SATURDAY 07 JANUARY 2023

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m001gld3)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 00:30 The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama (m001glbv)
Episode 5 - Going High

Michelle Obama reads from her book about her strategies for living boldly in uncertain times. Today, she tells us how Going High became a guiding principle for her and her family.

The Light We Carry follows on from her critically acclaimed and global best-selling memoir, Becoming. Here she draws on her life experiences to illustrate how she has overcome obstacles in her personal and professional life. She looks at how she has embraced fear of the unknown to fuel accomplishment and success; how friendship and family continue to be bedrocks in remaining grounded and overcoming adversity, and the power she has found in small acts in the face of doubt. She is frank when she explores issues linked to race, gender and visibility. She also lays out the meaning behind 'going high'.

Michelle Obama served as First Lady of the United States from 2009-2017. A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, Mrs Obama started her career as an attorney at a Chicago law firm where she met her husband, Barack Obama. She founded the Chicago chapter of Public Allies, an organisation that prepares young people for careers in public service. She is an advocate for voting rights, girls' education, and children's health. She has two daughters and lives with her husband in Washington, D.C.

Abridged by Katrin Williams
Produced by Elizabeth Allard


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001gld5)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001gld7)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.


SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001gld9)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m001gldc)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001gldf)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Harry Baker

Good morning.

I was recently asked to write a poem on the theme of joy. To get myself in the right headspace for it I thought I would start listing things that bring me joy, no matter how big or small. This included but was not limited to: Crisps. Stroopwaffles. Leftovers for breakfast. How proud my teenage self would be of how often my adult self wears trackies. That sleeping, reading, and writing poems can never be a waste of time. Clearing my inbox Turning my phone off Being out of breath Crying. Especially in films. Fireworks. Self-Esteem’s latest album. Everything else Self-esteem does. Finding out that Stormzy plays both Wordle and Nerdle and taking this to be further evidence that we could indeed be really good friends. Musical Bingo Only Connect Taskmaster Ted Lasso My Yellow Wellies A decent Whatsapp group My nieces

Before long, what was initially quite a difficult activity begun to snowball, until by the end it was harder to stop than it had been to start. The final poem ended up simply being an extended list of joyful things, finishing with the fact that the start of this year was possibly the lowest I have ever felt and yet here I am. Being prayed for, being held, being warm, being vulnerable, being open, opening a packet of crisps.

A few days after finishing I came across the fantastic Mary Oliver poem that finishes with the line: Joy is not meant to be a crumb, and I was reminded that all these small things added up to something much bigger indeed. God thank you for joy. May you grant us space to reflect on the things that bring us joy in our lives, and may we be open to the abundant opportunity for joy that each new day may bring.

Amen.


SAT 05:45 Four Thought (m001gkdz)
I love gaming, but gaming doesn't always love me

Meg Sunshine, a 21 year old professional gamer is dedicated to becoming one of the best in the industry. Gaming is her life. But her journey has not been an easy one. She’s experienced threats of sexual violence from male gamers and has frequently felt unsafe online. She’s determined to bring about change however. In this episode she argues gaming needs to tackle its toxic culture, encourage a more diverse range of players and keep girls gaming.


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m001gwrx)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (m001gl6x)
Folk on the Hills

Folk musician Johnny Campbell is recording an album of songs from the summits and industrial hotspots of northern England. Jez Lowe joins him at Kinder Scout in Derbyshire to celebrate ninety years since the ‘Right to Roam’ movement began and explore the traditional songs of the Peak District. Jez meets local singer Bella Hardy to hear how her home in Edale has inspired and influenced her work, and writer Roly Smith who can explain the history of Kinder and the 1932 mass trespass. It may be ninety years ago, but for young global folk stars Kate Griffin and Ford Collier of Mishra, the call for a right to roam is still relevant. They have recorded a version of Ewan MacColl’s ‘Manchester Rambler’, a song inspired by the Kinder trespass. Jez meets Kate, Ford, Johnny and Bella to hear how a new generation of musicians are continuing MacColl’s legacy of folk singers fighting for our rights in the countryside.

Produced by Helen Lennard


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m001gwrz)
07/01/23 - Farming Today This Week: The Oxford Farming Conferences

From politics to poetry...from farming to feminism. In this programme, Charlotte Smith brings you all the latest developments from two of the biggest events in the food and farming calendar. The Oxford Farming Conference started in 1936 and takes place in the Examination Schools where it has become part of the farming establishment. Down the road at the Town Hall is the Oxford Real Farming Conference, which started in 2010 and sees itself as a radical alternative to the OFC.

Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons


SAT 06:57 Weather (m001gws1)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m001gws3)
Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m001gws5)
Philippa Perry

Philippa Perry joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. The psychotherapist, writer, agony aunt and broadcaster is married to the artist Grayson Perry. Her works include The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (And Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did).

Peter Lantos tells the story of how he survived the Holocaust as a small child in Bergen-Belsen. He offers an extraordinary perspective of not just living through terrible events, but on making sense of them as well.

Sean Gandini is a renowned juggling artist and performer. He grew up in Havana, Cuba, where he developed a fascination with magic and mathematics, eventually leading him to take up juggling at the age of 16.

Eliza Carthy chooses her Inheritance Tracks: Good Morning, Mr Walker by Mighty Sparrow and Killer Queen by Queen.

It’s been 21 years since a 12 year old Dani Harmer first appeared in children’s drama The Story of Tracy Beaker, based on Jacqueline Wilson’s books about growing up in a care home. Harmer has had a varied career outside the famous TV series, but explains why she's happy to see what Tracy's up to.

The Boy Who Didn’t Want to Die by Peter Lantos is out now.
Sean Gandini with Kati will be performing The Games We Play as part of Mime London 2023 at The Place on the 20th and 21st of January.
Eliza & Martin Carthy, and her band The Restitution, will be at The Barbican in London on Saturday 4th of February.
The new series of The Beaker Girls starts on Friday 13th January at 6pm on CBBC and can be seen afterwards on BBC iPlayer.

Producer: Claire Bartleet


SAT 10:30 You're Dead To Me (p097d63q)
The Asante Empire

Greg Jenner is joined by historian Dr Augustus Casely-Hayford OBE and comedian Sophie Duker to explore the incredible Asante Empire.

We learn the roots of Ghanian heritage - from storytelling, fabric, food, music and rhythm as communication, to how centuries of traditions across the empire came together to protect the most sacred symbol of power in the Asante Kingdom from the hands of the British during the War of the Golden Stool.

Produced by Cornelius Mendez
Script by Greg Jenner and Emma Nagouse
Research by Lloyd Roberts

The Athletic production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 11:00 The Briefing Room (m001gl7b)
Ukraine: How will the war evolve in 2023?

David Aaronovitch and a panel of experts evaluate the current situation in Ukraine and explore how the war might evolve in the remaining winter months and into the Spring.

Joining David Aaronovitch in The Briefing Room are:

Michael Clarke, Professor of Defence studies and Specialist Advisor to the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy
Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King's College London
Samantha de Bendern, Associate Fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House
Shashank Joshi, Defence Editor of The Economist

Producers: Ben Carter, Dan Gordon and Kirsteen Knight
Editor: Richard Vadon
Studio manager: James Beard
Production co-ordinators: Helena Warwick-Cross, Sophie Hill and Siobhan Reed


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m001gws7)
Brazil: United In Grief, Divided By Politics

Kate Adie presents stories from Brazil, Russia, the US, South Korea and Italy

Brazilians this week mourned the loss of one of their greatest footballers, Pele, with hundreds of thousands going to view his open casket in Santos. Meanwhile, the politics continue to divide the nation as Lula da Silva returned to power. Katy Watson was in Brasilia for his inauguration and reflects on the challenges ahead.

Vladimir Putin used his New Year address this year to rally the nation once more for war, as festive ice sculptures even depicted military figures. The announcement of a ceasefire for Orthodox Christmas appeared incongruous with Putin's rhetoric and was dismissed by Ukrainians as a plot to stay their advances. Steve Rosenberg was in Moscow as Russians were once more put on a war footing.

Linda Pressly has a dispatch from Tucson in Arizona where she met a group of committed Christians helping migrants who've crossed from Mexico into the harsh landscape of the Sonoran desert, and lost their way. This comes as President Joe Biden prepares to visit the border next week.

John Murphy visits the rooftop apartments of South Korea's capital Seoul to hear why they hold such appeal for young Koreans - and how economic circumstances, and social expectations are causing some to leave the city altogether.

Rome was also in mourning for another iconic figure - of the Catholic church. 50 000 mourners reportedly attended the funeral of Pope Benedict in St Peter's Square and tens of thousands more paid homage to him as he lay in state. David Willey has covered the Vatican for half a decade, and says there is a bigger sea change underway.

Series Producer: Serena Tarling
Editor: Emma Rippon
Production Coordinator: Iona Hammond and Janet Staples


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m001gws9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m001gwsc)
Lasting Powers of Attorney and Tax Returns

In 2020, Lasting Powers of Attorney in England and Wales went digital. If you had permission to act on behalf of a relative who could no longer do it themselves you could download a digital certificate to prove it from the Office of the Public Guardian. But some organisations including His Majesty's Revenue & Customs have told Money Box they will not accept these digital certificates and demand a certified paper copy instead. We'll speak to a listener who's struggling with the system and get responses from the OPG and HMRC.

People living in Northern Ireland will be watching their bank accounts and letterboxes closely over the next few weeks for some long awaited help with the cost of their energy bills. Unlike the rest of the UK, households haven't yet received any of the £400 help people in Great Britain have been getting in instalments of £66 or £67 or £200 which has been allocated to help towards the costs of alternative fuel - like heating oil and coal. We'll find out when and how that £600 will arrive.

Advice on what you can do if your identity is stolen - our reporter Star McFarlane investigates after it happened to her.

And what to do if you haven’t filed your self-assessment tax return yet, and how to avoid a fine. We'll speak to Dawn Register from the accountancy and business advisory firm BDO.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth, Eimear Devlin and Star McFarlane
Producer: Catherine Lund
Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 7th January, 2023)


SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m001glcn)
Series 110

Episode 2

It’s 2023 and Andy Zaltzman is back with a brand-new series of The News Quiz to start the year.

This week Andy is joined by Lucy Porter, Chris McCausland, Samira Ahmed and Scott Bennett. They discuss Rishi Sunak’s newly released ‘five-point plan’, Keir Starmer’s pledge not to open the ‘big government chequebook’ and the surprise appearance of a walrus in Scarborough.

Hosted and written by Andy Zaltzman with additional material from Alice Fraser, Mike Shephard, James Farmer, Jennifer Walker and Jade Gebbie.

Producer: Georgia Keating
Executive Producer: Richard Morris
Production Co-ordinator: Becky Carewe-Jeffries
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox

A BBC Studios Production


SAT 12:57 Weather (m001gwsg)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News and Weather (m001gwsl)
The latest national and international news and weather reports from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m001glcv)
Nadra Ahmed, Dame Meg Hillier MP, Andrew Mitchell MP, Lionel Shriver

Alex Forsyth presents political debate from Sarratt Village Hall in Hertfordshire with the Chairman of the National Care Association Nadra Ahmed, the Labour MP and Chair of the Public Accounts Committee Dame Meg Hillier, the Conservative MP and Minister of State for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell and the author and journalist Lionel Shriver.
Producer: Camellia Sinclair
Lead broadcast engineer: Ian Deeley


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m001gwsq)
Have your say on the issues discussed on Any Questions?


SAT 14:45 39 Ways to Save the Planet (m0010x2p)
Low Carbon Crisps

Ever thought about the carbon cost of a packet of crisps? At CCM Technologies they think of little else. Their revolutionary fertiliser offers a big step to carbon-free snacking.

Waste from crisp factories or from sewage treatment works can be routed and treated to form the basic building blocks of new fertilisers that can be spread on the ground to grow a new harvest of potatoes- or any other crop we need. The system avoids waste and takes a big cut out of the carbon emissions of traditional fertiliser production. Tom Heap tours the CCM fertiliser plant on the outskirts of Birmingham and discusses the carbon benefits with Dr Tamsin Edwards of King's College London.

Producer: Alasdair Cross

Researcher: Sarah Goodman

Produced in association with the Royal Geographical Society. Special thanks for this episode to Dr Kate Schofield from the University of Plymouth and Dr Abigail González Díaz from the National Institute of Electricity and Clean Energy.


SAT 15:00 Drama (m001gwsv)
Rare Earth

A trade-war thriller and family saga rooted in dark colonial secrets from Greenland’s past.

Neodymium, turbium, dysprosium… Cerium, samarium, lanthanum.

Inside every electronic gadget - from electric cars and fighter jets to wind turbines, smart phones and missiles - are 17 metallic elements known as Rare Earths. China produces around 84% of them, and reserves are fast running out. The race to find new deposits has become ever more desperate, pitting global superpowers against each other in a 21st century “gold rush” for control of these elusive metals.

In Nuuk, the US and China court the favour of Energy and Environment Minister Seria Lyberth to secure an exclusive mining contract on Greenland. Fiercely opposed to the mine, local activist Rusa Pederson finds herself caught between her recidivist father and ailing grandmother.

When news comes in of a suspicious plane crash, family and politicians are set on a collision course by secrets buried deep in the ice.

Cast:
Manok ….. Christopher Dane
Rusa ….. Christina Wolfe
Magda ….. Pamela Miles
Lyberth ….. Samantha Dakin
Olsen ….. David Menkin
Fulton ….. Ryan Ellsworth
Harris ….. Liz Sutherland-Lim
Kalina ….. Anastasia Hille

Other voices played by the cast

Written by Richard Monks

Sound design ….. Jon Nicholls
Producer ….. Sarah Tombling
Executive producer ….. Sara Davies

Directed by Nicolas Jackson

An Afonica production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m001gwsz)
Weekend Woman’s Hour: Ecofeminist Vandana Shiva, how to quit well, Shekeila Scarlett

The author and environmental activist Vandana Shiva has released a new book, Terra Viva to coincide with her 70th birthday. She discusses her life campaigning for climate justice and equality, as well as what she thinks of the current climate situation.

According to reports in the Telegraph this week, Rishi Sunak has shelved plans to reform childcare services put forward by his predecessor, Liz Truss. The plans were looking at increasing free childcare support and changing the staff-child ratio. What will this mean for parents who need childcare and for those working in the industry? We hear the CEO of the Early Years Alliance Neil Leitch and the Deputy Director of UK Onward, Adam Hawksbee.

New year, new job? If you’re thinking of leaving a job we discuss the art of quitting well. Sometimes leaving is the right thing to do, but how do you do that without destroying everything you’ve worked hard for? We hear from Mandy Dennison Director of Engagement from the International Federation of Coaching UK, and Karen Danker from Women Returners, which helps women returning to the work place after an extended break.

In our series Finding My Voice we’re talking to women about the moment they realised they had something to say or stand up for. Shekeila Scarlett was excluded from school when she was 12 years old. Although she was reinstated at the school just 2 months later, the experience made her realised how distant young pupils were from the governors who made decisions about their school. At 26, she’s now the Chair of Governors at Stoke Newington High School in Hackney, making her one of the youngest chairs of a school governing board in the UK.

This year in the UK children conceived by sperm, egg or embryo donation who turn 18 will be able to request information that identifies their donor. This includes the donor’s name, birth name, date of birth and address, as long as the information is on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s register. It’s a result of a change in the law in April 2005 meaning tha the first of those children conceived after the law changed will have their eighteenth birthdays this year. To discuss the implications for donors, children conceived by donor as well as their families are Clare Ettinghausen, Director of Strategy & Corporate Affairs at the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the UK’s Fertility Regulator. And Nina Barnsley Director of the Donor Conception Network which is a UK based charity supporting donor conception families.

You might have spent this first week of January planning where you want to go, what you want to do and who you want to be in 2023, but have you made any financial new year’s resolutions? Statistics show that more than a third of us (35%) will make a financial new year’s resolution this year. We hear from the consumer editor of the Financial Times and presenter of the FT's Money Clinic podcast, Claer Barrett as well as the budget savvy mum, Gemma Bird also known as @MoneyMumOfficial on what we can all do when it comes to financial planning.

Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed

Photo credit: Kartikey Shiva


SAT 17:00 PM (m001gwt3)
Full coverage of the day's news


SAT 17:30 Sliced Bread (m001gl6g)
Cold Defence Nasal Sprays

Two products dominate the market for nasal sprays that claim to reduce symptons of a cold - Vicks ‘First Defence’ and Boots ‘Dual Defence’. But do they work?

Listener Leah got in touch because she catches lots of colds from her young son and wants to know if they can help her get over them more quickly. She also wants to know if they’re safe to use regularly and how long you should take them for.

Presenter Greg Foot sniffs out the evidence and talks to a leading expert who’s dedicated most of his career to investigating cold remedies.

This series, we’re testing and investigating your suggested wonder-products. If you’ve seen an ad, trend or fad and wonder if there’s any evidence to back up a claim, drop us an email to sliced.bread@bbc.co.uk or you can send us a voice note to our new WhatsApp number: 07543 306807.

PRESENTER: Greg Foot
PRODUCER: Simon Hoban


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m001gwt7)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 17:57 Weather (m001gwtc)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 18:00 Six O' Clock News (m001gwth)
Six O'Clock News

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m001gwtm)
Mark Steel, Liz Kingsman, Claire McGowan, Iwan Rheon, Loose Ends, Malcolm MacWatt, Yasmeen Khan, Clive Anderson

Clive Anderson and Yasmeen Khan are joined by Liz Kingsman, Iwan Rheon and Claire McGowan for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Loose Ends and MacWatt.


SAT 19:00 Profile (m001gwtr)
Paul Nowak

Paul Nowak has taken up his post as General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress at a time when workers across multiple sectors are striking for better pay deals to help with the cost-of-living crisis. It's the worst period of industrial unrest since the 1980s.

Nowak, who's from Merseyside, has spent his entire adult life fighting for workers' rights. How will the TUC negotiate with a government which says pay rises are unaffordable and inflationary, and which now plans to tighten the rules on strike action?

Adrian Goldberg investigates Paul Nowak's life - which includes a career off the picket line as an amateur musician.

Presenter: Adrian Goldberg
Producers: Ben Cooper and Diane Richardson
Editor: Simon Watts
Production Co-ordinators: Maria Ogundele and Helena Warwick-Cross
Sound Engineer: Rod Farquhar


SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m001gwtw)
Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg is the one of very few people to have won all four of America’s big awards - Emmy, Grammy Oscar and Tony - for her work in film, theatre and television. Brought up by a single mother in a New York housing project, Whoopi Goldberg first made her name on stage with a solo comedy show before making her film debut in an adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Color Purple.

Discussing her biggest cultural turning points with John Wilson, she recalls her earliest experiences of acting at the Hudson Guild, a children’s community project. Having struggled at school, she was encouraged by her mother to make the most of free cultural opportunities in the city, including museums and public lectures, which fuelled her fascination with language. She also remembers seeing the Joseph Papp Theatre troupe, which performed free Shakespeare plays in New York parks.

Whoopi recalls her friend and mentor Mike Nichols, the director of The Graduate who, after seeing her solo stage show in San Francisco, directed her on Broadway. After that show became a hit, Whoopi Goldberg was invited by Steven Spielberg to perform at his private theatre leading to her casting in the role of Celie in his 1985 adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple, a film debut that earned Whoopi Goldberg an Academy Award nomination. Since then, she has made around a hundred films, including Ghost, for which she won an Academy Award, and Sister Act. She has hosted the Academy Awards several times, and has forged a career as an opinionated television personality. Whoopi also talks about her latest movie Till, the story of Mamie Till-Bradley, who pursued justice after the murder of her 14-year old son Emmett in 1955.

Producer: Edwina Pitman


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m001gwv0)
Annie Nightingale's Age of Irreverence

A lifelong fan of both comedy and new music, Annie Nightingale looks at how, in the youth revolution of the late 50s and 60s onwards, British rock music and comedy were closely intertwined.

Starting with The Goon Show, she takes us on a personal tour of the pop culture scene that includes The Beatles, Beyond The Fringe and That Was The Week That Was, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Monty Python and The Rutles. We hear how a core group of British musicians and satirists influenced each other, sharing a similar view of the world and a fearless desire to disrupt and lampoon the political and social norms in which they'd been brought up.

Contributors include David Quantick, composer John Altman, comedy historian Jem Roberts, and "Legs" Larry Smith of the Bonzos.

Producer: Victoria Ferran
Executive Producer: Susan Marling

A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 21:00 Stone (b09kxsdx)
Series 7

Episode 1

Stone Episode 1 by Martin Jameson.

Stone and the team investigate a fire at a homeless hostel run by charismatic charity leader Jackie Stanton-Hope. A body is found by forensics. But who is he?

Created by Danny Brocklehurst. Script Editor Caitlin Crawford.
Director Gary Brown. Producers Nadia Molinari & Gary Brown

DCI John Stone investigates the suspicious death of a man in a fire at a homeless hostel. Stone's enquiries lead him to re-examine a murder he worked on twenty years before in order to solve the case. In doing so he uncovers a web of lies and deceit that make him face past mistakes and lead to personal trauma.


SAT 21:45 Rabbit Remembered (m0009kzg)
Episode 1

Written ten years after his Pulitzer Prize winning tetralogy about Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, John Updike revisits the family a decade on from Harry's death to contemplate how the family has got on without him.

Rabbit's son Nelson has recovered from his drug habit but separated from his wife. Janice, his widow has remarried. But into their lives steps Annabelle, Harry's illegitimate daughter. And echoes of the past begin to cascade into the present.

Read by Toby Jones
Abridged by Robin Brooks
Produced by Clive Brill

A Brill production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:00 News (m001gwv4)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 How Things Are Done in Odesa (m001gkdp)
Odesa, legendary Black Sea port city and vital geo-strategic nexus of global trade, is living through Russia's war against Ukraine. Always fiercely independent, both from Moscow and Kiev, its legendary past of rogues & schnorrers has given Odesa a world reputation as a city of possibility and promise. Monica Whitlock tells its story.

Founded in 1794 by Catherine the Great as part of her expanding empire of Novo Rossiya, Odesa began as a dusty boom town of enormous opportunity & possibility connecting the chill of Imperial Russia to the warmth of the wider world.. A port city possessed of eternal optimism & a wicked sense of humour, it's confines brimmed with violinists, poets, writers and a gallery of rogues- real and imagined.

Its most beloved literary son is Isaac Babel. Raised in the Moldavanka- still a place of liminal existence, Babel's Odessa Tales of gangster anti-heroes like Benya Krik are forever interwoven with how Odesites and the wider world imagine the city - beautiful and bad! It is of course only partially true. Filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin forever fixed the city and its majestic steps on the cultural world map.

From its foundational boom town days onwards its streets and people could make you rich or ruin you. In the crumbling days of the Soviet empire it was a place to dream of escape to a world beyond. Musician Alec Koypt, who grew up in the rugged streets of Molodvanka, shipping proprietor Roman Morgenshtern, Anna Misyuk of the city's literary museum, historians Jarod Tanny & Steven Zipperstein along with Babel translator & Odessite Boris Dralyuk are our guides.

Producer Mark Burman


SAT 23:00 Nature Table (m001gk81)
Series 3

Episode 6

Join comedian, broadcaster and writer Sue Perkins as she hosts Nature Table: a comedy ‘Show & Tell’ series celebrating the natural world and all its funny eccentricities.

Nature Table has a simple clear brief: to positively celebrate and promote the importance of all our planet’s wonderfully wild flora and fauna in a fun and easily grasped way... whilst at the same time having a giggle.

Recorded at ZSL London Zoo, this week Sue Perkins is joined by special guests: Jessica Jones (Lead Keeper at ZSL London Zoo), Lee Davies (Fungarium Curator at Kew Gardens) and comedian Shaparak Khorsandi.

Written by: Catherine Brinkworth, Jon Hunter, Jenny Laville and Nicky Roberts
Additional material by: Kat Sadler

Executive Producer: Richard Morris
Producer: Simon Nicholls
Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Researcher: Catherine Beazley

Sound Recordist & Editor: Jerry Peal
Music by: Ben Mirin

A BBC Studios Production


SAT 23:30 Poetry Please (m001gk44)
Nikita Gill

Nikita Gill chooses poems of renewal from the listener requests. Including work by Ada Limon and Patience Agbabi.

Producer Sally Heaven

SUNDAY 08 JANUARY 2023

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m001gwv8)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 00:15 Torn (m001bcnr)
The stories behind the clothes we wear

Viscose Rayon

It's 1924 and the young Russian graduate Alexis Sommaripa, like so many migrants to the United States in the period, is looking for something new. He takes a job with a company that’s been in the viscose rayon business for about five years but wants to figure out how to sell it. He finds out that women want it to be less shiny and more soft.

In episode five of Torn, Gus Casely-Hayford follows the astronomical rise of Sommaripa - from fleeing the Bolsheviks during Russia’s revolution to becoming a key player in the production of viscose rayon, a fabric that is widely used in fashion today as an affordable alternative to silk.

Gus finds that, although viscose rayon has democratised fashion, it has done so at a significant cost to the environment.

Viscose rayon is made by processing wood pulp with chemicals. This turns it into a viscous liquid, and then into threads. More than 200 million trees are logged every year and turned into cellulosic fabric, such as viscose rayon, according the the organisation Canopy.

With professor of business history Regina Blaszczyk, sustainability expert Claire Bergkamp and extracts from Alexis Sommaripa’s autobiography.

Novel Production for BBC Radio 4
Presenter - Gus Casely-Hayford
Executive Producer - Rosie Collyer
Producer - Tiffany Cassidy
Assistant Producer - Nadia Mehdi
Production coordinator - Francesca Taylor
Sound Design - Rob Speight


SUN 00:30 Short Works (m001glcd)
After the Romans

Award-winning short story writer Jo Lloyd transports us to South Wales circa 500 CE, where we meet Iltut and his travel companion Acorn the Stag. A light-hearted fabular vision of the Dark Ages.

Reader - Jacob Ifan

Directed by John Norton
Sound by Catherine Robinson
A BBC Audio Drama Wales production


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001gwvd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001gwvj)
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 (m001gwvn)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m001gwvs)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m001gwvx)
St John Baptist, Strensham, Worcestershire.

Bells on Sunday comes from St John Baptist, Strensham, Worcestershire. Dating largely from the 14th and 15th century this Grade I listed building is currently in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. There is a ring of eight bells which are regularly rung, mainly for teaching purposes. Three of the bells were cast in around 1704 by Abraham Ruddell of Gloucester and the rest by John Taylor of Loughborough in 1911 and 1979. We hear them ringing Turramurra Surprise Major


SUN 05:45 Profile (m001gwtr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 06:00 News Summary (m001gwsh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b01rv33m)
Taking Up the Thread

Samira Ahmed takes up the thread to reflect on some of the ways 'threads' can lead us and connect us in our lives. A thread is something we can follow, lose and pick up again. We might find ourselves hanging by a thread, or tying some loose ones together. They can bind us and we can break them. They are woven into our lives literally, metaphorically and linguistically.

The idea of following a thread to guide us is age-old, found for example in the Greek myth of Ariadne's thread leading Theseus out of the labyrinth, after he'd slain the Minotaur. Who doesn't need the thread of understanding to lead them through life's maze sometimes? Sacred threads play a significant role in the ceremonies of many faiths and cultures, not least in the life of the Guru Nanak and the founding of the Sikh faith. And when they are woven or knitted together, threads can play a potent role in art and domestic life.

Featuring music by Monteverdi, Bjork and Judy Collins, and writing by Robert Graves, Simon Armitage and Kate Summerscale.

Produced by Caroline Hughes
Presented by Samira Ahmed
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m001gwsm)
Farmyard Warm Room

Anna Louise Claydon visits a farm in Lowestoft which is opening up a barn as a warm room this winter. Pathways Care Farm was once part of 130 acres of arable land. It's now just thirteen acres tucked away at the back of a housing estate. The farm gives vulnerable people the opportunity to learn through hands-on farming activities - including planting, cultivation, building restoration, animal husbandry and the basics of machinery maintenance. This winter, its doors have opened to the public for the first time. In 2020, director Geoff Stevens converted what used to be the coldest building on the farm into a fully insulated space with a kitchen and a log burner, in the hope of opening it as a cafe after the pandemic. Little did he know that he'd just created a community space for a problem he didn't yet know was coming: the cost of living crisis.

Anna Louise joins Geoff by the fire to find out more about the new farmyard warm room. She finds members of the team out with the animals and hears how working on the farm has transformed their lives and helped them to re-build after difficult experiences. She also meets farmer Geoffrey Cooper, to hear about the original farm before most of the land was sold off for housing. He tells Anna Louise about his memories of working on the land with his father decades ago.

Presented and produced by Anna Louise Claydon


SUN 06:57 Weather (m001gwsr)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m001gwsw)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m001gwt0)
Repairing Relationships; Faith in Prisons; Embracing Failure.

Prince Harry wants to reconcile with his family. But how easy is that given the continuing fallout from his interviews and memoir? Sacred texts are full of tales of feuding siblings, so what can they teach the Royals? Imam Qari Asim and Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen share scriptural insights and pastoral advice.

If you've already failed to stick to your New Year's resolution, help is at hand. The Rt Revd Dr Emma Ineson has written a book on how to cope with and learn from failure. Cricketer Monty Panesar and Comedian Shazia Mirza also share how faith has helped them deal with failure in their lives.

In the last two years, thousands of Hong Kongers have taken advantage of a new Visa scheme to the UK, following China's imposition of a national security law on the former British Colony. Vishva Samani reports from Reading where large numbers have settled, to see how they are integrating within the local faith communities.

The life and death of the late American singer Whitney Houston inspired Candice Marie Benbow to become a theologian. As Whitney's story is retold in a new film biopic, Candice tells Emily how the woman she refers to as the ‘ultimate Church girl’ impacted her faith journey and opened up important conversations about how her Church sees women.

Overcrowding, drugs, staff shortages and long waits for trial are just some of the issues facing those in the prison system. But what lies behind the headlines? In a new four part series, we'll be taking a closer look at the prison system through the eyes of the religious groups and figures working within it. In this first episode we examine the issue of sentencing, with Bishop James Jones, Chair of the Independent Commission into the Experience of Victims and Long Term Prisoners.

Producers: Jill Collins and Catherine Murray
Production co-ordinator: Liz Poole
Studio managers: Phillip Halliwell, Chris Hardman and Tom Parnell
Editor: Helen Grady


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m001gwt4)
Contact

Jane Garvey makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Contact

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 ‘Contact’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Contact’.
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: 284912


SUN 07:57 Weather (m001gwt8)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m001gwtd)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m001gwtj)
The indestructibility of hope

‘Christmas brings the indestructibility of hope in times of the greatest hopelessness. As long as we celebrate this holiday, we can neither be defeated nor destroyed. This is the message that Ukraine is trying to convey to the world as it celebrates its own Christmas Day.’

From Christmas music to gifts and food, as well as a look back through the country’s rich and troubled history through the perspective of the festive season, this Sunday Worship explores Ukraine’s unique Christmas traditions - a powerful reminder of the strength of holding on to your culture and beliefs, even as others try to take everything from you. With testimony from a survivor of the siege of Mariupol.

Nadiyka Gerbish is a Ukrainian writer and podcaster. She has written nineteen books, many of which have become bestsellers and have won numerous awards. With Yaroslav Hrytsak, a Ukrainian historian who explores the unique political history of Ukrainian carols.

Homily: Revd Yuriy Shchurko, Dean of the Theology and Philosophy Faculty at the Ukrainian Catholic University.
Prayers and blessing: The Metropolitan Archbishop of The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Borys Gudziak

Producer: Philip Billson


SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m001glcx)
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now

Tom Shakespeare looks to some DVD classics and the Japanese concept of ikigai to provide some light relief from the doom and gloom of January.

'The definitive guide to ikigai,' Tom writes, 'says ikigai is what allows you to look forward to the future, even if you're miserable right now.'

And yes, Morrissey makes an appearance too!

Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator: Janet Staples
Editor: Penny Murphy


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b04t0rd4)
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Liz Bonnin presents the raucous calling sulphur-crested cockatoo from Australia. It is with somewhat heavy irony that with its loud, jarring calls, the sulphur crested cockatoo is also known as the "Australian Nightingale". These large white parrots with their formidable curved beaks and long yellow crests which they fan out when excited are familiar aviary birds. One of the reasons that they're popular as cage birds is that they can mimic the human voice and can live to a great age. A bird known as Cocky Bennett from Sydney lived until he was a hundred years old, although by the time he died in the early 1900s he was completely bald, and was then stuffed for posterity. In its native forests of Australia and New Guinea, those far-carrying calls are perfect for keeping cockatoo flocks together. They're highly intelligent birds and when they feed, at least one will act as a sentinel ready to sound the alarm in case of danger. So well-known is this behaviour that in Australia, someone asked to keep a lookout during illegal gambling sessions is sometimes known as a "cockatoo" or "cocky".

Producer : Andrew Dawes


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m001gwtn)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.


SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m001gwts)
Writer, Sarah Hehir
Director, Kim Greengrass
Editor, Jeremy Howe

Ben Archer ..... Ben Norris
Pip Archer ….. Daisy Badger
David Archer ….. Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer ….. Felicity Finch
Kenton Archer ….. Richard Attlee
Brian Aldridge ….. Charles Collingwood
Neil Carter ….. Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter ….. Charlotte Martin
Vince Casey ….. Tony Turner
Brad Horrobin ….. Taylor Uttley
Chelsea Horrobin ….. Madeleine Leslay
Tracy Horrobin ….. Susie Riddell
Jazzer McCreary ….. Ryan Kelly
Elizabeth Pargetter ….. Alison Dowling
Stella Pryor ….. Lucy Speed
Elena ….. Jaimi Barbakoff
Lottie ….. Bonnie Baddoo


SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (m001gwtx)
Sir Malcolm Walker, retailer

Sir Malcolm Walker is the chairman and co-founder of the frozen food supermarket chain Iceland.

He was brought up in Grange Moor, West Yorkshire. He was just 14 when his father died, and he helped his mother run a smallholding, driving a tractor and ploughing fields. His business instinct kicked in during his teenage years, when he promoted Saturday night dances by booking bands into local church halls.

After receiving rejections from Marks & Spencer and Littlewoods, he became a trainee manager at Woolworths, and recalls that he started at the very bottom, sweeping the floors for many months before gradually winning promotions and moving round the country.

In 1970, he and Peter Hinchcliffe, a colleague from Woolworths, opened a shop in Oswestry, selling loose frozen food from chest freezers. The business soon began to take off, Malcolm and Peter were both fired by Woolworths, and Malcolm went on to build a company which now has more than 1000 stores in the UK and Ireland. Along the way, boardroom battles led to his departure in the early 2000s, but he later returned and Iceland is now back in family ownership.

Alongside his business pursuits, Malcolm has been a fundraiser for dementia charities, after his wife was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. She died in 2021 after more than 50 years of marriage.

He was knighted in 2017, has three children, one of whom also works in the family business, and he married for the second time in August last year.

DISC ONE: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 26: II. Adagio, composed by Max Bruch, performed by Itzhak Perlman (violin) and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Bernard Haitink
DISC TWO: Goodbye by Josef Locke
DISC THREE: Only You by The Platters
DISC FOUR: Silence is Golden by The Tremeloes
DISC FIVE: Memory composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and performed by Elaine Paige
DISC SIX: All I Ask of You composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and performed by Steve Barton and Sarah Brightman
DISC SEVEN: La bohème, SC 67 / Act I composed by Giacomo Puccini and performed by Luciano Pavarotti (tenor) and Mirella Freni (soprano) with the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
DISC EIGHT: Quando me’n vo (“Musetta’s Waltz”) from La Bohème composed by Giacomo Puccini and performed by Natalie Walker

BOOK CHOICE: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
LUXURY ITEM: A cast iron cooking pot
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Quando me’n vo (“Musetta’s Waltz”) from La Bohème composed by Giacomo Puccini and performed by Natalie Walker

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor


SUN 12:00 News Summary (m001gwv1)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:04 Just a Minute (m001gkb4)
Series 90

Peanut Butter, Westminster Abbey and Alan Shearer

Sue Perkins challenges Paul Merton, Desiree Burch, Tony Hawks and Jan Ravens 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 Alan Shearer to Westminster Abbey.

Production co-ordinator: Caroline Barlow
Sound editor: Marc Willcox
Producer: Rajiv Karia

A BBC Studios Production


SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m001gwv5)
Shellfish: A Very British Image Crisis

When was the last time you tucked into cockle pie? Or stirred clams into a sumptuous pasta or stew?

These bivalves are plentiful all around the UK coastline, tied up with the diets and fortunes of coastal communities for millennia. Many species can be efficiently farmed at minimal cost to the environment. Their nutritional value stacks up against mussels and oysters. And yet our desire for these 'uglier' shellfish is at risk of disappearing.

In this programme we meet chefs, fishermen and food thinkers trying to change that. One of Wales’s best chefs Nathan Davies put Welsh razor clams on his heat winning fish course on BBC Two's Great British Menu. Fisherman Tom Flatt who thinks there's a sustainable fishing future in hand dived shellfish. Cambridge scientist David Willer whose research could lead to environmentally sound shellfish farms that fight malnutrition across the world. Welsh food writer and thinker Carwyn Graves wants us to dwell on food traditions from the past in order to make our own in the future, and so we hear from people living in the Welsh village of Penclawdd, where cockles have been part of residents' lives for as far back as they can remember.

The problem they all face is the same; How to convince the UK to see past their ugly exterior and put shellfish back on the table.

Presented by Sheila Dillon.
Produced in Bristol by Clare Salisbury.


SUN 12:57 Weather (m001gwv9)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m001gwvf)
Radio 4's look at the week's big stories from both home and around the world


SUN 13:30 The Exploding Library (m001fmc6)
The Bloater by Rosemary Tonks

Comedian and writer Athena Kugblenu searches for Rosemary Tonks, a poet and writer who "vanished like the Cheshire Cat" shortly after the height of her fame in the late 1960s. Changing her name and embracing a very specific form of Christianity, Tonks disavowed her previous literary life - to the point that she would visit libraries and bookshops and attempt to destroy her work.

How does Tonks' surreal, brittle, jet-black social satire The Bloater capture her world - and give us a hint of what might have precipitated her strange disappearance? More than that - can anyone ever really retract the tendrils of their creative life - even if they want to?

Featuring contributions from poet Brian Patten, editor and champion of Tonks's work Neil Astley, writer and Tonks fan Jennifer Hodgson, and New York Times religion correspondent Ruth Graham.

Reader: Beth Eyre
"Studio Producer": Tom Crowley

Written and presented by: Athena Kugblenu
Producer / Series Producer: Steven Rajam
An Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4
---

Warped literature series The Exploding Library returns for a new run, as another trio of comedians explode and unravel their most cherished cult books, paying homage to the tone and style of the original text - and blurring and warping the lines between fact and fiction.

As our hosts shine the spotlight on strange, funny and sometimes disturbing novels by Kazuo Ishiguro, Rosemary Tonks and David Foster Wallace, listeners are invited to inhabit their eccentric worlds - gaining a deeper understanding of their workings and the unique literary minds that created them.

Featuring the comedic voices of Natasha Hodgson, Athena Kugblenu and John-Luke Roberts, and created by award-winning producers Steven Rajam (Tim Key and Gogol’s Overcoat) and Benjamin Partridge (Beef and Dairy Network), this is an arts documentary series like no other.

An Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m001glcb)
Norfolk Broads

What's the best way to grow great swedes? What are green manure crops? And have you ever returned a dead plant to the shop you bought it from?

Joining Kathy Clugston to answer these questions in front of a live audience in the Norfolk Broads are horticulturalist Anne Swithinbank, garden designer Matthew Wilson and 'grow your own' expert Bob Flowerdew.

Also on the programme, Pippa Greenwood and Matthew Pottage head to RHS Garden Wisley to check out a new feature that both looks nice and harvests rainwater in times where many gardeners are worried about drought.

Producer: Bethany Hocken
Assistant Producer: Aniya Das
Executive Producer: Louisa Field

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:45 Property of the BBC (m001f5jr)
Three Items of Clothing

In a week of programmes for the BBC centenary, historian Robert Seatter selects three objects from the BBC’s archive store and tells the stories behind their creation - what they tell us about the changing history of the organisation, about expansion of the media and the nation at large. Robert’s choices are unexpected, revelatory and sometimes, with the cruel benefit of hindsight, funny. In today's programme Robert unpacks three iconic items of clothing, created for both the fictional and the real world.

1) The linen shirt
2) A flak jacket
3) The baker boy cap

The white linen shirt worn by Colin Firth as Mr Darcy in the famous lake scene in the 1995 Andrew Davies production of ‘Pride and Prejudice’; a Flak jacket, designed to protect the wearer from high explosive weaponry especially shrapnel and worn by John Simpson, World Affairs Editor, when accompanying a convoy of US Special forces and Kurdish fighters in Northern Iraq in April 2003; and the Baker Boy or Newsboy cap worn by the character Tommy Shelby played by Cillian Murphy in 'Peaky Blinders'.

Sharing her insights into the designs and the role of the BBC as trendsetter and social influencer is fashion designer and The Great British Sewing Bee judge, Esme Young.

Producer: Mohini Patel


SUN 15:00 The Medici: Bankers, Gangsters, Popes (m001gz6b)
Episode 1 - Cosimo

By Mike Walker. Starring Patrick Baladi and Sirine Saba

Cosimo de' Medici inherits his father's bank. Through shrewd trade and business innovation he becomes the richest man in Europe and a great patron of the Arts, but will Albizzi and the ruling families of Florence ever accept him as an equal?

CAST

Cosimo de' Medici - Patrick Baladi
Contessina de' Bardi - Sirine Saba
Rinaldo degli Albizzi - Richard Elfyn
Niccolo Tinucci - Christopher Elson
Old Giovanni - Hugh Thomas
Silvio - Marc Danbury
Gio Verdi - Marco Fiera
The Manager - David Hounslow

Sound Design - Nigel Lewis and Catherine Robinson
Producer - John Norton

A BBC Audio Wales production


SUN 16:00 Open Book (m001gwvk)
Katherine Mansfield

Katherine Mansfield was the only writer Virginia Woolf admitted being jealous of, yet by the 1950s was so undervalued that Elizabeth Bowen was moved to ask, 'Where is she - our missing contemporary?'

Mansfield died one hundred years ago this month, aged just 34 years old, and in this programme Chris Power explores her turbulent life, and legacy, through her innovative contribution to Modernism and the short story. Chris is joined by Claire Harman, author of a new biography, All Sorts of Lives, which takes a fresh look at Mansfield's life through ten of her most pivotal stories, the short-story writer and novelist Lucy Caldwell and Dr Chris Mourant.

Book List – Sunday 8 January and Thursday 12 January

All Sorts of Lives by Claire Harman
The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield
Bliss by Katherine Mansfield
The Wind Blows by Katherine Mansfield
Journal by Katherine Mansfield
The Montana Stories by Katherine Mansfield
Wild Places: Selected Stories by Katherine Mansfield
In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield
The Child Who Was Tired by Katherine Mansfield
Bliss by Katherine Mansfield
Katherine Mansfield and Periodical Culture by Chris Mourant


SUN 16:30 Poetry Please (m001gwvp)
Lindsey Hilsum

Foreign correspondent Lindsey Hilsum - newly returned from reporting from the trenches in Ukraine - joins Roger McGough to discuss whether poetry can tell us something about war that TV and news reporting can't.

Together they make a selection from our listeners' requests for poetry about war and Lindsey shares some of the poems that have accompanied her through her years of reporting from war zones. Her choices include poems by Ilya Kaminsky, Fiona Benson, Warsan Shire, WB Yeats, Siegfried Sassoon, AE Housman, WH Auden and Wisława Szymborska, And Roger shares one of his own poems, inspired by his childhood experiences of sheltering with his parents in the bomb shelter during the bombing of Liverpool.

Lindsey Hilsum is Channel 4 News' International Editor. Her book, In Extremis; the Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin, won the 2019 James Tait Black Prize for biography Recently she has reported the war in Ukraine, and the aftermath of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. She has covered the major conflicts and refugee movements of the past three decades, including Syria, Mali, Iraq, and Kosovo and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. From 2006-8 she was based in China, and in 1994 was the only English-speaking foreign correspondent in Rwanda as the genocide started. She has won many awards, including the Royal Television Society Journalist of the Year and the Royal Geographical Society Patron’s Medal. She contributes regularly to newspapers and literary magazines. Her first book was Sandstorm; Libya in the Time of Revolution.

Produced in Bristol by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio


SUN 17:00 File on 4 (m001gkwd)
How did my child die? The crisis in paediatric pathology

The death of a child causes parents’ unimaginable grief, but this is being exacerbated by long delays to post mortem reports due to a shortage of pathologists in the UK.
The number of paediatric pathologists means that children and babies are having to be moved around to other parts of the country in order for post mortems to be undertaken, causing even further distress for families.
When a child dies suddenly, sometimes post-mortems may need the input of specialist pathologists. But these even fewer in number meaning bereaved parents are waiting months, sometimes years to discover why their child died.
But these shortages can have even more devastating consequences.
File on 4 has uncovered cases where parents suspected of harming their child have waited months for post-mortem reports to be completed, only to be exonerated of any wrongdoing once the findings are back. During which they’ve had other children taken into care and faced months under wrongful suspicion.
The head of the family courts in England and Wales says long waits for post-mortem reports in suspected child homicides cases is “unacceptable”. But it’s not just the courts raising concerns. Senior police chiefs say a shortage of specialists is also causing delays to police investigations and the criminal process.
Adrian Goldberg investigates the crisis which has been years in the making, with The Royal College of Pathologists warning that the situation is “critical”.

Reporter: Adrian Goldberg
Producer: Emma Forde
Technical Producer: Mitch Goodall
Editor: Carl Johnston
Production Coordinator: Tim Fernley
Production Manager: Sarah Payton


SUN 17:40 Profile (m001gwtr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m001gwvt)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 17:57 Weather (m001gwvy)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 18:00 Six O' Clock News (m001gww0)
The biggest nurses' union has said the PM's comments offer "optimism" in pay dispute


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m001gww2)
Matthew Sweet

A selection of highlights from the past week on BBC radio


SUN 19:00 The Archers (m001gww4)
Jim’s still marvelling at Jazzer’s wedding news. The two speak warmly of their mutual friendship, and Jazzer asks if Jim would be his best man. Jim declares he’d be honoured. However later he has second thoughts; he wouldn’t have a clue how to organise things for it. Jazzer needs a ‘proper bloke.’ Jazzer reckons Jim has it all wrong. He doesn’t want all the trappings of a drunken stag weekend in Magaluf, he just wants a few pints at the Bull. But Jim insists he’d be a let-down. Seeing his stressed state, Jazzer capitulates. He’ll find someone else for the job. Thrilled though he was to be asked, Jim thinks that would be best.
As Rex repairs a wooden shelter in the cold and wet, Kate extolls the virtues of rain. She’s looking forward to taking her cold weather yoga class so that her participants can benefit. She invites Rex to join the class, but he politely declines. Kirsty mentions she ran into a miserable David earlier. Kate reports seeing him out for a meal with Ruth and Vince last week, and that there’d clearly been a row.
Later Kate’s disappointed hardly anyone turned up for her class. Kirsty recommends they sit down with some hot chai and work out how to do things better next time. As they chat Kate gets a message from Jakob. His brother Erik’s coming to stay on Tuesday, and Jakob’s away at a vets’ conference. Kate’s not happy. Jakob doesn’t have a high opinion of Erik – what if he’s as bad as Jakob says?


SUN 19:15 The Confessional (m001gww6)
Series 3

The Confession of Lady Antonia Fraser

Stephen Mangan’s series of soul-searching, self-abasement and moral pratfalls. Each week, he invites a different eminent guest into his virtual confessional booth to make three confessions.

This is a cue for some rich and varied story-telling and surprising insights as their confessions are put under the microscope.

In this episode, Stephen examines the conscience of historian and biographer Antonia Fraser. There are stories here of royal parties, theft and fake masses.

Other guests in this series are Jessie Cave, Neil Dudgeon, Sheila Hancock, Maisie Adam and Ben Bailey Smith (aka Doc Brown).

Presenter: Stephen Mangan
Additional material: Nick Doody
Producer: Frank Stirling

A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 19:45 The Circus (m001gww8)
Episode 1 - The Singer

A former working men’s club in North Belfast called ‘The Circus’ has been refurbished and relaunched with an inaugural talent show – and a massive cash prize for the winner! – inspiring the locals to brush up on some old skills. The new owner, a successful London property developer, has promised to bring a bit of the West End to North Belfast. But can the area really change? Can the people?
Cliftonville Circus is where five roads meet in North Belfast. It is situated in the most deprived part of the city; it is also the most divided. Each road leads to a different area – a different class – a different religion. ‘The Circus’ explores where old Belfast clashes with the new around acceptance, change, class and diversity.

The Author
Born in Belfast, Paul McVeigh has written comedy, essays, flash fiction, a novel, plays and short stories. His work has been performed on radio, stage and television, and published in seven languages. Paul co-founded the London Short Story Festival and is an associate director at Word Factory. His debut novel 'The Good Son' won The Polari First Novel Prize and The McCrea Literary Award. He is also the editor of ‘The 32: Irish Working Class Voices’, ‘Queer Love: An Anthology of Irish Fiction’ and ‘Belfast Stories’.

Writer: Paul McVeigh
Reader: Ruby Campbell
Producer: Michael Shannon
Executive Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production.


SUN 20:00 Rethink (m001glbs)
Rethink Climate

Leadership

What type of leadership does the world need to tackle global warming? Amol Rajan discusses whether people with power are doing enough to solve the climate crisis. Are politicians just too focused on the ballot box to take long term decisions? What about the role of celebrities and business leaders?

Graihagh Jackson, presenter of the BBC podcast ‘The Climate Question’ is with Amol alongside guests Lord Deben, Greg Jackson, Monika Langthaler and Professor Daniel Schrag.

Producers Nick Holland and Marianna Brain
Sound design Graham Puddifoot
Editor Lizzi Watson
Production coordinators Sophie Hill, Helena Warwick-Cross and Siobhan Reed


SUN 20:30 Last Word (m001glcg)
Pope Benedict XVI, Dame Vivienne Westwood, James Caan, Georgia Holt

Matthew Bannister on

Pope Benedict XVI, the religious conservative who was the first Pontiff to resign from the job in almost 600 years.

Dame Vivienne Westwood (pictured), punk pioneer, high fashion designer and eco warrior.

James Caan, the American actor best known for playing Sonny Corleone in The Godfather.

Georgia Holt, the singer who enjoyed success late in life thanks to her daughter Cher.

Producer: Tim Bano

Interviewed guest: Catherine Pepinster
Interviewed guest: Ian Kelly
Interviewed guest: Laird Borelli-Persson
Interviewed guest: David Thomson
Interviewed guest: P David Ebersole

Archive clips used: YouTube/ Rome Reports.com, Habemus Papam - Uploaded 2012; BBC Radio 4 News 19/04/2005; YouTube, The Regensburg Speech 12/09/2006; BBC Radio 4, Thought for the Day 24/12/2010; BBC News Archive, Pope Benedict XVI announces resignation 11/02/2013; Netflix/ Rideback, The Two Popes (2019); BBC One, The British Fashion Awards 15/10/1991; BBC Radio 4, Desert Island Discs - Vivienne Westwood 28/06/1992; BBC Four, Vivenne Westwood Talks To Kirsty Wark 13/04/2004; BBC One, Wogan with Sue Lawley 11/03/1988; Finished Films, Westwood - Punk, Icon, Activist (2018); BBC One, Wogan In Hollywood - James Caan interview 02/01/1991; Paramount Pictures/ Albert S. Ruddy Productions/ Alfran Productions, The Godfather (1972); Castle Rock Entertainment/ Nelson Entertainment, Misery (1990); Broadway Video/ Conaco/ NBC Studios, Late Night with Conan O'Brien 31/10/2003; New Line Cinema/ Guy Walks into A Bar Productions/ Gold/Miller Productions, Elf (2003); Mann/Caan Productions, Thief (1981); WJZ-TV13 Baltimore 1979; Westinghouse Broadcasting Company/ Mike Douglas Entertainments, Mike Douglas Show 1979; Paramount Domestic TV, Entertainment Tonight 1988.


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m001gwsc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m001gwt4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 Icon (m001c6g6)
Episode 2: Read All About It

Press intrusion into the lives of the famous didn’t start with Elizabeth Taylor, though it did reach a new scale with her private life being so publicly consumed. Since the ‘60s, the relationship between celebrities and the media has evolved. Journalist Emma Jones and TV presenter Gail Porter share differing perspectives from their experiences in the ‘90s and beyond.

With Louise Gallagher. And including sound from klankbeeld

Produced by Alan Hall with music by Jeremy Warmsley

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m001gwwf)
Carolyn Quinn's guests are the Conservative backbencher Bob Seely, Shadow Cabinet minister Emily Thornberry, and the former diplomat and National Security Adviser, Lord Peter Ricketts. They discuss the state of the main parties going into 2023, and look ahead to talks between ministers and striking unions. They also talk about the situation in Ukraine and UK military support, with Katy Balls of The Spectator providing additional insight and analysis. Royal commentator Peter Hunt shares his thoughts on Prince Harry's ITV interview and the panel consider whether the Prince's revelations will prove damaging to the monarchy.


SUN 23:00 Loose Ends (m001gwtm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:15 on Saturday]


SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b01rv33m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today]

MONDAY 09 JANUARY 2023

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m001gwwm)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (m001gkb1)
Self-improvement

SELF IMPROVEMENT: Laurie Taylor explores the 'wellness' and 'confidence' cultures that injunct us to be better versions of ourselves. He talks to Shani Orgad, a Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at the LSE and co-author of a new study arguing that imperatives directed at women to “love your body” and “believe in yourself” imply that psychological blocks rather than entrenched social injustices hold women back. Why is there now such an emphasis on confidence in contemporary discourse about body image, workplace, relationships, motherhood, and even international development? They’re joined by Stephanie Alice Baker, a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at City, University of London, whose latest work traces the emergence of 'wellness culture' from a fringe countercultural pursuit to a trillion-dollar industry. Wellness has become synonymous with yoga, meditation, and other forms of self-care and is no longer simply an alternative to mainstream medicine. As it's coalesced with consumer culture, it's become synonymous with an industry of exclusive products and services. In addition, in the Covid moment, it's become associated with harmful conspiracy theories. So is 'wellness' culture delivering on its myriad promises, or does it have a darker side?

Producer: Jayne Egerton


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m001gwvx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001gwwr)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001gwww)
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 (m001gwwy)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 05:30 News Briefing (m001gwx0)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001gwx2)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Harry Baker

Good Morning.

Through a friend of a friend in the army, I recently learnt about the concept of Adventure Leave. Alongside regular holiday they can take paid leave to go kayaking in the mountains for a week, with a view that this develops skills that may come in useful later on in their career. I love this idea, and as a self-employed poet, I have been considering having a word with my boss about implementing a similar policy.

I’m sure there are many parallels with the army for specific skills I could work on, such as building up my strength for carrying boxes of books between gigs, or going wild camping to perfect sleeping in uncomfortable positions ahead of a post-show overnight Megabus back from Halifax to London. Maybe if I meditate on a mountaintop long enough I could finally discover an answer to the age-old question of “So can you actually make a living from this?” The truth is, the most important skill I think I could develop as a poet is my sense of wonder.

Like many writers I naively thought that being locked down for months at a time might be good for creativity. Without any distractions from the outside world the ideas in my head would finally find their way on to the page. But the reality was that all my creative energy was going towards trying to cope with the day to day uncertainty that came with it, and there wasn’t much left over for big ideas. It is only by being back on the road and meeting incredible people in incredible places that I am feeling that sense of wonder and excitement return, and so I plan to use my adventure leave doing just that.

I just hope I can get my boss to sign off on it. Creator god, thank you for adventure. Thank you that this world is so full of wonder that a lifetime spent exploring it wouldn’t even begin to scratch the surface. Thank you that whether or not it comes in helpful later in life, taking the time to have excitement is always a worthwhile endeavour.

Amen.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m001gwx4)
09/01/23 UK hops, farm machinery, highland cattle

Hop growers are warning that unless something changes many won’t be able to continue. They say the cost of producing hops is up by 25% on last year - but that's not being reflected in what they’re being paid.
All week we're looking at machinery, great and small. Technology is often held up as the answer to many of the challenges agriculture faces, from improving efficiency, to reducing costs and fertiliser use, and solving labour shortages.
And a low tech solution to a prickly problem: Highland Cattle are being asked to start work on the windswept Spurn peninsula in East Yorkshire.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.


MON 05:56 Weather (m001gwx6)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.


MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03bkfw4)
Grey Plover

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Grey Plover. The call of the grey plover across the shimmering mud-flats of an autumn estuary is a haunting sound. They feed out on open mudflats using the "run, stop, peck" method....a quick run towards any worms or shellfish which they spot with those big eyes, stop, then a slight lean forward to pick it up.


MON 06:00 Today (m001gx41)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (m001gx45)
Where are you from?

In Not So Black and White: A History of Race from White Supremacy to Identity Politics Kenan Malik questions what he sees as lazy assumptions about race and culture. He retells the forgotten history of a racialised working class which sits uncomfortably with today’s obsession with ‘white privilege’. He tells Tom Sutcliffe that we need to confront the issues facing society in terms of class and inequality, and not in terms of identity.

The academic Francesca Sobande believes people’s racial identity is a key factor in their experiences and how they are treated. Black Oot Here, co-authored with layla-roxanne hill, explores the history and contemporary lives of Black people in Scotland.

The prize winning poet Don Paterson grew up on a working-class council housing estate in Dundee in Scotland. He looks back at that time in his memoir, Toy Fights, interweaving the moments of love, joy and musical delight with the dark side of growing up surrounded by poverty.

Producer: Katy Hickman

Image credit: '40 George Square' by Francesca Sobande


MON 09:45 Clubland by Peter Brown (m001gx6p)
Episode 1

Pete Brown is a convivial guide on this journey through the intoxicating history of working men’s clubs.

From the movement’s founding by teetotal social reformer the Reverend Henry Solly to the booze-soaked mid-century heyday, when more than 7 million Brits were members, this warm-hearted and entertaining book reveals how and why the clubs became the cornerstone of Britain’s social life – offering much more than cheap Federation Bitter and chicken in a basket.

Often dismissed as relics of a bygone age, Pete reminds us that long before the days of Phoenix Nights, 3,000-seat venues routinely played host to stars like Shirley Bassey, Louis Armstrong and the Bee Gees, offering entertainment for all the family, and close to home at that. Britain’s best-known comedians made reputations through a thick miasma of smoke, from Slough to Skegness.

The book explores the clubs’ role in defining community and class identity for generations of men, and eventually women, in Britain’s industrial towns. They were, at their best, a vehicle for social mobility and self-improvement, run as cooperatives for working people by working people - an informal, community-owned pre-cursor to the welfare state.

Written and Read by Pete Brown
Abridged by Isobel Creed and Jill Waters
Produced by Jill Waters

A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001gx4f)
Impact of Eleanor Williams case, miracle baby, women in early animation, teachers' strike

Last week we reported how 22-year-old Eleanor Williams who claimed she had been trafficked and raped by an Asian grooming gang was convicted of perverting the course of justice. She will be sentenced in March but we consider the possible impact her conviction could have on how rape is reported, how it’s handled by the police and whether women are believed. We hear from the former chief prosecutor for the north west Nazir Ali and Maggie Oliver, the former senior police officer who became a whistle blower for exposing the poor handling of the Rochdale child sex abuse ring case by her own force.

Whether it's rail, nurses, ambulance staff or postal workers strikes are becoming an increasingly common part of life. Could teachers across the UK be the next to follow? This week sees some teachers in Scotland striking with unions in England, Wales and NI. balloting their members in the coming days. Three quarters of teachers are female. Nuala talks to a teacher with nearly 30 years experience Michelle Richards and Natalie Perera, Chief Executive of the Education Policy

Hira Ahmad is the first woman with Bruck Syndrome, a brittle bone condition, to give birth to a healthy baby. The 28-year-old gave birth to baby girl Dua last January l and now wants to share her story to inspire others with similar conditions. She was given specialist care in St George's Hospital, London led by Professor Asma Khalil, consultant in obstetrics and maternal foetal medicine.

Until recently, it was believed that the early pioneers of animation had all been men. That consensus was shattered when historian Mindy Johnson uncovered the previously unseen work of the animator Bessie Mae Kelley from the 1920s. Kelley’s films are now the earliest surviving hand-drawn animations by a woman (before this the earliest woman’s work was from the 1950s.) Mindy joins Nuala McGovern to discuss gender bias in film history and why this discovery is so ground-breaking.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Beverley Purcell


MON 11:00 The Invention of... (m001gx4h)
Russia

A Tale of Two Ivans

Countries look so cohesive on the map - sturdy borders, familiar shapes. Don't be misled; they didn't always look like this. This is the story of Russia, biggest contiguous country on the planet, told from the time when it was very small.

"In my producer's history textbook it says here, page 18, that Russia as a political entity did not exist."

With contributions across the series from Janet Hartley, author of a history of the Volga; Rhodric Braithwaite, former ambassador to Moscow; historian and sociologist, Mischa Gabowitsch; Anthony Beevor; Natalia Antelava; Kateryna Khinkulova; Dominic Lieven; Olesya Khromeychuk; and James Hill of the New York Times.

This is the latest in the How to Invent a Country series which has previously been to Poland, Brazil, Germany and the USA.

Presenter Misha Glenny is the author of McMafia and former BBC Central Europe correspondent
The producer for BBC audio in Bristol is Miles Warde


MON 11:30 Made of Stronger Stuff (p0bgt04k)
Taste

Psychologist Kimberley Wilson and Dr Xand van Tulleken continue their journey around the human body, asking what our insides can reveal about our lives and the world around us.

Taste buds are on the menu for this episode, as Xand delves into how taste receptors are found all over the body, and might have implications for how well we tolerate illness. Kimberley reveals how much of taste is actually down to our minds. Plus, they meet the UK Chilli Queen, a woman on a quest to be the spiciest champion in the world.

Producer: Georgia Mills
Researcher: Leonie Thomas
Executive Producer: Robert Nicholson
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


MON 12:00 News Summary (m001h63l)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 You and Yours (m001gx4p)
Cost of Living 2023, Online Sales Countdowns, Petrol Prices

What will 2023 mean for the cost of living crisis? We hear how a new report by the Resolution Foundation predicts that we are about half way through and it will get worse before it gets better. Emily Fry, co-author of the report, explains more and Winifred Robinson also hears from a mother from Bedfordshire about how she's coping right now.

Drip pricing, countdown timers and scarcity claims - we hear about the online sales tactics designed to push people into spending cash they may later regret. Dave Mendes De Costa from Citizens Advice tells Winifred Robinson what they've learnt from their research into such practices and we hear one individuals experience of being caught out by them.

Petrol prices are dropping, after being at record highs during 2022. Simon Williams from the RAC explains why and whether its set to continue. And we hear the latest analysis on what's going on in the energy market - wholesale prices are dropping but what does that mean for household bills? Joe Malinowski from the Energy Shop is live with Winifred Robinson.

PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON
PRODUCER: CATHERINE EARLAM


MON 12:57 Weather (m001gx4v)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m001gx51)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.


MON 13:45 Naturebang (m001gx55)
Screaming Marmots and the Sound of Fear

Why are some sounds more frightening than others? Are there evolutionary origins behind the things we find scary? And is there anything more blood-curdling than a full throated scream?

Becky Ripley and Emily Knight tune in to the sounds that send the shivers down our spines, via a frightened Marmot in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, and a brand new kind of musical instrument known as the 'apprehension engine'. Beware listeners, you may be in for a fright....

Featuring professor Daniel Blumstein, Chair of the Department of Ecology at UCLA, and film score composer Mark Korven. Produced and presented by Emily Knight and Becky Ripley.


MON 14:00 The Archers (m001gww4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 This Cultural Life (m001gwtw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:15 on Saturday]


MON 15:00 Counterpoint (m001h3sk)
Series 36

Heat 1, 2023

(1/13)
A new season of the widest-ranging music quiz on radio gets under way, as Paul Gambaccini welcomes the first three of this year's 27 contenders hoping to prove they are the nation's musical mastermind.

Paul's questions cover every genre and will test the contenders' knowledge of the classical repertoire as well as jazz, musicals, classic rock and 70 years of the charts. In the special round they will each have to choose a musical category on which to answer their own questions, with no prior warning of the topics.

Taking part are:
Yvonne Blair from Glasgow
Antony Fish from Pontypool
Isabella Valentini from Brentwood in Essex.

Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
Producer: Paul Bajoria


MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m001gwv5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]


MON 16:00 Warsan Shire on a Nation of Poets (m001gl62)
Imagine a place where poets lead armies into battle and strike fear into politicians, where poems accompany birth and marriage, work and worship, where the greatest poets write lyrics to pop songs and are treated like celebrities.

For Somalis, in the Somali territories and beyond, this is a cultural reality - a world were the rhythms and images of poetry are built into everyday speech and learnt from birth, where poetry is simply the natural language.

Acclaimed British Somali poet Warsan Shire explores what it means to be part of a culture which puts poetry at its centre, a “nation of poets”, and asks where this thriving tradition is going next. As a new Somali generation comes of age in a diaspora spread across the world, how are traditions adapting to new contexts and how is technology helping poetry thrive in a hyper-connected community?

Sharing their insights, memories and poetry with Warsan are British Somali poets Momtaza Mehri and Samatar Elmi, academics Dr Christina Woolner and Dr Martin Orwin and famous Somali poet Xasan Daahir Ismaaciil known to his many fans and followers as 'Weedhsame’.

Presented by Warsan Shire
Produced by Michael Umney
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4

Picture credit: Leyle Jeyte


MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (m001gx5c)
Leap of Faith

“I wouldn't have become an athlete if I didn't think it was something that God wanted me to do.”

Jonathan Edwards still holds the triple jump world record 27 years after leaping to victory in 1995. He has taken home gold at the Olympics, World and European Championships and the Commonwealth Games. His success, he says, was driven by the belief that he was “in tune with a supernatural being that created the Earth”. Today, he no longer holds those beliefs but looks back on how they had an impact on his sporting career.

For Jonathan Edwards, his Christian beliefs were a deciding factor in his performance as an athlete but does God play a part in sporting success?

Aleem Maqbool brings together three people with different experiences of the inter-play between sport and spirituality. Khadijah Mellah won the Magnolia Cup at Goodwood in 2019 and is the first jockey to wear the hijab in competitive British horse racing. Richard Leadbeater is a former professional footballer turned Anglican Vicar and Shameema Yousuf is a sport psychologist, and mental health therapist who looks at the relationship between performance, mental health and culture.

The panel discuss whether personal religious beliefs have an impact on sporting performance. They ask whether faith gives athletes the edge on their competitors and if sports psychology can have the same impact. When it comes to elite sport, does God have a hand in the result? Does holding a faith make a difference when you’re going for gold? Does God help you win?

Producer: Katharine Longworth


MON 17:00 PM (m001h63g)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


MON 18:00 Six O' Clock News (m001gx5h)
Health unions say talks with the government about pay have done nothing to persuade them to call off a series of strikes


MON 18:30 Just a Minute (m001gx5m)
Series 90

Bicycle Stabilisers, French New Wave and The Shining

Sue Perkins challenges Paul Merton, Zoe Lyons, Alan Davies and Holly Walsh 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 French New Wave to Bicycle Stabilisers.

Production co-ordinator: Caroline Barlow
Sound editor: Marc Willcox
Producer: Rajiv Karia

A BBC Studios Production


MON 19:00 The Archers (m001gwz4)
At the shop Jim wonders to Susan if he should have stuck with Jazzer’s invitation to be best man, but she won’t comment – her New Year’s resolution is to rein in her strong opinions regarding other people’s life decisions. Meanwhile she reports they’ve lost Maureen, a volunteer, due to a back injury. Susan reckons it might be Jim’s fault for making Maureen clean the stockroom, so she declares that he’ll have to cover all Maureen’s shifts until they can recruit a replacement. Jim feels Susan’s resolution hasn’t lasted long. Jim posts a ‘volunteers wanted’ notice, and Joy walks in. She’s interested, and lists her relevant experience. Jim’s encouraging, but Susan’s not keen, and tells Jim later that she doubts she could cope with Joy’s chatter for hours on end. He’ll have to find someone else.
Adam reports to Pat how much Kate is dreading the imminent appearance of Jakob’s brother Erik. Pat agrees it must be tricky. She looks ruefully at the veg boxes, wishing they were more exciting at this time of year. Adam has an idea for reviving the farm and increasing footfall – an edible forest garden. If they start planting now, they could have something up and running by May. Pat’s impressed. Adam wonders how Tom would feel about the idea. Pat agrees he’s not always predictable; Adam would need to be aware it could go either way. But it’s such a great idea, Pat’s sure Tom will see that straight away.


MON 19:15 Front Row (m001gx5r)
The Light in the Hall, The Shipping Forecast photographs, Nell Zink

The Light in the Hall, a crime drama starring Joanna Scanlan, has launched on Channel 4 following its previous incarnation in Welsh on S4C, as Y Golau. Director Andy Newbery joins Shahidha to discuss directing a bilingual ‘back to back’ TV production with a single cast and crew.

Photographer Mark Power discusses his seminal book The Shipping Forecast, which has been re-released with over 100 previously unseen photographs.

And the writer Nell Zink, known for her dark humour, discusses her latest novel, Avalon, which focuses on the life of the indefatigable teenager, Bran, who grows up in the pie-less version of America and embarks on a contradictory love affair.

Presenter: Shahidha Bari
Producer: Eliane Glaser

Image: Joanna Scanlan as Sharon Roberts in TV drama The Light in the Hall on Channel 4/ Y Golau on S4C.


MON 20:00 In Dark Corners (m001gxfc)
South Africa

Journalist Alex Renton attended three traditional private schools. When he was eight he left home and boarded at Ashdown House, where he was sexually abused by a teacher. It wasn't until 2014 that Alex felt able to face his demons. He began writing about his experiences and that's when emails and letters started pouring in from other boarding school survivors, from around the country. The scale was breathtaking.

In summer 2022 Alex presented the series 'In Dark Corners', in which he followed the path of predatory teachers as they made their way through Britain's most elite schools, where the abuse was either ignored or enabled. Few were charged. Many fled the country.

In this fourth episode Alex picks up the stories of two teachers covered earlier in the series. 'Hubert' from episode 1 was a teacher at Ashdown House; an exclusive all boys school in Sussex, which includes Boris Johnson amongst its alumni. 'Edgar' from episode 2 taught broadcaster Nicky Campbell, amongst many others, at Edinburgh Academy and Fettes College in Edinburgh.

Both teachers have numerous allegations of sexual abuse against them spanning decades and continents. Both are now in South Africa. Will they ever be brought back to Britain to be tried in court?

BBC Action Line support: Child sexual abuse:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/22VVM5LPrf3pjYdKqctmMXn/information-and-support-sexual-abuse-and-violence

Producer: Caitlin Smith
Presenter: Alex Renton
Editors: Gail Champion and Heather Kane-Darling
Research in South Africa: Carol Albertyn Christie
Sound design: Jon Nicholls


MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (m001gl5y)
South Korea - a room with a view

“It’s like living in a cemetery.” Jung Seongno lives in a banjiha, or semi-basement apartment in the South Korean capital Seoul. Last August parts of Seoul experienced major flooding. As a result several people, including a family of three, drowned in their banjiha. Seongno dreams of having a place where the sunlight and the wind can come in.

These subterranean dwellings are just one example of a growing wealth divide in Asia’s fourth largest economy. With almost half of the country’s population living in Greater Seoul, the struggle to find affordable housing has become a major political issue. It also contributes to Korea’s worryingly low birth rate. The inability of young people to afford a home of their own means they are not starting families. Many have given up on relationships altogether.

John Murphy reports from Seoul, where owning a home of your own is so important and yet increasingly unattainable.

Produced and presented by John Murphy
Producer in Seoul: Keith Keunhyung Park
Studio mix: Rod Farquhar
Production coordinator: Iona Hammond
Series editor: Penny Murphy


MON 21:00 Born in Bradford (m000wrnv)
Mental Health

The focus of Born in Bradford is shifting, as young people in the study start to play a more active role in shaping the research. In this programme the focus is on mental health, as schools grapple with how lockdown has affected pupils and hospitals report an increase in referrals following self-harm and a range of anxiety related conditions. Winifred Robinson investigates and talks to young people about how research might help them and how they handle the pressures they feel.

Fifteen year old Billy has already benefited from a more pro-active approach to mental health and new links between the NHS and the 38 secondary schools across Bradford. He was feeling tired and lethargic during the pandemic and struggled to complete online lessons at home. His head teacher at the Keighley University Academy, Jon Scurr, invited him to take part in a new counselling service and he began addressing his problems, starting with prioritising his worries:

"I told the NHS practitioner about passing people me on the pavement and my fear of not knowing what strangers would do to me. She got me to explain the impact of this, how I'd tremble and my palms would get sweaty and she explained what to do in that process. It was such a help - that was all I needed to do, I feel so much better. Before I didn't feel energised and now I feel like studying and feel in control."

For other head teachers the focus as Born in Bradford moves into this new phase will also bring opportunities to assess how pupils handle the move from primary to secondary school. Lynette Clapham is the head of Crossley Hall Primary and is worried about how covid will place extra pressures on year six pupils already worried about how they will cope:

"Change makes adults anxious and children anxious. It’s also an added concern that they haven’t been able to visit their new schools because of covid. We have to prepare them for what's next; we are on borrowed time with them. Some of the children are going to high schools on their own and not with friends from here – so far they haven’t had the chance to meet others and get ready for what’s ahead."

Dr John Wright, who heads Born in Bradford, is excited by the new phase of research as the 13,000 Born in Bradford children move through their teenage years: “it’s a remarkable period in life never do you get such change and transition and that’s biological psychological and social change.

“There’s a metamorphosis from being a child to an adult and it’s a time of great change and experimentation. It’s also a time of great change in our mental health - over half of mental disorders start in adolescence and we are very keen to understand the causes and what we can do and to track what happens over time


MON 21:30 Start the Week (m001gx45)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m001gx5y)
Unions and government discuss industrial action

Also tonight:

Condemnation after violent storming of Brazil's Congress building.

And the first space launch of its kind from British soil.


MON 22:45 Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (m001gx62)
6: 'Now let's get started!'

Bonnie Garmus' comic bestseller featuring the gloriously idiosyncratic feminist icon, Elizabeth Zott.

It's the early 1960s and Zott's all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with - of all things - her mind. True chemistry results.

Like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later, Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook, she's daring them to change the status quo.

Today: Having agreed to become the unlikely presenter of 1960s show Supper at Six, the indefatigable Elizabeth Zott intends to bring science into daytime TV cookery ...

Writer: Bonnie Garmus
Reader: Julianna Jennings
Abridger: Katrin Williams
Producer: Justine Willett


MON 23:00 Lights Out (m001gx66)
Series 5

Gatekeeper

“Somewhere between the narrow entry of Who I am and What I seem to be, lies a vast and nameless place.”

In this transmission, Axel Kacoutié discovers a new sense of self in the cosmologies, concepts and realities of queer and indigenous folks. What are the links between gender expression and our relationship with the Earth? How does it destabilise colonial and capitalist imaginations of what we’re told a gender binary is meant to be?

Featuring the voices of:
Opaskwayak Cree Nation Professor at the University of Saskatchewan, Dr Alex Wilson
Artist Buitumelo Kotekwa
Afro-Taino Two-Spirit change-maker Cleopatra Tatabele
Scholar and Research Assistant, Karyn De Freitas
Transmasculine, non-binary scholar and Founder of the Free Black University, Melz Owusu.

Development Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Assistant Producer: CA Davis
Additional Recording: Heidi Chang and Israel Ramjohn
Sound Design, Music and Mixing Production: Axel Kacoutié
Produced by Axel Kacoutié
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4


MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001gx6b)
Susan Hulme reports as MPs grill the Health Secretary about winter pressures in the NHS.

TUESDAY 10 JANUARY 2023

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m001gx6h)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 00:30 Clubland by Peter Brown (m001gx6p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001gx6t)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001gx6y)
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 (m001gx72)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m001gx76)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001h63j)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Harry Baker

Good Morning.

The start of the year is often a time of new beginnings. Of taking stock of the year just passed and looking ahead to what is coming up. It is perhaps as good a time as any to quote The West Wing and ask yourself: What’s next? And yet I have a complicated relationship with that question. I am coming to the end of a tour of a show I wrote for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year, alongside a book of poems of the same name.

Because of Covid it is the first time I have been able to gig properly for three years, and the book has been 8 years in the making since my previous collection. Whichever way you measure it, I have been looking forward to this for a long time. And I love it so much. To be on stage in front of people sharing something I believe in is where I come most alive, and being unable to do so for so long during lockdown took its toll in ways I am only just coming to terms with. As this tour is drawing to a close, people have started to ask me the dreaded question: what’s next? To which the answer is: I don’t know. And I have purposefully kept it that way. As much as I get a nerdy thrill from the intricacies of putting a tour together, I know that what my soul needs is space to figure it out.

The question I have instead been pondering comes in the form of a lyric by one of my favourite writers Kae Tempest: “Why do something if you can’t be proud of it?” Whether it is another tour, something more local, or simply making a cracking meal for some friends, I plan to make sure whatever happens next it is something I can be proud of. And until then I hope to make the most of every second of what’s happening now. God grant us space to breathe, To work out what makes our hearts sing, and give enough oxygen to those things. May you help us to savour the present moment, and resist the urge to rush into whatever is happening in the not so distant future, so that by the time we get there, we will be able to savour it just as much.

Amen.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m001gx7b)
America will not be able to sign a trade deal for agricultural goods with the UK, unless the agreement includes 'no tariffs, and no barriers' according to a senior US Dept Agriculture representative. Jason Hafemesiter Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs says the US wants to embrace new technologies such as gene editing to reduce its reliance on fertilizers and pesticides, creating a more sustainable farming system. So, if a trade deal is signed between the UK and the USA, it would have to include crops produced in this way. He was also keen to point out that America would not want to see barriers to exports of hormone-treated beef or chorine-washed chicken.

Meat production and alternative protein sources were up for debate at the Oxford REAL Farming Conference, as part of a wider discussion throughout the conference on sustainable food production. Nourish Scotland - a charity which focuses on food policy and practice - brought together farmers, academics, producers and consumers from all over the country for a workshop to explore some of the problems and solutions. We dropped in on a session entitled "What's at Steak?".

A farmer with a passion for engineering and the environment will be unveiling a seed drill he’s designed at Lamma - the agricultural machinery show at the NEC in Birmingham. Martin Lole, whose company Mzuri is based in Worcestershire, calls his new machine the Ipass. It’s been set up to be used in a strip tillage system to minimise disruption to the soil and promises to deliver higher crop yields.

Presenter = Anna Hill
Producer = Rebecca Rooney


TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03dwsb7)
Jackdaw

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Martin Hughes-Games presents the jackdaw. Jackdaws are scavengers with a reputation for stealing shiny or glittering objects. Martin Hughes-Games tells the story of a tame jackdaw he had as a child, which became a very colourful member of the family, with her very own store of costume jewellery to play with.


TUE 06:00 Today (m001h6dk)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m001gwyh)
Chris Elliott on fighting food fraud

Professor Chris Elliott is something of a ‘food detective’.
A Professor of Food Safety and Microbiology at Queen's University Belfast and a founding director of its Institute for Global Food Security (IGFS), his work is all about developing scientific solutions to protect us from contaminated food, be it accidental or criminal.

Following the 2013 horse meat scandal – when prepared foods purporting to be made from beef were found to contain undeclared horse-meat – Chris conducted the independent review of the UK food system that brought to light the growing threat of food crime. Since then, his name’s become synonymous with solving cases of food fraud; today he receives regular tip-offs on everything from oregano scams to dodgy potatoes.

But as Chris tells Jim Al-Khalili, his team at the IGFS are pioneering new techniques to read the molecular fingerprint of foodstuffs, with technology that they hope will stop the fraudsters in their tracks…

Producer: Lucy Taylor


TUE 09:30 One to One (m001gwyk)
Trespass and the right to roam

Matthew Parris travels to the Thames to talk to Nick Hayes, author of the Book of Trespass.
Property rights, the right to roam, and the rights of the UK travelling community are all thrashed out.

The producer for BBC audio in Bristol is Miles Warde


TUE 09:45 Clubland by Peter Brown (m001gwym)
Episode 2

Pete Brown is a convivial guide on this journey through the intoxicating history of working men’s clubs.

From the movement’s founding by teetotal social reformer the Reverend Henry Solly to the booze-soaked mid-century heyday, when more than 7 million Brits were members, this warm-hearted and entertaining book reveals how and why the clubs became the cornerstone of Britain’s social life – offering much more than cheap Federation Bitter and chicken in a basket.

Often dismissed as relics of a bygone age, Pete reminds us that long before the days of Phoenix Nights, 3,000-seat venues routinely played host to stars like Shirley Bassey, Louis Armstrong and the Bee Gees, offering entertainment for all the family, and close to home at that. Britain’s best-known comedians made reputations through a thick miasma of smoke, from Slough to Skegness.

The book explores the clubs’ role in defining community and class identity for generations of men, and eventually women, in Britain’s industrial towns. They were, at their best, a vehicle for social mobility and self-improvement, run as cooperatives for working people by working people - an informal, community-owned pre-cursor to the welfare state.

In this episode, the Revd Henry Solly was a passionate supporter of working men's clubs and institutes, as a means to promote self improvement among working class men. His foundation of the CIU – the Club and Institute Union – was crucial to the cohesive future of the movement.

Written and Read by Pete Brown
Abridged by Isobel Creed and Jill Waters
Produced by Jill Waters

A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001gwyq)
The Letters of Edith Thompson, Women in Westminister, Donor-conceived Children, Lucy Rout on Dragons' Den

One hundred years ago Edith Thompson and her lover Frederick Bywaters were hanged for the murder of her husband Percy, even though there was no evidence that she was involved with the killing. What condemned Edith were the letters that she had written to Freddy, which were interpreted by the law as incitement to murder. Laura Thompson has brought the letter together in a book Au Revoir Now Darlint. She joins Nuala to discuss the story and why the case still resonates a century later.

A report out today by the charity the Fawcett Society has found a ‘toxic and exclusionary’ culture in Westminster which they say risks pushing out women MPs and having a damaging effect on democracy. Nuala is joined by Jemima Olchawski, CEO of the Fawcett Society as well as the Conservative MP Maria Miller who is Chair of the APPG on Women and Parliament and the Labour MP Stella Creasy who has campaigned for better maternity rights for MPs.

When Nuala spoke about donor conceived children on Woman’s Hour last week, listener Hayley got in touch to share her own story, not only of being a donor conceived person herself, but of using a donor to conceive her own children too. She explains why she thinks it’s so important to be open and honest about your child’s conception.

Dragons' Den has returned to our TV screens and the Dragons were impressed by Lucy Rout's pitch. The 28 year old became the first entrepreneur in 20 series to receive investment and a job offer from Peter Jones alongside investment backing from two other dragons. Lucy is the founder of Tabuu, a business that sells stylish pill cases with the aim of removing the stigma around taking medication. Lucy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the 25, and following reconstruction of her digestive system has to take medication every time she eats. She talks to Nuala about her illness and her experience in the Den.

Presented by Nuala McGovern
Producer: Louise Corley
Editor: Beverley Purcell


TUE 11:00 The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry (m001gwys)
Series 21

The Case of the Blind Mind's Eye

Close your eyes and think of a giraffe. Can you see it? I mean, *really* see it - in rich, vivid detail? If not - you aren’t alone!

We’ve had scores of messages from listeners who report having a ‘blind mind’s eye’. They don’t see mental images at all and they want to know why. Jude from Perth wants to know what makes her brain different, and Diane from Scotland wonders whether it affectes her ability to remember family holidays.

Our sleuths learn that this is a condition recently termed ‘aphantasia’. They meet the chap who came up with the name, Professor Adam Zeman, a neurologist from the University of Exeter, and quiz him on the brain mechanisms behind this mystery.

Professor Julia Simner - a psychologist who, herself, doesn’t see mental images - shares the surprising research into how aphants differ slightly from others in a range of cognitive skills. We also hear about the world class artists and animators who can’t visualise - but can create beautiful, imaginary worlds.

Philosophy professor Fiona Macpherson from the University of Glasgow, deepens the mystery: perhaps this largely hidden phenomenon is behind some of the most profound disagreements in the history of psychology. Our mental experiences are all very different - maybe that’s why thinkers have come up with such different theories about how our minds work.

Search for the “VVIQ” or Vividness of Visual Imagery questionnaire to take the test yourself. Look for “The Perception Census” to take part in this massive online study of perceptual variation. And look up the 'Aphtantasia Network' if you're curious to find out more.

Presenters: Hannah Fry and Adam Rutherford
Contributors: Professor Adam Zeman, Professor Julia Simner, Professor Fiona Macpherson
Producer: Ilan Goodman


TUE 11:30 Out of the Ordinary (m000tmm1)
Series 8

How to memorise anything

"Memory athletes" compete to see who can remember the most random numbers in an hour. Or else to memorise decks of playing cards. Memory training is big in China, where there are TV game shows for memory contests, and where parents pay good money to get their children trained in memorisation techniques.

Everyone thought the Chinese were invincible, and that we were at the limits of what could be memorised - until 2019 when a group of North Korean teenagers arrived at the world championships, smashed a bunch of records, and returned to Pyonyang. Since then, nothing has been heard of them. What's their secret? And why does North Korea want to dominate the world in this obscure sport?

Presenter/Producer: Jolyon Jenkins


TUE 12:00 News Summary (m001h6dm)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m001gwyy)
Call You and Yours: What's your experience of using private healthcare?

On today's Call You and Yours we're asking: "What's your experience of using private healthcare?"

A fifth of people have paid for healthcare in recent months, nearly half a million have taken out private medical insurance in the past year.

Is that you? Have you taken out health insurance or paid for treatments you'd usually have on the NHS because you're not getting the treatment you need?

Email us on youandyours@bbc.co.uk.

Or you can call our phone number on 03700 100 444 at 11am.

PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON
PRODUCER: LYDIA THOMAS


TUE 12:57 Weather (m001gwz0)
The latest weather forecast


TUE 13:00 World at One (m001h6dp)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.


TUE 13:45 Naturebang (m001gwz2)
Rivers and the Rights of Nature

Becky Ripley and Emily Knight ask whether giving legal rights to things like rivers and forests changes how we think about the world that lives around us.

The Whanganui River, in New Zealand, is a legal person in the eyes of the law. It is legally defined as a living whole, from the mountains to the sea, and two local Maori tribe members speak on its behalf as its legal representatives. Other nations have had similar thinking: the Amazon rainforest in Columbia, one of the Great Lakes in the US, and the River Ganges in India all have legal personhood, as does land in Ecuador and Bolivia, where Mother Earth is recognised as a legal person.

Assigning personhood to non-human things is not a new idea. Since the late 1800s, corporations have been granted legal personhood, giving them the rights to hold property, enter into contracts, and to sue or be sued. Then in 1972, Christopher Stone, himself a Professor of Law, published the essay ‘Should Trees Have Standing?’, arguing that if corporations can have personhood, why can’t natural entities?

Does the act of doing this reframe our relationship to the natural world, as something which lives not just for us, but alongside us in its own right? And as the law extents rights to nature, does that - in turn - extend our empathy towards the more-than-human world?

Featuring Dr Rāwiri Tinirau, advisor on Māori and Indigenous human rights, and Anna Grear, Professor of Law and Theory at Cardiff University and founder of the Journal of Human Rights and the Environment. Produced and presented by Emily Knight and Becky Ripley.


TUE 14:00 The Archers (m001gwz4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama (m001gwz6)
Border Call

We are on the cusp of major changes in the three-way relationship between Britain, Ireland and Northern Ireland. In this taut political drama, Hugh Costello looks into his crystal ball and imagines a future scenario.

The year is 2027. Helen Graham is the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the UK government. Recent elections to the Stormont Assembly have confirmed Sinn Fein as the largest party. Now they and their counterparts in the Republic, senior partners in a ruling coalition since the general election of 2025, have renewed their calls for a referendum, or Border Poll, on unification, to be held on both sides of the border.

Under the Good Friday Agreement, the power to call such a poll in NI lies with the Secretary of State, if she judges that “it appears likely that a majority of the people would vote in favour of a united Ireland.”

Helen was raised in Manchester by an English father and Irish mother. This is her first Cabinet position, and it’s giving her sleepless nights. Not least because the Prime Minister is demanding a debrief. At the suggestion of her resourceful PPS, Belfast native Emily Cooke, she embarks on a fact-finding mission and charm offensive. But while appearing as a guest on a radio phone-in show in Dublin, a caller raises a traumatic event in Helen's family's past that changes the future for both her and the island of Ireland....

Cast:
Helen Graham Jane Slavin
Emily Cooke Bronagh Waugh
Andrew Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong
Jennifer/Maureen Frances Tomelty
Moriarty/Finnerty Stephen Hogan

Written by Hugh Costello
Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan

A Big Fish Radio production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (m001gwz8)
Series 33

Through the Looking Glass

A private empty gravel lot transforms into a community beach in the pandemic and an invitation to step inside a work of art - Josie Long presents short documentaries about worlds turned upside down.

Bloordale Beach
Feat. Shari Kasman
Produced by Sarah Melton
With music from Pop Plug & Canada Katana and Catjam

Portals
Featuring Cassi Namoda
Originally produced for Shade Podcast's series Interludes.
Conceptualised by Executive Producer, Lou Mensah and created by Audio Artist, Axel Kacoutié
Shade Podcast - https://pod.link/1469562537

FIELDS
Original music by Ariana Martinez
Produced by Ariana Martinez

Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 15:30 A Thorough Examination with Drs Chris and Xand (p0dl26vj)
Series 2: Can I Change?

6. How to listen to your body

Most of us would like something about ourselves or our lives to be different, but how easy is it to actually change?

Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken are looking at whether people can change and how they do it. Exactly how much of any aspect of personality is genetic destiny and how much are we shaped by the world around us?

Chris wants to be a better doctor, friend, husband and father. But most urgently he wants to be a better brother, and is determined to improve his relationship with Xand. They’re best friends and talk to each other every day, but they are also business partners who find it very hard to work together without having a visceral row.

Chris wants to change how he relates to his brother and believes it is possible, but Xand is less convinced that we can or that he needs to change. In this series, Chris confronts that pessimism.

In episode 6 - How To Listen To Your Body - Professor Sarah Garfinkel teaches the twins about interoception - or how we understand and act on what’s going on inside our bodies. She tests their ability to interpret their emotions and both Chris and Xand are surprised at the results.

Presented by Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken
Produced by Hester Cant and Alexandra Quinn
Series Editor: Jo Rowntree
A Loftus Media and van Tulleken Brothers Ltd production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (m001h47b)
Exclamation Marks!!

In the first of a new series, Michael Rosen exclaims excitedly over exclamation marks with Dr Florence Hazrat, who has a passion for them. They explore the history behind the first punctuation symbol to indicate emotion and ask why some people do not like using them at all.

Florence is the author of An Admirable Point: A Brief History of the Exclamation Mark!

Producer Beth O'Dea


TUE 16:30 Great Lives (m001h6dr)
Roger Deakin, wild swimmer and author of Waterlogged

Matthew Parris travels along the Thames to meet Nick Hayes - illustrator and author of The Book of Trespass - to discuss the life of Roger Deakin. They also enjoy a naked swim. Joining them, in his pants, is Patrick Barkham. His new biography of Roger Deakin is published this year.

The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde.


TUE 17:00 PM (m001h6dt)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


TUE 18:00 Six O' Clock News (m001gwzf)
The Government has introduced a new bill to the House of Commons, which could force some staff to work during strikes.


TUE 18:30 The Cold Swedish Winter (m000qx0f)
Series 5

Vasaloppet

Geoff (Adam Riches) is enjoying the glory of Sweden in the snow. Out with the kids in the hills, he bumps unexpectedly into his nemesis Johan (Thomas Eriksson), an ex-boyfriend of Linda's, who issues a challenge Geoff can't turn down.

Meanwhile Linda (Sissela Benn) is struggling to deal with a difficult work/life balance and yearns for the days when she could lose herself in her beloved cross-country ski-ing. And little John (Harry Nicolaou) discovers the joys of being caught short in the snow.

Danny Robins' series is partly recorded on location in Sweden and features some of Sweden's best loved comedy actors.

Cast
Geoff: Adam Riches
Linda: Sissela Benn
Sten: Thomas Oredsson
Gunilla: Anna-Lena Bergelin
Johan: Thomas Eriksson
John: Harry Nicolaou
Ian: Danny Robins

Written by Danny Robins
Produced and directed by Frank Stirling
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 19:00 The Archers (m001gwzh)
Kate’s struck by Erik’s strong resemblance to Jakob. As she welcomes him, Erik assumes she’s Jakob’s landlord and can’t believe how kind she’s being. Kate is stunned and puts him straight. Kate’s hurt that Jakob hadn’t told Erik about her. Erik quickly corrects himself – of course he knew, he’d just forgotten. Kate’s not sure whether to believe him. His gift of a smart speaker goes down well with Kate, though she accidentally gives away that it wouldn’t be Jakob’s ideal present. Honours even, the atmosphere thaws and they agree to have supper at the Bull. Alistair joins them, and they discuss Jakob as a child. Erik was always being compared unfavourably to his brother, who was diligent and organised. Kate points out that Jakob believes Erik was the favourite; he’s the fun one with the glamorous career. When Erik goes to the bar Kate and Alistair agree he seems lovely and not at all how Jakob’s made him out to be – though Alistair observes that someone this sociable and chatty would indeed be Jakob’s nightmare.
Jim’s feeling overwhelmed with the burden of finding a best man for Jazzer, and a volunteer for the shop. Alistair insists his dad’s the perfect best man, and Joy a great choice of volunteer. Jim thinks Alice might be a better option. Alistair suggests Jim adds Ed to his list of alternatives for the best man role. Later he shows Jazzer the list, but Jazzer still wants Jim. He suggests Jim shares the job with Ed. Jim thinks it’s a marvellous idea.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (m001gwzk)
How AI is changing art, the TS Eliot Prize for poetry and the folk music of wassailing

Designer Steven Zapata and artist Anna Ridler discuss whether AI art poses a threat to artists and designers.

Imagine reading more than 200 new books of poetry. That was the task faced by the judges of the T S Eliot Prize. Jean Sprackland and fellow judge Roger Robinson talk to Tom Sutcliffe about their experience and what they learned about the art of poetry today.

It’s the time of year when lovers of orchards, apples and cider gather to bless and encourage their trees. The tradition of wassailing is ancient, and modern too. Jim Causley from Whimple, Dartmoor, sings wassails old and new, and with artist Simon Pope talk about their project ‘Here’s to Thee’.

And in the latest of the poems shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize, Jemma Borg read her poem Marsh Thistle from her collection Wilder.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Paul Waters


TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m001gwzm)
Abandoned in Afghanistan

18 months after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, File on 4 hears from people still stuck in hiding; their names blacklisted because of the work they did for the British.

Following the fall of the country and the frantic evacuation, the UK Government made a series of promises not to leave behind those who'd helped the UK.

The programme investigates the failures of these schemes, which have seen tiny numbers getting to safety in the UK. Thousands more left living in fear, facing torture and kidnap have been left languishing for months without contact or support.

Reporter: Paul Kenyon
Producer: Kate West and Vicky Carter
Technical Producer: Richard Hannaford
Editor: Carl Johnston


TUE 20:40 In Touch (m001gwzp)
Accessible smart meters, Blind charity news

On a recent edition of In Touch, we heard about Accessible In Home Displays, or AIHDs. These devices are essentially energy smart meters that have been adapted to provide, for example, a text to speech facility. We were told that they should be available from energy companies for blind people who requested them. However, many listeners have told us that this has not been their experience. We take a closer look.

And Olivia Curno, CEO of "The Vision Foundation" and Keith Valentine, CEO of "Fight for Sight" join us with exclusive news on plans to tackle both the prevalence and impact of sight loss.

PRODUCER: FERN LULHAM

PRESENTER: PETER WHITE

Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image, wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three individual white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one of a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.


TUE 21:00 Inside Health (m001gwzr)
Why is everyone ill? Can ketamine and therapy treat alcoholism?

Covid and other bugs have ripped through the Inside Health team, so we find out why everyone seems to be getting sick at the moment and if we will be facing a torrent of infections for months or even years to come. We see how easy it is to buy antibiotics online and why scientists are worried about it. And can ketamine and its mind-altering powers can help free people from addiction to alcohol?

Get in touch: InsideHealth@bbc.co.uk.


TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (m001gwyh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m001gwzt)
The battle for Bakhmut

Also:

An interview with Jimmy Lai’s son.

We speak to a Republican “Holdout” congressman.

And the role of the ghostwriter.


TUE 22:45 Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (m001gwzw)
7: 'Just a housewife?'

Bonnie Garmus' comic bestseller featuring the gloriously idiosyncratic feminist icon, Elizabeth Zott.

It's the early 1960s and Zott's all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with - of all things - her mind. True chemistry results.

Like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later, Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook, she's daring them to change the status quo.

Today: Brilliant chemist Elizabeth Zott has become the unlikely star of a 1960s daytime TV cookery show. And her scientific approach to cooking is proving revolutionary among her female viewers…

Writer: Bonnie Garmus
Reader: Julianna Jennings
Abridger: Katrin Williams
Producer: Justine Willett


TUE 23:00 Small Scenes (m0002m49)
Series 4

Episode 2

Award-winning sketch series set to music and starring Daniel Rigby, Mike Wozniak, Cariad Lloyd, Henry Paker and Freya Parker. This week a woman discovers why there are so many Cornish Pastie shops in British train stations and a man tries to return a sleeping bag to John Lewis with dramatic consequences.

Written by Benjamin Partridge, Henry Paker and Mike Wozniak, with additional material from the cast.

Produced by Simon Mayhew-Archer.

A BBC Studios production


TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001gwzy)
All the news from today's sitting at Westminster.