The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Comedian Arthur Smith reads from his autobiography, which reflects on the nature of comedy and his days as a scruffy kid on the bombsites of Bermondsey, a wild-haired undergraduate, a road sweeper, an English teacher, a failed rock star, a boozed-up sexual adventurer and an intensive care patient who has been told never to drink again.
Arthur becomes an institution, meets Bill Clinton and becomes a grumpy old man, and the path of true love takes an unlikely course.
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
Daily prayer and reflection with the Most Rev Peter Smith, Archbishop of Cardiff.
US satirist Joe Queenan presents a series on people with highly unusual occupations.
In Brighton, he meets a decluttering professional who claims to have sold feng shui books to Japanese. Joe accompanies him to the home of Attila the Stockbroker to see decluttering in action.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
Helen Mark takes to the sea to find out how the perilous conditions of the north Devon coastline have affected life there from prehistory to the present day. She tours Baggy Point with National Trust archaeologist Shirley Blaylock in search of the first coastal dwellers, attempts the perilous crossing to Lundy Island and crosses the Cornish border to hear the story of Parson Hawker, the eccentric vicar of Morwenstow and purported scourge of the wreckers.
This is the last in the present series. 'Open Country' returns on the 4th of July with a look at the alternative energy revolution in Orkney.
Charlotte Smith goes to a farm with woolless sheep to examine the future of wool production in Britain, now that it often costs more to shear the sheep than the fleece is worth. She hears from people making carpets, thermal insulation and even compost from wool. Is the British Wool Marketing Board doing enough to promote innovation and improved prices for farmers?
With James Naughtie and John Humphrys. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day; Yesterday in Parliament.
Richard Coles is joined by Bangladeshi writer and novelist Tahmima Anam, whose first novel, A Golden Age, won the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize.
Human beings and wild animals do not live easily side by side, and the larger the animal the bigger the conflict. John McCarthy talks to two winners of the Whitley Awards for International Nature Conservation who have been tackling the problems. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is a wildlife vet working with mountain gorillas in Uganda and has started a project to prevent the spread of diseases between the animals and humans, especially now that tourists are encountering gorillas at much closer quarters. Jittin Ritthirat works in Thailand trying to reconcile the needs of the wild elephants with those of the human residents of and visitors to the monsoon forest.
Tourists have also had a big impact on Corfu, and none more so than the British. John talks to a long-time regular visitor to the island about its appeal to us, our influence on it, and ginger beer.
Steve Punt investigates the growing trend for industry awards ceremonies which may not be as well known as the Oscars, but which aspire to be just as glamorous and life-changing.
Practically every week, some branch of industry holds its own awards ceremonies in a top class venue in the UK, complete with silver service dinner, champagne and celebrity guest speaker. The range of sectors represented is vast. There are awards for call centres, for people involved in designing packaging components and for people who get children to eat more seafood. And for the winner, there is the chance to get up on a podium, grasp a trophy and feel that, for one glorious moment, you are recognised by your peers as being the best.
Steve goes behind the scenes to find out who takes part in awards ceremonies and why. He talks to the winners, losers and organisers, scrutinises the most curious categories and hears from awards presenters including Gyles Brandreth and Stephen K Amos. He looks at the people who contribute to awards ceremonies by making the awards themselves, or helping to write the category submissions. He also explores the human stories behind the growing lists of categories and gives a uniquely humorous insight into little-known industries with a growing trend for gongs.
The publication of MPs expenses this week has left many “honourable members” feeling very much less honourable than before. Many have been humiliated and some forced to resign. Three back benchers Sarah Teather (Liberal Democrat) Mark Fisher (Labour) and Alistair Burt (Conservative) talk of their reactions to the whole sorry business.
The Speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin has cone under unprecedented attack for his alleged failure to act properly on parliament’s behalf. Is the criticism justified? Richard Shepherd (Conservative) thinks it is, Frank Dobson (Labour) feels it is unfair.
What do MPs actually do? Siobhain MacDonagh (Labour) who has been campaigning on behalf of the Tamil community in her constituency discusses her role as MP with Bernard Jenkin (Conservative).
And Andrew Cooper of the polling organisation Populus assesses the current political polls in the light of the expenses crisis.
BBC foreign correspondents with the stories behind the world's headlines. Introduced by Kate Adie.
Money Box asks the experts if the Bank of England's attempt to stimulate the economy will drive up inflation. We look at the best savings deals and weigh up the pros and cons of locking your cash away. And Bob Howard reports on the consumers attempting to use the courts to get their credit card debts cancelled.
Sandi Toksvig chairs the topical comedy quiz. Panellists are Andy Hamilton, Fred MacAulay, Sue Perkins and Jeremy Hardy.
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs the topical debate in Chichester. Panellists are UKIP leader Nigel Farage, Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Jeremy Hunt, former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer and Susan Kramer MP, the leader of the Liberal Democrats' campaign against the third runway at Heathrow.
Jonathan Dimbleby takes listeners' calls and emails in response to this week's edition of Any Questions?
London's Soho, 1958. A mysterious American wants to commission a portrait of a woman he can't produce, in a dress he can only describe, at an event which never happened.
David Edgar's love story told at the border between memory and fiction, trust and betrayal, East and West.
Gene Pew ...... Damian Lewis
Desmond McElwee ...... Bill Paterson
Mrs Pew ...... Lisa Dillon
Dr Frisch ...... David De Keyser
The Hotelier ...... Andrew Sachs
Peter Szabo ...... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Other parts played by Carolyn Pickles, Éva Magyar, Kenneth Collard, Christine Kavanagh and Joseph Kloska.
Comedian, broadcaster and GP Dr Phil Hammond asks each of three guests to play the track of their choice for the delight or disdain of the others.
Phil's guests include soul food chef Momma Cherri and crime writer Mark Billingham. Will the tastes of his popular, country music-loving detective Tom Thorne be making an appearance?
Including: soprano Susan Bullock on her performance in the title role of Elektra by Richard Strauss; biographer Miranda Seymour on the life of actress Virginia Cherrill, who starred in Charlie Chaplin's films; one woman's story on what happened when her husband's will was declared invalid and the risks of dying intestate; what makes a good friend; literary critic Elaine Showalter on American women writers past and present; why men and women talk differently; and the award-winning classical guitarist Sharon Isbin.
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Carolyn Quinn, plus the sports headlines.
The weekly interactive current affairs magazine featuring online conversation and debate.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.
An eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy, with Peter Curran and his guests.
Rachael Stirling finds out about feasts from around the world with food writer Stefan Gates.
With comedy from Stephen K Amos and music from Jarvis Cocker and The Broken Family Band.
The BBC Poetry Season, The Brighton Festival and Plan for Chaos by John Wyndham
Tom Sutcliffe is joined by novelist Adam Mars Jones, professor of theatre and screen arts Maria Delgado and writer Philip Hoare to discuss the cultural highlights of the week - featuring a spot of bother with cloned Nazis, anarchy at the end of the pier and a theatre director unravelling onscreen.
Charlie Kaufman has forged a reputation as an idiosyncratic writer with films such as Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but with Synecdoche, New York, he gets to sit in the director's chair for the first time. The cast, headed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, is impressive and the film is nothing if not wildly ambitious, but whether it's the panel's cup of tea is another matter.
John Wyndham may have been dead for 40 years, but that doesn't stop him from having a new book out. Plan For Chaos was written around the same time as The Midwich Cuckoos, but failed to find a publisher at the time. Your average run-of-the-mill, cloned Nazis and flying saucers sci-fi romp, it is now available for you to decide whether those publishers were right or wrong.
The BBC Poetry Season is attempting to get poetry to the parts that verse normally doesn't reach - television for a start. We concentrate on two programmes from the season: Why Poetry Matters, presented by Griff Rhys Jones, and Changing of the Bard, in which Ian Hislop investigates the history of the post of Poet Laureate.
Turner Prize-winning artist Anish Kapoor has been appointed Guest Artistic Director for the 2009 Brighton Festival. Tom and the team headed down to Brighton and wandered around the town to see some of the striking Kapoor exhibits on view, including the Dismemberment of Jeanne d'Arc in the Old Municipal Market and C-Curve, an extraordinary reflective sculpture on the Downs above the city.
Also down in Brighton, Hydrocracker present a unique promenade performance of Joe Orton's The Erpingham Camp on Brighton Pier. Empire, anarchy, knobbly knees and fish and chips all feature in this ambulatory adaptation of Orton's parable of a holiday camp in meltdown.
Andrew Motion explores and tells the story of the proudest legacy of his time as Poet Laureate, The Poetry Archive - hundreds of poems, read by their authors and all available online, free to everyone.
Motion's stint as Poet Laureate ended with predictable discussions about his successor and what he did or didn't do. But the lasting legacy of his laureateship and the great achievement of his tenure is his creation, with sound producer Richard Carrington, of the remarkable online Poetry Archive, begun in 1999 and growing. It includes contemporary poets reading their work, including Seamus Heaney, UA Fanthorpe and Jackie Kay and historic recordings by poets including Hilaire Belloc, Siegfried Sassoon, WB Yeats and even Tennyson and Browning. As well as the poems there are sections for children and teachers, interviews with poets, poets in residence and useful information about genres, forms and metres. If you want to know what an anapaest is, or a pantoum, the Poetry Archive can help.
Motion and Carrington talk about why they created the archive, and state that there is more to it than simply preserving poets reading their work. Motion develops his theme that poetry is primarily an aural art, and what this reveals. The poet's voice is fundamental: the windswept moor is in the voice of Ted Hughes; Charles Causley's Cornish accent and dialect are important. The sound of a poem is an aspect of its meaning. At the recording session when Carol Ann Duffy reads her book Rapture for the archive, Richard Carrington speaks about his role: not to coax a performance so much as to help the poets to be themselves.
Andrew Motion and Richard Carrington lead us around the archive, playing gems that we might otherwise have missed. They talk, too, about what is missing, and appeal to people who might have recordings. For example, they do not know how Thomas Hardy, AE Housman and DH Lawrence sounded because as far as we know they never made recordings. But they might have, and one day they might turn up.
It is 1857 and British rule in India is under threat. At first the colonists are confident that their 'superior culture' will prevail, but as the Indian mutineers show their metal, the Collector of Krishnapur is forced to reconsider.
Hopkins, The Collector ...... Alex Jennings
Fluery ...... Ben Askew
Prince Hari ...... Shiv Grewal
Harry Dunstaple ...... Matt Addis
Louise Dunstaple ...... Jasmine Hyde
Dr Dunstaple ...... Malcolm Tierney
Mrs Dunstaple ...... Caroline Guthrie
Willoughby ...... Sam Dale
Miriam ...... Janice Acquah
Dr MacNab ...... Stephen Hogan
The Padre ...... Philip Fox
Cutter ...... Jonathan Tafler
Lieutenant Peterson ...... Paul Rider
Lucy Hughes ...... Lizzy Watts
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
Medical science has given us increasing control over when, where and how we die, but the law is struggling to keep pace. Clive and his guests explore the ongoing legal arguments about assisted suicide, mercy killing and even the precise definition of death.
The questions cover every aspect of music - from the classical repertoire to world music, show tunes, film scores, jazz, rock and pop.
Hayley Radford explores the influence of significant women on the life and work of poet Rainer Maria Rilke. Regarded by many as one of the most significant German-speaking literary figures of the early Modern period, Rilke wrote lyrical verse and prose including Sonnets to Orpheus and Letter to A Young Poet.
Hayley examines how he was dominated by the love of his mother and later pushed himself to the very limits of romantic love. The poet threw himself into endless heartbreak, many relationships, even abandoning a wife and child. He became the passive lover of a series of forthright, older women, including a princess and some heiresses, all in pursuit of the sweet agonies with which he could infuse his writing.
Featuring contributions from Rilke experts Dirk Heisserer, Professor Karen Leeder, Dr Ben Hutchinson and Professor Von Bulow.
SUNDAY 17 MAY 2009
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b00kc08r)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Afternoon Reading (b007s0ff)
Murder She Thought - Series 1
Dear George
Compelling crime stories by women writers.
In Cathy Ace's suspenseful tale, it seems Joyce plans to do away with her amiable husband, but is it a good idea to confide in her secret diary?
Read by Alex Kingston and Simon Templeman.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00kc0jf)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00kc0jh)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00kc0jk)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b00kc0jm)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b00kc0jp)
The sound of bells from St Michael and All Angels Church, Great Comberton in Worcestershire.
SUN 05:45 Letters to Mary (b00k9d84)
Episode 1
Series in which three writers send an informal letter to the influential British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, 250 years after her birth, updating her on the progress of her often radical ideas.
Professor Janet Todd, President of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, addresses a letter to Mary about her her first book, a self-help manual called Thoughts on the Education of Daughters.
Some readers argue that this work is no different from any other 18th century Conduct Book, with its rather modest ideas about how girls should live their lives, but Janet Todd believes that it shows real sparks that would flare up fully in her incendiary work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, four years later. She goes on to wonder how Mary might feel about the education and aspirations of girls today.
Read by Sian Thomas.
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b00kc0jr)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b00kc0jt)
If Only We Could Bottle It
Felicity Finch reflects on those indefinable moments when we feel more completely alive than seems possible. As an actress, it is something she strives to capture in performance, but in everyday existence these moments of oneness, where an individual is in harmony with surroundings and other people, tend to come spontaneously and unannounced.
With readings from Federico Garcia Lorca and John Burnside and music by Chick Corea and Northumbrian pipers.
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b00kc1lb)
Countryfile's Adam Henson sees how England rugby veteran Julian White tackles life on his farm in Market Harborough.
Besides rugby, Julian's other passion is 250-acre sheep and cattle (60 prime South Devon) farm. He even withdrew from the 2007 pre-World Cup camp on the grounds that he could not afford to spend several weeks away from his young family and farm. But Julian did make it to the 2009 Six Nations tournament and his wife Sara and friends rallied round to keep things going while he was playing for England.
Adam joins Julian and his family to discover how he tackles his double life of farming and rugby, and hears stories about his experiences of New Zealand pastures and a surprise Christmas cow.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b00kc1ld)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b00kc1lg)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b00kc1lj)
Roger Bolton discusses the religious and ethical news of the week. Moral arguments and perspectives on stories, both familiar and unfamiliar.
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b00kc1ll)
CODA International Training
Archbishop Desmond Tutu appeals on behalf of CODA International.
CODA International is a UK-based international development organisation working to reduce poverty and injustice in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.
Donations to CODA International, should be sent to Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal, please mark the back of your envelope CODA International. Credit cards: Freephone 0800 404 8144. If you are a UK tax payer, please provide CODA International with your full name and address so that they can claim the Gift Aid on your donation worth another 25 per cent. The online and phone donation facilities are not currently available to listeners without a UK postcode.
Registered Charity No: 1000717.
SUN 07:58 Weather (b00kc1ln)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b00kc1lq)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b00kc1ls)
A service from St Teilo's Church in the National History Museum of Wales at St Fagans, near Cardiff, led by Rev Roy Jenkins. With Cantemus Chamber Choir Wales, directed by Robert Court. Organist: John Cheer.
SUN 08:50 A Point of View (b00k9pbf)
Expensive Mistakes
Clive James reflects on democracy, MPs' expenses and the furore over the Oxford Poetry Professorship.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b00kc1lv)
News and conversation about the big stories of the week with Kevin Connolly
In the light of the MPs' expenses scandal, Lord Salisbury, the Bishop of Durham, Tony Benn and Patience Wheatcroft discuss how they would design a new parliamentary system if we had to start all over again.
Has Ikea done more for European unity than the European Union? Paddy makes a guest appearance from the Eurovision Song Contest, and after Ann Widdecombe said that MPs were now in a contest to see 'who had the hairiest shirt', we look into the history of hairshirts.
Historian and novelist Lady Antonia Fraser, songwriter and broadcaster Tom Robinson and journalist Andrew Pierce review the papers.
The quiz answer is 'the gravy train' and the winner is Susan Grossey.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b00kc1lx)
The week's events in Ambridge.
SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b00kc1lz)
Peter Sallis
Kirsty Young invites actor Peter Sallis to choose eight records to take to Radio 4's mythical desert island. As the unassuming Clegg in Last of the Summer Wine and the equally mild-mannered Wallace in Wallace and Gromit, Sallis brings to life a sepia-tinted Britain that barely seems to exist any more. Now aged 88 and with failing eyesight, no-one, he says, is more surprised at his success than himself: "I've been lucky enough to keep going and I realise now, though it's taken me nearly 100 years, that my voice is distinctive. I'm very lucky indeed."
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: The finale of Symphony No.5 in E flat Major by Jean Sibelius
Book: The collected works by P G Wodehouse
Luxury: No.7 Meccano outfit.
SUN 12:00 The Museum of Curiosity (b00k8fdv)
Series 2
Episode 2
John Lloyd and Sean Lock host a panel show in which three distinguished guests donate fascinating exhibits to a vast imaginary museum.
Tim FitzHigham, Simon Singh and Gavin Pretor-Pinney donate Don Quixote, a pigeon-spattered telescope and an extremely rare cloud.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b00kc1m1)
Icelandic Food
Richard Johnson finds out about the impact of the global economic crisis on food in Iceland.
The country has been hit hard - after enjoying one of the highest standards of living in the world, 2008 saw its banking sector collapse and it became the first western country to apply to the International Monetary Fund for emergency financial aid since 1976.
Richard looks at how this turn of events is making a difference to the food being bought and eaten by Iceland's population. From rediscovering forgotten food traditions to the rise of the budget supermarket, he finds out how Icelanders are adjusting their diets to the new economic reality.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b00kc1m3)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b00kc1m5)
The Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg breaks with parliamentary tradition by calling for the Speaker of the Commons to quit for his part in the controversy over MPs' expenses. Conservative MP Douglas Carswell gives his thoughts.
With the Labour Party due to discuss the option of de-selecting MPs who are deemed to have claimed too much, we hear why union members - who will help decide their fate - think the expenses row matters. Interviews with Labour MPs John Spellar and Khalid Mahmoud, former government minister Lord (Digby) Jones, former Labour MP Dave Nellist and Joint General Secretary of UNITE, Tony Woodley.
In India, the ruling Congress Party has claimed victory in the parliamentary elections. We speak to newly-elected Congress Party politician, Shashi Tharoor.
Yvonne Murray reports from Ireland on two inquiries into child abuse involving the Church.
SUN 13:30 Percy Edwards Showdown (b00htwx7)
David Attenborough stars in a new role: radio quizmaster - in a show all about Percy Edwards, who enjoyed a 70 year career impersonating birds and beasts.
That was a first, and so is this programme - a documentary game-show, combining the strange story of Percy's life, with archive of his impersonations, interviews with those who knew him, and a quiz. Among the contestants are Bill Oddie and the comedian Alex Horne.
Percy Edwards discovered his talent for talking like animals when he was seven. Dozing under a tree, he heard what he thought was a wolf-whistle and discovered that it was a bird. For several weeks, Edwards kept hearing this greenfinch and found that, with practice, he could imitate it. He even took to eating canary seed before going to bed in the hope that he would wake in the morning singing like a bird.
Eventually he was able to produce the sound of more than 600 birds, and some other beasts (his was the voice of the killer whale in Orca, the alien in Alien and he provided sheep noises for Kate Bush's song The Dreaming). He took to the stage aged 11, was a stalwart of the Generation Game in the 1970's and gave his final performance aged 80 at the London palladium in 1989. His repertoire was extraordinary, all 13 calls of the chaffinch, the strangely grinding sound of the amorous capercaille and corgis barking in Welsh accents.
Quizmaster Attenborough will play bird calls for the teams to identify, some of which will not be the birds, but Percy's impressions, so can they tell the difference? They will be asked not only the identity of the bird, but its circumstances. Is this a cry of distress, alarm or a sexy song? Woven into the rounds will be snippets about Edwards' life from the BBC?s archive ? he appeared on Parkinson, Wogan and Morecambe & Wise - revealing the importance of his work for raising the public?s awareness of wildlife, and the significance of his role as an ornithologist.
Percy Edwards died in 1996 aged 88.
Producers: Emma Legg and Julian May
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b00k9pb2)
Peter Gibbs chairs the popular horticultural forum.
Anne Swithinbank, John Cushnie and Matthew Wilson are guests of Groombridge Horticultural Society and Garden Club near Tunbridge Wells.
In the second of a series on how to carry out sustainable gardening, the panel look at managing without chemicals by gardening organically.
Including Gardening weather forecast.
SUN 14:45 Lights, Camera, Landmark (b00fgblv)
Alnwick Castle, Northumberland
Matthew Sweet visits parts of the man-made landscape which have been used in films over the years.
Matthew discovers what attracted the makers of Elizabeth, Mary, Queen of Scots and The Virgin Queen to Alnwick Castle in Northumberland.
SUN 15:00 Classic Serial (b00kc21f)
The Siege of Krishnapur
Episode 2
Dramatisation by Shelagh Stephenson of the novel by JG Farrell.
It is 1857 and British rule in India is under siege. A series of attacks has all but destroyed the Residency at Krishnapur. Now swamped with squabbling civilians, the Collector is unsure how much longer his defences can hold out.
Hopkins, The Collector ...... Alex Jennings
Fluery ...... Ben Askew
Prince Hari ...... Shiv Grewal
Harry Dunstaple ...... Matt Addis
Louise Dunstaple ...... Jasmine Hyde
Dr Dunstaple ...... Malcolm Tierney
Mrs Dunstaple ...... Caroline Guthrie
Willoughby ...... Sam Dale
Miriam ...... Janice Acquah
Dr MacNab ...... Stephen Hogan
The Padre ...... Philip Fox
Cutter ...... Jonathan Tafler
Lieutenant Peterson ...... Paul Rider
Lucy Hughes ...... Lizzy Watts
Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan.
SUN 16:00 Open Book (b00kc262)
Michael Palin and Julia O'Faolain
Michael Palin gives his choices for Five of the Best; he traces his love of reading back to his seventh birthday.
Two authors who have gone from fighting crime as police officers to writing about it, discuss how walking the mean streets themselves has affected their work.
And the author of No Country for Young Men, Julia O'Faolain, explains her 17 year absence.
SUN 16:30 Poetry Please (b00kc264)
Roger McGough introduces poems by AE Housman and Walt Whitman, including from A Shropshire Lad and O Captain, My Captain. The readers are Kenneth Cranham and Peter Marinker.
SUN 17:00 Sacred Election: Lessons from the Biggest Democracy in the World (b00k8v7c)
Political anthropologist Dr Mukulika Banerjee reports from India on the many surprising ways in which the country manages to defy apparently insuperable odds to deliver an efficient and effective democratic process.
An Indian general election is the largest single organised event in the world, with over 700 million voters, 800,000 polling stations and one million electronic voting machines moved in phases around the country; and, unlike many western democracies, electoral participation in India is positively buoyant, and rising.
SUN 17:40 From Fact to Fiction (b00kc06x)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b00kc2gc)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b00kc2gf)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00kc2gh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b00kc2gk)
John Waite introduces his selection of highlights from the past week on BBC radio.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b00kc2gm)
Jennifer's preparations for Debbie and Marshall's visit have gone into overdrive; she wants all the family together for a special lunch. Brian tells Adam there's not much chance of getting Lilian and Matt to come along. He and Jennifer saw Matt at Grey Gables, knocking back the scotch. He's still resentful about Brian's election to chair of Borchester Land.
Mike's meeting Vicky at The Bull - it's her first time in Ambridge. He invites Brenda along. Vicky's been dying to meet her, but Brenda says she's got too much revision to do.
Before Vicky arrives, Neil invites Mike to the birthday celebration that Susan's organising for him; they're just having a few friends over for lunch on Friday. When Mike invites Vicky along, it's too awkward for Neil to say no. Brian comments that Vicky seems a little young for Mike but Neil tells him that Mike seems very taken with her.
Mike invites Vicky back to Willow Cottage for a coffee. They discover a teary-eyed Brenda watching a weepy movie. She greets Vicky before quickly retiring to bed. Vicky advises Mike to go and check if she's alright. She'll leave, it looks like Brenda really needs her dad.
Episode written by Tim Stimpson.
SUN 19:15 Go4it (b00kc2kj)
Barney meets children who do their own radio broadcasting, including some Gurkha kids who send audio messages to their dads in the army and a boy who podcast to his class mates when he spent two months on a tiny Scottish island.
Plus a report on a children's radio station in Swaziland and how to start a radio station at your school.
SUN 19:45 Afternoon Reading (b00cm7h8)
Stories with Latitude
Episode 4
Readings recorded on stage at the Latitude Festival in Suffolk. Comedian Lucy Porter gets inside the head of a festival first-aider.
SUN 20:00 More or Less (b00k9p0t)
Tim Harford takes apart a rogue statistic on domestic violence which has been circulating since the 1990s, questions news reports which suggest that the recession is hitting white collar workers hardest and reveals a new mathematical riddle - the Kate Bush conjecture.
An Open University co production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b00k9pb4)
Matthew Bannister talks to Professor John Q Barrett and Whitney Harris about the life of Nuremburg war crimes prosecutor Henry T King; Richard Adams and Jason Goodwin about the life of New Age writer John Michell; Rodric Braithwaite on Soviet General Valentin Varennikov; Tony Bailey and Roger Mansfield discuss the father of British surfing, Bill Bailey.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (b00kbzgf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 on Saturday]
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b00kc1ll)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 In Business (b00k4g5b)
Location, Location
Mobile phones and other devices are helping all sorts of useful objects 'know' where they are - and tell everybody else about it. Peter Day hears from the people building companies out of this dramatic new sensing ability.
SUN 21:58 Weather (b00kc2kl)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b00kc2kn)
Reports from behind the scenes at Westminster. Including Letters to Mary.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b00k9pb7)
Charlie Kaufman on his vision for his new film, Synecdoche, New York, a mind-bending nightmarish mixture of dream and reality starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Samantha Morton. Counterculture film maker Kenneth Anger talks about his career and his association with other cultural provocateurs The Rolling Stones. And film historian Matthew Sweet reviews the clasic film The Seventh Veil, starring James Mason, as it is released on DVD.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b00kc0jt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 18 MAY 2009
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b00kcp2f)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b00k9d7y)
Segregation - Mizrahi Jews
Are walls going up around Britain's communities? Are we sleepwalking to racial segregation? Laurie hears of new research which counters some contemporary fears about immigration in Britain.
In 2005, Trevor Phillips, then Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality warned, 'The walls are going up around many of our communities and the bridges are crumbling ... we are sleepwalking our way to segregation'. Are there really ghettoes growing in Britain's cities? Laurie talks to Ludi Simpson about his new research into the state of segregation in Britain and hears from Tariq Modood about how and why Muslim communities are feared.
Also in the programme, Laurie hears from Rachel Shabi about the Mizrahis, Israel's Jews from Arab lands. Many talk Arabic and their customs are rooted in the Middle East, but despite constituting almost half of the Israeli population she claims they are sidelined and discriminated against in their own country.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b00kc0jp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00kcp68)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00kcp7r)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00kcp7f)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b00kcph9)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00kcphp)
Daily prayer and reflection with the Most Rev Peter Smith, Archbishop of Cardiff.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b00kcprd)
Charlotte Smith hears about plans to re-introduce the black bee to the UK. She also finds out about the latest research into animal disease and whether farmers, who claim their health has been ruined by sheep dip, have any chance of compensation.
MON 05:57 Weather (b00kcr2l)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 06:00 Today (b00kcprv)
Presented by John Humphrys and James Naughtie.
Business editor Robert Peston discusses Sir Victor Blank's resignation as chairman of the Lloyds Banking Group.
Our correspondent reports from Burma, and Aung San Suu Kyi's biographer Justin Wintle discusses the likely outcome of the Burmese opposition leader's trial.
Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker discusses whether the Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin, should be forced to step down over his handling of the expenses row.
Home Affairs correspondent June Kelly speaks to Londoners affected by the July bombings ahead of a government report.
Correspondent Damien Grammaticus reports from Colombo and Dr Palitha Kohona, secretary at the Sri Lankan ministry of foreign affairs, discusses the latest developments in Sri Lanka.
Technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones talks to Stephen Wolfram, creator of the new search engine 'Wolfram Alpha'.
Thought for the day with the religious commentator Clifford Longley.
Solicitor Jocelyn Cockburn and MP Eric Joyce debate how the Human Rights act should apply to British armed forces abroad.
Political editor Nick Robinson, Professor Vernon Bogdanor and Jim Sheridan MP discuss Michael Martin's precarious position as the Speaker of the House of Commons.
James Naughtie talks to former footballer Eric Cantona and film director Ken Loach about their film Looking for Eric.
Former government advisor Aaron David Miller discusses President Obama's diplomatic strategy towards Israel.
Evan Davis talks to disabled athlete Oscar Pistorius about his struggle to compete in the Olympics.
Foreign affairs expert Charu Lata Hogg discusses whether the war in Sri Lanka can be read as a microcosm of the wider power struggle between India and China.
Mark Mardell reports on the European elections from the Czech republic.
TV adventurer Bear Grylls discusses his new position as new Chief Scout with young scouts Sally Milner and Charlie Roper.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (b00kcr2n)
God is back, according to John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of The Economist. He argues that religion is resurgent around the world, driven by consumerism, globalisation and the failure of secular politics such as communism. God is Back: How the Global Rise of Faith is Changing the World, co-written with Adrian Wooldridge, is published by Allen Lane.
The novelist Maggie Gee questions whether, despite anti-discrimination laws, we are crueller today in the era of reality TV and celebrity-bashing than we have been in the past. Maggie's article, The Cruelty of Strangers, is in the June edition of Prospect magazine.
Richard Eyre directs a new play set in West Africa that looks at the consequences when one country imposes its ideals on another. The Observer is at the National Theatre.
Economist Robert J Shiller argues that finances are not led by mathematical formulae but by our 'animal spirits'. Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism, co-written with George A Akerlof, is published by Princeton University Press.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b00kcr2q)
Jean Rhys - The Blue Hour
Episode 1
Pooky Quesnel reads from Lillian Pizzichini's biography of the author Jean Rhys, best known for the 1966 novel Wide Sargasso Sea.
Jean will one day lead a dramatic and colourful life in Paris, Vienna and London, but life begins for her on the Windward Island of Dominica.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00kcrg0)
Sexual assault convictions; Maureen McGovern; Raising boys
Why is Britain so bad at securing convictions for sexual assault? Plus, getting boys back on track at school; and American singer Maureen McGovern performs live.
MON 11:00 It's My Story (b00hpj9d)
The Boxing Civil Servant
Journalist Jackie Ashley tells the story of how her fifty-something friend Miranda Carter, a high-flying civil servant at the Department of Transport, astonished friends and family when she announced that she was applying for a licence as a boxing promoter.
By day she continues to work in the corridors of power in Whitehall, but in the evenings and at weekends she mixes with the raucous boxing crowd of York Hall, Bethnal Green, in the East End of London.
MON 11:30 Rudy's Rare Records (b00p4mcp)
Series 1
The Heart of Saturday Night
Bad news for the trio when burglars ransack their record store in Brum.
The collisions of life for Grandad Rudy, father Adam and son Richie living crammed together over an old record store in Birmingham.
Generational comedy written by Danny Robins and Dan Tetsell from an original idea by Lenny Henry.
Adam Sharpe ...... Lenny Henry
Richie Sharp ...... Joe Jacobs
Rudy Sharpe ...... Larrington Walker
Tasha ...... Natasha Godfrey
Clifton ...... Jeffery Kissoon
Doctor ...... Tracy-Ann Oberman
DJ Karel ...... Andrew Brooke
Trev the Hoodie ...... Doc Brown
Producer: Lucy Armitage.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2008.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b00kcrgb)
Consumer news and issues with Julian Worricker.
MON 12:57 Weather (b00kcrmn)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b00kcrmq)
National and international news with Shaun Ley.
MON 13:30 Counterpoint (b00kdp26)
Series 23
2009 Semi-final 2
Paul Gambaccini chairs the general knowledge music quiz.
The questions cover every aspect of music - from the classical repertoire to world music, show tunes, film scores, jazz, rock and pop.
Three contestants battle it out in the second semi-final:
Paul Grayson from Ripon
Peter Whitehead from Bromley
Tim Wise from Wallington in Surrey
Producer: Paul Bajoria
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2009.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b00kc2gm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b00jzf6b)
Ed Harris - The Moment You Feel It
The Moment You Feel It
By Ed Harris
Alf's memories come in flashes and great blank holes, along with a running commentary from the voices of his past. So how does finding a strange coat in his kitchen, remind Alf why he doesn't want a bath today? A tender, sad comedy about re-remembering your past.
Alf ..... Richard Briers
Young Alf ..... Rory Kinnear
Pru ..... Tracy Wiles
Steven ..... Hugh Ross
Marina ..... Caroline Guthrie
with Janice Acquah
Producer/Director: Jonquil Panting.
MON 15:00 Archive on 4 (b00kc071)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Saturday]
MON 15:45 Musical Migrants (b00kcszv)
Series 2
Jamaica
Jamaica: Maureen Sheridan tells her story - moving her young family to the home of reggae after the death of her husband.
MON 16:00 The Food Programme (b00kc1m1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:30 Traveller's Tree (b00kdr55)
Series 5
Turkey
Katie Derham presents the holiday magazine which examines our holiday and travel trends.
With British holiday bookings to Turkey up over 20 per cent and a host of new air routes to the country, Katie and the team look at the country that has become the most popular 'outside the Euro-zone' destination.
Sarah Rainsford, at the end of her stay in Turkey as BBC correspondent, gives an insider's guide to Instanbul, the city she has come to love, and author and journalist Jeremy Seal takes a meander inland. Plus a report on Cappodocia, one of the world's most bizarre landscapes where holiday accommodation is in caves.
A Just Radio/Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 17:00 PM (b00kctv5)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00kctx1)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.
MON 18:30 The Museum of Curiosity (b00kdr57)
Series 2
Episode 3
John Lloyd and Sean Lock host a panel show in which three distinguished guests donate fascinating exhibits to a vast imaginary museum.
Chris Addison, Rupert Sheldrake and Bettany Hughes donate objects of extreme interest to the world's most eclectic museum.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b00kcsgh)
Susan tells Eddie that Vicky's coming to Neil's birthday lunch, so she's going to have to get the best china out. Eddie knows she's as keen as everyone else to meet Vicky.
Ruth's been on edge over Pip's maths exam, which seems to go ok. David's not expecting Pip to get an A - he just wants her to pass.
Robert searches the internet to see if Joe and Eddie's 'treasure' is of real value, and notices a couple of mediaeval coins worth about 30 pounds. Joe wishes they were worth more but Robert's enthusiastic at the realisation that there was a mediaeval settlement somewhere in Ambridge. Joe suddenly becomes very vague about where they found the coins.
Joe tells Eddie it's the tip of the iceberg. The bump in the ground at Grange Farm must be a mediaeval hoard, and once Edward gets the tenancy, the hoard will belong to the Grundys. It's come just in time for Eddie, with his work drying up. Joe points out Bridge Farm will need help with their new drainage system. But with half the village up in arms about the potential smell, Eddie's convinced the planning committee will turn down the application.
Episode written by Tim Stimpson.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b00kctxc)
Arts news and reviews with Mark Lawson.
Ben Stiller reprises his role as a night security guard in Night at the Museum 2, the sequel to his 2006 hit. This time the action takes place at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, where he enlists the help of the aviator Amelia Earhart, played by Amy Adams. Critic Mark Eccleston reviews the film.
The Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy in London is the largest open submission contemporary art exhibition in the world, drawing together a wide range of new works by both established and unknown living artists. Now in its 241st year, the exhibition includes around 1200 works, the majority of which are for sale. The theme this year is Making Space. Curators Richard Wilson and Eileen Cooper discuss their selections.
Zinnie Harris is part of the successful writing team behind the BBC TV spy drama Spooks, as well as being an acclaimed playwright. Earlier this year she turned her hand to opera and now she has created a new version of Ibsen's A Doll's House at the Donmar Warehouse. Mark talks to Zinnie about some of the surprising parallels between the political backdrop of the play and today's political arena.
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00kcv33)
Falco: Poseidons Gold
Episode 1
Dramatisation by Mary Cutler of the novel by Lindsey Davis, featuring her Roman detective, Falco.
Back in Rome after his adventures in Celtic Germany, Falco finds a stranger waiting at his mother's house. And it is not long before he finds himself in a fight.
Falco ...... Anton Lesser
Helena ...... Anna Madeley
Petronius ...... Ben Crowe
Mother ...... Frances Jeater
Censorinus ...... Andy Hockley
Epimandos ...... Paul Clarkson
Directed by Peter Leslie Wild.
MON 20:00 Foes Reunited (b00kdr59)
Reporter Andy Martin investigates why the first generation to grow up with peace in Northern Ireland is using social networking sites to spread messages of sectarian hatred.
Until recently it was safe for many to assume that life in Northern Ireland was more settled than it had been for decades. However, research carried out by Queens University, Belfast, pointed out something that many youth workers on the front line, and anyone looking at Bebo or Facebook websites, already knew: that the young people growing up with peace were showing themselves to be just as sectarian as their parents and grandparents.
Messages of abuse and murals of segregation may be coming down from the gables of houses and buildings, but on the 'walls' of social networking sites they are multiplying rapidly.
Andy asks why teenagers with no direct experience of the Troubles are determined to continue the arguments and sectarianism of the past. He talks to young people who explain why their harbour such feelings. He talks to teachers, parents and youth workers about the difficulties of policing these websites, which are being used to organise meetings between Catholics and Protestants to taunt one another and even to fight or riot.
The programme also examines cases where such hatred has led to savage violence and murder.
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b00gdjvc)
Malaysia: Racial Supremacy No More?
For nearly four decades, ethnic Malays have benefited from positive discrimination over Malaysians of ethnic Chinese and Indian origin - which make up nearly 40 percent of the population.
But in 2008, the country's unique racial compact began to be strongly challenged from within. Mukul Devichand reports on the tensions and meets Malay, Indian and Chinese young people on the front lines of the struggle between ingrained racism and the possibility of a more equal future.
MON 21:00 Costing the Earth (b00kdr5c)
Whose Amazon Is It Anyway?
In negotiations for the global climate change deal due to be sealed at the UN conference in Copenhagen at the end of 2009, a key issue will be the system of financial incentives to reward developing countries that succeed in reducing the rate of deforestation.
This implicitly recognises tropical forests - especially the Amazon, biggest of them all - as part of the common global heritage, and in Brazil this can play into long-standing and widely-believed fears of an international plot to wrest sovereignty of the forest from the Brazilian nation, for financial and strategic ends.
The sensitivity of this issue was shown by the furore over Johan Eliasch's acquisition of a large area of forest and the perception that through the Cool Earth website, sovereign Brazilian territory is in effect being sold online. The fears have been further stoked by reports from the Brazilian intelligence service and serving military officers, claiming that the presence of large numbers of international NGOs working in indigenous-controlled frontier areas represents a significant security threat.
Under the Amazon Fund system set up by the Brazilians this year, foreign donations (one billion US dollars anticipated in 2008-2009) linked to reduced deforestation are administered entirely by a committee of Brazilians, aimed at pre-empting claims of 'internationalisation' of the Amazon.
This programme looks at how this debate is playing out in Brazil; on the one hand, deforestation is increasingly seen as a national disgrace that stains the country's global reputation, but on the other is a reluctance to be lectured by interfering foreigners who destroyed their own forests centuries ago.
MON 21:30 Start the Week (b00kcr2n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:58 Weather (b00kczqt)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b00kd1q1)
National and international news and analysis with Ritula Shah.
Amid mounting pressure for the Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin, to resign, there is evidence that disillusioned voters are likely to opt for extremist parties in the June elections.
President Obama puts pressure on Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu to stop settlements.
Are the Tamil Tigers extinct following their military defeat?
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00kd3j5)
Colm Toibin - Brooklyn
Meeting the Family
Niamh Cusack reads Colm Toibin's story of duty, love and a girl who moved from the south of Ireland to seek a new life in New York in the 1950s.
As Eilis' romance with Tony Fiorello blossoms, life in Brooklyn takes on a new rhythm and it is time for Eilis to experience her first Italian meal.
MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (b00k8t3x)
Michael Rosen takes another journey into the world of words, language and the way we speak.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00kd3jp)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with David Wilby.
TUESDAY 19 MAY 2009
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b00kcnyt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b00kcr2q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00kcp2h)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00kcp7h)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00kcp6b)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b00kcpdn)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00kcphc)
Daily prayer and reflection with the Most Rev Peter Smith, Archbishop of Cardiff.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b00kcpk5)
Anna Hill asks if the organic dairy market has reached saturation point.
Supplies of organic milk are outstripping demand and causing price cuts to farmers. While one large company blames consumers for the 'sudden and dramatic drop' in sales, another says there is a glut in the market. Anna asks if it is still worth farmers converting in the current market.
TUE 06:00 Today (b00kcprg)
Presented by John Humphrys and Sarah Montague.
GMB union leader Paul Kenny discusses claims of allowance abuses by its MPs.
President Obama has urged the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the idea of a Palestinian state. Israeli diplomat Alon Pinkas discusses.
Charity worker Helen Atkins says the attempted purchase of sex should be illegal.
Professor Douglas J Levey explains how mockingbirds can remember the faces of people who go too close to their nests and then single them out for attack.
M&S chairman Sir Stuart Rose discusses the retailer's fall in profits.
Oxfam's David White discusses the need for humanitarian aid in Sri Lanka.
Environment correspondent Sarah Mukherjee reports from the shores of Lake Windermere on the future of lakes around the world.
Thought for the day with Canon Lucy Winkett of St Paul's Cathedral.
A report examining what MI5 knew about the London bombers before their 2005 attacks is published later. Security correspondent Gordon Correra and Rachel North, who was injured in the bombings and has represented the victims and their families, discuss what could be contained in the report. (The audio has been edited from the version broadcast on the programme.)
Conservative leader David Cameron discusses the ways MPs' expenses would change if his party were elected. Political editor Nick Robinson reports on the calls for the Commons Speaker Michael Martin to resign.
Reporter James Alexander examines claims from scientists that they have worked out what is causing 'the Hum'.
General Sir Mike Jackson discusses a ruling on the protection of soldiers' human rights.
Father Patrick Dubois and Dr Jean-Marc Dreyfus, a holocaust historian, discuss the use of 'mobile killing units' by the Nazis.
Publicist Max Clifford discusses why the media got involved in the story of Alfie Patten, the boy who was reported to have conceived a child when he was 12 years old.
Author Tom Standage and Peter Kendall, of the National Farmers' Union, discuss how the history of food has affected the history of man.
TUE 09:00 What's the Point of...? (b00kdry6)
Series 2
Formula One
Quentin Letts takes a witty but thought provoking look at the world of Formula One motor racing.
TUE 09:30 The Flight from Tehran: British-Iranians 30 Years On (b00gkrtt)
Freedom, Independence, Islamic Republic
Exiles from the Iranian revolution talk to British-Iranian writer David Mattin about leaving their homeland and family behind to make a new life in Britain.
David hears how many of those who participated in the early days of the revolution subsequently faced persecution at the hands of the fundamentalist regime of the Ayatollah Khomeini and had to escape to Britain.
A Wise Buddah Creative production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b00kk3kz)
Jean Rhys - The Blue Hour
Episode 2
Pooky Quesnel reads from Lillian Pizzichini's biography of the author Jean Rhys, best known for the 1966 novel Wide Sargasso Sea.
Arriving from the West Indies at the age of 17, Jean is sent to a chilly girls' school in Cambridge.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00kcr8p)
Ageing foster carers; Weddings on a budget
Should foster parents' age matter? Plus, Kuwait's first female MPs; crime writer Yrsa Sigurdardottir on Iceland's financial crisis; and tips on how to reduce wedding costs.
TUE 11:00 Nature (b00kdtpw)
Series 2
Alien Attitudes
Brett Westwood asks leading conservationists whether we are being consistent in our approach to non-native plants and animals.
We cull ruddy ducks and uproot Himalayan balsam, but we also enjoy watching little owls and hares in the countryside. None of these species is native to the United Kingdom, but the way in which we think of and deal with them can appear contrary and illogical.
Brett asks which species should we nip in the bud, and which we should learn to live with.
TUE 11:30 Libraries and Labyrinths: Borges and Me (b00kdtpy)
Peter White gets to grips with Jorge Luis Borges, the much-loved Argentinean poet, essayist, and short-story writer, whose tales of fantasy and dreamworlds are classics of 20th-century world literature.
As he did to great effect with our Milton documentary, 'Visions of Paradise', Peter uses his own blindness as a way of probing a great writer's experience of his loss of sight. It's a novel and compelling way of opening up Borges' work.
Labyrinths, intricate puzzles and game-playing characterise Borges' short stories such as 'Fictions', 'The Aleph', and indeed 'Labyrinths'. We'll relate this to his years of close reading of world literature, his playfulness, and the fact that through his long years of myopia, he stocked his mind with books, preparing for the blindness that he knew would come.
Borges detested the regime of the dictator General Peron. So it wasn't until the end of Peronism in 1955 that the author was appointed Director of the National Library in Buenos Aires. By then he was almost completely blind: "I speak of God's splendid irony in granting me at once 800,000 books and darkness," he noted. We visit the National Library and find out how Borges' work is currently being converted into Braille for the country's blind readers.
To compensate for his loss of vision, Borges turned again to poetry, a form of writing that he could more easily revise in his head than on paper. He also continued his pursuit of knowledge, acquiring a taste for the old Anglo Saxon language and Old Norse.
Producer: Mark Smalley.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b00kcrg2)
Call You and Yours
Consumer news and issues with Julian Worricker.
The government’s investing in training and apprenticeships for people to work in care – will this be enough to maintain standards in a sector under pressure to cut costs. Listeners tell us about their experiences of care homes.
TUE 12:57 Weather (b00kcrl9)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b00kcrms)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.
TUE 13:30 The Music Group (b00kdtq0)
Series 3
Episode 6
Comedian, broadcaster and GP Dr Phil Hammond asks each of three guests to play the track of their choice for the delight or disdain of the others.
Phil is joined by poet Grace Nichols and former Slade frontman Noddy Holder. Noddy uses the record he brings in to help explain his love of rock'n'roll, and Grace's record offers a Caribbean take on Don Juan.
A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b00kcsgh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b00kdttk)
Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders
Old Unhappy Far-Off Things
By John Mortimer.
A Christmas treat for all Rumpole fans and all Radio 4 listeners who love a good whodunit with a cracking court case thrown in for good measure.
Benedict Cumberbatch, plays the young, feisty, devastatingly acute legal eagle Horace Rumpole in his first big murder case, where he defends for the first time "alone and without a leader" in the case which was to make his name; and of course the story also marks the beginning of his life-long liason with "She who must be obeyed"; as we hear, recalled through the memoirs of the older Rumpole, how young Rumpole found himself engaged and married without being absolutely sure that he had in fact proposed in the first place!
It is the fifties, a short decade after the end of the war, and two war heroes have been shot dead. The only suspect is Simon Jerrold, the son of one of the victims, and he faces the death penalty. Defending him is deemed hopeless, so the case is handed to a novice. But the novice's superiors didn't count on the tenacity and wit of the young and hungry Horace Rumpole
Adapted by Richard Stoneman
Producer/Director ..... Marilyn Imrie
A Catherine Bailey production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:00 Making History (b00kdttm)
Vanessa Collingridge presents the series exploring ordinary people's links with the past. The story of John Bellingham, the only person to murder a British Prime Minister.
TUE 15:30 Lost and Found (b00kdvmb)
The Undertaker's Tale
Series of three short stories by major writers which have only recently come to light.
By Mark Twain.
Newly published in the book 'Who Is Mark Twain?' and The Strand Magazine, Twain's tale about the funeral industry had lain undiscovered for 130 years. Twain tackles the same problems that we are challenged with today and pokes fun at the same type of characters that inhabit our present-day world.
This world broadcast premiere is read by Hector Elizondo.
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:45 Musical Migrants (b00kctm0)
Series 2
Germany
A yearning to see where her favourite composers lived led violinist Amber McPherson from the United States to Leipzig, Germany. Getting to know the tradition from which Bach came forced her to re-examine everything she had learnt hitherto. Producer: Rachel Hopkin.
TUE 16:00 The Eureka Years (b007xnfq)
Series 3
1866
Adam Hart-Davis explores spectacular years in the history of science.
Charles Darwin is an international celebrity following the publication of On the Origin of Species. Growing peas in a monastic garden a thousand miles away, however, Austrian priest Gregor Mendel holds the key to the process of heredity, the missing link in Darwin's theory.
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b00kf01v)
Series 18
Fred Astaire
Matthew Parris presents the biographical series in which his guests choose someone who has inspired their lives.
Physician, journalist and broadcaster Dr Michael O'Donnell discusses celebrated singer, actor and choreographer Fred Astaire. Joining him are Astaire's daugher, Ava Astaire McKenzie, and lifelong Astaire enthusiast and Oxford don Dr Kathleen Riley.
TUE 17:00 PM (b00kctsg)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00kctv7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.
TUE 18:30 Heresy (b00kf0fv)
Series 6
Episode 6
Can the internet be trusted? Victoria Coren puts this to journalist Euan Ferguson, writer and broadcaster Clive James and comedian David Mitchell. From May 2009.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b00kcsfn)
Pat's off to the planning meeting. There have been written objections so Pat and Tony just hope Kelvin can convince the committee. In no time, Pat's on the phone telling Tony that their application sailed through. The objections were dismissed out of hand.
Clarrie wastes no time in putting forward Eddie for the digging work. She hides her disappointment when Pat and Tony explain it needs specialised equipment but Pat feels rotten about it, and thinks they should have a word with Kelvin.
Brian's introduction to Marshall is slightly awkward, especially when he learns all about Marshall's cooking talents. Brian would rather talk shop with Debbie, so sends Marshall off on a guided tour with Jennifer. Sensing Brian's discomfort, Debbie asks him outright how he feels about Marshall. Brian insists he likes him but swiftly moves the conversation onto business. Debbie feels they should be getting the set-aside into production. Brian doesn't want to discount the shoot completely and Debbie agrees to give it some thought.
Debbie's concerned that Lilian won't have anything to do with Brian or Jennifer but is sure she'll want to meet Marshall. She'll take him over tomorrow and see what Lilian says.
Episode written by Tim Stimpson.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b00kctx3)
Annette Crosbie returns to television comedy in Hope Springs, starring alongside Alex Kingston and Ronni Ancona as a hotelier in the Scottish Highlands who gets embroiled with a gang of criminals. Mark Lawson talks to Annette about her long screen career in classics such as Edward the Seventh, One Foot in the Grave and the cinema release Calendar Girls.
Singer Mary Hopkin - who made her name in 1968 with Those Were the Days on the Beatles' Apple label - discusses talent shows, Eurovision and her new album, which features songs from her own archive.
Playwright Wallace Shawn stars alongside Miranda Richardson in his explicit new play, Grasses of a Thousand Colours, at the Royal Court Theatre in London. The director is Shawn's long time collaborator and My Dinner with Andre co-star Andre Gregory. Adam Mars-Jones reviews.
Matthew Boulton was one of the country's most significant inventors, entrepreneurs and industrial pioneers. He spent most of his life in Birmingham and to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his death, the city is hosting exhibitions which celebrate the technological advances he helped develop. Matthew Boulton And The Art Of Making Money focuses on his role as the father of modern coinage; Matthew Boulton: Selling What The World Desires explores both his commercial interests and partnerships, and his personal love of design, landscape gardening and fashion. Mark Lawson assesses Boulton's life and work with writer and historian Jenny Uglow, author of The Lunar Men, and Dr Richard Clay, curator of The Art Of Making Money.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00khhyp)
Falco: Poseidons Gold
Episode 2
Dramatisation by Mary Cutler of the novel by Lindsey Davis, featuring her Roman detective, Falco.
Not only is Falco accused of murder, but he has discovered that his brother was involved in an art dealing scam. To make matters worse, Helena has some searching questions for him about the history of his love life.
Falco ...... Anton Lesser
Helena ...... Anna Madeley
Petronius ...... Ben Crowe
Epimandos ...... Paul Clarkson
Directed by Peter Leslie Wild.
TUE 20:00 World Heritage: Curse or Blessing? (b00kgzmw)
While Britain's heritage officials decide whether to nominate more sights for World Heritage status, Emily Maitlis asks if the UN's heritage police is a force for good, protecting our cities against greedy developers, or if it is stopping the flow of modern life?
Should the notion of a global heritage be allowed to override local democracy? What can this organisation do for sites that have been shattered by conflict or decimated by industry? Has heritage's equivalent to a Michelin star lost its integrity on the world stage?
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b00kf119)
Peter White visits the Royal National College for the Blind at Hereford.
The College provides further and vocational education for visually-impaired students. While boasting a new multi-million pound sports and health centre which will host part of the 2012 Paralympic Games, it is suffering a shortfall of half a million pounds, a backlog of employment tribunals and a worry about its future income.
TUE 21:00 Case Notes (b00kf11c)
Surgery
Dr Mark Porter investigates the past and future of surgery. He meets Prof Harold Ellis, a surgeon who qualified in the summer that the NHS was born, and hears about some of the latest surgical techniques, including how a gall bladder can be removed with just one tiny incision through the bellybutton.
TUE 21:30 What's the Point of...? (b00kdry6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b00kczqh)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b00kczx1)
News from a global perspective with Ritula Shah.
The Speaker resigns - but should it be just the start of political reform?
An ancient fossil gives clues to our evolutionary origins.
Another report into the July 7th bombings - but is a public inquiry now overdue?
President Obama announces cuts in emissions for new cars.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00kd1q3)
Colm Toibin - Brooklyn
Coney Island
Niamh Cusack reads Colm Toibin's story of duty, love and a girl who moved from the south of Ireland to seek a new life in New York in the 1950s.
Tony takes Eilis for a trip to Coney Island to celebrate her exam success. But Eilis' new found happiness is short-lived, as news from home turns her American life sour.
TUE 23:00 The Secret World (b0121myp)
Series 1
Episode 6
From William Hague to Simon Cowell, Jon Culshaw explores the bizarre private lives of famous folk. From May 2009.
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00kd3j7)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with Sean Curran.
WEDNESDAY 20 MAY 2009
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b00kcnyw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b00kk3kz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00kcp2k)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00kcp7k)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00kcp6d)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b00kcpdq)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00kcphf)
Daily prayer and reflection with the Most Rev Peter Smith, Archbishop of Cardiff.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b00kcpk7)
Anna Hill hears predictions that the government's healthy-eating message could lead to a significant growth in the use of polytunnels. Research at the University of Reading suggests that if we all ate the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day we would need to grow many more crops under plastic, leading to a marked change in the way the countryside looks.
WED 06:00 Today (b00kcprj)
Presented by James Naughtie and Sarah Montague.
Chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas discusses the fighting between the army and the Taleban in the Swat Valley, Pakistan.
Tom Feilden reports on a new strain of MRSA that can trigger a deadly form of pneumonia in people who catch the flu.
Roland Buerk reports on how Japan has been affected by the global downturn.
Dr Sean Kingsley, of Wreck Watch International, and Mark Beattie-Edwards, of the Nautical Archaeology Society, discuss if historically important shipwrecks should be raised.
James Naughtie examines how the anger at MPs' expenses has turned the spotlight onto politicians.
Professor John Pethica, chief scientist at the National Physical Laboratory, explains the significance of World Metrology Day.
Thought for the day with Akhandadhi Vas, a Vaishnav Hindu teacher and theologian.
Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, discusses the long term future of the licence fee.
After nine years as House of Commons speaker, Michael Martin will step down on June 21. Tory MP Alan Duncan and Labour minister Hilary Benn reflect on a day most MPs never expected to see. Political editor Nick Robinson examines what will happen following the resignation. The audio of this item has been changed from the version broadcast on the programme.
Can the public be trusted to choose public art? Professor of art Andrew Shoben and journalist Ossian Ward discuss.
Members of the House of Lords Roy Hattersley, Shirley Williams and Norman Lamont discuss the first Commons Speaker to be effectively forced out of office for 300 years.
Can the US win the war in Afghanistan? Lord Guthrie discusses whether President Barack Obama's new strategy in the area has been a success and considers the continuing conflict in Pakistan.
Chris Morris reports on the high hopes for a new, stable Indian government.
Journalist Michael Kelly and charity worker Maeve Lewis discuss a report into child abuse in Ireland.
WED 09:00 Midweek (b00kfdq7)
Libby Purves is joined by Penelope Wilton, Colm O'Gorman, Donald Reeves and Bradley and Soren Stauffer Kruse.
Penelope Wilton is one of Britain's leading actresses. She is about play Gertrude in Michael Grandage's production of Hamlet. Her work is extensive and includes - for theatre - The Family Reunion, The Chalk Garden (for which she won the Evening Standard Award for Best Actress) and The House of Bernarda Alba, for television Half Broken Things, Dr Who and Ever Decreasing Circles, and for film The History Boys, Pride and Prejudice and Calendar Girls. Hamlet is part of the Donmar in the West End season at Wyndham's Theatre.
Colm O'Gorman is Ireland's executive director of Amnesty International and founder of the charity One in Four, which helps victims of abuse. When he was 14 he suffered sexual abuse over several years by a local parish priest, who went on to be accused of 66 charges of sexual offences against teenage boys. In 1998 he sued the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope. Beyond Belief is published by Hodder & Stoughton.
Donald Reeves is probably best known for being Rector of St James's, Piccadilly, where he created a radical church with a coffee house and street market. In his book, Memoirs of a Very Dangerous Man, he tells of life in the church as well as his several brushes with Lady Thatcher and his devotion to working for peace in the Balkans. Memoirs of a Very Dangerous Man is published by Continuum.
The Sugar Dandies are made up of Soren and Bradley Stauffer Kruse. They are the same sex ballroom dance champions and the first male couple to be regular ballroom dance competitors. They will be performing in Ida Barr's Variety Parade at the Sheffield Lyceum on Sunday, 24th May.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b00kk3jm)
Jean Rhys - The Blue Hour
Episode 3
Pooky Quesnel reads from Lillian Pizzichini's biography of the author Jean Rhys, best known for the 1966 novel Wide Sargasso Sea.
Jean becomes a chorus girl in Edwardian London and learns about love the hard way.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00kcr8r)
Working women; Rita Dove
Is 'having it all' a myth? Plus, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Rita Dove on poetry and Sonata Mulattica; and a profile of Dalia Grybauskaite - Lithuania's first female president.
WED 11:00 Petrov's Dilemma (b00c55vt)
Jonathan Charles hears the story of a man who obeyed his instincts and in doing so potentially saved the world from nuclear disaster.
On 26 September 1983, lieutenant colonel Stanislav Petrov, manning an installation where the Soviet Union monitored its early-warning satellites over the United States, was confronted by an alarm from a satellite signalling an American nuclear missile attack. Under enormous stress, he took the decision that the report was a false one triggered by system malfunction.
Contributors include diplomat Sir Christopher Mayer, KGB colonel and later a defector to the west Oleg Gordievsky, the Times diplomatic editor Michael Binyon and American nuclear weapons expert Paul Bracken.
WED 11:30 A Charles Paris Mystery (b00wlqd3)
Murder Unprompted
7 Premiere
Can the smooth thespian sleuth solve a murder, woo Francis - and make it on stage in time for curtain up? Stars Bill Nighy.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b00kcrg4)
Consumer news and issues with Winifred Robinson.
WED 12:57 Weather (b00kcrlc)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b00kcrmv)
At Prime Minister's Questions, Gordon Brown dismisses calls for a general election. Labour's chief whip Nick Brown gives us the inside story of Speaker Michael Martin's decision to stand down.
And the British ambassador to Burma gives a first-hand account of the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi.
WED 13:30 The Media Show (b00kfgcn)
Steve Hewlett is joined by singer-songwriter and political activist Billy Bragg to discuss a new French law where persistent unauthorised downloaders are disconnected from the web. Should the same system be introduced in the UK?
At a time when radio listening overall is increasing, the number of children listening is falling. As Radio 4 pulls the plug on Go4it, Steve asks what the future holds for children's radio.
And how should the surplus BBC licence fee - originally earmarked for the government's digital switchover - be put to best use?
WED 14:00 The Archers (b00kcsfn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b00kfgcq)
The Man inside the Suitcase
By Judy Upton. Helen and Naomi attend auctions of unclaimed airport luggage, contents unseen, in the hope of finding valuables that they can sell on the internet.
Helen ...... Claudie Blakley
Naomi ...... Victoria Hamilton
Katie ...... Lizzy Watts
Paul ...... Matt Addis
The Auctioneer ...... Stephen Hogan
With Janice Acquah, Philip Fox, Paul Rider and Malcolm Tierney
Directed by Gemma Jenkins.
WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b00kfgcs)
Paul Lewis and a panel of guests answer calls on holiday finance. His guests are Simon Calder, travel editor of The Independent, Frances Tuke of the Association of British Travel Agents and Jonathan Buttery of Voyager Insurance.
WED 15:30 Lost and Found (b00kdvm4)
Blackberry Day
Malachi Whitaker was the pen name of Marjorie Olive Whitaker. She wrote a number of short stories in the twenties and thirties and was regarded as one of the finest authors of that time.
Whitaker chronicled the lives of ordinary folk in the north of England, with sensitivity and humanity. She died in 1975. Her forgotten story, 'Blackberry Day' is a moving account of a woman in the Yorkshire Dales finding it hard to come terms with her husband's retirement from the mill.
Reader: Rosalind Ayres
Producer/Director: Martin Jarvis
A Jarvis & Ayres Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 15:45 Musical Migrants (b00kctm2)
Series 2
Spain
Five portraits of people who relocated to other countries, influenced by music.
In 1992, osteopath Mark Shurey happened to be catch a broadcast from the Seville Expo on television. Famous flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia was playing and Mark's life was changed forever. After that, his days working for the NHS in Norwich were numbered.
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b00kfgcv)
Slumming
'Slumming' was the name given to the thousands of white middle class voyeurs crossing boundaries of race, class and sexual orientation to trip into the worlds of the poor on their dorstep. There they learnt to drop the restraints of respectability and savoured an often salatious sense of sex and discovery in the period of prohibition. The jazz raged, the 'pansies' preened, but after the party what was the effect on the communities they visitied? Laurie talks to the author of Slumming, Chad Heap, and the writer Bonnie Greer about the impact that the wild white adventuring in urban areas had on sexual and racial politics in America.
WED 16:30 Case Notes (b00kf11c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 17:00 PM (b00kctsj)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00kctv9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.
WED 18:30 Elvenquest (b00kfgcx)
Series 1
Episode 4
Sirens interrupt a sea crossing. Are they what they seem? Fantasy comedy starring Darren Boyd and Dave Lamb. From May 2009.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b00kcsfq)
David finds Tom sensitive on the subject of Annette. Tom blames tiredness, and when Pip arrives David has two miserable people to deal with. She thinks she's botched her biology exam. Tom assures her exam results don't matter - life has a lot worse things to throw at you. David offers to cheer her up with a visit to the barn owl's nest, and Pip takes some pictures of the eggs.
Marshall feels Brian doesn't like him, but Debbie assures him it's just because Brian sees Marshall as a sort of threat to his status. On the way to Lilian's she fills him in on some family background and he's fascinated, lamenting that his own family's dull by comparison.
Lilian asks after Jennifer but declines Debbie's invitation to her party next week. Matt arrives and asserts that Marshall's in the right business - in fact he's looking to expand into farming himself now that development's gone down the swanee. He asks for a meeting with Debbie tomorrow and she reluctantly agrees.
On their way home she and Marshall agree it was all a bit weird, and Debbie admits she only agreed to the meeting because she didn't know what else to say.
Episode written by Tim Stimpson.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b00kctx5)
Arts news and reviews.
With a tour around artist Sir Howard Hodgkin's studio to see his pair of new monumental works called As Time Goes By, the largest pictures he has ever made.
The poet Simon Armitage reviews the film adaptation of Kevin Sampson's 1998 novel Awaydays about a group of Merseyside lads who embrace football hooliganism, drink, sex, rock'n'roll and drugs to escape from the tedium of their lives in the early days of Margaret Thatcher's government.
Eg White, the writer behind hits by Duffy, Adele and Will Young, talks about the art and craft of songwriting.
Plus, the latest from the Cannes Film Festival including a review of Quentin Tarantino's World War II film Inglourious Basterds.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00khhyr)
Falco: Poseidons Gold
Episode 3
Dramatisation by Mary Cutler of the novel by Lindsey Davis, featuring her Roman detective, Falco.
Falco and Helena visit Marina to see if they can discover what happened on Festus' last night in Rome. Falco is left with no choice but to seek out his estranged father.
Falco ...... Anton Lesser
Helena ...... Anna Madeley
Marina ...... Miranda Keeling
Geminus ...... Trevor Peacock
Directed by Peter Leslie Wild.
WED 20:00 Unreliable Evidence (b00kfgcz)
The Law and Protest
Clive Anderson presents the series analysing the legal issues of the day.
Conflict between police and G20 demonstrators raised serious questions about the distinctions in law between our right to peaceful protest and police powers to prevent violence and disorder. What are the legal limits of our right to express dissent? Is it acceptable for police to use powers under the Terrorism Act to prevent demonstrations and is the police tactic of 'kettling' to control crowds actually legal?
WED 20:45 Letters to Mary (b00kfgd1)
Episode 2
Series in which three writers send an informal letter to the influential British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, 250 years after her birth, updating her on the progress of her often radical ideas.
Richard Reeves, director of the independent think tank Demos, updates Mary on how her ideas about republicanism have - or have not - advanced in Britain in the 250 years since her birth.
Although generally thought of as a feminist, Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Men is a political pamphlet attacking aristocracy and advocating republicanism. It proved to be the first salvo in a pamphlet war, responding to Burke's defence of constitutional monarchy, aristocracy and the Church of England. In the pamphlet she attacked not only hereditary privilege but also the language used by Burke to defend it. Perhaps most significantly and originally, she criticised Burke's justification of an unequal society founded on the passivity of women.
WED 21:00 Nature (b00kdtpw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 Midweek (b00kfdq7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b00kczqk)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b00kczx3)
The MPs expenses row - a chance to reform the British political system?
US Senate blocks funds for Guantanamo closure.
Civilian victims of the conflict in Sri Lanka - will anyone be held responsible?
An inquiry into widespread abuse of children at Catholic church institutions in Ireland.
Indonesia - a report on how the world's fourth biggest country copes with current economic downturn.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00kd1q5)
Colm Toibin - Brooklyn
Too Far from Home
Niamh Cusack reads Colm Toibin's story of duty, love and a girl who moved from the south of Ireland to seek a new life in New York in the 1950s.
Eilis' happiness in Brooklyn has been shattered by the news of her beloved sister's death and Tony is the only one who can offer her comfort.
WED 23:00 Self-Storage (b01g97vg)
Series 1
Break-Up
No woman, no job. Dave has no choice but to stow everything.
Following the breakup of his marriage, Dave moves all his possessions into The Storage Garden, meeting security guard Ron and mysterious 'neighbour' Geoff.
Stars Reece Shearsmith and Mark Heap.
Sitcom written by Tom Collinson and Barnaby Power.
Dave ...... Reece Shearsmith.
Geoff ...... Mark Heap.
Ron ...... Tom Goodman-Hill.
Judy ...... Rosie Cavaliero.
Sarah ...... Susan Earl.
Boss ...... Phil Nichol.
Producer: Ed Morrish
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2007.
WED 23:15 Peacefully in their Sleeps (b007x4sw)
Geoff Peacock
Spoof obituary series by Chris Chantler and Howard Read.
Renowned broadcaster Roydon Postlethwaite explores the many lives and businesses of Britain's most amiable entrepreneur, uncovering tales of greed, revenge, conspiracy and plums.
Roydon Postlethwaite ...... Geoff McGivern
Geoff Peacock ...... Paul Putner
Peter Wilkinson ...... Benedict Wong
Moonsusan ...... Julia Deakin
Nigel Dench ...... Robin Ince
Mrs Dench ...... Liza Sadovy.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00kd3j9)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with Robert Orchard.
THURSDAY 21 MAY 2009
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b00kcnyy)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b00kk3jm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00kcp2m)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00kcp7m)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00kcp6g)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b00kcpds)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00kcphh)
Daily prayer and reflection with the Most Rev Peter Smith, Archbishop of Cardiff.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b00kcpk9)
The Conservative Party has committed itself to a cull of badgers if it achieves power in the next election. Charlotte Smith asks the shadow environment secretary, Nick Herbert, why he thinks that badgers should pay the price for the spread of TB in cattle. Is a cull essential for the welfare of cattle and badgers or a waste of money that will do nothing to halt the long-term spread of TB?
THU 06:00 Today (b00kcprl)
Presented by James Naughtie and Evan Davis.
MP Bill Wiggin says he has not claimed any public money for a mortgage he does not have.
Mark Serwotka of the Public and Commercial Services Union discusses the claim that the current government is 'morally bankrupt' and if union candidates should be put forward in future general elections.
Former British ambassador to Iran Sir Richard Dalton discusses if US President Barack Obama is right to be 'concerned' about Iran's missile development.
Behavioural economist Dan Ariely explains the result of experiments which test how far normal people are willing to use a system to their advantage while rationalising their actions to themselves.
Financial experts Avinash Persaud and Terry Smith discuss whether derivatives caused the financial crisis.
Andrew North reports on the successful third attempt of veteran British adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
Thought for the day with Reverend Roy Jenkins - Baptist Minister in Cardiff.
Peter Wehner and human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith discuss the problems with closing Guantanamo Bay.
Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman discusses how the MPs' expenses system must change. Political editor Nick Robinson reacts to the latest allegations.
New Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and two young poetry readers explain the importance of reading poetry from memory.
Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students, and Prof Les Ebdon, of Universities UK's Student Experience Policy Committee, discuss if students are becoming more demanding of their institutions.
What changes need to be made to the way the House of Commons works? Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party, explains what proposals she would recommend.
Why aren't there more songs about cricket? Musician Neil Hannon has teamed up with Dublin singer Thomas Walsh to record a whole album of cricket songs, called The Duckworth Lewis Method. Colin Paterson reports.
What impact has the expenses row had in Scotland? Correspondent Colin Blane visits the constituency of Chancellor Alistair Darling, Edinburgh South West.
What are derivatives and why is the US Senate trying to regulate them further? Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable explains.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b00kfqm6)
The Whale - A History
Melvyn Bragg and guests Steve Jones, Bill Amos and Eleanor Weston discuss the evolutionary history of the whale. The ancestor of all whales alive today was a small, land-based mammal with cloven hoofs, perhaps like a pig or a big mole. How this creature developed into the celebrated leviathan of the deep is one of the more extraordinary stories in the canon of evolution. The whale has undergone vast changes in size, has moved from land to water, lost its legs and developed specialised features such as filter feeding and echo location. How it achieved this is an exemplar of how evolution works and how natural selection can impose extreme changes on the body shape and abilities of living things. How the story of the whales was pieced together also reveals the various forms of evidence - from fossils to molecules - that we now use to understand the ancestry of life on Earth.Steve Jones is Professor of Genetics at University College London; Eleanor Weston is a mammalian palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum, London; Bill Amos is Professor of Evolutionary Genetics at Cambridge University.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b00kk3jp)
Jean Rhys - The Blue Hour
Episode 4
Pooky Quesnel reads from Lillian Pizzichini's biography of the author Jean Rhys, best known for the 1966 novel Wide Sargasso Sea.
Now married but still penniless, things start to look up for Jean when she moves to Vienna in 1920.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00kcr8t)
ME in young people; Sarah Outen
What should be done to help young people with ME? Plus, rower Sarah Outen live from her small boat in the middle of the Indian Ocean; and a look at Hypatia of Alexandria.
THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (b00kfqm8)
BBC foreign correspondents with the stories behind the world's headlines. Introduced by Kate Adie.
THU 11:30 Happy Birthday Tommy Walker (b00kfqmb)
Nick Maes revisits and celebrates The Who's influential rock-opera Tommy, 40 years on.
Featuring interviews with The Who's lead singer Roger Daltrey; Ken Russell, who directed the 1975 film version; Paul Nicholas, who appeared in the film as Cousin Kevin; and Michael Cerveris, star of the 1993 Broadway musical.
The programme recalls Tommy in its various incarnations and considers its cultural and musical value and significance four decades on.
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b00kcrg6)
Consumer news and issues with Winifred Robinson.
THU 12:57 Weather (b00kcrlf)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b00kcrmx)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.
THU 13:30 Costing the Earth (b00kdr5c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Monday]
THU 14:00 The Archers (b00kcsfq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b008cr09)
University of Lies
By Peter Kesterton.
Emma is a well-off university student rather bored by her studies. She meets Andy, who works in a bar but has an exciting and dangerous past in the army in Iraq. When he suggests things are not as they seem, Emma is frightened but intrigued.
Emma ...... Jasmine Hyde
Andy ...... Carl Prekopp
Dr Wood ...... Jilly Bond
With Charlotte Ellis and Tom Sherman.
Directed by Tim Dee.
THU 15:02 Open Country (b00kbyhx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:07 on Saturday]
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b00kc1ll)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Lost and Found (b00kdv3x)
Providence and the Butler
This cannily observant early P.G. Wodehouse story was lost for 99 years, now recently discovered. It has some classic "Plum" ingredients: an eccentric Earl, an irresponsible young man, a chorus girl, and of course a butler, not Jeeves (Wodehouse hadn't created him yet!) but the ancient 'Keeling', who has more worldly wisdom than anybody.
Reader: Martin Jarvis
Director: Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis & Ayres Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 15:45 Musical Migrants (b00kctm4)
Series 2
Ireland
Five portraits of people who relocated to other countries, influenced by music.
Stella Rodrigues' complex family roots are Dutch, Portuguese, Indonesian and Indian, but it was in Ireland that she found her music, her home and herself.
THU 16:00 Open Book (b00kc262)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:30 Material World (b00kfqmd)
Quentin Cooper looks at the maths of scrappage, the government's 300 million-pound scheme for paying you 2,000 pounds to scrap your 10-year-old car. Is it actually any good for the environment?
As flowers bloom at Chelsea, we look at the evolutionary history of flowering plants and their social insect partners - the bees.
And as the news agenda was briefly dominated by the announcement of the spectacular fossilised remains of a small eocene mammal - named Ida by her discovers - Quentin looks at the scientific credentials of some of the grander claims being made, and at the high-profile manner in which the announcement was made. Can she really be the supposed 'missing link' between the primates and other mammals? Or is it more of a case of a missing link between the media and science?
THU 17:00 PM (b00kctsl)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00kctvc)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.
THU 18:30 Hut 33 (b00vy861)
Series 2
Pigs n Spivs
It's 1941 and supplies are running short in Bletchley Park, centre of the Allies' codebreaking effort.
Archie reluctantly uses the services of Mrs Best's shady contact to get some extra food and Gordon is seduced by the promise of a Superman comic.
James Cary's sitcom set at Bletchley Park - the top-secret home of the Second World War codebreakers.
Charles …. Robert Bathurst
Archie …. Tom Goodman-Hill
Minka …. Olivia Colman
Mrs Best …. Lill Roughley
Gordon …. Fergus Craig
Joshua … Alex McQueen
Spiv ...... Stephen Critchlow
Producer: Adam Bromley
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2008.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b00kcsfs)
Alistair informs David his burglar (Ryan) got six months, and admits he was relieved not to have to give evidence in court. He's glad it's all over.
Tony comes to offer Eddie some work on the new waste system, digging out the topsoil. Tony and David discuss the woes of their respective offspring, Tony commenting that Helen hasn't a clue how to cope with Annette. He's horrified to hear there's a rumour that Annette's going out with Tom. Alistair frets he's put his foot in it but David tells him not to worry. They chat about the arrangements for the single wicket.
At their meeting Matt has a business proposition for Debbie. He's got the prospect of a deal in Romania. But she cuts him straight off; she's got enough to do at the moment and can't possibly get involved in a third country. Lilian pleads that Matt just needs someone to have faith in him. As Matt storms off yet again Lilian begs Debbie to bring Marshall to say goodbye before they leave. There's nothing like a visit from a fit young man to gladden the old heart.
Episode written by Tim Stimpson.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b00kctx7)
Richard Eyre returns to the National Theatre to direct Matt Charman's new play The Observer, about the impact of an official observation team on the outcome of the first ever democratic elections in an unspecified West African country. Anna Chancellor stars and Robin Denselow reviews.
In 2008, Sarah Palin adopted the chart-topping country music song Independance Day as part of her campaign in the American presidential election. The author of that song was Gretchen Peters, who responded to the unauthorised use of her ballad about spousal abuse by donating royalties to the pro-choice organisation Planned Parenthood. Now, with the release a new CD, Circus Girl, she is on the 11-night Wine, Women and Song tour of the UK along with fellow country artists Suzy Boggus and Matraca Berg. Gretchen talks to Kirsty Lang about Sarah Palin, her passion for storytelling and the importance of a good bottle of wine on stage.
The Tate Modern in London is staging The Long Weekend, a four-day Bank Holiday festival of performances, films, music and exhibitions. The main event is the re-exhibition of Robert Morris's installation Bodyspacemotionthings, a series of sculptural and architectural exhibits for visitors to clamber over. The exhibition caused a sensation when it was first staged in 1971 because it was the first time people were actively encouraged to climb on works of art. The art critic Richard Cork reviewed it then and takes a fresh look at it now.
As the opening of Michael Jackson's 50-date residency at the 02 Arena in London is postponed to allow for more rehearsal, music columnist Dave Hepworth reflects on the tendancy to value choregraphy over song.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00khhyt)
Falco: Poseidons Gold
Episode 4
Dramatisation by Mary Cutler of the novel by Lindsey Davis, featuring her Roman detective, Falco.
Falco has to eat humble pie and talk to his father, Geminus. Was he involved in Festus' art scam and can he help get Falco clear of his murder charge?
Falco ...... Anton Lesser
Helena ...... Anna Madeley
Geminus ...... Trevor Peacock
Petronius ...... Ben Crowe
Marponius ...... David Fleeshman
Directed by Peter Leslie Wild.
THU 20:00 A Jazz Celebration for Ascension Day (b00kfrdt)
Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, is the preacher at this Jazz Eucharist celebrating Christ's ascension into heaven.
The service, live from St Martin-in-the-Fields in London, is sung to the music of Will Todd's Mass in Blue by the BBC Daily Service Singers and St Martin's Choir accompanied by the Will Todd Ensemble, directed by Stephen Jackson.
THU 21:00 Leading Edge (b00kfrdw)
Professor John Beddington
Geoff Watts with the latest stories from the world of science. He is joined by the government's Chief Scientific Advisor, Professor John Beddington, whose background is in population biology, specialising in fish populations and the effects of fisheries on them.
That knowledge has helped Professor Beddington in understanding the economics and sustainable management of renewable resources more generally, equipping him to advise on many of the big scientific issues of our time, from fisheries and food to energy and climate change.
Professor Beddington is concerned that rising demand for food, water and energy will coincide with depleted resources and global change to produce the conditions for what he calls a 'perfect storm' - a global crisis that could strike by the year 2030. We need to use science and technology to put measures in place now, he says, if we are going to avoid global shortages of food, water and energy in 20 years time. If we do nothing, shortages and price rises will coincide with droughts, storms and rising sea level, leading to famines, migration and instability.
Last year, Cambridge physics professor David MacKay paid to publish the book he had written on sustainable energy. But bit by bit, the momentum grew. First it was spotted by the writers of blogs, then by the regular media. In the book, MacKay concentrates on the facts and figures, showing the impact of different energy strategies and the futility of some at addressing climate change.
Writer and broadcaster Gabrielle Walker reviews the book and then discusses it with David MacKay and John Beddington.
THU 21:30 In Our Time (b00kfqm6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b00kczqm)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b00kczx5)
President Obama speaks about the 'war on terror' and Guantanamo Bay.
The latest on MPs expenses. Will there now be radical change to our political system?
A rare inside view from a BBC reporter in Chechnya.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00kd1q7)
Colm Toibin - Brooklyn
Being Rose's Ghost
Niamh Cusack reads Colm Toibin's story of duty, love and a girl who moved from the south of Ireland to seek a new life in New York in the 1950s.
Following her sister's death, Eilis returns to her lonely mother in Enniscorthy for a month's visit. Once there it is hard to tell the truth about her last action in America, and harder still to resist the lure of the familiar.
THU 23:00 Down the Line (b012lm5p)
Series 3
The Elderly, Consumer Rights and the Countryside
Old people and consumer rights get the Gary Bellamy phone-in treatment. Stars Rhys Thomas and Simon Day. From January 2008.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00kd3jc)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with Sean Curran.
FRIDAY 22 MAY 2009
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b00kcnz1)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b00kk3jp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00kcp2p)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00kcp7p)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00kcp6j)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b00kcpdv)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00kcphk)
Daily prayer and reflection with the Most Rev Peter Smith, Archbishop of Cardiff.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b00kcpkc)
Charlotte Smith reports that many British farmers are continuing to routinely clip the teeth of piglets, despite an EU ban on welfare grounds. The practice - which is done to stop the young damaging sows' teats - can still be carried out where there is evidence of such injuries happening. But Compassion in World Farming says that farmers are continuing to do it as a matter of routine.
FRI 06:00 Today (b00kcprn)
With James Naughtie and Evan Davis. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather, Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b00kc1lz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b00kk3jr)
Jean Rhys - The Blue Hour
Episode 5
Pooky Quesnel reads from Lillian Pizzichini's biography of the author Jean Rhys, best known for the 1966 novel Wide Sargasso Sea.
It is now the 1930s and Jean has become an established writer, but it will be 30 years before she delivers her best-known work.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00kcr8w)
Diana Athill and Dennis Healey; Miss Behave
Diana Athill and Dennis Healey on reaching 90. Plus, female sword swallower Miss Behave; and Mills and Boon in India.
FRI 11:00 The Boar People (b00kfsgd)
Conservationist Richard Peirce explores the feral wild boar situation in Britain by finding out how they became reintroduced into the country. He also accompanies a tracker in the Forest of Dean and joins a hunter of wild boar in Sussex.
FRI 11:30 Chain Reaction (b00mpnkr)
Series 3
John Hegley and Jack Dee
The comic poet and comedian get chatting in the tag talk show, where one week's guest is the following week's interviewer.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b00kcrg8)
Consumer news and issues with Peter White.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b00kcrlh)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b00kcrmz)
The mother of Baby Peter, her partner and a lodger have been jailed for their part in the death of the toddler. We hear what the judge told them and ask why a lawyer rejected an earlier attempt to take the baby away from them.
David Cameron joins us, in the latest of our series of interviews with the party leaders.
And a view from The Roof of the World from Sir Ranulph Fiennes. He explains why, when he reached the summit of Everest, he preferred not to look down.
FRI 13:30 More or Less (b00kfsgg)
Tim Harford presents the magazine which looks at numbers everywhere, in the news, in politics and in life.
An Open University co production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b00kcsfs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b00kj9q8)
This is My Mark
Comedy by Jeff Young. Celebrity archaeologist Billy Eden is convinced that a magnificent painting is waiting to be discovered deep in a cave beneath the hills of Wales. But as he makes his descent into the earth with world class potholer Nessa Hawkes, his visionary quest is in danger of being thwarted.
Billy's wife Sarah and best friend Pam have abandoned their yoga mats, donned their cagoules and are heading for hills - as are theme park guru Gregson and his murderous sidekick Cooper.
Billy Eden ...... Dan Antopolski
Nessa Hawkes ...... Cal Jaggers
Sarah ...... Katherine Jakeways
Pam ...... Felicity Montagu
Gregson ...... Matthew Gravelle
Cooper ...... Lee Mengo
Directed by Kate McAll.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b00kfvgl)
Eric Robson chairs the popular horticultural forum.
Anne Swithinbank, Bob Flowerdew and Matthew Biggs are guests of Binfield Garden Club near Reading.
The third instalment in the sustainable gardening series looks at why a 'green' roof works so effectively.
Including Gardening weather forecast.
FRI 15:45 Musical Migrants (b00kctm6)
Series 2
Georgia
Five portraits of people who relocated to other countries, influenced by music.
Fighting had just broken out when Carl Linich made his first visit to Georgia in 1991, but not even the threat of civil war could quell his passion for the country's extraordinary folk music. And, a few years later, the upstate New Yorker moved there.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b00kfvgn)
Matthew Bannister talks to Sir Max Hastings and Katherine Whitehorn about the life of journalist Anne Scott-James; Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Trevor Nunn and Sally Cavender on composer Nicholas Maw; Lord Owen and Thoby Young about the life of Lord Kennet; Michael Winner and Michael Hackney talk about writer Alan Hackney.
FRI 16:30 The Film Programme (b00kfvgq)
Willem Dafoe talks about Antichrist, the new Lars Von Trier film in which he stars and which was booed by the audience at its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The star of Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ and David Lynch's Wild at Heart reveals why he likes to get into a director's head.
The work of Claude Chabrol is discussed by two of his stars, Ludivine Sagnier and Sandrine Bonnaire.
Mike Hodges, the director of Get Carter and Croupier, discusses one of his favourite films, Max Ophuls's Lola Montes.
FRI 17:00 PM (b00kctsn)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00kctvf)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b00kfvgs)
Series 68
Episode 4
Sandi Toksvig chairs the topical comedy quiz. Panellists include Jeremy Hardy and Francis Wheen.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b00kcsfw)
Brenda is revising for her finals, and finding Vicky hard work. Vicky, on the other hand, is concerned for her and very understanding - poor Brenda, she's really missing Tom.
Having invited herself along to Neil's birthday party, Vicky is the life and soul. Mike is clearly proud of her, but Susan and Clarrie are a bit taken aback. While she's lovely, and very friendly, and a lot younger than Mike, she's not quite what they were expecting. They thought she'd be... well, a bit more like Betty.
Tom is at home when someone arrives asking for Brenda. He tells the man she's at her dad's before he realises that it's Chalkman. Chalkman duly arrives at Willow Cottage and pushes his way into the house. Brenda is terrified, but Tom arrives in time to stand up to Chalkman and see him off. Brenda collapses into Tom's willing arms.
Realising now what Brenda was up against with Chalkman, Tom apologises, and asks Brenda if they can get back together. To which Brenda's reply is an ecstatic 'yes!'
Episode written by Tim Stimpson.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b00kctx9)
John le Carre
In a special edition presented by Mark Lawson, the writer John le Carré reflects on the origins of his most famous character - the charismatic intelligence officer George Smiley.
As Radio 4 prepares to broadcast dramatizations of the all the Smiley novels, le Carré discusses the suggested real-life models for his tubby, highly intelligent hero, and reflects on the actors who have portrayed Smiley on screen. He also looks back at his first attempts at writing fiction, and at his decision to give up his career in the intelligence services to become a full-time author.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00khhyw)
Falco: Poseidons Gold
Episode 5
Dramatisation by Mary Cutler of the novel by Lindsey Davis, featuring her Roman detective, Falco.
Falco's father's business is attacked again, as they try to get to the bottom of the scam that Festus was running before his death in battle. And Falco is still trying to convince the authorities that he is not guilty of murder.
Falco ...... Anton Lesser
Helena ...... Anna Madeley
Geminus ...... Trevor Peacock
Baebius ...... Adrian Grove
Directed by Peter Leslie Wild.
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b00kfvgv)
Eddie Mair chairs the topical debate in Sheffield. Panellists include Ed Balls, the secretary of state for children, schools and families; shadow business secretary Kenneth Clarke; Lib Dem spokesperson for Energy and Climate Change, Simon Hughes; and Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b00kfvgx)
Feminism and Democracy
A weekly reflection on a topical issue from Clive James.
FRI 21:00 Friday Drama (b00kfvgz)
A Hit to the Heart
By Rachel Joyce. The man with everything finds his perfect world blown apart when his daughter is linked to an act of terrorism.
Peter ...... Nicholas Farrell
Verity ...... Niamh Cusack
Michael ...... Timothy Bentinck
Sara ...... Emma Fielding
Lucy ...... Angela Terence
Frank ...... Geoffrey Whitehead
Jim Hall ...... Jon Strickland
With original music by David Chilton and Lucinda Mason Brown.
Directed by Gordon House.
A Goldhawk Essential production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b00kczqp)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b00kczx7)
The UN appeals for 500 million dollars for aid for displaced people in north west Pakistan
Are aid programmes winning hearts and minds in Afghanistan?
Germany favours a Russian-backed plan to save Opel
Paul Moss learns country skills.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00kd1q9)
Colm Toibin - Brooklyn
Torn in Two
Niamh Cusack reads Colm Toibin's story of duty, love and a girl who moved from the south of Ireland to seek a new life in New York in the 1950s.
Home for a holiday and to comfort her grieving mother, Eilis has been unable to resist the lure of the familiar. Meanwhile, Tony waits for her in Brooklyn.
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b00kf01v)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00kd3jf)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with Mark D'Arcy.
LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 MON (b00kcv33)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 TUE (b00khhyp)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 WED (b00khhyr)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 THU (b00khhyt)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 FRI (b00khhyw)
A Charles Paris Mystery
11:30 WED (b00wlqd3)
A Jazz Celebration for Ascension Day
20:00 THU (b00kfrdt)
A Point of View
08:50 SUN (b00k9pbf)
A Point of View
20:50 FRI (b00kfvgx)
A Wonderful Way to Make a Living
05:45 SAT (b00cxr1h)
Afternoon Reading
00:30 SUN (b007s0ff)
Afternoon Reading
19:45 SUN (b00cm7h8)
Any Answers?
14:00 SAT (b00kbzgm)
Any Questions?
13:10 SAT (b00k9pbc)
Any Questions?
20:00 FRI (b00kfvgv)
Archive on 4
20:00 SAT (b00kc071)
Archive on 4
15:00 MON (b00kc071)
Bells on Sunday
05:43 SUN (b00kc0jp)
Bells on Sunday
00:45 MON (b00kc0jp)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 MON (b00kd3j5)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 TUE (b00kd1q3)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 WED (b00kd1q5)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 THU (b00kd1q7)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 FRI (b00kd1q9)
Book of the Week
00:30 SAT (b00k9qdq)
Book of the Week
09:45 MON (b00kcr2q)
Book of the Week
00:30 TUE (b00kcr2q)
Book of the Week
09:45 TUE (b00kk3kz)
Book of the Week
00:30 WED (b00kk3kz)
Book of the Week
09:45 WED (b00kk3jm)
Book of the Week
00:30 THU (b00kk3jm)
Book of the Week
09:45 THU (b00kk3jp)
Book of the Week
00:30 FRI (b00kk3jp)
Book of the Week
09:45 FRI (b00kk3jr)
Broadcasting House
09:00 SUN (b00kc1lv)
Case Notes
21:00 TUE (b00kf11c)
Case Notes
16:30 WED (b00kf11c)
Chain Reaction
11:30 FRI (b00mpnkr)
Classic Serial
21:00 SAT (b00k7rbp)
Classic Serial
15:00 SUN (b00kc21f)
Costing the Earth
21:00 MON (b00kdr5c)
Costing the Earth
13:30 THU (b00kdr5c)
Counterpoint
23:00 SAT (b00k89pt)
Counterpoint
13:30 MON (b00kdp26)
Crossing Continents
20:30 MON (b00gdjvc)
Desert Island Discs
11:15 SUN (b00kc1lz)
Desert Island Discs
09:00 FRI (b00kc1lz)
Down the Line
23:00 THU (b012lm5p)
Drama
14:15 MON (b00jzf6b)
Drama
14:15 TUE (b00kdttk)
Drama
14:15 WED (b00kfgcq)
Drama
14:15 THU (b008cr09)
Drama
14:15 FRI (b00kj9q8)
Elvenquest
18:30 WED (b00kfgcx)
Excess Baggage
10:00 SAT (b00kbyxr)
Farming Today
06:30 SAT (b00kbyxf)
Farming Today
05:45 MON (b00kcprd)
Farming Today
05:45 TUE (b00kcpk5)
Farming Today
05:45 WED (b00kcpk7)
Farming Today
05:45 THU (b00kcpk9)
Farming Today
05:45 FRI (b00kcpkc)
Foes Reunited
20:00 MON (b00kdr59)
Friday Drama
21:00 FRI (b00kfvgz)
From Fact to Fiction
19:00 SAT (b00kc06x)
From Fact to Fiction
17:40 SUN (b00kc06x)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:30 SAT (b00kbzgc)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:00 THU (b00kfqm8)
Front Row
19:15 MON (b00kctxc)
Front Row
19:15 TUE (b00kctx3)
Front Row
19:15 WED (b00kctx5)
Front Row
19:15 THU (b00kctx7)
Front Row
19:15 FRI (b00kctx9)
Gardeners' Question Time
14:00 SUN (b00k9pb2)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:00 FRI (b00kfvgl)
Getting the Gongs
10:30 SAT (b00kbyxt)
Go4it
19:15 SUN (b00kc2kj)
Great Lives
16:30 TUE (b00kf01v)
Great Lives
23:00 FRI (b00kf01v)
Happy Birthday Tommy Walker
11:30 THU (b00kfqmb)
Heresy
18:30 TUE (b00kf0fv)
Hut 33
18:30 THU (b00vy861)
In Business
21:30 SUN (b00k4g5b)
In Our Time
09:00 THU (b00kfqm6)
In Our Time
21:30 THU (b00kfqm6)
In Touch
20:40 TUE (b00kf119)
It's My Story
11:00 MON (b00hpj9d)
Last Word
20:30 SUN (b00k9pb4)
Last Word
16:00 FRI (b00kfvgn)
Leading Edge
21:00 THU (b00kfrdw)
Letters to Mary
05:45 SUN (b00k9d84)
Letters to Mary
20:45 WED (b00kfgd1)
Libraries and Labyrinths: Borges and Me
11:30 TUE (b00kdtpy)
Lights, Camera, Landmark
14:45 SUN (b00fgblv)
Loose Ends
18:15 SAT (b00kc06v)
Lost and Found
15:30 TUE (b00kdvmb)
Lost and Found
15:30 WED (b00kdvm4)
Lost and Found
15:30 THU (b00kdv3x)
Making History
15:00 TUE (b00kdttm)
Material World
16:30 THU (b00kfqmd)
Midnight News
00:00 SAT (b00k9pf6)
Midnight News
00:00 SUN (b00kc08r)
Midnight News
00:00 MON (b00kcp2f)
Midnight News
00:00 TUE (b00kcnyt)
Midnight News
00:00 WED (b00kcnyw)
Midnight News
00:00 THU (b00kcnyy)
Midnight News
00:00 FRI (b00kcnz1)
Midweek
09:00 WED (b00kfdq7)
Midweek
21:30 WED (b00kfdq7)
Money Box Live
15:00 WED (b00kfgcs)
Money Box
12:00 SAT (b00kbzgf)
Money Box
21:00 SUN (b00kbzgf)
More or Less
20:00 SUN (b00k9p0t)
More or Less
13:30 FRI (b00kfsgg)
Musical Migrants
15:45 MON (b00kcszv)
Musical Migrants
15:45 TUE (b00kctm0)
Musical Migrants
15:45 WED (b00kctm2)
Musical Migrants
15:45 THU (b00kctm4)
Musical Migrants
15:45 FRI (b00kctm6)
Nature
11:00 TUE (b00kdtpw)
Nature
21:00 WED (b00kdtpw)
News Briefing
05:30 SAT (b00k9pfj)
News Briefing
05:30 SUN (b00kc0jm)
News Briefing
05:30 MON (b00kcph9)
News Briefing
05:30 TUE (b00kcpdn)
News Briefing
05:30 WED (b00kcpdq)
News Briefing
05:30 THU (b00kcpds)
News Briefing
05:30 FRI (b00kcpdv)
News Headlines
06:00 SUN (b00kc0jr)
News and Papers
06:00 SAT (b00k9pfn)
News and Papers
07:00 SUN (b00kc1lg)
News and Papers
08:00 SUN (b00kc1lq)
News
13:00 SAT (b00kbzgk)
On Your Farm
06:35 SUN (b00kc1lb)
Open Book
16:00 SUN (b00kc262)
Open Book
16:00 THU (b00kc262)
Open Country
06:07 SAT (b00kbyhx)
Open Country
15:02 THU (b00kbyhx)
PM
17:00 SAT (b00kc06j)
PM
17:00 MON (b00kctv5)
PM
17:00 TUE (b00kctsg)
PM
17:00 WED (b00kctsj)
PM
17:00 THU (b00kctsl)
PM
17:00 FRI (b00kctsn)
Peacefully in their Sleeps
23:15 WED (b007x4sw)
Percy Edwards Showdown
13:30 SUN (b00htwx7)
Petrov's Dilemma
11:00 WED (b00c55vt)
Pick of the Week
18:15 SUN (b00kc2gk)
Poetry Please
16:30 SUN (b00kc264)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 SAT (b00k9pfl)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 MON (b00kcphp)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 TUE (b00kcphc)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 WED (b00kcphf)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 THU (b00kcphh)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 FRI (b00kcphk)
Radio 4 Appeal
07:55 SUN (b00kc1ll)
Radio 4 Appeal
21:26 SUN (b00kc1ll)
Radio 4 Appeal
15:27 THU (b00kc1ll)
Rudy's Rare Records
11:30 MON (b00p4mcp)
Sacred Election: Lessons from the Biggest Democracy in the World
17:00 SUN (b00k8v7c)
Saturday Drama
14:30 SAT (b007734t)
Saturday Live
09:00 SAT (b00kbyxp)
Saturday Review
19:15 SAT (b00kc06z)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SAT (b00k9pfb)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SUN (b00kc0jh)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 MON (b00kcp7r)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 TUE (b00kcp7h)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 WED (b00kcp7k)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 THU (b00kcp7m)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 FRI (b00kcp7p)
Self-Storage
23:00 WED (b01g97vg)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SAT (b00k9pf8)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SAT (b00k9pfg)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SAT (b00kc06n)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SUN (b00kc0jf)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SUN (b00kc0jk)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SUN (b00kc2gc)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 MON (b00kcp68)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 MON (b00kcp7f)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 TUE (b00kcp2h)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 TUE (b00kcp6b)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 WED (b00kcp2k)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 WED (b00kcp6d)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 THU (b00kcp2m)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 THU (b00kcp6g)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 FRI (b00kcp2p)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 FRI (b00kcp6j)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SAT (b00kc06s)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SUN (b00kc2gh)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 MON (b00kctx1)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 TUE (b00kctv7)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 WED (b00kctv9)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 THU (b00kctvc)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 FRI (b00kctvf)
Something Understood
06:05 SUN (b00kc0jt)
Something Understood
23:30 SUN (b00kc0jt)
Start the Week
09:00 MON (b00kcr2n)
Start the Week
21:30 MON (b00kcr2n)
Sunday Worship
08:10 SUN (b00kc1ls)
Sunday
07:10 SUN (b00kc1lj)
The Archers Omnibus
10:00 SUN (b00kc1lx)
The Archers
19:00 SUN (b00kc2gm)
The Archers
14:00 MON (b00kc2gm)
The Archers
19:00 MON (b00kcsgh)
The Archers
14:00 TUE (b00kcsgh)
The Archers
19:00 TUE (b00kcsfn)
The Archers
14:00 WED (b00kcsfn)
The Archers
19:00 WED (b00kcsfq)
The Archers
14:00 THU (b00kcsfq)
The Archers
19:00 THU (b00kcsfs)
The Archers
14:00 FRI (b00kcsfs)
The Archers
19:00 FRI (b00kcsfw)
The Boar People
11:00 FRI (b00kfsgd)
The Eureka Years
16:00 TUE (b007xnfq)
The Film Programme
23:00 SUN (b00k9pb7)
The Film Programme
16:30 FRI (b00kfvgq)
The Flight from Tehran: British-Iranians 30 Years On
09:30 TUE (b00gkrtt)
The Food Programme
12:32 SUN (b00kc1m1)
The Food Programme
16:00 MON (b00kc1m1)
The Media Show
13:30 WED (b00kfgcn)
The Museum of Curiosity
12:00 SUN (b00k8fdv)
The Museum of Curiosity
18:30 MON (b00kdr57)
The Music Group
15:30 SAT (b00k8lg3)
The Music Group
13:30 TUE (b00kdtq0)
The News Quiz
12:30 SAT (b00k9pb9)
The News Quiz
18:30 FRI (b00kfvgs)
The Secret World
23:00 TUE (b0121myp)
The Week in Westminster
11:00 SAT (b00kbzg9)
The Women of Rainer Maria Rilke
23:30 SAT (b00k7snz)
The World This Weekend
13:00 SUN (b00kc1m5)
The World Tonight
22:00 MON (b00kd1q1)
The World Tonight
22:00 TUE (b00kczx1)
The World Tonight
22:00 WED (b00kczx3)
The World Tonight
22:00 THU (b00kczx5)
The World Tonight
22:00 FRI (b00kczx7)
Thinking Allowed
00:15 MON (b00k9d7y)
Thinking Allowed
16:00 WED (b00kfgcv)
Today in Parliament
23:30 MON (b00kd3jp)
Today in Parliament
23:30 TUE (b00kd3j7)
Today in Parliament
23:30 WED (b00kd3j9)
Today in Parliament
23:30 THU (b00kd3jc)
Today in Parliament
23:30 FRI (b00kd3jf)
Today
07:00 SAT (b00kbyxm)
Today
06:00 MON (b00kcprv)
Today
06:00 TUE (b00kcprg)
Today
06:00 WED (b00kcprj)
Today
06:00 THU (b00kcprl)
Today
06:00 FRI (b00kcprn)
Traveller's Tree
16:30 MON (b00kdr55)
Unreliable Evidence
22:15 SAT (b00k9d82)
Unreliable Evidence
20:00 WED (b00kfgcz)
Weather
06:04 SAT (b00kbyhv)
Weather
06:57 SAT (b00kbyxk)
Weather
12:57 SAT (b00kbzgh)
Weather
17:57 SAT (b00kc06q)
Weather
22:00 SAT (b00kc073)
Weather
06:57 SUN (b00kc1ld)
Weather
07:58 SUN (b00kc1ln)
Weather
12:57 SUN (b00kc1m3)
Weather
17:57 SUN (b00kc2gf)
Weather
21:58 SUN (b00kc2kl)
Weather
05:57 MON (b00kcr2l)
Weather
12:57 MON (b00kcrmn)
Weather
21:58 MON (b00kczqt)
Weather
12:57 TUE (b00kcrl9)
Weather
21:58 TUE (b00kczqh)
Weather
12:57 WED (b00kcrlc)
Weather
21:58 WED (b00kczqk)
Weather
12:57 THU (b00kcrlf)
Weather
21:58 THU (b00kczqm)
Weather
12:57 FRI (b00kcrlh)
Weather
21:58 FRI (b00kczqp)
Westminster Hour
22:00 SUN (b00kc2kn)
What's the Point of...?
09:00 TUE (b00kdry6)
What's the Point of...?
21:30 TUE (b00kdry6)
Woman's Hour
16:00 SAT (b00kc06g)
Woman's Hour
10:00 MON (b00kcrg0)
Woman's Hour
10:00 TUE (b00kcr8p)
Woman's Hour
10:00 WED (b00kcr8r)
Woman's Hour
10:00 THU (b00kcr8t)
Woman's Hour
10:00 FRI (b00kcr8w)
Word of Mouth
23:00 MON (b00k8t3x)
World Heritage: Curse or Blessing?
20:00 TUE (b00kgzmw)
World at One
13:00 MON (b00kcrmq)
World at One
13:00 TUE (b00kcrms)
World at One
13:00 WED (b00kcrmv)
World at One
13:00 THU (b00kcrmx)
World at One
13:00 FRI (b00kcrmz)
You and Yours
12:00 MON (b00kcrgb)
You and Yours
12:00 TUE (b00kcrg2)
You and Yours
12:00 WED (b00kcrg4)
You and Yours
12:00 THU (b00kcrg6)
You and Yours
12:00 FRI (b00kcrg8)
iPM
17:30 SAT (b00kc06l)