The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Tom Reiss's new book reveals that the father of the writer, Alexandre Dumas, led a life of derring-do that is captured in his son's novels. Today, relief at escaping the rigours of campaigning in Egypt turns to disillusion on reaching the Neapolitan coast.
Read by Hugh Quarshie.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton.
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
'My brain's wired up differently.' A listener with Asperger's Syndrome shares his story and explains how PM prompted him to make a big change in his life. With Jennifer Tracey. iPM@bbc.co.uk.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
The 12th century St Donat's castle in South Wales was once home to media mogul William Randolph Hearst - subject of Citizen Kane. Fifty years ago it became the home of Atlantic College, a unique educational establishment bringing together students from around the world in the hope of promoting peace and understanding and to overcome the problems of the Cold War. Felicity Evans explores the campus grounds, meeting students past and present, to find out how an alternative education has influenced their lives. She asks how serving the community and working on the land - including running the organic farm and lifeboat unit - has helped shape their views and plans for the future.
As Britain is battered by more floods, Farming Today This Week visits the Allerton project in Leicestershire to find out how simple measures in the field can help prevent flooding.
Dr Alistair Leeke from the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust explains how simple measures such as minimum tillage and ponds by the side of the field can slow torrents of water in their tracks.
Farmer Philip Jarvis talks about some of the challenges he faces throughout the wet weather
Meanwhile Dr Louise Manning from the Royal Agricultural College says Agriculture will have to adapt in order to cope with changing weather patterns.
Farming Today This Week was presented by Charlotte Smith and produced in Birmingham by Ruth Sanderson.
Morning news and current affairs, with John Humphrys and Sarah Montague, including:
Health minister Norman Lamb is today launching a consultation into measures which would protect care home residents if their care providers face bankruptcy. Last year, the abrupt collapse of Southern Cross, Britain's biggest care homes operator, caused turmoil for more than 30,000 elderly and vulnerable people. Brunswicks LLP solicitor, Keith Lewin dissects the proposals.
It's a commonly held belief that men and women view things differently. However, new research from Bristol University suggests that it might literally be true. Researchers examined where men and women looked while viewing still images from films and pieces of art. They found that while women made fewer eye movements than men. Felix Mercer Moss, researcher at Bristol University explains.
In the 60s the Walker Brothers amassed a following that, for a while, matched Beatlemania. Scott Walker lives here but usually stays out of the spotlight. Although with his new album, Bish Bosh, he agreed to speak to the Today programme's reporter Nicola Stanbridge.
The UK Independence Party had its best ever showing in a by-election this week, in Rotherham. This is the second time the party (22 per cent) has come second in a by-election. These are only two by-elections but does their rise point to something more than public disenchantment with the main parties' take on the EU? Ipsos Mori chief Ben Page, former home secretary Charles Clarke and director of think-tank Politeia analyse the results.
Sian Williams and Richard Coles with broadcaster Richard Madeley, and a man who's spent many years pretending to be him and his 'Uncle' Stan Madeley, a woman who believes the secret to happiness lies in the Hawaiian hula dance, a rock and roll history in poetic form from Murray Lachlan Young, a father and son who've revived the sound and style of the original Proms orchestra, a couple who have both been diagnosed with terminal diseases, John McCarthy in Maastricht and the Inheritance Tracks of musician and activist Nona Hendryx.
One of the most embarrassing moments in Ian Stone's life was when a coach made him player of the season in front of his team mates. The coach was his dad. Ian was 22. Now Ian is a football dad himself (and a comedian and broadcaster) and, in Football's Home Fans, he investigates the rapidly changing world of children's football. From campaigns to improve parents' behaviour on the touchline, to bans on league tables for younger players, many in the game believe we're at the start of a new era. Ian tours the touchline, talking to parents as they stand behind plastic barriers, trying not to shout "get stuck in!" to a bunch of eight year olds. We ask whether the Football Association's Respect campaign has worked, learn about the work of the National Children's Football Alliance, and talk to the author and broadcaster Jim White, who spent years coaching his own son's team and then wrote a book about it.
Will David Cameron change his mind and allow a press law on to the statute book ?
It's the question his critics are asking after the publication this week of the report into press ethics by Lord Justice Leveson.
Here, the forrmer journalist, Lord Fowler, and the Lib Dems' deputy leader, Simon Hughes, join Labour's Graham Stringer to weigh the chances.
The UK Independence Party has had a week of publicity after a Conservative MP suggested the two parties agree a pact.
The Lib Dem, Nick Harvey, can't see that happening - in spite of UKIP's showing in this week's by-elections. But the Conservative, Douglas Carswell, thinks it should.
The floods that have blighted parts of the country have put a new focus on the government's handling of green issues.
The Lib Dem, Tessa Munt, and the Tory, Mel Stride, come into the studio with stories of their constituents' plight.
And the appointment of a Canadian, Mark Carney, as the next governor of the Bank of England, is just the latest case of a big job here being filled from abroad.
The American-born Conservative, Brooks Newmark, and the Frenchman, PY Gerbeau, discuss the challenges he faces.
Foreign correspondents colour in the spaces between the headlines. This week presented by Allan Little.
How to escape carmageddon, wine woes, free tax refunds that cost and no-frill flight fees
Carmageddon: it's not the latest Hollywood blockbuster but the term being used by some commentators to describe what will happen on the 21st December when insurance companies will charge men and women the same premium to comply with European Union legislation. Traditionally women drivers - especially younger - have enjoyed cheaper premiums because they make fewer claims. But that's set to change and if we believe the predictions it could be as much as a 40% increase. So what's going on and how can we prepare ourselves? We talk to Graeme Trudgill from the British Insurance Brokers' Association.
People who invested thousands of pounds in fine wine are facing an anxious wait after the collapse of another major wine investment firm. Vinance PLC managed more than £50 million for thousands of investors in the UK and abroad. We hear from two people who invested in the company, wine investment expert Jim Budd and Peter Shakeshaft, from the Wine Investment Association which launched this week to provide, he says, 'a new, robust framework of self-regulation offering vital safeguards for investors'.
From Dec 1st Ryanair becomes the latest airline to comply with a recent Office of Fair Trading ruling that debit charge fees should be included in the headline price for flight costs. So what does this mean for travellers? Bob Atkinson from Travelsupermarket.com reveals all.
If you find you are on the wrong tax code or think you've paid too much tax what should you do? The cheapest thing to do is contact HMRC yourself but we talk to one company which offers to do it for you on a no win no fee basis. But if they are successful they take a cut of 39% of the rebate. So why are some public bodies and businesses endorsing the business?
Leveson Reports: in the week that Lord Justice Leveson released his hotly anticipated debut report on the media, Angela Barnes and Pippa Evans join Steve Punt, Hugh Dennis and the team to look at the week's big stories. With Jon Holmes, Mitch Benn and Laura Shavin. Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
CORRECTION - Contrary to the statement made by Baroness Pauline Neville Jones in this edition of Any Questions we would like to clarify that Ed Richards, the Chief Executive of Ofcom, is not an active member of the Labour Party
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from Pinner Parish Church in Pinner, in Middlesex. Guests include the Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander MP, Business Secretary Vince Cable MP, Baroness Pauline Nevile Jones and Editor of The Spectator Fraser Nelson.
Call Anita Anand on 03700 100 444, email any.answers@bbc.co.uk or tweet #bbcaq. The topics discussed on Any Questions? were: UKIP, Leveson, West Bank and Gaza and the Work Programme.
Does the population of Rotherham contain a surprisingly high number of loonies, fruitcakes and closet racists or is UKIP becoming mainstream?
Are newspaper groups right to say that a statutory backstop to regulation will spell the end of press freedom?
What's the panel's opinion on the Israeli authorities authorising the construction of 3,000 homes in east Jerusalem and the West Bank coming just a day after the UN accepted Palestine as a non-member observer state?
Should the government's work programme now be abandoned given its apparent abysmal failure to date?
Siblings Morna and Athol haven't spoken to each other for fourteen years. As they recount their troubled history, they tell the story of modern Scotland.
Athol lives in Houston, round the corner from where the Glasgow Airport bombers planned their raid in 2007. He believes that only Scotland could produce such 'crap terrorists'. Dyed-in-the-wool SNP supporter Morna remembers the good old days of well-intended protest. As they talk, their differences - political, social, even musical - begin to seem less important.
David Harrower is one of Scotland's leading playwrights. His work includes BLACKBIRD, KNIVES IN HENS and 365 as well as many adaptations and translations. BLACKBIRD was an astonishing tour de force and has received international acclaim. His play, GOOD WITH PEOPLE and his translation of Schiller's MARY STUART have recently been broadcast on radio.
Director ..... David Harrower
Producer ..... Gaynor Macfarlane.
Nobody caught his name, but everybody remembers the skinny kid plucked from the audience to replace the legendary Keith Moon. For just one night.
Cow Palace, San Francisco, 20th November 1973. The Who play the opening night of their Quadrophenia tour to a crowd of 14,000. After taking a cocktail of drugs and drink, drummer Keith Moon collapses over his drum kit one hour into the show and has to be taken off stage. They throw him in a shower and he seems to rally when he gets back on stage, but soon starts flailing about and failing to make contact with the drums. After he falls backwards off his stool, the three remaining members carry on playing the song until guitarist Pete Townshend stops and asks the audience "Can anyone play drums? I mean somebody good!"
Audience member Mike Danese points to his friend,19 year-old Scot Halpin, who reluctantly and nervously climbs on stage. He does himself proud. Scot knows every track, every beat. It's his fifteen minutes of fame.
In this programme, we re-live that moment and capture memories of the concert from the people who were there.
Gary Rossington from Lynyrd Skynyrd, the support act, talks about touring with The Who and that fateful night. Peter "Dougal" Butler, Keith Moon's PA for many years, paints a picture of what life was like backstage.
Sadly Scot Halpin passed away in 2008, and his wife Robin recalls how he told the story so many times.
Nick Barraclough, presenting, identifies with the syndrome. His fantasy always was that John Lennon would fall ill and Paul would call out "Can anyone play rhythm guitar and sing - I mean somebody good?"?
Heather Headley star of The Bodyguard stage show. Maeve Binchy's last novel, A Week in Winter - we talk to her agent Christine Green. The dangers of websites that promote anorexia - Dr Emma Bond from University Campus Suffolk on her report, Virtually Anorexic: where's the harm? Denise Robertson and Hilary Boyd talk about romance in later life. Women in farming. Stooshe play in the Woman's Hour studio. And Emma Kenny and Collette Walsh discuss FOMO - fear of missing out.
Clive discusses the ups and downs of being a comedy writer with author David Nobbs, whose first break was writing for 'That Was The Week That Was'. David's latest novel 'The Fall And Rise Of Gordon Coppinger' is the follow-up to 'The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin' and is a witty observation of modern British values and the craving for a public fall from grace.
Clive's just in time to talk to actress Oona Chaplin about her role as Marnie Madden in the award-winning 1950's newsroom drama 'The Hour'. Series two rejoins The Hour team in 1957, still striving to broadcast the stories they believe in as they grapple with the looming spectre of the Cold War and changing social mores.'The Hour' is on BBC Two on Wednesdays at
Nikki Bedi has afternoon tea with Director Jane Treays whose hard-hitting documentary credits include 'Mum, Heroine and Me' and this year's Olympic programme 'Tom Daley: Diving For Britain'. Jane's living the highlife at the very grand Claridges hotel, discovering the traditions and challenges that lie behind its pampering and five star service. 'Inside Claridges' begins on BBC Two on Monday 3rd December at
Clive rolls out the red carpet and talks shagpile with 'Officially The 41st Best Stand Up Ever', Stewart Lee. His misery-comedy-memoir show sees him scramble to put together a coherent show from a rag-bag of remnants originally intended to explore idealised notions of society. 'Carpet Remnant World' is available now on DVD.
With music from pop/soul singer songwriter and London-based New Yorker Kristina Train who performs the title track of her new album 'Dark Black'.
And Dartmoor band Iko take the studio by storm to perform 'Lightning Bolts' from their 'Dazed and Confused' EP.
The UK Independence Party has been in the news a lot lately: two of its supporters in Rotherham had their foster children taken away from them because of their UKIP affiliation; Conservative Party deputy chairman Michael Fabricant suggested the Tories might be wise to enter into a pact with UKIP at the 2015 general election; and rumours surfaced of a possible defection of several Conservative MPs to the anti-EU party. And then, of course, there were three Westminster by-elections in which UKIP rattled the main parties. This week, Rosie Goldsmith profiles UKIP's leader Nigel Farage.
Sharp, critical discussion of the week's cultural events with Tom Sutcliffe and guests Patrick Gale, John Mullan and Bidisha.
They'll be talking about the new dark caravaning comedy film Sightseers written by and starring Alice Lowe and Steve Oram and directed by Ben Wheatley, who made his name with Kill List.
Does Alexander Pushkin's Boris Godunov, Michael Boyd's last production for the RSC as artistic director, bear comparison with Shakespeare?
There's a new TV documentary behind the scenes of the luxury hotel Claridge's, made by the acclaimed filmmaker Jane Treays: "Inside Claridge's". It's the first time cameras have been allowed behind their doors, so how revealing is it?
A new permanent furniture gallery at London's Victoria and Albert Museum showcases many of the items that have previously only been in storage.
And books from Susie Boyt - "The Small Hours" - and Emma Tennant - "The Beautiful Child" - share a debt to Henry James.
Peter Hennessy, the leading expert on state secrecy, asks how close the great British spy novels come to reality and explores what they reveal about intelligence and security. By drawing on official papers and what were once top secret intelligence documents, and by interviewing former diplomats and former officers in MI5 and MI6, he compares and contrasts fiction with real espionage.
Much of the appeal lies in their apparent authenticity. But how much do James Bond or George Smiley resemble real spies? And is fact sometimes stranger than fiction?
Peter Hennessy shows that spy books in the early 1900s made a big impact, influencing Britain's first secret service bureau, the forerunner of MI5 and MI6. He traces the development of spy fiction from its early days to the more nuanced spy stories of Somerset Maugham in 'Ashenden' and of Eric Ambler's 1930s' novels. Their more subtle approach is echoed by Graham Greene and John le Carre, whereas Ian Fleming's hero, James Bond, is part spy, part assassin. Cold War novels reflect the deep fear of nuclear war and of betrayal by double-agents ('moles'), but can modern spy fiction achieve the same degree of intrigue and suspense?
At the age of 19, seaman Edmond Dantès has a charmed life - about to be promoted to Captain, and engaged to the beautiful Mercédès.
But Marseilles in 1815 is a dangerous place, and three of Dantes' acquaintances set in train a chain of events that will lead Edmond to 14 years of solitary confinement in the notorious Chateau D'If.
Edmond Dantes ...... Iain Glen
Haydee ...... Jane Lapotaire
Abbe Faria ...... Richard Johnson
Monsieur Morrell ...... Robert Blythe
Danglars ...... Toby Jones
Fernand ...... Zubin Varla
Caderousse ...... Ben Crowe
Jacopo ...... Joe Sims
Captain Patin ...... Patrick Brennan
Albert de Morcerf ...... Will Howard
Antoine ...... Will Howard
Claude ...... Paul Stonehouse
Max Morrell ...... Adam Nagaitis
Mathilde ...... Liza Sadovy
Julie Morrell ...... Eleanor Crooks
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
In the week of the 70th anniversary of the Beveridge report that was to lay the foundations for the welfare state, a Conservative MP, who's also a practicing GP, says patients suffering from lifestyle-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes should pay for part of their care. And in a recent online poll more than half of the doctors who took part said smokers and the obese should be denied non-emergency treatment until they changed their lifestyles. We now spend over £90 billion a year on the NHS, but with more spending cuts likely in next week's Autumn Statement how much longer can we afford the principle that treatment should be based on need and be free at the point of delivery? When money is tight and demand for, and costs of health care are increasing, who should the NHS be for? Is it fair for those who look after their health to see their taxes being squandered on treatment for those whose poor health could be described as "self-inflicted". But exactly what is the definition of 'self-inflicted illnesses? Obesity? Alcoholism? And what of injuries sustained while playing sports? It's a moral minefield too - how does one decide which illness is the result of sheer self-indulgence, and which is the result of uncontrollable inner demons at play? And do we blame ourselves for the ills that befall us, or should society take the rap and pay the bill? Is the concept of deserving and un-deserving patients inherently immoral, or a healthy dose of reality? Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by David Aaronovitch with Kenan Malik, Melanie Phillips, Matthew Taylor and Claire Fox. Witnesses: Dr Steve Davies - Education Director, Institute of Economic Affairs, Joyce Robbins - Patient Concern, Tam Fry - Spokesman for the National Obesity Forum; Chairman of the Child Growth Foundation, Dr Vivienne Nathanson - Director of Professional Activities at the British Medical Association.
The most venerable radio general knowledge quiz of them all returns for the 2012-13 season, with Russell Davies welcoming 48 competitors from all over the UK hoping to be named the 60th Brain of Britain.
In the first programme the contestants are from the Isle of Wight, Cornwall, South Wales and Aberdeen.
History, music, science, geography, literature, mythology, popular culture, and all points in between, lurk in Russell's pack of questions. This is the quiz where you can't save yourself with clever tactics, hedging your bets, making your opponents go first, or voting them off! The winner will be the contestant who knows the most correct answers - who will go through to a place in the series semi-finals in the new year.
As always, the programme includes the 'Beat the Brains' feature, in which the competitors tackle a pair of questions suggested by a listener trying to outwit them.
The Shalom House Poets meet regularly in Belfast Central Library to dole out tough love on each other's poems. Ruth Padel joins them as they workshop their poems in a spirit of supportive criticism, going behind the scenes of a poem to find out which techniques work and which don't.
Ruth and the group work on three very different poems on the theme of 'windows'. One of them is an intricate observation of a sculpture in Salzburg, another is an enigmatic reflection on shadows, and there's a nostalgic and powerful recollection of a living room in Belfast.
The technical focus this week will be on inspiration and description .The group discuss the techniques, inspiration, wordplay and imagination that make poetry so enjoyable and rewarding. As well as working on their own poems, they also consider a very well know one by Louis MacNeice; 'Snow'.
SUNDAY 02 DECEMBER 2012
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b01p2smh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Vasily Grossman from the Frontline (b014ptrt)
Ukraine without Jews
Elliot Levey reads the final front line despatch from Vasily Grossman's wartime journalism. 3: Ukraine Without Jews. 'Stillness. Silence. A people has been murdered.'
The author of Life and Fate, which begins its dramatization on Radio 4 today, conveyed the 'ruthless truth of war' that revealed itself to the Soviet Union after Nazi invasion in June 1941. This devastating piece was one of the very first articles to describe the results of Nazi genocide as the war still raged.
Grossman's own mother would be one of the thousands murdered in his home town of Berdichev which lay in the path of the Nazi's lightning quick advance through the Ukraine. Some one and half million Jewish people lived in these newly conquered areas, nearly all would be shot in what has become known as 'shoa by bullet'
Grossman had volunteered for military service partly in reaction to his mother's fate. Instead he found himself assigned as frontline correspondent for the military newspaper Red Star. From the disastrous year of 1941 to final victory in ruined Berlin, Grossman gave the Soviet people a sense of their war.
But his attempts to detail the murder of the millions of Jews on Soviet soil would only be met by official silence. As the Red Army began reconquering the occupied lands Grossman travelled with them, recording the empty villages and towns, the mass graves and terrible silence. Ukraine Without Jews was rejected by the military censor & would only appear in the Yiddish newspaper Einkayt in November 1943. The full version, from which this is an extract, would only be rediscovered in the late 1990's and appeared in English earlier this year.
Reader Elliot Levey
Translators Jim Riordan & Polly Zavadivker
Producer Mark Burman.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01p2smk)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01p2smm)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01p2smr)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b01p2smt)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b01p30dz)
The bells of St Andrew's Church, Hurstbourne Priors, Hampshire.
SUN 05:45 Profile (b01p2vtv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b01p2smw)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b01p30f1)
Houses of God
Mark Tully talks to the Archbishop of Westminster, in Westminster cathedral, as part of an exploration of the contemporary purpose of church buildings.
What is the true function of buildings dedicated to God? Churches were originally built to "His greater glory" but arguably we build them far less now and preserve them far more. Has our relationship with houses of God changed?
Mark Tully visits Westminster Cathedral and, in conversation with Archbishop Vincent Nichols, discusses the tension between honouring God through the creation of beautiful spaces and the duty expressed by all the major faiths to do charitable work.
With readings reflecting the building of great churches and mosques, as well as humble churches and chapels, and music from Brahms, Bruckner and Morton Feldman, Mark examines the benefits and the beauty of religious buildings. The readers are Toby Jones and Emily Raymond.
Producer: Frank Stirling
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 Living World (b01p30f3)
The Living Deadwood
All trees, even ornamental species, at the end of their life are great providers of dead and decaying wood, whether they are in recognised woodlands, or as single specimens in our parklands. However far from being the end of life this provision of dead and decaying timber provides the beginning of life for rare invertebrate and fungal species. From a biodiversity point of view the conservation of this deadwood in woodlands is of critical value as many species are associated with specific species of deadwood, or certain trees.
In Living World this week, Trai Anfield travels to an old park woodland near Helmsley in North Yorkshire where she meets up with entomologist Dr Roger Key for a daylong safari looking for invertebrates contained within deadwood. The story begins with fungi. Fungus spores carried in the air are deposited on the dead wood and with luck will germinate and send hyphae into the wood gradually breaking the wood down and thus providing suitable habitats for invertebrates and their larvae.
During her quest, Trai Anfield uncovers what is actually meant by deadwood, and that as a specialist Dr Key is known as a saprophytic entomologist, one who specialises in the lifecycles of deadwood insects. During the day, Dr Key uncovers a species he has known about but never seen in the wild in 30 years of searching for it.
Exploring the park woodland it becomes clear that a complex ecosystem is in place which if we become too tidy and clear up our fallen wood it can often be the worst thing people can do as this removes vital habitats from the lifecycle of many invertebrates and ultimately reduced the vigour of the woodland itself.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b01p2smy)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b01p2sn0)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b01p30f5)
Samira Ahmed talks to BBC education correspondent Angela Harrison about whether the Government is conveying mixed messages on faith schools.
Mike Wooldridge reports from the refugee camps along the South Sudanese border, where religious leaders are calling for urgent action to avoid a "humanitarian catastrophe".
A survey has suggested most people believe children should learn about Christianity to understand English history. But which bits? Samira swots-up with Stephen Tomkins author of a Short History of Christianity.
Mary Harte reports on the cultural, historical and religious background to Ireland's abortion law, in the aftermath of the death of Savita Halappanavar.
An eleventh century book of jokes by a revered Muslim preacher has been translated into English. Samira hears how the little-known book is challenging ideas about Arab culture and history.
The Government agreed to set a cap on interest rates charged on payday loans this week as Archbishop of Canterbury Designate, Justin Welby, renewed his attack on 'usury'. Kevin Bocquet reports.
Convicted murderer Jeremy Bamber took his appeal against whole life jail sentences to the European Court of Human Rights this week. Should everyone be given the opportunity to redeem themselves whatever the crime? Samira is joined by Quaker and criminal court mediator Nick McGeorge and Jean Taylor, founder of Families Fighting for Justice.
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b01p30f7)
St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal
The BBC Radio 4 St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal is now in its 86th year. The money raised from this annual appeal supports work with homeless and vulnerable people across the UK, through the work of The Connection at St Martins and the Vicar's Relief Fund. You can hear how last years donations were spent by listening to Libby Purves in Received with Thanks. To give to this years appeal call: 0800 082 82 84. Or donate online via the Radio 4 website. Or send cheques payable to St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal, Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 4JJ.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b01p2sn4)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b01p2sn6)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b01p30f9)
Advent Expectations - 'Doing What's Expected' is the theme of Mass live from Our Lady and the English Martyrs, Cambridge. Preacher: Fr Father Benedict Jonak OP; Celebrant: The Rector, Monsignor Peter Leeming; Director of Music: Nigel Kerry; Producer: Philip Billson.
Advent is a time of expectation. The Biblical texts are filled with anticipation of the coming Messiah, promises of hope for the future, and expectations of the Second Coming of Christ. It's a time that we're called on to question what's expected of us and reflect upon what we can expect from God. As we prepare for Christmas our hearts are filled with expectations, which may or may not be fulfilled. And we are also reminded that God does not show His love for us in the way we expect; rather than making a great and triumphant entry into the world, he comes to us as a tiny, vulnerable child.
The readings in the Lectionary for this Sunday are all about what's expected of God's Children and what they are to expect from God. We are expected to love one another, to be blameless and to remain alert. In return we can expect that God will fulfil his promise to bring forth a branch of David and restore Jerusalem; he will remain steadfast in love and faithfulness and the Song of Man will come to us with all the saints.
SUN 08:50 A Point of View (b01p0vw6)
Are students getting their money's worth?
Mary Beard reflects on why universities are being consumed by "customer satisfaction" surveys.
"When you're paying up to £9000 a year for the privilege of being at university, you want to make it pretty clear if you feel you're not getting your money's worth", she writes.
But the deluge of forms - asking students for their views on the content, presentation, organisation of the course and the quality of the handouts will - she argues, do little to improve "the learning experience".
She admits having a "tweak of nostalgia for that old era before the tick-box, when brave students would tell their famous professors to their face that their lectures were rubbish"!
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b01p30fc)
News and conversation about the big stories of the week with Paddy O'Connell.
SUN 09:45 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b01p30ff)
Received with Thanks
Libby Purves on how the money from last years appeal has helped homeless and vulnerable people across the UK. To give to this year's appeal call: 0800 082 82 84. Or donate online via the Radio 4 website. Or send cheques payable to St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal, Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 4JJ.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b01p314l)
For detailed synopses, see daily episodes
Writer ..... Graham Harvey
Director ..... Rosemary Watts
Editor ..... Vanessa Whitburn
David Archer..... Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer..... Felicity Finch
Elizabeth Pargetter..... Alison Dowling
Matt Crawford..... Kim Durham
Lilian Bellamy..... Sunny Ormonde
Jolene Rogers..... Buffy Davis
Fallon Rogers..... Joanna Van Kampen
Kathy Perks..... Hedli Niklaus
Joe Grundy..... Edward Kelsey
Eddie Grundy..... Trevor Harrison
Emma Grundy..... Emerald O'Hanrahan
Edward Grundy..... Barry Farrimond
Neil Carter..... Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter..... Charlotte Martin
Mike Tucker..... Terry Molloy
Vicky Tucker..... Rachel Atkins
Roy Tucker..... Ian Pepperell
Hayley Tucker..... Lorraine Coady
Bert Fry..... Eric Allan
Lewis Carmichael..... Robert Lister
Jazzer McCreary..... Ryan Kelly
Jim Lloyd..... John Rowe
Paul Morgan..... Michael Fenton Stevens
James Bellamy..... Roger May
Joyce Walters ..... Ann Beach.
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b01p314n)
Dustin Hoffman
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Dustin Hoffman.
In spite of his Aunt Pearl telling him he wasn't good looking enough to be an actor for the past forty-five years he's been crafting landmark movie performances. He is that rare and apparently contradictory thing - a character actor and a superstar.
The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, Lenny, All The President's Men, Marathon Man, Kramer v Kramer, Tootsie, Rain Man, Wag The Dog, and Last Chance Harvey are just a handful of the movies that contribute to an unparalleled body of work: he is the only actor in history to have top billing in three films that won Best Picture Oscars.
Now in his mid-70s he is making his directorial debut.
He says "I'm always fighting to break through... I'm trying to show you the part of me that wants to love, wants to kill, that wants to find my way out, that feels there is no way out."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
SUN 12:00 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b01p0bn3)
Series 58
Episode 3
The nation's favourite wireless entertainment pays a visit to the Symphony Hall in Birmingham. Regulars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by Jeremy Hardy, with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell provides piano accompaniment. Producer - Jon Naismith.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b01p314q)
A Winning Meal - The BBC Food Awards menu
A Winning Meal - the menu behind the Food and Farming Awards. Chef, Arthur Potts-Dawson tells the story behind a celebratory meal created using ingredients from UK food producers who were nominated for the BBC Food and Farming Awards.
Presented by Sheila Dillon. Produced by Emma Weatherill.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b01p2sn8)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b01p314s)
The latest national and international news, presented by Shaun Ley. Email: wato@bbc.co.uk; twitter: #theworldthisweekend.
SUN 13:30 Hardeep's Sunday Lunch (b01p067w)
Series 1
Episode 2
Hardeep Singh Kohli travels to Liverpool to cook lunch for Wayne Burns and Lindsay Ball. For many years food has been an important part of both their lives, so much so that after years of overeating they become obese. Eventually events in their lives convinced them the only way forward was for both to have operations for a duodenal switch. Since then Wayne has literally become half the man he was. But as Hardeep finds out dramatic weight loss hasn't solved all their problems.
Producers: Amanda Hancox
Dawn Bryan.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b01p0vfs)
Oxfordshire
Chaired by Eric Robson, the GQT team is in Oxfordshire for this week. Taking the audience's questions are Pippa Greenwood, Matthew Wilson and Anne Swithinbank.
Produced by Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else Production for BBC Radio 4.
Q. I like colourful, blousy hanging baskets. I have given up using Busy Lizzies because of the virus and Petunias didn't work well. Can the panel suggest a flower I can use instead?
A. Pelargoniums, particularly ivy-leaved varieties, would do well in the wet weather, unlike Petunias. Plectranthus would offer a good combination in terms of foliage, as will Helichrysums. Balcon Geraniums are also suggested, as are Fuchsias, particularly from a specialist nursery.
Q. I have a 4-year-old Campsis growing on a south- and west-facing wall, but it hardly flowers. I prune in spring, feed with potash and improve the soil with compost. How can I improve flowering?
A. Campsis can be shy to flower. It is possible that the quality of the soil is too good or too nitrogen-rich, so restricting the roots and creating stress might prompt flowering.
Q. I have a potted greengage tree that I would like to transplant. When would be the best time and where in the garden would benefit it most?
A. A sheltered spot with a reasonable amount of sun will be best location. Autumn is a good time to transplant, but being in a container over winter could result in damage to the roots, so the sooner you can plant it out, the better.
Q. What is the best way of getting rid of Field Bindweed permanently? I have recently removed a hedge as a result of Bindweed?
A. The simplest (chemical) way to remove Bindweed is to use Glyphosate, applied in springtime during active growth. If you would prefer not to use chemicals, train newly emerging shoots up a bamboo cane, which will aid manual removal. Covering the area where the hedge was in black polythene will draw the bindweed roots to the surface to aid removal.
Q. I'm thinking of planting Sweet Woodruff in the dry shade under a trampoline. Do the panel have any other suggestions?
A. Geranium Nodosum or Lamiums would also do well in that environment. Alternatively you could sink the trampoline and plant ferns beneath it.
Q. I have an 18in tall Holly tree, which I would like to reach maturity but also want to remove 45 percent of its lower branches. Should I do this whilst it is growing, or once it has reached maturity?
A. Some can be removed when the plants are still quite small, but do not remove all of it at once as that could stunt the tree. This is best done gradually.
Q. I have what I think is a Rambling Rose. It has pretty, small, pink flowers, but the leaves and flowers only grow from around 2-3m up the stems. Is it possible to encourage growth lower down?
A. The best treatment for a Rambling Rose is to remove the oldest stems every year, aiming to remove all the original stems over a period of three years. Train some of the more flexible stems towards the horizontal, which improves flowering potential.
Q. My Robinia Pseudoacacia is slowly dying and losing its leaves. Why is this happening and what can I do?
A. This is probably the result of one of the Phytophthora soil-borne diseases and there is unfortunately nothing that can be done. The Robinia will need to be removed and should be replaced with something herbaceous rather than woody. Gleditsias, such as Gleditsia triacanthos Sunburst, are tougher than Robinias, but are from the same family so shouldn't be planted in the same spot. Ptelea Trifoliate 'Aurea', the Golden Hop Tree, is in a different family so might be worth trying.
Q. I have grown a Colocasia Esculenta from a tuber, which now has four shoots. How should I keep it over the winter, as I have an unheated greenhouse? Would it be possible to divide the plant?
A. Let it die right back and bring the pot of tubers inside the house. Keep then dry, but with occasional watering. Replant them in March or April and then move them outdoors when you can. You can split them at the point when you replant.
Q. We would like to adapt some of our allotment plots to allow the less able or active gardener to continue gardening as age begins to take its toll. Do the panel have any tips?
A. You could pair these gardeners with new allotment holders, which would be mutually beneficial. Also, you could offer a smaller-sized plot to both old and new members.
You could pair these gardener.
SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b01p314z)
Sunday Edition
As Radio 4 launches its Christmas Appeal, Fi Glover hears about the challenges of homelessness on the streets of London from Gemma and her case worker at The Connection at St Martin in the Fields, as well as conversations from Kent and Shropshire about politics and activism - or lack of it.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation 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 and used 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 Alexandre Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo (b01p3151)
Episode 2
It's 1838, and the Count has arrived in Paris.
His enemies, Baron Danglars, Gerard de Villefort and Fernand de Morcerf have no idea that Edmond Dantes, who they betrayed in Marseilles a quarter of a century earlier, is plotting to destroy them.
Adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas first published in 1844.
The Count/Edmond Dantes ...... Iain Glen
Haydee ...... Jane Lapotaire
Younger Haydee ...... Amber Rose Revah
Baron Danglars ...... Toby Jones
Gerard de Villefort ...... Paul Rhys
Fernand, Count de Morcerf ...... Zubin Varla
Mercedes de Morcerf ...... Josette Simon
Heloise de Villefort ...... Kate Fleetwood
Abbe Faria ...... Richard Johnson
General Noirtier ...... Karl Johnson
Hermine Danglars ...... Stephanie Racine
Albert de Morcerf ...... Will Howard
Jacopo ...... Joe Sims
Max Morrell ...... Adam Nagaitis
Valentine de Villefort ...... Lizzy Watts
Coachman ...... Paul Stonehouse
Dramatised by Sebastian Baczkiewicz.
Music by David Tobin and Jeff Meegan.
Directors: Jeremy Mortimer / Sasha Yevtushenko
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2012.
SUN 16:00 Bookclub (b01p3ccv)
Sathnam Sanghera - The Boy with the Topknot
Sathnam Sanghera discusses his memoir The Boy With The Topknot, which won the 2009 Mind Book of the Year.
Born to Punjabi parents in the West Midlands, the book is his account of his childhood in 1980s Wolverhampton.
The youngest of a Sikh family, it wasn't until he was 24 that he discovered his mother had protected him from the family's secret : that his father had suffered from paranoid schizophrenia all his life.
Subtitled "A memoir of Love, Secrets and Lies in Wolverhampton", writing the book was Sathnam Sanghera's way of confronting his mother with some uncomfortable truths; that after his grammar school and Cambridge education, he had moved away from the family's culture and religion and was not going to accept an arranged marriage. This was a journey of discovery and independence for Sathnam that began on the day he went to the barbers on his own, and had his joora - his Sikh topknot - cut off. When the barber asked him if his dad knew he was doing this, he thought, 'it's my mum you should be worrying about'.
The memoir is a meditation on mental illness as well as class and cultural differences, and in Bookclub Sathnam ponders on whether it was a young man's folly to 'share too much information' by writing down his life story.
James Naughtie presents and a group of readers ask the questions.
January's Bookclub choice is Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre.
Producer : Dymphna Flynn.
SUN 16:30 A Few Don'ts (b01p3cg0)
The poet Lavinia Greenlaw reappraises Ezra Pound's manifesto, A Few Don'ts by an Imagiste.
A century on, what can his lively don'ts do for today's poets? His passion to make poetry as modern as, say, Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring (first performed in the same year, 1913) drives him to pronounce on adjectives, ornament, metronomes and abstraction and in praise of the Image.
With fellow poets Frances Leviston, Andrea Brady and Richard Price, and with the visual artist Cornelia Parker, psychologist Sophie Scott and composer John Woolrich, Lavinia explores the dos and don'ts of good poetry and the ins and outs of writing manifestos about it.
Producer: Frances Byrnes
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 17:00 The Hackers (b01p0h5v)
Governments do it, companies do it, criminals do it. But in recent years some of the highest profile computer hacks have come from so-called hacktivist groups. Each week hackers target a new organisation or government website. Many of these hacker activists claim to belong to the amorphous group known as Anonymous or an off-shoot of it. Their aim? To wrest control of the internet from states and big corporations and give it back to the people. Or simply to have fun.
The FBI, the Metropolitan police, the US Senate, Sony, PayPal and Visa have been some of the highest profile victims of the hackers. More often than not the attacks come in the form of DOS, or denial of service, attacks - effectively flooding websites with requests so that they crash. In some cases the hackers have managed to steal personal and financial records from the organisations and then post them online. Sometimes the reason given by the hackers for these attacks is as a response to official actions taken against Wikileaks or attempts by the authorities to close down certain websites, such as free music download sites.
The FBI and police have had some success in tracking down some of the hackers - many of them just teenagers.
In "The Hackers" Simon Cox delves into the strange world of hacktivism, as he tracks down some of these hackers and speaks to those trying to catch them.
SUN 17:40 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b01p30ff)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 today]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b01p2snb)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b01p2snd)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01p2sng)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b01p3cpz)
An inspirational cycling heroine of yesteryear, Beryl Burton shows us how it used to be done in Pick Of The Week. And going further back into history we witness the grand opening of the original Broadcasting House in London as the King and Queen sweep past us into the foyer. Hardeep Singh Kohli nearly drops his spatula preparing lunch, hearing from a couple for whom weight loss was a literal matter of life or death.
And we hear a rare recording of Kenny Everett when he was Mr. Saturday Morning on Radio 1. All, and more in Pick Of The Week, presented by Stewart Henderson.
Mark Steel's in Town - Radio 4
Beryl: A Love Story on Two Wheels - Radio 4
Walking on Planet C - Radio 4
The Beat Hotel - Radio 4
The Strand - World Service
Twenty Minutes: To Build a Fire - Radio 3
Hardeep's Sunday Lunch - Radio 4
Mastertapes [Ray Davies] - Radio 4
Four Thought - Radio 4
Kings of Cool: Mel Torme - Radio 2
The Listener's Archive - Radio 2
The BBC and All That - Radio 4
When Harry Potter Met Frodo - Radio 4
Midweek - Radio 4
Desert Island Discs [Dustin Hoffmann] - Radio 4
Kings of Cool - Radio 2
If there's something you'd like to suggest for next week's programme, please e-mail potw@bbc.co.uk.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b01p3cq1)
While Hayley helps the children to make streamers to decorate the trees in the orchard, Joe tries to sell her some mistletoe. Meanwhile, Eddie tries to sell Vicky a turkey. Eddie and Joe notice George painting his lantern. They feel sorry for him, knowing he's going to be moving house soon, especially as he doesn't yet know it.
Eddie's sells all the turkeys, and Joe's sure he'll do better with the mistletoe next week. They wish there was something they could do to help Edward.
Vicky tells Hayley her next ante-natal class is on Wednesday, and she needs to start working on her birthing plan. At 35 weeks, Vicky's already gone longer than Hayley went with Abbie, so Hayley's sure there's nothing to worry about.
Matt takes Joyce to see the new flat. He points out the special non-slip flooring he's asked for in the kitchen, and other changes that will make her life simpler. Joyce speaks her mind and tells Matt it's come too late. If he'd taken this much trouble keeping her current home up to scratch, her Arthur would have been able to enjoy it too. Matt's embarrassed, and tells her to call him if she has any more thoughts about the flat.
SUN 19:15 Nick Mohammed in Bits (b00tjdnz)
Witness Statement
There's been a robbery, and character comedian Nick Mohammed (Reggie Perrin, Sorry I've Got No Head) dons a police helmet and takes statements. Colin Hoult and Anna Crilly (Lead Balloon) co-star as the unhappy couple called on to testify.
Bits is a series of character pieces showcasing the best of Nick Mohammed's idiosyncratic characters in a series of one off comic plays.
Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
SUN 19:45 Astray (b01p3cq3)
Snowblind
Four short stories from Emma Donoghue's new collection Astray. These fact-inspired fictions, about travels to, in and from North America, focus on emigrants, runaways or drifters all gone astray for love or money, under duress or incognito. Emma's compassionate imagination crosses borders of race, law, sex, and sanity bringing the reader through a scattered scrap-book of history.
Snowblind, read by Danny Mahoney, is the beautifully atmospheric tale of two young men who become gold mining 'partners' in the 1890s Klondike.
Dublin born Emma Donoghue is an emigrant twice over; she spent eight years in Cambridge doing a PHD before moving to southwest Ontario where she now lives. Emma is probably best known for her international bestseller Room, winner of the Roger's Writers' Trust Fiction prize and the Hughes & Hughes Irish novel of the year and a finalist for the Man Booker. Emma has also written The Sealed Letter, Landing, Life Mask alongside many short story collections, most recently Three and a Half Deaths. Emma has also written drama for radio, theatre and screen.
Snowblind was abridged by Doreen Estall and produced by Laura Conway.
SUN 20:00 The State of Welfare (b01p0fpg)
Seventy years ago William Beveridge wrote a report that was to lay the foundations for the welfare state. He identified the Five Giants that society needed to slay: Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness. Using archive from the time, Jane Garvey and Julian Worricker take us back to that extraordinary moment in wartime Britain that has proved so pivotal to the shape of the welfare state today. They discuss how well the system serves those who rely it on it now - and those who pay for it. Changing attitudes to those on benefits are reflected in a new BBC-commissioned poll and and we hear three radical visions for how welfare should be provided in the future. There'll be tough debate on fairness, entitlement, rights and compassion with Frank Field, Labour MP, the philosopher Roger Scruton and social commentator Polly Toynbee. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith will be challenged to outline the philosophy behind his decisions on reforming the welfare state, as well as responding to the views of contributors and listeners.
Producers:Elaine Lester, Sharmini Selvarajah
Editor:Andrew Smith.
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b01p30f7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 In Business (b01p0sng)
Berlin: Start-Up City
Every city wants to become a high technology business hub, but ambitious entrepreneurs
from all over Europe are rushing to set up shop in Berlin. So-called Silicon Allee is fast
becoming a start-up rival to Silicon Roundabout in London. Peter Day finds out why.
Producer: Caroline Bayley.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b01p3gvy)
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 (b01p3gw0)
Steve Richards of The Independent analyses how the newspapers are covering the Leveson report's findings.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b01p0sbc)
This week Francine meets with Ralph Fiennes who, fresh from Skyfall, is now rattling his leg-irons as Magwitch in Mike Newell's Great Expectations.
Critic Ben Walters casts an eye over several films dealing with gay and transgender issues from Laurence Anyways and Keep the Lights On to the documentary, Call Me Kuchu, which paints a harsh picture of life as a homosexual in Uganda.
Then two go psycho in a motorhome in Ben Wheatley's Sightseers. Comedy duo Alice Lowe and Steve Oram on their horror flick about caravanning and rage.
And sticking with the outlandish, graphic novelist Alan Moore discusses his Northampton-style noir which he hopes will form a new model for filmmaking.
Producer: Craig Smith.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b01p30f1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 03 DECEMBER 2012
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b01p2spg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b01p0hnv)
Family funerals; red tape
Red Tape in India - a major new study by the renowned anthropologist, Akhil Gupta, seeks to understand why state bureaucracy hinders the fight against poverty in the world's third largest economy. Laurie Taylor hears about his ethnographic study among officials in charge of development programs in rural Uttar Pradesh. Why is it that the expansion of government programmes have failed to improve significantly the lives of the poorest? Fellow anthropologist, Dr Alpa Shah, joins the discussion. Also, the sociologist, Kate Woodthorpe explores how funeral arrangements illuminate the modern family.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b01p30dz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01p2spj)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01p2spl)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01p2spn)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b01p2spq)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01p3hnd)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Pastor Alex Robertson.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b01p3hng)
Charlotte Smith hears warnings some honey bees will struggle to make it through the winter. The British Bee Keepers' Association says the 2012 honey harvest is down by around 70%, and that the wet weather has caused havoc for the bees' winter stores.
And MPs are examining the on-going debate over neonicotinoid pesticides, which some say are devastating for bee health. Farming Today hears from manufacturers, Syngenta; LEAF, which promotes environmentally responsible farming and the organic body Soil Association.
Presenter: Charlotte Smith Producer: Melvin Rickarby.
MON 05:57 Weather (b01p2sps)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 06:00 Today (b01p3hnj)
Morning news and current affairs, with John Humphrys and Sarah Montague, including:
0750
A slew of new laws come into force this morning, with mandatory sentences for knife crime, a "two strikes and you have got life" rule for serious violent and sexual offences, as well as new laws on dangerous driving and hate crime. Michael Turner, chair of the Criminal Bar Association, and Kate Whaley, from the charity Mothers Against Murder and Aggression (MAMAA), discuss whether the new laws will bring crime figures down.
0810
On Monday the chancellor and chief secretary will announce new action on tax evasion and avoidance including extra investment in HMRC of £77m-a-year for each of the next two years, to be focused on extra resources and technology for enforcement on multinationals, the wealthy and offshore evasion. Margaret Hodge, Labour MP and Chair of the Public Accounts Committee and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander give their views on whether the plans will work.
0820
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the first SMS text message. Neil Papworth, the phone engineer who sent the first text, explains what led to texting, and Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times journalist and cultural commentator, outlines how the technology has since changed society.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (b01p3hnl)
Nuclear Iran - Shirley Williams and Geoffrey Robertson
On Start the Week Andrew Marr discusses the prospect of an Iran with nuclear weapons. David Patrikarakos points to the failure to understand how far Iran's nuclear strategy is linked to its recent history and sense of identity. Geoffrey Robertson QC argues that the production of atomic bombs should be made an international crime against humanity, whereas Baroness Shirley Williams believes that politics still has a role to play in disarmament around the world. But Douglas Murray dismisses the idea that political negotiation or the law will work, and believes force may be the only answer.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b01p3hnn)
The Horologicon
Episode 1
The Etymologicon was last year's surprise runaway bestseller. The author has now assembled The Horologicon, or book of hours, to delight his audience with a feast of words appropriate to a precise moment of the day.
Did you wake up feeling rough? Then you're philogrobolized probably at day peep when you were roused by your expergefactor.
Written by Mark Forsyth
Read by Hugh Dennis
Abridged and produced by Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01p3hnq)
Doris Day; abuse in teen relationships; Melanie Verwoerd
Is the screen legend Doris Day misunderstood and underrated? We discuss her work with film critics David Benedict and Karen Krizanovich. Former ANC MP Melanie Verwoerd reflects on growing up in a staunchly Afrikaner household in South Africa and how she came to regard Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu as part of her "her moral compass". Minister Jeremy Browne talks about the government's latest campaign to tackle violence and abuse in teenage relationships but is the message getting across? Celebrating the another battle in the long fight, the Women's Library has been saved from closure and is holding its last exhibition in its current home, highlighting milestones in the struggle for equality and bringing together rare items in its collections for the first time.
Presented by Jane Garvey
Produced by Laura Northedge.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01p3hns)
China Girl
Episode 1
China Girl by Tom Fry
Episode 1
It is 1997 and Naomi and Nick Freeman have almost given up the idea of having a child. They've been through the heartache of fertility treatment and have resigned themselves to being childless. Then a chance encounter with someone who is adopting sets Nick thinking that perhaps they might do it. There's only one problem, this baby is from China. Inspired by the author's real life experience.
Producer/Director Gary Brown
The one child policy in China means that there are many abandoned babies, and most of these are female. Scriptwriter Tom Fry (co-creator of R4's long running series Brief Lives) adopted two Chinese baby girls in the 1990s and these events are the springboard for this fictional drama.
Starring real life partners Sophie Thompson and Richard Lumsden, this touching drama charts the highs and lows of a middle aged couple bringing a Chinese baby into England.
MON 11:00 Our Language in Your Hands (b01p3hnv)
Nepal
Landlocked and mountainous Nepal is home to over 100 languages, many of which are now endangered. Languages spoken for generations may soon be extinct. Anthropologist and linguist Dr Mark Turin has spent years talking to the last speakers of languages under threat, and now he returns to the Himalayas to show us how communities are preserving and even reviving their speech forms, as well as what will be lost when languages die out.
Mark travels to the mountains of Eastern Nepal, where Thangmi is now spoken by only a few thousand people. Like many other languages that are at risk, Thangmi is a mine of unique indigenous terms for flora and fauna that have medical and ritual value. When people switch to speaking another language, traditional knowledge about man's place in nature falls into disuse. With the death of the last speaker, these unique ways of seeing the world can be lost forever.
Mark has lived with the Thangmi community for years, and speaks their ancestral language. Thangmi, whose speakers live in a highly mountainous region, has four distinct verbs that equate with the English verb 'to come', including yusa 'to come from above (down the mountain)' and wangsa 'to come from below (or up the mountain)'. Languages, like species, adapt to and reflect their environment.
Through these windows into the world of Thangmi speakers, and in discussions with language activists and educators across Nepal, Mark explores the enduring relationship between language, culture and identity and explains why it's so critical for linguists to work with indigenous communities to document and protect these vanishing voices before they disappear without record.
Producer Mark Rickards.
MON 11:30 55 and Over (b01p3hnx)
Episode 4
Hearts are more fragile than previously thought when disaster strikes and old lovers are forced to confront their new younger replacements around a hospital bed.
Juliet Stevenson and Philip Jackson star in Peter Souter's romantic comedy about love, sex and other foolhardy mistakes made by the modern 50-pluser.
Jane ..... Juliet Stevenson
Ray ..... Philip Jackson
Tony ..... Patrick Brennan
Heather ..... Liza Sadovy
Honey ..... Stephanie Racine
Sam ..... Adam Nagaitis
Portia ..... Sarah Thom
Director: Helen Perry.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2012.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b01p3hnz)
ASDA defies consumer guidelines, and diving for golf balls
ASDA refuses to sign up to new Office of Fair Trading guidelines on supermarket promotions and discounts. The guidelines are supposed to reassure customers that discounts are genuine and that prices are not artificially inflated to allow price cuts. But ASDA says the guidelines could actually leave customers worse off. Could ASDA be right?
Direct selling used to be associated with Avon ladies and tupperware parties. Now more men are taking up selling straight to customers at home. We hear why.
And we hear from the diving team searching the deep for historic lost golf balls which date back to the origins of the game.
MON 12:57 Weather (b01p2spv)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b01p3hqj)
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 Global Gap (b01p40gz)
Series 1: Mexico
Business Students
Global Gap is a series of five programmes where two people who do the same job, one from the UK and one from another country (in this series, Mexico), have a thought provoking conversation, to compare and contrast their working lives and the issues that arise in their jobs. The theme throughout the week is 'the next generation'; each programme features young people who are the new generation of workers in their countries. We capture the differences in society and attitudes through their conversation and recordings of in their workplace.
Episode 1 (of 5): Business Students
Luke Robinson studies Management and Spanish at the University of Leeds and he speaks to Miguel Bueno who is studying Business Administration at University in Mexico City. They discover that university is only for the rich in Mexico, but there is a growing interest in Business Studies as Mexico's economy rises. While Luke is looking forward to a placement in a large bank in the UK after university, Miguel is being encouraged to set up his own business.
Producer: Laura Parfitt
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b01p3cq1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 McLevy (b01p40h1)
Series 9
No Looking Back
Victorian detective drama series, starring Brian Cox and Siobhan Redmond.
Written by David Ashton.
Episode two: No Looking Back.
When a corpse turns up in a fisherman's net, McLevy discovers the murdered man had last been seen at the Just Land.
Other parts are played by the cast.
Producer/Director: Bruce Young.
MON 15:00 Brain of Britain (b01p40h3)
(2/17)
What does the musical instruction 'da capo' mean? And which national newspaper features the motto 'Without fear and without favour' on its front page?
Russell Davies is in the questionmaster's chair for the second heat in the current series of the evergreen general knowledge quiz. This week he's welcoming competitors from London, Hampshire and Kent to the BBC Radio Theatre.
As always they'll need the widest possible knowledge of science, history, the arts, current affairs, music and popular culture, to stand a chance of making it through to the series semi-finals in the new year, and possibly being named the 60th Brain of Britain champion.
There will be a chance for listeners to try to outwit the contestants by suggesting their own intriguingly tricky questions, in the 'Beat the Brains' feature.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b01p314q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Songs of the Sacred Harp (b01p40h5)
Cerys Matthews visits Alabama to uncover a sacred choral tradition. Widely practiced before the American Civil War, Sacred Harp singing is currently experiencing a global resurgence.
Once called 'white spiritual', this haunting unaccompanied choral tradition survived in the small rural Baptist churches of the American Deep South. Very different to bluegrass and to African American Gospel music, Sacred Harp preserved Anglo-Celtic practices that were subsequently lost in the UK.
Today, this music is spreading from the Deep South around the US and is even developing a following in the UK. Cerys travels to an all-day singing convention in Alabama to find out why the music is not just surviving but flourishing. In an age when church attendance is dropping fast, what is attracting people all over the US and the UK to sing archaic hymns?
Also called 'shape note singing', the music is based around the Sacred Harp hymn book compiled in Georgia in 1844. The pages show different shapes above the words to indicate the notes, enabling songs to be sung on sight. Gatherings are arranged in a hollow square with the self-selected leader entering the middle to call out the number of their chosen song. No applause or audience is allowed. Far removed from 'happy clappy', they are often austere hymns with themes of death and the pain of everyday existence.
Contributors include Hugh McGraw, Jesse Karlsberg, Warren Steele, Reba Del Windom, Henry Johnson, Michael Walker, Emma Rose Brown and Sam Carter.
For information on Sacred Harp singing around the UK:
http://www.ukshapenote.org.uk/
http://londonsacredharp.org/
Produced by Joby Waldman
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 16:30 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b01p40h7)
Series 7
Secret Science
Robin Ince and Brian Cox are joined on stage by comedian Dave Gorman, author and Enigma Machine owner Simon Singh and Bletchley Park enthusiast Dr Sue Black as they discuss secret science, code-breaking and the extraordinary achievements of the team working at Bletchley during WWII.
MON 17:00 PM (b01p40h9)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01p2spx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b01p40hc)
Series 58
Episode 4
The antidote to panel games pays a return visit to the Symphony Hall in Birmingham. Regulars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by Jeremy Hardy with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell attempts piano accompaniment. Producer - Jon Naismith.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b01p40hf)
Brenda gives Lilian an update on all the current work in progress. Brenda explains it seemed important to Matt to keep Lilian in the loop.
Emma tells Ruth she's going to court tomorrow, to look Keith in the eye and show him she's not ashamed of what she did. Ruth tells her that she won't need to give a month's notice to move out of Rickyard Cottage. Emma's grateful - it's one less thing to worry about.
Tom calls to say he'll be working late, to get the meat ready for the hampers. He's had an enquiry for four dozen hampers but he just can't fulfil the order. Brenda puts a positive spin on this - leave customers hungry and they'll come back for more. Tom hopes she's right.
To Lilian's amazement, Matt is male bonding with James. Leonie suggest she and Lilian enjoy some time together too but Lilian has to go off to take a call. It's Paul. He's really missing her and desperately wants to see her soon. Lilian explains it's difficult to talk but agrees it would be lovely to meet up. Paul tells her he'll be thinking of her... till the next time.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b01p40hh)
Seven Psychopaths, Beryl Bainbridge's art
Martin McDonagh won the 2008 Best Original Screenplay Oscar for In Bruges, starring Colin Farrell as an unlucky hit-man. In McDonagh's new film, Seven Psychopaths, Farrell is a struggling screenwriter dragged into the Los Angeles crime world when his quirky friends (Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken) kidnap a dog belonging to a gangster (Woody Harrelson). Kamila Shamsie reviews.
Novelist Beryl Bainbridge, who died in 2010, won the Whitbread Prize twice and was nominated for the Booker Prize five times. But she was also an accomplished and prolific painter, whose subjects include The Titanic, Napoleon, and Captain Scott's journey - as well as Liverpool memories and portraits of her children. As The Museum Of Liverpool prepares to open the exhibition, Beryl Bainbridge: Painter, her longtime friend A.N Wilson talks about her paintings and their relationship to her writing.
This week Young Voices launches its latest national arena tour in Birmingham NEC, with 7,000 UK schoolchildren. To discuss the pros and cons of different choir sizes, Mark Lawson is joined by Jeremy Summerly from the Royal Academy of Music and Suzi Digby of BBC TV's Last Choir Standing.
Two of the best known faces on television are returning to our screens this week, but both will be out of their comfort zone. Richard Madeley, best-known for being one half of Richard And Judy, is investigating squatting in the UK in the documentary, Madeley Meets The Squatters - and Jamie Oliver is sharing the limelight with his good friend Jimmy Doherty in, Jamie And Jimmy's Food Fight Club. Gabriel Tate joins Mark to discuss whether the new formats have worked.
Producer Nicki Paxman.
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01p3hns)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 Decontaminating Halabja (b01p40hk)
The BBC's foreign affairs editor John Simpson returns to Kurdistan nearly 25 years after the world's worst-ever chemical weapons attack on civilians. He hears from the survivors of the attack, launched by Saddam Hussein's regime against the citizens of Halabja at the tail-end of the Iran-Iraq war. It is thought to have claimed more than 5000 lives, most of the victims killed within minutes, as a lethal cocktail of nerve agents and mustard gas spread through the town. With the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, and his trial and execution in 2006, much has changed in this region of Iraq, but for many citizens of Halabja there remains a quest for justice and closure. A British forensics company now believes it can help by identifying the precise chemicals used and the European companies suspected of supplying them.
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b01p0s9z)
The Mystery of South Africa's Missing Textbooks
Many schoolchildren in South Africa's northern Limpopo province have gone for months without school textbooks. There was money to buy them. There was also a contract to deliver the books. Yet they didn't arrive. Students and parents are furious with politicians of the governing ANC - and say the problem is due to mismanagement and corruption. They say the issue typifies the faults of the political system, and that their children have been the victims. Rob Walker investigates the mystery of the missing textbooks.
MON 21:00 Material World (b01p0sbf)
Dr Dave Reay analyses the latest Energy Bill statement by the Energy Secretary.
An expedition of scientists, helicopter pilots, chefs and engineers embark on a four month mission to eradicate the brown rat from South Georgia. Professor Tony Martin, the team's leader, will be talking to Quentin about how his team will spread rat bait across 94,000 hectares of land.
Olive oil could be used to preserve ancient stone buildings, like York Minster. Synchrotron X-ray methods are used to understand the protective powers of olive oil for stone. Dr Karen Wilson will be joining Quentin on the line from Cardiff.
Also, Quentin talks to Professor Martyn Poliakoff about the new "Romantic Chemistry" exhibition at the Royal Society. The exhibition looks at the most unusual elements discovered by Fellows of the Society during the Romantic period (1780-1825).
MON 21:30 Start the Week (b01p3hnl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b01p2spz)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b01p40hm)
Israel's settlement plans: end to the two-state solution?
How will George Osborne cut the costs of welfare?
The Commons debate Leveson proposals.
The new royal baby - will it grow up in a very modern royal family?
With Ritula Shah.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01p40hp)
The Mighty Walzer
Episode 6
From the beginning Oliver Walzer is a natural - at ping-pong. Even with his improvised bat (the Collins Classic edition of 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde') he can chop, flick, half-volley like a champion.
At sex he is not so natural, being shy and frightened of women. But with tuition from Sheeny Waxman, fellow member of the Akiva Social Club Table Tennis team, his game improves. And while the Akiva boys teach him everything he needs to know about ping-pong, his father Joel Walzer teaches him everything there is to know about 'swag'.
Unabashedly autobiographical, this is a hilarious and heartbreaking story of one man's coming of age in 1950's Manchester.
Howard Jacobson won the Mann Booker in 2010 for "The Finkler Question", but this is his masterpiece.
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 23:00 Mastertapes (b01p40hr)
Series 1
Ray Davies (the B-Side)
John Wilson continues with his new series in which he talks to leading performers and songwriters about the album that made them or changed them. Recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC's iconic Maida Vale Studios. Each edition includes two episodes, with John initially quizzing the artist about the album in question, and then, in the B-side, the audience puts the questions. Both editions feature exclusive live performances.
Programme 5, the B-side. Having discussed the making of two classic Kinks albums, 'Lola Versus Powerman and The Moneygoround, Part One' and 'Muswell Hillbillies' (in the A-side of the programme, broadcast on Tuesday 27th November and available online), Ray Davies responds to questions from the audience and performs acoustic live versions of some to the tracks from the albums, both of which were released more than forty years ago.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01p40ht)
The political parties refine their positions on whether the newspaper industry should be regulated, in the wake of the lengthy and detailed report on press standards by Lord Justice Leveson. Susan Hulme follows MPs' six hour debate in the Commons.
Also on the programme.
* The royal baby gets a mention in the chamber of the Commons.
* Simon Jones covers what peers had to say about Palestine gaining recognition at the United Nations and about the wisdom of considering a pre-emptive strike on Iran.
* Peter Mulligan covers a Government defeat in the House of Lords on legal aid.
* Alicia McCarthy reports on MPs' thoughts on what exactly should be taught in England's classrooms.
TUESDAY 04 DECEMBER 2012
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b01p2sqt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b01p3hnn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01p2sqw)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01p2sqy)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01p2sr0)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b01p2sr2)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01p8fyr)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Pastor Alex Robertson.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b01p3k5l)
A study links low level exposure to sheep dip chemicals with lasting brain damage in some farmers who used organophosphates in the 1980s and 90s.
As high speed broadband is rolled out in Cumbria, questions are raised about the speed at which it is being implemented in the rest of Britain
The charity Oxfam says financial speculation in the future commodities markets is playing a large part in the high cost of food throughout the world
Farming Today was presented by Anna Hill and produced in Birmingham by Ruth Sanderson.
TUE 06:00 Today (b01p3k5n)
Morning news and current affairs, with John Humphrys and Sarah Montague:
0750
The Duchess of Cambridge is pregnant, and is in hospital with morning sickness. Robert Hardman, Daily Mail writer and author of Our Queen, and Kate Williams, historian and author, discuss, with three generations potentially now in line to the throne, if this will ever again be a country with a young monarch?
0810
Today the nation's top nurses will launch a new drive to ensure values such as compassion and courage are at the heart of the NHS and the public health and care sectors. Sharon Kane and Jane Cummings, the chief nursing officer for England, discuss whether changes to the NHS are necessary.
0821
The Private Finance Initiative or PFI is to become more public and less private. Robert Peston, the BBC's business editor, explains that the chancellor is changing the rules of such projects to give the public sector a greater stake.
0824
Atheists could be welcomed into the Scout movement for the first time. Wayne Bulpitt, UK chief commissioner for the Scouts, outlines why he is supportive of the change.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (b01p3k5q)
Jared Diamond
Jim Al-Khalili talks to Jared Diamond about how his passion for the birds of Papua New Guinea overtook his medical interest in the gall bladder, and led him to undertake a scientific study of global history.
Science polymath and celebrated author, Jared Diamond has tackled some of the big questions about humanity: what is it that makes us uniquely human not just a third species of chimpanzee; and why do some societies thrive and others struggle to survive, or collapse?
Once a Professor of Physiology (specialising in the gall bladder), he became increasingly fascinated by the birds of Papua New Guinea and does an excellent imitation of the ptilinopus fruit dove, among others.
Now Professor of Geography at University of California in LA, he stresses the vital importance of the environment in determining the success or otherwise of a society. He argues first that it was settled agriculture that enabled the white man to develop guns, germs and steel and later that abuse of the environment is often responsible for their collapse.
But can the history of humanity really be understood in much the same way as we might seek to explain the success or otherwise of a particular species of bird?
TUE 09:30 One to One (b01p3k5s)
Olivia O'Leary with Vladimir Ashkenazy
In a new series of One to One, Olivia O'Leary speaks to people who've reached the peak of their careers about how growing older affects their approach to work.
In this first programme, Olivia speaks to one of her heroes - the great Russian-Icelandic pianist, Vladimir Ashkenazy. He left the Soviet union in the sixties, and has played a vast repertoire of the greatest piano music on stages all over the world. Ashkenazy is now conductor laureate with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
At 75 he is still jetting around the world to engagements so we were lucky to catch up with him in a hotel at Heathrow as he was leaving after a brief visit to the UK.
In a candid discussion, Ashkenazy discussed the arthrosis (not arthritis as has been reported) in his hands which occasionally means his fingers cannot fit between the black keys; he talks about not wanting to become the kind of 'older' conductor, with failing physical capacity, that orchestras respond to purely out of respect.
He also talks more widely - about his decision to leave Russia in the 1960s; about the pianists he holds in great respect and about his decision to concentrate on conducting rather than live performance.
Producer: Karen Gregor.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b01p5884)
The Horologicon
Episode 2
Did you have ben joltram for your ariston? If so, you jenticulated well - which would have pleased Zeus. For more hidden delights from the English language to fit your day, join Hugh Dennis for The Horologicon.
Written by Mark Forsyth
Read by Hugh Dennis
Abridged and produced by Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01p3k5v)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali; Tracy-Ann Oberman
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: outspoken on the position of women in Islam, author and founder of the AHA Foundation, appearing at the Trust Women Conference. Tracy-Ann Oberman on her latest role in Old Money at the Hampstead Theatre. Sarah Pennells, financial journalist gives advice on moving in together in later life and safeguarding financial security. Do you have to go full-time to get promoted? Emma Stewart from Women Like Us and Ksenia Zheltoukhova from The Work Foundation discuss. And feminist fairy tales - Little Red Riding Hood.
Presenter Jane Garvey
Producer Lucinda Montefiore.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01p3k5x)
China Girl
Episode 2
China Girl by Tom Fry
Episode 2
After many bureaucratic hurdles, Nick and Naomi finally travel to Northern China to bring home their Chinese baby.
Producer/Director Gary Brown
The one child policy in China means that there are many abandoned babies, and most of these are female. Scriptwriter Tom Fry (co-creator of R4's long running series Brief Lives) adopted two Chinese baby girls in the 1990s and these events are the springboard for this fictional drama.
Starring real life partners Sophie Thompson and Richard Lumsden, this touching drama charts the highs and lows of a middle aged couple bringing a Chinese baby into England.
TUE 11:00 Saving Species (b01p3k5z)
Series 3
Scottish Species Action Framework
Scotland's five year Species Action Framework programme ended in March 2012. This unique programme has advanced conservation and management action for 32 of Scotland's select species - including beaver, red squirrel, sea eagle, capercaillie, freshwater pearl mussel, great yellow bumblebee and woolly willow and invasive non-native species such as North American signal crayfish.
For Saving Species Brett Westwood travels up to the Scottish Natural Heritage conference in Edinburgh to discuss the results of this 5 year programme with the movers and shakers in Scotlands wildlife conservation.
TUE 11:30 Rebuilding the LSO (b01p3k61)
Matthew Bannister tells the story of how London's oldest self-governing orchestra, the LSO, made a spectacular recovery from near financial collapse in the early 1980s.
The London Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1904 by a group of rebellious musicians, as an act of defiance against their conductor Sir Henry Wood. In the words of one of its founders, it was set up as "something akin to a musical republic", run by its own musicians. And 108 years later, the orchestra has done more than just survive -it's flourishing. But the journey hasn't been without its hazards - none more perilous than the financial crisis precipitated by its move to a permanent home in the Barbican concert hall in the early 1980s.
Matthew Bannister tells the story of how the fortunes of London's oldest self-governing orchestra were turned around by one of its own players, the cellist Sir Clive Gillinson. He took the job of Chairman of the Board reluctantly at first - and then pursued his aim to balance the books with increasing determination because, he says, if you believe passionately that something has to exist then other people will believe you too.
We hear from one of the LSO's most famous former principal conductors, André Previn, about his love affair with the orchestra. And its current principal conductor, Valery Gergiev, the Managing Director and musicians tell us what makes the orchestra successful in a very competitive environment - and whether anything remains of the rebellious spirit that brought it in to existence.
Producer: Philippa Goodrich
A White Pebble production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b01p3k63)
Call You and Yours: Have we forgotten how to care?
Have we forgotten how to care?
The chief nursing officer for England, Jane Cummings, says poor care, sometimes very poor care, is too prevalent in our hospitals. She says it's a betrayal of all nursing should stand for. But after scandals involving cruelty and neglect, has nursing lost its way?
Clinical care is much more sophisticated these days - but has nursing become less caring - especially when it involves elderly people or those with mental disabilities?
And if so - why? Is overcrowding to blame? Targets? Bureaucracy? A jobsworth attitude? Have simple human compassion and decency gone by the wayside?
We want to hear your experiences. Maybe you have nothing but praise for the care you and your family received. Maybe you're a nurse who simply doesn't recognise this bleak picture? We want to hear from you.
03700 100 444 is the phone number to call or you can e-mail via the Radio 4 website or text us on 84844.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b01p2sr4)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b01p3k65)
National and international news with Martha Kearney. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
TUE 13:45 The Global Gap (b01p41gy)
Series 1: Mexico
Fashion Designers
Global Gap is a series of five programmes where two people who do the same job, one from the UK and one from another country (in this series, Mexico), have a thought provoking conversation, to compare and contrast their working lives and the issues that arise in their jobs. The theme throughout the week is 'the next generation'; each programme features young people who are the new generation of workers in their countries. We capture the differences in society and attitudes through their conversation and recordings of in their workplace.
Episode 2 (of 5): Fashion Designers
Craig Lawrence is one of our brightest young knitwear designers, making clothes for Lady Gaga among others. He talks about his experiences in the fashion industry with Mexican clothes designer Marvin Duran. Craig operates in a well-established fashion industry in the UK and his year revolves around London Fashion Week. Marvin's success was almost overnight and he became famous in Mexico despite no formal training in fashion. The industry is not as established in Mexico, as people look to Paris and London. Meanwhile, the internet has meant that Craig's designs are seen around the world.
Producer: Laura Parfitt
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b01p40hf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b01p41h0)
Ubykh
by Simon Scardifield.
Only one person in the world speaks Ubykh, and he's very, very old. Almost a quarter of people on earth speak competent English. What price do we pay for English being the bully in the playground?
Swedish academic, Ole, sets off to Turkey to meet the world's last Ubykh speaker. Will he be too late?
Produced/directed by Gaynor Macfarlane.
TUE 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (b01p41h2)
Series 3
Whitstable
Jay Rayner hosts the first in a new series of BBC Radio 4's culinary panel programme, The Kitchen Cabinet, recorded in the seaside town of Whitstable in Kent.
The team take questions from the local audience on their cooking and eating quandaries including: where to find the best oysters, how much salt to use when seasoning, exciting things to do with apples, and how to improve taste when cooking with root vegetables.
For the first time renowned Michelin star rated chef Angela Hartnett joins the team alongside previous panellists: Rachel McCormack, the Glaswegian cook who is also an expert on Catalan cooking, Tim Hayward, the acclaimed food critic, writer, and broadcaster and Dr Annie Gray, the food historian specialising in Georgian and Victorian dining.
Food Consultant: Anna Colquhoun.
Produced by Robert Abel and Peggy Sutton.
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Mastertapes (b01p41h4)
Series 1
Corinne Bailey Rae (the A-Side)
John Wilson continues with his new series in which he talks to leading performers and songwriters about the album that made them or changed them. Recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC's iconic Maida Vale Studios. Each edition includes two episodes, with John initially quizzing the artist about the album in question, and then, in the B-side, the audience puts the questions. Both editions feature exclusive live performances.
Corinne Bailey Rae - The Sea. Four years after her number one debut album, Grammy-award-winning Corinne Bailey Rae returns to its follow-up, released in 2010. An extremely personal album, it explored a range of human emotions from grief and loss to love and joy. In a revealing interview, Corinne describes not just her musical upbringing and influences, but also talks movingly about the impact that the death of her husband had on the making of this album. Together with pianist Steve Brown, she performs an exclusive live version of the title track from the album.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, where a new series of Mastertapes began on 11th November.
TUE 16:00 It's My Story (b01p41h6)
Music and Silence
Michael Berkeley has been composing music since he was six years old. His father was a composer and, as a child, he sang for his godfather Benjamin Britten. His whole life has revolved around music. But two years ago an ordinary cold virus triggered a catastrophic loss of hearing.
This programme is the story of the last year as he comes to terms with partial deafness and talks to other musicians who have suffered a similar disaster - opera singer Janine Roebuck and rock critic Nick Coleman. We begin in the Royal Albert Hall with rehearsals for the London premiere of Michael Berkeley's organ concerto at last year's Proms. As the composer, Michael is expected to give final notes on the music balance - but how can he do that when he can't be sure he is hearing it accurately?
At the piano, Michael shows us powerfully how sounds are distorted and what he hears inside his head. We follow him on medical appointments as he experiments with different hearing aids. Walking in the countryside in Wales, he thinks about Beethoven and the tragic letter he writes about his deafness but, as time passes, something strange happens: Michael begins to enjoy listening to music again. His brain seems to be filling in the gaps. He goes to meet an expert in the University College London Ear Institute who reveals new research about the extraordinary connection between the ears and the brain. So he ends with a surprising message of hope.
Michael is brave to speak out; some of his colleagues did not want him to make this programme. Deafness is still a taboo, the invisible disability, and yet ten million people in Britain (1 in 6) struggle to hear.
Producer: Elizabeth Burke
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b01p41h8)
Series 29
Dick Francis
The date is 1956, Aintree, and Dick Francis is riding the Queen Mother's horse to victory in the Grand National. Except Devon Loch collapses bizarrely to the ground within sight of the finishing post. The jockey later says that he never recovered from this defeat. But the strange case of Devon Loch and the most famous Grand National of them all is the making of Dick Francis, who becomes both a household name and a best selling author too.
Martin Broughton, chairman of British Airways, the British Horse Racing Board and - for a while - Liverpool FC, chooses Dick Francis as his example of a man who succeeded in two careers. The Francis novels have sold in millions. Philip Larkin loved the opening lines: "There was a godawful cock up in Bologna," begins The Danger.
But there have been question marks over whether the books were all his own work. Mischievous biographer Graham Lord tells Miles Warde why he thinks Dick's wife, Mary, was responsible. "Garbage," says Martin Broughton. Expert opinion comes from Jonathan Powell, racing correspondent of the Mail on Sunday and a man who knew Dick Francis in his later years. The presenter is Matthew Parris, the producer Miles Warde.
TUE 17:00 PM (b01p41hb)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Includes Weather.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01p2sr6)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Bleak Expectations (b01p41hd)
Series 5
An Alrightish Life Savagely Frozen to Bits
Pip races to Antarctica to thwart another fiendish plot by his evil ex-guardian, Mr Gently Benevolent.
Mark Evans's epic Victorian comedy in the style of Charles Dickens.
Sir Philip ..... Richard Johnson
Young Pip Bin ..... Tom Allen
Gently Benevolent ..... Anthony Head
Harry Biscuit ..... James Bachman
Clampvulture ..... Geoffrey Whitehead
Ripely ..... Sarah Hadland
Pippa ..... Susy Kane
Explorer ..... Mark Evans
Producer: Gareth Edwards
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2012.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b01p41hg)
James and Leonie enjoy a mug of Gluhwein at Lower Loxley's German market. He's grateful that she dragged him out but wonders if they should have invited Lilian. He thinks she's looking quite stressed by work lately.
Elizabeth shows Roy the dairy plans. Roy agrees it's going to look amazing. Roy has more good news. Shires Brewery wants to sponsor Cranford Crystal and the rare breeds if they re-name it the Shires Rare Breeds Unit. Elizabeth's pleased to be making progress. The next step is Thursday's meeting with the bank's commercial relations manager.
Over supper, Leonie gets everyone to move their seats to give James more leg room. Robert and Lynda learn that today's trip to Lower Loxley was Leonie's idea. They realise Robert's concern that James would try to take control of Leonie's life again was unfounded. Lynda's impressed with Leonie's suggestion for the Elizabethan food: baked potatoes, the latest exotic vegetable from the New World.
Back at the Dower House, James finds a bottle of cognac from Matt. James thinks it's strange that Matt's started being so nice to him. Leonie assures him that it's just taken Matt a while to see what a great and wonderful person he is.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b01p41hj)
Ben Folds; Elizabeth Price; Charles Dickens museum
With John Wilson.
Elizabeth Price has won this year's Turner Prize for work including her video installation The Woolworths Choir of 1979. She discusses her inspirations and what winning the prestigious art prize might mean for her future plans.
Ben Folds is best known for his musical career, notably with his band Ben Folds Five, but he is also a keen photographer and takes his camera on tour, sometimes capturing images of the audience at his gigs from the stage. Ben Folds discusses why Ben Folds Five are back together after a 13 year break, his collaborations with the novelist Nick Hornby and why taking photographs is similar to song-writing.
The Charles Dickens Museum, the author's former Bloomsbury home, is about to re-open following a £3.1 million refurbishment project. Historian Kathryn Hughes and actor and author Simon Callow explore the rooms where Dickens lived at the start of his career, and where he wrote Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby.
Hip hop musician and producer RZA, of the Wu-Tang Clan, has also acted in several movies. He now makes his directing debut with The Man With The Iron Fists - and he also plays the title role and co-wrote the screenplay. Inspired by kung fu classics and featuring an international cast including Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu and Chinese star Daniel Wu. the film is set in 19th century China, and follows the fortunes of a series of lone warriors forced to unite to defeat a common enemy. Film critic Mark Eccleston gives his verdict.
Producer Olivia Skinner.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01p3k5x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 Inside the Academy School Revolution (b01p41hl)
Zoe Williams steps inside Education Secretary Michael Gove's academy revolution to find out if removing schools from local authority control is really a magic formula for success.
More than half of England's secondary schools have already converted or are in the process of converting to academy status, gaining greater control over curriculum, length of school day and how they spend their money. Many are adopting innovative teaching techniques from abroad.
But teachers unions and other critics warn that academies are democratically unaccountable and that this 'privatisation' of the education system will lower teaching standards and divide communities.
Zoe Williams spends time inside two flagship academies sponsored by the charity ARK. Does their 'depth before breadth' policy of focusing on core curriculum subjects provide a rounded education? She finds out how pupils and teachers respond to a longer school day and challenging targets. And she talks to ARK's co-founder, hedge fund manager Paul Marshall, about his reasons for getting involved in sponsoring schools, and his concerns that academies may need closer supervision.
Zoe also visits academies where staff and sponsors have struggled. St Aldhelm's in Dorset achieved the worst exam results in England in its first year as an academy and Sir Robert Woodard in West Sussex was placed in "special measures" after an Ofsted inspection found teaching standards to be inadequate.
And can success be bought by academies with wealthy sponsors? The head of a US-based sponsor of an academy about to begin operating in the Midlands says his organisation will do whatever it takes to ensure the school, and others they plan to sponsor, are successful.
Producer: Brian King
An Above The Title production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b01p41hn)
Banking, New York floods' victim, MD research
Peter meets Kathleen Shouldis, who is visually-impaired and lives in Staten Island in New York and tells of her experience of losing her home in the recent hurricane Sandy.
RNIB trawl for people living with cataracts and AMD and their carers for a research project and we have part 2 of Blindness for Beginners on banking with Diane Roworth and David Clarke.
TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (b01p41hq)
Alzheimer's Disease
Mild cognitive impairment is a condition which is often a precursor to Alzheimer's Disease, but not everyone will go on to develop the condition. If researchers could discover who does develop the disease and who doesn't it would have implications for therapy. Claudia talks to researchers about some of the latest research in this area and discovers how the loss of brain cells in a region of the brain known as the hippocampus leads to the characteristic symptoms of the disease.
At the scene of a disaster it is now common for counselling to be provided for the victims, but will everyone develop post traumatic stress disorder PTSD? John Marzillier, a researcher in this area with 40 years experience, says everyone responds differently and only 10% of people are likely to develop PTSD.
Why do we continue to believe information even when we are told it's wrong? Claudia Hammond discovers how the brain stores facts and why we don't erase erroneous explanations.
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (b01p3k5q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b01p2sr8)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b01p41hs)
National and international news and analysis with Ritula Shah.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01p41hv)
The Mighty Walzer
Episode 7
From the beginning Oliver Walzer is a natural - at ping-pong. Even with his improvised bat (the Collins Classic edition of 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde') he can chop, flick, half-volley like a champion.
At sex he is not so natural, being shy and frightened of women. But with tuition from Sheeny Waxman, fellow member of the Akiva Social Club Table Tennis team, his game improves. And while the Akiva boys teach him everything he needs to know about ping-pong, his father Joel Walzer teaches him everything there is to know about 'swag'.
Unabashedly autobiographical, this is a hilarious and heartbreaking story of one man's coming of age in 1950's Manchester.
Howard Jacobson won the Mann Booker in 2010 for "The Finkler Question", but this is his masterpiece.
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:00 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b01p40h7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Monday]
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01p41hx)
The Foreign Secretary warns Israel's plan to build more settlements on occupied land near East Jerusalem would make a two-state solution with Palestine "almost inconceivable".
But William Hague plays down the idea that the European Union might enforce sanctions against Israel.
A committee of MPs takes evidence on women in the workplace and the steps needed to tackle gender inequality.
Peers press ministers over concerns the Syrian government may use chemical weapons against its own people.
And the UK Border Agency faces fresh scrutiny about a backlog of immigration and asylum cases.
Sean Curran and team report on today's events in Parliament.
WEDNESDAY 05 DECEMBER 2012
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b01p2ss3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b01p5884)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01p2ss5)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01p2ss7)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01p2ss9)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b01p2ssc)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01p7qvj)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Pastor Alex Robertson.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b01p3lfm)
Traditional hill farming will struggle to survive without thousands of skilled farmers over the next 20 years. According to the National Centre for the Uplands in Cumbria new entrants are turning their back on the rougher, tougher lifestyle - working up on the hills.
Salmon stocks have come back from the brink of extinction in a river that was once regarded as one of the best in Europe for salmon fishing. Fish numbers have doubled over five years on the River Wye after years of conservation work.
And on World Soil Day, Anna investigates the impact of agriculture on UK soil quality.
This programme is presented by Anna Hill and produced in Birmingham by Angela Frain.
WED 06:00 Today (b01p3lfp)
Morning news and current affairs with Sarah Montague and Evan Davis, including:
0810
As George Osborne makes his Autumn Statement today, what will we learn about the government's efforts to reduce the budget deficit? The BBC political editor Nick Robinson, economics editor Stephanie Flanders, and home affairs editor Mark Easton provide analysis on the implications of the statement for the UK economy.
0820
Wednesday 5 December marks the 60th anniversary of the great smog of London. Iris Humphries, who lived in London and remembers the 1952 smog, and Georgina Young, Museum of London Curator, reflect on the smog as the worst on record.
0831
The US space agency, Nasa, has announced it is to send a new robot vehicle to Mars in 2020. Geoffrey Landis, Nasa scientist at the John Glenn Research centre in Cleveland, outlines what the robot will be looking to discover.
0837
Should companies themselves be blamed for aggressive tax avoidance? Mary Monfries, head of tax at PwC, and Richard Murphy, adviser to the Tax Justice Network, discuss whether it may be the tax advisers that are to blame.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b01p3lfr)
Jocelyn Burton, Michael Holroyd, Bruno Tonioli, Jonathan Hancock
Libby Purves meets silversmith Jocelyn Burton; biographer Michael Holroyd; Strictly Come Dancing judge Bruno Tonioli and memory champion Jonathan Hancock.
Jocelyn Burton is an award-winning silversmith, known for her witty and often maverick pieces. She was the first woman to become a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and to win the Prince Philip City & Guilds Medal for silversmithing. She is currently celebrating 40 years of her work in an exhibition, 'The Art of Silver,' at the Royal jewellers Bentley & Skinner.
Michael Holroyd is the acclaimed biographer of George Bernard Shaw and Lytton Strachey. In his book, 'On Wheels', he traces his relationship with cars through a lifetime of biography. 'On Wheels - Five Easy Pieces' is published by Chatto & Windus.
Bruno Tonioli is a dancer-turned-choreographer and TV personality. He is best known as a judge on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, and its US version, Dancing With the Stars. In his autobiography, 'My Story', he tells how he escaped the confines of his upbringing in Northern Italy to follow his dreams. 'My Story' is published by Headline.
Jonathan Hancock is a primary school teacher and a former World Memory Champion. He devised the National Junior Memory Championships in association with the Learning Schools Foundation. The competition, which takes place next March, uses memory techniques as an aid to learning. He is also the author of several books including 'Brilliant Memory Training'.
Producer: Paula McGinley.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b01p589h)
The Horologicon
Episode 3
More delights from the English language. As the amell approaches, it's time to dash to a grubbery - or perhaps to somewhere smarter if Sir Timothy Treat-All is around.
Mark Forsyth's The Horologicon offers a feast of words to suit all hours of the day and night.
Written by Mark Forsyth
Read by Hugh Dennis
Abridged and produced by Jane Marshall.
A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01p3lft)
Judit Polgar; Teaching compassion; Sex workers
Judit Polgar, grandmaster, on her father's determination to raise chess playing prodigies. What do sex workers think about proposed legislation which would prohibit buying sex. How do you teach compassion to the caring professions? Feminist fairy tales: Belle Belle, the cross dressing warrior. Who are the most powerful women on the global stage? Presenter Jenni Murray
Producer Karen Dalziel.
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01p3lfw)
China Girl
Episode 3
China Girl by Tom Fry
Episode 3
It is 1997 and Naomi and Nick are in China with their new baby girl Luo Ning. They just have to go through some final formalities before they can finally bring her home.
Producer/Director Gary Brown
The one child policy in China means that there are many abandoned babies, and most of these are female. Scriptwriter Tom Fry (co-creator of R4's long running series Brief Lives) adopted two Chinese baby girls in the 1990s and these events are the springboard for this fictional drama.
Starring real life partners Sophie Thompson and Richard Lumsden, this touching drama charts the highs and lows of a middle aged couple bringing a Chinese baby into England.
WED 11:00 Uzbek to My Roots (b01p3lfy)
Twenty-five-year-old north Londoner Amy Cordell has grown up embracing the rituals, food and music of a far-away world, one that still cleaves to the ancient traditions of her Bukharian grandparents who were once part of a 95,000-strong community of Jews, living in Uzbekistan in central Asia.
Uzbek To My Roots is an audio diary tracing Amy's journey back to her family's homeland, to the teeming provinces of Bukhara and Samarkand along the Silk Road in a reunion involving various cousins, aunts and uncles gathered from the UK, Israel and America.
Together they visit grandpapa John's place of birth, where he went to school, played and worshipped. Against a backdrop of palaces and mosques, wide avenues and imposing, intricate architecture, they find the old Jewish quarter and its cemeteries still largely intact and encounter an array of characters, from carpet and silk sellers to street acrobats to a bazaar filled with gold-teethed women trading in gold, silk and velvet garments.
Amy and her party are embarking on a voyage of discovery: to learn both their family's back-story and to learn about themselves as they travel by coach, car and plane, crossing the length and breadth of this vast cotton growing country where Western impulses are encroaching on long held custom and tradition.
Producer: Sara Parker
A Tonic Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 11:30 A Charles Paris Mystery (b01p3lg0)
An Amateur Corpse
Episode 1
Actor-cum-sleuth Charles Paris is once again out of work - an event made worse by his maddening mother Joan's arrival to recuperate from an operation.
So when he bumps into old friend, Hugo, who offers him some voiceover work, Charles is doubly happy; some money and a chance to escape the house.
But a simple voice job leads Charles into Hugo's drink-fuelled depressing marriage. His young wife spends most of her time at an am-dram group with some very strange members and Hugo seems ready to crack....
Bill Nighy stars as actor-cum-sleuth, Charles Paris.
By Jeremy Front - based on Simon Brett's novel.
Charles ..... Bill Nighy
Frances ..... Suzanne Burden
Joan ..... Geraldine McEwan
Hugo ..... Paul Ritter
Ellie ...... Amaka Okafor
Saskia ..... Christine Absalom
Geoff ...... Patrick Brennan
Clive ...... Sam Alexander
Director: Sally Avens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2012.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b01p3lg2)
How flu vaccines are made, the Autumn Statement, and first aid in schools
Why is the minimum wage for people under 21 lower than the rate for everyone else? The National Union of Students believes it's age discrimination, but employers' organisations say it helps to reduce youth unemployment. Getting together with others to bulk-buy gas and electricity could help to reduce fuel bills, but why are people so reluctant to switch suppliers? Is it time for First Aid training to be made compulsory in schools, as a part of the National Curriculum?
Producer: Jonathan Hallewell
Presenter: Winifred Robinson.
WED 12:57 Weather (b01p2ssf)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b01p3lgb)
National and international news with Martha Kearney. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
WED 13:45 The Global Gap (b01p4243)
Series 1: Mexico
Green Politicians
Global Gap is a series of five programmes where two people who do the same job, one from the UK and one from another country (in this series, Mexico), have a thought provoking conversation, to compare and contrast their working lives and the issues that arise in their jobs. The theme throughout the week is 'the next generation'; each programme features young people who are the new generation of workers in their countries. We capture the differences in society and attitudes through their conversation and recordings of in their workplace.
Episode 3 (of 5): Green Politicians
Jason Kitkat is a young Green Party politician who runs Brighton and Hove City Council. He has a conversation with Arnold Richarde, who founded the Mexican Green Party and is now an environmental activist in Mexico City. They discover that Mexico City, because of its pressing problems, is more advanced than the UK in areas such as water preservation, recycling and living roof technology. Jason's council is addressing the need for cycle routes in the city, while Arnold also has campaigned to stop the mass use of cars in Mexico City.
Producer: Laura Parfitt
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b01p41hg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b01p4245)
A Disappearing Town
By Hugh Hughes
A darkly comic modern fairy-tale from the Isle of Anglesey's foremost 'emerging artist'.
Hugh Hughes has returned to his childhood home in the town of Llangefni on the Isle of Anglesey. There Hugh, his sister Delyth and brother Derwyn are tidying the house ready for their mum's return from hospital. But when Hugh stumbles upon a box of his old journals hidden up in the attic, the day's events take a new course. Armed with an old tape-recorder and a synthesiser, the three siblings distract themselves by telling a dark and fantastical story from their childhood, growing up on the island in the 1970s.
The story is from a Llangefni that no longer exists, full of characters who have long since vanished. It tells the tragic tale of Carrie-Ann, a woman persecuted by the townsfolk because of her weight. But the narrative takes a fantastical twist as it's warped through the mists of time and by the magic of memory.
Hugh's first play for Radio 4 - last year's 'Floating' - won a BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Scripted Comedy Drama.
Created and performed by Hugh Hughes, Delyth Hughes and Derwyn Hughes with assistance from Shôn Dale-Jones, Sophie Russell and Andrew Pembrooke.
Produced by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b01p4247)
The Autumn Statement
The Chancellor's Autumn Statement: What will it mean for your finances?
If you drive, pay into a pension, claim benefits or pay council tax, you may soon see changes to your household budget. Because on Wednesday 5 December, George Osborne will update MP's on the state of the economy and the public finances - and set out how he plans to reduce the deficit and boost growth.
He's expected to announce cuts to the welfare budget, but who will be affected? Will benefits rise in line with or below inflation? Will council tax bands be re-jigged, so those with more expensive homes pay more? And who will get that extra tax - the council or the government?
What other tax changes might be included? He could raise the standard rate of VAT or extend it to other things.
For motorists, will Mr Osborne choose to delay - or even scrap - the 3p rise in fuel duty that's due in January? If not, how might that affect the pound in your pocket?
And for those planning for retirement, will the Chancellor cut the annual pension allowance from the current £50,000 a year? Or will he ditch higher rate tax relief on pension contributions?
If you'd like answers to your questions on how the Autumn Statement will affect your personal finances, you can call our special edition of Money Box Live. With Paul Lewis at the Wedgwood factory in Stoke-on-Trent and Ruth Alexander in London with a team of experts taking your calls and emails on the Autumn Statement. Email moneybox@bbc.co.uk now or call 03700 100 444. Lines open at
1pm, Wednesday.
The guests joining Paul and Ruth will be:
Jane Moore from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales
Malcolm McLean, Pensions Consultant, Barnett Waddingham
Leonie Kerswill, Tax Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Will Hadwen, Benefits Advisor, Working Families
Producers, Emma Rippon and Sally Abrahams.
WED 15:30 All in the Mind (b01p41hq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b01p424c)
Work identity on the railway; how to be gay
How to be Gay - Laurie Taylor talks to David Halperin, the US Professor of History and Theory of Sexuality, whose controversial new book explores the way in which a gay male sensibility subverts mainstream culture, from Grand Opera to Broadway Musicals. Whilst some gay men repudiate what they perceive as a narrow and stereotypical version of their sexual identity; Halperin argues that a love of kitsch, camp and melodrama is, in fact, linked to a uniquely gay culture: Furthermore, its genius lies in some of its most despised features, namely its snobbery, caricatures of women and adoration of glamour. They're joined by the writer and cultural critic, Owen Jones. Also, Tim Strangleman discusses his study into work identity and 'loss': how older railway workers have reacted to change in their industry.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b01p424f)
Editors' meeting, Hacked Off, NewsCorp
In today's programme with Steve Hewlett:
Professor Brian Cathcart of Hacked Off argues for implementing the Leveson recommendations in full - an argument backed by the group's online petition that now has more than 140,000 signatures. What does he make of the industry and government response so far?
Independent editor Chris Blackhurst reports from the latest meeting of editors, convened this morning to discuss the industry's progress on plans for self-regulation. Have they agreed on something that the government could back?
Sarah Ellison, contributing editor of Vanity Fair and Douglas McCable, head of print media at Enders Analysis, look at the planned changes in News Corp. With the publishing business, including the UK newspapers, to be put into a new company separate from the much more substantial entertainment side, what is the future for The Sun and the Times newspapers?
The producer is Simon Tillotson.
WED 17:00 PM (b01p424h)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01p2ssh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Mark Steel's in Town (b01p424k)
Series 4
Tobermory
Comedian Mark Steel returns with a new series, looking under the surface of some of the UK's more distinctive towns to shed some light on the people, history, rivalries, slang, traditions, and eccentricities that makes them unique.
Creating a bespoke stand-up set for each town, Mark performs the show in front of a local audience.
As well as examining 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 this 4th series of 'Mark Steel's In Town', Mark will visit Tobermory, Whitehaven, Handsworth, Ottery St Mary, Corby, and Chipping Norton.
This week, Mark visits Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, to discuss kid's TV-rage, underwear odysseys, and supercilious sea eagles. From December 2012.
Additional material by Pete Sinclair.
Produced by Sam Bryant.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b01p424m)
Matt's cleared his afternoon to take Lilian shopping. Lilian passes him a thank you note from James for the bottle of cognac. Matt explains he was just feeling generous.
Mike's impressed with Jamie's work rate on the chipper. Jamie tells him he's enjoying his work. Mike doesn't think four years is a long enough sentence for Keith but Jamie points out that he pleaded guilty, and shopped the gang.
At the ante-natal class, Vicky mentions baby names. She still likes Bethany, Angela and Claire but Mike wants to talk about it later. He needs to concentrate on bathing the baby doll.
On their way home, they see Lilian trying on a gorgeous coat. Vicky's opinion does nothing to impress Lilian, who's not in the mood for shopping. Matt can't understand why she won't let him buy her the coat.
David asks Ed to provide cover over Christmas so he and Ruth get more family time. Ed's happy to help. When David suggest Ed could save money by combining his fertiliser and concentrates orders with their bulk order, Ed insists he's not looking for charity. David points out that the more they order, the cheaper it gets, so they'd all benefit. What has Ed got to lose?
WED 19:15 Front Row (b01p424p)
All-female Julius Caesar; writer Mike Bartlett on The Town
With Mark Lawson.
Mamma Mia and The Iron Lady director Phyllida Lloyd returns to the stage with a new all-female staging of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. It's set in a women's prison and contains a heavy-metal soundtrack. Harriet Walter takes the role of Brutus alongside Frances Barber as Caesar. Writer and critic Bidisha reviews.
Playwright Mike Bartlett is known for writing Earthquakes in London, Love Love Love, 13 and for adapting Chariots of Fire into a stage production. His first television drama is The Town - a three part exploration of a young man's return to his home town after a ten year absence. Bartlett talks about writing around the ad breaks, recession drama and balancing champagne glasses on hurdles.
John Rutter is one of the best-loved contemporary British composers. He is best known for his choral compositions, especially his carols and Christmas music. He discusses his latest project, composing and arranging music for the harp, and his commission for a piece of music to celebrate the Royal Wedding.
Producer Claire Bartleet.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01p3lfw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b01p424r)
Ethical consumerism
Christmas is fast approaching and as usual, the competition for where we should spend our money is hotting up. This season we've been joined by a new phenomenon - where not to spend it. Campaigners are appealing to consumers to boycott companies like Starbucks, Amazon and Google that have been accused of immorally avoiding paying their fair share of tax, even though what these companies are doing is perfectly legal. Is it our duty as consumers to not only spend our money wisely, but to also think about the moral consequences of where we spend our money? Is the pound in our pocket a tool to express our moral and political outrage, or are these boycotts just empty gestures and like those ethical Christmas presents, is it more about assuaging our own guilt about all that conspicuous consumption? It might be easy to make a joke of all those goats being bought for Christmas for African villagers, but, at this time of year especially, shouldn't we think of others as well as ourselves? At times it might feel like the competition from charities for our money is as fierce as on the high street and the endless Christmas appeals with their increasingly emotional tones may overwhelm and irritate in equal measure, but don't we have a moral obligation to contribute to charity? If the latest figures are anything to go by, more of us are putting our own needs before those of others. Charitable donations have fallen by 20% in real terms in the past year - that's the equivalent of £1.7bn less being given to good causes. We live in one of the richest countries in the world. If we wouldn't think of passing a drowning child in a pond without trying to save them, why don't more of us donate more to charities that undoubtedly save lives? And do charities really care if we're giving out of a sense of guilt, rather than a sense of genuine empathy and pity? Morality and money on the Moral Maze - the gift that keeps giving. Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk with Michael Portillo, Anne McElvoy, Matthew Taylor and Claire Fox. Witnesses: Andy Redfern - Director, Ethical Superstore, Toby Ord - James Martin Research Fellow, Department of Philosophy, University of Oxford, George Monbiot - Journalist & environmental campaigner, Jack Lundie - Director of Brand & Communications, Save The Children UK.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b01p424t)
Series 3
Amber Dermont: The Benefits of an Unhappy Childhood
Amber Dermont explains the benefits of an unhappy childhood.
"Though my parents were caring people, I could not escape my own sense of despair," she says. She discusses the influence of sadness on the imagination, and describes how this upbringing took her on a journey that gradually helped her imagine a life for herself as a fiction writer.
Four Thought is a series of talks which combine new ideas and personal stories. Speakers explain their latest thinking on the trends and ideas in culture and society in front of a live audience.
Producer: Giles Edwards.
WED 21:00 Frontiers (b01p424w)
A decade ago, the Human Genome Project revealed that only 1% of our DNA codes for the proteins that make our bodies. The rest of the genome, it was said, was junk, in other words with no function. But in September another massive international project, called ENCODE, announced that the junk DNA is useful after all. Adam Rutherford reports on the significance of this major discovery.
He visits the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute outside Cambridge where the vast amount of data about our genome is produced and analysed. And he finds out how this new information is beginning to give insights into the origin and treatment of diseases, such as cancer.
Adam also discovers that the study of genomes has changed dramatically since he finished his PhD: it's now all done in machines and not at the lab bench.
WED 21:30 Midweek (b01p3lfr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b01p2ssk)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b01p424y)
Reaction to the Autumn Statement, so many North Koreans are now slipping across the border into South Korea that the authorities have had to open a new processing centre to help them make the transition, and China's new leader Xi Jinping has launched his first notable policy initiative, with Robin Lustig.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01p4250)
The Mighty Walzer
Episode 8
From the beginning Oliver Walzer is a natural - at ping-pong. Even with his improvised bat (the Collins Classic edition of 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde') he can chop, flick, half-volley like a champion.
At sex he is not so natural, being shy and frightened of women. But with tuition from Sheeny Waxman, fellow member of the Akiva Social Club Table Tennis team, his game improves. And while the Akiva boys teach him everything he needs to know about ping-pong, his father Joel Walzer teaches him everything there is to know about 'swag'.
Unabashedly autobiographical, this is a hilarious and heartbreaking story of one man's coming of age in 1950's Manchester.
Howard Jacobson won the Mann Booker in 2010 for "The Finkler Question", but this is his masterpiece.
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:00 Warhorses of Letters (b01p4252)
Series 2
Episode 2
The world's greatest epistolary equine love story.
The Duke of Wellington's horse Copenhagen's romance with Marengo (Napoleon's horse) has lead to a proposal of marriage.
But planning a wedding is fraught with arguments for our gay horses... church or wood? Should people be invited or just horses? And which of them is the groom?
Marengo ..... Stephen Fry
Copenhagen ..... Daniel Rigby
Narrator ..... Tamsin Greig
Written by Robbie Hudson and Marie Phillips
Producer: Gareth Edwards.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2012.
WED 23:15 Mission Improbable (b01p4254)
Series 1
Splash!
A brand new series of high octane mini-adventures, written by and starring The Boom Jennies - Anna Emerson, Lizzie Bates and Catriona Knox.
When cub reporter Jane arrives in Tintagel to get an interview with Cornwall's oldest whelk fisherman, her long-suffering companions could be forgiven if they were a little reluctant to tag along. Not a bit of it. Spinster-in-waiting Lucy has her eye on Jane's septuagenarian man of the sea, and zoo assistant Amelia has her mind fixed on dolphins. But as they head out into the bay to intercept the aged shellfish gatherer, the speed of Amelia's rowing sets them on a very different course - one of world records, mountainous seas and near misses with oil tankers.
Will Jane get her story? Will Lucy catch the man of her dreams? Will Amelia remember to take the lens cap off her binoculars? All these questions will be answered before their plucky rowing boat spies land once more.
Jane ................ Catriona Knox
Lucy .................Lizzie Bates
Amelia ..............Anna Emerson
Bill ................... Paul Ryan
Written by Anna Emerson, Lizzie Bates and Catriona Knox
Audio production by Matt Katz
Produced by Dave Lamb and Richie Webb
A Top Dog Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01p4256)
Keith Macdougall hears the Chancellor George Osborne deliver the Autumn Statement;the chief of the defence staff tells MPs of army morale at a time of cuts; and concern about the care shown by hospital nurses.
Editor: Peter Mulligan.
THURSDAY 06 DECEMBER 2012
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b01p2std)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b01p589h)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01p2stg)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01p2stj)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01p2stl)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b01p2stn)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01p7r0x)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Pastor Alex Robertson.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b01p3n05)
Following the chancellor George Osborne's Autumn Statement, Charlotte Smith asks what it might mean for farmers and the rural economy. Farming Today hears the opinions of the Countryside Land and Business Association, the RSPB and the National Farmers' Union.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Rich Ward.
THU 06:00 Today (b01p3n07)
Morning news and current affairs with Sarah Montague and Evan Davis, including:
0734
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls explains what he made of the Autumn Statement.
0744
The last great polar challenge is to cross Antarctica in winter. The explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who is gearing up to make that expedition, outlines the dangers of the expedition.
0750
New sentencing guidelines will be published today for sexual offences in England and Wales. A victim gives their story and Lord Justice Treacy, who is on the sentencing council for England and Wales, explains that the guidelines will recommend taking into account psychological as well as physical harm.
0810
In his Autumn Statement, George Osborne has said austerity measures will be extended to 2018 and Mr Osborne looks set to miss key debt-reduction targets. The chancellor speaks to Today presenter Evan Davis about his announcement.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b01p8fsr)
Bertrand Russell
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the influential British philosopher Bertrand Russell. Born in 1872 into an aristocratic family, Russell is widely regarded as one of the founders of Analytic philosophy, which is today the dominant philosophical tradition in the English-speaking world. In his important book The Principles of Mathematics, he sought to reduce mathematics to logic. Its revolutionary ideas include Russell's Paradox, a problem which inspired Ludwig Wittgenstein to pursue philosophy. Russell's most significant and famous idea, the theory of descriptions, had profound consequences for the discipline.
In addition to his academic work, Russell played an active role in many social and political campaigns. He supported women's suffrage, was imprisoned for his pacifism during World War I and was a founder of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. He wrote a number of books aimed at the general public, including The History of Western Philosophy which became enormously popular, and in 1950 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Russell's many appearances on the BBC also helped to promote the public understanding of ideas.
With:
AC Grayling
Master of the New College of the Humanities and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford
Mike Beaney
Professor of Philosophy at the University of York
Hilary Greaves
Lecturer in Philosophy and Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford
Producer: Victoria Brignell.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b01p58ch)
The Horologicon
Episode 4
Feeling refreshed after your post lunch slooming? Then you'd better get on with your faciendum because, if you're lolly-gagging, the buzz-wig may notice and offer you a meeting without coffee.
Mark Forsyth's The Horologicon provides us with just the vocabulary we need whatever the time of day.
Written by Mark Forsyth
Read by Hugh Dennis
Abridged and produced by Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01p3n2k)
Phyllida Lloyd; Alaa Murabit
Phyllida Lloyd and Melissa Dunne on gender-blind casting. As an all-female Julius Caesar opens on the London stage and a festival of new writing asks for scripts which don't specify whether the character is a man or a woman - we explore what difference it makes whether men or women play dramatic roles?
How black and ethnic minority women are being discriminated against in all stages of the recruitment process. We hear about a new report from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Race and Community.
Alaa Murabit - founder of The Voice of Libyan Women - discusses women's involvement in politics pre and post the overthrow of President Muammar Gaddafi.
Mourning for a miscarriage. The experiences of Zoe and Andy Clark-Coates have led them to organise a series of services for other parents to publicly acknowledge their loss and grief. The Saying Goodbye initiative is holding a service this weekend at Bristol Cathedral.
Mark Lawson and Lucy Cavendish discuss whether the rules are different for men and women when it comes to publicly admitting that you fancy an actor ?
Presenter Jenni Murray
Producer Dianne McGregor.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01p3n7j)
China Girl
Episode 4
China Girl by Tom Fry
Episode 4
It is 1999 and Nick and Naomi have adopted a Chinese baby. But things are not going smoothly. The baby can't settle and then a chance remark at a Millennium party starts Nick thinking that maybe they aren't doing enough about Miranda's original culture.
Producer/Director Gary Brown
The one child policy in China means that there are many abandoned babies, and most of these are female. Scriptwriter Tom Fry (co-creator of R4's long running series Brief Lives) adopted two Chinese baby girls in the 1990s and these events are the springboard for this fictional drama.
Starring real life partners Sophie Thompson and Richard Lumsden, this touching drama charts the highs and lows of a middle aged couple bringing a Chinese baby into England.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b01p3n7l)
Sexual Abuse in US Prisons
Linda Pressly investigates why rape and sexual abuse is so common in America's huge prison system - and asks if new measures to fight it will succeed.
Producer: Helen Grady.
THU 11:30 The Physicist's Guide to the Orchestra (b01p3n9f)
In 1945, Benjamin Britten wrote The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, showing off the instruments of the orchestra in a short film. Viewers are taken through each section of the orchestra accompanied by a narration which describes the different sound quality of instruments: 'Clarinets ... make a beautifully smooth, mellow sound', flutes have a 'sweet voice' and the oboe has a 'plaintive quality.'
Trevor Cox, Professor of Acoustic Engineering at the University of Salford, looks at the physics behind the way orchestral instruments produce their unique sound. How is the sound produced, and how much does the material from which the instrument is made affect the sound?
Trevor talks to scientists who have studied musical instruments - David Sharp from the Open University, Mike Newton at Edinburgh University and Jim Woodhouse of Cambridge University. And members of the BBC Philharmonic provide the players' perspective.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b01p3n9h)
Green Deal delays, dog walkers and Christmas loans
The government's latest energy-saving scheme launched in October, but so far, no homes or businesses have had an assessment under the Green Deal. You and Yours has found out why.
Also, shadow climate change Minister Luciana Berger discusses the Green Deal.
How many dogs can you walk at once? We go out with a professional dog walker, as more councils introduce restrictions on the way dogs can be exercised in public areas.
The British Diatetic Association has named its five worst celebrity diets to avoid in 2013. We asked Anne Diamond about some of the diets she'd rather forget.
Plus, a You and Yours listener picked us up on the pronunciation of 'H' and Michael Portillo explained why train beats plane for the sociable traveller.
And Moneybox's Paul Lewis reacts to the story of the woman who took out seven Christmas loans.
Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Joel Moors.
THU 12:57 Weather (b01p2stq)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b01p3n9k)
Martha Kearney presents national and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
THU 13:45 The Global Gap (b01p42w0)
Series 1: Mexico
Obesity Doctors
Global Gap is a series of five programmes where two people who do the same job, one from the UK and one from another country (in this series, Mexico), have a thought provoking conversation, to compare and contrast their working lives and the issues that arise in their jobs. The theme throughout the week is 'the next generation'; each programme features young people who are the new generation of workers in their countries. We capture the differences in society and attitudes through their conversation and recordings of in their workplace.
Episode 4 (of 5): Doctors
Laura Chambers is a young GP in the NHS in Rotherham, with a special interest in obesity and she speaks to Paula de La Garza, a doctor who runs a private clinic in Mexico City specializing in obesity and eating disorders. Laura discovers from Paula that Mexico has the largest number of children with obesity in the world, some of whom have heart attacks. Paula has even treated obese babies. While Laura has never treated very young children with these worrying symptoms, she is seeing increased obesity in her area and a reliance on junk food. Laura can refer patients to a special NHS clinic, set up alongside her GP practice, where patients are monitored and given tailor-made exercise regimes.
Producer: Laura Parfitt
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b01p424m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b01p42w2)
The Stevie G Method
In Gary Ogin's comedy Neil Stuke plays a struggling actor who is accidentally offered a job as a psychotherapist. Knowing nothing about the craft, he resorts to teaching Method Acting exercises to his unsuspecting patients. To his amazement, the Stevie G method is born!
Music composed and performed by Russell Taylor and Steve Cooke.
Directed by Peter Kavanagh.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b01p42w4)
The Canal That Never Was
A spectacular aqueduct hangs in limbo above the village of Coleford whilst deep green ridges carve their way through forest and fields. Tucked away at the eastern end of the Mendips in Somerset, Jules Hudson discovers the secrets of 'The Canal that Never Was'.
Started in the late 1700s, the Nettlebridge branch of what would have been the Dorset and Somerset Canal, stretches eight miles though a quiet valley between Edford and Frome. The canal itself was planned in order to link the Bristol and English Channels and to connect the counties of Dorset and Somerset into the canal network. The Nettlebridge branch was planned to have boat lifts instead of locks and in a feat of extraordinary engineering one balance lock was built by James Fussell as a trial. The site of Fussell's Trial Balance Lock was located and excavated by The Dorset and Somerset Canal Society who revealed an almost completely conserved masonry chamber.
The route was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1796 but unplanned factors including underestimated costs and inflation due to the Napoleonic Wars meant that the canal was abandoned. Today ghostly structures still rise and fall through the landscape weaving their trail of what might have been.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b01p30f7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Bookclub (b01p3ccv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b01p42w6)
Francine Stock meets with director Martin McDonagh and actor Sam Rockwell to discuss their new film, Seven Psychopaths.
Neil Brand deconstructs the distinctive score for Akira Kurosawa's 1961 samurai Western - Yojimbo.
We sample a fine Bordeaux, the French film Tu Sera Mon Fils (You Will be My Son), a dynastic drama set in a vineyard, starring Niels Arestrup.
As Britain's largest independent cinema chain, Picturehouse, joins forces with Cineworld, what does this mean for cinemagoers? Clare Binns, director of programming at Picturehouse, explains all.
Mother and son team, Charlotte Rampling and Barnaby Southcombe, discuss their London neo-noir film, I, Anna.
Producer Craig Smith.
THU 16:30 Material World (b01p42w8)
With the on-going climate talks in Doha not hitting the headlines Quentin Cooper asks whether such large scale and largely incomprehensible meetings are effective at delivering anything worthwhile on climate change. Can science take the initiative from the policymakers and present the subject in a way which interests and inspires the public?
We also interview James Watson the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA on the reissue of his classic work on the subject 'The Double Helix'.
THU 17:00 PM (b01p42wb)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01p2sts)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Births, Deaths and Marriages (b01hxt9l)
Series 1
Episode 1
Chief registrar Malcolm Fox is a stickler for regulations at Woodborough Register Office. Sitcom set in a local registry office, starring David Schneider. From May 2012.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b01p42wd)
Rhys wishes he could be with Fallon tonight but she's got a bar to run. There's a good turn-out. Kenton gets his moment of glory as he enjoys counting down to the switching on of the Christmas lights. Iftikar tells Rhys that he'd asked Kirsty out but she couldn't get time off. He suggests arranging a double date with Rhys and Fallon.
Jim interviews Iftikar for Borsetshire Life. Iftikar's dad had a successful business, with pound shops around the country. His brothers went down the same route but Iftikar went to university and decided to teach. He reveals how his mum put his details on an Asian dating website but asks Jim not to print that.
Elizabeth enthusiastically shows the building plans to the bank's commercial relations manager, Matthew Watkins. He's concerned that ten bedrooms may be adequate for weddings but wouldn't service the conference market. Elizabeth tries to convince him that the wedding market is where they can grow substantially. Matthew wants to see a detailed business plan.
Elizabeth tells Roy about the gruelling meeting. Even if the bank lends the money, they'd be paying back over £70K a year. They'll need to think hard. Can they really do this?
THU 19:15 Front Row (b01p42wg)
Ali Smith, Dave Brubeck, crime fiction
With Mark Lawson.
The 1992 film The Bodyguard, starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston, was a huge box office hit. Now a stage musical version of the film has opened, with Heather Headley in the leading role. Music critic Rosie Swash gives her verdict.
Writer Ali Smith combines fiction and essays in her new book Artful. She discusses the challenges involved in working in different forms.
The pioneering jazz pianist Dave Brubeck has died at the age of 91. Front Row pays tribute to the musician whose 1959 release, Time Out, was the first jazz album to sell a million copies.There is another chance to hear an interview Brubeck recorded with Mark in which he revealed one of the secrets of his long career.
Jeff Park returns to Front Row with one of his regular round-ups of the best new crime fiction.
Producer Olivia Skinner.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01p3n7j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b01p42wj)
Surgeons under Scrutiny
Matthew Hill looks at why surgeon Rob Jones, the obstetrician who delivered the Camerons' baby Florence in 2010, was able to remain in practice for twenty years at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, despite being subject to eight inquiries into his clinical competence. Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS Medical Director for England speaks exclusively to the Report committing to rolling out a new league table of surgeons to scrutinise surgeons' practice.
THU 20:30 In Business (b01p4349)
Strong Medicine
Big problems loom over the pharmaceutical industry which influences so many people's lives. Giant corporations are beset by scandal and their pipelines of new treatments are running dry. Peter Day looks at the future of the industry through the eyes of two Swiss pharma companies, one very big and one of them tiny. Both are linked by their quest for a treatment for Alzheimers.
Producer: Sandra Kanthal.
THU 21:00 Saving Species (b01p3k5z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Tuesday]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b01p8fsr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b01p2stv)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b01p436q)
Egyptian soldiers deployed as protests swell outside presidential palace; Ghana's oil-driven elections: will the country's new-found wealth benefit the nation, or corrupt its politicians; and are created capital cities good places to live? Presented by Robin Lustig.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01p436s)
The Mighty Walzer
Episode 9
From the beginning Oliver Walzer is a natural - at ping-pong. Even with his improvised bat (the Collins Classic edition of 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde') he can chop, flick, half-volley like a champion.
At sex he is not so natural, being shy and frightened of women. But with tuition from Sheeny Waxman, fellow member of the Akiva Social Club Table Tennis team, his game improves. And while the Akiva boys teach him everything he needs to know about ping-pong, his father Joel Walzer teaches him everything there is to know about 'swag'.
Unabashedly autobiographical, this is a hilarious and heartbreaking story of one man's coming of age in 1950's Manchester.
Howard Jacobson won the Mann Booker in 2010 for "The Finkler Question", but this is his masterpiece.
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:00 The Headset Set (b01p436v)
Series 2
Episode 6
EPISODE 6
Audience sketch show set in the world of a call centre called Smile5, a company that sells anything and everything. The call centre installs a thermostat, which causes conflict.
Aleesha and other characters ..... Chizzy Akudolu
Bernie and other characters ..... Margaret-Cabourn Smith
Big Tony, Ralph and other characters ..... Colin Hoult
Various ..... Lucy Montgomery
Sailesh, Bradley and other characters ..... Phaldut sharma
Writers ..... Various
Producer ..... Tilusha Ghelani.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01p436x)
Is the Government's policy for the railways on the right track in the wake of the fiasco over the franchising of train services on the West Coast main line.? Sean Curran is watching, as MPs challenge the Transport Secretary in the Commons. Also on the programme.
* The closure of factories which employ disabled people causes more anger among MPs.
* How can firms which avoid tax be brought to heel? We have the best of the latest committee hearing.
* The EU Common Fisheries policy again comes under attack from MPs .
* More concern about the lack of an insurance agreement for householders whose homes have been hit by flooding.
FRIDAY 07 DECEMBER 2012
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b01p2svt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b01p58ch)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01p2svw)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01p2svy)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01p2sw0)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b01p2sw2)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01p8fyh)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Pastor Alex Robertson.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b01p3nqf)
As ash dieback reaches nearly 300 sites in the UK, the government reveals its latest plans for controlling the disease. But the Woodland Trust warns it's too little too late to save the ash tree.
A survey of Welsh hill farmers suggests that without public funds they lose on average £2000 per year. Tony O'Reagan from the University of Aberystwyth tells Farming Today why it's so hard to make money in the hills.
And Moira Hickey visits the Cairngorms where one farmer without a successor warns that intelligent, qualified people are deserting the uplands.
Presented by Charlotte Smith. Produced in Birmingham by Ruth Sanderson.
FRI 06:00 Today (b01p3nqh)
Morning news and current affairs with Evan Davis and James Naughtie. Including Sports Desk; Yesterday in Parliament; Weather; Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b01p314n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b01p58n6)
The Horologicon
Episode 5
As the ploughman drops into the western bay, we offer you bene darkmans dear listener. Mark Forsyth is feeling finifugal as his Horologicon reaches the end of the day.
Written by Mark Forsyth
Read by Hugh Dennis
Abridged and produced by Jane Marshall
A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01p3nqk)
Posh anoraks; witch pricking in the 17th Century; Lisa Riley; is power sexy?
It used to be a term of abuse - now the anorak has gone upmarket. We'll find out how on a cold winter's morning the posh anorak can keep you warm and stylish at the same time.
Lisa Riley has been the big hit of this season's Strictly Come Dancing - Jenni will be asking her how she's defied those who thought she was the comedy booking by storming into Saturday's quarter final.
Power's the ultimate aphrodisiac, it's said - but when a woman becomes powerful does it give her the same sexy edge it can supposedly give a man?
And the woman who disguised herself as a man to identify witches in the 17th century..
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01p3nqm)
China Girl
Episode 5
China Girl by Tom Fry
Episode 5
Nick and Naomi are finding it hard. The baby is unsettled and they feel guilty. Desperate for a way to connect with their adopted daughter, they consult a Chinese doctor
Producer/Director Gary Brown
The one child policy in China means that there are many abandoned babies, and most of these are female. Scriptwriter Tom Fry (co-creator of R4's long running series Brief Lives) adopted two Chinese baby girls in the 1990s and these events are the springboard for this fictional drama.
Starring real life partners Sophie Thompson and Richard Lumsden, this touching drama charts the highs and lows of a middle aged couple bringing a Chinese baby into England.
FRI 11:00 Touchline Tales (b01p3nqp)
Series 3
Episode 2
Old friends Des Lynam and Christopher Matthew venture out to different sporting venues - to enjoy, observe, reminisce and trade tales about some of the greatest pleasures in their lives. Today, they float like butterflies between those training at the All Stars Boxing Gym (on West London's Harrow Road) and they sting like bees with their affectionate verbal jabs, trying to outdo each other with their knockout boxing anecdotes.
As a commentator and friend of sporting stars, Des has, as ever, a fund of stories to tell, and insights to reveal. But Christopher gamely tries to match him stride by stride with his own experiences as a lifelong spectator at the highest levels of sport (and, like Des, an occasional participant at the lowest).
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
FRI 11:30 Polyoaks (b01p3ntd)
Series 2
The Shaky Shaky Hip
In the NHS satire by Dr Phil Hammond and David Spicer, a general practice somewhere in Bristol is faced with challenges and opportunities in equal measure as they adjust to another 'biggest shake-up of the NHS in a lifetime'.
Of all the doctors at Polyoaks, Hugh is the committed political mover and shaker. To get on politically in the NHS it helps to play squash. And to play squash it helps if your hip is working. Dr Hugh's isn't - and he hates going to see the doctor.
Cast:
Dr Roy Thornton...........................Nigel Planer
Dr Hugh Thornton.........................Simon Greenall
TV's Dr. Jeremy............................David Westhead
Nurse Vera Duplessis....................Polly Frame
Mr. Devlin.....................................Phil Cornwell
Robert..........................................Lewis McLeod
Written by Dr Phil Hammond and David Spicer
Directed by Frank Stirling
Producer: David Spicer
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b01p3ntg)
Child Line founder Esther Rantzen has launched a similar service for elderly people in distress; Silver Line is being piloted in Manchester and will go live across the rest of the UK in the coming year.
Northern Ireland hoped that the end of the Troubles in the Province would see a boom in tourism boom but despite an expensive advertising campaign the number of visitors to Northern Ireland has fallen.
Britain has gone coupon crazy; last year 60% of us used one and the boom is likely to continue as the hard pressed seek to cash in on bargains in tough economic times.
A disclaimer popping up on your Facebook urging you to post it on your page or risk losing copyright over any personal content is a hoax.
Mark Pearson, the man behind one of the UK's biggest online discount voucher companies, was a cash strapped twenty-something before having the idea that launched him onto the Sunday Times Rich List six years later what was the secret of his success?
A Continental style Christmas Market has become popular in many of our towns and cities; they look pretty but local traders find them less attractive.
Britain's first 'packaging free' grocery store has opened but is it such a good idea?
FRI 12:52 The Listening Project (b01p3nvk)
Myrtle and Denika: Single Parent Adoption
Fi Glover hears from Myrtle, one of the first single parents to adopt in the UK, and Denika, who was 5 when she went to live with her; Myrtle was already over 50. After a rather sticky beginning, neither of them would now be without the other. The Radio 4 series proves again that it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation 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 and used 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.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b01p2sw6)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b01p3nvm)
National and international news with Shaun Ley. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
FRI 13:45 The Global Gap (b01p450w)
Series 1: Mexico
Charity Workers
Global Gap is a series of five programmes where two people who do the same job, one from the UK and one from another country (in this series, Mexico), have a thought provoking conversation, to compare and contrast their working lives and the issues that arise in their jobs. The theme throughout the week is 'the next generation'; each programme features young people who are the new generation of workers in their countries. We capture the differences in society and attitudes through their conversation and recordings of in their workplace.
Episode 5 (of 5): Charity Workers
Fiona Patterson works for Barnardo's in Bradford. She helps provide a special service for girls aged between 11 and 18 who are being exploited or groomed for sexual exploitation. She speaks to Sofia Almanza, a charity worker at Casa Alianza in Mexico City, who works with 12 - 18 year olds who have been abandoned, neglected or abused.
While Fiona works with young people who are housed with family or friends, Sofia's service provide residential houses for homeless young people and helps people develop tools to deal with independent life. Sometimes in Mexico, the children are part of larger criminal organisations and many are drug dependent. There are worrying side effects of the drugs, such as blindness and stomach complaints.
Fiona sees many young people with very low self esteem, some of whom have left home to live with people who are now exploiting them sexually or using them to transport drugs. Her service helps the young people to identify their situations and remove themselves to a safer environment.
Producer: Laura Parfitt
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b01p42wd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b01p450y)
Series 5
Dillie's Day
By Nick Warburton. Trevor Peacock stars as inspirational chef Warwick Hedges who runs an idiosyncratic restaurant in the Cambridgeshire Fens. Polish waitress Zofia has a surprise communication from her brother who is coming to Britain for a short visit.
Director Tracey Neale
Producer Claire Grove
Trevor Peacock is a brilliant character actor best known as the bumbling Jim Trott in The Vicar of Dibley. At 81 he is still at the top of his game appearing alongside Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins and Michael Gambon in Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut film Quartet. Other recent appearances include Much Ado About Nothing at the National Theatre, playing Stephen Fry's father in the TV series Kingdom and four series of On Mardle Fen for R4.
Nick Warburton won the Peter Tinniswood Award for the Best New Play on Radio. His series The Peoples Passion went out to great acclaim last Easter on R4. His afternoon play, Friday When It Rains (TX October), was Radio Times Choice. Nick dramatised Father and Son and The Snow Goose for R4's Classic Serial. His original radio plays include Our Late Supper with Marcia Warren. Other work includes 6 episodes Thrush Green and Moonfleet for Radio 4. Plays for stage and radio include Conversation from the Engine Room, which won the 1985 BBC/Radio Times Award, The Messenger for Radio 3, an adaptation of Tolstoy's Resurrection, A Grove of Straight Trees (short-listed for the BBC/Radio Times Drama Award), and A Soldiers' Debt (entered for the Prix Italia).
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b01p4510)
Rayleigh, Essex
Eric Robson chairs BBC Radio 4's horticultural panel programme from Rayleigh in Essex, where he is joined by Matt Biggs, Christine Walkden and Bunny Guinness, to field questions from gardening enthusiasts.
Produced by Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
Q. When is the best time to take cuttings from a Photinia 'Red Robin'?
A. As Photinia is an evergreen, take semi-hardwood cuttings in September. Also, you could take new growth in the spring. Put the cuttings in a 50/50 mix of peat and grit and put polythene over the top. Rooting hormone could also be added. Alternatively, it might be easier to go to the garden centre!
Q. In what way will this year's wet weather have affected the Essex clay, and what can be done to improve it again?
A. Clay is one of the few materials that holds on to nutrients, so while nitrogen will have been lost, potash, phosphates and many other trace materials will still be there. Soil holding a lot of water will take longer to warm up in spring, so polythene and cloches could be useful in generating some heat.
Q. My 12-year-old Musa Basjoo (Japanese banana) has never flowered. Can the panel give any tips?
A. The banana is unlikely to flower and fruit in this climate, but can still be enjoyed as a foliage plant!
Q. Is the Mexican Sunflower Tithonia available to buy as a plant, or does it only come in seed form?
A. As a short-lived perennial, there are not many nurserymen who grow it on! To grow from seed, sow it in late April or May and keep on a windowsill.
Q. How can I encourage parsnips and carrots to grow well underground - the foliage looks very healthy, but the vegetables do not.
A. On a heavy site that is regularly manured, the plants may simply have too many nutrients! High nitrogen generally will encourage top growth rather than bottom growth. On the year you intend to plant, do not manure the site. In addition, Brassica, which are nitrogen demanding, could be planted alongside.
Q. I have a Tree Peony, purchased two years ago. It is 18in tall and has not grown in that time. What's gone wrong?
A. Some of the Japanese hybrids are slower growing, so patience is required!
Q. What is the panel's experience of using Mycorrhizal Fungi to aid root growth? Could it be of benefit when repotting Orchids, or rooting 'Kiki' Orchids?
A. This has most benefit when the natural soil is quite poor. For orchids specifically it is probably worth trying - though it may have no effect!
Q. My polytunnel-grown tomatoes were affected by blight this year. I removed the rotten tomatoes, but left the plant. Healthy tomatoes then went on to grow on the same truss. Why is this?
A. Blight relates to the growing conditions, the surrounding humidity and temperature. If conditions change sufficiently, they will not be conducive for blight.
Q. My wife feeds wild birds at one end of our garden, whilst I struggle to grow vegetables at the other end. Are we incompatible?!
A. If adequately covered, the vegetables should be OK. Try a large fruit cage or similar.
FRI 15:45 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b01p30ff)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Sunday]
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b01p4512)
Brazil's most famous architect, an eminent jazz musician, an outrageous boxer and a radical Indian politician
Matthew Bannister on
The Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. The lover of curves designed most of the important buildings in his country's capital city. Lord Foster pays tribute.
Also: Dave Brubeck - the jazz composer and pianist, known for writing in unusual time signatures. Julian Joseph pays tribute at the piano.
The Indian politician Bal Thackeray, a former cartoonist who cited Walt Disney and Adolf Hitler as his key influences and led the extremist Hindu party which dominated Mumbai.
And the flamboyant Puerto Rican boxer Hector Camacho. Notorious for his party lifestyle, he died in a drive-by shooting.
FRI 16:30 More or Less (b01p4514)
Royal twins and the Autumn Statement
In light of the Royal pregnancy Tim Harford asks what severe morning sickness tells us about the chances of having twins. Yan Wong helps him look at the figures.
We disentangle the Chancellor's Autumn Statement and ask: where is the economy really at?
As Nigeria prepares to revise its GDP statistics with an expected jump of 40-60%, we ask how reliable are African GDP statistics?
Another Daily Telegraph headline comes under scrutiny.
And we return to our Lego tower and look at how Lego can be used to teach maths with Eugenia Cheng of Sheffield University.
FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b01p4516)
Andrew and Wendy: No-One to Teach Me to Shave
Fi Glover presents a conversation between Andrew and his mother Wendy, about the impact his father's violence and subsequent absence continues to have on their relationship,
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation 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 and used 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.
FRI 17:00 PM (b01p457h)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01p2sw8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The Now Show (b01p457k)
Series 38
Episode 5
In the week that George Osborne announced the Autumn Statement, and the Windsors made a statement about a royal arrival, Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present the week in topical stand-up and sketches. With Jon Holmes, Laura Shavin, Mitch Benn and special guest Holly Walsh. Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b01p457m)
David tells Ruth that Elizabeth has invited them over for Christmas Day. It's going to be a real family do.
Ed shows David and Ruth his invoices for feed. They convince him that including his order when they bulk buy will work out much cheaper, and he can still pay monthly.
David and Ruth wonder if Ed's feed bills are the tip of the iceberg. They think he needs more help but is probably too proud to take any more from them. Maybe Neil can give him more advice.
Matt shows Lilian the extra work he's had done in Joyce's new flat, wanting reassurance that he's done ok. He was hoping for a more positive reaction. Matt admits he may not have got everything right but the business means everything to him, as does Lilian. Lilian's caught off guard when her phone rings. She makes out it's Jennifer, who she'll call her back later.
As Matt goes off, Lilian breathes a heavy sigh before phoning Paul back. He wants to meet up next week but Lilian tells him things are difficult. She's not sure she can get away. Paul insists they fix up a time, even if it's only for an hour or two.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b01p457p)
Paul Auster, Tom Robinson plays Beck
With John Wilson.
Paul Auster is the best-selling author of The New York Trilogy and Moon Palace. His latest book, Winter Journal, takes him in a more reflective direction, examining his own life through a series of autobiographical fragments and memories. He explains why he refuses to call the book a memoir and why - despite priding himself on being a safe driver - he has given up driving completely.
The musician Beck has sold millions of CDs, but his latest album Song Reader exists only as sheet music. No recording is available. Singer-songwriter Tom Robinson brings his guitar to the studio to try out a selection from the album.
Trevor Noah is a South African comedian whose talent was spotted by Eddie Izzard. The son of a black South African mother and a white Swiss father, Noah is currently performing a stand-up show called The Racist, with tales of growing up under apartheid. He reflects on his early years and the importance he places on the precise use of language.
Producer Rebecca Nicholson.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01p3nqm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b01p457r)
Queen Elizabeth High School, Gainsborough
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from Queen Elizabeth's High School in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. Guests include the Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna, Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee, Dr Samantha Callan from the Centre for Social Justice and the Leader of the House of Commons Andrew Lansley MP.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b01p457t)
Trustworthiness Before Trust
Onora O'Neill reflects afresh on questions of trust, a decade after her Reith lectures on the subject. She argues that rather than asking, "how can we restore trust" in general, following recent scandals and failures, we should ask specific, practical questions about how better to measure trustworthiness. "Placing and refusing trust intelligently is not a matter of finding guarantees or proofs; we often have to assess complex and incomplete evidence, which the masters of spin and PR may be massaging to make things look better than they are." Systems of accountability or transparency can be ineffective or even counter-productive whereas easily assessable communication is "important and often indispensable."
Producer: Sheila Cook.
FRI 21:00 Saturday Drama (b016k89p)
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Something Wicked This Way Comes
By Ray Bradbury
Dramatised by Diana Griffiths
Composer ..... David Paul Jones
Sound ..... Paul Cargill
Produced/Directed by Pauline Harris
Set in 1960's Illinois this gem of modern Gothic literature is the memorable story of two boys, James Nightshade and William Halloway, and the evil that grips their small Midwestern town with the arrival of a "dark carnival" one Autumn midnight. These two innocents, both aged 13, (Will is born one minute before Halloween, and Jim one minute after) save the souls of the town (as well as their own). This is a vivid variation on the eternal theme of the fight between Good and Evil. A thrilling, chilling, richly kaleidoscopic sound world ensues; a shimmering mirror maze that reflects your older or younger self, depending on your desires, and a magic carousel that plays Chopin's Funeral March forwards - with each rotation you gain a year, and rotating backwards - you get younger.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b01p2swb)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b01p457w)
The government is to introduce legislation allowing same sex marriages to take place in churches, synagogues, mosques and other religious buildings in England and Wales. A nurse who took a prank call at the hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated earlier this week has been found dead. And a row over La Scala's choice of Wagner over Verdi.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01p457y)
The Mighty Walzer
Episode 10
From the beginning Oliver Walzer is a natural - at ping-pong. Even with his improvised bat (the Collins Classic edition of 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde') he can chop, flick, half-volley like a champion.
At sex he is not so natural, being shy and frightened of women. But with tuition from Sheeny Waxman, fellow member of the Akiva Social Club Table Tennis team, his game improves. And while the Akiva boys teach him everything he needs to know about ping-pong, his father Joel Walzer teaches him everything there is to know about 'swag'.
Unabashedly autobiographical, this is a hilarious and heartbreaking story of one man's coming of age in 1950's Manchester.
Howard Jacobson won the Mann Booker in 2010 for "The Finkler Question", but this is his masterpiece.
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b01p41h8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01p4580)
Mark D'Arcy with the day's top news stories from Westminster.
FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b01p4582)
June and Tanya: Don't Call Us Visually Impaired
Fi Glover presents a conversation between June and Tanya. Both blind since birth, they discuss the challenges of daily life and dating on Radio 4's series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation 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 and used 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.
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 (b01p3hns)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 MON (b01p3hns)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 TUE (b01p3k5x)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 TUE (b01p3k5x)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 WED (b01p3lfw)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 WED (b01p3lfw)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 THU (b01p3n7j)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 THU (b01p3n7j)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 FRI (b01p3nqm)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 FRI (b01p3nqm)
55 and Over
11:30 MON (b01p3hnx)
A Charles Paris Mystery
11:30 WED (b01p3lg0)
A Few Don'ts
16:30 SUN (b01p3cg0)
A Point of View
08:50 SUN (b01p0vw6)
A Point of View
20:50 FRI (b01p457t)
Alexandre Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo
21:00 SAT (b01p0680)
Alexandre Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo
15:00 SUN (b01p3151)
All in the Mind
21:00 TUE (b01p41hq)
All in the Mind
15:30 WED (b01p41hq)
Any Answers?
14:00 SAT (b01p2vtg)
Any Questions?
13:10 SAT (b01p0vw4)
Any Questions?
20:00 FRI (b01p457r)
Archive on 4
20:00 SAT (b01p2vtz)
Astray
19:45 SUN (b01p3cq3)
Bells on Sunday
05:43 SUN (b01p30dz)
Bells on Sunday
00:45 MON (b01p30dz)
Births, Deaths and Marriages
18:30 THU (b01hxt9l)
Bleak Expectations
18:30 TUE (b01p41hd)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 MON (b01p40hp)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 TUE (b01p41hv)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 WED (b01p4250)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 THU (b01p436s)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 FRI (b01p457y)
Book of the Week
00:30 SAT (b01p4nxc)
Book of the Week
09:45 MON (b01p3hnn)
Book of the Week
00:30 TUE (b01p3hnn)
Book of the Week
09:45 TUE (b01p5884)
Book of the Week
00:30 WED (b01p5884)
Book of the Week
09:45 WED (b01p589h)
Book of the Week
00:30 THU (b01p589h)
Book of the Week
09:45 THU (b01p58ch)
Book of the Week
00:30 FRI (b01p58ch)
Book of the Week
09:45 FRI (b01p58n6)
Bookclub
16:00 SUN (b01p3ccv)
Bookclub
15:30 THU (b01p3ccv)
Brain of Britain
23:00 SAT (b01p0bmv)
Brain of Britain
15:00 MON (b01p40h3)
Broadcasting House
09:00 SUN (b01p30fc)
Crossing Continents
20:30 MON (b01p0s9z)
Crossing Continents
11:00 THU (b01p3n7l)
Decontaminating Halabja
20:00 MON (b01p40hk)
Desert Island Discs
11:15 SUN (b01p314n)
Desert Island Discs
09:00 FRI (b01p314n)
Drama
14:15 TUE (b01p41h0)
Drama
14:15 WED (b01p4245)
Drama
14:15 THU (b01p42w2)
Drama
14:15 FRI (b01p450y)
Farming Today
06:30 SAT (b01p2tg4)
Farming Today
05:45 MON (b01p3hng)
Farming Today
05:45 TUE (b01p3k5l)
Farming Today
05:45 WED (b01p3lfm)
Farming Today
05:45 THU (b01p3n05)
Farming Today
05:45 FRI (b01p3nqf)
Football's Home Fans
10:30 SAT (b01p2v1z)
Four Thought
20:45 WED (b01p424t)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:30 SAT (b01p2vtb)
Front Row
19:15 MON (b01p40hh)
Front Row
19:15 TUE (b01p41hj)
Front Row
19:15 WED (b01p424p)
Front Row
19:15 THU (b01p42wg)
Front Row
19:15 FRI (b01p457p)
Frontiers
21:00 WED (b01p424w)
Gardeners' Question Time
14:00 SUN (b01p0vfs)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:00 FRI (b01p4510)
Great Lives
16:30 TUE (b01p41h8)
Great Lives
23:00 FRI (b01p41h8)
Hardeep's Sunday Lunch
13:30 SUN (b01p067w)
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
12:00 SUN (b01p0bn3)
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
18:30 MON (b01p40hc)
In Business
21:30 SUN (b01p0sng)
In Business
20:30 THU (b01p4349)
In Our Time
09:00 THU (b01p8fsr)
In Our Time
21:30 THU (b01p8fsr)
In Touch
20:40 TUE (b01p41hn)
Inside the Academy School Revolution
20:00 TUE (b01p41hl)
It's My Story
16:00 TUE (b01p41h6)
Last Word
16:00 FRI (b01p4512)
Living World
06:35 SUN (b01p30f3)
Loose Ends
18:15 SAT (b01p2vts)
Mark Steel's in Town
18:30 WED (b01p424k)
Mastertapes
23:00 MON (b01p40hr)
Mastertapes
15:30 TUE (b01p41h4)
Material World
21:00 MON (b01p0sbf)
Material World
16:30 THU (b01p42w8)
McLevy
14:15 MON (b01p40h1)
Midnight News
00:00 SAT (b01p0tt4)
Midnight News
00:00 SUN (b01p2smh)
Midnight News
00:00 MON (b01p2spg)
Midnight News
00:00 TUE (b01p2sqt)
Midnight News
00:00 WED (b01p2ss3)
Midnight News
00:00 THU (b01p2std)
Midnight News
00:00 FRI (b01p2svt)
Midweek
09:00 WED (b01p3lfr)
Midweek
21:30 WED (b01p3lfr)
Mission Improbable
23:15 WED (b01p4254)
Money Box Live
15:00 WED (b01p4247)
Money Box
12:00 SAT (b01p2vtd)
Moral Maze
22:15 SAT (b01p0s0v)
Moral Maze
20:00 WED (b01p424r)
More or Less
16:30 FRI (b01p4514)
News Briefing
05:30 SAT (b01p0ttd)
News Briefing
05:30 SUN (b01p2smt)
News Briefing
05:30 MON (b01p2spq)
News Briefing
05:30 TUE (b01p2sr2)
News Briefing
05:30 WED (b01p2ssc)
News Briefing
05:30 THU (b01p2stn)
News Briefing
05:30 FRI (b01p2sw2)
News Headlines
06:00 SUN (b01p2smw)
News and Papers
06:00 SAT (b01p0ttg)
News and Papers
07:00 SUN (b01p2sn0)
News and Papers
08:00 SUN (b01p2sn6)
News and Weather
22:00 SAT (b01p0tv1)
News
13:00 SAT (b01p0ttq)
Nick Mohammed in Bits
19:15 SUN (b00tjdnz)
One to One
09:30 TUE (b01p3k5s)
Open Country
06:07 SAT (b01p0sb9)
Open Country
15:00 THU (b01p42w4)
Our Language in Your Hands
11:00 MON (b01p3hnv)
PM
17:00 SAT (b01p2vtq)
PM
17:00 MON (b01p40h9)
PM
17:00 TUE (b01p41hb)
PM
17:00 WED (b01p424h)
PM
17:00 THU (b01p42wb)
PM
17:00 FRI (b01p457h)
Pick of the Week
18:15 SUN (b01p3cpz)
Poetry Workshop
23:30 SAT (b01p0684)
Polyoaks
11:30 FRI (b01p3ntd)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 SAT (b01p0vy8)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 MON (b01p3hnd)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 TUE (b01p8fyr)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 WED (b01p7qvj)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 THU (b01p7r0x)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 FRI (b01p8fyh)
Profile
19:00 SAT (b01p2vtv)
Profile
05:45 SUN (b01p2vtv)
Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
07:55 SUN (b01p30f7)
Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
09:45 SUN (b01p30ff)
Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
17:40 SUN (b01p30ff)
Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
21:26 SUN (b01p30f7)
Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
15:27 THU (b01p30f7)
Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
15:45 FRI (b01p30ff)
Rebuilding the LSO
11:30 TUE (b01p3k61)
Saturday Drama
14:30 SAT (b01p2vtj)
Saturday Drama
21:00 FRI (b016k89p)
Saturday Live
09:00 SAT (b01p2tg8)
Saturday Review
19:15 SAT (b01p2vtx)
Saving Species
11:00 TUE (b01p3k5z)
Saving Species
21:00 THU (b01p3k5z)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SAT (b01p0tt8)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SUN (b01p2smm)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 MON (b01p2spl)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 TUE (b01p2sqy)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 WED (b01p2ss7)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 THU (b01p2stj)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 FRI (b01p2svy)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SAT (b01p0tt6)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SAT (b01p0ttb)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SAT (b01p0tts)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SUN (b01p2smk)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SUN (b01p2smr)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SUN (b01p2snb)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 MON (b01p2spj)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 MON (b01p2spn)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 TUE (b01p2sqw)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 TUE (b01p2sr0)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 WED (b01p2ss5)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 WED (b01p2ss9)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 THU (b01p2stg)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 THU (b01p2stl)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 FRI (b01p2svw)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 FRI (b01p2sw0)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SAT (b01p0ttx)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SUN (b01p2sng)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 MON (b01p2spx)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 TUE (b01p2sr6)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 WED (b01p2ssh)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 THU (b01p2sts)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 FRI (b01p2sw8)
Something Understood
06:05 SUN (b01p30f1)
Something Understood
23:30 SUN (b01p30f1)
Songs of the Sacred Harp
16:00 MON (b01p40h5)
Start the Week
09:00 MON (b01p3hnl)
Start the Week
21:30 MON (b01p3hnl)
Sunday Worship
08:10 SUN (b01p30f9)
Sunday
07:10 SUN (b01p30f5)
The Archers Omnibus
10:00 SUN (b01p314l)
The Archers
19:00 SUN (b01p3cq1)
The Archers
14:00 MON (b01p3cq1)
The Archers
19:00 MON (b01p40hf)
The Archers
14:00 TUE (b01p40hf)
The Archers
19:00 TUE (b01p41hg)
The Archers
14:00 WED (b01p41hg)
The Archers
19:00 WED (b01p424m)
The Archers
14:00 THU (b01p424m)
The Archers
19:00 THU (b01p42wd)
The Archers
14:00 FRI (b01p42wd)
The Archers
19:00 FRI (b01p457m)
The Film Programme
23:00 SUN (b01p0sbc)
The Film Programme
16:00 THU (b01p42w6)
The Food Programme
12:32 SUN (b01p314q)
The Food Programme
15:30 MON (b01p314q)
The Global Gap
13:45 MON (b01p40gz)
The Global Gap
13:45 TUE (b01p41gy)
The Global Gap
13:45 WED (b01p4243)
The Global Gap
13:45 THU (b01p42w0)
The Global Gap
13:45 FRI (b01p450w)
The Hackers
17:00 SUN (b01p0h5v)
The Headset Set
23:00 THU (b01p436v)
The Infinite Monkey Cage
16:30 MON (b01p40h7)
The Infinite Monkey Cage
23:00 TUE (b01p40h7)
The Kitchen Cabinet
15:00 TUE (b01p41h2)
The Life Scientific
09:00 TUE (b01p3k5q)
The Life Scientific
21:30 TUE (b01p3k5q)
The Listening Project
14:45 SUN (b01p314z)
The Listening Project
12:52 FRI (b01p3nvk)
The Listening Project
16:55 FRI (b01p4516)
The Listening Project
23:55 FRI (b01p4582)
The Media Show
16:30 WED (b01p424f)
The Now Show
12:30 SAT (b01p0vqw)
The Now Show
18:30 FRI (b01p457k)
The Physicist's Guide to the Orchestra
11:30 THU (b01p3n9f)
The Report
20:00 THU (b01p42wj)
The State of Welfare
20:00 SUN (b01p0fpg)
The Week in Westminster
11:00 SAT (b01p2vt8)
The World This Weekend
13:00 SUN (b01p314s)
The World Tonight
22:00 MON (b01p40hm)
The World Tonight
22:00 TUE (b01p41hs)
The World Tonight
22:00 WED (b01p424y)
The World Tonight
22:00 THU (b01p436q)
The World Tonight
22:00 FRI (b01p457w)
Thinking Allowed
00:15 MON (b01p0hnv)
Thinking Allowed
16:00 WED (b01p424c)
Today in Parliament
23:30 MON (b01p40ht)
Today in Parliament
23:30 TUE (b01p41hx)
Today in Parliament
23:30 WED (b01p4256)
Today in Parliament
23:30 THU (b01p436x)
Today in Parliament
23:30 FRI (b01p4580)
Today
07:00 SAT (b01p2tg6)
Today
06:00 MON (b01p3hnj)
Today
06:00 TUE (b01p3k5n)
Today
06:00 WED (b01p3lfp)
Today
06:00 THU (b01p3n07)
Today
06:00 FRI (b01p3nqh)
Touchline Tales
11:00 FRI (b01p3nqp)
Uzbek to My Roots
11:00 WED (b01p3lfy)
Vasily Grossman from the Frontline
00:30 SUN (b014ptrt)
Warhorses of Letters
23:00 WED (b01p4252)
Weather
06:04 SAT (b01p0ttj)
Weather
06:57 SAT (b01p0ttl)
Weather
12:57 SAT (b01p0ttn)
Weather
17:57 SAT (b01p0ttv)
Weather
06:57 SUN (b01p2smy)
Weather
07:57 SUN (b01p2sn4)
Weather
12:57 SUN (b01p2sn8)
Weather
17:57 SUN (b01p2snd)
Weather
05:57 MON (b01p2sps)
Weather
12:57 MON (b01p2spv)
Weather
21:58 MON (b01p2spz)
Weather
12:57 TUE (b01p2sr4)
Weather
21:58 TUE (b01p2sr8)
Weather
12:57 WED (b01p2ssf)
Weather
21:58 WED (b01p2ssk)
Weather
12:57 THU (b01p2stq)
Weather
21:58 THU (b01p2stv)
Weather
12:57 FRI (b01p2sw6)
Weather
21:58 FRI (b01p2swb)
Westminster Hour
22:00 SUN (b01p3gvy)
What the Papers Say
22:45 SUN (b01p3gw0)
Who's Drummer?
15:30 SAT (b01p2vtl)
Woman's Hour
16:00 SAT (b01p2vtn)
Woman's Hour
10:00 MON (b01p3hnq)
Woman's Hour
10:00 TUE (b01p3k5v)
Woman's Hour
10:00 WED (b01p3lft)
Woman's Hour
10:00 THU (b01p3n2k)
Woman's Hour
10:00 FRI (b01p3nqk)
World at One
13:00 MON (b01p3hqj)
World at One
13:00 TUE (b01p3k65)
World at One
13:00 WED (b01p3lgb)
World at One
13:00 THU (b01p3n9k)
World at One
13:00 FRI (b01p3nvm)
You and Yours
12:00 MON (b01p3hnz)
You and Yours
12:00 TUE (b01p3k63)
You and Yours
12:00 WED (b01p3lg2)
You and Yours
12:00 THU (b01p3n9h)
You and Yours
12:00 FRI (b01p3ntg)
iPM
05:45 SAT (b01p0vyb)
iPM
17:30 SAT (b01p0vyb)