people who benefit from the donations.
This programme is presented by Anna Hill and produced in Birmingham by Angela Frain.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b018g0yc)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 Food and Farming Awards (b017ckf7)
Food and Farming Awards 2011
Sheila Dillon with the stories from this year's BBC Food & Farming Awards. From the Best Takeaway to Best Drinks Producer, food tales to inspire and whet your appetite.
This autumn a team of 10 judges, including chefs Richard Corrigan and Jeremy Lee took to the road to meet finalists nominated by Radio listeners. The shortlist covered all parts of the UK.
The programme reveals what the judges saw and tasted on those visits and at the NEC, Birmingham Sheila Dillon runs through the list of worthy winners
Producer: Dan Saladino.
SUN 07:50 A Point of View (b018ft1f)
Carols at Christmas
Lisa Jardine reflects on the power of music to move, especially at Christmas, when the singing of carols unites singers and listeners alike, in an outpouring of community spirit. She also celebrates each advance in technology which has made music available to all, not just an elite, from the fifteenth century mass production of carol books to the screening in cinemas worldwide of opera live from the Met in New York.
Producer: Sheila Cook.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b018g0yh)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 Sunday (b018g14w)
Edward Stourton presents a special Christmas edition of the programme from St Albans on the theme of Pilgrimage.
Edward walks the pilgrims way in St Albans with Arun Krataria from St Albans Diocese.
We also hear from Trevor Barnes who asks Who colour coded Christmas?
Matthew Bell reports from the Holyland on the modern day pilgrim.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rt Rev Rowan Williams, talks to William Crawley about what pilgrimage means today.
And What's a Twelfth Cake? Food Historian Ivan Day explains.
Series Producer: Amanda Hancox.
SUN 08:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b018g14y)
Carers UK
Maureen Lipman presents the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the charity Carers UK.
Reg Charity: 246329
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal, mark the back of the envelope Carers UK
- Give Online www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/appeal.
SUN 08:57 Weather (b018g152)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 09:00 Christmas Service (b018g15b)
The Word made flesh. John Bell of the Iona Community leads worship for Christmas morning. Carols, readings and prayers tell the story of God's extraordinary choices in the birth of his Son. Leader: The Revd Nick Bundock.
The Daily Service Singers are directed by Andrew Earis, with organist Samuel Hudson. With a congregation gathered in Emmanuel Church Didsbury, in the leafy suburbs of South Manchester. Producer: Clair Jaquiss.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b018g260)
For detailed synopsis see daily episodes
Writer ..... Graham Harvey
Director ..... Julie Beckett
Editor ..... Vanessa Whitburn
Jill Archer ..... Patricia Greene
Shula Hebden Lloyd ..... Judy Bennett
David Archer ..... Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer ..... Felicity Finch
Elizabeth Pargetter ..... Alison Dowling
Freddie Pargetter ..... Jack Firth
Tony Archer ..... Colin Skipp
Pat Archer ..... Patricia Gallimore
Helen Archer ..... Louiza Patikas
Tom Archer ..... Tom Graham
Lilian Bellamy ..... Sunny Ormonde
Fallon Rogers ..... Joanna Van Kampen
Kathy Perks ..... Hedli Niklaus
Clarrie Grundy ..... Rosalind Adams
William Grundy ..... Philip Molloy
Nic Hanson ..... Becky Wright
Neil Carter ..... Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter ..... Charlotte Martin
Vicky Tucker ..... Rachel Atkins
Roy Tucker ..... Ian Pepperell
Brenda Tucker ..... Amy Shindler
Lynda Snell ..... Carole Boyd
Kirsty Miller ..... Annabelle Dowler
Jazzer McCreary ..... Ryan Kelly
Sharon Philips ..... Celia Nelson
Rich ..... Luke Hudson
Eamonn Philips ..... Stephen Hogan.
SUN 11:15 Your Desert Island Discs (b018g15j)
Kirsty Young presents a festive collection of stories and music from Your Desert Island Discs where listeners are the castaways. Kirsty and her studio guests - broadcaster and Radio 2 DJ Jo Whiley, comedian, actor and musician Bill Bailey and composer and conductor Debbie Wiseman - mull over the choices of Christmas and comedy songs. They'll also discuss some of the musical choices inspired by the castaways' stories from rock to reggae and Beethoven to the Bee Gees, and consider the enduring appeal of record sleeves and the pleasures of singing together.
Producer: Alison Hughes.
SUN 13:00 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b018b8d0)
Series 56
Episode 6
Back for a second week at the Watford Colosseum, regulars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by Andy Hamilton, with Jack Dee in the chair. Piano accompaniment is provided by Colin Sell. Producer - Jon Naismith.
SUN 13:30 The Food Programme (b018g262)
The Food Quiz
Nowhere else will you find a programme that juggles Elvis Presley's culinary history, questions over the origins of a 1970's crisp brand, references to Elizabeth David and some of the world's most unusual food sounds.
Food writer Tim Hayward performs this feat in a special Christmas Day edition of The Food Quiz. Panellists Allegra McEvady, Richard Johnson and Chris Neill pit their gastronomic knowledge, grasp of food trivia and culinary history against each other.
Categories include the devious "Into the Museum of Brands", a cult cookbook round as well as "What's Cookin'?" in which the teams have to identify a classic dish from the archives.
Producer: Dan Saladino.
SUN 14:00 Classic Serial (b018g264)
AG Macdonell - England, Their England
Martin Jarvis directs a galaxy of stars in a Classic Serial one-off episode. The cast is led by outstanding Scots actor Tony Curran as Donald.
In this classic 1930s comic novel, a young Scot, Donald Cameron, invalided from the Western Front in 1918, finds himself commissioned to write a book about the eccentricities of the English - through 'a foreigner's eyes'. An enthusiastic innocent abroad, Donald encounters an array of richly comic characters. He attends an absurd country house weekend, enjoys drinks with Fleet Street hacks, attempts some book-reviewing, visits The League of Nations as an MP's private secretary and, memorably, plays village cricket - the most famous fictional cricket match in literature.
The novel is dramatised by Archie Scottney ('Something Fresh', 'Summer Lightning', 'Goldfinger', 'The Mysterious Mr Quin') and who once took 5 wickets for 36 runs.
Martin Jarvis says: 'A joy to direct. The preposterous game of cricket at its heart leaps happily onto the air waves. With Ian Hislop to skipper our all-stars, I felt we had hit some kind of pitch-perfection. The absurdity and blessedness of England and the English remains reassuringly, recognisable.'
Cast:
Donald Cameron .....Tony Curran
Evan Davies ..... Ioan Gruffudd
Mr Hodge ..... Ian Hislop
Tommy Huggins ..... Alfred Molina
Rupert Harcourt .. ... Rufus Sewell
Mr Bloomer ..... Michael York
Sir Henry ..... Ian Ogilvy
Gwennie ..... Jill Gascoine
Pendragon ..... Lloyd Owen
Esmeralda .....Sophie Winkleman
Carolyn Seymour, Julian Holloway, Oliver Dillon, JD Cullum,Kenneth Danziger,
Darren Richardson, Simon Templeman, Alan Shearman, Matthew Wolf, Daisy Hydon.
Sound design: Mark Holden
Producer: Rosalind Ayres
Director: Martin Jarvis
A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 15:00 HM The Queen (b018g266)
The Queen's Christmas message to the Commonwealth and the nation, followed by the national anthem.
SUN 15:05 News (b018g26d)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 15:15 Gardeners' Question Time (b018fmtp)
Tenterden, Kent
A festive GQT recorded with Tenterden & District Horticultural Society in Kent, chaired by Eric Robson.
Joining him on the panel are Bob Flowerdew, Matthew Wilson and Bunny Guinness.
Anne Swithinbank advises on caring for Christmas plant gifts.
In addition, alternatives for dried blood and how to encourage an Emerald Lace Acer to keep its shape.
Produced by Lucy Dichmont
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
The following questions were answered in the programmes:
What should I feed my Christmas tree to prolong its life?
Planting suggestions for things to grow on the sloping roof of a kennel.
Suggestions include: Sedum matting, meadow turf and Cut & come again lettuce
We harvested seed from Cosmos. When do we plant these? We have no greenhouse.
How to deter voles from garden
We need range scented plants for border in front of a conservatory. What do the panel suggest?
Suggestions include:
Daphne odora 'Marginata', Clematis Armandii and Sporobolus Grass
When is the best time to plant strawberries
What are the alternatives to dried blood, tar oil & derris dust?
My Acer Palmatum "Emerald Lace' began as 3ft and domed shape. However it has started growing upwards and losing its shape. How can I bring the branches down?
SUN 16:00 Excess Baggage (b018g26s)
Christmas Quiz
Peter Curran presents an Excess Baggage special quiz for Christmas from the Radio Theatre with Sandi Toksvig, John McCarthy and their special guests Caroline Quentin and Arthur Smith answering questions on the world of travel and travelling the world.
Producer: Harry Parker.
SUN 16:30 Constantine: The Man Who Invented Christmas (b018g26v)
Giles Fraser travels to Bethlehem to reveal the true origin of Christmas - and discovers it was invented over 300 years after Christ's birth.
Christmas was unknown to the early church. In fact the festival of Christ's birth wasn't invented until 312AD, and not by a peaceful disciple, but by a military leader, the Roman Emperor Constantine.
Following his battlefield conversion, Constantine established Christianity as the official religion of Rome, and he decided that Christ's birth should become a major focus of the Christian year. At the same time he radically reinvented Christianity for his own - military - ends.
Giles Fraser visits Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and sees the two major shrines founded by Constantine, which celebrate Christ's birth and death. He argues that by focusing on the birth of Christ, and on his death, Constantine pushed the radical Christ of the early church to the margins of Christianity and replaced him with an infinitely more accommodating religion of the baby and the cross, so the bit in the middle - the radical, questioning life of Christ - was skimmed over.
By marginalising Christ's teachings about poverty, humility, and above all peace, Constantine was able to take a religion founded in pacifism and use it for his military machine in pursuit of a 'just war' - something political leaders have been doing ever since.
Giles Fraser argues that we should look beyond the trappings of Christmas and return to the true, radical teachings of Christ.
Giles Fraser is the former Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral. An outspoken, enthusiastic and challenging broadcaster, he is a familiar voice on Radio 4's Thought for the Day, and writes a regular column for the Guardian.
Producer: Jane Greenwood
A Loftus Audio production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 17:00 With Great Pleasure (b018g26x)
With Great Pleasure at Christmas - Melvyn Bragg
A special Christmas edition of the programme in which Melvyn Bragg looks back at the writing which inspired him when he was a young man. His choices include Dickens, Shakespeare and Wordsworth but also Wodehouse, Evelyn Waugh and a story from the December 1946 edition of The Wizard comic, in which the hero helps choose likely athletes for the forthcoming London Olympics. Melvyn's readers are Eleanor Bron, Bill Paterson and David Bamber, and choristers from Carlisle Cathedral open the programme with a favourite carol.
Producer Christine Hall.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b018g0yt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:12 Radio 4 Appeal (b018g14y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
08:55 today]
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b018g275)
John Waite makes his selection from the past seven days of BBC Radio.
In his Pick of the Week on Christmas day, John Waite will be discovering how sex - for unmarried women - began in 1962, while insulting the French and our other European neighbours is as old as the hills. Professor Brian Cox gets it in the neck for his teeth-whitening products and anti -ageing creams; and a modern Christmas song classic is fashioned out of a drunken, dissolute New York down-and-out. Richard Coles reports from the northern lights - the aurora borealis, not the Blackpool Illuminations.
Tales From The Arab Spring - Radio 4
John Peel's Shed - Radio 4
Sex and the Single Girl - Radio 4
Super Troupers - Radio 2
The Infinite Monkey Cage - Radio 4
Count Arthur Strong's Christmas Special - Radio 4extra
The Etymologicon - Radio 4
Breadlines and Tinsel - Radio 5live
White Christmas - Radio 2
Behind The Fairytale - Radio 2
The Art of Darkness - Radio 4
Liza Tarbuck's Christmas Wrapping - Radio 2
Listen to the Band - Radio 2
Email: potw@bbc.co.uk or www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/potw
Producer: Helen Lee.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b018g277)
Tracy looks forward to chatting with the Aldridges at Susan's party. Anxious Susan tells speculating Tracy not to mention Brian's 'love child'. Tracy can't quite avoid it though as she shares stories with Jennifer.
At the party, Brian's worried about Monday's hunt because Will's on his honeymoon. Jennifer feels tied up as she's taking Ruairi to the pantomime with Elizabeth and the twins, while also catering for the shoot. Jennifer's pleased that Debbie will be home for New Year's Eve. Brian suggests Debbie can take Ruairi. To their embarrassment, Ruairi becomes sick after too many canapés.
As Helen gently reprimands Tony for spoiling baby Henry, Tony says he and Pat never forget how lucky they are that Henry's here. He notes that this Christmas is very different from last year. It will be tough for Elizabeth and the twins. Brenda and Tom comment that Vicky has probably been boring Pat and Tony about Wednesday's show.
Helen corrects Tom when he mentions Sharon's son - he's John's son too and she'd like to think of a little bit of John carrying on. Talk of how much Henry has grown upsets Pat, and Tom and Helen pick up that something's wrong. Tony finally admits that he and Pat have met their other grandson, Rich.
SUN 19:15 It's Your Round (b018g279)
Series 2
Episode 1
The first in a new series in which the panellists bring their own round for the other panellists to play.
Angus Deayton presides over a panel of comedians - Miles Jupp, Fred MacAulay, Josie Long and Nick Helm - all trying to beat each other at their own games.
Featured rounds:
Miles Jupp's 'Test Match Specialists', a quiz using the rules and regulations of the 'world's finest sport' (Miles' words)
Fred MacAulay's 'Play Your Various Different Categories Right', like 'Play Your Cards Right', but with other variables such as Scottish landmarks, household accident statistics, Radio 4 presenter's heights and, er, the song 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' by Band Aid.
Josie Long's 'Dream Day Job' in which panellists have to guess an audience member's dream day job by asking yes/no questions.
Nick Helm's 'Cream Crackered' in which panellists have to eat as many cream crackers as they can in a minute...commentated on by Test Match Special's very own, Henry Blofeld.
Producer: Sam Michell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2011.
SUN 19:45 Stories from Earth Music Bristol (b018g29j)
Frost at Midnight
Frost at Midnight. A new story by Helen Dunmore. A baby in a crib. Why cry? A story inspired by the themes of the Earth Music Bristol festival and recorded in front of an audience there. Producer: Tim Dee.
SUN 20:00 More or Less (b018ft11)
Who are the 1% and who are the 99%?
99 v 1%:
Tim Harford asks what we do and don't know about income inequality in the UK, the US, and other countries around the world. He speaks to Professor Sir Tony Atkinson of Oxford University; Stewart Lansley, author of 'The Cost of Inequality'; and Professor Donald Boudreaux of George Mason University in Virginia.
Laughing in the face of risk:
David Spiegelhalter, the Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk at Cambridge University explains what led him to take on what could be his riskiest venture to date - appearing as a contestant on BBC One's Winter Wipeout. Really.
The magic of maths:
As a special Christmas treat, we're honoured to have a guest appearance from a top professor of maths and statistics - described by magician (and loyal listener) Paul Daniels as a 'legend'. Persi Diaconis, of Stanford University in California and co-author of "Magical Mathematics", has an enthralling story to tell of how he discovered magic as a boy, and then, as a consequence, a love of maths. And to illustrate how closely maths and magic are linked, Crossing Continents editor and the BBC's in-house magician, Hugh Levinson, performs a mathemagical card trick - see the performance below.
Producer: Ruth Alexander.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b018ft0z)
Vaclav Havel, Kim Jong-il, Chris Athey, Cesaria Evora and Russell Hoban
Matthew Bannister on
The mysterious life of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. We hear from the former British Charge D'Affaires in Pyongyang and the film actress who says she was kidnapped by "The Dear Leader".
Also Chris Athey - the educational psychologist who championed the Teletubbies
Russell Hoban, author of both children's and adult fiction, including his vision of a post apocalyptic world "Riddley Walker"
Cesaria Evora - the singer from Cape Verde known as the Barefoot Diva
and the Czech playwright and President Vaclav Havel remembered by his friend Ivan Klima and Sir John Tusa.
SUN 21:00 Saturday Drama (b00pb8x1)
L Frank Baum - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The story made famous by the iconic 1939 musical film is given a distinctly different treatment in Linda Marshall Griffiths' dramatisation which reinstates some of the events and characters of L Frank Baum's classic book.
When a tornado strikes Dorothy's farmhouse in Kansas, she is lifted to the magical world of Oz where she embarks upon a terrifying and perilous journey to find her way back home.
Immediately she makes some powerful enemies by accidentally killing the Wicked Witch of the East and claiming her silver shoes. Desperate to return home her adventure takes her to the City of Emeralds to meet the Wizard of Oz.
On the way she makes some new friends, a Scarecrow, a Tin Woodman and a Lion who have their own reasons for wanting to see the Wizard. Pursued by the frightening Kalidah beasts, the violent Flying Monkeys and the all seeing Wicked Witch of the West will they make it to the Emerald City and have what they most desire?
DOROTHY.............Amelia Clarkson
WIZARD OF OZ / KALIDAH / UNCLE HENRY..Jonathan Keeble
SCARECROW................Kevin Eldon
TINMAN.................Burn Gorman
LION......................Zubin Varla
WITCH OF THE NORTH / SOUTH / WEST / AUNT EM .......Emma Fielding
KING MONKEY / MINER............Andrew Westfield
MUNCHKIN / GATEKEEPER.........Graeme Hawley
Original Music by Olly Fox.
Sound Design by Steve Brooke.
Director: Nadia Molinari
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2009.
SUN 22:00 News Review of the Year (b018g29l)
2011
Eddie Mair takes us on a rather eccentric, sometimes over cooked audio tour of an extraordinary year of news events with the aid of some Christmas helpers:the BBC's World Affairs Editor, John Simpson, Home Editor Mark Easton, news presenters Huw Edwards and Sophie Raworth, journalist and stand-up comic Natalie Haynes and of course the inimitable Economics Editor Robert Peston.
Plus there will be some interval music provided by Chinese virtuoso pianist Lang Lang from the Last Night of the Proms.
Producer : Daniel Tetlow
Presenter: Eddie Mair.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b018fmq6)
December is a time for looking forward as well as a time for looking back and this week Francine Stock is doing a bit of both. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a glimpse of our immediate celluloid future opening as it does on Boxing Day so Francine has been talking to one of the film's stars, Daniel Craig. Stieg Larsson's story was, he says, a nice change from Bond and it gave him the chance to work with one of his heroes, the director, David Fincher.
Shift focus slightly and we find ourselves gazing deep into 2012. Charles Gant of Heat magazine and the independent cinema owner, Kevin Markwick discuss the films we'll be queuing up to see next year as well as the ones that have tickled our fancy over the past twelve months.
Then there are the cinematic moments which have made an indelible mark on the imagination of our listeners in 2011 -- everything from Melancholia to Troll Hunter! The programme finishes with a tribute to one of the great originals of British cinema, Ken Russell, who died last month at the age of 84.
Producer: Zahid Warley.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b018g14h)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 26 DECEMBER 2011
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b018g0zg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Christmas Meditation (b018g2yq)
The Reverend Mark Oakley, Canon Treasurer of St Paul's Cathedral, gives a contemporary reflection on the meaning of Christmas.
Producer: Mark O'Brien.
MON 00:30 Afternoon Reading (b01276yj)
The British at Table
Episode 3
By Christopher Driver.
Christopher Driver's thoughts on the evocative and bizarre language of food description.
Christopher Driver was a passionate writer, broadcaster, second-hand bookshop owner, conscientious objector and controversial hand-picked successor to Raymond Postgate as editor of The Good Food Guide through the 1970s. His descriptions of our changing attitudes towards what we allowed to grace our plates between the end of rationing and the affluent 1980s, and caustically witty observations of the marvels of British catering (such as the waitress who uncorked the wine with her teeth), made both informative and amusing reading. It is, as he said, "a book about the way we eat now in the light of the way we used to eat within middle-aged-memory. It is about ourselves as shoppers, cultivators, cooks and consumers."
Driver saw the shape of food to come thirty years before the rest of us and his accuracy is extraordinary: "The march of regulation and technology means that to obtain good bacon it will be once again necessary to kill and cure your own pig, as in the eighteenth-century. Progress takes odd forms."
It is sixty years since Postgate (known as "Public Stomach Number One" after founding his "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Food") first published the Good Food Guide. Here is an opportunity to enjoy part of its history in the words of its most eloquent editor, revealing everything from the lost world of whale steaks, coypu vindaloo and sweet and sour barracuda, to the language of food description that embraces such evocative phrases as "the flavour of unploughed fields" and "the texture of compressed string."
Read by Tony Gardner
Abridged by Neil Cargill
Producer: Neil Cargill
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b018g14f)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b018g0zj)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b018g0zl)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b018g0zn)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b018g0zq)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b018g2ys)
with Bishop Steven Croft.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b018g2yv)
The Milton family farm cattle, sheep, Exmoor ponies, and arable crops on the patchwork of land which makes up Exmoor National Park. Brothers Robin and Rex are the fifth generation of their family to farm, and two of their sons are following suit. Today, Sarah Swadling goes out with Robin on his sheep feeding rounds and gets to know the very special quality and depth of Exmoor mud!
Produced and Presented by Sarah Swadling.
MON 05:57 Weather (b018g0zs)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 06:00 Today (b018g2yx)
With Justin Webb and Evan Davis. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (b018g2yz)
David Hockney Special
On Start the Week Andrew Marr visits the painter David Hockney to find out why he has swapped LA for East Yorkshire. Hockney takes him on a tour of the farm tracks and woods he has been painting near his home in Bridlington, and talks of his fascination at the changes of the season. In his vast studio hang pictures of increasing size and vibrant colour, many painted using his iPad. He might be in his seventies, but Hockney tells Andrew Marr that he's on a roll, busier than ever; excited by the new technology and full of ideas for his next works of art.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b018g2z1)
Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be: The Lionel Bart Story
Episode 1
Lionel Bart was a unique musical talent. He found fame with the hugely successful musicals Oliver! and 'Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be', but he was also a hit-making machine for some of Britain's first rock'n'roll stars - Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde and Cliff Richard, as well as giving the James Bond movie franchise its first song.
He socialised with figures from both serious and populist culture, and experienced a downfall that was as spectacular as his theatrical triumphs.
David and Caroline Stafford's biography of Bart draws on previously unseen archive sources and interviews with those closest to him.
Today, Lionel's East End childhood and early exposure to music. Read by Alistair McGowan.
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Emma Harding.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b018g2z3)
Women in Music
It's been another bumper year for women in music, with female solo artists dominating both the charts and the headlines. The Observer's music critic Kitty Empire joins Jane to talk about Adele's success going stratospheric, Amy Winehouse's posthumous album, and Mercury Music Prize winner P J Harvey. There are fantastic sessions from Rumer, Janis Ian and Ayanna Witter-Johnson, plus we talk to the legendary opera singer Dame Janet Baker, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award this year. Presented by Jane Garvey.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b018g2z5)
AS Byatt - Possession
Episode 6
Roland Michell, an academic research assistant, is completing some work in the London Library, when he comes across two unfinished letters written by the Victorian Poet, Randolph Henry Ash. Theses letters have obviously not been found by anyone else and they are not to his wife but to an unknown woman. Roland, whose entire academic life has been devoted to studying Ash, decides, recklessly to pocket the letters and try to determine exactly who they were written to.
This is the beginning of a quest that will change literary history and with the help of a feminist literary scholar Maud Bailey, they are determined to find out the truth behind these letters. Certain other characters hear about the letters and are eager to get their hands on them for their own financial gain and will do so, by any means necessary, and so the chase begins.
Roland and Maud retrace the steps of Ash and LaMotte and Professor gets wind of the letters and is eager to get his hands on them for his collection.
Written by A S Byatt. Dramatised by Timberlake Wertenbaker
Cast:
Maud ...... Jemma Redgrave
Roland ...... Harry Hadden-Paton
Ash ....... James d'arcy
Lamotte ..... Rachael Stirling
Blackadder ..... Bill Paterson
Cropper ..... Matthew Marsh
George ...... Kenneth Cranham
Joan ....... Joanna David
Beatrice Nest ...... Stella Gonet
Euan ...... Nicholas Boulton
Fergus ...... Jonjo O'Neil
Hildebrand ..... Robert Portal
Val ...... Laura Pyper
Leonora .... Lorelei King
Raoul/Toby Byng .... Sam Dale
Mrs Wapshott/Mrs Cammish/Mrs lees ..... Jane Whittenshaw
Beth/PA/Mrs Judge/Librarian ...... Rachel Atkins
Girl ...... Sylvie Goodwin
Director: Celia de Wolff
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 11:00 Dexter and Dodd (b018g3mf)
The veteran Liverpudlian comedian Ken Dodd writes very long jokes and tells shaggy dog stories. The erudite Oxford writer Colin Dexter, crossword king and creator of 'Inspector Morse', is economic with words and concise in his chapters. Yet they are each other's greatest admirers.
Fiona Lindsay, who knows them both, had the inspired idea to bring them together for the first time. In this programme they compare notes, exchange tips - and present a double act on stage before a packed hall at this year's Cheltenham Literature Festival.
Despite having collected their bus passes some time ago, neither jokesmith Ken Dodd nor crimewriter Colin Dexter will ever retire. Still irrepressible in their 80s, the two men are amongst our most successful and busy stage entertainers, selling out their shows nightly across the UK.
Each is famously private and low key in their domestic lives, yet they continue to perfect what they are most loved for - making words work. Both are language addicts: their obsession with how words are used has endured for over half a century.
The golden thread that joins these two greats is not only their love of entertaining the public but also their keen admiration for each other's linguistic artistry.
If they could have their time over again they'd both still choose a career in words.
Colin says he would love to have been a full time stage performer like Ken, using language in the same way as music, to convey emotions. Ken says he might have been a journalist or novelist, conveying other people's stories through carefully assembled written words, as Colin does.
Fiona Lindsay is a regular presenter at literary festivals.
Producer: Chris Eldon Lee
A Culture Wise production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 11:30 The Pied Piper of Hamelin (b018g3n0)
A festive treat for Boxing Day .
David Tennant stars in Robert Browning's poem The Pied Piper of Hamelin .
Narrator ............................David Tennant
The boy ............................Bertie Gilbert .
With music and songs written and performed by John Harle, lyrics by Joyce Harle, sung by Thomas Platts, head chorister at Canterbury Cathedral with the choir of Wingham School Kent.
Director ................................Susan Roberts
Sound producer ...................Steve Brooke
The Pied Piper of Hamelin is the subject of a legend concerning the departure of a great many children from the town of Hamelin, Lower Saxony, Germany, in the Middle Ages. The earliest references describe a piper, dressed in pied (multicoloured) clothing, leading the children away from the town never to return. In the 16th century the story was expanded into a full story - that of the poem , in which the piper is a rat-catcher hired by the town to lure rats away with his magic pipe. When the citizens refuse to pay for this service, the piper retaliates, turning his magic on the children, leading them away to the mountains. Only one boy remains behind ..
MON 12:00 Counterpoint (b018g3n2)
Christmas Special
Paul Gambaccini presents a special festive edition of the wide-ranging music quiz, with all of the musical clues played live by the BBC Philharmonic. Taking part in Counterpoint's seasonal celebration are the lyricist Sir Tim Rice, world-renowned cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, and journalist and BBC Proms presenter Suzy Klein. The questions cover a wide range of music, classical and popular, with a distinct festive flavour.
At their orchestrated musical party, the panellists will be treated to well-known melodies in unfamiliar arrangements, unravelling different carols played simultaneously, and tucking into their own musical Christmas dinner.
The BBC Philharmonic are on hand, under conductor Clark Rundell, to provide plenty of surprises.
Producers: Paul Bajoria & Angela Sherwin.
MON 12:57 Weather (b018g0zv)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b018g3n4)
Shaun Ley presents national and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
MON 13:45 Food for Thought (b018g3n6)
Series 2
David Sedaris
Over takeaway sushi in his London kitchen, American essayist and humorist David Sedaris talks to Nina Myskow about being greedy, good at dieting - for his regular book tours - and how he stopped wanting to eat the condiments after he gave up smoking drugs.
David's large, idiosyncratic family must play some part in his obsession with second helpings. From a thrifty father who hoarded titbits and clipped money-off coupons for the weekly grocery shop to a mother who spent hours in conversation with her six children around the dinner table, he still worries that there'll never be enough.
His boyfriend orders for him in restaurants and cooks elaborate meals like rabbit in mustard and cream sauce but he still relishes the thought of a huge hamburger called the 'Widow-maker' and a side order of spinach that comes in a dish the size of a mixing bowl.
"The hard thing about being on a diet is getting off of it" he explains, before recounting the unpleasant side effects of some French pharmacy diet pills he took, in order to get into his 'tour pants.' Eating on tour can be difficult so he orders supper at each venue and takes a bite in between signing books.
He also tells Nina about his love of Mr Whippy ice cream, sticky toffee pudding and why eating chocolate is like eating drain cleaner.
What would he choose for his last meal on earth? A comforting dish his mother used to make.
Producer: Tamsin Hughes
A Wise Buddah production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b018g277)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b018g3n8)
Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities
Recalled to Life
By Charles Dickens
Dramatised by Mike Walker
Episode 1/5: Recalled to Life
Robert Lindsay leads a cast which includes Alison Steadman, Jonathan Coy, Andrew Scott, Paul Ready and Karl Johnson in a new dramatisation of Charles Dickens's classic, with original music by Lennert Busch.
From the echo of the first line 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times' to the final 'It is a far far better thing that I do than I have ever done', Dickens's novel of the French revolution tells a story of the redemptive powers of love in the face of cruelty, violence and neglect.
A Tale of Two Cities won the Bronze Sony Award for Best Drama last year.
Written and published in weekly instalments in 1859, A Tale of Two Cities is set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. It shows the plight of the French people under the brutal oppression of the aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, and the corresponding savage brutality of the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the years immediately following. The story follows several characters through these events, notably Charles Darnay, a French former aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution, and Sydney Carton, a dissipated English barrister who tries to redeem his ill-spent life out of love for Darnay's wife, Lucie Manette.
Although the events covered in A Tale of Two Cities cover eight years, the plot develops and builds powerfully from the moment that the story opens, with the coded rumours of Dr Manette being 'restored to life' and Dickens orchestrates the wider political picture behind the story of Lucie, Darnay and Carton, with his customary brilliance.
Music by Lennert Busch
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole and Jeremy Mortimer
This is the sixth Dickens novel that Mike Walker has dramatised for Radio 4. His dramatisation of Our Mutual Friend, also directed by Jeremy Mortimer and Jessica Dromgoole, was broadcast in the Woman's Hour drama slot in 2009.
MON 15:00 Brain of Britain (b018g3nb)
(7/17)
Would you know which organ of the human body is affected by Gerstmann Syndrome? Or what official post was held by Bernard de Launay, who became the first prominent casualty of the French Revolution?
Russell Davies is in the chair for another heat of the evergreen general knowledge contest. This week, contestants from South Wales, London and the Home Counties compete for a place in the semi-finals.
A Brain of Britain listener will also be hoping to win a prize by outwitting the contestants with questions of his or her own devising.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b018g262)
[Repeat of broadcast at
13:30 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Goodnight John Boy (b018g3nq)
Frank Cottrell Boyce celebrates one of the great TV families - 'The Waltons'.
'Goodnight, John Boy,' became one of the most common catchphrases of the 1970s, born as it was from one of that decade's most popular TV programmes, 'The Waltons'. Set in rural Virginia during the Depression, the show offered something very different from the typical television of the time, which was chiefly made up of urban shows like 'Kojak', 'The Mod Squad' and 'Starsky and Hutch'. Not only was the setting different but so was the set of characters - poor, blue collar people who were broadly speaking happy with their lives - anathema to many commissioning editors.
In 'Goodnight, John Boy', Frank Cottrell Boyce - himself father of seven children and a successful TV writer - tries to find out precisely why it was such an unlikely TV recipe which proved quite so irresistible to many millions of viewers, and challenges the commonly held view that it was simple nostalgia that played to a Conservative moral agenda.
When George Bush Sr. argued that America needed a lot more families like the Waltons and fewer like the Simpsons, he failed to recognise that the show and the family were deeply rooted in the values of FDR's New Deal. Indeed members of the cast such as Will Geer (Grandpa) and Ralph Waite (Pa Walton) were themselves very active on the political left, with Geer blacklisted as a gay communist and Waite refusing to take part in a photo shoot with President Nixon.
Boyce speaks to a number of the cast members (including those who played Pa Walton, John Boy, and Elizabeth) as well as Earl Hamner, who wrote the books upon which the series was based.
MON 16:30 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b018g3ns)
Series 5
The Science of Christmas
The Infinite Monkeys Robin Ince and Brian Cox are in a festive mood as they discuss the science of Christmas with special guests biologist Richard Dawkins, actor and writer Mark Gatiss and science journalist Roger Highfield.
Producer: Alexandra Feachem.
MON 17:00 PM (b018g3nv)
Observers from the Arab League are assembling in Syria amid fresh reports of bloodshed we hear from a photographer who has spent the year documenting the violence in the country.
A man's been stabbed to death on London's Oxford Street at the height of the crush for the Boxing Day sales.
The writer James Wolcott takes us on a tour of New York to highlight how the once seedy chic areas are being overtaken by suburban stores.
We hear from Kempton racecourse as Kauto Star makes a new entry in the record books.
Alexander McCall Smith and Ruth Gledhill discuss what to do with unwanted Christmas gifts.
PM's three political veterans - Lord Steel, Lord Parkinson and Lady Prosser - indulge in the Radio Four parlour game, wrapping up the year and casting ahead.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b018g0zx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:15 A Point of View (b018g3nx)
The End, yet again?
The author and philosopher John Gray on the merits of living for the present.
"We tend to look forward to a future state of fulfilment in which all turmoil has ceased", Gray writes. But, he says, "when we look to the future to give meaning to our lives, we lose the meaning we can make for ourselves here and now".
He argues that we should give up our obsession with endings and urges us not to be wary of change. "Humans are sturdy creatures, built to withstand disruption".
"Conflict never ceases", he says, "but neither do human resourcefulness, adaptability and courage".
On Europe, he writes, "wherever Europe's elites turn for support, the pillars begin to crumble and shake. Eventually every utopian project comes to grief - and while it started as a benign creation, the European project has long since acquired an unmistakably utopian quality. The efforts that are being made to renew the project are only accelerating its demise".
"Renewing our lives in the face of recurring evils", he concludes, "is the task...that has always faced human beings. Looking to an end-time is a way of failing to cherish the present - the only time that is truly our own".
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
MON 18:30 The Unbelievable Truth (b018g3nz)
Series 8
The Unbelievable Truth - Series 8
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents. Lee Mack, Jack Dee, Rufus Hound and Graeme Garden are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as: Reindeer, Decorations, Boxes and Pantomime.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith, the team behind Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
Producer: Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b018g3p9)
Freddie and Shula are preparing Caspar for the hunt. They share happy memories of Nigel and wish he was with them now. Freddie's well turned out for the hunt. Lily concedes that he's smart, reminding him also to be safe. Elizabeth's grateful to Shula for making her Christmas easier. Freddie and Lily got to see their cousins without Elizabeth having to speak to David.
Alistair was lucky in the Olympic lottery. Elizabeth says he must be good with secrets, as he didn't tell Shula until he gave her and Daniel the tickets for Christmas.
Tom feeds the pigs while Jazzer prepares for the show. Tom and Helen are reeling after Tony's revelation. Tom is unsure he can ever trust his parents again. They both feel betrayed and also incredulous that Pat and Tony don't seem to understand why they're upset. Tom feels they have to make their parents see sense. They confront Tony, who quickly defends Pat and tells them they should try and see things from her point of view.
Tom later tells Helen he feels Pat is deluding herself over Rich. Seeing him won't bring John back. Helen, however, admits that this has all got to her. She needs time to think it all through.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b018g3pc)
The Boxing Day Quiz
It's the Boxing Day Quiz, as question-master Mark Lawson poses cultural brain-teasers to test the knowledge of two teams.
Historian Antonia Fraser, actor Dan Stevens and crime-writer Mark Billingham compete against playwright Roy Williams, comedy performer and writer Natalie Haynes and actor Michael Simkins.
Producer Claire Bartleet.
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b018g2z5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 How New Is the New Philanthropy? (b018g3pf)
Two 'New Philanthropies'
As the debate about wealth in British society continues, Professor Hugh Cunningham presents a timely history of philanthropic giving.
In 1949, William Beveridge, the architect of the welfare state, spoke of "a perpetually moving frontier for philanthropic giving".
In the third and final programme in this series on British philanthropy, Hugh Cunningham contrasts the diminishing role that philanthropy played during the middle decades of the twentieth century with the increasing calls that are being made upon it today.
Hugh grapples with the apparently intractable problem of the mismatch between philanthropic giving and actual social need in today's cash-strapped Britain.
He asks how contemporary philanthropists might contribute to the 'Big Society'.
And he hears about attempts to reclaim the term 'philanthropist' for all - not merely those who give £5 million a year but those who give £5 a month.
Hugh talks to bankers and politicians, historians, cultural commentators and the contemporary philanthropist Sir Peter Lampl, founder of the Sutton Trust, to discover a role for a truly 'new philanthropy' for the 21st century.
Presenter: Hugh Cunningham is Emeritus Professor of History in the University of Kent. He was the academic consultant and co-writer of 'The Invention of Childhood', Radio Four's 30 part narrative history series on the changing face of British childhood, presented by Michael Morpurgo.
Producer: Beaty Rubens.
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b018flpd)
The Graves of Kashmir
Jill McGivering, the BBC World Service South Asia editor, investigates the discovery of thousands of bodies in mass graves in Indian Kashmir. Human rights groups suspect they are just some of the victims of "disappearances" at the hands of the Indian military in this contested region. The authorities respond that the bodies are in fact those of militants who have infiltrated from Pakistan. Will an official investigation reveal the truth?
Producer: Michael Gallagher.
MON 21:00 Material World (b018fmq8)
This week, Quentin Cooper hears about a new planet the size of the Earth, simulating the brain with analogue chips, the last four in the long list of potential amateur scientists, how robins choose a sexy mate and how a warming climate is bad for your Christmas tree.
Producer: Martin Redfern.
MON 21:30 Start the Week (b018g2yz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b018g0zz)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b018g3pm)
Ritula Shah presents national and international news and analysis.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b018g3pp)
Nancy Mitford - The Pursuit of Love
Episode 6
by Nancy Mitford. Linda falls in love again, but finds that parties thrown by communists are frightfully gloomy. Abridged by Lauris Morgan-Griffiths and read by Diana Quick.
Fanny Logan tells the story of her beloved and beautiful aristocratic cousin, Linda Radlett. Linda's marriage has failed and she's left her husband and daughter to live with the dashingly idealistic communist Christian Talbot.
Beautifully observed and hilariously funny, the novel is also a fascinating hinterland account of the period leading to the Second World War and never pulls its punches in evoking the painful reality of the times.
Reader...Diana Quick
Abridger...Lauris Morgan-Griffiths
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery.
MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (b018cq02)
Bonds and Bailouts - the language of the financial markets. Michael Rosen returns for a new series on words and the way we use them.
The ups and downs of the banking world have moved from the financial news to the front pages. We are, we're told, witnessing momentous events with far-reaching consequences. But how well do we understand the language of global economic turmoil? Does financial jargon explain or obscure the picture? Michael Rosen talks to money makers, anti-capitalists and commentators.
Producer: Chris Ledgard.
MON 23:30 For One Night Only (b00zh1d6)
Series 6
The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart
Paul Gambaccini returns with the award-winning series to look back at four more occasions on which a classic live album was recorded. He hears from those who were there, on-stage, backstage and in the audience, to re-create the event for all of us who, each time we play the album, think: 'If only I could have been there'.
When 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' appeared in 1960 it became the first comedy album ever to top the charts. From 'The Driving Instructor' to 'Abe Lincoln vs Madison Avenue', the sketches that earned Newhart Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Comedy Performance were as popular in Britain as in the US. And they still raise a laugh more than fifty years on.
In this first edition of the new series, Paul Gambaccini talks to the now 81-year-old comedy star himself who, before the legendary album, was an accountant who leavened the office monotony by working up 'phone' routines with a colleague. When Chicago DJ Dan Sorkin heard a tape of the pair, he thought Bob's end of the act was good enough to record and managed to interest George Avakian of Warner Brothers Records. Avakian wanted Bob in front of a live audience and found a club in Houston - The Tidelands - where the manager, Dick Maegle, agreed to let the novice perform. Sorkin, Avakian and Maegle have all been interviewed for the programme.
So on 12 February 1960 a nervous Bob went out on stage. The result is as fresh today as it was then. Paul Gambaccini hears the story of the making of this classic album
Also in this series of For One Night Only: BB King's classic, Live at the Regal, the LSO's hit live performance of Berlioz's The Trojans and Keith Jarrett's unsurpassed jazz improvisation, the Cologne Concert.
Producer: Marya Burgess.
TUESDAY 27 DECEMBER 2011
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b018g10k)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:15 A Point of View (b018g3nx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Monday]
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b018g2z1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b018g10m)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b018g10p)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b018g10r)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b018g10t)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b018mjv5)
with Bishop Steven Croft.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b018g5th)
Rex Milton is in charge of one of Exmoor's oldest herds of semi-wild ponies. Sarah Swadling finds out about the history of the herd, and the breed itself. As Rex explains, there's now a niche market for them as riding ponies and show animals. Sarah also learns about the vital role that Exmoor ponies play in keeping down the gorse, so that the moorland heather can thrive.
Produced and Presented by Sarah Swadling.
TUE 06:00 Today (b018g5tk)
With Justin Webb and Evan Davis. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (b018g5tm)
Colin Pillinger
On this day eight years ago, planetary scientist Colin Pillinger was still hopeful that the Beagle 2 Lander that he had spent years designing, building and publicising (with the help of Blur and Damien Hirst) might yet be found somewhere on the surface of Mars. But, as more time passed, it became clear that The Beagle 2 Lander would be forever lost in space. Jim al -Khalili talks to Colin Pillinger about studying moon rock and meteorites from Mars whilst running a successful dairy farm; broken space dreams and why, even if a space project fails, useful scientific lessons can still be learned.
TUE 09:30 One to One (b018g6wj)
Bridget Kendall with Archbishop Rowan Williams
Bridget Kendall takes over the One to One chair and talks to those who are well known in one field but have another compelling area of expertise. Before becoming the BBC's diplomatic correspondent, like her first interviewee, Bridget too was a Russian scholar. She talks to Archbishop Rowan Williams about his fascination with Dostoyevsky and why he finds the author's work so helpful in his own.
Producer: Lucy Lunt.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b018sgzx)
Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be: The Lionel Bart Story
Episode 2
Lionel Bart was a unique musical talent. He found fame with the hugely successful musicals Oliver! and 'Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be', but he was also a hit-making machine for some of Britain's first rock'n'roll stars - Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde and Cliff Richard, as well as giving the James Bond movie franchise its first song.
He socialised with figures from both serious and populist culture, and experienced a downfall that was as spectacular as his theatrical triumphs.
David and Caroline Stafford's new biography of Bart draws on previously unseen archive sources and interviews with those closest to him.
Today, Bart meets Joan Littlewood and writes the songs for 'Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be'. Read by Alistair McGowan.
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Emma Harding.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b018g6wl)
Twitter Special
Presented by Jane Garvey. This is a look back at the guests and subjects on Woman's Hour that inspired the most comment this year via Twitter. Perhaps inevitably some of it is not for the fainthearted, including a frank interview with Joan Collins, and the moment where Tracey Emin asked Jenni an extremely personal question, as well as some of the funnier moments of the year. To discuss Woman's Hour on Twitter Jane Garvey is joined by Kate Bussmann, who has written the first ever social media almanac, Dr Ruth Page, of the University of Leicester, who has completed an extensive study of the use of social media by women celebrities and by the actress Lorelei King who loves to 'tweavesdrop.' Also on the programme: Grace Dent, Mona Eltahawy, Nancy Dell'Olio, Giorgio Locatelli, Joan Smith, Liz Jones and Mitch Benn. We'll hear why female masturbation is still taboo, why women like horses, why beards are back and why tattoos are so popular.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b018g6wn)
AS Byatt - Possession
Episode 7
Roland Michell, an academic research assistant, is completing some work in the London Library, when he comes across two unfinished letters written by the Victorian Poet, Randolph Henry Ash. Theses letters have obviously not been found by anyone else and they are not to his wife but to an unknown woman. Roland, whose entire academic life has been devoted to studying Ash, decides, recklessly to pocket the letters and try to determine exactly who they were written to.
This is the beginning of a quest that will change literary history and with the help of a feminist literary scholar Maud Bailey, they are determined to find out the truth behind these letters. Certain other characters hear about the letters and are eager to get their hands on them for their own financial gain and will do so, by any means necessary, and so the chase begins.
Roland and Maud find themselves in a seaside hotel in Whitby in hope of getting closer to the truth of what exactly was the nature of the relationship between Ash and LaMotte.
Written by A S Byatt. Dramatised by Timberlake Wertenbaker.
Cast:
Maud ...... Jemma Redgrave
Roland ...... Harry Hadden-Paton
Ash ....... James d'arcy
Lamotte ..... Rachael Stirling
Blackadder ..... Bill Paterson
Cropper ..... Matthew Marsh
George ...... Kenneth Cranham
Joan ....... Joanna David
Beatrice Nest ...... Stella Gonet
Euan ...... Nicholas Boulton
Fergus ...... Jonjo O'Neil
Hildebrand ..... Robert Portal
Val ...... Laura Pyper
Leonora .... Lorelei King
Raoul/Toby Byng .... Sam Dale
Mrs Wapshott/Mrs Cammish/Mrs lees ..... Jane Whittenshaw
Beth/PA/Mrs Judge/Librarian ...... Rachel Atkins
Girl ...... Sylvie Goodwin
Director: Celia de Wolff
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 11:00 Yeti's Finger (b018g6wq)
High up a remote Himalayan Mountain in Nepal is a Buddhist monastery. The monks say there is no doubt yeti's roam the high forest, they see and hear them and they sometimes even attack people. The tantalising prospect of being the first to prove that this mythical ape like creature actually exists has been the goal many explorers - but the beast has always evaded capture. Then the discovery of a supposed yeti's hand kept in the monastery set off a remarkable chain of events that drew in a mountain explorer, an American oil tycoon, a Hollywood film star and a high tech lab for forensic science in Scotland. But is it a yeti?
Some people will go to extraordinary lengths to be the first. Tom Slick, an American oil tycoon, had the money and the desire to try to prove that yetis really do exist. He used his vast wealth to mount expeditions, sending off climber and explorer Peter Byrne into the most remote areas of the Himalayas to follow any leads he came across, and one seemed worth investigating further - a hand of a "yeti" in Pangboche monastery in Nepal. Byrne did a deal with the monks and replaced one finger of the hand with a human finger and arranged to have the yeti finger smuggled back to London.
How the finger actually reached London is a most bizarre tale that involved Hollywood film star James Stewart concealing it in his wife's lingerie case. And then the trail went cold. Slick died, Byrne went onto other things and the finger was lost to the world until it was found by chance in a forgotten collection of curiosities in the Royal College of Surgeons in London. New scientific techniques are now applied to see if the yeti's finger really is what it claims to be - or if not - what on earth has a finger like that?
Presenter: Matthew Hill
Producer: Mary Colwell
Editor: Julian Hector
TUE 11:30 Beatles Christmas (b018g6ws)
Let It Be – Christmas! When it came to celebrating the season, the chart-topping Fab Four pulled out all the stops to get festive for their fans.
The Beatles - John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – made special fun-packed recordings for fan club members, panto appearances and their Boxing Day TV film 'Magical Mystery Tour'.
Alexei Sayle explores how the Liverpool legends’ fan club messages were recorded with comments from the man who wrote the scripts, their publicist Tony Barrow. The featured recordings reflect the changing stages of the Beatles career and creativity.
Back stage capers are also revealed from their two seasons in panto. Christmas 1963 saw them undertake 16 shows in full costumes – with 21 shows the following year.
Alexei also hears how their 'Magical Mystery Tour' film was made and came to debut on BBC 1 on Boxing Day.
Featuring singer Elkie Brooks, Barron Knights guitarist Peter Langford and film editor Roy Benson.
Producer: John Sugar
A Sugar production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2011.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b018g6wv)
Call You and Yours
The Big Society: Have you got involved and has your community benefited from David Cameron's idea to get volunteers to run services like post offices and libraries? Or are you too busy running your own life to help others? Have you come forward to help but been put off by the amount of red tape? Maybe you see it as an excuse by the government to spend less and get the public to do more. Whether you're helping out in your community or seeing the benefits as more people offer their time to work on your projects, we want to hear from you. Has it helped solve problems in your neighbourhood? Call You and Yours with Julian Worricker. Your chance to share your views on the programme. Email youandyours@bbc.co.uk, text 84844 and we may 'phone you back or call 03700 100 444 (lines open at
10am Tuesday)
Producer SALLY ABRAHAMS
Presenter Julian Worricker.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b018g10w)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b018g6wx)
Shaun Ley presents national and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
TUE 13:45 Food for Thought (b018g6wz)
Series 2
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono discusses the virtues of vegetables with journalist Nina Myskow .
Although reluctant to let even the tiniest piece of inferior confectionery pass her lips, artist and musician Yoko Ono reveals why she finally fell in love with one particular food. She explains that one of husband, John's pleasures was chocolate and how it came to comfort her.
A long time devotee of macrobiotics, Yoko tells Nina about the experiences that shaped her tastes: from a Japanese diet low in animal fat to the years, during World War II, when she was evacuated from Tokyo. She made rice and miso soup for her siblings, longed for butter and was forced to barter for food.
Odd then perhaps that several years later she would go on a forty day fast with John Lennon.
She explains why.
Yoko also shares her passion for fish and chips, as well as Korean pickles. And how did she make John eat sushi?
Producer: Tamsin Hughes
A Wise Buddah production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b018g3p9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b018g6x1)
Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities
The Old Order
Dramatised by Mike Walker
Episode 2/5: The Old Order
Lucie Manette is a witness at Charles Darnay's trial for treason at the Old Bailey, where his defence team includes the dissolute Sydney Carton. Meanwhile, an incident in a Paris street stirs revolutionary fervour.
With Christopher Webster
Music by Lennert Busch
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole and Jeremy Mortimer.
TUE 15:00 Home Planet (b018gpdd)
Are Our Seasons Changing?
This year some magnolias bloomed again in the autumn and other plants such as rhubarb are also showing some particularly unseasonable behaviour.
This week one listener wants to know whether this means our seasons are changing, and what might be the probable impact of such a change. You also want to know whether seabirds are taking valuable fish out of the nets of fishermen, or is it we humans doing the same to gulls, auks and gannets? Why do planets always end up orbiting around their star's equator? And what are the mysterious coronal holes that appear in the Sun's atmosphere?
On the panel this week are astronomer Dr Carolin Crawford of Cambridge University; Professor Andrew Watkinson, Director of Living with Environmental Change; and Professor Philip Stott and environmental scientist of the University of London.
The programme is presented by Richard Daniel.
Producer: Toby Murcott
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Questions, Questions (b012r7tc)
Stewart Henderson presents another sparkling series of Questions Questions - the programme which offers answers to those intriguing questions of everyday life, inspired by current events and popular culture.
Each programme is compiled directly from the well-informed and inquisitive Radio 4 audience, who bring their unrivalled collective brain to bear on these puzzlers every week.
In the programme this week, Stewart is pondering the universal appeal of the protest chant, he'll also be letting you in on the secret signals frogs use to let each other know the exact day to spawn. Our roving reporter Dave Dodd has been to Dunwich to investigate whether you can hear the church bells from drowned villages tolling under the waves. And County Durham, why is it the only County in England to use the prefix County? A tale of powerful bishops and penny posts unravels a complex history.
Producer: Kate Taylor
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (b018g5t3)
But I've Got a Degree!
But I've Got A Degree! Michael Rosen discusses the letters we put before and after our names. Are you a BA, MA, Dr or Dame - or "just a plain Mister"? And does it matter?
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b018gpdg)
Series 26
Ludwig II of Bavaria
Brian Sewell on his long-standing love of "Mad" King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who built the ultimate fantasy castle at Neuschwanstein. From his first fateful glimpse of one of Ludwig's palaces, Brian's been fascinated with the eccentric King, and his mysterious death, and has become personally involved in the story of his life. Presenter Matthew Parris and contributor Simon Winder find out more...
Producer Beth O'Dea.
TUE 17:00 PM (b018gpdj)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b018g10y)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:15 A Point of View (b018gpdl)
The Meaning of Debt
Sarah Dunant looks at different aspects of debt, including the debt owed to those who have been a force for change in Arab countries.
Producer: Sheila Cook.
TUE 18:30 Mark Steel's in Town (b018gpdn)
Series 3
Douglas (Isle of Man)
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 4 - In this episode Mark performs a show for the residents of Douglas on the Isle of Man, to discuss space travel, fairy bridges and the mystery - or otherwise - of Gef the Talking Mongoose. From December 2011.
Written by Mark Steel with additional material by Pete Sinclair.
Produced by Sam Bryant.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b018gpdq)
Kathy and Pat compare their Christmas days. Kathy's was quiet with Jamie at Natalie's. She went to Kenton and Jolene's do in the evening. Lilian wants Pat's guest list for her 60th party but Pat feels there's nothing to celebrate. She tells Kathy about breaking down yesterday over Rich. Their disastrous meeting in Leeds has made things much worse. He was very like John but the deal is that she can have no further contact. And the meeting has alienated Tom and Helen.
Back at home Pat apologises to Helen, who has been looking at Facebook photos of Rich. Pat tells her Rich's real name is John, which shows Sharon must have loved John. Helen thinks of her experience with Greg. They agree that if you love someone you have to let them go.
Lynda's busily preparing for Wednesday's show, so Robert reminds her to relax. Lynda is desperate to know what Jazzer is planning to sing, and there seems to have been a major misunderstanding with Jim when he arrives expecting his equipment to have been set up. Jim's certain that Grey Gables will have everything he needs, and suggests that Lynda gives them a call.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b018gpds)
Singers Joseph Calleja, Ian Bostridge, Mark Padmore and Iestyn Davies
Mark Lawson talks to three tenors and a counter-tenor: Joseph Calleja (pictured), Ian Bostridge, Mark Padmore and Iestyn Davies reflect on repertoire, singing teachers and the perils of phlegm.
Producer Georgia Mann.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b018g6wn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 Buying Defence (b017mtfc)
The Prime Minister has described the country's defence budget as "a complete car crash", with delays and overspends on military equipment costing the taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds each year.
But why have successive governments found it so hard to get defence procurement right? How did the Ministry of Defence end up with a £38b black hole in its budget? And can they realistically balance the books while keeping the armed forces in tanks, submarines and fighter jets?
Defence expert and former soldier Francis Tusa takes us inside the secretive world of defence procurement and tries to work out what has gone wrong and how things can be fixed. He investigates some of the MOD's most costly procurement decisions and asks where the blame lies -with the civil servants, the politicians, the defence industry or the military top brass? Finally, he examines some of the radical solutions being proposed to cut Britain's defence bill.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b018gpgl)
Peter White meets actor Ryan Kelly - Jazzer in The Archers. 27/12/2011
Actor Ryan Kelly is blind and probably best known for playing the part of Jazzer in The Archers. Landing the role was a dream come true, as he was an avid listener even as a child and one of his heroes was Carole Boyd (who plays Lynda Snell).
Encouraged to pursue an acting career by his drama teacher at the Royal National College in Hereford, he went on to become the first blind student to be accepted at the Bristol Old Vic.
He talks to Peter White about the way he deals with learning lines and navigating the recording studios and his approach to playing a sighted character - and shows that his time as a busker playing the accordion was not wasted.
Producer Cheryl Gabriel.
Presenter Peter White.
TUE 21:00 Plumbers and Penguins (b00wr6qk)
Stories of some of the tradesmen who live and work on Antarctica.
In the summer of 2009, British Antarctic Survey very publicly recruited 43 plumbers, carpenters, mechanics, electricians and doctors to spend 18 months working on their most southerly research stations - promising "the most exhilarating experience of a lifetime". Chris Eldon Lee discovers what actually happened to the new recruits. Almost 2000 tradesman applied to be parted from their white vans and sent into whiteout conditions. Doctors were also hired to care for their welfare in such extreme conditions.
Mark Green, a 48-year-old Bristol plumber, was sent to Halley Research Station on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula. His job is to keep water supplies flowing at temperatures of minus 50 Celsius. 30-year-old Claire Lehman, a recently qualified Wiltshire GP, was posted to Rothera, on the western shore of the Peninsula.
Like everybody else in Antarctica, both have had to learn brand new skills to help keep their Bases going. Mark finds himself abseiling down precipitous crevasses and learning to be a sea-ice driver's mate. Claire is refuelling planes and supplying all the field scientists with freshly baked Christmas Cakes.
Producer: Chris Eldon Lee
A Culture Wise production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2020.
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (b018g5tm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b018g110)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b018gpgn)
As Arab League monitors enter the Syrian city of Homs, what will they have seen there?
The role of women in the Arab Spring.
Could the the US economic outlook be rosier than many assume?
With Ritula Shah.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b018gpgq)
Nancy Mitford - The Pursuit of Love
Episode 7
by Nancy Mitford. Linda's success with the communists does not extend to Christian. Abridged by Lauris Morgan-Griffiths and read by Diana Quick.
Fanny Logan tells the story of her beloved and beautiful aristocratic cousin, Linda Radlett. Linda's marriage has left her husband and daughter to live with the dashingly idealistic communist Christian Talbot.
Beautifully observed and hilariously funny, the novel is also a fascinating hinterland account of the period leading to the Second World War and never pulls its punches in evoking the painful reality of the times.
Reader...Diana Quick
Abridger...Lauris Morgan-Griffiths
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery.
TUE 23:00 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b018g3ns)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Monday]
TUE 23:30 For One Night Only (b00zq9m8)
Series 6
BB King Live at the Regal
Paul Gambaccini is back with the award-winning series that re-visits the occasions on which a classic live album was recorded. He hears from those who were there, on-stage, backstage and in the audience, to re-create the event for all of us who, each time we play the album, think: 'If only I could have been there'.
On 21 November 1964 what's been hailed as one of the greatest blues albums of all time was recorded at Chicago's premier black theatre, The Regal. It's claimed, that musicians from Eric Clapton to John Mayer still play it for inspiration before they go on stage.
If BB's studio sessions were electric, it was on stage that he really came into his own. Yet, at a time when live albums were becoming the thing, BB had yet to record one. Enter Johnny Pate, A&R man for ABC Paramount, the label that had recently signed Riley B King.
On the night, Chicago DJs Pervis Spann and E Rodney Jones introduced the sets and the enthusiastic audience erupted as BB and his band treated them to a classic performance.
Paul Gambaccini listens to memories of that never-to-be-forgotten night from BB King himself and from the sole surviving member of his band, Duke Jethro. Jethro's usual instrument, the HammondB3 Organ, was in the repair shop so he had to play, for the first time in his life, a piano. Yet his tinkling riffs are one of the album's major charms.
Paul also hears from the album's producer, Johnny Pate, from WVON DJ Pervis Spann, and from Arthur Gathings, who was in the audience.
Producer: Marya Burgess.
WEDNESDAY 28 DECEMBER 2011
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b018g11l)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:15 A Point of View (b018gpdl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Tuesday]
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b018sgzx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b018g11n)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b018g11q)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b018g11s)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b018g11v)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b018mjws)
with Bishop Steven Croft.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b018gqxf)
The Milton family farm cattle, sheep, Exmoor ponies, and arable crops on the patchwork of land which makes up Exmoor National Park. In today's programme, Sarah Swadling accompanies Robin Milton as he feeds his very vocal herd of pedigree Aberdeen Angus beef cattle. The animals are not only a commercial proposition, they help to manage the farm's rare Culm Grassland. Ninety per cent of the habitat, in the UK, was lost to drainage and land improvement in the 20th century.
Produced and Presented by Sarah Swadling.
WED 06:00 Today (b018gqyq)
With James Naughtie and Justin Webb. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b018gqys)
This week Libby Purves is joined by guests Winnie and Frank Tovey, Simon Russell Beale, Noo Saro-Wiwa and Anne Wallace.
Winnie and Frank Tovey spent sixteen years in the fifties and sixties in India where Frank was a medical missionary. They were active in providing clinics to cure leprosy, surgery and physiotherapy to restore function and treat deformity and have written about their experiences in the book 'Cor Blimey! Where 'ave you come from?, published by Little Knoll Press.
Simon Russell-Beale is the acclaimed stage and screen actor who has played every major Shakespearean and classical drama lead over the last twenty years. He is currently playing Stalin in the National Theatre production of 'Collaborators' by John Hodge. He can also be seen in the films Deep Blue Sea and My Week With Marilyn.
Noo Saro-Wiwa is a travel writer and daughter of the political activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was murdered in Nigeria in 1995. She was brought up in the UK but used to hate visiting Nigeria every year on holiday as a child. In her book 'Looking for Transwonderland', she describes her own journey back, ten years after his death. Looking for Transwonderland is published by Granta.
Anne Wallace has worked in the fish and chip shop business in Stockport for the last forty-five years. She recently won a NatWest Everywoman Gaia Award for Enterprise. When the recession hit and neighbouring shops closed down, she bought the shop next door and opened it as a coffee shop, Startpoint, where they offer everything from providing IT skills to the elderly, to courses in Tai Chi and crochet.
Producer: Annette Wells.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b018sh0t)
Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be: The Lionel Bart Story
Episode 3
Lionel Bart was a unique musical talent. He found fame with the hugely successful musicals Oliver! and 'Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be', but he was also a hit-making machine for some of Britain's first rock'n'roll stars - Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde and Cliff Richard, as well as giving the James Bond movie franchise its first song.
He socialised with figures from both serious and populist culture, and experienced a downfall that was as spectacular as his theatrical triumphs.
David and Caroline Stafford's new biography of Bart draws on previously unseen archive sources and interviews with those closest to him.
Today, Bart gives Cliff Richard his first number one and begins work on his own musical masterpiece, 'Oliver!' Read by Alistair McGowan.
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Emma Harding.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b018gqz1)
Shepherdess; jurors; diets; table manners
Jane Kallaway, a shepherdess in Wiltshire; Jenni Murray discusses whether we should be supporting jurors distressed by evidence that they hear. Calories and Corsets: a look at the history of diet and body shape and our sometimes complicated relationship with food. And children's table manners, when should we start training them and how to cope with embarrassment in front of the extended family.
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b018gqz3)
AS Byatt - Possession
Episode 8
Roland Michell, an academic research assistant, is completing some work in the London Library, when he comes across two unfinished letters written by the Victorian Poet, Randolph Henry Ash. Theses letters have obviously not been found by anyone else and they are not to his wife but to an unknown woman. Roland, whose entire academic life has been devoted to studying Ash, decides, recklessly to pocket the letters and try to determine exactly who they were written to.
This is the beginning of a quest that will change literary history and with the help of a feminist literary scholar Maud Bailey, they are determined to find out the truth behind these letters. Certain other characters hear about the letters and are eager to get their hands on them for their own financial gain and will do so, by any means necessary, and so the chase begins.
The true weight of what happened between Ash and LaMotte is revealed as Roland and Maud themselves are drawn ever closer by the quest to find the truth.
Written by A S Byatt. Dramatised by Timberlake Wertenbaker
Cast:
Maud ...... Jemma Redgrave
Roland ...... Harry Hadden-Paton
Ash ....... James d'arcy
Lamotte ..... Rachael Stirling
Blackadder ..... Bill Paterson
Cropper ..... Matthew Marsh
George ...... Kenneth Cranham
Joan ....... Joanna David
Beatrice Nest ...... Stella Gonet
Euan ...... Nicholas Boulton
Fergus ...... Jonjo O'Neil
Hildebrand ..... Robert Portal
Val ...... Laura Pyper
Leonora .... Lorelei King
Raoul/Toby Byng .... Sam Dale
Mrs Wapshott/Mrs Cammish/Mrs lees ..... Jane Whittenshaw
Beth/PA/Mrs Judge/Librarian ...... Rachel Atkins
Girl ...... Sylvie Goodwin
Director: Celia de Wolff
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 11:00 Make Me a National Treasure (b018gqz5)
Gyles Brandreth discovers what it takes to become a national treasure and achieve the cultural status of figures like June Whitfield, Sir Alan Bennett and Sir David Attenborough.
Twiggy, Dame Judi Dench and Tony Benn are national treasures. But many other public figures are not.
Gyles sets out to discover the process by which a few personalities - but only a few - get to become one of our celebrity jewels. He finds out whether 'national treasure' status comes down to longevity, eccentricity or several ungainly appearances on Strictly Come Dancing.
He hears from national treasures including Sir Terry Wogan and Dame Edna Everage - who naturally considers herself to be an international treasure - and finds out what our national treasures reveal about British identity and our changing attitudes to heroism, and to our history.
And, using his rigorously devised National Treasure Matrix, Gyles assesses his own chances with an exacting focus group comprising journalist Danny Finkelstein plus writers and broadcasters Natalie Haynes and Bidisha.
Will Gyles's weakness for teddy bears and gaudy jumpers be enough?
Producer: Paula McGinley.
WED 11:30 Dave Podmore's Superinjunction (b018gqz7)
As Dave Podmore prepares to give an after-dinner speech at Leicestershire Cricket Club, disaster strikes. Pod - usually the King of near the knuckle after dinner entertainment - has been afflicted by a terrible stammer which means 200 of Leicestershire Police Force's finest never get to hear the punchline to the joke about the gay giraffe at a Singles Bar.
From Mister Clutch openings to Aladdin at the Meatmarket Theatre in Droitwich, the work dries up and Pod resorts to desperate measures to get himself back in the public eye - namely, by keeping himself out of it.
Inspired by recent tabloid stories, Pod changes his name to The Sportsman Who Cannot Be Named For Legal Reasons but the plan backfires when another sportsman is 'outed' and gets all the credit for Pod's misdeeds with Miss Scrumpy Jack in 2007.
But Pod goes one further and takes out a Super-injunction determined that, if the media won't besmirch him, he'll just have to besmirch himself and is set on breaking the super-injunction by naming himself, even though his actions could land him behind bars. His loyal follower Andy Hamer meanwhile vows to help Pod recover his ability to swear in an after dinner situation, by drawing on his expertise gleaned from frequent viewings of The King's Speech on Orange Wednesdays.
Will Andy's unconventional speech therapy methods cure Pod? And will Pod succeed in getting himself back in the spotlight as a 'trending topic' in the Twittersphere?
Written and performed by Christopher Douglas with Andrew Nickolds and Nick Newman.
Producer: Monica Long
A Hat Trick Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b018gqzc)
Consumer news with Winifred Robinson
A scheme launched earlier in the year to help first time buyers has successfully produced the first new home owners. Councils guarantee the bulk of their deposits, the buyers have to find just five per cent of the mortgage. The councils involved say there are no strings attached and it is helping to stimulate the local economy.
It is three years since Todmorden, on the border of Lancashire and West Yorkshire, announced its aim to become the first town in the country to be self sufficient in food. We examine what they have achieved so far.
And the vintage mobile phones which are selling for around a thousand pounds- why are they proving so popular?
WED 12:57 Weather (b018g11x)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b018gqzf)
Shaun Ley presents national and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
WED 13:45 Food for Thought (b018gqzk)
Series 2
Andy McNab
'What do you want before the chip shop closes?' was the phrase former Special Forces soldier Andy McNab got used to as a child. In Food For Thought, he describes his transition from a thirty-six-inch-waisted 'fat kid' to fit career soldier, after a spell in juvenile detention. Joining the army meant decent food and regular meal times. You could be up on a charge if you didn't eat breakfast before Queen's Parade.
Over spam, pick'n'mix and with condensed milk in his cuppa, Andy talks to Nina Myskow about feeling looked after by the army, the daily rituals of preparing dinner in huge Dixie pots and how he cooked on an army Hexy burner in the kitchen sink when he bought his first house. He was worried about the gas bill. These days, he doesn't cook much but makes 'Desperate Dan' sausage and mash for a family special occasion. And, after a life in the military, the novelty of eating out still hasn't worn off.
Andy also details the realities and deprivations of war time capture and there's a frank revelation about the worse thing he's ever eaten. Not for the squeamish. It's all rather different to the boiled eggs and chocolate given to him by the Red Cross on his release, and the expensive kobe beef he has sampled since.
Producer: Tamsin Hughes
A Wise Buddah production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b018gpdq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b018gqzp)
Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities
Two Promises
By Charles Dickens
Dramatised by Mike Walker
Episode 3/5 - Two Promises
In a Paris wine shop information is exchanged about the courtship of Lucie Manette and Charles Darnay, and indeed, in London, it appears that a wedding is indeed in the air.
With Adam Billington and Christopher Webster
Music by Lennert Busch
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole and Jeremy Mortimer.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b018gqzr)
Paul Lewis and a panel of guests take your calls on consumer rights.
Do you know your rights to refunds and returns for faulty or unwanted goods or Christmas presents?
There were predictions that shoppers would be spending slightly less this festive season compared to December 2010 because of continuing economic gloom.
But allowing for a slight drop, that still means that billions of pounds have been spent in shops or online. So are you clear about your consumer rights?
Whatever your question, Paul Lewis and a team of experts is waiting to help.
Did your deliveries arrive in time for Christmas?
What are your rights if goods are faulty or not as expected?
Do different rules apply if you shop online, by phone or with a catalogue?
Who pays for postage and packing if orders need to be returned?
Perhaps you have a question about online auction sites?
And what happens if you buy goods in a sale?
Guests:
David Cresswell, Financial Ombudsman Service
Jenny Driscoll, Which?
David Sanders, Trading Standards Institute
Presenter Paul Lewis
Producer Ben Carter
Lines open at
1pm. The numbr to ring. 03 700 100 444.
WED 15:30 The Dog and the Whale (b00vcpfg)
Radio 4 spends a day on a motor boat with Tucker the sniffer dog and a team of zoologists in search of killer whale dung, floating in the waters off the North American Pacific coast.
Tucker is a black Labrador. He is one of an elite team of detection dogs, trained to find the faeces of threatened animals in the cause of conservation.
A lump of faeces is packed with information about an animal's stress levels, fertility, nutritional status and exposure to chemical pollution. There is no other way to reap this data from living whales because whales spend most of their lives underwater. It is impossible to take blood samples from them because of their thick blubber. A trained dog's nose enables researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle to find whale scat in much greater quantities than by relying on their own human senses.
Tucker's work means the scientists can start to piece together an explanation for why a special population of killer whales in North America is at risk of extinction.
This community of orca lives between Vancouver Island and the mainland US Pacific coast. They number about 90 individuals and in recent years they have suffered some terrible times. Three years ago, about one in ten died. Several years earlier, 20% of them were lost.
Could it be the boat loads of whale-watching tourists which are fatally disturbing the animals? Or is it declining numbers of King Salmon - the staple food of this population of killer whales. Alternatively, high levels of industrial and agricultural pollutants from the land might be to blame. According to Professor Sam Wasser who runs the university's Center for Conservation Biology, the hormones and chemicals in the orcas' poop which Tucker might finds suggests a possible toxic interplay of factors.
Presenter Andrew Luck-Baker also talks to Rosalind Rolland, a whale biologist at the New England Aquarium in Boston. Ros was the first to use a detection dog to study whales through their faeces.
Her species is the gigantic North Atlantic Right Whale whose numbers are also perilously low. Her best detection dog was a Rottweiler called Fargo who worked in the drugs squad before moving into whale conservation. Sadly Fargo died last year and is much missed for his work ethic and fearlessness in the face of curious 70 tonne marine mammals.
This programme was first broadcast in October 2010.
Producer/presenter: Andrew Luck-Baker.
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b018gqzt)
Home Life 4: Shared Home
Is there an age in which people should couple-up and settle down? Laurie Taylor visits the home of 6 young people who are extending their student sharing habits into their early thirties. What is the factor that keeps an increasing amount of people living like this - is it economics, good friendships or an antipathy towards what other people might regard as growing up? Laurie and his two sociological companions, Esther Dermott from Bristol University and Josh Richards from the University of Manchester accompany him on his investigation.
Producer: Charlie Taylor.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b018gqzy)
The Media Show Special: Children and Television
The media like stories claiming to link TV with harm to children, but is the picture so clear? Focussing on two recent pieces of research by Prof Dimitri Christakis and Prof Angeline Lillard, Steve discusses the extent to which media reports of the link can be justified. Joining him are David Buckingham who is Professor of Education at the Institute of Education at London University and Director of the Centre for the study of Children, Youth and Media, Baroness Susan Greenfield, a neuroscientist and Professor of Synaptic Pharmacology at Oxford University and Hannah Devlin, Science Correspondent for the Times with a PhD in brain imaging from Oxford University.
The producer is Luke Mulhall.
WED 17:00 PM (b018gr00)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b018g11z)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:15 A Point of View (b018gr02)
Media Malpractice
Will Self reflects on the new landscape for the press
Producer: Sheila Cook.
WED 18:30 Heresy (b018gr06)
Series 8
Episode 5
Victoria Coren presents another edition of the show which dares to commit heresy.
Her guests this week are comedian Dave Gorman and newspaper columnists Matthew Parris and Julia Hartley-Brewer. Together they have fun exposing the wrong-headedness of received wisdom and challenging knee-jerk public reaction to events.
Arguing against the popular opinion that celebrities shouldn't tell people how to vote, former MP Matthew Parris says he would much rather listen to an attractive celebrity talking rubbish than listen to the garbage spouted by the average politician.
Julia Hartley-Brewer defends Chick Lit against its detractors on the grounds that you shouldn't judge a book by its pink cover, and argues that it's the kind of literature Jane Austen would be writing if she were around today.
And Dave Gorman puts his republican views to one side to ride to the defence of the extraordinary hat worn by Princess Beatrice at the wedding of William and Kate. Though the Princess may wish he hadn't.
Producer: Brian King
A Avalon Television production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b018gr08)
Tom tells Brenda he can't understand how Pat has reassured Helen that Rich isn't a threat. While they prepare for Christmas Round the World, Brenda senses that Tom is protective of Helen and Henry because they are all threatened by Rich. He acknowledges that he is worried Rich will turn up in the future and demand a stake in the farm. Brenda reassures him that all the effort he has put into the farm since John died won't be ignored by Pat and Tony.
At the Village Hall, Jazzer and Jim keep Lynda in the dark about their pieces until the last moment, which exasperates her. Jim's worried until the final minute because his projection equipment is late arriving. Meanwhile Elona's family's Albanian contribution is warmly received.
All are delighted when Jim reads a translation of his Latin extract. It's from Virgil's Georgics, about the farmer's winter rest, and the Latin itself is projected onto a screen.
Lynda's still nervous about Jazzer's contribution but his song from across the ocean - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - surprises and delights her. She's touched when Robert points out that the evening's lovely surprises are all thanks to her.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b018gr0b)
Writers from India and Pakistan
Kirsty Lang examines how writers from India and Pakistan are tackling social and political shifts, with Booker-winner Aravind Adiga, Aatish Taseer, Mohammed Hanif and Moni Mohsin.
All have published fiction in the past year with a focus on complex current issues in their respective countries, including terrorism in Pakistan and the huge social changes brought about by India's economic boom.
They also reflect on the differences between readers in the Indian subcontinent and those who live outside it, and discuss how - as Aravind Adiga reveals - a warm critical reception in the UK is no guarantee of critical praise at home.
Producer Rebecca Nicholson.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b018gqz3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Bringing Up Britain (b018gr0l)
Series 4
Consumer Children
Consumer Children:
It's the week after Christmas, and children across the UK will have found their stockings bulging with new toys and gadgets.
But how do you decide what you should and shouldn't buy for your children? Quite apart from cost, this question has become increasingly fraught.
Ethicists and child psychologists, environmentalists and politicians, even fellow parents - all have something to say about what you buy your children.
So in this programme, Mariella and guests explore how parents make these decisions.
She asks how much attention parents should pay to what other adults might think. If we buy our children the latest gadget, does it make us feel guilty about our values as parents? And should it?
Consumer society is unlikely to vanish any time soon - so Mariella explores how we are educating the next generation of consumers. How can we empower our youngsters by teaching them about the need for limits, and about how to judge value? Can handling pocket money or learning about planning a family budget help teach them useful skills?
But Mariella also questions whether buying products is the most effective way to show your child affection. Do we decide what to buy in our children's best interests, or are we really buying for our own gratification?
We hear from parents who are faced with pester-power and explore the choices that they make in these straitened times. We also hear about the effects of deprivation on children's happiness.
The panel includes Dr. Agnes Nairn, policy researcher and author of 'Consumer Kids', Fiona Ellis, who works as an advisory member for the Personal Finance Education Group which teaches finance in schools, and Donald Hirsch who works on issues around minimum income standards.
Producer: Emma Kingsley.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b018gr0n)
Series 2
Tim Smit: Britain's Not Broken
Tim Smith says Britain is very far from broken. In fact, he argues, its are a really good country, and if we learn to trust one another again we could be wonderful.
Pointing to the success of collaborative ventures he started, like the Eden Project and Big Lunch, he suggests we should set ourselves the goal of energy independence.
This, he says, would be as much about the symbolism as the environmentalism: a vivid demonstration that far from being a dying culture, we are in fact a vigorous one.
Four Thought is a series of talks which combine thought provoking ideas and engaging storytelling.
Recorded in front of an audience at the RSA in London, speakers take to the stage to air their latest thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect our culture and society.
Producer: Giles Edwards.
WED 21:00 The Teetotaller's Guide to Boozing (b00wp55d)
Sarfraz Manzoor is teetotal, During his time at Manchester University and in his professional life he has got used to being on the edge of things as a non-drinker in the UK. In this feature he looks at the reliance on booze in the UK and asks, 'How British can you be if you don't drink?'
With more and more people choosing to abstain this may be a changing situation, but with New Year parties looming, alcohol still has a major role to play in both leisure and business.
Sarfraz Manzoor on the highs and lows of booze in Britain, and how to get by without it.
WED 21:30 Midweek (b018gqys)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b018g121)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b018gr0q)
More than 90,000 people have fled their homes in northern Nigeria for fear of further violence and reprisals, after deadly bomb attacks against Christian churches over Christmas. We'll hear more about the Islamist group behind the attacks, Boko Haram.
Also, an interview with Lord Healey, with an assessment on the coalition and his dealings with the IMF during the economic crisis of the 1970s.
With Samira Ahmed.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b018gr0s)
Nancy Mitford - The Pursuit of Love
Episode 8
by Nancy Mitford. Linda is living in Paris with the seductive Fabrice, Duc of Sauveterre. Abridged by Lauris Morgan-Griffiths and read by Diana Quick.
Fanny Logan tells the story of her beautiful, beloved and aristocratic cousin, Linda Radlett. Linda's marriage has failed, her communist phase is over and now she finds herself in Paris in the scandalous but delightful role of mistress to the true love of her life, Fabrice de Sauveterre.
Beautifully observed and hilariously funny, the novel is also a fascinating hinterland account of the period leading to the Second World War and never pulls its punches in evoking the painful reality of the times.
Reader...Diana Quick
Abridger...Lauris Morgan-Griffiths
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery.
WED 23:00 Detective Sergeant Nick Mohammed (b018fllw)
Series 1
Episode 3
There's a Riot going on... Topical! Join DS Nick Mohammed and co. as they tackle a full-on student protest complete with professional Sloane: Cordelia Jasmine Beatrice de Beatrice Grimes (as featured in IN BITS).
Written & performed by Nick Mohammed, with Anna Crilly & Colin Hoult.
Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
WED 23:30 For One Night Only (b00zxn8s)
Series 6
Berlioz's Les Troyens
Paul Gambaccini presents the award-winning series that re-visits the occasions on which a classic live album was recorded. He hears from those who were there, on-stage, backstage and in the audience, to re-create the event for all of us who, each time we play the album, think: 'If only I could have been there'.
In December 2000 at The Barbican, Sir Colin Davis conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in the epic Berlioz opera, Les Troyens. Featuring a fine line-up of soloists, including Ben Heppner, Michelle de Young and Petra Lang, Sir Colin's championing of the unfashionable composer brought Berlioz's unwieldy account of the fall of Troy and the founding of Rome to exhilarating life.
The resulting recording was released on the LSO Live label and met with international approval, assuring the new label's success. The album was the unanimous critics' choice at the Classical Brits awards - chaired that year by our presenter, Paul Gambaccini. It also won two Grammy Awards - for best opera recording and classical recording.
Now he hears from Sir Colin Davis himself about his memories of the exceptional recording. Members of the cast, including Ben Heppner, Petra Lang and Toby Spence recall their experience of the opera, as do members of the orchestra and the audience.
Producer: Marya Burgess.
THURSDAY 29 DECEMBER 2011
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b018g12m)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:15 A Point of View (b018gr02)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Wednesday]
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b018sh0t)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b018g12p)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b018g12r)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b018g12t)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b018g12w)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b018mjx3)
with Bishop Steven Croft.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b018grhh)
The Milton family farm cattle, sheep, Exmoor ponies, and arable crops on the patchwork of land which makes up Exmoor National Park. Robin Milton and Sarah Swadling take a stroll in the farm's cornfields, to explore how last season's crop is now providing winter food for the birds. Robin is also paid to plant wild bird seed crops, as part of the Environmental Stewardship Scheme. Sarah and Robin discuss whether it is possible to combine increased food production and conservation.
Produced and Presented by Sarah Swadling.
THU 06:00 Today (b018grhk)
Morning news and current affairs, with James Naughtie and Sarah Montague. Guest edited by Sir Victor Blank and examining leadership, communication and altruism. Tony Blair on leadership in the mideast peace process (
07:35), Former S African president FW de Klerk on transforming the country (
08:10) and Sir Michael Parkinson with former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan (
08:33).
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b018grhm)
Macromolecules
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the giant molecules that form the basis of all life. Macromolecules, also known as polymers, are long chains of atoms. They form the proteins that make up our bodies, as well as many of the materials of modern life. Man's ability to mimic the structure of macromolecules has led to the invention of plastics such as nylon, paints and adhesives. Most of our clothes are made of macromolecules, and our food is macromolecular. The medical sciences are making increasingly sophisticated use of macromolecules, from growing replacement skin and bone to their increasing use in drug delivery. One of the most famous macromolecules is DNA, an infinitely more complex polymer than man has ever managed to produce. We've only known about macromolecules for just over a century, so what is the story behind them and how might they change our lives in the future?With:Tony RyanPro-Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Science at the University of SheffieldAthene DonaldProfessor of Experimental Physics at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Robinson CollegeCharlotte WilliamsReader in Polymer Chemistry and Catalysis at Imperial College, London Producer: Natalia Fernandez.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b018sh1v)
Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be: The Lionel Bart Story
Episode 4
Lionel Bart's new stage musical, 'Oliver!' opens to great acclaim. Read by Alistair McGowan.
Lionel Bart was a unique musical talent. He found fame with the hugely successful musicals Oliver! and 'Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be', but he was also a hit-making machine for some of Britain's first rock'n'roll stars - Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde and Cliff Richard, as well as giving the James Bond movie franchise its first song.
He socialised with figures from both serious and populist culture, and experienced a downfall that was as spectacular as his theatrical triumphs.
David and Caroline Stafford's biography of Bart draws on previously unseen archive sources and interviews with those closest to him.
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Emma Harding.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b018grhp)
Women protesters; Christie Watson; new year resolutions
Jenni Murray discusses what role women have played in this year of protest with Nabila Ramdani and Laurie Penny; a look at the life of Elizabeth of York; an interview with author and nurse Christie Watson and what about new year resolutions - Jenni is joined by Merryn Somerset Webb and Angie Hobbs to talk about whether we should be more ambitious and businesslike about the targets we set?
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b018grhr)
AS Byatt - Possession
Episode 9
Roland Michell, an academic research assistant, is completing some work in the London Library, when he comes across two unfinished letters written by the Victorian Poet, Randolph Henry Ash. Theses letters have obviously not been found by anyone else and they are not to his wife but to an unknown woman. Roland, whose entire academic life has been devoted to studying Ash, decides, recklessly to pocket the letters and try to determine exactly who they were written to.
This is the beginning of a quest that will change literary history and with the help of a feminist literary scholar Maud Bailey, they are determined to find out the truth behind these letters. Certain other characters hear about the letters and are eager to get their hands on them for their own financial gain and will do so, by any means necessary, and so the chase begins.
Back in Lincoln, Maud's American feminist friend Leonora Stern pays her a visit, bringing with her a letter that adds to the mystery.
Written by A S Byatt. Dramatised by Timberlake Wertenbaker
Cast:
Maud ...... Jemma Redgrave
Roland ...... Harry Hadden-Paton
Ash ....... James d'arcy
Lamotte ..... Rachael Stirling
Blackadder ..... Bill Paterson
Cropper ..... Matthew Marsh
George ...... Kenneth Cranham
Joan ....... Joanna David
Beatrice Nest ...... Stella Gonet
Euan ...... Nicholas Boulton
Fergus ...... Jonjo O'Neil
Hildebrand ..... Robert Portal
Val ...... Laura Pyper
Leonora .... Lorelei King
Raoul/Toby Byng .... Sam Dale
Mrs Wapshott/Mrs Cammish/Mrs lees ..... Jane Whittenshaw
Beth/PA/Mrs Judge/Librarian ...... Rachel Atkins
Girl ...... Sylvie Goodwin
Director: Celia de Wolff
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b018grht)
Frank Wild's last journey
Sir Ernest Shackleton has a heroic place in the annals of Antarctic exploration, famously for his expedition on the aptly-named Endurance in 1914. He intended to cross over the Antarctic landmass. Instead, his ship became stuck in ice which eventually crushed it. Shackleton and his crew made a desperate voyage in three small boats to Elephant Island, where they split up. The men on the island were left under the command of Shackleton's Number 2, Frank Wild. Shackleton and a small team sailed 800 miles to South Georgia, from where they mounted a rescue mission for Wild's group.
Nearly a century on, reporter Karen Bowerman joins a group of Wild's relatives retracing his extraordinary journey to the southern seas. They are bearing Wild's ashes, which they bury next to Shackleton, on South Georgia.
Producer: John Murphy.
THU 11:30 The Tale of A Tale of Two Cities (b018grhw)
Crime novelist Frances Fyfield takes us into the heart of Dickens' creative process: his handwritten manuscripts.
When Dickens wrote 'A Tale of Two Cities' in 1859 it was, for him at least, both the best of times and the worst of times.
He'd separated from his wife, started a new weekly journal and was becoming more and more familiar as a performer of his own works.
But the process of creation for his new novel was the same as ever.
A tightly written manuscript on individual leaves was whisked off to the printers, proof-read and edited by the author and then made available, instalment by instalment, to a loyal public.
Frances Fyfield has been given access to that manuscript, held by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and along with the scholar Robert Patten and actor David Timson, she explores the frantic handwriting, the ferocious self-editing and the sheer energy of Dickens' original pages.
And she also visits a print museum to get an idea of just what a challenge it was, turning these pages into print against the deadlines Dickens had set himself.
Producer: Tom Alban.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b018grvh)
Road building, regional supermarkets and Cuban cigars
Consumer news with Winifred Robinson.
Computer fraudsters are freezing personal PC's and then demanding a fine is paid before the computer can be unlocked. The demand comes via an email purporting to be from the Police but it's a fake.
Should we build more roads? Broadcaster and columnist Matthew Parris thinks so; He says there's a marked change in car use and new roads would now be unlikely to induce more traffic as in the past.
Economic recession may be tough for industry but it is a good time to invent something- many of the key innovations that drive the modern world were developed during recession - why?
Booths, the Lancashire food store, is a thriving regional supermarket but despite its success it has no imitators in the rest of the UK; is there a gap between the convenience store and superstore that enterprises elsewhere in the UK could and should exploit ?
The Segway, an electric powered two wheeled platform, was hailed as the urban transport of tomorrow ten years ago; why has it failed to thrive in the UK?
and the enduring attraction of the Cuban cigar- the champagne of smokes.
THU 12:57 Weather (b018g12y)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b018grvk)
Shaun Ley presents national and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
THU 13:45 Food for Thought (b018grvm)
Series 2
Episode 4
Settled in a local Italian restaurant that has become a home from home, much-loved children's author and illustrator, Judith Kerr reminisces with Nina Myskow about the food that brings back memories of her peripatetic childhood.
Known to generations of children as the author of the Mog picture books and The Tiger Who Came To Tea, Judith was born in Berlin but was forced to flee Hitler's Germany with her parents and brother in 1933. She recalls the cherry soup made by their German housekeeper and explains that the food in Paris, where they were briefly exiled, was a revelation. She loved the garlic, snails and mussels and remembers that she and her brother drank wine, because nobody trusted the drinking water.
As a refugee in London, she could barely afford the price of a cup of tea and a bath bun but during the war, she visited Claridges with her employer. She got a little tipsy but felt that she didn't really belong there. It was only after she met her late husband, Tom, whom she recalls with fondness, that she feels she really fitted in.
Amongst the warm descriptions of family mealtimes and disastrous dinner parties, Judith also reveals the favourite treat of her cat Katinka. And despite the loss of her husband and, increasingly, her appetite, Nina discovers, Judith continues to work constantly and is appreciative of both the world around her and her wonderfully rich life.
Producer: Tamsin Hughes
A Wise Buddah production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b018gr08)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b018grvp)
Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities
The Grindstone
Episode 4/5 - The Grindstone
Much against the wishes of his new wife, Charles Darnay is determined to travel to Paris to go to the aid of a family retainer who has been imprisoned by the revolutionary committee.
With Adam Billington, Rikki Lawton, Christopher Webster
Music by Lennert Busch
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole and Jeremy Mortimer.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b018grvr)
The fisherman’s gansey (a word thought to derive from ‘guernsey’) is a seamless woollen pullover worn by generations of seamen for work and at leisure. It was comfortable, practical and tough enough to provide some protection from the elements, and every community had its own pattern (possibly in an effort to identify drowned fishermen) although these patterns were seldom committed to paper. The ganseys of the Moray Firth coastline, the 500 miles between Duncansby Head and Fraserburgh, have become the focus of a three-year project aiming to preserve the heritage of the fishing communities and save the gansey from becoming a historical curiosity. Project workers are working to save existing ganseys, helping local knitting groups to create new ones and encouraging modern interpretations of this most traditional of garments. The gansey, it turns out, is more than a fisherman’s jumper: it’s a potent symbol of lives past and of a community in danger of losing touch with its early fishing roots.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b018g14y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
08:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (b018fzwb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Saturday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b018grz9)
Francine Stock is joined by historian Ian Christie and film composer Neil Brand to explore the enduring appeal of the silent era.
Tipped for Oscar success and opening this week in the UK, The Artist is a film with almost no dialogue and which chronicles the transition from silent to talkies. We hear from its director Michel Hazanavicius.
As a child actor Diana Serra Carey appeared in hundreds of shorts and features between 1920 and 1924 as 'Baby Peggy'. Now 93 she looks back as one of the last surviving stars of the era.
Producer: Craig Smith.
THU 16:30 Material World (b018gs8y)
In this special edition, Adam Rutherford finds out which four finalists will be competing for the title of BBC Amateur Scientist of the Year.
Over 1,000 people entered 'So You Want to Be a Scientist?' hoping to put their scientific questions to the test. During the last few weeks on Material World, we've met the 10 amateur scientists on this year's shortlist. But which of them will make the final four to turn their idea into an experiment?
Nobel prize-winning biologist Sir Paul Nurse chairs the judging panel and is joined by astronomer Dr Lucie Green, statistician Dr Yan Wong from Bang Goes the Theory and science journalist Mark Henderson. They'll decide which entries show the most scientific promise and discuss how these budding amateur scientists might go about designing their experiments.
Producer: Michelle Martin.
THU 17:00 PM (b018gs90)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b018g130)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:15 A Point of View (b018gs8w)
The Memory Business
Simon Schama reflects on how the world - ten years on - remembered the events of 9/11. And he ponders why it's vital to remember. "Ten years is an aeon in tweet-time", he writes, but 9/11 "bleeds - in every sense - into today's front pages".
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
THU 18:30 Elvenquest (b0170c13)
Series 3
Episode 5
The Questers continue their search for the Sword of Asnagar and are happy to be welcomed into the palace of the White Wizard, a man who is nothing but sweetness and light and, consequently, the very opposite to Lord Darkness. But extremism of any kind, whether for good or evil, is a dangerous thing - and Penthiselea (Sophie Winkleman) soon begins to smell that there's something not altogether unfishy about the White Wizard.
Meanwhile, Kreech and Lord Darkness are off to the Land of Dunes for their annual holiday...
Starring:
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
John Sessions as the White Wizard
and
Sophie Winkleman as Penthiselea
Written by Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto
Producer: Sam Michell.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b018gs92)
Neil wonders if Tracy is moving out now that Christmas is over. But Susan enjoyed having the children and is in no hurry. Nic has practised her wedding hair and make-up. Jake and Mia are to walk her down the aisle and George is the ring bearer. Meanwhile, Will's getting nervous.
At Ambridge View, Brad and Chelsea are chasing piglets all over the garden, having let them out. Neil firmly takes control to restore order. An hour later, he is still angry at Tracy's lack of respect for his livelihood. Susan deters him from telling Tracy she has to go. She'll talk to her father.
Will checks all the wedding details with Roy - again. He panics when he hears that a chandelier needs to be mended. Roy tells him everyone wants the wedding to be perfect, so all will be well. He still checks the details himself but acknowledges he is being a bit of a pain as he wants everything perfect for Nic. Nic reassures Will that all she needs is for him to be there, then it will be perfect.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b018gs94)
Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Bruce Forsyth and Jack Jones
John Wilson talks to singers Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Jack Jones and Bruce Forsyth, whose careers began before rock and roll, and whose combined performing experience totals over 200 years. They reflect on the art of 'intimate singing', their inspirations, and the art of sustaining a career in a business which has changed radically over seven decades.
Producer Jerome Weatherald.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b018grhr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b018gsd9)
Iran's Soft Power
Relations between Iran and Britain are at a low ebb. The British Embassy in Tehran was attacked in November and now Iranian diplomats have been expelled from the UK. But Iran does not just rely on its embassy to influence people in Britain.
In The Report this week Linda Pressly looks into the satellite TV channel Press TV, funded by the Iranian state and edited from Tehran. Press TV has come under fire in recent weeks after it aired the forced confession of Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari and critics now want to see it closed down. The Foreign Office has sought ways to curtail the channel's activities and Ofcom is forcing the broadcaster to move its licence to Tehran by the start of the New Year.
Present and former Press TV journalists tell the story of the channel's creation in 2007 and explain how it has sought to provide an alternative view of the news with prominent presenters like Yvonne Ridley and George Galloway. Human rights activists explain why they continue to complain to Ofcom about the airing of suspected forced confessions; freelancer Jody Sabral recounts how the channel's coverage of the Syrian uprisings lead to her resignation earlier this year.
Many Iranian dissidents and activists see Press TV as part of a wider network of religious, cultural and educational organisations funded by the government. The Report asks what the Iranian government hopes to achieve through these centres and what role they will play with the official embassy closed.
Producer: Lucy Proctor
Presenter: Linda Pressly.
THU 20:30 In Business (b018gsdc)
A Glass of Its Own
For decades now, gin has been regarded as an old-fashioned drink for old fashioned drinkers. But now that may be changing, thanks in part to the efforts of some tiny new British drinks entrepreneurs with big ideas.
After centuries of decline, London's distilling industry is picking up again, fuelled by small-scale producers and European rules changes that recognise London dry gin as a distinct drinks category. At a festive time of the year, Peter Day meets some of the entrepreneurs behind the trend and raises a glass or two to home-grown UK businesses.
Producer: Mike Wendling
Editor: Stephen Chilcott.
THU 21:00 Yeti's Finger (b018g6wq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Tuesday]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b018grhm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b018g132)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b018gwv3)
Egyptian security forces raid pro democracy organisations in Cairo.
An Italian politician's take on government by technocrats.
Living with teenagers and their BlackBerrys. Some advice from The World Tonight.
with Felicity Evans.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b018gwv5)
Nancy Mitford - The Pursuit of Love
Episode 9
by Nancy Mitford. Linda has to leave her beloved Fabrice in Paris and return to London to await the end of the war. Abridged by Lauris Morgan-Griffiths and read by Diana Quick.
Fanny Logan tells the story of her beautiful, adored and aristocratic cousin, Linda Radlett. Linda's marriage has failed, her communist phase is over and after a period in Paris in the scandalous but delightful role of mistress to the true love of her life, Fabrice de Sauveterre, she must return to England without him.
Beautifully observed and hilariously funny, the novel is also a fascinating hinterland account of the period leading to the Second World War and never pulls its punches in evoking the painful reality of the times.
Reader...Diana Quick
Abridger...Lauris Morgan-Griffiths
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery.
THU 23:00 Weird Tales (b01nt0s0)
Series 3
Night Terrors by Lizzie Nunnery
The pressure's getting too much for clever clogs Victoria. She can't sleep at night. She has nightmares. But it's okay because they're just bad dreams.
Until one day the dreams become terrifyingly real...
Series of chilling plays for winter nights.
Dad ... Eddie Marsan
Victoria ... Katie Angelou
Laura ... Georgia Groome
Mum ... Sally Orrock
Jane ... Francine Chamberlain
Written by Lizzie Nunnery.
Producer: Helen Perry
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2011.
THU 23:30 For One Night Only (b0103z8j)
Series 6
Keith Jarrett: The Cologne Concert
Paul Gambaccini presents the award-winning series that re-visits the occasions on which a classic live album was recorded. He hears from those who were there, on-stage, backstage and in the audience, to re-create the event for all of us who, each time we play the album, think: 'If only I could have been there'.
Keith Jarrett had made his name as a jazz pianist working with Art Blakey, Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. But in the 1970s he began to give solo performances, frequently improvised. On 24 January 1975, at the Opera House in Cologne, Germany, he played an entirely improvised concert to a packed house. Lasting over an hour, it was released on ECM, the new jazz label founded by Manfred Eicher. Keith Jarrett: The Cologne Concert was to become not only the best-selling solo album in jazz history, but also the best-selling piano recording ever.
The concert promoter was an amateur jazz enthusiast: Vera Brandes, who was only 17 at the time. For this programme she returns to the Cologne Opera House, sharing her memories of an extraordinary evening with others who were there, including sound engineers Martin Wieland and Eva Bauer-Oppelland, and members of the audience. She recalls how she begged and borrowed to set up the concert, revealing the drama of her discovery that the wrong grand piano had been placed on the stage and her futile efforts to find a replacement. It turns out that for this record-breaking album, Jarrett improvised on an out-of-tune piano with a smattering of mute keys!
Recapturing the magical intensity of Jarrett's epic performance, Paul Gambaccini hears those who were there recall a night of emotion and euphoria which they've never forgotten, and conveys through Jarrett's masterly performance a sense of history being made.
FRIDAY 30 DECEMBER 2011
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b018g13n)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:15 A Point of View (b018gs8w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Thursday]
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b018sh1v)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b018g13q)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b018g13s)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b018g13v)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b018g13x)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b018mjzk)
with Bishop Steven Croft.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b018gy4q)
The Milton family farm cattle, sheep, Exmoor ponies, and arable crops on the patchwork of land which makes up Exmoor National Park. Brothers Robin and Rex are the fifth generation of their family to farm, and two of their sons, Chris and Tim, are following suit. They are in the in the fortunate 50% of farms to have a successor to take over the business.
Produced and Presented by Sarah Swadling.
FRI 06:00 Today (b018gy4s)
With James Naughtie and Sarah Montague. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b018gy4v)
Professor Brian Cox
Kirsty Young's castaway is the scientist Professor Brian Cox.
In the press he's been called 'the pin-up professor' and his enormously popular TV series have been credited with creating the 'Brian Cox effect' - a surge in the number of would-be scientists applying to university. As a teenager he decided he wanted to be a rock star; he toured the world as a member of the band Dare and performed on Top of the Pops with his second group D:Ream.
He says:"I hope, we're beginning to treat ideas almost like we treated rock and roll - I hope so, it would be wonderful, wouldn't it, if ideas were the new rock and roll?"
Producer: Corinna Jones.
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b018sgp1)
Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be: The Lionel Bart Story
Episode 5
Lionel Bart was a unique musical talent. He found fame with the hugely successful musicals Oliver! and 'Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be', but he was also a hit-making machine for some of Britain's first rock'n'roll stars - Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde and Cliff Richard, as well as giving the James Bond movie franchise its first song.
He socialised with figures from both serious and populist culture, and experienced a downfall that was as spectacular as his theatrical triumphs.
David and Caroline Stafford's new biography of Bart draws on previously unseen archive sources and interviews with those closest to him.
Today, Bart's reputation is in tatters, and he slides towards alcoholism and bankruptcy. But in the 1980s and 90s, revivals of his earlier work provide a return to grace. Read by Alistair McGowan.
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Emma Harding.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b018gy4x)
Presented by Jenni Murray. Memories from the Lancashire film extras and from Hayley Mills, as the legendary film Whistle Down the Wind celebrates 50 years. Former teacher Tom Burkard claims a school staffed by ex- soldiers could solve truancy - Jenni hears from some teenagers about why they skip school. The holiday season can be a lonely time for the bereaved, but a widow in her 70s says there is life after loss- her book has some timely advice for "merry widows". And are we heading for communication meltdown? The good, the bad and the ugly of hi tech communication - with futurologist Nicola Millard and internet expert Aleks Krotoski.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b018gy4z)
AS Byatt - Possession
Episode 10
Roland Michell, an academic research assistant, is completing some work in the London Library, when he comes across two unfinished letters written by the Victorian Poet, Randolph Henry Ash. Theses letters have obviously not been found by anyone else and they are not to his wife but to an unknown woman. Roland, whose entire academic life has been devoted to studying Ash, decides, recklessly to pocket the letters and try to determine exactly who they were written to.
This is the beginning of a quest that will change literary history and with the help of a feminist literary scholar Maud Bailey, they are determined to find out the truth behind these letters. Certain other characters hear about the letters and are eager to get their hands on them for their own financial gain and will do so, by any means necessary, and so the chase begins.
News of the stolen letters has now spread across the academic vaults and everyone is keen to get their hands on them. Roland and Maud escape to France in the hope of getting to the truth first.
Written by A S Byatt. Dramatised by Timberlake Wertenbaker
Cast:
Maud ...... Jemma Redgrave
Roland ...... Harry Hadden-Paton
Ash ....... James d'arcy
Lamotte ..... Rachael Stirling
Blackadder ..... Bill Paterson
Cropper ..... Matthew Marsh
George ...... Kenneth Cranham
Joan ....... Joanna David
Beatrice Nest ...... Stella Gonet
Euan ...... Nicholas Boulton
Fergus ...... Jonjo O'Neil
Hildebrand ..... Robert Portal
Val ...... Laura Pyper
Leonora .... Lorelei King
Raoul/Toby Byng .... Sam Dale
Mrs Wapshott/Mrs Cammish/Mrs lees ..... Jane Whittenshaw
Beth/PA/Mrs Judge/Librarian ...... Rachel Atkins
Girl ...... Sylvie Goodwin
Director: Celia de Wolff
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 11:00 UK Confidential (b018gy51)
1981
It was the year of the Royal Wedding, urban riots and soaring unemployment. Leading economists despaired of the government's handling of the economy, while spending cuts were considered too deep, and relations with European allies fragile. This was 1981.
Martha Kearney reviews newly-released government papers from 1981 with guests including former Ministers, government advisers and leading opponents. There are fascinating insights to be gleaned from Margaret Thatcher's personal files, containing secret memos, letters from Ministers and foreign leaders, often furiously annotated with her immediate response. Minutes of Cabinet meetings reveal divisions between departments over the government's handling of key policies.
This was the year in which Mrs Thatcher visited the newly instated Ronald Reagan, ten IRA prisoners died on hunger strike in Northern Ireland, and trouble flared in British cities, with looting and rioting in Brixton, Moss Side and Toxteth. Martha and guests will look beyond the headlines to see how key government decisions were made, and where tensions between Ministers lay.
Producer: Deborah Dudgeon
A Wingspan and Whistledown co-production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b018gylq)
Who will be running our railways in 2012?
Franchises for three of the UK's long distance rail routes will be up for grabs next year, so what will it mean for passengers?
Will more changes to nutritional labelling on food lead to more confusion for the consumer?
And we find out why cage fighting is becoming one of Britain's fastest growing sports.
The presenter is Peter White. The producer is Alex Lewis.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b018g13z)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b018gylv)
A Labour Party survey of social care provision in England has revealed big differences in what you get according to where you live. Andrew Dilnot - who led the government's commission on care provision talks about what needs to be done.
We ask the Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party - Baroness Warsi - about the Conservative Party's prospects for the next year.
Former heads at MI6 and the CIA give us their thoughts on security in the post Bin Laden world.
We hear from a German car factory where the assembly line has been adapted for older workers.
And retired Ambassador Sir Sherard Cowper Coles describes the love hate diplomatic relationship between France and the UK.
FRI 13:45 Food for Thought (b018gylx)
Series 2
Carlos Acosta
In a rehearsal studio at the Royal Opera House, over an impromptu picnic of tostones (fried plantains) and moros y cristianos (rice with black beans), dancer Carlos Acosta recalls a lifetime of counting the carbs, and his blessings, during a successful career in ballet.
From the food ration in his native Cuba, to the abundance of sugar on the island that left him with an explicably sweet tooth, Carlos tells Nina about stealing mangoes as a boy to fund trips to the cinema. He also explains how, arriving in Europe as a teenager, he had to adapt his tastes, his attitudes and his body. He eats a steak before each performance and avoids carbohydrates after six o'clock, despite the fact that he dances for over eight hours almost every day of the week.
Eating well is crucial to Carlos' livelihood and eating badly could end his career but the Royal Ballet's principal guest artist still chows down on ice cream, chicken korma and gets drunk, occasionally. He also tells Nina where you can get the perfect mojito.
Producer: Tamsin Hughes
A Wise Buddah production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b018gs92)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b018gzm8)
Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities
The Substance and the Shadow
By Charles Dickens
Dramatised by Mike Walker
Episode 5/5 - The Substance and the Shadow
Sydney Carton is in Paris with Lucie and her father, determined to try and save Charles Darnay's life. An encounter in a Paris street with someone from the import-export trade may just provide the ghost of a chance.
Music by Lennert Busch
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole and Jeremy Mortimer.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b018gzmb)
Mickleton, Gloucestershire
Peter Gibbs chairs a forward-looking programme from the village of Mickleton. On the panel are Chris Beardshaw, Matthew Biggs and Pippa Greenwood. In addition, what makes a grafted plant send out suckers? Why you should mind your French when talking about medlar fruit.
Also includes the GQT quiz and an insight into becoming a garden volunteer.
Produced by Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
Questions answered in the programme:
I hear the Queen requires new gardener. How do I make my CV stand out?
Apparently Japanese Knotweed has medicinal properties. How to grow in containers?
Why do all professional gardeners tell us to plant tulip bulbs 5 or 6 inches deep? Mine do fine at 2 inches deep
When & how do I harvest medlar?
Less traditional planting suggestions for hanging baskets.
Scaevola, Begonia Rex and Aglaonema were all discussed.
When planting new tree how do you stop it throwing out suckers?
What would you grow with a young novice gardener to encourage them?
Which UK region has the best conditions for growing fruit and veg?
Which gardening trends will define 2012?
FRI 15:45 O Henry Stories (b018gzmd)
Mammon and the Archer
Mammon and the Archer by O.Henry.
A young man is encouraged to pursue the love of his life by his father. But is it cupid or cold hard cash that decides his fate?
A Christmas classic by a cherished American writer, to warm the soul and intrigue the listener with satisfyingly unexpected plot twists.
Reader...John Guerrasio
Abridger...Annie Caulfield
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery.
FRI 16:00 Mighty Be Their Powers (b018nspv)
Bridget Kendall profiles the three female human rights activists awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize: Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and Yemeni journalist and campaigner, Tawakkul Karman.
Kendall explores the political and social backgrounds from which the Peace Prize laureates come and the context in which they emerged as powerful advocates for peaceful solutions within their countries.
The three Laureates, all mothers, are united by their non-violent struggle for women's rights. Together they have overcome oppression to highlight the unique qualities female leadership can bring in peace building. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, elected in 2005 as Africa's first female head of state, has put a spotlight on women's rights as she leads her shattered country to stability. As she says, the prize is, "recognition of what women have done to empower themselves, it's a major encouragement for women in Liberia, in Africa, in the world".
Leymah Gbowee led a movement of women who called for an end to Liberia's brutal civil war. During the 2003 peace talks she and hundreds of women, dressed in white, surrounded the hall where the discussions were being held, refusing to let delegates leave until they had signed the treaty.
And as the first Arab woman to be awarded the prize, Tawakkul Karman has played a leading part in Yemen's non-violent revolution. As she says, "The role of women in Yemen's revolution has distanced women from being seen as mere victims, women have shown that they are able to bring down regimes!".
Containing interviews with the three Laureates, their close friends and families, this programme gives a unique insight into the women's lives, hopes and their continued work towards peace.
Producer: Melissa FitzGerald
A Blakeway Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:30 More or Less (b018gzqx)
The year in numbers - people name and discuss the number which they found to be the most revealing or surprising. Plus, does probability really exist.
Contributors: David Spiegelhalter, Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk at Cambridge University; Owen Spottiswoode, Fullfact.org; Tracey Brown from Sense about Science; Jil Matheson, UK Statistics Authority; George Monbiot; Sir Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust; Money Box presenter Paul Lewis; Sports Statistician, Robert Mastrodomenico; Dr Linda Yeuh Economics Correspondent at Bloomberg; Stand up Mathematician Matt Parker.
FRI 17:00 PM (b018gzqz)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b018g141)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:15 The News Quiz (b018gzr1)
Series 76
Oh No It Isn't... The News Quiz
Sandi Toksvig & Andy Hamilton embark on a quest to recover the Greenwich Pips, which have been stolen by an masked stranger and scattered around the distant and mysterious Radio 4 Island. Will they manage to recover them in time for the 7 O'Clock News..? Oh no they won't! Or, in fact, will they?
Written by John Finnemore & Kevin Baker, and featuring all your favourite News Quiz regulars with a host of top-secret Radio 4 names.
Produced by Lyndsay Fenner & Victoria Lloyd.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b018h182)
At Brookfield, heavy rain has threatened to cause slurry pollution from the damaged lagoon. They all want to know what the options are for the future. They're unlikely to get a direct supermarket contract, and a milk round is not an option.
It's Pip who says they could drop the dairy to concentrate on sheep and beef. Ruth and Josh don't want that option but Pip knows a farm where there were benefits to compensate for the loss of the milk cheque. David and Ruth are proud of Pip and Josh's thoughtfulness.
Joe eventually delivers the cake safely to Grey Gables. He nearly causes an accident on the ladder in his desire to check the repaired chandelier with his own eyes. Caroline assures him the day will be perfect.
Ian and Caroline admire Clarrie's cake. Ian is looking forward to catering the wedding breakfast. It will be a change. Caroline slips on a wet floor and lands on one tier of the cake. Ian says he'll make a new top tier of sponge and thinks he can distract Will and Nic when they cut it. Whether they want to save a layer as a christening cake is a question to save until later. It's going to be a long night for Ian.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b018h184)
Writers including PD James and Anthony Horowitz take on classic characters
Mark Lawson talks to novelists who have taken on another writer's characters, including P D James, who wrote a Pride and Prejudice sequel, Anthony Horowitz, creator of a new Sherlock Holmes story, Jeffery Deaver, author of the latest James Bond book, and Frank Cottrell Boyce, who took on another of Ian Fleming's creations - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
And what happens to a novel left unfinished when a writer dies? Incomplete manuscripts left by British novelist Beryl Bainbridge and American writer Michael Crichton were posthumously brought to publication this year, with the help of editor Brendan King and scientific journalist Richard Preston respectively. They discuss how they approached this poignant task, and A N Wilson, writer and friend of Beryl Bainbridge, reflects on the process.
Producer Katie Langton.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b018gy4z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Correspondents' Look Ahead (b018h186)
The turmoil on the world's economic markets was anticipated but no-one predicted the revolution which swept the Middle East in the so-called Arab Spring. So what is likely to happen in 2012?
Owen Bennett Jones chairs a discussion with the BBC's special correspondent Lyse Doucet, North America Editor Mark Mardell, Newsnight's Economics Editor Paul Mason and diplomatic correspondent James Robbins.
Paul Mason was right about one thing last year, anticipating the problems faced by the Eurozone. Lyse Doucet can lay claim to have predicted the death of Osama bin Laden but she was one year out - she thought it would happen in 2010 and failed to mention it in last year's programme. Mark Mardell also had his eye on the Euro and will, no doubt, have something to say about America's concerns about the global effect of the European crisis in 1012. James Robbins correctly predicted anger against austerity cuts in those countries worst hit but he was wrong about Italy where he thought prime minister 'Silvio Berlusconi would sail serenely on'.
Join our panel as they polish up their crystal ball and try to identify the key trends in a fast-moving world.
Producer Mark Savage.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b018h188)
Glamour in Austerity
Lisa Jardine remembers 2011 for the spectacle of the Royal Wedding, reflecting on the historic power of regal glamour in times of austerity. Queen Elizabeth I "used ostentation and opulence in her dress as a political tool to increase national confidence in the solvency of her regime."
Producer: Sheila Cook.
FRI 21:00 Drama (b0184vhg)
Mike Walker - Beyond Borders
Written by Mike Walker.
1950, much of Europe still lies in ruins from the Second World War. Germany is crushed and the Allies are divided about allowing the country to rebuild in the face of a growing Soviet threat.
Jean Monnet is charged with planning the reconstruction of France. Appalled by the devastation of two world wars, he is a highly efficient technocrat and a thinker who knows how to influence politicians. For years he has believed in European collaboration to secure a peaceful and prosperous future. Monnet's vision is for a radical realignment of Europe, not by one nation asserting itself over another, but by negotiation, integration and ultimately, through political and economic unification.
Monnet knows he has to move swiftly. Within days the Allies will decide the future of Germany at a conference in London. He gathers a small group in his cottage outside Paris to thrash out a revolutionary plan to bring the coal and steel industries of France and Germany together. Working with the Foreign Minister, Robert Schuman, Monnet plots how far to press his idea. His grand vision of unification remains in the background - the focus is on the practicalities of getting the two nations on board.
Monnet's team produces 9 drafts, arguing intensely about what can be achieved and how it should be implemented. With a radical plan agreed, Schuman dispatches a secret envoy to the German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer to bring him on board.
When on 9th May Schuman outlines the plan that bears his name and leads to the formation of the European Coal and Steel Community, many in the room are taken aback at its boldness, but few predict how the Schuman Declaration will become the founding document for the European Union, and a catalyst for those pursuing Monnet's vision of a United States of Europe.
Producer: Richard Clemmow
A Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 21:45 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.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b018h2hs)
President Saleh of Yemen is asking to go to the USA for medical treatment. Is he attempting to escape justice and will President Obama help him?
2011: A year of failed leadership in the United States and Europe. What are the roots of political cowardice?
With Felicity Evans.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b018h2hv)
Nancy Mitford - The Pursuit of Love
Episode 10
by Nancy Mitford. Now certain of Fabrice's feelings, Linda returns to the family home to await the end of the war. Abridged by Lauris Morgan-Griffiths and read by Diana Quick.
Fanny Logan tells the story of her beautiful, beloved and aristocratic cousin Linda Radlett. Linda's marriages have failed and she is separated by war from the true love of her life, Fabrice, Duc de Sauveterre. She is also expecting his baby.
Beautifully observed and hilariously funny, the novel is also a fascinating hinterland account of the period leading to the Second World War and never pulls its punches in evoking the painful reality of the times.
Reader...Diana Quick
Abridger...Lauris Morgan-Griffiths
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery.
FRI 23:00 With Great Pleasure (b018g26x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
17:00 on Sunday]
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 (b018g2z5)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 MON (b018g2z5)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 TUE (b018g6wn)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 TUE (b018g6wn)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 WED (b018gqz3)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 WED (b018gqz3)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 THU (b018grhr)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 THU (b018grhr)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 FRI (b018gy4z)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 FRI (b018gy4z)
A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols
15:00 SAT (b018fv69)
A Point of View
07:50 SUN (b018ft1f)
A Point of View
18:15 MON (b018g3nx)
A Point of View
00:15 TUE (b018g3nx)
A Point of View
18:15 TUE (b018gpdl)
A Point of View
00:15 WED (b018gpdl)
A Point of View
18:15 WED (b018gr02)
A Point of View
00:15 THU (b018gr02)
A Point of View
18:15 THU (b018gs8w)
A Point of View
00:15 FRI (b018gs8w)
A Point of View
20:50 FRI (b018h188)
Afternoon Reading
22:45 SAT (b00wldv9)
Afternoon Reading
00:30 MON (b01276yj)
Beatles Christmas
11:30 TUE (b018g6ws)
Bells on Sunday
05:43 SUN (b018g14f)
Bells on Sunday
00:45 MON (b018g14f)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 MON (b018g3pp)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 TUE (b018gpgq)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 WED (b018gr0s)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 THU (b018gwv5)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 FRI (b018h2hv)
Book of the Week
00:30 SAT (b018fmss)
Book of the Week
09:45 MON (b018g2z1)
Book of the Week
00:30 TUE (b018g2z1)
Book of the Week
09:45 TUE (b018sgzx)
Book of the Week
00:30 WED (b018sgzx)
Book of the Week
09:45 WED (b018sh0t)
Book of the Week
00:30 THU (b018sh0t)
Book of the Week
09:45 THU (b018sh1v)
Book of the Week
00:30 FRI (b018sh1v)
Book of the Week
09:45 FRI (b018sgp1)
Brain of Britain
23:00 SAT (b018b7jn)
Brain of Britain
15:00 MON (b018g3nb)
Bringing Up Britain
20:00 WED (b018gr0l)
Buying Defence
20:00 TUE (b017mtfc)
Christmas Meditation
00:15 MON (b018g2yq)
Christmas Service
09:00 SUN (b018g15b)
Classic Serial
21:00 SAT (b01888l1)
Classic Serial
14:00 SUN (b018g264)
Constantine: The Man Who Invented Christmas
16:30 SUN (b018g26v)
Correspondents' Look Ahead
20:00 FRI (b018h186)
Counterpoint
12:00 MON (b018g3n2)
Crossing Continents
20:30 MON (b018flpd)
Crossing Continents
11:00 THU (b018grht)
Dave Podmore's Superinjunction
11:30 WED (b018gqz7)
Desert Island Discs
09:00 FRI (b018gy4v)
Detective Sergeant Nick Mohammed
23:00 WED (b018fllw)
Dexter and Dodd
11:00 MON (b018g3mf)
Drama
14:15 MON (b018g3n8)
Drama
14:15 TUE (b018g6x1)
Drama
14:15 WED (b018gqzp)
Drama
14:15 THU (b018grvp)
Drama
14:15 FRI (b018gzm8)
Drama
21:00 FRI (b0184vhg)
Elvenquest
18:30 THU (b0170c13)
Excess Baggage
10:00 SAT (b018ft4v)
Excess Baggage
16:00 SUN (b018g26s)
Farming Today
06:30 SAT (b018ft3y)
Farming Today
05:45 MON (b018g2yv)
Farming Today
05:45 TUE (b018g5th)
Farming Today
05:45 WED (b018gqxf)
Farming Today
05:45 THU (b018grhh)
Farming Today
05:45 FRI (b018gy4q)
Food and Farming Awards
07:00 SUN (b017ckf7)
Food for Thought
13:45 MON (b018g3n6)
Food for Thought
13:45 TUE (b018g6wz)
Food for Thought
13:45 WED (b018gqzk)
Food for Thought
13:45 THU (b018grvm)
Food for Thought
13:45 FRI (b018gylx)
For One Night Only
23:30 MON (b00zh1d6)
For One Night Only
23:30 TUE (b00zq9m8)
For One Night Only
23:30 WED (b00zxn8s)
For One Night Only
23:30 THU (b0103z8j)
Four Thought
20:45 WED (b018gr0n)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:30 SAT (b018ft5h)
Front Row
19:15 MON (b018g3pc)
Front Row
19:15 TUE (b018gpds)
Front Row
19:15 WED (b018gr0b)
Front Row
19:15 THU (b018gs94)
Front Row
19:15 FRI (b018h184)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:15 SUN (b018fmtp)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:00 FRI (b018gzmb)
Goodnight John Boy
16:00 MON (b018g3nq)
Great Lives
16:30 TUE (b018gpdg)
HM The Queen
15:00 SUN (b018g266)
Heresy
18:30 WED (b018gr06)
Home Planet
15:00 TUE (b018gpdd)
How New Is the New Philanthropy?
20:00 MON (b018g3pf)
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
13:00 SUN (b018b8d0)
In Business
20:30 THU (b018gsdc)
In Our Time
09:00 THU (b018grhm)
In Our Time
21:30 THU (b018grhm)
In Touch
20:40 TUE (b018gpgl)
It's Your Round
19:15 SUN (b018g279)
Jack and the Genetically Modified Beanstalk
10:30 SAT (b018ft4x)
James Bond
13:00 SAT (b00rq1w3)
Last Word
20:30 SUN (b018ft0z)
Loose Ends
18:15 SAT (b018fzw4)
Make Me a National Treasure
11:00 WED (b018gqz5)
Mark Steel's in Town
18:30 TUE (b018gpdn)
Material World
21:00 MON (b018fmq8)
Material World
16:30 THU (b018gs8y)
Midnight Mass
23:30 SAT (b018fzwg)
Midnight News
00:00 SAT (b018ft2q)
Midnight News
00:00 MON (b018g0zg)
Midnight News
00:00 TUE (b018g10k)
Midnight News
00:00 WED (b018g11l)
Midnight News
00:00 THU (b018g12m)
Midnight News
00:00 FRI (b018g13n)
Midweek
09:00 WED (b018gqys)
Midweek
21:30 WED (b018gqys)
Mighty Be Their Powers
16:00 FRI (b018nspv)
Money Box Live
15:00 WED (b018gqzr)
Money Box
12:00 SAT (b018ft5k)
More or Less
20:00 SUN (b018ft11)
More or Less
16:30 FRI (b018gzqx)
News Briefing
05:30 SAT (b018ft2z)
News Briefing
05:30 SUN (b018g0y7)
News Briefing
05:30 MON (b018g0zq)
News Briefing
05:30 TUE (b018g10t)
News Briefing
05:30 WED (b018g11v)
News Briefing
05:30 THU (b018g12w)
News Briefing
05:30 FRI (b018g13x)
News Headlines
06:00 SUN (b018g0y9)
News Review of the Year
22:00 SUN (b018g29l)
News and Papers
06:00 SAT (b018ft31)
News and Weather
22:00 SAT (b018ft3k)
News
15:05 SUN (b018g26d)
O Henry Stories
15:45 FRI (b018gzmd)
On Your Farm
06:35 SUN (b018g14k)
One to One
09:30 TUE (b018g6wj)
Open Book
20:00 SAT (b018fzwb)
Open Book
15:30 THU (b018fzwb)
Open Country
06:07 SAT (b018flps)
Open Country
15:00 THU (b018grvr)
PM
17:00 SAT (b018fzw2)
PM
17:00 MON (b018g3nv)
PM
17:00 TUE (b018gpdj)
PM
17:00 WED (b018gr00)
PM
17:00 THU (b018gs90)
PM
17:00 FRI (b018gzqz)
Pick of the Week
18:15 SUN (b018g275)
Plumbers and Penguins
21:00 TUE (b00wr6qk)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 SAT (b018jj74)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 MON (b018g2ys)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 TUE (b018mjv5)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 WED (b018mjws)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 THU (b018mjx3)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 FRI (b018mjzk)
Profile
19:00 SAT (b018fzw6)
Profile
05:45 SUN (b018fzw6)
Questions, Questions
15:30 TUE (b012r7tc)
Radio 4 Appeal
08:55 SUN (b018g14y)
Radio 4 Appeal
18:12 SUN (b018g14y)
Radio 4 Appeal
15:27 THU (b018g14y)
Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
21:45 FRI (b017n1vc)
Saturday Drama
21:00 SUN (b00pb8x1)
Saturday Live
09:00 SAT (b018ft4s)
Saturday Review
19:15 SAT (b018fzw8)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SAT (b018ft2v)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SUN (b018g0y3)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 MON (b018g0zl)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 TUE (b018g10p)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 WED (b018g11q)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 THU (b018g12r)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 FRI (b018g13s)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SAT (b018ft2s)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SAT (b018ft2x)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SAT (b018ft3c)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SUN (b018g0y1)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SUN (b018g0y5)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 MON (b018g0zj)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 MON (b018g0zn)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 TUE (b018g10m)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 TUE (b018g10r)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 WED (b018g11n)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 WED (b018g11s)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 THU (b018g12p)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 THU (b018g12t)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 FRI (b018g13q)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 FRI (b018g13v)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SAT (b018ft3h)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SUN (b018g0yt)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 MON (b018g0zx)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 TUE (b018g10y)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 WED (b018g11z)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 THU (b018g130)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 FRI (b018g141)
Something Understood
06:05 SUN (b018g14h)
Something Understood
23:30 SUN (b018g14h)
Start the Week
09:00 MON (b018g2yz)
Start the Week
21:30 MON (b018g2yz)
Stopping by Woods
14:30 SAT (b018fv67)
Stories from Earth Music Bristol
19:45 SUN (b018g29j)
Sunday
08:00 SUN (b018g14w)
The Archers Omnibus
10:00 SUN (b018g260)
The Archers
19:00 SUN (b018g277)
The Archers
14:00 MON (b018g277)
The Archers
19:00 MON (b018g3p9)
The Archers
14:00 TUE (b018g3p9)
The Archers
19:00 TUE (b018gpdq)
The Archers
14:00 WED (b018gpdq)
The Archers
19:00 WED (b018gr08)
The Archers
14:00 THU (b018gr08)
The Archers
19:00 THU (b018gs92)
The Archers
14:00 FRI (b018gs92)
The Archers
19:00 FRI (b018h182)
The Dog and the Whale
15:30 WED (b00vcpfg)
The Film Programme
23:00 SUN (b018fmq6)
The Film Programme
16:00 THU (b018grz9)
The Food Programme
13:30 SUN (b018g262)
The Food Programme
15:30 MON (b018g262)
The Infinite Monkey Cage
16:30 MON (b018g3ns)
The Infinite Monkey Cage
23:00 TUE (b018g3ns)
The Life Scientific
09:00 TUE (b018g5tm)
The Life Scientific
21:30 TUE (b018g5tm)
The Media Show
16:30 WED (b018gqzy)
The News Quiz
12:30 SAT (b018ft15)
The News Quiz
18:15 FRI (b018gzr1)
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
11:30 MON (b018g3n0)
The Report
20:00 THU (b018gsd9)
The Tale of A Tale of Two Cities
11:30 THU (b018grhw)
The Teetotaller's Guide to Boozing
21:00 WED (b00wp55d)
The Unbelievable Truth
18:30 MON (b018g3nz)
The Week in Westminster
11:00 SAT (b018ft5f)
The World Tonight
22:00 MON (b018g3pm)
The World Tonight
22:00 TUE (b018gpgn)
The World Tonight
22:00 WED (b018gr0q)
The World Tonight
22:00 THU (b018gwv3)
The World Tonight
22:00 FRI (b018h2hs)
Thinking Allowed
16:00 WED (b018gqzt)
Today
07:00 SAT (b018ft40)
Today
06:00 MON (b018g2yx)
Today
06:00 TUE (b018g5tk)
Today
06:00 WED (b018gqyq)
Today
06:00 THU (b018grhk)
Today
06:00 FRI (b018gy4s)
UK Confidential
11:00 FRI (b018gy51)
Weather
06:04 SAT (b018ft33)
Weather
06:57 SAT (b018ft35)
Weather
12:57 SAT (b018ft37)
Weather
17:57 SAT (b018ft3f)
Weather
06:57 SUN (b018g0yc)
Weather
07:57 SUN (b018g0yh)
Weather
08:57 SUN (b018g152)
Weather
05:57 MON (b018g0zs)
Weather
12:57 MON (b018g0zv)
Weather
21:58 MON (b018g0zz)
Weather
12:57 TUE (b018g10w)
Weather
21:58 TUE (b018g110)
Weather
12:57 WED (b018g11x)
Weather
21:58 WED (b018g121)
Weather
12:57 THU (b018g12y)
Weather
21:58 THU (b018g132)
Weather
12:57 FRI (b018g13z)
Weird Tales
23:00 THU (b01nt0s0)
What the Donkey Saw: UA Fanthorpe's Christmas Poems
22:15 SAT (b018vdhw)
With Great Pleasure
17:00 SUN (b018g26x)
With Great Pleasure
23:00 FRI (b018g26x)
Woman's Hour
16:30 SAT (b018fvhz)
Woman's Hour
10:00 MON (b018g2z3)
Woman's Hour
10:00 TUE (b018g6wl)
Woman's Hour
10:00 WED (b018gqz1)
Woman's Hour
10:00 THU (b018grhp)
Woman's Hour
10:00 FRI (b018gy4x)
Word of Mouth
23:00 MON (b018cq02)
Word of Mouth
16:00 TUE (b018g5t3)
World at One
13:00 MON (b018g3n4)
World at One
13:00 TUE (b018g6wx)
World at One
13:00 WED (b018gqzf)
World at One
13:00 THU (b018grvk)
World at One
13:00 FRI (b018gylv)
Yeti's Finger
11:00 TUE (b018g6wq)
Yeti's Finger
21:00 THU (b018g6wq)
You and Yours
12:00 TUE (b018g6wv)
You and Yours
12:00 WED (b018gqzc)
You and Yours
12:00 THU (b018grvh)
You and Yours
12:00 FRI (b018gylq)
Your Desert Island Discs
11:15 SUN (b018g15j)
iPM
05:45 SAT (b018ft3w)
iPM
17:30 SAT (b018ft3w)