The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Lynn Knight's family memoir tells how three generations of her family were adopted in three distinct ways. Today, Lynn Knight recounts the story of how her mother uncovered the mystery and the truth surrounding her beginning.
The reader is Barbara Flynn.
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson.
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection presented by the Revd Marjory MacLean.
Charles Dickens was as much a journalist as an author, but his weekly publications have never been collated for the public - until now. One of our listeners needs your help to edit twenty years worth of journals, within the next six months... Your news is read by the veteran broadcaster, Sue MacGregor.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
Ordnance Survey, the organisation responsible for mapping every inch of land in England, Scotland and Wales, was set up in 1791 as a military mapping service based in the Tower of London.
It was used to create maps of Britain during the Napoleonic Wars to protect England from the French invasion and the art of map making subsequently played a major role in both World Wars.
Now based in Southampton, the agency has moved from the paper-based hand-drawn maps of its origins, to technologically advanced digital mapping systems in order to cope with the constant changes to the landscape of the country.
Helen Mark visits the Kent coastline to discover how war has shaped the landscape and how important these maps have been in the past and today.
At the end of a week of harvesting on a farm in Lincolnshire Charlotte Smith looks at how much crop the team have been able to bring in after dealing with the downpours. The Farming Today team have been combining with Mark Ireland and his family on their 2000 acre site in Sleaford. The wheat, barley and oil seed rape have all been affected by drought and record temperatures in Spring. Charlotte Smith finds out how much yield, quality and ultimately the price of the crop has been affected and how that will affect our bread and beer.
Presenter: Charlotte Smith. Producer: Anne-Marie Bullock.
Morning news and current affairs with James Naughtie and Evan Davis, including:
As the Labour Party elects a new general secretary, how should Ed Miliband deal with the tricky relationship between his party and the unions?
Richard Coles with broadcaster Paul Gambaccini, poet Matt Harvey, two men whose lives were linked by the discovery of some old photographs, a woman whose challenging childhood made her a lifelong optimist, a Sound Sculpture of jet engines and Inheritance Tracks from author Nicholas Evans.
Sonia Deol looks at Kashmir with the author Rosie Thomas, who went there to learn about the production of cashmere shawls, and journalist Tim Hannigan who toured the region investigating the murder of the Victorian explorer George Hayward. They discuss the pleasures and dangers of travelling in the beautiful but troubled land. Sonia also meets Adam Strudwick and Rekha Sharma a couple who are visiting all the world's countries in the order they became independent. It's a lifetime's project but already they are visiting the South American countries which had revolutions in the nineteenth century.
Marking the bi-centenary of the first ever women's golf tournament, Rhona Cameron plays a round at Musselburgh, both the scene of that historic competition and also her home course.
Records show that during the 19th century a women's golf competition was held annually on New Years Day among the fishwives of Musselburgh. The earliest known reference to an open womens' golf competition at Musselburgh dates from 9th January 1811.
To ensure a bumper entry from the hard-working women of the fishing community the winner's prize was a 'creel' and a 'skull' (the headdress and basket used to carry fish). The consolation prizes were 'two fine silk handkerchiefs from Barcelona'.
Musselburgh Links is the site of the oldest remaining golf course in the world. This nine-hole course is a relic from the 'cradle of golf' and remains as a testimony to what was the centre of Scottish golf during its greatest era. The course itself is fascinating. Unexpectedly it's on the infield of a race course, slap-bang in the middle of a horse racing track.
Born and raised in Musselburgh, keen golfer Rhona Cameron will be playing a round on the famous course, whilst exploring the history of this famous game and considering the origins of women's golf more generally.
Direct election of police commissioners in England and Wales is a key part of the coalition's police reforms. The government argues that giving voters power to choose one person to oversee their local police force will increase accountability. And although the Lords have tried to stop the provision in the larger police reform bill, ministers have vowed to push forward with the plans.
In London, the Met Police Commissioner is a high profile job appointed by elected officials. The Commissioner is accountable to the Home Secretary and the Mayor of London. But do Londoners feel they can hold the police to account any more than people outside the capital?
Meanwhile in Leicestershire, a debate is starting about how one person could oversee policing in a hugely diverse county. Anita Anand also hears from experts in the United States, where directly elected police officials are common.
Kate Adie introduces correspondents with their stories from around the world. This week Linda Pressly visits the gruesome site of a massacre in Guatemala; Sarah Rainsford is on the road with the young Indignados, or Indignants, of Spain; Imogen Foulkes travels downriver in Colombia's Red Zone to examine the pressure on health services there, and she finds out why the local disco lights have been turned off; Emma Jane Kirby is in Paris with the homeless and the growing number of those who have fallen onto hard times; and Adam Easton dresses up in his knight's costume because that's what you do in Poland during the summer!
With the world markets in turmoil there is increasing concern about the indebtedness of major Eurozone economies like Italy and Spain. In a special edition of Money Box, Peter Day and Andrew Verity explain what is happening and seek out experts who can give practical advice about the likely impact on personal finances.
Chain Reaction is Radio 4's tag-team interview show. Each week, a figure from the world of entertainment chooses another to interview; the next week, the interviewee turns interviewer, and they in turn pass the baton on to someone else - creating a 'chain' throughout the series.
This seventh series started with Rhys Thomas interviewing Simon Day. This week, Simon is asking the questions, and has chosen one of his musical heroes: Peter Hook, best known for playing bass in Joy Divison and New Order, and for co-owning and running one of the most famous nightclubs in the world - which lost £10 for every punter who walked through the door for over a decade. The interview skips through the early days of punk, Joy Division's transformation into New Order, and Peter's new career as a DJ. "I thought DJs were arrogant and overpaid", he says, "So when I became one I fitted right in".
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs a discussion of news and politics from Poolewe, Wester Ross, northwest Scotland, with Conservative MP Rory Stewart; Scottish Cabinet Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning, Mike Russell; Labour MP, Gisela Stuart; and author and associate director of the Henry Jackson Society, Douglas Murray.
Listeners' calls and emails in response to this week's edition of Any Questions?
A distinguished cast, headed by Toby Stephens and David Suchet, takes part in this 'radio movie' of Ian Fleming's 1958 novel, dramatised by Hugh Whitemore.
Bond is sent to investigate a strange disappearance on the island of Jamaica, and discovers that the heart of the mystery lies with a sinister recluse known as 'Dr No'. Another chance to hear this classic Bond adventure - the first in Radio 4's ongoing all-star series.
'M' ..... John Standing
Moneypenny ..... Janie Dee
James Bond ..... Toby Stephens
The Armourer ..... Peter Capaldi
Chief of Staff ..... Nicky Henson
Airport Announcer/Receptionist ...... Inika Leigh Wright
Quarrel ..... Clarke Peters
Miss Chung/ Sister Lily ...... Kosha Engler
Pleydell Smith ..... Samuel West
Miss Taro/ Telephonist/ Sister May/Tennis girl..... Jordanna Tin
Librarian ..... Lucy Fleming
Honey Rider ...... Lisa Dillon
Guard /Henchman/Crane Driver ..... Jon David Yu
Dr No ..... David Suchet
Acting Governor of Jamaica ..... Simon Williams
Voice of Ian Fleming ..... Martin Jarvis
Eva Gabrielsson on her life with Stieg Larsson; the measures being taken to prevent FGM; boredom - how interesting can it be; comedian Yasmeen Khan gets ready for Edinburgh; Kathryn Tickell plays Percy Grainger; and author Lynn Knight.
With Carolyn Quinn. A fresh perspective on the day's news with sports headlines.
Clive Anderson and guests with an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy.
Offering Clive some nautical advice is, surprisingly, the actor Timothy Spall. He's best known for his roles in various Mike Leigh films and Auf Wiedersehen Pet. But in his new series for BBC Four 'Back At Sea', Timothy and his wife Shane continue their journey from Wales to Scotland in their Dutch barge, discovering a new tale at every port.
Bouncing into the studio is Liza Goddard who shot to fame as Clancy alongside 'Skippy the Bush Kangaroo'. In her new autobiography, 'Working with Children and Animals' Liza tells us about life after the marsupial and her roles on stage and screen most recently appearing in 'Midsomer Murders'.
Doug Stanhope is known as an unpredictable, no-holds-barred and uncompromising comic. But whilst the rest of the comedy world decamps to Edinburgh, Doug has decided to take up residency at The Leicester Square Theatre in London.
Nikki Bedi tries to give some dating advice to the comedian with OCD, Jon Richardson. In his latest book 'It's Not Me, It's You', Jon sets out to track down the right lady. But coming from the man who arranges the coins in his pockets in ascending size and colour, women who leave wet teaspoons in sugar bowls need not apply.
There's 'gyp-step' music from Molotov Jukebox, the energetic six-piece band (fronted by actress and accordionist Natalia Tena, of 'Harry Potter' and 'About A Boy' fame). They perform 'Double Dare' from their debut EP of the same name.
And from busking on the London Underground, Brixton Bluesman Errol Linton comes above ground to play 'Roll On Tomorrow' from his latest album 'Mama Said'.
When Iran makes the news it is often that country's flamboyant and provocative president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who finds himself under the spotlight. But the man who wields real power in Iran is not Ahmadinejad, nor was it any of his predecessors as president. Instead it is the man who has served as the head of the country's religious structure since 1989, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Ayatollah owes his rise to power to two men - his predecessor as Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the previous president, Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Ayatollah Khamenei has been a cleric for most of his life, beginning as a religious scholar in the city of Mashhad at the tender age of 11. He served several terms in jail as a result of his religious convictions during the secular dictatorship of the Shah. His rise to power began with the revolution of 1979 that turned Iran into the Islamic Republic. Khamenei became, first president, a post with relatively little power, and his election as Supreme Leader after the death of Khomenei was a surprise to all. Many believe this was engineered by Rafsanjani to allow Rafsanjani himself to remain in control.
But Khamenei has gradually made himself the most powerful man in Iran - and he's done so by recruiting the Revolutionary Guard to his side. There are those who say that far from a religious dictatorship, Iran is in fact a military dictatorship.
But Ali Khamenei is 72 and with 70 per cent of the Iranian population having been born since the revolution, it's not clear that the post of Supreme Leader will survive his death.
Bidisha and her guests the writers Lisa Appignanesi, Ekow Eshun and Misha Glenny review the week's cultural highlights including A Midsummer Night's Dream at the RSC.
Nancy Meckler's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon is set in the 1960s and has comedian Marc Wooton playing the role of Bottom. Imaginative lighting effects and choreography are used to conjure up a suitably otherworldly backdrop for the supernatural events that play out in a forest outside Athens.
Queenie Dove is the narrator of Jill Dawson's novel Lucky Bunny. She grows up in the East End of London during the 1930s and 40s, learning to use her talent for deception to her best advantage. After the war she finds herself rubbing shoulders with recognisable characters from London's demi-monde as she carves out a shadowy but independent life for herself.
French director Julie Bertuccelli's film The Tree stars Charlotte Gainsbourg as a widowed mother bringing up her four children in rural Queensland. Her daughter Simone is convinced that her late father has taken up residence in the huge fig tree that looms over the house, a conviction that grows stronger as the tree itself begins to endanger the family.
Channel 4's new late night arts season Street Summer is a celebration of street culture and includes films about graffiti, hip hop and streetdance. Bidisha and her guests have watched two programmes from the season: Concrete Circus which features four street athletes who have become YouTube legends and One Man Walking - a piece of contemporary urban choreography.
The exhibition Joffe et Pye is an attempt by the artists Jasper Joffe and Harry Pye to revive salon culture in East London. Held in Joffe's studio-cum-home it features paintings by both artists which celebrate friends and family... and Snoopy.
"It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him." George Bernard Shaw.
A hundred years ago, Shaw ridiculed the British obsession with class, recognising that its most powerful expression was not in what someone said, but how he or she said it.
An imperative for anyone at public school or studying at Oxbridge, was speaking in RP, a 'non' accent which denoted all that was masterful in the British Empire.
But changes are afoot. Cheryl Cole's push from American X Factor because of her Geordie accent has exasperated many Brits, who love her AND her accent and think the Yanks are missing out.
Using a wealth of archive, we hear how the drive to hide linguistic, geographical roots often went hand in hand with a desire to be seen as part of the metropolitan set. The fear of being labelled as provincial, unfashionable or rustic would develop into "RP" - Received Pronunciation.
With access to archives of soldiers during the First World War, Melvyn discusses the rarity of hearing different accents at the time. He points out that RP was the 'non' site-specific accent of the officer class while everyone else was identified by their regional accents.
The BBC burst on the scene with Lord Reith who insisted that RP be used for BBC broadcasting, arguing that it had greater 'clarity' and was better suited for broadcasting.
We hear about the post war levelling and the move away from RP. The popular music scene developed an accent of it's own - John Peel went to public school, but cultivated a soft scouse accent, instinctively recognizing this as an acceptable voice in popular music - adopting a non-standard UK accent - with 'Jafaican' as one of the burgeoning metropolitan accents - suggesting individual freedom
Steerpike takes up his new role as the Master of Ritual, and as Titus grows older, so his suspicions about the former kitchen boy grow. When Steerpike's plans at last begin to unravel, a final, tragic trail of bodies is left in his wake and Titus must make a desperate bid for vengeance and, ultimately, freedom from Gormenghast.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
What caused the financial mess we're in? And how do we get out of it? Two of the great economic thinkers of the 20th century had sharply contrasting views: John Maynard Keynes believed that government spending could create employment and longer term growth. His contemporary and rival Friedrich Hayek believed that investments have to be based on real savings rather than increased public spending or artificially low interest rates. Keynes's biographer, Professor Lord Skidelsky, will take on modern day followers of Hayek in a debate at the London School of Economics. Paul Mason, economics editor of Newsnight, is in the chair.
Lord Robert Skidelsky, Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick and author of a three-volume biography of the economist John Maynard Keynes.
George Selgin, Professor of Economics at The Terry College of Business, University of Georgia. Prof Selgin is one of the founders of the Modern Free Banking School, which draws its inspiration from the writings of Hayek.
Duncan Weldon, a former Bank of England economist, works as an economics adviser to an international trade union federation. He has a long standing interest in and admiration for Keynes but also a respect for Hayek. He blogs at Duncan's Economic Blog.
Jamie Whyte, Head of Research and Publications at Oliver Wyman, a strategy consulting firm specialising in the financial services industry. In February 2011 he presented an edition of Radio 4's Analysis series in which he looked at the revival of interest in the economic theories of Hayek.
Episode 5 in the new series of Quote...Unquote, hosted by Nigel Rees. This week's quote fans are legendary actress, Sian Phillips, sports journalist James Richardson, broadcaster Edward Stourton and the comedian and actress, Rebecca Front.
The reader is Peter Jefferson.
Poet Ruth Padel launches the first edition in a four part landmark series "Poetry Workshop" which taps into the excitement and pleasures of writing and reading poetry. More and more of us are connecting with poetry for pleasure or emotional insight, for memorable comfort at moments of personal crisis, and to discover new ways of seeing our own lives. Unprecedented access to poems and poets means that any of us can engage with it even if we have felt shut out from it in the past. Poetry and its fans are everywhere - on the underground, internet and in science labs; on the stage at slams and festivals; in pubs, schools, colleges and in workshops and reading groups. Radio 4's Poetry Workshop aims to deepen the experience for those who love to spend time with poetry and to open up to everybody new ways of connecting with it. By exploring how specific poems work in a practical setting the series will profile the talent and enormous enthusiasm for poetry round the country. The first workshop comes from Exeter where members of ExCite - one of the Poetry Society's regional "Stanza" groups - join Ruth Padel and fellow poet Lawrence Sail to work on some of their poems in progress. Radio 4 listeners get to eavesdrop as Ruth and Lawrence guide the Workshop members through the process of writing and improving their poems, sharing practical and inspirational pointers as well as encouraging new ways of thinking. As they go behind the scenes of the poems to look at their techniques, language and wordplay, they reveal the creative processes and craft that make poetry so rewarding.
Ruth Padel is the author of 'Darwin - A Life in Poems'; the best-selling book '52 Ways of Looking at a Poem'.
SUNDAY 07 AUGUST 2011
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b012x6tx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
SUN 00:30 Afternoon Reading: The Time Being (b00pmcqb)
Series 4
Jules
Series of original stories by unpublished writers.
Jules has been diagnosed as having cancer. But for a number of reasons, not all of them noble, her best friend Kate finds it hard to be as supportive as she should.
By Tamara Pollock, read by Nicola Walker.
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b012x6tz)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b012x6v1)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b012x6v3)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b012x6v5)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b012zyf1)
The bells of Sheffield Cathedral.
SUN 05:45 Profile (b012zy08)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b012x6v7)
The latest national and international news.
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b012zzzw)
Animals
Mark Tully explores our relationship with animals. He talks to Jane Goodall, who has spent her life living among chimpanzees, about how apes have changed her way of thinking. With readings by Jenny Diski, David Constantine, Alexander Pope and Jeremy Bentham, and music by John Tavener, Joseph Haydn and St Francis of Assisi.
Producer: Elizabeth Burke
A Loftus Audio production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:35 Living World (b013002r)
Limestone Pavements
Nestling beneath the towering shape of Ingleborough, this weeks' Living World looks closely at the complex botanical structure associated with Limestone Pavements. At 723m, Ingleborough is the second highest peak in the Yorkshire Dales. However further down its slopes at a mere 350m are some of the world's rarest geological structures. Created some 300 million years ago in the Carboniferous period, in a tropical sea, since then glaciers, erosion and man's activities have greatly modified this landscape to form a mosaic of block and fissure features, known as clints and grykes.
Michael Scott travels to Ingleborough where he meets Tim Thom, an ecologist from the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Britain is home to almost all the limestone pavements on earth, which over time have become habitats for unique associations of botany. Exploring this fascinating landscape is something which Tim is passionate about. In just a few feet, remnant woodland plants such as dogs mercury, wild garlic and bluebells flourish in the humid grikes, alongside sculptural ferns. But alongside these grassland plants such as quaking grass, orchids and wild thyme flourish on the exposed clints while in ungrazed areas stunted trees make for an African Savannah scene.
Beautiful though this landscape is, it is not without its dangers. Rain can make the limestone as treacherous as walking on seaweed covered rocks, while deep fissures can trap the legs of unsuspecting walkers. Fortunately on a wonderful mid summer day, with blue skies and white billowing clouds flicking shadows across Ingleborough's slopes, Michael and Tim can relax and unfurl the story of this unique habitat through the plants they see.
Producer Mr Andrew Dawes
Presenter Michael Scott.
SUN 06:57 Weather (b012x6v9)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b012x6vc)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (b0130237)
Edward Stourton with the religious and ethical news of the week. Moral arguments and perspectives on stories familiar and unfamiliar.
With more than six thousand people in the UK currently in need of a new kidney, a Senior Research Fellow from the University of Dundee has come up with a proposal to tackle the shortage of donors. Dr Sue Rabbit Roth suggests that people should be allowed to sell their kidney for the equivalent of the average annual income, currently around £28,000. Our Presenter Edward Stourton discusses the ethical implications with Dr. Paul Van den Bosch a 'living donor' and Transplant Surgeon Dr. Keith Rigg.
More than two thousand charities across England, have had their funding reduced or withdrawn by their local council. The cuts added up to more than ten million pounds in the last year alone. We look at the impact on one Church based community centre in Manchester and Edward asks Local Government Minister Grant Shapps how the idea of the Big Society can work in the face of such cuts.
It's estimated that Religious Communities own up to one tenth of the world's forests, but most receive no formal protection. Now Oxford University are preparing a global map of these sacred sites and assessing their value in terms of bio-diversity and land use by the local community. Dr. Shonil Bhagwat, from the Research team explains the project to Edward.
The average funeral now costs around the three thousand pounds mark, an outlay which for many in today's climate is becoming increasingly unaffordable. Now the Quakers have introduced a scheme to help the bereaved organise a funeral that doesn't stretch their budget. But it's one that's not welcomed by established Funeral Directors. Our reporter Trevor Barnes investigates.
SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b0130239)
Relate
Kirsty Young presents the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the charity Relate.
Donations to Relate should be sent to FREEPOST BBC Radio 4 Appeal, please mark the back of your envelope Relate. Credit cards: Freephone 0800 404 8144. You can also give online at www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/appeal. If you are a UK tax payer, please provide Relate with your full name and address so they can claim the Gift Aid on your donation. The online and phone donation facilities are not currently available to listeners without a UK postcode.
Registered Charity Number: 207314.
SUN 07:57 Weather (b012x6vf)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b012x6vk)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b0130246)
Walsingham has been Alive with the Vision as pilgrims from all walks of life have made their way to this holy site in Norfolk for 950 years. In 1061 a Saxon noblewoman, Richeldis de Faverches had a vision of the Virgin Mary and was asked to build a replica of the house in Nazareth where the angel Gabriel announced the news of the birth of Jesus.
Worshippers gather in the church at the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady to reflect on its timeless history and contemporary inspiration with a story that has spoken to people across more than nine centuries. Only this week for example some 800 young people have been involved in the youth pilgrimage and many of them will be joining in the service and taking part.
Leader: Fr Stephen Gallagher, Youth Missioner
Preacher: Bishop Lindsay Urwin, Administrator
Music is led by Jo Boyce and Mike Stanley, CJM music
Producer: Clair Jaquiss.
SUN 08:50 A Point of View (b012x138)
Modern Parenting
Alain de Botton takes a witty look at modern parenting. He explains why today's parent simply can't avoid baking biscuits and helping to paint Tyrannosaurus Rex's scales!
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b013026n)
With Paddy O'Connell. News and conversation about the big stories of the week.
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b013026q)
For detailed synopses, see daily episodes
Written by: Tim Stimpson
Directed by: Julie Beckett
Editor: Vanessa Whitburn
David Archer ..... Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer ..... Feilcity Finch
Pip Archer ..... Helen Monks
Tony Archer ..... Colin Skipp
Pat Archer ..... Patricia Gallimore
Helen Archer ..... Louiza Patikas
Tom Archer ..... Tom Graham
Brian Aldridge ..... Charles Collingwood
Jennifer Aldridge ..... Angela Piper
Lilian Bellamy ..... Sunny Ormonde
Peggy Woolley ..... June Spencer
Eddie Grundy ..... Trevor Harrison
Clarrie Grundy ..... Rosalind Adams
William Grundy ..... Philip Molloy
Nic Hanson ..... Becky Wright
Christopher Carter ..... William Sanderson-Thwaite
Alice Carter ..... Hollie Chapman
Annabelle Shrivener ..... Julia Hills
Elona Makepeace ..... Eri Shuka
Sol Bradley ..... Rob Swinton
Adrian Pegg ..... James Lailey
Ted Griffiths ..... Paul Webster
Cliff Alladay ..... Gerard McDermott.
SUN 11:15 The Reunion (b0132026)
Barings Bank Collapse
In the first of a new series of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor reunites Nick Leeson, the man who broke Barings bank, with his colleagues and former boss, Peter Norris.
On the 26th February 1995, a pillar of the British financial and social establishment suddenly came crashing to the ground as Britain's oldest merchant bank went bust with debts of £830 million.
Barings Bank had financed Napoleon, been immortalised by Byron, and held accounts for The Queen and many in the aristocracy. Barings had stood aloof, a symbol of discreet grandeur and probity since 1762. But now Britain's oldest merchant bank was bust, and the architect of destruction was Nicolas Leeson, a plaster's son from Watford.
He was Barings star trader on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange and regularly reported huge profits to his delighted bosses. The truth was that he was losing Barings and their customers hundreds of millions of pounds which he' d been hiding in a secret account.
As company auditors eventually closed in, Leeson fled Singapore with his wife Lisa. Back in London that weekend, frantic efforts were being made to save Barings and the whole banking sector from meltdown before the markets opened on Monday morning.
For the first time since 1995 rogue trader Nick Lesson will publicly face his former boss Peter Norris - now a senior figure in the Virgin Group - who presided over the investment department in which Leeson traded secretly for years before the bank's eventual collapse.
Also joining Sue will be Andrea Leadsom MP, who in 1995 managed a team of bankers at Barclays who supplied finance for Barings investments, Nicholas Edwards then an investment banker with Barings in London, the administrator of Barings Alan Bloom, and John Gapper of the FT.
Producers: Peter Curran and David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 12:00 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b012wdv0)
Series 55
Episode 6
Back for a second week at the Grassington Festival, Old-timers Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by Jeremy Hardy, with Jack Dee in the chair. Piano accompaniment is provided by Colin Sell.
Producer - Jon Naismith.
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b013027c)
Mario Cassandro
Sheila Dillon looks back at the life of Mario Cassandro - the man who helped re-invent the restaurant in Britain.
Together with his business partner, Franco Lagattolla, Mario Cassandro helped make dining out in 1960s Britain a far more fun, informal and gastronomically pleasing experience.
A former waiter from Naples he created Soho's Terrazza Restaurant. As well as attracting the like of Frank Sinatra, The Beatles and Princess Margaret it was a restaurant that brought together all layers of British society.
They were all keen to experience a new look in restaurant design (care of Enzo Appicella, the man who went on to create the look of the early Pizza Express restaurants) as well carefully sourced and authentic ingredients.
Mario Cassandro passed away this summer, former Good Food Restaurant Guide editor Tom Jaine described him as one of a small number of people who helped transform the restaurant industry in the UK. Tom joins Sheila to help tell his story.
Producer: Dan Saladino.
SUN 12:57 Weather (b012x6vm)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b0130286)
With Shaun Ley. The latest national and international news, with an in-depth look at events around the world. Email: wato@bbc.co.uk; twitter: #theworldthisweekend.
SUN 13:30 The I Love You Bridge (b01302s4)
A quest for the original lovers of the 'I Love You Bridge' - a fabulously incongruous message painted on a footbridge on a hollowed-out housing estate in Sheffield.
Presented by feature film maker, opera director and screenwriter, Penny Woolcock, in her first radio documentary.
Perhaps you quietly ask yourself "How do they live like this." / Then out of nowhere the answer / "I love you"/ scrawled on the highest bridge." (Rowan Blair Colver). Funny how graffiti can transform cement. How a simple love message scrawled on a bridge between two empty flanks of Brutalist flats can lift our hearts. That's what happened when somebody, somehow, leaned over the perilous edge of this narrow footbridge on Norwich Row at Park Hill flats, high above Sheffield's train station, and painted:
Clare Middleton I love you will u marry me
We call it The I Love You Bridge. It's visible for miles, from town. When we set off on this journey we don't know who wrote it or when, or even if it all went up at once. We don't know whether she said 'Yes' or what happened next. Nobody knows, not even the people who've worked on the Estate for years - caretaker, needle exchange worker, decorator, or the few (like writer, Rowan, above) who still live there; not even the local builders who are regenerating the first flank that the bridge links.
In this programme we follow up all kinds of rumours in the hope of sourcing the graffiti and its lovers.
Producer: Frances Byrnes
A Rockethouse Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b012x12p)
Walsham Le Willows
Peter Gibbs chairs this horticultural Q&A from Walsham Le Willows in Suffolk. We revisit Bob Flowerdew's laboratory garden to find out about inarching grafting and weed-killing carpets.
Matthew Wilson turns everything on its head at the upside-down garden in Hampton Court.
In addition, why not to grow carrots into compost; how to keep your cyclamen going and how best trim a box hedge.
Produced by Lucy Dichmont
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:45 The Tribes of Science (b012wzfb)
More Tribes of Science
The Archaeologists
In the first of a new series, Peter Curran puts archaeologists under his anthropological microscope. Do the scientists who discover and interpret lives in the distant past have a distinctive culture and mind set of their own? To find out, Peter visits a tribe of British archaeologists at their excavations on the island of Jersey.
For 250 000 years, Jersey was a magnet for bands of nomadic Neanderthals and later Stone age hunter gatherers. During much of that time, sea level was lower than today and you could walk to Jersey from Britain or France. When ice ages waned, groups of Palaeolithic people gravitated there to hunt mammoths, rhinos and reindeer.
Today Jersey is drawing archaeologists from all over the UK because of its windows into the early Stone Age past. One is in a rocky ravine by the sea and the other in a farmer's field. While the scientists want to learn about the people and their lives in the landscape back then, Peter Curran gets down in the dirt to find out what makes the archaeologists tick and what might distinguish them as a tribe of science.
Peter explores what drives the desire to spend a summer month crouched in the dirt with trowels and sieves, and hears about tribal life in the archaeolological trenches.
SUN 15:00 Classic Serial (b01304fj)
The History of Titus Groan
Titus Abroad
by Mervyn Peake, dramatised by Brian Sibley
Episode Five 'Titus Abroad'
Far from Gormenghast, Titus finds himself in an alien world. Lost in a country policed by machines, he must trust to the good will of an eccentric zookeeper, and the kindness of a beautiful woman named Juno.
Titus...Luke Treadaway
Artist...David Warner
Muzzlehatch...Gerard Murphy
Juno...Maureen Beattie
Acreblade...Alun Raglan
Magistrate...Peter Polycarpou
Drugg...Jonathan Forbes
With Elaine Claxton, James Lailey, Gerard McDermott, Susie Ridell, Alex Tregear
Music by Roger Goula
Directed by David Hunter and produced by Jeremy Mortimer.
SUN 16:00 Bookclub (b0131x9v)
Donna Leon - Death at La Fenice
Donna Leon talks to James Naughtie and a group of readers about the first in her hugely successful crime series set in Venice, Death At La Fenice.
The book launched the career of her fictional detective, Commissario Guido Brunetti in the early 1990s, and he is now beloved by readers. Like an Italian Maigret, he's a policeman of integrity. Brunetti also has a fulfilled family life with his intellectual and feminist wife Carla, and their two children, who are trapped in an eternal adolescence as the Brunetti series progresses and the years pass by.
The portrait of the family, along with the subtle and vivid picture of Venice, and the enticing descriptions of what Venetians eat, is at the heart of Leon's books, giving a warmth that balances out the darkness of the crimes.
The books also give us an insight as to how Italy as a country works. Donna Leon is an American who's lived in Venice for more than twenty years and she describes the corruption, inertia, nepotism and cynicism so sharply we can only think it's authentic.
Although the books are translated into twenty languages now, Italian is not one of them. She tells James Naughtie and assembled readers it's because she wishes to remain anonymous in her adopted city.
September's Bookclub choice : 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' by Mohsin Hamid.
Producer : Dymphna Flynn.
SUN 16:30 Wordsworth's Mysterious Trip to Calais (b0131x9x)
In August 1802 the poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy set off from the Lake District bound for Calais.
Few people knew about the journey - only his closest friends, and his wife-to-be, Mary Hutchinson. The writer John Worthen follows in Wordsworth's footsteps in what was a momentous time for the poet. Ten years before, in 1792, when the French Revolution was still in full swing, Wordsworth had visited France and while there had fallen for Annette Vallon. Their love affair produced a daughter, but by then Wordsworth had had to return to England, and the following 10 year long war between the two countries meant no return visit was possible.
When the war came to an end, Wordsworth took the decision to go to France and meet his illegitimate daughter, called Caroline, whom he had never seen. John Worthen starts the programme at Dove Cottage, Wordsworth's home in Grasmere, and talks to Pamela Woof, the editor of Dorothy Wordsworth's Journals. It is through these Journals that we know about the visit, and her account is only a meagre couple of pages. But the visit that was planned for about 10 days lasted a month, and John Worthen is accompanied by the Wordsworth biographer Juliet Barker on its next step to Calais.
Juliet speculates about a legal contract that may have been drawn up between them, but for Wordsworth one mystery was cleared up, the fact that he had met his daughter, and kept her in his memory (as well as providing financial assistance). One offshoot of the journey was Wordsworth's most famous poem - the sonnet Composed Upon Westminster Bridge. William and Dorothy set off in the early morning from London on the coach for Dover and crossing the Thames, Wordsworth was struck by the stillness and peace of the city. He finished the poem in Calais.
Producer: Richard Bannerman
A Ladbroke Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (b012wjdc)
Exiles in Fear
The UK is the largest bilateral donor to Rwanda, giving around £83m a year. President Paul Kagame is praised by the British government for bringing stability and economic growth to a country torn apart by the genocide in 1994. But recently it was revealed that two opponents of the Rwandan regime living in London had been warned by police they were in danger of being assassinated by their own government. Other Rwandans living in the UK have been threatened too. The Rwandan High Commission say the allegations are baseless.
Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe also receives substantial amounts of British aid but via charities and other non-governmental organisations. However, an exile who had attended opposition Movement for Democratic Change meetings in the UK has been revealed as a former torturer. Although he's rejected his past, its alleged the man was until recently on the pay-roll of Zimbabwe's notorious Central Intelligence Organisation - leaving the ex patriot Zimbabwean community scared and in disarray.
Jenny Cuffe asks whether in the light of such claims the British government should question its aid policy.
SUN 17:40 Profile (b012zy08)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b012x6vp)
The latest shipping forecast.
SUN 17:57 Weather (b012zy9m)
The latest weather forecast.
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b012zy9p)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b0131x9z)
Lynne Truss makes her selection from the past seven days of BBC Radio
What a week! Lynne Truss discovers how devils are cast out in Margate, the finer points of English pronunciation and meets the Swedish man who cooks up radium on his stove. There's also a tense encounter when rogue trader, Nick Leeson, comes face to face with the people he ruined all those years ago, and a truly remarkable song about bums.
Voices From the Old Bailey - Radio 4
The Last Project - Radio 4
Great Lives - Radio 4
The Reunion- Radio 4
So You Want to be an Exorcist - Radio 4
PM - Radio 4
RP RIP - Radio 4
Fry's English Delight - Radio 4
New Irish Short Stories - Radio 4
The House I Grew Up In - Radio 4
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue - Radio 4
Test Match Special - Radio 5live
Queen of Soul - Radio 2
The I Love You Bridge - Radio 4
Email: potw@bbc.co.uk or www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/potw
Producer: Cecile Wright.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (b0131xb1)
Tom thinks Pat is letting her friendship with Clarrie cloud her judgement about what's best for Bridge Farm, and is delighted she resigned. Pat, however, is sympathetic and warns Tom not to tell everyone that it's Clarrie's fault, since she must have got the bug from somewhere in the first place. She points out that the village would have hated them for sacking Clarrie. The problem is bigger than simply finding someone to blame. Tom could be more helpful by pushing stock back into outlets, and rebuilding the business' local reputation.
Robert and Lynda admire Ambridge Hall and garden, contemplating the past 25 years.
When the party is in full swing, Lynda is bemused by Leonie's interest in their 'quaint rural customs', but then Lilian arrives with a grumpy Matt in tow, anticipating James and Leonie's announcement. However, instead of the expected engagement, James and Leonie explain that they're planning to write a book about village life. Leonie is offended by their parents' guarded responses, so Lynda suggests they meet the following day to discuss the project in more detail.
Overall, though, the Snells' party has been a great success, and the perfect way to celebrate many happy years in Ambridge.
SUN 19:15 Americana (b0131xb3)
Presenter David Willis talks to journalist Stephen Glain about his new book, State vs. Defense. The two discuss the impact of the US military on American finances and the role it could play as the nation struggles to regain its footing.
Author Mim Harrison explains how a common language divides much of the United States.
Musician Warren Wolf Jr. demonstrates what a vibraphone is all about. It takes more muscle then one might think.
And Grammy Award-winning music label Archeophone Records, digs out some of its favourite sounds from America's earliest recording days. Co-owners Richard Martin and Meagan Hennessey share some of the nation's founding sounds.
SUN 19:45 Afternoon Reading (b00pqj9g)
The Curiosities of the Egyptian Hall
The Great Mephisto!
A series of three specially commissioned stories inspired by London's Egyptian Hall - 'England's Home of Mystery & Many Illusions', which stood in Piccadilly for most of the 19th Century. The recordings were made in front of an invited audience at the Concert Artistes' Association in Covent Garden.
London's Egyptian Hall was originally built in 1812 to house collections of curiosities brought back from the most remote and mysterious parts of the globe - from the South Seas, North & South America and Africa. But it soon became the venue for extraordinary spectaculars, panoramas and pseudo scientific demonstrations - such as Britain's first ever films, illusions, magic and freak shows. By the end of the 19th Century, it had become known as 'England's Home of Mystery and Many Illusions', under the management of the renowned magician, Maskelyne. It became the centre of magic and spiritualism where new acts were demonstrated and charlatans exposed.
The Great Mephisto! written by Tony Lidington
A young illusionist from the Punjab takes revenge on his cruel master.
Read by Medhev Sharma
Introduced by Tony Lidington as Alfred, Custodian of the Hall.
Producer: David Blount
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:00 More or Less (b012x12m)
In this week's More or Less:
A very big number
The United States has decided that its total debt - $14.3 trillion - is to be allowed to get even bigger. But how much is $14.3 trillion? It's a number so huge, it's almost impossible to imagine. But we try, with the help of Nigel Holmes.
NHS spending
Before the last election the Conservatives promised they would increase spending on the NHS in England in real terms, and in the Coalition Agreement they and the Liberal Democrats reiterated the commitment. But there have been accusations that they've already broken that pledge. Have they?
Decades of austerity?
In July the Office for Budget Responsibility published a "fiscal sustainability report" in which it considered the likely health of Britain's finances far into the future. According to newspaper reports, the OBR struck a sobering tone, explaining that we face decades of austerity because of rising health and education costs, and an ageing population. But is that the right way to look at it? Michael Blastland thinks not.
The "27 Club"
When Amy Winehouse was found dead last month, newspapers around the world pointed out that death at 27 put the singer in a club which few would wish to join: the so-called "27 club" of rock and pop musicians who died at that age. But is it really true - as some have claimed - that superstar musicians are more likely to die at 27 than at any other age? We asked Matt Parker of Queen Mary University of London to work out the answer.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (b012x12t)
John Stott, Stan Barstow, Derek Bryce-Smith, David Dunseith and Fran Landesman
On Last Word this week:
The Reverend John Stott, whose influential books and sermons earned him the unofficial moniker of "the Protestant's Pope."
Fran Landesman, jazz lyricist, poet, bohemian whose wild life made her at least as famous as did her art.
Author, Stan Barlow, one of the so-called Angry Young Men who brought the working class north to literary life in A Kind of Loving.
Professor Derek Bryce-Smith, whose work played a key role in the introduction of unleaded petrol.
And David Dunseith, police officer turned broadcaster who described his phone-in programme on Radio Ulster as a "people's parliament" during the troubles.
SUN 21:00 Face the Facts (b012r6v0)
Mister Bollywood and the Case of the Missing Millions
Ramzan Nasir goes by the stage name "Zain" and styles himself as a former star of Bollywood. Having moved into property investment, his company "Heaven on Earth" sold off-plan apartments in Dubai on the promise of high returns on outlays which ran into millions of pounds. John Waite meets the man and his clients, who include doctors, shopkeepers and a former Minister of Health for Tanzania - many of them claim they've nothing to show for their money.
Producer Richard Hooper.
SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b0130239)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 today]
SUN 21:30 In Business (b012wzqr)
Bitter Pill
The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is closing most of its giant research facility at Sandwich in Kent, the place where Viagra was developed, putting two thousand science jobs at risk. Peter Day asks what the surprising decision means for an important UK industry.
Producer : Sandra Kanthal.
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b0131xb5)
Carolyn Quinn talks to the political correspondent of the Guardian, Nick Watt, about the big political stories. They discuss the global financial turmoil and its impact on the British economy.
On our panel of MPs is the Conservative, Mark Reckless and Labour's Emma Reynolds, two politicians with very different views on Europe. They discuss the financial turmoil in the Eurozone and the way forward for the UK.
We have a special report on the Green Party in Brighton. Having secured a parliamentary seat there for their leader, Caroline Lucas last year, the party has also taken control of the council. We examine the impact they're having on the ground, and the challenges they're facing.
A hundred years ago this week, an historic piece of legislation was passed which curbed the powers of the House of Lords. Dr Alan Renwick explains the significance of the Parliament Act of 1911 and places the current attempts to reform the Second Chamber in a historical context.
Programme Editor: Terry Dignan.
SUN 22:45 What the Papers Say (b0131xb7)
Episode 64
Ian Burrell, the Independent's Media Editor, analyses how the newspapers are covering the biggest stories.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b012x12w)
Matthew Sweet ranges from Iraq to India and from Baghdad to Buddha in this week's Film Programme. He talks to Dominic Cooper about playing both Saddam Hussein's psychopathic son, Uday and Latif Yahia, the man forced to impersonate him in Lee Tamahori's feature, The Devil's Double. Then, having set up camp in the Middle East, Matthew investigates the background to an extraordinary film commissioned by Saddam about the end of British colonial influence in the region. With the help of two members of the cast, Marc Sinden and Nicholas Young he re-lives the experience of shooting The Great Question while the Iran-Iraq war was still in progress. His excursion to the Subcontinent is prompted by the revival of one of the landmarks of silent cinema, Light of Asia, a life of Buddha which is being showing again in a brand new print and with a brand new score. And then there's part three of Mark Gatiss' guide to foreign horror. This week he's dodging about among the chimney pots of Paris to celebrate Franju's Nuits Rouges.
Producer: Zahid Warley.
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b012zzzw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 08 AUGUST 2011
MON 00:00 Midnight News (b012x6wj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b012wxy6)
The mummy's curse - Death photography
Laurie Taylor discusses the mummy's curse and other Oriental myths with Marina Warner and Roger Luckhurst. The Ancient Egyptians had no real concept of the curse; instead, Luckhurst argues, it was a product of the Victorian imagination, a result of British ambivalence about Egypt's increasing self-determination. The curse was part of a wider Western tradition of portraying the East as exotic and irrational, dominated by superstitions. That attitude is revealed in the British reaction to English language translations of The Arabian Nights, which played into Oriental stereotypes of barbarity, cruelty and unbridled sexuality. Marina Warner discusses the reasons why the stories of Aladdin et al are as popular as ever in modern, multi-cultural Britain.
Author Audrey Linkman discusses the relationship between photography and death in her study of post-mortem portraits from the late 19th century to the modern day, and how they reflect contemporary attitudes towards mortality.
Producer: Stephen Hughes.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b012zyf1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b012x6wl)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b012x6wn)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b012x6wq)
The latest shipping forecast.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (b012x6ws)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0131y3d)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection presented by the Revd Marjory MacLean.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (b0131y3g)
£50million worth of thefts on UK farms last year as rural crime increases. The insurers NFU Mutual calculate in their Rural Crime Survey that tractor, fuel and livestock thefts have increased sharply.
Metal theft has become such a problem in Avon and Somerset that the police force has a specialist metal theft officer. Sarah Swadling joined Police Community Support Officer Matt Tailby as he started his shift at Yeovil police station.
88% of people believe that the UK is too reliant on other countries for food, according to a ComRes survey commissioned by BBC One's Countryfile and Farming Today. With the UK currently importing around 40% of our food, Professor Charles Godfray explains how he thinks we can create a secure global food supply.
Presenter: Sarah Swadling. Producer: Emma Weatherill.
MON 05:57 Weather (b012x6wv)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 06:00 Today (b013217y)
With John Humphrys and Evan Davis. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Generations Apart (b0131y3j)
Series 1
Baby Boomers
This August, Fi Glover launches Generations Apart, a new series for BBC Radio 4 which tracks the fortunes of people at two very different stages in their lives - the first Baby Boomers born in 1946, and the 'children of the nineties' born at the same time as the world wide web.
Over the next three years, Fi delves into the lives of individuals selected from each generation to explore how people are shaped by when they're born, looking at the similarities and differences between them.
In this opening programme, Fi Glover meets the baby boomers. Born in 1946, and turning sixty five this year, they're leading their generation into older age.
Comprising over a quarter of the UK population, their spending habits and lifestyles have a huge sway on the economy. And the notion of retirement doesn't sit comfortably with all of them.
Fi follows their contrasting personal journeys, from Alice the Grimsby Grandmother whose own life mirrors the changes in the community around her, to David and Sandra the triathlon training couple striving to compete on the international stage.
In contrast, Tony is reluctantly facing retirement to make way for the younger generation, and Carol the airline worker hopes her age won't stand in her way as she attempts to find a new job. Along with thousands of others, Carol's life has been tracked since her birth as part of the world's longest running survey run by the Medical Research Council.
Generations Apart reflects on where these baby boomers have got to in their lives, and follows them as they make important decisions about the future.
MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b013204f)
Bred of Heaven
Episode 1
"You have to pay to get in. The current cost, if you're in a car, is £
5.30. Pressing a note into a fleshy female palm, I deploy the lone word of conversational Welsh in my locker. 'Diolch'. Thanks. Then I push my right foot down and accelerate into the land of my fathers. I'm not really sure where I'm going."
Author and journalist Jasper Rees rises to the challenge of embracing his 'inner Welshness'. His grandparents on his father's side were Welsh. So it's partly in recollection of times spent at their house on a hill in Carmarthen that he opts for full 'immersion'. This means learning the language and putting to paper to some of his grandparents vivid stories about Wales. It also means travelling around, setting himself various tasks - singing in choirs, sheep-shearing, coracling, coal-mining. Some tasks are accomplished with deftness, some not, in his wry travelogue, which is abridged for radio in five parts by Katrin Williams.
1. It can cost £
5.30 to enter this country, which fires the author's memories
about a Welsh grandmother on a Gothic porch. Plus a bit on landscapes and
languages and adventures with a coracle...
Reader Ben Miles.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b013204h)
Female unemployment; babies and salt; Becky Sharp; jockey Hayley Turner
Becky Sharp: modern inspiration or despicable social climber? Unemployment for women over 45 is an increasing problem - we look at the figures and get advice. Out on the gallops with jockey, Hayley Turner. And is there too much salt in the diet of babies and toddlers? Presented by Jenni Murray.
MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0132144)
Ernest Hemingway - A Farewell to Arms
Episode 6
Ernest Hemingway's beautiful novel of love and war, dramatised by Stephen Keyworth. 6/10 Anarchy rules on the Italian retreat, and it's every man for himself.
Cast
Frederic ..... Patrick Kennedy
Bartolomeo ..... Jonathan Forbes
Piani ..... Daniel Rabin
Sergeant ..... James Lailey
Bonello ..... Carl Prekopp
Officer ..... Simon Bubb
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
MON 11:00 The Barbershop (b0132146)
An insightful, humorous piece of reportage from inside the High Street "freemasonry" of the barber's, scene of one of the last rites of passage left to the modern British male.
Stephen Smith journeys from the old fashioned barber where his Dad used to take him to the exclusive world of Trumper's, barber to the great and good in Mayfair... via the colourful world of the black barbershop.
To the buzz of electric clippers, Stephen enters Gianni and Elio's, his dad's old barber's. On the walls are football memorabilia and a Page 3 calendar. Welcome to the Masonic world of the barber's - more (sexually) exclusive, these days, than even football grounds and the clubs of St James's. The barber's meant a bit of a chinwag with Elio in worldly tones that Stephen didn't hear his Dad use at home.
Ex-KLF pop star and art provocateur Bill Drummond is fascinated by the barber's and its unambiguously male environment: 'there is little in life that is as totally male as the barber's shop,' he says. He has a highly original theory about the primacy of the barber's in human culture. The skill on show is 'probably the most central craft in the existence of civilised man on this planet...Ever since man has considered himself civilised he has had his hair cut. Religions will come and go, empires decline and fall, but the barbers keep snipping.
Recalling the cutthroat shave he once enjoyed in the Mafiosi village of Corleone, Sicily, Stephen reflects on the macabre practice of the Mob in whacking its targets when they're at the barber's, in real life as well as the movies: targeting a place where a man expects to relax, to be pampered, but which was once associated with pain, gore and death. Step forward Sweeney Todd!
To the stropping noise of a sharpening blade, we enter the thoroughly pukka salon of Trumper's, Mayfair, where Stephen has a wet shave with hot fluffy towels and all the trimmings. We hear about the great affairs of state (and other affairs!) which have been settled over a short back and sides at Trumpers.
Finally, with a burst of hip hop, we're in the exuberant world of the black barbershop: part rap concert, part teenager's bedroom on a Saturday evening. It's all about 'styling', about getting the 'freshest' look while your mates gaze on - nodding their approval, or whistling their scorn, as the cut takes shape. Is it a welcome place of refuge and male solidarity for the often put-upon Afro-Caribbean male - not unlike the traditional High Street barber's, come to think of it?
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
MON 11:30 Meet David Sedaris (b0125g85)
Series 2
Nuit of the Living Dead and The End of the Affair
The multi-award winning American essayist brings his wit and charm to BBC Radio 4 for a series of audience readings. This week: what not to do with a mouse, in front of strangers in "Nuit of the Living Dead" and the ups and downs of along term relationship get the Sedaris treatment in "The End of the Affair"
Producer: Steve Doherty
A Boomerang production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:00 You and Yours (b0132148)
On You and Yours today with Julian Worricker.
We examine why so many of our care homes are operating without a manager.
We hear how a train commuter writes a complaint to the First Great Western boss every single time his train is delayed.
And we listen to experts as they debate alcohol units. Should the guidance on the amount we drink go up or down, and how is that kind of decision reached?
MON 12:57 Weather (b012x6wx)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 13:00 World at One (b013214b)
National and international news with Martha Kearney. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
MON 13:30 Quote... Unquote (b013214d)
Last in the current series of Quote...Unquote, presented by the renowned Nigel Rees. Joining Nigel to wave au revoir are the comedian Ardal O'Hanlon, broadcaster Shelagh Fogarty, writer Brian Sibley and actor Martin Jarvis.
The reader is Peter Jefferson.
Produced by Simon Mayhew-Archer.
MON 14:00 The Archers (b0131xb1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (b013214g)
My Name Is Stephen Luckwell
By Nick Wood.
Stephen Luckwell is an autistic teenager with an enquiring mind. His teacher, Claire, helps him through the daily activities which present him with enormous challenges, from deciphering phrases such as "I was miles away" or "I wouldn't want to be in your shoes", to understanding private jokes and other people's expressions.
It's the day of the regional heats of the Young Artists' competition and Stephen is preparing how to behave. If he's properly prepared he can behave appropriately. Meanwhile Claire has some huge life changes in store, but she's not quite so prepared as Stephen.
Nick Wood has adapted My Name is Stephen Luckwell from his stage play, originally produced by Nottingham Playhouse Roundabout.
Stephen ..... James Rastall
Claire ..... Emily Chennery
Louis ..... Simon Lee Phillips
Produced and directed by Fiona Kelcher.
MON 15:00 Archive on 4 (b012zy1c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Saturday]
MON 15:45 Russia: The Wild East (b013214j)
Series 2
Gorbachev vs Yeltsin
Martin Sixsmith remembers the "electric" sessions of the Congress of People's Deputies, after the Soviet Union's first genuinely contested elections in March 1989."As I wandered through the parliament's corridors, meeting openly with former dissidents, I realized that Gorbachev had let the genie of liberty out of the bottle," he says.
Thousands of people took to the streets demanding multi-party democracy and booing Gorbachev. Boris Yeltsin -Chairman of the newly-created Russian parliament and de facto leader of the Russian Republic was demanding independence. Gorbachev, as leader of the Soviet Union and nominally the senior figure, struggled to hold the USSR together. "I'm doomed to go forward and only forward," he told a colleague. "If I retreat, I will perish..." Hardline communists were also on the attack; 'Gorbymania' in the West gave them leverage, and when Soviet territory was 'lost' as the Berlin wall came down, Gorbachev was derided as a traitor. The Baltic republics stridently demanded independence and although Gorbachev had publicly renounced coercion, Soviet troops were sent in.
Yeltsin announced he would battle the threat of autocracy with the sword of democracy, proposing free and open elections for a new post of Russian President. Gorbachev tried to block it, but on 28 March 1991 the battle took to the streets. Gorbachev was forced to back off; the balance of power was shifting. In June 1991 Yeltsin was elected President of Russia with a mandate for radical change. He wanted to end communism and abolish the USSR. Gorbachev's compromise of a looser confederation of states with considerable autonomy but not control of defence and foreign policy, might have worked. But before the New Union Treaty could be signed, history would take a dramatic turn.
Producers:Adam Fowler & Anna Scott-Brown
A Ladbroke Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 16:00 The Food Programme (b013027c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (b013214l)
The idea of the Sabbath, a communal day off every week, has been all but taken over by Sunday opening and the 24/7 society. In "Beyond Belief" Ernie Rea asks what society has gained and lost as a result of this change. Sports Commentator Dan Walker tells him why he refuses to work on a Sunday, and he is joined by Rabbi Naftali Brawer, Sam Barker of the Relationships Foundation and Keep Sunday Special Campaign, and Philip Booth from the Institute of Economic Affairs.
MON 17:00 PM (b0135s8w)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0131pqd)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 Just a Minute (b013214n)
Series 61
From 08/08/2011
Ventriloquism and PAs. Nicholas Parsons welcomes Paul Merton, Tony Hawks, Shelia Hancock and Graham Norton. From August 2011.
MON 19:00 The Archers (b013214q)
The dairy at Bridge Farm is running at half capacity. Pat explains that they're going to start producing ice-cream again to show the public that they have complete confidence in their own products, and to try and get back to normal.
Pat speaks to a journalist from the Borchester Echo, whose persistent questions make her angry. She worries that whatever good things she says to the press about the dairy, she'll be portrayed as cold and unfeeling.
James wishes the family had been more supportive of him and Leonie yesterday. He takes advantage of the opportunity to explain properly about their book idea to Lilian, Robert and Lynda. It becomes evident that they will need some investment from the family, but Leonie and James stress that this will allow their parents to have their own (limited) input into the project. Robert has some questions about the business plan and the technicalities of producing the book, but James and Leonie insist they're 'can-do' people. Their positive thinking will help them overcome such minor details.
The couple head home, already making plans to return for the August bank holiday Open Gardens event.
MON 19:15 Front Row (b013214s)
Designer Ron Arad and novelist Hari Kunzru
Ron Arad - artist, architect and designer - shows John Wilson round his latest installation, Curtain Call, a new 360-degree interactive installation at the Roundhouse in London. Arad has responded to the large circular Main Space by creating a curtain made of 5,600 silicon rods suspended from an 18-metre-diameter ring - and has invited artists and musicians to create art works for it.
Hari Kunzru's new novel Gods Without Men is set in a remote town in the Californian desert. He discusses the way his move to America has changed the language of his writing, and why he wanted to write about the difficulties of living with an autistic child.
A new documentary film The Referees focuses on the men with the whistle in the Euro 2008 football championships. Sports writer Jim White reviews.
Producer Jerome Weatherald.
MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0132144)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
MON 20:00 Document (b013214v)
In 1938, Hitler annexed Austria. As the Nazi repression of Austrian Jews intensified, many were desperately seeking ways of leaving the country.
One option was obtaining a baptismal certificate which offered the hope of making it easier to acquire transit visas and move across borders.
The President of the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum has just discovered, to his surprise, one such baptismal certificate belonging to his great uncle.
Mike Thomson follows this certificate back to the Anglican Church in Vienna, where this and many other baptisms took place in a very short space of time.
He finds people who received these certificates and hears how they were useful in aiding their escape from Austria.
He finds out about the Chaplains who came up against the Gestapo as a result of conducting these baptisms, and asks what motivated them. He also unravels the arguments in the Church of England over what should be done to help Jews trying to escape Nazi Europe.
Producer: Neil McCarthy.
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b012wzfj)
The Mourides of Senegal
Tim Judah travels to Senegal to report on the Mourides, an increasingly powerful Senegalese Muslim movement that stresses the importance of hard work
Many of the African street sellers in cities like Paris or Rome, and on Mediterranean beaches, are in fact Mourides. Far from being chancers who washed up on Europe's shores and now barely scrape a living from selling fake designer handbags or miniature Eiffel towers, they are part of a very organised and supportive brotherhood that now wields great economic and political power in Senegal.
Thanks to their strong work ethic and the unparalleled networking opportunities the brotherhood provides, Mourides now dominate many sectors of the economy.
They are said to constitute up to 40% of Senegalese Muslims (who make up over 90% of the population.) So not surprisingly, senior politicians, if they are not Mourides anyway, are courting the Mouride vote by going on pilgrimage to the Mouride holy city, Touba, several hours' drive east of the capital. The president of Senegal is a Mouride, as is the man who is probably the most famous Senegalese of all: singer Youssou N'Dour, who tells Tim why his Mouridism matters to him, and why it could be a way forward for Africa.
So who are the Mourides? What do they believe and what matters to them? Tim travels to Dakar and the fabled holy city of Touba to find out.
Producer: Arlene Gregorius.
MON 21:00 Generations Apart (b0131y3j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:45 The London Nobody Knows (b00sxj2l)
Episode 1
Historian and presenter, Dan Cruickshank, has a copy of a battered, yellowing book under his arm. "The London Nobody Knows" was written by Geoffrey Fletcher in the 60s. It was a record of an unfamiliar London at the time, written by a man totally infatuated with the city.
Fifty years on, Dan retraces Fletcher's steps.from the pie shops where "the floors are sanded, where the eels are greenest, where the cups of tea are thickest" to the east end markets where "the fishy smell has sunk into the very pavements".
Much of it has gone.but not all. In a series of two programmes, Dan takes us on a journey through the city he loves. He sets out to find what remains - and what has been lost - of Geoffrey Fletcher's London.
He visits a wonderfully colourful Hackney market - one of the many London street markets now under threat - in the company of writer and Hackney wanderer, Iain Sinclair.
As he climbs the great stone stairway of Wilton's Music Hall in East London, the music begins to pour out. "It is absolutely fantastic.nothing like it in London" he says. The last grand music hall in the world is one of Cruickshank's favourite places. It's the kind of place Dan wants to remain a secret!
Presenter: Dan Cruickshank
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
MON 21:58 Weather (b0131pqg)
The latest weather forecast.
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b0132180)
The Home Secretary meets senior police officers after two nights of rioting in London. We hear from Tottenham and Brixton and ask: why now?
We'll monitor the stock markets and see if austerity measures in some European countries have made a difference to their credit ratings.
And we hear about the growing popularity of tri-athlons.
All that and more on the World Tonight with Ritula Shah.
MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0132182)
The Sense of an Ending
Episode 1
Julian Barnes' new novel challenges the stories we tell about our own lives and the interpretations we put on events in order to construct a version we can live with.
Tony Webster met Adrian Finn in the 6th form of a boys school in London, it was the early sixties and the future glowed bright for the small group of friends, especially for Adrian who was the bright young academic star of the year. It was Adrian who quoted the crucial definition of history, and skewered it with an example of the death of a fellow student who had got his girlfriend pregnant:
' "History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation."'
'Is it, indeed? Where did you find that?'
'Lagrange, sir. Patrick Lagrange. He's French.'
'So one might have guessed. Would you care to give us an example?'
'Robson's suicide, sir.'
Memories of their classroom debates and student friendship are triggered by an unexpected legacy forty years after Adrian's death. It is only then that the now retired Tony begins to look back and re-examine events in the light of new evidence.
Read by Julian Barnes
Producer: Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (b012wjcz)
Eisteddfod
Tired of living next to his noisy neighbours, Les Barker opted out of urban Manchester and moved to North Wales. "Although I'd spent half a lifetime an hour's drive away, I'd never heard of Hedd Wyn. Or any other major figure in Welsh history or literature, apart from Max Boyce and Dylan Thomas." So Les began to learn...and learn...and learn.....
"After toying briefly with 'Teach Yourself Welsh', I went on a four-day course in Denbigh; Craig Jones was the tutor. Over the summer I did a couple of week-long courses in Denbigh, initially with another Mr Jones, but he went off sick and was replaced by a Mrs Jones. Wales is full of them."
"Being a beginner is frustrating. After a lifetime of being fluent, I suddenly had the vocabulary and grammar of a three-year-old." But Les persevered, and is now a serious performer on the Welsh poetry scene, and one of the organisers of this summer's Eisteddfod. Chris Ledgard meets Les as he makes last minute preparations for the festival.
Producer John Byrne.
MON 23:30 Polyoaks (b011vjh9)
Series 1
Episode 3
Written By Phil Hammond and David Spicer.
Nigel Planer, Celia Imrie, David Westhead, Phil Cornwell and Tony Gardner star in a timely satire on the NHS set in the bewildering new world of Coalition healthcare.
This new sitcom is written by Private Eye's medical columnist, broadcaster, comedian and practising GP Dr. Phil Hammond and David Spicer ('Double Income No Kids' and 'Three Off the Tee'.) As responsibility for the Health Service is stripped from managers and handed to doctors, brothers-in-medicine Roy & Hugh Thornton are struggling to work out what to do with all this sudden money and power. If they can diagnose acute appendicitis surely they can manage an £80 billion health budget. Can't they? But a useless Celebrity TV Doctor, an overly-aggressive South African Nurse and a sinister GP Consortium Chairman don't make their lot any easier.
In this episode Hugh is lumbered with a problem patient, when Roy goes mysteriously AWOL, while cycling for his health. He's worried that Roy's overlooked a possible communicable disease, which could lumber the practice with a disastrous drugs bill and he really needs a second opinion. Trouble is there's only Dr. Jeremy on hand. Which is worse than useless. And anyway it would mean interrupting the STD clinic.
Cast:
Dr Roy Thornton ..... Nigel Planer
Dr Hugh Thornton ..... Tony Gardner
TV's Dr Jeremy ..... David Westhead
Betty Crossfield ..... Celia Imrie
Vera Du Plessis ..... Carla Mendonca
Mr Devlin/Mr Bourner ..... Phil Cornwell
All Patients played by David Holt and Kate O'Sullivan
Producer: Frank Stirling
An Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
TUESDAY 09 AUGUST 2011
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b012x6xp)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b013204f)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b012x6xr)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b012x6xt)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b012x6xw)
The latest shipping forecast.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b012x6xy)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b013n7cy)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection presented by the Revd Marjory MacLean.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b01321bp)
The Association of Chief Police Officers says people in rural communities will have to take on more responsibility for preventing crime, following government funding cuts. Charlotte Smith hears calls from the National Farmers Union for more research funding to improve food security. And, how waterproofing the leaves of wheat can protect it against drought.
Presenter: Charlotte Smith
Producer: Sarah Swadling.
TUE 06:00 Today (b01321br)
With John Humphrys and Sarah Montague. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 Generations Apart (b01321h8)
Series 1
Children of the World Wide Web
Fi Glover launches Generations Apart, a new series for BBC Radio 4 which tracks the fortunes of people at two very different stages in their lives - the first Baby Boomers born in 1946, the second the 'children of the nineties' born at the same time as the world wide web.
Over the next three years, Fi delves into the lives of individuals chosen from each generation to explore how people are shaped by when they're born, looking at similarities and differences between them.
In the first programme on Monday 8th August at
9am, Fi met people born in 1946. The first 'baby boomers' are now turning 65 with many reflecting on where they've got to and what more they'd like to achieve. Today she joins the 'children of the 90s' - born into a very different world. At 21 they face significant challenges and Fi meets them as they tackle issues ranging from responsibility to romance. The case studies include:
The Cambridge graduate with a world of opportunities at her feet but with difficult financial and career choices now her university days are over;
The prisoner released after a sentence for violence with his sights set on an apprenticeship scheme and a flat of his own;
The twenty-one-year-old Welsh twins who juggle their wish for greater independence with the security they gain from their close knit family;
The London singer who at 21 has surrounded himself with friends able to provide the support that his own mother couldn't.
This series gives listeners the opportunity to hear what happens as those taking part wrestle with important decisions and choices.
TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b01321hb)
Bred of Heaven
Episode 2
"You have to pay to get in. The current cost, if you're in a car, is £
5.30. Pressing a note into a fleshy female palm, I deploy the lone word of conversational Welsh in my locker. 'Diolch'. Thanks. Then I push my right foot down and accelerate into the land of my fathers. I'm not really sure where I'm going."
Author and journalist Jasper Rees rises to the challenge of embracing his 'inner Welshness'. His grandparents on his father's side were Welsh. So it's partly in recollection of times spent at their house on a hill in Camarthen that he opts for full 'immersion'. This means learning the language and putting to paper to some of his grandparents vivid stories about Wales. It also means travelling around, setting himself various tasks - singing in choirs, sheep-shearing, coracling, coal-mining. Some tasks are accomplished with deftness, some not, in his wry travelogue, which is abridged for radio by Katrin Williams.
2. The author continues his embrace of all things Welsh with
a trip to Caldey Island where his uncle, now known as Teilo,
practices as a monk. Life starts at half past three in the
morning and it's often a revelatory time of the day...
Reader Ben Miles.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b01321hd)
The beauty industry; ants; Margaret More; khat
Jenni Murray talks to Ruth Brandon about her history of the beauty industry; do ants operate as the ultimate matriarchal society? How the humanist education of Thomas More's daughter Margaret changed the way women were schooled and shaped the English Renaissance and the dangers of chewing the plant khat.
TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b01321hg)
Ernest Hemingway - A Farewell to Arms
Episode 7
Ernest Hemingway's greatest love story, dramatised by Stephen Keyworth. 7/10 On the run from the chaos of the Italian retreat, Frederic seeks Catherine out.
Cast
Frederic ..... Patrick Kennedy
Catherine ..... Morven Christie
Ferguson ..... Alex Tregear
Emilio ..... James Lailey
Simmons ..... Jonathan Forbes
Rinaldi ..... Carl Prekopp
Piani ..... Daniel Rabin
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
TUE 11:00 Giving the Critic Back His Voice (b01321hj)
1/1
Ricky Ross discovers how one Scottish company is giving back the freedom of speech by creating artificial voices with genuine human inflection and emotion. We've come a long way from 'Hal' in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Today, one small Edinburgh-based company is at the forefront of creating artificial voices that sound remarkably like the real thing, and that's because they are.
Critic Roger Ebert had governed America's movie tastes for over three decades when thyroid cancer robbed him of his voice. Enter Cereproc. They've managed to piece together a voice much akin to Ebert's own by using his old audio recordings. So what are the implications of this groundbreaking development for ordinary people, and how will it change the way we relate to the human voice? Songwriter and broadcaster Ricky Ross finds out.
TUE 11:30 With Great Pleasure (b01322cz)
Gerry Anderson
The broadcaster Gerry Anderson entertains a home crowd with extracts from some of his favourite readings in Londonderry. Recorded at Magee College, University of Ulster, and with the help of readers Stella McCusker and Stuart Graham, he reflects on the inspiration he encountered in Dublin in his early years as a rock'n'roll musician, before heading to the States, long before he found his natural home up close to a presenter's microphone. Among the richly varied and idiosyncratic readings he's chosen are an account of a young and supremely arrogant Orson Welles auditioning for Dublin's Gate Theatre, Hunter S Thompson's savage indignation directed towards Richard Nixon, the moving opening section of Oscar Wilde's 'Ballad of Reading Gaol', and the full explanation of Catch 22, when not only is sanity madness, but precisely the opposite is also true.
Producer: Mark Smalley.
TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b01322d1)
Three nights of violence, rioting and arson across London has now spread to other major UK cities. There were disturbances in Liverpool, where 300 people went on the rampage, Bristol, Birmingham and Nottingham. Why is this happening and what can be done to stop the violence being repeated again tonight and in the future? Call You and Yours with Julian Worricker. Your chance to share your views on the programme. Email youandyours@bbc.co.uk, text 84844 and we may call you back or call 03700 100 444 (lines open at
10am Tuesday).
TUE 12:57 Weather (b012x6y0)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 13:00 World at One (b01322d3)
With Martha Kearney. National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
TUE 13:45 Musical Migrants (b00kctm0)
Series 2
Germany
A yearning to see where her favourite composers lived led violinist Amber McPherson from the United States to Leipzig, Germany. Getting to know the tradition from which Bach came forced her to re-examine everything she had learnt hitherto. Producer: Rachel Hopkin.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (b013214q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama (b01322d7)
Higher - Series 3
The Price of Partnership
Higher: Ep 1 The Price of Partnership by Joyce Bryant
Teaching has become a dirty word at Hayborough University and when a new Dean of Research Development comes on board she urges partnerships abroad. So an international research centre for Pier and Wharf ethics is mooted. The only problem is the person sent to set it up - academic snob and sociopath, Professor David Poll.
Karen.........Sophie Thompson
Jim.............Jonathan Keeble
David..........Jeremy Swift
Cherry.........Caroline Burns Cooke
President......Cyril Nri
Abdi.............Marlon G. Day
Produced by Gary Brown
More barbed satire from the higher education establishment ranked 132nd in the University league tables. The Department of Geography at the new University of Hayborough is under pressure to find new sources of funding and to broaden its horizons. So when a new Dean of Research Development, Cherry Swat comes on board she urges partnerships abroad. An international research centre for Pier and Wharf ethics is mooted in the African Republic of Epithea. Everything seems to be going smoothly for the university until they realise the student they have recently expelled just happens to be the President of Epithea's son.
Starring Sophie Thompson, Jeremy Swift and Jonathan Keeble.
TUE 15:00 Home Planet (b01322d9)
Making Oil from Plastic and Seaweed
This week Home Planet listeners ask the panel about two ways of producing fuel from sources other than crude oil. Is a process to turn discarded plastic into oil too good to be true? Or will the fuel of the future come from farming algae?
One listener also wants to know whether computer models will ever become sufficiently good to be able to predict future climate. How do migrating swifts know when to stop flying north and why do predators often have such yellow eyes?
On the panel this week are ornithologist Graham Appleton of the British Trust for Ornithology; Professor Andrew Watkinson, Director of Living With Environmental Change and Professor Philip Stott, an environmental scientist from the University of London.
The programme is presented by Richard Daniel.
Producer: Toby Murcott
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b01322dc)
Susie Maguire - Portrait
The Painter's Story
A mystery unfolds in Susie Maguire's trilogy of stories that examine a portrait from three perspectives. The painter's story is read by Burn Gorman.
Tom first lays eyes on Nic in the audience of an art house cinema. She smells of money and he knows she is out of his league, but he decides to ask if he can paint her. She succumbs and finally enters the arena of his scruffy studio. There's a power shift; she may be the femme fatale whose husband owns the building, but this is Tom's domain, and she is the one feeling nervous. He knows all the tricks to put her at her ease. He's used to the idle chit chat between artist and model, the questions about commissions, the subtle pleas for reassurance. He rashly agrees to her request not to exhibit the painting when it's finished, but hopes that once she sees the finished piece, she'll be flattered and have a change of heart. He is already secretly planning further portraits of her as he circles her with his camera snapping away, adjusting her position now and then. Will he keep his promise to keep her portrait for his eyes only, and who is really studying who?
Producer: Sarah Langan.
TUE 15:45 Russia: The Wild East (b01322df)
Series 2
The Moscow Coup
In the final selection from his history of Russia, Martin Sixsmith describes the tumultuous events that took place in Moscow in 1991.
He was there as a BBC correspondent as Communist plotters tried to save the Soviet Union. They imprisoned President Gorbachev at his holiday villa and announced that they were saving the country from further reform and openness. They hadn't reckoned with Yeltsin, who climbed on top of a tank stationed outside the Moscow white house and, almost singlehandedly, won back the army and forced the plotters to back down.
This was the end of the USSR. The former republics, Ukraine among them, were free to take their own steps towards a new democratic constitution. But these were steps which would do nothing to alter the tension between Russia and Ukraine that had existed throughout their history.
Producers: Adam Fowler and Anna Scott-Brown
A Ladbroke production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (b01322dh)
Talking Newspapers for the Blind
In the programme exploring the world of words and the ways in which we use them, Chris Ledgard examines the production of talking newspapers for the blind. From cassette distribution to downloads, the daily newspaper can be as up-to-date for blind people as it is for their sighted neighbours. But how do you "voice up" both the Daily Star and the Telegraph? And what does it take to be the "reader" on FHM or Private Eye?
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b01322dk)
Series 25
Kirsty MacColl
Broadcaster Janice Long tells Matthew Parris why singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl led a "great life" despite her tragically early death in a boating accident in Mexico in 2000.
Kirsty MacColl was a supremely gifted singer-songwriter in the "English" tradition, often compared to Ray Davies or Morrissey for her kitchen-sink realism and sardonic wit. She loved pop but insisted on witty and literate writing, and, whilst sporadically successful in her own right, she was everyone's favourite collaborative artist. She battled stage-fright and writers block to produce five outstanding albums, and worked with The Smiths, Talking Heads, the Rolling Stones, Simple Minds and U2. She once described her talent as a "one-woman-Beach Boys" for her ability to layer and orchestrate harmonies.
Her father, Ewan MacColl, was a famous folk singer, but Kirsty had no interest in folk music - a clear rejection of the world her father inhabited - and wanted instead to create great, "edgy" pop records.
She died in controversial circumstances when she was hit by a speedboat whilst on a diving holiday in Mexico in 2000.
TUE 17:00 PM (b0132vkg)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b012x6y2)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Lucy Montgomery's Variety Pack (b01322dm)
Series 2
Episode 3
The human chameleon's host of comic characters from a chicken shop worker to a honeymooner.
Starring; Lucy Montgomery,
With Philip Pope, Sally Grace, Natalie Walter, Iris Walker and Waen Shepherd
Written by Lucy Montgomery with additional material by Steve Burge, Jon Hunter, Barunka O'Shaughnessy and Fay Rusling.
Script Editor: Dan Tetsell
Producer: Katie Tyrrell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2011.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (b01322dp)
Pat and Tony receive the crushing (although not unexpected) news that they're going to be sued by two of the E coli victims. Although the insurance company will cover it, Pat's worried about the possible consequences. She determines to ring Shula to find out how some of the other sick children are.
Pip, nervously waiting for her A Level results, is unable to concentrate on anything else, so Elizabeth proposes they take a walk during her break. Pip tells Elizabeth about her plans to expand Brookfield's production, but is offended by Elizabeth's seemingly negative response and suggestion that it's a difficult time for family farms.
Eddie is trying to cheer up Clarrie, who's desperate to get a proper job to keep her busy and bring in more money. She decides to ask Jolene for work, but there is nothing going at The Bull, and she hates having to explain to everyone that there's only enough work for Susan at Bridge Farm. People might realise there's something wrong since she's worked there longer.
Later, Eddie suggests that Clarrie helps Joe at the car boot sales, leaving him free to make more money doing gardening work.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (b01322dr)
Andy Serkis; Steve James on The Interrupters; Project Nim
Actor Andy Serkis talks about his role in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The film has already topped the US box office and it's not the first time Serkis has played a primate: he took the title role in Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong.
Project Nim is the new documentary from James Marsh, director of the Oscar-winning Man on Wire. The film is the story of a landmark experiment which aimed to show that an ape could learn to communicate with language if raised and nurtured like a human child. Zoologist Charlotte Uhlenbroek reviews.
A new documentary The Interrupters focuses on a group of people in the poor suburbs of Chicago, many of whom have served time for serious crimes including murder. They have used their experience for the good to prevent acts of violence and aggression in the community. The film's director Steve James, who also made the documentary Hoop Dreams, discusses the background to the film and the success these individuals are having in an attempt to stem Chicago's spiralling murder statistics
Producer Stephen Hughes.
TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b01321hg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (b01322dt)
Kick Starting Recovery?
The Government's strategy to boost local enterprise in England began poorly. The Director of the CBI criticised it as 'a shambles' and Business Secretary Vince Cable admitted it was 'Maoist and chaotic'.
Now 36 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) have been established with the aim of supporting economic growth and innovation and encouraging a network of Enterprise Zones. But some experts remain sceptical. They claim that the policy has failed to put business interests first and that in some parts of the country it has been hijacked by local politicians. Others complain that areas of deprivation have been overlooked in favour of more affluent neighbours. There is also concern that the strategy is not implementing the government's policy of localism.
Can LEPs deliver the economic fruits they promise? Or will some just fizzle out, as one insider fears? Gerry Northam reports.
Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane
Editor: David Ross.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (b01322dw)
Strategies for how to cope if you are visually impaired. 09/08/2011
Listener Christine Ward lives in a small town and feels people there don't understand her visual impairment. Peter White visits her and goes on a walkabout as Christine explains how she deals with the sometimes hurtful comments she receives from strangers.
Peter discusses the points she raises with Diane Roworth, Chief Executive of York Blind and Partially-Sighted Society and broadcaster and writer Stephen Hallett, who are both visually-impaired. What strategies do they use to help them cope?
TUE 21:00 Generations Apart (b01321h8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 21:45 The London Nobody Knows (b00t0d1c)
Episode 2
Historian and broadcaster, Dan Cruickshank, goes off the beaten track and takes us to some of his favourite - and largely undiscovered - haunts.
Dan visits Clerkenwell with its secret and underground history in the company of London biographer, Peter Ackroyd. He takes us to Grub Street - where we hear about the beginnings of the tabloid press in the early 17th century. And in Chinatown, he peers behind the shelves of a Cantonese supermarket to reveal an amazing tale of 18th century debate and debauchery.
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
TUE 21:58 Weather (b0131prh)
The latest weather forecast.
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b01322fq)
The Prime Minister promises a big increase in police capability to deal with rioters in London tonight.
We assess police tactics and report from Lewisham. Do rioters feel remorse for the damage inflicted on their own communities?
Also... The Federal Reserve gives its prescription for sustaining the US economy. Will it turn the markets around?
With Robin Lustig.
TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0133jtr)
The Sense of an Ending
Episode 2
Julian Barnes' new novel challenges the stories we tell about our own lives and the interpretations we put on events in order to construct a version we can live with.
The friends have dispersed to university where Tony finally acquires a girlfriend, Veronica. He is invited to spend a weekend at her family's home in Chiselhurst.
Read by Julian Barnes
Producer: Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:00 A Jewel in the Comedy Crown (b00p2cc1)
Jason Manford pays tribute to Jimmy Jewel, one of the most enduring showbusiness entertainers of the 20th century.
Born in December 1909, Jewel, probably best remembered today for his fractious double act with Hylda Baker in the 1960s and 70s comedy Nearest and Dearest, first took to the stage aged four. Later, as part of the variety double act Jewel and Warriss, he became a popular music hall star. Jewel continued a successful career on radio, stage and screen before cementing his position as one of the great survivors and adapters when he made the transformation to accomplished straight actor.
Jimmy Jewel's story reflects the changing face of British light entertainment over 60 years, and this programme is peppered with classic Jewel archive and includes contributions from actor Jean Boht and variety entertainer John Styles.
TUE 23:30 Agatha Christie (b00pxqz1)
Towards Zero
Episode 2
Towards Zero
By Agatha Christie
Dramatised by Joy Wilkinson
Part Two
Lady Tresselian's house party is thrown into disarray by the death of her old friend Justice Treves. Meanwhile Nevile is feeling the strain of a house party with both his wife and his ex-wife in attendance.
Nevile............Hugh Bonneville
Lady Tresselian.......Marcia Warren
MacWhirter.........Tom Mannion
Audrey............Claire Rushbrook
Mary.............Julia Ford
Kay............Lizzy Watts
Latimer...........Joseph Kloska
Inspector Leach .......Philip Fox
Royde............Stephen Hogan
Receptionist...........Annabelle Dowler
Sergeant...........Matt Addis
Doctor Lazenby........Benjamin Askew
Treves...........David Hargreaves
Directed by Mary Peate.
WEDNESDAY 10 AUGUST 2011
WED 00:00 Midnight News (b012x6yq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b01321hb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b012x6ys)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b012x6yv)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b012x6yx)
The latest shipping forecast.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (b012x6yz)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b013n7d8)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection presented by the Revd Marjory MacLean.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (b0132k4w)
Farmers in the Lea Valley in Essex say the planning system is preventing them expanding and producing more food. The UK imports 40% of the food we eat but a survey for Farming Today and Countryfile shows 88% of us believe we're too reliant on imports. Charlotte Smith meet the farmers who say they may go out of business if they can't produce more by expanding.
Conservationists have found one of the best grasses for feeding cattle can help farmland birds survive the winter.
They want farmers to leave areas of rye grass unmown to provide seeds for yellowhammers and buntings.
Fears of a shortage of hay for livestock may have been overcome by a boom in supplies from the North and West of England. Recent rains have produced a second cut for producers but horse owners wanting top-grade hay may still struggle to get the stock they want.
Presented by Charlotte Smith. Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock.
WED 06:00 Today (b0132k4y)
Morning news and current affairs, with John Humphrys and Sarah Montague, including:
07:50 The Bank of England is expected to cut its own growth forecasts for the UK economy.
08:10 London Mayor Boris Johnson on the riots.
08:20 The Mr Men turn 40.
WED 09:00 Voices from the Old Bailey (b0132k50)
Series 2
Servants
Many thousands of cases in the Old Bailey feature servants, and the court transcripts give us something extraordinary: the voices and words of people who have otherwise left no record of their lives. In court, they not only reveal the detail of their working day, they throw a light on the complex psychological relationship between master and servant.
Three cases are featured in the programme. The first is a servant who lives with a family so poor they have only one room and she shares their bed. The master takes her to court accusing her of theft but when she gives evidence, she tells a very different story, of his sexual abuse. The second case is a juicy case of sexual scandal, and reveals what happens when the mistress falls in love with her footman. In the final case, which created a huge stir at the time, the servant murders her elderly employer with a bayonet.
Three contributors discuss the cases: Dr Tim Meldrum, author of the leading book on the subject; Dr Hannah Greig, historian of the aristocracy; and Peter King, historian of crime. The programme is recorded on location in Uppark House, Sussex, where the master of the servant married his dairy maid - and against all expectations, stayed married to her for 21 years until his death. The historians discuss how far love was possible across the master/servant divide, and reveal that servants were often the moral guardians of a household. Gwyneth Herbert sings a revealing ballad, a sad cautionary tale about what happens when a young girl falls in love with her father's stable groom. The music used in this programme was arranged by David Owen Norris, from original 18th century ballads.
Produced by Elizabeth Burke
A Loftus Audio production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b0132k52)
Bred of Heaven
Episode 3
"You have to pay to get in. The current cost, if you're in a car, is £
5.30. Pressing a note into a fleshy female palm, I deploy the lone word of conversational Welsh in my locker. 'Diolch'. Thanks. Then I push my right foot down and accelerate into the land of my fathers. I'm not reallly sure where I'm going."
Author and journalist Jasper Rees rises to the challenge of embracing his 'inner Welshness'. His grandparents on his father's side were Welsh. So it's partly in recollection of times spent at their house on a hill in Camarthen that he opts for full 'immersion'. This means learning the language and putting to paper to some of his grandparents vivid stories about Wales. It also means travelling around, setting himself various tasks - singing in choirs, sheep-shearing, coracling, coal-mining. Some tasks are accomplished with deftness, some not, in his wry travelogue, which is abridged for radio in five parts by Katrin Williams.
3. Embracing Welshness means you have to go underground, to greet
blackened faces lit by lamps, and all talk is about tunnelling and a
very big drill...
Reader Ben Miles
Reader Ben Miles.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0132k54)
Randy Crawford, Cook the Perfect... Ice Cream, Forced Marriage
Presented by Jenni Murray: Cook the Perfect...Ice Cream with Robin Weir, Singer Randy Crawford, who found fame with hits such as "Street Life", "You Might Need Somebody" and "Rainy Night in Georgia". Take the Vow - A campaign to halt forced marriage and Ruth Badger on anger in the workplace: Is it ever okay?
WED 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0132k56)
Ernest Hemingway - A Farewell to Arms
Episode 8
Ernest Hemingway's great love story, dramatised by Stephen Keyworth. 8/10 Frederic and Catherine escape together from Italy, and find that their troubles evaporate.
Cast
Frederic ..... Patrick Kennedy
Catherine ..... Morven Christie
Waitress ..... Alex Tregear
Lieutenant ..... James Lailey
Soldier ..... Simon Bubb
Officials ..... Carl Prekopp & Jonathan Forbes
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
WED 11:00 In Living Memory (b0132k58)
Series 14
Episode 2
Late one afternoon in November 1979, Arthur Brooks and his wife Greta were on their way back from a day's metal detecting in Norfolk. They stopped at Gallows Hill near Thetford, so Arthur could have one last search. Trespassing on a building site owned by the district council, he found one of the most significant hoards of Roman treasure ever discovered in Britain - gold jewellery and silver tableware.
The Brooks took the jewellery home and washed it - the gold in cold water, and the silver in warm water and baby shampoo. Mr Brooks should then have notified the authorities as this was likely to be Treasure Trove, belonging to the Crown. But the hoard was hidden away, and what happened next is a mystery.
In this episode of In Living Memory, Chris Ledgard explores the murky story of the Thetford Treasure. On the building site where it was discovered, a warehouse soon went up. This, archaeologists say, means we almost certainly missed vital clues about why the hoard was left there late in the 4th century AD.
So what was Arthur Brooks doing? We hear from his widow, and from the London dealer who was driven North in the dead of night to be shown the hoard. Eventually, it ended up in the British Museum. But even then it posed a problem: how much reward should go to the finder's widow? She would normally have been paid the full value, more than £260,000. But the academic and antiquarian worlds wanted to send a message to metal detectorists, against whom they were waging a bitter battle.
WED 11:30 The Pickerskill Reports (b0132k5b)
Series 2
Timothy Spoontz
Written and Directed by Andrew McGibbon.
When the new progressive headmaster Mike Poulson Jabby decides to impose an austerity drive in the seventies, the quality of the school's food is compromised as part of the tedious process. But the inventive agricultural talents of young boarder, Timothy Spoontz, helped by his successful father's growing agricultural business, provide the school and Castlereagh House with it's own privately delivered supply of food - until Mike Poulson Jabby gets wind of it.
Cast:
Dr Henry Pickerskill ...... Ian McDiarmid
Timothy Spoontz ....... Harry McEntire
Mike Poulson Jabby ...... Mike Priest
Lefty Rogers ....... Tony Gardner
Stanislaw ....... Mike Sarne
Stealgroynes ...... Jack Edwards
Calman ........ Kris Saddler
Moorcroft ...... Joe Cooper
Matron ... ... Mia Soteriou
Producers: Nick Romero and Andrew McGibbon
A Curtains For Radio Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:00 You and Yours (b0132k5d)
Consumer news with Winifred Robinson.
The ram-raiding phenomenon in the 1980s led to shutters on our shopping streets; what measures will shops now be forced to take if they want insurance? And if security becomes overbearing, what impact will it have on our high streets and shopping centres?
Tesco is threatening to take legal action against the Office of Fair Trading after the company was fined more than £10 million pounds for its part in price fixing milk and cheese nearly ten years ago. Three other supermarkets and five dairy groups were also fined making a grand total of £50 million in penalties. The collusion resulted in consumers paying £270 million more for dairy products. The supermarkets say they did it to help the farmers.
Despite a new EU law compelling herbal medicinal products to display information on ingredients and dosage, researchers have found many popular products do not display this detail.
The regulator for premium rate telephone lines say there has been a 77% fall in complaints over the past two years. PhonePay Plus, which used to be called ICSTIS, has hailed the news which they say coincides with a rise in the use of the services. Fraud and complaints about premium phones lines used to be legion - so what has gone right?
WED 12:30 Face the Facts (b0132k5g)
Mind The Funding Gap
Trams should be back running along the streets of Edinburgh. More than half a billion pounds of public money was set aside to make it happen. But the project is in chaos. The best guess now is for trams to arrive three years late on a route much shorter than envisaged and at an extra cost of around £230m which the city needs to find within weeks. The trams themselves have been built... but Edinburgh now has more of them than it actually needs. John Waite investigates what's gone wrong and why costs have spiralled.
Producer: Jon Douglas.
WED 12:57 Weather (b012x6z1)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 13:00 World at One (b0132l6y)
With Martha Kearney. National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
WED 13:30 The Media Show (b0132l70)
Reporting the Riots
Rioting in London and the rest of England has dominated the news this week but how well has the media covered the story? Photographer Amy Weston, who took the defining picture of the unrest - a dramatic shot of a woman jumping from a burning building - and Sky News reporter Mark Stone reveal what its like to report from the violence and chaos of the riots.
Fran Unsworth, BBC Head of Newsgathering and Roy Greenslade, Professor of Journalism, discuss the challenges for broadcasters when covering the crisis and which parts of the media have been most successful in getting the fast moving story to the public.
The Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced the sixty five UK cities which he believes could be pioneers for local television. But who does he expect to bid for the first local television licences and will his plans for local television be commercially viable? Steve Hewlett hears from Jeremy Hunt about his plans.
Mark Dodson, the former chief executive of Manchester local TV news station Channel M, discusses whether the plans make financial sense and whether local TV could work nationwide.
WED 14:00 The Archers (b01322dp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (b0132l72)
Georges Simenon - The Other Simenon
The Cat
Georges Simenon, best known for Maigret, published scores of other novels, often tough, gripping and psychologically-penetrating stories like this black comedy about a couple whose marriage has foundered. Conversation between Emile and Marguerite has given way to a mute exchange of vicious notes, a shared life to separate beds and separate larders. Meanwhile the sudden deaths of two cherished family pets - a poisoned cat and a murdered parrot - block all attempts at reconciliation. Emile, at the end of his tether, packs his bags and chooses freedom - but he quickly makes a discovery that, even when affection has gone, a powerful bond still unites a man and his wife. Dramatised by Ronald Frame.
Producer/director Bruce Young.
WED 15:00 Poorer Than Their Parents (b012zx09)
Inheritance
In this third part of our series on inter-generational finance, Alvin Hall meets families seeking help to support younger relatives with their finances.
He speaks to a gerontologist - an academic who studies the social impact of ageing - who rejects the idea that the baby-boomer generation born in the twenty years after the end of the Second World War have stolen their children inheritance but who feels the Government's not doing enough to allow her to help her children.
Alvin also meets one of a growing number of families seeking new ways of releasing capital from their homes or from their pension pots to pass down to younger relatives to raise a deposit for a home or pay off debts. He assesses whether this trend marks a shift back to a society more dependent on inherited wealth.
WED 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b0132l74)
Susie Maguire - Portrait
The Model's Story
A mystery unfolds in Susie Maguire's trilogy of stories that examine a portrait from three perspectives. The Model's Story is read by Federay Holmes.
Nic wakes up in hospital. She's battered and bruised, and is trying to piece together the events that led her to this state. Her husband Andrew turns up, very concerned and keen to take care of her, but Nic retreats to a local hotel to lick her wounds and reflect on what has happened. She wonders if it all went wrong when she started modelling for Tom. She'd certainly valued that time they shared in his studio, but Andrew would never be able to understand that theirs was a platonic relationship. It's only when she is finally and violently presented with a fragmented image of herself, that she really begins to see the bigger picture, and seeks the courage to do what she has to.
Producer: Sarah Langan.
WED 15:45 Russia: The Wild East (b0132l76)
Series 2
Brave New World?
The programme opens with a new national anthem full of hope for a country frantically ridding itself of its communist past.
At the time, Martin Sixsmith witnessed the dumping of Moscow's communist statues "here on the grass for the crowds to spit on" and returns to the site to reflect on what actually happened. President Yeltsin's 'economic shock therapy' freed prices and deregulated trade, but inflation soared to 400%. In late 1992 every citizen was given a $60 stake in Russia's denationalized industries, but entrepreneurs bought out the people, who were left poorer than ever. Corruption and violence flourished; wages went unpaid; homelessness and poverty escalated.
When opposition to his policies reached a climax, Yeltsin demanded the right to rule by decree; the Russian parliament refused; Yeltsin dissolved the parliament but the parliament impeached him. Supporters of the 2 sides clashed on the streets of Moscow and Yeltsin sent in the tanks, destroying his reputation as a democrat and giving the Russian Communist Party a chance. When it won a clear majority in the elections of 1995 Yeltsin panicked. Conflict in Chechnya and the failure of the economic reforms had brought Moscow close to bankruptcy so Yeltsin turned to the new oligarchs for a massive injection of cash to save his political skin. In return he had to hand over Russia's remaining state industries, including steel, gas and oil. In 1998 oil and gas prices collapsed sending the Russian economy into freefall.
When demonstrators took to the streets, Yeltsin announced his reforms were being suspended, ending Russia's experiment with Western style liberal democracy. On New Year's Eve he dramatically announced he was stepping down, handing over to his Prime Minister, a little known bureaucrat - Vladimir Putin.
Producers: Adam Fowler & Anna Scott-Brown
A Ladbroke Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b0132l78)
Children, sex and mobile phones - Terror of history
What role does the mobile phone have in showing off, hooking up and getting dumped? Laurie talks to Emma Bond about her new study into how young people use mobile phones in their intimate sexual relationships.
Also on the programme the historian Teofilo Ruiz talks about the radical thesis of his book the Terrors of History: Is our struggle to find rational solutions to the fearful events of history entirely in vain? Is the idea of progress nothing more than a sweet lie? David Byrne also joins them to discuss whether anything can be done to address the cruel vicissitudes that history makes us suffer.
Producer: Charlie Taylor.
WED 16:30 Am I Normal? (b0132l7b)
Series 8
Episode 4
GPs regularly see patients with the complaint of feeling "tired all the time". It's so common that the acronym TATT is used as shorthand. But what levels of tiredness are normal and when should we seek help for fatigue and exhaustion? Many illnesses like anaemia, diabetes, cancer, infections or depression can all cause symptoms of tiredness and fatigue. Growth spurts, pregnancy and sleep deprivation can too but what about when there's no obvious underlying illness and symptoms are of chronic fatigue? Vivienne Parry investigates.
WED 17:00 PM (b0132l7d)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0131psg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 The National Theatre of Brent's Iconic Icons (b0132l7g)
The Dalai Lama, or How the West Was Won
The multi award winning National Theatre of Brent - Artistic Director Desmond Olivier Dingle and the entire acting company (Raymond Box) - returns triumphantly to Radio 4 in the last of an occasional series celebrating the rare but rarefied beings deemed in Desmond's expert view to be Iconic Icons. Previous celebratees include Bob Dylan and Tracey Emin.
The final and climactic iconic icon is his holiness the Dalai Lama. Desmond and Raymond trace his journey from two year old yak boy to disaffected teenage Dalai to the mature Lama, exiled from his country, separated from his people, but spiritually at one with himself and the world, and possessor of a top twinkly smile. They also present Buddhism in a Nutshell.
Written and performed by the National Theatre of Brent, who are Patrick Barlow and John Ramm, in front of an audience at the Bush Hall in London, this latest addition to the Brent canon will be as essential and massive a contribution to the current artistic and spiritual life of this country as the rest of their work. And, of course it will be very funny.
Desmond Olivier Dingle ..... Patrick Barlow
Raymond Box ..... John Ramm
Director: Patrick Barlow
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 19:00 The Archers (b0132l7j)
Jim helps Christine replace a sagging fence panel, and she gratefully invites him to stay for tea. They mull over how awful the situation is at Bridge Farm. Christine raises her suspicions surrounding the fact that Clarrie's no longer working in the dairy. Perhaps she had something to do with the infection.
David and Ruth are out checking the ewes and lambs, talking about Josh's new interest in the history and running of Brookfield, and how worried Pip seems to be about her results.
At lunchtime, while trying to cheer Pip up, Ruth discovers the negative things Elizabeth said about family farms. She is angered by what she considers to be interference on Elizabeth's part. Pip's worried she's created more trouble in what is already a tense situation, but Ruth assures her that it's ok. She realises that Pip is easily upset at the moment because she has a lot on her plate. Pip's frustrated that Adam still hasn't got back to her to chat through her marketing ideas.
Jill brings Freddie and Lily over. Ruth and David enjoy the fact that the cousins can still play together despite all that's happened. Ruth credits both David and Elizabeth on that score.
WED 19:15 Front Row (b0133dxt)
Jude Law on stage; Spaghetti Western Orchestra
With John Wilson.
Jude Law has returned to the stage to play an Irish seaman in Eugene O'Neill's drama Anna Christie. Set in America in 1910, the play focuses on a woman trying to escape her past, whilst Law's brooding character battles to control her. Sarah Churchwell reviews.
The Spaghetti Western Orchestra explain their fascination with Ennio Morricone's film scores, made famous by Sergio Leone. They discuss how, as a five-piece, they recreate music originally played by a far bigger ensemble, and they perform live ahead of their debut at the BBC Proms.
Film and record companies have lost large quantities of stock in a warehouse fire in Enfield, north London, which is believed to have been started by rioters. Many independent companies have seen CDs, DVDs, records and other merchandise wiped out in the blaze. Alison Wenham, chair of the Association of Independent Music, describes the devastating effects on the industry.
It's the first week of Edinburgh festival fringe, and Stephen Armstong reports on whether comedians have responded to this week's news headlines.
The surreal comedy The Strange World of Gurney Slade, staring Anthony Newley, is being released on DVD, 50 years after it was first broadcast. Broadcaster and Newley fan Paul Ross considers its appeal, and discusses what made the show so ahead of its time.
Producer: Claire Bartleet.
WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0132k56)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
WED 20:00 Iconoclasts (b0132l7l)
Series 4
Episode 1
Gordon Graham, Professor of Philosophy and the Arts at Princeton Theological Seminary, argues that democracy is overrated. "There is a relentlessness about the democratic process that eliminates all possibility of dissent despite the myth to the contrary."
Professor Graham's views will be challenged by Edward Lucas (European Editor of The Economist), Professor Robert Hazell (Director of the Constitution Unit at University College London) and Professor David Chandler (of the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Westminster).
The live studio discussion is chaired by Edward Stourton. You can join in by e-mailing: iconoclasts@bbc.co.uk or text 84844.
Producer: Peter Everett.
WED 20:45 Four Thought (b0132l7n)
Series 2
Dominic Hobson: Sport is a Zero Sum Game
Writer and entrepreneur Dominic Hobson argues that organised, competitive sport damages - rather than builds - the character of players and spectators alike.
In common with war, Dominic condemns it as a zero sum game: what one side gains, the other loses: "Rich in triumphalism, disdain and pride".
"I still recoil in horror from the behaviour of the parents, let alone the players, when my oldest son played for a youth football team in south London," he says.
Producer: Sheila Cook.
WED 21:00 The Sex Test (b0132l7q)
Dame Mary Peters described the gender test of her era as "the most degrading experience of my life." Over forty years later, Caster Semenya endured appalling public scrutiny of her eligibility to compete in female competitions. So why is such an apparently simple question so difficult to answer?
As the IAAF produce new eligibility guidelines for athletes, Chris Ledgard asks if female athletes can ever achieve a truly level playing field. Physical examination, chromosome testing, androgen testing; whatever tests are applied, how can gender be effectively defined? And whilst wider society can tolerate shades of grey, as long as top-flight competition requires precise definitions of male and female, what are the effects of testing for an athlete's sense of self-worth and identity?
WED 21:30 Voices from the Old Bailey (b0132k50)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 21:58 Weather (b0131psj)
The latest weather forecast.
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b0132l7s)
Tensions in Birmingham following a hit-and-run killing. We ask whether communities should now defend themselves rather than rely on the police.
The government says rioters should be evicted from their homes.
plus , France's banks on the sick list as the eurozone suffers another shakeout.
with Robin Lustig.
WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0133k3z)
The Sense of an Ending
Episode 3
Julian Barnes' new novel challenges the stories we tell about our own lives and the interpretations we put on events in order to construct a version we can live with.
After the end of his relationship with Veronica the narrator, Tony, receives a surprising letter from his old schoolfriend, and is not impressed.
Read by Julian Barnes
Producer: Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:00 Verse Illustrated (b0132l7v)
Episode 1
Verse Illustrated is a new series of short story poems by some of the UK's leading spoken word artists, illustrated with sound and music. Each is narrated by its author, in their own distinctive style. And each takes us on a very different late night journey.
In the first of the series, Laura Dockrill and Polar Bear tell two very different stories.
'Earwig' written and performed by Laura Dockrill
A darkly modern fairy tale. When Mrs Budge attempts to squash an earwig, it grows in size until: "He, giant like for a bug, is less of an earwig and more like a thug".
'Homebase' written and performed by Polar Bear
A tale of two teenage friends at a party they'll never forget: "We went to cubs together, snuck into pubs together, dabbled in drugs together and now and then we blend in at uni student parties."
Actors... Alex Tregear, Daniel Rabin, Peter Polycarpou, Carl Prekopp, Susie Riddell and Jonathan Forbes.
Directed by James Robinson
WED 23:15 Mordrin McDonald: 21st Century Wizard (b00xw1th)
Series 2
Billirock the Black
Written by David Kay and Gavin Smith, Mordrin McDonald is a 2000 year old Wizard living in the modern world where settling garden disputes and watching Countdown are just as important as slaying the odd Jakonty Dragon.
Step into the magically mundane world that is the life of 21st century wizard Mordrin McDonald. An isolated 2000-year-old sorcerer with enough power in his small finger to destroy a town, yet not even enough clout to get his bins emptied on time by the local council. Even for such a skilful sorcerer - modern life is rubbish!
Mordrin is deadpan, dry and makes delicious jams. He initially set up as a plc for income tax relief, but has found it a useful vehicle to help him bolster his Wizard skill set and his range of services. (Even a wizard has to diversify).
He's been running Fruity Potions from his cave for the past few years, in between completing the odd quest as instructed by the Wizard Council. In the past his services were to help kings in battles of good and evil, or as he prefers to put it, 'assisting with neighbour disputes.'
In this episode Mordrin is recruited to help re-capture evil sorcerer Billirock the Black who has escaped from his prison under Stirling Castle and is hell-bent on exacting his revenge.
Cast:
Mordrin ..... David Kay
Bernard The Blue ..... Jack Docherty
Geoff ..... Gordon Kennedy
Heather ..... Hannah Donaldson
Jill ..... Katrina Bryan
Billirock The Black ..... Greg Hemphill
Producer/Director: Gus Beattie
A Comedy Unit production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:30 Rory Bremner's International Satirists (b00rb1xy)
Ireland - Barry Murphy and Mario Rosenstock
An edgy three part comedy arts series starring Rory Bremner engaging topical comics, satirists and comedians from different countries about their cultures and how they relate to ours - if at all.
This is a series of unique and insightful comic encounters into the humour of other nations presented by one of Britain's most significant topical comedians.
Barry Murphy of Ireland. Described as the Don of Irish comedy by the Irish Times, Barry Murphy has, with his Comedy Cellars club in Dublin watched as his protégé Eddie Izzard, Tommy Tiernan and Dylan Moran have gone on to international fame. Barry Murphy is the most respected topical comic/satirist in Ireland and gives Rory a unique insight into the rich world of Irish satire. With contributions from Mario Rosenstock.
Produced by Andrew McGibbon and Nick Romero
A Curtains for Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
THURSDAY 11 AUGUST 2011
THU 00:00 Midnight News (b012x6zr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b0132k52)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b012x6zt)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b012x6zw)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b012x6zy)
The latest shipping forecast.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (b012x700)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b013n7dq)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection presented by the Revd Marjory MacLean.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (b0132p7d)
The Office of Fair Trading says it's confident there'll be no more retail milk price fixing after fining supermarkets and dairies £50 million. Charlotte Smith discusses how the investigation will affect farmers' negotiating power. Ninety per cent of the fruit consumed in the UK is imported, but we visit the farmer developing a commercial melon farm in the Midlands. And, the survey that suggests urban children spend an average of 2 days a year in the countryside, compared to 17 days a year watching TV.
Presenter: Charlotte Smith
Producer: Sarah Swadling.
THU 06:00 Today (b0132p7g)
With James Naughtie and Evan Davis. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 The House I Grew Up In (b0132p7j)
Series 5
Terry Waite
Born in 1939, he remembers the constraints of being the son of the local policeman, where any misdemeanour from a young Terry came under scrutiny. His father Thomas, a highly principled man, was also a disciplinarian, leading to an ambivalent relationship between father and son. His mother Lena worked hard to keep the family fed, especially at a time of post war rationing. Terry's parents used their large garden to sustain meal times and even sold fruit and vegetables to supplement a policeman's wage.
As a child, Terry failed his 11-plus and left school at 16. Being a loner and finding village life too confined, Terry was eager to see more of the world and applied to join the navy, but he was persuaded by his father to stay at home and continue his education through evening classes and college. The Church of England played a big role in his life. As a boy he sang in the church choir and even learnt large parts of the prayer book by heart and it was the rituals, language and music of his faith which he says nourished and sustained him while in captivity.
Terry Waite takes Wendy Robbins back to the home and haunts of his childhood.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.
THU 09:30 The Tribes of Science (b0132p7l)
More Tribes of Science
Diamond beam line scientists
The scientific tribe that Peter Curran meets this week has a spectacular gleaming home. The tribal dwelling place is a gigantic silver doughnut in the Oxfordshire countryside. Within this flying saucer-like construction is the UK's largest particle accelerator and it functions as the country's most powerful x-ray machine. It's called the Diamond Light Source synchotron and it enables scientists to peer deep inside matter at the scale of atoms. Four years old, it's the newest of Britain's megascience facilities.
Hordes of researchers visit every year to image and study everything from new drug compounds to novel materials for computers, tiny viruses to meteorites, and Dead Sea Scroll parchment to aircraft wing alloys.
The work of the visitors is only possible thanks to the resident scientists who run Diamond's experimental stations called beam lines. These are labs are positioned at different points around the giant accelerator's ring. At these points, beams of radiation - from x rays to ultraviolet - fire out from the doughnut and are channelled for use in research projects.
Peter Curran puts the beam line scientists under his own anthropological microscope. The beam line scientists are largely physicists and chemists by background and each of the 15 beamlines has its own team of them, working in units called 'hutches'. The researchers have designed and built each station and are responsible for its smooth operation and pristine maintenance. They host the researchers who come to use the facilities. Some of these beamlines are operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Peter aims to discover what working life is like in the UK's most glittering new science facility and what might characterise the average beam liner. What are the thrills of harnessing radiation from Britain's biggest particle accelerator, and what are the more onerous aspects? How do the beam line scientists feel about having the responsibility of being keepers of Diamond's light when that role means they forgo full pursuit their own research? What's the formula for maintaining a harmonious hutch?
Producer; Andrew Luck-Baker.
THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b0132p7n)
Bred of Heaven
Episode 4
"You have to pay to get in. The current cost, if you're in a car, is £
5.30. Pressing a note into a fleshy female palm, I deploy the lone word of conversational Welsh in my locker. 'Diolch'. Thanks. Then I push my right foot down and accelerate into the land of my fathers. I'm not reallly sure where I'm going."
Author and journalist Jasper Rees rises to the challenge of embracing his 'inner Welshness'. His grandparents on his father's side were Welsh. So it's partly in recollection of times spent at their house on a hill in Camarthen that he opts for full 'immersion'. This means learning the language and putting to paper to some of his grandparents vivid stories about Wales. It also means travelling around, setting himself various tasks - singing in choirs, sheep-shearing, coracling, coal-mining. Some tasks are accomplished with deftness, some not, in his wry travelogue, which is abridged for radio by Katrin Williams:
4. Walking parts of Offa's Dyke is another way of getting to know Wales. So
the author and a friend set out across sapping moorland and climb many a
steep hill, including Hergest Ridge and Lords Hereford's Knob. Compelling
tales are attached to these landmarks...
Reader Ben Miles.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0132p7q)
Presented by Jenni Murray. Riots: we look at the root causes of the violence and looting on England's streets. MP Karen Buck, Brian Lightman from the Association of School and College Leaders and Janette Collins from The Crib youth outreach group in London, discuss the issue. SMOGS and DMOBS - all will be revealed; and author Jill Dawson talks about her new book.
THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0132p7s)
Ernest Hemingway - A Farewell to Arms
Episode 9
Ernest Hemingway's greatest novel of love and war, dramatised by Stephen Keyworth. 4/10 Frederic has to go back to the war, and Catherine gives him some parting news.
Cast
Frederic ..... Patrick Kennedy
Catherine ..... Morven Christie
Major ..... James Lailey
Gage ..... Susie Riddell
Van Campen ..... Jane Whittenshaw
Ettore ..... Simon Bubb
Shopkeeper ..... Alex Tregear
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b0132p7v)
Murder, migration and Mexico
Every year, hundreds of thousands of Central Americans leave home and travel north overland, hoping to make a new life in the United States.
This has always been a difficult journey. Now it is perilous. Mexican drug cartels have seen a business opportunity in the migrants: they are being systematically kidnapped en route, and held to ransom. Often they have been killed, and Mexico is currently investigating a number of mass graves.
With the Mexican government's hardline military campaign against the cartels, these criminal organisations are moving south. The northern Guatemalan department of Peten - an area through which many migrants cross to Mexico - is vulnerable. On May, 27 farmworkers were killed at a remote farm in Peten. This was apparently revenge for a drug debt, and the killers are believed to be Zetas - the bloodiest Mexican cartel. The Zetas are battling other organised crime groups to take control of Peten. There's a fear that if they succeed, not only will they terrorise the local population, but they will begin to kidnap, extort and murder some of the thousands of migrants moving through - as they do routinely in Mexico.
Crossing Continents follows part of the migrants' route - from Peten in Guatemala, to the southern Mexican town of Tenosique. Linda Pressly meets two Hondurans who were lucky to escape with their lives after an encounter with the Zetas. She hears from a Franciscan monk dedicated to protecting migrants. But the story of migration is complex. Not only do the cartels abuse the migrants, they also recruit them. And alongside the hopeful, innocent travellers travelling north, come criminals. In Tenosique, she speaks to a local businessman whose son was kidnapped and killed.
THU 11:30 The Art of Water Music (b0132p7x)
Starting with an underwater concert, Midge Ure sounds the depths of the complex relationship between music and water.
Water has fascinated classical composers, modernist musicians and contemporary sound artists alike, and in this programme Midge hears some of the extraordinary ways in which water has been represented, evoked and even used as an instrument by musicians over the centuries. It flows through an extraordinary range of pieces. Midge meets experts on water compositions by Beethoven, Wagner and Debussy and explains why Handel's Water Music is not technically speaking water music at all.
While some of the water music we know best might be classical, water continues to appeal to those working at the musical cutting edge. Midge has a go at playing a bizarre instrument called a 'waterphone' and talks to sound artist Lee Patterson as he performs a strangely hypnotic piece of 'drip music'. He also listens to recordings of the Danube by sound artist Annea Lockwood. She believes the sound of running water is itself music, raising the question of whether or not water and music are actually different at all. Water, it seems, continues to excite, mystify and intrigue, and musicians have engaged with it with whatever instruments they have had at their disposal: orchestras, pianos, and now computers.
Midge goes to meet Simon Harding who makes electronic music on his computer using the water sounds from appliances in his house, while Professor Doug James, a computer scientist at Cornell University, explains some of the science behind water's unique musicality. There is a wealth of beautiful water music already in existence as this programme shows, but water is still a vigorously flowing source of musical inspiration, even expanding our ideas of what we consider music to be.
Presenter: Midge Ure
Producer: Tom Rice
A Pier Production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2011.
THU 12:00 You and Yours (b0132p7z)
Consumer news with Winifred Robinson
With fees about to triple, is the Open University still value for money?
Hundreds of residents in rural parts of Rossendale in Lancashire are losing their door to door bin collections in a bid to save money. Will taking the rubbish to collection points just encourage more problems with litter?
And Julia, the only co-operatively owned ferry in Europe, which sails between Cork in Ireland and Pembroke in Wales is under threat. She was bought by local people in West Cork to bring much needed tourism into the area. But can a small, locally owned ferry compete against low cost airlines and rising fuel prices to stay in business?
THU 12:57 Weather (b012x702)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 13:00 World at One (b0132p81)
With Martha Kearney. National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
THU 13:30 Questions, Questions (b0132p83)
Stewart Henderson presents another sparkling series of Questions Questions - the programme which offers answers to those intriguing questions of everyday life, inspired by current events and popular culture.
Each programme is compiled directly from the well-informed and inquisitive Radio 4 audience, who bring their unrivalled collective brain to bear on these puzzlers every week.
In this week's programme Stewart ventures into the mystery of the maze to find out what exactly these landscaped convolutions were for. And from mazes to webs - the worldwide one to be precise, he finds out just how much power it takes to keep such technological wizardry going. And finally, armed with a trowel he drops into the city of Verulamium below St. Albans to find out why ancient settlements end up underneath us.
Producer: Kate Taylor
A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 14:00 The Archers (b0132l7j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (b0132p85)
Two Pipe Problems
Here Doggie
Anne Reid and Honor Blackman join Richard Briers and Stanley Baxter in this latest Two Pipe Problem, written by Michael Chaplin.
The Old Beeches care-worker Karen has a new pet; Poppet, a rambunctiously badly behaved Scottie dog.
Manager Mary issues an ultimatum - the pet goes, or you both go, and Sandy persuades another resident ,a retired variety artiste called Norman Naylor who once had a dog-novelty act, to start training the dog on the nearby common.
His wife Nelly, who also lives in the home, sees this as yet another opportunity for her husband to return to his old philandering ways.
And one day, he doesn't return, and neither does Poppet.
William and Sandy follow Norman's trail to an elegant home near the Common, belonging to a retired BBC Home Service announcer called Diana, with whom Norman and Poppet have taken residence. Norman confesses he met her on the common where she was exercising her dog.
Nelly appears, and tells Diana of Norman's skill at picking up women via 'his bloody dogs'. Norman sadly acknowledges it's always been the best way to go a-wooing. Meanwhile Poppet takes off through an open door and heads for a main road nearby, followed by Norman. Tune in to find out what happens next!
THU 15:00 Open Country (b012zwxc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:07 on Saturday]
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b0130239)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:55 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b0132p87)
Susie Maguire - Portrait
The Voyeur's Story
The mystery deepens in the final part of Susie Maguire's trilogy of stories that examine a portrait from three perspectives. The Voyeur's Story is read by Bill Paterson.
Andrew is being roundly ignored on the set of the popular TV detective series that he's written, 'Westlake'. Hardly anyone talks to him and he doesn't care much for either the young golden boy director or the arrogant and untalented star of the show, Dean Smith. So he is pleased to make the acquaintance of Tom over lunch.
The episode of Westlake they are filming this week sees the Detective investigating the death of a woman who the viewer only ever sees as a figure in a portrait. Tom is the artist that painted the portrait.
In one scene the actor playing the model's husband slashes at the portrait. Tom flinches; it's clear from his reaction that the painting means something more to him than being just a cog in a make-believe story. And when the loud mouth star of the show makes a crude comment about the model between takes, it's too much for Tom to take, and all hell breaks loose. Andrew is intrigued by Tom's apparent obsession with the model and begins to imagine all kinds of possibilities for this beguiling portrait.
Producer: Sarah Langan.
THU 15:45 Russia: The Wild East (b0132p89)
Series 2
Return of the Fist
Vladimir Putin came to power determined to halt economic meltdown and re-establish Russia as a world power. He achieved both, but at the expense of democracy: parliamentary powers were weakened, those of the president enhanced; opposition parties were harassed, protestors jailed, freedom of the press restricted. This so called 'managed democracy' was described by critic Lilia Shevtsova as a "smokescreen to conceal the old power arrangements."
Putin revived the trappings of the Soviet era promoting a strong state and the pop song 'Be Like Putin!' shot up the charts. He took on the oligarchs, forcing them to hand over the TV channel that criticized his handling of the Kursk tragedy when 118 sailors died on board a nuclear submarine; and when the oil magnate Khodorkovsky, started to fund political parties he was arrested on bogus tax charges and sent to a labour camp. Russia resumed its seat at the world's top table when Putin reclaimed the oil for the state, using his power to ramp up oil and gas prices to Ukraine when angered by Western encroachment in the former Soviet republics. But after guerrillas seized a school in Beslan, Northern Ossetia, and several of the hostage-takers were Arabs, Putin argued it was proof, that Russia was fighting the same war on international terror as the West. 200 children died, but Putin's response was uncompromising: "the weak get beaten," he said.
Ongoing conflict with Chechnya gave him further chances to demonstrate his toughness, and when Alexander Litvinenko was murdered in London, a commentator on Russian state television compared it to the elimination of Trotsky by agents of Stalin. "There was a new willingness to rehabilitate the dictator's memory," says Martin Sixsmith. "Autocracy was back in Russia, and the people liked it."
Producers: Adam Fowler & Anna Scott-Brown
A Ladbroke Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 16:00 Bookclub (b0131x9v)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:30 Material World (b0132p8c)
This week Quentin Cooper investigates the psychology that turns a peaceful protest into a rioting mob. He hears about a major international study that is tracking down the genetic background to multiple sclerosis. As a new documentary is released about Project Nim, he revisits the classic experiment to bring a chimpanzee up like a human child. And he learns how Amazon tribes shrank human heads.
Producer: Martin Redfern.
THU 17:00 PM (b0132p8f)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0131pth)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Another Case of Milton Jones (b0132p8h)
Series 5
Royal Speech Therapist
As the royal Speech Therapist, Milton Jones helps a Prince find his voice and a king find his pomegranates. He also starts three wars in one afternoon, and another three a little later on.
He's joined in his endeavours by his co-stars Tom Goodman-Hill ("Camelot"), Dave Lamb ("Come Dine With Me") and Lucy Montgomery ("Down The Line").
Milton Jones returns to BBC Radio Four for an amazing 9th series - which means he's been running for longer than Gardeners' Question Time and answered more questions on gardening as well.
Britain's funniest Milton and the king of the one-liner returns with a fully-working cast and a shipload of new jokes for a series of daffy comedy adventures
Each week, Milton is a complete and utter expert at something - brilliant Mathematician, World-Class Cyclist, Aviator, Championship Jockey...
... and each week, with absolutely no ability or competence, he plunges into a big adventure with utterly funny results...
"Milton Jones is one of Britain's best gagsmiths with a flair for creating daft yet perfect one-liners" - The Guardian.
"King of the surreal one-liners" - The Times
"If you haven't caught up with Jones yet - do so!" - The Daily Mail
Written by Milton with James Cary ("Think The Unthinkable", "Miranda"), the man they call "Britain's funniest Milton," returns to the radio with a fully-working cast and a shipload of new jokes. The cast includes regulars Tom Goodman-Hill ( "Spamalot"), Lucy Montgomery ("Down The Line"), Dave Lamb ("Come Dine With Me") and Ben Willbond ("Horrible Histories")
David Tyler's radio credits include Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive, Cabin Pressure, Bigipedia, Another Case Of Milton Jones, Jeremy Hardy Speaks To The Nation, Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off, The 99p Challenge, The Castle, The 3rd Degree and even, going back a bit, Radio Active. His TV credits include Paul Merton - The Series, Spitting Image, Absolutely, The Paul & Pauline Calf Video Diaries, Coogan's Run, The Tony Ferrino Phenomenon and exec producing Victoria Wood's dinnerladies.
Produced & directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 19:00 The Archers (b0132p8k)
Pat and Tony admire Henry's antics while Helen is out at Ambridge Organics. Helen returns with the Borchester Echo and it's yet more bad publicity for Bridge Farm. Pat and Tony are both furious. As well as publicising the lawsuits, the paper has quoted Underwoods' food hall manager, who is claiming that customers have lost faith in their brand. Pat is tired of being angry all the time, but knows that this could destroy everything they've built up.
Clarrie is sorting out her old wardrobe to see what she can take the car boot sale when Will arrives with some good news. Brian has agreed it's ok for Will to give Eddie some casual work on the Estate. Will also gives Clarrie an envelope of cash from him and Nic to tide her and Eddie over, for which she is very grateful.
That evening, Will finds Josh catching crayfish on the estate without permission or a licence, and discovers he's been selling them to Kenton. Believing that Josh didn't know he needed a licence, Will agrees not to tell David and Ruth as long as he stops catching crayfish on his patch.
THU 19:15 Front Row (b0133dx5)
Art Theft - Mona Lisa; Goya; Turner; Rembrandt
As the centenary of the theft of the Mona Lisa approaches, John Wilson reports on how and why art is stolen, with a focus on the theft of Rembrandts, Turners, a Goya portrait and the most famous painting of all.
On August 21 1911, the Mona Lisa disappeared from the Louvre in Paris. Darian Leader reflects on an art thief who hid the painting under his bed for a couple of years, and seemed to consider his crime to be a patriotic duty.
On August 21 1961, exactly 50 years later, Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington vanished from the National Gallery in London, and was held for ransom. 61 year old Kempton Bunton eventually gave himself up and was charged - but did he really take the picture himself? Noah Charney discusses a case which still seems to have a number of loose ends.
Sandy Nairne has written an account of how the Tate recovered two Turners which were stolen from an exhibition in Germany. The case involved complex financial negotiations, and involved the payment of more than £3 million to a German lawyer, who was acting as an intermediary. John questions the thinking behind this payment.
The biggest ever art heist - from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, USA, in 1990 - remains unsolved. Anthony Amore, the Museum's current director of security, has researched every Rembrandt theft of the past century, and he discusses why this artist is the most stolen Old Master.
Producer John Goudie.
THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0132p7s)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
THU 20:00 The Report (b0132p8m)
Extremism in the UK
Following the massacre in Norway and amid concerns over contacts between the killer and supporters of the English Defence League, the Government is reviewing its policing of right-wing terrorism.
James Silver examines far right extremism in the UK and reports from some areas with large Muslim populations where fears of 'Islamistion' are fuelling tensions between communities. We hear of the targeting of gay men in East London, as well as attacks on a mosque in Luton.
Is there a disenfranchised minority who feel they have no political voice and are now looking to networks like the English Defence League? And are the EDL right to suggest that the threat of anti-Muslim terrorism in the UK could grow?
Please note there has been a change to this programme since the original broadcast because of an erroneous reference to the English Democrats.
Producer: Samantha Fenwick.
THU 20:30 In Business (b0132p8p)
Bad Company
Business leaders make a lot of fuss about corporate governance, but the scandals keep on coming. Peter Day asks what's wrong with the way companies are run.
THU 21:00 Giving the Critic Back His Voice (b01321hj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Tuesday]
THU 21:30 The House I Grew Up In (b0132p7j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 21:58 Weather (b0131ptk)
The latest weather forecast.
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b0132p8r)
With Robin Lustig. National and international news and analysis.
THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0133k4m)
The Sense of an Ending
Episode 4
Julian Barnes' new novel challenges the stories we tell about our own lives and the interpretations we put on events in order to construct a version we can live with.
Forty years on: baffled by the legacy left to him by Veronica's mother, Tony manages to get in touch with his former girlfriend to ask for an explanation.
Read by Julian Barnes
Producer: Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:00 House on Fire (b0132p8t)
Series 2
Love
The return of House on Fire. Written by Dan Hine and Chris Sussman. Vicky (Emma Pierson) and Matt (Jody Latham) are two of the most unlikely people to buy a house together.
Matt discovers an entirely original use for Vicky's coat-hangers whilst Vicky bumps into an old boyfriend and finds herself compelled to invite him and his fiancee round for dinner.
In a desperate attempt to hang on to her pride - Vicky feels compelled to provide herself with her own love interest. In the absence of any suitable candidates - Matt will have to do.
Cast:
Vicky ..... Emma Pierson
Matt ..... Jody Latham
Colonel Bill ..... Rupert Vansittart
Peter ...... Philip Jackson
Julie ..... Janine Duvitski
Conchita ..... Kellie Shirley
Martin ..... Colin Hoult
TV show host/pet shop owner ..... Fergus Craig
Waiter ..... Chris Sussmann
TV show contestant ..... Joanne Ryan
Additional characters will be played by Fergus Craig and Colin Hoult
Produced by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b013xspw)
Sean Curran and the BBC's parliamentary team reports from Westminster as Parliament is recalled following riots and looting in London and other English cities.
FRIDAY 12 AUGUST 2011
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b012x70v)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b0132p7n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b012x70x)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b012x70z)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b012x711)
The latest shipping forecast.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b012x713)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b013n7ft)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection presented by the Revd Marjory MacLean.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b0132pjn)
Today is the Glorious 12th. This year there is an increase in English grouse, but numbers are dwindling in some parts of Scotland. Dr Adam Smith from The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust explains why there is a difference between the populations in the different countries. In some parts of Scotland have cancelled this year's grouse shoot altogether. Moira Hickey visits the Coignafearn Estate, south of Inverness, where they have called off this year's shooting.
The UK is self sufficient in 78% of beef eaten in this country, 90% of the lamb, but only 50% of the poultry. With food security becoming an increasing concern, Professor Geoff Sim from the Scottish Agricultural College discusses which would be the most energy efficient meat for the UK to produce.
And there are proposals for six free range rabbit farms across England. Phillip Kerry, who is behind the proposals, says that there is a demand in the UK to eat this meat.
Presented by Charlotte Smith. Produced by Emma Weatherill.
FRI 06:00 Today (b0132pjq)
Morning news and current affairs with Sarah Montague and James Naughtie in Tottenham, north London, where the riots first broke out, including:
07:30 A panel of local leaders from Tottenham reflect on the riots.
08:10 Labour leader Ed Miliband
08:40 What is the fundamental cause of the violence in English cities?
FRI 09:00 The Reunion (b0132026)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:15 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b0132pjs)
Bred of Heaven
Episode 5
"You have to pay to get in. The current cost, if you're in a car, is £
5.30. Pressing a note into a fleshy female palm, I deploy the lone word of conversational Welsh in my locker. 'Diolch'. Thanks. Then I push my right foot down and accelerate into the land of my fathers. I'm not really sure where I'm going."
Author and journalist Jasper Rees rises to the challenge of embracing his 'inner Welshness'. His grandparents on his father's side were Welsh. So it's partly in recollection of times spent at their house on a hill in Camarthen that he opts for full 'immersion'. This means learning the language and putting to paper to some of his grandparents vivid stories about Wales. It also means travelling around, setting himself various tasks - singing in choirs, sheep-shearing, coracling, coal-mining. Some tasks are accomplished with deftness, others not, in his wry travelogue, which is abridged in five parts by Katrin Williams:
5. Embracing all things Welsh means you start dreaming
about the country, which has something to do with
the author's grandfather Bert and an atmospheric
house at Carmarthen...
Reader Ben Miles.
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0132pjv)
Garden Weeds, Blue Plaques and the 9-Year-Old Cook
Presented by Jenni Murray. Weeds - we've battled against them for centuries, but now gardeners' attitudes seem to be changing. Why are we learning to love them? Jenni is joined by garden designer Anne Beswick and garden writer for Amateur Garden magazine Michelle Wheeler.
Threatened Miscarriages - for the first time researchers can accurately predict the outcome of pregnancies threatening to miscarry. Jenni is joined by Dr Edmond Edi-Osagie who's leading the research at St Mary's Hospital Manchester and to Ruth Bender-Atik; National Director of the Miscarriage Association.
Blue Plaques show us who lived where, when they shaped our history, and yet a only a small number of the plaques represent women. Why is that and who would you nominate if you could? Jenni is joined by Dr Susan Skedd, Head of the Blue Plaques Team and Women's Historian and by Bev Hogg, Project Assistant for Manchester City Council.
The Boy Who Cooked 100 Things. When 9 year old Jay Ditum broke up from school for the summer holidays, he was given a summer project to 'do 100 of something'. Following much deliberation, Jay decided he wanted to cook 100 different things. He joins Jenni in the studio, with his mum Sarah, to talk us through his culinary adventures.
Producer: Susannah Tresilian.
FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0132pjx)
Ernest Hemingway - A Farewell to Arms
Episode 10
Concluding episode of Hemingway's greatest love story, set in the First World War, dramatised by Stephen Keyworth. 10/10 Frederic wishes the rain would stop.
Cast
Frederic ..... Patrick Kennedy
Catherine ..... Morven Christie
Nurses ..... Susie Riddell & Alex Tregear
Doctor ..... Daniel Rabin
Waiter ..... Simon Bubb
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
FRI 11:00 Touchline Tales (b0132pjz)
Series 2
A Game of Two Halves
Old friends Des Lynam and Christopher Matthew return with a second series of the programme in which they head for some famous sporting venues - to enjoy, observe, reminisce and trade tales about some of the greatest pleasures in their lives. This time round, they muse along to the sound of leather on willow at the Oval and drop in on a local equestrian meet in the heart of rural Sussex. But they begin the series amongst the youthful fans at an open day held by Brighton & Hove Football Club.
As a commentator and friend of sporting stars, Des has a fund of stories to tell, and insights to reveal, about the men and women in professional sport - their lives, their characters, their training regimes, their triumphs and their disasters. But Christopher more than matches him with his own experiences as a lifelong spectator at the highest levels of sport (and, like Des, an occasional participant at the lowest), as well as with his observations on sporting events he finds himself attending for the first time.
Indeed, amusing, informative and entertaining talk between old friends is what these programmes are all about.
Recorded entirely on location, their extended discourses have been edited down to a seamless half hour - with each programme capturing the atmosphere, the passion, the frustration, the humour and, at times, the sheer quaintness, of entertainments regularly enjoyed by millions of people up and down the land.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
FRI 11:30 The Write Stuff (b00v1qkl)
Series 14
PG Wodehouse
More literary challenges will be set as another series of The Write Stuff starts, seeing the return of host, James Walton, along with novelists, John Walsh and Sebastian Faulks as team captains.
Each episode features an "Author of the Week" whose life and work provide a focus for the questions as well as the basis for the pastiches at the end of the show. This series the following writers will be "Authors of the Week":
- Episode 1: P.G. Wodehouse
- Episode 2: Tennessee Williams
- Episode 3: Marcel Proust
- Episode 4: The Beats (Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs)
- Episode 5: Stephenie Meyer (author of the Twilight series)
- Episode 6: Edgar Allan Poe
As ever, the team captains will be joined by guest panellists from the literary world and this series the guests will include best-selling crime writer, Mark Billingham; Horrid Henry author, Francesca Simon; poet, Ian McMillan; children's author, Sue Limb and journalist and broadcaster, Francis Wheen.
The guest panellists for Episode 1 will be Francis Wheen and Ian McMillan and the show will finish, as ever, with each panellist reading out a pastiche of the "Author of the Week"'s work - this week they imagine how Wodehouse might have tackled historical fiction.
FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b0132pk3)
Winifred Robinson examines why bands are increasingly releasing vinyl versions of their work and hears how a factory is still pressing records with machinery from the 1960s!
Finds out what one family who have children with autism make of special film screenings for people with the condition.
And takes a look at bike hire schemes across the country to find out why some cities have more trouble than others encouraging people to get on their bike.
FRI 12:57 Weather (b012x715)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 13:00 World at One (b0132pk5)
With Shaun Ley. National and international news. Listeners can share their views via email: wato@bbc.co.uk or on twitter: #wato.
FRI 13:30 More or Less (b0132pk7)
In More or Less this week:
England's riots
Can numbers tell us what caused the violence? We look at claims that cuts caused the trouble and we suggest other explanations - including the possibility that simple demographics made the unrest more likely.
Sovereign debt
Who do indebted nations actually owe? We explain with the help of Adam Davidson, co-host of US National Public Radio's 'Planet Money' show.
Disability payments
Recently the Department for Work and Pensions published statistics about Employment Support Allowance, or ESA. The numbers prompted headlines like this one: 'The shirking classes: Just 1 in 14 incapacity claimants is unfit to work'. But is that really what the statistics told us? (Short answer: no.)
When to buy a lottery ticket
At what time should you buy a lottery ticket to have a greater chance of winning than of dying before the draw?
Producer: Richard Knight.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (b0132p8k)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (b0132pk9)
Two Pipe Problems
The Case of the Missing Meerschaum
In tribute to Richard Briers, who co-starred in this series for six years.
Starring the late Richard Briers and Stanley Baxter.
William and Sandy are to appear at a Sherlock Holmes Convention, held at a hotel just around the corner from Baker Street. Sandy isn't keen but succumbs to William's desperate need to be in the spotlight once more. Sandy finds the display of 'fandom' absurd - the packed memorabilia stalls and one fan's observation that he thought he'd died years before. He also finds the political infighting threatening to tear the Society apart faintly ridiculous. But William is in his bombastic element, to such an extent that he has a very public and painful row with Sandy, who quits the convention and catches the Metropolitan Line back to the Old Beeches.
William occupies centre-stage at that night's dinner, flourishing the Society's prized meerschaum used by Basil Rathbone in the Holmes films. After a bibulous evening, William rolls into bed still with the precious pipe in his possession.
He wakes up the following morning and discovers that it's gone. He travels to the Old Beeches in a panic, begging Sandy to return to the Convention to help him solve the mystery - which he does using Holmesian precepts, and restoring their friendship in the process.
Written by Michael Chaplin
Directed by Marilyn Imrie
A Catherine Bailey production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b0132ptx)
Blackpool Winter Gardens
Out and about in Blackpool Matthew Wilson, Christine Walkden and Matthew Biggs advise on salt-resistant trees, how to prevent mildew and colour-spraying your Leylandii out of desperation.
Matthew Wilson discovers how ice and straw help maintain hanging baskets. We visit the new participants of our Listeners' Gardens series.
Produced by Howard Shannon
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 Russia: The Wild East (b0132ptz)
Series 2
The Lessons of History
Starting with the relationship between Putin and Medvedev Martin Sixsmith reviews the dichotomy of Russian history: "on the one hand, tantalising hints of democracy and freedom; on the other, hard-bitten conviction that Russia needs strong centralized power to rule her unruly lands." Medvedev has questioned Putin's 'managed democracy' but has failed to free the legislature from the state, and there have been few improvements in Russia's human rights record. His role in Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia reveals, Sixsmith argues, "the reflexes of an autocrat ... If Medvedev is a liberal, his reformist instincts seem to be curbed by his Prime Minister, Putin, whom most Russians continue to regard as the real leader of the country." So if Russia's past experiments with democracy all ended in failure, what of her prospects now?
Sixsmith notices a recurrent pattern: nearly every attempt at reform has come from 'above;' all have been motivated by an immediate threat to autocracy. The revolution 'from below' in February 1917 was quickly hijacked by the idealist despots of Leninist socialism, another form of autocracy that lasted for 74 years. Gorbachev's Glasnost taught the Russian people to have their own opinions and in 1991 it was the people who demanded freedom and democracy - a tectonic shift that opened up new possibilities for the future. But instead of prosperity and freedom, Russia got economic meltdown, crime and ethnic strife. The reassertion of autocracy was carried out with the approval of the people, not imposed on them, and the governments of Putin and of Putin-Medvedev are genuinely popular. Sixsmith questions why liberalism always fails and ends suggesting, "Could it be that centripetal Russia really can be ruled only by the fist of centralized autocracy?"
Producers: Adam Fowler & Anna Scott-Brown
A Ladbroke Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (b0132pv1)
Michael Bukht, Hugh Carey, John Hoyland, Nancy Wake and Joe Arroyo
Matthew Bannister on:
The founding programme controller of Classic FM Michael Bukht, who had another career as TV's crafty cook Michael Barry.
The Governor of New York, Hugh Carey, credited with saving the state and city from bankruptcy in the 1970s.
The abstract painter John Hoyland. We visit his studio and hear a tribute from his friend the sculptor Sir Anthony Caro.
Nancy Wake - who risked her life during the war working behind enemy lines as a member of the Special Operations Executive.
And the Colombian singer Joe Arroyo, who achieved international success despite his addiction to drugs.
FRI 16:30 The Film Programme (b0132pv3)
In the Film Programme this week Matthew Sweet talks to James Marsh about Project Nim, the director's first feature since the Oscar- winning Man on Wire. It's the story of a chimpanzee taken from his mother as a baby and brought up in a human family as part of an experiment to see if he could acquire and use language. With the release of Rise of the Planet of the Apes as well this week the philosopher and cinephile, Raymond Tallis reflects on cinema's fascination with the links between apes and humans and weighs up the motives behind those involved in experiments such as Project Nim. Further afield the young French director, Romain Gavras, discusses his debut, Our Day will Come, as well as volunteering observations on rioting, nihilism and the dead hand of the New Wave on France's film culture. To round things off Mark Gatiss mounts a broomstick and whizzes off to the Russian steppes which is the latest staging post in his brief history of foreign horror.
Producer: Zahid Warley.
FRI 17:00 PM (b0132pv5)
Eddie Mair presents the day's top stories. Including Weather.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0131pvj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 Chain Reaction (b0132pv7)
Series 7
Peter Hook talks to John Cooper Clarke
Chain Reaction is Radio 4's tag-team interview show. Each week, a figure from the world of entertainment chooses another to interview; the next week, the interviewee turns interviewer, and they in turn pass the baton on to someone else - creating a 'chain' throughout the series.
After Rhys Thomas interviewed Simon Day, Simon interviewed the musician and author Peter Hook. This week, Peter interviews a fellow Salfordian, the punk poet laureate John Cooper Clarke. Coming to prominence during the punk years of the late 70s, Clarke would appear on the bill with The Sex Pistols, The Buzzcocks, and Peter's own Joy Division - and Peter's next band, New Order, would support John on a tour of New Zealand and Australia. The interview takes in their shared Salford heritage, doing adverts in the 1980s, and John's recent appearance on the GCSE English syllabus.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (b0132pv9)
Pip is excited to be meeting Adam to discuss her marketing ideas. But she's disappointed when Adam agrees with David about not dismantling the Hassett Hill co-op. It would be too risky. Adam suggests instead that Pip could work on a project at university to make a difference working within Hassett Hills, and this idea cheers her up immensely. Conversation then turns to Alice and Chris. Adam explains how they're saving up to buy Ronnie's business.
Pat explains to Shula about how stressed she's been with everything that's happened at Bridge Farm. Luckily Shula has some good news. The little boy that was ill is now out of hospital. Milly Robson is still seriously ill, however. Shula promises to see what else she can find out and keep Pat informed.
Susan tells Shula that nobody is buying Bridge Farm yoghurt. She decides to ring Pat so she doesn't send any more stock. The only thing selling is the Sterling Gold cheese. To make matters worse, Tony receives a call from Environmental Health. They want to interview him and Pat. They are stunned to learn that they may be prosecuted for food safety offences.
FRI 19:15 Front Row (b0132pvc)
Howard Marks, Martina Cole, Dreda Say Mitchell
Mark Lawson reports from the recent Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate looking at the way the backgrounds of various writers, including former criminals, have influenced their writing.
Howard Marks explains why a change in rules preventing criminals profiting from their crimes led to his first crime novel.
Martina Cole and Dreda Say Mitchell discuss portraying East End communities and the responses their books get when they visit prisons.
We eavesdrop on a book signing with former prisoners Erwin James, Cass Pennant and Jonathan Aitken.
And three authors Charles Cumming, Nick Stone and Tana French discuss giving old stories new twists and their attitude to e books, email and contacting readers.
Producer Robyn Read.
FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0132pjx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:45 today]
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b0132pvf)
Jonathan Dimbleby presents a topical discussion of news and politics from St Edward the Confessor Church in York, with Mail on Sunday columnist, Peter Hitchens; Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development and Shadow Deputy Prime Minister, Harriet Harman; Conservative Party Chairman and Cabinet Minister without portfolio, Sayeeda Warsi; and chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Julia Unwin.
Producer: Victoria Wakely.
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b0132pvh)
The Advantages of Pessimism
Alain de Botton on why pessimism is the key to happiness. He argues that the incompatibility between the grandeur of our aspirations and the reality of life is bound to disappoint - unless we learn to be a bit more gloomy!
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
FRI 21:00 Russia: The Wild East (b0132pvk)
Series 2 Omnibus
Collapse
Martin Sixsmith remembers the "electric" sessions of the Congress of People's Deputies, after the Soviet Union's first genuinely contested elections in March 1989."As I wandered through the parliament's corridors, meeting openly with former dissidents, I realized that Gorbachev had let the genie of liberty out of the bottle," he says.
Thousands of people took to the streets demanding multi-party democracy and booing Gorbachev. Boris Yeltsin -Chairman of the newly-created Russian parliament and de facto leader of the Russian Republic was demanding independence. Gorbachev, as leader of the Soviet Union and nominally the senior figure, struggled to hold the USSR together. "I'm doomed to go forward and only forward," he told a colleague. "If I retreat, I will perish..." Hardline communists were also on the attack; 'Gorbymania' in the West gave them leverage, and when Soviet territory was 'lost' as the Berlin wall came down, Gorbachev was derided as a traitor. The Baltic republics stridently demanded independence and although Gorbachev had publicly renounced coercion, Soviet troops were sent in.
Yeltsin announced he would battle the threat of autocracy with the sword of democracy, proposing free and open elections for a new post of Russian President. Gorbachev tried to block it, but on 28 March 1991 the battle took to the streets. Gorbachev was forced to back off; the balance of power was shifting. In June 1991 Yeltsin was elected President of Russia with a mandate for radical change. He wanted to end communism and abolish the USSR. Gorbachev's compromise of a looser confederation of states with considerable autonomy but not control of defence and foreign policy, might have worked. But before the New Union Treaty could be signed, history would take a dramatic turn.
Producers:Adam Fowler & Anna Scott-Brown
A Ladbroke Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 21:58 Weather (b0131pvl)
The latest weather forecast.
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b0132pvm)
National and international news and analysis with Robin Lustig.
FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0133k5l)
The Sense of an Ending
Episode 5
Julian Barnes' new novel challenges the stories we tell about our own lives and the interpretations we put on events in order to construct a version we can live with.
Veronica decides she needs to show Tony some historical evidence.
Read by Julian Barnes
Producer: Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b01322dk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Great Unanswered Questions (b011r18f)
Series 3
Episode 2
This week's comedy talk show features Northern Irish comedian Colin Murphy and special guest comic Carl Donnelly discussing questions such as: what do blind people see in their dreams? Resident know-all Dr David Booth will attempt to answer this and other questions and computer nerd Matthew Collins will click his way through the world wide web in an attempt to add other mind baffling "stuff".
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 (b0132144)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 MON (b0132144)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 TUE (b01321hg)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 TUE (b01321hg)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 WED (b0132k56)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 WED (b0132k56)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 THU (b0132p7s)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 THU (b0132p7s)
15 Minute Drama
10:45 FRI (b0132pjx)
15 Minute Drama
19:45 FRI (b0132pjx)
A Jewel in the Comedy Crown
23:00 TUE (b00p2cc1)
A Point of View
08:50 SUN (b012x138)
A Point of View
20:50 FRI (b0132pvh)
Afternoon Reading: The Time Being
00:30 SUN (b00pmcqb)
Afternoon Reading
19:45 SUN (b00pqj9g)
Afternoon Reading
15:30 TUE (b01322dc)
Afternoon Reading
15:30 WED (b0132l74)
Afternoon Reading
15:30 THU (b0132p87)
Agatha Christie
23:30 TUE (b00pxqz1)
Am I Normal?
16:30 WED (b0132l7b)
Americana
19:15 SUN (b0131xb3)
Another Case of Milton Jones
18:30 THU (b0132p8h)
Any Answers?
14:00 SAT (b012zx0h)
Any Questions?
13:10 SAT (b012x136)
Any Questions?
20:00 FRI (b0132pvf)
Archive on 4
20:00 SAT (b012zy1c)
Archive on 4
15:00 MON (b012zy1c)
Bells on Sunday
05:43 SUN (b012zyf1)
Bells on Sunday
00:45 MON (b012zyf1)
Beyond Belief
16:30 MON (b013214l)
Beyond Westminster
11:00 SAT (b012zwzv)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 MON (b0132182)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 TUE (b0133jtr)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 WED (b0133k3z)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 THU (b0133k4m)
Book at Bedtime
22:45 FRI (b0133k5l)
Book of the Week
00:30 SAT (b012ymq5)
Book of the Week
09:45 MON (b013204f)
Book of the Week
00:30 TUE (b013204f)
Book of the Week
09:45 TUE (b01321hb)
Book of the Week
00:30 WED (b01321hb)
Book of the Week
09:45 WED (b0132k52)
Book of the Week
00:30 THU (b0132k52)
Book of the Week
09:45 THU (b0132p7n)
Book of the Week
00:30 FRI (b0132p7n)
Book of the Week
09:45 FRI (b0132pjs)
Bookclub
16:00 SUN (b0131x9v)
Bookclub
16:00 THU (b0131x9v)
Broadcasting House
09:00 SUN (b013026n)
Chain Reaction
12:30 SAT (b012x130)
Chain Reaction
18:30 FRI (b0132pv7)
Classic Serial
21:00 SAT (b012wclj)
Classic Serial
15:00 SUN (b01304fj)
Crossing Continents
20:30 MON (b012wzfj)
Crossing Continents
11:00 THU (b0132p7v)
Document
20:00 MON (b013214v)
Drama
14:15 MON (b013214g)
Drama
14:15 TUE (b01322d7)
Drama
14:15 WED (b0132l72)
Drama
14:15 THU (b0132p85)
Drama
14:15 FRI (b0132pk9)
Excess Baggage
10:00 SAT (b012zwyt)
Face the Facts
21:00 SUN (b012r6v0)
Face the Facts
12:30 WED (b0132k5g)
Farming Today
06:30 SAT (b012zwxf)
Farming Today
05:45 MON (b0131y3g)
Farming Today
05:45 TUE (b01321bp)
Farming Today
05:45 WED (b0132k4w)
Farming Today
05:45 THU (b0132p7d)
Farming Today
05:45 FRI (b0132pjn)
File on 4
17:00 SUN (b012wjdc)
File on 4
20:00 TUE (b01322dt)
Four Thought
20:45 WED (b0132l7n)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:30 SAT (b012zwzx)
Front Row
19:15 MON (b013214s)
Front Row
19:15 TUE (b01322dr)
Front Row
19:15 WED (b0133dxt)
Front Row
19:15 THU (b0133dx5)
Front Row
19:15 FRI (b0132pvc)
Gardeners' Question Time
14:00 SUN (b012x12p)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:00 FRI (b0132ptx)
Generations Apart
09:00 MON (b0131y3j)
Generations Apart
21:00 MON (b0131y3j)
Generations Apart
09:00 TUE (b01321h8)
Generations Apart
21:00 TUE (b01321h8)
Giving the Critic Back His Voice
11:00 TUE (b01321hj)
Giving the Critic Back His Voice
21:00 THU (b01321hj)
Great Lives
16:30 TUE (b01322dk)
Great Lives
23:00 FRI (b01322dk)
Great Unanswered Questions
23:30 FRI (b011r18f)
Home Planet
15:00 TUE (b01322d9)
House on Fire
23:00 THU (b0132p8t)
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
12:00 SUN (b012wdv0)
Iconoclasts
20:00 WED (b0132l7l)
In Business
21:30 SUN (b012wzqr)
In Business
20:30 THU (b0132p8p)
In Living Memory
11:00 WED (b0132k58)
In Touch
20:40 TUE (b01322dw)
Just a Minute
18:30 MON (b013214n)
Keynes Vs. Hayek
22:15 SAT (b012wxyg)
Ladies of the Links
10:30 SAT (b012zwz0)
Last Word
20:30 SUN (b012x12t)
Last Word
16:00 FRI (b0132pv1)
Living World
06:35 SUN (b013002r)
Loose Ends
18:15 SAT (b012zy06)
Lucy Montgomery's Variety Pack
18:30 TUE (b01322dm)
Material World
16:30 THU (b0132p8c)
Meet David Sedaris
11:30 MON (b0125g85)
Midnight News
00:00 SAT (b012x04h)
Midnight News
00:00 SUN (b012x6tx)
Midnight News
00:00 MON (b012x6wj)
Midnight News
00:00 TUE (b012x6xp)
Midnight News
00:00 WED (b012x6yq)
Midnight News
00:00 THU (b012x6zr)
Midnight News
00:00 FRI (b012x70v)
Money Box
12:00 SAT (b013srr1)
Mordrin McDonald: 21st Century Wizard
23:15 WED (b00xw1th)
More or Less
20:00 SUN (b012x12m)
More or Less
13:30 FRI (b0132pk7)
Musical Migrants
13:45 TUE (b00kctm0)
News Briefing
05:30 SAT (b012x04r)
News Briefing
05:30 SUN (b012x6v5)
News Briefing
05:30 MON (b012x6ws)
News Briefing
05:30 TUE (b012x6xy)
News Briefing
05:30 WED (b012x6yz)
News Briefing
05:30 THU (b012x700)
News Briefing
05:30 FRI (b012x713)
News Headlines
06:00 SUN (b012x6v7)
News and Papers
06:00 SAT (b012x04t)
News and Papers
07:00 SUN (b012x6vc)
News and Papers
08:00 SUN (b012x6vk)
News and Weather
22:00 SAT (b012x05b)
News
13:00 SAT (b012x052)
Open Country
06:07 SAT (b012zwxc)
Open Country
15:00 THU (b012zwxc)
PM
17:00 SAT (b012zy02)
PM
17:00 MON (b0135s8w)
PM
17:00 TUE (b0132vkg)
PM
17:00 WED (b0132l7d)
PM
17:00 THU (b0132p8f)
PM
17:00 FRI (b0132pv5)
Pick of the Week
18:15 SUN (b0131x9z)
Poetry Workshop
23:30 SAT (b012wcln)
Polyoaks
23:30 MON (b011vjh9)
Poorer Than Their Parents
15:00 WED (b012zx09)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 SAT (b012x143)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 MON (b0131y3d)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 TUE (b013n7cy)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 WED (b013n7d8)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 THU (b013n7dq)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 FRI (b013n7ft)
Profile
19:00 SAT (b012zy08)
Profile
05:45 SUN (b012zy08)
Profile
17:40 SUN (b012zy08)
Questions, Questions
13:30 THU (b0132p83)
Quote... Unquote
23:00 SAT (b012wdrw)
Quote... Unquote
13:30 MON (b013214d)
Radio 4 Appeal
07:55 SUN (b0130239)
Radio 4 Appeal
21:26 SUN (b0130239)
Radio 4 Appeal
15:27 THU (b0130239)
Rory Bremner's International Satirists
23:30 WED (b00rb1xy)
Russia: The Wild East
15:45 MON (b013214j)
Russia: The Wild East
15:45 TUE (b01322df)
Russia: The Wild East
15:45 WED (b0132l76)
Russia: The Wild East
15:45 THU (b0132p89)
Russia: The Wild East
15:45 FRI (b0132ptz)
Russia: The Wild East
21:00 FRI (b0132pvk)
Saturday Drama
14:30 SAT (b00bfd0d)
Saturday Live
09:00 SAT (b012zwyr)
Saturday Review
19:15 SAT (b0134xdd)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SAT (b012x04m)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SUN (b012x6v1)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 MON (b012x6wn)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 TUE (b012x6xt)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 WED (b012x6yv)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 THU (b012x6zw)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 FRI (b012x70z)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SAT (b012x04k)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SAT (b012x04p)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SAT (b012x054)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SUN (b012x6tz)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SUN (b012x6v3)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SUN (b012x6vp)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 MON (b012x6wl)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 MON (b012x6wq)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 TUE (b012x6xr)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 TUE (b012x6xw)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 WED (b012x6ys)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 WED (b012x6yx)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 THU (b012x6zt)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 THU (b012x6zy)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 FRI (b012x70x)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 FRI (b012x711)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SAT (b012x058)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SUN (b012zy9p)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 MON (b0131pqd)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 TUE (b012x6y2)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 WED (b0131psg)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 THU (b0131pth)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 FRI (b0131pvj)
Something Understood
06:05 SUN (b012zzzw)
Something Understood
23:30 SUN (b012zzzw)
Sunday Worship
08:10 SUN (b0130246)
Sunday
07:10 SUN (b0130237)
The Archers Omnibus
10:00 SUN (b013026q)
The Archers
19:00 SUN (b0131xb1)
The Archers
14:00 MON (b0131xb1)
The Archers
19:00 MON (b013214q)
The Archers
14:00 TUE (b013214q)
The Archers
19:00 TUE (b01322dp)
The Archers
14:00 WED (b01322dp)
The Archers
19:00 WED (b0132l7j)
The Archers
14:00 THU (b0132l7j)
The Archers
19:00 THU (b0132p8k)
The Archers
14:00 FRI (b0132p8k)
The Archers
19:00 FRI (b0132pv9)
The Art of Water Music
11:30 THU (b0132p7x)
The Barbershop
11:00 MON (b0132146)
The Film Programme
23:00 SUN (b012x12w)
The Film Programme
16:30 FRI (b0132pv3)
The Food Programme
12:32 SUN (b013027c)
The Food Programme
16:00 MON (b013027c)
The House I Grew Up In
09:00 THU (b0132p7j)
The House I Grew Up In
21:30 THU (b0132p7j)
The I Love You Bridge
13:30 SUN (b01302s4)
The London Nobody Knows
21:45 MON (b00sxj2l)
The London Nobody Knows
21:45 TUE (b00t0d1c)
The Media Show
13:30 WED (b0132l70)
The National Theatre of Brent's Iconic Icons
18:30 WED (b0132l7g)
The Pickerskill Reports
11:30 WED (b0132k5b)
The Report
20:00 THU (b0132p8m)
The Reunion
11:15 SUN (b0132026)
The Reunion
09:00 FRI (b0132026)
The Sex Test
21:00 WED (b0132l7q)
The Tribes of Science
14:45 SUN (b012wzfb)
The Tribes of Science
09:30 THU (b0132p7l)
The World This Weekend
13:00 SUN (b0130286)
The World Tonight
22:00 MON (b0132180)
The World Tonight
22:00 TUE (b01322fq)
The World Tonight
22:00 WED (b0132l7s)
The World Tonight
22:00 THU (b0132p8r)
The World Tonight
22:00 FRI (b0132pvm)
The Write Stuff
11:30 FRI (b00v1qkl)
Thinking Allowed
00:15 MON (b012wxy6)
Thinking Allowed
16:00 WED (b0132l78)
Today in Parliament
23:30 THU (b013xspw)
Today
07:00 SAT (b012zwxx)
Today
06:00 MON (b013217y)
Today
06:00 TUE (b01321br)
Today
06:00 WED (b0132k4y)
Today
06:00 THU (b0132p7g)
Today
06:00 FRI (b0132pjq)
Touchline Tales
11:00 FRI (b0132pjz)
Verse Illustrated
23:00 WED (b0132l7v)
Voices from the Old Bailey
09:00 WED (b0132k50)
Voices from the Old Bailey
21:30 WED (b0132k50)
Weather
06:04 SAT (b012x04w)
Weather
06:57 SAT (b012x04y)
Weather
12:57 SAT (b012x050)
Weather
17:57 SAT (b012x056)
Weather
06:57 SUN (b012x6v9)
Weather
07:57 SUN (b012x6vf)
Weather
12:57 SUN (b012x6vm)
Weather
17:57 SUN (b012zy9m)
Weather
05:57 MON (b012x6wv)
Weather
12:57 MON (b012x6wx)
Weather
21:58 MON (b0131pqg)
Weather
12:57 TUE (b012x6y0)
Weather
21:58 TUE (b0131prh)
Weather
12:57 WED (b012x6z1)
Weather
21:58 WED (b0131psj)
Weather
12:57 THU (b012x702)
Weather
21:58 THU (b0131ptk)
Weather
12:57 FRI (b012x715)
Weather
21:58 FRI (b0131pvl)
Westminster Hour
22:00 SUN (b0131xb5)
What the Papers Say
22:45 SUN (b0131xb7)
With Great Pleasure
11:30 TUE (b01322cz)
Woman's Hour
16:00 SAT (b012zx7q)
Woman's Hour
10:00 MON (b013204h)
Woman's Hour
10:00 TUE (b01321hd)
Woman's Hour
10:00 WED (b0132k54)
Woman's Hour
10:00 THU (b0132p7q)
Woman's Hour
10:00 FRI (b0132pjv)
Word of Mouth
23:00 MON (b012wjcz)
Word of Mouth
16:00 TUE (b01322dh)
Wordsworth's Mysterious Trip to Calais
16:30 SUN (b0131x9x)
World at One
13:00 MON (b013214b)
World at One
13:00 TUE (b01322d3)
World at One
13:00 WED (b0132l6y)
World at One
13:00 THU (b0132p81)
World at One
13:00 FRI (b0132pk5)
You and Yours
12:00 MON (b0132148)
You and Yours
12:00 TUE (b01322d1)
You and Yours
12:00 WED (b0132k5d)
You and Yours
12:00 THU (b0132p7z)
You and Yours
12:00 FRI (b0132pk3)
iPM
05:45 SAT (b012x145)
iPM
17:30 SAT (b012x145)