The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Tony Benn reads the final extracts from "Free at Last- Diaries 1991 - 2001", first broadcast in 2003.
Today's episode is profoundly personal as it recounts the final illness of his beloved wife Caroline. Yet this intensely moving account of their 51-year marriage as it is transformed by the imminence of death is not all sadness. There is much joy, humour to be shared ... and even a little bit of political gossip.
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Richard Littledale.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
This series is themed 'Ramblings Revisited' as Clare Balding walks again with some of her favourite and most memorable guests.
In the spring of 2006, Clare went rambling with a female hockey team who had been walking together for 15 years. In this time they'd developed enduring friendships on as well as off the pitch.
Now, eight years on - and with most of the original walkers now retired - Clare is going back to catch up with the 'Over the Hill' club. The group started-up after an advertisement was placed on the hockey club wall; it stipulated that the requirements of those attending were 'A sense of humour, walking boots or strong shoes, haversack, waterproof clothing and approximately £65 plus beer and lunch money'.
The group walk in a different location each time they gather, this week they'll be in Windsor Great Park.
Making a living from the hills - Charlotte Smith travels into the Peak District National Park to meet Michael Longworth and Diane Atkinson, tenants of a 1,200 acre hill farm. With a flock of 300 Swaledale sheep and a fledgling herd of Highland cattle, the young couple have signed a 10-year tenancy with the National Park Authority, and committed themselves to making a life - and a profit - on wild, windswept moorland.
Charlotte sees for herself the challenges of farming in one of Britain's most popular tourist destinations as Michael finds a gate left open, and all his sheep missing from the field.
But the visitors also bring opportunity. Michael and Diane are in the final stages of getting planning permission to serve tea and cake on their lawn for the ramblers and climbers who pass by on their way to Stannage Edge. Their rented accommodation will also attract the literature fans - the brooding North Lees Hall was inspiration for Rochester's home in Bronte's Jane Eyre. While admitting to finding it "a bit creepy", Diane hopes it'll add extra profit to their diversification.
Is farming alone enough to support a life in the hills, wonders Charlotte. Definitely not according to the entrepreneurial team of two - but it's certainly the best bit.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Thought for the Day and Weather.
John McCarthy and Suzy Klein meet veteran photographer Don McCullin to talk about wars zones, life in Somerset and how being born and raised in Finsbury Park shaped his life. John Wildey is a seventy seven year old grandfather who took over the controls to land a plane when the pilot took ill. Felicity Warner is a soul midwife who helps people have a peaceful death. There are tales of homelessness from the streets of London, Claudia Winkleman shares her Inheritance Tracks and we hear how the helmet belonging to a young soldier killed in Vietnam ended up for sale in Portobello Market. We take a trip on a train run by children in Budapest and find out if the Quiff, the hairstyle so beloved of the Teddy Boys is about to make a comeback.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, young artists in so many countries were finding their own revolutionary way forward. France had the cubism movement, in Germany the expressionists were in vogue, in Britain the vorticists were finding a voice. It was an exciting time for painters and sculptors. The outbreak of World War 1 fractured the international artistic community with many of the artists enlisting to fight.
In the third programme of the series, Francine Stock explores what was happening in the international artistic community in the run up to World War 1, and how the commencement of hostilities affected artists either side of the conflict. In some cases, it led painters to create some of their most powerful and arresting work.
Francine also hears how the publishing world responded to the outbreak of war. The magazine industry was quick to turn copy around and fashion tips included how to dress appropriately to raise morale.
The book industry, whilst threatened with a lack of staff and supplies, filled the need for entertaining popular fiction. There was a fine trade in sending books to the front, and back home, women's popular fiction was awash with khaki and kisses tales of women falling in love with soldiers. As the first fighting men returned invalided and disabled, there's also a rise in the 'heroic veteran' tale where a missing limb or scarred face is no barrier to virility and love.
The Commons and Crimea; the trouble with Eton; UKIP's challenge to Labour; and George Osborne's Budget.
Kate Adie introduces correspondents stories from around the world. Today, Jamie Coomarasamy meets the man who once was Crimea's one and only President and dreams of a new landscape; James Menendez goes to the city where month-long demonstrations started in Venezuela; Shahida Bari find camels, dogs, four by fours, twitter and verse in the deserts of the UAE; Rajan Datar is in Goa, trying his best to help pick up the rubbish; and Stephen Mulvey's memories of Ukrainian independence don't match President Putin's.
The Chancellor unveiled the biggest pensions revolution for almost a century. From April 2015, people will be able to take money out of their pension pots of any size with no restriction. No one will have to take an annuity on retirement. While certain rules are being relaxed from next week, just what should people due to make a decision about their retirement pot in the next few months need to consider? The Pensions Minister, Steve Webb and other pension experts join the programme.
Cash is king.
Although cash isas have always been more popular than their riskier cousins stocks and Shares isas people have been able to put much less into them each year. But that restriction is being ended. From 1 July, the ISA limit will rise by several thousand pounds to £15,000 in 2014/15 and all of that can go into cash. But how easy will it be to swap bits of investments into cash? And vice versa?
The Government calls it 'Tax-free Child Care' but of course it is not. The new system to subsidise childcare announced this week begins on 1 September 2015 and will apply to children up to the age of 12 in registered childcare. Despite its name it is not really tax-free. First, it applies to non-taxpayers. Second, higher rate taxpayers only get 20% off - not 40%. And third it is not free of National Insurance. People with the current vouchers may prefer to stick with them. So what options should parents consider?
A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Sandi Toksvig, with regular panellist Jeremy Hardy and guest panellists Mark Steel, Elis James and David Mitchell.
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from Birmingham City University with Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Sajid Javid MP; Shadow Work & Pensions Secretary, Rachel Reeves MP; Managing Director of John Lewis, Andy Street; and General Secretary of the TUC, Frances O'Grady.
As the Government unveiled its changes to pensions in the Budget, what are the pitfalls of being given access to our whole pension pot? Is it a blueprint for freedom or a recipe for disaster?
Teachers are preparing to walk out on Wednesday, but should they? With parents forced to take days off work and the knock on disruption to business - is it time to reclassify teaching as an 'essential service?'
EU leaders have signed an agreement on closer relations with Ukraine, in a show of support following Russia's annexation of Crimea. Are we right to impose sanctions on should we not get involved ?
Anita Anand hears your reactions to these subjects discussed in Any Questions? by Sajid Javid Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Rachel Reeves Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Andy Street Managing Director of the John Lewis Partnership and Frances O'Grady General Secretary of the TUC.
You can have your say on any of the subjects discussed on Any Answers? just after the news at
on Saturday. Call 03700 100 444 from
Christopher Trumbo's drama about his father, the American screenwriter and novelist Dalton Trumbo's ordeal at the hands of the House Un-American Activities Committee and its anti-communist witch-hunt.
Trumbo was one of the original Hollywood Ten - those accused in 1947 and subsequently blacklisted, ostracised and forced into poverty, obscurity and in some cases exile, because of their beliefs.
The play is based on transcripts of those now notorious HUAC hearings and the extraordinary letters written by his father during this period, both to his son and to others.
The movie world has a hidden story of musical carnage that every composer has come to experience and dread! Ever since the end of the studio system the film score, an essential part of the film making process, has been subject to the vagaries of the volatile world of film making. The very last chance to make or break a movie is beset with pitfalls, no one is safe and many composers refuse to talk about this bitter but brutal reality of composing for film- your score is ultimately their score to be subject to all the vagaries of film making. Scores by legendary composers as varied as Elmer Bernstein, Bernard Hermann, Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner and William Walton have been abandoned. Directorial disagreements, the much loathed temp track, studio interference, last minute meltdowns and other, even more unlikely, factors have led to hundreds of scores being discarded. Every year, if you look hard enough, you can find another trail of wrecked notes.
Take just two films only a year apart: Kubrick's legendary 2001: A Space Odyssey seems impossible now without its Strauss and Ligeti but despite Stanley Kubrick knowing he was in thrall to the past masters he allowed the brilliant Alex North to feverishly compose an original score for it that became a sacrificial cause celebre. In 1969 one of Britain's finest, William Walton, scored The Battle of Britain only to find himself unceremoniously replaced by the more hummable Ron Goodwin. He never forgot the slight.
Some scores get unlikely resurrections. Original sessions kept by canny recordists can resurface decades later but some remain forever silent. Christopher Cook hears from acclaimed composer Howard Blake who has experienced just about everything the world of film music can throw at a film composer whilst editor Terry Rawlings reveals what it took to make Alien sound even more terrifying at the expense of upsetting Jerry Goldsmith who had just composed one of his most imaginative scores.
Three men who use prostitutes tell us why they do it. Fiona MacTaggart MP and Jean Urquhart MSP discuss the political debate surrounding buying and selling sex - what, if anything, should be illegal?
Messy bedrooms, friendship bracelets and Grease sing-alongs. The writer and comedian Grace Dent looks back on her childhood and gives a Guide to Growing Up a Girl. She'll be reminiscing about being a brownie, learning to swim in pyjamas and wanting to snog a boy.
The author Shereen El Feki on the ever changing attitudes towards sex in the Arab world.
Why women are more likely to take sick leave than men. Clare Bambra from Durham University and Helen O'Brien, a specialist in Human Resources, discuss.
It's Shakespeare Week and the Royal Shakespeare Company tours schools with The Taming of the Shrew with Kate being played by a man and Petruchio by a woman. So what difference will it make to teenagers' understanding of the play?
Plus as music in the workplace becomes more popular you can get a chance to hear the Woman's Hour team exercise their vocal cords. And why ought men to be better dancers than women?
Turning up the heat: the new energy companies breaking into a market dominated by big established firms. Evan Davis meets two small entrants to the sector to find out how they're gaining market share. Is the strategy to compete on price, customer service or green credentials? He'll discuss the role of the price comparison websites in encouraging customers to switch providers and hear how some smaller companies are cutting gas and electricity bills when their bigger rivals aren't.
Louis Theroux, Engelbert Humperdinck, Steve Brown, Tracy Chevalier, Arthur Smith, Button Eyes, LuAmi
Clive talks to legendary singer Engelbert Humperdinck about his new album 'Engelbert Calling' which comes forty five years after his number one single and signature tune, 'Please Release Me'.
Bestselling author Tracy Chevalier explains how research for her latest novel The Last Runaway ignited her love of quilts and quilting and has led her to curate an exhibition of quilt works 'Things We Do In Bed' that celebrates quilts and their continuing links to what goes on behind the bedroom door.
Arthur Smith talks to Louis Theroux about his three new BBC films that put Los Angeles under the microscope ' Louis Theroux's LA Stories'. Continuing his diverse exploration of life in America, Louis looks at LA's problem with neglected and feral dogs; the experiences of patients with life-threatening conditions at the city's most famous hospital; and examines how California deals with sex offenders after they are released from prison.
Award winning writer and composer Steve Brown talks to Clive about co-writing a brand new musical comedy 'I Can't Sing!' an X Factor Musical with Harry Hill.
Button Eyes, the eclectic London/Brighton folktronica collective perform their latest single 'Simple Days.'
With more music from unsigned singer/songwriter LuAmi who performs her track ''Precious Love.'
Edward Stourton profiles Matteo Renzi, the new Italian prime minister. He asks if this former boy scout - nicknamed 'demolition man' for his desire to smash the political establishment - can turn around Italy's fortunes. At 39, he is Italy's youngest-ever PM. He wears jeans and a leather jacket and models himself on Tony Blair. Can he live up to his promises?
Angela Lansbury in the West End; Kate Winslet in Labor Day; Sebastian Barry's new novel
At the age of 88, Dame Angela Lansbury returns to the West End theatre playing Madam Arcati in a revival of Noel Coward's wartime comedy Blithe Spirit. On Broadway it was widely acclaimed - how will a UK audience, traditionally less adulatory - receive her exuberant performance?
Kate Winslet is an actress who can open and carry a movie; nobody denies her pull at the box office and skill on the screen. Her latest film 'Labor Day' is about an escaped prisoner (Josh Brolin) who ends up spending time on the run in her home. Can one of today's finest screen actresses convince us of the learning that takes place on both sides of the relationship?
Sebastian Barry won the 2008 Costa book prize for his novel The Secret Scripture. His latest work The Temporary Gentleman is a highly fictionalised version of the life of Barry's own grandfather. A young man is offered a commission in the British Army for the duration of The Second World War and this work brings turmoil into his personal life. Is this novel another potential award winner?
The exhibition by the sixteenth century painter Veronese at London's National Gallery includes works from art collections around the world which have never been seen together before. When he was working (at a prolific rate) he was one of the leading artists in Europe and later artists including Van Dyck, Rubens, Watteau and Delacroix depend upon his example. Will our reviewers be overwhelmed by this generous display of Renaissance Venetian art?
TV drama based on relatively recent real life events is a contentious subject. The Widower on ITV stars Sheridan Smith and Reece Shearsmith in the story of Malcolm Webster who murdered his first wife and attempted to murder his second. Does our familiarity with Shearsmith's gallery of grotesque oddballs mean we can see him as an ordinary man capable of doing ghastly things?Tom Sutcliffe is joined by Stephanie Merritt, Nicholas Barber and Susan Jeffreys.
On 17 May 1974, in the district of Compton in Los Angeles, American network television broadcast live the longest gunfight in the nation's history, in a scene worthy of the studios of nearby Hollywood.
It marked the beginning of the end for the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a leftist guerrilla group that sprang to fame three months earlier after kidnapping heiress Patricia Hearst, granddaughter of the newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst.
This saga - described as "probably the mystery story of the 20th Century" - is one of the most bizarre episodes of recent American history. Within hours of Patty's kidnapping the media arrived outside the Hearst mansion, where they would camp out in a self-styled 'press city'. Communiqués issued by the SLA on cassette tapes, often spoken by Patty herself, were broadcast in full. The family posted a sign that read 'Please don't feed reporters'.
After 57 days in captivity, sympathy for the captive heiress turned to shock as she declared herself a member of the SLA, denounced her family and was pictured wielding a gun as the gang robbed a bank in San Francisco. 18 months later Patty was arrested, and convicted in what the press called 'The Trial of the Century'.
Four decades on, Benjamin Ramm explores how this sensational story was driven by exhaustive daily media coverage. He asks to what extent it changed the way news was reported and anticipated many of today's debates about the ethics and appetites of rolling news.
Interviewees include Linda Deutsch, renowned court reporter; John Lester, a news anchor who became the Hearst family spokesman; Bill Deiz, who reported the LA shootout using new camera technology; and former member of the SLA, Mike Bortin.
Produced by Rebecca Maxted.
The Forbidden is a chilling, urban horror dramatised for radio by Duncan MacMillan. It's adapted from
Clive Barker's original novella, first published in 1985 and the inspiration for the cult 1992 horror film, Candyman.
The film was set in America, but the original short story was located in Britain, on a dilapidated council estate. This radio dramatisation takes it back to its roots: the story has been modernised, but set in a post-riot Britain, where materialism and greed are increasingly prevalent in all spheres of society.
Helen and her husband Trevor have recently moved into a gated community in the area where she originally grew up. She is becoming more and more disturbed by a nightmare, where she finds herself in a basement on her old estate and knows someone else is there. But who? And what do they want from her?
As Helen insists on exploring the old estate, meeting an old friend and encountering mysterious, frightened teenagers, her home life is affected badly. As she grows increasingly suspicious that Trevor is being unfaithful, she returns to the basement which now haunts her sleep. What she discovers there is both a horrific shock and a sense of coming home, at last.
Recorded on location in London, with an original score from composer John Coxon (Spring Heel Jack, Spiritualized).
Music composed by John Coxon, recorded and mixed by Rupert Clervaux and John Coxon.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
Is there such a thing as a victimless crime? This issue is at the heart of two campaigns that have been attracting a lot of coverage recently. At the moment the sale and purchase of sex is legal in Britain, but there's a growing demand to criminalise those who pay for sexual services. We are also seeing around the world calls to legalise the use of cannabis for personal use. The definition of a "victim" in both cases is complex and contested, but how should we use the law in these circumstances when there's a conflict between individual liberty and the policing of social norms and harms? Since 1960 laws criminalising homosexuality, suicide and blasphemy have all been consigned to history. Is that the way it should be In a liberal progressive society? Or should we and the state take a much more robust view of harm and listen more to the voices of victims, extending principles like "hate crimes" in the law?
Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk with Claire Fox, Michael Portillo, Giles Fraser, Anne McElvoy.
The third semi-final of the nationwide general knowledge quiz comes from the Radio Theatre in London, with Russell Davies in the chair. The competitors have all either won their heats or been among the top-scoring runners-up in this year's series. Today's winner will go through to the grand Final, and into the home straight in the race for the title of 61st Brain of Britain.
Roger McGough introduces a selection of requested poetry from three poets who were active one hundred years ago: Edward Thomas, Charlotte Mew and Walter de la Mare. In 1914, Charlotte Mew, who had one of the saddest lives in all poetry, was cautiously assembling poems for her first collection, The Farmer's Bride. Walter de la Mare had just published Peacock Pie, a book of his children's poems, which has remained immensely popular, with many reprints ever since. And the brief poetic career of Edward Thomas was just getting underway after he met the American poet Robert Frost and began turning his prose writing into poems. The readers are Eleanor Tremain, Peter Marinker and Anton Lesser. Producer: Tim Dee.
SUNDAY 23 MARCH 2014
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b03yhcxt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 After Wonderland (b03ymr46)
Belle's Blog
The second of three monologues by Sheila Yeger imagining the adult lives of characters from children's literature.
Decades after Neverland Tinkerbell the fairy is writing a sassy blog, doing panto and pining for Peter Pan. But the nights are lonely and she has terrible dreams about crocodiles.
Belle is played by Marcia Warren; the producer is James Cook.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03yhcxw)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03yhcxy)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
5.20am.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03yhcy0)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b03yhcy2)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b03ymr48)
Mary the Virgin, Ilminster
The bells of St.Mary the Virgin, Ilminster, Somerset.
SUN 05:45 Lent Talks (b03y15j0)
Catherine Fox
The novelist Catherine Fox looks at this year's theme of The Power and the Passion by reflecting on the power of Christ's submission. How can you rally to the cause of a man who won't fight, forbids you to defend him and lets himself be killed? After all, we've learned to dislike 'victim mentality', haven't we?
Producer: Peter Everett.
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b03yhcy4)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b03ymr4b)
Where It Was
Broadcaster Chris Brookes is Canadian - or, more accurately, a Newfoundlander. He reflects on how the past is written not just into our memories, but also into our identities and the landscapes we inhabit - drawing upon his experiences of living in earthquake-damaged Nicaragua, as well as among the declining fishing communities of Newfoundland.
With readings from writers including Howard Nemerov, Bishop Tutu, Billy Collins and Julian Barnes and music from Ella Fitzgerald, JS Bach and Diana Krall.
Readers: David Westhead and Kerry Shale
Produced by Alan Hall.
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b03ymr4d)
After the Flood
West Yeo Farm near Bridgwater spent six weeks underwater. The whole farm had to be evacuated when the floodwaters rose in the Somerset Levels, which meant finding new homes for five hundred cattle. Only now can the Winslade family return to assess the damage. Charlotte Smith meets James and his wife Jenny, as they embark on the long process of clearing up and getting the farm and the family back to normality. She hears what the last two months have been like for them, what future they envisage for the farm, and what it's like trying to look after your livestock when they're spread across several different locations. The Winslades talk about their gratitude for the relief effort from other farmers who have given forage for free, and the army of volunteers who've come to help. She also sees for herself what happens when you submerge pasture under six feet of water, sewage and diesel.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b03yhcy6)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b03yhcy8)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b03ymr4g)
Big Bang; The return of Rev; Islamic feminism
Mike Wooldridge talks to Steve Chalke as he embarks on a social media debate which he hopes will spark answers to some "Big" Bible questions.
John Laurenson reports from Riace where immigrants are welcome and encouraged to stay.
In an unprecedented collaboration Anglican, Catholic and Islamic leaders at the highest level have given their backing to a global campaign to fight slavery and human trafficking. What is this new initiative doing that hasn't been done before? Trevor Barnes reports.
Next week sees the return of Rev, the BBC sitcom about a former rural parish vicar trying to cope with the varied demands of running an inner-city church. Co-creator and writer James Wood tells Mike where he gets his material.
This week scientists recorded the first direct evidence of gravitational waves, coming one step closer to proving the Big Bang theory. Bob Walker reports on the theological implications of this.
Maslaha is a new project about Islam and feminism. How does Islam work within the Western ideas of feminism where traditionally religion has been left at the door? Latifa Akay and Shelina Janmohamed discuss.
Looking for Job Satisfaction? Then become a Vicar as they are top of the list according to a cabinet office report. Andrea Jones, a rector from Manchester, tells Mike what makes her job so special.
Producers:
Carmel Lonergan
Rosie Dawson
Series Producer: Amanda Hancox
Contributors:
Steve Chalke
James Wood
Latifa Akay
Shelina Janmohamed
Andrea Jones.
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b03ymr4k)
Sport Relief
Mariella Frostrup presents The Radio 4 Appeal for Sport Relief.
Reg Charity: Sport Relief is an initiative of Comic Relief, registered charity 326568 (England/Wales); SC039730 (Scotland)
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal, mark the back of the envelope 'Sport Relief'.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b03yhcyb)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b03yhcyd)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b03ymr4p)
Inside Anger
'Inside anger.' In the third of Radio 4's series 'Inside Lent,' Martin Palmer, Secretary General of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation reflects on the difference between blind and righteous anger. From the Syrian Orthodox Cathedral in West London with His Eminence Archbishop Mar Athanasius, Patriarchal Vicar of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Great Britain. With comments from the Prince of Wales from his speech given last December in support of the Christian Communities in Syria and the Holy Land generally.
Producer: Stephen Shipley
Through programmes on BBC Radio 4, local radio and online resources for individuals and groups, BBC Religion & Ethics' 'Inside Lent', devised by Bishop Stephen Oliver, invites listeners to join a journey of discovery through this Christian season by reflecting on the nature of a number of very human feelings. bbc.co.uk/religion
Lent: Inside love (30th March)
Lent: Inside fear (6th April)
Lent: Inside hope (13th April)
Easter Day - Inside joy (20th April).
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (b03y3lkv)
Heavy Weather
Sarah Dunant compares our reaction today to climate change with responses in the seventeenth century to extreme weather.
Producer: Sheila Cook.
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b03x457w)
Grey Partridge
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Bill Oddie presents the Grey partridge. The grey partridge, a plump game bird, is now a rarity across most of the UK. Found on farmland, a partridge pair will often hold territory in a few fields beyond which they seldom stray during their whole lives. They should be doing well but increasing field sizes, which reduce nesting cover and the use of pesticides, which kill off vital insects, have taken their toll.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b03ymr4s)
As tensions continue over Crimea, we put Russia in the Psychiatrist's Chair to see what makes the country tick.
Caroline Wyatt listens to the National Youth Orchestra of Afghanistan.
As the world of science is rocked by a big bang echo, we test how much the news has been understood outside this logical universe.
Reviewing the papers: stargazer Maggie Aderin-Pocock, tennis player and Labour peer Baroness Billingham plus House of Cards author and Conservative peer Michael Dobbs.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b03ymr4y)
See Daily Episodes for Detailed Synopses.
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b03ymr52)
Dame Claire Bertschinger
Kirsty Young's castaway is the nurse & humanitarian Dame Claire Bertschinger.
She's worked for The Red Cross in over a dozen countries including Sudan, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Liberia amid the sort of raw human suffering that most of us find - even on the TV - almost unbearable to witness. It was through Michael Buerk's landmark news reports of the Ethiopian famine 30 years ago that she first grabbed our attention. We saw her as a young nurse surrounded by thousands of starving people and forced, daily, to make the truly terrible decision of choosing who to feed.
Throughout the years she's won numerous plaudits and awards: her Florence Nightingale Medal is given "to honour those "who've distinguished themselves in times of war by exceptional courage and devotion to the wounded, sick or disabled."
She says, "I don't live just to eat and sleep and get money to have a nice house ... I have to create value - I have to do something in life."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
SUN 12:00 Just a Minute (b03y0n88)
Series 68
Episode 6
Radio 4's classic panel game continues its run.
Sheila Hancock, Richard herring, Paul Merton and Josie Lawrence attempt to talk for 60 seconds without hesitation, repetition & deviation under the watchful eye of Nicholas Parsons.
Subjects include 'Unanswerable Questions' and 'The Very First Telephone'.
Producer: Tilusha Ghelani.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b03ymr54)
Micro-Bakeries
The rise and rise of the micro-bakery. How home baked bread became a business opportunity.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b03yhcyg)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b03ymxz3)
The latest national and international news, including an in-depth look at events around the world. Email: wato@bbc.co.uk; twitter: #theworldthisweekend.
SUN 13:30 Piano Movements (b03nt8hx)
Nick Baker experiences some moving stories involving pianos, their owners, and the people who move them around. There's nothing more likely to crystallise feelings towards a piano than having to move it - up or downstairs - from one place to another.
Siobhan is faced with shifting an old family upright into a new first floor flat. Alison is overseeing the removal of a Steinway B from the home of her late employer, a famous orchestral conductor. Nick Baker follows their progress as pianos are lugged sweatily up stairs or craned out of windows, suspended temporarily 30ft above the street. Indeed Nick himself has had a difficult experience moving a piano. He still feels responsible for Lesley losing more than her dignity in an ill-fated piano moving exercise. She lost part of a finger as well.
Nick witnesses the back-breaking exploits of Marek, Bartek and Jacek as they negotiate a cramped Victorian conversion with a family upright in Catford, London. And there's Penny, organiser of the Two Moors classical music festival, who watched as a 9 foot Bösendorfer grand - twenty six grand, to be precise - fell off the back of a lorry and 13 feet into a Devon ditch.
So, forget Laurel and Hardy, chimps and Bernard Cribbins. Piano movement is a serious business. It can also be seriously expensive.
High end piano removals expert Julian Rout is on a mission to turn piano logistics into an art form. He's intent on harnessing the complementary strengths of humans and technology. Less muscle, more machines. But he's battling against the man and van trade.
It turns out, the piano movements that tug most at the heartstrings are not those of Beethoven or Bartok - but piano movements like these.
Producer: Tamsin Hughes
A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b03y3lk8)
Correspondence at Sparsholt
Eric Robson hosts from the GQT potting shed at Sparsholt College as Bob Flowerdew, Anne Swithinbank, Christine Walkden and Rosie Yeomans tackle listeners' questions sent in by post, email and social media.
Produced by Howard Shannon.
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
This week's questions:
Q. I am providing posies for a wedding in August. I have chosen Sweet Peas but was wondering when to get them germinating (in our airing cupboard) so they will be ready in time?
A. Ideally they would have been sown last month because they can be quite slow. The other issue is that they may have stopped flowering by August, so keep cutting every bloom off until about two weeks before the occasion and then let it flower freely. Make sure you keep them watered and well fed. The airing cupboard may be too dark and warm, and they may shoot up very quickly and create a spindly plant. A windowsill would probably be better. Some varieties require the seeds to be soaked first.
Q. I recently found a packet of apple seeds dated 1991. Is there a chance that they are still viable and how would I go about germinating them?
A. Divide them into several lots and try out different conditions. Plant one lot in well-drained seed compost and only cover it by its own size. Try some others in normal greenhouse temperatures. Thirdly, try another pot out in the cold frame. Beware that they will probably have gone off unless they have remained cool and sealed. If you are successful, grow it in a pot, buy a tree and try approach grafting. The graft takes place while the plant is still potted and you remove the pot at a later date.
Q. I have a large garden that is becoming infested with Cuckoo Pint. I have dug it out where I can but it is multiplying. How can I control it?
A. Often you only remove the leaf and stem, and the tuber remains. Even if you do remove the tuber, little bits get left behind. You can use weed killers but you will have to physically remove it if it is amongst other plants. It thrives in shady, damp gardens, so perhaps it is time to have the hedges and trees pruned. If you repeatedly hoe them off then you will eventually weaken the bulb.
Q. I will soon be leaving the UK and there will be no family left here to look after my parents' gravesite. I have thought of bulbs and herbs but would like some advice for this clay spot.
A. As long as the clay-soil is well drained, then stick to Alpines and short varieties like Houseleeks. In shadier spots try something like Primula Marginata. Alpines are self-cleaning, have a long flowering season and remain prostrate. You could go for a mixture of bulbs because they will endure almost longer than anything else.
Q. I am holding a party at the beginning of November this year. Could the panel suggest plants that could be used for cut flower arrangements or in pots. I'm looking for white flowers, and scent would be great.
A. Try the beautiful Schizostylis Coccinea 'Alba' with its pure white flower or the white Cyclamen Hederifolium. There is always the option of sowing annuals but don't sow them until June. Something such as Gypsophila sown late could work. Chrysanthemums are ideal for that time of year. White Dahlias might also work if given some protection.
Q. We run an allotment in old bathtubs. We grow vegetables to make "audience soup" for the community theatre. This year we are expanding our allotment to include a small mobile orchard. We intend to plant apple and pear trees in large containers, which would then be carefully moved around to areas for outdoor performances. Could the panel recommend varieties that will stand up to these unusual circumstances?
A. Discovery is the best early apple. Many of the apples don't keep long after being picked from the tree. You could try cherries, such as the Morello. Make sure they are well fed and watered. Ashmead's Kernel or Crispin will provide apples later in the season.
SUN 14:45 Witness (b03ymxz5)
The Failed Kidnapping of Princess Anne
On March 20th 1974 Princess Anne escaped a kidnap attempt as she was returning to Buckingham Palace.
The royal bodyguard, Inspector Jim Beaton, helped fend off the attacker, who was intending to seek a ransom from the Queen for the Princess' safe return.
Jim Beaton was shot three times by Ball during the incident.
SUN 15:00 Saturday Drama (b01slm1l)
Niccolo Machiavelli - The Prince
Five hundred years after writing his most provocative political tract, Niccolo Machiavelli appears before an infernal court to appeal against the harsh treatment his works have received over time.
Rather than being seen as a description of political cynicism and opportunism, he argues that "Machiavellian" should be a compliment and The Prince has in fact been an infallible guidebook followed closely by all successful leaders.
The Prince By Niccolo Machiavelli
Adapted by Jonathan Myerson
Produced and directed by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 16:00 Open Book (b03ymxz7)
Anita Shreve, Rebecca Mead
Anita Shreve, best-selling author of The Pilot's Wife, talks to Mariella Frostrup about her latest novel The Lives of Stella Bain, the follow up to a previous novel, All He Ever Wanted. Women who suffered from shell shock as a result of nursing soldiers wounded on the front line during WW1 have been neglected by historians; this novel places their experience centre stage through telling the story of amnesia victim, Stella Bain.
Rebecca Mead's The Road to Middlemarch is part memoir, part biography, part literary criticism and explores Mead's life long love affair with George Eliot's Middlemarch which she first read when she was 17 and which she describes as the novel "she cannot imagine living her life without." She discusses with novelist and academic Rebecca Stott how the novel continues to address fundamental questions about life and love nearly 150 years after it was first written. Rebecca Stott brings her own treasured copy of Middlemarch into the studio - annotated by herself when she was 19 and and subsequently by her daughter also aged 19 - and handed down through the generations like a family bible.
Continuing our series on Insider Reading, in which an industry insider provides his or her top tip for a great read, publisher and managing director of Pushkin Press Adam Freudenheim recommends "Diary of The Fall" by Michel Laub - one of Granta's twenty "Best of Young Brazilian Novelists."
And a reading from a gripping debut novel, Decoded by best selling Chinese writer Mai Jia. Described as "the most popular writer in the world you have never heard of" his books sell millions of copies in his native China, where he has won every major award including the coveted Mao Dun Award. This is the first novel to be published in English by one of China's greatest and most popular contemporary writers.
Producer: Hilary Dunn.
SUN 16:30 Poetry Idol (b03ymxz9)
Poetry has always had an essential role to play in Arab literature, and the tradition is thriving in unexpected ways. Shahidha Bari travels to Abu Dhabi to join the audience of 'Million's Poet', a massive televised competition to find the best poet in the Middle East.
Every year this huge contest takes place under the spotlight of the television cameras in Abu Dhabi. Million's Poet is broadcast live across the Middle East and has a huge following, with judges and viewers both having the chance to vote for their favourite poet. There's plenty at stake, as the top prize is an eye-watering five million United Arab Emirate dirhams, a figure getting close to one million pounds.
So how did this TV contest get started, and why do people tune in to hear poets reading their work? It's not the sort of show that would be likely to take off in the west. Shahidha Bari talks to judges, competitors, and the audience to find out the secret of Million Poet's success.
Poetry, she finds, has a particular role in the Middle East as a valued art form in a changing world. an outlet for expression for anyone from the ruler to the doorman, all of whom are free to enter Million's Poet.
SUN 17:00 Gay Rights: Tying the Knot? (b03yggdf)
The first same-sex weddings in England and Wales take place on 29th March - yet marriage was the last thing on the minds of pioneering gay rights crusaders in the 60s and 70s. Reverend Richard Coles looks at how gay marriage became the defining issue of recent years - and asks whether it represents the last crusade of the campaign for gay rights.
He speaks to senior Stonewall figures Ben Summerskill, Michael Cashman and Angela Mason. He also hears from Peter Tatchell, the Conservative Party's first openly gay MP Alan Duncan and former Prime Minister Tony Blair who introduced Civil Partnerships.
Richard discovers that for many early activists, marriage was not only a far off prospect, it wasn't a very desirable one either, as many gay men and women sought the downfall of traditional institutions.
So where along the line did the idea of gay marriage become the number one campaigning issue? And with this last major legislative milestone passed, is it time for gay rights campaigners to pack up and go home?
Producer: Laurence Grissell.
SUN 17:40 Profile (b03ygwk2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b03yhcyj)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b03yhcyl)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03yhcyn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b03ymy2s)
Journalist and writer Liz Barclay presents the best of BBC Radio this week.
There are some hairy moments in Pick of the Week - and it's not just Sir Bradley Wiggins who's responsible. Three big black hairy figures - the tallest 9 foot - what on earth could they be?
And hairy creatures that inspired a hit song in the 80's - usually found on a common?
Liz Barclay's also been consorting with Benedict Cumberbatch and Bertie Wooster, the composer Howard Blake and an 808 drum machine.
Produced by a clean-shaven Stephen Garner
The Archers (Radio 4,
2pm Friday 21st March)
Afternoon Drama: Rumpole and the Old Boys Net (Radio 4,
2.15pm Thursday 20th March)
Jason Cook's School of Hard Knocks (Radio 4,
6.30pm Thursday 20th March)
New Irish Writing (Radio 4,
3.45pm Friday 21st March)
The Art of Home (Radio 4,
11.30am Thursday 20th March)
Three Pounds in My Pocket (Radio 4,
11am Friday 21st March)
One to One (Radio 4,
9.30am Tuesday 18th March)
Nature (Radio 4,
11am Tuesday 18th March)
The Princes of Denmark Street (Radio Ulster,
1.30pm Sunday 23rd March)
Rejection Notes: The Movie Scores That Never Were (Radio 4,
11.30am Tuesday 18th March)
Today (Radio 4,
6am Friday 21st March)
Gay Rights: Tying the Knot? (Radio 4,
8pm Tuesday 18 March)
Jeeves Live (Radio 4,
7.15pm Sunday 16th March).
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b03ymy2v)
Ruth is determined to carry on as normal having discovered she is pregnant, but David is trying to lighten her load.
Rob is still not revealing why Ian hit him, despite Helen's attempts to find out. Helen urges Rob to talk to Ian with the upcoming stag do in mind. Rob snaps at Helen, saying he's sick of always having to be the one to make amends. She later drops in on Ian, determined to find out why he hit Rob.
Ruth and Jill discuss plans for when the baby comes, and Ruth is concerned at the lack of space. Ruth decides that the cot will go in Pip's room. Lily walks in on their conversation. Later on Lily asks Jill what they were talking about. Jill is quick to assure her they were just talking about Pip and nothing else.
Ian tells Helen what Rob said during the Rough and Tumble challenge. Helen is quick to assure Ian that Rob was joking. Ian isn't sure. He thinks Rob is domineering. Helen is upset that other people don't understand Rob as she does. Ian says he might not go to Tom's stag do but Helen pleads with him to go.
SUN 19:15 Just William - Live! (b03ymzcl)
Series 4
The Outlaws and the Triplets
As a highlight of last year's Cheltenham Festival of Literature, Martin Jarvis performed the first of two Richmal Crompton comic classics, live on-stage.
In 'The Outlaws and The Triplets', Henry's mother demands he takes his baby sister out in her pram. The Outlaws loyally join him on this 'walk of shame'. The problem is that they end up with three babies and three prams. Which one is theirs?
A packed house rocks with laughter as Jarvis, genius of the spoken word, dazzles his audience with Just William as a 'stand-up' classic.
Performed by Martin Jarvis
Director: Rosalind Ayres.
A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 19:45 Time (b03yn0ds)
A Family Visit
These three new tales by Olga Grushin - commissioned specially for BBC Radio 4 - touch upon the lives of five generations and explore the effects of time on one Russian family.
" ... I found a small alarm clock with square black numbers and a picture of a tiny butterfly in the middle of its round face, I took it.
"The hands didn't move at first, but my mother said you just had to wind it; only when she did, I saw that it was broken, because the second hand ran backward, and if you stared at the clock long enough to notice, so did the minute hand."
Programme 1. A Family Visit
Visiting Russia from America after the death of his grandfather, a young boy observes the tensions between his mother and her siblings.
Olga Grushin was born in Moscow in 1971 and spent her childhood in Moscow and Prague. In 1989 she became the first Soviet citizen to enrol for a full-time degree in the United States while retaining Soviet citizenship. In 2006 she was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for New Writers and named one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists in 2007. She has published two novels: The Dream Life of Sukhanov (2006) and The Concert Ticket (2010). Her story 'The Homecoming' featured in the series 'Platform Three' on Radio 4 (2010) and The Dream Life of Sukhanov was a Book At Bedtime in 2012. Olga lives in Washington D.C.
Reader: Joshua McGuire
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:00 Feedback (b03y3lkg)
How does Radio 4 decide when to change the schedule? The death of Tony Benn last week disrupted some listeners when an Inspector Rebus drama was cancelled in favour of a documentary about the Labour grandee. Then, on Monday morning, the advertised Book of the Week was removed to make way for a re-run of Benn's diaries. Listeners have complained in the past about similar changes to scheduled programmes when Margaret Thatcher and Nelson Mandela died. Roger Bolton asks the Head of Planning and Scheduling, Tony Pilgrim, why Radio 4 does it.
Roger will also be getting lost in the issue of the week at the Moral Maze with presenter Michael Buerk, producer Phil Pegum, and panellists Claire Fox, Giles Fraser, Anne McElvoy, and Michael Portillo.
When Radio 4 announced that one of its most popular comedies, Cabin Pressure, would take to the air no more, many listeners wanted to know why. The dream cast of Benedict Cumberbatch , Stephanie Cole, Roger Allam and John Finnemore have just recorded their final episode - and 23,000 people applied for tickets. We'll be asking writer John Finnemore if he has any regrets about ending the series.
And the BBC Director General, Tony Hall, wants fifty percent of all BBC local radio breakfast shows to have at least one woman presenter - either solo or as co-host - by the end of 2014. Roger speaks to the man who has to instigate those changes David Holdsworth, the Controller of English Regions.
Producer: Will Yates
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b03y3lkd)
Clarissa Dickson Wright, Lord Ballyedmond, L'Wren Scott, Mohammed Fahim, Peter Callander
On Last Word with Julian Worricker:
Clarissa Dickson Wright, one half of the forthright on-screen duo, 'Two Fat Ladies'. Former BBC2 controller, Jane Root, pays tribute to a woman described by many as 'utterly non-PC'.
Lord Ballyedmond, who became one of Northern Ireland's richest men, and was a politician at Westminster and in Dublin.
Peter Callander who wrote hits for the likes of Cliff Richard, Cilla Black and Dusty Springfield.
Mohammed Qasim Fahim, one of Afghanistan's two vice-presidents. The BBC's chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet, reflects on his role.
And the model who became a stylist and then an acclaimed fashion designer, L'Wren Scott.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (b03ygwjm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 on Saturday]
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b03ymr4k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 Analysis (b03y0n8j)
Eldar Shafir: Scarcity
(Image credit: Jerry Nelson)
Jo Fidgen interviews Eldar Shafir, professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University, and co-author of Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much in front of an audience at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University. Jo will explore the book's key idea: that not having enough money or time, shapes all of our reactions, and ultimately our lives and society.
Producer: Ruth Alexander.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b03yn0n9)
Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.
SUN 22:45 What the Papers Say (b03yn0nc)
Iain Martin of the Telegraph looks at how papers covered the week's biggest stories.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b03y38kh)
Starred Up; Mica Levi; The future of film; Emergency cinema from Syria
Francine Stock talks to the Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn about British prison drama Starred Up which co-stars Jack O'Connell. He explains how he finds virtue in the most unlikely characters, from Pope in Animal Kingdom to Russell in Killing Them Softly.
The musician and composer Mica Levi on her first film sound track working with Jonathan Glazer on sci fi Under the Skin, with Scarlett Johansson. We visit her in the studio where she dissects the alien soundscape she created for the film.
Producer Jeremy Thomas looks back on his career, the subject of a season at the BFI in London, Made In Britain. He has worked with directors from David Cronenberg to Wim Wenders and Bernardo Bertolucci. He recalls his earliest memories as a child hanging out in Pinewood studios and looks forward to the industry's future.
As the conflict in Syria continues, two film makers reflect on their contrasting responses to the situation - Charif Kiwan of the Abounaddara collective which makes films of a few minutes duration focussing on real lives and avoiding the gory blood on the streets approach of the news channels and Orwa Nyrabia, producer of The Return to Homs, a documentary following young men who become radicalised by the destruction of their neighbourhood.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b03ymr4b)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 24 MARCH 2014
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b03yn1jr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b03y152h)
Race in Police Disciplinaries; Protestant Fishermen in Scotland
Race in police 'misconduct' proceedings - Laurie Taylor considers new research exploring the perception that ethnic minority police officers are disproportionally subjected to such investigations. Graham Smith, Senior Lecturer at University of Manchester School of Law, looked at data provided by 3 English police services over a 4 year period between 2008 and 2011.
Also, Evangelical Fishermen - the lives and beliefs of fundamentalist Christians living in a remote Scottish fishing village. Joseph Webster, Lecturer in Anthropology, Queen's University Belfast, discusses his study of an austere community of Protestant Brethren struggling with the crisis of the contemporary fishing industry whilst also focusing on the 'End of Days'. How does this most demanding form of religious faith survive in the midst of the tough and perilous work at sea?
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b03ymr48)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03yn1jt)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03yn1jw)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03yn1jy)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b03yn1k0)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b03yn661)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Richard Littledale.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b03yn663)
River pollution, Drought and Lambing
Scientists at Lancaster University have begun a three year research project looking at how changing weather patterns could effect the level of agricultural pollution in our rivers. Farming Today hears from Lead Researcher, Professor Phil Haygarth about the concerns that warmer, wetter winters could lower the quality of water in the UK's rivers.
America's biggest agricultural state is currently experiencing one of the worst droughts on record. California produces around half of all fruit and vegetables in the United States. The unrelenting dry weather means that many livestock farmers are being forced to sell stock. Farming Today hears from Kevin Kester who farms 22,000 acres between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
And with lambing in full swing, all this week Farming Today will look at the highs and lows of this demanding time of year. Last year freezing winds and snow fall in the hills wreaked havoc for farmers during the lambing season and they'll be hoping for an improvement this Spring. Sarah Falkingham meets Emma Grey who runs her own flock on a remote National Trust farm in Northumberland.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Lucy Bickerton.
MON 05:56 Weather (b03yn1k2)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03x45m5)
Egyptian Goose
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Bill Oddie presents the Egyptian goose. Although Egyptian geese are common throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa and in Egypt, they are now officially a British bird. These striking birds attracted the attention of wildfowl collectors and the first geese were brought to the UK in the 17th century. By the 1960's it became obvious that the geese were breeding in the wild in East Anglia and since then they've spread in south and eastern England.
MON 06:00 Today (b03yn665)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (b03yn667)
Faisal I of Iraq and the making of the modern Middle East
Anne McElvoy explores the roads not taken with the historian Richard Evans. Counterfactual history began as an Enlightenment parlour game and has become a serious academic pursuit, but Evans argues against endless speculation as to what might have been. The final meeting between Lawrence of Arabia and Faisal I of Iraq was an anti-climax which belied their history. The biographers of these two leaders, Scott Anderson and the former Iraqi politician Ali Allawi, place these men at the centre of the making of the modern Middle East. The writer Malu Halasa offers an alternative view of the violent events in Syria as she curates a book of political posters, comic strips, blogs and plays.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b03y0f02)
Ben Macintyre - A Spy Among Friends
Episode 1
With access to newly released MI5 files and previously unseen family papers, and with the cooperation of former officers of MI6 and the CIA, author Ben Macintyre unlocks the last great secret of the Cold War.
Kim Philby was the most notorious British defector and Soviet mole in history. Agent, double agent, traitor and enigma, he betrayed every secret of Allied operations to the Russians in the early years of the Cold War. Philby's two closest friends in the intelligence world, Nicholas Elliott of MI6 and James
Jesus Angleton the CIA intelligence chief, thought they knew Philby better than anyone - only to discover they had not known him at all.
This is a story of intimate duplicity; of loyalty, trust and treachery, class and conscience; of an ideological battle waged by men with cut-glass accents and well-made suits in the comfortable clubs and restaurants of London and Washington; of male friendships forged, and then systematically betrayed.
The story begins in Beirut 1963, a bugged room. Two men who've known each other for thirty years face one another. Both are spies, but one is a traitor. The first episode of A Spy Among Friends starts with Kim Philby's confession to his best friend.
Read by: Simon Russell Beale
Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b03yn66c)
Anita Roddick
Dame Anita Roddick turned a small cosmetics shop she started in her Brighton kitchen into a global brand. and brought concepts like sustainable business and environmental awareness into the mainstream. So how much of a Game Changer was she within the beauty industry?
Law and order is breaking down in London as " the sweats", a deadly virus, sweeps through the city's population. It's Louise Welsh's new novel, A Lovely Way to Burn, the first in a trilogy, set in the very near future. Why are we so fascinated with apocalyptic tales of death, war and mass destruction?
We respond to a listener who contacted the programme and asked us to address the question; What is a healthy attitude to masturbation within a relationship? How open should we be about 'solo masturbation' when we have a partner?
Over the weekend the Law Society issued guidance for High Street solicitors on how to compose Islamic wills compliant with Sharia Law. What's behind their decision and what impact could it have on women?
Humaira Awais Shahid was a young academic when she married into one of the most powerful media families in Pakistan. She was persuaded to join The Post, the newspaper her husband edited, and was given the woman's pages. Rather than continuing to run articles on beauty and celebrities, she decided to launch investigations into the issues facing women in Pakistan; acid attacks, forced marriage, and child prostitution. It led to a career in politics and to her becoming known as "the most unmanageable woman in Pakistan."
Presented by Jane Garvey.
Edited and Produced by Beverley Purcell.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b03yn66f)
Lavinia Greenlaw - Five Fever Tales
The Question of Why
A new drama serial by Lavinia Greenlaw about one of the oldest of human diseases.
Malaria has blighted human life in parts of the world for as long as humans have been humans. The mosquito, the parasite it carries, and the human bloodstream are evolving together. In many places the parasite still has the upper hand. The Question of Why: the first of five dramas based on facts and taking in ancient historical itches and ideas about the disease and the latest scientific attempts to understand and outwit it.
The disease caused by a parasite carried in the saliva of female mosquitoes came to humans probably from gorillas a long time ago. Through recorded history the fever-prompting disease has shadowed humans almost everywhere warm enough for mosquitoes to live between the Poles. We have evolved together. It is still the biggest killer of children in parts of the world.
Made with the research assistance of Wellcome Trust.
Medical/science adviser: Julian Rayner, Sanger Institute.
Music and sound design: Jon Nicholls
Narrator: Siobhan Redmond.
Other parts: Russell Boulter, Richard Bremmer, David Collins, Jasmine Hyde, John Mackay
Producer: Tim Dee.
MON 11:00 Workspace Revolution (b03yn66h)
They're called co-working spaces. Open space, rent-a-workstation complexes for sole traders, freelancers and micro businesses of all kinds. There are more than 5000 operating worldwide and the sector doubled in size last year. Nick Baker asks, is this a workspace revolution?
From London to Berlin and from Bridgend to Singapore, co-working is the choice for more and more people. Nick visits the Hub in London, Indycube in Wales and Betahaus in Berlin, to see how these spaces operate. A high proportion of co-workers are in digital media. But there are also architects, jewellery traders and charity workers. For a monthly fee they get a desk, internet, light, heat and access to facilities like meeting rooms, cafes and even ping pong tables and cocktail bars. Beyond the practicalities the principal draw here are the huge networking opportunities. The home-working revolution didn't take off in the way we expected at the beginning of the century. Now cities round the world need regeneration for their old buildings, new technology is extending opportunities and more people have a right to ask for flexible working. Co-working has found a niche.
Behind each space are social entrepreneurs - modern philanthropists looking for a modest return. Many aren't interested in developing these spaces into chains though. They genuinely want to change the way people work. Others, mostly in the digital sector, are encouraging a profit oriented future for these spaces.
In this programme Nick asks is co-working a true workspace revolution? Or is this a kind of "social engineering" which only interests workers in "approved" occupations? Does ethos limit growth? And, most importantly, is co-working offering a brighter working future?
Produced by Sarah Cuddon
A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 11:30 Agatha Christie - Ordeal by Innocence (b03yqn0n)
Episode 2
Dr. Calgary joins forces with Inspector Huish to try to find out the truth about Rachel Argyle's murder. But the family is still resisting his investigation.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b03yn66k)
Restoration levy for historic buildings
The Apollo in London opens again after part of its ceiling collapsed. A look at the restoration levy, which is the charge put on tickets to maintain historic buildings.
MON 12:57 Weather (b03yn1k4)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b03yn1k6)
National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
MON 13:45 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03yn6xm)
Gossips and Goodfellows
Social networking appears to be expanding our circles of friendship just as our sense of community is contracting:
Dr Thomas Dixon presents a major 15-part history of how the meaning and experience of friendship have changed over the centuries.
In the 16th century, friendships were generally limited to an overlapping network of family members and neighbours, who lived and worked in close proximity, and shared their lives at home, in church, at the well, the bake-house and the tavern.
Today, our friendships often extend across the globe, and our Social Networks can extend to thousands.
Thomas Dixon launches this series by talking with the anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar, whose influential research explores the number of people with whom each individual is cognitively capable of sustaining a meaningful relationship.
The newly named "Dunbar's Number" is around 140, and Thomas maps this figure onto the historical picture of village life. He speaks with historians Bernard Capp and Naomi Tadmor about close-knit, real-life friendships in the 16th and 17th centuries. He learns how a group of female "Gossips" supported their friend Mary Freeman when her husband accused her of giving him the pox; and about two young "Goodfellows"in 1617, who got so drunk that they pissed into a chamber pot and shared the contents.
This is the beginning of an absorbing story in which both the similarities and the differences between friendship past and present emerge.
Producer: Beaty Rubens
Presenter: historian Dr Thomas Dixon is the Director of the Centre for the History of the Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b03ymy2v)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Hamlet (b03xhkyv)
Episode 1
The Castle of Elsinore in Denmark. The court is uneasy. The king of Denmark has recently died and the throne has been claimed by the king's brother, Claudius. Prince Hamlet, still in mourning for his father, distrusts Claudius and believes that what has happened at the court 'cannot come to good'
Original music composed and realised by Roger Goula
Director: Marc Beeby
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
MON 15:00 Brain of Britain (b03yn6xp)
(16/17)
Which star, noted for roles in Alfred Hitchcock films, is the mother of the actress Melanie Griffith? And with which waterway is the nautical mirage known as the Fata Morgana most closely associated?
These are among the general knowledge questions Russell Davies puts to the semi-finalists in today's contest, which will decide who gets the one remaining place in the 2014 Final. Today's competitors are from Bristol, Bromley in Kent, Skipton in North Yorkshire, and Oswestry in Shropshire.
As ever, there'll also be a chance for a listener to win a prize by stumping the contestants with questions of his or her own devising.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b03ymr54)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics (b03yn6xr)
Series 1
Petronius
A fresh look at the ancient world.
Natalie Haynes, critic, writer and reformed stand-up comedian, brings the ancient world entertainingly up to date. In each of the four programmes she profiles a figure from ancient Greece or Rome and creates a stand-up routine around them. She then goes in search of the links which make the ancient world still very relevant in the 21st century.
Episode 1: The worst dinner party in history. Natalie investigates the work of the writer Petronius, creator of the infamous Satyricon, later made into a film by Fellini. It’s all about excess; as a vegetarian, Natalie’s particularly revolted by the way in which the Romans insisted on making edible food look disgusting. With satirical cartoonist Martin Rowson, Fellini fan Richard Dyer and historian Victoria Rimell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (b03yn6xt)
The Environment
A new word has entered into our common vocabulary recently. Fracking is the process whereby shale gas can be released from beneath the earth's surface. On the one hand, it's argued that fracking could give us enough gas to meet our short to medium term energy needs; on the other hand, there are those who fear it will do lasting environmental damage. How do you balance short term needs with long term environmental priorities? Western Christianity has been accused of promoting an exploitative relationship with the environment. Has Religion anything to contribute to the debate?
Joining Ernie Rea are the Rev Michael Roberts, who trained as a geologist; Martin Palmer, Founder of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation: and the Rev Chris Halliwell, Rural and Environment Officer for the Diocese of Blackburn.
Producer: Rosie Dawson.
MON 17:00 PM (b03yn6xw)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03yn1k8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 Just a Minute (b03yn83j)
Series 68
Episode 7
This week, the panellists attempting to speak for 60 seconds with no hesitation, repetition & deviation are Paul Merton, Rebecca Front, Alun Cochrane and Russell Kane.
They do so, as always, under the watchful ear of Nicholas Parsons.
Subjects include 'The Metaphysical Poets', 'A Benign Dictatorship' and the less erudite 'Bingo Wings'
Producer: Tilusha Ghelani.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b03yn83l)
Kirsty is getting excited. Meanwhile Tom is furious.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b03yn83n)
Tom Hollander, Emma Donoghue, Captain America: The Winter Soldier
With John Wilson
Tom Hollander on playing The Reverend Adam Smallbone as television sitcom Rev returns to our screens for a third series.
Emma Donoghue talks about 'Frog Music', her first novel since 'Room', and in a stark departure, her new book is set in 1876 in San Francisco, in the middle of a stifling heat wave and smallpox epidemic. Based on real events, the story opens with the murder of the eccentric Jenny Bonet, frog catcher and wearer of "mens' clothes" at a time when such a thing was illegal. Emma Donoghue tells John Wilson how the idea she first had 15 years ago, has finally come to fruition, and how she came to draw the conclusion that detectives at the time didn't.
The latest addition to the Marvel Comics film franchise is Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which sees Scarlett Johansson and Robert Redford take their part in the superhero battle between good and evil. Novelist Naomi Alderman reviews.
To mark Radio 4's forthcoming Character Invasion - when fictional characters will be taking over the network - Front Row asked five of Britain's leading actors to talk about their experience of playing an iconic character. To start us off, Dame Harriet Walter describes her experience of playing Lady Macbeth in a celebrated production of the play by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1999.
Produced by Ella-mai Robey.
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b03yn66f)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 Stigma: A Political History (b03yn83q)
Journalist Peter Hitchens examines the social and cultural revolution that has taken place in Britain over the last four decades. How did many of the old stigmas, particularly those surrounding the family, simply disappear? Peter argues that, while many of the old taboos have been done away with, all we've done is replace them with another set.
As the sociologist Patricia Morgan suggests, "nature abhors a vacuum", if you remove stigma from one thing it attaches itself to something else.
Peter challenges "the Godfather of the sociology of the swinging sixties", Laurie Taylor and the former editor of the Archers, Vanessa Whitburn, to explain how the enormous social changes of the 1960s and ensuing years happened, and he questions left wing author Owen Jones and former Conservative cabinet minister John Redwood on whether, as a society, we should be satisfied with the outcome.
Peter pays a visit to St Mellons in Cardiff, the estate made famous in a speech by John Redwood in 1993. Mr Redwood thought he'd focused on the duties of fathers, but the wider world saw it as an attack on single mothers. Peter asks why there was such a fuss and whether it would be possible to make that speech today. He suggests that we have got to a stage where there is such pressure to conform that no-one dares express views that are outside accepted mainstream thinking.
In throwing off the chains of the past, have we saddled ourselves with a form of liberal bigotry?
Producer: Max O'Brien
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 20:30 Analysis (b03yn83s)
Why Minsky Matters
American economist Hyman Minsky died in 1996, but his theories offer one of the most compelling explanations of the 2008 financial crisis. His key idea is simple enough to be a t-shirt slogan: "Stability is destabilising". But TUC senior economist Duncan Weldon argues it's a radical challenge to mainstream economic theory. While the mainstream view has been that markets tend towards equilibrium and the role of banks and finance can largely be ignored, Minsky argued that in the good times the seeds of the next crisis are sown as the financial sector engages in riskier and riskier lending in pursuit of profit. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, this might seem obvious - so why did Minsky die an outsider? What do his ideas say about the response to the 2008 crisis and current policies like Help to Buy? And has mainstream economics done enough to respond to its own failure to predict the crisis and the challenge posed by Minsky's ideas?
Producer: James Fletcher.
MON 21:00 Nature (b03y0qkl)
Series 8
Bigfoot: Not a Bear
A "Nature" with a bit of a difference. Instead of looking at rare species and conservation measures, this week's programme focuses on perhaps the most elusive (if not non-existent) creature of all - Bigfoot, the supposed ape like or hominid creature that people believe lives in the North West of the United States. With reports of sightings of strange man-like beasts that go back as far as 1920 if not stretching back into the 18th century, and the 1967 famous, if not infamous, film shot at Bluff Creek in California, there's as much interest in finding evidence of Bigfoot today as there's ever been amongst those convinced of its existence. But rebuffs of misidentification, assumption and hoaxes abound.
Invited to the annual Beachfoot Camp 2013, BBC journalist Matthew Hill hears of Bigfoot encounters from people who've had experiences across decades and heads out with Bigfoot researchers with all the latest technology in their quest to be the ones to capture that one piece of vital indisputable evidence. He also has a confounding experience that leaves him unsure what to think and tries to understand what it is in the human psyche that needs to hold to the belief that these man-like monsters exist.
Produced by Sheena Duncan.
MON 21:30 Start the Week (b03yn667)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b03yn1kb)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b03yn879)
Malaysia says missing plane crashed into Indian Ocean.
Egypt sentences 529 Muslim brotherhood supporters to death.
Ukrainian forces leave their Crimean bases.
With Carolyn Quinn.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b03ynt76)
Gabrielle Zevin - The Collected Works of AJ Fikry
A Book Event
The Collected Works of A.J. Fikry is the enchanting, funny and touching novel by Gabrielle Zevin. Set in Island Books, a struggling independent bookshop at the heart of an island community off the American coast, it is the place where life lessons gleaned from reading are passed on. Today, events take a curious turn when A.J. plays host to an author. Madeleine Potter and Hari Dhillon read. Madeleine Potter and Hari Dhillon read.
Abridged by Sally Marmion and produced by Elizabeth Allard.
MON 23:00 Short Cuts (b03dsk4z)
Series 4
The Trip
Josie Long goes on a series of unusual journeys as she presents a sequence of mini documentaries about adventurous trips.
From searching for teenage misadventure through to finding yourself, we travel from the British seaside to the freezing landscape of Minnesota altering minds and bodies along the way.
Frank Education
Feat. Philip Bill Bruckner
Prod. Hana Walker-Brown
St Audries
Feat. Margaret Pepper
Prod. Olivia Humphreys
My Father Takes a Vacation
Prod. Martin Johnson
Cold in Minnesota
Originally broadcast on the Unfictional Podcast
Prod. Bob Carlson
Series producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b03yn87f)
A whistleblower gives MPs the honest truth about the backlash she endured when she exposed serious failings in the NHS. And the Transport Secretary updates the Commons on the latest changes to the controversial plans for multi-Billion pound High Speed rail. Susan Hulme presents the best of a busy day in Parliament, which also saw the continuation of debate on last week's Budget.
TUESDAY 25 MARCH 2014
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b03yn1lc)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b03y0f02)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03yn1lf)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03yn1lh)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03yn1lk)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b03yn1lm)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b03ynf4c)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Richard Littledale.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b03ynf4l)
Cattle Scab, Lambing, Free-Range Hens
Farmers in Scotland are warned to look out for their stock after the first case of cattle scab has been confirmed in the country for around thirty years. The disease that's caused by a mite was found in a recently imported calf.
It's hoped insects will entice free-range hens out of their sheds and into the field. Scientists are carrying research in the bid to reduce the number of keel bone fractures amongst hens and reduce feather pecking in the flock.
And Farming Today continues to look at the highs and lows of this years lambing season. Lambing can often be one of the first hands-on jobs an apprentice farmer will be allowed to take on. Anna Hill joined Richard Evans in Norfolk to hear about the helpers he has on the farm. And Farming Today speaks to Kate Humble and Adam Henson ahead of tonight's episode of Lambing Live on BBC2.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Lucy Bickerton.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03x45pj)
Alpine Swift
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Bill Oddie presents the alpine swift. Alpine swifts are impressive anchor-shaped birds, the colour of coffee above and milk-white below. In the UK Alpine swifts are annual visitors, appearing in Spring, but they don't breed here. They spend the winter in Africa and on their journey north in spring some birds overshoot their breeding areas. Alpine swifts can be seen as they arc through the skies and because they travel so fast they can turn up almost anywhere from central London to Shetland.
TUE 06:00 Today (b03ynf4t)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (b03ynf4y)
Alf Adams
Alf Adams FRS, physicist at the University of Surrey, had an idea on a beach in the mid-eighties that made the modern internet, CD and DVD players, and even bar-code readers possible. You probably have half a dozen 'strained-layer quantum well lasers' in your home.
TUE 09:30 One to One (b03ynf54)
David Loyn talks to Hekmat Karzai
Next month, Afghanistan goes to the polls and its president, Hamid Karzai steps down. The BBC's Kabul correspondent, David Loyn, talks to his cousin, political analyst Hekmat Karzai. Western-educated and urbane, Hekmat Karzai nonetheless has to operate in a system where what your grandfather did can be more important than your own achievements, and where blood feuds can cut short a political career - both his father and his nephew were assassinated. What chance does Afghanistan have of moving towards a stable democracy?
Producer: Jolyon Jenkins.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b03y3mlh)
Ben Macintyre - A Spy Among Friends
Episode 2
With access to newly released MI5 files and previously unseen family papers, and with the cooperation of former officers of MI6 and the CIA, author Ben Macintyre unlocks the last great secret of the Cold War.
Kim Philby was the most notorious British defector and Soviet mole in history. Agent, double agent, traitor and enigma, he betrayed every secret of Allied operations to the Russians in the early years of the Cold War. Philby's two closest friends in the intelligence world, Nicholas Elliott of MI6 and James
Jesus Angleton the CIA intelligence chief, thought they knew Philby better than anyone - only to discover they had not known him at all.
This is a story of intimate duplicity; of loyalty, trust and treachery, class and conscience; of an ideological battle waged by men with cut-glass accents and well-made suits in the comfortable clubs and restaurants of London and Washington; of male friendships forged, and then systematically betrayed.
The story begins in Beirut 1963, a bugged room. Two men who've known each other for thirty years face one another. Both are spies, but one is a traitor. In the second episode of A Spy Among Friends, Philby's charm and intelligence make him many friends inside the Intelligence Service, where his career enjoys an irresistible rise even as he is plotting his deadliest betrayals.
Reader: Simon Russell Beale
Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b03ynf5c)
Exam Pressure on Teens; Online Bullying
BBC School Reporters Isabel and Emily, from John Cleveland College in Hinckley, Leicestershire join us to talk exam pressure, online bullying and more.
Pupils from Uckfield Community College interview their teacher Jenny McLachlan about her first novel, Flirty Dancing - and the four book deal that's going to take her away from teaching.
And teenage singer songwriter and guitarist, Nina Nesbitt sings live.
Presented by Emily, Isabel and Jane Garvey
Produced by Jane Thurlow.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b03ynf5h)
Lavinia Greenlaw - Five Fever Tales
The Wrongly Named Tree
A new drama serial by Lavinia Greenlaw about one of the oldest of human diseases.
Malaria has blighted human life in parts of the world for as long as humans have been humans. The mosquito, the parasite it carries, and the human bloodstream are evolving together. In many places the parasite still has the upper hand. The Wrongly Named Tree: the second of five dramas based on facts and taking in ancient historical itches and ideas about the disease and the latest scientific attempts to understand and outwit it.
The disease caused by a parasite carried in the saliva of female mosquitoes came to humans probably from gorillas a long time ago. Through recorded history the fever-prompting disease has shadowed humans almost everywhere warm enough for mosquitoes to live between the Poles. We have evolved together. It is still the biggest killer of children in parts of the world.
Made in collaboration with Wellcome Trust.
Medical/science adviser: Julian Rayner, Sanger Institute.
Music and sound design: Jon Nicholls
Narrator: Siobhan Redmond.
Other parts: Russell Boulter, Richard Bremmer, David Collins, Jasmine Hyde, John Mackay
Producer: Tim Dee.
TUE 11:00 The Great Global Warming Gold Rush (b03ynf5n)
The most convincing evidence that someone really believes something is when they are willing to risk their own money on it. Businesses around the world are doing just that; betting that they can profit from the effects of climate change. Justin Rowlatt meets the entrepreneurs who believe there is money to be made from the world's changing climate.
Producer: Sandra Kanthal.
TUE 11:30 Swinging Addis (b03ynfpl)
'There is Swinging Addis just like there is Swinging London, bell-bottom trousers, mini skirts...'
In the 1960s and early 70s, unknown to most of the outside world, Addis Ababa's nightlife was electrified by a blend of traditional folk music, jazz, swing, rhythm and blues. Clubs were full, dance floors packed with young people moved by the music of a new generation of Ethiopian pop stars who were inspired by Elvis and James Brown but gave their sound a unique twist.
'...When we played the record on the loudspeakers, the traffic police had to be sent to disperse the young people dancing on the street.'
The story begins in 1896, following Ethiopia's victory against the invading Italians at the Battle of Adwa, when the Russian tsar Nicolas II sent Emperor Menelik 40 brass instruments. It became the imperial music - and planted a seed.
Then, on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1924, the prince who would become Emperor Haile Selassie met a marching band of young Armenians orphaned in the recent Ottoman massacres. He shipped the "Arba Lijoch" ("Forty Kids") back to Addis Ababa and installed them as the imperial band. The emperor's new big band ensembles proved to be incubators for the stars of a new sound craved by a young generation demanding musical - as well as social and political - change. In 1969, a 26-year-old music producer called Amha Eshete defied an imperial decree giving the state a monopoly over the reproduction of music to release Ethiopia's first-ever independent record with Alemayehu Eshete. When the pair played it on a loudspeaker from Amha's music shop, the young people dancing in the street stopped the traffic. The rest was history.
In Addis Ababa, Courtney Pine meets some of the veterans of the Swinging Addis golden age of Ethiopian jazz, including Mahmoud Ahmed and Alemayehu Eshete - the 'Ethiopian Elvis'. These Ethiopian heroes, now in their 70s, are like the Buena Vista Social Club stars of their country. Courtney speaks to the legendary Ethiopian music producer Amha Eshete, while his guide on his musical journey of discovery is Francis Falceto, the French music producer who 'rediscovered' these artists and brought their music to the west, and has now compiled 30 albums in the Ethiopiques series. Courtney finds Addis Ababa is still swinging, and meets one of the new generation of Ethiopian jazz musicians who are picking up the beat, the young pianist Samuel Yirga, to jam Ethiopian style.
Presenter: Courtney Pine
Producer: Eve Streeter
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b03ynfpn)
Call You and Yours: Supermarkets - is it about trust or value?
The UK's "big four" supermarkets are facing their biggest challenge in a decade with the arrival of discount stores. They've lost market share to shops offering lower prices with no added extras. But they are promising to fight back. Sir Philip Green, the owner of Arcadia is entering the market by selling food in his BHS stores and says he will undercut prices by 10%. But is it just lower prices that we want? How much does trust play a part in where you decide to shop? Do you chase value and bargains at different supermarkets, abandoning the traditional notion of the weekly shop? Have you left one supermarket behind completely to embrace another?
Call us from
10am on Tuesday 03700 100444
Email youandyours@bbc.co.uk; text 84844; #youandyours
Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Simon Browning.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b03yn1lp)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b03yn1lr)
National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
TUE 13:45 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03yns3j)
A Marriage of Minds
Social networking appears to be expanding our circles of friendship just as our sense of community is contracting: Dr Thomas Dixon presents a timely history of how the meaning and experience of friendship have changed over the centuries.
Having launched the series by exploring the close-knit but instrumental friendships which most people experienced in the 16th and 17th centuries, Dr Thomas Dixon turns to the elite ideal of friendship as expressed in classical writers such as Aristotle and Cicero, and as lived out by Renaissance men such Thomas More and Erasmus.
He looks into the continuing influence of these emotional "friendships of choice". Today we take such friendships for granted but in the seventeenth century they were available only to those who had the time, money and education to pursue them.
It was commonly believed that only men had the capacity for such friendships but Thomas Dixon reveals how women too were beginning to spread their social wings. He tells the story of the Welshwoman Katherine Philips, a published poet and the wife of a wealthy landowner, who argued that since the soul has no gender, then friendship - a mingling of souls - was equally available to both men and women.
Producer: Beaty Rubens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b03yn83l)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Hamlet (b03yns3l)
Episode 2
The ghost of Hamlet's father has told Hamlet that he was murdered by Claudius. Hamlet wants revenge - but is the ghost telling him the truth?
Original music composed and realised by Roger Goula
Director: Marc Beeby
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
TUE 14:55 Five Writers in Search of Their Character (b03yns4d)
Adil Ray
As part of Radio 4's Character Invasion Day Adil Ray, who created and acts the part of Citizen Khan, talks about why Mr Khan is his favourite character. Citizen Khan is a family-based British sitcom produced by the BBC, set in Sparkhill, Birmingham, described by its lead character a Pakistani Muslim Mr Khan as "the capital of British Pakistan".
TUE 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (b03ynt6h)
Series 6
Leicester
Jay Rayner and the team are in Leicester for this episode of the culinary panel programme.
Taking questions from a local audience are food scientist Peter Barham, restaurateur Henry Dimbleby, Scottish-Indian fusion chef Angela Malik, and broadcaster and writer Andi Oliver.
The panelists explore the nuances of Gujarati cuisine, discuss the history of blue Stilton production, and get excited about spring greens.
Also in this episode, we ask why onions make us weep, suggest unusual egg recipes and share railway eating experiences.
Food Consultant: Anna Colquhoun
Produced by Victoria Shepherd
Assistant Producer: Darby Dorras
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (b03ynt6k)
Britain's Green Capital 2015
In 2015 Bristol will be European Green Capital. We discover exactly what the title means to the city and what makes Bristol so environmentally friendly.
The 'Green Capital' award is new. It's been going for the last five years and next year Bristol will become the sixth. Miranda Krestovnikoff discovers why Bristol was successful in it's bid and what makes the city stand out from the rest of the country for it's environmental credentials.
Miranda visits last year's winning city, Nantes to find out what makes a city European Green capital and what the legacy is for future generations living in Nantes. She discovers how the Green Capital award is spreading the environmental message across Europe and what Bristol can learn from previous winners.
In this week's Costing The Earth Miranda Krestovnikoff talks to the team behind the bid to find out what big plans they have in store for Bristol as they prepare to become European Green Capital for 2015 and meets Bristol's flamboyant and eco-thinking mayor, George Ferguson, as he sets out the green agenda for the years to come.
Presenter: Miranda Krestovnikoff
Producer: Martin Poyntz-Roberts.
TUE 16:00 Law in Action (b03ynt6m)
The Policing Debate
How have recent stories like undercover policing, the deaths of Mark Duggan and Ian Tomlinson, and "Plebgate" affected public confidence in the police? Do the police have the right powers to do their job and do they use them as they should? Has the introduction of Police and Crime Commissioners in England and Wales helped to make the police more accountable?
Ahead of fresh inquests into the deaths of 96 men, women and children at Hillsborough, Joshua Rozenberg chairs a panel with legal, policing and political perspectives in front of an audience in Liverpool and asks: can we trust the police?
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b03ynt6p)
Annie Mac and Kathy Lette
DJ Annie Mac and author Kathy Lette discuss their favourite books with Harriett Gilbert.
Annie's choice is The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, an international hit.
Kathy nominates Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray, whose heroine Becky Sharp she loves.
Harriett picks Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald, which is her Booker Prize-winning novel.
Producer Beth O'Dea.
TUE 17:00 PM (b03ynt6r)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03yn1lt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Down the Line (b00zlhhz)
Series 4
Episode 2
The return of the ground-breaking, Radio 4 show, hosted by the legendary Gary Bellamy; brought to you by the creators of The Fast Show.
Down The Line stars Rhys Thomas as Gary Bellamy, with Amelia Bullmore, Simon Day, Charlie Higson, Lucy Montgomery, and Paul Whitehouse.
Special guests are Rosie Cavaliero, Kevin Eldon, Robert Popper and Adil Ray.
Producers: Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson
A Down The Line production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b03ynt6t)
Tony is on the back foot. Meanwhile Elizabeth is apologetic.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b03ynt6w)
Ian McKellen, Nan Goldin, The Past, New Worlds
With John Wilson
Andrew Dickson reviews Channel 4's new drama series New Worlds, set in the turbulent 1680's, a time of torture and show trials as the reign of Charles II goes from tolerance to tyranny. New Worlds stars Jamie Dornan and Freya Mavor.
American photographer Nan Goldin talks to John about her latest collection of work which comprises of more than 300 photographs exploring the theme of childhood, why digital photography is not for her, and how the camera saved her life.
To mark Radio 4's forthcoming Character Invasion Day - when fictional characters will be taking over the network - Front Row asked five of Britain's leading actors to talk about their experience of playing an iconic character. Sir Ian McKellen discusses taking on the role of Estragon in Waiting for Godot - a play voted the most significant English language play of the 20th century in a National Theatre poll of 800 playwrights, actors, directors and journalists.
The Past is the new film from the Iranian writer and director of the Oscar-winning A Separation. In Asghar Farhadi's latest film, Bérénice Bejo (from The Artist) plays a French woman who embarks on a new relationship after her Iranian husband leaves her behind and returns to his homeland. But when she arranges for a divorce he returns to find unexpected tragic consequences. Shahidha Bari reviews.
Producer : Dymphna Flynn
Image: Ian McKellen in Waiting for Godot performed in rep with No Man's Land by Harold Pinter, directed by Sean Mathias at Broadway's Cort Theatre, New York
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus 2013.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b03ynf5h)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 PPI: Britain's Biggest Banking Scandal (b03yqp8d)
In February, Lloyds Banking Group set aside a further £1.8bn to compensate its customers who were mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance. It's the sixth time in less than three years the bank has had to revise upwards the level of compensation due and brings the bill so far for Lloyds alone to £9.8bn. Across Britain's banks as a whole, compensation costs have now reached more than £22bn - a sum so large, some economists ironically even credit these payments with having helped boost the economic recovery. How did Britain's biggest ever mis-selling scandal happen and why did it lead to claims management companies being able to rake in billions of pounds from the disaster?
With testimony from insiders, Michael Robinson tells the unbelievable story of PPI. How in their greed to make more and more profit from selling the protection, the banks demanded ever bigger commission payments from providers of cover while ensuring it was less and less likely a claim would ever succeed. The programme hears how industry whistleblowers were repeatedly ignored and asks why the regulators failed to act sooner. And it shows how the banks' reluctance to acknowledge what they'd done opened up the floodgates to complaints and spawned a whole new breed of claims management companies making vast profits from customers who had already fallen victim to bankers' greed.
While the banks now insist they've learned the lesson of the PPI disaster, Michael Robinson asks if they have really changed their ways.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b03ynt70)
How Self-directed support works, Feeling conspicuous in meetings
Listener Yvonne Holt contacted In Touch to pose a question about her self-directed support. Yvonne is in receipt of an individual budget which allows her to employ a personal assistant for a number of hours a week. Apart from this support, Yvonne also could use her individual budget to fund some specialist equipment. However, one piece of equipment she requested to be included in her budget was rejected. We speak to Yvonne about this arrangement and we hear from Stephen Payne, Community Services Manager for Vista, a voluntary blindness charity based in Leicester, about how individual budgets work, who gets them and how decisions are made about what kinds of support get funded.
Regular contributor to In Touch Tom Walker has recently returned from a trip to Argentina. Tom has so far chalked up visits to 28 countries, the majority of which he has visited travelling solo. We speak to Tom about his recent adventure and get a flavour of how he operates when he's travelling alone.
Priya Commander wrote to In Touch about how difficult she finds attending meetings when she is the only visually impaired person there. She shares her thought-provoking column and explores why she thinks sighted people find it so difficult to interact with her, as a blind person, at meetings.
TUE 21:00 Inside Health (b03ynt72)
Stress and pregnancy, CBT for insomnia, Cluster headache, Smoking and mental health
Dr Mark Porter finds out why insomnia can often go untreated by the NHS despite there being a treatment that not only works but also doesn't involve drugs. There are nearly 11 million prescriptions for sleeping tablets in the UK every year but their effect isn't long lasting and people can find it hard to come off the tablets. Cognitive behavioural therapy has consistently been shown to be very effective at improving sleep in the long term but few people have access to it. Mark is joined by Colin Espie, professor of Sleep Medicine at the University of Oxford, and by professor Kevin Morgan, director of the Clinical Sleep Research Unit at Loughborough University, to discuss why insomnia is so neglected, and to talk about the success of methods to deliver CBT online using mobile and web technology.
Also in the programme, Mark talks to Peter Goadsby, professor of neurology at King's College Hospital London, to find out what cluster headaches are, why they're so painful and why they can occur when the clocks change. He also meets Ann McNeil, professor of tobacco addiction at the Institute of Psychiatry, to bust the myth that smoking helps bust stress.
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (b03ynf4y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b03ynt74)
President Obama says that Russia is isolated over Crimea.
Angry exchanges at Home Affairs Select Committee.
How hard is it to grieve for missing passengers?
With Carolyn Quinn.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b03yn87c)
Gabrielle Zevin - The Collected Works of AJ Fikry
A Twist
Gabrielle Zevin's funny and touching novel is set in a quirky New England bookshop and is about the transformative power of books and reading. Today, a celebration and a reckoning. Madeleine Potter and Hari Dhillon read.
TUE 23:00 Turf Wars (b00zsjyj)
The Accidental Head
The Accidental Head by Jeremy Front
Beth just wants what's best for her 11 year old son; a solid secondary education at the kind of school that recognises his genius, as well as his aptitude for baroque music. A school like Folgate. But when the family is edged out of Folgate's catchment area, a battle begins.
Beth takes on the might of the council with a mixture of community action, ancient by-laws and sheep.
Directed by James Robinson.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b03ynt78)
Sean Curran reports on Budget clashes. There's tough questions for the police in London. And how to speed up HS2.
WEDNESDAY 26 MARCH 2014
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b03yn1mz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b03y3mlh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03yn1n1)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03yn1n3)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03yn1n5)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b03yn1n7)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b03yntrt)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Richard Littledale.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b03yntrw)
Seasonal Lamb, Salmon Hatcheries, Brassicas
This week Farming Today is following the progress of the 2014 lambing season. Although it's an emotional time on the farm, the fact remains that selling lamb for the table is what sheep farming is all about. But is British lamb a seasonal treat or should it be on the menu all year round?
Anna Hill hears from both sides of the debate. Justin King, chief executive of Sainsbury's, says supermarkets should promote UK lamb when it's at its best, while Chris Dodds, executive secretary of the Livestock Auctioneers Association argues the industry has moved on from the days when you didn't serve lamb between Christmas and Easter.
A new report has said the century-old practice of artificially enhancing the number of salmon in rivers may actually damage populations of the fish. The Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland - RAFTS - carried out a study on the River Spey and found that hatcheries, where young fish are protected and raised, made very little difference to number of salmon caught by recreational fishermen - at the most increasing catches by just 1.8%.
And when was the last time you ate a turnip? According to new research from the Brassica Growers' Association a third of Brits have never tried one, only half of us have eaten kale and broccoli is the veg of choice among youngsters. Older people prefer cauliflower and cabbage. Anna has more brassica trivia and asks what the industry can learn from such findings.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced in Bristol by Anna Jones.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03x45q5)
Ruff
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Bill Oddie presents the ruff. The glory of the ruff lies in its extravagant courtship displays. For most of the year these waders look similar to our other long-legged water-birds such as redshanks or sandpipers but in the breeding season the males sprout a multi-coloured ruff. The impressive ruffs of feathers come in infinite variety, black, white, ginger, or a mixture of these. The males gather at traditional spring leks with the aim of winning one or more mates.
WED 06:00 Today (b03yntry)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b03ynts0)
Gary Morecombe, Rebecca Gowers, Sara Ishaq, Mike McCartney
Libby Purves meets Gary Morecambe, son of Eric; novelist Rebecca Gowers; filmmaker Sara Ishaq and photographer and musician Mike McCartney.
Gary Morecambe is the son of the legendary comedian Eric Morecombe. To mark the 30th anniversary of Eric's death the play The Man What Brought Us Sunshine - Morecambe, starring Bob Golding as Eric, is on tour. Gary is the author of a series of books about his father and a biography of Cary Grant. The Man What Brought Us Sunshine - Morecambe is touring the UK.
Rebecca Gowers is a novelist and the great grand-daughter of Sir Ernest Gowers, a leading civil servant and author of Plain Words - A Guide to the Use of English. Rebecca has revised and edited the first publication - originally written as a language handbook for civil servants. In this new edition she celebrates the original text and modernises Sir Ernest's advice. Plain Words - A Guide to the Use of English is published by Particular Books.
Sara Ishaq is a Yemeni-Scottish filmmaker. Her new film, The Mulberry House, documents her return to Yemen in 2011 10 years after she left - ready to face her past and reconnect with her long-severed roots. She returns to find her family and country teetering on the brink of a revolution. The Mulberry House is being shown as part of this year's Human Rights Watch Film Festival in London.
Mike 'McGear' McCartney is a musician and photographer who is touring the UK with his one-man show Sex, Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll (I Wish!). The show chronicles his life through the photographs he's taken along the way. Born and brought up in Liverpool, Mike became part of the comedy, poetry and music trio The Scaffold which became an integral part of the 60's Merseybeat era. Sex, Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll (I wish!) is touring the UK.
Producer: Paula McGinley.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b03y36vh)
Ben Macintyre - A Spy Among Friends
Episode 3
With access to newly released MI5 files and previously unseen family papers, and with the cooperation of former officers of MI6 and the CIA, author Ben Macintyre unlocks the last great secret of the Cold War.
Kim Philby was the most notorious British defector and Soviet mole in history. Agent, double agent, traitor and enigma, he betrayed every secret of Allied operations to the Russians in the early years of the Cold War. Philby's two closest friends in the intelligence world, Nicholas Elliott of MI6 and James
Jesus Angleton the CIA intelligence chief, thought they knew Philby better than anyone - only to discover they had not known him at all.
This is a story of intimate duplicity; of loyalty, trust and treachery, class and conscience; of an ideological battle waged by men with cut-glass accents and well-made suits in the comfortable clubs and restaurants of London and Washington; of male friendships forged, and then systematically betrayed.
In today's episode, who is "The Third Man"? When Burgess and Maclean break for Moscow fear and paranoia grip MI6. In the third episode of A Spy Among Friends the spotlight shines on Kim Philby
Reader: Simon Russell Beale
Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b03ynts2)
Women, Equality and Islam
Women, equality and Islam. Salma Yacoob, Mirina Paananen, Sara Khan and Julie Bindel discuss. And the young women behind Me and My Hijab, an online support and information network.
Presenter: Jane Garvey
Producer: Natalie Goldwater.
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b03ynts4)
Lavinia Greenlaw - Five Fever Tales
What the Doctor Saw
A new drama serial by Lavinia Greenlaw about one of the oldest of human diseases.
Malaria has blighted human life in parts of the world for as long as humans have been humans. The mosquito, the parasite it carries, and the human bloodstream are evolving together. In many places the parasite still has the upper hand. What the Doctor Saw: the third of five dramas based on facts and taking in ancient historical itches and ideas about the disease and the latest scientific attempts to understand and outwit it.
The disease caused by a parasite carried in the saliva of female mosquitoes came to humans probably from gorillas a long time ago. Through recorded history the fever-prompting disease has shadowed humans almost everywhere warm enough for mosquitoes to live between the Poles. We have evolved together. It is still the biggest killer of children in parts of the world.
Made in collaboration with Wellcome Trust.
Medical/science adviser: Julian Rayner, Sanger Institute.
Music and sound design: Jon Nicholls
Narrator: Siobhan Redmond.
Other parts: Russell Boulter, Richard Bremmer, David Collins, Jasmine Hyde, John Mackay
Producer: Tim Dee.
WED 11:00 The Great Space Hunt (b03ynts6)
In 2013 an asteroid with the explosive power of 40 nuclear bombs exploded in the sky over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk.
No one saw it coming, because it was one of the smaller asteroids, and it was approaching from the wrong direction. Luckily, it exploded high up in the atmosphere, and the only injuries were from the flying glass of thousands of broken windows. If it had exploded lower down, it could have been a different story.
Subsequent research suggested that there are 10 times more asteroids out there like the Chelyabinsk one than we previously thought. Hardly any of them have been found. NASA is trying to find all the big asteroids that could potentially wipe out life on earth, and is making good progress, but the smaller ones are virtually unknown.
So what is Britain doing about the asteroid threat? At the top of a hill in mid-Wales is an observatory called Spaceguard UK. It’s run by a retired army major called Jay Tate. Despite being officially designated as the “National Near Earth Objects Information Centre”, it gets no state funding and subsists only from Mr Tate’s pension, and the sales of keyrings and pencils in the gift shop. Mr Tate is one of an army of amateur astronomers who scans the skies looking for asteroids that might come close to the earth. The safety of the earth is in these amateurs' hands, he says.
One of the most prolific asteroid observers in the world is Peter Birtwhistle, who operates from a hut in his Berkshire garden. He spends over 100 nights a year looking for asteroids, often barely sleeping. When he finds one, he sends his observations to the Minor Planets Centre at Harvard, which logs known asteroids.
Despite this, only two incoming asteroids have ever been detected before they arrived. One exploded over the Sudanese desert in 2008; the world got a few hours’ warning because Gareth Williams at the Minor Planets Centre was woken in the night by his dog needing to go outside, and happened to check his computer.
Jolyon Jenkins speaks to the unsung army of people who are trying to keep us safe from the threat from outer space, and asks whether it’s right that we depend so much on enthusiasts.
Presenter/producer: Jolyon Jenkins
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014.
WED 11:30 HR (b03ynts8)
Series 5
Til Death Do Us Part
Nigel Williams' comedy. Kate now questions her love for Peter. But she's not the only commitment-phobe. Can a visit to a shrink sort out relationship woes?
Directed by Peter Kavanagh.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b03yntsb)
Rail links, Cancer claims, Free insulation
A man is fined for advertising claims he could treat cancer by looking at people's blood cells on a computer screen.
Changes to green levies were designed to bring our energy bills down but at what cost to people who stood to benefit from free home insulation?
And as the railway line undermined by the sea prepares to reopen we look at the long term prospects for rail links in south west England.
Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Jon Douglas.
WED 13:00 World at One (b03ynvd8)
National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
WED 13:45 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03ynvdb)
Love Your Enemies
Social networking appears to be expanding our circles of friendship just as our sense of community is contracting: Dr Thomas Dixon presents a timely history of how the meaning and experience of friendship have changed over the centuries.
At a time when Christianity taught a gospel of universal love, including loving your enemy, individuals might still find themselves drawn to particular friendships. The Bible itself contained such contradictions, as the 17th century Anglican poet George Herbert put it: "David had his Jonathan, Christ his John." These apparent contradictions were the cause of real anxiety amongst devout Christians.
The role of individual friendships became even more apparent after the Reformation, when personal friendships began to assume the confessional role once held by priests.
Thomas Dixon takes up the story during the Civil War, and considers this tension within particular religious communities such as the Quakers.
He talks with the historian Naomi Tadmor and also hears from Anglican-turned-Quaker, Terry Waite, who movingly recalls the meaning of friendship and of learning to love himself as a friend, during years of solitary confinement after being taken hostage in 1987.
Producer: Beaty Rubens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b03ynt6t)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Hamlet (b03ynvdd)
Episode 3
In an attempt to find out whether Claudius murdered his father, Hamlet has arranged for a play featuring a similar murder to be performed before the court.
Original music composed and realised by Roger Goula
Director: Marc Beeby
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b03ynvdj)
Pension Planning
Has the Budget overhaul brought new life to your pension plans? Paul Lewis and guests answered your questions.
If you were unable to get through to today's programme, free confidential and impartial advice is available from The Pensions Advisory Service. Call: 0207 932 5780; e-mail: enquiries@pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk or visit the website www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk
To answer your questions, Paul Lewis was joined by:
Michelle Cracknell, Chief Executive, The Pensions Advisroy Service.
Mark Meldon, Independent Financial Advisors, R C Gray & Co Ltd.
Tom McPhail, Head of Pensions Research, Hargreaves Lansdown.
Call 03700 100 444 between
1pm and
3.30pm on Wednesday or e-mail moneybox@bbc.co.uk now. Standard geographic charges apply.
WED 15:30 Inside Health (b03ynt72)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b03yqcwl)
Poverty and 'Shame'; Small-Scale Technology in India
Poverty and 'Shame' - shame was once described as the 'irreducible core' of poverty by Nobel laureate, Amartya Sen. Laurie Taylor looks at new cross cultural research which examines the psycho-social consequences of being poor in countries as diverse as Britain, Pakistan and South Korea. Elaine Chase, Research Officer at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at the University of Oxford, considers the way that shame and stigma have been experienced by British people receiving welfare aid throughout history. She found that feelings of unworthiness, guilt and shame were common. In the current day, her study found that poor people accepted that 'other peoples' poverty was the result of personal failures rather than structural factors. The only alibi for their present circumstances was to deflect blame on to the 'undeserving' poor. She's joined by Sohail Choudhry, Research Assistant, also at the University of Oxford, whose Pakistan based interviews offered a contrasting perspective. Pakistanis on the 'breadline' also felt shame, but were also more inclined to blame the government and the 'big guns' for their reduced state.
Also, Professor of History, David Arnold, describes the impact of small scale technology on modern India. How the sewing machine, bicycle and typewriter reinvented every day life and work leading to new ways of thinking about the politics of colonial rule and Indian nationhood.
Producer: Torquil Macleod.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b03yqcwn)
Future of arts TV; Turkey attempts Twitter ban; the Peter Greste campaign
Yesterday, the BBC director general, Tony Hall, announced what he called "the greatest commitment to arts for a generation" with the launch of BBC Arts. What is the future of arts on TV and what can BBC Arts learn from Sky Arts? Joining Steve will be Sir Peter Bazalgette, chair of Arts Council England, Gillian Reynolds of The Telegraph and the BBC's new director of arts, Jonty Claypole.
Turkey's prime minister Erdogan has carried out his threat to ban Twitter in his country, but what impact has this had and how are journalists getting round this? Political columnist Yavuz Baydar joins Steve from Istanbul.
And, as Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste spends another week in jail in Egypt awaiting trial, what are the prospects for his freedom - and can his colleagues Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed hope to be freed at the same time? Former C4 reporter Sue Turton, now of Al Jazeera, has also been charged, albeit in her absence and she brings Steve up to date.
Presenter: Steve Hewlett
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Image: Jonty Claypool, BBC Director of Arts
WED 17:00 PM (b03yqcwq)
Coverage and analysis of the day's news. Including Weather at
5.57pm.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03yn1n9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Thanks a Lot, Milton Jones! (b03yqcws)
Series 1
Books and Booksibility
Mention Milton Jones to most people and the first thing they think is 'Help!'.
King of the one-liners, Milton Jones returns BBC to Radio 4 for an amazing 10th series in a new format where he has decided to set himself up as a man who can help anyone anywhere - whether they need it or not. Because, in his own words, "No problem too problemy".
But each week, Milton and his trusty assistant Anton set out to help people and soon find they're embroiled in a new adventure. So when you're close to the edge, then Milton can give you a push.
This week, Milton Jones is asked to help out with the local book festival because the townsfolk are too distracted by their smartphones to.... Sorry, what was I saying? Sorry, just got a text.
Written by Milton with James Cary ("Bluestone 42", "Miranda") and Dan Evans (who co-wrote Milton's Channel 4 show "House Of Rooms") the man they call "Britain's funniest Milton," returns to the radio with a fully-working cast and a shipload of new jokes.
The cast includes regulars Tom Goodman-Hill ("Spamalot", "Mr. Selfridge") as the ever-faithful Anton, and Dan Tetsell ("Newsjack"), and features the one and only Josie Lawrence working with Milton for the first time.
Producer David Tyler's radio credits include Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive, Cabin Pressure, Bigipedia, Another Case Of Milton Jones, Jeremy Hardy Speaks To The Nation, The Brig Society, Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off, The 99p Challenge, The Castle, The 3rd Degree and even, going back a bit, Radio Active.
Produced and Directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b03yqcwv)
It's the night of Tom's stag do but after a rough week he isn't really in the mood.
Kenton ends up drinking a gin and tonic thinking it's a mineral water. He decides to carry on drinking, despite his Lent challenge with Jolene. After all, what happens in Brum stays in Brum!
Rob suggests heading to a 'gentleman's club' but only Jazzer seems keen. Ian suggests a club around the corner and they all agree, not knowing that he has directed them to a gay club.
Kenton is attracting a lot of attention. Recognising his suggestible state, the boys decide to make his night even more lively.
Roy, Rob and Tom discuss relationships but Jazzer is cynical. However, he reveals that there is one recently single girl he'd settle down for but doesn't say who it is.
Tom phones Helen. He doesn't seem happy and Helen is worried. Tom seems unsure about his feelings for Kirsty. Helen makes him promise to talk to her before he makes any decisions.
Unable to find the others in the club, Tom, Ian and Adam call it a night. Rob and Jazzer are preoccupied with a very drunk Kenton. Deciding to play a prank on him, they put him on a train and advise him to sit back and enjoy the ride.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b03yqcwx)
Anne Hathaway, David Threlfall, Believe, Lorna Simpson
With Kirsty Lang.
Anne Hathaway is back in cinemas this week in Rio 2, an animated film about a rare blue macaw, set in Brazil. She reprises her role as the voice of Jewel, a free-spirited bird, who discovers that the family she thought had been killed are still alive and living in the Amazon jungle. Anne Hathaway discusses the challenges of playing an animated character and what she looks for when choosing a role.
Believe is a new American fantasy and adventure TV drama series from Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity) and Star Wars writer J.J. Abrams. A young girl with mysterious powers is placed under the protection of an escaped Death Row inmate, who must shield her from the mysterious forces out to hunt her down. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh gives her verdict.
The African-American photographer Lorna Simpson discusses the work on show in her new retrospective at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead. Large-scale photographs printed on felt are on display alongside her video works, watercolours and drawings, which often deal with themes of identity, desire and race.
To mark Radio 4's forthcoming Character Invasion - when fictional characters will be taking over the network - Front Row asked five of Britain's leading actors to talk about their experience of playing an iconic character. Tonight, David Threlfall describes his experience of playing Frank Gallagher for a decade in the Channel 4 drama series Shameless.
Producer Jerome Weatherald.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b03ynts4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b03yqcwz)
Class
What place should class have in Britain today? If you've been living in hope of creating a society where the moral character of a man is judged by his actions and not the colour of his old school tie, you may have been sorely disappointed over the last week or so. Too many toffs in the cabinet and patronising adverts about the pastimes enjoyed by hardworking people might suggest that for our politicians at least, it seems class still matters. There was a time when a person's class was defined by their job, but that's become much more tricky since the demise of large scale industries like coal mining. It hasn't though stopped many people from defining themselves as working class - and claiming a Prolier-than-Thou kind of moral superiority, - even though by most measures like income, education and profession, they're anything but. We've all experienced that kind of reverse snobbery, but how many of us would be comfortable in a socially mixed group of saying they were middle class and proud of it? Let alone upper class? It was Alan Clarke who famously dismissed his fellow Conservative MP Michael Heseltine as the kind of person "who bought his own furniture". Not all of us are blessed with his patrician perspective, so what should be the modern indicators of class? Is our obsession with class a sign of our deep sense of fairness and desire for a more open society, or a prejudice that should be consigned to the dustbin? Or is the problem that we need more subtle categories? Beer and bingo? Bolly and ballet? Class on the Moral Maze.
Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk with Melanie Phillips, Claire Fox, Michael Portillo and Matthew Taylor.
Witnesses are Kate Fox, Owen Jones, Alwyn Turner and James Delingpole.
Produced by Phil Pegum.
WED 20:45 Lent Talks (b03yqcx1)
Nicholas Shakespeare
The Power and the Passion - Worldly Power. Jesus in the wilderness was offered it and turned it down, but most of us think it's worth having. Novelist, biographer and travel-writer Nicholas Shakespeare considers what power can do for us - and to us.
Producer: Peter Everett.
WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (b03ynt6k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
15:30 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 Midweek (b03ynts0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b03yn1nc)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b03yqcx3)
Heated debate on the EU between Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage. With Carolyn Quinn.
Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage, the leaders of the Liberal Democrat and UK Independence parties, went head to head in the first of two debates about the European Union. Full coverage of the debate; along with response from MEPs from other countries and from a panel live in the World Tonight studio.
President Obama has said every NATO member state must step up and take its share of the burden of collective defence within the alliance. In a speech in Brussels, Mr Obama said we were not entering another Cold War, but if Russia stayed on its current course its isolation would be deepened and sanctions expanded. The British Defence Secretary joined the programme live from a visit to Washington DC.
Diplomatic relations between South Africa and Rwanda are not good. This month, South Africa expelled four Rwandan diplomats. It had linked them - and their government - to the recent murder in Johannesburg of a former high ranking Rwandan intelligence official. He'd turned against his government and become an opposition activist. Rwanda has denied any involvement. Gabriel Gatehouse retraces the steps of the victim.
Lawyers say that works of art looted by the Nazis and hidden for decades by the son of the art-dealer Cornelius Gurlitt will be returned. Two troves were recently discovered of pictures he had stored secretly at his homes in Munich and Salzburg. They have been held at secret locations. Steve Evans has been given exclusive access.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b03yqcx5)
Gabrielle Zevin - The Collected Works of AJ Fikry
Creative Writing
The Collected Works of A.J. Fikry is the enchanting, funny and touching love story by Gabrielle Zevin. Set in Island Books, a quirky independent bookshop at the heart of an island community off the American coast, it is the place where life lessons gleaned from reading are learned. Today, Maya reflects on her past and the mother she never knew. Madeleine Potter and Hari Dhillon read.
Abridged by Sally Marmion and produced by Elizabeth Allard.
WED 23:00 Comic Fringes (b013f972)
Comic Fringes: Series 7
A Difference of Opinion by Bridget Christie
When Bridget's husband is assaulted by the ghost of a long dead European leader, it highlights the vast differences in interpretation between a believer and an atheist.
Written and performed by Bridget Christie.
Recorded in front of an audience at the BBC's own venue at Potterrow, during 2011's Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.
WED 23:15 Nurse (b03yqcx7)
Series 1
Episode 6
A new series starring Paul Whitehouse and Esther Coles, with Rosie Cavaliero, Simon Day, Cecilia Noble and Marcia Warren.
The series follows Elizabeth, a Community Psychiatric Nurse in her forties, into the homes of her patients (or Service Users in today's jargon). It recounts their humorous, sad and often bewildering daily interactions with the nurse, whose job is to assess their progress, dispense their medication and offer comfort and support.
Compassionate and caring, Elizabeth is aware that she cannot cure her patients, only help them manage their various conditions. She visits the following characters throughout the series:
Lorrie and Maurice: Lorrie, in her fifties, is of Caribbean descent and has schizophrenia. Lorrie's life is made tolerable by her unshakeable faith in Jesus, and Maurice, who has a crush on her and wants to do all he can to help. So much so that he ends up getting on everyone's nerves.
Billy: Billy feels safer in jail than outside, a state of affairs the nurse is trying to rectify. She is hampered by the ubiquitous presence of Billy's mate, Tony.
Graham: in his forties, is morbidly obese due to an eating disorder. Matters aren't helped by his mum 'treating' him to sugary and fatty snacks at all times.
Ray: is bipolar and a rock and roll survivor from the Sixties. It is not clear how much of his 'fame' is simply a product of his imagination.
Phyllis: in her seventies, has Alzheimer's. She is sweet, charming and exasperating. Her son Gary does his best but if he has to hear 'I danced for the Queen Mum once' one more time he will explode.
Herbert is an old school gentleman in his late Seventies. Herbert corresponds with many great literary figures unconcerned that they are, for the most part, dead.
Nurse is written by Paul Whitehouse and David Cummings, who have collaborated many time in the past, including on The Fast Show, Down the Line and Happiness.
Written by Paul Whitehouse and David Cummings with additional material from Esther Coles
Producers: Paul Whitehouse and Tilusha Ghelani
A Down the Line production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b03yqcx9)
David Cameron and Ed Miliband argue over who can claim credit for an energy price freeze by one of the main providers, SSE.
MPs approve the introduction of an overall cap on annual welfare spending.
The Chancellor says the move is "fair". Labour backs the cap, but says it would get spending down through "different and fairer choices".
The Prime Minister says Russia could rejoin the G8 if it changes its approach to Ukraine and Crimea.
And the House of Lords debates the help people with a disability need to maintain their mobility.
Susan Hulme and team report on today's events in Parliament.
THURSDAY 27 MARCH 2014
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b03yn1p9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b03y36vh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03yn1pc)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03yn1pf)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03yn1ph)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b03yn1pk)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b03yqj2v)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Richard Littledale.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b03yqj2x)
Badgers, waterweed, sheep worrying, BBC School Report
Ministers will face questions about the badger culls, and their future, in the House of Commons today. It is still not clear what will happen to the two pilots in Somerset and Gloucestershire, which are due to run for another three years. Whist leaked initial findings from the Independent Expert Panel report suggested whilst the badger culls were safe, they failed to be effective and missed targets on humaneness.
That report is yet to be officially published and campaigners both for and against badger culling are calling for the full report to be made public. The BBC's political correspondent for the West of England Paul Barltrop told Charlotte Smith, there was also wide speculation over a third potential pilot area earmarked for Dorset. However some anti-cull protestors say that this will not happen.
Sheep worrying is on the rise, according to the NFU Mutual. The insurer says it has had six per-cent increase in incidents. The National Sheep Association's sheep worrying survey has already had over 400 reports of dog attacks on flocks. Marie Lennon visited a farmer in Somerset who has experienced the damage sheep worrying can cause.
Could warmer, wetter Winters increase the problem of invasive species in our waterways? Scientists at Queens University in Belfast say that waterweeds which already cost £57 million per year could be a growing problem as a result of climate change.
And as part of the BBC's School Report we hear from the pupils with a rather unique classroom - a working farm.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Jules Benham.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03x45r3)
Little Ringed Plover
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Bill Oddie presents the little ringed plover. In 1938, there was great excitement at a Hertfordshire reservoir. On the gravelly shoreline a pair of birds, which had never bred in the UK before, were showing signs of nesting. They were little ringed plovers, summer visitors to Continental Europe and they'd been attracted to the reservoirs' shingle banks where they laid their clutch of four eggs. Today there are around a thousand pairs in the UK.
THU 06:00 Today (b03yqj2z)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b03yqj31)
Weber's The Protestant Ethic
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Max Weber's book the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Published in 1905, Weber's essay proposed that Protestantism had been a significant factor in the emergence of capitalism, making an explicit connection between religious ideas and economic systems. Weber suggested that Calvinism, with its emphasis on personal asceticism and the merits of hard work, had created an ethic which had enabled the success of capitalism in Protestant countries. Weber's essay has come in for some criticism since he published the work, but is still seen as one of the seminal texts of twentieth-century sociology.
With:
Peter Ghosh
Fellow in History at St Anne's College, Oxford
Sam Whimster
Honorary Professor in Sociology at the University of New South Wales
Linda Woodhead
Professor of Sociology of Religion at Lancaster University.
Producer: Thomas Morris.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b03y36vt)
Ben Macintyre - A Spy Among Friends
Episode 4
With access to newly released MI5 files and previously unseen family papers, and with the cooperation of former officers of MI6 and the CIA, author Ben Macintyre unlocks the last great secret of the Cold War.
Kim Philby was the most notorious British defector and Soviet mole in history. Agent, double agent, traitor and enigma, he betrayed every secret of Allied operations to the Russians in the early years of the Cold War. Philby's two closest friends in the intelligence world, Nicholas Elliott of MI6 and James
Jesus Angleton the CIA intelligence chief, thought they knew Philby better than anyone - only to discover they had not known him at all.
This is a story of intimate duplicity; of loyalty, trust and treachery, class and conscience; of an ideological battle waged by men with cut-glass accents and well-made suits in the comfortable clubs and restaurants of London and Washington; of male friendships forged, and then systematically betrayed.
In the fourth episode of A Spy Among Friends, Nicholas Elliott secures Kim Philby's return to MI6 and a posting in Beirut. Philby makes contact with Moscow Centre, but now the net is finally closing in.
Read by: Simon Russell Beale
Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b03yqj35)
Long-distance rower Elsa Hammond; Women on boards; Fatal Attraction
Elsa Hammond who hopes to be the fastest woman to row solo from California to Hawaii, the latest figures on women on boards, Penelope Jardine the lifelong companion of author Muriel Spark and as a new stage version of the 1980s film Fatal Attraction opens in the West End, what does the story have to say to today's audiences?
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b03yqj37)
Lavinia Greenlaw - Five Fever Tales
Little White Crosses
A new drama serial by Lavinia Greenlaw about one of the oldest of human diseases.
Malaria has blighted human life in parts of the world for as long as humans have been humans. The mosquito, the parasite it carries, and the human bloodstream are evolving together. In many places the parasite still has the upper hand. Little White Crosses: the fourth of five dramas based on facts and taking in ancient historical itches and ideas about the disease and the latest scientific attempts to understand and outwit it.
The disease caused by a parasite carried in the saliva of female mosquitoes came to humans probably from gorillas a long time ago. Through recorded history the fever-prompting disease has shadowed humans almost everywhere warm enough for mosquitoes to live between the Poles. We have evolved together. It is still the biggest killer of children in parts of the world.
Made in collaboration with Wellcome Trust.
Medical/science adviser: Julian Rayner, Sanger Institute.
Music and sound design: Jon Nicholls
Narrator: Siobhan Redmond.
Other parts: Russell Boulter, Richard Bremmer, David Collins, Jasmine Hyde, John Mackay
Producer: Tim Dee.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b03yqj39)
Syria: The Silent Enemy
There's a silent enemy at work in the civil war in Syria and it's threatening the lives of young children. The war has placed the country's health system under intense pressure and in certain areas vaccination programmes against a range of preventable diseases have not taken place. In October 2013 the Syrian Ministry of Health verified the first polio case in 15 years. Now there are 25 laboratory confirmed cases in the country with another 13 confirmations pending. With the huge movement of populations across regional borders there are fears that polio, along with other infectious diseases, is spreading. In March UNICEF announced a massive polio vaccination campaign for the whole region. For Crossing Continents Tim Whewell travels to the Turkish border and to Lebanon to talk to the doctors and health care workers struggling to cope with a growing crisis.
THU 11:30 Scotland Meet Murray Lachlan Young (b03m3ntr)
20 years ago, a young man named Murray Lachlan Young, who had been born in the United States to a Scottish father and an English mother, went in search of his Scottish roots.
As a reedy 20 something in a tweed cap, he toured around a Scotland still recovering from the downturn of the 1980s and 90s, meeting his Scottish relatives from dank Glasgow to mystical Skye, sometimes bemusing them with his enthusiasm for all things Scottish. His encounters spurred him into an outpouring of poetry and a re-examination of the role his Scottish roots played in his life. "The trip was to write a poem that captured the wild heart of Scotland and delivered my Scottishness to me."
20 years on, Murray is ready to undertake that trip again. This time, the cultural context is the forthcoming referendum on Scottish Independence. Murray is now an award winning poet and a well known voice on the airwaves - BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live and BBC 6 Music. But he is still struggling to grasp his own cultural identity.
Murray retraces his steps from Edinburgh, via Lochgilphead, to Islay in search of the answers to his personal predicament of what it means to be an Anglo-Scot in a time of deep historical change. All the while, he'll be exploring what Scottishness means for the people he encounters along the way. And the end result will be a new poem to reflect his journey.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b03yqj3c)
We reveal the gap between the number of doctors working in NHS hospitals on the weekends compared to weekdays. There's a new grant available for people whose homes were damaged by flood water this winter, you can claim it from Monday.The company fined £100k for sending unwanted texts and charging for them. The government wants councils to provide plots of land for self-build homes and has provided a pot of money to help. As garden nurseries prepare for their busy season we report on the bloom in online nurseries. And is it all about the price? Why we get mad with energy companies.
THU 12:57 Weather (b03yn1pm)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b03yn1pp)
England's Chief Medical Officer tells Martha Kearney we see obesity as normal. She urges action to break our addiction to sugar and fat. Could an investigation into energy prices stifle investment in new power plants? Crime Prevention Minister, Norman Baker says the police need a 'culture change ' to deal with domestic violence. And teenagers talk about pornography and sex education as part of BBC's School Report day.
THU 13:45 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03yqj3f)
Webs of Loyalty
Social networking appears to be expanding our circles of friendship just as our sense of community is contracting: Dr Thomas Dixon presents a timely history of how the meaning and experience of friendship have changed over the centuries.
Renaissance thinkers insisted that friendships were purely about emotional ties, but, in reality, friendships are often formed for more instrumental reasons - to give practical support in times of need. "That's what friends are for", observes one speaker in the opening montage of this episode.
Thomas Dixon takes up his story to explore the impact of expanding commerce and politics on friendship in the 18th century.
He learns about the friendship of the midwife and money-lender, Elizabeth Hatchett, with the pawn-broker, Elizabeth Carter, who lived and worked together in London in the early 18th century. And he looks into the circles of friendship of a Sussex shopkeeper, Thomas Turner, during the 1761 General Election, as an example of friendship within political life. Historians Alex Shepard and Naomi Tadmor share their research and vivid examples of such complex webs of loyalty.
Producer: Beaty Rubens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b03yqcwv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Hamlet (b03yqj3h)
Episode 4
Following Hamlet's accidental murder of Polonius, Laertes returns to Elsinore bent on revenge.
Original music composed and realised by Roger Goula
Director: Marc Beeby
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
THU 14:55 Five Writers in Search of Their Character (b03ywg6p)
Alexander McCall Smith
As part of Radio 4's Character Invasion Day, Alexander McCall Smith talks about why Precious Ramotswe, of The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series of novels, is his favourite character. The No.1 Ladies detective Agency has been translated into forty six languages and Precious Ramotswe has been dramatised both for radio and television. Alexander talks about where the character comes from and what he loves most about Precious.
THU 15:00 Radio 4 Appeal (b03ymr4k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:05 Open Country (b03yqj3k)
Chelford Cattle Market
Helen Mark travels to Chelford Cattle Market in Cheshire, along with hundreds of buyers and sellers from across the UK. It was first formed over a century ago and has weathered the storms of the foot and mouth outbreak and BSE crisis which resulted in many others closing down altogether. It still nestles on the edge of the village of Chelford, next to the station, as livestock used to be delivered by rail. Like many others though, it has plans to move out to newer facilities closer to the motorway network.
The market has sales of more than just cattle - sheep, pigs, poultry and goats but also machinery and horticulture. Helen joins auctioneer Gwyn Williams as he balances 'on the plank' above the pigs and sheep but even from that vantage point the subtle nods and winks of the bidders can be hard to spot for a novice.
Not everyone is a buyer though. Helen meets some farmers simply scouting the market for prices and for many it's a great social occasion and an opportunity to catch up on gossip. But keep that between us.
Produced in Bristol by Anne-Marie Bullock.
THU 15:30 Open Book (b03ymxz7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b03yqjgn)
Director Sally Potter and Muppets production designer Eve Stewart
Francine Stock talks to director Sally Potter as Bradford Film Festival shows a retrospective of her work which include Orlando, Rage and The Tango Lesson. BAFTA winning Production Designer Eve Stewart shares the tricks of the trade in her latest project The Muppets Most Wanted. Although Eve has previously worked on the Kings Speech, the Damned United and Les Miserables, she tells how the lure of Miss Piggy and Kermit was too much to resist. Finnish documentary maker Petri Luukkainen talks to the The Film Programme about the experience of putting all his possessions in storage for his film My Stuff. Iranian born writer and critic Fahri Bradley gives her verdict on Asghar Farhadi's latest offering, The Past.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b03yqjgq)
Fracking; Purple GM tomatoes; Bionic humans; Shark attacks
School Report on Fracking
This week, Inside Science is taken over by BBC School Reporters and Melissa Hogenboom eavesdrops on a school in Lancashire, preparing their report on fracking. They discuss the issues very local to them, as well as the wider international angles and how best to present the story.
Purple GM tomatoes
The chemical that gives blackberries, blackcurrants, blueberries and some red grape varieties their distinctive purple colour is Anthocyanin. It’s been shown to have some possible anti-cancer properties as well as some protection against cardiovascular disease. So scientists at the John Innes Centre have inserted the ‘purple gene’ into tomatoes to try and boost their health-giving properties. This step is relatively easy, compared to navigating the rules and regulations of getting to the stage of producing purple ketchup. Gareth Mitchell asks the School reporters what they think about Genetic Modification of food crops.
Artificial humans
With progress in 3D printing of organs, brain-machine interfaces and even artificial skin. Materials scientist at University College London, Professor Mark Miodownik, thinks that the future really could be bionic. Would the School Reporters want to become half human, half machine? And would these technological advances just be used for repairing people who have been injured or really need it, or will it mean that those with enough money could enhance themselves to superhuman states?
Shark Attacks
Potentially dangerous sharks are being culled off the coast of Western Australia. The government claim it’s as a result of a rise in the number of deaths by shark attack. Many people are outraged by the killings. Shark attacks are still really rare compared to car accidents or even deaths from bee stings – so do the School Reporters think this is a good idea? Or do they think listening to what the scientists studying shark behaviour and developing shark deterrents say, is a better way to go?
THU 17:00 PM (b03yqjgs)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03yn1pr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Jason Cook's School of Hard Knocks (b03yqjgv)
Pregnancy and In-Laws
Jason Cook guides you through more murky waters and unseen eddies that bedevil the waters of life.
This time, it’s the trials and tribulations of discovering your partner is pregnant, plus the perils and preoccupations of meeting your in-laws for the first time.
Jason draws on his own experiences to illustrate what, and what not, to do - so that your life can be happier and more successful. Well, possibly...
With Zoe Harrison and Neil Grainger.
Producer: Sam Michell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b03yqktr)
Fallon and Jolene discuss how hard it must have been for Kenton not to drink at the stag do. But Kenton phones The Bull. He's woken up in Machynlleth, in West Wales! Later, back at The Bull, Kenton is suffering. Jolene is an unsympathetic nurse, despite Kenton protesting that it wasn't his fault.
The girls gather for Kirsty's hen night at a sophisticated restaurant, much to Kirsty's relief. Kirsty discusses the future and says that Tom will be a great dad. After his worrying call last night, Helen doesn't know what to say. They are ready to call it a night but Fallon persuades them to go on to a club.
Fallon sees Rhys in the club, kissing a young woman. She's livid and confronts them. Things escalate quickly and Fallon is thrown out of the club. Seeing PC Burns, she tries to convince him that she's been unfairly treated. Helen does her best to drag drunk and disorderly Fallon to a taxi but she won't be calmed.
Fallon finds herself in a police cell. PC Burns lets her go with just a caution. Helen thinks she saw a spark between them but Fallon strongly denies it. Then Fallon realises she's left her purse in a club and miserably comments on what a great night it turned out to be.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b03yqktt)
Jane Horrocks, 20 Feet From Stardom, US war vets, Tim Barrow
A number of former US soldiers have recently published books which focus on their time serving with US forces in the second Iraq War. Phil Klay's series of short stories - Redeployment - and Kevin Powers' debut collection of poems - Letter Composed During a Lull in Fighting - are just two books which cover the first-hand experience of war, and its physical, emotional and psychological effects. Phil Klay and Kevin Powers discuss war as inspiration for literature and their own experience of desert warfare.
20 Feet From Stardom won the Academy Award for Best Documentary at this year's Oscars. The film looks behind the stars of music to focus on their backing singers and the important contribution these singers have made to the history of pop, as well as the difficulties of breaking out into the spotlight. Jacqueline Springer reviews the film.
Union is a play by Scottish playwright Tim Barrow which explores the 1707 Act of Union with England which linked the English and Scottish Parliaments. The play examines the context of bankruptcy and political turmoil which led the Scottish politicians to accept bribes in exchange for supporting the act. Tim Barrow discusses the pertinence of the subject to the forthcoming independence referendum and explains why he thinks Scottish children should be given better education on this period of history.
To mark Radio 4's forthcoming Character Invasion Day - when fictional characters will be taking over the network - Front Row asked five of Britain's leading actors to talk about their experience of playing an iconic character. Jane Horrocks discusses playing the withdrawn LV with a talent for mimicking great singers in the award-winning play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, and the subsequent film.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b03yqj37)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 Law in Action (b03ynt6m)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Tuesday]
THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (b03y38ky)
Serving the Super-Rich
Serving the super-rich: what do the seriously wealthy do with their money? How do they preserve or spend their multi-million or even billion pound fortunes? And who is helping them manage those assets? With more billionaires in the world than ever before, working for the very rich is a growth industry. Whether finding staff for their superyacht or helping them give away the money, there's a raft of businesses ready to serve the ultra high net worth individual. Evan Davis talks to three firms whose job is to serve the wealthy elite.
Guests:
Richard Wilson, CEO, Billionaire Family Office
Karen Clark, Director and Head of Private Clients, SandAire
Lucy Challenger, Manager, Bespoke Bureau
Producer: Sally Abrahams.
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b03yqjgq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b03yqj31)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b03yn1pt)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b03yqkty)
Turkey bans YouTube, only a week after it tried to ban Twitter.
Computer files on police corruption damaged.
Michael Gove raps for school children.
Mudslide rescuers continue their effort in Washington State.
With Philippa Thomas.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b03yqkv0)
Gabrielle Zevin - The Collected Works of AJ Fikry
Unwanted Discoveries
The Collected Works of A.J. Fikry is the beguiling and touching novel by Gabrielle Zevin. Set in Island Books, a quirky independent bookshop at the heart of an island community off the American coast, it is the place where life lessons gleaned from reading are passed on. Today, there are new beginnings and some unwelcome news. Madeleine Potter and Hari Dhillon read.
Abridged by Sally Marmion and produced by Elizabeth Allard.
THU 23:00 So Wrong It's Right (b00zslfj)
Series 2
Episode 4
Charlie Brooker hosts the panel show devoted to the art of being wrong with comedians Rufus Hound, Sharon Horgan and Fergus Craig competing to give the best in wrong answers.
Charlie's favourite hobby - the computer game - comes in for the So Wrong It's Right treatment this week. Asked to pitch a terrible idea for a computer game, who will triumph in the battle between Fergus' Football Player Liaison Officer, Sharon's Breast Feeding game and Rufus' innovative third person shooter - You Should Have Seen It Man Like Wow?
Also up for examination are the panel's nominations for modern woes - how will Charlie react to Rufus' nomination for his greatest modern irritant: 'Charlie Brooker'.
The host of So Wrong It's Right, Charlie Brooker, also writes for The Guardian and presents BBC4's satirical series Newswipe & Screenwipe as well as Channel 4's You Have Been Watching. He won Best Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards 2009 and Columnist of the Year at the 2009 British Press Awards for his newspaper columns.
Produced by Aled Evans
A Zeppotron Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b03yqkv2)
Do the gas and electricity companies always work to the benefit of energy users? Sean Curran reports on the reaction of MPs to the latest statement of the LibDem Energy Secretary Ed Davey.
Also on the programme:
* Peers debate the loss of public confidence in the Metropolitan Police.
* A former Labour Treasury Minister claims Britain's economic recovery is based on "candy floss".
* MPs weigh up Wednesday's televised debate between Nigel Farage and Nick Clegg on Britain's place in the EU.
* The Environment Secretary speaks about the latest moves in the efforts to eradicate TB in cattle.
FRIDAY 28 MARCH 2014
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b03yn1qr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b03y36vt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03yn1qt)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03yn1qw)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03yn1qy)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b03yn1r0)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b03yqv6m)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Richard Littledale.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b03yqv6p)
Biofuels, Lambing and Somerset Levels
Farmers are defending biofuels, after a leaked draft report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change appeared to criticise them for contributing to global warming. Although a further leaked copy of the report appears to have dropped the criticism. The final version of the report is due next week. Farming Today speaks to the BBC Environment Correspondent Matt McGrath who is in Yokohama in Japan. It's believed that the impact of climate change on crop yield over the next century will also feature within the final report.
Farming Today hears from the new flood recovery coordinators on the Somerset Levels. Their role is to help oversee the clear-up operation and advise farmers over the next year. This comes as dredging is expected to start on the River Parrett next week.
And one year from the freak Spring snow, Farming Today catches up with one of the sheep farmers who was badly affected. Farming Today's Anna Jones visits her father, Tony, to help him in the lambing shed as they reflect on the situation last year.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Lucy Bickerton.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03x45s5)
Black Redstart
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Bill Oddie presents the black redstart. It was the German Luftwaffe which enabled black redstarts to gain a real foothold here. The air-raids of the Blitz created bombsites which mimicked their rocky homes and the weeds that grew there attracted insects. In 1942 there over twenty singing males in London alone and now they're being encouraged by the creation of ‘green roof’ habitats, rich in flowers and insects.
FRI 06:00 Today (b03yqv6r)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b03ymr52)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b03y3g8t)
Ben Macintyre - A Spy Among Friends
Episode 5
With access to newly released MI5 files and previously unseen family papers, and with the cooperation of former officers of MI6 and the CIA, author Ben Macintyre unlocks the last great secret of the Cold War.
Kim Philby was the most notorious British defector and Soviet mole in history. Agent, double agent, traitor and enigma, he betrayed every secret of Allied operations to the Russians in the early years of the Cold War. Philby's two closest friends in the intelligence world, Nicholas Elliott of MI6 and James
Jesus Angleton the CIA intelligence chief, thought they knew Philby better than anyone - only to discover they had not known him at all.
This is a story of intimate duplicity; of loyalty, trust and treachery, class and conscience; of an ideological battle waged by men with cut-glass accents and well-made suits in the comfortable clubs and restaurants of London and Washington; of male friendships forged, and then systematically betrayed.
In the final episode of A Spy Among Friends Nicholas Elliott confronts Kim Philby who finally admits the scale and depth of his betrayal, the greatest in the twentieth century.
Read by: Simon Russell Beale
Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b03yqwhd)
Lesbian wives; Deborah Ellis; Female characters in drama; Helen Fielding
On Saturday 29th March the first same sex marriage ceremonies will take place in England & Wales. Couples will have the right to legally refer to their spouse as "husband" or "wife". How comfortable will lesbians be with calling their spouse wife? The Canadian author & peace activist, Deborah Ellis, visited refugee camps in Pakistan to talk to women and children who had fled the Taliban, and turned those experiences into novels for children. Her latest book, My Name is Parvana, tells the story of a young girl in post-Taliban Afghanistan. BBC Writers Room script reader and theatre critic Sally Stott has read thousands of scripts in a search for new talent. In many of the stories, she says, the female characters are badly described & characterised and focus heavily on physical appearance. Why does it seems so hard to write a decent female character? And as part of Radio 4's Character Invasion writers have been talking about which of their own creations is their favourite - Helen Fielding talks about Bridget Jones.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b03yqwhg)
Lavinia Greenlaw - Five Fever Tales
Emergency Prescriptions Kept Up One's Sleeve
A new drama serial by Lavinia Greenlaw about one of the oldest of human diseases.
Malaria has blighted human life in parts of the world for as long as humans have been humans. The mosquito, the parasite it carries, and the human bloodstream are evolving together. In many places the parasite still has the upper hand. Emergency Prescriptions Kept up One's Sleeve: the last of five dramas based on facts and taking in ancient historical itches and ideas about the disease and the latest scientific attempts to understand and outwit it.
The disease caused by a parasite carried in the saliva of female mosquitoes came to humans probably from gorillas a long time ago. Through recorded history the fever-prompting disease has shadowed humans almost everywhere warm enough for mosquitoes to live between the Poles. We have evolved together. It is still the biggest killer of children in parts of the world.
Made in collaboration with Wellcome Trust.
Medical/science adviser: Julian Rayner, Sanger Institute.
Music and sound design: Jon Nicholls
Narrator: Siobhan Redmond.
Other parts: Russell Boulter, Richard Bremmer, David Collins, Jasmine Hyde, John Mackay
Producer: Tim Dee.
FRI 11:00 The Chinese Grand Tour (b01s452x)
Overseas Chinese tourism is on the rise. Around 30 million Chinese took foreign vacations last year. Chinese visitors are venturing to Britain in increasing numbers, encouraged by their home government, keen that Chinese citizens are seen to be enjoying the fruits of the country's economic miracle.
And Chinese visitors abroad are left in no doubt that they are representing their country. Official circulars remind them to act as "ambassadors" for their country. Several times in the past few years the Spiritual Civilisation Steering Committee of the Communist Party has issued bossy instructions calling on Chinese tourists to avoid spitting, queue-jumping, loudness or haggling in shops with fixed prices.
The favoured mode of travel for Chinese visitors to Britain is the planned bus tour, but the route these bus tours follow is rather idiosyncratic. Whereas most foreign tourists to Britain follow a predictable tourist trail - Buckingham Palace, ruined Castles, beautiful cathedrals and quaint market towns, the Chinese are more interested in seeing places with a Chinese connection.
The Willow Tree in Cambridge is famous in China because it is where the modern poet Xu Zhimo wrote his poem "On Leaving Cambridge." Bus loads of Chinese Tourists stop there now. Philip Dodd boards a coach and goes with the Chinese tourists who have an idiocratic view of Britain and spends a night with them in Manchester's Chinatown.
FRI 11:30 The Architects (b03yqyz5)
Series 1
Mad Hélène
Sir Lucien's blossoming romance with a French serial divorcee was worrying already. Then the 'men in black' arrive to assess his assets and more besides.
Sitcom set in a struggling architectural practice by Jim Poyser and Neil Griffiths.
Matt ...... Dominic Coleman
Sarah ...... Ingrid Oliver
Sir Lucien ...... Geoffrey Whitehead
Tim ...... Alex Carter
Hayley ...... Aisling Bea
Helene ...... Carolyn Pickles
Mr Douglas ...... Sean Murray
Mr McCoy ...... Harry Myers
Director: Toby Swift
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b03yqyz7)
Pensions, Panels and Ed Reardon's Sandal
Potential problems when trying to buy or sell a house when it's got a solar panel installation.
What's happened to the mobile network operator Ovivo? Fifty thousand customers have been left without a working phone and unable to get their unused credit back.
The new step in the battle to stop the ticket touts making their big bucks.
Peter White and Ed Reardon (played by Christopher Douglas) on a mission to repair Ed's left sandal. Written by Christopher Douglas and Andrew Nickolds.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b03yn1r4)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b03yn1r6)
The search for flight MH370 switches nearly 600 miles after new calculations are made . An Australian expert tells Shaun Ley that the previous sightings of debris have no relevance. Max Clifford comes under hostile questioning in his trial. How to get a tax windfall if you're over 60, thanks to the budget. And a vet explains how easily TB can spread from animals to humans.
FRI 13:45 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03yqyz9)
When William Met Mary
Social networking appears to be expanding our circles of friendship just as our sense of community is contracting: Dr Thomas Dixon presents a timely history of how the meaning and experience of friendship have changed over the centuries.
The famous 1989 film, When Harry Met Sally, crystallised for modern viewers the key question of whether a man and woman can truly be friends without any sexual element.
This was a question which radical and educated people were beginning to ask in the 18th century, alongside its mirror image - can a husband and wife also be friends?
Thomas Dixon traces the changing face of friendship and the new idea of "companionate marriage" during this era, through the linked histories of the feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and the radical philosopher William Godwin.
With the help of the historian Barbara Taylor, he considers three moving stories: Mary's early friendship with Fanny Blood, of whom she declared: "To live with this friend is the height of my ambition"; the halting start, close friendship and devoted but tragically short marriage of Wollstonecraft with Godwin, who described their relationship as "friendship melting into love"; and the marriage of their daughter, Mary, who wrote of her desolation after the death by drowning of her husband, the poet Percy Shelley: "I have now no friend."
Thomas Dixon brings together issues of friendship and marriage in this most contemporary of historical series.
Producer: Beaty Rubens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b03yqktr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Hamlet (b03yqyzc)
Episode 5
Hamlet has returned unexpectedly to Elsinore where Claudius and Laertes have laid plans to murder him during a fencing match.
Original music composed and realised by Roger Goula
Director Marc Beeby
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
FRI 14:55 Five Writers in Search of Their Character (b03yqyzf)
Lee Hall
Lee Hall is an English playwright and screenwriter, best known for the 2000 film Billy Elliot. As part of Radio 4's Character Invasion Day, Lee talks about why Billy Elliot is his favourite character.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b03yqyzh)
Nottinghamshire
Eric Robson chairs GQT from Nottinghamshire. Chris Beardshaw, Matt Biggs and Pippa Greenwood answer a range of horticultural questions from an audience of local gardeners.
Matt and Pippa explore one of Britain's most famous forests, and Peter Gibbs visits Attingham Walled Garden to find out everything you need to know about growing against a wall.
Produced by Howard Shannon
Assistant Producer: Darby Dorras
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
This week's questions:
Q: Can the team suggest how to restrict the growth of a Picea Erich Frahm (Colorado Spruce) or recommend a suitable replacement?
A: These trees are difficult to prune without affecting their shape, so it is best to leave the tree and chop it down when it has grown too big. A replacement tree could be the Picea Abies Nana, which is very small indeed.
Q: What would be the best way to get rid of Viburnum beetles from a hedge of Vibernum Tinus which is 8ft (2.4m) high, 2ft (60cm) wide and 10ft (3m) long?
A: Try to bring small birds such as blue tits into the area. They will eat the beetles. Attract the small birds with peanut feeders. It is an option to treat the hedge with a contact insecticide, but this might be difficult considering the size of the hedge.
Q: What advice does the panel have for a gardener attempting to grow sweet peppers in an unheated greenhouse in a north-facing garden? Currently, the flowers are dropping just as the buds are forming.
A: This plant likes the warmth; it does not like drafts or overwatering (especially with cold water). The plant would ideally be grown in a bright, sunny spot with consistently warm temperatures. High potash fertiliser would also help. If grown from seed, it might also be worth moving the plants outside later in the season when temperatures are warmer. Fleece may be used to protect them from cold nights. The flowers will drop if they have not been pollinated, so opening the door to insects on warmer days or pollinating by hand could prevent the flowers from dropping.
Q: Can the team recommend a Eucalyptus plant that does not need drastic pollarding at least twice a year to retain a compact and attractive shape?
A: All Eucalyptus trees are hard work and need a lot of pruning. Most people go for Eucalypts Gunnii as it is the easiest to manage. Another way to keep the Eucalyptus manageable would be to make a little knife cut in the side of the trunk when it is very young. This small incision into the bark just a few centimetres above the ground encourages early multi-stemming. Other Eucalyptus options include Eucalyptus Coccifera or a Eucalyptus Dalrympleana which are both hardy varieties.
Q: Would the team recommend pruning Twisted Willows, which are getting out of hand? And when would the panel recommend replanting the trees from their pots, into the garden?
A: Pruning twisted willows is not recommended. The sooner they are replanted into ground, the better.
Q: Does the panel have any tips to stop onion sets bolting (going to seed)?
A: Make sure the bulbs have been heat-treated. However, some years, onions will go to seed and there is not much you can do about it. If there is dry spell at the beginning of the season, make sure the soil is kept moist.
Q: What is the best way to prune a Pyracantha?
A: Prune a portion of the plant after it has finished flowering, but only prune back to where the flower heads were formed and no further. This will ensure the next round of flowers will not be affected.
Q: Could the panel give any advice for growing tall, straight Gladioli?
A: Make sure the plant gets plenty of sun, that it is planted in free draining soil and make sure not to give it too much fertilizer. Weed vigilantly around the plant to make sure it gets as much light as possible.
FRI 15:45 New Irish Writing (b03yqyzk)
Jigsaw
A series of new readings by some of Ireland's most exciting and talented writers. Clare Dwyer-Hogg, Michèle Forbes, Paul McVeigh and Martin Meenan bring us a range of stories where human emotions are tested, and memories are forged, forgotten or found, all the while taking a humorous and poignant look at how people withdraw, connect and reconnect with one another throughout the course of their lives.
Missing jigsaw pieces bring three generations of a family together in Martin Meenan's 'Jigsaw' read by Ciaran McMenamin. Produced by Heather Larmour.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b03yqyzm)
Mickey Duff, John Tyson, Jill Sinclair, Adolfo Suarez, Oswald Morris
Matthew Bannister on
Mickey Duff, the East End character who, for decades, was one of the most powerful figures in boxing.
John Tyson, the cartographer and explorer who set out to chart the unmapped region of Kanjiroba Himal.
Jill Sinclair, the business brains behind the ZTT record label. They had a string of hits in the eighties and nineties, including Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Relax".
Adolfo Suarez, the Prime Minister who oversaw Spain's transition from Franco's dictatorship to democracy.
And Oswald Morris, the cinematographer who won an Oscar for his work on "Fiddler on The Roof".
Producer: Neil George.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (b03yqyzp)
A Today interview is never an easy ride for politicians. But listeners tuning in this week felt Evan Davis's interview with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, too things too far. We hear those views.
It's an altogether more civilised affair as Roger Bolton drops in on Radio 3's 'pop up' studio at the Royal Festival Hall in London's Southbank Centre. For the past fortnight, Radio 3 have broadcast their live programmes from a perspex box. Radio 3's editorial team, producers and presenters have been meeting audiences. We'll be speaking to In Tune presenter Sean Rafferty and some of his adoring public.
Radio drama can transport you thousands of miles with the power of the voices, evocative music and sound effects. So why was the recent Afternoon Drama serial 'A Kidnapping' recorded on-location in Manila? Many Feedback listeners loved the production, but some felt recording in the Philippines was a waste of their licence fee. 'A Kidnapping' Director John Dryden discusses the serial and the costs of recording radio drama abroad.
Many of you will be more familiar with Jane Garvey, Eddie Mair, and Julian Worricker on Radio 4, but they were all part of the original team at 5Live when it launched in 1994 - twenty years ago this week. While they may have flown the nest to join Radio 4, Peter Allen (Jane Garvey's co-host at 5Live Breakfast) has remained. We'll be speaking to Peter about his memories of the station's early days.
Producer: Will Yates
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 17:00 PM (b03yqyzr)
Coverage and analysis of the day's news. Including Weather at
5.57pm.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03yn1r8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b03yqyzt)
Series 83
Episode 7
A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Sandi Toksvig, with regular panellist Jeremy Hardy and guest panellists Susan Calman, Phill Jupitus and Lucy Porter.
Produced by Lyndsay Fenner.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b03yqyzw)
Fallon wakes, feeling the effects of the night before. Having stayed at Helen's, she's eager to get home to her own bed. Helen tells Rob about Rhys, and Fallon being taken to the police station. Helen tries to convince Rob to tell her what happened at the stag do but he makes a quick escape.
Still without the keys from her purse, Fallon rattles the door of The Bull and chats with Tom about last night. PC Burns appears with Fallon's purse. When he alludes to antics from the night, amused Tom realises she was picked up by the police. Fallon finds PC Burns' business card in her purse.
Tom decides to tell Animal Health about his pigs coming into contact with Tony's cows. Helen is worried about Tom's phone call about Kirsty at his stag night. Tom reassures her it was just pre-wedding jitters. He's fine.
At breakfast, Jill is worried when Ruth appears looking very pale. Whilst visiting the beehives, they discuss the effects the neonics ban might have on the bees. However Ruth suddenly feels very unwell. Jill goes to check on Ruth and finds her looking very unwell. Ruth bursts into tears. She tells Jill she thinks she's just lost the baby.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b03yqyzy)
Ricky Wilson; Muppets Most Wanted; Sebastian Barry; Cush Jumbo
With Kirsty Lang
Ricky Wilson of Kaiser Chiefs, talks about the challenges of making their new album - Education, Education, Education and War - after the departure of their co-founding drummer, and also about his role as judge on BBC1's The Voice and the reservations he had about doing it initially.
Muppets Most Wanted is the latest film featuring Kermit, Miss Piggy and the gang, who this time fall prey to an evil mastermind who bears a striking resemblance to Kermit himself. Duped by tour manager Dominic Badguy - played by Ricky Gervais - the Muppets soon find themselves unwittingly taking part in a the crime of the century. Comedian Viv Groskop reviews.
Sebastian Barry is one of Ireland's leading writers. He talks about his new novel The Temporary Gentleman, which continues his story of 20th century Ireland told through the McNulty family of Sligo. Jack McNulty is a 'temporary gentleman', an Irishman whose commission in the British army in the Second World War was never permanent. Sebastian tells Kirsty about how Jack is based on his maternal grandfather, with whom he shared a bed as a child, listening to tales of his adventures in Africa, India and as a bomb disposal expert during the war.
To mark Radio 4's Character Invasion tomorrow - when fictional characters will be taking over the network - Front Row asked five of Britain's leading actors to talk about their experience of playing an iconic character. Tonight actress Cush Jumbo discusses the challenges of playing Mark Antony in an all-female production of Julius Caesar set in a women's prison.
Producer: Rebecca Armstrong.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b03yqwhg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b040715t)
Lord Hennessy, Emily Thornberry MP, Camilla Cavendish, Francis Maude MP
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from Sedgeford in Norfolk with Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude MP, journalist Camilla Cavendish, Shadow Justice Secretary Emily Thornberry MP and the historian and cross bench peer Lord Hennessy.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b03yqz02)
A Disease Called Fame
Sarah Dunant reflects on fame and the cult of celebrity following the recent success of the film "20 feet from Stardom".
The film about backing singers - the unsung heroes of pop music - scooped best documentary at the Oscars. Sarah discusses how celebrity culture has given us a society where the dream is no longer to be the backing singer, but to take centre stage. "Andy Warhol" she writes "with his fifteen minutes of fame, has turned out to be a prophet as much as an artist".
But "in a world where everyone wants to be the lead singer" she asks "who is left to swell the sound? Or more importantly to appreciate it".
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
FRI 21:00 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03yqz04)
Five Hundred Years of Friendship: Omnibus
Episode 1
The changing meaning of friendship over the centuries: the weekly omnibus edition of Dr Thomas Dixon's timely history.
From social networks involving perhaps 150 friends around the well or at the bake-house, to contemporary Social Networks which might extend over the globe and include a thousand Friends, Thomas Dixon's history considers both the differences and similarities between friendships as we experience them today and as people lived them out in the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
This first of three omnibus editions takes on board questions of the function of friendship - emotional or instrumental; the Biblical contradictions about friendships - universal or individual; the impact of commerce and politics on friendship; and whether men and women can really be friends without a sexual element.
Producer: Beaty Rubens.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b03yn1rb)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b03yqz06)
Obama urges Russia to "move back its troops" from its border with Ukraine - we hear from a NATO Lieutenant-Colonel of the Alliance's concerns.
Turks go to the polls after their government blocked access to YouTube and Twitter - Paul Moss reports from Istanbul and speaks to the ruling AKP.
Ritula Shah, in Brazil, is shown around the headquarters of security operations for the World Cup.
And we look ahead to the first gay weddings in England and Wales with one couple getting married in the morning.
Presented by Philippa Thomas.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b03yqz08)
Gabrielle Zevin - The Collected Works of AJ Fikry
A Secret
The Collected Works of A.J. Fikry is the enchanting, funny and touching novel by Gabrielle Zevin. Set in Island Books, a struggling independent bookshop at the heart of an island community off the American coast, it is the place where life lessons gleaned from reading are passed on. Today, secrets are revealed. Madeleine Potter and Hari Dhillon read.
Abridged by Sally Marmion and produced by Elizabeth Allard.
FRI 23:00 A Good Read (b03ynt6p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b03yqz0b)
Mark D'Arcy reports from Westminster as peers welcome plans to change the House of Lords as "sensible and necessary" and agree the proposals are a "first step" to future reforms.
Also tonight.
A grand design for home builders following the Budget.
Calls to change the law so that gambling adverts aren't shown before the watershed.
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 (b03yn66f)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 MON (b03yn66f)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 TUE (b03ynf5h)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 TUE (b03ynf5h)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 WED (b03ynts4)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 WED (b03ynts4)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 THU (b03yqj37)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 THU (b03yqj37)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 FRI (b03yqwhg)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 FRI (b03yqwhg)
A Good Read
16:30 TUE (b03ynt6p)
A Good Read
23:00 FRI (b03ynt6p)
A Point of View
08:48 SUN (b03y3lkv)
A Point of View
20:50 FRI (b03yqz02)
After Wonderland
00:30 SUN (b03ymr46)
Agatha Christie - Ordeal by Innocence
11:30 MON (b03yqn0n)
Analysis
21:30 SUN (b03y0n8j)
Analysis
20:30 MON (b03yn83s)
Any Answers?
14:00 SAT (b03ygwjp)
Any Questions?
13:10 SAT (b03y3lks)
Any Questions?
20:00 FRI (b040715t)
Archive on 4
20:00 SAT (b03ygwmb)
BBC Inside Science
16:30 THU (b03yqjgq)
BBC Inside Science
21:00 THU (b03yqjgq)
Bells on Sunday
05:43 SUN (b03ymr48)
Bells on Sunday
00:45 MON (b03ymr48)
Beyond Belief
16:30 MON (b03yn6xt)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 MON (b03ynt76)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 TUE (b03yn87c)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 WED (b03yqcx5)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 THU (b03yqkv0)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 FRI (b03yqz08)
Book of the Week
00:30 SAT (b03zrdtd)
Book of the Week
09:45 MON (b03y0f02)
Book of the Week
00:30 TUE (b03y0f02)
Book of the Week
09:45 TUE (b03y3mlh)
Book of the Week
00:30 WED (b03y3mlh)
Book of the Week
09:45 WED (b03y36vh)
Book of the Week
00:30 THU (b03y36vh)
Book of the Week
09:45 THU (b03y36vt)
Book of the Week
00:30 FRI (b03y36vt)
Book of the Week
09:45 FRI (b03y3g8t)
Brain of Britain
23:00 SAT (b03y0l96)
Brain of Britain
15:00 MON (b03yn6xp)
Broadcasting House
09:00 SUN (b03ymr4s)
Comic Fringes
23:00 WED (b013f972)
Costing the Earth
15:30 TUE (b03ynt6k)
Costing the Earth
21:00 WED (b03ynt6k)
Crossing Continents
11:00 THU (b03yqj39)
Desert Island Discs
11:15 SUN (b03ymr52)
Desert Island Discs
09:00 FRI (b03ymr52)
Down the Line
18:30 TUE (b00zlhhz)
Farming Today
06:30 SAT (b03ygtyw)
Farming Today
05:45 MON (b03yn663)
Farming Today
05:45 TUE (b03ynf4l)
Farming Today
05:45 WED (b03yntrw)
Farming Today
05:45 THU (b03yqj2x)
Farming Today
05:45 FRI (b03yqv6p)
Feedback
20:00 SUN (b03y3lkg)
Feedback
16:30 FRI (b03yqyzp)
Five Hundred Years of Friendship
13:45 MON (b03yn6xm)
Five Hundred Years of Friendship
13:45 TUE (b03yns3j)
Five Hundred Years of Friendship
13:45 WED (b03ynvdb)
Five Hundred Years of Friendship
13:45 THU (b03yqj3f)
Five Hundred Years of Friendship
13:45 FRI (b03yqyz9)
Five Hundred Years of Friendship
21:00 FRI (b03yqz04)
Five Writers in Search of Their Character
14:55 TUE (b03yns4d)
Five Writers in Search of Their Character
14:55 THU (b03ywg6p)
Five Writers in Search of Their Character
14:55 FRI (b03yqyzf)
Friday Drama
21:00 SAT (b02yqqd9)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:30 SAT (b03ygwjk)
Front Row
19:15 MON (b03yn83n)
Front Row
19:15 TUE (b03ynt6w)
Front Row
19:15 WED (b03yqcwx)
Front Row
19:15 THU (b03yqktt)
Front Row
19:15 FRI (b03yqyzy)
Gardeners' Question Time
14:00 SUN (b03y3lk8)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:00 FRI (b03yqyzh)
Gay Rights: Tying the Knot?
17:00 SUN (b03yggdf)
HR
11:30 WED (b03ynts8)
Hamlet
14:15 MON (b03xhkyv)
Hamlet
14:15 TUE (b03yns3l)
Hamlet
14:15 WED (b03ynvdd)
Hamlet
14:15 THU (b03yqj3h)
Hamlet
14:15 FRI (b03yqyzc)
In Our Time
09:00 THU (b03yqj31)
In Our Time
21:30 THU (b03yqj31)
In Touch
20:40 TUE (b03ynt70)
Inside Health
21:00 TUE (b03ynt72)
Inside Health
15:30 WED (b03ynt72)
Jason Cook's School of Hard Knocks
18:30 THU (b03yqjgv)
Just William - Live!
19:15 SUN (b03ymzcl)
Just a Minute
12:00 SUN (b03y0n88)
Just a Minute
18:30 MON (b03yn83j)
Last Word
20:30 SUN (b03y3lkd)
Last Word
16:00 FRI (b03yqyzm)
Law in Action
16:00 TUE (b03ynt6m)
Law in Action
20:00 THU (b03ynt6m)
Lent Talks
05:45 SUN (b03y15j0)
Lent Talks
20:45 WED (b03yqcx1)
Loose Ends
18:15 SAT (b03ygwjw)
Midnight News
00:00 SAT (b03y3lmy)
Midnight News
00:00 SUN (b03yhcxt)
Midnight News
00:00 MON (b03yn1jr)
Midnight News
00:00 TUE (b03yn1lc)
Midnight News
00:00 WED (b03yn1mz)
Midnight News
00:00 THU (b03yn1p9)
Midnight News
00:00 FRI (b03yn1qr)
Midweek
09:00 WED (b03ynts0)
Midweek
21:30 WED (b03ynts0)
Money Box Live
15:00 WED (b03ynvdj)
Money Box
12:00 SAT (b03ygwjm)
Money Box
21:00 SUN (b03ygwjm)
Moral Maze
22:15 SAT (b03y15hy)
Moral Maze
20:00 WED (b03yqcwz)
Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics
16:00 MON (b03yn6xr)
Nature
21:00 MON (b03y0qkl)
New Irish Writing
15:45 FRI (b03yqyzk)
News Briefing
05:30 SAT (b03y3ln6)
News Briefing
05:30 SUN (b03yhcy2)
News Briefing
05:30 MON (b03yn1k0)
News Briefing
05:30 TUE (b03yn1lm)
News Briefing
05:30 WED (b03yn1n7)
News Briefing
05:30 THU (b03yn1pk)
News Briefing
05:30 FRI (b03yn1r0)
News Headlines
06:00 SUN (b03yhcy4)
News and Papers
06:00 SAT (b03y3ln8)
News and Papers
07:00 SUN (b03yhcy8)
News and Papers
08:00 SUN (b03yhcyd)
News and Weather
22:00 SAT (b03y3lns)
News
13:00 SAT (b03y3lnj)
Nurse
23:15 WED (b03yqcx7)
On Your Farm
06:35 SUN (b03ymr4d)
One to One
09:30 TUE (b03ynf54)
Open Book
16:00 SUN (b03ymxz7)
Open Book
15:30 THU (b03ymxz7)
Open Country
15:05 THU (b03yqj3k)
PM
17:00 SAT (b03ygwjt)
PM
17:00 MON (b03yn6xw)
PM
17:00 TUE (b03ynt6r)
PM
17:00 WED (b03yqcwq)
PM
17:00 THU (b03yqjgs)
PM
17:00 FRI (b03yqyzr)
PPI: Britain's Biggest Banking Scandal
20:00 TUE (b03yqp8d)
Piano Movements
13:30 SUN (b03nt8hx)
Pick of the Week
18:15 SUN (b03ymy2s)
Poetry Idol
16:30 SUN (b03ymxz9)
Poetry Please
23:30 SAT (b03xzzc8)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 SAT (b03y3lyl)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 MON (b03yn661)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 TUE (b03ynf4c)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 WED (b03yntrt)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 THU (b03yqj2v)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 FRI (b03yqv6m)
Profile
19:00 SAT (b03ygwk2)
Profile
17:40 SUN (b03ygwk2)
Radio 4 Appeal
07:55 SUN (b03ymr4k)
Radio 4 Appeal
21:26 SUN (b03ymr4k)
Radio 4 Appeal
15:00 THU (b03ymr4k)
Ramblings
06:07 SAT (b03y38kf)
Rejection Notes: The Movie Scores That Never Were
15:30 SAT (b03y10gs)
Saturday Drama
14:30 SAT (b00m0grg)
Saturday Drama
15:00 SUN (b01slm1l)
Saturday Live
09:00 SAT (b03ygtz0)
Saturday Review
19:15 SAT (b03ygwm8)
Scotland Meet Murray Lachlan Young
11:30 THU (b03m3ntr)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SAT (b03y3ln2)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SUN (b03yhcxy)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 MON (b03yn1jw)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 TUE (b03yn1lh)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 WED (b03yn1n3)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 THU (b03yn1pf)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 FRI (b03yn1qw)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SAT (b03y3ln0)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SAT (b03y3ln4)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SAT (b03y3lnl)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SUN (b03yhcxw)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SUN (b03yhcy0)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SUN (b03yhcyj)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 MON (b03yn1jt)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 MON (b03yn1jy)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 TUE (b03yn1lf)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 TUE (b03yn1lk)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 WED (b03yn1n1)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 WED (b03yn1n5)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 THU (b03yn1pc)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 THU (b03yn1ph)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 FRI (b03yn1qt)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 FRI (b03yn1qy)
Short Cuts
23:00 MON (b03dsk4z)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SAT (b03y3lnq)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SUN (b03yhcyn)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 MON (b03yn1k8)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 TUE (b03yn1lt)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 WED (b03yn1n9)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 THU (b03yn1pr)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 FRI (b03yn1r8)
So Wrong It's Right
23:00 THU (b00zslfj)
Something Understood
06:05 SUN (b03ymr4b)
Something Understood
23:30 SUN (b03ymr4b)
Start the Week
09:00 MON (b03yn667)
Start the Week
21:30 MON (b03yn667)
Stigma: A Political History
20:00 MON (b03yn83q)
Sunday Worship
08:10 SUN (b03ymr4p)
Sunday
07:10 SUN (b03ymr4g)
Swinging Addis
11:30 TUE (b03ynfpl)
Thanks a Lot, Milton Jones!
18:30 WED (b03yqcws)
The Archers Omnibus
10:00 SUN (b03ymr4y)
The Archers
19:00 SUN (b03ymy2v)
The Archers
14:00 MON (b03ymy2v)
The Archers
19:00 MON (b03yn83l)
The Archers
14:00 TUE (b03yn83l)
The Archers
19:00 TUE (b03ynt6t)
The Archers
14:00 WED (b03ynt6t)
The Archers
19:00 WED (b03yqcwv)
The Archers
14:00 THU (b03yqcwv)
The Archers
19:00 THU (b03yqktr)
The Archers
14:00 FRI (b03yqktr)
The Archers
19:00 FRI (b03yqyzw)
The Architects
11:30 FRI (b03yqyz5)
The Bottom Line
17:30 SAT (b03yqktw)
The Bottom Line
20:30 THU (b03y38ky)
The Chinese Grand Tour
11:00 FRI (b01s452x)
The Film Programme
23:00 SUN (b03y38kh)
The Film Programme
16:00 THU (b03yqjgn)
The Food Programme
12:32 SUN (b03ymr54)
The Food Programme
15:30 MON (b03ymr54)
The Great Global Warming Gold Rush
11:00 TUE (b03ynf5n)
The Great Space Hunt
11:00 WED (b03ynts6)
The Kitchen Cabinet
15:00 TUE (b03ynt6h)
The Life Scientific
09:00 TUE (b03ynf4y)
The Life Scientific
21:30 TUE (b03ynf4y)
The Media Show
16:30 WED (b03yqcwn)
The News Quiz
12:30 SAT (b03y3lkl)
The News Quiz
18:30 FRI (b03yqyzt)
The Week in Westminster
11:00 SAT (b03ygwjh)
The World This Weekend
13:00 SUN (b03ymxz3)
The World Tonight
22:00 MON (b03yn879)
The World Tonight
22:00 TUE (b03ynt74)
The World Tonight
22:00 WED (b03yqcx3)
The World Tonight
22:00 THU (b03yqkty)
The World Tonight
22:00 FRI (b03yqz06)
Thinking Allowed
00:15 MON (b03y152h)
Thinking Allowed
16:00 WED (b03yqcwl)
Time
19:45 SUN (b03yn0ds)
Today in Parliament
23:30 MON (b03yn87f)
Today in Parliament
23:30 TUE (b03ynt78)
Today in Parliament
23:30 WED (b03yqcx9)
Today in Parliament
23:30 THU (b03yqkv2)
Today in Parliament
23:30 FRI (b03yqz0b)
Today
07:00 SAT (b03ygtyy)
Today
06:00 MON (b03yn665)
Today
06:00 TUE (b03ynf4t)
Today
06:00 WED (b03yntry)
Today
06:00 THU (b03yqj2z)
Today
06:00 FRI (b03yqv6r)
Turf Wars
23:00 TUE (b00zsjyj)
Tweet of the Day
08:58 SUN (b03x457w)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 MON (b03x45m5)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 TUE (b03x45pj)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 WED (b03x45q5)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 THU (b03x45r3)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 FRI (b03x45s5)
Weather
06:04 SAT (b03y3lnb)
Weather
06:57 SAT (b03y3lnd)
Weather
12:57 SAT (b03y3lng)
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17:57 SAT (b03y3lnn)
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06:57 SUN (b03yhcy6)
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07:57 SUN (b03yhcyb)
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12:57 SUN (b03yhcyg)
Weather
17:57 SUN (b03yhcyl)
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05:56 MON (b03yn1k2)
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12:57 MON (b03yn1k4)
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21:58 MON (b03yn1kb)
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21:58 THU (b03yn1pt)
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12:57 FRI (b03yn1r4)
Weather
21:58 FRI (b03yn1rb)
Westminster Hour
22:00 SUN (b03yn0n9)
What the Papers Say
22:45 SUN (b03yn0nc)
Witness
14:45 SUN (b03ymxz5)
Woman's Hour
16:00 SAT (b03ygwjr)
Woman's Hour
10:00 MON (b03yn66c)
Woman's Hour
10:00 TUE (b03ynf5c)
Woman's Hour
10:00 WED (b03ynts2)
Woman's Hour
10:00 THU (b03yqj35)
Woman's Hour
10:00 FRI (b03yqwhd)
Workspace Revolution
11:00 MON (b03yn66h)
World War One: The Cultural Front
10:30 SAT (b03th7g9)
World at One
13:00 MON (b03yn1k6)
World at One
13:00 TUE (b03yn1lr)
World at One
13:00 WED (b03ynvd8)
World at One
13:00 THU (b03yn1pp)
World at One
13:00 FRI (b03yn1r6)
You and Yours
12:00 MON (b03yn66k)
You and Yours
12:00 TUE (b03ynfpn)
You and Yours
12:00 WED (b03yntsb)
You and Yours
12:00 THU (b03yqj3c)
You and Yours
12:00 FRI (b03yqyz7)
iPM
05:45 SAT (b03y3lyn)