SATURDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2012

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (b01bmp41)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


SAT 00:30 Book of the Week (b01bmq2b)
A Card from Angela Carter

Episode 5

"These cards make a paper-trail, a zig-zag path through the eighties, when I knew Angela. They are casually dispatched - some messages are barley more than a signature - but often the more pungent for that. They catch Angela on the wing, shooting off her mouth."

Angela Carter was the author of such tour de force novels as 'Wise Children' and 'Nights at The Circus'. Since her death twenty years ago, nothing that amounts to a biography has been written about her. Susannah Clapp, her great friend and literary executor, has not written a biography but has brought these postcards to life - Living Doll, Flickerings, Twin Peaks, Chilli - to paint a vivid picture of the novelist at work and at home in London, and also on her earlier travels in America and Japan.

Susannah Clapp reads from her account of Angela Carter,
the dazzling novelist who died twenty years ago. Carter's postcard
entries are read by Claire Skinner and the series abridger is Katrin
Williams.

Producer Duncan Minshull.


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01bmp43)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01bmp45)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at 5.20am.


SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01bmp47)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (b01bmp49)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01bmq4j)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Peter Whittaker, Methodist Minister.


SAT 05:45 iPM (b01bmq4l)
The programme that starts with its listeners presented by Eddie Mair and Jennifer Tracey. On this week's show we hear of one woman's experience of an open marriage and top weatherman Peter Gibbs reads Your News.


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (b01bmp4c)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SAT 06:04 Weather (b01bmp4f)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 06:07 Ramblings (b01bmmzy)
Inspirational Walks

Kent - Octavia Hill Centenary Trail

Clare Balding returns with a new series of Ramblings in which she joins people who have either been inspired, or have inspired others, to walk in the British countryside.
In the first of the series Clare joins keen walker and Director General of the National Trust, Dame Fiona Reynolds, to walk a section of the new Octavia Hill Centenary Trail in Kent. Co-founder of the National Trust, Octavia Hill passionately believed that green space was essential for a healthy lifestyle and spent her life campaigning to save these disappearing open spaces from development.
Beginning at Toys Hill in Kent, one of the places that Octavia managed to save, Clare and Fiona set off to walk part of the Trail which has been created to mark the centenary of Octavia's death. A keen walker herself, Fiona tells Clare why she finds Octavia Hill's legacy so inspirational and why walking and the British landscape is so important to her.

Presenter: Clare Balding
Producer: Helen Chetwynd.


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (b01bsmd8)
Farming Today This Week

As lamb continues to reach record prices in the supermarkets and security tags become commonplace in the chiller aisles, Farming Today hears how sheep farmers are making the most of the boom while it lasts.

Charlotte Smith visits a sheep farm in Leicestershire which is increasing in size as the once struggling industry becomes more profitable. Winter lambing is well underway, and inside, away from the ice and snow, the lambing sheds are warmed by the heat of hundreds of pregnant ewes. Each successful birth means more profit for farmer Martin Greenfield, so for the last ten days he has barely slept as he patrols the sheds, keeping a watchful eye on his Texel sheep.

Farmers need to carefully manage every aspect of health and breeding to maximise profits, and Angela Frain discusses the role of farm vet with former president of the British Veterinary Association Nick Blayney. But for some sheep farmers, careful husbandry will be in vain, as the spread of the newly-discovered Schmallenberg virus continues to threaten their livelihoods.

Presenter: Charlotte Smith Producer: Melvin Rickarby.


SAT 06:57 Weather (b01bmp4h)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 07:00 Today (b01bsmdb)
Morning news and current affairs, presented by Evan Davis and Justin Webb and featuring Hugh Grant on the press (08:31), Lord Carey on faith (08:48), and one girl's experience of being in care (08:18).


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (b01bsmdd)
11/2 Christy Moore, Matt Harvey, build a boat couple, matchmaker, Isle of Wight blanket, Rob Brydon's Inheritance Tracks

Anita Anand with singer/songwriter Christy Moore, poet Matt Harvey, a couple whose house burned down so they built a boat and set sail, a woman who treasures a blanket from the Isle of Wight Festival, a professional matchmaker, and the Inheritance Tracks of actor/comedian Rob Brydon.

Producer: JP Devlin.


SAT 10:00 Excess Baggage (b01bsmdg)
Stone - Sacred sites - Crazy River

John McCarthy talks to artist Emily Young about her travels to find stone for her sculpture, to travel writer Martin Symington about his venture in search of Britain's sacred places both ancient and modern and to Richard Grant about his exploration by inflatable raft of the Malagarasi River in East Africa. Together they consider the extent to which destinations can be spiritual.

Producer: Harry Parker.


SAT 10:30 The Art of Monarchy (b01bsmdj)
Behind the Royal Image

BBC Arts Editor, Will Gompertz, begins an 8-part exploration of almost one thousand years of the British Monarchy as told through the objects of art they collected. In a weekly journey that takes him from the wilds of Balmoral in Scotland to the isolation of Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, from the State Rooms in Buckingham Palace to the Royal Library at Windsor Castle, he'll be selecting choice items from the Royal Collection to see what they betray about the art of statecraft and a successful reign.

In each programme historians, academics and Royal Collection curators shed light on the mystery of kingship and the importance of faith, war, magnificence, progress and the people in the minds of monarchs.

He begins his investigations by looking at some of the most personal royal images in the Collection to see what insights they give us into the lasting power of the monarchy. From the very earliest royal photographs to the revealing portrait of a seductive Victoria, and from the forgotten son of Henry VIII to the manipulated images of George III, Will asks how important understanding their own image has been to the longevity of our Kings and Queens.

Producer: Paul Kobrak.


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (b01bw6rq)
George Parker of The Financial Times looks behind the scenes at Westminster.

The clamour against the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, has reached a new pitch. What's it like to be on the receiving end of anonymous briefings, as he has been? Former Labour minister Jacqui Smith gives a flavour with political journalist Paul Waugh.

There's been no let-up in the war against bankers as the bonus season gets underway in The City. But is a 'truth and reconciliation commission' going too far? A subject for the Conservative, David Ruffley, and the businessman peer, Lord Levene.

More than a hundred Tory MPs are imploring the Prime Minister to repatriate policing powers from the EU. Does that increase tension inside the coalition? The Conservative, Dominic Raab, and the Lib Dems' Tom Brake agree on the need to be practical.

Finally, austerity stretches a long way from Whitehall. The overseas development minister Alan Duncan explains why he's imposing cuts - in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Editor : Peter Mulligan.


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (b01bw6rs)
That windswept outpost of Britishness in the South Atlantic again causes tension between Britain and Argentina as the anniversary of the Falklands War approaches. Fergal Keane is in Buenos Aires where a longing to redeem the islands is deeply felt; Allan Little's in the capital of the Falklands, Port Stanley, finding out they are more concerned there about shortages of fruit, veg and eggs. Mark Lowen's our man in Athens where Greeks are becoming increasingly angry with the way their government's handling their debt crisis. Did you know the Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum's family comes from Lake Garda in northern Italy. No? Well nor did most of the people living there until Christine Finn told them! And Alastair Leithead's been to a village in southern Mexico to see how the government is trying to impress descendants of the great Mayan civilisation.


SAT 12:00 Money Box (b01bw6rv)
Are pensioners the collateral damage in the war against recession?

This week the Bank of England announced it will inject another 50 billion pounds into the economy to bring the total of created cash to 325 billion pounds.

It's called Quantitative Easing. It keeps interest rates low but forces down the pension annuities and pushes up inflation.

So is the price is paid by those relying on savings, the newly retired, and people on low incomes worth the benefits that QE is supposed to bring?

Dr Ros Altmann, Director General of Saga and Graeme Leach, Chief economist at the Institute of Directors talk to Paul Lewis.

Santander has this week announced much greater restrictions on who it will sell interest only mortgages to.

More than a third of outstanding residential mortgages are currently interest only, but this form of borrowing has fallen badly out of favour with the banks in the last few years.

So do these mortgages deserve the somewhat cavalier reputation now attached to them?

Bob Howard reports and Paul talks to David Hollingworth, Associate Director at London and Country.

Exit fees on leasehold retirement homes

Nearly two and half years after the Office of Fair Trading launched an enquiry into charges levied on retirement home owners it has still come to no conclusions and cannot say when it will.

We talk to a listener whose mother died in 2010. She has had to pay more than 2,000 pounds a year for her mother's empty and unsalable flat and another 1,400 pounds if she lets it out.

Paul Lewis talks to Melissa Briggs, Co-Founder of Carlex, the Campaign Against Retirement Leasehold Exploitation and Tish Hanifan, a Barrister and Director of Solicitors for the Elderly.

Insurance woes for some animal lovers

Halifax says its 'life-long' pet insurance does not cover the pet for as long as it lives. It has now scrapped the product sold as "life-long cover" leaving an estimated 50,000 owners trying to reinsure pets which are now older and in some cases have become uninsurable.

The programme hears from Deborah Moran-Sugden who thought she had 'lifelong' pet insurance cover for her Yorkshire terrier Billy who has heart problems.

Paul Lewis also talks to lawyer and compliance expert, Adam Samuel.


SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (b01bmq35)
Series 76

Episode 8

The Times, The Tax Trial and the Balance in the Boardroom: Sandi Toksvig hosts Radio 4's long running panel game in the week that the Times was forced to apologise for email hacking, Harry Redknapp is acquitted of tax evasion and tipped for the England manager job, and David Cameron calls for greater gender equality in the boardroom. In deference to this, the all-male panel of Phill Jupitus, Rick Wakeman and Miles Jupp join series regular Jeremy Hardy, and Rory Morrison reads the news.

Produced by Lyndsay Fenner.


SAT 12:57 Weather (b01bmp4k)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 13:00 News (b01bmp4m)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (b01bmq3c)
Crewkerne, Somerset

Jonathan Dimbleby chairs a live discussion of news and politics from Wadham School, Crewkerne, Somerset, with former Conservative minister, Ann Widdecombe; Labour MP, David Lammy; former leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Menzies Campbell; and columnist at the New Statesman, Mehdi Hasan.

Producer: Victoria Wakely.


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (b01bw6rx)
Call Jonathan Dimbleby on 03700 100 444 or email any.answers@bbc.co.uk or tweet #bbcaq. Panel from Crewkerne in Somerset discussed: Prayers before council meetings and Abu Qatada's deportation, reform of the NHS and the current Health Bill going through the Houses of Parliament, Swedish style quotas for women on company boards and should Harry Redknapp steer clear of the England job?


SAT 14:30 Saturday Drama (b01bw6rz)
Freud: The Case Histories

Dora

Deborah Levy's dramatisation of Sigmund Freud's iconic case study 'Dora' translated by Shaun Whiteside.

1899 finds a father imploring Sigmund Freud to treat his daughter after discovering her intention to end her life. When Dora first comes to Freud she suffers from a loss of voice, a debilitating cough and a limp. Dream analysis is the key to unlocking the causes of Dora's condition, and as Freud's treatment continues, secrets, seduction and betrayal are uncovered.

Freud.....Robert Glenister
Dora.....Olivia Hallinan
Papa.....Gerard McDermott
Mama.....Tracy-Ann Oberman
Herr K/Coachman....Alun Raglan
Frau K..... Susie Riddell
Madame Petrova....Tracy Wiles

Directed by Elizabeth Allard

Deborah Levy's dramatisation of "The Wolfman: A History of Infantile Neurosis" can be heard at the same time next week. Deborah Levy writes fiction, plays and poetry. Her work has been staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company, and she is the author of several novels. Her latest is the acclaimed "Swimming Home" which is soon to be a Book at Bedtime.


SAT 15:30 Soul Music (b01blj2b)
Series 13

Gresford, the Miners' Hymn

The haunting melancholy of Gresford, the Miners' Hymn, is the music explored in this week's programme.

Written by a former miner, Robert Saint, to commemorate the Gresford pit disaster in 1934 it has been played at mining events ever since; most notably at the famous Durham Miners' Gala.

Contributors to the programme include:
(note: since the programme was broadcast, we've been contacted by the daughter of the man who wrote the words to Gresford: his name was George Leslie Lister and he wrote the words in 1970).

Albert Rowlands, now 91, was working in the lamp-room of Gresford colliery when there was a devastating underground explosion. His father was among the men lost.

Peter Crookston is the author of 'The Pitmen's Requiem' a book which explores the history of the great northern coalfield and the life of Robert Saint.

Robert Saint's grandson, David Saint, is the acting principal of the Birmingham Conservatoire and organist at St. Chad's Cathedral in Birmingham. Playing through Gresford on the cathedral organ, he explains what makes the piece work at an emotional level.

Cecil Peacock is a former miner, musician and music teacher. Illustrated by his own rendition of Gresford, he recalls playing Gresford at the funerals of 83 miners who died following the Easington Colliery disaster in 1951.

Max Roberts is the Director of the hugely successful play, The Pitmen Painters, which tells the story of a group of miners in the 1930s who studied art and whose work became internationally renowned. He talks about why he decided to use the hymn Gresford - sung wonderfully in harmony - at the end of the play.

Roy Dickinson attended the famous Durham Miners' Gala every year. As a small boy he was overwhelmed when he walked into the vast space of Durham Cathedral... hung with miners' banners proclaiming socialist slogans... with Gresford as the musical backdrop... bringing tears to the most hardened of miners' eyes.

Canon David Griffiths is a former miner, and was once the priest of Gresford Parish Church. He commissioned a painting to commemorate the disaster and the men who lost their lives.

With thanks to Trevor Sutherland and the Llay Welfare band who kindly allowed us to use their version of Gresford to illustrate David Griffiths' interview.

Producer: Karen Gregor

NB: Some sources say that 266 men lost their lives, some say 265. The figure given in the official report of the Public Inquiry by HM Inspector of mines is 265, which is why this number was quoted in the programme.

This quote from Peter Crookston's book 'The Pitmen's Requiem' provides clarity (thanks to Mr Crookston for permission to quote):

Of the 261 men killed by the explosion in the Dennis Section of the mine, at 2 am on Saturday 22 September 1934, only 11 bodies were recovered. All had died from poisoning by carbon monoxide, a gas known to miners as afterdamp, which is formed following an explosion of firedamp. Three members of a rescue brigade died from the same cause later that day as they tried to find survivors.

'Fire followed the explosion,' wrote the Chief Inspector of Mines, 'and more particularly an extensive fire in the main intake airway.which was fought continuously and unavailingly until the evening of the following day, by which time it was certain that all men unaccounted for must be dead and the conditions as regards the presence of inflammable gas had become imminently dangerous.'

Both shafts of the colliery were capped and sealed off. For three days after the explosion other explosions followed as fire raged through the gas-filled section of the mine, one of them killing a surface worker when he was hit by debris blown out through a capping seal. This brought the total number of dead to 265.

A man died months later and the miners' union said he had also been a victim of the disaster, so his name was put on the memorial in Wales, which is where the figure 266 comes from. But for those actually killed by the explosion, its aftermath and the gas, the figure is 265.


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (b01bw7hj)
Weekend Woman's Hour

Should stalking be a specific offence in England and Wales ? Why only a fifth of women who start training as architects actually qualify as professionals. We catch up with our Women in Business - Jo Pateman, Niki King and Tanya Ewing after a year working with their mentors. The new chair of the British Fertility Society talks to us about the shortage of specialists in male fertility which could mean men's reproductive health is overlooked.
Plus Jane talks to Miss Piggy about her latest outing on the big screen and music from Radio 2 Folk Award nominees, Lady Maisery.

Presented by Jane Garvey.
Editor: Beverley Purcell.


SAT 17:00 PM (b01bw7hl)
Saturday PM

A fresh perspective on the day's news with sports headlines.


SAT 17:30 The Bottom Line (b01bmn0d)
Big Egos

The view from the top of business. Presented by Evan Davis, The Bottom Line cuts through confusion, statistics and spin to present a clearer view of the business world, through discussion with people running leading and emerging companies. The programme is broadcast first on BBC Radio 4 and later on BBC World Service Radio, BBC World News TV and BBC News Channel TV.

Prompted by a comment from a guest in last week's programme that Facebook could never have been created in the UK, Evan and his panel swap thoughts on why the US does so well when it comes to startups compared to Europe. They also discuss whether a big ego helps you get on in business, or gets in the way.

Joining Evan in the studio are Anita Frew, chairman of plastics company Victrex; entrepreneur and investor Richard Farleigh; Michael Spencer, founder and chief executive of money broker ICAP.

Producer: Ben Crighton
Editor: Stephen Chilcott.


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b01bmp4p)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 17:57 Weather (b01bmp4r)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01bmp4t)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (b01bw7hn)
Clive Anderson talks to the actress Penelope Wilton and author Marcus Berkmann. With music from Simone Felice and Fanfarlo.

Clive will be checking in with actress Penelope Wilton, who is starring in a new film about a disparate group of pensioners, whose retirement takes an unconventional turn when they abandon their homeland for a seemingly luxurious sanctuary for 'the elderly and beautiful' in India. 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' is at cinemas from 24th January.

Clive embraces the shed with journalist and author Marcus Berkmann, whose book 'A Shed Of One's Own' ponders middle age and is not just about men losing their hair or waistline, but of gained self confidence and knowledge; celebrating midlife without the crisis.

Allegra McEvedy will be onboard comedian Rhys Darby's spaceship to have an intergalactic chat with him about Armageddon and playing Murray Hewitt, the ineffectual and officious band manager of 'Flight of the Conchords'. Rhys's first UK tour 'This Way to Spaceship' is an autobiographical journey from meek geek to king of cool and takes off in July.

In a league of his own, the perfect gentleman Reece Shearsmith will be talking to Clive about life after 'The League of Gentleman' and life in 'Psychoville'. Reece is currently starring as 'Colin' in Alan Ayckbourn's classic comedy of manners and social embarrassment 'Absent Friends' at the Harold Pinter Theatre, London until 14th April.

With music from Indie popsters Fanfarlo, who perform 'Deconstruction' from their album 'Rooms Filled With Light'.
And Creator of 'The Duke & The King' and former member of 'The Felice Brothers', Simone Felice is back in the Loose Ends studio to perform 'New York Times' from his debut self-titled album.

Producers: Cathie Mahoney and Jane Thurlow.


SAT 19:00 From Fact to Fiction (b01bw7hq)
Series 11

We Are Watching Something Terrible Happening

This week the Natural History Museum acquired a meteorite that came from the surface of Mars. As the violence in Syria escalates, From Fact to Fiction considers what this rock from another world might be able to tell us about life here on earth.

'We are Watching Something Terrible Happening' by poet and writer Lavinia Greenlaw.
Starring Eiry Thomas and Iestyn Jones

Directed by James Robinson

A BBC Cymru Wales Production.


SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (b01bw7hs)
Tom Sutcliffe and his guests novelist Dreda Say Mitchell, historian Kathryn Hughes and theatre writer David Benedict review the week's cultural highlights.

A Dangerous Method is David Cronenberg's film which centres around the relationship between Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) when psychoanalysis was in its infancy in the early 20th century. Keira Knightley plays Sabina Spielrein - a young woman who Jung initially took on as a patient but who went on to play a pivotal role in the development of the science.

Solomon Kugel - hero of Shalom Auslander's debut novel Hope: A Tragedy - is surprised to find someone living in the attic of the farmhouse that he and his family have moved into. He is even more surprised when the old woman in question claims to be Anne Frank.

Susan Hill's classic ghost story The Woman in Black has now been adapted for the screen by Jane Goldman with James Watkins in the director's chair. Daniel Radcliffe stars as Arthur Kipps, a young lawyer grieving for his wife who died in childbirth. He is sent to a remote village to settle the affairs of an elderly widow who has recently died. The villagers try to dissuade him from visiting the mansion where she used to live and he soon finds out why.

Lucian Freud Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery in London features work by the artist from the 1940s through to the painting that he was working on at the time of his death last year. It is the first time that a major exhibition of his portraits has been put together.

Homeland is a new television drama by the creators of 24. Damien Lewis stars as Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody who has been missing in Iraq for eight years but is discovered when special forces attack a terrorist camp. He returns home to a hero's welcome, but CIA officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) suspects that he may have been turned against the US during his captivity.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod.


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (b01bw7hv)
The Lost World of the Suffragettes

In the 1970s, historian Sir Brian Harrison embarked on a huge project to record the experiences of women who had been part of the UK suffragette movement in the early part of the 20th Century.

The audio files - 'Oral Evidence on the Suffragette and Suffragist Movements: The Brian Harrison Interviews' - are now housed by the Women's Library, London Metropolitan University.

The 205 interviews Sir Brian carried out between 1974 and 1981 have never been broadcast before.

Here BBC Radio 4 is given exclusive access to the archive which gives a fresh insight into the lost world of the suffragettes.

In this Archive on 4, Presenter Dan Snow, whose great, great grandfather was Liberal Prime Minister Lloyd George, listens through the tapes with Sir Brian, Baroness Brenda Dean. Director of Liberty Shami Chakrabarti and suffragette historian Elizabeth Crawford.

Recordings include graphic testimony of women who were beaten by police, force-fed and drugged while on hunger strike.

In one extract, one former suffragette recalls: "I didn't make a sound whatever they did to me because I knew others had to be forcibly fed after me and I didn't want to frighten them. When they injured my nose I screamed so loud they heard it all over the prison."

The interviews also give fresh insight into the splits that existed at the heart of the movement, about how ordinary campaigners felt about the contrasting approaches of Emeline, Sylvia and Christabel Pankhurst - and how the women that formed the suffragette movement viewed late 20th Century feminism.

Producer: Ashley Byrne
A Made in Manchester Production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 21:00 Jonathan Swift - Gulliver's Travels (b01bkyly)
1 The Voyage to Lilliput

Gulliver is shipwrecked on the Island of Lilliput where the natives are tiny people living in a miniature society.

With his unique overview of this realm, Gulliver discovers a world of petty politics and small minds. Coerced into a war between two nations who disagree on the best way to eat boiled eggs, Gulliver finds himself betrayed by friends and battered by enemies - escape is his only option if he wants to survive!

Jonathan Swift's classic satire starring Arthur Darvill as Gulliver.

Mary …. Bethan Walker
Gulliver …. Arthur Darvill
Flimnap …. Richard Nichols
Bolgolam, Hurgo …. Sam Dale
Richard Sympson, Reldresal …. Matthew Gravelle
King of Lilliput …. Chris Pavlo
and Judith Faultless

Gulliver's adventures in Lilliput are hilarious, disturbing and profound. This is a story of dishonest politicians, mindless ceremony and wars based on unconvincing arguments. A satire as potent now as it ever was!

Gulliver's Travels quickly became a classic. The book has become not only the defining work of its author but also of its genre - a landmark in English Literature to which all satirists today can trace a heritage.

Adapted in three-parts by Matthew Broughton.

A BBC Cymru/Wales production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in February 2012.


SAT 22:00 News and Weather (b01bmp4w)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.


SAT 22:15 Moral Maze (b01bmrkt)
Morality of Monarchy

In more than a thousand years of English history only one monarch has reigned for longer than Queen Elizabeth II. The Diamond Jubilee will be a chance for the nation to celebrate her remarkable reign of 60 years, but also a chance for the nation to reflect on the moral purpose of the institution of the monarchy itself. In 1952 the UK was a very different country. It's not just a question of deference; today our social, religious, cultural and moral climate have changed almost beyond recognition. Yet in the midst of all of this upheaval Queen Elizabeth has remained a constant; to her supporters a beacon of dedication to the virtues of duty, honour and selfless service - virtues which are sadly lacking in our "what's in it for me society". If these are virtues are they confused, or even corrupted by coupling them to the monarchy, an institution that for many people is rooted in the social mores of the past? And is it any longer tenable to say that our nationhood - or rather our nations - can still somehow be quasi-mystically embodied in the institution of the monarchy?

Witnesses: Dickie Arbiter - Royal commentator, Former press spokesman for the Queen, Joan Smith - Author, columnist for The Independent, Stephen Haseler - Director of the Global Policy Institute, London Metropolitan University, Vernon Bogdanor - Research Professor, Institute of Contemporary History, King's College London.

Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk with Michael Portillo, Claire Fox, Kenan Malik and Matthew Taylor.


SAT 23:00 Brain of Britain (b01blgny)
(13/17)
Can you remember who was awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year trophy for 2011, just a few weeks ago? Russell Davies puts the contestants on the spot in Brain of Britain, and you can hear how they get on in this week's programme.

The time-honoured general knowledge quiz reaches the semi-final stage this week, with four competitors who have come unscathed through the heats continuing their progress towards the title Brain of Britain 2012.

The first batch of semi-finalists are from County Fermanagh, Merseyside, London and Sussex.

Producer: Paul Bajoria.


SAT 23:30 Poetry Please (b01bkym2)
Roger McGough with a rich mixture of poetry requests read by John Sessions and Lisa Kerr.

Poems of temptation, and of lost loves and places, featuring a couple of snakes, a rusty fridge and a talking bull walrus. With W.S. Graham's lovely poem of longing for a favourite place from childhood, Loch Thom, and Kathryn Simmonds reads her own poems, including a love poem about a couple united by their dislike of the film The Fifth Element. There's a dash of acidity from Philip Larkin and a healthy dose of danger in a couple of snake poems by Denise Levertov and D.H. Lawrence. There's also a deceptive villanelle by Elizabeth Bishop and an unlikely conversation in a poem by the late Canadian poet Alden Nowlen.

Producer: Sarah Langan.



SUNDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2012

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b01bsgst)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


SUN 00:30 Deep Country (b01bwd37)
Episode 3

Neil Ansell is living in a very remote part of the Welsh countryside, on his own, with no electricity, gas or water, and only the wildlife around him for company. He survives the gales but has to face another storm - his own vulnerability. Read by Matthew Gravelle.

Abridged by Willa King.
Directed by Emma Bodger
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01bsgsw)
The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01bsgsy)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01bsgt0)
The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b01bsgt2)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b01bwd39)
The bells from St Martin's in Desford, Leicestershire.


SUN 05:45 Four Thought (b01bm0py)
Series 2

Gordon Bridger: Re-thinking Foreign Aid

Gordon Bridger draws on a lifetime's experience as an economist in developing countries to argue that we should spend overseas aid differently to stop it doing more harm than good.

He urges an end to direct transfers of money to governments as he fears inadequate audit can too easily allow misuse of funds.


Four Thought is a series of talks which combine thought provoking ideas and engaging storytelling.

Recorded live in front of an audience at the RSA in London, speakers air their thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect our culture and society.

Producer: Sheila Cook.


SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b01bsgt4)
The latest national and international news.


SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b01bwd3c)
When the Chips Are Down

Mark Tully asks what gives us courage to do what we ought to when things go against us. How do we decide what we should stand up for, and how do we cope if we fail to do so?

Using examples from 9/11, South African Apartheid, Nazi Germany, McCarthyism in the United States , the New Testament and his own experience, Mark gives examples of those who did meet their own expectations of how they would behave under pressure, and those who let themselves down. But he warns against any judgement against those who fail to stand up and be counted when the chips are down, asking "what would you have done under the circumstances".

In an interview with Vaughan Roberts, author, and Vicar of St Ebbes church in Oxford, Mark seeks the Christian perspective on how we might like to behave in extremis, and our responses should we fall short. And drawing inspiration from literature, as well as music from the likes of Simon and Garfunkel, JS Bach and, surprisingly, Tex Ritter he asks if we can really ever be truly heroic when the chips are down. And can we forgive ourselves if we are not.

Presented by Mark Tully

Producer: Adam Fowler
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 06:35 Living World (b01bwd3f)
Ponds in Winter

What goes on under the surface of a pond in winter? To find out , Miranda Krestovnikoff joins Jeremy Biggs, director of Pond Conservation for a special Living world devoted to the ponds of the New Forest. Jeremy has chosen these as some of the finest of their type because they are keep open by grazing ponies and deer, don't suffer from pollution from roads or agricultural run-off , and are some of the cleanest ponds in the United Kingdom. When they go pond-dipping , kneeling in muddy water in chest-waders, he proves it by finding some of our rarest plants and animals including the mud snail which thrives in shallow pools whose margins dry out in summer . Damselfly larvae prowl among the plants and there are even newts active in January , animals which have grown too slowly in the previous summer and are spending the winter as youngsters. Best of all, in the shallows of the pond are clumps of the year's first frogspawn, in mid -January.
This pond contains water all year round, but temporary ponds are a speciality of the New Forest. At Burley, Jeremy shows Miranda a roadside pool which fills with water in winter but is a grassy hollow in summer. Here they dip for one of Britain's rarest animals , the delicate fairy shrimp which can only survive in pools which dry out. These beautiful creatures are some of the oldest living animals on the planet, virtually unchanged in appearance from their ancestors 400 million years ago. Their eggs can survive in soil until the rains fill their ponds again in autumn and a new generation hatches to swim safe from fishes in the New Forest's temporary ponds.

Producer: Brett Westwood
Editor: Julian Hector.


SUN 06:57 Weather (b01bsgt6)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b01bsgt8)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (b01bwd3h)
William Crawley with the religious and ethical news of the week. Moral arguments and perspectives on stories familiar and unfamiliar.

As Syria faces some of the worst violence since the crisis began William speaks to Father Nadime Nassar, a Syrian Anglican priest, about how the violence is effecting Christians and faith groups across Syria.

In the 20 years since the end of the Soviet Union, Russia has seen a religious revival. Orthodox Christianity is now at the heart of state, and Islam plays a major role in many of Russia's republics. But less noticed is the flourishing of the Jewish faith. Peter van Dyk reports from Moscow.

The Ugandan Anti Homosexuality bill may remove the death penalty and change to life imprisonment for homosexual offences. Collin Coward from Changing Attitudes calls for the church to speak out.

Gavin Drake reports from this week's meeting of the Church of England's General Synod where issues around Women Bishops were debated.

The Tablet's Vatican correspondent Robert Mickens joins William from Rome on the Catholic Church's global conference on child abuse.

This year Sikhs will be marking 150 years in the UK. Peter Bance joins Trevor Barnes at the the oldest established Sikh place of worship in Europe - the Central Gudwara in London.

Matt Wells reports on the latest religious twists in the race for the Republican nomination ahead of the USA elections.

A high court ruling makes Council Prayers unlawful - Dr Dave Landrum from the Evangelical Alliance and Andrew Copson from the British Humanist Association discuss.

Series Producer: Amanda Hancox.


SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b01bwd3k)
Samaritans

Linda Nolan presents the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Samaritans.

Reg Charity: 219432

To Give:

- Freephone 0800 404 8144

- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal, mark the back of the envelope Samaritans.

- Give Online www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/appeal.


SUN 07:57 Weather (b01bsgtb)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b01bsgtd)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b01bwd3m)
"Choose joy!" An act of worship live from Gloucester Salvation Army corps exploring St Paul's words of encouragement for us to rise above our circumstances. The service is led by Lieut-Colonel George Pilkington, with preacher Lieut Clare Allman. The music is from the International Staff Songsters directed by Dorothy Nancekievill. Producer: Simon Vivian.


SUN 08:50 A Point of View (b01bmq3f)
Anniversary Cornucopia

Awareness of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens may be widespread but fewer may know 2012 marks the two hundredth anniversary of the death of the only British prime minister to be assassinated.

Producer: Sheila Cook.


SUN 08:57 Weather (b01bsgtg)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b01bwd3p)
Paddy O'Connell presents news and conversation about the big stories of the week.


SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b01bwd3r)
See daily episodes for detailed synopsis

Writer ..... Tim Stimpson
Director ..... Kim Greengrass
Editor ..... Vanessa Whitburn

Jill Archer ..... Patricia Greene
Alistair Lloyd .....Michael Lumsden
Shula Hebden Lloyd ..... Judy Bennett
Ruth Archer ..... Felicity Finch
Tony Archer ..... Colin Skipp
Pat Archer ..... Patricia Gallimore
Helen Archer ..... Louiza Patikas
Tom Archer ..... Tom Graham
Brian Aldridge ..... Charles Collingwood
Jennifer Aldridge ..... Angela Piper
Christine Barford ..... Lesley Saweard
Jolene Perks ..... Buffy Davis
Fallon Rogers ..... Joanna Van Kampen
Joe Grundy ...... Edward Kelsey
Eddie Grundy ..... Trevor Harrison
Neil Carter ..... Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter ..... Charlotte Martin
Christopher Carter ..... William Sanderson-Thwaite
Alice Carter ..... Hollie Chapman
Lynda Snell ..... Carole Boyd
Jazzer McCreary ..... Ryan Kelly
Alan Franks ..... John Telfer
Jim Lloyd ..... John Rowe.


SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b01bwd3t)
James Corden

James Corden, actor and writer of Gavin & Stacey, is Kirsty Young's castaway is the actor and writer .

As a child he longed to act - he found early success in Alan Bennett's play The History Boys and became a household name for the TV show he devised and co-wrote, Gavin and Stacey. These days he's starring in the West End in the comedy One Man, Two Guvnors. It is due to transfer to Broadway in the spring and he says: "I'm well aware that this could well be the best part that I ever play on stage - it's a gift for any actor who has any interest in comedy. It feels like all my dreams come true."

Record: Days Like this - Van Morrison
Book: A book to learn the piano
Luxury: A piano

Producer: Leanne Buckle.


SUN 12:00 Just a Minute (b01blgp6)
Series 62

Episode 1

Nicholas Parsons presents the first of the series that marked the 45th birthday of Just a Minute.

In this show panellists Paul Merton, Ross Noble, Jenny Eclair and Gyles Brandreth are all asked to talk on subjects given out in the first series in 1967.

Paul Merton is asked to describe what he does When I Wear a Top Hat, Ross Noble explores the topic of The English Nanny, Gyles Brandreth explains How to Perform a Cornish Floral Dance and Jenny Eclair reveals all she knows about Knitting a Cablestitch Jumper.

Producer: Claire Jones.


SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b01bwd3w)
Comfort Food

In these uncomfortable times, Sheila Dillon asks what role does food play in giving comfort?

Producer: Sara Parker.


SUN 12:57 Weather (b01bsgtj)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b01bwddg)
Edward Stourton presents the latest national and international news, including an in-depth look at events around the world. Email: wato@bbc.co.uk; twitter: #theworldthisweekend.


SUN 13:30 Europe's Choice (b01bwddj)
Deeper Not Wider

Allan Little looks at key moments and issues which brought the EU to the current crisis, focusing on the events of the last 18 months.

The latest crisis has exposed new resentments and divisions within the EU. Countries like Greece and Italy have had both prime ministers and austerity measures imposed upon them by an executive in Brussels that voters did not directly elect. Other member states like Finland, who survived its own period of recession and austerity in 1991 without being bailed out by the EU, are seeing the rise of nationalist movements which are resisting the increased control in Brussels. There is a belief amongst some of them that this crisis was engineered as a means of deepening the grip of the European institutions. Opinion polls in Turkey show the lowest support for EU membership ever. Even Germany - one of Europe's greatest advocates and beneficiaries - is expanding its exports to non-traditional markets like China. What will the EU look like in 10 years time?

Producer: Jane Beresford.


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b01bmq2v)
Denbigh, North Wales

Peter Gibbs chairs a gardening Q&A with the North Wales branch of the Cottage Garden Society. In addition, a report from a Welsh nursery with a long history of tropical plant-collecting.
Bunny Guinness, Pippa Greenwood and Matthew Biggs are on the panel.

In addition, how to perk up a droopy bouquet; and warding off the white rot, how to prevent an attack.

Questions addressed in the programme:
Plant suggestions for a Welsh bouquet:
Suggestions included: Myrtle, Hedera helix 'Poetica' or Poet's Ivy, Lily of the Valley.

My garlic always falls victim to white rot. How can I prevent it? The panel recommended the following garlic varieties for their resistance to white rot: Albigensian, Solent White and Cristo.

Which climbing edibles can I grow on my archway? I already grow runner beans and sweet peas. Suggestions included cucumbers.

Should we adjust pruning regimes in light of fluctuating weather and season length?

Why are the leaves of my Cycad going white?

Im growing crocus, daffs and tulips in pots with compost. Do I need to feed them? Can I plant them out in the Autumn?

Why has my 25-year old Tulip Tree has never flowered?

Why do my foxtail lilies only produce bulbs and no flowers.

What can I plant in my garden for a mid-July wedding. No yellow or orange please. Suggestions included Lavender and Sweet peas.

Produced by Lucy Dichmont & Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 14:45 Key Matters (b00tt535)
Series 2

A Major

Ivan Hewett talks to pianist and conductor Jonathan Cohen about the key of A Major, a key often associated with optimism and even ecstasy.


SUN 15:00 Jonathan Swift - Gulliver's Travels (b01bwddl)
2 The Voyage to Brobdingnag

Gulliver's adventures continue when he finds himself in Brobdingnag - a land where the inhabitants are enormous!

Here, as a miniature man, Gulliver must fight for survival against rats the size of dogs, a dwarf who is 40 foot high, and the ridicule and humiliation of a scornful court.

Jonathan Swift's classic satire starring Arthur Darvill as Gulliver.

Gulliver …. Arthur Darvill
King …. Sam Dale
Richard Sympson …. Matthew Gravelle
Mary …. Bethan Walker
Dwarf …. Gareth Pierce
Farmer's Wife …. Claire Cage
The Queen …. Lynne Seymour

With his uniquely close-up view, Gulliver sees the people (even the great beauties) as if under a microscope - and they are dirty, stinking and disgusting. He becomes increasingly horrified by humankind, stranded in a frightening land where his only ally is an innocent child. Once again, escape is imperative - if he doesn't, he won't survive...

As an exploration of of man's vanity and complacency, Gulliver's second voyage is an acute satire - as relevant today as ever. Beyond that, it is also a rattling good adventure story - a man lost, swashbuckling his way through manifold giant-sized dangers, desperate to find a way back home.

Adapted by Matthew Broughton.

A BBC Cymru/Wales production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in February 2012.


SUN 16:00 Open Book (b01bwddn)
William Boyd talks to Mariella Frostrup

In a special programme, award winning author William Boyd discusses his latest novel Waiting for Sunrise. Set between 1913 and 1915, it embraces a world of sex, psychoanalysis, scandal and spies, following the story of a young actor Lysander Rief, from the analysts armchair in Vienna, to the mud and trenches of the First World War and the seedy underworld of traitors in the corridors of Whitehall.


SUN 16:30 Poetry Please (b01bwddq)
To stem the syrupiness of Valentine's day, Roger McGough presents a selection of spine chilling poetry. Jealousy rears its ugly head with dire consequences in two sinister poems by Robert Browning. Roger recalls adolescent days spent in the company of a German girl called Ursula, who would recite poems by Goethe in German. So to indulge him a little, and to enjoy the poem as the poet wrote it, guest Iris Pflueger-Bassett reads Der Erlkönig in German. John Sessions and Lisa Kerr read Walter Scott's translation of it, with a little help from a well-known musical setting of the poem by Schubert. The refrain of 'Nevermore' haunts the airwaves in Poe's classic poem The Raven and a little girl goes missing in a snow-storm in a poem by Wordsworth. The other readers are Timothy West, Clive Swift and Catherine Harvey.

Producer: Sarah Langan.


SUN 17:00 File on 4 (b01blzkx)
BioSecurity

Dutch and American scientists have succeeded in mutating a deadly bird-flu virus to make it easily transmissible to humans. If it got out, it could start a fatal epidemic. They keep it securely locked away in their laboratories, but want to publish the biological recipe for making it. In an unprecedented move, the U.S. government is pressing them to keep the details of their experiments secret for fear that bio-terrorists could use the organism to kill hundreds of millions of people.
In the UK there are more than 300 laboratories working on the second highest danger level organisms such as tuberculosis. In 10 of them, they work at the highest risk level on viruses like ebola and the most deadly strains of flu. Every year there are hundreds of biological related incidents reported to the Health and Safety Executive but while the headline numbers are published the details are shrouded in secrecy and rarely come to light.
Meanwhile, a rapidly developing branch of science known as 'synthetic biology' offers dramatic possibilities for developing new vaccines and targeting many lethal diseases. But does it also increase the risk that newly-created organisms could be used for harmful purposes as the necessary research techniques spread out from authorised laboratories to a network of DIY enthusiasts?
There is growing concern that that biological techniques are advancing so quickly that they outstrip the mechanisms to control them. The FBI has tasked a unit to monitor the DIY enthusiasts but admits it only has limited resources to do so.
Could genetic mutation of pathogens become as commonplace as home-brewing? And how well protected is the UK against biological threats?
Reporter : Gerry Northam
Producer : Nicola Dowling
Editor : David Ross.


SUN 17:40 From Fact to Fiction (b01bw7hq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b01bsgtl)
The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 17:57 Weather (b01bsgtn)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01bsgtq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b01bwdds)
This week a glimpse of the Victorian London that spawned the Dickens characters we came to know and love, and a visit to the little town that prides itself on being Ireland's capital of love. Memories - unheard 'til now of the suffragette movement - and of the Gresford Pit disaster. The sounds in a painting and the enduring appeal of good music and bad poetry .. Just some of the ingredients in this week's Pick of the Week with Liz Barclay.

Your World: Lisdoonvarna - Ireland's Love Capital - World Service
The Rocky Road From Dublin: 50 Years of The Dubliners - Radio 2
The Essay - Radio 3
Nature - Radio 4
Dickens in London - Radio 4
Words and Music - Radio 3
Archive on 4: The Lost World of the Suffragettes - Radio 4
Just a Minute - Radio 4
Sport and The British - Radio 4
Mark Thomas: the Manifesto - Radio 4
Famed for its Knitting - Radio 4
In Living Memory - Radio 4
Soul Music - Radio 4

Email: potw@bbc.co.uk or www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/potw
Producer: Cecile Wright.


SUN 19:00 The Archers (b01bwdhf)
Neil's only got the landing to paint at 6, The Green but Tracy hasn't even started on the children's room yet. When she finally gets going, she doesn't like the colour. It's greener than she thought, and after last night's heavy session with her friend, it's making her feel sick. Neil insists she gets on with it. Tracy asks Neil about Kylie's planned visit. She thinks it'll be nice to see her again.
David tells Pat, Tony and Tom about a local NFU initiative to get more seasonal British produce into the wholesale markets, and gives Pat a few contacts. He also persuades Tony to join him for a quick drink, which Pat and Tom agree will do him good.
At the pub, Tony talks to David about their never-ending struggle. David agrees it's tough at the moment and admits he and Ruth considered getting rid of the sheep and converting to a New Zealand system. David sees talking about private business stuff as a sign of how bad things are.
Back home, Tony wants to get a fallen tree sorted but Pat's got lunch ready. She tries to discuss David's news regarding the markets initiative but tired Tony wants to deal with one thing at a time, starting with lunch.


SUN 19:15 Meet David Sedaris (b01211y4)
Series 2

Me Talk Pretty One Day; It's Catching

The multi-award winning American essayist brings his wit and charm to BBC Radio 4 for a series of audience readings. This week the perils of an American learning French in Paris in "Me Talk Pretty One Day" and an essay dealing with a friend's concern for cleanliness; "It's Catching".

Producer: Steve Doherty
A Boomerang production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 19:45 Sussex Scandals (b019rgtf)
Emma Carew

Written by John Peacock.

At Uppark, Amy Lyons caused a scandal by dancing naked on Sir Harry Featherstonehaugh's dining table. As Lady Hamilton, 32 years later, the repercussions come back to haunt her.

These are three short stories narrated by characters involved in notorious scandals that originated in Sussex: Uppark (Lady Hamilton), Crawley (John George Haigh's girl friend) and Brighton (Katie O' Shea's son, Gerard), ranging from 1815 to 1953. The fall of a woman who revelled in her scandals, another who was forced to face the truth that her lover was a murderer, and the son of Katie O' Shea defending his father during his mother's notorious affair with Charles Stewart Parnell.

Director: Celia de Wolff
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 20:00 Feedback (b01bmq31)
Have you ever settled down to listen to a programme on iPlayer - only to find that the last two minutes have been chopped off? Or had to wade through several minutes of unrelated content before your chosen programme begins?

In this week's Feedback Roger Bolton asks Andrew Scott, Head of Radio and Music for Future Media, why iPlayer editing is letting listeners down.

There are five months still to go until the Olympics, but have Radio 4 listeners already had enough of sport? Following Clare Balding's series Sport and the British - and her appearance on Midweek - Roger hears from listeners who want to keep the station a sport-free zone.

And the Feedback Listening Club returns, with three listeners gathering to discuss Radio 4's Saturday Live. If you'd like to take part in a Listening Club, please contact the programme.

Plus a new Radioswap begins, as teacher Deborah Mole agrees to swap BBC 6Music for her student Kevin's favourite station, 1Xtra. Tune in next week to find out how they get on.

Presenter: Roger Bolton

Producers: Karen Pirie and Kate Taylor
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 20:30 Last Word (b01bmq2z)
Angela Culme-Seymour, Kazimierz Smolen, Nigel Doughty, Don Cornelius, Antoni Tapies

Matthew Bannister on

The socialite Angela Culme-Seymour who married a series of aristocrats and had a string of affairs in artistic and literary circles..

Kazimierz Smolen, the former Auschwitz inmate who became director of the camp museum and lived there for thirty-five years..

Nigel Doughty the wealthy private equity investor who ploughed millions into Nottingham Forest Football Club. Justice Secretary Ken Clarke pays tribute.

Spanish artist Antoni Tapies who was one of the pioneers of European abstract art

And Don Cornelius whose American TV show "Soul Train" brought black music and culture into the mainstream. We hear from producer and musician Nile Rodgers.


SUN 21:00 Money Box (b01bw6rv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:00 on Saturday]


SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b01bwd3k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:55 today]


SUN 21:30 Analysis (b01bljwp)
Sheikh Rachid Ghannouchi

Should the world fear the rise of political Islam in the newly democratic Middle East? The Arab Spring has thrust the ideas and ideology of one man into the centre of this crucial question. Before the revolutions began, Sheikh Rachid Gannouchi lived in Hemel Hempstead and was one of the world's leading Islamist ideologues, urging the Muslim Brotherhood to accommodate modate the ideas of secularism, democracy and acceptance of equal political rights for non-Muslims. But after the region begun to rise up against dictators, he has become even more powerful and his ideas have been tested as never before. He returned to his native Tunisia in 2011 and is now spiritual leader of Tunisia's largest political party, but his influence extends far beyond North Africa. As the Muslim Brotherhood and its ideological brethren try and find a place in a democratic world, his controversial ideas have won acolytes in the Arab World, Turkey and South East Asia.

For Analysis, the BBC Radio 4 series that probes the ideas that shape the world, Owen Bennett-Jones travels to Tunis to meet this controversial thinker and examines his ideas and influence.

The documentary features a full length interview with Sheikh Rachid Gannouchi.

In addition, Owen interviews Dr Maha Azzam, of Chatham House in London; Anas Altikriti, Islamist intellectual and son of the former leader of the Iraqi Muslim Brotherhood; Wan Saiful Wan Jan, a member of the Islamic Party of Malaysia; Abdel Kader Heshimi, leader of a group of Salafi Muslim students in Tunis, and a group of feminist law students in Tunis.

Producer: Mukul Devichand.


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b01bwdgs)
Carolyn Quinn talks to Benedict Brogan, Deputy Editor of the Daily Telegraph, about the big political stories. They discuss the government's planned reform of the health service in England and the forthcoming Budget.

This week's panel of MPs consists of the Conservative Kwasi Kwarteng and Labour's Pat McFadden.

Leala Padmanabhan reports on the disagreement within the Liberal Democrat Party about the decision not to put up official candidates in the first elections for police commissioners due to take place in November.

Dr Matt Qvortrup explains the legal arguments over the planned referendum on Scottish independence ahead of a meeting between the Secretary of State for Scotland and the First Minister for Scotland.

Programme Editor: Terry Dignan.


SUN 22:45 What the Papers Say (b01bwdgv)
Episode 90

Steve Richards of The Independent analyses how the newspapers are covering the biggest stories in Westminster and beyond.


SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b01bmn00)
Francine Stock talks to David Cronenberg about his new film A Dangerous Method, a study of the birth of psychoanalysis and the relationship between Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

This is not the first time the Austrian neurologist has been portrayed on film. Sandra Hebron, film academic and trainee psychotherapist, delves in to Freud's celluloid past.

Director James Watkins discusses working with Daniel Radcliffe in his new film, The Woman in Black.

And co-creator of the Flight of the Conchords, James Bobin, on reinventing The Muppets.


SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b01bwd3c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today]



MONDAY 13 FEBRUARY 2012

MON 00:00 Midnight News (b01bsgvc)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b01bm0pk)
Obesity - Cruel Optimism

We inhabit a precarious world of crisis and calamity which mocks the post war promise of upward mobility, social equality and job security. We remain attached to the unachievable fantasies of the good life, even though they are thwarted at every turn. That's the cheering claim of the cultural theorist Lauren Berlant. She and Laurie are joined by the sociologist, Professor Bev Skeggs, to analyse what she calls the 'cruel optimism' of contemporary life.
Also on the programme, Karen Throsby talks of her ethnographic study of an obesity clinic and the hidden moral element to every aspect of the procedure.
Producer: Charlie Taylor.


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b01bwd39)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01bsgvf)
The latest shipping forecast.


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01bsgvh)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01bsgvk)
The latest shipping forecast.


MON 05:30 News Briefing (b01bsgvm)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01bwdlz)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Peter Whittaker, Methodist Minister.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (b01bwdm1)
The McDonald's restaurant at the Olympic Park in London will be the largest of its kind on earth, measuring 3,000 square metres with space for 1,500 diners over 2 floors. But at what was billed as the most 'sustainable games ever', there is concern from the National Farmers Union who say the company's status as a Olympic Partner Organisation means it has been able to sidestep organisers aims to serve up predominately British produce. The company and LOCOG disagree. Charlotte Smith investigates the claims...

For the past few months, Farming Today has been following the life of dairy cow - Cora Bradley 2-8-3. The wait is now over and Cora could be pregnant again. Sarah Swadling is on the Somerset farm with the vet as they await the results of the pregnancy diagnosis.

And there is a look ahead to the first in the new series of Costing The Earth on BBC 4. Over the past 10 years the number of wild deer has doubled to an estimated 2 million animals. Tom Heap is deep in the Suffolk woods to assess how much impact they have on the countryside.

This programme was presented by Charlotte Smith and produced in Birmingham by Angela Frain.


MON 05:57 Weather (b01bsgvp)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.


MON 06:00 Today (b01bwdm3)
Presented by John Humphrys and Justin Webb. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (b01bwdm5)
Elizabethans: Max Hastings, Mary Beard, John Guy and Lola Young

On Start the Week Andrew Marr considers the 'great man' view of history, and how far an age can be represented by its leaders and innovators. Mary Beard looks back to ancient times when history and biography were considered two distinct genres. While John Guy returns to the reign of Elizabeth I, Max Hastings and Lola Young give an overview of the modern Elizabethan age.
Producer: Katy Hickman.


MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b01bwmvy)
Europe in the Looking Glass

Episode 1

Europe in the Looking Glass is Robert Byron's travel classic, recounting a car journey across Europe in 1926, and providing a mirror on events and nationhood both then and today. Byron (a descendant of the poet) found acclaim as the author of The Road to Oxiana - an account of a trip to Afghanistan and Persia.

It tells the story of three young Englishmen travelling across the neighbouring continent in an unreliable car - encountering the rise of Italian fascism and the anarchy of Greece along the way. In other words, the book offers a compelling mirror on Europe today (a world of technocrats and populists...) with the additional benefit of being witty, colourful and full of apercus about such types as loud American tourists and unwashed German backpackers.

The conclusion offers the travellers (and all of us) a new perspective on their homeland as well as the countries and cultures they explore together.

In part one, they leave Grimsby and motor through northern Germany.

Read by Rupert Penry-Jones.

Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01bwdm7)
Alex Polizzi

David Cameron has said that the time has come to stigmatise those fathers who are not willing to support their children, both financially and emotionally. So, is it time to tackle those 'dead beat-dads' who are not interested in shouldering their responsibilities?

Women are still under-represented in the surgical specialties despite having been in the majority qualifying from medical school for the last 15 years. We hear from two consultant surgeons, to try and find out why they believe only 7% of surgeons are female.

Forget Tulip Fever, for most of the nineteenth century, Britain was firmly in the grip of the lesser known 'Fern Fever'. And as botany was considered to be a suitable scientific pursuit for women, they were at the forefront of the craze, writing and illustrating much of the popular literature that sprang up around it. Jane Garvey went to meet Dr Sarah Whittingham, the author of a new book on the subject, at Chelsea Physic Garden.


MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01bwdr3)
HighLites

Episode 1

by Steve Chambers and Phil Nodding.

1/5 Bridgford is blessed with the meanest hairdresser in Britain, and the stupidest. Deciding against Shirley's offer of dog-clipping, Bev resorts to desperate measures to save the salon.

Cast
Bev ..... Lorraine Ashbourne
Shirley ..... Rosie Cavaliero
John ..... Carl Prekopp
Enid ..... Nicola Sloane
Butt ..... James Lailey

Directed by Jessica Dromgoole

The enduring comedy of Bev, the bitter and vindictive Chief Stylist, played by Lorraine Ashbourne, and Shirley, her fond and foolish assistant, played by Rosie Cavaliero.

Bev's lifestyle has brought the salon to the point of bankruptcy, and she'll do anything to keep it afloat.

Originally piloted as an Afternoon Play (repeated Friday 10 February 2.15pm Radio 4), HighLites is now moving to the Woman's Hour Drama slot, with another series commissioned for next year.


MON 11:00 The Degner Defection (b01byhrg)
Fifty years ago a dashing, ultra-talented motorbike racer planned to escape from Communist East Germany at the height of the Cold War.

Award winning presenter Stephen Evans tells how Degner, a hero in his homeland, risked everything including the life of his young family to flee to the west, taking with him ground breaking technology developed deep behind the Iron Curtain. All that stood in his way was an increasingly repressive regime, the notorious Stasi and the building of a certain wall that changed the course of European history.


MON 11:30 Agatha Christie (b01bwfy6)
Sparkling Cyanide

Iris

by Agatha Christie
adapted by Joy Wilkinson
Part 3: Iris

Now George Barton has died in exactly the same way as his wife did a year earlier, by drinking cyanide-laced champagne, Colonel Race steps in to investigate. The second death throws the first verdict of suicide into question...

IRIS ..... Naomi Frederick
ANTHONY ..... Colin Tierney
RUTH ..... Amanda Drew
COLONEL RACE ..... Sean Baker
STEPHEN ..... James Lailey
SANDRA ..... Tracy Wiles
LUCILLA ..... Adjoa Andoh
GIUSEPPE ..... Gerard McDermott
CHLOE ..... Alex Rivers

directed by Mary Peate.


MON 12:00 You and Yours (b01bwfy8)
A TV channel devoted to shoes

A new website offering to slash the cost of student accommodation when you choose a university away from your home town. Are unpaid internships exploitative or a great way for young people to get a foot in the door? Would you fancy working for free for ten months, with no job offer at the end of it? And - would you watch a TV channel totally dedicated to shoes? One UK retailer is betting that enough of you will tune in to make it millions.

Presented by Julian Worricker
Produced by Paul Waters.


MON 12:57 Weather (b01bsgvr)
The latest weather forecast.


MON 13:00 World at One (b01bwfyb)
Martha Kearney presents national and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.


MON 13:45 Sport and the British (b01bwfyd)
Rugby's Great Split

As Clare Balding continues to explore the unique relationship Britain has had with sport, in today's programme she tells a tale of lies, witch hunts, bigotry and the north/south divide.This isn't the story of a battle-torn country, but of a civil-war within a sport with rugby becoming a symbol of class division and splitting in two.
From the home of The Wigan Wanderers, Professor Tony Collins of The International Centre for Sports History and Culture at De Montfort University explains the birth of Ruby League.
It happened in the late 19th century, a clash between those who could afford to be gentlemen amateurs and those who couldn't. This story goes to the heart of how important class was and is in Britain, it illustrates that sport is just as capable of dividing people as uniting them.
It also shows that sport isn't just a leisure activity - it's about who you play with and how you play.
Readers, Brian Bowles, Stuart McLoughlin and Sean Baker
Producer : Sara Conkey.


MON 14:00 The Archers (b01bwdhf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 The Interrogation (b01bwfyg)
Series 1

Rod

by Roy Williams.

1/3 The story of Rod, a Premier League footballer accused of rape, who discovers his skill, wealth and fame make no odds in a police station.

Cast
DS Max Matthews ..... Kenneth Cranham
DC Sean Armitage ..... Alex Lanipekun
Rod Tyler ..... Joe Sims
Helen Cottol ..... Katie Angelou
Mother ..... Tracy Wiles

Directed by Jessica Dromgoole

Notes

The Interrogation, running Wednesday to Friday this week, comprises three hard-hitting contemporary crime stories that probe some of today's most complex moral issues.

Roy Williams is an award-winning English playwright, and is considered one of the most astute and talented chroniclers of his time. Williams has many awards including the George Devine Award for Lift Off, the 2001 Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright for his play Clubland, the 2002 BAFTA for Best Schools Drama for Offside and 2004 South Bank Show Arts Council Decibel Award. His most recent play Sucker Punch was nominated for the Evening Standard Award for Best New Play and the Olivier Award for Best New Play 2011, and is currently playing in Washington DC. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.


MON 15:00 Brain of Britain (b01bwfyj)
(14/17)
The 2012 series of the general knowledge contest reaches the second semi-final, with competitors from Elgin in Morayshire, London, Twickenham and Sale in Cheshire bidding for a place in the Final next month.

Russell Davies is in the questionmaster's chair. Among the questions facing this week's contestants are the name of the country of which Goodluck Jonathan is the President; and which well-known painting had the not-very-revealing original title 'Arrangement in Grey and Black', when exhibited in 1872?

As usual, there's also a chance for a Brain of Britain listener to win a prize by outwitting the contestants with question suggestions of his or her own.

Producer: Paul Bajoria.


MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b01bwd3w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]


MON 16:00 With Great Pleasure (b01bwfyl)
Nicholas Parsons

Nicholas Parsons, celebrated chairman of Just a Minute, has the microphone to himself as he chooses favourite pieces of prose and poetry gathered since childhood. His readers are Prunella Scales, with whom he has acted, and Samuel West.

Producer Christine Hall.


MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (b01bwfyn)
The Role of Bishops in the House of Lords

The government's recent proposal to cap welfare benefits at £26000 a year received a setback when an amendment to exclude child benefit from the cap was passed in the House of Lords. The amendment was proposed by the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds and supported by four other Bishops. The Bishops' action has added fuel to the debate about whether Anglican Bishops should still have a statutory right to seats in the Upper Chamber. When less than 2% of the population attends an Anglican Church on a Sunday, why should 26 of its clergy exercise any influence on the deliberations of the Upper House of Parliament?

Joining Ernie Rea to discuss the arguments for and against having Bishops sitting in the House of Lords are the Rt Rev Tim Stevens, Bishop of Leicester, Jonathan Bartley, Director of the Think Tank Ekklesia, and Dr Meg Russell, Deputy Director of the Constitution Unit at University College London.


MON 17:00 PM (b01bwfyq)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01bsgvt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 18:30 Just a Minute (b01bwfys)
Series 62

Episode 2

Panellists Ross Noble, Paul Merton, Jenny Eclair and Gyles Brandreth join host Nicholas Parsons for the popular panel game where they have to speak on a given subject for sixty seconds without hesitation, repetition or deviation.

This week Gyles Brandreth tells us which Self-Help Books he keeps at the side of his bed, Ross Noble talks about the Search for Intelligent Life, Paul Merton reveals the Things he Throws Away and Jenny Eclair talks about Coping With Embarrassment.

Devised by Ian Messiter.

Producer: Claire Jones.


MON 19:00 The Archers (b01bwfyv)
Josh is eager to help with milking, especially as it means extra pocket money. Ruth's uneasy as he enthuses about wanting to be a dairy farmer.
Pat's been talking to the business development manager at Felpersham market. Although their organic status doesn't cut much ice, the market's looking for high premium British produce, so the next step is to meet the traders. Pat hasn't spoken to Tony yet but thinks he'll realise it's a great opportunity once he gets his head round it.
Tom needs to do some fine tuning to the ready meals as he's off to Shrewsbury again this week. He'll be back to do the evening milking on Thursday, Tony's birthday. Helen thinks Tony's been a bit down lately, so wants to cook him a nice birthday supper.
Pat and Brenda discuss the promises auction. Brenda's got her eye on Harry but knows there's plenty of competition for his four hours of gardening. Ruth turns up to discuss Friday's public meeting with Borchester Land. They agree it would be good if Adam would speak at the meeting but accept it's difficult for him. Pat agrees to contact Adam, to encourage him to be at the meeting. After all, there's no hiding from it. This plan has caused a family split.


MON 19:15 Front Row (b01bwfyx)
Daniel Radcliffe; Big Fat Gypsy Weddings producers

With Mark Lawson

Daniel Radcliffe's latest post-Harry Potter project is a film version of Susan Hill's novel The Woman in Black, a tale of loss, vengeance and mourning. Daniel Radcliffe looks back at growing up in front of the lens for the Harry Potter films, and discusses the challenges he now likes to set himself as he leaves Harry behind.

On the eve of Valentine's Day, conductor Jeremy Summerly offers an alternative classical music playlist for the ups and downs of love.

The documentary series Big Fat Gypsy Weddings returns to our TV screens tomorrow night promising to be "Bigger. Fatter. Gypsier." The series producer Jes Wilkins, together with producer Osca Humphreys, discuss the pressures of making a second series and meeting audience expectations.

Producer Claire Bartleet.


MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01bwdr3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


MON 20:00 What Are the Police For? (b01bwfyz)
Episode 3

With policing top of the political agenda, and major change on the way, Mark Easton asks what we want from our police.

Mark spends time with police officers doing jobs as diverse as roads policing, neighbourhood policing and monitoring sex offenders to paint a picture of how we are policed in 2012 and examine whether the daily reality matches the political rhetoric. And he speaks to politicians, academics and the public to assess whether what we are getting is what we want.

In this final programme, he explores the relationship between the police and other agencies. Could other agencies take over some responsibilities from an overburdened police service? Do the police spend too much time, in the words of one critic, acting as social workers rather than rat-catchers? How well is the criminal justice system joined up?

Producer: Giles Edwards.


MON 20:30 Analysis (b01bwm1h)
Preparing for Eurogeddon

Europe thinks the unthinkable - what happens if the Eurozone splits. What would happen to the banking sector, how would a new currency be put in place, can contagion be halted, and more fundamentally could the Euro survive? Policymakers across Europe are putting their contingency plans together. We reveal what some of the preparations may be. Reporter Chris Bowlby runs through some of the scenarios of what may happen if a country were to withdraw, and crucially what would happen next.

Contributors: Dawn Holland, National Institute of Economic and Social Research; Aristotle Kallis, Political Scientist; David Marsh, author "The History of the Euro"; David Lascelles, senior fellow of the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation; Mark Crickett De La Rue; and Larry Hatheway, UBS

Producer: Kavita Puri.


MON 21:00 Material World (b01bmn02)
Freud in the Age of Neuroscience

Over the next two weeks Radio 4 will be broadcasting plays about Freud's famous cases. Deborah Levy has dramatised the stories of Dora and the Wolfman.

In Material World Quentin Cooper asks leading neuroscientist Uta Frith whether Freud's approach to understanding his patients would pass modern scientific scrutiny. And looks at Freud's legacy in the 21st century.

Cold Winters in a warming world

Three cold European winters on the trot, and a faltering in the long term rise in global average temperatures - signs for some that something is wrong with climate science. Not so for forecaster Judah Cohen. Cooling, he says, is confined to northern hemisphere winters, and reflects change atmospheric circulation patterns that are a result of the greater warming picture. On Material World he explains this paradox.

Breakthrough

After years of drilling, a Russian team has at last broken through into Lake Vostok, long hidden under 3 kilometres of Antarctic ice. Professor Martin Siegert, Principal Investigator on a rival British team boring into Lake Ellsworth thousands of km across the continent, reflects on what happens next, and explains the scientific motivation for these complex projects.

Disco Balls in orbit

The maiden flight of ESA's Vega launcher will be carrying a half-tonne, super-reflective disco ball into Earth orbit on Monday. LARES, the Laser Relativity Satellite, is intended to test key predictions of Einstein's theory of gravity, says Principal Investigator Ignazio Ciufolini. Science writer Stuart Clark also joins Quentin to explain why gravity is still at the frontiers of science.

Producer: Roland Pease.


MON 21:30 Start the Week (b01bwdm5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 21:58 Weather (b01bsgvw)
The latest weather forecast.


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b01bwm1k)
The Arab League wants the UN to send a peacekeeping mission to Syria . There needs to be a ceasefire first , says Russia.

Israel charges Iran with attacking its diplomats in India and Georgia.

The first TV advertisement aimed at dogs was aired tonight.We get canine reaction

with Carolyn Quinn.


MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01bwm1m)
The Dream Life of Sukhanov

Episode 1

It's the summer of 1985. Gorbachev is in the Kremlin and the first breezes of change are in the air. But for now, Anatoly Pavlovich Sukhanov (Tolya) is at the height of his prestige. He is the best-known art critic in the Soviet Union - editor-in-chief of Art of the World - with a grace-and-favour Moscow apartment, a dacha, and a chauffeur-driven Volga.

His wife, Nina, is the daughter of Malinin, the most famous 'approved' artist in the Soviet Union, twice-winner of the Lenin Prize. But at a retrospective of Malinin's work, things start to unravel for Tolya.

Olga Grushin was born in Moscow in 1971 and spent her childhood in Moscow and Prague. In 1989 she became the first Soviet citizen to enrol for a full-time degree in the United States while retaining Soviet citizenship. In 2006 she was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for New Writers and named one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists in 2007. She has published two novels: The Dream Life of Sukhanov (2006) and The Concert Ticket (published in the US as The Line) in April 2010. Olga lives in Washington D.C.

"A contemporary novel so good, I felt like buying 10 copies and sending them to friends"
The Independent

"It breathes new life into American literary fiction"
The Washington Post

Abridged by Jeremy Osborne

Directed by Marilyn Imrie
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 23:00 Miracles R Us (b00sg1hh)
Domestic Arrangements

The man lurking outside turns out not to be the private detective Sylvia supposes, but a potential client.

He's inadvertently encouraged a middle-aged American academic, in whom he has no romantic interest, to have hopes of a shared future. She is arriving next week. Can MiraclesRus help?

Sitcom by Lesley Bruce.

Sylvia ..... Anna Massey
Caroline ..... Deborah Findlay
James Linnet ..... David Horovitch
Mary Beth Haldeman ..... Laura Shavin
Pianist ..... Jeremy Limb

Producer: Katie Tyrrell

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2010.

Music and stings from the music of Nick Drake. Theme: "When the Day is Done" and stings: "Time of No Reply" and "Cello Song".


MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01bwm1p)
Labour presses the Government over whether it used management consultants to help draw up its controversial plans to shake up the NHS in England.
Peers continue their detailed look at the Bill that will bring in those health service proposals.
A former head of the Office of Fair Trading comes to its defence.
And the Lords discuss the sensitive subject of assisted dying.
Sean Curran and team report on today's events in Parliament.



TUESDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2012

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b01bsgwg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b01bwmvy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01bsgwj)
The latest shipping forecast.


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01bsgwl)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01bsgwn)
The latest shipping forecast.


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b01bsgwq)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01c304m)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Peter Whittaker, Methodist Minister.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b01bwmvp)
A farmer has defended himself against allegations of cruelty after undercover filming showed a pig being hit with an iron bar. The footage came to light following an undercover filming operation by the vegan charity Animal Equality. A member of the organisation claims to have recorded incidents over a 10 week period posing as a farm worker. The footage also shows animals with weeping sores, open wounds and dead piglets in pens. The farmer, Stephen Brown, says the images were misleading. His farm, in Norfolk, was approved by the Red Tractor Assurance scheme. Red Tractor's Chief Executive tells us the scheme is reviewing its inspection regime in response to the allegations.

Also in the programme, why there are too few deer farms to meet the growing UK demand for venison.

Presenter: Anna Hill
Producer: Sarah Swadling.


TUE 06:00 Today (b01bwmvr)
Presented by John Humphrys and Justin Webb. Including Sports Desk; Yesterday in Parliament; Weather; Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (b01bllwz)
Chris Stringer

Jim Al-Khalili meets leading paleoanthropologist Chris Stringer to find who our ancestors were.
As a post graduate Chris went on a road trip with a difference, driving round Europe in an old Morris Minor measuring Neanderthal skulls. After being thrown out of several countries, the results of his analysis led to a controversial theory which ran counter to what many people thought at the time. Chris suggested that our most recent relative originated in Africa. He also reveals how genetics has transformed his work and talks about his own unconventional origins.

That there were cannibals in Somerset is one of the more surprising findings of Chris' work on early man in Britain and Jim discovers what it's like to work on an archaeological dig.

Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald.


TUE 09:30 One to One (b01bwmvw)
Bridget Kendall with Prof Dianna Bowles

Bridget Kendall has never liked to pigeon hole people and in her series of One to One she talks to those who are known in one particular field but have a second string to their bow, an expertise in a very different field. As a special treat, for today's programme Bridget's out in the Yorkshire Dales near Middlesmoor to meet Prof Dianna Bowles, an eminent plant biochemist who's spent much of her career investigating how biology can benefit society. She's also an enthusiastic owner of an expanding flock of Herdwick sheep and when Foot and Mouth struck in 2001, her two passions came together as she fought, with other breeders, to protect the future of the breed. While science, in some ways connects the two interests, it is above all the joy Dianna finds in both activities that unites them.
Producer: Lucy Lunt.


TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b01cdl28)
Europe in the Looking Glass

Episode 2

Europe in the Looking Glass is Robert Byron's travel classic, recounting a car journey across Europe in 1926, and providing a mirror on events and nationhood both then and today. Byron (a descendant of the poet) found acclaim as the author of The Road to Oxiana - an account of a trip to Afghanistan and Persia.

In part two, they leave Germany for Austria, and on to Italy.

Read by Rupert Penry-Jones.

Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01bwmw0)
Do we overprotect our children?

Keeping our children safe is something that probably every parent battles with on a daily basis. But how much independence should we allow them? Do we undermine their development by not allowing them certain freedoms? Are the perceived threats to their wellbeing, certainly out of the home, bigger than the reality

Diets don't work - or do they? We've all known people who've had success losing pounds upon pounds following one diet or another. But what happens long term? Do they maintain their new weight for ever or do they slip back into old patterns, feeling out of control around food, putting the pounds back on, and starting yet another diet. Jane talks to three people with radically different approaches to the question of dieting - Dr Susan Jebb Head of Diet and Population Health at the Medical Research Council Human Nutrition Research, Dr John Briffa, author of Escape the Diet Trap and Sue Thomason, a life coach specialising in body image and disordered eating.

Latest figures suggest that as many as 90% of women and girls in Egypt may have suffered female genital mutilation - despite the fact that an official ban was introduced five years ago. One year on from the protests which removed President Mubarak, Newsnight Special Correspondent, Sue Lloyd-Roberts has been to Egypt
to find out how the revolution in the country has affected the lives of women. In one of her reports she talks to women about why female genital mutilation is still so widespread and even interviews one woman who carries out the practice.


TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01bwmw2)
HighLites

Episode 2

by Steve Chambers and Phil Nodding.

2/5 Bev takes her struggle for solvency to the council, and tries to rekindle the affections of an old flame.

Cast
Bev ..... Lorraine Ashbourne
Shirley ..... Rosie Cavaliero
John ..... Carl Prekopp
Henry ..... Gerard McDermott
Alice ..... Marlene Sidaway
Melvin ..... Adam Billington

Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.


TUE 11:00 Nature (b01bwmw4)
Series 5

James and the Giant Redwoods - Part One

Ever since he was a boy, James Aldred has loved climbing trees. And over the years, James has dreamt of searching out some of the world's biggest trees including the world's tallest living tree, a Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) in Northern California called Hyperion, which measures 379.3 feet tall. (The tallest tree in Britain is a Douglas Fir in Argyll, Scotland which is about 209 feet tall). Hyperion at nearly 380 feet tall is about 3 times the height of Nelson's Column!

Hyperion was discovered on August 25, 2006 by naturalist Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor. The tree was verified as standing 115.55 m (379.1 ft tall) by Stephen Sillett. It's estimated to be increasing in height at about 2cm a year. The exact location of the tree is kept a secret to prevent human traffic disturbing and causing damage to the tree or its environment. In the first of two programmes, NATURE tells the story of how James and three friends were introduced to Michael Taylor who to their delight and beyond all expectations, offered to take them to see some of the world's biggest and tallest trees, including an enormous Coastal Redwood called Emerald Giant. And not only did they see the tree, but they got to climb it, as one of the aims of their trip was to collect seed from these trees for a Conservation project at The University of Oxford, Harcourt Arboretum. Climbing these trees is no mean feat, it's a relentless, exhausting climb. As Ben says, ' You gotta earn it". And then, back on the forest floor, Michael has another surprise in store for them, when he leads the way through the forest to Hyperion, the world's tallest tree. "It just reminds me of one of those enormous chimneys on Battersea Power Station ... it just goes on and on, and on, up and up and up" says James.

Producer Sarah Blunt.


TUE 11:30 Soul Music (b01bwmw6)
Series 13

Rachmaninov, 2nd Piano Concerto

Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto, which was famously featured in David Lean's film "Brief Encounter", is one of the world's most popular pieces of classical. In this programme people describe the way in which Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto has touched and shaped their lives. The programme features a pianist from Taiwan whose memories of a repressive childhood were dispelled by the emotions contained within this music. Plus a story from an acclaimed pianist from Argentina who was told she would never play the piano again after a serious car accident, but who has recently performed this piece in New York. And finally an account of the place that this piece of passionate and heartfelt music played in the life of John Peel and his family, told by his wife Sheila Ravenscroft.

The concerto is also given historical and musical context in the programme by pianists Peter Donohoe and Howard Shelley.

Producer: Rosie Boulton.


TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b01bwmw8)
Call You and Yours: How can we increase the numbers of organ donors?

Should everyone be forced to donate their organs?

Every year, between 500 and 1,000 people die because of a shortage of organs in the UK, according to the British Medical Association.

Today they're unveiling a set of proposals to try to tackle Britain's chronic organ shortage.

At the moment patients diagnosed as brain-dead are kept on an artificial ventilator only long enough for loved ones to say goodbye or for immediate emergency organ donation. Now the British Medical Association is recommending a practice known as 'elective ventilation' where patients are kept alive as long as is necessary to allow organ donation. It's a procedure used in Spain and the United States but was ruled unlawful by the Department of Health in 1994.

On today's Call You & Yours we want to hear what you think should be done to increase the number of organ donors. Should we continue with the way it is and hope that more people become organ donors. Or should we look at other options like the opt-out system with safeguards rather than opt-in system we already have.

If you want to have your say you can call us on 03700-100-444.

Or you can email via our web page; www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours and don't forget to leave a contact number where we can reach you. Or you can text us on 84844 and we might call you back.


TUE 12:57 Weather (b01bsgws)
The latest weather forecast.


TUE 13:00 World at One (b01bwmwb)
There's a mixed picture for the economy; the rate of inflation is coming down but there's a new threat to the UK 's AAA credit rating. We hear an optimistic and a pessimistic view of the year ahead.

One year on from the protests in Bahrain, how much has changed? We hear from the Gulf state and ask what the UK's response should be.

The government's attempts to change the welfare system are again begin challenged in the House of Lords. Two peers, including a former Conservative minister, tell us why they're they're taking a stand.

The Liberal Democrat minister Vince Cable is to press ahead with plans to appoint Professor Les Ebdon as director of fair access to universities. A Conservative MP tells us why he shouldn't get the job.

Plus we hear about the man who's going to be the next leader of China.

To share your views email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.


TUE 13:45 Sport and the British (b01bwmwd)
Tennis and Golf in Suburbia

Clare Balding continues to explore the history of sport in Britain and in today's programme visits one of the oldest tennis clubs in the country in Leamington Spa. In Victorian Britain, lawn tennis took off thanks to the growing numbers of a whole new strata of society - the middle class. Living in suburbia with clean air, space and leisure time, tennis and golf became increasingly popular pastimes. There were 250 clubs in the Lawn Tennis Association by 1900 rising to 3000 by the 1930's and 5000 by the 50's. The middle class had grasped hold of a sport that seemed perfectly designed for polite society. It didn't involve getting dirty or even particularly sweaty and the same could be said for golf. Clare also visits Kenilworth Golf Club where Professor Richard Holt of the International Centre for Sports History and Culture at De Montfort University explains that these clubs were as much about social division as they were about inclusion.
Readers, Nyasha Hatendi and Sean Baker
Producer: Sara Conkey.


TUE 14:00 The Archers (b01bwfyv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 The Interrogation (b01byc0x)
Series 1

Jermaine

by Roy Williams.

2/3 The story of Jermaine, a ruthless and amoral young gang member, who Max and Sean find disturbingly keen to confess.

Cast

DS Max Matthews ..... Kenneth Cranham
DC Sean Armitage ..... Alex Lanipekun
Jermaine ..... Anthony Welsh

Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.


TUE 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (b01bwp2b)
Series 1

Episode 2

Jay Rayner presents the second programme of a new BBC Radio 4 series: a food panel show, recorded in front of a live audience, aimed at anyone who cooks at home, not just the experts. Each week the programme travels round the UK to visit interesting food locations, and meet local food-loving people.

This week The Kitchen Cabinet is in Whitechapel in the East End of London at the extraordinary Wilton's Music Hall - the oldest surviving grand music hall in the world.

The panel features: Angela Malik, the Scottish-Indian chef, whose passion for demystifying food has led to her setting up her own cookery school, deli and street-market stalls; Rachel McCormack, a Glaswegian who spent her formative years in Spain, and who is now successfully spreading the word on all things Spanish, not least by teaching authentic Catalan cookery; Henry Dimbleby, the food writer and co-founder of the Leon restaurant chain; and the food scientist, Peter Barham, who has advised some of the leading restaurants in the world, including Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck and Noma in Copenhagen.

Inspired by the fact that it's the 14th February, the team answer questions about how to create the perfect Valentine's meal, and whether any supposed aphrodisiacs really work; they also discuss the popular foods that have been introduced to the UK by immigrants who have settled in London's East End over the years; and how to encourage young children to eat liver!

The show is witty, fast-moving, and irreverent, but packed full of information that may well change the way you think about cooking.

Food consultant: Anna Colquhoun.

Produced by Robert Abel & Lucy Armitage.
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (b01bwp2d)
Bambi Bites Back

Bambi has never had it so good. Changes in farming fashion now provide deer with delicious things to eat and warm places to sleep all winter long. The result is a big increase in numbers and a rapid geographical spread, taking our native and introduced species into the most urbanised parts of our islands.

In 'Costing the Earth' Tom Heap investigates the causes of the deer boom and some of the unexpected impacts. Deer take a heavy toll on young trees, enraging foresters and ruining the prospects for ground-nesting birds like nightingales. They're also meeting increasingly grisly ends, killed by on-coming cars or targeted by poachers armed with crossbows or air guns.

So should we wring our hands or celebrate the success of our largest land mammals? Should we cull and control or aim to make a profit from nature's bounty? Tom joins a team of specialists from Scottish Natural Heritage for a late night deer count through urban Scotland and meets a stalker who is offering wealthy Germans the chance to bag a lowland stag.

Producer: Alasdair Cross.


TUE 16:00 Europe's Choice (b01bwddj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:30 on Sunday]


TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b01bwp6b)
Eleanor Updale and Andrea Oliver

Harriett Gilbert talks to children's writer Eleanor Updale and TV and radio presenter Andrea Oliver about favourite books by William Trevor, Mohsin Hamid and Laura Esquivel.

'Love and Summer' by William Trevor
Publisher: Penguin

'Like Water for Chocolate' by Laura Esquivel
Publisher: Black Swan

'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' by Mohsin Hamid
Publisher: Penguin

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2012.


TUE 17:00 PM (b01bwp6d)
Eddie Mair presents full coverage and analysis of the day's news.


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01bsgwv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 18:30 Mr and Mrs Smith (b01bwp6g)
The Bathroom

Annabelle is annoyed because Will couldn't stand up to their over-enthusiastic builder. Will is furious at Annabelle for hiring the builder.

Guy mediates, but this week the counsellor has his own problems...

Will Smith's sitcom about a couple in marriage counselling.

Counsellor Guy must mediate another dispute between Will and Annabelle, with flashbacks to the events that spawned the argument, and by the end, the couple find marital equilibrium once more. Sort of.

Will Smith ..... Will Smith
Annabelle Smith ..... Sarah Hadland
Guy ..... Paterson Joseph
John ..... Geoffrey Whitehead
Saskia, Sally ..... Susie Blake
Adam ..... Dan Tetsell
Claudia ..... Tracy Wiles

Producer: Tilusha Ghelani

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2012.


TUE 19:00 The Archers (b01bwp6j)
The parish council agree that Lynda can approach David for permission to use Lakey Hill for a Jubilee bonfire beacon. Mike should be asked to build it, and Jill will organise a picnic lunch on the green. The next item on the agenda is the mega-dairy. Neil insists it's not about his opinion but Borchester Land do have a right to be heard. Lynda wants a good turnout at the public meeting.
Bert's grateful to Neil for transforming 6, The Green. But with everything looking so grand, it's now made the hall look dingy. Weary Neil agrees to brighten it up, but then that's it!
Will and Nic are off for a lavish Valentine's meal. They bump into Christopher and Alice, who are having a takeaway and renting a DVD. Will doesn't hesitate when a hawker comes by selling expensive red roses but Alice tells Chris to keep his money in his pocket.
Will's also booked a room at the Feathers and arranged for Clarrie to look after the kids. Nic feels thoroughly spoiled. Will insists nothing could spoil her. She's perfect.
Chris puts a lot of effort into their low-key evening. Alice loves it. All she needs for a good time is right there at home. Christopher feels the same.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (b01bwp6l)
Mad Men's Jon Hamm; rain on stage

With John Wilson.

Jon Hamm is best known for playing Don Draper in Mad Men, the award-winning American drama about the ruthlessly competitive world of advertising. The actor discusses the show's unforeseen global success, the problems he's faced playing Draper and hints where Mad Men is heading for its finale.

A stage version of Singin' In The Rain opens on the West End stage tonight, featuring one particularly essential ingredient - water. John Wilson talks to the show's star, Adam Cooper, and the production manager about the technical challenges of singin' and dancin' in the rain - keeping electricity and gallons of water apart.

TV property presenter Sarah Beeny has curated a new exhibition at the Royal Institute of British Architects. A Place to Call Home: Where We Live and Why charts the story of the design of everyday homes in the UK, exploring the advent of mass building from the late 18th century through to the present day via suburban expansion and post-war experiment.

With the price of cotton remaining a hotly debated issue, a new exhibition uses contemporary artists such as Yinka Shonibare to illuminate the history of the production and use of this most versatile of natural fibres. Polly Leonard, Editor-in-Chief of Selvedge magazine, reviews.

Producer Philippa Ritchie.


TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01bwmw2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


TUE 20:00 File on 4 (b01bwp6n)
Iranian Sanctions

With the EU poised to ban oil imports from Iran, Allan Urry assesses the impact of international sanctions on Britain and Europe.

Designed to curb Iran's nuclear programme, the oil embargo could further push up the cost of fuel.

Iranian companies are involved in a number of joint ventures that bring energy into European homes and factories: File on 4 examines what will happen to these vital projects as the new round of trade restrictions begins to bite.

And British companies that trade legitimately with Iran are already finding it harder to do business. They warn that it could lead to job losses.

How will the sanctions affect Europe at a time when many economies are in recession or are just stagnating?
And how effective are the new restrictions likely to be given Iran's experience of finding ways around international controls on what it can buy and sell.
Producer: David Lewis.


TUE 20:40 In Touch (b01bwp6q)
Peter White goes to Sheffield to talk to the people behind a new initiative designed to give blind people a better deal when using taxis. The scheme will give new recruit taxi drivers training when dealing with disabled passengers.
Julie Smethurst from Transport 4 All welcomed the scheme and said that she had noticed an improvement already, but that the only course of action for people encountering discriminating drivers is to take them to court
Hafeas Rehman from Sheffield Taxi Trade Association said that, speaking as a Muslim himself, there was no reason for fellow Muslim drivers to refuse to carry guide dogs.

Lee Kumutat visited a London shop which runs a knitting club and joined fellow Antipodean Pauline McKinnes who describes herself as a visually-impaired knitting addict.


TUE 21:00 Inside Health (b01bwp6s)
Patient records, cholesterol, statins, whiplash

As the Prime Minister announces his efforts to reduce compensation claims for whiplash, Dr Mark Porter asks are doctors having the wool pulled over their eyes? Or are drivers and passengers making mountains out of molehills?

Our resident sceptic Kamran Abbasi looks behind recent headlines that suggested weaning your baby on finger foods may be a healthier option than spoon feeding.

And in response to our listeners, cholesterol tests - what do they mean, and what should we do about them? Statins are the main mode of prevention for those at greatest risk of heart attack and stroke. But how do you balance the risk of side effects with the protection they provide? We explore the latest research.

And how many times have you been to a hospital appointment only to find that the doctor seeing you doesn't have your notes or test results? By 2015, the Department of Health hopes to give us all access to our notes via a centralised electronic record. We examine an alternative approach being tried at various hospitals including Great Ormond Street Hospital. Called Patients Know Best, it works a bit like Facebook and puts the patient in charge.

Producer: Beth Eastwood.


TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (b01bllwz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


TUE 21:58 Weather (b01bsgwx)
The latest weather forecast.


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b01bwp8s)
Inflation falls, but the British economy is at risk of being downgraded by a credit ratings agency. What is the best path ahead for the Chancellor?

We examine changing relations between the USA and China

And Rangers goes into administration

All that and more with Ritula Shah.


TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01c2z2q)
The Dream Life of Sukhanov

Episode 2

Leaving his father in laws exhibition Sukhanov encounters an old friend of his youth; the artist Belkin; clearly reaching middle age with none of the success Sukhanov enjoys. Belkin invites Sukhanov and Nina to his own exhibition.

The encounter unsettles Sukhanov, with memories of his early life and friendship, and what has changed since then.

Olga Grushin was born in Moscow in 1971 and spent her childhood in Moscow and Prague. In 1989 she became the first Soviet citizen to enrol for a full-time degree in the United States while retaining Soviet citizenship. In 2006 she was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for New Writers and named one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists in 2007.

She has published two novels: The Dream Life of Sukhanov (2006) and The Concert Ticket (published in the US as The Line) in April 2010. Olga lives in Washington D.C.

Abridged by Jeremy Osborne

Directed by Marilyn Imrie
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 23:00 Thom Tuck Goes Straight to DVD (b01bwp8v)
Pilot

Thom Tuck recounts heart-rending tales of love and loss, laying bare all the failures he's suffered in his relationships and drawing comparisons with the 54 straight-to-DVD Disney movies he's watched, so we don't have to. These underrated gems - perhaps rightfully ignored and forgotten - mirror his experiences with women he has loved too often and too soon.

A show with a huge heart, all about heartbreak in various forms...the perfect antidote for Valentines Day.

Thom Tuck's brilliant debut solo show was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Fosters Comedy Awards in Edinburgh 2011. He is also part of acclaimed sketch group "The Penny Dreadfuls".

"...a seductive experience" The Guardian

Produced by Lianne Coop.


TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01bwp8x)
Susan Hulme reports on a day when peers inflict another defeat on the government's welfare reform bill. And there's an appeal to ministers to save the world-famous Wedgwood pottery collection from being auctioned off.

Editor : Peter Mulligan.



WEDNESDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2012

WED 00:00 Midnight News (b01bsgxh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b01cdl28)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01bsgxk)
The latest shipping forecast.


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01bsgxm)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01bsgxp)
The latest shipping forecast.


WED 05:30 News Briefing (b01bsgxr)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01c3069)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Peter Whittaker, Methodist Minister.


WED 05:45 Farming Today (b01by7bm)
The vegan charity Animal Equality talks to Anna Hill to defend the actions of its undercover reporter who it claimed recorded examples of cruelty on a pig farm in Norfolk. The organisation says it recorded employees beating, hitting and kicking pigs. It dismisses claims from the farmer who says the animals in question were being cared for by their reporter. The National Pig Association clarifies the rules and standards for responsible pig farming in the UK.

Fisherman who use small boats say they are being forced out of business by a system which allows larger operators to control the amount of fish they can catch. Boats under ten metres long make up three-quarters of Britain's fleet and yet can only take around 10% of the fish quotas available. Currently the quotas are distributed by the Government to larger fishing partnerships, who then in turn make quotas available for smaller fleets.

And the UK needs at least 500 more venison farms to supply the domestic demand for the game meat, according to the Scottish Venison Partnership. Anna Hill asks the RSPCA whether, as some farmed deer spend at least part of the year indoors, we could see thousands of intensively reared animals as the industry expands.

This programme was presented by Anna Hill and produced in Birmingham by Angela Frain.


WED 06:00 Today (b01by7bp)
Morning news and current affairs, presented by John Humphrys and Justin Webb, debating elected police commissioners (08:10), world child malnutrition (07:30 and 08:40) and legal aid changes (07:50).


WED 09:00 Midweek (b01by7br)
Libby Purves is joined by actor Sir Antony Sher and jazz saxophonist Barbara Thompson.

She also meets Professor Sean Street an historian, writer, presenter and poet. His new book 'The Poetry of Radio - The Colour of Sound' explores the relationship between poetry and radio, and examines the concept of 'poetic making' in sound.

Jazz saxophonist and composer Barbara Thompson and her husband the drummer Jon Hiseman feature in a BBC Four documentary 'Playing Against Time', part of BBC Four's Jazz weekend, in which Barbara uses music and creativity to help her cope with Parkinson's disease.

Sir Antony Sher stars in Nicholas Wright's new play 'Travelling Light' at the National Theatre. The play recounts the story of a Hollywood director in his sixties looking back on how his career began in a small village in Eastern Europe in the early years of the 20th century. The story pays tribute to the Eastern European immigrants who became major players in Hollywood's golden age of cinema.

Libby also talks to biographer Jonathan Croall whose father was John Stuart a star of the silent screen who, unlike many, successfully survived into the 'talkies' era. Always a rather distant figure, it wasn't until after his death that Jonathan learnt more about him from the scrapbooks he had left behind, revealing his experiences on the Western Front during the First World War.

Producer: Paula McGinley.


WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b01cdl2v)
Europe in the Looking Glass

Episode 3

The men encounter problems at the Italian customs post before trying to become members of the Fascist Party.

Europe in the Looking Glass is Robert Byron's travel classic, recounting a car journey across Europe in 1926, and providing a mirror on events and nationhood both then and today. Byron (a descendant of the poet) found acclaim as the author of The Road to Oxiana - an account of a trip to Afghanistan and Persia.

The conclusion offers the travellers (and all of us) a new perspective on their homeland as well as the countries and cultures they explore together.

Read by Rupert Penry-Jones.

Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01by7bt)
A Dad is Born

We join the Radio 4 campaign to seek out the New Elizabethans - the sixty public figures who have made the greatest impact during Elizabeth II's reign. So who are the new Elizabethan woman and how will history remember them if at all?

Our TVs are full of programmes about becoming a parent but most focus on the mother. Now two programmes which focus on dads come to the small screen. A Dad Is Born, follows three men in the weeks before and after the birth as they experience the steep learning curve of becoming father and find their place in the new pecking order. While Daddy Day Care asks three men to work in a nursery run by single mums to experience first hand what it's really like to look after kids all day.

And Harriet Lane tells us what influenced her new novel Alys, Always - a story about the reverberations of a family tragedy, and the personal and professional effects on a woman who crossed the family's path.

Producer Vibeke Venema.
Presenter Jenni Murray.


WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01by7bw)
HighLites

Episode 3

by Steve Chambers and Phil Nodding.

3/5 Bev has a new appointment, and is reminded of an old disappointment.

Cast
Bev ..... Lorraine Ashbourne
Shirley ..... Rosie Cavaliero
John ..... Carl Prekopp
Diane ..... Alex Rivers
Wendy ..... Victoria Inez Hardy

Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.


WED 11:00 In Living Memory (b01by7by)
Series 15

Gentlemen and Players

The last in the long running series of Gentlemen versus Players cricket matches was played at the Scarborough Festival in September 1962. Chris Ledgard goes to Yorkshire to find out about the game and explore the end of cricket's amateur era.


WED 11:30 HR (b01by7c0)
Series 3

Married

Discovering that their pensions are worthless, the chums contemplate the unthinkable: welcoming a female lodger into their home.

Nigel Williams's comedy series stars Jonathan Pryce and Nicholas le Prevost.

Sam .... Nicholas Le Prevost
Peter .... Jonathan Pryce
Lupin ..... Sara Crowe.

Producer: Peter Kavanagh

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2012.


WED 12:00 You and Yours (b01by7c2)
Battle for disability benefits

We hear from the family of a man who died just 3 weeks after being told he was fit for work and ineligible for disability benefits. Campaigners say thousands of people are trapped in a revolving door of assessments and appeals. The Department for Work and Pensions say this is a tragic case but emphasise that anyone who disagrees with a benefits decision has the right to appeal.

Our old electronic equipment is rich with materials manufacturers want back. But as commodity prices continue to rise, are we getting a fair price for them?

A new women's fitness magazine aims to join its male counterpart as the market leading fitness title, but is there room for it and can a magazine work out really make you sweat?

The presenter is Peter White.
The producer is Simon Browning.


WED 12:57 Weather (b01bsgxt)
The latest weather forecast.


WED 13:00 World at One (b01by7c6)
Martha Kearney presents national and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.


WED 13:45 Sport and the British (b01by7c8)
Fighting Back

Clare Balding looks at the relationship between boxing and Britain's ethnic minorities.Through the centuries, immigrants have had to literally fight for recognition in Britain and that means with their fists.
As Clare continues to explore how sport made Britain and Britain made sport, she visits the Lynn Boxing Club in South London.Founded in 1892, it's the oldest continuing amateur boxing club in the country. It was around the time that bare knuckle boxing was starting to decline and amateur boxing, with gloves, took over. As Professor Tony Collins from the International Centre for Sports History and Culture at De Montfort University explains, the history of Boxing is intertwined with the history of black immigrants and the struggle of Jewish sportsmen to find acceptance.
Readers, Brian Bowles and Stuart McLoughlin
Producer: Garth Brameld.

Producer Lucy Lunt,Sara Conkey,Garth Brameld.


WED 14:00 The Archers (b01bwp6j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 The Interrogation (b01byc2s)
Series 1

Sarah

by Roy Williams, with Kenneth Cranham & Alex Lanipekun. 3/3 The story of Sarah, married into a racist family, who has been holding out against their influence for years.

Long Desc
by Roy Williams.

3/3 The story of Sarah, married into a racist family, who has been holding out against their influence for years.

Cast

DS Max Matthews ..... Kenneth Cranham
DC Sean Armitage ..... Alex Lanipekun
Sarah ..... Claire Louise Cordwell
Danny ..... Carl Prekopp

Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.


WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b01by7cj)
Financial phone-in with presenter Vincent Duggleby.


WED 15:30 Inside Health (b01bwp6s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b01by7cl)
Citizens without Frontiers - Monogamy in men

Laurie Taylor considers why men 'cheat' in relationships. 78% of young male students have been unfaithful to their current partners according to the sociologist, Eric Anderson. He discusses men, monogamy and the reality of infidelity. They're joined by the sociologist, Lynn Jamieson. Also, the new politics of citizenship - Engin Isin, a Professor of politics at the Open University, explores the ways in which people embrace acts and causes which transcend national boundaries.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.


WED 16:30 The Media Show (b01by7cn)
The Sun, and women in the media

Following the arrests of more journalists at the Sun over the weekend, Geoffrey Robertson QC explains why handing over the details of journalists' e-mails to the police may violate a moral and legal duty to protect sources.

After more journalists at the Sun were arrested over the weekend, the Sun's associate editor Trevor Kavanagh accused police of a "witch-hunt". But has the police investigation gone too far? Prof Brian Cathcart and Peter Preston discuss the latest developments.

Last week the BBC's director general Mark Thompson admitted that there aren't enough older women on television and radio. But is anything being done to address the problem? Former controller of BBC 1 Lorraine Heggessey and journalist and broadcaster Joan Smith discuss women on screen.

Following the news of the death of veteran Royal correspondent James Whitaker, we hear from Ingrid Seward of Majesty Magazine and photographer Arthur Edwards who both knew and worked with him.

The producer is Olivia Skinner.


WED 17:00 PM (b01by7cq)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01bsgxw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 18:30 Mark Thomas: The Manifesto (b01by7cs)
Series 4

Sheffield

Comedian-activist Mark Thomas heads to Sheffield City Hall in search of new proposals for his People's Manifesto.

This week's agenda:

1) Councils to plant fruit trees in public spaces
2) 3 Years' free education for all between age 25 and retirement
and
3) Buckingham Palace to be converted into homeless flats

Plus lots of "any other business" suggestions for the studio audience, including a novel approach to reducing knife crime.

Written and presented by Mark Thomas
Produced by Colin Anderson.


WED 19:00 The Archers (b01by7cv)
Daniel is going riding with Freddie and reassures Shula that Freddie's fearless. However, she tells Daniel to keep an eye on him. She then gets a call from Danny Stevas, who's bringing a potential buyer for Topper. Unfazed Daniel rides Popcorn instead, but Shula is upset.
Later, Shula breaks the news to Alistair that she has bought Topper. Annoyed Alistair knows that it's not a sensible business decision. It's because Topper was Nigel's.
Adam says that all interested parties will want to be at the village meeting next week. This makes Brian wonder whether Adam may be coming himself. It's clear that Brian's work with Borchester Land is getting him down. Brian and Jennifer are upset with Adam's cold-shoulder attitude.
Brian's meeting with the council planning officers goes well. But it seems the Environment Agency is going to keep a close eye on them, so he's commissioned a further assessment of the risks of accidental pollution. Adam's comment about next week inspired Brian to prepare himself with some 'ammo' for the village meeting.


WED 19:15 Front Row (b01by7cx)
AS Byatt on Picasso, and tenor Vittorio Grigolo

With Mark Lawson.

Novelist A S Byatt discusses a new exhibition Picasso and Modern British Art at Tate Britain, which examines Picasso's relationship with the country and how British artists including Francis Bacon, David Hockney and Henry Moore have responded to his work.

As a child, Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo sang for the Sistine Chapel choir, before making his debut at La Scala in Milan at the age of 23. Grigolo explains why he likes to cross over from classical to pop, from Keane's Bed-Shaped to La Donna E Mobile, and why he never talks to his wife before a concert.

Kate Saunders reviews a new French film Hadewijch, about a young Christian fanatic who befriends a group of Muslims and finds herself being led down paths which put her life in danger.

And with David Guetta's single Titanium doing well in the charts, David Quantick considers how chemical elements and the periodic table have inspired a variety of songwriters.

Producer Jerome Weatherald.


WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01by7bw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b01by7cz)
Organ Donation

Every year around a thousand people die waiting for a donor organ. The scientific and medical problems of organ transplantation have long since been solved. The moral, ethical and psychological issues are proving much trickier. Now many patients and doctors are calling for radical changes to tackle the organ shortage to save lives. A new report by the BMA says patients could be kept alive solely to harvest their organs. The practice is called "elective ventilation" and would mean that when a patient was recognised to be near death doctors would start ventilating them, not to save their lives, but with the specific intention of facilitating organ donation. There's also a call to switch to a system of presumed consent where people would assumed to be a willing donor unless they actively opt out of the system - something the Welsh Assembly is already considering. Is it about time we redress and update our ethical boundaries and set aside our moral squeamishness to save lives? How many of those who instinctively recoil from these ideas would happy accept a donor organ for themselves or a loved one? Or is this a horrific vision of Brave New World utilitarianism were we reduce patients to a collection of potential spare parts - a means to an end, rather than an end in themselves? The debate goes to the heart of what it is to be human and what lengths we'll go to save a human life. It's a moral dilemma of Solomon like proportions. Whose body is it anyway? That's the Moral Maze.

Witnesses: George Pitcher Anglican Priest at St Brides' Fleet Street, author of "Time to Live -The Cases Against Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide", Janet Radcliff-Richard Professor of Practical Philosophy at the University of Oxford. Her book 'The Ethics of Transplants: Why Careless Thought Costs Lives' is due out later this year, Joyce Robbins Patient Concern, Melanie Wager - Kidney Wales.

Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk with Melanie Phillips, Michael Portillo, Claire Fox and Anne McElvoy.


WED 20:45 Four Thought (b01by7d1)
Series 2

Rob Hopkins: Sustainability and Community

The influential founder of the Transition Towns movement Rob Hopkins argues for a new approach to energy, society and our surroundings - with the help of a bottle of beer and a ten pound note bearing a picture of David Bowie.

Four Thought is a series of talks combining personal stories with fresh arguments, recorded in front of an audience at the RSA in London.

Producer: Sheila Cook.


WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (b01bwp2d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:30 on Tuesday]


WED 21:30 Midweek (b01by7br)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


WED 21:58 Weather (b01bsgxy)
The latest weather forecast.


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b01by7d3)
Robin Lustig presents national and international news and analysis.


WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01c2z3r)
The Dream Life of Sukhanov

Episode 3

The art critic and writer Sukhanov visits his mother, who has acquired a canary, and later, in a street near her apartment, an encounter with a flock of pigeons triggers a dream memory for him of his father showing him metal birds wings designed so that a man could fly using them.

Unsettled by this, Sukhanov returns home to supper with his family and discovers that his wife has replaced the painting lent to his father in law's exhibition with an early painting by his old friend Belkin depicting Leda and the swan. Unable to sleep, Sukhanov returns to the paining in the night and it seems to him his wife has become Leda in the portrait...

Olga Grushin was born in Moscow in 1971 and spent her childhood in Moscow and Prague. In 1989 she became the first Soviet citizen to enrol for a full-time degree in the United States while retaining Soviet citizenship.

In 2006 she was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for New Writers and named one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists in 2007. She has published two novels: The Dream Life of Sukhanov (2006) and The Concert Ticket (published in the US as The Line) in April 2010. Olga lives in Washington D.C.

Abridged by Jeremy Osborne

Directed by Marilyn Imrie
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 23:00 Tina C (b01by7d5)
Tina C's Global Depression Tour

United Kingdom

Country legend Tina C challenges the Secretary for the US Treasury, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve and the former CEO of Goldman Sachs.

Where they have failed, she can come up with a solution to the Global Recession.

So Tina set off on a six country tour to prove it - and her final stop sees her camping in London outside St Pauls.

Tina C...Christopher Green

With:

Paul Mason
Victoria Inez Hard
James Lailey

Musical arrangements by Duncan Walsh Atkins and Christopher Green

Director: Jeremy Mortimer.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2012.


WED 23:15 What to Do If You're Not Like Everybody Else (b00tt68z)
Series 1

Relationships and Family

Andrew Lawrence addresses the expectation upon us all that we should settle down, get married and have children and the general burdens of family life.

Last of a four part mini-series of short comedic monologues taking a light-hearted look at various aspects of conventional living and the pressure we feel to conform to social norms and ideals.

From the Edinburgh Comedy Festival.

Written by Andrew Lawrence.

Producer: Jane Berthoud

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2010.


WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01by7d9)
Sean Curran with the day's top news stories from Westminster. The former chancellor Lord Lawson says Labour needs to have a little patience when it comes to economic growth. And the government promises to do more to help children who are literally lost after being rescued from traffickers.



THURSDAY 16 FEBRUARY 2012

THU 00:00 Midnight News (b01bsgyj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b01cdl2v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01bsgyl)
The latest shipping forecast.


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01bsgyn)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01bsgyq)
The latest shipping forecast.


THU 05:30 News Briefing (b01bsgys)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01c3084)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Peter Whittaker, Methodist Minister.


THU 05:45 Farming Today (b01bycl6)
350,000 wild deer are culled each year across the UK. Caz Graham hears from gamekeepers who say that too many deer are being culled in Scotland and it is damaging the rural economy. Deer are culled because they cause damage to biodiversity, woodlands, crops and can cause road collisions. We join Forestry Commission keeper Matthew Davies as he culls deer in the New Forest.

And we hear about Bradley Cora 289, the dairy cow that Farming Today are following for a year. Her owner, David Cotton, tells Sarah Swadling about feeding her during her pregnancy.

Presented by Caz Graham. Produced by Emma Weatherill.


THU 06:00 Today (b01by8mq)
Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather, Thought for the Day. Presented by James Naughtie and Evan Davis.


THU 09:00 In Our Time (b01by8ms)
The An Lushan Rebellion

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the An Lushan Rebellion, a major uprising against the imperial rule of the Chinese Tang Dynasty. In 755 AD a senior general, An Lushan, orchestrated a plot against Emperor Xuanzong, taking the regime's capital city before declaring a rival dynasty in northern China. The rebellion lasted eight years but was eventually put down by Tang forces. Although the dynasty's authority was restored, it never regained the prosperity of previous generations. The An Lushan Rebellion displaced millions of people and killed many more. It changed the relationship between the Chinese state and neighbouring powers; but it also left a rich cultural legacy in the poetry memorialising this seismic event.With:Frances WoodLead Curator of Chinese at the British LibraryNaomi StandenProfessor of Medieval History at the University of BirminghamHilde de WeerdtFellow and Lecturer in Chinese History at Pembroke College, Oxford.Producer: Thomas Morris.


THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b01cdl48)
Europe in the Looking Glass

Episode 4

In part four, the men discover the issues facing Greece between the wars.

Europe in the Looking Glass is Robert Byron's travel classic, recounting a car journey across Europe in 1926, and providing a mirror on events and nationhood both then and today. Byron (a descendant of the poet) found acclaim as the author of The Road to Oxiana - an account of a trip to Afghanistan and Persia.

The conclusion offers the travellers (and all of us) a new perspective on their homeland as well as the countries and cultures they explore together.

Read by Rupert Penry-Jones.

Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01by8mv)
Mary Quant

A year ago, Lord Davies completed his report for the Government on increasing the proportion of women on corporate boards. He recommended a target of 25 per cent women on FTSE 100 boards by 2015. Many are well below that target with just three years to go and according to BoardWatch, which monitors the numbers, there are 11 companies in FTSE 100 with no women on their boards at all. We issued a challenge to senior executives from these eleven companies to appear on the programme to discuss the prospects for women in their organisation.

Is it good idea to introduce your children to art and culture. Can a visit to a gallery or museum with young children be a waste of time ? If you are keen to make sure your child knows their Monet from their Michelangelo -what's the best way to go about it?

Fashion icon Mary Quant on bringing the mini skirt to 60s women, her life as a fashion designer at the epicentre of 60s cool, breaking through as a woman in a man's world, and the impact she had on women everywhere

Best friends since school, Lorna Watson & Ingrid Oliver are well-known on the live comedy circuit, as well as three consecutive sell-out Edinburgh Festivals. Now they've collaborated on a new sketch show for BBC 2.

Jeanette Winterson is one of a number of writers, who have been invited to spend several days in a riverboat high up on the roof of Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank centre in London. Each month a different writer will check into A Room for London, the one bedroom installation and spend several days penning a new work, a reading of which will be made into an audio broadcast.

Producer Laura Northedge
Presenter Jenni Murray.


THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01by8mx)
HighLites

Episode 4

by Steve Chambers and Phil Nodding.

4/5 Bev squares up to the local vicar, Harriet, in her quest for succour.

Cast
Bev ..... Lorraine Ashbourne
Shirley ..... Rosie Cavaliero
John ..... Carl Prekopp
Harriet ..... Adjoa Andoh
Wendy ..... Victoria Inez Hardy
Nigel ..... Simon Bubb

Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.


THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (b01by8mz)
Can Greece ever come back from this crisis? Paul Mason's on the road to Patras and encountering a deep sense of gloom as the country's debt drama moves into a new phase. Andrew North is in the Maldives where there's been regime change and little in the way of opposition from the international community. As relations between Russia and the West nosedive amid arguments over Syria, a tale from Steve Rosenberg about the time when two Englishmen used football to boost productivity in Russian textile factories. Africa's big football match - Tamasin's Ford's at a sweltering screening in a refugee camp in Liberia. And very different weather in County Mayo: the winds howl and the hail lashes down as Kieran Cooke inspects a construction causing controversy in the far west of Ireland.


THU 11:30 Writing in Three Dimensions: Angela Carter's Love Affair with Radio (b01by8n1)
Angela Carter's relationship with radio began with an accidental sound effect - the 'metallic, almost musical rattle' of pencil on radiator, 'the noise that a long, pointed fingernail might make if it were run along the bars of a birdcage' - which inspired her to create the 'lovely lady vampire' in the play Vampirella (1976). She was instantly hooked on radio. She went on to write two documentary-dramas, the prize-prize-winning Come Unto These Yellow Sands (1979), about the Victorian painter Richard Dadd, and A Self-Made Man (1984), about Edwardian novelist Ronald Firbank, in addition to re-working two of her acclaimed short stories into glittering radio plays, The Company of Wolves (1980) and Puss in Boots (1982).

A child of the radio age, as a writer Carter loved the scope of radio's technical possibilities. 'In a radio drama studio, the producer, the actors, the technical staff, create an illusion, literally, out of the air ... The resources are insubstantial but infinite', she wrote. For her, the technology offered an opportunity to amplify and extend the power of the written word, blurring the lines of traditional narrative into 'three-dimensional story-telling'. This documentary weaves interviews with Carter's friends and colleagues Susannah Clapp, Carmen Callil, Marina Warner and Christopher Frayling, memories of the studio technicians who worked on her plays and the responses of listeners who heard them, with extracts from the plays themselves to suggest why Carter found the medium so magical and appealing.

Academic Charlotte Crofts, who has written on Carter's work for radio, film and television, explains why the medium suited her so well.

Producer: Sara Davies.


THU 12:00 You and Yours (b01by8n3)
Faulty breast implants, TV innovations and riot compensation

Plastic surgeons are accused of cashing in by offering extra surgery to women having faulty breast implants removed.

Compensation was promised for last year's riots..... so why are so many businesses still waiting for a payout?

Why high definition TV is old hat. We hear about the latest developments on the Tv market from 4mm OLED screens to ultra HD

The pros and cons of SIM-only deals which could save you money on your mobile phone.

The problem of unpaid internships. Nick Clegg has signed up a hundred companies to his "business compact" to improve social mobility but what do young people struggling to get on the career ladder think of the proposals?

Plus how sat nav systems are helping monitor peoples' driving and can we measure the saltiness of crisps?

Presenter: Julian Worricker
Producer: Steven Williams.


THU 12:57 Weather (b01bsgyv)
The latest weather forecast.


THU 13:00 World at One (b01by8n5)
Martha Kearney presents national and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.


THU 13:45 Sport and the British (b01by8n7)
Women Between the Wars

Clare Balding discovers how working women finally got their sporting chance, through the leisure activities offered by many major employers, at the turn of the twentieth century.The number of female workers in factories, large retailers and service industries was growing hugely and the employers decided to provide them with sports facilities and equipment. Clare visits Bournville, home of Cadbury's, who, like the Lyons company, famous for their tea shops, or Boots in Nottingham, gave access to all their employees to tennis courts, hockey fields, football pitches, lacrosse fields and athletics equipment. She talks to Fiona Skillen from the University of Central Lancashire about the women's football teams of that period, like the Dick Kerr Ladies, that had the power to attract crowds of over twenty thousand spectators but were later banned by the Football Association.
Readers, Jane Lawrence and Sean Baker
Producer: Lucy Lunt.


THU 14:00 The Archers (b01by7cv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 Drama (b01by8n9)
Pilgrim - Series 3

Lindie Island

By Sebastian Baczkiewicz.

4 of 4: In exchange for a precious bargaining chip in his negotiations with the King, Pilgrim is asked to sacrifice a man he has kept safe for centuries.

William Palmer ..... Paul Hilton
Viv ..... Pamela Merrick
Henselow ..... Adam Billington
Marcellus ..... Jimmy Akingbola
Goat Lord ..... Nicky Henson
Randell ..... Carl Prekopp
Birdie ..... Kate Fleetwood

Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.


THU 15:00 Ramblings (b01by8nc)
Inspirational Walks

Northern Ireland - The Wee Binnians

In the second in a series of inspirational walks, Clare Balding joins members of the Wee Binnians, Northern Ireland's biggest walking club. The walking club was set up in 1987 by Veronica McCann who, over the years, has inspired countless people to join her in walking the hills and valleys of Northern Ireland's Mourne Mountains. Described by Veronica as 'a social group that walks, the Wee Binnians Walking Club is open to anyone over 16 and the club is the embodiment of a cross-community, cross-border group whose members share a passion for walking.

Today Clare joins just some of the 300 club members to climb to the summit of Slieve Binnian, the third highest mountain in Northern Ireland. She hears from Veronica, a self-confessed non-walker beforehand, about what inspired her to set up the group, why it is so important to her and then from some of the members about what the club - and Veronica - mean to them.

Presenter: Clare Balding
Producer: Helen Chetwynd.


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b01bwd3k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:55 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 Open Book (b01bwddn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]


THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b01by8nf)
In this week's programme Matthew Sweet grapples with two men who've played the Devil, Max von Sydow and Ciaran Hinds. Von Sydow doesn't sport any horns for his latest Oscar nominated appearance in Stephen Daldry's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close but Ciaran Hinds gamely plays a comic demon in Ghost Rider II - quite a contrast with his role in the Woman in Black which is also in cinemas at the moment.
There's a cameo from the cult British director, Norman J Warren, whose feature debut, Her Private Hell is being released on DVD for the first time and the composer, Neil Brand, joins Matthew to explain how atonal music and Hammer horror discovered that they were made for each other - a marriage made in hell, as it were.

Producer: Zahid Warley.


THU 16:30 Material World (b01by8nh)
Reflections on a supernova in waiting

The supermassive star Eta Carinae could be on the brink of exploding into a supernova. In Victorian times, this normally innocuous star suddenly brightened to be the second brightest star in the night sky - for those in the southern hemisphere at least. But it happened before modern astronomical techniques could capture its full details. Now however, researchers are getting a second chance to examine the eruptions that caused the brightening. Because light reflected off nearby galactic clouds has started arriving, 150 years later than the first glimmerings, revealing in reflected glory the details of those Victorian events. Professor Nathan Smith of the Steward Observatory in Arizona is one of the world's experts on Eta Carinae, and joins Quentin Cooper to describe what the latest observations reveal.

Water water everywhere

We may all be watching carefully how much water flows through our taps, and how much we waste. But a new report warns that a fifth of the water consumed round the world has nothing to do with plumbing, drinking and washing. Agricultural produce and industrial production also have a huge impact on natural water resources, and the goods that come through our doors should also be considered a form of 'virtual' water consumption, the authors say. Arjen Hoekstra from the Water Footprint Network and ecological economist Klaus Hubacek join the programme to discuss the implications.

New Elizabethans

As Radio 4 starts the quest for the 60 individuals who have done the most to change our lives since Queen Elizabeth ascended to the throne, Material World throws the spotlight on scientists, medics and engineers, with the help of historian Jon Agar, and journalist Vivienne Parry.

Producer: Roland Pease.


THU 17:00 PM (b01by8nk)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01bsgyx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 18:30 Clare in the Community (b01693gs)
Series 7

Basic Attraction

Finally, it's Clare and Brian's wedding day! But first there's the Hen Party and Stag Night to get through.

Sally Phillips is Clare Barker the social worker who has all the right jargon but never a practical solution.

A control freak, Clare likes nothing better than interfering in other people's lives on both a professional and personal basis. Clare is in her thirties, white, middle class and heterosexual, all of which are occasional causes of discomfort to her.

Join Clare in her continued struggle to control both her professional and private life. In today's Big Society there are plenty of challenges out there for an involved, caring social worker. Or even Clare.

SALLY PHILLIPS Clare
ALEX LOWE Brian
NINA CONTI Megan / Nali
RICHARD LUMSDEN Ray
LIZA TARBUCK Helen
ANDREW WINCOTT Simon
SARAH KENDALL Libby
TRACY WILES Nina / Mrs Mellish
GERARD MCDERMOT Registrar
ADAM BILLINGTON Gavin / Terry
VICTORIA INEZ HARDY Nurse / Trudi

Written by Harry Venning and David Ramsden

Producer Katie Tyrrell.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2011.


THU 19:00 The Archers (b01by8nm)
Adam has his reservations about going to the village meeting next week. He feels that if he goes, he'll be put on the spot to speak in front of everyone about his opposition to the big dairy. It will definitely worsen the existing tensions at Home Farm.
Ian warns him that the press will love a family row to report on. Adam rings Pat and tells her he won't be attending. She's not pleased, but she understands. Ian says he'll go along and feed back to Adam.
Tom returns from HEFF full of plans for the ready meals and the Felpersham re-launch but Pat has to remind Tom that today is Tony's day - his 61st birthday. She steers the conversation away from business. Tony is tired but appreciates the effort Helen's made with his birthday dinner. She's even iced a cake. Tom's all fired up with getting Helen and Pat to think of new product ideas and being ready to supply new orders. He presses Tony to tidy up the farm for photography and a video. As delayed Brenda arrives, Pat cuts in again and says it's a 'business-free' zone for the rest of the evening.


THU 19:15 Front Row (b01by8np)
Director Josie Rourke; conductor Alan Gilbert; artistic friendships

With Mark Lawson.

Josie Rourke, artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse theatre, discusses her choice of first production, the lack of women running theatres despite a plenitude of acclaimed female directors and whether she's brought a woman's eye to the venue's décor.

Conductor Alan Gilbert is Music Director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and is the first New York-born musician to hold the post. He reflects on his role, and on the experience of conducting his mother, who is a violinist with the orchestra.

In the week that Angelina Jolie's controversial directorial debut was screened in Sarajevo, depicting Serbian atrocities during the Bosnian War, and Sean Penn has accused Britain of colonialism in deploying Prince William to the Falklands, actor Michael Simkins considers whether actors should speak out on political issues.

A new exhibition focuses on the creative relationship between the artists Piet Mondrian and Ben Nicholson during the 1930s. Richard Cork reflects on how friendships between artists have influenced both their work and their reputations.

Producer Philippa Ritchie.


THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01by8mx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


THU 20:00 The Report (b01by8nr)
Underperforming Primary Schools

As some of England's 200 weakest primary schools fight Government plans to force them to become sponsored Academies, Simon Cox reports on Michael Gove's drive to improve children's achievement.

Poorly performing primary schools in England are being required to become sponsored Academies - independent of local authorities and in control of their own budgets. Some schools are contesting the figures used to class them as failing, claiming that improvements are being made and that becoming an academy is not the only way forward. Several are refusing to convert without a fight. The Education Secretary, Michael Gove, recently branded those opposing his plans at one school in North London as the "enemies of promise" and part of a "Trot campaign".

However, over sixty schools in England approached by Department of Education and are in the process of finding a sponsor and preparing to move out of local authority control. One of those tells The Report that the school was coerced and that she felt bullied.

The names of the 200 English schools being targeted have not been released - the Government says it doesn't want to name and shame, but indicated about ten local authorities were involved. However, The Report has contacted all councils in England and indentified over 170 schools in over 50 local authorities.

Critics are concerned that this mandatory and radical shift may not benefit children's education. Only a handful of primary schools currently operate as academies but the Government maintains that evidence of their success raising standards at secondary level will transfer to younger children. Simon Cox examines the figures behind an increasingly fractious fight.

Producer: Samantha Fenwick.


THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (b01by8nt)
Young Entrepreneurs

The view from the top of business. Presented by Evan Davis, The Bottom Line cuts through confusion, statistics and spin to present a clearer view of the business world, through discussion with people running leading and emerging companies. The programme is broadcast first on BBC Radio 4 and later on BBC World Service Radio, BBC World News TV and BBC News Channel TV.

Three young entrepreneurs, all in their early twenties, join Evan to discuss the headaches in getting their businesses up and running. They also discuss the next chapter - moving on and crucially letting go or getting out.

Joining Evan in the studio are Suleman Sacranie, founder of online wholesaler 99pwholesaler.com; Kelly Goss of independent fashion brand Rock 'n' Needle; Louis Barnett, founder of luxury chocolate maker Chokolit.

Producer: Ben Crighton
Editor: Stephen Chilcott.


THU 21:00 Nature (b01bwmw4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Tuesday]


THU 21:30 In Our Time (b01by8ms)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


THU 21:58 Weather (b01bsgyz)
The latest weather forecast.


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b01by8nw)
A year after the Libyan uprising started in Benghazi, what progress towards democracy?

David Cameron makes the case for Scotland remaining in the Union.

The 'graffiti grannies' making their mark in Cornwall.

With Robin Lustig.


THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01c2zl0)
The Dream Life of Sukhanov

Episode 4

Sukhanov has dismissed their housekeeper Valya, accusing her of stealing his collection of ties, now missing from the apartment.

In the middle of a bleak family supper - haunted by Sukhanov's hazy childhood memories of his father - a youngish bearded stranger, complete with large suitcase, arrives, clearly expecting to lodge with the family.

He is apparently a cousin of Sukhanov's, whose mother has suggested to him that he stay with them, although his letter announcing this has not reached Sukhanov. The family resent the intrusion but are forced to accept Fyodor Dalevich's presence, and Nina gives him their bedroom.

Olga Grushin was born in Moscow in 1971 and spent her childhood in Moscow and Prague. In 1989 she became the first Soviet citizen to enrol for a full-time degree in the United States while retaining Soviet citizenship. In 2006 she was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for New Writers and named one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists in 2007. She has published two novels: The Dream Life of Sukhanov (2006) and The Concert Ticket (published in the US as The Line) in April 2010. Olga lives in Washington D.C.

Abridged by Jeremy Osborne

Directed by Marilyn Imrie
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 23:00 Paul Temple (b00svt6h)
Paul Temple and Steve

Mrs Forester Is Surprised

A new production of the 1947 detective serial 'Paul Temple and Steve.' One of the great radio detectives returns refreshed and reinvigorated to the airwaves to investigate the activities of a shadowy and ruthless criminal mastermind in post-war London.

Paul's investigations into the criminal activities of the shadowy Dr. Belasco have taken him and his wife Steve to London's Berkeley Square for a night of Latin American dancing at the fashionable Machicha Club. They're safe enough inside the Machicha - but it's a very different matter when they try to hail a taxi to go home...

Paul Temple ..... Crawford Logan
Steve ..... Gerda Stevenson
Sir Graham Forbes ..... Gareth Thomas
Kaufman ..... Nick Underwood
Joseph ..... Richard Greenwood
Mrs Forester ..... Candida Benson
Ed Bellamy ..... Robin Laing
Sergeant O'Day ..... John Paul Hurley

Produced by Patrick Rayner.


THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b01by8ny)
As the saga of the Eurozone goes from one crisis to the next, peers have held an all-day debate on European matters. Mark D'Arcy brings us the best of the latest to-ing and fro-ing over Europe.

Also on the programme:
* As more warnings are issued about a possible serious water shortage in parts of Southern England, the Conservative MP Anne McIntosh explains what's now needed in new government legislation on water
* Simon Jones reports on a committee inquiry into the effects of a new financial transactions tax on the City of London
* Alicia McCarthy covers the topics covered at Lords question time, including female genital mutilation.



FRIDAY 17 FEBRUARY 2012

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b01bsgzm)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b01cdl48)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b01bsgzp)
The latest shipping forecast.


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b01bsgzr)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b01bsgzt)
The latest shipping forecast.


FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b01bsgzw)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b01c309x)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Peter Whittaker, Methodist Minister.


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b01by9kt)
Caz Graham hears seafood is being tested for radiation on a beach in Fife. The Food Standards Agency is investigating the former MOD site at Dalgety Bay.

Venison may once have been seen as a luxury food, but it's now commonplace in the supermarket. Moira Hickey finds out how deer farmers are cashing in on our growing taste for the meat.

And some wildlife is facing hard times because it's been confused by the weather. Helen Bostock from the Royal Horticultural Society explains how small birds and mammals are desperate for spring to arrive.

Presenter: Caz Graham Producer: Melvin Rickarby.


FRI 06:00 Today (b01by9kw)
Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather, Thought for the Day. Presented by James Naughtie and Evan Davis.


FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b01bwd3t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Sunday]


FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b01cdl53)
Europe in the Looking Glass

Episode 5

The men eventually make their way home.

Europe in the Looking Glass is Robert Byron's travel classic, recounting a car journey across Europe in 1926, and providing a mirror on events and nationhood both then and today. Byron (a descendant of the poet) found acclaim as the author of The Road to Oxiana - an account of a trip to Afghanistan and Persia.

The conclusion offers the travellers (and all of us) a new perspective on their homeland as well as the countries and cultures they explore together.

Read by Rupert Penry-Jones.

Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01by9ky)
CBeebies at 10: Kay Benbow, the Controller of CBeebies, tackles the suggestion that there is a lack of lead female characters on BBC programmes for pre-school children.

Should we test pregnant women for Group B Streptococcus? When he was in opposition, David Cameron tabled three Early Day Motions calling for testing on the NHS. But what is being done about it now?

Louise Rennison's books have been read by millions of teenagers. She talks about her work and the play based on one of her novels that is currrently on stage at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Clive Chatterton, the former governor of Styal Women's Prison breaks his silence about how he thinks female prisoners suffer in this country.

Presented by Jenni Murray.
Producerd by Helen Lee


FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01by9l0)
HighLites

Episode 5

by Steve Chambers and Phil Nodding.

5/5 John's plans to get one over on Beverley go up in smoke.

Cast
Bev ..... Lorraine Ashbourne
Shirley ..... Rosie Cavaliero
John ..... Carl Prekopp
Hilary ..... Nicola Sloane
Wendy ..... Victoria Inez Hardy

Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.


FRI 11:00 The Nile (b01by9l2)
Episode 3

For 5000 years the river Nile has dominated Egypt. To mark the first anniversary of the fall of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, Edward Stourton travels along the Nile from the magnificent high dam at Aswan to the rich farmland of the Delta to explore the enduring undercurrents that have helped shape the country. While rulers come and go the Nile remains eternal and fundamental to Egypt's existence. The country gets 98% of its water from the river. Seen from the air the Nile cuts a narrow green strip through the desert and the vast majority of Egypt's population live within a few miles either side of its banks. How will the Nile and its people respond to the passing of another dynasty?


FRI 11:30 The Write Stuff (b01by9l4)
Series 15

Jackie Collins

Author of the Week this episode is million-selling author and steadfast purveyor of "bonkbusters", Jackie Collins.

Team captains Sebastian Faulks and John Walsh are joined by journalist, Jane Thynne, and creator of the DI Thorne novels, Mark Billingham as they attempt to answer questions based on her life and work.

For the finale of the show, the teams are asked to imagine Jackie Collins' version of a literary classic, such as Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre.


FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b01by9l6)
Local currencies & the taxi drivers helping disabled passengers

Beware licensees of pubs and clubs who are finding ways to show football on the cheap! BskyB is warning that recent decisions in the courts mean they are cracking down on the practise, but are they justified?

After Bristol launches its own pound we find out how other local currencies, such as Stroud, Totnes, Lewes and Brixton, are doing.

Giving wheelchair users and the visually impaired a better ride - the taxi drivers trained in how to help disabiled passengers .

The difficulties of getting an airline to change the name on a ticket even in exceptional circumstances.

Hi-tech eye scanners have been switched off at Manchester and Birmingham, two out of four English airports where they were operating. We find out from the Mail on Sunday's travel editor, Frank Barrett.

A new host of smart phone apps are set to revolutionise, once again, the way we use them. Called 'point to know' it means you can take a picture of a scene and the technology automatically tells you what's there. We talk to Dan Grabham from techradar dot com and Big Brother Watch's Nick Pickles.

And you can't get the big films you want even with some of the biggest rental providers. The effect of Lovefilm's dispute with Universal studios.

Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Lesley Duncanson.


FRI 12:57 Weather (b01bsgzy)
The latest weather forecast.


FRI 13:00 World at One (b01by9l8)
Shaun Ley presents national and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.


FRI 13:45 Sport and the British (b01by9lb)
A Bit of a Flutter

Clare Balding looks at the role gambling has played in our relationship with sport as she continues her exploration into how Britain made sport and sport made Britain.
Betting has played a crucial role in the way games developed, it gave incentive to competition which in turn necessitated clear rules. Establishing who's won and who's lost is crucial but who managed to have a flutter and where was a matter riven with class distinctions as Clare discovers.
Reader, Sean Baker
Producer: Sara Conkey.


FRI 14:00 The Archers (b01by8nm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 Drama (b01by9ld)
Occupied

This drama about UK activism tells the story of what happened when radio producers got a little too close to the action.

With recordings of the protests mixed with drama recordings, actual participants mixed with actors, Occupied creates a world of sound that is both authentic and original.

The play is made in collaboration with artist and activist John Jordan; as well containing sound from within the Fortnum and Mason sit-in it also documents the actual moments when a crowd of activists decide to make camp outside St Paul's cathedral.

What emerges is not only a play about three people trying to make a play - it's about how and why people protest in the UK.

Cast:
Simon: Simon Kane
James: James Lance
Iain: Iain Robertson
Emma: Louise Ford
George: Niall Ashdown
Theo: Dominic Hawksley
Gemma: Gemma Brockis

Other parts were played by Katie Bentley and Benjie Dudgeon.

Sound and music by Alisdair McGregor and Howard Jacques

Written by Glen Neath and John Jordan

Producer/Director: Boz Temple-Morris
A Holy Mountain production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b01by9lg)
Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria

Eric Robson chairs a horticultural Q&A from Grange-Over-Sands in Cumbria. Sharing their wisdom, on the panel are Matthew Biggs, Anne Swithinbank and Bob Flowerdew.

Eric Robson visits the 300 year old topiary garden at the Levens Hall, and Matthew Biggs is starts off his own hardy orchid collection.

Questions answered in the programme are:
Can the panel suggest plants suited to a woodland prone to severe flooding?
Suggestions included: Skunk cabbage, Osmunda Regalis, Kingcups, Darmera Paitata, Swamp cypress and Alder.

How can hen droppings be put to use on the veg plot?
Why am I complete unable to grow Buddleias?
"Noisy plant" suggestions for a sensory garden:
Bamboo and Miscanthus, Broom for its bursting pods and Pine for its hissing cones.

Is possible that my Maidenhair spleenwort underwent a genetic mutation in a fire and developed crested fronds?

Suggestions for plants to incorporate in a veg bed, to be viewed from 2 high ( and no blue flowers please ): Mexican sunflower 'Tithonia', Cosmos bipinnatus, Aronia melanocarpa, Gladioli and Ribes Odoratum.

Why do my French beans go curly?
Is it true you can grow potatoes from eyes instead of tubers?
Given that my husband refuses to heat the greenhouse over winter, what can I grow? Suggestions included: Camellias, Ornamental Leaf Begonias
and Bougainvillea.

Produced by Lucy Dichmont and Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 15:45 The Human Cradle (b01by9lj)
Government by Magic Spell

In 'Government by Magic Spell' by Somali writer Saida Hagi-Dirie Herzi, a young woman is possessed by a jinni, but this soon leads her to a uniquely powerful position in state government. A satirical parable of power and corruption.
The third in our series of contemporary stories from the Horn of Africa - Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia.
Read by Yusra Wasrama
Produced by Emma Harding
About the author: Saida Hagi-Dirie Herzi is a Somali feminist writer.


FRI 16:00 Last Word (b01by9ll)
Patricia Stephens Due, James Whitaker, Josh Gifford, Jim Riordan, Whitney Houston

Matthew Bannister on

the American civil rights activist Patricia Stephens Due who went to prison after entering a "whites only" lunch counter in Florida.

The tabloid royal correspondent James Whitaker, who broke the news of Princess Diana's eating disorder

The racehorse trainer Josh Gifford who stood by jockey Bob Champion when he contracted cancer and gave him his fairy tale Grand National win on Aldaniti

The Communist party member and writer Jim Riordan who was once called up to play football for Spartak Moscow

And Whitney Houston in her own words and music.


FRI 16:30 Feedback (b01by9ln)
Did the death of singer Whitney Houston and the acquittal of football manager Harry Redknapp deserve to top the news bulletins? Many listeners feel that important events at home and abroad were shunted aside unjustifiably. In this week's Feedback Roger asks Mary Hockaday, head of the BBC's newsroom, whether the right decisions were made.

During a particularly robust episode of the Moral Maze, many listeners felt debate gave way to a dust-up. Michael Buerk tells Roger how he tries - and sometimes fails - to ensure the discussion generates more light than heat.

Last week teacher Deborah Mole and her student Kevin agreed to listen exclusively to each other's favourite station for a whole week. After a traumatic week of BBC 1Xtra for her and BBC 6Music for him they reveal what the experience has taught them.

Plus by special request there's a soul-stirring valentine's message from velvet-voiced announcer Zeb Soanes ...

Presenter: Roger Bolton

Producers: Karen Pirie and Kate Taylor
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 17:00 PM (b01by9lq)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b01bsh00)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 18:30 The Now Show (b01by9ls)
Series 36

Episode 1

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis return with another series of topical sketch and stand up. With Mitch Benn, Jon Holmes, Pippa Evans and John Finnemore.

Producer Katie Tyrrell.


FRI 19:00 The Archers (b01by9lv)
In the lambing shed, Pip is full of marketing ideas, including inviting the public to come and see lambing in action. David's been having trouble sleeping but keeps the reason from her.
David and Ruth row about the future of the cows. They reach an impasses but don't let it spoil Pip's birthday. She loves her presents, including a new mobile phone, and even Josh's last-minute card and chocolates from the village shop.
Tom shows Tony the 'clutter' he wants clearing from Bridge Farm, so it looks good in the launch photographs. Tom's demands grow, with him suggesting a repaint as well. Overwhelmed Tony loses his patience.
Brian complains to Jennifer that he feels like an outcast in the village. She suggests they go to the garden centre for a change of scenery. Brian perks up when he speaks to Debbie. She's coming to the village meeting and staying for a few days. But he discovers there's nowhere to hide, when Tom arrives for a meeting with the café manager.
After his successful meeting, Tom is still pushy with Tony, raising the need to change their packaging to emphasise Britishness. When he brings up extending the polytunnels as well, weary Tony gives up arguing.


FRI 19:15 Front Row (b01by9lx)
Walter Mosley, Phil Agland and Rory Gallagher

With John Wilson.

Bestselling author Walter Mosley discusses his novel All I Did Was Shoot My Man, which continues his thriller series featuring New York City Private Investigator Leonid McGill. In this latest installment McGill is trying to help a woman he put in prison.

TV documentary-maker Phil Agland revisits the Baka tribe of Cameroon, West Africa, 25 years after he first filmed them in their isolated home in the jungle. He discusses his shock at what he found on his return, which he documents in his film Baka: A Cry From The Rainforest

Rory Gallagher has been described as Ireland's first rock star. This year marks the 40th anniversary of his solo career which began with the release of his first album in 1971. Rock critic Neil McCormick explains why Gallagher was inspirational to his generation.

And, following Hugo and The Artist, the latest cinema release with a canine star is Red Dog, an Australian film based on Louis de Bernieres's novel about the legendary true story of the red dog who united a disparate local community while roaming the Australian outback in search of his long-lost master. Natalie Haynes reviews.

Producer Jerome Weatherald.


FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01by9l0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b01by9lz)
Solihull

Jonathan Dimbleby chairs a live discussion of news and politics, hosted by the Knowle Society at Arden Academy, Solihull, with historian and Labour MP, Tristram hunt; Conservative MP and historian, Kwasi Kwarteng; Green Party leader and MP, Caroline Lucas; and director of the Institute of Economic Affairs, Mark Littlewood.

Producer: Victoria Wakely.


FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b01by9m1)
Bankers in America

David Cannadine reflects on current and historic attitudes towards bankers in America where opinion does not divide neatly along party lines. He sees today's criticism as mild by comparison with the attitude of Franklin D. Roosevelt who unleashed "a sustained and ferocious attack " during the era of the New Deal.
Producer: Sheila Cook.


FRI 21:00 Sport and the British: Omnibus (b01by9m3)
Episode 3

The omnibus of this weeks Sport and the British with Clare Balding as she continues her exploration of how Britain made sport and sport made Britain. This week the series discovers how the North/South divide, racism, feminism, classism were played out on the sports field. Clare reveals the impact of the split between rugby union and league, the power packed punch of the immigrant boxer fighting for the right to be British and who was allowed to have a bit of a flutter and who wasn't. She looks at the invention of the weekend and the emergence of the middle class which led to an explosion in the genteel sports of tennis and golf.
Producer: Garth Brameld.


FRI 21:58 Weather (b01bsh02)
The latest weather forecast.


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b01by9m5)
David Cameron makes up with Nicolas Sarkozy and backs him to stay as France's President..

We ask if it's alright now for European politicians to meddle in their neighbours' elections.

Scotland's Green industries versus France's Nuclear state backed corporations. Who is best able to keep our lights on?

Pakistan and Iran round on the West.

with Robin Lustig.


FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b01c2zz1)
The Dream Life of Sukhanov

Episode 5

Sukhanov's cousin and erstwhile lodger challenges his thinking on the painter Dali. His drunk son Vasily challenges everything about the way in which his father has lived his life in the last thirty years, and his wife Nina goes to the theatre without him, wearing new silver earrings and scented with lily of the valley cologne.

Olga Grushin was born in Moscow in 1971 and spent her childhood in Moscow and Prague. In 1989 she became the first Soviet citizen to enrol for a full-time degree in the United States while retaining Soviet citizenship. In 2006 she was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for New Writers and named one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists in 2007. She has published two novels: The Dream Life of Sukhanov (2006) and The Concert Ticket (published in the US as The Line) in April 2010. Olga lives in Washington D.C.

Abridged by Jeremy Osborne

Directed by Marilyn Imrie
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 23:00 A Good Read (b01bwp6b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]


FRI 23:30 Goodnight John Boy (b018g3nq)
Frank Cottrell Boyce celebrates one of the great TV families - 'The Waltons'.

'Goodnight, John Boy,' became one of the most common catchphrases of the 1970s, born as it was from one of that decade's most popular TV programmes, 'The Waltons'. Set in rural Virginia during the Depression, the show offered something very different from the typical television of the time, which was chiefly made up of urban shows like 'Kojak', 'The Mod Squad' and 'Starsky and Hutch'. Not only was the setting different but so was the set of characters - poor, blue collar people who were broadly speaking happy with their lives - anathema to many commissioning editors.

In 'Goodnight, John Boy', Frank Cottrell Boyce - himself father of seven children and a successful TV writer - tries to find out precisely why it was such an unlikely TV recipe which proved quite so irresistible to many millions of viewers, and challenges the commonly held view that it was simple nostalgia that played to a Conservative moral agenda.

When George Bush Sr. argued that America needed a lot more families like the Waltons and fewer like the Simpsons, he failed to recognise that the show and the family were deeply rooted in the values of FDR's New Deal. Indeed members of the cast such as Will Geer (Grandpa) and Ralph Waite (Pa Walton) were themselves very active on the political left, with Geer blacklisted as a gay communist and Waite refusing to take part in a photo shoot with President Nixon.

Boyce speaks to a number of the cast members (including those who played Pa Walton, John Boy, and Elizabeth) as well as Earl Hamner, who wrote the books upon which the series was based.