SATURDAY 26 OCTOBER 2024
SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m00244yd)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 00:30 On Freedom by Timothy Snyder (m00244wz)
Book of the Week: Episode 5 - On speaking freely
Timothy Snyder's latest book explores the idea of freedom, in today's episode the historian and intellectual discusses the value of speaking freely. Kyle Soller reads.
Timothy Snyder is an historian and public intellectual writing on Ukraine, American politics, strategies for averting authoritarianism, digital politics, health, and education. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honours including the Emerson Prize in the Humanities, the Václav Havel Foundation prize, and the Hannah Arendt Prize in Political Thought. He teaches history and global affairs at Yale University and his books include Bloodlands, Black Earth and On Tyranny.
On Freedom is his latest book. Here he looks at how freedom has been misunderstood and is leading society into crisis. He takes issue with the deep seated notion that freedom is about the right of the individual to behave and speak however they wish, where its understood as protection from outside forces, and interference from others. Instead, he invites us to look at in a different way, not as freedom 'from', but freedom 'to'. He asks us to look at freedom as a foundational value that allows all people to thrive, to take risks and to work together to ensure a bright future for everyone.
Kyle Soller is an award winning actor well known for his work in the theatre - Long Day's Journey Into Night, Hedda Gabler The Inheritance - on the small screen - Poldark, The Hollow Crown, Andor, and on radio - Giovanni's Room, Losing Earth, People Who Knew Me.
Abridged by Katrin Williams.
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m00244yg)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m00244yj)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m00244yl)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m00244yn)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m00244yq)
Loving our enemies
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with the Revd Dr Rosa Hunt, Minister at Tabernacle Chapel Cardiff and Co-Principal of Cardiff Baptist College.
Good morning. The new university term started recently, and in my role as a university lecturer in church history I found myself talking to first year students about conflicts in what was then the Roman province of Palestine. It was noted with sadness that two thousand years have passed and religion and politics are once again causing violence and suffering in that part of the world.
Jesus taught his disciples to forgive their enemies, and even to love them – never to repay violence with violence. As we watch news footage of children being burned to death as casualties of war, Jesus’ advice may seem at best naïve and at worst immoral. But a few months ago I was talking to a colleague of mine who works in a Christian college in the Middle East. We commented on how costly it must be for him, his family and his church to put Jesus’s teaching into practice. He paused for a moment, and then replied: yes, loving your enemy is costly, but the cost of hating your enemy is even greater.
Loving God,
In the flesh of your Son you bore the weight of senseless human suffering. He hung on the cross, an innocent victim like many millions before and after him, and refused even then to hate those who had tortured him. Thank you for his teaching and example. We join our voices with all those who cry out to you from war-torn regions, and we pray, O Lord, for lasting peace, for genuine reconciliation, and for healing of minds, souls, bodies and lands.
Amen
SAT 05:45 Naturebang (m001gx67)
Lazy Ants and the Power of Doing Nothing
We've all seen the Attenborough documentaries, full of the hurrying and scurrying of life on earth, the drama constantly unfolding. The natural world is a BUSY place... Or is it?
The surprising truth is, away from the cameras, most animals spend most of the time doing absolutely nothing at all. It's not just the sleepy sloths and the cat-napping cats, even the critters with reputations for being the most industrious animals on the planet have an astonishing amount of down-time. Peer into the dark warmth of an ant's nest, for example, and you might be surprised to note that just under half of them... don't DO anything. Not a jot. They sit, still and silent, apparently contributing nothing to the colony. Evolution abhors wasted energy so... what's going on? Becky Ripley and Emily Knight search for answers among our insect friends.
On the human side of the equation, we're astonishingly bad at doing nothing. We fuss and fidget, we tap our fingers and twiddle our thumbs, trying to escape the horrible fate of being BORED. When animals are so good at efficiently conserving energy, why do so many of us find it so uncomfortable? Perhaps the answer lies in not trying to escape boredom at all, but embracing it, and its creative potential. Becky and Emily discover that it's only through boredom that we can tap in to an extraordinary set of neural processes known as 'The Default Mode Network', and access the most creative parts of our brains. Perhaps doing nothing is more exciting than we first thought.
Featuring Professor Dan Charbonneau, behavioral ecologist studying social insect behaviour at the University of Arizona, and Dr Sandi Mann, senior psychology lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire. Produced and presented by Emily Knight and Becky Ripley.
SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m0024cwg)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
SAT 06:07 Ramblings (m00245p9)
Alan Titchmarsh on the Isle of Wight
Alan Titchmarsh takes Clare Balding for his favourite stroll across Tennyson Down on the Isle of Wight. A keen and regular walker, Alan splits his time between the mainland and the Isle of Wight, and has a lot to share with Clare about this place that he loves. Best known as a TV gardener, interviewer and romantic novelist, Alan grew up in a family that took regular Sunday walks and as a young child developed an affinity for the natural world.
Presenter: Clare Balding
Producer: Karen Gregor
SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m0024cwj)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside
SAT 06:57 Weather (m0024cwl)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 07:00 Today (m0024cwn)
Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m0024cwq)
Simon Reeve, Liz McConaghy, Lalage Snow, Adrian Chiles
The global explorer, TV presenter and author Simon Reeve makes programmes around the world which focus on people’s lives...and he’s been arrested by the KGB, chased by cheetahs and nearly died from malaria.
Liz McConaghy spent seventeen years as a Chinook crewman with the RAF, the longest serving woman to do so, her deployments left scars on her soul but has now found a way to soothe them.
Lalage Snow, photojournalist and filmmaker, has covered war and unrest in the in Gaza, The West Bank, Israel, Eastern Ukraine - but has now found that the peaceful act of people gardening brings out the best stories.
All that, plus we have the Inheritance Tracks of the broadcaster and proud Brummie – Adrian Chiles.
Presenters: Nikki Bedi and Jon Kay
Producer: Ben Mitchell
SAT 10:00 Curious Cases (m002404r)
Series 1
4. In the Groove
It’s sometimes said that timing is everything and this week the pair investigate the mystery of rhythm, discovering why some of us might be better at staying in tempo.
From the daily cycle of dawn and dusk to sea tides and circadian clocks, rhythm governs many aspects of our lives, and cognitive psychologist Dr Maria Witek says it makes sense we also place great importance on its presence in music. She specialises in ‘groove’, or the feeling of pleasure associated with moving to a beat – and it’s not just something the dancers among us enjoy; groove has even been used to treat patients with Parkinson’s Disease.
Neuroscientist Professor Nina Kraus has studied drummers’ brains and found their neurons fire with more precision. She explains that teaching kids rhythm can improve their language and social skills. But no need to take her word for it, because Skunk Anansie’s drummer Mark Richardson is in the studio to put Hannah to the test. Can she handle a high hat at the same time as a snare?
Contributors:
Dr Maria Witek, University of Birmingham
Professor Nina Kraus, Northwestern University
Mark Richardson, drummer with Skunk Anansie
Producer: Marijke Peters
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
A BBC Studios Audio Production
SAT 10:30 Soul Music (m0024cws)
Lovely Day by Bill Withers
"Lovely Day" was released in 1977. Its simple blissful melody masks profound lyrics which on closer examination offer hope and solace to many fans of the song. Some of them share their stories here of what it means to them, including two people who had the privilege of meeting and working with Bill Withers. Taro Alexander was a shy insecure young man with a stutter who founded an organisation for children like him who struggled with speaking in public. As a boy he would listen to Lovely Day in his bedroom. Often it was the only way he could get himself out of that bedroom and off to school. To his surprise he learned that Bill Withers had also had a difficult time throughout his childhood because of his stutter and invited him to meet the young people of SAY (The Stuttering Association for The Young). Taro was deeply moved by Bill Withers' reaction to the young people and says the song speaks to so many of us in our daily struggles. Bass player John Inghram met and worked with Bill twice at the Music Hall of Fame in West Virginia where both men are from. He organised a tribute concert to him on his 80th birthday and played Bill Withers songs exclusively to honour the man he describes as generous and 'utterly hilarious'.
Sunita Harley had Lovely Day on her playlist when she went into hospital for the birth of a much longed for IVF baby. On a snowy April day after a long arduous labour she held her daughter in her arms for the first time and the sun shone through the window as Lovely Day came on the playlist.
Philippa King and her daughter Milly have a special place in their hearts for the song. It came on the car radio on a beautiful sunny drive along the coast near Brighton. It was Milly's first trip outside of the hospital where she'd been for many months dangerously ill with Crohns Disease. The song gave mother and daughter hope that things would get better and it became their victory anthem when Milly was finally able to leave hospital.
Karen Gibson MBE founded the Kingdom Choir and has conducted and mentored many young singers. Their gospel version of Lovely Day is a thrillingly uplifting reminder that we can all choose to make it a lovely day no matter what else is going on in our lives while we either listen to or sing that song.
Producer: Maggie Ayre
SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m0024cwv)
Radio 4's weekly assessment of developments at Westminster
SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m0024cvr)
Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world
SAT 12:00 News Summary (m0024cwx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 12:04 Money Box (m0024cvp)
Budget Countdown and 'Finfluencers'
There are just a few days to go until Rachel Reeves stands up in Parliament to deliver her first Budget as Chancellor. Since the Labour Party won the election in July, there's been a huge amount of speculation about what she might do to plug what she calls a 22 billion pound black hole left by the previous government. The Treasury says it does not comment on speculation around tax changes outside of fiscal events. But what tax changes might she make and how are people already preparing?
Figures seen by this programme suggest 2.5mn households will face tough decisions this winter about choosing whether to heat their homes or put food on their table. That's an increase of 400,000 in just a few months. The numbers come from official data modelled by the consultancy firm Baringa and indicate many of those who will be affected this winter are middle aged people struggling to get by.
What do changes to Premium Bond rates mean for savers and where are the best deals at the moment?
And, as the Financial Conduct Authority cracks down on some so-called “finfluencers” – for potentially giving money advice illegally – how can you spot the good from the bad?
Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth, Jo Krasner and Emma Smith
Editor: Jess Quayle
(First broadcast
12pm Saturday 26th October 2024)
SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m00244xr)
Series 115
Interference, Incentives and Interruptions
This week on The News Quiz, join guest host Ian Smith, along with Geoff Norcott, Amy Hoggart, Alasdair Beckett-King and Susie McCabe, as they break down accusations of Labour door-knocking across international lines, Musk's superpac and Trump's Big Mac, and the wild adventures of King Charles in the South Pacific.
Written by Ian Smith.
With additional material by: Alex Kealy, Cameron Loxdale, Christina Riggs and Laura Davis.
Producer: Rajiv Karia
Executive Producer: Richard Morris
Production Coordinator: Jodie Charman
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
A BBC Studios Audio Production for Radio 4
An Eco-Audio certified Production
SAT 12:57 Weather (m0024cwz)
The latest weather forecast
SAT 13:00 News and Weather (m0024cx1)
The latest national and international news and weather reports from BBC Radio 4
SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m00244xy)
Sir Jake Berry, Rod Liddle, Catherine McKinnell MP, Eleanor Shearer
Alex Forsyth presents political discussion from Sunderland Minster with the former Chairman of the Conservative Party Sir Jake Berry, the Associate Editor of the Spectator Rod Liddle, the Minister for School Standards Catherine McKinnell MP and the novelist and Senior Research Fellow at the Common Wealth thinktank Eleanor Shearer.
Producer: Robin Markwell
Lead Broadcast Engineer: Phil Booth
SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m0024cx3)
Call Any Answers? to have your say on the big issues in the news this week.
SAT 14:45 The Archers (m00244xt)
Writer: Sarah Hehir
Director: Peter Leslie Wild
Editor: Jeremy Howe
Brian Aldridge…. Charles Collingwood
Ben Archer…. Ben Norris
David Archer…. Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer…. Felicity Finch
Alice Carter…. Hollie Chapman
Chris Carter… Wilf Scolding
Neil Carter…. Brian Hewlett
Ian Craig…. Stephen Kennedy
Clarrie Grundy…. Heather Bell
Emma Grundy…. Emerald O‘Hanrahan
George Grundy…. Angus Stobie
Brad Horrobin…. Taylor Uttley
Azra Malik…. Yasmin Wilde
Jazzer McCreary…. Ryan Kelly
Stella Pryor…. Lucy Speed
Fallon Rogers…. Joanna Van Kampen
Lottie Summers…. Bonnie Baddoo
Rhea…. Shreya Lallu
SAT 15:00 Breaking the Rules (m0024cx5)
Snares
A remote valley, echoing with birdsong. An expensive off-grid eco house, going to ruin. A wire fence garlanded with dead crows. And a visionary environmentalist, fast disappearing down a rabbit-hole of conspiracy theories.
Following Skye's burnout, she and her partner Kezia hope to start a radical new life in the alternative eco community set up by Skye's friend Tobias. Tobias is an idealistic disruptor who has tried to find a more sustainable way to live. But is Tobias really the visionary environmentalist he claims to be?
Snares by Clare Bayley is part of BBC Radio 4’s Breaking the Rules season and explores if the way you choose to live your life inevitably has an impact on those around you. It questions if rule-breaking is always brave or if imposing your views on others can be harmful.
SKYE......Rebecca Banatvala
KEZIA.....Sarah Kameela Impey
TOBIAS.....Rupert Hill
FIONA......Jenny Platt
Written by Clare Bayley
Directed by Nadia Molinari
Sound design by Sharon Hughes
Production co-ordinator: Pippa Day
Musical Director: Akintayo Akinbode
A BBC Studios Audio Production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m0024cx7)
Vanessa Feltz, SEND best practice: what is working?, Rivals
Vanessa Feltz has been a fixture on TV and radio for three decades. Now she has written a memoir, Vanessa Bares All, which charts the many ups and downs of her personal and professional life. She joins Anita Rani.
Listeners share with Nuala McGovern what they think works when it comes to Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision in educational settings.
In the late 1970s, in the toilets at Euston Station, Dr Sheila Reith, while trying to administer insulin to her daughter, thought there must be an easier way. She envisioned a pen-like device that could be used simply with just one hand. A few years later, the first insulin pen came to market, revolutionizing care for people with diabetes. Dr. Reith has since devoted her life to diabetes care, improving and saving the lives of millions. She joins Anita to discuss winning a Pride of Britain Lifetime Achievement Award.
Best known for her sketches on Saturday Night Live and her role as Weird Barbie, comedian Kate McKinnon has now turned her attention to books. The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science is her first children’s book. Kate discusses the story and embracing her 'weirdness.'
What does the TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s 80s classic Rivals tell us about sex in 2024? Nuala hears from Dayna McAlpine, a sex and relationships writer and lifestyle editor at HuffPost UK, and Rowan Pelling, co-editor at Perspective and former editor of the Erotic Review.
Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Dianne McGregor
SAT 17:00 PM (m0024cx9)
Full coverage of the day's news.
SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m0024cxc)
The Kemi Badenoch for Leader One
What shaped the views and principles that Kemi Badenoch hopes will help her win the race to become next leader of the Conservative Party?
Nick Robinson sits down with the former Business Secretary near the end of her party's leadership contest.
Producer: Daniel Kraemer
SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m0024cxf)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 17:57 Weather (m0024cxh)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0024cxk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m0024cxm)
Harriet Walter, John Douglas Thompson, Robert Popper, Jessica Hepburn, Emily Burns, Wes Finch
Loose Ends is at the Stratford-upon-Avon Literary Festival and Stuart Maconie is joined by Harriet Walter, who has played many roles at the RSC in Stratford and has just published 'She Speaks!', a book imagining what Shakespeare's women might have said if they'd been given half a chance. John Douglas Thompson is one of America's finest classical actors, now playing his first role on the main stage at the RSC. He is returning to the role of Othello, 16 years after first taking it on.
Comedian and writer Robert Popper created the beloved sitcom Friday Night Dinner and has been the scourge of many with his 'Time Waster Letters'. He's back writing letters again, this time as Elsie Drake (104 years old). Jessica Hepburn is an 'arts adventurer', and the only woman to have swum the English Channel, run the London marathon and summitted Everest. She might also be the only person in the world to have listened to every available episode of Desert Island Discs...
And there's music from Emily Burns and Wes Finch
Presenter: Stuart Maconie
Producer: Jessica Treen
SAT 19:00 Profile (m0024ctw)
Chris McCausland
The Liverpool-born comedian, known for his razor-sharp wit, has traded in his stand-up routines for some serious dance moves of late.
Chris McCausland is the first blind contestant to take part in the BBC show, Strictly Come Dancing - and he's being tipped as a possible winner.
In his 20s, Chris lost most of his sight due to retinitis pigmentosa. But that didn’t slow down his career. He's been lighting up the comedy scene since 2003, with regular appearances on hit programmes like 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and Would I Lie to You. He's also taken to the iconic stage of Live at the Apollo.
In this edition of Profile, Stephen Smith talks to some of his closest friends, fellow comedians and former colleagues about his life, Strictly success - and the time he attended a job interview in the wrong trousers.
Production team
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Julie Ball, Natasha Fernandes
Editor: Ben Mundy
Sound: James Beard
Production Co-ordinators: Maria Ogundele
Credits
Live at the Apollo, Open Mike Production, 04/01/2018
SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m00245nq)
Julie Taymor
Theatre, opera and film director Julie Taymor is regarded as one of the most imaginative directors and designers working today. Her stage version of the Lion King is the highest grossing show in Broadway history, having made nearly $2 billion, and it recently marked its 25th year in London. The Lion King Julie two Tony Awards, including for best director of a musical in 1997, making her the first woman to do so. Julie Taymor has told Shakespearean stories on stage and the big screen including Titus, starring Anthony Hopkins and The Tempest with Helen Mirren. Her film credits also include Frida, a biopic of painter Frida Kahlo, and the Beatles jukebox musical movie Across The Universe.
She tells John Wilson how seeing Rashomon, Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film, as a teenager, was a formative cultural experience. Kurosawa's ingenious approach to narrative opened her eyes for the first time about the possibilities of innovative storytelling. She also recalls how her travels around Indonesia and Bali after graduation, and in particular, witnessing a ceremony in the isolated Balinese village of Trunyan have had a profound impact on her work as a designer and director.
Julie reveals how she came up with the ground-breaking concept and some of the designs for the stage version of Disney's The Lion King. She also gives her opinion on some of the difficulties faced by the ill-fated Broadway musical Spider Man: Turn Off The Dark, on which she was co-writer and director until being replaced during its previews. The production, which featured music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge of U2, was ridden with technical and financial problems, and resulted in several legal disputes.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m0024cxp)
The Year We Lost the Climate
In the year 2000, nearly 25 years ago, the scene was set for a huge step towards climate change leadership in the USA.
For the Democrats, Al Gore was already a committed campaigner with his "Inconvenient Truth" initiative informing corporate leaders about a heating climate. He promised urgent action to curb emissions.
The Republican front-runner was John McCain who had long contradicted his party's sceptical line on the climate.
Round the world, climate activists and policy-makers held their breath in anticipation of the USA, the world's biggest emitter, finally making the climate a global priority.
But then the campaign trail turned nasty. The dirtiest tricks were used in the fight to win with fingers being pointed at every side.
Bush won the nomination, lost the popular vote, but won an election among accusations of fraud and voter suppression. "Hanging chads" became part of the lexicon.
Before the election, Bush had promised climate action. After the vote he reneged immediately and appointed former oil man Dick Cheney as his deputy.
The climate was arguably the election's biggest casualty, as the world's biggest economy delayed taking action. If we'd acted strongly then, we'd have had a good chance of avoiding serious climate change but, 24 years later, have we left it too late?
Roger Harrabin was there, reporting on climate for the BBC at many of the key climate negotiations that followed. Using archive from the time and fresh interviews with key players, the butterfly effect of dirty tricks on a global crisis can now be heard. Featuring many of the most respected scientists, journalists and activists who are still hoping that the impact of inaction then might yet be prevented with escalated action today.
A True Thought production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 21:00 Moral Maze (m00244mg)
How should we help the global poor?
“Dawn... and as the sun breaks through the piercing chill of night on the plain outside Korem, it lights up a biblical famine, now, in the 20th century...” Those words, spoken by Michael Buerk 40 years ago, pricked the world’s conscience, triggered an unprecedented humanitarian effort, led to Live Aid and spawned institutions like Comic Relief. Since then, more than a billion people around the world have climbed out of extreme poverty, although around 700 million people still live on less than $
2.15 a day, according to the World Bank.
Times have changed. Not only is the media landscape vastly different, making competing demands on our attention, but also our attitudes to helping the poor around the world are different. The question is not simply whether we have a moral duty to help people in other countries, but HOW we should help them.
In a post-pandemic world, there are those who advance ever stronger arguments for ending poverty through debt cancellation, robust institutions and international co-operation. Critics of development aid, however, see it as wasteful, ineffective and enabling corruption: ‘poor people in rich countries subsidising rich people in poor countries’. Others view the sector as a legacy of European colonialism, citing Band Aid’s portrayal of Africa as emblematic of the ‘White saviourism’ ingrained in the system. Others, meanwhile, believe the best way to help people is to bypass institutions altogether, and give cash directly to individuals to make their own decisions about how to spend it.
40 years on from Michael Buerk’s landmark report from Ethiopia, how should we help the global poor?
Chair: Michael Buerk
Producer: Dan Tierney
Assistant producer: Ruth Purser
Panellists:
Ash Sarkar
Anne McElvoy
Inaya Folarin Iman
Carmody Grey
SAT 22:00 News (m0024cxr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 22:15 The Food Programme (m00244wx)
Food Stories From Terra Madre
From the indigenous food of the USA to extraordinary cheeses from Ukraine, the wonders of fermentation to a revolutionary network of bakers, Dan Saladino shares stories of food and biodiversity at Slow Food's global gathering, Terra Madre.
Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.
SAT 23:00 Call Jonathan Pie (m0024cxt)
Call Jonathan Pie: US Election Specials
American Dream: Part 1
In the first of two US election specials Pie (Tom Walker) is tackling the thorny issue of democracy and is quickly derailed. As he takes his usual balanced (not) approach to the US presidential candidates Jules (Lucy Pearman) dangles a juicy carrot. There’s a big gig in the offing; if only he can stop ranting about one of the candidates. Can you guess which one?
Written and performed by Tom Walker.
Additional material by Daniel Abelson and Will Franken
Jules …. Lucy Pearman.
Sam ….. Aqib Khan
Roger ….. Nick Revell
Callers ….. Rosie Holt, Ellile Dobing, Daniel Abelson, Will Franken and Ed Kear
Original Music ....Jason Read
Voiceover .... Bob Sinfield.
Producer ….. Alison Vernon-Smith
Executive Producer ….. Julian Mayers
Production Co-Ordinator ….. Ellie Dobing
A Yada-Yada Audio Production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 23:30 Brain of Britain (m002461q)
Heat 8, 2024
(8/17)
Today's edition of Brain of Britain comes from Nottingham, with Russell Davies in the questionmaster's chair. He'll be testing the competitors' knowledge of Tudor history, classic TV themes, medal-winners from the Paris Olympics, and Radio 4 comedy - among many other widely varied topics.
Competing for a semi-final place today are:
Alan Gibbs from St Helens
Diane Hallagan from Leeds
Helen Rigby from Oldham
Sanjoy Sen from Chesterfield.
There'll also be a chance for a Brain of Britain listener to win a prize by beating the Brains with questions he or she has devised.
Brain of Britain is a BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4.
Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
Producer: Paul Bajoria
SUNDAY 27 OCTOBER 2024
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m0024cxw)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:15 Open Book (m001ry44)
AI and the Novel
Elizabeth Day and Johny Pitts present a special edition of the programme exploring AI and the novel.
Recorded at the Southbank Centre's London Literature Festival; novelists Naomi Alderman, Adam Thirlwell and Julianne Pachico join Elizabeth and Johny on stage to discuss depictions of AI in their fiction – and what AI might mean for fiction.
Naomi Alderman’s new novel, The Future, is the tale of a daring heist hatched in the hope of saving the world from the tech giants whose greed threatens life as we know it. Adam Thirlwell’s The Future, Future takes us from the salacious gossip of pre-revolutionary Paris to a utopian lunar commune, and Julianne Pachico tells the story of a young girl raised by artificial intelligence in her novel Jungle House.
Sound Engineers: Emma Harth and Duncan Hannet
Producer: Kirsten Locke
Book List – Sunday 29 October and Thursday 2 November
The Future by Naomi Alderman
The Power by Naomi Alderman
The Future Future by Adam Thirlwell
Jungle House by Julianne Pachico
The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov
Ulysses by James Joyce
A Mote in the Middle Distance: A Parody of Henry James by Max Beerbohm
The Inheritors by William Golding
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0024cxy)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0024cy0)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0024cy2)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m0024cy4)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m0024cvy)
St Martin’s Church in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire.
Bells on Sunday, comes from St Martin’s Church in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire. The famous Welsh poet and writer Dylan Thomas lived for a while in Laugharne and based his play “Under Milk Wood” partly on the village. Born this day in 1914 he is buried in St Martin’s churchyard. There are six bells, the oldest four bells were cast by Abraham Rudhall of Gloucester in 1729. The Tenor weighs seven and three quarter hundredweight and is tuned to B flat. We hear the ringers of the St Davids Diocesan Guild ringing Cambridge Surprise Minor.
SUN 05:45 In Touch (m00244s8)
Technology Training: Where to Find It
When the RNIB announced changes to the way they deliver their Technology for Life service, we at In Touch heard a lot of trepidation from listeners over where visually impaired people can now go for meaningful support with tech. We thought we'd bring together a panel of guests from some of the big names across the sight loss sector, to tease out where this kind of help can be found and, ideally, delivered in-person. This programme is part one of two, where we assess the issue with guests from RNIB, TAVIP, AbilityNet, Visionary, a Rehabilitation specialist and Sight and Sound Technologies. The subsequent programme will focus on the potential solutions to this lack of in-depth and in-person support.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Kim Agostino
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate 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 is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.
SUN 06:00 News Summary (m0024ct3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Thinking Allowed (m00244rv)
Meaning of Work
Laurie Taylor talks to Jana Costas, Chair of People, Work & Management at the European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany about the unseen cleaners beyond the shiny surface of Potsdamer Platz, a designer micro-city within Berlin's city centre. Behind the scenes they pick up cigarette butts from pavements, scrape chewing gum from marble floors and scrub public toilets, long before white-collar workers, consumers and tourists enter the complex. How do they feel about work which some would stigmatise as degrading? How do they salvage a sense of personal dignity? Also, Katie Bailey, Professor of Work and Employment at Kings College, London unpacks her analysis of accounts related by nurses, creative artists and lawyers as to why they find their work meaningful.
Producer: Jayne Egerton
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m0024ct5)
Pumpkins and Play Barns
At Lower Drayton farm in Staffordshire, Richard Bower and his father Ray run a business with so many farm diversifications that it's hard to keep up. Starting with a maize maze several years ago, the family then moved on to growing pick-your-own pumpkins, and now run a "Harvest Hoedown", where visitors can take a wheelbarrow and gather their own vegetables to take home - watched over by life-size dinosaurs! But the biggest part of their business is not agricultural at all: four years ago they opened a play barn, which now pulls in 125,000 visitors a year, and makes four times as much money as the farming activities. For Richard, it's not a case of "get off my land" so much as "please come onto my land"!
The farm still grows combinable crops, potatoes, carrots and parsnips - and has 200 acres of permanent pasture for its 100 sheep and 125 beef cattle. Caz meets Ray Bower as he helps train some agricultural students in livestock care.
Elsewhere on the farm, a reservoir is now under construction. Once complete, it will help keep the farm's thirsty vegetables supplied with water - especially important in a time of climate change. Richard shows Caz where the excavations are up to, and they put their wellies on to slide down the bank and take a closer look at the project. Although he admits his business is now primarily an entertainment venue, Richard has no intention of abandoning food production - saying that unforeseen events like the Covid lockdown, which stopped the play barn in its tracks, have only underlined the value of continuing in conventional agriculture.
Producer: Emma Campbell
SUN 06:57 Weather (m0024ct7)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m0024ct9)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m0024ctc)
A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m0024ctf)
Sense International
TV presenter Amar Latif makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Sense International. The charity provides support for children in countries including Peru and India who are deaf, blind or both, known as deafblindness.
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- 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 ‘Sense International’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Sense International’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
Registered Charity Number: 1076497. If you’d like to find out more about the charity’s work visit *https://www.senseinternational.org.uk
*The BBC is not responsible for content on external websites
Producer: Katy Takatsuki
SUN 07:57 Weather (m0024cth)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m0024ctk)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the Sunday papers
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m0024ctm)
The Sound of Holiness
Leading British soprano and opera star Sophie Bevan MBE feels 'closer to God and the angels' singing simple Gregorian chant and the church music of the Renaissance than any other kind of music. As the Church approaches the season of All Saints, Fr Marcus Holden leads a meditation on the holiness and beauty of God as reflected through Gregorian Chant and the sacred music of the 15th and 16th century. The Southwell Consort, directed by Dominic Bevan and William Dawes, specialise in music of this period. With Monsignor Philip Whitmore, Rector of St James' Spanish Place where the programme was recorded. Ave Maria (chant); O Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness (Was Lebet); Isaiah 6:1-6; Veni Sancte Spiritus (chant); Revelation
5:11-14; O Nata Lux (Tallis); Jerusalem the Golden (Ewing); Media Vita (Sheppard). Producer: Philip Billson
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m00244y0)
Naughtie on America
The Old Identity
James Naughtie argues that a common American identity will be achieved - one day - despite the heightened political rhetoric around immigration, that is making it one of the most contentious issues in this year's presidential election.
He recalls Ronald Reagan's 'homely evocation of an American character'. For Reagan, James says, the inscription on the Statue of Liberty, 'give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses', had real contemporary power.
For many Republicans today, he says, it's a very different story.
But he sees signs of change. On a recent visit to the US border in Arizona, he met a 'cattleman of resolute conservative views in his 80s', who tells James that although he's fed up with armed drug runners using his land, he believes most people cutting through the fence are 'good people, in search of new lives'.
'The huddled masses will be absorbed... eventually', James writes. 'But the question right now is how much damage will be done in getting there - to the principles of their democracy, and perhaps to their precious belief in themselves.'
Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (m0024ctp)
James Henry on the Peregrine
A new series of Tweet of the Day for Sunday morning revealing personal and fascinating stories from some fresh voices who have been inspired by birds, their calls and encounters.
It was while watching peregrine falcons over the Blackwater estuary in Essex that gave author James Henry the idea for a fictional birdwatching detective. And it was a book, the Peregrine published in 1967 by J.A. Baker that got James interested in discovering these birds of prey himself. Although Baker never named the estuary where peregrines hunted over the winter months, James Henry reveals it is his local patch in East Anglia..
Producer : Andrew Dawes for BBC Audio on Bristol
Studio engineer : Suzy Robins
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m0024ctr)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell
SUN 10:00 Desert Island Discs (m001g8m4)
Steven Spielberg, director
Steven Spielberg is the most successful director of his generation and the highest-grossing director of all time: his films have taken more than $10 billion worldwide. From Jaws to E.T. and Jurassic Park to Schindler’s List, his storytelling has captivated audiences around the world.
Steven grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, where he started making films as a young boy. In 1958 he made a short Western which won him a Boy Scout merit badge. He screened it to his entire Scout troop and their laughter and applause got him hooked on film making.
In 1971 he directed a television movie called Duel about a motorist who is pursued by a murderous truck driver. The film attracted good reviews from critics, and before the age of 30, Steven had directed his first global hit: Jaws grossed $471 million worldwide and is credited as heralding the arrival of the blockbuster era. He now says Jaws was ‘a free pass into my future.’
He has won three Academy Awards, and has received eight nominations for best director. The Fabelmans, his most recent film, is a semi-fictionalised account of his own coming of age, drawing on his film-making experiences as a child.
Steven is married to the actor Kate Capshaw, who starred in his film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and they have seven children.
DISC ONE: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance by Gene Pitney
DISC TWO: Fugue in G minor, BMW 578 – “The Little” arranged by Leopold Stokowski, composed by J.S Bach, performed by Philadelphia Orchestra and conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin
DISC THREE: Michelle by The Beatles
DISC FOUR: What the World Needs Now Is Love by Jackie DeShannon
DISC FIVE: Come Fly with Me by Frank Sinatra
DISC SIX: The Ghost of Tom Joad by Bruce Springsteen
DISC SEVEN: Somewhere, composed by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, performed by Reri Grist
DISC EIGHT: Coolhand by Buzzy Lee
BOOK CHOICE: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
LUXURY ITEM: H-8 Bolex camera
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Coolhand by Buzzy Lee
Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley
SUN 10:45 More Wow (m0022l4m)
3. Mind-bending discoveries
What is awe, and where do we find it? Exploring how the elusive emotion of awe can be a vital force in our lives.
As something usually associated with intense experiences and extreme environments, for many of us awe can often seem difficult to attain. Science journalist Jo Marchant tracks down individuals who live awe-filled lives, uncovering where we might find it ourselves and how it can alter body and mind.
Episode three: Jo heads to Michael Wright's shed-workshop. Michael has spent decades reconstructing an ancient Greek model of the cosmos, known as the Antikythera mechanism. Jo and Michael discuss how the emotion of awe compels him in his work, and how making things with his hands connects him to those from ancient history. And Jo learns how big leaps forward in science have been driven by an awe in the strange anomalies which don't fit prevailing theories.
Featuring: Michael Wright, retired Science Museum curator and mechanical engineer by training;
Dacher Keltner, Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley and author of Awe: The Transformative Power of Everyday Wonder;
Helen de Cruz, Professor of Philosophy at St Louis University, Missouri and author of Wonderstruck: How Wonder and Awe Shape the Way We Think.
Presented by Jo Marchant, author of Cure, The Human Cosmos and Decoding the Heavens.
Producer: Eliza Lomas
Editor: Chris Ledgard
SUN 11:00 The Archers Omnibus (m0024ctt)
Writer: Sarah Hehir
Director: Peter Leslie Wild
Editor: Jeremy Howe
Brian Aldridge…. Charles Collingwood
Ben Archer…. Ben Norris
David Archer…. Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer…. Felicity Finch
Alice Carter…. Hollie Chapman
Chris Carter… Wilf Scolding
Neil Carter…. Brian Hewlett
Ian Craig…. Stephen Kennedy
Clarrie Grundy…. Heather Bell
Emma Grundy…. Emerald O‘Hanrahan
George Grundy…. Angus Stobie
Brad Horrobin…. Taylor Uttley
Azra Malik…. Yasmin Wilde
Jazzer McCreary…. Ryan Kelly
Stella Pryor…. Lucy Speed
Fallon Rogers…. Joanna Van Kampen
Lottie Summers…. Bonnie Baddoo
Rhea…. Shreya Lallu
SUN 12:15 Profile (m0024ctw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 12:30 Just a Minute (m002465g)
Series 93
6. Doubling down at the duvet factory
Sue Perkins challenges Lucy Porter, Gyles Brandreth, Desiree Burch and Glenn Moore to speak for 60 seconds without repetition, deviation or hesitation. Subjects include The Streisand Effect, Ladders and Waving the White Flag.
Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
Producer: Rajiv Karia
An EcoAudio certified production.
A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.
SUN 12:57 Weather (m0024cty)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m0024cv0)
Radio 4's look at the week's big stories from both home and around the world.
SUN 13:30 Singing in Gaza (m0024mxc)
Amid the rubble, in makeshift tents, children in Gaza are singing - and practising the violin, guitar and traditional instruments such as the ‘oud. The sessions are organised by the local branch of the Palestinian national music conservatory, which still operates, outside its damaged premises, despite the destruction of teachers’ and students’ homes. Why - and how - do they go on singing? And what does music mean to them now? Tim Whewell reported from Gaza in 2015 on the rescue of the territory’s only concert grand piano after a previous war. Now, he finds out how musicians he met then are living and working through this war. He learns about a boy who started playing the violin after he lost his hand in an airstrike. And he finds out about the second near-miraculous survival of the grand piano.
Presented and produced by Tim Whewell
Sound mix by Rod Farquhar
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Penny Murphy
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m00244xf)
Birmingham Botanical Gardens: Fertilisers, Fluorescent Plants and Clematis
What plants would you recommend to entertain five to six year-olds? How do I successfully grow Japanese banana plants? Are rose fertilisers and tomato fertilisers the same thing?
Kathy Clugston and her team of horticultural champions visit Birmingham Botanical Gardens to solve the gardening gripes of the audience. On the panel this week are proud plantsman Matthew Biggs, ethnobotanist James Wong and garden designer Juliet Sargeant.
Later, Matt Biggs educates us on the life and legacy of renowned plant collector Ernest Wilson whose expeditions across Asia led to the introduction of over 2,000 plant species.
Senior Producer: Daniel Cocker
Assistant Producer: Rahnee Prescod
Assistant Producer: Suhaar Ali
Executive Producer: Carly Maile
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 Supermarket Flowers by Dermot Bolger (b07bfzhm)
A deteriorating relationship between a woman who owns a house, outside which a child is knocked down at a bus stop, and the grieving mother who insists on leaving fresh flowers there each day turning the woman’s garden wall into a permanent shrine.
Jane Brennan reads Dermot Bolger's short story.
Dermot Bolger is one of Ireland’s most prolific writers. His radio plays for BBC Radio 4 include 'The Night Manager' and 'The Fortunestown Kid' and the radio version of his own novel 'The Woman's Daughter' broadcast in seven countries and winner of the Worldplay Award for best script.
Producer: Gemma McMullan
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2016.
SUN 15:00 Dickensian (m0024cv2)
Little Dorrit: Episode 3
Arthur Clennam returns to England after 20 years in China. He brings with him a watch, with ‘Do Not Forget’ worked in beads on the casing.
Will his mother reveal the mystery behind the inscription? Does it relate to some wrong that has to be righted? And does the implacable Mrs Clennam know that the young seamstress who works for her is the daughter of William Dorrit, inmate of the Marshalsea debtors prison for over 20 years?
Dickens’s11th novel satirises the institutions of government and society, in particular the Circumlocution Office, a department run purely for the benefit of its incompetent officials, and the prisons where debtors were incarcerated, unable to work, until they had repaid their debts.
Dickens writes from personal experience as his father spent time in the Marshalsea.
Charles Dickens/ Rigaud ..… Jason Watkins
Arthur Clennam ..… Samuel Barnett
Amy Dorrit ..… Kitty Archer
William Dorrit ..… Paul Bradley
Frederick Dorrit ..... David Tarkenter
Mrs Clennam ..… Claire Price
Merdle ….. Joseph Millson
Mrs General ..… Nisha Nayar
Pancks ..… Carl Prekopp
Maggy ..… Lauren Cornelius
Jerry Flintwich / Dan Doyce …. Shaun Mason
Affery ..… Sarah Thom
Tite Barnacle Snr. .… Ewan Bailey
Tite Barnacle Jr ..… Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong
Adapted for radio by Mike Walker
Production Co-ordinator: Annie Keates-Thorpe
Sound Design: Alisdair McGregor, Markus Andreas
Director: Jeremy Mortimer
Executive Producer: Joby Waldman
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4
Jason Watkins (The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies, Coma, W1A) is Dickens, who narrates the story, as well as the unscrupulous Rigaud. Samuel Barnett (Twenty Twelve, Penny Dreadful, Dirk Gently) is Arthur Clennam, and Claire Price (Rebus, Home Fires) plays Mrs Clennam. Paul Bradley (Eastenders, Holby City) is William Dorrit, and Kitty Archer (The Pursuit of Love, and recipient of the Ian Charleson Award for her role in Tartuffe at the National Theatre) is Amy Dorrit. Joseph Millson (Peak Practice, Holby City) is Merdle, Nisha Nayar (The Story of Tracy Beaker, Rosy Maloney) is Mrs General, Lauren Cornelius (That's What She Said, A Date with Shillelagh, Twin Leaps) is Maggy.
Mike Walker has written many original radio dramas and dramatisations. Little Dorrit is the eighth Dickens novel he has dramatised for BBC Radio.
SUN 16:00 Open Book (m0023x3m)
Books to Read and Re-Read
In this final edition of Open Book, Johny Pitts and Chris Power celebrate some of the outstanding novels from the last twenty six years.
They are joined by Kamila Shamsie, winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2018 for her novel Home Fire. Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton, and one of this year's Booker Prize judges. Ted Hodgkinson, Head of Literature and Spoken Word at the Southbank Centre, and previous chair of the International Booker.
Kamila, Sara and Ted pick out some of the books, including Wolf Hall, Lincoln in the Bardo and On Beauty, which have stood out for them: books they'd recommend to others, and re-read again and again.
Producer: Kirsten Locke
Books List:
Best of Friends – Kamila Shamsie
Burnt Shadows – Kamila Shamsie
Home Fire – Kamila Shamsie
The Confessions of Frannie Langton – Sara Collins
In the City by the Sea – Kamila Shamsie
Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel
Lincoln in the Bardo – George Saunders
Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
Klara and the Sun – Kazuo Ishiguro
Seasonal Quartet – Ali Smith
The Bee Sting – Paul Murray
Maps for Lost Lovers – Nadeem Aslam
In Memoriam – Alice Winn
On Beauty – Zadie Smith
SUN 16:30 Brain of Britain (m0024cv4)
Heat 9, 2024
(9/17)
If you know in which film Will Smith played the Williams sisters' dad, or the correct anatomical name for the voice-box, you could give the competitors in today's heat of Brain of Britain 2024 a run for their money. Russell Davies will ask them for the answers to this and many other questions, with another semi-final place to be decided. The contest today comes from Nottingham, and the competitors are all Midlanders.
Taking part are:
Pam Douglas from Droitwich,
Alan Eeles from Kidderminster,
Vicky Johnson from Nottingham,
Dr Nyasha Zvobgo from Birmingham.
There will also be a chance for a Brain of Britain listener to win a prize, with some devious questions designed to outwit the competitors.
Brain of Britain is a BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4.
Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
Producer: Paul Bajoria
SUN 17:00 Witness History (w3ct5ymr)
Ramesses II's 'mummy makeover'
In 1976, the 3,000-year-old mummy of Ramesses II was found to have a fungal infection.
The embalmed body of the Egyptian pharaoh was flown from Cairo to Paris for a once-in-a-deathtime makeover.
It received a royal welcome at the airport, and was guarded throughout its restoration, which took place at the Musee de l’Homme.
Anne-Marie Goden worked as a receptionist at the museum. She tells Gill Kearsley the extraordinary story of the restoration.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.
(Photo: The mummy of Ramesses II being examined in Paris. Credit: Tony Comiti/Sygma via Getty Images)
SUN 17:10 The Verb (m0024cv7)
Wendy Cope, Theresa Lola , Susie Dent, Ira Lightman
On this week's edition of The Verb, Ian McMillan gathers together -
Wendy Cope - the poet whose 1986 debut collection "Making Cocoa For Kingsley Amis" became that rare thing - a poetry best seller. As her first collected poems are published she reflects on poetry forms and why some of her old poems are making their first public appearance in her new book.
Ira Lightman, poet and artist, reflects on the nature of the epic. A marathon endeavour for poets and readers, it's usually seen as an ancient style but it is a form of poetry that contemporary poets continue to embrace including Ira himself.
Susie Dent, known for her ability to find just the right word, discusses her new novel, Guilty By Definition in which a group of lexicographers use their dictionary-making skills to solve a mystery.
Theresa Lola, former Young People's Laureate for London reads from her new collection, Ceremony for the Nameless, a poetry disquisition on the subject of naming.
Presenter: Ian McMillan
Producer: Ekene Akalawu
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m0024cv9)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 17:57 Weather (m0024cvc)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0024cvf)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m0024cvh)
Iszi Lawrence
A selection of highlights from the past week on BBC radio
SUN 19:00 The Archers (m0024cvk)
Justin spots an opportunity, and Kenton gets his hopes up.
SUN 19:15 Illuminated (m0024cvm)
Reclusion
Are we ever really alone nowadays, what with the extraordinary velocity of contemporary social circulation, whether this be the madness of the crowds, or the relentless churn of social media? Does anyone really experience reclusion? A conscious choice to withdraw from the social realm. What would it be like?
For decades, Will Self lived his life as a very public figure. An acerbic satirist and giant man of letters he was constantly on the move, driven by his insatiable curiosity about the world. “I once flew to Scotland, climbed Ben Lomond, and flew back to London the same day”.
In a series of powerful soliloquies, Self reveals how he’s gradually withdrawn from the social realm. He began by abandoning acquaintances and remoter colleagues, then started cutting off friends, close colleagues, and eventually family.
“It’s been over a year since I’ve read a newspaper report, looked at a news website, or heard more than a three-minute news bulletin. Most days I see only my wife and youngest child who I live with.”
In this powerful piece of radio, Will Self reaches down to the very bottom of how the self is socially constructed – and then dismantles that scaffolding from around it, to see what’s still standing.
A half-hour that will leave the listener feeling as if they’ve been staring at their reflection for so long in a mirror, that this image appears totally uncanny to them.
Presenter: Will Self
Producer: Emily Williams
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 19:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m001h414)
Reach Out
It turns out having friends has big benefits for your health. Fascinating research shows social contact can boost your immune system and your brain power. In this episode, Michael Mosley is joined by Professor Pamela Qualter from Manchester University, who explains how reaching out in the simplest of ways - from sending a simple text to helping your neighbours - can significantly reduce loneliness levels, helping you feel more connected and a part of a community. People appreciate being contacted much more than you think. So, the next time you wonder whether to reach out to a friend – just do it.
SUN 20:00 Feedback (m0023q06)
Last Word selection criteria, how BBC presenters handle Middle East interviews, and Archers Podcast launch
In the first episode of the new series, former producer Neil George explains the selection criteria behind Radio 4's obit show Last Word. Suzanne Franks, professor of journalism at City St George's, University of London, helps navigate issues of impartiality when interviewing representatives of opposing sides in the Middle East conflict. And as a new Archers podcast is launched, listeners react to an on-air slip from presenter Emma Freud.
Presenter: Andrea Catherwood
Producer: Pauline Moore
Executive Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m00244xk)
Sir Mike Jackson, Lily Ledbetter, Safeya Binzagr, Steve Piotrowski
Matthew Bannister on
General Sir Mike Jackson, the Chief of the General Staff at the time of the Iraq War.
Lily Ledbetter, whose campaign for equal pay led to an Act of Congress.
Safeya Binzagr, the pioneering Saudi Arabian artist whose career flourished despite the cultural restrictions on women in her society
Steve Piotrowski, the ornithologist who ringed 100,000 birds and helped to increase the barn owl population of Suffolk.
Interviewee: Lord Richards
Interviewee: Noreen Farrell
Interviewee: Melissa Gronlund
Interviewee: Kathy Piotrowski
Producer: Ed Prendeville
Archive used:
Gen Mike Jackson interview, Six O’Clock News, BBC News, 14/06/1999; Gen Mike Jackson, BBC News, 07/03/2003; Lilly Ledbetter speech and interview, NPR, Uploaded 14/10/2024; Steve Piotrowski interview, BBC Radio Suffolk 19/10/2015; Spectrum: Out of Town , BBC One East, 16/04/1985; Wrens singing, BBC Sfx, May 1981; Atmospheres: Countryside (Barn Owl), BBC Sfx, June 1981; Birds: Robins, BBC Sfx, March 1986; BBC Radio Suffolk 19/10/15; Wood Pigeon, Tweet of the Day, 14/12/2023; Collared Dove, Tweet of the Day, 07/01/2024; Great Tits, A Guide to Garden Birds : Series 1 : Episode 2, 26/08/2008 ; Nightingale, BBC Sfx, May 1983; Swift Screaming Party, RSPB England, Facebook, 29/06/2024
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m0024cvp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m0024ctf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m0024cvr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:30 on Saturday]
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m0024cvt)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.
SUN 23:00 In Our Time (m00245nl)
Little Women
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Louisa May Alcott's 1868 novel, credited with starting the new genre of young adult fiction. When Alcott (1832-88) wrote Little Women, she only did so as her publisher refused to publish her father's book otherwise and as she hoped it would make money. It made Alcott's fortune. This coming of age story of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March, each overcoming their own moral flaws, has delighted generations of readers and was so popular from the start that Alcott wrote the second part in 1869 and further sequels and spin-offs in the coming years. Her work has inspired countless directors, composers and authors to make many reimagined versions ever since, with the sisters played by film actors such as Katherine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Winona Ryder, Claire Danes, Kirsten Dunst, Saoirse Ronan and Emma Watson.
With
Bridget Bennett
Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Leeds
Erin Forbes
Senior Lecturer in African American and U.S. Literature at the University of Bristol
And
Tom Wright
Reader in Rhetoric and Head of the Department of English Literature at the University of Sussex
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Reading list:
Louisa May Alcott (ed. Madeline B Stern), Behind a Mask: The Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott (William Morrow & Co, 1997)
Kate Block, Jenny Zhang, Carmen Maria Machado and Jane Smiley, March Sisters: On Life, Death, and Little Women (Library of America, 2019)
Anne Boyd Rioux, Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters (W. W. Norton & Company, 2018)
Azelina Flint, The Matrilineal Heritage of Louisa May Alcott and Christina Rossetti (Routledge, 2021)
Robert Gross, The Transcendentalists and Their World (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022)
John Matteson, Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father (W. W. Norton & Company, 2007)
Bethany C. Morrow, So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix (St Martin’s Press, 2021)
Anne K. Phillips and Gregory Eiselein (eds.), Critical Insights: Louisa May Alcott (Grey House Publishing Inc, 2016)
Harriet Reisen, Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women (Picador, 2010)
Daniel Shealy (ed.), Little Women at 150 (University of Mississippi Press, 2022)
Elaine Showalter, A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx (Virago, 2009)
Simon Sleight and Shirleene Robinson (eds.), Children, Childhood and Youth in the British World (Palgrave, 2016), especially “The ‘Willful’ Girl in the Anglo-World: Sentimental Heroines and Wild Colonial Girls” by Hilary Emmett
Madeleine B. Stern, Louisa May Alcott: A Biography (first published 1950; Northeastern University Press, 1999)
In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production
SUN 23:45 Short Works (m00244xh)
Swimming Lessons by Elly Griffiths
A warm and delicately moving story by the award-winning author of the Ruth Galloway thriller series. Read by Rosie Cavaliero.
Maggie has taken early retirement and left London to spend more time with her mother by the coast. After her city life as a doctor, she now faces her anxieties - while building her relationship with her not always easy mum.
Read by Rosie Cavaliero
By Elly Griffiths
Produced by Allegra McIlroy
MONDAY 28 OCTOBER 2024
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m0024cvw)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
MON 00:15 World Of Secrets (w3ct793p)
Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods
Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods: 5. Silenced no more
Mohamed Al Fayed sells Harrods and retreats into a world of luxury villas and yachts. But will the women continue to stay silent about their allegations?
Their stories weren’t all heard before his death but now they come together to speak out.
Would the past catch up with a man who had now been portrayed in The Crown, the drama about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II?
This season of World of Secrets is about sexual abuse, and includes descriptions which some listeners might find distressing. For a list of organisations in the UK that can provide support for survivors of sexual abuse, go to bbc.co.uk/actionline.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m0024cvy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0024cw0)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0024cw2)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0024cw4)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
MON 05:30 News Briefing (m0024cw6)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0024cw8)
Short Cuts
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with the Revd Dr Rosa Hunt, Minister at Tabernacle Chapel Cardiff and Co-Principal of Cardiff Baptist College
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m0024cwb)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside
MON 05:57 Weather (m0024cwd)
Weather reports and forecasts for farmers
MON 06:00 Today (m0024dfc)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m0024dff)
Female ambition and control
Does ambition have to be seen as corrupting, or like a kind of illness’? These are the questions the business writer Stefan Stern asks in his book, Fair or Foul: the Lady Macbeth Guide to Ambition. He argues that far from the cliché of a scheming wife, Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth demonstrates a more sophisticated understanding of human nature, that could help us navigate the pitfalls of ambition today.
The playwright Zinnie Harris made Lady Macbeth the hero of her adaptation of the classic play last year. But now she’s focused on the figure of The Duchess of Malfi, in a contemporary retelling. Played by the actor Jodie Whittaker, the Duchess defies her family’s wishes and control, and asserts her own desires, with devastating results. The Duchess is on at the Trafalgar Theatre, London until 20th December.
Mary Queen of Scots spent nearly two decades imprisoned under the orders of Elizabeth I. From her chambers she wrote countless letters, many of them in code. Now 400 years after her death a new cache of encrypted letters has been uncovered. Jade Scott, a historian and expert on Mary’s correspondence, brings her captivity to life in Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Producer: Katy Hickman
MON 09:45 Café Hope (m0024dfh)
Being seen and heard
Co-founder of Electric Umbrella, Mel Boda, tells Rachel Burden how the charity makes music accessible for learning disabled and neurodivergent people. After realising that there were not enough opportunities for everyone to enjoy music and perform, she set about trying to make it more inclusive by staging workshops, gigs and even a festival.
Café Hope is our virtual Radio 4 coffee shop, where guests pop in for a brew and a chat to tell us what they’re doing to make things better in big and small ways. Think of us as sitting in your local café, cooking up plans, hearing the gossip, and celebrating the people making the world a better place.
We’re all about trying to make change. It might be a transformational project that helps an entire community, or it might be about trying to make one life a little bit easier. And the key here is in the trying. This is real life. Not everything works, and there are struggles along the way. But it’s always worth a go.
You can contact us on cafehope@bbc.co.uk
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0024dfk)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
MON 11:00 How Would We Know If Democracy Had Died? (m0024dfm)
The American Guardrails
Democracy is a permanent gamble and fears for its survival have always haunted it. But if panic is best avoided, so too is complacency. While a spectacular disaster is unlikely, there remains the insidious fear that, while the forms remain, democracy can slowly wither.
Phil Tinline sets out to trace where the red lines lie that keep our political system - and America’s - safe, by asking how we would know if they had been crossed, and democracy was on its way out.
In this third and final episode, Phil looks across the pond to America. On the eve of the US Presidential election, both sides warn that the other threatens to bring the republic’s democracy crashing down.
Contributors:
George Packer, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of ‘Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal’
Daniel Ziblatt, Eaton Professor of Government at Harvard University and author of ‘How Democracies Die’
Jennifer Dresden, Policy Strategist at Protect Democracy
Yascha Mounk, Associate Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University and author of 'Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time'
Oren Cass, Executive Director of American Compass and author of 'The Once and Future Worker: A Vision for the Renewal of Work in America'
Aziz Huq, Constitutional law scholar at the University of Chicago and co-author of 'How to Save a Constitutional Democracy'
MON 11:45 Every Kind of People by Kathryn Faulke (m0024dfp)
Episode 1
Kate never expected to become a home care worker. But when she left her role as a dietician in the NHS, burnt-out and disheartened, she thought caring for people in their own homes would be a simpler job. Despite being determined not to become too involved with her 'customers', she soon found herself developing firm friendships, forging deep connections and bearing witness to the extraordinary drama to be found in ordinary lives.
This is a book which reports from the frontline of an often unsung - and frequently maligned – profession. It offers a glimpse into the hidden lives of the housebound and infirm. Every Kind of People is clear-eyed about the challenges facing the NHS and the care system. But it is above all a celebration of humanity and of the life-changing impact of caring, on those who offer it and those who receive it.
Note from the author:
Most of the initial writing was done at the time when these events were happening, with the customers aware that I was writing about them as part of my own story. Sadly, many of these people have now passed away. Their names and many personal details have been changed to protect their identities but, since there are over ten thousand home-care agencies in England employing around half a million care workers supporting many thousands of vulnerable people, it is likely that the challenges faced by those in this book are replicated throughout the country on a daily basis.
Written by Kathryn Faulke
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
Read by Ayesha Antoine
The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4
MON 12:00 News Summary (m0024dfs)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:04 You and Yours (m0024dfv)
Section 106 Trouble, The £12,400 Duvet Set and Why You Should Recycle Your Old Phone
Why the collapse in demand for affordable homes is leading to work grinding to halt on all types of homes and would you buy a duvet set for £12,4000?
MON 12:57 Weather (m0024dfx)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m0024dfz)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.
MON 13:45 The History Podcast (m0024bfy)
The Lucan Obsession
The Lucan Obsession : 1. The Double Mystery
One winter's night, 50 years ago, a crime took place that obsessed the nation.
Lord Lucan is said to have killed the family nanny, attacked his wife and vanished.
Newspapers ran wild with lurid detail and it became a story hardwired into British culture.
Why did this case capture the British imagination, and spark one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the 20th Century?
Historian Alex von Tunzelmann unpacks the story of our obsession, taking us into a dizzying world of high stakes gambling and exclusive London clubs, powerboat racing and pet tigers. It’s also a dark realm of bankruptcy, gaslighting and stalking, and at its heart, a story with a violent and very tragic death.
Across the series she investigates the two mysteries at the centre of this story: was Lord Lucan the murder, and where on earth did he go?
Told and retold, the facts of the Lucan story have got lost. Alex finds herself in a hall of mirrors where truth and lies distort themselves into new myths and new mysteries. Was the truth obscured by booze and backhanders, class deference and journalist spin?
As she tries to get to the bottom of this case, she meets eyewitnesses from the '70s, people caught up in the crime, and those who just can’t let it go. She unearths long forgotten tapes and letters, piecing together fragments of a legend to discover why the Lucan myth still holds such power.
Series contributors:
Algy Cluff, Pierrette Goletto and Mandy Parks
Journalists: Bob Strange and James Fox
Author: Laura Thompson
Crime writer: Claire McGowan
Police: Geoff Lewry, Richard Swarbrick and Jackie Malton
UK Missing Persons Unit: Louise Newell
Presenter: Alex von Tunzelmann
Series Producer: Sarah Bowen
Content Producer: Becca Bryers
MON 14:00 The Archers (m0024cvk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Jack & Millie (m0024dg1)
Series 3
2. Matters of Life & Death
Millie deliberately makes Jack ask Harry something serious while Shirley accidentally makes Millie watch Harvey wearing a Virtual Reality suit
So Millie’s son Melvin has given her a new tablet with a voice recorder?
So suddenly Jack & Millie have decided to record everything that happens to them? And for this, we should be grateful?
Well, YES! - because this is the new series of the comedy show written by Jeremy Front (writer of the Charles Paris mysteries for Radio 4) and starring Jeremy Front and Rebecca Front as Jack & Millie Lemman - an older couple who are fully engaged with contemporary life whilst being at war with the absurdities of the modern world.
Starring
Jack - Jeremy Front
Millie - Rebecca Front
and
Shirley - Tracy-Ann Oberman
Harry - Nigel Lindsay
With special guests
Bhasker Patel as the Waiter
Tony Way as the Sauna Guy
Katy Wix as Solange
Written by Jeremy Front
Produced and directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4
MON 14:45 Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding (m0016y6f)
Episode Five
Helen Fielding's iconic 1996 novel of life as a single thirty-something woman in London.
"Daniel is still being gorgeous. How could everyone have been so wrong about him? Head is full of moony fantasies about living in flats with him and being trendy Smug Married instead of sheepish Singleton."
Bridget Jones begins the new year full of resolutions. She pledges in her diary to drink less, smoke less, lose weight, find a new job, stay away from unsuitable men and learn to programme the VCR. But her resolve is tested by the horrors of attending dinner parties with the "smug marrieds", the confusing behaviour of her charming rogue of a boss Daniel Cleaver, and her increasingly embarrassing encounters with human rights lawyer Mark Darcy.
Bridget Jones's Diary started life as a weekly column in the pages of The Independent in 1995, when Fielding worked on the news desk. Helen’s column chronicled the life and antics of fictional Bridget Jones as a thirty-something single woman in London trying to make sense of life and love. It was first published as a novel in 1996 and has gone on to sell more than 15 million copies worldwide and has been adapted into a series of films.
Read by Sally Phillips
Abridged by Sara Davies
Produced by Mair Bosworth and Mary Ward-Lowery
MON 15:00 A Good Read (m0024dg3)
Tim Spector and Tatty Macleod
THE COUNTRY OF OTHERS by Leïla Slimani, chosen by Tatty Macleod
THE MAN WHO ATE EVERYTHING by Jeffrey Steingarten, chosen by Tim Spector
ORBITAL by Samantha Harvey, chosen by Harriett Gilbert
Comedian Tatty Macleod chooses a novel by French-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani, the first volume of a new trilogy telling the saga of a French-Moroccan family between 1946 and 2016.
Scientist and food writer Professor Tim Spector chooses an award-winning collection of essays by food writer and critic Jeffrey Steingarten. His impassioned, funny, and mouth-watering anecdotes are all bound by a gluttonous curiosity that too often tips into obsession.
And Harriett Gilbert chooses a novella by Samantha Harvey called Orbital. Set on the International Space Station, it follows six astronauts as they reflect on life back down on Earth, in all its fury and glory.
Producer: Becky Ripley
MON 15:30 Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley (m0023jkz)
Lady Swindlers with Lucy Worsley
35. Women Who Dare
Lucy Worsley, historian Professor Rosalind Crone and author and journalist Helen Lewis, explore the lives of four notorious Lady Swindlers.
They’ll be discussing underworld boss Tilly Devine, fake heiress Violet Charlesworth, queen of shoplifting Alice Diamond and fake Princess Mary Baker a.k.a. “Princess Caraboo”.
These women - through cunning and bravado - carve out notorious reputations and leave unforgettable legacies that we’re still talking about today.
Lucy and her guests imagine what our Lady Swindlers lives would look like now. Would they have become internet famous and built personal brands? Or would their audacity led to them being cancelled?
They also discuss how our swindlers manipulate perceptions and navigate their world to live the lives they dreamed of, unapologetically. From Princess Caraboo's elaborate cosplay and Violet Charlesworth’s audacious lifestyle to Tilly Devine's criminal empire, the series paints a vivid picture of women who dared.
Producer: Riham Moussa
Readers: Clare Corbett and Jonathan Keeble
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
Executive producer: Kirsty Hunter
A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4
If you're in the UK, listen to the newest episodes of Lady Killers first on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/3M2pT0K
MON 16:00 Singing in Gaza (m0024mxc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
13:30 on Sunday]
MON 16:30 How to Play (m0022bx0)
Mozart’s Requiem with Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus
The Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus invite us to eavesdrop on their rehearsals as they prepare to perform Mozart’s celebrated Requiem, with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra. As their concert date approaches, our singers show how the tiniest details can transform what the music communicates, and the crucial elements that govern whether a performance soars or flops.
Conductor, Kristiina Poska and Chorus Director, Darius Battiwalla are joined by choristers, Angela Argenzio, Rosalind Hobson, Ranjan Sen and Steve Terry. They share how they work together to uncover a message of hope and redemption in music that Mozart composed while he was dying.
MON 17:00 PM (m0024dg5)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0024dg7)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 18:30 Paul Sinha's Perfect Pub Quiz (m0024dg9)
Series 3
Bradford - Why West Yorkshire Is the Best Yorkshire
Paul takes his Bradford audience on a quizzing tour of Yorkshire, from below the banks of the Aire to the top of the tallest tower.
What was the biggest sporting legacy of the Brontes? Who was the film industry's first ever nepo-baby? Why is West Yorkshire the Best Yorkshire? And how many Bradfordians have had number one singles - the correct answer may surprise you (as, indeed, it surprised Paul).
Written and performed by Paul Sinha
Additional material: Oliver Levy
Additional questions: The Audience
Original music: Tim Sutton
Recording engineer: Richard Biddulph
Mixed by: Rich Evans
Producer: Ed Morrish
A Lead Mojo production for BBC Radio 4
MON 19:00 The Archers (m0024dgd)
Lilian is not impressed, and Jolene puts her foot in it.
MON 19:15 Front Row (m0024dgg)
Steve McQueen on Blitz, Italian Renaissance drawings, Rachel Kushner on Creation Lake
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Timothy Prosser
MON 20:00 Rethink (m0024cp8)
Rethink...care
The care system in Britain is creaking at the seams. People who need care aren't receiving it - or if they do it's untenably expensive. There aren’t enough staff for care homes, and unpaid family carers often burn out looking after their loved ones without support.
Successive governments have recognised it’s a problem, but they haven’t been able to fix it. Rachel Reeves is just the latest in a long line of chancellors to back away from care reform.
How can we reform the care system so it works better for everyone involved? And crucially - how can we pay for it?
In this edition of Rethink we look at some of the big ideas that could revolutionise social care in this country.
We look at the arguments for a National Care Service to match the National Health Service. We hear about new technological fixes, from robots in care homes to smaller scale initiatives to help with medication or paperwork. Or maybe we all need to think about the whole system differently - and all care for each other a little more.
Contributors:
Sir Andrew Dilnot, head of the 2011 government review on Funding of Care & Support
Kathryn Smith, chief executive of the Social Care Institute for Excellence
Ben Cooper from the Fabian Society, co-author of their report Support Guaranteed: The Roadmap to a National Care Service
Hilary Cottam, designer, social activist and author of Radical Help: How We Can Remake the Relationships Between Us and Revolutionise the Welfare State
Presenter: Ben Ansell
Producer: Lucy Burns
Editor: Clare Fordham
MON 20:30 BBC Inside Science (m00245pf)
Whatever happened to graphene?
Twenty years ago this week two physicists at the University of Manchester published a ground-breaking paper describing the extraordinary qualities of graphene.
The thinnest and strongest material known to exist – and better at carrying electricity than any metal – its discovery was hailed as revolutionary.
But two decades on, it doesn’t seem to have changed the world, or if it has, it is doing so very quietly.
So, what happened?
We go on the trail of graphene, meeting Nobel Prize winner and Godfather of Graphene Andrew Geim, and learning what it has – and hasn’t – done and what might be next...
Also this week, how to kill an asteroid and we talk the “other” COP with chief scientific adviser to the government, Dame Angela McLean.
Presenter: Victoria Gill
Producers: Sophie Ormiston, Ella Hubber & Gerry Holt
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
BBC Inside Science is produced in partnership with the Open University.
MON 21:00 Start the Week (m0024dff)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:45 Café Hope (m0024dfh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m0024dgj)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective.
MON 22:45 The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins (m0024dgl)
Episode 1
When the bone at the heart of a famous sculpture is revealed to be human, curator James Becker investigates in the gripping new thriller from Paula Hawkins.
Read by Alexandra Mathie
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie
An EcoAudio certified from BBC Audio Scotland for BBC Radio 4
The New York Times bestselling author of THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN explores ambition, creativity and loyalty in an unsettling psychological thriller with echoes of Du Maurier and Patricia Highsmith. Uncovering buried links between late artist Vanessa Chapman, her faithless missing husband and the rural GP who holds the key to Chapman’s work, Becker must race the tide if he’s to escape Vanessa’s remote Scottish studio with the deadly story behind ‘Division II’.
Paula Hawkins worked as a journalist for fifteen years before writing her first novel. Born and brought up in Zimbabwe, she moved to London in 1989. Her first thriller THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN became a global phenomenon, selling over 23 million copies and adapted into a box-office-hit film starring Emily Blunt. Paula’s most recent thrillers, INTO THE WATER and A SLOW FIRE BURNING, were also instant No.1 bestsellers. THE BLUE HOUR has just been published around the world.
MON 23:00 Limelight (m001s636)
Harland - Series 3
Harland - 4. Diu eathamon
Fordingbridge is on the trail of Keshia who he believes is a Hare Witch. Still devastated by his father's betrayal, Dan continues his search for the four Hare Witches not yet knowing if they will bring about salvation or the end of the world. By Lucy Catherine.
Dan ..... Tyger Drew-Honey
Morris ..... Rupert Holliday Evans
Sadie ..... Melissa Advani
Sarah ..... Ayesha Antoine
Fordingbridge ..... Sean Baker
Keshia ..... Rhiannon Neads
DCI Cummins ..... John Lightbody
Dom-Rob ..... Josh Bryant-Jones
DJ ..... Don Gilet
Production Co-ordinator ..... Jenny Mendez
Technical Producer ..... Andrew Garratt
Sound Design by Peter Ringrose and Caleb Knightley
Directed by Toby Swift
A BBC Audio Production for BBC Radio 4
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m0024dgp)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
TUESDAY 29 OCTOBER 2024
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m0024dgr)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 00:30 Every Kind of People by Kathryn Faulke (m0024dfp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0024dgt)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0024dgw)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0024dgy)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m0024dh0)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0024dh2)
A Warm Space
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with the Revd Dr Rosa Hunt, Minister at Tabernacle Chapel Cardiff and Co-Principal of Cardiff Baptist College
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m0024dh4)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
TUE 06:00 Today (m0024f5d)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 Young Again (m0024f5g)
16. Gloria Steinem
Kirsty Young asks the activist and writer Gloria Steinem what advice she would give her younger self.
Through the last seven decades, Steinem has been a singular voice and influential thinker for the causes of feminism and equality in the USA. She discusses her breakthrough as a young journalist going undercover as a Playboy Bunny, founding the hugely successful feminist magazine Ms., and her personal stake in the fight for the legalisation of abortion. She also reflects on her unconventional childhood with a father who never wore a hat or had a job and a mother whom she became a carer of at a young age.
A BBC Studios Audio production.
TUE 09:30 Inside Health (m0024f5j)
Series that demystifies health issues, bringing clarity to conflicting advice.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0024f5l)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
TUE 11:00 Screenshot (m00244xw)
Vampires
With Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu - a remake of the 1922 adaptation of Dracula - hitting UK cinemas in the new year, Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones take a look at one of cinema's most enduring monsters, the vampire.
Mark talks to friend of the show and vampire expert, Kim Newman, about the evolution of vampires over the last century. They discuss everything from Bela Lugosi’s career defining performance as Count Dracula to the Twilight series.
Meanwhile, Ellen meets host and producer of The Evolution of Horror podcast, Mike Muncer. They go deep on teen vampire films and the everlasting appeal of cult classic The Lost Boys.
Ellen also speaks to Jane Schoenbrun, director of the new film, I Saw the TV Glow. They discuss their shared love of TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its influence on Jane’s film about outsider teens who are obsessed with a fantasy TV show.
Producer: Queenie Qureshi-Wales
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 11:45 Every Kind of People by Kathryn Faulke (m0024f5n)
Episode 2
Kate never expected to become a home care worker. But when she left her role as a dietician in the NHS, burnt-out and disheartened, she thought caring for people in their own homes would be a simpler job. Despite being determined not to become too involved with her 'customers', she soon found herself developing firm friendships, forging deep connections and bearing witness to the extraordinary drama to be found in ordinary lives.
This is a book which reports from the frontline of an often unsung - and frequently maligned – profession. It offers a glimpse into the hidden lives of the housebound and infirm. Every Kind of People is clear-eyed about the challenges facing the NHS and the care system. But it is above all a celebration of humanity and of the life-changing impact of caring, on those who offer it and those who receive it.
Note from the author:
Most of the initial writing was done at the time when these events were happening, with the customers aware that I was writing about them as part of my own story. Sadly, many of these people have now passed away. Their names and many personal details have been changed to protect their identities but, since there are over ten thousand home-care agencies in England employing around half a million care workers supporting many thousands of vulnerable people, it is likely that the challenges faced by those in this book are replicated throughout the country on a daily basis.
Written by Kathryn Faulke
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
Read by Ayesha Antoine
The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m0024f5q)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m0024f5s)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
TUE 12:57 Weather (m0024f5v)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m0024f5x)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.
TUE 13:45 The History Podcast (m0024bfz)
The Lucan Obsession
The Lucan Obsession: 2. Death In Belgravia
What really happened on the night of 7th November 1974 when Sandra Rivett was murdered?
Young reporter Bob Strange sneaked into the hallway at the Lucan’s house in Belgravia. The police burst in trampling through the crime scene.
The evidence of the Lucan case is murky. There are many versions that contradict themselves. Lord Lucan says something entirely different happened.
Who should we believe? And how do the mysteries surrounding that night, drive our obsession with this case?
Producer: Sarah Bowen
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m0024dgd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama on 4 (m0024f5z)
The Zinoviev Letter
A cloak and dagger political drama by Simon Bovey about the conspiracy that triggered the collapse of the first Labour government in 1924, starring Mark Bonnar as Ramsay MacDonald.
Ramsay MacDonald ….. Mark Bonnar
JD Gregory ….. Sam Troughton
Major Sir Desmond Morton ….. Max Bennett
Sir Eyre Crowe and Thomas Marlowe ….. Jonathan Coy
Aminta Bradley Dyne ….. Jaimi Barbakoff
News Vendor ….. Luke MacGregor
Directed by Gemma Jenkins
This is a world of grand conspiracies and scaremongering. Despite happening over 100 years ago, events feel uncannily familiar. Much of the truth surrounding who did what and when is still shrouded in mystery. Based on what we do know, this drama sets out to join up the dots.
TUE 15:00 Punt & Dennis: Route Masters (m0023zj7)
Series 1: From Beer to Eternity
5 - From Elton John to the Air Fryer
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are on a mission to get from Elton John to the air fryer in the most entertaining way possible, in a warm and witty podcast that celebrates new and half-remembered trivia as they try to find unlikely links between random places, people and things.
Could you make your way from The Starship Enterprise to the air fryer, armed only with A Level Economics and a Geography degree? Hugh Dennis is going to have to. While Steve Punt will have to pick his way across Africa, to find what links Machiavelli and Madagascar. Across the series, they’ll be joined by guests including Ken Cheng, Kiri Pritchard McLean, Isy Suttie and Marcus Brigstocke, on a scenic route which takes in Shampoo, The Gruffalo, Watford Gap Services and Yoghurt.
Written and hosted by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis
With Kiri Pritchard-McLean
Produced by Victoria Lloyd
Recorded at Maple St Creative
Mixed by Jonathan Last
A Listen Production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 15:30 Thinking Allowed (m0024f61)
Food Systems
Laurie Taylor talks to Ann Murcott, Honorary Professorial Research Associate, at SOAS, University of London about the origins and development of food packaging, from tin cans and glass jars to bottles and plastic trays. How central is packaging to global food systems and should we be concerned about wasteful packaging ? Also, Anastacia Marx de Salcedo, offers a spirited defence of processed food from a feminist, economic, and public-health perspective.
Producer: Jayne Egerton
TUE 16:00 The Poetry Detective (m0024f63)
The Angry Penguins Hoax
"Dear Sir. When I was going through my brother's things after his death, I found some poetry he had written..."
80 years after his work was first published, Vanessa Kisuule investigates the incredible case of one of Australia's most celebrated poets. It's a story that begins with a mysterious letter and ends with a trial. And it takes us to the heart of some big questions in poetry: What makes a poem good? Who gets to decide that? And - whisper it - is some poetry just nonsense?
With Samela Harris, Michael Heyward, Stephen Orr, Maggie Nolan, David Brooks and Sam Riviere
Readings by Nuala Honan and Flynn Barnard
Produced by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio
TUE 16:30 When It Hits the Fan (m0024f65)
Who's in the news for all the wrong reasons? With David Yelland and Simon Lewis.
TUE 17:00 PM (m0024f67)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0024f69)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 18:30 Stuart Mitchell's Cost of Living (m0024f6c)
Series 1
1. Stuart Eats a Pigeon
Comedian Stuart Mitchell examines his own cost of living crisis. His journey of self discovery is prompted by a visit to one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants - a meal that makes him question his entire existence.
Stuart also looks back at his time working for the Treasury with Gordon Brown and ponders whether the status of that job was worth the internal conflict that it gave him.
Each episode, Stuart looks at a chapter of his own unbelievable, but absolutely true, life story.
A working class boy, with huge aspirations, Stuart achieved everything he dreamed of and more. However, he soon came to realise that the cost of having everything was more than he was willing to pay. A morality tale featuring his time working in Westminster, moving to a highly paid job in banking and willingly losing it all to find happiness; Stuart will make us all question the true cost of living.
Written and performed by Stuart Mitchell
Produced by Lauren Mackay
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m0024f3g)
Fallon’s suspicions are raised, and Rex is a man with a plan.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m0024f6f)
Hugh Grant on Heretic, Yael van der Wouden's The Safekeep, future of housing design
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Paula McGrath
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m0024f34)
Gig Economy: The Ticketing Business
When the rock band Oasis announced they were reuniting, 10 million fans from all over the world joined the queue for tickets. It was the UK’s biggest ever concert launch. Tickets quickly sold out and within hours, many were being offered for sale on secondary ticketing sites at vastly inflated prices. File on 4 investigates the online ticketing market to discover who's ahead of you in the queue - and how they're getting there.
Reporter: Adrian Goldberg
Producer: Hayley Mortimer
Technical Producer: Richard Hannaford
Editor: Carl Johnston
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m0024f6j)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted.
TUE 21:00 Fed with Chris van Tulleken (m0024h1m)
Hay Festival Special
Dr Chris van Tulleken shares stories from the making of his chart-topping podcast, Fed. In conversation with Leyla Kazim, at Hay Festival 2024.
In Fed, Dr Chris van Tulleken, investigated the entangled web of forces that shape what ends up on our plates. And he focused his investigation around one foodstuff in particular. The most widely eaten meat on our planet, a staple of nearly every diet and a global food production phenomenon: the humble chicken, Chris dug into the history of our relationship with this extraordinary animal, to try to get to the truth of why we eat so much of it, and what that means for the birds, for us, and for the planet.
In this lively conversation, recorded live at Hay festival 2024, Chris talks to Leyla Kazim about the hidden stories behind the globalised food networks of today. From industrial-scale farming, to food labelling, to ethical dilemmas, environmental quandaries, and the complexities of the world of fast food. Plus tales from the adventure that ran through the whole series: raising his own tiny flock of broiler chickens, in his back garden.
TUE 21:30 The Bottom Line (m00245nx)
The Couple That Took On Google
When Shivaun and Adam Raff's shopping and price comparison website all but vanished from Google's search results just days after launching, the pair began a gruelling legal battle that would end with a landmark judgement and the tech giant receiving a then record fine.
European regulators found the search engine guilty of abusing its market dominance by making its own shopping recommendations appear more prominently than rivals' in its search results. Google spent seven years appealing its €2.4bn fine, but eventually lost in September this year.
In their first interview since that verdict the Raffs tell Evan Davis the story behind their website - Foundem - and what they learned about big tech, regulation, and themselves during their almost 20-year fight.
Evan is joined by:
Shivaun and Adam Raff, co-founders, Foundem;
Anne Witt, professor of law, EDHEC business school.
Credits:
President Barack speaking to Kara Swisher, from the technology news website Recode, in February 2015;
Joaquín Almunia speaking at a European Commission press conference in February 2014;
Margarethe Vestager speaking at a European Commission press conference in June 2017.
Production team:
Producer: Simon Tulett
Researcher: Drew Hyndman
Editor: Matt Willis
Sound: Jonny Baker and Neil Churchill
Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison
(Picture: The Google logo displayed on a mobile phone and computer monitor. Credit: Leon Neal/Getty Images/BBC)
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m0024f6l)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective.
TUE 22:45 The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins (m0024f6n)
Episode 2
Art curator Becker is on a mission to build bridges with the executor of Vanessa Chapman’s estate – her dear friend Grace, the companion who cared for her until the end.
Written by Paula Hawkins
Read by Alexandra Mathie
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie
An EcoAudio certified from BBC Audio Scotland for BBC Radio 4
The New York Times bestselling author of THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN explores ambition, creativity and loyalty in an unsettling psychological thriller with echoes of Du Maurier and Patricia Highsmith. Uncovering buried links between late artist Vanessa Chapman, her faithless missing husband and the rural GP who holds the key to Chapman’s work, Becker must race the tide if he’s to escape Vanessa’s remote Scottish studio with the deadly story behind ‘Division II’.
Paula Hawkins worked as a journalist for fifteen years before writing her first novel. Born and brought up in Zimbabwe, she moved to London in 1989. Her first thriller THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN became a global phenomenon, selling over 23 million copies and adapted into a box-office-hit film starring Emily Blunt. Paula’s most recent thrillers, INTO THE WATER and A SLOW FIRE BURNING, were also instant No.1 bestsellers. THE BLUE HOUR has just been published around the world.
TUE 23:00 Uncanny (m0024f6q)
Halloween: Trilogy of Terror
Halloween Special with Stewart Lee
A special Halloween episode full of new cases to investigate. Danny is joined by Evelyn Hollow and guest expert, celebrated writer and comedian Stewart Lee, a lover of ghost stories and weird folklore. Can they explain these strange real-life stories of the paranormal?
Written and presented by Danny Robins
Editing and sound design: Charlie Brandon-King
Music: Evelyn Sykes
Theme music by Lanterns on the Lake
Production manager: Tam Reynolds
Commissioning executive: Paula McDonnell
Commissioning editor: Rhian Roberts
Produced by Danny Robins and Simon Barnard
A Bafflegab and Uncanny Media production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m0024f6s)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
WEDNESDAY 30 OCTOBER 2024
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m0024f6v)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 00:30 Every Kind of People by Kathryn Faulke (m0024f5n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0024f6x)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0024f6z)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0024f71)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
WED 05:30 News Briefing (m0024f73)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0024f75)
Change and Renewal
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with the Revd Dr Rosa Hunt, Minister at Tabernacle Chapel Cardiff and Co-Principal of Cardiff Baptist College
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m0024f77)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
WED 06:00 Today (m0024f2w)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 More or Less (m0024f2y)
Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life.
WED 09:30 The Coming Storm (m0024f30)
S2: 8. The Last Election…?
Gabriel Gatehouse, producer Lucy Proctor and Ben Ansell, Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions at Oxford University, in front of a live audience at the BBC’s Radio Theatre.
As the team emerges from series 2, what have we learned about the future of democracy in an age of technological change and split realities?
Producer: Lucy Proctor
Sound design and mix: James Beard
Editor: Richard Vadon
Script consultants: Richard Fenton-Smith and Afsaneh Gray
Commissioning editor: Dan Clarke
Original music: Pete Cunningham
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0024f32)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
WED 11:00 File on 4 (m0024f34)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Tuesday]
WED 11:45 Every Kind of People by Kathryn Faulke (m0024f36)
Episode 3
Kate never expected to become a home care worker. But when she left her role as a dietician in the NHS, burnt-out and disheartened, she thought caring for people in their own homes would be a simpler job. Despite being determined not to become too involved with her 'customers', she soon found herself developing firm friendships, forging deep connections and bearing witness to the extraordinary drama to be found in ordinary lives.
This is a book which reports from the frontline of an often unsung - and frequently maligned – profession. It offers a glimpse into the hidden lives of the housebound and infirm. Every Kind of People is clear-eyed about the challenges facing the NHS and the care system. But it is above all a celebration of humanity and of the life-changing impact of caring, on those who offer it and those who receive it.
Note from the author:
Most of the initial writing was done at the time when these events were happening, with the customers aware that I was writing about them as part of my own story. Sadly, many of these people have now passed away. Their names and many personal details have been changed to protect their identities but, since there are over ten thousand home-care agencies in England employing around half a million care workers supporting many thousands of vulnerable people, it is likely that the challenges faced by those in this book are replicated throughout the country on a daily basis.
Written by Kathryn Faulke
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
Read by Ayesha Antoine
The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4
WED 12:00 News Summary (m0024f38)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 The History Podcast (m0024bg1)
The Lucan Obsession
The Lucan Obsession: 3. Lucky Lucan
Lord Lucan raced powerboats through the English Channel, drove an Aston Martin around the Grand Canyon and completed the Cresta Run at Saint-Moritz.
Throwing himself into gambling, he was nicknamed Lucky.
With slicked back hair, charm, style and humour, he was remarkably striking.
But underneath this image there was a very different man.
Alex hears from friends, biographers and someone who lived in the Lucan household to ask who really was Lord Lucan?
Was he the vicious, violent and dangerous murderer of Sandra Rivett or was this a myth it was seductive to believe?
Producer: Sarah Bowen
WED 12:18 World at One (m0024f3b)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.
WED 13:57 Weather (m0024f3d)
The latest weather forecast
WED 14:00 The Archers (m0024f3g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Pilgrim by Sebastian Baczkiewicz (m0024f3j)
Belle Meadow Fayre (Part 1)
A Pilgrim two-part special by Sebastian Baczkiewicz.
Each year at Belle Meadow Fayre, the Greyfolk meet to celebrate the burial of John Barleycorn, a ritual to mark autumn's end. But this year there’s a problem: Old Johnny John John has gone missing.
Autumn shows no sign of abating and without the sacred ceremony at Belle Meadow, winter will not come. The Greyfolk are angry. It's down to Pilgrim to find Old Johnny John John and face down his kidnapper, the rogue faerie Kara.
Pilgrim, cursed with immortality by the King of the Greyfolk, is forever forced to walk between the human world and the world of Faerie in a never-ending quest to preserve the uneasy balance between the two.
Pilgrim ….. Paul Hilton
Vass ….. Toby Jones
Kara ….. Holli Dempsey
Clemira ….. Sirine Saba
Rana ….. Shreya Lallu
Keith ….. David Hounslow
Mr Summerskill ….. Carl Prekopp
Benji ….. Nuhazet Diaz Cano
The Girl . . . . . Agnes Dromgoole
Production co-ordinator: Maggie Olgiati
Foley artist: Alison Craig
Sound design: Peter Ringrose
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko
A BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4.
WED 15:00 Money Box (m0024f3l)
The Money Box team invites listeners and a panel of experts to discuss one personal finance topic in depth.
WED 15:30 The Artificial Human (m0024f3n)
Will AI Control the World's Money?
Of all the jobs artificial intelligence might replace surely trading in stocks and shares is at the top of the list. Aleks and Kevin find out it might have already happened.
The first algorithms hit the trading floors nearly 30 years ago and since then the numbers of people involved in the buying and selling of shares has been dwindling. Aleks and Kevin speaking professor Dave Cliffe who wrote one of those first trading programmes. He was told the future of trading was a computer, a dog and a man. The computer would do the trading, the dog would guard the computer and the man, well he was there to feed the dog.
So how close are we to that future, closer than you think. But what does that mean for volatility in financial markets with AI’s well documented imperfect view of the world and is there still a place for human insight and perspective?
Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong
Producer: Peter McManus
Mixed by: Fraser Jackson
WED 16:00 The Media Show (m0024f3q)
Topical programme about the fast-changing media world
WED 17:00 PM (m0024f3s)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0024f3v)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 18:30 Ivo Graham's Obsessions (m0024f3x)
5. Kat Sadler & Felix White
Comedian and obsessive Ivo Graham welcomes another 2 celebrity obsessives to talk about their greatest loves.
This week, Ivo is joined by writer and star of the BAFTA-winning Such Brave Girls, Kat Sadler, and former Maccabees guitarist and current Tailenders host, Felix White. Kat has seen Friends more times than you can count, but which of the friends is she most like? Felix discovered his love of Baseball whilst touring the states, and explains to Ivo why he should be just as obsessed with it as he is. Ivo also finds out what the studio audience's obsessions are, before being joined by a Very Obsessed Person, or VOP. Aaron Carty is a Beyonce obsessive, and has toured the world as a Beyonce drag impersonator - can you get more obsessed than that?
Hosted by Ivo Graham
Featuring Kat Sadler, Felix White and Aaron Carty
Written by Ivo Graham and Matthew Crosby
Additional Material by Cameron Loxdale, Christina Riggs and Peter Tellouche
Recorded at RADA Studios by Chris MacLean
Sound edited by Charlie Brandon-King
Production Coordinators: Katie Baum and Jodie Charman
Executive Producer: Pete Strauss
Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies, a BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4
An EcoAudio certified production
Show image: Matt Stronge
WED 19:00 The Archers (m0024f3z)
The pressure piles on Harrison, while Henry makes a friend.
WED 19:15 Front Row (m0024f41)
Billy Crystal, Marina Diamandis, Nordic Music Festival
Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Mark Crossan
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (m0024f43)
Live debate examining the moral issues behind one of the week's news stories.
WED 21:00 Soul Music (m0024cws)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:30 on Saturday]
WED 21:30 The Conflict (m0024f45)
Middle East
30/10/2024
What can history teach us about the conflict in the Middle East?
Jonny Dymond brings together a carefully assembled panel of experts, academics and journalists to talk about the conflict in the region.
What has happened in history to lead us to this point? And, what can history teach us about what might happen next?
Please get in touch with Jonny and the team: theconflict@bbc.co.uk.
The Conflict: Middle East was made by Keiligh Baker and Ivana Davidovic. The technical producers were Jonny Hall and Tim Heffer. The assistant editor is Ben Mundy. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
This episode is part of a BBC Sounds series.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m0024f47)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective.
WED 22:45 The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins (m0024f49)
Episode 3
Although Becker has made a breakthrough with Vanessa’s executor Grace, the woman is sceptical of the idea that her friend used a human bone in sculpture, ‘Division II’.
Written by Paula Hawkins
Read by Alexandra Mathie
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie
An EcoAudio certified from BBC Audio Scotland for BBC Radio 4
The New York Times bestselling author of THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN explores ambition, creativity and loyalty in an unsettling psychological thriller with echoes of Du Maurier and Patricia Highsmith. Uncovering buried links between late artist Vanessa Chapman, her faithless missing husband and the rural GP who holds the key to Chapman’s work, Becker must race the tide if he’s to escape Vanessa’s remote Scottish studio with the deadly story behind ‘Division II’.
Paula Hawkins worked as a journalist for fifteen years before writing her first novel. Born and brought up in Zimbabwe, she moved to London in 1989. Her first thriller THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN became a global phenomenon, selling over 23 million copies and adapted into a box-office-hit film starring Emily Blunt. Paula’s most recent thrillers, INTO THE WATER and A SLOW FIRE BURNING, were also instant No.1 bestsellers. THE BLUE HOUR has just been published around the world.
WED 23:00 Influencers (m001qmjf)
Series 1
4. Biscuits
Katy Brand and Katherine Parkinson write and star in a new comedy about the world of influencing, where they play Ruth and Carla – two wannabe stars of the online business world.
They are bound together by a carefully controlled image that can lead to lucrative product placements and well-paid endorsements - but only if the PR is played just right. And that’s a problem because, behind the scenes, things are not always as harmonious as they seem.
Episode 4: Biscuits
Ruth and Carla discover a new blog called Daughters of Influencers, written by two teenage girls detailing their grievances with their toxic influencer mothers. It can’t possibly be about them...
Carla – Katy Brand
Ruth – Katherine Parkinson
Written by Katy Brand and Katherine Parkinson
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:15 The Skewer (m0024f4c)
Series 12
Episode 8
Jon Holmes brings you the week's biggest stories like you've never heard them before.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m0024f4f)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
THURSDAY 31 OCTOBER 2024
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m0024f4h)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 00:30 Every Kind of People by Kathryn Faulke (m0024f36)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0024f4k)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0024f4m)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0024f4p)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
THU 05:30 News Briefing (m0024f4r)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0024f4t)
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with the Revd Dr Rosa Hunt, Minister at Tabernacle Chapel Cardiff and Co-Principal of Cardiff Baptist College
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m0024f4w)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
THU 06:00 Today (m0024fj1)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m0024fj3)
The Venetian Empire
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the remarkable rise of Venice in the eastern Mediterranean. Unlike other Italian cities of the early medieval period, Venice had not been settled during the Roman Empire. Rather, it was a refuge for those fleeing unrest after the fall of Rome who settled on these boggy islands on a lagoon and developed into a power that ran an empire from mainland Italy, down the Adriatic coast, across the Peloponnese to Crete and Cyprus, past Constantinople and into the Black Sea. This was a city without walls, just one of the surprises for visitors who marvelled at the stability and influence of Venice right up to the 17th Century when the Ottomans, Spain, France and the Hapsburgs were to prove too much especially with trade shifting to the Atlantic.
With
Maartje van Gelder
Professor in Early Modern History at the University of Amsterdam
Stephen Bowd
Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Edinburgh
And
Georg Christ
Senior Lecturer in Medieval and Early Modern History at the University of Manchester
Producer: Simon Tillotson
In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production
.
THU 09:45 Strong Message Here (m0024fj5)
In this new series, Helen Lewis and Armando Iannucci investigate which political buzzwords are strong and stable and which are a crock of covfefe.
Each week Helen and Armando will crack open the political phrasebook and attempt to decode the doublespeak. Why does everything now have to be 'turbo-charged'? What's the difference between a 'pledge' and a 'mission'? Why has my local MP been 'weaponised' and should I be worried?
You’ll be treated to a crash course in the dark arts of political language from two people both baffled and beguiled by it. They’ll walk you through the various verbal fiascos of the modern political lexicon so that by the end you’ll be oven-ready for an appearance on Newsnight.
Warning: this podcast features strong political language that some listeners may find nonsensical.
Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios Audio Production for Radio 4.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0024fj7)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
THU 11:00 This Cultural Life (m0024fj9)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
THU 11:45 Every Kind of People by Kathryn Faulke (m0024fjc)
Episode 4
Kate never expected to become a home care worker. But when she left her role as a dietician in the NHS, burnt-out and disheartened, she thought caring for people in their own homes would be a simpler job. Despite being determined not to become too involved with her 'customers', she soon found herself developing firm friendships, forging deep connections and bearing witness to the extraordinary drama to be found in ordinary lives.
This is a book which reports from the frontline of an often unsung - and frequently maligned – profession. It offers a glimpse into the hidden lives of the housebound and infirm. Every Kind of People is clear-eyed about the challenges facing the NHS and the care system. But it is above all a celebration of humanity and of the life-changing impact of caring, on those who offer it and those who receive it.
Note from the author:
Most of the initial writing was done at the time when these events were happening, with the customers aware that I was writing about them as part of my own story. Sadly, many of these people have now passed away. Their names and many personal details have been changed to protect their identities but, since there are over ten thousand home-care agencies in England employing around half a million care workers supporting many thousands of vulnerable people, it is likely that the challenges faced by those in this book are replicated throughout the country on a daily basis.
Written by Kathryn Faulke
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
Read by Ayesha Antoine
The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4
THU 12:00 News Summary (m0024fjf)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 The Bottom Line (m0024fjh)
Evan Davis hosts the business conversation show, with insight from the people at the top.
THU 12:32 Sliced Bread (m0024fjk)
Toast - Reader's Digest UK
Why did we lose Reader's Digest magazine when it is still going in America?
The BBC Business journalist, Sean Farrington, discovers what happened to the brand which started over a hundred years ago and became the most widely read magazine in the world.
Alongside him is the serial entrepreneur, Sam White, ready to offer her opinions on the business's fortunes.
How did a magazine which pinched articles from other publications become so successful? And why did it end up toast in the UK?
Sean speaks to:
- Sir Alexander McCall Smith, the best-selling author of The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency who also wrote for The Reader's Digest
- Richard Junger, Professor of Communication at Western Michigan State University
- Tom Browne, a former editor of Reader's Digest UK
- Gary Hopkins, a former owner of the business's UK division
- Jason Buhrmester, Chief Content Officer for Magazines & Books at Trusted Media Brands which owns the Reader's Digest brand, still publishes it in America and licenses it for publicaiton in other parts of the world.
Produced by Jon Douglas. Toast is a BBC Audio North production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
You can email the programme at toast@bbc.co.uk
Feel free to suggest topics which could be covered in future episodes.
Sliced Bread returns for a new batch of investigations in December, where Greg Foot investigates so-called wonder products to find out whether they really are the best thing since sliced bread. In the meantime, Toast is available in the Sliced Bread feed on BBC Sounds.
THU 12:57 Weather (m0024fjm)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m0024fjp)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.
THU 13:45 The History Podcast (m0024bg3)
The Lucan Obsession
The Lucan Obsession: 4. Searching for Lady Lucan
The press portrayed Lady Lucan as a perfect victim: a tiny, fragile woman, attacked by a cruel and vengeful man. Lord Lucan’s friends said she was a volatile, difficult snob.
She is certainly enigmatic and intriguing.
With access to never before broadcast tapes, Alex von Tunzlemann looks for the truth behind the stories of the Countess and explores how her image emerged.
Producer: Sarah Bowen
THU 14:00 The Archers (m0024f3z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Pilgrim by Sebastian Baczkiewicz (m0024fjr)
Belle Meadow Fayre (Part 2)
A Pilgrim two-part special by Sebastian Baczkiewicz.
The rogue faerie Kara has caused havoc in the village of Woodwarthing by taking Old Johnny John John hostage, whose annual sacrifice is required for the seasons to change. It's down to Pilgrim to find him and face down his kidnapper.
Pilgrim, cursed with immortality by the King of the Greyfolk, is forever forced to walk between the human world and the world of Faerie in a never-ending quest to preserve the uneasy balance between the two.
Pilgrim ….. Paul Hilton
Vass ….. Toby Jones
Kara ….. Holli Dempsey
Clemira ….. Sirine Saba
Rana ….. Shreya Lallu
Keith ….. David Hounslow
Mr Summerskill ….. Carl Prekopp
Benji ….. Nuhazet Diaz Cano
Young Johnny John John ….. Ian Dunnett Junior
The Girl . . . . . Agnes Dromgoole
Production co-ordinator: Maggie Olgiati
Foley artist: Alison Craig
Sound design: Peter Ringrose
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko
A BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4.
THU 15:00 Ramblings (m0024fjt)
Lise Wortley - Woman with Altitude
Clare meets ‘Woman with Altitude’ Lise Wortley who recreates the adventures of overlooked and forgotten female explorers.
As Lise takes Clare on a walk around her childhood village of Boxford in Suffolk, she tells Clare why she doesn’t just follow in the footsteps of these incredible women but even wears the same kind of clothing and footwear. Her latest expedition, in woollen skirts and specially made hob-nail boots, was an attempt to climb Mont Blanc on the same route as the French adventurer, Henriette D'Angeville. In 1838 Henriette was the first woman to summit Mont Blanc unaided, in other words without being lifted across the tricky parts as a previous female walker had done.
Lise's adventure didn't work out quite as expected and led to her taking a long and unexpected diversion up a completely different and less well known mountain.
Find out more about Lise on her website: www.womanwithaltitude.com/
Presenter: Clare Balding
Producer: Karen Gregor
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m0024ctf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Feedback (m0023x9n)
The programme that holds the BBC to account on behalf of the radio audience.
THU 16:00 Rethink (m0024fjw)
Rethink... energy
Rethink considers how we might take a different approach to issues that affect all of us, asking some of the brightest minds what we could do to make the world a better place.
This week, we're rethinking energy. The massive rise in the price of wholesale gas in 2022, and the subsequent rise in our household energy bills highlighted the need for the UK to have a secure, reliable and cheap energy supply.
So what choices do we have? UK fossil fuel reserves are dwindling, but we have offshore wind, and sunshine in the south. Renewable power is also cheaper than fossil fuels. In the first three months of 2024, the UK's wind, solar and other forms of renewable power generated just over half of our energy and by the end of September, coal had been phased out completely.
But there is still a long way to go before the UK is self-sufficient.
It can take as long as 15 years to connect a renewable power plant to the National Grid.
A nuclear power station hasn't been completed in the UK for nearly 30 years
Do we have enough power storage for cloudy or windless days?
And industry and homes are still reliant on gas.
So how to we need to rethink energy to keep the lights on, charge our many devices and power our electric vehicles in the future? And if we get it right, what will be the rewards for everyone?
Presenter: Ben Ansell
Producer: Ravi Naik
Editor: Clare Fordham
Contributors:
Aoife Foley, Professor & Chair in Net Zero Infrastructure at the University of Manchester.
Emma Pinchbeck, Chief Executive, Energy UK.
Sam Richards, a former special advisor on energy to Boris Johnson, and now the Chief Executive of campaign group Britain Remade.
Andrew Crossland, Associate Professor in practice at the Durham Energy Institute.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m0024fjy)
A weekly programme looking at the science that's changing our world.
THU 17:00 PM (m0024fk0)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0024fk2)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 18:30 Unspeakable (m0024fk4)
Series 1
Episode 1
Ever had an emotion or sensation on the tip of your tongue, but you just can't find the word? Finally, here's the show for you.
Stand-up Phil Wang and lexicographer and etymologist Susie Dent challenge guests to dream up new words for universal, shared concepts and experiences which have always lacked names. Until now!
We've got our best people on the case. Linguists? Anthropologists? Nope. Comedians!
Phil Wang and Susie Dent welcome guests putting forward a new word suggestion, hilariously picking apart each other's pitches. Unspeakable is a celebration of language and shared experiences and it's a cure for that relatable moment when we're lost for words.
Hosts: Phil Wang and Susie Dent
Guests: Jack Dee, Miles Jupp and Ria Lina
Created by Joe Varley
Writer: Matt Crosby
Recorded by Jerry Peal
Producer: Jon Harvey
Executive Producers: Joe Varley and Akash Lockmun
A Brown Bred production for BBC Radio 4
THU 19:00 The Archers (m0024fk8)
Khalil hatches a plan, and will Justin learn his lesson?
THU 19:15 Front Row (m0024fkb)
Review: film - Anora; theatre - Dr Strangelove; book - Ali Smith's Gliff
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Claire Bartleet
THU 20:00 The Media Show (m0024f3q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Wednesday]
THU 21:00 Loose Ends (m0024cxm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
THU 21:45 The Warsaw Ghetto: History as Survival (m001lj7s)
6. Faith & Culture
80 years on from the Warsaw Ghetto's revolt & destruction, Radio 4 brings to life an extraordinary secret archive chronicling daily existence in the prison city.
The Oyneg Shabes Archive documented every facet of life and death in the ghetto between 1940-43. It was history as survival. Anton Lesser narrates. Episode 6-Faith & Culture with Ilan Goodman & Carl Prekopp.
In the middle of Europe, in the middle of the 20th Century a half million Jewish men, women & children were cut off, surrounded by the German occupiers, imprisoned behind walls. How do you tell the world about your life and fate? Historian and activist Emanuel Ringelblum devised and directed a clandestine archive- codename Oyneg Shabes (Joy of the Sabbath) to chronicle every aspect of their existence. Thousands of pages-diaries, essays, poems, photographs, statistical studies, art, ephemera -a historical treasure that was buried even as the Ghetto was being extinguished so that the world might read and understand. Listen to their stories
6. Faith & Culture. Rabbi Shimon Huberband became one of the most valued member of the Oyneg Shabes with his studies of ghetto folklore, accounts of the destruction of Jewish religious communities across Poland & the struggles for spiritual survival. Jewish life faced an enemy that sought not conversion but annihilation. For the Oyneg Shabes, former teacher Stefan Różycki, dispassionately surveyed the cultural world of the Ghetto-it's cafés, theatres & cabarets,
Narrated by Anton Lesser. Readers Ilan Goodman & Carl Prekopp. Translation by David Fishman & the Textura Foundation. Written & produced by Mark Burman.
For more information on the Oyneg Shabes/Ringeblum archive go to the website of the Jewish Historical Institute https://cbj.jhi.pl/
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m0024fkd)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective.
THU 22:45 The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins (m0024fkg)
Episode 4
Becker finally has access to the private diaries of Vanessa Chapman. But he can’t stop the late artist’s sculpture ‘Division II’ being cracked open to check the origins of a bone it contains.
Written by Paula Hawkins
Read by Alexandra Mathie
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie
An EcoAudio certified from BBC Audio Scotland for BBC Radio 4
The New York Times bestselling author of THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN explores ambition, creativity and loyalty in an unsettling psychological thriller with echoes of Du Maurier and Patricia Highsmith. Uncovering buried links between late artist Vanessa Chapman, her faithless missing husband and the rural GP who holds the key to Chapman’s work, Becker must race the tide if he’s to escape Vanessa’s remote Scottish studio with the deadly story behind ‘Division II’.
Paula Hawkins worked as a journalist for fifteen years before writing her first novel. Born and brought up in Zimbabwe, she moved to London in 1989. Her first thriller THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN became a global phenomenon, selling over 23 million copies and adapted into a box-office-hit film starring Emily Blunt. Paula’s most recent thrillers, INTO THE WATER and A SLOW FIRE BURNING, were also instant No.1 bestsellers. THE BLUE HOUR has just been published around the world.
THU 23:00 The Today Podcast (m0024fkj)
Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories of the week.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m0024fkl)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
FRIDAY 01 NOVEMBER 2024
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m0024fkn)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 00:30 Every Kind of People by Kathryn Faulke (m0024fjc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0024fkq)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0024fks)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0024fkv)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m0024fkx)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0024fkz)
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with the Revd Dr Rosa Hunt, Minister at Tabernacle Chapel Cardiff and Co-Principal of Cardiff Baptist College
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m0024fl1)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
FRI 06:00 Today (m0024fmq)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m001g8m4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:00 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Continental Divides (m0023dsr)
Episode 3 - People Movers
Misha Glenny explores a number of political divides facing Europe and asks whether the continent is undergoing the same crises it went through in the 1930s.
In this third episode, he examines three countries where the politics of migration are driving sea changes.
First, Denmark, where the politically dominant centre left Social Democrats have lurched away from their traditional stance of openness, reaping political dividends while worrying economists. In Austria, the Freedom Party, a hardline far right party, has been stoking anti-migrant feeling and targeting broader changes that might upend the rule of law. And in Germany, the concerns of history repeating itself are felt sharply - but experts tell Misha that the legacy of the post war, and the division of Germany between East and West, is currently playing out in a unique way when it comes to rising hostility to migration.
Producer: Artemis Irvine
Executive Producer: Robert Nicholson
Sound Design and Mix: Simon Jarvis
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0024fms)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
FRI 11:00 The Food Programme (m0024fmv)
Investigating every aspect of the food we eat
FRI 11:45 Every Kind of People by Kathryn Faulke (m0024fmx)
Episode 5
Kate never expected to become a home care worker. But when she left her role as a dietician in the NHS, burnt-out and disheartened, she thought caring for people in their own homes would be a simpler job. Despite being determined not to become too involved with her 'customers', she soon found herself developing firm friendships, forging deep connections and bearing witness to the extraordinary drama to be found in ordinary lives.
This is a book which reports from the frontline of an often unsung - and frequently maligned – profession. It offers a glimpse into the hidden lives of the housebound and infirm. Every Kind of People is clear-eyed about the challenges facing the NHS and the care system. But it is above all a celebration of humanity and of the life-changing impact of caring, on those who offer it and those who receive it.
Note from the author:
Most of the initial writing was done at the time when these events were happening, with the customers aware that I was writing about them as part of my own story. Sadly, many of these people have now passed away. Their names and many personal details have been changed to protect their identities but, since there are over ten thousand home-care agencies in England employing around half a million care workers supporting many thousands of vulnerable people, it is likely that the challenges faced by those in this book are replicated throughout the country on a daily basis.
Written by Kathryn Faulke
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
Read by Ayesha Antoine
The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m0024fmz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 Rare Earth (m0024fn1)
Rise of the Tuna
It's four metres long, the weight of two grizzly bears and dangerously delicious. The Bluefin Tuna is back in British waters so Tom Heap and Helen Czerski are here to celebrate the role of the tuna in food, culture and nature.
Unseen since the 1960s, these enormous fish have surprised surfers and anglers by leaping clear out of the waters of South-West England. Rare Earth takes a deep dive with the tuna to examine their unusual biology and their cultural importance to people all around the world. They can live up to 60 years, dive up to 1km below the ocean surface and swim as fast as 40 km per hour. Unfortunately for the bluefin, they’re particularly tasty, prized for their meaty sashimi, with some fish reaching prices close to £2m in the ceremonial new year auction at Tokyo’s fish market.
Tom explores the intense Japanese relationship with tuna while Helen makes a plea to give this fish the respect it deserves- we should celebrate its extraordinary biology rather than stuffing it in a tiny can with a ‘dolphin-friendly’ stamp on the label.
Producer: Alasdair Cross
Assistant Producer: Toby Field
Rare Earth is a BBC Audio Wales and West production in conjunction with the Open University
FRI 12:57 Weather (m0024fn3)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m0024fn5)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment.
FRI 13:45 The History Podcast (m0024bg5)
The Lucan Obsession
The Lucan Obsession: 5. The Tinderbox House
Many relationships have tricky patches, with couples struggling for money or over the children. But there’s a spark in this story that takes us from the Lucan’s glamorous society wedding to Sandra Rivett being murdered, Lady Lucan attacked and the children swept away. And it grips us.
Alex von Tunzleman hunts for what triggers this story, delving through a box of Lucan’s possessions not seen for decades. As she discovers cheque stubs, invoices and letters from the bank, she sees the reality of what life was like behind the Lucan’s veneer of respectability: a world of debt and alcohol, gaslighting, late night calls and stalking.
Producer: Sarah Bowen
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m0024fk8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Limelight (m00238rl)
Central Intelligence
Central Intelligence - Episode 8
The inside story of the CIA from the perspective of Eloise Page (Kim Cattrall), who joined on the Agency’s first day in 1947 and, in a 40-year career, became one of its most influential figures. Eloise takes the listener on a journey through the highs and lows of US foreign policy, spanning the staggering world events that shaped her career, as well as portraying her relationships with early CIA leaders, Allen Dulles (Ed Harris), Richard Helms (Johnny Flynn).
New episodes available on Fridays. Listen first on BBC Sounds.
In Episode 8, as tensions mount in Iran, CIA operative Kim Roosevelt (Rob Benedict), is tasked with persuading a fearful Shah to dismiss his socialist-leaning Prime Minister.
Cast:
Eloise Page..........Kim Cattrall
Allen Dulles..........Ed Harris
Richard Helms..........Johnny Flynn
Frank Wisner..........Geoffrey Arend
Young Eloise Page..........Elena Delia
Kermit Roosevelt..........Rob Benedict
Clover Dulles..........Laurel Lefkow
Foster Dulles..........Nathan Osgood
The Shah..........Majid Mehdizadeh-Valoujerdy
Queen Soraya..........Isabella Nefar
Assadollah Rashidian..........Adam Sina
Princess Ashraf..........Sarah Alles-Shahkarami
President Eisenhower..........Kerry Shale
Imam Khomeini & General Fazlollah Zahedi..........Dana Haqjoo
Mohammed Mossadegh, Nassiri, & General Riahi..........Bijan Daneshmand
Rocky Stone..........Akie Kotabe
Original music by Sacha Puttnam
Production:
Created by Greg Haddrick & Jeremy Fox
Episode 8 written by Maryam Master
Sound Designers & Editors: John Scott Dryden, Adam Woodhams, Martha Littlehailes & Andreina Gomez Casanova
Script Consultant: Misha Kawnel
Script Supervisor: Alex Lynch
Trails: Jack Soper
Archive Research: Andy Goddard & Alex Lynch
Production Assistant: Jo Troy
Sonica Studio Sound Engineers: Mat Clark & Paul Clark
Sonica Runner: Flynn Hallman
Marc Graue Sound Engineers, LA: Juan Martin del Campo & Tony Diaz
Margarita Mix, Santa Monica Sound Engineer, LA: Bruce Bueckert
Mirrortone Sound Engineers, NY: Collin Stanley Dwarzski & James Quesada
Director: John Scott Dryden
Producer & Casting Director: Emma Hearn.
Executive Producers: Howard Stringer, Jeremy Fox, Greg Haddrick and John Scott Dryden.
A Goldhawk production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 14:45 Something to Declare (m0024gz1)
How to Celebrate Life after Death
In this episode, Jack Boswell delves into the rich cultural traditions of Mexico's "Day of the Dead" and how it offers a unique, profound perspective on our relationship with death.
Joining him is Carlos Alberto Sanchez, a Mexican philosophy professor, who explains this annual festival—a joyful celebration of life and remembrance. He shares how families honour their deceased loved ones by creating ofrendas, or altars, decorated with favourite items, food, and music of the departed, inviting their spirits back to visit. The festival is rooted in the belief that death is a natural part of life, and while the body may perish, the spirit lives on.
Paola Feregrino, Director of London’s Day of the Dead Festival, also joins Jack, reflecting on how this vibrant tradition has found a welcoming audience in the UK and why it resonates with so many, especially as it opens up conversations about a topic we often avoid—death.
This episode celebrates the beauty of life, memory, and how we can find connection and comfort in honouring those we've lost.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m0024fn8)
Horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts.
FRI 15:45 Short Works (m0024fnb)
Freedom Corner by Diana Evans
When two pigeons become trapped on a tower block balcony, a young mother finally decides to act, in a new story for Radio 4 by the award-winning author of Ordinary People, Diana Evans.
Read by Jade Anouka
Written by Diana Evans, the award-winning author of A House for Alice, Ordinary People, The Wonder and 26a. Her prize nominations include the Guardian and Commonwealth Best First Book awards, and she was the inaugural winner of the Orange Award for New Writers.
Produced by Justine Willett
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m0024fnd)
Weekly obituary programme telling the life stories of those who have died recently.
FRI 16:30 More or Less (m0024f2y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Wednesday]
FRI 17:00 PM (m0024fng)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0024fnj)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 18:30 Dead Ringers (m0024fnl)
Series 25
Episode 1
Satirical impressions from the team headed up by Jon Culshaw and Jan Ravens.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (m0024fnp)
Writer: Daniel Thurman
Director: Marina Caldarone
Editor: Jeremy Howe
Helen Archer…. Louiza Patikas
Henry Archer…. Blayke Darby
Jolene Archer…. Buffy Davies
Kenton Archer…. Richard Attlee
Pat Archer…. Patricia Gallimore
Lilian Bellamy…. Sunny Ormonde
Harrison Burns…. James Cartwright
Justin Elliott…. Simon Williams
Rex Fairbrother…. Rex Barber
Martyn Gibson… Jon Glover
Ed Grundy…. Barry Farrimond
Brad Horrobin…. Taylor Uttley
Azra Malik…. Yasmin Wilde
Khalil Malik…. Krish Bassi
Kirsty Miller…. Annabelle Dowler
Fallon Rogers…. Joanna Van Kampen
Wesley…. Barrie Rutter
Inspector Norris…. Bharti Patel
FRI 19:15 Screenshot (m0024fnr)
Powell and Pressburger
As November marks the TV premiere of Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, Ellen and Mark explore the films of these two titans of British Cinema.
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m0024fnt)
Topical discussion posing questions to a panel of political and media personalities.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m0024fnw)
Naughtie on America
Episode 4
James Naughtie with the last of four programmes on America's restless search for meaning.
FRI 21:00 Free Thinking (m0024fny)
Ghosts, death and ecstatic states
With Day of the Dead, Halloween and All Souls Day being marked in different countries around the world - Shahidha Bari's guests include Jeanette Winterson and philosopher Simon Critchley.
Jeanette Winterson is author of novels, children's books, a comic book, short stories and essays. Her latest is called Night Side of the River: Ghost Stories
Simon Critchley is Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York and his latest book is called On Mysticism: The Experience of Ecstasy
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m0024fp0)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective.
FRI 22:45 The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins (m0024fp2)
Episode 5
Curator Becker believes that Vanessa’s diaries prove the bone in her famous sculpture has nothing to do with her ex-husband’s disappearance. However his boss Sebastian remains convinced that something's going on - her executor is withholding pieces from his art foundation.
Written by Paula Hawkins
Read by Alexandra Mathie
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie
An EcoAudio certified from BBC Audio Scotland for BBC Radio 4
The New York Times bestselling author of THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN explores ambition, creativity and loyalty in an unsettling psychological thriller with echoes of Du Maurier and Patricia Highsmith. Uncovering buried links between late artist Vanessa Chapman, her faithless missing husband and the rural GP who holds the key to Chapman’s work, Becker must race the tide if he’s to escape Vanessa’s remote Scottish studio with the deadly story behind ‘Division II’.
Paula Hawkins worked as a journalist for fifteen years before writing her first novel. Born and brought up in Zimbabwe, she moved to London in 1989. Her first thriller THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN became a global phenomenon, selling over 23 million copies and adapted into a box-office-hit film starring Emily Blunt. Paula’s most recent thrillers, INTO THE WATER and A SLOW FIRE BURNING, were also instant No.1 bestsellers. THE BLUE HOUR has just been published around the world.
FRI 23:00 Americast (m0024fp4)
Join the Americast team for insights from across the US.
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m0024fp6)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament