Jarvis Cocker delves into the contents of his loft and considers each item before deciding whether to keep or cob (throw away) and, in doing so, explores the origins of his creativity and what exactly makes good pop work and why bad pop fails.
This inventory takes the form of a coming of age memoir revisiting Sheffield in the1980s against the backdrop of the miners strikes and rising unemployment. With the aid of a collection of 1980s pop objects and a gallery of interesting shirts, Jarvis charts the early days of the band Pulp, from the humiliation of a concert in the school hall at lunchtime to an invitation to record a session for John Peel. This period of his life, living in a disused factory while trying to get the band off the ground, comes to a sudden end after a disastrous stunt to impress a girl changes his life - and his attitude to music making.
Jarvis Cocker grew up in Sheffield in the 1960s and 70s, founding the band Pulp with his friends while he still was at City School despite not being able to play an instrument. The band went on to perform regularly in local venues in the 1980s until eventually they found fame in the 1990s with the success of the single Common People, which made their name, and the albums His 'n' Hers (1994) and Different Class (1995).
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Dr Steve Taylor, author on psychology and spirituality.
At my university, I teach a course on Positive Psychology. We have a session on altruism, and as homework, I ask my students to perform as many acts of kindness as they can. When they report back the following week, they always talk about how great they feel. They feel more emotional and empathic, and more connected to others.
In my view, one of the most pernicious ideas of our modern scientific culture is that human beings are genetic robots, who live in separateness, trapped inside our minds and bodies.
I don’t think this is true. In my view, all human beings – and all living beings – are interconnected. At the deepest level, we share the same essence. We’re expressions of the same universal consciousness, which flows into us, like channels of the same river.
This is why we can empathise with one another. In its deepest sense, empathy is the capacity to sense other people’s emotions and experiences. Empathy is only possible because we are fundamentally one. And empathy is what gives rise to altruism.
So today, let’s remember that we are interconnected and perform as many acts of kindness as we can. Here are some thoughts to reflect on:
if there’s some benefit to ourselves.
We are each other.
We feel compassion because we’re connected.
Michael reveals how getting some shut-eye during the day could boost your memory and your heart health - and even help your productivity! Research reveals that a simple daily nap could slash your risk of heart attack by half, and have a noticeable impact on your brain, by helping improve your emotional control and boosting memory. In this episode, our volunteer Caroline catches some Zzzs in between work meetings, while nap expert Dr Sara Mednick delves into the different stages of sleep, telling Michael when to nap, and for how long, for the greatest benefit.
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
Having grown up in Cornwall Jane Johnson has a deep love of the landscape of the south west. She and her husband Abdel take Clare on a coastal walk along steep rocky footpaths that offer breathtaking views of the Cornish coastline around the Lizard to Lands End. It's a favourite walk for the couple who often see dolphins, whales and basking sharks along the way. They tell Clare the story of their extraordinary meeting in the foothills of the Anti-Atlas Mountains of Morocco and how a near death experience for Jane while climbing led to a love affair with a Berber restaurant owner who tried to rescue her. Seventeen years on the couple live mainly in Cornwall but try to divide their time between there and Morocco. Jane is a writer and publisher while Abdel is now developing his artwork.
14/05/22 - The cost-of-living crisis, Seasonal worker conditions, Horseshoe bats
The price of fuel, fertiliser and feed has risen significantly. We hear what impact that is having on free range egg producers and pig farmers - some of whom are being driven out of business.
30,000 people are allowed come to the UK each year to work on fruit, veg and flower farms via the seasonal worker visa scheme. But some who come here say they are badly treated, with unreasonable expectations about how much they have to pick, insanitary living conditions and opaque contracts, particularly around pay. We hear from the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority - which has had 103 people contact it about problems on farms in the past year.
And there are signs the population of rare horseshoe bats is on the increase. We visit a farm in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire where special efforts are being made to encourage them.
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by comedian Geoff Norcott who has appeared on Live at the Apollo, Mash Report, Mock the Week and Question Time, had sell-out Edinburgh runs and two national tours. He is also a rare breed in comedy – a “right wing comedian”.
We also have singer and actor Marisha Wallace who is a Broadway and West End sensation. Born and raised in a small town in North Carolina, Marisha has done it all, from tap dancing at the Tonys to nannying for Philip Seymour Hoffman to performing at the Queen at the Royal Variety Show.
Hilary Wynter was a child when, in 1972, she was involved in a terrible accident at the Big dipper in Battersea park where five children died, she tells us of her memories.
Shay Doyle worked as an undercover police officer, tackling some of the criminals he grew up with in Manchester, he joins us.
Columnist and broadcaster Grace Dent chooses her Inheritance Tracks: Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood's Jackson, and Human League, Being Boiled.
Jay Rayner hosts a culinary panel show packed full of tasty titbits. Joining him for the series finale are Melissa Thompson, Jordan Bourke, Sue Lawrence and Dr Annie Gray.
George Parker of the Financial Times is joined by the former chief whip and Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith MP and the Labour leader in the Lords, Angela Smith, who also speaks on Northern Ireland to discuss the Queen's Speech and rising tensions over post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland.
The former Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick MP discusses the housing crisis and planning reform.
Should there be a deal between the Liberal Democrats and Labour is debated by Labour MP for Exeter, Ben Bradshaw and Baroness Olly Grender, who runs the Lib Dem communications operation and has advised successive party leaders, including Paddy Ashdown.
And as Chris Mason takes up his new job as BBC political editor, Sky News' political editor Beth Rigby and former ITN political editor John Sergeant look at the shifting demands of such a high profile role.
China has been warned by the World Health Organisation that its so-called 'zero covid' approach is unsustainable. Hundreds of millions of people have been kept under lockdown in cities across the country, leaving the economy severely jolted, and critics calling it an abuse of human rights. However, the Chinese authorities seem determined to carry on as before, and have announced that the city of Shanghai will be placed under its tightest restrictions yet. The news came as a disappointment to Rebecca Kanthor, who has already gone through seven weeks of lockdown.
Choosing what to wear in El Salvador can be literally a matter of life or death. The country is plagued by gang violence, with eighty people murdered over just one weekend this year. The government has promised a crackdown, passing new laws which allow police to lock up suspected gang members as young as 12. Mike Lanchin lived in El Salvador during the 1990s, and when he returned for a visit with his family, he quickly learned the value of covering up.
More than five million people have now fled Ukraine, and have been taken in by countries across Europe. Switzerland has offered homes to tens of thousands, giving them an immediate right to work, and other benefits too. Yet this hospitality has left refugees from other countries questioning what they see as double standards. As Imogen Foulkes explains, plenty have run from war and persecution elsewhere, and yet have not found the Swiss to be quite so accepting.
Germany has been commemorating the end of World War Two - a complicated anniversary, remembering both the country's dead, but with an eye to its Nazi past. This year’s anniversary comes amidst Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and furious arguments in Germany about how far to intervene. John Kampfner was invited to one remembrance ceremony in the old East Berlin, where Germany’s complex relationship with Russia was to the fore.
Women’s boxing celebrated its biggest night ever recently, as Ireland’s Katy Taylor defended her world lightweight title against Amanda Serrano from Puerto Rico, at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Women’s boxing has always struggled to win recognition, but women have fought hard to prove it is not just a men’s sport. Steve Bunce was ring-side at the recent bout.
The National Pawnbrokers Association tells Money Box it will hold talks with the Financial Conduct Authority next week. That follows a report which shows people on low incomes are pawning goods to pay for food and fuel. As the cost of living crisis hits more households, pawnbrokers say they're becoming a more important source of credit. Critics argue that pawnbrokers charge annual interest rates of 120% and undervalue people's possessions whilst supporters say they're a vital source of finance for people on low incomes who can't get loans from banks. We'll discuss this - and hear from people in Chester selling things like phones and laptops in order to keep afloat financially.
New analysis of Land Registry figures suggests house prices have gone up by 11 percent since before the pandemic. But the data, which compares average prices of properties sold in December 2019 with those in December 2021 shows that not all homes are equal. Prices of terrace houses rose by 13% but prices for flats dropped by the same amount. Semi detached and detached houses rose the most. Up by 20% and 26% respectively. We'll discuss that with property and mortgage experts.
We'll hear how some young people are facing months of delays trying to access money from their Child Trust Funds.
Andy Zaltzman is joined by Mark Steel, Amy Gledhill, Angela Barnes and Michael Deacon to reflect on the State Opening of Parliament and to say farewell to the iPod.
Written by Andy Zaltzman with additional material from Alice Fraser, Catherine Brinkworth and Cameron Loxdale.
The latest national and international news and weather reports from BBC Radio 4
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from Cornwall College in Camborne with a panel which includes the writer and musician Catrina Davies, the Shadow Environment Secretary Jim McMahon MP, Conservative MP Selaine Saxby and the Daily Mail's Deputy Political Editor John Stevens.
There are already examples around the world where the manufacturer helps to pay for the safe disposal of waste from their goods once used - such as electronic items or bottles. But what about the carbon dioxide produced from fossil fuels?
Tom hears about the 'Carbon Take Back Obligation' concept - in which oil and gas producers would have to capture and store C02 - ratcheting up from 1% of what they produce by 2023, to 10% in 2030 and 100% by 2050. Some say it's impossible to meet the aims of the Paris Climate Agreement without it.
But where would all that carbon dioxide go? How much storage space would we need for it and how much of the cost would trickle down to the petrol pump?
Dr Tamsin Edwards of King's College, London, armed with statistics gathered by the Royal Geographical Society, joins Tom to add up the numbers.
Produced in conjunction with the Royal Geographical Society. Particular thanks for this episode to Professor Stephen Peake of the Open University and Dr Chris Hope of the University of Cambridge.
For more information on the Carbon Take Back Obligation www.carbontakeback.org
1. What Feeds Me Destroys Me
It's London, 1593. Christopher Marlowe, a young writer, is fatally stabbed in a Deptford lodging house because of a disagreement over the bill. There's an investigation, the witnesses are interrogated, and the suspect walks free. The authorities find that Marlowe was the aggressor and was killed in self-defence.
History says it was just a drunken quarrel, nothing more. But Charles Nicholl thinks it was murder, and an unsolved murder never grows old.
In this series, Nicholl traces Marlowe's political and intelligence dealings, explores the shadowy underworld of Elizabethan crime and espionage, and penetrates a complex and chilling story of entrapment and betrayal.
Christopher Marlowe was a playwright and in 1593 his star was at its height. More than any, he was the writer who influenced Shakespeare and had he lived there would have been two stars in that constellation. But he died at the age of 29 and how and why he died – thereby hangs a tale.
This is a true story. The people in it are real people, the events are documented, the words were spoken, though we have invented some of them, and set them in a modern idiom for the sake of clarity. But this true story is also a mystery, a jigsaw with many pieces missing, and the spaces have to be filled with what historians call speculation and detectives call hunches. Using drama, we show what might have happened – what could have happened – maybe even what did happen.
Charles Nicholl's book The Reckoning is the winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Non-Fiction and the CWA Gold Dagger Award for Non-Fiction.
Christopher Marlowe . . . . . Chris Lew Kum Hoi
Robert Poley . . . . . Burn Gorman
Ingram Frizer . . . . . Carl Prekopp
Nicholas Skeres . . . . . Matthew Durkan
Thomas Heneage . . . . . Neil McCaul
Coroner Danby . . . . . Michael Begley
Drew Woodleff . . . . . Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong
Mrs Bull . . . . . Ruth Everett
Maid . . . . . Alexandra Hannant
Dramatised by Mike Walker, based on The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe by Charles Nicholl
Emeli Sandé is one of Britain’s most successful songwriters - with 19 million singles sold; including three number one singles, six million albums and four BRIT awards. Emeli joins Emma to discuss her music and career.
How are disabled children being affected by the war in Ukraine? There are claims that thousands have been forgotten and abandoned in institutions unable to look after them. The human rights organisation, Disability Rights International, has carried out an investigation. Their Ukraine Office Director, Halyna Kurylo joins Emma.
‘Alice’s Book’ by Karina Urbach tells the story of Karina's grandmother Alice Urbach. Before the Second World War Alice wrote a cookbook called Cooking the Viennese Way! - but when books by Jewish authors couldn't be distributed, Alice was taken off it. Karina talks about her family history, intellectual theft by the Nazis and her mission to restore Alice Urbach’s name to her cookbook.
Abi Morgan is a BAFTA and Emmy-award winning playwright and screenwriter whose credits include The Iron Lady, Suffragette and The Hour. She has now written her first book - This Is Not A Pity Memoir - about an extraordinarily tumultuous period in her and her family's life.
Last weekend the Baftas saw Sophie Willan, the actress and creator of Alma’s Not Normal, take home an award for best female performance in comedy. The sitcom is based on Sophie’s own experience of growing up in care, and focuses on her relationship with the women in her family. Sophie dedicated her win to her grandmother, Denise Willan, who sadly passed away half-way through filming the show.
Watching Eurovision tonight? Two hundred million people are expected to watch it, live from Turin. Representing the UK this year is Sam Ryder. He's doing well at the moment and is second favourite to win behind Ukraine. The UK really hasn’t done very well over recent years, but twenty-five years ago we won it with Katrina and The Waves and Love Shine a Light. Katrina joins Anita.
Nick Robinson speaks to the Culture Secretary, Nadine Dorries MP about her efforts to clean up social media, her upbringing in Liverpool, and being a bestselling author.
Stephen K Amos, Joe Alwyn, Claire Goose, Bonnie Wright, Peter Doherty & Frédéric Lo, Charlie Austen, Sara Cox, Anneka Rice
Anneka Rice and Sara Cox are joined by Stephen K Amos, Joe Alwyn, Claire Goose and Bonnie Wright for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Peter Doherty & Frédéric Lo and Charlie Austen.
She wants to be a first minister for all, having led her party to a historic election win. Sinn Féin now hold the most seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly, entitling them to the position of first minister.
From local councillor to would-be leader of the power sharing executive, Mark Coles looks at the life and career of Michelle O'Neill, the IRA man's daughter, changing the image and appeal of nationalist party, Sinn Féin.
Musician and lyricist Jarvis Cocker talks to John Wilson about the most important influences and experiences that shaped his own creativity. He explains how the DIY spirit of punk during his teenage years in Sheffield inspired him to form his band Pulp, and experiment with a distinctive new look forged in that city's jumble sales.
Pulp, who went on to become one of the biggest bands to define the Britpop era of the 1990s, made their BBC Radio 1 debut in 1981 on the hugely influential John Peel show, another of Jarvis's choices for this programme. And yet the band didn’t find mainstream success until well over a decade later. Pulp was put on hold while Jarvis studied Film at St Martin’s Art College in London, an experience which widened his cultural horizons and where he met the girl who came from Greece and 'had a thirst for knowledge', later featured in Pulp's biggest hit Common People. He also fondly recalls his musical hero Scott Walker who, after massive pop success with The Walker Bothers in the 1960s, pursued an idiosyncratic and experimental music career, until his death in 2019.
Political journalist Tom Barton recalls the rave that changed Britain, at Castlemorton Common in May 1992.
In the weeks leading up to Castlemorton, New Age Travellers had tried to establish small festivals in Gloucestershire and Somerset - but had been moved on by police at every turn.
Arriving in West Worcestershire, they parked up at Castlemorton with the intention, they claim, of gathering just a few hundred people.
But, to the horror and outrage of local people, between 20,000 and 30,000 people arrived, with many staying at the site for an entire week.
The law that was created in response to the gathering, Part V of the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, makes it a criminal offence to hold an unlicensed gathering playing any music that is “wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats.”
The festival is now widely regarded as the tipping point in a culture war which saw many aspects of the Traveller lifestyle outlawed in the UK.
Crime drama based on the characters from the best selling novel by the multi-award winning writer, GF Newman. This second series runs from 1961 to 1970.
Spanning six decades, the saga plots the course of one family against the back-drop of a revolution in crime as the underworld extends its influence to the very heart of the establishment, in an uncomfortable relationship of shared values.
At the start of the 1960s, Joey Oldman acquires crafty Arnold Goodman as his solicitor, and buys shares in the civil engineering firm owned by the corrupt Minister of Transport, Ernest Marples.
Prospering with the help of venal bankers, and growing more devious, he and his wife Cath join Macmillan's Conservative Party. They strive without success to keep their son Brian free of the influence of Jack Braden (Cath's brother) as he takes their 'firm' from running illicit clubs, where they entertain politicians and judges, to armed robbery. All the while, Jack and Brian struggle to keep free of the police and further entanglements with the law, the Kray twins and the Richardsons.
Tory councillor, Margaret Courtney, helps Joey corrupt City officials, while continuing their affair.
Jon Holmes remixes the news into the award-winning The Skewer. This week Starmer's Survival, Black Rod enters, Doctor Who vs The Racists, Ambient Spaghetti, and Things Go Backwards.
Samira Ahmed and Katherine Rake brings together radical feminists from two different generations to reflect on the challenges and breakthrough moments in the on-going campaign to end violence against women.
Writer and campaigner Julie Bindel organised marches in Leeds in the late 70s when the serial killer Peter Sutcliff was preying on young women. She is co-founder of the law reform group Justice for Women, which has aimed to help women who have been prosecuted for assaulting or killing violent male partners.
Professor Liz Kelly has worked in the field of violence against women and children for over 40 years. She founded the Women’s Centre and Rape Crisis Centre in Norwich in 1974 and is currently Professor of Sexualised Violence at London Metropolitan University.
Dr Jessica Taylor is a psychologist, feminist author and campaigner in her 30s. Her latest book Sexy but Psycho explores the way professionals and society at large pathologize and sexualise women and girls.
Meena Kumari has been working in front line services since 2005 advocating on behalf of victims and delivering training to both victims and perpetrators of violence. She has previously been a Magistrate and sat in adult and family court.
They share stories of their individual experiences fighting for change and consider what lessons they can learn from each other. Finally, they map out a plan of action for activists today.
Samira is joined by social change consultant Katherine Rake, former Chief Executive of The Fawcett Society, which campaigns for gender equality and women's rights
When Wales last played the Midlands, in the opening edition of the 2022 Round Britain Quiz series, the Midlands won, What will happen today, as Stephen Maddock and Frankie Fanko face Myfanwy Alexander and David Edwards for the second time this season?
Kirsty Lang poses the traditionally impenetrable questions, and awards points according to how much help the panellists have needed to arrive at the answers. Will they be able to work out why a bride's mother might be happy to visit the football teams from Luton, Northampton and Yeovil, but pass up the opportunity to visit the team from West Bromwich?
There's a generous sprinkling of question suggestions from RBQ listeners, as always, and Kirsty will have another teaser at the end of the programme to which the answer will be unveiled next week.
Roger talks to the Yemeni born poet Amina Atiq. Growing up in Liverpool she often found it hard to be accepted and a feeling of not belonging is central to her poetry. Amina chooses favourite poems selected from the requests sent in by listeners to include work by DH Lawrence, Danez Smith, Zaffar Kunial and Anne Stevenson.
SUNDAY 15 MAY 2022
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m0017cfx)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:15 Witness (b036tqps)
The Soviet Gulag
Millions of people were sent to brutal labour camps in the Soviet Union during Stalin's rule. Political prisoners and criminals worked alongside each other as slave labourers. Many died of disease, starvation, or exhaustion. Leonid Finkelstein spent more than 5 years in the Gulag. Hear his story.
SUN 00:30 Short Works (m00174ky)
Are We Dancers
An original short story specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the writer Abby Oliveira. As read by Muire McCallion.
Abby Oliveira is a spoken-word poet, writer, performer, and arts facilitator based in the North of Ireland. She has performed in the mucky fields of festivals such as Glastonbury, Electric Picnic, and Body&Soul, to the the National Concert Hall of Ireland in Dublin as well as internationally. She has been a contributor to multiple BBC and RTE radio shows.
Writer: Abby Oliveira
Reader: Muire McCallion
Producer: Michael Shannon
Executive Editor: Andy Martin
A BBC Northern Ireland production.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0017cg1)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0017cg5)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0017cg8)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m0017cgd)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m0017cgj)
The Swan Bell Tower in Perth in Western Australia.
Bells on Sunday comes from the Swan Bell Tower in Perth in Western Australia. This tower contains the one of only three peals of sixteen change-ringing bells in the world and was erected in 1988 to mark the Australian bicentenary. The heaviest twelve bells of the peal are actually a complete 18th century set of bells that were relocated from St Martin-in-the-Fields in London. We hear them ringing Grandsire Caters on the peal’s lighter F sharp ring of ten.
SUN 05:45 Profile (m0017cff)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Summary (m0017csf)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b019rd6n)
Living and Learning
Mark Tully meets adult learners with no previous academic qualifications. He discovers the benefits of education later in life, not just for the students but for society too.
Much of the programme is recorded in Oxford as Tully follows a rather unusual group of students as they enroll at the University's Bodleian Library. The "Ransackers" all missed out on education when they were younger, but they all have a passion for a research project of their own choosing. Now, they have been given the chance to pursue their interests by Ruskin College who pay all their costs for an intensive ten-week course of study.
In an interview with the Principal of Ruskin College, Audrey Mullender, Tully encounters the ideals of John Ruskin, the 19th century art critic, painter and educationalist. In those days when the class system was almost set in stone Ruskin believed that, through education, workers could achieve a vital sense of self-fulfillment.
And it's the 21st century passion for the benefits of self-fulfillment that Tully encounters when he meets the founder of the Ransackers, Vi Hughes. She speaks of the fear many older people have: fear of education, and fear that they are not capable of learning or contributing. Over nearly thirty years of tutoring at Ruskin, Vi Hughes has seen hundreds of lives transformed when those fears are overcome. Hughes is a champion of the idea that access to education for all, benefits the whole of society.
Tully also looks at other institutions such as the Open University and ponders if the ideal of education for education's sake can survive the modern emphasis on education to meet the needs of industry.
But the last word is left to the Ransackers, who describe the freedom they have found amongst the dreaming spires of Oxford.
Producer: Adam Fowler
A Unique Production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m0017csk)
By Hand or by Horse
Anna Louise Claydon explores Greenacres Smallholding in Witnesham in Suffolk - a community-supported farm on just under five hectares. Partners Jo Henderson and Andy Pratt have transformed the land from a space which was once abandoned and overgrown into to a busy, thriving farm and nature reserve, with big dreams for the future. Together they are on a mission to maintain and sustain Suffolk heritage livestock breeds, while running the farm by hand and by horse - as it would have been run in the 1930s. Anna finds out how Jo became a self-taught butcher, producing her Suffolk pork herself. She also meets Justine Paul, the founder of Suffolk Market Events which runs some of the biggest farmers' markets in the county - a community which has been vital for the growth of Greenacres. Anna follows Jo down the track of their new meadow walk in-development to find out why she's passionate about working the land herself, with the help of their horses-in-harness.
Produced and presented by Anna Louis Claydon
SUN 06:57 Weather (m0017csp)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m0017cst)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m0017csx)
The arrest of Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen; The history of black nuns; A Russian Quaker
Generations of black women and girls who took up the call to religious life in America found themselves subjected to racism, sexism and exclusion from within their own Roman Catholic communities. Edward Stourton explores this hidden history with Dr Shannon Dee Williams, from the University of Dayton in Ohio and author of ‘Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle’ and Dr Patricia Grey, a former nun and the Founding President of the National Black Sisters Conference.
The war in Ukraine has prompted many countries to review their military strategies. But one religious group believes the way to bring peace is for individuals to build bridges. The Quakers in Britain are suggesting people contact individual Russians, emphasising our common humanity and shared values. They call it Citizen Diplomacy, and hundreds of Quakers have been using social media to reach people in Russia, or making cards to send. One Russian supporter of the Quakers, who now lives in the UK, has been reaching out to people in his homeland through his own initiative - a Russian language podcast called Human Rights in Russia. Sergei Nikitin talks of building bridges of peace through personal relationships.
Earlier this week an outspoken supporter of democracy and former leader of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong, Cardinal Zen, was arrested and then released on bail. Edward Stourton asks Lord Chris Patten, the last Governor of Hong Kong for his reaction to the news and his fears for the future of religious freedom in Hong Kong.
Producers: Jonathan Hallewell and Jill Collins
Presenter: Edward Stourton
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m0017ckb)
Chance to Shine
Cricket commentator and former cricketer Mark Nicholas makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Chance to Shine.
To Give:
- UK Freephone 0800 404 8144
-You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. (That’s the whole address. Please do not write anything else on the front of the envelope). Mark the back of the envelope ‘Chance to Shine’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Chance to Shine’.
Please note that Freephone and online donations for this charity close at
23.59 on the Saturday after the Appeal is first broadcast. However the Freepost option can be used at any time.
Registered charity number: 1123385
SUN 07:57 Weather (m0017csz)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m0017ct1)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m0017ct3)
Celebrate the City
A service live from Newcastle Cathedral which celebrates the concept of a city both in a physical sense, and as images in the bible. The service focuses on social justice, climate justice, racial justice and the role of the Church in a post-pandemic world. The Cathedral choir leads the congregation in hymns including Glorious things of the are spoken, Jesus Christ is waiting, and All my hope on God is founded, and biblical readings come from Genesis and the Book of Revelation. Leader: The Revd Canon Clare MacLaren. Director of Music: Ian Roberts. Producer: Ben Collingwood.
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m00174lg)
The War with Words
'We must never underestimate the power of words to shape public opinion and politics', writes Bernardine Evaristo.
This comes in the aftermath of a call from a school authority in South Dakota for the banning of her novel, 'Girl, Woman, Other' on the grounds that it - and four other novels - are unsuitable for seventeen and eighteen-year-olds.
Bernardine argues that we should avoid vocabulary that fosters outrage and try instead to find words that convey our exact, and reasoned, argument.
Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b09h3t70)
Tara Robinson on the Treecreeper
While in Spain, theatre director Tara Robinson recalls seeing a treecreeper close on a tree while she and her partner were relaxing by the poolside.
Producer Andrew Dawes
Photograph Steve Balcombe.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m0017ct5)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m0017ct7)
Writer, Nick Warburton
Director, Jeremy Howe and Peter Leslie Wild
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Alistair Lloyd ….. Michael Lumsden
Chelsea Horrobin ….. Madeleine Leslay
Ed Grundy …… Barry Farrimond
Fallon Rogers ….. Joanna Van Kampen
Freddie Pargetter ….. Toby Laurence
Jazzer McCreary ….. Ryan Kelly
Jill Archer ….. Patricia Greene
Jim Lloyd ….. John Rowe
Lee Bryce ….. Ryan Early
Lily Pargetter ….. Katie Redford
Pat Archer ….. Patricia Gallimore
Shula Hebden Lloyd ….. Judy Bennett
Stella Pryor ….. Lucy Speed
Tony Archer ….. David Troughton
Tracy Horrobin ….. Susie Riddell
Fern ….. Joanna Gay
SUN 11:00 Desert Island Discs (m0017cq7)
Bradley Walsh, presenter and actor
Bradley Walsh is a familiar face to many millions of TV viewers, as the host of quiz shows including The Chase and Blankety-Blank, and as an actor in dramas such as Doctor Who and The Larkins.
Bradley was born in Watford and after leaving school at 16 he was apprenticed to the local Rolls-Royce factory as a jet engineer. A keen footballer, he signed to Brentford FC when he was 19 but his career was cut short by injury after only two seasons with the club.
He dealt with this blow by turning his attention to the entertainment business. He worked as a Pontin’s bluecoat and then tried his luck as a stand-up comedian - doing impressions and telling jokes at working men’s clubs. In 1986 he turned professional, and his first booking was a stint at the Pavilion Theatre on Cromer Pier. Later he became the support act for performers including Dame Shirley Bassey, Leo Sayer and Sir Tom Jones.
In 1997 he hosted the quiz show Wheel of Fortune and three years later got his first acting role in the Channel 4 series Lock Stock….a spin-off from Guy Ritchie’s 1998 feature film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. He followed this up with roles in Coronation Street, Law & Order: UK and Doctor Who
Bradley released his debut album Chasing Dreams, featuring his interpretations of popular standards, in 2016. In that year it became the biggest-selling debut album by a British artist.
Bradley lives in Essex with his wife Donna and their son Barney who appears alongside him in the television series Bradley & Barney Walsh: Breaking Dad.
DISC ONE: Life on Mars? by David Bowie
DISC TWO: March of the Mods by Joe Loss Orchestra
DISC THREE: Bye Bye Baby by Bay City Rollers
DISC FOUR: I’m Mandy Fly Me by 10cc
DISC FIVE: Firefly by Tony Bennett
DISC SIX: The Hungry Years by Neil Sedaka
DISC SEVEN: Always and Forever by Heatwave
DISC EIGHT: That’s Life (Remastered 2008) by Frank Sinatra
BOOK CHOICE: The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas
LUXURY ITEM: A set of golf clubs and balls
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Always and Forever by Heatwave
Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Paula McGinley
SUN 11:45 Living with the Gods (b09by75p)
Living with the Dead
Neil MacGregor's series on the role and expression of beliefs continues with a reflection on our relationship with the dead.
In the British Museum, he focuses on mummy bundles from Peru, skeletons wrapped in textiles made of llama wool or cotton. For the living, these were ancestors with great wisdom and knowledge of the world, who could be called upon to help key decision-makers.
He also examines two Chinese 'ancestor portraits', and discovers how and why they were venerated by surviving family members.
Producer Paul Kobrak
The series is produced in partnership with the British Museum, with the assistance of Dr Christopher Harding, University of Edinburgh.
Photograph (c) The Trustees of the British Museum.
SUN 12:00 News Summary (m0017ct9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:04 The Unbelievable Truth (m001741d)
Series 28
Episode 6
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.
Lou Sanders, Ria Lina, Milton Jones and Chris McCausland are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as flowers, wood, underground and goldfish.
Produced by Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m0017cpm)
Madhur Jaffrey: A Legacy
40 years ago the BBC broadcast a new TV cooking series called "Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking". It was a first, and showed audiences that Indian food did not rely on curry powder, and that dishes were different depending on what region of India they originated. But that's not all, the series and Madhur Jaffrey's subsequent books (she has written more than 30) had another effect; it made her a model for two generations of women with roots in India.
Today Sheila Dillon meets some of those prominent and hugely successful female chefs, restaurateurs, food writers and stylists who are currently working in the UK, to find out about their lives, and what they make of Madhur Jaffrey's legacy.
Asma Khan rose to fame when she was chosen as the first British chef to star in the Netflix series, Chef’s Table. She runs her London restaurant, Darjeeling Express, with an all-female staff.
Chetna Makan worked as a fashion designer in India before moving to the UK. She switched careers after making it to the semi-finals of the Great British Bake Off in 2014. She is now the author of 5 cookery books, and has more than 210,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Ravinder Bhogal is a chef, food writer and author of two books. She also runs the London restaurant, Jikoni, which she describes as being “proudly inauthentic”.
Romy Gill is a chef, broadcaster and food writer, and was one of the first Asian women in the UK to own her own restaurant.
Rukmini Iyer is a food stylist and writer and the author of the bestselling "Roasting Tin" series of books.
Sejal Sukhadwala is a London food writer. Her first book "The Philosophy of Curry" has just been published.
Presented by Sheila Dillon
Produced in Bristol by Natalie Donovan
SUN 12:57 Weather (m0017ctd)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m0017ctg)
Radio 4's look at the week's big stories from both home and around the world
SUN 13:30 The Listening Project (m0017ctj)
Walking the Tightrope
Fi Glover presents friends, relatives and strangers in conversation.
This week: Veteran comic Chris and new stand-up Katie swap advice and opinions on negotiating the comedy circuit; Jane, mother of five, and Nicola, who has two sons, share their experiences of bringing up young boys to respect young girls; following their mums’ chat, Jane’s daughter, Mairi, and Nicola’s son, Karl, debate the lessons they’ve learnt growing-up; and Fi talks to Jonnie Robinson, the man in charge of The Listening Project archive at the British Library, about 10 years of capturing the nation in conversation.
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. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moments 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 this decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Jane Wilkinson
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m00174kw)
Shropshire
Kathy Clugston and the panel are in Shropshire. This week, the green-fingered experts answering your questions are Bunny Guinness, Matt Biggs and Matthew Pottage.
The panel think of some moisture-loving plants and shrubs for around a garden pond, as well as suggesting how we can keep our gardens wildlife-friendly and biodiverse in times of extreme weather.
Away from the questions, Juliet Sargeant speaks to Blue Peter Editor, Ellen Evans ad RHS Garden Bridgewater's Caroline Williamson about her designs for The New Blue Peter Garden: Discover Soil, and plant historian Advolly Richmond takes us back in time with the history of carnations.
Producer: Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Aniya Das
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 1922: The Birth of Now (m0013zlv)
Pirandello's Henry IV and the Idea of Truth
1922: The Birth of Now - Ten programmes in which Matthew Sweet investigates objects and events from 1922, the crucial year for modernism, that have an impact today.
9. Pirandello’s Henry IV, first produced in 1922, is a play about a man who believes himself to be the Holy Roman Emperor, and lives in a fake palace with courtiers (in reality he’s sane and knows that he is being humoured). It’s the Truman Show with a great twist and illuminates the confusion and uncertainty of the 1920s - a decade full of swirling ideologies and manifestos, some distinctly fascist in character. The play, which has been translated by Tom Stoppard, has strong resonances in our own time, too: an era in which truth has become an oddly personalised concept. Matthew Sweet discusses truth, reality and fascist ideologies in 1922 and now, with guests including the drama critic Michael Billington, who has probably seen more productions of the play than anyone, and the historian Roger Griffin.
Producer: Julian May
SUN 15:00 The Reckoning (m0017ctl)
2. Secret Servants
It's London, 1593. Christopher Marlowe, a young writer, is fatally stabbed in a Deptford lodging house because of a disagreement over the bill. There's an investigation, the witnesses are interrogated, and the suspect walks free. The authorities find that Marlowe was the aggressor and was killed in self-defence.
History says it was just a drunken quarrel, nothing more. But Charles Nicholl thinks it was murder, and an unsolved murder never grows old.
In Episode 2, Nicholl explores the shadow world of the Elizabethan Secret Service - its masters, servants and victims - in his search to discover what happened in that little room in Deptford.
Christopher Marlowe . . . . . Chris Lew Kum Hoi
Robert Poley . . . . . Burn Gorman
Thomas Phelippes . . . . . Carl Prekopp
Francis Walsingham . . . . . Emilio Doorgasingh
Robert Cecil . . . . . John Heffernan
Thomas Watson . . . . . Matthew Durkan
Anthony Babington . . . . . Gavi Singh Chera
Thomas Hariot . . . . . Neil McCaul
Richard Topcliffe . . . . . Michael Begley
William Bradley . . . . . Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong
Mary Queen of Scots . . . . . Ruth Everett
Maid . . . . . Alexandra Hannant
Dramatised by Mike Walker, based on The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe by Charles Nicholl
Sound by Peter Ringrose
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko
SUN 16:00 Open Book (m0017ckd)
Neurodiversity
Johny Pitts discusses neurodiversity in literature with Elle McNicoll, Helen Hoang and Sunyi Dean. There is a long history of characters in fiction whom readers presume to be autistic. But who are the new breed of writers owning the terminology today? Our guests discuss labels, possible progress and the exciting proliferation of different experience represented in a wide range of contemporary genres - from YA and romance, to sci-fi and fantasy
Plus a literary postcard from the North West Highlands of Scotland by Daniel James. Sharing a deeply personal experience, he meditates on the importance of listening - to both nature and neurodivergent voices.
Presenter: Johny Pitts
Producer: Ciaran Bermingham and Robbie Wojciechowski
Book List - Sunday 15 May and Thursday 19 May
A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll
Show Us Who You Are by Elle McNicoll
Like A Charm by Elle McNicoll
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang
The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean
The Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
The Deep by Rivers Solomon
Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon
Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
The Princess Trap by Talia Hibbert
Funny, You Don’t Look Autistic by Michael McCreary
The Art of Saving The World by Corinne Duyvis
Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde
The Outside by Ada Hoffman
The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida
Frankie’s World by Aoife Dooley
A Different Sort Of Normal by Abigail Balfe
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas by Daniel James
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet
SUN 16:30 Poetry Please (m0017ctn)
Hannah Hodgson
Hannah Hodgson has a life limiting illness and writes remarkable poetry about her experience. She has selected a range of poems that sing, including those reflecting on disability and by disabled poets. We hear from Raymond Antrobus, Amy Acre, Andrew McMillan and Dorothy Wordsworth as well as a little known poem by WB Yeats.
Producer Sally Heaven
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (m001748d)
Locking Up the Sick
Almost half of all the seriously mentally ill people in prison assessed as needing hospital treatment are being refused the help they need. In this episode of File on 4, Shell and "Ian" tell us the reality of living with mental illness whilst in prison, why so many people fail to get the crucial treatment they need whilst inside and what impact that has on them. And prison officer "Mike" describes how a shortage of staff and a lack of training contribute to he and his colleagues struggling to help mentally ill prisoners.
File on 4 research shows that the number of seriously mentally unwell prisoners denied a transfer to hospital has tripled in the past decade, leaving hundreds of desperately unwell people living in deeply unsuitable conditions.
Reporter: Annabel Deas
Producers: Jim Booth, Tom Wall
Editor: Nicola Addyman
For details of organisations that can provide help and support with mental health, self-harm and feelings of despair, visit the BBC Action Line.
Mental health & Self-harm: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1NGvFrTqWChr03LrYlw2Hkk/information-and-support-mental-health-self-harm
Suicide / Emotional distress https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4WLs5NlwrySXJR2n8Snszdg/information-and-support-suicide-emotional-distress
SUN 17:40 Profile (m0017cff)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m0017ctq)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 17:57 Weather (m0017cts)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0017ctv)
Finland has formally announced its intention to apply for membership of NATO. In Sweden the ruling Social Democrats said they were abandoning decades of opposition to membership.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m0017ctx)
Otegha Uwagba
This week we've been enlightened and informed about everything from the perils of social media, to how best to manage our money - with a quick pit stop via some of the most talked about celebrity trials of the year. Plus, we have writers and musicians who share their musical inspirations, providing a fitting soundtrack for the early spring sunshine.
Presenter: Otegha Uwagba
Producer: Emmie Hume
Production Coordinator: Elodie Chatelain
Studio Manager: Simon Highfield
SUN 19:00 The Archers (m0017cpf)
Fallon admits to Pip that she’s beginning to regret her decision to appoint child judges for the perfect pudding competition – it’s been a nightmare! Fallon’s delighted when Pip comes up with the idea of making it so that any child can be a judge, as long as they haven’t entered a pudding themselves. Fallon says she’ll just have to make sure that all of the entries make much bigger desserts to accommodate all of the tasters!
Freddie tries to give Chelsea some constructive feedback about her first shift, but she manages to brush off all his concerns. However she has a few pointers for him – he needs to dress more like a manager and be more authoritative as he comes across as a bit drippy. She finishes by telling him not to worry – with a few tweaks, she’s confident he’ll get there.
Will encourages Mia about her forthcoming GCSEs; he’s sure she’ll do well. He’d put money on her and Jake being the first in the family to go to university. In fact the whole family’s made up about it. Later on a walk to clear her head from revising, Mia bumps into Stella with her new dog Weaver. With gentle probing from Stella, Mia opens up about the pressure she feels under with everyone’s high expectations for her exam results. Stella encourages her to talk about it with her family, as Mia said it had helped talking to her – a chat with someone at home might help even more.
SUN 19:15 Stand-Up Specials (m0017ctz)
Lovecraft (Not the Sex Shop in Cardiff)
Lovecraft (Not the sex shop in Cardiff) is a one woman, comedy-science-music-show about the neuroscience of love and loneliness.
First performed in 2018 at Cardiff’s Festival of Voice, it has been to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Machynlleth Comedy Festival and Adelaide Fringe Festival where it won Best Cabaret award.
The show tackles the stigma around loneliness and breaks it down scientifically for what it is and how Carys Eleri came to recognise it in herself and combat it by finding love in different ways through the medium of rats and songs and science. It is essentially a celebration of community, a wider sense of love and the scientific importance of kindness.
Bringing down this well researched lesson to a 28 minute radio format has been quite the challenge, where songs about tits have been sacrificed to make way for an updated narrative as the show is now visited through the lens of the pandemic with new lessons learned of ways to cope in isolation.
Writer composer and producer: Carys Eleri
Co-producers: Branwen Munn at Goldhill Studios and Jo Southerd at Little Wander.
Neuroscientist consultant: Dr. Dean Burnett
Originally co-produced for stage by Carys Eleri and Wales Millennium Centre
A Little Wander production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 19:45 How One Becomes Lonely (m0017cv1)
Episode 2
Novelist and musician Luke Sutherland’s immersive tale of cowardice, courage and connection tackles the perpetual struggle to make sense of an ever-changing world. From the comfort of his Perthshire home, 81-year old Archie Devine dips into the murkier corners of the internet as he remembers the time he let true love slip through his fingers.
Archie's friends grow worried as he makes connections online with characters from the incel community.
Words and music by Luke Sutherland
Read by Cal MacAninch and Reuben Joseph
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie
SUN 20:00 Feedback (m00174l2)
Should music that accompanies video games be played at the BBC Proms?
On Feedback this week the man in charge of the Proms, Radio 3 Controller Alan Davey, will explain why that sort of music forms part of this year’s programme. Also, whether any Russian music or musicians will be taking part.
He also responds to listeners’ questions and explains how he plans to get more young people listening to his network.
And listeners respond to the censoring of Bob Dylan’s anti-racist classic, Hurricane. Should the N-word ever be heard on the airwaves?
Presenter: Roger Bolton
Producer: Kate Dixon
Executive Producer: Samir Shah
A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m00174l0)
Kathy Boudin, Dennis Waterman (pictured), Sidney Altman, Régine Zylberberg
Matthew Bannister on
Kathy Boudin, the American radical activist who was sent to prison for her part in the killing of a security guard and two police officers during a robbery. While serving her sentence she became a campaigner for penal reform.
Dennis Waterman, the actor best known for his roles in TV series 'The Sweeney', 'Minder' and 'New Tricks'.
Sidney Altman, the American biologist who won the Nobel prize for his work on the function of RNA...
And Régine Zylberberg, the French nightclub owner who claimed to have invented the discotheque.
Producer: Neil George
Interviewed guest: Baroness Helena Kennedy QC.
Interviewed guest: Dr Thomas R. Cech, Ph.D.
Interviewed guest: Hugh Schofield
Archive clips used: CBS Sunday Morning, Weather Underground's accidental bombing 06/03/1970; Center for Justice at Columbia University, Interview with Kathy Boudin 09/05/2022; BBC One, Life and Times of Dennis Waterman 06/12/2000; Danziger Productions Ltd, Night Train To Inverness (1960); Cy Howard Productions / Desilu Productions, Fair Exchange (1962); Minder.org / YouTube clip, Dennis Waterman - Very Early Clip 07/10/2016; BHE Films / Crasto, Up The Junction (1968); Euston Films / Thames TV, The Sweeney (TV series) 1974; Euston Films / Thames TV, Minder 1979; BBC / Wall To Wall, New Tricks 01/04/2004; UC Berkeley Events, Unravelling the Mystery of Ribonucleic Acid 2010; i24NEWS Francais, Histoires Et Decouvertes Régine se raconte 4/04/2021.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m0017cdj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m0017ckb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 The Digital Human (m000sqsb)
Series 22
Troll
In the early days of the internet, trolls were nothing to fear. Comedians, tricksters, harmless pranksters ready to waste a little time or pounce on a typo. Some people enjoyed a bit of provocation to spark some spirited debate. You had flamers and griefers, but in general communities were good at booting out malicious actors, while leaving the trickers to their fun.
But in 2021, things are very different. In the past, a random troll post on 4Chan would quickly sink into obscurity. Now, one proved the start of the QAnon movement that lead to an attempted coup in Washington DC.
Malicious trolls are now the dominant type across our shared internet spaces, their numbers are rising, and their influence spreading both online and off, causing harm to both individuals and wider society.
Aleks Krotoski explores troll evolution, finding out why maliciousness became an evolutionary advantage in the digital space, and asking what happens when being a troll is becoming the new normal.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m0017cv3)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.
SUN 23:00 Loose Ends (m0017cf9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b019rd6n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 16 MAY 2022
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m0017cv6)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (m001745n)
Workplace Misbehaviour
Workplace Misbehaviour: Laurie Taylor talks to Paul Thompson, Emeritus Professor of Employment Studies at the University of Stirling, about workers behaving badly, from pilferage and absenteeism to the deployment of satirical humour and dissent on social media. In what ways has the modern workplace facilitated new kinds of recalcitrance? Also, Rebecca Scott, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Cardiff, explores bullying and aggressive behaviour among chefs employed in fine dining restaurants. Does the isolation of the work itself, combined with the geography of elite kitchens, lead to outrageous conduct that would be condemned elsewhere?
Producer: Jayne Egerton
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m0017cgj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0017cv8)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0017cvb)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0017cvd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (m0017cvg)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0017cvj)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Dr Steve Taylor, author on psychology and spirituality.
Good morning.
Once I was in New York on holiday, sitting in a café on Wall Street watching people rush by, in the middle of their working days. “Where are they all going?” I wondered. Of course, they all had different destinations, but I realised that, in a sense, they were all rushing towards the same place: the future. They were all trying to reach the future as quick as they could, for their next appointment or meeting.
When we rush, it’s difficult to be in the present. To be in the present, you have to slow down. You have to look around, taking in the reality of each moment. You have to be aware. This is the essence of mindfulness – when your mind is full of your experience in the present.
It’s a shame that many of our lives are so full of activity and busyness, because in a sense, life only takes place in the present. The past and the future only really exist in our minds – the past as memory, the future as anticipation.
So today, treat yourself to a few periods of slowness. Every so often, step off the train of incessant activity, to take in the reality of the landscape around you.
Here are some spiritual reflections to contemplate:
Slow down.
Don’t be so desperate to reach the future
that you push the present away.
Treat each moment with respect
as a friend who deserves your attention.
Greet every new experience as a guest
who’s welcome to be part of your life.
Slow down
and feel how the stress of doing
turns into ease of being.
Slow down
and feel how your rigid separateness
softens into spacious belonging.
Slow down
and see how the future fades like a mirage
and how the present arises around you
as clear and fresh as dawn.
Blessings.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m0017cvl)
16/05/22 Water quality; vet shortage; Northumberland show
The Government’s rejected calls to stop intensive poultry and livestock farms being built to protect rivers from pollution - but says it will work with farmers to improve water quality in England. It has published a response to a report from MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee. Ministers say there will be money for farmers to improve their slurry storage and says more advice and funding will be available via the Catchment Sensitive Farming Programme and the new Environmental Land Management schemes. However, the committee says it's concerned that the Government has rejected many of its recommendations around agricultural pollution.
It’s estimated around seven million people a year attend agricultural and county shows in the UK. The Northumberland County Show draws a crowd of 30,000 – in a county of just 300,000 people and that number has been growing in recent years. We speak to the farmers who can't wait to get back into the showground.
There's a shortage of farm vets in the UK which the British veterinary association warns could have an impact on animal welfare. We speak to the British Veterinary Association about the problems and some of the solutions.
Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney
MON 05:56 Weather (m0017cvn)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04t0vhm)
Asian Koel
Michael Palin presents the Asian koel's arrival to an Indian orchard. This long-tailed glossy blue-black bird, is a well-known British harbinger of spring, and like its British counterpart, it is a cuckoo.
The koel's plaintive call is heard from late March until July around villages and in wooded countryside from Pakistan east to Indonesia and southern China. In India, it symbolises the birth of a new season, the flowering of fruit-trees, the bloom of romance and all that's good about spring. The koel's song can be heard in many Bollywood movies and has inspired poems and folk songs; it's even rumoured to help mangoes ripen faster.
This almost universal feel-good factor doesn't extend to its victims, because the koel is after all a cuckoo, and lays its eggs in other birds' nests. Asian Koels are parasitic on a wide range of birds, but in India especially, on House Crows and Jungle Crows.
Producer Andrew Dawes.
MON 06:00 Today (m0017cnp)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m0017cnr)
The body clock and sleep
Every moment of the day tiny biological clocks are ticking throughout the body, but Russell Foster, world-renowned expert in circadian neuroscience, warns that modern life is playing havoc with these ancient and delicate mechanisms. In his latest book, Life Time: The New Science Of The Body Clock And How It Can Revolutionise Your Sleep and Health, Professor Foster reveals how this essential part of our biology works. He tells Tom Sutcliffe how new understandings about our daily routines could help reset how we live and sleep.
ViSiBLE is a professional theatre company dedicated to creating new and provocative works, with and about older people. Its latest performance, Five Characters in Search of a Good Night's Sleep, is at the Southwark Playhouse until 21st May. ViSiBLE’s founder, the playwright Sonja Linden, says the new piece was inspired by the experiences of the actors who as they’ve aged have found sleep more elusive and sleep-inducing techniques more desperate.
Ros Holmes is a lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of St Andrews. Her research focuses on ideas about sleep and insomnia, and how they’ve been represented in the visual culture of twentieth century and contemporary China. From the images of ‘national awakening’ in the early years of the Republic and the always-alert workers of the Cultural Revolution to the cities that never sleep today – sleep deprivation has become part of life in China.
Producer: Katy Hickman
Photo Image: 'Five Characters in Search of a Good Night's Sleep' (credit: Bessell Photography)
MON 09:45 Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe (m0017cnt)
1. A Good Name
Empire of Pain by the acclaimed writer, Patrick Radden Keefe was the winner of the Baille Gifford Prize 2021. Here Radden Keefe tells the saga of three generations of the Sackler family, their wealth, and their role in America's opioid crisis. Kyle Soller reads.
The Sackler family numbered among the richest in the United States, and are famed for their philanthropy. Their names adorn the walls of many of the globe's most prestigious institutions, from Harvard; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre, and the British Museum to name just a few. Less well known is that much of their wealth came from the powerful painkiller, OxyContin. While the drug wasn’t the only opioid behind this public health emergency, it is regarded as the pioneer. What follows is the story of an immigrant family struggling to survive during the depression in the 1930s, and who, as the century progressed turned their lives around when they made their way into the pharmaceutical business. In particular, it was Arthur Sackler's role in the marketing of the blockbuster drug, Valium that was the foundation of the first Sackler fortune. Later, the lessons learned in making Valium a success story were applied to OxyContin in the 1990s, leading to phenomenal wealth for the Sacklers. Meanwhile, on the eve of the new millenium, families across America were beginning to fall victim to what would become the opioid epidemic.
Patrick Radden Keefe is an award-winning writer at the New Yorker. He is the winner of the 2019 Orwell Prize for Political Writing.
Kyle Soller is an American film, stage, and television actor. His accolades include an Olivier Award, and three Evening Standard Theatre Awards.
Abridger: Katrin Williams.
Producer: Elizabeth Allard.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0017cnw)
Girl Bands, Period Tracking Apps, Couples Therapy
After Little Mix said goodbye to their fans with their final show on Saturday before going on hiatus, it seems that for the first time in decades, Britain is without a major girl band. Emma is joined by Melanie Chisholm from the Spice Girls and music journalist, Jacqueline Springer.
We discuss recent work from home data with Dr Jane Parry, Associate Professor of work and employment at Southampton Business school and Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff.
In the wake of the tragic killings of toddlers Star Hobson and Arthur Labinjo Hughes, a government report is expected to be published shortly looking into what went wrong. Social workers had failed to act on warnings from relatives, which meant the children were not removed from their abusive homes. But a BBC One Panorama explores a different perspective - what about when children’s services intervene too far, too fast – and when they act unethically, even unlawfully towards children and their parents, causing lifelong trauma in the process? One local authority in Herefordshire has been severely and repeatedly criticised by a high court judge for breaching children’s human rights through what the judge called “appalling” social work practice. Woman’s Hour talks to Panorama Reporter Louise Tickle about her investigation.
Women in the US have been raising concerns about period and pregnancy tracking apps on phones. BBC Technology reporter Shiona McCallum and Jillian York from the American digital rights group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, join Emma to discuss.
Relationships for many of us are just downright fascinating. Susanna Abse is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and joins Emma to discuss her new book.
Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Emma Pearce
MON 11:00 The Untold (m0017cny)
Island Warden Wanted
If you look out to the horizon from the coast of South Wales or North Somerset, you see two bumps on the horizon - one tall and one flat. These are the islands of Steep Holm and Flat Holm - the former is English, the latter Welsh.
Since 2018, Mat Brown has been the warden of Flat Holm - an island of just 500m across, mainly populated by gulls. He is responsible for the island's nature reserve, its buildings (which include a lighthouse, a foghorn cottage, a Victorian barracks and a ruined cholera hospital), its tiny museum and its tinier pub. With the help of a team of volunteers, he welcomes daytrippers and conservationists to the island and maintains the natural and built environment.
After four years of island life, he's decided that it's time to return to the mainland. Who will take on this very unique job and how will they fare?
Produced by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio
MON 11:30 Don't Log Off (m0017cp0)
Series 13
Roads Less Travelled
Alan Dein shares digital conversations with people from across the world, from the Northwest Territories of Canada to Kolkata in India. Alan reconnects with Leo in Moldova, who discusses his experience as a trans man and his time spent in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa. He also hears from Shugofa, an Afghan refugee living in Rome, Akhil who loves playing the blues on his guitar and Maureen, a Blackburn-born nurse who works above the 60th parallel in Canada.
Presented by Alan Dein
Producer: Sam Peach
MON 12:00 News Summary (m0017cp3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:04 You and Yours (m0017cp5)
Eating Meat, Inclusive Rents and Business Going Bust
More businesses are going bust. A record number closed in the first quarter now the Federation of Small Businesses say more will go in the next three months
More tenants are looking for bills inclusive deals but are they a good idea?
Are we being misled about some of the environmental and health benefits of giving up meat ?
The Channel 4 Comedy Derry Girls has ended after three series but its impact on Londonderry/Derry is far from over.
Are reviews of the energy price cap going to help consumers or the companies?
You and Yours has received complaints about the operation of an online pharmacist; we are not alone. Complaints about the industry are ten times more numerous than those laid against high street chemist.
PRODUCER: KEV IN MOUSLEY
PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON
MON 12:57 Weather (m0017cp7)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m0017cp9)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
MON 13:45 The Future Will Be Synthesised (m0017cpc)
Private pain - deepfake image abuse
What do we want the synthetic future to look like? It’s seeping into our everyday lives, but are we ready? We need a conversation about the legal, policy and ethical implications for society.
Deepfakes’ murky origins are in a form of sexual image abuse that is being used against hundreds of thousands of people, most of them women. Presenter and synthetic media expert Henry Ajder speaks to journalist Sam Cole, who first reported on deepfakes in 2018. She uncovered a Reddit forum sharing pornographic videos with the faces of famous Hollywood actresses transposed on to the bodies of porn performers. Since then the technology has become much more accessible and ordinary women have become the target. Henry interviews a woman who was targeted with deepfake image abuse, and considers what we can do to protect citizens from synthetic media’s malicious uses.
Interviewees: Sam Cole, Vice; Noelle Martin, campaigner; Jesselyn Cook, NBC
MON 14:00 The Archers (m0017cpf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 The Reckoning (m0017cph)
3. The Price of Silence
It's London, 1593. Christopher Marlowe, a young writer, is fatally stabbed in a Deptford lodging house because of a disagreement over the bill. There's an investigation, the witnesses are interrogated, and the suspect walks free. The authorities find that Marlowe was the aggressor and was killed in self-defence.
History says it was just a drunken quarrel, nothing more. But Charles Nicholl thinks it was murder, and an unsolved murder never grows old.
The storm clouds are gathering. In Episode 3, we enter the last few weeks of Marlowe’s life, the weeks that end with his violent death in Deptford.
Christopher Marlowe . . . . . Chris Lew Kum Hoi
Robert Poley . . . . . Burn Gorman
Robert Cecil . . . . . John Heffernan
Thomas Phelippes . . . . . Carl Prekopp
Richard Baines . . . . . Michael Begley
Thomas Kyd . . . . . Matthew Durkan
John Puckering . . . . . Neil McCaul
Official . . . . . Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong
Mrs Bull . . . . . Ruth Everett
Dramatised by Mike Walker, based on The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe by Charles Nicholl
Sound by Peter Ringrose
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko
MON 15:00 Round Britain Quiz (m0017cpk)
Programme 8, 2022
(8/12)
If Venice is an explorer, New Orleans a trumpeter, Pisa an astronomer, Warsaw a composer, Louisville a boxer and Granada a playwright, what's Belfast?
This is just one of the puzzles Kirsty Lang has in store for the panellists in today's cryptic contest. The Northern Ireland pairing of Paddy Duffy and Freya McClements were beaten by Paul Sinha and Marcus Berkmann of the South of England in their previous encounter a few weeks ago: can they turn the tables today? Kirsty will guide them through the apparently impenetrable questions if they need her to, but the more help she has to give them, the more points she'll be taking away.
The programme as always includes a number of questions suggested by Round Britain Quiz listeners, which are often even more devious than those set by the in-house team.
Producer: Paul Bajoria
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m0017cpm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 A Life in Miniatures (m00174d8)
People become writers for myriad reasons - novelist Max Porter suspects that for him the crucial spur was his fascination with Bekonscot model village, which he visited scores of times as a child. It was there that he discovered the pleasure and value of people watching at a life-size and miniature scale.
In A Life In Miniatures he returns to Bekonscot to celebrate not just the care, craft and love that have gone into its construction, but also the opportunity it affords to create complicated stories out of the various people and scenes on show.
He interrogates whether these places are necessarily escapist and reactionary or offer a more radical opportunity to critique society. He visits Jimmy Cauty of KLF fame to hear about the dystopian model village he has toured around the world in a shipping container and talks with Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain, about the miniature appearance of a miniature village that appears in that book.
Max also speaks with academic Melinda Rabb about the rise of miniatures in 18th Century England - and how smart phones are keeping the tradition alive in various unexpected ways.
Produced by Geoff Bird
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (m0017cpp)
Autism and Faith
How easy is it for autistic people to believe in God?
The National Autistic Society describe autism as a lifelong developmental disability that affects how people communicate and interact with the world. They say 1 in 100 of us may be autistic and the diagnosis of autism has risen dramatically in recent decades.
How are religious organisations responding to the needs of a growing number of their congregations?
Ernie Rae is joined by a panel of three autistic guests to discuss their experiences: Professor Grant Macaskill, the co-director of the Centre for Autism and Theology at the University of Aberdeen; Samantha Stein, a YouTuber with over seven million views, who set up an atheist summer camp; and Iqra Babar, a digital artist with a strong Muslim faith.
We also hear from TV quizzer Anne Hegarty, who is autistic and a Catholic, about her relationship with faith.
Producer: Rebecca Maxted
Assistant Producer: Josie Le Vay
Editor: Helen Grady
MON 17:00 PM (m0017cpr)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0017cpt)
PM continues efforts to restore power sharing government at Stormont. Bank of England delivers "apocalyptic" warning about food price increases because of war in Ukraine.
MON 18:30 Just a Minute (m0017cpw)
Series 89
Nosey Neighbours, Tap Dancing and Charlie Chaplin
Sue Perkins challenges Paul Merton, Pippa Evans, Tony Hawks and Suzi Ruffell to speak for 60 seconds without repetition, deviation or hesitation.
The long running Radio 4 national treasure of a parlour game is back for a new series with subjects this week ranging from Nosey Neighbours to Charlie Chaplin.
Production co-ordinator: Caroline Barlow
Sound editor: Marc Willcox
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production
MON 19:00 The Archers (m0017cmg)
When Will asks Mia how her revision’s going, assuring her she’s going to smash her exams, Mia says she’s been having a think about stuff. She reminds him of how stressed she got after her mum died and says with her exams coming up, she’s started feeling like that again. Will’s relieved she’s told him, and wants to help. When she explains her fears about letting everyone down if she doesn’t get her grades, Will’s reassuring; they’re so proud of her, she could never disappoint them. When he suggests taking her for a fancy afternoon tea at Lower Loxley as a treat, Mia agrees, telling him it’s really thoughtful of him.
Chris, Alice and Brian meet with the forensic accountant to discuss the valuation of the Home Farm partnership and its businesses. Brian’s incensed when Chris tries to bring the three Home Farm cottages and Spiritual Home into the equation. When Chris accuses Brian of trying to hide assets, Brian says he should’ve trusted his instincts; Chris was never good enough for Alice and is a parasite. Chris retorts he’s only after what he’s entitled to. Alice tries unsuccessfully to calm them both down and Chris turns on her, accusing her of letting Brian kick off on her behalf. Chris storms off telling Brian that he’s not going to push him around anymore. After he goes, Alice says how awful it was and Brian tries to comfort her by saying it was never likely to be plain sailing. When Alice notices Brian’s shaking, she asks whether it has to be this painful.
MON 19:15 Front Row (m0017cpy)
Top Gun Maverick, Joseph Wright of Derby Painting, Kingsway Tram Subway, Louise Erdrich
36 years after playing pilot Pete Mitchell in the first Top Gun film, Tom Cruise returns to the role. Now Mitchell is one of the US Navy's top aviators, a courageous test pilot and instructor. He can dodge planes in the air but avoiding the advancement in rank that would ground him proves more difficult for him. Larushka Ivan Zadeh reviews the film.
Joseph Wright of Derby was a fine portrait painter but is best known as the first artist to paint scenes of the Industrial Revolution and its scientific processes, such as in his most famous work, An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump. Today one of his paintings, in a private collection since 1772, became the centre piece of the Joseph Wright collection at Derby Museums and Art Gallery. On one side there is a self-portrait, on the other a study for An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump. Curator Lucy Bamford explains why this is such a significant acquisition.
So that the exhibits are not confined to within the museum building, London Transport Museum is running guided tours of the Kingsway Tram Tunnel in Central London. Opened in 1906 the last tram ran through it in 1952. Since it was abandoned it has been a secret space in the heart of the city. Samira visits the tunnel with transport historian Tim Dunn and Siddy Holloway of the London Transport Museum and discovers part of the capital’s hidden heritage.
Louise Erdrich is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band and of Chippewa, and is the latest of our authors shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2022 for The Sentence. The novel is about a bookshop, a haunting, and the events that unfurled in Minneapolis between All Souls’ Day in 2019 and 2020, including of course the death of George Floyd.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Julian May
MON 20:00 London on the Line (m0017cg2)
This summer marks a decade since the 2012 Olympics - a moment of national pride when London represented Britain on the global stage. Ten years on from those Olympian heights, the capital is struggling. Scarred by the pandemic and entrenched inequality, London faces challenges which are often overlooked or ignored. Meanwhile a cultural backlash, an anti-Londonism, threatens a crisis of confidence - at a time when the city's success looks far from guaranteed.
London expert Dr Jack Brown, who was born and still lives in the Olympic borough of Waltham Forest, talks to fellow residents about life in the capital. He hears from those who defy the 'liberal metropolitan elite' stereotypes - those who stay local and rarely, if ever, venture into Zone One, those of deep faith, and the gentrifiers who now can't afford their rent. He asks why London has attracted, magnet-like, so many negative associations, and how views of the city might change. Can London recapture the spirit of 2012? Can capital and country be at ease again?
Producer: Emily Craig
Executive producer: Leala Padmanabhan
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (m00174d6)
Cambodia: Returning the Gods
While some countries fight to reclaim antiquities that were stolen centuries ago, Cambodian investigators are dealing with far more recent thefts. Many of the country’s prized treasures were taken by looters in the 1980s and 1990s and then sold on to some of the world’s most prestigious museums, including the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert museum. At the centre of many of the sales was a rogue British art dealer.
Celia Hatton joins the Cambodian investigative team and gains unprecedented access to looters who have become government witnesses. The Phnom Penh government has now launched a legal campaign in the UK to get some of its most prized statues back. For many Cambodians these are not simply blocks of stone or pieces of metal, they are living spirits and integral to the Khmer identity. The Gods, they say, are cold and lonely in foreign collections and they want to come home.
Producer: John Murphy
Producer in Cambodia: Eva Krysiak
MON 21:00 The Long View (m0014g04)
Cancel Culture
Cancel culture is not new or unique to the modern day. For as long as humans have had society, we’ve cancelled those who violated its unwritten rules and norms.
Jonathan Freedland explores what history can tell us about how today's cancel culture might play out. He looks for historical precursors, starting with the the story of Galileo, whose insistence in the early 17th Century that the Earth goes round the Sun and not vice versa, got him into deep trouble with the Catholic Church.
Contributors:
Paula Findlen, Professor of History at Stanford University in California
Terence Dooley , Professor of History at Maynooth University in County Kildare
Sir Antony Beevor, historian and author.
Producer: Sarah Shebbeare
MON 21:30 Start the Week (m0017cnr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m0017cq1)
Boris Johnson visits Northern Ireland
Government planning to override parts of agreement governing post-Brexit trade in NI
MON 22:45 Love Marriage by Monica Ali (m0017cq6)
1: First impressions
Meera Syal reads Monica Ali’s first new novel for a decade, a bighearted and hilarious story of two very different families brought together by marriage.
Yasmin Ghorami has brilliant career in medicine, and is engaged to a charming junior doctor, Joe Sangster. But as their wedding approaches, and the two families are thrown together, they all find themselves confronting long-held secrets, lies and betrayals.
Today: Yasmin prepares herself for the long-feared meeting between her traditional Muslim parents and her fiance's firebrand feminist mother, Harriet.
Author: Monica Ali is the author of several novels including Brick Lane, shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
Reader: Meera Syal is an acclaimed comedian, writer, playwright, and actress, who rose to prominence as one of the team that created Goodness Gracious Me. She has a CBE for services to drama and literature.
Abridger: Katrin Williams
Producer: Justine Willett
MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (m0017480)
What is language actually good for?
Acclaimed Australian linguist Professor Nick Enfield has come to the conclusion that language is good for lawyers, for the purposes of persuasion, but bad for scientists who seek to accurately represent reality. It's a fascinating idea he explores in his new book Language vs Reality. What can language describe and where does it fail? Presenter Michael Rosen explores this with him in an in-depth conversation.
Producer Beth O'Dea
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m0017cqb)
Susan Hulme reports on the Governor of the Bank of England's warning that the situation regarding rising food prices is 'apocalyptic'.
TUESDAY 17 MAY 2022
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m0017cqg)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 00:30 Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe (m0017cnt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0017cql)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0017cqq)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0017cqv)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m0017cqz)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0017cr4)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Dr Steve Taylor, author on psychology and spirituality.
Good morning.
About 20 years ago, I was sitting in my flat one afternoon when a loud whistling-screaming noise started up in my left ear, as if someone had pressed a button. I assumed it would go away, but it became my constant companion. I realised that I had tinnitus, probably because I played in loud rock bands in my youth.
For about a year, tinnitus drove me crazy. When I went to bed at night, I tuned a radio to the white noise between stations (which wasn’t very pleasant for my wife.)
Eventually, I realised that I had no choice but to try to accept my tinnitus. So one night I went to bed and didn’t turn the radio on. I put my head down on the pillow and allowed the noise to submerge me. I did the same over the next few nights. And soon, to my surprise, I found that the tinnitus no longer bothered me much. I accepted it as a part of my reality, and its power to disturb me ebbed away. I can hear it now, as I speak, but it doesn’t affect me.
This story illustrates the power of acceptance. There will always be some aspects of our lives which we find uncomfortable, but which we don’t – at least for the moment – have any control over. Resistance to situations we can’t change creates unnecessary conflict and discord.
So perhaps today you can try to practice what, in the following reflections, I call ‘The Alchemy of Acceptance.’
A task may seem tedious
a chore to rush through reluctantly
or a task may seem rewarding
a process to relish, with an attentive mind
and the only difference between them is acceptance.
Life can be frustrating and full of obstacles
with desires for different life constantly disturbing your mind
or life can be fulfilling, full of opportunities
with a constant flow of gratitude for the gifts you have -
and the only difference between them is acceptance.
Blessings.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m0017cr9)
17/05/22 - vets' mental health, global wheat prices and oilseed rape
Rising costs and a volatile world market means farmers need to make significant decisions about how they plan ahead when planting crops. With India suffering from a blazing heatwave, its' government has now decided to temporarily halt exports of wheat as its supplies come under pressure, which has caused wheat prices worldwide to jump.
And the war in Ukraine is also affecting prices. As a major producer of sunflower oils, disruption to supplies means the price of oil seed rape has seen a big increase.
And this week we're talking about staff shortages in the vet industry, and the mental health challenges vets are facing.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced for BBC Audio by Caitlin Hobbs
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b0378xj7)
Northern Wheatear
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Michaela Strachan presents the northern wheatear. With their black masks, white bellies, apricot chests and grey backs, male wheatears are colourful companions on a hill walk. The birds you see in autumn may have come from as far as Greenland or Arctic Canada. They pass through the British Isles and twice a year many of them travel over 11,000 kilometres between Africa and the Arctic. It's one of the longest regular journeys made by any perching bird.
TUE 06:00 Today (m0017clj)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Long View (m0017cln)
Inflation and the cost of living crisis
With the warning of potential double digit inflation on the way and the already very real cost of living crisis, Jonathan Freedland is joined by Economic Historians Albrecht Ritschl and Duncan Needham to compare today's situation with the context, causes and impact of UK inflation spikes in the 1920s and the 1970s.
Economies rarely fall prey to single drivers, but war, pandemic, international oil price and food costs have all been part of Britain's story in the past. Jonathan discovers how politicians dealt with inflation in the 1920s and 1970s, what the costs of their interventions were, and to what extent the insights of hindsight might help an approach to today's growing pressures.
Producer: Tom Alban
TUE 09:30 One Direction (m0017cls)
West
Author Jerry Brotton presents a five part series exploring each of the four cardinal directions in turn – north, east, south and west – and the possibility that, in the age of digital mapping, we are being left disoriented.
Throughout history the cardinal directions have been crucial to virtually all societies in understanding themselves in relation to the wider world. More than points on a compass, they are ideas in their own right – creating their own political, moral and cultural meanings. They’ve shaped how we divide the world geopolitically into East and West (Orient and Occident) while contrasting the ‘Global South’ with the industrialised ‘Global North’ drives much current development policy, especially around climate change.
In the final part of the series Jerry looks West. Forming a direct axis with East and the rising sun, West is the direction where the sun sets, anticipating the descent into darkness and symbolically, the end of life. As a result hardly any early societies chose it as a sacred orientation for prayer and even fewer placed it at the top of their maps. Broadly understood as originating in Europe then incorporating North America, 'West’ is more often imagined as a frontier or threshold than a fixed geographical place (in America, tied to the notion of ‘manifest destiny’). But it has given birth to that most powerful yet intangible of concepts, the western world. As a political identity it's more contested today than any of the other cardinal directions.
So why is north at the top of most world maps? The four cardinal points on a compass are defined by the physical realities of the magnetic North Pole (north-south) and the rising and setting of the sun (east-west) but there is no reason why north is at the top of maps, any other cardinal point would do just as well. The convention was developed by the western world. So why not put west at the top? Well, early societies refused to privilege the west because it was the direction of the sunset, where death reigned. For medieval Christianity, east was at the top, because that was the direction of the Garden of Eden, shown on many mappae-mundi. On early Islamic maps south was at the top, while Chinese maps used north because the emperor looked 'down' southwards and everyone else looked 'up', north.
Series contributors include Google spatial technologist Ed Parsons, historian Sujit Sivasundaram, neuroscientist Hugo Spiers, author Rana Kabbani, geographer Alistair Bonnett, head of the China Institute at SOAS Steve Tsang, former head of maps at the British library Peter Barber, barrister and specialist in equality law Ulele Burnham, historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, author Irna Qureshi, wayfinder and science writer Michael Bond, librarian at Hereford Cathedral Rosemary Firman and historian of Islamic maps Yossef Rappaort.
Presenter: Jerry Brotton
Producer: Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 09:45 Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe (m0017clx)
2. A Revolutionary Medicine
Patrick Radden Keefe's award winning telling of America's opioid epidemic tells the story of the Sackler family, how they amassed their fortune, and the role of their pharmaceutical company in the public health crisis that spanned the nation. Today, it's the 1970s and the second generation Sacklers are seeking out new opportunities for the family business. Kyle Soller reads.
The Sackler family are famed for their philanthropy. The Sackler name adorns the walls of many of the globe's most prestigious institutions, from Harvard, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre, and the British Museum to name just a few. Less well known is that much of their wealth derived from the powerful painkiller, OxyContin. While it wasn’t the only opioid behind this public health emergency, it is regarded as the pioneer. What follows is the story of an immigrant family struggling to survive during the depression, and who, as the 20th century progressed made their way into the pharmaceutical business. It was Arthur Sackler's role in the marketing of Valium that made the first Sackler fortune. Later, the lessons learned in making this blockbuster drug a success were applied to OxyContin, leading to phenomenal wealth for the family. Meanwhile, on the eve of the new millenium, families across America were beginning to fall victim to what would become the opioid epidemic.
Patrick Radden Keefe is the winner of the 2019 Orwell Prize for Political Writing and the 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize.
Kyle Soller is an American film, stage, and television actor. His accolades include an Olivier Award, and three Evening Standard Theatre Awards.
Abridger: Katrin Williams.
Producer: Elizabeth Allard.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0017clz)
Kate Rusby, Gay Women and Sport, Motor Racing
Kate Rusby is one of the UK’s leading folk singers. She joins Andrea Catherwood to talk about her latest album 30: Happy Returns. She's collaborated with musicians such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo, K. T. Tunstall and Richard Hawley to sing new versions of her old songs and to celebrate thirty years of making music.
The footballer Jake Daniels has come out as gay. He's the first current male professional footballer to do so, which shows you how unusual it is. So, is it harder to be yourself in the men's game compared to the women's? With us on Woman's Hour is the footballer Lianne Sanderson who's won 50 international caps for England and was the first professional female player to come out 12 years ago, and Dr Rachael Bullingham, who's a senior lecturer at the University of Gloucestershire and specialises in homophobia in women's sport.
We speak to the BBC's Sarah Rainsford who's covering the war in Ukraine about the Wives of Azov. Their husbands are part of the Azov Regiment who are seen as heroes in Ukraine because they've been defending Mariupol, but they've been trapped for more than two months in a steel works. Overnight some of them managed to get out of there.
Paula McGowan's autistic son died when because he was given anti-psychotic drugs, despite warnings from him and his family. His death was described as ‘avoidable’. Paula is now on the brink of achieving her goal which is that all health and social care staff must, by law, undergo mandatory training in autism and learning disability awareness. We speak to Paula, as well as Alexis Quinn, who's been involved in piloting the training.
TUE 11:00 Putin (p0c0037m)
Episode 10: Preying on Hopes and Fears
In 2021 Vladimir Putin retreats to his bunker as the Covid-19 pandemic spreads through Russia. How did this isolation affect his thinking, and what role could it have played in his decision to invade Ukraine?
To understand how Putin views history and his place in it, Jonny Dymond is joined by:
Nina Khrushcheva, Professor of International Affairs, The New School; former BBC Moscow correspondent Sarah Rainsford; and Alexander Vindman, former director of European Affairs at the US National Security Council.
Production coordinators: Sophie Hill and Siobhan Reed
Sound engineer: Rod Farquhar
Producers: Sandra Kanthal, Caroline Bayley, Joe Kent
Series Editor: Emma Rippon
Commissioning Editor: Richard Knight
TUE 11:30 Mary Portas: On Style (m0017cm2)
Staying In and Going Out
This week we're embracing the return of event dressing with fashion designer Jenny Packham, who has been creating beautiful gowns for the past 35 years. She talks bespoke bridal, sustainable sequins, and what she's learnt from failure.
Dieter Rams is a hero in the design world. His 10 principals of design have become a foundational text for designers the world over. This month he turns 90 and we talk to Dejah Sudijc about his most influential designs and his practise that aimed for sustainability at a time when the rest of the world was becoming enthralled by disposable plastic.
Finally former Vogue colleagues Lucinda Chambers and Serena Hood on their cross-generational partnership at Collagerie, Spring style, and why the time was right for the comeback of the flared jean.
Presenter: Mary Portas
Producer: Jessica Treen
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m0017cm4)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m0017cm6)
Would more flexible working or a four-day week work for you?
Would more flexible working or a 4 day week be good for you? A major report called The Working Families Index is out today .
It looks at the increase in flexible working patterns in the UK and who can access them. That comes ahead of a major UK trial of the 4 day week by thousands of employees for 60 firms.
Would a shorter week or more flexible patterns help you out?
Have you got experience of the 4 day week? How did it work for you?
If you're an employer do you think it's a benefit or a complete nightmare for your business?
Email us and leave your contact number youandyours@bbc.co.uk
Or after 11 on Tuesday, call us on 03700 100 444
TUE 12:57 Weather (m0017cm8)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m0017cmb)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Jonny Dymond.
TUE 13:45 The Future Will Be Synthesised (m0017cmd)
Deepfakes for disinformation
Ever since the 2018 mid-term elections in the US, people have been sounding the alarm that a deepfake could be used to disrupt or compromise a democratic process. These fears have not yet come to pass, but recently deepfakes of Zelensky and Putin were deployed as the Ukrainian conflict escalated. How much disruption did these deepfakes cause? How convincing were they? And are they an omen of things to come? Could deepfakes enhance disinformation campaigns that already cause significant harm? Presenter and synthetic media expert Henry Ajder unpicks the most recent deepfake video and speaks to a journalist who reported on an unusual news report which used a deepfake news presenter to attempt to spread disinformation in Mali.
Interviewees: Kateryna Fedotenko, Ukraine 24; Sam Gregory, Witness; Catherine Bennett, Le Monde/ France 24
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m0017cmg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (m000jmt7)
An Accident that Wasn't Your Fault
by Margaret Perry. A chance encounter in a random phonecall may prove good fortune or bad luck for Jess and Lydia. A sweet romance about taking control of destiny.
Cast
Lydia ..... Charlotte O'Leary
Jess ..... Vanessa Schofield
Gary ..... John Dougall
Jess' Mum ..... Maggie Service
Sharon ..... Elizabeth Counsell
Catherine ..... Bettrys Jones
Nate ..... Hasan Dixon
Writer, Margaret Perry
Director, Jessica Dromgoole
TUE 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (m0017cd8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:30 on Saturday]
TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (m0017chj)
Sustainable Sport for the Future
Two of the biggest sports events of the year, the Commonwealth games in Birmingham and the FIFA world cup in Qatar have pledged to be the most sustainable and green sporting events to date. Both have made bold statements 'the first sustainable commonwealth games' and the ‘first carbon-neutral FIFA World Cup'.
Qasa Alom finds out if they can really deliver and just how sustainable and green these global sports events will be. Starting off with his home city of Birmingham Qasa discovers some of the changes taking place, from stadium infrastructure to transport and offsetting. Will these commonwealth games be the first games with a carbon neutral legacy and set a benchmark for future games?
The sporting world is starting to rise to the challenge, and it must, already major International tournaments are being adversely affected by a warming climate. At the FIFA World Cup in Qatar teams will be playing in artificially cooled stadiums with games held, controversially, in the cooler month of November and December. Qasa finds out if future world class sports events will require radical solutions in a changing climate, and what sporting events can do to curb their own emissions.
Producers for BBC Audio in Bristol: Perminder Khatkar and Helen Lennard
TUE 16:00 Bound to the Mast (m0017cmj)
Why are people with mental illness committing themselves in advance, when well, to treatment that they know they may want to refuse when they become unwell? Sally Marlow investigates.
Juan was diagnosed with bipolar in his late teens. In the decade that followed, he suffered an episode of severe mental illness once nearly every year, plagued by intense paranoid thoughts that distorted his thinking. Each time this happened, it got to the point that he could no longer care for himself and he was detained or ‘sectioned’ under the Mental Health Act for his own safety.
Juan has enjoyed good mental health for the past three years and he hopes that it will stay that way. But, as a precaution, he has joined a pilot study taking place at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. It's part of the reforms to the Mental Health Act which are underway to give service users more control, when well, over what happens to them when they become seriously ill.
Sally Marlow talks to Juan who, as part of the pilot, has written an advance choice document. In this he summarises what it was like for him when he was unwell and how he’d like to be treated if it ever happens again. The document can include a range of preferences, within reason, such as which medication a person might prefer while in hospital and a request for admission earlier in an episode to avoid reaching crisis point. The person records their preferences when well so that they can be read and acted upon by the health professionals treating them if they become unwell in the future. Where reasonable, their preferences must be followed.
This might seem straightforward but, as medical ethicist Tania Gergel explains, some people may choose to include a so-called ‘self-binding’ element, saying “this is what I want to happen, and when I’m ill over-rule me even if I say otherwise”. The powerful image of Odysseus bound to the mast to resist the Sirens’ song, captures the overwhelming role that distorted thinking can play in mental illness, and the therapeutic potential that binding oneself to a treatment decision in advance might have.
It’s hoped that advance choice documents, including this 'self-binding' element, will help people who have fluctuating periods of mental ill health, such as those with bipolar, and a recent survey of hundreds of people with the condition largely agree.
PRESENTER: Sally Marlow
PRODUCER: Beth Eastwood
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (m0017cml)
Rob Newman on Franklin D Roosevelt
Comedian and writer Rob Newman is a long-time fan of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who "saved the United States, just in time for the United States to save the world".
When FDR came into office in 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, unemployment stood at more than 25% and drought in the Dust Bowl had decimated American agriculture across the Great Plains. While known for his folksy charm, Roosevelt was a shrewd and determined politician, who transformed federal government, the US financial system and the relationship between the American people and their president forever. His raft of early interventions, known as the New Deal, have become the benchmark for US presidents' first 100 days in office ever since.
As 'Forester in Chief', FDR's administration initiated mass tree planting and soil conservation - all while providing employment for 3 million young men. Rob talks to Matthew Parris about how FDR's radical and ambitious environmentalism continues to inspire him, and how this man defied his sheltered upper class upbringing to reach out to working Americans and address their struggles directly.
They are joined by Professor David B. Woolner, Senior Fellow and Resident Historian of the Roosevelt Institute and author of The Last 100 Days: FDR at War and at Peace, to discuss FDR's personal triumphs, his hidden struggles and his international legacy. Could or should he have predicted the divided Europe that followed hot on the heels of a hard-fought peace?
With thanks to the archivists at the Franklin D Roosevelt Presidential Library.
Presented by Matthew Parris.
Produced by Sarah Goodman for BBC Audio Bristol.
TUE 17:00 PM (m0017cmn)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0017cmq)
The government has set out its plans to alter trade rules agreed with the EU after Brexit.
TUE 18:30 Daphne Sounds Expensive (b08xctdw)
Series 2
Black Country
The Daphne boys host a charity gala night in George's native Wolverhampton, where guests include award-winning author Caitlin Moran. All seems to be going swimmingly before George makes a shocking confession.
As usual they are joined by their live band, The Daphnettes and renown opera singer Sir Willard White.
Written by and starring: Jason Forbes, Phil Wang & George Fouracres
with Celeste Dring, Jack Kirwan, Sir Willard White and special guest the actual Caitlin Moran
Original music composed by Jeff Carpenter
Orchestrator: Simon Nathan
The Daphnettes were the London Musical Theatre Orchestra:
Musical Director - Freddie Tapner
Violin - Debs White
Cello - Nick Squires
Trumpet - Michael Maddocks
Trombone - Elliot Pooley
Tenor Sax - Joe Atkin Reeves
Drum Kit - Ben Hartley
Percussion - Ben Burton
Piano - Jon Ranger
Bass - Jack Cherry
The Production Coordinator was Hayley Sterling
It was produced by Matt Stronge and was a BBC Studios production.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m0017cgt)
Ian tells Alice that he and Adam hope to be up and running with the pizza van project in time for the Ambridge Fete. Alice is mortified when she learns Ian and Adam were asked to buy out her share of Home farm.
Alice promises Chris that he won’t lose out financially in the divorce but asks him to leave her family out of it. Chris points out she brought Brian along to the forensic accountant – he thinks she’s just as devious as Brian. Jakob tries to calm them down and says Kate’s a nervous wreck because Chris brought Spiritual Home into it. Chris retorts that Kate was nasty about Amy – he’s not going easy on any of them! Later Chris apologises to Jakob – he’s just trying to get what he’s entitled to.
Lily comments on Freddie’s new jacket. Freddie admits that Chelsea suggested he try a more managerial look. Lily says she’d heard Chelsea runs rings around him! Later when Lily tells Freddie she knows he’s trying really hard, Freddie admits he envies her; she’s so good at everything. Lily says the envy works both ways – he’s always got the attention, not to mention the estate! They agree to combine their talents. However when Freddie nearly messes up a booking, Lily says he’s got a long way to go. Freddie’s determined to show her – Lower Loxley will thrive thanks to him. He bets her a million pounds that in two years’ time the success of Lower Loxley will be all of his making – whereas Lily thinks he’ll still be reliant on her expertise. They shake on it.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m0017cms)
Kay Mellor remembered
Television screenwriter Kay Mellor, the woman behind popular series like Band of Gold, Fat Friends and The Syndicate, is remembered by fellow dramatist Sally Wainwright, Kat Rose Martin holder of the Kay Mellor Fellowship and television critic Julia Raeside.
The idea of a minimum wage for artists is discussed by Aisa Villarosa Director of External Relations at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Dr Joe Chrisp of the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Bath and Angela Dorgan, Chair of the National Campaign for The Arts, in Dublin
Nick talks to Chloe Moss writer of a new play, Corinna Corinna, at the Liverpool Everyman about the only woman on board a ship bound for Singapore.
Presenter : Nick Ahad
Producer Ekene Akalawu
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m0017cmv)
Ukraine: Taking in the Trauma
More than 150 thousand people have signed up to the UK’s ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme - hoping to open their doors to those desperately fleeing the war. But it’s a process that has been dogged with delays, and is raising serious safeguarding concerns as vulnerable women and children try to match up with potential hosts through unregulated sites online. By following those escaping the conflict, and the host families trying to help them, File on 4 investigates the difficulties this new scheme is facing, and examines how schools, councils and health services are coping with the arrival of so many traumatised families.
Reporter: Adrian Goldberg
Producer: Mick Tucker
Editor: Maggie Latham
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m0017cmx)
Travelling
It could be about time to start planning that long overdue holiday and whether you prefer to stay in the UK or go abroad, we have three experienced visually impaired travellers on hand to share their advice of making the most of a holiday.
The North Wales Accessible Holidays for Blind and Visually Impaired is a charity run by Nigel Garry and his wife, Karen. They can offer free fully adapted accessible caravan holidays. Nigel tells us about his charity and his own preferences to holiday within the UK.
Nicola Naylor is a Paralympian horse rider who has travelled far and wide, both alone and with family and friends. She tells us about her travel experiences; amongst them, how she went about not making her young daughter feel the responsibility of being her guide.
Rosie Fluskey globetrots with her husband, Karl. They produce a travel blog called Flying Fluskey, to document their trips and to share travel tips and advice for people who perhaps don't feel confident to go overseas.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Liz Poole
Website image description: a close-up shot of two mature women disembarking an airplane. The woman on the left is visually impaired and is holding her folded up cane in her right hand. Both women are wearing casual clothing.
TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (m0017ch0)
Manifestation; Overconfidence; Radio drama changing attitudes
Instagram is awash with people sharing dream homes, holidays, partners and jobs which they claim to have 'manifested' into being. Proponants of manifestation say that thinking positive thoughts attracts tangible positive things into your life. They believe that 'asking the universe' for what you want via journaling, mood boards, and mantras can have a powerful real-world impact. Hayley Sparkes is a successful TV presenter and model but when the pandemic started she found herself with no work or income and turned to manifestation to try to improve her situation. Now she credits manifestation with bringing her a dream partner, home, and job, and all in under a year. Claudia Hammond and her studio guest David Robson ask whether there is any research evidence that manifestation really can change your life.
Last week a passenger in Florida landed a place safely after the pilot become unresponsive. Do you think you could do the same thing in an emergency? Researchers in New Zealand found that people are surprisingly confident about their ability to fly a plane with no training. Claudia talks to one of the researchers, Kayla Jordan from the University of Waikato.
Finally, new research showing a radio soap opera in Burkina Faso changed attitudes towards violent insurgency. Psychologist Rezarta Bilali from New York University talks to Claudia about the power of radio to change minds.
Producer: Lorna Stewart
Air Traffic Control Source: Liveatc.net
TUE 21:30 The Long View (m0017cln)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m0017cmz)
More Ukrainian soldiers evacuated from Azovstal
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective.
TUE 22:45 Love Marriage by Monica Ali (m0017cn1)
2: Revelations
Meera Syal reads Monica Ali’s first new novel for a decade, a bighearted and hilarious story of two very different families brought together by marriage.
Yasmin Ghorami has brilliant career in medicine, and is engaged to a charming junior doctor, Joe Sangster. But as their wedding approaches, and the two families are thrown together, they all find themselves confronting long-held secrets, lies and betrayals.
Today: Yasmin is struggling to keep up with family revelations, first from her brother, then her mother, and worst of all from Joe...
Author: Monica Ali
Reader: Meera Syal
Abridger: Katrin Williams
Producer: Justine Willett
TUE 23:00 Fortunately... with Fi and Jane (m0017cn3)
233. Galloping Gourmet and Merthyr Motoring, with Andi & Miquita Oliver
This week on the Fortunately podcast, Fi and Jane are joined by mother-daughter broadcasters Andi Oliver and Miquita Oliver. Andi is the presenter of Great British Menu, the Sky Arts Book Club and upcoming Radio 4 podcast One Dish. Miquita has hosted the legendary Popworld, the Sunday Times Culture Show and Sunday Brunch. Topics include their recent journey to the Caribbean for BBC Two, rally driving and spending time in a Victorian workhouse. Before the Olivers arrive there's a train conundrum and paragraph that's impossible to read aloud.
Get in touch: fortunately.podcast@bbc.co.uk
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m0017cn5)
All the news from today's sitting at Westminster with Sean Curran.
WEDNESDAY 18 MAY 2022
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m0017cn7)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
WED 00:30 Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe (m0017clx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0017cn9)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0017cnc)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0017cnf)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (m0017cnh)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0017cnk)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Dr Steve Taylor, author on psychology and spirituality.
Good morning.
Many years ago, I decided to learn meditation and went to a local Buddhist centre. After one of the sessions, I had a one to one with the teacher, who asked me how my meditation was going.
“Not very well,” I responded. “Every time I meditate my mind fills up with random thoughts, and I can’t seem to slow them down.”
To my surprise, the teacher said, “That’s good. It’s a sign that you don’t identify with your thoughts. You can watch them pass by, as if they’re a process. But the process isn’t you. Buddhism is all about realising that you are not your thoughts.”
Every day thousands of thoughts pass through our minds – most of them random associations about the past or future, or daydreams about people or places. Some thoughts make us feel positive, others make us fill anxious or depressed. A thought about your upcoming holiday will give you a boost of happiness. A thought about an upcoming work presentation or a past argument will tinge your mind with negativity.
But our mood doesn’t have to be determined by the content of our thoughts. You don’t have to listen to your thoughts at all. When negative thoughts enter your mind, you can smile at them, ignore them. You don’t have to take them seriously. You can let them pass by without attaching yourself to them.
Here are some reflections on the restless, chattering voice inside your head:
One day you’ll stop listening to the voice inside your head
with its constant murmurings of discontent
its fearmongering thoughts of the future
and its questioning of every choice you make.
Without the fuel of your attention,
the voice will become more hesitant
will stumble and slow down, leaving space
until eventually the voice inside your head
will be no louder than a whisper, like a gentle breeze
that seems to be part of silence.
Blessings.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m0017cnm)
The dairy industry has been committed to reducing the sector's greenhouse gas emissions by auditing the carbon footprint of each farm. But, due to the pressure of rising costs, it’s been agreed to delay those audits for another six months.
The biggest biodiversity audit in the country has just been carried out on the North Norfolk coast. It’s taken more than a year and produced more than a million biological records of over ten thousand species.
It's rare that a foreign species is introduced into the UK to fight off another which has taken hold, but after a decade of research, the government decided it would be safe to release South American Weevils to combat the serious invasion of the floating pennywort plant.
And this week we're looking at staff shortages in the vet industry and the first vet school in Wales.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced for BBC Audio by Caitlin Hobbs
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b08spdww)
David Lindo on the Osprey
Osprey and Wormwood Scrubs are not usually words you expect to read in the same sentence, but Urban Birder David Lindo has seen one on his birdwatching patch next to the prison. His mantra is to look up and around in the city as there are more varieties of bird to be seen than you might imagine.
Producer Maggie Ayre.
WED 06:00 Today (m0017cfb)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Life Changing (m0017cfg)
Undercover
It’s 1976, the UK is in the grip of a gruelling heatwave and fresh-faced detective, Steve Bentley is about to go undercover in a rural village in mid Wales. It’s his first undercover gig, part of a massive national operation called Operation Julie and Steve’s excited but wholly unprepared for the toll this job will take.
WED 09:30 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m0017cfl)
Dance
In this episode, Michael gets out his dancing shoes & shines some light on the many benefits of dancing, revealing that dancing has been shown to be BETTER than traditional fitness exercises for improving your muscles, your balance and even the size of your brain. He speaks to professional-ballet-dancer-turned-neuroscientist Dr Julia F Christensen at the Max Planck Institute in Frankfurt, to find out how dancing can improve our balance and coordination, and trigger new connections in our brain, while our volunteer Lorne has a go at adding some disco dancing to her everyday routine.
WED 09:45 Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe (m0017cfq)
3. The Business of Pain
Patrick Radden Keefe's award-winning account of America's opioid epidemic tells the story of the Sackler family, how they amassed their fortune, and the role of their pharmaceutical company in a public health crisis that spanned the nation. Today, it's 1984 and new thinking on the treatment of chronic pain presents the Sacklers with a potentially lucrative business opportunity.
The Sackler family are famed for their philanthropy. The name adorns the walls of many of the world's most prestigious institutions, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre, and the British Museum to name just a few. Less well known is that much of their wealth came from the powerful painkiller, OxyContin. While the drug wasn’t the only opioid behind this public health emergency, it is regarded as the pioneer. What follows is the story of an immigrant family struggling to survive during the depression, and who, as the 20th century progressed turned their lives around by making their way into the pharmaceutical business. It was Arthur Sackler's role in the marketing of Valium that was the basis of the first Sackler fortune. Later, the lessons learned in making Valium a success story were applied to OxyContin in the 1990s, leading to phenomenal wealth for the Sacklers. Meanwhile, on the eve of the new millenium, families across America were beginning to fall victim to what would become the opioid epidemic.
Patrick Radden Keefe is an award-winning writer at the New Yorker, winner of the 2019 Orwell Prize for Political Writing and the Baille Gifford Prize, 2021
Kyle Soller is an American film, stage, and television actor. His accolades include an Olivier Award, and three Evening Standard Theatre Awards.
Abridger: Katrin Williams.
Producer: Elizabeth Allard.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0017cfy)
Helen Fitzgerald, Abortion Clinic Harassment, Nuns and Juliet Stevenson on Acting Your Age
Helen Fitzgerald grew up in rural Australia as one of 13 siblings. Her new novel Keep Her Sweet looks at what happens when 'normal' sibling rivalry turns into something else. She joins Krupa to explain why she's so fascinated by the dark corners of family life.
When was the last time you saw a nun? It feels like a very old-fashioned vocation – and there are less and less in the public eye now. But some nuns in the US are turning to Tik Tok to bring religion into the 21st century through social media. The Daughters of St Paul are known as the ‘media nuns’ on Tik Tok, they do skits and dances, and have millions of followers worldwide. Then Sister Monica Clare from the Community of St John the Baptist went viral because she was on Tik Tok and everyone wanted to know her skin routine…now she answers people’s questions about being a nun. And, of course, we’ve got everyone’s favourite - less PC nun – Sister Michael from Derry Girls, played by Siobhan McSweeney.
Women attending abortion clinics in the UK can face “regular harassment” according to a report from BBC Newsnight. Anti-abortion groups who gather outside services say they’re holding “prayer vigils” and offering help but some patients say they have been so distressed they’ve had panic attacks or even felt suicidal. Now charities are calling for protected areas outside all services which activists cannot legally enter. More than 100,000 women in the UK attended abortion services targeted by activists in 2019, according to latest data from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, which is a leading provider of abortions. Anna Collinson is the Newsnight Correspondent who compiled the report.
It’s four years since journalist and actor Nicky Clark founded the Acting Your Age Campaign. Incensed by the lack of middle-aged women on stage, television and in film, and rarely seeing stories of women like herself portrayed, she has attracted a lot of support from women such as Meera Syal, Tracy-Ann Obermann and MP Jess Phillips. Actor and fellow-supporter, Juliet Stevenson joins Nicky and presenter Krupa Padhy to explain why it appears male actors on screen ‘have a whole life and women have a shelf life’ and why this campaign is necessary.
WED 11:00 London on the Line (m0017cg2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Monday]
WED 11:30 Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley (p0c2550y)
4. Grace Marks
Lucy Worsley investigates the ordinary lives and extraordinary crimes of Victorian women.
This story is about a young servant, Grace Marks, accused of two brutal murders that generated enormous attention in the new world of Upper Canada in 1843. In that time and in that place, murders were rare - and rarer still was a female murderer.
Grace Marks and stable boy James McDermott went on the run, ending up in Lewiston, New York after their employers Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper, Nancy were found dead. Grace insisted she didn't kill them and was forced by James McDermott to run away with him. But when Grace was arrested she was even wearing the clothing of the woman she was accused of murdering.
Lucy examines the evidence, including duelling confessions from the accused, with the help of psychological scientist and host of the Bad People podcast, Dr Julia Shaw.
They ask if the 16-year-old housemaid who had worked in five different houses in three years could be responsible for the violent killings.
We also hear from historian Susan Houston from York University, Toronto, who has written about the case and discusses the legal and social environment that is stacked against Grace.
In the case made famous by Margaret Atwood in Alias Grace, we speculate on what happened and ask if Grace would have been treated differently if she had more power. Or was she actually a naïve 16-year-old caught up in the doomed plot of a disgruntled stable boy? You decide….
Producer: Sandra Bartlett
Readers: Colleen Prendergast and William Hope
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4
WED 12:00 News Summary (m0017cgc)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 You and Yours (m0017cgh)
Winter World Cup, Inflation, The Metaverse
This year - could we be singing it's coming home for Christmas?
That's because the men's World Cup this year will be held in Qatar and kick off will be in mid November.
But how will this impact the pubs and bars that usually experience a big bump in sales during summer competitions...
On Thursday last week we heard yet another incredible story from our reporter Shari Vahl. If you missed head it then you can find it on BBC Sounds - search for You and Yours. She helped two listeners after they fell victim to something we've reported on numerous times, courier fraud.
They were groomed using a fraud that's been around for nearly 20 years now but it's on the increase. We hear from City of London police about how to avoid being caught out.
You and Yours has learned that more than a year after a new government task force in England was first announced to boost housing options for older people and people with disabilities, the first meeting is yet to even be scheduled. We hear how a lack of accessible housing it stopping some from getting on the property ladder...
Big brands are buying up virtual real estate that doesn't quite exist yet... we find out why...
And Prices are rising at their fastest rate for 40 years. UK inflation jumped to 9% in the 12 months to April, up from 7% in March. Last October it was just over 4%. That was when the extra £20 a week in universal credit was withdrawn by the Government.
The charity Action for Children, that help families in financial difficulty have found that in the six months since the £20 reduction, more than half of the grants they've issued were for families on Universal Credit. We hear from a mum of two, struggling to get by...
PRESENTER: PETER WHITE
PRODUCER: JAY UNGER
WED 12:57 Weather (m0017cgl)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m0017cgn)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Edward Stourton.
WED 13:45 The Future Will Be Synthesised (m0017cgq)
Threat to democracy?
If anything can be a deepfake, perhaps nothing can be trusted - and politicians can take advantage of the so called "Liars' dividend" by dismissing real media as fake.
In satire, deepfakes have already had a controversial impact, targeting politicians, business leaders, and celebrities. Meanwhile, convincing deepfake audio and video have the potential to create a new wave of fraud where faces, voices and bodies can be stolen.
These malicious uses of deepfake technology started out targeting celebrities and people in the public eye, but have become a mainstream challenge for cyber security professionals and ordinary individuals whose images have been used without their consent.
Deepfakes can be used to defame or discredit people - but on the flip side, the cry of ‘deepfake’ could undermine trust in the use of video evidence in the justice system.
What can we do to protect citizens from synthetic media’s malicious uses? And might there be some positive applications for deepfakes in politics?
Interviewees: Sam Gregory, Witness; Nina Schick, author; Victor Riparbelli, Synthesia
WED 14:00 The Archers (m0017cgt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (m0017cgw)
Red Lines
Craig Oliver and Anthony Seldon's behind the scenes drama - how Prime Minister Cameron and President Obama failed to enforce the "red line" against chemical weapons use by Syria's President Assad, who was aided by Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Sir Craig Oliver draws on his experience as David Cameron's former Head of Communications for a timely drama, co-written with the historian Sir Anthony Seldon, revealing for the first time the inside story of how Cameron and Obama were outmanoeuvred by Putin and Assad, then the Prime Minister failed to get support from Parliament to punish Assad's use of Sarin gas on his own people.
Assad was aided and abetted by Vladimir Putin, and writers Oliver and Seldon believe these events in 2013 were a step on the road to the invasion of Ukraine. After the UK voted to take no military action, Obama decided against action as well. Instead, Putin brokered a deal with Assad to remove Syria's declared chemical weapons, but in the subsequent months many more attacks were carried out using hidden stockpiles.
Starring Toby Stephens as David Cameron, Nicholas Boulton as Vladimir Putin, and featuring Jon Culshaw as Ed Miliband, William Hague and George Osborne.
In August 2013 President Assad of Syria used chemical weapons on a rebel area of Damascus, killing hundreds of civilians, including many women and children. Prime Minister David Cameron and President Obama wanted to take limited military action, to punish and deter, but both failed to get the political and public support. Assad, with Putin at his side. succeeded in manipulating events to delay a strike and when David Cameron then decided he needed a debate and Commons vote, the momentum was lost, MPs didn't back him and he suffered a humiliating defeat.
CAST
DAVID CAMERON - Toby Stephens
VLADIMIR PUTIN - Nicholas Boulton
SAMANTHA CAMERON - Sarah Lawrie
ED MILIBAND - Jon Culshaw
WILLIAM HAGUE - Jon Culshaw
NARRATOR - Veronica Roberts
BARACK OBAMA - Wil Johnson
GEORGE OSBORNE - Jon Culshaw
CRAIG OLIVER - Jon Culshaw
NICK CLEGG - Nicholas Boulton
THERESA VILLIERS - Sarah Lawrie
ED LLEWELLYN - Wilf Scolding
GEORGE YOUNG - Wilf Scolding
HILARY BENN - Wilf Scolding
DOUGLAS ALEXANDER - Nicholas Boulton
Other parts were played by members of the cast.
WRITERS - Sir Craig Oliver and Sir Anthony Seldon
PRODUCER - Richard Clemmow
DIRECTOR - David Morley
A Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4
WED 15:00 Money Box (m0017cgy)
Student Finance
Are you ready for the start of university? From loans to bursaries, discounts to freebies, Charmaine Cozier puts your questions to our expert panel on all things student finances.
We hear from Jordan, Andrew, Phoebe, and Susan as we try to prepare you for higher education.
Panel:
David Thomson - Head of Operational Support - Student Loans Company
Tom Allingham - Save the Student
WED 15:30 All in the Mind (m0017ch0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (m0017ch2)
Covid and change
Covid: Laurie Taylor explores the impact of the pandemic on our working and home lives. Will Davies, Professor in Political Economy at Goldsmiths, University of London, suggests it has revealed the politics of our economy, offering prosperity to some and hardships to others. He’s joined by Heejung Chung, Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Kent, whose research explores the impact of Covid on flexible working . Has it led to a more equal division of labour for heterosexual couples or entrenched existing inequalities?
Producer: Jayne Egerton
WED 16:30 The Media Show (m0017ch4)
Wagatha Christie and celebrity journalism
This week we discuss the Wagatha Christie trial and what it told us about celebrity journalism.
Simon Boyle, Executive Showbiz Editor at The Sun, tells us how the newspaper managed to keep their journalists out of court.
John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg, on new UK expansion plans and who Britain's libel laws are really serving.
Also in the programme: Jim Waterson, Media Editor at The Guardian and Pandora Sykes, co-host of Unreal: A Critical History of Reality TV.
WED 17:00 PM (m0017ch6)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0017ch8)
Labour has accused Boris Johnson of failing to tackle the rising cost of living - as inflation hits a 40-year high.
WED 18:30 The Confessional (m000x60b)
Series 1
The Confession of Alastair Campbell
Actor and broadcaster Stephen Mangan presents a comedy chat show about shame and guilt.
Each week Stephen invites a different eminent guest into his virtual confessional box to make three 'confessions' . This is a cue for some remarkable storytelling, and surprising insights.
We’re used to hearing celebrity interviews, where stars are persuaded to show off about their achievements and talk about their proudest moments. Stephen's not interested in that. He doesn’t want to know what his guests are proud of, he wants to know what they’re ashamed of. That’s surely the way to find out what really makes a person tick. Stephen and his guest reflect with empathy and humour on why we get embarrassed, where our shame thresholds should be, and the value of guilt.
In the final edition of this series, the writer, journalist and political strategist Alastair Campbell speaks about “maladaptive competitiveness”, technology which defeats him and dressing up at Lambeth Palace.
Other guests in this series include Cariad Lloyd, Dr Phil Hammond, Clarke Peters, Suzi Ruffell, Marian Keyes, Phil Wang, Joan Bakewell, Lucy Porter and Nigel Planer.
Written and presented by Stephen Mangan
With extra material by Nick Doody
Devised with Dave Anderson
Produced by Frank Stirling
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4
WED 19:00 The Archers (m0017chb)
Mia’s horrified to be served by Chelsea when she goes for her afternoon tea treat with Will at The Orangery. They snipe at each other undetected by Will, but as it escalates, Freddie steps in and tells Chelsea he’ll take over. Later Freddie asserts firmly to Chelsea that he won’t tolerate such behaviour and that she needs to rise above it, even if Mia was winding her up. Chelsea says she understands.
Adil tells Roy he’s negotiated a long-term bed and breakfast stay at Ambridge Hall, because of the building work at Grey Gables. When Roy asks if Adil’s given any more thought to offering Roy the job that Kathy turned down, Adil says he emailed an offer first thing – the job’s Roy’s if he wants it. Roy is less than ecstatic when he notices he'll be on less money than he was before, especially when he’d heard from Kathy there’d be a substantial increase and a car. Adil explains it’s for a different position and the salary reflects that. Deflated Roy accepts the job. Adil immediately whisks him off to be photographed for the website as ‘the reassuring face of Grey Gables’. When Adil says the holding website will go live today, nervous Roy says he’s not sure he wants his face out there – people may feel betrayed if he makes a big show of coming back to work there. But Adil’s having none of it – he needs staff who are proud to work there. Roy’s the best man for the job and Adil advises him not to blow it for himself.
WED 19:15 Front Row (m0017chd)
Joanna Scanlan; director Indu Rubasingham; the Norfolk and Norwich Festival
Bafta-winning actress Joanna Scanlan on learning Welsh and acting in the language for the very first time in Y Golau - a new crime drama for S4C and BBC iPlayer, set in rural Carmarthenshire and simultaneously filmed in Welsh and English.
Indu Rubasingham on directing The Father and The Assassin - a new play by long-time collaborator Anu Chandrasekhar about the death of Ghandi, which opens at the National Theatre in London.
Plus, the Norfolk and Norwich Festival. One of the oldest in the world, it began in 1772 to help raise money for healthcare, and is celebrating its 250th anniversary - running for 17 days with a wide variety of cultural events. Andrew Turner from Radio Norfolk talks to the director, Daniel Brine, and some of the artists, programmers, and spectators involved.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Harry Parker
Sound Engineer: Harry Parker
WED 20:00 Generation Change (m0017chg)
Poverty Then & Poverty Now
Samira Ahmed and Katherine Rake bring together activists from two different generations united in their fight for decent social housing and an end to poverty in Britain.
In the summer of ’66 when most of the country was glued to the Football World Cup, Des Wilson toured our major cities. He found families packed into crumbling houses, rat infested hovels, and real poverty. Six months later he started the charity Shelter.
A few years later, Ruth Lister had just finished her degree in sociology course at Essex University. She signed a one-year contract as a Legal Research Officer at the recently launched Child Poverty Action Group. She went on to become its Director.
Joe Walker was still at school and too young to vote in the Brexit referendum. Angered by the growing poverty he saw around him, he volunteered at a foodbank. He now manages that foodbank in Brighton and helps a group of charities provide vital services to families in need.
When Kwajo Tweneboa moved into his housing association flat, there were mouldy walls, broken windows and part of the ceiling was missing. It took 10 months to get it fixed. Now Kwajo has gone viral – filming the failings of social housing in modern Britain and posting on you tube.
In this programme the four activists share stories of their individual experiences fighting for change and consider what lessons they can learn from each other. Finally, they map out a plan of action for activists today.
Samira is joined by social change consultant Katherine Rake, former Chief Executive of The Fawcett Society.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Emily Williams
Programme consultant: Katherine Rake
Editor: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
WED 20:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m0017cfl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:30 today]
WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (m0017chj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
15:30 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 The Media Show (m0017ch4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m0017chl)
Inflation at 40 year high of 9%
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective.
WED 22:45 Love Marriage by Monica Ali (m0017chn)
3: Reckless decisions
Meera Syal reads Monica Ali’s first new novel for a decade, a bighearted and hilarious story of two very different families brought together by marriage.
Yasmin Ghorami has brilliant career in medicine, and is engaged to a charming junior doctor, Joe Sangster. But as their wedding approaches, and the two families are thrown together, they all find themselves confronting long-held secrets, lies and betrayals.
Today: with her brother's baby on the way, and her relationship with Joe strained, Yasmin makes a reckless decision...
Author: Monica Ali
Reader: Meera Syal
Abridger: Katrin Williams
Producer: Justine Willett
WED 23:00 Sunil Patel: An Idiot's Guide to Cryptocurrency (m0017chs)
How to Get Rich off Crypto Alone
In a desperate bid to become rich, comedian and broadcaster Sunil Patel attempts to live off cryptocurrency alone. In this episode, Sunil tries to pay for everything only using cryptocurrency, and ends up having to travel to El Salvador to get his big shop done.
Including interviews with academic Patrick Shortis and the performing talents of Christopher Biggins.
Written by and Starring Sunil Patel
Featuring Helen Bauer and Christopher Biggins
Additional Material from Charlie Dinkin
Assistant Producer - Ewan McAdam
Production Manager - Laura Shaw
Producer - Benjamin Sutton
A Daddy’s SuperYacht production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:15 The Skewer (m0017chz)
Series 6
Episode 7
Jon Holmes remixes the news into twisted audio shapes. This week: Bears, protocols, horsemen. And The Little Mermaid finds Rebekah Vardy's agent's phone at the bottom of the sea.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m0017cj2)
Susan Hulme and team with all the top stories from Westminster.
THURSDAY 19 MAY 2022
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m0017cj6)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
THU 00:30 Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe (m0017cfq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0017cjc)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0017cjh)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0017cjm)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (m0017cjr)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0017cjw)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Dr Steve Taylor, author on psychology and spirituality.
Good morning.
As a young man I spent a lot of time alone and had pretty poor social skills. I was hopeless at small talk. When shopkeepers or bus drivers tried to talk me about the weather or about last night’s football match, I would shrug my shoulders and mutter “I dunno.”
Now I’m the opposite. I love being friendly to people. One of my favourite pastimes is chatting to strangers in queues in shops, or on trains or buses. I love chatting to shop assistants, waiters and taxi drivers. I find that no one ever takes umbrage – they always respond with friendliness. Every time I have a friendly exchange – even if for just a few seconds - I feel that I’ve created a connection.
The world is full of discord because it’s full of disconnection. It’s full of separate people, competing with one another, feeling that they’re in conflict, or that they can’t trust or understand each other. Every expression of friendliness, every exchange of empathy or generosity, transmutes discord into harmony.
Such exchanges are not just important for us individually, but for the human race as a whole. The more connections we create with another, the more harmony and unity we bring into the world.
So, as you go about your day today, make us make connections as you can. Here a few thoughts to reflect on:
It’s your responsibility
to radiate benevolence to everyone you meet
to be reckless with your friendliness
and to surprise strangers with your openness
on behalf of the whole human race.
It’s your responsibility
to turn suspicion to trust, hostility to sympathy
to expose the absurdity of prejudice
to return hatred with implacable goodwill
until your enemies have no choice but to love you
on behalf of the whole human race.
Make as many connections as you can
so that this broken world can become whole again.
Blessings.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m0017ck0)
Farmers and food businesses in Northern Ireland say anything other than a negotiated deal on changing the Protocol would be ‘sub optimal’. With the UK Government planning to unilaterally change the agreement it made with the EU, this has raised fears of a trade war.
This week we're looking at worker shortages in the vet industry and we hear what's being done to increase diversity within the sector, after a study from 2015 found only 3% of the UK veterinary profession is non-white - compared to a UK population that is 14% non-white.
And we hear the answer to 'which bird is it?' from yesterday's programme.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced for BBC Audio by Caitlin Hobbs
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04t0sxg)
Red-Eyed Vireo
Michael Palin presents the red-eyed vireo from North America. About the size of British great tits the red-eyed vireo is a common summer visitors to much of North America where they breed in woodlands. The adult vireos are mainly olive green with white bellies and grey heads and their red eyes are highlighted by a white eyestripe. Seeing the birds as they hunt insects among the leaves is much harder than hearing them, because red-vireos are tireless songsters. They used to be known locally as "preacher birds " and territorial males hold the record for the largest repertoire produced by a songbird in a single day.
Each vireo can have a repertoire of between a dozen and over a hundred different song-types. And while these marathon "question- and- answer" sessions are the soundtrack to many North American woods, they aren't universally appreciated. The nature writer Bradford Torrey wrote in 1889 that "whoever dubbed this vireo the preacher could have had no very exalted opinion of the clergy"
Producer Andrew Dawes.
THU 06:00 Today (m0017cht)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m0017chy)
Comenius
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Czech educator Jan Amos Komenský (1592-1670) known throughout Europe in his lifetime under the Latin version of his name, Comenius. A Protestant and member of the Unity of Brethren, he lived much of his life in exile, expelled from his homeland under the Catholic Counter-Reformation, and he wanted to address the deep antagonisms underlying the wars that were devastating Europe especially The Thirty Years War (1618-1648). A major part of his plan was Universal Education, in which everyone could learn about everything, and better understand each other and so tolerate their religious differences and live side by side. His ideas were to have a lasting influence on education, even though the peace that followed the Thirty Years War only entrenched the changes in his homeland that made his life there impossible.
The image above is from a portrait of Comenius by Jürgen Ovens, 1650 - 1670, painted while he was living in Amsterdam and held in the Rikjsmuseum
With
Vladimir Urbanek
Senior Researcher in the Department of Comenius Studies and Early Modern Intellectual History at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
Suzanna Ivanic
Lecturer in Early Modern European History at the University of Kent
And
Howard Hotson
Professor of Early Modern Intellectual History at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Anne’s College
Producer: Simon Tillotson
THU 09:45 Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe (m0017cj3)
4. Sell, Sell, Sell
Patrick Radden Keefe's award winning account of America's opioid epidemic tells the story of the Sackler family, how they amassed their fortune, and the role of their pharmaceutical company in a public health crisis that spanned the nation. Today, it's 1996. OxyContin is launched and a phalanx of sales reps spread out across the nation to sell, sell, sell. Kyle Soller reads.
The Sackler family are famed for their philanthropy. The name adorns the walls of many of the world's most prestigious institutions, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre, and the British Museum to name just a few. Less well known is that much of their wealth came from the powerful painkiller, OxyContin. While the drug wasn’t the only opioid behind this public health emergency, it is regarded as the pioneer. What follows is the story of an immigrant family struggling to survive during the depression, and who, as the 20th century progressed turned their lives around by making their way into the pharmaceutical business. It was Arthur Sackler's role in the marketing of Valium that was the basis of the first Sackler fortune. Later, the lessons learned in making Valium a success story were applied to OxyContin in the 1990s, leading to phenomenal wealth for the Sacklers. Meanwhile, on the eve of the new millenium, families across America were beginning to fall victim to what would become the opioid epidemic.
Patrick Radden Keefe is an award-winning writer at the New Yorker, winner of the 2019 Orwell Prize for Political Writing and the Baille Gifford Prize, 2021
Kyle Soller is an American film, stage, and television actor. His accolades include an Olivier Award, and three Evening Standard Theatre Awards.
Abridger: Katrin Williams.
Producer: Elizabeth Allard.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0017cj7)
Actor Anne Marie Duff, Chinese feminism, the story of Henrietta Howard
Actor Anne Marie Duff talks to Emma Barnett playing a working class matriarch in a new play that spans five decades of the lives, and deaths, of the Webster family.
Last September 19, 2021, Sophia Huang Xueqin, the Chinese journalist who kick-started China’s #MeToo movement, disappeared. We find out what has happened to her from BBC Eye journalist Jessie Lau who's been investigating her disappearance,. Plus writer and journalist Lijia Zhang explains what it's like to be a feminist in China.
Plus Anna Eavis the Curatorial director at English Heritage tells us the the story of Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, and mistress of King George II, as Marble Hill, a Palladian villa built in the 1720s for her, prepares to open to the public following its restoration
Presenter Emma Barnett
Producer Beverley Purcell
Photo credit; Helen Murray
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (m0017cjb)
Love-bombing Estonia’s Russian Speakers
Can music and culture help unite Estonia? Guitar riffs lilt through the air and over the narrow river that marks the border between Estonia and Russia. It’s the first time Estonia’s annual festival Tallinn Music Week has been held in Narva, bringing coach loads of musicians from 30 countries around the world to a normally sleepy city. The organiser moved the festival when the war in Ukraine broke out in order to send a message of unity and to encourage Estonians from the capital to mix with people in Narva, where 97% of Estonians have Russian as their mother tongue. Many can barely speak Estonian at all. Across Estonia, one quarter of the population are Russian speakers, prompting many to describe this as a threat. When Putin invaded Ukraine on the premise of liberating Russian speakers there, it lead to many in the press to ask ‘is Narva next?’ but a new generation of Russian speaking Estonians are increasingly frustrated by this rhetoric and say it simply isn’t true. Russian speakers are even signing up to Estonia’s volunteer defence force, ready to fight to defend Estonia should the worst happen. Their allegiance is clear. But is music and culture enough to unite Estonia’s Russian speakers?
Presenter: Lucy Ash
Producer: Phoebe Keane
Music Credits:
Artist: Trad Attack!
Track: Sõit
Writers: Jalmar Vabarna, Sandra Vabarna, Tõnu Tubli
Artist: Gameboy Tetris and Nublu
Track: Für Oksana
Writers: Pavel Botsarov, Markkus Pulk, Fabry El Androide, Ago Teppand
Artist: Pale Alison
Track: забывай
Writers: Evelina Koop, Nikolay Rudakov
Artist: Jaakko
Sound Installation: On the Border / Rajalla
THU 11:30 Youth Unites (m0017cjg)
Singer, songwriter and broadcaster Cerys Matthews returns to her roots to celebrate the success of a unique message of Peace and Goodwill from the Youth of Wales to the Youth of the World. The message and the organisation now responsible, Urdd Gobaith Cymru (Welsh League of Hope), both celebrate their centenary this year.
The message was the brainchild of a Baptist Preacher who believed that communication between the children of nations was the best way of promoting world peace. The first message was sent via Morse Code from the UK in 1922, kindly reproduced for the programme by Duncan Fisken. A new message has been shared every year since, written by Urdd members about issues that concern them, and translated into as many languages as possible. Replies have been received from all over the world in letters and post cards. Last year, the message was sent in 65 languages to 59 countries and had 84 million responses on social media.
Cerys looks back at the history, discovering how the messages have affected the young people composing them. She demonstrates how the Urdd, a gender equal organisation from day one, expanded from Camps and Eisteddfods to a humanitarian organisation offering aid and safe havens for refugees. Cerys talks to Urdd members old and new, a recent Afghan refugee, Urdd staff and authors of messages over the years.
This year, the message is being presented to the World from Nobel Peace Centre Oslo, the first time outside the UK.
A Telesgop Cyf production for BBC Radio 4
THU 12:00 News Summary (m0017cjl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 You and Yours (m0017cjq)
Gap Finders - Marcia Kilgore
Today's guest is Marcia Kilgore, the founder of Beauty Pie.
The daughter of a Polish immigrant family, she was born in Canada. Her father died when she was just 11. His death meant she grew up quickly, taking on part-time jobs to earn money. She moved to New York at the age of 18 after being accepted as a student at Columbia University. She wasn't able to take her up her university place because she couldn't afford the tuition fees, and it was too late for her, as a Canadian, to apply for a foreign student loan. With just $300 in her pocket, she became a personal trainer. After saving up enough funds, she started giving facials from home and began her first business Let's Face It.
From there, she launched Bliss Spas which sold later for millions of dollars. She then started Soap & Glory, a line of affordable bath, body and cosmetic products, which was bought by Boots in 2014. In 2007, she founded FitFlop footwear, a brand of biomechanically engineered shoes. In October 2016, she launched Soaper Duper, a range of naturally-derived, vegan and cruelty-free bath and body products, with recycled and recyclable plastic packaging. Then just two months later in December 2016, she started Beauty Pie, a skincare and makeup subscription service. For £59 a year, Marcia says Beauty Pie members can buy premium beauty products for a fraction of the price they'd normally pay for similar cosmetics from other brands.
In this episode of Gap Finders, we explore the ways in which Marcia wanted to disrupt the beauty industry by helping women to avoid big mark ups on the products they love.
Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Tara Holmes
THU 12:32 Sliced Bread (m0017cjv)
Blue Light Filtering Glasses
According to some businesses, the laptop, phone and TV screens we use every day are causing us big problems.
They claim these devices emit concentrations of "harmful blue light" which leaves us with tired eyes and poor sleep. One firm goes even further by suggesting this may contribute to a worrying long term condition, macular degeneration which leaves you with a permanent black hole in the centre of your vision.
Their solution? A pair of trendy looking spectacles which claim to filter out this blue light.
Listener, Sophie spends roughly 12 hours a day at a screen of some sort.
She bought a pair but isn't sure if they work. So she's asked Greg to look into them and find out.
We get answers from two leading lights in the science of our eyes. Professor John O'Hagan has been a public health scientist for 46 years and is Visiting Professor in Laser and Optical Radiation Safety at Loughborough University.
Greg also meets sleep expert Russell Foster, professor of Circadian Neuroscience at the University of Oxford who's been researching body clocks for 38 years.
We put the evidence directly to Dhruvin Patel. He's the boss of one of the largest blue light filtering brands, Ocushield which turned over £2m last year.
How does he respond? And will Sophie keep using her trendy specs?
This series, we’re testing your suggested wonder-products. Seen an ad, trend or fad and wonder if there's any evidence to back up the claim? Tell us! Drop us an line to sliced.bread@bbc.co.uk .
Presenter: Greg Foot
Producer: Julian Paszkiewicz
THU 12:57 Weather (m0017cjz)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m0017ck2)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
THU 13:45 The Future Will Be Synthesised (m0017ck4)
Art and business
The commercial uses of synthetic media are the key driving force behind the technology’s rapid adoption. This has enabled personalised advertising where content can be tailored for individual audiences, the rise of virtual digital influencers with multi-million pound deals and millions of followers, and virtual designer clothing. Who's driving the commercial and creative uses of synthetic media? Should these synthetic creations be labelled to avoid deception? Deceased actors and singers are being used by advertisers to sell their products - should their likeness be used in this way without their consent? Start-ups are enabling celebrities to license their image or voice to be synthetically replicated for product endorsements at the press of a button. In a future where the market is saturated with synthetic advertising and personalisation, is authenticity going to be prized more than ever? Synthetic media has been embraced by some as the future of creativity. Generative art is a rapidly growing field, with artists both creating and collaborating with algorithms to push boundaries, generating infinite new music, scripts, paintings, and experimental projects. With synthetic media presenting new ways of creating artistic content, are human artists at risk? And who owns the art that AI produces?
Interviewees: The synthetic voice of YouTuber Vocal Synthesis; Kelsey Farish, media lawyer; Cathy Hackl, metaverse expert; Victor Riparbelli, Synthesia
THU 14:00 The Archers (m0017chb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Our Friends in the North (m0017ck6)
Episode 7: 1984
Peter Flannery once famously said of Our Friends in the North, "I've always said it's just a posh soap opera - but it's a posh soap opera with something to say."
And now he has rewritten his multi-award winning and highly acclaimed television series as an audio drama for BBC Radio 4.
Ambitious in scale and scope, the drama chronicles the lives of four friends over three decades beginning in the 1960s. The series tackles corporate, political and police corruption in the 1960s, the rise and fall of the Soho porn empires in the 1970s, the nouveau riche and the Miners’ Strike of the 1980s and the rise of New Labour in the 1990s. Some of the stories are directly based on the real-life controversies involving T. Dan Smith and John Poulson in Newcastle during the 60s and 70s.
And the adapted series will now end with a new, tenth episode by writer Adam Usden, bringing the story up to the present day.
In episode 7 it’s now 1984 and the miners’ strike dominates political life throughout the country. Mary is leader of Newcastle City Council and supports the miners. Her son Roy is a young police constable, with divided loyalties. Nicky’s career as a photographer is taking off and Tosker, with his new wife Elaine, is becoming a wealthy businessman. No one knows where Geordie is.
Cast
Felix: Trevor Fox
Florrie / Claudia Seabrook: Tracey Wilkinson
Mary: Norah Lopez Holden
Nicky / Christopher Collins: James Baxter
Anthony: Luke MacGregor
Eddie Wells: James Gaddas
Tosker / Toby Roddy: Philip Correia
Alan Roe / The Close Encounterer / Tony Hirst
Superintendent: Darren Kuppan
Writer: Peter Flannery
Studio Engineer: Paul Clark
Sound Design: Steve Brooke
Producer: Melanie Harris
Executive Producer: Jeremy Mortimer
A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4
THU 15:00 Ramblings (m0017ck8)
Bloody Bridge
In the first of two back-to-back hikes in the Mourne Mountains Clare walks from Bloody Bridge near Newcastle, on the coast of County Down, up into the hills. Led by Alex Rose of the Northern Ireland Young Walkers, they begin at a stone sculpture which – from a certain angle – look like a human face in profile. This is the Smuggler’s Head which helps to tell the story of the ‘Brandy Pad’ a local smuggler’s route. It’s a history-rich Ramblings which continues by following the Bloody Bridge River, so called because bodies thrown into the water, following a massacre during the 1641 rebellion, turned it blood red. Soon they’re climbing steeply up to one of the Mourne summits, Chimney Rock, partly following an old quarry-rail track used to bring granite down to sea-level.
The Northern Ireland Young Walkers were formed in 2005 as a way of getting more youthful hikers out and about. It’s such a successful club that people don’t like to leave, so the age range has widened as the members have aged.
The second Mournes ramble – recorded on the same day - will be broadcast next in the series. It starts at a place whose name couldn’t be more of a contrast: Happy Valley.
Grid Ref for Bloody Bridge Car Park: SB472822
Presenter: Clare Balding
Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol: Karen Gregor
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m0017ckb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (m0017ckd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 Elon Musk: The Evening Rocket (m000xz37)
Baby X
The science fiction that Silicon Valley techno-billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel adore often concerns gleaming futures in which fantastically powerful and often immensely rich men colonize other planets. In this episode, Jill Lepore takes a look at the science fiction that’s usually left out of this vision. New Wave, feminist, post-colonial science fiction. Including the story of Baby X, a story from the 1970s about a child - like Musk’s youngest son - named X.
The Evening Rocket is presented by Jill Lepore, Professor of American History at Harvard University and staff writer at The New Yorker. Her latest book is If Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future. She is also the host of The Last Archive, a podcast from Pushkin Industries.
Producer: Viv Jones
Researcher: Oliver Riskin-Kutz
Editor: Hugh Levinson
Mixing: Graham Puddifoot
Original music by Corntuth
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m0017ckg)
Buried Mars Landers, Freezing Species, and Low-Tide Archaeology
Since 2018, Nasa's InSight Mars lander has been sitting on the surface listening to the seismic rumbles of the red planet's deep interior. But this week, plans were announced to finally phase down its activity, as martian dust obscures too much of its solar panels to power it through the forthcoming winter. Jon Amos tells Vic Gill of some of its many successes, and quite why it didn't fly with a duster on board.
50 years of observations across Australia's northern tropical forests suggest yet more bad news for the climate. Trees’ mortality has, it seems, doubled since the 1980s. As Oxford University's David Bauman tells Vic, it seems to be linked to a drying of the air as temperatures rise, and if the trend is also true across the world's other moist tropical forests, they could rapidly slip from being carbon sinks, to carbon sources.
Conservationists say we’re losing animal species faster today than at any point in the last 10 million years of Earth’s history. And one approach aims to save as many of those lost animals as possible – after they’ve died. Biobanking – saving frozen tissue from dead animals for future cloning or other reproductive technologies could buy us time to prevent extinction - or even reverse it. Vic visits Nature's Safe, where technology used in pedigree breeding is being deployed to preserve the cells and tissue of endangered species when individuals die or are euthanised, for possible research in the future, or even cloning.
Meanwhile, 2.5 miles off the coast of Jersey, archaeologists are holing up in a medieval fortress waiting for the few lowest tides of the year to give them access to the Violet Bank - an area of reef thought once to have been home to Neanderthal populations, but which now is for most of the year submerged by the sea. Marnie Chesterton has been talking to UCL’s Matt Pope between the ebbs and flows.
Presented by Victoria Gill
Reporters: Marnie Chesterton and Jonathan Amos
Produced by Alex Mansfield
THU 17:00 PM (m0017ckj)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0017ckl)
BBC probe finds MI5 agent used secret status to terrorist girlfriend
THU 18:30 Thanks a Lot, Milton Jones! (m0017ckn)
Series 5
Hair Today, Goal Tomorrow
When Milton accidentally invents a new hair tonic with surprising powers, the local football team can't wait to see the highlights.
Mention Milton Jones to most people and the first thing they think is ‘Help!’. Because each week Milton and his trusty assistant Anton (played by Milton regular, Tom Goodman-Hill) set out to help people and soon find they’re embroiled in a new adventure. When you’re close to the edge, Milton can give you a push...
“Milton Jones is one of Britain’s best gagsmiths with a flair for creating daft yet perfect one-liners” – The Guardian.
“King of the surreal one-liners” - The Times
“If you haven’t caught up with Jones yet – do so!” – The Daily Mail
Written by Milton with James Cary (Bluestone 42, Miranda), and Dan Evans (who co-wrote Milton’s Channel 4 show House Of Rooms), the man they call “Britain’s funniest Milton" returns to the radio with a fully-working cast and a shipload of new jokes.
The cast includes regulars Tom Goodman-Hill ( Spamalot, Mr. Selfridge) as the ever-faithful Anton, Josie Lawrence and Dan Tetsell (Peep Show, Upstart Crow)
With music by Guy Jackson.
Produced and Directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4
THU 19:00 The Archers (m0017ckr)
Will helps Mia with GCSE revision and she thanks him for everything, including afternoon tea at Lower Loxley. Mia admits she sniped at Chelsea to get back at her for dumping Jake. Later Mia catches Will looking at evening classes. He explains that helping Mia with revision has made him realise how ignorant he is.
Whilst Adil walks Roy though his plans for Grey Gables, Roy is interrupted by angry messages, including ones from Jazzer and Freddie. Adil bats them away; Roy’s picture on the Grey Gables’ website may have sparked a couple of hostile reactions, but they’re already getting traffic. It will blow over. Roy’s just signed his contract; he has a lot to celebrate. However, they’re stopped in their tracks when they see that someone has graffitied Roy’s car with the word ‘Judas’.
When Brian asks Jakob to do some digging with Chris on his behalf, Jakob declines - his only concern is Kate. So Brian suggests that Jakob should tell Chris to leave Spiritual Home out of it and stop terrorising Kate. Later when Jakob asks Chris about it, Chris says he’s putting himself and Martha first; he’s not going to let the Aldridges treat him like dirt anymore. When Brian suddenly reappears, disgruntled Chris heads off to settle up with a client. Brian’s delighted when Chris is paid cash in hand. Brian asks Jakob if Chris makes a habit of this. When reluctant Jakob admits he does sometimes, Brian wonders about Chris and the lies he’s been telling the tax man.
THU 19:15 Front Row (m0017ckt)
Cornelia Parker and Emergency reviewed, The Wreckers, Ivor Novello Awards
Melly Still on directing ‘The Wreckers’, by Ethel Smyth, the first ever opera by a woman composer to be performed at the Glyndebourne Festival.
Morgan Quaintance and Hettie Judah join us to review Emergency, the new film directed by Carey Williams and the Cornelia Parker exhibition at The Tate.
Ivor Novello Awards: Sam Fender’s track Seventeen Going Under, taken from his album of the same name, was today awarded the accolade of Best Song Musically and Lyrically at this year’s Ivor Novello Awards. We step inside the anatomy of the song with singer, musician, composer and lyricist Joe Stilgoe as he talks us through its prize-winning qualities.
THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (m0017ckw)
Is the crypto bubble bursting?
Last week cryptocurrency suffered it’s ‘black Wednesday’ moment. Investors raced to withdraw their funds and more than $200billion was wiped off the cryptocurrency market. One currency lost 98% of its value.
Ironically it was a so-called “stablecoin”, whose value is meant to be pegged to currencies like the dollar, that collapsed.
Was this a solitary - but very costly - blip or is the crypto bubble in danger of bursting?
Joining David in the briefing room are:
Gavin Brown, Associate Professor in Financial Technology at The University of Liverpool
Jemima Kelly, columnist at the Financial Times
Dominic Frisby, MoneyWeek columnist and author of Bitcoin: The Future of Money?
David Shrier, Professor of Practice, AI & Innovation with Imperial College Business School
Stephen Diehl, a software engineer and crypto writer.
Producer: Ben Carter
Editor: Richard Vadon
Studio manager: Neil Churchill
Production co-ordinators: Siobhan Reed & Sophie Hill
THU 20:30 Life Changing (m0017cfg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Wednesday]
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m0017ckg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (m0017chy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m0017ckz)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
THU 22:45 Love Marriage by Monica Ali (m0017cl1)
4: Passion
Meera Syal reads Monica Ali’s first new novel for a decade, a bighearted and hilarious story of two very different families brought together by marriage.
Yasmin Ghorami has brilliant career in medicine, and is engaged to a charming junior doctor, Joe Sangster. But as their wedding approaches, and the two families are thrown together, they all find themselves confronting long-held and dark secrets.
Today: Yasmin finds passion, while tempers rise to boiling point in the Ghorami household....
Author: Monica Ali is the author of several novels including Brick Lane, shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
Reader: Meera Syal
Abridger: Katrin Williams
Producer: Justine Willett
THU 23:00 Gaslit, Groomed and Ghosted (m0017cl3)
Episode 1
Luisa Omielan won awards, critical acclaim and huge audiences for her show 'What Would Beyoncé Do?'. In her first series for Radio 4, Luisa looks at the new terms for behaviour that's as old as the hills; she brings her unique perspective to bear on why women throughout history have been Gaslit, Groomed and Ghosted.
Luisa compares her own experiences with an important historical figure to illustrate her point that the same tactics have been used to denigrate women and dismiss their work, for centuries.
Episode 1; Emma Goldman was an anarchist political activist and writer. Her famous quote 'Live, Love, Dance' is inscribed on fridge magnets across the country but she herself is largely forgotten. Luisa remedies this by bringing her to life and describing how this woman combined political radicalism with the desire for joy; "If I can't dance I don't want to be in your revolution." [Emma Goldman (1869-1940)]
Luisa reflects on how a desire to combine serious political and social commentary with popular culture, if you're a woman, is still frowned upon.
"I want to share the true strength behind the historical figures who were so much more than just their scandal or how male history decided to record them. I want to know what they believed, how they fought, what they stood for and how badass they actually were. Me Too has given a voice to recent women but not to women from history. This series idea is to address how women in history have been recorded as sluts, whores, witches and stupid bitches, when the reality was very different."
Luisa Omielan
Written and performed by Luisa Omielan
Producer Alison Vernon-Smith
A Yada-yada Audio Production
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m0017cl6)
Sean Curran reports as ministers come under pressure over the rising cost of food.
FRIDAY 20 MAY 2022
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m0017cl8)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 00:30 Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe (m0017cj3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0017clb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0017cld)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0017clh)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m0017clm)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0017clr)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Dr Steve Taylor, author on psychology and spirituality.
Good morning.
A few years ago, I did some research on the experiences of astronauts, for a book I was writing about spiritual transformation. I found that astronauts often return to the Earth as changed people. In particular, they have a new sense of gratitude. Alan Bean, the fourth man on the moon, once said that since his visit to the moon, he’s never complained the weather – he is just glad that there is weather! When he returned from the moon, he went to shopping malls just to watch people walk by, thinking how lucky we are all just be here on the surface of this beautiful planet.
We human beings often suffer from what I call the ‘taking for granted syndrome.’ It’s easy for us to forget the value of aspects of our lives such as our health, prosperity, freedom and love – and even the gift of life itself. We often switch off to the reality of these blessings, and so become prone to dissatisfaction and anxiety.
People sometimes transcend the taking for granted syndrome after a brush with death, through a diagnosis of serious illness or an accident. Death reminds us that life is precious, fragile and temporary. It wakes us up to the value of life itself, and all of the people in our lives.
But fortunately we don’t need to go to the moon or have a brush with death to stop taking life for granted. We can do this just by reminding ourselves of our blessings, and contemplating them.
Here are some thoughts to reflect on:
As you breathe, inhale deeply
in gratitude for the gift of air.
As you eat, swallow slowly
in gratitude for the gift of food.
As you see, look attentively
in gratitude for the wonder of the world.
As you love, be passionate
in gratitude for the beauty of flesh and form.
As you live, be authentic and fearless
in gratitude for the gift of life.
Blessings
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m0017clw)
Badger cull, Shellfish protest, Veterinary chaplain
There's a new row over figures on badger culling. DEFRA has admitted that it got its sums wrong when calculating the impact of culling on the number of cattle with TB - but it insists what it's calling a ‘minor discrepancy’ doesn’t change its conclusion that the policy is effective.
That’s disputed by ecologist Tom Langton who - along with other campaigners against the culls - analysed publicly available data on them for a peer reviewed study which was published earlier this year in the journal Vet Record. His conclusions were roundly criticised by DEFRA’s chief vet and chief scientific advisor, who have now sent that correction which the Vet Record will also publish. Tom Langton says he thinks the corrected figures demonstrate that the culls aren’t working. But DEFRA told us the paper was produced to fit a clear campaign, and that they had discovered and corrected a minor discrepancy in their calculations. They added this does not change their position that data was manipulated in a way that makes it impossible to see the actual effects of badger culling on reducing TB rates.
Shellfish producers have taken to the sea to protest about what they say is Government inaction over the seemingly unexplained death of thousands of crabs and lobsters. They claim dredging is uncovering harmful chemicals, and it's destroying their livelihood. But Defra says it's down to an unusual algal bloom.
We’ve been talking about vets this week – and as we’ve heard they’re four times more likely to die by suicide than the rest of the population. Many have a stressful workload, and as practices work independently, they can feel isolated. That's part of the reason Allan Wright was appointed as the country’s first chaplain to the veterinary community.
And if you’ve been affected by any of the issues mentioned in this programme, there are details of organisations that offer advice and support at BBC Action Line
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b038qk6z)
Hobby
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Brett Westwood presents the Hobby. Sickle winged, red-trousered and black-moustached, the hobby is a strikingly beautiful falcon. Hobbies arrive in the UK in late April or May from their wintering grounds in Africa. They are now flourishing in the UK where there are now around 2000 pairs, breeding mainly on farmland and heaths in England and Wales.
FRI 06:00 Today (m0017cq4)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m0017cq7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe (m0017cqc)
5. OxyContin & Drug Abuse
Patrick Radden Keefe's award winning account of America's opioid epidemic tells the story of the Sackler family, how they amassed their fortune, and the role of their pharmaceutical company in a public health crisis that spanned the nation. Today, OxyContin drug abuse makes disturbing headlines and the Sacklers response is unexpected. Kyle Soller reads
The Sackler family are famed for their philanthropy. The name adorns the walls of many of the world's most prestigious institutions, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre, and the British Museum to name just a few. Less well known is that much of their wealth came from the powerful painkiller, OxyContin. While the drug wasn’t the only opioid behind this public health emergency, it is regarded as the pioneer. What follows is the story of an immigrant family struggling to survive during the depression, and who, as the 20th century progressed turned their lives around by making their way into the pharmaceutical business. It was Arthur Sackler's role in the marketing of Valium that was the basis of the first Sackler fortune. Later, the lessons learned in making Valium a success story were applied to OxyContin in the 1990s, leading to phenomenal wealth for the Sacklers. Meanwhile, on the eve of the new millenium, families across America were beginning to fall victim to what would become the opioid epidemic.
Patrick Radden Keefe is an award-winning writer at the New Yorker, winner of the 2019 Orwell Prize for Political Writing and the Baille Gifford Prize, 2021
Kyle Soller is an American film, stage, and television actor. His accolades include an Olivier Award, and three Evening Standard Theatre Awards.
Abridger: Katrin Williams.
Producer: Elizabeth Allard.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0017cqh)
US singer/songwriter Beth Nielsen Chapman, Laura Bates, Menstrual leave/abortion reform in Spain, Feminine power & goddesses
It’s been ten years since the writer and activist Laura Bates founded the Everyday Sexism project, giving a platform to thousands of women to document their everyday experiences of sexism, harassment and assault. In her new book, ‘Fix the System Not the Women’ she argues we have wasted decades telling women and girls how to fix things, how to fix themselves, how to stay safe, it hasn’t worked because women were never the problem in the first place. She is calling for systematic reform of our key institutions and societal systems that she says are failing to protect women.
Spanish women with severe Menstrual symptoms could be entitled to three days of leave a month - extended to five in some circumstances - if a draft bill going through the Spanish parliament is approved. It would make it the first legal entitlement of its kind in Europe. The bill is part of a package of reforms that could also overturn laws passed by the previous government, including 16 and 17 year old girls no longer needing parental consent to have an abortion. Maria Ramirez is a journalist and Deputy Managing Editor from ElDiario an online investigative and political news service based in Madrid.
A new exhibition exploring female spiritual beings in world belief and mythological traditions around the globe opens at the British Museum this week. Feminine power: the divine to the demonic is the first exhibition of its kind to bring together ancient sculpture, sacred artifacts and contemporary art from six continents. It will look at how femininity has been perceived across the world, and how feminine power has been used in deities, goddesses, demons, saints and other spiritual beings. Belinda Crerar is Exhibition Curator at the British Museum and Dr Janina Ramirez is a British Art Historian and author of Goddess a book for children written to accompany this exhibition
Two-time Grammy nominee Beth Nielsen Chapman has had a career spanning 40 years. Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2016, Nashville-based Beth, has released more than a dozen albums and written number one hits and songs recorded by the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Bette Midler, Elton John and Neil Diamond. Beth joins Krupa to discuss her music and to perform her bluesy new single ‘Hey Girl’ (We Can Deal With It) an anthemic reaction to the ‘Me Too’ movement, a song Beth calls her “celebratory shout out to our sisters making their way in the world.”
Presenter: Krupa Padhy
Producer: Kirsty Starkey
Interviewed Guest: Laura Bates
Interviewed Guest: Maria Ramirez
Interviewed Guest: Belinda Crerar
Interviewed Guest: Dr Janina Ramirez
Interviewed Guest: Beth Nielsen Chapman
FRI 11:00 Sketches: Stories of Art and People (m000s1sf)
Tribute
Capturing someone's essence, really seeing them, is a way of honouring them. The writer Anna Freeman hears stories of people using their creativity to pay tribute to others, through drawing, painting and song.
There's the Leeds-based writer and musician using song to honour elderly members of the local community though a series of musical portraits. An art teacher drawing every member of the British armed forces to have lost their lives in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. And there's a mural that appears on a wall in Leith depicting a face familiar to many locals. But where has the subject of the painting gone?
Produced by Mair Bosworth and Maggie Ayre
FRI 11:30 Believe It! (m0017cqr)
Series 6
Stuff
This is the sixth series of Jon Canter's "radiography" of Richard Wilson - exploring elements of Richard's life that are very nearly true.
Expect visits from David Tennant, Sir Ian McKellen, Arabella Weir and Stephen Mangan to name but four.
Written by Jon Canter
Starring
Richard Wilson
Stephen Mangan
and Arabella Weir
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m0017cqw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 A Brief History of Progress (m0017cfp)
American satirist Joe Queenan follows up his programmes on blame, shame and truth with a question that has troubled many of us in recent years - has progress come to a halt? Beginning with the end of the Neanderthals, Queenan charts the ascent of man with the help of some surprising guests including Emma Garland, Terry Jones, Bertrand Russell and Edith Hall.
definition one: forward or onward movement towards an advanced or improved condition
Queenan tackles all the major areas of concern, including progress and nature, progress and money, and progress and war.
"I think it's inevitable that men will gather together and club each other to death," he says. "I don't think you can pin that one on women. If women were running Afghanistan things would be great."
The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde
FRI 12:57 Weather (m0017cr1)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m0017cr5)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Jonny Dymond.
FRI 13:45 The Future Will Be Synthesised (m0017cr8)
Communication and relationships
Synthetic media could revolutionise the way we communicate. We could cut out unnecessary business travel by sending an avatar in our place, or allow people with degenerative diseases to speak in their own voices using AI. However, in our increasingly digital world, signs have already begun to suggest synthetic media is warping our perception of ourselves. Filters, photo and video editing, and constant airbrushing of reality may be contributing to a mental health crisis amongst young women, feeding into a withering of authenticity.
Advances in synthetic media mean we can synthetically replicate people more realistically than ever before. This includes activists bringing victims of injustice back to ‘life’ to spread a message, and private individuals who want to bring back their loved ones or to preserve themselves digitally. As synthetic media changes the way we see ourselves, others, and the world around us, how will this change our thinking about our individuality and existence?
Interviewees: Manuel Oliver, campaigner; Alex Serdiuk, Respeecher, Brittan Heller, Atlantic Council
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m0017ckr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Lusus (m0017crc)
3. Rituals
Magnus (Alistair Petrie) is a surgeon who secretly believes that if he doesn’t do his daily rituals, his patients will die. We follow Magnus through the habitual voicemail messages he leaves for his ex-girlfriend Julia, but with each day she doesn’t answer, his rituals are further interrupted. The mindfulness podcast he listens to, in a desperate attempt to change, isn’t helping and might in fact be making things much worse.
Cast
Magnus - Alistair Petrie
Julia - Ella Bruccoleri
Mindfulness Narrator - Caroline Faber
Old Lady - Tamar Baruch
Voicemail/Lift - Stevie Ward
Doctor - Annabel Miller
Man - John Newton
Kevin - Henry Newton
Crew
Production Company - Clarence Beeks
Co-Creator/Writer - Samantha Newton
Co-Creator/Director - Rachel Zisser
Executive Producer - Sara Johnson
Executive Producer - Daniel M Jackson
Producer - Hannah Charman, Sister Music
Casting Director - Sophie Kingston-Smith
Casting Assistant - Lainey Lipson
Composer - Na’ama Zisser
Vocalists - Tomer Damsky, Aya Gavriel, Ron Sheskin, Quantum Choir
Sound engineer - Laura Blake
Sound engineer - Charlie Braham
Sound engineer - Gareth Wood
Sound Recording - The Sound Company
Vocalist Recording - Marco Milevski, Mazkeka Studio
Sound Design - King Lear Music & Sound
Lead Sound Designer - Dugal Macdiarmid
Asst Sound Designer - Ned Sisson
Asst Sound Designer - Lauren Cooper
FRI 14:45 Living with the Gods (b09byqfc)
Mother and Child
Neil MacGregor continues his series on the expression of shared beliefs in communities around the world and across time.
He focuses on how societies and communities seek to protect the newly-born and their mothers, including the role of St Margaret of Antioch, patron saint of childbirth, and the use of protective omamori in Japan.
Producer Paul Kobrak
Produced in partnership with the British Museum
Photograph (c) The Trustees of the British Museum.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m0017crf)
Wellcome Collection
Kathy Clugston and the panel are in London. Fielding your horticultural queries this week are Anne Swithinbank, Pippa Greenwood and James Wong.
This week, the team get suitably scientific as they answer questions from a live audience at Wellcome Collection, London, a museum exploring health and the human experience. The panel share their knowledge on vernalisation, chimeral variegation, and the process that makes watermelons from Bulgaria taste so sweet. They'll also be offering up some adventurous recommendations for climbers to grow in total shade and planting on a narrowboat.
Away from the questions, curator Emily Sargent shows regular panellist James Wong around the Rooted Beings exhibition at Wellcome Collection, an exhibition which asks us to reconsider our relationship to the plants we take for granted in our everyday life.
Producer: Dominic Tyerman
Assistant Producer: Bethany Hocken
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:45 Short Works (m0017crh)
Mother
A man takes a job in a very unusual bakery in Copenhagen that relies on a unique ingredient.
Copenhagen-born Heidi Amsinck has written numerous short stories for radio. Her collection, Last Train To Helsingør, was published in 2018. Her first novel, My Name Is Jensen, was published in 2021. The follow-up, The Girl In The Photo, is due out later in 2022.
Writer: Heidi Amsinck
Reader: Tim McInnerny
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m0017crk)
Shireen Abu Akleh, Robert Gillmor, Leonid Kravchuk (pictured), Carrie White
Matthew Bannister on
Shireen Abu Akleh, the respected Al Jazeera reporter who was shot dead while covering an Israeli military raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank.
Robert Gillmor, the wildlife artist best known for his striking paintings of birds.
Leonid Kravchuk who oversaw Ukraine’s transition to independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union and became its President.
Carrie White, the hairdresser who styled some of Hollywood’s biggest stars and became addicted to drink and drugs.
Producer: Neil George
Interviewed guest: Dalia Hatuqa
Interviewed guest: Stephen Moss
Interviewed guest: Dr Taras Kuzio
Interviewed guest: Helena de Bertodano
Interviewed guest: Pitita Alcala White
Archive clips used: BBC News 24, Newsday 12/05/2022; BBC News,14/05/2022; Al Jazeera English, 74 years of Nakba 2022; xeno-canto.org, Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta); BBC One, Animal Magic 23/11/1971; YouTube/Behind Nhu, Eurasian collared dove call 17/05/2020; BBC Radio 4, The World Tonight 28/04/1986; BBC News, Ukranian Referendum Results 02/12/1991; AP Archive, Ukraine - Preparations for Presidential Elections 25/06/1994; BBC One, six o'clock news - Ukraine Nuclear Weapons 14/01/1994; Connie Martinson YouTube channel, Upper Cut - Carrie White interview 31/10/2011.
FRI 16:30 Feedback (m0017crm)
What is it like being the BBC’s Defence Correspondent during the Russian Ukrainian conflict?
How does he work out what is fact and what is propaganda? Jonathan Beale answers listeners’ questions.
Listeners also give their views on where inevitable cuts are to be made at the Corporation.
And do young farmers find the Archers storylines credible?
Presenter: Roger Bolton
Producer: Kate Dixon
Executive Producer: Samir Shah
A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 17:00 PM (m0017crp)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0017crr)
The US says the row with the EU about Northern Ireland risks western unity over Ukraine.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (m0017crt)
Series 108
Episode 5
It's a special UK vs Rest of the World edition of the show recorded with a virtual online audience. Anuvab Pal (India) and Alice Fraser (Australia) take on Scott Bennett (Nottingham) and Susie McCabe (Glasgow), all under the watchful eye of news referee, Andy Zaltzman. On the menu is UK inflation, this weekend's Australian elections and the "de-arching" of Russia's McDonalds.
Written by Andy Zaltzman with additional material from Alice Fraser, Max Davis, Aidan Fitzmaurice and Jade Gebbie.
Producer: Richard Morris
Production co-ordinator: Ryan Walker-Edwards
A BBC Studios Production
FRI 19:00 Past Forward: A Century of Sound (m0015lsv)
Get Out of My Pub
Greg Jenner looks at the evolution of the pub across the last half century, after hearing a clip from 1976 of a man saying that men ‘aren’t very keen’ on women joining them for a game of darts in the bar. He's joined by Dr Thomas Thurnell-Read and Rhondell Stabana, to discuss changes in drinking culture and alcohol-free bars.
Marking the centenary of the BBC, Past Forward uses a random date generator to alight somewhere in the BBC's vast archive over the past 100 years. Greg Jenner hears an archive clip for the first time at the top of the programme, and uses it as a starting point in a journey towards the present day. The archive captures a century of British life in a unique way - a history of ordinary people’s lives, as well as news of the great events. Greg uncovers connections through people, places and ideas that link the archive fragment to Britain in 2022, pulling in help from experts and those who remember the time, and looking at how far we've come since then.
Produced by Dan Potts
FRI 19:15 Screenshot (m0017crw)
Box Office Bombs
Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore big budget flops, from Ishtar to Cats.
Ishtar – writer and director Elaine May's huge budget comedy starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman – was released in May 1987. The film, about a pair of incompetent singer-songwriters who become entangled in a CIA plot in north Africa, tanked at the box office and ultimately put paid to May's directing career. In the process the word Ishtar became a joke - that title alone symbolising Hollywood hubris at its worst. But, as May put it, "If all the people who hate Ishtar had seen it, I would be a rich woman."
Thirty five years on, Mark asks culture critic Lindsay Zoladz and comedian and director Richard Ayoade whether Ishtar is ripe for reappraisal.
And Ellen draws up a set of rules to help Hollywood studio bosses avoid box office bombs in 2022, running them past Film Stories founder Simon Brew and Hollywood super-producer Lynda Obst.
Also, controversial director Gaspar Noe shares his Viewing Notes.
Producer: Jane Long
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m0017cry)
Lord Blunkett, David Davis MP, Nancy Fielder, Dame Julie Kenny
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from Sheffield Hallam University with Labour peer and former Home Secretary Lord Blunkett, Conservative MP and former Brexit Secretary David Davis, the editor of The Sheffield Star Nancy Fielder and the entrepreneur Dame Julie Kenny.
Producer: Camellia Sinclair
Lead broadcast engineer: Phil Booth
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m0017cs0)
Home from Home
'Over the centuries', writes Michael Morpurgo, 'we have been a safe haven to so many, and they have helped make us the people we are today - at our best, a deeply humanitarian people. I fear we are not at our best today'.
Michael argues that, although we need to address the issue of people smuggling and deaths from dangerous Channel crossings, we must not lose our capacity for kindness and 'generosity of spirit' towards those who need our help.
Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Hugh Levinson
FRI 21:00 Archive on 4 (m00173zn)
We're All Living in OK Computer Now...
On the 25th anniversary of Radiohead’s breakthrough album, admirers from literature, music, science and politics examine the album’s prophetic qualities. Did OK Computer actually shape and predict the future?
In June 1997, an also-ran band in the Britpop wars put out a third LP. Moving clear of their musical peers, who were engaged in 60s nostalgia, this was a sonically and psychologically sophisticated record. Released in the first days of the New Labour government, it subverted the era's idealism and “things can only get better”, and lit a flare at the dawn of a new age of postmodern anxiety.
Recently, OK Computer was voted the “ultimate 90s album” on BBC Radio 2. But this was more than just a 90s record. Much more.
OK Computer is rock music as science fiction. A musical version of George Orwell or JG Ballard. Each song yields a vivid premonition of life as it is lived now, a quarter of a century on. It speaks directly to the major events of our time, from Trump to the climate emergency, big data and surveillance.
Author, Booker-nominee, and Radiohead superfan Sarah Hall speaks to contributors including:
Lauren Beukes, sci-fi author
Daphne A Brooks, academic
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester
John Harris, journalist
Steve Hyden, rock critic
Conor O'Brien, Villagers musician
Musa Okwonga, musician and broadcaster
Dr Adam Rutherford, scientist
Producer: Jack Howson
Additional Production: Tess Davidson
Executive Producer: Sarah Cuddon
Sound Mix: Mike Woolley
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4
With special thanks to Tom Gatti and Bloomsbury Publishing, whose book 'Long Players' inspired this programme.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m0017cs2)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
FRI 22:45 Love Marriage by Monica Ali (m0017cs4)
5: New Horizons
Meera Syal reads Monica Ali’s first new novel for a decade, a bighearted and hilarious story of two very different families brought together by marriage.
Yasmin Ghorami has brilliant career in medicine, and is engaged to a charming junior doctor. But as their wedding approaches, and the two families are thrown together, they all find themselves confronting long-held and dark secrets.
Today: Yasmin barely recognises her mother after her move to Harriet's house - not only new ideas, a new business but also a new 'special friend'...
Author: Monica Ali
Reader: Meera Syal
Abridger: Katrin Williams
Producer: Justine Willett
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (m0017cml)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m0017cs6)
Eyes down for a full house. The annual private members' bill ballot took place this week. It's parliament's answer to a lottery. The Deputy Speaker draws numbers from a glass bowl. Each number represents a MP. The winners will get the chance to propose their own legislation. Mark D'Arcy reports on this year's ballot and talks to some of the MPs who've been through the process.
LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)
1922: The Birth of Now
14:45 SUN (m0013zlv)
39 Ways to Save the Planet
14:45 SAT (m000v8wm)
A Brief History of Progress
12:04 FRI (m0017cfp)
A Life in Miniatures
16:00 MON (m00174d8)
A Point of View
08:48 SUN (m00174lg)
A Point of View
20:50 FRI (m0017cs0)
All in the Mind
21:00 TUE (m0017ch0)
All in the Mind
15:30 WED (m0017ch0)
Any Answers?
14:00 SAT (m0017cdq)
Any Questions?
13:10 SAT (m00174ld)
Any Questions?
20:00 FRI (m0017cry)
Archive on 4
20:00 SAT (m0017f1b)
Archive on 4
21:00 FRI (m00173zn)
BBC Inside Science
16:30 THU (m0017ckg)
BBC Inside Science
21:00 THU (m0017ckg)
Believe It!
11:30 FRI (m0017cqr)
Bells on Sunday
05:43 SUN (m0017cgj)
Bells on Sunday
00:45 MON (m0017cgj)
Beyond Belief
16:30 MON (m0017cpp)
Bound to the Mast
16:00 TUE (m0017cmj)
Broadcasting House
09:00 SUN (m0017ct5)
Costing the Earth
15:30 TUE (m0017chj)
Costing the Earth
21:00 WED (m0017chj)
Crossing Continents
20:30 MON (m00174d6)
Crossing Continents
11:00 THU (m0017cjb)
Daphne Sounds Expensive
18:30 TUE (b08xctdw)
Desert Island Discs
11:00 SUN (m0017cq7)
Desert Island Discs
09:00 FRI (m0017cq7)
Don't Log Off
11:30 MON (m0017cp0)
Drama
14:15 TUE (m000jmt7)
Drama
14:15 WED (m0017cgw)
Elon Musk: The Evening Rocket
16:00 THU (m000xz37)
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
09:45 MON (m0017cnt)
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
00:30 TUE (m0017cnt)
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
09:45 TUE (m0017clx)
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
00:30 WED (m0017clx)
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
09:45 WED (m0017cfq)
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
00:30 THU (m0017cfq)
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
09:45 THU (m0017cj3)
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
00:30 FRI (m0017cj3)
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
09:45 FRI (m0017cqc)
Farming Today
06:30 SAT (m0017cd0)
Farming Today
05:45 MON (m0017cvl)
Farming Today
05:45 TUE (m0017cr9)
Farming Today
05:45 WED (m0017cnm)
Farming Today
05:45 THU (m0017ck0)
Farming Today
05:45 FRI (m0017clw)
Feedback
20:00 SUN (m00174l2)
Feedback
16:30 FRI (m0017crm)
File on 4
17:00 SUN (m001748d)
File on 4
20:00 TUE (m0017cmv)
Fortunately... with Fi and Jane
23:00 TUE (m0017cn3)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:30 SAT (m0017cdd)
Front Row
19:15 MON (m0017cpy)
Front Row
19:15 TUE (m0017cms)
Front Row
19:15 WED (m0017chd)
Front Row
19:15 THU (m0017ckt)
GF Newman's The Corrupted
21:00 SAT (b05077kn)
Gardeners' Question Time
14:00 SUN (m00174kw)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:00 FRI (m0017crf)
Gaslit, Groomed and Ghosted
23:00 THU (m0017cl3)
Generation Change
22:15 SAT (m0017461)
Generation Change
20:00 WED (m0017chg)
Good Pop Bad Pop by Jarvis Cocker
00:30 SAT (m00174k8)
Great Lives
16:30 TUE (m0017cml)
Great Lives
23:00 FRI (m0017cml)
How One Becomes Lonely
19:45 SUN (m0017cv1)
In Our Time
09:00 THU (m0017chy)
In Our Time
21:30 THU (m0017chy)
In Touch
20:40 TUE (m0017cmx)
Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley
05:45 SAT (m001744m)
Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley
09:30 WED (m0017cfl)
Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley
20:45 WED (m0017cfl)
Just a Minute
18:30 MON (m0017cpw)
Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley
11:30 WED (p0c2550y)
Last Word
20:30 SUN (m00174l0)
Last Word
16:00 FRI (m0017crk)
Life Changing
09:00 WED (m0017cfg)
Life Changing
20:30 THU (m0017cfg)
Living with the Gods
11:45 SUN (b09by75p)
Living with the Gods
14:45 FRI (b09byqfc)
London on the Line
20:00 MON (m0017cg2)
London on the Line
11:00 WED (m0017cg2)
Loose Ends
18:15 SAT (m0017cf9)
Loose Ends
23:00 SUN (m0017cf9)
Love Marriage by Monica Ali
22:45 MON (m0017cq6)
Love Marriage by Monica Ali
22:45 TUE (m0017cn1)
Love Marriage by Monica Ali
22:45 WED (m0017chn)
Love Marriage by Monica Ali
22:45 THU (m0017cl1)
Love Marriage by Monica Ali
22:45 FRI (m0017cs4)
Lusus
14:15 FRI (m0017crc)
Mary Portas: On Style
11:30 TUE (m0017cm2)
Midnight News
00:00 SAT (m00174lr)
Midnight News
00:00 SUN (m0017cfx)
Midnight News
00:00 MON (m0017cv6)
Midnight News
00:00 TUE (m0017cqg)
Midnight News
00:00 WED (m0017cn7)
Midnight News
00:00 THU (m0017cj6)
Midnight News
00:00 FRI (m0017cl8)
Money Box
12:04 SAT (m0017cdj)
Money Box
21:00 SUN (m0017cdj)
Money Box
15:00 WED (m0017cgy)
News Briefing
05:30 SAT (m00174m0)
News Briefing
05:30 SUN (m0017cgd)
News Briefing
05:30 MON (m0017cvg)
News Briefing
05:30 TUE (m0017cqz)
News Briefing
05:30 WED (m0017cnh)
News Briefing
05:30 THU (m0017cjr)
News Briefing
05:30 FRI (m0017clm)
News Summary
12:00 SAT (m0017cdg)
News Summary
06:00 SUN (m0017csf)
News Summary
12:00 SUN (m0017ct9)
News Summary
12:00 MON (m0017cp3)
News Summary
12:00 TUE (m0017cm4)
News Summary
12:00 WED (m0017cgc)
News Summary
12:00 THU (m0017cjl)
News Summary
12:00 FRI (m0017cqw)
News and Papers
06:00 SAT (m0017ccy)
News and Papers
07:00 SUN (m0017cst)
News and Papers
08:00 SUN (m0017ct1)
News and Weather
13:00 SAT (m0017cdn)
News
22:00 SAT (m0017cft)
On Your Farm
06:35 SUN (m0017csk)
One Direction
09:30 TUE (m0017cls)
Open Book
16:00 SUN (m0017ckd)
Open Book
15:30 THU (m0017ckd)
Our Friends in the North
14:15 THU (m0017ck6)
PM
17:00 SAT (m0017cdy)
PM
17:00 MON (m0017cpr)
PM
17:00 TUE (m0017cmn)
PM
17:00 WED (m0017ch6)
PM
17:00 THU (m0017ckj)
PM
17:00 FRI (m0017crp)
Past Forward: A Century of Sound
19:00 FRI (m0015lsv)
Pick of the Week
18:15 SUN (m0017ctx)
Poetry Please
23:30 SAT (m001743l)
Poetry Please
16:30 SUN (m0017ctn)
Political Thinking with Nick Robinson
17:30 SAT (m0017cf0)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 SAT (m00174m2)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 MON (m0017cvj)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 TUE (m0017cr4)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 WED (m0017cnk)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 THU (m0017cjw)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 FRI (m0017clr)
Profile
19:00 SAT (m0017cff)
Profile
05:45 SUN (m0017cff)
Profile
17:40 SUN (m0017cff)
Putin
11:00 TUE (p0c0037m)
Radio 4 Appeal
07:54 SUN (m0017ckb)
Radio 4 Appeal
21:25 SUN (m0017ckb)
Radio 4 Appeal
15:27 THU (m0017ckb)
Ramblings
06:07 SAT (m00174ds)
Ramblings
15:00 THU (m0017ck8)
Round Britain Quiz
23:00 SAT (m0017410)
Round Britain Quiz
15:00 MON (m0017cpk)
Saturday Live
09:00 SAT (m0017cd6)
Screenshot
19:15 FRI (m0017crw)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SAT (m00174lw)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SUN (m0017cg5)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 MON (m0017cvb)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 TUE (m0017cqq)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 WED (m0017cnc)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 THU (m0017cjh)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 FRI (m0017cld)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SAT (m00174lt)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SAT (m00174ly)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SAT (m0017cf2)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SUN (m0017cg1)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SUN (m0017cg8)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SUN (m0017ctq)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 MON (m0017cv8)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 MON (m0017cvd)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 TUE (m0017cql)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 TUE (m0017cqv)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 WED (m0017cn9)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 WED (m0017cnf)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 THU (m0017cjc)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 THU (m0017cjm)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 FRI (m0017clb)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 FRI (m0017clh)
Short Works
00:30 SUN (m00174ky)
Short Works
15:45 FRI (m0017crh)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SAT (m0017cf6)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SUN (m0017ctv)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 MON (m0017cpt)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 TUE (m0017cmq)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 WED (m0017ch8)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 THU (m0017ckl)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 FRI (m0017crr)
Sketches: Stories of Art and People
11:00 FRI (m000s1sf)
Sliced Bread
12:32 THU (m0017cjv)
Something Understood
06:05 SUN (b019rd6n)
Something Understood
23:30 SUN (b019rd6n)
Stand-Up Specials
19:15 SUN (m0017ctz)
Start the Week
09:00 MON (m0017cnr)
Start the Week
21:30 MON (m0017cnr)
Sunday Worship
08:10 SUN (m0017ct3)
Sunday
07:10 SUN (m0017csx)
Sunil Patel: An Idiot's Guide to Cryptocurrency
23:00 WED (m0017chs)
Thanks a Lot, Milton Jones!
18:30 THU (m0017ckn)
The Archers Omnibus
10:00 SUN (m0017ct7)
The Archers
19:00 SUN (m0017cpf)
The Archers
14:00 MON (m0017cpf)
The Archers
19:00 MON (m0017cmg)
The Archers
14:00 TUE (m0017cmg)
The Archers
19:00 TUE (m0017cgt)
The Archers
14:00 WED (m0017cgt)
The Archers
19:00 WED (m0017chb)
The Archers
14:00 THU (m0017chb)
The Archers
19:00 THU (m0017ckr)
The Archers
14:00 FRI (m0017ckr)
The Briefing Room
20:00 THU (m0017ckw)
The Confessional
18:30 WED (m000x60b)
The Digital Human
21:30 SUN (m000sqsb)
The Food Programme
12:32 SUN (m0017cpm)
The Food Programme
15:30 MON (m0017cpm)
The Future Will Be Synthesised
13:45 MON (m0017cpc)
The Future Will Be Synthesised
13:45 TUE (m0017cmd)
The Future Will Be Synthesised
13:45 WED (m0017cgq)
The Future Will Be Synthesised
13:45 THU (m0017ck4)
The Future Will Be Synthesised
13:45 FRI (m0017cr8)
The Kitchen Cabinet
10:30 SAT (m0017cd8)
The Kitchen Cabinet
15:00 TUE (m0017cd8)
The Listening Project
13:30 SUN (m0017ctj)
The Long View
21:00 MON (m0014g04)
The Long View
09:00 TUE (m0017cln)
The Long View
21:30 TUE (m0017cln)
The Media Show
16:30 WED (m0017ch4)
The Media Show
21:30 WED (m0017ch4)
The News Quiz
12:30 SAT (m00174l8)
The News Quiz
18:30 FRI (m0017crt)
The Reckoning
15:00 SAT (m0017cds)
The Reckoning
15:00 SUN (m0017ctl)
The Reckoning
14:15 MON (m0017cph)
The Skewer
21:45 SAT (m001746c)
The Skewer
23:15 WED (m0017chz)
The Unbelievable Truth
12:04 SUN (m001741d)
The Untold
11:00 MON (m0017cny)
The Week in Westminster
11:00 SAT (m0017cdb)
The World This Weekend
13:00 SUN (m0017ctg)
The World Tonight
22:00 MON (m0017cq1)
The World Tonight
22:00 TUE (m0017cmz)
The World Tonight
22:00 WED (m0017chl)
The World Tonight
22:00 THU (m0017ckz)
The World Tonight
22:00 FRI (m0017cs2)
Thinking Allowed
00:15 MON (m001745n)
Thinking Allowed
16:00 WED (m0017ch2)
This Cultural Life
19:15 SAT (m0017cfk)
Today in Parliament
23:30 MON (m0017cqb)
Today in Parliament
23:30 TUE (m0017cn5)
Today in Parliament
23:30 WED (m0017cj2)
Today in Parliament
23:30 THU (m0017cl6)
Today in Parliament
23:30 FRI (m0017cs6)
Today
07:00 SAT (m0017cd4)
Today
06:00 MON (m0017cnp)
Today
06:00 TUE (m0017clj)
Today
06:00 WED (m0017cfb)
Today
06:00 THU (m0017cht)
Today
06:00 FRI (m0017cq4)
Tweet of the Day
08:58 SUN (b09h3t70)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 MON (b04t0vhm)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 TUE (b0378xj7)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 WED (b08spdww)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 THU (b04t0sxg)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 FRI (b038qk6z)
Weather
06:57 SAT (m0017cd2)
Weather
12:57 SAT (m0017cdl)
Weather
17:57 SAT (m0017cf4)
Weather
06:57 SUN (m0017csp)
Weather
07:57 SUN (m0017csz)
Weather
12:57 SUN (m0017ctd)
Weather
17:57 SUN (m0017cts)
Weather
05:56 MON (m0017cvn)
Weather
12:57 MON (m0017cp7)
Weather
12:57 TUE (m0017cm8)
Weather
12:57 WED (m0017cgl)
Weather
12:57 THU (m0017cjz)
Weather
12:57 FRI (m0017cr1)
Westminster Hour
22:00 SUN (m0017cv3)
Witness
00:15 SUN (b036tqps)
Woman's Hour
16:00 SAT (m0017cdw)
Woman's Hour
10:00 MON (m0017cnw)
Woman's Hour
10:00 TUE (m0017clz)
Woman's Hour
10:00 WED (m0017cfy)
Woman's Hour
10:00 THU (m0017cj7)
Woman's Hour
10:00 FRI (m0017cqh)
Word of Mouth
23:00 MON (m0017480)
World at One
13:00 MON (m0017cp9)
World at One
13:00 TUE (m0017cmb)
World at One
13:00 WED (m0017cgn)
World at One
13:00 THU (m0017ck2)
World at One
13:00 FRI (m0017cr5)
You and Yours
12:04 MON (m0017cp5)
You and Yours
12:04 TUE (m0017cm6)
You and Yours
12:04 WED (m0017cgh)
You and Yours
12:04 THU (m0017cjq)
Youth Unites
11:30 THU (m0017cjg)