SATURDAY 17 AUGUST 2019

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m0007l2q)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 00:30 Mudlarking, by Lara Maiklem (m0007l2s)
Episode 5

Lara Maiklem shares the delights of mudlarking on the foreshore of the River Thames.

Lara has scoured the banks of the Thames for over fifteen years, in pursuit of the objects that the river offers up from its muddy depths - from Neolithic flints to Roman hair pins, medieval buckles to a Tudor shoe, along with Georgian clay pipes, Victorian toys and semi-precious stones. These objects tell her about the people who lived in or visited London and how they ate, drank, dressed, worked and loved.

Moving from the river's tidal origins in the west of the city to the point where it meets the sea in the east, Mudlarking is a search for urban solitude and history on the River Thames, a place Lara describes as the longest archaeological landscape in England. And, as she has discovered, it is often the tiniest objects that tell the most surprising and enthralling stories.

Those inspired by the book to have a go themselves should be aware that anyone wishing to search the tidal Thames foreshore must hold a current foreshore permit from the Port of London Authority.

Written and read by Lara Maiklem
Abridged by Isobel Creed and Jill Waters
Produced by Lizzie Davies
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0007l2v)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0007l2x)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0007l2z)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m0007l31)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0007l33)
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Rachel Gardner, director of a charity which specialises in innovative youth work.

Good morning.

A few things have made me shed tears this week; the news of the monsoon rains in India and the difficult situation in Kashmir, a phone call from a friend who’s going through a hard time and a young person at a Christian youth festival telling me they’re beyond ever being loved.

All different situations, but all cry-worthy.

A survey of UK teens found that a quarter of young people said they have suicidal thoughts and feelings due to the way they feel about their bodies. Bombarded by relentless images of unattainable perfection our young people are growing up in a climate of unparalleled pressure to conform to consumerism. We know this leads to an emotionally and mentally painful existence as many fear they’ll never be ‘enough’.

The actor Andrew Garfield who stars in Martin Scorsese’s film ‘Silence’ speaks for so many of the younger generations when he says, ‘I feel like I’ve been gifted and cursed with a closeness to some grief...the grief of living in a time and a place where a life of joy and love is impossible.’

Young people not knowing if a life of joy and love is possible, or convinced that they’re not enough, is a deep tragedy and a terrible lie.

Thank you God that because of Jesus a life of love and joy is possible. As the youth across this nation wake today, may they know they are deeply loved by you, and may they find the courage to face their fears and challenge the lies as they live their one, God-given life.

Amen.


SAT 05:45 Four Thought (m0007ksd)
Taking Humour Seriously

Harriet Beveridge says we don't take humour seriously enough and thinks it's a "woefully misunderstood and underused tool". She extols its power in managing human relationships, dealing with adversity and overcoming prejudice.
"Cracking a joke is a hugely effective way to hold up a mirror, to challenge fixed ideas, because jokes shatter assumptions."
Recorded in front of a live audience at Womad, the World of Music, Arts and Dance festival in Wiltshire.
Presenter: Mark Coles
Producer: Sheila Cook


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m0007pr4)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (m0007kyw)
The Isle of Eels

Earlier this year, Helen Mark visited the Isle of Eels in the heart of the Cambridgeshire Fens for its annual eel day festival. She joins the parade of eels through the streets and takes part in the World Eel Throwing Competition (which thankfully involves no real eels). She also learns about the life cycle of the eel and discovers how this extraordinary fish is intimately bound up with the history and culture of Ely. Producer Sarah Blunt.


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m0007pr6)
Farming Today This Week: Harvest 2019

It's harvest time on Farming Today and under grey sullen skies Sybil Ruscoe visits Cobrey Farms in Herefordshire to meet owner Henry Chinn.

Across 3500 acres the harvest at Cobrey starts with rhubarb in February. In March thoughts turn to asparagus, before giving way to the summer months and the bringing in of potatoes and beans. This year they've grown sugar snap peas for the first time and Henry explains that because they're hand-picked it's a costly and labour-intensive process. Syb tries her hand at 'blueberry tickling' as she coaxes a few of them off their branches.

The farm has up to 750 seasonal workers, mostly from Romania and Bulgaria, and Sybil asks Henry what might happen to them after Brexit, and whether the Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme that has brought in additional workers from Ukraine and Moldova might be the answer.

They also visit a Wheat field which needs to be cut soon as it turns out Wild Boar are quite partial to an arable appetiser.

Producer: Toby Field


SAT 06:57 Weather (m0007pr8)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 07:00 Today (m0007prb)
News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m0007prd)
Skin, George RR Martin

Skin from Skunk Anansie made headlines this summer when it was pointed out that she was the first black British artist to headline the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury, not Stormzy. That was in 1999 and Skunk Anansie were five years into an incredible run of chart hits such as “Weak”, “Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good)” and “Charity”. Skin discusses her childhood, her career and what it was like being the only black, gay woman in the 1990’s music scene.

Lisa Faulkner was scouted as a model at 16 before becoming an actor at the age of 20. She was well known for roles in Dangerfield, Brookside and Holby City before famously meeting a grisly end in Spooks. In 2010 she won Celebrity Masterchef, has since become a food writer and now co-presents John and Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen with her fiancé John Torode. She has published the memoir Meant To Be: My Journey to Motherhood which describes the death of her mother when Lisa was just 16 and her years navigating infertility, IVF and adoption.

Joel Golby’s book Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant: Modern Life as Interpreted by Someone Who is Reasonably Bad at Living It describes how the journalist, whose father died when he was 15, became an adult orphan at the age of 25 when his mother died. He talks about the impact of the sudden and unwelcome intrusion of adult responsibility into his otherwise hedonistic life.

Dr Dean Burnett is a neuroscientist, author and stand-up comedian. He wrote the international best -sellers The Idiot Brain and The Happy Brain. His new book for teenagers is called Why Your Parents Are Driving You Up The Wall and What To Do About It.

Game of Thrones author George RR Martin shares his Inheritance Tracks.

Producer: Laura Northedge
Editor: Eleanor Garland


SAT 10:30 Alex Edelman's Special Relationships (m0007prg)
Me and Us

Alex Edelman encourages his guests from both sides of the Atlantic to think laterally about a diverse collection of special relationships in this loose limbed series of chat shows, recorded in London and the USA.

This week, the knotty string between 'me' and 'us' is unravelled in Los Angeles by a diverse bunch of guests with a distinctly modern outlook. It takes in an American podcast host identifying with Coronation Street, an advertising executive whose client she says is planet earth, and a comedian whose level of American-ness alters as she tours the planet.

A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 11:00 The Origin of Stuff (m000611f)
Fork

The fork is essential. Even camping without one is a false economy, in Katy’s experience. Even a spork - with a spoon at one end and a fork at the other, with a knife formed along one prong - just won’t do. You need both - a fork to steady the meat and a knife to cut it with.

So how did the fork come to be so indispensable?

We didn’t always love the fork. Public historian, Greg Jenner, reveals how it was abandoned for the chopstick in Ancient China, and greeted with scorn in Western Europe when a Byzantine princess ate with a golden double-pronged one.

It was only after the traveller, Thomas Coryat, in 1608, celebrated its use by pasta-loving Italians that the English started to take note. By the mid-19th century, there was a fork for every culinary challenge – from the pickle and the berry, to ice-cream and the terrapin. The utensil transformed the dining experience, bringing the pocket knife onto the table in a blunt, round-tipped form, and ushering in British table manners.

So is there a perfect version of the fork? With the help of tomato, milkshake and mango, Katy discovers that the material a fork is made from can drastically alter a food’s taste.

Featuring material scientist, Zoe Laughlin, and food writer and historian, Bee Wilson.

Producer: Beth Eastwood


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m0007prj)
Lost Innocence

The protests at Hong Kong's international airport this week and the violence that resulted have been widely reported. Jonathan Head says not only was this the week that the protest movement lost its innocence, but also that the violence has handed the Chinese authorities a propaganda coup.

Reporting from Indian-administered Kashmir has been especially challenging since the Indian government stripped it of its special status: no internet and no telephones. But Yogita Limaye finds one friendly Kashmiri who supplies both hot tea and functional broadband.

If you're nervous about snakes then Gombe District in northern Nigeria is best avoided, warns Colin Freeman. He visits a hospital that specialises in treating bites, especially those of the carpet viper, an ever-present danger to the local farmers.

Waterproof clothing made from the wool of the Bordaleira sheep has kept Portuguese farmers dry for centuries. Today, it's also the height of fashion, as Margaret Bradley reports; flying off the shelves of smart shops of Lisbon and Porto and in much demand overseas.

President Trump surprised Sweden recently when he suggested that the prime minister intervene in the case of a US rapper who'd been arrested in Stockholm on suspicion of assault. Maddy Savage was in court to see the case play out.


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m0007prl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 The Money Clinic (m0007prn)
Fay and Ben

Money is one of the top three strains on relationships and it’s a common cause of rift between family and friends too. You might be cautious and risk averse and hate to see your partner frittering their money away on new clothes and nights out; while they might think you should stop being so miserly with your cash and splash out once in a while.

In the Money Box Summer series Ruth Alexander introduces ‘The Money Clinic’. We eavesdrop on the conversations of three couples and a mother and son talking honestly about their finances with a relationship counsellor. We learn who they are, about their relationship with the other person, and what financial issues are coming between them. We hear practical tips on how each couple can better to manage their cash, and also how to manage the emotional side of money. We learn that individual attitudes to money are formed in early life, and how arguments about money are often about so much more than just money.

In this programme, 20-somethings, Ben and Fay, have just moved in together. It’s an exciting time, but their arguments about money are getting them down. Can they learn to see eye-to-eye?

Producer Smita Patel
Editor Emma Rippon


SAT 12:30 Lobby Land (m0007l40)
Series 2

Cometh the Power

Sam and Mia have been nominated for journalism awards at the prestigious DONCASTAs. But has Sam got a bigger decision to make?

Starring Yasmine Akram as Sam, Charlie Higson as Tom, Cariad Lloyd as Mia, Dan Tetsell as Gideon, Daniel Lawrence Taylor as Nath, and Joe Da Costa as Marcus.

Written by Jon Harvey, Christopher Davies and Sarah Dempster
With additional material by Laura Major
Produced by Jon Harvey
A Naked production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 12:57 Weather (m0007prq)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News (m0007prs)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m0007l2f)
Suzanne Evans, Lord Finkelstein, John Mann MP and Faiza Shaheen

Ritula Shah presents topical debate from the Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House, London with a panel including the political commentator Suzanne Evans, Conservative peer Lord Finkelstein, Labour MP John Mann and Faiza Shaheen, the director of the Centre for Labour and Social Studies.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m0007prv)
Have your say on the issues discussed on Any Questions?


SAT 14:30 Ulverton (m0007prx)
Wing / Here / Expedition

Adam Thorpe's ground-breaking Ulverton was published in 1992. Although it was a first novel, the reviews heralded a "masterpiece" (Peter Kemp, Sunday Times) and it was also celebrated in the American press - "as encompassing a portrait of what it means to be British as I have ever read" (Seattle Times) and "One of the great British fictional works of our time" (LA Times).

It's a novel which has long been celebrated for the way it employs all the lyrical agility of the English language as it evolved down the centuries to give us a narrative that is shaped by time and character and born of a particular landscape - the chalk downlands of west Berkshire. A succession of different voices offer brief glimpses of life in Ulverton at roughly a generation's interval.

A brilliant narrative of landscape and voices now concludes, first with a diary entry from 1953.

Written by Adam Thorpe

Wing - featuring Gillian Bevan
Here - featuring David Timson, Jack Flammiger, Tristan Sturrock, Ewan Bailey
Expedition - featuring Tessa Bell-Briggs

Dramatisation by Adam Thorpe and Jill Waters
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 15:30 Art of Now (m0007kj2)
Hairy Art

Whether it is denounced as trivial, celebrated, or declared pornographic and disgusting, the presence of body hair on women always elicits strong reactions. It's a topic that poet and performer Keisha Thompson explored in her one-woman theatre show 'I Wish I Had A Moustache'. In this programme Keisha goes in search of other artists who have examined the complicated issues around women and body hair in their work to ask what art can do to help us come to terms with the feelings of guilt and shame that so many women have internalised around their own body hair?

Along the way Keisha visits the National Portrait Gallery with academic and author of 'The Last Taboo: Women and Body Hair', Karin Lesnik-Oberstein, discovering how body hair is most glaring defined in our visual culture by an absence, and meets artists who are bringing it back into view, Kerry Howley who makes delicate, sculptural hair necklaces, Alix Bizet whose work uses hair to ask questions about identity and representation, and Leena McCall, whose 'Portrait of Mrs Ruby May Standing' proved just how controversial depicting female body hair can be. Finally, Keisha visits the 'Kiss My Genders' exhibition at the Hayward Gallery to find out how art is moving the conversation forward.

Presenter: Keisha Thompson
Producer: Jessica Treen


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m0007prz)
Edna Adan Ismail on FGM, Composer Errollyn Wallen, Talking to children about racism

Somaliland’s first midwife, first Foreign Minister and former First Lady, Edna Adan Ismail tells us what galvanised her campaign to end the practise of FGM and why now in her 80s she still works at the hospital she helped to build in her homeland.

We discuss the rise and fall of the bonkbuster with the author Lauren Milne Henderson, Maisie Lawrence editor at Bookouture and Sareeta Domingo editor at Mills and Boon.

The Composer Errollyn Wallen’s work stretches back four decades, she tells us about her latest work with the BBC Proms. A new orchestral work titled This Frame is Part of the Painting.

We talk about the impact of The Country Girls by the Irish author Edna O’Brien. It was banned by the Irish Censorship Board and burned publically in her hometown when it was first published. We hear from Lin Coghlan who has adapted it for radio and from the literary critic Alex Clark.

How should you talk about the subject of race and racism to your children? Behavioural Scientist Dr Pragya Agarwal and blogger Freddie Harrel tell us about their personal experiences.

We discuss the latest show from Zoo Nation Youth Tales of the Turntables with dancer Portia Oti and Director and Choreographer Carrie-Anne Ingrouille.

Presented by Jenni Murray
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed
Editor: Lucinda Montefiore


SAT 17:00 PM (m0007ps1)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news, plus the sports headlines.


SAT 17:30 The Inquiry (m0007ps3)
Is the deep ocean the answer to some of our biggest problems?

Our species is facing a whole lot of problems. Antibiotic resistance is on the rise, land based minerals are depleting and there are serious concerns about how warm everything’s becoming.

As the population grows these problems are only going to get worse, but what if we could find some of the solutions to our most pressing problems beneath the waves? Scientists have discovered that deep sea sponges could help fight MRSA, your smart phone could be powered by minerals located thousands of metres beneath the sea, and there are even enzymes that could help your washing machine run on a colder cycle, saving both energy and your new cashmere sweater. Is the deep sea the answer to some of our biggest problems? There’s a lot of promise, but what are the risks?


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m0007ps5)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 17:57 Weather (m0007ps7)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0007ps9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m0007psc)
Jackie Kay, Nish Kumar, Christopher Biggins, Blue Rose Code, Amy Lou, Arthur Smith, Clive Anderson

Clive Anderson and Arthur Smith are joined by Christopher Biggins, Nish Kumar and Jackie Kay for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Blue Rose Code and Amy Lou.

Producer: Sukey Firth.


SAT 19:00 Four Thought (b09fy6m9)
Being Muslim in America

Dalia Elmelige tells the story of her life as a Muslim in America after 9/11.

'I didn't get to celebrate my little brother's first birthday', begins Dalia, as she describes her life as a Muslim in post-9/11 America. From playground bullying to work at the Carter Presidential Center on countering ISIS propaganda, in many ways her life has been defined by the aftermath of 9/11. In this moving talk, introduced by Olly Mann, Dalia shares some reflections on isolation and identity.

Producer: Giles Edwards.


SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (m0007psf)
Sharp, critical discussion of the week's cultural events, with Tom Sutcliffe and guests


SAT 20:00 The Untold (m0007psh)
The Untold Storytelling Festival

Grace Dent leads a discussion about modern storytelling on radio and television, in fact and fiction. Joining Grace on stage in front of an invited audience at the BBC Radio Theatre are Line of Duty’s creator, Jed Mercurio, factual podcast maker Jennifer Forde, leading drama executive and writer John Yorke, novelist Chibundu Onuzo, and TV writer Laurie Nunn. How does factual storytelling differ from fiction? How is the vogue for real-crime podcasts changing the storytelling landscape and just why did Jed Mercurio kill off one of his leading characters half way through Bodyguard?

At the heart of the discussion are the editor, producers and some of the most memorable contributors from Radio 4’s The Untold. Featuring heart-stopping moments from the first 100 episodes, ‘The Untold’ Storytelling Festival showcases how the team behind Radio 4’s home of real-life storytelling deploy the finest skills of contemporary audio production to follow people as they face life-changing decisions.

Producer Emma Kingsley


SAT 21:00 Drama (m0007kds)
Inspector Chen Novels

Hold Your Breath, China

by Qiu Xiaolong dramatised by Joy Wilkinson

Inspector Chen has fallen from the Party's grace thanks to his anti-corruption investigations but he is back on the case when a serial murderer is on the loose in the ever-thickening smog of Shanghai.

Chief Inspector Chen ..... Jamie Zubairi
Detective Yu ..... Dan Li
Detective Qin ..... Liz Sutherland-Lim
Lou/Huang ..... Andrew Leung
Shanshan ..... Rebecca Boey
Zhao ..... David Hounslow
Qiang ..... Sean Baker
Bian ..... Chris Pavlo
Bei ..... Kenny Blyth
Neighbour ..... Debbie Korley

Director: David Hunter

HOLD YOUR BREATH, CHINA is the 10th of Qiu Xiaolong's Inspector Chen novels, all of which have been dramatised for BBC Radio 4. They have sold over 1 million copies and have been translated into 20 languages.


SAT 22:00 News and Weather (m0007psk)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 22:15 Unreliable Evidence (m0007ksv)
Misconduct in Public Office

The law against Misconduct in Public Office has been criticised by the Law Commission as “unclear, ambiguous and in urgent need of reform”. Clive Anderson and guests ask how it should be changed to control the behaviour of the police, politicians and other public officials.

Misconduct in Public Office is a centuries old common law offence, but the number of prosecutions under it has risen from just 2 in 2005 to 135 in 2014. It’s been used to charge prison officers for selling information to journalists, a local councillor for using his position to re-route a road away from his property and a paramedic for groping a woman in the back of his ambulance. Some of these prosecutions have been successful, others not. It was also the law under which an unsuccessful private prosecution was brought against Boris Johnson, for claims he made during the Brexit campaign.

The offence carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and critics say that there’s uncertainty around everything from who is a public officer to what constitutes misconduct.

Is it a crucial tool in keeping our public servants to a high standard of behaviour? Or a somewhat archaic law which should be eliminated from a legal landscape overgrown with offences to deal with corrupt, dishonest or disreputable practices?

Producer: Hannah Marshall
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 23:00 The 3rd Degree (m0007k6j)
Series 9

St Catharine’s College, Cambridge

A funny and dynamic quiz show hosted by Steve Punt - this week from St Catharine's College, Cambridge, with specialist subjects including Geography, French and Veterinary Medicine and questions ranging from French gender to horse teeth via James Bond and Dick Dastardly.

The programme is recorded on location at a different University each week, and it pits three Undergraduates against three of their Professors in an original and fresh take on an academic quiz.

The rounds vary between Specialist Subjects and General Knowledge, quickfire bell-and-buzzer rounds and the Highbrow and Lowbrow round cunningly devised to test not only the students' knowledge of current affairs, history, languages and science, but also their Professors' awareness of television, sport, and quite possibly Ed Sheeran. In addition, the Head-to-Head rounds see students take on their Professors in their own subjects, offering plenty of scope for mild embarrassment on both sides.

Other Universities featured in this series include Royal Holloway University of London, Aberdeen, Plymouth, Brighton and Oxford Brookes.

Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 23:30 A Poet Laureate’s Peterloo (m0007kdx)
Poetry and song specially commissioned to commemorate The Peterloo Massacre - curated by the outgoing Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and presented by Ian McMillan.

The Peterloo Massacre was the name given to a peaceful pro-democracy rally which took place on August 16th 1819, made up of around fifty thousand men, women and ‎children, who were attacked by an armed cavalry; eighteen people were killed, and hundreds injured. The ‎massacre inspired art and poetry at the time, including ‘The Masque of Anarchy’ by Percy Bysshe ‎Shelley. The aspirations of the protesters and the shock of their violent repression still resonate with writers and artists today.

Ian McMillan welcomes poets Carol Ann Duffy, Clare Shaw, Mark Pajak and singer-songwriter Kathryn Williams to perform their new commissions in front of an audience at Friends' Meeting House, Mount Street, Manchester (the wall on the southern side of the building is only piece of infrastructure that would have been at the site of the massacre, and is mentioned in witness accounts). He is also joined by Professor Robert ‎Poole - author of a new study of Peterloo: 'Peterloo: The English Uprising'.

Presented by Ian McMillan
Produced by Faith Lawrence



SUNDAY 18 AUGUST 2019

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m0007psm)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 00:30 The Poet and the Echo (m0007l3p)
The Lamb

Writers choose poems as inspiration for new stories.

Pippa Goldschmidt is inspired by 'The Lamb', from William Blake's Songs of Innocence, to write this moving story of love and inheritance.

Writer ... Pippa Goldschmidt
Reader ... Kay McAllister
Producer ... Eilidh McCreadie


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0007psp)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0007psr)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0007pst)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m0007psw)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m0007psy)
Great St Mary's Church in Cambridge

Bells on Sunday comes from Great St. Mary's Church in Cambridge. The tower holds a peal of 12 Bells cast in 2009 with the Tenor - weighing just over 24 hundredweight - tuned to the key of D. We hear the Ely Diocesan Team ringing ‘Yorkshire Surprise Royal’.


SUN 05:45 Four Thought (b09fy6m9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 06:00 News Headlines (m0007pvl)
The latest national and international news headlines.


SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b09gbmx1)
Metamorphosis

Stories of metamorphosis have always captivated journalist Remona Aly. They are woven with enduring truths, moral lessons and provocative challenges.

Tales of metamorphosis can be both glorious and sinister, influential and cautionary. In this episode of Something Understood, Remona argues that these tales profoundly impact our collective psyche, revealing the story of the human experience.

The poetry of John Keats and the words of the Quran remind Remona how metamorphosis can reveal our darker nature. Metamorphosis is a recurring theme in Hinduism too with Lord Krishna confiding in his warrior friend Arjuna, "For one who has taken his birth, death is certain; and for one who is dead, birth is certain."

The episode features musical selections from Tchaikovsky and Van Morrison which underpin how metamorphosis can be part of life's purpose, moving away from stasis and encouraging reform, renewal and reflection.

The readers are Rachel Atkins, Laurence Kennedy and Max O'Brien.

Special thanks to Mandeep Moore for her Punjabi translation of Jind Kaur.

Presenter: Remona Aly
Producer: Jonathan O'Sullivan
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m0007pvn)
Curlew Safari

The Bolton Castle Estate in the Yorkshire Dales is a valuable breeding ground for curlews and other endangered ground nesting birds. Every year they hold a ‘curlew safari’ to give members of the public a glimpse of bird that’s sadly becoming increasingly rare.

Caz Graham heads out ‘on safari’ with Bolton Castle’s Tom Orde-Powlett and his head gamekeeper to spot this year’s chicks, hear how management of the grouse moor also creates habitat for other wading birds and how the estate is working with the British Trust for Ornithology.

She also meets fellow safari goers Amanda Perkins, manager of the UK Lowland Curlew Recovery Project who talks about how they are successfully ‘head-starting’ or raising chicks from eggs and wildlife writer and Cumbrian Curlew campaigner Karen Lloyd who’s edited an anthology of poetry called Curlew Calling.


SUN 06:57 Weather (m0007pvq)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m0007pvs)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m0007pvw)
Sunday morning religious news and current affairs programme presented by Emily Buchanan.


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m0007pw0)
The Poppy Factory

Dan Snow makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of The Poppy Factory.

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 ‘The Poppy Factory’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘The Poppy Factory’.

Registered Charity Number: .225348


SUN 07:57 Weather (m0007pw4)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m0007pw8)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m0007pwd)
Pilgrimage and Peace

Leave me alone with God as much as may be.
As the tide draws the waters close in upon the shore,
Make me an island, set apart,
alone with you, God, holy to you.

Then with the turning of the tide
prepare me to carry your presence to the busy world beyond,
the world that rushes in on me
till the waters come again and fold me back to you.
(Aidan of Lindisfarne)

Lying just a few miles off the Northumberland Coast, the Holy Island of Lindisfarne is one of the most important Christian sites in the United Kingdom. In 635AD, St Aiden came from Iona in Scotland to found his monastery on the island, becoming its first Abbot and Bishop. Holy Island remains a place of pilgrimage today.

Rev Canon Sarah Hills has made this pilgrimage, becoming the Vicar of St Mary the Virgin Church on Holy Island in January this year. Before that she was Canon for Reconciliation at Coventry Cathedral. She is also Honorary Canon for Reconciliation at Inverness Cathedral for the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.

In this act of worship she reflects on the theme of pilgrimage and peace, considering how the ancient Holy Island saints Aidan and Cuthbert can help us today work together for peace in our hearts and in our world.

Producer: Andrew Earis


SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m0007l2h)
Against Theory

"No matter how many times you see the sun rise", writes Will Self, "it doesn't mean it will definitely rise tomorrow - or, indeed, that you'll be there to see it".

Will sets out why he has a problem with theory of all sorts and the negative effect “theory addicts” are having on our contemporary intellectual culture.

Producer: Adele Armstrong


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b038qk8r)
Thrush Nightingale

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

Brett Westwood presents the thrush nightingale. Even though there's no sign of the whistling crescendos that are a hallmark of its close relative, the Nightingale, the song of the thrush nightingale is an accomplished performance. They are summer visitors to Europe and prefer dense damp thickets from which they often sing.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m0007pwj)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell


SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m0007pwn)
Writer, Nick Warburton
Director, Julie Beckett
Editor, Jeremy Howe

David Archer ….. Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer ….. Felicity Finch
Kenton Archer ….. Richard Attlee
Brian Aldridge ….. Charles Collingwood
Lilian Bellamy ….. Sunny Ormonde
Neil Carter ….. Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter ….. Charlotte Martin
Alice Carter ….. Hollie Chapman
Chris Carter ….. Wilf Scolding
Clarrie Grundy ….. Heather Bell
Emma Grundy ….. Emerald O'Hanrahan
Will Grundy ….. Philip Molloy
Shula Hebden Lloyd ….. Judy Bennett
Tracy Horrobin ….. Susie Riddell
Alistair Lloyd ….. Michael Lumsden
Jim Lloyd ….. John Rowe
Adam Macy ….. Andrew Wincott
Jazzer McCreary ….. Ryan Kelly
Kate Madikane ….. Perdita Avery
Freddie Pargetter ….. Toby Laurence
Lynda Snell ….. Carole Boyd
Roy Tucker ….. Ian Pepperell
Peggy Woolley ….. June Spencer
Jakob Hakansson ….. Paul Venables
Ray Hepburn ….. David Holt


SUN 11:15 The Reunion (m0007pws)
York Minster Fire

Sue MacGregor reunites those who battled to save York Minster and its contents when fire broke out in 1984.

In April 2019, the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris made world headlines but, in July 1984, a similar fate befell York Minster, one of Britain’s best loved Gothic cathedrals. It was in the early hours of the morning on July 9th that fire broke out, destroying the roof of the South Transep, and causing extensive damage to the magnificent medieval Rose Window.

York Minster was one of Britain’s best loved and most visited Cathedrals, and an active place of worship under Archbishop John Habgood and the Dean, Ronald Jasper. Three days before the fire, senior clergy were assembled in the Minster for the ordination of the new Bishop of Durham, David Jenkins. But the new Bishop held somewhat non-traditional theological views and his observations were too controversial for many in the Church of England to stomach. The belief that the York Minster fire was some sort of sign of discontent from God about his appointment found an outlet on the letters page of The Times. “‘Just lightening,’ says the Bishop dismissively. To those as old-fashioned as I, lightening is the wrath of God,” wrote one correspondent.

In the event, York Minster was restored within four years, re-opening a year ahead of schedule. The BBC children’s show Blue Peter ran a competition to design six new bosses in part of the restored roof, and the young winners got to meet the Queen when she re-dedicated the Minster in 1988.

Joining Sue in York Minster’s Consistory Court to reflect on the fire and its aftermath are former Canon Chancellor John Toy; Alan Stow, retired divisional fire commander; Bishop David Wilbourne, a chaplain in York at the time; master mason John David; and lead joiner Geoff Brayshaw.

Producer: Howard Shannon
Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 12:00 News Summary (m0007pwy)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:04 Just a Minute (m0007k6x)
Series 85

Episode 2

Tony Hawks, Phil Wang, Sheila Hancock and Paul Merton join Nicholas Parsons for the panel game where the challenge is to speak without repetition, hesitation or deviation.

A BBC Studios Production.


SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m0007px1)
Jamie Oliver: A Life Through Food Part I

On the anniversary of TV series 'The Naked Chef', Jamie Oliver talks to Sheila Dillon about two controversial decades dominating food on our TV screens and online, our home cooking, and dining out.

In a two-part programme, Jamie, arguably the UK’s most successful food entrepreneur, reveals where it all went wrong with ill-fated restaurant chain 'Jamie's Italian’; the restaurants were supposed to disrupt mid-market dining, but after more than a decade, the chain collapsed in May.

He takes Sheila back to his childhood home, above his dad's Essex pub restaurant where his life in professional kitchens began, clearing up fag ends and polishing urinal pipes. Cooking, the only thing he was “any good at” would propel him into the restaurant scene of 1990s London, and eventually onto our TV screens.

This is the first part of two programmes on Jamie Oliver's Life Through Food. Part two will be broadcast on Sunday 25th August 2019.

Presented by Sheila Dillon
Produced by Clare Salisbury


SUN 12:57 Weather (m0007px5)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m0007px9)
Global news and analysis, presented by Mark Mardell.


SUN 13:30 From Our Home Correspondent (m0007pxf)
Mishal Husain introduces pieces reflecting contemporary life across the United Kingdom.

Alison Williams would regularly see a young middle-aged woman sitting outside the railway station she used. They returned smiles; Alison wondered about her back story. Then suddenly the woman was gone. What happened next is a parable of our times.
Each summer in recent years, Dorset has welcomed children from areas of northern Ukraine and Belarus blighted by the radioactivity released by the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear site in April 1986. During their stay, the children receive health checks and enjoy the hospitality of local families. So how are they faring? Jane Labous has been to meet this year's visitors - and their hosts.
Even the idea of Welsh wine to accompany haute cuisine used to bring a smile to many a face, not least in the country itself. But in fact wine-making there dates back to Roman times and is currently undergoing a revival. But can what was once a cottage industry - literally - become a money-spinner? Tim Hartley has been visiting vineyards in both North and South Wales to gauge the prospects.
When, fifteen years ago, 23 Chinese cockle pickers tragically lost their lives on north-west England's "wet Sahara" - the vast area of sand and mudflats which is Morecambe Bay - it confirmed its reputation for treacherous tides that can readily catch out the unwary. A new guide to assist crossings to and from the Cumbrian and Lancastrian sides of the Bay has recently been appointed and Tom Edwards decided to take his daughters there to initiate them into its tidal flows.
And John Forsyth has been unearthing the mystery of toppling headstones in Scottish cemeteries. He discovers the identity of the perpetrator - and why it is happening.

Producer Simon Coates


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m0007l3m)
Saltburn

Peter Gibbs and the team of gardening experts are in Saltburn. Bob Flowerdew, Matthew Pottage and Bunny Guinness answer this week's questions from green-fingered enthusiasts.

The panellists discuss mysterious strawberry pests and what to do with worm wee, and offer suggestions for a cut flower border in an allotment.

Away from the questions, James Wong goes underground to see the unused ticket offices being transformed into garden spaces.

Producer: Laurence Bassett
Assistant Producer: Rosie Merotra

A Somethin' Else production from BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (m0000r6v)
Omnibus – Women and Identity

Fi Glover introduces conversations from London, Stoke and Belfast about the culture and beliefs women feel aligned with, 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 (b0b277ld)
Inspector Chen Novels

Don't Cry, Tai Lake

Poet and gourmand Inspector Chen of the Shanghai Police Bureau returns in another drama based on Qiu Xiaolong's crime novels. Chen's lakeside holiday is interrupted by the violent death of the boss of the Wuxi Number One Chemical Company. Will his blossoming relationship with a young environmental engineer compromise his covert investigation? Dramatised by Joy Wilkinson.

Song composed by Neil Brand
Directed by Toby Swift

'Don't Cry, Tai Lake' is the seventh of Qiu Xiaolong's Inspector Chen novels, all 10 of which have been dramatised for BBC Radio 4. They have sold over 1m copies and been translated into 20 languages.
"Witty and thrilling" The Daily Telegraph.
"A welcome alternative to Scandi-noir" The Observer.


SUN 16:00 Open Book (m0007pxk)
Benjamin Myers, Proust's In Search of Lost Time, Valeria Luiselli

Benjamin Myers discusses his eighth novel The Offing. Set in Robin Hood's Bay at the end of the Second World War, it tells the story of 16 year old Robert and the unlikely friendship he forms with an eccentric older woman.

Ahead of a major new Radio 4 adaptation of Proust's In Search of Lost Time by the playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker, Proust fans Philip Hensher and Belinda Jack explain the enduring appeal of this famously difficult novel.

And Mexican writer Valeria Luiselli has been nominated for the Booker Prize for her novel The Lost Children Archive. She describes how it was prompted by the stories of unaccompanied children crossing the US Mexico border in the summer of 2014.


SUN 16:30 Poems for Idle Workers (m0007pxp)
A series of small poems by Holly Pester, set in the brief pauses of work-breaks. Inspired by Virgil, absurdism, and sound poetry. Performed by Maggie Nicols and Keeley Forsyth.

In the year 42 BC, the Latin poet Virgil began to write his famous Eclogues (the term comes from a word meaning sketch or draft), reflecting tensions in the countryside caused by civil-war in Italy and the assassination of Caesar. In these pieces, dispossessed herdsmen gossip, sing and fight alongside those who have been granted land by the new regime.

Since Virgil, poets including Percy B Shelley and WH Auden have used the eclogue form to explore more modern ideas of labour and land, touching on the real and the mythic at once.

Here, Holly Pester presents a new set of experimental eclogues that take place in a contemporary work-space, where two lowly office workers find themselves united yet divided, trying to find a connection in the stolen moments of not-working. But is there ever really such a moment?

Magatha is read and sung by Maggie Nicols
Terry is read and sung by Keeley Forsyth

Written and introduced by Holly Pester
Produced by Jack Howson

A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 17:00 Land Power v Sea Power (m0007kk3)
What can the ideas of two long-dead geopolitical thinkers tell us about relations between Russia, China and America today?

Documentary-maker Phil Tinline traces how, in the late 19th century, an American sea captain turned scholar, Alfred Thayer Mahan, drew on the historic successes of Britain’s Royal Navy to argue that sea power was a decisive force in world history, and that the rising United States should establish its own permanent naval forces.

But then a British geographer, Sir Halford Mackinder, spotted the revolutionary potential of the new Trans-Siberian Railway, and argued that land power, in the form of the Eurasian Heartland could now mobilise its resources to outdo British sea power.

Both men’s ideas have had profound influence on geopolitical thinking ever since. Today, as the post-war international order falters, Phil talks to leading scholars and strategists to discern what influence Mahan’s and Mackinder’s ideas are having on our new era of great power rivalry – between NATO and Russia in the Black and Baltic Seas, between Russia and China in the Eurasian heartland as the Belt and Road stretches westward, and between China and the USA, in the hotly-disputed waters of the South China Sea.

And he asks whether, in a globalised world, ends that were once pursued by military means are now being achieved through commerce, but in pursuit of the same hard geopolitical aims.

With contributions from: Professor James R. Holmes, Professor Charles Kupchan, Dr Nick Megoran, Professor Rana Mitter, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, Professor Angela Stent, Dr Dmitri Trenin

Producer: Phil Tinline


SUN 17:40 Four Thought (b09fy6m9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m0007pxt)
The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 17:57 Weather (m0007pxy)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0007py2)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m0007py6)
Adrian Goldberg

The best of BBC Radio this week with Adrian Goldberg.


SUN 19:00 The Archers (m0007py9)
Emma's behaviour causes concern and Jazzer attempts to lift a friend's spirits


SUN 19:15 Cooking in a Bedsitter (b08492g1)
Series 1

Stuffed Eggs

Katharine Whitehorn's cult cookery classic is the inspiration for Sue Teddern's new comedy drama, set in 1964, starring Beattie Edmondson and Nikesh Patel.

In this episode, Trisha tries to impress new friend Jill with some stuffed eggs.

Trisha.....Beattie Edmondson
Deepak.....Nikesh Patel
Tony.....John Dougall
Jill.....Natasha Cowley
Keith.....Finlay Robertson
The Hunk.....Luke MacGregor
Male Guest.....Gavi Singh Chera
Female Guest.....Catriona McFarlane
Katharine Whitehorn.....Karen Bartke

Directed by Emma Harding


SUN 19:45 Stillicide (m0007pyd)
Episode 2: Paper Flowers

Cynan Jones' electrifying new series set in the very near future.

Water is commodified and the Water Train that feeds the city is increasingly at risk of sabotage. And now ice bergs are set to be towed to a huge ice dock outside the capital city - a huge megalopolis that is draining the country of its resources.

Today: an immigrant worker can't help but be awed by the extraordinary ice dock.

Reader: Philip Arditti
Writer: Cynan Jones
Producer: Justine Willett
Music: Original music by Kirsten Morrison


SUN 20:00 Feedback (m0007l3t)
How realistic are the storylines in the Archers? Is the soap really an everyday story of country folk?

In Feedback this week Roger Bolton talks to an Archers Academic who analyses the heart breaking tale of Ed and Emma and their lost home.

Do you know who the Grime Granny is? Two listeners go far beyond their comfort zones to discover an unlikely 80 year old fan of urban music.

And is the BBC still a bastion of privilege dominated by privately educated alumni of Oxbridge?

Presenter: Roger Bolton
Producer: Alun Beach
Executive Producer: Samir Shah

A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 20:30 Last Word (m0007l3r)
Julia Farron OBE, Nuon Chea, June Fraser, Marcel Berlins

Pictured: Julia Farron

Julian Worricker on:

The Cambodian political leader, Nuon Chea, who was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity during his time as a member of the Khmer Rouge....

Julia Farron, a dancer with the Royal Ballet, who's been described as a great performer of virtuoso roles....

The pioneering graphic designer, June Fraser, whose work has influenced so many of the logos and packaging we're familiar with today....

And Marcel Berlins, lawyer, broadcaster and critic who presented Law in Action on Radio 4 for sixteen years....

Interviewed guest: Rob Lemkin
Interviewed guest: Jane Pritchard
Interviewed guest: Zoe Cull
Interviewed guest: Mike Ripley
Producer: Neil George

Archive clips from: Enemies of the People, directed by Rob Lemkin, Old Street Films 2009; Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia 05/12/2011; BBC News 19/09/2007; John Pilger, Radio 4 16/10/1989; Dancing in the Blitz, BBC Four 05/03/2014; Compulsion, directed by Richard Fleischer, Darryl F. Zanuck Productions 1959; Quote Unquote, Radio 4 15/02/2010; Law in Action, Radio 4 14/07/1989; Round Britain Quiz, Radio 4 05/07/2014; Puzzling Passions, Radio 4 03/10/2000.


SUN 21:00 The Money Clinic (m0007prn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m0007pw0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 In Business (m0007kvg)
The Berlin Airport Fiasco

Germany is known for its efficient infrastructure and transport. So why has Berlin's new airport not quite gone to plan? It is billions over budget, seven years late in opening, and is still being rebuilt before a single plane has landed. What has gone so wrong in a place supposed to be the capital of well-ordered engineering? And is the Berlin airport fiasco a warning for infrastructure builders everywhere? Chris Bowlby’s had a rare behind the scenes tour.

Presenter: Chris Bowlby
Producer: Jim Frank


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m0007pyh)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.


SUN 23:00 The Moth Radio Hour (m0007pyk)
Series 9

In Famiglia

Jay Allison introduces tales about family life: from sibling high jinks to the difficulties of having children (and parents).

The Moth is an acclaimed not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling based in the USA. Since 1997, it has celebrated both the raconteur and the storytelling novice, who has lived through something extraordinary and yearns to share it. Originally formed by the writer George Dawes Green as an intimate gathering of friends on a porch in Georgia (where moths would flutter in through a hole in the screen), and then recreated in a New York City living room, The Moth quickly grew to produce immensely popular events at theatres and clubs around New York City and later around the USA, the UK and other parts of the world.

The Moth has presented more than 15,000 stories, told live and without notes, to standing-room-only crowds worldwide. The Moth podcast is downloaded over 27 million times a year.

The Moth Radio Hour is produced by Jay Allison and Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole, Massachusetts and is distributed by the Public Radio Exchange.

First heard on PRX in February 2019.


SUN 23:50 A Point of View (m0007l2h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:48 today]



MONDAY 19 AUGUST 2019

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m0007pym)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 00:15 Mastertapes (m0001hkq)
Lily Allen (A-side)

John Wilson returns with another run of the series in which he talks to leading performers and songwriters about the album that made them or changed them. Recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC's iconic Maida Vale Studios. Each edition includes two episodes, with John initially quizzing the artist about the album in question, and then, in the B-side, the audience puts the questions. Both editions feature exclusive live performances.

A-side: "No Shame" by Lily Allen

Always conversational in tone and infused with a dark sense of humour, Lily Allen’s lyrics never shies away from the personal – and her most recent album, released in July 2018, is no different. Set against dancehall and reggae influences, the album moved away from her usual witty sarcastic songwriting style and opted for a more "candid" approach. With tracks like ‘Trigger Bang’, ‘Lost My Mind’, ‘Three’ and the album title track, she tackles everything from the breakdown of her marriage and her friendships… to maternal guilt, substance abuse and, as if that’s not enough, social and political issues.

The B-side of the programme, where it's the turn of the audience to ask the questions, can be heard tomorrow at 3.30pm.
Complete versions of the songs performed in the programme (and others) can be heard on the 'Mastertapes' pages on the Radio 4 website, where the programmes can also be downloaded and other musical goodies accessed.

Producer: Paul Kobrak


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m0007psy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0007pyp)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0007pyr)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0007pyt)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 05:30 News Briefing (m0007pyw)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0007pyy)
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Rachel Gardner, director of a charity which specialises in innovative youth work.

Good morning.

This summer, many children will be enjoying time away from school. I love taking my two kids to our local park to hang out with other families and watch our children play together. Even in all the rain we’ve recently had, nothing has got in the way of us kicking a ball around with anyone brave enough to venture out!

But for some children who rely on free school meals during term time, the holidays are more likely to be characterised by hunger and malnourishment. In 2017 a cross-party panel of MPs and peers warned that up to 3 million children in the UK suffer from holiday hunger.

There are some incredible projects and charities bringing hope to children and their families through providing not just free, hot meals, but also support for families and a safe place for children to play. One mum put it so powerfully when asked why she brings her children to eat at one of these initiatives, ‘When you come here’ she said, ‘it really is a miracle.’

This morning we pray for all those in the world waking to a day of hunger and financial stress. We pray for all those who feel unsafe and uncertain about how they will take care of themselves or their children today. Father God help us to share our food with those who need it. To offer support to those in crisis. Thank you for the projects across our country providing free hot meals and a loving community for those in need. May we become a society which increasingly learns to see and help, not to ignore or judge. And may every child who is hungry today, be fed.

Amen.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m0007pz0)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


MON 05:56 Weather (m0007pz2)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.


MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b038qk9b)
Bluethroat

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

Brett Westwood presents the bluethroat. This is a fine songbird and a sprightly robin-sized bird with a dazzling sapphire bib. Your best chance of seeing one is in autumn when they pass through the north or east coast on migration.


MON 06:00 Today (m0007q9m)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Reflections with Peter Hennessy (m0007q9p)
Series 7

19/08/2019

In this series, the historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week, he invites his guest to explore their early formative influences, their experiences and their impressions of people they’ve known. His guest in this final programme in this run is Peter Hain, who recalls growing up in the intense crucible of South African apartheid and reflects on the dramatic events and impressive people that shaped his radical beliefs. After his family took exile in Britain in 1966, Hain came to national prominence as a Young Liberal activist and leader of the campaign to stop the planned South African cricket tour of England in 1970. His readiness to disrupt sports events through peaceful protests and his role in stopping the 1970 tour has given him a vivid place in the national collective memory.
Peter Hain later joined the Labour Party and was MP for Neath from 1991 until 2015. He was a Minister in the Blair and Brown Governments, including a spell at the Foreign Office as Africa Minister. He became Northern Ireland Secretary and played a key role in helping restore devolved powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly. Peter Hain is now a member of the House of Lords.

Producer: Rob Shepherd


MON 09:45 Coventry (m0007qch)
Driving as Metaphor

In her striking new collection of essays, award-winning author Rachel Cusk weaves observations of domestic concerns with art, psychology and current affairs.

In 'Driving as Metaphor', Cusk contemplates the tourists, the Sunday drivers and the speed freaks that she meets on the country roads near her home.

Reader: Amelia Bullmore
Abridged and produced by Eilidh McCreadie


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0007q9t)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


MON 10:45 The Country Girls Trilogy (m0007q9w)
The Country Girls

Country Girls 1/10

Kate and Baba – girls who occupy the twin poles of romance and realism - have nonetheless been friends forever, united by a tacit resilience to the world they have to endure. In this, the opening episode, Kate’s father is off on a drinking binge, so the farm has to cope without him.

Cast
Kate ..... Charlie Murphy
Baba ..... Aoibhinn McGinnity
Mama ..... Catherine Cusack
Dada ..... David Ganly
Hickey ..... Lloyd Hutchinson
Jack Holland ..... Jonjo O’Neill
Miss Moriarty ..... Helen Clapp

Written by Edna O’Brien
Dramatised by Lin Coghlan
Directed by Sally Avens & Jessica Dromgoole

Notes
Edna O’Brien – born in 1930 - is now celebrated as the fearless chronicler of the dark underbelly of rural Ireland. Originally published in the 1960s, The Country Girls, and the two other novels in the Country Girls Trilogy (The Lonely Girl and Girls in their Married Bliss), were banned by the Irish Censorship Board, burnt publicly in O’Brien’s home town, and described by the Justice Minister (a young Charles Haughey) as filth. Fifty years later, the trilogy is recognised as an iconic work of twentieth century Irish fiction. Radio 4 is dramatising all three books in three separate series this year.

The Country Girls runs 19 – 30 August.
The Lonely Girl will run 14 – 25 October.
Girls in their Married Bliss will run 9 – 13 December.


MON 11:00 Three Vicars Talking (m0007qb0)
Death

Three Vicars Talking brings together the Reverends Richard Coles, Kate Bottley and Giles Fraser to swap curate shoptalk about three of the most significant roles carried out by Church of England vicars... the hatch, the match and the dispatch.

In a three-part series, the well known broadcasters combine gallows humour with pathos, as they chat about the clerical role in births, marriage and death.
In this first episode they start at the end with funerals.


MON 11:30 Loose Ends (m0007psc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:15 on Saturday]


MON 12:00 News Summary (m0007r2y)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 Heartburn (m0007qb6)
Episode 1 - Betrayal

Nora Ephron's tabasco-spiked and bittersweet novel about a marriage on the rocks.

Seven months into her pregnancy, irrepressible food writer Rachel Samstat discovers that her husband Mark - a man who ‘would be capable of having sex with a Venetian blind’ - is in love with another woman. In between trying to work out what went wrong, trying to win him back and loudly wishing him dead, Rachel offers us her favourite recipes.

The breakdown of the late Ephron’s own marriage to Carl Bernstein proved the perfect fuel for her only novel. Packed with snappy, hilarious, endlessly quotable one-liners – the stock-in trade of her award-winning screenplays - Heartburn is a rollercoaster of love, betrayal, loss and - most satisfyingly - revenge. The novel was later made into a successful film starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson.

Reader: Julianna Jennings
Writer: Nora Ephron was the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle. This is her only novel. She died in 2012.
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Antonia Hodgson


MON 12:18 You and Yours (m0007qb8)
Cladding, Mobile phones, RAC.

Our reporter, Melanie Abbott, is live from Olympic Park where hundreds of people are still waiting to find out if the cladding on their buildings is safe. Those living in flats on the Olympic Park, built as part of the legacy from the 2012 Games, say their freeholder is delaying the tests. They've now been waiting more than eight months for tests to get underway. In the meantime, sales of some flats are falling through because mortgage companies are asking for certificates which confirm that the cladding is fireproof.

We report on the smaller companies taking on Britain's big four mobile providers - Vodafone, EE, O2 and Three. These rivals don't build or maintain their own networks. Instead they piggyback on the companies that do, offering cheap, simple flexible rolling contracts that can be stopped or changed at any time. We speak to Ashley Schofield, the chief executive of Giffgaff, which uses the O2 network, about how companies like his can keep competing with the big four networks now that they're fighting back against their smaller rivals with better deals for customers.

This time last year, we heard lots of horror stories from people who'd been left stranded at the roadside, waiting for RAC patrols to turn up. The RAC told us they were going to expand their patrols. They promised there'd be shorter waiting times and better communication in future. But we're still getting complaints from listeners. We hear from a woman who says the RAC took 16 hours to get her home after her car broke down. We also speak to Martyn James from the consumer website, Resolver, where complaints about RAC breakdown call-outs have almost doubled in the last year.

Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Tara Holmes


MON 12:57 Weather (m0007qbb)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m0007qbd)
Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague.


MON 13:45 World War 2: The Economic Battle (m0007qbg)
Britain

The countries involved in the First World War knew how vital a strong economy was to success on the battle field. In this episode of World War 2: The Economic Battle, Duncan Weldon looks at the British economy in the interwar period until 1940, from recession and rearmament to the fall of France.


MON 14:00 The Archers (m0007py9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Drama (m0007qbk)
The Bulbul Was Singing

Laura (Rebecca Humphries) is a young British woman who's been fighting with the Kurds against Isis. Now she's back in the UK, she finds herself charged with terrorism offences. By Judy Upton.

Directed by Emma Harding

Laura . . . Rebecca Humphries
Ariman . . . Shaniaz Hama Ali
Dad . . . Paul Hickey
Jonas . . . Jonny Holden
Instructor . . . Saya Zahawi
D I Kent . . . Catherine Cusack
PC Miller . . . Shaun Mason
Serena . . . Debbie Korley
Custody Assistant . . . Chris Pavlo


MON 15:00 The 3rd Degree (m0007qbm)
Series 9

University of Brighton

A funny and dynamic quiz show hosted by Steve Punt - this week from the University of Brighton with specialist subjects including Biomedical Sciences, Marketing and History and Globalization and questions ranging from Chinese state infrastructure to the heraldic name for a squirrel via Trypanosoma and tzatziki.

The programme is recorded on location at a different University each week, and it pits three Undergraduates against three of their Professors in an original and fresh take on an academic quiz.

The rounds vary between Specialist Subjects and General Knowledge, quickfire bell-and-buzzer rounds and the Highbrow and Lowbrow round cunningly devised to test not only the students' knowledge of current affairs, history, languages and science, but also their Professors' awareness of television, sport, and quite possibly Ed Sheeran. In addition, the Head-to-Head rounds see students take on their Professors in their own subjects, offering plenty of scope for mild embarrassment on both sides.

Other Universities featured in this series include Royal Holloway University of London, Aberdeen, Plymouth, St Catharine's College Cambridge and Oxford Brookes.

Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4


MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m0007px1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]


MON 16:00 Millennials in the Workplace (m00025f7)
Beanbags!

Beanbags are what Millenials want from a job - along with free food and the lofty idea of ‘making an impact’. That’s what academic Simon Sinek's video about "Millennials in the Workplace", enjoyed by over 10 millions viewers, would have you believe. Everyone born between 1980 and 2000 are hobbled by a thin skinned sense of entitlement, weak education, coddling parents and an addiction to social media - and therefore, are terrible to deal with in the workplace.

But does that idea of the ‘snowflake’ generation really ring true? How can it be that the most educated, most tech savvy generation to ever exist are the most incompetent in modern history? Why has the Millennial generation become the most mocked and derided in the workplace?

By exploring the experiences of Millennials working in the real world, combined with expert inside on the political, economical and psychological anchor points that moulded the Millennial Generation India Rakusen explores the a fundamental clash of life experiences and values between the generations and uncovers the truth about Millennials in the working world.


MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (m0007qbq)
Religion and Climate Change

Barely a day goes by without some dire warning about the state of the environment. But we also hear that if we act now we may be able to avoid the worst consequences of man-made climate change. The vast majority of the world’s population hold to a faith tradition. So what role can religion play in bringing about the kind of change that is needed? Religion appeals not only to science but to deeply held beliefs and values. Religion can talk the language of hope as opposed to fear and can tap into vast networks and mobilise communities. So what difference can religions make, what kind of things are already happening and are they doing enough to tackle a problem that will connect all people regardless of faith and belief?

Joining Ernie Rea to discuss religion and climate change are Dr Husna Ahmad is Chief Executive Officer of Global One 2015, a Muslim Independent non-governmental organisation led by women, Gopal Patel, Director of the Bhumi Project, which works to mobilise the Hindu community on environmental issues and Martin Palmer former Secretary-General of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation.

Producer:

Catherine Earlam

Series Producer:

Amanda Hancox


MON 17:00 PM (m0007qbs)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0007qbx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 18:30 Just a Minute (m0007qbz)
Series 85

Episode 3

Recorded at this month's Edinburgh Fringe, Gyles Brandreth sits in for Nicholas Parsons with Paul Merton, Fred MacAulay, Lucy Porter and Ed Byrne playing the legendary game.

Producer: Richard Morris
Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Sharpe
A BBC Studios Production


MON 19:00 The Archers (m0007qc1)
Jim finds himself a new focus and Phoebe issues an ultimatum


MON 19:15 Front Row (m0007qc3)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


MON 19:45 The Country Girls Trilogy (m0007q9w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


MON 20:00 On Baseball (m0007qc5)
In London earlier this summer the New York Yankees played the Boston Red Sox in the first competitive baseball games ever to take place in Europe.

Professor Michael Sandel - a life-long Red Sox fan who is perhaps better known to Radio 4 listeners as the Public Philosopher - went to the games and invited some guests to watch the action with him.

Michael and his guests discuss the differences between baseball and cricket, how the games relate to national identity, the role of sport in life and why baseball's history is America's history.

Michael met: Ed Smith, England's chief national cricket selector whose book Playing Hard Ball compares American baseball to cricket; Ed Miliband, the former Labour party leader who developed a passion for baseball while living in the US as a child; and Claire Smith, ESPN's Major League Baseball analyst and sportswriter. She was the first women to receive the Baseball Writers’ Association of America's highest award.

Producer: Ben Carter


MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (m0007kyc)
Barbuda: Storms, Recovery and ‘Land Grabs’

Who will shape the future of the hurricane-hit, tropical isle of Barbuda? In 2017, category-5 hurricane Irma devastated much of Barbuda's 'paradise' landscape, and its infrastructure. The national government – based on the larger, neighbouring island of Antigua – evacuated the population of some 1800 people. But within days, although the people weren’t allowed to return, bulldozers were clearing ancient forest to build an international airport. Critics called this another case of, 'disaster capitalism' – governments and business taking advantage of catastrophe to make a profit.

Barbuda has long been viewed as ripe for more tourism – Hollywood actor Robert De Niro is part of a commercial enterprise working on the opening of an exclusive resort. One of the obstacles to widespread development has been the island’s unique system of tenure – all land has been held in common since the emancipation of Barbuda’s slave population in the 19th century. But last year the government repealed the law guaranteeing those communal rights, partly to attract investment to the island. Meanwhile, although the hurricane season began on June 1st, families are still living in tents.

With the main opportunity to earn revenue coming from tourism, the national government is thoroughly irked by Barbudans' resistance to profit from top-dollar visitors. It argues that projects can be environmentally-friendly. But in the wake of Irma, the impact of climate change hangs heavily on Barbuda. How can this pristine island preserve its future and still develop the economy?

Presenter / producer: Linda Pressly


MON 21:00 The Power of... (m0007kj0)
Power of Petite

Bigger is better, right? An ancient lore in biology, Cope’s rule, states that animals have a tendency to get bigger as they evolve. Evolution has cranked out some absolutely huge animals. But most of these giants are long gone. And those that remain are amongst the most threatened with extinction. Scientists now believe that while evolution favours larger creatures, extinction seems to favour the small.
If you look at mammals, at the time of the dinosaurs, they were confined to rodent-sized scavengers living on the periphery. But 66 million years ago, the dinosaurs went and allowed the mammals to evolve into some really big creatures - 30 metre long blue whales, the ten tonne steppe mammoth and a giant ground sloth that looked a bit like a hamster but was the size of an elephant with enormous hooks for hands. Now, only the blue whale remains and these have been shown to have shrunk to half the size of their Pleistocene ancestors. So is it better to be small? Smaller animals need fewer resources and smaller territories. With the planet in such peril – are more animals going to start shrinking? Well, perhaps…new research shows that in 200 years’ time, the largest mammal might be the domestic cow. And of course the most successful organisms, in terms of biomass, on the planet are the smallest. Zoologist, Lucy Cooke examines the science of being small, and why size matters.


MON 21:30 Reflections with Peter Hennessy (m0007q9p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m0007qc8)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


MON 22:45 Heartburn (m0007qb6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 today]


MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (m0007kjn)
Gabriel Gbadamosi

Michael Rosen meets London-born writer Gabriel Gbadamosi, to talk Dickens and dialect. With historical linguist Laura Wright they look at Gabriel's novel Vauxhall, and how the types of English found on the streets of London find their way into his work, and that of Dickens, Chaucer and Henry Green.

Producer: Melvin Rickarby


MON 23:30 Beyond Today (m0007qcb)
Is it still ok to listen to Michael Jackson's music?

News and current affairs programme from BBC Radio 4



TUESDAY 20 AUGUST 2019

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m0007qcf)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 00:30 Coventry (m0007qch)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0007qcl)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0007qcn)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0007qcq)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m0007qcs)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0007qcv)
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Rachel Gardner, director of a charity which specialises in innovative youth work.

Good morning.

In my lounge is a huge mirror. It’s so big and heavy that we can’t hang it on any of the hooks in our new home. So it’s propped up in the corner where it will probably stay until our next move!

Yesterday I walked past it and caught sight of some very sticky hand prints made by my toddler. Two perfectly formed prints made by a little boy who knows how to leave his mark wherever we go; whether that’s muddy footprints on my friend’s white carpet or toy cars stuffed down the back of the sofa at the local coffee shop.

‘You always leave something behind when you pop round,’ a neighbour gently teased me. ‘Maybe it’s because we always want an excuse to come back!’ I replied.

When Jesus knew he was about to leave his disciples, he wanted to do something they’d remember him by. Something that would reassure them that although he was about to suffer and die, this wasn’t the end. So he waited until they were eating a meal together and then he took the bread and the wine, and forever transformed how they would see their everyday lives and his presence with them.

Faith is a way of life. It’s a way of life that finds the presence and power of Jesus in the ordinary, everyday things. Like making that first cup of tea of the day, going to work, chatting with a friend, waiting for test results, doing the washing up or beating your Dad at FIFA.

God, may I know your presence with me in each mundane thing I do today. May I discover the wonder in this world that you’ve made and in this life that you’ve given me. May I look to you for the comfort, wisdom and courage that I need. Teach me to draw close to you. Thank you that you’re already close to me.

Amen.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m0007qcx)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b038qkb3)
Aquatic Warbler

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

Brett Westwood presents the aquatic warbler. The stripy aquatic warbler is streaked like the sedges it lives in and is the only globally threatened European perching bird. They sing in the marshes of central and eastern Europe where the small European population has its stronghold. Unfortunately, this specialized habitat is disappearing because of drainage, disturbance and peat extraction. They are migrants so it's vital to protect their wintering areas as well as their breeding sites. It's known that up to 10,000 birds winter in the swamps of North-west Senegal.


TUE 06:00 Today (m0007qyc)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 Fry's English Delight (m0007qyf)
Series 10

The Doolittle Factor

We love the idea of talking animals in fiction. But can animals learn to use language in real life? Stephen Fry investigates the connection between fact and fiction.

For the last 40 years or so, experimenters with chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas have claimed significant success in teaching these intelligent animals language. But linguists have always cast doubt on those claims, arguing that there’s a biological reason why humans are the only animals on earth able to use language.

We hear from Penny Macfarlane, whose long relationship with Koko the Gorilla was more of a close friendship than a scientific experiment. It was conducted mostly in sign language. We also meet Sue Savage Rumbaugh whose long term associate, a bonobo called Kanzi, passed some difficult language tests, and Herbert Terrace whose lengthy experiment with a chimpanzee called Nim was aborted when he decided Nim was not truly earning anything linguistic except the ability to beg.

We also hear from English Literature students from the University of Exeter who study the role of animals in fiction.

On the fictional side, Stephen considers Eeyore in Winnie The Pooh, Black Beauty, Tarzan’s chimpanzee sidekick Cheeta and a nameless talking ape created by Franz Kafka. In a way, Dr Doolittle’s contribution is the most important. Rather than teaching animals to be human language users, Doolittle famously wanted to learn animal languages. But, as we hear, that comes with its own set of problems and the warning that if they could talk to us, we might not like what they say.

A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 09:30 Classified Britain (m0007qyh)
Series 2

Irish Times, Dublin Daily Express, The Freeman's Journal, April 1886

James Naughtie explores history through front page small ads.

One the eve of Gladstone's first Home Rule Bill, three Irish newspapers appeal to their respective readerships for support for the Protestant poor of Dublin or the destitute inhabitants of the west of Ireland. The Dublin Ladies Sanitary Association is tackling poverty in Dublin while the million and a half residents of Glasnevin cemetery tell their own stories.

Front page news is a relatively late addition to the newspaper business. For most of their first couple of centuries, British newspapers carried classified ads rather than news on their front page. They transformed the hustle and bustle of the marketplace into newsprint, so you could take it home or to the inn to pore over at your leisure.

James Naughtie travels the country discovering how these front page ads give us a snapshot of time and place, exploring how they weave national and local life together - the heartbeat of history rolling daily or weekly off the presses.

The ads tell us what people were eating, drinking and wearing, what was on stage and what people were playing at home. They mark the mood of the time through notices for public meetings held to stoke up or damp down public fears of crime and political unrest. They are a record of the notices placed for houses and public buildings to be built, licenses applied for and subscriptions raised for publications and commemorations. They show the latest labour saving gadgets "trending" as technology arrived, and they track jobs and trades on the way up and down as the British Empire waxed and waned. The ever present ads for patent medicines record our most popular ailments.

Produced by John Forsyth.
Assistant Producer: Alexandra Quinn.
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 09:45 Coventry (m0007qyk)
Coventry

In her striking new collection of essays, award-winning author Rachel Cusk weaves observations of domestic concerns with art, psychology and current affairs.

The author reflects on her school days alongside contemporary relationships as she considers the unnerving experience of being sent to Coventry.

Reader: Amelia Bullmore
Abridged and produced by Eilidh McCreadie


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0007qym)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


TUE 10:45 The Country Girls Trilogy (m0007qyp)
The Country Girls

The Country Girls 2/10

Edna O’Brien’s frank, funny and subversive story of growing up in rural Ireland in the 50s. A play at the Town Hall marks a turning point in Kate’s life.

Cast
Kate ..... Charlie Murphy
Baba ..... Aoibhinn McGinnity
Martha ..... Deirdre Mullins
Mr Brennan ..... Paul Hickey
Hickey ..... Lloyd Hutchinson
Jack Holland ..... Jonjo O’Neill

Written by Edna O’Brien
Dramatised by Lin Coghlan
Directed by Sally Avens & Jessica Dromgoole


TUE 11:00 The Power of... (m0007qyr)
Power of Peace

“Nature red in tooth and claw”. “Dog eat dog”. “Fighting for survival". You may well think that the natural world is one dangerous, violent, lawless place, with every creature out for itself. And it can be, but it can also be peaceful, democratic and compassionate.

Lucy Cooke seeks out the animal communities that adopt a more peaceful and democratic way of life and asks why it works for them. Despite being fierce predators, African wild dogs are cooperative and compassionate within their packs, and they actually hold democratic votes on hunting decisions – one sneeze for yes, two sneezes for no! They are among the most effective predators in the world. They use extraordinary cooperation and teamwork to pursue, overhaul and bring down their prey. As a result 80% of their hunts end successfully, compared to lions' at 10%. This is nearly all a result of their pack coordination. They are also surprisingly non-aggressive; they don’t fight over food but instead beg to indicate their wish to eat. Adults will allow younger pack members to eat before them. And the African wild dogs are not alone: such societies are also common in insects, other mammals, and birds, but exist even in simple species like amoebas.

But what is the evolutionary advantage of this group cohesion? Why when nature selects for not just the individual but for the selfish gene, does it pay to be part of a complex social group? Lucy discovers that when the benefits of group-living outweigh the costs, it’s very much advantageous – when 10 pairs of eyes are better at spotting predators and pack strategies mean far more successful kills in a hunt, or when grooming not only strengthens bonds, but it also gets rid of your ticks and fleas. She also explores the different strategies of the highly complex social animals – the Great Apes – and asks whether Bonobos are truly the lovers and Chimpanzees the fighters?

This all touches on the complex social interactions we have as humans. We can be peaceful and we can be violent and war-like, and like every species, individual variation and circumstances can tip the balance of our behaviour. But anthropologist Agustin Fuentes questions the belief that humans are at their core violent, aggressive, and oversexed. Are these behaviours part of our genetic heritage? What can biology, evolution, and behaviour tell us about peace and aggression in everyday life?


TUE 11:30 Art of Now (m0007qyv)
Tin Roof Symphony

For hundreds of years the tin roof has been the building material of choice for those in search of shelter from the storm - from Rio to Sydney.

It can last a hundred years or more, gaining patina and rust in equal proportions, but its main beauty is the sound of rain on a tin roof - what could be cosier than sitting under the shelter of a tin roof, rain bucketing down outside?

Tin, coated in zinc, and shaped into a wriggle, is something we take for granted - cheap, effective and long lasting - their smells and spidery corners are reminiscent of childhood; their protective qualities creating monsoon memories; their practicality and longevity a landmark in Wales.

Found right across the globe - the vernacular architecture of nearly every continent - we cross the globe in search of sounds and stories.

Moilly Mickethwait invites us to her shed village in a London back garden, where her husband Rufus revisits his childhood under a giant tin roof in Dorset.

Ghanaian poet Nii Ayikwei Parkes, talks us through the inspiration for his ‘Tin Roof’ poem - made famous on the London Underground - as the monsoon wind blows rain through his house in Accra.

Sydney, Australia, is where Sherre DeLys seeks out tin in a swiftly gentrifying suburb - where the tin roof has found a renaissance among the most fashionable architects, including Raffaello Rosselli, who won a prize for his stylish corroding 'Tinshed' office block.

Wales, is where some of the finest tin sheds can be found in the UK, including, until 2016, the ‘Tin Shed Experience’ - at one point the 2nd most popular tourist attraction in Wales. Seimon Pugh Jones is now in the throes of recreating this attraction in the town of Kidwelly - renamed the "History Shed Experience". He also pulls a chunk of original Anderson Shelter out of the boot of his car to perform a spot of percussion...

The 1980's “Great Little Tin Sheds of Wales” book and touring exhibition, by photographer Dr Pete Davis, was once misunderstood, and even reviled by the tabloids - but today its enduring popularity reveals a deep nostalgia for the restored and dilapidated buildings found in farm yards and fields, undertakers and cafes right across Wales.

From a forest in the Banda Islands, to the capital of Old Goa, a panoply of rain sounds on tin roofs, which have been gathered from across the world by producer Sara Jane Hall, provide interludes of atmosphere, whilst under a tin roof in a church in Liberia, a preacher fights with the monsoon to give thanks for rain.

Producer: Sara Jane Hall

"Tin Roof" by Nii Ayikwei Parkes -

Music from

Its Gonna Rain - Steve Reich

Doubting Thomas -

The Necks - Vertigo

Tin Roof Blues - Louis Armstrong

Radio Rewrite II Slow - Steve Reich

With thanks to Sawchestra and Sarah Angliss on theramin


TUE 12:00 News Summary (m0007qyx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:04 Heartburn (m0007qyz)
Episode 2 - Memories

Nora Ephron's hilarious and bittersweet novel about a marriage on the rocks - a rollercoaster of love, betrayal and, most satisfyingly, revenge.

Seven months into her pregnancy, food writer Rachel Samstat discovers that her husband Mark - a man who ‘would be capable of having sex with a Venetian blind’ - is in love with another woman. In between trying to work out what went wrong, trying to win him back and loudly wishing him dead, the irrepressible Rachel offers us her favourite recipes in this tabasco-spiked comedy.

Today: memories of meeting Mark a Washington party...

Reader: Julianna Jennings
Writer: Nora Ephron was the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle. This is her only novel. She died in 2012.
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Antonia Hodgson


TUE 12:18 You and Yours (m0007qz1)
News and discussion of consumer affairs.


TUE 12:57 Weather (m0007qz3)
The latest weather forecast


TUE 13:00 World at One (m0007qz5)
Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague.


TUE 13:45 World War 2: The Economic Battle (m0007qz7)
Germany

The countries involved in the First World War knew how vital a strong economy was to success on the battle field. In this episode of World War 2: The Economic Battle, Duncan Weldon looks at the German economy in the interwar period until 1940, from a defeated nation to emerging as one of the strongest military powers in Europe.


TUE 14:00 The Archers (m0007qc1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama (m0007qz9)
Found

When Mike returns home from the shops, not with a bottle of wine as intended, but with a tiny baby, life for him and his wife Annie will never be normal again. As the couple deliberate over what to do for the best, the future life of the found child lies heavily in their hands.

Katherine Chandler’s original drama about the power of parental instincts, social responsibility, sex, class, greed and good intentions.

Annie ..... Nia Roberts
Mike ..... Oliver Ryan
Sam ..... Rebecca Hayes
Leah ..... Gabrielle Creevy

Directed by Helen Perry
A BBC Cymru/Wales Production in association with BBC Writersroom Wales.

Katherine Chandler is an award-winning playwright. Found is her first audio drama.


TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (m0007qzc)
Keeping Faith

Looking for a miracle and searching for divine love - Josie Long presents short documentaries about keeping faith.

Recitation
Featuring Madinah Javed
Produced by Alia Cassam

Crab Babygrow
Featuring Sarah Mouracade
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft

Divine Love
Produced by Sook-Yin Lee

Production Team: Andrea Rangecroft and Alia Cassam
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 15:30 No Triumph, No Tragedy (b09hp7cq)
Cyrus Habib

In No Triumph No Tragedy Peter White meets Cyrus Habib, who has enjoyed a remarkable rise through the political ranks to become the first blind Lieutenant Governor of Washington State.

His latest post has made it necessary to equip the Senate with the latest technology, allowing him to preside over hearings using braille prompts. He describes how it works and tells Peter White how he can seamlessly recognise and call lawmakers as debates gather pace. His own mother helped him grow up believing that anything was possible and he feels that the development of technology is helping make that a reality for him and other disabled people.

Cyrus lost his eyesight to cancer when he was eight and says that although it has presented challenges, it has done nothing to dent his political ambition. His first election campaign actually built a strategy around his journey: from Braille to Yale! He is a democrat and is being tipped as a possible leadership contender by the American press, but for the moment he's enjoying the challenges of presiding over the chamber.

His parents were Iranian immigrants and Cyrus has played a leading role in protests against President Trump's executive order barring new refugees and limiting immigration from some Muslim majority countries. If the order had been in place he says that his own family would have been denied entry: "I care about those who are affected by this like they're my own family. Nobody loves this country like the people who leave everything behind to earn their place in it.".


TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (m0007qzf)
The Language of Science

Michael Rosen looks at how English is used in Science. From the florid writings of the 17th century to modernist poetry and school experiments. With historian Charlotte Sleigh and historical linguist Laura Wright.

Producer: Melvin Rickarby


TUE 16:30 Great Lives (m0007qzh)
Series 49

Caroline Quentin nominates Sir John Vanbrugh, playwright and architect

From acting in Men Behaving Badly and Jonathan Creek to restoring dozens of period properties and touring India for TV, the actress Caroline Quentin loves variety. When she discovered the life of the playwright and architect Sir John Vanbrugh, she found a kindred spirit. Jonathan Glancey, architectural critic and broadcaster, joins Caroline and presenter Matthew Parris to explore the full and meandering life of this flamboyant figure, born over 350 years ago.

Producer: Camellia Sinclair


TUE 17:00 PM (m0007qzk)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0007qzm)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 18:30 Austentatious (b08tvyw0)
The world premiere of an incredible lost Jane Austen novel, full of wit, flirtation and dastardly behaviour - and cooked up completely on the spot by the UK's finest improv troupe.

All the cast know is that they will perform a story in the style of Jane Austen, based on a title suggested by the studio audience. Be prepared for anything from Strictly Come Darcy to Mansfield Shark.

Austentatious are Amy Cooke-Hodgson, Graham Dickson, Charlotte Gittins, Cariad Lloyd, Joseph Morpurgo, Andrew Hunter Murray, Rachel Parris and Daniel Nils Roberts, with violin by Oliver Izod.

Produced by Jon Harvey
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 19:00 The Archers (m0007qdr)
Will struggles to let go and Lynda is determined to come out on top


TUE 19:15 Front Row (m0007qzp)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


TUE 19:45 The Country Girls Trilogy (m0007qyp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


TUE 20:00 Troubles Shared (m0007qzr)
The journalists Peter Taylor and Fergal Keane have each been indelibly shaped by their experience of reporting the Northern Ireland Troubles. Both witnessed the horror and pain of the conflict close up. Both would see the mixed fortunes brought by peace and reconciliation.

Peter Taylor first arrived in Northern Ireland on the night of Bloody Sunday in 1972. An Englishman with no family or personal connections with Ireland, he would go on to become one of the most distinguished journalists associated with the Troubles.

Fergal Keane grew up in County Cork and came to Belfast to work as a reporter for RTE in the late 1980s. His family's past is deeply entwined with Ireland's history of armed insurrection, stretching back to the Irish Civil War and beyond.

50 years on from the beginning of the Troubles, Peter Taylor and Fergal Keane are back in Northern Ireland to talk about what they saw and ask what it all means now.

Producer: Conor Garrett


TUE 20:40 In Touch (m0007qzt)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted


TUE 21:00 Science Stories (m0007qdv)
Series 9

Madame Lavoisier's Translation of Oxygen

Philip Ball tells the story of Madame Lavoisier; translator of oxygen. At a time when science was almost a closed book to women, Madame Marie Anne Lavoisier’s skills were indispensable. A translator, illustrator and critic of scientific papers, she learnt chemistry herself and helped her husband Antoine Lavoisier develop his theory of the role played by oxygen in combustion. As modern science was taking shape it lacked any universal language, so communication in many tongues was vital to stay ahead of the game. Even today there is debate as to who can really be considered the discoverer of oxygen, but Madame Lavoisier’s gift for translation helped her husband compete against English rivals and banish their theories. Come the French Revolution however, Anton was branded a traitor to the state and sentenced to death. By a cruel twist of fate Marie lost both husband and father to the guillotine on the same day.

Philip Ball talks to Patricia Fara at the University of Cambridge, about the largely unrecognised contribution that women like Marie Anne Lavoisier made to the early days of modern science, and to Michael Gordon of Princeton University about the importance of scientific translation in the past and how it features today,


TUE 21:30 Fry's English Delight (m0007qyf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m0007qzw)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


TUE 22:45 Heartburn (m0007qyz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 today]


TUE 23:00 Phil Ellis Is Trying (m0007scd)
Series 2

Mickstown

Phil signs up to a special class at the gym in order to impress Ellie. The class promises to "cleanse your mind gutters". But as it's run by Mick the Chinese Herbalist it's also their to empty your wallet. Meanwhile, Polly has become a community support support-officer. First task: to capture a pigeon that's been terrorising Parbold.

Written by Phil Ellis and Fraser Steele.

Starring:

Phil Ellis as Phil
Johnny Vegas as Johnny
Amy Gledhill as Polly
Terry Mynott as J-Dawg/Al Pacino
Katia Kvinge as Ellie
Sunil Patel as HQ/Follower
and with special guest star Mick Ferry as Mick the Chinese Herbalist

Produced by Sam Michell

A BBC Studios production


TUE 23:30 Beyond Today (m0007qzy)
What happens to Shamima Begum now?

News and current affairs programme from BBC Radio 4



WEDNESDAY 21 AUGUST 2019

WED 00:00 Midnight News (m0007r00)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


WED 00:30 Coventry (m0007qyk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0007r02)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0007r04)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0007r06)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


WED 05:30 News Briefing (m0007r08)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0007r0d)
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Rachel Gardner, director of a charity which specialises in innovative youth work.

Good morning.

Sometimes we don’t need to hear someone’s full name to recognise them. Everyone knows that ‘Meghan’ refers to Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Sussex. Three teenagers with powerful convictions have become known by their first names alone. Greta, the Swedish climate activist, Malala, Pakistani education advocate and Leah, the Nigerian school girl and member of the Girl’s Brigade who is still being held by Boko Haram because of her gender and her faith. Knowing that refusing to deny her faith would mean remaining a hostage, Leah sent this message to her family, ‘I will see you again. If not in this life, then resting on the bosom of Christ.’

These young women are showing the rest of us how to live to the truth of our convictions. Their courage is inspirational. Coming from a generation that is often written off as entitled and self-absorbed, they're compelling us to ask big questions about what we would be willing to sacrifice for the sake of the people and planet we love.

The Psalmist inspires us to ’Be strong and let your heart take courage, all who hope in the Lord.’ Why? Because as the prophet Isaiah knows, ‘those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.’

Living courageously might look like starting a campaign or speaking out against an injustice. Or it might mean something more private, such as offering the hand of friendship or forgiveness.

Thank you Jesus that – that you died for all humanity on the cross. May you give strength to all those who hope in you, and for all those who work for a fairer, safer world for us all.

Amen.


WED 05:45 Farming Today (m0007r0j)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b038qkcg)
Great Reed Warbler

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

Brett Westwood presents the great reed warbler. As you'd expect from their name, Great Reed Warblers are a much larger version of the Common Reed Warbler and breed in Continental Europe where their very loud song echoes around reed-beds, it can be heard up to half a kilometre away. We can hear one or more singing Great Reed Warblers in the UK each spring.


WED 06:00 Today (m0007qcz)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


WED 09:00 A Singer's Guide to Britain (m0007qd1)
Places to Sing

Singer, Roderick Williams continues his exploration of Britain’s stories told through our songs. Today, he looks at where we choose to sing and what those places can tell us about our social history.

Roderick starts his journey at Mason’s Court, the oldest residence in Stratford-upon-Avon, where songs might have been shared between family and friends in the 15th century. He takes us into a busy London square to understand the life of a street balladeer in the Georgian era, and hear how our present-day buskers work the passing crowds. He also pays a visit to City Varieties Music Hall in Leeds, with Professor Derek Scott, to examine how the Victorians transformed songs and singers into mass-market commodities.

The instinct to sing is as old as humans themselves and, in Britain, we have been singing our story, consciously and unconsciously, all through our history. Songs that harness a fleeting thought, capture a mood, tell a tall tale, or simply make us smile.
In this four part series, Roderick Williams explores different aspects of our British story, through the lens of the songs we sing. He’ll show how songs can transport us across all classes, all eras and all areas of the UK. Each song telling us something essential about our nation at different times and places by teleporting us right inside the experience of someone who was there. We’ll see how songs have passed from singer to singer, from listener to listener, reflecting who we are as a nation, and celebrating the things we hold most dear.


WED 09:30 Four Thought (m0007qd3)
Preserving the Home Visit

Dr Mark Williams believes we need to preserve the traditional GP home visit. Alongside new acute visiting services and an emerging role for artificial intelligence, he thinks the traditional home visit still plays a vital part in the delivery of good healthcare and can even be a lifeline back into society. "The truth is that home visits give us the best insights into our patients' real life".
Recorded in front of a live audience at the World of Music, Arts and Dance festival in Wiltshire.
Presenter: Mark Coles
Producer: Sheila Cook


WED 09:45 Coventry (m0007qd5)
On Rudeness

In her striking new collection of essays, award-winning author Rachel Cusk weaves observations of domestic concerns with art, psychology and current affairs.

The novelist asks if we have lost our collective good manners as she ponders the moral problem of rudeness.

Reader: Amelia Bullmore
Abridged and produced by Eilidh McCreadie


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0007qd7)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


WED 10:41 The Country Girls Trilogy (m0007qd9)
The Country Girls

The Country Girls 3/10

Edna O’Brien’s frank, funny and subversive story of growing up in rural Ireland in the 50s. Mr Gentleman gives Kate a lift into Limerick.

Cast
Kate ..... Charlie Murphy
Baba ..... Aoibhinn McGinnity
Dada ..... David Ganly
Hickey ..... Lloyd Hutchinson
Mr Gentleman ..... Paul Chahidi
Assistant ..... Catherine Cusack
Waiter ..... Sean Baker
Film Girl ..... Katherine Press
Film Lad ..... Jonny Holden

Written by Edna O’Brien
Dramatised by Lin Coghlan
Directed by Sally Avens & Jessica Dromgoole


WED 10:55 The Listening Project (m0002hys)
Alastair and Frank: A Song in My Head

Alastair and Frank live and work in Dundee. As owner and manager of a record shop, vinyl is at the heart of their lives and their friendship. From the allure of glam rock to the power of Led Zeppelin, they come together to discuss music and memory.

Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen. The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before.

The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject


WED 11:00 On Baseball (m0007qc5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Monday]


WED 11:30 All Those Women (b09qhsc6)
Series 3

Episode 3

Comedy series by Katherine Jakeways about four generations of women living under one roof.

Hetty's taking Maggie on a roadtrip to collect an heirloom; she wants something to bequeath and this piano is perfect for Emily. It'll be a lovely day. Provided Maggie can drive a van of course.

All Those Women explores familial relationships, ageing, marriages - it's about life and love and things not turning out quite the way that you'd expected them to. Every week we join Hetty, Maggie, Jen and Emily as they struggle to resolve their own problems, and support one another.

Written by KATHERINE JAKEWAYS
Producer Alexandra Smith

A BBC Studios Production.


WED 12:00 News Summary (m0007qdc)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:04 Heartburn (m0007qdf)
Episode 3 - One More Chance

Nora Ephron's tabasco-spiked and bittersweet novel about a marriage on the rocks - a rollercoaster of love, betrayal, loss and - most satisfyingly - revenge.

Seven months into her pregnancy, irrepressible food writer Rachel Samstat discovers that her husband Mark - a man who ‘would be capable of having sex with a Venetian blind’ - is in love with another woman. In between trying to work out what went wrong, trying to win him back and loudly wishing him dead, Rachel offers us her favourite recipes.

Today: Mark tries to persuade Rachel to give him one more chance...

Reader: Julianna Jennings
Writer: Nora Ephron was the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle. This is her only novel. She died in 2012.
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Antonia Hodgson


WED 12:18 You and Yours (m0007qdh)
News and discussion of consumer affairs.


WED 12:57 Weather (m0007qdk)
The latest weather forecast


WED 13:00 World at One (m0007qdm)
Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague.


WED 13:45 World War 2: The Economic Battle (m0007qdp)
China and Japan

The Second World War began in Europe in 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland; however, two countries that would later have a huge impact in the course of the struggle were already at War. In 1937 Japan invaded China, a move that would eventually pull both countries into a world war. In this episode of World War 2: The Economic Battle Duncan Weldon looks at the economies of both China and Japan to discover the motivations behind the war and how economics influenced its outcome.


WED 14:00 The Archers (m0007qdr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 Drama (b0b1sycv)
Rumpole

Rumpole and the Quality of Life

Ballard's wedding looms and Rumpole faces a life changing decision about his own marriage. Hilda expects him to join her in Cornwall, and Phillida hopes he will leave to be with her at last.

For fifteen years and 33 episodes, Rumpole has fought, won and, very rarely, lost myriad cases - and fallen in and out of love with his wife Hilda and
"the Portia of our Chambers", Phillida Trant, who adores him, and probably always will. These final three episodes leave us guessing until the very end - will Rumpole finally leave his wife Hilda, "She who must be obeyed", for Phillida?

Adapted by Richard Stoneman
Directed by Marilyn Imrie

A Catherine Bailey production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 15:00 The Money Clinic (m0007prn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


WED 15:30 Science Stories (m0007qdv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 16:00 Mastertapes (m0001hwp)
Lily Allen (B-side)

John Wilson talks to leading performers and songwriters about the album that made them or changed them. Recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC's iconic Maida Vale Studios. Each edition includes two episodes, with John initially quizzing the artist about the album in question, and then, in the B-side, the audience puts the questions. Both editions feature exclusive live performances.

Having discussed the making of "No Shame" - her fourth and most personal album to date (in the A-side of the programme, broadcast on Monday 10th December 2018 and available online), Lily Allen responds to questions from the audience and performs live acoustic versions of some of the tracks on the album.

Producer: Paul Kobrak.


WED 16:30 The Media Show (m0007qdy)
The programme about a revolution in media with Amol Rajan, the BBC's Media Editor


WED 17:00 PM (m0007qf0)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0007qf2)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 18:30 Gaby's Talking Pictures (m0007qf4)
Series 2

Episode 4

Gaby Roslin hosts the film quiz with impressions by Alistair McGowan and Ronni Ancona. This week, team captains John Thomson and Ellie Taylor are joined by special guests Marcus Brigstocke and Gary Wilmot.

Presented by Gaby Roslin
Team Captains: John Thomson and Ellie Taylor
Impressionists: Alistair McGowan and Ronni Ancona
Created by Gaby Roslin
Written by Carrie Quinlan and Barney Newman

Produced by Gaby Roslin and Barney Newman
Executive Producer Gordon Kennedy
Recorded at RADA Studios, London

An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4


WED 19:00 The Archers (m0007qf6)
Susan has a crisis of confidence and Brian is perturbed by the contents of a letter


WED 19:15 Front Row (m0007qf8)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


WED 19:45 The Country Girls Trilogy (m0007qd9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:41 today]


WED 20:00 Unreliable Evidence (m0007qfb)
Series exploring and analysing the legal issues of the day


WED 20:45 Four Thought (m0007qd3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]


WED 21:00 Stranger Than Sci-Fi (m0007qfd)
Telekinesis

Astro-physicist Dr Jen Gupta and comedian Alice Fraser travel the parallel worlds of science and sci-fi.

Starting with the latest books and films, they discover real life science that sounds too strange to be true - from babies grown in bags, via black hole Jacuzzis, to flowers that behave like our ears.

In this episode, Jen and Alice try to work out the truth behind telekinesis – moving things with your mind. They look at the real history behind the hit show Stranger Things. It turns out the CIA spent a long time investigating the truth behind paranormal phenomena as part of their efforts to out-think the Russians during the Cold War. But it's the actual science that is much more interesting than the sci-fi.

They talk to the Brazilian scientist Miguel Nicolelis about inventing the brain-machine interface and how he got a monkey in America to move a robot in Japan with its mind. What will the consequences be for human beings now we can link our brains to machines?

Produced by Joe Sykes
Executive Producer: Peggy Sutton
A Somethin’ Else production for BBC Radio 4


WED 21:30 A Singer's Guide to Britain (m0007qd1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m0007qfg)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


WED 22:45 Heartburn (m0007qdf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 today]


WED 23:00 The John Moloney Show (m0007qfj)
Time, Gentlemen Please.

The Godfather of British stand-up John Moloney returns to the live stage to share his latest tribulations of modern life.

This week, John is in a ponderous mood, with time on his hands. There is a very acute essence to life, an intangible force that cannot be measured in space and time. You find it in music, love and moments of spontaneity - even in the FA Cup Final in 1980. John shows that it's impossible to be "past it" when time doesn't exist at all.

A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4


WED 23:15 TEZ Talks (m00017x8)
Series 3

10. If at first you don't succeed...

Series 3. Episode 2. If at first you don't succeed.

Tez Ilyas returns for a third series of TEZ Talks.

In this episode Tez talks about things in life which sometimes don't work out how we hoped. And he discusses an awful campaign perpetrated against the Muslim community.

Written and performed by Tez Ilyas
Produced by Carl Cooper

A BBC Studios Production


WED 23:30 Beyond Today (m0007qfl)
Thai Cave Rescue: What really happened?

It’s almost a year since a Thai football team of 12 boys and their coach found themselves trapped for more than two weeks in the Tham Luang caves in northern Thailand. In a story that gripped the entire world, the rescue became a race against time to save the Wild Boars before heavy monsoon rains flooded the caves. The task was so complex and dangerous that it led to the death of one of the rescuers - Saman Gunan.

British caver Vernon Unsworth knows the Tham Luang caves better than anyone and played a crucial role in the rescue. In an exclusive interview he tells Beyond Today how difficult it was to get the operation off the ground, and the BBC’s South East Asia correspondent, Jonathan Head, remembers how it all happened.



THURSDAY 22 AUGUST 2019

THU 00:00 Midnight News (m0007qfn)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


THU 00:30 Coventry (m0007qd5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0007qfq)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0007qfs)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0007qfv)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


THU 05:30 News Briefing (m0007qfx)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0007qfz)
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Rachel Gardner, director of a charity which specialises in innovative youth work.

Good morning.

It’s the season of exam results. For anyone who sat GCSEs in England and Wales, today is the day when they get to see how they’ve done. It can be a hugely anxious time for young people, their families and their teachers. It’s sad that people’s personal joys or disappointments will inevitably get drowned out in a national debate about whether exams are getting harder or easier. So I’m thinking about young people today who will be facing a key moment in their lives.

For some, doors will be opening as they take up places at college or sixth form that they’ve been working towards. For others, options may feel like they’re narrowing down if they don’t get the grades they needed or worked so hard for. Winston Churchill said, ‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.’
For each one, there is always a next step. There’s always hope for a brighter future where we can grow in our skills, hone our character and bring the weight of our influence and gifts to bear on the world.

So a prayer today for anyone receiving exam results.

May they know that their worth can never be measured by results, their potential is not tied to school reports and their contribution is not limited by how they’ve done so far.

May each find the path that’s right for them. Fill their imagination with a vision of who it is you’ve created them to be and inspire them as they make important decisions for their present and their future. May each one know that they are a gift to their family and their community.

Fill hearts with peace and hearts with hope. And may each one of us know the courage we need to not give up.

Amen


THU 05:45 Farming Today (m0007qg1)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b038qkck)
Tawny Pipit

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

Brett Westwood presents the tawny pipit. Tawny pipits have never bred in the UK in real life but they have in fiction. Released in 1944 the film, 'The Tawny Pipit', featured a pair found in an English village. Their rarity causes the village to rally round to protect the birds when the field in which they are nesting is marked out for ploughing. The film leaves the audience with the message that nothing can change traditional village life.


THU 06:00 Today (m0007rkr)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


THU 09:00 Her Story Made History (m0007rkt)
Series 2

Maria Ressa

The renowned journalist Maria Ressa first interviewed Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in the 1980s – her media career was just beginning and he was the then mayor of Davao City. More than 30 years later, the two are still crossing swords. Ressa is now on a crusade to combat the ‘fake news’ she believes Duterte and others spread on social media. She's facing charges of fraud, tax evasion and cyber libel, in what her supporters believe are revenge prosecutions.

Producer: Ben Carter


THU 09:30 One to One (m0003ztk)
Life in prison: Alan Rusbridger talks to CJ Burge

In her early twenties, CJ Burge was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison for importing drugs into Japan. She went on to spend six years in jail, first in Japan and then in the UK. Today, with a first class Law degree earned through study in prison, she is a different person.

CJ talks to Alan Rusbridger about life in prison in two different countries and reveals the effect that imprisonment had on her mental state. She tells him about being grateful for incarceration and about how she used opportunities in jail to change her life beyond the prison walls.

Producer: Camellia Sinclair


THU 09:45 Coventry (m0007rmb)
Making Home

In her striking new collection of essays, author Rachel Cusk weaves observations of domestic concerns with art, psychology and current affairs.

The award-winning novelist considers the important idea of 'home' and observes how the act of renovating property can leave homeowners exposed in unforeseen ways.

Reader: Amelia Bullmore
Abridged and produced by Eilidh McCreadie


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0007rky)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


THU 10:45 The Country Girls Trilogy (m0007rl0)
The Country Girls

The Country Girls 4/10

Edna O’Brien’s frank, funny and subversive story of growing up in rural Ireland in the 50s. Despite not talking to each other, Kate and Baba head off together to their new school.

Cast
Kate ..... Charlie Murphy
Baba ..... Aoibhinn McGinnity
Martha ..... Deirdre Mullins
Hickey ..... Lloyd Hutchinson
Jack Holland ..... Jonjo O’Neill
Sr Margaret ..... Catherine Cusack
Cynthia ..... Rose O'Loughlin
Dada ..... David Ganly

Written by Edna O’Brien
Dramatised by Lin Coghlan
Directed by Sally Avens & Jessica Dromgoole


THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (m0007rl2)
romania's killer roads

Everybody in Romania knows someone who has died in a road accident. The country has the highest road death rate in the European Union – twice the EU average and more than three times that in the UK. A young businessman, Stefan Mandachi, has built a metre long stretch of motorway near his home in the rural north-east of the country, as a visual protest against political inaction and corruption. For Crossing Continents, Tessa Dunlop travels to one of Romania’s poorest regions, Moldova, to meet this new champion of road safety, and the families who have paid the highest price for the country’s poor transport networks.
Producer, John Murphy.


THU 11:30 Art of Now (m0005t3z)
Art Surgery: Anxiety

Can the arts help solve today’s burning issues? Perhaps not entirely, but there’s no harm in trying.

As the UK’s “anxiety economy” continues to grow and we spend more money on supposed stress-relieving services and products – from meditation apps and scented candles to comfort blankets and aromatherapy pendants – Art Surgery asks if we can find the answers we’re looking for within the arts.

Music journalist Elizabeth Alker and writer Nikesh Shukla hear from musicians, poets, illustrators and visual artists in a bid to combat personal and societal anxiety.

Artists featured include Erland Cooper, Ellis O’Connor, Nikita Gill, Luke Sital-Singh and Laura Callaghan.

Presenters: Elizabeth Alker and Nikesh Shukla
Producer: Maddie Hickish

A Wisebuddah production for BBC Radio 4


THU 12:00 News Summary (m0007rl4)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 12:04 Heartburn (m0007rl6)
Episode 4 - Grand Gestures

Screenwriter Nora Ephron's tabasco-spiked and bittersweet novel about a marriage on the rocks - a rollercoaster of love, betrayal, loss and - most satisfyingly - revenge.

Seven months into her pregnancy, irrepressible food writer Rachel Samstat discovers that her husband Mark - a man who ‘would be capable of having sex with a Venetian blind’ - is in love with another woman. In between trying to work out what went wrong, trying to win him back and loudly wishing him dead, Rachel offers us her favourite recipes.

Today: the heavily-pregnant Rachel gets an unexpected proposal...

Reader: Julianna Jennings
Writer: Nora Ephron was the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle. This is her only novel. She died in 2012.
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Antonia Hodgson


THU 12:18 You and Yours (m0007rl8)
News and discussion of consumer affairs.


THU 12:57 Weather (m0007rlb)
The latest weather forecast


THU 13:00 World at One (m0007rld)
Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague.


THU 13:45 World War 2: The Economic Battle (m0007rlg)
The Soviet Union

The countries involved in the First World War knew how vital a strong economy was to success on the battle field. In this episode of World War 2: The Economic Battle, Duncan Weldon looks at the economy of the Soviet Union in the interwar period until 1940, a country that never stopped its armament programme and turned to drastic measures to fund its campaigns.


THU 14:00 The Archers (m0007qf6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 Drama (b08y016m)
Human Resources

Piers Black-Hawkins is the winner of the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award 2016: an award to support Northern based writers new to radio.

The drone of Dylan's pharmaceutical telesales world is turned on its head one day when he receives a call from a girl screaming for help. Ignoring his targets and the lures of a bonus, Dylan can't help but investigate. What follows is a dark, spiralling thriller that sends him down a rabbit hole to the underbelly of the corporate medical world.

Directed by Nadia Molinari.


THU 15:00 Open Country (m0007rlj)
The Centre of the Earth

In this week’s Open Country, Helen Mark journeys to 'The Centre of the Earth', an urban nature reserve in Birmingham, next to Winston Green Prison.

The Centre of the Earth is Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust’s purpose built environmental centre in Winston Green - just 1.5 km from Birmingham City Centre. Situated in what has historically been one of the country’s most deprived, urban areas, this little pocket of green is a special place for the community and a thriving home to all kinds of wildlife. Through tender love and care from the dedicated volunteers, there are otters, smooth newts and a wild flower nursery that helps populate other urban sites across the city, including the visitor’s garden at the prison next door. It's also inspired a local school, which has students who between them speak over 40 different languages, to develop their own nature space. And then, last but by no means least, there’s the Golden Sparkles community group…

Presented by Helen Mark
Produced by Nicola Humphries


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m0007pw0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 Open Book (m0007pxk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]


THU 16:00 The Film Programme (m0007rll)
Where to Begin With... Pedro Almodovar

With Raifa Rafiq

Raifa Rafiq, of the Mostly Lit podcast, hosts three summer specials called Where To Begin With...

In the third edition, she enlists the help of critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Tim Robey to find out where she should begin with the films of Pedro Almodovar, whose autobiographical drama Pain And Glory is released this month.


THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m0007rln)
Gareth Mitchell and guests illuminate the mysteries and challenge the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.


THU 17:00 PM (m0007rlq)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0007rls)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 18:30 Fresh From the Fringe (m0007rlv)
2019

Fresh from the Fringe 2019 - Part 1

Recorded at the BBC Hub in Edinburgh, Fresh from the Fringe showcases the best new and up-and-coming acts from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2019.

Fresh From The Fringe was produced by Hayley Sterling and is a BBC Studios production.


THU 19:00 The Archers (m0007rly)
Ruth has the rug pulled out from under her and Peggy remains tight lipped


THU 19:15 Front Row (m0007rm0)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


THU 19:45 The Country Girls Trilogy (m0007rl0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


THU 20:00 Making History (b0b50kxc)
Dark tourism, World Cup 1938, The mobile library

Helen Castor presents the first in a new series of the popular history magazine. She's joined today by Dr Jane Hamlett from Royal Holloway University of London.

It's 140 years since the UK prison system was nationalised, and Iszi Lawrence visits Shrewsbury with Professor Alyson Brown from Edge Hill University to discover why a change in organisation was needed then. Today, paying customers are experiencing life here at Her Majesty's pleasure - and all over the world people seem to want to visit places which have a grim and troubling past. So what's the appeal and the purpose of so-called "dark tourism"? Tom Holland talks to Dr Philip Stone from the University of Central Lancashire.

It's another World Cup year. The tournament in Russia comes at a time when President Putin's stock is high at home, but on the floor abroad. Not for the first time, football might offer a political leader a global platform. We go back to France '38 which was held against a backdrop of a growing global diplomatic crisis. Sports writer Julie Welch is joined by Professor Simon Martin and football journalist Jonathan Wilson to explain how, with: civil war in Spain, the merging of the Austrian and German teams after the Nazi Anschluss and Mussolini promoting his brand of fascism through football, this really was a tournament with all to play for.

Council budget cuts, E-readers and on-line delivery are all presenting challenges to Britain's library service, and mobile libraries in particular have been badly affected. But when did the library van first start doing its rounds? Author of Mobile Library, David Whitehouse, heads back home to Nuneaton and the mobile library his mother used to clean.

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 20:30 In Business (m0007scj)
Who Are Huawei?

Chinese technology company, Huawei, is the world’s biggest supplier of network telecoms equipment, and with a research budget of up to $20 billion, its ambition is to be even bigger still. However, it’s also one of the most controversial businesses of our time. The United States and others have banned its involvement in their critical infrastructure, fearing that Beijing might use the company to spy, steal trade secrets, or even to wage cyber warfare. Huawei insists that its networks are as secure as anyone else’s, and says that its technology is literally years ahead of competitors, so countries who reject it risk falling behind. As the world prepares for a technological revolution through 5th Generation mobile communications, the BBC has gained rare access to Huawei’s founder and Chairman, Ren Zhengfei, to explore his company’s origins, its rise to global pre-eminence, and what makes it tick. And, to ask if the current security questions threaten its continued growth?

Presenter: Karishma Vaswani
Producer: Michael Gallagher


THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m0007rln)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]


THU 21:30 Her Story Made History (m0007rkt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m0007rm2)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


THU 22:45 Heartburn (m0007rl6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 today]


THU 23:00 Fresh From the Fringe (m0007rm4)
2019

Fresh from the Fringe 2019 - Part 2

Recorded at the BBC Hub in Edinburgh, Fresh from the Fringe showcases the best new and up-and-coming acts from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2019.

Fresh from the Fringe was produced by Hayley Sterling and is a BBC Studios production.


THU 23:30 Beyond Today (m0007rm6)
How dangerous are far right hipsters?

Last week a story surfaced that seemed, on the face of it, a little bit odd. A far right youtuber in Austria, Martin Sellner, had his house raided by the authorities after revealing he’d received a $1500 donation to his movement Generation Identity. The money was from the suspect in the Christchurch shooting in New Zealand. This story takes us from the world of YouTubers back to the Crusades and tells us how extreme ideas spread around the world.



FRIDAY 23 AUGUST 2019

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m0007rm8)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


FRI 00:30 Coventry (m0007rmb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0007rmd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0007rmg)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m0007rmj)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m0007rml)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0007rmn)
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Rachel Gardner, director of a charity which specialises in innovative youth work.

Good morning.

This month marks the end of my maternity leave. Or as my seven year old daughter brilliantly mispronounces it, ‘Eternity Leave.’ I too wish it could go on for a bit longer. This time last year we embarked on adopting our second child, a little boy, who has brought with him so much joy and energy. Like every parent or carer, there are days when the tasks of looking after another little person can seem endless. Then there are other days when time seems to be moving too fast and we just want to freeze this brilliant moment forever.

The Bible tells us that God has ‘set eternity in the human heart.’ It’s the desire within us for more and the aptitude we have to ponder the massive scope of life and seek out what truly satisfies.

To a woman at a well, collecting water at the hottest part of the day to avoid contact with the community who despised her, Jesus offered water that will never run out. To the master of ceremonies at a wedding running out of wine, Jesus offered the best liquor money could buy. To the crowds on the hillside, hungry for his teaching and desperate for something to eat, Jesus offered a feast from one boy’s picnic.

Jesus is saying ‘with God there is always more.’ The constant yearning we have in life, God can satisfy.

These ancient words of Augustine of Hippo sum it up. ‘Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee. Amen.

Or in the Message Translation of the words of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life.

Amen


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m0007rmq)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b038qkfw)
Serin

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

Brett Westwood presents the serin. Serins breed just across the English Channel but they are small finches that continue to tantalize ornithologists here in the UK. Hopes were raised that this Continental finch would settle here to breed, especially if our climate became warmer. However, something about our islands doesn't suit them. They do like large parks and gardens, so keep an ear out for the song of this visitor....a cross between a goldfinch and a goldcrest, and you may be rewarded.


FRI 06:00 Today (m0007rsy)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


FRI 09:00 The Reunion (m0007pws)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Sunday]


FRI 09:45 Coventry (m0007rvp)
Lions on Leashes

In her striking new collection of essays, award-winning novelist Rachel Cusk weaves observations of domestic concerns with art, psychology and current affairs.

The author contemplates the trials and tribulations of adolescence as she reflects on her own family's story.

Reader: Amelia Bullmore
Abridged and produced by Eilidh McCreadie


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0007rt2)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


FRI 10:45 The Country Girls Trilogy (m0007rt4)
The Country Girls

The Country Girls 5/10

Edna O’Brien’s frank, funny and subversive story of growing up in rural Ireland in the 50s. Away from home, Kate thinks she can cope better with Baba’s brutal style of friendship.

Cast
Kate ..... Charlie Murphy
Baba ..... Aoibhinn McGinnity
Sr Margaret ..... Catherine Cusack
Sr Clare ..... Helen Clapp
Cynthia ..... Rose O’Loughlin

Written by Edna O’Brien
Dramatised by Lin Coghlan
Directed by Sally Avens & Jessica Dromgoole


FRI 11:00 What’s Eating Rotherham (m0007rt6)
Why do you keep going back to the fridge after dinner? Fruit and vegetables, a balanced diet, low salt, low sugar and moderate exercise seem to be the silver bullets loaded into a revolver that has only ever fired blanks at the problem of Britain’s obesity crisis. More than ten years ago, the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver came to Rotherham in an effort to help combat obesity, by providing information on how to cook healthy foods. A decade on Rotherham still has a high proportion of people that are overweight or obese.

In What’s Eating Rotherham, local resident Joanne Keeling, who is 28 stone and trying to lose weight, looks at the emotional side of overeating and examines the effect Jamie Oliver - and the spotlight he brought to Rotherham - can have on a town at the centre of media attention. With the help of Producer Jay Unger, Joanne soon discovers an uncomfortable truth about why some people emotionally eat. As well as questioning whether or not traditional methods of treating obesity, like prescribed exercise and diet regimes, actually work she wants to learn about the psychology of why people overeat in the first place.


FRI 11:30 Beta Female (m0007rt8)
The identity of Amna depends on who you are. To her fellow Glaswegians, she's a Londoner now, having lived there for three years. To Londoners, she's Scottish when they can only hear her, but Asian if they can see her. To Scots, she's Pakistani - but to Pakistanis, she's British. To employers, she's disposable. And to her white, English boyfriend, she's just Amna, as his white privilege means he doesn't have to think about all of that.

To her mum, of course, she's just "beta", the Urdu term for child.

Beta Female is a new sitcom which hinges on Amna's desire to be all these things and more - to keep her Mum and Dad happy by allowing her to believe that she and her boyfriend don't live together, and to keep her boyfriend happy by getting a job and contributing to the rent. Like many women of her background and age, Amna wants to have her differences acknowledged but to be treated the same as everyone else. From work to love to family to social media, Amna walks a tightrope of identity.

Contrasting with her confusion are her little brother, Haris, and her sister, Sunnah, both of whom appear to have "picked a side" - Haris is a young Scottish slacker, and Sunnah is a Muslim wife and mother. Amna still finds herself wanting to be part of both worlds, and seeming to feel part of neither.

This pilot episode sees Amna return home to Glasgow for an Eid party, where she will introduce her boyfriend to her family for the first time.

Cast:
Amna ... Kiran Sonia Sawar
Theo ... Tom Stourton
Mum .. Sudha Bhuchar
Dad ... Bhasker Patel
Haris ... Omar Raza
Sunnah ... Amna Saleem
Uncle ... Anil Goutam
Auntie ... Nina Wadia

Written by Amna Saleem
Produced by Ed Morrish

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 12:00 News Summary (m0007rtb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:04 Heartburn (m0007rtd)
Episode 5 - Revenge

Nora Ephron's tabasco-spiked and bittersweet novel about a marriage on the rocks - a rollercoaster of love, betrayal, loss and - most satisfyingly - revenge.

Seven months into her pregnancy, irrepressible food writer Rachel Samstat discovers that her husband Mark - a man who ‘would be capable of having sex with a Venetian blind’ - is in love with another woman. In between trying to work out what went wrong, trying to win him back and wishing him dead, Rachel offers us her favourite recipes.

Today: Rachel makes a grand gesture of her own...

Reader: Julianna Jennings
Writer: Nora Ephron was the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle. This is her only novel.
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Antonia Hodgson


FRI 12:18 You and Yours (m0007rtg)
News and discussion of consumer affairs.


FRI 12:57 Weather (m0007rtj)
The latest weather forecast


FRI 13:00 World at One (m0007rtl)
Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.


FRI 13:45 World War 2: The Economic Battle (m0007rtn)
France

The countries involved in the First World War knew how vital a strong economy was to success on the battle field. In this episode of World War 2: The Economic Battle, Duncan Weldon looks at the French economy in the interwar period until 1940, from a politically divided nation ravaged by the aftermath of the Great War until the German invasion in 1940.


FRI 14:00 The Archers (m0007rly)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 Drama (m0007scn)
Twelve Weeks

New drama from BBC Radio 4


FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m0007sf6)
Dorset

Kathy Clugston and the team of gardening experts are in east Dorset. Pippa Greenwood, Bob Flowerdew and Pippa Greenwood answer the audience's questions.

Producer: Darby Dorras
Assistant Producer: Jemima Rathbone

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 15:45 Short Works (m0007rtq)
In the Mountains

By Amanthi Harris

Anya seeks to escape her unhappiness in London in a Spanish village. But she discovers that she cannot escape from herself.

Writer and artist Amanthi Harris was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in Colombo, before moving to London. Her novella Lantern Evening won the Gatehouse Press New Fictions Prize in 2016. Her novel, Beautiful Place, will be published in September 2019.

Writer: Amanthi Harris
Reader: Aysha Kala
Producer: Jeremy Osborne

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 16:00 Last Word (m0007rts)
Radio 4's weekly obituary programme, telling the life stories of those who have died recently.


FRI 16:30 More or Less (m0007rtv)
Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life.


FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (m0002h0h)
Jim and Liam: Bath times and Barber Shops

Liam and Jim are friends who were both born and raised in Larne, County Antrim. In conversation for The Listening Project, they share memories of bath times, barber shops, cold nights and their childhoods in the 1950s and 60s.

Fi Glover presents 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


FRI 17:00 PM (m0007rtx)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0007rtz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 18:30 The Now Show (m0007rv1)
Series 55

Episode 1

New comedy from BBC Radio 4


FRI 19:00 The Archers (m0007rv4)
Writer, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti
Director, Jess Bunch
Editor, Jeremy Howe

David Archer …... Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer ….. Felicity Finch
Pip Archer ….. Daisy Badger
Tom Archer ….. William Troughton
Brian Aldridge ….. Charles Collingwood
Jennifer Aldridge ….. Angela Piper
Phoebe Aldridge ….. Lucy Morris
Lilian Bellamy ….. Sunny Ormonde
Neil Carter ….. Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter ….. Charlotte Martin
Chris Carter ….. Wilf Scolding
Rex Fairbrother ….. Nick Barber
Clarrie Grundy ….. Heather Bell
Will Grundy ….. Philip Molloy
Emma Grundy ….. Emerald O'Hanrahan
Ed Grundy ….. Barry Farrimond
Shula Hebden Lloyd ….. Judy Bennett
Tracy Horrobin ….. Susie Riddell
Jim Lloyd ….. John Rowe
Adam Macy ….. Andrew Wincott
Jazzer McCreary ….. Ryan Kelly
Lynda Snell …..Carole Boyd
Peggy Woolley ….. June Spencer


FRI 19:15 Front Row (m0007rv6)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


FRI 19:45 The Country Girls Trilogy (m0007rt4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m0007rv8)
Katy Balls, Deidre Brock MP

Ritula Shah presents topical debate from the Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House, London with a panel including the Deputy Political Editor of the Spectator Katy Balls and the SNP's Environment Spokesperson at Westminster Deidre Brock MP.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson


FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m0007rvb)
A weekly reflection on a topical issue.


FRI 21:00 A History of Delusions (m0007rvd)
Capgras: the 'Illusion of Doubles'

Clinical psychologist Professor Daniel Freeman explores historic and contemporary cases of delusions – a belief that is impossible, incredible or false; is held with a high degree of certainty; and endures despite evidence to the contrary.

In this programme he examines the 'Capgras Delusion' or the 'Illusion of Doubles'.

In 1923 the French psychiatrist Joseph Capgras first described the delusion which later took his name. The case study concerned his patient, Madame M, who claimed that her husband and children had been substituted for doubles.

Daniel also talks to a contemporary contributor who shares her experience of a delusion that she was in a reality show.

Produced by Victoria Shepherd and Eve Streeter
A Greenpoint Production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m0007rvg)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


FRI 22:45 Heartburn (m0007rtd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 today]


FRI 23:00 Great Lives (m0007qzh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]


FRI 23:25 Beyond Today (m0007rvk)
What's it like to be attacked at a Trump rally?

News and current affairs programme from BBC Radio 4


FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (m0002hzh)
Bob and Helen: Back to Kiveton

This is a conversation about shared memories and lost years, disapproving aunts, a town transformed and the need for a connection to people and places in our past. Brought together by a photograph of a vanished era, Bob and Helen discuss their shared past in Kiveton, South Yorkshire.

Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen. The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before.

The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject