SATURDAY 14 APRIL 2018

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (b09y6zm7)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


SAT 00:30 Book of the Week (b09zmdjl)
Packing My Library, Episode 5

Alberto Manguel has had consistent 5-star ratings for his books on reading, books and libraries. With regret, he packs up his library of 35,000 volumes and prepares to move from a vast property in rural France to a small apartment on Manhattan's West Side.

Choosing which books to keep, store, or cast out, Manguel finds himself in deep reverie on the nature of relationships between books and readers, books and collectors, order and disorder, memory and reading.

In this poignant re-evaluation of his life as a reader, he illuminates the highly personal art of reading and affirms the vital role of public libraries. Manguel's musings range widely - from delightful reflections on the idiosyncrasies of book lovers to deeper analyses of historic and catastrophic book events, including the burning of ancient Alexandria's library and contemporary library lootings at the hands of ISIS.

With insight and passion, the author underscores the universal centrality of books and their unique importance to a democratic, civilised, and engaged society.

Reader : Oliver Cotton
Author: Alberto Manguel
Abridger : Barry Johnston
Producer : David Roper

A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b09y6zm9)

The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b09y6zmc)

SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b09y6zmf)

The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (b09y6zmh)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b09yh87t)

A reading and a reflection to start the day with Jasvir Singh OBE, Chair of City Sikhs.


SAT 05:45 iPM (b09yh87w)

iPM is the news programme that starts with its listeners. Email ipm@bbc.co.uk. Twitter: @BBCiPM. Presented by Luke Jones and Eddie Mair.


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (b09y6zmk)

The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (b09yfqsp)
Coventry Edgelands

Helen Mark explores the landscape in between the city of Coventry and the countryside which surrounds it. These 'edgelands' are often ignored yet they are also places which inspire artists and writers and can tell us about how we live today. Tile Hill is the place which the artist George Shaw depicts in his work and inspired by him poet Liz Berry has written about these 'edgelands' and the stories they contain. Jonny Bark is a photographer who has recently explored this theme in his work around Coventry and writer JD Taylor has spent time travelling around these overlooked places in search of who we are and how we live in 21st Century Britain.


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (b09y6zmm)
Food Labelling

Food labels - what's on them, what do they mean, and how might they change in the future. Sybil Ruscoe chairs a discussion looking principally at the labelling of meat and dairy, with Professor Chris Elliott from the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen's University Belfast, Liz Bowles from organic certification body and campaign group, the Soil Association - representing the Labelling Matters consortium, of which they're a member, and David Swales, Head of Strategic Insight in Market Intelligence at the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board: a non-departmental public body that represents British farming.

Producer: Toby Field.


SAT 06:57 Weather (b09y6zmp)

The latest weather forecast.


SAT 07:00 Today (b09z06z1)

News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (b09y6zmr)
Andy Hamilton

Aasmah Mir and the Rev Richard Coles are joined by award-winning comedian and comedy writer Andy Hamilton and former female bouncer Delia El-Hosayny.


SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (b09z06z3)
Series 20, Portmeirion

Jay Rayner and his panel are in the Italianate village of Portmeirion in Wales. Zoe Laughlin, Tim Hayward, Rachel McCormack and Angela Gray answer the questions.

Produced by Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer: Laurence Bassett

Food Consultant: Anna Colquhoun

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 11:00 The Forum (b09z06z5)
Magellan: First Man Round the Globe?

Portuguese sailor and explorer Ferdinand Magellan set out 500 years ago to find a route to the riches of the spice islands, north east of present day Indonesia. Through a series of adventures and tragedies, Magellan's voyage discovered the Straits of Magellan joining the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans in Southern America and was the first expedition to completely circumnavigate the world. But Magellan died on the way and the remaining crew were in fact first round the globe. To explore an achievement that changed the world and still influences us today, Bridget Kendall is joined by Dr Rodrigo Cacho, Dr Alison Sandman and Dr Rachel Winchcombe.

Photo: An illustration of Ferdinand Magellan (Hulton Archive/Getty Images).


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (b09y6zmt)

Reports from writers and journalists around the world. Presented by Kate Adie.


SAT 12:00 News Summary (b09y6zmw)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (b09z06z7)
Energy firms turn up the heat on smart meters

The energy regulator, Ofgem, is encouraging suppliers to hand out smart meter installation appointments to customers who haven't asked for them, and in some cases, to turn up at their homes uninvited. It's all part of the government's drive to get energy smart meters in all homes by 2020. Energy customers have been contacting Money Box angry that they've been receiving letters and texts with appointment times for the installation of the digital meters even though in some cases they've already refused one. The meters are not compulsory. The Government says smart meters will help households manage their energy use and their bills more efficiently. But the roll-out of the digital meters has had a number of teething problems. Reporter Tony Bonsignore has the story. Sacha Deshmukh, chief executive of Smart Energy GB joins the programme.

Later this month the Supreme Court will rule on the case of Siobhan McLaughlin from County Antrim who is challenging the rules that refuse her and her four children bereavement benefits because she wasn't married to her late partner John Adams. In 2015 at the High Court, she argued that the refusal to pay the widow's allowance discriminated against her on grounds of marital status. She won, but the decision was overturned on appeal in 2016. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. Paul Lewis speaks to Siobhan McLaughlin about why she's pursuing the legal action. And Jo Edwards, partner and head of family law at legal practise, Forsters, explains the importance of this case.

Company opens a new pension scheme which guarantees a pension for life linked to pay. That's not a common headline these days. Because across the country good pension schemes are being closed down. These so-called defined benefit schemes promise a pension based on the worker's salary. But they are disappearing in the private sector as firms fear the cost of future liabilities. But not everywhere. Some firms are actually opening new schemes which they say are affordable.

Paul Lewis visits Bromford Housing Association in Aylesbury which is opening a new scheme for its 1,100 staff that promises a pension for life. Hilary Salt from First Actuarial also joins the programme.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Producer: Lesley McAlpine
Editor: Jim Frank.


SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (b09yh6mz)
Series 96, 13/04/2018

Miles Jupp is joined by Angela Barnes, Andy Hamilton, Zoe Lyons and Hugo Rifkind for a satirical look at the week's news. This week the panel discuss Theresa May's response to the chemical attacks in Syria, Donald Trump's lawyer's uninvited guests and an over priced bag of stones.

Written by Sarah Campbell, Jon Hunter, James Kettle and Laura Major with additional material by Simon Alcock.
Produced by Joe Nunnery.
A BBC Studios Production.


SAT 12:57 Weather (b09y6zmy)

The latest weather forecast.


SAT 13:00 News (b09y6zn0)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (b09yh6n7)
Caroline Flint MP, Peter Hitchens, Caroline Lucas MP, Lord Patten

Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate from Oxford Town Hall with Labour MP Caroline Flint, the columnist Peter Hitchens, co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales Caroline Lucas MP and the Conservative peer Lord Patten.


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (b09y6zn2)

Listeners have their say on the issues discussed on Any Questions?


SAT 14:30 Dangerous Visions (b07bzhrd)
The Kraken Wakes, Episode 1

John Wyndham's science fiction novel adapted by Val McDermid. Performed with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in a terrifying modern retelling of alien invasion and global flooding. Starring Tamsin Greig, Paul Higgins and Richard Harrington.

The floods have recently devastated parts of Britain. But what if the flood waters never subsided? What if an apparent meteor shower was actually the invasion fleet of an alien race, incubating in the ocean deeps until they were ready to begin their war of attrition against the human race? What if we were trapped on a drowning planet?

Val McDermid is a long-time fan of Wyndham's work and retells this dramatic novel in light of contemporary fears of climate change.

Recorded with a live orchestral accompaniment from the BBC Philharmonic. Composer Alan Edward Williams worked with Val to create a brand new 50's B movie inspired orchestral score that takes on the role of the unseen Kraken during the performance .

Episode 1:
Radio reporters Mike and Phyllis Watson are drawn into the story when a Northern Lights cruise spots five fireballs landing deep in the ocean. With other global sightings, social media is agog, for a while. But governments don't lose interest when Twitter does. And when naval expeditions link up with scientists to investigate the deeps there are more shocks in store. Scientists are baffled, though theories abound then a series of disasters makes it indisputable.
There is something down there and humans are under attack.

Performed 'as live' with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Composer: Prof Alan E Williams
Conductor: Clark Rundell

Director and Producer: Justine Potter
A Savvy production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 15:30 The Voices of... (b09yddx9)
Series 3, Hannah Peel

An intimate portrait of singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Hannah Peel.

Hannah Peel inhabits many different worlds. She can, blithely, be described as a singer-songwriter, known for stripped back renditions of 80s pop songs, accompanying herself with a hand-turned music box. But then she's also composed an epic concept album for brass band and electronics and provided the music for a theatrical re-imagining of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock, as well as being a session musician as a singer, violinist, trombonist, keyboard player and arranger.

Her personal life - like her professional activities - traverses different worlds, too. Her childhood was divided between Northern Ireland, where she was born and to which she returns often, and Yorkshire, where she grew up in the brass band tradition.

Now, she's a synthesiser convert and calls her studio The Lab. Yet, in all her music-making, her voice carries the legacy of a family steeped in the culture of singing.

Presented and produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
(Photo credit: Adam Patterson).


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (b09y6zn4)
Weekend Woman's Hour: GRRRL, Ruth Jones, Rose Tremain

Three members of the band GRRRL perform their track 'Wissi'.

How productive are investigations into current and historical child sex abuse? Do they help victims?

Ruth Jones best known for her screenwriting talks about her debut novel Never Greener.

Twitter went crazy last week when someone suggested a challenge - describe yourself the way a male author would and lots of references to breasts, tight trousers and curves ensued - so how well do men create female characters?

Dr Jo Toovey tells us why she's proposed a motion at the annual conference of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, asking for more research into the identification and support of female students with neurodiversity.

Plus, Rose Tremain talks about her r first work of non-fiction, Rosie: Scenes from a Vanished Life and explains why she's decided to write about her childhood

And when it comes to wedding planning how do you make sure you get what you really want?

Presenter; Jenni Murray
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed
Editor: Beverley Purcell.


SAT 17:00 PM (b09y6zn6)
Saturday PM

Caroline Wyatt with coverage of the day's news.


SAT 17:30 iPM (b09yh87w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:45 today]


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b09y6zn8)

The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 17:57 Weather (b09y6znb)

The latest weather forecast.


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b09y6znd)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (b09y6zng)
Sheila Reid, Juno Dawson, Hugh Dennis, Sean Gandini, Manic Street Preachers, Melissa Laveaux, Nikki Bedi, Clive Anderson

Clive Anderson and Nikki Bedi are joined by Sheila Reid, Juno Dawson, Hugh Dennis and Sean Gandini for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Manic Street Preachers and Melissa Laveaux.

Producer: Tim Bano.


SAT 19:00 Profile (b09z08w1)
Karen Pierce

Series of profiles of people who are currently making headlines.


SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (b09y6znj)
Quiz, Custody, Lost in Space, Nikesh Shukla, Surface Work

Quiz is the latest play from James Graham. Its subject matter is the edition of Who Wants To be A Millionaire in which a lot of coughing went on. We the audience are asked to vote on whether we think the major is guilty or not of trying to beat the system.
French film Custody is a searing and unflinching look at a disintegrating marriage and the emotional and psychological consequences on all those in the family
1960's sci-fi TV series Lost In Space is returning. And this time it's on Netflix with all the enormo-budgets that have become associated with that channel. But has spending more money made it any better?
Nikesh Shukla's novel: The One Who Wrote Destiny is about the immigrant experience of a Gujarati family into the UK, following different generations' approach to assimilation and identity
There's an exhibition of work by 50 women abstract artists from 1918 to 2018 at Victoria Miro Gallery in London, called Surface Work.
Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Ayesha Hazarika, Pat Kane and Lynn Nead. The producer is Oliver Jones.


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (b09z08w3)
50 Years On: Rivers of Blood

In April 1968, Enoch Powell made one of the most incendiary speeches in modern British politics. Ian McDiarmid reads the Rivers of Blood speech in its entirety - the first time it has been broadcast complete on British radio.

Taking the speech section by section, he BBC's Media Editor Amol Rajan and a range of contributors reflect on the enduring influence and significance of the speech, which was delivered to local Conservative Party members in Birmingham just a few days ahead of the crucial second reading of the 1968 Race Relations Bill.

Professor David Dabydeen of the University of Warwick talks about Powell's failure to realise that the racial unrest in America, which he feared might spread to Britain, was around basic civil rights such as the right to vote, and the right to sit on a bus.

David Lammy MP talks about the fear that the speech created amongst his family at the time, becoming part of the wallpaper of his childhood.

The text of the speech included observations on immigrants taken from Enoch Powell's Wolverhampton constituents, and ended with a reference to a moment in Virgil's Aeneid when the prophetess Sibyll predicts civil war in Italy with "the River Tiber foaming with much blood".

Only a short section of Powell's speech was actually recorded on the night but, for this programme, the full text is recreated by the actor Ian McDiarmid, who has played Enoch Powell on stage recently in the play What Shadows.

Producer: Nathan Gower
Executive Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 21:00 Drama (b09yckvk)
An Enemy of the People:, Episode 2

Alfred Molina, Adam Godley, Susannah Fielding and Ian Ogilvy lead an all start cast. Dr Stockmann has discovered the town's spa-baths are contaminated. How will this affect local business interests? Will Stockmann be publicly vilified?

Martin Jarvis directs this new version by Rebecca Lenkiewicz of Henrik Ibsen's dynamic thriller. Will campaigning courage turn into self-righteous fanaticism? Vested interest lives on and this timeless 1882 drama is as up to date now as when it was first performed.

Townpeople: Moira Quirk, Elizabeth Knowleden, Jean Gilpin,
Alan Shearman, Neil Dickson, Ifan Meredith

Specially composed music: A-Mnemonic

Director: Martin Jarvis
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 22:00 News and Weather (b09y6znl)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.


SAT 22:15 Unreliable Evidence (b09yfnnc)
Digital Courts

Clive Anderson and guests examine concerns that the government's programme to modernise the court system through use of digital technologies could threaten access to justice.

Today, it's common practice for vulnerable witnesses to give evidence via video link. But government proposals could see the entire court process move online. Critics of the plans say that, without access to a lawyer, vulnerable defendants might act against their best interests, or may even be manipulated by a third party.

Clive hears concerns that, without a defendant appearing in the dock, victims and their families might not feel justice was being done. and - without a physical courtroom for journalists to attend - justice might no longer be seen to be done.

There is a widespread worry that cost-cutting is being prioritised over justice, and that the digitally illiterate risk being shut out of legal system, with profound consequences.

Supporters of the proposals claim digital courts will save the public time and money, be easier to navigate, and meet the demands of the "internet society" that services be delivered online.

Producer: Matt Willis
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 23:00 Brain of Britain (b09yczyd)
Heat 7, 2018

(7/17)
Who were Roger Bannister's two pace setters in the race that broke the four-minute mile barrier in 1954? And what's the common name of the disease transmitted to human beings by the tsetse fly? These are just two of the questions in Russell Davies' pack as he welcomes another four amateur competitors to the trickiest general knowledge tournament of them all. There's a place in the semi-finals waiting for the winner, with a possibility of a runner-up getting through too, if his or her score is high enough.

Today's competitors are:
Rob Butlin, who works in advertising and comes from Great Doddington in Northamptonshire
Kathy Price, a retired consultant anaesthetist from Sunderland
Brian Roles, a retired IT programmer from Maidenhead in Berkshire
Tom Williams, a personal assistant from London.

Producer: Paul Bajoria.


SAT 23:30 The Echo Chamber (b09yckvp)
Series 11, The Long Take

Paul Farley meets the poet Robin Robertson, and hears extracts from his new book-length poem, The Long Take.

1946. Walker is a D-Day veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder; he can't return home to rural Nova Scotia, and looks instead to the city for freedom, anonymity and repair. As he walks the streets of New York, we witness a crucial period of fracture in American history, one that also allowed film noir to flourish. The Dream had gone sour but - as those dark, classic movies made clear - the country needed outsiders to study and dramatise its new anxieties.

While Walker tries to piece his life together, America is beginning to come apart: deeply paranoid, doubting its own certainties, riven by social and racial division, spiralling corruption and the collapse of the inner cities. The Long Take is about a good man, brutalised by war, haunted by violence and apparently doomed to return to it - yet resolved to find kindness again, in the world and in himself.

Reader: Kerry Shale
Producer: Mair Bosworth
Sound Design: Rebecca Ripley and Mair Bosworth.



SUNDAY 15 APRIL 2018

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b09z1czt)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


SUN 00:30 Short Works (b09yh6mn)
Series 1, Unmade

An original short story commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the acclaimed Irish writer David Hayden. As read by Jane Brennan ('Brooklyn', 'The Tudors')

David Hayden's writing has appeared in gorse, The Yellow Nib, The Moth, The Stinging Fly, Spolia and The Warwick Review, and poetry in PN Review. His debut short story collection 'Darker With The Lights On' was shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize 2018.

Writer ..... David Hayden
Reader ..... Jane Brennan
Producer ..... Michael Shannon.


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b09z1czw)

The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b09z1czy)

SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b09z1d00)

The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b09z1d02)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b09z1dp7)
St Matthew's Church, Chapel Allerton, Leeds

Bells on Sunday comes from St.Matthew's Church in Chapel Allerton, Leeds. There are 6 bells which were cast by Taylor's of Loughborough as a clock chime in 1946. They were made into a full circle ringing peal in 1954. The Tenor weighs seven and a half hundredweight and is tuned to B flat. We hear the bells ringing Plain Bob Doubles.


SUN 05:45 Profile (b09z08w1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b09z1d04)

The latest national and international news.


SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b09z1d06)
The Teacher's Art

Mark Tully explores the very best of teachers - and the very worst - through fiction, philosophy and memoirs, considering the essential attributes of a great teacher and the formative influence teachers can have throughout our lives.

He talks to former teacher Kabir Shaikh, who, as Director of Education for UNRWA/UNESCO, has also been responsible for providing education for half a million Palestinian refugee children in the Middle East.

There are readings from the works of Charles Dickens, Chalotte Bronte and poet Carl Dennis, and music is provided by Carl Orff, Aaron Copland and Japanese Taiko drummer Joji Hirota.

The readers are Cyril Nri, Emma Pallant and Francis Cadder.

Presenter: Mark Tully
Producer: Frank Stirling

A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b09z1dp9)
New Zealand Deer

Tucked away at the furthest end of a remote private road in central South Island, New Zealand lies one of the world's biggest deer farms. Around 6000 stags, hinds and fawns range over some of Haldon Station's 22,000 hectares of high land, alongside huge flocks of Merino sheep and British breeds of cattle.

New Zealand is renowned as a world leader in deer farming and Haldon, like most of the country's large-scale farms, produces not just venison for export around the globe, but also "harvests" velvet, the soft tissue that is cut every year from a stag's growing antlers. It is sold to the health food and aphrodisiac markets in South Korea, China and Taiwan, but it's a controversial practice that is banned in the UK for animal welfare reasons.

The team of ten which is employed to manage the vast herds and flocks all live on the property which has its own school, cookhouse and community centre. Nancy Nicolson made the long journey south to hear about farm lives lived in an enormous landscape.


SUN 06:57 Weather (b09z1d08)

The latest weather forecast.


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b09z1d0b)

The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (b09z1d0d)
Syria conflict, Outer Hebrides mosque, Vaisakhi

Sunday morning religious news and current affairs programme.


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (b09z1dpc)
Sightsavers

Lorraine Kelly makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Sightsavers.

Registered Charity Numbers: 207544 and SC038110
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 'Sightsavers'.
- Cheques should be made payable to 'Sightsavers'.


SUN 07:57 Weather (b09z1d0g)

The latest weather forecast.


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b09z1d0j)

The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b09z1dpf)
Breathing In God

On the third Sunday of Easter Beverley Humphreys reflects on the need to continue growing in a sense of Resurrection and renewal. Focussing on the role of breath and breathing which underpins all human life, she is joined in Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff by the Rev. Peter Noble;, the BBC National Chorus of Wales, its Artistic Director Adrian Partington; organist James Anderson-Besant , and members of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Music includes 'Let all the world in every corner sing' (Vaughan Williams); Holy Holy Holy (Hoddinott) For the Beauty of the Earth (Rutter).
Producer Karen Walker.


SUN 08:48 A Point of View (b09yh6n9)
The Mental Illness Metaphor

Tom Shakespeare on why we need to rethink our use of the mental illness metaphor.

Is President Trump really "mad"?, he asks. Is Brexit "bonkers"? Or is the latest government policy "schizophrenic"?

He says we all do it. "Within five minutes of starting to write this talk, I find I'm doing it myself!"

But he says we need to break the habit since it shows a profound lack of understanding towards people with real mental health conditions.

Producer: Adele Armstrong.


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b09z1dph)
Martin Noble Picks his Tweet of the Day

Martin Noble is the guitarist with British Sea Power and a keen birdwatcher in his spare time. He introduces us to some of his favourite birds and tells some of his favourite stories from his birdwatching travels.

Producer Maggie Ayre.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b09z1d0l)

Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.


SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b09z1d0n)

Life proves difficult for Alistair, and there is tension at Home Farm.


SUN 11:15 The Reunion (b09z1dpk)
Kyoto Protocol

Sue MacGregor reunites environmentalists and politicians who fought fossil fuel industry lobbyists to secure the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol.

The protocol which, for the first time, committed 38 developed countries to collectively cut their greenhouse gas emissions, took a gruelling diplomatic struggle to reach agreement in December 1997.

After ten days of intense negotiations in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto, the Argentinian diplomat overseeing efforts to strike the world's first legally binding climate agreement suspended the committee session and huddled with key players in an attempt to prevent the collapse of the talks.

"We were making public policy on probably the defining issue of our time at three in the morning amongst people who hadn't slept for 48 hours," recalls Joanna Depledge, who gained a close-up view of the Kyoto Protocols's make or break moment as a member of the United Nations Climate Secretariat. At about 5am, the morning after the official end of the conference, there was an agreement. When Chairman Estrada declared the so-called committee of the whole was recommending the adoption of the protocol "by unanimity", the conference floor erupted in cheers.

Joining Sue MacGregor to look back on the making of the deal, and its impact, are Joanna Depledge formerly part of the the UN's Climate Secretariat, former British Environment Minster John Gummer, campaigner Tony Juniper of Friends of The Earth, and lawyer Farhana Yamin, who was then policy advisor to the Alliance of Small Island Nations.

Producer: Emily Williams
Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:00 News Summary (b09z1d0q)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:04 The Unbelievable Truth (b09yd065)
Series 20, Episode 2

David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.

Richard Osman, Elis James, Sindhu Vee and Alan Davies are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as Google, rugby, bananas and crabs.

Produced by Richard Turner.
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b09z1dpm)
Northern Ireland: Food at a Crossroads

Sheila Dillon travels from the border to Belfast to learn why Northern Irish food has blossomed in recent years and what leaving the EU could mean for producers.


SUN 12:57 Weather (b09z1d0s)

The latest weather forecast.


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b09z1d0v)

Global news and analysis.


SUN 13:30 What Are the Odds? (b09v2x58)

Rajesh speaks with Professor David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge University who has been collecting stories of coincidence since 2011. Rajesh wants to find out why he is so prone to coincidence. Along with discovering mind blowing coincidences Rajesh sets out on an experiment to see if he can seek out coincidence and he's very surprised by the results.

David Spiegelhalter believes its not that these things occur, it's that we notice them. As well as giving an opportunity to study probability and chance David believes that coincidences are important to us, because they are uplifting and good for us. Rajesh does not disappoint and in the making of the programme hears and experiences several coincidences which will leave you thinking what are the odds of that.

Produced by Kate Bissell.


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b09yh6ml)
Cranfield University

Peter Gibbs invites the panel to join him at Cranfield University. Pippa Greenwood, James Wong and RHS Wisley curator Matthew Pottage answer questions from the audience.

Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Laurence Bassett

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b09z1dqh)
Omnibus - Places Life Takes You

Fi Glover introduces conversations about coping with loss, sharing your home with a refugee family, and settling down after life abroad in the Omnibus edition of the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject

Producer: Marya Burgess.


SUN 15:00 Drama (b09z1dr6)
Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves, Episode 1

Martin Jarvis reprises his award-winning Broadway characterisation as Jeeves. Comic mastery directed by Rosalind Ayres and also starring Joanna Lumley, Ian Ogilvy and Michael York.

When Bertie Wooster (James Callis) embarks on an errand of matrimonial mercy down at Totleigh Towers, he needs all the help he can get from Jeeves (Martin Jarvis). Why? Because there's trouble between Madeline Bassett and Gussie Fink-Nottle. She's forcing Gussie to become a vegetarian. If Gussie refuses to abandon steak and kidney pies, Madeleine will dump him and marry Bertie. Can Wooster avoid such a fate?

Also, human gorilla Roderick Spode (Adam Godley) is besotted by Madeline and loathes Bertie, mistakenly viewing him as a rival. A midnight encounter between Bertie and an Aberdeen terrier doesn't help.

And Bertie's host Sir Watkyn Bassett (Ian Ogilvy) suspects he has designs on a valuable statuette. Joanna Lumley pitches in as dominant Aunt Dahlia, with Michael York as whisky-sodden Major Plank.

Can Jeeves sort it all out?

Dramatised by Archie Scottney
Sound Design: Mark Holden
Director: Rosalind Ayres

A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 16:00 Open Book (b09z1dw2)
Jennifer Clement

Mariella Frostrup talks to Jennifer Clement, novelist and President of Pen International. Her new, timely novel is an exploration of Florida's gun culture but also a touching portrait of mother-daughter love in the most difficult circumstances.
Also on the programme, literary news from Estonia as the London Book Fair spotlights Baltic writing.


SUN 16:30 The Echo Chamber (b09z1dw4)
Series 11, Caroline Bird and Kaveh Akbar

'My assigned counsellor told me I used
poetry to hide from myself, unhook
the ballast from my life; a floating ruse
of surreal jokes.'

Paul Farley brings together two poets working on opposite sides of the Atlantic whose latest work explores addiction and recovery with surrealism and dark wit. Caroline Bird's fifth collection, In These Days of Prohibition, has been shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry, while the Iranian-American poet Kaveh Akbar's debut collection Calling a Wolf a Wolf was published in the UK in early 2018 to great acclaim.

Produced by Mair Bosworth.


SUN 17:00 Meeting the Man I Killed (b09yy4gb)

Jonathan Izard killed a man in a road traffic accident. It wasn't his fault. In an attempt to come to terms with what happened, he tries to get to know the man he killed, Michael Rawson.

Jonathan goes back to the place on the road where his car hit Michael, on New Year's Eve 2015. Michael was crossing the road on his crutches from the bus stop to his flat in sheltered accommodation. It was a winter's evening, pitch black. He didn't see Jonathan's car until it was too late. Jonathan saw Michael, very briefly, just before the impact - a face in the windscreen, a look of puzzled bewilderment, as if to say, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Ten months later, the inquest confirmed that there was nothing Jonathan could have done. It ruled that no blame should attach to the driver. But meanwhile, Jonathan retreats from the world, stops shaving, wears black. He doesn't tell his friends what's happened, overcome by trauma and grief.

After the inquest, he starts to make this programme. He visits the place Michael lived, and talks to his friends. He sees Michael Rawson's photograph for the first time and discovers that, strangely, they have things in common. He begins to build up a picture of a complex, highly intelligent scholar who had a passion for photography, travel and classical music.

And he talks to other people who have killed accidentally. Jonathan Bartley, now a politician, ran over a young man when he himself was only 17. Maryann Gray accidentally killed an 8-year-old child when she was still a student. In a profoundly moving interview, Maryann explains this meant she decided never to have children herself - she felt she didn't deserve them.

Together, Jonathan and Maryann discuss their deep regret, their secret sense of shame. As she says, "Terrible things happen to perfectly good people. The world can be so capricious, we know that. But it's helpful for just day-to-day functioning to forget that, and assume that we're in control. When these accidents happen, they are reminders that we are only in partial control."

Last year about five and half thousand pedestrians were killed or injured in traffic accidents on Britain's roads.

Produced by Kim Normanton and Elizabeth Burke
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 17:40 Profile (b09z08w1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b09z1d0x)

The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 17:57 Weather (b09z1d0z)

The latest weather forecast.


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b09z1d11)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b09z1d13)
John Waite

John Waite chooses his BBC Radio highlights.


SUN 19:00 The Archers (b09z3dkd)

Shula tries to justify her actions, and Clarrie has reservations.


SUN 19:15 Ruby Wax: Frazzled (b09z3dkg)

Ruby Wax talks about mental health in her inimitable style, focusing on how we are all frazzled, how we got to be that way and what we can do about it - using comedy, mindfulness and chat with the audience.

There is so much to say about mental health and feeling frazzled and Ruby has the knowledge - a Master's degree in mindfulness-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. She also has the experience after years of struggles with mental health. And of course she has the comic gifts to say it in an articulate, funny and entertaining way

In this show, she wants to make us laugh at her and at ourselves, make our lives feel more manageable, and share tools for how to cope.

Written and performed by Ruby Wax
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 19:45 Life at Absolute Zero (b09z3dkj)
Series 3, The West Wing

Lynne Truss observes the inhabitants of Meridian Cliffs, a small wind-battered town on the south coast of England.

By night, Sarah Birkett dreams of discovering new rooms in her house. Not so surprising, perhaps, given that she's having a loft conversion done. But could the dreams be something to do with letting a new man into her life?

Written by Lynne Truss
Directed by Kate McAll
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 20:00 Feedback (b09yh6ms)

Radio 4's forum for audience comment.


SUN 20:30 Last Word (b09yh6mq)
Gillian Ayres, Efraín Ríos Montt, David Cobham, Nikki Sievwright, Fergus Anckorn

Photo: Gillian Ayers

Matthew Bannister on

The artist Gillian Ayers, known for her large, exuberant abstract paintings, which reflected her exuberant character.

General Efraín Ríos Montt, the Guatemalan dictator who was convicted of genocide against his own people.

David Cobham, the naturalist and film maker who brought Tarka the Otter to the screen.

Nikki Sievwright, the Sixties model who went on to serve in the Ulster Defence Regiment.

Fergus Anckorn, who used his skill as a magician to win food for his fellow inmates in Japanese prisoner of war camps.


SUN 21:00 Money Box (b09z06z7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b09z1dpc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 In Business (b09yfqsy)
The Economic Impact of America's Opioid Epidemic

Ohio is one of the worst hit US states for opioid addiction rates and deaths. Huge numbers of people have dropped out of the workforce and employers say they struggle to recruit the people they need. If automation increases as a result, will unemployment, despair and addiction get even worse? And is drug testing workers part of the solution or part of the problem? Claire Bolderson asks why the opioid epidemic has taken such a hold here and visits companies hoping to develop new medical solutions to treat pain and manage addition. For them, the opioid crisis might just be a very profitable business opportunity.
Producer: Rosamund Jones.


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b09z1d15)

Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.


SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b09yfqsr)
Talking Pictures TV

With Antonia Quirke

Antonia talks to Noel Cronin, the man behind cult channel Talking Pictures TV, which specialises in those old movies you used to catch on afternoon telly, often when you were ill from school. He explains how he runs a TV station from his home in the Hertfordshire countryside.

As Clint Eastwood growls his way back into cinemas as The Man With No Name in A Fistful Of Dollars, poet Bridget Minamore and critic Tim Robey discuss the appeal of the Strong, Silent Type.

Ex-submariner Justin Beattie plumbs the depths of movies about life under the ocean waves and separates fact from fiction in movies such as The Hunt For Red October and Das Boot.


SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b09z1d06)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today]



MONDAY 16 APRIL 2018

MON 00:00 Midnight News (b09z1d2z)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b09yfnn5)
Ethnography Award Shortlist 2018

This year's winning entries explored complex lives and worlds. How did Dalits, member of India's lowest caste, shake the political establishment in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu? What's the impact on the health of people living in a heavily polluted area in rural China? How do Liberian refugees earn a living in a refugee camp in Ghana? Laurie discusses this year's shortlist with two of his fellow judges - Hilary Pilkington, winner of the 2017 award and Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester and Nayanika Mookherjee, shortlisted for the 2015 award and Associate Professor (Reader) in Socio-Cultural Anthropology at Durham University.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b09z1dp7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b09z1d31)

The latest shipping forecast.


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b09z1d33)

MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b09z1d35)

The latest shipping forecast.


MON 05:30 News Briefing (b09z1d37)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0b06m06)

A reading and a reflection to start the day with Jasvir Singh OBE, Chair of City Sikhs.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (b09z1d39)
Farm vets, Venison v lamb - the Brexit fffect, Lyme disease in the Outer Hebrides

Sybil Ruscoe hears about the recruitment concerns of farm vet practices in the face of Brexit. Andrew Cobner of the BCVA, the British Cattle Vet Association, explains that the industry relies on large numbers of vets trained in EU and East European countries.

Also, why a large Welsh estate is increasing its venison production over that of lamb. The BBC's Steffan Messenger visits Rhug Estate which, concerned at the prospect of lamb retaining its premium after Brexit, is focusing on increasing its herd of Sika deer.

Also Lyme disease in the Outer Hebrides - why research is to being undertaken to address the high incidence of the disease on North and South Uist.

Producer: Mark Smalley.


MON 05:56 Weather (b09z1d3c)

The latest weather forecast for farmers.


MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b08q3sz6)
Cyrus Todiwala on the house sparrow

In this programme, London based chef and restaurant owner Cyrus Todiwala talks about his love of the city's house sparrow, bringing a bit of joy to the bustling streets.

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.


MON 06:00 Today (b09z1d3f)

News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (b09z1d3h)
1968: radicals, riots and jazz

Fifty years after radicals took to the streets of Paris and stormed campuses across the Western World, Andrew Marr unpicks the legacy of 1968.

Historian Richard Vinen finds waves of protest across the western world in his book The Long '68: Radical Protest and Its Enemies. Some movements were genuinely revolutionary, such as the ten million French workers whose strike nearly toppled the government. But on American university campuses and in British art schools, protests took the forms of civil rights marches and feminist collectives, whose narratives changed the way we think today.

In Paris, left-wing students armed with works of philosophy took on the police and the state. But Paris was still coming to terms with its Nazi occupation, explains Agnès Poirier. Her new book follows the artists and writers of the 40s and 50s, from Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre to Miles Davis and James Baldwin, as a new generation helped France regain its reputation for art, passion and political action.

Not only left-wing radicals were inspired by the events of that year. In 1968 philosopher Roger Scruton was holed up in a Paris bedroom studying while rioters smashed windows outside. Scruton was horrified by the chaos and destruction, and turned his back on the left-wing politics of his childhood. He became part of a generation of new conservatives who sought to preserve the past rather than fight for an unknown future.

Today France is facing new waves of strikes, with railway workers bringing the transport system to a halt and Emmanuel Macron pushing through sweeping reforms to social security. Sophie Pedder, Paris bureau chief for The Economist, asks what France in 2018 owes to the events of 1968.

Producer: Hannah Sander.


MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b09z3drq)
Dearest Squirrel, Episode 1

John Osborne meets Pamela Lane in 1951 and within three months the couple are married. So begins an extraordinary love affair that lasts over thirty years.

A completely fresh insight into the mind of one of the UK's greatest playwrights, the letters between John Osborne and his first wife, actress Pamela Lane, are also a love letter to a now defunct system of repertory theatre and life in post-war Britain.

As these letters reveal, soon after their divorce, Osborne and Lane began a mutually supportive, loyal, frequently stormy and sometimes sexually intimate alliance lasting thirty years until Osborne's death. By the mid- 1980s, they had become closer and more trusting than they had been since their earliest years together.

"You are for me what you always were," Pamela told him, "I am in love with you still."

It is, he declared, "my fortune to have loved someone for a lifetime."

Acerbic, witty, candid and heartbreaking, the letters reveal a unique relationship - troubled, tender and enduring.

The author, Peter Whitebrook, was born in London and has written and broadcast extensively on the theatre and literature. His co-adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath won a Fringe First Award. His biography of John Osborne was nominated for both the Sheridan Morley Prize for biography and the Theatre Book Prize.

Read by Simon Shepherd and Amanda Root
Abridged by Polly Coles
Produced by Clive Brill

A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b09z1d3k)
Eve Myles, Kathleen Turner, Online personas

Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.


MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b09z3drs)
She Said/He Said, Episode 1

Autumn term at Addison University. Two months after a freshers' week party, Stephanie makes her way to the police station and a young man is stunned to be accused of rape.

This is a fiction inspired by far too many real events. Many students in the UK today will be impacted during their time at university by a sexual assault case, as complainant, witness, supporter - or the accused.

Stephanie is a fresher at a party when she encounters Charlie and, in a few short minutes, their lives are changed forever. The subjectivity and so-called "grey areas" in the ensuing legal case are explored through the use of rolling monologues, as the narrative passes between the two young people at the centre of the accusation and on to those who surround and support them.

The author Eileen Horne has written numerous adaptations and original dramas for Radio 4, including her detective memoir The Lost Sister and, with Andrew Davies, The Mysterious Death of Jane Austen. She Said/He Said follows months of interviews with people on all sides of this painful subject.

Written by Eileen Horne
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 11:00 The Escape Room (b09z3dst)

Can Natalie Haynes and her team make it out of The Escape Room?

Escape Rooms are immersive, live games where groups of players are locked in a confined space and must solve puzzles to escape in time. Games are often themed. Players can flee penitentiaries, Egyptian tombs or pirate ships.

Five years ago, there were only a handful in the UK. Today, there are nearly a thousand.

In an attempt to understand this phenomenon, the writer and broadcaster Natalie Haynes is the latest person to be locked in. Her team has one hour to complete a series of tasks. While searching for clues, she'll also try to find out what's fuelling our fascination for escape.

Natalie thinks there's more to the Escape Room than a renewed interest in immersive play. With players surrendering their phones on entry, is a brief escape from the digital world part of the appeal? Is it possible to have a moment of mindfulness inside a dark, locked room?

Increasingly, companies are using the escape room's reliance on problem-solving skills for corporate training. Recruiters have recently turned to escape rooms to assess potential employees. They're even becoming a popular venue for dates.

What if your career or love life depended on your ability to escape?

A successful escape requires teamwork, communication and delegation, as well as critical thinking, attention to detail and lateral thinking. So Natalie's team is made up of psychotherapist Philippa Perry, digital entrepreneur Bejay Mulenga and comedian and puzzle enthusiast Rob Deering. They'll be observed from afar by Hungarian escape room founder Zoltán Papp and the writer Laurence Scott.

Produced by Paul Smith
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 11:30 Spike Milligan: Inside Out (b09z3dy1)

In celebration of Spike Milligan's 100th birthday, Michael Palin and Spike's daughter Jane, reveal the first broadcast of an archive which uniquely captures Spike's perspective of his life and career. Recorded between 1980 - 1985, Spike is in conversation with his biographer - and his free thinking and honesty give fresh insights into his fascinating life. Extracts from the tapes are linked to excerpts of his comedy - and with our hosts' comment, context and own stories about Spike - combine to create an intimate portrait of an undisputed Goonius. First of two programmes.

Contributor...Michael Palin
Contributor...Jane Milligan
Producer...Verity Maidlow Cornwell
Production Manager...Emma Lawrence.


MON 12:00 News Summary (b09z1d3m)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 Home Front (b09sywrj)
16 April 1918 - Sylvia Graham

On this day in 1918, the upper age of conscription was raised to fifty, and in Folkestone, Sylvia Graham suddenly feels very old.

Written by Lucy Catherine
Story-led by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.


MON 12:15 You and Yours (b09z1d3p)
Telephone charges, Loneliness robots, Animal welfare

Why callers to a free government telephone line are still being landed with big charges.

The supermarket chain accused of breaking promises over animal welfare.

And the robots allowing children too ill to go to school to link up with their classmates.

Presenter: Winifred Robinson

Producer: Jon Douglas.


MON 12:57 Weather (b09z1d3r)

The latest weather forecast.


MON 13:00 World at One (b09z1d3t)

Analysis of news and current affairs.


MON 13:45 Chinese Characters (b09z3f8d)
Sima Qian: Grand Historian

He wasn't quite the man who invented history in China, but he certainly shaped it for thousands of years. Author of the Shi Ji (Records of the Grand Historian), Sima Qian told the history of China in the 2nd century BC in way nobody had done before; interviewing participants, influencing views on who was good and bad. History has always been political in China, and Sima Qian was one of the first writers to show how that politics worked, whether the powerful liked it or not. His objectivity got him into big trouble at court - when he confronted the emperor, he was subjected to a horrific and humiliating punishment. For Sima Qian, writing history came at a price.
Presenter: Rana Mitter
Producer: Ben Crighton
Researcher: Elizabeth Smith Rosser.


MON 14:00 The Archers (b09z3dkd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Drama (b09z4fys)
Spike and the Elfin Oak

David Threlfall stars in Ian Billings' comic fantasy inspired by the true story of Spike Milligan's madcap ventures in the mid-1960s to preserve the Elfin Oak in Kensington Gardens whilst also performing in the West End run of his play, The Bedsitting Room. When theatre censors get in the way of Spike saving the elves, events threaten to spiral out of control.

The trumpet player was Peter Ringrose and music was arranged and performed by Neil Brand

Directed by Gemma Jenkins

April 16th 2018 marks the centenary of Spike Milligan's birth. A life-long Spike fan and children's stand-up comic, author and poet, this is Ian Billings' first radio play.


MON 15:00 Brain of Britain (b09z4fyv)
Heat 8, 2018

(8/17)
Russell Davies returns to the Radio Theatre in London for the seventh heat in the 2018 general knowledge tournament. The questions cover everything from Spanish painting and Shakespeare to astronomy and the history of mathematics. A semi-final place awaits today's winner. There will also be a chance for a Brain of Britain listener to win a prize, by outwitting the Brains with questions of his or her own devising.

Today's competitors are:
Dan Adler, an IT consultant from Farnham in Surrey
Debbie Green, a puzzle magazine editor from Leatherhead, also in Surrey
Garry Holland, a writer from Didcot in Oxfordshire
Steve Lacey, a mortgage adviser from Corby in Northamptonshire

Producer: Paul Bajoria.


MON 15:30 The Food Programme (b09z1dpm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]


MON 16:00 Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics (b091w8h9)
Series 3, Juvenal

Join Natalie Haynes and guests for half an hour of comedy and the Classics from the BBC Radio Theatre in London.

Natalie is a reformed comedian who is a little bit obsessive about Ancient Greece and Rome.

Today she stands up in the name of Greek writer Lucian. Expect to hear about the possible origins of 'The Life of Brian', the possible inspiration for Mickey Mouse and a trip to the moon about a thousand years before NASA.

With special guests Professor Edith Hall and Matthew Sweet.
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery.


MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (b09z4fyx)
Transgender

For many years, transgender people have remained silent. But today they are affirming publicly that they have a rightful place in society and religious groups are now grappling with transgender issues. The Church of England General Synod recently debated a motion to draw up a prayer to welcome people who have transitioned from one sex to another. The House of Bishops turned it down.

The Bible asserts that God made mankind in his own image; so what's the problem? Presumably he made people whose gender does not sit comfortably with the sex they were assigned at birth? But debate still rages within the church because the Bible also says that "male and female, God created them" which suggests that there should be no ambiguity when it comes to a person's gender.

The issues are complex and they can multiply if a trans person is living a religious life within a religious community. What is the attitude of religious traditions towards transgender people? Are the problems more cultural than religious?

Joining Ernie Rea are Kamalanandi, and Philippa Whittaker, A Buddhist and a Christian who have both transitioned. With them in discussion is the academic Dr Susannah Cornwall whose work concentrates on contextual theologies, particularly those relating to sex gender and sexuality.

Ernie also talks to Indian transgender activist Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli about the role that the Hijra play within the Hindu community in India. The Hijra are transgender people who are invited to bless new born babies and married couples but they find themselves outcast within Indian society despite a change in the law in 2014 which recognises their right to be who they are.

Producer: Helen Lee
Series producer: Amanda Hancox.


MON 17:00 PM (b09z1d3w)

Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b09z1d3y)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 18:30 The Unbelievable Truth (b09z4fyz)
Series 20, Episode 3

David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.

Arthur Smith, Jack Dee, Lucy Porter and Lloyd Langford are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as rabbits, inventions, butterflies and drugs.

Produced by Richard Turner
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 19:00 The Archers (b09z4jg0)

Elizabeth offers comfort, and there is a visitor for Will.


MON 19:15 Front Row (b09z1d40)

Arts news, interviews and reviews.


MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b09z3drs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


MON 20:00 The Turban Bus Dispute (b09z4fz1)

Journalist and author Sathnam Sanghera returns to his home town of Wolverhampton where a battle raged over the right to wear the turban on the buses in Enoch Powell's constituency at the time he made his Rivers of Blood speech.

In 1967 Sikh bus driver Tarsem Singh Sandhu returns from his holidays wearing a turban and a beard, both against the uniform regulations. The Wolverhampton Transport Committee insists rules are rules and there will be no exceptions, so Mr Sandhu enlists the help of a Punjabi political party, the Akali Dal, who employ radical tactics. They bus in Sikhs from around the UK for the biggest march in Wolverhampton since the war, and one of their leaders, Sohan Singh Jolly, announces that he will set himself on fire if their demands are not met.

Right in the middle of the dispute, Enoch Powell makes his infamous Rivers of Blood speech, specifically citing the Sikh campaign as a dangerous example of communalism, where religious or ethnic groups seek special rights that threaten the very fabric of society.

Sathnam Sanghera discovers the real story behind the dispute with surprising revelations that shed light on the history of race relations in the UK.


MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b09yfplr)
The Child Saver of Mosul

A one-woman whirlwind of passion and energy, Sukayna Muhammad Younes is a unique phenomenon in Iraq. A council official in the half-destroyed city of Mosul, former stronghold of so-called Islamic State, she's on a mission to find and identify the thousands of children who went missing during the conflict - and reunite them with their families. It's a massive task - and deeply controversial because Sukayna makes no distinction between children who are victims of IS - and those who belonged to IS families. "They're all just children - all innocent," she says. Tim Whewell follows Sukayna through the rubble of the city, visiting her orphanage, trying to find missing parents, meeting families who want to reclaim children. Can she solve the mystery of Jannat - an abandoned fair-haired girl who may be the daughter of a foreign IS family? Can she help Amal, sister of a dead IS fighter, to adopt her baby niece? How can families afford the expensive DNA tests the authorities require before families can be reunited? As she tries to solve these problems Sukayna also has to look after her own family of six children - and cope with personal tragedy. Two of her brothers were killed by jihadis; her family home, used as an IS base, is now in ruins. Highly charismatic - Sukayna now wants to go into politics. "I am a mini-Iraq," she says - her family includes members of many communities - and she believes the country desperately needs more dynamic, tolerant people like her, to bring real change and overcome divisions. But it's hard to be a high-profile, energetic woman in patriarchal Iraq - and she's faced death threats both from remaining IS supporters - and those who think she's too ready to help "terrorist" families.

Presenter Tim Whewell
Producers Nick Sturdee & Mike Gallagher.


MON 21:00 The Second Genome (b09yddx5)

Are we on the cusp of a new approach to healthy living and treating disease? BBC Health and Science correspondent James Gallagher explores the latest research into how our second genome, the vast and diverse array of microbes that live on and in our bodies, is driving our metabolism and our health.

Recent DNA analysis by the Human Microbiome Project detailed the vast and diverse array of microbes in and on our body - bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses. It has been described as our second genome - a source of huge genetic diversity, a modifier of disease, an essential component of immunity, and an "organ" that influences not just our metabolism but also our mental health. Unlike the human genome which is fixed at birth, this "second genome" can be manipulated in many ways.

Researchers have suggested that our gut microbiome has a major role in the development of chronic conditions such as obesity, inflammatory bowel disease and asthma. Now the work has moved onto detailed analysis of the microbes in people with specific problems and measures to change the microbiome.

In this major three-part series, James Gallagher investigates the key research shaping our ability not just to read our microbiome and look at predispositions, but to change it for the better. From the ability to manipulate it to stem chronic disease, to the role it plays in determining our health from birth, to its surprising influence on our brain and behaviour - should we now think of ourselves not as self-sufficient organisms, but as complex ecosystems colonized by numerous competing and health-giving microbes?


MON 21:30 Start the Week (b09z1d3h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b09z1d42)

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b09z4fz3)
The One Who Wrote Destiny, Mukesh

Ba believes in destiny. Mukesh believes in coincidence. Neha believes in patterns and consistency. And Raks believes in the manifest destiny of his own male ego.

The One Who Wrote Destiny is the hilarious and moving new novel by Nikesh Shukla, Editor of The Good Immigrant anthology of essays and author of the novels Meatspace and Coconut Unlimited.

For Book at Bedtime, five voices tell the story of three generations of the same family, riven by feuds and falling-outs, united by fates and fortunes. Mukesh moves from Kenya to the drizzly northern town of Keighley in 1966. Decades later, his daughter Neha is dying from lung cancer, a genetic gift from her mother and an invocation to forge a better relationship with her brother and her widowed father before it's too late. Neha's brother Rakesh is a comedian but his career is flat-lining and he's grieving his mother and sister. Ba has never looked after her two young grandchildren before. After the death of her daughter, they come to stay with her and she has to work out how to bond with two children who are used England, not to the rhythms of Kenya...

Readers: Bhasker Patel, Chetna Pandya, Maya Sondhi, Indira Varma and Taru Devani
Producer: Mair Bosworth.


MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (b09yddxh)
Words Apart

Word of Mouth returns with a special programme in which Michael Rosen and guests Marina Warner and Barry Smith discuss the state of language and public debate.

With the rise of the internet there is more political discussion than ever. Yet this torrent of words seems to carry less understanding than ever. This has been attributed to many causes. Some say it is the anonymous nature of internet discussions, or the increasing disparity between rich and poor, or even the efficacy with which media (and propaganda) organisations can affect public opinion. But possibly the problem lies in language itself. Traditionally, political language has been a shared endeavour through which we express our differences. Perhaps now even the language itself has become partisan - words carry profoundly different meanings for different people and the shared understand that public debate relies on is much reduced. Two people can share a word - say government or sovereignty - but if the frame of reference for what that word means has become radically different it's hard to find the common ground on which meaningful debate can happen. So Michael Rosen and his guests are looking at the state of current political and public debate, delving into the philosophy of language and seeing how words get their meaning in the minds of their users. Perhaps, on top of all our other attendant crises, we can claim to be living through a crisis of language.

Producers James Cook and Beth O'Dea.


MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b09z4fz5)

News from Westminster.



TUESDAY 17 APRIL 2018

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b09z1d5y)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b09z3drq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b09z1d60)

The latest shipping forecast.


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b09z1d62)

TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b09z1d64)

The latest shipping forecast.


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b09z1d66)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0b0cbsg)

A reading and a reflection to start the day, with Jasvir Singh OBE, Chair of City Sikhs.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b09z1d68)

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03mztpd)
Great Tit

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

David Attenborough presents the story of the Great Tit. That metallic 'tea-cher, tea-cher' song of the great tit is instantly recognisable and you can hear it on mild days from mid-December onwards. It's the origin of the old country name, 'Saw-Sharpener'.


TUE 06:00 Today (b09z1d6b)

News and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 The Long View (b09z4jxw)
Driverless Cars and the Railways of 1830

Jonathan Freedland compares safety on the railways in the 1830s to the debate around driverless cars today.

The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was opened to great fanfare on 15 September 1830. It was clear this new form of transport would radically transform society. Yet the day was overshadowed by the death of William Huskisson MP who stepped on the tracks and was struck by Stephenson's Rocket as it steamed down the line.

With the the first death to result from driverless vehicles in Arizona a few weeks ago, Jonathan Freedland and guests tell the story of Huskisson's death and explore the implications for the development of self-driving vehicles today.

Producer: Laurence Grissell.


TUE 09:30 Nature's Great Invaders (b07qbcbb)
Harlequin Ladybird

Telling the stories of non-native invasive species and our complicated attitudes to them and with an uncertain political future how do we police our ecological borders? In the 10 years since the harlequin ladybird first hopped across the English Channel it's spread has been scrutinised by an army of scientists and amateur naturalists. It's rapid colonisation has given it the unfortunate title of the worlds fastest invader. Derek Mooney talks to ladybird expert Dr. Helen Roy to find out how this little beetle came to be a great invader.


TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b0b05vyz)
Dearest Squirrel, Episode 2

John Osborne denies that Look Back in Anger is at least in part autobiographical, despite significant resemblances to his early relationship with Pamela Lane.

A completely fresh insight into the mind of one of the UK's greatest playwrights, the letters between John Osborne and his first wife, actress Pamela Lane, are also a love letter to a now defunct system of repertory theatre and life in post-war Britain.

As these letters reveal, soon after their divorce, Osborne and Lane began a mutually supportive, loyal, frequently stormy and sometimes sexually intimate alliance lasting thirty years until Osborne's death. By the mid- 1980s, they had become closer and more trusting than they had been since their earliest years together.

"You are for me what you always were," Pamela told him, "I am in love with you still."

It is, he declared, "my fortune to have loved someone for a lifetime."

Acerbic, witty, candid and heartbreaking, the letters reveal a unique relationship - troubled, tender and enduring.

The author, Peter Whitebrook, was born in London and has written and broadcast extensively on the theatre and literature. His co-adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath won a Fringe First Award. His biography of John Osborne was nominated for both the Sheridan Morley Prize for biography and the Theatre Book Prize.

Read by Simon Shepherd and Amanda Root
Abridged by Polly Coles
Produced by Clive Brill

A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b09z1d6d)

Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.


TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0b05vz1)
She Said/He Said, Episode 2

With the police investigation underway, Charlie gets a lawyer and waits to hear if he will be charged. Stephanie hides her secret from her family and tries to get on with university.

This is a fiction inspired by far too many real events. Many students in the UK today will be impacted during their time at university by a sexual assault case, as complainant, witness, supporter - or the accused.

Stephanie is a fresher at a party when she encounters Charlie and, in a few short minutes, their lives are changed forever. The subjectivity and so-called "grey areas" in the ensuing legal case are explored through the use of rolling monologues, as the narrative passes between the two young people at the centre of the accusation and on to those who surround and support them.

The author Eileen Horne has written numerous adaptations and original dramas for Radio 4, including her detective memoir The Lost Sister and, with Andrew Davies, The Mysterious Death of Jane Austen. She Said/He Said follows months of interviews with people on all sides of this painful subject.

Written by Eileen Horne
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 11:00 The Second Genome (b09z4jxy)

BBC Health and Science correspondent James Gallagher explores the latest research into how our second genome, the vast and diverse array of microbes that live on and in our bodies, is driving our metabolism and our health and how we can change it for the better.

In this second episode he explores how researchers are uncovering a vital relationship between the healthy bugs we accumulate in our gut and our immune system . We have over the past 50 years done a terrific job of eliminating infectious disease. But in we've also done the same to many good bacteria and as a result we're seeing an enormous and terrifying increase in autoimmune disease and in allergy. Could correcting our encounters with bugs at birth, and in the first few month of life set us on a path of good health? And in if in later life the delicate balance between our body and bugs gets skewed, leading to inflammatory diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome or frailty in old age, how can this be rectified?


TUE 11:30 The Voices of... (b09z4k48)
Series 3, Claron McFadden

Growing up in upstate New York, it wasn't a surprise that Claron McFadden wanted to be a singer - she was immersed in gospel music at church, soul and pop at home. That she aspired to be a classical soprano was, as she describes it, no choice at all. Her voice led her there.

Having lived in Amsterdam for over thirty years - a place she instantly recognised as home - she now inhabits a space somewhere between America and Europe, just as her voice is at home in music across stylistic boundaries and eras.

With hard-edged modern music by Brian Ferneyhough, an elegant aria by Rameau, Gershwin's Summertime, a jazz arrangement of Bach and even a visceral performance of Erwin Schulhoff's Sonata Erotica, Claron talks with Alan Hall about the life she's shared with her voice.

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


TUE 12:00 News Summary (b09z1d6g)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:04 Home Front (b09sywvd)
17 April 1918 - Edie Chadwick

On this day in 1918, Ambassador Lichnowsky accused German secret agents of working against him in his efforts to avert the war, and in Folkestone, Edie and Marion's undercover work pays off.

Written by Lucy Catherine
Story-led by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.


TUE 12:15 You and Yours (b09z1d6j)
Call You and Yours

Consumer phone-in.


TUE 12:56 Weather (b09z1d6l)

The latest weather forecast.


TUE 13:00 World at One (b09z1d6n)

Analysis of news and current affairs.


TUE 13:45 Chinese Characters (b09z4k4b)
Kublai Khan: Cosmopolitan Conqueror

He was the man with the pleasure dome, according to Coleridge, but in reality Kublai Khan didn't have so much time for pleasure. He was too busy running one of the most complex and cosmopolitan empires on earth. Kublai was ruler of the medieval Mongol empire, which became an example of how Chinese culture could be absorbed by a very different people. Kublai was a conqueror, who destroyed the previous Chinese dynasty, the Song. Yet he also ran China on highly ecumenical lines, appointing Muslims as provincial governors, while his subjects continued to practice Buddhism and Daoism. Not everyone loved him; an alienated elite excluded from government turned their hand to drama, producing a great era of Chinese playwriting - much of it aimed at the Mongol rulers. Kublai was a paradox: a great Chinese leader who wasn't actually Chinese.
Presenter: Rana Mitter
Producer: Ben Crighton
Researcher: Elizabeth Smith Rosser.


TUE 14:00 The Archers (b09z4jg0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama (b09z4k4d)
19 weeks

In 2016 writer Emily Steel had a termination after her baby was diagnosed with Down Syndrome. 19 Weeks tells her story with brutal honesty.

Emily used to think that people that had 'late' abortions weren't very smart or responsible. A late termination wasn't really ok. Yet here she is, being ushered through protesters, putting on a hospital gown, having an IV drip inserted. Emily is 19 weeks pregnant. The two-day abortion procedure is about to start, but the anaesthetic doesn't seem to be working .....

According to recent statistics 1 in 3 women in the UK have had an abortion and 95% of those say they don't regret it. Yet the subject remains taboo. 19 Weeks is a raw account of the emotional, physical and philosophical battles Emily encountered throughout her late pregnancy termination.

Eve Myles stars as Emily in this true and visceral story.

Directed by Helen Perry
A BBC Cymru/Wales Production.


TUE 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (b09z06z3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:30 on Saturday]


TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (b09z4k4g)
Undiscovered Colombia

Colombia is second only to Brazil in the extent of its rich biodiversity but armed conflict over a half century has limited exploration and charting of much of its land. Those researchers who braved it risked kidnap, injury or death. But in 2016 President Santos signed a peace treaty with the FARC guerrilla fighters which has opened the door for collaborations and exploration of previously occupied areas home to potentially thousands of new species of flora and fauna.

Costing the Earth follows teams from Kew Gardens, led by Colombian Mauricio Diazgranados, as they travel into uncharted territories and reveal what they see.

Presented by Tom Heap
Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock
BBC Audio and Music Production Bristol.


TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (b09z4k9v)
Not My Type

How do fonts change the meaning of a message? What was Comic Sans invented for? Why was Obama's first election campaign so typographically bold? And which font would make you buy one chocolate bar over another?

Michael Rosen is joined by graphic designer, author and the font of all knowledge when it comes to fonts, Sarah Hyndman, to discuss the psychology of typefaces.

Sarah is the author of 3 books, including 'Why Fonts Matter' and 'How to Draw Type and Influence people'. She is also the founder of the Type Tasting studio, which aims to change the way we think and talk about typography through interactive and sensory experiences.

Producer Rebecca Ripley.


TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b09z4k9z)
Series 45, Adrian Utley of Portishead on Miles Davis

Miles Davis - trumpeter, composer, bandleader - is championed by Adrian Utley of Portishead.

"He's always been really important in my life, right from early on when my dad used to play him. It was part of the atmosphere of our house."

From the early years with Charlie Parker and on via Kind of Blue to playing in front of 600,000 hippies on the Isle of Wight, Miles Davis was a musician who never stood still. "Always listen for what you can leave out," he used to say, and Portishead's seminal nineties album Dummy seems to have taken advice from the man. According to Adrian Utley, "The darkness and the sense of space is the thing that I have assimilated from Miles ... he's in my DNA."

With Richard Williams, author of The Blue Moment: Miles Davis's Kind of Blue and the Remaking of Modern Music,.

Presented by a sceptical Matthew Parris, and produced by an enthusiastic Miles Warde.


TUE 17:00 PM (b09z1d6q)

Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b09z1d6s)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 18:30 Love in Recovery (b076hsdd)
Series 2, Parents

Second series of the award-nominated comedy drama set in Alcoholics Anonymous, written by Pete Jackson and inspired by his own road to recovery. Stars Sue Johnston, John Hannah, Eddie Marsan, Rebecca Front, Paul Kaye and Julia Deakin.

Love in Recovery follows the lives of five very different recovering alcoholics. Taking place entirely at their weekly meetings, we hear them moan, argue, laugh, fall apart, fall in love and - most importantly - tell their stories.

In this fifth episode, Simon's son Joe (Alex Lawther) is grounded, so Simon (John Hannah) has dragged him along to the meeting. He's in trouble, he's worried, he's out of his depth. And that's just Simon. Will Julie (Sue Johnston) have the answers he's looking for?

Writer Pete Jackson is a recovering alcoholic and has spent time in Alcoholics Anonymous. It was there he found support from the unlikeliest group of disparate souls - with one common bond. As well as offering the support he needed throughout a difficult time, AA also offered a weekly, sometimes daily, dose of hilarity, upset, heartbreak and friendship.

There are lots of different kinds of AA meetings. Love in Recovery is about meetings where people tell their stories. There are funny stories, sad stories, stories of small victories and milestones, stories of loss, stories of hope, and those stories that you really shouldn't laugh at - but still do, along with the storyteller.

Written and created by Pete Jackson
Producer/Director: Ben Worsfield
A Lucky Giant production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 19:00 The Archers (b09z4kb5)

Brian hatches a plan, and Jazzer finds a captive audience.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (b09z1d6v)

Arts news, interviews and reviews.


TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0b05vz1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


TUE 20:00 Russians in Britain: A Handbook (b09zh4dw)

Who are the Russians who live in the UK? The community is under the spotlight as never before since the attempt on the life of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in March . Caught between fascination and horror, the press heaves with cliches about Russian oligarchs, spies and dissidents living - and spending - in the fancier parts of London. Russians in London: A Handbook looks at how the present wave of Russians took root in London in the 1990s, encouraged by successive British governments. Former Moscow Correspondent Lucy Ash goes beyond the bling to find a complex community of many interlocking circles - artists and writers as well as tycoons and shoppers; parents as well as Godfathers. She explores how these communities have evolved over a generation and they have changed and continue to change the city they call home.
Producer: Monica Whitlock.


TUE 20:40 In Touch (b09z1d6x)

News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted.


TUE 21:00 Inconspicuous Consumption (b08c2ljn)
Series 2, Clock Face

Comedian and presenter Aatif Nawaz considers why the old fashioned clockface continues to survive in the modern-day.

It's over 300 years old, it's hard to learn and doesn't give as accurate a reading as its, cheap modern digital counterpart, yet there's no sign of the analogue dial - hands, face and all - losing popularity.

Or is there?

Aatif Nawaz doesn't wear a watch on stage or off. For a comic to look at his or her watch mid-set is a mistake, as Aatif finds out talking to fellow comedians. Many younger people just use their smartphone.

Aatif visits the keepers of Edinburgh's famous floral clock, more novelty than useful timepiece. And he meets primary school pupils grappling with the big hand and the little hand. Their teacher says they start school with a knowledge of digital time telling but must learn the less intuitive analogue system.

Dr David Rooney, Keeper of Technologies and Engineering at the Science Museum, provides a history of the portable timepiece. We learn from him and watch journalist Suzanne Wong of high-end watch magazine Revolution that the first wristwatches were for women. Men regarded wrist wear as effeminate. It was only with the advent of World War 1, that the wristwatch's practicality made it male friendly.

Professor Joe Smith, social scientist at the Open University, sings the aesthetic praises of the old face - confessing, as a family member of the venerable clockmaker Smith of Derby, a special interest. Dr Smith says the public clock is and always was an expression of social and aesthetic values nationally and internationally.

Aatif, his wrist still naked, agrees, citing Mecca, not London as the home to the world's biggest clockface.

A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 21:30 The Long View (b09z4jxw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b09z1d6z)

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b09z4kb9)
The One Who Wrote Destiny, Episode 2

New novel by Nikesh Shukla, the Editor of The Good Immigrant anthology of essays and author of the novels Meatspace and Coconut Unlimited.

The One Who Wrote Destiny tells the story of three generations of the same family, riven by feuds and falling-outs, united by fates and fortunes. Mukesh moves from Kenya to the drizzly northern town of Keighley in 1966. Decades later, his daughter Neha is dying from lung cancer, a genetic gift from her mother and an invocation to forge a better relationship with her brother and her widowed father before it's too late. Neha's brother Rakesh is a comedian but his career is flat-lining and he's grieving his mother and sister. Ba has never looked after her two young grandchildren before. After the death of her daughter, they come to stay with her and she has to work out how to bond with two children who are used England, not to the rhythms of Kenya...

Producer: Mair Bosworth.


TUE 23:00 Richard Marsh (b069y6sm)
Cardboard Heart, Engagement

Award-winning writer and poet Richard Marsh stars alongside Russell Tovey and Phil Daniels in this heart-warming sitcom set in a greetings card company.

This week, Will's asked to help someone find the words to break some difficult news. As a man who struggles to express his own feelings, what chance does he have of putting the right words in someone else's mouth?

Richard Marsh is the writer and star of Love and Sweets, a Radio 4 comedy series that won Best Comedy in the BBC Audio Drama awards 2014. Now, in Cardboard Heart, he plays Will, a hapless romantic who's keen to find love and an aspiring writer with a 9 to 5 job writing poetry at a greetings card company.

Will shares an office with Goadsby (Rebecca Scroggs), who's responsible for the card artwork and being Will's nemesis, Colin (Sam Troughton), the firm's safety and survival-obsessed accountant, and charming renegade salesman Beast (Russell Tovey). Phil Daniels plays Rog, their roguish boss.

Paid to express heartfelt emotions for people he will never meet, Will consistently fails to express himself properly to anyone he does meet. Every social interaction is a minefield for Will. In his head, he knows exactly what to say but the minute he opens his mouth, it's a disaster. Luckily for you, Will shares his inner thoughts with the audience.

Written and created by Richard Marsh
Directed by Pia Furtado
Produced by Ben Worsfield
A Lucky Giant production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b09z4kdt)

News from Westminster.



WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018

WED 00:00 Midnight News (b09z1d8s)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b0b05vyz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b09z1d8v)

The latest shipping forecast.


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b09z1d8x)

WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b09z1d8z)

The latest shipping forecast.


WED 05:30 News Briefing (b09z1d91)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0b0cd04)

A reading and a reflection to start the day, with Jasvir Singh OBE, Chair of City Sikhs.


WED 05:45 Farming Today (b09z1d93)

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03wphhd)
Blackbird (Spring)

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

Bill Oddie presents the blackbird. Blackbirds are thrushes and the brown female often has a few speckles on her throat to prove it. Velvety, black and shiny, the males sport an eye-ring as yellow as a spring daffodil and a bill glowing like a buttercup. Happily blackbirds aren't doing too badly. There's so many of them that their territories often overlap so that where one song leaves off, another song begins.


WED 06:00 Today (b09z1d95)

Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.


WED 09:00 Soul Music (b09z5j2m)
Series 26, Prelude a l'Apres Midi d'un Faune by Debussy

Claude Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun speaks to artists of different kinds. Jamaican poet Ishion Hutchinson recalls hearing it through an open window in Kingston Jamaica and being mesmerised by its beauty, but not knowing what it was, setting off on a quest to find out and to write a poem that captured his feelings about the piece. Babak Kazemi was training to be a doctor in his home city of Tehran when he heard it for the first time. The piece changed his life and led him to abandon his medical studies in Iran to move to the UK to become a professional conductor and composer. Artist Fiona Robinson specialises in interpreting Debussy's works on paper. She explains how she has been moved to visualise the Prelude, while Debussy's biographer Paul Roberts credits it with having changed classical music forever.
Katya Jezzard-Puyraud recalls how the music lifted her out of a difficult time after the birth of her first son and how she uses it now to help people with anxiety and stress to relax.

Producer: Maggie Ayre.


WED 09:30 The History of Secrecy (b0864788)
God's Secrets

Tiffany travels to Rome to The Vatican's Secret Archive to discover how open they are at allowing access to a vast historical archive connected to the Catholic Church and Tiffany explores the importance of secrecy in creating a space and a connection to the divine. She explores whether accepting secrecy and mystery leads to wisdom as knowing what you don't know is wisdom itself.

Produced by Kate Bissell.


WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b0b05x96)
Dearest Squirrel, Episode 3

After separating from John Osborne, Pamela Lane experiences financial difficulties, brought on partly by a sudden lack of acting parts. But Osborne comes to the rescue.

A completely fresh insight into the mind of one of the UK's greatest playwrights, the letters between John Osborne and his first wife, actress Pamela Lane, are also a love letter to a now defunct system of repertory theatre and life in post-war Britain.

As these letters reveal, soon after their divorce, Osborne and Lane began a mutually supportive, loyal, frequently stormy and sometimes sexually intimate alliance lasting thirty years until Osborne's death. By the mid- 1980s, they had become closer and more trusting than they had been since their earliest years together.

"You are for me what you always were," Pamela told him, "I am in love with you still."

It is, he declared, "my fortune to have loved someone for a lifetime."

Acerbic, witty, candid and heartbreaking, the letters reveal a unique relationship - troubled, tender and enduring.

The author, Peter Whitebrook, was born in London and has written and broadcast extensively on the theatre and literature. His co-adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath won a Fringe First Award. His biography of John Osborne was nominated for both the Sheridan Morley Prize for biography and the Theatre Book Prize.

Read by Simon Shepherd and Amanda Root
Abridged by Polly Coles
Produced by Clive Brill

A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b09z1d97)

Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.


WED 10:41 15 Minute Drama (b0b05x98)
She Said/He Said, Episode 3

Charlie's mum and girlfriend grapple with the fallout from the rape charge while he grows fearful in the face of the evidence. Stephanie considers dropping the case.

This is a fiction inspired by far too many real events. Many students in the UK today will be impacted during their time at university by a sexual assault case, as complainant, witness, supporter - or the accused.

Stephanie is a fresher at a party when she encounters Charlie and, in a few short minutes, their lives are changed forever. The subjectivity and so-called "grey areas" in the ensuing legal case are explored through the use of rolling monologues, as the narrative passes between the two young people at the centre of the accusation and on to those who surround and support them.

The author Eileen Horne has written numerous adaptations and original dramas for Radio 4, including her detective memoir The Lost Sister and, with Andrew Davies, The Mysterious Death of Jane Austen. She Said/He Said follows months of interviews with people on all sides of this painful subject.

Written by Eileen Horne
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 10:55 The Listening Project (b09z5j7p)
Padraig and Ian - What's in a Name?

Friends share the sectarian code of names that is understood in Northern Ireland. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

Producer: Marya Burgess.


WED 11:00 The Turban Bus Dispute (b09z4fz1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Monday]


WED 11:30 Big Problems with Helen Keen (b05zl1b6)
Series 1, Other People

Helen Keen is joined by Peter Serafinowicz and Susy Kane for a comic account of the big problems that have beset humanity over the centuries, and the surprising ways we have devised to solve them. This episode looks at the challenges posed by other people. What are the unspoken rules that make society work? How can we make the internet polite? How did air-conditioners win an election? And are emoticons completely pointless (sad face)? Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill. Produced by Gareth Edwards.


WED 12:00 News Summary (b09z1d99)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:04 Home Front (b09syxf6)
18 April 1918 - Florrie Wilson

On this day in 1918, the Ministry of National Service announced that they would conscript a further 50,000 coal miners, and in Folkestone, Adam Wilson needs to get away.

Written by Lucy Catherine
Story-led by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.


WED 12:15 You and Yours (b09z1d9c)

Consumer affairs programme.


WED 12:57 Weather (b09z1d9f)

The latest weather forecast.


WED 13:00 World at One (b09z1d9h)

Analysis of news and current affairs.


WED 13:45 Chinese Characters (b09z5jy2)
Confucius: Becoming the Sage

If there were a competition for most famous Chinese in history, Confucius (551-479 BCE) would surely come out on top. He was the philosopher and ethicist who has given China a significant part of its cultural DNA. Confucius lived during a period of immense political turmoil, and turned his mind to thinking about how the country could be made calmer and more prosperous. Instead of advocating force, Confucius stressed the importance of rituals and ethical behaviour. It was important to behave in an ordered way; subjects should obey rulers, wives their husbands, children their parents. In his own time, Confucius didn't have much luck in propagating his thought in his lifetime. But over the next few centuries, respect for his work grew. For two thousand years, Confucian thought would dominate Chinese statecraft. Even today, with the Communist Party in charge, there are frequent references in contemporary China to Confucian ideas such as harmony.
Presenter: Rana Mitter
Producer: Ben Crighton
Researcher: Elizabeth Smith Rosser.


WED 14:00 The Archers (b09z4kb5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 Drama (b09zh6rv)
Someone, Somewhere

In May 1980, 22 year-old Jessie Earl disappeared. Her flat was left as if she'd just popped out for a moment. She became a 'missing person' until 9 years later when her body was discovered hidden in dense undergrowth on Beachy Head. This is the story of those nine years of searching by her parents, Valerie and John; the nine years of waiting for Jessie to be found so her spirit could rest. By Pat Davis.

Original Music by David Chilton
Produced and directed by Toby Swift

Recorded in 2001, 'Someone, Somewhere' mixes Jessie's evocative diaries, interviews with John and Valerie Earl and poetic monologues based on Jessie's other writings to create a moving portrait of the experience of loss and survival. United by integrity and courage, John and Valerie show how they transcended the tragedy of losing their only daughter, of learning to cope with the loss of all the possibilities that the future would have held for her. The production won the Sony Silver Award for 'Best Feature'.


WED 15:00 Money Box (b09z1d9k)
Money Box Live

Financial phone-in.


WED 15:30 Inconspicuous Consumption (b08c2ljn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b09z5lbq)

Sociological discussion programme, presented by Laurie Taylor.


WED 16:30 The Media Show (b09z1d9m)

Topical programme about the fast-changing media world.


WED 17:00 PM (b09z1d9p)

Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b09z1d9r)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 18:30 Sketchtopia (b09z5lbs)
Series 1, Episode 3

Broadcaster and comedian Hardeep Singh Kohli sets out to find the next generation of white, black, Asian and minority ethnic satirical sketch writers, with a keen eye on finding the funny in a multicultural Britain.

Traditionally, some of the best UK sketch comedy shines a satirical light on social issues of the time, finding comedy from difficult subject matter or awkward social convention. When it comes to multiculturalism, sketch team Goodness, Gracious Me kicked open the door with their classic 90s sketch show, including the legendary Going For An English routine.

Sketchtopia aims to make sharp observations about modern Britain and, most importantly, allow shared experiences, common points of reference and authenticity to come together and hold a mirror up to our society and tell us a truth about ourselves.

Stand-ups and comedy writers from diverse backgrounds have been invited to give us a comic snapshot of UK society through their own observations and experiences. In these divisive times, Sketchtopia aims to poke fun at our multicultural society and tries to discover a diverse, multi-ethnic Utopia through good old-fashioned British sketch comedy.

In this episode - charity adverts, the potential loss of Eurovision, diversity in the workplace, and a young Indian traveller returns from his gap year in the UK with exciting new experiences...in a Tesco Metro.

Host: Hardeep Singh Kohli.
Performer: Vivienne Acheampong
Performer: Luke Manning
Performer: Jamie-Rose Monk
Performer: Nimisha Odedra
Performer: Paul G Raymond.
Script Editors: Sanjeev Kohli and Donny Mcleary

Writers: Sadia Azmat, Asmara Gabrielle, Kai Samra, Lizzie Bates, Anna Emerson, Athena Kugblenu, Joanne Lau, Jim Felton and In Cahoots.

Producer: Gus Beattie.
A Gusman production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 19:00 The Archers (b09z5lbv)

The stress rises for Helen, while Tom attempts a negotiation.


WED 19:15 Front Row (b09z1d9t)

Arts news, interviews and reviews.


WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0b05x98)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:41 today]


WED 20:00 Unreliable Evidence (b09z5lv9)
Asylum

Is the law fair to asylum seekers? Clive Anderson asks his expert guests if the law makes it too hard for people to prove they have a legitimate claim to asylum.

Around 30,000 people with immigration status issues are currently being held in UK detention centres, some for considerable lengths of time and in what NGOs have described as highly unsatisfactory conditions.

The UK is the only European Union country with no time limit on immigration detention. Issues arising from the UK's immigration detention system have led to a series of official inquiries.

Clive and his guests discuss concerns that it is currently too difficult for asylum seekers to prove who they are and where they have come from, or to convince the authorities that they have been persecuted because of their race, religion or sexuality. Campaigners claim that LGBT asylum seekers are often put though humiliating procedures to prove their sexual identity.

Producer: Matt Willis
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 20:45 Four Thought (b09z5lvc)

Talks with a personal dimension.


WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (b09z4k4g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:30 on Tuesday]


WED 21:30 Soul Music (b09z5j2m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b09z1d9w)

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b09z5lvg)
The One Who Wrote Destiny, Mukesh

Ba believes in destiny. Mukesh believes in coincidence. Neha believes in patterns and consistency. And Raks believes in the manifest destiny of his own male ego.

The One Who Wrote Destiny is the hilarious and moving new novel by Nikesh Shukla, Editor of The Good Immigrant anthology of essays and author of the novels Meatspace and Coconut Unlimited.

For Book at Bedtime, five voices tell the story of three generations of the same family, riven by feuds and falling-outs, united by fates and fortunes. Mukesh moves from Kenya to the drizzly northern town of Keighley in 1966. Decades later, his daughter Neha is dying from lung cancer, a genetic gift from her mother and an invocation to forge a better relationship with her brother and her widowed father before it's too late. Neha's brother Rakesh is a comedian but his career is flat-lining and he's grieving his mother and sister. Ba has never looked after her two young grandchildren before. After the death of her daughter, they come to stay with her and she has to work out how to bond with two children who are used England, not to the rhythms of Kenya...

Readers: Bhasker Patel, Chetna Pandya, Maya Sondhi, Indira Varma and Taru Devani
Producer: Mair Bosworth.


WED 23:00 Six Degrees of John Sessions (b09z5ptj)
Series 1, Episode 1

Actor, writer, raconteur and impressionist John Sessions mixes showbiz stories, intriguing history, extraordinary impressions and fabulous one-liners - all linked to and from him.

John's dazzling array of skills - storytelling, erudition, vocal re-creations and comedy - are all brought into play as he starts each episode with a story or fact related to himself, and proceeds to take us all over the place by linking people, ending up back with himself.

Each show is a quick-witted, Peter Ustinov-style rollercoaster of storytelling - bizarre and brilliant, eccentric and effusive, autobiographical and alliterative, full of incredible impressions and droll digressions along the way.

Programme 1:
From Dirk Bogarde to Maureen O'Hara via Matthau and Pudsey.

Written and performed by John Sessions.
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 23:15 The John Moloney Show (b092fxgq)
Edward Gets Protection

The Godfather of British stand up, John Moloney, returns to the stage with stories of his much loved cat Edward. John has taken the advice of the Vet and decides to get a companion - or, more accurately, a "cat bouncer" to take care of Edward.

It's a lot more difficult to get a used cat than John remembers. John's wife tries to appease the interview panel - yes, that's right, an interview panel - but John can't quite help himself.

Featuring Karen Bartke, Julia Sutherland, JoJo Sutherland and Tyler Collins.

A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b09z5vlv)

News from Westminster.



THURSDAY 19 APRIL 2018

THU 00:00 Midnight News (b09z1dcs)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b0b05x96)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b09z1dcv)

The latest shipping forecast.


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b09z1dcx)

THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b09z1dcz)

The latest shipping forecast.


THU 05:30 News Briefing (b09z1dd1)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0b0chbq)

A reading and a reflection to start the day with Jasvir Singh OBE, Chair of City Sikhs.


THU 05:45 Farming Today (b09z1dd3)

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b09d43wk)
Gary Moore on the Skylark

Wildlife sound recordist Gary Moore hears a skylark at the site of the Battle of the Somme and imagines soldiers over a century ago finding comfort in that familiar British sound.

Producer: Tom Bonnett
Photograph: _pauls.


THU 06:00 Today (b09z1dd5)

Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.


THU 09:00 In Our Time (b09z1dd7)
Middlemarch

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss what Virginia Woolf called 'one of the few English novels written for grown-up people'. It was written by George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Anne Evans (1819-80), published in 8 parts in 1871-72, and was originally two separate stories which became woven together. One, 'Middlemarch', focused on a doctor, Tertius Lydgate and the other, 'Miss Brooke', on Dorothea Brooke who became the central figure in the finished work. The events are set in a small town in the Midlands, surrounded by farmland, leading up to the Reform Act 1832, and the novel explores the potential to change in matters of religion, social status, marriage and politics, and is particularly concerned with the opportunities available to women to lead fulfilling lives.

With

Rosemary Ashton

Kathryn Hughes

and

John Bowen

Producer: Simon Tillotson.


THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b0b05y2p)
Dearest Squirrel, Episode 4

Several wives in, John Osborne attempts a communication blackout with Pamela Lane, beset as they both are with personal and financial difficulties.

A completely fresh insight into the mind of one of the UK's greatest playwrights, the letters between John Osborne and his first wife, actress Pamela Lane, are also a love letter to a now defunct system of repertory theatre and life in post-war Britain.

As these letters reveal, soon after their divorce, Osborne and Lane began a mutually supportive, loyal, frequently stormy and sometimes sexually intimate alliance lasting thirty years until Osborne's death. By the mid- 1980s, they had become closer and more trusting than they had been since their earliest years together.

"You are for me what you always were," Pamela told him, "I am in love with you still."

It is, he declared, "my fortune to have loved someone for a lifetime."

Acerbic, witty, candid and heartbreaking, the letters reveal a unique relationship - troubled, tender and enduring.

The author, Peter Whitebrook, was born in London and has written and broadcast extensively on the theatre and literature. His co-adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath won a Fringe First Award. His biography of John Osborne was nominated for both the Sheridan Morley Prize for biography and the Theatre Book Prize.

Read by Simon Shepherd and Amanda Root
Abridged by Polly Coles
Produced by Clive Brill

A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b09z1dd9)

Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.


THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0b05y2r)
She Said/He Said, Episode 4

Pressure is building on Charlie as the date for the rape case gets ever closer. Meanwhile Stephanie struggles to maintain her anonymity.

This is a fiction inspired by far too many real events. Many students in the UK today will be impacted during their time at university by a sexual assault case, as complainant, witness, supporter - or the accused.

Stephanie is a fresher at a party when she encounters Charlie and, in a few short minutes, their lives are changed forever. The subjectivity and so-called "grey areas" in the ensuing legal case are explored through the use of rolling monologues, as the narrative passes between the two young people at the centre of the accusation and on to those who surround and support them.

The author Eileen Horne has written numerous adaptations and original dramas for Radio 4, including her detective memoir The Lost Sister and, with Andrew Davies, The Mysterious Death of Jane Austen. She Said/He Said follows months of interviews with people on all sides of this painful subject.

Written by Eileen Horne
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b09z62gx)
The Mystery of Russia's Lost Jihadi Brides

Thousands of young Russian Muslim men were lured to join so-called Islamic State - taking their wives and children with them. But since the "caliphate" fell last year, those families have vanished - and grandmothers back in Russia are desperate for news. The Kremlin wants to bring the children home. It says they've committed no crimes. But finding them and their mothers is hugely difficult. Iraqi authorities say they're holding many IS families - but they won't name them. Gradually though, dramatic scraps of information are emerging - a scribbled note from a prison, whispered phone messages, photos and videos on social media. For months, Tim Whewell has been talking to the grandmothers as they've gathered such clues - and now he travels to Iraq in search of more information, tracing the route the fighters and their families took when they were defeated - and trying to solve the mystery of what happened to them. What was the fate of the men after they surrendered at a remote village school? And what of the reports that many of the women and children were subsequently abducted by a militia? As the story unfolds, Tim confronts a powerful Shia warlord. Will the jihadis' children be released? What kind of justice will their mothers face? And what will the grandmothers - convinced of their daughters' innocence - do to try to get them back?

Presenter Tim Whewell
Producers Nick Sturdee & Mike Gallagher.


THU 11:30 The Man Who Buries Planes (b09z62gz)

Turner-prize nominated artist Roger Hiorns has always been fascinated by the idea of burying aeroplanes.

"The idea is to take infrastructure from the world - an object that is so powerful and so dominant - and essentially put it in your own context; take this discarded, powerful equipment and put it in the ground."

Over several months, we follow Roger in his quest to bury a MiG 21 next to a science park on the outskirts of Prague, in collaboration with the Galerie Rudolfinum - one of Czech Republic's most prestigious contemporary art galleries.

They acquire the MiG by chance, the most widely produced supersonic fighter plane in the Eastern bloc during the cold war. To some Czechs, it looks like a toy - to others, it symbolises a painful moment in history.

"People understand that if they want a plane buried, talk to Roger."

Roger also takes us to a former RAF airbase in East Anglia. There, gathering mold, is a British ex-military jet which has enjoyed a truly unusual life. It's now destined to make one final journey to the Netherlands where it will be buried on the land of a private collector. Unlike the Prague burial, people will be able to enter this plane from above ground and sit inside.

For art critic Adrian Searle, these burials speak eloquently about environmental issues and globalisation. It's about misplacing objects, playing with systems of power and questioning brute masculinity.

Roger also believes the role of an artist in the future, might not be about making new objects, or new paintings, it might actually be about making new behaviour. So if you allow a plane to be buried - a new ritual or perspective is arrived at.

In a mysterious corner of Suffolk, we encounter Farmer Tim. Intrigued by the project, he helped Roger to bury a plane on his land last summer.

"It wasn't until we lowered the plane in and you could look at the nose did something say to me yeah I can see it now."

Produced by Victoria Ferran
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 12:00 News Summary (b09z1ddc)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 12:04 Home Front (b09syxml)
19 April 1918 - Esme Macknade

On this day in 1918, Nina Boyle claimed a 'moral triumph' after her nomination to run as an MP was rejected, and in Folkestone, one of Esme's wishes comes true.

Written by Lucy Catherine
Story-led by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.


THU 12:15 You and Yours (b09z1ddf)

Consumer affairs programme.


THU 12:57 Weather (b09z1ddh)

The latest weather forecast.


THU 13:00 World at One (b09z1ddk)

Analysis of news and current affairs.


THU 13:45 Chinese Characters (b09z62h2)
Li Qingzhao: Patriotic Poet

Li Qingzhao, who lived (1084-1151) during the late Song dynasty, is recognised as one of China's greatest poets. She grew up within China's culture of highly regulated court bureaucracy. While her husband was a senior official, she became a brilliant and renowned poet But the Song dynasty was also a time of great political turmoil. In 1127, the dynasty fled its capital in the city of Kaifeng after an invasion. Li was forced to wander for years, trying to preserve as much as possible of her family's collection of books and precious artefacts. Eventually she settled down in the new capital of Hangzho and wrote a series of broadsides condemning the Song rulers for succumbing to the invaders. She established a reputation as a true patriot that has lasted to the present day in China.
Presenter: Rana Mitter
Producer: Ben Crighton
Researcher: Elizabeth Smith Rosser.


THU 14:00 The Archers (b09z5lbv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 Drama (b0785r0q)
The Sensitive, Heart of Darkness, Part 1

1/2. By Alastair Jessiman.

A religious retreat in the Scottish Highlands becomes the venue for the final investigation by the psychic Thomas Soutar. He travels north, accompanied by his girlfriend Kat, but they discover that the extreme views of their host have alienated many people in the community, and a quiet few days away become unexpectedly life-changing when Thomas feels the full force of local resentment and has a fateful reckoning with his psychic abilities.

Other parts played by the cast.

Producer/director: Bruce Young

BBC Scotland.


THU 15:00 Open Country (b09z62h5)
Young people and landscape, Doncaster

Actress Dominique Moore visits forests, moors and parkland around Doncaster to find out how young people here are using the countryside.

Rural landscapes in this area tend to be sandwiched between motorways, airports and industrial parks, but there are places to escape for a breath of fresh air, if you look carefully. And in Bawtry Forest, you won't just find trees. You might also bump into a couple of tanks or a helicopter from a film set, at the home of the largest paintballing centre in Europe. Owner Karl Broadbent says that young people think about the outdoor spaces through the prism of the computer games they play at home.

Being tied to a screen can adversely affect your mental health, according to young graduates Megan Humphries and Catherine Earnshaw, who are part of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's 'Tomorrow's Natural Leaders' scheme. They are setting up an eco-therapy project to enable people to improve their mental well-being in the outdoors at the Trust's Potteric Carr Reserve.

Dominique also meets 19 year old Suzanne Lines, an apprentice with Flying Futures, at Hatfield Moor. Learning survival skills on the National Citizen's Service course helped her discover a passion for the outdoors which she had never suspected. Now she leads groups of young people in alternative provision education, building fires and searching for adders on the Moor.

The last visit is to meet the lions at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, which hosts 'ranger' training for young people on week-long courses in animal husbandry. The large carnivores are always popular with teenagers, according to Rachel Ford. But it's a shock for Dominique to go behind the scenes and visit the Meat Store. Hand-feeding the wallabies, on the other hand, is hard to resist.


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b09z1dpc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 Open Book (b09z1dw2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]


THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b09z62h8)
Maxine Peake

Maxine Peake discusses her latest film Funny Cow.


THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b09z1ddm)

Adam Rutherford investigates the news in science and science in the news.


THU 17:00 PM (b09z1ddp)

Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b09z1ddr)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 18:30 Alone (b087p3mj)
The Only Way Is Ethics

A sitcom, written by Moray Hunter and starring Angus Deayton, about five single, middle aged neighbours living in flats in a converted house in North London.

Mitch (Angus Deayton) is a widower and part-time therapist who's looking to put his life back together now he is single and living - supposedly temporarily - with Will (Pearce Quigley), his younger, more volatile and unhappily divorced half-brother.

Elsewhere in the building are schoolteacher Ellie (Abigail Cruttenden) who is shy, nervous and desperately missing her ex-boyfriend, as well as overly honest, frustrated actress Louisa (Kate Isitt), and socially inept IT nerd Morris (Bennett Arron).

In this first episode, The Only Way is Ethics, Mitch struggles to maintain professional confidentiality when Ellie arranges a date with one of his clients, womanising Rob (Alastair McKenzie). Meanwhile, Will and Louisa are in bitter competition as they try to give up smoking together. Quitting buddies they are not, and poor Morris is very much caught in the crossfire.

An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 19:00 The Archers (b09z63pg)

Olwen puts her foot in it, and Fallon's views are challenged.


THU 19:15 Front Row (b09z1ddt)

Arts news, interviews and reviews.


THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0b05y2r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (b09z1ddw)

Series looking at important issues in the news. Presented by David Aaronovitch.


THU 20:30 In Business (b09z63pj)
Out in the World

Is the World Trade Organisation a safe option for Brexit Britain?

Falling back on the World Trade Organisation, or WTO, could be a motto of the Brexiteers. The World Trade Organisation, a free trade factory designed to cut tariffs and barriers to business is often presented as a safety net in case of no deal with the EU.
But will it be that easy? Trade deals are notoriously complicated to broker and already - in the UK's early negotiations with other WTO members, disagreements over tariff quotas, rules of origin and favorite nation clauses, are emerging. So what will it take for the UK to succeed?
The WTO is also facing new threats just as the UK is leaving the EU: for the first time in well over half a century a US President who does not believe in Free trade and an attempt to block its role in arbitrating trade disputes. Could the UK once free from the EU, be the one to reinvigorate the WTO and global free trade?

Jonty Bloom goes looking for answers in the long corridors of the organization in Geneva.


THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b09z1ddm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]


THU 21:30 In Our Time (b09z1dd7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b09z1ddy)

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b09z63pl)
The One Who Wrote Destiny, Neha

Ba believes in destiny. Mukesh believes in coincidence. Neha believes in patterns and consistency. And Raks believes in the manifest destiny of his own male ego.

The One Who Wrote Destiny is the hilarious and moving new novel by Nikesh Shukla, Editor of The Good Immigrant anthology of essays and author of the novels Meatspace and Coconut Unlimited.

For Book at Bedtime, five voices tell the story of three generations of the same family, riven by feuds and falling-outs, united by fates and fortunes. Mukesh moves from Kenya to the drizzly northern town of Keighley in 1966. Decades later, his daughter Neha is dying from lung cancer, a genetic gift from her mother and an invocation to forge a better relationship with her brother and her widowed father before it's too late. Neha's brother Rakesh is a comedian but his career is flat-lining and he's grieving his mother and sister. Ba has never looked after her two young grandchildren before. After the death of her daughter, they come to stay with her and she has to work out how to bond with two children who are used England, not to the rhythms of Kenya...

Readers: Bhasker Patel, Chetna Pandya, Maya Sondhi, Indira Varma and Taru Devani
Producer: Mair Bosworth.


THU 23:00 Beef and Dairy Network (b09z63pn)
Series 2, Episode 3

The number one podcast for those involved or just interested in the production of beef animals and dairy herds.

This episode is a hard-hitting investigation into the dangers posed by the New Zealand lamb trade.

Written and performed by Benjamin Partridge, Rose Matafeo, Tom Neenan,
Jesse Thorn, Tom Crowley and Nigel Crowle
Produced by Benjamin Partridge.


THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b09z63pq)

News from Westminster.



FRIDAY 20 APRIL 2018

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b09z1dgk)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b0b05y2p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b09z1dgm)

The latest shipping forecast.


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b09z1dgp)

FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b09z1dgr)

The latest shipping forecast.


FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b09z1dgt)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0b0d44p)

A reading and a reflection to start the day with Jasvir Singh OBE, Chair of City Sikhs.


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b09z1dgw)

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zdbr0)
Willow Warbler

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

Kate Humble presents the willow warbler. The first willow warblers return from Africa in late March. Willow warblers were once the commonest and most widespread summer migrant to the UK but in the last two decades numbers in the south and east of England have dropped by two thirds. Fortunately in Scotland, Ireland and the west, numbers seem to be holding up.


FRI 06:00 Today (b09z1dgy)

Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.


FRI 09:00 The Reunion (b09z1dpk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Sunday]


FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b0b05ywf)
Dearest Squirrel, Episode 5

Despite many periods of separation, John Osborne and Pamela Lane managed to remain in love, although Pamela's increasing requests for money took their toll on the relationship.

A completely fresh insight into the mind of one of the UK's greatest playwrights, the letters between John Osborne and his first wife, actress Pamela Lane, are also a love letter to a now defunct system of repertory theatre and life in post-war Britain.

As these letters reveal, soon after their divorce, Osborne and Lane began a mutually supportive, loyal, frequently stormy and sometimes sexually intimate alliance lasting thirty years until Osborne's death. By the mid- 1980s, they had become closer and more trusting than they had been since their earliest years together.

"You are for me what you always were," Pamela told him, "I am in love with you still."

It is, he declared, "my fortune to have loved someone for a lifetime."

Acerbic, witty, candid and heartbreaking, the letters reveal a unique relationship - troubled, tender and enduring.

The author, Peter Whitebrook, was born in London and has written and broadcast extensively on the theatre and literature. His co-adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath won a Fringe First Award. His biography of John Osborne was nominated for both the Sheridan Morley Prize for biography and the Theatre Book Prize.

Read by Simon Shepherd and Amanda Root
Abridged by Polly Coles
Produced by Clive Brill

A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b09z1dh0)

Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.


FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0b05ywh)
She Said/He Said, Episode 5

The rape case moves into the courtroom. Steph and Charlie face their greatest fears and hopes for the outcome, as they take the stand, and their families and friends rally round.

This is a fiction inspired by far too many real events. Many students in the UK today will be impacted during their time at university by a sexual assault case, as complainant, witness, supporter - or the accused.

Stephanie is a fresher at a party when she encounters Charlie and, in a few short minutes, their lives are changed forever. The subjectivity and so-called "grey areas" in the ensuing legal case are explored through the use of rolling monologues, as the narrative passes between the two young people at the centre of the accusation and on to those who surround and support them.

The author Eileen Horne has written numerous adaptations and original dramas for Radio 4, including her detective memoir The Lost Sister and, with Andrew Davies, The Mysterious Death of Jane Austen. She Said/He Said follows months of interviews with people on all sides of this painful subject.

Written by Eileen Horne
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 11:00 The Agony and the Ecstasy (b08k1sv9)

The Agony and the Ecstasy

Coronation Street actress Cherylee Houston is a chronic pain sufferer who uses creativity as a distraction from her condition. As pain is a topic rarely discussed publically, Cherylee sets off on a journey to meet other pain sufferers in order to find out how pain impacts on their creative work. Does pain always have to be a bad thing or can it actually enable creative thought? With contributions from singer songwriter Emily Maguire, writer Jack Thorne, artistic director Elizabeth Newman, performance artist Martin O Brien and pain specialist Professor Anthony Jones.

Produced by Charlotte Riches.


FRI 11:30 When the Dog Dies (b045bss6)
Series 4, The Hills Are Alive

Another chance to hear the much missed Ronnie Corbett in the final series of his popular sitcom by Ian Davidson and Peter Vincent. Ronnie is granddad Sandy and his old dog is Henry. If the dog dies or his lodger moves on, Sandy's children want him to downsize. He doesn't.

To help his finances, Sandy, still in the family home, took in a young couple as lodgers. But then the man left - leaving the attractive Dolores behind. AndSandy's children are quite sure she's a gold-digger. Sandy's opinion that it would be inhuman to move Henry somewhere unfamiliar is wearing a bit thin - as is the old dog himself.

Keeping the dog alive and the lodger happy is one thing, but what really concerns Sandy deeply is providing a guiding hand to his whole family - advising here, prompting there, responding to any emergency callout. If he kept himself to himself, of course, things would be a lot simpler and smoother. But a lot duller too.

Episode Four - The Hills Are Alive
Sandy's holding auditions for The Sound of Music. Everyone wants to be in it. Complete strangers burst into song. Son-in-law Blake takes advantage of Sandy's distraction to lure him into a skyscraper for old people.

Written by Ian Davidson and Peter Vincent

Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:00 News Summary (b09z1dh2)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:04 Home Front (b09syxyp)
20 April 1918 - Alice Macknade

On this day in 1918, the Women's Land Army held a rally in London, while in Folkestone, Alice's life hits a new low.

Written by Lucy Catherine
Story-led by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.


FRI 12:15 You and Yours (b09z1dh4)

Consumer news and issues.


FRI 12:57 Weather (b09z1dh6)

The latest weather forecast.


FRI 13:00 World at One (b09z1dh8)

Analysis of news and current affairs.


FRI 13:45 Chinese Characters (b09z6725)
River Elegy: River and Ocean

In 1988, one of the most important television programmes in history was shown. Titled River Elegy, it was watched by perhaps 100 million Chinese viewers. Despite its stirring music and dramatic imagery, it wasn't a drama, or documentary - but an argument onscreen that China had been inward-looking and backward for too long, and had to turn to the west for renewal. It rejected the legacy of Mao's Cultural Revolution and daringly embraced the idea of learning from the empire across the "blue ocean" - the US. After Tiananmen Square in 1989, the show was banned and its makers went into exile. Yet it remains one of the rare examples of a broadcast that started a national conversation about modernisation and democracy - a dialogue abruptly cut off but perhaps not yet ended.
Presenter: Rana Mitter
Producer: Ben Crighton
Researcher: Elizabeth Smith Rosser.


FRI 14:00 The Archers (b09z63pg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 Drama (b07865hc)
The Sensitive, Heart of Darkness, Part 2

2 / 2. By Alastair Jessiman.

During a visit to a religious retreat in the Highlands, psychic Thomas Soutar is seriously injured by a hit-and run driver. He's convinced that the hit-and-run was attempted murder but that it was his host, Rollo Caldwell, who was the real target. When Rollo later goes missing, Thomas fears the worst and starts enquiries into what will prove to be his final case.

Other parts played by the cast.

Producer/director: Bruce Young
BBC Scotland.


FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b09z688q)
Incredible Edible, Bristol

Eric Robson and his panel are guests of Incredible Edible in Bristol. Pippa Greenwood, Anne Swithinbank and Bob Flowerdew answer the questions.

Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant producer: Hester Cant

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 15:45 Short Works (b09z688s)
Series 1, Old Clothes

Alexa met Jim online. Most men hauled half a lifetime of baggage with them to the pub. But Jim was different. He didn't take it seriously.

A short story for radio by Anthony Adeane.


FRI 16:00 Last Word (b09z688v)

Obituary series, analysing and celebrating the life stories of people who have recently died.


FRI 16:30 Feedback (b09z688x)

Radio 4's forum for audience comment.


FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b09z68rk)
Arian and Annabel - So Where Are You From?

A couple who are both mixed race reflect on how they are perceived and understood. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

Producer: Marya Burgess.


FRI 17:00 PM (b09z1dhb)

Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b09z1dhd)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b09z68rm)
Series 96, 20/04/2018

A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Miles Jupp.


FRI 19:00 The Archers (b09z68rp)

Alistair opens up, and Eddie has a controversial suggestion.


FRI 19:15 Front Row (b09z1dhg)

News, reviews and interviews from the worlds of art, literature, film and music.


FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0b05ywh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b09z6bfx)
Anneliese Dodds MP, Matt Hancock MP, John Sentamu

Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate from Bridlington Priory in North Yorkshire with a panel including Shadow Treasury Minister Anneliese Dodds MP, the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport Matt Hancock MP, and the Archbishop of York John Sentamu.


FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b09z6bfz)

A weekly reflection on a topical issue.


FRI 21:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b09sz8cs)
16-20 April 1918

The seventh omnibus of Season 13, A Woman's Place, set in Folkestone, in the week, in 1918, when suffragist Nina Boyle claimed a 'moral triumph' after her nomination to run as an MP was rejected.

Cast
Sylvia Graham ..... Joanna David
Edie Chadwick ..... Kathryn Beaumont
Florrie Wilson ..... Claire Rushbrook
Esme Macknade ..... Katie Angelou
Alice Macknade ..... Claire-Louise Cordwell
Private Royal ..... Luke Bailey
Norman Harris ..... Sean Baker
Isabel Graham ..... Keely Beresford
Gabriel Graham ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Bill Macknade ..... Ben Crowe
Mrs Edkins ..... Rachel Davies
Recruit ..... Ryan Early
Waitress ..... Aimee-Ffion Edwards
Marion Wardle ..... Laura Elphinstone
Sergeant Smith ..... Rupert Holliday-Evans
Albert Wilson ..... Jamie Foreman
Jeanie Jones ..... Kerry Gooderson
Mr Baker ..... Clive Hayward
Jessie Moore ..... Lucy Hutchinson
Adam Wilson ..... Billy Kennedy
Jack Wilson ..... Ashley Kumar
Kitty Lumley ..... Ami Metcalf
Sergeant Caines ..... Nicholas Murchie
Nora Thatcher ..... Chetna Pandya
Dilys Walker ..... Ellie Piercy
Lilian Pemble ..... Alex Tregear
Charles Summer ..... Rufus Wright
Peter Lumley ..... Beatrice White

Written by Lucy Catherine
Story-led by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole

Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Composer: Matthew Strachan
Consultant Historian: Maggie Andrews.


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b09z1dhj)

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b09z6bg1)
The One Who Wrote Destiny, Neha

Ba believes in destiny. Mukesh believes in coincidence. Neha believes in patterns and consistency. And Raks believes in the manifest destiny of his own male ego.

The One Who Wrote Destiny is the hilarious and moving new novel by Nikesh Shukla, Editor of The Good Immigrant anthology of essays and author of the novels Meatspace and Coconut Unlimited.

For Book at Bedtime, five voices tell the story of three generations of the same family, riven by feuds and falling-outs, united by fates and fortunes. Mukesh moves from Kenya to the drizzly northern town of Keighley in 1966. Decades later, his daughter Neha is dying from lung cancer, a genetic gift from her mother and an invocation to forge a better relationship with her brother and her widowed father before it's too late. Neha's brother Rakesh is a comedian but his career is flat-lining and he's grieving his mother and sister. Ba has never looked after her two young grandchildren before. After the death of her daughter, they come to stay with her and she has to work out how to bond with two children who are used England, not to the rhythms of Kenya...

Readers: Bhasker Patel, Chetna Pandya, Maya Sondhi, Indira Varma and Taru Devani
Producer: Mair Bosworth.


FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b09z4k9z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]


FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b09z6flz)

News from Westminster.


FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b09z6fm1)
Douglas, David and Alan - Still Speaking Doric

Friends who grew up in Northeast Scotland are proud defenders of the Doric dialect. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

Producer: Marya Burgess.