The BBC has announced that it has a sustainable plan for the future of the BBC Singers, in association with The VOCES8 Foundation.
The threat to reduce the staff of the three English orchestras by 20% has not been lifted, but it is being reconsidered.
See the BBC press release here.
RADIO-LISTS: BBC RADIO 4
Unofficial Weekly Listings for BBC Radio 4 — supported by bbc.co.uk/programmes/
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Christine Finn, who covered The Channel for local press and TV through the 1980s-90s, examines recent developments in our relationship with the Strait as our portal to Europe as she meets those making the crossing on the DFDS Cote des Dunes.
The Channel is a reflection on the stretch of water that both separates us from and connects us to Europe. The series examines how this waterway has affected our British identity through time, and continues to do so.
Music composed by Phil Channell
Producer: Marya Burgess.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day.
iPM is the news programme that starts with its listeners. Email ipm@bbc.co.uk. Twitter: @BBCiPM. Presented by Luke Jones and Eddie Mair.
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
Clare Balding takes a walk along the banks of the Severn in the company of the country's most prolific travel writers, Christopher Somerville who's also the walking correspondent of The Times. They begin their six and a half mile walk in the Gloucestershire village of Purton which lies on the east bank of the River Severn, Christopher's childhood village of Leigh is not far upstream. He talks to Clare about the role walking has played in his life and how it became a way that he could reconnect with his late father.
The route can be found on OS Explorer OL 14 , map ref for the starting point : SO 684021
Producer Lucy Lunt.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
The latest weather forecast.
News and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Extraordinary stories, unusual people and a sideways look at the world.
Persuasion, it would seem, is at the heart of our national life. Our politicians seek to persuade us and, with rather less success persuade each other, that they know what they're doing. Our adversarial legal system relies on the persuasive powers of Barristers and solicitors and we're under a constant barrage of advertising which endeavours to persuade us what we lack and therefore what we need to live a better life. Gyles Brandreth, who himself served time in the Tory party's whips office, and so knows a thing or two about what keeps politicians in line, sets out to take arms against a sea of persuasion by understanding this most subtle of arts in all its forms. He takes legal advice from his son Benet Brandreth QC who also happens to be Rhetoric advisor to the Royal Shakespeare Company, he visits a major advertising office, consults the American guru Juliet Erickson who helped London secure the 2012 Olympics by persuading the International Olympics Association that London was 'the flower of cities all', and he asks what a siren jazz singer can teach us about winning over an audience and all the individuals therein. Rhetoric, the rigours of relevance and the fine lines between manipulation, seduction and persuasion are all covered in Gyles' inimitable style, if only he can persuade anybody to listen.
Producer: Tom Alban.
A look behind the scenes at Westminster.
Reports from writers and journalists around the world. Presented by Kate Adie.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Jacqui Williamson cannot imagine not having a bank in her town. She owns an award-winning café and delicatessen in Beauly, in the Highlands of Scotland. But last October, her local branch of Bank of Scotland closed. And now the town's last remaining bank, RBS, is due to close in December. How will she do her banking in the future?
As the big high street banks continue to shut branches across the UK, there are more ways to bank than ever before - including mobile-only, branchless banks. But what do customers want from their banks, how is the sector responding and what will the bank of the future look like?
Paul Lewis travels to rural Scotland, to find out how customers are adapting to change after local branches have closed. He meets RBS' head of personal and business banking to discuss the alternatives on offer and hears how one challenger bank is bucking the trend by opening branches whilst its traditional rivals are closing them. And we find out why one Money Box listener has moved from his bank of nearly 30 years to the bank in his pocket.
Presenter: Paul Lewis
Producer: Sally Abrahams
Editor: Jim Frank.
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present the week via topical stand-up and sketches
Punt and Dennis are joined this week by Andy Zaltzman, Mae Martin and Beardyman.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
Ritula Shah presents political debate from the Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House London with a panel including Nimco Ali, co-founder of Daughters of Eve - the charity seeking to end female genital mutilation and former parliamentary candidate for the Women's Equality Party , the Director of the V&A museum Tristram Hunt, the Director General of the Institute of Economic Affairs Mark Littlewood, and the award winning author Lionel Shriver.
Listeners have their say on the issues discussed on Any Questions?
Martin Jarvis directs this surprisingly up-to-date, all-star guided missile drama.
It's 1954 and British patriot Sir Hugo Drax (Samuel West) has built an atomic rocket, Moonraker, vital to Britain's defences. It's ready for a trial launch. But after a double-murder, James Bond (Toby Stephens) goes undercover at Moonraker's secret base. He and agent Gala Brand (Katherine Kingsley) discover possible treachery. Can they prevent a catastrophe?
Archie Scottney's compelling dramatization of Ian Fleming's novel is Jarvis and Ayres' seventh Bond on Radio 4. Janie Dee, John Standing and Julian Sands return as Moneypenny, M and Q. Jared Harris is Head of Special Branch, Patricia Hodge a hearty missile expert, Ian Ogilvy a BBC man, and Nigel Anthony is a Peter Lorre-inspired Krebs.
Sound design: Mark Holden
Specially composed music: Mark Holden and Mike Lopez
Producer: Rosalind Ayres
Director: Martin Jarvis
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.
Highlights from the Woman's Hour week.Presented by Jenni Murray
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed
Editor:Jane Thurlow.
Rebecca Jones with coverage of the day's news.
Radio 4's Bottom Line and Briefing Room will combine in a special hour-long programme examining the economic and political future of the EU once Britain has left. Evan Davis meets Jean-Claude Trichet - former president of the European Central Bank - and is joined by a panel of business leaders from across the EU. David Aaronovitch will look at the politics of the EU and its future direction. France's President Macron has outlined a vision of a profoundly transformed and more unified EU. But do all the EU's members support such a vision? And what might a more integrated bloc on its doorstep mean for Britain?
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Clive Anderson and Tom Allen are joined by Martin Freeman, Irvine Welsh, Diane Morgan and Sarah Phelps for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Lisa Stansfield and Calexico.
Producer: Sukey Firth.
Series of profiles of people who are currently making headlines.
A review of the week's cultural highlights.
From top brass to gunners, pilots and ground crew, the voices of a much-respected service.
When the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service merged on April 1st, 1918, Britain witnessed the creation of an extraordinary new armed service - one that the existing Army and Navy greeted with suspicion and distrust. Here was a fully-fledged force, complete with exotic flying machines and pilots who seemed to have stepped out of the pages of an adventure book for boys.
Their devil-may-care attitude and sang froid in the face of the fledgling German Air Force, and the completely haphazard construction of the machines they flew, gained them a reputation and respect that the RAF still enjoys a hundred years later.
The average speed of the canvas and wire machines of the First World War was 50mph, while jets today can fly at over 1500 mph, but there was something about the act of flying at speed over the heads of those on the ground that evoked a feeling of freedom. Of course, the WW1 pilots knew and felt this freedom and a mystique grew up around their exploits - a mystique mingled with the bitter-sweet and made even more poignant by the fact that the average life of a First World War pilot was just three weeks. In the Second World War, the lifespan of a fighter pilot was again short and often brutal.
This programme features of the voices of some of the survivors of those conflicts, and from more recent theatres of war such as Desert Storm and Afghanistan. To listen in to the pilots is chilling as they fly through enemy fire and - certainly in the early days - in planes with engines that could fail at any time, where the navigation systems were so rudimentary that they little idea where they were or where they were heading.
A Spools Out production for BBC Radio 4.
An irreverent riff on James Boswell's Tour to Corsica.
By the creator of Radio 4's much loved detective series McLevy, David Ashton.
James Boswell is 24 and under pressure to grow up and become a man. He heads to Europe to buy some time and sets foot on Corsica, hoping for adventure. What he finds is a fearless society of freedom fighters and their charismatic leader.
Flutist: Claire Simpson
Directed by Kirsty Williams.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
Worried Facebook-users who have deleted their accounts because of the Cambridge Analytica scandal have been discovering that the social network held even more data about them than they had feared: complete records of their phone calls and text messages, contacts from their address books, appointments from their calendars, reminders of their friends' birthdays... It is naïve to suggest that we can ever again be truly private individuals, however much we might like to be, but is the harvesting of our personal information getting out of hand? The moral issue is not just about privacy - whether these companies should have such information about us in the first place - but is also about the ways in which it can be used. Is it right to divide up the population into sub-groups, without their knowledge, so they can be precisely targeted with advertisements and political propaganda? "Shocking!" say some newspaper pundits. "It's what advertisers and campaigners have always done," say others. What, if anything, should be done about it? Harsher punishments? Stricter regulation? Is it the moral duty of companies to be more transparent, beyond the small-print 'Terms and Conditions' that hardly anyone reads or understands? Cheerleaders for Big Data point to its potential to transform our lives, improving health and education. Its detractors say the abuse of personal information is nothing less than a threat to democracy. And there are some who believe both positions are overstated and who worry that we have lost faith in the public's ability to make its own judgments. Witnesses are Silkie Carlo, Christopher Graham, Timandra Harkness and Katz Kiely.
Producer: Dan Tierney.
(5/17)
Russell Davies welcomes another four contenders for the title of Brain of Britain 2018, this time at MediaCityUK in Salford. The unpredictable questions take in everything from mythology and etymology to literature, astronomy and popular television. Today's winner will take another of the automatic places in the semi-finals which begin in May - and there may be a semi-final place awaiting a runner-up too, if he or she gets a high enough score.
Today's competitors are:
Jim Cross, a horticulturalist from Wrexham;
Colin Daffern, a data analyst from Salford;
Joanna Munro, a civil servant from Liverpool;
Paul Prior, a retired instrument technician from Ormskirk in Lancashire.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
Poet Mab Jones explores the concept of 'Hiraeth' in the poetry of Wales and further afield
Hiraeth, a central theme of Welsh language poetry and song, is a feeling of something lost, a long time ago, whether national identity or a once-important language.
It has deep roots - some link it to the loss of self-determination in 1282. It has no equivalent in English, often translating as 'homesickness', but incorporating an aspect of impossibility: the pining for a home, a person, even a national history that may never have actually existed. To feel hiraeth is to experience a deep sense of incompleteness. Longing and absence has infused Welsh songs and poetry for centuries, so perhaps in the national temperament there's a perpetual tension between staying and leaving, a yearning for something better, a grief for something left behind. But there are equivalents in other languages - in Portuguese, 'saudade' is an impossible longing for the unattainable, so there are occurrences of the sentiment across a wide cultural spectrum.
But if the English don't have a word for it, does that mean they don't feel it, or that they don't need it? For some, like Mab's former Professor at Swansea, M Wynn Thomas, 'hiraeth' can function as a default nostalgia button, and a dangerous tendency to believe things were better in the past. It's an experience characteristic of the powerless, the dispossessed; it's the signature tune of loss, but is this hopeless and persistent longing holding this small nation back?
Mab Jones is a poet and performer both humorous and deeply serious. She stands outside the Welsh language tradition, claims she doesn't feel hiraeth (not for Wales anyway - possibly for Japan), and for Radio 4 questions and pokes at the concept, visiting the National Eisteddfod for the first time in an attempt to put her finger on exactly what it is. Exploring the concept through poetry that expresses it, from the poets Menna Elfyn and Ifor ap Glyn she hears poems and songs that deal with aspects of Welsh history that might explain the continued existence of the word in Welsh - forced removals from much loved homes through industrialisation and military eviction. And she talks to writers who live between two worlds and struggle with a sense of belonging: Pamela Petro, an American writer who fell in love with the landscape of Wales in her twenties, and Eric Charles Ngalle, a Cameroonian poet and refugee, who made a life in Wales while unable to turn his mind to his original home, and the trauma that made him leave his family aged 17.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Written by Julie Mayhew. When Peterborough teenager Annie skives off school, she hides in the last place anyone will find her - the cathedral, by the tomb of Catherine of Aragon. But when an older woman, Verity, starts using the same spot, the pair strike up a bitter territorial battle.
Julie Mayhew is the author of four novels - Red Ink, The Big Lie, Mother Tongue and, soon-to-be published, The Electrical Venus. Her series of stories, Rapunzel, was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2015. Her Afternoon Dramas have been twice nominated for Best Original Drama at the BBC Audio Drama Awards. Her most recent play, Polygamy For Girls, was part of Radio 4's 2018 feminist season, Riot Girls.
Writer: Julie Mayhew
Reader: Bryony Hannah
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
Church bells from Lincoln Cathedral.
The latest national and international news.
In this special Easter edition of the programme, Master of London's Temple Church Robin Griffith-Jones travels to the most sacred location in the Christian world. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is believed to house the tomb in which Jesus Christ was buried and resurrected.
The Holy Sepulchre has been a site of pilgrimage since at least the 4th Century. Robin explains that, for Christians, a journey to the Sepulchre is a journey from geographical and spiritual peripheries to the very centre of the world.
Having been granted unrestricted access, Robin is led into the tomb of Christ itself by Archbishop Aristarchos Peristeris, a Greek Orthodox monk who describes the enduring power of sacred places to bring the believer closer to the divine.
Walking around the Holy Sepulchre's stunning rotunda, a vast dome flanked with columns, Robin takes in the various chapels and sacred spaces belonging to the six Christian denominations which all lay claim to the space. In the distance, pilgrims sing hushed hymns that echo off the polished marble.
The Holy Sepulchre offers an extraordinary sonic experience. In the Chapel of Calvary, believed to be the site of the crucifixion, Greek monks chant their prayers as thick clouds of insense fill the space. Meanwhile, in a chapel behind Jesus' tomb, a group of Coptic Christians sing during a communion service.
At the end of the day, we hear the great double doors of the Sepulchre close and the vast metal bolts lock. Standing in the courtyard, with the sun setting over Jerusalem, Robin notes that this daily ritual in which the monks are locked inside the Sepulchre is a powerful symbol of Jesus' own entombment, from which he rose.
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4.
A Sunrise Service for Easter Day from St Martin-in-the-Fields in London's Trafalgar Square. The Vicar the Revd Dr Sam Wells lights the new fire, one of the most powerful symbols of new life, as he explores what Resurrection means for the Church and for individual Christians at Easter. This iconic church's renowned choirs provide a feast of Easter carols and anthems to begin Easter Day in celebration. Producer: Andrew Earis.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
Sunday morning religious news and current affairs programme.
Paul Boateng makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Y Care International.
Registered Charity Number: 1109789
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. (That's the whole address. Please do not write anything else on the front of the envelope). Mark the back of the envelope 'Y Care International'.
- Cheques should be made payable to 'Y Care International'.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
The trumpets sound to announce the pomp and pageantry of Easter Day in this celebration of the Eucharist live from the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban, the shrine of England's first martyr completed in 1115. The Abbey Singers and Lay Clerks sing the most popular Easter hymns and carols including This Joyful Eastertide, Jesus Christ is risen today, Love's Redeeming Work is Done and Thine be the Glory. The preacher is the Bishop of St Albans, the Right Reverend Dr Alan Smith, and the celebrant is the Dean, the Very Reverend Dr Jeffrey John. Choir directed by the Assistant Master of the Music, Tom Winpenny; Organ Scholar Marnus Greyling. Producer: Ben Collingwood.
There's a coup of a different kind on Tweet of the Day as comedian Ed Byrne takes control and is curating his favourite episodes to play all week. Here, we hear how he arrived at his first choice.
Producer: Tom Bonnett.
Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.
The Aldridges implode, and one villager makes a shocking admission.
Sue MacGregor reunites five people involved in the Battle for Basra.
In early 2003, Britain, as part of the Coalition invastion of Iraq, agreed to take responsibility for the toppling of Basra. The country's regime would be removed, weapons of mass destruction would be located and the Iraqi people would establish a new democratic and safe administration.
Despite considerable resistance, the city was taken within a matter of weeks. Troops were welcomed loudly and flowers were thrown as they entered the city. But within days, joy at being freed from Saddam's cruel oppression was replaced with mistrust and instability.
Mass looting erupted and the local population grew angry at the failure to sort out irregular water supplies and patchy electricity provision. British soldiers were seen by many as useless infidels. Hopes of leaving Basra quickly were shelved as British troops tried to keep the peace.
At the same time, the pressure was on in Helmand. Troops were spread too thin and were "running hot". Basra went from being a potential showcase for military intervention to a thorn in the Coalition's side. Instead of being over within weeks, it dragged on for years.
Joining Sue to discuss the invasion and the subsequent difficulties are:
Lt General Robin Brims who masterminded the land operation,
Lt Gen Sir James Dutton who led the British Marines and also commanded US marines,
Major General Graham Binns who headed the powerful 7th (UK) Armoured Brigade,
the BBC's former defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt who was embedded with British troops,
and Rory Stewart MP who was just 30 when he took on the role as a Coalition deputy Governor in Southern Iraq.
Producer: Karen Pirie
Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Nicholas Parsons invites Stephen Fry, Jan Ravens, Gyles Brandreth and Paul Merton to speak for 60 seconds on the subjects like Elephants and Office Politics.
Hayley Sterling blows the whistle.
Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
A BBC Studios Production.
Dan Saladino reports from Parabere Forum with stories of six women changing lives through food. From food waste heroes in Australia to an Italian pasta project for autistic kids.
Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.
The latest weather forecast.
Global news and analysis.
In the wake of recent political upheavals, psychotherapist Philippa Perry examines the role that humiliation plays, at personal, economic and political levels.
At the heart of this programme is the effect that humiliation has upon an individual and its potential to shape the behaviour of both individuals and communities. We hear the life story of reformed criminal Noel 'Razor' Smith and how humiliation has influenced his life - from childhood to the 33 years he spent in prison.
Provoking questions of masculinity, belonging and power, humiliation is an emotion as old as human nature itself, and relevant today in the international political shifts that led to Brexit and the Presidency of Donald Trump. Perry speaks to the clinical psychologist Professor Paul Gilbert about this emotion, from the evolution of humankind to the 21st Century. She also talks to sociologist Professor Victor Seidler whose perspective is shaped not just by his professional research into masculinity and social theory, but also by his own Jewish identity.
We hear from the actor and opera singer Rosie Middleton, who is starring in an upcoming opera based on the experiences of women who have been humiliated online by men. The arias are based on the personal experiences of Rosie and several other women. And so the programme's gaze moves towards how victims of humiliation can begin to overcome this emotion.
An Overtone production for BBC Radio 4.
Peter Gibbs presents a correspondence edition from Compton Acres in Dorset. Anne Swithinbank, Christine Walkden and Bob Flowerdew help answer the questions.
Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Laurence Bassett
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
Fi Glover introduces conversations remembering the pain and secrecy of illegitimacy and celebrating the possibility of choosing between having a baby or getting married in the Omnibus edition of the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
Alfred Molina, Adam Godley, Susannah Fielding, Ian Ogilvy and James Callis are directed by Martin Jarvis in Henrik Ibsen's riveting 1882 thriller.
A small Norwegian spa town relies on the local spring for its prosperity, but Dr Thomas Stockmann is concerned the waters may be contaminated. Could disease be spreading? If so, would the community's livelihood be jeopardised?
This new version of the play by Rebecca Lenkiewicz.
Specially composed music: A-Mnemonic
Director: Martin Jarvis
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.
Sarah Perry discusses her best-selling novel The Essex Serpent with James Naughtie and a group of invited readers.
Set in 1893 and firmly rooted in the author's home county of Essex, the novel centres on the character of Cora Seaborne, a widow freed from a controlling, unhappy marriage. Retreating to the Essex countryside with her son, she hears the rumours surrounding the so-called 'Essex Serpent', a creature of folklore being blamed for a spate of deaths and disturbances and the cause of escalating panic in the local community. Her ensuing investigations bring her into contact with a clergyman, William Ransome, a man convinced of finding the answer to local hysteria in faith, just as Cora is on finding it in science.
Sarah Perry explains how the idea for the novel came from a 17th century woodcut of a huge serpent being hounded out of an Essex village; and how the novel attempts to show the modern side of the Victorian age, with social reform, a burgeoning interest in science and inroads into medical practices; and how, at the heart of the novel, there is a love story.
The Essex Serpent won the Waterstones Book of Year 2016 and British Book Awards Book of the Year 2017.
Presenter : James Naughtie
Producer : Dymphna Flynn
May's Bookclub choice : The Snowman by Jo Nesbø (2007).
Fiona Sampson presents a radio poem about mud.
Moving downriver from upland bogs to tidal mudflats, and passing through sheep fields, research field stations, village fetes and battle fields along the way, we meet the people who make mud a way of life. Farmers, archaeologists, builders, ecologists and potters, as well as the great British public at play, reflect on what mud means to them.
It's a kaleidoscopic portrait, and mud emerges from it as our flexible friend - every bit as useful as it is dangerous, and as much fun as it is a nuisance.
We discover how mud is graded and measured, and the work it's doing in protecting environments from rising sea levels. We hear about the Fertile Crescent and the role of mud in making the first human settlements possible. We remember that, central to so much of farming, mud is what feeds us, and we celebrate the traditional crafts of cob construction, clay tiling and ceramic work, alongside the hard work of a restoration builder.
We also hear about some of the odder mud-related pastimes that have become popular in recent decades - bog-snorkelling and welly wanging.
With contributions from Kate Baker, Rob Barnett, Harry Clark, Hywel Davies, Gordon Green, Julia and Grace Maloney Homersham, Alison Palfrey, Peter Salmon, Tom Watkins, Corinne Westacott, poetry by R.S. Thomas, archive testimony from World War One soldiers and music by Benjamin Britten and Harrison Birtwistle.
A Terrier production for BBC Radio 4.
In the Jim Crow era of racial segregation, travelling in the United States was fraught with difficulties if you were black. At best it was inconvenient, as white-owned businesses refused to serve African American motorists, repair their cars or offer them hotel accommodation. At worst, travel could be life-threatening if you walked into the wrong bar in the wrong town.
That's why in 1936 Victor H Green, a Harlem postal worker, published the first edition of The Green Book. The guide listed hotels, restaurants, bars and service stations which would serve African Americans and was an attempt, in Victor Green's words, "to give the Negro traveller information that will keep from him running into difficulties and embarrassments". 'Embarrassments' seems rather a tame word for the outright hostility and physical danger which many black travellers experienced in segregation-era America. The Green Book became a catalogue of refuge and tolerance in a hostile and intolerant world.
Alvin Hall hits the highway, Green Book in hand, to document a little-known aspect of racial segregation: the challenges - for mid-20th century America's new black middle class - of travelling in their own country. Alvin's journey starts in Tallahassee, Florida, where he was born and raised, takes him through Alabama and Tennessee and concludes in Ferguson, Missouri.
The guide ceased publication soon after the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. But, as Alvin discovers in Ferguson, many African Americans still feel far from safe as they drive. Alvin asks whether the Green Book ceased publication too soon.
Interviewees: Carolyn Bailey-Champion, Dr. Charles Champion, Leah Dickerman, Jerome Gray, Prof. Allyson Hobbs, Ryan Jones, Maira Liriano, Ron McCoy, Robert Moman, Dr. Gwen Patton, Calvin Ramsey, Tiffany Shawn, Rev. Henry Steele, Bryan Stevenson and Rev. Starsky Wilson
Producer: Jeremy Grange
Archive audio courtesy of PBS, CBS and CNN
Photos: Jonathan Calm.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Broadcasters choose their BBC Radio highlights.
Jill struggles to accept the truth, and Lynda makes a new friend.
Nerves are fraying as Anthony's first night of Hay Fever looms, not helped by news of a dangerous prisoner loose in the area. Meanwhile, Damien contends with an angry neighbour.
Lynne Truss observes the inhabitants of the fictional seaside town of Meridian Cliffs, with their thwarted dreams, repressed passion and typically sticky British moments.
Today's story tells of the widespread fall-out from the murder and arson attack at Velvey's carpets, which includes an unexpected tomato glut and a dodgy tattoo.
Written by Lynne Truss
Directed by Kate McAll
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
Radio 4's forum for audience comment.
Obituary series, analysing and celebrating the life stories of people who have recently died.
Existing arms control treaties are under threat - at the same time that new types of weapon emerge, with nothing to regulate them. There is a growing crisis in the arms control regimes inherited from the Cold War era, which threatens to undermine existing agreements. At the same time, new technologies are emerging like drones, cyberwar, biotech and hypersonic weapons, which are not covered by existing rules. BBC Defence and Diplomatic Correspondent Jonathan Marcus asks if a new era of chaos beckon or might the whole idea of arms control and disarmament be revived?
Producer: Matthew Woodcraft.
Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.
Radiolab takes a long hard look at the body's system for getting out of trouble: stress. With Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich.
Radiolab is a Peabody-award winning show about curiosity. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and the human experience.
First broadcast on public radio in the USA.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
'Hook up' culture - Laurie explores a new sexual culture on American campuses and asks if it has a British counterpart. Casual sex in higher education has a long history but Lisa Wade, Professor of Sociology at Occidental College Los Angeles, suggests a significant shift in the culture - one which benefits some students at the expense of others. They're joined by Zoe Strimpel, a researcher and historian from Sussex University, who has analysed the changing nature of dating.
Also, Josue Ortega, lecturer in economics at the University of Essex, analyses the impact of online dating. Tinder and other such apps are often thought to be routes to temporary hook ups. But this new study suggests that these tools may actually be helping more people to get together in new ways, and for good.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu.
Heartwood Forest near St Albans in Hertfordshire has reached the conclusion of a ten-year-long planting project by the Woodland Trust. With the aid of thousands of volunteers, they've turned this 347-hectare site - once agricultural land - into England's largest continuous new native forest.
More than 600,000 trees have been planted at Heartwood in last 10 years - but it's not just new woodland: there are pockets of ancient bluebell woods, old hedgerows, wildflower meadows and open grassland, along with a community orchard and arboretum containing all 60 of Britain's native tree species.
Lucy Taylor speaks to the volunteers who've made it all possible - as well as learning more about the site with Heartwood project manager Louise Neicho and Brian Legg from the forest's Wildlife Monitoring Group; and discusses the future of British forestry with The Woodland Trust's chairwoman, Baroness Barbara Young. She also gets the agricultural perspective from local farmer Will Dickinson, whose arable farm adjoins the forest.
Presented and produced by Lucy Taylor.
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
Alasdair Grubb from the remote camera team on Springwatch describes to Tweet of the Day how a blue tit seemingly cried out for his help when he was volunteering for the RSPB.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer Tom Bonnett.
News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Amol Rajan discusses faith and doubt. Religion is a recurrent theme in Naomi Alderman's novels. Her first book, Disobedience, explored a Jewish girl's split with orthodox religion, while in Liar's Gospel she told multiple stories of Jesus through the eyes of those around him.
Obedience was a virtue for the nuns of sixteenth-century Italy, but the music they wrote and sang was far less virtuous. Music professor and performer Laurie Stras has unearthed sensual and experimental works by nuns including the daughter of Lucrezia Borgia. And while many flocked to the nunneries to hear these women perform, others accused them of irreligious vanity.
Historian and Anglican priest Malcolm Guite tells the life of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and finds religious imagery permeating Coleridge's most famous work, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
And the writer and former Bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway, asks how spiritual belief can help us face our mortality, in his new book Waiting for the Last Bus.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
Why are people convinced that the world is more frightening than it really is? Hans Rosling thinks he has the answer.
Professor Hans Rosling was 'the man in whose hands data sings'. He was dubbed 'a true inspiration' by Bill Gates and became a viral celebrity thanks to his popular TED talks which broke down the statistics behind global health and economics.
Before his death in 2017 Rosling spent years asking global audiences simple questions about basic trends. How widespread is extreme poverty? What is life expectancy today? How many children in the world have been vaccinated? He quizzed everyone from medics to lecturers, bankers, political decision makers - even Nobel Laureates. And the results were always the same.
"Everyone seems to get the world not only devastatingly wrong, but systematically wrong. By which I mean, that these test results are worse than random. They are worse than the results I would get if the people answering my questions had no knowledge at all."
Identifying key evolutionary instincts that prevent us from seeing the world as it really is, Rosling asks us to fundamentally shift our view of the world - but we have an engaging and entertaining guide on our journey.
Abridged by Anna Magnusson
Read by Adrian Rawlins
Producer Eilidh McCreadie.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
Claudia Roden's A Book of Middle Eastern Food was a landmark cookery book, first published in 1968. At a time when most Britons were enjoying cauliflower cheese and soggy Spaghetti Bolognese on a regular basis, she introduced chick peas, sharp flavoured marinades, aubergines and her most popular recipe - orange and polenta cake.
She is a cookery writer whose love of cooking and exploration of culture through recipes has placed her in a unique role. Jay Rayner of The Kitchen Cabinet describes her as 'One of the greatest British food writers working in Britain today - one before whom the likes of Nigel Slater, Simon Hopkinson, Nigella and Delia will all willingly bend the knee."
Claudia was born in 1936 in Cairo. She was a foreign food correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Times Magazine. Later, she hosted a BBC TV series, Claudia Roden's Mediterranean Cookery, and has won many awards and trophies.
With cameos from Yotam Ottolenghi and Claudia's granddaughter, Nelly Wolman, this entertaining dramatisation shines a light on an extraordinary global cook, still traveling the world sharing recipes and cultures.
Episode 1:
Claudia remembers her early life in Cairo and the nostalgic dishes of her childhood.
The dramatist Anjum Malik is an established scriptwriter, poet and performer. She is also a lecturer in creative writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. She was born in Saudi Arabia and has lived in Pakistan as well several cities in England.
Dramatist.....................Anjum Malik
Sound Design..................Eloise Whitmore
Producers........................Polly Thomas and Eloise Whitmore
Executive Producer...............Robert Abel
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
As part of Radio 4's Mars series, planetary scientist Monica Grady explores the search for life on the Red Planet.
As a small rocky planet, Mars is similar in many respects to the Earth and for that reason, many have thought it may harbour some kind of life. A hundred years ago, there was serious talk about the possibility of advanced civilisations there. Even in early 1970s, scientists mused that plant-like aliens might grow in the Martian soil. The best hope now is for something microbial. But the discovery that even simple life survives there or did some time in its history would be a profound one. We would know that life is not something special to Earth.
NASA's Curiosity rover has discovered that 3.7 billion years ago, there were conditions hospitable to life on Mars - a sustained period of time with lakes and rivers of water. The earlier rover Spirit found deposits of silica from ancient hot springs which some planetary scientists argue bear the hallmarks of being shaped by microbes - possibly.
The next five years may dramatically advance the hunt for life on Mars. In 2020 the European and Russian space agencies will send their ExoMars rover. That will drill two metres into the Red Planet's surface and sample material shielded from the sterilising radiation. It will analyse for life both extant and extinct. In the future, robotic or possibly human missions may even explore Martian cave systems in Mars' vast volcanoes. Monica talks to Nasa's Penny Boston whose adventures in some of the world's most dangerous caves have convinced her that underground is the best place to look.
Monica Grady is Professor of Planetary and Space Science at the Open University.
Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker
Sound engineer: Victoria Prandle.
Much-loved poet and entertainer Pam Ayres returns to BBC Radio 4 with four new shows packed with poems, sketches and anecdotes that will make you laugh out loud.
Today's theme is 'Grandparents'.
Today there are sketches about how to get your grandchild to sleep, following instructions when babysitting, and misbehaving as a grandparent. Also Pam performs poems including 'Granny Got Whiskers' about how little grandchildren can sometimes be too honest; 'My Little Grandson' about boasting about your new grandchild, and 'Unfinished' about never finishing those baby's bootees that you meant to knit.
Over the course of this series, Pam also regales the audience with stories and poems on the subjects of getting older but not giving in, about holidays and about home.
She is joined for the sketches by actors Felicity Montagu (Lynn in I'm Alan Partridge) and Geoffrey Whitehead (Not Going Out, Still Open All Hours).
Written by: Pam Ayres, Jan Etherington, Claire Wetton, Jenny Laville and Peter Reynolds.
Starring Pam Ayres, Felicity Montagu and Geoffrey Whitehead.
Producer: Claire Jones
This is a BBC Studios Production.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
On this day in 1918, Sinn Fein leader, Michael Collins was arrested for sedition, and in Folkestone, Oscar's life is about to change.
Written by Katie Hims
Story-led by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
Figures from the Bank of England last year showed that UK borrowing on things like credit cards and car finance was at 207 billion pounds.
The last time it was above that figure was in September 2008 at the height of the financial crisis.
In this special programme, we'll investigate the impact that's having, and the scale of borrowing going on across the UK.
One of the UK's largest debt charities - StepChange - says its clients owed more than four and a half billion pounds in unsecured debt last year.
They say on average each person owed more than 13 thousand pounds.
We'll hear first hand from people who owe thousands with little or no prospect of paying it back, and speak to the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, about its plans for tougher regulation.
Plus the Hollywood actor Michael Sheen on the new initiative he's set up to provide what he calls "fairer alternatives" to mainstream rent-to-own firms and payday lenders.
Presenter: Samantha Fenwick
Producer: Jess Quayle.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
The return of the major series tracking the development of the First World War, presented by Dan Snow. After 40 episodes looking at the war through interviews in the sound archives of the IWM and the BBC with those who experienced it, this week's five programmes explore the beginning of the end: the first months of 1918.
The year didn't begin well for the British. After a few months of relative quiet over the winter, British soldiers experienced the massive onslaught of the first German Spring Offensive in March 1918. In the first programme, in interviews recorded by the BBC in 1964 and the Imperial War Museums in the 1980s, men recall their devastating experiences of shelling, retreat, serious injury and imprisonment in the wastelands of the Somme during Operation Michael.
Programme 2 captures airmen's recollections of the loss of the last of the great flying aces at this point in the war. In April 1918 the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen, was shot down, and there's a tone of respect, of fair play even, which runs through the British officers' testimonies. The third programme looks at the state of British morale at this point in the war, and it's on issues like this that oral history reveals quite a different picture to contemporary accounts. The men talk openly and honestly about how they felt about their reluctance to serve as new drafts, or to return to the front if they'd been wounded: they now knew what they were up against. Programme 4 explores the impact of Spanish Flu through the recollections of both soldiers and the nurses that tended to them, and in the final programme, 'Enter America', Dan looks at the varied reactions to the long-awaited arrival of US troops in large numbers in the summer - from the French women throwing flowers at the men on parade, to the war-weary and unimpressed British soldiers. For German soldiers who talked to the BBC in 1964, it could mean only one thing: the end was coming.
The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll
Tony Robinson narrates this new adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic masterpiece following a strange assortment of characters on their quest for an elusive beast. Led by a bell-ringing Captain, this motley crew must brave terrifying danger in their chaotic pursuit of a creature known as Snark. Accompanied by specially composed music and songs, this surreal tale questions whether anything is really what it seems.
Music and songs composed by Katie Chatburn
Music performed by Katie Chatburn, Dorry Macaulay, Kathryn Williams, Stephen Cordiner and Jasper Wilkinson
Directed by Charlotte Riches.
(6/17)
Which two Australian cities lie at either end of the route taken by the train known as the Indian Pacific? In which port city did the German naval mutiny of 1918 take place? And which Oscar-winning British actress's last ever film was called Ship of Fools? Russell Davies makes a return visit to Salford for the sixth heat in the 2018 tournament. As always, the contenders have no idea of the subject matter of the questions they'll face, and every point counts with semi-final places at stake.
There's also a chance for a listener to win a prize by outwitting the Brains with questions he or she has devised.
Today's competitors are:
Graham Cox, a business development manager from Cheadle in Greater Manchester;
Mel Kinsey, a retired steelworker from Scarborough;
Darren Martin, a business analyst from Whittle le Woods in Lancashire;
Paul Webster, a National Trust worker from Rowlands Gill on Tyneside.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
Join Natalie Haynes and guests for half an hour of comedy and the Classics from the BBC Radio Theatre in London.
Natalie is a reformed comedian who is a little bit obsessive about Ancient Greece and Rome.
Today she stands up in the name of the Roman lawyer, politician and orator Cicero. Maybe we'd all love him a bit more if Shakespeare had had a nicer Latin teacher. Expect a lot of gossip from a thousand years ago.
With special guests lawyer Mark Stephens and Professor Llewelyn Morgan.
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery.
Gardens have long been sacred spaces for many religions and at Easter, Christians reflect on the Garden of Gethsemane - the place of Jesus' arrest and betrayal. When Christians and Muslims imagine what Paradise might be like, they nearly always reflect on gardens. The Garden of Eden can be found in both the Bible and the Quran. Sacred Gardens are places of sanctuary and contemplation and for many they represent Paradise on earth. But what do they represent for religions which do not have a God? What is the spiritual significance of the Zen garden? To discuss Sacred Gardens, Ernie is joined by Hannah Genders - a passionate gardener whose designs have won prizes at the Chelsea Flower show, Emma Clark who is also a garden designer and the author of 'The Art of the Islamic Garden'; and by Yoko Kawaguchi, an expert in Japanese Gardens and the co-author of Japanese Zen Gardens.
Ernie also talks to John Irvine who was working in a factory in Flixborough in the North East of England in June 1974 when a huge explosion took the lives of 28 of his friends and colleagues and left him totally blind. He was buried alive for 48 hours before being pulled from the rubble. He found sanctuary and peace and ultimately Christian faith through creating and maintaining his own garden.
Producer: Helen Lee
Series Producer: Amanda Hancox.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.
John Finnemore, Henning Wehn, Lou Sanders and Graeme Garden are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as police, submarines, books and spiders.
Produced by Richard Turner.
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
Jim wants answers, and Emma feels the pressure.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
With the clock ticking on negotiations in Brussels, it's still unclear what the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will actually look like after Brexit, how it will work, or the effect it will have on those living along and across it on a daily basis.
Cross-border worker and writer, Freya McClements, changes her money from Sterling to Euro for a journey to meet modern-day frontiersman, Davy Crockett - a distant relative of the eponymous hero of the Alamo - whose farm straddles both sides of the Irish border in counties Londonderry and Donegal. Davy lives down the road from school bus operator Don Reddin, who has spent £200,000 'Brexit-proofing' his business by building a back gate into Northern Ireland from his bus yard in the Republic. Then there's Bill McCann, pilot and harbourmaster, with responsibility for bringing cargo ships and cruise liners safely into port on both the EU and UK sides of Lough Foyle. Whatever happens after Brexit, Bill and his co-workers are already navigating through uncharted waters.
As negotiations continue over the precise nature of a future Irish border, Freya asks if Brexit could bring unexpected opportunities to these border-dwellers, or if it could end up costing them their livelihoods.
Producer: Brian Kernohan.
Why is troubled Catalonia now opening up civil war mass graves?
Spain has the second largest amount of mass graves in the world after Cambodia. Over 100,000 people disappeared during the 1930s civil war and the ensuing Franco dictatorship. Decades later, the vast majority are still unaccounted for.
Forgetting Spain's painful past and the disappeared is what allowed democracy and peace to flourish, the argument has long gone.
But many have not forgotten - including in the region of Catalonia, where bitter memories of Franco's rule are just beneath the surface. Before Madrid imposed direct rule last October, the pro-independence Catalan government began an unprecedented plan to excavate civil war mass graves and collect DNA from families looking for their lost relatives.
Estelle Doyle travels to the politically troubled region and finds out how, despite direct rule, those seeking answers are more determined than ever to recover the past and to confront Spain's painful history. Others worry that their actions will only but reopen old wounds and further divide the country.
Presenter: Estelle Doyle
Producer: John Murphy.
Adam Tjolle is a vet with two brains - who once starred on the BBC's Animal Hospital. His second brain - in reality a slow-growing tumour - was discovered by accident on a scan when he fell off his bike.
The presenter of the programme, his friend (and psychologist) Claudia Hammond is really interested in what's going on inside his head, so has kept a record - before and after the life-changing surgery.
Adam's biggest fear is losing his memories - so he asks friends and family to send patches of fabric to make a special hat - to remind him of them as well as keep his head warm in chilly Edinburgh.
The surgeon will operate while Adam is wide awake - being careful to cause the least damage possible to the area of his brain which controls spatial awareness, time perception and his decision-making skills, while also removing as much of the tumour as possible.
Producer: Paula McGrath
Presenter: Claudia Hammond.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
John Updike's masterful Rabbit quintet established Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom as the quintessential American White middle class male. The first book Rabbit, Run was published in 1960 to critical acclaim. Rabbit Redux was the second in the series, published in 1971 and charted the end of the sixties - featuring, among other things, the first American moon landing and the Vietnam War.
This third book finds Rabbit in middle age and successful, having inherited his father in law's car business - selling newly imported Toyotas to the mass American market. But his relationship with his son Nelson was severely compromised by Rabbit's affair with Jill and her subsequent death has left them both wary of each other.
Published in 1981, Rabbit is Rich won Updike, among other awards, the Pulitzer Prize for fiction - and it's extraordinary how many of its themes continue to reverberate down to the present day.
Abridged by Robin Brooks
Read by Toby Jones
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.
Libby Purves presents a live, nocturnal conversation programme, with a very particular connection to the night and nightlife in all its forms.
In the spring of 1996, an enterprising American college student named Jennifer Ringley connected a webcam to her computer and began seven years of uninterrupted self-exposure. JenniCAM, as she eventually named it, was the first no-holds-barred lifelogging experiment on the world wide web. Every 15 seconds, the webcam uploaded another still image - from the mundane to the erotic - exposing the uncensored life of a young woman coming of age.
The web at the time of JenniCAM was still in its infancy: this was before Google made it navigable, before the dotcom bubble began to inflate, and before Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was out of short trousers. Compared with the modern world of universal broadband access, instant feedback and streaming video, it was achingly slow: websites with pictures took entire minutes to download, and publishing anything required expert knowledge in at least one computer language.
JenniCAM represented our self-aware future, the place we inhabit in the second decade of the 21st century, now that 82% of American adults use the web, and the average amount of time we spend online doubles every five years. We have evolved into the people that JenniCAM represented: both the voyeur and the viewed.
Twenty years after Jennifer first switched on her webcam, we retrace some of her steps and wonder why, at a time when everyone else has gone online, she's switched off...
Produced by Victoria McArthur.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Bill Oddie presents the Cetti's warbler. Until the 1960s, Cetti's warblers were unknown in the UK but on the Continent they were common in marshy areas, especially dense scrub and the edge of reed-beds and ditches. They first bred in these habitats in south-east England in the early 1970s and by the end of the century their loud and sudden song-bursts were startling people from southern England and South Wales and northwards as far as Yorkshire.
News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Jonathan Freedland and guests take The Long View of Donald Trump's trade plans. The United States slapping hefty tariffs on goods from abroad in order to protect their industries at home is the story now, but also just a few years after the founding of the American Republic. The man imposing the tariffs, the then Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton.
Telling the stories of non-native invasive species and our complicated attitudes to them and with an uncertain political future how do we police our ecological borders?
The grey squirrel is considered one of the worlds greatest natural invaders. It's been on UK shores for over a hundred years and it's two million strong population dwarfs that of our native red squirrel. It is maligned by many, but does the grey squirrel deserve its reputation as an unstoppable invader? Derek Mooney intends to find out.
Looking back on his early years as a doctor, Hans Rosling uses a stressful shift in the emergency room to demonstrate how fear clouds our judgement and stops us thinking rationally.
Professor Hans Rosling was 'the man in whose hands data sings'. He was dubbed 'a true inspiration' by Bill Gates and became a viral celebrity thanks to his popular TED talks which broke down the statistics behind global health and economics.
Before his death in 2017 Rosling spent years asking global audiences simple questions about basic trends. How widespread is extreme poverty? What is life expectancy today? How many children in the world have been vaccinated? He quizzed everyone from medics to lecturers, bankers, political decision makers - even Nobel Laureates. And the results were always the same.
"Everyone seems to get the world not only devastatingly wrong, but systematically wrong. By which I mean, that these test results are worse than random. They are worse than the results I would get if the people answering my questions had no knowledge at all."
Identifying key evolutionary instincts that prevent us from seeing the world as it really is, Rosling asks us to fundamentally shift our view of the world - but we have an engaging and entertaining guide on our journey.
Abridged by Anna Magnusson
Read by Adrian Rawlins
Producer Eilidh McCreadie.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
Claudia Roden's A Book of Middle Eastern Food was a landmark cookery book, first published in 1968. At a time when most Britons were enjoying cauliflower cheese and soggy Spaghetti Bolognese on a regular basis, she introduced chick peas, sharp flavoured marinades, aubergines and her most popular recipe - orange and polenta cake.
She is a cookery writer whose love of cooking and exploration of culture through recipes has placed her in a unique role. Jay Rayner of The Kitchen Cabinet describes her as 'One of the greatest British food writers working in Britain today - one before whom the likes of Nigel Slater, Simon Hopkinson, Nigella and Delia will all willingly bend the knee."
Claudia was born in 1936 in Cairo. She was a foreign food correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Times Magazine. Later, she hosted a BBC TV series, Claudia Roden's Mediterranean Cookery, and has won many awards and trophies.
With cameos from Yotam Ottolenghi and Claudia's granddaughter, Nelly Wolman, this entertaining dramatisation shines a light on an extraordinary global cook, still traveling the world sharing recipes and cultures.
Episode 2:
Now at art school in London, Claudia despairs of British cooking. Everything changes when her beloved parents are expelled from Egypt and join her.
The dramatist Anjum Malik is an established scriptwriter, poet and performer. She is also a lecturer in creative writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. She was born in Saudi Arabia and has lived in Pakistan as well several cities in England.
Dramatist.....................Anjum Malik
Sound Design..................Eloise Whitmore
Producers........................Polly Thomas and Eloise Whitmore
Executive Producer...............Robert Abel
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
As we dream of sending humans to Mars, the psychological problems of a mission loom large. As part of Radio 4's Mars season. Claudia Hammond investigates the mind-set behind the desire of those of us who want to colonise the red planet. What does it take to survive the confines of a 9 month journey and the enclosed pod-like environments that mission leaders envisage will be the housing needed to occupy this inhospitable planet?
Claudia meets the wannabe Martian explorers who've been sampling similar long term simulations here on earth and the psychologists who've overseen the design,selection and planning for future communities in space.
Producer Adrian Washbourne.
Sharon Van Etten has been described as having an elegant voice "wrapped in enough rasp and sorrow to keep from sounding too pure or confident". It can suggest folk traditions and Americana with layered harmonies, as well as an edgier, more confrontational sound rooted in urban drones reminiscent of John Cale or PJ Harvey.
After a decade or more of songwriting and recording - on albums such as Because I Was In Love, epic, Tramp and Are We There - she's now migrated into acting, at least part-time.
The interviews for this intimate portrait were recorded in Los Angeles, where she's working on a new album of songs between calls for her role in the Netflix drama, The OA.
Presented and Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
On this day in 1918, the British scuttled several of their own submarines off the Finnish coast, and in Folkestone, Sylvia jeopardises her comfortable life.
Written by Katie Hims
Story-led by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
Consumer phone-in.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
Dan Snow looks at the war in the air in the first months of 1918, when a pilot's expertise began to matter less than an aircraft's bombing capabilities. Airmen recall that most of the great flying aces had been lost by this point. In April, the most feared of them was shot down: the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen. There's a tone of respect which runs through the officers' testimonies, whether German or British.
The return of the major series tracking the development of the First World War, presented by Dan Snow. After 40 episodes looking at the war through interviews in the sound archives of the Imperial War Museums and the BBC with those who experienced it, this week's five programmes explore the beginning of the end: the first months of 1918.
Scientist Rory McLelland can't believe his luck when his university crush, the celebrated explorer Isobel Walker, arrives at his research station in the Antarctic. Can he win her over before a giant asteroid dashes more than his hopes of love? By Declan Dineen.
Other parts played by the cast.
Producer/director: Bruce Young.
From tree climbing to getting lost in the forest, Josie Long ventures into the woods.
Featuring Sook-Yin Lee on the wild forest of her childhood, the musician and radio producer Phil Smith on the love and freedom of clambering amid the branches, and a mother and daughter losing themselves amongst the trees.
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
It's a decade since Donald Trump began building his golf resort on the enormous mobile sand dunes of Balmedie in Aberdeenshire. Conservation organisations bitterly protested and the idea of building golf courses on sensitive dune habitats seemed tainted. Today, however, a new course is being proposed for Coul Links on the stunning coastline to the north of Inverness. Peter Gibbs investigates the impact of Trump's development and the increasingly bitter controversy over the new course.
Producer: Alasdair Cross.
Entrepreneur Natalie Campbell investigates the consequences of our modern obsession with leadership.
Countless books, courses and speakers reflect on leadership. But perhaps the obsession is actually covering up a deeper anxiety - that leadership is in question.
Everyone wants to understand what makes leaders tick - the charismatic ones, the retiring ones, the crooked ones. In an era of flatter, networked organisations, leadership roles are often more ambiguous. There is a sense that leadership is in short supply in society and business.
By contrast, the counterpart of leadership goes unmentioned. Is there such a thing as followership?
Natalie investigates our changing idea of leadership and and asks what it means to be a follower. How does gender and ethnicity affect these concepts? Are our assumptions about leaders and followers holding us back?
Presenter: Natalie Campbell
Producer: Heidi Pett
A Somethin' Else production for Radio 4.
The comedian, actor and artist Jim Moir aka Vic Reeves is Matthew Parris' guest and chooses the life of Don van Vliet - the Dadesque musician and painter Captain Beefheart who has influenced many musicians since the 1960s. They are joined by Beefheart's biographer Mike Barnes to discuss the bizarre and complex persona developed by the Californian eccentric who died from MS in 2010.
Producer: Maggie Ayre.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Second series of the award-nominated comedy drama set in Alcoholics Anonymous, written by Pete Jackson and inspired by his own road to recovery. Stars Sue Johnston, John Hannah, Eddie Marsan, Rebecca Front, Paul Kaye and Julia Deakin.
Love in Recovery follows the lives of five very different recovering alcoholics. Taking place entirely at their weekly meetings, we hear them moan, argue, laugh, fall apart, fall in love and - most importantly - tell their stories.
In this third episode of the series, the group discover that Simon (John Hannah) has been keeping another big secret from them. But he's not the only one keeping a secret. In fact, he's not even the only one keeping THAT particular secret.
Writer Pete Jackson is a recovering alcoholic and has spent time in Alcoholics Anonymous. It was there he found support from the unlikeliest group of disparate souls - with one common bond. As well as offering the support he needed throughout a difficult time, AA also offered a weekly, sometimes daily, dose of hilarity, upset, heartbreak and friendship.
There are lots of different kinds of AA meetings. Love in Recovery is about meetings where people tell their stories. There are funny stories, sad stories, stories of small victories and milestones, stories of loss, stories of hope, and those stories that you really shouldn't laugh at - but still do, along with the storyteller.
Cast:
Marion...........Julia Deakin
Fiona.............Rebecca Front
Simon............John Hannah
Julie...............Sue Johnston
Danno............Paul Kaye
Andy..............Eddie Marsan
Written and created by Pete Jackson
Producer/Director: Ben Worsfield
A Lucky Giant production for BBC Radio 4.
Will jumps to conclusions, and Rex slips up.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
How is it that trans people have come out of the shadows and become so visible, in films and music, in ads, on TV, on the radio, when for decades their lives were hidden? What has enabled that change? Is it hard-won battles for equality, changes in gender roles, the birth of the internet, consumer culture? Maria Margaronis explores what lies behind the Trans Revolution and discovers that even asking the question is fraught with difficulties.
Producer: Sarah Shebbeare.
Lee Kumutat is joined by Karina Jones, Sam Latif and Kerry Campbell to discuss what it means, and how it feels to be a blind woman
Presenter: Lee Kumutat
Producer: Georgina Hewes.
Peter Curran investigates the history and psychology of our 100 year-old compulsion to consume snacks and movies at the same time.
Peter hangs about cinemas finding out how eating and watching interact in the dark. Why popcorn? Why eat at all? Among those answering the questions, Game of Thrones star Iain Glen reveals how he deals with noisy eaters and Andi Oliver, cook and great British menu judge, creates a bespoke 21st century cinema snack with a delicious, but hefty calorie tariff, aimed at silent scoffing.
On a visit to the Popcorn Museum Peter discovers how the yellow stuff, originally a street food, was brought into cinema foyers during the great American depression of the early 1930s. The arrival of the "talkie" helped the cravers of the crunchy. A new breed of hungrier, less literate cinemagoer could enjoy movies now that the ability to read cue cards was a thing of the past.
The idea of unhealthy cinema food is a post-War concept and, in 1939, The Ritz cinema in Belfast offered Dover sole, roast beef and a wide selection of vegetables for lunch, dinner and supper - a far cry from the nachos and chemically enhanced cheese available today.
A Testbed Production for BBC Radio 4.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
John Updike's masterful Rabbit quintet established Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom as the quintessential American White middle class male. The first book Rabbit, Run was published in 1960 to critical acclaim. Rabbit Redux was the second in the series, published in 1971 and charted the end of the sixties - featuring, among other things, the first American moon landing and the Vietnam War.
This third book finds Rabbit in middle age and successful, having inherited his father in law's car business - selling newly imported Toyotas to the mass American market. But his relationship with his son Nelson was severely compromised by Rabbit's affair with Jill and her subsequent death has left them both wary of each other.
Published in 1981, Rabbit is Rich won Updike, among other awards, the Pulitzer Prize for fiction - and it's extraordinary how many of its themes continue to reverberate down to the present day.
Abridged by Robin Brooks
Read by Toby Jones
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.
Critically acclaimed comedian Carey Marx unexpectedly suffered a heart attack a few years ago. He survived. And turned his experience into a stand-up show.
Presenting his debut half hour for Radio 4, this is the true story of Carey's brush with death. It turns out that cardiac failure can be funny.
Written by and starring Carey Marx.
Producer Alexandra Smith.
The world we experience through screen based technology is two dimensional which some argue creates distance between the viewer and the viewed but can modern day virtual reality story telling using a three dimensional perspective go further than any other medium of technology to enable us to really experience the lives of others, to walk in another man's shoes?
Vicky Sutherland is mum to eight year old Arron who suffers from autism. Vicky tries to see the world through Arron's eyes as he suffers from sensory overload but for the first time she watches a virtual reality experience produced by The National Autistic Society which shows the world from the perspective of an autistic child experiencing sensory overload. She discovers whether this gives her a new perspective into Arron's experience of the world around him.
Imogen Blood's father John Hull lost his sight over a number of years, while she tried to understand what it was like for her father she only fully appreciated how sound became such an anchor in his world of darkness when she watched the virtual reality film Notes On Blindness: Into Darkness, which features John's use of echo location in order to navigate the world around him.
And Aleks speaks to Gabo Arora the Director of the UN's Virtual Reality Lab who has produced several virtual reality films including Clouds Over Sidra featuring 12 years old Syrian refugee Sidra. As Sidra introduces the viewer to life in a refugee camp, Aleks questions whether these types of films reduce the distance between the viewer and the viewed, changing our perspective and increasing our empathy because we are able to walk in another person's shoes.
Produced by Kate Bissell.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Goldfinch. With its bright yellow wing-flashes and face painted black, white and red, the goldfinch is one of our most colourful birds.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Actor Clarke Peters narrates a special edition of Soul Music marking fifty years since the assassination of the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King on April 4th 1968.
"If in doubt, pray and sing" an activist recalls how music was used as part of Dr King's non violent resistance movement.
This edition of Soul Music tells the stories of the songs behind the Civil Rights Movement including the spirituals and freedom songs that were integral to the struggle. In the 19th century, music became a tool for protest and resistance among the enslaved peoples of the American South. The programme hears the stories behind some of the most popular anthems and Freedom Songs that were later used as part of the civil resistance movement that eventually led to voting rights and desegregation. From Swing Low Sweet Chariot and We Shall Overcome to Amazing Grace, Strange Fruit and A Change Is Gonna Come, witnesses to and participants in the the Civil Rights Movements recall how songs were such a vital part of the story.
Producer: Maggie Ayre.
Reflecting that a sense of 'destiny' can stop us from seeing the world as it really is, Hans Rosling suggests strategies for sticking to the facts.
Professor Hans Rosling was 'the man in whose hands data sings'. He was dubbed 'a true inspiration' by Bill Gates and became a viral celebrity thanks to his popular TED talks which broke down the statistics behind global health and economics.
Before his death in 2017 Rosling spent years asking global audiences simple questions about basic trends. How widespread is extreme poverty? What is life expectancy today? How many children in the world have been vaccinated? He quizzed everyone from medics to lecturers, bankers, political decision makers - even Nobel Laureates. And the results were always the same.
"Everyone seems to get the world not only devastatingly wrong, but systematically wrong. By which I mean, that these test results are worse than random. They are worse than the results I would get if the people answering my questions had no knowledge at all."
Identifying key evolutionary instincts that prevent us from seeing the world as it really is, Rosling asks us to fundamentally shift our view of the world - but we have an engaging and entertaining guide on our journey.
Abridged by Anna Magnusson
Read by Adrian Rawlins
Producer Eilidh McCreadie.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
Claudia Roden's A Book of Middle Eastern Food was a landmark cookery book, first published in 1968. At a time when most Britons were enjoying cauliflower cheese and soggy Spaghetti Bolognese on a regular basis, she introduced chick peas, sharp flavoured marinades, aubergines and her most popular recipe - orange and polenta cake.
She is a cookery writer whose love of cooking and exploration of culture through recipes has placed her in a unique role. Jay Rayner of The Kitchen Cabinet describes her as 'One of the greatest British food writers working in Britain today - one before whom the likes of Nigel Slater, Simon Hopkinson, Nigella and Delia will all willingly bend the knee."
Claudia was born in 1936 in Cairo. She was a foreign food correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Times Magazine. Later, she hosted a BBC TV series, Claudia Roden's Mediterranean Cookery, and has won many awards and trophies.
With cameos from Yotam Ottolenghi and Claudia's granddaughter, Nelly Wolman, this entertaining dramatisation shines a light on an extraordinary global cook, still traveling the world sharing recipes and cultures.
Episode 3:
Claudia's quest for Middle Eastern recipes takes her to embassies, carpet shops and any gathering where she might meet fellow Middle Easterners. Cooking with her mother brings them even closer together.
The dramatist Anjum Malik is an established scriptwriter, poet and performer. She is also a lecturer in creative writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. She was born in Saudi Arabia and has lived in Pakistan as well several cities in England.
Dramatist.....................Anjum Malik
Sound Design..................Eloise Whitmore
Producers........................Polly Thomas and Eloise Whitmore
Executive Producer...............Robert Abel
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
A father and son reflect on life since he moved into the son's family home. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
Producer: Marya Burgess.
A new comedy series that explores the triumphs and disasters of human ingenuity. Each week Helen Keen together with co-stars Peter Serafinowicz and Susy Kane look at the biggest problems that have faced our species since the dawn of time, and describe humanity's incredible and sometimes absurd solutions.
Episode one looks at the biggest problem of them all - death. From praying for life-everlasting to uploading our minds into a giant cloud of data - is there anything at all we can do to avoid it?
Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill
Produced by Gareth Edwards
A BBC Radio Comedy Production.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
On this day in 1918, three Labour Party delegates were prevented from sailing to America on a peace mission, and Victor is called back to Folkestone by a letter.
Written by Katie Hims
Story-led by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
Consumer affairs programme.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
Oral History tells a very different story to the propaganda of contemporary accounts when it comes to the state of morale in 1918. On the British side, the army that had sailed to Europe with a roar in 1914 now moved through a shattered landscape with a whisper. Across Europe, units, armies, even societies were under intolerable strain. But the front line needed reinforcements, so the system continued: young men were given new uniforms and rifles and sent to training depots. Dan Snow hears the recollections of those who were still serving in 1918, including Officer Charles Carrington, who was training up new drafts. He turned sickly adolescents into warriors, and then sent them off to die.
Celestine's mission, in her remote Italian hospital, to isolate the causes of trench fever is interrupted by an unexpected visitor from the newly formed Royal Air Force.
Series created by Jonathan Ruffle
Written by Neil Brand
Producers: David Hunter, Jonquil Panting, Jonathan Ruffle
Director: David Hunter.
Financial phone-in.
Sociological discussion programme, presented by Laurie Taylor.
Topical programme about the fast-changing media world.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Broadcaster and comedian Hardeep Singh Kohli sets out to find the next generation of white, black, Asian and minority ethnic satirical sketch writers, with a keen eye on finding the funny in a multicultural Britain.
Traditionally, some of the best UK sketch comedy shines a satirical light on social issues of the time, finding comedy from difficult subject matter or awkward social convention. When it comes to multiculturalism, sketch team Goodness, Gracious Me kicked open the door with their classic 90s sketch show, including the legendary Going For An English routine.
Sketchtopia aims to make sharp observations about modern Britain and, most importantly, allow shared experiences, common points of reference and authenticity to come together and hold a mirror up to our society and tell us a truth about ourselves.
Stand-ups and comedy writers from diverse backgrounds have been invited to give us a comic snapshot of UK society through their own observations and experiences. In these divisive times, Sketchtopia aims to poke fun at our multicultural society and tries to discover a diverse, multi-ethnic Utopia through good old-fashioned British sketch comedy.
Host: Hardeep Singh Kohli.
Performer: Vivienne Acheampong
Performer: Luke Manning
Performer: Jamie-Rose Monk
Performer: Nimisha Odedra
Performer: Paul G Raymond
Script Editors: Sanjeev Kohli and Donny Mcleary
Producer: Gus Beattie.
A Gusman production for BBC Radio 4.
The stress piles on Adam, and Pat learns the truth.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
Clive Anderson and guests discuss the crisis hitting the NHS over negligence claims.
The cost of negligence claims against the NHS has quadrupled to £1.6bn in the decade since 2006 as the number of claims has nearly tripled and claimants' legal costs have risen from £77m to £487m. The spiralling compensation bill is putting huge financial pressure on the NHS and threatens to force doctors out of the profession.
Should patients who have experienced potentially life-changing injuries as result of medical negligence be expected to forego compensation? Clive Anderson explores calls to reform the law relating to compensation for medical errors as the cost of payouts continues to rise.
Patients' advocates say proposals to cap payouts would encourage a deny and defend culture within the NHS, which could prevent claimants from receiving justice as the cases become too expensive to fight. This would attack the very basic principle of full compensation that aims, in legal terms, to "put the wronged person back to where they would have been without the negligence."
Clive's guests explore the impact of Liz Truss's decision, as Lord Chancellor, to change the rate at which inflation is calculated when awarding compensation, adding £1bn to the NHS compensation bill. Her decision prompted a backlash from GPs and insurers who say it will "overcompensate" victims and force many doctors out of the profession.
Should the UK adopt a no-fault approach to compensation, as in New Zealand? Or move to a tariff-based system, as already happens for victims of violent crime? Or is it time to abandon the full compensation principle altogether?
Producer: Matt Willis
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4.
Talks with a personal dimension.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
John Updike's masterful Rabbit quintet established Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom as the quintessential American White middle class male. The first book Rabbit, Run was published in 1960 to critical acclaim. Rabbit Redux was the second in the series, published in 1971 and charted the end of the sixties - featuring, among other things, the first American moon landing and the Vietnam War.
This third book finds Rabbit in middle age and successful, having inherited his father in law's car business - selling newly imported Toyotas to the mass American market. But his relationship with his son Nelson was severely compromised by Rabbit's affair with Jill and her subsequent death has left them both wary of each other.
Published in 1981, Rabbit is Rich won Updike, among other awards, the Pulitzer Prize for fiction - and it's extraordinary how many of its themes continue to reverberate down to the present day.
Abridged by Robin Brooks
Read by Toby Jones
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.
Break out comedy star Sophie Willan is coming to Radio 4 with an exciting new stand-up series looking at what it is to be 'normal'. Sophie grew up in and out of the Care System and had an unconventional childhood. In her debut series she will get to grips with - and often challenge - our perception of 'the perfect normal life', shining a light on the reality of the British experience.
In episode three, Sophie looks at monogamous relationships.
Sophie Willan's Guide to Normality was produced by Suzy Grant for BBC Studios.
John Moloney has been headlining comedy clubs all over the world. We've captured him at his very best performing in front of an appreciative audience at The Stand Comedy Club in Edinburgh.
This week, John meets a disengaged charity worker, before challenging some relationship problems.
Written and performed by John Moloney. Featuring Richard Melvin and Fred MacAulay.
Produced by Alan Lorraine
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4.
Aleks Krotoski explores life in the digital world. What makes us laugh and why? And when so much of the web is there to tickle our funny bone, does anyone ever laugh out loud?
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
Craig Hartley revels in a near miss encounter with a green woodpecker while cycling along a lane for Tweet of the Day.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer Tom Bonnett.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the role of slavery in the Roman world, from its early conquests to the fall of the Western Empire. The system became so entrenched that no-one appeared to question it, following Aristotle's view that slavery was a natural state. Whole populations could be marched into slavery after military conquests, and the freedom that Roman citizens prized for themselves, even in poverty, was partly defined by how it contrasted with enslavement. Slaves could be killed or tortured with impunity, yet they could be given great responsibility and, once freed, use their contacts to earn fortunes. The relationship between slave and master informed early Christian ideas of how the faithful related to God, informing debate for centuries.
With
Neville Morley
Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Exeter
Ulrike Roth
Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Edinburgh
And
Myles Lavan
Senior lecturer in Ancient History at the University of St Andrews
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Hans Rosling suggests that our attraction to simple solutions is preventing us from tackling the world's big problems effectively.
Professor Hans Rosling was 'the man in whose hands data sings'. He was dubbed 'a true inspiration' by Bill Gates and became a viral celebrity thanks to his popular TED talks which broke down the statistics behind global health and economics.
Before his death in 2017 Rosling spent years asking global audiences simple questions about basic trends. How widespread is extreme poverty? What is life expectancy today? How many children in the world have been vaccinated? He quizzed everyone from medics to lecturers, bankers, political decision makers - even Nobel Laureates. And the results were always the same.
"Everyone seems to get the world not only devastatingly wrong, but systematically wrong. By which I mean, that these test results are worse than random. They are worse than the results I would get if the people answering my questions had no knowledge at all."
Identifying key evolutionary instincts that prevent us from seeing the world as it really is, Rosling asks us to fundamentally shift our view of the world - but we have an engaging and entertaining guide on our journey.
Abridged by Anna Magnusson
Read by Adrian Rawlins
Producer Eilidh McCreadie.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
Claudia Roden's A Book of Middle Eastern Food was a landmark cookery book, first published in 1968. At a time when most Britons were enjoying cauliflower cheese and soggy Spaghetti Bolognese on a regular basis, she introduced chick peas, sharp flavoured marinades, aubergines and her most popular recipe - orange and polenta cake.
She is a cookery writer whose love of cooking and exploration of culture through recipes has placed her in a unique role. Jay Rayner of The Kitchen Cabinet describes her as 'One of the greatest British food writers working in Britain today - one before whom the likes of Nigel Slater, Simon Hopkinson, Nigella and Delia will all willingly bend the knee."
Claudia was born in 1936 in Cairo. She was a foreign food correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Times Magazine. Later, she hosted a BBC TV series, Claudia Roden's Mediterranean Cookery, and has won many awards and trophies.
With cameos from Yotam Ottolenghi and Claudia's granddaughter, Nelly Wolman, this entertaining dramatisation shines a light on an extraordinary global cook, still traveling the world sharing recipes and cultures.
Episode 4:
Claudia's research takes her to the Medieval section of the British Library, for ancient Arabic recipes that she tries out on her children. At last, she finds a publisher.
The dramatist Anjum Malik is an established scriptwriter, poet and performer. She is also a lecturer in creative writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. She was born in Saudi Arabia and has lived in Pakistan as well several cities in England.
Dramatist.....................Anjum Malik
Sound Design..................Eloise Whitmore
Producers........................Polly Thomas and Eloise Whitmore
Executive Producer...............Robert Abel
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
In a rundown neighbourhood in Athens there is a hotel with 4,000 people on its waiting list for rooms. But the roof leaks and the lifts are permanently out of action. None of the guests pay a penny, but everyone's supposed to help with the cooking and cleaning.
City Plaza is a seven-storey super squat housing 400 refugees from 16 different countries and the volunteers who support them.
The hotel went bankrupt during the financial crisis. It remained locked and empty until 2015, when Europe closed its borders leaving tens of thousands of refugees trapped in Greece. Then a group of activists broke in, reconnected the electricity and water and invited hundreds of migrants from the streets to take up residence with them.
The leftist Greek government has so far turned a blind eye and now mainstream NGOs like MSF and even the UNHCR have started cooperating this illegal project. For Crossing Continents, Maria Margaronis finds out how the hotel operates and get to know the people inside.
Producer: Chloe Hadjimatheou.
A conversational feature exploring the art of the dialogue, in philosophy and law, in religion, psychoanalysis and the arts.
The dialogue is a special kind of exchange. At its most simple, between two voices A and B back and forth, one speaks as the other listens and vice versa. Both parties change from the experience. It's an ancient model for how we should communicate, debate, speak, listen and think.
Built around a series of conversations, this programme explores the two-voice dialogue across different spheres - its foundations in the ancient world and in law, in religious thought and modern psychoanalysis, in philosophy and fiction, in drama and comedy and even in music. Dialogue as competition and exchange, as the art of listening as well as speaking, a form of equity or even disguise.
The very earliest dialogues were rowdy and competitive, each voice trying to gain mastery over the other with one judged the winner - in ancient Sumerian writing summer debates with winter, copper takes on silver, fish against bird. These dialogues, all about prosecution and defence, became a foundation for legal argument. But dialogue can be used to describe something more pacific, an approach to understanding and agreement. In Western philosophy, the dialogue was the great revealer of truth - most famously the Socratic dialogues of Plato, which lay down the principles of reason through opposition and exchange.
When it works, the dialogue is a learning process, transforming both participants in the process.
But when two voices are put in dialogue, face to face, is truth and understanding always the outcome? Dialogue can also be a measure of silence, a space where parties conceal as much as they reveal - a way for authors to disguise their own voice by writing for two, sometimes in order to print radical ideas or reveal secrets without taking direct ownership of them, from Galileo to Oscar Wilde.
Contributors include curator Irving Finkel and Helena Kennedy QC; philosopher Simon Critchley and literary scholar Hugh Haughton; singer Catherine Bott and jazz bassist Alec Dankworth; comedy writer John Finnemore and playwright Tristan Bernays; psychotherapist Adam Phillips and Giles Fraser, priest of St Mary's Newington in London.
Producer: Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
On this day in 1918, the Michael Offensive came to an end, and in Folkestone, it's the opening night of Jezebel.
Written by Katie Hims
Story-led by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
Consumer affairs programme.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
It was a tragedy beyond comprehension. Soldiers who had survived the trenches, civilians who had weathered shortages and bombardment, now faced a new enemy: influenza. The virus tore through societies already weakened by war in 1918. According to one British nurse who recorded an interview with the Imperial War Museum, 'the mortuaries were so full we had the patients lying one on top of the other'. Dan Snow hears the accounts of those who survived it, from those in the front line and Prisoner of War camps, to those who were schoolchildren at the time in Britain, and were forced to look after their families and neighbours.
By Martyn Wade
A deliciously funny play about art, relationships and sexuality. It just happens to have taken place in London a few hundred years ago. Hans Holbein, an up-and-coming artist, is about to begin work on his painting The Ambassadors.
Jean de Dinteville ..... Jack Farthing
Georges de Selve ..... Sam Alexander
Margery Horsman ..... Lauren Cornelius
Hans Holbein/King Henry VIII ..... Clive Hayward
Written by Martyn Wade
Produced and Directed by Tracey Neale
Hans Holbein's painting, The Ambassadors, is one of the star attractions in London's National Gallery and the writer, Martyn Wade, has taken a peek behind the painting to find an imaginative solution to the enigma that surrounds it. There are two young men in the picture but there are so many other items portrayed - it seems overloaded with potential meaning. So let's go back to London a few hundred years ago.
Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve are the two Ambassadors. Hans Holbein is the up-and-coming artist on his second stint in London. Margery Horsman is a lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn - who takes a shine to Jean and is always at the ready with a good idea.
Jean is in England to try and persuade King Henry that his actions regarding Anne Boleyn will jeopardise relations with France but by the time he arrives in London this is Diplomatic Mission Impossible. When Holbein agrees to paint Jean and Georges's picture he has an intriguing suggestion. But things don't quite go according to plan. How did the painting end up with so many eye catching artefacts? This fresh, sharp and witty drama zips along with its imaginative take as to why that might be.
Ian Marchant visits The Isle of Wight looking for a plastic-free future. He helps with a beach-clean, finds out what skateboarders and sailors can contribute and visits Afton Down. Here a mountain of trash was cleared from the site of the legendary 1970 pop festival, when 600,000 people descended on the island to hear Hendrix play.
Ian also meets Father Xavier from Quarr Abbey, who has a spiritual approach to the problem of sustainability.
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery.
Carol director Todd Haynes discusses his adaptation of children's novel Wonderstruck.
Adam Rutherford investigates the news in science and science in the news.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Simon Jones stars as Arthur Dent in a brand new full-cast series based on And Another Thing...,the sixth book in the famous Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy.
Forty years on from the first ever radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Arthur Dent and friends return to be thrown back into the Whole General Mish Mash, in a rattling adventure involving Viking Gods and Irish Confidence Tricksters, with our first glimpse of Eccentrica Gallumbits and a brief but memorable moment with The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast Of Traal.
Starring John Lloyd as The Book, with Simon Jones as Arthur, Geoff McGivern as Ford Prefect, Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox, Sandra Dickinson and Susan Sheridan as Trillian, Jim Broadbent as Marvin the Paranoid Android and Jane Horrocks as Fenchurch. The cast also includes Samantha Béart, Toby Longworth, Andy Secombe, Ed Byrne, Lenny Henry, Philip Pope, Mitch Benn, Jon Culshaw and Professor Stephen Hawking.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2018, the series is written and directed by Dirk Maggs and based on And Another Thing... by Eoin Colfer, with additional unpublished material by Douglas Adams.
Music by Philip Pope
Production research by Kevin Jon Davies
Written and directed by Dirk Maggs
Based on the novel And Another Thing... by Eoin Colfer, with additional material by Douglas Adams
Recorded at The Soundhouse Ltd by Gerry O'Riordan
Sound Design by Dirk Maggs
Produced by Dirk Maggs, Helen Chattwell and David Morley
A Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4.
Ed is falsely accused, and Jennifer is at her wits end.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
Series looking at important issues in the news. Presented by David Aaronovitch.
Ireland's economy is hugely interlinked with its next-door neighbour, the UK, in everything from energy to transport to finance. Can those links be kept after the UK leaves the EU, or will Irish business have to change direction?
Ruth Alexander travels to Ireland to find out how businesses large and small are preparing for Brexit, and what challenges - and opportunities - they see.
Producer: Chris Bowlby.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
John Updike's masterful Rabbit quintet established Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom as the quintessential American White middle class male. The first book Rabbit, Run was published in 1960 to critical acclaim. Rabbit Redux was the second in the series, published in 1971 and charted the end of the sixties - featuring, among other things, the first American moon landing and the Vietnam War.
This third book finds Rabbit in middle age and successful, having inherited his father in law's car business - selling newly imported Toyotas to the mass American market. But his relationship with his son Nelson was severely compromised by Rabbit's affair with Jill and her subsequent death has left them both wary of each other.
Published in 1981, Rabbit is Rich won Updike, among other awards, the Pulitzer Prize for fiction - and it's extraordinary how many of its themes continue to reverberate down to the present day.
Abridged by Robin Brooks
Read by Toby Jones
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.
The number one podcast for those involved or just interested in the production of beef animals and dairy herds.
In this episode, we interview Michael Banyan, the former bovine poet laureate who is now in hiding after a brush with the Bovine Farmers' Union.
Produced by Benjamin Partridge.
Sin eating was an age old British practice carried out by those on the fringes of their communities. When someone died the sin eater would consume a ritualistic meal over the corpse and in doing so they would take on their sins. Whether they were outcasts because of this, or to start with folklorists can't say. What is known for certain though is that they were among the poorest - who else would do it?
While the practice may have died out over a hundred years ago there is a digital equivalent. Content moderators working in huge numbers across the world are fighting a losing battle both to keep horrible images from slipping into our social media feeds but also against the harm they suffer from witnessing so much gruesomeness.
Aleks Krotoski will hear about what happens when you stare into the abyss for too long.
Producer: Peter McManus.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Michaela Strachan presents the long-tailed tit. They are sociable birds and family ties are vital. They even roost together at night, huddled in lines on a branch, and this behaviour saves lives in very cold winter weather. The nest of the Long-Tailed Tit is one of the most elaborate of any UK bird, a ball of interwoven moss, lichen, animal hair, spider's webs and feathers.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Hans Rosling wonders if, in the rush to tackle humanity's most pressing problems, we might be making things worse.
Professor Hans Rosling was 'the man in whose hands data sings'. He was dubbed 'a true inspiration' by Bill Gates and became a viral celebrity thanks to his popular TED talks which broke down the statistics behind global health and economics.
Before his death in 2017 Rosling spent years asking global audiences simple questions about basic trends. How widespread is extreme poverty? What is life expectancy today? How many children in the world have been vaccinated? He quizzed everyone from medics to lecturers, bankers, political decision makers - even Nobel Laureates. And the results were always the same.
"Everyone seems to get the world not only devastatingly wrong, but systematically wrong. By which I mean, that these test results are worse than random. They are worse than the results I would get if the people answering my questions had no knowledge at all."
Identifying key evolutionary instincts that prevent us from seeing the world as it really is, Rosling asks us to fundamentally shift our view of the world - but we have an engaging and entertaining guide on our journey.
Abridged by Anna Magnusson
Read by Adrian Rawlins
Producer Eilidh McCreadie.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
Claudia Roden's A Book of Middle Eastern Food was a landmark cookery book, first published in 1968. At a time when most Britons were enjoying cauliflower cheese and soggy Spaghetti Bolognese on a regular basis, she introduced chick peas, sharp flavoured marinades, aubergines and her most popular recipe - orange and polenta cake.
She is a cookery writer whose love of cooking and exploration of culture through recipes has placed her in a unique role. Jay Rayner of The Kitchen Cabinet describes her as 'One of the greatest British food writers working in Britain today - one before whom the likes of Nigel Slater, Simon Hopkinson, Nigella and Delia will all willingly bend the knee."
Claudia was born in 1936 in Cairo. She was a foreign food correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Times Magazine. Later, she hosted a BBC TV series, Claudia Roden's Mediterranean Cookery, and has won many awards and trophies.
With cameos from Yotam Ottolenghi and Claudia's granddaughter, Nelly Wolman, this entertaining dramatisation shines a light on an extraordinary global cook, still traveling the world sharing recipes and cultures.
Episode 5:
As Claudia continues to research and share recipes from all over the world, she is celebrated by fellow cooks and still cooks with her family - this time her granddaugher, Nelly, rather than her mother.
The dramatist Anjum Malik is an established scriptwriter, poet and performer. She is also a lecturer in creative writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. She was born in Saudi Arabia and has lived in Pakistan as well several cities in England.
Cast
Claudia Roden....................Tracy-Ann Oberman
Nelly Douek........................Ann Marcuson
Cesar Douek........................David Fleeshman
Interviewer/Auntie................Perveen Hussain
Yotam Ottolenghi.................Yotam Ottolenghi
Young Nelly........................Nelly Wolman
Dramatist.....................Anjum Malik
Sound Design..................Eloise Whitmore
Producers........................Polly Thomas and Eloise Whitmore
Executive Producer...............Robert Abel
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
Actor and singer Clarke Peters follows the croon and practitioners of the art, including Rudy Vallee, Russ Columbo, Al Bowlly and Bing Crosby. He discovers how their romantic style of singing made the ladies swoon but inflamed the critics.
In the Twenties and Thirties electric microphones and amplifiers enabled singers with soft, untrained voices to finally be heard. Vocalists no longer needed to project - they could get closer and deliver heartfelt performances - just like whispering in a listener's ear. They became the Justin Biebers of their day - commercial stars whose radio shows and public performances ignited passions across the US.
Their flirtatious style was not to everyone's taste, however, and they were condemned by the Roman Catholic Church for leading women astray. The slushy, sentimental style of singing also didn't go down well with the press who criticised the singers for their lack of artistic value... and the crooners' good looks and stylish clothes led to accusations of effeminacy - these guys just couldn't win.
Clarke Peters - star of the television series the Wire - hears from Rudy Vallee's nephew about how his uncle regarded his own sex appeal - let's just say Rudy wasn't the bashful type. He also talks to Lenny Kaye, writer, long time guitarist with the Patti Smith Group and fellow crooner devotee, about their place in American music history.
Producer: Paula McGinley.
Ronnie Corbett returns for the final series of his popular sitcom by Ian Davidson and Peter Vincent.
Ronnie is granddad Sandy and his old dog is Henry. If the dog dies or his lodger moves on, Sandy's children want him to downsize. He doesn't.
To help his finances, Sandy, still in the family home, took in a young couple as lodgers. But then the man left - leaving the attractive Dolores behind. And she, Sandy's children are quite sure, is a gold-digger. Sandy's opinion that it would be inhuman to move Henry somewhere unfamiliar is wearing a bit thin - as is the old dog himself. Keeping the dog alive and keeping the lodger happy are one thing; what really concerns Sandy deeply is providing a guiding hand to his whole family, advising here, prompting there, responding to any emergency callout... If he kept himself to himself, of course, things would be a lot simpler and smoother. But a lot duller too...
Episode Two - The Call Of The Wild
Henry the dog takes up running away and then granddaughter Calais runs away too. Sandy realises that for Calais' sake, her mother Victoria, his fearsome wildcat daughter-in-law, must be confronted. What Henry's up to nobody knows...
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL Production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
On this day in 1918, the USA marked a year since joining the war, and in Folkestone, it's Noah Hamilton's birthday, or would have been.
Written by Katie Hims
Story-led by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
Consumer news and issues.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
Dan Snow hears the recollections of US soldiers who were sent to fight in France in 1918, and looks at the reactions of British and German soldiers to their arrival. They had received formidable physical training, but were naturally regarded as naïve by the battle-hardened 'old sweats' who'd served on the front for several years. But at the Battle of Bellau Wood, the Americans fought as tenaciously as any veteran unit, and helped to turn the tide of the war.
Love Me Tender by Ian McMillan.
A radio producer meets a group of trainspotters after he is delayed. He decides they will make a good a subject for a radio feature. But are they interesting enough? Comedy verse drama by the 'Bard of Barnsley' where all the characters speak in different verse forms.
Director/Producer
Gary Brown
Ian McMillan is the ever popular 'Bard of Barnsley' and presenter of Radio 3's 'The Verb'. Conrad Nelson is Associate Director of Northern Broadsides and recently played 'Leontes' in their acclaimed production of 'The Winter's Tale'. Bernard Wrigley is a celebrated folk singer and actor and is known in folk circles as 'The Bolton Bullfrog' because of his inimitable bass voice.
Eric Robson hosts the programme from the Hambleton District in North Yorkshire. Matthew Wilson, Pippa Greenwood and Chris Beardshaw answer the horticultural questions form an audience of local gardeners.
Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Hester Cant
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
Indira Varma reads a new story commissioned for Radio 4 by the award-winning writer Lionel Shriver.
Two fame-hungry young film-makers try to make it in London. But the road to fame is never simple...
Reader: Indira Varma is an acclaimed stage and TV actor, known most recently for her roles in Game of Thrones and Luther.
Writer: Lionel Shriver is an American author, best known for her novel We Need to Talk About Kevin, which won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2005.
Producer: Justine Willett.
Obituary series, analysing and celebrating the life stories of people who have recently died.
Radio 4's forum for audience comment.
A father and son find that caring for their wife and mother has given them a strong bond. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
Producer: Marya Burgess.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present the week via topical stand-up and sketches
Punt and Dennis are joined this week by Ellie Taylor and Ola.
Brian puts on a show, and Alistair makes a shock decision.
News, reviews and interviews from the worlds of art, literature, film and music.
Ritula Shah presents political debate from All Saints Church in Bakewell, Derbyshire, with a panel including Conservative MP Nigel Evans, former leader of the Liberal Democrats Tim Farron MP, and Shadow Policing Minister Louise Haigh MP.
"Western liberals", writes John Gray, "are horrified by the rise of Xi Jinping".
But as China's parliament votes to allow him to be President for life, John Gray argues that the future of the liberal West ironically depends on the continuing success of the world's most powerful authoritarian state.
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
The fifth omnibus of Season 13, A Woman's Place, set in Folkestone, in the week, in 1918, when the Operation Michael came to an end.
Written by Katie Hims
Story-led by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Composer: Matthew Strachan
Consultant Historian: Maggie Andrews.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
John Updike's masterful Rabbit quintet established Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom as the quintessential American White middle class male. The first book Rabbit, Run was published in 1960 to critical acclaim. Rabbit Redux was the second in the series, published in 1971 and charted the end of the sixties - featuring, among other things, the first American moon landing and the Vietnam War.
This third book finds Rabbit in middle age and successful, having inherited his father in law's car business - selling newly imported Toyotas to the mass American market. But his relationship with his son Nelson was severely compromised by Rabbit's affair with Jill and her subsequent death has left them both wary of each other.
Published in 1981, Rabbit is Rich won Updike, among other awards, the Pulitzer Prize for fiction - and it's extraordinary how many of its themes continue to reverberate down to the present day.
Abridged by Robin Brooks
Read by Toby Jones
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.
Clare Balding joins comedian Ed Byrne as he takes her for one of his favourite walks in the Peak District; to Stanton Moor and Robin Hood's Stride from Winster. They discuss how he became an enthusiastic hill walker and a passionate Munro bagger. Munro bagging is the ideal hobby for Ed as it combines a love of the outdoors and his nerdy desire to tick things off lists. Ed and Clare compare notes on their passion for kit, walking clothing and gadgets.
The route for their seven mile walk can be found on OL 24 , grid reference SK241605.
Producer Lucy Lunt.
A father hopes that the conversations he has with his son are more open than the ones he remembers having with his father. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
Producer: Marya Burgess.