The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Robert Hanks tells of a human obsession through four doggy books. Sirius by Olaf Stapledon. Can a man be a dog? With Prill Barrett, John Bradshaw and Ian Bruce Miller and Jem, the border terrier, and Timmy the whippet. Producer: Tim Dee.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rt Rev'd Richard Chartres, Bishop of London.
Ahead of the biggest party night of the year we meet producers of celebration food and drink from the British countryside. Sarah Swadling goes truffle hunting at a secret location in Wiltshire. She visits a smokery in Gloucestershire which continues the tradition of curing wild salmon from the River Severn. Charlotte Smith, meanwhile, is at one of the biggest makers of English Sparkling Wine, in Kent. Produced and presented by Sarah Swadling.
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Sir David Attenborough presents the mimic specialist Greater Hill Mynah from Asia. Like many members of the starling family, Greater Hill Mynah's are superb mimics with a remarkable ability to reproduce the tones of the human voice. This makes them popular as cage and now some wild populations have been severely reduced by collecting. Hill mynahs are not just vocally outstanding. They're dapper looking birds too; glossy purplish-black with a white wing-patch and wattles of bright yellow skin under their eyes and around the back of their necks. The wild birds don't impersonate people though; it's only those captive birds which are amongst some of the best mimics of the human voice.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Libby Purves meets cellists Julian and Jiaxin Lloyd Webber; comedian Milton Jones; writer and director Gurinder Chadha and diplomat and poet, Dr Kevin Isaac.
Gurinder Chadha OBE is a Kenyan-born writer and director who is best known for her film, Bend it Like Beckham. The comedy tells the story of a young Asian woman's ambition to play football while accommodating the demands of family and tradition. Alongside composer Howard Goodall, Gurinder has transformed the screenplay into a new West End musical. Bend It Like Beckham: The Musical is at the Phoenix Theatre in London from May 2015.
Julian Lloyd Webber is an award-winning composer and cellist. His career began at 16 with a scholarship to the Royal College of Music. Later he studied in Geneva under renowned cellist, Pierre Fournier. His wife, Jiaxin Lloyd Webber, is a graduate of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and former principal cello of the Auckland Chamber Orchestra. Following the announcement of Andrew's retirement, the couple have created a new show reflecting on his life and career and featuring music from them both. Julian and Jiaxin Lloyd Webber are on tour in 2015.
Dr Kevin Isaac is the High Commissioner for St Kitts and Nevis to the Court of St James. A published poet, he has written several volumes of verse - a talent he discovered thanks to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office after he won an FCO-sponsored poetry competition. His latest collection, Breakfast with my Fathers, was inspired by his father and father-in-law. Breakfast with my Fathers is self-published.
Milton Jones is a comedian known for his surreal one-liners and deadpan delivery. He stars in the award-winning Radio 4 programme, Another Case of Milton Jones, and regularly appears on panel shows such as Mock the Week. He is touring his new stand-up show, The Temple of Daft, next year.
Award-winning tenor Ian Bostridge explores Franz Schubert's masterpiece Winterreise, or Winter's Journey. Drawing upon his experience as a performer (he has performed Winterreise more than a hundred times), on his musical knowledge and on his training as a scholar, Bostridge unpicks the enigmas and subtle meanings behind the songs to explore the world Schubert inhabited.
In this episode, he focuses on three songs: "Einsamkeit" (Loneliness), "Die Post" (The Post) and "Der greise Kopf" (The Old Man's Head).
British Queens; Millennium Development Goals; The General Election; Women's Sport
In September the Queen will become Britain's longest serving monarch. Royal Biographer Christopher Warwich and Tudor expert Sarah Gristwood discuss British Queens. In 2000, the UN adopted eight Millenium Development Goals to be achieved by 2015. How successful have they been? Penny Lawrence from Oxfam and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka from UN Women discuss their impact on women. Newsnight's Political Editor Allegra Stratton takes a look at how women will influence the outcome of the 2015 General Election. Following an impressive new financial deal for women's tennis and the growing popularity of women's football, has women's sport finally come of age? We take a look at women's achievements in sport this year and ahead at the sporting events of 2015 with Eleanor Oldroyd. And another chance to hear our June interview with Angelina Jolie.
In the bleak Christmas following his mother's death, the young Nigel Slater sought refuge in food. Sugar mice, pink wafers and mince pies helped him survive. So too did his Aunt Elvie who, against the wishes of his father, encouraged Nigel to cook.
Eating for England, the successor to his highly acclaimed memoir Toast, is part food memoir, part collective memory bank of a nation's taste. Using the book as source material along with further conversations with Nigel, dramatist Sarah Daniels has written a playful reimagining. A grown up Nigel - played by Julian Rhind-Tutt, looks back on his childhood while caring for a now elderly, yet ever sparkling, Aunt Elvie, played by Celia Imrie.
Rich with sounds of the kitchen and recorded on location, with a cameo performance from Nigel himself.
What drives a cook to write about food? Why is there such a powerful link between memory and what we eat? And why is reading about food so irresistibly appetising?
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2014.
Fi Glover introduces a father, now happily married to the mother of the two youngest of his seven children, and his eldest son; should he wait until he's married to have children?
(Please note that, at the end of Fi's introduction to the conversation, she accidentally transposes the names of Han and Sanchez.)
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
The Independence Referendum was intended to settle the issue of Scotland's future for a generation. But has it highlighted - or even created - a crack down the centre of Scottish society? On one side, you have passionate yes voters; younger, mobilised, comfortable in social media, disengaged from UK politics, less "British" than before. On the other, you have older, perhaps wealthier people, who tend to remember Thatcher and the Cold War, and who may be more closely engaged with mainstream media. Aasmah Mir will walk this faultline in Scottish society. She'll speak to #the45 who are keeping Scottish Independence alive in social media, and those no voters who, heart-sore at the division caused by the referendum, are determined that the question is never ever put again.
Based on a short story by Ernest Bramah.
Inspector Lestrade was made to look a fool in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Now he is writing his memoirs and has a chance to get his own back, with tales of Holmes' rivals. He continues with blind detective Max Carrados as they try to discover who caused a horrific train crash at Knights Cross where the driver of the train swears the light was green and the signalman swears the light was red.
Episode by Chris Harrald inspired by the short story 'The Knight's Cross Signal Problem' by Ernest Bramah: http://fullreads.com/literature/the-knights-cross-signal-problem/.
Can the Wilsons draw a line under the terrible events of 1914, by celebrating New Year in the time-honoured fashion?
E-cigarettes have been last year's retail success, but they are still not fully accepted by the UK's public health authorities as a way to stop smoking. Is it time they changed their mind?
It's been more than a year since it became illegal for companies to sell on or leak details of your car accident to the claims management companies, but the practice is still happening. Will new Government fines stop the nuisance calls?
Also, James Dyson and son Jake talk to us about life in a design dynasty. And the revival in vinyl records sales continues apace, but is there the hardware to make enough records to go around?
Senior Labour MP David Lammy backs Blair's warning to Miliband. Shaun Ley reports on Labour's year. Shadow Cabinet Office minister Lucy Powell responds.
British doctor, Oliver Johnson, on same flight as nurse with Ebola tells us scaremongering over screening health workers could hamper efforts to combat the disease in West Africa.
Labour MP Simon Danczuk and Richard Fitzwilliams, a former editor of The International Who's Who, debate the merits of Fiona Woolf being made a Dame in the New Year's Honours List.
AFP photographer Joseph Eid talks about his work in Homs, scene of some of the most brutal fighting in the Syrian civil war. And could DNA defeat the dog owners who don't bother to pick up when it's dark?
Guided by an earnest novice monk from the bells of Santa Croce to the Armenian monastery-island of San Lazzaro, Charles Emmerson continues to Venice on his journey through the Armenian diaspora of Europe.
Armenian traders have been in Venice for centuries. Tall tales of Armenians fighting with Venetians at Troy still circulate. But when the island of San Lazzaro, a former leper colony, was turned into an Armenian monastery in the early 18th century, it became a new magnet for Armenians in the city.
Over the years, San Lazzaro developed into a sacred citadel of Armenian culture. The monks collected together manuscripts and books of the Armenian world even as they turned to dust elsewhere. We hear the Armenian religious singing which the monks kept alive, and share the wonder of the Venetian Armenians who first heard it when they were young.
San Lazzaro's reputation spread - it's claimed Byron visited the island to learn the Armenian language by swimming all the way from the Venice shore. Charles learns of the very spot on the island where Byron came to meditate after trying to master the twists and turns of the semi-mystical Armenian alphabet.
Speaking with the monks today, Charles discovers the links which tie the monastery to the outside world, even as it becomes harder and harder to make up a football team for the island's meagre football pitch.
The gardener reveals the monastery's culinary secrets - rose-petal jam, and copious supplies of dairy products from the Lido. And as the mist draws in, and vespers end, the abbot takes out the monastery speedboat to return his visitors to the city. The island falls back into the protective silence of the night.
When his agent threatens to leave him, an emerging horror writer makes one last bid for success.
He teams up with the girl-next-door to write in a genre entirely unfamiliar to him - the romantic comedy. For her, rom-coms are a guilty pleasure: she literally keeps them in her closet.
Can they together find the perfect receipt for successful film-writing, or will they find themselves trapped in the middle of a romantic-comedy cliché?
Afghan Women: Speaking Out, Losing Lives paints a vivid portrait of the everyday lives of girls and women at a turning point in Afghan history.
Lyse Doucet visits Kabul to see how the lives of Afghan girls and women have changed since the fall of the Taliban 13 years ago, and to hear concerns that these hard-won gains are already being threatened as the troops depart.
From female illiteracy to maternal mortality and sexual violence, Afghanistan is still one of the worst places on earth for women's rights.
Considerable advances have been made since the fall of the Taliban, as Lyse hears.
She speaks with Rula Ghani, whose very public profile as the new First Lady - the first First Lady in a generation - gives a sense of how women's opportunities are improving, at least in cities such as Kabul.
She visits the Rabia Balkhi Women's Hospital and the Zarghuna High School for Girls - the largest girls' school in the country. As doctors, midwives, new mothers, teachers, schoolgirls and one of the country's very few female rappers share their personal stories, she hears optimism about life in cities.
Lyse hears shocking accounts of domestic violence and rape; the rapper, Paradise, shares the heart-breaking true story behind one of her songs; and Lyse chances upon an all too common instance of still-birth.
Additionally, the testimonies of three women who had shared their stories for a play specially commissioned by Amnesty International, and whom Lyse had hoped to meet, are read by the actor Olivia Colman, giving voice to the women who fear even today to speak out.
A timely portrait of Afghanistan from Lyse Doucet, the BBC's Chief International Correspondent
Self-help & self-improvement. As thoughts turn to resolutions and making a fresh start in 2015, Laurie Taylor wonders if his scepticism about self-help books and self-improvement programmes is well founded. He goes for advice to Christine Whelan - Professor in the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin and a self-help author. Further enlightenment is provided by Meg John Barker - Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the Open University - who has studied self-help literature dealing with sex and relationships and has also written what she describes as 'an anti self-help book'. And Rebecca Coleman - Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London - explains how TV makeover shows and online dieting sites create powerfully gendered and class-based messages about changing our bodies.
Chat shows have been the staple of TV schedules for decades. The Bee Gees storming off Clive Anderson's show, David Icke claiming to be the 'son of God' on Wogan, Victoria Beckham's 'Golden Balls' confession, and Grace Jones slapping Russell Harty, are considered some of the best of British chat show moments. However, some have lamented the demise of the 'traditional' talk show, where hosts do one-on-one in-depth interviews with celebrities. Instead, networks favour comedy entertainment shows, like Alan Carr and Graham Norton. So, why the change in style, and what are the ingredients for chat show success? Graham Norton joins Steve Hewlett to discuss chat show gold and explains how age, experience, and celebrity demands have influenced his style. Also in the studio; Elaine Bedell, Director of Entertainment and Comedy at ITV; Jonathan Shalit, Chair of talent management agency Roar Global, and the Guardian TV critic Julia Raeside. Together, they discuss how the changing nature of celebrity has had an impact on talk show styles, and ask where next for the genre.
No-one likes New Year's Eve but don't worry, celebrated cookery writer and self-professed New Year's Eve celebrations specialist Damien Trench is on hand to impart his words of wisdom on how to make the perfect punch, what food to serve and most importantly, the best way of getting everyone to go home at the end of the night.
Family arguments in the first in a series of Stephen K Amos' sitcom about his own teenage years, growing up black, gay and funny in 1980s South London.
At Brookfield, the atmosphere is charged with Carol's strong cocktails. Carol hints to David about Jill's unease. But David tells Kenton he has no doubts about the move. David reassures Jill. They will miss her, but will make things work in Hexham.
Josh and Johnny are doing 'dares' at the Young Farmers 'apres ski' party. Josh has soon had too many and falls over. Phoebe offers to stay with him but Johnny gallantly steps up.
While she's waiting for Harrison, Fallon gives keyed-up Kenton a hand at the Bull ahead of his busy night. Kenton reveals that once the Brookfield money has come in he's planning to put some aside for his daughter Meriel, and maybe take a trip Down Under.
When Harrison finally arrives, he's full of apologies for his lateness. He promises Fallon he's the real deal. Fallon assures him it's fine. She's cheered up hugely by the news from Kenton that he and Jolene intend to give her a chunk of money to help set up her business.
As they look at the stars, Harrison wants to hold on to the moment. If he's standing in this exact spot with Fallon this time next year, he'll have done all right. They kiss.
In the second programme celebrating the arts highlights from 2014, John Wilson hears from Benedict Cumberbatch, Timothy Spall, Keira Knightley and Eddie Redmayne as they discuss the challenges of playing real life figures in film. Dolly Parton, Joan Baez, Iggy Pop and Emma Thompson talk about the impact of age on their chosen careers as Daria Klimentova explains why she decided to retire from the world of ballet. Michael Sheen discusses his passion for Dylan Thomas in this anniversary year, and Simon Schama and Hilary Spurling enthuse about Rembrandt and Matisse. And pop newcomers, Sam Smith and Young Fathers reflect on their successes over the last year.
Kamin Mohammadi presents three of the best recent episodes of Four Thought, each addressing a state of mind.
The talks include Amia Srinivasan on the potential benefits of anger, Mark O'Connell discussing his own constitutional ambivalence and Farrah Jarral on cheekiness.
Darren Harris, a double paralympic athlete and mathematics graduate, draws similarities between people and prime numbers: each is indivisible and unique. In the age of big data, he makes the case for a more person-centred approach in public services. And he finds it in an unexpected place, somewhere more usually associated with a 'win at all costs' mentality: elite sport.
Ian McMillan, Yorkshire poet and broadcaster, was born and brought up near Grimethorpe, home of one of the most famous brass bands in the world - Grimethorpe Colliery Brass Band. He knows and loves their music, and understands their importance to the local community. In this programme, he celebrates brass band music, revels in its power and precision and explores it's meaning in a world where coal-mining has all but disappeared.
Throughout the twentieth century, the local brass band was a badge of pride for British industry that sat at the very centre of the community. Grimethorpe Colliery Brass Band was founded in 1917 and paid for by the pit to offer miners a hobby. After the mine shut, its fight to survive inspired the 1995 film Brassed Off, starring Ewan McGregor and Tara Fitzgerald.
Through thick and thin, Grimethorpe Colliery Band have toughed it out and remained one of the world's best known brass bands. The band manager Nigel Dixon and trustees have committed to staying involved as long as they can and have turned attention to trying everything they can to save Grimethorpe.
To hear them strike up, there is no other sound like it and this programme is filled with their wonderful, rich, colourful, emotional sounds.
Ian McMillan meets members of the band, sits in on rehearsals, and finds out how they fight to survive financial catastrophe. He talks to the community as the band push on with their work of funding music education in the local school so that children can learn instruments for free and, for one or two, offer the potential to change their lives too, in the same way most of the current Grimethorpe band first started out.
Is inequality on the rise? David Eades presents a special edition of The World Tonight. Has a new class of global super-rich emerged and is the traditional middle class disappearing? We hear from Switzerland, China and the UK.
'Few people alive at the time were more delightful, more ingenuous, more movingly lovely, and as it might happen, more savage than the girls of slender means.'
Emilia Fox reads Muriel Spark's rapier-witted portrait of the lives and loves of a group of genteel but impoverished young women in postwar London. In the so-called May of Teck Club, a boarding house for single ladies, life carries on as if the world were back to normal: elocution lessons, poetry recitals, jostling over suitors and the sharing of a single taffeta gown. But the war has ended and things are not normal and never again will be. Into this world arrives Nicolas Farringdon, a writer and anarchist, who is beguiled by these girls of slender means and their giddy, carefree lives. This meeting, we soon learn, will end in his death.
Today: Writer and would-be anarchist, Nicolas, becomes more and more intoxicated by the 'girls of slender means'.
Spark's 1963 novel, The Girls of Slender Means, has become a modern classic. AL Kennedy has called it: 'An uncompromisingly well-crafted book: lean, ironic, funny, penetrating, unsettling and very, very beautiful. Welcome to the English language as operated by an expert.'
Muriel Spark was an award-winning Scottish novelist and biographer, known best for her acclaimed novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
Long Showcase of new comedy talent from the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe, hosted by Jason Cook and featuring Fosters award-winners Alex Edelman (newcomer) and Funz and Gamez (panel prize), along with Suzi Ruffell, Gein's Family Giftshop, Lolly Adefope, Tamar Broadbent, Rhys James, Massive Dad, Natasia Demetriou and Dane Baptiste.
Alan Dein crosses the world via Facebook and Skype, hearing the real life dramas of random strangers.
This week he speaks to people who, through choice or circumstance, are going it alone.
He hears from a Chinese student, now living in Los Angeles, who is coping with living alone in a foreign country and has come to terms with his stutter without the help of a speech therapist.
A woman from Australia explains how she is overcoming the disappointment of being jilted by her Vietnamese fiancé while another in Argentina explains why she wants to remain alone having lost her savings in pursuit of a relationship.
And finally he hears from a widow in London who is haunted by her husband's death.
THURSDAY 01 JANUARY 2015
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b04vkc2y)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:15 Dog Days (b0371j3z)
Niki
Robert Hanks tells of a human obsession through four doggy books. Niki by Tibor Dery. If a dog could vote, would it? With Prill Barrett, John Bradshaw and Ian Bruce Miller and Jem, the border terrier, and Timmy the whippet. Producer: Tim Dee.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b04vkc30)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b04vjvw6)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b04vjvw8)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b04vjvwb)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b04vjvwf)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b04w4xz6)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rt Rev'd Richard Chartres, Bishop of London.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b04vkc3w)
Country Estate
Sally Challoner meets some of the staff and tenant farmers at Berkeley Castle - one of the UK's oldest country estates. Covering 6,000 acres in Gloucestershire, the estate is also home to a medieval deer park, and takes in part of the River Severn. We catch up with the heir to the estate, and find out how old traditions meet modern land management practices.
There are now 18 tenant farms on the estate, along with several houses and two pubs. And difficult decisions sometimes have to be made to keep the castle running. But today the Berkeley family meet with the staff to hand out parcels of venison from the estate's deer park, as a thank you for the year just gone.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04t0mqf)
White Tern
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Sir David Attenborough presents the widespread marine species, the white tern. Also known as fairy terns or angel terns, these are very slender, long-winged birds, brilliant white except for a black, slightly-upturned bill, dark eyes and very short blue-grey legs. In flight, their wings appear almost translucent. For such a delicate-looking bird, they have rather harsh calls. Unusually they lay their eggs on a bare branch. The female tern selects a small groove in the bark or on the leaf-stalks of palms where her single egg will be most secure. Here, on its tropical tightrope, the egg is safer from ground predators like rats and because there's no nesting material, there's less chance of parasites.
THU 06:00 Today (b04vkc6k)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 War and Peace (b04w82wc)
Episode 1
The fortunes of three Russian aristocratic families during the Napoleonic War.
A dynamic fresh dramatisation by Timberlake Wertenbaker of Leo Tolstoy's epic - from the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokonsky.
Starring Lesley Manville, John Hurt, Alun Armstrong and Harriet Walter.
There's a lively dinner party at the Rostov family home and Anna Mikhailovna Dubretskoy is in battle with Prince Vassily over the will and inheritance of the wealthy Count Bezukhov. It seems Pierre, his illegitimate son, may inherit the Count's vast fortune. Meanwhile, Andrei's decision to join the army causes tension between him and his pregnant wife, Lise.
The story moves between their past and present as Pierre, Natasha, Marya and Nikolai talk to their children about the events that shaped their lives and the lives of every Russian who lived through these troubled times.
War and Peace reflects the panorama of life at every level of Russian society in this period. The longest of 19th-century novels, it's an epic story in which historical, social, ethical and religious issues are explored on a scale never before attempted in fiction.
Paterson Joseph ...... Pierre Bezuhkov
Lesley Manville ...... Countess Rostov
John Hurt ...... Prince Bolkonsky
Alun Armstrong ...... Count Rostov
Phoebe Fox ...... Natasha Rostov
Sam Reid ...... Nikolai Rostov
Tamzin Merchant ...... Sonya Rostov
Stephen Campbell Moore ...... Andrei Bolkonsky
Natasha Little ...... Marya Bolkonsky
Roger Allam ...... General Kutuzov
Harriet Walter ...... Mikhailovna Drubetskoy
Director: Celia de Wolff
Executive Producer: Peter Hoare
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015.
THU 10:00 War and Peace (b04w82wf)
Episode 2
Having inherited his father's fortune, Pierre becomes the new Count Bezukhov and the richest man in Russia. Prince Vassily's charming daughter, Helene, captures Pierre's attention and before long they are married. But will it be a happy match?
Meanwhile, Princess Marya is being wooed by Helen's wily brother, Anatole, while war dominates for others - Prince Andrei is building a respectful relationship with General Kutuzov and courageously speaks out to Prince Bagration in defence of Captain Tushin while Nikolai is wounded at Shoengraben. The Battle of Austerlitz is imminent.
A dynamic fresh dramatisation by Timberlake Wertenbaker of Leo Tolstoy's epic - from the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokonsky - follows the fortunes of three Russian aristocratic families during the Napoleonic War. Starring Lesley Manville, John Hurt, Alun Armstrong and Harriet Walter.
The story moves between their past and present as Pierre, Natasha, Marya and Nikolai talk to their children about the events that shaped their lives and the lives of every Russian who lived through these troubled times.
War and Peace reflects the panorama of life at every level of Russian society in this period. The longest of 19th-century novels, it's an epic story in which historical, social, ethical and religious issues are explored on a scale never before attempted in fiction.
Alex Shiels … Sergei Rostov
Ben Crowe … Mikhail Mitrich
Charlotte Emmerson … Helen Kuragin
Daniel Flynn … Regimental Commander
David Calder … Prince Vassily Kuragin
David Collings … Shinshin
Ella Dale … Masha Bezukhov
Ferdinand Kingsley … Anatole Kuragin
Harriet Walter … Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskoy
Hazel Ellerby … Julia's mother
Jed Vine … Petya Rostov
Joanna David … Annette Scherer
Joel Msccormack … Boris Drubetskoy
John Hurt … Prince Bolkonsky
Jonathan Slinger … Captain Denisov
Kathleen Keaney … Liza Rostov
Miss Nelly Harker … Lise Bolkonsky
Alun Armstrong … Count Rostov
Emerald O'Hanrahan … Julia Karagan
Lesley Manville … Countess Rostov
Natasha Little … Marya Bolkonsky
Paterson Joseph … Pierre Bezuhkov
Phoebe Fox … Natasha Rostov
Pip Donaghy … Colonel of the House
Roger Allam … General Kutuzov
Roger May … Prince Bagration
Sam Blatchford … Andrusha Rostov
Sam Dale … Alpatych
Sam Reid … Nikolai Rostov
Sarah Badel … Maria Demitrievna
Serena Evans … Catiche
Stanley Toyne … Mitya Rostov
Stephen Campbell Moore … Andrei Bolkonsky
Tamzin Merchant … Sonya Rostov
Tom Glenister … Nikolenka Bolkonsky
Director: Celia de Wolff
Executive Producer: Peter Hoare
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015.
THU 11:00 War and Peace (b04w82wh)
Episode 3
Napoleon maps out his strategic plan against the Russians at Austerlitz. General Kutuzov and Andrei are both wounded in the battle and Andrei's family don't know if he is alive. Meanwhile, Pierre challenges Dolokhov to a duel over Helene - he suspects them of being lovers - and Pierre and Helene argue, but she refuses to separate. Denisov and Nikolai return to the Rostov home while at Bald Hills, Lise is in childbirth but will she and Andrei ever see each again?
A dynamic fresh dramatisation by Timberlake Wertenbaker of Leo Tolstoy's epic - from the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokonsky - follows the fortunes of three Russian aristocratic families during the Napoleonic War. Starring Lesley Manville, John Hurt, Alun Armstrong and Harriet Walter.
The story moves between their past and present as Pierre, Natasha, Marya and Nikolai talk to their children about the events that shaped their lives and the lives of every Russian who lived through these troubled times.
War and Peace reflects the panorama of life at every level of Russian society in this period. The longest of 19th-century novels, it's an epic story in which historical, social, ethical and religious issues are explored on a scale never before attempted in fiction.
Alex Shiels … Sergei Rostov
Ben Crowe … Mikhail Mitrich
Charlotte Emmerson … Helene Kuragin
Daniel Flynn … Regimental Commander
David Calder … Prince Vassily Kuragin
David Collings … Shinshin
Ella Dale … Masha Bezukhov
Ferdinand Kingsley … Anatole Kuragin
Harriet Walter … Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskoy
Hazel Ellerby … Julia's mother
Jed Vine … Petya Rostov
Joanna David … Annette Scherer
Joel Maccormack … Boris Drubetskoy
John Hurt … Prince Bolkonsky
Jonathan Slinger … Captain Denisov
Kathleen Keaney … Liza Rostov
Nelly Harker … Lise Bolkonsky
Alun Armstrong … Count Rostov
Emerald O'Hanrahan … Julia Karagan
Lesley Manville … Countess Rostov
Natasha Little … Marya Bolkonsky
Paterson Joseph … Pierre Bezuhkov
Phoebe Fox … Natasha Rostov
Pip Donaghy … Colonel of the Hussars
Roger Allam … General Kutuzov
Roger May … Prince Bagration
Sam Blatchford … Andrusha Rostov
Sam Dale … Alpatych
Sam Reid … Nikolai Rostov
Sarah Badel … Maria Demitrievna
Serena Evans … Catiche
Stanley Toyne … Mitya Rostov
Stephen Campbell Moore … Andrei Bolkonsky
Tamzin Merchant … Sonya Rostov
Tom Glenister … Nikolenka Bolkonsky
Director: Celia de Wolff
Executive Producer: Peter Hoare
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015.
THU 12:00 War and Peace (b04w82wl)
Episode 4
Pierre meets a wise stranger, Bazdeev, and becomes a Freemason. Natasha catches the eye of Captain Denisov who rashly proposes – Countess Rostov sets him straight. Nikolai confesses his huge gambling debts to his father, Count Rostov, and vows never to gamble again. General Denisov vows never to propose again.
Following Lise's death, Pierre visits Bald Hills to try and console a broken Andrei and siblings Andrei and Marya draw close when Andrei's young son, Nikolenka, is dangerously ill. Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Denisov takes drastic action to feed his starving troops but the consequences are harsh. And following a business visit to Count Rostov, Andrei encounters Natasha Rostov and is enchanted – he wants to live again.
A dynamic fresh dramatisation by Timberlake Wertenbaker of Leo Tolstoy's epic - from the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokonsky - follows the fortunes of three Russian aristocratic families during the Napoleonic War. Starring Lesley Manville, John Hurt, Alun Armstrong and Harriet Walter.
The story moves between their past and present as Pierre, Natasha, Marya and Nikolai talk to their children about the events that shaped their lives and the lives of every Russian who lived through these troubled times.
War and Peace reflects the panorama of life at every level of Russian society in this period. The longest of 19th-century novels, it's an epic story in which historical, social, ethical and religious issues are explored on a scale never before attempted in fiction.
Alex Shiels … Sergei Rostov
Ben Crowe … Mikhail Mitrich
Charlotte Emmerson … Helene Kuragin
Daniel Flynn … Regimental Commander
David Calder … Prince Vassily Kuragin
David Collings … Shinshin
Ella Dale … Masha Bezukhov
Ferdinand Kingsley … Anatole Kuragin
Harriet Walter … Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskoy
Hazel Ellerby … Julia's mother
Jed Vine … Petya Rostov
Joanna David … Annette Scherer
Joel Maccormack … Boris Drubetskoy
John Hurt … Prince Bolkonsky
Jonathan Slinger … Captain Denisov
Kathleen Keaney … Liza Rostov
Nelly Harker … Lise Bolkonsky
Alun Armstrong … Count Rostov
Emerald O'Hanrahan … Julia Karagan
Lesley Manville … Countess Rostov
Natasha Little … Marya Bolkonsky
Paterson Joseph … Pierre Bezuhkov
Phoebe Fox … Natasha Rostov
Pip Donaghy … Colonel of the Hussars
Roger Allam … General Kutuzov
Roger May … Prince Bagration
Sam Blatchford … Andrusha Rostov
Sam Dale … Alpatych
Sam Reid … Nikolai Rostov
Sarah Badel … Maria Demitrievna
Serena Evans … Catiche
Stanley Toyne … Mitya Rostov
Stephen Campbell Moore … Andrei Bolkonsky
Tamzin Merchant … Sonya Rostov
Tom Glenister … Nikolenka Bolkonsky
Director: Celia de Wolff
Executive Producer: Peter Hoare
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015.
THU 13:00 News (b04vjvwn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 13:15 Death of An Orchestra (b04v381r)
Alan Bennett recalls his regular boyhood visits to hear the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra. With other keen supporters and former members, he tells the Orchestra's history from 1947 to its demise in 1955.
Amid the austerity of the post-war years, the YSO was founded in a spirit of great optimism to provide first class orchestral music for the citizens of Yorkshire. It was based in Leeds Town Hall, and funded entirely out of the Rates. The inaugural concert book expressed the hope that it would "find a permanent place in the musical life of Yorkshire and rank with the finest orchestras of this country".
The founder conductor was Maurice Miles, who appears in the only recording of the YSO to survive in the BBC Archive.
There were guest appearances by Sir Malcolm Sargent, Sir Thomas Beecham and Sir Adrian Boult, and visits from glittering soloists such as Joan Hammond and Tito Gobbi.
As a Leeds schoolboy, Alan Bennett found these figures from the outside world "tinged with great glamour". Violinist Rodney Friend, another supporter, was a winner of the YSO's competition for young soloists before becoming leader of the LPO, the New York Philharmonic and the BBC SO.
Eight former members of the orchestra, now scattered around the country, describe life in the YSO: cold rickety buses, romance, and the thrill of the great conductor Nikolai Malko arriving for the final season. They recall their shock on discovering that the Orchestra was to be disbanded and the sadness of the final concert.
Produced by Susan Kenyon
A Whistledown production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
THU 13:45 Out of Armenia (b04w0k5n)
Istanbul
"I see them, I see them myself, I see them all the time."
Charles Emmerson continues to Istanbul on his journey through the Armenian diaspora communities of Europe. He learns how the murder of Turkish-Armenian newspaper editor Hrant Dink in 2007 - reported and condemned worldwide - has changed relations between the city's Turks and Armenians. Long suppressed or hidden, Istanbul's Armenian life is seeping back to the surface. Subjects long taboo are now discussed openly.
Armenians have lived in Istanbul for centuries - jewellers, porters, businessmen and architects. They have had a patriarch in the city since just a few years after the Turkish conquest.
Yet when Hrant Dink was shot dead by a radical Turkish nationalist outside his office one Friday afternoon, many outside Turkey were surprised to learn that Armenians still lived in Istanbul at all.
The moment became a watershed. Turks appeared on the streets of Istanbul bearing banners reading 'We are all Armenians'.
Istanbul Armenians tell Charles of their pride in their culture and their city, and of their determination to continue Hrant Dink's legacy, building a new relationship with their Turkish friends and compatriots. Rober Koptas, Agos' current editor, takes Charles to the paper's cramped first floor offices. The paper's purpose now, he says, is to be "a playground, not a castle".
In a bustling Armenian restaurant - the city's only Armenian restaurant - Charles runs into Turkish-Armenian photographer Ara Güler, Istanbul's Cartier-Bresson, and hears the story of his most famous photograph. Speaking to a publisher we discover how literature is drawing Turks and Armenians closer together.
Produced by Cicely Fell
An Above The Title production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b04vr5jb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 War and Peace (b04w89tp)
Episode 5
There is much excitement as the Rostov family is invited to the Emperor's New Year's Eve Ball where Andrei meets Natasha Rostov for the first time. The two of them fall deeply in love, but are the rumours of his proposal to her true? And how will Andrei's domineering father, Prince Bolkonsky, react to the news?
Pierre, still a freemason, is growing increasingly distant from Helene. Meanwhile the Rostov family is in an increasingly dire financial position and Countess Rostov is desperate for Nikolai to marry Julia Karagin whose wealth could save them. But Nikolai and his penniless cousin Sonya love each other and are determined to marry.
A dynamic fresh dramatisation by Timberlake Wertenbaker of Leo Tolstoy's epic - from the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokonsky - follows the fortunes of three Russian aristocratic families during the Napoleonic War. Starring Lesley Manville, John Hurt, Alun Armstrong and Harriet Walter.
The story moves between their past and present as Pierre, Natasha, Marya and Nikolai talk to their children about the events that shaped their lives and the lives of every Russian who lived through these troubled times.
War and Peace reflects the panorama of life at every level of Russian society in this period. The longest of 19th-century novels, it's an epic story in which historical, social, ethical and religious issues are explored on a scale never before attempted in fiction.
Alex Shiels … Sergei Rostov
Ben Crowe … Mikhail Mitrich
Charlotte Emmerson … Helene Kuragin
Daniel Flynn … Regimental Commander
David Calder … Prince Vassily Kuragin
David Collings … Shinshin
Ella Dale … Masha Bezukhov
Ferdinand Kingsley … Anatole Kuragin
Harriet Walter … Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskoy
Hazel Ellerby … Julia's mother
Jed Vine … Petya Rostov
Joanna David … Annette Scherer
Joel Maccormack … Boris Drubetskoy
John Hurt … Prince Bolkonsky
Jonathan Slinger … Captain Denisov
Kathleen Keaney … Liza Rostov
Nelly Harker … Lise Bolkonsky
Alun Armstrong … Count Rostov
Emerald O'Hanrahan … Julia Karagan
Lesley Manville … Countess Rostov
Natasha Little … Marya Bolkonsky
Paterson Joseph … Pierre Bezuhkov
Phoebe Fox … Natasha Rostov
Pip Donaghy … Colonel of the Hussars
Roger Allam … General Kutuzov
Roger May … Prince Bagration
Sam Blatchford … Andrusha Rostov
Sam Dale … Alpatych
Sam Reid … Nikolai Rostov
Sarah Badel … Maria Demitrievna
Serena Evans … Catiche
Stanley Toyne … Mitya Rostov
Stephen Campbell Moore … Andrei Bolkonsky
Tamzin Merchant … Sonya Rostov
Tom Glenister … Nikolenka Bolkonsky
Director: Celia de Wolff
Executive Producer: Peter Hoare
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015.
THU 15:00 War and Peace (b04w89ty)
Episode 6
Natasha struggles to cope with Andrei's absence and is sent to stay with her Godmother in Moscow, so that she can meet with Prince Bolkonsky and Marya in an attempt to win them over. It all goes wrong when she is tempted to stray by the two timing Anatole Kuragin who immediately fills Natasha's head with promises of his love. Could Natasha be about to throw away everything she already has with her beloved fiancee, Andrei, for the hand of this wicked Prince?
A dynamic fresh dramatisation by Timberlake Wertenbaker of Leo Tolstoy's epic - from the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokonsky - follows the fortunes of three Russian aristocratic families during the Napoleonic War. Starring Lesley Manville, John Hurt, Alun Armstrong and Harriet Walter.
The story moves between their past and present as Pierre, Natasha, Marya and Nikolai talk to their children about the events that shaped their lives and the lives of every Russian who lived through these troubled times.
War and Peace reflects the panorama of life at every level of Russian society in this period. The longest of 19th-century novels, it's an epic story in which historical, social, ethical and religious issues are explored on a scale never before attempted in fiction. From this, Timberlake Wertenbaker has created a riveting radio dramatisation in ten episodes.
Leo Tolstoy … Author
Timberlake Wertenbaker … Dramatist
Alex Shiels … Sergei Rostov
Ben Crowe … Mikhail Mitrich
Charlotte Emmerson … Helene Kuragin
Daniel Flynn … Regimental Commander
David Calder … Prince Vassily Kuragin
David Collings … Shinshin
Ella Dale … Masha Bezukhov
Ferdinand Kingsley … Anatole Kuragin
Harriet Walter … Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskoy
Hazel Ellerby … Julia's mother
Jed Vine … Petya Rostov
Joanna David … Annette Scherer
Joel Maccormack … Boris Drubetskoy
John Hurt … Prince Bolkonsky
Jonathan Slinger … Captain Denisov
Kathleen Keaney … Liza Rostov
Nelly Harker … Lise Bolkonsky
Alun Armstrong … Count Rostov
Emerald O'Hanrahan … Julia Karagan
Lesley Manville … Countess Rostov
Natasha Little … Marya Bolkonsky
Paterson Joseph … Pierre Bezuhkov
Phoebe Fox … Natasha Rostov
Pip Donaghy … Colonel of the Hussars
Roger Allam … General Kutuzov
Roger May … Prince Bagration
Sam Blatchford … Andrusha Rostov
Sam Dale … Alpatych
Sam Reid … Nikolai Rostov
Sarah Badel … Maria Demitrievna
Serena Evans … Catiche
Stanley Toyne … Mitya Rostov
Stephen Campbell Moore … Andrei Bolkonsky
Tamzin Merchant … Sonya Rostov
Tom Glenister … Nikolenka Bolkonsky
Director: Celia de Wolff
Executive Producer: Peter Hoare
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015.
THU 16:00 War and Peace (b04w89v2)
Episode 7
Andrei grows ever more bitter about Natasha's behaviour with Anatole Karagin and, after a heated argument with his father, feels he has little choice but to leave Bald Hills in order to rejoin the army and forget the past. Petya, the youngest child of the Rostovs also wants to join the army much to the horror and worry of the Countess.
Meanwhile, Pierre is convinced that he is on a mission to single-handedly save Russia from Napoleon, while his own feelings towards Natasha could be something more than just those of a concerned 'guardian'. As the war continues to spread across Russia, Prince Bolkonsky and Marya are warned by Andrei that troops could be drawing closer to their home near Smolensk. The news is too much for the old Prince.
A dynamic fresh dramatisation by Timberlake Wertenbaker of Leo Tolstoy's epic - from the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokonsky - follows the fortunes of three Russian aristocratic families during the Napoleonic War. Starring Lesley Manville, John Hurt, Alun Armstrong and Harriet Walter.
The story moves between their past and present as Pierre, Natasha, Marya and Nikolai talk to their children about the events that shaped their lives and the lives of every Russian who lived through these troubled times.
War and Peace reflects the panorama of life at every level of Russian society in this period. The longest of 19th-century novels, it's an epic story in which historical, social, ethical and religious issues are explored on a scale never before attempted in fiction. From this, Timberlake Wertenbaker has created a riveting radio dramatisation in ten episodes.
Leo Tolstoy … Author
Timberlake Wertenbaker … Dramatist
Alex Shiels … Sergei Rostov
Alun Armstrong … Count Rostov
Ben Crowe … Mikhail Mitrich
Charlotte Emmerson … Helen Kuragin
Daniel Flynn … Regimental Commander
David Calder … Prince Vassily Kuragin
David Collings … Shinshin
Ella Dale … Masha Bezukhov
Emerald O'Hanrahan … Julia Karagan
Ferdinand Kingsley … Anatole Kuragin
Harriet Walter … Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskoy
Hazel Ellerby … Julia's mother
Jed Vine … Petya Rostov
Joanna David … Annette Scherer
Joel Maccormack … Boris Drubetskoy
John Hurt … Prince Bolkonsky
Jonathan Slinger … Captain Denisov
Kathleen Keaney … Liza Rostov
Lesley Manville … Countess Rostov
Miss Nelly Harker … Lise Bolkonsky
Natasha Little … Marya Bolkonsky
Paterson Joseph … Pierre Bezuhkov
Phoebe Fox … Natasha Rostov
Pip Donaghy … Colonel of the House
Roger Allam … General Kutuzov
Roger May … Prince Bagration
Sam Blatchford … Andrusha Rostov
Sam Dale … Alpatych
Sam Reid … Nikolai Rostov
Sarah Badel … Maria Demitrievna
Serena Evans … Catiche
Stanley Toyne … Mitya Rostov
Stephen Campbell Moore … Andrei Bolkonsky
Tamzin Merchant … Sonya Rostov
Tom Glenister … Nikolenka Bolkonsky
Director: Celia de Wolff
Executive Producer: Peter Hoare
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015.
THU 17:00 War and Peace (b04w89v4)
Episode 8
Marya flees Bald Hills when it is subject to attack from the French army. After being rescued by Nikolai from a near peasants’ revolt, they both realise their mutual love for one another, despite Nikolai already being promised to Sonya.
Pierre decides to visit the Battlefields at Borodino where he encounters Andrei who is now living in a broken down shed and desperately trying to forget his previous life. General Kutuzov is leading the cavalry. Despite Pierre warning Andrei of the rumours that Kutuzov is a traitor to the Russians and questioning whether Kutuzov is a skilled commander, Andrei believes that, with Kutuzov by their side, they will win the battle. Although, unknown to Andrei, Kutuzov may have to sacrifice Moscow in the process.
A dynamic fresh dramatisation by Timberlake Wertenbaker of Leo Tolstoy's epic - from the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokonsky - follows the fortunes of three Russian aristocratic families during the Napoleonic War. Starring Lesley Manville, John Hurt, Alun Armstrong and Harriet Walter
The story moves between their past and present as Pierre, Natasha, Marya and Nikolai talk to their children about the events that shaped their lives and the lives of every Russian who lived through these troubled times.
War and Peace reflects the panorama of life at every level of Russian society in this period. The longest of 19th-century novels, it's an epic story in which historical, social, ethical and religious issues are explored on a scale never before attempted in fiction. From this, Timberlake Wertenbaker has created a riveting radio dramatisation in ten episodes.
Leo Tolstoy … Author
Timberlake Wertenbaker … Dramatist
Alex Shiels … Sergei Rostov
Alun Armstrong … Count Rostov
Ben Crowe … Mikhail Mitrich
Charlotte Emmerson … Helen Kuragin
Daniel Flynn … Regimental Commander
David Calder … Prince Vassily Kuragin
David Collings … Shinshin
Ella Dale … Masha Bezukhov
Emerald O'Hanrahan … Julia Karagan
Ferdinand Kingsley … Anatole Kuragin
Harriet Walter … Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskoy
Hazel Ellerby … Julia's mother
Jed Vine … Petya Rostov
Joanna David … Annette Scherer
Joel Maccormack … Boris Drubetskoy
John Hurt … Prince Bolkonsky
Jonathan Slinger … Captain Denisov
Kathleen Keaney … Liza Rostov
Lesley Manville … Countess Rostov
Miss Nelly Harker … Lise Bolkonsky
Natasha Little … Marya Bolkonsky
Paterson Joseph … Pierre Bezuhkov
Phoebe Fox … Natasha Rostov
Pip Donaghy … Colonel of the House
Roger Allam … General Kutuzov
Roger May … Prince Bagration
Sam Blatchford … Andrusha Rostov
Sam Dale … Alpatych
Sam Reid … Nikolai Rostov
Sarah Badel … Maria Demitrievna
Serena Evans … Catiche
Stanley Toyne … Mitya Rostov
Stephen Campbell Moore … Andrei Bolkonsky
Tamzin Merchant … Sonya Rostov
Tom Glenister … Nikolenka Bolkonsky
Director: Celia de Wolff
Executive Producer: Peter Hoare
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b04vjvwt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:15 Christmas With... (b04vkglq)
Damien Trench - New Year's Day
Renowned cookery Damien Trench is a man who's had more than his fair share of raucous New Year's Eve parties and therefore has more than a little wisdom to impart on how best to set about the clean up operation that must inevitably follow any evening of high-tempo ritournelles and roundalays.
THU 18:30 My Teenage Diary (b04vkgls)
Series 6
Alex Horne
Comedian Alex Horne's teenage diary focuses on his 1997 gap year, which he spent teaching English in China. But looking back, Alex wishes he'd spent more time teaching grammar, and less time worrying about girls and sampling the local nightlife.
Produced by Harriet Jaine
A Talkback production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b04xgj8k)
It's still New Year's Eve. Phoebe, Josh, Johnny and Pip are letting their hair down at the Young Farmers party. Things get a little messy between Josh and Johnny. Phoebe tells Johnny not to worry. Josh is probably just emotional because he's leaving soon. She remarks wistfully that Josh is lucky. His parents are so normal.
The lively atmosphere spills over into chaos when drunk Josh knocks over an ice sculpture with his dance moves.
At the Lower Loxley ball, Kate is hitting the champagne. Adam is concerned, and eventually Kate admits she's messed up. She's had another affair, and her marriage is over. But the real problem is that she married the wrong man. She doesn't miss Lucas. He's taken the children back to Johannesburg, but they're happy and settled so maybe that's how it has to be for now. And it means she has another chance here with Phoebe.
Adam's reluctance to party is noted by Charlie. He thinks Adam should try letting go. On the other hand, Kate and Charlie are getting on like a house on fire. Adam warns Kate off, telling her Charlie's not to be trusted. Kate counters that Charlie's fun. If she didn't know Adam better she'd say he was jealous. Don't be ridiculous, retorts Adam.
THU 19:15 War and Peace (b04w89v9)
Episode 9
As the Rostovs pack up ready to leave Moscow, Natasha invites all the wounded soldiers to stay in their house. Nikolai is still in love with Marya but feels he cannot go back on his promise to Sonya. That night, a wounded officer is wheeled into the courtyard – Prince Andrei – who Sonya is told won't live long. She and the Countess decide not to reveal the news to Natasha.
Meanwhile, Pierre returns to the Queen-less hive that is Moscow where he receives a letter from Countess Bezukhov requesting a divorce. The French Army arrive to find Moscow deserted and completely out of control while Pierre wanders through the now-empty city, in disguise, as he initiates his solo mission to assassinate Napoleon. But fate could be about to interrupt his grand plan.
A dynamic fresh dramatisation by Timberlake Wertenbaker of Leo Tolstoy's epic - from the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokonsky - follows the fortunes of three Russian aristocratic families during the Napoleonic War. Starring Lesley Manville, John Hurt, Alun Armstrong and Harriet Walter
The story moves between their past and present as Pierre, Natasha, Marya and Nikolai talk to their children about the events that shaped their lives and the lives of every Russian who lived through these troubled times.
War and Peace reflects the panorama of life at every level of Russian society in this period. The longest of 19th-century novels, it's an epic story in which historical, social, ethical and religious issues are explored on a scale never before attempted in fiction. From this, Timberlake Wertenbaker has created a riveting radio dramatisation in ten episodes.
Leo Tolstoy … Author
Timberlake Wertenbaker … Dramatist
Alex Shiels … Sergei Rostov
Alun Armstrong … Count Rostov
Ben Crowe … Mikhail Mitrich
Charlotte Emmerson … Helen Kuragin
Daniel Flynn … Regimental Commander
David Calder … Prince Vassily Kuragin
David Collings … Shinshin
Ella Dale … Masha Bezukhov
Emerald O'Hanrahan … Julia Karagan
Ferdinand Kingsley … Anatole Kuragin
Harriet Walter … Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskoy
Hazel Ellerby … Julia's mother
Jed Vine … Petya Rostov
Joanna David … Annette Scherer
Joel Maccormack … Boris Drubetskoy
John Hurt … Prince Bolkonsky
Jonathan Slinger … Captain Denisov
Kathleen Keaney … Liza Rostov
Lesley Manville … Countess Rostov
Miss Nelly Harker … Lise Bolkonsky
Natasha Little … Marya Bolkonsky
Paterson Joseph … Pierre Bezuhkov
Phoebe Fox … Natasha Rostov
Pip Donaghy … Colonel of the House
Roger Allam … General Kutuzov
Roger May … Prince Bagration
Sam Blatchford … Andrusha Rostov
Sam Dale … Alpatych
Sam Reid … Nikolai Rostov
Sarah Badel … Maria Demitrievna
Serena Evans … Catiche
Stanley Toyne … Mitya Rostov
Stephen Campbell Moore … Andrei Bolkonsky
Tamzin Merchant … Sonya Rostov
Tom Glenister … Nikolenka Bolkonsky
Director: Celia de Wolff
Executive Producer: Peter Hoare
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015.
THU 20:15 War and Peace (b04w89vd)
Episode 10
In this concluding episode, Pierre recalls his time in the barracks – a surprisingly happy time where he meets a prisoner, Platon Karateev. Kutuzov reluctantly leads the Battle of Tarutino, a Russian victory by a series of accidents.
Meanwhile, Sonya is left little choice but to return her promise to Nikolai so that he can marry his true love, Marya. Countess Rostov receives shocking news and Natasha is still suffering from the death of her beloved Prince Andrei. Kutuzov is called upon once again by the Emperor, this time to 'save Europe'. What will be the General's ultimate decision for Russia?
A dynamic fresh dramatisation by Timberlake Wertenbaker of Leo Tolstoy's epic - from the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokonsky - follows the fortunes of three Russian aristocratic families during the Napoleonic War. Starring Lesley Manville, John Hurt, Alun Armstrong and Harriet Walter
The story moves between their past and present as Pierre, Natasha, Marya and Nikolai talk to their children about the events that shaped their lives and the lives of every Russian who lived through these troubled times.
War and Peace reflects the panorama of life at every level of Russian society in this period. The longest of 19th-century novels, it's an epic story in which historical, social, ethical and religious issues are explored on a scale never before attempted in fiction. From this, Timberlake Wertenbaker has created a riveting radio dramatisation in ten episodes.
Leo Tolstoy … Author
Timberlake Wertenbaker … Dramatist
Alex Shiels … Sergei Rostov
Alun Armstrong … Count Rostov
Ben Crowe … Mikhail Mitrich
Charlotte Emmerson … Helen Kuragin
Daniel Flynn … Regimental Commander
David Calder … Prince Vassily Kuragin
David Collings … Shinshin
Ella Dale … Masha Bezukhov
Emerald O'Hanrahan … Julia Karagan
Ferdinand Kingsley … Anatole Kuragin
Harriet Walter … Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskoy
Hazel Ellerby … Julia's mother
Jed Vine … Petya Rostov
Joanna David … Annette Scherer
Joel Maccormack … Boris Drubetskoy
John Hurt … Prince Bolkonsky
Jonathan Slinger … Captain Denisov
Kathleen Keaney … Liza Rostov
Lesley Manville … Countess Rostov
Miss Nelly Harker … Lise Bolkonsky
Natasha Little … Marya Bolkonsky
Paterson Joseph … Pierre Bezuhkov
Phoebe Fox … Natasha Rostov
Pip Donaghy … Colonel of the House
Roger Allam … General Kutuzov
Roger May … Prince Bagration
Sam Blatchford … Andrusha Rostov
Sam Dale … Alpatych
Sam Reid … Nikolai Rostov
Sarah Badel … Maria Demitrievna
Serena Evans … Catiche
Stanley Toyne … Mitya Rostov
Stephen Campbell Moore … Andrei Bolkonsky
Tamzin Merchant … Sonya Rostov
Tom Glenister … Nikolenka Bolkonsky
Director: Celia de Wolff
Executive Producer: Peter Hoare
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015.
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b048nlfb)
The Sun
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Sun. The object that gives the Earth its light and heat is a massive ball of gas and plasma 93 million miles away. Thanks to the nuclear fusion reactions taking place at its core, the Sun has been shining for four and a half billion years. Its structure, and the processes that keep it burning, have fascinated astronomers for centuries. After the invention of the telescope it became apparent that the Sun is not a placid, steadily shining body but is subject to periodic changes in its appearance and eruptions of dramatic violence, some of which can affect us here on Earth. Recent space missions have revealed fascinating new insights into our nearest star.
With:
Carolin Crawford
Gresham Professor of Astronomy and Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Yvonne Elsworth
Poynting Professor of Physics at the University of Birmingham
Louise Harra
Professor of Solar Physics at UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory
Producer: Thomas Morris.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b04vkhcw)
Human rights activists say that last year more than 76-thousand people were killed in Syria.
The figures suggest 2014 was the worst year for casualties since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b04vkhcy)
The Girls of Slender Means
Let Them Enjoy Themselves while They're Young
'Few people alive at the time were more delightful, more ingenuous, more movingly lovely, and as it might happen, more savage than the girls of slender means.'
Emilia Fox reads Muriel Spark's rapier-witted portrait of the lives and loves of a group of genteel but down-at-heel young women in postwar London. In the so-called May of Teck Club, a boarding house for single ladies, life carries on as if the world were back to normal: elocution lessons, poetry recitals, jostling over suitors and the sharing of a single taffeta gown. But the war has ended and things are not normal and never again will be. Into this world arrives Nicholas Farringdon, a writer and anachist, who is beguiled by these girls of slender means and their giddy, carefree lives. This meeting, we soon learn, will end in his death.
Today: Greggie's stories of unexploded bombs in the Club's garden prove to hold some truth.
Spark's 1963 novel, The Girls of Slender Means, has become a modern classic. Muriel Spark was an award-winning Scottish novelist and biographer, known best for her acclaimed novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
THU 23:00 Tim FitzHigham: The Gambler (b01qldm8)
Pilot episode
Award winning comedian-author-adventurer, Tim FitzHigham and his nemesis Alex Horne recreate a bizarre bet which was originally wagered by the 4th Duke of Queensbury in 1753.
The bet: that Tim can pass a missive over a distance of fifty miles in one hour, using only the means that would have been available to a gentleman in 1753.
Written by Tim FitzHigham and Jon Hunter, with additional material from Paul Byrne.
Produced by Colin Anderson.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2013.
THU 23:30 Hot Gossip! (b04pvb7m)
1. Origins
If language elevates us above other animals, why does human society seem to spend so much time gossiping? Perhaps it's because without gossip there would be no society and language would be much less interesting. In the first of two programmes, Geoff Watts explores our fascination with small talk and chit chat. Where did gossip come from, why did it evolve and how has it changed (and changed us) in the digital age?
If your guilty pleasure is rifling through gossip magazines, then here's a reassuring message: you are merely fulfilling an evolutionary drive. The brain is 'hard-wired' to be fascinated by gossip - which not only helps members of your social group to bond but can also help to police those in the group who transgress. Biologist call them ‘free-riders’ and in large social groups, free-riders can wreak havoc with the society unless they’re policed – by gossip.
For anthropologist Robin Dunbar, author of the now classic text, ‘Grooming, Gossip and The Evolution of Language’, it is not the pearls of wisdom that makes the world go round but everyday tittle tattle: “we are social beings and our world is cocooned in the interests and minutiae of everyday social life. They fascinate us beyond nature”. Gossip, which Dunbar says can be traced back to social grooming in apes, makes up around two-thirds of general conversation according to his research. Without gossip says Dunbar “there can be no society”.
Of course, historically, culturally, morally gossip has rarely been seen as anything but good. In Judaism where derogatory speech about another person has a special name – ‘Lashon Hara’ or 'evil tongue', it is, says Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, “…regarded it as one of the worst of all sins’. Gossip is said to kill three people, “the one who says it, the one he/she says it about, and the one who listens in. Gossip is not just a sinful act but one that contaminates others”. Nowhere is this more evident than recent cases of internet trolling and cyber bullying. “we need a new ethic” argues Sacks. But are we even capable of changing our nasty habits?
Producer: Rami Tzabar
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2014.
FRIDAY 02 JANUARY 2015
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b04vjvxs)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:15 Dog Days (b0371jlf)
My Dog Tulip
Robert Hanks tells of a human obsession through five doggy books. My Dog Tulip by J. R. Ackerley. The messy stuff - how do we live with it? With Prill Barrett, John Bradshaw and Ian Bruce Miller and Jem, the border terrier, and Timmy the whippet. Producer: Tim Dee.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b04vqsh5)
Ian Bostridge - Schubert's Winter Journey
Episode 4
Award-winning tenor Ian Bostridge explores Franz Schubert's song-cycle masterpiece Winterreise, Winter's Journey. Drawing upon his experience as a performer, on his musical knowledge and on his training as a scholar, Bostridge unpicks the enigmas and subtle meanings behind the songs to explore the world Schubert inhabited.
"I'm at an end with all dreams / why should I linger among the sleepers?" In this episode, he looks at the ways in which Schubert used his composition to challenge the social and political order of his day, focusing on two songs: "Im Dorfe" (In The Village) and "Tauschung" (Deception).
Written and read by Ian Bostridge
Abridged by Laurence Wareing
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b04vjvxv)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b04vjvxx)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b04vjvxz)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b04vjvy3)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b04w4zsx)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rt Rev'd Richard Chartres, Bishop of London.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b04vqsh7)
Land Army
Charlotte Smith meets some of the Women's Land Army - Land Girls and Lumber Jills - who kept Britain in food and timber during the Second World War. They were invited to a tea party at the offices of Defra in London. Earlier in the year a memorial was unveiled to the Land Army at the National Arboretum in Staffordshire, following a fund-raising campaign. Produced by Sally Challoner.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04t0msp)
Black Swan
Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
Sir David Attenborough presents a widely regarded symbol of Australia, the black swan. These stately looking birds are native to the wetlands of south-western and eastern Australia. The New Zealand population was hunted to extinction but has now been reintroduced there. Their plumage is charcoal grey rather than black and beautifully ruched along their lower back, hiding the white primary feathers which are fully revealed in flight. Their only colour is a raspberry- coloured bill. Black swans behave like nomads, tracking local rains and breeding when they can. In Britain as a collection bird, a few have even cross-bred with mute swans to produce a greyish hybrid nick-named the 'Blute Swan'.
FRI 06:00 Today (b04vqsh9)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b04vjz0b)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b04vqvbq)
Ian Bostridge - Schubert's Winter Journey
Episode 5
Literature, religion and the hurdy-gurdy man. Internationally acclaimed tenor Ian Bostridge concludes his exploration of Schubert's existential masterpiece Winterreise, Winter's Journey.
Strange old man,
Should I go with you?
Will you to my songs
Play your hurdy-gurdy?
Written and read by Ian Bostridge
Abridged by Laurence Wareing
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b04vqvbs)
Jane Hawking; Surrogacy; Same Clothes Every Day; Safe Houses for Over-45s
In 1965, a 21 year old student called Jane married a young and brilliant cosmologist, knowing that he was ill with Motor Neuron Disease and had been given only three years to live. But together they fought the disease and confounded all expectations. Fifty years on, Jane and her now ex-husband Professor Stephen Hawking are the subject of The Theory of Everything, a film based on Jane's autobiography Travelling to Infinity.
On Jan 4th 1985 Kim Cotton became the UK's first surrogate mother when she gave birth to "baby Cotton". The story shocked the nation when it was revealed that £6000 was paid to her for the baby. Kim Cotton went on to set up COTS - Childlessness Overcome Through Surrogacy in 1988, which gives help and advice to surrogates and childless couples in the UK. She joins Sheila with fertility law expert Natalie Gamble.
How much time do you spend deciding what to wear in the morning? Recently Karl Stefanovic, a television presenter from Australia, admitted to wearing the same suit every day for a year to make a point about the ways in which his female colleagues are judged - and claimed that during all that time nobody noticed. Mary Anne Hobbs who presents the weekend breakfast show on 6Music and Maria Malone, lecturer in fashion at the Manchester Metropolitan University Department of Apparel talk about how less might be more.
A new safe house for women who have been victims of domestic or sexual abuse and violence will be opening in the North East of England in January 2015. It's aimed at women aged 45 and over and thought to be the first of its kind in UK. Richinda Taylor, CEO of EVA Women's Aid and Wendy, who was in an abusive relationship for 15 years, join Sheila to explain why they would like to see more women over 45 seeking help.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b04w0k8x)
Nigel Slater - Eating for England
Episode 5
Aunt Elvie, now in a home, continues to play a central part in Nigel's life.
Aunt Elvie......................Celia Imrie
Nigel Slater...................Julian Rhind-Tutt
Waiter...........................Nigel Slater
Nellie.............................Buffy Davies
Cynthia..........................Effie MacMillan
Eating for England, the successor to his highly acclaimed memoir Toast, is part food memoir, part collective memory bank of a nation's taste. Using the book as source material along with further conversations with Nigel, dramatist Sarah Daniels has written a playful reimagining. A grown up Nigel - played by Julian Rhind-Tutt, looks back on his childhood while caring for a now elderly, yet ever sparkling, Aunt Elvie, played by Celia Imrie.
Rich with sounds of the kitchen and recorded on location, with a cameo performance from Nigel himself.
What drives a cook to write about food? Why is there such a powerful link between memory and what we eat? And why is reading about food so irresistibly appetising?
Dramatised by Sarah Daniels.
Sound design by Eloise Whitmore.
Director: Polly Thomas
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2014.
FRI 11:00 Wittgenstein's Jet (b04v3b9v)
Did the future philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein, design and build an early jet powered aero-engine, in Manchester, in 1908? This programme tells the story of Wittgenstein's earliest project, and rebuilds his jet. Presenter Cassie Newland is an archaeologist with a passion for engineering. When she meets "shed engineer" Dave Southall they scrutinise Wittgenstein's designs, and try to work out how the aero-engine would have worked.
Arriving in England in 1908, Wittgenstein was a research student in mechanical engineering at Manchester University. After working at a research station in Glossop, doing experimental work with kites, and thinking about designs for a flying machine, he began to focus his attention more on the engines that might power them. Using a combustion chamber, he developed a scheme for an engine powering a propeller assisted by gas discharge nozzles at the end of each blade. But by 1911 Wittgenstein was restless and switched to studying Mathematics at Cambridge. Would his engine have worked, if used in an aircraft? In this programme, we find out.
FRI 11:30 Mark Steel's in Town (b03nt9w6)
Series 5
Glastonbury
Mark Steel returns to Radio 4 for a fifth series of the award winning show that travels around the country, researching the history, heritage and culture of six towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness, and does a bespoke evening of comedy in each one.
As every high street slowly morphs into a replica of the next, Mark Steel's in Town celebrates the parochial, the local and the unusual. From Corby's rivalry with Kettering to the word you can't say in Portland, the show has taken in the idiosyncrasies of towns up and down the country, from Kirkwall to Penzance, from Holyhead to Bungay.
This first edition of the series comes from Glastonbury, Somerset, which lives up to every expectation of being the most new-agey, hippyish town Mark has ever visited. He talks about the Tor and King Arthur, visits the two chain shops on the High Street, is given an unusual reason for not being able to get into his dressing room, and makes a crucial mistake when it comes to cider. From January 2014.
Written and performed by ... Mark Steel
Additional material by ... Pete Sinclair
Production co-ordinator ... Trudi Stevens
Producer ... Ed Morrish.
FRI 12:00 News Summary (b04vjvy5)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 Home Front (b04vqvbv)
2 January 1915 - Ivor Davies
The recruitment drive is finally bearing fruit for Sergeant Major Davies, but nothing is simple.
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
FRI 12:15 You and Yours (b04vqvbx)
Pay Day Loans, Fuel Poverty and Shiny Toasters
New rules on how much people can be charged when they take out a pay day loan come into effect today, but do they go far enough?
We look at the Government's plans to grade the homes of people in fuel poverty - and make sure they become more energy efficient before the next General Election.
As the war for your custom continues, we look at how the supermarkets plan to entice you through their doors in 2015.
Why campaigners are calling for more of us to take carbon monoxide more seriously.
And we go behind the scenes at the Dualit toaster factory to see how a family firm has managed to stand the test of time with its robust design.
PRESENTER PETER WHITE
PRODUCER PETE WILSON.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b04vjvy7)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b04vqwyk)
Analysis of current affairs reports, presented by Mark Mardell.
FRI 13:45 Out of Armenia (b04w0khs)
Yerevan
As Charles Emmerson's journey through the Armenian diaspora draws to a close, he travels to Yerevan, the capital of modern Armenia, in the shadow of Mount Ararat.
Over rich piano chords, through a haze of cigarette smoke, Charles speaks to Levon Malkhasyan, Armenia's most famous jazz musician. He hears the Yerevan stories which define it as a city - its Soviet construction in the 1920s, the earthquake of 1988 and, since the 1990s, the city's opening up to the diaspora world.
Poor, isolated, cut off from neighbouring Turkey, keeping an uneasy ceasefire with Azerbaijan, dependent on Russia, Yerevan is no natural cosmopolitan centre. Yet with Mount Ararat floating above its sky-line of Soviet-built tower blocks, it has become a city for diasporans to call their own. From Toronto, Melbourne, Paris or Boston, some visit for summer jaunts, others to reassert who they are.
"You realise that Armenian identity is much more expansive", says Scout Tufankjian, an American-Armenian photographer newly-returned from a four year voyage documenting the Armenian diaspora around the world. The bonds that tie Armenians together - visible and invisible, tangible and intangible - are real.
Scout remembers a few lines of William Saroyan, the American-Armenian writer: "the glance, the gesture, the smile, and through these things the swift rebirth of the race, timeless and again strong..." More than history, more than religion, more than suffering, more than political claims - an innate sense of what it means to be Armenian, in and out of Armenia.
Produced by Cicely Fell
An Above The Title production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b04xgj8k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b04vqwym)
Inventing Scotland
Inventing Scotland a comedy by Mike Harris
The true story of how one man's need for cash created a national myth and saved the union.
It is 1822 . King George is coming to Edinburgh and novelist Walter Scott has two weeks to create a patriotic, nation-binding spectacle that will avert revolution, save the union, earn the monarch's eternal gratitude, and also rescue himself from imminent bankruptcy.
Director/Producer Gary Brown.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b04vqwyp)
The Garden Museum
Peter Gibbs chairs this week's edition from The Garden Museum, London. Chris Beardshaw, Pippa Greenwood and Bunny Guinness join him to answer a range of horticultural questions.
We also hear all about the Garden Museum's archive project.
Produced by Howard Shannon
Assistant Producer: Hannah Newton
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
This week's questions and answers:
Q. What English plant would you recommend for a garden in China?
A. Bunny would give you ten English Roses - probably the 'Munstead Wood' variety.
Pippa suggests Primroses and Harebells and a Bramley Apple Tree.
Meanwhile, Chris recommends a lawn as a way of uniting the various areas in your garden and giving the garden some breathing space.
Q. As a reformed Foxglove lover, could the panel recommend a variety with a prolonged flowering season that would add colour to a shady garden?
A. There is the perennial Foxglove which is pink but it doesn't go to seed so they would have to be propagated. There are so many different colours to choose from, from brown through to apricot.
Q. I have two fruit trees in my garden that are fruiting well but at the centre of every fruit is a maggot. What is it and what can I do about it?
A. It's the larvae of the Coddling Moth and you can put out a pheromone trap to attract the moths to a sticky end and prevent the larvae from ruining your fruit. Hang one out in two months' time. Don't use grease bands as they are designed to catch winter moths rather than Coddling Moths. But if you had a problem with winter moths, use grease paint rather than bands.
Q. My friend has two ponds linked with a waterfall, the pond is filled with frogs and marginal plants. Should she keep the pump running through the winter months?
A. We usually recommend turning off water features as the frosts come as this gives you an opportunity do a bit of a clean up but if your friend kept it running in the winter that wouldn't be a problem. The reason we keep water features running through the summer is to ensure the water is well oxygenated when activity is high but as things in the pond slow down in the winter months it's not necessary to keep the pump running.
Q. I've just become a first time allotment holder. The allotment is currently covered in thick, dense plants and a few weeds. What's the best way to clear the plot?
A. If the grass is Couch grass, the panel recommend using glyphosate. Apply when the grass and weeds are in full growth and then plant plugs of seeds through the dead grass. Alternatively you could fork it out. Do not be tempted to use a powered cultivator as this will just split the weeds and make them multiply!
Q. Does it bother the panel that in period dramas, there is never any sight of the garden staff?
A. Chris gets very annoyed at the horticultural inaccuracies in period dramas, especially when he sees Conifers in Robin Hood!
Q. How could I build up a thriving Mycorrizal population along a long plane tree avenue? There is only a two-metre soil depth as the London Underground runs beneath!
A. You could try putting deciduous bark of a 15cm depth across the whole canopy spread of the trees. Don't worry about the soil depth. The Mycorrizal fungi will spread out and harvest the resources from the ground and feed it back into the tree. Think of it as an extension of the tree roots. Try to avoid soil compaction as this will damage the Mycorrizal organisms.
Q. I have a Pittosporum that I would like to reduce in width but not height. When should I do this and how?
A. They are very tolerant plants so you could just cut the sides but maybe wait until March to do this. To make sure it looks good you could do this over a couple of years so it doesn't look so severe. Wait until it has the first buds before pruning hard. Chris suggests sneaking up on it when it least expects it and letting light in underneath to give it a breath of fresh life!
Q. Can the panel recommend a good thug that will take on Creeping Buttercup? I have clay soil.
A. Trachystemon Orientale is a kind of Borage that is very attractive and would take on the buttercups and any other weeds. When it starts to take over a bit you can trash it down and it will give you lots of new flowers. Pippa loves Buttercups and thinks that you should learn to love them but, if you really can't, try planting Hypernicums. Periwinkles would also work.
FRI 15:45 King Albert's Book (b04vqwyr)
Episode 3
King Albert's Book was a tribute to the Belgian King and people, published by subscription in December 1914.
The book was the idea of Hall Caine, a novelist and playwright of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, to raise money for the Daily Telegraph Belgium fund. He invited princes, statesman, churchmen, authors, political activists, artists and composers to present their view of the tragedy that had befallen Belgium in the preceding months of war.
Contributors include Winston Churchill, Thomas Hardy, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Bernhardt, Emmeline Pankhurst and Rudyard Kipling. The result is an extraordinary snapshot of a moment in time and the passions aroused by the conquest of Belgium and the resistance led by King Albert.
As the book was being prepared in the Autumn of 1914, no one knew how the tragedy of the First World War would unfold - there was still hope that it would all be over fairly swiftly. What seemed to be a heroic defence of a sovereign state was the primary concern of the book's contributors, little knowing how long the conflict would continue and how the greater tragedy of the war would supersede this event.
This final episode, narrated by the writer and producer Paul Dodgson, includes a statement by French philosopher Henri Bergson, an account of wounded Belgium soldiers in England by Mary Cholmondeley, and a history lesson by Professor Paul Vinogradoff.
Readers: Kenneth Cranham, Tim McMullan and Harriet Walter
Pianist: Kevin Matthews
Narrated and Produced by Paul Dodgson
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b04vqx62)
Debbie Purdy, David Ryall, Willy Burgdorfer, Dame Mary Glen Haig, Graeme Goodall
Julian Worricker on
Debbie Purdy, the right-to-die campaigner who won a landmark court ruling to clarify the law on assisted suicide.
The actor, David Ryall, who had starring roles on stage, in film and on television.
Dr Willy Burgdorfer, an entomologist who discovered the bacterium that causes Lyme disease.
Dame Mary Glen Haig, who fenced for Britain at four Olympic Games and then became one of the first women on the International Olympic Committee.
And Graeme Goodall, the music producer and record label owner, who was a key figure in the early days of Jamaica's recording industry.
FRI 16:30 More or Less (b04vqx64)
Numbers of the Year 2014
Tim Harford and guests look back at some of the weird and wonderful numbers of 2014. Featuring contributions from Evan Davis, Sir David Spiegelhalter, Helen Joyce, Nick Robinson, Helen Arney, Pippa Malmgren, Paul Lewis and Carlos Vilalta.
FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b04vqxyx)
Eifion and Berwyn - Community Matters
Fi Glover introduces two men who both put a lot into the thriving community of Llansannan in North Wales. For them a town holds no attraction, but village life has everything.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
FRI 17:00 PM (b04vqxyz)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b04vjvy9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:15 15 Minute Musical (b03m7zb7)
Series 8
The Last Days of Farage
A series of satirical, barbed, bittersweet fifteen-minute comedy musicals.
With over thirty musicals selling out in the West End night after night - the British public (and the Radio 4 audience) cannot get enough of them, therefore ...
In true West End style, artistic licence is well and truly taken and stretched, as easily identifiable public figures are dressed up, gilded, fabricated and placed against a random musical backdrop for sugar coated consumption. The stories are simple and engaging but with an edge - allowing the audience to enjoy all the conventions of a musical (huge production numbers, tender ballads and emotional reprises) whilst we completely re-interpret events in major celebrities' lives.
Beautifully crafted with astronomically high production values 15 Minute Musical does for your ears what chocolate does for your taste buds. All in fifteen minutes!
Winner of the Writers Guild of Great Britain Radio Comedy Award this series provides an energy boost and a seasonal treat at 1815 over the Christmas week.
Other episodes include:
Ra Ra It's Puti
A camp look at Russia's greatest love machine.
Half A Sixth Form
Michael Gove has a licence to teach.
Julian And The Assanging Technicolour Download
An overly dramatic and musical look at Julian Assange.
It's A One-Hit-Wonderful Life
Simon Cowell contemplates ending his career until his guardian angel Susan Boyle appears to show him life without Cowell - It's A Wonderful Life.
Heaven Knows I'm Middle-Aged Now
Morrissey looks for a new musical collaborator.
Cast: Richie Webb, Dave Lamb, Jess Robinson and Pippa Evans.
Written by: Dave Cohen, David Quantick and Richie Webb
Music Composed, Performed and Arranged by: Richie Webb
Music Production: Matt Katz
Producer: Katie Tyrrell.
FRI 18:30 Dead Ringers (b04vr10b)
Series 13
Episode 2
The classic impression show takes a look back at 2014 together with a sneak preview of things that will definitely happen in 2015. How will the UKIP/Labour coalition fair?
Starring Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Duncan Wisbey, Lewis MacLeod, Debra Stevenson.
Producer: Bill Dare.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b04vr10d)
It's still New Year's Eve. Roy calls Phoebe and then Hayley but gets their voicemails. As the Grey Gables guests bring in the New Year, Roy tries Elizabeth. He breaks down and sobs as her phone also goes to voicemail.
At Lower Loxley, Adam wonders if there may be wedding bells for Helen in 2015. There's no rush, she says. Life's exactly how she wants it.
Dan assures Pip there's nothing glamorous about the military but he loves the buzz. Dan needs to make a call and Pip wonders what her name is. She's a fellow cadet but it's not serious. Pip knows her relationship with Spencer is over. She's just finding it difficult to tell him.
Charlie invites Adam outside for some air and tells him that nothing else matters except what he wants. He thinks Adam knows what that is.
As Helen and Rob see in the New Year, Rob agrees that everything is perfect - so he thinks it's time they had a baby. Helen is not so sure it's the right time. Receiving a text to say Henry's snoring peacefully, she decides to give Tom a quick call.
Helen steps outside to find Adam and Charlie kissing passionately. Adam insists it's not what she thinks. Helen snaps - what the hell is going on?
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b04vr10g)
Tamsin Greig, Birdman, Turner in January
Tamsin Greig talks to Samira Ahmed about her debut in musical theatre in an adaptation of Pedro Almodóvar's film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.
Michael Keaton has already been tipped for an Oscar for his role in Alejandro G Iñárritu's dark comedy Birdman. He plays a former superhero actor hoping to revive his career in a Broadway production. Tim Robey joins Front Row to give his verdict.
This year has seen a huge rise in the number of photographs taken by drones. The artist James Bridle talks about the phenomenon. How will it change the nature of photography and what issues around privacy does it raise?
And Turner in January: each year, the Scottish National Gallery opens its doors for a one-month, free exhibition of 38 watercolours by Turner, a bequest from the philanthropist Henry Vaughan in 1900. Curator Charlotte Topsfield talks about the work and how such limited exposure has helped preserve the quality of the colour.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b04w0k8x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Correspondents' Look Ahead (b04vr10j)
2015
The BBC's top international news correspondents look ahead to the major developments in 2015, in a lively discussion chaired by Mark Mardell.
He is joined by chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet, China editor Carrie Gracie, business editor Kamal Ahmed and diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall.
Mark will be asking for their ideas about the stories and the people to watch over the coming months.
What will happen in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine - and how will it affect the rest of us in Europe? Will Britain and other Western nations succeed in stopping the advance of the group calling itself Islamic State - and which other countries' help will they need to obtain? What are the prospects for the global economy? And how will China flex its muscles on the international stage?
Producer Simon Coates.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b04vr10l)
The Pursuit of Happiness
A L Kennedy reflects on what it means to pursue happiness in a world where "not having enough money can be utterly miserable" and indulging our desire to acquire is also unsatisfying. The answer may lie in seeing that happiness is, "not so much a condition as a destination - it can inspire journeys ...better made in company".
Producer: Sheila Cook.
FRI 21:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b04vr10n)
29 December 1914 to 2 January 1915
Folkestone is uneasy about the move from 1914, and all its hope and fear, into 1915 with all its hope and fear.
Written by: Katie Hims
Consultant Historian: Professor Maggie Andrews
Music: Matthew Strachan
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b04vjvyd)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b04vr10q)
Palace says any suggestion of impropriety by Prince Andrew "categorically untrue"
Woman names him in documents filed in a court in Florida - claims she was forced to have sex with a number of men, including the Duke of York.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b04vr1j3)
The Girls of Slender Means
It Was all a Question of Time
'Few people alive at the time were more delightful, more ingenuous, more movingly lovely, and as it might happen, more savage than the girls of slender means.'
Emilia Fox reads Muriel Spark's rapier-witted portrait of the lives and loves of a group of genteel but impoverished young women in postwar London. In the so-called May of Teck Club, a boarding house for single ladies, life carries on as if the world were back to normal: elocution lessons, poetry recitals, jostling over suitors and the sharing of a single taffeta gown. But the war has ended and things are not normal and never again will be. Into this world arrives Nicholas Farringdon, a writer and anachist, who is beguiled by these girls of slender means and their giddy, carefree lives. This meeting, we soon learn, will end in his death.
Today: As tragedy strikes the May of Teck Club, time is running out for some of the 'girls of slender means'.
Spark's 1963 novel, The Girls of Slender Means, has become a modern classic. Muriel Spark was an award-winning Scottish novelist and biographer, known best for her acclaimed novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b04vkl1v)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:27 Hot Gossip! (b04sy3qp)
2. Brains
In the second of two programmes, Geoff Watts continues to explore the science, history and cultural implications of gossip.
Gossip has a bad reputation and for the most part, deservedly so. Yet, on-going research appears to suggest that gossip does serve a useful purpose. Not least because our brains may be hard wired for it. Researchers in Boston have used a technique known as binocular rivalry (showing different images to left and right eye at the same time) to suggest that gossip acts as an early warning system, that the brain automatically redirects your attention onto people you've heard negative remarks about. Even though this process happens at a sub-conscious level, your brain is sifting through and weeding out anyone in your surroundings that you may be have good reason to distrust.
Elsewhere, researchers in Manchester have been analysing what makes gossip memorable and are now scanning subjects brains to see if there are specific gossip networks which light up. From preliminary results it appears gossip activates areas in the brain similar to those that produce feelings of pleasure and reward. Next they plan to scan their subjects' brains as they tweet.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, in many of these experiments, it is celebrity gossip that tends to produce the largest response. Thanks to what one commentator calls the perfect storm of 24-hour news, reality TV and social media, the all-pervasive celebrity gossip industry exploits our endless appetite for information about people we will never meet. But could even celebrity gossip serve a purpose? Or are we gorging ourselves on trivia whilst ignoring the plight of those closest to us? And can and should anything be done to stem the negative impacts of gossip in a digital age?
Producer: Rami Tzabar
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2014.
FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b04vr1j7)
Tony and Chris - Magical Powers
Fi Glover with two magicians who are expert in card tricks, mind-reading and spoon-bending, but acknowledge that they deliberately deceive their audiences. Is magic moral?
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.