SATURDAY 05 DECEMBER 2015

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (b06s6rhz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


SAT 00:30 Book of the Week (b06qms9j)
Railways - Nation, Network and People

Episode 5

A magnificent account of Britain's railways and how track and carriage united a nation.

This series of readings includes an exploration of many aspects of the railway revolution, such as the challenges of 'railway time', the nuances of first, second and third class, the dificulties of lighting and heating, passenger comfort, what to eat when travelling and the history of refreshment stops and the commercial opportunities they brought - including the establishment of W.H.Smith and Son, who became the nation's first high street bookstore. Architecture and engineering are also covered, alongside the impact on social classes and gender.

Passengers may have a love-hate relationship with our railways, but few of us know much about the journey taken to get to where we are now.

"Simon Bradley's The Railways is magisterial. It's both authoritative and absorbing. A first class journey." Michael Palin

Episode 5: The enduring appeal of the railways - enthusiasts are so much more than just trainspotters. And what do trainspotters do anyway?

Read by Stephen Tompkinson
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06qv8mc)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06qv8mf)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at 5.20am.


SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06qv8mh)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (b06qv8mk)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b06qmz0r)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Orthodox Rabbi Dr Naftali Brawer.
This programme was pre-recorded.


SAT 05:45 iPM (b06qmz0t)
'I Hated Being a Mum'

One listener hated being a mother, whilst another wishes he was a father. Vanessa Feltz reads Your News. iPM@bbc.co.uk.


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (b06qv8mm)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SAT 06:04 Weather (b06qv8mp)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (b06qml0k)
Welsh Valleys after Coal

Felicity Evans asks how the valleys of south Wales near Caerphilly have fared since the mines closed. She visits new parklands that have been planted where the collieries once stood.

She begins at Senghenydd, site of two mining disasters just one hundred years ago, one of them the worst ever experienced at a UK mine. Former teacher in the village and now a broadcaster, Roy Noble reflects on the legacy of the disaster, and how it's still remembered even though a primary school has been built on the site of the mine, since the pit was closed nearly 50 years ago.

Felicity also visits two other parks in the Caerphilly area which have been created on the sites of former collieries: Parc Cwm Darran which was planted in the 1980s, and Parc Penallta, which has been developed since the Millennium. How do residents relate now to their local landscape, and the memorials to the industry that once defined the region?

Producer: Mark Smalley.


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (b06qv3zd)
Farming Today This Week: Agriculture and Climate Change

Caz Graham hosts a debate about the impact of agriculture on our climate, as world leaders meet in Paris. The UN's Farming and Agriculture Organisation has said livestock farming alone produces around a fifth of the world's greenhouse gases - including methane which is produced in cows' stomachs and released into the atmosphere. We hear from one farmer who's working to reduce his carbon emissions; from an American company which is producing a food from plants that tastes like meat; and from a scientist who believes we need more livestock to bring vast areas of desert back into production.
The guests are deputy president of the NFU Minette Batters, Emma Hockridge of the Soil Association and Nick Henry from the organisation Climate Action.
The producer is Sally Challoner.


SAT 06:57 Weather (b06qv8mr)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 07:00 Today (b06qv3zg)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (b06qv3zj)
Suzi Perry

It's listener week on Saturday Live with Reverend Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir.

We've accepted Philip Farmer's invitation to come to his house in Wolverhampton. Philip, his wife Sarah and daughter Hannah discuss their city.

BBC Formula 1 presenter Suzi Perry, recently nominated as one of the Wolverhampton's Famous Daughters, will be talking about her connection to the city, Wolverhampton Wanderers and working behind the scenes at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre.

Sharing their undiscovered claims to fame will be Bob Saunders the man who makes The Phantom of the Opera Masks. Roy Perry reveals himself as the man who mapped Guernsey and James Bond boat driver John Pleace talks about his experiences.

Listener Rob Hawkins wanted to swap Inheritance Tracks for his Inheritance Snacks. He's chosen Spaghetti Carbonara and Liver, Bacon and Mushrooms on Toast.

Gemma Cairney will be talking to local people including sculptor and medallist Ron Dutton. He's behind a 1999 £2 coin design, the plaque for Wolverhampton's Famous Sons and Daughters, and his portrait is about to be unveiled at City Art Gallery. Gwen Sanchirico discusses her journey from New York IT worker to Wolverhampton brewer. Sham Sharma explains how locals helped him rebuild his business after the 2011 riots and why he's now running a fusion café.

Producer: Claire Bartleet
Editor: Karen Dalziel.


SAT 10:30 JFK: The Vinyl Reaction (b06qv3zl)
Paul Gambaccini reveals how the American record industry, songwriters and record buyers responded to the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963.

John F Kennedy's assassination was the first occasion when the death of a famous person had a direct effect on record sales. The sudden death of a pop star has often been followed by a flood of their recordings in the charts - Elvis Presley, John Lennon and Michael Jackson, for example.

The assassination of JFK was the first time the public sought solace in this way, but with spoken word rather than musical recordings.

Within weeks of the event, the US chart included three albums featuring Kennedy's major speeches. Another LP contained the audio from BBC TV's next-day tribute on That Was The Week That Was.

In JFK: The Vinyl Reaction, Joel Whitburn, the pioneer in American chart books, recalls the phenomenon.

Within hours of the news, Roger McGuinn of The Byrds adapted the traditional song He Was A Friend Of Mine as a tribute. He talks about writing it and performs a version specially for this programme. Lyricist Herbert Kretzmer was commissioned to write the words of a song that would be sung live on TV the following night. He recalls how he wrote In The Summer Of His Years, which was sung by Millicent Martin in That Was The Week That Was.

Within a matter of weeks, over fifty songs emerged from the African-American genres of blues and gospel. The Day The World Stood Still by The Sensational Six of Alabama and Assassination by The Dixie Nightingales tell the story of the fateful day. Historian Guido Van Rijn talks about his study of such topical songs.

A Howlett Media production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (b06qv3zn)
Jim Waterson of Buzzfeed looks behind the scenes at Westminster.
This has been the most extraordinary parliamentary week in recent history. The vote on whether to authorise air strikes on Syria saw MPs of all persuasions grapple with a momentous decision with potentially grave consequences. On the Labour side a resounding victory in the Oldham West and Royton by-election gave Jeremy Corbyn's leadership a boost, while on the everyday matter of obesity in childhood MPs debated the efficacy of a tax on sugary drinks.
The editor is Marie Jessel.


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (b06qv8mt)
In the Shadow of the Strong Men

Colouring in the spaces between the headlines. In this edition: the Front National is expected to do well in the French regional elections - our correspondent goes for a drive along the Cote d'Azur and asks why the party's apparently finding favour with voters. 'We cannot allow our revolution to be stolen!' The Venezuelan president has been imploring the electorate to give his socialists another term in office, but most observers feel the left's grip on this nation will be severely weakened in this weekend's election. Three and a half million and counting! We find out why so many young Nepalis have decided to leave their country. And is it the truth or is it just paranoia? We hear that the influence of the long-dead dictator Enver Hoxha continues even today in Albania.


SAT 12:00 News Summary (b06qv8mw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (b06qv3zq)
Insurance Transparency Delays

Insurers will have to include in renewal notices, details of the previous year's premium so that consumers can see how by much their quote has changed. Huw Evans, of the Association of British Insurers says this will take 18 months to implement. James Daley from the Fairer Finance website says it could be implemented more quickly.

Elizabeth, a 75-year-old widow in Northern Ireland has lost £180,000 to fraudsters. She first fell victim to a mail fraud and then was targeted by thieves that used the telephone to trick her out of her money. She spoke out about her experience to help others avoid being defrauded as she was. Chris Moore from BBC Northern Ireland reports.

Consumer credit is booming but the Bank of England is worried that our love of credit is creating a "pocket of vulnerability" in the economy. The repayment term on the latest best buy deal on a 0% transfer credit card is a record 40 months. Peter Tutton, head of policy at the debt charity StepChange and Katie Morley, senior personal finance reporter at the Daily Telegraph discuss if debt can ever be good.

People at work are now automatically enrolled into a pension scheme. But those who are self-employed have no such incentive. Research by Prudential found that although a record 4.6 million people are self-employed, the proportion of them paying into a pension has fallen from one in three in 2001 to less than one in ten last year. Conor D'Arcy a policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation think-tank has looked into the finances of the self-employed and explained the reasons behind the figures.


SAT 12:30 The Now Show (b06qmvkx)
Series 47

Episode 4

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are joined by David Quantick, Sofie Hagen, Luke Kempner, Georgie Bingham and Pippa Evans for a comic look at the week's news.

Written by the cast with additional material from Jane Lamacraft, Andy Wolton, Sarah Campbell and Clare Wetton.

Produced by Alexandra Smith.


SAT 12:57 Weather (b06qv8my)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 13:00 News (b06qv8n0)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (b06qmyyl)
Margaret Beckett MP, Jane Collins MEP, George Monbiot, Lord Willetts

Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from Leeds Trinity University with Margaret Beckett MP, the UKIP MEP and Employment spokesperson Jane Collins MEP, the environmental and political campaigner George Monbiot and Lord Willetts, the conservative peer who is also Executive Chair of the Resolution Foundation.


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (b06qv4kn)
Protests, Bombing Syria

Your say on the issues discussed on Any Questions? Protests and the bombing in Syria.

Presented by Anita Anand
Producer Beverley Purcell
Editor Karen Dalziel.


SAT 14:30 Drama (b06qv4kq)
Inspector Chen Novels

Death of a Red Heroine

Shanghai, May 1990. The body of a national model worker is found in Baili Canal. So begins the first of Qiu Xiaolong's Inspector Chen novels. Poet and translator turned detective Chen Cao now heads the Special Case Squad, an assignment that brings political scrutiny with every move. Dramatised by Joy Wilkinson.

Directed by Toby Swift

Dramatisations of the second and third books in the Inspector Chen series, A Loyal Character Dance and When Red is Black, will follow.

Qiu Xiaolong was born in Shanghai, China. As well as writing the award-winning Inspector Chen series of mystery novels, he is also the author of two books of poetry translations, Treasury of Chinese Love Poems (2003) and Evoking T'ang (2007), and his own poetry collection, Lines Around China (2003). Qiu's books have sold over a million copies and have been published in twenty languages. He lives in St. Louis, USA with his wife and daughter.

"Death Of A Red Heroine grabbed my imagination, took me on a slowly, intricately built journey that nevertheless felt sexy and slick, and kept me turning the pages deep into the night . . . A refreshingly brave exploration into political China, woven around a tense thriller..."
Huffington Post.


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (b06qv5qj)
Weekend Woman's Hour: Listener Week, Being Vegan, Albinism

Three listeners describe what it's like to grow up with the genetic condition albinism that affects skin, hair and eye colouring. Louise Taylor, Sarah Ballard and Sara Krishan discuss their experiences.

Dr Vicky Duckworth on teaching adults to read and write and we hear from her former student Marie McNamara on the literacy skills that allowed her to begin a career in nursing.

Anna discusses her fear of missing out on career opportunities now she is pregnant.

Virginia Prifti talks about the death of her eight-year old son and what happened when she decided she wanted to keep his body at home and manage the funeral arrangements herself.

Hannah Pheobe Brown and Lynda Kinnard share thoughts on being vegan and the reasons for their choice.

What's it like being the partner of a woman going through the menopause? Paul Freeman describes living with his wife who experienced severe menopause symptoms over a number of years and Patrick Shervington from the British Menopause Society discusses how a woman's partner can help.

Lyndsey Carmichael, Kathy Hales and Karen Dobres discuss how the size of their breasts have had an impact on their lives, including their health, self-confidence and fashion sense.

Presented by Jane Garvey
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed.


SAT 17:00 PM (b06qv5ql)
Saturday PM

Full coverage of the day's news.


SAT 17:30 iPM (b06qmz0t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:45 today]


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b06qv8n2)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 17:57 Weather (b06qv8n4)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06s6ps7)
Severe flood warnings issued for northern England and southwest Scotland


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (b06qv6t1)
Clive Anderson, Sara Cox, Burt Reynolds, David Morrissey, Peaches, Karla Crome, Samm Henshaw, Basia Bulat

Clive Anderson and Sara Cox are joined by Burt Reynolds, David Morrissey, Peaches and Karla Crome for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Samm Henshaw and Basia Bulat.

Producer: Sukey Firth.


SAT 19:00 Profile (b06qv5qn)
Hilary Benn

Labour's shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn wowed the House of Commons this week with an 'electrifying' speech calling for airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria. For some commentators it was the moment he finally stepped out his famous father's shadow.

He's worked his way up the party ranks from councillor in Ealing, to MP for Leeds Central and then the Cabinet. But this relatively quiet and unassuming politician has rarely, till now, been thought of as leadership material. With his speech this week, that's changed.

Presenter: Mark Coles
Producers: Ben Crighton and Katie Inman.


SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (b06s6psf)
Sunset Song, Funny Girl, Edna O'Brien, Big Bang Data, What a Performance

Sunset Song is Terence Davies' first film for a decade - telling Lewis Grassic Gibbon's tale of northern Scottish farming and family before and after the First World War.
Sheridan Smith takes the role of actress Fanny Brice in the first London production of Funny Girl for 50 years. Made famous by Barbra Streisand on stage and screen, they're big shoes to fill and the current run of shows is already sold out, is it any good?
Edna O'Brien's latest novel The Little Red Chairs places a major war criminal in a small Irish village and ghastly violence comes with him
Big Bang Data is an exhibition at London's Somerset House which explores how artists are trying to depict the welter of data that is out there, growing all the time.
Frank Skinner and Suzy Klein look at the world of popular British entertainment before TV in the BBC4 series What a Performance.


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (b06qv5qq)
Racial Equality Enshrined

On the 50th anniversary this month of Britain's first Race Relations Act, Ritula Shah considers the role of legislation in ending racial discrimination. She is joined by Lord Lester of Herne Hill who helped draw up the original legislation in 1965.

We hear how a handful of determined and passionate liberals gathered evidence of the need for anti-racist legislation in Britain, while the newly-arrived immigrant communities in London, Bristol and Birmingham campaigned unflinchingly for their equal rights, pressing leaders to take action.

But for all the jubilation when the law was enshrined, it was, in Lester's words, 'pathetic'. The legislation applied only to certain public places and excluded housing and employment. Also, it was almost impossible to enforce.

In 1968, the Act was refreshed and improved, and yet the Commonwealth Immigrants Act of the same year revealed the law's two faces-- repelling stateless East Africans with British passports on the one hand and pushing for racial equality on the other.

In 1976, the Act was amended once again, addressing more subtle forms of 'indirect' discrimination, but it would take an inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 before the law tackled its own enforcement- targeting racism within the police force.

Over the course of 50 years, the law has been polished and refined to create a fairer and more equal society. But, Ritula asks, with fears about immigration on the rise, will the experience of the past half century help us navigate the challenges ahead?

A Cast Iron Radio production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 21:00 Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola (b06qgp5k)
Season 1 - Blood

Trains

Jacques has finally fallen in love but his murderous desires resurface, with terrible consequences.

Glenda Jackson stars as Dide, 104 years old, the matriarch to a family of wolves - the Rougon-Macquarts - in this final drama of the series.

Dramatised by Dan Rebellato, inspired by literature's greatest whistle blower - Emile Zola.

As society changes around her, Dide is still trapped in her small room in the local asylum, but omniscient when it comes to her extended family. As a young woman, she gave birth to two dynasties that exemplified French society. One legitimate - rich, powerful, obsessive and corrupt. The other illegitimate - poor, vulnerable, weak and depraved.

France is on the brink of a new Empire. Her family is a turbulent mix of the good, the bad and the misguided.

The brand new railway system was a powerful force. Dide's great-grandson Jacques, a train driver, has fallen in love with Sevrine, the first time a woman has come close to challenging his love of trains. As her marriage collapses under the weight of the murderous secret she and her husband share, she seeks her freedom to be with her new love. The pressure on Jacques becomes unbearable.

Dide...............Glenda Jackson
Jacques.........William Ash
Severine........Christine Bottomley
Roubaud........Sean Gallagher
Pecquex........Tachia Newell
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore

Producer/Director: Polly Thomas
Executive Producer: Melanie Harris
Series Producer: Susan Roberts

A Sparklab production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2015.


SAT 22:00 News and Weather (b06s6psk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.


SAT 22:15 Moral Maze (b06qkp8w)
Moral Certainty

We live in a complex world where it's often hard to know what's the right thing to do - the right thought to think. But there are increasing sectors of our public discourse where any sense of moral ambivalence or doubt will not be tolerated. Race, homosexuality, child abuse are just some of the touchstones where any expression of doubt is often pounced on and hounded out, especially on social media. Our Moral Maze this week isn't about freedom of speech, or political correctness; it's about the moral value of certainty. We prize and reward moral certainty and consistency, especially in politics, but also business and even sport. Any expression of doubt is seen as weakness - even moral turpitude. Is this a good way of binding society with a set of common values? Or is the public shaming that follows the transgression of those boundaries not so much about morality, but ensuring conformity that itself is a kind of prejudice? Do we need a bit more humility about our moral certainties? Or would that mean bowing thoughtlessly to the latest fashionable cause? Bertold Brecht made the point that doubt is a good servant but a bad master. In an uncertain world if we don't stick to our values do we risk indecisive moral paralysis?
Chaired by David Aaronovitch with Matthew Taylor, Claire Fox, Michael Portillo and Anne McElvoy. Witnesses are Iain McGilchrist, Katie Hopkins, Professor Andrew Samuels and Ben Harris-Quinnery.


SAT 23:00 Round Britain Quiz (b06qhyv0)
Programme 7, 2015

(7/12)
Tom Sutcliffe chairs a contest between the Welsh and the Scots, in the first of this season's 'revenge' fixtures. Last time these teams met, Wales beat Scotland by a single point. Myfanwy Alexander and David Edwards are the Welsh team, while Scotland is represented by Val McDermid and Roddy Lumsden.

The challenge is thrown down from the off, as the teams are asked: 'Why could Philip Pirrip, a short high-pitched cry, and the Saint who decided how we should calculate Easter, all have been seen by our grandparents in the mirror?' Tom will be providing clues whenever the teams are getting too bogged down or pursuing false trails, but they'll have points deducted for every kindly nudge they need in the right direction.

As always, several of today's questions have been selected from the many ideas submitted by listeners over the past year or so.

Producer: Paul Bajoria.


SAT 23:30 Lynn Hill: Twenty-First Century War Poet (b06qgp5p)
In recent years, the US Air Force has been training more drone operators than aircraft pilots. BBC Radio 4 gets inside the mind of poet Lynn Hill, Air Force veteran and former drone operator whose poetry opens up the alien soul of 21st century warfare.

Lynn Hill was an active participant in both Iraq and Afghanistan. She played a pivotal role in operations, but hasn't set foot in either country. She spent much of her military career flying Predator drones, gathering intelligence and firing missiles remotely some 12,000 miles away - from a central station in Las Vegas.

Hill started her military career as an intelligence analyst. But when she transitioned to the Predator Operations Unit, her idea of what the military was started to change.

She became an operator, directly involved in missions, confronted with banks of screens showing live footage of Iraq. During her lunch break she'd nip out for a sandwich, then return to fight in Afghanistan. At the end of the day, she'd get into her car and go home.

Her brilliant poetry talks of the difficult task of separating her real life from her war life. About hate and insanity, violence and nihilism. About dreams and being involved in war via a screen. About seeing yourself in the third person. About some of the very serious problems faced by her 21st century war colleagues - divorce, alcohol, psychiatric illness, crises of identity.

This is another world - a world drowning in radio chatter and computer noises, a hermetically-sealed dome of virtual warfare. The sound of Hill's spare, personal, razor-sharp poetry illustrates life for her and other young women who've played this uniquely modern combat role.

Produced by Andrew Wilkie
A PRA production for BBC Radio 4.



SUNDAY 06 DECEMBER 2015

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b06r0d98)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


SUN 00:30 Through the Wardrobe (b03j98t9)
The Belle Dress

In tribute to Belfast-born C.S. Lewis who died on 22nd November 1963, three new short stories take us though doors and portals into unexpected worlds and situations. While novelist and playwright Lucy Caldwell charts a defining moment in the life of someone struggling with their sense of identity, a woman gets to know her neighbours a little more intimately than she could ever have expected in a story from novelist and screenwriter Glenn Patterson. And finally in a new story from Frank Cottrell Boyce we discover what might happen if C.S. Lewis himself were to discover an opening to another world. What might such a world contain?

The Belle Dress by Lucy Caldwell
Read by Kerr Logan
Produced in Belfast by Heather Larmour.


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06r0d9b)
The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06r0d9d)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at 5.20am.


SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06r0d9g)
The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b06r0d9j)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b06r0rmc)
Bells from the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Wilfred, Ripon in North Yorkshire.


SUN 05:45 Profile (b06qv5qn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b06r0d9l)
The latest national and international news.


SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b06r0rmf)
Longing for Home

The pianist Lucy Parham reflects on the yearning of those in exile.

"Losing my country, I lost also myself." The words of Russian emigre composer Sergei Rachmaninov. Far from home, he "left behind the very desire to compose". As a pianist herself, Lucy Parham has always been drawn to the music of Rachmaninov, widely revered as 'the pianist's pianist'.

Starting from the great composer's experience, Lucy considers the nature of exile. The words of other exiles and an interview with Nicholas Stadlen about South Africans exiled during apartheid are woven into a sequence of Rachmaninov's music.

Sir Nicholas Stadlen is a former High Court judge. He is a Visiting Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford where he is working on a book about the defendants and lawyers who took part in the Rivonia Trial at which Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison. He is also working on a documentary film on the same topic.

Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b06r0rmh)
Britain's Longhorns Going Global

One of Britain's oldest breed of cattle, the Blackbrook Longhorn are now on a farm on the other side of the world in Australia.

Pat Stanley has been working with this rare breed since the late 1980s on her farm, Spring Barrow Lodge in Leicestershire. Five years ago she got a visitor; another farmer and butcher from Australia, Richard Gunner. He wanted to breed Longhorn as he had heard that the meat they produced was particularly good.

Pat started to supply semen and embryos from her stock and now Richard has a herd of over fifty Longhorn in Adelaide.

Caz Graham meets Pat Stanley and Richard Gunner who has come over from Australia to meet some of the cattle responsible for kick starting his herd of Longhorn in Australia.

Producer: Perminder Khatkar.


SUN 06:57 Weather (b06r0d9n)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b06r0d9q)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (b06r0rmk)
The Future of religious education, Sunday Programme Special

This week William Crawley presents a special programme on the future of Religious Education in the UK.

We join primary school teacher Juliet Lanyon and her class as they learn about Buddhism. She talks about the challenges of being an RE teacher and how her school navigates through the 100s of syllabuses that are available.

Alan Brine, former OFSTED inspector in charge of RE, tells William why he is 'annoyed' by the Department for Education as it fails to respond to calls for the subject to be overhauled.

Bob Walker assesses the role of state funded faith schools - do they work or are they counterproductive for social cohesion.?

Is there a place for 'collective worship' or 'religious observance' in UK schools? A report out this week urges governments to review the duty of collective worship in schools, Dr Alison Mawhinney from Bangor University explains and also tells us about RE in Wales.

So what RE should be taught in schools? William discuss the future of religious education in the light of recommendations to be published tomorrow by a Commission on Religion and Public life which has been leaked to Sunday with Andrew Copson - Commissioner and Humanist, Ed Pawson Nat Assoc of Teachers of RE and The bishop of Manchester David Walker.

Producer
Carmel Lonergan
David Cook

Editor
Amanda Hancox.


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b06r0rmm)
St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal 2015

The Revd Dr Sam Wells makes the Radio 4 Christmas Appeal on behalf of St Martin-in-the-Fields.
Reg Charity:261359
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 082 82 84.
- Send a cheque to FREEPOST St Martin's Christmas Appeal. Cheques should be made payable to St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal.
- Or donate online via the Radio 4 website.

The BBC Radio 4 St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal is now in its 89th year. The money raised from this annual appeal supports work with homeless and vulnerable people across the UK, through the work of The Connection at St Martin's and the Vicar's Relief Fund.

(Photo credit: Marc Gascoigne).


SUN 07:57 Weather (b06r0d9s)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b06r0d9v)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b06r0rmp)
Being a Seer

At the beginning of Pope Francis's year-long Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Taizé community in France, and the 100th anniversary of the birth of it's founder, Brother Roger. Second in an Advent series, 'Learning to See', from Brentwood Cathedral in Essex - an ecumenical celebration in the Taizé tradition. Leaders: Fr Martin Boland (Cathedral Dean) and the Very Revd Nicholas Henshall (Dean of Chelmsford).
Choir directed by Andrew Wright. Organist: Stephen King. Producer: Andrew Earis.


SUN 08:48 A Point of View (b06qmyyn)
Sarah Dunant: Protest, Paris, Terror

Sarah Dunant reflects on the nature of protest against the threat of terrorism and the threat of climate change and their coming together in the city of Paris.

"How do we find a sense of potency in the face of terror, how do we embrace life when threatened with death, how do we champion our future against those who claim they will just carry on dying until they win? Perhaps what is needed is mental as much as military action."
Producer: Sheila Cook.


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b04t0m9x)
Laughing Kookaburra

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Sir David Attenborough presents Australia's laughing kookaburra. At 45cm the laughing kookaburra is one of the world's largest kingfishers. Native to south and eastern Australia, they have now been introduced to Western Australia and parts of New Zealand. Although they do catch fish, they hunt mainly on land where they eat reptiles, small mammals and invertebrates. The cacophony of loud hooting laughs from which they get their Aboriginal name, is often produced by several birds in chorus. The cackling call is one of the few exotic bird sounds that is recognised around the world: a captive kookaburra named Jacko became a radio celebrity in Australia through his ability to break into that laughing call on demand. By the time of his death in 1939 he was one of the best known birds in the world.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b06r0d9x)
CORRECTION: During the section comparing UK politicians' speeches in the House of Commons, excerpts of speeches from the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the Leader of the Opposition Michael Foot on the Falklands war were played. The programme incorrectly said that both speeches were made in the Commons on the same day - 3rd April 1982 - when Michael Foot's speech was made later in the month, on 29th April 1982. We are happy to make this clear.

As the worst of the flooding approaches Carlisle, we bring you the latest.
Hilary Benn's speech on Syria was applauded by both sides of the House this week. We trawl the archives for the best speeches on matters of war and peace from Churchill, Bevan, Thatcher, Foot and Cook and analyse their impact.
As the Westminster Commentariat got another election result wrong this week, with Labour increasing their majority in Oldham West and Royton, Isabel Hardman and Kevin Maguire confess to their mistakes.
A live Gospel Choir joins Paddy in the studio to mark the first programme of Advent.
Alex Salmond and Anne Diamond review the Sunday Papers.


SUN 09:45 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b06r0v1s)
Making a Difference

Aasmah Mir reports on how the money from last year's Radio 4 Christmas Appeal with St Martin in-the-Fields has been spent on changing the lives of homeless people through the work of The Connection at St Martin's, and how crisis grants from the Vicar's Relief Fund have helped secure housing or have kept vulnerable people in accommodation all around the UK.


SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b06r0vsl)
Please see daily episodes for a detailed synopsis.


SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b06r0vsn)
Atul Gawande

Kirsty Young's castaway is the surgeon, author and former Reith lecturer, Atul Gawande.

A general and endocrine surgeon in Boston, he is professor in both the Department of Health Policy & Management at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Department of Surgery at Harvard Medical School.

Born in Brooklyn, he is the son of two doctors who came to the US to study medicine. After graduating from Stanford and studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford, he embarked on a brief political career, working for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign and on his health and social policy in the White House following his election. When Clinton's health policy reform floundered, Atul returned to Harvard to finish the medical degree he'd started after Oxford.

During his surgical residency he began writing for the online magazine Slate and he's been writing for the New Yorker since 1998. His 2009 article "The Cost Conundrum" was cited by President Barack Obama during his attempt to get the healthcare reform legislation through Congress. Atul has published four books to date about the achievements, but also the limitations, of medicine.

In 2014 he presented the BBC's Reith Lectures, delivering a series of four talks titled The Future of Medicine.

Producer: Cathy Drysdale.


SUN 12:00 News Summary (b06r0d9z)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:04 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b06qhyv4)
Series 64

Episode 1

The 64th series of Radio 4's multi award-winning 'antidote to panel games' promises yet more quality, desk-based entertainment for all the family. The series starts its run at the Dorking Halls where regulars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by Tony Hawks, with Jack Dee as the programme's reluctant chairman. Regular listeners will know to expect inspired nonsense, pointless revelry and Colin Sell at the piano. Producer - Jon Naismith. It is a BBC Radio Comedy production.


SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b06r0wh4)
Food Museums

If you were to create a museum telling the story of food and drink what would you say or put on display? What about interactivity - tastes and smells? Is it about flavour and experience or the process of creating the ingredients from the farmers to gastronomes?

Sheila Dillon steps inside London's new British Museum of Food (BMoF) created by 'jellymongers' Bompas and Parr to see what their creative minds had in store. Meanwhile in New York, the Museum of Food and Drink (MoFAD) also aims to attract tourists and food enthusiasts...but how will they tell their story?

Celebrating food and making an exhibition of it is not new. Many smaller venues aim to show off the delights of dishes - from the kimchi museum in Korea to those celebrating Spam, potatoes, nougat or butter. How keen or obsessed would you need to be to visit? Sheila invtes you to take a tour and see if they whet your appetite for more rather than leave you fed-up.

Presented by Sheila Dillon
Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock.


SUN 12:57 Weather (b06r0db1)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b06r19sg)
Global news and analysis, presented by Shaun Ley.


SUN 13:30 Bridging the Gulf with Tehran (b06r19sj)
The former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw looks at the evolution of the West's troubled encounters with Persia, and then Iran, from "Great Game" imperialism, through the 20th century politics of oil, to the recent stand-off over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

While in office Straw visited Iran and negotiated with its leaders. In this programme he explores the roots of the tension between the UK and Iran, and what can and should be done about it.

Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, relations with Iran have moved seemingly from crisis to crisis: the taking of hostages at the American embassy; the Satanic Verses affair; President Ahmadinejad's rhetoric, and suspicions about Tehran's nuclear programme. From the West there have been diplomatic and economic sanctions, accusations of international terrorism, talk of an "Axis of Evil" and threats of military action. In between, occasionally fruitful negotiations and common cause over ISIL and Al-Qaeda have brought moments of detente.

But do Western political leaders truly understand Iran and its current incarnation, the Islamic Republic? Can Iran ever come to deal cooperatively with the West? Can the Islamic Republic go from being pariah to partner?

Can this gulf of understanding with Tehran ever be bridged?

Contributors include Lord William Hague, Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Amir Taheri, David Frum and Sir Richard Dalton

Producer: Adam Bowen.


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b06qmtzy)
Usk, Monmouthshire

Eric Robson hosts the horticultuual panel programme from Usk in Monmouthshire.

Pippa Greenwood, Matthew Wilson and Christine Walkden answer this week's gardening queries.

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b06r19sl)
Sunday Omnibus - Passing Down of Wisdom and Experience

Fi Glover introduces conversations which reflect changes between generations and the importance of childhood experiences in making us who we are. All in the Omnibus edition of 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.


SUN 15:00 Drama (b06r1b2h)
The Arabian Nights

Episode 1

The immortal stories of The Arabian Nights are brought to life in an inventive fresh adaptation by Glen Neath, reviving favourites such as Ali Baba and The Forty Thieves and The Fisherman and The Demon along with lesser known tales.

This is a world of wonder, magic and comedy - but also of contemporary realism. Successive generations in the east and the west have reinterpreted these tales, recognising the inept rulers, the resourceful slaves and the wondrous magicians. That’s why this is one of the most enduring and influential books in literature.

In this opener, we join Ata Madri (Indira Varma) as she heads to modern day Cairo to track down an elusive medieval copy of The Nights - one that is said to contain the original ending. A sea of stories awaits her.

An extraordinary ensemble of actors from east and west come together to tell the tales.

Narrator....................Nadim Sawalha
Madri.........................Indira Varma
Clive, King Yunan.......Ewan Bailey
Taxi Driver, Hasan......Nayef Rashed
Ali Baba......................Muzz Khan
Ali Baba's wife............Noa Bodner
Cassim, King of the City's Vizier......Noof McEwan
Cassim's wife.............Alyssa Kyria
Marjaneh....................Laura Hanna
Cobbler, Vizier............Niall Ashdown
Robber........................Waleed Elgadi
Captain.......................Alexei Sayle
Ali Baba's son, Young Man..............Amir El-Masry
Shopkeeper, Fisherman..................Nabil Elouahabi
Professor, Demon........Stewart Scudamore
Sage Duban.................Renu Setna
King of the City............Bhasker Patel
Evil Wife.......................Sharlit Deyzac

Sound design by Alisdair McGregor
Music by Michael Ward with David Lewin and Peter Rophone

Director: Boz Temple-Morris

A Holy Mountain production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2015.


SUN 16:00 Bookclub (b06r1bh5)
Colum McCann - TransAtlantic

The Irish writer Colum McCann discusses his novel TransAtlantic, which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

The first non-stop intercontinental flight from Canada to the West of Ireland in 1919 by Alcock and Brown is a pivotal point in McCann's book. Featuring both fictional characters and real people, the novel is set across almost two centuries.

It explores the key moments in Irish/ US history, from the potato famine, the American civil war to the Good Friday agreement and examines the links and differences between these two countries separated by the vast Atlantic Ocean.

Presented by James Naughtie and including a group of readers who join in the discussion.

Presenter : James Naughtie
Interviewed guest : Colum McCann
Producer : Dymphna Flynn

January's Bookclub choice : The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan.


SUN 16:30 Postcards from the Village: An East-West Dialogue (b06r1bqd)
An exchange of two villages at the margins of Europe - one in Transylvania, one in Oxfordshire - inspires new poems from Romanian poet Ioana Ieronim and UK poet Fiona Sampson.

Both poets have written extensively about their own villages - Rasnov and Coleshill - so what happens when they visit each other's 'great good place'? Ioana and Fiona find some curious parallels between two villages that on first encounter seem very different.

Produced by Emma Harding.


SUN 17:00 The Nervous Breakdown of the Internet (b06qjzv2)
Modern life relies on internet security. But cyber-criminals have rocked confidence and revealed shocking complacency. Edward Lucas explores how trust can be restored.

Breaches of computer networks at TalkTalk and Ashley Madison have highlighted the dangers we face on the internet. Cyber-crime will cost the global economy an annual $500bn. And our plight is set to worsen. The internet was never designed to be the central nervous system of modern life. Nobody foresaw its role in the media, e-commerce, e-banking, infrastructure, and entertainment.

The prize for attackers is data - they can steal, degrade or destroy, in order to blackmail, impersonate or bankrupt us.

At every stage of the internet's development, cost and convenience trumped security. Now we have to deal with a legacy of out-of-date systems and ingrained complacency, at a time when our dependence is growing. Our attackers have the advantage - they feed on a huge and lucrative criminal economy, they buy the weapons they need in sophisticated markets and launder their proceeds with anonymous electronic money.

Edward Lucas considers the problem with security experts and shows the shocking ease with which hackers can steal data. He examines where responsibility lies - with the government, companies and individuals - and discusses potential solutions - from Estonian-style biometric identity cards to "bug bounties" for those who find errors in hardware and software.

Legislation, commercial pressure, education and changing social norms can all help secure the internet and, with it, our modern way of life.

Presenter: Edward Lucas
Producer: Kate Dixon
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 17:40 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b06r0v1s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 today]


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b06r0db5)
The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 17:57 Weather (b06r0db9)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06r0dbc)
Cumbria battles 'unprecedented' flood waters. Police appeal for witnesses to Leytonstone knife attack. France votes in regional elections.


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b06r1c2c)
Adrian Goldberg

This week we traverse the Second Century Via Egnatia, hear about the emotional journey of parents with premature babies and get a first-hand account of a night tour in Afghanistan.

We're also treated to 'Sorted For E's And Whizz' sung to the tune of I Vow To Thee My Country.

Adrian's Pick of the BBC iPlayer is Landmark Moment's in Mandela's Life first broadcast on the World Service in 2013.

Produced by Stephen Garner.


SUN 19:00 The Archers (b06r1c2f)
David joins Brian and Jennifer for lunch but struggles with his one good arm. Brian's looking forward to Lilian moving out, but Jennifer reminds him Lilian will be back with them at Christmas time - she can't be left on her own at the Dower House. Meanwhile, Kate has driven Phoebe to Oxford for her interviews. David and Brian discuss Charlie having to leave Berrow Farm and start a job up North. David really misses Ruth, as Jennifer points out their anniversary is coming up. David and Brian also debate the dairy industry and subsidies - Brian invites David to join him at a conference.

At the touch-rugby games, organised by the Fairbrothers, there's a sense of brotherly rivalry over Pip. Rex is injured by a fierce tackle from Toby and Pip goes with Rex to hospital. Rex mentions Toby trying to impress her and starts to tentatively, and all too subtly perhaps, tell Pip he likes her himself. Pip doesn't seem to hear him properly, pointing out that the hospital staff are calling Rex back in.


SUN 19:15 Trodd en Bratt Say 'Well Done You' (b06r1cvy)
Series 2

Episode 3

Spiritual advice with a strange twist - and a gaggle of Kens.

A fun packed second series from comedy duo Lucy Trodd and Ruth Bratt. Sketches and songs from a whole range of new characters, with the occasional appearance from some old favourites.

Performers:
Lucy Trodd
Ruth Bratt
Adam Meggido
Oliver Senton

Written by: Ruth Bratt and Lucy Trodd
Script Editor: Jon Hunter
Original music: Duncan Walsh Atkins

Producer: Steve Doherty
A Lucky Giant production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 19:45 Natural Histories: Short Stories (b06r1cw0)
Series 1

The Naked Eye

Joe Dunthorne, author of Submarine, reads his specially commissioned short story inspired by the Natural History Museum. It's about the world's most powerful microscope and what it can see...and what it can't. Producer Beth O'Dea. Micro-CT Scan image of the cross section of a Bostryx Snail provided by the Natural History Museum.


SUN 20:00 Feedback (b06qv7rb)
BBC World Service Soft Power

The British Government has just allocated £289 million to the World Service for the next five years, in a bid to promote UK soft power. But where will this money go, and what does this mean for the BBC's independence? Roger Bolton talks to the Director of the BBC World Service Group Francesca Unsworth.

With the arrival of Advent came a Radio 3 Carol Service, performed by the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge. Some listeners were impressed by the new compositions alongside traditional favourites, but others were put off by some of the more modern works. Should advent be a time for challenging new music or comforting classics? Roger asks the series producer of Radio 3's Choral Evensong, Philip Billson.

Radio 2's Friday Night is Music Night has been broadcasting for over 60 years, offering listeners a weekly programme of popular music performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra and a myriad of stars. But can a programme from the 1950s pull in a wide age-range of listeners and can it justify the expense of a full orchestra? Roger Bolton goes behind the scenes, speaking to Strictly Come Dancing judge and guest presenter Craig Revel Horwood and the production team, to find out what goes into making the world's longest-running live orchestral music programme on radio.

Last week Glenda Jackson returned to acting, after a 23 year absence, playing Dide in the first season of Blood, Sex and Money on Radio 4. The series is a 'mash-up' of 20 of Zola's novels. Many listeners lapped up the drama. Roger Bolton speaks to Commissioning Editor Jeremy Howe about whether you have to follow the text word-for-word to be faithful to the spirit of the author.

Producer: Katherine Godfrey
A WhistledownpProduction for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 20:30 Last Word (b06qmv02)
General Sir Robert Ford, Hazel Adair, Jane Wardle, Gerry Byrne and P.F Sloan

Matthew Bannister on

General Sir Robert Ford who was Commander Land Forces Northern Ireland at the time of the Bloody Sunday shootings.

Hazel Adair, the TV scriptwriter behind hit series like Compact, Emergency Ward 10 and Crossroads.

Professor Jane Wardle, the behavioural scientist who transformed our understanding of cancer screening and prevention.

Gerry Byrne, the Liverpool left back who was part of the England World Cup winning squad in 1966.

And PF Sloan, the enigmatic musician who wrote the number one hit "Eve of Destruction"


SUN 21:00 Money Box (b06qv3zq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b06r0rmm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 In Business (b06qmpr2)
Antony Jenkins Talks to Kamal Ahmed

In his first interview since being ousted as Chief Executive of Barclays, Antony Jenkins talks to the BBC's Business Editor, Kamal Ahmed. He discusses the challenges he faced at the troubled bank as he sought to change the culture and behaviour of its staff. And he predicts a worrying future for the banking sector, which he says could see staffing levels halved as technology and financial start-ups transform the industry.

Producer Caroline Bayley.


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b06r0dbf)
Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.


SUN 22:45 What the Papers Say (b06r1cw4)
Sam Coates of The Times analyses how the newspapers are covering the biggest stories.


SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b06qml0n)
Terence Davies on Sunset Song, Chris Milk on Virtual Reality

With Francine Stock

Terence Davies talks about Sunset Song, which has been 18 years in the making

Virtual reality guru Chris Milk discusses the future of making feature films in the new medium.

Mike Kelt reveals how to make it rain in the movies.

Documentary-maker Mark Burman explains why he transcribed the script of Star Wars at the age of 13, after watching it 21 times.


SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b06r0rmf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today]



MONDAY 07 DECEMBER 2015

MON 00:00 Midnight News (b06r0dcj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b06qkp8j)
Everyday life, Cafe society

Everyday life: Laurie Taylor talks to Les Back, Professor of Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, about his study into those seemingly unimportant aspects of life which throw a spotlight on the relationship between history, culture and biography. Returning to the council estate in Croydon where he grew up, and where his extended family still live - it tells a story about community formation, housing crisis and the geography of class through Christmas decorations. They're joined by Bev Skeggs, fellow Professor of Sociology at Goldsmiths.

Also, Sarah Neal, Reader in Sociology at the University of Surrey, discusses multicultural conviviality in coffee shops.

Producer: Natalia Fernandez.


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b06r0rmc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06r0dcl)
The latest shipping forecast.


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06r0dcn)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06r0dcs)
The latest shipping forecast.


MON 05:30 News Briefing (b06r0dcv)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b06s2rtk)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Orthodox Rabbi Dr Naftali Brawer.
This programme was pre-recorded.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (b06r477x)
Livestock rustling, The beauty queens of dairy

We begin a week-long look at livestock rustling as thieves are target farm animals. Ten thousand cattle have bee stolen in Northern Ireland in the last three years and only last week two men from County Durham were found guilty of stealing sheep from their neighbours. In 2014, it's estimated that livestock theft cost famers £6.6 million pounds.

We're in Scotland to meet the beauty queens of the dairy industry - the Holstein cows - the Holstein is the cow that puts milk on your table. The breed first arrived in the UK after the Second World War and has become the super cow of the milking parlour.

And deck the halls with boughs of holly! We're in Birmingham's Sutton Park to see how holly is being turned into fuel.

Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Sybil Ruscoe.


MON 05:56 Weather (b06r0dcx)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.


MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04t0nhb)
Spoon-billed Sandpiper

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Liz Bonnin presents the diminutive spoon-billed sandpiper of the high Russian tundra. Spoon-billed sandpipers are wading birds, no bigger than a house sparrow. They have rust-coloured feathers and a black, spoon-shaped bill for sifting tiny creatures from the mud or catching insects on the tundra of eastern Russia, where they breed. In winter they fly down to south-east Asian estuaries. Here they are increasingly threatened by the reclamation of mudflats for development and by local people who trap the waders in fine nests to eat. Today, there may be fewer than a thousand birds left. Now conservationists have taken some birds into captivity to establish a breeding stock, but others are being helped on their breeding grounds by headstarting, whereby adults are encouraged to lay a second clutch of eggs after the first are removed. Its hope that this work, plus encouraging local hunters in Asia to release any sandpipers caught in nets, will secure the spoon-billed sandpiper for future generations.


MON 06:00 Today (b06r49d5)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (b06r49d7)
Reforming Saudi Arabia

On Start the Week Andrew Marr looks at the fortunes of Saudi Arabia. The academic Madawi Al-Rasheed challenges pre-conceived ideas about divine politics and uncovers the religious leaders, intellectuals and activists who are looking at modernising the country. William Patey is the former UK ambassador in the region and argues that although the House of Saud is resilient, strains are starting to appear. The American economist Deirdre McCloskey sees fault lines elsewhere in the country's failure to promote and encourage innovation; she believes that although Saudi Arabia has capital accumulation and oil, without creativity and ideas it will not flourish. The historian Ian Morris takes the long view as he studies 20,000 years of international relations and argues that each age and region gets the great powers it needs, and what that means for Saudi Arabia.
Producer: Katy Hickman.


MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b06r4byz)
Alive, Alive Oh! And Other Things That Matter

Post War

Stephanie Cole reads from the collection of essays by acclaimed writer Diana Athill.

Written from the vantage point of her late nineties, Athill's essays are wise, cheering and thought-provoking. They range from gentle (her love of beautiful clothes), heartbreaking (the miscarriage of a much-wanted child) to salutary (her difficult decision to relinquish her independence and move into a care home).

In this first essay, "Post-War", Athill delights in debunking the myth that Britain in the 1940s and 1950s was a mire of dreariness. A young woman when the war broke out, peace and its aftermath was a time of joy, freedom and optimism.

Photo credit: Mark Crick

Written by Diana Athill

Read by Stephanie Cole

Abridged and Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06s2rtm)
Lily Tomlin, The Chain with Samantha Morton, Mmabatho Montsho, Jackie Ashley

Lily Tomlin US actress and comedienne, on her new film Grandma in which she plays an abortion-funding grandmother. She looks back at four decades as a gay woman on screen and her experience of the Hollywood gender pay gap.

Mmabatho Montsho is a film director and her online series 'Women On Sex' is challenging stereotypes and myths about how black South African women feel about sex.

The Chain: Samantha Morton begins our chain of inspirational women by talking to Jane about the woman who inspires her most. Samantha also discusses why she decided to speak publicly about the abuse she says she suffered as a child in a care home in Nottingham

Jackie Ashley on becoming the new President of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge which is Europe's only college for women aged 21 and over.


MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b06r4bz1)
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - Heat and Dust

Journeys

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's beguiling story of two English women living in India more than 50 years apart.

In 1923, Olivia is unhappily married to a civil servant. Her step-granddaughter travels to the subcontinent years later to investigate Olivia's life, which her family regarded as ‘something dark and terrible’.

The story centres on the experiences of two very different women in pre- and post- Independence India. One is circumscribed by English mores and the formal social structures of the Raj while the other is free to fall in love, live among Indian people, feel part of the culture. So, it's the story of social change as well as a potent love story.

In this opening episode, Olivia meets the Nawab while, 50 years later, her step-granddaughter settles into her new room...

Dramatised by Shelley Silas.

Olivia ..... Pippa Bennett-Warner
Narrator ..... Abby Ford
Douglas ..... Simon Harrison
The Nawab ..... Ronny Jhutti
Harry ..... David Seddon
Inder Lal ..... Neet Mohan
Chid ..... Will Howard
Maji ..... Thusitha Jayasundera
Beth Crawford ..... Debra Baker
Dr Saunders ..... Sam Dale
Major Minnies ..... Chris Pavlo

Pianist ..... Laurie O'Brien

Director: Gaynor Macfarlane

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2015.


MON 11:00 The Art of StarCraft (b06r4gpd)
Stephen Evans goes deep into the Milky Way to look at the phenomenon of StarCraft and reveals how, in South Korea, it is more than just a computer game and is a key part of the rapidly growing multi-billion dollar world of esports.

Worth over $620 million globally, with a worldwide audience of over 135 million people, esports are now big business, and in South Korea much of this thanks to the impact of certain computer game called StarCraft.

StarCraft is essentially a sci-fi, military-based real-time strategy (RTS) game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. It was released in 1998 and in the years since has become one of the world's most popular computer game titles shifting over 11 million copies and spawning a mainstream cultural sensation in South Korea where thousands of fans pack into stadiums across the country to watch the best StarCraft players in the world battle it out for big money stakes.

From the importance of PC Bangs - the ubiquitous street corner hubs for gaming fans - to the multi-million dollar world of professional StarCraft and esports Soul-based journalist and broadcaster Stephen Evans joins the dots of how this game took root in a South Korean society that embraced super fast broadband and was thirsty for a multi-scenario, multi-player and multi-layered challenge.

Socially inclusive, cheap and available to everyone, since the late 1990s online gaming has taken this nation of 50 million people by storm, and StarCraft is central to this way of life. This way of life has brought dizzying successes and change, but with it the issue of addiction and related health problems the South Korean government have been forced to regulate this brave new world to tackle issues that are becoming increasingly relevant to policy makers outside of the Korean peninsular.


MON 11:30 The Missing Hancocks (b06r4gpg)
Series 2

The Marriage Bureau

Tony Hancock needs a job, but can't get one as an unmarried man. Luckily, Sidney James has a proposal.

Between 1954 and 1959, BBC Radio recorded 102 episodes of Galton & Simpson's comedy but 20 went missing from the BBC archives, and had not been heard since their original transmission… until these faithful re-imaginings.

After a highly acclaimed first series, another five were lovingly re-recorded in front of a live audience at London's BBC Radio Theatre.

Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson

Tony Hancock …. Kevin McNally
Bill Kerr …. Kevin Eldon
Sid James …. Simon Greenall
Kenneth Williams …. Robin Sebastian
Margaret Cabourn-Smith …. Moira Lister

Newly recorded score by the BBC Concert Orchestra

Produced by Ed Morrish and Neil Pearson.

Originally broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in February 1955.

Recreated for broadcast by BBC Radio Comedy for BBC Radio 4 and first broadcast in November 2015.


MON 12:00 News Summary (b06r0dcz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 One to One (b01lsyj8)
Razia Iqbal talks to Hilal Sezgin

Razia Iqbal explores what it means to be a Muslim in modern Europe. Here she talks to the German writer and journalist, Hilal Sezgin, at her small farm just outside Hamburg.


MON 12:15 You and Yours (b06s2rtp)
Solar panel tariffs, Train vouchers, Peacocks

The government is planning to cut the Feed-in Tariff by 87% early next year. What will that mean for people who put energy back into the national grid?

Are you the type of person who likes to start things on a specific day? You & Yours is doing a special programme devoted to all things smoking on New Year's Eve and we want to hear from our listeners who are planning to quit the habit. Have you tried before and failed? Maybe you think you never will. John Waite joins us on Monday to tell us what has happened since he gave up in 2013

A massive 88 per cent of those apparently eligible for compensation when their train was delayed did not apply. The main reasons given were down to a lack of awareness: 44 per cent did not even consider it - 30 per cent considered it, but did not think they would be entitled. Some thought it just too bothersome.

Forget the latest weight-loss fad - science may already have worked out what diet is best for you. Experts say a personalised approach could transform the way people lose weight.

Proud as a Peacock! As the temperature drops pest control firms normally see a 30-40 percent rise in call outs for rodent infestations. It's because pests look for the opportunity to find themselves some warmth which usually means a nice cosy house to dwell. However a short distance from our studios here in Salford we came across a rather unique pest that's too big to go unnoticed. Rajeev Gupta found some ruffled feathers...

And

We have all heard of WiFi but what the dickens is LiFi?

Presenter: Louise Minchin
Editor: Chas Watkin.


MON 12:57 Weather (b06r0dd1)
The latest weather forecast.


MON 13:00 World at One (b06s2rtr)
We have reports from Carlisle and Appleby on flood devastation. Chief Scientist for the Met Office tells us that rainfall in Cumbria has been 'record-breaking.' A decision on whether to build a new runway at Heathrow or Gatwick looks likely to be delayed for at least six months, while an environmental review is carried out. And with the EU referendum looming, we look at the lessons that can be learnt from the Scottish referendum.


MON 13:45 British Liberalism: The Grand Tour (b06r4gpj)
John Locke v Arbitrary Power

Anne McElvoy tours 300 years of British liberalism.

Anne starts in Oxford in 1683, with the story of the last large-scale book burning in Britain. She traces how dissident philosopher John Locke took on the whole principle of the arbitrary power of the monarchy.

As Anne discovers with the help of Justin Champion and Hannah Dawson, dissident texts were burned and Locke was repeatedly driven out of the country and hunted by the King's agents. Yet all the time he was developing his ideas on the proper limits of power, and on religious toleration.

When James II was ousted in 1688, Locke returned to London in triumph, and his ideas have helped to shape how we live ever since.

But, as Anne explores in later episodes, the story of British liberalism is not one of straightforward victories. Locke explicitly excluded non-Anglicans from his vision of liberty. And what about black people, or women?

Over the course of the first five programmes, Anne traces the development of the ideas we now call liberalism through the lives and works of Adam Smith, Mary Wollstonecraft, Thomas Clarkson, John Bright and John Stuart Mill.

She explores how a rebellion led by black Jamaicans led to a massacre - and how demands that the British Governor of Jamaica be put on trial divided Victorian intellectuals against each other.

And she ends the first week of programmes with the apotheosis of one kind of liberalism in the era of William Gladstone, even as a different version of his creed was taking shape.

In the second week, Anne takes us from the non-violent Suffragist campaign for votes for women, onto the triumph of an elite liberalism in the 1960s - and explores how, ever since, the idea of liberalism has grown more and more complicated.

Producer: Phil Tinline.


MON 14:00 The Archers (b06r1c2f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Drama (b06r4gpl)
Further from Heaven

Drama: Further From Heaven by James O'Neill
Rural Ireland. Reckless and feckless Danny survives a serious car crash. His partner Catherine thinks he's very lucky. Maybe there's someone looking after him. Then an enigmatic old man knocks on the door and life for the couple will never be the same.

Director/Producer Gary Brown.


MON 15:00 Round Britain Quiz (b06r4gpn)
Programme 8, 2015

(8/12)
The North of England take on The Midlands in the latest clash of cryptic clues and convoluted connections, with Tom Sutcliffe in the questionmaster's chair. Jim Coulson and Adele Geras are the North of England team, playing opposite Rosalind Miles and Stephen Maddock of the Midlands.

The Midlands will be on their mettle, having been narrowly beaten by Wales in their last appearance a couple of weeks ago, while the North will be looking for their first victory of the 2015 season.

Without wishing to give the teams too much of a leg up, it would help if they knew a little bit about Shakespeare, strange rural place names of England, vampire novels and the history of football in Manchester.

Producer: Paul Bajoria.


MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b06r0wh4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]


MON 16:00 Tales from the Stave (b0540trm)
Smetana - Ma Vlast

When the Czech composer Bedrich Smetana set about his famous symphonic cycle Ma Vlast - My Country or My Land, in the early 1870s, he was tapping into a national tradition surviving under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His evocations of historic landmarks like the rocky fortress of Vysehrad which overlooks another subject, the Vltava (Moldau) river have become familiar far beyond his Bohemian homeland.
Frances Fyfield is joined by the leading young Czech conductor Jakub Hrusa and the Czech Philharmonic orchestra violinist Magdalena Maslanova to unpick the handwritten manuscripts of his tone poems. They tell a story of a brilliant orchestral imagination which was still making alterations in this final version of one of his most celebrated works. But the autographs, with their agonisingly personal marginal notes also tell of a man who was losing his hearing.
To what extent this new isolation unleashed a passionate and vivid musical imagination is open to debate. Be that as it may the scores are treated with reverence by all Czech musicians for whom Smetana was an immense figure. The music sweeps all nationalities along in its familiar currents.

Producer: Tom Alban.


MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (b06r4gpq)
50 Years of Nostra Aetate

It is 50 years since the publication of the Vatican document 'Nostra Aetate' which transformed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and other religions, most notably Judaism. At only a few paragraphs in length, this short text has been widely seen as one of the most remarkable moments in the turbulent history of interfaith relations. How did it come about? What can we say it has really achieved? And how does it fit into the world in which we now live?

Ernie Rea explores the impact of 'Nostra Aetate' with Archbishop Kevin McDonald, Emeritus Catholic Archbishop of Southwark and chair of the Bishops' Conference Committee for Other Faiths and of the Committee for Catholic-Jewish Relations; Dr Ed Kessler, Founder-Director of the interfaith organisation, the Woolf Institute; and Oliver McTernan, Director of the conflict-resolution charity 'Forward Thinking', which works among communities in the UK and the Middle East.

Producer:
Amanda Hancox.


MON 17:00 PM (b06s2rtt)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06r0dd3)
Radio Four 1800 -- Dec 7 2015

The number of homes affected by flooding in Cumbria and Lancashire has doubled to five thousand. David Cameron said the government would review what it spends on flood defences.


MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b06r4gps)
Series 64

Episode 2

The 64th series of Radio 4's multi award-winning antidote to panel games promises more homespun wireless entertainment for the young at heart. This week the programme pays a return visit to the Dorking Halls. Regulars Graeme Garden, Barry Cryer and Tim Brooke-Taylor are once again joined on the panel by Tony Hawks with Jack Dee in the chair. At the piano - Colin Sell. Producer - Jon Naismith. It is a BBC Radio Comedy production.


MON 19:00 The Archers (b06r4gpv)
At the Ambridge Tearoom, Rob helps Emma who's struggling with boxes. Rob uses the subject of the Fairbrothers' rugby event to ask how Grundy turkey sales are going (pointing out how well the Fairbrother geese are selling).

Oliver's so grateful to Ed for sorting out Grange Farm following the vandalism. Oliver senses something's wrong though and Ed admits he's worried about Joe, who's had to go into emergency accommodation following the Grundys' eviction. Concerned Oliver passes on his best to the family from Tuscany. Emma cheers Ed up by getting him to dance with her on Grange Farm's oak floor, remembering when the family lived there.

Helen needs a new outfit for Adam and Ian's wedding and asks Rob for a lift into town. Rob won't give Helen the money - he already gave her some for maternity clothes and he's busy at the shop so can't take her out shopping.

Rob's mother, Ursula, arrives unexpectedly as Helen's stuck at home. Ursula has brought a few things for the baby. Helen's surprised that Ursula knows the sex of the baby. Rob returns surprised to see his mother. They chat about godparents - Ursula suggests Rob's brother. Helen mentions Ian. Ursula eventually goes and Helen thinks she's lovely, but Rob gets annoyed with Helen for making a decision about Ian possibly being a godparent without consulting him.


MON 19:15 Front Row (b06r4gpx)
Jim Broadbent and Patrick Barlow, Victoria and Albert New Galleries, By the Sea, TV box sets

Jim Broadbent and Patrick Barlow first worked together more than 30 years ago in The National Theatre of Brent. This year they've reunited for a production of A Christmas Carol which Patrick has adapted for the stage, and in which Jim Broadbent plays an ebullient and nasty Scrooge. They discuss the production with Samira.

Angelia Jolie Pitt's latest directorial effort is By the Sea, a drama about a failing marriage, in which she stars opposite her real life husband Brad Pitt. Jenny McCartney reviews.

Martin Roth, the director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, reveals the latest stage of its huge renovation project. The new galleries - Europe 1600-1815 - have cost 12.5 million pounds, so how does the re-examined collection inform what we think of Europe today?

Andrew Collins joins Samira to recommend some TV box sets to buy for Christmas presents. His choices are: The Bridge trilogy, The Leftovers and Unforgotten.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Rebecca Armstrong.


MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b06r4bz1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


MON 20:00 The Philosopher's Arms (b06r4gpz)
Series 5

Lying and Misleading

The Philosopher's Arms, presented by Matthew Sweet, asks whether there's a moral difference between lying and misleading. In the pub, to help us reach an answer, we have a philosopher, psychologist and political spin-doctor.


MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b06qm3mh)
Albania: Shadows of the Past

Maria Margaronis explores the debris of Albania's painful past-the prison labour camps, concrete bunkers and secret police headquarters--as archives are unlocked and new monuments put up in an effort to redefine who Albanians are. The country's citizens are trying to come to terms with history and move on from Enver Hoxha's dictatorial regime, the pyramid schemes and the political and economic collapse that followed. Instead of moving on, though, many are moving out of the country altogether. Do their leaders' efforts represent real change, or are they just an attempt to plaster over the cracks and reinforce Albania's plan to enter the EU?


MON 21:00 The Secret Lives of Carers (b06qjqcv)
There's a silent army of workers who look after the vulnerable in their own homes. This is the story of four care workers whose employers are pioneering new ways of running care services.

They are a world away from the experience most people have of home care workers. But - we ask - is it possible for the state sector to provide this kind of care without costs going through the roof.

We hear about the Wiltshire scheme which allows care workers to decide how long visits should be, and lets the elderly person decide how they want to spend the time with their care worker. It's seen some dramatic results - with elderly people signed off their books within weeks.

We meet Rochelle who - after 20 years in the care industry - and having seen some shocking care, has now found a company where she feels she really can care. She talks about the small but significant changes that make a world of difference.

Perrine works for a private care company which "matches" very closely the personality and interests of the care worker with the person being cared for.

And we talk to Ashleigh, a 24 year old who does end of life care. She works for the charity Leonard Cheshire. She earns little above the minimum wage - but she's totally committed to her job and to the people she looks after.

These carers and the organisations they work for are determined to change the state of home care. But what chance do they have with constantly diminishing budgets?

Producer: Adele Armstrong.


MON 21:30 Start the Week (b06r49d7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 21:58 Weather (b06r0dd5)
The latest weather forecast.


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b06s2rtw)
Third runway decision delayed 'for at least six months'

Government delays Heathrow vs Gatwick; FN's "fantastic" elections; Trump "Muslim ban" storm.


MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b06s2rty)
Dark Corners

Episode 6

The final novel by Ruth Rendell, read by Patricia Hodge.

For a while, all was looking rosy for budding crime writer Carl. He'd inherited a house in Maida Vale from his late father, published his first novel, Death's Door, to mild acclaim and his lovely girlfriend Nicola had accepted his invitation to come and live with him. But a series of unfortunately events has led to the unravelling of this almost perfect life.

Carl's first mistake was to rent the top floor of his house to the first person who answered his advert, Dermot. Second was selling slimming pills, found in his late father's bathroom cabinet, to his actress friend Stacey who died as a result of their nasty side effects. Dermot witnessed the 'transaction' and has used this knowledge to blackmail Carl and live rent free ever since. As the weeks have passed, Dermot has placed more and more pressure upon Carl - so much, in fact, that he's almost reached breaking point.

In a career that spanned fifty years and over sixty novels, Ruth Rendell was acclaimed by her literary peers and beloved by her readers. She received numerous awards, including the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for 1976's Best Crime Novel with A Demon in My View, a Gold Dagger Award for Live Flesh in 1986, and the Sunday Times Literary Award in 1990. In 2013 she was awarded the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in crime writing. In 1996 she was awarded the CBE and in 1997 became a Life Peer. She died in May 2015, aged eighty-five.

Reader Patricia Hodge.

Abridger Robin Brooks.

Producer Kirsteen Cameron.


MON 23:00 Wireless Nights (b06r4gq1)
Series 4

Snowbound

Jarvis Cocker is snowed in for tonight's nocturnal exploration of the human condition. With the snow piling high outside his farmhouse and long hours to kill, Jarvis's mind drifts to other snowbound dramas and dilemmas as he tries to distract himself from a creeping solitude. But as night draws on, can he be sure he's really alone?

Producer Neil McCarthy.


MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b06r4gq3)
TIP: MPs pay tribute to the emergency services following the flooding caused by Storm Desmond. Civil servants face questions about the rollout of Universal Credit. And peers consider the possibility of cyber-attack on the banking sector. Sean Curran reports from Westminster.



TUESDAY 08 DECEMBER 2015

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b06r0df5)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b06r4byz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06r0df7)
The latest shipping forecast.


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06r0df9)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06r0dfc)
The latest shipping forecast.


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b06r0dff)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b06s304c)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Orthodox Rabbi Dr Naftali Brawer.
This programme was pre-recorded.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b06r4vq7)
Flooded farmers, Livestock rustling, Overuse of antibiotics in agriculture

Farmers in Cumbria face the floods with livestock under water and inaccessible land.
Scientists call for an international approach to antibiotic use in agriculture.
In North Yorkshire last year sheep rustling was reported to the police every week. That frequency has led the force to adopt new practices.

Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Beatrice Fenton.


TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04t0nw9)
Blue Rock Thrush

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Liz Bonnin presents the blue rock thrush, perched high on a Spanish castle. The blue rock thrush has a slim silhouette, rather like that of a blackbird, but these largely sedentary, elusive and sun-loving birds are a rare sight in northern Europe. They are widespread in summer across southern Europe and also occur in the Arabian Peninsula and across most of south-east Asia. The male lives up to his name, as in sunlight his deep indigo body feathers contrast with his darker wings and tail. His mate is a more muted mid brown, and barred beneath. Blue rock thrushes often nest in old ruins, but can also be found in houses in villages and on the edge of towns. Here in sunny spots they feed on large insects like grasshoppers and will even take small reptiles in their long thrush-like bills.

Producer Andrew Dawes.


TUE 06:00 Today (b06r8s35)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b06r4wg9)
An Infinite Monkey's Guide to General Relativity

Episode 1

It's 100 years since the publication of Einstein's great theory, and arguably one of the greatest scientific theories of all time. To mark the occasion, Brian Cox takes Robin Ince on a guided tour of General Relativity. With the help of some of the world's leading cosmologists, and a comedian or two, they explore the notions of space time, falling elevators, trampolines and bowling balls, and what was wrong with Newton's apple. It's a whistle stop tour of all you'll ever need to know about gravity and how a mathematical equation written 100 years ago predicted everything from black holes to the Big Bang, to our expanding universe, long before there was any proof that these extraordinary phenomena existed.


TUE 09:30 The Misogyny Book Club (b064kjm4)
Unhappily Ever After

What do fairy tales teach girls about what a woman should be?

In the third in a series of programmes exploring misogyny in some of our most read books, a young primary school teacher and an Oxford professor who specialises in fairy stories join Jo Fidgen to discuss the messages encoded in these well-loved morality tales, and the effect they can have on women's sense of worth.

They engage in a revealing discussion about their depiction of violence against women. In the witch hunts of the 17th century, women were targeted for resembling the witches of fairy tales. Today, one woman talks about her experience of tolerating abuse in the hope of living happily ever after.


TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b06r4wgc)
Alive, Alive Oh! And Other Things That Matter

Alive, Alive Oh!

The collection of essays by acclaimed editor and author Diana Athill.

Written from the vantage point of her great age, Athill's writing is honest and thought-provoking. In this second essay, "Alive Alive Oh!", she describes with total candour her miscarriage in 1960, aged 43, when she nearly lost her life.

Diana Athill's books include Stet: An Editor's Life (2000) and Yesterday Morning (2002). For fifty years she was the editorial director of André Deutsch, where she worked with such authors as Jean Rhys, Gitta Sereny and V. S. Naipaul. Her Costa Award-winning memoir, Somewhere Towards the End, was published in January 2008.

Photo credit: Mark Crick

Written by Diana Athill

Read by Stephanie Cole

Abridged by Claire Simpson

Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06r4wgf)
Profile of Marion Marechal-Le Pen, The Chain - Siofra Campbell, Seasonal dating

French MP Marion Maréchal-Le Pen is seen as a rising star in the National Front (FN) party - how much does the politician share the views of her grandfather Jean-Marie Le Pen or aunt Marine Le Pen and why does she want to cut state funding for family planning services? Political commentator Agnes Poirier joins Jane from Paris.

The row about boxer Tyson Fury, short-listed for BBC Sports Personality of the Year, escalated after comments he made about fellow nominee Jessica Ennis-Hill. Guardian sports writer Anna Kessel and Sport Magazine writer Sarah Shephard discuss whether it has an impact on women in sport.

With Christmas almost upon us, is it time to make sure you're not left out in the cold for the party season? Dating expert Charly Lester and writer Jenny Stallard discuss the appeal of a seasonal relationship to see you through the winter months.

Scriptwriter and director Siofra Campbell discusses sexism in the film industry and reveals her nomination for The Chain.

The letters to inspire a new generation of black women with publisher Amanda Wilson and two women who've written them, Leah Charles-King and Claudine Reid.

Presenter: Jane Garvey
Producer: Anne Peacock.


TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b06r4xwt)
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - Heat and Dust

The Husbands' Wedding Day

Harry comes to stay with the Rivers in an attempt to break free of the Nawab while the narrator visits the Baba Firdaus shrine on the Husbands' Wedding Day.

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's beguiling story of two English women living in India more than 50 years apart.

In 1923, Olivia is unhappily married to a civil servant. Her step-granddaughter travels to the subcontinent years later to investigate Olivia's life, which her family regarded as ‘something dark and terrible’.

The story centres on the experiences of two very different women in pre- and post- Independence India. One is circumscribed by English mores and the formal social structures of the Raj while the other is free to fall in love, live among Indian people, feel part of the culture. So, it's the story of social change as well as a potent love story.

Olivia ..... Pippa Bennett-Warner
Narrator ..... Abby Ford
Douglas ..... Simon Harrison
The Nawab ..... Ronny Jhutti
Harry ..... David Seddon
Inder Lal ..... Neet Mohan
Chid ..... Will Howard
Maji ..... Thusitha Jayasundera
Beth Crawford ..... Debra Baker
Dr Saunders ..... Sam Dale
Major Minnies ..... Chris Pavlo

Dramatised by Shelley Silas.

Pianist ..... Laurie O'Brien

Director: Gaynor Macfarlane

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2015.


TUE 11:00 The Singing Fish of Batticaloa (b04bn086)
"It is said to be heard the clearest on a full moon night... One has to go by boat, plunge an oar into the water, put the other end of the oar to one's ear, and listen..."

Since the 18th century, Tamil fishermen have claimed to navigate by the mysterious music of the singing fish of the Batticaloa lagoon in eastern Sri Lanka. The fishermen's ancient name for the creature is oorie coolooroo cradoo (crying shells); scientists believe that the underwater choristers are some kind of fish. But, after thirty years of civil war and the ravages of the tsunami, does any evidence of this strange nocturnal chorus remain?

Restrictions and curfews made it impossible to visit the lagoon at night and locals, suffering the deprivation of a bitter conflict, had other priorities. The people of Batticaloa became disconnected from this ancient cultural symbol. Very few have heard the aquatic music, and many believe it's a myth.

But for Father Lorio, a Jesuit priest present at one of the earliest recordings of the phenomenon made using a homemade hydrophone in the 1950s, the singing fish are the soundtrack to sixty years of profound turmoil and change he's witnessed in the region. And for Prince Casinader, a Tamil journalist in his eighties, there's the belief that they could bring a sense of community and hope to his hometown.

Now a group of young Tamil scientists have joined the effort to rediscover this lost symbol. Guided by local fishermen, they embark on an unusual odyssey into the muddy lagoon to capture a new recording and establish if this elusive watery wonder has survived to enchant another generation with its song.

With music composed by Adam Nicholas.

Producers: Cicely Fell & Kannan Arunasalam

A Falling Tree production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2014.


TUE 11:30 Soul Music (b06r50wk)
Series 21

Mack the Knife

The Brecht/Weill song, 'Mack The Knife' first appeared in 'The Threepenny Opera' in Berlin in 1928. Sung about the criminal MacHeath, the 'play with music' is based on John Gay's 'The Beggar's Opera', who was inspired by the real-life English highwayman, Jack Sheppard.

The song became a hit when performed in 1959 by Bobby Darin. Ella Fitzgerald famously forgot the words when performing live in Berlin in 1960 and her improvised version won a Grammy.

Suzi Quatro talks about how she performed it with her father as a child, playing bongos to accompany him, and Lenny Kaye from the Patti Smith Group recalls how he and Patti did a version of 'Mack The Knife' at their first ever performance together at St Marks Church in New York on 10th February 1971, as it was Brecht's birthday.
Film-maker Malcolm Clark tells the story of the song's first public performer, Kurt Gerron, an actor and director, who took the song into the darkest places of the Third Reich.


TUE 12:00 News Summary (b06r0dfh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:04 One to One (b06gqx6j)
Steve Backshall meets Leo Houlding

Steve Backshall is one of our leading natural history broadcasters. He's also an extreme sportsman who has conquered some of the world's most dangerous mountains. Despite suffering a severe rock-climbing injury in 2008 he continues to set himself extraordinary challenges.

In this programme, he meets Leo Houlding. Leo is one of our greatest rock-climbers. He has free-climbed the world's most challenging peaks and is an experienced base-jumper. One of his greatest achievements was a successful expedition to tackle an unclimbed route on Ulvetanna - a fearsome tower of granite in eastern Antarctica.

Producer: Karen Gregor.


TUE 12:15 You and Yours (b06r8tlk)
Call You and Yours: Your Experiences of Flooding

The government has promised extra help for those affected by the weekend's floods in Cumbria and Lancashire. Shari Vahl hears your positive and negative experiences of things like dealing with insurance companies and the development of flood defences.
We'll have a range of experts on hand who specialise in flood risk, insurance and clearing up the mess.
Call 03700 100 444. You can also E-mail us at youandyours@bbc.co.uk.


TUE 12:57 Weather (b06r0dfk)
The latest weather forecast.


TUE 13:00 World at One (b06r8tlm)
Iain Duncan Smith on Universal Credit plus floods update and who owns the sunken Spanish treasure found in the Caribbean? Presented by Mark Mardell.


TUE 13:45 British Liberalism: The Grand Tour (b06r50wn)
Adam Smith and the Whigs

Anne McElvoy explores the history of British liberalism. Today she revisits the innovative ideas of the Scottish philosopher Adam Smith and the wider influence of the Whig aristocracy.

With Amanda Foreman and Keith Tribe

Producer: Phil Tinline.


TUE 14:00 The Archers (b06r4gpv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama (b03w2yn4)
Pixie Juice

by Ed Harris.

Indira Varma stars in a wickedly twisted fairytale - with real fairy.

Anya is struggling to run her Dad's tattoo parlour, as well as cope with her Dad's failing sight. When she gets a nocturnal visit from a tiny, magical creature, it seems, like all good fairytales, as though her luck will change. But Anya's not really the fairytale type. And pixies hire good lawyers.

Produced and directed by Jonquil Panting.


TUE 15:00 The Educators (b06r5d01)
Turning Schools Around

Schools in England have been warned that if they coast, rather than improve, they risk being closed down.

Sarah Montague meets the new head teachers of a Birmingham secondary school involved in the so-called Trojan Horse scandal. Golden Hillock School re-opened in September with new leadership, and became Ark Boulton Academy , where some of the students have seen four different head teachers in four years.

Now, principals David Gould and Herminder Channa plan to take the school out of special measures and introduce higher expectations for students, staff and parents.

Their promise to students is that they will learn everything they need to go on to university or a career of their choice, but it will require focus, discipline and hard work from students, staff and parents.

Presenter: Sarah Montague
Producer: Joel Moors.


TUE 15:30 Shared Experience (b06r5d03)
Series 4

Was University the Right Choice?

Faced with spiralling debt, few job prospects and having to return to the parental home because they can't afford to rent, a growing number of students question whether university is really the key to success. Would they have been better doing apprenticeships for instance? Fi Glover meets Fran, Jake and Ben to hear their experiences of academic life.

Producer: Maggie Ayre.


TUE 16:00 The Human Zoo (b06r5d05)
Series 7

The Other

Amidst public anxiety over any number of threats to British interests, Michael Blastland turns the lens of psychology from 'us' to 'them', and perceptions of 'the other'.

From sports teams to supermarkets, politics to religion, we define ourselves partly by the other. And with the news full of fear of terrorist attacks, talk of war and immigration, the question of how we perceive groups outside our own is increasingly relevant.

How do we see 'them', whoever they are? Are we naturally fearful of those who aren't like us? What is the morality of otherness? Can our categorising of the other lead to a potential for racism?

Michael Blastland investigates with resident Zoo psychologist Nick Chater, Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School, and roving reporter Timandra Harkness.

Contributors this week include sports commentator Alison Mitchell on otherness in cricket, and comedian Simon Evans on its function in standup.

Producer: Eve Streeter
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b06r5d07)
Series 38

Dickie Bird on the life of Sir Leonard Hutton

Harold 'Dickie' Bird, now retired but one of our best known cricket umpires champions the life of Sir Leonard Hutton.

According to Dickie, this Yorkshireman is one of the greatest opening batsmen of all time, who made history by becoming the first professional England captain. Joining him, the Sunday Times cricket correspondent and author Simon Wilde.

Matthew Parris is the presenter.

Producer: Perminder Khatkar

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.


TUE 17:00 PM (b06r8tlp)
PM at 5pm - Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06r0dfm)
BBC News has been told that European security agents missed an opportunity to capture the ring-leader of the Paris attacks, 10 months before they took place.


TUE 18:30 Gloomsbury (b041xyk6)
Series 2

The Theory and Practice of Hanky Panky

Vera and Henry are undecided about whether it is time for their Eton-educated sons, Charlie and Fred, to be told the facts of life. Neither parent feels that they are sufficiently qualified to discuss the birds and bees with their sons, so they go in search of somebody who is. Ginny and Lionel, conveniently staying, are invited to contribute, but it soon becomes clear that they are urgently in need of sex education themselves.

The Goslings deliver conflicting opinions: Mrs Gosling is affronted by the very mention of the facts of life, whilst Gosling, dealing with pollination on a daily basis, would happily talk of nothing else all year.

Finally a willing educator is found. Venus, deeply broody for her first child, volunteers to rush down to Eton and enlighten Charlie and Fred over ginger beer and crumpets. Worried lest they should suddenly become grandparents before their time, Henry and Vera swiftly call a halt to the whole scheme and pack Venus off to climb Everest instead.

GLOOMSBURY - THE SERIES
Green-fingered Sapphist Vera Sackcloth-Vest shares a bijou castle in Kent with her devoted husband Henry, but longs for exotic adventures with nervy novelist Ginny Fox and wilful beauty Venus Traduces. It's 1921, the dawn of modern love, life and lingerie, but Vera still hasn't learnt how to boil a kettle.

Producer: Jamie Rix
A Little Brother Production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 19:00 The Archers (b06r5d09)
Phoebe is under the spotlight, and Adam is concerned about Charlie.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (b06r8v3z)
Andrew Graham-Dixon on the Mona Lisa, David Bowie's Lazarus and Andrew Lloyd Webber's School of Rock open in New York

Andrew Graham-Dixon discusses his TV documentary about the Mona Lisa, in which state-of-the-art technology has been used on the painting and reveals secrets which could significantly alter our view of Leonardo's masterpiece.

David Bowie's new stage show Lazarus - an adaptation of the novel The Man Who Fell to Earth - and Andrew Lloyd Webber and Julian Fellowes' School of Rock have just opened in New York. Theatre critic David Cote reviews both productions.

Sharon Bolton has set her latest thriller Little Black Lies in the Falkland Islands. She discusses the novel in which friendships are torn apart when one woman's sons are killed while in the care of her best friend, and the Islanders are having to deal with the reality that someone amongst them could be a killer.

Julia Eccleshare and Young Adult Fiction writer Sophia McDougall make their recommendations for Children's and Young Adult books for Christmas.

Presenter Samira Ahmed
Producer Jerome Weatherald.


TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b06r4xwt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


TUE 20:00 What Should We Teach Our Kids? (b06rjr01)
What will the world economy look like 30 years from now? And how should we be preparing British schoolchildren today to find employment in it? Robert Peston travels to four cutting edge schools that claim to provide the way forwards for secondary education.

Should the focus be on languages and cultural knowhow for an increasingly globalised world? Should we be striving to create more of the engineers and programmers that so many employers are crying out for? Or - with the unstoppable march of the robots gobbling up ever more human jobs - should we be preparing kids with the social skills to be future entrepreneurs, employing their own personal fleets of automatons? Or is a traditional academic education the answer.

Robert Peston tries to get answers to perhaps the most important question all parents must ask from economists, scientists and teachers - and argues that what matters may not be the detail of the curriculum but the way children are taught to learn.


TUE 20:40 In Touch (b06r5d0f)
Disabled Students' Allowance, Daniel Kish

The Government has made changes to Disabled Students' Allowance or DSA,which will mean blind students will have to reply on increased support directly from their Universities instead. We speak to one undergraduate who describes her concerns for the future. And we hear from Daniel Kish, a Californian, who believes that blind people could have more freedom and independence if they're only taught how.


TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (b06r5d0h)
Brain bank dismantling, Climate change psychology, Trigger warnings for books

Europe's largest brain bank is to be dismantled. The Corsellis Collection in west London contains tissue from 4000-6000 brains and includes a wide and unusual range of pathologies, some dating back as far as the 1950s. But now funding pressures mean that new homes must be found for as many as possible. Claudia asks which brains will be kept and hears about the value of brains without pathology.

As the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP 21, continues in Paris, Claudia talks to Dr Sander van der Linden in Princeton about how psychological science can help policy makers to communicate about climate change.

We hear what being nominated for the All in the Mind Awards meant to last year's finalists in the groups category.

And at Lancaster University English literature students have requested that trigger warnings be added to texts on their reading lists which contain potentially distressing passages. Richard McNally, Professor of psychology and expert in anxiety and trauma, talks to Claudia about the evidence.

Producer: Lorna Stewart.


TUE 21:30 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b06r4wg9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


TUE 21:58 Weather (b06r0dfp)
The latest weather forecast.


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b06r5d0k)
Outcry over Trump's 'Muslim ban'

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b06s6qcz)
Dark Corners

Episode 7

The final novel by Ruth Rendell, read by Patricia Hodge.

For a while, all was looking rosy for budding crime writer Carl. He'd inherited a house in Maida Vale from his late father, published his first novel, Death's Door, to mild acclaim and his lovely girlfriend Nicola had accepted his invitation to live with him. But a series of unfortunately events has led to the unravelling of this almost perfect life.

Carl's first mistake was to rent the top floor of his house to the first person who answered his advert, Dermot. Second was selling slimming pills, found in his late father's bathroom cabinet, to his actress friend Stacey who died as a result of their nasty side effects. Dermot witnessed the 'transaction' and has used this knowledge to blackmail Carl and live rent free ever since. At breaking point, penniless and desperate, Carl killed Dermot on one of Maida Vale's side streets and is now waiting to see whether he has 'got away' with the murder.

Reader Patricia Hodge.

Abridger Robin Brooks.

Producer Kirsteen Cameron.


TUE 23:00 The Show What You Wrote (b06r5d0m)
Series 3

Work and Play

Jason Manford, Janice Connolly, Gavin Webster, Fiona Clarke and Darren Kuppan star in the themed sketch show made entirely from contributions sent in by the public.

Series 3 of the best ideas chosen from thousands of submissions from new writers resulting in a show like no other.

The first theme is "Work and Play" - featuring someone being really challenged about their age, a club that doesn't play anything so clichéd as music, and some naughty fun...

Written by: Ben Behrens, Dave Bibby, James Bugg, Keith Carter, Lou Conran, Stu Cooper, Rob Gilroy, Dan Hobson & Jon Bridle, Daniel Hooper, Scott Kingsnorth, Steve Nelson, Christopher Stanners and Claire Wetton.

Producers: Ed Morrish and Paul Sheehan.

A BBC Radio Comedy production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2015.


TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b06r5d0p)
Susan Hulme reports as MPs reject votes for 16 and 17-year-olds in the forthcoming EU referendum and the Justice Secretary defends the scrapping of controversial court charges.
Peers raise concerns over the UK military action against so-called Islamic State in Syria, the head of the National Crime Agency faces criticism when he appears before MPs and the winner of the Oldham West and Royton by-election takes his seat.



WEDNESDAY 09 DECEMBER 2015

WED 00:00 Midnight News (b06r0dgp)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b06r4wgc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06r0dgr)
The latest shipping forecast.


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06r0dgt)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06r0dgw)
The latest shipping forecast.


WED 05:30 News Briefing (b06r0dgy)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b06rjgjh)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Orthodox Rabbi Dr Naftali Brawer.
This programme was pre-recorded.


WED 05:45 Farming Today (b06r5w2q)
Flood Prevention

Anna Hill asks whether farmers should be part of the solution to flooding as parts of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland continue to struggle following the deluge.
An expert from Cranfield University says there should be a 'whole catchment' approach - putting policies in place to store water in the uplands so it's slowly released through the soil and rocks.
And we hear from a farming family in Dumfriesshire who had 300 sheep stolen about the impact that's had, both financially and emotionally.
The producer is Sally Challoner.


WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04t0p28)
Brown Skua

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Liz Bonnin presents brown skua hunting over an Antarctic landscape. These bulky brown birds with their hooked death dealing bills are often cast as villains alongside the apparently helpless and lovable penguins. But skuas are highly efficient predators, their skills honed to find the maximum food they can in a largely barren landscape. They're resourceful pirates, forcing other birds to drop or disgorge their catches. They also scavenge around fishing boats or loiter at seal colonies where carcases are easy meat. But a penguin rookery which may have hundreds of pairs of birds provides a real bounty, where waiting for an opportunity, the keen-eyed skua swoops to seize its next victim which if it is small enough, will even swallow it whole.


WED 06:00 Today (b06r8svy)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.


WED 09:00 Midweek (b06r5wl8)
Don McCullin, Father Ray Kelly, Fiona Ford, Robert Portal

Libby Purves meets photographer Don McCullin; Roman Catholic priest Father Ray Kelly; triathlete and coach Fiona Ford and actor Robert Portal.

Fiona Ford is a triathlete and coach. In the same week in 2006 she won both World Championship titles at the International Triathlon Union (ITU) and Aquathlon events. Three years ago, while cycling along the London 2012 Olympic bike route, she was hit by a car and badly injured. Doctors told her she would never run again. But thanks to her grit and determination, she is back on her bike, competing in a triathlon. Back on Track by Fiona Ford is published by Meyer and Meyer Sport.

Photographer Don McCullin's early association with a North London gang, The Guv'nors, led to the first publication of his pictures. He went on to cover many of the world's worst wars and humanitarian crises of his time from the civil war in the Congo to the Tet offensive at Hue during the Vietnam War. His photographs document the building of the Berlin Wall and the famine that ravaged Biafra in the 1960s. Unreasonable Behaviour: An Autobiography by Don McCullin with Lewis Chester is published by Jonathan Cape. Don McCullin Conflict - People - Landscape is at Hauser And Wirth, Somerset.

Father Ray Kelly worked as a civil servant before becoming a Catholic priest 35 years ago. He'd always loved singing but it wasn't until 2014 when he sang Hallelujah while officiating at a wedding that he became an internet sensation. Since then he has signed a record deal and performed on TV shows around the world from the US to Germany and Australia. His second album, An Irish Christmas Blessing, is on Wrasse Records.

Robert Portal is an actor who is playing Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days at St James Theatre. He is also an adventurer himself, rowing 3000 miles across the Atlantic and taking part in the Marathon des Sables - a six-day, 251 km ultramarathon. His theatre and film work includes Communicating Doors, Henry IV, Mr Turner and The King's Speech. Around the world in 80 Days is at the St James Theatre, London.

Producer: Paula McGinley.


WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b06r5wlb)
Alive, Alive Oh! And Other Things That Matter

The Decision

Stephanie Cole reads from the collection of essays by the acclaimed editor and writer Diana Athill.

Written from the vantage point of her great age, Athill's writing is cheering and thought-provoking. In this third essay, "The Decision", she explains the process by which she relinquished her independence and moved into a residential care home in north London.

Photo credit: Mark Crick

Written by Diana Athill

Read by Stephanie Cole

Abridged and Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06r5wld)
The Chain - Aimee Mullins, Romance fraud, Will A-level politics drop feminism?

New figures released to Woman's Hour from City of London Police reveal that 65% of all romance fraud cases reported last year affected women, with one third of female victims aged 56 and older.
Tamsin Smith speaks to two pensioners who were conned out of their life savings, and Jane Garvey is joined by Detective Chief Superintendent Maria Woodall to understand why older women are increasingly targeted by criminal gangs.

The revised A-level politics course currently out to consultation by the Department for Education proposes to drop the study of feminism as a topic and names only one woman, Mary Wollstonecraft, in a list of male liberal thinkers. So how important is the study of feminism in politics? Jane speaks to Dr. Meryl Kenny from the Political Studies Association, Frances O'Grady, General Secretary of the TUC, and June Eric Udorie an A-level politics student and campaigner.

And we hear the third interview in The Chain; Aimee Mullins was nominated by yesterday's guest, scriptwriter Siofra Campbell. Aimee set a world record at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta and in 1999 made her runway debut as a model for Alexander McQueen, wearing extraordinary prosthetic legs hand-carved out of solid ash.


WED 10:41 15 Minute Drama (b06r5wlg)
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - Heat and Dust

Olivia

Olivia and Douglas hope for a baby.

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's beguiling story of two English women living in India more than 50 years apart.

In 1923, Olivia is unhappily married to a civil servant. Her step-granddaughter travels to the subcontinent years later to investigate Olivia's life, which her family regarded as ‘something dark and terrible’.

The story centres on the experiences of two very different women in pre- and post- Independence India. One is circumscribed by English mores and the formal social structures of the Raj while the other is free to fall in love, live among Indian people, feel part of the culture. So, it's the story of social change as well as a potent love story.

Olivia ..... Pippa Bennett-Warner
Narrator ..... Abby Ford
Douglas ..... Simon Harrison
The Nawab ..... Ronny Jhutti
Harry ..... David Seddon
Inder Lal ..... Neet Mohan
Chid ..... Will Howard
Maji ..... Thusitha Jayasundera
Beth Crawford ..... Debra Baker
Dr Saunders ..... Sam Dale
Major Minnies ..... Chris Pavlo

Dramatised by Shelley Silas.

Pianist ..... Laurie O'Brien

Director: Gaynor Macfarlane

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2015.


WED 10:55 The Listening Project (b06r5wlj)
Wayne and Gregory - Small Steps

Fi Glover with a conversation about overcoming the legacy of the Troubles, after growing up with a father in the RUC, always feeling anxious whether he would come home again. 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 The Emperor of the Glen (b06r5wll)
Sanjeev Kohli travels to Blairqhuan, a stunning castle set in the Scottish glens of Ayrshire, to find out what has happened since a Chinese company bought up the property in 2012.

Blairqhuan castle belonged to the same family for generations, and portraits of family members still hang on its grandiose walls. But today it is owned by a Chinese company whose managing director fell in love with the place on sight.

Sanjeev finds out what impact a change in ownership had on the local community, and how the Chinese are taking charge of a significant piece of Scottish heritage.

Producer Mark Rickards.


WED 11:30 The Stanley Baxter Playhouse (b06r5xx2)
Series 7

The Leaving of Barra

Back in 1949, a young assistant director on Whisky Galore, falls in love with a local girl on the Hebridean island of Barra where filming is taking place.

Sixty six years later, his memories of that golden time come flooding back.

Stanley Baxter plays the old man who abandoned a career in film to stay on the island with the woman he loved, and now faces a sad farewell.

Series of comic plays starring Stanley Baxter.

John Anderson...............Stanley Baxter
Peggy Anderson.............June Watson
Young John......................Scott Hoatson
Catriona ..................Samara Maclaren
Mary...............................Tracy Wiles

Other parts played by the cast.

Written by Michael Chaplin

Director: Marilyn Imrie

A Catherine Bailey production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2015.


WED 12:00 News Summary (b06r0dh0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:04 One to One (b04kbjhj)
Victoria Derbyshire meets Alastair Campbell

The broadcaster Victoria Derbyshire has kept a diary since she was a child. She talks to Alastair Campbell about the habit of diary writing, and why he keeps a diary. She finds out why he started writing them, and whether, now he is so well known for them, the decision to publish affected the people close to him.

Alastair Campbell talks frankly about the two occasions when his diary was read by others in circumstances beyond his control - one when he had a nervous breakdown and a police psychiatrist used his diary entries to help him see the part drink played in his problems; and the other when Lord Hutton asked to see his diaries as part of the inquiry into the death of David Kelly.

Producer: Isobel Eaton.


WED 12:15 You and Yours (b06rfsvm)
Kitsch Christmas decorations, Help to buy, Viral advertising campaigns

We explore new figures out today on the government's Help to Buy equity loan scheme - which helps first-time buyers and existing home owners with their deposits on a new-build property. How well is the scheme performing, and what effect is it and other government policy having on the state of the housing market?

If you're a fan of oh-so-tasteful Christmas decorations then this year's trend may not be for you. Forget matching baubles and understated white lights, this year it's all about colour and exuberance. Liberty sold out of their individually-painted glass chihuahua tree ornaments by mid-November. Paperchase is selling neon reindeer. So what's acceptable when it comes to Christmas decor, and how much is too much?

And we meet the residents of Orkney who invested in brand new Renault electric cars, only to find they can't be serviced locally (despite being promised otherwise). What can you do when the nearest dealership is 145 miles away - and worse still - your electric car can't cover that distance on a single charge?


WED 12:57 Weather (b06r0dh2)
The latest weather forecast.


WED 13:00 World at One (b06rfsvp)
George Osborne stands-in for David Cameron at PMQs. In Syria, the city of Homs, once declared the rebels capital, is taken by President Assad's forces.


WED 13:45 British Liberalism: The Grand Tour (b06r5xx4)
Mary Wollstonecraft and Thomas Clarkson - Expanding the Charmed Circle

Anne McElvoy returns to the late 18th century to explore two efforts to extend liberty and basic rights beyond white men.

Barbara Taylor explains how young 'radical democrat' Mary Wollstonecraft came to write her Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

And Anne travels to Liverpool to meet Richard Huzzey, who tells the story of Thomas Clarkson, who endlessly toured England in his campaign against the slave trade.

With Barbara Taylor and Richard Huzzey.

Producer: Phil Tinline.


WED 14:00 The Archers (b06r5d09)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 Tumanbay (b06r5y76)
Series 1

Ship of the Dead

In the second episode of this epic saga inspired by the Mamluk slave-dynasty of Egypt, another threat is making its way by sea. As slave merchant Ibn (Nabil Elouahabi) awaits for his family to arrive in Tumanbay, sickness has broken out on the ship carrying them.

Tumanbay, the beating heart of a vast empire, is threatened by a rebellion in a far-off province and a mysterious force devouring the city from within. Gregor (Rufus Wright), Master of the Palace Guard, is charged by Sultan Al-Ghuri (Raad Rawi) with the task of rooting out the spies.

Cast:
Gregor......................................Rufus Wright
The Girl on the Ship..................Olivia Popica
Her Mother...............................Nathalie Armin
Ship Captain............................Albert Welling
Cadali.......................................Matthew Marsh
Sarah.......................................Nina Yndis
Ibn...........................................Nabil Elouahabi
Shajar......................................Sarah Beck Mather
Madu........................................Danny Ashok
Sultan Al-Ghuri.........................Raad Rawi
The Hafiz.................................Antony Bunsee
General Qulan.........................Christopher Fulford
Head Eunuch...........................John Sessions
Slave.......................................Akin Gazi
Physician.................................Vivek Madan
Daniel......................................Gareth Kennerley

All other parts played by:
Christian Hillborg
Alec Utgoff
Stefano Braschi
Albert Welling

Music - Sacha Puttnam
Sound Design - Steve Bond, Jon Ouin
Editors - Ania Przygoda, James Morgan
Producers - Emma Hearn, Nadir Khan, John Dryden

Written and Directed by John Dryden

A Goldhawk production for BBC Radio 4


WED 15:00 Money Box (b06r5y78)
Money Box Live: Loans, Credit Cards and Credit Reports

Your calls, queries and views on all aspects of personal credit, loans, cards, credit reports and debt.
Historically low interest rates on personal loans, looser credit scoring criteria and increasing consumer confidence are driving up household borrowing levels say the Bank of England.

Personal borrowing increased by £1.2 billion in October with consumer credit growth rising by 8.2% over the last year.

Consumers are also being tempted by ever longer introductory offers, some lenders offering 0% balance transfers for up to 37 or 40 months.

Debt advice charity National Debtline say that while many will be able to service this extra borrowing, they are concerned that a minority are turning to credit to make ends meet and that higher interest rates or a change in personal circumstances could lead to debt problems.

The Financial Conduct Authority warned earlier this month that around 1.6 million people only manage to make the minimum monthly payments on their credit cards and that as such customers are seen as profitable, firms have fewer incentives to help them.

So on Wednesday we took your calls, queries and views on all aspects of personal credit. Paul Lewis was joined by:
Kevin Mountford from MoneySuperMarket
James Jones from Experian
Dennis Hussey from National Debtline.


WED 15:30 All in the Mind (b06r5d0h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b06r5y7b)
Land Ownership, Home at work

Land ownership in Britain: Laurie Taylor explores our forgotten acres. He talks to Peter Hetherington, writer and journalist, as well as author of a new book which asks if food security and the housing of the nation is being thwarted by record land prices and speculation. They're joined by Michael Edwards, from the Bartlett School of Planning at University College, London. Also, how employees create a sense of 'home' at work. Rachel Hurdley, Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cardiff, discusses her study of the ways in which people conjure feelings of belonging and intimacy in impersonal work spaces.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.


WED 16:30 The Media Show (b06r81v1)
TV leadership debates, Royal interview conditions, Trump's social media strategy.

The first analysis of the 2015 TV leadership debates, carried out by the University of Leeds and funded by ITV, has been published. It claims to find that TV debates helped people engage with the campaigns, with almost half of people who claimed they were 'not interested' still tuning in. A further 30 per cent of the viewers to the first ITV debate said they had become more interested in the campaign after watching it. Steve Hewlett talks to report author Professor Stephen Coleman, and to Jenni Russell, columnist for the Times, Sunday Times and Evening Standard.

Prince Charles has been accused of "North Korea-style" censorship to control TV interviews, after Channel 4 pulled out of a pre-arranged interview with him as it would not agree to conditions stipulated by Clarence House. The contract included clauses like allowing the Prince's contribution to be removed entirely from the final product. Joining Steve Hewlett to discuss the challenges of securing royal interviews is the Evening Standard's royal editor Robert Jobson, royal biographer Catherine Mayer, and Stewart Purvis who made a three part documentary about the royals for ITN.

US presidential candidate Donald Trump has claimed he's been named, the 'Ernest Hemmingway of 140 characters', in reference to his activity on Twitter. Choosing to reject traditional advertising to raise his profile, he has instead harnessed the internet, using social media as a platform for his often controversial views, which are then shared immediately, without verification or challenge, to his 5 million+ followers. ." Steve talks to Emily Bell, Director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism in New York, about Trump's social media strategy.

Producer: Katy Takatsuki.


WED 17:00 PM (b06rfsvt)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06r0dh4)
An NHS trust has been strongly criticised for failing to carry out proper investigations into the deaths of more than a thousand people who had mental health problems.


WED 18:30 Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang-Ups (b06r81v3)
Series 3

The Animal Lovers

Mr and Mrs Wrigglesworth think about getting a pet while Tom plans a weekend getaway.

Sitcom where Tom Wrigglesworth phones home for his weekly check-in with his Mum, Dad and Gran, giving listeners a glimpse into his family background and the influences that have shaped his temperament, opinions and hang-ups.

Tom ...... Tom Wrigglesworth
Dad ...... Paul Copley
Mum ...... Kate Anthony
Granny ...... Elizabeth Bennett

Written by Tom Wrigglesworth and James Kettle with additional material by Miles Jupp

Producer: Richard Morris

A BBC Radio Comedy production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2015.


WED 19:00 The Archers (b06r81v5)
Kirsty's still angry over Tom as she grills Roy on his marriage. Kirsty didn't know about Roy's affair with Elizabeth, until Susan gossips about what people will think seeing Elizabeth and Roy acting together. Roy says he's just focusing in doing the best for his kids now. Thinking about Tom, bitter Kirsty says she has learned that you should never assume to know what people closest to you are really feeling.

Lynda argues with Susan about Charlie. Lynda feels he's leaving because of the outbreak at Berrow Farm. Elizabeth mentions her upcoming wine festival which has been keeping her very busy. Lynda's pleased to be moving back into Ambridge Hall soon, finding the perfect spot for her tree and looking forward to baby Mungo staying. Susan's pleased the shop is open again - people have missed it. She tries to cheer up Clarrie, who mentions they'll be killing and plucking the turkeys tomorrow - Susan asks for a nice one. Later, Clarrie gets upset and desperately talks to Susan - she's so worried about being stuck in a pokey little flat forever.


WED 19:15 Front Row (b06rfsvw)
Peter Mullan, Peggy Guggenheim, Transparent

John Wilson talks to Peter Mullan, who plays a homeless man on a journey in the film Hector, written and directed by Jake Gavin.

Michael Craig-Martin discusses a new documentary about the art collector Peggy Guggenheim, whose colourful personal history included figures such as Samuel Beckett, Max Ernst, Jackson Pollack and Marcel Duchamp.

Suzy Klein and Kate Mossman choose their favourite classical and pop records of the year.

And Boyd Hilton reviews Transparent, the award-winning show starring Jeffrey Tambor as a transgender father, as Amazon launch Season 2.


WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b06r5wlg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:41 today]


WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b06r81v7)
Selfie Culture

The wobbly mobile phone footage and someone calling out "you ain't no Muslim bruv" has given us a powerful rallying cry. It was filmed by a bystander as police restrained a man who's since been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. What it doesn't show is how one very brave man fought to try and disarm the attacker, while people stood around filming it all on their phones. Mobile phone footage has now become a staple of our news and not so private lives. Which one of us hasn't clicked on a link and experienced a vicarious thrill from watching the latest talked about clip of death, disaster or embarrassment? It is undeniably useful too, but what are the moral consequences of videoing and displaying everything in public? Does looking through the prism of a phone camera create a kind of moral distance that atrophies human capacities like empathy, compassion and self--reflection? The instinct to say 'I was there' is immensely strong, but earlier this year there were a number of cases bystanders filming distressed people as they threatened to jump to their deaths. Are we trying to give life meaning by creating a permanent record of it, instead of by thinking more deeply about it and living life in the moment? Is the craze for selfies just a harmless piece of fun or are we gradually being infected with a narcissistic personality disorder? Or is the drive to record everything and to make our lives public, part of what makes us human? And mobile phone footage is just today's equivalent of ancient cave paintings of hunting scenes? Live our life on film - the Moral Maze. Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk with Matthew Taylor, Giles Fraser, Anne McElvoy and Claire Fox. Witnesses are Madeleine Bunting, Jane Finnis, James Temperton and Justine Hardy.


WED 20:45 Four Thought (b06r81v9)
Lessons in Development

Alpa Shah argues that tribal people need a better development model.

Alpa is an anthropologist who has spent years with tribal Adivasi people, in Jharkhand, in eastern India. In recent years their lands have been identified as some of the most mineral-rich on earth and are being eagerly eyed by mining companies. There are many potential benefits, but Alpa asks whether the world has learned lessons in how to ensure that everyone can share in them.

Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton.


WED 21:00 Would You Eat an Alien? (b06r82mz)
Pain or No Pain?

In this 4 part series Christine Nicol, professor of Animal Welfare at the University of Bristol, explores the fascinating and challenging subject of animal sentience and welfare. To help delve into the nuances we set up an intriguing scenario, Jake the Spaceman (aka comedian Jake Yapp) has crash-landed on a remote planet and doesn't have much food to keep him going until he is rescued. Fortunately, the planet is teeming with alien life forms that are edible, but which ones should he eat?

He wants to cause the minimum amount of pain and distress to the creatures, so what does he need to know about the nature of the beings on the planet? Can they feel pain? If so, how can he minimise suffering? Will eating an alien cause distress to others? Is the alien so aware and sensitive to its environment that Jake needs to consider whether it is a non-human person?

Christine will interview animal welfare scientists, philosophers and wildlife biologists to get under the skin of animal sentience and the potential consequences of accepting that animals are conscious, aware creatures. These big questions generate surprising and challenging insights into our attitudes to other life. When you know absolutely nothing about the alien in front of you, what do you need to know before eating it?


WED 21:30 Midweek (b06r5wl8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b06r81vc)
NHS accused of 'failure to investigate deaths'

NHS Confederation chair Stephen Dorrell calls the report depressing and says it points to a long standing issue.

Picture of an NHS logo. (Credit: PA).


WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b06s6qjb)
Dark Corners

Episode 8

A dark and atmospheric psychological thriller, Ruth Rendell's final novel is read by Patricia Hodge.

Carl's relief at getting rid of Dermot is short-lived, when Dermot's girlfriend, Sybil, takes his place in the top floor of the house in Maida Vale. Nicola can't understand why Carl is letting this happen, but he can't tell her about the hold Sybil has over him; that she saw him kill Dermot in the street outside her parent's house in Jerome Crescent.

Read by Patricia Hodge

Abridged by Robin Brooks

Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.


WED 23:00 Little Lifetimes by Jenny Eclair (b06r81vf)
Series 2

Points

by Jenny Eclair

When Gail takes her husband's car she embarks upon a journey that has a very surprising destination.

Gail ..... Sarah Hadland
Produced by Sally Avens


WED 23:15 Before They Were Famous (b03dv6cp)
Series 2

Episode 2

Even the most successful of writers have, at some point, had to take day jobs to pay the bills.

Ian Leslie presents the second series of this Radio 4 spoof documentary, which sheds light on the often surprising jobs done by the world's best known writers in the days before they were able to make a living from their art.

In a project of literary archaeology, Leslie unearths archive examples of early work by great writers, including Fortune Cookie messages written by Germaine Greer, a political manifesto by the young JK Rowling, and a car manual written by Dan Brown. In newspaper articles, advertising copy, and company correspondence, we get a fascinating glimpse into the embryonic development of our best-loved literary voices.

We may know them today for their novels, plays or poems but, once upon a time, they were just people with a dream - and a rent bill looming at the end of the month.

Producers: Anna Silver and Claire Broughton
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b06rfsvy)
Sean Curran reports from Westminster, as George Osborne stands in for David Cameron at Prime Minister's Questions, facing Labour's Angela Eagle.



THURSDAY 10 DECEMBER 2015

THU 00:00 Midnight News (b06r0dhz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b06r5wlb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06r0dj1)
The latest shipping forecast.


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06r0dj3)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06r0dj5)
The latest shipping forecast.


THU 05:30 News Briefing (b06r0dj7)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b06s30fg)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Orthodox Rabbi Dr Naftali Brawer.
This programme was pre-recorded.


THU 05:45 Farming Today (b06r84qw)
Stolen Meat

A leading food security expert calls for more coordinated policing to keep stolen livestock from the food chain. Professor Chris Elliott - who carried out the inquiry into the horsemeat scandal and is currently director of the Institute for Global Food Safety - said there is no knowing how rustled animals have been slaughtered and therefore whether it's safe to eat. Meat is often sold directly to catering outlets.
We also hear about a government fund to help around 600 farmers affected by this week's flooding.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Sally Challoner.


THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04t0p9q)
Montserrat Oriole

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Liz Bonnin presents Montserrat oriole from the Caribbean island of Montserrat. In 1995, after being dormant for over 300 years, a volcano on erupted. The eruption not only destroyed Montserrat's capital but much of the wildlife couldn't escape, and one bird, the Montserrat oriole was almost silenced forever. The male is a colourful bird with coal-black head, wings and tail and underparts the colour of egg-yolk. It is one of the most endangered birds in the world, a bird caught between a rock and a hard place. Its forest home had already been reduced by cultivation and introduced predators. It was reduced to living in fragmented pockets of forest, two thirds of which were destroyed in the 1995 and later eruptions. This threatened to wipe out an already endangered bird. So, conservationists from Jersey Zoo moved 8 orioles into captivity to avoid natural extinction and now a captive breeding programme is successfully underway, such as this oriole specially recorded for Tweet of the Day at Chester Zoo.


THU 06:00 Today (b06r8sd7)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.


THU 09:00 In Our Time (b06r84qy)
Chinese Legalism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the origins and rise of Legalism in China, from the start of the Warring States Period (c475 - 221 BC) to the time of The First Emperor Qin Shi Huang (pictured), down to Chairman Mao and the present day. Advanced by the Qin statesman Shang Yang and later blended together by Han Fei, the three main aspects of Legalism were the firm implementation of laws, use of techniques such as responsibility and inscrutability, and taking advantage of the ruler's position. The Han dynasty that replaced the Qin discredited this philosophy for its apparent authoritarianism, but its influence continued, re-emerging throughout Chinese history.

With

Frances Wood
Former Curator of the Chinese Collections at the British Library

Hilde de Weerdt
Professor of Chinese History at Leiden University

And

Roel Sterckx
Joseph Needham Professor of Chinese History at the University of Cambridge.

Producer: Simon Tillotson.


THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b06r84r0)
Alive, Alive Oh! And Other Things That Matter

Dead Right

Stephanie Cole reads from the collection of essays by the acclaimed editor and writer Diana Athill.

Written from the vantage point of her great age, Athill's writing is honest, cheering and thought-provoking. In this fourth essay, "Dead Right", she examines her thoughts and feelings about death.

Photo credit: Mark Crick

Read by Stephanie Cole

Written by Diana Athill

Abridged and Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06rfsfb)
Costume construction, The Speak Out Project, Livia Firth, The Unthanks

Jenni Murray presents discussion on teaching the next generation the art of costume construction, plus fashion champion Livia Firth and live music from folk group the Unthanks.


THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b06r84r2)
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - Heat and Dust

Pieces of Red String

Both women visit the Baba Firdaus shrine and make a wish.

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's beguiling story of two English women living in India more than fifty years apart.

In 1923, Olivia is unhappily married to a civil servant. Her step-granddaughter travels to the subcontinent years later to investigate Olivia's life, which her family regarded as ‘something dark and terrible’.

The story centres on the experiences of two very different women in pre- and post- Independence India. One is circumscribed by English mores and the formal social structures of the Raj while the other is free to fall in love, live among Indian people, feel part of the culture. So, it's the story of social change as well as a potent love story.

Olivia ..... Pippa Bennett-Warner
Narrator ..... Abby Ford
Douglas ..... Simon Harrison
The Nawab ..... Ronny Jhutti
Harry ..... David Seddon
Inder Lal ..... Neet Mohan
Chid ..... Will Howard
Maji ..... Thusitha Jayasundera
Beth Crawford ..... Debra Baker
Dr Saunders ..... Sam Dale
Major Minnies ..... Chris Pavlo

Pianist ..... Laurie O'Brien

Dramatised by Shelley Silas.

Director: Gaynor Macfarlane

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2015.


THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b06r84r4)
Malaysia's Runaway Children

The deaths of five school children in Malaysia have provoked an anguished debate about education and what it means to be Malay. The children ran away from their boarding school in Kelantan State and died of starvation in the jungle. They were afraid of harsh punishment from their teachers. Two girls survived eating grass and wild fruits but were found emaciated and close to death 47 days later. The children came from the Orang Asli community, one of the poorest and most marginalised in the country. For Crossing Continents, Lucy Ash travels to the remote region where the children came from and talks to their bereaved parents. Many families are now refusing to send their children to school and campaigners accuse the government of not doing enough to protect rights of the Orang Asli community. Jane Beresford producing.


THU 11:30 The Ghetto Inglese (b05vx4dz)
Rome's famous landmark the Piazza di Spagna has a secret British history that still reverberates today. Novelist Matthew Kneale discovers the hidden Ghetto Inglese.

Piazza di Spagna was once the heart of the English Quarter. Today it's famous for its luxury boutiques, and for the Spanish Steps. Thronged with tourists photographing each other, it's alive with noise and colour and Italian style. You'd never notice the British influence of the past. But away from the gleaming shop fronts of Prada and the like, the English speaking community still quietly clings on.

The imposing building which towers above Versace belongs to the oldest English speaking order of nuns ever to be established in Rome. The Mater Dei were once a thriving community of nuns, teaching British girls in the school they founded on the premises. Today, there are only five sisters left. Their life of prayer and meditation continues, in stark contrast to the consumerist bustle outside their walls.

Matthew Kneale goes beneath the surface trappings of this famous landmark to meet the Piazza's discreet 21st century Anglophones. Those who came before them speak to us from across the centuries through the vivid impressions they recorded in letters and notes and Matthew retraces their footsteps across the ancient stones.

As we accompany him we learn that, while the square may have been named after the C17th Spanish embassy to the Holy See and briefly have been considered Spanish territory, it can be argued that it is to the English language's great writers and artists that it owes much of its eternal appeal.

Matthew Kneale, author of English Passengers, has lived in Rome since 2000.

A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 12:00 News Summary (b06r0djb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 12:04 One to One (b05nv23y)
Christina Lamb talks to Ziauddin Yousafzai - Malala's dad.

Christina Lamb is an author and foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times and in this series of One to One she explores the issues around family legacies.

Christina looks at what can happen when you build a legacy only to find it overshadowed by your child's fame. Ziauddin is father of the schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, whose name became known around the world after she was shot dead by the Taleban in October 2012.

Malala was standing up for her rights to an education. While extremely proud of his daughter's bravery and her campaigning, he tells Christina where her passion stems from and that for him it's important to return to his home village and continue with his own work.

Other programmes from Christina's series can be found on the BBC iPlayer

Producer : Perminder Khatkar.


THU 12:15 You and Yours (b06rfsfd)
Quentin Willson, Cavity wall insulation, London brick thefts

The motoring journalist Quentin Willson speaks candidly to You & Yours about his regret at being the face of an investment scheme, which has led hundreds of people to lose money from their pensions. Salesman who have admitted lying to customers helped persuade people to transfer their pensions into a company called Store First. They were promised high returns and easy exit routes, but these have not materialised. Quentin Willson tells Shari Vahl he now wants to disassociate himself from the company, and has asked it to remove his images from their marketing.

Hundreds of people who experienced problems with their Cavity Wall Insulation and then had trouble getting it put right have been let down by the organisation that was supposed to guarantee them. A review carried out on behalf of the Cavity Wall Insulation Guarantee Agency (CIGA) has revealed reports were routinely kept away from customers, pathways to resolution were confusing and unclear, and many stakeholders have questioned the diversity of board members.

Plus a spate of unusual thefts in East London. People are coming home to find half their garden walls missing. Thieves have been helping themselves to valuable London Stock Bricks. Reporter Kieran Turner investigates why.

Presented by Shari Vahl
Produced by Natalie Donovan.


THU 12:57 Weather (b06r0djd)
The latest weather forecast.


THU 13:00 World at One (b06rfsfg)
The Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said that there is a culture of prejudice and discrimination in parts of the NHS, following a BBC investigation into the unexplained deaths of over 1000 patients with mental health problems. We hear that he is right, and examine what needs to be done to combat the problem.
The allegations around the prominent Conservative youth organiser Mark Clarke continue to emerge. A friend who worked with him tells us Mark Clarke had previously punched someone in the face.
The PM is in Poland, continuing his negotiations for a new relationship between the UK and the EU. The Polish PM says that the two do not see eye to eye on some issues. We examine the Prime Minister's options, should he not be able to curb in work benefits for EU migrants coming to the UK.
Following his controversial calls for a ban on Muslims entering the USA, Republican candidate Donald Trump's poll ratings amongst Republican voters has risen, but could he become US President?
And, immigration is also the inspiration for a specially written carol for the traditional Service of Nine Lessons at King's College Cambridge on Christmas Eve. 'The flight' by Richard Causton, draws parallels with the journey taken by the infant Jesus. We hear the choir in rehearsal.


THU 13:45 British Liberalism: The Grand Tour (b06r84r6)
John Stuart Mill, John Bright and the Morant Bay Massacre

Anne McElvoy explores the ideas of two high Victorian liberals - John Stuart Mill, and, via a visit to Manchester, John Bright.

She explores how a Jamaican rebellion and its bloody suppression roused them against state violence.

With Eugenio Biagini, Stuart Jones, Ben Griffin, Edmund Fawcett and Richard Huzzey.

Producer: Phil Tinline.


THU 14:00 The Archers (b06r81v5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 Drama (b06r857z)
Bright Spark

Drama: Bright Spark by Eve Davies
Janine is a witness in a court case. She has persuaded her friend Mel to testify as well. The events happened over twenty five years ago. Can they persuade the jury their teacher abused them? Powerful drama about historical child abuse.

Director/Producer Gary Brown.


THU 15:00 Open Country (b06r8583)
Lincolnshire Coast Revival

On the 5th of December 2013 the Lincolnshire community saw the worst flooding in 60 years. A tidal surge two metres above normal levels flooded coastal nature reserves and Gibraltar Point visitor centre was severely damaged. Two years on and Helen Mark finds a remarkable transformation taking place here and along the coastline with a series of iconic buildings and art installations including a new marine observatory, a cloud watching bar and a new visitor centre built on stilts to protect it from future floods.
The impact on wildlife and habitat is still being assessed, local farmers have lost productive land but there are signs of hope. At Donna Nook the seal colony continue to thrive and Helen visits as the last of this year's pups are being born.


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b06r0rmm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 Bookclub (b06r1bh5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]


THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b06r885c)
The Lost Star of The Fallen Idol, Andy Serkis on his film studio

With Francine Stock.

Andy Serkis, best known as Gollum in The Lord Of The Rings, and producer Jonathan Cavendish, discuss their new version of The Jungle Book which was made at The Imaginarium Studios, the centre they set up for performance capture technology.

Bobby Henrey reveals what it's like to be a child star at the age of nine, why he quit the business at ten, and why he didn't tell anyone about his brief encounter with fame until several decades later.

Sir Christopher Frayling uncovers the work of designer Harry Lange, responsible for the futuristic look of 2001: A Space Odyssey, who drew upon his experience at NASA to create the film's spaceships that are still cutting-edge technology.


THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b06r885f)
Flooding, Scientific modelling, Magnetoreception, Escalators

Flood modelling
As parts of Cumbria and Somerset remain on flood alert, Adam looks at the science that predicts floods. Are our flood defences good enough and is climate change behind the recent cluster of '1 in 100 year' floods? Flood modeller Nick Reynard from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology explains.

What is a scientific model?
Prompted by a listener's question, Adam asks scientists what they mean when they say they "modelled the data". He explores the strengths and weaknesses of using models to represent things as diverse as the spin of planets and field choice of skylarks.

Magneto-reception
Is there a 6th sense? Since the 1960s, it has been generally accepted that animals have a sense of magnetism. This may help explain how some birds are able to migrate huge distances. However, ever since this discovery, the mechanism behind the reception of the Earth's magnetic field has remained a mystery. Scientists don't know which components are responsible for detecting the magnetism, hence the search for 'a biological compass'. The quest has united people from a range of disciplines such as animal behaviourists, chemists and quantum biologists. Are scientists getting any closer to finding the biological compass?

Escalator experiment
Regular commuters on the London Underground know instinctively to 'stand on the right and walk up on the left' when using the many escalators on the Tube. But in a three week trial at one of the busiest stations - Holborn - Transport for London staff are asking travellers to stand on both sides. The idea is to regulate the flow of traffic. Will it work?

Producer: Fiona Roberts.


THU 17:00 PM (b06r885h)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06r0djg)
Mental health inspections to be introduced.

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 18:30 Tina C (b06r885k)
Tina C: Herstory

Episode 2

1999 sees Tina C established as a global icon, and exploring her feminist side.

Jenni Murray quizzes Tina about the highs and lows of finding your feet as a woman in Nashville.

Written & performed by Christopher Green.
Additional voices: Susan Jameson & Leo Wan.
The Band: Duncan Walsh-Atkins, Mark Hardisty & Phil Wraith.
Produced by Victoria Lloyd.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.


THU 19:00 The Archers (b06r885m)
David shows Jill his anniversary gift for Ruth - a bronze ornament of a calf and its mother. She thinks it's charming - he hopes Ruth likes it. Jill's busy making Christmas cakes for Fallon and Emma and the Ambridge Tea Room. Jill encourages a rather maudlin David to go along to the wine festival. Contract milker Matthew gets David to come to the cattle shed with him, where a calf has pneumonia. Matthew's apologetic, but David blames himself and says he thought Pip was on top of the situation - but she's clearly distracted, helping the Fairbrothers who are slaughtering their geese. David really misses Ruth and her experience. Jill reassures David that Ruth will be home this weekend - then life can get back to normal.

It's a pretty miserable affair in the shed at Grundy's Field as Joe helps with turkey plucking. Eddie feels this is the last time they'll be doing it. However, Ed has news from Oliver which shocks them. Oliver and Caroline are rethinking their lives and, for now, staying in Italy. They've offered the house at Grange Farm to the Grundys, to look after for them while they're away. Joe's stunned and, overcome with emotion, goes to talk to Bartleby. Clarrie warms up the shed and they play some music - Christmas is finally here.


THU 19:15 Front Row (b06r885p)
Christopher Ricks on TS Eliot, Arthur Miller play premier, Top picks for non-fiction books of 2015

John Wilson talks to the great literary critic Christopher Ricks about the monumental annotated poems of T. S. Eliot that he has co-edited. It runs to 2,000 pages, but only one in eight is verse, the others notes, commentary and context.

Arthur Miller's plays are performed on major stages throughout the world. But his very first drama No Villain is getting its world premier this week in a tiny theatre, above a London pub. Front Row reveals how this came about and Christopher Bigsby, Miller's biographer, reviews the production. No Villain runs at the Old Red Lion Theatre until 9 January.

Journalist and author Max Hastings and writer and comedian Natalie Haynes give a helping hand with this year's Christmas present shopping by picking their favourite non-fiction books of 2015.


THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b06r84r2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


THU 20:00 The Report (b06r885r)
Young, Tory and Bullied

In September, Elliot Johnson, a 21 year old member of the youth wing of the Conservative Party took his own life. He left behind a note saying that he'd been bullied by a 38 year-old Tory activist called Mark Clarke.

Since then there have been almost daily reports of allegations of bullying, harassment and intimidation at the hands of Mr Clarke, all of which he denies. Accusations that a toxic environment had developed in the Conservative youth wing - Conservative Future - have also emerged.

The Conservative Party is currently investigating what went wrong, but the ensuing scandal has already forced the ministerial resignation of former party chairman Grant Schapps. More may well follow.

In this edition of The Report Jon Manel investigates what's become the murky, often nasty world of some young Conservatives. He explores the culture of two organisations thrown into the spotlight by this story - Conservative Future and the Young Britons' Foundation - and, in a rare media appearance, speaks to YBF's founder Donal Blaney.

Producer: Hannah Barnes
Researcher: Kirsteen Knight.


THU 20:30 In Business (b06r885t)
Truckers: Women behind the Big Wheel

A global industry is facing a staffing crisis, with tens of thousands of new recruits needed across Europe and the United States - yet many people would never consider the job, or even believe it's a job they could do. Why? Because it's truck-driving - an industry with an image problem, where the work is still very much seen as men-only.

Could the solution to this staffing crisis lie in attracting more women to get behind the wheel? Caroline Bayley hits the road with some of the female drivers already heading up and down roads of the UK. She speaks to Pakistan's first and only female truck driver, and asks why aren't there more of them?

Producer Nina Robinson.


THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b06r885f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]


THU 21:30 In Our Time (b06r84qy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b06rfsfj)
Why has the government delayed its decision on airport expansion?

The Government has put off a decision about airport expansion at Heathrow or Gatwick until next Summer. Why China's millions of unregistered people are about to become legal. And why India still depends on coal for economic growth.


THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b06s6qk8)
Dark Corners

Episode 9

The final novel by Ruth Rendell - who died, aged eighty-five, in May this year - read by Patricia Hodge.

Once again, Carl finds himself blackmailed and placed in a desperate situation. He can't afford to let Sybil to live rent-free in the top floor of his house in Maida Vale, but neither can he allow her to go to the police and tell them that he killed Dermot. And so, he begins to formulate a plan to rid himself of Sybil...

Read by Patricia Hodge

Abridged by Robin Brooks

Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.


THU 23:00 Jon Ronson On (b01s0r54)
Series 7

Undeserved Rewards

We like to think we live in a fair world - but writer and documentary-maker Jon Ronson investigates the way in which the least deserving often win the greatest rewards.

Writer Helen Keen opens the programme, describing how she won an award for comedy she wrote about working class life in a gritty northern town - but, when she met the judges, she sensed that her 'poshness' disappointed them and made her less deserving of the award.

Jon meets comedian Bob Mortimer who admits that, when he was a criminal barrister in Peckham, he couldn't resist asking his clients if they were guilty. Astonishingly, he says, all fifteen hundred admitted their guilt. Nevertheless, he fought their cases in court and a huge proportion of them walked free. He was rewarded for his success but it cost him dear on other more profound levels.

South Hampstead Synagogue sounds like an unlikely site for misplaced rewards. Jon travels there to meet a charismatic young rabbi who had a novel idea to increase youth attendance. Kids won raffle tickets for turning up and joining in. The competition ran over a year, culminating in a grand draw. The prizes were massive. Emotions were running high. But things went drastically wrong, leaving the children asking "how could God let this happen?".

Finally, Jon talks to ex-New York Times reporter Jayson Blair, who added fictitious flourishes to his news stories. He embellished details, put words in people's mouths and created poignant touches about his interviewees' lives. He knew it was wrong but his lies started earning him huge respect from his bosses and readers - until the whole façade dramatically unravelled.

Producer: Lucy Greenwell
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b06r885w)
Susan Hulme reports as the Health Secretary apologises over the failure by the NHS to investigate 1,000 unexpected deaths and MPs criticise US presidential hopeful Donald Trump.
The Government denies that Channel 4 is under threat of sell-off, MPs debate the TTIP trade deal and there is a call for woodlands to be given greater protection.



FRIDAY 11 DECEMBER 2015

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b06r0dkg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b06r84r0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b06r0dkj)
The latest shipping forecast.


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b06r0dkl)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b06r0dkn)
The latest shipping forecast.


FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b06r0dkq)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b06rjwbf)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Orthodox Rabbi Dr Naftali Brawer.
This programme was pre-recorded.


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b06r88ph)
Farmers fight the livestock rustlers, Forage aid for Cumbria, English bubbly

Livestock theft cost around £6.6m last year, according to the farm insurance company NFU Mutual. But now Lancashire farmers are fighting back by joining forces with the police and local auctions to tackle livestock crime. They've been so successful that other farmers across Britain are adopting their anti-rustling strategy.

Farmers in Cumbria and north Lancashire face a tough Christmas clearing up after the recent devastating rainfall and flooding. We hear how Forage Aid is helping out with donations of feed, bedding and transport.

And it's a vintage time for Anglo-French wine relations as a top French champagne house buys up farmland in Kent so that it can produce a premium English Sparkling Wine - but Farming Today is looking for a more bubbly name for our homegrown wine!

Presenter:Charlotte Smith
Producer: Sybil Ruscoe.


FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04t0n4w)
Raggiana Bird-of-Paradise

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Liz Bonnin presents the displaying Raggiana bird-of-paradise from Papua New Guinea. An explosion of colour flashes across the tree canopy of a rainforest: male Raggiana birds-of-paradise, one of the most spectacularly coloured birds in the world, are displaying to one another. The Raggiana or Count Raggi's bird-of-paradise is Papua New Guinea's national bird and it's easy to see why. His yellow head and green throat are eye-catching enough but even more flamboyant are the long tufted flank feathers which he can raise into a fan of fine reddish-orange plumes. Males gather at traditional display sites quivering these enormous flaming plumes like cabaret dancers as they cling to an advantageous branch. The urgency of their display is underlined by frantic calls which echo through the canopy, in the hope he can impress the much plainer female to mate with him.


FRI 06:00 Today (b06r88pm)
Morning news and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.


FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b06r0vsn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Sunday]


FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b06r88pp)
Alive, Alive Oh! And Other Things That Matter

A Life of Luxuries

Stephanie Cole reads from Diana Athill's essay collection.

Written from the vantage point of her great age, Athill's writing is honest, cheering and thought-provoking. In "A Life of Luxuries", she looks back on the things that have brought her simple pleasure through the different stages of her long life.

Photo credit: Mark Crick

Read by Stephanie Cole

Written by Diana Athill

Abridged and Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b06rfrfb)
Annie Lennox, Loneliness, Making sanitary pads

Annie Lennox is the final link of 'The Chain' series of interviews where each guest is asked who inspired them the most. The activist Livia Firth nominated Annie Lennox for her work with 'The Circle' charity - a women's advocacy group.

Loneliness - when you move home and have to start over and make a whole new circle of friends, how do you go about it? Jenni talks to two women who have started afresh in different cities, and from Sanderson Jones, a co-founder of the Sunday Assembly - a regular secular gathering that aims to create a sense of community.

The increase in the number of women arrested for terrorism related offences, according to Dr Laura McDonald, one of the founders of Connect Justice.

Amy Peake, a yoga teacher from Cornwall who is on a mission to take low cost sanitary pads to girls and women in Jordan.

Presenter: Jenni Murray.


FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b06r8bnf)
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - Heat and Dust

Staying On

Finding themselves in the same situation, both women must make life-changing decisions.

Conclusion of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's beguiling story of two English women living in India more than 50 years apart.

In 1923, Olivia is unhappily married to a civil servant. Her step-granddaughter travels to the subcontinent years later to investigate Olivia's life, which her family regarded as ‘something dark and terrible’.

The story centres on the experiences of two very different women in pre- and post- Independence India. One is circumscribed by English mores and the formal social structures of the Raj while the other is free to fall in love, live among Indian people, feel part of the culture. So, it's the story of social change as well as a potent love story.

Olivia ..... Pippa Bennett-Warner
Narrator ..... Abby Ford
Douglas ..... Simon Harrison
The Nawab ..... Ronny Jhutti
Harry ..... David Seddon
Inder Lal ..... Neet Mohan
Chid ..... Will Howard
Maji ..... Thusitha Jayasundera
Beth Crawford ..... Debra Baker
Dr Saunders ..... Sam Dale
Major Minnies ..... Chris Pavlo

Pianist ..... Laurie O'Brien

Dramatised by Shelley Silas.

Director: Gaynor Macfarlane

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2015.


FRI 11:00 Ancient Ways with Bettany Hughes (b06r8bnh)
Episode 2

Bettany Hughes follows the ancient road from Rome to Istanbul. Tracing its route through Albania, Macedonia and Greece, she explores how the Egnatian Way helped to shape Europe and the Middle East.

Founded in the second century BC, the Via Egnatia was a critical axis of the Roman Empire. It joined Rome to the riches of the east, and became the site of some of the most significant turning points of its history - the place where the forces of the Roman republic lost to the heirs of Julius Caesar, and the route on which St Paul brought Christianity to Europe. Later it was the route the Crusaders took to the holy land, a vital Byzantine communication link and the base from which the Ottoman Turks controlled their vast European holdings.

In the second episode, Bettany journeys from Thessaloniki into Thrace, tracking the movement of ideas along the road and discovering the long history of refugees on the route from ancient times to the present day.

Written and presented by Bettany Hughes

Producer: Russell Finch
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 11:30 Michael Frayn's Matchbox Theatre (b06r8cjk)
Episode 3

Michael Frayn: the most comic philosophical writer of our time.

An all-star cast has great fun with his hilarious view of us all. People talking. To each other, to themselves. To no one. Trying to communicate. To explain.

In this episode, a controlling theatre director (Alex Jennings) thinks he can direct anything. Lloyd Owen and Rosalind Ayres talk to each other on their mobiles, yards apart. Patricia Hodge and Roger Allam can't agree on how to deal with household repairs. And Matthew Wolf decides to take a short break from this very programme. Ian Ogilvy, Julia McKenzie, Julian Sands and Sophie Winkleman attend an unusual Memorial, and Janie Dee and Richard Sisson enjoy a musical invitation list. Martin Jarvis lectures on being 'quite clear'.

So no worries about queuing up to get a drink in the interval or finding the loo. We're on the radio - the theatre of the listener's imagination. Sit back and enjoy.

With:
Alex Jennings
Patricia Hodge
Roger Allam
Rosalind Ayres
Mathew Wolf
Ian Ogilvy
Julia McKenzie
Sophie Winkleman
Julian Sands
Janie Dee
Richard Sisson
Martin Jarvis

Producer: Rosalind Ayres
Director: Martin Jarvis

A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2015.


FRI 12:00 News Summary (b06r0dks)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:04 One to One (b06nnqlj)
David Schneider talks to palliative care consultant Kathryn Mannix

David Schneider is terrified of death. In his two editions of One to One, he wants to try to overcome his fear by talking to those who have first-hand understanding of dying. In this programme, he talks to Palliative Care consultant, Kathryn Mannix. With almost forty years of clinical experience and witnessing over twelve thousand deaths, she believes that a 'good death' is possible even when you are seriously ill. She explains the process of dying to David. This, she believes, if accepted by the patient, removes much of the anxiety and fear surrounding the end of life.
To hear an extended version of this programme please visit the programme page.
The second programme in David's series in which he talks to writer and journalist, Jenny Diski, who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, can still be found on the BBC iplayer.
Producer: Lucy Lunt.


FRI 12:15 You and Yours (b06rfrkx)
Investigating fraud, Flight compensation, Speciality gin

Less than a third of crimes reported to Action Fraud, the UK's national fraud reporting centre, are passed to police forces to be investigated. We ask why that figure isn't higher. One You & Yours listener recorded a cold-caller who tried to gain access to his bank account. When he offered the recording to Action Fraud, he was told they couldn't use it. We hear how fraud reports are managed in the UK, and why many cases aren't investigated by detectives.

You & Yours listener Alison White planned a dream holiday for her 80-year-old mother, flying to Bermuda for a week. But they were refused their business class seats at the check-in, because the flight was over-booked. We have an update on her attempts to get compensation from the airline.

The posting of explicit pictures as a way of getting back at former partners can now lead to two years in prison, but the repercussions for a victim can last much longer. The Revenge Porn Hotline offers help when someone realises that pictures they thought were private have been made public. We speak to the helpline manager, Laura Higgins and Women and Equalities Minister, Caroline Dinenage. The helpline number is 0845 6000 459.

The rise of online shopping has put big pressure on one group of workers - delivery drivers. Many are paid by the "drop" and some choose to be paid that way. But it's led to complaints from some consumers about items left in the wrong place. We take a ride with a courier, in this, the busiest month of the year.

It used to be called "Mother's Ruin", but now it can cost an arm and a leg. We report on the increasing popularity of speciality English gin.

Producer: Jonathan Hallewell
Presenter: Peter White.


FRI 12:57 Weather (b06r0dkv)
The latest weather forecast.


FRI 13:00 World at One (b06rfrfd)
As climate negotiators prepare for a further sleepless night of talks, we examine the chances of a significant deal, and Lord Stern, a former advisor to the government on climate change tells Shaun Ley us that it's not yet clear how Britain will meet it's existing carbon targets.
Investigating the hacking of mobile phones by journalists has cost 23 million pounds, resulted in twelve people being charged, nine of them being convicted, and lasted four years. Now it's all over. We examine why the Crown Prosecution Service is winding up the investigation, and hear from the press standards campaign Hacked Off
The Schools Inspectorate, Ofsted, is setting up a taskforce to tackle unregistered schools in England, because of fears that some have a narrow Islamic focus - or operate in unsafe conditions. We hear why.
As Italy prepares to host talks this weekend aimed at getting a political settlement in Libya, we'll be hearing how the group that calls itself Islamic State is trying to fill the political vacuum.
And though King Alfred was clumsy with the cakes, coins found a few weeks ago suggest he was also a slick propagandist. The historian Michael Wood joins me to discuss what we've learnt.


FRI 13:45 British Liberalism: The Grand Tour (b06r8cjm)
William Gladstone

Anne McElvoy explores how 'Gladstonian' liberalism came to dominate Victorian Britain - and how it formed a bridge from a liberalism that tried to push the state back, to one that tried to take it over and use it to improve society.

With Eugenio Biagini, Edmund Fawcett, Ben Griffin, Stuart Jones, Jon Lawrence.

Producer: Phil Tinline.


FRI 14:00 The Archers (b06r885m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 Drama (b03h6yrv)
Ray Connolly - Sorry, Boys, You Failed the Audition

Sorry Boys You Failed The Audition by Ray Connolly

In the summer of 1962 the Beatles auditioned for producer George Martin at Parlophone Records. Having been rejected by every other record company, it was their last chance to get a recording contract. As the world soon found out, they passed the audition.
But what if they'd been turned down? Seen through the eyes of Freda, their teenage Liverpool fan club secretary, this is an affectionate comedy drama about what might have happened to the Beatles if George Martin had said, 'No'.

Producer/Director Gary Brown

Ray Connolly is a celebrated journalist and author. He is perhaps best known for writing the screenplays for the films 'That'll Be the Day' and the sequel 'Stardust' for which he won a Writers Guild of Great Britain best screenplay award, and for his many interviews with the Beatles. He was due to interview John Lennon on the day the ex-Beatle was murdered, an event he wrote about in the BBC radio play 'Unimaginable'. In addition to the biography John Lennon 1940-1980, he wrote the introduction to The Beatles Complete songbook.


FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b06r8gmv)
New North London Synagogue

Eric Robson hosts the horticultural panel programme from the New North London Synagogue.

Chris Beardshaw, Matt Biggs and Anne Swithinbank answer this week's gardening questions, on matters including trampolines, horse manure, and leaf-blowers - to blow or not to blow?

Chris Beardshaw takes a turn round Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg's garden to discuss the history and purpose of faith gardens.

Also, RHS Wisley's Matthew Pottage aims to convince James Wong that conifers can be exciting.

Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Hannah Newton

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 15:45 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (b06r0v1s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Sunday]


FRI 16:00 Last Word (b06r8gmx)
Marcus Klingberg, William McIlvanney, Setsuko Hara, Joel Elkes and John Peel

Matthew Bannister on

The Israeli chemical weapons expert Marcus Klingberg, who was revealed to have been spying for the Soviet Union.

The Scottish writer William McIlvanney, best known for his Jack Laidlaw crime novels. Val McDermid pays tribute.

Setsuko Hara, one of Japan's most popular film actresses.

Joel Elkes, the pharmacologist who pioneered the use of drugs to treat schizophrenia.

And John Peel, the anthropologist who studied Nigeria's Yoruba people.


FRI 16:30 Feedback (b06r8gmz)
Radio 4's forum for listener comment.


FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b06r8gn1)
Stuart and Emma – Wellies Are Worth It

Fi Glover introduces a conversation between a couple who have been farming for four years, following his dream, but is it now hers, too? 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 (b06rfrfj)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b06r0dkx)
The hosts of the climate change conference in Paris have boosted expectations of an agreement by tomorrow.


FRI 18:30 The Now Show (b06r8gn3)
Series 47

Episode 5

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are joined by Mitch Benn, Andy Zaltzman, Tez Ilyas, Dr Gabrielle Walker and Pippa Evans for a comic look at the week's news.

Written by the cast with additional material from Jon Hunter, Gabby Hutchinson-Crouch, Liam Beirne and Tom Whalley.

Produced by Alexandra Smith.


FRI 19:00 The Archers (b06r8gn5)
Ian and Adam discuss their wedding preparations. Adam doesn't want a big stag party and Ian agrees - they don't want any unpleasant surprises on the big day.

Charlie's there at Elizabeth's wine festival. Elizabeth's keen for him to take a brochure, but Charlie points out he's moving away to Perthshire. Charlie comes to the point with Adam, asking Adam if he will be with him. Charlie's offering excitement, and points out that Adam's whole life has been a compromise - with Ian and Brian in love and career. But Adam says he can't leave Ian, the man he loves.

Elizabeth and David are pleased for the Grundys who have been offered the house at Grange Farm for six months. Elizabeth's also pleased to see Richard Locke. She tells him all about Dan and his girlfriend Dorothy, and Richard reveal's that he's moving back into the village - to Keeper's Cottage. Elizabeth's delighted.

David's still suffering with his bad arm. Ruth adds to his injury by revealing that she is staying on a bit longer in New Zealand. She feels inspired and excited to be back properly farming again. David understands but just asks her not to stay away for too long.


FRI 19:15 Front Row (b06r8gn7)
Grandma, Val Wood, Theatrical wigs, Best stand-up comedy DVDs

Lily Tomlin stars in the new comedy Grandma, playing a feisty grandmother who sets out to help her granddaughter raise the money for an abortion. Does such a storyline work as a comedy drama in today's America? Catherine Bray reviews the film.

The writer Val Wood, who sets all her novels in East Yorkshire and is known as Hull's answer to Catherine Cookson, discusses her 21st novel Little Girl Lost, and how she didn't start writing novels until her 50s.

The latest production of wonder.land at the National Theatre requires over 30 wigs. Giuseppe Cannas and his team explain how they designed them for this musical inspired by Alice In Wonderland and show other examples of their work.

Continuing our search for the perfect Christmas gift, Stephen Armstrong offers his recommendations from this year's stand-up comedy DVDs.

Presenter Kirsty Lang
Producer Angie Nehring.


FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b06r8bnf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b06r8gn9)
Dominic Grieve MP, Isabel Oakeshott, Chuka Umunna MP, Jeanette Winterson

Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from Cardinal Wiseman School in Middlesex with a panel including the Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee Dominic Grieve MP, the political commentator and author Isabel Oakeshott, Labour MP Chuka Umunna and the author Jeanette Winterson.


FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b06r8gnc)
Howard Jacobson: Second-Hand Books

Howard Jacobson reflects on his life-long passion for buying second hand books and the meaning of literature in the digital age.

"When all the books have gone our mental state will have changed. It's a question whether we'll survive."

Producer: Sheila Cook.


FRI 21:00 British Liberalism: The Grand Tour (b06r8hr9)
Omnibus

From John Locke to New Liberalism

Anne McElvoy tours British liberalism from the 'Glorious' Revolution to the Edwardian era.

Anne starts in Oxford in 1683, with the story of the last large-scale book burning in Britain. She traces how dissident philosopher John Locke took on the whole principle of the arbitrary power of the monarchy.

As Anne discovers with the help of Justin Champion and Hannah Dawson, dissident texts were burned and Locke was repeatedly driven out of the country and hunted by the King's agents. Yet all the time he was developing his ideas on the proper limits of power, and on religious toleration.

When James II was ousted in 1688, Locke returned to London in triumph, and his ideas have helped to shape how we live ever since.

But, as Anne explores in later episodes, the story of British liberalism is not one of straightforward victories. Locke explicitly excluded non-Anglicans from his vision of liberty. And what about black people, or women?

Over the course of the first five programmes, Anne traces the development of the ideas we now call liberalism through the lives and works of Adam Smith, Mary Wollstonecraft, Thomas Clarkson, John Bright and John Stuart Mill.

She explores how a rebellion led by black Jamaicans led to a massacre - and how demands that the British Governor of Jamaica be put on trial divided Victorian intellectuals against each other.

And she ends the first week of programmes with the apotheosis of one kind of liberalism in the era of William Gladstone, even as a different version of his creed was taking shape.

Producer: Phil Tinline.


FRI 21:58 Weather (b06r0dkz)
The latest weather forecast.


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b06r8hrd)
The Latest from the Climate Change Summit in Paris

The latest from the climate change summit in Paris. The investigation into newspaper phone hacking is over, but has anything changed? Plus a report from the elections in France.


FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b06s6qsw)
Dark Corners

Episode 10

The concluding episode of the final novel by Ruth Rendell, read by Patricia Hodge.

Fate intervenes once again and Carl is forced to face up to what he has done.

In a career that spanned fifty years and over sixty novels, Ruth Rendell was acclaimed by her literary peers and beloved by her readers. She received numerous awards, including the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for 1976's Best Crime Novel with A Demon in My View, a Gold Dagger Award for Live Flesh in 1986, and the Sunday Times Literary Award in 1990. In 2013 she was awarded the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in crime writing. In 1996 she was awarded the CBE and in 1997 became a Life Peer. She died in May 2015, aged eighty-five.

Read by Patricia Hodge

Abridged by Robin Brooks

Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.


FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b06r5d07)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]


FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b06r8hrg)
Mark D'Arcy reports from Westminster as Tony Blair gives evidence to a Commons Committee on Libya UK's policy towards Libya. Also on the programme: the Lords debates online safety. Editor: Rachel Byrne.


FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b06r8hrj)
Nirmal and Vijay - Time on Our Hands

Fi Glover introduces a conversation between two retired ladies who describe themselves as British Indian Sikhs and who find huge satisfaction in raising money for charitable work. 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.