SATURDAY 15 AUGUST 2015

SAT 00:00 Arthur C Clarke Stories (b010tbkp)
The Nine Billion Names of God
The Sentinel
The story from which Arthur C Clarke developed the film '2001: A Space Odyssey' with Stanley Kubrick. Read by John Shrapnel.
SAT 00:15 The Smell by Patrick McGrath (b007jm2c)
Patrick McGrath reads his disturbing Gothic Tale about a father's demonic control over his family.
Producer: Pan Fraser Soloman
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1996.
SAT 00:30 Fry's English Delight (b012qq7l)
Series 4
Persuasion
The language of persuasion interrogated. Advertisers, lawyers, cold callers and politicians are all, in a way, language experts. And we are all targets for people who try to persuade us of something, whether to buy a particular brand of soap powder, change our car insurance, or vote for a political party, for instance. And most of us at one time or another try to persuade other people to do something that we want them to do for us. It might be that it's to give us a job, come on holiday with us, or lend us a fiver until pay day. Is it possible to maximize your chances of success with the right approach, and by simply using the right words control someone else's behaviour?
How did the great persuaders of the past sway their audiences? We look at rhetoric and gesture, as well as hearing from an advertising executive, a professor of political history, a legal expert, and someone who runs one of the country's most successful telemarketing companies. Just how good do you have to be to sell someone something over the telephone? How hard is it to sell anything face-face with your client? We hear what happens when someone from one of Britain's most influential management training institutions observes a man selling sausages for his living from a stall in a London market. Does a humble street trader use the same devices as a vast multi-national corporation when it comes to getting you to put your hand in your pocket? You will listen, won't you? You know you deserve it.
Producer: Ian Gardhouse
A Testbed Production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 01:00 Nikolai Gogol - The Government Inspector (b00fvg6f)
Episode 2
The "Inspector" becomes plied with cash and love.
A two-part adaptation by Rene Basilico of Gogol's classic comedy - a picture of municipal 'sleaze' and corruption in 19th century Russia.
Stars Julian Rhind-Tutt as Khlestakov, Trevor Peacock as Osip, Bill Wallis as The Mayor and David Gant as The Judge.
Music by Max Harris.
Producer: John Fawcett Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002.
SAT 01:30 Put Your Hands Together (b00sq1vv)
In a self-consciously clap-happy exploration of one of the most delightful and satisfying forms of human action and expression, Nick Baker investigates the meanings and motivations, the sounds and symbolism, the elation and frustration of ritually striking one hand with another.
The clapping rhythms of football, flamenco, the nursery and the Pentecostal church are all biologically linked yet subtly different. In this anatomy of a basic human ritual, Nick has collected claps as far apart as Fiji - where a clapping ritual accompanies a narcotic-taking ceremony - and China, where young women on busy high streets clap to attract attention to what's on offer in the stores. Choreographer Luke Creswell, an expert clapper, collects clap-routines in bars all over the world.
What's linked in all cases, according to Professor Colwyn Trevarthen, is humanity's attunement to one of its many internal biological clocks - the one that gives us walking, chewing and nodding our head. He invites listeners to join in with a simple experiment to demonstrate the rhythm of life.
Babies clap early & show awareness of hands in the womb. The clap is not the basis of language development, it is language development. It is display, performance, shared meaning & shared time. Gospel singer Ruby Turner provides musical commentary on how the hand clap moves from babies, through Sunday School, the playground and the church towards soul and R and B.
Do our biological predecessors clap? Perhaps we've been exposed to too many tea commercials. Or maybe chimpanzees have been too exposed to us, primatologist Alison Fletcher explains.
Producer: Tamsin Hughes
A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b00v8m6n)
Rebecca Hunt - Mr Chartwell
Episode 10
Written by Rebecca Hunt
Sunday evening, Esther returns home to find Black Pat waiting for her.
The reader is Miriam Margolyes.
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company Production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 02:15 The Generation Gap (b00qzrjg)
Series 2: Sex
Prostitution
Series in which two people from different generations discuss a topic that reveals the changing nature of Britain.
The theme of the second series of five programmes is Sex.
Helen worked as a bar hostess and prostitute in the 1970s. She talks to Maria, who is currently funding her way through university by being a sex worker. How do their experiences differ?
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 02:30 Ayeesha Menon - Undercover Mumbai (b039rwcc)
Five-Star Death
A dead glamour model in a five-star hotel leads Police inspector Alia Khan on the trail of Bollywood's leading heart-throb.
Set and recorded on location in Mumbai, this is a fast paced six-part police thriller. It follows Alia Khan, a young woman inspector in the Bandra Division of the Mumbai Police Force, as she attempts to solve a series of crimes, make sense of her troubled past and cope with being a woman in a male-dominated and chauvinistic police force.
Sound Recordist: Hitesh Chaurasia
Sound Design: Steve Bond
Editing Assistants: Andrew Lewis and Aditya Khanna.
Script Editor: Mike Walker
Assistant Producer: Toral Shah
Producer: Nadir Khan
Music: Sacha Putnam.
Writer: Ayeesha Menon
Director: John Dryden
A Goldhawk production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 02:45 Book of the Week (b00tffmx)
Elena Gorokhova - A Mountain of Crumbs
Episode 5
Robert has returned to Texas but he writes to Elena every week and wonders if she might visit him.
He explains that he can get her a visitors' visa if she goes as his fiancée but Elena explains that it is not getting into America that is the difficult part but getting out of the USSR.
They both understand that there is only one way to achieve this - but are they ready to get married?
Read by Sian Thomas
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 03:00 William Makepeace Thackeray - Barry Lyndon (b00t1bsd)
The Squire
Redmond Barry pursues and wins the widowed Lady Lyndon to take the title of Barry Lyndon and play the role of country squire.
However, once arrived at the summit of his good fortune, his luck begins to change for the worse.
Conclusion of William Makepeace Thackeray's classic novel about the rise and fall of an Irish adventurer in the 18th century.
Dramatised by Don McCamphill
Barry ...... Gerard McSorley
Lady Lyndon ...... Tina Kellegher
Chevalier de Balibari ...... David Kelly
Bell Barry ...... Sheila Hancock
Earl of Crabs ...... Kenneth Cranham
Wiggins ...... Jamie Foreman
Redmond ...... Andrew Scott
Furniture Dealer ...... Mark Lambert
Poynings ...... Don Wycherley
Ulick ...... Darragh Kelly
Brendan ...... Eanna MacLiam
Maggie-Rose ...... Alice Barry
Directed at BBC Belfast by Lawrence Jackson.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2003.
SAT 04:00 All the Way from Memphis (b00mjktm)
Series 2
Episode 5
James Walton tests and tickles the knowledge of industry pundits and people passionate about pop music.
Team captains Tracey MacLeod and Andrew Collins are joined by Stewart Lee and David Quantick to be put through their musical paces
Reader: Beth Chalmers
Written and researched by James Walton.
Producer: Dawn Ellis
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2006.
SAT 04:30 Boogie Up the River (b007jv8w)
A Curry at Kelmscot
Jennifer joins Mark and his mutt's Thames quest, but there is a surprise on their menu. Stars Timothy Spall. From January 1993.
SAT 05:00 Rent (b065k7zn)
Series 4
Episode 4
Maria and Richard's lives are now being ruled by Eva, the nanny, while Paul and Ruby have to contend with his disreputable cousin, Dave.
Lucy Flannery's award-winning sitcom about Maria and Richard Reynolds and their lodgers.
Maria …. Barbara Flynn
Richard …. Patrick Barlow
Ruby …. Vivienne Rochester
Paul …. Dave Lamb
With Sarah Parkinson and Toby Longworth.
Producer: Liz Anstee
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1998.
SAT 05:30 Wordaholics (b01cvk8d)
Series 1
Episode 3
Wordaholics is the comedy panel game all about words.
Gyles Brandreth presides as Susie Dent, Natalie Haynes, Jack Whitehall and Milton Jones vie for supremacy in the ring.
Wordaholics is clever, intelligent, witty and unexpected. There are toponyms, abbreviations, euphemisms, old words, new words, cockney rhyming slang, Greek gobbledegook, plus the panellists' picks of the ugliest and the most beautiful words: the whole world of words.
Writers: Jon Hunter and James Kettle
Producer: Claire Jones.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2012.
SAT 06:00 Shirley Gee - Moonshine (b065x8fy)
London, 1937: Harriet Carmichael must battle new nanny Ada Molesbridge for the love of her young daughter:
ADA: When it comes to whose child, Flora might decide. Who she cleaves to. Whose bed she chooses in the middle of the night. Who she loves.
HARRIET: Don't be ludicrous. She's my daughter, my flesh and blood. She belongs to me.
ADA: Flesh and blood is one thing. But belongs. Slippers, candlesticks, necklaces, they belong. Ask her who she chooses. Go on, wake her. Ask her. We're all people, aren't we. All human beings... Not mistress and servant, you said. Let her choose.
Ada Molesbridge ...... Rosemary Leach
Harriet Carmichael ...... Carole Boyd
David Carmichael ...... John Rowe
Flora ...... Katherine Hughes
Jessie ...... Anne Rosenfeld
Cook ...... Kathleen Helme
Mrs Molesbridge ...... Betty Hardy
For her performance as Ada Molesbridge , Rosemary Leach won the 1977 Imperial Tobacco Award for the Best Actress.
Special music by Roger Limb, BBC Radiophonic Workshop
Director: David Spenser
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1977.
SAT 07:30 Michael Bentine - The Reluctant Jester (b01r1cc0)
The Reluctant Jester Strikes Back
The Goon Show
Recalling the start of 'The Goon Show' and the characters who inspired his friend Peter Sellers.
Founding member of The Goon Show and one of the foremost comic minds of his generation - Michael Bentine offers more behind-the-scenes tales of his offbeat and extraordinary life in showbiz.
With extracts from some of his most memorable comic performances and eccentric characters.
Recorded at The Maltings Arts Centre, St Albans.
Michael Bentine CBE was born in 1922 and died in 1996.
Producer: Andy Aliffe
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in November 1994.
SAT 08:00 Archive on 4 (b01h2c9p)
One Way Ticket - The Beeching Cuts Revisited!
When Dr Richard Beeching unveiled his little book 'Reshaping Britain's Railways' in the early 1960s the nation was left in shock at the scale of the cutbacks he was suggesting.
Britain's railways were losing millions every year. The rise of the car didn't help matters and the Government decided it was time to look afresh at the railways.
The original plan was to close 5,000 miles of railway and 2,000 stations. Around 70,000 people would eventually lose their jobs.
It's acknowledged that Dr Beeching's cuts were seismic but what impact did the decisions made in the early 60s have on future rail policy in the UK? And how much of Beeching's vision for the railways, including more focus on Inter City services, has been realised?
Here Michael Portillo revisits the archives and the events of 1963, hears from some of those working in the industry at the time and looks at how some lines were eventually resurrected and revitalised while others weren't.
As part of the programme Michael travels along the scenic Settle to Carlisle line which lost many of its stations during the Beeching cuts, he hears from rail expert Christian Wolmar and speaks to Richard Spendlove - writer and creator of TV series Oh Dr Beeching who at the time of the cuts was a Station Master in Cambridgeshire.
He also hears from former Transport ministers and secretaries about how the Beeching cuts impacted on Government rail plans and policy over the past five decades.
Finally given the recent huge rise in rail usage, the programme assesses what Dr Beeching would have made of the state of Britain's railways today.
Produced by: Ashley Byrne
A Made in Manchester Limited Production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 09:00 Peter Ustinov - The Radio Years (b065xb02)
John McCarthy explores the radio archives of Sir Peter Ustinov and reveals the actor and raconteur's fascinating contributions to an eclectic mix of programmes.
Sir Peter Ustinov was a renaissance man whose talents included writing plays, novels and acting. He appeared in over 90 films with memorable roles in Quo Vadis, Spartacus and Death on the Nile.
He was also a theatre director and a much-admired raconteur.
Less well remembered are his diverse and often enthralling radio contributions which started in the 1940's.
For the 60 years which followed Ustinov was a regular BBC radio guest interviewed on various topics including politics, religion, humour and film. He appeared in comedies, dramas, panel games, told absorbing stories about his extraordinary and colourful family history and humorous tales of his eventful tours around the world.
Featuring a collection of Ustinov's radio work along with an illuminating exclusive interview with his daughter:
* In All Directions (1952)
Comedy teaming Ustinov with Peter Jones
* Appointment with Daughter
An exclusive interview with John McCarthy and Sir Peter Ustinov's eldest daughter Tamara
* Encounter in the Balkan Express (1956)
A comedy by Wolfgang Hildesheimer starring Peter Ustinov as Robert Guiscard
* Down Your Way (1991)
A special edition with Ustinov in Leningrad
* Quote Unquote (1992)
A memorable appearance by Ustinov on the popular quotation quiz hosted by Nigel Rees.
SAT 12:00 The Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise Show (b01kbqjl)
Series 1
Episode 6
Arty Eric bags a bargain and an industrial espionage drama what Ern wrote.
Special singing guest: Lynsey de Paul
Written by Eddie Braben
With Ann Hamilton and Arthur Tolcher.
Music by Dennis Wilson & His Orchestra.
Producer: John Browell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in March 1975.
SAT 12:30 The Goon Show (b007mwv5)
Series 5
The Spanish Suitcase
Neddie Seagoon's brave act lands him in prison, and a jewel thief is on the loose.

Groundbreaking, surreal BBC radio comedy written by Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes.

Starring:

Peter Sellers
Harry Secombe
Spike Milligan

First billed as Crazy People, ten series of The Goon Show were recorded between 1951 and 1960, but sadly many of the earliest shows weren’t kept in the archive.

With the Ray Ellington Quartet and Max Geldray.

Orchestra conducted by Wally Stott.

Announcer: Wallace Greenslade

Producer: Peter Eton

First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in December 1954.
SAT 13:00 How to Have a Perfect Marriage Omnibus (b065xbjq)
Episode 2
Karen knows her much-loved husband of 19 years is gay. Now it's time to tell the kids. Stars Julia Ford and Greg Wise.
SAT 14:10 Inheritance Tracks (b065xjzp)
Rafe Spall
Actor Rafe Spall chooses 'Cherry Coloured Funk' by the Cocteau Twins and Kate Bush's 'And So Is Love'.
SAT 14:15 In the Psychiatrist's Chair (b065xq81)
Sir Colin Davis
Sir Colin Davis explores the psychological aspects of life as a music conductor with Professor Anthony Clare.
Psychiatrist Dr Anthony Clare's in depth interviews with prominent people from different walks of life. Born in Dublin, author Anthony held a doctorate in medicine, a master's degree in philosophy and was a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
After becoming a regular on BBC Radio 4's Stop the Week in the 1980s, he became Britain's best-known psychiatrist and earned his own vehicle, In the Psychiatrist's Chair.
Starting in 1982, this series ran until 2001 and also transferred to TV.
Anthony Clare died suddenly in Paris aged 64 in 2007.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 1994.
SAT 15:00 Archive on 4 (b01h2c9p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 Shirley Gee - Moonshine (b065x8fy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 Michael Bentine - The Reluctant Jester (b01r1cc0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 18:00 Paradise Lost in Space (b007jnpy)
2. Gifting
Norman and Max are welcomed by the incurably friendly Oblivions and soon they're offering priceless gifts - the secret of fire, contemplation and baked potatoes.
Colin Swash's sci-fi comedy about two space-age humans stranded on a friendly alien planet.
Norman ...... Tony Robinson
Max ...... David Haig
Stella ...... Louise Lombard
Macari ...... Michael Troughton
Terayz ...... Carla Mendonca
Tony ...... Geoff McGivern
Ken ...... Tom Hollander
Inspector Albermarle ...... Andy Rashleigh
Producer: Richard Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 1995.
SAT 18:30 Atomic Tales (b007jx70)
And Mother Makes Millions
A chilling world without children? The battle is on to save the human race from ravaged Earth.
1950s American sci-fi spoof.
Starring the talents of:
John Guerrasio
Jeff Harding
Allison Warnyca
Lewis McLeod
Colin Stinton
Liza Ross.
Written by Adam Tandy and Nat Sones.
Producer: Adam Bromley.
Made for BBC 7 and first broadcast in August 2006.
SAT 19:00 Peter Ustinov - The Radio Years (b065xb02)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 4 Extra Stands Up with Fred MacAulay (b065xqhy)
Episode 1
Host Fred MacAulay with the best of 2015's comedy Fringe festival in Edinburgh.
Fred welcomes festival favourite performers Janey Godley, Tom Stade and Mark Nelson.
Plus Michael Che, Felicity Ward, Dana Alexander, Robin Grainger and Liam Withnail.
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Dabster Productions.
SAT 23:00 4 at the Store (b00cpvsk)
Series 1
Episode 1
Simon Bligh hosts an evening of stand-up comedy without having to leave your armchair.
Featuring Dominic Holland, Sue Beard and Felix Dexter.
From London's Comedy Store
Producer: Helen Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1998.
SAT 23:30 The Lawrence Sweeney Mix (b008z5ld)
Series 2
Episode 4
Fom something your Dad did to something you save up for...
Josie Lawrence and Jim Sweeney make it up as they go along!
Faced with a live studio audience and a couple of microphones - the masters of improve create sketches from shouted out suggestions.
Producer: Dawn Ellis
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2008.