The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
How elite students get elite jobs. Lauren Rivera, Associate Professor of Management and Organisation at Northwestern University's Kellog School of Management, discusses her study into the hiring practices of top investment banks, consultancies and law firms. Do America's elite keep the top jobs for people just like themselves? Louise Ashley, Lecturer in Management Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London, adds a British perspective.
Also, hairdressing as craft. Dr Helen Holmes, Hallsworth Research Fellow at the University of Manchester, argues that the craft of such service work is obscured by the intangibility of the product, as well as the fact that it is a female dominated profession.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with author Rebecca Manley Pippert.
All this week Farming Today is based at a dairy farm near Stroud in Gloucestershire, from where we explore the reality of producing milk at a particularly tough time for the industry. Charlotte Smith meets Andrew and Hannah Couzens, who between them run a herd of around 200 dairy cows. In today's programme, we hear about the farm's history, and join Hannah in the milking parlour - a place where she spends up to eight hours a day with the cows. We also hear from a dairy analyst, who explains why dairy farming has come to be in its current difficult situation.
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Chris Packham presents the rhinoceros auklet found around the North American western seaboard. Rhinoceros auklets are auks. They look very different to their relatives the puffins or guillemots. They're dark grey-ish brown birds, and in the breeding season both male and female have flowing white plumes above their eyes and behind their orange bills. It is the white vertical plate at the base of its bill which has inspired the birds' common names of "horn-billed puffins" or "unicorn puffins". This horn is only grown in the breeding season; the birds shed it in autumn when they head out to sea. Rhinoceros auklets in burrows or cavities in grassy places or on forest floors: most colonies are small, but some contain a hundred thousand birds which produce a soothing chorus of mooing and grunting sounds, strange to hear in the blackness of a coastal wood.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
On Start the Week Mary Ann Sieghart takes a satirical look at the world with the novelist Jonathan Coe. His latest book is a state-of-the-nation satire which takes aim at politics, social media and inequality. It's the battle between ideals and pragmatism in the cynical world of the political elite of the 1920s which takes centre stage in the play Waste, famously banned when it was first written, now revived and directed by Roger Michell. The Times' political cartoonist, Peter Brookes, celebrates the power of the visual image to lampoon the country's leaders and the playwright Mia Chung explores whether satire can do justice to the questions raised by a regime like North Korea and talks about her latest play about two sisters fleeing the country.
Throughout her life, Iris Murdoch wrote thousands of letters. Mostly to friends and lovers. This episode focuses on her years as an Oxford undergraduate when she was full of hope and political idealism.
Iris Murdoch was born in Dublin in 1919 to Hughes and Rene Murdoch. While still a baby the family moved to west London. In 1938, Murdoch won a place at Somerville College, Oxford, where she read classics. After gaining her first-class degree, wartime work in the Treasury ensued before, in 1944, she joined the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and was posted to Belgium and Austria, where she worked helping those displaced by the war.
Murdoch left UNRRA in 1946 and, after a year's postgraduate studies at Newnham College, Cambridge, was appointed as a philosophy tutor at At Anne's College, Oxford. In 1954, while still at St Anne's, Murdoch debut novel Under The Net was published.
In a writing career that spanned over 40 years, Murdoch published 26 novels, five books on philosophy, six plays and two books of poetry. Her novel The Sea, The Sea won the 1978 Booker Prize and, in 1987, she was made a Dame. She remains one of the most celebrated British novelists of the 20th century.
Katie Piper on the impact an acid attack had on her appearance and how people cope with being 'visibly different' whether due to birth or accident. Why some might feel invisible in mainstream culture because of age, ethnicity or disability with philosopher Mahlet Zimeta.
We speak to Helen Steel about her relationship with an undercover police officer and her reaction to an 'unreserved' apology from the Metropolitan Police Service.
Former supermodel Agyness Deyn stars in a new film 'Sunset Song', adapted from one of the great works of Scottish literature, the 1932 novel by Lewis Grassic Gibbon. She plays the young heroine Chris Guthrie, whose passion for life and education is disrupted by family responsibilities, the hardships of rural Scottish life and the impact of the First World War.
Short story writer Helen Simpson on why she's chosen to write about the positive side of the menopause and ageing.
Reem's Syrian family have fled to the sprawling Zaatari Refugee Camp. Jordanian Yara lives in the capital Amman, but is just starting as an aid worker at the camp.
As Reem's brothers struggle to survive - in the camp itself, working illegally in Amman, under fire in Syria, or en route to Germany - both families' destinies will collide. And both will face impossible choices about their future.
Welcome to Zaatari is adapted by Liz Rigbey from 'We Are All Refugees', an Arabic audio drama about Syrian refugees in Jordan, which was produced by William Stirling, Charlotte Eagar and Georgina Paget for Refuge Drama Productions, in conjunction with Radio SouriaLi and the UNHCR. It was written by Wael Qadour, Majd Hijjawi and Ahmad Ameen, and translated by Wael Qadour and Majd Hijjawi.
The theme music for Welcome to Zaatari is 'El Mokhtalifeen', the new single from Jordanian group El Morabba3 (elmorabba3.com).
Lemurs and parrots accompany maths writer Alex Bellos as he explores the foundations of our ability to understand numbers. What are the fundamental numerical skills which we share with other animals? What accounts for our species' unique abilities to do complex calculations that others cannot?
Alex seeks answers from psychologists and cognitive scientists who are studying the number senses of creatures as diverse as tropical fish, lemurs, monkeys and birds.
Among others, he visits Professor Elisabeth Brannon at Duke University in North Carolina. At the Duke Lemur Center, she introduces him to Teres, a ring-tailed lemur. Teres sits at a computer screen and solves the number tests presented to him with his brain and his nose. Professor Brannon's work with lemurs, monkeys and humans shows that they all share one brain system which gives them a well-tuned sense of number - be they objects, symbols or sounds. The animals have an abstract concept of number, although it is a fuzzy and approximate one.
Alex also visits the parrot lab of Professor Irene Pepperberg at Harvard University. As well as meeting and hearing from her latest parrot subjects, he talks to her about another Alex - her former star subject. This Alex was an African grey parrot who died prematurely in 2007, aged 30.
Alex was also an acronym for Avian Learning Experiment. He learned the words and their meaning for dozens of objects, colours and materials as well as concepts such as bigger and smaller, and same and different. Irene also taught him to speak and count the numbers from one to six exactly, and recognise the Arabic symbols for those numbers.
According to Irene Pepperberg and Harvard colleague Susan Carey, towards the end of his life, Alex was able to do something with his apparent understanding of numbers which no other non-human animal had ever done before. They say he made the same numerical mental leap which human children make at around the age of 4 or 5. This leap allows us to understand any number of any size exactly.
Tony Hancock tells Andree how he got his war wound, which is a story you may find hard to believe...
Between 1954 and 1959, BBC Radio recorded 102 episodes of Galton and Simpson's classic sitcom Hancock's Half Hour. But 20 went missing from the BBC archives and had not been heard since their original transmission… until these faithful re-imaginings.
After a highly acclaimed first series, another five were lovingly re-recorded in front of a live audience at London's BBC Radio Theatre.
The Lad Himself …. Kevin McNally
Bill Kerr …. Kevin Eldon
Sid James …. Simon Greenall
Kenneth Williams …. Robin Sebastian
Andree Melly …. Susy Kane
Recreated for broadcast by BBC Radio Comedy for BBC Radio 4 and first broadcast in November 2015.
Will Self embarks on a road trip from Edinburgh to Cambridge on the trail of Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell who 150 years ago pioneered the theory of the electromagnetic waves which made mobile phones, radio, radar and GPS all possible.
In a bid to understand Maxwell and his achievements, Will plans to drive 600 miles in an electric car, stopping off at locations relevant to the much neglected 19th century physicist.
Will's trip starts promisingly enough when he has a chance encounter with Nobel prize-winning physicist Professor Peter Higgs on an Edinburgh back street not far from Maxwell's birthplace. But things then start to go awry as Will has a rather less welcome run-in in a multi-storey car park...
Research from uSwitch suggests that up to 60% of UK drivers haven't told their insurer about a change in their work and could be driving without valid insurance as a result.
The shops are full of panettone for Christmas. The packaging is lovely. Maybe that's why panettone has become a kind of 'go-to' gift. It's the thing you have in, for when someone turns up with something for you and you didn't get them anything. So what is it with panettone? And what should you do with it when Christmas is over?
Later this week lecturers at the Open University will vote on when they will strike over the planned closures of seven regional centres. Things haven't been good at the OU for some time. The general decline in people studying part time has hit them hard - student numbers are declining, and they're running a persistent budget deficit. Lecturers argue that the closures will mean less time with students and less support.
Singer Cerys Matthews and music expert Tristram Penna go back to summer 1898 when The Gramophone Company opened offices in London's Covent Garden.
This was the very first disc record company in the UK, later becoming well known as HMV and EMI, and was the London affiliate of inventor Emile Berliner's US National Gramophone Company.
The first inventory consisted of imported parts for 3,000 gramophones and 150,000 American records. It was swiftly obvious that British tastes meant local repertoire was vital, so Berliner sent his top engineer and talent man Fred Gaisberg to London. On 9 Aug - the day of the very first gramophone recording session - Fred recorded Adam Umbach, clarinettist from the Trocadero, playing Mendelssohn's Spring Song.
Close by, Rules Restaurant, London's oldest restaurant which opened in 1798, also played an important part as a place where artists and Gramophone Company staff could fraternise. Here Gaisberg heard Australian singer Syria Lamonte, leading to a legendary recording of Coming Through The Rye on the 2 September.
Fred wanted to record everything and anything that he thought might sell and the very first gramophone record catalogue contains several thousand very diverse recordings.
The early recording process may have been primitive, but many artists were persuaded to record by a pioneering spirit. By Christmas 1898 the company had sold out of all machines and records so the entire staff poured into Rules to celebrate.
We hear from Christopher Proudfoot, CLPGS chairman, academic Peter Adamson, and music manager/author Simon Napier-Bell. The early recordings are courtesy of the EMI Archive Trust.
Blood Sex and Money, an epic 24 hours of drama inspired by the works of literature’s greatest whistleblower, Emile Zola.
Season 1. Blood. Episode 3. Food.
Lisa Macquart’s brother-in-law turns up on her doorstep and her entire future seems threatened.
Glenda Jackson stars as Dide, 104 years old, the matriarch to a family of wolves – the Rougon-Macquarts.
Lisa ….. Jodie McNee
Quenu ….. Graeme Hawley
Pauline ….. Millie Kinsey
Gervaise ….. Julie Hesmondhalgh
With victories already under their belt in the early contests of the series, both Wales and The Midlands will be aiming to add to their tally as they clash for the first time this season.
David Edwards and Myfanwy Alexander play for Wales, opposite Rosalind Miles and Stephen Maddock of the Midlands team. The competition promises to be keen, and the teams will have to trawl all of their arcane knowledge to deal with Tom Sutcliffe's puzzles, which include: 'Some unfortunate ancient women, a defunct City bank and a very shy pianist appear to have collaborated on Onward Christian Soldiers - how?'
As always, Tom will be deducting points for every intervention he has to make to nudge them towards the solution. He'll also be revealing the answer to the teaser puzzle he set last time, and providing a new one to keep you guessing for a further week.
Each year, hundreds of performers attend the Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend in Las Vegas, where the guests of honour are The Living Legends.
In the mid-20th century these women were shunned by society. Most were presumed prostitutes. But now their careers are celebrated, and their ground-breaking acts are revived, at the Titans of Tease Reunion.
Mat Fraser is a British actor, cabaret star, and a former Best Male Striptease Artist. For BBC Radio 4 he embarks on a very personal journey to meet some of the legends, both on and off stage.
Mat says: "As a disabled performer, I connect with these women in that we're all outsiders. We don't look mainstream. They don't judge me, and I don't judge them."
Veteran performers in their 70s and 80s, including April March, Lottie "the Body" Graves and Melanie "Marinka" Hunter, discuss ageism, sexism, racism and feminism in their profession. How have attitudes towards Burlesque artists shifted since the 1950s? How do the legends inspire younger performers?
And after three decades of retirement, how does it feel to finally get back on stage - and strip?
In claiming responsibility for the Paris atrocities, the so-called Islamic State described the attacks as "a blessed battle whose causes of success were enabled by Allah". Last year, when the group's self-imposed Caliphate was declared, hundreds of Muslim leaders and scholars from across the world wrote an open letter to the self-professed Caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, accusing him of heinous war crimes and a violation of the fundamental principles of Islam. So how Islamic is 'Islamic State'? Why have mainstream interpretations of Islam so far failed to provide an effective counter-narrative? What needs to happen for the group to be defeated?
William Crawley discusses the beliefs which underpin the so-called Islamic State in the light of the Paris terrorist attacks with Sheikh Dr Salah Al Ansari, an Imam, theologian and academic; Haras Rafiq, Managing Director of the anti-extremism think tank, the Quilliam Foundation; and Dr Katherine Brown, an expert in Islamic Studies at King's College London.
David Cameron says it's his conviction the UK should attack Islamic State in Syria.
Paul Merton, Gyles Brandreth, Susan Calman and Tom Allen find out just how hard it can be to talk for 60 seconds with no hesitation, repetition & deviation in this special episode recorded at the Edinburgh Festival.
Rob tells Helen to stay in bed and have a day off after her spell last night, and assure her he hasn't forgotten about his job interview today. Helen's surprised to get a letter saying she's booked in for a scan. Rob has organised this early scan, going private, as a surprise for Helen - they can find out the sex of the baby. Pat thinks it's a lovely gesture. Rob later sees Helen and Pat at the shop and, to Helen's dismay, explains that although the interview went well, he has withdrawn from the next stage of the application process. Helen thought the job was what Rob wanted - and she's worried about money. However, Rob says his priority is to Helen, Henry, their baby and the shop.
Eddie and Clarrie reluctantly agree on a pokey one-bed flat as their only living option. Following complaints about Joe being seen in his underwear, and generally making Grey Gables look untidy, Kathy's sorry to have to ask the Grundys to leave the hotel soon. Clarrie explains to Eddie that she has spoken to the Council and Joe can be assessed for emergency accommodation. Eddie sadly agrees that Joe needs to go into a home - but who's going to break it to him?
John Wilson talks to Steven Spielberg about Bridge of Spies, his new Cold War thriller starring Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance.
A new exhibition at Tate Britain explores the art associated with the British Empire from the 16th century onwards.
This week Front Row talks to leading arts philanthropists, starting with Hannah Rothschild, recently appointed Chair of the National Gallery.
Tackling climate change is a global issue and in the run up to the UN climate change conference in Paris most of the world's countries have put forward proposals to do their bit. In the second of this series Roger Harrabin looks at the solutions to the emissions problem. How can the world meet the need for energy for a growing population without creating dangerous levels of CO2 emissions. Roger travels to Malawi, one of the world's poorest nations, where the energy crisis is about access to energy. How do you provide energy to people like these without adding to the climate problem caused by the rich getting rich? He looks at the solar revolution being driven by the falling costs of photovoltaic panels and he travels to Morocco to see a huge power plant at the cutting edge of solar technology. But will this all be enough, will we have to resort to removing CO2 from the atmosphere and is this even possible?
You can find links to transcripts of the interview done for this series on the Open University website creativeclimate.org.
Peru is the world's largest producer of cocaine. A staggering one-third of it travels on foot, on the backs of young men like Daniel. He is 18, full of bravado, and claims he does this work so he will be able to go to university and take care of his family. Daniel is one of thousands known as 'mochileros' - backpackers, in Spanish - who hike their illicit cargo from the tropical valley where most of Peru's coca is produced, up to Andean towns, out towards the border with Brazil, and to clandestine airstrips.
For Crossing Continents Linda Pressly meets the 'mochileros' who are mostly young men from isolated, peasant villages. They have grown up in coca-growing communities that suffered some of the worst atrocities of Peru's dirty war with Shining Path rebels in the 1990s. All of them do it for the money - payments of hundreds of dollars in a region where the incidence of poverty is more than twice the national average.
It is a perilous occupation. Armed gangs, a re-emerging Shining Path, the military and police all conspire to stop or control the trade. Daniel says that on every trip he makes, three or four young men will die. Highland prisons are bursting with mochileros who were caught, but in many ways they are the lucky ones - others die on the trails, their bodies devoured by wild animals.
The Drug Mules of the Andes tells the story of the 'mochileros', their families and the Peruvian authorities charged with interdiction.
Brett Westwood explores our complex relationship with the giants of the sea, whales. These vast creatures of the sea have undergone a remarkable transformation. Once feared as sea monsters they then became a valuable resource for oil, food, blubber and bone. In the 20th century, as their numbers dwindled, they suddenly became an image of fragility - a victim of humanity's ruthlessness. They moved from roaring sea monsters to creatures that sing and represent peace, a transformation created by the media.
Although there are many species of whale ranging in size and body shape, most people have one image in their minds, a kind of super-whale that amalgamates all that is good about nature. "Save the Whale" is a household slogan." This was demonstrated by the public reaction to the Thames Whale, a female Northern bottle-nosed whale that became stranded in London 10 years ago. People went into the water to try to save her, she was photographed, written about and sung about as people became entranced by her increasingly desperate plight. She was a wildlife media sensation. After her death popular newspapers even paid for the skeleton to be preserved in a glass case rather than broken up into drawers.
The media defines our view of the whale as either a wonder to be protected or a traditional resource to be exploited. Here in the UK the removal of the national treasure that is "Dippy the dinosaur" from the foyer of the Natural History Museum, to be replaced by a blue whale skeleton, shows how much this animal means to the public today.
Preparations for climate change summit.
Chilling revenge for a terrible crime is at the heart of Neil Gaiman's multi-award-winning novelette, inspired by a Hebridean myth and originally commissioned by the Sydney Opera House for the Graphic Festival with celebrated illustrator Eddie Campbell.
Jarvis Cocker's nocturnal exploration of the human condition takes him beneath the waves in this special edition of Wireless Nights.
Accompanied by the BBC Philharmonic at this year's Proms, as Jarvis drifts off to sleep he soon finds himself on an underwater voyage down to the endless night of the ocean bed. En route, he meets psychoanalyst Carl Jung, two submariners called Roger trapped in a tiny submersible and a free-diver experiencing "the rapture of the deep".
The BBC Philharmonic creates a sonic seascape as Jarvis goes deeper and deeper - but will he make it back to the surface in time to wake up?
David Cameron announces a 178 billion pound spending programme in defence equipment and support over the next ten years. Sean Curran has the reaction of MPs.
* The Commons welcomes a new agreement in Northern Ireland on welfare that ensures the continuation of devolution at the Stormont Assembly.
* A Minister faces claims that women are losing out badly because of changes to pensions arrangements.
* Peers speak out about irresponsible cyclists in our towns and cities.
* And, MPs ask, why isn't more defence equipment being built with steel from Britain rather than from overseas?.
TUESDAY 24 NOVEMBER 2015
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b06ppsf5)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b06pssb5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06ppsf7)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06ppsf9)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06ppsfc)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b06ppsff)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b06qsjr1)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with author Rebecca Manley Pippert.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b06ptqk2)
Farming Today on a Dairy Farm
The dairy crisis has been one of the biggest stories in the farming world this year. All this week Farming Today will be going behind the headlines to find out what life's really like on a family dairy farm. We'll follow the milk from the cow to the breakfast table, finding out what goes into producing it, how the economics of milk stack up, and how the future looks at a time when on average one farmer every day gives up on the diary industry. Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Emma Campbell.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04mlvwj)
Asian Crested Ibis
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Chris Packham presents the rare Asian crested Ibis formerly common in Japan and China. The crested ibis is mainly white with a shaggy white crest and a red face; but in the breeding season its plumage is tinged with ash-grey. Under its wings is a subtle peach tone, a colour known in Japan as toki-iro. Unfortunately its beauty hasn't saved the crested ibis from persecution in Japan, China or Siberia where it used to breed. It was thought to be extinct in China, until seven birds were found in 1981. In 2003 the crested ibis became extinct in the wild in Japan. Now, crested ibis are conservation symbols in the Far East. They are strictly protected in China where they are being reintroduced to increase the small wild population. In Japan the first wild Japanese crested ibis chick flew from its nest in 2012.
TUE 06:00 Today (b06r8rx3)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 Blood, Sex and Money: The Life and Work of Emile Zola (b06p7cyt)
Double Oscar winning actress, and former politician, Glenda Jackson, presents an intriguing insight into the physical and cultural landscape of one of France's most prolific and influential writers- Emile Zola. She travels to Paris to get a real flavour of the great writers work and life, and how his experience and the life around him informed his great commentary of novels on the Second Empire. Zola's descendents describe how the reaction to J'Accuse and the Dreyfus Affair, where Zola accused the French Army of a cover up in an open letter to the press, still creates waves and bad feelings for the family. It's a journey of discovery for Jackson, right down to the fact that both Zola and she befriended a mouse.
Jackson plays the 100 year old matriarch and narrator of Radio 4's ground breaking 24 hour drama serialisation of all twenty novels in Zola's epic family Rougon-Macquart series, with the first season, Blood, beginning November 21st.
Blood, Sex and Money are the three major themes and title of the dramas, and Glenda explores how these themes infiltrated his work and life. She travels to his country home in Medan and meets his great grand-daughter. This was the home where, with his wife, he entertained his friends, such as Flaubert and Cezanne, where he set up a home for his lover and two children near by, and where he would cycle every afternoon to visit them.
Glenda also visits key areas in Paris where Zola lived in dire poverty, and where he gathered with his artist contemporaries - Manet, Monet, Cezanne at the height of the impressionistic and naturalistic movement. We also travel to Aix En Provence, in the South, where Zola and Cezanne grew up.
Research consultant - Kate Griffiths
Producer- Pauline Harris.
TUE 09:30 The Misogyny Book Club (b063zx16)
The Price of an Apple
Why was it Eve who was first tempted by the forbidden fruit - often characterised as an apple? And why is the maggot of misogyny still eating away at the core of society?
In this series, Jo Fidgen and a selection of readers take a fresh look at some of our most read books to discover how writers have distilled and influenced the hatred of women over centuries.
From the Bible to Fifty Shades of Grey, via Hamlet, Sons and Lovers, and fairytales, each episode takes as its starting point a text which has informed our culture, and contains misogynistic sentiments. Writers and other people with a personal connection to the texts discuss how these ideas have developed, and speak openly about how their own lives have been affected.
In the first episode, Jo and company read Genesis and consider Eve's role in the Fall of Man.
Why did the Early Fathers of the church put all the blame on her? And can a line be traced from their depiction of Eve all the way to modern-day attitudes to women? They consider the philosophical tradition of linking men with the mind and women with the body; how we condemn women for dressing seductively; and the resistance to women holding positions of authority.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b06pttqh)
Living on Paper - Letters from Iris Murdoch 1934-1995
Episode 2
In this episode, which embraces the years 1942-1944 when Murdoch was working at the Treasury, the letters to her Oxford friend, Frank Thompson, are particularly poignant.
Iris Murdoch was born in Dublin in 1919 to Hughes and Rene Murdoch. While still a baby the family moved to west London. In 1938, Murdoch won a place at Somerville College, Oxford, where she read classics. After gaining her first-class degree, wartime work in the Treasury ensued before, in 1944, she joined the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and was posted to Belgium and Austria, where she worked helping those displaced by the war.
Murdoch left UNRRA in 1946 and, after a year's postgraduate studies at Newnham College, Cambridge, was appointed as a philosophy tutor at At Anne's College, Oxford. In 1954, while still at St Anne's, Murdoch debut novel Under The Net was published.
In a writing career that spanned over 40 years, Murdoch published 26 novels, five books on philosophy, six plays and two books of poetry. Her novel The Sea, The Sea won the 1978 Booker Prize and, in 1987, she was made a Dame. She remains one of the most celebrated British novelists of the 20th century.
The music used on this programme is Near Light by Ólafur Arnalds
Living On Paper: Letters From Iris Murdoch 1935-1995
Editors: Avril Horner and Anne Rowe
Readers: Imogen Stubbs and Nigel Anthony
Abridger: Pete Nichols
Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06qhqxh)
Jane Garvey's Makeover, Childcare Bill and Children with Disabilities, Rooney Mara, Carmen Giannattasio, Teenage Boys
As part of the Appearance Series, Jane Garvey travels to a beauty salon in Liverpool for a makeover and she hears from three fourteen year old boys about the pressures to look good.
The Childcare Bill has its second reading today and includes raising the amount of free childcare for 3-4year olds but a new report by the charity Contact a Family says that forty percent of parents of children with disabilities do not always use their current free childcare hours because they cannot access the special help they need. Amanda Batten from the charity explains what she hopes the new bill will include for parents of children with disabilities and Jane hears from Tara whose daughter has Down's Syndrome.
Rooney Mara on her latest role starring opposite Kate Blanchett in the film Carol.
Soprano Carmen Giannattasio's vocal range and dramatic ability gained her immediate critical attention and in December she plays Nedda in Leoncavallo's famous short opera Pagliacci at the Royal Opera House. What makes her career even more impressive is that she didn't have a singing lesson until she was 18 years old. Jane asks her about how she found her voice, her journey from university scholar to leading lady and her struggles with an eating disorder.
Presenter: Jane Garvey
Producer: Caroline Donne.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b06pttqk)
Welcome to Zaatari
Episode 2
Two ambitious young women in Jordan are living very different lives.
Reem's Syrian family have fled to the sprawling Zaatari Refugee Camp. Jordanian Yara lives in the capital Amman, but is just starting as an aid worker at the camp.
As Reem's brothers struggle to survive - in the camp itself, working illegally in Amman, under fire in Syria, or en route to Germany - both families' destinies will collide. And both will face impossible choices about their future.
2/5 They're partying in Amman tonight. And finding too many ways to say goodbye.
Welcome to Zaatari is adapted by Liz Rigbey from 'We Are All Refugees', an Arabic audio drama about Syrian refugees in Jordan, which was produced by William Stirling, Charlotte Eagar and Georgina Paget for Refuge Drama Productions, in conjunction with Radio SouriaLi and the UNHCR. It was written by Wael Qadour, Majd Hijjawi and Ahmad Ameen, and translated by Wael Qadour and Majd Hijjawi.
The theme music for Welcome to Zaatari is 'El Mokhtalifeen', the new single from Jordanian group El Morabba3 (elmorabba3.com).
TUE 11:00 The Secret Lives of Carers (b06pttqm)
There's a silent army of workers who look after Britain's old and needy in their own homes. It's a rapidly growing group...but we rarely hear their stories.
In the first of two programmes, Sangita Myska follows the day-to-day lives of three care workers. We talk to the carers who do their jobs well and hear - in chilling detail - about the ones who do it badly.
"There was snow outside, the roads were bad. When I walked into the house I was struck by how cold it was. And what I saw next will stay with me forever. George was sitting, his skin grey from the cold. He was wet - a doubly incontinent man - and they hadn't put a pad on him. The blinds were shut, the lights were off, the telly was off, just waiting for someone to help".
It's a frustrating, revolving-door service where some of the visits last as little as 15 minutes. We hear of vulnerable people having up to 24 different carers a week and stories of basic care - and caring - being overlooked.
Jane - not her real name - is fairly new to care. We go with her on one of her visits - a lunchtime call to an elderly woman. The woman wanted a sandwich - but her bread was green with mould - despite the fact that she'd had a care worker in to make her breakfast and had three carers the previous day. Jane complains to her bosses - but she's not hopeful anything will change. She says her complaints so far have fallen on deaf ears.
The care workers are mostly on the minimum wage - or below. Staff turnover is twice that of any other industry. It's a disturbing picture of the state of domiciliary care.
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
TUE 11:30 Soul Music (b06pttqp)
Series 21
Mr Blue Sky
ELO's brilliantly off-beam classic, Mr Blue Sky, is explored in this week's Soul Music.
It was released as a single in 1978, having first appeared on the ELO album 'Out of the Blue' in 1977. Written by Jeff Lynne, it was a no.6 hit in the UK, and has endured on the radio airwaves ever since.
Contributing to the programme:
Tracey Collinson whose husband, Nigel, loved the track tells of the meaning it has for her.
Musicologist, Allan Moore, discusses the anomolous use of the word 'blue': usually associated with downbeat emotions, this is a peculiar subversion of that cultural norm with the word 'blue' conjuring happiness and good weather.
Tremayne Crossley and his friend, Jo Milne, tell the extraordinary story of how Jo heard music for the first time. This track played an important role in that event.
For Dr. Sam Illingworth, Mr Blue Sky will always take him back to the low-flying research-flights he made over the wetlands, greenlands and seas of the Arctic Circle with the shadow of the BAE146 plane beneath him and clear blue skies above.
The children of King's St. Albans in Worcester sang the track that features at the end of the programme.
Producer: Karen Gregor.
TUE 12:00 News Summary (b06ppsfh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 Self Drives: Maxwell's Equations (b06pttqr)
Maxwell at Glenlair
Will Self continues his 600 mile road trip on the trail of Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell who 150 years ago pioneered the theory of the electromagnetic waves which made mobile phones, radio, radar and GPS all possible.
In a bid to understand Maxwell and his legacy, Will plans to drive from Edinburgh to London in an electric car, stopping off at locations relevant to the much neglected 19th century physicist.
Today Will's at Glenlair, Maxwell's country estate, where he attempts to get to grips with what inspired the physicist's scientific imagination. Will's electric car, on the other hand, is proving somewhat less than inspirational...
Producer: Laurence Grissell.
TUE 12:15 You and Yours (b06pttqt)
Call You and Yours: Do the police listen to you and respond to you?
This week we heard that Surrey police failed to act when the mother of a 14 year old boy raised concerns with them about a man who later murdered her son. An investigation into the case blamed a lack of training.
On Call You & Yours, we want to hear your experience of the police. We know they can't investigate every crime reported to them, but when you needed them, did they listen to you? Did they take action? Perhaps you were robbed of your mobile phone on the street, or reported a motorist for driving too fast. Perhaps you were threatened by a tradesman or witnessed a violent crime. However serious or trivial the crime or problem you reported, we are keen to hear your experience. What happened when you called the police? Did they respond how you expected? How good was the service you got?
Perhaps you are a police officer, who needs to make judgements on which crimes to investigate. With limited staff, the police need to ration their time and decide where to focus their efforts. How do you make these judgements? When is it ok to not investigate a crime?
Producer: Jonathan Hallewell
Presenter: Winifred Robinson.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b06ppsfk)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b06qbllf)
Turkey has shot down a Russian jet which it says strayed into its territory. It's the first time a NATO member has shot down a Russian military aircraft since the 1950s. We examine the possible repercussions.
As the government announces 3.8 billion pounds to bolster NHS finances next year, we'll find out how much of that money is new and where cuts might fall elsewhere, and we have the latest instalment in our reporter Manveen Rana's journey tracking the progress of a Syrian refugee family.
TUE 13:45 His Master's Voices (b06qnx0l)
Laughter and Novelty
Singer Cerys Matthews and music expert Tristram Penna continue their investigation into the pioneering days of the UK record industry with a programme dedicated to laughter and novelty.
The Gramophone Company's chief producer Fred Gaisberg was enthusiastic to record all sorts of sounds, not just music, and so he scoured the country for likeable talents. He taught his friend, the Music Hall entertainer Burt Shephard, The Laughing Song, which was already a proven hit in America and Shephard proved a natural to put it on record for British audiences.
Artists with robust hearty voices worked best on the recording equipment they used, so we see that the technology was beginning to dictate what would be ultimately captured on disc.
Laughter doesn't recognise international borders and Gaisberg's original 1902 recording became a hit across the world. Pursuing the laughing tradition on popular records, we hear other examples where laughter on tracks has been a requisite for success - including The Laughing Policeman from the 1920s and David Bowie's The Laughing Gnome of the late '60s.
Fred's thirst for recording sounds also led him to create 'novelty records', including the Chairman of the Gramophone Company, Trevor Williams recording his party piece of farmyard animal sounds.
By the early 1900s the Gramophone was becoming a popular machine people could buy to have in their homes, which gave them instant laughter, sounds and songs to entertain them.
We also hear from academic and record collector Peter Adamson, and music manager/author Simon Napier-Bell. The early recordings are courtesy of the EMI Archive Trust.
A Sue Clark production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in November 2015.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b06ptny5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola (b06ptw77)
Season 1 - Blood
Politics
Blood Sex and Money, an epic 24 hours of drama inspired by the works of literature’s greatest whistleblower, Emile Zola.
Season 1. Blood. Episode 4. Politics.
Eugène Rougon was once at the heart of government. Now he’s just another member of the public, and it’s killing him. When his cousin Lisa Macquart turns up with proof that her brother-in-law is embroiled in a plot to assassinate the Emperor, a game of political chess begins.
A story of power and the politics of silence dramatised by Oliver Emanuel.
Glenda Jackson stars as Dide, 104 years old, the matriarch to a family of wolves – the Rougon-Macquarts.
Cast:
Dide ..… Glenda Jackson
Eugène ….. Robert Jack
Clorinde ..… Laura Dos Santos
Lisa ….. Jodie McNee
Merle ..… James Anthony Pearson
Quenu ..… Graeme Hawley
Gilquin ..… Jonathan Keeble
Directed by Kirsty Williams
TUE 15:00 The Educators (b06ptw79)
Character Lessons
The KIPP school movement began 20 years ago in the US. It stands for Knowledge Is Power Program, and the schools focus on two things; academic achievement and building strength of character.
They work in the most disadvantaged districts of New York, Houston and Los Angeles, where children have less than a 1 in 10 chance of completing a college degree, but their focus on character skills like grit, empathy and determination, is seen as the reason why half of KIPP students will graduate from college.
Sarah Montague speaks to KIPP co-founder Dave Levin about how character is taught alongside traditional subjects, visiting KIPP Infinity school in Harlem and hearing from Kings Langley Academy - one of many schools in the UK that are exploring character teaching.
Presenter: Sarah Montague
Producer: Joel Moors.
TUE 15:30 Shared Experience (b06ptylr)
Series 4
Living with Addiction
People who are being treated for an addiction receive the support of professional organisations as well as family and friends. Many of them say they could not have beaten it without their partner's help. But who recognises the role of close family members in getting an addict through tough times? Fi Glover hears from three people living with partners in various stages of addiction about how they have coped.
Producer: Maggie Ayre.
TUE 16:00 Law in Action (b06ptylt)
Mums Behind Bars
Every year thousands of children see their mothers jailed, typically for non-violent offences. Often the mother is the child's primary carer. And in the vast majority of cases the children of imprisoned mothers are placed in the care of other relatives or foster parents. This week Law in Action asks whether fewer mothers should be sent to prison, and whether there are better alternatives. A mother and daughter tell Joshua Rozenberg what it's like when childhood is disrupted by a mother's imprisonment. And we hear from Juliet Lyon of the Prison Reform Trust and Andrea Albutt, the new president of the Prison Governors Association. Also in the programme: Jeremy Wright, the Attorney General, on contempt of court.
Producers: Keith Moore and Tim Mansel.
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b06ptylw)
Shirley Williams and Margaret Drabble
Harriett Gilbert debates books with Shirley Williams and Margaret Drabble. Shirley's favourite is South Riding, by family friend Winifred Holtby, whom she describes as 'my adopted aunt'. Margaret defends The Group by Mary McCarthy against accusations of frivolity, and Harriett champions James Joyce's book of short stories, Dubliners. Producer Sally Heaven.
TUE 17:00 PM (b06qbllk)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06ppsfm)
Putin condemns Turkey for shooting down a Russian warplane and warns of consequences.
TUE 18:30 Gloomsbury (b040hzz1)
Series 2
Bonfire of the Jealousies
Vera is consumed with jealousy, because Ginny has won a literary prize and is going to be photographed for the front cover of Vanity Fair by acclaimed Society photographer Manta Ray. To make matters worse, Venus is getting a teeny crush on Ginny. So, when Ginny asks for style advice in advance of her photographic session, Vera's suggestions have an edge of mockery.
Vera, wracked with torment, breaks the habit of a lifetime and unburdens herself to Mrs Gosling. But of course Mrs Gosling's life has been an endless struggle to suppress her jealousy of her employers' wealth and privilege. Even a chance encounter with Sigmund Void on Hampstead Heath fails to shake Vera from her melancholic mood. In the end it falls to Henry and Lionel to try to boost Vera's confidence.
Producer: Jamie Rix
A Little Brother production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b06ptyly)
David and Pip have to deal with Ketosis in the cows, which means the yields will be down. Pip asks whether they're getting back to using their mixer wagon. David says they'll carry on as they are, although Pip fears the risk of more ketosis. They agree not to bother Ruth with all this. David has made contact with an old farming contact in New Zealand who's happy to put Ruth up during her stay - what a relief she'll have a friendly face over there.
Lynda coaches Kirsty to talk to Roy and persuade him to be in Calendar Girls. Kirsty makes small-talk about her photo shoot today for the calendar (her pics have a birdwatcher theme) - Elizabeth is also having her pics taken. Roy's persuaded to audition for the remaining small role - John. He finds out John is Annie's (Elizabeth) husband. Lynda stresses that any gossip about them doesn't matter - this is theatre, art! Roy accepts the role. Elizabeth congratulates Roy and over a drink they chat about her role and Elizabeth's own personal experience. Kirsty drops some subtle hints as she's looking for a flat share - or a house, maybe. Roy tentatively mentions he has a spare room. Sensing Kirsty's eagerness, Roy happily offers it to her.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b06qbllr)
Elisabeth Frink, Quentin Letts, Lloyd Dorfman
Dame Elisabeth Frink is the subject of a new exhibition in Nottingham which seeks to show the workings of her creative mind. Kirsty Lang talks to the curator of her estate, Annette Ratuszniak, and her son, Lin Jammet. They discuss the work of the artist known for her sculptures of men, animals, and religious figures.
The police have released figures stating Music and sports fans have lost more than £1.2 million to ticket fraud in the last six months showing much more needs to be done to protect people buying tickets. Following up on Front Row's ticket resale discussion last week we are now talking to Ticketmaster Chairman Chris Edmonds about how primary ticket seller Ticketmaster combat touts, and its relationship with the ticket resale market.
Quentin Letts, who writes parliamentary sketches by day and theatre reviews by night for the Daily Mail, talks to Kirsty about his debut novel, The Speaker's Wife, a satire on the state of the Church of England and the workings of the House of Commons.
This week Front Row talks to leading arts philanthropists, today to Lloyd Dorfman, about his work with the National Theatre.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b06pttqk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 From Syria to Yorkshire (b06ptym0)
Under the UK government's Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme over 200 Syrians - all judged to be particularly at risk - were taken from refugee camps in the Middle East and re-housed in Britain, many of them in Bradford. This summer, as the migration crisis became ever-more acute, the government agreed to help many more Syrians. Owen Bennett-Jones travels to Bradford to meet some of those who were first brought to Britain under the scheme. Their remarkable stories paint a vivid picture of war-torn Syria - and tell us a great deal about the UK too.
Image: Syrian refugees settling in Yorkshire, Ayham and Mohammed attend an archetypically British event – Remembrance Sunday in Bradford. They didn’t know about it beforehand but when it was explained that this was a service to remember those killed in war, they wanted to come and felt the relevance to their own lives. But did the other people attending want them there?
Producer: Nina Robinson
Editor: Richard Knight
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b06ptym2)
A Poke in the Eye, Humira
We speak to actress Georgie Morrell about her brand new play, A Poke In The Eye. It's autobiographical, and it's about her experience of going blind unexpectedly. We also have the latest on the drug Humira which can now be given to children living in England with the eye condition, uveitis.
TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (b06ptym4)
Mindfulness, Rest and slothfulness, All in the Mind Awards, Compulsive sexual behaviour and the internet
Over the last decade mindfulness has grown in popularity and is recommended in many settings such as the NHS, schools, the work place and prisons. But how strong is the scientific data? Mental Elf blogger Andre Tomlin and Professor Willem Kuyken review the evidence.
All in the Mind Awards Judge Marion Janner talks to Claudia Hammond on the mindfulness of gardening and how to take part in the awards.
Plus the search for rest: is being slothful still a sin?
New research from Valerie Voon, a Consultant Neuropsychiatrist at Cambridge University, uncovers what's happening in the brains of people with compulsive sexual behaviour. The results suggest that the constant supply of novel images from the internet can drive this behaviour and Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist Graham Music discusses how the findings could be translated to the clinic.
TUE 21:30 Blood, Sex and Money: The Life and Work of Emile Zola (b06p7cyt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b06ppsfp)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b06ptym6)
NATO calls for calm after Turkey shoots down a Russian plane over Syria
NATO calls for calm after Turkey shots down a Russian fighter jet - president Putin warns of serious consequences. IAAF president Lord Coe faces conflict of interest allegations - former sports minister says Lord Coe should give up his association with Nike. Former president of the European Commission Jose Barroso tells us dismantling Schengen would not prevent terrorist attacks in Europe. We have a report from Vietnam on how climate change affects people who live and work in the Mekong delta. And why UNESCO wants to award kimchi - the Korean pickled cabbage - with a special world heritage status.
TUE 22:45 The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains (b06ptym8)
Episode 2
The dwarf persuades Callum McInnes to take him to the cave on the Misty Isle.
Chilling revenge for a terrible crime is at the heart of Neil Gaiman's multi-award-winning novelette, inspired by a Hebridean myth and originally commissioned by Sydney Opera House for the Graphic Festival with celebrated illustrator Eddie Campbell.
Reader: Bill Paterson
Writer: Neil Gaiman
Abridged and produced by Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in November 2015.
TUE 23:00 Liam Williams: Ladhood (b06ptymb)
Series 1
Truants
Liam Williams - a two-time Edinburgh Festival Award nominated comedian - shares his teenage misadventures in the Yorkshire suburbs.
With evocative monologues by "Adult Liam" being interjected with flashback scenes from his teenage years, this four-part series was recorded in Leeds and stars teens from Yorkshire.
Each episode delves into Liam's memories of his first fight, virginity loss, the best house party ever organised, and his marvellous outwitting of an entire teaching staff.
This is the New Labour, post-mining, aspirational heartland, meeting 50 Cent and Generation Y ennui, represented in a bourgeois radio format - by one of Britain's most exciting comedians.
Adult Liam ...... Liam Williams
Young Liam ...... Alfie Field
Bradley Dixon ...... Sam Shaw
Cranny ...... Matthew Hudson
Ralph Fletcher ...... George Richardson
Craig Cheng ...... Ken Cheng
Mrs Pallister ...... Amelia Lowdell
Liam's Mum ...... Debra Baker
Liam's Dad ...... Caolan McCarthy
Mr Draper ...... Ewan Bailey
Mr Bishop ...... Gerard McDermott
Teacher 1 ...... Evie Killip
Producer: Arnab Chanda
A BBC Radio Comedy production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in November 2015.
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b06ptymd)
TIP: An SNP vote on Trident fails - but 20 Labour MPs defy a request to abstain. And the UK's most senior counter-terrorism officer has warned MPs that major cuts to police budgets could affect the ability of the police to tackle a Paris-style terrorist attack. Susan Hulme reports from Westminster.
WEDNESDAY 25 NOVEMBER 2015
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b06ppshg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b06pttqh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06ppshj)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06ppshl)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06ppshn)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b06ppshq)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b06qskfb)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with author Rebecca Manley Pippert.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b06ptyr5)
Milk: From Cow to Supermarket
Farming Today is spending a week on a Gloucestershire dairy farm, following the milk from the cow to the supermarket. Today, Anna Hill finds out what happens to the milk after it leaves the farm: the next stage is the processing plant. Here it's turned into butter, cream and powdered milk which is sold across the world.
We catch up with the Farming Today cow and find out how much milk she produces a day on the farm.
And Emma Campbell meets the Artificial Insemination expert who has to visit the farm every day to keep the milk flowing. The producer is Emma Campbell.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04mlvwz)
Purple Martin
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Chris Packham presents the purple martin from eastern North America. Every spring, across the land from Chicago to St Louis, you can hear couples squabbling over the best real estate. But these aren't human house-buyers, they're purple martins. Purple Martins are the largest North American swallow, glossy blue-black rather than purple and much chunkier than the well-known barn swallow. They spend the winter in insect-rich places in South America and return to their North American breeding colonies each spring. In the west, they nest in holes in trees or even in giant saguaro cacti, but in the east where they're much more common, they almost exclusively rely on people to provide them with nest-sites. Visit almost any city, town or homestead and you'll see multi-story nest-boxes, the home of a score of purple martin families. Around 1 million people are thought to erect housing each year. Their human landlords take a personal pride in their martin colonies, listening each spring for those first pebbly calls which are a sign that their protégés have made it back from the tropics, once again.
WED 06:00 Today (b06pz3fw)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b06ptzrt)
Stephen Webster, Kenneth O Morgan, Dr Amy Dickman, Jyotsna Srikanth
Libby Purves meets jewellery designer Stephen Webster; historian Kenneth O. Morgan; conservation biologist Dr Amy Dickman and musician Jyotsna Srikanth.
Dr Amy Dickman is a conservation biologist with a particular interest in the maintenance of threatened wildlife populations on human-dominated land and how to resolve human-wildlife conflict. She is director of Ruaha Carnivore Project (RCP), a community-based lion conservation initiative in Tanzania. A former finalist at the Tusk Conservation Awards, she has just launched Pride, an alliance of lion conservationists at Houston Zoo.
Stephen Webster MBE is a jewellery designer. He studied at Medway College of Design in Rochester, Kent, before serving his apprenticeship at Hatton Garden and establishing his business in 1989. His inspirations range from pop culture to Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and his clients include Madonna, Ozzy Osborne and Christina Aguilera. He tells his story in Gold Struck - A Life Shaped by Jewellery, published by Salma Books.
Kenneth O. Morgan is a historian, author and a member of the House of Lords. An academic for more than 40 years, he held positions at a number of universities including Swansea and Oxford before retiring as vice-chancellor at the University of Wales in 1995. In his book, Kenneth O. Morgan: My Histories, he looks back at his life to consider how a working historian went about his task at a time of sweeping historical change. Kenneth O. Morgan: My Histories is published by University of Wales Press.
Jyotsna Srikanth is a violinist from the Carnatic classical tradition. Before becoming a full-time musician she was a pathologist. She is passionate about bringing the music of Southern India to a wider audience and enjoys collaborating with musicians from a range of musical genres such as jazz, classical and world music including beatboxer Shlomo and flamenco guitarist Eduardo Niebla.
Producer: Paula McGinley.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b06ptzrw)
Living on Paper - Letters from Iris Murdoch 1934-1995
Episode 3
Iris Murdoch had not seen David Hicks since 1938 when they were both at Oxford, but she continued to write until, in November 1945, they finally met up again. This time in London and with dramatic consequences.
Iris Murdoch was born in Dublin in 1919 to Hughes and Rene Murdoch. While still a baby the family moved to west London. In 1938, Murdoch won a place at Somerville College, Oxford, where she read classics. After gaining her first-class degree, wartime work in the Treasury ensued before, in 1944, she joined the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and was posted to Belgium and Austria, where she worked helping those displaced by the war.
Murdoch left UNRRA in 1946 and, after a year's postgraduate studies at Newnham College, Cambridge, was appointed as a philosophy tutor at At Anne's College, Oxford. In 1954, while still at St Anne's, Murdoch debut novel Under The Net was published.
In a writing career that spanned over 40 years, Murdoch published 26 novels, five books on philosophy, six plays and two books of poetry. Her novel The Sea, The Sea won the 1978 Booker Prize and, in 1987, she was made a Dame. She remains one of the most celebrated British novelists of the 20th century.
The music used on this programme is Near Light by Ólafur Arnalds
Living On Paper: Letters From Iris Murdoch 1935-1995
Editors: Avril Horner and Anne Rowe
Readers: Imogen Stubbs and Nigel Anthony
Abridger: Pete Nichols
Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06pz3fy)
Phone-In on Apperance
Your chance to have your say about the way you feel about the way you look. Who influences you most when it comes to your appearance? Social Media, TV, or magazines , or those glossy adverts trying to sell you the latest make-up and clothes. How's the way you feel changing as you get older? As a young person do you feel the need to conform to fit in or are you happy to do your own thing ? As you age do you feel more confident in how you look or just invisible
Call Jane Garvey on 03700 100 444 (lines are open from 0800). Tweet us @bbcwomanshour or email via our website.
Presenter Jane Garvey
Producer; Beverley Purcell.
WED 10:41 15 Minute Drama (b06ptzry)
Welcome to Zaatari
Episode 3
Two ambitious young women in Jordan are living very different lives.
Reem's Syrian family have fled to the sprawling Zaatari Refugee Camp. Jordanian Yara lives in the capital Amman, but is just starting as an aid worker at the camp.
As Reem's brothers struggle to survive - in the camp itself, working illegally in Amman, under fire in Syria, or en route to Germany - both families' destinies will collide. And both will face impossible choices about their future.
3/5 Marwan's 'friends' know all the routes West. All you need is plenty of money.
Welcome to Zaatari is adapted by Liz Rigbey from 'We Are All Refugees', an Arabic audio drama about Syrian refugees in Jordan, which was produced by William Stirling, Charlotte Eagar and Georgina Paget for Refuge Drama Productions, in conjunction with Radio SouriaLi and the UNHCR. It was written by Wael Qadour, Majd Hijjawi and Ahmad Ameen, and translated by Wael Qadour and Majd Hijjawi.
The theme music for Welcome to Zaatari is 'El Mokhtalifeen', the new single from Jordanian group El Morabba3 (elmorabba3.com).
WED 10:55 The Listening Project (b06ptzs0)
Manwar and Ivan - From One Extreme to Another
Fi Glover with a conversation between a former jihadist and a former English Defence League member, sharing memories of their divided pasts and plans for their more united futures. Another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. 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 learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
WED 11:00 The Joy of 9 to 5 (b06pv02c)
They're overworked, under appreciated, and mostly not very good at their jobs. Lucy Kellaway asks do we really need managers?
In part two of her series on modern work culture, Lucy Kellaway, columnist for the Financial Times, looks at the much-maligned manager. Wouldn't it be better if we just got rid of them altogether?
Lucy explores the extent to which we workers need structure from the top, or would rather have the freedom to get on with our jobs without constant interference.
We hear from the frontline why it's so tough to manage. Could an Al-Qaeda memo prove the key to why hierarchy is necessary to get things done?
From 17th century pirates to 21st century tech-start ups, Lucy looks at alternative ways of managing organisations and asks whether work would be a happier, more grown-up place if we put them into practice.
Written and presented by Lucy Kellaway
Producer: Gemma Newby
Executive Producer: Russell Finch
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 11:30 The Lentil Sorters (b06qkkzp)
False Positives
A sitcom set in the Office of Local and National Statistics which, depending on who you ask, is either where the real power of government resides, or the place where fun goes to die.
In this episode, a stag do, a stats conference and a blood test combine to make Graham’s life substantially worse.
Meet the team:
Graham Quicks is Head of the People and Places Department of the LNS. There are three things in the world that Graham will always have faith in – statistics, the supremacy of filofaxes over computers and the idea that cardigans will never go out of style.
Audrey Carr is the Survey Researcher for the department. She believes passionately that statistics should be used as a tool to help the man on the street. Fortunately for her, she's never actually met "the man in the street". She's also passionate about Jane Austen, Les Miserables and pretending that she doesn't work in an office with Daniel.
Daniel Porter is the department's Data Analyst. He used to work in the City, until the City realised he was a colossal waste of space. Daniel divides his time between manipulating statistics to further his vision of capitalism, necking energy drinks and telling people his thighs are really, really strong. He's terrible.
Mrs. Wilkins has worked as tea lady, archivist and maintenance guru for fifteen years. She knows where the bodies are buried. We must stress that that is a figure of speech.
Graham Quicks ...... Vincent Franklin
Audrey Carr ...... Rebekah Staton
Daniel Porter ...... Kieran Hodgson
Mrs Wilkins ...... Julia Deakin
Special guests:
The Corporate Manager............Paul Shearer
The Doctor................................Catriona Knox
The Stage Manager..................Tom Crowley
The Graham Gal.......................Tessa Coates
With Jo Unwin as The Narrator
Written by Jack Bernhardt
Producer: David Tyler
A Pozzitive production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2015.
WED 12:00 News Summary (b06ppshs)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 Self Drives: Maxwell's Equations (b06pv0gz)
Maxwell and a Chinese Dinner
Will Self continues his 600 mile road trip on the trail of Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell who 150 years ago pioneered the theory of the electromagnetic waves which made mobile phones, radio, radar and GPS possible.
In a bid to understand Maxwell and his legacy, Will is driving from Edinburgh to London in an electric car, accompanied by Akram Khan, professor of particle physics at Brunel University.
Over a Chinese meal in Manchester, Will expresses fundamental concerns about the nature and value of scientific progress. Akram is troubled by Will's misgivings.
Producer: Laurence Grissell.
WED 12:15 World at One (b06pz3g0)
Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015
Analysis of the government's Spending Review and Autumn Statement. Presented by Martha Kearney.
WED 13:56 Weather (b06ppshv)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b06ptyly)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola (b06pv1g2)
Season 1 - Blood
Drink
Blood Sex and Money, an epic 24 hours of drama inspired by the works of literature’s greatest whistle blower, Emile Zola.
Season 1. Blood. Episode 5. Drink.
Gervaise Macquart has spent her life chasing happiness. Now, as she sits across the table from a bottle of brandy and a quiet, handsome man, she realises just how priceless that feeling is.
A story of how other people’s addictions have shaped one woman’s life, dramatised by Oliver Emanuel.
Glenda Jackson stars as Dide, 104 years old, the matriarch to a family of wolves – the Rougon- Macquarts.
Cast:
Dide ….. Glenda Jackson
Gervaise ….. Julie Hesmondhalgh
Goujet ..… Mark Holgate
Directed by Kirsty Williams
WED 15:00 Money Box (b06pv1g4)
Money Box Live: Autumn Statement
Hours after Chancellor, George Osborne announced he was abandoning his controversial plans on tax credits, Paul Lewis and an expert panel take listener questions on the changes that were made. Changes to capital gains tax, council tax and stamp duty and the announcement of the level of State Pension will all affect the finances of some families.
Presenter Paul Lewis and expert guests answer your tax, benefits and pension questions.
Alan Higham, Pensions Champ; Jane Moore, ICAEW; and Will Hadwen, Working Families, join the programme.
Presenter: Paul Lewis
Producer: Diane Richardson
Editor: Andrew Smith.
WED 15:30 The Listening Project (b06np7nv)
Omnibus - Sons of Ten Years and Under
Fi Glover with three conversations between parents and their sons, about having a disabled twin, having a disabled father, and the joys of Lego, all in the Omnibus edition of the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. 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 learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
WED 15:45 His Master's Voices (b06r3pmf)
British Ethnic
Singer Cerys Matthews and music expert Tristram Penna continue their investigation into the early days of the recording industry in the UK. They are in Cecil Sharp House, the home of English Folk Dance and Song Society, and are joined by Steve Roud, creator of the Roud Folk Song Index.
In the first few years of the Gramophone Company's history, they were making records of many popular songs rooted in the folk tradition including many old work songs, and producer Fred Gaisberg first travelled the British Isles in 1899 to find and record them. He began in Scotland with pipers and singers, then going to Wales to record choirs including the Rhondda Royal Glee Society, and lastly to Dublin to record the very best of the local talents.
These discs captured local folk songs and melodies but, with an ear for what might sell, Gaisberg nearly always added a piano accompaniment and gentrified them for the Gramophone's targeted genteel audience.
The portable recording equipment they needed consisted of at least six crate loads and involved an interesting mixture of zinc plate, wax and toxic chemicals as well as an electrically driven recording machine.
We end with a recording of English Music Hall artist Gus Elen and an English hit song which points to the future of the popular recording industry in the UK - pop songs leading us all the way from Gus to The Beatles.
We also hear from academic Peter Adamson and Christopher Proudfoot, CLPGS President. The early recordings are courtesy of the EMI Archive Trust.
A Sue Clark production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in November 2015.
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b06pv1g6)
Frauds of the left, Siblings
'Frauds' of the Left: Laurie Taylor examines the intellectual credibility of key thinkers of the New Left. Roger Scruton, Visiting Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford, argues that the modern academy is gripped by a form of 'group think' which fails to challenge the positions of theorists such as Michel Foucault and Antonio Gramsci. Has left wing fashion trumped credible argument? They're joined by Mark Fisher, Lecturer in Visual Culture at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Also, the significance of siblings in constructing a sense of self. Katherine Davies, Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Sheffield, discusses a study which suggests that the stories people tell about their similarity, or difference, from siblings have a critical role in shaping past, present and future identities.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b06pv1g8)
CEO OF Virgin Media, President of AOL Content, Expert women
The president of AOL Content, which owns the Huffington Post, says the media industry is undergoing a 'revolutionary change'. In a speech at the Reuters Institute, Jimmy Maymann says it's because of a shift from 'destination' to 'distributed' media. This means that rather than actively visiting branded websites to choose content, users are consuming what's being offered to them, often via social media. Steve Hewlett talks to Jimmy Maymann about the impact of this shift, and Sarah Marshall, social media editor at the Wall Street Journal, gives her thoughts on what publishers need to do to respond to this change.
A new study by City University's Professor of Broadcasting claims that the news, far from reflecting society, 'distorts society'. In her latest work into the representation of women in the media, Lis Howell has found that while female expertise generally runs at a ratio of about 2.5 male experts to every female expert, in the news men outnumber women by around 3 to 1. Lis talks to Steve Hewlett about the findings, and about what broadcasters could be doing to improve the ratios.
Virgin Media provides TV, internet, mobile and fixed-line telephone services in the UK. The company's cable network delivers broadband to over half of all UK homes, and there's a current project to extend this to four million additional premises over the next five years. Tom Mockridge has been at the helm since June 2013, following the company's acquisition by Liberty Global, the world's largest international cable operator. Steve Hewlett talks to him about content, broadband, sports rights and retransmission fees.
Producer: Katy Takatsuki.
WED 17:00 PM (b06qbt36)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06ppshx)
The Chancellor, George Osborne, reverses position on working tax credits -- dropping controversial planned cuts.
WED 18:30 Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang-Ups (b06pxm45)
Series 3
The Madman in the Attic
With Tom's Dad advocating some rather drastic "rationalizing", Tom realises that it might be time for him to have a clear-out himself.
Sitcom where Tom Wrigglesworth phones home for his weekly check-in with his Mum, Dad and Gran, giving us a glimpse into his family background and the influences that have shaped his temperament, opinions and hang-ups.
Tom ...... Tom Wrigglesworth
Dad ...... Paul Copley
Mum ...... Kate Anthony
Granny ...... Elizabeth Bennett
Written by Tom Wrigglesworth and James Kettle. With Miles Jupp.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Radio Comedy production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in November 2015.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b06pxm47)
Phoebe's thrilled to get a letter revealing she has an interview for Oxford. She encourages Jennifer, who's nervous about having her photo taken for the Calendar Girls calendar - Jenny agrees that if you've still got it why not show it off!
Restless Will's up in the middle of the night, having had anxiety dreams about today's shoot. However, it goes well and Justin Elliot's very impressed. This, plus the good news that Mia will be playing Mary in the nativity, can't distract Will from his sadness that his family faces eviction. Jennifer sympathises as the Grundys have been asked to leave Grey Gables asap.
Rob's delighted to be invited to the shoot and Jennifer's in her element serving food to Justin and his cronies. Rob impressed Justin with his shooting. Rob gets chatting to Jennifer who intrigues him with a comment about Adam and Ian. When he asks, Jennifer hints that there was a moment when she doubted their relationship, but she stops herself saying any more.
Justin asks Brian for his opinion on Charlie, who Justin thinks hasn't been a great manager at Berrow Farm - it was such a shame that Rob walked out. He's a real loss. Just wants to find out what happened between Charlie and Rob. Brian suggests that Justin needs to ask Rob if he wants the truth.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b06qbt38)
Black Mass, The Homecoming at 50, Peter Bazalgette on arts funding, Paul Ruddock
Johnny Depp stars in Black Mass as James "Whitey" Bulger, the infamous Irish-American mobster turned FBI informant. Michael Carlson reviews.
Harold Pinter's great drama of familial power struggles, 'The Homecoming' was first staged half a century ago. As a new production opens, John Wilson talks to its director, Jamie Lloyd, to John Simm, who plays Lennie, and Pinter's biographer, Michael Billington, who, as well as the new one, saw the original production.
Following the Chancellor's Autumn Statement on Government spending plans, Arts Council England chair Peter Bazalgette looks at the bottom line and the future. And Front Row asks key cultural philanthropists about the part they play in funding artistic endeavour. At a time when public spending on the Arts is squeezed, can, and should, money from the private sector bridge the gap? Philanthropist Paul Ruddock on having one's name above the door.
Presenter: John Wilson
Producer: Elaine Lester.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b06ptzry)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:41 today]
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b06pxm49)
Just War and Syria
The Prime Minister, David Cameron, will make his case for bombing ISIL in Syria this week. Some commentators are predicting that, if parliament votes in favour, the raids could start as early as next week. This will mean our going into a coalition not only with France and America but also with Russia - a country that has been a long-standing ally of the Syrian leader President Assad, the man whom we wanted to bomb only two years ago. The adage "my enemy's enemy is my friend" dates back at least to the 4th century BC. It might be harsh to say that we're basing our foreign policy on an ancient proverb from a Sanskrit treatise on statecraft, but it's hard to avoid the parallels. Is it, though, a moral justification for going to war? On the Moral Maze this week we discuss what is meant by the phrase "just war" and the morality of pacifism. Has the pacifist case been heard enough? Chaired by Michael Buerk with Claire Fox, Giles Fraser, Michael Portillo and Melanie Phillips. Witnesses are Dr Alexander Moseley, Richard Norman, Helen Drewery and Richard Streatfield.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b06pxm4c)
Stories of Terrorism
Benedict Wilkinson challenges how we think about terrorism and uses stories of two very different terrorists to make the case for a different approach.
Benedict is a senior research fellow at the Policy Institute at King's College, London, and researches the strategies of different terrorist groups. He argues that terrorists' embrace of violence always comes from a position of weakness, and that it frequently fails to achieve their own political objectives.
As a result, he argues that the way in which we confront terrorists needs serious reconsideration.
Producer: Katie Langton.
WED 21:00 Too Old to Be a Genius (b06pxm4f)
Jim Al-Khalili is old. Well, not that old. He's 53. But when you consider that the average age to win a Nobel Prize in physics is 55, he hasn't got long to make his big discovery.
Albert Einstein said a person who's not made their great contribution to science before the age of 30 will never do so.
So is there a link between scientists' age and their ability to make great breakthroughs? Jim calls together his colleagues at the University of Surrey to form a senior scientists support group and to try and find an answer.
Jim talks to Nobel Prize winning researchers, including Harry Kroto and Roald Hoffman, as well as other innovators who made great leaps forward at a young age. He learns what fuelled their early success and whether they could do the same today.
Producer: Kate Lamble
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 21:30 Midweek (b06ptzrt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b06qbt3b)
U-turn on tax credit cuts
Chancellor's statement; US blames Kunduz on "human error"; Alexei Sayle on Little Red Book.
WED 22:45 The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains (b06pxm4h)
Episode 3
The reaver realises the dwarf is not all that he seems.
Chilling revenge for a terrible crime is at the heart of Neil Gaiman's multi-award-winning novelette, inspired by a Hebridean myth and originally commissioned by Sydney Opera House for the Graphic Festival with celebrated illustrator Eddie Campbell.
Reader: Bill Paterson
Writer: Neil Gaiman
Abridged and produced by Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in November 2015.
WED 23:00 Little Lifetimes by Jenny Eclair (b06pxm4k)
Series 2
Christine Paints
by Jenny Eclair
Christine ..... Rosie Cavaliero
When Christine and Tony move to the country so Tony can write. Christine takes up watercolours and soon finds inspiration can be found in the most unexpected places and with surprising consequences.
Producer, Sally Avens
WED 23:15 Warhorses of Letters (b03srddp)
Series 3
Episode 4
The last in the series of the epistolary equine love story starring Stephen Fry as Napoleon's horse Marengo and Daniel Rigby as the Duke of Wellington's mount Copenhagen, with an introduction by Tamsin Greig.
Old age has come to our horses, and Marengo is sick. Copenhagen is determined that he and his true love will be truly together just once before Marengo quits this earthly life for a new paddock in the sky.
In perhaps the most moving exchange of letters ever sent by one horse to another the final act of this tragic love story unfolds.
Written by Robbie Hudson and Marie Phillips
Produced by Gareth Edwards.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b06pxm4m)
Sean Curran reports from Westminster.
THURSDAY 26 NOVEMBER 2015
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b06ppsjr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b06ptzrw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06ppsjt)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06ppsjw)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06ppsjy)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b06ppsk0)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b06qsksk)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with author Rebecca Manley Pippert.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b06pz24w)
Milk: A Fair Price for Farmers?
Farming Today is spending the week on a dairy farm in Gloucestershire to find out about the dairy industry, from cow to bottle. Charlotte Smith is with Andrew Cozens who farms 220 cattle. Today we ask whether farmers are getting a fair price for their milk, following a parliamentary investigation into farmgate prices. The producer is Emma Campbell.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04mlpfd)
Wild Turkey
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Chris Packham presents the wild turkey of North American woodlands. We are so used to seeing mass-produced captive turkeys (the centrepiece for many a Thanksgiving meal in the United States and Canada) that the sight and sound of a displaying male wild turkey is a real surprise. With his tail fanned and red wattles a-quiver; he struts-his-stuff in a woodland clearing to win the favours of the less flamboyant hens. There are now around 7 million wild turkeys in the USA. But it wasn't always so. Wild turkeys were nearly wiped out in many states by over-shooting and woodland clearance. Their numbers fell from tens of millions in pre-Columbus days, to about thirty thousand by the last Century. Land which had been previously cleared for farming was allowed to return to woodland. Wild turkeys were released back into areas where they'd been wiped out. This along with hunting controls and behavioural research allowed their numbers to increase and their spectacular displays are once again a common sight in many areas of the USA.
THU 06:00 Today (b06pz24y)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b06pxp2z)
The Salem Witch Trials
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the outbreak of witch trials in Massachusetts in 1692-3, centred on Salem, which led to the execution of twenty people, with more dying in prison before or after trial. Some were men, including Giles Corey who died after being pressed with heavy rocks, but the majority were women. At its peak, around 150 people were suspected of witchcraft, including the wife of the governor who had established the trials. Many of the claims of witchcraft arose from personal rivalries in an area known for unrest, but were examined and upheld by the courts at a time of mass hysteria, belief in the devil, fear of attack by Native Americans and religious divisions.
With
Susan Castillo-Street
Harriet Beecher Stowe Professor Emerita of American Studies at King's College London
Simon Middleton
Senior Lecturer in American History at the University of Sheffield
And
Marion Gibson
Professor of Renaissance and Magical Literatures at Exeter University, Penryn Campus.
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b06pxp31)
Living on Paper - Letters from Iris Murdoch 1934-1995
Episode 4
For 30 years, the French writer Raymond Queneau and Iris Murdoch exchanged letters. The Frenchman was her muse and, in Murdoch's chaotic private life, perhaps the one constant.
Iris Murdoch was born in Dublin in 1919 to Hughes and Rene Murdoch. While still a baby the family moved to west London. In 1938, Murdoch won a place at Somerville College, Oxford, where she read classics. After gaining her first-class degree, wartime work in the Treasury ensued before, in 1944, she joined the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and was posted to Belgium and Austria, where she worked helping those displaced by the war.
Murdoch left UNRRA in 1946 and, after a year's postgraduate studies at Newnham College, Cambridge, was appointed as a philosophy tutor at At Anne's College, Oxford. In 1954, while still at St Anne's, Murdoch debut novel Under The Net was published.
In a writing career that spanned over 40 years, Murdoch published 26 novels, five books on philosophy, six plays and two books of poetry. Her novel The Sea, The Sea won the 1978 Booker Prize and, in 1987, she was made a Dame. She remains one of the most celebrated British novelists of the 20th century.
The music used on this programme is Near Light by Ólafur Arnalds
Living On Paper: Letters From Iris Murdoch 1935-1995
Editors: Avril Horner and Anne Rowe
Readers: Imogen Stubbs and Nigel Anthony
Abridger: Pete Nichols
Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06pz2m8)
Black hair styling, How the autumn statement will affect women
Weave, cornrows, dreads, braids, natural. As part of our series looking at appearance, we talk to a group of black women about their hair.
If money were no object, how far would you go in the quest for beauty? Barrister Charlotte Proudman and agony aunt Virginia Ironside discuss their 'personal beauty bar', and why they think women should or shouldn't have cosmetic treatments.
The Chancellor's autumn statement: what impact will it have on the lives of women and low income families? We speak to Polly Trenow of The Women's Budget Group, and to Laura Gardiner, Senior Policy Analyst at the Resolution Foundation.
And as the Royal Shakespeare Company stages a new play about Queen Anne, we talk to the play's writer, Helen Edmundson.
Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Emma Wallace
Interviewed guest: Charlotte Proudman
Interviewed guest: Virginia Ironside
Interviewed guest: Polly Trenow
Interviewed guest: Laura Gardiner
Interviewed guest: Helen Edmundson
Reporter: Ena Miller.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b06pxp33)
Welcome to Zaatari
Episode 4
Two ambitious young women in Jordan are living very different lives.
Reem's Syrian family have fled to the sprawling Zaatari Refugee Camp. Jordanian Yara lives in the capital Amman, but is just starting as an aid worker at the camp.
As Reem's brothers struggle to survive - in the camp itself, working illegally in Amman, under fire in Syria, or en route to Germany - both families' destinies will collide. And both will face impossible choices about their future.
4/5 Yara wants to talk marriage. Reem doesn't.
Welcome to Zaatari is adapted by Liz Rigbey from 'We Are All Refugees', an Arabic audio drama about Syrian refugees in Jordan, which was produced by William Stirling, Charlotte Eagar and Georgina Paget for Refuge Drama Productions, in conjunction with Radio SouriaLi and the UNHCR. It was written by Wael Qadour, Majd Hijjawi and Ahmad Ameen, and translated by Wael Qadour and Majd Hijjawi.
The theme music for Welcome to Zaatari is 'El Mokhtalifeen', the new single from Jordanian group El Morabba3 (elmorabba3.com).
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b06pxp35)
Greece: No Place to Die
They say you can't take it with you but if you live in Greece how much money you have at the end of your life makes a big difference. Permanent plots in the country's packed cemeteries can cost as much as a small flat so most graves are rented for a three year period and once that time is up the dead are exhumed and their bones collapsed into a small box to be kept at the cemetery. Those relatives who can't afford the cost of the exhumation or the storage charge for the box of bones will have their loved one's remains thrown in a so called 'digestion' pit with countless others' where they are dissolved with chemicals. In the current economic climate and with continued capital controls, Greeks are struggling to pay for the burial costs and unclaimed bodies are piling up at mortuaries. But there are few cost effective alternatives because Greece happens to be one of the few EU countries without a crematorium - each time plans have been made to build one it has been blocked by the Greek Orthodox Church. Instead Greeks are forced to send their relatives' bodies to Bulgaria for cremation. For Crossing Continents, Chloe Hadjimatheou reports on the business of dying in Greece.
Producer: David Edmonds.
THU 11:30 Writing a New Nigeria (b06pxp37)
Suffering and Smiling
A portrait of Nigeria, seen through the eyes of a new generation of writers and poets.
In the first of two programmes spoken word poet Wana Udobang introduces us to Lagos: her home city, a megacity, an economic powerhouse and, according to its resident writers, the craziest, most congested, most entrepreneurial, hustling, joyful, energetic and creative space in Africa. Fela Kuti captured the essence of Lagos in his song Shuffering and Shmiling'.
As she travels around Lagos, Wana considers how writers are reflecting the issues and concerns of contemporary Nigeria. When Boko Haram kidnapped 270 schoolgirls from Chibok in northern Nigeria April 2014, poet Titilope Sonuga responded with 'Hide and Seek', which captured the country's shock and outrage. But the poem also asked the nation to take a long, hard look at itself, asking how it created the conditions which led to the kidnapping.
Another issue for which Nigeria has achieved notoriety are 419 scams. These were originally e-mails from fraudsters who inveigled their victims into parting with their banks details but now '419' has become shorthand for any fraud in Nigeria. Writer Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani explains how 419 scams became the subject of her humorous first novel 'I Do Not Come to You by Chance'.
In Balogun Market in the heart of Lagos, Wana Udobang considers how Nigerians navigate by language, slipping in an out of character, dialect and language according to the circumstances. And this flexibility is reflected in poetry too. Efe Paul Azino and Dike-Ogu Chukwumerije consider the role of poets in holding politicians and society to account.
Wana meets two writers who, in different ways, explore Lagos in their work. Toni Kan's first memory of visiting the city was of seeing a corpse by his front gate. Now, he says, he couldn't live anywhere else and it's the setting for his latest novel, 'Carnivorous City'. Meanwhile, at Yaba Neuropsychiatric Hospital Wana meets doctor and poet Dami Ajayi. In his day-to-day work he works with people who've become casualties of the city's fevered, frenetic pace and, in his poetry he reflects on those whose minds have become fractured by life in Lagos.
'Writing a New Nigeria' is produced in partnership with the British Council as part of UK/Nigeria 2015-16
Producer: Jeremy Grange.
THU 12:00 News Summary (b06ppsk2)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 Self Drives: Maxwell's Equations (b06pxp39)
Maxwell in Space
Will Self continues his 600 mile road trip on the trail of much neglected Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell who 150 years ago pioneered the theory of the electromagnetic waves which made mobile phones, radio, radar and GPS possible.
In a bid to feel the wonder of Maxwell's work and legacy, Will is driving from Edinburgh to London in an electric car, accompanied by Akram Khan, professor of particle physics at Brunel University.
Following a clash of views about the value of scientific progress, Will & Akram drive to Jodrell Bank Observatory in a bid to understand more about the application of Maxwell's equations.
Producer: Laurence Grissell.
THU 12:15 You and Yours (b06pz2mb)
VW latest, Cycling safety, Christmas preparation pressure
A report on the latest calls for VW to pay compensation over the emissions scandal. Efforts to get unsafe truckers off the roads faster if they've been involved in an accident with a cyclist. Heston Blumenthal on how best to deal with the pressures of Christmas.
Producer: Mike Young
Presenter: Winifred Robinson.
THU 12:57 Weather (b06ppsk4)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b06pz2md)
David Cameron has laid out to parliament his case for mounting air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria....but the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn warned that intervention could have "unintended consequences". What impact will the debate have on sceptics on both sides of the house? We hear from the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Net migration to the UK has risen to a new high of 336 thousand - we hear why. And as wato@50 celebrates the best in Britain, we find out why UK special effects are world class.
THU 13:45 His Master's Voices (b06r3q5t)
The Theatre/EMI Archive
Singer Cerys Matthews and music expert Tristram Penna continue their investigation into the very earliest days of the recording industry in the UK.
Tristram with Christopher Proudfoot, CLPGS chairman, visits the EMI Archive Trust in Hayes, which houses Fred Gaisberg's own collection of over 14,000 7 inch discs dating from 1898 as well as an amazing collection of early gramophones.
Cerys and Tristram visit Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End where they meet actor Kenneth Cranham. Charles Wyndham was a famous actor/impresario who built this theatre in 1899 and a disc of Wyndham's voice reciting a poem recorded in December 1898 is played on the stage - probably the first time his voice has been heard there for over 100 years. This disc has not been previously broadcast.
As an actor himself, Wyndham had this theatre built to his own specifications so the acoustics are incredibly good - and even today actors require no amplification.
The recording process of the Gramophone Company back in 1898 had certain technological limitations and so they needed the right voices to put on disc, and famous actors of the day were an obvious choice. The people with Gramophones in their own home would be incredibly proud to have the latest speech from actors like Charles Wyndham to impress their peers. For those less fortunate who couldn't afford a Gramophone in their own home, there were Gramophone evenings in theatres across the country where they could go along and pay a shilling or so and hear the latest speeches.
It was also at this point the Victorians realised that recording famous people of the day would be good for their future legacy. The early recordings are courtesy of the EMI Archive Trust.
A Sue Clark production for BBC Radio 4.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2015.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b06pxm47)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola (b06pxt3y)
Season 1 - Blood
Art
Art by Martin Jameson
Glenda Jackson stars as Dide, 104 years old, and the matriarch to a family of wolves.
Dide secretly set aside money to support her great-grandson, Claude Lantier, in his pursuit of becoming a great artist. She's hopeful that the bad blood in the family line won't taint his talent. Claude, as one of the pioneers of impressionist art, is determined to paint the truth around him, contrary to popular fashion. At the same time he's desperate to be accepted by the national salon, but when this happens, it's devastating. Continues in Masterpiece.
Dide ...... Glenda Jackson
Claude ..... Bryan Dick
Christine ..... Georgina Campbell
Pierre ..... Richard Hand
Fagerolles ..... Stephen Fletcher
Bongrand ..... David Fleeshman
Produced and directed by Pauline Harris
Further Info:
Georgina Campbell won a BAFTA for Leading Actress for her role in Murdered by My Boyfriend for BBC 3.
Art and the next episode, Masterpiece, are a re-versioning of Emile Zola's His Masterpiece, and a fictional account of Zola's friendship with several artists of the period, including Manet, Monet and Cézanne. The novel is an accurate and vivid portrayal of the Parisian art world in the mid 19th century. Pierre, in the story, is widely acknowledged to be Zola himself.
First season of 24 hours of dramas inspired by the works of literature's greatest whistleblower - Emile Zola.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b06pxt40)
Pendle Hill, Lancashire
Why do witches and radical pacifists haunt Pendle Hill, one of Lancashire's best known landmarks? Helen Mark hears about the witch trials of 400 years ago, and the visionary Quaker founder, George Fox - all of whom are indelibly linked to this strikingly whale-backed hill.
Producer: Mark Smalley.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b06psb52)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (b06psfz8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b06pxt42)
Todd Haynes on Carol; Jonathan Glazer, Carol Morley and Clio Barnard; Listen to Me Marlon
With Francine Stock.
Director Todd Haynes discusses Carol, his Patricia Highsmith adaptation starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara as clandestine lovers in 1950s New York.
Writer/directors Jonathan Glazer and Clio Barnard discuss the fusion of science and cinema and the Wellcome Trust Screenwriting Fellowship with the new fellow, whose identity was revealed in a ceremony on Wednesday evening.
Marlon Brando recorded hundreds of hours of audio tape of his innermost thoughts, which make up a new documentary, Listen To Me Marlon. Director Stevan Riley, his co-writer Peter Ettedgui and critic Antonia Quirke discuss what the film reveals about his mercurial character.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b06pxt44)
Ancient farmers' genomes, Alice at Cern, Astrophysics questions
Ancient farmers' genomes
New research looking at the DNA of people who lived in Europe as early as 8500 years ago shows signs of evolution, of natural selection, and of how farming has changed Europe in the last few millennia. The huge sample of 230 ancient individuals includes 26 Neolithic people from Anatolia thought to be the very first farmers.
Cern's ALICE Experiment
Adam visits CERN in Geneva, to see ALICE (A Large Ion Collision Experiment). ALICE is designed to investigate one of the four fundamental forces in the Universe. The strong nuclear force is the most powerful, but only over a very short distance. It is what holds quarks together, and quarks stuck together in the right conformation make neutrons and protons. Protons and neutrons stuck together plus electrons make up atoms, which is what everything is made of.
Listeners Questions on Astrophysics
Space physicists, Dr. Carole Haswell from the Open University and Dr Andrew Pontzen from UCL answer your questions about the force of gravity, the size of stars, the volume of matter and more.
Producer: Fiona Roberts.
THU 17:00 PM (b06pz2mg)
PM at
5pm - Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06ppsk6)
The Prime Minister has told MPs that UK air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria would make Britain safer.
THU 18:30 Alex Horne Presents The Horne Section (b01rl1y3)
Series 2
With Matt Lucas and Liane Carroll
Comedy show hosted by Alex Horne and his five piece band and specially written, original music.
This episode explores the theme of the Four Seasons.
Guest starring Matt Lucas who performs some songs with the band - and jazz singer Liane Carroll who Alex conducts with the aid of a ping pong ball.
Alex's Horne Section are:
Trumpet/banjo .... Joe Auckland
Saxophone/clarinet ....Mark Brown
Double Bass/Bass .... Will Collier
Drums and Percussion .... Ben Reynolds
Piano/keyboard .... Ed Sheldrake
Producer: Julia McKenzie.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2013.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b06pxt46)
Helen seems nervous on the day of the new Bridge Farm shop's grand opening, although she is rather excited. She assures Rob she's fine as he reminds her of how to stay calm and points out that they can't have her getting stressed - he gets Pat to watch over her. Rob's miffed with Harrison and Fallon moving their bits and pieces into the café area - today of all days. It's junk, in his eyes, not fitting with his contemporary vision, although Pat points out they have lots of interesting items. Pat's full of praise for Rob, who has been tapped up for a meeting at the company Helen suggested for him. Helen speaks at the gathering and then Rob surprises her with a speech of his own, raising a toast to Helen Titchener.
Joe's disappointed at the number of turkeys they've sold - and worried about their lack of facilities for preparing them. During a very emotional conversation, Clarrie and Eddie break it to Joe that there won't be room for him to join them in the flat they're moving into - he'll need to go into a home over Christmas. Clarrie tries to reassure Joe he'll be ok and get a decent dinner. Joe sadly accepts the situation.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b06pxt48)
William Hill Sports Book of the Year, Simon Callow, Michael Oglesby
Simon Callow discusses Orson Welles: One Man Band, the third volume in his exploration of the life and work of one of cinema's greatest mavericks.
This week Front Row talks to leading arts philanthropists; today to Michael Oglesby, founder of the Bruntwood Group.
A survivor's account of the Bradford stadium fire, and a controversial boxing match that left one fighter dead are the subjects of two of the six books on this year's William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award. Samira hears from all the shortlisted authors at the awards ceremony, and reveals the winner of the 2015 prize.
Shortlisted books:
Speed Kings by Andy Bull
Living on the Volcano: The Secrets of Surviving as a Football Manager by Michael Calvin
Fifty-Six: The Story of the Bradford Fire by Martin Fletcher
The Game of Our Lives: The Meaning and Making of English Football by David Goldblatt
Fire in Babylon: How a West Indies Cricket Team Brought a People to its Feet by Simon Lister
A Man's World: The Double Life of Emile Griffith by Donald McRae
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Rebecca Armstrong.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b06pxp33)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 Law in Action (b06ptylt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Tuesday]
THU 20:30 In Business (b06pxt4c)
Can Internet Shopping Transform Rural China?
In some areas of rural China, traditional farming communities are transforming into something very 21st Century: internet shopping hubs.
Leading the way is the village of Qing Yan Liu where, four hours south of Shanghai, local residents have created a world of bubble wrap and sticky tape.
In the eyes of the Chinese Premier Xi Jinping this could be the future of rural China. He hopes that more and more small communities will copy what's happened in Qing Yan Liu - now dubbed 'China's No. 1 E-Commerce village'. It's hoped this will halt the flow of young people from rural China to the nation's cities, as they go in search of employment.
Turning more small towns and villages into online shopping hubs would provide much needed jobs, and a reason for young people to stay at home, ensuring communities continue to survive rather than disappear.
Producer: Charlotte Pritchard.
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b06pxt44)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b06pxp2z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b06pz2mj)
Syria strikes: Cameron sets out plan
Is Labour divided on Syria? And reaction from Damascus.
THU 22:45 The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains (b06pxt4f)
Episode 4
The dwarf and the reaver reach the cave, where something is waiting.
Chilling revenge for a terrible crime is at the heart of Neil Gaiman's multi-award-winning novelette, inspired by a Hebridean myth and originally commissioned by Sydney Opera House for the Graphic Festival with celebrated illustrator Eddie Campbell.
Reader: Bill Paterson
Writer: Neil Gaiman
Abridged and produced by Karen Rose.
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in November 2015.
THU 23:00 Jon Ronson On (b01rr7zq)
Series 7
Brainstorming
Brainstorming.
Writer and documentary maker Jon Ronson returns for the second episode of his latest series of fascinating stories shedding light on the human condition.
In this programme, he looks at brainstorming and asks whether it really works.
He travels to Latvia to investigate the story of how media PR agency Inspired came up with a bizarre idea after a mobile phone company asked them for a concept to advertise their new tariff. Their brief was that it had to have a superhero theme. The agency decided then to fake a meteorite landing in a field outside Riga by digging a giant hole in the middle of the night and setting fire to it.
Jon finds out what happened when the stunt backfired.
He also speaks to the author Susan Cain who says forty years of research into brainstorming in groups has shown it doesn't work.
And Jon considers other brainstormed ideas that have gone wrong - such as the decision by the American restaurant chain Hooters, known for its young waitresses dressed in revealing outfits,
to go into the airline business.
Finally Jon asks whether we should listen more to quiet, thoughtful introverts who say little in brainstorming meetings, rather than the extroverts who shout loudest?
Producer: Lucy Greenwell
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b06pxt4h)
Susan Hulme and team report from Westminster as David Cameron makes the case for UK air strikes in Syria. Also in the programme: calls in the Lords for the introduction of national identity cards; MPs debate airport expansion; and why a Cabinet Minister was asked to give up her salary for the rest of the year. Editor: Rachel Byrne.
FRIDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2015
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b06ppsl4)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b06pxp31)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06ppsl6)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06ppsl8)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06ppslb)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b06ppsld)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b06qskv4)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with author Rebecca Manley Pippert.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b06pz1yl)
Dairy Farming: Biosecurity and Diversification
Charlotte Smith is at a farm in Gloucestershire where Farming Today has spent the week learning all about the dairy industry. Today Sally Challoner has been to a neighbouring farm where they've made the decision to add value to the milk they produce by making it into cheese, cream and butter.
And we hear what measures our host farmer Andrew Cozens has in place to try to prevent his herd falling prey to bovine TB.
The producer on farm is Emma Campbell.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04mlvz1)
Madagascar Harrier-hawk
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Chris Packham presents the Madagascan Harrier-hawk from Madagascar. Among the branches of a Madagascan forest, there's a flutter of wings and a flash of double-jointed feet. The Madagascan harrier-hawk is a striking bird, uniform grey above and finely-barred beneath with black wing-tips and a white-banded black tail. There's a patch of sulphurous skin around its bill and eyes: and its long legs are also bright yellow. Those long legs help the harrier-hawk hunt for food that's beyond the reach of most other birds of prey. Using its wings for balance and twisting its flexibly-jointed legs at seemingly impossible angles, the harrier-hawk inserts its talons into tiny holes, relying on its sense of touch to locate its prey. Madagascar harrier-hawks do hunt more conventionally by gliding over the forest, seizing small birds, reptiles and mammals such as the Verreaux's sifaka.
FRI 06:00 Today (b06pz1yn)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b06psb58)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b06pxysp)
Living on Paper - Letters from Iris Murdoch 1934-1995
Episode 5
Iris Murdoch and Brigid Brophy had an intimate friendship for many years, but Murdoch's letters reveal how volatile the relationship could be.
Iris Murdoch was born in Dublin in 1919 to Hughes and Rene Murdoch. While still a baby the family moved to west London. In 1938, Murdoch won a place at Somerville College, Oxford, where she read classics. After gaining her first-class degree, wartime work in the Treasury ensued before, in 1944, she joined the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and was posted to Belgium and Austria, where she worked helping those displaced by the war.
Murdoch left UNRRA in 1946 and, after a year's postgraduate studies at Newnham College, Cambridge, was appointed as a philosophy tutor at At Anne's College, Oxford. In 1954, while still at St Anne's, Murdoch debut novel Under The Net was published.
In a writing career that spanned over 40 years, Murdoch published 26 novels, five books on philosophy, six plays and two books of poetry. Her novel The Sea, The Sea won the 1978 Booker Prize and, in 1987, she was made a Dame. She remains one of the most celebrated British novelists of the 20th century.
The music used on this programme is Near Light by Ólafur Arnalds
Living On Paper: Letters From Iris Murdoch 1935-1995
Editors: Avril Horner and Anne Rowe
Readers: Imogen Stubbs and Nigel Anthony
Abridger: Pete Nichols
Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06pz1yq)
The Singh twins, Rosa Parks, Breast reconstruction
The 'past modern' artwork of The Singh Twins - Amrit and Rabindra Singh, identical sisters who are two of Britain's leading contemporary artists, but who prefer to be referred to as one. Their work is currently on display at the Tate Britain as part of the Artist and Empire exhibition.
Civil Rights Movement - It is 60 years since African American Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in the black section of a bus to a white man. Why aren't more of the women who played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement well known? Crystal Sanders, assistant professor in history and African American studies at Penn State University joins Jenni.
Breast Reconstruction - What happens when your appearance changes permanently because of breast cancer treatment? Sarah Jones, a Maxillofacial Prosthetist at Charing Cross Hospital creates artificial silicone nipples for women who have had a mastectomy. Joanna Franks is a Consultant Breast and Oncoplastic Surgeon at University College Hospital in London. Judith Sanitt chose to have breast reconstruction and Gilly Cant decided against it.
Listener Week - Woman's Hour prepares for a whole week of programmes dedicated to listeners. Last year we heard from a woman struggling in her marriage because of her partner's addiction to pornography, a builder embarrassed to admit at work that he's a feminist and a teenager hoping to encourage a more positive attitude to looks on the internet. Who will join the programme in 2015?
Presenter Jenni Murray.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b06pxysr)
Welcome to Zaatari
Episode 5
Two ambitious young women in Jordan are living very different lives.
Reem's Syrian family have fled to the sprawling Zaatari Refugee Camp. Jordanian Yara lives in the capital Amman, but is just starting as an aid worker at the camp.
As Reem's brothers struggle to survive - in the camp itself, working illegally in Amman, under fire in Syria, or en route to Germany - both families' destinies will collide. And both will face impossible choices about their future.
5/5 Imad crossed the water two days ago. There is still no news.
Welcome to Zaatari is adapted by Liz Rigbey from 'We Are All Refugees', an Arabic audio drama about Syrian refugees in Jordan, which was produced by William Stirling, Charlotte Eagar and Georgina Paget for Refuge Drama Productions, in conjunction with Radio SouriaLi and the UNHCR. It was written by Wael Qadour, Majd Hijjawi and Ahmad Ameen, and translated by Wael Qadour and Majd Hijjawi.
The theme music for Welcome to Zaatari is 'El Mokhtalifeen', the new single from Jordanian group El Morabba3 (elmorabba3.com).
FRI 11:00 Lives in a Landscape (b06pxysw)
Series 21
RIP
Alan Dein travels to Nottingham to meet with the 4th & 5th generations of a family firm of Funeral Directors (with a 6th generation already on the horizon). When furniture maker and dealer Arthur William Lymn started 'undertaking' funerals with his son Harold Percy in 1907, their first premises were on Goosegate - next door to a man selling potions and lotions. Although Arthur and Harold could not match the subsequent success of their next-door-neighbours, the Boots Pure Drug Company Ltd, AW Lymn did have to move to larger premises in 1915. And in the hundred years since they have continued to grow, now operating out of 25 offices, employing 110 staff and conducting 3,500 funeral every year.
Last year a brain tumour forced Harold's grandson, Nigel Lymn Rose to hand over the reins of the company to his son Matthew while he underwent brain surgery and recuperated. This summer, fully recovered and back at work, this temporary arrangement was made permanent. As Matthew and Nigel work out the parameters of their new roles within the company (alongside Matthew's aunt, Jackie, and sister Chloe - all also involved in the family firm), Alan Dein goes behind the scenes with them to discover what goes on beyond the formal funeral attire of top hats and tails and Roll Royce hearses. With them he visits the hospital morgue to pick up recently deceased 'patients', enters the world of the firm's embalmers and observes them in the chapels of rest - to find out what it's like to deal with death on a daily basis.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
FRI 11:30 Michael Frayn's Matchbox Theatre (b06pxyt0)
Episode 1
Michael Frayn: the most comic philosophical writer of our time.
An all-star cast has great fun with Frayn's hilarious view of us all. And of how we attempt to communicate.
In this opening episode, we hear Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam as stone effigies in a cathedral talking to each other like an old married couple. (Well, they've been together several hundred years. Nothing much changes.)
Then there's the younger couples - Charles Edwards and Sophie Winkleman bickering over who should finish who's sentences, and Lisa Dillon and Alex Jennings on the irritations that occur when discussing an apparently simple decision - whether or not to accept a kind invitation.
Martin Jarvis has trouble with a rarefied type of cold-calling - how to tell someone they've won a Nobel Prize. And we have an excerpt from a documentary on a species of creature that scurries and scuttles in the darkness. The wild life narrator sounds suspiciously like Sir David Attenborough. (It is.)
This series is Theatre in miniature. Short entertainments based on Frayn's acclaimed book, Matchbox Theatre. It’s the theatre of your imagination. Set design, ice-cream sales, packet of nuts, where to sit - it's up to you. Just sit back and enjoy.
With
Charles Edwards
Sophie Winkleman
Joanna Lumley
Roger Allam,
Lisa Dillon
Alex Jennings
David Attenborough
Martin Jarvis
Producer: Rosalind Ayres
Director: Martin Jarvis
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in November 2015.
FRI 12:00 News Summary (b06ppslg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 Self Drives: Maxwell's Equations (b06pxyt2)
Maxwell's Genius
Will Self concludes his 600 mile road trip on the trail of much neglected Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell who 150 years ago pioneered the theory of the electromagnetic waves which made mobile phones, radio, radar and GPS possible.
In a bid to feel the wonder of Maxwell's work and legacy, Will is driving from Edinburgh to London in an electric car, accompanied by Akram Khan, professor of particle physics at Brunel University.
Will ends his journey in Cambridge posing the question: was Maxwell really a genius?
Producer: Laurence Grissell.
FRI 12:15 You and Yours (b06pz1ys)
Black Friday, Christmas garden centres, Energy orchestra
It's Black Friday today and retailers are slashing prices and offering big deals. The idea was imported from America, but shoppers there are growing tired of the discounting.
EU Delay - a company that will get compensation from your airline if your flight is delayed has been holding consumers' money. The director tells us why he's not paying up.
We visit the garden centres competing to be crowned the best Christmas destination.
There's been a surge in criminals cold-calling, pretending to be from major companies and then trying to take over people's home computers. One You & Yours listener who's an expert in IT recorded one of the fraudsters in action and explains how the scam works.
There's a boom in craft beer and Hogs Back brewery in Surrey is now selling its bottles through the discount supermarket Lidl. We speak to the Managing Director Rupert Thompson.
And, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra plays a requiem on instruments made out of old gas and electricity meters.
Producer: Lydia Thomas
Presenter: Peter White.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b06ppslj)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b06pz1yv)
News with Mark Mardell. Including Paris attack victims remembered, Labour Party disagreement on Syria, child abuse inquiry update and the Dhnie refugee family reach Hungary.
FRI 13:45 His Master's Voices (b06r3slv)
The First Superstars
Singer Cerys Matthews and music expert Tristram Penna conclude their investigation into the very earliest days of the recording industry in the UK.
1902 was the year that changed everything for the Gramophone Company and was the real starting point for the record industry of the 20th Century. Fred Gaisberg was on his way to Rome to record the Pope when he stopped in Milan to hear an acclaimed new tenor. His name was Caruso.
He wanted Caruso to record ten songs, but he asked for a payment of £100 - an exorbitant sum. The Company Chairman telegraphed back forbidding Gaisberg to go ahead, but Fred decided that this new tenor was too good to miss. The tenor voice was uniquely well suited to early disc recording machines and one of earliest records of Caruso was the first to sell over a million copies. The success of Caruso as a recording artist led directly to bookings at the New York Met and London's Covent Garden - the first time that being a recording artist had a major impact on a singer's career.
Another popular classical singer was Nellie Melba, the Queen of Song, who negotiated and popularised the idea of a royalty being paid to the artist for each disc sold.
Over the next few decades, recording innovations and the invention of the electric microphone meant that tenor and strident voices no longer held the upper hand, as singers of both sexes could purr and be heard.
We also hear from manager Simon Napier-Bell and music journalist Peter Doggett. The early recordings are courtesy of the EMI Archive Trust.
A Sue Clark production for BBC Radio 4.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2015.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b06pxt46)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola (b06pxyt8)
Season 1 - Blood
Masterpiece
Masterpiece by Martin Jameson
Glenda Jackson stars as Dide, 104 years old, the matriarch to a family of wolves. Only she had high hopes for Claude. Dide has invested her last bit of money in her great-grandson, hopeful that his talent as an artist will pull him out of the dregs of 'bad blood' that have cursed the family. Claude suffered a terrible humilation when his painting was exhibited in the National Salon gallery. He and Christine now have a son and he feels rejuvenated, but his obsession to create 'the' masterpiece wreaks havoc.
Dide ..... Glenda Jackson
Claude ..... Bryan Dick
Christine ..... Georgina Campbell
Young Jacques ..... Talia Barnett
Pierre ..... Richard Hand
Fagerolles ..... Stephen Fletcher
Bongrand ..... David Fleeshman
Jacques ..... William Ash
Produced and directed by Pauline Harris
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b06pxzdq)
Louth
Peter Gibbs hosts the horticultural panel programme from Louth in Lincolnshire
Matthew Wilson, Bunny Guinness and Bob Flowerdew are on the panel and answer questions about artificial grass, tree peonies, thyme, and winter flowers.
Also, Pippa Greenwood visits the legendary horticulturalist Roy Lancaster in his garden at home, and Bob Flowerdew comprehensively covers everything you need to know about potatoes.
Produced by Howard Shannon
Assistant Producer: Hannah Newton
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 e=mc2 (b06pxzdv)
Jo Baker - An End to Steady State Theory
Taking inspiration from Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, Jo Baker's story of a young physicist who clings to scientific rigour as the world he knows collapses and contracts.
Writer: Jo Baker
Read by Amir El-Masry.
Producer: Jenny Thompson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2015.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b06pz1yx)
Peter Dimmock, Alix d'Unienville, Yolanda Sonnabend, Maggie Eales and George Barris
Matthew Bannister on
TV pioneer Peter Dimmock. An accomplished presenter and also a BBC executive, he directed the coverage of the Queen's coronation in 1953.
Also SOE agent Alix d'Unienville. In the days before D Day she was parachuted into occupied France with a suitcase containing forty million francs.
Yolanda Sonnabend who designed some of the UK's best loved ballets
Maggie Eales who rose from the secretarial pool at ITN to become the company's Foreign Editor. Jon Snow pays tribute.
And George Barris who created some of the most exotic vehicles in TV and film, including the Batmobile, the Munsters' Koach and the intelligent car in Knight Rider.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (b06pz1yz)
Local Radio controversy, BBC World Service funding, New comedy double act The Pin
Roger Bolton airs audience views on BBC radio output, including a controversy in local radio, new funding for the World Service, and the fresh comedy duo The Pin.
Earlier this month, presenter Iain Lee hosted a controversial discussion about Christianity and LGBT rights on his BBC Three Counties radio breakfast show. The heated interviews divided listeners and Iain Lee has now left the station. Campaigns across social media, led by fans and LGBT rights groups, have since demanded Iain Lee's reinstatement, but to what extent should a BBC presenter be allowed to take sides in a debate?
The Government has announced that it will provide the BBC World Service with an additional £85 million a year, as part of the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review. In the review, the World Service is cited as a way to expand UK 'soft power' and will be required to spend the money expanding services in key global regions. While this additional funding is welcomed by many World Service listeners, others question whether the BBC is becoming an arm of British foreign policy.
After ten years on air, Radio 4's Lives in a Landscape is coming to an end. Roger Bolton speaks to the Presenter Alan Dein to look back a decade of remarkable stories told by seemingly everyday people.
And BBC Radio has been home to a long line of comedy double acts, from Morecambe and Wise to Mitchell and Webb. Following in that tradition is a new comedy duo called The Pin. Their debut Radio 4 series has just drawn to a close and was enjoyed by many listeners. Roger Bolton speaks to The Pin, aka Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen, to talk double acts and radio influences.
Producer: Katherine Godfrey
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b06pxzdx)
Sharon - Time to Let Go
Fi Glover introduces one side of a conversation: eleven years after the death of her ex-husband, Sharon tells him she now wants to move on and needs him to let her go. Another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. 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 learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
FRI 17:00 PM (b06pz1z1)
News interviews, context and analysis.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06ppsll)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Jeremy Corbyn comes under pressure over his opposition to air strikes in Syria.
FRI 18:30 The Now Show (b06pxzdz)
Series 47
Episode 3
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are joined by Jon Holmes, Mitch Benn, Sarah Kendall, Robert Peston and Gemma Arrowsmith for a comic look at the week's news.
Written by the cast with additional material from Jane Lamacraft, Sarah Morgan, Liam Beirne and Marc Jones.
Produced by Alexandra Smith.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b06py0lk)
Justin Elliot chats to Adam, looking over his Home Farm improvements. Whilst out in the fields, Justin walks in on a naked Lynda, who's with Jennifer and posing for the Calendar Girls calendar in a small barn - They'd been having an 'undress' rehearsal before Robert showed up with his camera. Of all the people, says Lynda - it had to be Justin Elliot! (her nemesis)
Usha pops round to say goodbye to Ruth, and helps her pack her things. David doesn't really know what to do with himself. After a final chat with Usha, Ruth finally heads off to New Zealand. As she goes, David tells Ruth to remember that he loves her. She says goodbye, leaving David feeling rather flat.
At the Hunt Ball, Justin gets Rob talking about Charlie - Rob's decent about Charlie, but mentions that he could be a bit autocratic and perhaps should have kept a more careful eye over the finances. Justin's grateful for Rob's frankness.
After a few drinks and a charm offensive from Rob, Jennifer lets slip to Rob that Adam had a fling with one of the fruit pickers. Rob swears he won't tell a soul before confidently having his go at the traditional horn blowing ritual.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b06pz1z3)
Richard Eyre on Ibsen, Ancient Greek drama and PTSD, Vivien Duffield
After two acclaimed Ibsen productions for the Almeida Theatre in London, Sir Richard Eyre discusses his new adaptation Ibsen's rarely-performed play, Little Eyolf, about a disintegrating marriage.
The Theatre of War is a project that is helping veterans of war in Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from PTSD. Creator Bryan Doerries and actor Jason Isaacs discuss how Ancient Greek drama - being performed by many Hollywood A-listers - is being used in the healing process.
In our series in which benefactors explain their reasons for funding the arts to the tune of many millions of pounds, Dame Vivien Duffield discusses her approach to donating substantial sums to a broad selection of cultural institutions.
Presenter Kirsty Lang
Producer Jerome Weatherald
(Main image: Richard Eyre in rehearsal for Little Eyolf. Credit: Hugo Glendinning).
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b06pxysr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b06py0lm)
David Gauke MP, Bronwen Maddox, John McDonnell MP, Simon Stevens
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from the Brooks Building at Manchester Metropolitan University with Financial Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke MP, the Editor of Prospect magazine Bronwen Maddox, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John McDonnell MP, and Simon Stevens the Chief Executive of NHS England.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b06py0lp)
From Pot to Profit
Sarah Dunant welcomes Canada's plans to fully legalise marijuana and sees the benefits of a booming cannabis products industry in the American states where it's already legal.
"It costs society too much, in all senses, to criminalise so many people - and disproportionately young black or Latino men - for doing something, which legalised could create jobs and help balance the budget."
Producer: Sheila Cook.
FRI 21:00 Drama (b06py0lr)
The Saudi Prince and the Pauper
A story about modern-day slavery that becomes a blow for British justice, by leading television dramatist Neil McKay.
On 20 October 2010, Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud, a grandson of the King of Saudi Arabia, was sentenced to 20 years for strangling and beating Bandar Abdulaziz to death. Bandar was his servant, his lover, his punch-bag and his slave.
The drama takes place in the police station and courtroom, with commentary by Omar, an anonymous Saudi blogger.
During his time in London, Prince al Saud indulged in a two-week hedonistic spree with Bandar in tow, during which they dined at the best restaurants, left £50 tips, drank champagne and cocktails, and entertained gay masseurs. At the end of the fortnight, on Valentine's Day, the prince murdered Bandar. He spent the next 12 hours on the phone to Saudi Arabia, working out how to cover up his crime. When the police arrived, he tried to claim diplomatic immunity.
Bandar died from heavy blows to his head and neck and with bite marks on his face and arms. The postmortem revealed internal injuries and scarring commensurate with long-term physical abuse. The jury took less than 90 minutes to find the prince guilty of murder and grievous bodily harm. The prince is the most senior member of the Saudi Royal Family ever to be convicted and jailed for a serious crime. Outside the Old Bailey, DCI John McFarlane pronounced, "No man, not even a prince, is above the law."
Neil McKay is a Bafta award-winning television dramatist (Appropriate Adult, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, Mo, See No Evil, Dunkirk, Innocents, The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper) who specialises in stories about real lives. The script was co-written by Neil McKay and Melanie Harris.
Cast:
Fletcher ..... Ralph Ineson
Omar & Prince ..... Yousef Kerkour
Rob ..... Lloyd Thomas
Sandy, Custody Sergeant ..... Mary Doherty
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Director/Producer: Melanie Harris
A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 21:58 Weather (b06ppsln)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b06pz1z5)
Is Britain ready for war?
Labour in turmoil over Syria; to shop or not to shop? And the Pope arrives in Africa.
FRI 22:45 The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains (b06py0lt)
Episode 5
The dwarf's terrible secret is finally revealed.
Chilling revenge for a terrible crime is at the heart of Neil Gaiman's multi-award-winning novelette, inspired by a Hebridean myth and originally commissioned by Sydney Opera House for the Graphic Festival with celebrated illustrator Eddie Campbell.
Concluded by Bill Paterson.
Writer: Neil Gaiman
Abridged and produced by Karen Rose.
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in November 2015.
FRI 23:00 A Good Read (b06ptylw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b06py0lw)
Mark D'Arcy reports from Westminster.
FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b06py0ly)
Jayne and Richard - Finding a Space for God
Fi Glover introduces a conversation between a vicar and a non-believer from his parish, who share a love of the church building and the community it houses. Another in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. 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 learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 MON (b06pt0bh)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 MON (b06pt0bh)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 TUE (b06pttqk)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 TUE (b06pttqk)
15 Minute Drama
10:41 WED (b06ptzry)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 WED (b06ptzry)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 THU (b06pxp33)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 THU (b06pxp33)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 FRI (b06pxysr)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 FRI (b06pxysr)
A Good Read
16:30 TUE (b06ptylw)
A Good Read
23:00 FRI (b06ptylw)
A Point of View
08:48 SUN (b06pdlgb)
A Point of View
20:50 FRI (b06py0lp)
Alex Horne Presents The Horne Section
18:30 THU (b01rl1y3)
All in the Mind
21:00 TUE (b06ptym4)
Any Answers?
14:00 SAT (b06ppb2p)
Any Questions?
13:10 SAT (b06pdlg5)
Any Questions?
20:00 FRI (b06py0lm)
BBC Inside Science
16:30 THU (b06pxt44)
BBC Inside Science
21:00 THU (b06pxt44)
Bells on Sunday
05:43 SUN (b06psb4t)
Bells on Sunday
00:45 MON (b06psb4t)
Beyond Belief
16:30 MON (b06sb42j)
Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola
14:30 SAT (b06pphck)
Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola
15:00 SUN (b06pschk)
Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola
14:15 MON (b06ptdd8)
Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola
14:15 TUE (b06ptw77)
Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola
14:15 WED (b06pv1g2)
Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola
14:15 THU (b06pxt3y)
Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola
14:15 FRI (b06pxyt8)
Blood, Sex and Money: The Life and Work of Emile Zola
09:00 TUE (b06p7cyt)
Blood, Sex and Money: The Life and Work of Emile Zola
21:30 TUE (b06p7cyt)
Book of the Week
00:30 SAT (b06pddgz)
Book of the Week
09:45 MON (b06pssb5)
Book of the Week
00:30 TUE (b06pssb5)
Book of the Week
09:45 TUE (b06pttqh)
Book of the Week
00:30 WED (b06pttqh)
Book of the Week
09:45 WED (b06ptzrw)
Book of the Week
00:30 THU (b06ptzrw)
Book of the Week
09:45 THU (b06pxp31)
Book of the Week
00:30 FRI (b06pxp31)
Book of the Week
09:45 FRI (b06pxysp)
Broadcasting House
09:00 SUN (b06pps9p)
Burlesque Legends
16:00 MON (b06ptddh)
Changing Climate
20:00 MON (b06ptny7)
Comic Fringes
00:30 SUN (b038zhb3)
Crossing Continents
20:30 MON (b06pd3bp)
Crossing Continents
11:00 THU (b06pxp35)
Desert Island Discs
11:15 SUN (b06psb58)
Desert Island Discs
09:00 FRI (b06psb58)
Drama
21:00 SAT (b06p56zj)
Drama
21:00 FRI (b06py0lr)
Farming Today
06:30 SAT (b06ppb2c)
Farming Today
05:45 MON (b06psl8n)
Farming Today
05:45 TUE (b06ptqk2)
Farming Today
05:45 WED (b06ptyr5)
Farming Today
05:45 THU (b06pz24w)
Farming Today
05:45 FRI (b06pz1yl)
Feedback
20:00 SUN (b06pdjh3)
Feedback
16:30 FRI (b06pz1yz)
Forgotten History
23:30 SAT (b06p56zt)
Four Thought
20:45 WED (b06pxm4c)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:30 SAT (b06p4jsm)
From Syria to Yorkshire
20:00 TUE (b06ptym0)
Front Row
19:15 MON (b06qdcf4)
Front Row
19:15 TUE (b06qbllr)
Front Row
19:15 WED (b06qbt38)
Front Row
19:15 THU (b06pxt48)
Front Row
19:15 FRI (b06pz1z3)
Gardeners' Question Time
14:00 SUN (b06pdjgm)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:00 FRI (b06pxzdq)
Gloomsbury
18:30 TUE (b040hzz1)
Hardeep's Sunday Lunch
13:30 SUN (b06pschf)
His Master's Voices
13:45 MON (b06ptdd6)
His Master's Voices
13:45 TUE (b06qnx0l)
His Master's Voices
15:45 WED (b06r3pmf)
His Master's Voices
13:45 THU (b06r3q5t)
His Master's Voices
13:45 FRI (b06r3slv)
In Business
20:30 THU (b06pxt4c)
In Our Time
09:00 THU (b06pxp2z)
In Our Time
21:30 THU (b06pxp2z)
In Pod We Trust
10:30 SAT (b06ppb2h)
In Touch
20:40 TUE (b06ptym2)
Jon Ronson On
23:00 THU (b01rr7zq)
Just a Minute
12:04 SUN (b06p7cz0)
Just a Minute
18:30 MON (b0670gmc)
Last Word
20:30 SUN (b06pdjh0)
Last Word
16:00 FRI (b06pz1yx)
Law in Action
16:00 TUE (b06ptylt)
Law in Action
20:00 THU (b06ptylt)
Liam Williams: Ladhood
23:00 TUE (b06ptymb)
Little Lifetimes by Jenny Eclair
23:00 WED (b06pxm4k)
Lives in a Landscape
11:00 FRI (b06pxysw)
Loose Ends
18:15 SAT (b06ppkxj)
Meeting Myself Coming Back
20:00 SAT (b06ppm2m)
Michael Frayn's Matchbox Theatre
11:30 FRI (b06pxyt0)
Midnight News
00:00 SAT (b06p4js1)
Midnight News
00:00 SUN (b06pps91)
Midnight News
00:00 MON (b06ppsc5)
Midnight News
00:00 TUE (b06ppsf5)
Midnight News
00:00 WED (b06ppshg)
Midnight News
00:00 THU (b06ppsjr)
Midnight News
00:00 FRI (b06ppsl4)
Midweek
09:00 WED (b06ptzrt)
Midweek
21:30 WED (b06ptzrt)
Money Box
12:04 SAT (b06ppb2m)
Money Box
21:00 SUN (b06ppb2m)
Money Box
15:00 WED (b06pv1g4)
Moral Maze
22:15 SAT (b06pbwzp)
Moral Maze
20:00 WED (b06pxm49)
Natural Histories: Short Stories
19:45 SUN (b06psk5q)
Natural Histories
21:00 MON (b05w9ljp)
News Briefing
05:30 SAT (b06p4js9)
News Briefing
05:30 SUN (b06pps99)
News Briefing
05:30 MON (b06ppscf)
News Briefing
05:30 TUE (b06ppsff)
News Briefing
05:30 WED (b06ppshq)
News Briefing
05:30 THU (b06ppsk0)
News Briefing
05:30 FRI (b06ppsld)
News Headlines
06:00 SUN (b06pps9c)
News Summary
12:00 SAT (b06p4jsp)
News Summary
12:00 SUN (b06pps9r)
News Summary
12:00 MON (b06ppsck)
News Summary
12:00 TUE (b06ppsfh)
News Summary
12:00 WED (b06ppshs)
News Summary
12:00 THU (b06ppsk2)
News Summary
12:00 FRI (b06ppslg)
News and Papers
06:00 SAT (b06p4jsc)
News and Papers
07:00 SUN (b06pps9h)
News and Papers
08:00 SUN (b06pps9m)
News and Weather
22:00 SAT (b06p4jt4)
News
13:00 SAT (b06p4jst)
Numbers by Nature
11:00 MON (b06pt0bk)
On Your Farm
06:35 SUN (b06psb4y)
Open Book
16:00 SUN (b06psfz8)
Open Book
15:30 THU (b06psfz8)
Open Country
06:07 SAT (b06pd8rx)
Open Country
15:00 THU (b06pxt40)
PM
17:00 SAT (b06ppkjp)
PM
17:00 MON (b06qdcf2)
PM
17:00 TUE (b06qbllk)
PM
17:00 WED (b06qbt36)
PM
17:00 THU (b06pz2mg)
PM
17:00 FRI (b06pz1z1)
Paris: Could It Happen Here?
21:30 SUN (b06rywqs)
Particle Poets and Molecular Metaphors
16:30 SUN (b06psfzb)
Pick of the Week
18:15 SUN (b06psghq)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 SAT (b06pdlpr)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 MON (b06qsjpz)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 TUE (b06qsjr1)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 WED (b06qskfb)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 THU (b06qsksk)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 FRI (b06qskv4)
Profile
19:00 SAT (b06ppkxl)
Profile
05:45 SUN (b06ppkxl)
Profile
17:40 SUN (b06ppkxl)
Radio 4 Appeal
07:54 SUN (b06psb52)
Radio 4 Appeal
21:26 SUN (b06psb52)
Radio 4 Appeal
15:27 THU (b06psb52)
Round Britain Quiz
23:00 SAT (b06p7blp)
Round Britain Quiz
15:00 MON (b06ptddb)
Saturday Live
09:00 SAT (b06ppb2f)
Saturday Review
19:15 SAT (b06p4jt2)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SAT (b06p4js5)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SUN (b06pps95)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 MON (b06ppsc9)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 TUE (b06ppsf9)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 WED (b06ppshl)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 THU (b06ppsjw)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 FRI (b06ppsl8)
Self Drives: Maxwell's Equations
12:04 MON (b06pt0bp)
Self Drives: Maxwell's Equations
12:04 TUE (b06pttqr)
Self Drives: Maxwell's Equations
12:04 WED (b06pv0gz)
Self Drives: Maxwell's Equations
12:04 THU (b06pxp39)
Self Drives: Maxwell's Equations
12:04 FRI (b06pxyt2)
Shared Experience
15:30 TUE (b06ptylr)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SAT (b06p4js3)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SAT (b06p4js7)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SAT (b06p4jsw)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SUN (b06pps93)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SUN (b06pps97)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SUN (b06pps9w)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 MON (b06ppsc7)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 MON (b06ppscc)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 TUE (b06ppsf7)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 TUE (b06ppsfc)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 WED (b06ppshj)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 WED (b06ppshn)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 THU (b06ppsjt)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 THU (b06ppsjy)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 FRI (b06ppsl6)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 FRI (b06ppslb)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SAT (b06p4jt0)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SUN (b06ppsb0)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 MON (b06ppscp)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 TUE (b06ppsfm)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 WED (b06ppshx)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 THU (b06ppsk6)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 FRI (b06ppsll)
Something Understood
06:05 SUN (b06psb4w)
Something Understood
23:30 SUN (b06psb4w)
Soul Music
11:30 TUE (b06pttqp)
Start the Week
09:00 MON (b06psm22)
Start the Week
21:30 MON (b06psm22)
Sunday Worship
08:10 SUN (b06psb54)
Sunday
07:10 SUN (b06psb50)
The Archers Omnibus
10:00 SUN (b06psb56)
The Archers
19:00 SUN (b06psghs)
The Archers
14:00 MON (b06psghs)
The Archers
19:00 MON (b06ptny5)
The Archers
14:00 TUE (b06ptny5)
The Archers
19:00 TUE (b06ptyly)
The Archers
14:00 WED (b06ptyly)
The Archers
19:00 WED (b06pxm47)
The Archers
14:00 THU (b06pxm47)
The Archers
19:00 THU (b06pxt46)
The Archers
14:00 FRI (b06pxt46)
The Archers
19:00 FRI (b06py0lk)
The Bottom Line
17:30 SAT (b06pdcf6)
The Dictatorship of Data
17:00 SUN (b06pb831)
The Educators
15:00 TUE (b06ptw79)
The Film Programme
23:00 SUN (b06pdcdy)
The Film Programme
16:00 THU (b06pxt42)
The Food Programme
12:32 SUN (b06psb5b)
The Food Programme
15:30 MON (b06psb5b)
The Joy of 9 to 5
11:00 WED (b06pv02c)
The Lentil Sorters
11:30 WED (b06qkkzp)
The Listening Project
14:45 SUN (b06pschh)
The Listening Project
10:55 WED (b06ptzs0)
The Listening Project
15:30 WED (b06np7nv)
The Listening Project
16:55 FRI (b06pxzdx)
The Listening Project
23:55 FRI (b06py0ly)
The Media Show
16:30 WED (b06pv1g8)
The Misogyny Book Club
09:30 TUE (b063zx16)
The Missing Hancocks
11:30 MON (b06pt0bm)
The Now Show
12:30 SAT (b06pdjhc)
The Now Show
18:30 FRI (b06pxzdz)
The Secret Lives of Carers
11:00 TUE (b06pttqm)
The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains
22:45 MON (b06ptqdz)
The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains
22:45 TUE (b06ptym8)
The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains
22:45 WED (b06pxm4h)
The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains
22:45 THU (b06pxt4f)
The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains
22:45 FRI (b06py0lt)
The Week in Westminster
11:00 SAT (b06ppb2k)
The World This Weekend
13:00 SUN (b06psb63)
The World Tonight
22:00 MON (b06ptqdx)
The World Tonight
22:00 TUE (b06ptym6)
The World Tonight
22:00 WED (b06qbt3b)
The World Tonight
22:00 THU (b06pz2mj)
The World Tonight
22:00 FRI (b06pz1z5)
Thinking Allowed
00:15 MON (b06pbwb5)
Thinking Allowed
16:00 WED (b06pv1g6)
Today in Parliament
23:30 MON (b06ptqf3)
Today in Parliament
23:30 TUE (b06ptymd)
Today in Parliament
23:30 WED (b06pxm4m)
Today in Parliament
23:30 THU (b06pxt4h)
Today in Parliament
23:30 FRI (b06py0lw)
Today
07:00 SAT (b06pphch)
Today
06:00 MON (b06psm20)
Today
06:00 TUE (b06r8rx3)
Today
06:00 WED (b06pz3fw)
Today
06:00 THU (b06pz24y)
Today
06:00 FRI (b06pz1yn)
Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang-Ups
18:30 WED (b06pxm45)
Too Old to Be a Genius
21:00 WED (b06pxm4f)
Trodd en Bratt Say 'Well Done You'
19:15 SUN (b06s83jl)
Tweet of the Day
08:58 SUN (b04syywl)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 MON (b04mlvwg)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 TUE (b04mlvwj)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 WED (b04mlvwz)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 THU (b04mlpfd)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 FRI (b04mlvz1)
Warhorses of Letters
23:15 WED (b03srddp)
Weather
06:04 SAT (b06p4jsf)
Weather
06:57 SAT (b06p4jsh)
Weather
12:57 SAT (b06p4jsr)
Weather
17:57 SAT (b06p4jsy)
Weather
06:57 SUN (b06pps9f)
Weather
07:57 SUN (b06pps9k)
Weather
12:57 SUN (b06pps9t)
Weather
17:57 SUN (b06pps9y)
Weather
05:56 MON (b06ppsch)
Weather
12:57 MON (b06ppscm)
Weather
21:58 MON (b06ppscr)
Weather
12:57 TUE (b06ppsfk)
Weather
21:58 TUE (b06ppsfp)
Weather
13:56 WED (b06ppshv)
Weather
12:57 THU (b06ppsk4)
Weather
12:57 FRI (b06ppslj)
Weather
21:58 FRI (b06ppsln)
Westminster Hour
22:00 SUN (b06ppsb2)
What the Papers Say
22:45 SUN (b06pskbr)
Wireless Nights
23:00 MON (b06ptqf1)
Woman's Hour
16:00 SAT (b06pphcm)
Woman's Hour
10:00 MON (b06pt0bf)
Woman's Hour
10:00 TUE (b06qhqxh)
Woman's Hour
10:00 WED (b06pz3fy)
Woman's Hour
10:00 THU (b06pz2m8)
Woman's Hour
10:00 FRI (b06pz1yq)
World at One
13:00 MON (b06qdckl)
World at One
13:00 TUE (b06qbllf)
World at One
12:15 WED (b06pz3g0)
World at One
13:00 THU (b06pz2md)
World at One
13:00 FRI (b06pz1yv)
Writing a New Nigeria
11:30 THU (b06pxp37)
You and Yours
12:15 MON (b06pt0br)
You and Yours
12:15 TUE (b06pttqt)
You and Yours
12:15 THU (b06pz2mb)
You and Yours
12:15 FRI (b06pz1ys)
e=mc2
15:45 FRI (b06pxzdv)
iPM
05:45 SAT (b06pdlpt)