The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The sociologist Max Weber saw the Enlightenment as the period when science started to take over from religion as the way of comprehending human existence, and became the defining character of modernity. The process of casting magic and superstition aside in favour of rationality he defined as 'disenchantment': no longer was the world a place of supernatural signs and natural magic. In the second of a special series of programmes looking at some of the key concepts in social science, Laurie Taylor explores the idea of disenchantment with three experts. David Voas, Sam Whimster and Linda Woodhead, discuss how the idea has been applied to understanding the development of secular societies and whether we are now entering a phase of re-enchantment.
When chancellor George Osborne opens his bedroom curtains this morning, he may well be greeted with banners carried by angry members of the RSPB. Cath Mackie hears the wildlife charity will picket the chancellor's constituency in protest at planned government cuts. It fears that when the axe falls the environment will suffer, and some farmland birds could face extinction.
The government spends £609 million a year on flood and coastal risk management. Despite this, Farming Today hears that 30% of England's coastline is eroding, making farming on the fragile East coast difficult. The Country Land and Business Association suggest new wind farms and housing developments could raise money for sea defences to protect agricultural land.
With James Naughtie and Evan Davis. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day with Rev Dr David Wilkinson.
Entrepreneur and one of the country's wealthiest businesswomen, Emma Harrison, was born in Sheffield in 1964. Her parents embraced the sixties with gusto. She was brought up mainly by her father in a creative and chaotic house as her mother spent extended periods away from home seeking adventure. Emma took on the running of the household from the age of 10 - helpful, she admits, when setting up in business later but a lonely enterprise for a child nonetheless. She attended the local comprehensive where she was a regular truant but ran the tuck shop at a profit. On a school visit to Thornbridge Hall in Derbyshire she vowed to buy the stately home one day. Five years ago she did just that.
GP Phil Hammond compares his commute to that of Claire Lehman, who travelled to work via Madrid, Santiago and the Falkland Islands before flying into Rothera in the Antarctic.
As she watches for killer whales, carries out postmistress duties, cooks for her colleagues and prepares for potential Antarctic casualties, the differences between this remote job and the life of a typical GP like Phil is brought sharply into focus.
Elena Gorokhova wishes her mother had come from Leningrad, the world of Pushkin and the tsars, lace ironwork and pearly domes. Its sophistication might have left a permanent mark of refinement on her soul.
But she didn't.
She came from the provincial town of Ivanovo in central Russia, where chickens lived in the kitchen and a pig squatted under the stairs.
Raunch culture: Is there too much sex in pop music? Mike Stock, of 80s pop production outfit Stock, Aitken & Waterman, claims pop music has become so sexualized that mothers don't want to let young children watch it any more. Karate Kid is currently on at cinemas across the country, re-telling the tale of a 12-year-old American boy who masters the art of Karate under the strict supervision of a Master in Beijing. What role can the discipline and rigour often found in sport and music offer children and what lessons can it teach us for later life? The Fawcett Society has filed papers with the High Court seeking a Judicial Review of the Government's emergency budget. The women's rights group believes that the Coalition Government should have assessed whether its budget proposals would increase or reduce inequality between the genders.
And, we hear a report about one woman's return to Afghanistan.
SOLOPARENTPALS.COM by Sue Teddern.
Episode 1. A Clean Slate.
After a year cyberpals Rosie and Tom still haven't met in the flesh. Rosie discovers that she quite likes her ex's new girlfriend and that Tom has a new love interest.
Rosie (Maxine Peake) is a Bolton care-worker whose ex-husband Phil traded her in for a younger model four years ago leaving her to bring up Calum, now 12, alone.
Tom (Kris Marshall) is a housing officer in Exeter whose wife and confidence walked out on him eighteen months ago. He only sees his daughter Lily at weekends.
In the first series despite a succession of twists and turns, mistimings and misunderstandings between the rather nervous, disorganised Tom and the mouthy, controlling Rosie, an underlying friendship and dependence seemed to emerge - but an actual meeting in the flesh failed to take place.
Now, a year later, Rosie is coming to terms with the fact that Phil has had a baby with his new partner Debbie - a woman that she finds, to her surprise, that she has much in common with, perhaps too much? Tom has meanwhile being going steady with Siobhan, a work colleague and while he enjoys the regular sex, fresh veg and clean towels he can't help thinking things are going a little too fast.
Communications between the two are still long-distance, by email, telephone or through the website. Other SPP.COM participants chip in with their own perspectives and concerns - Baz is still the Neanderthal male, Tash the Lash in Wales is trying hard to rein in her party girl style, Gillybean has stashed her OU books in the attic and Gok Wanned her wardrobe and Scott is still coping with three teenage daughters and an obsession with poultry. And blunt newcomer Brummie Barb introduces a same-sex relationship into the mix.
SOLOPARENTPALS.COM will continue to strike a chord with single parents throughout the land and listeners will be able to readily identify with the situations that concern Rosie and Tom and their website friends.
SOLOPARENTPALS.COM is Sue Teddern's home territory. Her natural comic touch and her ear for domestic and emotional detail combines with a convincing touch of the absurd to create an involving and moving take on the love story - albeit one fraught with a multiplicity of misunderstandings and misinterpretations along the way.
MAXINE PEAKE's recent radio includes BETSY COLEMAN, A SMALL PIECE OF SILENCE and THAT REPULSIVE WOMAN. Television work includes DINNER LADIES, SHAMELESS, THE STREET and CRIMINAL JUSTICE.
Moazzam Begg spent three years as a prisoner in Bagram and Guatanamo Bay before being released without charge. Throughout that that time his father fought for his son's release. Since his release Moazzam Begg has remained in the headlines. He is a controversial figure - for some he is an innocent victim, while others have hard questions about his beliefs and actions. Steve Evans tells an extraordinary story of a father and son and their very different experiences of being a British Muslim. From the generations of Begg family military history, to Moazzam almost joining the British army, to his support for Muslim causes around the world - there are many contradictions and paradoxes in the Begg family story. The exceptional bond between father and son, though, is clear throughout.
Sam is battling retirement blues with a part-time job working for the Saviours, manning telephone lines to help those in distress. And today's first client is of course Peter, in distress about their faulty boiler.
Peter ..... Jonathan Pryce
Sam ..... Nicholas Le Prevost
George ..... Sam Dale
Voice ..... Alison Pettitt
Julian Worricker discusses what can be done to help rural communities survive the recession. The Chairman of The Rural Coalition Lord Taylor, says action needs to be taken to prevent rural villages becoming "part dormitory, part theme park and part retirement home".
And we hear what life is like aboard the only residential cruise ship in the world - where residents get to decide where the ship goes next.
(4/12) The fourth contest in the 2010 series of the cryptic panel quiz pits the South of England (Fred Housego and Marcel Berlins) against the North of England (Michael Schmidt and Adele Geras). Tom Sutcliffe is in the chair, and Tom will also have the answer to last week's cliffhanger puzzle.
A drama-documentary by Jonathan Davidson set and recorded in an apple orchard. Miss Balcombe is getting on but she is determined to keep her apple trees. Her workers don't much care but there is a trespasser among her russets.
With Susan Engel as Miss Balcombe, Richard Bremmer as Claud, Sonia Ritter as Barbara, and Hayley Doherty as Sophie; and featuring Barrie Juniper, author of The Story of the Apple. Recorded on location in Oxfordshire. Producer: Tim Dee.
Out of sight, out of mind - that's been our attitude to the rubbish we produce. But increasingly our noses are being rubbed in our waste. Travel writer Ian Marchant investigates the flip side of consumerism, starting in the London Borough of Brent, which is threatening to fine residents who fail to recycle their rubbish £1000.
In Beyond Belief Ernie Rea and his guests explore the place of faith in our complex world.
Ernie is joined by three guests who discuss how their own religious tradition affects their values and outlook on the world, often revealing hidden and contradictory truths.
In this programme Ernie is joined by a Christian, a Druid and a Hindu who discuss the understanding of disability from their faith perspective. They address how disability is viewed within their community, the value of a disabled life lived, the quality of that life and how discrimination against people with disability begins even before birth.
Ernie and his guests hear from a deaf couple who wanted the right to keep an embryo with genes for deafness, should they undergo IVF treatment. Their wishes caused outrage and was frequently misunderstood. How could parents wish for a child with a disability; how could this possibly be wanting the best for their child?
Ernie's panel comprises Emma Restall Orr who is a Druid and a wheel chair user; Jonathan Bartley, co-director of the Christian Think Tank, Ekklesia, and father of Samuel who has spina bifida; and Shaunaka Rishi Das, Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.
This week, the popular panel game comes from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, with comedians Paul Merton, Shappi Khorsandi, John Bishop and Gyles Brandreth. Nicholas Parsons hosts as panellists attempt to speak for a minute without repetition, hesitation or deviation.
With Alice and Chris in one of the holiday cottages, Jennifer anticipates turning down business. She's concerned about Chris's living plans. Alice is keen that Chris stays on when she's back at university, but Jennifer wonders about cooking and cleaning. Alice is confident about their long term plans, seeing as Brian gave her and Kate a cottage each.
Alice looks forward to a catch up with Amy, who's training as a midwife. She gives Ed tips on how to cook artichokes, which he's struggling to get hold of. He'll ask Jennifer for tips on making hollandaise sauce.
Susan plans to invite Jennifer and Brian over to supper, as a thank you for the party. She feels it will mark a new chapter in all their lives. They're one big family now. Susan plans a four course meal with wine, coffee and brandy. Now that they'll be mingling with the Aldridges on a regular basis, it's time to up their game.
Susan's delighted when Jennifer accepts her offer of dinner on Friday night. Neil's reluctant to lose his night at the Bull though. He'll struggle to relax. Meanwhile, Jennifer worries that this isn't a one-off invitation, but the thin end of the wedge.
Crime specialist Jeff Park reviews new film The Girl Who Played With Fire - based on the second novel in the Millennium saga by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson.
Author David Almond discusses his new book My Name is Mina, the prequel to Skellig which won both the Whitbread Children's Award and the Carnegie Medal.
In 1968 Jimi Hendrix moved to the top floor of 23 Brook Street in London, a building which was the home of George Frideric Handel and now houses the Handel House Museum. To commemorate the anniversary of Hendrix's death in London in September 1970, the Museum is staging an exhibition devoted to his life and music. Mark explores the exhibition with curator Sarah Bardwell and broadcaster Paul Gambaccini
On August 16th 1951 a number of people in the quiet southern French town of Pont St.Esprit began to fall ill. Stomach pains were soon followed by violent and often terrifying hallucinations. Local hospitals were soon overwhelmed and more than thirty people were taken to asylums in nearby towns. It was soon decided that the cause was bread poisoning and the evidence pointed to just one Bakery. The reason, it was believed was 'ergot', a fungal infection found in Rye bread which had often caused mass poisonings in Medieval times.
But documents obtained by the American writer Hank Albarelli suggest that rather than simple 'ergot' there was a strong possibility that the symptoms and the nature of the outbreak were not a tragic accident. In his research in to the mysterious death of the CIA biochemist Frank Olson and his post-war work on LSD and its uses as a biochemical weapon he got hold of papers implying Olson's connection with the Pont St Esprit outbreak.
Mike follows up the claims talking to experts in LSD and its impact, historians of the cold-war search for the perfect biochemical weapon and agricultural scientists specialising in ergot poisoning. He also visits the town of Pont St Esprit and talks to one survivor, the local postman Leon Armundier, about the events of 1951. Leon describes of the horrors he faced as a young man, being forced into a straight-jacket for a week as burning sensations and images of snakes raged around him.
Many in the town are uneasy at re-opening the old story about Le Pain Maudit - the evil bread - preferring the establishment 'truth' that it was just a tragic accident. But there are some who believe a proper examination of the facts still hasn't taken place.
In Medjugorje the age of miracles isn't over: it is alive and well and is big business. The Catholic boom town in the Bosnian hills now rivals the better known Fatima or Lourdes. There were eight appearances of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes, yet since 1981 there have been 33,000 at Medjugorje, where she appears practically every day. The Vatican is currently investigating the validity of the claims.
Meanwhile the pilgrims keep rolling in and spending their money. The town is also a hotbed of Croat ultra-nationalists, who some say are using the religious fervour to boost their own political influence in the region. Allan Little investigates the political sensitivities around Medjugorje.
Gareth Mitchell presents this week's digest of science in and behind the headlines. In this edition; DIY on the International Space Station, will astronauts have to be doing more of this work in the future? It's getting 'Hot in the City' - the latest predictions suggest our cities could be 10 degrees warmer than the countryside by the end of the century, Gareth explores the possible solutions. Can you prove anything with science? Gareth talks to scientists about why we ignore any science we don't agree with and fail to act on anything we do believe in; and monitoring the wolf population in Germany.
UNICEF says the international response to Pakistan's floods has been lacking - is that fair?
Excerpts from James Robertson's monumental new novel which portrays the last six decades of Scotland's social and political landscape through the lives of a handful of characters.
This week's extract is set in the present day and focuses on the novel's lynchpin: Michael Pendreich. He has moved from his Edinburgh home into his late father Angus's cottage in the far north of Scotland. Angus, who spent his final years living a hermit-like existence, was considered one of the greatest photographers of the post-war era and the remote cottage houses a vast and messy archive of his prints and negatives.
Michael has been asked to curate a major retrospective of his father's work and he's ostensibly moved north to catalogue the material. But, as he combs through fifty year's worth of photographs, he realises that before he can objectively view his father's artistic legacy, he must confront some painful facts about their difficult relationship.
How important is body language in the way we communicate? Are some people much better at it than others? Can good body language be taught? Chris Ledgard investigates.
Chris visits Dr Harry Witchel for some body language training, looks into some body language myths, and talks to impressionist Kate Robbins about the way she uses her face and gestures when mimicking people.
A pupil with American diplomat parents is denied access to the senior cadets shooting team by the Colonel because he's not a British citizen - even though he is the only hope the school have of winning the prestigious inter-school's shooting cup.
But when he visits Haunchurst as an adult with an Olympic medal for shooting with his US team, the Colonel is totally unimpressed. Why?
Dr Henry Pickerskill ...... Ian McDiarmid
Colonel Bradshaw ..... Richard Johnson
A.R.F. Somerset-Stephenson ..... Mike Sarne
Young Cadmus Wilcox ..... Tom Kane
Adult Cadmus Wilcox ..... Dominic Hawksley
Wentworth ..... Louis Williams
TUESDAY 24 AUGUST 2010
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b00tfb5g)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b00tff34)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00tfbfm)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00tfbk3)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00tfbgy)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b00tfblj)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00tfbvk)
with Canon Martyn Percy, Principal, Ripon College Cuddesdon.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b00tfcsh)
There are warnings that illegal cockles may have entered the food chain. The shellfish may contain e-coli.
And in Norfolk, after a drought, farmers battle the rain to get the harvest in.
Whilst on the other side of the country, a Devon farmer on the coast shows how the traditional British seaside can be good news for agriculture.
Presenter: Anna Hill. Producer: Fran Barnes.
TUE 06:00 Today (b00tfcy6)
Morning news and current affairs with James Naughtie and Evan Davis, including:
07:35 A call to stop using the word "junkie" and show drug addicts more compassion.
07:50 What are the prospects for those who leave school with very few GCSE qualifications?
08:10 Was a priest involved in an IRA bomb attack in the 1970s and was there a secret deal which protected him from arrest?
08:45 Can the government save money by getting rid of pot plants at workplaces?
TUE 09:00 What's the Point of...? (b00tg23z)
Series 3
Marylebone Cricket Club
What's the point of the MCC?
The celebrated historian George Trevelyan once wrote that if the French nobility had only played cricket with their servants they wouldn't have had their chateaux burnt.
Today, with the revolution taking place within the game itself, Quentin Letts casts a quizzical eye over Marylebone cricket club, the English institution responsible for maintaining its laws and upholding its spirit.
It's not easy for MCC to shake off the weight of history. It resisted the demands of sexual equality almost into the present century, and it is still berated for its exclusiveness. The programme hears from Rachael Heyhoe-Flint who captained the first English women's team allowed onto the Lord's pitch, and to another former Captain, Mike Gatting, who berates MCC members for a display of very ungentlemanly manners to fellow cricketer, Ian Botham.
The powerhouse of cricket is now in India, the governing body is in Dubai and the focus of the game is shifting from test match to twenty-twenty
But this private members club, the owner of the most famous sports ground in the world , still seeks a place at the table. Quentin talks to MCC chief executive Keith Bradshaw about what it's doing there - resisting the economic and global
forces of modernity or leading the charge of change?
TUE 09:30 How The Mighty Have Fallen (b00tg273)
Depictions of Obesity
"Let me have men about me that are fat" - Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
Continuing his series on the history of obesity, Dr Hilary Jones investigates how corpulence has been portrayed over the millennia in art, music and books.
Obese stereotypes often reveal social attitudes of the day. In literature, they range from Shakespeare's Falstaff and Dickens' 'Fat Boy', Joe, to the most famous fat character of all: Billy Bunter, from the immensely prolific pen of Frank Richards.
In art, some of the earliest sculptures in existence are small prehistoric statuettes of naked obese 'Venuses'. Cartoons of corpulence were used for satirical effect in the prints of Hogarth and Gillray - and for bawdy humour in seaside postcards.
Music includes vintage recordings of the 'Too Fat Polka' and 'Nobody Loves A Fat Man'.
There are readings, archive clips, and a visit to Tate Britain's Rude Britannia exhibition. Contributors include Dr Fiona Haslam, a writer on Hogarth, Prof Stephan Rossner of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, and Bunter expert Dr Peter McCall.
Readings by Toby Longworth & Michael Fenton-Stevens.
Producer: Susan Kenyon
A Ladbroke production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b00tffmq)
Elena Gorokhova - A Mountain of Crumbs
Episode 2
From the moment she goes to nursery school in the Soviet Union of the 1960s, Elena Gorokhova begins to rebel against being part of the collective and is threatened by the redoubtable Aunt Polya, with a dvoika, in behaviour.
And as she progresses to proper school she knows that membership of the Young Pioneers and later the Komsomol awaits her as it awaits all her fellow students.
Read by Sian Thomas
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00tffpw)
Women at the top - is it really a choice between kids and career? Presented by Jane Garvey. We hear about a new campaign to raise awareness about Alzheimer's disease - how to spot symptoms and what to do. Anyone who has read or watched I Claudius will know that the leading women of the Roman world often led colourful and controversial lives. We hear about a new book which looks at the private and public aspects of some of history's most striking women. And the joy of knitting! News about the forthcoming second international knitting conference in Shetland called "In the Loop".
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b00tfqvg)
Soloparentpals.com: Series 2
Dating For Beginners
SOLOPARENTPALS.COM by Sue Teddern.
Episode 2. Dating For Beginners.
After a year cyberpals Rosie and Tom still haven't met in the flesh. Tom's revelation that he is "seeing" Siobhan spurs Rosie into the dating game.
Rosie - Maxine Peake
Tom - Kris Marshall
Tash - Karina Jones
Calum - Thomas Rolinson
Gill - Christine Kavanagh
Barb - Alison Pettitt
Bazz - Sam Dale
Scott - David Seddon
Director: David Hunter
Rosie (Maxine Peake) is a Bolton care-worker whose ex-husband Phil traded her in for a younger model four years ago leaving her to bring up Calum, now 12, alone.
Tom (Kris Marshall) is a housing officer in Exeter whose wife and confidence walked out on him eighteen months ago. He only sees his daughter Lily at weekends.
In the first series despite a succession of twists and turns, mistimings and misunderstandings between the rather nervous, disorganised Tom and the mouthy, controlling Rosie, an underlying friendship and dependence seemed to emerge - but an actual meeting in the flesh failed to take place.
Now, a year later, Rosie is coming to terms with the fact that Phil has had a baby with his new partner Debbie - a woman that she finds, to her surprise, that she has much in common with, perhaps too much? Tom has meanwhile being going steady with Siobhan, a work colleague and while he enjoys the regular sex, fresh veg and clean towels he can't help thinking things are going a little too fast.
Communications between the two are still long-distance, by email, telephone or through the website. Other SPP.COM participants chip in with their own perspectives and concerns - Baz is still the Neanderthal male, Tash the Lash in Wales is trying hard to rein in her party girl style, Gillybean has stashed her OU books in the attic and Gok Wanned her wardrobe and Scott is still coping with three teenage daughters and an obsession with poultry. And blunt newcomer Brummie Barb introduces a same-sex relationship into the mix.
SOLOPARENTPALS.COM will continue to strike a chord with single parents throughout the land and listeners will be able to readily identify with the situations that concern Rosie and Tom and their website friends.
SOLOPARENTPALS.COM is Sue Teddern's home territory. Her natural comic touch and her ear for domestic and emotional detail combines with a convincing touch of the absurd to create an involving and moving take on the love story - albeit one fraught with a multiplicity of misunderstandings and misinterpretations along the way.
MAXINE PEAKE's recent radio includes BETSY COLEMAN, A SMALL PIECE OF SILENCE and THAT REPULSIVE WOMAN. Television work includes DINNER LADIES, SHAMELESS, THE STREET and CRIMINAL JUSTICE.
TUE 11:00 In Living Memory (b00tg2lw)
Series 12
The Humber Bridge
Why was the Humber Bridge built? The first major proposal for a crossing was made in 1872, but a hundred and nine years were to pass before the Queen opened the bridge across the River Humber in July 1981. The aim was to link two remote areas of England, unite the new political entity - Humberside, and attract investment on both banks of the river.
The bridge has been widely acclaimed as an architectural achievement. But it cost far more to build than originally envisaged, and traffic forecasts were optimistic. Just over a decade after the opening, its debts had reached £431 million pounds. And as Parliament debated how the money could be paid back, MPs focused on a promise made by the then Minister of Transport, Barbara Castle, on a January night in 1966. Was this really, as one Conservative member claimed, "a serious scandal...a bribe by the Labour party for the Hull North by-election"?
Harold Wilson came to office in 1964 with a majority of just five. A by-election took that down to three. Then the Labour member for Hull North died in late 1965. His majority had been slight, and the by-election arranged for January 25th 1966 was seen as the key to the future of the Wilson government. The leading figures from both major parties headed from London to Hull to speak to packed hustings. The Labour candidate, Kevin McNamara, was favourite. But opinion polls right up to the last minute suggested Toby Jessel for the Conservatives was still in the race. A week before the election, Barbara Castle made her famous speech and ended nearly a century of debate by promising the people of Hull their bridge.
In this edition of In Living Memory, we hear from the key figures in that election. Kevin McNamara and Toby Jessel discuss why the promise was made and whether it really had any political effect. A Labour party official at the centre of the discussions with Mrs Castle gives an insider's version of events. The fringe but feared candidate, the Guardian journalist Richard Gott, gives his perspective. And Sir Christopher Foster, who in January 1966 had just joined the Ministry of Transport as special advisor and chief economist, describes the ridicule he faced for allowing his minister to make a promise which, he says, made no economic sense. "It was with the greatest of embarassment" he remembers "that we learned the Humber Bridge was to be built...it was perfectly obvious that the Humber Bridge was not needed and would cost a great deal of money". The promise, he says, was made to win a by-election.
TUE 11:30 Ford Madox Ford and France (b00tg2ly)
Julian Barnes and Hermione Lee on Ford Madox Ford
The advice Julian Barnes offers young writers is "study The Good Soldier as an example of perfect and completely original narration and at the same time study his life as an example of negative career management."
Julian Barnes and Hermione Lee tell the story of Ford Madox Ford - author of The Good Soldier and editor of a Paris based magazine which published James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway and Jean Rhys. In fact Ezra Pound complained that Ford "kept on discovering merit with monotonous regularity" although his lack of financial acumen meant the magazine only lasted a year.
Hermione and Julian visit the site of the Transatlantic Review offices where Ford's assistant (and work-horse) the Northumberland poet Basil Bunting "bunked down in a squalid little scullery." The cafés of Paris provided the venue for a weekly soirée, organised by Ford and his then companion Stella Bowen, which offered guests red wine, hot dogs and dancing. And in the Luxembourg Gardens we hear a discussion of the tangled love life of Ford Madox Ford, his elopement with Elsie Martindale, a stint in Brixton prison and the women who followed Elsie: Violet Hunt "who took arsenic to keep herself looking younger" and the Australian painter Stella Bowen who described Ford as "the wise man I crossed the world to see".
Rebecca West described being embraced by Ford as like "being the toast under the poached egg." Others called him "a beached whale" or a "behemoth in grey tweed." He had a pink face, very blue eyes, very blond hair, and was rather chinless with a little moustache and a drawly voice. Henry James is said to have used Ford for the model of the character Morton Densher in Wings of a Dove.
In his novel The Good Soldier he creates one of the best examples in literature of the unreliable narrator and his embroidered accounts of his own life provide a test for biographers. Hermione and Julian swap examples of their favourite "whoppers" which include the church service he couldn't possibly have attended with DH Lawrence; the claim that he helped Marconi transmit the first wireless message across the Atlantic; that the chef Escoffier had said to him "I could learn cooking from you" and that he attended the second trial of Dreyfus.
Producer: Robyn Read.
Reader: Kerry Shale.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b00tfqvj)
Call You & Yours: Are graduates doing enough to find work? There are more people than ever before leaving University, yet fewer jobs are available. What is it like having spent three years gaining qualifications to 'get on', only to find yourself back where you started, except with a huge debt? Will the labour market pick up and what can those leaving college do to increase their chances of gaining employment? If you're an employer, have you cut back on the number of graduates you are employing or are you waiting for the right people to come knocking at your door? If you are a parent, how worried are you for your child's future?
TUE 12:57 Weather (b00tfqzv)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b00tfr32)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.
TUE 13:30 Star Spangled Hendrix (b00tg2m0)
When Jimi Hendrix returned to his native America as a star, the country he knew had changed. This programme, presented by Tom Robinson to tie in with the 40th anniversary of the guitarist's death, explores the pressure Jimi was under to make an explicit political declaration.
Tom explores Hendrix's 14 months in the Screaming Eagles 101 Airborne Division that saw him parachute a total of 26 times before he was invalided out with a broken ankle. Brother Leon Hendrix discusses his elder bother's time in the military, along with comments from author Charles Sharr Murray.
Singer and friend Eric Burdon explains how, after the riots in Grosvenor Square, Jimi trotted out the American government's party line on Vietnam - the so-called "Domino Theory".
The Soft Machine supported Hendrix as they travelled across America and drummer Robert Wyatt recalls how Jimi responded to media questions about the war, and the emergence of the Black Power movement. Hendrix was receptive to the Black Panther Party and found the Seattle Chapter of the organisation run by two former high school friends. Both Panthers, Aaron and Elmer Dixon talk about how receptive Hendrix was to the cause.
The programme culminates with Jimi's Woodstock Festival performance of 'The Star Spangled Banner', an eloquent (and wordless) statement against the Vietnam war. In retrospect, it can also be read as a swan song for the era of peace and love and for Hendrix himself, who died in his sleep the following year. Jimi Hendrix is more than a blues guitarist who got lucky in the 60s. He did the best he could to be his own man without openly taking sides, and we are still trying to get to know him 40 years after his death.
Producer: John Sugar
A Sugar production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b00tfrz3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b00tg2m2)
Matthew Broughton - The Rain Maker
By Matthew Broughton
When a father takes his son on a trip to a cabin in the woods, he has no idea what terrible horror is to come. A sinister story about the demons that lurk in the dark forest of the mind. (Repeat)
Father ..... Kenneth Cranham
Son ..... Joe Dempsie
Directed by James Robinson.
TUE 15:00 Home Planet (b00tg2m4)
The waste from a nuclear power plant contains materials that can be turned into atomic bombs. Nuclear fusion has long been promised as the fuel of the future. It doesn't produce the same type of waste but one Home Planet listener wants to know whether it might have some as yet unseen military purpose.
With all the concern about carbon dioxide, where does the gas come from to produce fizzy drinks, and does it make a significant contribution to our carbon footprint? Will the move to electric cars require more fossil fuel power stations to charge them? Could water be an alternative, greener way to cool the steamy London Underground? And we are due for another ice age, can we pump sufficient carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to stave it off?
Richard Daniel is joined by this week's panel: Dr Ros Taylor of Kingston University; Science Writer Ehsan Masood and Mike Hulme, Professor of Climate Change at the University of East Anglia.
Contact:
Home Planet
BBC Radio 4
PO Box 3096
Brighton
BN1 1PL
Or email home.planet@bbc.co.uk
Or telephone: 08700 100 400
Producer: Toby Murcott
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Comic Fringes (b00tg2nr)
Comic Fringes: Series 6
The Woman Who Sniffed
Take front row seats for a new series of short stories written and read by comedians and recorded last week in front of an audience at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Susan Calman gets the series underway with a wry look at office politics in "The Woman Who Sniffed".
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
TUE 15:45 A Load of Rubbish (b00fkqpg)
Episode 2
Ian Marchant continues his investigation of our rubbish with a visit to Britain's first plastic bottle recycling factory capable of turning drinks bottles back into food grade plastic. Meet the machines that can tell the difference between a shampoo bottle and a milk bottle.
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (b00tg2sp)
With just two years remaining until London's Olympic Games start, the search for volunteers with language skills has begun. Presenter Chris Ledgard travels to St Pancras station to meet Seb Coe, Boris Johnson and LOCOG chief executive Paul Deighton to hear about the two schemes - Games Makers and Ambassadors for London. "You don't need a degree in Mandarin" says Boris Johnson, but what language skills are required ? Chris also talks to gold medal winner Sally Gunnell about the need for translators in previous games, and also to Professor Joe Lo Bianco in Australia. Joe was heavily involved in the planning for the Sydney Olympics, which set a benchmark in getting language requirements correct. Does Joe think the London organisers have left enough time to get everything in place ?
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b00tgcss)
Series 22
Mary Carpenter
Matthew Parris is joined by the founder of Kids' Company, the psychotherapist Camila Batmanghelidjh, to discuss the life of her Victorian equivalent, Mary Carpenter.
Mary Carpenter developed theories for helping deprived and criminalised children through the experience of running schools and reformatories in Bristol in the mid-nineteenth century. She became very influential as MPs turned to her for advice on educational and penal reform regarding children. Her guiding principle was that the treatment of troubled children should be based on the love of the child, not on ideas of punishment or retribution.
Camila Batmanghelidjh founded Kids' Company to offer practical support 'and love' to vulnerable inner city children who may lack it from their families. She was surprised to discover how closely Mary Carpenter's beliefs mirror her own, one hundred and fifty years on, and how many of the problems Mary Carpenter described remain unchanged. Camila finds Dickensian conditions in the homes of South London children now, with filthy conditions, parents who are intoxicated and drugs being used to control or pacify children. These scenes would have been familiar to Mary Carpenter as she visited families in the slums of Bristol.
The parallels between the two women are striking: both exhibited a gift for dealing with children at an early age; both decided to devote their lives to the cause, eschewing a family life of their own; both have had to spend time raising money and advocating on behalf of the children they represent.
Matthew and Camila are joined by biographer and historian Carla Contractor in this fascinating and moving programme.
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery.
TUE 17:00 PM (b00tfrz5)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00tfsfx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Cabin Pressure (b00lyvz7)
Series 2
Kuala Lumpur
A week on stand-by at the airfield gives Arthur an opportunity to brush up on his stewarding skills, while Douglas seems to have disappeared. And why is everyone terrified of Dirk the groundsman?
Starring
Carolyn Knapp-Shappey ..... Stephanie Cole
1st Officer Douglas Richardson ..... Roger Allam
Capt. Martin Crieff ..... Benedict Cumberbatch
Arthur Shappey ..... John Finnemore
Dave ..... Paul Putner
George ..... Roger Morlidge
Written by John Finnemore.
Produced & directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b00tfrbk)
Elizabeth and Lily shop for schoolwear. Nic says Mia's looking forward to school with Jake. Elizabeth reveals she has long planned to send her own children to Clavisborne boarding school.
Nigel points out that Bert has left a parcel of runner beans under the "console desserte", spoiling the image for visitors. The beans are for Grant who works in the shop. He and his wife would like to grow their own vegetables. Realising there's a shortage of allotments in South Borsetshire, Nigel suggests to Elizabeth they could lease some of his land to help proactive young people get projects off the ground. Elizabeth thinks the idea's ridiculous. Besides, they have too much work to do for the weekend's steam rally.
Susan and Nic speculate on the possible sale of the Bull. Like Susan, Nic's after recipe ideas. Bert suggests stuffed marrow, but Susan wants to compete with exotic cook Jennifer. Pat warns Susan against making an unfamiliar dish.
Helen hopes that local celebrity chef Shelley's ideas will appeal to younger customers at next week's local food day. Shelley's going to give cookery demonstrations. Helen's raring to invite loads of people, but Pat worries that she needs to rest. Helen says she's never felt better.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b00tfsj5)
Sean Connery at 80; Inspector Morse on stage
Inspector Morse started life on the page in the novels by Colin Dexter, and memorably moved to TV with John Thaw in the title role. Now Morse takes to the stage for the first time, played by Colin Baker, in House of Ghosts by Alma Cullen, who wrote four Morse screenplays for TV. They discuss bringing the much-loved Inspector to the theatre.
As Sean Connery, the original celluloid Bond, reaches his 80th birthday, biographer Christopher Bray and outgoing director of the Edinburgh Film Festival Hannah McGill discuss the actor's life and career.
Conductor Osmo Vanska talks about performing at the BBC Proms this week with the Minnesota Orchestra.
Scott Pilgrim Vs The World is the new film from Edgar Wright, director of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Based on the graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O'Malley, the film follows Scott Pilgrim's quest for love, where he must defeat the 'seven evil exes' of the girl of his dreams. Ryan Gilbey reviews.
Producer: Gavin Heard.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00tfqvg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 Trouble in Euroland (b00tgcsv)
The Euro is in deep trouble.
As the project intended to unify the European Union causes even deeper divisions, questions are being raised about whether nations as diverse as Germany and Greece can really share the same currency.
The repercussions spread far beyond mainland Europe. Britain is affected as British firms struggle to sell to the Eurozone.
Jonathan Charles was the BBC's Europe correspondent in the 1990s, when the euro was first introduced to great fanfare. He travelled widely around the continent, reporting on the years of preparations leading to the final launch of the euro.
Now he retraces his steps, returning to some of those places and speaking to the likes of former Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont, the UK's treasury minister and ambassador at the time, and prominent European figures including the former Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok and some top European bankers. Jonathan also talks to ordinary workers whose livelihood has been fundamentally changed by the advent of euro zone.
Having taken Europe's temperature, Jonathan asks if the Euro will survive, and what does it mean for Europe's dream of political integration?
Producer: Kati Whitaker
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b00tgcsx)
Peter White discusses mobile phone problems with Marcus GrÃber. Is the touchscreen or the keyboard the future of mobile phones for blind and partially sighted users? And Mani Djazmi visits the blind World Golf Championships in Northamptonshire.
TUE 21:00 Case Notes (b00tgcsz)
Balance Disorders
Attacks of vertigo and dizziness afflict hundreds of thousands of people every year in the UK. One in three of us under 65 years old will have experienced a balance disorder. For some, problems with their sense of balance are so severe that a trip outside the house becomes a disorientating nightmare. Many become reclusive and depressed.
In this edition of Case Notes, Dr Mark Porter talks to patients, doctors and other clinical specialists about the various conditions which cause vertigo and disabling dizziness. Mark visits the one-stop Balance Clinic at Guys Hospital in London where patients are assessed and treated for a range of balance disorders.
These include the most common varieties such as benign paroxsymal positional vertigo and labyrinthitis. One expression of these complaints is visual vertigo. It's also known as Supermarket Syndrome because the visual patterns of moving down the packet-lined aisles triggers attacks of disorientation. Fortunately many patients can be helped with sessions of special physiotherapy exercises rather than drugs and surgery. Mark joins a session in the clinic's gym to hear how these cheap and simple therapies work.
There are also rarer, stranger balance upsets such as dehisence of the superior semicircular canal. Loud noises bring on severe attacks of vertigo. One allied symptom is that sufferers can also hear the sound of their eyeballs moving. Mark hears about the kinds of surgery possible for those patients stricken with vertigo that cannot be treated with less radical interventions.
Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker.
TUE 21:30 What's the Point of...? (b00tg23z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:58 Weather (b00tfsqc)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b00tfsv6)
An investigation has concluded that a Catholic priest, suspected of involvement in one of Northern Ireland's worst atrocities, was not arrested because of a secret deal between the Church, the police and the British government - but was the collusion justified?
Somali MPs killed in terror attack in Mogadishu
Could Pakistan be vulnerable to another military take-over in the wake of the flood?
With Ritula Shah.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00tk8zy)
And the Land Lay Still
Episode 2
Written and abridged by James Robertson.
Read by Liam Brennan.
Excerpts from James Robertson's monumental new novel which portrays the last six decades of Scotland's social and political landscape through the lives of a handful of characters.
Mike Pendreich has moved from Edinburgh to live in his late father Angus's cottage in the far north of Scotland. Angus was one of the greatest photographers of the post-war era and the remote cottage houses a vast archive of his prints and negatives.
Mike has been asked to curate a major retrospective of his father's work. Sifting through the messy archive, Mike is increasingly uncertain about the facts of his childhood and, seeking clarity, he decides to visit Jean Barbour, an old lover of his father's.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
TUE 23:00 Curiosity Killed the Cabaret (b00tgct1)
The Edinburgh Fringe is the home to some of the best cabaret acts the world has to offer and back in 2010 Fringe Radio 4 bought you a selection of some of the most talked about cabaret acts who appeared over the Festival.
Australian cabaret legend Ali McGregor (La Clique and Opera Burlesque), who recently hosted a Late-Nite Variety-Nite Night at The Assembly Rooms, hosted a special Radio 4 late night review show Curiosity Killed The Cabaret.
She introduced the cream of the cabaret acts appearing at the 2010 Fringe including Frisky and Mannish, Oompah Brass, Asher Treleaven and Fitzrovia Radio Hour.
Producer: Paul Russell
A Open Mike Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:30 Tickets Please (b00p1nm5)
Episode 3
Love among the train-staff on the
9.27 London to Exeter flourishes, but with the unwelcome addition of Diana's amorous mum. And why is her Dad squashing Carol's muffins?
Sitcom on rails by Mark Maier.
Robin..................Jeremy Swift
Nadine...................Alex Kelly
Peter..............Malcolm Tierney
Carol..............Tessa Nicholson
Carl................Nicholas Boulton
Diana...............Melissa Advani
Linda...................Kate Layden
Keith...............Stephen Hogan
Producer: Peter Kavanagh
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2009.
WEDNESDAY 25 AUGUST 2010
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b00tfb5j)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b00tffmq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00tfbfp)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00tfbk5)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00tfbh0)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b00tfbll)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00tfbvm)
with Canon Martyn Percy, Principal, Ripon College Cuddesdon.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b00tfcsk)
Woodlands across the UK are under attack by several major diseases and tens of thousands of trees are being felled as a result. Anna Hill hears what's being done to kerb the outbreaks and how countryside visitors could be making the problem worse.
Also how top restaurateurs are sourcing food from our beaches and how a rare flock of experimental sheep are producing wool worth ten times that of traditional British animals.
Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock.
WED 06:00 Today (b00tfcy8)
Morning news and current affairs with Justin Webb and Evan Davis, including:
07:30 Should violent offenders with mental health problems be tracked by satellite?
07:50 IFS report that the Budget was harder on the poor than the wealthy.
08:10 Why are sexually transmitted infections on the rise in the UK?
WED 09:00 Fry's English Delight (b00tgd1b)
Series 3
Accentuate the Negative
Contradiction is an addiction - from philosophical dialectic to the verification of scientific and mathematical hypotheses, and from religious controversy to traditional pantomime exchanges with the audience. Oh No It Isn't, you may think. Oh, yes, it very much is.
Stephen Fry examines various aspects of the subject with language expert Professor David Crystal, theologian Melissa Raphael-Levine, philosopher Anthony Grayling, and Oliver Double, who has made a special study of comedy double-acts, and will reveal just how vital contradiction is not only for cross-patter partners but for the whole of comedy.
We learn about the Square of Opposition and about how there is more than one way to be wrong. We find out just how the law of double negatives work, and how beguiling and sometimes surprising the oxymoron can be - that little combination of a couple of words that cancel each other out in some way. Well, it's only common sense, isn't it?
We also hear how those who claim to spot contradictions in the Bible, or the Talmud, or the Koran are essentially misguided, and we hear about a current development in English that threatens to change one of the things that has so far made the language different to French or German.
All of that, together with a lesson in when "No" does not necessarily mean no - and when "Yes" doesn't really mean yes, either.
Producer: Ian Gardhouse
ATestbed production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 09:30 Head to Head (b00tgd1d)
Series 2
AJ Ayer and Edward de Bono
Edward Stourton continues to revisit broadcast debates from the archives - exploring the ideas, the great minds behind them and echoes of the arguments in present-day politics.
In this episode, two leading minds thrash out the question of whether democracy works. It was a meeting of logical and lateral thinking in 1976 when celebrity philosopher AJ Ayer discussed the fairness and efficiency of democracy with Edward de Bono, the original lateral thinker.
The 1970s were trying economic times in the UK and the British public was losing faith in its government. Why was it Britain had won the war yet countries such as France and Germany were prospering and we weren't? In this context, Ayer and de Bono explore the fault lines in representative government: do elected politicians actually represent the interests of the population? Are these politicians equipped to do the job? And who makes the big decisions anyway - ministers or civil servants?
Their debate is in part a search for innovative solutions - not unlike the current UK political situation.
In the studio dissecting the debate are Ben Rogers, Associate Fellow at think tank Demos and writer of Ayer's biography, and author Piers Dudgeon, who wrote de Bono's biography.
Producer: Dominic Byrne
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b00tffms)
Elena Gorokhova - A Mountain of Crumbs
Episode 3
Elena Gorokhova has strong doubts about joining the Young Communist League but she knows she can't go to college unless she is a member, and she longs to read English at Leningrad University.
She loves the romanticism of literature and yearns for a dacha with white gauzy curtains; she wishes her family discussed etiquette instead of lugging buckets of water to beds of tomatoes and dill.
And then her Aunt Mila arrives from Minsk.
Read by Sian Thomas
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00tffpy)
Lone parents of young children who don't work are facing changes to their benefits this autumn to encourage them back into the jobs market. Some could lose out, so is withdrawing benefits the best way to get lone parents back to work? Author Wendy Perriam on her latest novel about an unlikely hero called Eric - a librarian looking for love and the personal demons he confronts along the way. At least a million children of school age have an ongoing medical condition such as asthma, diabetes or epilepsy. Should there be a statutory requirement to provide medical care for them at school? We hear from one mother whose child has diabetes. Presented by Jane Garvey.
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b00tfqrf)
Soloparentpals.com: Series 2
Doormats
SOLOPARENTPALS.COM by Sue Teddern.
Episode 3. Doormats
Not only has Rosie been sleeping with her ex-husband but she has become good friends with his girlfriend. Meanwhile Tom's ex treats him like a doormat.
Rosie - Maxine Peake
Tom - Kris Marshall
Tash - Karina Jones
Calum - Thomas Rolinson
Gill - Christine Kavanagh
Barb - Alison Pettitt
Bazz - Sam Dale
Scott - David Seddon
Director: David Hunter
Rosie (Maxine Peake) is a Bolton care-worker whose ex-husband Phil traded her in for a younger model four years ago leaving her to bring up Calum, now 12, alone.
Tom (Kris Marshall) is a housing officer in Exeter whose wife and confidence walked out on him eighteen months ago. He only sees his daughter Lily at weekends.
In the first series despite a succession of twists and turns, mistimings and misunderstandings between the rather nervous, disorganised Tom and the mouthy, controlling Rosie, an underlying friendship and dependence seemed to emerge - but an actual meeting in the flesh failed to take place.
Now, a year later, Rosie is coming to terms with the fact that Phil has had a baby with his new partner Debbie - a woman that she finds, to her surprise, that she has much in common with, perhaps too much? Tom has meanwhile being going steady with Siobhan, a work colleague and while he enjoys the regular sex, fresh veg and clean towels he can't help thinking things are going a little too fast.
Communications between the two are still long-distance, by email, telephone or through the website. Other SPP.COM participants chip in with their own perspectives and concerns - Baz is still the Neanderthal male, Tash the Lash in Wales is trying hard to rein in her party girl style, Gillybean has stashed her OU books in the attic and Gok Wanned her wardrobe and Scott is still coping with three teenage daughters and an obsession with poultry. And blunt newcomer Brummie Barb introduces a same-sex relationship into the mix.
SOLOPARENTPALS.COM will continue to strike a chord with single parents throughout the land and listeners will be able to readily identify with the situations that concern Rosie and Tom and their website friends.
SOLOPARENTPALS.COM is Sue Teddern's home territory. Her natural comic touch and her ear for domestic and emotional detail combines with a convincing touch of the absurd to create an involving and moving take on the love story - albeit one fraught with a multiplicity of misunderstandings and misinterpretations along the way.
MAXINE PEAKE's recent radio includes BETSY COLEMAN, A SMALL PIECE OF SILENCE and THAT REPULSIVE WOMAN. Television work includes DINNER LADIES, SHAMELESS, THE STREET and CRIMINAL JUSTICE.
WED 11:00 Mind Changers (b00tgd1g)
Case Study: SB - The Man Who Was Disappointed with What He Saw
Without a few unusual people, human behaviour would have remained a mystery - ordinary people whose extraordinary circumstances provided researchers with the exceptions that proved behavioural rules. Claudia Hammond revisits the classic case studies that have advanced psychological research.
Claudia Hammond re-visits the case of Sidney Bradford, born in 1906, who lost his sight when he was 10 months old. When it was finally restored with corneal grafts at the age of 52, a lecturer in Experimental Psychology at Cambridge, Richard Gregory, began a series of tests on SB - a study that would launch Gregory's career as a world-renowned expert in visual perception.
For this programme, in his last broadcast interview before his death in May this year, Richard Gregory, Emeritus Professor of Neuropsychology at Bristol University, accompanied Claudia Hammond to the London sites he'd visited with Sidney 50 years earlier. At the Science Museum SB was captivated by the Maudsley screw-cutting lathe from 1800; he enjoyed the flurry of pigeons in Trafalgar Square, and laughed at the giraffes at London Zoo. But in general SB found the visual world a disappointing place. He died less than two years after his sight was restored.
His reaction differed greatly from that of Mike May, an American who lost his sight aged 3 and recovered it when he was 43.
What's become apparent from such cases is that humans have to 'learn' to see; without accumulating visual experience from which the brain can make sense of what the eyes see, vision is of little use.
Claudia Hammond hears from consultant ophthalmologist, William Ayliffe about the other historical cases of recovered sight, and visits Dr Steven Dakin in the Department of Visual Neuroscience at UCL
Producer: Marya Burgess.
WED 11:30 Mum's on the Run (b00tgd1j)
Episode 1
Mum's on the Run is a modern-day twist on the single-family situation starring Ronni Ancona. .
It follows the hectic life ("What life?") of single mum, Jen. Mother of two, Master of none - Jen seems to spend most of her time as an unpaid chauffeur to a 15 year-old teenage existentialist son, Toby, and a tonally challenged recorder-practising 11 year-old daughter, Felicity, whilst also coping with the jazz musician ex-husband, the fiercely competitive and annoying downstairs neighbour and a huge crush on her son's history teacher.
How Jen drops the kids off at school at the beginning of the day but ends up collecting them from a nightclub at the end of it.
Jen ..... Ronni Ancona
Mr. Rigby ..... John Gordon Sinclair
Shelley ..... Alexis Zegerman
Vivienne ..... Christine Kavanagh
Keith ..... Kevin Eldon
Felicity ..... Amy Dabrowa
Toby ..... Alexander Heath
Karina ..... Amaya Rowlands
Connor ..... Pip Woolley
Cashier ..... Iain Batchelor
Doorman ..... Jude Akuwudike
Leona ..... Sam Dale
Written by Alexis Zegerman
Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2010.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b00tfqvl)
Private universities have reported a post A Level surge in interest - so what do they offer that's different from publically funded institutions?
Botox is best known as an anti-aging treatment but it has just been licensed in the UK for some kinds of migraine. We find out how it works and ask what else is in the pipeline.
And how the death of a daughter led one woman to campaign on cycle safety.
WED 12:57 Weather (b00tfqzx)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b00tfr34)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.
WED 13:30 The Media Show (b00tgd7y)
"The Web is Dead," or so said Chris Anderson editor in Chief of new media's stone tablet Wired magazine. Not the internet - that is alive and well - but the web as we know it. His article sparked quite a response much of it claiming he was simply wrong. Steve Hewlett finds out whether he meant what he said.
The South African government wants to bring in tighter controls over the media but critics claim "it's the most serious threat (to press freedom) since the persecution of the Apartheid regime". Steve hears from Peter Bruce editor of the South Africa daily Business Day and Moloto Mothapo from the ANC party.
On Friday the BBC's Director General Mark Thompson will give the MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival. In the same speech last year James Murdoch described the corporation's size and ambitions as "chilling" and claimed it was "incapable of distinguishing between what is good for it, and what is good for the country." So how will he respond? Peter Bazalgette and Gillian Reynolds (Radio Critic at the Telegraph) discuss.
And just how much can "auto-tuning" do...?
The producer is Joe Kent.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b00tfrbk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b00jsxxk)
The Gallery
A second chance to hear Alan Plater's final play for radio. The opening night of a new Tyneside art gallery is thrown into jeopardy by the well-meaning but ill-trained staff. Dodgy wiring, an over-zealous cleaner and a retired greyhound add to the comic mix.
Trevor ... Joe Caffrey
Liz ... Janice Acquah
Michael ... Deka Walmsley
Heather ... Caroline Guthrie
Julie ... Phillippa Wilson
Neville ... Chris Connel
Chris ... Benjamin Askew
Norma ... Tracey Wilkinson
Susie ... Lizzy Watts
Sammy ... Lisa McGrillis
Tomlin ... Malcolm Tierney
Director ... Alison Hindell
Alan Plater is the much-loved author of hundreds of stage, radio and television dramas including The Beiderbecke Affair, The Last of the Blonde Bombshells, Close the Coalhouse Door, The Pallisers, Z Cars and Lewis. His work for radio includes an adaptation of his own autobiography, Stories For Another Day, and the original drama series The Devil's Music. The Gallery was his final play for radio before his death in June 2010.
WED 15:00 Alvin Hall's Generations of Money (b00tdzp3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:00 on Saturday]
WED 15:30 Comic Fringes (b00tg2nt)
Comic Fringes: Series 6
Just When You Thought It Was Safe to be Green
Series of new short stories written and read by comedians and recorded live last week in front of a packed audience at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Patrick Monahan takes centre stage with "Just When You Thought It Was Safe to be Green"; a story which warns against paying too much attention to government crime statistics.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
WED 15:45 A Load of Rubbish (b00fq4ft)
Episode 3
Ian Marchant visits Ludlow, gourmet capital of England, to find out what happens to the food that gets thrown away. It gets swallowed up by the country's first anaerobic digestion plant - once the knives and forks have been removed.
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b00tgf11)
Alienation
Laurie Taylor discusses Karl Marx's theory of Alienation with Philosophy Professor, Sean Sayers, political economist, Ian Fraser, and Professor of Medical Ethics, Donna Dickenson.
Marx saw Alienation as an objective condition inherent in waged labour under capitalism. He believed that the mass proletariat were alienated because the fruits of production belonged to the employers. Factory workers were estranged from themselves, from the products of their labour, and from each other. Human relations came to be seen as relations between commodities rather than people. Marx believed this alienation would be overcome in a communist future in which we could "hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticise after dinner...without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic". Individuals would become multifaceted and be at one with their creative selves. Work, in such a future, would be an end in itself rather than a means to an end in the form of a wage.
Thinking Allowed explores the evolution and development of Marx's theory of Alienation. Can it, in any way, capture the experience of today's worker? Or is it hopelessly outdated in an economy dominated by a service sector rather than factory production?
WED 16:30 Case Notes (b00tgcsz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 17:00 PM (b00tfrz7)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00tfsfz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Ed Reardon's Week (b00qgxxb)
Series 6
A Bottle of Ulterio Motivo
ED REARDON'S WEEK
Episode 5 : A Bottle of Ulterio Motivo
Ed finds himself in the money when he sells most of his possessions to a themed wine bar owned by the lovely Violet Carson.
With Christopher Douglas as Ed Reardon and
Stephanie Cole as Olive
Simon Greenall as Ray
Geoff McGivern as Cliff
Philip Jackson as Jaz
Rita May as Pearl
Barunka O'Shaughnessey as Ping
And Geoffrey Whitehead as Stan
With Dan Tetsell and Emma Fryer.
Written by Christopher Douglas and Andrew Nickolds
Producer: Dawn Ellis.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b00tfrbm)
Ed's impressed by Tom's new mower conditioner, and suggests Tony could use it to do some silaging for him.
Helen's keen to have a low-tech birth, although she appreciates Tony's sentiment when he favours state-of-the-art Felpersham Hospital. Pat reminds Tony that while Helen's conception may not have been natural, the pregnancy is - and so the birth should be.
As Helen rearranges Ambridge Organics for the cookery demonstration, Kirsty reports press interest in the Arkwright Lake hide. She also observes that Helen looks tired.
Tony gives Jamie pointers at net practice, careful not to step on Alistair's toes. Will's a bit defensive when Tony mentions Nic's popularity with Bull locals. As they discuss the pub, Tony admits he's in the dark over Lilian's plans.
Over a glass of wine with Pat, Kathy feels she and Jamie have turned a corner. Her getting upset last week affected him, and he's making a real effort. She's also encouraged that Kenton has agreed to come to the golf club dinner dance.
However, Kirsty tells Helen that Kenton's dreading the event. Kirsty finally gets hold of a contact for Ed, although Kenton doesn't think there will be any artichokes available. Ed vows to find them, somehow.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b00tfsj7)
Klaxons; Comedy Awards; Jo Nesbo; long running TV series
With Mark Lawson.
With The Bill, Last of the Summer Wine and Big Brother all coming to an end in the next few days, TV critic Boyd Hilton and writer Chris Dunkley consider the impact of these three long-running series.
Klaxons won the Mercury Music Prize in 2007 for their debut album. Band members James Righton and Jamie Reynolds join Mark to discuss their new disc Surfing the Void, which was released this week after rumours that it was proving the difficult second album of rock legend.
The shortlist for the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Awards was announced this afternoon. Stephen Armstrong, one of this year's judges, takes us through the contenders. The winners will be announced on Saturday.
Norwegian crime writer Jo Nesbo, whose work has been translated into 30 languages, talks about his new book The Snowman.
Producer: Samantha Psyk.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00tfqrf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Iconoclasts (b00tgf14)
Series 3
Episode 1
Edward Stourton chairs a live debate in which Professor David Marsland defends his view that the mentally and morally unfit should be sterilised. Professor David Marsland is Emeritus Scholar of Sociology and Health Sciences at Brunel University, London and Professorial Research Fellow in Sociology at the University of Buckingham. He argues that the only way to prevent the abuse and neglect of children whose parents are incapable of looking after them is to stop them from being born in the first place. It should be open to police and social workers to recommend that drug addicts, alcoholics and the mentally disabled should be irreversibly sterilised - and the courts should be able to enforce this. Challenging his views will be three expert witnesses including a senior social worker, a drugs charity lawyer and a moral philosopher.
Join in the debate by emailing iconoclasts@bbc.co.uk or text during the programme on 84844.
Producer: Peter Everett.
WED 20:45 Talking to the Enemy (b00tgf16)
From agreements to peace
How do agreements in the negotiating room develop into peace? Should we always talk or are some terrorists beyond the pale? Jonathan Powell presents the final programme on negotiating with terrorists. Produced by David Stenhouse.
WED 21:00 Frontiers (b00tgf18)
Graphene - the new wonder material
Discovered in Manchester just a few years ago, graphene is an atomically thin form of carbon that looks set to transform technology. In the short time it has been known, graphene has been found to be among the toughest of materials, has almost no resistance to electricity, is chemically inert, impermeable to gases, almost completely transparent ... . Potential uses include the ultimate in nano-electronics, touch screens, hydrogen storage for zero-emission cars, solar panels, DNA sequencing, ultracapacitors for the next generation of electric cars, chemical sensors ...
WED 21:30 Fry's English Delight (b00tgd1b)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b00tfsqf)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b00tfsv8)
David Miliband says the Labour Party must reach out to supporters from all sections of society.
Will his party prefer to put the poorest first?
Why Germans want to keep military conscription.
Winning battles with inflatable tanks, the Russian way.
With Ritula Shah.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00tk90q)
And the Land Lay Still
Episode 3
Written and abridged by James Robertson.
Read by Liam Brennan.
Excerpts from James Robertson's monumental new novel which portrays the last six decades of Scotland's social and political landscape through the lives of a handful of characters.
The late Angus Pendreich was one of the greatest photographers of the post-war era. His son Mike, also a photographer, has been asked to curate a major retrospective of his father's work. Seeking to discover more about the man, Mike has contacted Jean Barbour, one of Angus's old lovers.
As the pair work their way through a bottle of malt whisky, Mike shares some intimate memories and hears from Jean a difficult truth.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
WED 23:00 Continuity (b00tgf1c)
Episode 2
Alistair McGowan stars in this subversive sitcom about a continuity announcer, brooding on the escalating disasters of his private and professional life at the same time as attempting to give us a preview of the programmes on offer in the coming week on Radio 4. Or what might be Radio 4 in a parallel universe.
This week we welcome the return of 'Musical Notebook', cast our minds back to the controversial career of that terror of the music halls, the irrepressible comic Lennie Bloom, and we discuss the revamp of Desert Island Discs. It's all good.
Written by Hugh Rycroft. Also starring Lewis Macleod, Sally Grace, Charlotte Page and David Holt.
Producers: David Spicer and Frank Stirling
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:15 Rik Mayall's Bedside Tales (b00nqj86)
Wake Up
Settle down, brush your teeth, do whatever it is you do at this time of night. But, most of all, listen because Rik would like to talk to you. One on one. Tonight he'd mostly like to tell you about Wake Up.
Performer ..... Rik Mayall
Writers ..... Rik Mayall & John Nicholson
Producer ..... Steven Canny
Written by Rik and John Nicholson, this is a woozy, strange and resonant series from one of the country's most loved comic performers. Rik wants to sit with you in your room - one on one. He wants to let you know things - important, secret things, things about your neighbours. About him. About you.
WED 23:30 Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off (b00pfp8n)
Series 4
The Orient Express
He's back! But this time, he's got a computer! Budleigh Salterton's most famous citizen has been grounded by both the Home Office and his father, so he's set up GWH Travvel ("2 Ms, 2 Gs, 2 Vs - bit of a mix up at the printers").
Run from his bedroom in Budleigh Salterton, with the help of his long-suffering former Primary School teacher Mr Timmis and the hindrance of his sister Charlotte, it's a one-stop Travel/Advice/Events Management/Website service, where each week his schemes range far and wide - whether it's roaming the country lecturing would-be overlanders on how to pack a rucksack ("If in doubt, put it in. And double it"), or finding someone a zebra for a corporate promotion ("I'll look in the Phone Book - how hard can it be? Now, "A to D"...), GWH Travvel stays true to its motto - "We do it all, so you won't want to".
In this episode; It's a Merger On The Orient Express as Giles takes four cross ladies and a piece of lead piping on a septuagenarian trans-Balkan hen party. With an Agatha Christie theme.
Mysterious jewels, magnificent moustaches and a set of pink fluffy handcuffs add up to a baffling mystery.
Starring Marcus Brigstocke as Giles.
Giles Wemmbley Hogg ..... Marcus Brigstocke
Lady Flench ..... Alison Steadman
Mrs Hadleigh-Broome ..... Morwenna Banks
Mrs Gunthorne ..... Janet Henfrey
Mr Timmis ..... Adrian Scarborough
Charlotte Wemmbley Hogg ..... Catherine Shepherd
Hugo ..... Ben Willbond
David ..... David Armand
Mehmet ..... Nej Adamson
Written by Marcus Brigstocke & Jeremy Salsby.
Producer: David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
THURSDAY 26 AUGUST 2010
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b00tfb5l)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b00tffms)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00tfbfr)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00tfbk7)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00tfbh2)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b00tfbln)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00tfbvp)
with Canon Martyn Percy, Principal, Ripon College Cuddesdon.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b00tfcsm)
The farmer who illegally sold cloned meat says UK law should be changed. Anna Hill hears that even if his animals end up abroad, we could end up eating them without knowing it.
Frozen food and pasta sauces should count towards the 5-a-day, according to the government's Fruit and Veg task force. Farming Today hears on average people currently eat only 3.7 portions a day - increasing that to 5 would avoid an estimated 42,000 premature deaths per year.
And a visit to the Norfolk Broads shows how farming near the coast can be a constant battle. Anna Hill visits a farm which has lost its battle with the water.
Presenter: Anna Hill; Producer Melvin Rickarby.
THU 06:00 Today (b00tfcyb)
Morning news and current affairs with James Naughtie and Justin Webb, including:
07:40 Could a mackerel war break out between Iceland and the Faroe Islands and the EU?
08:10 The return of businessman Asil Nadir to face charges in the UK.
08:20 Does it matter if your doctor is religious?
THU 09:00 The Choice (b00tgfr7)
On The Choice this week Michael Buerk talk to Elissa Wall who was born into the strange, narrow world of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints - an American sect that had broken away from the Mormon church.
It was a group that believed in religious devotion, hard work, female subservience, the virtues and the clothes of the prairie puritans - and polygamy. Elissa was married off at 14 to a 19-year-old cousin - a relationship she hated. After several miscarriages, and a stillbirth, she faced the toughest choice of her young life - to stay with the community and the church, which was all she knew, or to leave. That would mean, not only separation from her mother and sisters, maybe for ever, but taking on the man who had ruled her life, the cult leader Warren Jeffs.
THU 09:30 GPs Who Need GPS (b00tgfr9)
Doctor on Your Trail
Dr Phil Hammond tells the story of another GP who experiences extraordinary journeys as part of their work.
Frostbite, altitude sickness and machete accidents. All injuries that expedition doctors can come across as they travel throughout the world with charity fundraisers, gap year students and adventurers. All fairly unusual for your standard practising GP.
As Alex Hoskin prepares to climb Africa's highest mountain, Phil Hammond tells his story of nerves, excitement....and potential lion attacks.
Produced by Lucy Adam.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b00tffmv)
Elena Gorokhova - A Mountain of Crumbs
Episode 4
Elena Gorokhova is understandably nervous when the university authorities select her to teach English to visiting American students during the summer break.
It is the first time she has seen a live American and now she is faced with fourteen of them, staring at her with the same intense curiosity with which she stares at them.
And she likes what she sees, especially when she is introduced to Robert.
Read by Sian Thomas
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00tffq0)
Jane Garvey talks to an artist reunited with the son she gave up for adoption whose story is now re-told in a joint exhibition of their work. Bad breath, dirty toenails or calling women "laydeeeeez" - the deal-breakers that spell doom in a relationship. Women who married were forced to give up work in some occupations as recently as 40 years ago - we look at the impact of the marriage bar on today's workplace. How the traditional game of stoolball can help you stay fit. Community gardening in Birmingham.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b00tfqrh)
Soloparentpals.com: Series 2
Emotional Quicksand
SOLOPARENTPALS.COM by Sue Teddern.
Episode 4. Emotional Quicksand.
Rosie's love-life is in a tangle and Tom is getting cold feet about Siobhan.
Rosie - Maxine Peake
Tom - Kris Marshall
Tash - Karina Jones
Calum - Thomas Rolinson
Gill - Christine Kavanagh
Barb - Alison Pettitt
Bazz - Sam Dale
Scott - David Seddon
Director: David Hunter
Rosie (Maxine Peake) is a Bolton care-worker whose ex-husband Phil traded her in for a younger model four years ago leaving her to bring up Calum, now 12, alone.
Tom (Kris Marshall) is a housing officer in Exeter whose wife and confidence walked out on him eighteen months ago. He only sees his daughter Lily at weekends.
In the first series despite a succession of twists and turns, mistimings and misunderstandings between the rather nervous, disorganised Tom and the mouthy, controlling Rosie, an underlying friendship and dependence seemed to emerge - but an actual meeting in the flesh failed to take place.
Now, a year later, Rosie is coming to terms with the fact that Phil has had a baby with his new partner Debbie - a woman that she finds, to her surprise, that she has much in common with, perhaps too much? Tom has meanwhile being going steady with Siobhan, a work colleague and while he enjoys the regular sex, fresh veg and clean towels he can't help thinking things are going a little too fast.
Communications between the two are still long-distance, by email, telephone or through the website. Other SPP.COM participants chip in with their own perspectives and concerns - Baz is still the Neanderthal male, Tash the Lash in Wales is trying hard to rein in her party girl style, Gillybean has stashed her OU books in the attic and Gok Wanned her wardrobe and Scott is still coping with three teenage daughters and an obsession with poultry. And blunt newcomer Brummie Barb introduces a same-sex relationship into the mix.
SOLOPARENTPALS.COM will continue to strike a chord with single parents throughout the land and listeners will be able to readily identify with the situations that concern Rosie and Tom and their website friends.
SOLOPARENTPALS.COM is Sue Teddern's home territory. Her natural comic touch and her ear for domestic and emotional detail combines with a convincing touch of the absurd to create an involving and moving take on the love story - albeit one fraught with a multiplicity of misunderstandings and misinterpretations along the way.
MAXINE PEAKE's recent radio includes BETSY COLEMAN, A SMALL PIECE OF SILENCE and THAT REPULSIVE WOMAN. Television work includes DINNER LADIES, SHAMELESS, THE STREET and CRIMINAL JUSTICE.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b00tgwl9)
Luol Deng revisits South Sudan
Luol Deng is a giant - both physically and in the world of American professional basketball where is one of the biggest stars, and reportedly Barack Obama's favourite player. He was born in South Sudan but had to flee as a child because of his father's political activities. His family moved to Brixton where Luol's talents on the basketball court were spotted as a teenager. He's now established a charity working with the "lost boys" of Sudan - young men who have lived their entire lives in refugee camps after fleeing the country as children. Now Sudan is facing the prospects of partition, with a referendum next year expected to endorse splitting the mainly Christian South from the mainly Muslim North. Tim Franks joins Luol Deng as he returns to Sudan to assess the prospects for peace - and of course to show his skills with a basketball.
Producer: Edward Main.
THU 11:30 Svelte Sylvia and the Hollywood Trimsters (b00tgwlc)
Madame Sylvia was a tiny, opinionated Norwegian who became the toast of 1920s Hollywood.
Employed by Pathe studios, her legendary violent massage technique kept stars such as Gloria Swanson ready for their close-ups.
She claimed to be able to make fat ooze from the pores like mashed potato through a colander. A shrewd businesswoman, she made herself into a brand, marketing her techniques through books, articles and radio programmes across America.
She made her name at a time when the movie boom meant not just stars, but audiences were starting to become more self-conscious about physical appearance.
She was the very first fitness guru, and kick-started our modern obsession with working out.
Karen Krizanovich, a film critic and accredited personal trainer, goes to Hollywood in search of Sylvia's story.
She goes to Sylvia's house and the studio where she worked, and reads her racy newspaper columns. But she also assesses Sylvia's legacy, questioning the role that fitness and beauty play in modern Hollywood as she talks to a celebrity personal trainer and joins a class of hula-hoopers on Santa Monica beach.
Was Sylvia a pioneering trailblazer - or can we blame her for the darker side of today's obsession with the body beautiful?
Producer: Kate Taylor
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in August 2010.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b00tfqvn)
Vitamin D deficiency affects about half the UK population, but the vitamin is important for good health, growth and strong bones. We find out how a shortage is making it difficult for GPs to prescribe high doses.
We examine how your journey plans might be affected if you're travelling by rail this Bank Holiday weekend.
And do you want to find some money? If there's only a few bob down the back of the sofa, Matthew Vincent explains where you might find more. He's been helping people trace lost money and will give us some tips on where to look.
THU 12:30 Face the Facts (b00tgwlf)
Money To Burn
Firefighters need the right equipment and back up if they are going to save lives. But millions of pounds have been spent on state of the art control rooms that may never be used, fire engines that are so heavy they can't be driven at speed and a fire training house - that caught fire.
Just some of the costly procurement decisions made on behalf of fire and rescue services across Britain - but paid for by us.
THU 12:57 Weather (b00tfqzz)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b00tfr36)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.
THU 13:30 Questions, Questions (b00tgwlh)
Stewart Henderson presents the interactive problem-solving programme for those niggling questions.
Email Questions.questions@bbc.co.uk
Tel: 03700 100400
Or you can reach us online via our Radio 4 message board.
Producer: Dilly Barlow
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b00tfrbm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b00tgwlk)
Quirks
Wealthy East Ender Joey and his much younger wife Bianca live in an expensive villa on the Costa del Sol, surrounded by servants and other staff. They seem to have the perfect life. But as the story unfolds, some unsettling questions arise.
Why can't Joey go back to England, where most of his business interests still lie? Why is he so obsessed about security? Why, come to that, does Bianca keep going on about contract killers? And when it comes to the crunch, how far can husband and wife trust each other?
David Troughton and Tracy-Ann Oberman star as Joey and Bianca in this taut black comedy. Written by Simon Brett, the crime novelist and creator for radio of After Henry, No Commitments and - more recently - People in Cars.
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 15:00 Open Country (b00tdz4n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:07 on Saturday]
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b00tf1k3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Comic Fringes (b00tg2nw)
Comic Fringes: Series 6
On The Dot
Series of short stories which captures the atmosphere of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Recorded live at The Pleasance last week, leading comedians perform their own work in front of a packed audience.
Comedian and newspaper columnist Shazia Mirza completes the line-up with her story "On The Dot". Mrs.Pims is late for everything but no one knows why. Until one day...
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
THU 15:45 A Load of Rubbish (b00fq4fw)
Episode 4
It's not the romance of rail, but every night ghostly rubbish trains travel from Bristol and London to a landfill site deep in the Buckinghamshire countryside. Just a few hours closure would cause a crisis in our cities. Ian Marchant meets the people saving us from drowning in our own waste.
THU 16:00 Open Book (b00tf9nt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:30 Material World (b00tgwlm)
Quentin Cooper presents his weekly digest of science in and behind the headlines. This week he finds out why it will take so long to reach the trapped miners in Chile. He catches up on the infestation of the Horse Chestnut Tree by tiny parasitic moths and also why our current thinking on how Black Holes are formed could be all wrong. And he talks to one of our So you want to be scientist finalists about the results from his experiments. Will Sam be able to to tell where the safest place to be in a crowd at a rock concert is?
The producer is Ania Lichtarowicz.
THU 17:00 PM (b00tfrz9)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00tfsg1)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Arthur Smith's Edinburgh Bash (b00tgwlp)
Arthur Smith adapts his successful Radio 4 series in which he invites an audience into his home in Balham to the Edinburgh Festival. In this special edition he takes his audience on a magical tour of top-flight music and comedy in the Pleasance Courtyard. He'll lead them to hear his guests at some of the venues and more unexpected corners there. Guests include Emo Phillips and Clanadonia.
Producer Alison Vernon-Smith.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b00tfrbp)
In the memorial gardens, Lynda demonstrates a handy trick for sowing seeds. Lynda and Elizabeth discuss the recent littering, the upcoming steam rally, and the children. Elizabeth hopes Freddie and Lily will settle to boarding school next year. Lynda misses Oscar, although they chat on Skype.
Susan's bought a tagine, and plans a dummy run of her meal. Meanwhile, Lynda requires Eddie's help in dealing with some B&B guests who are expanding in number. She's looking forward to the local food day next Thursday. Susan reminds her there's lots of spare veg at the shop.
David deals with limping cattle. Broken glass is to blame. Ruth mentions that Eddie's after a ticket to the Dairy Event - supposedly for self improvement. Eddie ups the pressure, asking if Ed can come as well. Looks like they'll be paying for Ed's ticket too.
Emma shares some ideas for the baby change room at Lower Loxley. Elizabeth's thrown when Lily says Freddie hates the idea of going to boarding school.
Ed prepares Emma a special meal with artichokes. They're interrupted though by a panicked Susan, who needs someone to test her lamb on. Reluctant Emma tastes the dish, and promptly suggests starting again.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b00tfsj9)
U Be Dead, Clybourne Park, The Boy Who Bit Picasso
With Kirsty Lang.
Based on a true story about a doctor who was the victim of a vicious stalker, TV drama U Be Dead stars David Morrissey and Tara Fitzgerald. Writer Rachel Cooke reviews.
When Antony Penrose was three he became friends with Picasso. His mother was the celebrated photographer Lee Miller, whose photos of Picasso - fooling in his studio and playing games with her son - illustrate Antony Penrose's new book, The Boy Who Bit Picasso, which is both a memoir of his friend and an introduction for children to the art of Picasso. He talks about the great artist's love of children and animals.
Film director Fritz Lang's science fiction classic Metropolis has been newly restored, with almost 30 minutes of extra footage, and James Cameron's Avatar has just been re-released in cinemas with new material. Ian Christie and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh consider whether additional footage has ever improved a film.
American playwright Bruce Norris discusses his new satirical comedy Clybourne Park. Set in both 1959 and 2009, it examines racial tensions over two generations. The cast for the British premiere includes Martin Freeman and Sophie Thompson.
Producer: Rebecca Nicholson.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00tfqrh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b00tgwlr)
Cloned Cow Meat
Meat from the offspring of a cloned cow has been sold and eaten in the UK. Nadene Ghouri investigates how it happened and asks whether anyone is likely to be at risk. She traces the animal's journey from Wisconsin in the US to a dairy herd in the Scottish Highlands, and finds out how the international market in animal embryos made it all possible.
Producer: Monica Soriano.
THU 20:30 In Business (b00tgwlt)
Sociability
In Business finds out how interactive media such as mobile phones can be used to empower the poor as well as entertain the rich. Peter Day has been meeting social entrepreneurs who are finding new ways to harness the new technologies to benefit poor people
Producer: Julie Ball.
THU 21:00 The British Whales (b00tgwlw)
The British Isles are littered with whales - real and imagined. Kathleen Jamie investigates. Whales have bumped into the coast and swum recklessly up the Forth, the Humber and the Thames. Whalebone arches are raised on cliffs. We hunted them to within inches of extinction and now we love them to death, though many scientists think of them as no cleverer than marine cows. But still they fill our dreams and populate our imginations. The programme tries to map some of the mutifarious cetaceans that make up the British Whales. With poems from Simon Armitage, Catriona O'Reilly and Paul Farley and contributions from former chemist on board floating whalers, Hugh Symons, whalebone archivist Nicholas Redman, and writer Philip Hoare. Producer: Tim Dee.
THU 21:30 The Choice (b00tgfr7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b00tfsqh)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b00tfsvb)
Radio 4's daily evening news and current affairs programme bringing you global news and analysis.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00tk90l)
And the Land Lay Still
Episode 4
Written and abridged by James Robertson.
Read by Liam Brennan.
Excerpts from James Robertson's monumental new novel which portrays the last six decades of Scotland's social and political landscape through the lives of a handful of characters.
The late Angus Pendreich was one of the greatest photographers of the post-war era. His son Mike, also a photographer, has been asked to curate a major retrospective of his father's work. Seeking to discover more about the man, Mike has contacted Jean Barbour, one of Angus's old lovers.
Over a shared bottle of whisky, Jean finally reveals to Mike the truth about her affair with Angus.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
THU 23:00 Recorded for Training Purposes (b00tgwly)
Series 4
Episode 6
Recorded for Training Purposes, the sketch show about modern communication, ends its fourth series. Described as "brilliant" by the Telegraph, it does sketches about how and why we talk to each other, and what we have to say. (There's an especially good sketch about the music they use on gameshows.)
Recorded in front of a studio audience, the show features a cast whose credits spread from Radio 4 afternoon plays, via award-winning fringe theatre, to Star Wars: Rachel Atkins, Dominic Coleman, Lewis Macleod, Julie Mayhew, Ingrid Oliver and Ben Willbond.
The show had an open-door policy, meaning that anyone could send the show sketches. Some 1500 were sent in this way, with every single one being read by a script-editor or producer - with the funniest stuff getting recorded and broadcast. In addition, a small number of the new writers who got material broadcast this way in series three were given one-to-one script-editing notes and feedback from the production team as part of BBC Radio Comedy's commitment to discovering and developing new writing talent.
The scripts were edited by award-winning writers James Cary, Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris. James' writing will be familiar to Radio 4 audiences from the his sketch show Concrete Cow to his sitcoms Think The Unthinkable and Hut 33. He also co-writes, with Milton Jones, Another Case of Milton Jones. Jason and Joel have written sketches for Mitchell & Webb on both TV and Radio, The Armstrong & Miller Show, The Peter Serafinowicz Show, and are the best-selling authors of Bollocks to Alton Towers: Uncommonly British Days Out.
THU 23:30 Safety Catch (b017skx3)
Series 2
If a Job's Not Worth Doing
Simon is totally convinced this week that he is in the right job and has a duty not only to stay there, but to do his job sloppily. His reasoning for this is that if he wasn't there doing the job badly then someone else would be doing it well and that would be a much worse scenario.
Then he has the awful, soul shattering realisation, and one which is something every person in Britain would be ashamed to admit, that he actually loves his job. Boris of course is in heaven at the thought of a soul-mate at work, but Simon decides the only way he can go on is to learn to hate again.
Series two of Laurence Howarth's black comedy of modern morality set in the world of arms dealing.
Simon McGrath.............................Darren Boyd
Anna Grieg..................................Joanna Page
Boris Kemal...............................Lewis Macleod
Judith McGrath..............................Sarah Smart
Angela McGrath............................Brigit Forsyth
Madeleine Turnbull........................Rachel Atkins
Richard...........................................Dan Mersh
Julius........................................Nyahsa Hatendi
Producer: Dawn Ellis.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2009.
FRIDAY 27 AUGUST 2010
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b00tfb5n)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b00tffmv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00tfbft)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00tfbk9)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00tfbh4)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b00tfblq)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00tfbvr)
with Canon Martyn Percy, Principal, Ripon College Cuddesdon.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b00tfcsp)
Thousands of jobs could be threatened if the 'Mackerel Wars' escalate - according to a Scottish fish processor. Scientists have moved a step closer to developing wheat capable of resisting climate change, by mapping the crop's genetic makeup. And, we meet a farmer who says he'd 'be like a fish out of water' if he wasn't by the sea.
FRI 06:00 Today (b00tfcyd)
Morning news and current affairs with James Naughtie and Justin Webb including:
07:50 Is the US heading for a double dip recession?
08:10 Mike Thomson reports from Niger on the famine and floods facing the world's poorest country.
08:30 Education Secretary Michael Gove on education equality.
FRI 09:00 The Reunion (b00tf9bl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b00tffmx)
Elena Gorokhova - A Mountain of Crumbs
Episode 5
Robert has returned to Texas but he writes to Elena every week and wonders if she might visit him.
He explains that he can get her a visitors' visa if she goes as his fiancée but Elena explains that it is not getting into America that is the difficult part but getting out of the USSR.
They both understand that there is only one way to achieve this - but are they ready to get married?
Read by Sian Thomas
A Jane Marshall Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00tffq2)
Astrid Kirchherr, who took so many iconic photographs of the Beatles, talks about life with them in Hamburg – and about taking pictures on the streets of Liverpool. Every year, thousands of women have problems during labour; Bidisha talks to the director of a new centre aiming to make childbirth safer & less traumatic. New research which suggests having a sister makes you happier and protects you from depression. And the novel which both scandalised and excited the 1920s with its frank descriptions of relationships with both men and women is adapted for radio.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b00tfqrk)
Soloparentpals.com: Series 2
Happy Now?
SOLOPARENTPALS.COM by Sue Teddern.
Episode 5. Happy Now?
Rosie and Tom meet.
Rosie ..... Maxine Peake
Tom ..... Kris Marshall
SPP voice ..... Karina Jones
Calum ..... Thomas Rolinson
Gill ..... Christine Kavanagh
Scott ..... David Seddon
Director: David Hunter
Rosie (Maxine Peake) is a Bolton care-worker whose ex-husband Phil traded her in for a younger model four years ago leaving her to bring up Calum, now 12, alone.
Tom (Kris Marshall) is a housing officer in Exeter whose wife and confidence walked out on him eighteen months ago. He only sees his daughter Lily at weekends.
In the first series despite a succession of twists and turns, mistimings and misunderstandings between the rather nervous, disorganised Tom and the mouthy, controlling Rosie, an underlying friendship and dependence seemed to emerge - but an actual meeting in the flesh failed to take place.
Now, a year later, Rosie is coming to terms with the fact that Phil has had a baby with his new partner Debbie - a woman that she finds, to her surprise, that she has much in common with, perhaps too much? Tom has meanwhile being going steady with Siobhan, a work colleague and while he enjoys the regular sex, fresh veg and clean towels he can't help thinking things are going a little too fast.
Communications between the two are still long-distance, by email, telephone or through the website. Other SPP.COM participants chip in with their own perspectives and concerns - Baz is still the Neanderthal male, Tash the Lash in Wales is trying hard to rein in her party girl style, Gillybean has stashed her OU books in the attic and Gok Wanned her wardrobe and Scott is still coping with three teenage daughters and an obsession with poultry. And blunt newcomer Brummie Barb introduces a same-sex relationship into the mix.
SOLOPARENTPALS.COM will continue to strike a chord with single parents throughout the land and listeners will be able to readily identify with the situations that concern Rosie and Tom and their website friends.
SOLOPARENTPALS.COM is Sue Teddern's home territory. Her natural comic touch and her ear for domestic and emotional detail combines with a convincing touch of the absurd to create an involving and moving take on the love story - albeit one fraught with a multiplicity of misunderstandings and misinterpretations along the way.
MAXINE PEAKE's recent radio includes BETSY COLEMAN, A SMALL PIECE OF SILENCE and THAT REPULSIVE WOMAN. Television work includes DINNER LADIES, SHAMELESS, THE STREET and CRIMINAL JUSTICE.
FRI 11:00 Confessions of a Window Cleaner (b00tgwz5)
Minimal start up costs, cash in hand and no licence necessary, window cleaning sounds like a tempting option to recession victims or immigrants wanting to start a new life. In fact it's been described by one insurance company as the most dangerous job in Britain and the battle for pitches can be fierce and furious.
The world's fastest female window cleaner, Debbie Morris gives Steve Carver some pointers before he heads into the world of soap and squeegee's. A high proportion of the window cleaners in the UK are followers of Jehova and Geir Perry uses his experience selling God to market the values of shiny glass, honest work and enough time in the day for his faith. In the spiritual home of George Formby Steve faces his biggest challenge, gaining a head for heights at the top of Blackpool tower and testing his new found skills on the oldest window cleaner in Britain, Alan Forest.
FRI 11:30 Old Harry's Game (b00whwzs)
Series 6
Psychiatry
Edith quizzes Satan about "The Fall", but Satan sees it more as "The Push" and feels God has anger-management issues.
Andy Hamilton's comedy set in Hell.
Starring Andy Hamilton as Satan, Annette Crosbie as Edith, Robert Duncan as Scumspawn and Jimmy Mulville as Thomas.
Other characters played by Michael Fenton Stevens, Philip Pope and Felicity Montagu
Producer Paul Mayhew-Archer
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2007.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b00tfqvq)
After being described as 'not fit for purpose', and criticised in a recent report, the National Trust for Scotland's Chief Executive tells us how she'll address its problems to ensure its future security.
Why cross-Channel ferry companies are suffering from heavy competition, despite a rise in passenger numbers.
The new technology trains are using to keep them running on time.
And four months since the volcanic ash cloud, the passengers who are still trying to claim back refunds.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b00tfr01)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b00tfr38)
National and international news with Brian Hanrahan.
FRI 13:30 More or Less (b00tgwz7)
Tim Harford and the More or Less team are back with a new series of the award-winning investigative numbers programme. This week: the "Spirit Level" row decoded. Is it really safer to wear a helmet when cycling? And has the first future 1000-year-old already been born?
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b00tfrbp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b00djtvh)
Elephant and Castle
by Robin Baker
It's Ian's 35th birthday and we're in the middle of a row with his girlfriend from which there's no going back. Fast rewind 9 months to the Tibetan cafe where they meet. In a series of short scenes the play follows the full trajectory of their relationship.
Ian...........................Rory Kinnear
Kat..........................Lyndsey Marshal
Jude........................Olivia Colman
Janet........................Carolyn Pickles
Other parts played by Manjeet Mann, Jill Cardo
and Gunnar Cauthery.
Producer Steven Canny.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b00tgwzb)
Pippa Greenwood, Bob Flowerdew and Christine Walkden advise gardeners in West Yorkshire.
We look at the challenges of gardening at high altitude, and chairman Eric Robson goes aboard a canal boat garden.
Producer: Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 A Load of Rubbish (b00fq4j6)
Episode 5
Ian Marchant visits Newport, home of the country's biggest fridge graveyard, and sees them reduced to piles of shrapnel - along with televisions, cars and scrap metal.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b00tgx3r)
On Last Word this week:
Scotland's national poet - Edwin Morgan.
Two people who played important roles in advancing our understanding of autism: Dr Ivar Lovaas who developed a controversial treatment based on encouraging desired behaviour and punishing unwanted behaviour and Clara Claiborne Park who wrote an influential book about the pressures facing the parents of autistic children.
Bill Millin - the soldier who played the bagpipes as the bullets rattled around him during the Normandy landings.
And Bob Boyle, legendary Hollywood art director who worked with Alfred Hitchcock on many of his key films.
FRI 16:30 The Film Programme (b00tgx3t)
Robin Williams talks to Matthew Sweet about his latest comedy World's Greatest Dad, in which he plays a depressed English teacher who couldn't be more different than the inspirational figure he played in Dead Poets Society
Sherlock co-creator and League of Gentlemen member Mark Gatiss salutes the work of Lionel Jeffries, The Railway Children director and quintessential character actor who died earlier this year
Wardrobe supervisor Rosemary Burrows discusses her career, from dressing Christopher Lee in bandages for Hammer horror movies to putting two thousand members of the Moroccan army in Roman costume for Gladiator
Colin Shindler turns back the clocks and finds out what was on at the local ABC in August 1960.
FRI 17:00 PM (b00tfrzc)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Glenn Campbell. Plus Weather.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00tfsg3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 Chain Reaction (b00tgx3w)
Series 6
Ade Edmondson interviews Ruby Wax
The new series of the tag team talk show continues as last week's guest, writer and star of "The Young Ones" and "Bottom", alternative comedy legend Ade Edmondson takes the microphone to interview the UK's favourite sharp tongued American, Ruby Wax.
Ade asks Ruby about the impact her strict parents had on her comedy, her start in entertainment as an RDC wench, her break into TV and those famous celebrity interviews, and how her journey has led her from being a celebrated TV entertainer and comedienne to a qualified expert on Psychotherapy and Neuroscience.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b00tfrbr)
Jennifer and Brian reluctantly get ready for dinner at Susan and Neil's, while Susan worries that the evening's going to be a complete disaster.
After wedding small-talk, Jennifer's worst fears are heightened when Neil confirms that he's keen for Chris to be self-sufficient in Alice's cottage, once Alice goes back to university. Jennifer compliments Susan on dinner, then insists on helping clear the plates. Left alone with Neil, Brian breaks the awkward silence and they find themselves discussing their different views on CAP reform. They have a heated but engaging exchange.
As Jennifer and Brian depart, Susan feels the night went well, and is proud of Neil for holding his own with Brian. And although Jennifer found the whole evening ghastly, Brian had a whale of a time.
Elizabeth's still not convinced about Nigel's allotment idea, but agrees to him researching it before they decide. Elizabeth shocks Nigel when she admits she doesn't want the children to go to boarding school. Nigel insists it's a Pargetter tradition and plays up the advantages, but Elizabeth can't bear the thought of the children growing up with her and Nigel on the periphery of their lives. That's not what being a parent means.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b00tfsjc)
Kim Cattrall, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, I Am Slave
With Kirsty Lang.
Actress Kim Cattrall is about to swap man-eater Samantha Jones from Sex and the City for a sex symbol of the ancient world, Cleopatra, playing Shakespeare's tragic heroine in her home town of Liverpool. She discusses her choice of accent for Cleopatra, and reflects on whether she will ever play Samantha again.
Screenwriter Jeremy Brock (Last King of Scotland) discusses his film I Am Slave, based on the true story of a Sudanese girl sold into domestic slavery in Britain. He is joined by Wunmi Mosaku who plays the central role of Malia, the slave.
Mark Eccleston reviews the new film Diary of a Wimpy Kid, based on the best-selling children's books by Jeff Kinney.
Producer: Martin Williams.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00tfqrk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b00tgx3y)
Eddie Mair chairs the topical discussion from Newcastle Assembly Rooms with questions for the panel including Deborah Mattinson - Gordon Brown's personal pollster for many years, Matthew Taylor - chief executive of the RSA, Iain Dale - one of Britain's leading political bloggers and Adrian Fawcett - CEO of Britain's biggest private health care provider.
Producer: Beverley Purcell.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b00tgx68)
Reputation Building
Lisa Jardine reflects on how reputations are won and lost. A bridge builder will be a good engineer if his bridge doesn't fall down....but how do we judge our politicians? This summer politicians are keener than ever to tell us how frugal their choice of holiday destination is...but will that really endear them to us?
FRI 21:00 A History of the World in 100 Objects Omnibus (b00tgxxm)
Status Symbols (AD 1100 - 1500)
Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum in London, continues his global history as told through objects from the Museum's collection.
This week he sheds light on some of the great status symbols of taste and power, as owned by the wealthy and well-informed around 700 years ago. His journey takes him from China to Nigeria and from Spain to the Caribbean, but he begins in Scotland with the story of probably the world's best known board game, in the company of the Lewis Chessmen.
Producers: Paul Kobrak and Anthony Denselow.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b00tfsqk)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b00tfsvd)
Radio 4's daily evening news and current affairs programme bringing you global news and analysis.
Growth in the US economy is slowing sharply. We'll look at the reasons why and find out what it means for the rest of the world.
Early intervention - is it value for money and should the government pay for it?
"That's the way to do it", the V&A tells us the history of Punch and Judy.
The World Tonight, with Roger Hearing.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00tk90n)
And the Land Lay Still
Episode 5
Written and abridged by James Robertson.
Read by Liam Brennan.
Excerpts from James Robertson's monumental new novel which portrays the last six decades of Scotland's social and political landscape through the lives of a handful of characters.
The late Angus Pendreich was considered to be one of the greatest photographers of the post-war era. His son Mike, also a photographer, is curating a major retrospective of his father's work. Seeking to discover more about the man, Mike has contacted Jean Barbour, one of Angus's old lovers and she has revealed a long buried truth about their affair.
Jean's revelation allows Mike to see his own relationship with his father more clearly and as the dust settles on the past he finds himself reconsidering his future.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b00tgcss)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Mark Thomas: The Manifesto (b00qps81)
Series 2
Episode 3
Mark Thomas: The Manifesto. Comedian-activist, Mark Thomas creates a People's Manifesto, taking suggestions from his studio audience and then getting them to vote for the best. The winner of each show will be enforceable by law, so pay attention.
The weeks' edition will include policies such as banning cars from city centres; monitoring investment bankers' testosterone levels; and abolishing all forms of self-regulation.
Produced by Ed Morrish.
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
10:45 MON (b00tfq9v)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 MON (b00tfq9v)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 TUE (b00tfqvg)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 TUE (b00tfqvg)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 WED (b00tfqrf)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 WED (b00tfqrf)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 THU (b00tfqrh)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 THU (b00tfqrh)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 FRI (b00tfqrk)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 FRI (b00tfqrk)
A Guide to Coastal Birds
14:45 SUN (b00tf9np)
A History of the World in 100 Objects Omnibus
21:00 FRI (b00tgxxm)
A Load of Rubbish
15:45 MON (b00fkqm2)
A Load of Rubbish
15:45 TUE (b00fkqpg)
A Load of Rubbish
15:45 WED (b00fq4ft)
A Load of Rubbish
15:45 THU (b00fq4fw)
A Load of Rubbish
15:45 FRI (b00fq4j6)
A Point of View
08:50 SUN (b00tdxpt)
A Point of View
20:50 FRI (b00tgx68)
Afternoon Reading
00:30 SUN (b00h31rl)
Afternoon Reading
19:45 SUN (b00g4793)
Alvin Hall's Generations of Money
12:00 SAT (b00tdzp3)
Alvin Hall's Generations of Money
15:00 WED (b00tdzp3)
Americana
19:15 SUN (b00tf9q6)
Any Answers?
14:00 SAT (b00tdzp9)
Any Questions?
13:10 SAT (b00tdxpr)
Any Questions?
20:00 FRI (b00tgx3y)
Arthur Smith's Edinburgh Bash
18:30 THU (b00tgwlp)
Bells on Sunday
05:43 SUN (b00tf1d1)
Bells on Sunday
00:45 MON (b00tf1d1)
Beyond Belief
16:30 MON (b00tg1c9)
Beyond Westminster
11:00 SAT (b00tdznz)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 MON (b00th7zk)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 TUE (b00tk8zy)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 WED (b00tk90q)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 THU (b00tk90l)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 FRI (b00tk90n)
Book of the Week
00:30 SAT (b00tdllr)
Book of the Week
09:45 MON (b00tff34)
Book of the Week
00:30 TUE (b00tff34)
Book of the Week
09:45 TUE (b00tffmq)
Book of the Week
00:30 WED (b00tffmq)
Book of the Week
09:45 WED (b00tffms)
Book of the Week
00:30 THU (b00tffms)
Book of the Week
09:45 THU (b00tffmv)
Book of the Week
00:30 FRI (b00tffmv)
Book of the Week
09:45 FRI (b00tffmx)
British Muslims, Father and Son
11:00 MON (b00tg1c1)
Broadcasting House
09:00 SUN (b00tf1kc)
Cabin Pressure
18:30 TUE (b00lyvz7)
Case Notes
21:00 TUE (b00tgcsz)
Case Notes
16:30 WED (b00tgcsz)
Chain Reaction
12:30 SAT (b00tdx5w)
Chain Reaction
18:30 FRI (b00tgx3w)
Classic Serial
21:00 SAT (b00td4v4)
Classic Serial
15:00 SUN (b00tf9nr)
Comic Fringes
15:30 TUE (b00tg2nr)
Comic Fringes
15:30 WED (b00tg2nt)
Comic Fringes
15:30 THU (b00tg2nw)
Confessions of a Window Cleaner
11:00 FRI (b00tgwz5)
Continuity
23:00 WED (b00tgf1c)
Crossing Continents
20:30 MON (b00tdptg)
Crossing Continents
11:00 THU (b00tgwl9)
Curiosity Killed the Cabaret
23:00 TUE (b00tgct1)
Document
20:00 MON (b00tg1y1)
Drama
14:15 MON (b00tg1c7)
Drama
14:15 TUE (b00tg2m2)
Drama
14:15 WED (b00jsxxk)
Drama
14:15 THU (b00tgwlk)
Drama
14:15 FRI (b00djtvh)
Ed Reardon's Week
18:30 WED (b00qgxxb)
Electric Ride
22:15 SAT (b00tfpmf)
Excess Baggage
10:00 SAT (b00tdznv)
Face the Facts
21:00 SUN (b00tdpzb)
Face the Facts
12:30 THU (b00tgwlf)
Farming Today
06:30 SAT (b00tdz4q)
Farming Today
05:45 MON (b00tfcsf)
Farming Today
05:45 TUE (b00tfcsh)
Farming Today
05:45 WED (b00tfcsk)
Farming Today
05:45 THU (b00tfcsm)
Farming Today
05:45 FRI (b00tfcsp)
Feedback
20:00 SUN (b00tdx4s)
Ford Madox Ford and France
11:30 TUE (b00tg2ly)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:30 SAT (b00tdzp1)
Front Row
19:15 MON (b00tfsjw)
Front Row
19:15 TUE (b00tfsj5)
Front Row
19:15 WED (b00tfsj7)
Front Row
19:15 THU (b00tfsj9)
Front Row
19:15 FRI (b00tfsjc)
Frontiers
21:00 WED (b00tgf18)
Fry's English Delight
09:00 WED (b00tgd1b)
Fry's English Delight
21:30 WED (b00tgd1b)
GPs Who Need GPS
09:30 MON (b00tmj2h)
GPs Who Need GPS
09:30 THU (b00tgfr9)
Gardeners' Question Time
14:00 SUN (b00tdx4v)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:00 FRI (b00tgwzb)
Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off
23:30 WED (b00pfp8n)
Great Lives
16:30 TUE (b00tgcss)
Great Lives
23:00 FRI (b00tgcss)
HR
11:30 MON (b00tg1c3)
Head to Head
09:30 WED (b00tgd1d)
Home Planet
15:00 TUE (b00tg2m4)
How The Mighty Have Fallen
09:30 TUE (b00tg273)
Iconoclasts
20:00 WED (b00tgf14)
In Business
21:30 SUN (b00tdr1x)
In Business
20:30 THU (b00tgwlt)
In Living Memory
11:00 TUE (b00tg2lw)
In Touch
20:40 TUE (b00tgcsx)
Just a Minute
12:00 SUN (b00td8kq)
Just a Minute
18:30 MON (b00tg1xz)
Ken and Mark and Robert
10:30 SAT (b00tdznx)
Last Word
20:30 SUN (b00tdx4x)
Last Word
16:00 FRI (b00tgx3r)
Living World
06:35 SUN (b00tf1jv)
Loose Ends
18:15 SAT (b00tf0y9)
Mark Thomas: The Manifesto
23:30 FRI (b00qps81)
Material World
21:00 MON (b00tdr1s)
Material World
16:30 THU (b00tgwlm)
Meeting Myself Coming Back
20:00 SAT (b00thcn8)
Meeting Myself Coming Back
15:00 MON (b00thcn8)
Midnight News
00:00 SAT (b00tdyhb)
Midnight News
00:00 SUN (b00tf1cq)
Midnight News
00:00 MON (b00tfb5q)
Midnight News
00:00 TUE (b00tfb5g)
Midnight News
00:00 WED (b00tfb5j)
Midnight News
00:00 THU (b00tfb5l)
Midnight News
00:00 FRI (b00tfb5n)
Mind Changers
11:00 WED (b00tgd1g)
More or Less
13:30 FRI (b00tgwz7)
Mum's on the Run
11:30 WED (b00tgd1j)
News Briefing
05:30 SAT (b00tdyhl)
News Briefing
05:30 SUN (b00tf1cz)
News Briefing
05:30 MON (b00tfblv)
News Briefing
05:30 TUE (b00tfblj)
News Briefing
05:30 WED (b00tfbll)
News Briefing
05:30 THU (b00tfbln)
News Briefing
05:30 FRI (b00tfblq)
News Headlines
06:00 SUN (b00tf1jq)
News and Papers
06:00 SAT (b00tdyhs)
News and Papers
07:00 SUN (b00tf1jz)
News and Papers
08:00 SUN (b00tf1k7)
News and Weather
22:00 SAT (b00tf112)
News
13:00 SAT (b00tdzp7)
No Triumph, No Tragedy
13:30 SUN (b00strxn)
Old Harry's Game
11:30 FRI (b00whwzs)
Open Book
16:00 SUN (b00tf9nt)
Open Book
16:00 THU (b00tf9nt)
Open Country
06:07 SAT (b00tdz4n)
Open Country
15:00 THU (b00tdz4n)
PM
17:00 SAT (b00thcd2)
PM
17:00 MON (b00tfsc2)
PM
17:00 TUE (b00tfrz5)
PM
17:00 WED (b00tfrz7)
PM
17:00 THU (b00tfrz9)
PM
17:00 FRI (b00tfrzc)
Pick of the Week
18:15 SUN (b00tf9p4)
Poetry of the Forgotten People
23:30 SAT (b00td4v8)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 SAT (b00tdyhn)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 MON (b00tfbvt)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 TUE (b00tfbvk)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 WED (b00tfbvm)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 THU (b00tfbvp)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 FRI (b00tfbvr)
Profile
19:00 SAT (b00tf0yc)
Profile
05:45 SUN (b00tf0yc)
Profile
17:40 SUN (b00tf0yc)
Questions, Questions
13:30 THU (b00tgwlh)
Radio 4 Appeal
07:55 SUN (b00tf1k3)
Radio 4 Appeal
21:26 SUN (b00tf1k3)
Radio 4 Appeal
15:27 THU (b00tf1k3)
Recorded for Training Purposes
23:00 THU (b00tgwly)
Rik Mayall's Bedside Tales
23:15 WED (b00nqj86)
Robert Winston's Musical Analysis
15:30 SAT (b00td9qy)
Round Britain Quiz
23:00 SAT (b00td7f2)
Round Britain Quiz
13:30 MON (b00tg1c5)
Safety Catch
23:30 THU (b017skx3)
Saturday Drama
14:30 SAT (b00djnw2)
Saturday Live
09:00 SAT (b00tdzns)
Saturday Review
19:15 SAT (b00tf0yf)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SAT (b00tdyhg)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SUN (b00tf1cv)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 MON (b00tfblg)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 TUE (b00tfbk3)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 WED (b00tfbk5)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 THU (b00tfbk7)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 FRI (b00tfbk9)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SAT (b00tdyhd)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SAT (b00tdyhj)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SAT (b00tf0y3)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SUN (b00tf1cs)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SUN (b00tf1cx)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SUN (b00tf9ny)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 MON (b00tfbgw)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 MON (b00tfbk1)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 TUE (b00tfbfm)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 TUE (b00tfbgy)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 WED (b00tfbfp)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 WED (b00tfbh0)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 THU (b00tfbfr)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 THU (b00tfbh2)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 FRI (b00tfbft)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 FRI (b00tfbh4)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SAT (b00tf0y7)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SUN (b00tf9p2)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 MON (b00tfsj3)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 TUE (b00tfsfx)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 WED (b00tfsfz)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 THU (b00tfsg1)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 FRI (b00tfsg3)
Something Understood
06:05 SUN (b00tf1js)
Something Understood
23:30 SUN (b00tf1js)
Star Spangled Hendrix
13:30 TUE (b00tg2m0)
Sunday Worship
08:10 SUN (b00tf1k9)
Sunday
07:10 SUN (b00tf1k1)
Svelte Sylvia and the Hollywood Trimsters
11:30 THU (b00tgwlc)
Talking to the Enemy
20:45 WED (b00tgf16)
The Archers Omnibus
10:00 SUN (b00tf1kf)
The Archers
19:00 SUN (b00tf9q4)
The Archers
14:00 MON (b00tf9q4)
The Archers
19:00 MON (b00tfrz3)
The Archers
14:00 TUE (b00tfrz3)
The Archers
19:00 TUE (b00tfrbk)
The Archers
14:00 WED (b00tfrbk)
The Archers
19:00 WED (b00tfrbm)
The Archers
14:00 THU (b00tfrbm)
The Archers
19:00 THU (b00tfrbp)
The Archers
14:00 FRI (b00tfrbp)
The Archers
19:00 FRI (b00tfrbr)
The Bards of Somalia
16:30 SUN (b00tf9nw)
The British Whales
21:00 THU (b00tgwlw)
The Choice
09:00 THU (b00tgfr7)
The Choice
21:30 THU (b00tgfr7)
The Film Programme
23:00 SUN (b00tdx4z)
The Film Programme
16:30 FRI (b00tgx3t)
The Food Programme
12:32 SUN (b00tf9bn)
The Food Programme
16:00 MON (b00tf9bn)
The House I Grew Up In
09:00 MON (b00tfv5f)
The House I Grew Up In
21:30 MON (b00tfv5f)
The Media Show
13:30 WED (b00tgd7y)
The Pickerskill Reports
23:30 MON (b00mgz1p)
The Report
20:00 THU (b00tgwlr)
The Reunion
11:15 SUN (b00tf9bl)
The Reunion
09:00 FRI (b00tf9bl)
The World This Weekend
13:00 SUN (b00tf9f9)
The World Tonight
22:00 MON (b00tfsxh)
The World Tonight
22:00 TUE (b00tfsv6)
The World Tonight
22:00 WED (b00tfsv8)
The World Tonight
22:00 THU (b00tfsvb)
The World Tonight
22:00 FRI (b00tfsvd)
Thinking Allowed
00:15 MON (b00tdn2h)
Thinking Allowed
16:00 WED (b00tgf11)
Tickets Please
23:30 TUE (b00p1nm5)
Today
07:00 SAT (b00tdznq)
Today
06:00 MON (b00tfd17)
Today
06:00 TUE (b00tfcy6)
Today
06:00 WED (b00tfcy8)
Today
06:00 THU (b00tfcyb)
Today
06:00 FRI (b00tfcyd)
Trouble in Euroland
20:00 TUE (b00tgcsv)
Weather
06:04 SAT (b00tdyj1)
Weather
06:57 SAT (b00tdznn)
Weather
12:57 SAT (b00tdzp5)
Weather
17:57 SAT (b00tf0y5)
Weather
06:57 SUN (b00tf1jx)
Weather
07:58 SUN (b00tf1k5)
Weather
12:57 SUN (b00tf9bq)
Weather
17:57 SUN (b00tf9p0)
Weather
21:58 SUN (b00tf9ts)
Weather
05:57 MON (b00tft6y)
Weather
12:57 MON (b00tfr30)
Weather
21:58 MON (b00tfsv4)
Weather
12:57 TUE (b00tfqzv)
Weather
21:58 TUE (b00tfsqc)
Weather
12:57 WED (b00tfqzx)
Weather
21:58 WED (b00tfsqf)
Weather
12:57 THU (b00tfqzz)
Weather
21:58 THU (b00tfsqh)
Weather
12:57 FRI (b00tfr01)
Weather
21:58 FRI (b00tfsqk)
Westminster Hour
22:00 SUN (b00tf9tv)
What the Papers Say
22:45 SUN (b00tf9tx)
What's the Point of...?
09:00 TUE (b00tg23z)
What's the Point of...?
21:30 TUE (b00tg23z)
Why Russia Spies
17:00 SUN (b00tdm57)
Woman's Hour
16:00 SAT (b00tdzpc)
Woman's Hour
10:00 MON (b00tffq9)
Woman's Hour
10:00 TUE (b00tffpw)
Woman's Hour
10:00 WED (b00tffpy)
Woman's Hour
10:00 THU (b00tffq0)
Woman's Hour
10:00 FRI (b00tffq2)
Word of Mouth
23:00 MON (b00tdm53)
Word of Mouth
16:00 TUE (b00tg2sp)
World at One
13:00 MON (b00tfrbh)
World at One
13:00 TUE (b00tfr32)
World at One
13:00 WED (b00tfr34)
World at One
13:00 THU (b00tfr36)
World at One
13:00 FRI (b00tfr38)
You and Yours
12:00 MON (b00tfqzs)
You and Yours
12:00 TUE (b00tfqvj)
You and Yours
12:00 WED (b00tfqvl)
You and Yours
12:00 THU (b00tfqvn)
You and Yours
12:00 FRI (b00tfqvq)
iPM
05:45 SAT (b00tdyhq)
iPM
17:30 SAT (b00tdyhq)