The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
In 1997, Bella Bathurst began to go deaf at the age of 28. Within a few months, she had lost half her hearing, and the rest was slipping away. She wasn't just missing punchlines, she was missing most of the conversation - and all of the jokes. For the next twelve years deafness shaped her life.
Sound draws on this experience, exploring the practical and emotional impact of losing your hearing, and what it teaches you about listening and silence, music and noise.
By 2009, Bella has made her peace with her hearing loss. She's found ways to cope, and ways to be happy. And she assumes this is the way life will always be. Then a routine visit to her audiologist changes everything.
Read by Adjoa Andoh
Abridged by Jo Coombs
Produced by Hannah Marshall
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rania Hafez, founder director of the professional network 'Muslim Women in Education' and a member of the Muslim institute.
iPM is the news programme that starts with its listeners. Email ipm@bbc.co.uk. Twitter: @BBCiPM. Presented by Luke Jones and Eddie Mair.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
The latest weather forecast.
Clare Balding embarks on the second leg of the Nidderdale Way , a 53 mile circular walk that begins and ends in the North Yorkshire town of Pateley Bridge.
Today she's joined by the Rev Darryl Hall and Methodist minister, Mike Poole, who work and walk together regularly , known locally as the Ant and Dec of the church. Mike's wife Julia also comes along with the map to ensure they stay on track. This section of the walk takes them through the small hill village of Middlesmoor. Its church, St Chads, boasts of having one of the best views in Britain and Clare believes the community can also brag about their very excellent public conveniences.
For this series Clare is using OS Explorer 298, starting reference for this walk 066 766, and the Harvey map of The Nidderdale Way.
Producer: Lucy Lunt.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
The latest weather forecast.
News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Actor Adrian Lester, star of Sky drama Riviera; TV presenter and author of The Reassembler, James May; record breaking hula hooper and author of The Girl Guide, Marawa Ibrahim; plus cocktail gardener Lottie Muir from the Midnight Apothecary.
Yasmeen Khan dresses up as a radio presenter to talk to the people who put on the costumes and make-up of their favourite TV and film characters and gather together in halls and hotels for cosplay and costuming.
Many of these events, or Comic Cons, are huge with thousands of people flocking to mingle with each other and with some of the film and television stars who turn up to sign autographs, pose for photographs and top up their incomes.
But what do the so-called cosplayers get out of this? Costumes can be time-consuming and expensive, particularly as many cosplayers take pride in making their outfits as close to the real thing as possible. The bigger events can also be expensive. Yet many cosplayers will insist the costume world has changed their lives they have become more confident, have a secure social circle and all have a great deal of fun.
Yasmeen follows Star Wars cosplayer Beth Gourlay as she and her eight-year-old son Alexander son get ready for Digi-Con in Doncaster. Mum and son talk about what cosplay means to them as Beth helps Alex into his armoured Batman costume, making running repairs with needle and thread - and superglue. We also meet Kerry who is dressed as Ursula the Sea Witch from The Little Mermaid and Julian - a perfectly terrifying Darth Vader.
A few weeks later, Yasmeen travels to Margate to meet Thanet Cosplay founder Victoria Johnson and cosplay mover and shaker Scott Mason. She also talks to a principal Dalek, Barnaby Edwards, and C.A.T.S. Eyes actress Roz Landor, who made one appearance in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Producer: Neil Rosser
A Spools Out production for Radio 4.
Nick Robinson assesses developments in the election campaign.
Reports from writers and journalists around the world. Presented by Kate Adie.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
A Money Box listener tells how her best buy car insurance renewal quote jumped from £582 to £919 after she changed her status from married to divorced while keeping her former husband as the named second driver. Graeme Trudgill, Executive Director of the British Insurance Brokers' Association explains the so-called "divorce premium."
A tax which is added to many insurance bills is set to rise on June 1. Insurance Premium Tax which covers pets, cars and home contents will increase from 10% to 12%. There will be no extra on travel insurance which is already taxed at the higher rate of 20% and life insurance is exempt.
Hywel Williams from Plaid Cymru, Green Party MEP Molly Scott Cato and Sir Vince Cable from the Liberal Democrats outline their party's personal finance plans ahead of the General Election. Manifesto pledges include a living pension, a universal basic income and ending the married couples' tax allowance.
As new figures suggest that London rents have fallen for the first time in eight years - what's happening to prices beyond London and if that fall continues, will people who rent notice any difference financially? Johnny Morris, Research Director at Countrywide and John Bibby, Senior Policy Adviser with Shelter, discuss.
Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporter: Vivienne Nunis
Producer: Charmaine Cozier
Editor: Andrew Smith.
Jeremy Hardy, Holly Walsh, Suzi Ruffell and Andrew Maxwell are Miles' guests for another round of News Quizzing.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate from Crickhowell High School in Powys, Wales, with the Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care for Plaid Cymru in the Welsh Assembly, Rhun ap Iorwerth, the Brexit Secretary David Davis, the Shadow Defence Secretary Nia Griffith and the political journalist and author Isabel Oakeshott.
Any Answers after the Saturday broadcast of Any Questions?. Email any.answers@bbc.co.uk. Tweet,#BBCAQ. Follow us @bbcanyquestions.
Lines open at 1230 on Saturday 03700 100 444.
Presenter Anita Anand
Producer: Maire Devine
Editor Eleanor Garland.
As part of BBC Radio 4's Defoe season, Ben Miles stars as the chameleon writer, businessman, debtor and hack, Daniel Defoe. In 1722, hoping to keep his creditors at bay, Defoe begins his fictional 'journal' of the Great Plague of 1665. But he soon comes to be haunted by the people he is conjuring.
Dramatised by Michael Butt
Directed by Emma Harding.
An intimate portrait of the songwriter, singer and frontman of the new wave rock band XTC, Andy Partridge.
Brought up on a council estate in Swindon, Andy Partridge's escape from the poverty of his working class upbringing followed a classic path - art and music. At 15, he enrolled in what he calls the 'art floor' of the local college - Swindon didn't boast an actual art college. Then, he discovered the magnetic power of carrying around his Dad's old guitar. He didn't even have to play it to find himself the centre of attention.
In the years that followed - and in the wake of the punk explosion - he tasted celebrity and success with his band XTC. His curious vocal style and angular compositions were distinctive and influential. XTC built a cult status with songs such as Making Plans for Nigel and Senses Working Overtime, as well as albums including the acclaimed Skylarking.
But Swindon didn't lose Andy for long, despite the lure of London and New York. He lives there still, now with his American partner. And he's still writing songs - including for the recent album by the reformed Monkees.
In this programme, he talks about the trajectory of his career and the 'art blood' that has consistently flowed through his veins.
Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
[Photo courtesy of Kevin Nixon, Prog Magazine].
Charlotte Harris tells us about creating her first ever Show Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower show after five years of helping other designers behind the scenes. She heads an all female design team with her garden influenced by the forests and waterways of the Canadian Boreal.
In a new series looking at the experiences of children of alcoholics, we hear from Lynne who grew up in Yorkshire with an alcoholic mother who died 12 years ago from complications caused by her drinking.
Hilary Henriques the CEO of the National Association for Children of Alcoholics discusses the complexities of growing up with a parent addicted to alcohol.
Megan Hunter talks about her debut novel The End We Start From, a story about a woman who gives birth to her first child in the middle of a life-changing environmental crisis.
The Chief Operating Officer of Facebook Sheryl Sandberg talks about the loss of her husband Dave who died suddenly two years ago.
The songwriter, arranger, producer and television film composer Anne Dudley, has been awarded the Performing Rights Society for Music Outstanding Contribution to British Music at the Ivor Novello awards. She talks about some of her work including ABC's Lexicon of Love and the music for Poldark.
And Zoe Adjonyoh Cooks the Perfect Pan Fried Tilapia, a Ghanaian inspired dish.
Presented by Jenni Murray
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed
Editor: Jane Thurlow.
Full coverage of the day's news.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Clive Anderson and Scottee are joined by Meera Syal, Anthony Head, Alistair McGowan and Rhyannon Styles. With music from Ron Sexsmith and Mykki Blanco.
Producer: Paula McGinley.
Mark Coles profiles the director David Lynch, whose classic TV series Twin Peaks has just returned to the screen after 25 years.
Obsessed with drawing and painting from an early age, Lynch's mother didn't even allow him colouring books in case they halted his artistic development. Despite dropping out of art school, Lynch first made his name with surreal short films before directing the cult hit Eraserhead. There was further success with The Elephant Man and Blue Velvet before Twin Peaks brought his work to a mainstream TV audience.
Alongside his film work, Lynch has also produced paintings, photographs of abandoned factories, musical collaborations, and even designed nightclubs. A continual stream of creative output fuelled by Transcendental Meditation.
John Boyega plays the title role in Woyzeck; an updating of a 19th century German play about a man driven mad by circumstances. How well has the Star Wars actor adapted to the stage? And has Jack Thorne - who adapted Harry Potter for the theatre - made the play relevant for today's audience?
Finnish film director Aki Kaurasmaki's latest film is The Other Side of Hope - told in his trademark low key, quiet manner, it deals with a refugee arriving in Helsinki.
There's a new TV version of The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel, coming to Channel 4. It's had rave reviews in the US, will it beguile our reviewers?
Turkish/American writer Elif Batuman's latest novel The Idiot is set over the course of one year in a student's life at Harvard in the late 1980s. Her academic pursuits and longing for love are revealed in the novel (which intentionally shares its title with Dostoevsky)
California Designing Freedom is a new exhibition at London's Design Museum celebrating the enormous range of items designed in The Golden State. It ties together the explosion in design with the hippy movement and mind-expanding drugs.
Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Louise Doughty, Giles Fraser and Maev Kennedy. The producer is Oliver Jones.
Recorded on location in Manhattan, screen siren Kathleen Turner celebrates the enduring mystique of the femme fatale.
Turner, who famously played the husky-voiced femme fatale Matty walker in the steamy thriller Body Heat, traces the history of the Femme Fatale in cinema and in film noir where she was so often a central character.
Film noir always come to the fore during moments of deep cultural anxiety. And the character of the femme fatale shines a revealing light on the role of women in society and the relationship between the sexes.
It was towards the end of the Second World War that noir first emerged as a style of filmmaking. These were gritty thrillers that exposed the dark underbelly of the American Dream. In films such as Double Indemnity, Out Of The Past and The Postman Always Rings Twice, the femme fatale was the intelligent but heartless seductress who entrapped the male protagonist, for her own murderous and financial gain.
In the late 70s and early 80s, America experienced another moment of deep cynicism following the Vietnam war and filmmakers returned to film noir, with Kathleen Turner's Matty Walker as the ultimate neo noir femme fatale character in Body Heat. These films, not content with the racy innuendo of 1940s noir, shocked and thrilled audiences with explicit sex scenes. But through her typical tough dame talk, Matty Walker also draws attention to the underestimation of women by men.
With contributions from Eddie Muller (President of the Film Noir Foundation), Professor Ellis Cashmore and Nick James (Editor of the BFI's Sight and Sound magazine), Kathleen introduces standout performances from Lauren Bacall, Barbara Stanwyck, Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford and Lana Turner.
The film noir femme fatale was a wonderfully meaty role for an up-and-coming Hollywood actress, such as British star Peggy Cummins. Now 91, she reflects on her role as the femme fatale in Joseph H. Lewis' Gun Crazy about an ambitious fairground sharp-shooter who goes on a bank robbing spree with her trigger-happy husband.
Julie Grossman (author of Rethinking The Femme Fatale in Film Noir) argues that we make blithe and easy reference to femmes fatales without considering their social and psychological context. Many 1940s femmes fatales in film noir were deeply interesting characters who felt trapped, bored or led deeply unfulfilling lives.
Kathleen argues that, despite great advances in gender equality since the 1940s, the femme fatale will always be relevant "because men will always be terrified of women."
Producer: Victoria Ferran
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
A reimagined version of August Strindberg's 1888 stage play by Roger James Elsgood, starring Sofie Grabol, Lars Mikkelsen, and Marie Bach Hansen.
Strindberg's Miss Julie concerned a well-bred woman from the land-owning classes who has a one-night stand with her father's valet, Jean. Over the course of a midsummer night, Julie and Jean discuss their different stations in life and, emboldened by alcohol, she goads Jean to cross the social, economic and sexual lines that divide them and seduces him into her bed. Following their lovemaking, the axis of their relationship reverses - he now has power over her as she realises she is vulnerable to exposure and disgrace. Julie becomes conflicted about the implications of their deed and, with no one else to turn to, relies on Jean for advice. Jean is concerned about losing his job and he contrives a lethal scenario which best serves his needs.
In this new version, the themes that lead to the dramatic denouement are not so much those of social class, status, and breeding, but gender, identity and sexual orientation - issues that Victorian-era audiences were not ready for, but which are being openly debated today.
The production was recorded on location in a 19th-century country house in Ballerup on the island of Zealand in Denmark.
Written by August Strindberg
Adapted by Roger James Elsgood
Director: Willi Richards
Producer: Roger James Elsgood
An Art and Adventure production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
How will we become wealthy in future? Presenters Leo Johnson and Timandra Harkness journey to New York and the Arabian Gulf to discover how our understanding of wealth is changing. They explore new definitions of wealth, and find out how old money plans to hang on to its wealth in the face of challenges from technology and social tensions between generations.
Producer: Jonathan Brunert.
A funny and dynamic quiz show hosted by Steve Punt - this week from the University of Roehampton with specialist subjects including Anthropology, Law and Linguistics and questions ranging from brachiation and morphemes to Xanadu via Kanye West and Sir Philip Sydney.
The programme is recorded on location at a different University each week, and it pits three Undergraduates against three of their Professors in an original and fresh take on an academic quiz.
The rounds vary between Specialist Subjects and General Knowledge, quickfire bell-and-buzzer rounds and the Highbrow and Lowbrow round cunningly devised to test not only the students' knowledge of current affairs, history, languages and science, but also their Professors' awareness of television, sport, and quite possibly Justin Bieber. In addition, the Head-to-Head rounds see students take on their Professors in their own subjects, offering plenty of scope for mild embarrassment on both sides.
Other Universities featured in this series include Queen's University Belfast, Hull, Derby, Liverpool and St John's College Cambridge.
Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
Roger McGough presents a selection of listeners' requests for poems about being lost. Suggestions range from poems that guide you through the forests' depths, to those reflecting inner labyrinths.
Producer: Eliza Lomas.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
A writer in an unnamed city struggles to stay focused on his work. This new story from Philip O Ceallaigh is inspired by the Ramones cover of Tom Waits' song.
Read by Robin Laing
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
This week's Bells on Sunday, comes from the church of St Andrew's and St George's West, in Edinburgh. This Grade A listed building was completed in 1784 and serves the city's New Town Parish.
The tower holds a peal of eight bells cast by William & Thomas Mears of London in 1788. The tenor weighs fourteen and a half hundredweight and is tuned to E.
We hear now part of a full peal of Marlborough Surprise Major.
The latest national and international news.
As the UK election approaches, Mark Tully seeks truth in a post-truth world. He considers how to recognise what is true among a cacophony of conjecture and, in the company of author Howard Jacobson, how fiction might lead us to truth. They agree that we live in times when the search for truth is particularly important - but more difficult than ever.
With help from the words of Mahatma Gandhi, Emily Dickinson, Joseph Goebbels and Lewis Carroll, Mark examines just how slippery the concept of truth can be, and how an untruth told often enough, with enough conviction, can become credible.
Or, as that great believer in manufactured truth, Humpty Dumpty, would have it, "when I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean."
Producer: Adam Fowler
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4.
In an year when trade deals and the future of farm support are at the front of British farmers' minds, Nancy Nicolson travels to New Zealand to hear from one ambitious producer about how farming for the market has been second nature for Kiwis, ever since farm subsidies were removed by their Government in the 1980s.
Will Anderson is the sixth generation to farm lush flat land near Palmerston North in North Island, but he's the first of the Morrison family to expand the business into hill land where he now runs sheep and Hereford cattle - the seed stock for the finishing business further down the hill .
He is investing heavily because he is confident about the future. And he says he is proud that he farms in the free market where efficiency is paramount.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
Sunday morning religious news and current affairs programme presented by Martin Bashir.
Samira Ahmed makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Acid Survivors Trust International.
Registered Charity Number 1079290
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. (That's the whole address. Please do not write anything else on the front of the envelope). Mark the back of the envelope 'A S T I'.
- Cheques should be made payable to 'Acid Survivors Trust International'.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
A service of reflection from St Ann's Church in the centre of Manchester, not far from Manchester Arena where the bomb attack killed 22 people. Led by the Revd Nigel Ashworth. Director of Music: Simon Passmore; Producer: Stephen Shipley.
Howard Jacobson reflects on his home city's response to the Manchester attack.
What confronts the city now, he says, is dealing with the fact that the perpetrator came from within itself.
"All our cities shelter the same boy", he writes, "studiously immersed in the same story. And if we didn't know it before, stories can kill".
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
Ashley Davies of the Slimbridge Wetland Centre reveals why a kingfisher changed his life.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer Miles Warde.
Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.
Lilian is keen to help, and Pip needs some distance.
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the Turkish writer Elif Shafak.
Elif Shafak has published ten novels and several volumes of non-fiction and her work is translated into 47 languages. She is the most widely read female novelist in Turkey today.
Born in 1971, she was raised by a single working mother and also, for the first ten years of her life, by her grandmother in Ankara. Her mother's job as a diplomat led to a move to Madrid when Elif was ten years old - and so began a peripatetic life which has taken her to places as diverse as Jordan and Germany, the United States and finally to London where she has lived for the past seven years.
Elif wrote her first novels in Turkish, but began writing in English shortly after the start of the new millennium. English, she says, has given her a new freedom to write about sensitive issues in Turkey. Her books draw on diverse cultures and reflect her interest in history, philosophy, spiritualism and Sufism. One commentator has said of her work: "Stepping into the writing of this Turkish-born author for the first time is like breaking through the back of a children's wardrobe and walking into a whole new multicultural world of lives and histories - and, above all, fabulous stories."
She is a regular columnist both for English as well as Turkish papers and also writes lyrics for rock musicians.
Producer: Sarah Taylor.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Just A Minute is 50 years old this year! Nicholas Parsons has been hosting since day one, and presides over the following all-star panel: Paul Merton, Pam Ayres, Zoe Lyons and Julian Clary.
The panel have to talk on a given subject for sixty seconds without repetition, hesitation or deviation. How much does Pam know about New York City? Julian gives us everything he's go on Julius Caesar, Zoe talks about her love of pick 'n' mix, and Paul tells us about his strong point.
Hayley Sterling blows the whistle and it was produced by Matt Stronge.
Just A Minute is a BBC Studios production.
Sheila Dillon takes a journey into the culinary use, history and the latest medical findings about turmeric.
Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a member of the ginger family of plants - and its rhizome, the part mainly used in cooking, has a deep orange-golden colour that marks it out. Responsible for this distinctive hue is the bioactive compound, curcumin. Turmeric - and curcumin - have attracted a lot of attention in recent years, and much has been claimed about medicinal properties. In India, where most turmeric is still grown, turmeric - or haldi - has long been revered and widely used both as an essential savoury food ingredient and as a medicine, with the golden rhizome being particularly valued within the ancient medical system of Ayurveda.
Sheila investigates the health claims about turmeric and curcumin, talking to Dr Michael Mosley - former GP and presenter of BBC Two's Trust Me I'm A Doctor, about his team's recent research findings. Sheila also hears about an article published last month in British Medical Journal Case Reports, and speaks to its co-author Professor Jamie Cavenagh, a leading expert on blood cancer - and one of his patients Dieneke Ferguson, who turned to curcumin after all conventional treatment for her cancer was stopped. Also featuring in the programme are cook and food writer Monisha Bharadwaj - author of The Indian Cookery Course, Susie Emmett - radio producer who went to Andhra Pradesh, India, on the turmeric trail, as well as Dr Stephen Harris, Druce Curator of the Herbaria at Oxford University.
Presenter: Sheila Dillon
Producer: Rich Ward.
The latest weather forecast.
News and analysis presented by Mark Mardell including election latest.
Eric Robson presents a postbag edition of the show from the Chelsea Physic Garden. Matthew Wilson, Matt Biggs and Pippa Greenwood answer the horticultural questions.
This week the questions come from listeners' correspondence on topics such as aiding an ailing Gunnera, planting a bog garden, and controlling a wandering Tayberry. They panel also offers advice on tending to a mammoth Magnolia and managing the suckers on a plum tree.
Matthew Wilson takes a tour around Chelsea Flower Show in order to sniff out some useful tips for the home gardener.
Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Laurence Bassett
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
Fi Glover with chats between a refugee and volunteer who met in the Calais Jungle, sisters whose love of dance influences their lives, and members of the band Brand New Friend, all in the Omnibus edition of the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
Alistair McGowan, Morgana Robinson, Sian Phillips and Al Murray star in George Bernard Shaw's classic tale of Eliza Doolittle, the Cockney flower girl who is trained by professor of phonetics, Henry Higgins, to pass as a duchess.
Directed by Emma Harding.
Mariella Frostrup talks to the award winning novelist Tim Winton about his latest book of essays The Boy Behind The Curtain.
The prolific Australian writer, best known for novels Breath, Cloudstreet and Dirt Music, has remained steadfastly private about his life, lived away from the literary spotlight in a small town north of Perth.
In The Boy Behind The Curtain, Tim Winton explores stories from his formative years which shaped and formed him as a writer; from his father's near fatal accident, to his enduring love for the ocean and riding the waves.
Roger McGough presents a selection of listeners' requests for poems on the theme of work; praising meaningful days, night shifts and tool boxes. Today's programme features poets Liz Berry, William Letford and Caleb Parkin reading their own works, and others from Carolyn Wells, Phillip Levine and U. A Fanthorpe.
Producer: Eliza Lomas.
Headlines involving abuse in care homes normally centre on allegations against staff, but is aggression among residents being overlooked?
With homes increasingly taking care of those with more complex needs such as dementia and other mental health disorders, are staff able to cope with some who have challenging behaviour?
File on 4 has found evidence that some residents are suffering serious assaults by others living in the same home. Some have died from their injuries. Allan Urry investigates the unsolved killing of one dementia patient.
Are workers skilled enough to recognise and deal with aggression, before it becomes violent, and should the NHS and local authorities be doing more to support them?
When the perpetrators themselves often have little understanding of what they have done due to the nature of their illness-are they also being let down? The programme reveals failures in the system that could have cost lives.
Reporter: Allan Urry
Producer: Emma Forde
Editor: Gail Champion.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Broadcasters choose their BBC Radio highlights.
There are some new faces at Home Farm, and Lilian just will not give up.
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present a satirical round-up of election news and comment from comedians, journalists and commentators...
Joining Steve and Hugh for hustings - Jake Yapp, Ellie Taylor, Luke Kempner and Emma Sidi.
Recorded mere hours before transmission, the Now Show team look across the political spectrum, giving their own unique take on the election news and shenanigans.
Produced by Adnan Ahmed
BBC Studios Production.
Lynne Truss observes the inhabitants of Meridian Cliffs, on the south coast of England.
When Hugh Velvey's carpet shop mysteriously burns down, it attracts the attention of rookie reporter, Lauren. A fan of Truman Capote and American crime reportage, she finds herself drawn to the gutted, blackened warehouse in the small, bleak wind-battered town, and dreams of writing her breakthrough piece for a British Sunday supplement.
Then a gruesome discovery is made in a Turkish rug.
Directed by Kate McAll
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
Can security services follow everyone known to them?
The attack on Manchester Arena took place exactly four years since the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich. Back in 2013 we broadcast an interview with the former Head of MI5, Dame Stella Rimmington, about the difficulties of monitoring people who have been flagged up to the services. We are re-visiting that interview.
Chances of ending up in a care home
There are around 11.6 million people over the age of 65 in the UK, but how many need social care services? A listener got in chances to say that he was 72 - what are the chances that he will need social care services in his lifetime? We look at the numbers of people in both residential care and receiving formal care services in the home currently.
Penalty shoot outs update
A few weeks ago we explained UEFA's new procedure for carrying out penalty shoot outs. We bring news of how that system is playing out, and how a loyal listener has spotted a famous pattern in Blur's song, 'Girls and Boys'.
Stop sneak peak access
For years statisticians have been calling for an end to the practice of allowing ministers and officials to see official numbers before everyone else. Why does it matter? We tell the strange tale exploring whether economic data is leaked to City traders before its official publication. Could pre-release access to Government statistics be behind strange movements on financial markets? With help from Mike Bird of the Wall Street Journal, and Alex Kurov of the University of West Virginia, we take a look at the evidence.
Also - a tribute to Sir Roger Moore.
Andrea Catherwood on
Sir Roger Moore the actor and film star best know for his portrayal of British secret agent 007, James Bond
Brendon Duddy, the businessman from Derry who played a key but unsung role in the Northern Ireland peace process hosting secret talks between MI6 and the IRA.
Osmund Reynolds, a founder of neo-natal medicine who's pioneering work changed the outcome for a generation of premature babies.
Nina Lowry, the first women to become an Old Bailey judge, who helped toughen up sentencing on sex crimes.
Roger Ailes the controversial figure who conceived and ran Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Network for two decades before being ousted over sexual harassment claims.
For decades the UK has not produced enough engineers. What's been going wrong? Is education at fault or does engineering have an intractable image problem? Engineering is a very male world. If that changes, might its recruitment problem disappear? Ruth Sunderland visits businesses with innovative schemes aimed at reversing the trend, and meets students, teachers and industry leaders. Who will be the engineers of the future?
Producer: Rosamund Jones
(Image: Ruth Sunderland. Credit: Mark Richards).
Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.
With Francine Stock
Francine talks to director David Michod about War Machine, his big budget satire on the U.S. military starring Brad Pitt, which is having its premiere on-line. He tells Francine why he really doesn't mind that it's only playing in a handful of cinemas.
The debate about big screen versus small screen raged this year at the Cannes film festival when the logo of an on-line film and TV company was booed at a premiere. Film buyer Clare Binns and critic Tim Robey tell Francine if they joined in the booing.
Rungano Nyoni was born in Zambia and raised in Wales. Her debut feature, I Am Not A Witch, premiered at Cannes, and she reveals what it was like to get the red carpet treatment.
Heavy drinking, existential malaise and deadpan humour characterise the films of director Aki Kaurismaki. Critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh tells us five things we should know about the Finnish auteur.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Doctors at War: a candid account of a trauma surgical team based, for a tour of duty, at a field hospital in Helmand, Afghanistan. Laurie Taylor talks to Mark de Rond, a professor of organizational ethnography at Cambridge University, about the highs and lows of surgical life in a morally ambiguous world in which good people face impossible choices and in which routines designed to normalize experience have the unintended effect of highlighting war's absurdity. The doctor and reporter, Saleyha Ahsan, joins the discussion.
Also, Dr Nadia Llanwarne, Research Fellow at the Department of Primary Care at the University of Cambridge, discusses her study of patient's fears of wasting their GP's time.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rania Hafez, founder director of the professional network 'Muslim Women in Education' and a member of the Muslim institute.
Charlotte Smith talks to the agricultural spokespeople of the Green Party and Plaid Cymru, at the start of a week looking at the rural manifesto pledges of the various political parties. What are they promising farmers and rural communities, as election day approaches?
We also hear about the re-opening of a piece of rural heritage in Oxfordshire.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Emma Campbell.
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
David Salmon of the Slimbridge Wetland Centre on the song of the woodlark.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer Miles Warde.
News and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Tom Sutcliffe presents Start the Week live from the Hay Festival.
He is joined by award winning authors Colm Tóibín, Sebastian Barry and Meg Rosoff to discuss how they breathe new life into stories from the past, from Greek tragedy to civil war, while the psychologist Jan Kizilhan explains how a history of trauma and genocide has been woven into the story of his Yazidi community.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
The alliance between man and horse lasted 6,000 years, shaping life in town and country. Ulrich Raulff's engaging, brilliantly written and moving discussion of what horses once meant to human civilisation.
The relationship between horses and humans is a profound and complex one. For millennia, horses provided the strength and speed that humans lacked. How we travelled, farmed and fought was dictated by the needs of this extraordinary animal. And then suddenly, in the 20th century, the links were broken and the millions of horses that shared our existence almost vanished, eking out a marginal existence on race-tracks and pony clubs.
Cities, farmland and entire industries were once shaped as much by the needs of horses as humans. The intervention of horses was fundamental in countless historical events. They were sculpted, painted, cherished, admired. They were thrashed, abused and exposed to terrible danger.
From the Roman Empire to the Napoleonic Empire, every world-conqueror needed to be shown on a horse. Tolstoy once reckoned that he had cumulatively spent some nine years of his life on horseback.
Ulrich Raulff's book, a bestseller in Germany, is a superb monument to the endlessly various creature who has so often shared and shaped our fate.
Written by Ulrich Raulff
Translated by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp
Read by Iain Glen
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
Knitting and embroidery are crafts that have traditionally been done at home by women for centuries, but are still hugely popular today. Hannah Hill and Louise Walker are two young women who have taken these disciplines and applied a modern twist of their own.
Ceramicist Lisa Slinn contacted us to talk about how craft saved her life after tragedy struck.
So what if the craft you enjoy needs some bigger facilities or space? Gym membership style shared studios are a growing phenomenon in the UK, Tallie Maughan is the founder of one that was set up in London and has which just expanded to meet demand.
Chris Oram is a Woman's Hour listener who talks about finding the freedom to make and create, and how it has helped her as she approaches 70.
And if you want to sell your crafts - how is the best way to go about it? Amy Phipps gives some top tips.
Photo credit Sabrina Dallot-Seguro
Producer: Corinna Jones
Editor: Karen Dalziel.
Tanika Gupta's comedy drama series about the highs and lows of enterprise, starring Meera Syal. Fresh from her first flush of success, Bindi takes on an exciting new business venture in property development but discovers that Slough just isn't ready for her visionary micro-pods.
Directed by Nadia Molinari.
Corpus Christi Church in Oldham and its parish priest Father Heakin face an uncertain future. The Diocese of Salford proposes to close a quarter of its churches and Corpus Christi is on the shortlist. Due to a shortage of priests and lack of attendance in certain parishes, the Bishop calls it "pruning for growth". The parishioners are fighting the decision.
Father Dermot Heakin (also a windsurfer and a musician) leads a busy parish life. We follow him around the community on his pastoral activities. But as Christmas approaches, apprehension grows as both priest and congregation await the Bishop's final verdict about the future of their church. Grace Dent presents
Producer Neil McCarthy.
by Ed Harris
Comic adventures with Dot and the gals who are tasked with a top secret mission in the countryside. A German plane crashes nearby, will this be Dot's big chance for promotion?
Producer/Director, Jessica Mitic.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
On this day in 1917, the national press were allowed to publish the news that Folkestone was the centre of a great air raid, and locally, the first seven funerals for victims took place.
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
Dementia is now the leading cause of death in England and Wales. Alzheimer's Disease is thought to account for 70% of all cases of dementia and is predicted to affect many more of us, as we live longer and healthier lives. But how much understanding do we have of why some people suffer and others don't, and what can be done to prevent it? The neuroscientist Joseph Jebelli has written a book, In Pursuit of Memory, which explores the history of dementia and where we've reached in the quest for a cure.
In early December 2015 Storm Desmond brought severe gales and heavy rainfall to southern Scotland, the north of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Thousands of flooded homes were evacuated and power was lost across large parts of the north of England. But eighteen months on, some people still haven't been able to return to their homes. We hear one woman's experience as she struggles to make her flood-damaged home habitable. A national charity that supports flood victims tells us that many people have been unable to get the help they need.
For many years the great department stores represented the peak of retailing but now questions are being asked about whether they have a future at all. Last month Debenhams announced they are to close ten stores. Over the next five years Marks and Spencer have said they could potentially close thirty, and earlier this year family owned department store Fenwick closed one of its eleven shops because of competition from online shopping. We examine what the future might hold for the UK's department stores, what they need to do to survive, and what their place could be in the retail landscape of the future.
Presenter: Shari Vahl
Producer: Jonathan Hallewell.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
How should we best use our time? Bettany Hughes visits a centre of industry, a 98 year old philosopher and a theoretical physicist to find out.
With John Clayson Keeper of Science and Industry at Newcastle's Discovery Museum, Professor for the Public Understanding of Philosophy Angie Hobbs, 98 year old moral philosopher Mary Midgley, and theoretical physicist and author Seven Brief Lessons on Physics Carlo Rovelli.
Producer: Dixi Stewart.
Ms Sherman is living a life of luxury. She's landed her dream job. Has a beautiful apartment, equipped with her very own maid. She wants for nothing. So why does she feel so terrible? A search for her tower block's missing floor 13 takes Ms Sherman on a strange and sinister journey that might just save her from a life wracked by guilt. But how much is Ms Sherman really prepared to pay to feel better about herself?
A twisted modern fable about first-world problems and middle class guilt by Sam Burns.
Original music composed by Lucy Rivers, performed by Dan Lawrence and Lucy Rivers.
Directed by Helen Perry
A BBC Cymru/Wales Production
Sam Burns was shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn award and has worked with Paines Plough, the Bush, Theatre Clwyd, Sherman Theatre and Radio Wales.
A funny and dynamic quiz show hosted by Steve Punt - this week from Queen's University Belfast with specialist subjects including History, Medicine and English and questions ranging from Emperor Vespasian to Ed Sheeran via handbags and haematoxylin.
The programme is recorded on location at a different University each week, and it pits three Undergraduates against three of their Professors in an original and fresh take on an academic quiz.
The rounds vary between Specialist Subjects and General Knowledge, quickfire bell-and-buzzer rounds and the Highbrow and Lowbrow round cunningly devised to test not only the students' knowledge of current affairs, history, languages and science, but also their Professors' awareness of television, sport, and quite possibly Justin Bieber. In addition, the Head-to-Head rounds see students take on their Professors in their own subjects, offering plenty of scope for mild embarrassment on both sides.
Other Universities featured in this series include Roehampton, Hull, Derby, Liverpool and St John's College Cambridge.
Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
Dr Cathy FitzGerald presents a second series of lessons in creative writing made from archive recordings of great novelists, poets and playwrights talking about their craft.
In this episode:
Lesson Four - Place
How do we capture the soul of a place in words? Tips from poet laureate Ted Hughes, diarist and novelist Christopher Isherwood, and author of Lolita and Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov.
Lesson Five - In Search of a Character with Graham Greene
In this wonderful archive recording, novelist Graham Greene describes his research trip to a leper colony in the Congo in 1959. Hear how the resulting novel, A Burnt-Out Case, takes shape.
Lesson Six - Write and Repeat
Poet and novelist Maya Angelou describes the slow, careful and sometimes excruciating process of sharpening her prose - refining her observations and making her words ever more precise. 'Easy reading,' she says, 'is damn hard writing'.
Presenter and Producer: Cathy FitzGerald.
A White Stiletto production for BBC Radio 4.
Who do we think we are? Ernie Rea and guests discuss our fascination with our ancestors. Is there a contemporary spiritual need that finds an answer in tracing our roots? Ernie is joined by Else Churchill, from the Society of Genealogists: Julian Thomas, Professor of Archaeology at Manchester University; and Douglas Davies, Professor in the Department of Religion and Theology at the University of Durham.
Producer Rosie Dawson.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Just A Minute is 50 years old this year! Nicholas Parsons has been hosting since day one and presides over an all-star panel: Paul Merton, Ross Noble, Fern Britton and Gyles Brandreth.
The panel have to talk on a given subject for sixty seconds without repetition, hesitation or deviation. Can Paul tell us much about sardines? What is Fern's ideal bike ride? How much does Gyles know about Marie Antoinette and how does Ross feel being a fly on the wall?
PLUS one of our panellists talks for a full minute - which one? You'll have to tune in to find out...
Hayley Sterling blows the whistle and it was produced by Matt Stronge.
Just A Minute is a BBC Studios production.
Roy lacks the luck of the draw, and Brian cannot believe his ears.
For the bank holiday, Samira is in Liverpool for the art premieres celebrating the 50th anniversary of the release of the album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. She meets Sean Doran, the co-artistic director of the Sgt. Pepper at 50: Heading for Home arts festival, as he transforms the city into a turntable for the album by commissioning 13 world premieres - one for for each track.
Samira also meets two of the artists commissioned to come up with their interpretation of these classic Beatles songs: singer and performance artist Meow Meow has taken on Lovely Rita and is creating a street procession and a sound installation; and dramatist Keith Saha has written a new play inspired by the themes of She's Leaving Home, which will be performed in private homes in Toxteth.
Distinguished television writer Jimmy McGovern has written a new drama for BBC One, Broken, which looks at the life of a priest, Father Michael Kerrigan, played by Sean Bean, as he struggles to minister to a poor community. Jimmy takes Samira to St Francis Xavier church in Liverpool where much of the new television drama was filmed, and which has long inspired him.
And RIBA North is the new national architectural centre in Liverpool. As it finally prepares to open, Samira pays a visit to the new building on the city's waterfront which itself has been the subject of controversy, and arrives in Liverpool at a time when the city's architectural plans have led to it being placed on UNESCO's World Heritage in Danger list.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Ekene Akalawu.
Tim Samuels examines the financial services industry as it faces up to technological change.
It was in the late 1990's that a Harvard academic Clay Christensen introduced a buzzword that has now become pervasive. He wanted to capture why established companies get driven out of their industries by young upstarts. It became known as disruptive innovation and has dramatically reshaped our business landscape.
Two-thirds of the companies on the Fortune 500 list in 1980 have disappeared. The balance has shifted from the incumbents to the challengers, from the old economy to the new. For some start-ups, the belief in disruption has taken on a near-religious edge. Forget rules, obligations and regulations - all that disrupts is good, all that stands in the way deserves to fail.
Journalist Tim Samuels investigates three industries facing change - property, finance and death - and invites a disruptor and a disruptee to breakfast.
One hundred years passed without a new bank emerging. Now there are close to 50 new ones in the pipeline. In this second programme of the series, Tim speaks to Tom Blomfield from Monzo, one the UK's newest licensed banks - backed by serious investment and infused with the start-up confidence that they can do better than the current crop, The former boss of Barclays, Antony Jenkins, has his own fintech start-up looking to modernize the back office technology used by banks. But the banks have all the cash and most of the customers. They will not be disrupted easily. Is the threat of fintech hype or reality?
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4.
Why is the UK such a generous global aid donor and should it be? The coalition government legislated to ensure Britain spent 0.7% of its national income on international development and it is now one of the very few countries to meet this United Nations target for such spending. With financial pressures on public services at home remaining acute, Jo Coburn asks why most politicians still support the idea, despite public criticism and press campaigns about wasted money. In her quest, she investigates the history of the UK's support for overseas aid and examines what makes so many politicians willing to risk voters' displeasure on the issue.
Producer: Simon Coates.
Silicon is literally everywhere in both the natural and built environment, from the dominance of silicate rocks in the earth crust, to ubiquitous sand in building materials and as the basis for glass.
We've also harnessed silicon's properties as a semiconductor to build the modern electronics industry - without silicon personal computers and smartphones would simply not exist.
Silicon is also found widely across the universe. It is formed in stars, particularly when they explode. And the similarities between how silicon and carbon form chemical bonds has led many to wonder whether there could be silicon based life elsewhere - perhaps in some far flung part of the galaxy where carbon is not as abundant as here on earth.
As well as discussing the potential for silicon based life on other planets Birkbeck University Astrobiologist Dr Louisa Preston considers the varied uses of silicon here on earth, from its dominance in our built environments to its driving role in artificial intelligence and new ways to harness the sun's energy.
The latest weather forecast.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
A selection of stories taken from a new collection of previously unpublished work by F. Scott Fitzgerald, I'D DIE FOR YOU: AND OTHER LOST STORIES.
The series opens with an extract from editor Anne Margaret Daniel's essay and the atmospheric vignette, 'Thank You For The Light'.
Readers Laurel Lefkow and Karen Bartke
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
Romance, parties, cocktails and glamour - as a young writer in the 1920s F. Scott Fitzgerald gave the magazines what they wanted. He had little choice; short stories were his bread and butter. But as the author matured he yearned to explore darker territory. This desire wasn't cushioned by wealth; The Great Gatsby hadn't sold well and as the Depression crunched in the early 30s, Fitzgerald was hit by large medical bills for both himself and his wife Zelda. Despite the financial pressures he resisted the easy censorship requested by editors, who balked at Fitzgerald's portrayal of confusing generational freedoms, sex before marriage, divorce and working women.
Growing increasingly uncompromising about deletions and sanitisations, Fitzgerald preferred to let these stories lie in wait until their time came.
David Walliams talks in depth to Michael Rosen about how he writes his children's books like Mr Stink and The Boy In The Dress and how he switches modes to write comedy like Little Britain. His acute awareness of language developed from a young age, and he was influenced by the books he read then, from Roald Dahl to James Bond, and the comedy scripts he studied, from Monty Python and Rowan Atkinson. He talks about the real-life conversation that inspired Carol Beer, the "computer says no" character from Little Britain, how The Shining was the surprising model for Awful Auntie, and about the boy who originally gave him the idea to start writing for children..
Producer Beth O'Dea.
Alison Lapper is currently co-presenting the documentary series 'No Body's Perfect,' which aims to help people who struggle with body image. It's something she's ideally placed to do - when she was seven months pregnant a naked statute of her sat serenely on top of the fourth plinth in London's Trafalgar Square.
She tells Peter White, in the first of this new series of No Triumph No Tragedy, that when she was born with a rare chromosomal disorder doctors waited for her to die. When she didn't, her Mum was told that she'd have a terrible quality of life and that they should just forget about her. She went to live in a residential home for children with physical and learning disabilities and tells Peter how there was strength in a common bond:
"We survived together because it could be a cruel environment. There were some hideous people who didn't look at us as human beings. They were cruel and unkind and you either survived or you didn't. I saw a lot of people shrink."
Her childhood, she feels has made her stronger: "I always vowed I'd never be anyone's victim and I'd never dwell on what has gone. I don't want it to spoil the rest of my life because my life is really good."
Alison is an artist: she uses photography and digital images to question physical normality and beauty. She paints with her mouth and is constantly challenging expectations around what she can do. This was nowhere more evident than when she was pregnant with her son, Parys. She insisted on changing his nappies and on picking him up: "It's always been such a fight for everything. It's amazing, just because my limbs are missing, how different people think I am."
In the second programme in the series Peter meets the stand-up comedienne, Geri Jewell, who was born with cerebral palsy. She was the first disabled actor to take a lead role in a sitcom and she's gone on to challenge ideas about what is possible. She describes the pressures on her to go into a job suited to her disability and what made her rebel against such restricting expectations.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rania Hafez, founder director of the professional network 'Muslim Women in Education' and a member of the Muslim institute.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
Peter Cranswick of the Slimbridge Wetland Centre on the beautiful red breasted goose, and freezing wintry days counting them in fields.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer Miles Warde.
News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
To volcanologist Tamsin Mather, volcanoes are more than a natural hazard.
They are 'nature's factories', belching out a rich chemical cocktail of gases. It's these gases or 'plumes' that fascinate her the most. She likes nothing more than crouching on a crater's edge collecting a smouldering mix of ash and gases, a clue to what's brewing deep inside.
As Professor of Earth Sciences at Oxford University, her work is helping to not only predict when a volcano may erupt, but to understand how volcanoes shape our planet both now and over geological time.
Producer: Beth Eastwood.
How views change with age, with the possibility of engagement for the Traveller community, and in the aftermath of the Manchester attack. Fi Glover presents.
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.
The alliance between man and horse lasted 6,000 years, shaping life in town and country. Ulrich Raulff's engaging, brilliantly written and moving discussion of what horses once meant to human civilisation.
The relationship between horses and humans is a profound and complex one. For millennia, horses provided the strength and speed that humans lacked. How we travelled, farmed and fought was dictated by the needs of this extraordinary animal. And then suddenly, in the 20th century, the links were broken and the millions of horses that shared our existence almost vanished, eking out a marginal existence on race-tracks and pony clubs.
Cities, farmland and entire industries were once shaped as much by the needs of horses as humans. The intervention of horses was fundamental in countless historical events. They were sculpted, painted, cherished, admired. They were thrashed, abused and exposed to terrible danger.
From the Roman Empire to the Napoleonic Empire, every world-conqueror needed to be shown on a horse. Tolstoy once reckoned that he had cumulatively spent some nine years of his life on horseback.
Ulrich Raulff's book, a bestseller in Germany, is a superb monument to the endlessly various creature who has so often shared and shaped our fate.
Written by Ulrich Raulff
Translated by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp
Read by Iain Glen
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
Woman's Hour has invited the leaders of seven political parties to talk about their manifestos and what they would do for women - today it's Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Two years ago, Scottish singer songwriter KT Tunstall thought she was done with music. She upped and moved to Venice Beach in California, but the urge to make music never went away. And so last year she released a new album, KIN. She's here in the UK touring her new music, and joins Emma Barnett to describe how her new life in Venice Beach inspired her music, and to perform It Took Me So Long To Get Here, But Here I Am, live in the Woman's Hour studio
In 2014 the journalist and writer Reni Eddo-Lodge published a post on her blog titled "Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race". In it she claimed that she could "no longer engage with the gulf of an emotional disconnect that white people display when a person of colour articulates their experience." Reni joins Emma to discuss her new book of the same name and explains why, having decided that she was no longer going to discuss race with white people, she has been doing just that for the past three years.
Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Kirsty Starkey.
Tanika Gupta's comedy drama series about the highs and lows of enterprise. Bindi's exciting new business venture in property development isn't going as smoothly as planned and Bindi turns to her brother Bash for help.
Directed by Nadia Molinari.
Most parts of our bodies - lungs, hearts, knees, faces - can all be replaced by transplant. The world's first full head transplant is mooted for 2018. Or is it a body transplant?
Jolyon Jenkins decides to explore how it's now possible to replace most of his body, by bioprinting, transplant or use of synthetic parts. He works methodically through his own body and interviews scientists at the cutting-edge in each area; and explores our emotional reactions to the idea of replacing different parts of our bodies.
In 2011, the world's first synthetic organ, a windpipe, was grown in a lab and transplanted. Now scientists at UCL's Department of Nanotechnology have come up with another 'world first' - the growth of a nose. There's a lab there known as the "human body parts store", using the patient's own stem cells and synthetic materials to create all many different body parts.
And now comes bioprinting - the process of using 3D printers to form human tissue. It's already been used to print everything from replacement skulls to vaginas, as well as prosthetic arms and legs.
Transplanting, and printing: an entire replacement body may only be a decade away.
There is no doubt that people feel a mixture of horror and hope at the idea that nearly all parts of us can be replaced. But what will that mean for us?
Producer and Presenter: Jolyon Jenkins.
Countertenor Christopher Robson reflects on his life in music - from playing in a Salvation Army band, via the stage of the Coliseum singing Handel, to working with Damon Albarn.
Christopher Robson found his voice by chance during a singing lesson as a teenager. Up to that point he had proved himself a musical child, playing cornet in a Salvation Army band and singing during services, sometimes reluctantly and often with his brother Nigel. But from the moment he discovered falsetto - the ability to soar above the usual range of the male voice - his ambitions led in a different direction. What followed resembles, at times, the life of a rock star rather than an opera singer.
In this intimate portrait, recorded at the London Coliseum, Christopher looks back on his rocky route into the music business, roles in iconic productions, such as Nicholas Hytner's Xerxes, his life in Germany and collaborating with Damon Albarn on his opera Dr Dee.
Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
On this day in 1917, the death toll from the Folkestone air raid now numbered 72, but for Kitty Lumley, the disaster offers a new start.
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
Consumer phone-in.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
Following a series of murders, the Inquisitor Barakat's (Hiran Abeysekera) hold over Tumanbay is complete. Rebel fighter Manel (Aiysha Hart) seeks refuge with co-conspirator Doctor Dorin (Vincent Ebrahim). But can Dorin be trusted and what is "the great project" he is working on with Barakat?
Tumanbay is created by John Dryden and Mike Walker and inspired by the Mamluk slave rulers of Egypt.
Original Music by Sacha Puttnam
Sound Design by Steve Bond
Additional Music by Jon Ouin
Sound Edited by James Morgan and Andreina Gomez
Script Edited by Abigail Youngman
Produced by Emma Hearn, Nadir Khan and John Dryden
Written by John Dryden
Directed by Jeremy Mortimer
A Goldhawk production for BBC Radio 4.
Josie Long presents documentaries where reality takes on a magical aspect - tales of snake-filled American towns, a visit to a shaman and of crashing back down to earth.
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
Between 20 and 33% of the world's plant species are currently at risk of global extinction. That's the estimation of recently published studies. So how much will climate change impact on the variety, availability and price of the food on our plates? Botanist James Wong investigates the links between global warming and the rate at which crops are able to adapt and evolve to rapidly changing conditions.
Speaking to farmers, plant breeders and scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and elsewhere he hears about the plant world's likely 'winners' and 'losers'. Having deeper roots and more efficient water-use strategies is a clear bonus, and one that's being addressed by British plant scientists who are developing more drought-resistant wheat varieties by breeding them with ancient antecedents of one of the world's most important crops. That's in the UK, but elsewhere around the world, James Wong learns that many plants are facing extinction before they have been recognised as being at risk, and perhaps in some cases even before they have been discovered.
Producer: Mark Smalley.
Professor Emma Griffin explores how British workers became tied to the clock.
Before industrialisation, workers were accustomed to a loosely regulated working week, influenced more by daylight hours and the agricultural cycle than by the time on the face of a clock. Indeed, most people didn't own a watch and managed all aspects of their lives without reference to official time.
During the Industrial Revolution, British workers became tied to the clock in a way they never had before. Emma visits Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire to discover how 19th century factory owners extracted a long and regular working week from a workforce accustomed to a much more loosely regimented working pattern. She examines how the new technologies of the railways, telegraphs and radio gradually extended a new concept of clock-based time to the population at large. And she visits the Royal Observatory at Greenwich to understand how their precision clocks, which for centuries had been specialist scientific equipment of use only to astronomers, were pressed into service as the regulator of the nation's workforce. Finally, Emma sheds light on our ever-changing relationship to time and how new concepts altered the human experience of work and rest.
Humans have always tried to measure time, but the importance of this task stepped up a gear during the 19th century. Now it was about controlling a workforce. And in today's economic climate of zero hours contracts and increasingly casualised employment, Emma argues this fundamental relationship between time and control is as important as ever.
Producer: Melissa FitzGerald
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
There were so many hoaxes in Andy Kaufman's brief career that for years his fans believed that he wasn't really dead. Kaufman's best known as Latka Gravas in the American sitcom Taxi, and his life was undoubtedly weird. Performance artist, Elvis impersonator, wrestler - he's difficult to pin down. Nominator Iain Lee believes he was a genius, while Olly Double of the University of Kent school of arts reckons Kaufman didn't really care if his audience laughed or not. Presenter Matthew Parris draws his own conclusions about Kaufman's extraordinary life, later turned into a film starring Jim Carrey called Man on the Moon.
The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Small Scenes is back with more excerpts from odd lives. This week, a man uncovers a great Australian conspiracy and a financial advisor starts up a sideline as an assassin's assistant.
Starring Daniel Rigby, Sara Pascoe, Mike Wozniak, Cariad Lloyd and Henry Paker.
Written by Benjamin Partridge, Henry Paker and Mike Wozniak.
Produced by Simon Mayhew-Archer.
Tony will not be easily won over, and Kirsty regrets being impressed.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
Painkillers in sport: a form of legal doping or an excessive reliance on medication that puts the long-term health of athletes in jeopardy?
With evidence of widespread use of over the counter anti-inflammatories to support performance or recovery at amateur level, File on 4 looks asks if there is enough regulation of painkilling drugs in sport across the ranks.
About half of players competing at the past three World Cups routinely took non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen, according to research carried out by FIFA's former chief medical officer, Prof Jiri Dvorak.
For him, this clearly constitutes the abuse of drugs in football, one which risks player's health and could "potentially" have life-threatening implications.
But is the sports community taking these warnings seriously enough? Professor Dvorak first warned about the long-term implications of players misusing painkillers in 2012 - has anything changed?
Industry insiders their concerns about pain killer use in professional sport - including one former rugby international who says he developed serious long-term health problems as a result.
And with evidence that even paracetamol can have a performance enhancing effect, how can sports regulators control substances that can give a competitive advantage but are widely available over the counter?
With tales of athletes receiving pain relief in order to compete with broken toes or even a fractured bone in their back, we explore the lengths some may go to in order to stay in the game and ask if some sports are risking long-term harm by chasing short-term goals.
Producer: Alys Harte
Reporter: Beth McLeod.
Due to a genetic eye condition, identical twins Daniel and Michael Smith both lost their sight when they were 18.
Now, seven years on and following their much published story, the brothers talk to Peter White about the impact their blindness has had on their lives in the intervening years.
They speak candidly about the stress they have experienced working in very visual jobs in the City of London. Michael is about the qualify as a lawyer and Dan is working as an investment banker.
They last appeared on In Touch three years ago and in this programme speak of the changes they have experienced since last meeting Peter.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Cheryl Gabriel.
Claudia Hammond explores the latest developments in the worlds of psychology, neuroscience and mental health.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Finn den Hertog reads 'The Couple', a previously unpublished comic story about the disintegration of a young marriage taken from a new collection of work by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Romance, parties, cocktails and glamour - as a young writer in the 1920s F. Scott Fitzgerald gave the magazines what they wanted. He had little choice; short stories were his bread and butter. But as the author matured he yearned to explore darker territory. This desire wasn't cushioned by wealth; The Great Gatsby hadn't sold well and as the Depression crunched in the early 30s, Fitzgerald was hit by large medical bills for both himself and his wife Zelda. Despite the financial pressures he resisted the easy censorship requested by editors, who balked at Fitzgerald's portrayal of confusing generational freedoms, sex before marriage, divorce and working women.
Growing increasingly uncompromising about deletions and sanitisations, Fitzgerald preferred to let these stories lie in wait until their time came. They are published now in the collection I'D DIE FOR YOU: AND OTHER LOST STORIES.
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie.
The so-called Millennial generation - those born between 1982 and 1994 - has been much maligned in the press for being lazy, entitled, vain, venal, self-involved, easily offended little emperors. But Alex Edelman thinks these criticisms are baseless. So in "Alex Edelman'S Peer Group" he seeks to redress the balance. In this episode he discusses Millennials' attitude to politics and being offended.
Written and presented by Alex Edelman
Producer: Sam Michell
A BBC Studios Production.
Geri Jewell was the first disabled actor to take a lead role in a sitcom and she's gone on to challenge ideas about what is possible. She describes the pressures on her to go into a job suited to her disability and what made her rebel against such restricting expectations.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rania Hafez, founder director of the professional network 'Muslim Women in Education' and a member of the Muslim institute.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
Chris Jones from Worcestershire has been fascinated by the corvid family from childhood. For years he has been rescuing sick and injured birds. Here he tells the story of one of his favourite rescue ravens.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer Maggie Ayre.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Wagner's peaceful Siegfried Idyll was written to thank his wife after the birth of his son Siegfried. On her birthday, she awoke to find an orchestra on her staircase performing the music for the first time. It is music which celebrates family relationships, and Soul Music hears from people whose lives and relationships have been touched and changed by this remarkable piece.
Cellist Nick Trygstad explains how the music conjures up scenes of domestic life and helped him cope with his homsickness when he arrived in the UK. Karen West recalls a 50th birthday treat - a trip across lake Lucerne with her father, to visit Wagner's villa. For Tim Reynish, the music has a special connection with his son - when William was born he recreated the first performance on the staircase of his Birmingham home; many years later he conducted the music at his son's memorial concert. And Roberto Paternostro recalls an historic performance in Germany, when he took a group of Israeli musicians to perform Wagner's music for the first time at Bayreuth - the opera house built by Wagner, and later frequented by Adolf Hitler.
Produced by Melvin Rickarby.
In today's show John wants to talk about his schooldays, and being a teacher. If only someone would phone in and ask him questions.
Starring John Cleese and Harriet Carmichael, and written by John Cleese and James Peak.
The extracts used in this programme are taken from John's audiobook of his autobiography So Anyway.
Producers: James Peak and Andre Jacquemin
A Goldhawk Essential production for BBC Radio 4.
The alliance between man and horse lasted 6,000 years, shaping life in town and country. Ulrich Raulff's engaging, brilliantly written and moving discussion of what horses once meant to human civilisation.
The relationship between horses and humans is a profound and complex one. For millennia, horses provided the strength and speed that humans lacked. How we travelled, farmed and fought was dictated by the needs of this extraordinary animal. And then suddenly, in the 20th century, the links were broken and the millions of horses that shared our existence almost vanished, eking out a marginal existence on race-tracks and pony clubs.
Cities, farmland and entire industries were once shaped as much by the needs of horses as humans. The intervention of horses was fundamental in countless historical events. They were sculpted, painted, cherished, admired. They were thrashed, abused and exposed to terrible danger.
From the Roman Empire to the Napoleonic Empire, every world-conqueror needed to be shown on a horse. Tolstoy once reckoned that he had cumulatively spent some nine years of his life on horseback.
Ulrich Raulff's book, a bestseller in Germany, is a superb monument to the endlessly various creature who has so often shared and shaped our fate.
Written by Ulrich Raulff
Translated by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp
Read by Iain Glen
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
Tanika Gupta's drama series about the highs and lows of enterprise.
Bindi is an unstoppable force of nature and despite the setbacks at the building site, she is determined nothing will get in her way, but then she arrives home to find a surprise visitor.
Directed by Nadia Molinari.
A behind the scenes chat between members of the multi-skilled talent who make the show run smoothly at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
Producer: Marya Burgess.
Serving police officer and stand-up comic Alfie Moore returns with a new series of this hugely popular series in which he asks his audience what decisions they'd have made in a real life case that he has dealt with. After swearing in his audience as police officers for one day only, he takes them through one case as it unfolded and asks them what they'd have done in his shoes. Along the way he spills the beans on what it's really like to be one of Britain's finest, tells us some great anecdotes about law breakers and makers that he's come across and gets his studio audience to divulge secrets about their own, sometimes less than strictly law-abiding lives.
In this first episode, Barry the Burglar, what seems like an open and shut case of breaking, entering and stealing becomes something else entirely.
Presenter Alfie Moore.
Script Editor Will Ing
Producer Alison Vernon-Smith
A BBC Studios Production.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
On this day in 1917, the War Office met to discuss how to prevent future aeroplane attacks like that on Folkestone, and Gabriel Graham deals with the fallout locally.
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
Consumer affairs programme.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice has inspired poets, painters and musicians since ancient times. Poet Simon Armitage and playwright Linda Marshall Griffiths both re-imagine the tragic tale from different perspectives in two distinct but connected dramas for Radio 4.
Orpheus and Eurydice. His Story. By Linda Marshall Griffiths
Grief-stricken, the young singer Orfeo tries to find his way to his dead wife Eurydice. His path is the way of dreams, fractured memories - a journey into the Underworld to bring back his love from the silence. But is love stronger than death if everything can be destroyed by a backward glance?
With music composed by PJ Harvey
Directed by Nadia Molinari
Orpheus and Eurydice by Linda Marshall Griffiths was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2015 and won the Grand Prix Marulic in 2016.
Could releasing cash from the value of our homes and pensions be a useful way to pay off a mortgage, get rid of debt, provide a better standard of living - or are we simply creating problems for the future?
How we access our pensions was completely shaken up in April 2015. Instead of using your pension pot to buy an income for life in the form of annuity, you can now take the lot, from the age of 55. The Association of British Insurers say the majority of savers are taking a sensible approach but there are signs a minority may be withdrawing too much too soon and at rates that would see their money run out in a decade or less.
There's also a growing number of people who are transferring out of final salary pension schemes, giving up an income for life in exchange for cash lump sums and the flexibility of other pension products.
Equity Release is another way of freeing up cash. You can take a lump sum or several smaller amounts from the value of your home, paying interest monthly, when you sell the house or when you die. The Equity Release Council say that pensioners took £2.1bn of equity from their homes in 2016.
All of these decisions need careful thought and discussion and on Wednesday's programme Louise Cooper and guests will look at the potential benefits and risks.
Send us your questions and experiences by emailing moneybox@bbc.co.uk now or calling 03700 100 444 from 1pm to 3:30pm on Wednesday 31 May. Standard geographic call charges apply.
Sociological discussion programme, presented by Laurie Taylor.
Topical programme about the fast-changing media world.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Victoria is very much hoping to see a conjuror, or at least a parrot. But instead meets Mabel.
Stephanie Cole and Kerry Godliman star in the first of six two-handers written by Cabin Pressure's John Finnemore
Written by John Finnemore
Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
Lily gets her way, and Toby gets the wrong idea.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
Series that explores the big ideas that are set to shape our future.
The BBC's business editor Simon Jack and economics editor Kamal Ahmed present the inside track on key economic and business issues behind the 2017 general election.
The latest weather forecast.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
A selection of stories taken from a new collection of previously unpublished work by F. Scott Fitzgerald, I'D DIE FOR YOU: AND OTHER LOST STORIES.
Romance, parties, cocktails and glamour - as a young writer in the 1920s F. Scott Fitzgerald gave the magazines what they wanted. He had little choice; short stories were his bread and butter. But as the author matured he yearned to explore darker territory. This desire wasn't cushioned by wealth; The Great Gatsby hadn't sold well and as the Depression crunched in the early 30s, Fitzgerald was hit by large medical bills for both himself and his wife Zelda. Despite the financial pressures he resisted the easy censorship requested by editors, who balked at Fitzgerald's portrayal of confusing generational freedoms, sex before marriage, divorce and working women.
Growing increasingly uncompromising about deletions and sanitisations, Fitzgerald preferred to let these stories lie in wait until their time came.
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie.
Richly comic autobiographical meanderings from the pen of Chris Neill - joined on stage by Martin Hyder and Alison Steadman. Suddenly faced with life on his own, Chris is forced to make a decision - will his new companion have two legs, or four?
Producer: Steve Doherty
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4.
Surreal bovine-themed comedy hosted by Benjamin Partridge.
Raising the curtain on a very modern performing arts school, the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.
In this three-part series, Janice Long follows students during the final year of their degree, through graduation and out into the world as they try to enter the performing arts industry.
Singer-songwriter Katya, dancer Danielle and DJ Dan who is studying entertainment management are hardworking, dedicated students. They are determined to be at the forefront of the performance industries in a few short years. But first they have to hone their craft.
Katya is writing songs for her big final year show and Danielle has been cast to represent LIPA at a national dance convention. Dan has been DJ-ing and working in a radio station. As they prepare for final assignments and performances, they share the ups and downs of their final year as artists-in-training and their hopes for the future.
The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts was set up by Sir Paul McCartney and BRIT school founder Mark Featherstone-Witty just over twenty years ago. Sir Paul was worried about what they would offer - as he says, "you can't teach them to be John Lennon". As well as performance skills, LIPA claims to teach students the business side of one of the most competitive of industries.
With exclusive and close-up access to life at LIPA, we meet those who want to become arts practitioners of the future and those who are helping to get them there.
Producer: David James
Executive Producer: Rebecca Maxted
A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rania Hafez, founder director of the professional network 'Muslim Women in Education' and a member of the Muslim institute.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
Joe Harkness indulges in some bird therapy, rejoicing in the sight and song of the skylark. Joe writes about the benefits of birdwatching towards wellbeing through connecting people with nature.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer Maggie Ayre.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss enzymes, the proteins that control the speed of chemical reactions in living organisms. Without enzymes, these reactions would take place too slowly to keep organisms alive: with their actions as catalysts, changes which might otherwise take millions of years can happen hundreds of times a second. Some enzymes break down large molecules into smaller ones, like the ones in human intestines, while others use small molecules to build up larger, complex ones, such as those that make DNA. Enzymes also help keep cell growth under control, by regulating the time for cells to live and their time to die, and provide a way for cells to communicate with each other.
With
Jim Naismith
Sarah Barry
and
Nigel Richards
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
The alliance between man and horse lasted 6,000 years, shaping life in town and country. Ulrich Raulff's engaging, brilliantly written and moving discussion of what horses once meant to human civilisation.
The relationship between horses and humans is a profound and complex one. For millennia, horses provided the strength and speed that humans lacked. How we travelled, farmed and fought was dictated by the needs of this extraordinary animal. And then suddenly, in the 20th century, the links were broken and the millions of horses that shared our existence almost vanished, eking out a marginal existence on race-tracks and pony clubs.
Cities, farmland and entire industries were once shaped as much by the needs of horses as humans. The intervention of horses was fundamental in countless historical events. They were sculpted, painted, cherished, admired. They were thrashed, abused and exposed to terrible danger.
From the Roman Empire to the Napoleonic Empire, every world-conqueror needed to be shown on a horse. Tolstoy once reckoned that he had cumulatively spent some nine years of his life on horseback.
Ulrich Raulff's book, a bestseller in Germany, is a superb monument to the endlessly various creature who has so often shared and shaped our fate.
Written by Ulrich Raulff
Translated by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp
Read by Iain Glen
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
Tanika Gupta's drama series about the highs and lows of enterprise.
Bindi's stress levels are rising as pressure from her personal and her business affairs continues to mount but help comes from an unexpected source.
Directed by Nadia Molinari.
Reports from writers and journalists around the world. Presented by Kate Adie.
Daniel 'Catfish' Russ started out as a boxer, trained as a Rabbi and was a stand-up comedian before settling on his chosen profession, advertising. He also plays blues harmonica. But in April 2008 Catfish found himself opposite his idol, Bob Dylan, in a boxing ring in Austin, Texas.
Written and Presented by Andrew McGibbon
Producer: Nick Romero
A Curtains For Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
On this day in 1917, funerals were held for another ten victims of the Folkestone air raid, and Jessie Moore confronts her loss.
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
Consumer affairs programme.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
Ellie Kendrick stars in Louise Monaghan's new play.
Twenty five year old Izzie has epilepsy, which isn't such a big deal. There are drugs and the drugs do work. Until you have a baby and want to breastfeed. Then everything changes. Everyone has an opinion - she should take her drugs - but this is Izzie's body and Izzie's condition and Sophie is the most important thing that has ever happened in her life. Anyway, she hasn't had a seizure in ages. And then she does ...
Produced and Directed by Tracey Neale
The play follows the story of a young mum, Izzie. Izzie experienced epileptic seizures as a teenager but they stopped in adult life. However, after having her first baby, her epilepsy comes back. Initially Izzie is in denial and her family struggle with the diagnosis. When Izzie finds her teenage diaries and begins reading them she reconnects with her own story, slipping through time from present to past and eventually comes to terms with her condition. Discovering her teenage diaries gives Izzie a new perspective on her epilepsy but it's not until she puts the words together with a picture of herself having a seizure that it all begins to make sense.
This is Louise's third play for radio and this one has been inspired by Louise's own epilepsy. A febrile convulsion at the age of two and then petit mals during puberty. For a number of years she didn't have one and then suddenly had one five years ago after coming round from an anaesthetic after a minor operation. It has also been inspired by the photo-journal Helen Stephens created with Matt Thompson.
Clare Balding is walking the whole of The Nidderdale Way, a circular fifty three mile walking route in North Yorkshire. In this edition she walks from Heathfield to Bewerley in the company of Robin Hermes and Simon Dunn, two self-styled, grumpy old men. They have been walking together, along with their friend Richard, every month for over thirty-five years and this is the first time they've actually invited anyone to join them. The Ramblings team don't make the most auspicious start by being several minutes late, a sin Robin holds against them right until the end when the joys of the afternoon allow him to forgive and forget!
This section of the walk takes in the site of the disused lead mines at Ashfold Side Beck. Robin and Simon discuss their walking history with Clare, their favourite and least favourite routes and how they score the perfect walk.
The route can be found on OS Explorer 298
Producer Lucy Lunt.
Antonia Quirke talks to director Patty Jenkins about warrior princess Wonder Woman.
Adam Rutherford explores the science that is changing our world.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Music and comedy from host Alex Horne and his 5-piece band, with special guest comedian Cariad Lloyd and singer Gwyneth Herbert. This week's theme is The Tudors versus The Vikings featuring a battle, a huge motivational song and a prequel to a Barry Manilow's Copacabana.
Host... Alex Horne
Band... Joe Auckland, Mark Brown, Will Collier, Ben Reynolds, Ed Sheldrake
Guests... Cariad Lloyd and Gwyneth Herbert
Producer... Charlie Perkins.
Pip has a surprise visitor, and Pat has lots of questions.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
Evan Davis presents a special edition of the business magazine programme.
The latest weather forecast.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Finn den Hertog reads the conclusion of 'The Couple', a previously unpublished comic story about the disintegration of a young marriage taken from a new collection of work by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Romance, parties, cocktails and glamour - as a young writer in the 1920s F. Scott Fitzgerald gave the magazines what they wanted. He had little choice; short stories were his bread and butter. But as the author matured he yearned to explore darker territory. This desire wasn't cushioned by wealth; The Great Gatsby hadn't sold well and as the Depression crunched in the early 30s, Fitzgerald was hit by large medical bills for both himself and his wife Zelda. Despite the financial pressures he resisted the easy censorship requested by editors, who balked at Fitzgerald's portrayal of confusing generational freedoms, sex before marriage, divorce and working women.
Growing increasingly uncompromising about deletions and sanitisations, Fitzgerald preferred to let these stories lie in wait until their time came. They are published now in the collection I'D DIE FOR YOU: AND OTHER LOST STORIES.
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie.
When Milton finally decides to empty his bins he accidentally makes both a delicious sparkling wine and a deadly enemy.
Mention Milton Jones to most people and the first thing they think is 'Help!'. Because each week, Milton, and his trusty assistant Anton (played by Milton regular, Tom Goodman-Hill) set out to help people and soon find they're embroiled in a new adventure. Because when you're close to the edge, then Milton can give you a push.
"Milton Jones is one of Britain's best gagsmiths with a flair for creating daft yet perfect one-liners." - The Guardian.
"King of the surreal one-liners." - The Times
"If you haven't caught up with Jones yet - do so!" - The Daily Mail
Written by Milton with James Cary (Bluestone 42, Miranda), and Dan Evans (who co-wrote Milton's Channel 4 show House Of Rooms) the man they call "Britain's funniest Milton", returns to the radio with a fully-working cast and a shipload of new jokes.
The cast includes regulars Tom Goodman-Hill ( Spamalot, Mr. Selfridge) as the ever-faithful Anton, Josie Lawrence and Ben Willbond (Horrible Histories).
With music by Guy Jackson.
Produced and directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
Raising the curtain on a very modern performing arts school, the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.
In the second of three programmes, broadcaster Janice Long meets actors Sarah and Connor and sound technician Django during their final year of their performing arts degrees.
Sarah always wanted to be a star. Her parents would proudly show videos of her singing Disney songs as a young child. Sarah's life has changed dramatically since moving from California to Liverpool for the start of her course, three years ago. She is struggling with artistic and personal challenges during her final year of drama school, and is faced with having to leave the UK in a few short months.
Connor's appetite for acting also began as a child, inspired by watching Power Rangers on TV. He was brought up in Mexborough, South Yorkshire where he admits a career in the arts isn't often a first choice for many. Connor is hoping to get an agent to help him launch his acting career after graduation.
Sound technician Django is the popular man on campus to know. He can be found running between recording sessions, theatre performances and gigs and is already mourning the end of his university life.
In audio diaries and interviews, Sarah, Connor and Django share their professional insecurities, artistic triumphs, personal challenges and hopes for the future. With exclusive and close-up access to life at LIPA, we meet the young people who want to become the arts practitioners of the future and those who are trying to get them there.
Producer: Rebecca Maxted
A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rania Hafez, founder director of the professional network 'Muslim Women in Education' and a member of the Muslim institute.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
Paul Brooks suffers from depression. He talks about the beneficial effects of bird watching on his mental health and how seeing a water rail one grey day lifted his mood.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer Maggie Ayre.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
The alliance between man and horse lasted 6,000 years, shaping life in town and country. Ulrich Raulff's engaging, brilliantly written and moving discussion of what horses once meant to human civilisation.
The relationship between horses and humans is a profound and complex one. For millennia, horses provided the strength and speed that humans lacked. How we travelled, farmed and fought was dictated by the needs of this extraordinary animal. And then suddenly, in the 20th century, the links were broken and the millions of horses that shared our existence almost vanished, eking out a marginal existence on race-tracks and pony clubs.
Cities, farmland and entire industries were once shaped as much by the needs of horses as humans. The intervention of horses was fundamental in countless historical events. They were sculpted, painted, cherished, admired. They were thrashed, abused and exposed to terrible danger.
From the Roman Empire to the Napoleonic Empire, every world-conqueror needed to be shown on a horse. Tolstoy once reckoned that he had cumulatively spent some nine years of his life on horseback.
Ulrich Raulff's book, a bestseller in Germany, is a superb monument to the endlessly various creature who has so often shared and shaped our fate.
Written by Ulrich Raulff
Translated by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp
Read by Iain Glen
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
Tanika Gupta's comedy drama series about the highs and lows of enterprise.
With her micro-pod development nearly complete Bindi is preparing for the big opening, but she is put to the test when she finds that not everyone shares her vision.
Directed by Nadia Molinari.
Mishal Husain presents the monthly series that features dispatches from writers and reporters across the UK on all aspects of life in contemporary Britain.
Max and Ivan are private detectives for whom no case is too small......Sorry, for whom no fee is too small. Jessica Hynes joins them as they investigate a spate of sporting injuries at a sink school.
Driven by their love of truth, justice (and the need to pay off their terrifying landlord, Malcolm McMichaelmas), they take on crimes that no-one else would consider. In this case, they investigate a suspicious pattern of injuries affecting a school sports team, days before they are due to meet their bitterest rivals in sporting competition.
Max and Ivan - comedians and actors Max Olesker and Ivan Gonzalez - are a critically acclaimed, award-winning double act who have quickly established themselves as one of the most exciting comedy duos on the circuit. Over the course of the series they are dropped into new worlds, and have to use their skills to penetrate deep into each community. If that means Ivan dressing up as a 14 year old German girl, so be it!
Cast:
Max....................Max Olesker
Ivan...................Ivan Gonzalez
Mrs Sampson.....Jessica Hynes
Malcolm..............Lewis MacLeod
Joculo................David Reed
Receptionist......Jessica Ransom
Produced by Victoria Lloyd
A John Stanley production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
On this day in 1917, Canadian flying ace Billy Bishop shot down three German planes on a solo flight behind enemy lines, and in Folkestone, Dorothea Winwood's on a mission for the truth.
Singers ..... Nancy Cole, Ksynia Loeffler, Stephen Jeffes, Tom Raskin, Charles Gibbs
Organ ..... David Smith
Conductor ..... Sam Evans
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
Consumer news and issues.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
by Fred D'Aguiar.
John Reasonable is a freed black slave, a skilled silk weaver, engaged by Shakespeare to make costumes for the Rose Theatre but he also has a jealous apprentice.
Director: David Hunter.
Eric Robson and the panel visit Suffolk. James Wong, Bob Flowerdew and Bunny Guinness answer the horticultural questions from the audience of local gardeners.
Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Laurence Bassett
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
There's a story about an island off the coast of Ireland. A story about how the old gods tipped the monks living there into the drink. And there's a second story about love and calligraphy, starring a monk and an immortal, a princess no less. And it doesn't end well either. As read by Tadhg Murphy (Guerrilla, Black Sails, Vikings)
Jess Kidd was brought up in London as part of a large family from Mayo. Her debut novel 'Himself' was published in last year to rave reviews and she was recently awarded The 2016 Costa Short Story Award.
Writer ..... Jess Kidd
Reader ..... Tadhg Murphy
Producer ..... Michael Shannon.
Obituary series, analysing and celebrating the life stories of people who have recently died.
Investigating the numbers in the news.
Sisters who are both doctors are acutely aware of their responsibility in being the one to tell family members about their loved one. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
Producer: Marya Burgess.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Miles Jupp.
Jill feels under attack, and Neil must remain impartial.
News, reviews and interviews from the worlds of art, literature, film and music.
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate from Ormiston Bolingbroke Academy in Runcorn with a panel including the UKIP Leader Paul Nuttall MEP, the Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer and the former Business Minister and Minister for Women and Equalities in the Coalition Government Jo Swinson.
"It's late in the year to be making a resolution I'm probably going to break, but the words have to be spoken" writes Howard Jacobson. "I hereby renounce Middlemarch".
Howard reveals what lies behind his obsession for George Eliot's greatest novel and why he can't stop hymning its praises and quoting chunks of it from memory.
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
The seventh omnibus of Season 10, Our Daily Bread, set in Folkestone, in the week, in 1917, when the death toll from the Folkestone air raid reached 72.
Cast
Alice Macknade ..... Claire-Louise Cordwell
Kitty Lumley ..... Ami Metcalf
Gabriel Graham ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Jessie Moore ..... Lucy Hutchinson
Dorothea Winwood ..... Rachel Shelley
Anna White ..... Amelia Lowdell
Mildred Manchester ..... Annette Badland
Adam Wilson ..... Billy Kennedy
Bill Macknade ..... Ben Crowe
Soldier ..... Charlie Clements
Mabel ..... Chetna Pandya
Florrie Wilson ..... Claire Rushbrook
Sir Thomas Devitt ..... David Sterne
Albert Wilson ..... Jamie Foreman
Sylvia Graham ..... Joanna David
Walter Hamilton ..... Joseph Kloska
Forsyth ..... John Dougall
Mayor Stephen Penfold ..... John Woodvine
Esme Macknade ..... Katie Angelou
Ruby Tulliver ..... Katie Redford
Isabel Graham ..... Keely Beresford
Juliet Cavendish ..... Lizzie Bourne
Ivy Layton ..... Lizzy Watts
Mrs Riley ..... Lois Chimimba
Claude ..... Luke Newberry
Ralph Winwood ..... Nicholas Murchie
Oscar Hendrickx ..... Pierre Elliot
Archbishop ..... Richard Curnow
Dicky Manchester ..... Roy Hudd
Dennis Monk ..... Sam Swann
Alec Poole ..... Tom Stuart
Cristine de Groot ..... Ysabelle Cooper
Singers ..... Nancy Cole, Ksynia Loeffler, Stephen Jeffes, Tom Raskin, Charles Gibbs
Organ ..... David Smith
Conductor ..... Sam Evans
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole
Story-led by Sarah Daniels
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Composer: Matthew Strachan
Consultant Historian: Maggie Andrews.
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Stuart Milligan reads 'Salute to Lucy and Elsie', a previously unpublished story about honour, morals and the gulf between generations taken from a new collection of work by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Romance, parties, cocktails and glamour - as a young writer in the 1920s F. Scott Fitzgerald gave the magazines what they wanted. He had little choice; short stories were his bread and butter. But as the author matured he yearned to explore darker territory. This desire wasn't cushioned by wealth; The Great Gatsby hadn't sold well and as the Depression crunched in the early 30s, Fitzgerald was hit by large medical bills for both himself and his wife Zelda. Despite the financial pressures he resisted the easy censorship requested by editors, who balked at Fitzgerald's portrayal of confusing generational freedoms, sex before marriage, divorce and working women.
Growing increasingly uncompromising about deletions and sanitisations, Fitzgerald preferred to let these stories lie in wait until their time came. They are published now in the collection I'D DIE FOR YOU: AND OTHER LOST STORIES.
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie.
It's the curtain call for Janice Long in this last of three programmes following students through their final year at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.
Shannen and Rachael are studying Applied Theatre and Community Drama, training to help community groups create theatre, drama and art with a purpose. For their final projects they are tackling the controversial topics of Islamophobia and immigration, trying to build bridges between communities in Liverpool.
Mature student Lauren is a Theatre and Performance Design student with a successful career in costume design. Now she wants to learn how to do more than make the clothes for film and TV - she wants to build a world. In her final project, she's tackling the themes of life and death.
All three women are trying to build careers in tough environments, where competition is fierce, money is tight, jobs are scarce and, for Shannen and Rachael, people don't always want to hear what they are trying to say.
The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts was set up by Sir Paul McCartney and Brit School founder Mark Featherstone-Witty over 20 years ago. They wanted to equip students with the skills to navigate one of the toughest industries. For Sir Paul, it's vital to encourage artists who see the world "through another lens".
In this final part of the series, we meet three final year students battling passionately to do exactly that - and make a living from it.
Producer: David James
Series Producer: Rebecca Maxted
A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4.
Engineers discuss the industry from a female perspective, and why they moved to Hull to work on the world's longest blade in commercial operation. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
Producer: Marya Burgess.