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 Home Now on R4 Contact

RADIO-LISTS: BBC RADIO 4
Unofficial Weekly Listings for BBC Radio 4 — supported by bbc.co.uk/programmes/



SATURDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2018

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (b0bgw35w)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


SAT 00:30 Book of the Week (b0bh8vny)
Hello World: How to be Human in the Age of the Machine
Humans

Society has slowly handed over significant control to computers but how much should we rely on them over our own instincts? Mathematician Hannah Fry uncovers the hidden algorithms behind almost every aspect of our modern lives; lifting the lid on their inner workings, demonstrating their power and exposing their limitations.

Humans: charting a course to a future where humans and computers work together.

Written and read by Hannah Fry
Abridged by Robin Brooks
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie.


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0bgw35y)

The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0bgw360)

SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0bgw362)

The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (b0bgw364)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0bh982t)

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Dr Ed Kessler, Director of the Woolf Institute.


SAT 05:45 iPM (b0bgw366)
Faulty Divorce?

Should the idea of 'fault' be taken out of the divorce process? A few weeks ago Carole and Peter told us fault should go, but a listener who is a divorce barrister has doubts.

Our latest suggestion for where we should do an outside broadcast from is poo and Charlotte Green has our bulletin of your news.

Presented by Luke Jones. Produced by Cat Farnsworth.


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (b0bgw368)

The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.


SAT 06:07 Ramblings (b0bh5x28)
Series 40
Herefordshire

Clare Balding walks on Hergest Ridge in Herefordshire with Dr. Kate Harding, who has a moving story to tell.

This is the second time Clare has walked with Kate. Their first ramble was around five years ago. The run-up to that recording had been stressful and Clare wasn't really up for it. She recalls - 'I was grumpy with the weather and grumpy with life. Not myself at all'.

However, when Kate and Clare started that walk, Clare realised it was what she needed most. Kate's advice about the power of mindfulness resonated strongly. It's an encounter that Clare has never forgotten.

Now, Clare is returning to Herefordshire to walk with Kate once more. However, Kate's circumstances have changed significantly. Last year, her husband killed himself. A consultant anaesthetist and specialist in intensive care, he had been suffering from crippling depression. Kate and her teenage children have, obviously, been left devastated. They had emigrated to New Zealand as a family of four. Shortly after Richard's suicide, they returned to Herefordshire, as three.

Since Richard's death, Kate has become determined to highlight the higher than average suicide rate amongst the medical profession, and would like to see a swifter process of complaint handling by the General Medical Council. This is why she's chosen to walk again with Clare; as well as to celebrate Richard's life by walking in one of the places he loved the most, Hergest Ridge, where his memorial was held.

Kate regards the openness and beauty of Herefordshire as something of a balm.

NB: If you are feeling emotionally distressed following this broadcast and would like details of organisations which offer advice and support, you can access this site: bbc.co.uk/actionline

Producer: Karen Gregor.


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (b0bgw36b)
Farming Today This Week: The Agriculture Bill

Charlotte Smith hears reaction to the landmark Agriculture Bill, the Government's vision of farming post Brexit, on a visit to Exeter livestock market. It proposes a fundamental shake up of the way farmers are supported, replacing direct payments with money for 'public goods' like looking after the environment.

Presenter: Charlotte Smith
Producer: Sarah Swadling.


SAT 06:57 Weather (b0bgw36d)

The latest weather forecast.


SAT 07:00 Today (b0bjyq5h)

News and current affairs including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (b0bgw36g)
Rick Wakeman and Ray Winston

Legendary keyboard player Rick Wakeman is known for his huge contribution to prog rock with the band Yes, his own innovative compositions, his flamboyant caped stage presence and his numerous piano arrangements.

Bea Priestley is a 22 year-old wrestler in the ever growing woman's wrestling scene. Bea got back into wrestling after brain surgery when she was 18 and now tours the UK and Japan.

Eric Monkman and Bobby Seagull bonded over quizzing. They both found themselves internet sensations after appearing on different teams on University Challenge. They've just done a round Britain fact finding road trip but will join us in the studio.

Listener Heather Sinclair Buchanan got in touch to talk about her 30 year hunt for a stolen dolls house and the tragic loss of her son for whom she founded Olly's Friendship Foundation. She's still looking for the dolls house - it's pictured below so please get in touch if you can help.

Ray Winston chooses his inheritance tracks: the track he inherits is Smile performed by Nat King Cole and he passes on I'm forever blowing bubbles performed by Dean Martin.

Producer: Corinna Jones
Editor: Eleanor Garland.


SAT 10:30 World War One: The Cultural Front (b0bjyq85)
Series 5
1918: Vienna and the Fall of an Empire

Francine Stock travels to Vienna to examine the rich cultural and artistic life of the city in the final days of the Hapsburg Empire.

In November 1918 the vast Austro-Hungarian Empire was lost overnight. The removal of the dual monarchy from the European map left the imperial capital of Vienna and its staggeringly well equipped civil service with no empire to run. Vienna had fallen from grace and with it, decades of rich artistic life were lost.

And yet right up until the Empire's last days, Vienna had continued to be a cultural hub at the heart of European modernism. Despite food shortages and the hardships of war, the Viennese continued to frequent cinemas, salons and cafes. Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka continued to paint and exhibit their work internationally, Franz Schreker composed one of his most popular operas, while writers Karl Kraus and Stefan Zweig documented everyday life.

Producer: Sarah Shebbeare
Production Coordinator: Anne Smith.


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (b0bjyq87)

Paul Waugh of HuffPost asks if Boris Johnson has blown his chances of ever becoming Tory leader after recent controversies. What's it like to be seen as a challenger to the Prime Minister? And what chance a new political party of the centre?

Editor: Peter Mulligan.


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (b0bgw36j)
A Syrian Radio Drama

Radio Alwan is an independent radio station that has been entertaining the people of Syria with dramas, phone-ins and their very own version of Woman's Hour since 2014 - as well as providing an independent source of news. Now, as Emma Jane Kirby reveals, its future is in doubt.

Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from correspondents around the world.

In Uganda, Sally Hayden meets a man who says he was forced to work as a babysitter by the child-soldier turned senior commander in the Lord's Resistance Army - Dominic Ongwen.

Chris Bowlby finds out what the Harley Davidson riding bikers of Wisconsin think of President Trump.

Sian Griffin dances with a ten-metre long puppet shaped like an eel and finds out why the American Eel population is shrinking in Canada.

And John Kampfner visits a Cornish town in Mexico where the Union Jack flies proudly alongside the Mexican flag and the staple dish is the pasty.

Producer: Joe Kent.


SAT 12:00 News Summary (b0bgw36l)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (b0bjyq89)
Launch of rainy day savings scheme

Having £1,000 in savings halves the risk of falling into problem debt according to debt charity StepChange. But for lower earners, building up those rainy day funds can be a stretch. A government scheme called Help-to-Save launched this week aiming to help. It offers savers a bonus of 50p on every £1 saved over a four year period.

Tens of thousands of people are receiving demands for tens of thousands of pounds from the taxman for using "contractor loan schemes". People were often advised to use these schemes say they paid less income tax and National Insurance. Some are teachers, nurses and social workers. The charges are being applied retrospectively - going back 20 years which campaigners say is unfair.

UK banks admit that criminals stole £236 million last year from people who were tricked into giving thieves their money. In the first of a three part series we look at what more the banks could be doing to prevent what's known as authorised push payment fraud. This is where you transfer money to someone who you think is genuine but realise too late they have stolen your money.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Producer: Alex Lewis
Editor: Charlotte McDonald and Emma Rippon.


SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (b0bh8vpj)
Series 97
Episode 3

Susan Calman takes the guest host chair this week and is joined by Hugo Rifkind, Mark Steel and stand-up comedians Jen Brister and Jayde Adams.

Jokes and acronyms aplenty with stories featuring the ERG, the TUC and the PRB.

Writers: Clint Edwards, Jon Hunter and Sarah Morgan with additional material by Sara Gibbs and Mike Shephard

Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production.


SAT 12:57 Weather (b0bgw36n)

The latest weather forecast.


SAT 13:00 News (b0bgw36q)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (b0bh7yz9)
Lord Adonis, Wera Hobhouse MP, Sherelle Jacobs, Sir Bernard Jenkin MP

Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from Worthing College in West Sussex with a panel including the Labour peer Lord Adonis; Wera Hobhouse, the Liberal Democrat's spokesperson on Communities and Local Government; the Daily Telegraph journalist Sherelle Jacobs; and Sir Bernard Jenkin, Chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee in the House of Commons. The panel answer questions on protests by prison officers, Church of England investments in Amazon, whether technology can prevent a hard order in Ireland after Brexit?, Trade deals post-Brexit and Serena Williams' tennis row.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson.


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (b0bgw36s)
Prisons, Church, and Brexit

Have you worked in...or had experience of...any of Britain's prisons? As far as prison officers are concerned, they're in a serious enough state to stage a protest....action that the government said was illegal. What's your view?

The morality of the Church of England has been called into question over its investments in Amazon...revealed after the Archbishop of Canterbury sharply criticised the company's tax dealings. Get in touch on the thorny issue of church and politics...

Then there's Brexit...the question of the land border on the island of Ireland, can it be solved with technology...do you transport products between, say, Norway/Sweden or Switzerland/Germany, how does it work....and what of future trade deals, how quickly can they be secured?

Presenter: Julian Worricker
Producer: Maire Devine
Editor: Eleanor Garland.


SAT 14:30 Drama (b08lfbh5)
The Dark Earth and the Light Sky

A moving account of the years leading up to the death of the poet Edward Thomas. Nick Dear's play explores Thomas' relationships with the American poet Robert Frost, who became his mentor and close friend, and British author and poet Eleanor Farjeon, with whom he shared a mutual adoration.

We also journey into his somewhat uneasy marriage with Helen Thomas who suffered at the hands of both these relationships as well as having to suffer the effects of Thomas' regular bouts of grim depression.

We eventually discover that Thomas' great passion for nature and the countryside was the real reason for him signing up to go to War - his overwhelming need to protect The Dark Earth and The Light Sky.

Originally produced by the Almeida Theatre Company

Directed by Celia de Wolff
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (b0bgw36v)
Weekend Woman's Hour: Skaters, How funding cuts affect access to contraception, Novelist Kate Atkinson

A new film Skate Kitchen tells the story of an all girl New York skateboard collective. We hear from two of the skaters Nina Moran and Dede Lovelace and from the film's director Crystal Moselle.

We discuss why women who want to use implants or the coil as a contraceptive are having trouble finding someone to fit them. Professor Helen Stokes-Lambard is the chair of the Royal College of GP's and Dr Katie Bramhall-Stainer discuss how cuts have affected the situation and Lisa Hardin tells us about her own experience of getting a coil fitted.

The best selling author Kate Atkinson tells us about her new novel Transcription.

When the American rapper Mac Miller died last week from an overdose his ex girlfriend Ariana Grande was bombarded with abuse and blame for his death. Why are some women held responsible for the recovery of their male partners? We hear from journalist Bolu Babalola and the executive director of Addaction Karen Tyrell.

Harriet Harman talks about improving the working lives of women MP's in her role as Mother of the House and why the next leader of the Labour Party has to be a woman.

The hashtag witchesofinstagram has more than one million tags on Instagram and is a huge subculture on social media. We discuss why with two women who describe themselves as witches Alicia and Antonina.

The artist Di Mainstone tells us how she can hear bridges sing. She has done projects on Brooklyn Bridge and Clifton Suspension bridge in the past. She tells us about her latest project at the Northern Spire Bridge in Sunderland, which involves unique musical instruments made from leftover bridge material.

Presented by Jenni Murray
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed
Editor: Beverley Purcell.


SAT 17:00 PM (b0bgw36x)
Saturday PM

Full coverage of the day's news.


SAT 17:30 iPM (b0bgw366)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:45 today]


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b0bgw36z)

The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 17:57 Weather (b0bgw371)

The latest weather forecast.


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0bgw373)

A former British soldier, who joined Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State group, has been sentenced to more than 7 years in jail in Turkey.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (b0bgw375)
Joan Armatrading, Arinze Kene, Professor Michael Scott, Dr Phil Hammond, Emma Freud, Clive Anderson

Clive Anderson and Emma Freud are joined by Joan Armatrading, Professor Michael Scott, Dr Phil Hammond and Arinze Kene for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Joan Armatrading.

Producer: Paula McGinley.


SAT 19:00 Profile (b0bjyrb2)
Judge Brett Kavanaugh

America is bitterly divided.

Should conservative Judge Brett Kavanaugh be given a seat on the US Supreme Court ?

Opponents fear his appointment - if confirmed later this month - will shift the country's most powerful legislative body further right and turn the clock back on decades of civil and human rights reforms.
Others argue he's only been nominated by President Trump to ensure he can't be prosecuted for any perceived wrongdoing in the Russia collusion investigation.
Nonsense, say his supporters. Kavanaugh, they insist, is a fair and decent man driven by law rather than politics.

On Profile this week, Mark Coles looks at Kavanaugh's life and career. .

We hear from former college friends, colleagues who worked with him trying to get President Clinton impeached in the 1990s as well as young law students he mentors today.

From abortion to gun ownership, basketball, rap and spaghetti with ketchup... we get the lowdown on why Brett Kavanaugh is such a polarising figure.

Producers Smita Patel & Darin Graham
Editor Penny Murphy.


SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (b0bgw377)
Lucky, The Clock, Letters of Sylvia Plath, Trust, An Adventure

Christian Marclay's acclaimed 24 hour video installation The Clock at Tate Modern is a montage of thousands of film and television clips that depict clocks or reference time and operates as a journey both through cinematic history as well as a functioning timepiece. The installation is synchronised to local time wherever it is on display, transforming artificial cinematic time into a sensation of real time inside the gallery.

John Carroll Lynch's debut feature Lucky stars Harry Dean Stanton in his last major screen role in a career which included films such as Repo Man, Wild at Heart, Paris, Texas and Wise Blood. Lucky co-stars David Lynch, Stanton's long time friend and collaborator.

The Letters of Sylvia Plath Volume II: 1956 - 1963 edited by Peter K Steinberg and Karen V Kukil document - unabridged and without revision - Plath's literary development and private life. It includes 14 letters Plath wrote to her psychiatrist, Dr Ruth Beuscher, between 1960 and 1963.

Trust is a ten part series starring Donald Sutherland as J Paul Getty and Hilary Swank as Gail Getty, the mother of John Paul Getty III, heir to the Getty oil fortune who was kidnapped in 1973 by the Italian mafia in Rome. It was written by Simon Beaufoy and directed (first three episodes) by Danny Boyle who previously worked together on Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire.

An Adventure by Vinay Patel at the Bush Theatre in London follows young couple Jyoti and Rasik as they leave India for Kenya in hope of a better life, only to find themselves entangled in the Mau Mau rebellion, from which they leave for England. It is based on the life story of Vinay Patel's grandparents and is directed by Madani Younis, the Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre.


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (b0bjyrck)
Lehmans - A Backwards Collapse

Tracing the roots of the financial crisis in reverse.

Lehman Brothers was a huge and historic financial institution -- the fourth largest investment bank in the United States -- and its bankruptcy on 15th September 2008, following the Fed's decision not to bail it out with taxpayers' money, became the tipping point in a financial crisis which encompassed the entire world and still impacts on our lives today.

The irresponsible behaviour - can we call it gambling? - which led to the collapse (the sub-prime lending, the CDOs and short selling) had been going on for years, implicitly celebrated by a society that evidently valued a powerful financial sector very highly. The consequences were unseen by most, including classical economists, but foreseen by a few.

But for the purposes of this programme, the collapse of Lehman Bros is not an ending - it's just the beginning.

Built entirely out of archive, this programme starts on that day in mid-September 2008, when the real-world effects of the financial crisis could still only be speculated upon, and spools backwards in time, in search of roots and connections, implications and antecedents. Not definitive direct causes - they are more simple and more complicated, more varied, than this modest Saturday evening entertainment can accommodate - but rather seeking some semblance of clarity by stepping again in the footprints that led us here.


SAT 21:00 Tommies (b08lgpr3)
10 April 1917

In the tunnels underneath Vimy Ridge, the Canadian Corps are re-writing the rules of war, in this story by Avin Shah.

Mickey Bliss has taken a shine to the can-do Canadians. Particularly since yesterday, when they made a momentous advance here on the Western Front, together with British forces. But when Mickey meets a young Canadian journalist, here to write up the story for his home paper - can they agree on what really happened?

Meticulously based on unit war diaries and eye-witness accounts, each episode of TOMMIES traces one real day at war, exactly 100 years ago.

And through it all, we'll follow the fortunes of Mickey Bliss and his fellow signallers, from the Lahore Division of the British Indian Army. They are the cogs in an immense machine, one which connects situations across the whole theatre of the war, over four long years.

Series created by Jonathan Ruffle
Producers: David Hunter, Jonquil Panting, Jonathan Ruffle
Director: Jonquil Panting.


SAT 21:45 Five Green Bottles (b09by77p)
Series 1
The Parker Effect

Wine has been made by most civilisations throughout history, and in every part of the world. It has inspired artists, thinkers, writers, theologians and poets through the ages, and is deeply connected with the story of recorded human history. In this series, five wine critics offer personal reflections on the personal, political, and historical stories of bygone bottles.

In the first episode, wine critic Jancis Robinson profiles Chateau Pavie 2003. Through this bottle, she tells the story of critic Robert Parker who set out to democratise wine criticism but ended up creating a new elitism based solely on his own palate. Parker shot to fame with his unalloyed approval of this vintage using his unique 100 point system, and his power grew rapidly during the 1980s as producers, importers and collectors all began to take note of his marks and opinions.

Soon the whole professional world of wine was desperate to know what he thought. His views could make or break reputations and wines were increasingly made to please him alone. Over time Parker became the only palate the producers at the top end were desperate to please, as every point of approval on his scale represented the difference of millions of dollars.

Jancis speaks to various critics, wine makers, and vineyard owners and hears how Parker fundamentally changed the way wine is made - riper, fleshier, richer - and also imposed a sense of certainty where none had existed before.

An SPG production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 22:00 News and Weather (b0bgw379)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.


SAT 22:15 The Fix (b0bh5hp6)
Series 2
Junior Doctors: Low Morale and Burnout

Junior doctors are the backbone of the NHS, including its emergency services. But more and more of them are now leaving the profession, due to low morale and burnout.

Can our two teams find a solution? Follow them as they gather in St Thomas Hospital in London where they have just one day to come up with a fix that will convince a panel of judges - including the hospital's medical director.

But with such a tricky problem, can they succeed?

Presented by Matthew Taylor and facilitated by Cat Drew from Uscreates.

Team One:
- Rebecca Ford - head of design programme, RSA
- Abi Freeman - Organisational psychologist, Brink
- Alma Berliner - IPSOS Mori
- Sanjan Sabherwal - Policy expert, Policy Lab

Team two:
- Lil Adair - Design consultant, USCreates
- Cathy Runciman - Atlas of the Future
- Oliver Sweet - IPSOS Mori
- Jennie Mcshannon - Organisational consultant, Tavistock Consulting
- Saskia Revell - National Investigator at Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch

Expert witnesses:
- Roland Walker - Consultant surgeon
- Professor Dame Jane Dacre - Head of the Royal College of Physicians
- Azra Zyada - Junior doctor and independent researcher
- Celia Glass - Professor of Management Science, Cass Business School

Judges:
- Simon Steddon - Medical Director, Guy's and St Thomas' Trust
- Will Owen - Chief Registrar, Guy's and St Thomas' Trust
- Patrick Reyburn - Engagement manager, Guy's and St Thomas' Charity

Series producer: Estelle Doyle and Producer: Jordan Dunbar.
Editor: Penny Murphy.


SAT 23:00 Counterpoint (b0bh431d)
Series 32
Heat 6, 2018

(6/13)
Paul Gambaccini is in Salford for the latest heat of the wide-ranging music quiz. The competitors have no idea whether they'll be asked about opera, Broadway musicals, 1980s pop hits, minimalism, classic soul or nostalgic TV themes. Whatever their individual strengths, they have a love of music in common - and the winner will be the one who can demonstrate the widest knowledge across the board, and make the cleverest choice of special musical topic in the individual round.

Taking part today are:
Sue Bates, a former schoolteacher from Loughborough
Bill Cawley, a supermarket checkout operator from Leek in Staffordshire
Roger Mason, a nurse from Littleborough in Lancashire.

Producer: Paul Bajoria.


SAT 23:30 Clarke's Psalter (b0bgw8vl)

A contemporary poet examines his process of engaging with the Psalms and scrutinises his belief that poetry is the most powerful means of negotiating and making sense of ourselves and the world today.

Edward Clarke charts his journey writing a collection of modern Psalms. It began with an accidental attempt to write a Psalm in rhyming couplets, but has become a compelling part of his life - getting up in the early hours every morning and juggling writing with commitments to family and teaching.

His poems are not translations but imitations that draw on his daily life and on the "holy book2 which he sees as central to a way of life.

His wife Francesca observes her husband's commitment to the project, and how his poetry provides him with a means to critique the modern world. She concludes that, while she prefers life to poetry, Edward seems to prefer poetry to life.

Edward writes according to the old rhythms of English poetry, and uses old stanzas as well as inventing his own in the manner of the Sidneys, John Donn, and George Herbert. This attention to form embodies his hope that his Psalter will outlive other contemporary poets.

He writes out of a conviction that the role of poetry is to negotiate the boundaries between the material world and spiritual realms - an attempt to wake himself up as much as his audience.

Throughout the programme we also hear a developing sound track by the Italian Composer Corrado Fantoni who is setting some of Edward Clarke's poems to music.

Producer: Anna Scott-Brown
An Overtone production for BBC Radio 4.



SUNDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2018

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b0bjysrx)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


SUN 00:30 Short Works (b0bh8vp8)
His Mother

An original short story by the Northern Irish writer Wendy Erskine commissioned by BBC Radio 4. As read by the actress Ali White.

Wendy Erskine's writing has appeared in several publications including 'The Stinging Fly' literary magazine and the anthology 'Female Lines: New Writing by Women from Northern Ireland'. Her debut short story collection 'Sweet Home' has just been published by The Stinging Fly Press.

Reader ..... Ali White
Writer ..... Wendy Erskine
Producer ..... Michael Shannon.


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0bjyvj7)

The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0bjyvj9)

SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0bjyvjc)

The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b0bjyvjf)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b0bjyvjh)
Church of St Eustachius, Tavistock

Bells on Sunday comes from the church of St Eustachius, Tavistock, in Devon. The tower contains a peal of ten bells cast by John Taylor of Loughborough. The tenor weighs twenty four hundredweight and is tuned to D. We hear them ring Grandsire Caters.


SUN 05:45 Profile (b0bjyrb2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b0bjyvjk)

The latest national and international news.


SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b0bjyvjm)
Speak Your Mind

Mark Tully considers the benefits and dangers of saying what you think. When should we be frank, even brutally frank, and when is it kinder to lie than tell the truth?

Drawing from the words of William Shakespeare, Antony Trollop and Jacqueline Woodson; and music by Doris Day, Tracey Chapman and Claudio Monteverdi, among others, Mark explores the occasions where honesty might not be the best policy. But he also considers how keeping silent about what is on our mind can amount to unhealthy repression, especially in cases of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Finally, readings from Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Yevgeny Yevtushenko highlight the dangers of speaking one's mind in times of political repression, and just how tragic the consequences can be.

Producer: Adam Fowler
A 7Digital Production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b0bjyvts)
Irish Oysters

Ruth Sanderson meets a Northern Irish oyster farmer, Patrice Bonnargent. Originally from France, Patrice is one of only a few rearing oysters in the country. He farms on the shores of County Down, along with his son Luc.


SUN 06:57 Weather (b0bjyvtv)

The latest weather forecast.


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b0bjyvtx)

The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (b0bjyvtz)
Exclusive bereavement survey, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Franklin Graham

Sunday reveals the results of the biggest ever UK survey into how people of different faiths cope with death, dying and bereavement. Co-op funeral care Managing Director David Collingwood and theologian Douglas Davies discuss the results.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has been accused of 'hypocrisy' this week for his criticism of Amazon, a company the Church of England has shares in. Edward Stourton asks Catherine Howarth of Share Action, how far investors can influence the behaviour of companies.

Bob Walker speaks to Nobel Peace prize winner and former Liberian Prime Minster Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who delivered a keynote address at Rising, a global peace forum held at Coventry Cathedral this week.

Franklin Graham, son of the late Billy Graham, arrives in the UK next week for a three day event in Blackpool, prompting protests from LGBT activists and churches. Edward Stourton looks at what Franklin Graham believes and why he's such a controversial figure.

Ahead of the first national Cathedral's conference in Manchester we speak to the Dean of Lichfield Adrian Dorber about how he hopes it will address the dire financial challenges many Cathedrals face.

Crispin Blunt is the head of Humanist APPG in Parliament. Harry Farley speaks to him in the last of our series on Faith in Westminster.

For the first time in years the number of people seeking to be ordained in the Church of England is on the up including among young people and women. Trevor Barnes finds out why.

Producers: Catherine Earlam and Tara Holmes
Series Producer: Amanda Hancox.


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (b0bjyvv1)
Unseen

Historian and broadcaster David Olusoga makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the charity Unseen.

Registered Charity Number: 1127620,
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 'Unseen'.
- Cheques should be made payable to 'Unseen'.


SUN 07:57 Weather (b0bjyvv3)

The latest weather forecast.


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b0bjyvv5)

The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b0bjyvv7)
Sacred Space: Common Ground

Live from Lichfield Cathedral ahead of the first National Cathedrals Conference and led by the Dean, the Very Reverend Adrian Dorber. Preacher Becky Clark, Director of the Church Buildings division for the Church of England, will explore how the ministry of cathedrals contributes to the life of church and nation as a place for meeting and reconciliation. Music from Lichfield Chamber Choir includes Gjeilo "Ubi caritas et amor" and John Tavener's "Mother of God here I stand". Readings from Philippians 2: 5-11 and John 19: 25-30. The producer is Stephen Shipley.


SUN 08:48 A Point of View (b0bh8vps)
Serena and the Umpire

Adam Gopnik examines the issues raised by the row between Serena Williams and an umpire.

"The question everyone is asking", writes Adam, is "would he have done the same to a man?"

Producer: Adele Armstrong.


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b0bjyw23)
Mark Whitley's Dales Tweet

For editor of The Countryman magazine, Mark Whitley, autumn may be around the corner, but he's transported back to spring. The sight of male lapwings performing their tumbling display flight, and hearing their distinctive 'peewit' call is a sure sign that spring is on its way to the Yorkshire Dales.

Mark begins his second week curating the back catalogue from Tweet of the Day. You can hear all five episodes chosen this week, and further thoughts from Mark and his passion for the natural world via the the Tweet of the Week omnibus edition, which is available to download via the Radio 4 Website.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b0bjyw25)

Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.


SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b0bjyw27)

Writer ..... Liz John
Director ..... Marina Caldarone
Editor ..... Alison Hindell

Tony Archer ..... David Troughton
Pat Archer ..... Patricia Gallimore
Helen Archer ..... Louiza Patikas
Tom Archer ..... William Troughton
Brian Aldridge ..... Charles Collingwood
Jennifer Aldridge ..... Angela Piper
Phoebe Aldridge ..... Lucy Morris
PC Harrison Burns ..... James Cartwright
Joe Grundy ..... Edward Kelsey
Will Grundy ..... Philip Molloy
Emma Grundy ..... Emerald O'Hanrahan
Shula Hebden Lloyd ..... Judy Bennett
Alistair Lloyd ..... Michael Lumsden
Jim Lloyd ..... John Rowe
Jazzer McCreary ..... Ryan Kelly
Elizabeth Pargetter ..... Alison Dowling
Freddie Pargetter ..... Toby Laurence
Lily Pargetter ..... Katie Redford
Johnny Phillips ..... Tom Gibbons
Fallon Rogers ..... Joanna Van Kampen
Peggy Woolley ..... June Spencer
Philip Moss ..... Andy Hockley
Tracy Horrobin ..... Susie Riddell
Lee ..... Ryan Early.


SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b0bjyw29)
Danielle de Niese

Danielle de Niese is a soprano who has taken starring roles with leading opera companies around the world. She was born in Melbourne, Australia, to Sri Lankan parents, and at the age of eight she won a national TV talent show, singing a pop medley. When she was ten, her parents moved the family to Los Angeles, so that she could pursue her dream of becoming an opera singer. She also presented a TV programme, L.A. Kids, for which she won an Emmy award at the age of 16.

She made her professional operatic debut when she was 15 with the Los Angeles Opera, appeared briefly in Les Miserables on Broadway, and first performed with the Metropolitan Opera in New York at the age of 19, taking the role of Barbarina in a production of The Marriage of Figaro, directed by Jonathan Miller.

In 2005 she came to more widespread public attention with her performances as Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare at Glyndebourne, stepping into the role at the last minute when the original Cleopatra was unwell.

She first appeared at the Royal Opera House in London four years later, and her international stage career now ranges from baroque operas to new works. She has also presented a number of television programmes about music. She married Gus Christie, the grandson of Glyndebourne's founder, in 2009.

Presenter: Kirsty Young
Producer: Sarah Taylor.


SUN 12:00 News Summary (b0bjyw2c)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:04 Just a Minute (b0bh431l)
Series 82
Episode 6

Year 51 and Series 82 of the nationally treasured panel game. In this episode Nicholas Parsons introduces another four dynamic players of the game, Paul Merton, Sheila Hancock, Jan Ravens and Rufus Hound.

Bad apples and pasta are on the menu this week.

Hayley Sterling blows the whistle.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production.


SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b0bjyw2f)
Rowley Leigh: A Life Through Food

Rowley Leigh, to many the "godfather" of modern British cooking tells his story to Dan Saladino. Along the way he cooks the perfect omelette and shares the secrets of great pasta.

After dropping out of university at the end of the 1960s, Rowley Leigh says he was a young and lost soul. Desperate for cash he applied for a job cooking burgers and immediately fell in love with restaurants and kitchens.

It took him to Le Gavroche and an apprenticeship under the Roux brothers. Armed with that classical training and a curiosity for British ingredients and flavours he helped launch the British food renaissance of the 1980s. In Kensington Place he created one of the most talked about dining rooms in British restaurant history.

He is also a writer and so he takes Dan Saladino through some of the recipe highlights of his two decades worth of columns at The Financial Times.

Expect the perfect omelette, some great spaghetti and one of the simplest vegetable dishes you could probably add to your own repertoire.

Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.


SUN 12:57 Weather (b0bjyw2h)

The latest weather forecast.


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b0bjyw2k)

Global news and analysis, presented by Mark Mardell.


SUN 13:30 Pursuit of Beauty (b0b52nc7)
Slow Art

So - how slow are we talking about, when it comes to art?

French anarchist vegetarian artists Elizabeth Saint-Jalmes & Cyril Leclerc rescue snails bound for the cooking pot, and display them as a sound and light installation - Slow Pixel - before setting them free.

To watch illuminated snails crawl across a concert hall for 6 hours is one way of bringing your heart beat right down!

Twenty-two ash trees, shaped and sculpted as they grow quietly for 40 years, in a secret location; an extinct volcano filled with subterranean light passages; music to play for a 1000 years; a mile of writing, and a 5 hour composition for a string quartet called 'Slow', played as slowly and quietly as possible...

As the 21st century continues at break-neck speed Lindsey Chapman brings you a moment of calm, as she meets some extraordinary musicians and artists, to find out the motivation behind creating slow art.

Lindsey - a performer herself, as well as presenter for BBC TV's 'Springwatch' - explores what added value the length of time of creation gives to an artistic idea. Does it make time shrink? Or does it distract us from our awareness of our own finite existence?

The biggest art project in progress in the world today is the Roden Crater. You may not have heard of it yet, but Leonardo DiCaprio has been booked to open it, although no one yet knows when that will be. It's the work of artist James Turrell who dreamed, in the 1960's, of sculpting an extinct volcano as a celestial viewing post. and he's spent 40 years working on it so far - Tim Marlow, artistic director of the Royal Academy, has been watching its progress.

Also in progress for 40 years, the Ash Dome - created by world acclaimed wood sculptor David Nash. he gives Lindsey is given the coordinates to find the secret circle, and she comes across it on a bluebell strewn forest floor at dawn, a magical moment of pure beauty - but one which leads her to consider where she might be in 40, or 400 years from now.

Slow art has that effect - seeing into the future, and sometime fearfully into infinity.

Jem Finer, musician and ex-Pogue bassist, has created a piece of music called 'Longplayer', which has already been playing for 18 years and which has another 982 to go - and of course he knows he won't be there to hear it end.

Tanya Shadrick knelt beside an open air swimming pool, day after day, month after month, writing a diary, line by line, a mile long. What inspired her to create "Wild Patience?" and what did she learn?

Composer Morton Feldman is well known for his long slow quiet pieces of music - but what is it like to actually hold and play the violin on stage for five hours? Darragh Morgan recounts the intensity, and how he never gets bored, and in fact falls in love with the beauty of the music - lie being wrapped in a beautiful shawl of sound.

Slow art in under half an hour - sit back and relish the moment.

Producer: Sara Jane Hall.


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b0bh8vp6)
Hadrian's Wall

Eric Robson takes his panel to visit Hadrian's Wall. Anne Swithinbank, Pippa Greenwood and Matthew Wilson offer horticultural help to the audience.

This week, the panellists answer questions on Monkey Puzzle trees, vegetables to grow with children, and grafting heritage apple trees. They also advise on growing bamboo in a front garden, planting a brand new garden and taming a climbing hydrangea,

Eric Robson drops into the Tullie Museum in Carlisle to ask what did the Romans ever do for us gardeners.

Produced by Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer: Laurence Bassett

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b0bjyw66)
Omnibus - Ageing Gracefully

Fi Glover introduces conversations about the changes that come with age and the challenges posed by the modern world. All 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.


SUN 15:00 Drama (b08yj080)
Brothers

William Goldman's dark sequel to Marathon Man, dramatised by Stephen Keyworth.

The western world is gearing up for war until Scylla, an infamous American spy, is brought out of hiding and sent on a brutal mission to keep the peace.

Starring Tom Burke and Jack Lowden.

Directed by Kirsty Williams.


SUN 16:00 Open Book (b0bjyw68)
Lavinia Greenlaw, Venezuelan literature, The case for graphic novels

Renaissance woman: Lavinia Greenlaw on love in your forties. She discusses her new novel, The City of Love's Sleep and its exploration of emotional fulfilment in middle age.

As Venezuela continues to face many challenges and many of its population leave the country, Open Book explores the voice of Venezuela. How has literature from the country reflected a difficult two decades and is there a golden age of Venezuelan writing?

The increasing success of audio books demonstrates the hunger for aural pleasures. Increasingly it is not just actors who read these books but the authors themselves. We look at why authors are giving actors a run for their money by reading their own audiobooks!

And as this year's Man Booker long list included its first ever graphic novel, author John Harris Dunning makes a case for them.


SUN 16:30 Claudia Rankine: On Whiteness (b0bjywc3)

American poet, essayist and playwright Claudia Rankine explores the nature and meaning of whiteness, considering the ubiquity of dyed blonde hair.

Walking around New York, she talks to people about why they dye their hair and asks whether our elevation of blonde hair has any connection to the power and, ultimately, the supremacy of whiteness.

Honey blonde, platinum blonde, gold baby lights, sandy blonde, platinum blonde, white blonde. Although only around 5% of white Americans are naturally blonde, around 3 out of 4 women here colour their hair blonde. But do blonde's really have more fun?

Producer: Jo Wheeler
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 17:00 Politics Supreme (b0bh4686)

James Naughtie examines how the retirement this summer of a single Justice on the US Supreme Court could dramatically reshape the United States.

The Supreme Court was once derided as the third branch of government, but in recent years it has become the busiest and most powerful institution in American politics. With the Justices' black robes, sober judgments and air of mystique, people often imagine that the Court acts simply as an impartial arbiter in the American body politic. But that has rarely been true, and in recent decades the Court has become a battleground for some of the most contentious issues in American society, from abortion and contraception to civil and voting rights, affirmative action and immigration reform.

The latest vacancy on the Court offers President Trump a once-in-a-generation opportunity to dramatically alter its ideological composition. In this programme James travels to Boston to hear from those whose lives might be affected. He speaks to the Massachusetts Attorney General suing the federal government over issues as varied as healthcare, the environment and immigration. He hears from gun owners excited by the chance to extend their right to own weapons, from opponents of affirmative action who believe their time has now come, and from LGBT advocates concerned that their task may get a lot more difficult.

And as he makes his way to Washington, DC, and to the foot of the Court's marble steps, he speaks to historians about how the Court came to be so central in American public life, to lawyers about how the court operates, and to politicians about how the current dysfunction in Washington is pushing the Court to take on more contentious cases and what that might mean for the country.

Producer: Giles Edwards.


SUN 17:40 Profile (b0bjyrb2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b0bjywc5)

The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 17:57 Weather (b0bjywc7)

The latest weather forecast.


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0bjz6ct)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b0bjz6cw)

There's a kind of layered feel to Pick of the Week with writer and broadcaster Simon Parkes: We visit forests and swamps peopled by ancestors and ghosts who talk to the living; explore the Italian obsession with the way that distinctly public and private spaces are inhabited, and there's the murky world of computer algorithms - the nuts and bolts of the modern age that gather information about us as they click and whirr. We meet influential women - both real and imagined, wordsmiths besotted by language and accent, and experience a versatility of the human voice that you really have to hear to believe.


SUN 19:00 The Archers (b0bjz6cy)

Elizabeth breaks down and an old enemy causes trouble for Harrison.


SUN 19:15 Michael Frayn's Matchbox Theatre (b06s1b8t)
Episode 4

Michael Frayn: the most comic philosophical writer of our time. An all-star cast has great fun with his hilarious view of us all. And the ways we attempt to communicate. And explain.

In this final part, we start by taking listeners direct from the Matchbox studio to a report from outside the National Theatre, where some long speeches are going on inside. Our reporter (Martin Jarvis) tells anchor Rosalind Ayres that it seems to be all about Hamlet. A couple (Lisa Dillon and Lloyd Owen), who have just been on a street demo, can't quite cast off their hectoring demeanour when ordering tea and buns. And Tom Hollander at a dinner party embarrasses a fellow guest with some surprisingly anti-social behaviour. A husband (Adam Godley) may have a communication problem. In a bravura solo performance, Julia McKenzie attempts (on the phone) to communicate with the 'sofa disposal' department, but are they actually listening? And language becomes a problem for Ian Ogilvy as a hospital visitor - but who is really speaking gibberish?

Episode 4 cast: Rosalind Ayres, Lisa Dillon, Adam Godley, Tom Hollander, Julia McKenzie, Lloyd Owen and Ian Ogilvy, Martin Jarvis, Nigel Anthony and Matthew Wolf.

Written by Michael Frayn

Producer: Rosalind Ayres
Director: Martin Jarvis
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 19:45 Annika Stranded (b0bjz6q3)
Series 4
Breadcrumbs

Eight new cases to challenge the detective wit of Annika Strandhed, queen of the Oslo Police boat patrol.

Since we last met her, Annika has been promoted to Chief Inspector. Her first act was - apart from choosing a new speedboat - to co-opt Mikel, her forensic photographer of choice, to accompany her. Her son Tor is about to start school.

Being Chief Inspector means a bigger case-load. What follows will test her physically and emotionally as never before.

Episode 5: Breadcrumbs
A teenage girl in Oslo is kidnapped. Annika and Mikel find themselves in a race against time.

Nick Walker is the author of two critically-acclaimed novels, Blackbox and Helloland. His plays and short stories have often featured on BBC Radio 4, including the First King of Mars stories (2007 - 2010) and the plays Life Coach (2010) and Stormchasers (2012). The previous series of Annika Stranded were broadcast in 2013, 2014 and 2016.

Writer: Nick Walker
Reader: Nicola Walker
Sound Design: Jon Calver
Producer: Jeremy Osborne

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 20:00 More or Less (b0bh8vpd)
Male suicide, School ratings, Are female tennis players treated unfairly by umpires?

A recent BBC Horizon programme claimed suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50. Tim Harford examines this sobering statistic and considers how the UK's suicide compare to the rest of the world.

Back to school, and there's good news: apparently more and more children are in schools rated "good" or "outstanding". But our loyal listeners wonder if the improvement is real and we think they're right to ask the question. While there is evidence of genuine progress, that's not the only thing going on. Tim Harford discusses the statistics with education journalist Laura McInerney.

Are female tennis players treated unfairly by umpires? After Serena Williams' outburst at the US Open and her claim that she was judged more harshly by the umpire because she was a woman, we look at what the statistics can tell us about whether men are treated more favourably than women when they break the rules.

Are you more chimp or Neanderthal? We're talking about DNA, not spirit animals. We often hear scientists talking about how we are related but what's the difference between 96% similarity and sharing 20% of our DNA, and do some of us literally have pieces of Neanderthal within us? Tim speaks to Professor Peter Donnelly to help answer this genetic generation game.

And the results of the great goat statue count are in.

Producer: Ruth Alexander.


SUN 20:30 Last Word (b0bh8vpb)
Lady Coleridge, Jalaluddin Haqqani, Jacqueline Pearce, Lord Thomas of Macclesfield, Stan Brock

Pictured: Jacqueline Pearce

Matthew Bannister on

Lady Coleridge, the nurse and adventurer who explored the Congo river with Colonel John Blashford-Snell. He pays tribute.

Jalaluddin Haqqani, the Afghan warlord who was backed by the CIA to fight the Soviets but sided with the Taliban after the civil war.

Jacqueline Pearce, the actor best known for playing villains in "Blake's Seven" and "Dr Who".

Lord Thomas, the Chief Executive who introduced ethical banking at the Co-op.

And Stan Brock , the cowboy and pilot who provided free health care to thousands in the USA.

Producer: Neil George.


SUN 21:00 Money Box (b0bjyq89)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b0bjyvv1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 In Business (b0bh5x2k)
The Neopolitan Tech Experiment

Can tech entrepreneurs revitalise Southern Italy's failing economy? Manuela Saragosa visits Naples - which has seen a huge exodus of its talented young people - to explore if a change of direction might be possible. She meets Neapolitans starting up high-tech businesses against the odds and explores why, rather surprisingly, in recent years the city has attracted significant foreign investment from big tech firms. What has been the city's appeal? She also asks what the business reasons are for building a company in Naples rather than elsewhere. Can the benefits outweigh all the myriad problems?

Producer: Rosamund Jones.


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b0bjz6q9)

Preview of the week's politics with politicians, pundits and experts.


SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b0bh5x2b)
Atonement Redux, The Rider

Antonia Quirke visits Redcar, where they are re-creating the famous five minute, one-shot scene from Atonement of British soldiers evacuating Dunkirk , but without the budget of a blockbuster movie. There she talks to extras who were in the original and to to director Richard DeDomenici who specialises in thrifty versions of famous movies and scenes. Seamus McGarvey, the cinematographer of the 2007 drama, explains how they got that famous shot.

Antonia talks to real life cowboy and rodeo champion Brady Jandreau about The Rider, a fictionalised account of his return to the sport after a serious head injury.


SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b0bjyvjm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today]



MONDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2018

MON 00:00 Midnight News (b0bjz7dw)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b0bh566s)
Drifters

Drifters: What place does the train hopping hobo have in working class history and the popular imagination? The travelling vagrant is a figure, at once romantic and pitiable, associated with the freedom of the open road, but also with destitution. How linked were drifting communities to a specifically American form of capitalism, one which demanded transient labour? Laurie Taylor takes a cross cultural and historical look a life of uncertain mobility, from America to Britain, and explores its contemporary equivalent. He's joined by Jeff Ferrell,Professor of Sociology at Texas Christian University, Selina Todd, Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford and Amy Morris, Lecturer in American Literature at the University of Cambridge.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b0bjyvjh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0bjz7dy)

The latest shipping forecast.


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0bjz7f0)

MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0bjz7f2)

The latest shipping forecast.


MON 05:30 News Briefing (b0bjz7f4)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0bjz7f6)

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Dr Ed Kessler, Director of the Woolf Institute.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (b0bjz7f8)
Gene Editing, Shire Horses, British Beef

Gene-editing should not be included in GM regulation if the changes to the DNA could have occurred naturally or through traditional breeding methods. So says DEFRA in response to a letter outlining UK scientists concerns about the recent European Court of Justice ruling that gene editing is genetic modification, and so the EU ban should be extended to cover it - Charlotte speaks to one of the research scientists behind the letter. Shire Horses were once the HGV lorry of their day hauling goods around the country. In one town in Wiltshire they still deliver beer to pubs from a local brewery. And at the start of a week devoted to that most British of foods - Chris Mallon from the National Beef Association explains why it should remain part of the national diet.

Presented by Charlotte Smith

Produced by Alun Beach.


MON 05:56 Weather (b0bjz7fb)

The latest weather forecast for farmers.


MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b02tvys6)
Osprey

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

Steve Backshall presents the osprey. Ospreys are fish-eaters and the sight of one of these majestic birds plunging feet first to catch its prey is a sight to cherish. The return of the ospreys is one of the great UK conservation stories. After extinction through egg-collecting and shooting in the 19th and early 20th centuries, birds returned in the 1950s and have responded well to protection.


MON 06:00 Today (b0bjz95p)

News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (b0bjz95r)
David Attenborough: Life on Earth and Beyond

It is 40 years since Sir David Attenborough told the story of Life on Earth, from its very first spark 4 billion years ago to the abundance of plants and animals today. He tells Andrew Marr how more pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place over the last four decades.

The German ornithologist Michael Quetting spent a year hand rearing seven goslings: caring for them as they hatched, helping them learn to swim, and teaching them to fly alongside his aircraft. The project is part of an ambitious scientific research programme to understand birds in flight and use them to gather weather data for us.

Lord Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal, looks beyond the earth to ask about potential life among the stars. He sees the future of humanity as bound to the future of science, and believes that space explorers in the next century will be electronic and not organic.

A hundred years after Holst wrote The Planets, leading composers are again trying to capture the essence of our solar system in music. But this time they are working in collaboration with scientists. The geologist Dr Philippa Mason has helped bring deeper insight to Venus: a planet once thought to be a lush tropical swamp world, but in reality a crushing, violent inferno.

(Producer: Katy Hickman).


MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b0bjz95t)
On Truth
Kathryn Murphy

Five essays on the timely theme of "Truth" and current challenges to it

1.Dr Kathryn Murphy on Sir Francis Bacon's 1620s essay, On Truth, and its striking contemporary parallels

We live, we keep being told, in a "post-truth" world, suffering an epidemic of "truth decay", but we are not the first to fear information overload, disinformation and fake news.

'In the 1620s, the statesman and philosopher Francis Bacon opened the final edition of his Essayes, which had been the first book of their kind in English when first published in 1597, with an essay entitled of 'Of Truth'.

He was driven by his own personal political woes but also by the preoccupations of his era: rapidly changing technology (the telescope and microscope made the world feel at once bigger and smaller); America and its inhabitants challenging European understanding and sense of identity; passionately opposing factions continuing the arguments of the Reformation; war in Europe forcing the question of just how far Britain should get involved in the Continent; and - to spread the news and unrest about it - the first organised distribution of newspapers in England had just begun.

To launch this topical series, On Truth, Dr Kathryn Murphy, Fellow in English at Oriel College, Oxford, uncovers Bacon's own concerns and links them with today's pressing issues.

Reader; Sean Murray
Producer: Beaty Rubens.


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0bjz95w)
'Twinning' with your children: Fun or Embarrassing?

Online blogger, Emi Ozmen frequently wears clothes that match her daughter, and her son; otherwise known as 'twinning'. Journalist, Claire Spreadbury, finds the practise embarrassing. They join Jane to discuss.

Adele Parks writes international bestselling novels. Her first novel, Playing Away, was published in 2000 and since then has produced 17 more novels. Her books have been translated in twenty six languages. She talks about her stellar career, where she gets her ideas from and her latest novel, 'I Invited Her In'.

Age UK has published a new report warning that many divorced women are potentially losing out on substantial sums from their husband's private pensions. They say a lot of the women don't realise they are entitled to this money and are calling for urgent reforms so that the pensions are split fairly. We hear from Michelle Cracknell, Chief Executive at The Pension Advisory Service and Christopher Brooks, an Age UK Senior Policy Manager.

The Oscar nominated film 'The Breadwinner' tells the powerful story of an 11-year-old girl named Parvana growing up under the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001. When her father is wrongfully arrested, Parvana disguises herself as a boy in order to support her family. The director, Nora Twomey, joins Jane to discuss working in animation.

Presenter: Jane Garvey
Producer: Kirsty Starkey.


MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0bjz95y)
The Citadel
Episode 1

The Citadel by A J Cronin. Dramatised by Christopher Reason.

The return of the drama series set in the Welsh valleys about life before the NHS. It is 1926 and the General Strike has just ended. But the miners have decided to fight on. Dr Manson and his friend and colleague Dr Denny have different views on whether to support the strike or not.

Director Gary Brown
Producer Gary Brown & Pauline Harris.


MON 11:00 Little Volcanoes (b0bjz99z)

An award-winning documentary featuring a series of intimate conversations with the patients and staff of Pilgrims Hospice, Margate.

Recorded in 2013.

Presented and produced by Cathy FitzGerald.
A White Stiletto production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 11:30 Believe It! (b0bjz9b9)
Series 4
Boyfriend

A fourth series of Richard Wilson's Radiography in which writer Jon Canter delves into the true and not so true nooks and crannies of Richard's life and works.

In this episode, Richard decides it really is time he went in search of true love - but where will he start? At his age?

Cast:
Richard Wilson - himself
David Tennant - himself
Ian McKellen - himself

Produced and Directed by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:00 News Summary (b0bjznf3)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 A History of Ideas (b04xnczs)
How Did Everything Begin?

A new history of ideas presented by Melvyn Bragg but told in many voices.

Each week Melvyn is joined by four guests with different backgrounds to discuss a really big question. This week he's asking 'How did everything begin'?

Helping him answer it are Cosmologist Carole Mundell, Historian Justin Champion, Theologian Giles Fraser and Creation myth Expert, Jessica Frazier

For the rest of the week Carole, Giles, Justin and Jessica will take us further into the history of ideas about origins with programmes of their own. Between them they will examine early modern comet theory, Medieval Philosophy, The Big Bang and Hindu Creation myths.


MON 12:15 You and Yours (b0bjznf5)
New supermarket, Gym membership, Canned food

One of the big stories on the high street in recent years has been the success of the discount supermarket chains, Aldi and Lidl. They've opened lots of stores and have been stealing customers from the "big four" grocers, Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda and Morrisons. But this week, the UK's biggest grocer, Tesco, looks set to launch its own new chain of discount supermarkets. Reports suggest it will be called "Jacks" and that the stores will copy many of the features of Aldi and Lidl. We explore why Tesco is doing this, and the risks they are taking.

There are now more than 7,000 gyms in the UK, with nearly 10 million members. Industry research suggests that about 1 in 7 of us is now a member of a gym. But while lots of people are joining, drop-out rates are also high. Perhaps some of us like the idea of getting fit, but the reality of actually doing the exercise isn't quite so appealing. It's led some fitness companies to adopt strict rules about how you can end your subscription. One You & Yours listener tells us that she gave her gym the required three months notice to cancel her membership, but they continued to charge her fees by Direct Debit. We hear about the latest developments in this still booming industry.

Sales of canned food are rising. For years, its popularity was in decline, but over the course of the last year or so, shoppers have started to buy more baked beans, tuna and tinned fruit. Figures from the retail analyst Kantar, suggest that in the UK we spent a staggering £2.3 billion on canned food in the year up to March. We've been finding out what's behind this resurgence in sales of canned food, something that's always been a staple of British kitchen cupboards.

Producer: Jonathan Hallewell
Presenter: Melanie Abbott.


MON 12:57 Weather (b0bjznf7)

The latest weather forecast.


MON 13:00 World at One (b0bjznf9)

Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.


MON 13:45 The New Age of Capitalism (b0bjzntv)
High Frequency Trading

Who wins in the new world of ultra-fast financial transactions?
Imagine you are heading to the shops and someone steals your shopping list. Then they race ahead and bought all the goods ahead of you, forcing you to buy your shopping from them at a higher price. That is what is happening to ordinary share traders like pension funds. When they go to buy some shares, they find high frequency traders have snapped them up nanoseconds before them and want to sell them at a higher price. These traders now account for the majority of all trades on major stock markets. David Grossman explores the rights and wrongs of this new world with Brad Katsuyama, CEO of IEX, a new stock exchange which wants to clamp down on high frequency traders, and Professor Donald MacKenzie of the University of Edinburgh.
Producer: Matthew Chapman.


MON 14:00 The Archers (b0bjz6cy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Drama (b07w9jg1)
Secret Kebabs

By the winner of the 2015 BBC Writer's Room Prize, Christine Entwisle.

A dark and delightful comedy about a relationship counsellor who has lost her faith in love.

Starring Pippa Haywood and Asim Chaudhry.

Directed by Kirsty Williams.


MON 15:00 Counterpoint (b0bjzntx)
Series 32
Heat 7, 2018

Paul Gambaccini is in the chair for another contest of musical knowledge.


MON 15:30 BBC National Short Story Award (b0bjzvd7)
BBC National Short Story Award 2018
To Belong To by Kerry Andrew

To Belong To by Kerry Andrew is the first contender for the prestigious BBC National Short Story Award 2018 with Cambridge University now celebrating its thirteenth year. In this story, unsure he can go on, a desperate man is revived by the hospitality of strangers. Tobias Menzies reads

The kindness of strangers and the meaning of home are key themes in the five shortlisted entries for this year's BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University, now celebrating its thirteenth year.

This year's shortlist is unified by the individual power of each writer to convey both the private and the universal experience. Linking the personal and the political, the stories, often inspired by world events from Brexit, immigration to urban gentrification, draw out ideas of community and human connection. Each story is a powerful meditation on a world where displacement and loss seem to be overwhelming but where renewal and hope are infinite.

You can hear the five stories in contention for this major BBC award for a single short story each afternoon on BBC Radio 4 at 3.30 from Monday, 17th - Friday 21st September. On the evening before the broadcast the writer of each shortlisted entry will be interviewed on Front Row. To find out who will win this year's award listen to the award ceremony which will be broadcast live on Front Row from Cambridge University on Tuesday, 2nd October. This year's shortlist will be available as a podcast, to find out more go to the Radio 4 website.

Produced by Simon Richardson.


MON 16:00 The Art of Now (b0bjzq66)
Identity Crisis

The art world is in a crisis, an identity crisis. That's according to writer and art critic Sohrab Ahmari in this impassioned polemic, He argues that contemporary art is being stifled by an obsession with identity politics.

Identity politics in art is certainly nothing new, nor is the criticism of contemporary art. However, Sohrab argues that art's current infatuation with identity politics is going too far.

Whether it's artwork dealing with race relations, sexuality, gender, power or privilege, Sohrab says a desire for political point-scoring in the art world has far-reaching consequences - not only does it affect the quality of the artwork itself, but it also fuels narcissism, social division and political conformity.

Speaking to artist and critic Alexander Adams, Sohrab hears how identity politics drives artists to only create work about their own lived experience and results in a bland wash of politically correct slogans.

So what's driving these artists to pursue identity politics? Sohrab speaks to the current crop of young impassioned artists to find out how and why identity politics features in their work. They suggest that art can and should be a tool for bringing about societal change.

So what's at stake? Central to this programme is Sohrab's concern that identity politics threatens art's traditional search for truth, freedom and beauty. Moreover, in the current climate where activists are calling for certain artworks to be destroyed, he argues that, far from bringing the art-loving public together, identity politics is increasingly dividing us.

A TBI production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (b0bjzq68)
Frankenstein

Frankenstein, the tale of a scientist who creates a creature that ultimately destroyed him, has been a popular subject for films for many years. But the religious content of the original novel written by Mary Shelley is lost on the big screen. Her story centres on the scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who plays God. His creation identifies first with Adam and then with Satan in Paradise Lost. He has admirable human qualities but is deprived of love and affection and becomes brutalised. Joining Ernie Rea to discuss Mary Shelley's Frankenstein are Andrew Smith, Professor of Nineteenth Century English Literature at the University of Sheffield; Marie Mulvey-Roberts, Professor of English Literature at the University of the West of England; and Dr James Castell, Lecturer in English Literature at Cardiff University.

Producer: Helen Lee.


MON 17:00 PM (b0bjzq6b)

PM at 5pm: interviews, context and analysis.


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0bjzq6d)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 18:30 Just a Minute (b0bjzs52)
Series 82
Episode 7

Nicholas Parsons asks Paul Merton, Gyles Brandreth, Zoe Lyons and Tony Hawks to professionally prattle and prevaricate.

Hayley Sterling blows the whistle.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production.


MON 19:00 The Archers (b0bjzs54)

Pip's gesture is rejected and Tom has a proposition.


MON 19:15 Front Row (b0bjztbx)

Live daily magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music.


MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0bjz95y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


MON 20:00 The Ballad of the Blade (b0bjzvd9)

The story of knife crime, told in verse by the weapon itself. Why do teenagers carry knives? How does it feel to live in a world where that's normal? How should we respond to the moral panic generated by the current wave of youth crime?

Momtaza Mehri, Young People's Poet Laureate for London, presents a verse-journey into the thoughts and feelings of those for whom knife crime is an everyday reality. Perpetrator or victim, armed or defenceless, all the lines blur in "Ballad of the Blade" - a poem told in the voice of the knife as it travels on a chilling arc out of a child's bedroom, through fear, a yearning to belong and succeed, ruin and - sometimes - redemption.

First-person voices from London and Sheffield splinter through the poem, reflecting the mosaic of lives affected by youth violence - bereaved youngsters and determined parents, criminals and youth workers.

"Ballad of the Blade" is scored by Jon Nicholls.
The programme was devised by Andrew Efah of BBC II!
Producer Monica Whitlock.


MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b0bh5x24)
Chile - Sexual Abuse, Secrets and Lies

The dark secrets of Chile's Catholic Church. El Bosque is the wealthy Santiago parish where Fernando Karadima, a charismatic priest, attracted hundreds of young men to the priesthood. In 2010, he was exposed as a paedophile after survivors revealed he had sexually abused them. The Vatican sentenced Karadima to a life of penance and prayer. But this was no one-off, rogue priest. This year the scale of Chile's abuse scandal has been revealed - multiple allegations of sexual exploitation and cover-up are now being investigated across this Andean nation, including allegations made by a congregation of nuns. At first Pope Francis failed to respond. Subsequently he was forced to send his experts in sex crime to Santiago to hear evidence. Most recently, bishops have resigned, and nearly a hundred priests are being investigated by Chile's prosecutors. For Crossing Continents, Linda Pressly travels to Chile to meet survivors of sexual abuse, whistle-blowers and devout Catholics, and explores a story that continues to haunt the Francis papacy.

Presenter: Linda Pressly
Producer in Chile: Jane Chambers

(Photo: Javier Molina, survivor of clerical sexual abuse. When he reported the abuse in 2010, the Catholic Church took no action.).


MON 21:00 Natural Histories (b0bh44t5)
Orchid

Mark Flowers is a wildlife film maker and a man with a passion for orchids. He has been collecting and growing orchids since he was a child - and as he guides Brett round his collection he reveals just how these stunningly beautiful plants have captivated him over the years. The story of our relationship with Orchids is a story of obsession, money, deceit, beauty, femme fatales, ghosts deception and let's be honest, sex. Orchid flowers come in a variety of colours, shapes and sizes - but they all have one thing in common - they have evolved to maximise their chances of luring a pollinator and be fertilised - and they do so with such style! It's easy to see why have they captivated and lured us too! Producer Sarah Blunt.

Contributors
Chris Cleal - Head of Botany at the National Museum Wales
Mark Flowers - Wildlife filmmaker and keen orchid grower
Amy Hinsley - Researcher at the Oxford Martin Programme and a member of the IUCN's Orchid Specialist Group.
Karl Kusserow - John Wilmerding Curator, Princeton University Art Museum
Susan Orlean - staff writer at the New Yorker magazine and author of eight books including The Orchid Thief.
Jacob Phelps - lecturer at the Environment Centre at Lancaster University and a member of the IUCN's Orchid Specialist Group.
Fiona Stafford - Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford
And the reader is Elizabeth Counsell.


MON 21:30 Start the Week (b0bjz95r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b0bjzvdf)

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


MON 22:45 Short Works (b0bjzwjp)
BBC National Short Story Award 2018
White Squares

Five commissioned short stories to celebrate this year's BBC National Short Story Award:

In White Squares by last year's winner, Cynan Jones, a man hunts ducks from the river bank as they begin their journey downstream. His reasons for doing this are unusual, poignant..

Reader Stephen Campbell Moore

Producer Duncan Minshull.


MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (b0bh454p)
Stephen Fry and Michael Rosen talk language

Stephen Fry talks to presenter Michael Rosen about their mutual obsession with language: the particular joys they both find in speech and in writing and how language is developing. Starting at the very beginning with Stephen's theory about where a facility with words may come from, then dashing through the joy of finding connections between words in different languages, of listening to the rhythms of music-hall patter, in telephone voicemail messages and in rap, to sketch-writing with Hugh Laurie, presenting QI, the essential seriousness of comedy, the virtues of email and text as opposed to the sheer horror of having to talk on the telephone, and one time when Stephen's famous fluency broke down..
Producer Beth O'Dea.


MON 23:30 Making History (b09l067w)
Acid Attacks

Helen Castor is in the chair for this edition of the long-running history magazine programme. Today, she's joined by the historian of Victorian sex, suffrage and entertainment, Dr Fern Riddell - along with an expert on Victorian and Edwardian humour, Dr Bob Nicholson of Edge Hill University in Lancashire.

Making History reporter Hester Cant braves the streets of north London with Fern Riddell to dig into the nasty past of acid attacks on the capital's streets, and a nineteenth century scare that became actor murdering mania.

Iszi Lawrence takes to the jiu jitsu mat with historian Naomi Paxton to discover how and why the suffragettes embraced this martial art.

Tom Holland has a tale that's hot off the historical presses.

And the Cornwall village of Linkinhorne comes under the spotlight when it enters the jeux sans frontières of history competitions, Top Town History.

Producer: Nick Patrick
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.



TUESDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 2018

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b0bk0w2p)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b0bjz95t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0bk11l4)

The latest shipping forecast.


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0bk11l6)

TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0bk11l8)

The latest shipping forecast.


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b0bk11lb)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0bk11ld)

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Dr Ed Kessler, Director of the Woolf Institute.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b0bk11lg)

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03k6t6c)
Red Kite

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

David Attenborough presents the red kite. After centuries of persecution red kites were almost wiped out but in 1989 a project to restore the red kite back into the wild began. Since then kite numbers have soared, so that now these birds are foraging even around the outer suburbs of London.


TUE 06:00 Today (b0bk12j8)

News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 Living for the City (b0bk135w)
Series 1
Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird takes the listener on a tour of Chicago, a city of ghosts, faded grandeur and family legends.

In Living for the City, musicians take the listener on a personalised tour of a city they love. They project their inner worlds onto the canvas of the city, revealing how buildings and street corners, train lines and park views hold stories of heartache and inspiration.

Andrew Bird revisits his birthplace, Chicago, in the week of a series of homecoming gigs, as a soloist and in a reunion with his band, Bowl of Fire. He reflects on how the music he writes has emerged from the city's streets, the faded grandeur of 1920s hotels and apartment blocks and the building downtown on Michigan Avenue where, as a young violinist, he rehearsed every week with the Junior Symphony.

(Photo credit: Shervin Lainez)
Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b0bk14kw)
On Truth
Kurt Andersen

As he unpicks the fantastical beliefs that run through America's past and present, the writer and broadcaster Kurt Andersen asks if the US is now entering a post-truth era.

The author of Fantasyland and co-founder of Spy magazine, Kurt has spent many decades separating fact and fiction and in this essay he explores the historical roots of America's weakness for alternative realities.

From the religious visions of the Pilgrim Fathers and Joseph Smith, to the showbiz dreams of PT Barnum and Walt Disney, the proliferation of conspiracy theories and the new age of virtual reality and internet chat rooms, Kurt tells the story of a nation in which fantasy and reality have long been intertwined.

Producer: Julia Johnson.


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0bk14ky)

Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.


TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0bk1h1c)
The Citadel
Episode 2

The Citadel by A J Cronin. Dramatised by Christopher Reason
Denny is furious at Manson when he finds out the source of his research money.

Director Gary Brown
Producer Gary Brown & Pauline Harris.


TUE 11:00 Natural Histories (b0bk14l0)
Penguin

Its arguable that a certain dinner-suited bird has captured our hearts and minds more than any other creature over the centuries. As Brett Westwood discovers, Penguins remind us of ourselves - Like us they stand upright, they travel in groups, they communicate all the time and they walk (or waddle) on land. They have both entertained us and taught us life lessons. Our earliest encounters with Penguins very often resulted in the slaughter of these flightless birds for food and oil and they may well have gone the same way as the Great Auk had public campaigns to put an end to their slaughter not been successful. Since then, they have been adopted as a brand name for books and biscuits inspired music, animations, films, tv shows, children's stories and there is even a Penguin Post Office, surrounded by Penguins, on a tiny island in Antarctica where you can post a card with a Penguin stamp. Producer Sarah Bunt

Contributors
Henry Eliot - Editor of Penguin Classics
Arthur Jeffes - Composer, Musician and frontman of the musical group, Penguin Café
Stephen Martin - writer and Antarctic Historian
Camilla Nichol - Chief Executive of the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust
Ruth Peacey - Film-maker and Ornithologist
Douglas Russell - Senior Curator of Birds, Nests and Eggs at the Natural History Museum in Tring
Cleopatra Veloutsou - Professor of Brand Management at the University of Glasgow
Adrian Walls - Assistant Zoo Manager. ZSL London Zoo

and Reader - Elizabeth Counsell.


TUE 11:30 Sound Lines (b0bk1bsx)
Series 1
Equator

Music broadcaster Verity Sharp listens to music along latitudinal lines, hearing local stories that are having a direct impact on music and musicians. Could there be echoes along these sound lines? Might music that's created thousands of miles apart, but on the same latitude, share common ground? Does listening in this way allow us to glimpse the effect of the vast and often immeasurable forces that are sweeping change across our planet?

This second episode circumnavigates the globe along the Equator, described by Aristotle as "the torrid zone", a place where the planet's centrifugal forces are at their most powerful, dictating the direction of weather systems and ocean currents.

Around the circle, we hear three stories.

Writer and musician Daniel Lofredo Rota takes us 2,500 metres up into the Andes in Ecuador, home to harp and flute player Jesús Bonilla and his fellow Kichwa community, who are struggling against visible effects of climate change and the erosion of their way of life.

Rully Shabara is immersed in an intense sonic world - not only in the experimental vocal music he creates, but the relentless noise of street-life in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

And Gregg Mwendwa visits the Kenyan city of Kisumu. Musician Olith Ratego is a member of the Luo people whose lives there are entwined with Lake Victoria, an ecosystem in which one arrival has had a drastic effect.

Producer: Chris Elcombe
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:00 News Summary (b0bk1dnl)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:04 A History of Ideas (b04xp4w8)
Jessica Frazier on Creation Myths

How did the world begin? In the Old Testament it all starts with an act of God, but where did God come from?

Dr Jessica Frazier, lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Kent and fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies wants to know how different cultures deal with this most fundamental of questions.

Hindus can choose from a menu of options, followers of Chinese Taoism are comfortable with the idea that we come from chaos, a potent force of creativity that continues to pulse through the life of the Universe.

With the help of Ram Aithal from Birmingham's Shri Venkateswara Hindu Temple and the renowned science fiction writer Ursula K Le Guin, Jessica asks if the wonder of the great Creation myths can increase our understanding. Can they help us make sense of the data that modern science is gathering from the beginning of time?

This is part of a week of programmes exploring the beginnings of the Universe.


TUE 12:15 You and Yours (b0bk1dnn)
Call You and Yours

Consumer phone-in.


TUE 12:56 Weather (b0bk1dnq)

The latest weather forecast.


TUE 13:00 World at One (b0bk1dns)

Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.


TUE 13:45 The New Age of Capitalism (b0bk1dnv)
Turbo-Capitalism

David Grossman tells ten stories which help explain the world of contemporary capitalism.


TUE 14:00 The Archers (b0bjzs54)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama (b0bk1dtq)
Auntie Jee

Auntie Jee by Furquan Akhtar
Sham runs a restaurant on the Curry Mile in Manchester. She also does a bit of matchmaking on the side. But when best friend Julie asks her to find a partner things get a bit complicated. A heart warming romantic comedy.

Director/Producer Gary Brown.


TUE 15:00 Tara and George (b0bk1f1d)
Episode 6: Blood Lines

Life on the streets is hard and precarious but every soul who sleeps on a pavement has a story. Tara and George is a six-part series exploring the lives of two people in their late forties who sleep rough in London's Spitalfields. It asks the simple questions - what led them there and why do they remain?

Journalist Audrey Gillan has come to know them as neighbours in this diverse and fashionable area of the capital, and has been recording her conversations with Tara and George for nearly two years.

In this final episode, Audrey tries to find Tara's children who she hasn't seen since they were babies. She goes back up to County Durham to talk to the brother who has long believed George to be dead and visits George's estranged - and ailing - father in Derby.

Written and presented by Audrey Gillan
Produced by Audrey Gillan and Johnny Miller
Original music by Francis Macdonald
Series Producer: Alan Hall

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 15:30 BBC National Short Story Award (b0bk1f1h)
BBC National Short Story Award 2018
Sudden Traveller by Sarah Hall

Today, Sudden Traveller by Sarah Hall is the second contender for the BBC National Short Story Award 2018 with Cambridge University. Profound loss is followed by new life and new love. Rebekah Staton reads

You can hear the five stories in contention for this major BBC award for a single short story each afternoon on BBC Radio 4 at 3.30 from Monday, 17th - Friday 21st September. To find out who will win this year's award listen to the award ceremony which will be broadcast live on Front Row from Cambridge University on Tuesday, 2nd October. This year's shortlist will be available as a podcast, to find out more go to the Radio 4 website or wherever you go for your podcasts.


TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (b0bk1gsy)
Give 'em an inch... imperial and metric

Michael Rosen and Laura Wright talk to maths writer Rob Eastaway about imperial and metric measurements. How and why do they co-exist in the United Kingdom? Why are teenagers still talking in feet and inches when at school they are taught in centimetres? And where do the words 'gallon', 'tonne' 'acre' and "yard" come from? Producer Sally Heaven.


TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b0bk1mg2)
Series 46
Mark Carwardine on Douglas Adams

"Imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, this is an interesting world I find myself in - fits me rather neatly, don't you think?"
Douglas Noel Adams wasn't even fifty when he died in 2001, but his imagination had already roamed far. He created The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Meaning of Liff and several episodes of Doctor Who, plus the Dirk Gently character and Last Chance to See.

Nominating him is his co-writer on Last Chance to See, the zoologist Mark Carwardine. Mark's role, Adams said later, was to be the one who knew what he was talking about. "My role was to be an extremely ignorant non-zoologist to whom everything that happened would come as a complete surprise."

Joining Mark Carwardine and Matthew Parris in the bar where this was recorded is Douglas Adam's biographer, Jem Roberts.
With archive of Stephen Fry, John Lloyd, Naomi Alderman, Griff Rhys Jones and Geoffrey Perkins.

The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde.


TUE 17:00 PM (b0bk1mg5)

PM at 5pm: interviews, context and analysis.


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0bk1mg7)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 18:30 Start/Stop (b07nrzjd)
Series 3
Cathy's Dad

Start/Stop is a sitcom by Jack Docherty about three marriages in various states of disrepair.

Barney and Cathy have been married for ages and it shows, Evan and Fiona's marriage is one big, noisy argument and David is old enough to be Alice's father.

Start/Stop follows the story of these three couples as they try to make the best of their marriages and friendships, and the characters are able to stop the action, explain themselves to the audience and start it all up again.

This week: 'Cathy's Dad'.

Cathy's Dad is in a nursing home but Cathy wants him to come and live with them, especially since he's just developed a condition where the wrong words come out all the time. Barney is not keen but then realises he can use looking after Cathy's Dad to make him seem more caring and, as it turns out, more attractive to Alice.
Meanwhile David gives his daughter a big role in the school play. And Evan finds there are some plusses to Fiona losing her voice after a throat operation.

But will Cathy's Dad ever be able to tell Barney what he thinks of him?

Written by: Jack Docherty
Producer: Claire Jones

A BBC Studio Production.


TUE 19:00 The Archers (b0bk1mg9)

Brian's plotting continues and Philip throws down the gauntlet.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (b0bk1mgc)

Live daily magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music.


TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0bk1h1c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


TUE 20:00 File on 4 (b0bk1phy)
Paralympics - Gaming the System?

Last year, File on 4 investigated whether some athletes and coaches game the paralympic classification system in order to win medals. We heard allegations that some competitors had gone to astonishing lengths such as taping up their arms to make their disability appear worse. The investigation led to a parliamentary select committee hearing into the way British paralympic athletes are classified and questions over whether the system was fit for purpose.

In this programme, we examine further claims of athletes exaggerating or even faking a disability to get ahead in para sports. We look at the case of an athlete where concerns have been raised after they competed in several different disability classifications.

A paralympic gold medallist tells File on 4 of his concerns that young athletes are being manipulated by coaches to think they are more disabled than they actually are in order to get them classified into a more favourable category.

The programme also hears claims that UK athletes cheered a competitor from a rival country because they believed one of their teammates was cheating. Such suspicions have grown in recent years, the programme is told.

Reporter Simon Cox speaks to a former international classifier - the people responsible for ensuring athletes are placed in the right category - who reveals how it is possible for classifiers to be fooled and the pressure placed on them to put athletes in the most disabled categories.

The concerns raised by the programme come as a report by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee into sports governance which has examined classification in para sports is due to be published.

Reporter: Simon Cox
Producer: Paul Grant
Editor: Gail Champion.


TUE 20:40 In Touch (b0bk1nmr)

News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted.


TUE 21:00 On and Off the Valley Lines (b0b737hd)
Tomorrow

Marsha Owen presents the stories of those who live and work along the rail network that fans out from Cardiff up into the South Wales Valleys.

Broadly covering the ex-coalfield of South Wales, the Valleys is a collection of towns and villages ranged along, and separated by, hills and mountains. Running roughly north to south, the Valley Lines connects these towns and villages to each other - and to the growing city of Cardiff on the south coast.

Trains can offer up a slice of life, a window onto a world - glimpsed back gardens, frozen street scenes, snatches of lives and overheard conversations - and the Valley Lines provide an opening onto the people and places - and the culture and economics - of this region, defined by its geography.

As resistant to generalisations as any place, the meaning of the Valleys depends upon who you ask: a collection of deeply rooted communities with an enviable sense of cohesion and identity; a cradle of industrial and socialist history; a sublime natural resource and increasingly a rural playground; a predicament to be confronted, a problem to be solved.

And certain statistics do seem to back up this last concern: according to metrics of deprivation and economic inactivity, of educational attainment, health and life expectancy, the problems in the Valleys seem very real.

It's easy to be blinded by these statistics. And one proffered solution to 'the problem of the Valleys' that surfaces from time to time calls for, effectively, a managed clearance of large parts of the area, to rewild them, creating a tourist-focused region comparable perhaps to the Lake District.

One response to these intentions can stand as a premise for these programmes: what about the people?

It's a story usually told in a current affairs context, but these programmes hope to loosen that form to tell part of the story of the Valleys through the Valley Lines railway, its passengers and passers-by.

Producer: Martin Williams

Music: Blossom Time by Loren Connors and David Grubbs.


TUE 21:30 Living for the City (b0bk135w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b0bk1ndm)

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


TUE 22:45 Short Works (b0bk1nx3)
BBC National Short Story Award 2018
In Spectacles

Five commissioned short stories by leading writers to celebrate this year's BBC National Short Story Award:

In 'Spectacles' by Tom Rachman, Norah is bemused to discover that husband Gary appears to be wearing her glasses. Why is this happening? And what is to be done about it?

Reader Barbara Flynn

Producer Duncan Minshull.


TUE 23:00 A Beginner's Guide to India (b085014q)
Women

India is the second most populous nation in the world (1.2 billion people), and British-Indian is the largest ethnic minority in the United Kingdom (1.4 million people). So after Radio 4 broadcast A Beginner's Guide To Pakistan last year, it feels only right to broadcast A Beginner's Guide To India as without India there wouldn't even be a Pakistan.

Our guide will be Aditi Mittal, a Mumbai-based comic who has already appeared on The Now Show and on The Asian Network's Big Comedy Night. Radio 4 has brought her to the UK to perform A Beginner's Guide To India because she, like all Indians, loves the British - the last time they got some, they kept them for 200 years.

Episode 1: Women.
Aditi Mittal looks at the options open to women in modern India; from sports stars to Bollywood actresses, from business leaders to politics, Aditi explores the gap between how India talks about and treats its women.

A Beginner's Guide To India will look at an undoubtedly significant and increasingly important country from a point of view that is rarely heard, performed by the most exciting stand-up comedian India has generated. As with A Beginner's Guide To Pakistan ("Stylishly cynical, brutally newsy, bitingly funny, this is political stand-up done with gusto", The Sunday Telegraph) it is informative, educational and entertaining, broadening the range of voices in Radio 4 comedy.

Written and performed by ... Aditi Mittal
The Voice of the Guide ... Ritula Shah
Produced by ... Ed Morrish

A BBC Studios Production.


TUE 23:30 Making History (b09ly6rp)
Tasting the Past

Tom Holland and his guests showcase the stories that are making history.

Helen Castor heads for Wales and new scientific research telling us much more about what the Romans ate and how far away they had to source their food to feed their armies. Helen's in Newport, not far from Caerleon which was one of only three permanent fortresses in Roman Britain. Here, archaeologists and scientists from Cardiff University are using dental palaeopathology to discover where the animals that were slaughtered for their meat came from. The results suggest that so-called supply chains were as long and involved as they are today.

Also, we cross the Bristol Channel for more food history as reporter Hester Cant tastes the city's vibrant street food culture and discovers just how long its been established in the UK.

Producer: Nick Patrick
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.



WEDNESDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2018

WED 00:00 Midnight News (b0bk1c0q)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b0bk14kw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0bk1c0s)

The latest shipping forecast.


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0bk1c0v)

WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0bk1c0x)

The latest shipping forecast.


WED 05:30 News Briefing (b0bk1c0z)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0bkvszd)

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Dr Ed Kessler, Director of the Woolf Institute.


WED 05:45 Farming Today (b0bk1c11)

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b09gg8t1)
Michael Morpurgo on the Buzzard

Children's author Michael Morpurgo recounts how his daily walk in the Devon countryside is often enlivened by the call of buzzards overhead for this Tweet of the Day.

Producer: Tom Bonnett
Photograph: Mandy West.


WED 06:00 Today (b0bk1c13)

News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


WED 09:00 The Sound Odyssey (b0bk1fbr)
Series 1
Johnny Flynn travels to Colombia

The Sound Odyssey is a new series in which Gemma Cairney takes British artists for musical collaborations in different countries around the world, hearing the musicians in a new light, and exposing their artistic process as they create something new in different and unfamiliar surroundings with an artist they have never met before.

In this programme musician and actor Johnny Flynn heads to Bogota in Colombia. Here he will be collaborating with Carmelo Torres the Colombian accordion legend of Cumbia, to combine his British folk storytelling with the folk sounds of Colombia. The aim, to see if they can create a new track together in just two days.

Johnny is the lead singer and songwriter of the band Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit. He's also an acclaimed stage and screen actor and has scored the BBC Four television series Detectorists. Johnny grew up surrounded by old folk music and developed an interest and deep passion for the traditions of folk song collecting, and the migration of musical instruments especially in South American and Amazonian culture.

Carmelo Torres is the greatest representative of the San Jacinto accordion-style cumbia, a music legacy he inherited from the legendary accordionist Andres Landero, his teacher. Carmelo is now one of the last living legends of this Sabaneros style of accordian playing which is sadly on the decline.

Carmelo talks about the movement of the accordion from Europe to Colombia, where it arrived in boats and found its way into the Colombian countryside to become a staple traditional sound of Cumbia music. Johnny draws the links between this same diatonic button accordion being used in British and Irish folk music, and shares his books of ancient folk ballads and poems with Carmelo for their collaboration.

Presented by Gemma Cairney
Produced by Jax Coombes
A BBC 6 Music Production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 09:30 The Questionnaire (b0b3ttly)
Series 1
Money & Marriage

Alan Dein asks several generations of five families from across the UK revealing questions about money and marriage.

From Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales to Luton in Bedfordshire, every family faces the same searching questions. Today, Alan explores views on marriage and money across the generations. Among those in the hot seat, 73 year old Anna Stefani and her family who own a cafe and amusement arcade in Fleetwood on the Lancashire coast - and are struggling to cope with a downturn in business.

Producers: Laurence Grissell & Paul Kobrak.


WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b0bk1fbw)
On Truth
Juliet Samuel

In the depths of the financial crisis of 2008, American bankers-turned-regulators met to discuss plans to restore market confidence by injecting vast quantities of cash into the failing system. "What about $1 trillion?" , Neel Kashkari is reported to have suggested. "We'll get killed," Hank Paulson is said to have replied. And so the figure of $700 billion was agreed, the biggest bailout in history calculated not on market truths but on political realities.

Juliet Samuel writes for The Daily Telegraph and in this essay she looks back at the recent history of financial markets to ask whether markets really are, as many economists believe, vast mechanisms geared towards discovering truth - the true price of assets, the true risks and rewards of investment and therefore the most efficient allocation of cash.

As she considers financial market failures such as the 2008 crash and the euro crisis, Juliet argues that, ultimately, there is still a compelling reason for believing that markets are as close to economic truth as we can get and it is almost impossible to beat them. Investors who try to do so, so-called "active managers" who are probably managing some of your pension fund right now, have consistently failed to get to the truth more accurately than the market. What we are learning is how and when markets can discover the truth - and when it's simply undiscoverable.
Producer: Julia Johnson.


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0bk1c15)

The programme that offers a female perspective on the world.


WED 10:41 15 Minute Drama (b0bk1fby)
The Citadel
Episode 3

The Citadel by A J Cronin. Dramatised by Christopher Reason
Christine gets involved in the strike, much to Andrew's consternation.

Director Gary Brown.
Producer Gary Brown & Pauline Harris.


WED 10:55 The Listening Project (b0bk1fc0)
Sangeeta and Simon - It Has Made Us Human

Together with her partner a mother whose son took his own life reflects on the impact his suicide has had on their lives. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

Producer: Marya Burgess.


WED 11:00 The Ballad of the Blade (b0bjzvd9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Monday]


WED 11:30 Michael Fabbri's Dyslexicon (b07cyvjq)
Adult Life

Comedian Michael Fabbri is dyslexic, but this programme is not a message of hope and encouragement. Instead, it's a catalogue of mistakes and challenges that Michael has faced throughout his life.

After being left under prepared for life by school, Michael finds that life is even less forgiving for him as an adult - especially when he ruins weddings and accidently goes into the wrong dressing room when buying new clothes.

A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:00 News Summary (b0bk1c17)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:04 A History of Ideas (b04xrj8s)
Astronomer Carole Mundell on the Big Bang

What put the Bang in the Big Bang?

On the 7th of November 1919 an announcement was made to the great and good of the Royal Society. Photographs from the observations of a solar eclipse had just arrived in London. The images provided the proof of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.

The astronomer, Carole Mundell explains the significance of that moment and charts the steps that led from there to the generally accepted idea of the origin of our Universe in the energetic burst of the Big Bang.

But what caused the Big Bang and what came before it? Answering one fundamental question immediately threw up the next. With the help of the mathematician, physicist and philosopher of science, Sir Roger Penrose, Carole aims to find out if those are questions mankind can ever answer.

This is part of a week of programmes examining the origins of the Universe.


WED 12:15 You and Yours (b0bk1c19)

Radio 4's consumer affairs programme.


WED 12:57 Weather (b0bk1c1c)

The latest weather forecast.


WED 13:00 World at One (b0bk1c1f)

Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.


WED 13:45 The New Age of Capitalism (b0bk1hnc)
State Capitalism

David Grossman tells ten stories which help explain the world of contemporary capitalism.


WED 14:00 The Archers (b0bk1mg9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 Drama (b07v2mds)
The 56

On 11th May 1985, Bradford City were playing Lincoln City in their final game of the season after being crowned Third Division champions. Just before half-time a fire broke out in the Main Stand. 56 people - 54 Bradford supporters and 2 from Lincoln - lost their lives and over 250 were injured. Writers Matt Woodhead and Gemma Wilson worked with FYSA Theatre Company to create this drama, which draws solely on real-life testimonies and interviews with witnesses.

Performed by Duncan Preston, Melanie Kilburn and Vincent Franklin.

Directed by Toby Swift.


WED 15:00 Money Box (b0bk1c1h)
Money Box Live

Financial phone-in.


WED 15:30 BBC National Short Story Award (b0bk1lls)
BBC National Short Story Award 2018
Van Rensburg's Card by Kiare Ladner

Kiare Ladner's Van Rensburg's Card is the third shortlisted entry for the esteemed BBC National Short Story Award 2018 with Cambridge University. In her story, a simple note brings solace and the prospect of new hope. Carolyn Pickles reads.

To find out who will win this year's hotly contested award listen to the award ceremony which will be broadcast live from Cambridge University on Tuesday, 2nd October live on Front Row. All five of the shortlisted entries will be available as a podcast, to find out more go to the Radio 4 website or wherever you go for your podcasts.

Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.


WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b0bk1llv)

Laurie Taylor explores the latest research into how society works.


WED 16:30 The Media Show (b0bk1c1k)

Topical programme about the fast-changing media world.


WED 17:00 PM (b0bk1c1m)

Interviews, context and analysis.


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0bk1c1p)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 18:30 Rob Newman (b0bk1llx)
Rob Newman's Total Eclipse of Descartes
If a Tree Falls in a Forest...

One of Britain's finest comedians Rob Newman sets his sights on the world of philosophy, unpicking 3000 years of good and bad ideas to discover how we got into this mess. In a world gone mad can philosophy provide the answer?

In episode two, Rob does battle with Jean-Paul Sartre and the existentialists.

Written and performed by Rob Newman
Edited by John Whitehall
Produced by Jon Harvey
Executive Producer: Richard Wilson

A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 19:00 The Archers (b0bk1llz)

Contemporary drama in a rural setting. Johnny offers some home truths and Jolene tries to make peace.


WED 19:15 Front Row (b0bk1c1r)

Live daily magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music.


WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0bk1fby)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:41 today]


WED 20:00 Cassandras of the Crash (b0bk1lmy)

Ten years ago, in autumn 2008, the world watched as the biggest financial meltdown in history unfolded. The crash plunged the world into recession, lost millions of families their homes and its shadow still hangs over our politics today.

And when the Queen went to the London School of Economics, she asked the question everyone wanted the answer to: why did no one see it coming?

In this programme Aditya Chakrabortty, senior economics commentator at the Guardian newspaper, chairs a discussion between four economists who can claim they did: Raghuram Rajan, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India; Steve Keen, professor of economics at Kingston University in London; Ann Pettifor, director of PRIME, Policy Research in Macroeconomics and council member of the Progressive Economy Forum; and Peter Schiff, American stockbroker and investor. They warned financial crisis was imminent, they wrote books and papers, they even told the powerful to their faces - and they got nowhere. They showed intellectual bravery of a kind that isn't often celebrated, and it cost some of them dearly.

Call them four "Cassandras" - cursed, as Greek myth has it, to utter prophesies that were true but never believed.

Had they been heeded we may have averted what the then chief US central banker, Ben Bernanke, calls "the worst financial crisis in global history, including the Great Depression".

How did they see it when no one else did? Why didn't others listen? And what happens next?

Producer: Eve Streeter
A Greenpoint Production for Radio 4.


WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (b0bk1mrm)
Ending the Plastic Age

How do we solve the plastic crisis? Tom Heap is joined by an expert panel to find fresh ways to cut down on plastic waste.

It's become the environmental crisis that's caught the imagination. Since Blue Planet 2 broadcast heart-rending images of albatross and turtles tangled in plastic waste enormous pressure has been exerted on government and retailers to reduce the flow of plastic into landfill and the oceans. But what's the best way to dispose of plastic? How do we reduce our consumption of such an incredibly versatile material? Are there future plastics that will degrade and disappear without a cost to the planet?

Lucy Siegle, BBC 'One Show' reporter and author of a new book, 'Turning the Tide on Plastic' joins Tom alongside Richard Walker, MD of Iceland supermarkets who has pledged to remove plastic packaging from own-label goods by 2023. Bath University's Janet Scott discusses plant-based alternatives to plastic and Dustin Benton of the Green Alliance explains how campaigners are keeping up the pressure on government to improve the treatment and recycling of waste.

Recorded at Countryfile Live at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire.


WED 21:30 The Sound Odyssey (b0bk1fbr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b0bk1c1t)

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


WED 22:45 Short Works (b0bk1mrp)
BBC National Short Story Award 2018
Synsepalum

Five commissioned short stories by leading writers to celebrate this year's BBC National Short Story Award:

In Synsepalum by Irenosen Okajie, the tailor in the pop-up atelier makes eye-catching dresses for his adoring clients - 'the designs rose from dark undulating slipstreams as if in resurrection'. But there is a price to pay for this adulation..

Reader Nikki Amuka-Bird

Producer Duncan Minshull.


WED 23:00 Woof (b0bk1mrr)
Woof: True Tales of Romance and Failure
The Price of Luxury

Bittersweet comic real life stories from the pen of Chris Neill with Martin Hyder and Isy Suttie.

This week, a bruising encounter at the greengrocer's and the transformative effects of a hard-boiled egg

Written by Chris Neill
Starring: Chris Neill, Isy Suttie and Martin Hyder
Producer: Steve Doherty
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4

Music used:

Track: Dance Away
Perf: Bryan Ferry Orchestra

Track: Needles and Pins
Perf: The Searchers

Track: Hackney Carriage
Perf: Unknown (KPM Light Atmospheres)

Track: What Becomes Of the Broken Hearted?
Perf: Jimmy Ruffin

Track: Cavatina
Perf: Craig Ogden

Track: It Might As Well Rain Until September
Perf: Carole King

Track: Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
Perf: Neil Sedaka

Track: I Get The Sweetest Feeling
Perf: Jackie Wilson

Track: Forever And Ever
Perf: Demis Roussos.


WED 23:15 Domestic Science (b07mxv7c)
Series 1
Episode 4

A heady combination of maths, science and comedy with Festival of The Spoken Nerd trio who are stand up Mathematician Matt Parker, Physicist Steve Mould and Physicist and musician Helen Arney. It's science that you can play alongwith at home as the team look at domestic phenomena that we relate to on a day to day basis.

In this episode we get up close with bike and car tyres and try to break a wine glass though the voice alone.

Producer... Julia McKenzie

A BBC Studios Production.


WED 23:30 Making History (b09plwxf)
The fight to eradicate polio

Tom Holland and guests highlight histories that help us understand more about the background to some of today's important issues.

Helen Castor visits Coventry where, in 1957, one of the last polio epidemics hit the city. Local people were furious that widespread vaccination wasn't brought in, but the fledgling NHS simply didn't have enough stocks and medical experts were concerned about an American trial that had gone wrong. We learn that the government of the day were worried that Britain was entering a high-tech world without the skills that other countries had and was reluctant to bring in costly medicines from overseas, preferring that we develop our own.

The last time Parliament sat outside Westminster was in 1681, when it went to Oxford for a week. Today, with the government yet to finalise plans for the restoration and repair of the Palace of Westminster, we ask whether history might be made and a decision taken to move the engine of our democracy out to the shires once again, on a temporary basis. What can we learn from that short relocation over 300 years ago.

Top Town History features the home of Magna Carta, Egham, and the former-industrial powerhouse of Bury in Lancashire.

Producer: Nick Patrick
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.



THURSDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2018

THU 00:00 Midnight News (b0bk1c3y)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b0bk1fbw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0bk1c40)

The latest shipping forecast.


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0bk1c42)

THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0bk1c44)

The latest shipping forecast.


THU 05:30 News Briefing (b0bk1c46)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0bkw4qm)

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Dr Ed Kessler, Director of the Woolf Institute.


THU 05:45 Farming Today (b0bk1c48)

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b0910svf)
Tim Birkhead on Guillemot Senses

Seabird zoologist Tim Birkhead recalls the moment while on Skomer which changed his view on the old thought that the guillemot was a foolish bird 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
Picture: George Hart.


THU 06:00 Today (b0bk1c4b)

Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


THU 09:00 In Our Time (b0bk1c4d)
Automata

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of real and imagined machines that appear to be living, and the questions they raise about life and creation. Even in myth they are made by humans, not born. The classical Greeks built some and designed others, but the knowledge of how to make automata and the principles behind them was lost in the Latin Christian West, remaining in the Greek-speaking and Arabic-speaking world. Western travellers to those regions struggled to explain what they saw, attributing magical powers. The advance of clockwork raised further questions about what was distinctly human, prompting Hobbes to argue that humans were sophisticated machines, an argument explored in the Enlightenment and beyond.

The image above is Jacques de Vaucanson's mechanical duck (1739), which picked up grain, digested and expelled it. If it looks like a duck...

with

Simon Schaffer

Elly Truitt

and

Franziska Kohlt

Producer: Simon Tillotson.


THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b0bk1pdr)
On Truth
Pankaj Mishra

Mahatma Gandhi wrote "Devotion to this Truth is the sole justification for our existence. All our activities should be centred in Truth. Truth should be the very breath of our life." In today's talk, the writer Pankaj Mishra considers the Indian thinker and statesman's views on Truth and how they stand seventy years after his death.

Producer: Simon Elmes.


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0bk1c4g)

Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.


THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0bk1pdt)
The Citadel
Episode 4

he Citadel by A J Cronin. Dramatised by Christopher Reason.
Manson and Denny reconcile when they have to attend a medical emergency.

Director Gary Brown.
Producer Gary Brown & Pauline Harris.


THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b0bk1pdw)
Generation Identity

Simon Cox is in Austria where the authorities have launched an unprecedented operation against a new far right youth organisation, Generation Identity. They prosecuted members of the group including its leader, Martin Sellner, for being an alleged criminal organisation. They are currently appealing the judge's not guilty verdict. The Austrian group is at the heart of a new pan European movement that is vehemently opposed to Muslims and immigration. GI says it is not racist or violent. In Germany more than 100 offences have been committed by its members in just over a year. And the group's co leader in Britain stepped down after he was revealed to have a Neo Nazi past.

Simon Cox reporting. Anna Meisel producing.


THU 11:30 The Art of Now (b0bk1rz1)
Inbox

From flash fiction to poetry, new music, to soundscapes, The Art of Now: Inbox is a new programme showcasing listeners' creativity. The home made masterpieces are submitted by smartphone and marshalled by comedian and actor Jo Neary. Jo will take us through the strange and wonderful entries, guiding us through the eccentric and varied storytelling...
Along the way you'll hear strange soundscapes, a new voice on the mindfulness scene, recordings of a favourite landscape, poetry which touches on memories of place and an unforgettable Tinder experience.
Submissions are now closed, but keep in touch at theinbox@bbc.co.uk

Contributors:

Annabelle Galea
Michael Spicer
Christopher Sloman
Charmaine Wilkerson
Jez Riley French
Nigel Staley
Ben C Winn
Alison Holder
Coralie Mattys
Fiona Nolan
Rhiannon Walsh
Sookie Jones
Polly Britsch
Kitty Britsch
Pope Lonergan
Jane Postlethwaite
Chris Palmer
Sabine Brix

With music by Scanner

Presented by Jo Neary
Produced by Kev Core.


THU 12:00 News Summary (b0bk1c4j)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 12:04 A History of Ideas (b04xscq0)
Theologian Giles Fraser on Thomas Aquinas

If the universe exists what caused it to be? Theologian Giles Fraser examines the brilliant medieval scholar St. Thomas Aquinas' and his argument for God as the first cause of everything.
It's part of a powerful body of ideas arguing for the logical necessity of the existence of God. But Giles also wonders how valuable these kinds of 'cosmological arguments' are for us today.


THU 12:15 You and Yours (b0bk1c4l)

Consumer affairs programme.


THU 12:57 Weather (b0bk1c4n)

The latest weather forecast.


THU 13:00 World at One (b0bk1c4q)

Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.


THU 13:45 The New Age of Capitalism (b0bk1rz3)

David Grossman tells ten stories which help explain the world of contemporary capitalism.


THU 14:00 The Archers (b0bk1llz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 Drama (b0bk1rz5)
The RemCo

Judith Clapham (Deborah Findlay) is an honourable woman at the rotten heart of the City, steering her RemCo as they vote on whether to award an £8 million pay award to charismatic CEO, Michael Melman (James Purefoy). Journalist and playwright Jonathan Maitland's new play looks at the controversial world of Remuneration Committees - the bodies that decide on executive pay and bonuses.

Maitland has talked to several members of RemCos and been granted access to confidential minutes. Before now, no writer has been allowed this level of access to what goes on in a RemCo. He has used the details to fashion this drama about a fictional RemCo.

RemCos are the key to understanding one of the most toxic issues of our age: the social and financial inequality caused by grossly excessive pay deals.

Directed by Emma Harding.


THU 15:00 Ramblings (b0bk1rz7)
Series 40
The Hoo Peninsula, Kent

Clare Balding is walking in someone else's shoes for this edition of Ramblings.

She's joined, on the Hoo Peninsula in Kent, by the artist, Clare Patey and the author, Roman Krznaric. They are - respectively - the Director and Founder of The Empathy Museum. On their walk from Gravesend Station to the Cliffe Pools Nature Reserve, Clare and Roman describe one of the Empathy Museum's projects: "A Mile in My Shoes".

Inspired by the saying: "Never judge a man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins" the project travels the UK, and the world, in a shipping container which is decorated as a gigantic shoe-box. Inside are rows of other people's shoes, and audio-recordings of their own personal stories. The idea is that visitors wear a pair of shoes, and go for a walk, while listening to the shoe owner's story.

The stories range from a Herefordshire farmer discussing his search for love (you wear a pair of his old work boots to walk and listen) to a former sex worker (red high heels). For part of this walk, Clare Balding will wear a pair of fluffy pink slippers and hear a powerful tale.

The idea behind the project is to expose listeners to the stories of people they wouldn't otherwise meet, in order to promote empathy.
The project has a podcast - the link is further down on this web-page.

Producer: Karen Gregor.


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b0bjyvv1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 BBC National Short Story Award (b0bk1rz9)
BBC National Short Story Award 2018
20/09/2018

The Sweet Sop by Ingrid Persaud is the fourth contender for the celebrated BBC National Short Story Award 2018 with Cambridge University. In her story there's emotional blackmail and sweet release. Leemore Marrett Junior reads

You can hear the five stories in contention for this major BBC award for a single short story each afternoon on BBC Radio 4 at 3.30 from Monday, 17th - Friday 21st September. This year's shortlist will be available as a podcast, to find out more go to the Radio 4 website or wherever you go for your podcasts.


THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b0bk1sq8)
Glen Close, Agnes Varda

With Antonia Quirke.

Glenn Close reveals that she would like to see a re-make of Fatal Attraction in which her character Alex is more misunderstood than monster.

Agnes Varda looks back at the faces and places that have fascinated her over a 60 year career as one of France's leading film directors.


THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b0bk1c4s)

Adam Rutherford investigates the news in science and science in the news.


THU 17:00 PM (b0bk1c4v)

Interviews, context and analysis.


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0bk1c4x)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 18:30 Plum House (b07jyw84)
Series 1
The Rather Risky Ramble

Every year thousands of tourists flock to the Lake District. But one place they never go to is Plum House - the former country home of terrible poet George Pudding (1779-1848). Now a crumbling museum, losing money hand over fist, it struggles to stay open under its eccentric curator Peter Knight (Simon Callow).

Can anyone save Plum House from irreversible decline?

In this episode, Tom returns from a team building course in London to find the Plum House team have been bickering in his absence. So he decides to put what he has learned into action. Peter has a better idea to restore team spirit and suggests the museum's staff go on a walk through the Cumbrian countryside, known as Pudding's Horseshoe. Hiking boots on, the group set off on their ramble on a beautiful sunny day, full of enthusiasm and Kendal Mint Cake. What can possibly go wrong?

Written by Ben Cottam and Paul McKenna
Directed and Produced by Paul Schlesinger
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 19:00 The Archers (b0bk1rzc)

Tony reaches a decision and Emma is impressed by a former acquaintance.


THU 19:15 Front Row (b0bk1c4z)

Live daily magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music.


THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0bk1pdt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (b0bk1s02)

Current affairs series combining original insights into major news stories with topical investigations.


THU 20:30 In Business (b0bk1s07)
On the Trade War Frontline

As international trade tensions escalate, the US state of Wisconsin is a fascinating place to discover the consequences. Specialist producers like Wisconsin's ginseng growers are directly affected by the new trade war between the US and China. Traditional cheese makers meanwhile see all this as the latest round in an endless battle for freer trade in global food. And in the south of the state , a new kind of manufacturing economy is taking shape with a vast new investment by the Taiwanese tech manufacturer Foxconn. Jonty Bloom travels around the state to gain rich insights into where today's trade wars could eventually lead.

Producer: Chris Bowlby
Editor: Penny Murphy.


THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b0bk1c4s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]


THU 21:30 In Our Time (b0bk1c4d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b0bk1c53)

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


THU 22:45 Short Works (b0bk1srp)
BBC National Short Story Award 2018
Dear Herbert

Five commissioned short stories to celebrate this year's BBC National Short Story Award:

In Dear Herbert by Simon Van Booy, an elderly uncle at the Nutmeg Care Home hopes his young nephew will visit him more often. He writes to him, explaining the current situation. How to believe this!

Reader Oliver Ford Davies

Producer Duncan Minshull.


THU 23:00 Nick Revell: BrokenDreamCatcher (b0bk1srr)
Series 1
Vladimir Putin's Bottom Is Missing

A series of contemporary comic tales that could almost be true. Anything can happen when this master storyteller combines comedy with magical realism - and it probably will.

This week - what Valdimir Putin and Angela Merkel have in common turns out to be more than a shared interest in The Archers.

Written and performed by Nick Revell
Producer: Steve Doherty
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 23:30 Making History (b0b92swr)
Church Pews and the Medieval Weather Forecast

Tom Holland presents the history programme which connects the past with today.

Enthusiasts for Victorian church architecture are furious that the pews designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in Bath Abbey have been dismantled and removed and are to be sold. Supporters of the plan say that it will create a huge space which the Abbey can then use for community events. Of course, back in medieval times most churches had no furniture, so why was it introduced and what can it tell us about the people that installed and sat on it? Iszi Lawrence visits Somerset to find out more.

It's the season of village fetes, country fairs, music festivals, cricket and world-class tennis and everyone is more than usually interested in the weather forecast. We think of this as a very modern service and are amazed even at the accuracy of meterologists during the planning of D-Day in 1944. But weather forecasts have been made for centuries and those making them knew more about the science behind them than we may think. Helen Castor visits Merton College Library in Oxford, which in the fourteenth century was the Met Office of its day.

Producer: Nick Patrick
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.



FRIDAY 21 SEPTEMBER 2018

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b0bk1c72)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b0bk1pdr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0bk1c74)

The latest shipping forecast.


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0bk1c76)

FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0bk1c78)

The latest shipping forecast.


FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b0bk1c7b)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0bkyqlz)

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Dr Ed Kessler, Director of the Woolf Institute.


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b0bk1c7d)

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b09ly0qg)
Kathy Hinde on the Common Crane

Audio-visual artist, Kathy Hinde has always loved cranes, ever since she learned to make origami cranes as a child. Here she recalls a magical sunrise watching a balletic performed by dancing Common Cranes.

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: Sarah Blunt
Photograph: Tony McLean.


FRI 06:00 Today (b0bk1c7g)

News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b0bjyw29)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Sunday]


FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b0bk1tw3)
On Truth
Simon Blackburn

"In simple affairs of life we're often pretty good at judging what's true. We have designed, tested and trusted instruments to help detect whether an electrical circuit is live, whether there is petrol in the car or pressure in the tyres. Given this background of success, it is perhaps surprising to find how often scepticism about truth and about our capacities has reared its head in the history of human thought..." Simon Blackburn is the author of the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy and was until his retirement Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge University. In this final contribution to Radio 4's week-long consideration of the nature of Truth in the contemporary world, Simon offers a longer, philosophical perspective on the way Truth has played out across history.

Producer: Simon Elmes.


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b0bk1c7j)

Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.


FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b0bk1tw5)
The Citadel
Episode 5

The Citadel by A J Cronin. Dramatised by Christopher Reason
The miners return to work and Christine and Andrew take a trip to London

Director Gary Brown
Producer Gary Brown & Pauline Harris.


FRI 11:00 Edward Brittain and the Forgotten Front (b0b5s47y)

Baroness Shirley Williams follows the footsteps taken by her mother Vera Brittain in her memoir "Testament of Youth" to the graveside of her uncle Edward Brittain in the foothills of the Italian Alps. Through letters sent between Edward and Vera, and a journey to the trenches of Northern Italy, Shirley Williams looks back at the forgotten Asiago campaign on the Italian Front at the very end of World War I and the tragic circumstances leading to Edward Brittain's death one hundred years ago.

Presenter: Allan Little
Producer: Sarah Shebbeare.


FRI 11:30 It's a Fair Cop (b0bk1tw7)
Series 4
Hedgerow Hedge Row

The third in the series in which comic and long-serving police officer recounts a real life case he's dealt with and asks the audience what decisions they would have have made in his shoes. This week - neighbour disputes. When neighbours fall out over a hedge is it really a police matter? And what do you do when disappearing pets come into the equation?

This is the fourth of this immensely popular series which provides insight into the workings of our police force whilst exposing some of the surprising and very funny quirks amongst the Radio 4 audience.

Writer and presenter ..... Alfie Moore
Script Editor ..... Will Ing
Producer ..... Alison Vernon-Smith.


FRI 12:00 News Summary (b0bk1c7l)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:04 A History of Ideas (b04xrvb1)
Historian Justin Champion on William Whiston's Comet Theory

Historian Justin Champion on Early Modern Comet Theory

Those who watched in awe as the space craft Philae bounced its way onto a comet last November should hold a candle for William Whiston. Back in 1696 this British theologian, mathematician and acolyte of Isaac Newton published a book called 'A new theory of the earth'. In it he argued that comets were responsible for the origins of the earth and life upon it. This was what Philae was tasked to help us find out when it dotted down on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Not only does this feel like a coup for early modern farsightedness it also reminds us that much of early science was not built in opposition to Christianity but in order to justify it. Whiston's investigation of the natural world (like those of his peers) was designed to show how the biblical account of creation was true.


FRI 12:15 You and Yours (b0bk1c7n)

Consumer news and issues.


FRI 12:57 Weather (b0bk1c7q)

The latest weather forecast.


FRI 13:00 World at One (b0bk1c7s)

Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.


FRI 13:45 The New Age of Capitalism (b0bk1v9w)

David Grossman tells ten stories which help explain the world of contemporary capitalism.


FRI 14:00 The Archers (b0bk1rzc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 Drama (b0bk1v9y)
Nicked

What would you do if you were mugged but you recognised your attacker? Would you seek revenge?

New, gritty drama by Robert Rigby which works on our perceptions - the victim of knife crime is not always the innocent one.

There is a dark and dangerous side to Rory which people don't see - but then something happens to him that finally unleashes his fury. He is mugged. But he happens to know the person who mugs him. Instead of going to the police, Rory is bent on revenge.

Sound Designer: David Chilton
Production Manager: Sarah Tombling
Director: Carl Prekopp
Producer: Lucinda Mason Brown

A Goldhawk Essential production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b0bkgzvx)
Brockenhurst

Chairman Peter Gibbs and his horticultural panel are in Brockenhurst. On the panel this week are Chris Beardshaw, Christine Walkden, and Pippa Greenwood.

Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant producer: Hester Cant

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 15:30 BBC National Short Story Award (b0bk1vb0)
BBC National Short Story Award 2018
The Minutes by Nell Stevens

The Minutes by Nell Stevens is the fifth story up for the prestigious BBC National Short Story Award 2018 with Cambridge University. Here art and activism come together and things aren't quite what they seem. Tuppence Middleton reads.

To find out who will win this year's award listen to the award ceremony which will be broadcast live on Radio 4's Front Row from Cambridge University on Tuesday, 2nd October. This year's shortlist will be available as a podcast, to find out more go to the Radio 4 website or wherever you go for your podcasts.

Abridged by Rowan Routh.
Produced by Simon Richardson.


FRI 16:00 Last Word (b0bkgzvz)

Matthew Bannister tells the life stories of people who have recently died, from the rich and famous to the unsung but significant.


FRI 16:30 More or Less (b0bkgzw1)

Series devoted to the world of numbers.


FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b0bk1vb2)
Emily and Karen - One Last Conversation

Jamie's mother and girlfriend share their memories of the young man they loved, who died in his sleep. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

Producer: Marya Burgess.


FRI 17:00 PM (b0bk1c7v)

Interviews, context and analysis.


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0bk1c7x)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b0bk1vb4)
Series 97
Episode 4

A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by guest host Fred MacAulay.


FRI 19:00 The Archers (b0bk1vl1)

Freddie contemplates his future, and there is a breakthrough for Alistair.


FRI 19:15 Front Row (b0bk1c7z)

Live daily magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music.


FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b0bk1tw5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b0bk1vl3)
Simon Heffer, Emily Thornberry MP, Leanne Wood AM

Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate from the Stoller Hall in Manchester with a panel including the historian and journalist Simon Heffer, the Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry and the Leader of Plaid Cymru Leanne Wood AM.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson.


FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b0bkpszm)

Weekly reflections on topical issues from a range of contributors.


FRI 21:00 Archive on 4 (b09vx0db)
Disinformation: A User's Guide

What if there was never a 'Truth' era before 'Post-Truth'?

In this edition of Archive on 4, Phil Tinline mines the archives to trace the story of 'disinformation' - navigating the slippery history of such incidents as the Zinoviev Letter, the Reichstag Fire, the Moscow Trials, the allegations that the US used germ warfare in the Korean War, British operations in Northern Ireland and the CIA's attempt at a pornographic movie.

He tracks the origins of modern disinformation to the struggles between Tsarists and revolutionaries in pre- and post-Revolutionary Russia - a period which produced the notorious forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which was championed by the Nazis. It was a milieu that shaped the Bolsheviks' ruthless approach to information and disinformation - a mindset they carried with them from the underground to the Kremlin.

Amid the rise of totalitarianism, leading thinkers on left and right alike were worrying about the 'End of Truth' over 70 years before today's furores. Anxiety about truth and its enemies seems to flare up at times when orthodoxies are falling apart - political uncertainty is rife and people become unusually open to the comforting certainty of extreme ideas.

So - if 'fake news' is not as new as advertised, might we have something to learn from this history? Phil uses this long history of deliberate attacks on truth to identify tricks and techniques that are still in use today, drawing on the expertise of Lawrence Bittman, the ex-deputy chief of the Czechoslovak disinformation department.

Speakers include: Gill Bennett, Lawrence Bittman, Richard Evans, Peter Pomeranzev, Robert Service, Lyndsey Stonebridge, Calder Walton, Kathryn Weathersby

Producer: Phil Tinline.


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b0bk1c81)

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


FRI 22:45 Short Works (b0bk1vm8)
BBC National Short Story Award 2018
Dog in a Hole

Five commissioned short stories to celebrate this year's BBC National Short Story Award:

In Dog In A Hole by Amy Sackville, she takes him to the Prado to see the Goya pictures - ' black hats and black masses, witches and devil goats..' - where one particular image will stay in their minds for ever more.

Reader Miranda Raison

Producer Duncan Minshull.


FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b0bk1mg2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]


FRI 23:25 Making History (b08ynzzs)
Being Gay Before Gay Lib

Helen Castor takes the hot seat for the programme which shows why history matters.

Today, testimony about coming out before the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967 and what we know about the lives of gay people in Victoria's Britain.

Iszi Lawrence discovers that the 'gig' economy was widespread in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. And Tom Holland is on Tyneside to celebrate the history of a building which played host to an almost forgotten intellectual revolution.

Producer: Nick Patrick
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b0bkvlk5)
Lena and Finola - Sad but Never Angry

A mother and daughter remember their son and brother who was diagnosed with schizophrenia and who took his own life. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

Producer: Marya Burgess.




LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)

15 Minute Drama 10:45 MON (b0bjz95y)

15 Minute Drama 19:45 MON (b0bjz95y)

15 Minute Drama 10:45 TUE (b0bk1h1c)

15 Minute Drama 19:45 TUE (b0bk1h1c)

15 Minute Drama 10:41 WED (b0bk1fby)

15 Minute Drama 19:45 WED (b0bk1fby)

15 Minute Drama 10:45 THU (b0bk1pdt)

15 Minute Drama 19:45 THU (b0bk1pdt)

15 Minute Drama 10:45 FRI (b0bk1tw5)

15 Minute Drama 19:45 FRI (b0bk1tw5)

A Beginner's Guide to India 23:00 TUE (b085014q)

A History of Ideas 12:04 MON (b04xnczs)

A History of Ideas 12:04 TUE (b04xp4w8)

A History of Ideas 12:04 WED (b04xrj8s)

A History of Ideas 12:04 THU (b04xscq0)

A History of Ideas 12:04 FRI (b04xrvb1)

A Point of View 08:48 SUN (b0bh8vps)

A Point of View 20:50 FRI (b0bkpszm)

Annika Stranded 19:45 SUN (b0bjz6q3)

Any Answers? 14:00 SAT (b0bgw36s)

Any Questions? 13:10 SAT (b0bh7yz9)

Any Questions? 20:00 FRI (b0bk1vl3)

Archive on 4 20:00 SAT (b0bjyrck)

Archive on 4 21:00 FRI (b09vx0db)

BBC Inside Science 16:30 THU (b0bk1c4s)

BBC Inside Science 21:00 THU (b0bk1c4s)

BBC National Short Story Award 15:30 MON (b0bjzvd7)

BBC National Short Story Award 15:30 TUE (b0bk1f1h)

BBC National Short Story Award 15:30 WED (b0bk1lls)

BBC National Short Story Award 15:30 THU (b0bk1rz9)

BBC National Short Story Award 15:30 FRI (b0bk1vb0)

Believe It! 11:30 MON (b0bjz9b9)

Bells on Sunday 05:43 SUN (b0bjyvjh)

Bells on Sunday 00:45 MON (b0bjyvjh)

Beyond Belief 16:30 MON (b0bjzq68)

Book of the Week 00:30 SAT (b0bh8vny)

Book of the Week 09:45 MON (b0bjz95t)

Book of the Week 00:30 TUE (b0bjz95t)

Book of the Week 09:45 TUE (b0bk14kw)

Book of the Week 00:30 WED (b0bk14kw)

Book of the Week 09:45 WED (b0bk1fbw)

Book of the Week 00:30 THU (b0bk1fbw)

Book of the Week 09:45 THU (b0bk1pdr)

Book of the Week 00:30 FRI (b0bk1pdr)

Book of the Week 09:45 FRI (b0bk1tw3)

Broadcasting House 09:00 SUN (b0bjyw25)

Cassandras of the Crash 20:00 WED (b0bk1lmy)

Clarke's Psalter 23:30 SAT (b0bgw8vl)

Claudia Rankine: On Whiteness 16:30 SUN (b0bjywc3)

Costing the Earth 21:00 WED (b0bk1mrm)

Counterpoint 23:00 SAT (b0bh431d)

Counterpoint 15:00 MON (b0bjzntx)

Crossing Continents 20:30 MON (b0bh5x24)

Crossing Continents 11:00 THU (b0bk1pdw)

Desert Island Discs 11:15 SUN (b0bjyw29)

Desert Island Discs 09:00 FRI (b0bjyw29)

Domestic Science 23:15 WED (b07mxv7c)

Drama 14:30 SAT (b08lfbh5)

Drama 15:00 SUN (b08yj080)

Drama 14:15 MON (b07w9jg1)

Drama 14:15 TUE (b0bk1dtq)

Drama 14:15 WED (b07v2mds)

Drama 14:15 THU (b0bk1rz5)

Drama 14:15 FRI (b0bk1v9y)

Edward Brittain and the Forgotten Front 11:00 FRI (b0b5s47y)

Farming Today 06:30 SAT (b0bgw36b)

Farming Today 05:45 MON (b0bjz7f8)

Farming Today 05:45 TUE (b0bk11lg)

Farming Today 05:45 WED (b0bk1c11)

Farming Today 05:45 THU (b0bk1c48)

Farming Today 05:45 FRI (b0bk1c7d)

File on 4 20:00 TUE (b0bk1phy)

Five Green Bottles 21:45 SAT (b09by77p)

From Our Own Correspondent 11:30 SAT (b0bgw36j)

Front Row 19:15 MON (b0bjztbx)

Front Row 19:15 TUE (b0bk1mgc)

Front Row 19:15 WED (b0bk1c1r)

Front Row 19:15 THU (b0bk1c4z)

Front Row 19:15 FRI (b0bk1c7z)

Gardeners' Question Time 14:00 SUN (b0bh8vp6)

Gardeners' Question Time 15:00 FRI (b0bkgzvx)

Great Lives 16:30 TUE (b0bk1mg2)

Great Lives 23:00 FRI (b0bk1mg2)

In Business 21:30 SUN (b0bh5x2k)

In Business 20:30 THU (b0bk1s07)

In Our Time 09:00 THU (b0bk1c4d)

In Our Time 21:30 THU (b0bk1c4d)

In Touch 20:40 TUE (b0bk1nmr)

It's a Fair Cop 11:30 FRI (b0bk1tw7)

Just a Minute 12:04 SUN (b0bh431l)

Just a Minute 18:30 MON (b0bjzs52)

Last Word 20:30 SUN (b0bh8vpb)

Last Word 16:00 FRI (b0bkgzvz)

Little Volcanoes 11:00 MON (b0bjz99z)

Living for the City 09:00 TUE (b0bk135w)

Living for the City 21:30 TUE (b0bk135w)

Loose Ends 18:15 SAT (b0bgw375)

Making History 23:30 MON (b09l067w)

Making History 23:30 TUE (b09ly6rp)

Making History 23:30 WED (b09plwxf)

Making History 23:30 THU (b0b92swr)

Making History 23:25 FRI (b08ynzzs)

Michael Fabbri's Dyslexicon 11:30 WED (b07cyvjq)

Michael Frayn's Matchbox Theatre 19:15 SUN (b06s1b8t)

Midnight News 00:00 SAT (b0bgw35w)

Midnight News 00:00 SUN (b0bjysrx)

Midnight News 00:00 MON (b0bjz7dw)

Midnight News 00:00 TUE (b0bk0w2p)

Midnight News 00:00 WED (b0bk1c0q)

Midnight News 00:00 THU (b0bk1c3y)

Midnight News 00:00 FRI (b0bk1c72)

Money Box 12:04 SAT (b0bjyq89)

Money Box 21:00 SUN (b0bjyq89)

Money Box 15:00 WED (b0bk1c1h)

More or Less 20:00 SUN (b0bh8vpd)

More or Less 16:30 FRI (b0bkgzw1)

Natural Histories 21:00 MON (b0bh44t5)

Natural Histories 11:00 TUE (b0bk14l0)

News Briefing 05:30 SAT (b0bgw364)

News Briefing 05:30 SUN (b0bjyvjf)

News Briefing 05:30 MON (b0bjz7f4)

News Briefing 05:30 TUE (b0bk11lb)

News Briefing 05:30 WED (b0bk1c0z)

News Briefing 05:30 THU (b0bk1c46)

News Briefing 05:30 FRI (b0bk1c7b)

News Headlines 06:00 SUN (b0bjyvjk)

News Summary 12:00 SAT (b0bgw36l)

News Summary 12:00 SUN (b0bjyw2c)

News Summary 12:00 MON (b0bjznf3)

News Summary 12:00 TUE (b0bk1dnl)

News Summary 12:00 WED (b0bk1c17)

News Summary 12:00 THU (b0bk1c4j)

News Summary 12:00 FRI (b0bk1c7l)

News and Papers 06:00 SAT (b0bgw368)

News and Papers 07:00 SUN (b0bjyvtx)

News and Papers 08:00 SUN (b0bjyvv5)

News and Weather 22:00 SAT (b0bgw379)

News 13:00 SAT (b0bgw36q)

Nick Revell: BrokenDreamCatcher 23:00 THU (b0bk1srr)

On Your Farm 06:35 SUN (b0bjyvts)

On and Off the Valley Lines 21:00 TUE (b0b737hd)

Open Book 16:00 SUN (b0bjyw68)

PM 17:00 SAT (b0bgw36x)

PM 17:00 MON (b0bjzq6b)

PM 17:00 TUE (b0bk1mg5)

PM 17:00 WED (b0bk1c1m)

PM 17:00 THU (b0bk1c4v)

PM 17:00 FRI (b0bk1c7v)

Pick of the Week 18:15 SUN (b0bjz6cw)

Plum House 18:30 THU (b07jyw84)

Politics Supreme 17:00 SUN (b0bh4686)

Prayer for the Day 05:43 SAT (b0bh982t)

Prayer for the Day 05:43 MON (b0bjz7f6)

Prayer for the Day 05:43 TUE (b0bk11ld)

Prayer for the Day 05:43 WED (b0bkvszd)

Prayer for the Day 05:43 THU (b0bkw4qm)

Prayer for the Day 05:43 FRI (b0bkyqlz)

Profile 19:00 SAT (b0bjyrb2)

Profile 05:45 SUN (b0bjyrb2)

Profile 17:40 SUN (b0bjyrb2)

Pursuit of Beauty 13:30 SUN (b0b52nc7)

Radio 4 Appeal 07:54 SUN (b0bjyvv1)

Radio 4 Appeal 21:26 SUN (b0bjyvv1)

Radio 4 Appeal 15:27 THU (b0bjyvv1)

Ramblings 06:07 SAT (b0bh5x28)

Ramblings 15:00 THU (b0bk1rz7)

Rob Newman 18:30 WED (b0bk1llx)

Saturday Live 09:00 SAT (b0bgw36g)

Saturday Review 19:15 SAT (b0bgw377)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 SAT (b0bgw360)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 SUN (b0bjyvj9)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 MON (b0bjz7f0)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 TUE (b0bk11l6)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 WED (b0bk1c0v)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 THU (b0bk1c42)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 FRI (b0bk1c76)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 SAT (b0bgw35y)

Shipping Forecast 05:20 SAT (b0bgw362)

Shipping Forecast 17:54 SAT (b0bgw36z)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 SUN (b0bjyvj7)

Shipping Forecast 05:20 SUN (b0bjyvjc)

Shipping Forecast 17:54 SUN (b0bjywc5)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 MON (b0bjz7dy)

Shipping Forecast 05:20 MON (b0bjz7f2)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 TUE (b0bk11l4)

Shipping Forecast 05:20 TUE (b0bk11l8)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 WED (b0bk1c0s)

Shipping Forecast 05:20 WED (b0bk1c0x)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 THU (b0bk1c40)

Shipping Forecast 05:20 THU (b0bk1c44)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 FRI (b0bk1c74)

Shipping Forecast 05:20 FRI (b0bk1c78)

Short Works 00:30 SUN (b0bh8vp8)

Short Works 22:45 MON (b0bjzwjp)

Short Works 22:45 TUE (b0bk1nx3)

Short Works 22:45 WED (b0bk1mrp)

Short Works 22:45 THU (b0bk1srp)

Short Works 22:45 FRI (b0bk1vm8)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 SAT (b0bgw373)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 SUN (b0bjz6ct)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 MON (b0bjzq6d)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 TUE (b0bk1mg7)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 WED (b0bk1c1p)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 THU (b0bk1c4x)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 FRI (b0bk1c7x)

Something Understood 06:05 SUN (b0bjyvjm)

Something Understood 23:30 SUN (b0bjyvjm)

Sound Lines 11:30 TUE (b0bk1bsx)

Start the Week 09:00 MON (b0bjz95r)

Start the Week 21:30 MON (b0bjz95r)

Start/Stop 18:30 TUE (b07nrzjd)

Sunday Worship 08:10 SUN (b0bjyvv7)

Sunday 07:10 SUN (b0bjyvtz)

Tara and George 15:00 TUE (b0bk1f1d)

The Archers Omnibus 10:00 SUN (b0bjyw27)

The Archers 19:00 SUN (b0bjz6cy)

The Archers 14:00 MON (b0bjz6cy)

The Archers 19:00 MON (b0bjzs54)

The Archers 14:00 TUE (b0bjzs54)

The Archers 19:00 TUE (b0bk1mg9)

The Archers 14:00 WED (b0bk1mg9)

The Archers 19:00 WED (b0bk1llz)

The Archers 14:00 THU (b0bk1llz)

The Archers 19:00 THU (b0bk1rzc)

The Archers 14:00 FRI (b0bk1rzc)

The Archers 19:00 FRI (b0bk1vl1)

The Art of Now 16:00 MON (b0bjzq66)

The Art of Now 11:30 THU (b0bk1rz1)

The Ballad of the Blade 20:00 MON (b0bjzvd9)

The Ballad of the Blade 11:00 WED (b0bjzvd9)

The Briefing Room 20:00 THU (b0bk1s02)

The Film Programme 23:00 SUN (b0bh5x2b)

The Film Programme 16:00 THU (b0bk1sq8)

The Fix 22:15 SAT (b0bh5hp6)

The Food Programme 12:32 SUN (b0bjyw2f)

The Listening Project 14:45 SUN (b0bjyw66)

The Listening Project 10:55 WED (b0bk1fc0)

The Listening Project 16:55 FRI (b0bk1vb2)

The Listening Project 23:55 FRI (b0bkvlk5)

The Media Show 16:30 WED (b0bk1c1k)

The New Age of Capitalism 13:45 MON (b0bjzntv)

The New Age of Capitalism 13:45 TUE (b0bk1dnv)

The New Age of Capitalism 13:45 WED (b0bk1hnc)

The New Age of Capitalism 13:45 THU (b0bk1rz3)

The New Age of Capitalism 13:45 FRI (b0bk1v9w)

The News Quiz 12:30 SAT (b0bh8vpj)

The News Quiz 18:30 FRI (b0bk1vb4)

The Questionnaire 09:30 WED (b0b3ttly)

The Sound Odyssey 09:00 WED (b0bk1fbr)

The Sound Odyssey 21:30 WED (b0bk1fbr)

The Week in Westminster 11:00 SAT (b0bjyq87)

The World This Weekend 13:00 SUN (b0bjyw2k)

The World Tonight 22:00 MON (b0bjzvdf)

The World Tonight 22:00 TUE (b0bk1ndm)

The World Tonight 22:00 WED (b0bk1c1t)

The World Tonight 22:00 THU (b0bk1c53)

The World Tonight 22:00 FRI (b0bk1c81)

Thinking Allowed 00:15 MON (b0bh566s)

Thinking Allowed 16:00 WED (b0bk1llv)

Today 07:00 SAT (b0bjyq5h)

Today 06:00 MON (b0bjz95p)

Today 06:00 TUE (b0bk12j8)

Today 06:00 WED (b0bk1c13)

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