The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Written by Hugh Barker. Read by Tim Key.
Hugh Barker, a hedge enthusiast, has journeyed across Britain to explore its remarkable variety of hedgerows.
Hedge People - from those who created the extravagantly absurd hedges of stately homes to those who campaign today for the preservation of our living margins.
Over the course of his travels he discovers how hedges are amongst our most ancient monuments, meets hedgelaying champions and topiary fanatics, and sees the lengths to which some people will go to annoy the neighbours. Along the way he tells how a connection between paradise and the garden hedge grew up, why the British Army planted a barrier hedge hundreds of miles long in India, and how the notorious enclosures during the Industrial Revolution turned the country upside-down.
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
A reading and a reflection to start the day on Radio 4 from Wales with singer and broadcaster Beverley Humphreys.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
Clare Balding is walking with dogs (and their owners) in this new series of Ramblings.
Programme 1: Flamborough Head to Bridlington with Stuart Jessup, Kate Atkin and Poppy the springer spaniel.
Stuart Jessup and his springer spaniel, Poppy, started an 8 month, 2,500 mile walk around the English coast in October 2011. Occasionally joined by Stuart's wife, Kate, Stuart is walking as part of a campaign to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness, and to raise money for Sane and Anxiety UK. Clare Balding joined Stuart, Kate and Poppy for a stretch of the walk from Flamborough Head to Bridlington on the Yorkshire Coast, to hear more about his adventures. Poppy has been central to the success of the walk; her friendliness encourages conversations between Stuart and other walkers, who often reveal their own problems with depression - both parties leaving the encounter enriched.
Charlotte Smith meets Gold medal winners at the Chelsea Flower Show and asks whether winning makes a difference to growers and their business.
From lilies, roses and orchids to this year's Plant of the Year Digitalis 'Illumination Pink', Charlotte sees and smells a collection of the best and brightest British plants and flowers.
Penny Riley won a Gold medal for her display of British fruit, vegetables, cut flowers, salad and herbs. And Johnny Walkers of Walkers Bulbs makes a miraculous turnaround to save his 400 varieties of daffodils after the weather nearly prevented him winning his 25th consecutive Gold medal.
The Horticultural Trade Association says, thanks to the weird weather, it's been a difficult start to this year's season. Sales are down 42% this April compared to last year.
When only a quarter of those in the horticulture industry currently make a profit, Farming Today ask how crucial showing is for the survival of many businesses?
Presented by Charlotte Smith. Produced by Clare Freeman in Birmingham.
Morning news and current affairs, presented by James Naughtie and Sarah Montague, including:
The BBC's John Sudworth reports on the growing number of top football players who are looking to end their career in China.
Syrian opposition groups say President Assad's forces have killed as many as 90 people in a town near Homs. Nadim Houry, director of Human Rights Watch in Syria, explains why the Syrian opposition is calling for the UN to intervene.
The latest indications show that the run off for the Egyptian presidency will be between the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Mursi, and the last prime minister to be appointed by President Mubarak before he was deposed, Ahmed Shafiq. Mona Makram-Ebeid, a member of the advisory council to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces which has been running the country, gives her analysis of the presidential elections so far.
Bamber Gascoigne; Angel of Mostar; real-life Billy Elliot; John McCarthy in Beirut; Sugar Ray Leonard's Inheritance Tracks
Sian Williams and Richard Coles with writer and broadcaster Bamber Gascoigne, a woman dubbed 'The Angel of Mostar' who was reunited via Facebook with the baby she saved 20 years before, the funeral director decorated for his service to fallen soldiers, a real life Billy Elliot from Warrington who's off to the Bolshoi ballet school, John McCarthy returns to Beirut, a Thing About Me feature about a chopper bike, and boxer Sugar Ray Leonard's Inheritance Tracks.
Comedian and songwriter Tony Hawks discovers an unusual reference work, Harold Barlow and Sam Morgenstern's Dictionary of Musical Themes, which takes him on an unexpected journey into the complex world of musical plagiarism.
Along the way he talks to the country's top musicologist, a West End musical director, composer Debbie Wiseman MBE and Neil Innes, who not only won a plagiarism case, but also wrote the Beatles parody The Rutles.
Anne McElvoy of The Economist looks behind the scenes at Westminster.
Jeremy Bowen in Beirut says the Middle East is certainly changing. But the dominoes won't tumble as quickly as some thought last year. Instead, the way ahead will be long and hard.
Will Ross in Lagos on the fuel subsidy scandal and why for Nigerians the price of their petrol is a constant preoccupation.
Jonny Dymond takes to the skies over Arizona with a man determined to do his bit to reduce the flow of illegal immigrants into the US.
The campest show of them all, Eurovision, has come to Baku in Azerbaijan. And Steve Rosenberg, who's there, says it's attended by awkward questions about human rights.
And she was invited to a seaside tasting of some of Italy's finest fare. So what could possibly go wrong for Dany Mitzman?
This week has seen the lending practices of pay day loans firms come once more under the spotlight. Firms have agreed with the government to freeze charges and interest for borrowers in difficulty and make "robust" credit and affordability checks. It comes as the OFT criticised one firm for using aggressive and misleading debt collection methods. And Money Box has also discovered the same firm has admitted making a loan in error to a 16 old.
More than 800 people in the UK who invested their pension savings in what was called an innovative annuity could have lost as much as £50 million.
Rockingham Retirement invested clients' money in so called 'death bonds' - packages of second hand life insurance policies which pay out when their subjects die. Returns of 10% a year were promised. But last summer Rockingham Retirement director Stephen Hunt was banned by the regulator from selling these products because of his "lack of competence and capability". Two months ago the firm went into liquidation.
The money was invested with a Luxembourg company, ARM. But last August ARM's Asset Backed Securities fund was frozen by the Luxembourg regulator - the CSSF. It had never been licensed. Investors now have no access to their cash and the monthly income many were receiving has stopped..
Former Rockingham Retirement director Stephen Hunt says his firm did carry out due diligence on the ARM fund. But has apologised for 'stupid mistakes' made.
We feature the case of the disappearing pension. Or more accurately, the pension that vanished altogether. One Money Box listener, Lindsay Evans, took out a pension in 1997 but stopped paying contributions after 16 months. When she checked on its value 15 years later, she discovered that, because of commission and monthly service fees, there was no money left at all. Paul Lewis talks to Lindsay and another listener, Gerri Ellis, whose pension is rapidly being eroded by administration charges and he gets advice from Tony Attubato of The Pension Advisory Service.
A u-turn for HSBC over its conveyancing procedures after complaints from Money Box listeners. Two months ago we heard from several Money Box listeners how moving house had become a whole lot more stressful. HSBC had introduced new rules which meant that home buyers with an HSBC mortgage had to get the conveyancing and legal stuff done by one of its own panel of solicitors and conveyancers, adding red-tape, extra costs and searches and in some cases putting house sales in jeopardy. The Chief Executive of the Law Society made HSBC an offer live on air and they eventually accepted.
A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Sandi Toksvig. With Jeremy Hardy, Phill Jupitus and Ed Byrne.
Jonathan Dimbleby presents the panel discussion of news and politics from Rugby High School, one of the winning schools in the BBC's nationwide Schools Questions and Answers challenge. The students will be helping Jonathan put the programme together and will be involved in the production from start to finish.
His guests, schools minister Nick Gibb; shadow work and pensions secretary Liam Byrne; Times columnist Camilla Cavendish; and chief executive of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, Sir Stephen Bubb.
So join Jonathan and the panel for tonight's special edition of Any Questions? from Rugby High School.
Call Jonathan Dimbleby on 03700 100 444, email any.answers@bbc.co.uk or tweet #bbcaq. Topics discussed in Any Questions? were:
Grammar schools seem to be very popular where they exist and are expanding to meet the demand. In the light of this, do you think grammar schools should be reinstated or at least permitted in all areas?
Conservative donor Adrian Beecroft has accused Vince Cable of being a socialist for defending workers' rights. Is this a compliment or an insult?
Isn't it time Britain pulled out of competitions like the Eurovision Song Contest which allow repressive regimes extra worldwide exposure?
In 1860, the formidable Countess Narona marries a rich young aristocrat in London - but shortly after travelling to Venice her husband dies, apparently of natural causes, leaving the Countess a rich woman.
Years later, guests in a Venetian hotel encounter the terrifying apparition of a murder victim seeking revenge.
Wilkie Collins' gothic horror tale is a powerful combination of ghost story and detective mystery.
Johann Hummel was a hugely important figure in the musical landscape of the early 19th century. He worked alongside Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, had a love-hate relationship with Beethoven. He taught and inspired the likes of Felix Mendelssohn and was both a celebrated pianist and composer. But today he's best known for composing one of the two great trumpet concertos of the Classical age. Along with the Haydn, composed a couple of years earlier in 1801, Hummel's Trumpet concerto was a response to the new technology being pioneered by the instrument designer and player Anton Weidinger.
There are many challenges throughout the modern trumpet repertoire but the Hummel is still a proving ground and Alison Balsom is one of those to have mastered it. She joins Frances Fyfield and the musicologist Thomas Schmidt to find out how the original manuscript differs from the version performed today which benefits from the later development of the valved, rather than the keyed, trumpet.
Nicolas Bell of the British Library reveals how Hummel's concerto came to be housed here and, with her trumpet on hand to illustrate, Alison Balsom explains the finer points of 'double-tonguing' a technique vital to the performance of the concerto's dazzling third movement.
Above all else the easy, dancing music Hummel created for the newly versatile Trumpet of the 19th century is given a welcome celebration.
Shirley Manson, the Scottish lead singer of US alternative rock band Garbage, gives her frank views on the ups and downs of life as a woman in the global music industry. Plus Tony Parsons on why he believes men are hardwired to want to earn more than their wives; Hilary Devey of Dragon's Den on making her life as a powerful businesswoman in the male haulage industry; and a US brothel owner joins Julie Bindell to debate the legalisation of brothels. Presented by Jane Garvey.
Bard of Salford John Cooper Clarke brings Snap, Crackle & Bop into the studio and talks to Clive about penning and performing such punk poetry as 'Evidently Chickentown' and touring with world famous punk bands. A celebration of John's life and work is part of the 'Punk Britannia' season on BBC Four. 'Evidently..... John Cooper Clarke' is on Wednesday 30th May at
Clive spends The Day Today with actor and comedian David Schneider, who writes and stars as chief registrar Malcolm Fox in a new Radio 4 sitcom 'Births, Deaths and Marriages'. A stickler for rules and regulations, Malcolm and his colleagues deal with the three greatest events in anybody's life. The second episode is on Friday 2nd June at
Arthur Smith has a Brass Eye on writer and broadcaster David Quantick, whose career as a rock journalist also turned to spoof news like Radio 4's 'On The Hour' and writing the biographies of musicians and comedians. David pays tribute to absurdist playwright and surrealist N.F Simpson at London's Royal Court on Sunday 27th May at
Clive has Happy Go Lucky actor Eddie Marsan on a tight leash and talks to him about his career playing a variety of psychopaths and inadequates. Eddie's about to star in a new comedy drama based on real events, as down-on-his-luck Michael Fagan, who broke into the Queen's bedroom in 1982. 'Playhouse Presents...Walking the Dogs' is on Sky Arts 1 on Thursday 31st May at
With music from Thea Gilmore who's staying up late to perform 'Goodnight' from her album 'Don't Stop Singing'.
And Buena Vista Social Club prodigy and Havana Cultura star Roberto Fonseca performs '80s' from his album 'Yo'.
Pascale Harter looks at the life and career of the singer Engelbert Humperdinck.
Tom Sutcliffe and his guests novelists Lionel Shriver and Andrew O' Hagan and theatre writer David Benedict review the week's cultural highlights including Moonrise Kingdom.
Wes Anderson's film Moonrise Kingdom is set on a remote New England island and features two precocious 12 year olds - Sam and Suzy (Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward) - who run away from scout camp and home respectively to be with each other. The film also stars Bill Murray and Frances McDormand as Suzy's parents, Bruce Willis as the island's police chief and Edward Norton as the scout leader.
The Deadman's Pedal - like most of Alan Warner's novels - is set in Oban on the west coast of Scotland. It's 1973 and 15 year old Simon Crimmons has broken up from school for the summer and doesn't intend to go back. Over the course of the next year he loses his virginity, gets a job as a trainee train driver and meets the mysteriously bohemian son and daughter of the local laird.
Right-wing think tank The New Culture Forum has published Igor Toronyi-Lalic's report What's That Thing? which suggests that the recent proliferation of public art in the UK and the way in which it is commissioned has resulted in many mediocre pieces cluttering up the built environment. The solutions that Toronyi-Lalic puts forward include reducing the amount of public art that is commissioned and decommissioning the art that has demonstrably failed.
Matthew Dunster's play Children's Children, which has opened at the Almeida Theatre in London, focuses on the changing fortunes of TV star Michael Stewart (Darrell D'Silva) and his old actor friends Gordon (Trevor Fox) and Sally (Sally Rogers). Michael's fame and fortune come to an abrupt end shortly after he lends Gordon a substantial sum of money.
Universe of Sound is an installation at the Science Museum in London which allows visitors to wander around the members of the Philharmonia Orchestra - conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen - while they perform The Planets by Holst. The different sections of the orchestra are projected onto screens in separate areas where live musicians also periodically play along. There is also the opportunity to conduct the orchestra in interactive booths.
Which is a better use of our land? A beautiful green field, or a human home? We have long tied ourselves in knots trying to answer this question. Anne McElvoy ploughs the BBC archive to unearth the tangled roots of one this country's great, eternal inner conflicts.
Anne listens to a stinging mid-century polemic against new 'ribbon developments'. And she finds out which writer was so incensed at suburban sprawl that she burned cardboard models of suburbs in her garden.
But she also hears interviews with those who had managed to flee the slums and who were enraptured by the fresh air on new estates. One ex-EastEnder is agog simply at the fact that she has running water upstairs.
In this new, planning-friendly world, Prime Minister Winston Churchill broadcast to the nation on the virtues of the new emergency pre-fabricated houses - complete with "excellent baths". He expresses impatience with those who would "plan every acre" to ensure the landscape was not spoiled.
But she also hears the rough reception that greeted the Minister who ventured to Stevenage to extol the virtues of the coming new town.
This opposition to new building on ancient fields came to a new crisis in the 1980s when the boom in the south east led to extraordinary tensions. Environment Secretary Nicholas Ridley backed plans to build new settlements in the Home Counties. Protestors burned him in effigy in a Hampshire field.
And with the Coalition Government trying to encourage development while empowering local communities, Anne asks Planning Minister Nicholas Boles how he is trying to resolve the struggle between houses and fields.
With Nicholas Boles, John Carey, Juliet Gardiner, Tristram Hunt, Roger Scruton, Christine Whitehead
Virginia Woolf's classic novel set on a single day in June. Lives interweave on the streets of London as Clarissa Dalloway makes her final preparations for an important party.
Mrs Dalloway ..... Fenella Woolgar
Richard ..... Sam Dale
Septimus ..... Paul Ready
Rezia ..... Susie Riddell
Peter ..... Scott Handy
Sally ..... Liza Sadovy
Elizabeth ..... Emerald O'Hanrahan
Lucy ..... Amaka Okafor
Hugh ..... Patrick Brennan,
Dr Holmes ..... Peter Hamilton Dyer,
Miss Brush ..... Christine Absalom
Miss Pym ..... Tracy Wiles
Mrs Dalloway is one of Virginia Woolf's most approachable novels. It's apparently simple structure - taking place over a single day and dovetailing two very different stories - belies its rich textures and the complexity of its beautifully drawn characters. Clarissa Dalloway's party, the climax of the story, is eagerly awaited by all and resolves both stories with wisdom and poignancy.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
The BBC's Political Editor Nick Robinson shines a light on the process by which controversial decisions are reached behind closed doors in Whitehall.
This week, he and his panel consider how to avoid a war in the Middle East - a war which could follow an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities designed to stop any plans they might have to develop a nuclear bomb. How real is the prospect, and how can Britain and America work to avoid it, with all the incalculable consequences.
Sir Nigel Sheinwald, former British Ambassador to Washington who was, before that, Tony Blair's foreign and defence policy adviser.
Baroness Liz Symons, former Labour Foreign Office Minister and Middle East envoy who maintains close contacts in the region.
Peter Jenkins, former British Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna
James Steinberg, former Deputy Secretary of State in President Obama's government, and previously Deputy National Security Adviser in Bill Clinton's White House
Bronwen Maddox, Editor of Prospect magazine and previously Foreign Editor of The Times.
Which major Russian composer's music was performed at the BBC Proms last summer alongside music by his British-born grandson?
Which performer has most recently won the Mercury Music Prize, becoming the first person to do so twice?
Paul Gambaccini welcomes competitors from London and Reading to the BBC Radio Theatre for the latest heat of the wide-ranging music quiz. They'll be asked these musical teasers and many others besides - with plenty of musical extracts to identify, both familiar and obscure. Today's winner will take another of the places in this summer's semi-finals, and thus be a step closer to the title of Counterpoint champion 2012.
Roger McGough presents a selection of listeners' poetry requests read by Seán Gleeson, Barbara Barnes and Samuel West.
Roger kicks things off with a salute to Edward Lear, marking two hundred years since his birth. The poem is 'How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear'. It was written by Lear himself and describes the poet's visage as hideous and his body as 'perfectly spherical'. Roger makes a plea for requests for Lear poems for a special bicentennial edition planned for later in the year.
The poet Anna Crowe also joins the programme to read her poem 'Punk With Dulcimer' about an unusual encounter with a stranger on a train. A poem by Elizabeth Bishop in honour of her mentor, Marianne Moore, conjures up images of the poet flying over the New York skyline with a 'black capeful of butterfly wings and bon-mots' to offer poetic inspiration to her young protégé. There are also some bird poems, with works by Edward Thomas, Philip Larkin and perhaps the most famous poem about a bird ever written; Samuel West reads Ode to a Nightingale by Keats.
SUNDAY 27 MAY 2012
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b01j2dnh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Heidi Amsinck - Danish Noir (b01j2fd7)
The Wailing Girl
In these three specially-commissioned tales by Heidi Amsinck, Denmark is a mysterious place of twilight and shadows: a mysterious place where strange and sometimes dark things happen.
At the castle at Amalieholm, legend has it that you can hear a girl crying at night, supposedly the ghost of a young maid who was drowned in the moat by a nobleman after giving birth to his child. Magnus, the castle guide, doesn't believe in ghosts, but wonders what would happen if the castle owner, 95-year-old Baroness Feltenborg, could be made to believe in the wailing girl?
Written by Heidi Amsinck
Read by Tim McInnerny
Producer: Ros Ward
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01j2dnk)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01j2dnm)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01j2dnp)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b01j2dnr)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b01j2fd9)
The bells of Coventry Cathedral, Warwickshire.
SUN 05:45 Profile (b01j2bzm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b01j2dnt)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b01j2fdc)
Saying Sorry
Mark Tully asks why we find it so difficult to apologise and considers some of the benefits of doing so. But what of the false, or half-hearted apology? Should saying sorry always lead to forgiveness?
From politicians to journalists, poets to criminals, and from entire countries to intimate lovers, Mark looks at those who have transgressed but cannot find it in themselves to acknowledge the fact and make amends. Just what benefits to individuals, races and nations would flow if an unwarranted act of war or aggression, or just simple inconsideration, was owned up to? What can we do to make the act of apology easier, and how should we respond to those who do manage to say that hardest word of all?
Who better than a politician to ask about the nature of heartfelt apologies, the ways we find to avoid them, and how we arrive at mealy-mouth substitutions. Mark speaks to Mani Shankar Aiyar, a member of India's ruling Congress Party and an expert on the political - with a small and large 'p' - apology. There are times, he admits, when an out-and-out admission of guilt, acceptance of responsibility and an unqualified and genuine apology is in order - but only when the game is up.
With music from Franz Liszt, Frank Sinatra and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and words by Somerset Maugham, Thomas Hardy, Desmond Tutu and Fyodor Dostoevsky, Mark considers the right and wrong time to seek redemption from those you have hurt, and the appropriate way to respond to the repentance of others who have done you wrong.
The readers are Peter Guinness, Emma Fielding and Frank Stirling.
Producer: Adam Fowler
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b01j2fdf)
Charlotte Smith goes behind bars to visit a farm within a prison at HMP North Sea Camp. Inmates at the end of long sentences learn agricultural skills to prepare them for life outside.
Presented by Charlotte Smith. Produced by Emma Weatherill.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b01j2dnw)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b01j2dny)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b01j2fdh)
The Catholic Church in the United States has launched a legal assault on President Obama's health reforms. Edward speaks with Jane Little in Washington.
A bell which has been on a pilgrimage around Ireland and to Rome and Lourdes, makes a small detour to Media City for this weekend's Sunday programme. Edward talks to Pilgrimage Coordinator Tommy Burns.
Services aimed at drawing indigenous Catholics in Australia back to Mass have started in Sydney's inner city where the church is including special liturgies, hymns and prayers written by Aboriginal people, and smoking or water ceremonies to serve as penitential rites. Phil Mercer reports.
The saga of women bishops in the Church of England continued this week when the House of Bishops added two amendments to the proposed legislation. Robert Pigott tells Edward how this likely to play at the General Synod.
Was it wrong for a GCSE exam board to have a question asking pupils to explain why some people are prejudiced against Jews? Edward discusses with Rabbi Jonathan Romain and Robert Labatto.
A Church Urban Fund report naming the poorest areas in England showed that nine out of the top ten are in the Northwest. Kevin Bocquet reports from the south shore in Blackpool which had the lowest male life expectancy in the country.
The Crown Nominations Committee met for the first time this week to consider candidates to succeed Rowan Williams. Ruth Gledhill and Stephen Bates discuss who is in the running for the Anglican Communion's top job.
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b01j2fdk)
The Mango Tree
From Kenya, Calvince Odoyo, makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of The Mango Tree, the charity that helped him and his brothers when they were orphaned.
Donate:
Call: 0800 404 8144
Send a cheque to The Mango Tree to FREEPOST BBC Radio 4 Appeal.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b01j2dp0)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b01j2dp2)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b01j2fdm)
Marking Pentecost, live from St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh. Led by The Revd Karen Campbell. Preacher: The Very Revd Gilleasbuig Macmillan. With the Cathedral Choir directed by Michael Harris. Organist: Peter Backhouse. Producer: Mo McCullough.
SUN 08:50 A Point of View (b01hxvnk)
Will Self: A right loyal toast
Will Self reflects on the historical tradition of the Loyal Toast. A week before the Jubilee celebrations get underway, he muses on where deference is properly due.
"I have never risen for the Loyal Toast, and unless some apoplectic patriot holds a gun to my head I doubt I ever will" he writes.
He suggests we should turn our thoughts to who else we might raise a toast to....personally, he believes it should be his postwoman. In that case, he says "I'd be on my hind legs before you could scream 'Treason!'"
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b01j2fdp)
Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paul Mason, who was joined by Fairtrade Director Harriet Lamb, political documentary maker Michael Cockerell and comedienne/ actor Francesca Martinez to review the papers.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b01j2fdr)
Editor.....Vanessa Whitburn & John Yorke
Writer..... Nawal Gadalla
Director..... Rosemary Watts
Jill Archer..... Patricia Greene
David Archer..... Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer..... Felicity Finch
Tony Archer..... Colin Skipp
Pat Archer..... Patricia Gallimore
Helen Archer..... Louiza Patikas
Tom Archer..... Tom Graham
Adam Macy..... Andrew Wincott
Ian Craig..... Stephen Kennedy
Matt Crawford..... Kim Durham
Lilian Bellamy..... Sunny Ormonde
Clarrie Grundy..... Rosalind Adams
William Grundy..... Philip Molloy
Nic Grundy..... Becky Wright
Christopher Carter..... William Sanderson-Thwaite
Alice Carter..... Hollie Chapman
Oliver Sterling..... Michael Cochrane
Lynda Snell..... Carole Boyd
Bert Fry..... Eric Allan
Alan Franks..... John Telfer
Usha Franks..... Souad Faress
Amy Franks..... Jennifer Daley
Rhys Williams..... Scott Arthur
Tracy Horrobin..... Susie Riddell
Keith Horrobin..... Sean Connolly
Elona Makepeace..... Eri Shuka
Darrell Makepeace.....Dan Hagley
Caller.....Joe Sims
Iftikar Shah.....Pal Aron.
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b01j2fdt)
Denise Robertson
Kirsty Young's castaway is the agony aunt and writer Denise Robertson.
She is, she says, one of life's survivors -- yet she seems to have had more than her fair share of tragedy; she's been widowed twice, dealt with financial hardship and lost a child to cancer. She's written dozens of novels and for more than forty years been an agony aunt on local radio, papers and television.
She says: "There have been times when I've thought, just as I get things right, fate steps in and kicks the steps from under me. But then you pick yourself up again. When I started out, there used to be a joke, that one day I'd open a letter without saying, 'Oh I remember when that happened to me'."
Producer: Leanne Buckle.
SUN 12:00 Just a Minute (b01hw75p)
Series 63
Episode 2
Graham Norton, Paul Merton, Gyles Brandreth and Alun Cochrane join Nicholas Parsons who asks them to speak on a subject for 60 seconds without hesitation, repetition or deviation.
This week Graham Norton describes his Favourite Smells; Alun Cochrane talks about Graffiti; Gyles Brandreth declaims on the subject of Wales and Paul Merton explains The Importance of Eyebrows.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b01j2fdw)
Breakfast
Tim Hayward offers his reflections on the past, present and future of the British breakfast. Has the first meal of the day become a problem to solve rather than a pleasure?
Joined by food writer and breakfast historian Seb Emina, Tim finds out how the great British breakfast became the envy of the world. With its origins dating back to aristocratic Edwardian country houses, the cooked breakfast spread through the chop houses of working class London and beyond.
But with the huge amount of breakfast choices now available and our increasingly busy lives, eating breakfast has become an increasingly diverse and fragmented food experience.
For some breakfast is an exercise in "grab-and-go" and indulging in more of a "desk-fast" than a meal, but there are some other interesting trends underway; sales of the big name cereal brands have been falling, porridge sales have been making something of a comeback. For an insight into this trend, Tim meets Nick Barnard of Rude Health, one of the more recent players on the breakfast scene competing for our morning appetite.
With the help of food writer Anna Berrill, Tim finds out how, for some, the traditional breakfast is becoming more of a whole social occasion. Writer and comedian Chris Neill explains his own personal problem with breakfast and we learn how the so called "third wave" coffee scene is a growing influence on our mornings.
Producer: George Casey.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b01j2dp4)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b01j2fdy)
Shaun Ley presents the latest national and international news, including an in-depth look at events around the world. Email: wato@bbc.co.uk; twitter: #theworldthisweekend.
SUN 13:30 Reading between the Lines (b01hxh6w)
Easy as ABC?
Michael Morpurgo explores how the seminal experience of learning to read has changed over the last 70 years.
In June 2012, all Year One children in English primary schools will sit a compulsory new "Phonics Screening Check".
Meanwhile, authoritative studies show British ten year olds performing less well and expressing less enthusiasm for reading than many of their international peers.
Michael Morpurgo - hugely popular children's author, former Children's Laureate and passionate advocate for children's reading - explores how the experience of learning to read has changed since the 1944 Butler Education Act. Michael's starting point is a passionate interest in the subject, forged over decades as a father, grandfather, teacher and writer.
1. Easy as ABC?
In the first of two programmes, Michael finds out just what Systematic Synthetic Phonics are and why some, not least Nick Gibb, the Minister for Schools in the Coalition Government, are so keen on them - while others, in the educational establishment and the world of children's books, are less enthusiastic.
He talks to the Minister, and to phonics expert Ruth Miskin, and hears from writers Philip Pullman, Michael Rosen and Julia Donaldson. He visits a primary school in South London, rated 'Outstanding' by Ofsted, which has embraced the new system, and talks with pupils and teachers.
Ultimately, Michael Morpurgo tries to square the circle between getting children reading and getting them to love reading - not only because this is a widely recognised prerequisite for success in secondary education, but also because of the pleasure and fulfilment it brings children everywhere.
Producer : Beaty Rubens.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b01hxtmh)
RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Eric Robson chairs the programme from the biggest gardening event of the year - The Chelsea Flower Show. Joining him on the panel are Matthew Wilson, Anne Swithinbank and Bob Flowerdew.
Questions addressed in the programme include the problem of plane fuel ending up in your water butt, what to do with tulips after flowering and fitting hanging baskets to a trampoline!
Produced by Lucy Dichmont and Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b01j2ff0)
Sunday Edition
Fi Glover presents the Sunday edition of Radio 4's series capturing the nation in conversation: in today's programme, we meet Jasmit and Jaswant from Lincolnshire, who prove, after 34 years of happy marriage, that arranged marriage can work. From Scotland a painful conversation between mother and son, Lily and Francis, about Francis' addiction to heroin and its terrible consequences. But it ends with a message of hope. And from Berkshire the dilemma facing dairy farmers; Michael and Don on whether or not to sell their herds. Also, a chance to hear an excerpt from the first User Generated Content to be uploaded to The Listening Project: Sophie wanted to ask her brother Oscar about his experience of living with autism.
The Listening Project is a new initiative for Radio 4 that aims to offer a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Many of the long conversations are being archived by the British Library which they will use to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer Marya Burgess.
SUN 15:00 Classic Serial (b01j2ff2)
Virginia Woolf - Mrs Dalloway
From Afternoon to Nightfall
Dramatised by Michelene Wandor
Virginia Woolf's classic novel set on a single day in June. As Clarissa Dalloway makes her final preparations for an important party, Septimus visits another doctor and becomes increasingly troubled.
2 of 2: From afternoon to nightfall
Mrs Dalloway ..... Fenella Woolgar
Richard ..... Sam Dale
Septimus ..... Paul Ready
Rezia ..... Susie Riddell
Peter ..... Scott Handy
Sally ..... Liza Sadovy
Elizabeth ..... Emerald O'Hanrahan
Lucy ..... Amaka Okafor
Sir William ..... Patrick Brennan,
Miss Kilman ..... Christine Absalom
Dr Holmes ..... Peter Hamilton Dyer,
Directed by Marc Beeby.
SUN 16:00 Open Book (b01j9mm2)
David Hewson on his novel adaptation of The Killing
Mariella Frostrup talks to author David Hewson, who explains how he's transported the cult Danish TV series The Killing into novel form and why readers should expect a twist in the tale
To mark the 25th anniversary of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize last year, they had a re-launch - changing its focus from more established to emerging writers. They've made self-published books eligible, introduced a new category, the Short Story prize, for unpublished work of between 2000 - 5000 words and renamed the entire event The Commonwealth Book Prize and Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Mariella explores the state of publishing and the experiences of writers across the region with Jeremy Pointing, Managing Editor of Peepal Tree Press and Lucy Hannah who runs the culture programme at the Commonwealth Foundation
This month the award winning short story writer Helen Simpson publishes A Bunch of Fives, her selection of her much loved tales dating back over 25 years. She muses for Open Book on how rereading and choosing from this treasure trove has made her think about the short story-form all over again
Producer: Andrea Kidd.
SUN 16:30 Poetry Please (b01j2ld1)
Roger McGough presents two classic works and readings. First, the opening section of Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas recorded in 1954. It's hard to resist Richard Burton inviting us to hush and 'come closer'.
Then, Paul Scofield reads Gerard Manley Hopkins' tormented cry The Wreck of the Deutschland. Composed after the foundering of a German boat in the Thames, it was also Hopkins first poem written since his conversion to Catholicism and becoming a Jesuit priest. As Hopkins said himself, it's a poem to be read by the ears, and there is no finer rendition than this 1975 gem from the archives.
Producer: Sarah Langan.
SUN 17:00 The End of Drug Discovery (b01hxh76)
We are in desperate need of new medicines for the major diseases facing us in the 21st century such as Alzheimer's and obesity. And we are running out of antibiotics that are effective against bacteria that are now resistant to many old varieties. As bringing new and improved drugs to patients becomes more difficult and more expensive - it can take twenty years and around $1 billion to bring a medicine to market - Geoff Watts asks what's gone wrong and what can be done to get new pharmaceutical treatments to patients.
Geoff talks to a number of researchers who have worked both within the pharmaceutical industry and publicly funded laboratories to get their views on why the source of drugs has dried up. These include Dr Patrick Vallance, of global pharmaceutical giant GSK, Professor Paul Workman of the Institute of Cancer Research, Professor Chas Bountra of Oxford University's Structural Genomics Consortium, and Dr Mike Dawson of biotech company Novacta Biosystems.
They argue that the age of the blockbuster drug which can treat millions of patients is over and that we don't know enough science to be able to find treatments for conditions like Alzheimer's disease. The industry is risk averse and regulations to ensure that drugs are safe and effective are burdensome. Tilli Tansey, Professor of the History of Modern Medical Science at Queen Mary University in London puts the state of drug discovery in its historical context.
Geoff finds out that these experts believe that there needs to be a fundamental change in the drug development process, and the key ingredient is collaboration - between industry and academia and between different drug companies. He also discovers that the medical charity, the Wellcome Trust, is putting money into the development of antibiotics, a field not of interest to many pharmaceutical companies.
Editor: Deborah Cohen.
SUN 17:40 Profile (b01j2bzm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b01j2dp6)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b01j2dp8)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01j2dpb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b01j2ld3)
Liz Barclay makes her selection from the past seven days of BBC Radio
On Pick of the Week, Liz Barclay discovers how Richard Wilson became the reluctant owner of a pair of miner's boots, how David Nobbs survived life in the army, and why the French and Japanese are thrilled by locked room murder mysteries. Camels figure strongly, as does our daily bread, and Dame Judi Dench is moved to tears by Shakespeare. All that and much more on Pick of the Week ..
Believe it! - Radio 4
Miles Jupp in a Locked Room - Radio 4
Reading Between The Lines - Radio 4
Today - Radio 4
Follow Up Albums - Radio 4
The Barlow and Morganstern Method - Radio 4
Afternoon Drama: The Grudge - Radio 4
Pm -Radio 4
Four Thought - Radio 4
From Abba to Azerbaijan - Radio 2
Our Daily Bread - Radio 4
With Nobbs On - Radio 4
Camel Country - Radio 4
World Routes - Radio 3
Email: potw@bbc.co.uk or www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/potw
Producer: Bernadette McConnell.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b01j2ld5)
Ruth and David are researching the best surveillance cameras for the farm. Although Josh and Ben would be terrified, they debate whether to inform Pip about the reasons surrounding the new security measures. Ruth and David hope the surveillance equipment will act as a deterrent.
Ben doesn't want to go to watch the cricket but Ruth's determined not to let him stay at home alone. Although they feel threatened and insecure, and Open Farm Sunday is the last thing they feel like doing, they agree they just need to get on with things.
Alan returns from Penny Hassett to find Usha still in bed, as she is avoiding an altercation with Amy. Alan's sermon today will be about reconciliation, and he's determined not to give up on the peace process between Amy and Usha. Usha insists Amy needs to meet them halfway. Alan agrees they need to get on with the lives, and wants to plan Usha's fiftieth birthday celebrations. They agree on The Bull Upstairs.
Later, Alan asks Amy for some help planning Usha's party. However Amy is determined she wants nothing to do with Usha. Usha overhears their conversation, and Alan is really sorry. Usha's more concerned about Alan's feelings than her own.
SUN 19:15 Tonight (b01hxr12)
Series 2
Episode 3
Rory Bremner and the team return for another series of Tonight, the topical satire show that digs that bit deeper into national and international politics.
Rory's mantra is that it's as important to make sense out of things as it is to make fun of them. With a team that includes veteran satirists Andy Zaltzman and Nick Doody and versatile impressionist and character comedian Kate O'Sullivan, Tonight promises to do both. This is half an hour of stand-up, sketches, and investigative satire. And at the core of the show are Rory's incisively funny interviews with the most informed guest commentators on the current political scene.
More global crises, more political scandal, more jokes with the word fiscal in them - and some truly brilliant impressions: a shot in the arm for satire lovers everywhere.
Producers: Simon Jacobs & Frank Stirling
A Unique Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 19:45 Heidi Amsinck - Copenhagen Confidential (b01j2ld7)
The Last Tenant
Written by Heidi Amsinck
Read by: Jack Klaff
In these three specially-commissioned tales by Heidi Amsinck, Copenhagen and its surrounds are places of twilight and shadows: mysterious places where strange, occasionally bad things happen.
The Last Tenant
Jan Vettegren is convinced that the office building he's bought is a steal - once you get past the wear-and-tear, creaks and strange recurring smells. But none of his colleagues are happy to work alone there.
Heidi Amsinck, a writer and journalist born in Copenhagen, has covered Britain for the Danish press since 1992, including a spell as London Correspondent for the broadsheet daily Jyllands-Posten. Heidi has written numerous short stories for radio including, most recently, the three story set Danish Noir (2010), which was also produced by Sweet Talk for BBC Radio 4. A graduate of the MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London, Heidi lives in Surrey with her husband and two young sons.
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:00 More or Less (b01hxtmp)
Would firing staff 'at will' boost the economy?
In this week's programme:
Fire "at will"?
The Beecroft Report has been stirring up controversy all week. But is there any evidence that the economy would be boosted if employers could fire their staff "at will", as Adrian Beecroft recommends? Professor John Van Reenan - director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics - can't find much.
Hard-working Greeks
One version of the Euro crisis story has it that hard-working Germans are bailing out lazy Greeks. But in fact Greek workers put in far longer hours than their German counterparts.
The maths of infidelity
It's a very commonly-held belief that men are less faithful than women. But it takes two to tango. So can this be mathematically possible?
Publication bias
If we on More or Less were only to report statistical errors, and never statistical triumphs, you could be forgiven for concluding that the world is full of numerical lies. That's "publication bias" - and it's a big problem in science, as Ben Goldacre explains.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Richard Knight.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b01hxtmm)
Robin Gibb, Eric James, Alan Oakley, David Ellis and Eugene Polley
Matthew Bannister on
Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees who, with his brothers Barry and Maurice, created scores of hit records. We hear about his rivalry with Barry for the lead vocal spot and his obsession with the Titanic.
Also: the left wing Anglican Canon Eric James, a regular on Radio 4's Thought For The Day,
Alan Oakley who invented the Chopper bicycle, much coveted by schoolboys of the seventies,
David Ellis - the dancer and doctor who married into the Ballet Rambert and played a leading role in the company's development.
And Eugene Polley who launched a million couch potatoes by pioneering the TV remote control. Elvis McGonagall pays tribute in verse from his sofa.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (b01j2bmv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 on Saturday]
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b01j2fdk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 In Business (b01hxpyg)
Called to Account
The global Big Four accountancy groups are under sharp scrutiny from the authorities in Britain, Europe and the USA. Peter Day finds out why they are getting such close official attention..and why it matters to the rest of us.
Producer: Caroline Bayley.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b01j2lhb)
Preview of the week's political agenda at Westminster with MPs, experts and commentators. Discussion of the issues politicians are grappling with in the corridors of power.
SUN 22:45 What the Papers Say (b01j2lhd)
Episode 105
John Harris of The Guardian analyses how the newspapers are covering the biggest stories in Westminster and beyond.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b01hxpy0)
Francine Stock reports from the 65th Cannes Film Festival, speaking to jury member Alexander Payne, director of Moonrise Kingdom Wes Anderson, and Ken Loach whose latest, The Angels' Share, is his 11th film in competition for The Palme d'Or. In this updated repeat of Thursday's programme, we hear about the winners of the much coveted prizes.
Producer: Craig Smith.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b01j2fdc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 28 MAY 2012
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b01j2dq8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b01hxmwh)
Wine tasting; US philanthropy
Philanthropy is most often associated with the fight against poverty and disease. But a new book claims that the philanthropic foundations established by the major American industrialists - Rockefeller, Carnegie and Ford - have also promoted American values across the world. From Chile to Indonesia, they've invested in the creation of intellectual elites with a neo liberal agenda. And, it's claimed, they've had a significant role on the international stage, transforming America from a parochial nation into a global leader. Professor Inderjeet Parmar explores the power of US philanthropy with Laurie Taylor. Also, what does the language of wine tell us about civilisation? Professor Steven Shapin charts the cultural and chemical evolution of wine tasting.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b01j2fd9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01j2dqb)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01j2dqd)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01j2dqg)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b01j2dqj)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01j5fvt)
A reading and a reflection to start the day on Radio 4 from Wales with singer and broadcaster Beverley Humphreys.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b01j5fvw)
After protests at Rothamsted Research Centre, Charlotte Smith discusses the future of GM crops in agriculture. Professor Maurice Moloney from Rothamsted says that he expects more attacks on GM crops in the following months. Organic farmer Richard Higgins took part in the protest against GM. He told Charlotte that he believes that many people across the country are opposed to GM crop trials.
The price of wool is now at a 25 year high. Malcolm Corbett from the British Wool Marketing Board explains why the price has increased.
And Caz Graham visits a hay meadow in the North Pennines which has such unusual biodiversity that it attracts visitors from Transylvania.
Presenter is Charlotte Smith. Producer is Emma Weatherill.
MON 05:57 Weather (b01j2dql)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 06:00 Today (b01j5fvy)
Morning news and current affairs, presented by John Humphrys and Sarah Montague, including:
07:30 London council suspends rehousing strategy.
07:50 Should the state do more to help obese teenagers?
08:10 Will the international community act on Syria?
08:20 Calypso King Harry Belafonte on the power of song.
08:30 What will Tony Blair say at the Leveson inquiry?
MON 09:00 Start the Week (b01j5fw0)
Thomas Heatherwick on design and architecture
On Start the Week Andrew Marr goes in search of ancient landscapes with the writer Robert Macfarlane. With a mix of geology, cartography and natural history, Macfarlane journeys on foot to explore ideas of pilgrimage, trespass and ancient pathways. Jonathan Meades is equally preoccupied with a sense of place, but turns his attention to its architecture and the futility of landmark buildings. Anna Minton argues against the increasing privatisation of public space. And size is no matter to the designer Thomas Heatherwick - from a new London double decker, to a bridge that curls up and a handbag made from zips - he always has the human scale in mind.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b01j5fw2)
Paul French - Midnight in Peking
Episode 1
By Paul French.
Read by Crawford Logan.
On a frozen night in January 1937, in the dying days of colonial Peking, the body of a young woman was found in the shadows of a haunted watchtower. It was Pamela Werner, the daughter of the city's former British consul Edward Werner.
A horrified world followed the hunt for Pamela's killer but the police investigation drew a blank and the case was forgotten amid the carnage of the Japanese invasion. Only Pamela's father carried on, employing a network of private investigators to follow the murder trail into Peking's notorious Badlands and back to the gilded hotels of the colonial Quarter.
Seventy-five years later, deep in the Scotland Yard archives, British historian Paul French accidentally came across the lost case file prepared by Edward Werner and, through his fresh eyes, uncovered the killer's identity.
An evocative account of the end of an era, the book spent seven weeks in the South China Morning Post's Top 10 bestsellers list.
Abridged by Robin Brooks.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01j5fw4)
Queens who've ruled England: the bloody reign of Mary Tudor, women who are denied asylum, Moscow-born singer songwriter Regina Spektor, The Thick of It's Rebecca Front stars in Woman's Hour's spoof drama.
Presented by Jane Garvey.
Produced by Catherine Carr.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01j5fw6)
Incredible Women: Series 2
Nicky Markham
Rebecca Front (The Thick of It, Nighty Night, The Day Today, Just William, Grandma's House) stars in this series about five extraordinary and unforgettable characters in Incredible Women.
In each programme less-than-intrepid interviewer Jeremy spends one night in the home of each of his interviewees. On their territory, he asks about their personal histories, plus we discover some very odd things about the way they live their daily lives.
In the first episode, Jeremy meets medium Nicky Markham who sells out huge theatres with her shows in which she claims to speak to your loved ones who have passed to the other side.
Jeremy admires her as an entertainer but she won't budge on his questioning of how she does it. But the sceptical Jeremy experiences something he can't explain when he stays at her house overnight.
Featuring Rebecca Front, Jeremy Front, Richard Wiseman, Tilly Clymer and Gerard McDermott.
Producer: Claire Jones.
MON 11:00 Outfoxed: The Story of Hunting in Britain (b01j9myg)
It is seven years since the fox hunting ban, yet the sport is still flourishing. Social Historian Emma Griffin visits three very different hunts to find out why. Along the way, she tells the story of how hunting has evolved over time and changed from being a pursuit mainly for the privileged and wealthy into something more universal, just when the hunting debate was becoming 'class' focused.
Dr. Griffin visits the oldest hunt in Britain: the Duke of Beaufort's in Gloucestershire; as well as the Blencathra foot pack of the Lake District and the Banwen Miners' hunt of South Wales, where she discovers that hunting has some enthusiasts who differ from the usually assumed stereotype.
Producer: Melissa FitzGerald
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 11:30 With Nobbs On (b01j5fw8)
From Howerd's End to Pebble Mill
Episode 2 - From Howerd's end to Pebble Mill
Written and presented by David Nobbs
With Nobbs On sees David Nobbs, the comic genius behind Reggie Perrin, The Two Ronnies, Tommy Cooper, Frankie Howerd and R4's The Maltby Collection, presenting a three-part series of entertaining, joke-laden, insider observations on his comedy career to a studio audience along with guest readings, archive material and unpredictable delights.
David has trouble explaining why he's impersonating Frankie Howerd in a public place to the police. Meanwhile Pebble Mill reject a short story about a man battling with his identity as a successful middle class, middle management manager, called Reginald Iolanthe Perrin.
Featuring Martin Trenaman and Mia Soteriou
Produced by Andrew McGibbon
A Curtains For Radio Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b01j5fwb)
Radio 4's consumer affairs programme with Julian Worricker. How do we know whether a food is good or bad for us? The government is considering how our food should be labelled. Heard of crowdfunding? We'll be hearing from one company that uses other people's money to buy houses and why investors should be cautious. And the businesses enjoying a revival thanks to the Queen's Jubilee.
MON 12:57 Weather (b01j2dqn)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b01j5fwd)
Shaun Ley presents the national and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
MON 13:45 Honest Doubt: The History of an Epic Struggle (b01j5fwg)
Prologue
Richard Holloway, the writer and the former Bishop of Edinburgh, begins a series of 20 personal essays in which he explores the relationship between faith and doubt over the last 3000 years. He takes the listener from the birth of religious thinking, through the Old and New Testaments, to the developments in subsequent centuries and their influence on thinkers and writers, up to the present-day.
As the former head of the Scottish Episcopal Church, Richard Holloway's main focus is on the history of doubt in the Judeo-Christian tradition. But as he says, he is 'first and foremost a human being' and so he also addresses some of the universal questions about our existence and the meaning of life, considering how some of humanity's best thinkers and most creative writers have approached these 'literally life and death questions'.
In today's programme he takes the painting by Paul Gauguin which poses the questions 'Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?' as his starting point, and quotes the writer George Steiner, and poets Robert Browning, Walter de la Mare, as well as Tennyson, from whose poem "In Memoriam" comes "Honest Doubt", the title of the series.
Holloway describes the tension between faith and doubt as two sides of the same coin or, as he says, 'Another way into the tension is to think of a piece of music. If faith is the melody, doubt is the descant. Each adds texture and depth to the other and, if we're lucky, a sense of harmony.'
Producer: Olivia Landsberg
A Ladbroke Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b01j2ld5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b01j5fwj)
Cry for Me: The Battle of Goose Green
By Adrian Bean. To mark the 30th anniversary of the Battle of Goose Green, this drama-documentary looks at the events of the 28th - 29th May 1982 from the Argentinian perspective. The drama tells the story of two fictional Argentine conscripts.
Luis is looking forward to graduating and becoming a famous writer. Diego is praying for a swift Argentine victory (in the forthcoming World Cup). Neither chose to live under a military dictatorship. Nor did they choose to become soldiers. And they certainly didn't choose to take on the might of the British army for the sake of 'the Malvinas'.
Luis .... Thomas Brodie-Sangster
Diego .... Michael Socha
Sergeant Hernandez .... Alun Raglan
Piaggi .... Sam Dale
Narrator .... Eiry Thomas
Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production
Adrian Bean is a hugely experienced writer and director with credits across TV and Radio Drama. For Radio 4 he is perhaps best known for the critically acclaimed 'Bomber' - the real time account of a 1943 RAF bombing raid on Germany, adapted from Len Deighton's novel.
MON 15:00 Counterpoint (b01j5fwl)
Series 26
Episode 6
(6/13)
Would you be able to name the two earlier composers whose names provided the title of an 1898 opera by Rimsky Korsakov?
And which colourful character did the singer and bandleader Cab Calloway describe as 'a red hot hoochie-coocher'?
These are among the musical teasers Paul Gambaccini will be putting to the contestants in this week's heat of Counterpoint. They'll have to prove the breadth of their knowledge across a range of musical styles if they're to stand a chance of winning through to the semi-finals of this year's competition.
There'll be plenty of musical extracts to identify, both familiar and surprising - and as always, the contestants will have to answer specialist questions on a musical topic for which they're completely unprepared.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b01j2fdw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 It's Fun, But Is It Theatre? (b01j5fwn)
You may find yourself conducting a bank robbery, being dragged into a dark corner by an opera singer, feel the tickle of cobwebs run over your face in the dark, or stand two feet away from a woman who has just been raped. Immersive, site specific, site-responsive, installation - but definitely not for the faint-hearted - the interactive trend in the 21st century theatrical scene has been gathering pace and popularity.
Companies such as Punchdrunk, YouMeBumBumTrain, dreamthinkspeak, Sound and Fury and Artichoke have wowed audiences, selling out tickets, or filling city centres with spectators, wherever they have popped up, and in some cases that means in warehouses, streets or abandoned basements.
Sarah Hemming, theatre critic for the Financial Times screws her courage to the sticking point and embarks on a series of theatrical experiences, to help you decide whether you too might enjoy this type of theatre trip: the sort that doesn't involve a stage, a programme, an ice cream at the interval - oh, or a seat. Experiences can range from Lucien Bourjeily's re- enactment of imprisonment in a Syrian detention centre - "we promise you will be released at the end" ,to a magical storytelling moment by a cosy library fireplace - but is it theatre?
Talking to Felix Barrett, creator of Punchdrunk; Tristan Sharps of dreamthinkspeak; Nicky Webb from Artichoke; Sound and Fury's Dan Jones, and experiencing the full force of the improvisation medley that is YouMeBumBumTrain, Sarah boldly goes beyond the fourth wall.
Appearing for the defence, Guardian critic, Lyn Gardner, and for the prosecution Whatsonstage critic Michael Coveney.
Producer: Sara Jane Hall
(Repeat).
MON 16:30 The Digital Human (b01j5fwq)
Series 1
Crush
Join Aleks Krotoski as she explores love in the digital world. Can love be love when we're deprived of the sensory connections of face-to-face interaction? Love online doesn't need to be as wayward or incidental as it is in real life. In fact, Aleks will be hearing from those who think that love in the digital age leads to far deeper connections than we might imagine.
MON 17:00 PM (b01j5fws)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01j2dqq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 Just a Minute (b01j5fwv)
Series 63
Episode 3
Paul Merton, Sue Perkins, Julian Clary & Greg Proops join Nicholas Parsons for the game in which panellists have to talk for 60 seconds without hesitation, repetition or deviation.
Today Sue Perkins talks on the subject of The Worst Night of my Life, Julian Clary teaches us all about The Vikings, Paul Merton explains How he would Describe his Personality and Greg Proops enlightens us on the subject of Why the Dinosaurs Died Out.
Producer: Claire Jones.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b01j5fwx)
Tom asks Pip to help Brenda with the burger van at next Monday night's Jubilee celebrations. At lunch Tom is delighted to hear Tony has finally hired someone to help out. The man, Trevor, is apparently quite a character who spends his spare time gigging.
Usha offers to wash Amy's clothes once her own load is finished but Amy doesn't need Usha's help. Usha is irritated with Amy's childish reaction and demands to know how long Amy will continue to be churlish and cold. Amy's behaviour is affecting Alan as well as being hurtful to Usha. Amy is determined to have the last word with Usha, whom she claims has no right to speak on behalf of her father. Furthermore Amy believes that Usha has always had an agenda and that their step-mother daughter relationship was a sham.
Ruth and David agree that cancelling Open Farm Sunday would look like failure, so they'll go ahead. They ask Pip to arrange for some Young Farmers to act as stewards. Usha turns up, looking for some peace and quiet in a sane, sensible house, but Ben has got everyone playing a game of the irrationally humorous Sausages. Ruth tells Usha she's come to the wrong place.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b01j5g2p)
Ken Loach review; Rumer; James Sallis interview
With Mark Lawson.
Ken Loach's latest film, The Angels' Share, is a comedy set in Scotland, following the fortunes of Robbie, a young Scottish gangster who discovers that he has a "nose" - a natural aptitude for judging whisky. Columnist Suzanne Moore gives her verdict.
Singer Rumer released her first album Seasons of My Soul to much acclaim in 2010. Her second album is a collection of songs originally made famous by male artists. She discusses how she chose the songs and how she coped with her nerves at a recent performance at the White House, singing for President Obama.
American writer, poet and musician James Sallis discusses his latest crime novel, Driven - a sequel to Drive, which was adapted as a film last year, starring Ryan Gosling. Driven is set seven years after the events in Drive, and the nameless Driver finds that his past still stalks him.
Writer Travis Elborough charts the close connections between British crime fiction and British beaches - not just for readers sitting by the sea with a book, but for writers including Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie and Peter James.
Producer Ellie Bury.
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01j5fw6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 Things We Forgot to Remember (b01j5h4z)
Series 8
Magna Carta Barons' French Invasion
The barons who created Magna Carta are 'noble defenders of English liberty'. But they aided a massive French invasion of England to be stopped by unsung hero, William Marshall.
The Magna Carta could be just another inglorious tale of the rich evading tax, were it not for the little known invasion of England in 1216 which, had it succeeded, would have changed the map of Europe forever. The English would now be French and the Magna Carta would be an obscure, forgotten document, of little interest to anyone.
King John had been the enemy of the barons, the man they forced to seal the Magna Carta. When that didn't stop King John taxing them and taking their lands they sided with the "real" enemy of England, the future king of France, Prince Louis. He decided to invade England, making various promises to the Barons if they joined him.
But things did not go as planned for Louis; King John died from dysentery - brought on by eating too many peaches - and with the taxing King John gone some of the Barons changed sides once again, fighting alongside a grand old Knight William Marshal, England's real, but forgotten hero. The invasion failed at the battle of Lincoln and England was safely back in the hands of the English, under the nine year old King Henry III.
The remaining Barons came over to the young King, The Magna Carta was redrafted - without clause 61 which was unfavourable to the monarchy - and as we now know became one of the most important documents in the Western World. However, the 2nd French invasion, thwarted by Marshall, has long been forgotten and, ironically, the duplicitous Barons are remembered for all the wrong reasons.
MON 20:30 Analysis (b01jb6vz)
Middle East: Too Soon for Democracy?
Edward Stourton explores the prospects for post-revolution government, following the Arab Spring. Elections are being held, but can voters be sure autocratic rule is in the past?
Contributors, in order of appearance:
Aref Ali Nayed, Islamic theologian and Libyan ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.
Khaled Fahmy, professor of history at the American University in Cairo.
Marina Ottaway, senior associate of the Middle East programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Fawaz Gerges, Professor of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics.
Timur Kuran, Gorter Family Professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University.
Eugene Rogan, lecturer in the modern history of the Middle East and fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford.
The Right Hon. Sir Paddy Ashdown, former UN High Representative to Bosnia.
Khalifa Shakreen, lecturer in the Economics and Political Science department at Tripoli University.
(Producer: Ruth Alexander).
MON 21:00 Material World (b01hxpy2)
In this week's programme Angela Saini asks whether the UK government's plans for future energy provisions live up to public expectations. New research shows the public generally favour renewable technologies over fossil fuels, but can the reality of our energy needs be squared with the public's wishes? We discuss this with public perception and energy policy experts Professors Nick Pidgeon from Cardiff University and Jim Watson from Sussex University.
We also look at how street lighting is affecting micro environments. Insects and arachnids seem to grow and multiply under new whiter brighter street lights. We discuss the consequences of this with researcher Thomas Davies from Exeter University.
Silicon chips are a key component of computers, but now a new type of chip with moveable silicon offers the chance of much faster operation and the preservation of huge amounts of data without the need to power the chips. Tony Kenyon form the University College London's Photonic Materials lab heads the team behind the new invention.
We also look at earthquake prediction and ask why it is currently impossible so say exactly when and where earthquakes will occur.
Producer: Julian Siddle.
MON 21:30 Start the Week (b01j5fw0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b01j2dqs)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b01j5h53)
The United Nations Security Council has condemned the use of heavy weapons in Houla, where more than 100 people were killed. What can we learn from history about the way such events shape our responses?
What the Indian prime minister hopes to achieve on a landmark trip to Burma.
And the 10-year-old who solved the problem his father had been unable to crack for 8 years.
With Ritula Shah.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01j5h55)
Jubilee
Episode 1
Satish was at the centre of an iconic photo of a Jubilee street party taken in 1977 but thirty years on he dreads a reunion. Even though he is now a successful paediatric cardiologist and happily married with two children of his own, the events of that fateful day are seared on his memory.
'Jubilee' is Shelley Harris's first novel. It is read by Sartaj Garewal and abridged and produced by Jane Marshall Productions.
Produced by Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (b00rt9rf)
In this week's edition of Word of Mouth Michael Rosen explores the language of the natural world asking if words are up to the job of conveying the complexities of nature. He also finds out how some British birds got their names and hears the story of a mushroom whose hallucinogenic qualities are used to capture flies. So join Word of Mouth, gathered around the nature table, this afternoon at four o'clock.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01j5h57)
Sean Curran reports from Westminster, where a Foreign Office Minister calls on the international community to take action against Syria following the massacre at Houla.
With the House of Commons in recess, peers take centre stage. They debate plans to create a new National Crime Agency, the so-called British FBI.
The Government comes under pressure to introduce a tax on plastic bags in England.
And should night flights be banned to give people living near Britain's biggest airport a decent night's sleep?
TUESDAY 29 MAY 2012
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b01j2drm)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b01j5fw2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01j2drp)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01j2drr)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01j2drt)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b01j2drw)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01jggpj)
A reading and a reflection to start the day on Radio 4 from Wales with singer and broadcaster Beverley Humphreys.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b01j5h9d)
It is estimated that by the end of this summer around a third of UK farmers will be involved in producing energy as well as food. The Campaign for Protection of Rural England say they are concerned about the visual impact of more solar panels in the countryside.
And Anna Hill hears about the images of potatoes grown in countries as far afield as Peru and Indonesia which have been entered into the World Potato Photo Competition.
This programme was presented by Anna Hill and produced in Birmingham by Angela Frain.
TUE 06:00 Today (b01j5h9g)
Morning news and current affairs, with John Humphrys and Justin Webb, including:
07:30 Pasty and caravan tax U-turn.
07:50 Are dentists misleading patients on NHS entitlements?
08:10 Justice Secretary Ken Clarke on the scaling back of plans to hold more court cases in private.
08:30 What should be done about child poverty.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (b01j5j24)
Barbara Sahakian
Jim Al-Khalili meets neuroscientist Barbara Sahakian. Neurotransmitters are chemicals in the brain which effect our memory and understanding, and neuropharmacology is the study of drugs which can be used in conditions like Alzheimer's disease or depression. But can new treatments improve the performance of surgeons or pilots and could they even be used to make us more entrepreneurial?
TUE 09:30 One to One (b01j5j26)
Mary Ann Sieghart talks to Chantelle Taylor
One to One allows journalists the chance to pursue their own passions by talking to the people who interest them most. Mary Ann Sieghart takes over the chair for the next three weeks talking to those who've killed another person. She says;
"Killing another person is humanity's greatest taboo. Most of us, thankfully, will go through life without having taken someone else's. And it's precisely because I'll never know at first hand what it's like (I hope) that I'm so curious to get inside the mind of a killer. Whether it's someone who is sanctioned to kill, like a soldier; someone who kills accidentally, like a dangerous driver; or someone who does it on purpose, like a murderer, I want to know the answers to all sorts of fascinating questions. What goes through their mind at the time? How did it happen? How do they feel afterwards? And are they haunted by the event for the rest of their life?"
In this first programme she talks to Chantelle Taylor, an army medic who shot a Taliban fighter when caught in an ambush in Afghanistan.
Producer: Lucy Lunt.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b01jlkh8)
Paul French - Midnight in Peking
Episode 2
Read by Crawford Logan.
Author Paul French reveals the true-crime "cold case" that haunted the last days of old Peking.
January, 1937. As invading Japanese troops move into the countryside around Peking, two policemen try desperately to discover who was behind the brutal murder of a young British woman, Pamela Werner.
Abridged by Robin Brooks.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01j5j28)
What do parents really want from their children's schools? Extended hours or wraparound care so they can work? Better exam results - or an end to the exam treadmill? Freedom from the National Curriculum or freedom to set up their own schools? Well-rounded, happy young people with buckets of A*s, grade 8 French Horn, fluent in French and Mandarin, and good at sports to boot? Can parents really expect schools to provide it all? And can kids cope with all these expectations?
On a special Woman's Hour dedicated to answering some of these questions about schools, Jane Garvey's guests include the educational campaigner Fiona Millar, the Director of the New Schools Network Rachel Wolf, Professor of Education Iram Siraj-Blatchford and the headmistress Sue Street.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01jckwj)
Incredible Women: Series 2
Lucy Winterton
Rebecca Front (The Thick of It, Nighty Night, Just William, Grandma's House) brings us this series about five extraordinary and unforgettable characters in Incredible Women.
In each programme less-than-intrepid interviewer Jeremy spends one night in the home of each of his interviewees. On their territory, he asks about their personal histories, plus we discover some very odd things about the way they live their daily lives.
Today he meets Lucy Winterton, rent-a-gob journalist. She churns out bestsellers, loosely based on her long-suffering husband Rollo, saying all men are useless. She has discovered a technique of punning in interviews which is handy in the world of headline-grabbing but which clearly drives interviewers, including Jeremy Paxman, absolutely mad. When Jeremy visits her home, Rollo drops a bombshell - but does Lucy react in the way one
would predict?
Featuring Jeremy Paxman, David Morrissey, Janet Street-Porter, Rebecca Front and Jeremy Front.
Producer: Claire Jones.
TUE 11:00 Extinct! (b01j5j2b)
Episode 3
Adam Rutherford looks at the extinction of humans in the distant past. He examines the fate of the first and longest-surviving of human species, Homo erectus. This early human wandered the Earth for 2 million years before disappearing.
Adam also investigates the theories put forward to explain the extinction of the Neanderthals who died out about 30 000 years ago. Did our species have a hand in their demise? Did we will kill them off? Did we absorb them through inter-species breeding? Or were they just victims of bad luck?
Whatever the causes behind the extinction of other human species, we have been living in unprecedented times for the past 20,000 years in that there has been only one species of person on Earth - our own. 50 000 years ago, there were five including ourselves.
Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker.
TUE 11:30 Tales from the Stave (b01j5j2d)
Series 8
Vivaldi's Flute Concerto
In a special edition of Tales from the Stave Frances Fyfield heads to Edinburgh to tell the story of what was thought to be a lost Vivaldi Flute Concerto.
It's a rare and thrilling moment for a classical music researcher to unearth a manuscript that has been hidden for centuries. But that was the lot of Andrew Woolley when he found, nestling in the Marquesses of Lothian's family papers at the National archives in Edinburgh, a Flute concerto by Antonio Vivaldi.
In this Tales from the Stave Special, Frances follows the research, cross checking and confirmation that followed Andrew's discovery and lead, very quickly, to the first recording and first recorded performance of the concerto known as Il Gran Mogol.
The manuscript, copied out from a lost original and probably sold to Lord Robert Kerr during a continental journey, tells the story of Vivaldi's composing methods and the cross fertilization of Southern European creativity and the Scottish Enlightenment. Andrew Woolley and the Vivaldi scholar Michael Talbot help tell the concerto's story.
Producer: Tom Alban.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b01j5j2g)
Call You and Yours
An 82 million pound fund has been launched to encourage young people who want to set up businesses instead of going to university; last week the Nationwide said it would be lending working capital to small businesses for the first time and 12 towns have been picked by Mary Portas to pilot themselves out of the economic doldrums.
As the government struggles to come to grips with the alarming currents of the global economy what chance does small business or local economic initiatives like Portas Towns have of making a dent in the deficit, never mind hauling the economy back into growth?
On Call You & Yours we're asking if our small businesses are made of the right stuff; do they really know how to come up with the goods after decades of manufacturing decline or are we kidding ourselves? What can we learn from other nations and are there types of businesses we should support more than others. Call us on 03700-100-400 before ten, 03700 100444 after ten, or email us via our website at www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours ; leave us a message or a name and number where we can call you back.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b01j2dry)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b01j5j2j)
Britain has expelled three Syrian diplomats; the parents of six children killed in an arson attack on their home in Derby have been arrested on suspicion of murder. And,what the butler saw and why he's been arrested for it in the Vatican. Share your views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
TUE 13:45 Honest Doubt: The History of an Epic Struggle (b01j5j2l)
In the Beginning
Richard Holloway, the writer and the former Bishop of Edinburgh, continues his series of 20 personal essays in which he explores the relationship between faith and doubt over the last 3000 years. He takes the listener from the birth of religious thinking, through the Old and New Testaments, to the developments in subsequent centuries and their influence on thinkers and writers, up to the present-day.
In today's programme Richard Holloway asks when the religious mind was born and looks at one of religion's earliest doubters.
When did religious thinking emerge and what was the first religious theory in Judeo-Christianity? Was it a way of explaining the ways of the world or a defence mechanism against the terrors of nature and human suffering? And who was among the first to challenge God?
With contributions from psychiatrist and poet Professor Norman Kreitman, American poet and historian Jennifer Michael Hecht and author and former Anglican priest Professor Don Cupitt, Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
Producer: Olivia Landsberg
A Ladbroke Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b01j5fwx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b01j5j2n)
Homeowners
Homeowners
Written by Kellie Smith
Wrapped up in the excitement of moving into their first home, Kate and Mark receive the shock of their lives when they discover that the house's previous owners have neglected to move out. Their dream home suddenly turns into a nightmare. A dark, unsettling thriller starring Frances Barber.
Produced by Pauline Harris
Directed by Charlotte Riches.
TUE 15:00 Making History (b01j5j2q)
Helen Castor presents Radio 4's popular history programme in which listener's questions and research help offer new insights into the past.
Oak Apple Day: Professor Mark Stoyle from the University of Southampton explains the origins of Oak Apple Day, the day that marks the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660. In Fowey in Cornwall listener David Ruffer wants to find out more about the regicide Hugh Peter. Meanwhile in Sweden, listener Peter Henriksson wants to know what happened to foreign treaties during the Long Parliament and the Restoration that followed. Helen speaks to Dr Toby Osborne at the University of Durham.
Much Wenlock: In the week that the Olympic flame is carried through the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock, the BBC School Report team help local youngsters research the local man who was a huge influence on the modern games.
The Fall of Constantinople: Tom Holland marks the anniversary of the Fall of Constantinople in May 1453 by talking to Professor Jonathan Harris at Royal Holloway University of London to discover whether it was indeed a clash of two religious empires.
Producer: Nick Patrick
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Off the Page (b01j5j2s)
No Country for Old Men
"That is no country for old men," wrote Yeats in the opening line of his poem Sailing to Byzantium. "I am trying to write about the state of my soul," he later explained. Since when the phrase has been picked up in a novel by Cormac McCarthy, and a Coen brothers film based on the same book. But are we any closer to understanding what this phrase means, beyond realising something poignant is at work ?
Tibor Fischer, Katharine Whitehorn and Guy Browning all approach the subject with three very different columns about age, experience, and youth. For Guy Browing this is no longer a country for old men because they've decided that staying young is more to their taste. Katharine Whitehorn, agony aunt at Saga, argues for the creation of a fourth age of man, while Tibor Fischer worries about what has changed more, his world or him.
Dominic Arkwright presents.
TUE 16:00 Reading between the Lines (b01j5j2v)
Beyond the Reading Wars
Michael Morpurgo - former Children's Laureate, writer, father, grandfather and ardent advocate for children's reading - explores how the seminal experience of learning to read has changed over the last 70 years. It is a subject close to his heart and one which he approaches with his customary curiosity and passionate engagement.
In June 2012, all Year One children in English primary schools will sit a compulsory new 'Phonics Screening Check'.
Meanwhile, authoritative studies show British ten year olds performing less well and expressing less enthusiasm for reading than many of their international peers.
In the first programme, Michael tried to square the circle between getting children reading and getting them to love reading.
2.Beyond the Reading Wars
In this second programme, Michael Morpurgo explores how the contemporary debate has been informed by teaching methods of the recent past- and is, in some ways, a reaction to them.
He hears from the influential teacher and author, Margaret Meek, now in her eighties, about her belief in letting children learn to read from "real books", and he challenges Julia Eccleshare, Children's Books Editor of The Guardian newspaper, on whether this method really worked for her own children.
He explores why learning to read has traditionally been a weather vane for wider classroom philosophies with the help of fellow children's author Michael Rosen.
Finally, he hears from the distinguished Cambridge neuroscientist, Usha Goswami, about how her research on dyslexia might help us understand what goes on in children's minds when they learn to read - and might even bring an end to the so-called 'Reading Wars'.
Producer : Beaty Rubens.
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b01j5my9)
Steve Backshall and Geraldine Bedell
Deadly 60 presenter Steve Backshall and Editor of Gransnet Geraldine Bedell discuss their favourite books with Harriett Gilbert.
Geraldine picks 'The Idea of Perfection' by Kate Grenville, a touching romance between two people in the eccentric little backwater of Karakarook, Australia.
Steve opts for a chilling ghost-story set around a scientific expedition to the Arctic Circle in 1937 - 'Dark Matter' by Michelle Paver.
Harriett's choice is 'In the Country of Men' by Hisham Matar, a tender coming-of-age story about nine-year-old Suleiman who becomes the man of the house when his father goes away on business.
Producer: Toby Field
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.
TUE 17:00 PM (b01j5myc)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01j2ds0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Cabin Pressure (b012ftrs)
Series 3
Newcastle
In this show, love is in the air, but also unfortunately in a small airport in Birmingham - and Martin has to choose between career, romance and fixing a very small tail light. Carolyn meets a rather dashing pilot whilst Arthur meets a rather boring board game.
John Finnemore's sitcom about the pilots of a tiny charter airline for whom no job is too small and many jobs are too difficult.
With special guests Anthony Head and Mark Williams.
Carolyn Knapp-Shappey ..... Stephanie Cole
1st Officer Douglas Richardson ..... Roger Allam
Capt. Martin Crieff ..... Tom Goodman-Hill
Arthur Shappey ..... John Finnemore
Capt. Herc Shipwright ..... Anthony Head
Eddie ..... Mark Williams
1st Officer Linda Fairburn ..... Anna Crilly
Producer/Director: David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in July 2011.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b01j5fzy)
Vicky and Susan are cutting out magazine pictures to decorate the phone box. Meanwhile, Lynda is having trouble maintaining some of the village children's interest in the maypole dancing.
Amy relays her conflict with Usha to Alice. Amy believes she is a good judge of character and knows Carl well. She's been given second hand information, so the more she thinks about it, she doesn't think Carl is married. Alice attempts to rationalise with her. Annabelle also thought Carl was married, so Amy can't just magic away a wife. Seeing sense in Alice's statement, Amy attempts another line of reasoning - Carl's marriage is obviously one of convenience.
It's Lynda's birthday. She's busy planting out The Green and is proud that Ambridge is putting on such a show for the Jubilee. Christine invites her round for tea and scones. In a mischievous moment, Jim insists Lynda should see the flowers planted at 8, Glebelands. The residents have deviated from the red, white and blue theme and planted yellow flowers! Appalled Lynda bangs on the culprit's door. Jim is amused but Christine is most definitely on Lynda's side.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b01j5myf)
Patti Smith, Ben Drew (aka Plan B)
With John Wilson.
Musician and writer Patti Smith joins John to talk about her new album, BANGA, which features a song in memory of Amy Winehouse.
Film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews Snow White And The Huntsman, a twist on the classic fairy tale - which stars Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron.
Ben Drew, aka rapper Plan B, discusses his directorial debut Ill Manors and explains why he's always thought of himself as a film director who sings rather than vice versa.
Producer Rebecca Nicholson.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01jckwj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 Summit Fever (b01j5myh)
Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair's former Chief of Staff, discusses what happens at intergovernmental summits. There are now more summits than ever before, and world leaders often see more of each other than they do of their cabinet colleagues back home. How have they emerged as the decision making forum of our era and could they ever be replaced by skype or teleconferencing? Powell's interviewees include Tony Blair, Lord Carrington, Lord Hurd, David Milliband, and Lord Robertson.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b01j5myk)
Barclays Bank and Lloyds Banking Group have both promised to have the majority of their cash points talking by the end of 2013. The UK only currently has 85 speech-enabled ATMs. We ask the British Bankers' Association why, compared to other countries, there are so few.
Also, facilities for blind and visually impaired people and news of an opportunity to perform at The Royal Albert Hall.
TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (b01j5mym)
At the 2000 Sydney Paralympics ten members of the Spanish basketball team were stripped of their gold for pretending to have a learning disability. For the first time since that scandal athletes with learning disabilities can compete again in this year's games. British psychologist, Professor Jan Burns is the Head of Eligibility for the International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability. She tells Claudia which sports and which athletes will be eligible.
In 2007 the Harvard political scientist, Robert Putnam published a paper stating that ethnic diversity in a community is associated with more mistrust. His paper was influential with governments, both in the UK and the US. Claudia is joined by one of Britain's leading social psychologists, Professor Miles Hewstone from Oxford University, about his new research which finds Putnam's bleak conclusions about society are wrong.
Clinical microbiologist, Graham Rook from University College London is hopeful that one day there might be a vaccination against depression. He's basing his ideas on two things: the finding that some people with depression are found to have higher levels of inflammation in the body and the idea that inflammation could be controlled by our exposure to contact with certain worms and bacteria - the so-called hygiene hypothesis. Professor Rook tells Claudia why he thinks with more research there could one day be a vaccine. The link between depression and inflammation in a proportion of people with depression is established, but is a vaccine for all really possible and would it be a useful avenue to explore for preventing the condition? Nick Craddock is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Cardiff and explains why he is critical of the idea.
Producer: Pam Rutherford.
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (b01j5j24)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b01j2ds2)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b01j5myp)
Robin Lustig presents national and international news and analysis.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01j8mq2)
Jubilee
Episode 2
Satish remembers waking in Cherry Gardens on the morning of the Jubilee in 1977. And as preparations for the party get underway, Mandy comes to see him and so sets in motion a train of events that haunt him to this day.
'Jubilee' is Shelley Harris's first novel. It is read by Sartaj Garewal and abridged and Produced by Jane Marshall Productions.
Produced by Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:00 The Pickerskill Reports (b012wxxr)
Series 2
Patrick Trumball
Written and Directed by Andrew McGibbon.
Patrick Trumball's strange fascination for thunderstorms, lightening and other epic forces of nature appear to mark him out as an unusual, otherworldly child confirmed by Pickerskill when he discovers that the boy also possesses a perfect photographic memory.
Cast:
Dr Henry Pickerskill ....... Ian McDiarmid
Fintan Grice ....... Toby Longworth
Patrick Trumball ....... Louis Williams
A.R.F. Somerset Stephenson ....... Mike Sarne
Stealgroynes ........ Jack Edwards
Calman .......Kris Saddler
Moorcroft ...... Joe Cooper
Matron ....... Mia Soteriou
Producers: Nick Romero and Andrew McGibbon
A Curtains For Radio Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01jsy2l)
Susan Hulme reports on the latest news from Westminster. Labour peers claim ministers have broken the ministerial code by announcing VAT changes to pasties and caravans in the newspapers rather than on the floor of the House of Lords. The Government has come under pressure to justify international aid given to the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza.
WEDNESDAY 30 MAY 2012
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b01j2dsx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b01jlkh8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01j2dsz)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01j2dt1)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01j2dt3)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b01j2dt5)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01j5nvt)
A reading and a reflection to start the day on Radio 4 from Wales with singer and broadcaster Beverley Humphreys.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b01j5nvw)
Spanish olive growers are facing the lowest oil prices in ten years. UK farmers, meanwhile, are building a market for cold-pressed rapeseed oil. A vintage British strawberry harvest is forecast. Growers have had a bumpy ride, with frost and rain, but the recent hot weather is turning the early strawberry season around. And, as the clippers start whirring on sheep farms, how the value of a flock's fleece is decided by the Wool Board.
Presenter: Anna Hill
Producer: Sarah Swadling.
WED 06:00 Today (b01j5nvy)
Morning news and current affairs, presented by Evan Davis and Justin Webb, featuring:
0731 Alan Milburn, the government's independent reviewer of social mobility, speaks to Evan Davis about his report published today on access to the professions.
0738 Seventy-five years ago, three researchers began a project to study the lives of people in Britain, calling it Mass Observation. In his second report, the BBC's Allan Little looks back to the Royal Wedding of 1981 and the public's relationship with the monarchy.
0751 A group of MPs is suggesting that there should be self-esteem lessons in school as they believe kids as young as five worry about their size and appearance. Lib Dem MP Jo Swinson and head teacher Sean O'Regan debate the issue.
0810 The UN Security Council meets today to consider its next steps to address the crisis in Syria, after its envoy Kofi Annan said the country had reached a tipping point. Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN commissioner for Human Rights, explains how the UN is likely to proceed.
0815 The Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman speaks to Evan Davis following his withering attack on the British government's economic policy.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b01j5nw0)
Jack Lowden, Bernard Lynch, Bobby Teale, Sophie Dickens
Libby Purves meets actor Jack Lowden; Bobby Teale, a former associate of The Kray twins; Bernard Lynch, an openly gay Roman Catholic priest and sculptor Sophie Dickens.
Actor Jack Lowden plays athlete and devout Scottish Christian Eric Liddell in the new stage production of the film 'Chariots of Fire' directed by Edward Hall. The play tells the stories of Liddell and Harold Abrahams who both won gold medals at the 1924 Olympics in Paris. 'Chariots of Fire' is at the Hampstead Theatre in London.
Bernard Lynch is an openly gay Roman Catholic priest. Ordained in 1971, he spent two years as a missionary in Zambia before being sent to New York for postgraduate studies. For 15 years he was Theological Consultant to the Board of Directors of Dignity New York -- an organisation for Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered and Bisexual Catholics and their friends. He founded the AIDS/HIV Ministry of Dignity New York in 1982, which continues its work to the present day. In 1998 he married, in the presence of a Catholic priest, his life partner. They had their Civil Partnership in 2007. Last year he was suspended by his order the Society of African Missions because of his comments at the Protest the Pope march in 2010. His book 'If It Wasn't Love, Sex, Death and God' is published by Circle Books. His previous book, 'A Priest On Trial' was published by Bloomsbury.
Bobby Teale and his brothers, David and Alfie were part of notorious Kray twins' circle - they were part of the Firm. Bobby was initially drawn to the twins' glamorous world but after he witnessed Ronnie and Reggie becoming more violent, he turned his back on the brothers and became a police informant. Bobby's evidence helped the police convict the Krays. He then fled the country and it wasn't until forty years later that he was reunited with his brothers who'd thought he was dead. Their story is told in 'Bringing Down The Krays', published by Ebury Press.
Sophie Dickens is a sculptor who uses muscular movement, the power beneath the skin, to characterise her work. To celebrate athleticism in this Olympic year, she was commissioned to make a judo sculpture by the British Judo Association. She then created a bronze sporting series that includes sequences of athletes in sports such as fencing, weightlifting, wrestling and gymnastics. These make up her solo show at the Sladmore Contemporary Gallery in London.
Producer: Paula McGinley.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b01jlkhj)
Paul French - Midnight in Peking
Episode 3
Read by Crawford Logan.
Author Paul French reveals the true-crime "cold case" that haunted the last days of old Peking.
January, 1937. As invading Japanese troops move into the countryside around Peking, two policemen try desperately to discover who was behind the brutal murder of a young British woman, Pamela Werner.
In today's episode, D.C.I. Dennis finally makes a breakthrough in the case, when he discovers blood-spattered clothing belonging to one of the main suspects.
Abridged by Robin Brooks.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01j5nw2)
Michelle Mone, polycystic ovaries, the Wah Wah Girls, Elizabeth I
Michelle Mone, the business brain behind the Ultimo lingerie, on building a multi million pound brand from scratch and branching out into beauty products; Living with polycystic ovary syndrome, how to spot the symptoms, how to manage your condition and what can be done to help; New play The Wah Wah Girls explores Bollywood glitz and East End grit; Historian Tracy Borman on the life and influence of Elizabeth I. Presented by Jenni Murray.
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01jcm5r)
Incredible Women: Series 2
Marion Perez
Rebecca Front (The Thick of It, Nighty Night, Just William, Grandma's House) brings us this series about five extraordinary and unforgettable characters in Incredible Women.
In each programme, less-than-intrepid interviewer Jeremy Front spends one night in the home of each of his interviewees. On their territory, he asks about their personal histories and delves into their claims to fame.
Today he meets Professor Marion Perez, a world-renowned Californian scientist who claims to have created 'the perfection gene'. On arrival in America, Professor Perez's faithful assistant Dr Wong takes Jeremy to her James Bond-style science pod where he is blinded by science.
Armed with sceptical questions provided by Professor Robert Winston, Jeremy attempts to probe Professor Perez's claims but in doing so creates pandemonium and is sent home early.
Featuring Professor Robert Winston, James Dreyfus, Gerard McDermott, Rebecca Front and Jeremy Front.
Producer: Claire Jones.
WED 11:00 The French East End (b01j5nw4)
On a head count, the British capital has long been the sixth biggest French city, boasting more French people than Nantes, Strasbourg or Bordeaux. Today London's French community is racially and culturally diverse. It has grown far beyond the bourgeois confines of 'Frog Valley' in well-heeled South Kensington. Lucy Ash meets some of the new Gallic Eastenders and asks what their stories can tells us about the current state of France and her former colonies.
The East End's French connection goes back to the 17th Century when Charles II offered sanctuary to tens of thousands of persecuted French Protestants. Lucy visits Spitalfields, where many of the Huguenots settled, and at the Denis Severs House museum hears the story of one silk merchant who lived there in the 1680s. She meets the French owner of a nearby wine bar with a lunch menu inspired by the hardworking Huguenots who once walked the streets now filled with sari shops and Bangladeshi restaurants.
The Huguenots came to the UK to escape prejudice at home - so are there any modern day parallels? One unlikely Gallic outpost is New VIc in Newham, London's biggest 6th form college. It can't really compete with the Lycee Charles de Gaulle in Kensington but it does have a high number of Francophone pupils and the demographics are very different. These are mainly non-white students from France's Overseas Departments or former colonies, places like Reunion, Guadeloupe and Algeria. They have crossed the channel partly because they hope learning English will improve their chances of getting a job and partly because of perceived racial prejudices in the French system.
The head teacher Eddie Playfair is a pragmatic Brit with a background in Corsica. He says that finding a job in France is often tough, as payroll taxes and bureaucracy make employers wary of taking on new staff. For non-white applicants it is even worse. CVs are reputedly routinely thrown in the bin for having the wrong postcode or a North African surname. Unemployment among children and grandchildren of immigrants in the outskirts of French cities runs at around 60%.
We meet, Hamid Senni, a young businessman with Moroccan roots who wrote a book called De la Cité (the French term for a council estate) à La City. When he told his first boss in France that he wanted to become a manager, he was laughed at and thrown out of his office. Now he runs a lucrative consultancy company in Mayfair. Cleo Soazandry also feels there is far less discrimination here in London. A former Miss Madagascar, turned TV presenter and businesswoman, she once lived in the Parisian suburbs but decided to cross the channel in her early teens. She shows Lucy her secret French London - a night spot popular with the African Francophone community.
Lucy discovers another group of young French people in Hackney. Most of them are designers, artists or work in cutting edge digital media outfits. Malika Favre, who has just done a cover for the Penguin edition of the Kama Sutra, says she finds London a more creative environment and she find English 'hypocrisy' is good for business.
WED 11:30 Believe It! (b01j5nw6)
Series 1
Power
Celebrity autobiographies are everywhere. Richard Wilson has always said he'd never write one.
Based on glimmers of truth, BELIEVE IT is the hilarious, bizarre, revealing (and, most importantly, untrue) celebrity radiography of Richard Wilson.
He narrates the series, weaving in and out of dramatised scenes from his fictional life-story. He plays a heavily exaggerated version of himself: a Scots actor and national treasure, unmarried, private, passionate about politics, theatre and Manchester United (all true), who's a confidant of the powerful and has survived childhood poverty, a drunken father, years of fruitless grind, too much success, monstrosity, addiction, charity work, secret work for governments and fierce rivalry with Sean Connery (not true). All the melodramatic staples of celebrity-autobiography are wonderfully undercut by Richard's deadpan delivery.
(The title - in case you hadn't spotted - is an unashamed reference to his famous catchphrase.)
Richard is supported by a small core cast viz:
David Tennant
John Sessions
Lewis Macleod
Arabella Weir
And Jane Slavin
Who play anyone and everyone!
Ghost written by Jon Canter
Produced by: Clive Brill
A Pacificus Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b01j5nw8)
White paper on adult social care
We explore the impact of adult social care budget cuts. How are they affecting those that need care and those that provide it?
Alvin Hall will be telling us why families are seeing their incomes go up faster than other groups
After months of speculation the Samsung Galaxy S III is launching today and it's the official smartphone for the 2012 Games. The android phone claims to predict your next move - something you won't find in rivals HTC and Apple. With more gadgets and gizmos it's not surprising the phone has the highest pre-order record in mobile history.
Your GP is the first point of contact when you are unwell. But are enough of them trained to spot the early symptoms of cancer?
EU Member States finalise their plans today for how consumer and business disputes can be resolved in the future without resorting to court. It also publishes its consumer scoreboard. So which country treats their consumers best and are UK consumers getting a good deal?
Plus, we explore claims that the EU plans to extend number of hours pilots can fly and why the pilots are worried about safety.
And in a world of technology - emails, texts, kindles and Ipads - the humble fountain pen has made a comeback. Sales have more than doubled in the last year and during hard times it seems more and more people are cherishing this timeless luxury item?
Presented by Winifred Robinson
Produced by Maire Devine.
WED 12:57 Weather (b01j2dt7)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b01j5nwb)
Shaun Ley presents the national and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
WED 13:45 Honest Doubt: The History of an Epic Struggle (b01j5nwd)
Casting Out Idols
Richard Holloway, the writer and former Bishop of Edinburgh, continues his series of 20 personal essays in which he explores the relationship between faith and doubt over the last 3000 years. He takes the listener from the birth of religious thinking, through the Old and New Testaments, to the developments in subsequent centuries and their influence on thinkers and writers, up to the present-day.
Richard Holloway's main focus is on the history of doubt in the Judeo-Christian tradition, and in today's programme he looks at idolatry. He reflects on the story of the Golden Calf from Exodus in the Old Testament and says, "Worshipping idols, idolatry, and destroying idols, iconoclasm , are recurring themes in our story of doubt and I want to examine how they played out in the ancient world."
He goes on to discuss a group of remarkable doubters from eight centuries before Christ, who challenged the way in which God was worshipped. And why did an article entitled 'Our Image of God Must Go' in 1963 by the then Bishop of Woolwich, John Robinson, cause such a controversy?
With contributions from author and philosopher Sir Anthony Kenny, historian of religions Karen Armstrong, American theologian Harvey Cox, Emeritus Professor of Divinity at Harvard University and author AN Wilson.
Producer: Olivia Landsberg
A Ladbroke Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b01j5fzy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b01j5nwg)
One Hot Summer
by Juliet Gilkes - Romero
Liverpool 1919. In desperate times, with high poverty levels and spiralling unemployment, tensions are rising between the different ethnic groups in the city, and for Jamaican soldiers Johnson and Charlie and their mixed-race British friend, Sam, life is getting harder.
Based on real events, One Hot Summer tells the story of the race riots which occurred in Liverpool in 1919, when desperate times caused divisions across ethnic lines which exploded into full-blown riots.
The forgotten piece of British history dramatised in this play has been carefully researched by playwright and journalist Juliet Gilkes-Romero and includes verbatim newspaper reports from the time.
CAST:
Sam ..... Lloyd Thomas
Johnson ..... Ben Bennett
Ibrahim ..... Don Gilet
Charlie ..... Richie Campbell
Rose .... Susie Riddell
Ahmed ..... George Long
Liverpool Courier/ Rioter ..... Patrick Brennan
Liverpool Echo/ Drunk ..... Joe Sims
Evening Express/ Barman ..... Robert Blythe
Drunk/ Rioter ..... Harry Livingstone
Directed by Mary Peate
The real events of June 1919:
When armistice was signalled on 11 November 1918, the war-time boom for black soldiers and labour fizzled out as quickly as it had begun. Demobilisation had greatly increased Liverpool's black population of which a large proportion was now out of work. By May black men walking the streets of Liverpool were being openly attacked and on June 4th two Scandinavian sailors stabbed a West Indian, John Johnson, when he refused to give them a cigarette. Johnson was severely wounded in the face and news spread quickly. The next evening Johnson's friends returned to the pub seeking revenge and a violent fight ensued. The incident unleashed a race riot which engulfed the city and saw the destruction of many black homes and boarding houses and the lynching of a young black seaman, Charles Wotten, at Liverpool's Queen's Dock. Some 700 black people, including women and children, were interned at the city's police station, a development unheard of during peacetime.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b01j5nwj)
Paying for care: With the UK's ageing population, the annual cost of long-term care is expected to rise to £38 billion by 2025, according to research by the insurer, Liverpool Victoria. That would amount to £33,000 per person, per year. But who pays? Currently, in England, if you have more than £23, 250 in savings, including your home, you must pay the full cost of your own care. A government-commissioned report last year recommended the assets' threshold should be raised to £100,000 and the total amount you pay in your life should be capped at £35,000. This summer, the government is due to publish new plans for social care, including how it will be funded in the future. But what can you do now to plan for the years ahead?
If you'd like advice on how you get assessed or where to look for help, you can call Money Box Live. Paul Lewis and a panel of experts will answer your calls and emails on paying for care. Email moneybox@bbc.co.uk or call 03700 100 444. Lines open at
1pm, Wednesday.
Producer, Sally Abrahams.
WED 15:30 All in the Mind (b01j5mym)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b01j5nwl)
AIDS conspiracy theories; comics
British comics are full of iconic and transgressive characters from Dan Dare to Minnie the Minx. Laurie Taylor talks to professor James Chapman the author of a new book charting the cultural history of British comics. They are joined by the broadcaster Matthew Sweet.
Also, Professor Nicoli Nattrass explains why a disproportionate percentage of Black South Africans and African Americans subscribe to conspiracy theories about the origins of AIDS..
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b01j5nwn)
Reflections on the Mirror as two editors leave; C4's Paralympics innovations
In today's programme with Steve Hewlett:
The editors of the Mirror and Sunday Mirror lost their jobs this morning, ahead of the papers' move to a seven day operation. Ben Fenton of the Financial Times looks looks at why Trinity Mirror has made this decision and why now.
Former Paralympic swimmer Giles Long tells Steve how he came up with the new graphics for Channel 4's Paralympics coverage, which aim to demystify the system for classifying athletes.
Yesterday the CPS explained why it would not prosecute Guardian journalist Amelia Hill over allegations her stories about the phone hacking investigation came from confidential police sources. Lawyer Susan Aslan of Aslan Charles Kousetta LLP talks through the implications of that decision for working journalists.
And Mary Ann Sieghart of The Independent and former Guardian editor Peter Preston discuss Tony Blair's appearance at the Leveson Inquiry this week. Can news and comment be separated in the way he suggested and, if it can, should it be?
The producer is Simon Tillotson.
WED 17:00 PM (b01j5nwq)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01j2dt9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 So Wrong It's Right (b01j5nws)
Series 3
Episode 3
Charlie Brooker hosts the comedy panel show about the wrong side of life. Guests Father Ted and IT Crowd writer Graham Linehan, comedian Matthew Crosby and Sony-award winning podcaster Helen Zaltzman compete to suggest the best in bad ideas.
So Wrong It's Right sees Charlie ask three guests a number of questions testing their powers of creativity and revealing the best embarrassing stories from their lives. This week, the panel's worst experiences with a stranger and the best ideas for the worst new gadget are just two of the challenges faced by the panel.
Can anyone top Helen's nomination for most annoying modern irritant, 'constructed reality TV'? And will anyone beat Graham Linehan's suggestion for a terrible new gadget, the 'exciting ladder'?
The host of So Wrong It's Right, Charlie Brooker, also presents BBC4s acclaimed Newswipe and Screenwipe series, and is an award winning columnist for The Guardian. He also won Best Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards 2009.
Produced by Aled Evans
A Zeppotron Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b01j5g00)
Peggy is baking for the Jubilee cake. There's enough mixture to make some cakes for The Laurels too, which Elona offers to take over. Lilian learns that Matt is still paying Darrell in cash. Later, Lilian calls Elona to tell her that she's sorted it. Darrell's wages will be on a proper footing by the end of the week.
Kenton helps Jolene decorate The Bull. He's had another photo from Meriel, and asks Jolene if she thinks a trip to New Zealand might be possible at some point.
Adam is sitting in the garden looking through an old diary that catalogues his travels. He reminisces about his formative years. In a discussion with Lilian, he reveals he sometimes wonders if he should have stayed in Kenya. He felt as though he was making a difference there, but in Ambridge he feels as though he is an insignificant cog that inadvertently keeps the Borchester Land machine running.
Later on, as Lilian and Ian have a drink at The Bull, they discuss Adam's behaviour. Lilian tells Ian that Adam is brooding. He just needs taking out of himself.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b01j5nwv)
John Irving; African art; Thomas Heatherwick
With Mark Lawson.
Novelist John Irving discusses his new book In One Person, which has, like all of his novels, been written back to front with the ending first. It's a doorstop rather than a novella, but Irving explains that when you're looking at the impact of 30 or 40 years on a life it's hard to be brief.
Trade and politics forged a bond between Manchester and the countries of West Africa that dates back to the 19th century. A new citywide festival - We Face Forward: Art from West Africa Today - seeks to update that bond through contemporary art and music. Writer Jackie Kay, whose memoir exploring her Scottish and Nigerian heritage won the Scottish Book of the Year Award last year, joined Mark on the festival's art bus and took a tour round the exhibitions.
British designer Thomas Heatherwick was described by Terence Conran as a "Leonardo da Vinci of our times". His range of creations includes a bridge that rolls open and closed, the new Routemaster bus, a seed-bank and the cauldron to hold the Olympic Flame. Sarah Crompton of the Daily Telegraph considers two displays of Heatherwick's work: a forthcoming exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and a new book.
Producer Erin Riley.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01jcm5r)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Decision Time (b01j5nwx)
The BBC's Political Editor Nick Robinson shines a light on the process by which controversial decisions are reached behind closed doors in Whitehall.
Producer: Rob Shepherd.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b01j5nwz)
Series 3
Paddy Docherty: Poverty and Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneur Paddy Docherty says business is best placed to bring prosperity to impoverished and post conflict nations, arguing that only the commercial sector can supply the scale and dynamism needed to make a lasting impact on development.
Four Thought is a series of talks with a personal viewpoint recorded in front of an audience at the RSA in London.
Producer: Sheila Cook.
WED 21:00 Frontiers (b01j5nx1)
Transit of Venus
First of another series of programmes looking at new frontiers of scientific discovery. Astronomer Marek Kukula from the Royal Observatory at Greenwich explores the scientific implications of the forthcoming transit of Venus across the face of the Sun, a rare astronomical event that will not occur again until 2117. Previous transits have helped establish fundamental facts about our solar system, including the distance and relative positions of all the planets that orbit our sun. But now, the forthcoming transit in June 2012, the last this century, will help planet hunters searching for other worlds across the galaxy (exo-planets). As Marek discovers, technology now makes it possible to pinpoint not only a planet's mass, size, and distance from its star but we can also establish whether it has an atmosphere and what that atmosphere might consist of and therefore whether it could theoretically support life. Thanks to the next transit event, the search for another Earth has taken a bold step forward.
WED 21:30 Midweek (b01j5nw0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b01j2dtc)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b01j5nxr)
Carolyn Quinn presents national and international news and analysis.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01j8ms2)
Jubilee
Episode 3
In spite of the dangers to his health, his career and his reputation, Satish has started to self-medicate to keep his anxiety under control. And the pressure to take part in the reunion photograph to mark the 30th anniversary of the Queen's Silver Jubilee, is only adding to his distress.
'Jubilee' is written by Shelley Harris, read by Sartaj Garewal and abridged and produced by Jane Marshall Productions
Produced by Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:00 Helen Keen's It Is Rocket Science (b01j5nxt)
Series 2
Episode 3
Helen Keen, Peter Serafinowicz and Susy Kane star in the funny but true history of space exploration.
This week, given that on a rocket every ounce of saved weight is crucial, an astronaut who weighs 15% less and breathes less oxygen should have a tremendous advantage. So where were all of NASA's female astronauts? The story of Soviet pioneer Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, who at one time logged more hours in orbit than all the male American astronauts put together makes a thought-provoking contrast to the marginalised female astronauts of the USA, the so called Mercury 13, none of whom ever got to go into space.
Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill
Produced by Gareth Edwards.
WED 23:15 Strap In - It's Clever Peter (b01j5nxw)
Douglas
Strap in for fifteen minutes of rip-roaring comedy as Clever Peter bring you a swimming rat, a talking fly and a Mexican stand-off
Clever Peter - the wild and brilliantly funny award-winning sketch team get their own Radio 4 show.
From the team that brought you Cabin Pressure and Another Case Of Milton Jones comes the massively bonkers and funny Clever Peter, hot off the Edinburgh Fringe and wearers of tri-coloured jerseys.
"If they don't go very far very soon there is no such thing as British justice" - Daily Telegraph
"A masterclass in original sketch comedy" - Metro
"Pretty much top of the class"- The Scotsman
So -
Why "Clever"?
Dunno
Why "Peter"?
Not a clue mate
Should I listen to the show?
Yes, of course! Derrr.
Starring Richard Bond, Edward Eales-White, William Hartley
and special guest Catriona Knox
Written by Richard Bond, Edward Eales-White, William Hartley & Dominic Stone
Produced & directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive Television Ltd Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:30 What's So Great About ...? (b011j2fn)
Series 3
Snooker
Lenny Henry returns to the fray with the first of three further attempts to get to grips with things that he's always found mystifying. This week, he travels to the Crucible in Sheffield to meet the stars of the game of Snooker. With the 2011 World Championships as his introduction to the reality of the green baize table, Lenny poses the question What's So Great About...Snooker? to Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Dennis Taylor, John Virgo, John Parrott and Terry Griffiths... What is the lure of this sport that back in 1985 it held 18 million TV viewers captivated past midnight when an emotional Taylor overcame the legendary Davis to win the World Championships on the last black?
Stephen Hendry gives Lenny a quick masterclass in the mystique of cue action and John Virgo unpicks some of the sport's arcane and sometimes incomprehensible language ("that thick kiss on the pink has got him needing snookers...") So can this glittering line-up manage to convince Lenny out of his lifelong aversion to the game of coloured balls...?
Producer: Simon Elmes.
THURSDAY 31 MAY 2012
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b01j2dv8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b01jlkhj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01j2dvb)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01j2dvd)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01j2dvg)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b01j2dvj)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01jggtc)
A reading and a reflection to start the day on Radio 4 from Wales with singer and broadcaster Beverley Humphreys.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b01j6srg)
Scientists hope that sequencing the tomato genome will be the key to making them taste better, and last longer in the fridge, as well as offering the prospect of drought and disease resistant tomatoes. 300 scientists in 14 countries have been working on the project. Also in the programme, Orkney's only abattoir is to reopen. The price farmers are paid for lamb is falling, as the good weather brings a glut onto the market. The good news for sheep farmers, though, is that wool prices have risen 22%, but have they risen enough to make farmers want to keep a fleecier breed of sheep?
Presenter: Charlotte Smith
Producer: Sarah Swadling.
THU 06:00 Today (b01j6srj)
Morning news and current affairs, with James Naughtie and Sarah Montague, including:
07:30 Does the eurozone need a full banking union to secure the economy?
07:50 Is addiction a disease?
08:10 Paul Wood reports from undercover in Syria.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b01j6srl)
The Trojan War
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Trojan War, one of the best known events of Greek mythology. According to the traditional version of the story, the war began when a Trojan prince, Paris, eloped with the Spartan queen Helen. A Greek army besieged Troy for ten years before the city was finally overrun and destroyed. Some of the most familiar names of Greek mythology are associated with the war, including Achilles and Hector, Odysseus and Helen of Troy - and it has also given us the story of the Trojan Horse.The war is the backdrop for Homer's epic poem The Iliad, and features in many other works from classical antiquity. For centuries it was assumed to be a mythical event. But in the nineteenth century a series of archaeological discoveries provided startling evidence that Troy might really have existed, leading some scholars to conclude that there could even be some truth behind the myth. So does the Trojan War story have any basis in fact? And why has it proved such an enduring legend?With:Edith HallProfessor of Classics at King's College LondonEllen AdamsLecturer in Classical Art and Archaeology at King's College LondonSusan SherrattLecturer in Archaeology at the University of SheffieldProducer: Thomas Morris.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b01jlkjc)
Paul French - Midnight in Peking
Episode 4
Read by Crawford Logan.
Author Paul French reveals the true-crime "cold case" that haunted the last days of old Peking.
Spring, 1937. As invading Japanese troops move into the countryside around Peking, two policemen try desperately to discover who was behind the brutal murder of a young British woman, Pamela Werner.
A prime suspect is found for Pamela's murder, but is there enough evidence to arrest him? And will continuing interference from the British consul jeopardise progress in the case?
Abridged by Robin Brooks.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01j6srn)
Mary McCartney - Vegetarian
Queen Anne was the first Queen of the United Kingdom. But what do we really know about her ? Artist Tracey Emin says she's struggling with the menopause. She's described it as being a gentle decline, making her feel slightly dead. Is she right? Is the menopause the beginning of the end, or simply a new beginning?
Mary McCartney is best known as a photographer. She's now following in her mother Linda's footsteps and creating vegetarian food . She joins Jenni to Cook the Perfect vegetarian supper dish.
And could you foster a child? We meet three sisters from Gloucester who are all foster carers - a job they took on when their own children had flown the nest.
Producer Ruth Watts.
Presenter Jenni Murray.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01jcm7r)
Incredible Women: Series 2
Paddy Jones
Rebecca Front (The Thick of It, Nighty Night, Just William, Grandma's House) brings us this series about five extraordinary and unforgettable characters in Incredible Women.
In each programme less-than-intrepid interviewer Jeremy Front spends one night in the home of each of his interviewees. On their territory, he asks about their personal histories, plus we discover some very odd things about the way they live their daily lives.
Today he meets Paddy Jones, photographer and former 60s wild child whose photographic projects included the Vietnam war and many rock stars. Too crazy for the wildest of rock stars though, she had a penchant for smuggling grenades home in her suitcase and using them in her next photo shoot.
Featuring Rick Wakeman, 60s photographer David Steen, Rebecca Front and Jeremy Front.
Producer: Clarie Jones.
THU 11:30 Follow-Up Albums (b01j6srs)
Suede - Dog Man Star
Music critic Pete Paphides tells the story behind three 'follow-up' albums - from Dexys Midnight Runners, Fleetwood Mac and Suede - with tales of musical pressure, creative differences, personal politics and mixed results.
Programme 3: Suede - Dog Man Star
In 1991, Suede was named "the best new band in Britain", with a string of hit singles and a universally acclaimed debut album, 'Suede'. Flamboyant singer Brett Anderson and incendiary guitarist Bernard Butler became feted as song-writers. David Bowie was amongst their fans.
The scrutiny that followed took its toll on their relationship. Determined to write a dissolute conceptual masterpiece, Anderson exiled himself in a gothic pile in North London while Butler questioned the paraphernalia that came with pop stardom.
Bereavement and clashes over the album's producer heightened the tension and, with just one part to complete on the album, Butler walked out for good. Suddenly, having blazed the trail for Britpop, they returned with an album deemed out of step with its sunny positivism.
But almost two decades on, Suede's second album Dog Man Star reappeared to a plethora of 5 star reviews.
Producer: Laura Parfitt
A White Pebble Media Production for BBC Radio 4
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b01j6srv)
Thomas Cook, tackling takeaways, plus home care for the elderly
Thomas Cook publishes its latest figures - how well is the rescue package shaping up?
A former Government drugs advisor has suggested that there should be alcohol sensors in every car - so would it work?
Haringey Council wants to curb the number of takeaways to tackle poor health and obesity. Dominoes Pizza says that's the answer - we hear the debate.
The over 80s are the world's fastest growing population group, but very little is known about their health and experience of life. The Coming of Age exhibition brings together artists and scientists from Newcastle University's Institute for Ageing and Health to share the science and art of ageing.
Plus with 6 million older people receiving care at home we find out about the challenges for the carers now that budgets are being cut.
We hear about those getting an unexpected bonus from the solar panels - when the sun shines their electricity meters run backwards.
And Newbiggin by the Sea - once a popular Northumberland coastal resort but now in decline with many of its shops empty. It's just been named by the government as one of a dozen Mary Portas pilot towns. So how will that help revive it?
Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Rebecca Moore.
THU 12:57 Weather (b01j2dvl)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b01jbqr4)
Shaun Ley presents the national and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
THU 13:45 Honest Doubt: The History of an Epic Struggle (b01j6srx)
Revelation and Its Limits
In a series of personal essays Richard Holloway considers the tensions between faith and doubt over the last 3000 years. Author and former Bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway, focuses on the Judeo-Christian tradition as he takes the listener from the birth of religious thinking, through the Old and New Testaments, to the developments in subsequent centuries and their influence on thinkers and writers, up to the present-day.
In today's programme Richard Holloway explores the idea of revelation: "The claim is that the God who is beyond our ability to reach unaided makes himself available to our senses, sometimes through sight, sometimes through sound. Inevitably, we can only capture the human side of this transaction, so how can we decide whether it's really God who's at the other end? That's the big question before us."
In this programme he talks to the writer Karen Armstrong, to the American poet Jennifer Hecht, and to Harvey Cox, Emeritus Professor of Divinity at Harvard.
Producer: Olivia Landsberg
A Ladbroke Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b01j5g00)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b00td7f4)
Justin Butcher - The Patience of Mr Job
Mr Job is an African farmer with an unshakeable faith in the benevolence of the West. There's a flurry of excitement in the village. Mr Kismet, from the World Development Agency, has sent a letter offering rich rewards if the region sells its timber and moves to cut-flower production. Mr Job obeys the WDA scrupulously, even when the instructions prove extremely inconvenient, but as they wait for Mr Kismet's arrival, a series of disasters strike. A satire about globalisation and climate change.
Mr Job ..... Jude Akuwudike
Mrs Job ..... Adjoa Andoh
Mr Eliphaz ..... Danny Sapani
Mr Bildad ..... Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Mr Achebe ..... Lloyd Thomas
Mr Lucy ..... Paul Courtney Hyu
Directed by Claire Grove
This is the Job story from the Old Testament with a new twist - a dark comedy set in Africa about the topical subjects of globalisation and climate change. We are in the fictional West African country of Ghanzania. Mr Job (Jude Akuwudike) is the unofficial head of his village. He trusts the West's promises of rich rewards if they give up traditional farming in favour of large scale production of cash crops. Mrs Job (Adjoa Andoh) is less certain. So the villagers cut down their forests, sell their goats and pour chemicals into the soil, but their children get sick, the hill slides into the lake, a hurricane floods the coast, and Mr Job is left clinging to the roof of his house. As the waters close over his head he hears the voice of God. Will his patience be rewarded?
Justin Butcher wrote the brilliant 'Seven White Masks of Scaramouche Jones' for Radio 4 which became an award-winning one-man show for Pete Postlethwaite. Justin also wrote the enormously successful satirical stage play 'The Madness of George Dubya', following it up with 'A Weapons Inspector Calls'.
THU 15:00 Ramblings (b01j6t0g)
Series 21
Dartmoor
Clare Balding is walking with dogs (and their owners) in this new series of Ramblings.
Prog 5: Dartmoor with Alex Lyons who is a search and rescue dog handler.
Alex Lyons is a dog handler with the Tavistock-Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team. He and several members of his team - and their dogs - take Clare for a wild, wet and windy walk on Dartmoor. Clare sees how the rescue dogs work, and asks why anyone would want to spend their leisure time doing a voluntary job which is exhausting and occasionally upsetting. The answer? A sense of fulfilment, the opportunity to spend time in beautiful and remote countryside, and - of course - the joy of working with highly trained and intelligent dogs (who make their presence felt, and heard, throughout the programme).
Producer Karen Gregor.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b01j2fdk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (b01j9mm2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b01j6t0l)
Francine Stock meets with Charlize Theron to discuss her role in two films out this week - Prometheus and Snow White and the Huntsman.
It's been one of the most hyped films of the year, but does Ridley Scott's Prometheus deliver? Critic Tim Robey is here with his verdict.
Neil Brand is behind the piano to study the use of music in films based on fairy tales.
Tom Lawes, owner of the Electric Cinema in Birmingham, has made a documentary called The Last Projectionist. He discusses the dying trade of the 35mm projectionist.
Producer Craig Smith.
THU 16:30 Material World (b01j6t0n)
It's 80 years since British Physicist James Chadwick discovered the Neutron. Finding this key particle led to the development of many different branches of science from theoretical physics to modern medicine, engineering and electronics. Quentin Cooper discuss the significance of Chadwick's work and his legacy with Professor Peter Rowlands, from Liverpool University - where Chadwick worked on particle accelerators and Professor Andrew Harrison, from the Institut Laue-Langevin, one of the world's leading neutron research facilities.
We hear the first results from one of our 'So You Want to Be a Scientist' teams. What noises do we really find horrible and why?
And we examine the state of the world's helium supply. It's not just used to inflate party balloons, helium has a key role in protecting sensitive microelectronics and enabling the correct functioning of medical scanners and equipment used in the study of neutrons. It occurs in the same deposits as natural gas, but is not managed well by the industries which extract and store it according to Dr Richard Clarke from the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy.
Producer: Julian Siddle.
THU 17:00 PM (b01j6t0q)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01j2dvn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 The Simon Day Show (b01j6t0s)
Series 2
Tommy Cockles
Simon Day and his characters once again welcome listeners to The Mallard, a small provincial theatre somewhere in the UK. Each week one of Simon's comic characters come to perform at The Mallard while the staff struggle with rivalries, self-doubt and the new owner's vision for the theatre's future.
This week popular, blazered entertainer Tommy Cockles arrives at the theatre to find it transformed. There's a new Nigerian owner, soundman Goose has been replaced by an authoritarian ex-copper and receptionist Catherine has disappeared off to India to find herself.
Cast list:
Tommy Cockles ..... Simon Day
Catherine ..... Catherine Shepherd
Emanuel Akinyemi ..... Felix Dexter
Pat Bennet ..... Morwenna Banks
Ron Bone ..... Simon Greenall
Written by Simon Day
Produced by Colin Anderson.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b01j5g03)
Harry helps Vicky display a replica crown on top of the decorated phone box.
Vicky tells Mike she feels too tired to help build the beacon. The couple wish they had more time together. Vicky suggests they will have the opportunity for more fun when Mike retires. Vicky recites a list of activities the couple can do together, while Mike is dreaming of more solitary pursuits - the kind that involve a giant television, a sports channel and a comfy chair.
Meanwhile, Pip returns home early to find David installing the security cameras. She is dismayed that David has transformed their home into a place where her every move is recorded. However Josh and Ben are having fun watching themselves back on screen.
When Spencer arrives at Brookfield to meet Pip, David doesn't initially recognise him on the CCTV. He is rather nervous about the unidentified man until Pip recognises her boyfriend. Later, while building the beacon, Pip tells Spencer she believes there is a reason behind the extra security measures at Brookfield that David's not telling her about. She doesn't like it.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b01j6t1r)
Michael Morpurgo; Ridley Scott's Prometheus reviewed
With Mark Lawson.
Director Ridley Scott returns to science fiction with Prometheus, starring Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender. It follows a group of scientists who travel to a distant world, where they encounter a threat to human existence. How does it compare to Scott's earlier blockbuster, Alien? Naomi Alderman gives her verdict.
Michael Morpurgo and his biographer Maggie Fergusson discuss how they have collaborated on his life story, From War Child to War Horse. In seven chapters she describes how the unbookish boy who wanted to be an army officer became a best-selling children's author; and Michael responds with seven new stories. They reflect on the sometimes painful aspects of his childhood and his relationship with his own children.
Jodie Whittaker and Christopher Eccleston star in a new National Theatre production of Antigone by Sophocles. Peter Kemp reviews.
Ken Loach recently complained about the certificate awarded to The Angels' Share by the British Board of Film Classification. In order to qualify for a 15 certificate, several swear words had to be removed, prompting the director to observe that the middle class "is obsessed by what they call bad language." The BBFC's Head Of Policy, David Austin, defends the decision and reveals the detailed negotiations that take place behind the scenes between the board and film-makers.
Producer Ellie Bury.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01jcm7r)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b01j6t1t)
Grooming: Who Cares?
Why are vulnerable girls living in children's homes falling victim to grooming and sexual abuse?
The recent convictions of nine men involved in a child sex ring in Rochdale revealed the tactics of the perpetrators. But the investigation also showed failures in the care system and its inability to protect residents of children's homes.
One of the victims living in a privately run residential home was abused by 25 men in one night. New figures suggest hundreds more may have suffered similar exploitation.
Many local authorities no longer run residential establishments but send children to homes in other parts of the country. There is a concentration of provision in the North West of England where property is cheap. But vulnerable young women far from their roots can become at risk of being groomed - particularly in areas where there is known to be a problem.
The leader of Rochdale Council tells Simon Cox that local authorities should stop sending children to private homes in their area as they can't guarantee that children will be kept safe.
Michael Gove recently called for new safeguards to protect teenagers in care, but why are existing guidelines and procedures not being followed?
Former victims speak out to describe the devastating impact on their lives and why - for them - any new measures will be too late.
Producer: Gail Champion.
THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (b01j6t47)
The view from the top of business. Presented by Evan Davis, The Bottom Line cuts through confusion, statistics and spin to present a clearer view of the business world, through discussion with people running leading and emerging companies. The programme is broadcast first on BBC Radio 4 and later on BBC World Service Radio, BBC World News TV and BBC News Channel TV.
As the mood on Europe swings from doom to gloom, Evan Davis asks his executive guests about the outlook for the Euro. What will it take to save the single currency? And what are the prospects for business more generally in 2012?
Joining Evan in the studio are Warren East, chief executive of FTSE 100 microchip designer ARM Holdings plc; Dr Carol Bell, energy industry executive with particular expertise in investment and financing in the oil and gas sector and a board member of three energy companies, including Salamander Energy plc; Michael Morley, chief executive of private bank Coutts.
Producer: Ben Crighton
Editor: Stephen Chilcott.
THU 21:00 Extinct! (b01j5j2b)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Tuesday]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b01j6srl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b01j2dvq)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b01j6t49)
Robin Lustig presents national and international news and analysis.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01j8mt8)
Jubilee
Episode 4
When Satish's wife tells his father there are plans for a reunion Silver Jubilee photograph, he is delighted that the world will see what has become of his son. But he doesn't know what happened at the street party 30 years ago, nor does he realise how badly it has affected his son.
'Jubilee' is written by Shelley Harris, read by Sartaj Garewal and abridged and produced by Jane Marshall Productions
Produced by Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:00 Tonight (b01j6t4c)
Series 2
Episode 4
Rory Bremner and the team return for another series of Tonight, the topical satire show that digs that bit deeper into national and international politics.
Rory's mantra is that it's as important to make sense out of things as it is to make fun of them. With a team that includes veteran satirists Andy Zaltzman and Nick Doody and versatile impressionist and character comedian Kate O'Sullivan, Tonight promises to do both. This is half an hour of stand-up, sketches, and investigative satire. And at the core of the show are Rory's incisively funny interviews with the most informed guest commentators on the current political scene.
More global crises, more political scandal, more jokes with the word fiscal in them - and some truly brilliant impressions: a shot in the arm for satire lovers everywhere.
Producers: Simon Jacobs & Frank Stirling
A Unique Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:30 What's So Great About ...? (b011msk8)
Series 3
The Pogues
Lenny Henry never quite got The Pogues. From the fist time he saw the band on the TV in the 80's, with the singer banging a tray on his head during a drunken reverie, they have mystified this Luther Vandross fan. He goes on a journey of enlightenment through Poguedom speaking to musicians, the former manager, music critics and die hard fans to gain a better appreciation of this unmissable London Irish band. He explores the romantic and brutally realistic poetry of Shane McGowan and summons up the raw energy of their live performances as he asks - what's so great about The Pogues?
Producer Neil McCarthy.
FRIDAY 01 JUNE 2012
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b01j2dwk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b01jlkjc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01j2dwm)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01j2dwp)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01j2dwr)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b01j2dwt)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01jggz4)
A reading and a reflection to start the day on Radio 4 from Wales with singer and broadcaster Beverley Humphreys.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b01j6wgl)
Charlotte Smith investigates claims that changes to the way prospective gangmasters are investigated could lead to fruit pickers and farm labourers being put at a greater risk of exploitation. Ministers want to scrap the automatic inspections carried out by the Gangmasters Licensing Authority of businesses applying to use or supply groups of workers. The GLA says it will still carry out checks and use an established intelligence based approach to track down illegal activity.
And as the wool price has increased by 22% on this time last year, Charlotte takes a trip down the high street to see if wool can compete with modern manmade fibres when it comes to the keen eye and purse of British consumers.
This programme is presented by Charlotte Smith and produced in Birmingham by Angela Frain.
FRI 06:00 Today (b01j6wgn)
Morning news and current affairs, presented by James Naughtie and Justin Webb, including:
07:30 Lord Lawson on budget U-turns.
07:50 Foreign Secretary William Hague on Syria.
08:10 Why have elderly patients been resuscitated against their wishes?
08:20 Photographer Annie Leibovitz speaks to Nicola Stanbridge.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b01j2fdt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b01jlkjk)
Paul French - Midnight in Peking
Episode 5
Read by Crawford Logan.
Author Paul French reveals the true-crime "cold case" that haunted the last days of old Peking.
Summer, 1937. Pamela Werner's unsolved murder is forgotten amidst the violence and chaos of the Japanese invasion of China. But Pamela's father presses on with his own, unofficial, investigation and makes some shocking discoveries.
Abridged by Robin Brooks.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01j6wgq)
As many of us prepare to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee over the weekend, we look at the reign of Queen Elizabeth the Second. She's less than 4 years away from surpassing Queen Victoria as Britain's longest reigning monarch. Elizabeth II has reigned at a time of rapid change in Britain and the Commonwealth and she's seen the popularity of her family fluctuate over that time. But the Queen might be heartened by a recent MORI poll which found that 80% of those surveyed were in favour of the monarchy. Jenni is joined by historian Sarah Gristwood to look at the reign of Queen Elizabeth the Second.
Trampolining has only been an Olympic sport since 2000 and since then it's been dominated by the Chinese, but 26 year old Kat Driscoll is hoping to change all that. She's currently world number one and on Saturday she'll compete in her final qualifier for the 2012 Olympic Games. Reporter Caz Graham meets Kat Driscoll, along with her coach Bill Leach, in Washington, Tyne and Wear where she trains.
A father and son happy to publicly discuss the uncomfortable feelings within their own difficult relationship doesn't come along every day but that's the remit behind 'Chasing Lost Times' , a new book written by psychologist Geoff Beattie and his son Ben. They tell Jenni why their relationship broke down when Ben was in his teens and how it only got back on track because of one thing: a shared passion for distance running.
To help victims of domestic violence vets in Scotland are to be trained in spotting signs of abuse not only in pets but also their owners. The Domestic Abuse Veterinary Initiative (DAVI) has been developed by six charities including Medics Against Violence .The scheme prepares vets in how to recognise signs so that they can then help victims if concerns are identified. Former President of the British Veterinary Association, Dr Freda Scott-Park, and Founder of Medics Against Violence, Dr Christine Goodall, join Jenni to explain how the connection between animal cruelty and domestic violence can be exploited more fully to help victims.
Presented by Jenni Murray.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01jcmbg)
Incredible Women: Series 2
Andrea Wickham
Rebecca Front (The Thick of It, Nighty Night, Just William, Grandma's House) brings us this series about five extraordinary and unforgettable characters in Incredible Women.
In each programme less-than-intrepid interviewer Jeremy Front spends one night in the home of each of his interviewees. On their territory, he asks about their personal histories, plus we discover some shocking attitudes and some very odd things about the way they live their daily lives.
Today he meets Andrea Wickham, the renowned opera diva who has been making a lot of money recently with CDs of her versions of popular songs. He joins her on the eve of her latest project in which she has enlisted many A-listers to sing on a charity CD with her. But there is a 99 per cent drop out rate when they find out more about her chosen charity.
Featuring Sophie Ellis Bextor, Philip Pope, Brian Conley, Rebecca Front and Jeremy Front.
Producer: Claire Jones.
FRI 11:00 The DJ Derek: A Local Legend (b01j6wgs)
Poet Miles Chambers presents the story of the legendary reggae DJ who M.C.s in Jamaican patois, and who also happens to be a white, bespectacled 70 year old ex-accountant.
In the 1960s, a managerial career with the accounts department at Cadbury's seemed to be mapped out for a young, ambitious Bristolian called Derek Serpell-Morris. Thirty years later the same Derek was spinning the discs for hundreds of thousands of revellers at a festival in Spain. He's had sets at Glastonbury, the Big Chill, released his own compilation album on the Trojan record label and even appeared in a Dizzee Rascal video.
Derek's transformation began against a backdrop of racial pressure in Bristol; from the 1963 bus dispute when the Bristol Omnibus company refused to employ black people, to the riots of 1980, Derek has slowly but surely established himself as a fixture of the local scene before branching out nationally to become the 'legend' that he is today.
Miles speaks to the people who have witnessed and crucially, supported, this remarkable metamorphosis; his neighbours, fans, family and of course to Derek himself. There are many pretenders who have taken his name, but this is the story of the original DJ Derek.
Producer: Sarah Langan.
FRI 11:30 Births, Deaths and Marriages (b01j6wgv)
Series 1
Episode 2
In this episode, the team are horrified that the media have been invited to one of Malcolm's citizenship ceremonies, Anita's got problems with childcare and Luke's having a 'quarter life' crisis.
Births, Deaths and Marriages is a brand new sitcom set in a Local Authority Register Office where the staff deal with the three greatest events in anybody's life.
Written by David Schneider (The Day Today, I'm Alan Partridge), he stars as chief registrar Malcolm Fox who is a stickler for rules and would be willing to interrupt any wedding service if the width of the bride infringes health and safety. He's single but why does he need to be married? He's married thousands of women.
Alongside him are rival and divorcee Lorna who has been parachuted in from Car Parks to drag the office (and Malcolm) into the 21st century. To her, marriage isn't just about love and romance, it's got to be about making a profit in our new age of austerity.
There's also the ever spiky Mary, geeky Luke who's worried he'll end up like Malcolm one day, and ditzy Anita who may get her words and names mixed up occasionally but, as the only parent in the office, is a mother to them all.
Cast:
Malcolm ...... David Schneider
Lorna ....... Sarah Hadland
Anita ........ Sandy McDade
Luke ....... Russell Tovey
Mary ....... Sally Bretton
Mr. Arnold/Peter Stephenson ...... Andrew Brooke
Bereaved woman/New Citizen/Mum ...... Jane Whittenshaw
Producer: Simon Jacobs
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b01j6wgx)
Leaving the dream, fake booze, lunchtime discos and dark skies
The growing criminal economy which is costing the UK a billion pounds a year - fake booze. We speak to Trading Standards and HMRC about what they are doing to tackle the problem.
Peter White has his dancing shoes on at the UK's first lunch beat disco. The project, which started in Sweden, is trying to get people away from their desks and dancing through their lunch breaks.
First You & Yours revealed that more students than ever before are being caught trying to cheat their way into British university. Now we reveal how others are going undetected paying other people to write their personal statements for them.
And we hear from the British expats trying to flee the crisis in the Eurozone .
Plus dark skies over Northumberland. Kielder wants to become Europe's largest dark sky park in an attempt attract more stargazing tourists to the area.
And In the final part of our series on social care we look at how care homes are adapting to council cuts.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Joe Kent.
FRI 12:52 The Listening Project (b01j6wgz)
Betty and Elaine: Family Life with Ten Children
Fi Glover presents Radio 4's series capturing the nation in conversation: today, mother and daughter Betty and Elaine from Hull, reflect on homelife and making do when you have ten children. Daughter Elaine is a cleaner; Betty is a retired cook who brought up her ten children with love and fortitude. Theirs was a tough working class life, where Betty would often go without to feed the children. All these years on, with Betty now in her 90s, the love still shines through.
The Listening Project is a new initiative for Radio 4 that aims to offer a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Many of the long conversations are being archived by the British Library which they will use to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Mohini Patel.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b01j2dww)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b01j6wh1)
James Robbins presents the national and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
FRI 13:45 Honest Doubt: The History of an Epic Struggle (b01j6wh3)
Mysteries Not Problems
Richard Holloway, the writer and former Bishop of Edinburgh, continues his series of 20 personal essays in which he explores the relationship between faith and doubt over the last 3000 years. With his main focus on the Judeo-Christian tradition, he takes the listener from the birth of religious thinking, through the Old and New Testaments, to the developments in subsequent centuries and their influence on thinkers and writers, up to the present-day.
In today's programme Richard Holloway discusses the meaning of the word 'mystery'. He says "Words like mystery and mystical don't suggest a problem to be cleared out of the way but a reality that is veiled or concealed. In talking about them, we're talking about experiences in which we're involved but which we're unable fully to comprehend."
In discussing the medieval mystics he suggests that, unlike the shallow end of a swimming pool where all the noise is, it's at 'the deep end of the pool, the silent end' that the mystics operate.
He looks at the work and inner conflict of three leading mediaeval mystics. Two are from the Christian tradition - Meister Eckhart, a radical fourteenth century Dominican preacher and Hildegard of Bingen, a thirteenth century German abbess, ecologist, poet and composer. The third mystic is from the Sufi tradition - Al Ghazzali, a writer and legal scholar and one of Islam's greatest theologians.
With contributions from historian Karen Armstrong; Revd David Jasper, Professor of Theology and Literature at Glasgow University and author of The Sacred Desert, and Carole Hillenbrand, Professor of Islamic Studies at Edinburgh University.
Producer: Olivia Landsberg
A Ladbroke Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b01j5g03)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b00t4vjz)
Depth Charge
by Fiona Mackie
Den ..... David Calder
Irene ..... Susan Brown
Joe ..... Ben Crowe
Shiner ..... Sam Dale
Funeral Plan Agent ..... Christine Kavanagh
Director ..... Sally Avens
Den, a retired submariner, is short on cash and short on dreams until Joe enters his life and promises him the chance to breathe again. David Calder stars in Fiona Mackie's drama.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b01j6wh5)
South Oxhey, Herts
Peter Gibbs and the panel are guests of the Dig Deep Community Project in South Oxhey. The team also report from the brand new Chelsea Fringe show.
Questions addressed in the programme:
Which edibles would grow in 15x30cm containers (on a narrow boat)?
Plant suggested: Mushrooms, dwarf courgettes, dwarf beans, dwarf aubergines and dwarf peppers.
Which wild flowers attract moths?
Plant suggested: grasses, honeysuckle and campion
How can I grow sweetcorn from seed?
Which pond plants will not be eaten by Koi fish?
Plants suggested: rushes and marsh marigolds
My previously healthy Wisteria is very sickly - has it got a disease that may affect other plants in the garden and does it need to be replaced? The panel recommended replacing with Akebia Quinata
What is the Chelsea chop?
Will seed potatoes blighted by frost, come back?
Which vegetables would crop by July (for a school workshop)?
Plants suggested: dwarf beans. chard and peas
Produced by Robert Abel
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 Half-Light (b01j6wh7)
Henry Drake Goes Home
By Neil M. Gunn, first published in 1941.
Read by Robert Jack.
After three decades living in the north of Scotland, the outbreak of World War Two moves an elderly man to return to his home county of Devon.
Short story by Neil M. Gunn, one of Scotland's finest writers who is best known for his novel The Silver Darlings. Gunn was born in 1891, in the coastal village of Dunbeath, in Caithness, and wrote prolifically over a period that spanned the recession of the 1920s through to the aftermath of the Second World War. He died in 1973.
The stories in this series are taken from Half-Light, a new collection of Gunn's short fiction compiled by his nephew Dairmid Gunn and published by Caithness-based Whittles Publishing.
Abridged and produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b01j6wh9)
Matthew Bannister on
Leopold De Rothschild the banker who raised millions for musical charities and ran a railway in his garden
Donald "Duck" Dunn - the bass player behind scores of soul hits from the sixties
Elisabeth Tomalin the designer who used art therapy to help the children of Nazis come to terms with their guilt.
Colin McIntyre - the founding editor of the BBC's Ceefax service.
and the clarinettist Alan Hacker who played a key role in the performance of new music.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (b01j6whc)
Have you ever listened to the radio and felt that what you were hearing was too private for broadcast?
In the first of the new series of Feedback, Roger is joined by a group of programme makers to discuss how they tread the line between gripping radio - and exploitation. Editor Philip Sellars discusses Radio 4's recent series The Trouble with Kane, which follows the treatment of a twelve year old boy arrested for cannabis possession. Editor Louisa Compton talks about Victoria Derbyshire's 5Live broadcast from an abortion clinic. And Foreign Correspondent Mike Thomson describes a harrowing interview with a woman who had suffered greatly at the hands of rebel Rwandan soldiers.
As the BBC's Delivering Quality First plans are finally approved, Feedback listener Andy Boddington asks the managing editor of his local station, BBC Radio Shropshire, what impact the cuts will have.
And we hear a plea for restraint in the face of the Jubilee jamboree.
Presenter: Roger Bolton
Producer: Kate Taylor
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b01j6whf)
Catherine and Liz: When Dad and Mum were Priest and Nun
Fi Glover presents Radio 4's series capturing the nation in conversation: today Catherine and Liz, friends who met at an exhibition of religious art, their interest - and friendship - inspired by both growing up in strongly religious families. Liz's father had spent time in a seminary before he married; Catherine's father and mother were a Catholic priest and nun when they met. The friends discuss the impact this had on Catherine's upbringing and her current relationship with the Catholic church.
The Listening Project is a new initiative for Radio 4 that aims to offer a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Many of the long conversations are being archived by the British Library which they will use to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Mohini Patel.
FRI 17:00 PM (b01j6whh)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01j2dwy)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b01j6whk)
Series 77
Episode 9
A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Sandi Toksvig. With Jeremy Hardy, Andy Hamilton, Rebecca Front and Susan Calman.
Produced by Sam Bryant.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b01j5g1g)
Alice and Chris are treating Spearmint's hoof and wonder where he received his injury. They discuss Amy's preoccupation with Carl and her persistent belief that he is not married. Alice thinks some detective work is needed. Amy might be able to move on if she can accept the truth. Proof of Carl's other life may provide her with the reality check she needs. Chris tells her to be careful. Chris is starting to get a bit fed up with Amy always being around. But at least he's off to nets tonight - and he's Ifty's blue-eyed boy.
Later, Alice reveals that Carl's affair with Amy has brought up memories regarding her father's indiscretion with Siobhan. Jennifer was devastated and Alice thinks of the heartache Carl's wife will endure if she finds out about Amy.
It's becoming increasingly difficult for Ruth and David to keep security measures in place with their two boys demanding the independence they have always enjoyed. Ruth reckons Josh knows something's up.
Clarrie's not impressed with the number of people letting her down. Ruth is the latest one to be too busy to bake for the giant Jubilee sponge cake. And Joe is still upset that Bob Pullen will be cutting it on Sunday.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b01j6wsv)
Neneh Cherry interviewed; the Transit of Venus in art
Neneh Cherry first made her name performing her hit Buffalo Stance on Top of the Pops while seven months pregnant. She later went on to collaborate with other artists including Youssou N'Dour and Michael Stipe. Her new album The Cherry Thing is another collaboration, this time with Swedish jazz trio The Thing, and includes covers of artists like The Stooges and Neneh's father Don Cherry. She explains how her upbringing informed her sound and why jazz is more than a musical genre.
Kirsty Lang talks to Maria Semple, formerly a writer on US TV shows including Ellen and Arrested Development. Her novel Where'd You Go, Bernadette is an epistolary comedy about paranoid parenting, loathing Seattle and a loving daughter's journey to Antarctica to find her troubled mum.
As the Transit Of Venus makes a rare appearance on June 5th and 6th, Front Row considers the various ways that it's inspired art, literature and music over the centuries.
Death Watch predicted reality television a good ten years before it became a reality itself. But as so often with science fiction, a dark future has transformed into the dull present, as Professor Roger Luckhurst explains.
Producer Stephen Hughes
Neneh Cherry photo: copyright Jamie Morgan.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01jcmbg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b01j6wsx)
Belfast
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs a live discussion of news and politics from Methodist College, Belfast, one of the winning schools in the BBC's nationwide Schools Questions and Answers challenge. The students will be helping Jonathan Dimbleby put the programme together and will be involved in the production from start to finish. On the panel, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, Mike Nesbitt; deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Nigel Dodds; Sinn Finn representative and education minister at Stormont, John O'Dowd; and Provost of Magee Campus and Dean of Academic Development at the University of Ulster, Deidre Heenan.
Producer: Victoria Wakely.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b01j6wsz)
On Bees and Being
"The other day" Adam Gopnik writes, "my son was working his way through the text of Shakespeare's 'Henry V' with an eye to a student production". He read Canterbury's famous speech on how the well regulated kingdom is like a bee hive. "How could Shakespeare know that much about the division of bee-labour" he ponders "and not know that the big bee in the centre was -- a girl bee?"
Gopnik takes us - via a bunch of bee experts - on a journey of "long and buzzing thoughts". He discovers a transgendered bee in Virgil's Georgics, dressed up as a king bee. He finds himself deep in the world of the Dutch biologist, Swammerdam. "Swammerdam!" he writes. "One of those great Northern European names, like Erasmus of Rotterdam that carries its credibility within its consonants".
He draws lessons about the theory of knowledge and the working of the human mind. He rejects the notion "that thought proceeds in fortresses as ordered and locked as a beehive seems to be." In truth, he argues, "no age thinks monolithically, and no mind begins with absolute clarity ... The sticky honey of uncertainty, the buzz around the beehive's entrance - these are signs of minds at work".
Producer:
Adele Armstrong.
FRI 21:00 Honest Doubt: The History of an Epic Struggle - Omnibus (b01j6wt1)
In the Beginning
Richard Holloway, the writer and the former Bishop of Edinburgh, begins a series of 20 personal essays in which he explores the relationship between faith and doubt over the last 3000 years. He takes the listener from the birth of religious thinking, through the Old and New Testaments, to the developments in subsequent centuries and their influence on thinkers and writers, up to the present-day.
As the former head of the Scottish Episcopal Church, Richard Holloway's main focus is on the history of doubt in the Judeo-Christian tradition. But as he says, he is 'first and foremost a human being' and so he also addresses some of the universal questions about our existence and the meaning of life, considering how some of humanity's best thinkers and most creative writers have approached these 'literally life and death questions'.
In today's programme he takes the painting by Paul Gauguin which poses the questions 'Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?' as his starting point, and quotes the writer George Steiner, and poets Robert Browning, Walter de la Mare, as well as Tennyson, from whose poem "In Memoriam" comes "Honest Doubt", the title of the series.
Holloway describes the tension between faith and doubt as two sides of the same coin or, as he says, 'Another way into the tension is to think of a piece of music. If faith is the melody, doubt is the descant. Each adds texture and depth to the other and, if we're lucky, a sense of harmony.'
Producer: Olivia Landsberg
A Ladbroke Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b01j2dx0)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b01j6wt3)
There's a new flurry of international diplomacy on Syria, but how committed are western nations to intervention?
We report from Tel Aviv on a wave of anti-immigrant attacks.
And one woman tells us why she had the words 'Do Not Resuscitate' tattooed on her chest, aged 70.
With Carolyn Quinn.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01j8mt2)
Jubilee
Episode 5
At the hospital, caring for his patients, Satish usually feels in control of his life. But still haunted by his memories of the Silver Jubilee, his anxiety has begun to encroach even on this safe haven. And somebody has noticed that there are irregularities in the drug cupboard.
'Jubilee' is written by Shelley Harris, read by Sartaj Garewal and abridged and produced by Jane Marshall Productions
Produced by Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 23:00 A Good Read (b01j5my9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:27 What's So Great About ...? (b011ttf7)
Series 3
Chaucer
In the last of the present series in which he challenges the totemic value of people and works that are widely admired, Lenny Henry asks What's So Great About...Chaucer? Written over 600 years ago, Chaucer's masterpiece the Canterbury Tales is acclaimed as one of the greatest works of English literature. Adapted thirty years ago as a hit West End musical, inspiration to numerous writers and dramatists who've used its tale-telling format to spin their own contemporary yarns, the Tales have iconic status in the literary world. Whether it's for the poetry or the ribaldry, or as many admire, their apparent real-life depiction of medieval England, the work of Geoffrey Chaucer is widely admired.
But is it really that good? Despite his recent embracing of Shakespeare, iconoclast Lenny Henry has never been able quite to swallow the acclaim accorded to Chaucer. Challenging his scepticism today are Chaucer biographer and eminent scholar Ardis Butterfield, playwright Mike Poulton who adapted the Canterbury Tales for the Royal Shakespeare Company and ex-Python and ardent Chaucerian and medievalist Terry Jones.
Producer: Simon Elmes.
FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b01j6wt5)
Anne and Steve: Support through Adversity
Fi Glover presents Radio 4's series capturing the nation in conversation: today Anne and Steve from Bristol reflect on a friendship throughout which they've provided support for each other. Steve was there when Anne's husband died; Anne was there when Steve's despair pitched him close to suicide, as he came to terms with the horrific abuse he suffered as a child, both in his family home and in the children's homes he was sent to.
The Listening Project is a new initiative for Radio 4 that aims to offer a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Many of the long conversations are being archived by the British Library which they will use to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Mohini Patel.
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 (b01j5fw6)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 MON (b01j5fw6)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 TUE (b01jckwj)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 TUE (b01jckwj)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 WED (b01jcm5r)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 WED (b01jcm5r)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 THU (b01jcm7r)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 THU (b01jcm7r)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 FRI (b01jcmbg)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 FRI (b01jcmbg)
A Good Read
16:30 TUE (b01j5my9)
A Good Read
23:00 FRI (b01j5my9)
A Point of View
08:50 SUN (b01hxvnk)
A Point of View
20:50 FRI (b01j6wsz)
All in the Mind
21:00 TUE (b01j5mym)
All in the Mind
15:30 WED (b01j5mym)
Analysis
20:30 MON (b01jb6vz)
Any Answers?
14:00 SAT (b01j2bmx)
Any Questions?
13:10 SAT (b01hxtn4)
Any Questions?
20:00 FRI (b01j6wsx)
Archive on 4
20:00 SAT (b01j2bzr)
Believe It!
11:30 WED (b01j5nw6)
Bells on Sunday
05:43 SUN (b01j2fd9)
Bells on Sunday
00:45 MON (b01j2fd9)
Births, Deaths and Marriages
11:30 FRI (b01j6wgv)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 MON (b01j5h55)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 TUE (b01j8mq2)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 WED (b01j8ms2)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 THU (b01j8mt8)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 FRI (b01j8mt2)
Book of the Week
00:30 SAT (b01j6qz4)
Book of the Week
09:45 MON (b01j5fw2)
Book of the Week
00:30 TUE (b01j5fw2)
Book of the Week
09:45 TUE (b01jlkh8)
Book of the Week
00:30 WED (b01jlkh8)
Book of the Week
09:45 WED (b01jlkhj)
Book of the Week
00:30 THU (b01jlkhj)
Book of the Week
09:45 THU (b01jlkjc)
Book of the Week
00:30 FRI (b01jlkjc)
Book of the Week
09:45 FRI (b01jlkjk)
Broadcasting House
09:00 SUN (b01j2fdp)
Cabin Pressure
18:30 TUE (b012ftrs)
Classic Serial
21:00 SAT (b01hw63c)
Classic Serial
15:00 SUN (b01j2ff2)
Counterpoint
23:00 SAT (b01hw6gk)
Counterpoint
15:00 MON (b01j5fwl)
Decision Time
22:15 SAT (b01hxmx1)
Decision Time
20:00 WED (b01j5nwx)
Desert Island Discs
11:15 SUN (b01j2fdt)
Desert Island Discs
09:00 FRI (b01j2fdt)
Drama
14:15 MON (b01j5fwj)
Drama
14:15 TUE (b01j5j2n)
Drama
14:15 WED (b01j5nwg)
Drama
14:15 THU (b00td7f4)
Drama
14:15 FRI (b00t4vjz)
Extinct!
11:00 TUE (b01j5j2b)
Extinct!
21:00 THU (b01j5j2b)
Farming Today
06:30 SAT (b01j29bk)
Farming Today
05:45 MON (b01j5fvw)
Farming Today
05:45 TUE (b01j5h9d)
Farming Today
05:45 WED (b01j5nvw)
Farming Today
05:45 THU (b01j6srg)
Farming Today
05:45 FRI (b01j6wgl)
Feedback
16:30 FRI (b01j6whc)
Follow-Up Albums
11:30 THU (b01j6srs)
Four Thought
20:45 WED (b01j5nwz)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:30 SAT (b01j2bms)
Front Row
19:15 MON (b01j5g2p)
Front Row
19:15 TUE (b01j5myf)
Front Row
19:15 WED (b01j5nwv)
Front Row
19:15 THU (b01j6t1r)
Front Row
19:15 FRI (b01j6wsv)
Frontiers
21:00 WED (b01j5nx1)
Gardeners' Question Time
14:00 SUN (b01hxtmh)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:00 FRI (b01j6wh5)
Half-Light
15:45 FRI (b01j6wh7)
Heidi Amsinck - Copenhagen Confidential
19:45 SUN (b01j2ld7)
Heidi Amsinck - Danish Noir
00:30 SUN (b01j2fd7)
Helen Keen's It Is Rocket Science
23:00 WED (b01j5nxt)
Honest Doubt: The History of an Epic Struggle - Omnibus
21:00 FRI (b01j6wt1)
Honest Doubt: The History of an Epic Struggle
13:45 MON (b01j5fwg)
Honest Doubt: The History of an Epic Struggle
13:45 TUE (b01j5j2l)
Honest Doubt: The History of an Epic Struggle
13:45 WED (b01j5nwd)
Honest Doubt: The History of an Epic Struggle
13:45 THU (b01j6srx)
Honest Doubt: The History of an Epic Struggle
13:45 FRI (b01j6wh3)
In Business
21:30 SUN (b01hxpyg)
In Our Time
09:00 THU (b01j6srl)
In Our Time
21:30 THU (b01j6srl)
In Touch
20:40 TUE (b01j5myk)
It's Fun, But Is It Theatre?
16:00 MON (b01j5fwn)
Just a Minute
12:00 SUN (b01hw75p)
Just a Minute
18:30 MON (b01j5fwv)
Last Word
20:30 SUN (b01hxtmm)
Last Word
16:00 FRI (b01j6wh9)
Loose Ends
18:15 SAT (b01j2bzk)
Making History
15:00 TUE (b01j5j2q)
Material World
21:00 MON (b01hxpy2)
Material World
16:30 THU (b01j6t0n)
Midnight News
00:00 SAT (b01hxvqh)
Midnight News
00:00 SUN (b01j2dnh)
Midnight News
00:00 MON (b01j2dq8)
Midnight News
00:00 TUE (b01j2drm)
Midnight News
00:00 WED (b01j2dsx)
Midnight News
00:00 THU (b01j2dv8)
Midnight News
00:00 FRI (b01j2dwk)
Midweek
09:00 WED (b01j5nw0)
Midweek
21:30 WED (b01j5nw0)
Money Box Live
15:00 WED (b01j5nwj)
Money Box
12:00 SAT (b01j2bmv)
Money Box
21:00 SUN (b01j2bmv)
More or Less
20:00 SUN (b01hxtmp)
News Briefing
05:30 SAT (b01hxvqr)
News Briefing
05:30 SUN (b01j2dnr)
News Briefing
05:30 MON (b01j2dqj)
News Briefing
05:30 TUE (b01j2drw)
News Briefing
05:30 WED (b01j2dt5)
News Briefing
05:30 THU (b01j2dvj)
News Briefing
05:30 FRI (b01j2dwt)
News Headlines
06:00 SUN (b01j2dnt)
News and Papers
06:00 SAT (b01hxvqt)
News and Papers
07:00 SUN (b01j2dny)
News and Papers
08:00 SUN (b01j2dp2)
News and Weather
22:00 SAT (b01hxvrb)
News
13:00 SAT (b01hxvr2)
Off the Page
15:30 TUE (b01j5j2s)
On Your Farm
06:35 SUN (b01j2fdf)
One to One
09:30 TUE (b01j5j26)
Open Book
16:00 SUN (b01j9mm2)
Open Book
15:30 THU (b01j9mm2)
Outfoxed: The Story of Hunting in Britain
11:00 MON (b01j9myg)
PM
17:00 SAT (b01j2bn3)
PM
17:00 MON (b01j5fws)
PM
17:00 TUE (b01j5myc)
PM
17:00 WED (b01j5nwq)
PM
17:00 THU (b01j6t0q)
PM
17:00 FRI (b01j6whh)
Pick of the Week
18:15 SUN (b01j2ld3)
Poetry Please
23:30 SAT (b01hw63h)
Poetry Please
16:30 SUN (b01j2ld1)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 SAT (b01hxvsy)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 MON (b01j5fvt)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 TUE (b01jggpj)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 WED (b01j5nvt)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 THU (b01jggtc)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 FRI (b01jggz4)
Profile
19:00 SAT (b01j2bzm)
Profile
05:45 SUN (b01j2bzm)
Profile
17:40 SUN (b01j2bzm)
Radio 4 Appeal
07:55 SUN (b01j2fdk)
Radio 4 Appeal
21:26 SUN (b01j2fdk)
Radio 4 Appeal
15:27 THU (b01j2fdk)
Ramblings
06:07 SAT (b01hxpxy)
Ramblings
15:00 THU (b01j6t0g)
Reading between the Lines
13:30 SUN (b01hxh6w)
Reading between the Lines
16:00 TUE (b01j5j2v)
Saturday Drama
14:30 SAT (b01j2bmz)
Saturday Live
09:00 SAT (b01j2bml)
Saturday Review
19:15 SAT (b01j2bzp)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SAT (b01hxvqm)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SUN (b01j2dnm)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 MON (b01j2dqd)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 TUE (b01j2drr)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 WED (b01j2dt1)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 THU (b01j2dvd)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 FRI (b01j2dwp)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SAT (b01hxvqk)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SAT (b01hxvqp)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SAT (b01hxvr4)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SUN (b01j2dnk)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SUN (b01j2dnp)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SUN (b01j2dp6)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 MON (b01j2dqb)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 MON (b01j2dqg)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 TUE (b01j2drp)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 TUE (b01j2drt)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 WED (b01j2dsz)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 WED (b01j2dt3)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 THU (b01j2dvb)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 THU (b01j2dvg)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 FRI (b01j2dwm)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 FRI (b01j2dwr)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SAT (b01hxvr8)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SUN (b01j2dpb)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 MON (b01j2dqq)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 TUE (b01j2ds0)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 WED (b01j2dt9)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 THU (b01j2dvn)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 FRI (b01j2dwy)
So Wrong It's Right
18:30 WED (b01j5nws)
Something Understood
06:05 SUN (b01j2fdc)
Something Understood
23:30 SUN (b01j2fdc)
Start the Week
09:00 MON (b01j5fw0)
Start the Week
21:30 MON (b01j5fw0)
Strap In - It's Clever Peter
23:15 WED (b01j5nxw)
Summit Fever
20:00 TUE (b01j5myh)
Sunday Worship
08:10 SUN (b01j2fdm)
Sunday
07:10 SUN (b01j2fdh)
Tales from the Stave
15:30 SAT (b01hwfnd)
Tales from the Stave
11:30 TUE (b01j5j2d)
The Archers Omnibus
10:00 SUN (b01j2fdr)
The Archers
19:00 SUN (b01j2ld5)
The Archers
14:00 MON (b01j2ld5)
The Archers
19:00 MON (b01j5fwx)
The Archers
14:00 TUE (b01j5fwx)
The Archers
19:00 TUE (b01j5fzy)
The Archers
14:00 WED (b01j5fzy)
The Archers
19:00 WED (b01j5g00)
The Archers
14:00 THU (b01j5g00)
The Archers
19:00 THU (b01j5g03)
The Archers
14:00 FRI (b01j5g03)
The Archers
19:00 FRI (b01j5g1g)
The Barlow-Morgenstern Method
10:30 SAT (b01j2bmn)
The Bottom Line
20:30 THU (b01j6t47)
The DJ Derek: A Local Legend
11:00 FRI (b01j6wgs)
The Digital Human
16:30 MON (b01j5fwq)
The End of Drug Discovery
17:00 SUN (b01hxh76)
The Film Programme
23:00 SUN (b01hxpy0)
The Film Programme
16:00 THU (b01j6t0l)
The Food Programme
12:32 SUN (b01j2fdw)
The Food Programme
15:30 MON (b01j2fdw)
The French East End
11:00 WED (b01j5nw4)
The Life Scientific
09:00 TUE (b01j5j24)
The Life Scientific
21:30 TUE (b01j5j24)
The Listening Project
14:45 SUN (b01j2ff0)
The Listening Project
12:52 FRI (b01j6wgz)
The Listening Project
16:55 FRI (b01j6whf)
The Listening Project
23:55 FRI (b01j6wt5)
The Media Show
16:30 WED (b01j5nwn)
The News Quiz
12:30 SAT (b01hxtmw)
The News Quiz
18:30 FRI (b01j6whk)
The Pickerskill Reports
23:00 TUE (b012wxxr)
The Report
20:00 THU (b01j6t1t)
The Simon Day Show
18:30 THU (b01j6t0s)
The Week in Westminster
11:00 SAT (b01j2bmq)
The World This Weekend
13:00 SUN (b01j2fdy)
The World Tonight
22:00 MON (b01j5h53)
The World Tonight
22:00 TUE (b01j5myp)
The World Tonight
22:00 WED (b01j5nxr)
The World Tonight
22:00 THU (b01j6t49)
The World Tonight
22:00 FRI (b01j6wt3)
Things We Forgot to Remember
20:00 MON (b01j5h4z)
Thinking Allowed
00:15 MON (b01hxmwh)
Thinking Allowed
16:00 WED (b01j5nwl)
Today in Parliament
23:30 MON (b01j5h57)
Today in Parliament
23:30 TUE (b01jsy2l)
Today
07:00 SAT (b01j29bm)
Today
06:00 MON (b01j5fvy)
Today
06:00 TUE (b01j5h9g)
Today
06:00 WED (b01j5nvy)
Today
06:00 THU (b01j6srj)
Today
06:00 FRI (b01j6wgn)
Tonight
19:15 SUN (b01hxr12)
Tonight
23:00 THU (b01j6t4c)
Weather
06:04 SAT (b01hxvqw)
Weather
06:57 SAT (b01hxvqy)
Weather
12:57 SAT (b01hxvr0)
Weather
17:57 SAT (b01hxvr6)
Weather
06:57 SUN (b01j2dnw)
Weather
07:57 SUN (b01j2dp0)
Weather
12:57 SUN (b01j2dp4)
Weather
17:57 SUN (b01j2dp8)
Weather
05:57 MON (b01j2dql)
Weather
12:57 MON (b01j2dqn)
Weather
21:58 MON (b01j2dqs)
Weather
12:57 TUE (b01j2dry)
Weather
21:58 TUE (b01j2ds2)
Weather
12:57 WED (b01j2dt7)
Weather
21:58 WED (b01j2dtc)
Weather
12:57 THU (b01j2dvl)
Weather
21:58 THU (b01j2dvq)
Weather
12:57 FRI (b01j2dww)
Weather
21:58 FRI (b01j2dx0)
Westminster Hour
22:00 SUN (b01j2lhb)
What the Papers Say
22:45 SUN (b01j2lhd)
What's So Great About ...?
23:30 WED (b011j2fn)
What's So Great About ...?
23:30 THU (b011msk8)
What's So Great About ...?
23:27 FRI (b011ttf7)
With Nobbs On
11:30 MON (b01j5fw8)
Woman's Hour
16:00 SAT (b01j2bn1)
Woman's Hour
10:00 MON (b01j5fw4)
Woman's Hour
10:00 TUE (b01j5j28)
Woman's Hour
10:00 WED (b01j5nw2)
Woman's Hour
10:00 THU (b01j6srn)
Woman's Hour
10:00 FRI (b01j6wgq)
Word of Mouth
23:00 MON (b00rt9rf)
World at One
13:00 MON (b01j5fwd)
World at One
13:00 TUE (b01j5j2j)
World at One
13:00 WED (b01j5nwb)
World at One
13:00 THU (b01jbqr4)
World at One
13:00 FRI (b01j6wh1)
You and Yours
12:00 MON (b01j5fwb)
You and Yours
12:00 TUE (b01j5j2g)
You and Yours
12:00 WED (b01j5nw8)
You and Yours
12:00 THU (b01j6srv)
You and Yours
12:00 FRI (b01j6wgx)
iPM
05:45 SAT (b01hxvt0)
iPM
17:30 SAT (b01hxvt0)