The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
From Biggles to bee-keeping, John Carey threads together the chapters of his life in books - taking in politics, social history and the skirmishes of academia along the way.
Vignettes of pre-war Hammersmith and Barnes accompany affectionate accounts of Saturday jobs which he was expected to do to compensate the household for staying on at school.
The book is also partly a tribute to the grammar school system. He skewers the snobbishness of Oxford in the 50s but also gives us endearing portraits of the writers and scholars he met and was taught by - including Graves, Larkin and Heaney.
Later in his life, his politics and his sometimes controversial cultural criticism take centre stage, producing a commentator who is not afraid to move between genres and labels, always saying something refreshing and frequently unexpected.
The perils of being outspoken in the national press sometimes led to unhappy fractures.
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection presented by the Most Revd David Chillingworth, Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.
Can you remember the first time when someone, anyone, said to you "I love you"? - iPM hears why one listener thinks her parents didn't like her. Presented by Eddie Mair and Jennifer Tracey. iPM@bbc.co.uk.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
We might think we know the Peak District quite well, but in reality it has many secrets and many stories still to tell, such as its connection with British Imperial India. Helen Mark travels with National Park Ranger Chamu Kuppuswamy as they discover the Indian heritage tucked amongst the wild hills of The Peak District National Park.
Demand for UK-grown chicken is increasing but the poultry industry faces a number of challenges, from the price of feed to getting planning permission for building new sheds. Anna Hill visits one of the country's biggest free range producers to find out more.
And it's been a week of developments in the long running Bovine TB story. Anna reviews reactions to the Government announcement that badger culling in England won't be extended beyond two existing pilot areas this year, and hears about Princess Anne's thoughts on the subject.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Thought for the Day and Weather.
Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir are joined by agony aunt Irma Kurtz. 10 year old blogger Harry Hamer talks about missing his grandparents when they moved abroad, Jean Singfield describes why a set of rosary beads are the Thing About Her, Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark reveals her secret love of tapestry, author Stephen Armstrong celebrates Ibiza, comedian Jack Whitehall shares his Inheritance Tracks, and veteran servicemen Darren 'Swifty' Swift discusses his reinvention as an actor, and listeners Sally, Liz and Jacqui, say 'thank you' for a past kindness large or small.
Irma Kurtz reflects on 40 years of dispensing advice, why being a grandmother is so great, why she's ended up without that special soulmate and her new book 'My Life In Agony'.
Journalist Kirsty Wark tells JP Devlin how she inherited a love of tapestry from her mother. Kirsty's new novel is 'The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle'.
Stephen Armstrong explains why Ibiza has always been the place to party. He's currently updating his book about Ibiza 'The White Island'.
For his Inheritance Tracks Jack Whitehall chooses plainchant from the Monks of Ampleforth Abbey and Rollin' by Limp Bizkit. He and his father Michael have written a book called 'Him and Me'.
Former servicemen Darren 'Swifty' Swift charts his journey from military service to the stage. He's currently appearing in Owen Sheers' play 'The Two Worlds of Charlie F' which is touring the UK.
BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz returns for another series of profiles of those entrepreneurs who through their designs and cultural activities are defining the very spirit of our age.
He kicks of the series with the self-proclaimed "grandmother of performance art", Marina Abramovic as she prepares for a major new exhibition in London's Serpentine Gallery. She recalls her early forays into performance art, including in her native Yugoslavia, along the Great Wall of China, during her record breaking residency at New York's Museum Of Modern Art... and as a postie in London.
And then over the next four weeks Will Gompertz will be talking with the visionary masterminds who are plotting to take architecture into a new future that also recognises the past; who are using their own art as leverage in community activism; and who are dragging mainstream theatre into the 21st century. He'll be talking to Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates and British born impresario Sonia Friedman.
These are not Turner Prize winners or the recipients of grants from the Arts Council or the Lottery Fund. These are the people whose aesthetic sense infect and influence our daily lives. They know what we want, even when we do not. They are the tastemakers that know what will work at the box office and what will sell on the high street. Their impact goes beyond mere commerce, it shapes contemporary culture. They are the Zeitgeisters and it's about time we met them.
Isabel Hardman of The Spectator hears some strong words over the pricing of Royal Mail shares. She considers the future for Nigel Farage. And how 'green' is the Conservative Party?
Despatches from foreign correspondents. Today: Tim Whewell on what's caused the savage breakdown in law and order in the Central African Republic. As Afghans go to the polls, Lynne O'Donnell reflects on the daily threats they face from the Taliban. Ritula Shah in Gujarat on how there's cake for SOME Indians as their mammoth election approaches. Will Grant meets migrants in Mexico preparing for a dangerous and illegal desert trek into the United States and it's a literary mystery that's baffled the brilliant for more than a century - Simon Worrall's been to study the controversial Voynich Manuscript.
Millions of people are locked into poor value pensions and investments sold in the 1970s to 1990s. The Financial Conduct Authority said it was going to look into these. Then said that wasn't quite what it meant. And then it said wait and see what we meant when publish our enquiry. Do you have a zombie pension? And what can you do about it?
The Payments Council - which polices the plumbing through which money passes between us, banks, and businesses - says it has solved the puzzle of mobile payments. Splitting the bill for a meal will never by the same again thanks to PayM - a way of sending precise small sums to your friends knowing no more than their mobile phone number. And you can even use the phone to work out your share.
The new tax year begins on Sunday (and now you know why!) so you can start your new investment ISA that day. If you want to take advantage of the new higher investment limit - £11,880 on Sunday and then another £3220 on 1 July - what factors should you consider before investing? And should you put it all in at once or a bit at a time?
From October 2015 men born before 6 April 1951 and women born before 6 April 1953 will be able to boost their state pension by up to £25 a week. And this week the Government announced the price they will have to pay. They can buy extra pension in units of £1 - a person of 65 will pay £890 for each £1 a week unit. It will cost older people rather less. It sounds expensive - £22,250 for the maximum £25 a week. But it is considerably less than buying an annuity for the same amount. The window opens 12 October 2015 and closes eighteen months later on 5 April 2017. Is it a good idea?
A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Sandi Toksvig, with regular panellist Jeremy Hardy and guest panellists Katy Brand, Kevin Day and Romesh Ranganathan.
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from the Drill Hall in Chepstow, Wales, with the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Kirsty Williams, UKIP Deputy Chairman and Campaigns Director Neil Hamilton, Conservative MP Jesse Norman and the former Welsh Secretary Peter Hain MP.
David Cameron has described the state of the Welsh NHS as "a scandal". But is the NHS in England any better?
A new offence of emotional cruelty would mean parents could be prosecuted for denying affection. How easy would it be to prove?
TWITTER: Tweet us using hashtag BBCAQ.
1926: William Marble, a bank clerk living in south London with his wife Annie and their two children, is desperately worried about money and is in grave danger of losing his house and job.
An unexpected visit by a young relative with an inheritance tempts William to commit a heinous crime.
One of three seminal psychological thrillers by CS Forester - dramatised by Paul Mendelson.
Most famous for his Hornblower series, CS Forester wrote these thrillers at the start of his career taking crime writing in a new direction, portraying ordinary, desperate people committing monstrous acts, and showing events spiralling terribly, chillingly, out of control.
Music composed by Gary C. Newman
"I'm convinced it's the best thing ever written and recorded in the history of things written and recorded" - Moby.
Rhapsody in Blue was first heard exactly 90 years ago when it premiered on February 12, 1924, in New York's Aeolian Hall. Through its use at the opening of Woody Allen's 'Manhattan' it has become synonymous with the city that inspired its creation. But for people around the world, George Gershwin's "experiment in modern music" has become imbued with the most personal of memories.
LA based screen writer Charles Peacock reflects on how this piece has become entwined with his life and how, on an evening at the Hollywood Bowl this music "healed him". When Adela Galasiu was growing up in communist Romania, Rhapsody in Blue represented "life itself, as seen through the eyes of an optimist". For world speed champion Gina Campbell, the opening of that piece will forever remind her of the roar of the Bluebird's ignition as it flew through the "glass like stillness of the water" and brings back the memories of her father, the legendary Donald Campbell - it was played at his funeral when he was finally laid to rest decades after his fatal record attempt on Coniston Lake.
Featuring interviews with Professor of Music Howard Pollock and musician Moby.
Courtney Love is known for the music she made with her band Hole and for her solo career as a musician and actress. And she's also known as the widow of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain. It's 20 years now since his suicide and Courtney discusses her life, music and career, and the role she'll play when Nirvana are inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame.
Actress Michelle Collins on her wide and varied career and the 'Rover's fear' phenomenon.
Was Margaret Thatcher a political game changer? Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston and Labour activist and commentator Emma Burnell consider who are the female game changers in British politics today?
It's not uncommon for one feminist to tell another to 'check her privilege' - a reminder that some women face other forms of discrimination including racism. Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, the American academic who coined the term 'intersectionality' in 1989 to describe discrimination faced by Black women, explains why it's still relevant today.
Also a genuine pioneer, the American electronic composer and accordionist Pauline Oliveros.
Does society undervalue female friendship? Writer Dawn O'Porter and Baroness Shirley Williams explore the important role friendship plays in a woman's life.
Jo Whiley, Paul McGann, Scarlet Page, Tony Law, Danny Wallace, Eyes for Gertrude, Colin MacLeod
Star of Withnail and I, Paul McGann talks to Clive about starring in a searing new version of Chekhov's masterpiece, 'Three Sisters', reworked for the 21st century by Anya Reiss.
Clive salutes the greatest guitar heroes with music photographer Scarlet Page, daughter of Jimmy, whose new exhibition 'Resonators' features Sir Paul McCartney, Slash, Noel Gallagher, Brian May and Paul Weller as her subjects.
Danny Wallace talks Cigarettes & Alcohol with broadcaster Jo Whiley, who's reuniting with Steve Lamacq when their Evening Session returns to celebrate 20 years since the emergence of the Britpop scene.
Following sell out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and London's Soho Theatre, multi award-winning comedian Tony Law chats to Clive about feeling small and alone in a vast world, the subject of his critically acclaimed show 'Nonsense Overdrive.'
With music from Eyes for Gertrude, who perform 'Rag and Bone' from their album 'Residential Bliss.' And from Colin MacLeod, who performs 'California' from 'Anchor EP.'
Sir Alan Ayckbourn is about to turn 75 years old and one of his best-known plays is currently running at the National Theatre in London. Known for his acerbic social observation and exploration of human relationships, his works are as thought provoking as they are funny. But who is the man behind them? Notoriously reticent, he often prefers his written words to speak for him. In this edition of Profile, Becky Milligan speaks to Sir Alan's close friends and family to find out what drives him, and why.
Noah is a film of biblical proportions. It's directed by Darren Aronofsky and stars Russell Crowe in the title role, and cost roughly $125m to make. The ambition is impressive, but the execution has left some film critics and religious groups underwhelmed. Is the film heaven-sent or horrible?
Kamila Shamsie is a frequent contributor to Saturday Review, her new novel " A God In Every Stone" is set in pre-Partition India telling the story of a country taking part in the First World War while struggling with its own identity. What will our searingly honest reviewers make of it?
Drum and Bass DJ and graffiti artist Goldie is a man of many talents, impressing the judges in a TV reality show with his instinctive orchestral conducting skills, despite being unable to read music. Now he's making his stage debut in Kingston 14 a play about Jamaican gangsters by Roy Williams, at the Theatre Royal Stratford East. Will he convince our critics that he can act?
In Olden Days, Ian Hislop considers the British delight in looking back and invoking the past and tradition to validate the present. It's a three part series for BBC2 which reflects his personal fascination with Britain, but will it fascinate the general viewing public?
Tom Sutcliffe is joined by Andreas Whittam Smith, Catherine Bott and Bidisha.
Fi Glover gets stuck in to generations of mothers in the radio archive - Ambridge's Jennifer Aldridge and her shockingly illegitimate baby, Kim Cotton the first official surrogate mother, Nicola Horlick the billionaire hedge fund supermum, and Lesley Brown the UK's first test tube mum. Fi also consults motherhood experts like Penelope Leach, Dr Miriam Stoppard and Gina Ford.
This personal journey into the BBC archives critically tracks the changing concept and practice of motherhood over the last five decades. We hear how tone and advice have changed over the years and how - eventually - mothers learned to laugh at themselves and not be brow-beaten.
The divine source, the domestic goddess, the earth mother, the do-it-all superwoman, the yummy, slummy, chummy and dummy mummy. And the mother of all mother images - the beautiful, servile, immaculate Virgin Mary. They've all got a lot to answer for. Each new generation brings with it a new version of the Mother. And, over the decades, even the stark biological facts have changed with surrogacy and IVF. We've seen the rise and acceptance of single motherhood and gay motherhood. Perhaps the single, overriding maternal emotion - guilt - is the one thing that each defining epoch never solves.
The advent of Mumsnet in 2000 brought with it the benefit of a kind of plurality. You could share without being identified or judged. Or could you?
With contributions from Dr Miriam Stoppard, Gillian Reynolds, Irma Kurtz and Justine Roberts.
1. Inferno
Blake Ritson, David Warner and John Hurt star in Stephen Wyatt's dramatisation of Dante's epic poem - the story of one man's incredible journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise.
In Episode 1: Inferno, the thirty-five year old Dante (Blake Ritson) finds himself in the middle of a dark wood, in extreme personal and spiritual crisis. But hope of rescue appears in the form of the venerable poet Virgil (David Warner), now a shade himself, who offers to lead Dante on an odyssey through the afterlife, that begins in the terrifying depths of Hell.
Many years later, the older Dante (John Hurt), still in enforced exile from his beloved Florence, attempts to finish his great poem and reflects on the events that have led him to its writing.
Dante the Poet .... Blake Ritson
Older Dante .... John Hurt
Virgil .... David Warner
Ulysees/Giant .... Sam Dale
Charon/Pope Nicholas III .... Michael Bertenshaw
Francesca da Rimini .... Priyanga Burford
Count Ugolino .... David Cann
Tree/ Adam .... Clive Hayward
Vanni Fucci .... Steve Touissaint
Angel .... Cassie Layton
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
In a new series of thought-provoking debates, Claire Bolderson looks at something another country does well, or differently, and asks whether it could work here.
The last few decades have seen declining participation in the electoral process, particularly among the younger generation. Only 44% of 18-24 year-olds voted in 2010 compared with 76% of over 65s, and the Hansard Society is predicting it could be as low as 12% in the next election. Could adopting an Estonian style e-democracy re-engage the population?
Estonia is credited with being the world's leading e-democracy, having embraced a determined policy of digitalisation, including electronic internet voting, as part of the push to make itself competitive in the 21st Century. The UK political system is positively antiquarian by comparison. What can the UK learn from the Estonian experience?
The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, recently suggested the UK might follow suit, but what would be the advantages and disadvantages - and how much would it cost? Is our current system fit for purpose, or is it out of touch with the way we live now, already doing our shopping, banking, betting and much else online? Would digitalisation re-engage the young, or merely serve the established political elite?
The Estonian system relies on an ID card system. Would that be a barrier to our adoption of something similar? Could technology liberate us from a 19th Century political rut, or would we lay ourselves open to 21st Century problems of technology - fraud, insecurity and governmental control?
The four competitors who have come through heats and semi-finals unscathed now face each other in the 2014 Final - with the 61st annual Brain of Britain title at stake.
Russell Davies asks the questions in what promises to be a nail-biting contest between four of the brightest and most determined quizzing minds in Britain. As usual the questions fall entirely at random, and the only rule is that a contestant's turn is over once he or she has answered five correctly in a row.
There's also the usual interval in which the Brains pool their knowledge to tackle a pair of questions as a team rather than as rivals - and, by tradition, the questions for the Final have been set by the reigning Brain of Britain champion.
Poet Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry archive with 'Ask Me - the Poetry of William Stafford'.
William Stafford's achievement is extraordinary. He wrote over 20,000 poems, 4,000 of which have been published, in more than 80 books and 2,000 periodicals. But it's the quality of his work that distinguishes him. Stafford was the poetry consultant to the Library of Congress - the post that became the Poet Laureate of the United States, for years he was Oregon's Laureate and he won the National Book Award.
Stafford was born in Kansas in 1914, growing up during the Depression. A conscientious objector, he spent the Second World War in camps, working in forestry. Too exhausted after work he took to rising early to write, and he continued this practice of daily writing until his death in 1993. For Stafford it was the act of writing that mattered most. Writers who got stuck he advised to, "Lower your standards - and carry on."
His poems are mostly short and accessible, but acquire great depth. They can be tough, too. He was sensitive to landscape, people, animals, nature and history. So it's not surprising that Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath were both admirers.
Poet Katrina Porteous visits Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, where for decades Stafford taught, wrote and developed his ideas. His son Kim takes her to the huge William Stafford Archive, as Katrina hears recordings of his readings, meets people who knew him, and students and poets he continues to influence. And she goes out into the wilderness of Oregon to investigate and reflect on the life, outlook and work of this great American poet.
SUNDAY 06 APRIL 2014
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b03zqxrx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Morven Crumlish - Murals (b01p7hdj)
Pomegranate
These three stories by Morven Crumlish, commissioned specially for Radio 4, are inspired by the work of the artist Phoebe Anna Traquair.
Traquair (1852-1936) was born in County Dublin and, in the 1870s, moved to Edinburgh where she would later become a prominent figure in the Scottish Arts and Crafts movement.
Probably her best-known works are the vibrantly-coloured murals in what was formerly the Catholic Apostolic Church in Broughton Street, Edinburgh which Traquair took eight years to complete (1893-1901). When the church fell out of ecclesiastical use, the murals suffered badly through neglect but, following the formation of the Mansfield Traquair Trust, a major restoration was undertaken, completed in 2005.
While art is at the core of all three fictions, Murals also mirrors the evolution of a similar building: from church, to brickyard, to present-day use for visitors and as a venue for events.
1/3. Pomegranate
"With such an enormous task sometimes artistry had to be abandoned in favour of completion." At the top of her ladder, painting her mural, an artist is adding detail to the robes of a priest: "a pomegranate and a bell. And a pomegranate and a bell ..."
Morven Crumlish's stories have been broadcast widely, and she also contributes to the Guardian. Her work has featured in four previous Sweet Talk productions for BBC Radio 4, including Dilemmas of Modern Martyrs - five of her stories - in 2008; and most recently 'Harold Lloyd Is Not The Man Of My Dreams' (Three For My Baby, 2011).
Morven lives in Edinburgh.
Reader: Gillian Kearney
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03zqxrz)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03zqxs1)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
5.20am.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03zqxs3)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b03zqxs5)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b03zxlzr)
Parish Church of St Mary, Andover
The bells of the Parish Church of St. Mary, Andover, Hampshire.
SUN 05:45 Lent Talks (b03zd3jf)
Andrew Adonis
The Power and the Passion - Andrew Adonis on people power.
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b03zqxs7)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b03zxmyc)
Transience
How should we deal with the idea of transience - in our daily lives and in the natural world around us?
Should the fact that everything and everybody we hold dear (including ourselves) is impermanent and passing worry us? Or should we ignore the idea of transience and get along without considering the constant turmoil of change in both the mundane world of the everyday and in the wider cosmos?
Samira Ahmed explores the role of transience in our lives. She looks at the various ways in which transience pops up beyond the obvious cycles of birth, death and short-lived lives. She considers the understanding of science and examines the transience of memory and its play within the rapidly achieved stages of life.
Samira also looks at the effects of transience on the world we have constructed so solidly around us - describing the transience of a city she has got to know well, Berlin, as it undergoes yet another transformation.
And how central is an appreciation of transience to any spiritual understanding? She looks at both the Christian and Hindu traditions to see how they express ideas of impermanence. With music, poetry, and extracts from key thinkers on the subject throughout history, she considers how we might best cope with this potentially distressing reality.
Produced by Anthony Denselow
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b03zxmyf)
Food and Farming Awards: Finalist Steven Jack
Steven Jack farms on the fertile, free-draining soils along the fringes of the Moray Firth, near Inverness. Specialising in organic carrots and potatoes, he has established successful links with major retailers and puts great emphasis on freshness, getting his crop the short distance from field to packhouse in as short a time as possible. Travelling on a Nuffield scholarship, he has learnt from other countries, such as the US, that innovation is key to continuing success, and is striving to see the carrot, in all its many colours and varieties, taken as the first choice of snack by parents who otherwise find themselves bombarded by less healthy options for their families.
Adam Henson and Mike Gooding, the judges of the Outstanding Farmer of the Year category in the BBC Food and Farming Awards, also hear about Steven's work with local schools, encouraging young children to recognise what they see growing in the fields around their homes and to plant - and eat - their own vegetables. Harvesters and tractors may be part of their landscape, but Steven believes that children in rural areas, too, can forget that the food they see on the supermarket shelf begins its life in the fields around their homes.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b03zqxs9)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b03zqxsc)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b03zxmyh)
Cardinal Vincent Nicholls; Archbishop Justin Welby; the Muslim Brotherhood
Cardinal Vincent Nicholls and Archbishop Justin Welby come together for the first time with an exclusive interview to talk about a prayer pilgrimage that begins on Sunday and a trafficking conference in Rome.
On the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, our reporter Kati Whitaker reflects on the impact the genocide had on her when she visited the country and Dr Andrew Wallis, Cambridge University talks to us from Rwanda about how religion is playing a role in reconciliation.
Rahul Tandon reports from Calcutta on the key religious issues to watch out for as India goes to the polls on Monday 7th April.
As the film "Noah" divides audiences around the world, writer and comedian Paul Kerensa gives us his take on how to produce a Hollywood movie that appeals to everyone.
In response to the governments review on The Muslim Brotherhood Kevin Boqcuet investigates the organisation's UK activities and their ideas and beliefs.
Producers
Carmel Lonergan
David Cook
Editor
Amanda Hancox
Contributors
Cardinal Vincent Nicholls
Archbishop Justin Welby
Dr Andrew Wallis
Paul Kerensa
Kati Whitaker
Kevin Boqcuet
Rahul Tandon.
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b03zxmyk)
The Mental Health Foundation
Nigel Planer presents The Radio 4 Appeal for the Mental Health Foundation.
Reg Charity: 801130 (England/Wales); and SC 039714 (Scotland)
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal, mark the back of the envelope 'Mental Health Foundation'.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b03zqxsf)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b03zqxsh)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b03zxmym)
Inside Fear
'Inside fear'
Live from John Keble Church, Mill Hill, London
In the fifth of Radio 4's series 'Inside Lent', Canon Chris Chivers and the Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, a chaplain to the Queen and the Speaker of the House of Commons, explore how fear and faith interact.
With John Keble Church Choir and the Anselm Singers
Music director: John Barnard
Organist: Martyn Noble
Producer: Simon Vivian
Through programmes on Radio 4, local radio and online resources for individuals and groups, BBC Religion & Ethics' series '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 5: Inside fear (6th April)
Lent 6: Inside hope (13th April)
Easter Day - Inside joy (20th April).
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (b03zdm6d)
A Lenten Reflection
Taking Lent as his starting point, William Dalrymple contrasts the Christian view of Lent - with all its self-discipline and self-deprivation - with that represented in great Indian art.
He visits the painted caves of Ajanta, dating from the 2nd century BC, and seen as one of the most comprehensive depictions of civilised classical life that we have.
He describes their monasteries, adorned with "images of attractively voluptuous women....because in the eyes of the monks, this was completely appropriate decoration".
But Christianity - he says - "has always seen the human body as essentially sinful, lustful and shameful".
He charts how - throughout India's history - the arts have consistently celebrated the beauty of the human body seen, "not as some tainted appendage to be whipped into submission, but potentially the vehicle of divinity".
He argues that history can make us aware of "how contingent and bound by time, culture and geography so many of our preconceptions actually are".
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b03x45tq)
Ring Ouzel
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Bill Oddie presents the ring ouzel. Ring ouzels are related to blackbirds and because they nest in the uplands, they’re sometimes known as the ‘mountain blackbird’. The male ring ouzel is a handsome bird, sooty black with a broad white ring called a ‘gorget’ right across his chest that stands out like a beacon. Unfortunately these summer visitors are becoming harder to find even in their strongholds, which include the North York Moors and several Scottish and Welsh mountains.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b03zxmyp)
Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b03zxmyr)
David tries to help Ruth, and Dan drops a bombshell.
SUN 11:15 The Reunion (b03zxmyt)
The Miners' Strike
When five hundred Yorkshire miners at Cortonwood Colliery downed tools on 5th March 1984, they set in train events that would lead to the longest and most bitter industrial dispute in British history.
The Miners' Strike that followed would set miner against miner and transform quiet pit communities into battlefields, as thousands of riot police attempted to defend the right to work. The next twelve months of strife would plunge many families into poverty and place a tremendous burden on the country's Exchequer.
On one side of the dispute was the National Union of Mineworkers - victorious over Edward Heath in 1974 and led by the charismatic militant, Arthur Scargill.
Arraigned against them was Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, buoyed by electoral triumph and fully prepared to defend their new vision for Britain against what the Prime Minister called 'the shock troops of the hard left'.
The Miners' Strike still bitterly divides opinion and the legacy of the strike remains a matter of fierce debate between government and miners, and even within the Union itself.
Thirty years on from the start of the strike, those divided by the picket line join Sue MacGregor in The Reunion.
Kim Howells was research officer for the South Wales NUM, Mel Hepworth worked at Askern pit near Doncaster and became a flying picket for much of the strike, Barbara Jackson was one of the organisers of Sheffield Women Against Pit Closures. Ken Clarke was a Health Minister during the strike and his Nottinghamshire constituency included the Cotgrave Colliery, and Bill King of Bedfordshire Police led Police Support Units at the height of the strike.
Producer: Jerome Lyte
Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:00 Just a Minute (b03z9gmt)
Series 68
Episode 8
In the last edition this series, the panellists attempting to speak for 60 seconds without hesitation, repetition & deviation are Miles Jupp, Paul Merton, Graham Norton and relative newcomer Holly Walsh.
They do so, as always, under the chairmanship of Nicholas Parsons.
Subjects include 'A Shotgun Wedding' and 'Personal Hygiene in the Tenth Century'
Producer: Tilusha Ghelani.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b03zxmyw)
Raw Milk
With a Food Standards Agency consultation underway, Sheila Dillon and guests discuss the controversial subject of raw milk. Banned in Scotland in 1983, the current system in England allows raw unpasteurised milk to be sold directly from the farmer. Raw milk producers are subject to stringent and regular laboratory tests and their products have to carry a warning on the label that the milk may contain properties that are harmful. But there is a growing demand for raw milk in the UK and means of supply are testing the current rules ; The FSA recently threatened prosecution over the presence of a vending machine selling raw milk in Selfridges. Advocates argue that raw milk has many positive health benefits that are lost with pasteurisation. The debate for some is about the right of the individual to choose what risks they take. Balancing that demand with the need to protect public health is the challenge the Food Standards Agency faces. In America, the libertarian argument is even more polarised. With the prices paid for pasteurised milk being on a seemingly downward trajectory in the UK, and with internet shopping making a mockery of distribution rules, Sheila will get the views of all the interested parties. The passion this subject stirs, and the big questions it raises will make for a lively and engaging listen to everyone - raw milk and non raw milk drinkers alike.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b03zqxsk)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b03zxmyy)
Shaun Ley looks at challenges ahead for Afghanistan's new president, with Conservative MP Rory Stewart and Kabul-based analyst Helena Malikyar. Plus Ireland's post-crash economy.
SUN 13:30 Stories in Sound (b03z9gn8)
Clearing the Air
Ten years ago, Ireland became the first country in the world to ban smoking in the workplace. On 29 March 2004, the air cleared in Ireland's bars, restaurants and other buildings - and there was hardly any backlash. The pub-loving nation became the model for a global health revolution. In the decade since, countries across the world have passed smoke-free laws of their own. In this programme, the BBC's former Ireland Correspondent Denis Murray looks at the impact of this type of anti-smoking legislation across Europe - and considers the future of tobacco.
Denis's journey begins in Dublin, where he recalls how radical a move the smoking ban was at the time. His old haunt, Mulligan's bar, used to be memorable for its blue, reeking fug. And the success of the ban in Ireland made international news - leading other countries to follow suit.
So Denis travels to two very contrasting cities to compare attitudes to smoking ten years on.
The Czech Republic has the most liberal smoking laws in the European Union. In Prague, going to a bar can feel like stepping back in time - many of them permit smoking.
France, so long synonymous with romantic movies featuring characters speaking to each other through clouds of smoke, has followed Ireland's lead and banned smoking in public places. Paris is a city with a fascinating relationship with tobacco - where the debate is often about philosophy as much as science.
In a journey across three countries, with a cast list of doctors, politicians and businesspeople - with the odd musician and philosopher thrown in - "Clearing the Air" poses and answers many questions about the effect which smoke-free laws are having on health and society.
Producer: Chris Page.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b03zdktv)
The Edible Garden Show
Eric Robson chairs GQT from Alexandra Palace, London. Taking audience questions are Chris Beardshaw, Bob Flowerdew and Bunny Guinness.
We take a tour of the Edible Garden Show in the company of Pippa Greenwood, Christine Walkden and James Wong.
Assistant Producer: Darby Dorras
Produced by Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
Q: Could the panel recommend some exotic plants to grow on a sunny, yet exposed 2nd floor fire escape?
A: Capers, Gherkins, Nasturtiums and either the Siegerrebe or Boskoops Glory varieties of Grapevine. Rhubarb, Asparagus and Seakale can also be grown in small places with limited soil.
Q: Would it by possible to grow Crocus for saffron on a sunny, south-facing roof?
A: Yes. As long as your roof is reasonably weight bearing, you could grow crocuses in pots filled with soil as deep as possible.
Q: Is it a good idea to put fresh, dry, wood ash on beds growing potatoes?
A: Yes and no. Potatoes love potash as it improves the flavour, but they don't like lime because it gives them scabby skins. But it is best to be aware of the PH of your soil to make sure you do not let the soil get too alkaline. Invest in a soil PH testing kit and monitor the levels through the year. You might consider buying high-acidy compost (but be careful because this tends to be high in nitrogen) or ericaceous compost to restore PH balance. You could also add composted pine needles or tea bags to replenish acidity levels.
Q: Should I remove the Ivy that is taking over my shady flowerbeds?
A: Not necessarily. If you want to encourage variety, it is possible to grow Trachystemon Orientalis alongside the Ivy.
Q: I grow the 'Cambridge Favourite' variety of Strawberry, should I be growing another variety?
A: After a few years of growth, it is a good idea to introduce new varieties to boost the health of the crop. You might want to try the Malwina (Milvana) variety for later fruiting plants with a strong flavour. If you are after an early fruiting plant, you could try the Gariguette variety.
Q: What can I plant to fill in the holes beneath my yellow Forsythia hedge?
A: The easy option would be Euphorbia Robbiae, which has green-yellow flowers. Fox Gloves would give a more natural feel. Baltic Parsley and Epilobum Album would also be good editions. If you wanted to impregnate the hedge with other things, you could try a Eucalyptus Gunnii.
Q: I have an organic garden and my next-door neighbours up the hill have recently used heavy-duty weed killer. Will this kill the plants in my garden?
A: If the weed killer was applied by a professional and there hasn't been heavy rain, you're plants will be fine. But if there has been 'spray-drift' then you might begin to see a mottling effect on your plants.
Q: Could the panel suggest some grains (other than wheat) that could be grown in a school garden to make flour and then bread from?
A: Sweet Corn (you could grow your own popcorn, which is also very pretty!). You could also try growing Dahlia flowers, and you can use the tubers to make bread flour. Sweet Chestnuts can also be used to make bread along with Linseed, Rye and Oats.
Q: How does the panel feel about the use of carpets to suppress weed growth?
A: Carpets can be very useful. There is some debate about whether there are any harmful chemicals used in carpet manufacturing. Be careful not to use foam-backed carpets or lino, as they tend to break down and mix into the soil. An alternative would be newspapers, or hand weeding.
SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b03zxmz0)
Sunday Omnibus
Fi Glover presents the Omnibus edition of the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen, with conversations from Carlisle, Tredegar and Leeds, about marriage second time around, choosing your life's end, and living a life changed by a rugby accident.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
SUN 15:00 Classic Serial (b03xtvtm)
Dante Alighieri - The Divine Comedy
2. Purgatorio
Blake Ritson, David Warner, Hattie Morahan and John Hurt star in Stephen Wyatt's dramatisation of Dante's epic poem - the story of one man's extraordinary journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise.
In Episode 2: Purgatorio, Dante (Blake Ritson) is led up Mount Purgatory by his guide, the shade of Virgil (David Warner). On their journey, they encounter numerous souls who have embarked on the difficult journey up the mountain - a journey that will eventually lead to their spiritual salvation.
Many years later, the older Dante (John Hurt), still in enforced exile from his beloved Florence, reflects on the episodes from his life that have inspired his great poem.
Dante the Poet .... Blake Ritson
Older Dante .... John Hurt
Virgil .... David Warner
Beatrice .... Hattie Morahan
Guardian 1/ Proud Soul .... Sam Dale
Cato .... Michael Bertenshaw
Casella/ Donati .... Steve Touissaint
Belacqua .... Clive Hayward
Pia of Siena .... Priyanga Burford
Guardian 3 .... David Cann
Sapia .... Carolyn Pickles
Girl .... Cassie Layton
All other parts are played by members of the company
The Divine Comedy is dramatised by Stephen Wyatt
Sound design is by Cal Knightley
Directed by Emma Harding and Marc Beeby
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.
SUN 16:00 Bookclub (b03zxw0g)
John Banville - The Sea
With James Naughtie. Celebrated Irish writer John Banville discusses his novel The Sea which won the Man Booker prize in 2005.
In The Sea, middle-aged art historian Max Morden loses his wife to cancer and is compelled to go back to the seaside resort where he spent childhood holidays. It is also a return to the place where he met the Graces, the well-heeled family with whom he experienced the strange suddenness of both love and death for the first time.
John Banville talks about the power of revisiting places from childhood, how he wanted to be a painter as a teenager but found he had no talent. He explains how he painstakingly writes his novels over many years, creating sentence after sentence, but in the end he always feels the book is an embarrassment and a failure, and that he must move on to the next novel.
May's Bookclub choice is The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas.
Producer : Dymphna Flynn.
SUN 16:30 The Echo Chamber (b03zxw0j)
Series 3
Derek Walcott
Paul Farley returns with Radio 4's new poetry programme. Today's edition is devoted to a conversation (with poems and flying fish) with Derek Walcott at home on St Lucia. Walcott is now 84. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992. The tropical island of St Lucia has been his home and has defined his work for many years yet he is reluctant to think of himself as a Caribbean poet. His work has travelled far away from his home and his own relationship with St Lucia has been rich but not entirely comfortable. He talks about why and speaks also of his love for the English poets, John Clare and Edward Thomas, whilst, looking out over the Caribbean sea, he recites Walter de la Mare. Producer: Tim Dee.
SUN 17:00 The Country Formerly Known as London (b03zb7dr)
The year is 2030. What began as a whimsical notion, floated in the long aftermath of the banking crisis, has gathered steam as London powered ahead and the rest of Britain remained in perma-austerity. The campaign to break London and the southeast away from the rest of Britain has triumphed - like Singapore, London is now an independent city-state.
This new country has a population the size of Switzerland, and a banking industry just as dominant. Its population is among the most multicultural in the world. But the new country also has world-class problems - the highest inequality of any rich economy with simmering social tensions to match, and house prices so high that London's cleaners and baristas and firemen commute in from Hastings or further afield.
This programme is a despatch from the future, sketching out the contours of independent London in 2030 - an affluent country with more liberal attitudes, and far more diverse, transient population than Britain, but with a lopsided economy all too dependent on financial services and an increasingly hollowed-out society. The programme also serves as a parable about what could happen if Britain continues along an economic divide between London and the rest. What might the rest of the UK look like in 2030, if London continues to suck in the spending? 'When you pass Stevenage, it's like someone turned the lights out', we're told.
Presenter: Aditya Chakrabortty
Producer: Eve Streeter
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 17:40 Profile (b03zxkpn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b03zqxsm)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b03zqxsp)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03zqxsr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b03zxw0l)
What a week! What glorious picks! Where else would you find three quarters of an hour crammed-full of Peter Curran and Patrick Marber's bunk bed based love-chat, banana boat singing from the quirkily brilliant Shedtown and Natalie Haynes extrapolation of Sophoclean philosophy into the work of Inspector Morse?
A chilling Drama from the big brains at Radio 3, Boy at the Back and some lovely dalliances into family and love.
There's also some music from Marvin Gaye. I know. Marvin Gaye singing "Let's Get it On" on Radio 4. My work here is done.
Farming Today (Radio 4,
6.30am Tuesday 1st April)
Natalie Haynes Stands up for the Classics (Radio 4,
4pm Monday 13st March)
Drama on 3 - The Boy at the Back (Radio 3,
10pm Sunday 30th March)
Open Country - British Raj in the Peak District (Radio 4,
3pm Thursday 3rd April)
Shedown (Radio 4,
11pm Tuesday 1st April)
World Book Club (World Service,
8am Saturday 5th April)
Susan Calman is Convicted (Radio 4,
6.30pm Wednesday 2nd April)
5 Live Breakfast - Your Call (5 Live,
9am Tuesday 1st April)
Archive on 4 - Listen without Mother (Radio 4,
8pm Saturday 5th April)
15 Minute Drama - Soloparentpals.com (Radio 4, all-week)
Bunk Bed (Radio 4,
11.15pm Wednesday 2nd April)
Trouble Man (Radio 2,
10pm Tuesday 1st April)
Short Cuts (Radio 4,
3pm Tuesday 1st April)
Sunday Feature - Billy: The Other Lloyd Webber (Radio 3,
10pm Sunday 30th March).
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b03zxw0n)
David feels awful when he realises Ruth got up early to milk. But Ruth is actually very happy to be working.
Shula, Alistair and Dan discuss his plans to join the Army. Appalled Shula is concerned about the danger Dan might be in, but he seems unfazed. Alistair tells Dan he'd be missing out on a great experience by not going to university. But Dan is adamant that he doesn't want to be a lawyer any more. In fact, he's already been to a selection board.
David and Ruth agree to ask Jill to move in permanently - it's worked out so well for them. The question is, will Jill agree?
Alistair finds Shula out with the horses. She's devastated, and extremely worried about Dan. Alistair thinks Dan's history of juvenile arthritis might be an issue.
But when they raise it with Dan, he says he told them at the selection board, and it wasn't an issue. He tells Shula and Alistair all about the arduous procedure. He's proud that he passed. He's due at Sandhurst on Tuesday for a briefing and pre-commissioning course. Shula is shocked, but Dan tells her that he is committed to this - and he'd really like her blessing.
SUN 19:15 Tim FitzHigham: The Gambler (b03zxw0q)
Series 1
Episode 1
Tim recreates Sir John Throckmorton's 1811 attempt to have a coat made from scratch - going from the sheep's back to his own back in a single day.
Award-winning comedian-author-adventurer Tim FitzHigham recreates a series of bizarre bets from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Written by and starring Tim FitzHigham.
Additional material by Jon Hunter & Paul Byrne, and literal material from the Derbyshire Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers.
Producer: Colin Anderson.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.
SUN 19:45 Time (b03zxw0s)
A Bagful of Stories
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 3. A Bagful of Stories
Returning to Moscow after wartime evacuation, Elena leaves her bag behind on the platform of a provincial railway station. But what did the bag really contain?
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: Ruth Gemmell
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:00 Feedback (b03zdm60)
In a dramatic episode of The Archers at the end of last week, Ruth Archer had a miscarriage and sought comfort from her mother Heather. The moment occurred in Friday's broadcast and was repeated during the omnibus on Sunday - Mothering Sunday. Many Feedback listeners felt the timing of the repeat was inappropriate. But others felt the storyline sensitively explored an issue that affects many women.
On Saturday, The Archers broke out of Ambridge when Lynda Snell was heard on the phone to Any Answers presenter Anita Anand and David Archer burst into Radio 4 continuity. They were just two of the characters that popped up in the Radio 4 schedule as part of Character Invasion. Other fictional interrupters included Big Bird on Tweet of the Day and Roy of the Rovers on Today. But for some listeners mixing fiction with Radio 4's factual output fell flat. We put listeners' comments to Jeremy Howe, Radio 4's Commissioning Editor for Drama.
We'll also be hearing listeners' reaction to a report published on Wednesday by the House of Commons Science and Technology committee. It criticises the BBC's coverage of the Climate Change debate for creating 'false balance' in some of its reports. These findings come as no surprise for some listeners.
Also this week, we try to find out why Radio 4 Long Wave has been disappearing at just after 10 o'clock every morning and returning seven hours later. The answer comes from Alan Boyle, who has the intriguing title of Head of Spectrum and Investigation for BBC Distribution.
And we hitchhike with director Dirk Maggs as we go behind the scenes at the live Radio 4 broadcast of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. On Saturday morning it came home to Radio 4, 36 years after the first series landed, with earth-shattering effect. We'll join the original cast of characters - Arthur Dent, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Ford Prefect, Trillian - and the new Voice of the Book, John Lloyd.
Producer: Will Yates
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b03zdm5y)
Margo MacDonald, Frankie Knuckles, Lorna Arnold, Kate O'Mara, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah
Matthew Bannister on
Margo Macdonald, the leading Scottish politician who fell out with the SNP and became an independent MSP. She also presented programmes here on Radio 4.
The American DJ Frankie Knuckles who was known as "The Godfather of House Music";
Lorna Arnold, the official historian of Britain's nuclear industry;
Kate O'Mara, the actress best known for her roles in Dynasty and Howard's Way;
and the former President of Sierra Leone, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, who negotiated an end to the country's bloody civil war.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (b03zxhcq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 on Saturday]
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b03zxmyk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 In Business (b03zdfgy)
The New Manufacturing
UK Manufacturing has been under heavy pressure for decades but now there are signs of resurgence. Peter Day reports from Britain's former steel capital, Sheffield, on what it takes to survive and prosper in an intensely globalising world.
Producer: Sandra Kanthal.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b03zxw3r)
Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.
SUN 22:45 What the Papers Say (b03zxw7c)
Caroline Daniel of the FT looks at how newspapers covered the week's biggest stories.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b03zdc9z)
Darren Aronofsky on Noah; Mark Cousins on Children and Film
With Francine Stock.
Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky discusses his controversial blockbuster about Noah, which has been loudly condemned by some religious groups in the United States.
Documentary film-maker Mark Cousins considers the history of kids in film and why he thinks children and cinema are made for each other.
In the year that Film 4 won the Oscar for Best Film with Twelve Years A Slave, the news that its controller Tessa Ross has decided to leave the job stunned the British film industry last week. Director Roger Michell, Charles Gant and Briony Hanson reflect upon her legacy and the impact that her departure will have on the business.
Kristin Scott-Thomas reveals how she got her big break and talks about the film that made her a star.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b03zxmyc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 07 APRIL 2014
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b03zqxts)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b03zd3hz)
Kissing; The British Hitman
Kissing - a cultural history. How do we make sense of the kiss and why did it become a vital sign of romance and courtship? Laurie Taylor talks to Marcel Danesi, Professor of Linguistic Anthropology about his new book 'The History of the Kiss' which argues that kissing was the first act of "free romance" liberated from the yoke of arranged unions. When the kiss first appeared in poetry and songs of the medieval period, it was as a desirable but forbidden act. Since then it has evolved into the quintessential symbol of love-making in the popular imagination. From early poems and paintings to current films, its romantic incarnation coincides with the birth of popular culture itself. They're joined by Karen Harvey, Reader in Cultural History at the University of Sheffield, who has studied the meaning of the kiss across different cultures and periods.
Also, hitmen for hire: David Wilson, Professor of Criminology, examined 27 cases of contract killing committed by 36 men (including accomplices) and one woman. Far from involving shadowy, organised criminals, the reality of killing for cash turned out to be surprisingly mundane.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b03zxlzr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03zqxtv)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03zqxtx)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03zqxtz)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b03zqxv1)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b040rtgw)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection presented by the Most Revd David Chillingworth, Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b03zqzss)
Bees, Illegal scallop fishing, Happy farmers
A conference in Brussels today will hear about new research into bee health. Anna Hill talks to a spokesman for the European Commission about what's in the report.
A fisherman from Cornwall has been fined for illegally catching more than £400,000 worth of scallops in Cardigan Bay. Anna interviews Mark Gray from Seafish, the authority on seafood, and asks whether fines are a good enough deterrent, and hears why scallops need protection from the pirates.
We kick off a week looking at animal health by speaking to John Blackwell, President Elect of the British Veterinary Association.
And to brighten up your Monday morning, we hear from a self-confessed happy farmer Jack Jones. If you've ever accused Britain's farmers of being a too glum, it seems you were wrong. It turns out they are among the happiest people in the country. Research for the Cabinet Office reveals farm managers are number three in the happy stakes and farmers in general come eighth.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Anna Jones.
MON 05:56 Weather (b03zqxv3)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zqzsv)
Curlew (Spring)
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the curlew. The haunting song of the curlew instantly summons the spirit of wild places. By April, most curlews have left their winter refuge on estuaries and marshes and have returned to their territories on moorland or upland pastures. Wherever they breed you'll hear the male birds singing and displaying. It's often called the bubbling song.
MON 06:00 Today (b03zqzsx)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (b03zxyfq)
Police drama with playwright Roy Williams
Tom Sutcliffe looks at both the reality of police life and its portrayal. The playwright Roy Williams's latest drama is set in a police station in Kingston, Jamaica, revealing a world of corruption and intrigue. TV writer Sam Bain, of Peep Show fame, talks about Babylon, a drama which take a wry look at modern policing. The former police officer Christian Plowman explains what life was like undercover, and the criminologist Jennifer Brown looks back at the history of policing in the UK.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b03z8z58)
Thomas Brothers - Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism
Episode 1
A definitive account by Thomas Brothers of Louis Armstrong, his life and legacy, during the most creative period of his career.
Nearly 100 years after bursting onto Chicago's music scene under the tutelage of Joe 'King' Oliver, Louis Armstrong is recognized as one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. A trumpet virtuoso, seductive crooner, and consummate entertainer, Armstrong laid the foundation for the future of jazz with his stylistic innovations. But his story would be incomplete without examining how he struggled in a society seething with brutally racist ideologies, laws, and practices.
Episode 1:
'Little Louis' Armstrong makes the long journey north from New Orleans to Chicago to join his mentor, 'King Oliver' – and a new jazz era is born.
Reader: Colin McFarlane
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b03zxyfs)
Claire Goose; Dalits; Maria Miller
Claire Goose talks about her latest role in ITV's 'Undeniable' about a woman who recognises her mother's murderer more than two decades after she was killed.
Isabel Hardman of the Spectator and Helen Lewis of the New Statesman discuss the handling of Maria Miller's parliamentary expenses case.
Emma Barnett updates us on how the Woman's Hour Power List 2014: the game changers judges have managed to whittle down the final shortlist. Fellow judge Heather Rabbatts joins her - and also talks about the impact of Malaria in Nigeria.
(Note: Malaria is a vector-borne disease which is transmitted by mosquitoes, and not through the air as is stated at one point during the interview.)
And Indian writer Meena Kandamsky joins us to talk about her latest novel, The Gypsy Goddess.
Presenter: Jane Garvey
Producer: Ruth Watts.
MON 10:45 The Cazalets (b03zxzlp)
All Change
Episode 1
by Elizabeth Jane Howard
Dramatised by Lin Coghlan
The family are divided over what to do with the family home following the death of their mother.
Narrator ..... Penelope Wilton
Directed by Sally Avens
Last year Radio 4 dramatised the four novels that made up The Cazalet Chronicles. The novels gave a vivid insight into the lives, hopes and loves of three generations during the Second World War and beyond.
Later that year, age 90, Elizabeth Jane Howard wrote, a fifth and final novel in the saga, All Change. Sadly Elizabeth Jane died in January but was delighted that the BBC were to dramatise her final novel.
The Cazalets tells the story of an upper-middle class family of the type prominent in England prior to WW2. It is now 1956 and the family must learn how to live in a very different type of world.
The three brothers, Hugh, Edward and Rupert, run the family timber firm that their father started.
Their sister, Rachel, has spent her life looking after their parents in Sussex, but now their mother has died she may finally have time to spend with her best friend and lover, Sid, (Margot Sidney).
Hugh is now Chairman of the firm. After a long time on his own following the death of his wife, Sibyl, he has remarried, his secretary, Jemima, who is a war widow. They have a daughter of their own, Laura.
Polly, Hugh's daughter by Sibyl, has married into the aristocracy and become Lady Fakenham, but she and her husband spend all their time attempting to find ways to pay for the crumbling family Estate.
Edward has left his wife, Villy, for his mistress, Diana. But since marrying, Diana, he finds it hard to recapture the joy of their affair.
Louise, his daughter by Villy, is now divorced from Michael Hadleigh and is sharing a flat with her old schoolfriend, Stella. Her relationship with Villy is still fraught, but she and her father are now on good terms.
Rupert lives with his second wife, Zoe and their children. He hates working for the family firm and is envious of his old friend, Archie, who married his daughter, Clary, and still manages to make a living from painting. Clary is a writer, but is finding it increasingly hard to write and bring up a family.
The first four Cazalet Novels have sold over a million copies.
Martin Amis said of Elizabeth Jane Howard, "She is, with Iris Murdoch, the most interesting woman writer of her generation. An instinctivist, like Muriel Spark, she has a freakish and poetic eye, and a penetrating sanity."
Music: The theme tune to The Cazalets is 'Heading Home' by Debbie Wiseman
Illustration by Alice Tait.
MON 11:00 Lives in a Landscape (b03zy1bt)
Series 16
The Show Must Go On
Alan Dein follows Pat & Hayley Mallon - a husband and wife singing duo - around the pubs of Bath. The show must go on - even as 69 year old Pat prepares for major surgery on an aneurysm.
Bath's pub circuit is a far cry from the packed houses that Pat was playing with his 5 piece Country & Western band back in the 1980s. His has been a life well-lived. During those heady days, he was on two bottles of whiskey and 100 cigarettes a day.
But now Pat's facing the prospect of major surgery. Fearing he may not be able to return to gigging, he's grooming wife Hayley - 23 years his junior - to take over.
Producer: Laurence Grissell.
MON 11:30 Secrets and Lattes (b03zy1bw)
Series 1
In the Beginning
Arty Trisha and sensible sister Clare open their new Edinburgh cafe together. Polish chef, Krzysztof, and uninvited waitress, Lizzie, both help and hinder - but will they all even get through Day 1?
Hilary Lyon's series sees erstwhile free spirit Trisha (played by Julie Graham) return to her native city of Edinburgh after years of living in London. Trisha, a generally relaxed and positive art teacher is coping with not only unexpectedly losing her job, but also trying to repair her bruised heart. Nonetheless, she arrives at Waverley Station enthusiastic and eager for the next chapter of her life to begin. Trisha's solvent big sister Clare (played by Hilary Lyon) is a non-practising qualified accountant, has been married for years, has two spoiled teenage children and has probably spent too much time on the school PTA. Clare struggles with a tendency towards suburban snobbery and an obsessive need to control but happily facilitates the opening of 'Cafe Culture' in leafy Bruntsfield, which marks the beginning of a whole new era for both sisters.
Throw in temperamental opera-loving Polish chef, Krzysztof (Simon Greenall) and a strangely forward teenage customer, Lizzie (Pearl Appleby), and you have the perfect recipe for volatile relationship tension, a lot of laughs and a few secrets for good measure.
Directed by Marilyn Imrie
Producers: Moray Hunter and Gordon Kennedy
An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b03zy1by)
Power bills and buses
Record numbers have complained about their energy companies. Fair dealing is part of any energy companies licence conditions what steps can the regulator Ofgem take - we'll hear from the regulator's consumer spokesman.
It's nearly 30 years since buses were privatised. We were promised cheaper fares, more buses and less public subsidy. In most cases the opposite has happened. Now one transport authority, nexus, which covers Tyne and Wear in the North East wants to their regulate buses. A bus company and local MP debate the issue.
Some predict that in the future we will not need factories. 3-printers, already used to print out everything from houses to body parts, will do it all for us at home. As the first 3-D desk toop printers come into the shops we ask what people will really use them for.
Two You & Yours listeners report on how they have attempted to make their homes more energy efficient.
Is cheap wine necessarily bad wine? A report finds most people won't spend more than £6 a bottle we'll ask which plonk shames rivals that cost a lot more.
There are new rules covering how bailiffs operate. What difference will it make to debtors and creditors?
And it's three months to the Grand Depart, the part sporting event part travelogue the world 's toughest and most popular annual sporting event kicks off in Yorkshire this year; we'll take a peak at preparations.
MON 12:57 Weather (b03zqxv5)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b03zqxv7)
The pings picked up by underwater sonar could locate Flight MH370.An expert explains how to Martha Kearney. An emotional Oscar Pistorius takes the stand in his own trial. The whispering campaign among MPs against Culture Secretary , Maria Miller . Attorney General , Dominic Grieve defends adversarial questioning of victims in the courts despite recommendations from the former DPP , Sir Keir Starmer for change. Russian activists declare the region of Donetsk 'independent'. And a Tory Council in Oxfordshire says it can't deliver free school meals by the government's deadline.
Analysis of current affairs reports, presented by Martha Kearney.
MON 13:45 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03zy1c0)
Testaments of Friendship
Dr Thomas Dixon brings his timely fresh history of the changing face of friendship into the era immediately after the First World War, when the international friendship movement flourished.
At the centre of this episode is the story of Vera Brittain, author of the ever-popular memoirs, Testament of Youth and Testament of Friendship. Thomas Dixon traces Brittain's life through her pre-war loves, the heart-breaking war-time losses of her brother, her two closest male friends and her fiancee, and her post-war friendship with the writer, Winifred Holtby.
Thomas Dixon hears from Brittain's daughter, Baroness Shirley Williams, about her mother's passionate belief in the ability of women to sustain profound friendships even during a period when they were frequently depicted in films, books and newspaper articles as being hostile to one another.
He also speaks with Professor Seth Koven about Muriel Lester, whose friendships both with a poor East End girl, Nellie Dowell, and with Mahatma Gandhi, represented a drive for international peace and reconciliation after the horrors of the First World War.
Producer: Beaty Rubens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b03zxw0n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b01cwwld)
Stephen Wakelam - Waiting for the Boatman
By Stephen Wakelam
The painter Mario Minniti has travelled to Naples to seek out his old friend and former mentor Caravaggio. But on arrival, the great painter is nowhere to be found. In a bid to track him down, Mario retraces Caravaggio's last known movements. His search reveals a life lived dangerously.
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko.
MON 15:00 The 3rd Degree (b03zy1c4)
Series 4
The University of Bristol
A quiz show hosted by Steve Punt where a team of three University students take on a team of three of their professors.
Coming this week from the University of Bristol, "The 3rd Degree" is a funny, lively and dynamic quiz show aimed at cultivating the next generation of Radio 4 listeners whilst delighting the current ones.
The Specialist Subjects in this episode are Religion & Theology, English Literature to 1700 and Physics, and the questions range from the Book of Job to the books of Raymond Chandler via scalar bosons & Grumpy Cat
The show is recorded on location at a different University each week, and it pits three Undergraduates against three of their Professors in a genuinely original and fresh take on an academic quiz. Being a Radio 4 programme, it of course meets the most stringent standards of academic rigour - but with lots of facts and jokes thrown in for good measure.
Together with host Steve Punt, the show tours the (sometimes posh, sometimes murky, but always welcoming!) Union buildings, cafés and lecture halls of six universities across the UK.
The rounds vary between Specialist Subjects and General Knowledge, quickfire bell-and-buzzer rounds and the 'Highbrow & Lowbrow' round cunningly devised to test not only the students' knowledge of current affairs, history, languages and science, but also their Professors' awareness of television, film, and One Direction... In addition, the Head-to-Head rounds, in which students take on their Professors in their own subjects, were particularly lively, and offered plenty of scope for mild embarrassment on both sides...
The resulting show is funny, fresh, and not a little bit surprising, with a truly varied range of scores, friendly rivalry, and moments where students wished they had more than just glanced at that reading list...
In this series, the universities are Bristol, Kent, Bedfordshire, Birmingham, Nottingham & Aberystwyth.
Overflow (incl Cast Lists)
The host, Steve Punt, although best known as a satirist on The Now Show is also someone who delights in all facets of knowledge, not just in the Humanities (his educational background) but in the sciences as well. As well as "The Now Show" he has made a number of documentaries for Radio 4, on subjects as varied as "The Poet Unwound - The History Of The Spleen" and "Getting The Gongs" - an investigation into awards ceremonies - as well as a half-hour comedy for Radio 4's 2008 Big Bang Day set in the Large Hadron Collider, called "The Genuine Particle". This makes him the perfect host for a show which aims to be an intellectual, fulfilling and informative quiz, but with wit and a genuine delight in exploring the subjects at hand.
The 3rd Degree is a Pozzitive production, produced by David Tyler. His radio credits include Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive, Cabin Pressure, Bigipedia, The Brig Society, Thanks A Lot, Milton Jones!, Kevin Eldon Will See You Now, Jeremy Hardy Speaks To The Nation, Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off, The 99p Challenge, My First Planet, The Castle and even, going back a bit, Radio Active. His TV credits include Paul Merton - The Series, Spitting Image, Absolutely, The Paul & Pauline Calf Video Diaries, Coogan's Run, The Tony Ferrino Phenomenon and exec producing Victoria Wood's dinnerladies.
Producer: David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b03zxmyw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics (b03zy1c6)
Series 1
Virgil
Natalie Haynes, critic, writer and reformed stand-up comedian, brings the ancient world entertainingly up to date.
In each episode, 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.
For starters, Natalie considers the work of the Roman poet Virgil, ranging from his hints on bee-keeping to his great work The Aeneid.
Dido is the classic wronged woman and the Aeneid contains the best ding-dong between a man and a woman in all Latin literature, culminating in Dido’s memorable promise “If you go I’m going to kill myself and then I will pursue you from beyond death with black fires!”
With Pamela Helen Stephen who's sung Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, bee-keeper Gordon Cutting and Dr Llewelyn Morgan who talks about the greatest poet in the Roman world.
Producer: Christine Hall.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.
MON 16:30 The Digital Human (b03zy1c8)
Series 5
Time
Aleks Krotoski explores the technology of time keeping. As clocks get more accurate and time becomes more abstract what does that mean for how we experience it?
The accurate keeping of time allows our technological world to keep spinning and since earliest times has been central to how civilisation has developed. From the earliest mechanical clocks, the supercomputers of their day to the first wearable technology or pocket watch they've been at the forefront of technological advancement.
But what has 'clock time' done to how we experience the passage of time? Aleks will find out as she visits the earliest time recording device ever discovered, in a muddy Aberdeen-shire field some 5000 years older than Stone Henge. In contrast she sees how modern time is produced by the atomic clocks of the BIPM in Paris, its here that time for the world is produced, sychronising everything from power grids to GPS satellites and the internet. She also explores how we experience time subjectively and what that means for how we perceive the world. Finally she hears from someone who tried to live without clocks and what that meant for his experience of time.
Contributors: Prof. Vince Gaffney, Artist Cathy Haynes, Neuroscientist David Eagleman, Professional base jumper Karina Holkeim and writer and software developer Steve Corona.
Producer: Peter McManus.
MON 17:00 PM (b03zy1cb)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03zqxv9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 The Unbelievable Truth (b03zy1cd)
Series 13
Episode 1
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.
Alex Horne, Lucy Beaumont, John Finnemore and Jack Dee are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as birds, witches, pubs and shoes.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith, the team behind Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
Producer: Jon Naismith
A Random production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b03zy1fm)
Pat and Tony discuss the plans for May Day. Clarrie and Susan are coaching less experienced cake bakers.
Tom is stressing over wedding plans, and Kirsty phones with more bad news - the photographer has cancelled! They have the name of someone else and decide to check his website later. Hassled Tom snaps when Tony asks him to prepare the seedbed for the carrots. He's got enough on his plate!
Neil and Alan agree how nice it will be to have the organ repaired in time for the Easter weekend. They approve the dedication plaque to Phil. Neil will display the shortlisted designs for the stained glass window that Jack Woolley bequeathed. Then people can decide which they like best.
Neil is concerned about the Passion Play. They are yet to find a replacement Jesus. Chris would be perfect but isn't keen.
Tony is furious at Tom's attitude. Pat has to bear the brunt of his anger. Pat doesn't see why they can't compromise but Tony thinks Tom doesn't know the meaning of the word. Nonetheless, Pat talks to Tom who agrees to help later in the week.
Kirsty and Tom look at the suggested photographer's website but aren't impressed. How will they find a suitable replacement who's available on the day? It's a disaster!
MON 19:15 Front Row (b03zy1fp)
Brendan Gleeson; Let the Right One In; Baileys Prize shortlist; Georgians at Buckingham Palace
Kirsty Lang talks to Emmy Award-winning actor Brendan Gleeson about his role in new film Calvary; as it opens at London's Apollo theatre, writers Jack Thorne and John Ajvide Lindqvist discuss adapting vampire tale Let the Right One In for the stage; Mary Beard reveals the six shortlisted authors for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction and Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, Desmond Shawe-Taylor, discusses the new exhibition The First Georgians: Art & Monarchy 1714-1760, at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace.
Producer: Ellie Bury.
MON 19:45 The Cazalets (b03zxzlp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 Thatcher's Mad Monk or True Prophet? (b03zy1fr)
Forty years ago, Sir Keith Joseph, a leading Conservative politician, began a radical re-think that paved the way for Thatcherism. James Landale examines how an unconventional politician challenged conventional wisdom and changed the course of British politics.
In all the comment after Baroness Thatcher's death, only passing mention was made of Keith Joseph. However, Joseph played a key role in making Thatcherism possible. The defeat of the Heath Government in early 1974 had an especially profound effect on Joseph, who had served in Heath's Cabinet. He came to a startling conclusion: 'it was only in April 1974 that I was converted to Conservatism', he confessed, 'I had thought that I was a Conservative but I now see that I was not really one at all.'
Joseph's radical re-think led him to challenge the economic and political consensus on which British politics had been based for thirty years. Since 1945, British governments had sought to maintain full employment by intervening in the economy, but Joseph rejected this approach. He began a series of major speeches by declaring that, 'This is not the time to be mealy-mouthed: intervention is destroying us.' In September 1974, he argued that inflation was caused by governments themselves.
Joseph was seen as a challenger for the Tory leadership, but after making controversial comments on social deprivation and contraception, he declined to challenge Heath. Instead, Margaret Thatcher stood for the leadership in February 1975 and defeated Heath. She put Joseph in charge of policy. Little more than two years after Joseph had first challenged the old consensus, his ideas for tackling inflation as a priority and accepting the prospect of higher unemployment were becoming mainstream.
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b03zdbrd)
Ukraine: The Paper Trail to Corruption
When the former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych jumped into a helicopter and flew into hiding in mid-February, the Kiev protest movement that had opposed him flung open the gates of his abandoned estate.
Ordinary Ukrainians poured in to visit the 140-hectare grounds and to catch a first glimpse of the luxurious lifestyle Yanukovych had enjoyed at his country's expense. Many gawped at the extraordinary opulence from the gold fittings to the marble floors and the private zoo. But a group of journalists were more excited by a different kind of treasure floating in the nearby lake. Thousands of documents had been dumped in the water by staff when their boss fled. The papers contained proof - not just of Yanukovych's wildly extravagant tastes - but also of systematic bribery, corruption, nepotism and state sponsored violence.
Investigative reporters immediately realised these waterlogged documents could provide crucial evidence for future criminal proceedings. Anxious to preserve them, they worked around the clock painstakingly drying and sorting each sheet of paper. Since then other incriminating papers have been found around the Kiev's city centre. Lucy Ash talks to the journalists on the paper trail and asks why divers, archivists, lawyers, accountants and so many ordinary volunteers are eager to help them.
MON 21:00 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.
MON 21:30 Start the Week (b03zxyfq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b03zqxvc)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b03zqzvz)
Indian electors start voting in the world's biggest election.
Latest from the city of Donetsk in Eastern Ukraine.
Marking the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide.
With Ritula Shah.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b03zy1k0)
Unexploded
Episode 6
A tale of love, art and prejudice set in wartime Brighton.
"Fear was an infection - airborne, seaborne - rolling in off the Channel, and although no one spoke of it, no one was immune to it. Fifty miles of water was a slim moat to an enemy that had taken five countries in two months, and Brighton, regrettably, had for centuries been hailed as an excellent place to land."
In May 1940, Geoffrey and Evelyn Beaumont and their Philip, anxiously await news of invasion on the beaches of Brighton. Geoffrey, a banker, becomes Superintendent of the internment camp on the edge of town while Evelyn is gripped first by fear and then quiet but growing desperation.
A discovery widens a fault-line in family life.
Episode 6:
Evelyn has become interested in the fate of internee Otto Gottlieb. But according to Geoffrey, there's more to Otto than meets the eye.
Alison MacLeod lives in Brighton. She was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award in 2011 and her story 'Solo, A Capella', about the Tottenham riots, featured in the Radio 4 series 'Where Were You ...' in 2012. Her previous works include The Changeling and The Wave Theory of Angels. Unexploded was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2013. Alison is Professor of Contemporary Fiction at the University of Chichester.
Reader: Emma Fielding
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Producer: Rosalynd Ward
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (b03zb4bb)
Creating Characters
Michael Rosen gathers a gaggle of writers and directors to discuss what makes a great character in a book, on the stage and on the radio. Recorded in front of an audience at Arnolfini Centre in Bristol, as part of Radio 4 Character Invasion Day.
Contributors: Andrew Hilton, Founder & Artistic Director of Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory.
Helen Cross, author of radio plays, novels and screenplays. Her first novel, My Summer of Love, became a BAFTA award winning feature film.
Paul Dodgson, writer and director of radio dramas, and also a composer and teacher.
Producer Beth O'Dea.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b03zqzv9)
Labour MPs call for a parliamentary debate on the way MPs' conduct and expenses are regulated.
The demands came amid continuing pressure for the Culture Secretary, Maria Miller, to resign.
The Home Secretary faces criticism in the Commons over her plans to sign up to the European Arrest Warrant and 34 other European security and justice measures.
And the Government suffers a heavy defeat in the House of Lords as peers press for the appointment of independent guardians for trafficked children.
Susan Hulme and team report on today's events in Parliament.
TUESDAY 08 APRIL 2014
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b03zqxw6)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b03z8z58)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03zqxw8)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03zqxwb)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03zqxwd)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b03zqxwg)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b040rth4)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection presented by the Most Revd David Chillingworth, Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b03zr00c)
Veterinary investigation, Goats, Export
A major investigation is underway after cattle sold from a dairy herd, thought to be TB free, test positive for the disease. The animals were sold as part of a dispersal sale at a market in Cheshire earlier this year. Farming Today hears from the government's Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Association as they work to trace, isolate and test all the cattle. The Cumbrian herd were under the 4 year TB testing rules, however the Livestock Auctioneers Association believe TB testing should be more frequent in all areas.
The Great Orme goat count is due to take place today. Wild goats have been a familiar sight on the coastal headland in North Wales since the 19th century. But in recent years there have been attempts to reduce the herd size. The Great Orme country park warden tells Farming Today how they carry out the count and why there is concern about the number of wild goats there.
Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Lucy Bickerton.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zr00f)
Bittern
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the bittern. As the first shoots of spring appear in the reed-beds, you might hear the booming sound of a bittern. The bittern's boom is lower pitched than any other UK bird and sounds more like a distant foghorn than a bird. Today these birds are on the increase, thanks to the creation of large reed-beds.
TUE 06:00 Today (b03zr00h)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (b03zr00k)
Julia Slingo
Jim Al-Khalili's guest this week is Dame Julia Slingo, the chief scientist at the Met Office. The conversation ranges from her childhood wonder of clouds to climate change's part in this winter's floods.
Julia Slingo's fascination with meteorology began as she, as a sixth former, gazed out of her bedroom window and wondered what controlled the shapes of clouds and why the clouds usually came from the west. In the 1970s she was one of the few women scientists at the British Meteorological Office and worked in the early days of computer modelling of weather and climate. As the first female professor of Meteorology in the UK, she crusaded for greater computing power and capacity to improve both weather forecasting and global climate models.
Julia Slingo took up the job of the chief scientist at the Met Office in 2009. Her profile has been high in the last few months following her remarks that the persistent heavy rains and storminess of Winter 2013 to 2014 were likely to be linked to anthropogenic climate change.
TUE 09:30 One to One (b03zy22n)
Jane Hill meets John Jennings
More from the series where broadcasters follow their personal passions by talking to the people whose stories interest them most. BBC newsreader Jane Hill's father and uncle both lived with Parkinson's disease, and in this series she talks to people from families with an inherited genetic disorder. In the second of two programmes she talks to John Jennings, who has a high chance of inheriting a rare form of early onset Alzheimer's disease. They discuss the emotional impact of having this disease in the family and his decision whether or not to get tested for the gene.
Producer: Sally Heaven.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b03zb49r)
Thomas Brothers - Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism
Episode 2
A definitive account by Thomas Brothers of Louis Armstrong, his life and legacy, during the most creative period of his career.
Nearly 100 years after bursting onto Chicago's music scene under the tutelage of Joe 'King' Oliver, Louis Armstrong is recognized as one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. A trumpet virtuoso, seductive crooner, and consummate entertainer, Armstrong laid the foundation for the future of jazz with his stylistic innovations. But his story would be incomplete without examining how he struggled in a society seething with brutally racist ideologies, laws, and practices.
Episode 2:
As his career in Chicago continues to blossom, Louis grows close to Lil Hardin, a beautiful pianist, and starts to distance himself from his long-time mentor, Joe 'King' Oliver.
Reader: Colin McFarlane
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b03zy22q)
Great British Sewing Bee; Rachel Podger; Women GPs; Baileys Prize shortlist; Men who sell sex
Patrick Grant and May Martin, judges of The Great British Sewing Bee on tailoring, sewing and the revival of home crafts; Violinist Rachel Podger; Dr Maureen Baker, Chair of the Royal College of GPs about the crisis in recruitment; The Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction - Chair of Judges Helen Fraser and literary critic Gaby Wood discuss this year's shortlist. And continuing our series on the proposed changes in legislation around prostitution we talk to male sex workers. Jane Garvey presents.
Producer: Eleanor Garland.
TUE 10:45 The Cazalets (b03zy22s)
All Change
Episode 2
by Elizabeth Jane Howard
dramatised by Lin Coghlan
Edward attempts to make Diana happy with the purchase of a new house.
Directed by Sally Avens
Last year Radio 4 dramatised the four novels that made up The Cazalet Chronicles. The novels gave a vivid insight into lives, hopes and loves of three generations during the Second World War and beyond.
Later that year, age 90, Elizabeth Jane Howard wrote, a fifth and final novel in the saga, All Change. Sadly Elizabeth Jane died in January but was delighted that the BBC were to dramatise her final novel.
The Cazalets tells the story of an upper-middle class family of the type prominent in England prior to WW2. It is now 1956 and the family must learn how to live in a very different type of world.
The three brothers, Hugh, Edward and Rupert, run the family timber firm that their father started.
Their sister, Rachel, has spent her life looking after their parents in Sussex, but now their mother has died she may finally have time to spend with her best friend and lover, Sid, (Margot Sidney).
Hugh is now Chairman of the firm. After a long time on his own following the death of his wife, Sibyl, he has remarried, his secretary, Jemima, who is a war widow. They have a daughter of their own, Laura.
Polly, Hugh's daughter by Sibyl, has married into the aristocracy and become Lady Fakenham, but she and her husband spend all their time attempting to find ways to pay for the crumbling family Estate.
Edward has left his wife, Villy, for his mistress, Diana. But since marrying, Diana, he finds it hard to recapture the joy of their affair.
Louise, his daughter by Villy, is now divorced from Michael Hadleigh and is sharing a flat with her old school friend, Stella. Her relationship with Villy is still fraught, but she and her father are now on good terms.
Rupert lives with his second wife, Zoe and their children. He hates working for the family firm and is envious of his old friend, Archie, who married his daughter, Clary, and still manages to make a living from painting. Clary is a writer, but is finding it increasingly hard to write and bring up a family.
The first four Cazalet Novels have sold over a million copies.
Martin Amis said of Elizabeth Jane Howard, "She is, with Iris Murdoch, the most interesting woman writer of her generation. An instinctivist, like Muriel Spark, she has a freakish and poetic eye, and a penetrating sanity.".
TUE 11:00 Chrysanthemum (b03zy22v)
Gorgeous, medicinal and edible, Chrysanthemums come with whole worlds in their blossoms. Jools Gilson pursues these remarkable plants from her Grandad's garden in the 1930s to the latest National Chrysanthemum Show in Stafford. Along the way, she visits championship grower Ivor Mace's greenhouse in the Rhondda Valley and sips chrysanthemum tea ceremoniously in London.
What is it that drives people to tend their chrysanthemums as if they were newborn babies? And what is the connection between these floral shenanigans and the chrysanthemums used as ancient Chinese herbal remedies for calming itchy eyes and lowering blood pressure?
Jools returns to her roots, to ask her aunties how her Grandfather found time to grow something just because it was beautiful - between factory shifts, growing vegetables and trapping rabbits to feed his ten children.
What blossoms is a story of survival, and the pursuit of perfection.
Producer: Adam Fowler
A Overtone production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 11:30 Soul Music (b03zy246)
Series 18
Crazy
"It's the kind of music that makes you feel like you're just hurting so good"
People of different ages reflect on why the pop country classic 'Crazy' made famous by Patsy Cline brings out such strong emotions in them, including a young woman mourning the loss of a father's love after divorce, broadcaster Fiona Phillips on losing her father to Alzheimers and 87 year old Wayne Rethford who as a young man in 1961 met Patsy Cline and two years later happened upon the crash site where she died after her plane came down in a heavy storm in Tennessee.
"That music becomes embedded in your soul" he says.
Producer: Maggie Ayre.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b03zy248)
Call You and Yours: Are you overweight by nature?
Are you overweight by nature? New research has found a small piece of genetic code that seems to have a strong effect on whether or not we are fat. Might it explain your battle to keep your weight down?
Maybe you've spent your life on diets? Cutting carbs, increasing protein, only eating fruit and veg.
The latest one is the Paleo or caveman diet where you cut out grains. Perhaps you're trying that?
We want to hear from you. We'll have a panel of experts to take your questions and we'll be live with a group of people trying to slim down.
Email your questions and thoughts - youandyours@bbc.co.uk.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b03zqxwj)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b03zqxwl)
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 (b03zy24b)
The Suburbs of the Heart
Continuing his history of friendship over the last 500 years, Dr Thomas Dixon explores how friendship was changed by a new form of technology and a new type of science in the early years of the twentieth century.
Just as the internet has been seen as an enemy of friendship, so the new technology of the early twentieth century - the telephone - was initially viewed with mistrust. Magazines and newspaper articles listed it along with the telegram and the motor car as potentially detrimental to the art of friendship.
One author wrote: "we live, alas in the suburbs of each other's hearts".
Meanwhile, as the real suburbs were extended, the new science of psychology began to advise lonely city-dwellers on how to form new alliances and friendships.
Dr Thomas Dixon hears from Professor Mark Peel about the impact of urbanisation on friendship, and is won over by his surprisingly passionate defence of Dale Carnegie's often mocked best-seller, How to Make Friends and Influence People.
Producer: Beaty Rubens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b03zy1fm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b03zy2k4)
Silk: The Clerks' Room
Bethany
By Janice Okoh
Based on the BBC1 series Silk, the radio series tells of the adventure and mishap in the Clerks' Room at the Shoe Lane chambers.
As a junior clerk in a male-dominated clerks' room, Bethany doesn't need reminding that her dream to become a barrister should remain a closely-held secret. But when she finds herself in hot water after unknowingly giving a must-win case to a pitifully under-performing barrister, her passion for the law comes into its own.
BBC1's Silk created by Peter Moffat
Executive producer: Hilary Salmon
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko.
TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (b03zy2k6)
Series 5
Trespass
Josie Long ventures where she shouldn't with this sequence of brief encounters, true stories and radio adventures about acts of trespass.
Stories of stolen waxworks, formal letters severing friendships, and travels into unknown territory.
Urban Exploration
Feat. Bradley Garrett
http://www.bradleygarrett.com/stills/
Stealing Snowdon
Produced by Olivia Humphreys, Chloe White and Will Davies
Crown the King
Produced by Adam Kampe
Originally produced for the Third Coast International Audio Festival 'ShortDocs' competition
http://thirdcoastfestival.org/library/collections/4-shortdocs
The Disavowal
Produced by Katie Burningham
Munich
Feat. Phillip Bull Bruckner
Produced by Hana Walker-Brown
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (b03zy2k8)
Flight from Disaster
When millions of litres of poisonous sludge poured out of a zinc mine in Andalucia in 1998 wildlife was devastated for miles around. As the tidal wave of filth headed for the marshlands of Donana National Park it became a disaster for Europe as well as Spain. The prime route for birds migrating between Africa and Northern Europe seemed certain to be poisoned for decades to come.
Sixteen years on from Spain's worst environmental disaster Julian Rush returns to the region to discover how nature, with a little help, has reclaimed much of the devastated area. The birds have returned and flocks of British birdwatchers are enthusiastically following the Imperial Eagles, Griffon Vultures and millions of birds on their spring migration back to the UK. Laurence Rose of the RSPB shares his memories of the disaster and shows Julian the path of the pollution which has become a lush, green feeding ground for resting birds.
The idyll, however, may be short-lived. Illegal boreholes dug to water enormous strawberry farms that export their produce to Northern Europe are sucking the life out of the marshes. Tourism is impinging on the wilderness and there are even advanced plans to resume mining at the site of the accident. With Andalucia desperate for jobs and foreign currency the local government is anxious to boost the region's industrial sector. Finding the best balance between industry and nature is vital for the future prosperity of this stunning area and for the exhausted birds that make their way across the Sahara to Britain's shores.
Producer: Alasdair Cross.
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (b03zy2kb)
Journalese
Why are thugs always vile, market towns always bustling, blondes bubbly and tirades foul mouthed? With the help of ex Editor Eve Pollard, journalist Robert Hutton who wrote 'Romps, Tots and Boffins', Strathcylde University's Michael Higgins, author of 'The Language of Journalism' and Professor John Mullan, Michael Rosen takes a look at the language and the cliches of news journalism
Producer: Maggie Ayre.
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b03zy2kd)
Series 33
Sarah Vine on Dante
"Whenever I have too much to drink, I bang on about Dante ...." Sarah Vine makes a choice from the heart - the great Italian writer Dante Alighieri, father of the Italian language and author of the Divine Comedy. "I'm not an expert," she says, "mine is more of a romantic infatuation."
As well as the outspoken Daily Mail columnist, Matthew Parris is joined by Claire Honess, professor of Italian studies at Leeds University.
Together they piece together an extraordinary life. Includes extracts from Radio 4's production of the Divine Comedy starring John Hurt
Producer: Miles Warde
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.
TUE 17:00 PM (b03zy4hg)
Coverage and analysis of the day's news.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03zqxwn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Down the Line (b0100241)
Series 4
Episode 4
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, Felix Dexter, Charlie Higson, Lucy Montgomery, and Paul Whitehouse.
Special guests are Rosie Cavaliero, Robert Popper, Adil Ray and Louis Vause.
Producers: Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse
A Down The Line production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b03zy4hj)
David takes Ruth to the market. She knows there's no business need, but is grateful for the outing.
Shula comes round for a chat with Jill. Shula thinks Dan hasn't thought through his Army plans but Jill thinks he's a sensible lad. Shula realises Jill might not think it's a bad idea.
Jill tells Lynda just how much she's enjoyed being back at Brookfield, but thinks it's time to move back to Glebe Cottage.
Along with Fallon, they uncover some tables for the Cake Bake which Fallon volunteers to 'upcycle'. She's keen to decorate the hall in a 1950s style. Lynda asks Fallon to secure someone illustrious to judge the cake bake, following her success with Bradley Wiggins.
Alan runs into Shula, and asks about arrangements for the donkey on Palm Sunday. He realises that something's up and learns of Dan's plans. Alan thinks he needs to follow his heart. Shula doesn't understand why, if he wants to make a difference, he has to join the Army. Alan can see where Dan got his determination from.
David and Ruth discuss asking Jill to move in permanently, and the logistics of it. It's all hypothetical though - Jill might hate the idea.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b03zy4hl)
Jean Paul Gaultier; Christy Moore; The Raid 2
Kirsty Lang talks to the enfant terrible of the fashion world, designer John Paul Gaultier, as a retrospective of his work opens at the Barbican Centre in London. Gaultier discusses where the inspiration for his iconic striped t-shirts and the conical bras worn by Madonna came from and explains why he has always been inspired by London style.
As Michael Palin announces his first one man show, he talks to Kirsty about going on tour at 71, trying to make audiences laugh and taking the his first lead role in a TV drama for more than 20 years.
Christy Moore, the Irish folk singer, looks back over his five-decade musical career and his 25 solo albums as he prepares to perform a series of concerts in the UK.
Welsh director Gareth Evans had a surprise hit with 2012's The Raid, an Indonesian martial arts film which took place in a run-down fifteen story apartment block. He's now followed it up with The Raid 2, catching up with the hero Rama, battling the enemies he made in the first instalment. Briony Hanson reviews.
Producer: Olivia Skinner.
TUE 19:45 The Cazalets (b03zy22s)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 Rubbish: The Great Waste Crisis (b03zy4hn)
Political diarist Chris Mullin became fascinated with how we manage our refuse whilst an Environment Minister. Now he goes on a quest to discover what really happens to our rubbish, and meets the recyclers making millions from the waste we throw away.
Producer: Jonathan Brunert.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b03zy4hq)
At the Races; New charity chief execs
Two national blindness charities have recently appointed new chief executives.
Action for Blind People has appointed Miriam Martin who stepped up from within the organisation - Miriam has worked in various roles within Action for about twenty years.
Tony Rucinski will take up his new post for the Macular Society in May - and has also held various posts within the visual impairment sector including as trustee of the RNIB Group Board - which he will be giving up in May.
In Touch invited them both on to the programme to discuss what they think the charities are doing well and perhaps not doing so well; their views on why the high employment rate among visually impaired people has changed very little in almost 20 years; and other items of interest to the sector.
In the week after the Grand National was won by a horse owned by a GP, In Touch went to Royal Windsor racecourse to talk to Alan Pickering, a visually impaired owner of seven racehorses. Alan also has had a long and successful career in insurance and pensions and tells us that enlightened employers were integral in sustaining his career despite his deteriorating vision. He is hoping that his horse Robin Hood's Bay, which recently won the Winter Derby, will go on to complete the same feat at the Winter Championship at Lingfield Park on Friday the 18th of April, Good Friday.
TUE 21:00 Inside Health (b03zy4hs)
Anti-virals for flu, Bod Pod test for body fat, Patients' weight, X-rays and cancer
Tamiflu - the controversial drug - has been stockpiled by the government for use in a flu pandemic and endorsed by regulatory bodies including the WHO. With a new review of the evidence due this week, Inside Health's Margaret McCartney and James Cave, Editor of the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin have been following the story. Mark Porter gets his body fat checked and finds out how much is hiding inside. And how should doctors raise concerns about a person's weight? Plus, why you might want to think twice before paying for a total body scan.
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (b03zr00k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b03zy4hv)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b03zy4hx)
Unexploded
Episode 7
A tale of love, art and prejudice set in wartime Brighton.
"Fear was an infection - airborne, seaborne - rolling in off the Channel, and although no one spoke of it, no one was immune to it. Fifty miles of water was a slim moat to an enemy that had taken five countries in two months, and Brighton, regrettably, had for centuries been hailed as an excellent place to land."
In May 1940, Geoffrey and Evelyn Beaumont and their Philip, anxiously await news of invasion on the beaches of Brighton. Geoffrey, a banker, becomes Superintendent of the internment camp on the edge of town while Evelyn is gripped first by fear and then quiet but growing desperation.
A discovery widens a fault-line in family life.
Episode 7:
Things come to a head between Geoffrey and Evelyn. And Orson's brother Hal comes home 'on leave'.
Alison MacLeod lives in Brighton. She was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award in 2011 and her story 'Solo, A Capella', about the Tottenham riots, featured in the Radio 4 series 'Where Were You ...' in 2012. Her previous works include The Changeling and The Wave Theory of Angels. Unexploded was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2013. Alison is Professor of Contemporary Fiction at the University of Chichester.
Reader: Emma Fielding
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Producer: Rosalynd Ward
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:00 Shedtown (b03zy4hz)
Episode 2
Washed up by a storm, and life, the Shedists clamber onto a pier. In the middle of the sea.
Lights flashing, wheels spinning. Connected to nothing.
There, with its lunatic rides and its candyfloss stalls, they have found a new place. One that might finally deliver them not from temptation, but save them from starvation.
A salty salvation.
Cast:
Jimmy................... Stephen Mangan
Barry.................... Tony Pitts
Wes..................... Warren Brown
Father Michael......James Quinn
Dave.................... Shaun Keaveny
Diane................... Rosina Carbone
Diane (in wigs)......Debra Stephenson
William................ ..Seymour Mace
Deborah.............. ..Emma Fryer
Eugenius............. ..Neil Maskell
Norma No Rules.....Juliet Oldfield
Narrated by Maxine Peake
Written and Directed by Tony Pitts
Music by Richard Hawley and Paul Heaton
Produced by Sally Harrison
A Woolyback production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b03zy4j1)
Sean Curran reports on calls for the reform of parliamentary expenses. Turmoil at the Police Federation. And a demand for action against raucous stag nights and hen parties.
WEDNESDAY 09 APRIL 2014
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b03zqxxh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b03zb49r)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03zqxxk)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03zqxxm)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03zqxxp)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b03zqxxr)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b040rthq)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection presented by the Most Revd David Chillingworth, Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b03zr0lw)
Meat inspections, Farm vets, Teat tampering
Tumours in pork pies and chicken contaminated with faeces could soon sneak into the food chain, according to UNISON. As of June, abattoirs will no longer carry out physical, hands-on checks of pig meat for things like tumours and abscesses - from then on it will be visual checks only. Changes to the way poultry and red meat are inspected will come in later.
The union representing Government meat inspectors claims changes to meat inspection rules will deregulate food safety and cut corners. But the Food Standards Agency and the meat processing industry claims the reforms will modernise the process and even make it safer for consumers. Caz Graham hears from both sides of the debate.
Continuing our look at animal health this week, Caz Graham joins a farm vet out on his rounds in Cumbria and we have an update on that investigation into teat tampering at last year's Great Yorkshire Show. Caz hears from Paul Hooper, secretary of the Association of Show and Agricultural Organisations, who explains why cheating at agricultural shows isn't just about bad sportsmanship, but also jeopardises animal welfare.
Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Anna Jones.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zr0ly)
Grasshopper Warbler
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the grasshopper warbler. The reeling song of the grasshopper warbler sounds more like an insect than a bird. Like the paying out of an angler's line from a reel, the grasshopper warbler's song spills out from the bush or bramble clump in which he sits. You'll hear it most often at dawn or dusk in overgrown scrubby or marshy areas.
WED 06:00 Today (b03zr0w0)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b03zy4m3)
Eric Carter, Ray Cooney, Cambridge Jones, Eve Ferret
Libby Purves meets cabaret performer Eve Ferret, World War Two Hurricane pilot Eric Carter, director and playwright Ray Cooney and photographer Cambridge Jones.
Eve Ferret is a cabaret performer. She first performed at the Blitz club in London in the late 70s and early 80s and appeared in the film Absolute Beginners with David Bowie. After a 30 year gap from performing, she is back with a new show Ferret Up the Arts at the Arts Theatre in London. Her first album (as yet unnamed) is also about to be released. She also starts her Don't Be So Shellfish tour of British seaside towns in April. Ferret Up the Arts is at the Arts Theatre, London
Eric Carter is the sole survivor of 81 Squadron, a Royal Air Force fighter squadron which took part in a secret mission to the Soviet Union in June 1941. The mission, code named Force Benedict, was initiated to defend the port of Murmansk which was the country's only port not under Nazi occupation. RAF Wing 151 - comprising 81 and 154 Squadrons - had a range of objectives which included teaching Russian pilots to fly Hurricanes, escorting Russian bombers over German lines and flying numerous patrols against the Luftwaffe. Eric's book, Force Benedict, written with Antony Loveless, is published by Hodder & Stoughton.
Ray Cooney is a writer, director and actor. His play, Two Into One about a philandering MP is currently at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Ray's theatrical career began as a boy actor in 1946 before he went into repertory theatre and joined the Brian Rix Company at the Whitehall Theatre. His writing career includes the hits Move Over Mrs Markham, Run For Your Wife, Out of Order for which he won an Olivier Award. Two Into One is at the Menier Chocolate Factory.
Cambridge Jones is a photographer whose subjects have included several Prime Ministers, members of the Royal Family, Hollywood celebrities and rock stars. His latest exhibition, 26 Characters, at the Story Museum in Oxford features many of Britain's best loved writers and storytellers transforming themselves into their favourite character from a childhood book. Participants include Julia Donaldson, Shirley Hughes, Terry Pratchett and Malorie Blackman. 26 Characters is at the Story Museum in Oxford.
Producer: Annette Wells.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b03zbv05)
Thomas Brothers - Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism
Episode 3
A definitive account by Thomas Brothers of Louis Armstrong, his life and legacy, during the most creative period of his career.
Nearly 100 years after bursting onto Chicago's music scene under the tutelage of Joe 'King' Oliver, Louis Armstrong is recognized as one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. A trumpet virtuoso, seductive crooner, and consummate entertainer, Armstrong laid the foundation for the future of jazz with his stylistic innovations. But his story would be incomplete without examining how he struggled in a society seething with brutally racist ideologies, laws, and practices.
Episode 3:
Louis is offered a big break with a jazz band in New York and, although he much prefers life in Chicago, his New York adventure will bring a whole new dimension to his music.
Reader: Colin McFarlane
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b03zy4m5)
Woman's Hour Power List 2014 Game Changers - Top Ten revealed
Who are the top ten Game Changers? The countdown revealing the ranked names is presented live by Jenni Murray and Jane Garvey in a programme with an audience from the BBC Radio Theatre in London. Which names have made the list and why? Judges including chair Emma Barnett, Reni Eddo-Lodge, Rachel Johnson and Liz Bingham discuss the list and will be joined by a special guest.
Presenters: Jenni Murray and Jane Garvey.
Producers: Anne Peacock and Kat Wong.
WED 10:45 The Cazalets (b03zy4m7)
All Change
Episode 3
By Elizabeth Jane Howard
dramatised by Lin Coghlan
Louise accompanies her father and Diana on a trip to Italy but the holiday is fraught with tension.
Directed by Sally Avens
Last year Radio 4 dramatised the four novels that made up The Cazalet Chronicles. The novels gave a vivid insight into lives, hopes and loves of three generations during the Second World War and beyond.
Later that year, age 90, Elizabeth Jane Howard wrote, a fifth and final novel in the saga, All Change. Sadly Elizabeth Jane died in January but was delighted that the BBC were to dramatise her final novel.
The Cazalets tells the story of an upper-middle class family of the type prominent in England prior to WW2. It is now 1956 and the family must learn how to live in a very different type of world.
The three brothers, Hugh, Edward and Rupert, run the family timber firm that their father started.
Their sister, Rachel, has spent her life looking after their parents in Sussex, but now their mother has died she may finally have time to spend with her best friend and lover, Sid, (Margot Sidney).
Hugh is now Chairman of the firm. After a long time on his own following the death of his wife, Sibyl, he has remarried, his secretary, Jemima, who is a war widow. They have a daughter of their own, Laura.
Polly, Hugh's daughter by Sibyl, has married into the aristocracy and become Lady Fakenham, but she and her husband spend all their time attempting to find ways to pay for the crumbling family Estate.
Edward has left his wife, Villy, for his mistress, Diana. But since marrying, Diana, he finds it hard to recapture the joy of their affair.
Louise, his daughter by Villy, is now divorced from Michael Hadleigh and is sharing a flat with her old school friend, Stella. Her relationship with Villy is still fraught, but she and her father are now on good terms.
Rupert lives with his second wife, Zoe and their children. He hates working for the family firm and is envious of his old friend, Archie, who married his daughter, Clary, and still manages to make a living from painting. Clary is a writer, but is finding it increasingly hard to write and bring up a family.
The first four Cazalet Novels have sold over a million copies.
Martin Amis said of Elizabeth Jane Howard, "She is, with Iris Murdoch, the most interesting woman writer of her generation. An instinctivist, like Muriel Spark, she has a freakish and poetic eye, and a penetrating sanity.".
WED 11:00 Anti-Establishment and Uber-Capitalist (b03zy4m9)
From the so-called Silicon Roundabout in east London to Silicon Canal in Birmingham, young tech entrepreneurs are driving a radical shift in the UK's economy, calling themselves disrupters of outdated institutions.
Going beneath the hype and rhetoric, Georgia Catt explores what makes the scene so different from the traditional business world the tech founders are keen to avoid.
Many of the youngsters behind the boom came of age against the backdrop of high-profile Occupy and G20 protests.
Speaking to these keen and fresh-faced entrepreneurs, Georgia discovers that today they're trying to keep the radicalism alive but at the same time - and here's the rub - turn a profit. But how to make money and not sell out?
For every Snapchat, Whatsapp, Google and Facebook, there are myriad enterprises that never make the big time. For those that survive, the challenge is retaining the start-up edge and youthful idealism as their businesses grow.
Many of them say they've already witnessed many of their role models ditch their principles in the pursuit of hard cash - and they are keen to avoid going the same way. But is that inevitable?
Producer: Georgia Catt.
WED 11:30 Gloomsbury (b040014b)
Series 2
Desperate for a Thumbs-Up
At last, Ginny Fox has finished her rewrite of Borlando and rushes it off to her friend and confidante, Vera Sackcloth-Vest, for appraisal. Meanwhile, DH Lollipop has just completed a rewrite of Lady Hattersley's Plover and is nervously awaiting the critical verdict of Lionel Fox.
Never have two literary giants been so eager to have their geniuses confirmed, but self-doubt plagues their every waking hour.
Due to a series of unfortunate coincidences, involving Lionel's inability to remember addresses and Vera's obsession with creating a new Blue Garden at Sizzlinghust, which involves her sending off for hundreds of new plants by mail order and storing them in Gosling's shed, the manuscripts go missing.
What the writers interpret as a literary thumbs-down from their readers is nothing more than misdirected-mail. Friendships are strained to breaking point, while Ginny and Vera try to guess what the other is thinking and Mrs Gosling burns DH Lollipop's filthy manuscript when she accidentally comes across it and reads it from cover to cover.
Producer: Jamie Rix
A Little Brother production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b040014d)
Student finance, Credit cards, Repairing gadgets
Many companies and organisations have moved from 084 prefix phone numbers because of the surcharge they pass to callers. From June, businesses have to stop using them to take complaint calls, but the national consumer helpline number won't change until September.
Hear why an error by Student Finance England has left a student in debt after funding was withdrawn part way through his degree course. He says he can't afford to complete it.
The website iFixit has picture and video guides showing how to 'teardown' popular gadgets to their constituent parts, in order to repair them. The site's co-founder Kyle Wiens describes some of the most, and least, user-repairable devices.
And the story of one You & Yours listener who is trying to organise their finances after years of debts including a 29.9%APR credit card.
Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Joel Moors.
WED 12:30 Face the Facts (b0409fkt)
Little in Reserve?
John Waite investigates why so few reservists are signing up to the British Army. Last year more left than joined - but 11,000 extra part-time soldiers are needed to plug the gap left by large-scale redundancies prompted by budget cuts. Officials have admitted a flawed application system is partly to blame, and we hear from one hopeful new recruit rejected because he suffers from indigestion. Face the Facts has learned that many companies are reluctant to let their staff sign up, and there could be a deeper cultural problem to overcome too. John visits the US, where reservists have long formed an important part of the country's military strength. So why is Britain failing to replicate the success of countries whose systems helped inspired the changes to British Army? Minister for Defence Personnel, Anna Soubry, responds to the criticisms.
Producer: Dan O'Brien
Editor: Andrew Smith.
WED 13:00 World at One (b03zqxxt)
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 (b040014g)
In Need, In Deed, By Post
Dr Thomas Dixon continues to trace the changing meaning of friendship over the last five hundred years.
Mass Observation and the archive of the Co-Operative Correspondence Club provide intimate evidence for friendship during the Second World War.
Dr Clare Langhamer discusses how, in 1935, one lonely mother in County Wicklow began a correspondence network that continued through to the 1990s, long preceding today's MumsNet and NetMums.
She also shares some revealing evidence from the vast Mass Observation archive at the University of Sussex about how women's friendships were affected by their war-work.
Thomas Dixon also considers how men on active service formed new bonds across the class divide, and, in one extraordinary case from the BBC Sound Archive, not only with other human beings: "I have a passion for tanks," begins Captain Michael Halstead's account of life on the front line.
Producer: Beaty Rubens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b03zy4hj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b0156n74)
The Kneebone Cadillac
by Carl Grose. United Downs is a little known area of Cornwall with derelict engine-houses, vast scrap yards and apocalyptic dumping grounds. It is also the home of the legendary Boneshaker Stock Car Races. Scrap dealer Jed Kneebone has left his prized 1956 Cadillac Eldorado, to his children. When one of them decides to enter it in the Boneshaker the family are set on a collision course.Directed by Claire GroveThe Kneebones have hard lives, weird vehicles and a love of Country and Western music. When scrap dealer Jed Kneebone dies his three children are left in serious trouble. Could the legendary Boneshaker Stock Car Races be the answer? The Kneebone Cadillac is a wry Cornish comedy about family, death, love and hope by outstanding Cornish writer Carl Grose.The United Downs Stock Car Races near St Day in Cornwall really does exist. Lots of old bangers, armoured trucks and souped-up hearses enter the Blockbuster . The play takes a little license in terms of the prize-money but everything else is for real. And the Kneebone Cadillac has a predominantly Cornish cast including Amanda Lawrence (Government Inspector, Young Vic), Ed Gaughan (Bafta nominated film Skeletons) and Charles Barnecut and Carl Grose from Kneehigh Theatre Company.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b040014j)
Employment Rights
Clear about your employment rights, pay and conditions? Call 03700 100 444 from
1pm to
3.30pm on Wednesday or e-mail questions to moneybox@bbc.co.uk
To answer your questions presenter Ruth Alexander is joined by:
Andrew Cowler, Conciliator, ACAS.
Sarah Veale , Head of Equality and Employment Rights, TUC.
Sian Keall, Employment Partner, Travers Smith.
WED 15:30 Inside Health (b03zy4hs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b04001kg)
The End of Capitalism; Reforming Capitalism
Capitalism - renewal or decline? Laurie Taylor explores the future of our market driven economy. He's joined by David Harvey, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and Colin Crouch, Professor Emeritus in Sociology at the University of Warwick. Professor Harvey examines the contradictions at the heart of capitalism arguing that it's far from being the permanent or only way of organising human life. Professor Crouch, conversely, suggests that only Capitalism can provide us with an efficient and innovative economy but it should be re-shaped to better fit a social democratic society.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b04001kj)
Maria Miller goes; watching TV online; reporters harassing public?
Following Maria Miller's resignation, Sajid Javid is the new secretary of state for culture, media and sport. What impact did Maria Miller have on the media and how different will her replacement be? Eleanor Mills, editorial director of the Sunday Times, former Guardian editor Peter Preston and media policy adviser Tim Suter discuss.
YouView was once a key part of broadcaster plans to distribute TV to our homes via broadband rather than aerials. Recently, they've cut their investment, while broadband suppliers have raised theirs. Steve asks the chief executive of YouView, Richard Halton, if he still expects to reach 10 million homes.
And, last week, police served a harassment notice on a reporter on the Croydon Advertiser who had doorstepped someone convicted of fraud. The reporter, Gareth Davies, explains what happened and media lawyer Duncan Lamont looks at the implications of harassment laws.
Presenter: Steve Hewlett
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
WED 17:00 PM (b04001kl)
Coverage and analysis of the day's news. Including Weather at
5.57pm.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03zqxxw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Susan Calman Is Convicted (b04001kn)
Series 2
Appearance
Susan Calman explores issues on which she has strong opinions. This week, she looks at society's obsession with appearance and explains why it has taken her so many years to feel happy with the way she looks.
Produced by Lyndsay Fenner.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b04003kv)
Brian is preoccupied. The crucial BL board meeting is this morning and he's sure it will be difficult. Will has found a feed supplier he thinks might be cheaper. Brian abruptly tells him to just go ahead.
At the meeting, Gerry Moreton angles to take over as Chair. Brian thinks his track record will speak for itself. But Justin Elliot points to lost opportunities with the market and the dairy, and Annabelle agrees.
Brian's reign is at an end, as the new chair of Borchester Land is announced. It's Annabelle! Brian is rueful and Gerry very miffed. Smooth Justin hopes that Brian will stay on the board. Brian stiffly remarks that he'll need time to consider his position. Justin invites him to inform Annabelle of his decision when he's ready.
Chris follows Will on his rounds, observing him kill a squirrel. Will convinces Chris to play the part of Jesus in the Passion Play.
Back at home, Jennifer comforts Brian. He reveals he will stay on the board. They need a farming voice. But if people thought BL was a difficult neighbour before, they ain't seen nothing yet.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b04003kx)
Chiwetel Ejiofor; Ben Watt; South Korean literature; Advice for the new culture secretary
Award-winning actor Chiwetel Ejiofor talks to John Wilson about his new film Half of a Yellow Sun and his journey from filming in Nigeria to 12 Years A Slave in Louisiana. Daily Telegraph Arts Editor Sarah Crompton makes her wish-list for the new Culture Secretary, Sajid Javid. The musician Ben Watt, half of Everything But The Girl, discusses waiting 31 years to release his second solo album, falling out of love with song-writing and the events that drew him back in. And the thriving writing scene in South Korea that is taking centre stage at the London Book Fair.
Producer Elaine Lester.
WED 19:45 The Cazalets (b03zy4m7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Would That Work Here? (b04003kz)
New Zealand's Faultless Fix
In a new series of thought-provoking debates, Claire Bolderson looks at something another country does well, or differently, and asks whether it could work here.
The trend towards a US-style litigation culture in the UK in recent years has been a growing cause for concern. The costs - both financial and social - of legal claims against public services such as heath and education is escalating year-on-year. But the cases that make it to court are only the tip of the iceberg, with countless others taking up precious resources, time and bureaucracy. Is there an alternative to this name, blame and claim culture?
Is demanding compensation for accidents now seen as a the only way of holding public services to account? What does the threat of litigation do to transparency and accountability? Is the fear of litigation damaging to the professionalism of doctors, nurses and teachers and the delivery of services? Do we need to take a long, hard look at this trend and where it is likely to lead us?
In New Zealand, patients get compensation for all personal injuries and accidents through a no-fault government-funded compensation system. In turn, they relinquish the right to sue for damages arising from personal injury, except in rare cases of misconduct.
Advocates of New Zealand's no-fault system claim that it is cheaper to run and provides more-timely compensation to a greater number of patients, as well as a less stressful process for resolving disputes. Straightforward claims are processed in weeks, with a fixed award structure ensuring that similar injuries receive similar compensation. The system is funded through general taxation and employer levies and is mandatory and universal.
Would a similar system work in the UK? What would be the advantages and disadvantages?
Producers: Ruth Evans and Jennie Walmsley
A Ruth Evans production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 20:45 Lent Talks (b04003l1)
Marina Warner
The Power and the Passion - Marina Warner on the power of places.
WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (b03zy2k8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
15:30 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 Midweek (b03zy4m3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b03zqxxy)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b04003l3)
Blakelock suspect cleared, Maria Miller resignation, talks begin over Venezuela unrest and a rare honour for women's cricket, with Ritula Shah.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b04003l5)
Unexploded
Episode 8
A tale of love, art and prejudice set in wartime Brighton.
"Fear was an infection - airborne, seaborne - rolling in off the Channel, and although no one spoke of it, no one was immune to it. Fifty miles of water was a slim moat to an enemy that had taken five countries in two months, and Brighton, regrettably, had for centuries been hailed as an excellent place to land."
In May 1940, Geoffrey and Evelyn Beaumont and their Philip, anxiously await news of invasion on the beaches of Brighton. Geoffrey, a banker, becomes Superintendent of the internment camp on the edge of town while Evelyn is gripped first by fear and then quiet but growing desperation.
A discovery widens a fault-line in family life.
Episode 8:
Otto has started work on a fresco in a local church. The internment camp has closed, but Geoffrey now has observer duties with the UXB unit.
Alison MacLeod lives in Brighton. She was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award in 2011 and her story 'Solo, A Capella', about the Tottenham riots, featured in the Radio 4 series 'Where Were You ...' in 2012. Her previous works include The Changeling and The Wave Theory of Angels. Unexploded was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2013. Alison is Professor of Contemporary Fiction at the University of Chichester.
Reader: Emma Fielding
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Producer: Rosalynd Ward
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:00 Helen Keen's It Is Rocket Science (b04003l7)
Series 3
Episode 2
The only radio comedy programme to give you an accurate overview of the science of space travel.
This episode examines humanity's enduring obsession with UFOs. How long have we been seeing them? What might they really be? And what questions might their possible occupants be asking about us?
Starring Helen Keen, Peter Serafinowicz and Susy Kane
Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill
Produced by Gareth Edwards.
WED 23:15 Bunk Bed (b03zr0w2)
Series 1
Episode 2
Everyone craves a place where their mind and body are not applied to a particular task. The nearest faraway place. Somewhere for drifting and lighting upon strange thoughts which don't have to be shooed into context, but which can be followed like balloons escaping onto the air. Late at night, in the dark and in a bunk bed, your tired mind can wander. This is the nearest faraway place for Patrick Marber and Peter Curran.
Here they endeavour to get the heart of things in an entertainingly vague and indirect way. This is not the place for typical male banter.
From under the bed clothes they play each other music from The Residents and Gerry Rafferty, archive of JG Ballard and Virginia Woolf. Life, death, work and family are their slightly warped conversational currency.
Writers/Performers:
PETER CURRAN is a publisher, writer and documentary maker. A former carpenter, his work ranges from directing films about culture in Africa, America and Brazil to writing and presenting numerous Arts and culture programmes for both radio and television.
PATRICK MARBER co-wrote and performed in On The Hour and Knowing Me, Knowing You..with Alan Partridge. His plays include Dealer's Choice, After Miss Julie, Closer and Don Juan in Soho. Marber also wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay for the film Notes on a Scandal.
Writers/Performers:
Producer: Peter Curran.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b03zr0w4)
David Cameron and Ed Miliband trade blows over the Prime Minister's handling of the expenses row that engulfed the former Culture Secretary, Maria Miller.
The Labour leader accuses Mr Cameron of being an "apologist for unacceptable behaviour".
The Prime Minister says Mr Miliband is "jumping on this bandwagon".
A former Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Sir Hugh Orde, faces questions about "on the run" republican terrorism suspects.
The House of Lords debates higher education in the UK.
And there are renewed calls for action to deal with Japanese knotweed.
Susan Hulme and team report on today's events in Parliament.
THURSDAY 10 APRIL 2014
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b03zqxyw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b03zbv05)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03zqxyy)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03zqxz0)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03zqxz2)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b03zqxz4)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b040rtjb)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection presented by the Most Revd David Chillingworth, Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b03zr0qk)
Manslaughter charge, Mason bees, Antibiotics
A court has this week started hearing the case against a farmer charged with manslaughter, after a rambler was gored to death by a bull on his land. The rambler, Roger Freeman from Leicestershire, was walking with his wife Glenis across a field in South Nottinghamshire when the animal charged them. Roger was killed, and Glenis badly injured. The prosecution claims Mr Freeman's death amounts to manslaughter because of gross negligence on the part of Paul Waterfall, the farmer who owned the bull. He denies the charge.
The decline in honey bees has been widely reported, and has caused concern amongst scientists and food producers. Lucy Bickerton reports from a fruit farm in Herefordshire, where the farmer is trying out solitary mason bees to pollinate his orchard instead.
And continuing Farming Today's look at animal health this week, we hear about concerns over the use of antibiotics on farms. Could vets and farmers be doing more to address the growing problem of resistance to the drugs?
Presented by Anna Jones and produced by Emma Campbell.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zr0qn)
Great Grey Shrike
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the great grey shrike. Great grey shrikes feed on small birds, which they can catch in flight. They also eat mice, voles and shrews and, as spring approaches, they'll include bees and larger beetles in their diet. Shrikes are also known as "butcher birds" because of their habit of impaling their prey on thorns, just as a butcher hangs his meat on hooks.
THU 06:00 Today (b03zr0qs)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b03zr11t)
Strabo's Geographica
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Strabo's Geographica. Written almost exactly two thousand years ago by a Greek scholar living in Rome, the Geographica is an ambitious attempt to describe the entire world known to the Romans and Greeks at that time. Strabo seems to have based his book on accounts of distant lands given to him by contemporary travellers and imperial administrators, and on earlier works of scholarship by other Greek writers. One of the earliest systematic works of geography, Strabo's book offers a revealing insight into the state of ancient scholarship, and remained influential for many centuries after the author's death.
With:
Paul Cartledge
AG Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at the University of Cambridge
Maria Pretzler
Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at Swansea University
Benet Salway
Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at UCL
Producer: Thomas Morris.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b03zdbr6)
Thomas Brothers - Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism
Episode 4
A definitive account by Thomas Brothers of Louis Armstrong, his life and legacy, during the most creative period of his career.
Nearly 100 years after bursting onto Chicago's music scene under the tutelage of Joe 'King' Oliver, Louis Armstrong is recognized as one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. A trumpet virtuoso, seductive crooner, and consummate entertainer, Armstrong laid the foundation for the future of jazz with his stylistic innovations. But his story would be incomplete without examining how he struggled in a society seething with brutally racist ideologies, laws, and practices.
Episode 4:
Louis brings his new style back to Chicago, making some of his first great recordings and also moving into a new entertainment sphere - working and playing in the theatre.
Reader: Colin McFarlane
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b04009bw)
Handbagged; Rwanda; the Army
We hear from the women the women who continue to live with the effects of the Rwandan genocide. We discuss the arguments for and against women taking on combat roles in the British Army. Moira Buffini talks about Handbagged, a play featuring Mrs Thatcher and the Queen. And Jenni Murray is joined by choreographer, Gillian Lynne.
Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Louise Corley.
THU 10:45 The Cazalets (b04009by)
All Change
Episode 4
By Elizabeth Jane Howard
dramatised by Lin Coghlan
Dinner at Edward and Diana's provides an awkward evening for Sid and Rachel whilst Villy battles with Miss Milliment's growing dementia.
Directed by Sally Avens
Last year Radio 4 dramatised the four novels that made up The Cazalet Chronicles. The novels gave a vivid insight into lives, hopes and loves of three generations during the Second World War and beyond.
Later that year, age 90, Elizabeth Jane Howard wrote, a fifth and final novel in the saga, All Change. Sadly Elizabeth Jane died in January but was delighted that the BBC were to dramatise her final novel.
The Cazalets tells the story of an upper-middle class family of the type prominent in England prior to WW2. It is now 1956 and the family must learn how to live in a very different type of world.
The three brothers, Hugh, Edward and Rupert, run the family timber firm that their father started.
Their sister, Rachel, has spent her life looking after their parents in Sussex, but now their mother has died she may finally have time to spend with her best friend and lover, Sid, (Margot Sidney).
Hugh is now Chairman of the firm. After a long time on his own following the death of his wife, Sibyl, he has remarried, his secretary, Jemima, who is a war widow. They have a daughter of their own, Laura.
Polly, Hugh's daughter by Sibyl, has married into the aristocracy and become Lady Fakenham, but she and her husband spend all their time attempting to find ways to pay for the crumbling family Estate.
Edward has left his wife, Villy, for his mistress, Diana. But since marrying, Diana, he finds it hard to recapture the joy of their affair.
Louise, his daughter by Villy, is now divorced from Michael Hadleigh and is sharing a flat with her old school friend, Stella. Her relationship with Villy is still fraught, but she and her father are now on good terms.
Rupert lives with his second wife, Zoe and their children. He hates working for the family firm and is envious of his old friend, Archie, who married his daughter, Clary, and still manages to make a living from painting. Clary is a writer, but is finding it increasingly hard to write and bring up a family.
The first four Cazalet Novels have sold over a million copies.
Martin Amis said of Elizabeth Jane Howard, "She is, with Iris Murdoch, the most interesting woman writer of her generation. An instinctivist, like Muriel Spark, she has a freakish and poetic eye, and a penetrating sanity.".
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b04009c0)
Central African Republic: A Road Through Hatred
How do you restore peace to a country now being torn apart by a vicious campaign of ethnic and religious cleansing? Two men in the Central African Republic believe they have the answer - friendship. Tim Whewell joins the Catholic Archbishop of Bangui, Dieudonne Nzapalainga and the country's Chief Imam, Oumar Kobine Layama as they travel across the country trying to reconcile Christian and Muslim communities.
THU 11:30 Blind Date with Don Camillo (b04009c2)
Peter White goes in search of one of his childhood's favourite comic heroes, the buffoonish figure of Don Camillo. Whilst at the National Blind School, Peter lapped up the braille books that described the antics of this angry Italian Catholic priest who was always pitted against Peppone, the Communist mayor.
Peter discovers that the author Giovannino Guareschi's comic creations provide a fascinating road map to the bitter rivalries and huge political instability of post-war Italy. This was a time when the battle-scarred country was recovering from 20 years of Mussolini's fascism, from Nazi occupation, and the Allied campaign to seize the country. The internationally popular Don Camillo books are a snapshot of the early Cold War years when the Communist Party was riding high, and entirely at odds with the conservatism of the Catholic church.
Meeting Guareschi's descendants, Italian satirists today, a publisher and academics, Peter discovers that the short stories he so enjoyed as a teenager unlock a passionate and pivotal time in Italy's history. Arrested and imprisoned by three different successive regimes, first by Mussolini, then made a POW by the Nazis, only to fall foul of the post-war Christian Democrat government, we'll hear that Guareschi continued to hone his satire, always using humour to poke fun at authority, in whatever shape or form it presented itself. He certainly knew how to make life hard for himself, but nearly 50 years after his death Guareschi's characters live on: the Don Camillo films remain a staple of Italian television. But, Peter asks, do the antics and rivalries of Don Camillo and Peppone still speak to us today, and if so, what do they tell us?
Producer: Mark Smalley.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b04009c4)
Charging your energy company a late payment fee
Steve Clark was angry that his energy company didn't repay the credit on his account when he switched. So he sent them a late payment notice and a £50 charge. The company paid up, but will it do the same for everyone? Why banks use automated messages to tell you there's been fraudulent activity on your account. Plus, we look at the enduring popularity of cookbooks with Simon Hopkinson.
THU 12:57 Weather (b03zqxz6)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b03zqxz8)
National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
THU 13:45 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b04009c6)
Families of Choice
Dr Thomas Dixon brings his major history of friendship up to the 1970s, when gender politics began to change friendships once again, and considers how popular culture both reflected and influenced this change.
Professor Barbara Taylor shares her personal memories of how the second-wave feminist movement of the 1970s altered women's friendships in the way that Mary Wolstonecraft had discussed right back in the eighteenth century.
Thomas Dixon also explores the growing freedom of gay men and lesbian women to establish their own "families of choice".
And - somewhat excitedly - he debates with the cultural critic Matthew Sweet how television reflected friendships between men. While Thomas confesses to an erstwhile love of the phenomenally successful American sit-com, Friends, Matthew Sweet makes an expansive claim for British television's The Likely Lads, comparing the depth of Terry and Bob's friendship to that of Tennyson and Hallam.
Meanwhile, slightly extending a quotation of the 17th Century poet, George Herbert, Thomas declares: "David had his Jonathan, Christ his John, Eric had his little Ern, Ant his Dec."
Producer: Beaty Rubens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b04003kv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b0156n2y)
The Falcon and the Hawk
Helen Macdonald is a falconer and poet. She keeps a goshawk called Mabel. As a child she fell in love with a rare book of intense nature writing, J.A. Baker's The Peregrine, which records a winter watching wild peregrines on the Essex coast. Her new play brings her birds and his together. Baker tramps the bleak coastal marshes scanning the skies for fleeting moments of bloody drama as a peregrine stoops at immense speed after a plover or a pigeon. Helen woos her captive-bred goshawk in her spare bedroom - acclimatising it to human noise and human movement. Baker crouches over a half-dead pigeon and finishes it off for the wild falcon; Helen walks the city street with a goshawk on her fist. The stories begin to fly closer to one one another.
Part recorded on location on The Bird of Prey Centre at Newent, Gloucestershire.
Producer: Tim Dee.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b04009c8)
Brecon Beacons, Waterfall Country
Felicity Evans visits the waterfalls and swallow holes at the western end of the Brecon Beacons, and discovers that besides its natural beauty, it's an area with a rich industrial heritage. Today its deep, mossy ravines are of great interest to walkers and potholers. But the waterfalls, Felicity discovers, gave rise to local industries - including a gunpowder works, and the silica mines provided firebricks that were shipped around the world.
She even walks behind one of the waterfalls, Sgwd Y Eira, the waterfall of snow.
Producer: Mark Smalley.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b03zxmyk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Bookclub (b03zxw0g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b04009cb)
Life on Mars, Lukas Moodysson, Biyi Bandele, John Michael McDonagh
With Francine Stock.
Why of all the planets in our solar system does Mars hold the most fascination for film-makers ? As The Last Days On Mars is released, Sir Christopher Frayling, Professor Roger Luckhurst and novelist Naomi Alderman discuss the reasons for our obsession with the red planet and reveal why it all began with a simple mistranslation.
A man walks into a confessional and informs the priest that he's going to kill him in seven days time. This is the premise for the new thriller from director John Michael McDonagh who tells Francine why he thinks there's not enough discussion about faith in modern cinema.
Playwright Biyi Bandele discusses the problems he had making his adaptation of the best-seller Half Of A Yellow Sun in Nigeria.
Lukas Moodysson, the director of We Are The Best, a Swedish coming-of-age drama about a young punk band in the 80s, reveals why he thought it was almost immoral to cast children in a movie.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b04009cd)
Whales; Dark Matter; Falling; Arty brains
Whaling
The International Court of Justice in the Hague recently ruled that Japan should stop whaling in the Antarctic “for scientific purposes.” They found that the primary purpose of the science programme, JARPAII, was not science. In that case, what was it for? Inside Science puts that question to whale biologist Vassili Papastavrou, and Lars Walløe, Japan’s expert witness at the ICJ.
LUX Experiment to detect dark matter
Scientists are entering a critical phase in the quest to find the one of most mysterious particles in the Universe. An experiment called LUX, in South Dakota is about to be switched on that offers the best hope yet of detecting dark matter - a substance thought to make up a quarter of the Universe, yet one that nobody has ever seen.
Falling in the elderly
As we age, we tend to fall more and the repercussions of falling are more serious But why? Even if you rule out physical reasons for why you might be more likely to fall, older people still fall more often. Professor Raymond Reynolds, at the University of Birmingham, thinks it might be something happening in their heads – the balance system could be letting them down. Tracey Logan climbs aboard the shake shack to find out.
Arty Brains
Artists often have lifestyle that requires complete immersion into their world, now a team finds that this difference is reflected in their brains too, that is, their brains are structurally different to non-artists. Participants' brain scans revealed that artists had increased grey matter in areas relating to fine motor movements and visual imagery. Our reporter Melissa Hogenboom speaks to artists and the authors of the new research to find out what exactly is different about their brains. The study is published in NeuroImage.
Producer: Fiona Roberts
THU 17:00 PM (b04009cg)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03zqxzb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Cabin Pressure (b01ptztf)
Series 4
Uskerty
Comedy by John Finnemore about the wing and a prayer world of a tiny, one plane, charter airline staffed by two pilots: one on his way down, and one who was never up to start with. Whether they're flying squaddies to Hamburg, metal sheets to Mozambique, or an oil exec's cat to Abu Dhabi, no job is too small - but many, many jobs are too difficult.
Episode 2:
As Carolyn and Martin turn a short hop into a long climb, Douglas and Arthur get to play with an airport.
Written by John Finnemore
Produced and directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b04009cj)
Helen makes Rob some lunch. They discuss the wedding. Rob can't see why Kirsty needs so much help from Helen but Helen knows how important it is. Brian is putting a brave face on the takeover but Rob imagines he's not taken kindly to being replaced by a woman,
Jill visits Lower Loxley. The new accommodation block is coming on well.
Jill tells David it's time she went back to Glebe Cottage. David assures her there's no rush but Jill thinks they've put up with her long enough. David and Ruth interrupt her packing. They'd like her to stay at Brookfield permanently. Jill is delighted. As long as they're sure, there's nothing she'd like more.
Kirsty and Helen's share a glass of wine after spending the afternoon shopping. But when Rob returns to find them, he's cold. Kirsty quickly leaves. Rob confides in Helen that he's uncomfortable knowing Kirsty doesn't like him. He wants Helen all to himself.
Excited Jill is fast making plans for Easter. Although she plodded along at Glebe Cottage, she was never happy there alone. She needs to be the heart of a family. David and Ruth assure her that she always will be.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b04009cl)
Emma Thompson and Celia Imrie, Chris Wheeldon, Birdland, Sam West
Emma Thompson and Celia Imrie discuss their new film comedy The Love Punch; choreographer Chris Wheeldon, composer Joby Talbot and principal ballerina Lauren Cuthbertson look ahead to tonight's opening of The Winter's Tale, the Royal Ballet's first original full-length Shakespeare ballet in 50 years; Gaylene Gould reviews Simon Stephens' play Birdland starring Andrew Scott; and actor Sam West on a new arts funding campaign.
THU 19:45 The Cazalets (b04009by)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b04009cn)
The Truth About Statins
The vast majority of men in their 50s, and more than half of women over 60, could soon be offered statins - cholesterol-lowering drugs - to reduce the risk of heart disease. That would mean that a 59 year old man who doesn't smoke, has no history of heart disease and has healthy weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels could find himself taking a statin a day for life. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence proposes that up to twelve million people - one in four adults - should take the medication.
Critics argue against such mass medication and claim that there is a high incidence of side effects including muscle aches, sleep problems and diabetes. They also question the drugs' effectiveness in reducing the number of heart attacks.
But the defenders of statins say that this is scaremongering and risks unnecessary deaths.
Tom Esslemont investigates how the UK has become the so called 'statins capital' of Europe and explores the arguments for and against.
Producer: Emma Rippon
Researcher: Ben Weisz.
THU 20:30 In Business (b04009cq)
The Veneto
Crisi is the Italian word for "crisis" and the country has been living through political and economic upheaval for several years. It has meant hard times for Italy's family businesses serving a global marketplace. From the Veneto region north of Venice, Peter Day finds out how these distinctive Italian companies are hanging on.
Producer: Caroline Bayley.
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b04009cd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b03zr11t)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b03zqxzd)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b04009cs)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b04009cv)
Unexploded
Episode 9
A tale of love, art and prejudice set in wartime Brighton.
"Fear was an infection - airborne, seaborne - rolling in off the Channel, and although no one spoke of it, no one was immune to it. Fifty miles of water was a slim moat to an enemy that had taken five countries in two months, and Brighton, regrettably, had for centuries been hailed as an excellent place to land."
In May 1940, Geoffrey and Evelyn Beaumont and their Philip, anxiously await news of invasion on the beaches of Brighton. Geoffrey, a banker, becomes Superintendent of the internment camp on the edge of town while Evelyn is gripped first by fear and then quiet but growing desperation.
A discovery widens a fault-line in family life.
Episode 9:
Stung by Otto's off-handedness, Evelyn has thrown herself into her work with the WI and at home. But can it last?
Alison MacLeod lives in Brighton. She was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award in 2011 and her story 'Solo, A Capella', about the Tottenham riots, featured in the Radio 4 series 'Where Were You ...' in 2012. Her previous works include The Changeling and The Wave Theory of Angels. Unexploded was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2013. Alison is Professor of Contemporary Fiction at the University of Chichester.
Reader: Emma Fielding
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Producer: Rosalynd Ward
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:00 So Wrong It's Right (b0106v13)
Series 2
Episode 6
Charlie Brooker hosts the comedy panel show that sees comics Lee Mack, Sarah Millican and Graham Linehan battle to supply the finest wrong answers.
Charlie's tests see the guests recall 'the worst thing they've done on their own'. Who will win between Lee Mack's story of avoiding Anthea Turner, Sarah Millican's tale of woe whilst stuck on the side of motorway, or Graham Linehan's calamity in a hotel shower?
Added to this are the panel's ideas for a terrible new gameshow. Will anyone spot the fatal flaw in Graham's pitch - the futuristic word quiz 'Scrabble 2000'?
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 10 O'Clock Live. He won Best Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards 2009 and Columnist of the Year at the 2009 British Press Awards for his Guardian newspaper columns.
Produced by Aled Evans
A Zeppotron Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b04009cx)
Sean Curran reports on a big blow for the coal mining industry. There's strong criticism of the Home Secretary. And MPs call for greater efforts to combat domestic violence.
Editor: Peter Mulligan.
FRIDAY 11 APRIL 2014
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b03zqy0b)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b03zdbr6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b03zqy0d)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b03zqy0g)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b03zqy0j)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b03zqy0l)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b040rtgj)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection presented by the Most Revd David Chillingworth, Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b03zr1zd)
TB in Alpacas and Goats, Fly Grazing Inquest, 350th Anniversary of 'Sylva'
Most of us are familiar with the problems of TB in cattle but the disease also shows itself in alpacas, camels, llamas, goats and even pet cats. Are we losing the race against the spread of Bovine TB?
Defra is now consulting over plans to introduce a statutory TB compensation payment scheme for camelids. Sybil Ruscoe talks to Dianne Summers from the Camelid TB Support Network. Her own herd has been affected in the past - and she even contracted TB herself from an alpaca. Sybil also hears concerns about the outbreaks of the disease in goats, which are not currently subject to any restrictions or covered by the compensation scheme.
An inquest in Suffolk has heard how a 23-year-old man died after the car he was driving collided with five horses, running wild on a main road on a dark winter's night. The horses had been fly-grazing on nearby land and had broken loose on to the road. The coroner described it as "an accident waiting to happen". BBC Radio Suffolk's Linda Walker has the details.
The Royal Society is marking the 350th anniversary of a book called 'Sylva', or 'A Discourse of Forest Trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesty's Dominions'. The book was the first detailed study of Britain's trees and remains one of the most influential texts on forestry ever published.
Presented by Sybil Ruscoe and produced by Anna Jones.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zr1zj)
Common Whitethroat
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the common whitethroat. Whitethroats are warblers which winter in the Sahel region south of the Sahara desert and spend spring and summer in Europe. When they arrive in April the males establish a territory by singing that scratchy song from hedgerow perches or by launching themselves into the air.
FRI 06:00 Today (b03zr1zl)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 The Reunion (b03zxmyt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b03zdkjz)
Thomas Brothers - Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism
Episode 5
A definitive account by Thomas Brothers of Louis Armstrong, his life and legacy, during the most creative period of his career.
Nearly 100 years after bursting onto Chicago's music scene under the tutelage of Joe 'King' Oliver, Louis Armstrong is recognized as one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. A trumpet virtuoso, seductive crooner, and consummate entertainer, Armstrong laid the foundation for the future of jazz with his stylistic innovations. But his story would be incomplete without examining how he struggled in a society seething with brutally racist ideologies, laws, and practices.
Episode 5:
Louis befriends Al Capone. He's singing and dancing for white audiences, and embracing the popular big band sound, but is he selling out?
Reader: Colin McFarlane
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0400l5l)
Racial diversity in children's books; 40 years of free contraception; UK's first female photographer; Fresh versus tinned
A US study has shown that of 3,200 children's books published in 2013, less than 93 were about black people. Does it matter if children's books are racially diverse, and how does children's literature in Britain compare?
It's 40 years since contraceptive advice and treatment for women was made available free on the NHS, but is it time that men started to take more responsibility for birth control?
Christina Broom began taking photographs in 1903 when she was in her 40's to make ends meet, but before long she had become the unofficial photographer for the military and a favourite of the Royal family, and is credited with being the UK's first female press photographer.
Tinned fruit and veg can be heaper and more convenient than buying fresh, but is it as nutritious, and can it possibly taste as good?
FRI 10:45 The Cazalets (b0400l5n)
All Change
Episode 5
By Elizabeth Jane Howard
Dramatised by Lin Coghlan
Both Clary and Sid find their world's turned upside down.
Directed by Sally Avens
Last year Radio 4 dramatised the four novels that made up The Cazalet Chronicles. The novels gave a vivid insight into lives, hopes and loves of three generations during the Second World War and beyond.
Later that year, age 90, Elizabeth Jane Howard wrote, a fifth and final novel in the saga, All Change. Sadly Elizabeth Jane died in January but was delighted that the BBC were to dramatise her final novel.
The Cazalets tells the story of an upper-middle class family of the type prominent in England prior to WW2. It is now 1956 and the family must learn how to live in a very different type of world.
The three brothers, Hugh, Edward and Rupert, run the family timber firm that their father started.
Their sister, Rachel, has spent her life looking after their parents in Sussex, but now their mother has died she may finally have time to spend with her best friend and lover, Sid, (Margot Sidney).
Hugh is now Chairman of the firm. After a long time on his own following the death of his wife, Sibyl, he has remarried, his secretary, Jemima, who is a war widow. They have a daughter of their own, Laura.
Polly, Hugh's daughter by Sibyl, has married into the aristocracy and become Lady Fakenham, but she and her husband spend all their time attempting to find ways to pay for the crumbling family Estate.
Edward has left his wife, Villy, for his mistress, Diana. But since marrying, Diana, he finds it hard to recapture the joy of their affair.
Louise, his daughter by Villy, is now divorced from Michael Hadleigh and is sharing a flat with her old school friend, Stella. Her relationship with Villy is still fraught, but she and her father are now on good terms.
Rupert lives with his second wife, Zoe and their children. He hates working for the family firm and is envious of his old friend, Archie, who married his daughter, Clary, and still manages to make a living from painting. Clary is a writer, but is finding it increasingly hard to write and bring up a family.
The first four Cazalet Novels have sold over a million copies.
Martin Amis said of Elizabeth Jane Howard, "She is, with Iris Murdoch, the most interesting woman writer of her generation. An instinctivist, like Muriel Spark, she has a freakish and poetic eye, and a penetrating sanity.".
FRI 11:00 Podcasting - The First Ten Years (b0400l5q)
Episode 2
The First Ten Years Pt 2
Part 2 of a two-part investigation of the phenomenon of 'podcasting', a word first coined ten years ago. Helen Zaltzman & Olly Mann, co-hosts of Britain's favourite home-made podcast, Answer Me This! (500,000 downloads a week), talk to popular podcasters Richard Herring, Marc Maron, Roman Mars, the stars of The Bugle, One Bad Mother and Betty In the Sky, and the writers of Welcome To Night Vale about obsessive fans and how to make podcasting pay. Radio 4's Nigel Smith discusses the role of podcasts at the BBC and commentators Nate Lanxon, Jemima Kiss and Ben Hammersley (who coined the word podcasting) look forward to another ten years of downloadable radio programmes.
Producer: Trevor Dann
A Trevor Dann production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 11:30 Hobby Bobbies (b036l2ld)
Series 1
Dangerous Minds
Geoff's decision to finally rebel against his domineering Dad doesn't go quite as he'd have liked.
Britain's longest serving PCSO is paired with the laziest in Dave Lamb's sitcom. (Dave is the voice of TV's Come Dine With Me)
Starring Richie Webb (Horrible Histories), Nick Walker and Noddy Holder (from Slade)
Geoff............................Richie Webb
Nigel............................ Nick Walker
The Guv....................... Sinead Keenan
Jermain.........................Leon Herbert
Bernie...........................Chris Emmett
Geoff's Dad.................. Noddy Holder
Producer: Steve Doherty
A Top Dog production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b0400mgx)
Online car fraud, the joy of potholes, conquering coal
We hear from 2 people who were duped into paying thousands of pounds for cars that never existed - as part of an online fraud that costs the UK £18 million a year.
Staying with motoring, our reporter Bob Walker finds out how potholes can be a mixed blessing.
We try to find out what happens to customer services feedback forms after you have filled them in.
We talk to the firm behind plans to mine coal seams under the North Sea and are self-development books really worth the paper they are written on.
FRI 12:52 The Listening Project (b0400mh1)
Wendi and Alison - Who's Derek Hackney?
Fi Glover introduces a conversation between teenage friends who lost touch and re-connected decades later through music and art, inspired by two Davids - Bowie and Hockney, proving once again that it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b03zqy0n)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b03zqy0q)
National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
FRI 13:45 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b0400mh3)
The Lonely Cyborg
Dr Thomas Dixon brings his major series on the changing face of friendship to a close with a look at how the old and the young are navigating their friendships today through technologies old and new, and at how friendship might look in the future.
A group of Birmingham schoolgirls prove themselves thoughtful and self-aware about how to conduct their friendships online and about the differences between online and face-to-face friendships. Professor Deborah Chambers, an authority on social media and personal relationships from the University of Newcastle, confirms that fears about children's online friendships with strangers have been exaggerated.
At the other end of the life-span, Thomas Dixon speaks with the writer Penelope Lively about friendship in her ninth decade, and about why she likes to consider herself part of "the landline generation".
Closing the series, Thomas Dixon emphasizes the importance of physical touch and presence for friendship, and presents a final montage of the voices which have featured throughout the series, sharing stories of their own friendships.
Producer: Beaty Rubens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b04009cj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b0400mh7)
Blood Count
A day in the musical life and relationship of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn as they record Strayhorn's final composition, 'Blood Count'. An interview with Time Magazine reveals some truths about their working methods and the question of artistic credit. The action takes place during a recording session, and is based on extensive research into the working relationship of the two men. By Ian Smith.
Musicians: Matt Home (drums) Andrew Cleyndert (bass) Dave Newton (piano) Ian Smith (trumpet) and Alan Barnes (reeds)
Directed by Martin Smith
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b0400qdx)
Chard: Floods Special
Peter Gibbs hosts a special edition of GQT looking at the effects of the winter floods on gardens across the country. Taking questions from local gardeners and correspondents are Bob Flowerdew, Anne Swithinbank and Christine Walkden.
Peter visits the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology on the banks of the Thames in Oxfordshire, and Matt Biggs visits an eco-garden designed to use excess rainfall to its advantage.
Produced by Victoria Shepherd.
Assistant Producer: Darby Dorras.
A Somethin' Else Production for BBC Radio 4.
Q. What would the panel suggest to get my clay soil back to its best condition after a period of flooding?
A. It is a matter of adding lots of organic matter and encouraging the worms for aeration. Try to cultivate a really good compost heap to allow you to gradually bring it back to health.
Although some plants may come into leaf as normal, it is often twelve months to two years before they actually die.
If the roots have been killed off, Anne suggests pruning back to prevent top growth and moisture loss. However, Bob suggests that if the plant has remained dormant, the woody head of the plant will provide the energy needed for new root growth.
If you have alkaline soil, a lot of the lime will have washed away and vegetable growers will particularly struggle. The soluble fertility will also have gone, so try adding blood, fish and bone.
Q. My garden was underwater for days over Christmas. How can I help the plants that have survived such as Lavender, Alpines and Fatsia Japonica?
A. It is a case of waiting and not disturbing the soil. However, you should remove any build up of silt because certain plants won't be able to photosynthesis. Don't fertilize until you have seen a fair amount of growth because feeding after a period of stress can burn the roots.
Q. Could the panel suggest some drought resistant plants that could also survive being waterlogged?
A. Take a look at the RHS Award of Garden Merit plants. They have undergone rigorous testing in lots of locations and under lots of conditions.
Q. Could the panel suggest some colourful plants to be added to a wet area with fast running streams?
A. They would need to be quite robust and to knit themselves into the soil. Try Butomus, a flowering rush with lovely pink flower heads. Also look at using Delmera peltata with its parasol-like leaves, or Caltha palustris would do very well. The Troillius family would also do very well such as the Chinensis variety. Thuggish types such as Primula denticulata with their thick root system would bind the soil well. Although considered a weed by many, the Golden Dock loves wet conditions and is a beautiful rare native.
Q. My garden was flooded for five hours during the North Sea surge. Most of the plants have died, but can I still save plants such as Flooded Euonymus, Box, Bay and Yews?
A. The salt will remain for a while but a small amount can act as a fertiliser. It may have ruined the soil texture. Try adding gypsum.
Q. I hate to throw plants away. What should I do with shop bought Hyacinths to ensure that they will flower next year?
A. Hyacinths naturalise really well. Keep them watered until they start to die down and then plant them out in the borders.
Q. I have kept tubers from last year's Dahlias. I have now noticed tiny pink growths appearing. Is this new growth or something more sinister?
A. It appears to be a bacterial infection. It is caused when the initial growth becomes infected and causes cell proliferation. It often stays within the roots, but don't plant it back into your soil.
FRI 15:45 Sailors' Knots (b01jwfx5)
Keeping Up Appearances
Written by W.W. Jacobs.
Published in 1909, Sailors' Knots is an anthology of comic stories set around London and the Thames Estuary at the turn of the last century. The 'knots' are the various mix-ups that occur between sailors on shore leave and the local residents. The tales are great fun, full of entertaining characters (with names like Silas Winch, Sam Small and Ginger Dick) and often deal with marital spats, misunderstandings, and rascals getting their just rewards.
In this second episode, Mark Williams reads the story of Bill Buttenshaw, who is put off drink for life by the terrifying ghost of an old shipmate.
W.W. Jacobs is best known for his horror story, The Monkey's Paw (1902), but the majority of his writing is comic. He was born in Wapping in 1863, where his father was wharf manager at the South Devon Wharf at Lower East Smithfield, and his early observation of merchant ships and the behaviour of their crews informed his many humorous tales.
Mark Williams is well-known as one of the stars of BBC TV's The Fast Show ("Suits you, sir..!!") and for the role of Ron Weasley's father in the Harry Potter films.
Abridged by Roy Apps
Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b0400qdz)
Sue Townsend, Lord Kimball, Peaches Geldof, Prof Lorna Casselton, Mickey Rooney
Matthew Bannister on
The writer Sue Townsend, best known for creating Adrian Mole at the age of 13 and three quarters.
Lord Kimball, a leading campaigner on countryside issues who fought against the ban on fox hunting.
Peaches Geldof, the socialite, columnist and TV presenter who was found dead at the age of 25.
Professor Lorna Casselton, one of the world's leading experts on fungal biology and Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society
And the film star Mickey Rooney who had one of Hollywood's longest careers.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (b0400qf1)
Radio 4's forum for comments, queries, criticisms and congratulations.
FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b0400qf3)
Catherine and Kevin - Our Fat-Free Future
Fi Glover introduces a conversation about how gastric surgery changed the lives of a couple whose weight problems had threatened their health and well-being, proving once again that it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
FRI 17:00 PM (b0400qf5)
PM at
5pm- Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b03zqy0s)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b0400qf7)
Series 83
Episode 9
A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Susan Calman (standing in for Sandi Toksvig), with regular panellist Jeremy Hardy and guest panellists Andrew Maxwell, Tom Wrigglesworth and Holly Walsh.
Produced by Lyndsay Fenner.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b0406rqx)
Excited Dan returns from Sandhurst with his official issue boots. His pre-commission course went well and he passed all the tests - including the medical. Knowing she's still concerned, Dan takes Shula to the Bull for lunch.
Tom and Kirsty spend the morning at the site of their new house. They're both relieved they've found a new photographer and the wedding is coming together. They have time for a quick lunch before Tom goes to finish the carrot field.
Kenton and Shula are pleased at Jill's plan to move to Brookfield permanently. The news that hunky Chris has agreed to play Jesus has caused a stir. Shula has had several enquiries about tickets from stable girls, not that there are tickets.
Kenton and Jolene decide to advertise afternoon teas at The Bull on the afternoon of the play.
Tom and Kirsty are delighted to receive an email from the developer, with a confirmed completion day - no later than 14 August.
Over lunch, Shula finally sees how committed Dan is. He's thought about it a lot, and joining the Army is right for him. He understands that Shula will be worried but he points out that his birth dad was a respectable solicitor in Ambridge, and he died in a car accident on a quiet country road.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b0400qfc)
Mark Strong and Ivo van Hove; Harlan Coben; Bernadette Peters; Lunchbox
With Razia Iqbal.
Actor Mark Strong and director Ivo van Hove discuss their new production of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge. Mark Strong explains why this play, and the role of Brooklyn longshoreman Eddie Carbone, persuaded him to return to the stage for the first time in a decade.
Bernadette Peters is one of Broadway's most critically acclaimed performers, known as a key interpreter of Stephen Sondheim's musicals. In London to perform at the Olivier Awards, Bernadette Peters discusses her relationship with Sondheim and the resilience needed to maintain a long career.
Best-selling author Harlan Coben talks about his latest thriller, Missing You. He discusses creating his protagonist Kat Donovan, an NYPD cop, the current "golden age" of crime writing and the impact that the internet and online dating sites have had on the police thriller.
The Lunchbox, an Indian film from director Ritesh Batra, explores a mistaken delivery in Mumbai's famously efficient lunchbox delivery system that connects a young housewife to an older man. Anil Sinanan reviews.
We remember the author Sue Townsend, who has died aged 68. In a Front Row interview from 2012 she discusses her unusual sense of humour and what she wants next for Adrian Mole.
FRI 19:45 The Cazalets (b0400l5n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b0400qff)
Dr Liam Fox MP, Elfyn Llwyd MP, Norman Lamb MP, Baroness Royall
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from St Mary's Church in Chard, Somerset, with former Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox MP, and Care Minister Norman Lamb MP, the leader of Plaid Cymru at Westminster Elfyn Llwyd MP and Baroness Royall Labour Leader in the House of Lords.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b0400qfh)
A Tale of Two Elections
William Dalrymple reflects on the current pivotal elections in India and Afghanistan where religion, identity and economics will all help to determine the outcomes. Feeling a mixture of unease and optimism, he celebrates, nevertheless, the good news that "democracy is an unstoppable force in south and central Asia."
Producer: Sheila Cook.
FRI 21:00 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b0400qfk)
Five Hundred Years of Friendship: Omnibus
Episode 3
Thomas Dixon concludes his major new history of friendship in a final omnibus edition covering the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries.
Historian Thomas Dixon considers the First World War, the Depression and growing urbanisation, the Second World War, the sexual revolution and the arrival of new technology in this closing omnibus edition of Five Hundred Years of Friendship.
Baroness Shirley Williams, Penelope Lively, Professor Barbara Taylor, Matthew Sweet and a group of Birmingham schoolgirls all share their thoughts and stories of friendships past, present and future.
Producer: Beaty Rubens.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b03zqy0v)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b0400qfm)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0400qfp)
Unexploded
Episode 10
A tale of love, art and prejudice set in wartime Brighton.
"Fear was an infection - airborne, seaborne - rolling in off the Channel, and although no one spoke of it, no one was immune to it. Fifty miles of water was a slim moat to an enemy that had taken five countries in two months, and Brighton, regrettably, had for centuries been hailed as an excellent place to land."
In May 1940, Geoffrey and Evelyn Beaumont and their Philip, anxiously await news of invasion on the beaches of Brighton. Geoffrey, a banker, becomes Superintendent of the internment camp on the edge of town while Evelyn is gripped first by fear and then quiet but growing desperation.
A discovery widens a fault-line in family life.
Episode 10:
Evelyn is not at home. Prompted by Philip's anxiety and suspicions, Geoffrey has gone looking for her. And why is there smoke coming from No. 5?
Alison MacLeod lives in Brighton. She was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award in 2011 and her story 'Solo, A Capella', about the Tottenham riots, featured in the Radio 4 series 'Where Were You ...' in 2012. Her previous works include The Changeling and The Wave Theory of Angels. Unexploded was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2013. Alison is Professor of Contemporary Fiction at the University of Chichester.
Reader: Emma Fielding
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Producer: Rosalynd Ward
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b03zy2kd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b0400qfr)
Mark D'Arcy reports from Westminster.
FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b0400qft)
Shaun and Kim - The Wildman and the Wolves
Fi Glover introduces a conversation about the extreme experience of living in the wild with wolves, and the impact it's had on subsequent family life, proving once again that it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)
A Point of View
08:48 SUN (b03zdm6d)
A Point of View
20:50 FRI (b0400qfh)
Anti-Establishment and Uber-Capitalist
11:00 WED (b03zy4m9)
Any Answers?
14:00 SAT (b03zxhcw)
Any Questions?
13:10 SAT (b03zdm6b)
Any Questions?
20:00 FRI (b0400qff)
Archive on 4
20:00 SAT (b03zxkps)
BBC Inside Science
16:30 THU (b04009cd)
BBC Inside Science
21:00 THU (b04009cd)
Bells on Sunday
05:43 SUN (b03zxlzr)
Bells on Sunday
00:45 MON (b03zxlzr)
Blind Date with Don Camillo
11:30 THU (b04009c2)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 MON (b03zy1k0)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 TUE (b03zy4hx)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 WED (b04003l5)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 THU (b04009cv)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 FRI (b0400qfp)
Book of the Week
00:30 SAT (b03yqwhb)
Book of the Week
09:45 MON (b03z8z58)
Book of the Week
00:30 TUE (b03z8z58)
Book of the Week
09:45 TUE (b03zb49r)
Book of the Week
00:30 WED (b03zb49r)
Book of the Week
09:45 WED (b03zbv05)
Book of the Week
00:30 THU (b03zbv05)
Book of the Week
09:45 THU (b03zdbr6)
Book of the Week
00:30 FRI (b03zdbr6)
Book of the Week
09:45 FRI (b03zdkjz)
Bookclub
16:00 SUN (b03zxw0g)
Bookclub
15:30 THU (b03zxw0g)
Brain of Britain
23:00 SAT (b03z9gtg)
Broadcasting House
09:00 SUN (b03zxmyp)
Bunk Bed
23:15 WED (b03zr0w2)
Cabin Pressure
18:30 THU (b01ptztf)
Chrysanthemum
11:00 TUE (b03zy22v)
Classic Serial
21:00 SAT (b03xtvdp)
Classic Serial
15:00 SUN (b03xtvtm)
Costing the Earth
15:30 TUE (b03zy2k8)
Costing the Earth
21:00 WED (b03zy2k8)
Crossing Continents
20:30 MON (b03zdbrd)
Crossing Continents
11:00 THU (b04009c0)
Down the Line
18:30 TUE (b0100241)
Drama
14:15 MON (b01cwwld)
Drama
14:15 TUE (b03zy2k4)
Drama
14:15 WED (b0156n74)
Drama
14:15 THU (b0156n2y)
Drama
14:15 FRI (b0400mh7)
Face the Facts
12:30 WED (b0409fkt)
Farming Today
06:30 SAT (b03zxb6w)
Farming Today
05:45 MON (b03zqzss)
Farming Today
05:45 TUE (b03zr00c)
Farming Today
05:45 WED (b03zr0lw)
Farming Today
05:45 THU (b03zr0qk)
Farming Today
05:45 FRI (b03zr1zd)
Feedback
20:00 SUN (b03zdm60)
Feedback
16:30 FRI (b0400qf1)
Five Hundred Years of Friendship
13:45 MON (b03zy1c0)
Five Hundred Years of Friendship
13:45 TUE (b03zy24b)
Five Hundred Years of Friendship
13:45 WED (b040014g)
Five Hundred Years of Friendship
13:45 THU (b04009c6)
Five Hundred Years of Friendship
13:45 FRI (b0400mh3)
Five Hundred Years of Friendship
21:00 FRI (b0400qfk)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:30 SAT (b03zxhcn)
Front Row
19:15 MON (b03zy1fp)
Front Row
19:15 TUE (b03zy4hl)
Front Row
19:15 WED (b04003kx)
Front Row
19:15 THU (b04009cl)
Front Row
19:15 FRI (b0400qfc)
Gardeners' Question Time
14:00 SUN (b03zdktv)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:00 FRI (b0400qdx)
Gloomsbury
11:30 WED (b040014b)
Great Lives
16:30 TUE (b03zy2kd)
Great Lives
23:00 FRI (b03zy2kd)
Helen Keen's It Is Rocket Science
23:00 WED (b04003l7)
Hobby Bobbies
11:30 FRI (b036l2ld)
In Business
21:30 SUN (b03zdfgy)
In Business
20:30 THU (b04009cq)
In Our Time
09:00 THU (b03zr11t)
In Our Time
21:30 THU (b03zr11t)
In Touch
20:40 TUE (b03zy4hq)
Inside Health
21:00 TUE (b03zy4hs)
Inside Health
15:30 WED (b03zy4hs)
Just a Minute
12:00 SUN (b03z9gmt)
Last Word
20:30 SUN (b03zdm5y)
Last Word
16:00 FRI (b0400qdz)
Lent Talks
05:45 SUN (b03zd3jf)
Lent Talks
20:45 WED (b04003l1)
Lives in a Landscape
11:00 MON (b03zy1bt)
Loose Ends
18:15 SAT (b03zxkpl)
Midnight News
00:00 SAT (b03z3hdc)
Midnight News
00:00 SUN (b03zqxrx)
Midnight News
00:00 MON (b03zqxts)
Midnight News
00:00 TUE (b03zqxw6)
Midnight News
00:00 WED (b03zqxxh)
Midnight News
00:00 THU (b03zqxyw)
Midnight News
00:00 FRI (b03zqy0b)
Midweek
09:00 WED (b03zy4m3)
Midweek
21:30 WED (b03zy4m3)
Money Box Live
15:00 WED (b040014j)
Money Box
12:00 SAT (b03zxhcq)
Money Box
21:00 SUN (b03zxhcq)
Morven Crumlish - Murals
00:30 SUN (b01p7hdj)
Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics
16:00 MON (b03zy1c6)
News Briefing
05:30 SAT (b03z3hdm)
News Briefing
05:30 SUN (b03zqxs5)
News Briefing
05:30 MON (b03zqxv1)
News Briefing
05:30 TUE (b03zqxwg)
News Briefing
05:30 WED (b03zqxxr)
News Briefing
05:30 THU (b03zqxz4)
News Briefing
05:30 FRI (b03zqy0l)
News Headlines
06:00 SUN (b03zqxs7)
News and Papers
06:00 SAT (b03z3hdp)
News and Papers
07:00 SUN (b03zqxsc)
News and Papers
08:00 SUN (b03zqxsh)
News and Weather
22:00 SAT (b03z3hf6)
News
13:00 SAT (b03z3hdy)
On Your Farm
06:35 SUN (b03zxmyf)
One to One
09:30 TUE (b03zy22n)
Open Country
06:07 SAT (b03zdc9x)
Open Country
15:00 THU (b04009c8)
PM
17:00 SAT (b03zxhd5)
PM
17:00 MON (b03zy1cb)
PM
17:00 TUE (b03zy4hg)
PM
17:00 WED (b04001kl)
PM
17:00 THU (b04009cg)
PM
17:00 FRI (b0400qf5)
Pick of the Week
18:15 SUN (b03zxw0l)
Podcasting - The First Ten Years
11:00 FRI (b0400l5q)
Poetry Extra
23:30 SAT (b03z3lbr)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 SAT (b03zdmc9)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 MON (b040rtgw)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 TUE (b040rth4)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 WED (b040rthq)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 THU (b040rtjb)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 FRI (b040rtgj)
Profile
19:00 SAT (b03zxkpn)
Profile
17:40 SUN (b03zxkpn)
Radio 4 Appeal
07:55 SUN (b03zxmyk)
Radio 4 Appeal
21:26 SUN (b03zxmyk)
Radio 4 Appeal
15:27 THU (b03zxmyk)
Rubbish: The Great Waste Crisis
20:00 TUE (b03zy4hn)
Sailors' Knots
15:45 FRI (b01jwfx5)
Saturday Drama
14:30 SAT (b03zxhcy)
Saturday Live
09:00 SAT (b03zxb70)
Saturday Review
19:15 SAT (b03zxkpq)
Secrets and Lattes
11:30 MON (b03zy1bw)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SAT (b03z3hdh)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SUN (b03zqxs1)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 MON (b03zqxtx)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 TUE (b03zqxwb)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 WED (b03zqxxm)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 THU (b03zqxz0)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 FRI (b03zqy0g)
Shedtown
23:00 TUE (b03zy4hz)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SAT (b03z3hdf)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SAT (b03z3hdk)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SAT (b03z3hf0)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SUN (b03zqxrz)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SUN (b03zqxs3)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SUN (b03zqxsm)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 MON (b03zqxtv)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 MON (b03zqxtz)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 TUE (b03zqxw8)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 TUE (b03zqxwd)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 WED (b03zqxxk)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 WED (b03zqxxp)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 THU (b03zqxyy)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 THU (b03zqxz2)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 FRI (b03zqy0d)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 FRI (b03zqy0j)
Short Cuts
15:00 TUE (b03zy2k6)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SAT (b03z3hf4)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SUN (b03zqxsr)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 MON (b03zqxv9)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 TUE (b03zqxwn)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 WED (b03zqxxw)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 THU (b03zqxzb)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 FRI (b03zqy0s)
So Wrong It's Right
23:00 THU (b0106v13)
Something Understood
06:05 SUN (b03zxmyc)
Something Understood
23:30 SUN (b03zxmyc)
Soul Music
15:30 SAT (b03zb49y)
Soul Music
11:30 TUE (b03zy246)
Start the Week
09:00 MON (b03zxyfq)
Start the Week
21:30 MON (b03zxyfq)
Stories in Sound
13:30 SUN (b03z9gn8)
Sunday Worship
08:10 SUN (b03zxmym)
Sunday
07:10 SUN (b03zxmyh)
Susan Calman Is Convicted
18:30 WED (b04001kn)
Thatcher's Mad Monk or True Prophet?
20:00 MON (b03zy1fr)
The 3rd Degree
15:00 MON (b03zy1c4)
The Archers Omnibus
10:00 SUN (b03zxmyr)
The Archers
19:00 SUN (b03zxw0n)
The Archers
14:00 MON (b03zxw0n)
The Archers
19:00 MON (b03zy1fm)
The Archers
14:00 TUE (b03zy1fm)
The Archers
19:00 TUE (b03zy4hj)
The Archers
14:00 WED (b03zy4hj)
The Archers
19:00 WED (b04003kv)
The Archers
14:00 THU (b04003kv)
The Archers
19:00 THU (b04009cj)
The Archers
14:00 FRI (b04009cj)
The Archers
19:00 FRI (b0406rqx)
The Cazalets
10:45 MON (b03zxzlp)
The Cazalets
19:45 MON (b03zxzlp)
The Cazalets
10:45 TUE (b03zy22s)
The Cazalets
19:45 TUE (b03zy22s)
The Cazalets
10:45 WED (b03zy4m7)
The Cazalets
19:45 WED (b03zy4m7)
The Cazalets
10:45 THU (b04009by)
The Cazalets
19:45 THU (b04009by)
The Cazalets
10:45 FRI (b0400l5n)
The Cazalets
19:45 FRI (b0400l5n)
The Country Formerly Known as London
17:00 SUN (b03zb7dr)
The Digital Human
16:30 MON (b03zy1c8)
The Echo Chamber
16:30 SUN (b03zxw0j)
The Film Programme
23:00 SUN (b03zdc9z)
The Film Programme
16:00 THU (b04009cb)
The Food Programme
12:32 SUN (b03zxmyw)
The Food Programme
15:30 MON (b03zxmyw)
The Great Space Hunt
21:00 MON (b03ynts6)
The Life Scientific
09:00 TUE (b03zr00k)
The Life Scientific
21:30 TUE (b03zr00k)
The Listening Project
14:45 SUN (b03zxmz0)
The Listening Project
12:52 FRI (b0400mh1)
The Listening Project
16:55 FRI (b0400qf3)
The Listening Project
23:55 FRI (b0400qft)
The Media Show
16:30 WED (b04001kj)
The News Quiz
12:30 SAT (b03zdm64)
The News Quiz
18:30 FRI (b0400qf7)
The Report
20:00 THU (b04009cn)
The Reunion
11:15 SUN (b03zxmyt)
The Reunion
09:00 FRI (b03zxmyt)
The Unbelievable Truth
18:30 MON (b03zy1cd)
The Week in Westminster
11:00 SAT (b03zxhck)
The World This Weekend
13:00 SUN (b03zxmyy)
The World Tonight
22:00 MON (b03zqzvz)
The World Tonight
22:00 TUE (b03zy4hv)
The World Tonight
22:00 WED (b04003l3)
The World Tonight
22:00 THU (b04009cs)
The World Tonight
22:00 FRI (b0400qfm)
Thinking Allowed
00:15 MON (b03zd3hz)
Thinking Allowed
16:00 WED (b04001kg)
Tim FitzHigham: The Gambler
19:15 SUN (b03zxw0q)
Time
19:45 SUN (b03zxw0s)
Today in Parliament
23:30 MON (b03zqzv9)
Today in Parliament
23:30 TUE (b03zy4j1)
Today in Parliament
23:30 WED (b03zr0w4)
Today in Parliament
23:30 THU (b04009cx)
Today in Parliament
23:30 FRI (b0400qfr)
Today
07:00 SAT (b03zxb6y)
Today
06:00 MON (b03zqzsx)
Today
06:00 TUE (b03zr00h)
Today
06:00 WED (b03zr0w0)
Today
06:00 THU (b03zr0qs)
Today
06:00 FRI (b03zr1zl)
Tweet of the Day
08:58 SUN (b03x45tq)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 MON (b03zqzsv)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 TUE (b03zr00f)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 WED (b03zr0ly)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 THU (b03zr0qn)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 FRI (b03zr1zj)
Weather
06:04 SAT (b03z3hdr)
Weather
06:57 SAT (b03z3hdt)
Weather
12:57 SAT (b03z3hdw)
Weather
17:57 SAT (b03z3hf2)
Weather
06:57 SUN (b03zqxs9)
Weather
07:57 SUN (b03zqxsf)
Weather
12:57 SUN (b03zqxsk)
Weather
17:57 SUN (b03zqxsp)
Weather
05:56 MON (b03zqxv3)
Weather
12:57 MON (b03zqxv5)
Weather
21:58 MON (b03zqxvc)
Weather
12:57 TUE (b03zqxwj)
Weather
21:58 WED (b03zqxxy)
Weather
12:57 THU (b03zqxz6)
Weather
21:58 THU (b03zqxzd)
Weather
12:57 FRI (b03zqy0n)
Weather
21:58 FRI (b03zqy0v)
Westminster Hour
22:00 SUN (b03zxw3r)
What the Papers Say
22:45 SUN (b03zxw7c)
Woman's Hour
16:00 SAT (b03zxhd2)
Woman's Hour
10:00 MON (b03zxyfs)
Woman's Hour
10:00 TUE (b03zy22q)
Woman's Hour
10:00 WED (b03zy4m5)
Woman's Hour
10:00 THU (b04009bw)
Woman's Hour
10:00 FRI (b0400l5l)
Word of Mouth
23:00 MON (b03zb4bb)
Word of Mouth
16:00 TUE (b03zy2kb)
World at One
13:00 MON (b03zqxv7)
World at One
13:00 TUE (b03zqxwl)
World at One
13:00 WED (b03zqxxt)
World at One
13:00 THU (b03zqxz8)
World at One
13:00 FRI (b03zqy0q)
Would That Work Here?
22:15 SAT (b03zd3jc)
Would That Work Here?
20:00 WED (b04003kz)
You and Yours
12:00 MON (b03zy1by)
You and Yours
12:00 TUE (b03zy248)
You and Yours
12:00 WED (b040014d)
You and Yours
12:00 THU (b04009c4)
You and Yours
12:00 FRI (b0400mgx)
Zeitgeisters
10:30 SAT (b03z089k)
iPM
05:45 SAT (b03zdmcc)
iPM
17:30 SAT (b03zdmcc)