SATURDAY 30 JULY 2016

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (b07lj72t)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

SAT 00:30 Book of the Week (b07m9lzr)
Van Gogh's Ear: The True Story, The Mysterious Woman

Rebecca Front reads Bernadette Murphy's revelatory account of her mission to solve one of the art world's most perplexing mysteries. Today, Bernadette sets out to establish to whom Van Gogh gave his macabre gift.

Abridge by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.

SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b07lj72w)
The latest shipping forecast.

SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b07lj72y)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at 5.20am.

SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b07lj730)
The latest shipping forecast.

SAT 05:30 News Briefing (b07lj732)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b07lj779)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Sister Gemma Simmonds, CJ.

SAT 05:45 iPM (b07lj77c)
Orson Welles, Judi Dench... Eddie Mair: Actress Thelma Ruby looks back over 70 years. From performing for wounded serviceman to showing her legs on stage at 91, Thelma's stories inspired one iPM listener to write in demanding that we interview the star. Neil Nunes reads the bulletin made up of news sent in by the Radio 4 audience. Presented by Eddie Mair and Jennifer Tracey. iPM@bbc.co.uk.

SAT 06:00 News and Papers (b07lj734)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.

SAT 06:04 Weather (b07lj736)
The latest weather forecast.

SAT 06:07 Open Country (b07lhh73)
Capability Brown at 300

Lancelot 'Capability' Brown is heralded as the Shakespeare of gardening who in the eighteen century designed an estimated 170 landscapes including Blenheim Palace, Warwick Castle and Highclere Castle. To mark the 300th anniversary of his birth, Helen Mark discovers how his naturalistic landscapes changed the face of the countryside in the eighteenth century and continue to endure today. She visits Wrest Park in Bedfordshire to identify the trademarks of a classic Capability Brown landscape and finds out how these gardens became the height of fashion for the ruling classes, and how Brown turned himself into a brand. Helen also visits Brown's grave in the village of Fenstanton and finds out how they're marking his life through music and literature.

Producer: Toby Field.

SAT 06:30 Farming Today (b07lj738)
Farming Today This Week: Young Farmers

David Gregory-Kumar meets inspirational young farmer Matthew Sharp to discuss the opportunities in - and barriers to - a career in the industry. With the average age of farmers at nearly 60 there's a need for new blood and fresh ideas. But as David finds out it can be difficult to get access to things like land and finance - even to be taken seriously by the older generation.
Matthew, 23, is a first generation farmer. He bought his first livestock with money he raised mowing neighbours' lawns at the age of 13, and learned farming skills through work experience on various farms throughout his teens. While still studying agriculture at university he applied for and got the farm manager job at Rising Sun Farm just outside Newcastle. The farm offers care farming for vulnerable adults, placements for agriculture students, and fresh meat and veg.
We also hear from other young people making their way in farming - including young livestock handlers, and a 27 year old who's made a career as an expert in artificial insemination.
The producer is Sally Challoner.

SAT 06:57 Weather (b07lj73b)
The latest weather forecast.

SAT 07:00 Today (b07m43r8)
News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (b07lj73d)
Wayne Sleep and Anita Rani

Dancer and choreographer Wayne Sleep talks about life as a dancer, his love of the stars and shares his unusual new hobby.
Gary Fildes is a bricklayer turned astronomer, and founder of the Kielder Observatory in Northumberland.
Countryfile presenter Anita Rani followed her Strictly appearance with a trip to Jordan to film the BBC series The Refugee Camp: Our Desert Home. Anita talks about her varied career and why she doesn't fear failure.
Listener Andrew Townsend talks about how his life changed after taking up running when he was 55.
Reporter JP Devlin will be hearing all about how to train cats with Sarah Ellis, a Feline Behaviour Specialist.
Writer and Producer Tony Garnett shares his Inheritance Tracks - he's chosen Tea for Two and Beautiful Boy by John Lennon.

SAT 10:30 Punt PI (b07m43rb)
Series 9, The Suspicious Death of Emile Zola

Steve Punt returns as Radio 4's very own private detective.

Punt travels to Paris to investigate the suspicious death of celebrated writer Émile Zola. Zola died in 1902 from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a blocked chimney. At the time, the authorities reached a verdict of accidental death. Subsequently, evidence has emerged that Zola's death may have been murder.

Certainly Zola's role in France's notorious Dreyfus Affair made him many enemies. But as Punt discovers, the case is far from clear cut. For one thing, carbon monoxide is a very unusual way of murdering someone. Punt summons the experts and weighs up the evidence.

Producer: Laurence Grissell.

SAT 11:00 The Forum (b07mwjt2)
Wheel Revolutions

People have come up with the idea of the wheel many times and in different places, but what were the key turning points which led to mass transport and the miracle of modern logistics? Bridget Kendall discusses the still-unfolding story of the wheel with historian Richard Bulliet, logistics expert Jagjit Singh Srai and Cyr wheel dancer Valerie Inertie.

SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (b07lj73g)
Reports from writers and journalists around the world. Presented by Kate Adie.

SAT 12:00 News Summary (b07lj73j)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

SAT 12:04 Your Money and Your Life (b07m43rd)
Twenty-Somethings

In a four-part series, Louise Cooper considers the financial and emotional dimensions to the most important decisions we make in our lives.

Today's 20-somethings are less likely to have achieved the traditional markers of adulthood that their parents had at their age, such as leaving home, getting married or buying a house.

In this episode, we hear from young people, after University, forced into living with their parents, reliant on the so-called bank of "Mum and Dad" or struggling to save for a mortgage deposit as their earnings are eaten up by sky-high rents. Experts describe how financial life has changed from a "linear" trajectory - birth, school, work, career, marriage, home ownership, children, work, retirement, death - to one that is much more complex.

Next week - thirty-somethings.

Presenter:Louise Cooper
Producer: Ben Carter
Editor:Andrew Smith.

SAT 12:30 The Museum of Curiosity (b07lj6yh)
Series 9, Kumar, Armstrong, Goodall

This week, the Professor of Ignorance John Lloyd and his new curator Noel Fielding welcome the Newsjack presenter and half of the double act Gentlemen of Leisure, the writer and comedian Nish Kumar; Professor of Experimental Architecture and TED fellow Rachel Armstrong; and the award winning composer of choral music, stage musicals, film and TV scores, Howard Goodall.

This week, the Museum's Guest Committee speculate on the appeal of a 50 year-old piece of vinyl; a magic spell in a bottle; and an extinct piano with no keys.

The show was researched by Mike Turner and Anne Miller of QI.

The producers were Richard Turner and James Harkin.

It was a BBC Studios Production.

SAT 12:57 Weather (b07lj73l)
The latest weather forecast.

SAT 13:00 News (b07lj73n)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (b07lj6ym)
Shaun Ley presents political debate and discussion from Constantine in Cornwall. The panel includes the Conservative MP Oliver Letwin, the Labour peer John Hutton, Green MEP Molly Scott Cato and the founder and chairman of JD Wetherspoons Tim Martin.

SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (b07lj73q)
Any Answers after the Saturday broadcast of Any Questions? Lines open at 1230
Call 03700 100 444. Email any.answers@bbc.co.uk. Tweet,#BBCAQ. Follow us @bbcanyquestions.

SAT 14:30 Drama (b07m43rg)
The Penny Dreadfuls Present: The Curse of the Beagle

In 1831 a 22 year old Charles Darwin set sail on the HMS Beagle for a 5 year voyage that he said changed the course of his life. He later published his stories of the trip but in this reimagining comedy trio The Penny Dreadfuls reveal the untold story that Darwin was to keep to himself.

Humphrey Ker...McCormick, York Minster, General Rosas, Sailor 2
David Reed...Professor Henslow, Fitzroy, Santiago and Cannibal
Thom Tuck...Charles Darwin and Cannibal Steve

With Margaret Cabourn-Smith...Basket, Old Mother Trousers, Cannibal Susan and Sailor 1

Written by David Reed with additional material by Humphrey Ker

Producer...Julia McKenzie
A BBC Studios Production.

SAT 15:30 Marc Riley's Musical Time Machine (b07lfz5w)
Series 2, Marc Bolan and Joni Mitchell

The BBC's archive is justifiably and inarguably world-famous, but most of this attention and praise is showered on the musical riches it contains - all those life-changing Peel performances, seminal sessions from Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie and so on. But there's another archive that's just as diverse and rich and rewarding - the BBC's spoken work archive.

As long as there have been pop stars, the BBC has spoken to them. Here, Marc Riley and his trusty Time Machine will steer you back through the years to visit the great and the good, the famous and the infamous. In each episode, Marc travels to two different points in time and revisits two interviews that have something in common - a person or place, a shared influence or ideology, a discovery or a misunderstanding.

In this first episode of the series, we hear from Marc Bolan and Joni Mitchell. Although the two interviewees may seem poles apart, in fact they had much in common. Both came out of the late-Sixties musical underground and they both started as acoustic singer-writers before heading into glam-pop territory (Bolan) and world music and jazz (Mitchell).

We find Marc Bolan in conversation with Radio 1's John Pidgeon from 1973, as he talks about the financial hardships of being part of the late Sixties counter-culture scene - a scene not quite as glamorous as often portrayed. And then we hear Joni Mitchell in conversation with Richard Skinner, from 1983, where she not only discusses the counter-culture from the American perspective - as vividly portrayed in her own song Woodstock - but also how fame has impacted her life.

A Smooth Operations production for BBC Radio 4.

SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (b07lj73s)
Weekend Woman's Hour

Highlights from the Woman's Hour week. Presented by Emma Barnett
Producer:Helen Fitzhenry
Editor: Jane Thurlow.

SAT 17:00 PM (b07lj73v)
Saturday PM

Full coverage of the day's news.

SAT 17:30 iPM (b07lj77c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:45 today]

SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b07lj73x)
The latest shipping forecast.

SAT 17:57 Weather (b07lj73z)
The latest weather forecast.

SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b07lj741)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (b07m45mp)
Clive Anderson, Phil Gayle, Evelyn Glennie, Alistair McGowan, Matthew Herbert, Viv Groskop, Karine Polwart, Hanoi Masters

Clive Anderson and Phil Gayle are joined by Alistair McGowan, Evelyn Glennie, Matthew Herbert and Viv Groskop for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Karine Polwart and Hanoi Masters.

Producer: Paula McGinley.

SAT 19:00 Profile (b07m49qs)
Sonia Friedman

You may not have heard of Sonia Friedman, but she's one of the most important people in British theatre. She's produced many of the biggest stage hits of the past 15 years - including Jerusalem and The Book of Mormon - and is a multiple award winner. This week, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child opened in London. It was produced by Sonia Friedman.
Her first job interview was with Laurence Olivier and Joan Plowright in their kitchen. She got the job.
She's a consummate deal-maker and is able to persuade writers and performers from JK Rowling to Mark Rylance and Benedict Cumberbatch to work with her.
Mark Coles talks to family, friends and colleagues to discover more about her life and career.

Producers: Charlotte Prichard and Sarah Shebbeare.

SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (b07lj743)
The Commune, The Plough and the Stars, The Tidal Zone, Britain's Pompeii, Illuminated manuscripts

Thomas Vinterberg's film The Commune draws on his own communal upbringing in Denmark. How does such intimate living affect close relationships
Sean O'Casey's play The Plough and The Stars is revived at London's Lyttleton Theatre, based around Ireland's Easter Uprising of 1916
Sarah Moss's novel The Tidal Zone is a story of parental love
BBC4's programme Britain's Pompeii explores a bronze age fenland village, recently unearthed by archeologists, which revealed substantial new information about its inhabitants
The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge is marking its 200th anniversary with an exhibition of stunning Illuminated manuscripts
Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Joe Dunthorne, Stella Duffy and Lisa Appignanesi. The producer is Oliver Jones.

SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (b07m49qv)
Lenny Bruce - In His Own, Unheard, Words

Fifty years since Lenny Bruce died, Mark Steel explores his legacy in the 21st century, drawing on personal tape recordings from a newly established Lenny Bruce archive at Brandeis University, as well as classic clips from some of his ground-breaking comedy and social commentary routines. With contributions from Lenny's daughter, Kitty Bruce, and from those who knew and wrote about him, including author Laurence Schiller.

Dubbed a 'sick' or 'dirty' comedian, Lenny Bruce burned a pioneering trajectory through the late Fifties and early Sixties America, breaking social taboos on what it was acceptable to say.

In later years he was pursued through the courts and convicted of obscenity, ending up bankrupt before being found dead of an overdose.

Subsequently, Lenny Bruce was the subject of books and films during the 1970s and 1980s and a campaign to have him posthumously pardoned was successful in 2003.

But today it seems, the words and ideas that made him notorious in Sixties America may not have lost their power to offend and Lenny Bruce might struggle to be heard on some American campuses - campaigners are using his example to highlight the dangers to free speech.

Presenter: Mark Steel
Producer: Philip Reevell

A Manchester Digital Media production for BBC Radio 4.

SAT 21:00 Drama (b04y9rj4)
The Last Days of Troy, Episode 2

The Last Days of Troy. Simon Armitage's dramatisation completes Homer's Iliad and Virgil's Aeneid
The Greeks are laying siege to Troy to win back their abducted queen, Helen. But as the conflict drags on, and despite battlefields scarlet with blood, opposing forces have reached a bitter stalemate. Desperate and exhausted, both Gods and mortals squabble amongst themselves for the spoils of war and the hand of victory.
The Last Days of Troy reveals a world locked in cycles of conflict and revenge, of east versus west, and a dangerous mix of pride, lies and self-deception.
Lily Cole gives her radio debut as Helen of Troy - the face that launched a thousand ships.

Original music composed by Alex Baranowski

Directed for Radio by Susan Roberts
First directed for The Royal Exchange Theatre by Nick Bagnall.

SAT 22:00 News and Weather (b07lj745)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.

SAT 22:15 Moral Maze (b07lhgqs)
Legalising Drugs

Going to a music festival has become a rite of passage for the post GCSE teenager. Their excitement at the prospect of a long weekend of unsupervised possibility is perhaps only matched by the anxiety of their parents who know exactly what that might entail. Those fears may have been heightened by the news that a music festival in Cambridgeshire has just become the first UK event of its kind to offer people the chance to have their illegal drugs tested to establish the purity of content before they take them. The testing facility, at the Secret Garden Party, was offered with the co-operation of the police. The organisers said the aim was to reduce harm from drug taking and promote welfare. The group conducting the forensic tests this weekend hope other festivals will follow suit. Is this a pragmatic and realistic approach to drug taking that will save lives or a tacit endorsement that will cost them? Is it part of a gradual slide toward decriminalisation of drug taking? According to the 2016 European Drug Report, ecstasy has surged in popularity in Britain among those aged 15-34 in the past three years. Is it logical on the one hand to criminalise the sale of legal highs, but on the other to make it easier to take an illegal drug like ecstasy? Needle exchanges have long been available to registered intravenous drug addicts. Is this a logical extension or does discovering people have illegal drugs and then allowing them to walk away and use them, while the police turn a blind eye, cross a moral Rubicon? It will make it safer for people who want to take drugs, but what about those people who want to attend a festival knowing it is drug free? How should we balance those competing moral goods? Witnesses are Dr Ian Oliver, Johann Hari, Steve Rolles and Deirdre Boyd.

SAT 23:00 Counterpoint (b07lfng5)
Series 30, Heat 6, 2016

(6/13)
Competitors from Worcestershire, Merseyside and North Wales join Paul Gambaccini for another tough contest of musical knowledge. Extracts from Mahler, Verdi and David Bowie are just some of the clips on which they'll be asked questions this week. As always, they'll have to choose a musical topic on which to answer individual specialist questions, without any forewarning of the subject categories. The winner will take another of the places in the semi-finals later this summer.

Producer: Paul Bajoria.

SAT 23:30 Adrian Mitchell: To Whom It May Concern (b07lf8g2)
Michael Rosen visits the house of the late poet Adrian Mitchell, where his widow, Celia, talks about Adrian's life and work and shows Michael unpublished poems that she keeps finding.

For nearly fifty years, Adrian Mitchell had a profound impact on three kinds of poetry - performance poetry, political poetry and poetry for children.

An 18 year-old Michael Rosen was at a CND demonstration in Trafalgar Square in 1964 when he saw Adrian Mitchell deliver his searing anti-war poem, To Whom It May Concern (Tell Me Lies About Vietnam). He came to know Adrian personally and performed alongside him many times.

Adrian occupied a unique position in British poetry because he absorbed the style and content of poets like Brecht, Neruda and Langston Hughes, while taking his poetry across a range of audiences unequalled by other contemporary poets, including Trafalgar Square, the Albert Hall, prisons, schools, hospitals, theatres, pubs and international festivals.

Adrian died in 2008. In this programme, we hear Michael as he visits Adrian's wife, Celia Mitchell, in the home they shared. The time is right for Celia to start the process of sifting and sorting through Adrian's published and unpublished work in preparation for writing her own book based on Adrian's autobiographical writings.

This contemplation of her husband's poetic legacy is interspersed with Adrian reading his own poems in archive recordings. With comments from political activist and campaigner Tariq Ali who worked with Adrian on a 1960s radical magazine, and former Scots Makar Liz Lochhead who remembers the sexy, "rock and roll poet" who offered great encouragement to young performance poets like her.


Producer: Emma-Louise Williams
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4.


SUNDAY 31 JULY 2016

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b07m4cmy)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

SUN 00:30 Dangerous Visions (b0474xj1)
A Message of Unknown Purpose

Peter Marinker reads Tao Lin's curious tale about the discovery of a message from the future in which an elderly prisoner talks about the invention and misuse of a sleep machine. "In 2042, after major worldwide catastrophes in the second and third decades of the 21st century, the world is drastically different. It's much, much worse and maybe more exciting, depending on who you ask." A vision emerges of a society addicted to sleep.

Produced by Gemma Jenkins

In reviewing cult author and poet Tao Lin's novel, Taipei, the TLS writes, "a daring, urgent voice for a malfunctioning age".

SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b07m4cn0)
The latest shipping forecast.

SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b07m4cn2)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at 5.20am.

SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b07m4cn4)
The latest shipping forecast.

SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b07m4cn6)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b07m4gbw)
St Peter and St Paul, Courteenhall

The bells of St Peter and St Paul, Courteenhall.

SUN 05:45 Profile (b07m49qs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]

SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b07m4cn8)
The latest national and international news.

SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b07m4gby)
Shadows

The poet Michael Symmons Roberts looks in to the dark and under-appreciated world of shadows.

Most language which refers to understanding and happiness, tends to use images of light and sunshine. "You don't hear much about 'flourishing' or 'rejoicing' in the shadows, only lurking, or hiding, or shrinking into them," suggests Michael. In this programme he makes the case that the metaphors for light and shade are too clear-cut and that their relationship is far more complex.

Shadows are often used to scare children in story books, or grown-ups in horror films. But Michael says shadows can be reassuring. "If you can see your own shadow, it means you're not lying in it, as the dead tend to do."

Turning to other cultures to illustrate his thoughts, he quotes Japanese author Junichiro Tanizaki and his work In Praise of Shadows which finds beauty in ill-lit spaces. Tanizaki is critical of the West and its "quest for a brighter light never ceases, [which] spares no pains to eradicate even the minutest shadow."

In Christian culture too - it's actually to those out of the spotlight that Jesus gives his richest blessings, the poor and the oppressed and the unsung heroes of the Beatitudes.

Using the music of John Tavener and Joni Mitchell and poetry from Keith Douglas, Derek Mahon and his own poem In Praise of Flaking Walls, Michael Symmons Roberts invites us to take another look into the shadows and to recognise that the relationship between light and dark is symbiotic with both of equal value. As he concludes, "It's in the play between the two that culture, art, life emerges."

Some of the ideas in this programme were previously explored by the author in a BBC Radio 3 interval talk in 2012.

Producer: Michael Wakelin
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4.

SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b07m4gc0)
Honeymoon Farm

If your last experience of holidaying on a farm involved a tent and a muddy cattle field you might be surprised to hear that it can be a glamorous experience.
Caroline and Ross Miller used a backpacking trip around the the world to pick up fresh ideas to bring to Scotland's agri-tourism scene.
They converted a ramshackle out-building into a romantic love nest for honeymooning couples, built more luxury accommodation and now they're bursting with fresh ideas to boost the income of Britain's farmers. Nancy Nicolson meets them on their farm in the hills above Dundee.

SUN 06:57 Weather (b07m4cnb)
The latest weather forecast.

SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b07m4cnd)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.

SUN 07:10 Sunday (b07m4cng)
World Youth Day, Erik Satie, Life after ebola

Religious and ethical news.

SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (b07m4gc2)
Campaign for National Parks

Bill Bryson presents The Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Campaign for National Parks
Registered Charity No 295336
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal, mark the back of the envelope 'Campaign for National Parks'
- Cheques should be made payable to 'Campaign for National Parks'.

SUN 07:57 Weather (b07m4cnl)
The latest weather forecast.

SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b07m4cnn)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.

SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b07m4gc4)
Faith and the Uncertainties of Life

Fr. Michael Gollop explores how the Gospel equips us to deal with the unexpected. The service led by Fr. Mark Zorab comes from the parish church of St. Arvans, Chepstow. The Cantemus Chamber Choir is directed by Huw Williams. Organist Peter King. Producer Karen Walker.

SUN 08:48 A Point of View (b07lj6yp)
Canaries in the Coal Mine

Tom Shakespeare gives a very personal view of the implications for society of a prenatal screening technology due to be announced shortly.

Tom inherited the genetic condition, achondroplasia, or restricted growth from his father and passed it on to both his children.

Soon we will have to decide, he writes, what sort of people we are prepared to accept in our families and in our society.

Producer: Adele Armstrong.

SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zrcm9)
Goosander

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Kate Humble presents the goosander. Goosanders are handsome ducks and belong to a group known as 'sawbills' because their long slender bills are lined with backward pointing 'teeth', for gripping slippery fish. Underwater they're as agile as otters, chasing fish in raging currents or nosing for them under riverbanks.

SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b07m4cnr)
Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.

SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b07m4cnt)
Ian wonders about his friendship with Helen, and it is all hands on deck at Hollowtree.

SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b07m4gls)
Jilly Cooper

Kirsty Young's castaway is the writer Jilly Cooper.

Her long writing career spans newspaper columns for the Sunday Times and the Mail on Sunday, non-fiction books on class, marriage and animals in war and novels that sell in their millions. Her romances set in the late seventies - including 'Bella', 'Harriett', 'Imogen' and 'Prudence' - were followed by 'Riders' in 1985, the first of her Rutshire Chronicles. Set mainly in the Cotswolds, they are racy and raunchy page-turners exposing the scandalous - and often hilarious - goings on among the British upper classes.

Born in 1937 in Essex, she was brought up in Yorkshire and enjoyed a happy childhood surrounded by dogs and ponies. At boarding school she earned the nickname, 'the unholy terror' and having failed to get into Oxford and being sacked from a number of jobs for her inability to type, she turned to journalism before publishing her first book, 'How to Stay Married' in 1969.

She married Leo Cooper in 1961 and, unable to have children of their own, the couple adopted Felix and Emily in the late 1960s. The couple were married for 52 years before his death in 2013.

Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

SUN 12:00 News Summary (b07m4cnw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

SUN 12:04 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b07lfrjv)
Series 65, Episode 5

The godfather of all panel shows pays a visit to the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend-on-Sea. Regulars Barry Cryer and Sandi Toksvig are joined on the panel by Miles Jupp and Richard Osman, with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell accompanies on the piano.

Producer - Jon Naismith.

It is a BBC Studios production.

SUN 12:32 Food Programme (b07m4glv)
Raising the Pulse

Pulses are little marvels - protein packed lentils, peas and beans are cheap, good for health and help the soil. They're central to many food cultures including Italy and France but as a nation we eat very few other than baked beans. Now the Food and Agriculture Organisation has announced the 'Year of the Pulse' to encourage us to eat more but they may be met with reluctance from some quarters.

Sheila Dillon's panel will kick off any tarnished reputation of wind and worthiness with tips on how to prepare pulses with ease and how to choose them. Chef Sanjay Kumar and cookery expert and author Jenny Chandler get cooking in the studio with a breakfast sambhar from Goa and 'black badgers and bacon' - a traditional Black Country dish better known as grey peas and bacon which tastes far better than the name would suggest.

Farmers across the UK grow fava beans to help enrich the soil yet most of them are exported or fed to animals. Nick Saltmarsh was so shocked when he learnt this that he set up a company to market British beans to consumers and he's now asking farmers to grow other varieties especially. In addition to dried and tinned pulses he's selling them as snacks and flours and looking into pastas and other uses for them. Sheila's also discovered a beer made from British fava beans and now chocolate covered pulses are hitting the shelves. It's a hard job but someone's got to try them for you.

Presented by Sheila Dillon
Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock.

SUN 12:57 Weather (b07m4cny)
The latest weather forecast.

SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b07m4cp0)
Global news and analysis.

SUN 13:30 From Our Home Correspondent (b07m4glx)
In the latest programme of the new monthly series, Mishal Husain introduces dispatches from journalists and writers around the United Kingdom that reflect the range of contemporary life in the country. From politics to pastimes, from hallowed traditions to emerging trends, from the curious to the ridiculous, the programme presents a tableau of Britain today.

Producer Simon Coates.

SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b07lhl0g)
The Lake District

Eric Robson hosts the horticultural panel programme from the Lake District. Bunny Guinness, Bob Flowerdew and Anne Swithinbank answer questions from local gardeners.

This week, the panel offers advice on shallow-rooted trees and shrubs, how to move Box, and the best plants to grow to provide mid-height cover. They also discuss tending to an ailing Acer as well as offering up tips on how to create a sensory rock garden.

And Eric Robson visits nearby Hill Top, home of Beatrix Potter.

Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Laurence Bassett

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.

SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b07m4hm9)
Sunday Omnibus - Shared Differences

Fi Glover introduces three conversations about how embracing differences, whether cultural or culinary, can reveal that more is shared than we realize - all in the Omnibus 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 (b07m4lm6)
Reading Europe - Italy: My Brilliant Friend, Episode 1

From one of Italy's most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is the first in a quartet of books entitled The Neapolitan Novels. They are a forensic exploration of friendship between Lila and the story's narrator, Lena. This is no normal friendship, it's a friendship that loves, hurts, supports and destroys - and yet it is one that lasts a lifetime.

It begins in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighbourhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on these tough streets two girls, Elena and Lila, learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone - or anything - else as their friendship, beautifully and meticulously rendered, becomes a not always perfect shelter from hardship.

It is the story of a nation, of a neighbourhood, a city and a country undergoing momentous change.

This first book centres on their childhood and adolescence.

From the book by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein.
Dramatised by Timberlake Wertenbaker
Directed by Celia de Wolff

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.

SUN 16:00 Open Book (b07m4q7x)
Reading Europe: Italy

In a special edition, Mariella Frostrup explores contemporary literature from Italy, what Italians are reading and why. She talks to author Francesca Melandri about her novel Eva Sleeps which has just been translated in to English. Anglo Italian crime writer Nadia Dalbuono, Milanese publishing guru Francesca Cristoffanini and Professor Guiliana Piera from Royal Holloway University of London. They explore the literary dominance of Italian Crime, the importance of regional themes in literature and the world wide phenomenon of Elena Ferrante.

SUN 16:30 How to Write a Poem (b07m4q7z)
Keats and Clare

The poet Glyn Maxwell finds himself in a strange village. He has been invited there to teach a poetry masterclass at a literature festival with some impressive names on the line-up. Could that really be John Keats reading in the back room of the pub? Is that John Clare wandering the lanes? Is Emily Dickinson really doing a Q&A in the village hall? And isn't that Lord Byron propping up the bar?

With Glyn are three new poets - Holly Corfield Carr, Victoria Adukwei Bulley and Dominic Fisher - who share their own poems-in-progress. The students put their questions on writing directly to the greats and Glyn shares his own advice on writing better poetry - from facing the blank page and developing ideas, to the intricacies of rhyme, metre, form and line break.

All words spoken by Keats, Clare, Dickinson and Byron are taken verbatim from their poems, letters and diaries.

Written and presented by Glyn Maxwell
Produced by Mair Bosworth & Chris Ledgard

CAST
Barmaid - Sally Phillips
John Keats - Tom Stuart
John Clare - Tom Meeten
Student Poets - Holly Corfield Carr, Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Dominic Fisher.

SUN 17:00 The Battle for the US Constitution (b07lg6j8)
How has an Amendment passed just after the US Civil War become the battleground on which modern America's most ferocious issues are fought out? Historian of 19th century America Adam Smith travels to Washington DC and North Carolina to find out.
The Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution declares that anyone born on US soil "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof" is an American citizen.
It was intended to give freed slaves guaranteed citizenship in the wake of the 1861-65 Civil War.
But today, it also means the children of illegal immigrants to the US automatically become American citizens. Which places it right at the heart of the huge controversy over immigration that has raged through the Presidential election.
That's why Donald Trump wants to abolish the Amendment altogether. Ted Cruz and other leading Republicans have expressed similar views. Adam talks to a senior Republican Congressman, Steve King, who wants instead to radically reform the interpretation of the Amendment - so that it no longer gives the children of undocumented migrants the right to a US passport.
And Adam talks to a Tito, 19 and born in Mexico, and Georgina, 14 and born in America. Their parents are undocumented Mexican migrants - but while Georgina is a citizen, Tito is not, despite living in America since he was six.
Meanwhile, the Fourteenth Amendment also guarantees the "equal protection of the laws." So the arguments over everything from voting rights to transsexual people's choice of public bathroom come back to this revolutionary change to American law.
Outside the North Carolina Legislative Building, Adam watches a protest vigil for the Orlando massacre, full of speeches and songs. There he talks to its charismatic leader, Rev. William Barber, about the crucial role of the Fourteenth Amendment in underpinning his struggle for both gay and trans rights - and voters' rights.
He goes inside the Legislative Building to meet David Lewis, who defends the redrawing of electoral boundaries in North Carolina against accusations of racist gerrymandering - and defends North Carolina Republicans' new law forbidding transsexuals to enter the bathroom of the gender with which they identify.
And Adam talks to Payton McGarry, a trans man who is one of those suing the state of North Carolina for banning him from entering the male bathroom in any public building.
Usually, conservatives insist on a strict interpretation which says the Amendment's authors were not intending to legalise gay marriage, for example - another instance of an extension of rights made possible by the Amendment.
But strikingly, the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment is also fought over in a very different way. This is the idea, bolstered by the Amendment, that, as Mitt Romney said "corporations are people too".
Adam talks to a former lawyer from the conservative campaign group Citizens United, who succeeded in having limits on election spending by corporations struck down. And he visits the offices of the liberal Stamp Stampede, which is campaigning for a new Amendment to outlaw the idea that corporations are people, in order to force 'big money' out of politics.
As America approaches a seismic Presidential vote in November, the fate of the Fourteenth Amendment hangs in the balance. Whoever wins will very likely get to appoint enough new Supreme Court justices to give the court a decisive majority - either conservative or liberal. And even if the Fourteenth Amendment survives, its meaning may be so radically reinterpreted that the current state of play on all these issues is upended for years.
Producer: Phil Tinline.

SUN 17:40 Profile (b07m49qs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]

SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b07m4cp2)
The latest shipping forecast.

SUN 17:57 Weather (b07m4cp4)
The latest weather forecast.

SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b07m4cp6)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b07m4cp8)
Sheila McClennon

Sheila McClennon chooses her BBC Radio highlights.

SUN 19:00 The Archers (b07m4v6r)
It is the day of the village fete: Fallon is tested, and Lynda is taken by surprise.

SUN 19:15 A Normal Family (b07m4wyh)
After twenty years away from poetry, during which he co-wrote The Royle Family and produced Gavin & Stacey, amongst others, Henry Normal returns to Radio 4 for a comic and poetic look at his family life.

A Normal Family is centred around Henry's son, Johnny, who was diagnosed with "mildly severe" autism. Through stand-up and poetry, Henry explores what this means for Johnny, for himself, and for his wife, Angela.

Recorded in front of a live audience in Henry's hometown of Brighton, the show paints just one portrait of life with autism; there are many versions of it, and this is Johnny's.

Henry Normal is a multi-award winning writer, producer and poet. He starred in Channel 4's Packet of Three with Jenny Éclair and Frank Skinner, co-wrote The Royle Family and The Mrs Merton Show, and founded Baby Cow productions with Steve Coogan, which produced Gavin & Stacy, The Trip and Camping. He has published several volumes of poetry, including The Dream Ticket, Nude Modelling for the Afterlife and Staring Directly at the Eclipse. His last Radio 4 series was 1997's Encyclopaedia Poetica.

Written and performed by ... Henry Normal
Produced by ... Ed Morrish
A BBC Studios Production.

SUN 19:45 The Crime Writer at the Festival (b07m4v8n)
A Marriage of Inconvenience

Short story series celebrating the unique atmosphere of Crime Writing Festivals. Tonight, a new story by David Mark, imagining the repercussions when a crime-writing partnership, and marriage, turns sour.

David Mark spent more than 15 years as a journalist, including seven years as a crime reporter with The Yorkshire Post - walking the Hull streets that would later become the setting for his series of novels featuring Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy. David was reader in residence for the Theakstons Crime Writing Festival between 2013 and 2015.

Reader: James Lailey

Writer: David Mark

Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.

SUN 20:00 More or Less (b07lhl0n)
The Supermarket Effect

The Waitrose Effect
Many news outlets have reported this week that a Waitrose supermarket pushes up house prices in the surrounding area. It's based on research that also suggests that other supermarkets have a similar but smaller effect. We take a highly sceptical look at the correlation.

Statistics and the EU referendum campaign
We look at how the two campaigns, the media, and the much-discussed "experts" used statistics during the EU referendum campaign. Tim Harford interviews Will Moy, director of Fullfact, and Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Antiques Roadshow
BBC One's Antiques Roadshow is a hugely popular television programme, where experts examine and value antiques and collectables. We ask whether the items featured really jump in value, or are we just seeing the price tag rise over the centuries in line with inflation? More Or Less reporter Charlotte McDonald heads down to the show to find out.

Computer Science and Socks
Tim Harford speaks to Brain Christian, co-author of 'Algorithms to Live by: The Computer Science of Human Decisions'. How can the techniques of computer science help us in every-day situations? And, most importantly, which algorithm will help our reporter Jordan Dunbar sort out his socks?

SUN 20:30 Last Word (b07lhl0l)
Gary S Paxton, Sally Beauman, Thomas Sutherland, Frank Dickens, Marni Nixon

Matthew Bannister on

The singer, songwriter and producer Gary S Paxton. He brought us the Monster Mash and thousands of other songs and lived up to his nickname "His Weirdness"

Sally Beauman, who was given a reported million pound advance for her best selling novel Destiny, but transcended the bonk buster genre.

Thomas Sutherland the Scottish-born American professor who was held hostage for more than six years in Lebanon. We hear from his fellow hostage Terry Anderson.

Frank Dickens, the cartoonist who satirised office life in the Bristow comic strip and often liked to strip naked himself.

And Marni Nixon, whose singing voice was dubbed over Hollywood movie stars when they couldn't hit the high notes.

Producer: Paul Waters.

SUN 21:00 Your Money and Your Life (b07m43rd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]

SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b07m4gc2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]

SUN 21:30 In Business (b07lhj83)
Return to Teesside

Job losses have plagued Teesside for decades and the area still has a stubbornly high unemployment rate. Ruth Sunderland grew up in Middlesbrough where her father worked as an engineer. In 1987 the company, where he'd been employed since he was a teenager, collapsed and he never worked again. Believing there was no future for her in her home town, she left to forge a career in London. Following more recent job losses in the steel industry, Ruth returns to her roots. Will entrepreneurial start-ups provide young Teessiders with prospects that, 30 years ago, she could not see? And what does the post-steel, post-Brexit future look like from Teesside?
Producer: Rosamund Jones.

SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b07m4cpb)
Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.

SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b07lhh77)
How to Direct a Thriller by Paul Greengrass

With Francine Stock.

Jason Bourne director Paul Greengrass gives Francine a personal masterclass on how to make a contemporary thriller and reveals the reasons why he would never want to direct a James Bond movie.

SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b07m4gby)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today]


MONDAY 01 AUGUST 2016

MON 00:00 Midnight News (b07m4crb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b07lhgb1)
Airport security, Retiring to Spain

Airport security: what are the costs of a surveillance regime which turns us all into potential suspects? Laurie Taylor talks to Rachel Hall, Associate Professor in Communications at Syracuse University, New York, about her study into the 'transparent traveller' who must submit their bags and bodies to technologies aimed at countering terrorism. Also, Anya Ahmed, Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Salford, explores the pleasures and pitfalls of retiring to Spain in her research into the lives and times of working class British women who've made this choice.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.

MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b07m4gbw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]

MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b07m4crd)
The latest shipping forecast.

MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b07m4crg)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b07m4crj)
The latest shipping forecast.

MON 05:30 News Briefing (b07m4crl)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b07n0l9z)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Sister Gemma Simmonds, CJ.

MON 05:45 Farming Today (b07m4crn)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by David Gregory-Kumar and produced by Sally Challoner.

MON 05:56 Weather (b07m4crq)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.

MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b020tq6h)
Great Skua

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Great Skua. Great skuas are often known as bonxies - their local name in Shetland where most of the UK's population breeds. Almost two thirds of the world's great skuas nest here or on Orkney.

MON 06:00 Today (b07m50lr)
News and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

MON 09:00 The Long View (b07m50lt)
The EU Referendum and the English Reformation

The Long View of Brexit, comparing it with the English Reformation. Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch is the lead historian explaining that Henry VIII broke away from the Ecclesiastical control of Rome with the help of his 'fixer' Thomas Cromwell. However, Cromwell's ambitions were driven by his Protestantism whereas Henry was interested in securing his legacy and not making substantial changes to the national religion.
In the event it wasn't Henry but his second daughter Elizabeth who enshrined Protestantism in English law, with a number of particularly English twists, not least the maintaining of the Cathedral system with its Choirs and Choral tradition that she loved.
Very soon there were people complaining that she hadn't pushed far enough with her reforms... and it became clear that rather than break with Europe, the Reformers were keen on a united European religion in the form of Protestantism. Meanwhile, in the longer term the country was split so profoundly that it's echoes were still being felt when the Civil War broke out over a century later.
Guests included Pro Brexit MP Crispin Blunt, Pro Brexit Economist Ruth Lea, moderate remainer and briefly Brexit fixer Oliver Letwin MP and Prof David Runciman of Cambridge University.
The readings are given by Anton Lesser.

Producer: Tom Alban.

MON 09:30 Our Man in Greeneland (b07m58f7)
Episode 1

To complement BBC Radio 4's season of Graham Greene dramas, BBC Mexico correspondent, Katy Watson, follows Graham Greene's 1938 travels around Mexico. Greene was drawn to Mexico to be 'a spectator of history' following a period of intense religious persecution by the authorities.

Like Greene, Katy travels to the states of Tabasco and Chiapas where, in the 1920s and '30s, churches had been burned to the ground, religious images destroyed, and priests forced to renounce their faith and marry, flee or face the firing squad. Greene's journey inspired a travelogue, The Lawless Roads, and the novel that many consider his masterpiece - The Power and the Glory.

Readings by James Lailey
Produced by Emma Harding.

MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b07m58f9)
The Age of Bowie, Becoming Bowie

Paul Morley was thirteen when he first heard the music of David Bowie, played late at night by DJ John Peel. Before long, Bowie was taking the 1970s by storm and changing the face of pop music with his Ziggy Stardust tour, and Morley was a dedicated schoolboy fan. Many years later, Morley would be an artistic advisor for the V&A's acclaimed Bowie exhibition, 'David Bowie is', which was still attracting huge visitor numbers around the world when Bowie died at the beginning of this year.

Now, Morley has published his personal account of the life, musical influence and cultural impact of his teenage hero, exploring Bowie's constant reinvention of himself and his music over a period of five extraordinarily innovative decades.

Episode 1/5: Becoming Bowie
In this first episode Morley describes how when he first heard Bowie's music his world 'suddenly became something else', and explores Bowie's childhood and his early attempts to make his name.

Abridged and produced by Sara Davies.

MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b07m4crv)
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.

MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b07m58fc)
Tinsel Girl and the Big Reunion, Episode 1

Tinsel Girl and the Big Reunion

Episode One

Uplifting comedy drama about the life, loves and misadventures of wheelchair user Maz.

At their drama school reunion, during the most unlikely of circumstances, Maz makes a startling discovery about her best friend Rachel.

Maz .... Cherylee Houston
Rachel .... Kathryn Pemberton
Verity .... Krissi Bohn
Felipe .... Phil Perez
Sid .... Ged Mulherin

Written by Lou Ramsden
Produced by Charlotte Riches

The drama is inspired by the adventures and experiences of Cherylee Houston.

MON 11:00 The Untold (b07m58ff)
The Prison Wedding

Grace Dent tells the story of a white-collar-criminal's pregnant fiancée, trying to organise their prison wedding.

When Veronica's partner - a successful businessman - was sent to prison for what is sometimes called a 'white-collar crime', she was pregnant with his child.

On her first visit to him behind bars, he proposed. At a time of such uncertainty the prospect of marriage was something that kept them united.

But they want the marriage to take place before the birth of the baby - just 9 weeks away. And they're not even sure if it's possible to get married in a prison at all.

Producer: Georgia Catt.

MON 11:30 Way Out East (b07m58fh)
You Can Run but You Can't Hide

New comedy by Guy Meredith about a group of expats sharing a flat in Hong Kong. Into the lives of unsuccessful architect James (Tony Gardner) and failed-everything Malcolm (John Gordon Sinclair) comes Zoe (Katherine Kingsley) on a one-way ticket from England to start a new life.

After an unpromising start, she moves in with James and Malcolm, convinced that she can get these two undomesticated alpha males to change their ways and become more organised at home and work. She also becomes part of the scene at the Shakes, the local expat pub run by Wanda (Samantha Bond) and visited by James's boss Mr Ampersand (Nicky Henson) who gives her a job as his PA.

The flatmates share many adventures including a very disorganised pub quiz, a series of domestic mishaps, attempts to fix the result of the Hong Kong Derby and a local marathon, and the annual Hong Kong New Year celebrations.

Katherine Kingsley was Olivier nominated for her role in Piaf and Singin' in the Rain, John Gordon Sinclair has performed in several musicals and is remembered for the title role in Gregory's Girl, Tony Gardner is currently one of the stars of the award-winning Last Tango in Halifax, and Samantha Bond has starred in many award-winning television and theatre productions including Downton Abbey. Guy Meredith has written several very successful dramas and comedies for radio, including the long-running series Daunt and Dervish.

Series Music Composer: David Chilton
Writer: Guy Meredith
Producer: Cherry Cookson

A Goldhawk Essential production for BBC Radio 4.

MON 12:00 News Summary (b07m4crx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

MON 12:04 One to One (b01p70gn)
Olivia O'Leary meets John Banville

For 'One to One' Olivia O'Leary is interviewing three people at the peak of their profession about growing older. This week she meets the Booker Prize winning author, John Banville, who also writes crime fiction under the pseudonym Benjamin Black.

Producer: Karen Gregor.

MON 12:15 You and Yours (b07m4crz)
Vauxhall Zafira fires, 20mph zones in Edinburgh, Parma ham popularity

After a spate of fires affecting their Zafira models, Vauxhall launches a second recall of them.
Edinburgh starts reducing the speed limits across the city down to 20 miles an hour but not everyone's persuaded there's much point.
A clamp down on flares and fireworks at concerts and festivals.
And the art of producing the perfect Parma ham.

MON 12:57 Weather (b07m4cs1)
The latest weather forecast.

MON 13:00 World at One (b07m4cs3)
Analysis of news and current affairs.

MON 13:45 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h6461)
A Time of Change, a Change of Time

Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, enters the final week of his object-based history. Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived. With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.

Programme 16 A TIME OF CHANGE, A CHANGE OF TIME - A rare domestic clock with an equally rare minute hand and quarter-hour chimes reveals the changing relationship Shakespeare's audiences had to time.

Producer: Paul Kobrak.

MON 14:00 The Archers (b07m4v6r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]

MON 14:15 Drama (b07m58fk)
Brief Lives, Episode 4

Brief Lives by Tom Fry & Sharon Kelly
A judge is accused of rape. He says it is a malicious accusation because he ended the relationship. Frank is minded to believe him as he is very plausible. But then he discovers there is a personal connection. And that changes everything.

Director/Producer Gary Brown.

MON 15:00 Counterpoint (b07m5dyy)
Series 30, Heat 7, 2016

(7/13)
Paul Gambaccini is joined by amateur music lovers from London and the New Forest for the seventh heat in the 30th anniversary series of Counterpoint. Their knowledge of a wide variety music will be put to the test, as always. They'll also have to be lucky in the crucial individual round, where the topics on which they have to answer specialist questions come as a complete surprise.

The winner will go through to the semi-finals, and will compete for a place in the 2016 Final which comes from the BBC Proms in September.

Producer: Paul Bajoria.

MON 15:30 Food Programme (b07m4glv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]

MON 16:00 With Great Pleasure (b07m58fm)
Ricky Ross

The Scottish singer-songwriter Ricky Ross of Deacon Blue chooses his favourite prose and poetry at his home in Glasgow. His choices include a poem by Seamus Heaney, writing by William McIlvanney, Gerald Durrell, a monologue by musician Tom Waits and radio archive of Dundee United winning the cup.

Producer: Maggie Ayre.

MON 16:30 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b07m5dz0)
Series 14, 200 Years of Frankenstein

Brian Cox and Robin Ince mark the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. They are joined on stage by Noel Fielding, evolutionary biologist Nick Lane and writer and expert in popular culture, Sir Christopher Frayling. They'll be looking at the cultural impact of this epic novel, and the long lasting impact it has had on the perception of science and scientists. They'll also be looking at the real science behind some of the ideas about life and the the creation of life that Mary Shelley explored.

MON 17:00 PM (b07m4cs7)
Coverage and analysis of the day's news.

MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b07m4csc)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b07m5dz2)
Series 65, Episode 6

Back for a second week at the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend-on-Sea, regulars Barry Cryer and Sandi Toksvig are joined on the panel by Miles Jupp and Richard Osman with Jack Dee in the chair. Piano accompaniment is provided by Colin Sell.

Producer - Jon Naismith.

It is a BBC Studios production.

MON 19:00 The Archers (b07m5dz4)
Emma is put in a difficult position, and it is a special day for Johnny.

MON 19:15 Front Row (b07m4csh)
Arts news, interviews and reviews.

MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b07m58fc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]

MON 20:00 After the Riots (b07m5dz6)
Five years after the 2011 riots, filmmaker Isis Thompson explores the impact of the disturbances on the areas in which she grew up.

Isis has lived in Haringey all of her life, the borough where the riots started after the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan by the police. In the immediate aftermath, numerous inquiries were established to uncover the causes behind one of the worst incidents of civil unrest in recent times and consider the solutions that would prevent a recurrence.

Isis Thompson asks how much progress has been made with the numerous recommendations of the inquiries. Combining interviews with victims, rioters and community voices from Tottenham with a rich soundscape of life in one of the poorest boroughs in the country, the programme explores how life has changed for those affected by the riots and what remains to be done.

Presented by Isis Thompson
Produced by Katie Burningham

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.

MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b07lhh6x)
Syria's Secret Library

Away from the sound of bombs and bullets, in the basement of a crumbling house in the besieged Syrian town of Daraya, is a secret library. It's home to thousands of books rescued from bombed-out buildings by local volunteers, who daily brave snipers and shells to fill its shelves. In a town gripped by hunger and death after three years without food aid, Mike Thomson reveals how this literary sanctuary is proving a lifeline to a community shattered by war.

Produced by Michael Gallagher and additional research and translation by Mariam El Khalaf.

MON 21:00 Natural Histories (b07lfz5t)
Wolf

Brett Westwood meets a wolf and considers what wolfishness has come to mean in our culture and thinking. And how much does it have to do with the animal itself? Recorded at The UK Wolf Conservation Trust at Beenham, near Reading.
Taking part:
Mike Collins, wolf keeper and site manager
Claudio Sillero, Professor of Conservation Biology at the University of Oxford
Garry Marvin, social anthropologist and Professor of Human Animal Studies at the University of Roehampton
Erica Fudge, Director of the British Animal Studies Network at the University of Strathclyde
Judith Buchanan, Professor of Film and Literature at the University of York
Producer: Beth O'Dea
Photo of Mosi (l) and Torak (r) courtesy of Mike Collins.

MON 21:30 The Long View (b07m50lt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]

MON 21:58 Weather (b07m4csk)
The latest weather forecast.

MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b07m4csm)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.

MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b07m5dz8)
Reading Europe - Italy: The Parrots, Silence Equals Death

In 'Reading Europe', Radio 4 continues its journey across Europe exploring the best in contemporary literature with this hugely successful Italian satire on the murky world of literary prizes.

Three men are preparing to do battle. Their goal is a prestigious literary prize. And each man will do anything to win it. For the young Beginner, loved by critics more than readers, it means fame. For The Master, old, exhausted, preoccupied with his health, it means money. And for The Writer - successful, vain but lacking in kudos - it is a matter of life and death. As the rivals lie, cheat and plot their way to victory, their paths crossing with ex-wives, angry girlfriends, preening publishers and a strange black parrot, the day of the Prize Ceremony takes on a far darker significance than they could have imagined.
Today: as the three contestants prepare for the run-up to the Prize, one of them realises it will be his last chance for glory.


The author: Filippo Bologna won the prestigious Strega Prize in 2009 for his debut novel, How I Lost the War, and understands all too well the world of Italian literary prize-giving.
The translator: Howard Curtis has translated more than a hundred books from Italian, French and Spanish, mostly works of contemporary fiction.
The Beginner's section is read by Sam Rix
The Writer's section is read by Anthony Head
The Master's section is read by Oliver Ford Davies
Abridger: Richard Hamilton
Producer: Simon Richardson.

MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (b078y4ts)
Roald Dahl's Language

Michael Rosen on a new Roald Dahl dictionary collecting the amazing words he invented - like squackling, and wondercrump! With Dr Laura Wright and dictionary editor Dr Susan Rennie.
Producer Beth O'Dea.

MON 23:30 Digital Human (b075pm43)
Series 9, Work

In the 1st of a new series Aleks Krotoski gets down to work. From micro-taskers paid pennies to be the janitors of our digital services to car drivers jumping on the Uber bandwagon.

Aleks speaks to technology writer Kashmir Hill who spent a month as an invisible girlfriend writing loving texts to service subscribers for a few cents per message. This is just one example of 'micro-tasking' made famous by Amazon's Mechanical Turk service. For Vili Lehdonvirta of the Oxford internet institute they're examples of the hidden human effort going into services we would assume were automated. Its a new form of piece work undertaken by a causal workforce doing it where and when it suits them.

This type of work treats you like part of a system managed by algorithms an artificial, artificial intelligence. In some senses this isn't anything new as work historian Richard Donkin explains using the examples of the time and motion studies pioneered by Fredrick Winslow Taylor and later taken up by Henry Ford.

What is new is that having an algorithm as a boss runs the risk of having only the appearance of freedom and flexibility. Its what attracts people to the so called gig economy, where tasks are farmed out by the app to a willing freelance workforce. Aleks hears both sides of that experience from two people who make their living off a digital platform; one by day and the other by night.

So what promise do these new forms of digital work offer? Aleks discovers they have the potential to be both a race to the bottom for labour markets and usher in a new era for those currently unable to work.

Producer: Peter McManus.


TUESDAY 02 AUGUST 2016

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b07m4cvk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b07m58f9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]

TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b07m4cvm)
The latest shipping forecast.

TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b07m4cvp)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b07m4cvr)
The latest shipping forecast.

TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b07m4cvt)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b07n1z3l)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Sister Gemma Simmonds, CJ.

TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b07m4cvw)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by David Gregory-Kumar and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b0378x67)
Arctic Skua

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Michaela Strachan presents the arctic skua. Arctic Skuas are the pirates of the bird world and cash in on the efforts other seabirds make to find food. They are elegant birds with long angular wings, projecting central tail feathers and a hooked bill. The dashing flight of an Arctic Skua as it chases a hapless gull is always thrilling to watch.

TUE 06:00 Today (b07m5gwk)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

TUE 09:00 Reflections with Peter Hennessy (b07m5gwm)
Series 4, Episode 1

In this series, Peter Hennessy, the historian, asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. In this first programme, Michael Heseltine, one of Britain's most charismatic, controversial and dynamic politicians, reveals the experiences and motivation that fuelled his life's journey from a comfortable childhood in Swansea and student days at Oxford, to his turbulent time at the top of politics.

Never one to shun the limelight, Heseltine recalls how, as a would-be MP in his native South Wales, he engineered a clash with Aneurin Bevan, the legendary Labour orator. He also tells why he was wary of revealing that his political hero is another great Welsh radical, Lloyd George. Heseltine's hero among Conservatives is Harold Macmillan, who inspired his beliefs in 'One Nation' Toryism and Britain's role in a united Europe. After becoming an MP in 1966, he served in Edward Heath's Government in the early 1970s. He sheds fresh light on Heath's defeat and tells why, despite agreeing with Heath's pro-Europeanism and moderate Toryism, he could no longer support him in 1975.

Although Heseltine will be remembered for his part in Thatcher's fall, he casts her premiership in fresh perspective by emphasising the continuity with earlier Tory efforts to reform Britain. He explains how she was persuaded to accept his plans to regenerate London docklands and inner-city Liverpool. However, he remains convinced that he had no alternative but to resign as Defence Secretary in 1986 over Westland's future, because the Cabinet meeting had been a 'set up'.

His commitment to 'the forgotten people' in deprived areas remains undimmed, but he suspects that his legacy will be the arboretum that he and his wife, Anne, have worked on for 40 years.

Producer: Rob Shepherd.

TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b07mm4c1)
The Age of Bowie, Major Tom

Paul Morley was thirteen when he first heard the music of David Bowie, played late at night by DJ John Peel. Before long, Bowie was taking the 1970s by storm and changing the face of pop music with his Ziggy Stardust tour, and Morley was a dedicated schoolboy fan. Many years later, Morley would be an artistic advisor for the V&A's acclaimed Bowie exhibition, 'David Bowie is', which was still attracting huge visitor numbers around the world when Bowie died at the beginning of this year.

Now, Morley has published his personal account of the life, musical influence and cultural impact of his teenage hero, exploring Bowie's constant reinvention of himself and his music over a period of five extraordinarily innovative decades.

Episode 2/5: Major Tom
Morley describes Bowie's move from support act to novelty hit, from acoustic whimsy to more complex composition, and his immersion in the music, culture and artistic excitement of 1960s London

Abridged and produced by Sara Davies.

TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b07m4cvy)
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.

TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b07m5gwp)
Tinsel Girl and the Big Reunion, Episode 2

Tinsel Girl and the Big Reunion

Episode Two

Uplifting comedy drama about the life, loves and misadventures of wheelchair user Maz.
When Maz wakes up in an unfamiliar house, she quickly tries to piece together what happened the previous night.

Written by Lou Ramsden
Produced by Charlotte Riches

The drama is inspired by the adventures and experiences of Cherylee Houston.

TUE 11:00 Natural Histories (b07m5gwr)
Leech

Brett Westwood is sucked into the weird and wonderful world of the leech. It's been portrayed both as monstrous and as a medical marvel, but which is nearer the truth? Christopher Frayling doesn't think we can ever get over the fact that it's a reviled bloodsucker, just like the most famous bloodsucker of them all, Dracula - and he reveals a hidden link between the two. Bethany Sawyer and her company provide leeches for the NHS to help in reconstructive surgery, and Brett visits their leech farm for an uncomfortably close encounter. Emma Sherlock is an enthusiast for all things wormy and for the amazing abilities of the humble leech, but hearing how they used to be gathered and used could surely send a shudder down any spine..
Taking part:
Bethany Sawyer, General Manager of Biopharm
Sir Christopher Frayling, Professor Emeritus of Cultural History, Royal College of Art
Emma Sherlock, Curator of Free Living Worms at the Natural History Museum
Dr Robert Kirk, Lecturer in Medical History and Humanities at the University of Manchester
Geoffrey Whitehead, Reader
Producer Beth O'Dea.

TUE 11:30 Marc Riley's Musical Time Machine (b07m5gwt)
Series 2, Malcolm McLaren and John Lydon

The BBC's archive is justifiably and inarguably world-famous, but most of this attention and praise is showered on the musical riches it contains - all those life-changing Peel performances, seminal sessions from Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie and so on. But there's another archive that's just as diverse and rich and rewarding - the BBC's spoken work archive.

As long as there have been pop stars, the BBC has spoken to them. Here, Marc Riley and his trusty Time Machine will steer you back through the years to visit the great and the good, the famous and the infamous. In each episode, Marc travels to two different points in time and revisits two interviews that have something in common - a person or place, a shared influence or ideology, a discovery or a misunderstanding.

In this second episode of the series, we'll hear from two icons of the punk movement - Malcolm McLaren and John Lydon - who endured something of a combative, combustible relationship. It's always evident when Lydon's asked about his time in The Sex Pistols, as Radio 1's Roger Scott does in this 1989 interview. Meanwhile, in the company of David "The Kid" Jensen, Lydon's nemesis Malcolm McLaren is more than happy to spew highbrow hyperbole about how rock 'n' roll's roots lay in "darkest Africa" and it's a pagan and anti-Christian music, where you're better "learning to think with your hips, rather than with your head". He also admits that his original intention and hopes for the fledgling Pistols was to create a band to compete with The Bay City Rollers - which Lydon confirms in his chat with Roger Scott.

Both McLaren and Lydon prove to be a fascinating, frank and funny listen.

A Smooth Operations production for BBC Radio 4.

TUE 12:00 News Summary (b07m4cw0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

TUE 12:04 One to One (b01qdvl9)
John McCarthy talks to Rachel Denton

John McCarthy takes over the One to One chair to talk to people who feel themselves to be outside the mainstream; today he talks to hermit, Rachel Denton.
Talking about the series, John says, "I hope to talk to people who are living on the 'outside' of mainstream UK society. On the street they would look like anyone else but in fact they are somehow apart. I have experienced being an 'outsider' myself; on my return from captivity in Lebanon, when I'd look like any other Londoner, but would feel utterly self-conscious and confused by the world around me. I've had similar feelings following the deaths of close family members. One experience was very rare, the other universal.

I want to explore the idea of being an outsider; having conversations with others who will have walked those same private/public paths either through choice or because of circumstances beyond their control."

So what is it like being on the 'outside'? How do you cope with loneliness and feelings of being excluded? What are the attractions of removing yourself from society? What are the practicalities of such a life? How do you keep strong and maintain your hopes of coming in from the cold; or of not giving in and renouncing your solitary way?

Producer: Lucy Lunt.

TUE 12:15 You and Yours (b07m4cw2)
Call You and Yours

Consumer phone-in.

TUE 12:57 Weather (b07m4cw4)
The latest weather forecast.

TUE 13:00 World at One (b07m4cw6)
Analysis of news and current affairs.

TUE 13:45 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h666y)
Plague and the Playhouse

Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, continues his object-based history. Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.

With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.


Programme 17. PLAGUE & THE PLAYHOUSE - May 1603 saw not only a new king but the worst plague outbreak since the Black Death. Its impact and reach is told through a series of early seventeenth century proclamations.

Producer: Paul Kobrak.

TUE 14:00 The Archers (b07m5dz4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]

TUE 14:15 Drama (b07m5jw4)
Poetry in Motion

by Katie Hims

We hear the thoughts of five people sitting near each other on a train travelling to Manchester. They all get on alone but they all leave a little less so.

Director ..... Mary Peate

Katie Hims' radio plays are much loved by Radio 4 listeners. Most recently she has been the lead writer on Radio 4's Home Front and other radio dramas for the BBC include Black Dog for Radio 4 and the highly acclaimed King David for Radio 3.

TUE 15:00 Making History (b07m5nxt)
In the first in a new series of the topical history programme Helen Castor is joined by the historian of women in medieval Ireland, Dr Gillian Kenny and Dr Jennifer Redmond who lectures in Twentieth Century Irish History and is President of the Women's History Association of Ireland.

Tom Holland is in Northern Ireland, close to to the border with the Republic near Enniskillen. There are no customs officials or soldiers these days but will Brexit change that? Tom meets the historian Seamas McCannay and geographer Bryonie Reid to ask whether the 95 year-old history of a border between North and South can help us understand what the future for Britain's only physical connection with Europe might be.

Dr Bob Nicholson of Edge Hill University heads to Liverpool on the lookout for Bosom Caressers, Corpse Revivers and a real Eye Opener. These are all cocktails, described in a Victorian song which Bob has discovered in his research and which has led him to question our perception of the Victorian middle class as abstemious and upright citizens. He spends an afternoon drinking to further his historical research.

There won't be a dry eye in the house as we consider a relatively new sphere of historical endeavour - the history of emotions. Dr Thomas Dixon at Queen Mary University of London kicks off a short series by considering the history of crying and, in particular, the history of men crying.

And which character from the past do you feel that history has forgotten? We ask historians, writers and those in the public eye to suggest the overlooked individuals who really should be on the People's Plinth. Sue MacGregor suggests Ellen Kuzwayo, women's rights activist and president of the African National Congress Youth League.

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.

TUE 15:30 The Human Zoo (b07m5nxw)
Series 8, The Olympics: Why We're Hardwired To Watch

The series that looks at current events through the lens of psychology. Michael Blastland explores the quirky ways in which we humans think, behave and make decisions.

In this programme, the Zoo team are watching people, who are watching people, who are often as not going round in circles. And trying to work out what it is in the mind that makes that so compelling.

It's time for the Olympics, and we're investigating the psychology of being a sports spectator. Even if you're not watching the Rio Games, you might be curious why so many do.

Is it an animal impulse to display and enjoy watching physical skills? An instinct to compete, to tell stories? Are we drawn to the drama of the spectacle, the unknown result? Or is it a vicarious pleasure, imagining yourself at the starting block?

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

Guests this week include sports commentator Alison Mitchell, former sports reporter Lynne Truss, Daniel Glaser from King's College London, philosopher George Papineau, and motorsport presenter Gareth Jones.

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

TUE 16:00 The Curse of Open Plan (b07m5nxy)
Open plan design is everywhere. But why? Office surveys say that most workers find the layout noisy and disruptive, preventing them doing their job properly. Julian Treasure explores the extent of the problem and how unwanted noise affects our productivity, health and well-being.

How did open plan evolve from the factory floor and cubicles of the past? Does the blame rest with the economics of property development and current trends in architecture?

There are pros - the collaborative aspects, for example - but how can we resolve the cons and create better offices of the future?

Contributors include: Prof. Jeremy Myerson, Royal College of Art; Tim Oldman, Leesman Index; Richard Mazuch, architect with IBI Group; Katrina Kostic Samen, KKS Strategy; Prof Bridget Shield, South Bank University; Ian Knowles, director of acoustics at Arup.

Producer: Dom Byrne
A Greenpoint production for BBC Radio 4.

TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b07m5ny0)
Series 39, Hilary Devey on Gracie Fields

A singer and a comedienne from Rochdale, Gracie Fields was the nation's darling. But in the midst of World War II, and at the phenomenal peak of her career, our great life fell in love and married an Italian and had to flee to America. She was disowned by the British public who called her a deserter and she was slated in every newspaper.

Championing this week's Great Life is businesswoman and TV personality Hilary Devey. Helping her to unravel the life of Gracie Fields is Sebastian Lassandro, President of the Dame Gracie Fields Appreciation Society.

The presenter is Matthew Parris and the producer is Perminder Khatkar.

TUE 17:00 PM (b07m4cwd)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.

TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b07m4cwg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

TUE 18:30 The Missing Hancocks (b04pc7w2)
The Breakfast Cereal

Between 1954 and 1959, BBC Radio recorded 102 episodes of Ray Galton and Alan Simpson's comedy classic Hancock's Half Hour. The first modern sitcom, it made stars of Tony Hancock, Sid James and Kenneth Williams, and launched Galton and Simpson on one of the most successful comedy-writing partnerships in history. But 20 episodes of the show are missing from the BBC archives, and have not been heard since their original transmission nearly sixty years ago. Now, five of those episodes have been lovingly re-recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC Radio Theatre, featuring a stellar cast led by Kevin McNally as The Lad Himself.

Tonight's episode: The Breakfast Cereal. 'Tony changes his breakfast routine in search of that Zing, Pep and Get Up and Go feeling, and ends up in court.

Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, and with the classic score newly recorded by the BBC Concert Orchestra, the show stars Kevin McNally, Kevin Eldon, Simon Greenall, Robin Sebastian and Susy Kane. The Breakfast Cereal was last broadcast in April 1956.

Produced by Ed Morrish and Neil Pearson.

TUE 19:00 The Archers (b07m5qzv)
There is a chance encounter for Elizabeth, while Shula continues to agonise.

TUE 19:15 Front Row (b07m4cwj)
Arts news, interviews and reviews.

TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b07m5gwp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]

TUE 20:00 Malawi's Big Charity Secret (b07m5t51)
Simon Cox investigates the secretive world of one of Malawi's biggest charities - DAPP (Development Aid from People to People). For decades governments including the US, UK and other European nations have donated many millions of dollars to DAPP for projects ranging from sanitation to teaching. But DAPP has a big secret - it is controlled by a Danish cult-like organisation called the Teachers Group. It was set up in the 1970s and ran alternative schools in Denmark before expanding to Africa. Its members have to contribute up to a third of their salaries to 'a common economy', have to be available 24/7 under a principle called 'common time' and many complain of being 'brainwashed' by the organisation. Senior leaders of the Teachers Group are wanted by Interpol on fraud charges and are thought to be holed up in a $25m complex in Mexico. Danish investigators concluded the group has been engaged in a complex financial fraud with over 100 charities, companies and offshore shells in 50 countries used in funding the lifestyle of the leaders. Simon travels to Malawi to reveal DAPP's secrets, hearing from insiders about how it works and the toll it has taken on them and their families. He has also obtained access to a cache of documents revealing the links between the Teachers Group and DAPP and presents some of this evidence to UNICEF and DFiD.

This BBC investigation is in partnership with Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR).

Anna Meisel producing.

TUE 20:40 In Touch (b07m4cwl)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted.

TUE 21:00 Inside Health (b07m7hxy)
Dr Mark Porter presents a series on health issues.

TUE 21:30 Reflections with Peter Hennessy (b07m5gwm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]

TUE 21:58 Weather (b07m4cwq)
The latest weather forecast.

TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b07m4cws)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.

TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b07mw5n0)
Reading Europe - Italy: The Parrots, There Won't Be Any More Prizes for Me

In 'Reading Europe', Radio 4 continues its journey across Europe exploring the best in contemporary literature with this hugely successful Italian satire on the murky world of literary prizes.

Three men are preparing to do battle. Their goal is a prestigious literary prize. And each man will do anything to win it. For the young Beginner, loved by critics more than readers, it means fame. For The Master, old, exhausted, preoccupied with his health, it means money. And for The Writer - successful, vain but lacking in kudos - it is a matter of life and death. As the rivals lie, cheat and plot their way to victory, their paths crossing with ex-wives, angry girlfriends, preening publishers and a strange black parrot, the day of the Prize Ceremony takes on a far darker significance than they could have imagined.
Today: The Master makes a revelation

The author: Filippo Bologna won the prestigious Strega Prize in 2009 for his debut novel, How I Lost the War, and understands all too well the world of Italian literary prize-giving.
The translator: Howard Curtis has translated more than a hundred books from Italian, French and Spanish, mostly works of contemporary fiction.
The Beginner's section is read by Sam Rix
The Writer's section is read by Anthony Head
The Master's section is read by Oliver Ford Davies
Abridger: Richard Hamilton
Producer: Simon Richardson.

TUE 23:00 The Infinite Monkey Cage (b07m5dz0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Monday]

TUE 23:30 Digital Human (b076bz3l)
Series 9, Home

In The Digital Human: Home Aleks asks what turns a space into a place and whether we really need bricks and mortar anymore, when home can be anywhere you can go online.

Aleks visits Porter Ranch just outside of Los Angeles where residents were told to evacuate because of a gas leak. Linda Matthies decided to stay despite fears over her health. Her sense of home focuses strongly on the comforts of home and her many possessions acquired over her lifetime. Her sense of home is very much tied up with the physical.

In contrast Josh Surtees was able to create a digital space that he could call home. Josh moved to Trinidad to work as a journalist. He fell in love and when his girlfriend moved to London after two months they created a virtual home through skype and successfully continued their relationship.

In Downtown LA Aleks meets Elvina Beck a digital nomad who has started a company allowing millennials to rent a communal pod with wifi access that they can make home. For her home is mobile, as long as there is online access, home can be anywhere.

Architect Sam Jacobs understands the important link between home and identity. He argues that the division between the private realm iof home and the public realm is breaking down because people are exposing their identities online. Home is now one of the places that you can in fact broadcast your identity to a much wider audience.

Travel writer Pico Iyer realised when he saw his home in California burn to the ground that home is not about bricks or mortar or access to wifi but should be found within ourselves.

The idea of the 21st entury house, is not actually that old so will digital technologies change how and were we decide to live in the future.

Produced by Kate Bissell.


WEDNESDAY 03 AUGUST 2016

WED 00:00 Midnight News (b07m4cyv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b07mm4c1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]

WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b07m4cyx)
The latest shipping forecast.

WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b07m4cyz)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b07m4cz1)
The latest shipping forecast.

WED 05:30 News Briefing (b07m4cz3)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b07n0mxl)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Sister Gemma Simmonds, CJ.

WED 05:45 Farming Today (b07m4cz5)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by Sybil Ruscoe and produced by Mark Smalley.

WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b02txxkl)
Dotterel

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the dotterel.

Dotterels are waders, rather like small plovers with a broad white-eye stripe. In the UK, they're almost confined as breeding birds to the Scottish Highlands. They don't tend to fly away when approached which led our ancestors to believe that they are stupid. "Dotterel" derives from the same source as "dotard" and this tameness meant that the birds were easy prey for Victorian collectors.

WED 06:00 Today (b07m782v)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

WED 09:00 Bringing Up Britain (b07m782x)
Series 9, Episode 3

Mariella Frostrup and guests focus on the challenge of long-distance parenting.

Many parents do not see their children on a daily basis - on account of divorce or separation, or perhaps the pressures of working away from home or the demands of military deployment, or because the children attend a boarding school. So how do parents attempt to bridge the gap - and how much influence can they have?

Producer Emma Kingsley.

WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b07mm7tv)
The Age of Bowie, Ziggy Plays Guitar

Paul Morley was thirteen when he first heard the music of David Bowie, played late at night by DJ John Peel. Before long, Bowie was taking the 1970s by storm and changing the face of pop music with his Ziggy Stardust tour, and Morley was a dedicated schoolboy fan. Many years later, Morley would be an artistic advisor for the V&A's acclaimed Bowie exhibition, 'David Bowie is', which was still attracting huge visitor numbers around the world when Bowie died at the beginning of this year.

Now, Morley has published his personal account of the life, musical influence and cultural impact of his teenage hero, exploring Bowie's constant reinvention of himself and his music over a period of five extraordinarily innovative decades.

Episode 3/5: Ziggy Plays Guitar
Morley remembers the excitement of first seeing Bowie in concert as the Ziggy Stardust tour cut through the country trailed by headlines.

Abridged and produced by Sara Davies.

WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b07m4cz7)
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.

WED 10:41 15 Minute Drama (b07m782z)
Tinsel Girl and the Big Reunion, Episode 3

Tinsel Girl and the Big Reunion

Episode Three

Uplifting comedy drama about the life, loves and misadventures of wheelchair user Maz.

Maz is flathunting, but quickly discovers that finding a suitable place to rent is all the more complicated when you're a wheelchair user. Nevertheless she's looking forward to a fresh start with Verity at her side.

Written by Lou Ramsden
Produced by Charlotte Riches

The drama is inspired by the adventures and experiences of Cherylee Houston.

WED 10:55 The Listening Project (b07m7831)
Fi Glover introduces another intimate and revealing conversation.

WED 11:00 After the Riots (b07m5dz6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Monday]

WED 11:30 Guilt Trip (b07m7833)
Episode 2

Comedy drama in which Felicity Montagu (Lynn in Alan Partridge and Mrs Mainwaring in the Dad's Army fiilm) and her daughter (Olivia Nixon) play a mother and daughter doing a two week sponsored walk along The Thames Path to raise money for the dead father's charity. But the mother and father had been divorced for nine years and he had re-married, so relationships between them all have been strained. Things come to a head at any mention of the French Oak gable table Ros and her now dead ex bought to-gether in Camden. This has somehow ended up in the step-mother's house, much to Ros's annoyance: "I mean she sits at it! It's my table and she sits at it." The series is co-written by Katherine Jakeways who also plays the step-mother.

It's day six of the walk and Ros is concerned that they aren't doing enough to revive the bond between them, while Laura is worried that she doesn't have a passion and focus in her life. Will they both find what they are looking for?

Also starring Tim Key and Javone Prince. The producer was Jane Berthoud, it was a BBC Radio Comedy production.

WED 12:00 News Summary (b07m4cz9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

WED 12:04 One to One (b01qhqrv)
John McCarthy meets Afghan refugee Rafi

John McCarthy talks to those who by accident or design, feel they live outside mainstream British society. Today he talks to Rafi, who fled to this country from Afghanistan in 2011, after working as an interpreter for the allied forces. Rafi explains how he took on the role in the hope of improving relations in his country but in fact it left him isolated from his home community and the people he worked for. Threats from the Taliban caused him to flee his homeland and to seek asylum here. After eighteen months of isolation in this country, he has now gained refugee status and can look for work but he explains the loneliness he feels living on the outside and away from his home, his friends and family.
Producer: Lucy Lunt.

WED 12:15 You and Yours (b07m4czc)
Consumer affairs programme.

WED 12:57 Weather (b07m4czf)
The latest weather forecast.

WED 13:00 World at One (b07m4czh)
Analysis of news and current affairs.

WED 13:45 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h73pq)
London Becomes Rome

Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, continues his object-based history. Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.

With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.

Programme 18. LONDON BECOMES ROME - A set of designs for the Coronation Procession of James I reveals the extent of classical knowledge amongst Shakespeare's audience.

Producer: Paul Kobrak.

WED 14:00 The Archers (b07m5qzv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]

WED 14:15 Drama (b07m7hvl)
Dad

When 18 year old Joel is given full-time care of his baby daughter Mia for two weeks, it doesn't turn out to be quite the easy ride he expected. In fact, being solely responsible for this perfect, tiny, beautiful baby - his baby - is probably the hardest thing he has ever done. He knows that for once in his life, he really can't mess up. Written by Sarah McDonald Hughes.

Directed by Charlotte Riches.

WED 15:00 Your Money and Your Life (b07m43rd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]

WED 15:30 Inside Health (b07m7hxy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]

WED 16:00 Self's Search for Meaning (b07dknm1)
Science

Where does the modern Briton look to find meaning? Many take their lead from key figures in Science, in Philosophy or in Faith, whose beliefs seem compelling - resounding in song, fashioned in stone and beamed into packed presentation halls... But away from the noise, what's actually at the core of the ideas being conveyed? Are they as forceful, distilled to their essence, and can they really imbue our lives with purpose?
In a three part series, Will Self asks some of Britain's key opinion makers to share, in simple terms, their conclusions about the nature - and meaning - of our existence. In the absence of certainty, what is it exactly that strengthens their convictions, and how do these inform their everyday actions? How do we live well, in service to a higher purpose - and can we find meaning without one?
With contributors including Dr. Rowan Williams, Alain de Botton and Baroness Susan Greenfield, Self explores three fields of human comprehension, before probing their foundations in open, lively and searching discussion.
Episode breakdown:
1. Leaders of Science - 06/06 tx date
2. Leaders of Thought - 13/06
3. Leaders of Faith - 20/06.

WED 16:30 The Media Show (b07m4czm)
Topical programme about the fast-changing media world.

WED 17:00 PM (b07m4czp)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.

WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b07m4czr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

WED 18:30 I've Never Seen Star Wars (b05108h0)
Series 6, Dame Kelly Holmes

Marcus Brigstocke persuades his guests to try new experiences: things they really ought to have done by now. Some experiences are loved, some are loathed, in this show all about embracing the new.

Dame Kelly Holmes, a self-confessed chocoholic, tries her first deep fried Mars bar, but will she try the chocolate covered scorpion? And to conquer her fear of drowning, she tries hypnotherapy.

WED 19:00 The Archers (b07m7j2t)
Susan stands her ground, and at Brookfield things seem to be looking up.

WED 19:15 Front Row (b07m4czt)
Arts news, interviews and reviews.

WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b07m782z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:41 today]

WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b07m7j2w)
Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk. With Giles Fraser, Claire Fox, Matthew Taylor and Anne McElvoy.

WED 20:45 David Baddiel Tries to Understand (b07m7lmk)
Series 2, The US Electoral System

David Baddiel tries to get to grips with the US electoral system.

2016 has seen lots of twists and turns in American politics, and David isn't the only one to have found them confusing. So after a tweet from Susie Dent, David sets out to understand what has been going on. He starts by speaking to an academic expert on American politics, which doesn't completely clear things up. So he asks the US Ambassador to London, Matthew Barzun, to help clear up a few points, and comes away from the meeting with more than just a better understanding of the process: the Ambassador shows David how he can get involved.

Producer: Giles Edwards.

WED 21:00 Stalking under Scrutiny (b07m7lmm)
'Stalking' - repeated, unwanted contact or intrusive behaviour from another person which causes fear or distress - affects huge numbers of people. The public perception is that only celebrities are the victims of stalkers, but over the course of their lives twenty per cent of women in Britain will have been stalked. It is often, though, difficult to confirm stalking and to take action against its perpetrators. Stalkers range from the socially inadequate to delusional and psychotic; but they are all singularly and pathologically persistent. Dr Raj Persaud explores the present situation and asks what more can be done. He hears from psychiatrists, psychologists, the police and victims of stalking. Some have been stalked for over 40 years. Raj Persaud also examines how to stop stalkers and prevent them from reoffending.

WED 21:30 Bringing Up Britain (b07m782x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]

WED 21:58 Weather (b07m4czw)
The latest weather forecast.

WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b07m4czy)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.

WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b07mw5yn)
Reading Europe - Italy: The Parrots, Tell Me What I Have to Do

In 'Reading Europe', Radio 4 continues its journey across Europe exploring the best in contemporary literature with this hugely successful Italian satire on the murky world of literary prizes.
Three men are preparing to do battle. Their goal is a prestigious literary prize. And each man will do anything to win it. For the young Beginner, loved by critics more than readers, it means fame. For The Master, old, exhausted, preoccupied with his health, it means money. And for The Writer - successful, vain but lacking in kudos - it is a matter of life and death. As the rivals lie, cheat and plot their way to victory, the day of the Prize Ceremony brings things to an unexpected conclusion.
Today: as rumours fly about which author is ahead in the votes, the Writer's dark secret takes on even greater significance ...

The author: Filippo Bologna won the prestigious Strega Prize in 2009 for his debut novel, How I Lost the War, and understands all too well the world of Italian literary prize-giving.
The translator: Howard Curtis has translated more than a hundred books from Italian, French and Spanish, mostly works of contemporary fiction.
The Beginner's section is read by Sam Rix
The Writer's section is read by Anthony Head
The Master's section is read by Oliver Ford Davies
Abridger: Richard Hamilton
Producer: Simon Richardson.

WED 23:00 Expenses Only (b07m7lmp)
Journalism

Put away your P45, you're not going to need it - it's Expenses Only. Our two young interns Tim and Miranda face the responsibility of interning interns, the incredulity of old rivals and the banality of local Amateur Dramatics, as they long to progress from their internship in the tough world of journalism.

Expenses Only is a narrative sketch show by new writer Alex Lynch, centred around internships and the world of work experience.

In each episode, the show's two leading twenty-something protagonists, Tim (enthusiastic worker) and Miranda (jaded graduate), attempt to break into a different industry through a series of increasingly challenging placements.

The series is made up of an ensemble cast and is also tied together using linking sketches, signature ad-breaks and the Narrator who, with his deadpan delivery and wry commentary, guides us through the schadenfreude and chaos that unravels across an episode.

Cast:
Tim... Rasmus Hardiker
Miranda... Lucy Beaumont
Narrator... Robert Glenister
Player... Kathryn Bond
Player... Simon Bubb
Player... Beth Goddard
Player... Matt Green
Player... Simon Greenall
Player... Christine Kavanagh
Player... Paul G Raymond
Player... Lorna Shaw
Player... Kellie Shirley
Player... Tom Glenister

Recorded live at Bush Hall, London.

Creator / Writer: Alex Lynch
Additional material by Charlotte Michael
Director: Celia De Wolff
Executive Producer: Peter Hoare
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.

WED 23:15 Domestic Science (b07m7lmr)
Episode 3

A heady combination of maths, science and comedy with Festival of The Spoken Nerd trio who are stand up Mathematician Matt Parker, Physicist Steve Mould and Physicist and musician Helen Arney. It's science that you can play along with at home as the team look at domestic phenomena that we relate to on a day to day basis.

In this episode the surprising musicality of Hot Chocolate is demonstrated, we find out when stats are funny and provide a lullaby to time travel to.

Producer... Julia McKenzie

A BBC Studios Production.

WED 23:30 Digital Human (b07756bg)
Series 9, Taste

Food is a universal necessity, human brains light up more for food than any other experience, so it's little wonder that food culture has exploded online. Social media is festooned with pictures, recipes, cooking videos and we can't seem to ever get enough.

But, is the digital world doing more than getting our mouths watering? Could technology be changing the very way we taste?

In this episode, Aleks Krotoski explores how food trends develop and shape our culture and spread on social media, as well as exploring new tech that may change the way we eat - from 3D printed delights, to Chef Watson who creates recipes in the cloud, and even how we might manipulate our brains to change how we perceive flavour.

Producer: Elizabeth Ann Duffy.


THURSDAY 04 AUGUST 2016

THU 00:00 Midnight News (b07m4d20)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b07mm7tv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday]

THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b07m4d24)
The latest shipping forecast.

THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b07m4d26)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b07m4d28)
The latest shipping forecast.

THU 05:30 News Briefing (b07m4d2b)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b07n2c1m)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Sister Gemma Simmonds, CJ.

THU 05:45 Farming Today (b07m4d2d)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by Felicity Evans and produced by Sally Challoner.

THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b02ty8nj)
Red-necked Phalarope

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the red-necked phalarope.

Red-necked phalaropes are among our rarest waders, small and colourful with needle-like bills and they breed in very limited numbers on the edges of our islands. There are probably only around 20 pairs of these birds in summer in the Outer Hebrides or Shetlands.

THU 06:00 Today (b07mmb87)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

THU 09:00 Inside the Ethics Committee (b07m7n0g)
Series 12, Permanent Vegetative State: Withdrawing Nutrition and Hydration

A young man, Ben, is critically injured in a road traffic accident and is left in a coma.

The family are desperate to save him but, despite the efforts of his medical team, he doesn't recover.

He emerges from a coma into a vegetative state. He fluctuates between periods of sleep and wakefulness but is completely unaware of his surroundings.

After a year, the vegetative state he is in is deemed to be permanent.

Unable to articulate his wishes himself, Ben's family consider what is in his best interests. They believe he would find his day-to-day existence intolerable.

He can breathe for himself so the only treatment keeping him alive is the nutrition and hydration that he receives through a feeding tube into his stomach.

With no prospect of recovery, is it ethical to withdraw the nutrition and hydration that is keeping him alive?

Producer: Beth Eastwood

Photo Credit: Joe Raedle / Getty Images.

THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b07mmb89)
The Age of Bowie, The Berlin Years

Paul Morley was thirteen when he first heard the music of David Bowie, played late at night by DJ John Peel. Before long, Bowie was taking the 1970s by storm and changing the face of pop music with his Ziggy Stardust tour, and Morley was a dedicated schoolboy fan. Many years later, Morley would be an artistic advisor for the V&A's acclaimed Bowie exhibition, 'David Bowie is', which was still attracting huge visitor numbers around the world when Bowie died at the beginning of this year.

Now, Morley has published his personal account of the life, musical influence and cultural impact of his teenage hero, exploring Bowie's constant reinvention of himself and his music over a period of five extraordinarily innovative decades.

Episode 4/5: The Berlin Years
After the fast and furious years of the late sixties and early seventies, Bowie moves to Berlin, where his music, and his life, changes once again.

Abridged and produced by Sara Davies.

THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b07m4d2g)
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.

THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b07m7npf)
Tinsel Girl and the Big Reunion, Episode 4

Tinsel Girl and the Big Reunion

Episode Four

Uplifting comedy drama about the life, loves and misadventures of wheelchair user Maz.

Feeling shattered by their hectic social life, Maz begins to suspect that her friendship with Verity is not the perfect partnership she hoped for after all.

Written by Lou Ramsden
Produced by Charlotte Riches

The drama is inspired by the adventures and experiences of Cherylee Houston.

THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b07m7pl0)
Venezuela

Reports from around the world.

THU 11:30 As the Curtain Falls (b07m7nph)
Marie-Louise Muir looks back on 25 years of New York's influential Signature Theatre company with founder Jim Houghton as he prepares to step aside as Artistic Director.

While not as famous as the writers and actors with whom he works, Jim Houghton has become a much-respected figure in New York theatre over the past three decades. Signature Theatre started life in a tiny storefront in downtown Manhattan spurred on by Jim's mission to put the writer at the heart of everything the company did. Signature was unique in its commitment to devote an entire season to the work of a living playwright and Jim has worked with some of the most important, and often under-appreciated, American writers of the past half century, including Romulus Linney, Edward Albee, Horton Foote, Adrienne Kennedy, Sam Shepard, Arthur Miller, Maria Irene Fornes, August Wilson and Tony Kushner.

A little-known 24 year old who earned his first professional pay cheque during the Edward Albee season in 1994, Hollywood actor Edward Norton has stayed loyal to the company, becoming their Board Chairman and working alongside Jim and others to raise the funds to build the $70 million 3-theatre space that opened on 42nd Street in 2012.

In June of this year, Marie-Louise Muir travelled to New York to speak with Jim Houghton as he prepared to mark the end of his tenure at Signature. They talked at length about his formative years, the ill health that has prompted his decision to move on, and the perhaps surprising career path of an undiagnosed dyslexic with severe reading problems who ended up spending 25 years championing writers and their words.

Featuring contributions from actors Edward Norton and Laura Linney, and New York Times chief theatre critic Ben Brantley.

Producer: Stan Ferguson.

THU 12:00 News Summary (b07m4d2j)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

THU 12:04 One to One (b04xp159)
Adrian Goldberg on Mixed Marriage

In two (repeated) interviews for One to One, broadcaster Adrian Goldberg - who is married to a British Asian woman - explores the topic of mixed marriage.

The dry facts, from the Office of National Statistics, state that "Nearly 1 in 10 people living in as a couple were in an inter-ethnic relationship in 2011".*

Now Adrian brings this statistic to life as he meets two people who married outside their own faith or cultural background, across different decades.

In this first programme he meets Tara Bariana. Tara arrived in England from India in the 1960s and was, in his words, an illiterate 13 year old who couldn't speak English. He was expected to marry a Punjabi girl, but went against his family's wishes when he met and fell in love with Beryl, the daughter of a Baptist minister. Adrian hears Tara's story, and finds out what happened next.

*figures from the 2011 census.

Producer: Karen Gregor.

THU 12:15 You and Yours (b07m4d2l)
Consumer affairs programme.

THU 12:57 Weather (b07m4d2n)
The latest weather forecast.

THU 13:00 World at One (b07m4d2q)
Analysis of news and current affairs.

THU 13:45 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h75y2)
The Theatres of Cruelty

Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, continues his object-based history. Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.

With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.

Programme 19. THE THEATRES OF CRUELTY - A human eyeball in a silver setting provides a striking insight to the theatre of cruelty in Elizabethan and Jacobean Britain.

Producer: Paul Kobrak.

THU 14:00 The Archers (b07m7j2t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]

THU 14:15 Drama (b07m7qhz)
The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, This Is Not a Rubbish Boy

A new two-part dramatisation of Alexander McCall Smith's latest No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency book, 'The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine'. Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi return to Radio 4 for a new two-part adventure based on the popular novels set in Bostwana, dramatised by the author.

Episode 1: This is Not a Rubbish Boy
Mma Ramotswe has to come to terms with one of the most difficult situations that she has ever faced - taking a holiday.

Written and dramatised by Alexander McCall Smith.
Directed by Gaynor Macfarlane.

THU 15:00 Open Country (b07m7qj1)
Orkney Wildlife in Crisis

The Orkney Isles are one of the best places for wildlife in the country. Species such as seals and puffins which are hard to find in other parts of the UK can often be spotted in Orkney with ease. Helen Mark visits to discover for herself the incredibly rich beaches, cliff tops and moorland on the islands. Despite the display of rare species on offer Helen finds that even here marine life is increasingly threatened by an array of problems and once thriving populations are now in decline. She talks to Martin Gray, the Orkney beachcomber who has dedicated his life to cleaning up the shores of his home. She learns how to capture the flight of the Arctic Tern on paper with artist Tim Wooton. Helen visits the 'sea bird city' at Marwick Head and discovers how their decline, as well as that of the harbour seal, is being tracked using mobile technology. Can conservationists learn enough about the feeding habits of the most threatened species to halt the decline? The nature lovers of Orkney continue to hope they can.

THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b07m4gc2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]

THU 15:30 Open Book (b07m4q7x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]

THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b07m7rmd)
Alex Cox on Sid & Nancy, Don Paterson on Marlon Brando

With Antonia Quirke.

To mark its 30th anniversary release, the director of Sid & Nancy, Alex Cox reveals his regrets about his Sid Vicious bio-pic. And why he almost cast Daniel Day-Lewis as the punk icon.

In a new series, award winning poet Don Paterson talks us through some of the great speeches in cinema history, beginning with one of the most quoted of all time - Marlon Brando declaring he coulda been a contender in On The Waterfront.

THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b07m4d2s)
Adam Rutherford explores the science that is changing our world.

THU 17:00 PM (b07m4d2v)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.

THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b07m4d2x)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

THU 18:30 Simon Evans Goes to Market (b07m7rmh)
Series 3, Marriage

Simon Evans' comedy lecture on four of the big life stages that mark our journey through life and how economics is part of every one of those stages, whether we like it or not.

As always, he is joined by Financial Times columnist and presenter of Radio 4's 'More or Less', economist Tim Harford, and by financial guru and editor of Money Week, Merryn Somerset Webb.

This week Simon looks at Marriage. Is it all romance and flowers and living in harmony? Or is it in fact the most commercial of transactions, riddled with economic calculations from beginning to end. And talking of the end, what are the economic effects of divorce on the ex-happy couple?

Also on stage are Andy and Sophie who are preparing for their wedding. Simon mercilessly picks apart their every decision - from an economics point of view of course.

Special guest is Dr Maria Sironi who talks about her research paper Happiness, Housework and Gender Inequality in Europe.

Presenter: Simon Evans, with Tim Harford and Merryn Somerset Webb
Special guest: Dr Maria Sironi
Written by Simon Evans, Benjamin Partridge and Andy Wolton.
Producer: Claire Jones.

THU 19:00 The Archers (b07m7jqk)
Ed feels positive about the future, and Lilian supports a friend.

THU 19:15 Front Row (b07m4d2z)
Arts news, interviews and reviews.

THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b07m7npf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]

THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (b07m7rmk)
Trump's Shock Troops

Why has Donald Trump clinched the Republican Party nomination despite angering a long list of key groups of American voters? Part of his success can be explained by an element of his political base, the "alt-right". It's a mostly young, disparate movement which organises and congregates online, and its supporters have little in common with traditional Republicans. They are tribal and mostly sceptical about religion. They yearn for a strong leader and they loathe political correctness with a passion. Some are leading figures in the white supremacist movement, a development that frightens many mainstream Republicans who promised a more inclusive party after Mitt Romney's defeat four years ago. And in an interesting twist, some of the leading voices in the movement come from Britain.

In this episode, David Aaronovitch finds out more about the alt-right - who are they, what do they believe, and for the next four months what role will they play in the Trump campaign and American politics at large?

THU 20:30 In Business (b07m7rmm)
Chattanooga - the High Speed City

Chattanooga has been re-inventing itself for decades. In the late 1960s Walter Cronkite referred to the city as "the dirtiest in America". Since then heavy industry has declined and, to take its place, civic leaders have been on a mission to bring high-tech innovation and enterprise to Chattanooga. In 2010 the city became the first in America to enjoy gig speed internet following an investment of a couple of hundred million dollars from its publically-owned electricity company, EPB. What economic and psychological benefits has super-fast internet brought to this mid-sized city in Tennessee? Has the investment in speed paid off?
Presenter Peter Day
Producer Rosamund Jones.

THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b07m4d2s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]

THU 21:30 Lives in a Landscape (b06nrzqt)
Series 21, 13/11/2015

When pensioners Viv and Fred Morgan read about a teenager committing suicide clutching her teddy, they decided to act - turning their home into a school to help other bullied kids.

They took their Bed and Breakfast in Hatton, Warwickshire and turned rooms into classrooms and built recreation and therapy facilities in the grounds. Now they have 17 pupils attending, more than half of whom have tried to take their own lives in the past.

Children aged between 11 and 16 can be referred by their local authorities and most stay for about a year. At first they often struggle with the curriculum but gradually they join classes - with 22 full and part time teachers covering everything from Science and English through to Photography GCSE.

Fred was 90 when they founded Northleigh House School but even now, four years on, he has no interest in retiring and Viv agrees: "We're not people who sit back and do nothing. When we heard of the situation facing youngsters we just knew we should try and help."

Alan Dein meets pupils and also those who have successfully taken their GCSEs and moved back into mainstream for 6th form. Ruth was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome when she was 12 and struggled so desperately with school that she wanted her life to end. When she eventually arrived at Northleigh it took her weeks to develop the trust and build up the energy needed to attend lessons. Now she has her sights set on applying to study law at University:

"When I first walked in here it was like being at a friend's house. I didn't know what to expect but I saw the fire in the grate and the welcoming feel of the place. It has been the best thing that has happened to me coming here and I wish others knew it existed and could help them as well."

Producer Susan Mitchell.

THU 21:58 Weather (b07m4d31)
The latest weather forecast.

THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b07m4d33)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.

THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b07mw63k)
Reading Europe - Italy: The Parrots, You Have to Become a Work of Art

In 'Reading Europe', Radio 4 continues its journey across Europe exploring the best in contemporary literature with this hugely successful Italian satire on the murky world of literary prizes.

Three men are preparing to do battle. Their goal is a prestigious literary prize. And each man will do anything to win it. For the young Beginner, loved by critics more than readers, it means fame. For The Master, old, exhausted, preoccupied with his health, it means money. And for The Writer - successful, vain but lacking in kudos - it is a matter of life and death. As the rivals lie, cheat and plot their way to victory, the day of the Prize Ceremony brings things to a shocking denouement.
Today: While the Master is sensing his own mortality, and the Beginner looks back on an infidelity, the Writer enjoys some not very veiled threats from his publisher....

The author: Filippo Bologna won the prestigious Strega Prize in 2009 for his debut novel, How I Lost the War, and understands all too well the world of Italian literary prize-giving.
The translator: Howard Curtis has translated more than a hundred books from Italian, French and Spanish, mostly works of contemporary fiction.
The Beginner's section is read by Sam Rix
The Writer's section is read by Anthony Head
The Master's section is read by Oliver Ford Davies
Abridger: Richard Hamilton
Producer: Simon Richardson.

THU 23:00 Daphne Sounds Expensive (b07m7vzj)
Murder

In this last episode of the series, the gang must solve a mysterious murder on the Yorkshire Moors.

Join critically-acclaimed sketch trio, Daphne, as they pull out all the stops in a dazzling array of peculiar characters, whacky scenarios, dodgy remarks, curious observations, minor altercations and major peacemaking - served on a bed of catchy little numbers with a live nine-piece band.

Written by and starring: Jason Forbes, Phil Wang & George Fouracres

Featuring Sir Willard White & David Elms

Original music composed by Jeff Carpenter

Orchestrator: Simon Nathan

Musical Director: Freddie Tapner

Piano: Jeff Carpenter
Drums: Ben Hartley
Bass: Rob Grist
Percussion: Ben Burton
Trumpet: Michael Maddocks
Tenor Sax: Greg Sterland
Trombone: Elliot Pooley
Violin: Hannah Bell
Cello: Nick Squires

The Production Coordinator was Hayley Sterling

It was produced by Matt Stronge

It was a BBC Studios production.

THU 23:30 Digital Human (b0785rmt)
Series 9, Wayfinding

Aleks Krotoski compares our intuitive way-finding skills to those of the digital world and finds out why describing the best way from A to B still poses problems for tech.

Simon Wheatcroft is an adventurer who's run all over the world and at distances that would make marathon runners shudder, he's also blind, he explains how he combined the sensations he gets underfoot with notifications from his fitness app to learn to run solo.

Combining cues from the world around you to find your way is Tristan Gooley's passion. As the Natural Navigator he uses anything natural or man made not only to find out where he is but where he's going. He eschews all navigational tools; maps compasses as well as digital devices in the belief that the head down follow the dot mentality they foster impoverishes our experience of the journey itself.

Thora Tenbrink from Bangor University explains why the directions we receive from our devices often feel so alien that we really have to focus to make sense of them. While tech can use street names and exact distances, humans are vague navigators heading in the general direction and using landmarks. The two approaches aren't always that compatible.

Our natural way-finding abilities can let us down though when we're under stress. Professor David Canter has been studying behaviour in emergency evacuations for much of his career, he explains the sometimes odd and contradictory things we resort to when trying to escape a disaster. So should we look to technology to come to the rescue? We hear from researchers at Georgia tech who explored how far participants would trust a robot to save them from a burning building - apparently quite a lot!

Producer: Peter McManus.


FRIDAY 05 AUGUST 2016

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b07m4d4q)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b07mmb89)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday]

FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b07m4d4s)
The latest shipping forecast.

FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b07m4d4v)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b07m4d4x)
The latest shipping forecast.

FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b07m4d4z)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b07n2rp5)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Sister Gemma Simmonds, CJ.

FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b07m4d51)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by Felicity Evans and produced by Sally Challoner.

FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b0378xyd)
White-tailed Eagle

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Michaela Strachan presents the white-tailed eagle. These magnificent birds, sometimes called the sea eagle, are our largest breeding bird of prey and in flight have been described as looking like a "flying barn-door". The adults have white tail feathers, a bulky yellow bill and long parallel-sided wings: they really do deserve that barn door description.

FRI 06:00 Today (b07n2t4n)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b07m4gls)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Sunday]

FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b07mmbk9)
The Age of Bowie, Shape-shifter

Paul Morley was thirteen when he first heard the music of David Bowie, played late at night by DJ John Peel. Before long, Bowie was taking the 1970s by storm and changing the face of pop music with his Ziggy Stardust tour, and Morley was a dedicated schoolboy fan. Many years later, Morley would be an artistic advisor for the V&A's acclaimed Bowie exhibition, 'David Bowie is', which was still attracting huge visitor numbers around the world when Bowie died at the beginning of this year.

Now, Morley has published his personal account of the life, musical influence and cultural impact of his teenage hero, exploring Bowie's constant reinvention of himself and his music over a period of five extraordinarily innovative decades.

Episode 5/5: Shape-shifter
As he embraces new technology and takes on roles beyond the simply musical, Bowie steps back from the limelight until he emerges at the end of his life to stun the musical world with his final album.

Written and read by Paul Morley
Abridged and produced by Sara Davies.

FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b07m4d53)
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.

FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b07m7z0p)
Tinsel Girl and the Big Reunion, Episode 5

Tinsel Girl and the Big Reunion

Episode Five

Uplifting comedy drama about the life, loves and misadventures of wheelchair user Maz.

Maz is desperate to get Rachel back but there is the small matter of finding her first.

Written by Lou Ramsden
Produced by Charlotte Riches

The drama is inspired by the adventures and experiences of Cherylee Houston.

FRI 11:00 Swapping Psalms for Pop Songs (b07m7z0r)
Mark Vernon explores the phenomenon of the Sunday Assembly.

Founded in London in 2013 by comedians Pippa Evans and Sanderson Jones, the Sunday Assembly has grown rapidly in three years to have over 70 'parishes' around the world.

A secular congregation with a motto of 'live better, help often, wonder more', it piqued the interest of many after it was described by Sanderson Jones as The Atheist Church. By borrowing aspects of organised religion but dropping God, they secularise the church service providing gentle reflections, inspiring stories and rousing pop songs in place of prayers, sermons and hymns.

Mark talks to founders Sanderson and Pippa and tries to get to the heart of the Sunday Assembly, considering how well the term Atheist Church explains the nature of the organisation, and what it offers that other secular gatherings might not.

He speaks to Professors Linda Woodhead, Grace Davy and Isaac Gagne about the Assembly's global spread from the UK to America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and asks if the Sunday Assembly can gain any lasting traction beyond the Christian-shaped west.

We hear from the President of the National Secular Society Terry Sanderson, vicar Dave Tomlinson and Free Church of Scotland minister David Robertson about some criticisms directed at the Sunday Assembly from those with and without faith.

Mark - a psychotherapist and philosopher - investigates this seemingly paradoxical movement and considers the role it has played in the lives of attendees and the outlook for its future.

Producer: Sarah Harrison
A Smooth Operations production for BBC Radio 4.

FRI 11:30 Start/Stop (b07m7z0t)
Series 3, Therapy

Start/Stop is a sitcom by Jack Docherty about three marriages in various states of disrepair.

Barney and Cathy have been married for ages and it shows, Evan and Fiona's marriage is one big, noisy argument and David is old enough to be Alice's father.

Start/Stop follows the story of these three couples as they try to make the best of their marriages and friendships, and the characters are able to stop the action, explain themselves to the audience and start it all up again.

This week: 'Therapy', where all the couples end up seeing the same therapist, played by Sanjeev Bhaskar.

Evan and Fiona are already in therapy to tackle their issues with conflict - mostly over where they should keep the keys. Cathy wants Barney to go to a therapist too, as he keeps calling out Alice's name in his sleep. And during their session, David tries to distract the therapist, who he suspects is having his own lustful thoughts about Alice.

Written by: Jack Docherty
Producer: Claire Jones.

FRI 12:00 News Summary (b07m4d55)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

FRI 12:04 One to One (b04yftkm)
Adrian Goldberg on Mixed Marriage

In the second of three editions of One to One, broadcaster Adrian Goldberg - who is married to a British Asian woman - explores the topic of mixed marriage. Today Adrian meets Rosalind Birtwistle, a Christian woman who married a Jewish man in the 1970s.

Producer: Karen Gregor.

FRI 12:15 You and Yours (b07m4d57)
Consumer news and issues.

FRI 12:57 Weather (b07m4d59)
The latest weather forecast.

FRI 13:00 World at One (b07m4d5c)
Analysis of news and current affairs.

FRI 13:45 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h7cdr)
Shakespeare Goes Global

Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, brings to an end his object-based history. During the past four weeks he has taken artefacts from William Shakespeare's time and explored how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.

With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asked what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. Carefully selected objects shed light on the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and revealed much about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.

In this, the final programme of the series, Neil considers how William Shakespeare made the transition from successful playwright to possibly the greatest dramatist the world has known

Programme 20 SHAKESPEARE GOES GLOBAL - The publication of the First Folio of Shakespeare's collected plays in 1623 began the process of turning an early modern playwright into a global phenomenon. An annotated copy of the Collected Works of Shakespeare reveals the extent to which Shakespeare has inspired and influenced audiences across the globe and through the ages.

Producer: Paul Kobrak.

FRI 14:00 The Archers (b07m7jqk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]

FRI 14:15 Drama (b07m7z0w)
The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine

A new two-part dramatisation of Alexander McCall Smith's latest No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency book, 'The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine'. Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi return to Radio 4 for a new two-part adventure based on the popular novels set in Bostwana, dramatised by the author.

Episode 2: The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine
Mma Ramotswe is technically on holiday from the Agency but that does not stop her from stepping in to rescue an orphaned boy, or from taking on an important case.

Written and dramatised by Alexander McCall Smith
Directed by Gaynor Macfarlane.

FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b07m7z0y)
Potting Shed Edition

Horticultural panel show. The panel offers horticultural advice to listeners at this year's Summer Garden Party Potting Shed sessions from Edinburgh Botanic Gardens.

FRI 15:45 Best Girl Friends (b07m7z10)
Finding a new best friend isn't easy in this fresh, contemporary and specially commissioned story by the new and exciting literary talent, Abigail Ulman. Lydia Wilson reads.

Abigail Ulman was born and grew up in Australia. Her debut collection, Hot Little Hands was published in June 2016.

Produced by Elizabeth Allard.

FRI 16:00 Last Word (b07mwrch)
Obituary series, analysing and celebrating the life stories of people who have recently died.

FRI 16:30 More or Less (b07m7z12)
Series that investigates the numbers in the news.

FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b07m7z14)
Fi Glover introduces another intimate and revealing conversation.

FRI 17:00 PM (b07m4d5h)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.

FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b07m4d5k)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

FRI 18:30 The Museum of Curiosity (b07mzt4s)
Series 9, Godley, Wainwright, Taylor

This week, the Professor of Ignorance John Lloyd and his new curator Noel Fielding welcome the comedian, actor, writer pub landlady and 2006 runner up for the 'Scotswoman of the Year' award Janey Godley; a scientist whose controversial research supports the theory that alien bacteria are constantly bombarding the Earth from outer space, Dr Milton Wainwright; and the author and award-winning man behind mask Number Eight in the iconic heavy metal band Slipknot Corey Taylor, whose list of books includes: You're Making Me Hate You: A Cantankerous Look at the Common Misconception That Humans Have Any Common Sense Left.

This week, the Museum's Guest Committee speculate on Dogs From The 1970s; a little CD tray that collects germs from the stratosphere; and the phenomenon of deep fried food.

The show was researched by Mike Turner and Anne Miller of QI.

The producers were Richard Turner and James Harkin.

FRI 19:00 The Archers (b07m7jqp)
Anna makes her next move, and Eddie makes a bad situation worse.

FRI 19:15 Front Row (b07m4d5m)
News, reviews and interviews from the worlds of art, literature, film and music.

FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b07m7z0p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]

FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b07m7z18)
Political debate and discussion.

FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b07m7z2s)
A reflection on a topical issue.

FRI 21:00 Promises, Promises: A History of Debt (b07mmcn0)
Omnibus Episode 2

Anthropologist David Graeber explores the history of debt from the use of virtual money in the medieval period and the rise of the slave trade, to the financial crash of 2008. He draws on his years of groundbreaking research to deliver a series that challenges established wisdom over the banking system, the moral power of debt and even the very definition of money itself.

In this second episode, David takes us back to the medieval period when coinage largely disappeared and money become virtual. He reveals the importance of debt during the conquest of South America and the birth of the modern world economy.

David goes on to explore the influence of debt during the birth of capitalism and the centrality of debt to the slave trade. The conventional view is that the innovations during the birth of capitalism led to greater material prosperity enabling us to lead happier lives. David argues that, in fact, these times were marked by extraordinary levels of war and violence. He goes on to examine the rise of virtual money since the 1970s and the power of international creditors such as the IMF.

To conclude, David analyses the financial crash of 2008 and more recent debt crises in the context of the long history of debt. David argues that we are currently living in the early years of a new era in which physical money - cash passing from hand to hand - will be replaced by virtual money. There have been many eras of virtual money over the past 5000 years and David says we cannot yet know what this latest phase will mean as we are just a few decades years into a historical epoch likely to last 500 years.

Presenter: David Graeber
Producer: Max O'Brien
A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.

FRI 21:58 Weather (b07m4d5p)
The latest weather forecast.

FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b07m4d5r)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.

FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b07mw6fm)
Reading Europe - Italy: The Parrots, The Road to Immortality

In 'Reading Europe', Radio 4 continues its journey across Europe exploring the best in contemporary literature with this hugely successful Italian satire on the murky world of literary prizes.
Three men are preparing to do battle. Their goal is a prestigious literary prize. And each man will do anything to win it. For the hip young goateed Beginner it means fame. For The Master, a dehorned old bull, it means money. And for The Writer - successful, vain but lacking in kudos - it is a matter of life and death. As the rivals lie, cheat and plot their way to victory, the day of the Prize Ceremony takes on an even darker significance.
Today: as the Beginner struggles with the fallout from his infidelity, the Writer is still contemplating just how far he will go to win the Prize....

The author: Filippo Bologna won the prestigious Strega Prize in 2009 for his debut novel, How I Lost the War, and understands all too well the world of Italian literary prize-giving.
The translator: Howard Curtis has translated more than a hundred books from Italian, French and Spanish, mostly works of contemporary fiction.
The Beginner's section is read by Sam Rix
The Writer's section is read by Anthony Head
The Master's section is read by Oliver Ford Davies
Abridger: Richard Hamilton
Producer: Simon Richardson.

FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b07m5ny0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]

FRI 23:27 Digital Human (b078xpfd)
Series 9, Lost and Found

From lost cameras, dogs, cats, phones and people, we are turning to the web to find what we have lost. Aleks explores whether you are more likely to find what you've lost using online social networks? Are we as connected as we think we are? Or does it make more sense to step out of the digital world and search with the help of physical social networks?

Produced by Kate Bissell.

FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b07m7z1b)
Fi Glover introduces another intimate and revealing conversation.