The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
On average we move eight times during our lives and end up quite close to where we are born.
But this week Rosie meets Tina, an American artist and serial mover. Tina gets itchy feet within months and is now drawn by the light and coastline of the North East. Fascinated by Scarborough where she knows no one but one on-line friend, Tina is trying to raise the money to make the 250 mile move through crowdfunding.
Jim and Sheila are leaving behind their beloved converted barn to move from Derby to Northern Ireland. Sheila has never lived outside Derby but now in her 70s, Jim is taking her across the North Sea with her Labradors and his home-made aeroplane to be nearer the grandchildren and, with cheaper house prices, a dream of living like kings. But sadly before they go, they have a secret they must bid farewell to.
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Rev Dr Ian Bradley of the University of St Andrews.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by Sybil Ruscoe and produced by Ruth Sanderson.
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Martin Hughes-Games presents the jackdaw. Jackdaws are scavengers with a reputation for stealing shiny or glittering objects. Martin Hughes-Games tells the story of a tame jackdaw he had as a child, which became a very colourful member of the family, with her very own store of costume jewellery to play with.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Paul Merton, Gyles Brandreth, Susan Calman and Tom Allen find out just how hard it can be to talk for 60 seconds with no hesitation, repetition & deviation in this special episode recorded at the Edinburgh Festival.
Our urban parks and gardens create green lanes and oases of open spaces within our towns and cities. They are also conduits for wildlife as well as for people. St James' Park in Newcastle upon Tyne does have lush green turf but it is less of an oasis and more of a battlefield because since 1892 it has been the home of Newcastle United football club, and so regularly pounds with the clamour of human voices. At these times its anything but tranquil! On the northern boundary is Leazes Park a formal Victorian park opened in 1873. In this programme, Chris was keen to record the changing soundscape across these two connected parks over the course of a single day, match day. The recordings begin at
in the city centre as revellers start to leave the night clubs and make their way home; many of them crossing Leazes Park. A trail of food cartons provide rich pickings for mice which in turn are preyed upon by the park's tawny owls and foxes. At
, a robin sings stimulated by the glow of the street light. The first light of the day brings joggers and then parents with children to the park, where their excited chatter mingles with the calls of mallards and coots on the lake. Over the next few hours the park and city are transformed as fans gather for the match. Many arrive at Newcastle Central Station where their enthusiastic and almost deafening chants, are punctuated by the growls and barks of police dogs. The fans are escorted to the stadium. Inside, the match is an orchestra of sound as the voices of the fans ring out with excitement and anticipation, despondency and joy until the final whistle is blown. After the match, the fans disperse, and then the real magpies, return to the park to their night roost; their wild sounds filling the air. Producer Sarah Blunt
Adrian Scarborough reads Michael Peppiatt's intimate and indiscreet account of his thirty-year friendship with the defining artist of our time.
Michael Peppiatt met Francis Bacon in June 1963 in Soho's French House to request an interview for a student magazine. Bacon invited him to lunch, and over oysters and Chablis they began a friendship and a no-holds-barred conversation that would continue until Bacon's death in 1992.
The Soho photographer, John Deakin, who introduced the young student to the famous artist, called Peppiatt 'Bacon's Boswell'. And for decades, Peppiatt accompanied Bacon on his nightly round of prodigious drinking from grand hotel to louche club to casino, witnessing all aspects of Bacon's 'gilded gutter life', as well as meeting the likes of Lucian Freud, East End thugs, Andy Warhol and the Duke of Devonshire. He also frequently discussed painting with Bacon in his studio, where only the artist's closest friends were ever admitted.
Despite the chaos Bacon created around him Peppiatt managed to record scores of their conversations ranging over every aspect of life and art, love and death. And here he shows Bacon close-up, grand and petty, tender and treacherous by turn, and often quite unlike the myth that has grown up around him.
Writer: Michael Peppiatt is an art historian, curator and writer. His 1996 biography of Francis Bacon was chosen as a 'Book of the Year' by the New York Times.
As Girlguiding UK releases new research on the mental well-being of women and girls from 7 to 21, do the concerns of parents match up with the issues that worry their daughters? We hear the views of 12 and 13 year-olds, and Emma is joined by James Davies the managing director of Childwise Research and parenting educator Susie Hayman.
Woman's Hour's drama this week adapts Iris Murdoch's novel, A Severed Head. We learn more about her life, her writing and her philosophical ideas with Anne Rowe, associate professor of English Literature and director of the Iris Murdoch Archive Project at Kingston University, and the writer and journalist Bidisha.
In the latest in the series on men and relationships, Suzi Godson looks at what retirement can mean for couples. David Ainger, who is just over 80-years-old and a retired Barrister, describes the challenges of retirement, the ingredients of his long and happy marriage of 51 years to Elizabeth, and thinking ahead to a time when one of them may be widowed.
And the contraceptive coil, more women are having them fitted. And whilst some women swear by theirs', others had no idea how painful it would be. So how much does it hurt? And do the doctors tell us? The programme asks Dr Kate Armitage, a GP in student surgery in Leeds, and Dr Sam Hutt, a GP and researcher from the Margaret Pyke centre.
When Martin Lynch-Gibbon's wife runs off with her analyst and his best friend, Palmer Anderson, the three characters attempt to behave in a civilised manner.
But there is the matter of Martin's mistress and Palmer's sister to contend with - and undoubtedly the thin veneer of civilisation will crack...
Iris Murdoch's witty and wise story dramatised in five parts by Stephen Wakelam.
Martin ..... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Antonia ..... Victoria Hamilton
Palmer Anderson ..... Mattthew Marsh
Honor Klein ..... Helen Schlesinger
Georgie ..... Rhiannon Neads
Alexander ..... Sam Dale
Alan Dein tackles the picturesque but crowded stretch of the River Cam that winds in and out of Cambridge. Here, house-boats, punts, rowing boats and cruisers fight for space on what is, the river manager says, the most crowded stretch of river in Britain.
Tom's parents are in Tenerife but that doesn't stop Tom making his weekly call. Tom lives to regret persuading them to explore more than just the hotel whilst they're on holiday.
Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang-ups gets underneath the skin of Tom and the Wrigglesworth family, so sit back and enjoy a bit of totally legal phone hacking.
Classic Wrigglesworth rants combined with a fascinating and hilarious glimpse into his family background and the influences that have shaped his temperament, opinions and hang-ups.
Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang Ups is a 30 minute phone call from Tom ringing his parents for his weekly check-in. As the conversation unfolds, Tom takes time out from the phone call to explain the situation, his parent's reactions and relate various anecdotes from the past which illustrate his family's views. And sometimes he just needs to sound-off about the maddening world around him and bemoan everyday annoyances.
During all this Hang Ups explores class, living away from 'home', trans-generational phenomena, what we inherit from our families and how the past repeats in the present. All in a 30 minute phone call.
The moon has fascinated humans everywhere and for all time. Why? Mike Williams explores the moon in mythology, how it has looked to the Earth-bound and he asks Alan Bean - one of the handful of people who have walked on the moon - what it's really like.
Charity collectors asking for Direct Debits are a part of modern life. While they ask us for our information, we're less clear on what details about their own companies they're supposed to give us. When we agree to sign up the law states they should give us a solicitation statement saying how much the firm is being paid to carry out the collecting. We speak to one listener who didn't get the information he wanted when he spoke to Fundraising Initiatives - working on behalf of the RSPCA. When are we allowed to ask for the information - what are they supposed to tell us?
We'll hear how a US project helping hard to home dogs has been taken up in the UK.
Russell Brand has been a notable campaigner on the issue of rising rents in London's New Era Estate. Melanie Abbott talks to residents about a rent system which accounts for their wage, then asks if these kind of systems could work elsewhere in the UK. We'll hear from Nick Duxberry who writes for Inside Housing and Betsy Dillner from the pressure group Generation Rent.
We'll also hear from the boss of Heavenote, a new website offering to pass on messages when you die and help with the important stuff like closing down your Facebook account.
And a string of US communications providers like Sprint are moving away from offering big, two-year mobile phone contracts. It seems that we're sick of them - so could the trend be replicated in the UK?
There are agonising decisions to be made around people who lack mental capacity, but need to lose their liberty so they can be treated in hospital. Carolyn Atkinson will be telling us all about why the Law Commission is seeking your help.
Police say as many as 20 people may have been killed in the Shoreham Air Show crash, we hear from an aerobatics instructor who knows the pilot involved and an air accident consultant.
The Director of Europol explains how the suspected terrorist caught on a train in France was known to authorities in Spain, Belgium and France.
Shadow Culture Secretary, Chris Bryant, gives his views on the BBC's relationship with the Met Office.
From St Paul's coining of the word to the commodification of charisma in the 21st century - an overview of this equivocal gift.
Francine Stock attempts to pin down the alluring yet elusive quality of charisma
St Paul coined the word "charisma" in his letters to the Corinthians, defining it as a divine gift, such as prophecy or speaking in tongues. Francine starts her exploration by learning about the volatile world in which St Paul was writing, and the many strange mystery religions and hero cults which abounded at the time. She brings the religious meaning of the word right up to date by exploring why these more flamboyant gifts do not suit all worshippers in today's Church of England.
Far from a celebration of celebrity, Pinning Down the Butterfly is a very contemporary study. From the start, Francine explores the idea that charisma is an amoral quality, deeply implicated in the 2008 banking crisis, Britain's ambivalent relationship with politics and royalty, and the seductive draw of Osama Bin Laden and the new "digital caliphate" of the so-called Islamic State.
Contributors include John Adair (Professor of Leadership at the UN), Moeletsi Mbeki, Derren Brown, Professor Lucy Riall, Kenneth Branagh, Peter Day, Elesa Zehndorfer, Professor Michael Kenny, Professor Patricia Fara, Helen Castor and Abdel Bari Atwan.
"Making money is art, and working is art and good business is the best art." - Andy Warhol
Set in New York in the heady days of Studio 54, in the late 1970s and early 80s, "Fifteen Minutes" looks at the later period in Andy Warhol's life when he was painting portraits to commission and running 'Interview' magazine. Young editor, Bob Colacello has the bright idea of hiring the ageing Truman Capote to do celebrity interviews. In exchange for his monthly column, Capote would be gifted a portrait. And so began one of the most complicated and explosive of collaborations.
Paul Gambaccini welcomes the last three of 2015's semi-finalists to the Radio Theatre, for the contest that will decide who takes the sole remaining place in the Final.
The questions range across the usual wide spectrum of musical topics and performers - taking in Rodgers & Hart, Rossini, Wagner and John Lennon among many others. The competitors will have to pick an unseen special subject on which to answer individual questions, without having had any chance to prepare. As often, with the standard at the semi-final stage especially high, it could all be decided in the breathless pace of the closing quick-fire round.
The winner returns next week to face the final hurdle in the race for the 29th annual Counterpoint champion's title.
Jez Nelson explores the life of Sun Ra - the renowned jazz composer, bandleader and pianist born 100 years ago.
Sun Ra was the first black avant-garde musician, paving the way for Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane and Archie Shepp. He set up his own record label before independent labels existed, and was one of the first to use synthesizers in his music. He also commanded a unique and, some would say, unhealthy dedication from his band. They lived in his house and eschewed sex, drugs and even sleep in the pursuit of a higher cause - music.
Two decades after his death, Sun Ra continues to inspire a dedicated following. His original band, the Arkestra, regularly sell-out European concert halls, there are numerous tribute bands around the World and even an annual Italian music festival exclusively devoted to him. So why does he continue to hold this cult status? Revisiting an intriguing interview he gave shortly before he died, and with new interviews with band members and Sun Ra obsessives, Jez Nelson asks whether, a century on from his birth, we are any better placed to understand Sun Ra's message.
Contributors include Gilles Peterson, Marshall Allen, John Sinclair and Jerry Dammers.
The luxury hotels in the beach resorts of Tunisia which were once packed with tourists now lie nearly empty. The slaughter on the beach at Sousse on June 26th has added Tunisia to a growing list of no-go areas for Western tourists. Tunisia is 99% Muslim but was considered an oasis of secularism in the Arab World. Its revolution in 2011 marked the beginning of The Arab Spring, bringing democratic government in place of a dictatorship. But all those hopes now appear to have turned to dust. Tunisia sends more fighters to Syria than any other Arab country, perhaps as many as 3000. Tunisia is now ruled by a coalition that includes an overtly Islamist party, called Ennahda. So what does the future hold for the country? Is it going down a radical route?
Ernie Rea is joined by Zoe Petkanas, working on a Ph.D on Gender, Law and Social Change in North Africa at Cambridge University; Dr Radwan Masmoudi, President of the Centre of the Study of Islam and Democracy in Washington D.C.; and Berny Sebe, Senior Lecturer in colonial and post colonial studies at Birmingham University.
Police say the number of people killed as a result of the Shoreham Air Show crash could approach twenty.
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.
Lloyd Langford, Henning Wehn, Sara Pascoe and Miles Jupp are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as magic, Austria, swans and onions.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith, the team behind Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
Lynda explains the plot of Cosi Fan Tutte to Charlie, who says he's not much of an opera buff. Peggy has bad news for Susan, having spoken to Hazel about the village shop and her plans to convert it to apartments. Hazel seemed unmoved, and Peggy admits it's out of her hands. Susan shocks Peggy by accusing her of stabbing the village in the back.
Pip goes with Toby to the Reedles hotel chain to promote the Fairbrothers' geese for their Christmas menu. Toby's dressed smartly and Pip has found a 1930s photo some of geese, from a Borchester Christmas show, to appeal to their sense of nostalgia. It seems to work. The manager is a bit frosty at first but the chef seems keen. So it's not a 'no' for now. Toby hugs Pip and says they make a great team. Toby tries to talk Pip into staying at Brookfield - and work with him - but Charlie says she should get away to start her new job. Privately, Toby stirs things by saying that Josh could be a threat in future if Pip disappears from the farm. She should stick around and get to know Toby a bit more.
Two new TV dramas follow the formative years and early careers of two of the UK's best loved entertainers - Lenny Henry and Danny Baker. Danny and the Human Zoo charts Lenny Henry's rise to fame in 1970s talent show New Faces and Cradle to Grave, which is also set in the early 1970s, is based on Baker's autobiography. Julia Raeside reviews.
The award winning Scottish poet Don Paterson discusses his new collection of work, 40 Sonnets. With subjects ranging from Tony Blair to cold calls, some take a traditional form while others are highly experimental.
The singer Jess Glynne is one of only two British female solo artists to have had five UK Number 1 singles, including Rather Be, Not Letting Go and Hold My Hand. Her new single Don't Be So Hard on Yourself topped the charts on Friday. The singer looks back over her short but very successful career, as she launches her first solo album I Cry When I Laugh.
Charlotte Eagar discusses staging the musical Oliver! in Amman. The production features a cast of Syrian refugees alongside residents of a deprived neighbourhood of the Jordanian capital.
Few people in Britain knew much about Ukraine until its recent revolution and war with Russian-backed rebels filled the news headlines. But, for decades, towns and cities across the UK have been home to Ukrainian communities created by refugees from a previous attempt to break free of Moscow's control.
Award-winning author and journalist Oliver Bullough travels from Lockerbie and Edinburgh to Manchester and London to hear the stories of Britain's Ukrainians. He hears of the prisoners of war arriving after the Second World War - Ukrainians who fought with the German army against the Soviet Union, and then won asylum in the UK - and how they mingled with compatriots already here.
Determined to preserve their culture in exile, they established churches and community centres, passing on their language, music and folklore to their British-born children. They dreamed of one day returning to a free homeland but, post-1991, when they could finally do so, it was a disappointment - corrupt, blighted and poor. More Ukrainians came from Ukraine to Britain, than left Britain for Ukraine.
This is a story told in several voices - a musician who teaches the bandura (a traditional Ukrainian stringed instrument) to children in Manchester, the caretaker of a Ukrainian prisoner of war chapel in Lockerbie, a Scottish-Ukrainian SNP politician, a choreographer and a London GP. Set between these voices are the sounds of music-making, dancing, church services and protests on the streets of London.
We hear how the revolution and war in Ukraine have galvanised Britain's Ukrainians to raise money and awareness for the future of their homeland.
Why are so many young people leaving Algeria? Unlike Syria or Libya, Algeria is supposedly a beacon of stability in a troubled region and it enjoys vast wealth from its oil and gas resources. Yet it remains a major source of illegal migrants to Europe and thousands continue to risk their lives crossing the sea to get there. They are known as 'Harraga', derived from the verb to burn in Arabic because they burn their identity documents. President Bouteflika's right hand man has called the harraga phenomenon "a national tragedy". Lucy Ash meets some of those heading for Europe's Eldorado and those bereaved friends and families of harragas who have disappeared in the Mediterranean. John Murphy producing.
In much of the Christian West snakes don't get a good press, they are considered sly, even evil creatures that tempted Eve causing the downfall for all humanity - quite a burden to bear. The Bible is full of less than flattering references to snakes. Many people fear snakes and kill them on sight. Yet the image of a snake wrapped around a stick is the symbol of medicine. Our complex relationship with snakes means they are amongst the most persecuted creatures on earth. There is no denying that people have in inbuilt fear of snakes as psychological experiments show. DH Lawrence's poem The Snake encapsulates our contradictory relationship with serpents. He is mesmerised by the majesty of the snake, and honoured that it chose to be near him. After scaring the snake away he regrets his mean and petty action: "I despised myself and the voices of my accursed human education." Snakes are wound intricately throughout our beliefs, art and literature.
A tale of love, betrayal and espionage as the political alliances forged during the Second World War give way to the moral uncertainties of the Cold War.
Marian Sutro is a highly successful British SOE operative working with the French Resistance. Then she is betrayed and imprisoned in Ravensbrück by the Nazis.
Returning to England a broken woman, she attempts to immerse herself in a normal life with a mundane job in London. However, the lure of the secret service and her desire to work for the greater good is never far away.
As the Americans test ever more deadly atomic weapons and the Russians join the frantic race to match them, Marian finds herself in demand by all sides with no moral compass to guide her.
She must walk an increasingly precarious tightrope between her beliefs, her profession and her desires.
The comedian Alex Edelman describes his search for a missing cult legend, a German historian talks about the trouble of tracking down Hitler's head and a group of young mothers gather together to solve the mystery of disappearing teething powder.
Catalonia, Castille, Galicia and the Basques ... it's been said that many of Spain's problems come from the pretence that she is one country. In The Invention of Spain Misha Glenny explores whether this is true. Three documentaries, from 1492 to 1898, from Columbus to El Desastre, tell the story of the rise and fall of an empire. But they also reveal the fractured state of a nation, both in history and now.
"I can't imagine Spain ever cohering - if it did it wouldn't be Spain." Felipe Fernandez Armesto.
The first programme begins in the annus mirabilis of 1492, when the last Moors in Granada surrendered, Columbus discovered the New World, and an edict was published expelling the Jews. This year is frequently cited as the birth of modern Spain, but behind the national mythology another story lurks. "The birth of this embryonic Spain is rooted in the idea of exclusion," says one contributor, "and that is a very nasty thing to have in your history."
Misha Glenny is a former BBC correspondent and winner of a Sony gold. Producer Miles Warde has previously collaborated with Misha Glenny on The Invention of Germany, Garibaldi's Grand Scheme and The Alps. Contributors include Sir John Elliott, Inigo Gurruchaga of El Correo newspaper, Mia Rodriguez Salgado and Madrid MP Cayetana Alvarez de Toledo.
TUESDAY 25 AUGUST 2015
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b066tfyz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b066v39q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b066tfz1)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b066tfz3)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b066tfz5)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b066tfz7)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b068v093)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Rev Dr Ian Bradley of the University of St Andrews.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b066vtnc)
Badger TB Test, Aronia Berries, Innovative Veg, Conservation Payment Delay
Scientists have developed a test which can identify TB in badgers from their droppings. They describe it as a possible 'breakthrough' in the fight against TB in cattle. Professor Liz Wellington, from Warwick University, says that the test will give farmers a clear indication of whether or not the badgers on their land pose any risk to their cattle. Research is underway to also use the test to monitor TB in cattle, by screening slurry and milk.
Nancy Nicolson gets a taste of what could be the next 'Super Berry', but she finds that the Aronia Berry takes a bit of getting used to, despite claims of its high antioxidant levels.
And, farmers are angry about delays to this year's Entry and Higher Level Stewardship payments in England.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Sarah Swadling.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03bkt5h)
Shore Lark
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Shore Lark. Shore Larks are also known as horned larks because in the breeding season the male birds sprout a pair of black crown feathers which look like satanic horns, but at any time of year the adult larks are striking birds. They are slightly smaller than a skylark but with a yellow face, a black moustache and a black band on the chest.
TUE 06:00 Today (b066vws8)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Weather, Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 Fry's English Delight (b066vwsb)
Series 8
Do You Promise Not to Tell?
Do you want to know a secret? Of course you do! And how much more appealing to speak a language which is itself secret, known only to a select few. One of whom is Stephen Fry.
Stephen leads us into a world of private communication, only to find such languages are not just to keep secrets - they also build camaraderie, foster creativity, forge identity, and save lives.
Former New York cop Lou Savelli reveals the lingo of the city's street gangs, taking us to the heart of a dark world where the key to the code means the difference between life and death. Better know your bugs from your puppies.
Former MI6 officer and espionage historian Harry Ferguson lays bare the language of the spy, from obscure jargon to the language you use to talk someone into betraying their country. But, he warns, secrecy can become a poisonous addiction.
There are less sophisticated groups who use secret languages. As linguist Professor Bill Lucas reveals, practically every family secretes obscure neologisms which mean nothing to outsiders. Finding a lost bimmer on the floordrobe does add a bit of colour to the daily grind.
At the doctors, you've encountered a whole world of secret medical language designed to mystify. You might even have benefitted, says Dr Phil Hammond. After all, a sore shoulder doesn't sound like much, but 'call it by a fancy latin name and you can get out of sex, work and the washing up for a week'.
From Polari to Morganish (what do you mean you've never heard of it?) Stephen Fry cracks the code and lets us in on the secret. Just don't tell anyone else.
Producer: Kate Taylor
A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 09:30 A Walk of One's Own: Virginia Woolf on Foot (b066vwsd)
Cornwall
When a new steam train connected Paddington to St Ives, Leslie Stephen, Virginia Woolf's father, decided that taking a family house at the tip of England would benefit the whole family. So, packing up the entire household - children, dogs, servants and books - the Stephens travelled West. Talland House would be their deeply loved holiday home for 3 months every year.
From Gurnard's Head to Zennor, the young Virginia learnt to stride out on ambitiously long walks over rugged gorsy cliff paths and lonely granite-strewn moors. She would never stop re-writing these landscapes of early happiness - in her novels, her diaries, her memoirs; and she would keep coming back - alone or with family and friends - 'bringing the sheaves' of her adult life back to the places of her childhood.
Woolf's walking was the counterpart to her imaginative roaming, and the rhythm of her steps would often set the pace of her prose. Alexandra Harris sets out to follow some of her paths by the sea with writer Michael Bird.
Producer: Sara Jane Hall.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b066vwsg)
Francis Bacon in Your Blood
Bacon's Boswell
Adrian Scarborough reads Michael Peppiatt's intimate and indiscreet account of his thirty-year friendship with the defining artist of our time.
Michael Peppiatt met Francis Bacon in June 1963 in Soho's French House to request an interview for a student magazine. Bacon invited him to lunch, and over oysters and Chablis they began a friendship and a no-holds-barred conversation that would continue until Bacon's death in 1992.
The Soho photographer, John Deakin, who introduced the young student to the famous artist, called Peppiatt 'Bacon's Boswell'. And for decades, Peppiatt accompanied Bacon on his nightly round of prodigious drinking from grand hotel to louche club and casino, witnessing all aspects of Bacon's 'gilded gutter life'.
Despite the chaos Bacon created around him Peppiatt managed to record scores of their conversations ranging over every aspect of life and art, love and death.
Today: Peppiatt becomes Bacon's Boswell, and there is mischief in Morocco.
Reader: Adrian Scarborough
Writer: Michael Peppiatt is an art historian, curator and writer. His 1996 biography of Francis Bacon was chosen as a 'Book of the Year' by the New York Times.
Abridger: Richard Hamilton
Producer: Justine Willett.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b066vwsj)
Iranian fashion industry, Dragons' Den entrepreneur Ellen Green
Following a religious edict in Iran that fashion and modelling are permissible under Islam, the Iranian fashion industry, which has operated in the shadows for over three decades since the Islamic Revolution, has been going through a revolution of its own. Fashion weeks are popping up across Iran, with over a 100 catwalks in the last year alone. BBC Persian reporter Rana Rahimpour explains how fashion and modelling are gaining a foothold in the Islamic Republic, and what restriction female models still face in Iran.
In her latest book, Downstream, the writer, Caitlin Davies, explores the history of swimming in the River Thames and celebrates the stories of the pioneering female swimmers who have undertaken long distance swims in the river. One of these was Mercedes Gleitze, who in 1927 became the first British woman to swim the Channel. Mercedes' daughter, Doloranda Pember, has written a book about her mother's swimming achievements, which she is hoping to have published. Louise Adamson went to the towpath at Putney where she met Doloranda and Caitlin.
Emma talks to the co-authors of "The Hillary Doctrine: Sex & American Foreign Policy," Valerie Hudson and Patricia Leidl. They explore just how far American foreign policy has come in regards to women since 1995, when Hillary Clinton stated for the first time that "Women's Rights are Human Rights."
If you watched last Sunday's episode of Dragon's Den you will have seen Ellen Green pitching her business 'The Blue Badge Company.' Her products are made in the UK and 40% of the workforce is disabled or primary care givers. She talks to Emma about her experiences.
Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Claire Bartleet.
TUE 10:45 Iris Murdoch: A Severed Head (b067b4x7)
Episode 2
Martin's wife may have left him for his friend and her analyst, Palmer Anderson, but they are determined that they should remain on civilised terms.
But how does Martin now feel about his own mistress, Georgie, and why does Honor Klein, Palmer's frightening sister, insist on passing judgement on Martin's behaviour?
Iris Murdoch's witty satire on analysis and amorality dramatised by Stephen Wakelam.
Martin ..... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Antonia ..... Victoria Hamilton
Honor Klein ..... Helen Schlesinger
Georgie ..... Rhiannon Neads
Director: Sally Avens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2015.
TUE 11:00 Natural Histories (b05w9bhw)
Daffodils
Wordsworth's famous poem is always in the top 5 most loved poems in English. His encounter with daffodils in the Lake District has become a romantic expression of our relationship with nature. They are radiant beauties that bring hope to the heart after the long winter months. The native flowers are delicate and small, unlike the cultivated, rather brash varieties that adorn roadside verges and roundabouts, creating much daffodil snobbery. Daffodils are the national flower of Wales, though only since the 19th Century, promoted by Lloyd George who thought them more attractive than leeks. Attractiveness though led them to be associated with vanity, the Greek Narcissus (daffodils in Latin: narcissus) fell in love with his own reflection and pined away. Their appearance in Lent gives them the name Lenten Lilly and associated with resurrection, but in Eastern cultures it is the flower of wealth and good fortune. It has been used throughout history as a medicine, despite being toxic. Today it is grown extensively in Wales as its bulb contains galantamine, a drug used in the treatment of Alzheimer's. Whatever way you look at daffodils they are quintessentially a part of human cultures wherever it grows and can be considered the flower that brightens Britain after long, cold winters.
Producer : Sarah Pitt
Archive Producer : Andrew Dawes
Revised Repeat : First Broadcast BBC Radio 4; 28th August 2015
TUE 11:30 The School Is Full of Noises (b066vyy7)
How did tape loops, recycled everyday sounds and countless other weapons of the avant-garde find their way into school music lessons during the 1960s? That's the challenge for Ian McMillan as he sets out on the trail of one of music education's more unexpected byways.
It begins in an attic. Jonny Trunk is a collector of music's less travelled pathways, amongst them LPs of school children from the 1960s performing the most ambitious musical works imaginable. They have titles like 'Music for Cymbals', 'An Aleatory Game' and 'Don't Drink and Drive'.
So where did this all come from? Ian sets out to rediscover the creators of these musical curiosities, both the educators who conceived them and also the pupils themselves. Now in their 50s, what might the former pupils of the likes of Burnt Yates School and Hessington Primary make of those experiences from their youth?
Eventually Ian's travels take him to a dark place. A very dark place. In a cavern complex near Pateley Bridge he retreads footsteps taken by children not just for a recording project but also one of those schools documentaries we love to chuckle over at the distance of five decades. Only now can we discover what the class of '69 really thought of these ground-breaking musical adventures.
TUE 12:00 News Summary (b066tfz9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 The Why Factor (b06709w2)
Series 1
The High Heel
Today's Why Factor investigates the biology of mating, the psychology of status and a lot of gender politics...all encapsulated in a common object worn by women around the world. Why do millions of people choose to walk on strange, stilt like shoes? Join Mike Williams as he practices his catwalk strut in The High Heel.
TUE 12:15 You and Yours (b06795qk)
Call You and Yours: Are you drinking more than is good for you?
Do you drink more than is good for you? Research suggests that around one in five people over the age of 65 who drink consume unsafe levels of alcohol. There's concern that people can easily slip into a routine of regularly drinking more than is good for them. Researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King's College London said the "Baby Boomer" generation represents an increasing population of older people drinking at levels that pose a risk to their health.
Their research, which analysed the health records of people living in the Borough of Lambeth in London, found unsafe drinkers were more likely to be male, white and have higher socioeconomic status. Those who were wealthier and better educated tended to be heavier drinkers than those from more deprived backgrounds.
Producer: Jonathan Hallewell
Presenter: Melanie Abbott.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b066tfzc)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b06795qm)
Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Edward Stourton.
TUE 13:45 Charisma: Pinning Down the Butterfly (b066vyyf)
The Power of Presence
Divine grace as experienced by medieval mystics Margery Kempe and Joan of Arc.
Francine Stock attempts to pin down the alluring yet elusive quality of charisma.
After the early apostolic era, the Church hierarchy preferred to channel divine communication through its own bishops, but Medieval Europe features a surprising number of women mystics who - risking charges of heresy - claimed that they experienced direct interaction with God.
Francine Stock learns about the extraordinary story of the Norfolk housewise Margery Kempe, who wept her way across Europe to Jerusalem. She compares her story with that of the more public-spirited Joan of Arc, whose divine calling led to her military defence of France. The charismatic presence of both is evoked by historians Anthony Beale - who calls Margery Kempe a "contemporary Kardashian" - and Helen Castor, author of a new biography of Joan of Arc.
Meanwhile, the quality of presence in charismatic individuals is anatomised by film and stage actor, Kenneth Branagh.
With readings by Simon Russell Beale.
Producer: Beaty Rubens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2015.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b066vd0z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b038hg46)
DJ Britton - When Greed Becomes Hunger
The Pit
By DJ Britton
The first in a two-part drama about global food security.
British trader Phil Ward has just moved to the US with his wife Sian to start work at the Chicago Board of Trade. When the grain market is thrown into turmoil, Phil's boss - Joel Bosco - calls him in to make sense of the numbers. Phil uncovers a global trend in food scarcity that represents a huge financial opportunity for the company. But what if the market fails?
World food security is a hot topic. Internationally, after record growth, global wheat exports have fallen by 10 per cent in the last year. Prices are rising inexorably. According to Oxfam, 800 million people are currently malnourished - a greater figure than ever before. As cereal production falls, world population numbers continue to rise, and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation predicts food demand will double by 2030. Meanwhile world food security remains left to the volatility of the global free market.
When Greed Becomes Hunger asks whether the world can afford to trust the free market with its food supply.
Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.
TUE 15:00 Making History (b066vyyr)
Claire Tomalin, Jessie Childs, Dan Jones and Justin Champion join Helen Castor for a Historians' Question Time from the Chalke Valley History Festival.
Producer: Nick Patrick
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 The Playlist Series (b03m8610)
Nell Gwyn's Playlist
David Owen Norris recreates the musical world of the first female star of the English stage.
Nell Gwyn was a celebrity in the modern sense – and nobody could get enough of her. Just four years after women were first allowed on stage, "pretty witty Nell" was one of the sights of London - the equivalent of a modern stand-up comedian or rapper, improvising lines and comedy. And women on stage could deliver all sorts of subversive messages they were not allowed to express in real life, where they were expected to be chaste and obedient.
This programme is recorded on location in the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Nell's theatre. Musician David Owen Norris discovers and records some of Nell's famous songs in her mocking, sexy and provocative voice. He then plays them to a trio of Nell Gwyn experts - actor and theatre historian Ian Kelly, scholar Judith Hawley, and early music expert Lucie Skeaping.
The songs are brought to life by jazz singer Gwyneth Herbert and classical singer Thomas Guthrie. They include a satirical account of being pinned to the ground by a fat greasy lover; a camp dialogue between Nell and her rival for the King's affections, the French Catholic Louise; and a message from Nell's sexy ghost.
David Owen Norris is a pianist and composer and Professor of Music at Southampton University.
Producer: Elizabeth Burke
A Loftus production first heard on BBC Radio 4 in December 2013.
TUE 16:00 Writing a New South Africa (b052ln5f)
Johannesburg, City of Recent Arrivals
Writing a new South Africa
A picture of South Africa now, as seen by a new generation of writers and poets.
In programme 1 Thabiso talks to Johannesburg-based writers and poets about the changing cityscape and how the past impacts on the present in their work. He takes a walk through the bustling University district of Braamfontein with Ivan Vladislavic, who has documented the city in his novels and non-fiction work 'Portrait with Keys', and they explore writing about Hillbrow, the troubled inner city district, where the social integration and dynamic culture looked in the early 1990s as though it might be a positive future vision of the country. He talks to the prominent poet Lebo Mashile, an inspiration to the younger poets coming through now, about the emergence of the black female voice in the past twenty years, and the legacy of the past. And he meets Niq Mhlongo, whose most recent book 'Way Back Home' looks critically at the struggle against apartheid, and the way those who went into exile to fight for the movement are haunted by their experiences.
In a three part series, street poet 'Afurakan' Thabiso Mohare explores the major cities of Johannesburg and Cape Town, talking to 'Born Frees', writers of the freedom generation - those born under apartheid but whose adult years have been spent in a new democracy, and gaining insights from an older generation who only began to publish their work in the new democratic era.
Thabiso looks at South Africa two decades after the fall of apartheid, through the themes writers are choosing to engage with in their work. These authors, poets and playwrights are exploring the past and present, from apartheid's legacy to political corruption, and the chaos of the inner city; some are exorcising ghosts, and some tackling current issues, or looking to an imagined future. There is plenty to write about after the end of the struggle.
Thabiso talks to new voices who are just making their names, and those who are already established, addressing the problems they face, causes for optimism, and the way conditions and opportunities have changed for writers in the past two decades. He looks at what they feel to be their literary heritage, and who they take inspiration from in a culture still feeling the inequalities of the educational legacy of apartheid. Literacy issues and the lack of a culture of reading more widely mean that the market for books is small, and the road to the arts truly blossoming into normalcy in South Africa after the end of apartheid has been uneven and complex. Other outlets for storytelling too - poetry and spoken word events, plugging into older traditions - are supporting the flowering of a diversity of voices as hoped for when the political landscape changed so radically in 1994, with writers of all ethnicities pitching in to the fray. Radio 4 explores the range of voices now being heard and the picture they present.
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b066w57n)
Series 37
George Washington Williams
George Washington Williams was an incredibly early, mould-breaking, self-made black intellectual who fought in the American civil war and went on to write the first history of African Americans. He met King Leopold of Belgium and exposed that country's treatment of Africans under Belgian colonial rule.
Nominating the life of George Washington Williams is television presenter, and former Paralympic medallist, Ade Adepitan. The expert witness is Dr David Brown, Senior Lecturer in American Studies at the University of Manchester. The presenter is Matthew Parris.
Producer: Perminder Khatkar
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.
TUE 17:00 PM (b06795qp)
News interviews, context and analysis.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b066tfzf)
European stock markets have bounced back after dramatic falls yesterday.
TUE 18:30 Mitch Benn Specials (b066w57q)
The Freewheelin' Mitch Benn
Everybody knows that Elvis changed everything. Everybody knows that the Beatles changed everything. Not as many people realise that Bob Dylan actually DID change everything.
Mitch Benn looks at how Bob Dylan changed what it is to be a songwriter, changed what it is to be a rock star and, more than anyone, changed what it is to be a singer.
Written by and starring Mitch Benn
Series in which musical satirist Mitch Benn explores the work of various music stars.
Producer: Alexandra Smith
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2015.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b066w654)
Pip's surprised to find Jill up at
5:30am. Pip's up to get in some final milking before heading off to High Wycombe. Jill admits that she sleeps very lightly these days. They chat about Pip's night out with Toby and Charlie - whilst Jill doesn't really approve of Toby, her ears prick up at the idea that he might persuade Pip to stay on. But despite her worry about Heather moving in and disruption on the farm, Jill encourages Pip to do what's best for her and get away. Pip packs her things into the car and waves goodbye, as she goes to start her new job and training in High Wycombe.
Meanwhile, Ruth gets Rickyard ready for new milker Matthew to move in to.
Peggy was upset after Susan's outburst. Pat's also avoiding Susan, worried about opening the new Bridge Farm shop for fear of accusations of opportunism. But Tom refuses to feel guilty.
Rob's plans to cook - as a surprise - for Helen on Thursday, so grateful for her support over his recent resignation. With energy focused on the new farm shop, Rob influences Tom in the choice of new design, steering Tom away from his traditional preference. Still, Tom seems upbeat about Rob being involved - he has had some good ideas.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b066w656)
Straight Outta Compton, Paula McLain, Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys
Straight Outta Compton, the story of Los Angeles urban artists Dr Dre and Ice Cube and the group NWA, is Number One at the US box office. Jaqueline Springer reviews the film.
Dan Auerbach, lead singer of US rock duo The Black Keys, discusses his new side project and band the Arcs, formed with his long-time friends and musicians Leon Michels, Richard Swift, Homer Steinweiss, Nick Movshon and Kenny Vaughan.
Paula McLain, author of the bestseller The Paris Wife, talks about her new novel, set in colonial Kenya in the 1920s. Circling the Sun brings to life Beryl Markham, the first woman to fly across the Atlantic from East to West who was caught up in a passionate love triangle with safari hunter Denys Finch Hatton and Karen Blixen, author of the classic memoir Out of Africa.
Presenter John Wilson
Producer Jerome Weatherald.
TUE 19:45 Iris Murdoch: A Severed Head (b067b4x7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 The Debt Business (b066w659)
Leading economist and former head of the Financial Services Authority, Adair Turner explores the implications of the current levels of household debt in the UK.
While the UK economy recovers, many consumers are getting further into debt. We hear from some of them, and from the debt charities trying to help, who describe the impact this is having on the UK's fiscal and mental health.
But Lord Turner claims the ramifications reach much further than the individual. When growth increasingly depends upon borrowing in order to fuel consumer spending, he argues, the whole economy is rendered more vulnerable to collapse.
He explores the potential impact of rising interest rates - both on the individuals in debt and overall economic stability. Professor Atif Mian, co-author of The House of Debt, argues that excessive mortgage debt was the key cause of the recession after 2008, rather than the banks' inability to lend more money.
Lord Turner discusses his own radical suggestions for change with two eminent colleagues - William White of the OECD and Harvard Professor Ken Rogoff, former chief economist of the IMF.
Producers: Deborah Dudgeon and Emma Jarvis
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b066w65c)
RNIB Scotland, Dealing with hearing loss, Kitty McGeever
RNIB UK has recently decided to transfer the administration of RNIB Scotland to the English group Action for Blind People. RNIB Scotland's Chair Sandra Wilson and former chair Ken Reid express their concern about the lack of consultation with members about this decision, and say the plans feel wrong when politically the trends in Scotland are towards devolution and not centralisation.
Lesley-Anne Alexander, CEO RNIB UK responds.
Liz Duncan from Sense offers advice to people who are blind but now also facing hearing loss.
And remembering the visually impaired actor Kitty McGeever, who has died aged 44.
TUE 21:00 The Life in My Head: From Stroke to Brain Attack (b054pmgy)
Episode 2
Robert McCrum journeys into his own brain to understand more about stroke.
Ever since he suffered a severe stroke in 1995, Robert has been living with its consequences. He says, "It's one of the remorseless side-effects of the affliction that, if you survive it, you will live with its after-effects and the conundrum about existence it poses, for the rest of your life." The demands of an ongoing recovery still have to be met.
In the second programme, we follow Robert through an intensive two week long rehabilitation course to rejuvenate his left side. This is conducted by Consultant Neurologist Dr Nick Ward at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London. Ward is at the cutting edge of neurological research, but Robert is sceptical that his condition can be improved when part of his brain, roughly the size of a lime, is dead and sending no signals to the rest of his body.
In the process, Robert explores stroke rehabilitation more generally and seeks to understand more about the brain's "plasticity"- its capacity to find fresh neural pathways and repair itself.
Producer: Melissa FitzGerald
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 21:30 Fry's English Delight (b066vwsb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b066tfzh)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b06795qr)
Germany changes asylum laws for Syrian refugees.
Many Germans concerned about the sheer numbers of migrants arriving in the country.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b06795qt)
Simon Mawer - Tightrope
Episode Two
With the war in Europe finally over, Marian is contacted by her previous spy handler. Eleven-year-old Sam meets Marian for the first time when his family visits her parents.
A tale of love, betrayal and espionage as the political alliances forged during the Second World War give way to the moral uncertainties of the Cold War.
Marian Sutro is a highly successful British SOE operative working with the French Resistance. Then she is betrayed and imprisoned in Ravensbrück by the Nazis.
Returning to England a broken woman, she attempts to immerse herself in a normal life with a mundane job in London. However, the lure of the secret service and her desire to work for the greater good is never far away.
As the Americans test ever more deadly atomic weapons and the Russians join the frantic race to match them, Marian finds herself in demand by all sides with no moral compass to guide her.
She must walk an increasingly precarious tightrope between her beliefs, her profession and her desires.
Reader: Peter Firth
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Producer: Rosalynd Ward
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio
First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2015.
TUE 23:00 Gossip from the Garden Pond (b04g7d6q)
The Tadpole and the Dragonfly
The Tadpole played by Julian Rhind Tutt and the Dragonfly played by Alison Steadman, reveal the truth about life in a garden pond, in the first of three very funny tales, written and introduced by Lynne Truss, with sound recordings by Chris Watson.
The jaunty Tadpole revels in his youth as he darts about the pond, generally avoiding his neighbours because most of them want to eat him! "When are you going to grow up?" asks the Dragonfly. This is far from easy as the tadpole is quick to point out, as he has to go through a whole traumatic body-changing metamorphosis. The only disadvantage, he reckons, of being young and immature of course, is that you have no hands, which makes things tricky when you want to wave at anyone or take a selfie, but it's a small price to pay for the freedom of youth reckons our happy-go-lucky fellow, until a strange dream signals a life-changing event. "One minute you're wiggling, wiggling. and the next you look absolutely daft waving your bottom around, coz there's nothing on the end of it"
The Dragonfly is lighter than air, quick, beautiful; all dazzling wings and observant eyes . She is also quite highly sexed and living life at a great rate knowing that she doesn't have much time. Having spent months and months living in the murk and mud of the garden pond as an ugly, aggressive nymph, her life was transformed when she felt impelled to climb up a stem and was transformed into an adult. She is dazzling; with her aerial acrobatics, fine wings and long slender limbs. But she knows she hasn't long to live and before she dies, she must feed and find a mate "I'm gorgeous, I'm ready ... and I'm hot, hot, hot".
Producer Sarah Blunt.
TUE 23:30 The Invention of... (b01npb14)
Spain
Episode 2
September 11th in Barcelona is celebrated annually as the national day of Catalonia. This year more than a million people marched through the city, waving their distinctive flags - many want independence from Madrid. This is clearly a critical moment in Spanish history, but the mood of separation is not new.
In The Invention of Spain, Misha Glenny explores flashpoints and fragmentation in the Spanish monarchy's territorial possessions - from the revolts of Catalonia in both 1640 and 1714, to the emergence of the United Provinces, or the Dutch, as a nation separate and free from their Habsburg overlords.
"This was a David and Goliath struggle. The Spanish army was indisputably the strongest in Europe," says Ben Kaplan of UCL. ""For this smattering of rebels living in this marshy bogland was adventurous at best, and suicidal at worst."
With contributions from Cayetana Alvarez de Toledo, Felipe Fernandez Armesto and Sir John Elliott. Misha Glenny is a winner of a Sony gold. Producer Miles Warde previously collaborated with him on The Invention of Germany.
WEDNESDAY 26 AUGUST 2015
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b066tg1q)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b066vwsg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b066tg1y)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b066tg24)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b066tg2b)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b066tg2f)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b068v66f)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Rev Dr Ian Bradley of the University of St Andrews.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b066w6s0)
Levy row, Pub library, Cherries
A row's erupted over who exactly controls millions of pounds paid by farmers to an industry development body. The chairman of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board's Lamb and Beef organisation, Stuart Roberts, has resigned because of what he calls Government interference.
Plus, the resurgence in British Cherry growing. And, the Cornish village pub which is also a library.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Sarah Swadling.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03bkt7v)
Firecrest
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Firecrest. Firecrests are very small birds, a mere nine centimetres long and are often confused with their much commoner cousins, goldcrests. Both have the brilliant orange or yellow crown feathers, but the firecrest embellishes these with black eyestripes, dazzling white eyebrows and golden patches on the sides of its neck ... a jewel of a bird.
WED 06:00 Today (b068v68m)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Weather, Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 What's the Point of...? (b066w738)
Series 7
The Book of Common Prayer
Quentin Letts examines some of Britain's cherished institutions.
WED 09:30 Witness (b066w73b)
The Destruction of Iraq's Marshes
In the early 1990s, Saddam Hussein ordered the draining of southern Iraq's great marshes. It was one of the biggest environmental disasters of the twentieth century, and with it, an ancient way of life - dating back thousands of years - was almost wiped out. We hear from the Iraqi environmentalist Azzam Alwash, who has been trying to restore the marshes, and to the journalist Shyam Bhatia, who saw the destruction.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b066w9g8)
Francis Bacon in Your Blood
'The dregs are what I prefer.'
Adrian Scarborough reads Michael Peppiatt's intimate and indiscreet account of his thirty-year friendship with one of the greatest artists of our time.
Michael Peppiatt met Francis Bacon in June 1963 in Soho's French House to request an interview for a student magazine. Bacon invited him to lunch, and over oysters and Chablis they began a friendship and a no-holds-barred conversation that would continue until Bacon's death in 1992.
The Soho photographer, John Deakin, who introduced the young student to the famous artist, called Peppiatt 'Bacon's Boswell'. And for decades, Peppiatt accompanied Bacon on his nightly round of prodigious drinking from grand hotel to louche club and casino, witnessing all aspects of Bacon's 'gilded gutter life'.
Despite the chaos Bacon created around him Peppiatt managed to record scores of their conversations ranging over every aspect of life and art, love and death.
Today: high and low-life in Paris.
Reader: Adrian Scarborough
Writer: Michael Peppiatt is an art historian, curator and writer. His 1996 biography of Francis Bacon was chosen as a 'Book of the Year' by the New York Times.
Abridger: Richard Hamilton
Producer: Justine Willett.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b066w9gb)
Home Alone, Men - Retirement and Widowhood, OCD in Children, Mary Wollstonecraft, Male Testosterone Cycle
How old is old enough to be left alone, especially if younger brothers or sisters are involved? With Sarah Crown Mumsnet editor and John Cameron Head of Childline from the NSPCC. Men and relationships: the last in the series in which Suzi Godson the Times relationship columnist speaks to men of all ages. Brian Farley is in his seventies, he talks about retirement, caring for his wife Valerie who had Multiple Sclerosis and the experience of becoming a widower; OCD in children, with Professor Uta Frith and Dr. Bruce Clark Clinical Director of the Child and Mental Health Service at the South London Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust; historian Katherine Connelly takes Louise Adamson on the first of her series of walking tours to discover the sites associated with the history of the women of the East End of London; women are familiar with their monthly hormonal cycles but what do we know about men's Testosterone cycles? Dr. Leighton Seal a consultant endocrinologist from St George's Hospital London explains.
Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Caroline Donne.
WED 10:41 Iris Murdoch: A Severed Head (b067b5gc)
Episode 3
Martin is forced to explain his adultery to his adulterous wife and her lover and finds his civilised front buckling in an unexpected fashion.
Iris Murdoch's witty and wise story dramatised by Stephen Wakelam.
Martin ..... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Antonia ..... Victoria Hamilton
Honor Klein ..... Helen Schlesinger
Palmer Anderson ..... Matthew Marsh
Georgie ..... Rhiannon Neads
Director: Sally Avens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2015.
WED 10:55 The Listening Project (b05w8dnl)
Ndaizivei and Sekai - Being Strong
Fi Glover introduces a conversation between a young woman born in the UK and her grandmother, about the strength she showed when living under white rule in Rhodesia. Another in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
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.
WED 11:00 Truth Be Told (b066w9gg)
Helen Zaltzman invites brave members of the public to take to the stage in front of a live audience to tell a true personal story of escape.
We hear three people fighting their way out of difficult situations - a late-night attack in a phone box, being swept out to sea by a strong current, and the unusual advances of a surgeon with a bladder fetish.
Funny, sometimes shocking and all true, these are remarkable tales of life-changing experiences.
Truth Be Told features stories first told at live storytelling nights across the UK including Spark London, The Moth and Natural Born Storytellers.
Presenter: Helen Zaltzman
Contributors: Jane Walshe, Nav Chawla and David Dinnell
Sound Engineers: Gerry O'Riordan and Tom Burchell
Producer: Matt Hill
Executive Producer: Dirk Maggs
A PPM production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 11:30 In and Out of the Kitchen (b066w9gj)
Series 4
The Baby
When their friend Marion Duffett is called away on a family matter, she asks Damien and Anthony to look after her baby. Something which Anthony is infinitely more inclined towards than Damien. Still, it's come at a good time as Damien is angling for a role as an ambassador for a children's charity.
At the same time, Damien's street food series is gathering pace and he is forced to go to a music festival and engage in a cook-off with Ray Jarrow.
Damien Trench ...... Miles Jupp
Anthony ...... Justin Edwards
Mr Mullaney ...... Brendan Dempsey
Ray Jarrow ...... Chris Brand
Jasmine ...... Alex Tregear
Alison ...... Jessica Turner
Trevor/Marco ...... David Acton
The producer was Sam Michell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2015.
WED 12:00 News Summary (b066tg2x)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 The Why Factor (b0670b0d)
Series 1
The Watch
Nearly everyone now carries a phone which tells us the time. Yet sales of luxury watches have never been higher. Mike Williams explores why the seemingly obsolete technology in mechanical watches is still highly desirable, and what wearing one says about its owner.
WED 12:15 You and Yours (b067h5bf)
Poundland merger, Contaminated water, BBQ charcoal
Budget retailer Poundland has been given the go ahead to take over rival chain 99p Stores. Melanie Abbott discusses the companies future plans with CEO Jim McCarthy.
And how much do you know about where your barbeque charcoal came from this summer? A report says much of what we are burning in the UK is produced on farms in Namibia, where trees are being felled illegally, and workers live in poor conditions.
Presented by Melanie Abbott
Produced by Natalie Donovan.
WED 12:57 Weather (b066tg36)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b067h5bh)
Clare Short criticises the Chilcot Report, and we hear from Turkey, where refugees from Syria are being illegally, and often violently, "pushed back" from the borders of Greece and Bulgaria. With Edward Stourton.
WED 13:45 Charisma: Pinning Down the Butterfly (b066wcy2)
The Queen's Touch
The “Royal Touch” as practised by Elizabeth I and our royals today.
Francine Stock attempts to pin down the alluring yet elusive quality of charisma.
In the reign of the first Queen Elizabeth, a belief prevailed in the "royal touch" - the ability of the queen to heal subjects of scrofula by the laying on of hands. This power was seen as a charismatic gift, bestowed by God at her coronation. But this is not entirely a thing of the distant past. Francine Stock is surprised to learn that even at the coronation of our own Queen Elizabeth in 1953, the moment of anointing - when divine power is believed to be bestowed upon royalty - was not shown on camera.
Francine explores this idea of what the German sociologist Max Weber called "charisma of office" with historian Anna Whitelock and John Adair, Professor of Leadership at the UN. She also hears from teenage sea cadet, Sophie, who is proud to have attended on the Queen - and even folded the royal blanket!
Francine explores with Anna Whitelock how a version of the royal touch seems to persist even today, and wonders whether it will continue among the new-look, younger royals of the 21st century.
Reader: Simon Russell Beale
Producer: Beaty Rubens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2015.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b066w654)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b038hk0k)
DJ Britton - When Greed Becomes Hunger
The Pen
The second in a two part drama about global food security.
It's three years after the events of part one and a new world order is dominated by global food protectionism, an unpredictable climate and, most of all, hunger.
Phil and Sian have used the money they made to buy a farm in mid-Wales. But as an international enquiry is launched into the causes of the crash, the couple's country idyll provides little shelter from an angry world, hungry for answers.
World food security is a hot topic. Internationally, after record growth, global wheat exports have fallen by 10 per cent (2012/13 figs). Prices are rising inexorably. According to Oxfam, 800 million people are currently malnourished - a greater figure than ever before. As cereal production falls, world population numbers continue to rise, and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation predicts food demand will double by 2030. Meanwhile world food security remains left to the volatility of the global free market.
When Greed Becomes Hunger asks whether the world can afford to trust the free market with its food supply.
Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.
WED 15:00 The New Workplace (b066fqcw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
WED 15:30 The Life in My Head: From Stroke to Brain Attack (b054pmgy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Inconspicuous Consumption (b054t3s8)
Series 1
Framing Device
A series exploring the cultural consumption that other media ignore.
Sarah Cuddon looks at - and through - a diversity of frames to understand what they're for, how they work and why we develop such strong feelings about them. In galleries, framers shops and people's homes, she meets those involved in negotiations over frames.
In a local London framing shop, Sarah hears about a request to frame a (human) ponytail, and meets the man who had his pacemaker framed. She tries to understand the allure of the ornate gold frame and considers the modern day opposite - framelessness.
She hears how Europe's galleries have obsessed over the 'white box frame' and she meets an artist for whom frames are merely an old-fashioned decoration.
What emerges is as much about how people see their possessions as it is about framing. Choosing the right frame for a deceased love one for example, is a revealing business. Which is why Robert's story is so telling. For him, the very business of framing provides a metaphorical framing device for his life story.
Produced and Presented by Sarah Cuddon
A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (b066wfnw)
Edinburgh TV Festival, BBC director of strategy James Purnell, Channel 5 director of programming Ben Frow, Spotify
The Culture Secretary John Whittingdale, speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, says that the government has no desire to dismantle the BBC and that some defenders of the corporation are "tilting at windmills". We hear the first official response from the BBC's Director of Strategy James Purnell.
Also in Edinburgh, Channel 5's Director of Programming Ben Frow, reveals how the channel is trying to reposition itself in the market and improve its reputation.
And the online music streaming service Spotify has provoked a fuss with its new terms and conditions. Critics say they're a grab too far for all sorts of personal data. We hear from Emma Carr of Big Brother Watch on how Spotify is responding to the backlash.
WED 17:00 PM (b068zpbb)
News interviews, context and analysis.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b066tg3w)
26/08/15 Two journalists shot dead while on air in US
Two television journalists have been shot dead while broadcasting on an American breakfast programme. The gunman is believed to have been a former colleague.
WED 18:30 Sketchorama (b066wfny)
Series 4
Episode 4
Aunty Donna, Gein's Family Gift Shop and Beasts.
Award winning actress and comedian Isy Suttie presents the pick of the best live sketch groups from the Fringe at the 2015 Edinburgh Festival.
Every show spotlights three up and coming groups featuring character, improv, broken and musical sketch comedy.
There are so many incredibly talented and inventive sketch groups on the British Comedy scene but with no dedicated broadcast format. Sketchorama aims to bring hidden gems and established live acts to the airwaves.
Producer: Gus Beattie
A Comedy Unit production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in August 2015.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b066wfp0)
Fallon receives a notice of eviction from her flat above the village shop. Supportive Jolene says she can move into the Bull if she wants. Fallon worries that Kenton is still very down - but Jolene says he'll snap out of it soon. Harrison suggests to Fallon that they look for a place of their own together - Fallon's delighted by the idea.
Lynda promotes the opera to Harrison, while Jim and Lynda converse in Italian. Jim mentions Bridge Farm and their 'Machiavellian' schemes. He and Lynda discuss the strategy against Hazel and her plans for the village shop. Jim points out that they need to be specific and quote the law, to get the planning committee to pay attention. Lynda says if they'd foreseen Hazel's plans they could have registered the shop as a community asset. Jim thinks this is worth checking out.
Kenton offloads to Harrison about not wanting to live a lie and pretend everything's ok with his family. Harrison thinks of his own rift with his brother, which he can't seem to fix. Harrison hints that Kenton still can - it's easy to lose your family, but very hard to get them back.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b066wfp2)
Hamlet, Agatha Christie exhibition, Andrew Miller, We Are Your Friends.
Described as the fastest-selling play in British history, few other British theatre productions have received such intensive coverage ahead of their official opening as Benedict Cumberbatch's Hamlet. Kirsty Lang is joined by The Observer theatre critic Susannah Clapp to review the production.
In the 125th anniversary year of Agatha Christie's birth, her grandson, Mathew Prichard, discusses an exhibition of previously unpublished rare photographs from the family's personal collection.
Andrew Miller, who won the Costa Book of the Year Award for his last novel set during the French Revolution, discusses his new book The Crossing. Following the impact of a family tragedy on a young couple, it is set in the present day. Andrew Miller discusses his departure from historical fiction and writing from the viewpoint of a female protagonist.
We Are Your Friends stars Zac Efron as Cole Carter, an aspiring DJ attempting to make music and big money on the LA club circuit. A coming of age tale, Cole is caught between the demands of his school friends and his new mentor. In the week that Calvin Harris was announced as the highest earning DJ, Radio 1's film critic Rhianna Dhillon discusses the phenomenon of the superstar DJ.
Presenter: Kirsty Lang
Producer: Rebecca Armstrong.
WED 19:45 Iris Murdoch: A Severed Head (b067b5gc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:41 today]
WED 20:00 FutureProofing (b066wfp4)
The Blockchain
FutureProofing is a series in which presenters Timandra Harkness and Leo Johnson examine the implications - social and cultural, economic and political - of the big ideas that are set to transform the way our society functions.
Episode 3: The Blockchain
Can computer technology and its systems for record-keeping, transparency and verification replace the role of trust in our society? The digital currency Bitcoin can be used to make peer to peer financial transactions without a central banking authority. The technology underlying this system is called the blockchain, and is enthusiastically advocated by libertarians. In this programme Timandra and Leo investigate whether its ramifications could go much further than currency and reach into disrupting the roles of government, from providing identity documents to tax collection. Or will governments, banks and other large powerful bodies meet the political and technical challenges of the blockchain by incorporating it into their own activities?
Producer: Jonathan Brunert.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b066wfp6)
Writing Myself into the Script
The playwright Bola Agbaje on why black women are still under-represented on British TV.
"If people don't see people like me, how will they understand me?" she says. "I quit drama school to pursue writing because I wanted to write myself into a script."
Producer: Sheila Cook.
WED 21:00 Mind Changers (b063ztb0)
Carl Rogers and the Person-Centred Approach
Claudia Hammond presents the history of psychology series which examines the work of the people who have changed our understanding of the human mind. This week she explores Carl Rogers' revolutionary approach to psychotherapy, led by the client and not the therapist. His influence can be seen throughout the field today.
Claudia meets Rogers' daughter, Natalie Rogers, who has followed in her father's footsteps and developed Expressive Arts Person-Centred Therapy, and hears more about the man from Maureen O'Hara of the National University at La Jolla, who worked with him. Richard McNally of Harvard University and Shirley Reynolds of Surrey University explain how far Rogers' influence extends today, and Claudia sees this for herself in a consulting room in downtown San Francisco, where she meets Person-Centred psychotherapist, Nina Utigaard.
Producer: Marya Burgess
Three Approaches to Psychotherapy (1965): film clips courtesy of Sharon K. Shostrom, Psychological & Educational Films.
WED 21:30 What's the Point of...? (b066w738)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b066wfp8)
Shadow over the harmony of the power-sharing government in Northern Ireland.
Police point to IRA involvement in recent murder - UUP poised to leave coalition
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0679c0g)
Simon Mawer - Tightrope
Episode Three
Marian goes on a date with an RAF officer. The atomic bomb is dropped for the first time. Marian and her scientist brother Ned are horrified at the implications of this act.
A tale of love, betrayal and espionage as the political alliances forged during the Second World War give way to the moral uncertainties of the Cold War.
Marian Sutro is a highly successful British SOE operative working with the French Resistance. Then she is betrayed and imprisoned in Ravensbrück by the Nazis.
Returning to England a broken woman, she attempts to immerse herself in a normal life with a mundane job in London. However, the lure of the secret service and her desire to work for the greater good is never far away.
As the Americans test ever more deadly atomic weapons and the Russians join the frantic race to match them, Marian finds herself in demand by all sides with no moral compass to guide her.
She must walk an increasingly precarious tightrope between her beliefs, her profession and her desires.
Reader: Peter Firth
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Producer: Rosalynd Ward
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio.
First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2015.
WED 23:00 Elvis McGonagall Takes a Look on the Bright Side (b066wglv)
Series 2
Full Tartan Jacket
Elvis is being photographed for an interview in a style magazine, but will his tartan dinner jacket cut the mustard? And does that shade of mustard really suit him? Can it be that his career as a fashion icon is dead in the water?
Series two of Elvis McGonagall's daft comic world of poems, mad sketches, satire and facetious remarks, broadcast from his home in the Graceland Caravan Park just outside Dundee.
With the hindrance of his dog Trouble and his friend Susan Morrison, Elvis tries hard to accentuate the positive - but the negative has a nasty habit of coming back to roost with the grim regularity of an unimaginative pigeon.
Elvis MacGonagall ...... Richard Smith
Narrator ...... Clarke Peters
Susan ...... Susan Morrison
Dexter Clarke ...... Roger Lloyd Thompson
With Lewis MacLeod, Gabriel Quigley and Helen Braunholtz-Smith.
Recorded on location, in a caravan on a truly glamorous industrial estate somewhere in Scotland.
Written by Elvis McGonagall with Helen Braunholtz-Smith and Frank Stirling.
Director: Frank Stirling
A Unique Broadcasting production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in August 2015.
WED 23:15 Can't Tell Nathan Caton Nothing (b01snbm8)
Series 2
About Animals
The story of young, up-and-coming comedian Nathan Caton, who after becoming the first in his family to graduate from University, opted not to use his architecture degree but instead to try his hand at being a full-time stand-up comedian, much to his family's annoyance who desperately want him to get a 'proper job.'
Each episode illustrates the criticism, interference and rollercoaster ride that Nathan endures from his disapproving family as he tries to pursue his chosen career.
The series is a mix of Nathan's stand-up intercut with scenes from his family life.
Janet a.k.a. Mum is probably the kindest and most lenient of the disappointed family members. She loves Nathan, but she aint looking embarrassed for nobody!
Martin a.k.a. Dad works in the construction industry and was looking forward to his son getting a degree so the two of them could work together in the same field. But now Nathan has blown that dream out of the window.
Shirley a.k.a. Grandma cannot believe Nathan turned down architecture for comedy. How can her grandson go on stage and use foul language and filthy material... it's not the good Christian way!
So with all this going on in the household what will Nathan do? Will he be able to persist and follow his dreams? Or will he give in to his family's interference?
About Animals
It turns out Grandma's Achilles heel is a mouse! Nathan can't believe he's lost his fearless Grandma because of a mouse and is determined to catch the mouse and restore his Grandma to feisty normality.
Written by Nathan Caton and James Kettle
Additional Material by Ola and Maff Brown
Producer: Katie Tyrrell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2013.
WED 23:30 The Invention of... (b01ns477)
Spain
Episode 3
On February 15 1898, an American warship blew up suddenly and sank. The USS Maine had been moored in Havana harbour, sent by President McKinley from Key West to protect American interests in Cuba. It's still unclear if Spanish colonial forces were in anyway responsible for the sinking of the USS Maine. What we know for certain is that the brief, bloody war that followed completely changed the world.
In the third and final programme of The Invention of Spain, Misha Glenny charts imperial decline, from the early independence of Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico, up to the 1898 war that saw Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines all break free. With contributrions from Cayetana Alvarez de Toledo, Sir John Elliott, and Samuel Moncada, historian and Venezuelan ambassador to London. "The point is why do they (the colonies) follow Spain so long ? That is the miracle, not independence."
Misha Glenny is a Sony award winning broadcaster. His previous collaborations with producer Miles Warde include The Invention of Germany,.
THURSDAY 27 AUGUST 2015
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b066tgb1)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b066w9g8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b066tgb4)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b066tgb7)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b066tgbd)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b066tgbn)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0689n5k)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Rev Dr Ian Bradley of the University of St Andrews.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b066zhs0)
Nicola Sturgeon, Orchards, Sea lice, Wet weather
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tells Nancy Nicholson that she wants supermarkets to improve labelling so that consumers can make the choice to 'buy Scottish' and in doing so, boost the country's farming sector.
A new mathematical model has been devised in order to combat the threat of Sea Lice to Atlantic Farmed Salmon. Its a multi million pound industry and parasitic lice pose a major threat to the health of fish. Professor Michael Stear from Glasgow University lead the research and explained his findings to Anna Hill.
All this week Farming Today is looking at the UK's Fruit industry. Daniel Ackerley owns an orchard on a flood plane next to very busy road. He explained to Lamont Howie how he turned it into a commercial, heritage orchard.
Most parts of the UK have seen some pretty awful weather over the last ten days or so.Which has effected farmers who are still trying to gather harvests in. Scott Ellis talked to cereal grower Daniel Ackerley at his farm in Tetbury about the problems faced by the wet weather.
Presenter Felicity Evans. Producer Ruth Sanderson.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03bkt9y)
Bobolink
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Bobolink. You might never have heard of a Bobolink – but these birds do occur very rarely in the UK although their true home is in the grasslands of Canada and the northern states of the USA. They look like large finches but belong to the family of New World blackbirds. Because the breeding males have black and white plumage they are sometimes called 'skunk blackbirds'.
The sound archive recording of the bobolink featured in this programme was sourced from The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
THU 06:00 Today (b066zkv1)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Weather, Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 Fantasy Festival (b066zkv3)
Ruby Wax
Ruby Wax joins presenter Tim Samuels to curate and create the festival of her wildest dreams
What if you could create your own festival - where you set the agenda, chose the guests, pick the acts, and dictate the weather, the food and the ambience? A festival where anyone - whether dead or alive - can be summoned to perform, and nothing is unimaginable.
Fantasy Festival is a chance for someone to become the curator of the festival of their very own dreams. And the festival curator in this programme is poster girl for mental health, writer, performer and comedian - Ruby Wax
Ruby outlines her dream festival - entitled 5 Star Anarchy and taking place in Notting Hill. It's a festival of the extremes. Radiohead are playing in the distance and scientists are giving lectures about the latest advances in their fields. But centre stage is a series of outrageous experimental theatre shows designed to fry Ruby's mind. It's an event for Ruby to feed the animal side of her own nature.
She says, "Why my festival is so nuts is cos I've seen too much. If I was a kid, I'd just want a merry go round. So I'm not so proud that I need such extremes, but I'm on that high a dose of adrenaline. We all want to be pulled out of our heads, so I'm feeding that."
Ruby Wax is a comedian, writer and mental health campaigner. With her own periods of depression and now a Masters from Oxford in Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy to draw from, Ruby is now focused on mental health through writing and lecturing. She encourages people to understand how their brains work and rewire their thinking in order to find calm in a frenetic world.
Produced by Rosie Boulton
A Monty Funk production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 09:30 Last Day (b04hyw6b)
Advice
How should you approach your last day of work? Should it be a time of celebration or remorse? Should you go out in a blaze of glory or with as little ceremony as possible? Life coach Carol Ann Rice and ACAS spokesman Stewart Gee give their advice on the best way to go and we hear the story of Mary Manion whose day did not go as she expected at all.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b066zkv5)
Francis Bacon in Your Blood
Poor George
Adrian Scarborough reads Michael Peppiatt's intimate and very indiscreet account of his thirty-year friendship with the defining artist of our time.
Michael Peppiatt met Francis Bacon in June 1963 in Soho's French House to request an interview for a student magazine. Bacon invited him to lunch, and over oysters and Chablis they began a friendship and a no-holds-barred conversation that would continue until Bacon's death in 1992.
For decades, Peppiatt accompanied Bacon on his nightly round of prodigious drinking from grand hotel to louche club and casino, witnessing all aspects of Bacon's 'gilded gutter life'. And despite the chaos Bacon created around him Peppiatt managed to record scores of their conversation, and here he shows Bacon close-up, grand and petty, tender and treacherous by turn, and often quite unlike the myth that has grown up around him.
Today: death, guilt and inspiration.
Reader: Adrian Scarborough
Writer: Michael Peppiatt is an art historian, curator and writer. His 1996 biography of Francis Bacon was chosen as a 'Book of the Year' by the New York Times.
Abridger: Richard Hamilton
Producer: Justine Willett.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b067b5nj)
Amanda Redman on her latest TV role
Amanda Redman talks about her role in The Trials of Jimmy Rose, a three part drama in which she plays Jackie the wife of armed robber , played by Ray Winstone. She talks to Jenni about the real prisoner wives stories that informed her portrayal of Jackie, the lack of roles available for women, particularly after fifty, and running the Artists Theatre School, which she founded in 1995.
What should you do if you suspect a friend or family member may be suffering from domestic abuse? A report from Citizen's Advice this morning says that whilst friends and family can play a vital role in encouraging victims to seek specialist help, too many of us are discouraged from doing so because we simply don't know how.
We look at a project in South London trying to tackle the levels of isolation and low well being amongst new mums and encourage them to ask for help.
Since she was 12 years old, Niamh McKevitt has been the only girl in the whole of England playing boys' football in her age group. Niamh's 16 now and she's written a book - Playing With The Boys - about her experiences in football and how she's fought to have the right to play in boys' teams.
And we continue our series on Summer reading looking at the Queens of Crime - today it's the turn of Ngaio Marsh, best known for creating Detective Roderick Alleyn, who features in 32 books.
Presented by Jenni Murray
Producer Beverley Purcell.
THU 10:45 Iris Murdoch: A Severed Head (b067b5nl)
Episode 4
As Martin finds himself evermore enthralled by the Goddess like qualities of Honor Klein, he finds himself entering a world that seems almost mythological in its practices and would leave modern day society outraged.
Iris Murdoch's witty and wise story dramatised by Stephen Wakelam.
Martin ..... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Antonia ..... Victoria Hamilton
Palmer Anderson ..... Matthew Marsh
Alexander ..... Sam Dale
Director: Sally Avens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2015.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b066zkv7)
Losing Louisiana
Ten years ago Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, leaving over 1800 people dead and causing billions of dollars of damage. It was dramatic and destructive - but Katrina has been described as 'like a cold suffered by a cancer patient'. The cancer is the erosion of the coastal wetlands of Southern Louisiana, a slow motion environmental disaster that has continued almost unabated since Katrina. Caused by the taming of the Mississippi and oil and gas exploration, a football field of coastal land washes away every hour, and with it the homes, places and livelihoods that have sustained the storied Cajun culture. James Fletcher travels to Bayou Lafourche and the town of Leeville to get to know one community facing the reality of losing their past and their future.
THU 11:30 The Jacqueline Effect (b066zp9x)
A small girl of 4 living in Croydon heard a cello playing on the radio.
'I want to make that noise', she said to her mother.
Her name was Jacqueline Du Pré. Aged 5 she was studying at the London Cello School; at 16 she made her sensational Wigmore Hall debut. 12 years later, she gave her final performance, a victim of multiple sclerosis.
Du Pré, who died in 1987, would have been 70 years old in 2015. During that intense decade of her career, thousands heard, and saw Du Pré perform, and were inspired to take up the instrument themselves.
Unlikely cellists joined school orchestras and for decades to come, cello posts in orchestras around the world would be over-subscribed, competition driving the technical level higher and higher. Superb cello virtuosi emerged from conservatoires all over the world in ever greater numbers - a phenomenon known as 'The Jacqueline Effect'.
Her tragic story, the subject of books, plays and a feature film, continues to intrigue: her super-human musical gifts, international success, turbulent personal life and marriage to Daniel Barenboim, and her affliction with MS at an early age.
Now, music journalist Helen Wallace, who herself took up the cello after experiencing Du Pré on film, asks if she still has the potential to inspire, and whether her unique reputation was deserved.
Christopher Nupen's 1967 'Omnibus' documentary brought her a vast new audience, and he reflects on his part in creating the phenomenon, as do professional cellists who knew her - William Bruce and Moray Welsh - plus Alisa Weilerstein - superstar cellist of the new generation who fell in love with a cellist she never knew.
So, has the Jacqueline Effect survived?
Producer: Sara Jane Hall
(who also took up the cello after seeing Jacqueline Du Pre).
THU 12:00 News Summary (b066tgch)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 The Why Factor (b0670bf8)
Series 1
The Earworm
They can be annoying, infuriating, but what is happening in the head when we hear a piece of music which then refuses to go away? Mike Williams investigates the "sticky song" for The Why Factor.
THU 12:15 You and Yours (b0679n77)
Diverting phone fraud, Budget gyms, Plus-size clothing
Consumer affairs programme.
THU 12:57 Weather (b066tgcs)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b0679n79)
Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Edward Stourton.
THU 13:45 Charisma: Pinning Down the Butterfly (b066zp9z)
Animal Magnetism
Franz Mesmer and the charismatic healing power of suggestibility.
Francine Stock attempts to pin down the alluring yet elusive quality of charisma.
The 18th century medical doctor, Franz Mesmer, was a European celebrity in his day. Francine Stock hears from historian of science Patricia Fara about Mesmer's use of so-called "animal magnetism" to heal - and wonders about Mesmer's erotic input. Meanwhile, the actor Simon Russel Beale reads some truly extraordinary contemporary accounts of Mesmer's impact in Britain and France.
Attempting further to understand Mesmer's healing powers, Francine also explores the charismatic power of the mesmeric or hypnotic gaze. The distinguished art historian, Richard Cork, shares his memories of the gaze of Pablo Picasso, while the illusionist, Derren Brown, frankly shares some professional secrets with Francine.
Producer: Beaty Rubens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2015.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b066wfp0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b066zw4z)
Red and Blue
Alive
Philip Palmer's series about ex-military wargamer Bradley Shoreham this time sees him challenging a flood defence team's strategy where, faced with the unexpected, he's forced to rewrite his game-plan. Hedge fund baroness, Alessandra Pacetti, the woman who tried to have him killed, continues to pursue him until cornered, a battle-scarred Bradley pushes her into revealing her hand.
Directed by Gemma Jenkins.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b066zvy3)
The Glenfinnan Gathering
The Glenfinnan Gathering is an annual Highland games event that takes place on the shores of Loch Shiel, on the west coast of Scotland, in the shadow of the Jacobite Monument every August. It has now been running for over 50 years and commemorates the raising the standard by Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745.
The Gathering features traditional Highland games events: hammer throwing, caber tossing, traditional dancing and piped bands. It's a chance for people from the local area to compete with their friends and neighbours.
Helen Mark meets the organisers, competitors and spectators who all make this event a vital part of the local calendar and discovers what links these folk to the landscape and the history that they celebrate.
Presenter: Helen Mark
Producer: Martin Poyntz-Roberts.
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b066th6v)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (b066ttrc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b066zvy5)
Buster Keaton in Britain, The Wolfpack, Directed by Women festival
With Antonia Quirke
Four members of the Angulo family, the subject of award-winning documentary The Wolfpack, reveal what it was like to be locked up in an apartment by their father and why they turned to movies as a form of escape.
As the Directed By Women global festival begins, Catherine Bray and Angie Errigo consider whether it really matters if there are so few female film-makers.
David McLeod fills in some of the details of Buster Keaton's long forgotten tour of British theatres in 1951
The Film Programme takes a spin with stunt driver Jim Dowdall.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b066zvy7)
How our brains understand meaning and complex thoughts. Gareth Mitchell talks to Joshua Greene from Harvard University about his new research scanning the human brain which reveals why it works like a computer to make sense of complex ideas. This week's short-listed Royal Society Winton science book prize is Alex Bellos's 'Alex Through The Looking Glass. Marnie Chesterton talks to Alex about the emotional relationship we have with maths and how numbers play a part in every aspect of our lives. Can we switch obesity off with the flick of a genetic switch? New research published in the New England Journal of Medicine has been looking at how there may be genes that control whether we burn fat or store it. But could this research end up being used in the clinic? Gareth talks to professor of metabolism and medicine, Sadaf Farooqi about the research and its potential. There are thousands of bacteria and fungi in the dust in your house. Most are unknown to science but is this huge diversity of microbes a problem? Gareth talks to Noah Fierer who has analysed the dust in homes across America who says while there may be huge diversity most of it is harmless and could even be doing us some good.
THU 17:00 PM (b0679n7c)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b066tgd2)
27/08/15: UK net migration hits record high
Annual net migration to the UK has reached a record high of 330,000.
THU 18:30 Meet David Sedaris (b066zvy9)
Series 5
Calypso; Follow Me
One of the world's best storytellers is back on BBC Radio 4 doing what he does best.
This week: the story of an unorthodox minor operation in Calypso, a reflection on selfie culture in Follow Me and a final extract from his diaries (5/6)
Produced by Steve Doherty
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b066zvyc)
Henry's starting school soon and Helen has picked up loads of new stuff for him. Meanwhile, Rob has been preparing to cook Helen a special meal this evening and won't let her see what he has planned.
Lower Loxley has been transformed as the tech rehearsal goes ahead for the Opera starting tomorrow. They've taken plenty of orders for Fallon's picnic hampers. Jill doesn't know whether Kenton will be joining the family. Elizabeth takes Jill in side to choose her room. Carol comes with Jill and gives her a pep talk - it's clear to Carol that Jill's not happy.
Helen has bought a new dress for tomorrow's opera and Rob asks her to model it for him and do her hair. During their romantic evening in together, Rob gets rather amorous with Helen on the sofa. As things become more heated, Helen breathlessly asks Rob if he loves her as much as he did Jess. Rob is very forward with Helen as he becomes more passionate. Helen's keen to go up to bed, but Rob doesn't want to wait.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b0679f1j)
The Trials of Jimmy Rose, Cerys Matthews and Timberlake Wertenbaker, Zambezi News, Miss Julie
Ray Winstone and Amanda Redman star in a new ITV drama, The Trials of Jimmy Rose. Winstone plays a notorious criminal who is released from prison to find that the world has changed beyond recognition. Dreda Say Mitchell reviews.
Playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker and singer songwriter Cerys Matthews discuss their new production of Our Country's Good, which is set in Botany Bay as the first ships filled with British convicts arrive. In her debut as a stage composer, Matthews has created a score that combines English folk music with didgeridoos.
Journalist and arts critic Jake Kerridge reviews the The Girl in the Spider's Web, which continues the saga of Stieg Larsson's hacker Lisbeth Salander and investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist. Larsson died in 2004, so his best selling Millennium series is being, somewhat controversially, continued by author David Lagercrantz.
In Zimbabwe, satire has found its voice on the internet in a country where there's only one TV channel run by the government. Zambezi News uses satire to talk about everything from vote rigging to corruption. Kirsty Lang speaks to its creators Comrade Fatso and Outspoken.
Tim Robey reviews Miss Julie, Liv Ullman's new film adaptation of Strindberg's classic play about sexual power and dominance. Set in a country estate in Ireland in the1880s it stars Colin Farrell, Jessica Chastain and Samantha Morton.
Presenter: Kirsty Lang
Producer: Olivia Skinner.
THU 19:45 Iris Murdoch: A Severed Head (b067b5nl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b066zvyf)
E-Cigarettes: Another Puff
More than two million people in Britain are thought to have used electronic cigarettes. Whitehall civil servants think that e-cigarettes are one of the most significant public health success stories of our generation.
Just last week Public Health England published an update on the best evidence available. It found that e-cigarettes have become the number one quitting aid used by smokers. The report said the health risks of using e-cigarettes are minimal when compared to the harm associated with smoking cigarettes. Yet nearly half of all adults perceive e-cigarettes to be at least as harmful as traditional tobacco.
Why?
In Wales, the principality's government plans to ban their use in public places and hopes that a new law will be passed within the next 12 months. Wesley Stephenson asks why the two governments have such different approaches, and who's right?
Presenter: Wesley Stephenson
Producer: Smita Patel
A version of this programme was first broadcast on 3rd July, 2014.
THU 20:30 In Business (b066zvyh)
Companies without Managers
Who's your boss? Peter Day explores how three different companies, in three different countries, do business without managers. Who hires and fires? And how do you get a pay rise? He asks how these radical organisations emerged, and whether other companies may follow their lead.
Producer: Rosamund Jones.
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b066zvy7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 Fantasy Festival (b066zkv3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b066zvyk)
Bodies of up to 50 migrants found in a lorry abandoned in Austria.
What should be done to stop the people traffickers?
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0679f1n)
Simon Mawer - Tightrope
Episode Four
Marian is called to Hamburg to testify against the Germans who worked in Ravensbrück concentration camp. Afterwards, she meets an intriguing Russian officer and his friend.
A tale of love, betrayal and espionage as the political alliances forged during the Second World War give way to the moral uncertainties of the Cold War.
Marian Sutro is a highly successful British SOE operative working with the French Resistance. Then she is betrayed and imprisoned in Ravensbrück by the Nazis.
Returning to England a broken woman, she attempts to immerse herself in a normal life with a mundane job in London. However, the lure of the secret service and her desire to work for the greater good is never far away.
As the Americans test ever more deadly atomic weapons and the Russians join the frantic race to match them, Marian finds herself in demand by all sides with no moral compass to guide her.
She must walk an increasingly precarious tightrope between her beliefs, her profession and her desires.
Reader: Peter Firth
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Producer: Rosalynd Ward
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio.
First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2015.
THU 23:00 Woman's Hour (b066zvym)
Late Night Woman's Hour: Lust
Lauren Laverne on lust, erotica and what women want with the author Caitlin Moran; former dominatrix Nichi Hodgson; hands-on sexual therapist Mike Lousada; Sex and the Citadel writer Shireen El Feki and Cynthia Graham, Professor in Sexual and Reproductive Health at the University of Southampton. This programme contains some very strong language.
FRIDAY 28 AUGUST 2015
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b066tgp8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b066zkv5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b066tgph)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b066tgpn)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b066tgpz)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b066tgq7)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b06907j5)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Rev Dr Ian Bradley of the University of St Andrews.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b0670033)
Fruit research, Cheese company, Dorset anti-cull groups
The badger cull is expected to get underway at any moment. For the last two years, badgers in parts of Gloucestershire and Somerset have been targeted as part of the Government's approach to eradicating bovine TB, which they say is spread from badgers to cattle. Defra is expected to announce that the cull zones will be extended, with many citing Dorset as a potential area. Sally Challenor met with members of the Dorset Badger and Bovine Welfare group to see how they were preparing for a potential cull.
Cricketers Cheese will stop production due to the ongoing crisis in dairy markets. They are a medium sized company, producing 3500 tonnes of cheddar a year. Their managing director Greg Parsons says they are both too big to become niche and too small to compete with bigger producers.
All this week, Farming Today is looking at fruit in the UK. Anna Hill talks to Tim Biddlecome from the Fruit Advisory Service team about new methods of planting and pruning.
Presenter Sally Challenor. Producer Ruth Sanderson.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03bktkx)
Mourning Dove
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Mourning Dove. On a November evening at the end of the last Millennium, Maire MacPhail looked through the window of her home on the island of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides to see an odd pigeon sitting on the garden fence. It looked tired, as well it might have done, for it turned out to be only the second mourning dove to occur naturally in the British Isles.
The sound archive recording of the mourning dove featured in this programme was sourced from :
Andrew Spencer, XC109033. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/109033.
FRI 06:00 Today (b06907k9)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Weather, Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 The Reunion (b066tk29)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b0670035)
Francis Bacon in Your Blood
A Kind of Immortality
Adrian Scarborough reads Michael Peppiatt's intimate and very indiscreet account of his thirty-year friendship with the defining artist of our time.
Michael Peppiatt met Francis Bacon in June 1963 in Soho's French House to request an interview for a student magazine. Bacon invited him to lunch, and over oysters and Chablis they began a friendship and a no-holds-barred conversation that would continue until Bacon's death in 1992.
For decades, Peppiatt accompanied Bacon on his nightly round of prodigious drinking from grand hotel to louche club, witnessing all aspects of Bacon's 'gilded gutter life'. And here he shows Bacon close-up, grand and petty, tender and treacherous by turn.
Today: Peppiatt loses a 'father', and becomes a man.
Reader: Adrian Scarborough
Writer: Miichael Peppiatt is an art historian, curator and writer. His 1996 biography of Francis Bacon was chosen as a 'Book of the Year' by the New York Times.
Abridger: Richard Hamilton
Producer: Justine Willett.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0670c7v)
Sadie Frost, Father-daughter relationships, Cook the Perfect
Actor and producer Sadie Frost on the psychological thriller Buttercup Bill - the first feature film to come from her production company - and its predominantly female team. If a daughter has a difficult relationship with her father, what impact can this have on the way she relates to men as a grown woman? Food writer Anna Jones Cooks The Perfect omelette. Singer songwriter Eska on finding her voice in the music business. And we hear about Sjögren's syndrome, a little known autoimmune disease that mainly affects women, and what can be done about it.
Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Anne Peacock.
FRI 10:45 Iris Murdoch: A Severed Head (b067b69s)
Episode 5
The merry-go round of partner swapping comes to a grinding halt but just who will end up with who?
There are shocks and surprises right up to the end of Iris Murdoch's blackly comic satire.
Martin ..... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Antonia ..... Victoria Hamilton
Honor Klein ..... Helen Schlesinger
Palmer Anderson ..... Matthew Marsh
Georgie ..... Rhiannon Neads
Alexander ..... Sam Dale
Dramatised by Stephen Wakelam.
Director: Sally Avens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2015.
FRI 11:00 Mending Young Minds (b0670037)
Children
In this moving and insightful two part series for BBC Radio 4, children and teenagers receiving treatment at the world renowned Tavistock Centre in London share their experience of living with mental health problems.
Over recent years the number of British children suffering from psychiatric illnesses has increased considerably and the age of presentation is falling. One in 10 five-to-16-year-olds has a mental health disorder, according to a 2014 Parliamentary task force report, and there has been a dramatic increase in demand for childhood and adolescent mental health services across the country.
In the first programme, Dr. Juliet Singer goes inside the consulting room to speak to young patients, their parents and therapists about the mental health conditions affecting children - including OCD, anxiety and behavioural difficulties - and the treatments available to them.
The series explores why mental health problems among young people appear to be growing worse, with increased pressures from schools, parents, peer groups and social media.
Presenter: Juliet Singer
Producer: Melissa FitzGerald
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 11:30 Sisters (b0670039)
Series 1
Lazy Susan
Fiona is offered a slot on a local radio show as the resident legal adviser. But as the nerves kick in, Susan coaches her on how to have confidence and behave like a real celebrity.
As Fiona's inner diva begins to surface, Blake is hauled in to be her security guard and Susan is put to work as her PR team.
All the attention goes to Fiona's head and soon she is expanding the range of legal advice she offers to completely inappropriate areas including distinctly dodgy advice on affairs of the heart. Even Blake's body-guarding skills can't save her from herself.
Written by Susan Calman.
Starring Susan Calman, Ashley Jensen and Nick Helm.
Producer: Mollie Freedman Berthoud
Executive Producer: Paul Schlesinger
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in August 2015.
FRI 12:00 News Summary (b066tgqw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 The Why Factor (b0670bsc)
Series 1
Pilgrimage
Tens of millions of Hindus, bathe in holy waters at the Kumbh Mela, Jews from around the world make their way to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Islam has the Hajj - a Pilgrimage to Mecca and Christians have walked the same paths for centuries. Many others are eschewing ideas of a "traditional" holiday or break and are seeking some sort of spiritual enlightenment instead. What do they get out of it? Mike Williams asks why the Pilgrimage is getting ever more popular.
Producer: Jim Frank.
FRI 12:15 You and Yours (b067003c)
Court charges, Jamie Oliver, Credit card insurance
How new court charges designed to make the guilty pay towards the cost of running the court could deny compensation to the victims of crime.
Jamie Oliver, once the scourge of the turkey twizzler, tells us why he's backing the idea of a tax on sugary drinks, and has already imposed an extra charge on them in his own restaurants.
You're already covered if your card is stolen or used fraudulently, so why would you pay extra for such cover? As many as two million people who've bought this kind of insurance could be entitled to their money back.
When a business goes bust - consumers are right at the back of the queue to get back any money they're owed. Now the Law Commission is recommending several changes to the law - to give consumers more protection.
Can eating veal really be good for animal welfare?
The swedish company offering small businesses a way to borrow money without having to worry about payback or cumbersome paperwork.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b066tgqz)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b067003f)
Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Shaun Ley.
FRI 13:45 Charisma: Pinning Down the Butterfly (b067003h)
Red Shirts and Black Shirts
Exploring charismatic nationalist leadership
Francine Stock attempts to pin down the alluring yet elusive quality of charisma
In the 1860s, Giuseppe Garibaldi was the most famous man in Europe. A correspondent from the London Times encountered him at a public rally in Palermo, and described how men threw themselves forward to touch the hem of his garment, while mothers offered their babies up to be blessed by him.
With the help of historian Professor Lucy Riall, Francine explores the creation of the charismatic national commander who would lead the Risorgimento and establish Rome as the capital of a newly united Italy. She hears about his natural charm, his physical appearance and clothes, but also about his protean ability to be different things to different people and to exploit new technology to spread his image and his message.
Francine then moves on to a more recent example of radical leadership. She hears from the writer and broadcaster, Abdel Bari Atwan, about his secret visit to Osma Bin Laden in the Tora Bora caves of Afghanistan and about how, in turn, the publicity machine of Al Quaeda used contemporary new technology to advance their cause.
Finally, Francine investigates the dangers of this type of nationalist leadership, and hears from Lucy Riall about how Garibaldi's Red Shirts were to be a direct inspiration for the Black Shirts of Mussolini.
Readings by Simon Russell Beale
Producer: Beaty Rubens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2015.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b066zvyc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Brief Lives (b0670101)
Series 8
Episode 2
Drama: Brief Lives by Philip Meeks
More tales from the new series about the team of Manchester Paralegals. Frank and Sarah drive to the country to celebrate a friend's eightieth birthday but find themselves in the centre of a family tragedy going back decades.
Director/Producer Gary Brown.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b0670103)
Correspondence Edition
Peter Gibbs hosts the horticultural panel programme from Kew Gardens. Anne Swithinbank, Chris Beardshaw and Matthew Wilson answer the audience questions.
Produced by Howard Shannon
Assistant Producer: Hannah Newton
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 Angielski (b06707k8)
Another Kind Of Man by Anya Lipska
Three newly commissioned stories offering different angles on the Polish experience in London.
Estimates vary but there are now approximately 750,000 Poles living in the UK. And Polish is now the second most spoken language in England. Much of this is the result of immigration since Poland joined the EU in 2004 - but there is also an older community that developed in the years after the Polish Resettlement Act of 1947.
Episode 1: Another Kind of Man by Anya Lipska
Janusz Kiszka stands at the edge of an East End cemetery watching the mourners leave. But who have they just buried?
Anya Lipska’s crime thrillers, set in East London, follow the adventures and investigations of Janusz Kiszka, tough guy/fixer to the Polish community and sharp-elbowed young police detective Natalie Kershaw. The third novel in the series - A Devil under the Skin - was published in June 2015. Anya is married to a Pole and lives in East London. Originally trained as a journalist, she now works as a TV producer. Another Kind of Man is her first story for radio.
Reader: Adam Hypki
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b06707kb)
Bernie Passingham, Christopher Marshall, Wayne Carson, Michael Turk, Marie Dobbs, Yvonne Craig
Matthew Bannister on
The trade union official Bernie Passingham who helped women workers at the Ford Motor Company in their fight for equal pay.
Medical researcher Chris Marshall who identified one of the human oncogenes which cause cancer.
Wayne Carson who wrote the song Always on My Mind, which was recorded by Elvis Presley, the Pet Shop Boys and eight hundred other artists.
Michael Turk, a Queen's Waterman and Swan Marker who built historic boats for film and TV.
And author Marie Dobbs who completed Jane Austen's unfinished last novel Sanditon.
FRI 16:30 More or Less (b06707kd)
China Stock Market Crash
The Chinese Market Crash in context.
How big is the market, how many investors does it have and does it tell us anything about the wider Chinese economy?
Eight Million Foreigners
Are there really eight million foreigners in the UK?
What does 95% less harmful actually mean?
E-cigarettes are 95% less harmful than ordinary cigarettes according to last week's report by Public Health England. But what does this mean? The number was arrived at using something called 'multi criteria decision analysis' so how does it work - we ask the man who brought it to the UK, Professor Larry Phillips.
Thinking Like an Engineer
Guru Madhavan from America's National Academy of Scientists lifts the lid on how engineers think and argues that those making policy should ask engineers as well as economists about solving social problems.
Sprinters legs
It's may seem strange, but world class runners don't move their legs faster than average park runner. That's the claim anyway - is it true and if so what is it that means athletes like Usain Bolt and Justin Gatlin run so fast?
(This programme will be blocked to users outside of the UK for rights reasons - if you want to listen to this week's programme and you are outside of the UK please download the podcast).
FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b05w8dp7)
Christine and Sheila – Living Without Roots
Fi Glover introduces a conversations between sisters who came to Lancashire from Rhodesia in their teens, reflecting on the impact this displacement has had on their lives. Another in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
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 (b067b6mf)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b066tgr1)
Four suspected people traffickers have been arrested over the deaths of 71 migrants, whose bodies were found in an abandoned lorry on an Austrian motorway.
FRI 18:30 Dead Ringers (b06707kg)
Series 15
Episode 3
A satirical take on politics, media and celebrity.
Featuring Jon Culshaw, Debra Stephenson, Jan Ravens, Lewis MacLeod and Duncan Wisbey.
Produced by Bill Dare.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b06707kj)
Lynda won't reveal her thoughts about the Opera performance - people will have to read 'Dylan Nells's' review in next Thursday's Echo. Jim's still talking in Italian. He has looked into the possibility of registering the village shop as a community asset - they could challenge Hazel's plans, and it could also scupper Bridge Farm. Lynda's not against Bridge Farm, but Jim thinks their shop is an act of gross cynicism. Jim challenges Pat, and Rob comes forward and has a go at Jim back - demonstratively protecting his new family.
Pip shocks David by revealing that she wants to leave her new job and come home. They debate the issue before pip admits that she has already resigned.
Rob's buoyancy about last night contrasts with Helen's flatness - alone she cries to herself. Rob's keen for Helen to model her dress again tonight at the opera, but she says she's not up to going. They go along though and Rob wants to know what's wrong - he has worked hard to make these last two days special. Pat praises Rob to Helen - he's so attentive and makes a wonderful addition to the family.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b06707kl)
Hanya Yanagihara, No Escape, Site-specific theatre, Boy Meets Girl
Hanya Yanagihara discusses her new novel A Little Life, which is on the Man-Booker Prize longlist. An exploration of friendship, the lifelong effects of abuse and the limits of human endurance.
Mark Eccleston reviews the American action film No Escape staring Owen Wilson, Lake Bell and Pierce Brosnan.
The challenges of putting on site-specific theatre, featuring new play Absent at Shoreditch Town Hall, which has been transformed into a hotel, and the creators of cult hit You Me Bum Bum train.
Boy Meets Girl is the UK's first transgender sitcom set to air on BBC2 next week. Writer and comedian Natalie Haynes reviews.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Anna Bailey.
FRI 19:45 Iris Murdoch: A Severed Head (b067b69s)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b06707kn)
Billy Bragg, Simon Danczuk MP, Peter Oborne, Priti Patel MP
Ed Stourton presents political debate from BBC Radio Theatre in London with a panel including the singer songwriter Billy Bragg, the MP for Rochdale Simon Danczuk, the political journalist Peter Oborne and Employment Minister Priti Patel MP.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b06707kq)
Another Kind of Atheism
John Gray looks to history to argue that it's time to rethink today's narrow view of atheism.
He ponders the lives of two little known atheists from the past - the nineteenth century Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi and the Somerset essayist and novelist Llewelyn Powys. He says their work shows how atheism can be far richer and subtler than the version we're familiar with.
"The predominant strand of contemporary unbelief , which aims to convert the world to a scientific view of things, is only one way of living without an idea of God" writes Gray.
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
FRI 21:00 Charisma: Pinning Down the Butterfly (b06707ks)
Omnibus
Episode 1
Francine Stock's history of the alluring yet elusive quality that is charisma.
This omnibus edition of the first five episodes moves from St Paul's coining of the word in the 1st century of the Christian Era right up the contemporary era, when charisma continues to be a powerful influence, not always for the good, in the fields of politics, banking and terrorism.
Along the way, she takes in early medieval mystics such as Margery Kempe and Joan of Arc; the Elizabethan belief in the so-called "Royal Touch" and its different manifestations today; the powerful healing claims of Franz Mesmer; and radical charismatic leaders from Garibaldi to Osama Bin Laden.
Reader: Simon Russell Beale
Producer : Beaty Rubens.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b066tgr3)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b06708pq)
Should there be more compassion in the debate over immigration?
Canon Rosie Harper and Alp Mehmet of Migration Watch discuss.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b067h157)
Simon Mawer - Tightrope
Episode Five
Marian discovers a disturbing truth about her brother Ned. Meanwhile, Major Fawley attempts to recruit her back into the secret service.
A tale of love, betrayal and espionage as the political alliances forged during the Second World War give way to the moral uncertainties of the Cold War.
Marian Sutro is a highly successful British SOE operative working with the French Resistance. Then she is betrayed and imprisoned in Ravensbrück by the Nazis.
Returning to England a broken woman, she attempts to immerse herself in a normal life with a mundane job in London. However, the lure of the secret service and her desire to work for the greater good is never far away.
As the Americans test ever more deadly atomic weapons and the Russians join the frantic race to match them, Marian finds herself in demand by all sides with no moral compass to guide her.
She must walk an increasingly precarious tightrope between her beliefs, her profession and her desires.
Reader: Peter Firth
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Producer: Rosalynd Ward
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio
First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2011.
FRI 23:00 Woman's Hour (b06708zc)
Late Night Woman's Hour: Intoxication
Lauren Laverne and guests discuss women, booze, drugs and losing control.
Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Rebecca Myatt.
FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b05vzzyp)
Celia and MaryJane - Refusing to Be Segregated
Fi Glover with a conversation between a centenarian and her daughter who recall the stand the mother took against the unequal Rhodesian education system when she was a head teacher. Another in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
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.