The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Essays by Roberto Saviano. Translated by Oonagh Stransky.
Saviano visits the Swedish Academy, where he has been asked to speak alongside Salman Rushdie, a fellow victim of threats to his literary freedom, about their common situation and their writing. He draws inspiration not only from Rushdie but from the many authors who have stood in the same place, defending the power of the written word.
This series of essays are by the celebrated author of Gomorrah - a sensational book exposing the inner workings of the Italian Mafia. Journalist Roberto Saviano explores a range of his passions, both light and dark, sharing common themes of David vs Goliath and the power of art and talent to overcome difficulties, while offering a compelling insight into his life in hiding and under permanent police protection since Gomorrah's publication in 2006.
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
Eddie speaks to listener Jo, a recent retiree who volunteers as a carer for the elderly. Jo takes great solace in visiting the old and lonely, but finds herself exasperated by wealthy home-owners who call on charities for help with their day-to-day chores. Your News is ready by Rory Cellan-Jones.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
Clare Balding is walking with dogs (and their owners) throughout this series of Ramblings.
Pen Farthing is a former Royal Marine; while serving in Afghanistan he rescued an Afghan fighting dog which he named NowZad after the village where his unit was based. He brought NowZad back to the UK (which in itself required military-style planning) and when he left the Marines started a charity which runs a shelter in Afghanistan for stray and abandoned animals. The central aim of the charity is to catch, neuter and release stray dogs to prevent the population growing yet further.
Pen lives in Tiverton in Devon and, for this edition of Ramblings, he takes Clare Balding on a wild walk across Dartmoor. Accompanying them is Patchdog (a massive Afghan Kuchi) and Maxchap (rescued from Iraq). Sadly Nowzad is a little old for such a long walk, but his story is central.
Anna Hill finds out why New Zealanders are poisoning possums from the air, in a programme looking at efforts to eradicate TB in cattle at home and abroad. A Judicial Review of plans for badger culling in England will begin next week. Anna visits an organic dairy farmer in Wiltshire to discuss how the outcome of the review might affect him. She also talks to the Welsh Chief Vet about the badger vaccination pilot which has just started in Pembrokeshire. Looking further afield, she hears about badger culling in Ireland and how the Swiss slaughtered a third of their cattle herd in the 1950s to bring TB under control.
Morning news and current affairs with John Humphrys and James Naughtie, featuring
Large parts of England and Scotland are on flood alert after forecasters predicted a month's worth of rain would fall in just 24 hours. More than ninety flood warnings have been issued, 41 in northwest England, 46 in northeast England and five in Scotland. The north west of England is expected to be worst hit with heavy rain and high winds expected to last into Sunday morning. Owner of an independent bookshop Kate Claughan gives her account of the damage caused.
Immigration policy has been in the news again. Ed Miliband, said Labour had to change its approach to immigration and the Conservative Party co-chairwoman, Lady Warsi, lobbied Cabinet colleagues to drop plans to stop UK citizens who earn less than £40,000 bringing a foreign spouse into the country. Former Conservative cabinet minister, Peter Lilley and the director of the Commonwealth Society, Danny Sriskandrajah join the debate.
You are ten times more likely to die in a traffic accident in Liberia than you are in the United Kingdom. The roads there are shocking and the health service was destroyed in the civil war. The Today programme has a team out in the country and presenter Sarah Montague tells us what happened when they were involved in an accident.
Robert Peston, Uri Geller, cancer sniffing dogs, John McCarthy, Miles Jupp, Bomber Command pilot, David Gentleman, Meera Syal
Sian Williams & Richard Coles with the BBC's Business Editor Robert Peston, artist and designer David Gentleman, Claire Guest who trains dogs to sniff out a range of diseases including cancer and Bomber Command pilot Frank Dell who was shot down behind enemy lines in WW2; John McCarthy watches cricket with comedian Miles Jupp, Uri Geller reveals his secret life, and writer and actress Meera Syal shares her Inheritance Tracks.
When David Bowie's rock album Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was released in June 1972, it broke taboos within popular culture and changed the course of many young fans' lives forever.
Bowie combined his skills as a mime artist and top-rate vocal dramatist to come up with the most unique rock creation to date -, a flamboyant bi-sexual alter-ego. Ziggy Stardust was a fictional alien rock superstar who came to Earth five years before its predicted end. He turned his creator David Bowie from one hit wonder to superstar and took the world by storm. But then, in an extraordinary coup de theatre, Bowie killed off Ziggy at the Hammersmith Odeon in July 1973.
Like many aspiring young musicians, Midge Ure fell for Ziggy. For Midge and many others, watching Ziggy on Tops of the Pops was a rallying cry. Bowie's cross-dressing creation gave Midge and his contemporaries a license to try anything and everything, limited only by their imaginations. So who was Ziggy Stardust? Why was he killed off by his creator at the height of his fame? And why did everyone, even straight men like Midge, fall for him?
In an entertaining, insightful programme marking the 40th anniversary of the Ziggy Stardust album, Midge Ure explores the story behind the groundbreaking album and discovers its impact on his fellow musicians, the music industry and the fans, then and now.
With contributions from the Spiders from Mars band members, Trevor Bolder and Woody Woodmansey, roadie and hairdresser Suzie Ronson, producer Ken Scott, pop artist George Underwood and musician and fan Gary Kemp.
Andrew Pierce of the Daily Mail looks behind the scenes at Westminster.
Greece has now got a government but can the Euro survive? As Europe prepares for a major summit next week Conservative John Redwood, Liberal Democrat Peer Shirley Williams, and Labour's Emma Reynolds consider the future of the Eurozone.
Shadow children's minister Lisa Nandy and Conservative MP Esther McVey on Michael Gove's plans to replace GCSEs with O levels.
And how will elected police commissioners change the landscape of local government and policing? Former Labour attorney general Vera Baird and Tory councillor Craig Mackinlay on what the job will entail.
Plus highlights from Aung San Suu Kyi's historic speech in Westminster Hall.
In this edition, rumours and conspiracy theories swirl around Egypt; the Greeks fed up with being criticised for attitudes towards Europe; businessmen and environmentalists squabble over the River Danube in Croatia; how love, trolls and goblins help in the shaping of Swedish government policy and musings on the folly of empire from half way up a volcano in Indonesia.
Are you one of millions of customers of NatWest, RBS and Ulster Bank affected by the banks' technical problems? A computer malfunction means accounts have not been updating automatically when money is paid in or out. That's left some customers high and dry, unable to complete on property purchases, pay their staff or access any cash whilst abroad. The banks say no one will be left permanently out of pocket as a result, but if you are not an RBS group customer, but are nevertheless affected, will you get compensation? Paul Lewis talks to Susan Allen, Director of Customer Services for RBS group
Money Box has learnt that some Paypal customers trying to get help with their accounts are ending up phoning a premium rate phone line and paying up to £65 for advice from a completely unconnected firm. The company - which runs a website Thehelplineservice.co.uk - charges them £
a minute to get advice which it admits can't be relied upon and is publicly available for free elsewhere. Bob Howard reports on this story.
When does tax avoidance become 'morally wrong' to politicians from the Prime Minister down? Chancellor George Osborne promised in his Budget to crack down on what he called 'aggressive' tax avoidance and he is consulting on a new law to stamp out what the consultation paper calls 'abusive and artificial tax avoidance'. But where is the line drawn? So will the new law - due to start in April 2013 - stop the wealthy paying far less tax than the current 50% tax rate implies they should? Or will it fail like many before it have failed? Paul Lewis talks to Chartered Accountant, Elaine Clark and Andrew Tyrie, Tory chairman of the Treasury Select Committee.
Greco-German Wrestling: In the week that Jimmy Carr's tax arrangements made front page news, while Greece swore in a coalition government, David Cameron went to the G20 and an inflatable Stonehenge toured the country as part of the 2012 festival, Marcus Brigstocke, Lloyd Langford, Mitch Benn and Laura Shavin join Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis, as they dissect the week in their indomitable style. Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
Jonathan Dimbleby presents a live discussion of news and politics from the Radio Theatre, Broadcasting House, London. On the panel: Shadow Welsh Secretary, Owen Smith; Conservative MP, Rory Stewart; Columnist for the Mail on Sunday, Peter Hitchens and Director of the Southbank Centre, Jude Kelly.
Call Anita Anand on 03700 100 444, email any.answers@bbc.co.uk or tweet #bbcaq. The topics discussed on Any Questions? were: tax, education, immigration, yummy mummies and the cultural Olympiad 2012.
What has prompted Ed Miliband to suddenly declare that the Labour government got it wrong by not imposing
Could the panel comment on Cherie Blair's views on working mothers? What does it say about a society when women sometimes have to work until a few days before giving birth and then return a few weeks afterwards, often for financial reasons?
W. H. Auden said, 'no poem saved a single Jew from the gas chamber.' In the week that the 2012 Cultural Olympiad starts, what should society expect from and give to the arts and artists?
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is the story of a motorcycle journey across America, a meditation on values and the concept of Quality, and an allegorical tale of a man coming to terms with his past and with his young son.
The narrator takes a cross-country motorcycle trip from Minnesota to California with his son Chris during which the maintenance of the motorcycle becomes an illustration of how to unify the cold, rational realm of technology (the 'classical') with the warm, imaginative realm of artistry (the 'romantic'). As with the practice of Zen, the trick is to engage fully with the activity, to see and appreciate every detail, whether it's hiking in the woods, writing an essay, or tightening the bike chain to ensure a smooth ride.
The narrator wrestles both with the ghost of his past and with some of the most important philosophical questions of the 20th century.
The book touched the zeitgeist of a whole generation in 1974 after being turned down by 121 publishers. It's the biggest selling philosophy book ever with more than 5 million copies sold worldwide, has a huge online following - and has never been dramatized. Writer Peter Flannery (Our Friends in the North, George Gently, The Devil's Whore) adapts his favourite book for radio, with James Purefoy (Rome, Injustice, Ironclad) playing the Dad/Narrator.
Author: Robert M. Pirsig
Weekend Woman's Hour: Katie Price talks business, Charlotte Church discusses media privacy
Model Katie Price on managing fame and business; force feeding in Britain today; the unacceptability of the term vagina in US debate; singer Charlotte Church discusses media privacy; the unfolding humanitarian crisis in West Africa's Mali; the car and its impact on sexual morality; a Norland Nanny looks back on her life.
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.
Evan Davis asks his executive guests how they spend their time each day. What does the activity of running a company really involve, and what do the guests' diaries tell us about the nature of their jobs? They also swap thoughts on the so-called Shareholder Spring - how investors are rebelling against corporate pay.
Joining Evan in the studio are Jackie Hunt, chief financial officer of insurance giant Standard Life; John Vincent, entrepreneur and co-founder of Leon Restaurants; Harriet Green, outgoing chief executive of Premier Farnell who takes up her new role as chief executive of travel company Thomas Cook in July.
Clive hits the headlines with presenter, journalist and one of the best-known voices in Britain, Jeremy Vine, whose memoir 'It's All News to Me' tells the fascinating story of his 25 years at the BBC. Jeremy talks to Clive about our obsession with news and the power of real life stories versus the media's desire to shape them.
Clive's treading the boards with actor Barrie Rutter who, 20 years ago this month, founded Northern Broadsides; a unique theatre company with a true northern voice. As Artistic Director, Barrie has delighted audiences with a growing classic repertoire. Northern Broadsides presents 'A Government Inspector' at Harrogate Theatre from Friday 13th September.
Danny Wallace makes some noise for actor, comedian and vocal gymnast Michael Winslow. Famously starring as Sergeant Larvelle 'Motor Mouth' Jones in the Police Academy films, Michael imitates the impossible using only his voice. His 'Man of 10,000 Voices' UK tour runs until Friday 29th June and then on to the Edinburgh Festival in August.
And from one great voice to another, Clive discovers what the Dickens actress Miriam Margolyes is up to! Miriam talks about her internationally acclaimed work on stage, radio and film. As a lifelong admirer of the work of Charles Dickens, Miriam performs as 23 of his colourful characters in her one-woman show. 'Dicken's Women' tours the UK until Saturday 13th October.
With musical merriment from Moulettes, who play 'Country Joy' from their album 'The Bear's Revenge'.
And Sweden's First Aid Kit perform their latest colourful single 'Blue' from their album 'The Lion's Roar'.
The return of the award-winning series in which writers create a fictional response to the week's news continues with a satirical comedy from Deborah Levy, the novelist, playwright and Freud expert. The Dangers of Extreme Cheerfulness takes its inspiration from the publication this week of a report into the inequalities in care for those suffering from mental illness.
Eric is played by Philip Fox, Marianne by Jane Whittenshaw, the postwoman by Susie Riddell, Doctor Salkind by Don Gilet and John and the chicken by James Lailey. The producer is Elizabeth Allard.
To complement Radio Four's News and Current Affairs output, our weekly series presents a dramatic response to a major story from the week's news. The form and content are entirely lead by the news topic - so drama can come in many guises, as well as poetry and prose.
It's uniquely radio - an instant reaction to the mood of the moment - a concept impossible to imagine in any other medium.
Tom Sutcliffe and his guests novelist Gillian Slovo and writers Sarfraz Manzoor and Maev Kennedy review the week's cultural highlights including The Last of the Haussmans
Stephen Beresford's play The Last of the Haussmans at the National Theatre in London stars Julie Walters as Judy - an aging child of the 60s whose children Libby (Helen McCrory) and Nick (Rory Kinnear) feel that her lofty ideals are no substitute for proper parenting and a substantial inheritance.
The narrator of Ancient Light by John Banville is Alexander Cleave - an actor in his sixties, remembering the affair he had with his best friend's mother fifty years ago. But it soon becomes clear that his recollection of events may not be entirely reliable. And when he is cast in a film, there are odd echoes between the role he's playing and details of his own past life.
The Russian film Silent Souls - directed by Aleksei Fedorchenko - is a low-key kind of road movie in which a husband cremates his much-loved wife with the help of his best friend. The traditions and rituals which they adhere to are those of the Merjan - the remnants of a Finnish people who settled in Russia centuries ago.
Yoko Ono: To The Light is a retrospective of the artist's work at the Serpentine Gallery in London. It includes two versions of her Cut Piece in which audience members cut the clothes from her body with scissors and Amaze - a transparent plastic maze.
Veep is Armando Ianucci's HBO comedy starring Julia Louis Dreyfus as Selena Meyer - Vice President of the United States of America. Fans of The Thick of It will recognise the same bracing style making the journey from Whitehall to Washington.
Another chance to hear the audio memories of the writer, critic, TV personality and poet Clive James who died in November. This programme was first broadcast in 2012.
Clive James was seldom off our television screens in the 80s and 90s. His shows like "Saturday Night Clive" and "Clive James on Television", featured clips of TV around the world and pioneered many techniques that we take for granted today.
But throughout this time, he was also writing memoirs, poems and critical essays. After leaving his native Australia, he began his career writing for literary magazines and later became the TV critic of "The Observer".
This more serious side has often been overlooked because of his TV fame. But, having left TV presenting behind and now having been diagnosed with leukaemia, Clive is re-assessing his life and legacy.
In "Meeting Myself Coming Back", Clive hears clips from moments in his life and discusses his reaction to them with John Wilson. We hear a recording from his student days in Cambridge performing a comic monologue at a college "Smoker" event. There are clips from early appearances on radio, in the company of the novelist Kingsley Amis and also his first attempts at writing and performing on television.
We also hear extracts from his TV shows of the 80s and 90s, when, in addition to his shows about television, he presented travel programmes and a series considering the nature and history of fame in the 20th century.
In an honest and penetrating look back at his life, Clive discusses his achievements, his past mistakes and his illness.
Songs and Lamentations by Michael Symmons Roberts interweaving new translations of two powerful books of the Bible: the 'Song of Songs' - the most sensual biblical love poetry; and the 'Book of Lamentations' - its most searing poetry of violence and vengeance.
Through a fresh contemporary translation working with Biblical historians, the reverberations in these texts throw light on current events in the same part of the world.
A powerful story of the horrific destruction of a once great city, and the love story of a couple who find hope and solace in each other offering two very different perspectives on the days leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian armies in 587 BC.
Set in the middle east, this poetry of violence, heat, passion and vengeance has clear resonance with the intractable cycle of violence - and the survival of love - in that same part of the world 2500 years on. The themes and wisdom of 'Song of Songs' and 'Lamentations' have never been more current or more apposite.
The two episodes mesh together to form a single drama looking at the same last days of Jerusalem from two very different perspectives.
Seen through the eyes of Jeremiah, the troubled prophet. Crippled by poverty and oppression, Jerusalem's streets are buzzing with talk of revolution. King Zedekiah needs a grand gesture to hold on to power. His advisers are urging him to raise an army to overthrow the Babylonians, but there is one siren voice against an uprising - Jeremiah. So Zedekiah has him arrested.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
The eminent economic historian Professor Niall Ferguson argues that institutions determine the success or failure of nations. In a lecture delivered at the London School of Economics and Political Science, he says that a society governed by abstract, impersonal rules will become richer than one ruled by personal relationships. The rule of law is crucial to the creation of a modern economy and its early adoption is the reason why Western nations grew so powerful in the modern age.
But are the institutions of the West now degenerating? Professor Ferguson asks whether the democratic system has a fatal flaw at its heart. In the West young people are confronting the fact that they must live with the huge financial debt generated by their parents, something they had no control over despite the fact that they were born into a democracy. Is there a way of restoring the compact between different generations?
Which opera features the aria known in English as the 'Jewel song'? And which American poet and singer published a prize-winning memoir entitled 'Just Kids'?
Paul Gambaccini is in the chair for the last of the heats in the current series of the wide-ranging music quiz. Contestants from Lancashire, Staffordshire and County Down compete at Media City in Salford, for the one remaining place in the 2012 semi-finals.
Roger McGough presents listeners' poetry requests, including readings of poems both old and new by the Irish poet Paul Durcan - one of which is in celebration of fathers.
Also, Lucy Black reads poems by Charlotte Mew, John Donne, Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, John Keats, Emily Bronte, George Byron and John Freeman.
SUNDAY 24 JUNE 2012
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b01k1c4x)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Midsummer Tales (b01k1llb)
Count From the Splash
By Helen Dunmore. 4 Extra Debut. Meija meets an old school friend at a midsummer party in Finland, sparking long-lost childhood excitement. Read by Tracy Wiles.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01k1c4z)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01k1c51)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01k1c53)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b01k1c55)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b01k1lld)
The bells of St Mary's Church in Dunsford, Devon.
SUN 05:45 Four Thought (b01jxryn)
Series 3
Mitu Khandaker: Knowing Ourselves Through Computer Games
Computer games present a wonderful opportunity to know ourselves; a slow bombardment of opportunities for self-reflective thought says games developer Mitu Khandaker.
She argues that to look beyond the violent and mindless games of popular caricature is to see a new medium which represents the culmination of all our previous artistic forms - literature, film, painting, music. Parts of all of these, she says, can coalesce in games.
Producer: Giles Edwards.
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b01k1c57)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b01k1n5b)
Getting Away with It
Felicity Finch reflects on the balance of insecurity and confidence in our lives which can prompt us to feel we are 'getting away with it'. From the idea that we are impostors in our own lives, pretending to play a role we feel we're ill-equipped to perform, to the deliberate attempt to deceive others without facing the consequences.
Including readings from Paul Dunbar, John Cheever, and Hilary Mantel; alongside music by Bessie Smith, Fritz Kreisler and Matteo Carcassi and an interview with Professor Athene Donald.
Produced by Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b01k2b0m)
The beef industry is thriving as the price of the Sunday roast keeps on rising. Caz Graham visits the Scottish Borders where farmers are making the most of the boom.
Demand for beef in Britain is outstripping supply, and Scottish beef is now worth more than its English equivalent, giving the best opportunities for beef farmers in over 50 years.
Presenter: Caz Graham Producer: Moira Hickey.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b01k1c59)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b01k1c5c)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b01k2b0p)
The Church Urban Fund was formed 25 years ago to try and tackle poverty in inner city areas...we have a special report looking at what's been achieved, how those in need have been supported..and what more needs to be done.
The Christian charity Tearfund talks to William Crawley about the humanitarian crisis in West Africa and what the churches there are doing to alleviate the problems.. and what they hope has been achieved at the Rio Earth summit.
The Southern Baptist Church in the US has just elected its first ever black president.. we discuss the significance of this appointment with Professor Paul Harvey
America's Catholic bishops have launched a campaign against President Obama's policy insisting that women who work for Catholic institutions, should have access to free contraception IF they want it. Matt Wells has a report.
As His Holiness the Dalai Lama ends his visit to the UK, we examine the sigificance of his overseas trips..and ask whether his meetings with politicians has an adverse effect on trade links with China.
Trevor Barnes has been to the City of London to hear why hard pressed workers are being urged to take lunch break.....in their local church.
And we examine a recent report on expenses claimed by some Bishops for their work in the House of Lords..we talk to the journalist who wrote the report and hear from the church on the issue.
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b01k1n54)
Refugee Action
Case worker Santok Odedra appeals on behalf of Refugee Action
Reg Charity: 283660
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal, mark the back of the envelope Refugee Action.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b01k1c5f)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b01k1c5h)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b01k2b0r)
A service from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Cardiff, exploring how people of faith respond to seemingly intractable problems, The preacher is the Rev Roy Jenkins and The Ardwyn Singers are directed by David Michael Leggett. The organist is Janice Ball. Producer: Sian Baker.
SUN 08:50 A Point of View (b01jxw57)
What to do about a bad review
Adam Gopnik ruminates on how to handle a bad review.
He ponders the various options. The first is to ignore it and claim the high moral ground, "the Big Ignore" he calls it. The second is to write a late night letter - or three - to the offending publication. But he now has a third option - passed on by a friend just the other evening - which he promises will produce delightful results.
An amusing guide on how to get your own back on your critics.
Producer:
Adele Armstrong.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b01k2b1l)
Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b01k2b25)
Writer ..... Carole Simpson Solazzo
Director ..... Rosemary Watts
Editor ..... John Yorke
Jill Archer ..... Patricia Greene
Kenton Archer ..... Richard Attlee
David Archer .....Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer..... Felicity Finch
Pip Archer..... Helen Monks
Josh Archer ..... Cian Cheesborough
Brian Aldridge ..... Charles Collingwood
Adam Macy ..... Andrew Wincott
Ian Craig ..... Stephen Kennedy
Matt Crawford ..... Kim Durham
Lilian Bellamy ..... Sunny Ormonde
Christine Barford ..... Lesley Saweard
Peggy Woolley ..... June Spencer
Jolene Perks ..... Buffy Davis
Emma Grundy ..... Emerald O'Hanrahan
Edward Grundy ..... Barry Farrimond
Neil Carter ..... Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter ..... Charlotte Martin
Alice Carter ..... Hollie Chapman
Vicky Tucker ..... Rachel Atkins
Lynda Snell ..... Carole Boyd
Alan Franks ..... John Telfer
Usha Franks ..... Souad Faress
Amy Franks ..... Jennifer Daley
Jim Lloyd ..... John Rowe
Elona Makepeace ..... Eri Shuka
Darrell Makepeace ..... Dan Hagley
Caller ..... Joe Sims
Bernie ..... Laurence Saunders
Carl Lawrence ..... Nicholas Bailey.
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b01k2b32)
John Bishop
Kirsty Young's castaway is the comedian John Bishop.
Growing up on a Merseyside council estate, his early ambition was to play football for Liverpool - otherwise, he thought he might find a way out by winning the Pools or joining a band. The youngest of four children, his family were, he says, the kind that filled factory floors rather than lecture halls. Now a hugely popular stand-up comedian, it was a failing marriage and a sense of desperation that led him, one night, to a comedy bar. He decided to give it a try - it turned his life, and marriage, around.
"There was a time where the stand-up was the thing that I think kept me sane - it was like therapy and if I stopped doing it, I would go backwards."
Producer: Leanne Buckle.
SUN 12:00 Just a Minute (b01jwk6g)
Series 63
Episode 6
Nicholas Parsons challenges Jenny Éclair, Tony Hawks, Richard Herring and Paul Sinha to speak for 60 seconds. From 2012.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b01k2b3j)
The Olympic Menu
Sheila Dillon meets Jan Matthews head of the UK's biggest catering job, organising food for the Olympics, London 2012 to ask how successful she's been with the "Olympic Food Vision" that promised to showcase the best of British food.
She also meets the Chair of London Food, Rosie Boycott to hear the latest on the city's growing initiative that aims to be part of the Olympic food legacy.
Producer: Maggie Ayre.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b01k1c5k)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b01k2b45)
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 The Secret Catacombs of Paris (b01b9h73)
Take a trip into the underground maze of Paris, revealing a mysterious and intriguing history.
Famously known as the City of Light, Paris is a diverse metropolis rich in architecture and steeped in history. But it has a dark alter ego that lies 30 metres under the ground, mirroring centuries of bloody wars, revolutions and riots on the surface.
For Paris is porous - built on 177 miles of tunnels that were formed when limestone and gypsum were quarried to build the capital. Most people are only aware of just a tiny fraction of these tunnels - the world famous ossuary known as The Catacombs. The authorities have tried to keep a lid on the full extent of the labyrinthine remainder for hundreds of years. But there are little known entry points everywhere - in basements, in train stations, cellars and sewers.
Throughout history, invaders have always found a way in, whether they were fighting Prussian soldiers, fleeing royalty of the French Revolution, the Nazis or The Resistance. Today they're home to the cataphiles - urban explorers who use the tunnels as an art space, a music venue or even a clandestine meeting point for secret societies.
Architecture and design writer, Jonathan Glancey investigates.
Producer: James Hale
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 January 2012.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b01jxw4l)
Postbag Edition
Eric Robson and the panel are in the potting shed at Sparsholt College, answering the questions you've sent in by post and e-mail.
Questions answered in the programme:
Can compostable nappies be composted in the garden?
Planting suggestions for indoor window boxes.
Suggestions included: Aluminum (Pilea cadierei), Busy Lizzies, Winter Cherry, Cyclamen, Pelargonium, Cacti and succulents, Fuchsia, "Poor Man's Orchid" (Schizanthus pinnattus), Persian Violet (Exacum affine).
What is attacking the leaves of my grapevine - making them look lumpy and blistered?
How can I encourage my one flower Peony to thrive?
How can I tackle the sawflies that are attacking my roses?
Suggestions for Clematis varieties to cover an ugly red brick wall?
Suggestions included: Daniel Deronda, Clematis armandii, Clematis cirrhosa, Akebia quinata (Chocolate Vine), Clematis triternata.
Online auction sites are an increasingly popular place to buy seeds, many of which seem to be for obscure foreign varieties of common British flowers and vegetables. Is there any reason to be concerned about this, for example are there risks in planting such species into British gardens?
What edible crops will survive in boggy conditions?
Suggestions included: watercress, blueberries.
How to tackle an over grown lawn?
Is Pippa Greenwood aware that systemic insecticides (the use of which she suggested on a previous show) contain neonicotinoids that are highly toxic to bees?
Can dead Leyland Cypress trees by stripped back and used as posts to make a fence - or is there a chance they may come back to life?
Produced by Robert Abel
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b01k2b67)
Sunday Edition
Fi Glover presents the Sunday edition of Radio 4's series capturing the nation in conversation. Today's programme focuses on the residents of the North London Borough which is the focus of BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend - Hackney, with its diverse and colourful community.
We hear from Oby and Rebekah about the consequences of their childhood as Jehovah's Witnesses, from Ashley and Raj about friendship in childhood and beyond, and from Gabin and Paul, Kerry and Duncan and Victoria and Nathaniel about their lives - all lived in Hackney.
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 (b01k2bpw)
Songs and Lamentations
Episode 2
Songs and Lamentations , a new translation of the two biblical books Lamentations and Song of Songs by Michael Symmons Roberts . A powerful story of the horrific destruction of a once great city, and the love story of a couple who find hope and solace in each other offering two very different, but complementary, perspectives on the days leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian armies in 587 BC.
Set in the middle east, this poetry of violence, heat, passion and vengeance has clear resonance with the intractable cycle of violence - and the survival of love - in that same part of the world 2500 years on. The themes and wisdom of 'Song of Songs' and 'Lamentations' have never been more current or more apposite.
Jeremiah Peter Hamilton-Dyer
Rachel Gillian Kearney
Pashur Russell Dixon
Nathan Tom Ferguson
Zedekiah David Seddon
Thomas Henry Devas
Samuel Patrick Lally
Ana Deborah McAndrew
Directed in Salford by Susan Roberts
2. Although left to starve by the King, the jailed Jeremiah is kept alive by the young servant girl from the palace, who brings him food, ostensibly because she wants to help him. But she has another motive.
She is meeting a man nearby, one of the King's own ministers. Love between a minister and a servant is impossible. Nonetheless they flirt and entice each other, in the poetry of the Song of Songs.
Day by day, pressure mounts on the King. The people want revolution against the Babylonians, but Jeremiah the prophet's warnings are unsettling him.
The impossible love of the couple in Song of Songs becomes an elegy for the city
And its people.
SUN 16:00 Open Book (b01k2bq2)
Adele Parks on the continuing appeal of Chick Lit
Regarded by many as a derisory and dismissive label the impact of Chick Lit, reflecting the lifestyles and experiences of modern women has been enormous, perhaps single handedly responsible for putting books on supermarket shelves and expanding the market.
More used to being ignored than celebrated or reviewed in the press, the sudden downturn in print sales has ironically led to reams of headlines questioning the genre's survival.! Two of its most successful and popular practitioners Jane Green and Adele Parks discuss why it arouses such passion.
Women's reading has had a rich and chequered history - in ancient Babylonia there were at least 14 female scribes and Eleanor of Aquitaine is depicted on her tomb holding a book. However in nineteenth century Britain, it was a common assumption that excessive or inappropriate reading, particularly of novels, could induce women to hysteria and madness. Belinda Jack explores the history of women's reading and the controversies it's inspired.
We continue our series exploring how writers have been inspired by the landscape. This week Jamie Andrews, lead curator of the British Library's Writing Britain: Wastelands to Wonderlands discusses Rural Dreams; how the countryside has been the source of inspiration for many of the great literary classics
Producer: Andrea Kidd.
SUN 16:30 Poetry Please (b01k2br8)
Roger McGough presents a selection of listeners' poetry requests, including specially recorded readings by the Irish poet Paul Durcan - one of which is his acerbic and amusing commentary on the recession in Ireland. Also, Lucy Black reads poems by William Blake, Milton, John Clare, Christina Rossetti, Shakespeare and Rabindranath Tagore.
Producer Beth O'Dea.
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (b01jxrdf)
Secret Justice
Ministers want to extend secret hearings to Britain's civil courts - so judges can deal with the increasing number of cases involving the intelligence services.
Justice Secretary Ken Clarke says it is the only way that judges can hear the testimony of spies working for MI5, MI6 or GCHQ. Getting them to give evidence in open court is not an option, he says.
A small number of courts already hold secret sessions to consider appeals from individuals facing deportation on evidence compiled by the security services. But how well does the system work? File on 4 hears evidence from lawyers who are concerned about the quality of some of the testimony given behind closed doors.
And the programme has learned of a growing number of closed justice cases being heard in Employment Tribunals where people are claiming they were sacked because they pose a risk to national security. Because the Tribunals are hearing evidence in secret, the claimants are unable to get further details of why they were dismissed.
Gerry Northam explores the operation of secret justice in British courts and asks whether its extension to more cases would be in the national interest.
Producer: David Lewis.
SUN 17:40 From Fact to Fiction (b01k1lrx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b01k1c5m)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b01k1c5p)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01k1c5r)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b01k2btr)
Val McDermid makes her selection from the past seven days of BBC Radio
This week, the radio waves have been humming with the possibility of change. We hear Clive James acknowledging the approaching terminus of his life and the transformative power of words; Midge Ure whose life was changed by an androgynous alien; and Albie Sachs, who helped build the new South Africa. To hear all these and more, Val McDermid encourages you to change your life with Pick of the Week.
The Essay: Strange Justice ep 1- Radio 3
Are You Inexperienced? - Radio 4
Meeting Myself Coming Back - Radio 4
Mordrin McDonald - Radio 4
Today - Radio 4
Afternoon Drama: Flying Backwards - Radio 4
The New Elizabethans: Francis Crick - Radio 4
Sniffing Out Danger - Radio 4
The Archers - Radio 4
An Everyday Story of Afghan Folk - Radio 4
Hooray, I'm a Single Parent - Radio 1
Don't Log Off - Radio 4
The Stardust Memories - Radio 4
The Infinite Monkey Cage - Radio 4
United Irishmen - Radio 4
Honest Doubt - Radio 4
Email: potw@bbc.co.uk or www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/potw
Producer: Jessica Treen.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b01k1n50)
Phoebe's back from South Africa soon and Hayley feels her room needs a makeover. She's overwhelmed with uncertainty about colours, styles and patterns. Roy suggests getting Vicky in to help, as decorating is right up her street.
Jamie has been picked for the cricket team again, but Natalie would love to play. Jamie talks to Alistair about girls' matches. Natalie is delighted when he promises to ask around about women's teams and get back to her. She teases Jamie about his biggest fan, Rosa.
Ruth is desperate for David to go to the police about the threats. The family are feeling frightened and restricted by the security measures. David has done everything he could for Adam. It seems unfair to Ruth that they are being threatened because of David's determination to testify in court.
David is sure that the threats won't be carried out and that the kids will adapt to the precautions. Ruth's not confident there will be a conviction. She is adamant that none of them are safe. Having talked to the police, she wants to get the children away from Ambridge. David feels he can keep them safe, but Ruth is determined they should be gone.
SUN 19:15 The Write Stuff (b01bbb6d)
Series 15
Gustave Flaubert
Author of the Week is Gustave Flaubert - French modernist novelist and firebrand, who created perhaps the best novel of all time in the form of "Madame Bovary".
Team captains Sebastian Faulks and John Walsh are joined by comedy writer and author of "May Contain Nuts", John O'Farrell, and literary critic and Guardian journalist, Alex Clark to answer questions about the great Frenchman's life and work.
For the finale of the show, the teams are asked to imagine a 2012 update of Flaubert's "Dictionary of Received Ideas".
SUN 19:45 Sailors' Knots (b01k1n52)
The Head of the Family
Written by W.W. Jacobs.
Published in 1909, Sailors' Knots is an anthology of comic stories set around London and the Thames Estuary at the turn of the last century. The 'knots' are the various mix-ups that occur between sailors on shore leave and the local residents. The tales are great fun, full of entertaining characters (with names like Silas Winch, Sam Small and Ginger Dick) and often deal with marital spats, misunderstandings, and rascals getting their just rewards.
Mark Williams reads the last in the series when, in a case of mistaken identity, a young sailor becomes part of a family he's never met before.
W.W. Jacobs is best know for his horror story, The Monkey's Paw (1902), but the majority of his writing is comic. He was born in Wapping in 1863, where his father was wharf manager at the South Devon Wharf at Lower East Smithfield, and his early observation of merchant ships and the behaviour of their crews informed his many humorous tales.
Mark Williams is well-known as one of the stars of BBC TV's The Fast Show ("Suits you, sir..!!") and for the role of Ron Weasley's father in the Harry Potter films.
Abridged by Roy Apps
Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:00 Feedback (b01jxw4s)
Does Radio 1 have too many celebrity presenters? Are they too old? And is Chris Moyles going to leave the Breakfast Show? In this week's Feedback two listeners meet controller Ben Cooper and quiz him about his station. Plus, as Radio 1's Hackney Weekend music festival comes to East London, Roger finds out what Radio and 1Xtra are doing to encourage new radio talent. Presenter Chantelle Jones tells him why she thought someone from her background could never be on the radio.
Last weekend Radio 4 had a Bloomfest to mark Bloomsday, celebrating James Joyce's novel with a five and a half hour dramatisation. Was it awesome or awful? We put your reactions to the commissioning editor for drama, Jeremy Howe, and ask him if he plans to give any other novels the one day treatment.
Plus, we launch Drop Out Watch. Many listeners feel the number of programmes dropping off air or correspondents disappearing mid-sentence is increasing. Is it? If so, what's the cause? Send us any examples from any BBC network and we will attempt to diagnose the condition.
Presented by Roger Bolton
Producer: Kate Taylor
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b01jxw4q)
Rodney King, Teofilo Stevenson, Gitta Sereny and Victor Spinetti
Matthew Bannister on:
Rodney King whose beating by police sparked the LA riots. In an interview recorded three weeks ago he talks about his troubled childhood and battles with alcoholism.
Also the Cuban boxer Teofilo Stevenson who won three Olympic Gold Medals and turned down millions of dollars to fight Muhammed Ali because he preferred the adulation of the Cuban people.
Gitta Sereny who wrote controversial but acclaimed books about evil.
And Victor Spinetti, raconteur and actor who appeared in all three films made by the Beatles. His friend Barbara Windsor pays tribute.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (b01k1ljc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 on Saturday]
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b01k1n54)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 Analysis (b01jwk7m)
Cameron's Swede Dreams
What's so great about Sweden? The British left has long been obsessed with Sweden. Now the Conservatives are too. Little wonder: the country always tops the global charts for happiness and social cohesion; its economy is dynamic and its deficit is low.
In this week's Analysis, Jo Fidgen investigates the "Swedish model" and the British obsession with it. She finds the country is more conservative than people think, with its centre-right government's generous welfare state depending on very traditional notions of trust and social cohesion. At the root of Swedish conservativism is what the experts call a "Swedish theory of love" - in which the state is seen as the defender of the individual. Could this idea ever work for Britain? Sweden has provided a blue-print for David Cameron's Conservatives and their "Big Society" reforms, but many in Sweden argue that they are being misunderstood by Britain's Tories. Jo also looks at how, as Sweden struggles to become more multicultural, the "Swedish model" itself may in fact be unravelling.
Interviewees include:
Anders Borg, Swedish finance minister
Samuel Englom, Chief Legal Adviser at the Swedish trade union federation (TCO)
Fraser Nelson, Editor of The Spectator magazine
Sofia Nerbrand, Swedish centre-right thinker
Nalin Pekgul, Swedish Social Democrat member of Parliament
Lars Tragardh, Professor of History at Ersta Sköndal University College
Marcus Uvell, President of the free market think-tank Timbro
Producer: Mukul Devichand.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b01k1n56)
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 (b01k1n58)
Episode 109
Iain Martin of The Telegraph analyses how the newspapers are covering the biggest stories in Westminster and beyond.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b01jxtdw)
Francine Stock meets with actor, screenwriter and puppeteer, Jason Segel to discuss his new film The Five Year Engagement and the box-office success, The Muppets.
Critic Scott Jordan Harris dissects Carol Reed's IRA drama from 1947, Odd Man Out, starring James Mason.
Director Nadine Labaki on her new film, Where Do We Go Now?, which puts the religious tensions between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon under the microscope.
Veteran British director Stephen Frears talks about his gambling comedy, Lay the favourite, starring Bruce Willis and Rebecca Hall.
Producer: Craig Smith.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b01k1n5b)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 25 JUNE 2012
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b01k1c6r)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b01jxrtp)
Hostility to tax; Mumbai slums
Annawadi is a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near Mumbai's international airport. The Pulitzer prize winning writer, Katherine Boo, spent 4 years hearing the stories of the slum dwellers who stand little chance of joining the 'new' Indian middle class. She talks to Laurie Taylor about her new book "Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Slum". Also, the sociologist, Jeff Kidder, highlights new research which analyses why so many Americans are morally opposed to taxation. They're joined by British sociologist, Peter Taylor Gooby, who's researched British attitudes to tax.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b01k1lld)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01k1c6t)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01k1c6w)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01k1c6y)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b01k1c70)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01k2cdg)
A short reflection and prayer with Father Eugene O'Neill.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b01k2cdl)
Anna Hill asks whether there's a future for farmer's markets in the UK. They bring £220m to the economy every year and more than 8,000 farmers and producers take part across the country. But whilst Dr James Kirwan from the University of Gloucestershire say their future is strong, will they ever replace the supermarket for the weekly shop?
Farming Today explores if sustainable intensification is the answer on how to produce more food with fewer resources.
Mining company, York Potash, says it's found the world's biggest high quality supply of Potash, under the North York Moors National Park. But there's concerns from local opposition, as Sarah Falkingham investigates.
Presented by Anna Hill. Produced by Clare Freeman in Birmingham.
MON 05:57 Weather (b01k1c72)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 06:00 Today (b01k2cdn)
Morning news and current affairs, presented by James Naughtie and Evan Davis, including:
07:30 Alistair Darling on the launch of the campaign against Scottish independence.
07:50 What does the Egyptian election result mean?
08:10 Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith on welfare reform.
08:30 Sarah Montague reports from Liberia's largest iron ore mine.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (b01k2cg0)
The 'life unlived' with Adam Phillips and Helen Dunmore
On Start the Week Andrew Marr goes in search of a better life. The psychoanalyst Adam Phillips praises the life unlived: the people we have failed to be, and explores how far frustration is interlinked with satisfaction. While the philosopher Julian Baggini argues that Aristotle has more to tell us about how to live than Freud. The writer Helen Dunmore slips between past and present, and in her latest collection of poems stories of loss intermingle with rediscovery. And the scientist Frances Ashcroft has transformed the lives of those born with diabetes, and discusses how her breakthrough gave meaning to her own life.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b01k1lp3)
Damn His Blood
Peter Moore - Damn His Blood
'Damn him!' he swore. 'There is no more harm in shooting him than a mad dog!'
The brutal murder of the Reverend George Parker in the rural village of Oddingley on Midsummer's Day in 1806 gripped the nation. It was a strange and stubborn case in an isolated Worcester village still bound by superstition and folklore. The investigation, in a time before Robert Peel's police force, lasted nearly a quarter of a century, and involved inquests, judges and coroners, each more determined than the last to solve Oddingley's most gruesome crime - or crimes, as it transpired.
Peter Moore's account of the infamous case is a also fascinating glimpse into the darker side of English rural life at the beginning of the nineteenth century, far away from the civilised drawing rooms of Jane Austen. The country was exhausted and nervous: dogged by Pitt's war taxes, mounting inflation and the lingering threat of a French invasion, violence was rife, particularly in rural communities where outsiders were regarded with deep suspicion. With a cast of characters straight out of Hardy, 'Damn His Blood' is also a gripping true story of brutality, greed and ruthlessness in a rural community gone wildly astray.
Peter Moore is a young literary historian and journalist, who is currently teaching Creative Writing at City University in London.
Abridger: Viv Beeby
Producer: Justine Willett
The Reader is Alex Jennings, who is currently appearing in The Collaborators as Mikhail Bulgakov at the National Theatre and is currently starring in Silk on BBC One.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01k2cgg)
Women in Greece, Gender Pay Audits, Portrait Painting
What impact is the Greek economic crisis having on prospects for women? Why the little known Joan Clarke deserves a place in the history of wartime code-breaking, alongside Bletchley's Alan Turing to whom she was once briefly engaged. The Liverpool artist who is helping turn around the lives of women by encouraging them to paint their own portraits. MP Axelle Lemaire on her new role in the French parliament, representing fellow countrymen and women abroad. Will women who are paid less than men at work be any better off after the government's latest announcement on gender pay audits?
Presenter: Jane Garvey
Producer: Lucinda Montefiore.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01k2ckm)
The Pursuits of Darleen Fyles: Series 3
Episode 1
The Pursuits of Darleen Fyles - Episode One
by Esther Wilson
Award winning drama series returns with a further five enchanting episodes in the life of Darleen Fyles, a young woman with learning disabilities. Starring Donna Lavin and Edmund Davies - actors with learning disabilities. Darleen and Jamie go on honeymoon to Scarborough but it doesn't turn out as well as they'd hoped.
Created in part through improvisation and inspired by true stories.
Darleen Fyles ..... Donna Lavin
Jamie Cook ...... Edmund Davies
Treena ...... Lesley Nicol
Bob ..... Stephen Chapman
Elsa ..... Judith Barker
Pat ..... Janice McKenzie
Further info: Darleen Fyles was made into a Jimmy McGovern drama for the Moving On Series.
MON 11:00 The Heath Caper (b01k2cnn)
This is a tale of blackmail and political intrigue involving the Czechoslovakian Security Services during the Cold War and a future British prime minister. It is a spy story in which John Le Carre's 'Smiley's People' meets the political thriller 'House of Cards'. It centres on an allegation made by the Czech defector Josef Frolik in a book published in the 1970s after he had fled to the United States. Frolik claimed that his colleagues had hatched an unsuccessful plot to blackmail the upcoming politician and future Conservative prime minister Edward Heath in the 1960s. Heath denied all knowledge of it at the time and the story was forgotten after Margaret Thatcher took over the Conservative Party leadership and went on to become prime minister.
Now, more than forty years later, the BBC's Security Correspondent Gordon Corera attempts to unravel the truth behind what became known as 'The Heath Caper'. Nothing is what it seems. Corera travels to Prague where he talks to the man who was said to be behind the plot - Jan Mrazek, now in his eighties, a former Major in the Czechoslovakian intelligence service during the Cold War.
Mrazek ran one of the most successful Czech agents in Britain when he worked at his country's embassy in London, mixing with leading politicians and British trade unionists. His personal file in the security service's archives is now open to the public and boasts of his success in gathering intelligence for his communist masters and recruiting new agents willing to betray their country. But there is no mention of the plot. Mrazek insists that Frolik made it all up, urged on by right wingers who wanted to discredit Heath in order to give Margaret Thatcher free rein in her bid to become PM.
Who, then, is telling the truth?
MON 11:30 Mark Steel's in Town (b018csyv)
Series 3
Basingstoke
In this third series comedian Mark Steel visits 6 more UK towns to discover what makes them and their inhabitants distinctive.
He creates a bespoke stand-up show for that town and performs the show in front of a local audience.
As well as shedding light on the less visited areas of Britain, Mark uncovers stories and experiences that resonate with us all as we recognise the quirkiness of the British way of life and the rich tapestry of remarkable events and people who have shaped where we live.
During the series 'Mark Steel's In Town' Mark will visit Berwick-Upon Tweed, Holyhead, Basingstoke, Douglas (Isle of Man), Bungay and Wigan.
Episode 3 - In this episode Mark performs a show for the residents of Basingstoke, where he talks about war with the Salvation Army, prehistoric roundabouts and a rather unusual world record set in a shopping centre. From December 2011.
Written by Mark Steel with additional material by Pete Sinclair.
Produced by Sam Bryant.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b01k2cp2)
The Care Quality Commission says half the homes visited in an unannounced inspection failed the review.
Doctors call on take away outlets and restaurants to match the efforts of food manufacturers in reducing salt content.
With home building sluggish what's the outlook for the housing market in the coming months?
There's been a big rise in calls to debt counselling services by pensioners
The community finance schemes that step in when the banks so no to small businesses.
The Fund Raising watchdog says too many charities are breaking guidelines with their hard sell techniques.
MON 12:45 The New Elizabethans (b01k2cqp)
Benjamin Britten
The New Elizabethans: Benjamin Britten. One of the greatest composers of the 20th century. A conductor and musician of gifted brilliance, Britten was writing symphonies from the age of twelve and learning from the composer Frank Bridge in his early teens.
A pacifist during WWII he travelled through America with the singer Peter Pears (who would later become his life-long companion) and befriended writers like W.H.Auden and Christopher Isherwood.
He is famous for operas like Peter Grimes, choral works such as The War Requiem which he wrote for the reconsecration of Coventry Cathedral and enjoyed composing for children: The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra is one of his best known pieces.
He founded the Aldeburgh Festival on the Suffolk coast, which continues to this day, and the Britten-Pears Foundation still promotes his work with Peter Pears. He refused a knighthood but was a member of the Order of Merit and accepted a life peerage in 1976.
The New Elizabethans have been chosen by a panel of leading historians, chaired by Lord (Tony) Hall, Chief Executive of London's Royal Opera House. The panellists were Dominic Sandbrook, Bamber Gascoigne, Sally Alexander, Jonathan Agar, Maria Misra and Sir Max Hastings.
Producer: Clare Walker.
MON 12:57 Weather (b01k1c74)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b01k2crj)
National and international news with Martha Kearney. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
MON 13:45 The Cave (b01k2crl)
The Cave Horse
A drawing of a horse scratched onto a cave wall is vividly brought to life in this dramatic story where dreams become reality.
Creswell Crags is a ravine riddled with caves on the Nottinghamshire-Derbyshire border. Here in a cave called Church Hole, the earliest example of cave art in Britain was discovered in 2003. This artwork which includes a horse scratched onto the wall is the inspiration for the first of five illustrated essays by different writers on the theme of 'The Cave'. Writer, naturalist and broadcaster Paul Evans considers the significance and symbolism of the cave horse. He reflects on whether it is more than a pictorial representation of an animal. Creswell Crags were also the inspiration for the painter George Stubbs. He studied horse anatomy and paintings such as Horse Frightened by a Lion and Horse Devoured by a Lion, are visual dramas set against a backdrop inspired by Creswell caves. Paul discusses not only on the work of George Stubbs, but also Henry David Thoreau, Byron and Ted Hughes all of whom have been inspired by wild nature but who have also been aware Man's attempts to tame, capture and enslave wild nature. What would happen if the cave horse could break free?
Writer : Paul Evans
Narrators: Paul Evans and Adjoa Andoh
Wildlife sound recordist: Chris Watson
Producer: Sarah Blunt.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b01k1n50)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b01k2cvk)
Hackney Baths
By award-winning writer Arinze Kene. When three friends break into an East London swimming pool in the middle of the night, a childhood game becomes a dark and dangerous battle for control. Part of the London Season.
Aaron ... Richie Campbell
Lucy ... Seroca Davis
Mike ... Charles Mnene
Directed by Abigail le Fleming
Arinze Kene's first play, Estate Walls, won him Most Promising Playwright at the 2010 Off West End Awards. He has also written regularly for the BBC's online drama series E20.
MON 15:00 Counterpoint (b01k2dbf)
Series 26
Episode 10
(10/13)
Which great composer's only oratorio was called 'Christ on the Mountain of Olives'?
And what was particularly strange about the B-side of the 1960s novelty hit 'They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-ha!'?
Paul Gambaccini puts these and many other questions about music in all its variety, to the first batch of semi-finalists for 2012. The pace really hots up in the competition, as those who've already won their heats go all-out for a coveted place in the Final. Today's winner clears another hurdle on the way to possibly becoming the 26th Counterpoint champion.
As always, the questions cover the classics, show tunes, jazz, film music, rock and pop.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b01k2b3j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Stuart: A Face Backwards (b01k2df5)
Stuart Freeborn's face launched a thousand space ships, his hands fashioned the Dawn of Man.
Freeborn was the self-made genius of British make-up. A career that began in the Denham dream factory of Alexander Korda in the late 1930's culminated in the creation of Yoda for the original Star Wars Trilogy.
Freeborn, desperate to escape the humdrum fate of City clerking, longed to emulate his hero Jack Pierce, the man who transformed Karloff into Frankenstein's monster. Despite the almost total lack of information available he devised increasingly elaborate make-up's in his bedroom. Testing them by leaping out to terrify unsuspecting neighbours. Dreaming and drifting from a succession of jobs just to pay for his materials, Freeborn's parents despaired. It took a moment of fate to finally enter professional film-making at Alexander Korda's new dream factory of Denham Studios.
From the very beginning Freeborn was an innovator, experimenting with new plastics and later engineering and early radio control. He created the controversial Fagin makeup for Alec Guinness in Lean's Oliver Twist, the many faces of Peter Sellers in Kubrick's Dr Strangelove and the near impossible design of the ape families for the Dawn of Man sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
A career littered with achievements culminated in the creation of Yoda for George Lucas in 1979. The wizened Jedi master drew on all Freeborn's skill and experience and took make-up into a new age. Back in 1997, producer Mark Burman spent a week in Freeborn's company amidst a shed of delights since sold off to collectors around the world. What he got was the story of a make-up genius, the history of a face backwards.
Presenter/Producer: Mark Burman
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.
MON 16:30 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b01k1ngp)
Series 6
Science Mavericks
Brian Cox and Robin Ince take to the stage at this year's Cheltenham Science Festival to discuss science mavericks. They are joined by comedian Marcus Brigstocke, medic and broadcaster Dr Kevin Fong, evolutionary biologist Aoife McLysaght and Nobel Laureate Professor Barry Marshall. Marshall, an Australian physician, famously experimented on himself to prove his theory that a bacterium was responsible for most peptic ulcers. He drank the bacterium he suspected was the cause, and as a result reversed decades of medical doctrine. He and the rest of the panel discuss the role of mavericks in science, how new theories get accepted and whether you have to go to such extreme lengths to truly push the frontiers of our scientific understanding.
Presenters: Robin Ince and Brian Cox
Producer: Alexandra Feachem.
MON 17:00 PM (b01k1ngr)
Eddie Mair presents full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01k1c76)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b01k1ngt)
Series 57
Episode 1
The 57th series of Radio 4's multi award-winning antidote to panel games promises more quality, desk-based entertainment for all the family. The series starts its run at the Warwick Arts Centre as part of the Stratford-upon-Avon Literary Festival. Regulars Barry Cryer and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by Tony Hawks and Jeremy Hardy, with Jack Dee as the programme's reluctant chairman. Regular listeners will know to expect inspired nonsense, pointless revelry and Colin Sell at the piano. Producer - Jon Naismith.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b01k1n3s)
In a local furnishing store, Hayley knows Phoebe's tastes will have changed but she's not sure how. Vicky reassures her that as she has been in touch constantly she knows her better than anyone. Vicky's keen on the floaty and frilly items for Phoebe's room decoration, but Hayley's not so sure. Red satin heart cushions are too 'boudoir'. They decide to use photos that Phoebe has sent for inspiration and choose a new rug. It's going to be lovely to welcome her home again.
Neither Ruth nor David are sleeping well. David is disturbed to learn that Ruth has gone public and alerted Josh and Ben's schools to the potential danger. She wants the kids away to safety.
Noticing movement in the grain store on the cameras, David fiercely apprehends an intruder - Adam! He had come to check the hygrometer readings. He tells David to chill and has been wondering about the cameras. David tells him he is setting a good example as local NFU chair.
After Adam leaves, David is shaken up by what he has just done. Ruth is adamant he should tell Adam about the threats but David doesn't want that pressure too.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b01k1ngw)
Terry Pratchett; Your Sister's Sister; Jed Mercurio
With Mark Lawson.
Terry Pratchett has teamed up with science fiction author Stephen Baxter to write The Long Earth, the first book in a projected series, which centres around a string of alternate earths accessed via a low-tech portal powered by electricity from a potato. They discuss why they decided to work together, what they argue about and who writes what.
Emily Blunt and Rosemary Dewitt star in Your Sister's Sister, a romantic comedy about love, grief and sibling rivalry. Director Lynn Shelton is known for her improvised dialogue and indie sensibility. Gaylene Gould reviews.
Jed Mercurio, writer of the TV medical dramas Cardiac Arrest and Bodies, talks about his new series Line Of Duty, which focuses on a corrupt police officer. Mercurio, who trained as a doctor, discusses the similarities and differences between TV drama's two favourite genres, and explains why the changes in modern policing make it perfect for his brand of gallows humour and unnerving realism.
Producer Dymphna Flynn.
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01k2ckm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 Through Persian Eyes (b01k1ngy)
Episode 1
Many in the west have described Iran as a rogue state. Yet this so-called rogue state has a recorded history that tracks back more than 3000 years. It is a civilization that has given rise over the millennia to philosophies and religions, to science and medicine, to architecture and the arts.
But these are contributions that are often overlooked. We tend to construct history through the prism of the Greek and Roman empires. We see their influences on contemporary western civilisation. But the Persians fought the Greeks to a standstill and successfully withstood the might of the Roman Empire. Embracing the teachings of the prophet Zoroaster, they built a culture in 500 BC that helped shape the Near East and beyond. In the 11th century AD, Iran was home to the golden age of Islam.
From that great age we recognize the Persian polymath Omar Khayyam. But there are others that few in the West know, poets and thinkers like Avicenna, Hafiz, Saadi and Ferdowsi who continue to have pride of place with Iranians today.
In this three-part series Professor Ali Ansari argues that world history takes on a different hue when seen through Persian eyes, as he takes the listener on a grand journey from ancient past to immediate present.
Professor Ansari is one of the world's leading experts on Iran and its history. Professor Ansari's books include Iran, Islam and Democracy: the politics of managing change, Confronting Iran and The Politics of Nationalism in Modern Iran.
MON 20:30 Analysis (b01k1nh0)
Eurogeddon II
As the crisis in the Eurozone continues, Chris Bowlby examines what might eventually emerge and what that could mean for us.
When Analysis looked at the possibility of a Greek exit from the Euro back in February, the topic was regarded as "thinking the unthinkable". Not so now.
In this programme Chris Bowlby looks forward and asks if the Eurozone is headed for disintegration or, conversely, even closer political and economic union. What do either of those scenarios mean in practice and can the Eurozone survive? What are the implications for borders, cash movements and who controls the levers of power?
Interviewees include: Lord Peter Mandelson, David Marsh, Ulrike Guerot, Dani Rodrik, Paul Donovan, Brian Lucey and Aristotle Kallis.
Producer: John Murphy.
MON 21:00 Material World (b01jxtdy)
So You Want to Be a Scientist - the finals
The culmination of the BBC's Amateur Scientist of the Year. Adam Rutherford presents the finals of 'So You Want to Be a Scientist?' recorded in front of an audience at the Cheltenham Science Festival.
This year's finalists are:
- Izzy Thomlinson, an 18 year old student from Shropshire, is trying to find out why sounds like nails scratching a blackboard make some people squirm
- Dara Djavan Khoshdel, a 25 year old mature student from Bournemouth, has been measuring whether our emotional reaction to art is correlated to its financial value
- Val Watham, a 53 year old management consultant from Berkshire, has designed a study to investigate whether horizontal or vertical stripes are more flattering to wear
- William Rudling, a 69 year old caricaturist from Leeds, wants to know whether people who look the same also sound the same
The four finalists present their results to a panel of judges - solar scientist Dr Lucie Green from UCL, evolutionary biologist Dr Yan Wong from Bang Goes the Theory and science journalist Mark Henderson.
After deliberating the merits of each experiment in terms of design, methodology and conclusion, the judges will choose the person they think deserves to become the next BBC Amateur Scientist of the Year.
Producer: Michelle Martin.
MON 21:30 Start the Week (b01k2cg0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b01k1c78)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b01k1nh4)
David Cameron says he wants to end the "something for nothing" benefits culture - is this the end of his brand of "compassionate conservatism"?
As the Muslim Brotherhood prepare for the Egyptian Presidency, what do they really stand for?
Cyprus applies for a bailout.
With Ritula Shah.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01k1nn1)
Ru
Episode 1
'Ru'. In Vietnamese it means lullaby, in French it is a small stream, but also signifies a flow - of tears, blood, money. Kim Thuy's 'Ru' is literature at its most crystalline; the flow of a life on the tides of unrest and on to more peaceful waters
Kim Thuy was one of the refugees who fled from Vietnam by boat. This is her haunting lullaby to the country of her birth and a letter of heartfelt thanks to Canada, her new homeland. Winner of the Governor General's prize when it was first published in French, it has now been translated into English.
Read by the French actress Elodie Yung, who recently starred in the film of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Abridged and Produced by Jane Marshall Productions.
Produced by Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 23:00 Off the Page (b01jwk7r)
Bone Idle
As politicians seem to endlessly bang on about their passion for protecting 'hard working' families, Dominic Arkwright discusses the merits of idleness with Hardeep Singh Kohli, Stephanie Calman and Oliver Burkeman.
Every week there seems to be a new report about how lazy we're becoming. Recent headlines have included "Lazy Brits Spend 36 Years sitting on their bottoms," and "Teenagers are too lazy to babysit." As Dominic wonders who has the time to know all of this, Hardeep Singh Kohli tells us how he's not had a week off in over ten years, Stephanie Calman extols the joys of being a slattern and Oliver Burkeman tells us why it's really important for us to step back and just stop.
Producer: Sarah Langan.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01k1nqk)
Sean Curran reports from Westminster, where the Prime Minister updates MPs on last week's G20 summit in Mexico.
Proposed changes to the benefits system provoke a clash during questions to the Work and Pensions Secretary.
After the weekend's floods, Ministers find themselves under pressure over the funding of flood defences.
And in the Lords, the Government is urged to subsidise a ferry link to the Isles of Scilly.
TUESDAY 26 JUNE 2012
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b01k1c89)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b01k1lp3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01k1c8c)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01k1c8f)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01k1c8h)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b01k1c8k)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01k1lpv)
A short reflection and prayer with Father Eugene O'Neill.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b01k1lpx)
Superwheat: the new crop varieties which could double yields to feed a growing population.
Anna Hill visits John Innes Centre to hear how they're looking back into history to see if ancient wheat plants contain the traits needed to feed the world, without the help of GM technology.
Whilst farmers' markets are continuing to boom in the states, in the UK numbers have plateaued.
Here it's a treat for the middle classes, but what's driven the boom in America is making farmers' markets an everyday affair.
Clare Freeman visits Moseley Farmers' Market to see if punters and stallholders are supportive of increasing the frequency of their monthly market.
Plus the Veterinary Laboratories Agency updates Farming Today on the latest on Schmallenberg, the new disease affecting calves and lambs.
Presented by Anna Hill. Produced by Clare Freeman in Birmingham.
TUE 06:00 Today (b01k1lpz)
Morning news and current affairs, presented by Evan Davis and Justin Webb, including:
07:30 Shadow chancellor Ed Balls on fuel duty.
07:40 Sarah Montague reports on the children having children in Liberia.
08:10 Should an NHS Trust be declared bust?
08:20 Why did the 1984 Olympics work so well?
TUE 09:00 The Reith Lectures (b01jmxqp)
Niall Ferguson: The Rule of Law and Its Enemies: 2012
The Darwinian Economy
The eminent economic historian Niall Ferguson travels to the world's financial centre to deliver a lecture at the New-York Historical Society. He reflects on the causes of the global financial crisis, and argues that many people have drawn erroneous conclusions from it about the role of regulation. Is regulation, he asks, in fact "the disease of which it purports to be the cure"?
Producer: Jane Beresford.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b01k1lvc)
Damn His Blood
Episode 2
'Damn him!' he swore. 'There is no more harm in shooting him than a mad dog!'
The brutal murder of the Reverend George Parker in the rural village of Oddingley on Midsummer's Day in 1806 gripped the nation. It was a strange and stubborn case in an isolated Worcester village still bound by superstition and folklore, involving an investigation, in a time before Robert Peel's police force, that lasted nearly a quarter of a century. It turned out to be a gripping true story of brutality, greed and ruthlessness in a rural community gone wildly astray.
Damn His Blood is also fascinating glimpse into the darker side of English rural life at the beginning of the nineteenth century, far away from the civilised drawing rooms of Jane Austen, with a cast of characters straight out of Hardy.
Today: two months before the murder, Oddingley village is a hotbed of feuds, oaths and superstition.
Peter Moore is a young literary historian and journalist, who is currently teaching Creative Writing at City University in London.
Abridger: Viv Beeby
Producer: Justine Willett
The Reader is Alex Jennings, who is currently appearing in The Collaborators as Mikhail Bulgakov at the National Theatre and is currently starring in Silk on BBC One.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01k1lwl)
Thomasina Miers cooks the perfect spinach tacos live in the Womans Hour studio. Jane talks to Jill Anderson who was charged with manslaughter after her husband took an overdose. Baroness Shirley Williams argues that Aid to Afghanistan must be directed towards women and the education of girls. And we hear from young men about whether they are happy to describe themselves as feminists or not. Presented by Jane Garvey.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01k1mvz)
The Pursuits of Darleen Fyles: Series 3
Episode 2
The Pursuits of Darleen Fyles
Episode 2
by Esther Wilson
Comic and touching drama series about a young woman with learning disabilities.
Darleen and Jamie decide to come home early from their disastrous honeymoon in Scarborough.
There are some problems in consummating the marriage and cooking dinner.
Darleen Fyles ...... Donna Lavin
Jamie Cook ...... Edmund Davies
Treena ..... Lesley Nicol
Jay ..... Andrew Schofield
Bob ..... Stephen Chapman
Stacy .... Olivia Cosgrove
Pat ..... Janice McKenzie
Director/Producer ..... Pauline Harris
Further info:- Donna Lavin and Edmund Davies are actors with learning disabilities. The series is created
partly through improvisation.
TUE 11:00 The Hunt for the Gay Whale (b01k1mwp)
It may sound like a bumper sticker slogan but a new generation of zoologists are hunting for gay whales - and ducks, penguins and otters. They are painstakingly recording examples of frottage, group sex, self pleasuring and aspects of sexual behaviour which owe more to Fellini than Johnny Morris.
Classic Darwinian theory posits that sexual activity is procreational in nature and serves the needs of evolution. Whilst human beings often have recreational sexual activity, this is seen as an anomalous result of human enculturation. Animal sex is seen as having one purpose: breeding.
To that end, Darwin dismissed or recategorised animal sexual behaviours which did not seem to meet the procreational model. If a male animal studded on another it was categorised as "dominance behaviour."
But a new generation of zoological enquiry aims to re-examine animal sexual behaviour and address the tricky issue of animal sexuality, a topic which is seen by some zoologists as simply anthropomorphism, human projection onto animal behaviour.
Joan Roughgarden, a professor of biology at Stanford University catalogued hundreds of varieties of what she categorises as "homosexual" behaviour amongst animals for her book Evolutions Rainbow. These include male big horn sheep who bond through genital licking and anal intercourse, or bottle nose dolphins who cavort in all male sexual groups. Roughgarden claims to have discovered regular same sex contact in 450 different species, proving, she says that homosexuality, far from being an anomalous condition which seems to be an evolutionary dead end, is an adaptive trait that has been carefully preserved by natural selection.
TUE 11:30 John Barry - The Lost Tapes (b01k1my3)
One of Britain's premier film composers, John Barry was renowned for his scores for the early James Bond films as well as Midnight Cowboy, Out of Africa and Dances With Wolves. The winner of five Oscars, Barry, who passed away in 2011, was a private man - but 'John Barry - The Lost Tapes' offers a revealing insight into his working life
Author and broadcaster Eddi Fiegel, during the course of many extensive interviews with John for her biography, also recorded a conversation for BBC radio, which was never broadcast and considered lost.
Barry was a vivid raconteur and recounted the first decade of his career, from fledgling pop musician and producer to Oscar winning-composer. He also gave me some rare insights into his song writing craft.
He talked fondly about his early days with his instrumental group The John Barry Seven, his recordings with Adam Faith, the first venture into film and his remarkable recordings on the James Bond movies. With the success of Goldfinger in 1964, barely a week seemed to go by without John receiving a new film commission. It was a prolific time for him and, over the next two years, his scores included Thunderball, Richard Lester's The Knack and The Ipcress File starring a young Michael Caine. The pair became firm friends.
John's Oscar winning score for Born Free made him an international figure and the royal screening of the film saw a leading British actor 'throw a fit' when upstaged in front of the Royal family.
Producer: John Sugar
A Sugar production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b01k1my7)
Call You and Yours
On today's Call You and Yours we'll be talking about benefits. What are they for? Do the right people get them? And should the government encourage people to take more responsibility for their lifestyles?
We'd love to hear about your experiences. Are you under twenty-five and claiming housing benefit or are you living at home with your parents, not claiming and saving your money? Are you a parent - do you think your children should get state support or should you step in and help? Did you wait to have a family until you could afford it - or perhaps you claimed benefits and don't know how you would have managed without them.
TUE 12:45 The New Elizabethans (b01k1my9)
Dorothy Hodgkin
The New Elizabethans: Dorothy Hodgkin. To mark the Diamond Jubilee, James Naughtie examines the lives and impact of the men and women who have given the second Elizabethan age its character.
Dorothy Hodgkin was one of the most successful chemists of the twentieth century, discovering the structures of penicillin, insulin, and vitamin B12 through her ground-breaking approach to crystallography. As well as being the first woman to receive the Royal Society's Copley medal, she also taught Margaret Roberts, who would go on to become another New Elizabethan, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Despite their diverging political views, Mrs Thatcher would frequently engage her old teacher in debate and held her in the highest regard, even installing a portrait of Hodgkin in Downing Street. She was, through and through, a family person, mother of three and grandmother of three more, prompting the Daily Mail headline as she won her most prestigious award in October 1964, 'Grandmother wins Nobel Prize'.
The New Elizabethans have been chosen by a panel of leading historians, chaired by Lord (Tony) Hall, Chief Executive of London's Royal Opera House. The panellists were Dominic Sandbrook, Bamber Gascoigne, Sally Alexander, Jonathan Agar, Maria Misra and Sir Max Hastings.
Producer: Alison Hughes
TUE 12:57 Weather (b01k1c8m)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b01k1n24)
Martha Kearney presents national and international news.
TUE 13:45 The Cave (b01k1n26)
Limestone, Water, Fire and Ice
A Cave spirit, volcanic fumes, melting ice walls, hissing noxious gases, groaning ice and the slow drip of time all feature in this powerful immersion underground as wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson recalls his experiences in two very different cave systems; the limestone caves of Waitomo, New Zealand, and the Kverkfjöll ice caves in Iceland, in the second of five illustrated talks by different writers on the theme of THE CAVE
The Waitomo Caves are a large cave system on the North island of New Zealand. The word 'Waitomo' is a Maori word, 'wai' means water and 'tomo' means hole or shaft. Geological and volcanic activity have created around 300 limestone caves in this region over the last 30 million years. Illustrated with recordings he made on location, Chris describes first his encounter with the voice of the spirit of the cave; an invisible force which he could neither see nor locate. Elsewhere, Chris records the intimate sounds of different cave spaces; the Cathedral, the Flowstone and the Dome. All around him, there's the slow drip of water as it percolates through the limestone creating stalactites and stalagmites; the slow dripping of water marking the passage of time. In contrast to the slow formation of these limestone caves, on the far side of the equator in Iceland, Chris visits the Kverkfjöll ice caves, which are in state of constant flux. They are formed by hot water from a volcanic spring below the Vatnajökull glacier. This is truly unpredictable, hostile environment; the deep roar of the volcano and the hissing of noxious gases fills the air inside the cave, along with the terrifying creaks and groans of ice as walls melt and shift in these caves of perpetual transition.
Presenter and wildlife sound recordist: Chris Watson
Producer: Sarah Blunt.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b01k1n3s)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b01k1n6y)
AL Kennedy - Love Love Love Like the Beatles
Love Love Love Like The Beatles
by A.L. Kennedy
Starring Bill Nighy.
A romantic comedy drama about a man on the verge of a nervous breakdown who retreats up a tree.
All his life, Oliver has never been able to say those three special words - I love you.
Yesterday Oliver lost his job and today - after walking in a daze all night - he is quite literally at his wits' end and waiting for the love of his life, Jo, in a private residents' garden. Knowing that he has a tendency to bolt he has cornered himself in advance by climbing a tree and he won't come down until he sees her.
Oliver ...... Bill Nighy
Jo ....... Amelia Bulmore
Mrs. Henderson ....... Brigit Forsyth
Mrs. McDonald ....... Maggie Fox
Leonard ...... David Fleeshman
Directed by Pauline Harris
The Writer - award winning novelist, columnist and playwright.
AL Kennedy's previous work includes Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains Polygon, 1990, Looking for the Possible Dance Secker Warburg, 1993, Now That You're Back Cape, 1994, Last Things First - New Writing Scotland 13: So I Am Glad, Cape, 1995, Tea and Biscuits, Phoenix, 1996, Original Bliss, Cape, 1997, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, British Film Institute, 1997, Everything You Need,Cape, 1999, On Bullfighting,Yellow Jersey Press, 1999 New Writing 9 (editor with John Fowles),Vintage, 2000 Indelible Acts, Cape, 2002, Paradise, Cape, 2004, Day, Cape, 2007
She wrote the screenplay to the BFI/Channel 4 film Stella Does Tricks, and Dice - 6 part series for HBO, CBC with John Burnside. Previous radio plays are Born a Fox and Like an Angel, Confessions of a Medium. She's won over 15 awards for her work.
TUE 15:00 Making History (b01k1nbl)
Helen Castor with more listeners questions which help shed new light on the past.
The Klondike Gold Rush: Listener Mike Rouse wants to know more about the Britons who journeyed out west to make their fortune. Helen Castor talks to Professor Marjory Harper from the University of Aberdeen.
Gibbets: A project at the University of Leicester needs Making History listeners to help with a nationwide survey of gibbet sites. Lizz Pearson talks to Professor Sarah Tarlow to find out more.
1409 the year of three Popes: Helen talks to Professor David D'Avray about a moment in the early years of the fifteenth century when there was not one but three Popes.
Aerofilms: Tom Holland at the offices of English Heritage in Swindon discovers more about a unique archive of aerial photographs which stretch back to 1919 and are now available on-line.
Producer: Nick Patrick
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Off the Page (b01k1nbq)
Tomorrow's World
Dominic Arkwright and writers Bidisha, Mark Mason and Mark C Newton boldly go where no Off the Page has been before - into Tomorrow's World.
Dominic Arkwright and writers Bidisha, Mark Mason and Mark C Newton boldly go where no Off the Page has been before: to explore our fascination with Tomorrow's World. From biblical prophecy to the predictions of Nostradamus, we have a fascination with possibility of what the future might hold, and of the wonders of time travel. In our new venture, Mark C Newton writes a science fiction piece set in the City of London 100 years from now. Sci-fi nut Bidisha takes us back a century to the same place, and there she dreams of what life might be like a hundred years hence, i.e. now. And Mark Mason offers his sage thoughts on the great predictions that didn't make the grade, such as Edison's assertion that gold would one day be as commonplace as steel. With the rate of advancement in technological progress, is science fiction now just fantasy, or does it serve a broader purpose?
Producer: Sarah Langan.
TUE 16:00 Law in Action (b01k1nbs)
White-Collar Crime
With the City of London today rocked by evidence of misdeeds by Barclays Bank, Law in Action explores how and why the government plans to simplify how economic crime is prosecuted in the UK.
The costs of bringing complicated cases to trial are growing. But some experts in white collar crime believe that the likelihood is increasing that defendants in such cases may receive only light sentences or fines - even if they are convicted. This state of affairs is prompting a re-think about serious fraud is handled by the criminal justice system.
Ministers are now promoting a less punitive approach. This, they believe, will save money by encouraging those companies which have committed fraud, bribery or money laundering to own up before a case comes to court. In what are known as "deferred prosecution agreements", companies that have committed crimes and admit their misconduct will then receive lower penalties.
But Joshua Rozenberg asks if this is the right way to tackle white collar crime. Should those companies which have swindled other companies - and the public at large - out of their money be treated more leniently than other criminals? And is it right that the courts are asked to go along with an agreement that may suit the offending company and the prosecutor but fails to act in the interests of justice?
Among those taking part: Edward Garnier QC MP, the Solicitor General; Lord Goldsmith QC, former Labour Attorney General; and Mukul Chawla QC, a prominent barrister in fraud cases.
Also on the programme: what is the offence of "perverting the course of justice" and why do the courts appear to take it so seriously? Sally O'Neill QC, a leading criminal barrister and part-time judge at the Old Bailey, explains.
Producer Simon Coates.
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b01k1nfb)
Constance Briscoe, Angela Saini
Harriett Gilbert and her guests discuss their three book recommendations: Constance Briscoe, writer and part-time judge, champions "Knowledge of Angels" by Jill Paton-Walsh; science writer Angela Seini chooses "Foundation" by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov; and Harriett's own choice is the autobiography of the late novelist Muriel Spark.
Producer Christine Hall.
TUE 17:00 PM (b01k1nfd)
Eddie Mair presents full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01k1c8p)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Sketchorama (b01k2h1q)
Series 1
Episode 1
Award-winning character comedian and doyen of sketch comedy Humphrey Ker presents the pick of the best live sketch groups currently performing on the UK comedy circuit in this brand new showcase - with character, improv, broken and musical sketch comedy.
Humphrey Ker is himself an established sketch performer, writer, actor and comedian who won the Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh festival in 2011. For five years he was part of the much-loved sketch trio The Penny Dreadfuls, with whom he wrote and performed in a string of Edinburgh festival smashes, two series on BBC7 and two plays for Radio 4.
The sketch groups featured in episode one of Sketchorama are:
Delete the Banjax: Writer/performers Caroline May-Jones, Daniel Cook, Gareth Cooper and Samuel Champion. They've enjoyed three critically acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, picking up a ThreeWeeks Editors Award at Ed Fringe 2010 and, with their charmingly chaotic performance style, have become one of the most talked about comedy acts on the circuit.
Lady Garden: The all-female group are Beattie Edmondson, Rose Johnson, Eleanor Thom and Camille Ucan. Since their Edinburgh debut in 2008, their fast-paced shows filled with fantastic character creations have received widespread praise from audiences and critics alike.
Idiots of Ants: Andrew Spiers, Elliott Tiney, Benjamin Wilson and James Wrighton. Since forming in 2007, they have gone on to sell-out four Edinburgh festivals and a run in London's prestigious West End. They have attracted a staggeringly large internet following, with their 'Facebook in real life' and 'Wii Breakfast' sketches achieving multi-million hits.
Producer: Gus Beattie
A Comedy Unit production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b01k1nhg)
Jill has been trying to phone Pip's mobile. Adam suggests she's lost it but Jill is worried. Ruth initially claims that Pip has changed her number but Jill can sense that things are not right. Ruth's clearly upset and reveals Pip's threatening phone call. When Ruth tells her she wants to get the children away, Jill offers to have them at Glebe Cottage. Ruth adds that no-one else knows yet. She would like them to stay with Heather, her mum, but David is dead set against it.
Jill talks to David next. He changes his mind for the sake of his marriage and his own health. Ruth is grateful they will now be united in the fight.
Brian's eager to help his chosen bidder for the dairy development. He wants things to be smooth with the Borchester Land board and still needs to catch up for the time lost when Adam was in hospital. Jennifer's concerned about Adam and wants Brian to keep an eye on him. Adam got on fine at his hospital check-up but Brian realises he is inundated with work and needs to pace himself. He offers to ring round to find a helper to replace the injured student. Adam gratefully accepts.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b01k1nk4)
Friends with Kids, Edvard Munch
With Kirsty Lang
Zoe Williams, critic and author of What Not To Expect When You're Expecting, reviews the film Friends With Kids - a new comedy starring many of the cast of Bridesmaids, about a couple of friends who decide to have a child together, but not a relationship.
A new exhibition of the art of Edvard Munch aims to make us look again at the artist best known for The Scream. It reveals his obsession with the rise of photography, film and stage production, features around sixty paintings and fifty photographs - and also includes his lesser-known filmic work. Critic Jackie Wullschlager of the Financial Times gives her verdict.
The Poetry Parnassus is a London 2012 project which has worked to bring together the poetry from all two hundred and four nations competing in the Olympics. Simon Armitage discusses the project and introduces Audrey Brown-Pereira of the Cook Islands and Zeyar Lynn of Burma - who reflect on their involvement in the project.
Author Clare Clark talks to Kirsty about her latest novel, Beautiful Lies. Set in Victorian London when society is all a flutter over Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, the story examines questions of authenticity and faith. Clare Clark considers why the period in question holds such fascination for her.
Producer Rebecca Nicholson.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01k1mvz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (b01k1nk6)
School Inspections
Ofsted has a new, hard-line chief inspector and a new, tougher inspection regime - and in the past few months that has led to a spike in the number of schools deemed inadequate.
Predictably, there has been a corresponding wave of anger in schools - with a growing number taking to the courts to challenge the inspectors' views?
So are the inspectors really up to the job? And who inspects the inspectors?
Fran Abrams investigates.
Producer: Rob Cave.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b01k1nkz)
Cataracts Operation and Diversity Website
A Freedom of Information request sought by the RNIB shows over 50% of Primary Care Trusts are not following national guidelines for when cataracts should be operated on. We hear from a woman who waited six years to have her cataracts treated and the impact this had on her quality of life; and we ask Richard Smith of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists about the implications of prolonging cataract surgery.
An email invitation to the National Diversity Awards was sent to visually impaired people in an inaccessible format. Léonie Watson from British Computers Association of the Blind, and Paul Sesay from The Diversity Group discuss.
TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (b01k1nl3)
Richard Mabey
The man described as "Britain's greatest living nature writer", Richard Mabey, talks to Claudia Hammond about "the lost years" of his depressive illness. The author of Food for Free, Flora Britannica and Nature Cure admits that a symptom of his clinical depression was that he lost his connection with the natural world.
Allotment "Young at Heart"
The Young at Heart Project in Barking and Dagenham works to improve the mental and physical health of socially isolated men by bringing them together for regular growing sessions down at the allotment.
Ecotherapy
Mental health professionals join Andy McGeeney in ancient woodland, Thorndon Park, in Essex, to learn about ecotherapy.
Lisa on Horticultural Therapy
After many years of illness, Lisa, a former mental health nurse, tells Claudia about the part making a garden played in her recovery.
"Green Therapy": the evidence
Dr Rachel Bragg from the "Green Care Research Team" at the University of Essex describes the evidence behind nature-based therapies and argues they should be part of a "toolkit" of care for patients.
Producer: Fiona Hill.
TUE 21:30 In Living Memory (b01bm0p5)
Series 15
Ramstein
Chris Ledgard tells the story of the air show disaster at Ramstein, Germany in 1988. Three Italian aircraft collided, one crashing into the crowd, killing sixty-seven spectators.
In this edition of In Living Memory, Chris Ledgard visits Ramstein USAF base to meet survivors of the accident, explore what went wrong, and examine the safety legacy of Ramstein.
TUE 21:58 Weather (b01k1c8r)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b01k1nmz)
National and international news and analysis with Robin Lustig.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01k779x)
Ru
Episode 2
Having arrived safely at a refugee camp in Malaysia, Kim prepares for a new life. "From all the mornings with this impromptu English teacher I remembered only one sentence: My boat number is KG0338."
'Ru' is written by Kim Thuy, read by Elodie Yung and abridged and produced by Jane Marshall Productions.
Produced by Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:00 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b01k1ngp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Monday]
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01k1np6)
Susan Hulme with the day's top news stories from Westminster .
The Chancellor, George Osborne, has announced he's putting off the three pence rise in fuel duty that had been set for August. It's now expected to be introduced in January. Mr Osborne told the Commons the delay would help boost economic recovery. The Shadow Chancellor - Ed Balls - who this morning called for the increase to be scrapped -- told MPs the government seemed to be in disarray.
WEDNESDAY 27 JUNE 2012
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b01k1c9l)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b01k1lvc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01k1c9n)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01k1c9q)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01k1c9s)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b01k1c9v)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01kntsr)
A short reflection and prayer with Father Eugene O'Neill.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b01k1p85)
Anna Hill hears from a frustrated farmer who's been told he can't sell his produce at a local farmers' market because its full.
Mark Bailey, who rears rare breed pigs in Worcestershire, says its crucial to his business that he gets to sell direct to the public. However, he's been told there are no available stalls. Sketts, a private company which runs several farmers' markets in Mark Bailey's area, say they need to have a range of different producers - and there just too many sausage makers. Many of the existing stalls are run by farmers' travelling to the market from miles outside the area, so who should these places at market be for?
Also on the programme, inspections on livestock farms have dropped by 40% since the government came to office. Figures from DEFRA show the number of visits to check welfare and veterinary standards fell from more than 10,000 in 2009, to fewer than just under 6,000 last year. The government says its the result of more targeted visits, but Shadow Farming Minister Huw Irranca Davies is concerned that it's leading to a decrease in welfare standards.
The presenter is Anna Hill and the producer is Emma Weatherill.
WED 06:00 Today (b01k1p87)
Morning news and current affairs presented by Sarah Montague and Justin Webb, featuring:
0732
The Queen is to meet and shake hands with the deputy first minister and former IRA chief Martin McGuinness today on the second day of her two-day visit to Northern Ireland. Roy Foster, Carroll Professor of Irish History at Oxford, explains the historical and cultural significance of the meeting for the people of Northern Ireland.
0810
A bill to introduce a mainly-elected House of Lords will be published today. Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson, and Eleanor Laing, Conservative MP for Epping Forest, debate the proposals.
0818
Today marks the world's first appointment of a Professorship in networking at the Cass Business School. Julia Hobsbawm, who has been handed the title, explains what her new job entails.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b01k1p89)
Matthew Childs, Rachel Lichtenstein, Derek Boshier and Rebecca Thomas
Libby Purves meets artist Derek Boshier; writer/curator Rachel Lichtenstein; film maker Rebecca Thomas and garden designer Matthew Childs who survived the 7/7 London bombings.
Derek Boshier was one of the leading pop artists of the 1960s. A contemporary of David Hockney and Peter Blake, he featured in Ken Russell's 1962 film Pop Goes the Easel. An exhibition of his graphic work including his set designs for David Bowie and album cover artwork for The Clash, is at the Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, until October.
Rachel Lichtenstein is an internationally exhibited artist, writer and curator. Her book Diamond Street: the Hidden World of Hatton Garden is published by Hamish Hamilton and is part of a trilogy of books exploring London market streets including Brick Lane and Portobello Road.
Writer-director Rebecca Thomas was raised a Mormon in Las Vegas. Her debut feature film Electrick Children is a coming of age film about a young Mormon girl growing up in a fundamentalist Mormon community.
Matthew Childs is one of this year's garden designers at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. A former advertising man, he was inspired to pursue a career in gardening after surviving the 7/7 London bombings in 2005 with severe injuries to his legs. His design at Hampton Court Palace entitled "Light at the end of the tunnel", is about hope and recovery. The RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show runs from July 3-8th.
Producer: Paula McGinley.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b01k1p8c)
Damn His Blood
Episode 3
'Damn him!' he swore. 'There is no more harm in shooting him than a mad dog!'
The brutal murder of the Reverend George Parker in the rural village of Oddingley on Midsummer's Day in 1806 gripped the nation. It was a strange and stubborn case in an isolated Worcester village still bound by superstition and folklore, involving an investigation that lasted nearly a quarter of a century. It turned out to be a gripping true story of brutality, greed and ruthlessness in a rural community gone wildly astray.
Damn His Blood is also fascinating glimpse into the darker side of English rural life at the beginning of the nineteenth century, far away from the civilised drawing rooms of Jane Austen, with a cast of characters straight out of Hardy.
Today: the investigation into the parson's murder begins with a manhunt in nearby Worcester. Meanwhile, local farmers seem strangely untroubled by the brutal killing.
Peter Moore is a young literary historian and journalist, who is currently teaching Creative Writing at City University in London.
Abridger: Viv Beeby
Producer: Justine Willett
The Reader is Alex Jennings, who is currently appearing in The Collaborators as Mikhail Bulgakov at the National Theatre and is currently starring in Silk on BBC One.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01k28w2)
Kathryn Flett, dating apps, employer childcare support
Kathryn Flett on her new novel; Can mobile apps help you to find the perfect date, or even the perfect night out? Should employers be subsidising care to help families look after children and elderly relatives? Cpt Flora Sandes, the only British woman soldier to enlist in World War 1. Presented by Jenni Murray..
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01k28w4)
The Pursuits of Darleen Fyles: Series 3
Episode 3
The Pursuits of Darleen Fyles - Episode 3
by Esther Wilson
Return of award winning drama series about a young woman with learning disabilities.
Darleen meets her father for the very first time.
Darleen Fyles ...... Donna Lavin
Jamie Cook ....... Edmund Davies
Treena ..... Lesley Nicol
Jay ...... Andrew Schofield
Bob ...... Stephen Chapman
Mohammad ..... Sushil Chudasama
Director/Producer - Pauline Harris.
WED 11:00 Don't Log Off (b01k28w6)
Series 2
Episode 3
Alan Dein sets out on nocturnal excursions via Facebook and Skype, discovering the real life dramas behind the online profiles, talking to people in every corner of the globe.
Holed up in the studio late into the night, Alan makes conversation with people all over the world, talking to them about their stories. He never knows what he'll be hearing next.
This time, the theme is War and Peace as Alan connects with a Beirut man shot by a sniper during the Lebanese civil war, a woman whose father was imprisoned during the Cuban revolution and a young man in California jailed for domestic violence.
Producer: Laurence Grissell.
WED 11:30 A Month of June (b01k28w8)
Shangri-La
Romance in a council beach hut is alive and well but perhaps a little cramped for our elderly couple.
The last of four comedies written for the many voices of legendary actor June Whitfield.
Written by Andy Merriman and Alison Joseph
Annie Hopkins ..... June Whitfield
Digby Pickering ..... Richard Briers
Jim Kett ..... Patrick Brennan
Martha Denny ..... Susie Riddell
Brian Boggis ..... Don Gilet
Jason Denny ..... Sam Alexander
Director: David Hunter
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2012.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b01k28wb)
Younger generations facing a harsh future
Councils in England are taking over the running of many health services. In cash strapped times what will this mean for Local Authorities?
Younger generations facing a harsh future - the Centre for the Modern Family reports on families in the downturn.
The government u-turn on fuel duty - how will it affect you?
Peer to peer selling - why businesses are cutting out the middle man.
The mobile phone companies changing their international call charges and how to choose the best deal.
And the competition to find ways to stop bike theft.
Presented by Winifred Robinson
Produced by Vibeke Venema.
WED 12:45 The New Elizabethans (b01k28wd)
Harold Pinter
The New Elizabethans: Harold Pinter. To mark the Diamond Jubilee, James Naughtie examines the lives and impact of the men and women who have given the second Elizabethan age its character.
Not many playwrights bequeath an adjective based on their name to the nation's vocabulary like 'Kafkaesque' or 'Chekhovian'. In this case, it's "Pinteresque". It's a measure of the originality of Pinter's dramatic style - and of the thought processes that he chose to illustrate through his work. After a shaky start with his first play The Birthday Party, his writing career spanned 50 years, and earned him a Nobel Prize in Literature.
Fiercely political, his background was that of a working class boy from an East End Jewish immigrant family, and he famously supported the group Jews for Justice for Palestinians, as well as campaigning often and loudly against the UKs support of the USA's wars of the last 30 years or so. A long time champion of Human Rights, he was an early member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and a supporter of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement.
The New Elizabethans have been chosen by a panel of leading historians, chaired by Lord (Tony) Hall, Chief Executive of London's Royal Opera House. The panellists were Dominic Sandbrook, Bamber Gascoigne, Sally Alexander, Jonathan Agar, Maria Misra and Sir Max Hastings.
They were asked to choose: "Men and women whose actions during the reign of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and/or given the age its character, for better or worse."
producer: James Cook.
WED 12:57 Weather (b01k1c9x)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b01k28wg)
National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
WED 13:45 The Cave (b01k28wj)
Plato's Cave
In the third of five illustrated talks by different writers exploring THE CAVE as a theme, Alan Read, Professor of Theatre at Kings College London, presents a fascinating philosophical reflection in this essay about Plato's Cave. Alan first considers the room in which he imagines a listener is sitting, and then the listener's relationship to the space in which they are sitting; the floor and the four walls. He then suggests the listener imagines what the room would be like if a wall is removed. The room is then transformed into a stage; a theatrical space. From here, Alan discusses ideas about the spectator and the performance, and the relationship between the spectator and their surroundings. These reflections lead to consideration of Plato's Cave; the story, setting, symbolism, meaning and relevance today. The programme considers reality and theatre, and ideas about theatricality, performers and spectators. The essay concludes with a story set in a cave; but it's a surprising end; a new take on an old story.
Writer and narrator : Alan Read
Additional sound recordings by : Chris Watson
Producer: Sarah Blunt.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b01k1nhg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b01k290b)
Jennifer Howarth - Lord Behold Us
Written by Jennifer Howarth.
Set in Birmingham 1958. Michael Cooper is 12 and it is the first assembly of a new school term. Amid hearty cheers, the headmaster Mr Gardner announces there will be a school play this term - The Merchant of Venice directed by charismatic English teacher Mr Dawson.
Michael accompanies his friend Grayling to the auditions and lands himself a small acting role as well as singing a song.
Michael's sister Pat goes to a different school but wishes she was at Michael's school. She loves the theatre but her school doesn't do proper plays.
Their father is a lawyer in the Courts service - a successful, handsome man, who is dismissive of Michael's abilities and ridicules his ideas and interests. He is also a governor at Michael's school.
One evening Michael's father is visited by the headmaster and a fellow governor and some shocking news about Mr Dawson is revealed. Mr Cooper wants him sacked with immediate effect but the headmaster wants to stand by him - an extraordinary Headmaster for such bigoted times.
Cast:
Pat ....... Bryony Hannah
Michael ....... George Hill
Mr Dawson ....... Tom Riley
Father ....... Peter Wight
Mother ....... Jenny Funnell
Mr Gardner/Robert ...... Nicholas Boulton
Frank ....... Kim Wall
Grayling ....... Nicholas West
Janet ...... Cara Baker
Anderson ...... James Anderson
Director: Celia De Wolff
A Pier Production For BBC Radio 4.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b01k290d)
700Vincent Duggleby and guests take calls and e mails on holiday finances.
If you're planning a holiday this summer in a troubled Eurozone country, you may want advice about travel money or insurance.
Is it better to take cash; cards or a pre-paid card? What will your travel insurance policy cover you for in case of local strikes; a holiday supplier closing down or even civil unrest?
And long-haul, short-haul, or just a mini-break, how can you be sure you're getting the best value for money? Whatever your plans, ask our panel of experts for their tips on making the most of your time away.
If you're looking for a cheap holiday, should you buy early or wait for a last-minute bargain?
What are the pitfalls of using debit or credit cards abroad? Do prepaid cards offer the best deals?
What is ATOL protection and how might consumers benefit from changes in the law brought in earlier this year?
What are your rights if your holiday is cancelled, your luggage lost or your flight delayed?
And what are the do's and don'ts of car hire?
The number to ring: 03 700 100 444. Lines open at
1pm. Or e mail moneybox@bbc.co.uk
Vincent Duggleby will be joined by:
Sean Tipton, Spokesman, ABTA.
Stephen Howard, Association of Travel Insurance Intermediaries
Simon Calder, travel editor, Independent
Producer Sally Abrahams.
WED 15:30 All in the Mind (b01k1nl3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b01k290g)
Evil; the morality of cycling
'Evil' is a concept more readily associated with theology and psychology than the social sciences. Tabloid headlines denounce 'evil' crimes but offer little in the way of explanation. Indeed, the very term implies that no explanation is possible. But Michel Wieviorka, the leading French sociologist, tells Laurie Taylor why he thinks that 'evil' can and should be subjected to sociological scrutiny. They're joined by Peter Young, Head of Criminology at the University of Kent.
Also, the sociologist, Judith Green, talks about her study into the morality of cycling - do cyclists feel they are 'better' than drivers and have drivers conceded the ethical high ground?
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b01k290j)
BBC coverage of the Arab Spring
On today's programme with Steve Hewlett:
How well did the BBC cover the Arab Spring? The BBC Trust commissioned a report from Middle East expert and former UN director of communications Edward Mortimer who found much to praise but also had some constructive criticism, detecting the absence of a central strategic brain overseeing the coverage. He explains what he thought the BBC could have done better and Stephen Mitchell, BBC deputy director of news, responds.
With the news this week of plans to split the NewsCorp business into entertainment and publishing companies, what's the view of the UK papers from NewsCorp's home in New York? Sarah Ellison's been following the Murdoch family interests since her time at the Wall Street Journal and extensively since with Vanity Fair and gives her reaction to the latest developments.
And the rights to show the 2016 Olympics are up for auction this week, with sealed bids being opened on Friday. The IOC president Jacques Rogge has said "anything is possible" with the rights, raising the possibility that they will not be shown to their fullest extent on free to air tv. The Guardian's Olympics editor, Owen Gibson, reports from the Olympic Park.
The producer is Simon Tillotson.
WED 17:00 PM (b01k290l)
Eddie Mair presents coverage and analysis of the day's news.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01k1c9z)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 My Teenage Diary (b01k290n)
Series 4
Robert Webb
Another brave celebrity revisits their formative years by opening up their intimate teenage diaries, and reading them out in public for the very first time.
Rufus Hound is joined by actor Robert Webb whose hilarious and sometimes abrasive teenage diary documents the highs and lows of being seventeen - and the perils of kissing a girl at a party when you don't really fancy her.
Producer: Harriet Jaine
A Talkback production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b01k29p9)
Jamie wants to spend quality time with Natalie but she's got cricket on her mind. Jamie suggests the girls could play against St Margaret's school and Natalie puts the idea to Alistair. He doesn't think there's enough interest to make up a girls' team but Natalie's not giving up. Jamie suggests some of her hockey playing friends could be given honorary cricket team status. But after discussing this with Alistair they come up with a different plan. Some of the boys will be given honorary female status to make up the team.
Keith brings Chelsea's bridesmaid dress round. It's all wedding talk at home, so he's glad to escape. Emma assures him the expense will be worth it when he walks Samantha down the aisle.
When Ed learns the truth about what's been happening at Brookfield, he worries about going away on his course but he knows it'll be good for him. Emma thinks differently. David and Ruth should have told them earlier. She doesn't want Ed to leave her and George alone. Either Ed stays, or she goes. If it's not safe for Ruth and David's kids, it's not safe for theirs either. Not without their dad in the house.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b01k29pc)
The Amazing Spider-Man; Joe Penhall
With Mark Lawson.
The Amazing Spider-Man is the latest summer blockbuster, a reboot of the tale of nerdy teenage Peter Parker, who acquires superpowers after he's been bitten by a spider. This time Andrew Garfield takes the title role, with Martin Sheen as his uncle Ben, and Rhys Ifans as an evil genius. Natalie Haynes gives her verdict.
Joe Penhall on how watching his wife going through labour gave him the inspiration for his new play Birthday, why it had to star a pregnant man instead of a pregnant woman, and the audiences reaction to Stephen Mangan's prosthetically enhanced full-frontal.
American academic and author Elaine Showalter and playwright Marcy Kahan pay tribute to Nora Ephron whose death was announced today.
The Robben Island Bible is a copy of The Complete Works of Shakespeare, smuggled into South Africa's Robben Island prison, disguised as a religious text. Many political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, read and annotated the book. Writer Matthew Hahn has written a play based on this, and the book itself is in a forthcoming exhibition at the British Museum. Matthew Hahn and British Museum curator Becky Allen reflect on the book's significance.
Producer Erin Riley.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01k28w4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b01k29ph)
The Prime Minister David Cameron has this week called for a radical shake up in the welfare state. This wasn't just a speech about benefits rates, or dole scroungers - the PM was going back to fundamental principles - what is social security for and who should it serve? To William Beveridge it was about eradicating evil - the "giant evils" of squalor, ignorance, want, idleness and disease. To David Cameron it is about encouraging citizens to do the right thing - to work, to save, to take personal responsibility. The speech and the row it is causing, exposes a profoundly moral divide. Should social benefit payments be the mechanism by which the state seeks greater social justice, or should they be a mechanism by which the state seeks to promote individual morals? On the one hand you have those who argue that it is the moral duty of those in society who are better off to help those less fortunate. The best mechanism to do that is through the state and the tax and benefit system - everyone contributes, everyone is entitled and social solidarity is the result. To others that creates a system that rewards the feckless and punishes the prudent. Or as high Tory thinker TE Utley more elegantly put it "an arrangement under which we all largely cease to be responsible for our own behaviour and in return become responsible for everyone else's." This battle between the "strivers" and the "skivers" has dogged arguments about the welfare state since the Poor Laws. Now the issue of inter-generational justice has complicated the rhetoric as it appears benefits paid to those under 25 could be scrapped first, while universal benefits to well off pensioners will be protected. So the Moral Maze this week is, what is the welfare state for and who should it help?
Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk with Clifford Longley, Kenan Malik, Michael Portillo and Melanie Phillips.
Witnesses:
Owen Jones - Author of 'Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class'
Romin Sutherland - Manager of The Next Door Project, an advocacy group set up to help people affected by changes to housing benefit in London, part of the charity Zacchaeus 2000.
James Bartholomew - Author, 'The Welfare State We're In'
Neil O'Brien - Director, The Policy Exchange.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b01k2b12)
Series 3
Colin Crooks: The Let-Down Generation
Serial social entrepreneur Colin Crooks argues that politicians and the media are wrong to focus on youth unemployment.
Instead, he says, we should all be worried about the very high levels of persistent unemployment amongst the 'let-down generation' who were failed by poor education between the 1970s and 1990s.
Teaching them the lessons of being in work, he argues, would not only benefit them, but their children, too.
And he believes that to make a meaningful impact in these unemployed people's lives, we should stop developing skills for jobs which often do not exist, and instead focus on creating real jobs where they live.
Producer: Giles Edwards.
WED 21:00 Frontiers (b01k2b14)
Could creating "blood" in the laboratory make infections passed on through blood transfusions a thing of the past? Vivienne Parry investigates.
The drive behind the quest for creating a blood substitute was originally from the US Military - during the Vietnam war a clean, reliable and portable alternative to donor blood would have helped to save many lives. Donated blood can only be kept for a limited time, needs refrigerating and has to be cross matched according to which ABO group people belong to. The "universal donor" - O negative blood - can be used on accident victims before a match is found. But it's in very short supply and often many units of blood are required.
The history of creating blood has had a chequered past - with some products abandoned because of side effects and others proving too costly to produce. One analysis of clinical trials on blood substitutes in 2008 revealed a higher incidence of heart attacks in patients who'd been given them, compared with those who received human blood.
Some scientists have tried using the pigment found in oxygen-carrying red blood cells - haemoglobin. This molecule is normally packed into the cells, so that it can "grab" oxygen breathed in by the lungs and release it in minute capillaries, providing the body with the oxygen needed to survive. But "free" haemoglobin is toxic to the body - presenting researchers with a technical challenge.
Another approach has been to grow human red blood cells from cells extracted from umbilical cords - known as blood pharming. But with the average blood transfusion containing 2.5 million million red blood cells the scale of production would have to be enormous. A special cocktail of growth factors coax these stem cells into becoming red blood cells just like those the body produces naturally.
Producer: Paula McGrath.
WED 21:30 Midweek (b01k1p89)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b01k1cb1)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b01k2b16)
Robin Lustig presents national and international news and analysis.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01k7cqs)
Ru
Episode 3
"My parents often remind my brothers and me that they won't have any money for us to inherit but I think they've already passed on to us the wealth of their memories, which allows us to grasp the beauty of a flowering wisteria, the delicacy of a word, the power of wonder."
Ru is written by Kim Thuy, read by Elodie Yung and abridged and produced by Jane Marshall Productions
Produced by Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:00 Bird Island (b01k2b18)
Series 1
Episode 3
On one hand, Ben is on the trip of a lifetime to Sub-Antarctica. On the other, he's trapped in an icy hell with one other person, a dodgy internet connection and a dictaphone. Loneliness is something of a problem. His fellow travelling scientist Graham should alleviate this, but the tragi-comic fact is, they are nerdy blokes, so they can only stumble through yet another awkward exchange. Ben experiences all the highs and lows that this beautiful, but lonely place has to offer but fails miserably to communicate this to Graham. So, Ben shares his thoughts with us in the form of an audio 'log'.
Apart from his research studying the Albatross on the Island, Ben attempts to continue normal life with an earnestness and enthusiasm which is ultimately very endearing. We're with him as chats awkwardly with Graham, telephones his mother and as he tries to form a long distance relationship with a woman through Chemistry.com. In fact, we follow Ben as everything occurs to him. We also hear the pings and whirrs of machinery, the Squawks and screeches of the birds and the vast expanse outside. Oh, and ice. Lots of ice.
EPISDE THREE:
Bird Island is the story of Ben, a young scientist working in Antarctica, trying to socially adapt to the loneliness by keeping a cheery audio diary on his Dictaphone. An atmospheric 15 minute non-audience comedy.
Ben and Graham encounter a seal cub that's been attacked. He takes it home and carefully nurses it back to life and share the pup's progress with his mum and Dad.
EPISDE THREE CAST:
Ben ..... Reece Shearsmith
Graham ..... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Beverley..... Alison Steadman
Robin..... Gerard Mcdermott
Written by ..... Katy Wix
Produced by ..... Tilusha Ghelani.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.
WED 23:15 Mordrin McDonald: 21st Century Wizard (b01k2b1b)
Series 3
School Sports Day
Step into the magically mundane world that is the life of 21st Century Wizard Mordrin McDonald. An isolated 2000 year-old Scottish sorcerer with enough power in his small finger to destroy a town, yet insufficient clout to get a speed bump installed outside his cave by the local council. Even for such a skilful sorcerer, modern life is rubbish!
In this episode, Mordrin (David Kay) is persuaded by his neighbour Tracey (Rosemary Hollands) to take part in her School Sports Day. Mordrin is struggling with his fitness and any attempts to simply 'magic' himself fit may result in an unwanted call up to the Wizard Olympics which contains events such as the Dragon Hurdles, a Magroth Marathon and, worst of all, a Troll chasing Decathlon.
Written by David Kay & Gavin Smith.
Producer: Gus Beattie
A Comedy Unit production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01k2b1d)
David Cameron says that supporters of House of Lords reform must stand up and back it if the Government is to get the proposals through.
Facing dissent from within his own ranks at question time, the Prime Minister says he believes there is a majority for Lords reform in both the Commons and the country.
The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, says the Chancellor's decision to freeze fuel duty is a sign of panic. But Mr Cameron says the Government is "defusing" a tax "bombshell" left by Labour.
On the committee corridor, MPs hear that some children are "too unruly for school".
In the Lords, peers hear how they will deal with that Bill to change their chamber.
Sean Curran and team report on today's events in Parliament.
THURSDAY 28 JUNE 2012
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b01k1cby)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b01k1p8c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01k1cc0)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01k1cc2)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01k1cc4)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b01k1cc6)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01kntt2)
A short reflection and prayer with Father Eugene O'Neill.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b01k2bv4)
A global investor tells Charlotte Smith there's no future for small dairy farms in Europe.
Detlev Schorn, partner at Aquilla Capital, manages a multi million euro fund investing in agriculture. But while he is investing in the dairy sector in New Zealand, he says he wouldn't put money into British farms.
Plus are London Farmers' Markets a lucrative business in cities? Charlotte visits Swiss Cottage Market in London to see if it's worth the trip for farmers.
And the rise of snail farming... Breeder Helen Howard tells Charlotte there's a growing demand from British smallholders and diners.
Presented by Charlotte Smith. Produced by Clare Freeman in Birmingham.
THU 06:00 Today (b01k2bv6)
Morning news and current affairs, presented by John Humphrys and Sarah Montague, including:
07:30 and
08:30 What will the latest EU summit achieve?
07:50 Should there be a minister for older people?
08:10 Barclays has been fined £290m for trying to manipulate interest rates at which banks lend to each other.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b01k2bv8)
Al-Kindi
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of the Arab philosopher al-Kindi. Born in the early ninth century, al-Kindi was heavily influenced by Greek philosophy and supervised the translation of many works by Aristotle and others into Arabic. The author of more than 250 works, he wrote on many different subjects, from optics to mathematics, music and astrology. He was the first significant thinker to argue that philosophy and Islam had much to offer each other and need not be kept apart. Today al-Kindi is regarded as one of the greatest scholars of the medieval Islamic world.
With:
Hugh Kennedy
Professor of Arabic at SOAS, University of London
James Montgomery
Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic Elect at the University of Cambridge
Amira Bennison
Senior Lecturer in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge.
Producer: Thomas Morris.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b01k2bvb)
Damn His Blood
Episode 4
'Damn him!' he swore. 'There is no more harm in shooting him than a mad dog!'
The brutal murder of the Reverend George Parker in the rural village of Oddingley on Midsummer's Day in 1806 gripped the nation. It was a strange and stubborn case in an isolated Worcester village still bound by superstition and folklore, involving an investigation that lasted nearly a quarter of a century. It turned out to be a gripping true story of brutality, greed and ruthlessness in a rural community gone wildly astray.
Damn His Blood is also fascinating glimpse into the darker side of English rural life at the beginning of the nineteenth century, far away from the civilised drawing rooms of Jane Austen, with a cast of characters straight out of Hardy.
Today: with the prime suspect still on the loose, suspicion falls on the local farmers, whose stories don't seem to add up...
Peter Moore is a young literary historian and journalist, who is currently teaching Creative Writing at City University in London.
Abridger: Viv Beeby
Producer: Justine Willett
The Reader is Alex Jennings, who is currently appearing in The Collaborators as Mikhail Bulgakov at the National Theatre and is currently starring in Silk on BBC One.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01k2bvd)
Juliet Nicholson
Christine Antorini the Danish Minister for Children and Education on what we can learn from Denmark about childcare. Why a recent picture of a woman in China with a 7-month old foetus shortly after a forced late-term abortion has caused international outrage. Historian Juliet Nicolson talk about "Abdication", her first novel, set in 1936 . The impact of an inter-generational project running in the East End . And the jazz singer Kate Dimbleby will be performing live and talking about the life and work of Dory Previn.
Presenter Jenni Murray
Producer Sarah Johnstone.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01k2bvj)
The Pursuits of Darleen Fyles: Series 3
Episode 4
The Pursuits of Darleen Fyles
by Esther Wilson
Episode 4
Comic and touching drama series about a young woman with learning disabilities.
Darleen is still struggling to consummate her marriage. Her mother, Treena is worried
about Darleen's father turning up out of the blue.
Darleen Fyles ...... Donna Lavin
Jamie Cook ...... Edmund Davies
Treena ...... Lesley Nicol
Jay ...... Andrew Schofield
Bob ..... Stephen Chapman
Mohammad ...... Sushil Chudasama
Director/Producer - Pauline Harris
Further Info:- Donna Lavin and Edmund Davies are actors with learning disabilities. The series is
created in part through improvisation.
THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (b01k2bvl)
Ian Pannell tells us how the story of Robin Hood and his outlaws is proving popular with one of the groups of rebels fighting to overthrow President al-Assad.
Will Grant, on the campaign trail ahead of Sunday's election in Mexico, finds himself in what he describes as 'the most dangerous place I've ever been!'
Hampi in India may once have lain at the heart of one of the biggest empires in Asia but Anthony Denselow says that now it's not the place to go if you need a haircut.
Damien McGuinness has been learning that pagan traditions emerge from the past when Latvians go out to celebrate midsummer.
And Dany Mitzman tells us that at an Italian wedding food is more important than speeches and confetti isn't something you throw, it's something you eat!!
THU 11:30 The Uncanny (b01k2bvn)
It's that sense of unease or disquiet at the heart of ghost fiction and horror writing, the stuff of bad dreams when the familiar is suddenly strange, a feeling of a place being unsettlingly out of place. The uncanny is everywhere.
So why is it that the familiar, or that which is closest to home, can be so much more frightening to us than the truly exotic or unknown? Freud's extraordinary essay The Uncanny, from 1919, is like nothing else he wrote. It's a translation of the German 'un-heimlich' meaning 'not homely' or 'a feeling of not being at home'. But the term itself is strange. In German its meaning can shift so 'uncanny/un-heimlich' can be read, eerily, as 'homely but not at home' - a disquieting ambiguity.
Freud tries to unravel that sense of the 'uncanny' that he sees everywhere in popular art and culture: in the fiction of Poe and E.T.A. Hoffman, in life-like puppets and mannequins which for a second we think are real, in doppelgangers and doubles, in the strange feeling of getting lost in a familiar place.
He was arguably onto something. The uncanny really is discernable everywhere in fiction, film and art - from Mary Shelly to Asimov, from Invasion of the Body Snatchers to the Chapman Brothers. This atmospheric programme explores the power of the Uncanny in our culture - in all its strange, unsettling manifestations.
Presented by Hugh Haughton. Contributors include author AS Byatt, artists the Chapman Brothers, writer and actor Mark Gatiss and psychotherapist Adam Phillips.
Producer: Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in June 2012.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b01k2bvq)
Do we need a Minister for Older People?
The average person watches over 4 hours of TV a day. A new campaign wants to challenge this sedentary lifestyle and suggest ways we can get fit from the sofa. Could it be as simple as having a wiggle?
We'll be hearing from the House of Commons as the debate for the appointment of a Minister of State for Older gets under way. Countries like Canada, New Zealand and Ireland all have a dedicated Minister for Older people. So why don't we?
Is your computer plugged in but not in use or the television left on standby?. If so, you could one of many households wasting up to a combined total of £1.3 billion pounds per year on your electricity bills.
GP's are to come under further scrutiny in the fight against cancer when a new online service will allow patients to compare how well each GP performs in diagnosing the signs of cancer. Every year 250,000 in England are diagnosed with cancer, and around 130,000 die unnecessarily die from the disease. GPs are vital because they spot the signs of cancer in 90% of patients, with screening picking up the other 10%. But a typical GP sees only eight or nine cases of cancer a year.
Presented by Winifred Robinson
Produced by Maire Devine.
THU 12:45 The New Elizabethans (b01k2bvs)
Richard Doll
The New Elizabethans: Richard Doll. To mark the Diamond Jubilee, James Naughtie examines the lives of the men and women who have given the second Elizabethan age its character.
60 years ago, 80% of British adults were smokers. The fact that this figure is now nearer 20% is largely down to the work of epidemiologist Sir Richard Doll, who in 1954 published the first scientific research paper proving the link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. His dogged and determined research finally led governments world wide to challenge the tobacco industry and to initiate a whole new era of public health management.
Sir Richard was to make many more contributions to epidemiology, including work on the health effects of asbestos and the contraceptive pill. He gave up smoking himself while doing the initial research in the 50's, which may have contributed to the fact that he lived to 92, long enough to witness the legislation to outlaw smoking in public places in Britain.
The New Elizabethans have been chosen by a panel of leading historians, chaired by Lord (Tony) Hall, Chief Executive of London's Royal Opera House. The panellists were Dominic Sandbrook, Bamber Gascoigne, Sally Alexander, Jonathan Agar, Maria Misra and Sir Max Hastings.
They were asked to choose: "Men and women whose actions during the reign of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and/or given the age its character, for better or worse."
Producer: Mike Tighe.
THU 12:57 Weather (b01k1cc8)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b01k2bvv)
National and international news, presented by Shaun Ley. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
THU 13:45 The Cave (b01k2bvx)
Cave of Faith
In the fourth of five illustrated essays by different writers on the theme of THE CAVE, Martin Palmer, Secretary General of The Alliance of Religions and Conservation reflects on the role of caves in religious stories and traditions. Drawing on examples he explores how in religious stories and traditions caves have three main roles. They are doorways to the underworld; they are scenes of revelation and they are places where two worlds meet. As he says "the cave is a metaphor for the inner world, the world of our emotions and our psyche - in contrast to our outer world of everyday life. Caves give us permission to go into places where we otherwise might not have the courage to venture - both physically and spiritually."
Written and narrated by Martin Palmer, with a reading by Adjoa Andoh
Additional sound recordings by Chris Watson
Producer Sarah Blunt.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b01k29p9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b01k2bvz)
Douglas Livingstone - Road to the Borders
Written by Douglas Livingstone.
Road to the Borders is set in Hawick over the weekend of the Reivers' Festival - a few days when the deeds of the reivers (dictionary definition: one who makes raids or plunders) are celebrated.
Until James I & VI united England and Scotland the reivers ruled the Borders, stealing their neighbours' cattle and exacting revenge for the raids they suffered themselves. Hamish is as English as they come, but his father was born in the Borders and Jim's pride in his ancestry becomes more marked the older he becomes. As he looks back with regret to the rules that governed his forbears, he wishes his son could be more like the reivers of old.
Road to the Borders is the sixth play in the Road series, in which writer Douglas Livingstone and director Jane Morgan team up at an event. The particular sounds are recorded and the atmosphere absorbed before Douglas writes the play. On this occasion, he responded to the romance and melodrama of the story of the reivers and the fact that his own father was a Scot played some part in the making of the play.
Producer/Director: Jane Morgan
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 15:00 Ramblings (b01k2bw1)
Series 21
Whitley Bay with Barry Stone
Clare Balding is walking with dogs (and their owners) throughout this series of Ramblings.
Prog 6 - Whitley Bay with Barry Stone
In this week's programme Clare Balding meets author Barry Stone, his partner Paul and their dog, Bonzo the black Lab.
Barry's childhood was coloured by the secret of his father's homosexuality and alcoholism; both parents had been traumatised by their experiences during the second world war and Barry had a deep personal struggle in coming to terms with his own sexuality.
Over the years he attempted to write his story - eventually burning one manuscript of 300,000 words - and it was only at his mother's funeral that he was struck by the need to write through the 'voice' of Brucie (his childhood pet dog). The resulting book, a semi-autobiographical novel called 'Barking at Winston' was initially self-published with local distribution but was quickly picked up commercially and is now selling successfully around the country.
Barry and Paul take Clare on a favourite local walk through Whitley Bay to the village of Holywell. Starting at Barry's childhood home, the place where Brucie first came into his life, they head down to the beach and then the promenade of Whitley Bay sea-front. From there they turn inland and walk through Holywell Dene - a beautiful and peaceful area of ancient woodland - before heading home.
Producer Karen Gregor.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b01k1n54)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (b01k2bq2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b01k2bw3)
Francine Stock talks to veteran director William Friedkin about his new film, Killer Joe, starring Matthew McConaughey as a Texan cop and assassin for hire.
Critics Robbie Collin and Jamie Dunn report from Britain's oldest film festival in Edinburgh.
Journalist Anthony Baxter explains why he remortgaged his house to make a documentary about Donald Trump's golf course on the east coast of Scotland.
The independent director behind such films as Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness, and Palindromes, Todd Solondz, discusses his latest, Dark Horse.
Producer: Craig Smith.
THU 16:30 Material World (b01k2bw5)
The Finch report, a government report into science publishing came out last week. Its findings were not widely covered despite feelings running high about the influence of the multi million pound science publishing industry. Many scientists are unhappy with the current science publishing system, where important research findings are published in commercial journals. They say scientific data gleaned from publicly funded research should be freely available. We speak to the report’s Author Dame Janet finch.
We also hear from scientist and journalist Ben Goldacre about a new push to use methods from medical testing to examine the effectiveness of government social policy initiatives.
We speak to the winner of The Venture prize, £25000 for scientific innovation. They are looking at ways to turn laboratory work into a commercial product. Researchers at Oxford University hope to use cheap and widely available metals to replace expensive coatings on computer screens and solar panels.
And we hear about new developments in producing sustainable packaging materials.
THU 17:00 PM (b01k2bw7)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01k1ccb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 The Simon Day Show (b01k2bw9)
Series 2
Mick Cunningham
Simon Day and his characters 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 brings Australian celebrity chef, Mick Cunningham to The Mallard Theatre under the misapprehension that he'll be filming a TV show.
Cast list:
Mick Cunningham ..... Simon Day
Emanuel Akinyemi ..... Felix Dexter
Pat Bennet ... Morwenna Banks
Ron Bone / Wozak ..... Simon Greenall
Rene ..... Janine Duvitski
Written by Simon Day
Produced by Colin Anderson.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b01k2bwc)
Hayley and Roy are busy decorating Phoebe's bedroom. They can't wait for her to come home. Vicky and Brenda come round to chat to Phoebe on Skype, and Vicky volunteers Mike to pay for a family holiday when she's back. Brenda has a go at Vicky for suggesting it in Mike's absence. Brenda also wishes Vicky had spoken to her before putting her name forward to help with the marketing of Ambridge's cultural olympiad.
Josh chats to Phoebe on Skype. She's enjoying her birthday. Josh has to go to answer the home phone. It's Adam. Josh tells him that he and Ben are finishing school early, to spend the summer in Prudhoe. Adam mentions it to Ruth, and Ruth lets slip that the gang who attacked Adam are responsible for recent goings-on. Adam's shocked to learn the truth. Ruth explains that David's determined to testify but she doesn't want him to. Ruth asks him to have a word with David.
Adam tells Ian that he thinks David should pull out. Ian can see where Adam's coming from but insists that the criminals can't get away with what they did to Adam. David needs to do what he must do. He asks Adam to think about it.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b01k2bwf)
With Mark Lawson
Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter Macy Gray talks about her latest disc, Covered, her own take on the cover album. The songs come largely from the indie scene of the last decade, with versions of tracks by Arcade Fire, Radiohead and My Chemical Romance - as well as a special appearance by actor Idris Elba.
Culture Minister Ed Vaizey discusses why he's optimist about the future of library services in England, and why he believes giving responsibility for library development to the Arts Council will help individual libraries stay relevant to their local communities.
Composer Michael Berkeley and writer Adam Mars-Jones discuss the many attempts by novelists over the years to replicate the condition of music in their prose, from James Joyce to Anthony Burgess to the latest example, Sound by T.M. Wolf.
The British Museum is re-opening a gallery dedicated to its extensive collection of money, at a time when the global economic system is in extraordinary focus. The Citi Money Gallery gives a historical context to today's concerns, starting 4500 years ago, and ending with the latest developments in digital technology. The BBC's Economics editor Stephanie Flanders gives her verdict.
Producer Lisa Davis.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01k2bvj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 Law in Action (b01k1nbs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Tuesday]
THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (b01k2cfc)
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.
Evan and his executive guests consider how well the market works at allocating investment capital to the right businesses. Do deserving companies get enough, do the undeserving get more than they should?
Joining Evan in the studio are Terry Smith, chief executive of stockbrokers Tullett Prebon; Israeli serial entrepreneur and investor Yossi Vardi; Ken Olisa, chairman of boutique technology merchant bank Restoration Partners.
Producer: Ben Crighton
Editor: Stephen Chilcott.
THU 21:00 The Hunt for the Gay Whale (b01k1mwp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Tuesday]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b01k2bv8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b01k1ccd)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b01k2cff)
Robin Lustig presents national and international news and analysis.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01k7fll)
Ru
Episode 4
"My grandmother had to choose between the risk of losing her son at sea and finding him torn to shreds in a mine field in Cambodia. She had to choose without hesitating, without trembling. Perhaps it was to control her fear that she started to pray."
Ru is written by Kim Thuy, read by Elodie Yung and abridged and produced by Jane Marshall Productions
Produced by Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:00 The 21st Century for Time Travellers (b01k2cfh)
Of all the periods open to the Personal Time Machine user an often over-looked and fascinating destination is early years of the 21st Century. Yes, this is a period famous not only for the romance of the war on terror and the decadent glamour of the London Olympic riots, but also for such legendary figures as the Enigmatic James Corden.
But for the unwary time traveller, the customs, language and behaviour of the 21st Century can be confusing. After all, these were simpler times when it was common for people to actually laugh at adverts in the cinema. Simpler, more disturbing times.
The show is hosted by the crotchety Wilson Thomas, forced to guide us on behalf of the 21st Century Tourist Board. He manages to thinly veil his contempt for the guests, who demonstrate everything a time traveller might need to survive in the savage 21st century. He also tolerates Martin, the member of the public sent back in time at the show's expense.
CAST:
Wilson ..... Dan Tetsell
Martin ..... Fergus Craig
Denise ..... Bridget Christie
Dixon, Alexei ..... Rufus Jones
Zammo ..... Katy Brand
Other parts ..... The cast
Additional material ..... Tom Neenan
Written by ..... Dan Tetsell
Produced by ..... Tilusha Ghelani
For Radio 4, Dan has co-written The Museum of Everything, Paperback Hell and Rudy's Rare Records and his own Writer's Guild Award-winning show Sins of the Grandfathers as a Friday Play. He has written for, among others, Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive, Dead Ringers,and Lucy Montgomery's Variety Pack. For television Dan has written for a wide variety of other shows including BBC 1 sitcom After You've Gone, and The Omid Djalili Show and BBC 3's recent hit Mongrels, which he also starred in as Marion.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01k2cfk)
Susan Hulme and the BBC's parliamentary team with the day's news from Westminster - including the Chancellor George Osborne on the Barclays Bank interest rate rigging scandal, and condemnation in the Lords for a pub's decision to refuse to serve a group of soldiers because they were in uniform. Editor: Rachel Byrne.
FRIDAY 29 JUNE 2012
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b01k1cd7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b01k2bvb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01k1cd9)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01k1cdc)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01k1cdf)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b01k1cdh)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01knttv)
A short reflection and prayer with Father Eugene O'Neill.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b01k2f7g)
From Somerset to Melbourne, Charlotte Smith hears how heavy rain around the world is resulting in farmers losing crops. The Met Office has confirmed that this month is due to be one of the wettest Junes on record and there's more unsettled weather forecast for July and August.
And, it's expected that dairy farmers will be told to expect a cut of up to 2 pence per litre in the price they're paid for milk. While the large dairy processors won't comment on any cut, and say talks with producers are ongoing, milk industry analyst Ian Potter tells Charlotte why the price change is inevitable and how a further cut will result in more dairy farmers throwing in the towel.
Presented by Charlotte Smith.
Produced by Clare Freeman in Birmingham.
FRI 06:00 Today (b01k2f7j)
Morning news and current affairs, presented by John Humphrys and Sarah Montague, including:
07:30 Andrew Hosken reports on an NHS whistleblower "supergag".
07:50 Can banks be made to act morally?
08:10 Martin McGuinness on shaking the Queen's hand.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b01k2b32)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b01k2f7l)
Damn His Blood
Episode 5
'Damn him!' he swore. 'There is no more harm in shooting him than a mad dog!'
The brutal murder of the Reverend George Parker in the rural village of Oddingley on Midsummer's Day in 1806 gripped the nation. It was a strange case in an isolated Worcester village still bound by superstition and folklore, involving an investigation that lasted nearly a quarter of a century. It turned out to be a gripping true story of brutality, greed and ruthlessness in a rural community gone wildly astray.
In today's final episode, nearly a quarter of a century has passed, and the case has still not been solved. But a gruesome discovery leads to a new inquest, and Oddingley village finally learns the truth.
Peter Moore is a young literary historian and journalist, who is currently teaching Creative Writing at City University in London.
Abridger: Viv Beeby
Producer: Justine Willett
The Reader is Alex Jennings, who is currently appearing in The Collaborators as Mikhail Bulgakov at the National Theatre and is currently starring in Silk on BBC One.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01k2f7n)
Composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad joins Jenni to talk about the world premiere of Amy's Last Dive, a contemporary opera which celebrates the life of the aviation pioneer, Amy Johnson. The tiny principality of Liechtenstein is Europe's only absolute monarchy, and its hereditary prince, Prince Alois, has the right to veto legislation. Next week the people of Liechtenstein will vote in a referendum to decide whether to strip him of his veto power. It comes after the Prince had threatened last year to override the decision if voters decided to legalise abortion. But will limiting the Prince's political powers influence attitudes to abortion in the country? The Leaf is a special resourced class which caters for children, as young as three, who have social, emotional and behavioural problems. There are very few school units that cater for such young children - how is it changing their lives? A court in Germany has ruled that the circumcision of boys on religious grounds caused bodily harm and infringed on a child's right to physical integrity. Jewish and Muslim leaders say the decision will effectively outlaw the practice. Does a parent have the right to permanently and irreparably change their child's body for religious reasons, or is it time for a widespread ban on the circumcision of boys? And in the Diamond Jubilee year, we have been looking at female sovereigns who reigned in their own right. For the next in the series, we look at Mary, Queen of Scots. Was she guilty of plotting to kill Elizabeth the First, or was she the victim of a set up?
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01k2f7q)
The Pursuits of Darleen Fyles: Series 3
Episode 5
The Pursuits of Darleen Fyles
by Esther Wilson
Episode 5
Comic and touching drama series about a young woman with learning disabilities.
Darleen discovers the truth about her estranged father.
Darleen Fyles ...... Donna Lavin
Jamie Cook ..... Edmund Davies
Treena ...... Lesley Nicol
Jay ...... Andrew Schofield
Bob ..... Stephen Chapman
Mohammad ..... Sushil Chudasama
Director/Producer - Pauline Harris
Further info: Donna Lavin and Edmund Davies are actors with learning disabilities. The series is created
in part through improvisation.
FRI 11:00 You Must Take the A Train (b01k2f7s)
New Yorker columnist and author Adam Gopnik confesses to 'a perverse love' of his city's subway system. In particular, he likes the two hour run of the A train from the tip of Manhattan to the Atlantic Ocean in the outer borough of Queens.
Along the way he encounters vendors, preachers, rappers, beggars and the homeless passengers who live in the subway cars and in the tunnels.
As a jazz lover, he celebrates Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's song as an anthem of black migration. which imitates the sound of the train and insists:
"You must take the A train
To go to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem."
In 1932 punters queued to take the first A train ride as it went express along the west side of the city. It opened up suburbs, with a fast commute for workers in the Garment District, Times Square and in the offices and restaurants of Midtown. It also linked the dynamic established community of Harlem with the newer black neighbourhoods in Brooklyn.
Gopnik admits to enjoying the graffiti that spread across the subway cars in the seventies and eighties but acknowledges that this was a sign of how New York had lost control. Since most New Yorkers don't own a car and the subway is the artery of a city, that dysfunctional slide was disastrous.
It's only in the last fifteen years that the system has become safe and comparatively pleasant again. For a reporter like Gopnik, it's a perfect way to indulge in people watching and the best subway line to get a real sense of the city. However, depending on your mood, it can either be enervating or profoundly depressing, because it still reveals the seedy, aggressive, desperate and heartbreaking side of New York.
Producer: Judith Kampfner
A Corporation For Independent Media production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 11:30 Births, Deaths and Marriages (b01k2f7v)
Series 1
Episode 6
In this episode, the team is thrown into panic as Lorna announces there may be job cuts while Malcolm joins a dating website, fearing that unmarried registrars may be made redundant.
Births, Deaths and Marriages is the 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), who also stars as chief registrar Malcolm Fox - a stickler for rules and willing to interrupt any wedding service if the width of the bride infringes health and safety. He's unmarried but why does he need to be? 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
Larry, Mr Charalambous ...... Mike Fenton Stevens
Malcolm's mum, Client registering birth ....... Mel Hudson
Julie, Jessica ...... Gina Peach
James ...... Arran Glass
Producer: Simon Jacobs
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b01k2f7x)
John Simpson, Google TV and Stone Roses tickets
Radio 4's consumer affairs programme with Peter White. John Simpson, the BBC's World Affairs Correspondent will be here talking about his involvement with the BBC's season of programmes focusing on ageing which starts next week. It's called When I'm Sixty Five and here on You & Yours we'll have a range of daily features and discussions.
We'll also hear why lots of people who bought tickets to the Stone Roses reunion in Manchester will be disappointed..
And the latest device in your living room - the launch of Google TV.
FRI 12:45 The New Elizabethans (b01k2f7z)
Tony Hancock
The New Elizabethans: Tony Hancock the comedy actor and star of radio and TV and film. Best known for Hancock's Half Hour, written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, where he epitomised the little man's struggle against the world. He was always fighting against something, quite often himself. With the advent of TV, his battles with officialdom, and his gloomy reflections on the injustices visited on him, were in every living room.
Sadly he began drinking heavily and his personal life unravelled. His vulnerability was exposed in a BBC interview with John Freeman in 1960 called Face to Face. Although he went to Australia in the hope of a revival it wasn't a success and he committed suicide in 1968 at the age of 44. Yet Hancock's Half Hour is still considered one of the most important yardsticks against which British sitcoms are measured and it could be said that Alan Partridge and David Brent owe much of their success to Tony Hancock's character.
The New Elizabethans have been chosen by a panel of leading historians, chaired by Lord (Tony) Hall, Chief Executive of London's Royal Opera House. The panellists were Dominic Sandbrook, Bamber Gascoigne, Sally Alexander, Jonathan Agar, Maria Misra and Sir Max Hastings.
They were asked to choose: "Men and women whose actions during the reign of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and/or given the age its character, for better or worse."
Producer: Clare Walker.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b01k1cdk)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b01k2f81)
As EU leaders resume their summit, Shaun Ley will live in Brussels with the latest.
Edward Stourton will be in London with the rest of the day's national and international news.
Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
FRI 13:45 The Cave (b01k2f83)
Beyond the Vermilion Border
In a dramatic finale to a series about caves, we join dental student Joe, as he embarks on a virtual journey beyond the Vermilion Border (which is the line which separates the lips from the face) and inside the human cave; the mouth. Guided by his virtual Tutors, the ORACLE and the ORACLE LADY, Joe embarks on a rollercoaster journey through the senses of the oral cavity, discovering how touch, taste, sight, smell and sound all play a role inside the mouth. The senses can provide information about health and disease in the mouth, which can lead to a greater understanding of the body's overall health.
Written by Patricia Reynolds, specialist in oral surgery and Director of Flexible Learning at Kings College London, this dramatic virtual journey offers a unique insight into the human cave.
Joe is played by Harry Livingstone
The Oracle is played by Gerard McDermott
The Oracle Lady is played by Adjoa Andoh
The reader is Christine Hall
Additional sound recordings by Chris Watson
Producer: Sarah Blunt.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b01k2bwc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b01k2f85)
The Man Who Sold the World
by Natalie Mitchell
Ticket tout Billy has a chance to start
again abroad but his two oldest mates have
very different reasons for wanting him to stay put.
Billy ..... Lee Ross
Lou ..... Tanya Franks
Lee ..... Tom Brooke
Trevor ..... Neil Maskell
O'Shea ..... Ben Crowe
Rob ..... Joe Sims
Nurse ..... Amaka Okafor
Director ..... Sally Avens.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b01k2f87)
Garden for the Games, Olympic Park, Stratford
Eric Robson and the panel meet a London audience at the Olympic Aquatic Centre, Stratford.
We revisit the Olympic Park one final time before the doors are thrown open to the public.
Questions answered in the programme:
How can we encourage people to grow plants in their front gardens instead of concreting them over?
What manure should I use for the best homegrown tomatoes?
What tree will establish quickly and resist the harsh conditions on the west coast of Ireland?
Suggestions included: Fir, Native Hawthorn, Birch, Rowan, Poplar
I've got a dwarf spruce, dying from the inside out, what can I do?
How can I maximise the crop yield of vegetables from a 6 meter square plot?
Suggestions included: French beans, courgettes, cut and come again lettuce, parsley, fruit trees, rhubarb, sweetcorn.
Planting suggestions for large tubs, brick planters, and baskets to along a seaside town high street. Suggestions included: Perennial seed mixes, grasses, Steeper Arundinacio, Wolvalarian, Sentranthus, Eupatorium Chocolate, Calendula,
Suggestions for plants that can be planted now to flower in the Olympic colours in a month's time.
Suggestions included: Annual poppies - 'Ladybird', Nigella, Pelargonium (cuttings)
In the Olympic year, what could I plant in
9.85 seconds?
Produced by Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 Elizabeth Taylor Short Stories (b01k2f89)
The Idea of Age
Highly acclaimed as both novelist and short story writer, Elizabeth Taylor was celebrated for her witty and acutely observed stories of ordinary life.
Joanna Tope reads The Idea of Age, the first of three short stories to be broadcast over the coming weeks in celebration of the author's birth a century ago. In this sensuous tale, Taylor captures the dreamlike intensity of adolescent experience. A young girl basks in the warmth of one particularly idyllic Summer holiday, during which the first stirrings of love and loss are savoured.
Produced by Amanda Hargreaves.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b01k2f8c)
Nora Ephron, Gunnar Sonsteby, Ron Onions, Dr John Horder and Doc Watson
Matthew Bannister on
The screenwriter, director and essayist Nora Ephron - best known for her romantic comedies When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle.
Gunnar Sonsteby - the Norwegian resistance fighter who was a master of disguise and forgery
Ron Onions - who pioneered new styles of news reporting on the UK's first commercial radio stations, LBC and Capital
Dr John Horder - who raised the status of GPs in Britain and was a talented musician and painter
And Doc Watson - the veteran American folk/blues guitarist.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (b01k2f8f)
The History of an Epic Struggle: last week marked the end of Richard Holloway's 20-part Honest Doubt series, which explored 3,000 years of faith jostling with doubt. It had a profound effect on many Radio 4 listeners. A one-sided attack on Christianity, or an insightful exploration of an often controversial subject? Roger talks to Richard Holloway, and the editor behind the commission, Radio 4's Jane Ellison.
From the spiritual to the virtual, big changes to all 55 of the BBC Radio websites are scheduled for the Autumn, but web users are getting a sneak peak by using a Beta version of the sites - a test version which runs alongside the old sites. Roger uploads a friendly, virtual companion to help him navigate the new websites and discovers what changes will be made in conversation with Mark Friend, controller of BBC Audio and Music Interactive.
And, we follow up on Drop Out Watch. Keen-eared listeners have been in touch with more examples of content cut short by technical glitches. And Roger receives a listener comment about....himself. No one, not even Mr Bolton, can escape the forensic attention of Feedback.
Producer: Kate Taylor
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 17:00 PM (b01k2f8h)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01k1cdm)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The Now Show (b01k2f8m)
Series 37
Episode 4
The 2015 Election Starts Here: in the week that David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg all seemed to set out their stalls for future policies, Jon Holmes, Marcus Brigstocke, Mitch Benn and Pippa Evans join Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis to review the news. With special guest appearance from John Humphrys. Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b01k2f8p)
Lynda's handing out watering advice for the hanging baskets at The Bull, ahead of the Britain in Bloom judging. She's disappointed in Kenton's feeble efforts at last week's committee meeting for the community games. She hopes he's now got some concrete plans. Kenton side-tracks her.
David helps Ruth pack up the car, ready for her to start the journey to Prudhoe.
Gerry Moreton's not happy at getting the agenda the day before a Borchester Land meeting. Brian apologises, and explains there's been a lot going on. Gerry understands that his family are priority but suggests that if Brian can't keep on top of things it might be time for someone else to take over the chair.
When Gerry later tries to suggest the dairy project could founder, bullish Brian tells him to go and plan how he'll spend all the money it will make.
David's annoyed when Eddie calls to ask him to start milking. He's doing a quote for a landscaping job and has got held up. Stressed David insists he gets to Brookfield immediately. But eventually David's pleased to hear that Ruth and the children have arrived safely at her mum's.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b01k2f8r)
Bobby Womack, Jake Arnott, and Killer Joe reviewed
With John Wilson.
Veteran soul singer Bobby Womack talks to John about surviving serious illness and a 50 year career that started in gospel and included writing hits for the likes of Janis Joplin and The Rolling Stones, and working with Damon Albarn on his new album.
Matthew McConaughey is cast against type in his new film, Killer Joe, as a police detective who moonlights as a hit man. This controversial thriller comes from William Friedkin, best known as the director of The Exorcist, and is based on a play by the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Tracy Letts. Briony Hanson, Director of Film at the British Council, reviews.
Jake Arnott talks about his new book The House of Rumour, which weaves stories of the occult, science fiction and espionage from the Second World War to the present day. It enlists real people - Ian Fleming, Aleister Crowley, Rudolf Hess, L Ron Hubbard - and places them in a cast of fictional science fiction writers, spies and actors. Jake reveals how Fleming met Crowley in real life, and how Dr John Dee, magician at the court of Elizabeth I, was the first agent 007.
Producer Ella-mai Robey.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01k2f7q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b01k2f8t)
Curdridge, Hampshire
Jonathan Dimbleby presents a panel discussion of news and politics from a Young Carers' Festival organised by YMCA and the Children's Society at YMCA Fairthorne Manor near Southampton. On the panel: Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Chuka Umunna; chief executive of Barnardo's Anne Marie Carrie; Liberal Democrat MP and Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Jeremy Browne and author and journalist Harry Mount.
Producer: Victoria Wakely.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b01k2f8w)
Nazis - Gopnik's Amendment
Adam Gopnik reflects on our continuing obsession with the Nazis and ponders the place of the Second World War in our history.
He writes: "A German friend once complained to me that educated Westerners often know far more about the German government in those five years of war than they do about all German governments in the sixty years of subsequent peace".
Adam quotes a principle frequently used during internet discussions called "Godwin's Law". It states that "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler gets greater". Godwin's conclusion - broadly speaking - is that we should not mention the war.
But Adam proposes what he calls "Gopnik's Amendment". "When we see the three serpents of militarism, nationalism and hatred of difference we should never be afraid to call them out, loudly, by name and remind ourselves and other people, even more loudly still, of exactly what they have made happen in the past".
We should, he says, "never be afraid to mention the war".
Producer:
Adele Armstrong.
FRI 21:00 Friday Drama (b01k2f8y)
Four Trees down from Ponte Sisto
Twenty five years ago in Rome, an American student named Geoffrey Charde fell to his death from a wall above the river Tiber, late at night and with no witnesses, four trees down from Ponte Sisto.
Since then, his mother, the poet Sharon Charde has been writing her way through all the dimensions of her son's death; writing her way back to life through a series of poems that combine her fearless examination of specific details and events with deep philosophical insights into the close proximity of death within every aspect of life.
Adapted and composed for radio by Gregory Whitehead. Performed by Anne Undeland.
Producer Jeremy Mortimer.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b01k1cdp)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b01k2f90)
The morning after the night before: has the summit in Brussels solved the euro's problems? Who are the winners and losers. Paul Moss is live in Italy
We'll discuss the culture of banking, in a week when financial institutions have been in the spotlight
And Mexico - embroiled in a drugs war - prepares for elections this weekend
All that and more with Ritula Shah.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01k7g2h)
Ru
Episode 5
"My emotional memory vanished during the early years of childhood. That detachment, that distance, allows me to buy without scruple a pair of shoes whose price in my native land would be enough to feed a family of five for a whole year. The sales person just has to promise me, you'll walk on air."
Ru is written by Kim Thuy, Read by Elodie Yung 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 (b01k1nfb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01k2f92)
Mark D'Arcy with the day's top news stories from Westminster.
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 (b01k2ckm)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 MON (b01k2ckm)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 TUE (b01k1mvz)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 TUE (b01k1mvz)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 WED (b01k28w4)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 WED (b01k28w4)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 THU (b01k2bvj)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 THU (b01k2bvj)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 FRI (b01k2f7q)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 FRI (b01k2f7q)
A Good Read
16:30 TUE (b01k1nfb)
A Good Read
23:00 FRI (b01k1nfb)
A Month of June
11:30 WED (b01k28w8)
A Point of View
08:50 SUN (b01jxw57)
A Point of View
20:50 FRI (b01k2f8w)
All in the Mind
21:00 TUE (b01k1nl3)
All in the Mind
15:30 WED (b01k1nl3)
Analysis
21:30 SUN (b01jwk7m)
Analysis
20:30 MON (b01k1nh0)
Any Answers?
14:00 SAT (b01k1ljf)
Any Questions?
13:10 SAT (b01jxw55)
Any Questions?
20:00 FRI (b01k2f8t)
Bells on Sunday
05:43 SUN (b01k1lld)
Bells on Sunday
00:45 MON (b01k1lld)
Bird Island
23:00 WED (b01k2b18)
Births, Deaths and Marriages
11:30 FRI (b01k2f7v)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 MON (b01k1nn1)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 TUE (b01k779x)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 WED (b01k7cqs)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 THU (b01k7fll)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 FRI (b01k7g2h)
Book of the Week
00:30 SAT (b01k0b0y)
Book of the Week
09:45 MON (b01k1lp3)
Book of the Week
00:30 TUE (b01k1lp3)
Book of the Week
09:45 TUE (b01k1lvc)
Book of the Week
00:30 WED (b01k1lvc)
Book of the Week
09:45 WED (b01k1p8c)
Book of the Week
00:30 THU (b01k1p8c)
Book of the Week
09:45 THU (b01k2bvb)
Book of the Week
00:30 FRI (b01k2bvb)
Book of the Week
09:45 FRI (b01k2f7l)
Broadcasting House
09:00 SUN (b01k2b1l)
Classic Serial
21:00 SAT (b01jwfwv)
Classic Serial
15:00 SUN (b01k2bpw)
Counterpoint
23:00 SAT (b01jwk68)
Counterpoint
15:00 MON (b01k2dbf)
Desert Island Discs
11:15 SUN (b01k2b32)
Desert Island Discs
09:00 FRI (b01k2b32)
Don't Log Off
11:00 WED (b01k28w6)
Drama
14:15 MON (b01k2cvk)
Drama
14:15 TUE (b01k1n6y)
Drama
14:15 WED (b01k290b)
Drama
14:15 THU (b01k2bvz)
Drama
14:15 FRI (b01k2f85)
Elizabeth Taylor Short Stories
15:45 FRI (b01k2f89)
Farming Today
06:30 SAT (b01k1lht)
Farming Today
05:45 MON (b01k2cdl)
Farming Today
05:45 TUE (b01k1lpx)
Farming Today
05:45 WED (b01k1p85)
Farming Today
05:45 THU (b01k2bv4)
Farming Today
05:45 FRI (b01k2f7g)
Feedback
20:00 SUN (b01jxw4s)
Feedback
16:30 FRI (b01k2f8f)
File on 4
17:00 SUN (b01jxrdf)
File on 4
20:00 TUE (b01k1nk6)
Four Thought
05:45 SUN (b01jxryn)
Four Thought
20:45 WED (b01k2b12)
Friday Drama
21:00 FRI (b01k2f8y)
From Fact to Fiction
19:00 SAT (b01k1lrx)
From Fact to Fiction
17:40 SUN (b01k1lrx)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:30 SAT (b01k1lj7)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:00 THU (b01k2bvl)
Front Row
19:15 MON (b01k1ngw)
Front Row
19:15 TUE (b01k1nk4)
Front Row
19:15 WED (b01k29pc)
Front Row
19:15 THU (b01k2bwf)
Front Row
19:15 FRI (b01k2f8r)
Frontiers
21:00 WED (b01k2b14)
Gardeners' Question Time
14:00 SUN (b01jxw4l)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:00 FRI (b01k2f87)
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
18:30 MON (b01k1ngt)
In Living Memory
21:30 TUE (b01bm0p5)
In Our Time
09:00 THU (b01k2bv8)
In Our Time
21:30 THU (b01k2bv8)
In Touch
20:40 TUE (b01k1nkz)
John Barry - The Lost Tapes
11:30 TUE (b01k1my3)
Just a Minute
12:00 SUN (b01jwk6g)
Last Word
20:30 SUN (b01jxw4q)
Last Word
16:00 FRI (b01k2f8c)
Law in Action
16:00 TUE (b01k1nbs)
Law in Action
20:00 THU (b01k1nbs)
Loose Ends
18:15 SAT (b01k1llv)
Making History
15:00 TUE (b01k1nbl)
Mark Steel's in Town
11:30 MON (b018csyv)
Material World
21:00 MON (b01jxtdy)
Material World
16:30 THU (b01k2bw5)
Meeting Myself Coming Back
20:00 SAT (b01k1ls1)
Midnight News
00:00 SAT (b01jxty5)
Midnight News
00:00 SUN (b01k1c4x)
Midnight News
00:00 MON (b01k1c6r)
Midnight News
00:00 TUE (b01k1c89)
Midnight News
00:00 WED (b01k1c9l)
Midnight News
00:00 THU (b01k1cby)
Midnight News
00:00 FRI (b01k1cd7)
Midsummer Tales
00:30 SUN (b01k1llb)
Midweek
09:00 WED (b01k1p89)
Midweek
21:30 WED (b01k1p89)
Money Box Live
15:00 WED (b01k290d)
Money Box
12:00 SAT (b01k1ljc)
Money Box
21:00 SUN (b01k1ljc)
Moral Maze
20:00 WED (b01k29ph)
Mordrin McDonald: 21st Century Wizard
23:15 WED (b01k2b1b)
My Teenage Diary
18:30 WED (b01k290n)
News Briefing
05:30 SAT (b01jxtyf)
News Briefing
05:30 SUN (b01k1c55)
News Briefing
05:30 MON (b01k1c70)
News Briefing
05:30 TUE (b01k1c8k)
News Briefing
05:30 WED (b01k1c9v)
News Briefing
05:30 THU (b01k1cc6)
News Briefing
05:30 FRI (b01k1cdh)
News Headlines
06:00 SUN (b01k1c57)
News and Papers
06:00 SAT (b01jxtyh)
News and Papers
07:00 SUN (b01k1c5c)
News and Papers
08:00 SUN (b01k1c5h)
News and Weather
22:00 SAT (b01jxtz0)
News
13:00 SAT (b01jxtyr)
Off the Page
23:00 MON (b01jwk7r)
Off the Page
15:30 TUE (b01k1nbq)
On Your Farm
06:35 SUN (b01k2b0m)
Open Book
16:00 SUN (b01k2bq2)
Open Book
15:30 THU (b01k2bq2)
PM
17:00 SAT (b01k1ljn)
PM
17:00 MON (b01k1ngr)
PM
17:00 TUE (b01k1nfd)
PM
17:00 WED (b01k290l)
PM
17:00 THU (b01k2bw7)
PM
17:00 FRI (b01k2f8h)
Pick of the Week
18:15 SUN (b01k2btr)
Poetry Please
23:30 SAT (b01jwfwz)
Poetry Please
16:30 SUN (b01k2br8)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 SAT (b01jxw68)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 MON (b01k2cdg)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 TUE (b01k1lpv)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 WED (b01kntsr)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 THU (b01kntt2)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 FRI (b01knttv)
Radio 4 Appeal
07:55 SUN (b01k1n54)
Radio 4 Appeal
21:26 SUN (b01k1n54)
Radio 4 Appeal
15:27 THU (b01k1n54)
Ramblings
06:07 SAT (b01kdpwl)
Ramblings
15:00 THU (b01k2bw1)
Sailors' Knots
19:45 SUN (b01k1n52)
Saturday Drama
14:30 SAT (b01k1ljh)
Saturday Live
09:00 SAT (b01k1lj0)
Saturday Review
19:15 SAT (b01k1lrz)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SAT (b01jxty9)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SUN (b01k1c51)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 MON (b01k1c6w)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 TUE (b01k1c8f)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 WED (b01k1c9q)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 THU (b01k1cc2)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 FRI (b01k1cdc)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SAT (b01jxty7)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SAT (b01jxtyc)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SAT (b01jxtyt)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SUN (b01k1c4z)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SUN (b01k1c53)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SUN (b01k1c5m)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 MON (b01k1c6t)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 MON (b01k1c6y)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 TUE (b01k1c8c)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 TUE (b01k1c8h)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 WED (b01k1c9n)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 WED (b01k1c9s)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 THU (b01k1cc0)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 THU (b01k1cc4)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 FRI (b01k1cd9)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 FRI (b01k1cdf)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SAT (b01jxtyy)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SUN (b01k1c5r)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 MON (b01k1c76)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 TUE (b01k1c8p)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 WED (b01k1c9z)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 THU (b01k1ccb)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 FRI (b01k1cdm)
Sketchorama
18:30 TUE (b01k2h1q)
Something Understood
06:05 SUN (b01k1n5b)
Something Understood
23:30 SUN (b01k1n5b)
Start the Week
09:00 MON (b01k2cg0)
Start the Week
21:30 MON (b01k2cg0)
Stuart: A Face Backwards
16:00 MON (b01k2df5)
Sunday Worship
08:10 SUN (b01k2b0r)
Sunday
07:10 SUN (b01k2b0p)
The 21st Century for Time Travellers
23:00 THU (b01k2cfh)
The Archers Omnibus
10:00 SUN (b01k2b25)
The Archers
19:00 SUN (b01k1n50)
The Archers
14:00 MON (b01k1n50)
The Archers
19:00 MON (b01k1n3s)
The Archers
14:00 TUE (b01k1n3s)
The Archers
19:00 TUE (b01k1nhg)
The Archers
14:00 WED (b01k1nhg)
The Archers
19:00 WED (b01k29p9)
The Archers
14:00 THU (b01k29p9)
The Archers
19:00 THU (b01k2bwc)
The Archers
14:00 FRI (b01k2bwc)
The Archers
19:00 FRI (b01k2f8p)
The Bottom Line
17:30 SAT (b01jxtfb)
The Bottom Line
20:30 THU (b01k2cfc)
The Cave
13:45 MON (b01k2crl)
The Cave
13:45 TUE (b01k1n26)
The Cave
13:45 WED (b01k28wj)
The Cave
13:45 THU (b01k2bvx)
The Cave
13:45 FRI (b01k2f83)
The Film Programme
23:00 SUN (b01jxtdw)
The Film Programme
16:00 THU (b01k2bw3)
The Food Programme
12:32 SUN (b01k2b3j)
The Food Programme
15:30 MON (b01k2b3j)
The Heath Caper
11:00 MON (b01k2cnn)
The Hunt for the Gay Whale
11:00 TUE (b01k1mwp)
The Hunt for the Gay Whale
21:00 THU (b01k1mwp)
The Infinite Monkey Cage
16:30 MON (b01k1ngp)
The Infinite Monkey Cage
23:00 TUE (b01k1ngp)
The Listening Project
14:45 SUN (b01k2b67)
The Media Show
16:30 WED (b01k290j)
The New Elizabethans
12:45 MON (b01k2cqp)
The New Elizabethans
12:45 TUE (b01k1my9)
The New Elizabethans
12:45 WED (b01k28wd)
The New Elizabethans
12:45 THU (b01k2bvs)
The New Elizabethans
12:45 FRI (b01k2f7z)
The Now Show
12:30 SAT (b01jxw4z)
The Now Show
18:30 FRI (b01k2f8m)
The Reith Lectures
22:15 SAT (b01jmx0p)
The Reith Lectures
09:00 TUE (b01jmxqp)
The Secret Catacombs of Paris
13:30 SUN (b01b9h73)
The Simon Day Show
18:30 THU (b01k2bw9)
The Stardust Memories
10:30 SAT (b01k1lj2)
The Uncanny
11:30 THU (b01k2bvn)
The Week in Westminster
11:00 SAT (b01k1lj4)
The World This Weekend
13:00 SUN (b01k2b45)
The World Tonight
22:00 MON (b01k1nh4)
The World Tonight
22:00 TUE (b01k1nmz)
The World Tonight
22:00 WED (b01k2b16)
The World Tonight
22:00 THU (b01k2cff)
The World Tonight
22:00 FRI (b01k2f90)
The Write Stuff
19:15 SUN (b01bbb6d)
Thinking Allowed
00:15 MON (b01jxrtp)
Thinking Allowed
16:00 WED (b01k290g)
Through Persian Eyes
20:00 MON (b01k1ngy)
Today in Parliament
23:30 MON (b01k1nqk)
Today in Parliament
23:30 TUE (b01k1np6)
Today in Parliament
23:30 WED (b01k2b1d)
Today in Parliament
23:30 THU (b01k2cfk)
Today in Parliament
23:30 FRI (b01k2f92)
Today
07:00 SAT (b01k1lhy)
Today
06:00 MON (b01k2cdn)
Today
06:00 TUE (b01k1lpz)
Today
06:00 WED (b01k1p87)
Today
06:00 THU (b01k2bv6)
Today
06:00 FRI (b01k2f7j)
Weather
06:04 SAT (b01jxtyk)
Weather
06:57 SAT (b01jxtym)
Weather
12:57 SAT (b01jxtyp)
Weather
17:57 SAT (b01jxtyw)
Weather
06:57 SUN (b01k1c59)
Weather
07:57 SUN (b01k1c5f)
Weather
12:57 SUN (b01k1c5k)
Weather
17:57 SUN (b01k1c5p)
Weather
05:57 MON (b01k1c72)
Weather
12:57 MON (b01k1c74)
Weather
21:58 MON (b01k1c78)
Weather
12:57 TUE (b01k1c8m)
Weather
21:58 TUE (b01k1c8r)
Weather
12:57 WED (b01k1c9x)
Weather
21:58 WED (b01k1cb1)
Weather
12:57 THU (b01k1cc8)
Weather
21:58 THU (b01k1ccd)
Weather
12:57 FRI (b01k1cdk)
Weather
21:58 FRI (b01k1cdp)
Westminster Hour
22:00 SUN (b01k1n56)
What the Papers Say
22:45 SUN (b01k1n58)
Woman's Hour
16:00 SAT (b01k1ljk)
Woman's Hour
10:00 MON (b01k2cgg)
Woman's Hour
10:00 TUE (b01k1lwl)
Woman's Hour
10:00 WED (b01k28w2)
Woman's Hour
10:00 THU (b01k2bvd)
Woman's Hour
10:00 FRI (b01k2f7n)
World at One
13:00 MON (b01k2crj)
World at One
13:00 TUE (b01k1n24)
World at One
13:00 WED (b01k28wg)
World at One
13:00 THU (b01k2bvv)
World at One
13:00 FRI (b01k2f81)
You Must Take the A Train
11:00 FRI (b01k2f7s)
You and Yours
12:00 MON (b01k2cp2)
You and Yours
12:00 TUE (b01k1my7)
You and Yours
12:00 WED (b01k28wb)
You and Yours
12:00 THU (b01k2bvq)
You and Yours
12:00 FRI (b01k2f7x)
iPM
05:45 SAT (b01jxw6b)